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THE 
 
 BAMPTON LECTURES 
 
 FOR M.DCCC.LXXIX. 
 
 a 2 
 
By the same Author. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY AND MORALITY, 
 
 OK 
 
 THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE GOSPEL 
 
 WITH 
 
 THE MORAL NATURE OF MAN. 
 
 THE BOYIiE LECTURES I'OR 1874 AND 1875. 
 
 Fowrth Editi(m. Crown ?,vo. 6s. 
 PiCKEKiNO & Co., London. 
 
THE 
 
 FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH 
 
 CONSIDERED IN 
 
 EIGHT SEEMONS 
 
 PBEAOHED BEPOBE 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 
 
 IN THE YEAR M.DCCC.LXXIX 
 
 AT THE LECTUKE 
 
 FOUNDED BY JOHN BAMPTON M.A. 
 
 CANON OE SALISBUET 
 BY 
 
 HENRY WAGE M.A. 
 
 CHAPLAIN OF LINCOLN'S INN 
 PBOFESaOE OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTOET IN KINS'S COLLEGE LONDON 
 
 HonUon 
 
 PICKERING AND CO. 196 PICCADILLY 
 1880 
 
By the same Author. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY AND MORALITY, 
 
 OK 
 
 THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE GOSPEL 
 
 WITH 
 
 THE MORAL NATURE OF MAN. 
 
 THE BOYLE LECTURES FOR 1874 AND 1875. 
 
 Fmi/rth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 Pickering & Co., London. 
 
THE 
 
 FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH 
 
 CONSIDBBED IN 
 
 EIGHT SEKMONS 
 
 PREACHED BEFOEE 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 
 
 IN THE YEAR M.DCCC.LXXIX 
 
 AT THE LECTUKE 
 
 FOUNDED BY JOHN BAMPTON M.A. 
 
 CANON OP SALISBURY 
 BY 
 
 HENEY WAGE M.A. 
 
 CHAPlAIIf OP LIHCOLN'S INN 
 TBOPESBOE OF EOCtEBIASTIOAL HISTORY IN KING'S COLLESE LONDON 
 
 Honiion 
 
 PICKERING AND CO. 196 PICCADILLY 
 1880 
 
/\-S5X^l 
 
 ' For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ : for it is the Power 
 of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth ; to the Jew first, 
 and also to the Greek. 
 
 'For therein is the Bighteousness of God revealed from Faith to 
 Faith : as it is written. The Just shall live by Faith.' — The Epistle of 
 St. Paul to the Romans, ch. i. tt. i6, 17. 
 
INSCRIBED TO 
 THE REV. CHARLES HOLE B.A. 
 
 LEOTUKEB ON ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN KING'S COLLEGE LONDON 
 
 AS A TOKEN 
 
 OF GRATITUDE AND AFFECTION 
 
EXTRACT 
 
 FROM THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 
 
 OF THE LATE 
 
 EEV. JOHN BAMPTON, 
 
 CANON OF SALISBURY. 
 
 " I give and bequeath my Lands and Estates to the 
 
 " Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of 
 " Oxford for ever, to have and to hold all and singular the 
 " said Lands or Estates upon trust, and to the intents and 
 " purposes hereinafter mentioned ; that is to say, I will and 
 " appoint that the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ox- 
 " ford for the time being shall take and receive all the rents, 
 " issues, and profits thereof, and (after all taxes, reparations, 
 " and necessary deductions made) that he pay all the re- 
 " mainder to the endov^ment of eight Divinity Lecture Ser- 
 " mons, to be established for ever in the said University, and 
 " to be performed in the manner following : 
 
 " I direct and appoint, that, upon the first Tuesday in 
 " Easter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by the Heads 
 " of Colleges only, and by no others, in the room adjoining 
 " to the Printing-House, between the hours of ten in the 
 " morning and two in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity 
 " Lecture Sermons, the year following, at St. Mary's in Ox- 
 " ford, between the commencement of the last month in Lent 
 " Term, and the end of the third week in Act Term. 
 
i EXTRACT I'UOM CANON BAMPTON S WILL. 
 
 " Also I direct and appoint, that the eight Divinity Lecture 
 ' Sermons shall be preached upon either of the following Sub- 
 ' jects — to confirm and establish the Christian Faith^ and to 
 ' confute all heretics and schismatics — upon the divine au- 
 ' thority of the holy Scriptures — upon the authority of the 
 ' writings of the primitive Fathers, as to the faith and prac- 
 ' tice of the primitive Church — upon the Divinity of our Lord 
 ' and Saviour Jesus Christ — upon the Divinity of the Holy 
 ' Ghost — upon the Articles of the Christian Faith, as compre- 
 ' hended in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. 
 
 " Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight Divinity Lec- 
 ' ture Sermons shall be always printed, within two months 
 ' after they are preached ; and one copy shall be given to the 
 ' Chancellor of the University, and one copy to the Head of 
 ' every College^ and one copy to the Mayor of the city of 
 ' Oxford, and one copy to be put into the Bodleian Library ; 
 " and the expense of printing them shall be paid out of the 
 ' revenue of the Land or Estates given for establishing the 
 ' Divinity Lecture Sermons ; and the Preacher shall not be 
 ' paid, nor be entitled to the revenue, before they are 
 ' printed. 
 
 " Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be quali- 
 ' fied to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons, unless he hath 
 ' taken the degree of Master of Arts at least, in one of the 
 ' two Universities of Oxford or Cambridge ; and that the 
 ' same person shall never preach the Divinity Lecture Ser- 
 ' mons twice." 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XHERE are two general purposes towards which at- 
 tempts ' to confirm and establish the Christian Faith ' 
 may be directed. The one is to show that the truths 
 and facts it reveals are consistent with the conclusions 
 of Reason and Science. The other is to assert the positive 
 grounds on which our Faith rests, and to enforce its 
 authority. The latter is the purpose which the present 
 course of Lectures is designed to serve. It appeared to 
 the author that such an attempt was peculiarly neces- 
 sary at the present day. In consequence of the pro- 
 minence of scientific habits of thought, there is grave 
 danger of insufficient weight being allowed to the dis- 
 tinct and independent claims of the principle of Faith. 
 But it is to Faith that the message of the Gospel is 
 primarily addressed, and upon its vitality the life of the 
 Church chiefly depends. The author has accordingly en- 
 deavoured to illustrate the necessity and supremacy of 
 this principle of our nature, and to vindicate its opera- 
 tion in those successive acts of Faith by which the Christian 
 Creed, as confessed by the Reformed Church of England, 
 has been constructed. He has endeavoured to exhibit 
 the chief realities of spiritual experience to which that 
 
xii Preface. 
 
 Creed appeals, under the conviction that in proportion 
 as these great facts of life and history are apprehended 
 and kept in view will the authority of our Faith be esta- 
 blished. The present work, therefore, is not, properly 
 speaking, of an apologetic character. It is an attempt to 
 exhibit, in some measure, the supreme claim of the Gospel 
 upon our allegiance; and it endeavours to show, not 
 merely that the Christian Creed may reasonably be be- 
 lieved, but that we are under a paramount obligation to 
 submit to it. 
 
 In the later Lectures the argument requires reference 
 to sources not readily accessible to general readers, such 
 as the writings of some of the chief Fathers of the Church 
 and the earlier Latin works of Luther. The author has 
 consequently endeavoured to consult the convenience of 
 such readers by quoting, in the Notes, passages of suffi- 
 cient length to justify and illustrate his statements ; and 
 with the same view he has printed English translations 
 side by side with the original text. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTUEE I. 
 
 THE OFFICE OF FAITH. 
 
 Hebrews xi. i, 2. 
 
 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, -the evidence of things 
 not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. . p. i 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 the faith of the conscience. 
 
 Romans i. 28. 
 
 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, 
 God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which 
 are not convenient. . . . . . . . V- -1 
 
 LECTURE m. 
 
 THE WITNESS TO REVELATION. 
 
 Hebrews i. i, 2. 
 
 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time 
 past unto the fathers by the prop)hets, hath in these last days spoken 
 unto us by His Son . . . . ■ ■ . P- 55 
 
xiv Cov tents. 
 
 'LECTUEE IV. 
 
 THE FAITH OF THE OLD COVENANT. 
 
 Isaiah xlii. 5, 6. 
 
 jT/ms saith Ood the Lord, He that created the heavens, and stretched 
 them out ; He that sjpread forth the earth, and that which cometh 
 out of it; He that giveth breath unto the 2^eo2}le upon it, and 
 spirit to them that loalh therein : I the Lord have called thee in 
 righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee. p. 82 
 
 LECTUEE V. 
 
 OUE LORD'S DEMAND FOE FAITH. 
 
 St. Matthew xi. 25-27. 
 
 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, Father, Lord 
 of heaven and earth, hecause Thou hast hid these things from the 
 wise and prudent, and hast revealed them wnto babes. Even so. 
 Father : for so it seemed good in Thy sight. All things are 
 delivered unto me of my Father : and no man knoweth the Son, 
 but the Father ; neither knoiveth any man the Father, save the 
 Son and he to whomsover the Son toill reveal Him. , p. 1 1 1 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 THE FAITH OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 
 
 Acts v. 29-32. 
 
 Then Peter and the other Apostles ansiuered and said. We ought to 
 obey God rather than nun. The God of our fathers raised up 
 Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God 
 exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for 
 to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are 
 His witnesses of these things ; and so is also the Holy Glhost, wliom 
 God hath given to them that obey Him-. . . . p- 138 
 
Contents. xv 
 
 LECTUEE VII. 
 
 THE FAITH OF THE REFORMATION, 
 EOMANS VIII. 15. 
 
 For ye have not received the sjnrit of bondage again to fear ; hut 
 ye have received the Spirit of adojjtion, whereby ive cry, Abba, 
 Father. . . p. 165 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Ephesians IV. 13-15. 
 
 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of 
 the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature 
 of tJie fulness of Christ : that we henceforth be no more children, 
 tossed to and fro, and ca/rried about with every wind of doctrine, 
 by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in 
 wait to deceive ; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into 
 Him, in all things, which is the head, even Christ : from whom the 
 whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every 
 joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure 
 of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself 
 in love. . ■ . . ■ ■ ■ . . p. 189 
 
 Appendix, containing Notes and Illusteations . . p. 225 
 
LECTURE L 
 
 THE OFFICE OF FAITH. 
 
 Hebeews xi. 1, 2. 
 
 Now faith is the substance of things hojiedfor, the evidence of things 
 not seen. For hy it the elders obtained a good report. 
 
 ^ iHESE words, without amounting to a definition 
 of faith, express its most striking characteristic in 
 practice — its power of giving a substantial reahty 
 to the objects of hope, and a verification to the 
 invisible. It must be felt by every one with what 
 truth and vividness they describe the spiritual life of 
 the Jewish people, and the animating principle of 
 the saints of the Old Testament. It was a life based 
 on the invisible, and directed towards an obscure and 
 improbable future. But that invisible world was 
 more real to the elders of Israel than any of the 
 visible things around them, and that future was 
 more certain than that the sun and moon would 
 fulfil their ordinary course. The course of nature, 
 indeed, had been interfered with again and again in 
 their behalf. For them the earth had been-shaken, 
 the sea had fled, the heavens had been darkened. 
 To their view no physical order was unalterable, 
 
 B 
 
2 The Office of Faith. [Lect. 
 
 and the external world could be moulded at any 
 moment to the purposes of the divine wiU. Though 
 flesh and heart failed them, though the earth was 
 moved and the mountains were carried into the 
 midst of the sea, the Lord of hosts was with them 
 and the God of Jacob was their refuge. On Him 
 they lavished a passion of love, of devotion, of trust, 
 such as is only evoked by those intense affections, 
 under which everything in the world fades and 
 becomes insignificant in comparison with one beloved 
 person. As the visible was thus eclipsed by the in- 
 visible, so was the present by the future. Few in 
 number, despised, conquered, exiled^ crushed, the 
 Jews grasped with unshaken tenacity the assurance 
 that they were reserved for a glorious destiny; and 
 in their darkest hours they never doubted that the 
 Messiah would appear to deliver them, and to assert 
 His absolute sway. Their literature was prophecy, 
 and their very history embodied the types of the 
 future. And all this was founded on simple faith. 
 They had received certain promises, handed down to 
 them from the fathers of their race ; and on those 
 sacred words, few and fragile as they must have 
 seemed to other eyes, they rested the whole edifice 
 of their spiritual, their moral, and even of their 
 physical life. 
 
 The history of the Christian Church has been of 
 precisely similar character. Its foundations were laid 
 in an exercise of the same faculty — the assurance of 
 things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 
 
I.] The Office of Faith. 3 
 
 Its expectations have been at once more distant and 
 more near than those of the Jewish elders — more 
 distant, because more and more disengaged, as time 
 went on, from the hope of an immediate return of 
 our Lord in power ; more near, because illuminated 
 from the first with a clearer vision of life and immor- 
 tality beyond the grave. But the prophetical element 
 in the New Testament is perhaps still stronger than 
 in the Old. The parables of our Lord constitute a 
 series of prophecies respecting the fate of the Jewish 
 nation, and the development of His Church. They 
 have since been marvellously verified, but in the 
 early days of Christianity they made an immense 
 demand on the faith of His followers. The Epistles 
 of St. Paul are similarly instinct with prophecy. If 
 he applies the axe to the root of the ancient Jewish 
 polity, he is not content to fall back on simple moral 
 and spiritual convictions, but he plants his foot on 
 the firm assurance of the establishment of a new 
 kingdom by Christ, and of its future revelation, and 
 he looks forward as much as the writer of the 
 Apocalypse to a new heaven and a new earth. 
 Similarly the conviction of things unseen is perhaps 
 still more striking in the Christian Church than in 
 the Jewish. For the unseen God of the Old Testa- 
 ment was a God who by His very nature was invisible, 
 and faith was the only instrument by which He could 
 be apprehended. But the Saviour in whom Chris- 
 tians believe has once been seen and heard, He has 
 worn flesh and blood like ourselves, and in that flesh 
 
 B 2 
 
4 The Office of Faith. [Lect. 
 
 and blood He passed from earth; and we believe 
 ourselves to be in union and communion with a 
 human nature like our own, as well as with a divine 
 nature. And as with the Jews so with us — this 
 whole life of faith, which has animated apostles, 
 martyrs, saints, has been sustained by the promises 
 and assurances of men who, in most respects, were of 
 like passions with ourselves. The witness of a few 
 Apostles and Evangelists constitutes the basis on 
 which the whole fabric of Christendom has been 
 reared. They bear testimony to the most stupend- 
 ous facts, to the vastest visions of the future. They 
 claim from us, if the occasion should arise, the 
 sacrifice of aU that in this life men hold dear. They 
 claim it, and the noblest souls who have lived since 
 their time have yielded to the demand. 
 
 Such are the familiar, though marvellous, charac- 
 teristics of Jewish and Christian life. But it is im- 
 portant to bear in mind that a characteristic the same 
 in principle marks the life of other nations, and is at 
 the root of other religions. In all alike we observe 
 a similar supremacy of the faculty of faith. The 
 most conspicuous of all examples is that of Ma- 
 hometanism. There also the assurance of things 
 hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, have 
 furnished the animating motives for a display of 
 energy, of devotion, of valour, of policy, of contempt 
 of life, of tenacity of purpose, which has at least 
 constituted one of the most momentous forces in 
 human history. At this moment, even in its decay, 
 
I.] The Office of Faith. 5 
 
 the Mahometan world confronts the Christian na- 
 tions with a desperate resistance ; and statesmen 
 are perplexed how to deal with its reserve of en- 
 thusiasm. All this immense force has been created 
 by a single man — a man who had no antecedent 
 expectations to appeal to, who called no witnesses in 
 his support, and who made no other sacrifices for his 
 cause than those which are repeatedly made by other 
 great conquerors and adventurers. He started with 
 an appeal to one great tnith. On the influence thus 
 gained he built up an elaborate system of worship, 
 of morality, and of polity ; and by virtue of his sole 
 word and authority he has secured its acceptance, 
 with absolute submission of body and soul, by vast 
 numbers and successive generations of the human 
 race. On the assurances of this one man, and on 
 those alone, has the portentous fabric of Mahomet- 
 anism been reared ; and at this moment the assertion 
 ' There is no God but God, and Mahomet is the 
 prophet of God,' suffices as the substance of things 
 hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, to 
 some of the most vigorous races on the earth. 
 
 Turn to the older religions of the East and you 
 observe the like spectacle. Buddhism, which is said 
 to command the allegiance of a larger portion of 
 mankind than any other creed, is similarly based on 
 absolute faith in the spiritual intuitions of a single 
 man. Doubtless, like Mahomet, he appealed to great 
 facts in human nature, and to great truths in the 
 human conscience. His appreciation of those facts 
 
6 The Office of Faith. [Lect. 
 
 and truths afforded him the credentials with which 
 he. commenced his mission. But starting from 
 this ground, he and his followers elaborated a vast 
 system of religious and moral philosophy, which for 
 more than twenty centuries has governed the daily 
 life, the future hopes, the whole physical, moral, 
 and mental constitution of countless millions of our 
 race. In the Buddha's teaching, confirmed by the 
 assurances of the sages who succeeded him, myriads 
 of souls find the substance of things hoped for, the 
 evidence of things not seen. In reliance on this 
 faith, the whole visible world becomes simply an 
 unreality to be escaped from, and men follow their 
 guide enthusiastically into an existence so intangible, 
 that there is a dispute whether it be real exist- 
 ence at all. The case is substantially the same 
 with that ancient religion out of which Buddhism 
 sprang. No matter how it arose, or how it may be 
 adapted to certain peculiarities of the Hindoo mind, 
 in point of fact it has for many generations rested 
 on authority. By virtue of faith in that authority, 
 the things not seen and the things hoped for are 
 far more real to the mass of Hindoos than the things 
 seen and the things possessed. Our power, our 
 knowledge, our command of nature may be gradually 
 making an impression on their minds, and compelling 
 them to recognize the reality and inherent life of 
 the world around them ; but we are encountered in 
 the first instance with the indifference of a faith 
 convinced of its own superiority. The visible world 
 
I.] The Office of Faith. 7 
 
 may belong to us, but the invisible belongs to them, 
 and in this trust they are capable of the most reso- 
 lute abandonment of all that is held precious in this 
 life. Similar considerations wotdd be suggested if 
 we turned to China, where the principle of authority, 
 which is correlative with that of faith, is perhaps 
 more powerful than in any other human community. 
 In this case, indeed, its sphere of action is mainly 
 confined to the present life ; but it involves none the 
 less the same capacity for trust and for submission. 
 
 These, moreover, are but the more stupendous 
 instances of a principle which obtains in every race 
 and nation in which there is any organic life or moral 
 vigour. Eeview the course of history from the 
 earliest times, or survey the face of the world at the 
 present day, and you find the same characteristics 
 everywhere and at all times predominant — the 
 substance which is possessed by things hoped for, 
 the intense conviction which prevails in the reality 
 of things not seen, and the implicit trust which has 
 been reposed in the great teachers and leaders of 
 mankind. At this moment it is faith which is at 
 once the great organizing and the great dividing 
 power in the world. Mahometanism, Brahmanism, 
 Buddhism, Confucianism — these are the governing 
 forces of the various polities and civilizations which, 
 in their world-wide mission, Englishmen have to 
 encounter. It is under the sway of these creeds that 
 vast masses of human beings are welded together 
 like so many armies, that they offer to our faith, 
 
8 The Office of Faith. [Lect. 
 
 our science and our arms, so firm a front, and that 
 they remain almost impenetrable long after all 
 physical barriers have been surmounted. Even within 
 the pale of Christianity the variations of faith 
 between the Eoman, the Greek, and the Protestant 
 Churches create divergences in sympathy, in tone of 
 thought, in the objects and general order of life, 
 which are among the most potent political in- 
 fluences. The substance of things hoped for, the 
 evidence of things not seen — this, as a matter of 
 fact, has been and still is the most powerful and 
 universal force in the world of human nature, and 
 in Faith has been found the mightiest influence 
 to which men have ever appealed. 
 
 There is something profoundly touching, as well 
 as amazing, in the spectacle thus presented to us. 
 We behold millions of men and women, most of them 
 struggling painfuUy under physical burdens, amidst 
 moral and mental perplexities, with but a brief span 
 of life before them, and no certain knowledge of the 
 world beyond, yet trusting their souls and their 
 whole present and future to the guidance of a man 
 like themselves, whose claims to their allegiance must 
 in great measure rest on his own word and assurance. 
 In reliance on him they are ready to meet death and 
 torture themselves ; they are content to train their 
 children to follow the same guidance ; until the 
 hopes and interests of countless generations have been 
 hazarded on the promises of a single prophet or sage. 
 There would seem to have been no limit to the trust- 
 
I.] The Office of Faith. 9 
 
 fulness of hTiman nature ; and the responsibility of 
 those who have appealed to this trust, and who in 
 some instances have abused it, is proportionately 
 trenaendous. 
 
 Such, however, are the facts which meet our 
 obsei-vation if we contemplate life on a large scale. 
 The elementary principle at work is everywhere 
 the same. Though the faith of Christians is vitally 
 distinguished, by virtue of its objects, and by their 
 reaction on itself, from the faith exercised in other 
 religions, it would seem gratuitous to suppose that 
 it employs an essentially different faculty. The 
 description of faith by the sacred writer, that it is 
 ' the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of 
 things not seen,' seems clearly to apply to all those 
 creeds to which reference has been made, and covers 
 the whole ground of human action in the moral and 
 religious sphere. Upon faith, in this general sense 
 of the word, every civilization has been based, and 
 in proportion as such faith has been weakened has 
 every civilization tottered to its fall. An universal 
 instinct has taught statesmen to recognize in the 
 maintenance of this principle the indispensable basis 
 of the social and political organizations over which 
 they have presided. In a word, it has been by the 
 invisible rather than by the visible, by the future 
 rather than by the present, by authority rather than 
 by reason, by faith rather than by sight, that, as a 
 matter of fact, mankind, as a whole, has been go- 
 verned, has been organized, and has advanced to its 
 
10 The Office of Faith. [Lect. 
 
 present condition. The part played by reason in 
 this marvellous course of development has, indeed, 
 been momentous, and has been second only to that 
 of faith. But regarding history as a whole, the part 
 of reason must be admitted to have been a secondary 
 one. It is faith which has grasped whole nations 
 and ages within its sway, and which has determined 
 the main principles of their conduct and their 
 destiny. 
 
 We are forced, however, at the present day, to 
 confront a view of our position which offers a com- 
 plete contrast to that suggested by this survey. The 
 most brilliant achievements of our century have been 
 its scientific advances. They have been so continu- 
 ous, so surprising, so comprehensive, and so benefi- 
 cent, that they have naturally fascinated, and almost 
 absorbed, the attention of our generation; until the 
 process by which they have been reached, and the 
 temper of mind they foster, tend to assert a predo- 
 minance over all others. Few things are more deserv- 
 ing of observation in the course of human thought, 
 and in the development of human nature, than what 
 may be called the lack of balance with which they 
 have generally been accompanied. As one principle 
 after another comes into prominence, as one faculty of 
 man's nature after another asserts itself, it overbears 
 all others for a time ; it becomes exaggerated, and the 
 whole mind receives a disproportionate development ; 
 until some forgotten truth reasserts itself, and then 
 perhaps a new disproportion is created. It would be 
 
I.] The Office of Faith. 11 
 
 strange indeed if, under the intellectual excitement 
 which scientific discoveries have aroused in the 
 present day, we had escaped a danger from which 
 every previous age has suffered. But however this 
 may be, there can be no doubt of the fact that the 
 habits fostered by scientific thought have of late been 
 acquiring a predominance which is destructive, not so 
 much of particular doctrines of the Christian creed, 
 as of the essential principle of faith as characterised 
 in the text. Science, in its strict application, admits 
 no assurance of things only hoped for, and can allow 
 no conviction of things incapable of being tested by 
 the senses. Its claim at every step is for verification 
 — verification, as is constantly insisted, by plain and 
 practical tests. All else is to be put aside — not 
 indeed, if we allow for some glaring exceptions, with 
 disrespect, or with intolerance — but still to be put 
 aside. A general discredit is quietly and deliberately 
 cast upon the whole fabric of oux creed as something 
 which, whatever may be said for it, has no adequate 
 basis on which to rest. Much has of late years been 
 heard of the conflict between faith and science ; and 
 however that conflict may be appeased on particular 
 points, there remains, it is to be feared, that cardinal 
 opposition in point of principle to which the con- 
 sideration now in view directs our attention. 
 
 It is of course a commonplace to assert that there 
 can be no real collision between the truths of religion 
 and those of physical science ; and it is equally a 
 commonplace that there can be no real incompati- 
 
12 The Office of Faith. [Lect. 
 
 bility between the scientific spirit and the spirit 
 of faith. But there is nothing inconsistent with 
 this nor anything in the least degree disrespectful 
 to science, in urging that it is not only possible, 
 but too common for one faculty and one mental 
 habit to be so developed as to overbear others, and 
 to do injustice to them. ' It is this, there is great 
 reason to apprehend, which is the case at the present 
 moment. Science, to use a familiar expression, 'is 
 in the air ' — science in the special and limited sense 
 in which the word is now chiefly understood ; and 
 there is a tendency to judge of all things on piirely 
 scientific grounds. It is positively asserted, or 
 tacitly assumed, that Faith, as we have contem- 
 plated it in the general course of human history, is 
 unjustifiable as a principle of action, and that the 
 welfare of mankind is to be pursued by rigidly 
 restricting our beliefs within the limits of that 
 which can be sensibly verified. There is, indeed, 
 one famous philosophical system of modern thought, 
 that of Positivism, which is exclusively based 
 upon this principle. But this is only another in- 
 stance of the disposition of the French genius to 
 embody in a sharp and logical shape ideas which, in 
 a less definite form, are moulding the thought 
 of the age. It has been said that the business 
 of philosophy is to answer three questions : ' What 
 can I know 1 ' ' What ought I to do 1' ' For 
 what may I hope 1 ' But these three questions, as 
 has been recently asserted by one of the most 
 
I] The Office of Faith. 13 
 
 distinguished natural philosopliers of the present 
 day*, 'resolve themselves in the long run into the 
 first ; for rational expectation and moral action are 
 alike based upon beliefs ; and a belief is void of 
 justification unless its subject-matter lies within the 
 boundaries of possible knowledge, and unless its 
 evidence satisfies the conditions which experience 
 imposes as a guarantee of credibility.' In this 
 characteristic statement of the scientific principle 
 there is much ambiguity ; but any doubt as to its 
 practical tendency in the hands of modem philo- 
 sophers must be removed by the consequences de- 
 duced from it by its author, who is led to give his 
 assent to the sceptical conclusions of Hume respecting 
 our belief in immortality and in God*. Experience 
 shows, in fact, that such a principle, in proportion as 
 it is rigidly applied, tends not so much to produce a 
 direct conflict with our Christian faith, as to under- 
 mine the grounds on which we adhere to it. So far 
 as our creed is beyond the reach of verification, so 
 far as it rests upon the mere words and assertions 
 of its founder, so far as it is a matter of trust and 
 not of sight, its hold upon men's minds is liable to 
 be shaken by the undue predominance of these habits 
 of scientific thought. 
 
 There would seem something very astonishing in 
 the challenge thus thrown down to that which, as 
 
 a Professor Huxley on Hume (Macmillan and Co., 1879), p. 48. 
 See Note i. 
 
 t" See the same book, pp. 157 and 172 ; and the next Lecture. 
 
14 The Office of Faith. [Lect. 
 
 we have seen, has been the predominant disposition 
 of human nature in all ages and in all countries. 
 But in proportion to the boldness and thoroughness 
 of a challenge is sometimes its temporary success, 
 and the perplexity which has been created in the 
 present instance is in many ways apparent. One 
 important illustration of the influence in question is 
 conspicuous in modern theology. The extreme 
 rationalistic school represents, of course, a deliberate 
 predetermination to reduce every doctrine of re- 
 velation, and every element of religious life as 
 exhibited in the Scriptures, within the limits of 
 natural knowledge. But far short of this, there is 
 a strong temptation among us to what may be 
 designated as a minimising theology — a theology 
 tending more and more to throw into the back- 
 ground everything which is mysterious and per- 
 plexing in our faith, and to insist solely on 'that moral 
 part of it, which commends itself to the enlight- 
 ened conscience of an educated society, trained and 
 stimulated by eighteen centuries of Christian teach- 
 ing and example. There is a disposition to reduce 
 within the smallest possible limits that which is said 
 to be essential in Christianity, so as to diminish, as 
 much as may be, the appearance of its requiring our 
 assent to truths beyond the range of our natural 
 faculties. 
 
 Now it may be that this tendency, like other 
 disproportionate developments of thought, may not 
 be without its advantages in drawing increased 
 
I.] The Office of Faith. 15 
 
 attention to the particular aspect of truth, which, it 
 exaggerates, and in estabhshing a firmer recognition 
 of that which may be regarded as the natural 
 element in the Christian faith. But so far as it is 
 an endeavour to render the demand upon faith less 
 severe, and its conflict with the scientific spirit less 
 strikiag, the attempt not only fails, but to some 
 extent even aggravates the difficulty. For suppose 
 a creed reduced to the single article of behef in the 
 goodness and perfection of God. Without such a 
 belief anything at all in the nature of a pure religion 
 can hardly be said to exist, and the point is, of course, 
 one which, as St. Paul asserts, is dictated to our 
 consciences by the elementary instincts of faith. But, 
 at the same time, when subjected to the analysis of 
 reason, and brought into contact with a rigid scien- 
 tific standard, it presents, perhaps, more momentous 
 difficulties than any • of the articles of faith which 
 follow it. The moment the scientific reason begins 
 to discuss it, we are confronted with the tremendous, 
 and apparently insoluble, problem of the existence 
 of evil. The faith which, in the full sight and con- 
 sciousness of that problem, maintains its firm assent 
 to the absolute goodness and omnipotence of God, 
 has abandoned the ground of mere rational behef 
 and has taken a step which justifies, in principle, 
 any subsequent advance. It has given up, once for 
 all, the right to measure its assent by the limits 
 and dictates of reason alone, and has committed it- 
 self to the hands of another guide altogether. 
 
16 The Office of Faith. [Lect. 
 
 That this is no mere speculative perplexity is 
 demonstrated by a prolonged and pathetic expe- 
 rience. The persistence of this problem of evil, 
 and its terrible pressure, are among the most con- 
 spicuous facts in the history both of human thought 
 and of human life. In the book of Job it is de- 
 picted as the great agony of patriarchal thought ; 
 and the practical solution of it there given is that 
 upon which we are thrown back up to the present 
 hour — namely, that there is no rational solution 
 for it at all, and that we must be content with 
 the confession of our utter ignorance and weak- 
 ness, and with simple submission and trust in the 
 Almighty. ' Job answered the Lord and said. Be- 
 hold, I am vile ; what shall I answer Thee ? I 
 will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I 
 spoken ; but I will not answer : yea twice ; but I will 
 proceed no further".' But a still more conspicuous 
 proof of the enormous pressure of this elementary- 
 difficulty is furnished by the great religions of the 
 East. Buddhism — to refer again to the most striking 
 case — may literally be said to have been created by 
 the problem of evil. The meditative speculation of 
 India, brooding over the facts of life, experienced an 
 agony like that of Job ; and failing to fall back upon 
 the faith which sustained him, has taken refuge in 
 a system which may be described as a profound re- 
 ligious narcotic. Buddhism cannot solve the problem ; 
 
 o Job xl. 3-5. 
 
 A 
 
I.] Tlie Office of Faith. 17 
 
 but it can numb the religious consciousness by a 
 phnosopbic asceticism, and can foster the hope of 
 escaping into an existence where the soul will no 
 longer be conscious of the evil of life. The same 
 problem has been recently revived by German specu- 
 lation, and weighs on mere reason with as over- 
 powering a burden as ever. Judging by experience, 
 it would seem that the human soul cannot leave the 
 problem alone, and insists on some support or other 
 amidst its distress and misery. The same difficulty 
 presents itself in a similar, but not less urgent form 
 in the daily work of the ministers of our own faith 
 among the poor and suffering. It is one thing to 
 say that God is good in the shelter of an academic 
 retirement, and a very different thing to say it, and 
 to believe it, amidst the weakness, the sickness, and 
 the squalor of poverty. 
 
 Now it is precisely in the most mysterious doc- 
 trines of our creed, in those which make the strongest 
 demands on faith, and are the most remote from 
 any possibility of scientific verification, that Chris- 
 tian souls find their support and refuge under these 
 burdens of the flesh and these torments of the spirit. 
 The message that ' God so loved the world, that He 
 gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
 in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life ' 
 — this is a message, simple as are its terms, which 
 transcends aU philosophy, all reason, all experience, 
 nay, all capacity of comprehension ; and yet it is in 
 reliance on this message, and on other assurances of 
 
 c 
 
18 The Office of Faith. [Lect. 
 
 the same kind, that Christians are deHvered from all 
 despair, and are enabled, under whatever distresses, 
 to cling to their belief in the love of their Father in 
 heaven. When the Christian minister can assure a 
 suffering soul on the bed of death, in misery or 
 pain, that whatever its agonies, the Son of God in 
 human form endured far worse for its sake, as a 
 pledge of the love of its Father, and in fulfilment 
 of that love, he applies a remedy which is equal to 
 any need. The message of the Cross, interpreted by 
 the doctrine of the Incarnation, is thus, in moments 
 of real trial, the support of the most elementary 
 principle of faith. In fact, the minimising theology 
 now in question depends for its plausibility upon a 
 simple evasion of the real problems of philosophy, 
 and of the practical difficulties of life. The full and 
 explicit faith of the creeds recognizes those diffi- 
 culties, and looks them in the face. It owns that 
 they are insuperable upon any grounds of mere 
 natural reason, and it offers supernatural realities 
 and supernatural assurances to overcome them. 
 
 Considerations such as these may sufl&ce to show 
 that it would be vain to attempt any compromise 
 with the scientific spirit by minimising the articles 
 of our faith. As long as we retain any of them, 
 however elementary, as more than bare speculations, 
 we go beyond scientific grounds, and rest upon 
 assurances which transcend the capacity of mere 
 reason. We rise above nature, beyond the realm of 
 sight and sense and observation, and we act on the 
 
T.] The Office of Faith. 19 
 
 conviction of things not seen. In proportion, indeed, 
 to the depth and extent of the Christian's experience 
 is his faith transformed into knowledge. We are 
 given 'an understanding that we may know Him 
 that is true, and we are in Him that is true*.' But 
 in the order of the Christian life, according to the old 
 saying, faith comes before knowledge, and we believe 
 in order that we may know. The scientific principle, 
 as described in the passage previously quoted ^, is the 
 reverse of this ; in the scientific sphere knowledge 
 precedes faith, and we learn to know in order that we 
 may believe. But it also follows from this principle 
 that science must know before she can deny. Ac- 
 cordingly, it is to be observed that the attitude of 
 philosophy and science towards religious truth, as 
 represented by their ablest and most authoritative 
 exponents in modern times, is not one of negation, 
 but of a simple confession of ignorance, or, as such an 
 attitude has been recently termed, 'Agnosticism.' The 
 representative writer just referred to has, indeed, of 
 late gone so far as to say, in no intemperate spirit, 
 that ' in respect of the existence and attributes of 
 the soul, as of those of the Deity, logic is powerless 
 and reason silent ' ; ' and if this be an extreme state- 
 ment, it would at least seem beyond question that, 
 from such a point of view, logic and reason are so 
 hesitating and so perplexed as to afford no adequate 
 basis for action, and no sufficient assurance for un- 
 
 d I John V. 20. 6 p. 13. 
 
 f Professor Huxley on Hume, p. 179. 
 
 C 2 
 
20 The Office of Faith. [Lect. 
 
 qualified faith. Eeason, indeed, when exhibited in 
 its highest power and animated by sound moral 
 instincts, has attained, even without the aid of revela- 
 tion, to lofty anticipations, to dim apprehensions of 
 mighty realities beyond its ken — 'feeling after' the 
 great facts of religion. But its safest employment 
 on this subject is that which has been exemplified 
 so forcibly by Bishop Butler — that of defence rather 
 than of construction, of answering the difficulties 
 raised by itself, and thus acting as its own critic. 
 
 Such, at any rate, is the attitude of scientific 
 reason at the present day. It acknowledges its in- 
 competence to pronounce positively against any of 
 the great truths of our faith. It has of late, for 
 instance, distinctly confessed, by the mouth of one 
 of its most distinguished and authoritative repre- 
 sentatives, that there can be no just ground, on the 
 principles of natural philosophy, for denying the 
 possibility of the occurrence of miracles. ' No one,' 
 — to quote again from Professor Huxley ^ — ' who 
 wishes to keep well within the limits of that which 
 he has a right to assert would affirm that it is im- 
 possible that the sun and moon should ever have 
 been made to appear to stand still in the valley of 
 Ajalon ; or that the walls of a city should have faUen 
 down at a trumpet blast ; or that water was turned 
 into wine ; because such events are contrary to uni- 
 form experience and violate laws of nature. For 
 aught he can prove to the contrary, such events may 
 E Professor Huxley on Hume, pp. 134, 136. 
 
I.] The Office of Faith. 21 
 
 appear in the order of nature to-morrow.' Again : 
 ' No event is too extraordinary to be impossible ; and 
 therefore if by the term miracle, we mean only 
 " extremely wonderful events," there can be no just 
 ground for denjdng the possibility of their occurrence.' 
 But if there be any truth or fact of our faith on the 
 possibility of which science might have been expected 
 to be able to pronounce, it is on that of miracles ; 
 for they are events which, at any rate, occTir within 
 the natural realm, and are within the cognizance of 
 the senses. If scientific principles leave this question 
 open, it seems hard to say what questions of the 
 Christian religion they do not leave open. Science 
 places itself, by its own confession, out of court in 
 the matter. Of course, if any article of faith, or any 
 alleged fact in religion, is contradicted by an estab- 
 lished truth of science, there is at once an end of 
 it. To modify the memorable phrase of our great 
 apologist, ' let Eeason be kept to, and if any point in 
 Christian belief can be shown to be really contrary to 
 it, let the belief, in the name of God, be given up"^.' 
 But where Science plainly confesses herself incom- 
 petent to pronounce, where she hesitates, falters, and, 
 in the person of her frankest representatives, is 
 silent, let it not be supposed that she has discredited 
 truths which rest upon other grounds. 
 
 It thus appears that if at the present time the 
 principle of faith has been weakened by the influence 
 of the scientific spirit, this result is due to an entirely 
 ^ Bishop Butler, in the Analogy, Part II, ch. g, sec. 7. 
 
22 The Office of Faith. [Leut. 
 
 fallacious impression. It is not the case that the 
 slightest valid presumption has been established 
 against our faith. It is simply that the dazzling 
 blaze of the greatest illumination ever opened to the 
 natural eye has entranced the mental vision of our 
 age, and has made other objects and other sources of 
 illumination seem for the moment dim to men. The 
 apprehension of Bacon has been fulfilled : ' Sensus, 
 instar solis, globi terrestris faciem aperit, coelestis 
 claudit et obsignat *.' But though the impression may 
 be fallacious and unreasonable, few can doubt that it 
 prevails, or that it has a very considerable effect 
 in obstructing the general influence of the Christian 
 faith, and in weakening its grasp upon many who, on 
 the whole, submit to it. As has always been the 
 case in similar circumstances, the consequences are 
 felt in other matters besides religious faith. They 
 are perceptible in a general enfeeblement of the 
 principle of authority, and in an indisposition to sub- 
 mit to restraint in thought, in speech, and in conduct. 
 On the Continent, at all events, the prevalence of this 
 temper is felt to menace society with very grave con- 
 sequences indeed, and it would be rash to regard our 
 own country as out of the reach of a like danger. 
 
 The revival, in short, appears to be urgently 
 needed of the principle of faith, and with it a reno- 
 vation of that just authority which holds families, 
 societies, and nations together, and which moulds 
 successive generations in harmony with deliberate 
 
 * Praef. ad Insiaur. Mag. 
 
I.] The Office of Faith. 23 
 
 and noble aims. That general operation of faith, 
 throughout the world and through all history, 
 with a review of which these observations were in- 
 troduced, should serve to convince us of the immense 
 moral and spiritual force which lies latent in human 
 nature awaiting such a revival. Unless that nature 
 is entirely changed, the hearts of men mvist still be 
 susceptible of that mightiest and noblest of all 
 emotions, which impels them to follow the leader 
 whom they trust through doubt and through dark- 
 ness, through peril and through death, to build upon 
 his promises their expectations of things hoped for, 
 to accept his assurances respecting things not seen, 
 and to unite loyally with others in maintaining 
 his kingdom and asserting his authority. If the 
 capacity for such a spirit should be stifled amongst 
 ourselves by a false rationalism — though how can 
 it be stifled as long as England and the English 
 universities furnish a generous youth to respond to 
 its appeal 1 — yet, at all events, this spirit is still alive 
 in the East. It may yet prove the spring of a new 
 life throughout those regions from whence aU faith 
 and aU civilization arose. The Christian cannot doubt 
 that the Faith of the Gospel will thus return to its 
 ancient home and reanimate its chosen people ; and 
 when that final triumph of the true Prophet and 
 King of mankind is achieved, God grant that Eiu-ope 
 may not have cause to hear in it an echo, or a 
 reversal, of the voice once addressed to the Jews — . 
 ' Behold ! we tvirn to the Gentiles.' 
 
24 The Office of Faith. [Lect. 
 
 If these considerations be just, it will not be 
 inopportune to make an attempt, in humility and 
 prayer, to consider the nature, the justification, and 
 the present position of that principle which, as we 
 have seen, lies so deeply at the root of human life, 
 and on which the Christian creed and the fabric of 
 Christian civilization repose. The object of this 
 course of Lectures will be to offer a contribution 
 towards strengthening the Foundations and elucidat- 
 ing the Elements of Faith, and thus to illustrate the 
 character and the just limits of that Authority on 
 which, notwithstanding the silence of science and the 
 hesitations of reason, we build our expectations of 
 things hoped for, our conviction of things not seen. 
 For this purpose, an endeavour will be made to 
 exhibit the manner in which Faith is founded in the 
 deep convictions of the conscience, to trace the de- 
 velopment of its lofty structure under the guidance 
 of revelation ; and finally to consider the ground on 
 which it rests in our own Church, and at the pre- 
 sent time. It will at least be an assistance towards 
 appreciating what faith may be now, if we realise 
 in some measure what it has been in the past, and 
 if we can quicken our apprehension of the method in 
 which it has operated in the great crises of religious 
 history. 
 
 There remains, however, one consideration to which 
 it may be necessary to advert in introducing this 
 subject to your consideration. Such a review of the 
 operation of Faith as has just been offered, and as is 
 
I.] The Office of Faith. 25 
 
 further contemplated in the covirse of these Lectures, 
 has sometimes been approached in a very diflFerent 
 spirit from that which prompts the present attempt. 
 It is obvious to point to the discordant results, to 
 the conflicting beliefs, to the miserable divisions, 
 even within the Christian Church, to which Faith 
 has led, and to ask what can be the value of a 
 principle which has hitherto produced such confusion, 
 and which, at the present time, occasions to some of 
 the most faithful souls such grievous perplexity. 
 Nothing is more obvious. But nothing is more un- 
 generous, at least on the part of the sons of the 
 Church ; and there is nothing to which the answer 
 seems more simple. On what ground is it to be 
 supposed, where was it ever promised, that faith 
 alone, of all the faculties and functions of man's 
 nature, would operate independently of his weakness 
 and his sin, and would not have to grow with his 
 moral growth, strengthen with his moral strength, 
 and be enfeebled or perverted in proportion to his 
 moral unfaithfulness ? What an indictment might 
 not be drawn up against reason itself, for the errors, 
 the half-truths, the controversies into which it has 
 led mankind! What indictments have not actually 
 been drawn up against civilization, and against the 
 very principles of society, on the ground of the wars, 
 the diseases, the private injuries, which they have 
 involved ! But who would be thought to be uttering 
 •anything but a paradox if on this ground, like our 
 greatest satirist, he were to suggest the folly of being 
 
26 The Office of Faith. [Lect. I. 
 
 guided by reason, or, like our most philosophical 
 statesman, were to write a treatise in vindication of 
 natural society J ? The sad record of Christian 
 divisions is but a proof that in the highest concerns 
 of the soul we are as much in a state of conflict, of 
 trial, of moral struggle as in all other spheres of our 
 life ; and there would be nothing unnatural if it also 
 showed that in the loftiest regions of aU the tempta- 
 tions were greater than elsewhere, the consequences 
 of a fall more conspicuous and more disastrous. It is 
 here, in fact, that the human spirit finds its ultimate 
 trial ; here and here alone, as will be seen in the sequel, 
 in its aspirations towards things hoped for, its crav- 
 ings for things not seen, its yearnings towards infinite 
 truth, goodness, and beauty, that all its faculties, 
 intellectual, moral, and even physical, are put to their 
 severest test. Let us not for a moment indulge the 
 unworthy apprehension that He who. has endowed us 
 with the supreme instinct of Faith wUl disappoint it. 
 In proportion to our faithful response to the striv- 
 ings of His Spirit will He gradually lead us onwards 
 to the light, until faith at length is merged in His 
 perfect and glorious vision. 
 
 J Burke, A Vindication of Natural Society : or, a view of the 
 miseries and evils arising to mankind from every species of Artificial 
 Society. Burke's "Works, vol. i. 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 THE FAITH OF THE CONSCIENCE, 
 
 Rom. i. 28. 
 
 A nd even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God 
 gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are 
 not convenient. 
 
 It is unnecessary at the outset of this enquiry to 
 examine the various definitions of Faith. Such a 
 discussion would in great measure relate to the 
 meaning of words ; while we are concerned with 
 facts. Our object is to obtain a clearer conception 
 of the nature of Faith by considering its operation 
 in history, and, above all, in the history of the 
 Church ; and without any strict definition, we know 
 sufficiently where to observe it, and on what main 
 principles the structure of the Christian creed is 
 built. The first, and so far the most momentous, 
 of those principles is Belief in God. As was shewn 
 in the first Lecture, this belief, when submitted to 
 the keen scrutiny of a cultivated reason, and sub- 
 jected to the severe tests of a prolonged experience, 
 
28 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 appears to demand the support which is afforded it 
 by the full revelation of God in Christ. The diffi- 
 culties which press upon us, in proportion as the 
 realities of life are forced upon our view, are so 
 tremendous, they had been felt to be so overwhelm- 
 ing alike by Jewish prophets and by Greek philo- 
 sophers, that, in another sense from that which is 
 usually understood, we may well say ' the fulness of 
 the time was come,' when God sent forth His Son that 
 we might receive the adoption of sons. From the 
 misery of Job to the despair of Habakkuk, exclaim- 
 ing that 'the law is slacked and judgment doth never 
 go forth '^j' the burden on human nature seemed to 
 be becoming more than it could bear ; and some 
 assurance of the divine love, such as was vouchsafed 
 in the life and death of our Lord, appeared indis- 
 pensable, if the noblest thoughts and hopes of the 
 world were not to be crushed. That assurance, once 
 vouchsafed, became thenceforward all sufficient in it- 
 self to millions of souls, however suffering and however 
 perplexed. It is still for the world at large the most 
 decisive testimony to our Father in Heaven that can 
 possibly be adduced ; and we cannot well place too 
 absolute and simple a reliance upon it. At the present 
 time, in particular, it merits the careful considera- 
 tion of those who have to deal either with heathen- 
 ism abroad or with ordinary doubt and irreligion at 
 home, whether the direct message of a living and 
 historic Christ, recorded in the Gospels, and attested 
 
 * Habakkuk i, 4. 
 
II.] of the Conscience. 29 
 
 by an historic Church, does not afford a more natural 
 and a more potent argument for faith than any 
 formal system of evidences. ' He that hath seen Me,' 
 said our Lord, ' hath seen the Father; and how sayest 
 thou then, Shew us the Father ^^ ? ' In proportion 
 as we can enable men to see Christ will they see His 
 Father, and to this end all practical teaching should 
 be directed. 
 
 But the course to be adopted in order to convert 
 men in practice, and the method to be pursued in 
 explaining the nature of faith and vindicating its 
 action, are very different; and for our present 
 purposes it is necessary we should enquire into the 
 character and the validity of those primary acts of 
 faith upon which, as a matter of fact, the whole 
 superstructure of the Jewish and the Christian 
 religion has been erected. Persistent efforts are 
 now made by able and influential writers to under- 
 mine these elementary principles. Distinguished 
 men of science write popular handbooks, in which 
 the most sceptical philosophy of the last century is 
 revived and justified <> ; and so far as the elementary 
 foundations of religious faith are thus undermined, 
 it becomes impracticable to obtain a due hearing 
 for the full and convincing revelation of our Lord 
 and of His Apostles. We claim faith in a divine 
 revelation ; but we are challenged at the outset to 
 
 b St. John xiv. 9. 
 
 <= For example, Professor Huxley's account of Hume, already- 
 referred to. 
 
30 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 state what justification we can have for believing 
 in any thing which cannot be verified by natural 
 reason and ordinary experience. It is alleged that the 
 elementary article of belief in God is incapable of such 
 verification, and doctrines assuming a revelation from 
 Him are consequently treated as outside the range 
 of practical discussion. It was shewn in the preced- 
 ing Lecture how flagrantly such a challenge conflicts 
 with the universal dictates of human nature, and 
 what a presumption is consequently raised against 
 it. But it is not enough to create a presumption 
 without vindicating it ; and lamentable as it must 
 seem from one point of view to be arguing this 
 elementary question at the present day, the con- 
 siderations it suggests are of essential importance to 
 our further argument. 
 
 Now St. Paul in the text propounds a fact in 
 human nature, and a principle of the divine govern- 
 ment, which appear to throw a vivid and a terrible 
 light upon the history of this primary article of 
 belief The verse is somewhat inadequately trans- 
 lated in our version, and its instructiveness is greatly 
 enhanced by a due appreciation of its terms. The 
 Greek ovk eooKifjiacrav tov Oeov e'-yeiv ev eiriyvwa-ei conveys 
 much more than that 'they did not like to retain 
 God in their knowledge d.' It implies that they 
 did not duly apply themselves to that process of 
 testing, of proving, of trying — as metals are tried in 
 the fire— the natural revelation vouchsafed to them, 
 d Note 2, Appendix. 
 
II.] of the Conscience. 31 
 
 and that they thus incapacitated themselves from 
 retaining a true knowledge of God. In other 
 words, the Apostle speaks of that knowledge as 
 being sufficiently open to them, but as not to be 
 attained without moral effort ; and the loss of it is 
 consequently ascribed to a distinct failure of moral 
 energy, which was justly punished by divine repro- 
 bation, and which led to deeper moral corruption. 
 The consequence, in fact, as is usual with divine 
 judgments, precisely corresponded to the cause. Men 
 declined that full exertion of their moral faculties 
 which was necessary for the maintenance of their 
 belief in God; and those very faculties, thus deprived 
 of their due exercise, lost their soundness and their 
 genuineness, and became uSoki/jloi, base coin, unable to 
 bear the severe tests of life. Belief in God seems thus 
 propounded as the great touchstone of the moral 
 vigour of mankind. Man possesses in his reason and 
 his heart, in the world without and in the world 
 within, arguments enough to afford him a substantial 
 knowledge of God, and to lead him to worship and 
 to trust. But they are not demonstrative. They 
 are not even mere arguments of probability. In 
 other words, they are not simply intellectual. They 
 put a strain upon the moral nature, and the manner 
 in which that strain is borne determines the moral 
 condition alike of individuals and of races. Once, let 
 men take the broader and easier road of moral 
 supineness, and they at once lose their hold upon 
 God, and are in imminent danger of falling into an 
 
32 The Faith [Lect.' 
 
 abyss of corruption, such as that described in this 
 chapter. But let them choose the narrower and 
 severer path, and God becomes more and more a 
 vivid reahtj to them, and they advance from strength 
 to strength. 
 
 It would lead us into far too wide a field, and 
 one beyond the scope of these Lectures, to ex- 
 amine in detaU the manner in which this state- 
 ment of St. Paul is justified by the facts of other 
 religions and by the course of history. Such an 
 enquiry would need, for its completeness, information 
 which can only be expected from those investiga- 
 tions into the early history of mankind and into 
 the origin of their various religions, which have 
 of late received such an impulse, but in which no 
 adequate attention seems yet to have been paid to in- 
 timations of the working of the moral sense ®. Even 
 if restricted in its scope within historic times, such 
 an attempt would demand vast and varied learning, 
 as well as profound moral insight ; and the learned 
 historian of the Romans under the empire has himself 
 shrunk from the task of analysing that momentous 
 revolution in which this principle was, perhaps, most 
 fully tested — that of the dissolution of Paganism 
 and the establishment of the Christian Church f. 
 But certain broad facts, visible on the face of history, 
 are strongly confirmatory of the Apostle's statement, 
 
 e Note 3, Appendix. 
 
 f Dean Merivale's History of the Romans wnder the Umpire, 
 vol. viii. p. 369. 
 
II.] of the Conscience. 33 
 
 and should alone be sufficient to impose some re- 
 straint upon the wantonness of speculation now 
 exhibited upon this subject. We observe, as a 
 matter of fact, that every people, of whatever race, 
 whether ancient or modern, who have acquiesced 
 in Pantheism or Polytheism, or in any form of 
 Agnosticism, have also, to say the very least, become 
 deficient in moral vigour ; and up to the present 
 time such races have exhibited unmistakable signs 
 of an accelerating moral decay. There appears, also, 
 to be no question historically that imperfect as is the 
 apprehension of God in Mahometanism, fatally as it 
 is neutralized by the corruptions with which Ma- 
 homet falsified the great truth entrusted to him, the 
 proclamation of that truth nevertheless exercised at 
 the outset a strong moral influence. To that influence 
 an enduring monument was erected by the arms, the 
 philosophy, the learning, and the art which flourished 
 under the earlier Caliphs, and in a minor degree it is 
 still said to be observable when the faith of Islam 
 is brought to bear upon races sunk in idolatry. It 
 is an equally instructive, and an equally unquestion- 
 able, fact that the philosophers by whom the belief 
 in God has been most strongly maintained — such, 
 for instance, as Socrates and Plato among the Greeks, 
 and Kant among the Germans — have also been those 
 whose attention has been most concentrated upon 
 moral considerations, and who have done the most 
 to stimulate the moral element in human nature. 
 The noblest moral system of the ancient world was 
 
 D 
 
34 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 that of Stoicism; and the later Stoics, says Dean 
 Merivale, as compared with their predecessors, ' had 
 attained a clearer idea of the personality of God, 
 with a higher conception of His goodness and 
 His purity. They could not rest in the pantheism 
 of an earlier ageS.' Thus, even before we consider 
 the evidence afforded by Jewish and Christian 
 history, in which the union between moral and 
 rehgious convictions is intense and indissoluble, we 
 find, on a broad survey of history and philosophy, 
 that morahty and *i^ belief in God seem, as the 
 Apostle declares, to rise or fall together. 
 
 What is the secret of this remarkable connection ? 
 It is to be found in those recesses of the conscience 
 in which the perennial spring of moral life resides. 
 We are told that when St. Paul reasoned before 
 Felix and Drusilla of righteousness, temperance, and 
 judgment to come, Felix became afraid. In that 
 incident we have an example of the universal effect 
 of a direct appeal to moral convictions. Between 
 Felix and ourselves nearly two thousand years are 
 interposed, but he is completely one with us in his 
 involuntary response to the Apostle's exhortation. 
 In the time of Felix, as much as in the present 
 day, Conscience, when aroused by a voice like that 
 of the Apostle, bears witness within every human 
 soul that its sin wUl be punished, and its righteous- 
 ness rewarded. In the hour of temptation we all 
 
 B History of tlie Romans under the Empire, vol. viii. p. 365. 
 
II.] of the Conscience. 35 
 
 have this distinct conviction aroused within us ; 
 and the literature of the most distant past proves 
 that in its essence the same conviction has at all 
 times overawed the moral consciousness. It is but 
 a voice, to adopt the usual phrase ; but it is a voice 
 which is felt to be authoritative, and which fur- 
 nishes the practical sanction to morality. Before 
 it, when evoked by a great master like St. Paul, 
 the human soul trembles, and anticipates with awe 
 a judgment upon its acts from which it cannot 
 escape. 
 
 Now even before we recognise the full force of 
 this witness of the conscience, we must observe 
 that, in proportion to its clearness and decisiveness, 
 it requires an act of faith as distinct from reason. 
 That which is here exhibited is something quite 
 different from a simple intuition of truth. It is not 
 merely a case of the acceptance of certain eternal 
 principles of right and wrong. Such principles 
 might be conceived as resting on a similar foundation 
 to that of the great axioms of scientific truth, or the 
 canons of beauty, and as authenticated by a primary 
 intuition. But in such a . conception the most essen- 
 tial element in the fact under consideration would be 
 omitted. It is not simply that certain things are re- 
 cognised as right, and certain other things as wrong. 
 It is not even the paramount conviction that to do 
 the right and to refuse the wrong is the duty and the 
 highest honour of man. It is not, in fact, simply a 
 sense of duty which is aroused by the voice of the 
 
 D 2 
 
36 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 conscience. It is a sense, and a conviction, that 
 there exists a sanction for that duty, and that a 
 violation of it will be surely avenged. It is ' a 
 certaua. fearful looking for of judgment and fiery 
 indignation ; ' an assurance that ' to them that are 
 unrighteous and obey not the truth,' there will be 
 a revelation of ' indignation and wrath, tribulation 
 and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth 
 evU ; ' and on the other hand, ' glory, honour, and 
 peace to every man that worketh good ^.' This is not 
 simply a vision of moral beauty, a conviction of the 
 supreme claim of morality upon our reason and our 
 allegiance. It is this no doubt, but it is much more. 
 It is a conviction that in ourselves and in others 
 this claim will be enforced. We feel that it will 
 be enforced, moreover, in the way of judgment, and 
 not merely in that of natural consequences. The 
 warning of conscience is thus something distinct in 
 kind from the conviction that fire wUl burn if we 
 put our hands into it, or that if we disregard the 
 law of gravitation we shall suffer for it. In those 
 cases the consequence is visible and immediate ; but 
 it is the characteristic of qpnscience to warn a man 
 of a future judgment even when he escapes all 
 visible penalty. The conviction it enforces is not 
 merely that certain consequences will follow our 
 evil deeds, but that we deserve certain penalties, 
 and that we must expect them to be inflicted, 
 
 1' Heb, X. 27 ; Rom. ii. 10. 
 
II.] of the Conscience. 37 
 
 because we deserve them. It is a conviction, in 
 other words, that we are responsible, and that we 
 shall be held to our responsibility. 
 
 Now this conviction, to which every moralist, 
 every teacher, every ruler appeals, seems in its very 
 nature to be antecedent to all experience, and de- 
 pendent for its force and vitality on a principle 
 external to it. It appears, moreover, wholly inex- 
 plicable by any process of evolution. Without dis- 
 paraging the applicability of that hypothesis to 
 explain certain moral phenomena, it can hardly 
 account for the existence in the earliest moral con- 
 sciousness of humanity of an instinct with which 
 visible experience was often painfuUy in conflict — 
 even more flagrantly in conflict than at the present 
 day i. If the Scriptures be regarded simply as very 
 ancient records, they bear witness to the intensity 
 with which in the very dawn of history this conviction 
 was grasped ; and similarly on the monuments of 
 ancient Egyptian civilisation it is exhibited as exer- 
 cising a predominant influence in the most remote 
 antiquity. The natural cause which at those periods 
 could account for such a belief, and which in aU ages 
 has rendered an appeal to it so potent a moral 
 instrument, has yet to be stated. Eeason and ex- 
 perience wotild doubtless even in early days suggest 
 a belief that, in the course of life and history, 
 righteousness would on the whole be rewarded, and 
 
 i Note 4. 
 
38 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 vice would on the whole be ptinished. The tendency 
 of history, the result of civilisation, is now seen with 
 sufficient clearness to be in this direction. But this 
 main tendency, this general result, seems to afford no 
 guarantee whatever for the full assertion and vindi- 
 cation of the principle in relation to each conscience 
 and to every individual. It would not enable us 
 to rise to the universality of the Apostle's assurance, 
 of 'indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, 
 upon every soul of man that doeth evil,' and of 
 ' glory, honour, and peace to every man that 
 worketh good.' So far as we accept that assurance, 
 we pass beyond the bounds of experience, beyond 
 the limits of that which can be verified, and we 
 grasp the substance of things hoped for, the evidence 
 of things not seen. Yet it is a conviction of this 
 kind which is at the root of the trembling of such 
 a man as Felix, and which shakes the soul of every 
 man when his conscience is aroused by a preacher 
 of righteousness. 
 
 Judging, in fact, by the present life and its daily 
 experience, it has been felt in aU ages to be im- 
 possible to discern the full vindication of the law 
 of righteousness, and of the demands of the con- 
 science. It is true, no doubt, that the great balance 
 of evidence is in favour of that law, and that it is 
 established as the cardinal law of history with all 
 the certainty that can be expected in moral affairs. 
 But there are also conspicuous instances of those 
 anomalies which weighed so cruelly on the Psalmist, 
 
II.] of the Conscience. 39 
 
 of evil doers flourisliirig, of their living in power and 
 opulence, leaving the rest of their substance to their 
 children, and of no visible vengeance following upon 
 their immorahty. Such instances are not merely 
 the perplexity of good men ; they are the theme 
 of satirists and the constant material of Cynicism. 
 Apart from the general course of events, it is beyond 
 a question that unrighteousness has been prosperous 
 and successful, and that it is so even at the present 
 day. In reference to individuals, there is certainly no 
 complete indication to be derived from experience in 
 favour of the assurance of conscience that every man 
 will be rewarded according to his works. Yet that 
 conviction remains — imperative, menacing, warning 
 every soul in its hour of temptation, or threatening 
 it in its moments of remorse. To put it aside, to 
 stifle it, is consciously and deliberately to impair 
 our moral vigour. Men cannot escape from it 
 without forfeiting their moral health and vitality. 
 But if they cling to this conviction in spite of 
 experience, they are acting, even if unconsciously, 
 on a principle of faith. They are not arguing 
 from a present to a future experience. They are 
 not building upon any such probability, imper- 
 fect as it has been said to be, that because the 
 sun rises to-day it will rise to-morrow. They are 
 not saying, as a natural philosopher might do, that 
 a great law of which the operation is imperfectly 
 visible will be shewn, by further investigation, 
 to be really operative. A natural philosopher in 
 
40 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 sucli a case relies upon being able, sooner or later, 
 to exhibit in present experience the complete opera- 
 tion of the law in question, and to demonstrate its 
 supremacy in the very phenomena which appeared 
 to defy it. But any such present operation and 
 consequent demonstration of the law of righteous- 
 ness is the very thing which, in its details and in 
 reference to individuals, is evidently and painfully 
 lacking. Nevertheless, this ineradicable instinct of 
 the human conscience compels men to believe that 
 sooner or later, here or hereafter, in one way or 
 another, the claim of righteousness wiU be satisfied, 
 and that judgment will be executed. 0! Testi- 
 monium animae naturaliter Christianae ^ ! ' There- 
 fore thou art inexcusable, man, whosoever thou 
 art that judgestV Notwithstanding instances to the 
 contrary which are flagrant and obtrusive, notwith- 
 standing the bitter complaints of prophets, priests, 
 poets, and historians, though the righteous perish 
 and no man layeth it to heart, men believe in a 
 judgment to come, and their deepest moral convic- 
 tions thus involve a principle which no experience 
 can demonstrate, and with which much bitter ex- 
 perience seems daily to conflict. 
 
 It seems of the more importance to insist upon 
 this primary act of faith because it is avowedly and 
 deliberately set aside by the philosophers who, at the 
 present time, have most influence in weakening or 
 
 >= Tertullian, Apol. Adv. Gentes, c. I'j. 1 Kom. ii. i. 
 
II.] of the Conscience. -il 
 
 denying our faith in God. Hume, for instance, still 
 acts as one of the most powerful sceptical forces ; 
 and there is the more reason to refer to him, as 
 his views, or at least the main arguments he puts 
 forward, have lately been revived by Professor 
 Huxley, and reproduced in a form, and with ad- 
 ditions, which cannot be safely, or even respectfully, 
 neglected >". Now it is most remarkable to find that, 
 especially when thus summarised and presented in 
 their essence, the arguments which Hume puts into 
 the mouth of his Epicurean philosopher depend for 
 their validity vipon the flat rejection of that act of 
 faith on the part of the conscience upon which we 
 have been dwelling. For example, Hume argues, 
 in opposition to the supposed necessity of belief in 
 Divine Providence, that it is sufficient if he regulates 
 liis behaviour by his experience of past events, which 
 he acknowledges to be on the whole in favour of 
 virtue and discouraging to vice. But ' if,' he says, 
 ' you affirm that, while a divine providence is 
 allowed, and a supreme distributive justice in the 
 universe, I ought to expect some more particular 
 reward of the good, and punishment of the bad, 
 beyond the ordinary covu-se of events, I here find 
 the same fallacy which I have before endeavoured 
 to detect. You persist in imagining, that if we grant 
 that divine existence for which you so earnestly 
 contend, you may safely infer consequences from 
 
 m Professor Huxloy on Hume, pp. 154-156; Hume's JEssays, 
 etlited by Green and Grose, vol. ii. pp. 115, ii6. 
 
42 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 it, and add something to the experienced order of 
 nature, by arguing from the attributes you ascribe 
 to your gods. You seem not to remember that all 
 your reasonings on this subject can only be drawn 
 from effects to causes ; and that every argument, 
 deduced from causes to effects, must of necessity be 
 a gross sophism ; since it is impossible for you to 
 know anything of the cause, but what you have 
 antecedently not inferred, but discovered to the full, 
 in the effect.' ' Are there,' he concludes, ' any marks 
 of a distributive justice in the world f If you answer 
 in the aflSrmative, I conclude that since justice here 
 exerts itself, it is satisfied. If you reply in the 
 negative, I conclude that you have then no reason 
 to ascribe justice, in your sense of it, to the gods. 
 If you hold a medium between affirmation and 
 negation, by saying that the justice of the gods at 
 present exerts itself in part, but not in its full 
 extent, I answer that you have no reason to give it 
 any particular extent, but only so far as you see it, 
 at ^present, exert itself.' 
 
 Such is the argument which has been recently 
 revived, and presented to us as the philosophical 
 reply to the arguments of Bishop Butler's Analogy. 
 And allowing its supposition, that we are limited to 
 the principles of scientific reason, and that these 
 must be based on actual experience, its force is 
 manifest. To quote from its modern expositor » — 
 
 1 Professor Huxley on Hume, p. 156. 
 
II.] of the Conscience. 43 
 
 ' As nature is our only measure of the attributes of 
 the Deity in their practical manifestation, what 
 warranty is there for supposing that such measure is 
 anywhere transcended 1 That the other side of 
 nature, if there is one, is governed on different prin- 
 ciples from this side ? ' Certainly a very imperfect 
 warranty, if nature, in the limited sense here ap- 
 parently understood, be our only measure. But that is 
 the great question. These arguments are based upon 
 the cold and impassive denial of the validity and 
 authority of the dictates of conscience. They raise 
 this direct question — and it is at once the danger and 
 the merit of Hume that he does not shrink from 
 raising it^are you prepared to believe, not in mere 
 speculative opinions, but in certain great practical con- 
 victions which are beyond the reach of all experience 
 and verification '\ Are you prepared to say that 
 although, within the limits of human observation, 
 virtue is not adequately rewarded, and vice not 
 adequately punished, yet you believe that they will 
 be, and are you resolved to build both your acts 
 and your thoughts on that belief, and on the conse- 
 quences which follow from it 1 That is the real 
 issue, and the whole force exerted by the argument 
 of Hume depends upon the answer which each soul 
 makes to it. If, like the Psalmists and the Prophets, 
 you are prepared, in spite of aU apparent contra- 
 dictions, to believe in the absolute supremacy of 
 right over wrong, in the blessedness of the righteous 
 and the misery of the wicked, you have then per- 
 
44 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 formed a momentous act of faith, which opens up to 
 you an entirely new world, and respecting which it 
 is hardly too much to say, in Hume's own words, 
 that it 'subverts all the principles of the under- 
 standing, and gives a man a determination to 
 believe what is most contrary to custom and ex- 
 perience 0.' But if you deny this, you have said 
 nothing less than that in the constitution of the 
 universe there is no complete sanction for morality; 
 and if, in Hume's phrase, you hold a medium between 
 affirmation and negation, you have at least thrown 
 over morality the blighting influence of uncertainty ; 
 you have cut one of the sinews of moral action, and 
 you have made a great step towards realising St. 
 Paul's conviction, that if men will not retain God in 
 their knowledge, they will be given over to a repro- 
 bate mind. 
 
 That which has been called 'the categorical im- 
 perative' of the conscience thus amounts to an 
 imperative requirement from us of the first great 
 act of faith — that of belief in a righteous and 
 omnipotent God. It has, indeed, been lu-ged of late 
 with much confident reiteration that considerations 
 such as we have been reviewing are satisfied by 
 recognising the existence of a power independent of 
 ourselves, which enforces righteousness and truth as 
 the paramount law of the universe. Now even this 
 conviction,, if it is to be more than a mere generality 
 
 ° Professor Huxley on Hume, p. 141. 
 
II.] of the Conscience. 45 
 
 and is to be applied completely to individual ex- 
 perience, transcends, as has been shewn, all the limits 
 of experience, and takes us at once into that region 
 of things not seen from which it is the professed 
 object of this paradoxical exposition to debar us. 
 But the question, whether it is a sufl&cient account 
 of the matter, depends again on the.degree of vivid- 
 ness and thoroughness which we recognise in the 
 dictates of the conscience. Is it simply to the 
 supremacy of a general law of righteousness that 
 conscience bears witness ? That is the great enquiry 
 on which it is necessary to insist ; and the answer 
 to it cannot be too rigidly scrutinized, for upon that 
 answer mainly depend the momentous moral and 
 religious convictions now in question. They depend 
 upon it by virtue of this consideration — that no 
 influence which is not itself a personal one can pos- 
 sibly execute a complete judgment upon the acts, the 
 thoughts, and the impulses of a person. It may be 
 confidently affirmed that there is no sentence ever 
 pronounced, whether by natural or human law, in 
 which we do not feel compelled to recognise, if not 
 a certain injustice, at least a certain inadequacy, a 
 lack of exact adaptation to the circumstances of the 
 individual. In the case of almost every criminal 
 who is punished, human law is either too harsh or 
 not harsh enough, and it is sometimes almost as 
 rough in its operation as the law of nature, and as 
 irrespective of personal merits. Similar injustice 
 must always result when personal merits or demerits 
 
46 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 are subjected to the action of impersonal agencies, 
 powers, or laws. According to the old principle, 
 that like is only known by like, so like can only be 
 judged by like ; and none but a personal being, 
 endued with our morality and intelligence, can be 
 conceived as entering fully into the infinite variations 
 of mind and heart and brain, on which the conduct 
 of every human being depends. 
 
 If, in fact, in some agony of the spirit, some crisis 
 of fife, the exclamation of the Psalmist is forced from 
 us, ' Judge me, God,' to what do we appeal % Is 
 it to a mere law, a force which asserts itself inde- 
 pendently of all individual considerations, or is it 
 to a power which, as we believe with the whole 
 force of our souls, is capable of taking into account 
 all the details of our personal condition, of making 
 allowance for them, having compassion on our weak- 
 nesses and forgiving our sins 1 Is it to ' a power, 
 not ourselves, that makes for righteousness,' or is 
 it to a Being revealed to us with what may seem 
 such logical inconsistency, but with such practical 
 harmony, as 'the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and 
 gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness 
 and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving 
 iniquity and transgression and sin, and that wiU by 
 no means clear the guilty P ' ■? In utterances like 
 these the revelation of the Scriptures penetrates to 
 depths of the human heart which are invariably left 
 
 p Exodus xxxiv. 6, 7. 
 
IL] of the Conscience. 47 
 
 untouclied — sometimes with a cliaxacteristic compla- 
 cence — by those who are content to refer us to mere 
 laws and potencies. To the miseries of conscious sin 
 and guilt such philosophies have nothing to say. 
 But it is in these moral depths that faith strikes its 
 roots. The more these convictions and demands of 
 the conscience are realised, the more are we forced 
 back on the necessity of redemption, and the more 
 are we compelled to hope, and trust, and crave, for 
 some deliverance which is beyond all natural capacity 
 and experience. The faith on which the primary 
 convictions of morality depend compels us to reach 
 out towards invisible and distant realities, and to 
 look, like the Jewish prophets, for the full revelation 
 of One, who will execute judgment and justice on 
 the earth. A whole vista of prophecy is suggested 
 when we thus contrast the infinite, the subtle — in a 
 word the personal — demands of the conscience witli 
 the rude facts of the present life ; and we seem to 
 see the possibiHty, or the verisimilitude, opened to us 
 of that series of revelations, in which the Christian 
 and Jewish Scriptures at once predicted and fulfilled 
 these imperious moral necessities. But in proportion 
 to the force with which this necessity of personal 
 judgment and personal redemption is realised, is the 
 witness which the conscience affords to the existence 
 of Qod, and to His moral relation to us. If the 
 highest impulses of life are not to be balked, if 
 the deepest dictates of morality are not illusive, 
 some Being there must be, who is at all events 
 
48 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 so far personal, as to be able to deal justly with 
 persons. 
 
 It may be worth while to observe that, so far as 
 these considerations are just, they tend to establish, 
 not merely the validity of our belief in a personal 
 God, but its naturalness, and a suflScient reason for 
 its prompt and unhesitating acceptance by the mass 
 of men. By some modern writers 1 it has been made 
 a ground of objection to Christian truth that its 
 primary assumption — ^that of a living God in whom 
 we live and move and have our being — requires such 
 elaborate arguments to establish it. Now it is the 
 pecuHar characteristic of first principles that they are 
 the most difficult of all others to prove, or even to 
 defend in argument, but that they commend them- 
 selves instinctively to common sense, or to the general 
 apprehension of sound minds. They correspond to 
 experience in proportion to its simplicity and direct- 
 ness, and their real strength lies in their being the 
 true interpretation of a natural instinct. This is 
 preeminently true of the highest principle of all ; 
 and in the present day it is of great importance 
 to bear this consideration in mind. When, indeed, 
 arguments are elaborated in contravention of these 
 primary truths, it is at least respectful to objectors, 
 even if not necessary, to be elaborate in reply ; and 
 it is rather unreasonable it should be made a matter 
 of complaint against theologians that they are willing 
 to meet their antagonists on their own grounds, and 
 1 Mr. M. Arnold, in Literatv/re and Dogma, ch. x, and passim. 
 
II.] of the Conscience. 49 
 
 with their own weapons. But the Christian minister 
 is not dependent on such arguments, nor is the 
 vitality of the Christian Faith derived from their 
 vahdity. If we can shew, by such considerations 
 as have now been offered, that the primary truths of 
 faith are in harmony with the most imperative con- 
 victions of the human conscience, we have shewn 
 that they are natural ; or, in other words, that it is 
 natural for men, unless sophisticated by previous 
 argument, to believe in them. When those argu- 
 ments are raised, when the difficulties which reason 
 readily suggests are pressed on us, it is necessary to 
 confront them. Above all, if the moral consciousness 
 of an individual or of a community has become en- 
 feebled, and men are no longer duly sensible of the 
 terrible heights and depths of morality, there is a 
 barrier between them and religious truth which can 
 only be overthrown by reviving their apprehension 
 of those awful realities. But in proportion as the 
 conscience is quickened, it is natural men should 
 believe in a personal God who judges them, and who 
 will punish and reward them. They do it without 
 reasons, and by the instinct of nature ; and it is to 
 this instinct that the Christian pastor may always 
 most safely appeal. We have no need as a rule 
 to prove the existence of a personal God to a man 
 who is duly conscious of moral evil. We may assume 
 His existence, as we do that of the sun, and it will 
 be acknowledged by virtue of the mere constitution 
 of human nature. 
 
50 The Faith [Lbct. 
 
 Similar considerations, doubtless, apply to the argu- 
 ment from the general order of nature and from the 
 constitution of the human intellect. The impulse to 
 infer the existence of a personal God from them is 
 natural ; such an inference is on the whole the most 
 in conformity with the facts of the case, and we may 
 rest assured that, independently of formal argument, 
 it will always commend itself to the common sense 
 of sound minds. We cannot too strongly rely on 
 the truth of St. Paul's statement that 'the invisible 
 things of Him from the creation of the world are 
 clearly seen, being understood by the things that 
 are made, even His etertial power and Godhead ; so 
 that men are without excuse "■.' Philosophy raises 
 objections, and it is our business to endeavour to 
 answer them ; but nature, after aU, is stronger than 
 philosophy, and the perplexities of thought will 
 never suppress the dictates of conscience and of 
 simple reason. Modern philosophy, indeed, has com- 
 mitted something like an act of suicide in respect to 
 this question of the existence of God. For it con- 
 fesses, or rather asserts, that precisely the same diffi- 
 culties apply to a belief in the substantiality of the 
 human soul itself. The modern expositor of Hume, 
 who revives that great sceptic's objections to the 
 existence of God, revives also his objections to the 
 doctrine of immortahty, and says that "' having 
 arrived at the conclusion that the conception of 
 a soul, as a substantive thing, is a mere figment 
 
 >■ Rom, i. 20. 
 
II.] of the Conscience. 51 
 
 of the imagination, and that whether it exists or not 
 we can by no possibility know anything about it, 
 the enquiry as to the durabihty of the soul may seem 
 superfluous ^.' Such a statement may well be regarded 
 as the redudio ad ahsurdum of all these intellectual 
 objections to the great truths of Eevelation. When 
 such arguments, candidly and severely pushed to 
 their conclusion, come to this, that they leave us in 
 doubt whether there is any substantiality in our own 
 souls, it ceases, at all events, to be possible to regulate 
 our beliefs and our conduct by them. The Christian 
 need hardly ask more than that his belief in God 
 should be as certain as that in his own substance and 
 identity, and it now seems definitely admitted that it 
 is, to say the least, not more uncertain. 
 
 It may, indeed, be permissible to observe, after 
 thus pointing out some of the considerations which 
 justify the first and primary act of faith, that there 
 is really something intolerable, and revolting to good 
 sense, in much of the philosophical argumentation 
 with which it is now too often attempted to under- 
 mine this great belief. No word of disrespect to 
 philosophy or science will be heard in these Lectures, 
 for nothing could be more alien from either the 
 intention or the sympathy which prompts them. 
 Philosophy and Science are the children of Faith, 
 and however they may be from time to time mis- 
 represented, she can never doubt their loyalty to 
 her. But it is a somewhat severe trial of patience 
 « Professor Huxley on Hume, p. 172. 
 E 2 
 
52 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 that mental or physical philosophers should confine 
 themselves to the facts they can observe within the 
 range of their special studies or in their laboratories, 
 and should erect the conceptions which they thus 
 find themselves able to form respecting the existence 
 of God into crucial tests, by virtue of which they 
 set aside the deepest moral and spiritual experiences 
 of mankind. Those experiences are the most mo- 
 mentous of all the facts in the case ; and if an equal 
 amount of scientific experience and scientific convic- 
 tion were treated by a theologian with the cool 
 indifference exhibited towards religious faith by 
 Hume, and by some modern philosophers, he would 
 be treated as almost beyond the pale of reasoning. 
 Belief in God has been embedded from the earliest 
 centuries in the deepest moral convictions of our 
 race ; and a philosophy which is content to criticize 
 beliefs thus authenticated, instead of treating them 
 as the most momentous premisses with which it 
 has to deal, places itself practically out of court. 
 On what conceivable principle of reasoning or of 
 philosophizing are we to bid a Paul, a John, an 
 Athanasius, an Augustine, an Anselm, a Luther, a 
 Pascal, a Newton, to stand aside, and to be silent 
 on the mightiest of all truths, until a modern phi- 
 losopher has reconciled their convictions with his 
 syllogisms, or a modern man of science has found 
 material traces of them in his crucible ? Nay ! We 
 must ask, with far greater amazement, on what 
 ground a mightier Witness still is similarly set aside. 
 
II.] of the Conscience, 53 
 
 until philosophy has pronounced that His testimony- 
 is admissible. In the language and the life of 
 our Lord the deepest apprehension of moral truth 
 is bound up with the apprehension of God in His 
 most personal character as a Father ; and this fact 
 affords the final practical answer to the objections 
 which have been considered. There is, indeed, a 
 presumptuous flippancy which deems itself capable 
 of distinguishing between the essential and non- 
 essential elements in His teaching, and of setting 
 the latter aside. But no such presumption can go 
 so far as to deny that in His mind and heart the 
 two elements were united ; and this is a fact of 
 more weight than any amount of dubious specula- 
 tion. For the purpose of illustrating the nature and 
 limits of faith, a consideration of its foundations in 
 the conscience has been indispensable. But the final 
 answer to aU objections against belief in God is that 
 the Lord Jesus Christ Hved in it and died in it. 
 
 One observation remains to be made, which wiU at 
 once connect the argument of this Lecture with that 
 of those which foUow, and wiU associate it with 
 the lessons of this season of Lent. So far as these 
 considerations are vaHd, they estabhsh the fact, not 
 merely that there is a personal God, of all righteous- 
 ness and power, but that we are in direct contact 
 with Him, that His voice is heard within us, and 
 that in every act and thought of our lives we are 
 accountable to Him, and must look alike for punish- 
 ment and for reward at His hands. It is no matter 
 
54 The Faith of the Conscience. 
 
 of theory we have been considering, but the most 
 vital of all living realities. The Bible reveals to 
 us, not the mere opinions of prophets and saints 
 respecting God, but the words He spoke to their 
 hearts, and the responses they made to Him. Let 
 us not content ourselves, for instance, in reading 
 the early experiences of the patriarchs, with the bald 
 and abstract statement, now too often to be met with, 
 that they believed in one God, or were the assertors 
 of Monotheism. It is not as Monotheists, or as 
 Deists, that Abraham and the patriarchs are con- 
 spicuous ; but as men who, in the depths of their 
 nature, communed with a personal God, who, in the 
 expressive phrase of the sacred writer, ' walked with 
 God,' and to whom He spake face to face, or heart to 
 heart, 'as a man speaketh unto his friend.' Such is 
 the vital character of the primary principle of Faith. 
 Under this guidance we are led, as we shall see, to 
 anticipate a further revelation from the God of 
 whom we are assured, while at the same time we 
 are furnished with the conditions necessary for test- 
 ing it. But at least we may be animated, like the 
 patriarchs, in our daily lives by the conviction, not 
 merely that God is, but ' that He is a rewarder of 
 them that diligently seek Him.' 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 THE WITNESS TO EEVELA.TION. 
 
 Hebbews i. I, 2. 
 
 God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time 
 past unto the fathers hy th& prophets, hath in these last days 
 spoken unto us by His Son. 
 
 It has been shewn in the preceding Lecture that 
 the primary dictates of the conscience afford impe- 
 rious reasons for beheving in a Living God — right- 
 eous, almighty, and personal in His relations to us. 
 If the demands of our moral nature are to be satisfied, 
 if they are to receive a complete sanction in particular 
 as well as in general, in respect to the individual 
 as well as in the main course of affairs, we need 
 not merely a Power, but a Person, who, by virtue of 
 His personal qualities, will be able to judge us 
 individually, alike with justice and with mercy, 
 according to our works, our words and our thoughts, 
 who by virtue of His omniscience will be acquainted 
 with all our ways, and by virtue of His omnipotence 
 will be able to execute His judgments completely 
 either here or hereafter. That this is the natural 
 
56 The Witness [Lect. 
 
 dictate of the conscience is, as we observed, no mere 
 speculation. To this conviction, as a matter of fact, 
 the most earnest moral philosophy has always 
 pointed, and it attained its most intense and vivid 
 form in that people upon whom, by general admis- 
 eion, the deepest moral and spiritual perceptions were 
 bestowed. The 139th Psalm, for instance, embodies 
 the convictions to which the Hebrew mind was forced 
 by its profound apprehension of moral realities and 
 necessities. It is a Psalm which makes no reference 
 to any external revelation. It appeals to the inner- 
 most experiences of the soul ; and it bears witness 
 that the natural interpretation of those experiences 
 is that the soul of man is in contact with an awful 
 Being, from whom he cannot escape, who compasses 
 his path and his lying down, who is acquainted with 
 all his ways, who has beset him behind and before and 
 laid His hand upon him. ' Search me,' the Psalmist 
 is compelled to exclaim, ' and know my heart, try me 
 and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked 
 way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting^.' 
 Such is the utterance of the voice of conscience 
 when its tones are clearest, and when the inward 
 ear is least obstructed. The soul which realises 
 this inward witness, and thoroughly accepts it, may 
 be said, like the Patriarch, to walk with God. ' If 
 I ascend into heaven,' it exclaims, ' Thou art there ; 
 if I make my bed in hell, behold Thou art there ; 
 if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the 
 " Psalm cxxxix. 23, 24. 
 
III.] to Revelation. 57 
 
 uttermost parts oi the sea, even there shall Thy hand 
 lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.' From 
 the dawn of revelation, as recorded in the Scriptures, 
 the apprehension of God is marked by similar charac- 
 teristics. ' Noah,' says the historian, ' was a just man, 
 and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with 
 GodV 
 
 If we are to interpret the growth of faith under 
 the Divine guidance, and to vindicate its successive 
 advances, it is necessary to lay the utmost stress 
 upon this primary moral element in our apprehen- 
 sion of the Divine Being. It may be said to be here 
 that, for the practical purposes of revelation, we are 
 furnished with the idea of God, with the very notion 
 of the Divine Name. Whenever that idea has been 
 mainly relegated to the sphere of the intellect, when 
 men have been chiefly concerned to apprehend a first 
 cause, or to rise by mere mental abstraction from the 
 phenomena of the external universe to the one Reality 
 which is before all things, and by which all things 
 consist, the resulting conception has of necessity been 
 something vast, vague, and intangible. To this 
 predominance of intellectual over moral concep- 
 tions in theosophic thought may be traced, in great 
 measure, all schemes of philosophy which have been 
 in opposition to Christianity, from those of the 
 Gnostics to the Jewish and German speculations of 
 the present century. The understanding soon loses 
 itself in the labyrinth of its own infinite analysis, 
 
 b Gen, vi. 9. 
 
58 The Witness [Lect. 
 
 and distinct apprehensions of the Being after whom 
 it is feehng rapidly fade away. But in the Scriptures, 
 by virtue of God's voice in the conscience, He comes 
 home to men's hearts, He is felt to be dealing with 
 them in the most central and permanent part of their 
 nature, and they have a real and living apprehension 
 of Him as a personal Being, with whom they have 
 to do. We are in conscious relation to Him, and He 
 is in sympathy with us. His power and wisdom, 
 contemplated in themselves, would remove Him to 
 an incalculable distance from us ; but as a God of 
 justice and righteousness He works for human ends, 
 and co-operates with the most intense of human 
 energies. 
 
 But imperiously as this belief is dictated by the 
 deepest convictions of the conscience, one thing 
 would seem to be requisite, sooner or later, in order 
 to vindicate and support it, and that is that this 
 righteous Being should visibly declare Himself. It 
 is not indeed for us, in oiix ignorance, to speculate 
 how or when, or to what extent, He should do so. 
 But if, up to the present moment in history, through 
 aU the long struggles, the bitter sacrifices, the baffled 
 aspirations, the keen disappointments of mankind, 
 God's voice had not been clearly heard, God's arm 
 had not been seen, Grod's love had not been visibly 
 manifested, the strain upon faith would have been 
 immeasurably greater than it is at present. It may 
 well be conceived, indeed, that there must have been 
 something heroic, and beyond the capacity of our 
 
IIT.] to Revelation. 59 
 
 present mortal nature, in the faith which sustained 
 the patriarchs and elders, in the days before Divine 
 revelation had become historic, and had created a 
 continuous chain of evidence to which it could appeal. 
 There is something, for instance, profoundly pathetic 
 in the exclamation attributed to the patriarch Job, 
 ' But where shall wisdom be found ? and where is the 
 place of understanding <= ? ' We contemplate him at 
 the outset of all human experience, beginning to 
 realise the profound and mysterious complexity of 
 life. He is standing, as it were, at the parting of 
 the broad and narrow wavs. Life stretches before 
 liim like the desert with which he was surrounded, 
 and over which he travelled, with few and rare 
 tracks across it, and the path still uncertain which 
 led to the most precious of all human possessions. 
 The path thereof, he exclaims, is one 'which no 
 fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not 
 seen ; the lions whelps have not trodden it, nor the 
 fierce lion passed by it.' Well might he exclaim, 
 ' Whence then cometh wisdom, and where is the 
 place of understanding ? seeing it is hid from the eyes 
 of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the 
 air.' That, in such circumstances, he should have 
 firmly grasped the conviction that ' the fear of the 
 Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is 
 understanding,' may well be regarded as an heroic 
 act of faith ; especially when we remember the extent 
 to which men have wavered in this conviction, in 
 c Job xxviii. 12. 
 
60 The Witness [Lect. 
 
 spite of far higher cultivation and longer experience. 
 Abraham's position was not unlike that in which 
 Job is described ; and when we are told that 
 Abraham 'believed in the Lord,' it seems only 
 natural and just it should be added, 'and He 
 counted it to him for righteousness ^! Whatever 
 Abraham's errors, that he should have believed 
 God, that he should have recognised the Divine 
 voice, trusted it above all things in heaven and 
 earth, and that, in reliance on it, he should have 
 taken the first step forwards into the new world 
 which faith was destined to create — this, so far as 
 is conceivable of any human act, merited the dis- 
 tinction it received. He ' was strong in faith, giving 
 glory to God .... and therefore it was imputed 
 to him for righteousness «,' 
 
 From such considerations as these we are led to 
 the next great step in the development of faith — 
 to the belief, naftiely, not merely that there is a God 
 of all righteousness and power, with whom we have 
 to do, but that He has given us a positive revelation ; 
 that, as the text says, at sundry times, and in divers 
 manners. He spake in time past unto the fathers by 
 the prophets, and hath in these last days spoken 
 unto us by His Son f. This, perhaps, is a truth which 
 at the present moment it is even more necessary 
 to vindicate than those elementary principles we 
 have already considered ; for this, unhappily, is not 
 unfrequently ignored, if not denied, within the 
 d Gen. XV. 6. » Jlom. iv. 20-22. ^ Heb. i. i. 
 
Ill] to Revelation. 61 
 
 pale of the Church itself, and in the very name of 
 Christianity. What, for instance, is the tendency of 
 that rationalising theology to which reference has 
 already been made, but to eliminate from the Gospel 
 and from the Scriptures, as not essential to their 
 essence, the assertions they put forward of actual 
 Divine utterances, of positive communications made 
 to man, by an authority external to him, respecting 
 the will of God, the present condition, and the future 
 destiny of mankind? Its avowed intention is to 
 explain away that which is miraculous, supernatural 
 and mysterious, and to reduce Christianity within 
 the limits of what is simple, intelligible, and de- 
 pendent solely on the dictates of enlightened natviral 
 morality. In Germany and Holland, and in this 
 country, there is a school of writers who appear 
 ready to say, with the author of the work entitled 
 Supernatural Religion, that 'it is singular how little 
 there is in the supposed revelation of alleged infor- 
 mation, however incredible, regarding that which is 
 beyond the hmits of human thoughts.' To exhibit 
 the ignorance or carelessness implied in such a 
 statement, and the inadequacy of such a con- 
 ception of our faith as is at all analogous to it, it 
 would be enough to mention one cardinal article 
 of Christian behef — that which St. Paul put in the 
 very front of his appeal to the Athenians, and which 
 is calculated to exert such a profound moral in- 
 fluence on our whole nature — the belief, namely, that 
 s Supernatural Religion, 4th ed., vol. ii. p. 490. 
 
62 The Witness [Lbct. 
 
 the Lord Jesus Christ will be the personal judge of 
 every soul of man. But, of course, the vitality of 
 such an article of faith stands or falls with the belief 
 in a positive revelation from God. No conviction, 
 however profound, of our Lord's moral perfection 
 can of itself justify the belief that He will hereafter 
 personally judge us. That is a definite matter of 
 fact, which we can only credit on His word, or on 
 that of His Apostles ; and their assurance on such a 
 point can have no validity, unless they speak with 
 the express authority of that supreme Being, who, 
 as St. Paul declares, 'hath appointed a day, in the 
 which He will judge the world in righteousness by 
 that man whom He hath ordained ^.' 
 
 There is another point, of infinite importance to 
 the human heart, in respect to which we are not less 
 absolutely dependent upon positive Divine assurance. 
 That point is the forgiveness of sins. It has been 
 argued with terrible force by some sceptical writers 
 that, in the regular course of nature, there is no 
 room for remission of sin '. It is of the very 
 essence of law to be inexorable, and to enforce 
 remorselessly the consequences of its violation. In 
 view of such considerations it is at least clear that 
 we could have indulged no positive assurance of 
 pardon, except on the express authority of Him who 
 alone can forgive sins. The difficulty, indeed, has 
 a still deeper foundation in practice than in theory; 
 and it is not, perhaps, by sceptics that it is most 
 h Acts xvii. 31. i See Note 5, Appendix. 
 
III.] to Revelation. 63 
 
 keenly felt. He who has' ever stood by the bedside 
 of a fellow-sinner, passing amidst the pangs of a 
 remorseful repentance into the presence of the 
 Judge of quick and dead, and who has been appealed 
 to, with all the earnestness and directness of a soul 
 brought face to face with eternal realities, to state 
 whether, and why, he is sure there is forgiveness of 
 sins, will know how utterly inadequate to the need 
 is any answer, but that God Himself has declared 
 it. There are only two remedies for these agonies of 
 the conscience. The one is to administer to the soul 
 the opiate of excuses and palliations for sin ; and 
 this is the usual resource of other religions than the 
 Christian, and of the world at large. The other is 
 the express assurance of the forgiveness of sins, made 
 on the authority of God Himself 
 
 It is strange it should be necessary thus to insist 
 on the fact that the most precious and vital articles 
 in our Creed are dependent upon express super- 
 natural revelation ; but a loose habit of rationalising 
 the doctrines of the Gospel has spread far beyond 
 avowedly sceptical circles, and produces the most 
 injurious results in daily life. It would, for instance, 
 be inconceivable that the profession of sceptical, and 
 even of infidel, opinions should be regarded with so 
 much indifference, even in nominally Christian so- 
 ciety, and that laxity in submitting to the obligations 
 of Christian worship should be viewed so lightly as is 
 too often the case, were it not for the wide-spread 
 admission among us of the original doubt of the 
 
64 The Witness [Lect. 
 
 tempter, ' Yea, hath God said ^ 1 ' That subtle ques- 
 tion, which was at the root of the first temptation, is 
 at the root of every temptation to which the soul of 
 man is subjected. The men are rare, even if they 
 exist, who can deliberately adopt the sentiment 
 which Milton attributes to the devil, ' Evil, be thou 
 my good,' and who, in the full belief that G-od has 
 uttered a command, can be indiiferent to it. But 
 they doubt whether He has really spoken. It is 
 treated all around them as matter for speculation ; 
 and they are tempted to run the risk of its not being 
 really true. 
 
 It seems necessary, moreover, to say that there is 
 something astonishing in the levity with which 
 this momentous question is treated by some of the 
 most popular religious writers of the present day. 
 Christians,' for instance, are ridiculed for assuming 
 an undue familiarity with God, and for pretending 
 to a knowledge of His will and of His purposes, 
 such as they may possess respecting each other '. 
 Now let it be granted that it has been one danger 
 of theologians to assume too complete and systematic 
 a knowledge of the Divine nature and dispensa- 
 tions. It is an error, indeed, which has been often 
 prompted, not by irreverence, but by faith. It has 
 been stimulated by that principle with which the 
 New Testament is instinct, a principle which also 
 lies at the basis of modern science, that there is a 
 
 k Gen. iii. i. 
 
 1 St. Paul and Protestantism, by Mr. M. Arnold, p. 72. 
 
in.] to Revelation. 65 
 
 harmony between the reason of man and the reason 
 of God ; it has been encouraged by those words 
 which perhaps, beyond all others, have elevated 
 human thought : 'Ev ap-^ ^v 6 Aoyoy, Kai 6 Xoyoy nv 
 Trpog Tov Oeov, km Oebs ?«/ 6 Xo'yoj ^, But the Christian 
 Church and the Christian Creed are not bound up 
 with any of the theological systems which have been 
 elaborated by individuals, and which by their grandeur 
 and grasp have fascinated, from time to time, whole 
 churches and successive generations. It is one of 
 the commonest artifices of modern scepticism to 
 assume that the schemes of theologians are the 
 Creeds of the Church, and to charge our faith, for 
 instance, with all the logical consequences of Cal- 
 vinism. But deep as is the debt the Church owes, 
 for various reasons and in various degrees, to the 
 great Fathers and Divines who have endeavoured 
 to penetrate into the mysteries of the revelation 
 entrusted to her — to an Origen, an Augustine, an 
 Anselm, a Luther, or a Calvin — she is independent 
 of all of them, and superior to all ; and it is at once 
 a great injustice, and a great piece of ignorance, to 
 hold her responsible for the imperfections of their 
 systems. So far as it is simply against such 
 systems, or their exaggerations, that the ridicule 
 in question is directed, there is no need to discuss 
 its applicability or good taste ; it is sufficient to 
 say that it is irrelevant to the question which is 
 assumed to be at issue. 
 
 m St. John i. I. 
 
66 The Witness [Lect. 
 
 When, indeed, we are charged with presumption in 
 discussing the Divine will and the Divine character, 
 the whole basis on which we stand must have been 
 forgotten. We assume, not that we are intruding 
 by our own reason into the awful secrets of the 
 Divine nature, but that God has been graciously 
 pleased to reveal His nature and His will to us, in 
 certain measure, and under certain limitations. If 
 He has done so — if there be but a serious probability 
 that He has done so — the presumptuousness surely 
 is not on the side of those who, with whatever 
 human errors and weaknesses, bend their minds and 
 hearts to apprehend the revelation, to expound it, 
 and to submit to it. It rests, on the contrary, with 
 those who disregard it, who treat it as a subject for 
 light literary mockery, or who exert their influence 
 to divert from it the serious attention of the men of 
 their age, and especially of its young men. If these 
 elements of the Christian faith are to be called in 
 question, let it be done with a due acknowledgment 
 of the gravity of the issue. If our Lord be God, and 
 if He and His Apostles have revealed to us, in any 
 measure, the wUl and the nature of God, he who 
 disparages or disregards that revelation is guilty of 
 an ofience against the human conscience and the 
 human mind of the very highest gravity. The writers 
 of the New Testament do not shrink from asserting 
 the tremendous import of the claim they put for- 
 ward. The writer of the Epistle from which the 
 text is taken, for instance, proceeds immediately to 
 
III.] to Revelation. 67 
 
 waxn those whom he addresses of the consequences 
 of neglecting the Divine revelation he announces. 
 ' How shall we escape if we neglect so great salva- 
 tion, which at the first began to be spoken unto us 
 by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them 
 that heard Him, God also bearing them witness, both 
 with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles 
 and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own 
 will " 1 * The consequences which our Lord and His 
 Apostles denounce upon disbelief are apt to sound 
 harsh to our ears. But they are at least in full con- 
 formity with the momentous character of the truths 
 which are proclaimed. If the Christian faith reveals 
 the profoundest truths ever opened to human ken, 
 those who reject such an illumination must condemn 
 themselves to a proportionately profound darkness. 
 
 It is of the first importance, for the purposes of the 
 present argument, to bear in mind the fuU gravity 
 of these considerations ; for it is only by reference 
 to them that we can duly appreciate the evidence 
 on which we build our faith in the authenticity of 
 Divine revelation. When we proceed to enquire 
 into the grounds on which we make this great step 
 forwards in the life of faith, we are thrown back, in 
 the first instance, upon certain testimony. Our Faith, 
 indeed, as we shall see, rests ultimately upon an 
 authority which is higher than that of any human 
 witness. But it starts from the testimony of the 
 Prophets and Apostles ; and such considerations as 
 
 n Heb. ii. 3. 
 F 2 
 
68 The Witness [Lect. 
 
 have just been noticed exclude all reasonable doubt 
 respecting the purport of that testimony, and the 
 full consciousness of its meaning with which it was 
 delivered. No serious criticism can question that, as 
 a matter of fact, the Prophets and Apostles were con- 
 vinced that they had received specific revelations 
 from God. Thus Professor Kuenen, who has be- 
 stowed immense labour and learning in order to 
 disprove the beHef that the prophets under the old 
 dispensation spoke with any supernatural authority, 
 frankly admits that they all claim to do so. ' The 
 canonical prophets,' he says, ' all, without distinction, 
 are possessed by the consciousness that they pro- 
 claim the word of Jahveh . . . the first and the last 
 words of the collection of the Prophetical books are 
 words of Jahveh ; from the beginning to the end He 
 is introduced as speaker by men who are persuaded 
 that they can come forward as His interpreters **.' If, 
 indeed, there could be any doubt as to the meaning 
 of such expressions, it would be dispelled by the light 
 reflected back on them by similar statements in the 
 New Testament. The question of the validity of testi- 
 mony to a supernatural revelation may, in fact, be 
 most conveniently considered in the case of the 
 Apostles, as it there comes more completely within 
 historic observation. If its validity in this instance 
 be clearly shewn, we shall have discerned the method 
 by which previous revelations may have been authen- 
 
 o The Prophets and Prophecy in Israel, by Dr. A. Kuenen. 
 Translated by the Rev. A. Milroy, 1877, pp. 74, 75. 
 
in.] to Revelation. 69 
 
 ticated, and the general principle will be sufficiently 
 established. 
 
 There can, then, be no doubt whatever, as a 
 matter of historic fact, that the Apostle Paul claimed 
 to have received direct revelations from heaven. 
 That he -wrote the Epistle to the Galatians is 
 imquestioned, and in the first chapter of that 
 Epistle he bases the whole authority of his mes- 
 sage upon an express Divine commission. He 
 claims to be an Apostle, 'not of men, neither by 
 man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, 
 who raised Him from the dead.' He certifies the 
 Galatians that the Gospel which was preached 
 of him was not after man, for, he says, ' I 
 neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, 
 but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.' He is so 
 certain of that revelation that he warns them against 
 being enticed by any apparent evidence to doubt it. 
 ' Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any 
 other gospel unto you than that which we have 
 preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we 
 said before, so say I now again, if any man preach 
 any other gospel imto you than that ye have 
 received, let him be accursed.' It would be impos- 
 sible to express a stronger, a more dehberate, and a 
 more solemn conviction that St. Paul had received 
 a supernatural communication of the will of Grod. 
 The claim upon our faith asserted by our Lord must 
 be reserved for separate discussion, as it stands upon 
 far higher ground. The witness of the Apostles 
 
70 The Witness [Lect. 
 
 must be vindicated independently; even to our- 
 selves their testimony must be in great measure the 
 foundation for our faith in Christ ; and to the early 
 Christians, before the gospels were written, that 
 testimony was the only evidence they had of the 
 claim of our Lord. It thus becomes necessary for 
 us, in the first instance, to enquire what is the 
 validity and force of the witness thus borne to facts 
 so completely beyond the range of ordinary human 
 experience. 
 
 Now the more the gravity of this testimony is 
 weighed, the more apparent will be the immense 
 responsibility which a man takes upon himself in 
 rejecting it. In such a case everything depends 
 upon the moral weight to be assigned to the con- 
 viction under which the testimony is delivered. If 
 it were dehvered by men who might be supposed 
 not to appreciate the full solemnity of the words 
 they uttered, by men, for instance, who had an 
 imperfect appreciation of the awful majesty of the 
 Being from whom they claimed to have received 
 communications — if, again, it were accompanied by 
 a weak apprehension of the moral gravity of the 
 consequences it must involve — if it were associated, 
 with any marks of hallucination in respect to the 
 ordinary affairs of life, or if it were connected, even 
 remotely, with any unworthy moral or intellectual 
 conceptions, it would justly be regarded, at the 
 outset, with the gravest suspicions P. These are 
 p See a fuller discussion of this point in Note 6. 
 
III.] to Revelation. 71 
 
 points in which, even apart from the question of 
 miraculous authentication, all other alleged revela- 
 tions fail. In this place, where the honoured me- 
 mory of the late Regius Professor of. Divinity is 
 still fresh and vivid, it would be equally pre- 
 sumptuous and unnecessary to discuss the question 
 of the value of miracles as the necessary guarantee 
 of a revelation ^. It is admitted on all hands that, 
 without such credentials, a man cannot reasonably 
 claim to be in possession of information beyond that 
 open to ordinary men. But it is also admitted 
 that the mere exertion of miraculous powers does 
 not dispense with the necessity for strong moral 
 evidence. We may, however, at least say that it 
 proves the person who propounds the doctrine to 
 possess powers, and to enjoy privileges, which are 
 beyond the ordinary range of humanity, and which 
 transcend our measurement. In other words, we 
 cease to be competent judges of the fiill extent of 
 such a witness's abUity. He may, for ought we can 
 judge, know things which are beyond human ex- 
 perience, just as he can do things which are beyond 
 human power. But when miraculous credentials are 
 sustained and illustrated by the most exalted moral 
 and intellectual qualifications, the combination of 
 testimony seems to become overwhelming. 
 
 The case may with advantage be stated in terms 
 which are familiar to English students of theology. 
 
 <i The reference is to the late Dr. Mozley's Bampton Lectures on 
 Miracles. 
 
72 The Witness [Leot. 
 
 Bishop Pearson's analysis of the logical definition of 
 Faith is eminently satisfactory, and is sufficient for 
 the purpose of this argument "■. ' Faith/ as he defines 
 it, ' is an assent unto that which is credible, as 
 credible ' — in other words, it is an assent on the 
 ground of testimony, as distinguished from assent 
 produced by immediate knowledge or mediately by 
 ratiocination. Now, as he says, there are two quali- 
 fications necessary in a witness — the one is ability, 
 the other is integrity. But ability, in relation to 
 this subject, must be taken in its amplest sense. 
 It must be held to imply at once access to the 
 necessary sources of knowledge, and the possession 
 of the requisite capacity for duly appreciating the 
 importance and purport of the truths or facts at- 
 tested. Thus if we regard the case of a witness 
 in a court of justice, it might be convenient to con- 
 sider that three qualifications are required for his 
 credibility. Our first enquiry would be whether he 
 had the means of knowing that which he reported — 
 whether, for instance, he was present at the scene of 
 an alleged occurrence. The second would be whether 
 he was truthful. But a third would be whether 
 he possessed the moral or intellectual capacity for 
 observing what he saw with due intelligence, and 
 for appreciating its import. Now objections to the 
 competence of the Apostles on the first point — that 
 of the means of information open to them — may be 
 regarded as rebutted by miracles. Of their compe- 
 r Exposition of the Creed. Third Ed. pp. 1-15. 
 
III.] to Revelation. 73 
 
 tence in point of truthfulness no reasonable man 
 doubts. There remains the third point — that of 
 their capacity, and it is with this that we are now 
 more immediately concerned. 
 
 But it is in this point, perhaps, that their tes- 
 timony possesses its chief weight. These men were 
 not pagans by birth and education, and accus- 
 tomed like Greeks to think lightly of a Divine 
 Being, and of communications with Him. They were 
 Jews, who had the third commandment continually 
 before their eyes, and for whom the very name of 
 God possessed an awful and almost unutterable so- 
 lemnity. To a Pharisee of the Pharisees like St. 
 Paul, the idea of a communication from God must 
 have been far more overpowering than it is to a 
 modem sceptic. The traditions of his nation, indeed, 
 rendered him familiar with its possibility, but at 
 the same time enhanced its solemnity. Neither in 
 the prophets nor in the apostles is there any other 
 feeling than that of supreme awe and responsibility 
 in view of the tremendous privilege conferred upon 
 them. ' Woe is me,' exclaims Isaiah, ' for I am 
 undone ; because I am a man of unclean Hps, and 
 I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, 
 for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of 
 Hosts ^.' To quote again Professor Kuenen's ac- 
 knowledgment on this point, ' We see here,' he 
 says, 'men who can find no words sufl&cient to 
 declare the might and majesty of Jahveh, who 
 s Isaiah vi. 5. 
 
74 The Witness [Lect. 
 
 have a deep and lively feeling of their own utter 
 nothingness before Him, and nevertheless, in spite 
 of the distance which separates them from Him, 
 declare emphatically that they know His counsel 
 and speak His word*.' St. Paul again and again 
 seems, as it were, to lay his hand upon his mouth 
 in presence of the supreme Majesty and unap- 
 proachableness of the God in whose name he is 
 speaking. ' the depth of the riches,' he ex- 
 claims, 'both of the wisdom and knowledge of 
 God ! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His 
 ways past finding out ! For who hath known the 
 mind of the Lord 1 or who hath been His counsellor ? 
 Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be 
 recompensed unto him again 1 For of Him, and 
 through Him, and to Him are all things ; to whom 
 be glory for ever, Amen^i.' It is surely difficult to 
 conceive a mental, moral and spiritual capacity more 
 adequate to appreciate the profound import of the 
 testimony which the Apostle dehvered. 
 
 Now are we not justified in saying that in view of 
 such considerations the burden of proof is not, as 
 seems often assumed, on the side of those who accept 
 this testimony, but on that of those who reject it 1 
 Here are several witnesses, respecting the profound 
 depth of whose moral and rehgious nature there can 
 be no doubt whatever, testifying to their own 
 
 t Kuenen's Prophets and Prophecy in Israel, translated by Rev. 
 A. Milroy, 1877, p. 76. 
 " Rom. xi. 33-36. 
 
in.] to Revelation. 75 
 
 experience, in a matter which they know and feel to 
 bear a moral and spiritual import of the most mo- 
 mentous character. Can it be considered reasonable, 
 is it consistent with common prudence, to put such 
 evidence aside on the ground that it transcends 
 our own experience, and is beyond our power of 
 verification 1 It is not too much to say that this 
 is to a large extent a question of the exercise of 
 intellectual and moral modesty. A man miist have 
 a very surprising confidence in his own inteUigence 
 and moral discernment who can venture summarily 
 to dismiss such statements as St. Paul's as halluci- 
 nations ; and accordingly it must be observed, as a 
 matter of fact, that the critics who adopt such views 
 display, as a rule, a self-confidence and a serene 
 sense of superiority, which of itself is sufficient to 
 disable their judgment in the matter. Some of 
 them can treat St. Paul as a tutor would his pupil, 
 can rearrange his thoughts, can point out to him 
 which are important and which are unimportant, 
 can indicate where he wanders from his subject, and 
 where he has lost the clue to his own meaning'^. 
 Others, as we have seen, Hke the author of Super- 
 natural Religion, can pronounce that, after all, there 
 is not much beyond the range of human thought in 
 St. Paul's alleged revelations, and that we do not 
 really lose anything by dismissing them as illusions. 
 It is no wonder that men, who can treat apostles 
 and evangehsts on these terms of mental and moral 
 ^ St. Paul and Protestantism, pp. 150-160. 
 
76 The Witness [Lect. 
 
 equality, should reject their claims to supernatural 
 information. But those who feel that, in reading the 
 Gospels and Epistles, they are communing with moral 
 and spiritual conceptions transcending any that are 
 elsewhere to be met with, to whom almost every word 
 brings home a sense of their own feebleness, sin, and 
 ignorance, and of the moral and mental supremacy 
 of the writers — such persons will judge very differ- 
 ently of the claim of the apostles to be the recipients 
 of a Divine revelation. They will feel that the case 
 completely fulfils the requirement of Hume — that 
 to prove a miracle, ' the testimony be of such a kind 
 that its falsehood would be more miraculous than 
 the fact which it endeavours to establish'^.' They 
 will listen to such claims with awe, and they will 
 either accept them with confidence and joy or will 
 reject them with fear and trembling. 
 
 In point of fact, the weight and force of all 
 testimony to a supernatural rehgion must greatly 
 depend on the degree in which the witness is felt 
 to be in harmony with oiir deepest moral con- 
 victions. No miracle would be adequate to con- 
 vince a man that St. Paul brought a direct message 
 fi:om God unless he were sensible that, by means 
 of that revelation, and in conjunction with it, the 
 Apostle was appealing to his conscience, and pouring 
 a new illumination upon his soul. ' If they hear 
 not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be 
 persuaded though one rose from the dead ^.' If a man 
 
 w Essay on Miracles. Conclusion of Part i. 
 ^ 8t. Luke xvi. 3 1 . 
 
III.] to Revelation. 77 
 
 be not overwhelmed by the spiritual illumination of 
 the Scriptures, if his whole nature be not stirred to 
 its inmost recesses by a Psalm like the 139th, if he 
 does not tremble before the heights and depths of 
 spiritual realities there revealed to him, even the 
 miracle of Easter day may fail to afford a sufficient 
 answer to his doubts. In proportion as this moral 
 and spiritual sensibihty is dormant the faith of 
 even professed Christians is but notional and tra- 
 ditional, and is destitute of real life and stability. 
 A prophet or an apostle who announces a revelation 
 from God, and who claims our submission to it, 
 appeals to us for trust ; and that trust must depend, 
 not merely upon the miracles he may be able to 
 work, but also upon the moral authority he wields ; 
 while this again will depend, not only upon the 
 witness's moral depth and iQsight, but upon our 
 own also. If we are spiritually enfeebled, we shall be 
 incapable of appreciating his authority, and shall be 
 insensible to the force with which he appeals to us. 
 
 It will thus appear that, in respect to the second 
 great step in faith, as in respect to the first, we are 
 forced back on St. Paul's principle, that the real 
 obstacle to faith is that men shrink from the severe 
 moral strain which it requires. They do not like to 
 retain God in their knowledge. A man's belief in 
 the existence of a living God with whom he is 
 personally concerned depends on the intensity and 
 vividness of the convictions of his conscience. If 
 he is prepared to acquiesce in an imperfect vindica- 
 
78 The Witness [Lect. 
 
 tion of right and wrong within his own soul and in 
 the world at large, he may feel no necessity for the 
 recognition of a personal Judge and Lord of all. 
 Even if he admit theoretically the existence of such 
 a supreme Being, yet if he fail to live in the 
 reahsation of it, if his conscience be allowed to 
 slumber, the sacred writers who are the great mas- 
 ters of the conscience will lose their hold on him, 
 he will not be sensible that they speak with any 
 overwhelming authority, and he will be prepared for 
 attempts to explain away their testimony. As we 
 saw at the outset, God is essentially the God of the 
 conscience. In proportion as a message speaks to 
 the conscience and is felt to touch its depths, will 
 it be recognised as Divine ; and in proportion as a 
 man shrinks from the intense penetration of that 
 touch will he cease to recognize its author. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be objected that to trace the 
 rejection of apostolic testimony to this source is to 
 pass an unwarranted judgment upon the moral 
 disposition of unbelievers. Now, to a certain extent, 
 such a judgment might be directly vindicated. There 
 are, for instance, dangerous signs at the present day 
 of a relaxation of moral tone in the literature of free- 
 thinking. There is a tendency to palliate the offences 
 of vicious characters, and to treat every sin as atoned 
 for by intellectual brilliancy. But it is unnecessary 
 to press this unwelcome consideration ; since it would 
 be in the highest degree unjust to throw the whole 
 blame of his error upon every individual who may be 
 
III.] to Revelation. 79 
 
 the victim of vuibelief. We are all bound up together 
 ia this matter ; and the sins, the unfaithfulness, the 
 lack of moral energy among Christians themselves 
 contribute, to a terrible extent, to weaken the testi- 
 mony to our faith. The ministers of God's word 
 must bear their share in this responsibility. So far 
 as they fail to exhibit the moral truth and spiritual 
 force of that word, so far as they harden it, or obscure 
 it, or misrepresent it, they contribute to weaken its 
 appeal to the hearts and consciences of their fellows, 
 and the result is seen in many an indirect and dis- 
 tant injury to faith. It is the mission of the Church 
 and its ministers to carry forward the work of the 
 Apostles, by bearing witness to certain truths and 
 revelations ; and if that witness be in any instance 
 unworthily delivered, the force with which the truth 
 appeals to the soul of man is proportionately weak- 
 ened. It is unnecessary, in short, for the purpose of 
 the present argument, to determine where the blame 
 or the weakness lies. But it is to some such moral 
 weakness, to some such eclipse of the moral Hght of 
 life, that a loss of faith in the testimony of the 
 Apostles of Christ, and of the Prophets of old time, 
 must be attributed; and if faith is to be revivified, it 
 must be by an appeal to the conscience, stiU more 
 than to the intellect, of man. 
 
 In short, if we push these considerations to their 
 last stage, we shall find ourselves led to a still 
 higher ground, on which St. Paul himself explicitly 
 bases his testimony. If the voice of conscience is the 
 
80 The Witness [Lect. 
 
 voice of God, then, in the last resort, it is upon the 
 witness of God Himself that faith rests. It is His 
 voice within us, the witness of His Spirit, which 
 authenticates the voice without us, and affords us 
 the final assurance that an Apostle or a Prophet 
 brings us a message from Him. So St. Paul declares 
 to the Corinthians, ' I brethren, when T came to 
 you, came not with excellency of speech or of 
 wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 
 I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in 
 much trembling ; and my speech and my preaching 
 was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but 
 in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that 
 your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, 
 but in the power of God y.' That demonstration of 
 the Spirit and of power stiU attends the message 
 of the Gospel, though in some respects in a less 
 visible and miraculous form. In those words, 'not 
 which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy 
 Ghost teacheth 2,' there still resides that power to 
 turn men from darkness to light, to regenerate their 
 moral energy, and to make them new creatures, 
 which was, after aU, the mightiest miracle of even 
 Apostolic times. The words just quoted from the 
 Apostle are a warning to us, that no ground short 
 of this witness of God Himself will suffice to sustain, 
 or to preserve uninjured, the edifice of faith ; and 
 they ought to be especially borne in mind in any 
 attempt, such as that of these Lectures, to vindi- 
 y I Cor. ii. 1-5. z I Cor. ii. 13. 
 
III.] to Revelation. 81 
 
 cate our belief in Eevelation. In proportion as our 
 appretension of His voice within our own souls is 
 quickened, ia that proportion shall we recognize the 
 same voice in His Prophets and Apostles ; we shall 
 feel a deepening conviction that they are speaking 
 that which they know, and are testifying that which 
 they have seen, and we shall finally acknowledge, 
 with gratitude and perfect trust, that in these last 
 days He hath spoken unto us by His Son ''. 
 
 a See Note 7. 
 
 G 
 
LECTURE ly. 
 
 THE FAITH OF THE OLD COVENANT. 
 
 Isaiah xlii. 5, 6. 
 
 Thus saith God the Lord, He that created the heavens, and stretched 
 them out; He that spread forth tlm earth, and that which cometh 
 out of it ; He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and 
 spirit to them that lualk therein : I the Lord have called thee in 
 righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and udll keep tliee. 
 
 IT has been the purpose of the second and third of 
 these Lectures to vindicate the two principles which 
 are at the foundation of Christian faith. The first 
 is the truth that God is, and is the rewarder of them 
 that diligently seek him — that in Him we live and 
 move and have our being, and above all things our 
 moral being. The second is that He has made 
 definite revelations to us — that, at sundry times and 
 in divers manners. He spake in times past unto our 
 fathers by the prophets and apostles. Starting from 
 these principles we may now proceed to consider 
 the successive developments of Faith under this 
 Divine inspiration and guidance; and accordingly 
 the subject of the present Lecture will be the 
 character of the revelation vouchsafed to the Jews, 
 and the nature of the faith which it elicited. It is, 
 
The Faith of the Old Covenant. 83 
 
 however, necessary to keep this starting-point con- 
 stantly in mind, as it determines the whole method 
 of our interpretation of those Scriptures on which 
 our subsequent arguments must be based. There is 
 a prevalent tendency to reason upon this subject 
 as if all we had to consider were the gradual 
 advance of men, by force of their natural faculties, 
 intellectual and moral, towards the knowledge of 
 God. From this point of view, often unconsciously 
 adopted, many modem critics appear to deem them- 
 selves perfectly capable of measuring the full mean- 
 ing of the Scriptures, and justified in bringing them 
 to the test of a purely scientific and rational standard. 
 But the whole attitude of our minds becomes dif- 
 ferent when we once acknowledge that we are in 
 the presence of Divine utterances, and that the Bible 
 is not so much a record of the efforts of men to seek 
 and find God, as a revelation of His gracious work 
 -in seeking them and guiding them. From the 
 moment that any strong probability of this being 
 the case is established, we are compelled to ap- 
 proach the Scriptures in a different spirit from that 
 in which we deal with other writings. We are 
 led to expect that there must be much in them, 
 and in the revelation they contain, which is beyond 
 the apprehension of any individual, and which, to 
 the last, will exercise to the utmost the meditation 
 and the experience of the Church. 
 
 This observation is one which needs to be borne 
 in mind, not merely in respect to direct assaults 
 
 G 2 
 
84 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 upon the Scriptures and the revelations they record, 
 but in efforts to explain or to defend them. All 
 schemes of sceptical or rationalistic interpretation 
 of the Scriptures and of our Lord's hfe are based 
 upon the supposition that no statements are admis- 
 sible and no acts credible which cannot be brought 
 within the range of our rational comprehension. 
 The most frequent examples of this spirit in the 
 present day are to be seen in the numerous attempts 
 which have been made to bring the history of the 
 Gospels within the compass of ordinary historic 
 development and of rational explanation. But if we 
 have once reason to believe that our Lord's utterances 
 were Divine, all such attempts stand condemned 
 beforehand. The first principle of a sound criticism 
 must be a confession of its own incompetence to 
 solve many of the problems which a Divine revelation 
 must needs present. When, therefore, a commentator 
 or a critic writes as though higher culture, or ad- 
 vanced criticism, had enabled him to survey the 
 Scriptures from the vantage ground of a superior in- 
 teUigence — when he thus deems himself qualified 
 to transform the whole conception of spiritual truth 
 expressed by the sacred writers, to present a different 
 view of our Lord's life from that of the Evan- 
 gelists and the Apostles, to exhibit 'the origins of 
 Christianity ' with scientific precision, or to discrimi- 
 nate between the essential and the non-essential 
 in Apostolic teaching — in such a case it is possible he 
 may make valuable contributions to our knowledge, 
 
IV.] of the Old Covenant. 85 
 
 but he at once stands discredited as an interpreter. 
 We are in presence of words, and thoughts, and 
 purposes, which are vastly beyond our grasp. The 
 course of past history ought to be enough to shew 
 us that the methods and designs of Grod are often 
 utterly obscure to all natural apprehension, and that 
 the mightiest influences for the future may lie hidden 
 under the slightest words, and in the most insignifi- 
 cant events. By means of faith we grasp the hand 
 of an invisible guide, who has led His people on- 
 wards, from step to step, along paths which were 
 often shrouded in darkness on all sides ; and there 
 is no greater danger to which we are exposed than 
 that of setting aside, because beyond our immediate 
 comprehension, intimations of His will and expres- 
 sions of His truth. 
 
 But if, from the point of view which has been 
 previously vindicated, these considerations involve 
 a decisive condemnation of the rationalist, they 
 afford no less valuable warning and advice to the 
 apologist. In proportion to a man's belief in the 
 supernatural character of the revelation of the Scrip- 
 tures will he avoid being over-anxious or hasty in 
 explaining or defending it. His words will always 
 be wary and often few; and the objections which 
 will disturb him least are that some word or deed 
 of our Lord, or some statement of the inspired 
 writers, is beyond the apprehension of critics. He 
 will frequently feel it suflScient to acknowledge the 
 imperfection of his own intelligence and experience ; 
 
86 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 and in respect to many difficulties he will feel 
 justified in replying : 'We are not careful to answer 
 thee in this matter ^.' 
 
 These principles afford us a broad and deep foun- 
 dation on which the main edifice of faith may be 
 erected. They justify us in resting satisfied, for the 
 purpose of our argument, with the general testimony 
 of the Scripture records, notwithstanding the diffi- 
 culties with which they may be beset on certain 
 points in their interpretation, or in the history of 
 their composition. Criticism has now analysed un- 
 sparingly the whole of those records ; and although 
 some writers have reached very destructive conclu- 
 sions, as was to be expected from the assumptions 
 with which they started, the general result is to leave 
 unshaken the chief evidence with which we have to 
 deal. It is sufficient, for instance, to read Ewald, in 
 order to be convinced that the substantial truth of 
 the sacred narrative is unassailable, and that the 
 reaUy important questions at issue are not those of 
 facts, but those of first principles. If a critic starts 
 firom the assumption that any interference with the 
 course of nature, as observed in our daily life, is in- 
 conceivable, he must needs exert himself to explain 
 away aU tokens of such interference ; and he may 
 often be able to make out a very plausible account 
 of the matter from his own point of view. There has 
 never yet, however, been any attempt of this kind 
 which did not, by its own confession, leave certain 
 * Dan. iii. i6. 
 
IV.] of the Old Covenant. 87 
 
 points unexplained. The Christian interpretation of 
 the history is, in this respect, in at least no worse 
 a position than any other; while it has the un- 
 questionable advantage that it takes the statements 
 and narratives of Scripture, as a rule, in the simple 
 meaning which they bear at first sight, and which 
 they have always hitherto conveyed. Let it be once 
 assumed, for the reasons previously assigned, that 
 God has spoken to men not merely by their con- 
 sciences, but by revelation fi:om without — that His 
 voice has been recognised and His words have been 
 heard — and we feel ourselves at once in harmony 
 with the interpretation which the Bible naturally 
 suggests. Infinite care and labour will still be 
 necessary in order to penetrate into its deeper 
 secrets, and to elucidate the problems which it 
 presents. But we may, without hesitation, accept 
 it as what it professes to be — a record of Divine 
 revelation, and of a divinely-ordered history • and, 
 for the general piurposes now in view, we may 
 submit ourselves in simplicity and confidence to the 
 guidance of its plain and unsophisticated meaning. 
 
 Approaching the subject in this spiritj there can 
 be no difficulty in answering the question what^ 
 as a matter of fact, were the main elements of the 
 faith of the Jews. If we enquire^ in the first instancej 
 into its substance, we shall be the better able to 
 appreciate the authority on which it rested. Now 
 it is marked by one conspicuous characteristic, re- 
 specting which there seems no room for controversy. 
 
88 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 The people of Israel lived in the firm belief, handed 
 down from generation to generation, that they were 
 in actual covenant with the God of their Fathers, with 
 the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with Jehovah 
 who appeared to Moses. On this point even such 
 destructive criticism as that of Professor Kuenen is 
 explicit in its admissions. ' The prophets of Jahveh,' 
 he says, ' who laboured among the Israelites in the 
 eighth century before our era, appeal to history to 
 prove that Jahveh really stands in an entirely peculiar 
 relation to that people. " Jahveh thy God from the 
 land of Egypt : " in these words Hosea expresses 
 a conviction which recurs in the other prophets. 
 Although here the Exodus from Egypt is the starting- 
 point, there are not wanting allusions to persons and 
 events of a stUl earlier period from which we may 
 infer that the bond between Jahveh and Israel had 
 already been formed at that time. When, for in- 
 stance, Micah writes : " Thou wilt perform the truth 
 to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast 
 sworn unto our fathers from the days of old ;" then, 
 in his opinion, the covenant between Jahveh and the 
 Israelitish nation, which he also dates from the 
 deliverance out of the house of bondage in Egypt, 
 must have been already prepared before^.' 
 
 This conviction is, in fact, beyond question, the 
 central point in the national faith and the national 
 life. Faith in the divine promise involved in that 
 
 ti The Religion of Israel, by Dr. A. Kuenen ; translated by A. H. 
 May, 1874, Vol. I, p, loi. 
 
IV.] of the, Old Covenant. 89 
 
 covenant sustained the faithful Jew through the 
 bitter and prolonged agonies of his people, and ani- 
 mated him in his intense attachment to those laws 
 and customs, in the observance of which he deemed 
 his own part in the covenant to consist. St. Peter 
 summed up the deepest convictions of his country- 
 men when he addressed them^ as 'the children of 
 the prophets, and of the covenant which God made 
 with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy 
 seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.' 
 That covenant was as sacred to the Apostles as to 
 the Jews who adhered to the old faith. They ap- 
 pealed to it as the very warrant for the message 
 with which they were entrusted ; and St. Paul's 
 crucial argument against the permanent obligation 
 of the whole Mosaic law is based on the unalter- 
 able character and essential import of the original 
 promise to Abraham *. From first to last, from the 
 dawn of the sacred history to the proclamation of 
 the Gospel, and from thence to the present day, 
 this covenant constitutes the everlasting rock on 
 which the edifice of Jewish faith and fife is built. 
 By an indissoluble bond, stamped upon his very- 
 flesh, every Jew was thus brought under a solemn 
 engagement with the God of his fathers, and by an 
 equally solemn engagement the God of his fathers 
 became bound to him. Accordingly in the Decalogue, 
 the brief but comprehensive summary of the prin- 
 ciples of Israel's faith and duty, the proclamation 
 G Acts iii. 25. •! Gal. iii. 15-18. 
 
90 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 of this covenant is the foundation of the whole 
 structure. 'I am the Lord thy God, which have 
 brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the 
 house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods 
 before me e.' When the third commandment proceeds 
 to declare that the Lord will not hold guiltless those 
 who are false to engagements made in His Name, 
 or who treat them as vain, the inviolable character 
 of the covenant on both sides stands proclaimed as 
 the primary law of the national life. 
 
 There appears something entirely unique, and pro- 
 foundly impressive, in the testimony thus borne 
 through long ages by an undying race to the convic- 
 tions of their fathers that they had received a solemn 
 divine promise. That conviction, it is important 
 to observe, appears as deep and firm in the earhest 
 known history of the nation as in its later years. 
 The prophets appeal to it as antecedent to their 
 authority ; it is the basis of the history and not its 
 result. It would appear very difficult to account for 
 a conviction of this kind by any other explanation 
 than the simple and natural one — that it was founded 
 on a fact ; that an actual divine promise had been 
 communicated to the fathers and founders of the 
 Jewish nation, and had been subsequently confirmed 
 by the prophetic voice, and by miraculous signs. 
 But to appreciate the force of this consideration, 
 it is necessary to examine more particularly the 
 constituent elements of the faith embodied in the 
 " Exodus XX. 2, 3. 
 
IV.] of the Old Covenant. 91 
 
 conviction in question. Of what character was the 
 God from whom the promise was believed to have 
 proceeded, and what was its purport 1 In order to 
 answer these questions, it is again sufficient to con- 
 sider certain broad facts which are independent of 
 current controversy. Without entering into the 
 critical questions which have been raised as to the 
 composition of the Pentateuch, there can be no doubt 
 that it embodies the sum and substance of the faith 
 of the Jews, and of the Covenant under which they 
 lived. Their latter history and the writings of their 
 Prophets were but applications of the facts and 
 principles declared in those five sacred books — illus- 
 trations of them, and inspired comments upon them. 
 They constituted specifically the Law, the original 
 and unalterable basis of Jewish fife and belief. On 
 this foundation, as a matter of fact, the whole fabric 
 with which we have to deal has been raised ; and 
 the primary conceptions here presented constitute 
 the great facts for which we have to account. 
 
 What then, let us ask, is the opening revelation 
 of the Book of the Covenant? It is conveyed in 
 that first chapter of the book of Genesis, around 
 which, for the last generation or two, so warm a 
 controversy has raged, and which still seems to 
 be regarded in some quarters as offering grave difi&- 
 culties to the claims of the Scriptures. Perhaps 
 theologians are as much responsible for some of these 
 difficulties as men of science, but under a large 
 and generous treatment of the subject it will not 
 
92 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 only be seen that they disappear, but the chapter 
 in question will be found one of the most pregnant 
 revelations in the whole compass of the Scriptures. 
 It displays before us a sublime vision of the 
 creation of the heavens and the earth by the word 
 of God. The sacred writer takes us back beyond 
 aU time, carries us in thought away from the earth 
 on which we stand, above the height and beneath 
 the depth, and reveals to us one Almighty God, 
 who, by His mere will, called into being all the 
 marvels of earth, and sea, and heaven. He passes 
 in brief, but comprehensive, review every element 
 of the external world — the hght and the darkness, 
 the clouds above and the water below, the dry land, 
 the grass, the herbs, and the trees, the two great 
 lights and the innumerable constellations of the 
 heavens, the moving creature that hath life in the 
 water, in the air, and on the land ; and finally man, 
 the most perfect of all creatures, and the master 
 of them all ; and as scene after scene passes before 
 us, until the whole compass of nature has been re- 
 viewed, we hear in impressive reiteration the words, 
 ' God said/ and ' It was so.' A heathen writer has 
 confessed the subhmity of the simple sentence, ' God 
 said. Let there be light, and there was light,' and 
 it is obvious what an amazing idea of the Divine 
 power and wisdom they convey to us. In intrinsic 
 grandeur of conception they may well be compared 
 with that sublime and awful chapter in the book of 
 Job, where we read how the Lord answered Job 
 
IV.] of the Old Covenant. 93 
 
 out of the whii-lwind, and said : ' Where wast thou 
 when I laid the foundations of the earth 1 Declare, 
 if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the 
 measures thereof, if thou knowest ? Or who hath 
 stretched the hne upon it 1 Whereupon are the 
 foundations thereof fastened ? or who hath laid the 
 corner-stone thereof; when the morning stars sang 
 together, and aU the sons of God shouted for joj f 1 ' 
 It was a description and a demand which might well 
 cause the patriarch, as is said, to abhor himself, 
 to lay his hand upon his mouth, and to repent in 
 silence, and in dust and ashes. But there is some- 
 thing even more full of awe in the simple declaration 
 that all these marvellous creations were called into 
 being by the mere word and will of God. 
 
 Such is the main effect and substantial revelation 
 of this chapter; and it may be well to observe 
 that, when regarded from this point of view, the 
 course of modem discovery, so far from diminishing 
 its instructiveness, tends vastly to enhance it. If 
 this be the main purpose of the sacred writer, it 
 becomes a wholly subordinate question whether the 
 discoveries of science respecting the past history of 
 the globe correspond exactly to his narration. That 
 was not the matter with which he was immediately 
 concerned. The particular order in which the phe- 
 nomena of nature are reviewed is no way essential 
 to the exhibition of the great religious truth which 
 it is the object of the writer to impress upon us. 
 
 f Job xxxviii. 4-7. 
 
94 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 This, however, reBders it the more remarkable that, 
 if the narration be taken in that broad and simple 
 sense in which it is obviously intended, it is so far 
 from being inconsistent with the revelations of 
 science, that it might far more justly be regarded 
 as a most comprehensive and expressive summary of 
 their main result. The law of an orderly succession 
 in creation, from lower types of nature to the higher, 
 on which science now so urgently insists, is here con- 
 spicuously expressed. But, at all events, the more we 
 learn in these days of the antiquity, the complexity, 
 the infinity of nature, the more wonderful and im- 
 pressive must that reiterated declaration sound to 
 our ears, ' God said,' and ' It was so.' The astronomer 
 revealing a universe, compared with which the globe 
 on which we live is but an inappreciable point, the 
 student of the microscope displaying a not less end- 
 less series of worlds within our own, the geologist 
 unravelling the records of an almost interminable 
 succession of life — each is but displaying a com- 
 mentary which enables us the better to realize 
 the majesty of that God, who was before aU things, 
 and by whom all things consist, who speaks and 
 it is done, who commands and it stands fast. 
 This opening chapter of revelation is, in short, 
 most properly considered, not as a revelation of 
 nature, but as a revelation of God. All the wonders 
 of nature are reviewed and displayed so as to reflect 
 the power and majesty of that great Being who 
 created them. Such is the grand revelation with 
 
IV.] of the Old Covenant. 95 
 
 which the Book of the Covenant opens ; and it is 
 in this profound realisation of God that the founda- 
 tions of that Covenant were laid s. 
 
 Now with respect to the practical effect of the 
 revelation of God thus conveyed to us, we are not 
 left to our own speculation. We can appeal to 
 the evidence of fact in a singularly interesting 
 form. It was the custom in the Jewish Church 
 to read in their synagogues selections from the 
 prophets, illustrating the several portions of the 
 Law. Accordingly, when the opening chapters of 
 Genesis were read, that which we may call the second 
 lesson of the synagogue was from the 5th verse 
 of the 42nd chapter of Isaiah to the loth verse of 
 the 43rd. We there possess what was regarded by 
 the Jews as the practical commentary on the com-' 
 mencement of the book of Genesis ; and what is the 
 burden of that great prophecy 1 It is that of the 
 opening verses, which have been taken as the text 
 of this Lecture. It proclaims a message from the 
 Creator: — 'Thus saith God the Lord, He that 
 created the heavens and stretched them out. He that 
 spread forth the earth and that which cometh out 
 of it ; He that giveth breath unto the people xipon 
 it, and spirit to them that walk therein.' So far 
 we have a summary of the first chapter of Genesis, 
 and an application of it to the purpose just indicated 
 — the description of God. But the prophet is com- 
 missioned to announce what this Lord, the Creator 
 e See Note 7 A. 
 
96 The Faith [Lect. 
 
 of heaven and earth, saith to his Servant, and to 
 the people of Israel so far as they were one with 
 that Servant, and to what purpose this revelation 
 of His infinite power and wisdom is to be applied. 
 ' Thus,' he proceeds, * saith God the Lord ... I 
 the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and 
 wUl hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and will 
 give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light 
 of the Gentiles.' Throughout the Scriptures no 
 grander or more marvellous utterance is to be found. 
 If the opening revelation of the book of Genesis 
 be overwhelming in its awful majesty, not less 
 overpowering in its graciousness is the assurance 
 here conveyed, that the people of Israel were in 
 covenant with the Almighty Creator, and were privi- 
 leged to appropriate all that awe, all that might 
 and majesty, as bestowed upon themselves, for their 
 righteousness, their support, and their protection, 
 and that they were thus to become ' a light of the 
 GentUes' — the instruments as they have undoubtedly 
 been, of an universal moral enlightenment. 
 
 Consider, for a moment, what a very different 
 effect such a revelation as we have been contem- 
 plating might have produced. The Psalmist, in 
 one place, describes the natural influence of such 
 contemplations. 'When I consider Thy heavens, 
 the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars 
 which Thou hast ordained ; what is man, that 
 Thou art mindful of him ? and the son of man, that 
 Thou visitest him ^V If, without any condescension 
 t Ps. viii. 3, 4. 
 
IV.] the Old Covenant. 97 
 
 to our weakness, God were simply to stand before 
 ns in His majesty as a Creator, ' the spirit would 
 fail before Him, and the souls whicli He lias made '\' 
 The mere facts of nature, such as earthquakes, 
 storms, and eclipses have been, to the vast majority 
 of mankind a source of overpowering terror, driving 
 them to all the devices of superstition. How much 
 more terrible would be the naked vision of Him, 
 whose voice is the thunder, at whose look the earth 
 trembles, at whose touch the hills smoke. The 
 enemies of reHgion have sometimes denounced it as a 
 device of priests and kings to keep men in subjection; 
 they have alleged that it tends to make men timorous, 
 and deprives them of independence. It is perfectly 
 true that it has often done so, and that in some 
 cases it does so still at the present day, especially 
 in heathen countries. It is also true that it must 
 of necessity have this effect, so far as God is simply 
 represented to men in the character of an Almighty 
 Creator. But how completely is the effect reversed, 
 when we add to that revelation these wonderful 
 words, ' I, the Lord, have called thee in righteous- 
 ness, and will hold thine hand, and wUl keep thee.' 
 From the moment that message is received into 
 the heart, everything there is of awe, might, and 
 majesty in the revelation of God becomes the source 
 of confidence, hope, security, and dignity, in the soul 
 of man. The. power and wisdom revealed to iis in 
 the record of creation become our refuge and our 
 
 » Is. Ivii. 1 6. 
 
98 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 strength ; they expel from the raind all selfish fear, 
 they lift it out of all slavery, they bestow on it an 
 independence not less than that of the will of God, 
 they assure us that we are superior to heaven and 
 earth, to death and hell, and to all created things. 
 He who can say, ' The Lord is on my side,' must 
 at least add, ' I will not fear what man can do 
 unto me ^ ; ' but he may also stand unshaken in soul 
 amidst the shock of worlds. 
 
 We thus perceive, that in the first chapter of his 
 work, the Hebrew lawgiver established the founda- 
 tion on which he could rear the edifice of an indepen- 
 dent, a righteous and a true, because a fearless 
 people. He brought them a message from Grod, and 
 they asked him, Who is the Lord ^ and he answered, 
 'He that created the heavens, and stretched them 
 out, He that spread forth the earth and that which 
 Cometh out of it, He that giveth breath unto the 
 people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein;' 
 and ' thus ' he added, in other words from the same 
 passage ', ' Thus saith the Lord that created thee, 
 Jacob, and He that formed thee, Israel, Fear 
 not, for I have redeemed thee ; I have called thee 
 by thy name, thou art mine. When thou passest 
 through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through 
 the rivers, they shall not overflow thee ; when thou 
 walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, 
 neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the 
 Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.' 
 ^ Ps, cxviii. 6. 1 Isaiah xliii. i. 
 
IV.] the Old Covenant. 99 
 
 There are thus these two primaxy elements in 
 the faith of the Jews — first, the belief in a God who 
 made the heavens and the earth ; and secondly, 
 the behef that, if we submit ourselves to His wiU, 
 He graciously exerts His might, wisdom, and right- 
 eousness for our salvation, and that He lifts us 
 iato fellowship with Himself. This conviction is, in 
 fact, implied in a striMng and pregnant expression 
 in the first chapter of Genesis itself. We read that 
 God said, ' Let us make man in our image, after our 
 likeness.' In what was that likeness to consist 1 It 
 is explained as consisting in a resemblance to those 
 very attributes which had just been so gloriously 
 manifested. ' Let them have dominion over the fish 
 of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the 
 cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping 
 thing that creepeth upon the earth.' 'God blessed 
 them, and God said unto them. Be finutful and 
 multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it, 
 and have dominion.' What words are these to be 
 addressed to so weak and feeble a creature, and what 
 a source of confidence, hope, and conscious power do 
 they not afford ! How deeply this teaching entered 
 into the spirit of the Jews is shewn by the Psalms. 
 There is no more striking instance than the Psalm "^ 
 which is read at the commencement of morning 
 service. It recites how 'the Lord is a great God, 
 and a great King above aU gods,' that ' in His hand 
 are aU the comers of the earth, and the strength of 
 
 ™ Ps. xcv. 
 H 2 
 
100 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 the hills is His also.' Here is the first of the two 
 principles just mentioned ; and it is indissolubly 
 united with the second : ' let us heartily rejoice in 
 the strength of our salvation ... for He is the Lord 
 our God, and we are the people of His pasture, 
 and the sheep of His hand.' It is this combina- 
 tion of principles which is constantly applied to 
 sustain the servants of God in adhering to Him, 
 and obeying His laws, in spite of all temptations 
 and distresses. The Lord of heaven and earth had 
 called the Psalmists and the whole Hebrew people 
 by their name, and they could follow His call, 
 though earth and heaven should seem arrayed 
 against them. When, in short, a man can begin a 
 Psalm with the words, 'The heavens declare the 
 glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handi- 
 work,' and can end it with the words, * Lord, my 
 strength and my Redeemer »,' he has grasped the 
 essential elements of a true faith, and is superior 
 to all powers that can assail him. 
 
 But another momentous element in this faith must 
 be apprehended before we can realize its fuU depth 
 and grandeur. The God who was thus supreme in 
 his infinite elevation above all created things was 
 similarly exalted in his moral attributes, and was 
 incapable of tolerating moral evU in his presence. 
 The two conceptions of moral elevation and of un- 
 approachable majesty are everywhere united. When 
 the Prophet Isaiah saw the Lord ' sitting upon a 
 
 n Ps. xix. 
 
IV.] the Old Covenant. 101 
 
 throne, high and lifted up,' the Seraphim who stood 
 above it cried one unto another, and said, 'Holy, 
 Holy, Holy, is the Lord of Hosts : the whole earth 
 is full of His glory ».' He is ' the high and lofty One 
 that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy,' and 
 He dwells ' in the high and holy place P.' By this 
 combination the idea of holiness is exalted to an 
 inconceivable height, while that of majesty and power 
 is invested with the intensest moral significance. 
 ' The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in 
 all His works i.' In one verse the Psalmist exclaims, 
 ' Men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts, 
 and I will declare thy greatness ;' in the next he 
 says, ' They shall abundantly utter the memory of 
 thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteous- 
 ness ^.' The Divine laws and commands, accordingly, 
 of whatever kind, are essentially righteous in their 
 character and purpose, and aU moral and spiritual 
 blessedness is found in the path of them. ' Blessed 
 is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the 
 ungodly . . . but his delight is in the law of the Lord, 
 and in His law doth he meditate day and night ^' 
 The privilege of the Jew is to have this righteousness 
 revealed to him, and to be thus introduced into union 
 and covenant with God. 'He sheweth His word 
 unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments unto 
 Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation, and 
 as for His judgments they have not known them*.' 
 
 o Is. vi. 1-3. P Is. Ivii. 15. 1 Ps. cxlv. 17. 
 
 r Ps. cxlv. 6, 7. « Ps. i. I, 2. * Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20. 
 
102 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 From this truth, in fact, no less than from that of 
 God's creative majesty, the .primary revelation of 
 the Lawgiver starts. It has been observed by Lord 
 Bacon in how striking a connexion the sacred his- 
 torian passes from the record of the creation to 
 a description of man's moral lapse, and how vivid 
 and profound is the account thus given of the moral 
 position of mankind ^. Placed in the Garden of Eden 
 to dress it and to keep it, man could not be content 
 with this simple duty, but entangled himself in 
 speculations respecting what was abstractedly good 
 and evil, and as a natural consequence, yielded to the 
 first temptation which suggested to him a shorter 
 and a pleasanter path to the full enjoyment of his 
 life. How true a picture this is of human nature 
 let the great drama of Goethe, or the last utterances 
 of German pessimist philosophy, in Schopenhauer or 
 Von Hartmann, be the witness. Such reflections 
 should at least suffice to convince us that these por- 
 tions of the primeval revelation cannot, even in the 
 present day, be too deeply pondered. But apart 
 from these profound speculations, there must be few 
 persons, learned or simple, who can read the narrative 
 of the first sin without feeling that, whether history, 
 or allegory, or both, it still afibrds the most vivid of 
 all pictures of their own experience under temptation, 
 and a clear revelation of the essential movements of 
 moral life. The doubt first suggested respecting the 
 
 " Prmf. ad Inst. Mag. at the close. See also his Confession of 
 Faith. 
 
IV.] the Old Covenant. 103 
 
 truth, or the obligation, of a known command ; the 
 speculation about it, the subtle suggestion that we 
 shall not surely reap the consequences which we have 
 been told will follow on its infraction, the dwelling 
 upon the forbidden fruit until everything is forgotten 
 except that the tree is good for food and pleasant 
 to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one 
 wise, so that we take thereof and eat, and give unto 
 others and they eat, — all this has surely been the 
 experience of every person in this congregation. 
 Not less true to every-day experience of human 
 nature is the recvirrence of the voice of the Lord God 
 when the sin has been committed, the shrinking from 
 it, and the vain effort to hide ourselves amidst the 
 trees of the garden — perhaps amidst the pleasures 
 and the excitements of the world ; and finally, the 
 persistent excuses with which, in spite of a sense of 
 guUt, we attempt to throw the blame of our fall on 
 others ; and the justice with which, in the Divine 
 judgment, both we and they are held responsible. 
 Whatever criticism may ultimately decide with 
 respect to the human authorship of this narrative, 
 its amazing practical truth would alone bespeak a 
 more than human origin. When it is combined 
 with the first chapter, so as to reveal Grod to us 
 in His character as a God of righteousness no less 
 than as a God of power, we have presented to us, 
 in brief and vivid imagery, the whole substance of 
 the subsequent history and revelation. 
 
 This conception, in fact, of a God at once all- 
 
104 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 righteous and almighty rendered indispensable, in 
 proportion as it was realized, the provision of some 
 means of mediation and reconciliation between Him 
 and His frail and sinful people. Step by step, 
 accordingly, as the apprehension of the Divine cha- 
 racter deepened, did the revelation of the necessity 
 of an Atonement, and of its method, advance. When 
 the Lord revealed himself at Sinai and embodied 
 in the Ten Commandments the substance of His 
 name and His will, He established also a system of 
 sacrifices which at once prefigured and interpreted 
 the one great Sacrifice by which the one Mediator 
 should finally reconcile God and Man. Subsequently, 
 in proportion as the Prophets entered more and more 
 deeply into a knowledge of the infinite righteousness 
 of God, did they also attain a clearer vision of the 
 coming Mediator and of His work. For these reasons 
 the idea of Atonement tends in an ever-increasing 
 degree to become the centre of Jewish faith. A God 
 of aU righteousness as well as of aU power could not 
 but be a God of deliverance as well as of moral 
 indignation and jealousy; and the problem over which 
 seers and priests brooded was by what method these 
 ilhmitable and conflicting attributes could be har- 
 monized in the Divine dealings with men. He, in 
 His grace and condescension, vouchsafed to enter 
 into covenant with them. But notwithstanding this 
 assurance, what a gulf did not their sinfulness create 
 between themselves and Him, and how powerless were 
 they to overpass it ! Such a covenant, to endure the 
 
IV.] the OM Covenant. 105 
 
 terrible strain upon it. must be embodied in some- 
 thing stronger and more permanent than external 
 ordinances. It must be embodied in an Eternal 
 High Priestv. who should offer one saciifice for sins 
 for ever, and establish the union between God and 
 man on the unchangeable foundation of His own 
 Divine and human life. 
 
 Xow in proportion as we appreciate the ti-anscen- 
 dent grandem- of this faith, shall we also appreciate 
 the necessity of positive Divine assurances on which 
 it may be based. We have the evidence all around 
 us, in those eclipses of faith agsuust which we have 
 to contend, of the extreme difficulty of retaining a 
 firm grasp of such convictions as have been de- 
 scribed ; and it was, in fact, even more difficult to 
 maintain that grasp among the Jews than among 
 ourselves. The veiy substance, accordingly, of this 
 faith constitutes of itself a momentous testimony to 
 the fact that it was not based upon mere hopes 
 and the conclusions of reason. Xo purely human 
 philosophv has ever led men to such a height. Its 
 attainment is consistently attributed to the express 
 promise and interposition of God ; and the awfol 
 conception entertained of the Divine character by 
 those who bore witness to these promises, their in- 
 tense conviction that they were speaking in the 
 presence of One whose righteousness was as a 
 consuming fire, gives an immeasurable weight to 
 their testimony. The sacred history proceeds to 
 record a series of miraculous utterances, all instinct 
 
106 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 with one character — that they are the utterances 
 of a deliverer from unrighteousness and from its 
 ruinous consequences ; and they are all accompanied 
 with vast promises. Abraham, when struggling 
 with the idolatry around him, combating strenu- 
 ously, as Ewald describes him"'', among his nearest 
 kindred and in his own house, with the seductions 
 of ripening heathenism, and with men corrupted 
 by them, is summoned, by a voice which speaks 
 direct to his conscience, to leave his country and 
 his kindred, and his father's house, and to go into 
 an unknown land ; and a promise is given to him, 
 and miraculously authenticated, which becomes the 
 starting-point of a new life to the world — that in 
 him should 'all families of the earth be blessed.' 
 From that moment, as is partly indicated by the 
 meaning of the Hebrew word for faith, he and his de- 
 scendants become firm and steadfast. They are the 
 fixed centre of all the revolutions in the world around 
 them. Everything may change, and any apparent 
 disaster may happen, but to them and to their seed 
 has the promise been made, and it will be assuredly 
 fulfilled. They are in the hands of the Lord of heaven 
 and earth, who has called them by their name and 
 delivered them. Their life is based upon faith in this 
 direct promise by a Divine Person ; and the whole 
 subsequent history is but the development of its 
 meaning. St. Paul accordingly discerned the entire 
 
 V The History of Israel, by H. Ewald, edited by E. Martineau, 
 M.A. Second Edition, 1869, vol. i. pp. 322, 323. 
 
IV.] the Old Covenant. 107 
 
 substance of Jewish faith in Abraham, who believed 
 God, and to whom it was counted for righteousness. 
 It was the mission of the Prophets from time to time 
 to revive and deepen the faith of the people in these 
 assurances by intensifying their apprehension of the 
 nature and the character of God. Under this inspired 
 guidance, the true meaning of the promises became 
 more and more clear, untU it was dimly realised 
 that they could only be fulfilled in a Messiah and 
 Eedeemer. The hoHest souls turned more and more 
 in prayer and trust to the God of their fathers, 
 waiting for the consolation of Israel. 
 
 The law given by Moses remains, however, the 
 most conspicuous witness to a great deliverance from 
 moral and physical evil, and was the abiding means 
 of working out that deliverance in history. The 
 Jews, like their great ancestor, were struggling 
 against the Egyptian idolatry, and were in danger of 
 being absolutely enslaved to it, when the Lord of 
 heaven and earth, the Master of all the powers of 
 nature, interposed in their behalf, and declared Him- 
 self, by mighty signs and wonders, their Deliverer. 
 That Jehovah is the Deliverer is the preamble of the 
 Ten Commandments, and the teaching of the whole 
 Pentateuch. The law, moreover, contains a further 
 assurance of deHverance in the sacrifices which are 
 ordained for the expiation of sin, thus assuring the 
 people, by types and figures, that the one insuperable 
 obstacle to their communion with Jehovah would be 
 removed. The giving of the law, as is remarked 
 
108 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 by Ewald, is accompanied by every circumstance 
 which could stamp on the mind of the people the 
 fact of its proceeding from a personal Deliverer. 
 Then first, he says '^, ' the great " I " stands de- 
 cisively opposed to the " I " of men.' ' This great 
 omnipotent " I " thus becomes manifest through 
 the prophet,' and he and the people bow them- 
 selves before it in obedience and trust. ' I am 
 the Lord thy God, that brought thee out of the 
 land of Egypt. Thou shalt have none other gods 
 but me' — here is at once a command, a promise, an 
 assurance of future deliverance, and a direct personal 
 appeal. Those words, read by the wise direction of our 
 reformers Sunday after Sunday, for three centuries, 
 in all the churches of England, serve to bring before 
 the minds of the people, with the utmost force and 
 vividness, those conceptions of a personal Lord, a 
 just God and a, Saviour, of His direct claim on 
 us and of His gracious promise to us, which mere 
 philosophy, and even some forms of morality and 
 religion, would reject. So long as they are read 
 — and may the day never come when they will 
 cease to be thus forced on our attention — they will 
 bear testimony to the truth, that faith in a personal, 
 a righteous, and an omnipotent God, trust in Him, 
 and obedience to Him in His personal character, is 
 the very substance and foundation of sound morality, 
 as well as of true religion. 
 
 In conclusion, accordingly, it will be instructive to 
 
 w History of Israel, edited by B,. Martineau, vol, ii, p. 129. 
 
IV.] the Old Covenant. 109 
 
 observe, especially with reference to the subject we 
 have more particularly in view, that the decay of 
 true faith, and of a vital morality, among the Jews 
 is historically marked by a loss of this vivid con- 
 ception of God and of His communion with men. 
 'The whole of the internal weakness and per- 
 verseness of the hagiocracy' — to quote again from 
 Ewald^^ — ' betrays itself in the one small, but signi- 
 ficant circumstance of its treatment of the name of 
 God. Desirous to maintain the infinite sanctity 
 of the venerable name of Jahveh, and fearful of 
 degrading it, they ordained that it should never 
 be pronounced at all, and so allowed this glorious 
 ancient name to he in absolute obscurity behind 
 a perpetual veil . . . The name of the true God was 
 now suspended at an infinite distance, high above all 
 the present scene of existence.' Consequently, ' this 
 God of the ancient community, though men feared 
 His name above all things, and desired utterly 
 to surrender themselves to Him in deepest awe, was 
 in reality ever retiring further and further from 
 them into a mysterious distance ; and while they 
 were restrained by their scruples from looking into 
 His face, or calling on Him by His true name, they 
 were really losing him more and more ; so unde- 
 signed was this most significant of all the signs 
 of Israel's last great era.' Does not this description 
 present a startling resemblance to the efibrts now 
 so persistently made among ourselves, often in the 
 
 X History of Tgrael, vol. v. pp. 198, 199. See Note 8. 
 
110 The Faith of the Old Covenant 
 
 alleged interests of morality, of law, and even of 
 the dignity and sanctity of the Godhead, to divert 
 us from attempts to realise His personal character, 
 and to enter into personal communion with Him ? 
 It was when Israel lost their apprehension of the 
 kinship of God with their own souls, when they 
 ceased to apprehend their Creator directly as their 
 personal Redeemer from sin and evil, when they 
 failed to reahse that He had called them by their 
 name and had revealed to them His own name, when 
 the covenant thus became a formality to them, it was 
 then that they were on the verge of that terrible 
 blindness and hardness of heart, which issued in their 
 final and disastrous fall. Let us be warned by such 
 an example, and let us cling with all our souls to the 
 faith of the Psalmist : — 
 
 'Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for 
 his help, 
 
 Whose hope is in the Lord his God, 
 
 Which made heaven and earth, 
 
 The sea, and all that therein is ; 
 
 Which keepeth truth for ever ; 
 
 Which execute th judgment for the oppressed : 
 
 Which giveth food to the hungry. 
 
 * * * * ' 
 
 The Lord shall reign for ever, 
 
 Even thy God, Zion, unto all generations. 
 
 Praise ye the Lord y.' 
 
 y Ps. cxlvi. 5-10. 
 
LECTURE Y. 
 
 OUR LORD'S DEMAND FOR FAITH. 
 
 St. Matthew xi. 25—27. 
 
 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, Faiher, Lord 
 of heaven and earth, because Thou Jiast hid these things from the 
 teise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so. 
 Father : for so it seemed good in Thy sight. All things are 
 delivered unto me of my Father : and no man knoweth the Son, 
 hut the Father ; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the 
 Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. 
 
 idAYING considered the nature of faith under the 
 old dispensation, its substance, and the grounds upon 
 vrhich it rested, it becomes our duty in the present 
 Lecture to pass to the next great development of 
 faith, as called forth by our Lord Jesus Christ. It 
 is here that faith assiunes at last its full proportions, 
 and finally claims its position as the cardinal virtue 
 of man's nature. The very word started into a 
 sudden life in the writings of the New Testament*; 
 and although St. Paid discerned the primary example 
 of faith, and the germ of its ultimate development, 
 in the obedience of Abraham, he speaks sometimes 
 as though it had first sprung into full vitaUty 
 under the gospel. ' Therein is the righteousness of 
 » See Xote 9. 
 
112 Our Lord's demand [Lect. 
 
 God revealed from faith to faitli^.' 'Before faith 
 came we were kept under the law, shut up unto 
 the faith which should afterwards be revealed <'.' 
 Its importance, in fact, became more fully recognised 
 in proportion as its object was more vividly ap- 
 prehended, and as the assurances on which it could 
 rest became more firm and definite. By the coming 
 of our Lord former promises had been fulfilled, and 
 still larger promises were opened ; and faith could 
 start from a loftier altitude for a stiU bolder and 
 a nobler flight. 
 
 The prominence which our Lord gives to faith 
 and the supreme importance He attaches to it are 
 still more remarkable. Faith is the virtue on which 
 He bestows His highest praise, while it was the one 
 thing He declared indispensable for the reception of 
 His blessings ^. A striking illustration of the manner 
 in which He regarded it is afforded by those occa- 
 sions on which His wonder is said to have been 
 evoked. In Him that emotion was called forth by 
 causes very diiferent from those by which it is 
 ordinarily aroused among men. That which occa- 
 sioned wonder to the Jews, and to our Lord's 
 followers, was the exhibition of His power over 
 nature. The disciples on one occasion marvelled, 
 and said, 'What manner of man is this, that even 
 the winds and the sea obey Him ^ ! ' It is still this 
 characteristic in our Lord which chiefly excites 
 
 *> Rom. i. 17. Gal. iii. 23. 
 
 <i St. Mark ix. 23. « St. Matt. viii. 27. 
 
v.] for Faith. 113 
 
 wonder, as is proved by tte common use of the 
 word miracle. That word is exclusively applied 
 to deeds of physical power, as though the only 
 thing which could affect the mass of men with 
 astonishment were that which is visible and startling 
 to the senses. But with our Lord it is the very 
 reverse. He never speaks as if there were anything 
 strange or unnatural in the miracles He performs. 
 He refers to them, indeed, as ' mighty works,' or 
 rather as exertions of power, and as intended to 
 impress us with a sense alike of his power and 
 of his goodness. But to Himself they appear per- 
 fectly natural and simple. There is a conspicuous 
 absence of aU effort about them. His wonderful 
 cures. His raising of the dead, His miraculous ap- 
 pearances to His disciples, all are performed with 
 the quietness and ease which are characteristic of 
 an irresistible force. Any display of effort is a reve- 
 lation of weakness ; but our Lord ' speaks and it is 
 done,' 'He commands and it stands fast.' It was 
 by the phenomena of the moral world that His 
 astonishment was occasioned — by its vast capacities 
 on the one hand, and its terrible incapacities on 
 the other. On the one hand, He marvelled at 
 the faith manifested in the appeal of the Centurion, 
 who bade Him speak the word only and his servant 
 should be healed ; and He expressed a similar ad- 
 miration at a like display of faith in the Oanaanitish 
 woman f. On the other hand, when in His own 
 
 f St. Matthew viii. lo ; xv. 27. 
 I 
 
 ' ■'ft'SWgSMBMiy^B 
 
114 Our Lord's demand [Lect. 
 
 country, among His own kin, and in liis own house, 
 He found Himself without honour, so that He 
 could not do any mighty work, save that He laid 
 His hands on a few sick folk and healed them, we 
 are told that 'He marvelled because of their un- 
 belief e/ The faith of which men are capable on 
 the one hand, and the unbelief of which they are 
 capable on the other — these are the only two things 
 which are said to have evoked the wonder of the 
 Lord Jesus. These, to His eye, were the only two 
 real marvels exhibited during His ministry. 
 
 There was indeed something amazing in the faith 
 which He demanded. Of all the eflEbrts of that 
 minimising theology to which I have more than once 
 referred, none is more extraordinary, none more in- 
 capable of being reconciled with the elementary facts 
 of the case, than those which would lower our Lord's 
 claims in this respect, and reduce His work to that 
 of a moral teacher, however eminent. The two 
 cases just mentioned — of the Centurion and of the 
 Canaanitish woman — may be regarded as the crucial 
 instances of the faith He claimed. They are 
 thus signalised by His own express description ; 
 and that which they exhibit is an absolute and 
 unlimited trust in Himself and in His will and 
 power to save. Of course, if the liberty be assumed, 
 as is always done by rationalistic theologians, or by 
 sceptics, to rearrange the Gospels according to their 
 
 e St. Mark vi. 6. 
 
v.] for Faith. 115 
 
 power of apprehending them, and to pick and choose 
 as they please among the sayings and doings at- 
 tributed to om" Lord, it is very possible to represent 
 Him as simply a moral teacher. But experience has 
 already shewn the futihty of attempts to reconstruct 
 the history of our Lord in any other form than that 
 in which it is presented to us. Such attempts have 
 within the present generation been often made, and 
 the results are so discordant as utterly to discredit 
 each other. The interpretation, on the other hand, put 
 upon the Gospels by the Church has from the first 
 been one and consistent, and it is in harmony with 
 the natural and obvious meaning of the sacred nar- 
 rative. The Church alone is content to take the 
 records as they stand, to abstain from arbitrary con- 
 jecture, and to rely on their inherent truth and 
 harmony. The faith, at all events, which we are 
 now concerned to justify, was originally based, and 
 is still based, upon this simple acceptance of the 
 message of the Gospels. If they could be shown 
 to be historically untrustworthy, we should have 
 to deal with an entirely different problem. But 
 while their testimony remains in substance un- 
 shaken, as is certainly the case, what we have to 
 consider is the reasonableness of the human actions 
 they narrate, and in particular of the faith which 
 our Lord demanded and elicited. 
 
 Unless, then, the sacred records are completely 
 fallacious, our Lord must, from the very outset of 
 His ministry, have assumed a position which made 
 
 I 2 
 
116 Oui- Lord's demand [Lect. 
 
 an immense claim on faith. He not only announced 
 like His forerimner, tliat the kingdom of heaven was 
 at hand, but He preached the gospel of the kingdom ; 
 He spoke and acted as its ruler ; and He promised 
 all blessings and deliverances to those who trusted 
 and obeyed Him. It is difficult for us to realise the 
 momentous character of that proclamation at the 
 time it was uttered ; and more attention might 
 perhaps, with advantage, be directed to the extraor- 
 dinary prophetic power which was exhibited in our 
 Lord and His apostles. They announced, before it 
 occurred, an immense revolution in the moral and 
 spiritual condition of mankind, and their predictions 
 have been fulfilled to the letter. We look back 
 on those days from the vantage -groimd of the 
 present. We know and feel, and see around us 
 on all sides, what has been the power of Christ and 
 Christ's Church. We behold a great tree, greater 
 than all trees, with the birds of the air lodging in 
 the branches thereof, and from thence we judge of 
 the seed. But those who saw the seed sown had no 
 such assistance to their judgment. Even with the 
 support afforded by the miracles our Lord wrought, 
 it must have needed a wonderful exercise of faith 
 to make His promises respecting a kingdom of God 
 the basis of a revolution in life and conduct, which 
 placed men at variance with the whole world around 
 them. Our Lord summoned His disciples to a career 
 in which all visible experience would be against 
 them, in which they would be despised, hated, and 
 
v.] for Faith. 117 
 
 persecuted. From the first he never disguised from 
 them that such would be their lot in this life ; 
 and they had nothing but His word to assure them 
 of their reward hereafter, and of the ultimate victory 
 of their cause in the present world. 
 
 The Beatitudes, for instance, which no one doubts 
 to be among our Lord's most characteristic utterances, 
 are very much more than the mere commendations of 
 certain moral and spiritual graces, which they are 
 sometimes represented to be. They are promises 
 and prophecies of futui'e blessings, and they furnish 
 'the substance of things hoped for, the evidence 
 of things not seen.' When our Lord said, ' Blessed 
 are they that mourn, for they shall be com- 
 forted,' He was not merely depicting the natural 
 consequences of a moral excellence ; He was giving 
 a pledge on which sorrowing hearts might rest. 
 Still more evidently, when He declares, ' Blessed are 
 ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, 
 and shall say aU manner of evil against you falsely, 
 for my sake. Eejoice and be exceeding glad, for 
 great is your reward in heaven 'i,' He uttered a 
 promise which in after days, amidst the actual 
 bitterness of persecution, must have demanded the 
 deepest tnist. In a word, our Lord presented 
 Himself as the Saviour of men's bodies and souls, 
 here and hereafter. He asked His followers to place 
 their whole fate in His hands, and to trust Him 
 through the depths of tribulation, agony and death. 
 ^ St. Matthew v. ii, 12. 
 
118 Our Lord's demand [Lect. 
 
 ' In the world,' He said plainly, ' ye shall have tribu- 
 lation, but be of good cheer ; I have overcome the 
 world i.' This was the faith on which His highest 
 praises were bestowed. It was a faith of this na- 
 ture with which He inspired His Apostles, and by 
 which they overcame the world. We have to enquire 
 what was its justification, and how it was produced. 
 The enquiry will be found to exhibit, in one vivid 
 illustration, the cardinal elements of faith, and will 
 afford a conclusive test of the j ustice of the principles 
 which, in the course of the present argument, have 
 been hitherto vindicated. 
 
 It is to be observed, then, that our Lord's appeal 
 starts from an intense moral illumination, and the 
 way was prepared for Him by calls to repentance 
 more solemn and penetrating than had ever been 
 heard, even in the course of Jemsh history. John 
 the Baptist, who was sent to prepare the way of the 
 Lord, is the typical preacher of repentance ; and in 
 the deep moral conditions he aroused were the paths 
 made straight for our Lord's advance. There is 
 something peculiarly striking and instructive in the 
 necessity, thus recognised, of a moral preparation 
 before even our Lord, though supported by the testi- 
 mony of His miracles, could come forward to assert 
 His claim. But when He Himself appeared He laid 
 the foundations of His work in similar exhortations, 
 He, like His forerunner, is a preacher of repentance ; 
 and He probes the hearts of His hearers with a depth 
 i St. John xvi. 33. 
 
v.] for Faith. 119 
 
 and a severity whicli lay bare the very recesses of 
 the soul. It is one of the strangest, and perhaps one 
 of the most characteristic features of rationalising 
 writers that this aspect of the Sermon on the Mount 
 is so httle appreciated by them. They applaud its 
 ' sublime morality,' they condescend to pronounce 
 that, ia their opinion, no teacher has ever soared to 
 such a height, and they would fain represent its 
 moral teaching as the sum and substance of the 
 Gospel. But unless a man be made in some other 
 mould than his fellows, it is wonderfid that he can 
 read the Sermon on the [Moimt without trembling. 
 In proportion to the beauty and the force of the 
 moral truths it declares, is the spiritual and moral 
 ruin it reveals among us. and the condemnation it 
 pronounces upon every human soul. ' Whosoever 
 shall be anoTV with his brother mthout a cause 
 shall be in danger of the judgment.' ' Whosoever 
 looketh on a woman to lust after her hath com- 
 mitted adult eiy with her already in his heart.' ' If 
 thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast 
 it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one 
 of thy members should perish, and not that thy 
 whole body should be cast into hell.' ' With what 
 judgment ye judge ye shall be judged, and with 
 ■what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you 
 again.' The laws of Sinai, denouncing sinful acts 
 amidst thunder and lightniusf, and ^ith all the sane- 
 tion of the terrors of nature, are as nothing compared 
 with this sword of the Spirit, piercing to the dividing 
 
120 Our Lord's demand [Lect. 
 
 asunder of the soul, discerning the very thoughts and 
 intents of the heart, and denouncing the severest 
 judgments upon mere words, and looks, and inclina- 
 tions. The loftier and more spiritual the standard, 
 the more utter appears our own failure to approach it, 
 and the more disastrous must seem the consequences 
 of our sins. If this be ' the way of life,' we feel, in- 
 deed, that ' wide is the gate and broad is the way that 
 leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go 
 in thereat ; ' while ' strait is the gate and narrow is 
 the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that 
 find it.' When the force of this aspect of the Sermon 
 on the Mount is adequately brought home to a mail's 
 conscience, his only fitting utterance is that of Job : 
 ' I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but 
 now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, 
 and repent in dust and ashes ^.' The wrath of God is 
 revealed from heaven in that discourse with a terrible 
 calm, which leaves a man desperate of all resources 
 in himself, and compels him to cry for some deliver- 
 ance from the body of death and evil which encom- 
 passes him. 
 
 Let it next be observed what are the means by 
 which this intense and penetrating moral illumi- 
 nation is produced. We here approach another point 
 in which the Sermon on the Mount, considered as a 
 typical instance of our Lord's teaching, is at the 
 present day most strangely and flagrantly mis- 
 represented. It is the favourite contention of those 
 k Job xlii. 5, 6. 
 
v.] for Faith. 121 
 
 who impugn the faith of the Church that the 
 teaching of that sermon is purely moral and inde- 
 pendent of theology. ' It is undeniable,' says the 
 author of Supernatural Religion, with characteristic 
 strength of assertion, ' that the earliest teaching of 
 Jesus recorded in the Gospel which can be regarded 
 as in any degree historical is pure morality almost, 
 if not quite, free from theological dogmas. Morality 
 was the essence of His system ; theology was an 
 after-thought'.' Two pages afterwards this writer 
 states with perfect correctness, but with complete 
 unconsciousness of inconsistency, that Christ's system 
 ' confined itself to two fundamental principles, love 
 to God and love to man.' But is there no theology 
 involved in teaching love to Godi No theology in 
 the belief that God is, and that He is the rewarder 
 of them that diligently seek Him, and that in spite 
 of all the difficulties, perplexities, and cruelties of the 
 world. He is worthy of the whole love and trust of 
 our hearts ! Why, this is the very theological pro- 
 blem which has racked the heart and brain of man 
 from the dawn of rehgious thought to the present 
 moment. On these two commandments — to which, 
 in the curious phrase just quoted, Christ's system is 
 said to have ' confined itself,' as though they were 
 slight and simple — on these two commandments 
 hang all the law and the prophets. They are the 
 germ from which has sprung the whole theological 
 thought of the Christian Church, and to which it 
 1 Suiyematural Religion, 4th ed., vol. ii. pp. 486, 487-8. 
 
122 Our Lord's demand [Lect. 
 
 returns ; and no theologian can wish, to do more 
 than to deepen his own apprehension of them, and 
 to strengthen their hold upon others. With similar 
 inconsistency, M. Eenan declares that 'we should 
 seek in vain for a theological proposition in the 
 Gospel ; ' and yet states, elsewhere, that ' a lofty 
 notion of the Divinity was in some sort the germ 
 of our Lord's whole being.' 'God,' he adds, 'is in 
 Him ; He feels Himself in communion with God ; 
 and He draws from His heart that which He speaks 
 of His Father!".' 
 
 These are strange inconsistencies. But there is 
 nothing, perhaps, more fitted to warn a thoughtful 
 mind, at the threshold of sceptical speculations, of 
 their essential shallowness, than the manner in which 
 the vastest conceptions and the profoundest problems 
 are thus passed over, as it were, dryshod by such 
 writers as have just been quoted. Truths are not to 
 be regarded as simple merely because they are simply 
 expressed ; and if, as appears to be admitted on all 
 hands, our Lord adopted the cardinal principles of 
 the Old Testament, and declared that the first and 
 great commandment is ' thou shalt love the Lord thy 
 God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
 with all thy mind, and with all thy strength ".' He 
 laid the basis of His teaching in the loftiest truth of 
 theology. In the preface to one of the most popular 
 of recent attempts to supersede the Church's con- 
 ception of our Lord's life and work, it was explained 
 
 m Vie de Jems, pp. 462, 77, 78. » St. Mark xii. 30. 
 
v.] for Faith. 123 
 
 that the author proposed to famish an ans^rer to 
 the qnestion, ' Wliat was Christ's object in founding 
 the sodety which is called by His name, and how 
 is it adapted to attain that object <» ? ' But the author 
 stated at the same time, as though it involved no 
 inconsistency, that 'Xo theological questions what- 
 ever are here discussed.' In other words, this writer 
 started with the assumption that theology could be 
 excluded alike firom our Lord's object and from His 
 method, and that it had nothing to do with the 
 purpose and the constitution of the Christian Church. 
 This is, ia fact, the primary principle firom which 
 attempts to explain away our faith now proceed. 
 Around the question vrhether, and in what manner 
 Christ revealed Clod, the battle rages, and to this it 
 continually returns. 
 
 Xow we might be content to appeal for the 
 decision of this question to the testimony of the 
 Sermon on the Mount alone. If we ast, as has just 
 been done, by what means the intense moral illumi- 
 nation of that teaching is produced, we find that 
 it is dependent at every step upon revelations of 
 God's character and will. It is the vision of our 
 Father in heaven which is presented to us con- 
 tinuously as the lamp to our feet, and the light to 
 our paths. ' Let your light so shine before men that 
 they may see your good works, and glorifv your 
 Father which is ia heaven.' ' Be ye therefore per- 
 fect, even as your Father which is in heaven is 
 o From the Preface to Ecce Homo. 
 
124 Our Lord's demand [Lect. 
 
 perfect.' What is the reason alleged for the secret 
 and inward pursuit of righteousness, as distinguished 
 from mere external obedience 1 It is because ' our 
 Father seeth in secret/ and all things are naked and 
 open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to 
 do. Why are we to seek first the kingdom of God 
 and His righteousness, instead of taking thought for 
 the things of this life, but because our heavenly 
 Father knoweth that we have need of all these 
 things ? Or why are we bidden to pray, but because, 
 if we, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto 
 our children, how much more shall our Father which 
 is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him "? 
 This element, in fact, in the Sermon on the Mount 
 constitutes its most precious characteristic, and com- 
 pletely transforms the aspect it would bear if re- 
 garded simply as a moral exhortation. If it had 
 been addressed to men standing alone in their 
 natural condition, and if its censures and demands 
 had been unsoftened by revelations of Divine grace, 
 there might have seemed, as has just been said, 
 something almost cruel in its terrible severity, in the 
 relentlessness with which it exposes the fatal vice of 
 even passing thoughts, and looks, and words, and_in 
 the narrowness and straitness of the path which it 
 marks out. But it is not addressed to men in their 
 natural condition. It is addressed by a Saviour to 
 those whom he is ready to save, and to whom he 
 is revealing that gracious gift of the Holy Spirit, of 
 which it was His mission to win the full endowment 
 
v.] far Faith. 125 
 
 for mankind. Its teaching, in short, is clenched, and 
 enforced, and rendered tolerable to our weakness by 
 the Saviour's Evangelical promise towards its close, 
 ' Ask, and it shall be given you ' . . . For, as His 
 assurance of ' good things' is interpreted in the 
 parallel passage in St. Luke, ' If ye, being evil, know 
 how to give good gifts unto your children, how much 
 more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy 
 Spirit to them that ask Him P ] ' 
 
 There is, moreover, one simple piece of evidence 
 afforded by the Sermon on the Mount, which alone 
 suffices to exhibit the perversity of all attempts to 
 deprive our Lord's teaching of its theological element. 
 It contains one short passage, which has asserted its 
 hold over the minds of men, whatever their critical 
 opinions, as embodying essentially the thoughts of 
 our Lord. That passage is the Lord's Prayer. No 
 one, probably, would dispute that in that brief form 
 of words we possess the very substance of the mind 
 of Christ. But iu the mere conception of prayer it 
 involves the whole principle of our personal relation 
 to God ; and its first two words imply the subsequent 
 assurance, just referred to, that we can appeal to 
 Him as children to a Father, and that we may look 
 to Him for direct and special assistance in our needs. 
 Its supplications then commence with the petition 
 ' Hallowed be Thy Name.' If the order of the words 
 be any guide to the meaning of a great utterance of 
 this kind, we must assume that this petition is the 
 p St. Luke xi. 13. 
 
126 Our Lord's demand [Lect. 
 
 most momentous that can be offered by man to God, 
 that it is the first step in the spiritual life, that on 
 this being granted depend aU the other blessings 
 which the prayer solicits. Where that Name is known 
 and recognised, a complete revolution in the moral 
 position of man ensues ; a new heart is formed within 
 him, and he lives by faith and prayer. When God's 
 true character is thus apprehended, men submit 
 themselves cheerfully to His rule, and become loyal 
 subjects of His kingdom, and in proportion as His 
 kingdom comes, His will is done. But when we pray 
 that His will may be done, we attribute to Him a 
 nature analogous to our own in the most distinctly 
 personal and human of our characteristics, and at 
 the same time express the deepest trust in his good- 
 ness and power. We are next taught to appeal to 
 God for our simplest physical necessities, for the 
 forgiveness of our trespasses, and for protection from 
 temptation ; while again, m the petition, ' as we 
 forgive them that trespass against us,' the language 
 of the Prayer expressly sanctions that so-called an- 
 thropomorphism which it is now so much the fashion 
 to denounce. In other words, the Lord's Prayer brings 
 a living God and His personal wiU into our life at 
 every turn of it. Whether it be daily bread that 
 we need, or deliverance from the profoundest forms of 
 spiritual evil, it is to the good pleasure and the direct 
 hand of God that we are instructed to look for it. 
 If nothing else remained of our Lord's teaching but 
 this prayer, He would still have conveyed to us 
 
v.] for Faith. 127 
 
 a comprehensive revelation of the existence and 
 character of ovcc Father in heaven, and of our rela- 
 tion to Him, 
 
 But this is only a single instance of that which 
 is the main characteristic of our Lord's life. In 
 every act and word He is revealing God, and bring- 
 ing that revelation to bear upon the hearts of men. 
 The most characteristic incident of His childhood, 
 that which alone was thought necessary to be re- 
 corded, was that, on a visit to Jerusalem, He left 
 His father and mother and went to the Temple, 
 in order to sit at the feet of the Doctors ; and when 
 His mother asked Him how He could give her the 
 anxiety of such a search for Him, He expressed 
 surprise at her not understanding that He was sure 
 to be found in the Temple, His Father's house i. 
 Such is the glimpse vouchsafed to us of our Saviour's 
 earliest consciousness, while He was still increasing 
 ' in wisdom and stature.' His heavenly Father 
 absorbed His whole soul, and drew Him away from 
 every other influence to the house and the word of 
 God. He is next brought before us at His Baptism, 
 and again this relation to the Father is the prominent 
 feature in the scene. A voice is heard saying, ' This 
 is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased r.' 
 We follow Him to the temptation — the critical trial 
 of His fitness for the awful ministry to which He 
 was destined ; and in what does the temptation con- 
 sist ■? In three successive attempts of the malignant 
 9 St. Luke ii. 49. ^ St. Matthew iii. 17. 
 
128 Our Lord's demand [Lect. 
 
 spirit to induce Him to distrust His Father. He is 
 invited to exert His own power, to claim a glory of 
 His own, to display His special privileges, for objects 
 which were not those of His Father' s will. He refuses ; 
 He submits himself absolutely to that will, and He 
 comes forth from the trial to proclaim, not His own 
 kingdom, but the kingdom of God. 
 
 After this, we find Him, during a ministry of two 
 or three years (to quote St. Matthew's summary) 
 ' teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the 
 Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of 
 sickness and all manner of disease among the people^. 
 He exhibited in that short time a character of mercy, 
 love, truth, righteousness, which has rendered Him, 
 not only among Christians, but even among those 
 who reject His loftiest claims, the supreme ideal 
 of all that the conscience and the heart of man 
 demand. But in what capacity does He display these 
 qualities and perform these acts 1 Is it in the 
 capacity of a good man, acting on His convictions 
 of what is right, and exercising His own powers 1 
 By no means. The essential character of our Saviour's 
 life and ministry is the reverse of this. He insists 
 continually on the fact that He is carrying out 
 the will of another — of that Father of whom He 
 spoke in His earliest recorded utterance ; and His 
 avowed object, on all occasions, is to reveal that will. 
 Of this the text affords one of the most conspicuous 
 examples. When John the Baptist sent to enquire, 
 
 « St. Matthew iv, 23. 
 
v.] for FaitJ). 129 
 
 • Alt thou He that should come, or do we look 
 for another ?' and when He had replied by recount- 
 ing His mighty works. He answei"ed and said, ' I 
 thank Thee, Fathei", Loi-d of heaven and earth, 
 because Thou hast hid these things from the wise 
 and prudent, and hast revealed them vmto babes. 
 Even so, Father ; for so it seemed good in Thy sight. 
 All things are dehvered unto Me of Mr Father : and 
 no man knoweth the Son, but the Father ; neither 
 knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he 
 to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him ^.' In other 
 words. He was able to do these works. He coxild 
 display this grace and gloi-v, because adl things had 
 been delivered unto Him of the Father. At other 
 times He disclaims still more explicitly any capacity 
 to act independently. His highest claims to au- 
 thority are dwelt on in the greatest detail in the 
 Gospel of St. John ; but they are never claims to 
 independent power. On the contrary. He is reported 
 in that Gosnel as declariiiir, ' Yerilv, verilv, I sav unto 
 you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what 
 He seeth the Father do : lor what things soever He 
 doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise ; for the 
 Father loveth the Son and showeth Him all thinirs 
 that Himself doeth «.' 
 
 The Gospel of St. John, indeed, is conclusive on 
 
 the point now in question, but we need not depend 
 
 on it to exhibit the paramount influence on oxur 
 
 Saviour's mind of His devotion to ffis Father. The 
 
 t St. Matdiew si. 25-27. » St. John v. 19, 20. 
 
 K 
 
130 Our Lord's demand [Lbct. 
 
 most critical scene in His life, that in which His 
 whole nature was stirred to its profoundest depths, 
 and in which its essential principles were put to the 
 most cruel test, was that of His passion. Of this 
 we have accounts by all four Evangelists, and it is 
 evident that the circumstances of this awful scene 
 were regarded by the Apostles as of supreme import. 
 What then is the chief characteristic of His mind 
 at that time 1 His recorded sayings are few, but 
 they are above all things impregnated with trust 
 in His Father, and submission to His Father's will. 
 In His agony in the garden He prays three times, 
 in terrible earnestness, ' my Father, if it be 
 possible, let this cup pass from Me ; nevertheless, 
 not as I will, but as Thou wilt. my Father, 
 if this cup may not pass away from me except 
 I drink it, Thy will be done ^.' At the commence- 
 ment of His agony on the cross He prays, ' Father, 
 forgive them ; for they know not what they do.' 
 At the crisis of that agony, His almost despairing 
 cry is, ' My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken 
 Me V And when the sacrifice is consummated, and 
 He is able to say ' It is finished,' He utters that 
 prayer of complete trust and submission, 'Father, 
 into Thy hands I commend My spirit.' If there is 
 one thing certain respecting His crucifixion, it is that 
 He submitted to it in obedience to the will of His 
 Father in heaven, that the sense of His Father's 
 presence was His one sustaining conviction, that His 
 ^ St. Matthew xxvi. 39, 42. 
 
v.] for Faith. 131 
 
 deepest agony was one passing apprehension tliat 
 His Father had forsaken Him, and that in His last 
 breath He resigned His soul into His Father's hands. 
 To that Father His first and His last witness was 
 borne during the time that He was among us as 
 a man like ourselves, sharing our weakness, and 
 bearing our sins. But the same characteristic is 
 preserved after His resurrection: 'Go,' He said to 
 Mary Magdalene when He was risen, 'Go to My 
 brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto My 
 Father and your Father, and to My God and your 
 God^;' and He commanded His disciples 'to teach 
 all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' From His 
 first words to His last He identifies His work abso- 
 lutely with doing the will of His Father, and re- 
 vealing the Father's will and character. 
 
 That memorable prayer, in short, which is recorded 
 for us by St. John^, is undoubtedly an exact summary 
 of the spirit of His life. Its burden is to declare 
 that the object of His work has been to reveal the 
 name, that is to say, the nature and the will of His 
 Father. 'Father,' He says, 'the. hour is come; 
 glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify 
 Thee ; as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, 
 that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou 
 hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they 
 might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ 
 whom Thou hast sent.' ' I have manifested Thy 
 ^ St. John XX. 17. ^ Ibid. xvii. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 Our Lord's demand [Lect. 
 
 name unto the men whicli Thou gavest Me out of 
 the world, . . . they have known that all things 
 whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee. For 
 I have given unto them the words which Thou 
 gavest Me ; and they have received them, and have 
 known surely that I came out from Thee, and they 
 have believed that Thou didst send Me.' ' righteous 
 Father,' He concludes, as the sum and substance of 
 His last desires, ' the world hath not known Thee : 
 but I have known Thee, and these have known that 
 Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared unto them 
 Thy name, and will declare it, that the love where- 
 with Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I 
 in them.' 
 
 Now the consideration of the effect of this reve- 
 lation of God in Christ must in part be reserved 
 for the next Lecture, which will deal with the 
 development of faith in the history of the Church, 
 and its expression in the Creeds. We are now 
 concerned with its bearing on our Lord's claim to our 
 trust. But it may be worth while to observe, in 
 passing, that we have here a conclusive answer to 
 those difficulties which have been raised as to 
 the possibility of regarding God as a person — a 
 possibility essential to our exerting faith in Him, in 
 any satisfactory sense. It is not necessary to define 
 the meaning of the term ' person,' and, of course, as 
 applied to God, it involves what is infinitely beyond 
 our conceptions. But our Lord Jesus Christ was 
 a person ; and He was in a relation which was 
 
v.] for Faith. 133 
 
 evidently a personal relation with His Father in 
 heaven. He could love Him as a Father, trust Him 
 as a Father, pray to Him as a Father, commend His 
 soul to Him as a Father. He could speak of His 
 will, His love, His good pleasure. In a word, He 
 attributed to Him acts and dispositions as personal 
 as any we attribute to one another ; He manifested 
 Him as standing in a relation to Himself, and to us, 
 similar to that which one person holds to another in 
 this world. This is what we mean, and all we need 
 insist upon, with respect to the personality of God. 
 It is precisely as real, as vital, as the personaHty of 
 Christ, and just in proportion as Christ's personality 
 is realised by us, shall we realise the personality of 
 His Father. Philosophy has striven in vain to pierce 
 the veil which shrouds the Great Creator, but the 
 only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, 
 He hath declared Him. In Christ we have Him 
 brought home to our hearts and souls in a living 
 form and a human relationship. It has been said 
 that if God had given a revelation, it would have 
 been written in letters of fire in the firmament. The 
 principle assumed in the objection is true. If God 
 has given a revelation it must be so written that, 
 in respect to its substance, he that runs may read 
 it, if he will. But how could a personal Being 
 be revealed in the mere phenomena of inanimate 
 nature 1 A person can only be revealed in and 
 through other persons, and by means of his relation 
 to them. The Divine Revelation, accordingly, was 
 
134 Our Lord's demand [Lect. 
 
 from tlie first entrusted to human hearts, and it was 
 finally enshrined in the heart of Christ. It has been 
 written in letters of fire in the soul of the Son of 
 Man ; it was described with tongues of fire by those 
 who first read it there ; and the Spirit by whom that 
 sacred fire was kindled is ever present to fulfill our 
 Lord's promise y, 'ye shall know that I am in the 
 Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.' 
 
 Let us, however, observe that the immediate 
 efiect of this revelation of God in Christ, and of our 
 relation to Him, is to give the utmost conceivable 
 intensity to the consciousness of moral good and 
 evil. We are all conscious of the powerful influence 
 exerted by our personal relations to one another, and 
 by the mutual judgments passed by man on man, in 
 awakening and deepening the moral sensitiveness. 
 There is a school which would seek in such social 
 influences the ultimate source of morality, and would 
 rely solely upon them for its development. But how 
 vast a moral power does such a school of philosophy 
 disregard when it puts out of sight this revelation of 
 the Divine society into which our Lord introduces us ! 
 How infinitely is this social influence elevated and 
 intensified when we are led, by this proclamation 
 of the Divine name, to recognise that our inmost 
 souls are in the constant presence of the Father of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ ! St. John has described the 
 result with his characteristic simplicity and force. 
 ' That,' he says, ' which was from the beginning, 
 y St. John xiv. 20. 
 
v.] for Faith. 135 
 
 which we have heard, which we have seen with 
 our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our 
 hands have handled, of the Word of hfe, that which 
 we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, .... 
 this then is the message which we have heard of 
 Him and declare unto you, that God is light, and 
 in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we 
 have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, 
 we lie and do not the truth ; but if we walk in the 
 light, as He is in the Hght, we have fellowship 
 one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ 
 His Son cleanseth us from all sin 2.' Under this 
 blaze of moral light a profound consciousness of 
 sin is aroused, and the soul is compelled to 
 seek for cleansing in the atoning blood of the 
 Saviour. 
 
 But it wiU further be seen what momentous 
 weight is thus added to the testimony of Christ, 
 and to His claim upon our belief. We contemplate 
 Him delivering His message, working His miracles, 
 imparting His gracious promises, under what may 
 perhaps be described as the most tremendous sense 
 of responsibility ever realised. In a degree not 
 approached by any prophet or apostle. He calls 
 God to witness, at every moment, to His truth ; 
 and He utters every word with the eye of His soul 
 fixed upon His Father and our Father, the Father 
 whom He reveals as all Hght, and in whom is no 
 darkness at aU. Just stress has been laid on the 
 z I St. John i. 1-7. 
 
136 Our Lord's demand [Lect. 
 
 immense import of our Lord's self-assertion ^ ; and the 
 consideration appears to acquire great additional force 
 in proportion as we realise the manner in -which our 
 Lord appeals to His Father in advancing such asser- 
 tions, constantly declaring that they are made in 
 absolute submission to Him. It is thus that our 
 Saviour expressly supports the most conspicuous of 
 those claims. ' If I bear witness of myself, my witness 
 is not true ; . . . the works which the Father hath given 
 Me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness 
 of Me that the Father hath sent Me ; and the Father 
 Himself which hath sent Me, hath borne witness of 
 Me'^.' 'lam one that bear witness of myself, and 
 the Father that sent Me beareth witness of Me «.' 
 
 Such, then, are the foundations on which Christ's 
 appeal for faith was based. He begins by con- 
 vincing men of their moral evil and weakness. He 
 brings them into the presence of His Father, the 
 God of all light and truth ; and there, in the full 
 glory of that awful presence, He declares Himself 
 to them as their Lord and Saviour, and bids them 
 trust themselves to Him for forgiveness, and for all 
 spiritual life. It is a matter of trust, and not of 
 proof. It is to His word and promise that the soul 
 has to commit itself for time and for eternity. But 
 when that word is heard in the very presence of God, 
 and is felt to penetrate to the inmost depths of the 
 
 '^ See Canon Liddon's Bampton Lectv/res, Preface to Second 
 Edition. 
 
 b St. John V. 31-37. Ibid. viii. 18. 
 
v.] for Faith. 
 
 161 
 
 conscience, it becomes impossible to refuse it credence"*. 
 Such, as Tivas shewn in a previons Lecture, has been, 
 in snbstance, tbe sronnd on wbieb all testimonv to 
 Divine revelation has rested : though in no other 
 instance is the foundation of that testimonT so deeply 
 and fimilT estabhshed as in the vritness of ovu- Lord. 
 Such, accordingly, -ndU always be the surest coiu-se 
 of Christian evidence. It must start firom profound 
 con-rictions ' of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.' 
 It must proceed by the apprehension of Grod as the 
 Father of all light and truth, as revealed in Jesus 
 Christ, and feith is then capable of appreciating 
 the witness which the Son gives to tlie Father, and 
 which the Father gives to the Son. 
 
 d See Note lo. 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 THE FAITH OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 
 
 Acts v. 29-32. 
 
 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to 
 obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up 
 Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him Imth God 
 exaited with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to 
 give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are 
 His witnesses of these things ; and so is also the Holy Ghost, 
 whom God hath given to them that obey Him. 
 
 UUR Lord said to His disciples in His last dis- 
 courses, ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that be- 
 lieveth on me, the works that I do shall he do also ; 
 and greater works than these shall he do, because 
 I go unto My Father ^.' It was a wonderful promise, 
 but it was amply fulfilled in the history of the early 
 Church. We considered in the last Lecture the 
 character of the faith which our Lord claimed ; and 
 we observed the immense exercise of trust which it 
 involved. But we saw, at the same time, the over- 
 whelming authority which was exerted by His deeds. 
 His words, and His solemn appeal to the Father 
 
 » St. John xiv. 12. 
 
The Faith of the Early Church. 139 
 
 whom He revealed. Vast as was the demand He 
 made, a feeling like that of St. Thomas may some- 
 times arise in our minds, and we may think that if 
 we could but have seen Him, heard Him and touched 
 Him, faith would have been more easily maintained. 
 But in point of fact it has been otherwise. Faith 
 in Him took root more generally, and grew more 
 rapidly, under the preaching of the Apostles than 
 under His own ; and in extent, at all events, they 
 did greater works than He in turning men from 
 darkness to light, and from the power of Satan 
 unto God. 
 
 This contrast must appear the more remarkable 
 if we consider the different circumstances under 
 which the appeal of our Lord and that of His 
 Apostles were made ; for, to our natural judgment, 
 it would seem as if the Apostles and the first 
 preachers of the Gospel made a heavier claim on 
 the faith of those whom they addressed than our 
 Lord had made on the faith of the Jews. Full of 
 grace and truth. He appeared among His own people, 
 who had been prepared for His coming by a long 
 education ; and that they received Him not, condemns 
 them of blindness and hardness of heart. His appeal 
 was in harmony with the whole past history and the 
 existing circumstances of the nation, and had thus 
 an immense presumption in its favour. But his 
 vdtnesses, in proclaiming his message to the Gentiles, 
 had no similar advantages. Conceive St. Paul, on 
 one of his missionary journeys, addressing himself 
 
140 The Faith of [Lbct. 
 
 to the inhabitants of a Greek city. His bodily 
 presence is weak, and he does not attempt to over- 
 awe them by a display of miraculous power. He 
 appeals to their hearts and their reason, and he 
 delivers them a message with which he is com- 
 missioned. That message was delivered to him by a 
 Person who had died a malefactor's death, but who, 
 as the Apostle alleged, had risen again, and who 
 had declared Himself to be the Son of God — of 
 that God who was the Creator of the heavens and 
 the^earth. On the faith of this assurance, to which 
 the Apostle himself and two or three companions 
 were the only witnesses, he claimed for the living 
 and true God, and for Jesus Christ His Son, the 
 sole allegiance of those whom he addressed. He 
 called upon them to break away from the traditions, 
 the associations, the habits of their life, to abandon 
 both the religious observances and the social customs 
 of their fathers, and to incur obloquy, persecution, 
 and death. It was an immense demand, even when 
 urged with all the moral and spiritual force of an 
 Apostle ; and that it was obeyed so widely can only 
 be ascribed to the co-operation of that Divine Spirit 
 whom our Lord promised to send, that He might 
 convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of 
 judgment. 
 
 But the case will appear still stronger, if we 
 imagine a Christian preacher making the same appeal 
 at the beginning of the second century. Such a 
 preacher would invite belief in certain facts which 
 
VI.] the Early Church. 141 
 
 he did not himself claim to have seen ; and such 
 written evidence as he could produce was at least no 
 Letter than that which we now possess. On the face 
 of it, a man must have seemed to others to have been 
 incurring an enormous risk in hazarding his whole 
 life, present and future, on the assurance of such 
 a preacher, and becoming a member of a society 
 which was despised and persecuted by the vast 
 majority of the world. It is sometimes said that the 
 difficulties of belief are greater in the present day 
 than in the early days of Christianity, by virtue of 
 the immense distance in time, and as it were in 
 historic space, which separates us from them. But 
 that course of time, and that historic space, have been 
 continuously furnishing a mass of testimony to the 
 power of the Gospel which more than counteracts 
 any such disadvantage. It might even be maintained 
 that, with the aid of the historical knowledge of the 
 present day, we enjoy facilities for realising the posi- 
 tion and the teaching of our Lord and of His apostles 
 which are greater than those possessed by many of 
 the early Christians. We possess written documents 
 which, to say the very least, have in substance stood 
 the severest tests of criticism, and the truth of the 
 assurances and the predictions they record is attested 
 by the accumulating witness of the Church. Above 
 all, to be a Christian is with us not, as with a pagan 
 of those days, to place ourselves in antagonism to the 
 institutions around us but, on the contrary, to bring 
 ourselves into harmony with the spirit in which they 
 
142 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 were constructed, and from whicli they derived, their 
 main strength. We have an illustration, perhaps, 
 though only an approximate one, of the difficulties 
 with which the early preachers of Christianity must 
 have had to contend, in the work of missionaries 
 among the Hindoos ; and we know how arduous are 
 the obstacles which the Gospel there encounters. 
 When, in short, all allowance has been made for the 
 long preparation which had resulted in the fulness 
 of time, the faith of the early Church and. its victory 
 over the world remain, perhaps, the most conspicuous 
 miracles of Christianity, and the most vivid evidence 
 of the operation of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 In considering the nature and the foundation of 
 this faith, we have to encounter in the present day 
 misapprehensions, and, we must needs say, misrepre- 
 sentations, for which it is difficult to account. The 
 idea has been industriously spread that there is some 
 inconsistency between the teaching of our Lord and 
 that of His Apostles, and still more between the 
 teaching of the Apostles and the ultimate result 
 of the teaching of the Church, as represented in the 
 Creeds. To take one of the last instances of this mis- 
 representation, we are told by the author of Super- 
 natural Religion ^ that ' we may look in vain in the 
 Synoptic Gospels for the doctrines elaborated in the 
 Pauline Epistles and the Gospel of Ephesus.' ' It is 
 not difficult,' says this writer, ' to follow the gradual 
 development of the Creeds of the Church, and it is 
 b Vol. ii. pp. 486, 487, 4th edition. 
 
VI.] the Early Church. 143 
 
 certainly most instructive to observe the progressive 
 boldness witb wliich its dogmas were expanded by- 
 pious enthusiasm.' . . . ' The disciples,' he continues, 
 'who had so often misunderstood the teaching of 
 Jesus during His life, piously distorted it after His 
 death. His simple lessons of meekness and humi- 
 lity were soon forgotten. With lamentable rapidity 
 the elaborate structure of ecclesiastical Chiistianity, 
 followiog stereotyped lines of human superstition, 
 and deeply coloured by Alexandrian philosophy, dis- 
 placed the simple morality of Jesus.' Now it is 
 not easy, and perhaps it is hardly fitting, to treat 
 without indignation such a distortion of the history 
 and character of the early Church. If the charge 
 were not echoed, iu various forms, in modern scep- 
 tical literature, it would be unworthy of notice ; 
 but it would seem as if no task were more necessary 
 in the present day than that of reviving and pre- 
 senting to the world the picture of the early Chiu-ch, 
 as it appeared in the freshness and fulness of its 
 life, ' Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible 
 as an army with banners.' Enough, however, is 
 readily accessible, especially to a writer who pre- 
 tends to so much learning as this author, to justify 
 us in denouncing such statements as an inexcusable 
 calumny. They are contrary to facts established by 
 the most impartial evidence, and they belie the most 
 conspicuous features of early Christian life. 
 
 The history of the early Church, in fact, might 
 almost be summed up in words like those of the 
 
144 The. Faith of [Lect. 
 
 inspired writer, used with a reference to our Lord, 
 They ' resisted unto blood, striving against sin^.' His 
 life, it is acknowledged, was one persistent warfare 
 against sin in all forms, and it was pursued at the 
 cost of all warfare, that of blood. Manifold as are 
 the spiritual aspects of our Lord's sacriJ&ce, this is 
 the description of its actual history ; and His early 
 followers, at all events, trod faithfully in His foot- 
 steps. From the moment He rose from the dead, 
 and assured His Apostles of His triumph, the Chris- 
 tian Church organised a similar warfare against sin. 
 Its members were formed into a perpetual society, 
 ' having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are 
 His, and Let every one that nameth the name of 
 Christ depart from iniquity ^.' St. Peter opened that 
 long war on the day of Pentecost, in words which, 
 like those of his Lord, pricked his hearers to the 
 heart, exhorting them to ' repent and be baptized 
 in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of 
 sins 6.' Some seventy years afterwards the veil is 
 hfted, by the hand of a Roman statesman, from the 
 comparative obscurity of the Christian Church, and 
 discloses an army of soldiers of the cross, whose 
 bond of union is still stamped conspicuously with 
 the ApostoUc seal. At the commencement of the 
 second century, Pliny reports to Trajan, as the 
 result of what he could extort from the Christians 
 in his province, ' that this was the sum of their fault 
 or error, that they were wont to meet together on a 
 c Heb. xii. 4. "^ 2 Tim. ii. 19. « Acts ii. 38. 
 
VI.] the Early Church. 145 
 
 stated day before sunrise, and sing a hymn to 
 Christ as God, and bind themselves by a Sacra- 
 mentum that they would not commit theft or robbery 
 or adultery, that they would not break faith, nor 
 repudiate a trust ^Z A memorable record! honour- 
 able to the Eoman to whose impartial accuracy it 
 is due, as well as to the Church whose clear and 
 simple character it reflects, and more precious, alike 
 in its historical and in its practical instruction, than 
 many a famous volume. 
 
 Under this standard, and bound by this oath, 
 the army of the Saints maintained a stern, though 
 patient, war against the sin which was embodied 
 in the life, and in the very institutions, of the 
 society of their day. They won at length a great 
 victory, and it was achieved, like that of their Lord, 
 by resistance unto blood. That which has been 
 described as 'the strong antipathy of good to 
 bad' aroused the equally strong antipathy of bad 
 to good. A corrupt society felt instinctively that 
 a Church which was at war with iniquity was 
 at war with itself, and it appealed to the final 
 arbitrament of bloodshed. When we realise the 
 deadly nature of this struggle, when we think 
 of the blood that has been shed in it, from that 
 Precious Blood to which in the recent season we 
 have done special homage, to the outpouring of the 
 hfe of innumerable humbler souls, the deepest emo- 
 tions of our souls are stirred ; and it is not easy 
 f See Note ii. 
 
146 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 to be as patient as we should otherwise wish to be 
 with such misrepresentations of the Church's early 
 history as have just been quoted. 
 
 But it may be that the controversies which have, 
 of late years, raged around certain points of Church 
 history have obscured its main course and character. 
 While men are disputing about the alleged incon- 
 sistency between Petrine and Pauline Christianity, 
 or enquiring into the development of the Eoman 
 claims to supremacy, they are in danger of forget- 
 ting the main coarse and current of Christian life, 
 and of subordinating its essential to its accidental 
 features. The extent to which such a distortion of 
 vision can go is forcibly illustrated by another state- 
 ment made by the writer already quoted, with a 
 recklessness characteristic of his school. ' Had we 
 been dependent,' he says, ' on St. Paul, Christ's noble 
 morality would have remained unknown, and His 
 lessons of rare spiritual excellence would have been 
 lost to the world e.' It is to be presumed that such 
 a writer is aware of St. Paul's description of charity, 
 of his constant exhortations to ' love, joy, peace, long- 
 suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tem- 
 perance,' of his description of ' the mind that was in 
 Christ Jesus.' But if so, that he can have made such 
 an assertion affords a measure by which we may 
 reasonably judge of his capacity, and of the capacity 
 of the class of critics whom he represents, for appre- 
 hending the real facts of Christian life and thought. 
 £ Supernatural Religion, vol. iii. p. 567. Ed. 1879. 
 
VI.] the Early Church. 147 
 
 There is, however, a momentous truth, of which 
 such objections may possibly be a travesty, however 
 strange. Even thoughtful beHevers seem sometimes 
 perplexed by certain differences which undoubtedly 
 exist between the teaching of our Lord, as recorded 
 in the Gospels, and that of the Apostles, as recorded 
 in the book of the Acts and in the Epistles. But on 
 the very suppositions of our faith, such a difference 
 is inevitable. Between the ministry of our Lord and 
 the teaching of the Apostles the most momentous 
 of all events in the spiritual history of mankind had 
 occurred. Oiu- Lord had died on the Cross, had 
 risen from the dead, had ascended into heaven, and 
 had bestowed upon His Church the gift of the Holy 
 Spirit. On the supposition that those events are of 
 the character which the faith of the Church assigns to 
 them, it is inevitable that there should be a difference, 
 and even a vast difference, between the point of view 
 of those who Hved before them and that of those who 
 Kved after them ; and the distinctive character of the 
 Epistles is thus so far from being a ground of objec- 
 tion, that it is a most conspicuous instance of the 
 harmony of Christian truth. Of course, if a man 
 ignores the belief of the Apostles that our Lord made 
 an atonement for the sins of the world on the Cross, if 
 he denies His Besurrection, and deems His Ascension 
 to sit on the right hand of God a myth, he cannot 
 imderstand why there should be any distinction be-' 
 tween His teaching and that of those who preached in 
 His name. But if the relation of God to man and of 
 
 L 2 
 
148 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 man to God was vitally affected by the sacrifice on the 
 Cross, if, by virtue of His resurrection and ascension 
 our Lord assumed a new authority, and established 
 among men a new influence. His Apostles cannot 
 speak simply as He spoke. They have new truths 
 to communicate, new facts to assert, new realities in 
 the spiritual and moral world to enforce. When our 
 Lord spoke, as is said in the Gospel of St. John, 
 ' The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that 
 Jesus wa^ not yet glorified li.' When the Apostles 
 wrote, the most prominent and visible characteristic 
 of Christians was to have received the Holy Spirit, 
 and to exhibit His influence in their lives. Our 
 Lord announced that the kingdom of God was at 
 hand. When the Epistles were written, the king- 
 dom of God had come, -and a new world had been 
 created. ' If any man be in Christ, he is a new 
 creature, old things are passed away ; behold all 
 things are become new i.' The whole teaching of the 
 Christian Church is founded on the supposition that 
 a special revelation was entrusted to the Apostles 
 respecting our Lord's mediatorial work, and that new 
 spiritual powers were bestowed on those who be- 
 lieved on Him. There is nothing essentially incon- 
 sistent in an argument which disputes the facts thus 
 alleged, and . the validity of the testimony thus 
 ofiered ; but there is something strangely unreason- 
 able in a criticism which make it a complaint 
 against such testimony that it is consistent with 
 
 ^ St. John vii. 39. i 2 Cor. v. 17. 
 
VI.] the Early Church. 149 
 
 itself, and that it is the natural and necessary con- 
 sequence of the facts to which it bears witness. 
 
 'The evidence that this new spiritual power had 
 been introduced into the world is conspicuous in the 
 records of the early Church, and is especially to be 
 discerned in one marked characteristic of Christian 
 life. That characteristic is the intense joy, hope, 
 and enthusiasm by which it is animated. In the 
 aspirations of men after righteousness at other times, 
 there is present a certain feeling of desperation, an 
 oppressive sense of guilt and weakness, a conscious- 
 ness of straining after an unattainable ideal. But in 
 the lives of the Fathers and of the early Christians, 
 instead of this painful sense of failure and guilt we 
 find an unfailing apprehension of peace and victory. 
 Our Saviour's pledge, 'your heart shaU. rejoice and 
 your joy no man taketh from you^,' has its fulfilment 
 recorded in every page of early Church history. It 
 was a pledge, indeed, which, as our Lord warned His 
 disciples, was strangely contrasted with the visible 
 circumstances of their lives. Never, surely, was 
 any body of men exposed to greater adversities, 
 sufferings, and distresses, and even apparent failures. 
 But the Epistles alone would be a sufficient witness 
 that the pledge was fulfilled. Certainly there is a 
 grave and saddened tone about them, a tone as 
 that of men who appreciate the evil and misery of 
 life, and know how hard a thing it is to remedy 
 it ; but there is not less certainly a deeper joy in 
 k St. John xVi. 22. 
 
150 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 them than in any other human writings. The grace 
 and peace with which the Apostle Paul begins and 
 ends his Epistles are no mere familiar salutations, 
 but express the spirit which breathes throughout 
 them ; and St. John similarly declares that his 
 object is to bring his readers into fellowship with 
 himself, a fellowship in which their joy may be 
 fuUl. The beloved disciple who, at the Saviour's 
 side, had heard this promise, ' your heart shall re- 
 joice and your joy no man taketh from you,' thus 
 testifies, at the close of his long and troubled Apostle- 
 ship, that his joy had been full. 
 
 Similarly, as one peruses the accounts of the 
 martyrs, or the writings of the early Christian 
 Fathers, this is perhaps the feature which stands 
 out most vividly. All around us is a disappointed 
 world — a world of disappointed valour, disappointed 
 justice, disappointed virtue, a world in which suicide 
 had come to be looked upon as a natural and reason- 
 able resource. But in the midst of it the martyrs and 
 confessors, the humblest Christians and the most dis- 
 tinguished alike, display all the energy of hope, of 
 love, and of the complete satisfaction of their hearts. 
 It is not ecstasy, it is the calmest and most peaceful 
 assurance. They have found true joys, their hearts 
 are fixed on them ; and amidst the sundry and mani- 
 fold changes of that stormy time, they bear witness 
 to the truth of the Apostolic promise that their joy 
 should be full. This, undoubtedly, was one of the 
 I I St. John i. 4, 
 
VI.] the Early Church. 151 
 
 chief causes which gave such an intense energy and 
 movement to the history of the early Christian 
 Church. There, and there alone, was it felt that joy 
 could be found, and energy exercised without re- 
 straint ; and as the old world more and more proved 
 its uncertaintv and fallaciousness, men and women 
 took refuge in this blessed fellowship. It has been a 
 commonplace of worldly writers to compare — as one of 
 their modern representatives has expressed it — ' the 
 languors of virtue ' with ' the raptures of vice,' and it 
 is possible that moralists have sometimes given oc- 
 casion for the comparison. But the great truth of 
 Christian morals is that the contrast must be exactly 
 reversed ; and as a matter of history, especially in 
 the first three centuries, it was so reversed. In 
 that period, the languors are all on the side of 
 vice, and the raptures all on the side of virtue. 
 They are so stiU, in the experience of every 
 one who surrenders himself to the fuU influence of 
 the Gospel ; but the sudden and overwhelming force 
 with which this experience is displayed in Christian 
 life, after our Lord's ascension, is one of the keys 
 to Church history. Perfect love has cast out fear. 
 The Christian soul breathes in an atmosphere of 
 Hght, and . grace, and peace, and truth. It is not 
 merely hoping for ultimate salvation. It is living in 
 the light ; all things have become new to it in the 
 spirit, and it is assured that they wiU hereafter 
 become new to it in the body. Read the records 
 of the Church without an eye to controversy, and 
 
152 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 with a simple desire to apprehend their main charac- 
 teristics, and you will find them summed up in 
 this description of Christian life by St. Paul : — 
 ' Therefore being justified by faith we have peace 
 with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, .... and 
 rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not 
 only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing 
 that tribulation worketh patience, and patience ex- 
 perience, and experience hope ; and hope maketh 
 not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad 
 in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given 
 unto us™.' 
 
 Now to what is all this marvellous display of 
 moral energy, hope, and endurance ascribed by those 
 who exhibited it 1 Their witness is the best evidence 
 of their motives, and of the power on which they 
 relied, and it is perfectly uniform. As with the Jews, 
 and as in the Sermon on the Mount, the life of the 
 Saints starts from the vision of our Father in Heaven, 
 the Creator of heaven and earth, the Lord of the 
 spirits of all flesh, the God of all righteousness, power, 
 and love. It starts from this vision ; but it proceeds 
 to the conviction that the perfect image of God is 
 revealed in Jesus Christ, and that union with Him, 
 through faith, is union with God, and conveys to us 
 all the blessings of perfect fellowship with the Father. 
 ' This is the record, that God hath given to us 
 eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that 
 hath the Son hath life ; and he that hath not the 
 
 >» Rom. V. 1-5. 
 
VI.] the Early Church. 153 
 
 Son of God hath not life^i.' ' We have seen, and do 
 testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the 
 Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that 
 Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he 
 in God o.' The two ideas are never separated ; and 
 the theological conception is always the strength 
 and life of the moral. As St. Paul at Athens begins 
 by declaring ' the unknown God,' so the life of 
 Christians and the confessions of the martyrs start 
 from the belief that their fellowship is with the 
 Father. The confession of St. Polycarp at the stake 
 is the earliest of these solemn testimonies ; and it is 
 at once the loftiest and the most characteristic of all : 
 — ' He looked up to heaven and said, " Lord God 
 Almighty, the Father of Thy beloved and blessed Son 
 Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the know- 
 ledge of Thee, the God of angels and powers, and 
 of every creature, and of the whole race of the 
 righteous who live before Thee, I give Thee thanks 
 that Thou hast counted me worthy of this day and 
 this hour, that I should have a part in the number 
 of Thy martyrs, in the cup of Thy Christ, to the 
 resurrection of eternal life, both of soul and body, 
 through the incorruption imparted by the Holy 
 Ghost. Among whom may I be accepted before 
 Thee this day as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, 
 according as Thou, the faithful and true God, hast 
 fore-ordained, hast revealed beforehand, and hast 
 now fulfilled. Wherefore also I praise Thee for all 
 
 " I St. John V. II, 12. ° St. John iv. 14, 15 
 
154 The Faith of [Lbct. 
 
 things, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee, along with the 
 everlasting and heavenly Jesus Christ, Thy beloved 
 Son, through Whom to Thee, with Him and the 
 Holy Grhost, be glory both now and to all ages. 
 Amen p." ' It would be difficult to quote from any 
 post-apostolic source a more complete summary of 
 the Christian faith, alike in its dogmatic contents 
 and in its moral inspiration. 
 
 But a peculiarly striking illustration of this spirit 
 of Christian thought has been afforded by the recent 
 discovery of the portion which had been previously 
 missing of the first Epistle of St. Clement of Rome. 
 It contains a prayer, which may be regarded as the 
 first known germ of a Christian liturgy, and which 
 exhibits to us the spirit of the early Roman Church 
 expressed in its most intense and deliberate form. 
 The whole Epistle, says the present Bishop of 
 Durham i, may be said to lead up to a ' long prayer 
 or litany, if we may so call it, which forms a fit 
 close to its lessons of forbearance and love.' 'We 
 will ask,' says St. Clement "", ' with instancy of prayer 
 and supplication, that the Creator of the universe may 
 guard intact unto the end His elect throughout the 
 whole world, through His beloved Son Jesus Christ, 
 through whom He called us from darkness to light, 
 from ignorance to the full knowledge of the glory of 
 
 P The Martyrdom of St. Poly carp, cli. xiv. See Note 12. 
 <i Dr. Liglitfoot's St. Clement of Rome ; An Appendix, p. 269. 
 r St. Clement of Rome; An Ap2)endix, pp. 376-378. See 
 Note 13. 
 
VI.] the Early Church. 155 
 
 His name. Grant unto us, Lord, that we may set 
 our hope on Thy Name which is the primal source 
 of all creation ; and open the eyes of our hearts, that 
 we may know Thee, who alone abidest Highest in 
 the highest, Holy in the holy, who layest low the in- 
 solence of the proud, who scatterest the imaginings 
 of nations ; who settest the lowly on high, and hringest 
 the lofty low, who makest rich and makest 2>oor ; who 
 hillest and makest alive ; who alone art the Benefactor 
 of spirits and the God of all flesh, who lookest into 
 the abysses, who scannest the works of man ; the 
 Succour of them that are in peril ; the Saviour of 
 them that are in despair ; the Creator and overseer 
 of every spirit ; who multipliest the nations upon 
 earth, and hast chosen out from all men those that 
 love Thee through Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son, 
 through whom Thou didst instruct us, didst sanctify 
 us, didst honour us. We beseech Thee, Lord and 
 Master, to be our help and succour. Save those 
 among us who are in tribulation ; have mercy on the 
 lowly ; lift up the fallen ; show Thyself unto the 
 needy ; heal the ungodly ; convert the wanderers of 
 Thy people ; feed the hungry ; release our prisoners ; 
 raise up the weak ; comfort the fainthearted. Let 
 all the Gentiles know that Thou art God alone, 
 and Jesus Christ is Thy Son, and we are Thy people 
 and the sheep of Thy pasture. Thou through Thine 
 operations didst make manifest the everlasting fabric 
 of the world. Thou, Lord, didst create the earth. 
 Thou that are faithful throughout all generations, 
 
156 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 righteous in Thy judgments, marvellous in strength 
 and excellence, Thou that art wise in creating and 
 prudent in establishing that which Thou hast made, 
 that art good in the things which are seen and 
 faithful with them that trust on Thee, pitiful and 
 compassionate, forgive us our iniquities, and our 
 unrighteousnesses, and our transgressions, and short- 
 comings. Lay not to our account every sin of Thy 
 servants and thine handmaids, but cleanse us with 
 the cleansing of Thy truth, and guide our steps 
 to walk in holiness, and righteousness, and single- 
 ness of heart, and to do such things as are good 
 and well-pleasing in Thy sight and in the sight 
 of our rulers. Yea, Lord, make Thy face to shine 
 upon us in peace for our good, that we may be 
 sheltered by Thy mighty hand and delivered from 
 every sin by Thine uplifted arm. And deliver us 
 from them that hate us wrongfully. Give concord 
 and peace to us and to all that dwell on the earth, 
 as Thou gavest to our fathers, when they called 
 on Thee in faith and truth with holiness, that we 
 may be saved, while we render obedience to Thine 
 Almighty and most excellent Name, and to our rulers 
 and governors upon the earth.' 
 
 This mention of the rulers of the State is a 
 peculiarly touching and subHme example of the 
 Christian spirit when we remember that it proceeds 
 from the midst of the furnace of persecution ; and 
 before the Prayer concludes, a special supplication for 
 them is added : ' Thou, Lord and Master, hast given 
 
VI.] the Early Church. 157 
 
 them the power of sovereignty through Thine ex- 
 cellent and unspeakable might, that we knowing the 
 glory and honour which Thou hast given them, may 
 submit ourselves unto them, in nothing resisting Thy 
 will. Grant unto them, therefore, Lord, health, 
 peace, concord, stability, that they may administer 
 the government which Thou hast given them without 
 failure. For Thou, heavenly Master, King of the 
 ages, givest to the sons of men glory and honour 
 and power over all things that are upon the earth. 
 Do Thou, Lord, direct their counsel according to that 
 which is good and well pleasing in Thy sight, that 
 administering in peace and gentleness with godliness 
 the power which Thou hast given them, they may 
 obtain Thy favour. O Thou, who alone art able to 
 do these things and things far more exceeding good 
 than these for us, we praise Thee through the High- 
 priest and guardian of our souls, Jesus Christ, through 
 whom be the glory and the majesty unto Thee both now 
 and for all generations and for ever and ever. Amen.' 
 Such was the prayer of the Christians of Eome 
 in the age of Domitian ; and it deserves to be quoted 
 in its entirety as a singularly comprehensive and 
 authoritative exposition of the spirit by which they 
 were animated. We may observe, in passing, the 
 commentary which it affords on the allegation that 
 the dogmas of the Church have been expanded by 
 the ' progressive boldness of pious enthusiasm.' The 
 bidding prayer read at the commencement of these 
 Lectures is but an echo of this ancient supplication ; 
 
158 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 and in the prayer for the Church Militant which pre- 
 cedes our most sacred act of worship we do not rise 
 to a greater height, or assume any other essential 
 theological truth. But the point with which we 
 are concerned, for the immediate purpose of this 
 argument, is that the intense elevation and hope of 
 early Christian morality is here seen to be wholly 
 inspired and sustained by the vision of God in Jesus 
 Christ, and by the faith, assured through His death 
 and resurrection, of the possibility of fellowship with 
 the Divine nature. God is loved in Him, and He 
 is loved in God ; and communion with perfect glory, 
 light and truth is thus opened to the soul by means 
 of the most simple, most human, most natural re- 
 lationship. 
 
 Now it is from this point of view that the Creeds 
 of the Church are to be approached ; and when tliey 
 are placed in this light, all the appearance of mere 
 speculative dogmatism, which is attributed to them 
 by scepticism, at once melts away, and seems scarcely 
 to need refutation. They are not mere abstract state- 
 ments respecting the nature of God. They embody the 
 most moral, the most human, the most touching and 
 affecting conceptions which can stir the depths of the 
 heart. If the Creeds are the distinctive characteristic 
 of the Christian Church, it is not because Alexandrian 
 metaphysics, or any mere theological speculations, 
 had elaborated theories about the Divine natiire. 
 That was the work of the Gnostics, of the Arians, 
 and of similar heretics. It was because, as a matter 
 
TI.] the Early Church. 159 
 
 of certain apprehension and most blessed fact, our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, fulfilling in His lii'e and death 
 and resurrection the promises of the Old Testament, 
 had revealed to men the image of a God of infinite 
 love and light, had brought that God home to them 
 in their very flesh and blood, had assured them of 
 reconciliation and union with Him, had offered Him- 
 self as a propitiation for their sins, and in answer to 
 their prayers had bestowed on them a grace and 
 power, which they felt in daily experience to be the 
 first-fruits of redemption. It is the whole of Christian 
 life, the whole of that intense moral and spiritual 
 illumination we have been contemplating, which con- 
 stitutes the background of the creeds, and bestows on 
 them their vital force and reality. The revelation of 
 God, as we have seen in previous Lectures, was the 
 life of &ith from its earliest da'mi — the streuirth of 
 Abraham, the hope of the Prophets, the sum and 
 substance of the life of our Lord. La Him. His life. 
 His death, His resurrection. His ascension, it had 
 become the daily food of Cludstian souls ; and when, 
 in Arianism, the last and most subtle attempt was 
 made to divide Him fit>m God, and thus to prevent 
 us fix)m feeling that, in union with Him, we were in 
 union with Grod, it was not the Christian intellect, 
 so much as the Chiistian heart, that revolted. It 
 was this impulse which animated St. Athanasius. 
 The spuit which really moved him may be perceived 
 in his treatise De Incarnations Verli, written before 
 the cc'Utroversial period of his life, and of which the 
 
160 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 central idea is the recovery, through Jesus Christ, 
 of the glorious image of God which the human 
 soul had lost. It was probably to the intense de- 
 votion of St. Antony to God and Christ, as much 
 as to the schools of Alexandria, that he owed his 
 inspiration ». 
 
 But an equally striking testimony to this character 
 of the Christian creeds may be quoted from a great 
 Western Father of the same age — St. HUary of 
 Poitiers. He has been called the Athanasius of the 
 West, but his witness cannot be supposed to be 
 sophisticated by Alexandrian speculation. He has 
 himself described most vividly the process of his 
 conversion and of his acceptance of the Christian 
 faith, and his testimony is the more remarkable, as 
 it describes an experience which passes through aU the 
 stages of faith we have contemplated in the course 
 of these Lectures*. He commenced by dissatisfaction 
 with the pleasures of mere worldly life, and by a 
 repulsion from the absurdities of Paganism. He 
 aspired to know that God from whom he received 
 aU the benefits of existence — a God to whom he could 
 entirely devote himself, in whom he could place all 
 his hopes, and in whom he could rest, as in a sure 
 harbour, against all the storms of the present hfe. 
 To understand or to recognise this God, his soul was 
 inflamed with an ardent intensity. While thus medi- 
 tating, he came upon the books of Moses, where he 
 read, ' I am that I am,' ego sum qui sum, ; and he was 
 8 See Note 14. t gee Note 15. 
 
VI.] the Early Church. 161 
 
 at once carried away by the grandeur and simplicity 
 of this description of God. He became absorbed in 
 the delight of contemplating the eternity, the infinity, 
 and the perfect beauty of the Divine Nature. But 
 how were these contemplations to be reconciled with 
 the infirmity and shortness of human life 1 ' It 
 would be of little avail to have a right belief about 
 God, if death would destroy all apprehension of 
 Him, or some failure of nature would abolish it.' 
 Hilary's soul was larassed by anxiety, partly for 
 itself, partly for the body. It was in this state 
 of mind that he came upon the statement of St. 
 John, ' The Word was made flesh and dwelt among 
 us.' ' Here,' he exclaims, ' my trembhng and anxious 
 soul found more hope than it was looking for . . . 
 I learned that God was made flesh, that by means 
 of the Word, thus made flesh, the flesh might 
 grow up to God the Word.' This assurance of 
 union with God in Christ at once removed from 
 him the fear of death and all weariness of exist- 
 ence. The present life became to him like learning 
 to a child, or medicine to the sick, or training to 
 the youth. AU present things were endurable to 
 one who was advancing through them to the reward 
 of a blessed immortality. 
 
 Such were the simple, but intense, moral convictions 
 which inspired the profound devotion of the early 
 Church to Christ and to the truth of His Divinity. 
 When that truth was once established as the greatest 
 and most powerful of practical behef?, it was inevitable 
 
 M 
 
162 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 that it should be discussed by philosophy, and 
 that, for certain purposes, it should be cast into a 
 scientific form. It is a characteristic of all sciences, 
 that the practical principles from which they start 
 are as simple as the development and the intellectual 
 justification of those principles are complex. The 
 primary truths, for instance, on which mathematical 
 or mechanical science is based are few, and when 
 stated obvious ; but there is no limit to the com- 
 plexity which their scientific expression involves. 
 The practical maxims, both of law and of morality, 
 are very simple ; and the Ten Commandments are for 
 ordinary men a sufficient working rule. But what 
 immense mental labour, and what subtle intelligence 
 have been expended, and doubtless necessarily ex- 
 pended, in presenting them in a scientific form, and 
 harmonising them intellectually with other truths and 
 facts ! What elaborate systems of ethics and codes 
 of law has not the world seen, and what continued 
 elaboration is even now expended upon the same 
 practical subjects ! Why should that be a reproach 
 to theology which is none to law or to morality ? 
 The more momentous, in fact, the truth, and the 
 greater its practical import, the less can we be 
 satisfied till we have examined it by the tests of 
 our various faculties, and reconciled it with our in- 
 tellect as well as with our conscience. This is simply 
 what was done in the theological controversies which 
 raged around the Creeds. But, on the whole, that 
 which is most remarkable about the Creed which 
 
VI.] the Early Church. 163 
 
 is really ' The Creed of St. Athanasius ' — namely, 
 the Creed of Xicsea — is the simplicity and reserve of 
 its statements, and what might be called its intense 
 realism. There are one or two philosophical phrases 
 introduced for the purpose of combating a false 
 philosophy. But, for the most part, it speaks in the 
 language ol ordinary life, and brings us into contact 
 with God, as St. Hilary says, through flesh and 
 blood. It is not, indeed. Christians who are the 
 most open to the charge of introducing metaphysics 
 into rehgion and moral philosophy. Such a charge 
 might more fitly be brought against those who would 
 substitute for the eternal realities which in Christ we 
 see, and hear, and handle, abstractions like Humanity 
 or the Unknowable. The Apostles spoke of that 
 which they had seen and heard, and the Church 
 from age to age repeats their witness, as verified 
 by her own experience. 
 
 Such is the origin and such the character of the 
 Faith of the Christian Church ; and, when thus 
 apprehended, it must sm-ely, at the least, appear 
 the noblest and most beautiful vision of moral and 
 spiritual truth that ever dawned on the heart of 
 man. One of the reproaches most frequently ad- 
 dressed to ourselves in these dars was also cast 
 upon the early Christians. They were charged with 
 being too eager to accept the revelation offered to 
 them. They were taimted with exhorting men to 
 believe without waiting to investigate too ciuiously'i. 
 n See Note i6. 
 M 2 
 
164 The Faith of the Early Church. 
 
 Even if they had been unable to justify this ex- 
 hortation on other grounds, would it not, at least, 
 have been a generous error 1 Such a revelation, 
 and such a vision as we have been contemplating, 
 may well seem to carry their own evidence with 
 them, and at the very least to be worth an earnest 
 and sincere trial. It is, however, a sufficient answer 
 to all such reproaches, and especially to those which 
 in the present day are advanced in the name of 
 experimental science, that the appeal of the Christian 
 teacher has always been made to a living experience. 
 It should constantly be borne in mind, and will be 
 our best application of these considerations to our- 
 selves, that the Church has always been able to offer 
 the most conclusive justification of her appeal to any 
 who are led to follow it. She has ever been able 
 to address men in the language of St. Paiil, ' Believe 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved ■^' 
 — saved not only hereafter, but in this present life, 
 saved from the tyranny of sin, endued with the 
 grace of God's Holy Spirit, given an actual and 
 present participation in that life of moral and 
 spiritual perfection which the New Testament re- 
 veals. She has ever been ready to stake the truth 
 of her message on its verification in each believer's 
 own experience ; and in all the long generations of 
 Christianity it is not recorded that any one trusted 
 to her witness, and was disappointed. 
 V Acts xvi. 31, 
 
LECTURE Vll. 
 
 THE FAITH OF THE EEFOEMATION. 
 EOM. VIII. 15. 
 
 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear ; hut 
 ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we crif, Abba, 
 Father. 
 
 IN the course of these Lectures we have now con- 
 sidered the general nature of Faith, and its specific 
 development and character under the Jewish dis- 
 pensation, under the teaching of our Lord, and in the 
 early Church. Under the impulse finally communi- 
 cated by the gift of the Holy Spirit, Faith entered on 
 a long period of victory and supremacy. In a tem- 
 poral as well as in a spiritual sense it overcame the 
 world. It conquered, first in the spiritual sphere, and 
 then in the temporal, an imperial civilization ; it then 
 brought under its sway, one by one, a mass of wild 
 barbarian tribes ; and at length it accomplished the 
 grand achievement of completely organizing a new 
 civilization, of welding together in one harmonious 
 form the old world and the new, and of uniting a 
 swarm of struggling races and nationalities, under 
 the dominion of the Church, as parts of the one 
 
166 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 monarchy of the Pope. The centuiies in which this 
 great work was achieved have been called, not un- 
 justly, 'the ages of faith.' Though gross abuses 
 and fatal perversions of the truth were admitted in 
 the course of them, they nevertheless present, in the 
 main, a noble exhibition of the power of Faith. The 
 whole of life was built up in accordance with one 
 grand conception ; and the elements of that con- 
 ception were furnished by the Christian creed. 
 The men of the middle ages were great archi- 
 tects — architects in thought, in society, in poli- 
 tics, in ecclesiastical organization, no less than in 
 stone and marble. In every department of human life 
 they laid deep foundations ; and they reared mighty 
 structures, under which, to this hour, our religion 
 is sheltered, our learning fostered, our social life con- 
 trolled, and to which even the framework of our 
 political institutions is in great measure due. The 
 Fathers and Doctors of the Church, the Bishops, 
 the Popes, the Monks, built for all time ; and having 
 planned their great edifices, in the main, on the 
 enduring laws of revealed truth, and based them 
 on the divinely organized constitution of the Church, 
 they could trust the generations which followed them 
 to carry forward their work. A great institution 
 such as this University grew, like a mighty tree, 
 from age to age, under the impulse of one enduring 
 principle of life ; and in age after age, with har- 
 monious instinct, men endowed Colleges, as they built 
 Churches, in the confidence — a confidence, surely. 
 
VII.] the Reformation. 167 
 
 which cannot be in substance disappointed — that 
 they would ever remain under the guiding influence 
 of Christ's Church, and that in them ' whatever 
 might conduce to true religion and useful learning 
 would for ever flourish and abound.' The noble 
 structures which adorn this city, and the grand 
 foundations which constitute this University, are the 
 products, not merely of genius, but of faith, and of 
 that large and prophetic vision which communion 
 with the central source of truth alone supplies. 
 
 But the principle that the best things, when cor- 
 rupted, become the worst has, as might have been 
 expected, received its most conspicuous illustration 
 in the history of religion, and above aU of true 
 religion. AU great gifts and privileges bring pro- 
 portionate temptations, and if these be yielded to, 
 blessings may become almost transformed into curses. 
 To none is this risk so terrible as to men who are 
 entrusted with great spiritual powers; and the 
 danger to which such men are exposed may perhaps 
 be in some measure discerned in the temptation to 
 which our Lord was subjected. There comes an 
 hour when the evil spirit takes them up into a 
 high mountain, and shows them the kingdoms 
 of the world and the glory of them, and says unto 
 them, ' all these things will I give thee, if thou wilt 
 fall down and worship me^.' The vision of universal 
 influence, and perhaps dominion, dawns upon the 
 mind. It may be a legitimate vision, destined in 
 » St. Matthew iv. 9. 
 
168 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 some way to be realised ; but the Devil suggests 
 that it may be realised at once, and that it may 
 be grasped with certainty, by some service to him — 
 by some untruthfulness, some convenient falsehood, 
 some unscrupulous act of violence or craft. To such 
 a temptation it may well be that Mahomet suc- 
 cumbed. Entrusted with a great truth, and dis- 
 cerning its power over men's spirits, he saw the 
 opportunity of turning it to account more profitably 
 by some measure of falsehood, craft, or violence ; and 
 he became a false prophet, instead of remaining, as 
 he might have remained, a true one. 
 
 A similar temptation assailed the hierarchy of 
 the Christian Church, when faith had won its first 
 great triumph, and when the dominion of the Church 
 over human life had begun to be consolidated. By 
 exaggerating legitimate powers, by accepting con- 
 venient forgeries, by admitting the aid of opportune 
 violence, by using the weapons and the agents of 
 worldly craft and cunning, the way seemed open and 
 plain to the possession of all the kingdoms of the 
 world and the glory of them. To be just to the 
 Popes and to their servants, it must be admitted 
 that the temptation was tremendous — all the more 
 so because it was gradual and subtle, and could 
 appeal in its support to some great facts and verities. 
 To be conscious of having just claims to a certain 
 royalty over the souls of men, and yet solely and 
 simply to bear witness unto the truth — this is the 
 severest trial of human nature. But, for that verv 
 
VII.] the Reformation. 169 
 
 reason, to fail in it involves a terrible faU, and may 
 entail spiritual ruin. When bishops, priests, and 
 monks were unable to say to the tempter, ' Get thee 
 hence, Satan, for it is written. Thou shalt worship the 
 Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve,' they 
 entered into possession of the kingdoms of the 
 world and the glory of them, but they lost the 
 kingdom of God. When power instead of truth 
 became the object of the dominant hierarchy, faith 
 had been falsified at its source. The vision of the 
 God to whom they had thus been faithless became 
 eclipsed, and a huge and porteatous system of error 
 and superstition developed, as by a natural law, from 
 the first original untruth. The ' ages of faith ' became 
 transformed into the ages of superstition ; and when 
 the revival of learning brought men into communion 
 with the wisdom and the beauty of the ancient 
 world, it was no wonder if more attractions were 
 often found in a refined Paganism than in a cor- 
 rupted Christianity. But at this critical moment, the 
 most critical, perhaps, through which the Church 
 ever passed, a potent voice was heard which recalled 
 the elementary principles of the Gospel. The des- 
 cription of that Gospel, given by St. Paul, that 
 'therein is the righteousness of God revealed from 
 faith to faith,' was suddenly revived, and all Chris- 
 tendom was stirred to its depths by the intensity 
 with which the truth was re-asserted that ' The just 
 shall live by faith.' 
 
 The experience and the teaching of the Keforma- 
 
170 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 tion furnish, in fact, crucial tests of the nature 
 and the function of Faith. In interpreting great 
 historical crises, it is always safe to take, as a guide, 
 the general impression which has been established 
 respecting their main character, and the principles 
 which were at stake in them ; and in the case 
 of the Reformation no doubt can exist on these 
 points. Faith is the cardinal word of the Eeforma- 
 tion. It then re-assumes an importance it had long 
 ceased to possess. The doctrine of Justification bj 
 Faith is the truth around which the struggle of that 
 period turns, and on which the energies of the Ee- 
 formers were concentrated. The history of the Church 
 is, in great part, the history of the manner in which 
 truths which had been tacitly assumed, and prin- 
 ciples which had been silently at work, start into 
 new vitality, are recognized as among the central 
 elements of Christian life, and receive their final and 
 permanent vindication. It is thus that the doctrine 
 of our Lord's perfect Divinity, always the faith of 
 the Church, was reasserted, and brought into full 
 light, in the course of the Arian controversy ; and 
 that the doctrine of Grace was explained and justified 
 in opposition to the Pelagian heresy. In a similar 
 manner, the principle of Faith was brought out 
 into fuller consciousness and distinctness during the 
 struggles of the Reformation than at any previous 
 period. The fact that those struggles have deter- 
 mined the present condition of Western Christendom 
 invests them with a supreme interest and instruction 
 
VII.] the Reformation. Ill 
 
 for us. The Reformation, and the principles it vin- 
 dicated, lie at the foundation of modern religious 
 life, and in proportion as we grasp those principles 
 shall we be able to meet the difficulties which con- 
 front us. 
 
 Now the Reformed confessions are unanimous re- 
 specting the main points which they were intended 
 to vindicate. They differ in the manner in which 
 the truths thus reasserted were applied, and very- 
 grave practical consequences depended on these vary- 
 ing applications and developments of the primary- 
 principles of the Reformation. But the principles 
 themselves may be distinguished from the special 
 forms they assumed, whether in Lutheranism, or Cal- 
 vinism, or in our own Church ; and they possessed 
 a unity and vitality which are independent of such 
 forms. The cardinal point in them all is a revived 
 apprehension of our direct personal relation with 
 God. In two grand instances it has been shewn 
 by experience that the maintenance of this con- 
 sciousness is the primary element alike in religion 
 and in morality, and that the loss of it is at the 
 root of all other corruptions. Those two instances 
 are afforded by the history of the Jewish, and by 
 that of the Christian, Church. Among the Jews, 
 at the time of our Lord, a system was in full 
 operation which, to aU outward appearance, was in- 
 tensely religious. The name of God was held in the 
 most awful reverence ; the services at the Temple of 
 Jerusalem were more magnificent than any religious 
 
172 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 worship ever seen. But, with all this, the practical 
 apprehension of God, in His direct personal relation 
 to the soul, had become obscured ; and with the loss 
 of that apprehension, the moral perceptions of the 
 people had lost their vitality, and the conscience was 
 deadened. The parable of the Pharisee and the 
 Publican exhibits in the most vivid form the spirit 
 which had supplanted a living faith. The Pharisee, 
 coming into the presence of God, does not appear 
 sensible of any imperfection. That awful presence in 
 no way humiliates him. It does not bring into full 
 light any consciousness of his own sin and feebleness. 
 He only thanks God that he is not as other men are. 
 The Publican, on the other hand, is overwhelmed 
 by the sense of the Divine holiness. He stands afar 
 off, and will not lift up so much as his eyes unto 
 heaven, but smites upon his breast, saying, ' God be 
 merciful to me a sinner.' The name of God was used 
 by the Pharisee as the sanction for a system of 
 ceremonial observances, which brought the human 
 soul under a complete slavery. But he had at the 
 same time utterly lost the sense of his relation to 
 God Himself, and the spirit of combined humility and 
 faith which it involves. A precisely similar perver- 
 sion had taken possession of the Christian Church 
 at the time of the Eeformation. The name of God 
 was everywhere. His worship was never more 
 splendid and ceremonious ; Churches were never more 
 numerous or more beautiful. But, nevertheless, a 
 formalism, not less intense than that which strangled 
 
VII.] the Reformation. 11 Z 
 
 true faith among tte Jews, had taken possession 
 of the Christian world ; and the vital sense of the 
 relation of men to God had been lost. For the 
 mass of men, religion has become a vague appre- 
 hension of unseen terrors ; the Church, which by 
 ancient prescription and tradition holds the secrets of 
 the unseen world, is regarded mainly as the possessor 
 of mysterious powders, aHke of punishment and of 
 deliverance, and men have surrendered themselves 
 into nothing less than a bondage to its authority. 
 The dread of the possible consequences of sin re- 
 mains ; but its essential character is lost sight of 
 on the one side, while the real deliverance from it 
 is lost sight of on the other. Eepentance and faith 
 ■ — ' repentance towards God and faith towards our 
 Lord Jesus Christ^ ' — which are the two central prin- 
 ciples of religious life, are fatally enfeebled. 
 
 Now the manner in which the Reformation met 
 this corruption was twofold. In the first place, it 
 intensified the sense of sin by bringing the soul in 
 its inmost recesses into direct relation with God ; and 
 at the same time it gave men a new confidence and 
 peace, by assuring them of an equally direct re- 
 lation to their Saviour, and of their right to trust 
 themselves absolutely, and without any human inter- 
 vention, to His promises of forgiveness and de- 
 liverance. The controversies which have arisen out 
 of the Reformation have had an unfortunate efiect 
 in obscuring its real principles ; but if we follow its 
 
 b Acts XX. 21. 
 
174 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 actual history, those principles become unmistakable. 
 They are best traced, perhaps, in the life of the great 
 German Reformer, from whose intense perceptioji of 
 certain central truths the movement of the sixteenth 
 century received its main impulse. Unfortunately he 
 is too exclusively known by the controversial works 
 which were produced in the later period of his life, 
 instead of by his great utterances in the critical 
 moments of his career. Never, perhaps, since early 
 times, has so great a force been felt in Christendom 
 as that which was exerted by Luther's first writings. 
 With the capacity given only to great genius, or 
 rather to the deepest spiritual insight, he grasped at 
 once the real difficulties of the Church in his day, 
 and insisted on the truth which was their solution. 
 His influence was greater, and more immediate, than 
 in the present day we can readily imagine ; for 
 notwithstanding our increased means of intercourse, 
 there was in his time a more close and rapid inter- 
 change of thought between the great nations of 
 Europe than now exists. In the days — the happy 
 days — when Latin was the tongue, not merely of the 
 learned, but of the reading world, a work published 
 in Germany gained attention in England, and its im- 
 pulse was communicated to Europe, far more rapidly 
 than at present. Consequently, long before the in- 
 fluence of Calvin arose, and before the internal con- 
 troversies of the Reformation distracted its adherents, 
 the cardinal principles which Luther revived were 
 working actively in men's minds, and were reani- 
 
VII.] the Reformation. 175 
 
 mating the whole life of the Church and of society. 
 They are stamped deeply on the history of our own 
 Church, though they have been appHed with that 
 moderation and balance which are among the choicest 
 gifts of the English mind. 
 
 But in the ninety-five Theses nailed on the door 
 of the church at Wittenberg, and in the explanation 
 of them soon afterwards published ; in the short 
 treatises ' On Christian Liberty/ ' On the Babylonian 
 Captivity of the Church/ and in the Address ' To the 
 Christian nobility of the German nation concerning 
 the Keformation of the Christian estate/ we have the 
 germinal ideas which, with more or less wisdom, 
 were subsequently developed in the political and 
 ecclesiastical history of the sixteenth century. Now, 
 from what do they start 1 In conformity with the 
 principles which have governed every other great 
 religious movement, they spring from a profound 
 apprehension of the necessity of repentance, and of 
 the depth of that evil in human nature which the 
 Gospel proposes to remedy. The first of the ninety- 
 five Theses was an utterance well-fitted to arouse the 
 conscience of Christendom. ' Our Lord and Master 
 Jesus Christ, when he said "repent/' intended the 
 whole life of Christians to be repentance.' ' Dominus 
 et Magister Noster Jesus Christus, dicendo, Poeni- 
 tentiam agite, omnemvitamjidelium^oenitentiam esse 
 voluit.' Memorable words ! worthy to initiate a great 
 spiritual, moral, and mental renovation. The theses 
 then proceed, in the most trenchant though sometimes 
 
176 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 technical forms, to expose the inadequacy of any judg- 
 ment on the one hand, or of anyabsolution on the other, 
 which does not penetrate beyond all external obliga- 
 tions, and which fails to bring the soul into harmony 
 with absolutely perfect and spiritual righteousness. 
 The soul of the Reformer is seen struggling between 
 an intense sense of his own evil, and a not less 
 profound conviction that the message of the Gospel 
 assures a complete deliverance from it. But these 
 two convictions, which correspond, as we have seen, 
 to the elementary dictates of the human conscience, 
 rest upon the intensity of his apprehension of God, 
 first, as the righteous Judge, by whom every thought 
 and intent of his heart is discerned, and secondly, 
 as his Saviour, by whose gracious promises he is 
 assured of his forgiveness and deliverance. 
 
 It is in virtue of this vivid apprehension of his 
 relation to God that the word Justification acquires 
 so vivid a meaning to him. God to him was all 
 in all. He cared for nothing in heaven or earth if 
 he could only know, or certainly believe, that God 
 forgave him his sins, received him, in spite of his 
 inherent evil, into His love and favour, would purify 
 him from his iniquity, and uphold him by His right 
 hand. The question is of a personal relation be- 
 tween two persons — the one the pure and Almighty 
 God, whose awful footsteps Luther perceived with- 
 out him in the earthquake and the storm, and within 
 in the implacable murmurs of his conscience ; the 
 other, himself, a feeble creature, conscious of innu- 
 
VII.] the Reformation. 177 
 
 merable sins, and sensible of numberless miseries in 
 himself and in the world around him. If this God 
 were his God, and he were assured of it, aU would be 
 weU. He would be certain of final deliverance ; and 
 meanwhile no sufferings, wants, or distresses, could 
 mar his peace. The more intensely the momentous 
 and supreme character of this relation was appre- 
 hended, the more did it reduce into complete sub- 
 ordination all forms, ceremonies, and authorities, 
 except so far as they brought the soul into direct 
 communion with this God of infinite judgment and 
 infinite salvation. An indulgence, or an absolution, 
 which only released the soul from certain penalties, 
 was not merely valueless ; it was worse than nothing. 
 It tended to obsciu-e the vital conviction, that har- 
 mony with the will of God, at whatever cost, through 
 whatever punishments, by whatever means, was the 
 one necessity of the soul of man. 
 
 But the estabhshment of that harmony must 
 needs be a long and painful process ; and by what 
 means was the soul to be assured that it would be 
 ultimately attained 1 It was certain that it could 
 only be attained by the gracious operation of God 
 Himself, by His forgiveness and His consequent as- 
 sistance. But how is that assurance of reconciliation 
 and of ultimate deliverance from evil to be gained 1 
 Not, certainly, by experience. That woidd too gene- 
 rally lead to a very different conclusion. The first 
 vision of Divine holiness tends to appal the soul, 
 and to make confidence seem unattainable ; and in 
 
 N 
 
178 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 one respect this apprehension increases with the 
 growth of the spiritual life. The holier a man be- 
 comes, the deeper is the witness of his experience 
 that he is a sinner, the more marvellous does it seem 
 to him that he should be absolutely forgiven, and 
 finally restored to perfect unity with God. On what 
 then can we rely % On nothing but the word of Christ, 
 who promises us the forgiveness and the grace of God. 
 Faith in that word is the only possible means for ob- 
 taining true peace of soul. When a man's conscience 
 accuses him, and by that very accusation would make 
 him afraid of God, and drive him from the Divine 
 presence, when his own sufferings and the sufferings 
 he sees about him seem to be so many signs and 
 evidences of the wrath of God, he turns to the blessed 
 word of reconciliation — a word confirmed by the 
 sacrifice of life, and written in the blood of the new 
 covenant ; on that word of Christ he rests His soul, 
 and on the faith of it he possesses, through all tempt- 
 ations, an unwavering peace. 
 
 In short, once let the thought be fully appre- 
 hended that God is a God of perfect righteousness, 
 and that the life of the human soul consists in 
 union with Him ; and faith in deliverance by Him 
 becomes the indispensable condition of existence. 
 The sense of temporal misery, which gives rise to 
 pessimism, is slight and trivial, compared with that 
 which possesses the soul when this vision of its 
 spiritual destiny, and of its inherent evil, dawns 
 upon it ; and the longing for some Divine assurance 
 
VII-] the Reformation. 179 
 
 of forgiveness and salvation becomes its deepest 
 passion. It is a longing which nothing can satisfy 
 but the word and promise of God Himself. That Word 
 is Christ. The life and the words' of Christ embody 
 the word of God. There, and there alone, it is that 
 the plain and definite promise is revealed on which 
 a man may build his faith, and by virtue of which 
 he may enter into the conscious and assured joy of 
 reconcOiation and of ultimate salvation. God is re- 
 vealed in Christ reconcOing the world unto Himself. 
 He can nowhere else be seen in that gracious capa- 
 city. He may be perceived elsewhere ruhng and 
 judging the world ; but nowhere else can He be 
 perceived reconciling it. Accordingly, in proportion 
 as a man enters with fuU sympathy into the sins, the 
 sufferings and the deaths of the men and women 
 around him, he will find that none but a suffering 
 and a dying God — nay, a God who Himself bears our 
 sins — gives sufficient witness that He is a reconciling 
 God. But that witness, as it is the last that can 
 be given, is also sufficient, and there is no sin or 
 sufiTering for which the Cross is not an adequate 
 consolation''. 
 
 Such were the cardinal principles of the Refor- 
 mation, as represented in its most characteristic 
 utterances, and they will be recognised as essentially 
 identical with the main elements of faith in every 
 previous stage of its development. The vision of God 
 produces an intense sense of evil and repentance ; 
 
 c See Note 17. 
 N 2 
 
180 Tlie Faith of [Lect. 
 
 that sense of evil creates a corresponding craving for 
 deliverance ; the soul which, in the first instance, is 
 appalled and terrified by its apprehension of God, 
 is attracted by His word and promise ; and, as it 
 realizes this gracious assurance, it is forced by its 
 very misery and helplessness to throw itself back 
 on Him, and to believe that His salvation is as 
 infinite as His justice. These are the two character- 
 istics which are combined in our Lord — on the one 
 hand, His revelation of j udgment, as in the Sermon 
 on the Mount ; on the other. His revelation of salva- 
 tion, supremely displayed in His death on the Cross 
 and in His resurrection, and in the gracious promises 
 He builds upon them. It has been said of late 
 that Protestantism ' has been pounding away for 
 three centuries at St. Paul's wrong words, and 
 missing his essential doctrine ^.' It will be seen, if 
 these considerations be just, that the main elements 
 of Protestantism are written in the cardinal dictates 
 of the human conscience, illuminated and reasserted 
 by the promises of the Gospel. They may be ex- 
 pressed in various intellectual forms ; they may be 
 associated with metaphysical theories which are in- 
 defensible. But, everywhere, they tend to bring the 
 soul of man into intimate relation with God, and 
 thus at the same time to deepen its sense of sin, and 
 to quicken its faith in forgiveness and deliverance. 
 
 The lack of this sense of relation to God was recog- 
 nised, two centuries before the Reformation, as the 
 
 d Mr. Matthew Arnold's ^S**. Paul and Protestantism, p. i . 
 
VI.] the Reformation. 181 
 
 great danger of the Church, by a Schoolman who 
 was one of the famous worthies of Oxford, and 
 whose teaching probably influenced Wicliffe. Brad- 
 wardine, Doctor Profundus, and for a brief time 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, addressed Ad suos Mer- 
 tonenses, in 1344, three books De Causd Dei contrd 
 Pelagium, in the Preface to which he declared that 
 ' almost the whole world had gone away after Pe- 
 lagius into errors.' The formal principles of the 
 Roman theology tended, in fact, more and more to 
 favour that separation between God and man which 
 it was the practical tendency of the Pelagian error 
 to foster. Pelagianism is the grand heresy of the 
 Western Church, as Arianism is of the Eastern ; 
 and they are closely allied in their tendency to 
 remove God to a distance from us, and to obscure 
 the intimate character of our relation to Him. In 
 the formal theology of the Schoolmen, the loss of 
 the Divine communion was not regarded as so 
 fatal to the power of healthy action in human nature 
 as to render man incapable of ' turning and preparing 
 himself, by his own natural strength and good works, 
 to faith and calling upon God*.' In opposition to 
 this view, the Reformed Churches revived the truth, 
 that faith in God, with the conscious relationship 
 to Him which faith implies, is the primary and 
 essential law of man's nature, so that without it he 
 has lost the characteristic which mainly distinguishes 
 him as man. Neither reason nor will are so indis- 
 e See Note 18. ^ See Note 19! 
 
182 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 putably the special distinction of man as his capacity 
 and his need of living in conscious union and com- 
 munion with an unseen Being, his Maker, his Judge, 
 and his Saviour. His relation to God might be com- 
 pared with that of a plant to the sun. The plant has 
 its roots in the ground, and from thence, and from 
 the air around, it mainly derives the nutriment 
 from which its structure is built up. But the in- 
 dispensable condition for extracting and assimilating 
 that nutriment, the requisite without which the 
 plant inevitably deteriorates, loses its virtue, and 
 fails to display its beauty, is the light of the sun. 
 But God is ' the Sun of righteousness ; ' and thus 
 ' the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,' 
 and, with wisdom, of every quality specially dis- 
 tinctive and honourable to man. Let him lose 
 this conscious relationship, let him become more 
 sensitive to external laws and formal obligations than 
 to that Being of infinite holiness and power who 
 speaks to him in his conscience, and the light is gone 
 out of His life, and corruption must inevitably ensue. 
 The process of deterioration may, indeed, be a pro- 
 longed one, as is the case in all natural processes ; 
 and many of the beauties and graces of a happier 
 condition may long remain. But the soul has ceased 
 to be in communion with the Life of man, and 
 nothing less than a sentence of death has passed 
 upon it. 
 
 To restore this communion was the great work of 
 our Fathers at the Reformation, and it was done by 
 
yil.] the Reformation. 183 
 
 the great doctrines with whicli that movement of 
 thought and life is identified. That which they pro- 
 claimed was not, as seems too often supposed, a mere 
 formal, metaphysical doctrine of justification by faith, 
 depending upon an abstruse theory of imputation. 
 Such theories were doubtless elaborated in the course 
 of the struggle, and sometimes had mischievous influ- 
 ences. But in substance the work of the Eeformation 
 was to lay fast hold of the main promises of the 
 Gospel. Our Lord proclaimed that all who put faith 
 in Him were safe in His hands for life and death, for 
 time and for eternity. If men would trust Him, and, 
 as that trust implies, obey Him, serve Him, and love 
 Him, so far as their mortal weakness allowed them, 
 He would be true to them, co-operate with all their 
 efforts to keep His comniandments and grow like 
 Him, and would thus gradually remedy the cor- 
 ruption of their nature. This was His promise, 
 His direct promise, to every soul ; and the great 
 Eeformer taught that it could be accepted, and 
 ought to be accepted, immediately, unhesitatingly, 
 and without reserve. Not merely was it true that a 
 man might believe it ; but he was bound to believe 
 it — Abound to believe a Saviour whose words and 
 deeds, whose life and death, asserted an inahenable 
 claim upon his heart and conscience. Thus be- 
 lieving, he was at once delivered out of all fear, 
 all condemnation, all servitude, and endowed with 
 the freedom of a son of God. Once possessed of 
 this spirit of sonship, men valued all the ordinances 
 
184 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 and ministries of the Church as means for bring- 
 ing them into direct communion with their God 
 and their Saviour, not as instruments for interposing 
 between themselves and Him. Their forgiveness for 
 the past and their dehverance in the future were 
 alike ensured by His sacrifice and by His union with 
 them ; and in this faith they rose above all human 
 terrors. They dared once more to look in the face 
 an almost omnipotent hierarchy, supported by 
 imperial power, to fear nothing so much as the 
 condemnation of their own consciences, and to live 
 and die the free children of God, over whom no 
 human authority had any permanent control. One 
 common taunt against religion is sufficiently answered 
 by the history of the Eeformation. Priests were then 
 the means, and religion was then the instrument, 
 by which men were delivered from servitude. It 
 was the spirit of freedom and of fearlessness which 
 reasserted itself in the utterances of the great 
 German Reformer; and its echoes have shaken the 
 spirit of bondage throughout Christendom. 
 
 The first effect, in short, of this grand principle 
 was, in the Eeformer's view, to establish Christian 
 liberty on a basis which could not be shaken. It 
 asserted that, in the last resort, the soul of man 
 could abandon everything but the word and promise 
 of God, and it consequently set men absolutely free 
 from subserviency to any visible power. At the 
 same time, as the soul derived this independence from 
 its obedience to Christ, it submitted itself, like him, to 
 
VII.] the Reformation. 185 
 
 all subsisting authority, so far as was compatible with 
 its supreme allegiance. When the Pope proceeded 
 to assert claims which were fatal to these cardinal 
 truths of the gospel ; when he placed himself, and 
 the priesthood of which he was the head, between 
 the soul and God, and made the absolving ministry of 
 the priest ' generally necessary ' for salvation ; when, 
 in short, he asserted an inalienable claim over the 
 conscience, his authority was of necessity repudiated. 
 Some consequences of that overthrow of the existing 
 system of authority must be considered in my next 
 and last Lecture. But where no such undue claim 
 was made, the effect of thus arousing in men the 
 sense of direct responsibility to God, and of direct 
 dependence upon Him, was to re-invigorate and re- 
 estabhsh all natural authorities. Fathers acquired a 
 new sense of responsibihty for their government 
 of their families. Kings and nations re-entered into 
 the possession of their due independence ; and the 
 proclamation of the royal supremacy in England 
 was the counterpart of the proclamation of Christian 
 . liberty in Germany &. 
 
 It seems now sometimes supposed that the prin- 
 ciples of liberty, and that spirit of hope and confidence 
 by which the life of the better part of Europe has 
 been characterised during the last three centuries, 
 can henceforth stand by themselves, and are indepen- 
 dent of any support from the great truths which the 
 Keformation proclaimed. There is at present no 
 e See Note 20. 
 
186 The Faith of [Lbct, 
 
 experience to justify such a belief. Half Europe is 
 still, in great measure, under bondage to the spirit of 
 superstition and fear, and the larger part of the 
 world is the victim of cruel idolatries or delusions. 
 The power which originally emancipated men from 
 that servitude may safely be relied on to effect a simi- 
 lar deliverance ; but no other weapon has yet been 
 successful. At all events, here alone shall we find 
 the means of combining an unlimited apprehension 
 of our own evil with a not less unlimited assurance of 
 deliverance from it. Here alone, too, shall we find 
 an adequate answer to some of the difficulties we 
 contemplated at the outset of these Lectures. The 
 most effectual, if not the only effectual remedy for 
 that pessimism which seems now to weigh so heavily 
 on the mind of Germany, and which finds its sad 
 echoes in England, is to be found in the doctrine of 
 the Cross, apprehended by faith, and as presented 
 in passages like the following from the great Ee- 
 former : — 
 
 ' The theologian of the Cross — he, that is, who 
 speaks of a crucified and hidden God — teaches that - 
 punishments, crosses, and death are the most pre- 
 cious of all treasures, and the most sacred of all 
 relics, which the Lord Himself of this theology 
 consecrated and blessed, not only by the touch of His 
 most holy flesh, but also by the embrace of His 
 supremely holy and divine will, and left them here 
 to be truly kissed, sought, and embraced. Happy, 
 indeed, and blessed is he whom God may deem 
 
VII.] the Reformation. 187 
 
 worthy to have bestowed on him these treasures of 
 the relics of Christ — or, rather, who understands that 
 they are bestowed on him. For to whom are they 
 not offered 1 As St. James says, " My brethren, 
 count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;" 
 for it is not for every one to have the grace and glory 
 to accept these treasures, but only for the most elect 
 of the sons of God. 
 
 ' Many make pilgrimages to Rome and other holy 
 places, to see the coat of Christ, the bones of the 
 martyrs, the homes and the footsteps of the saints. 
 I do not condemn them. But I grieve that we 
 should be so ignorant of the true relics — namely, the 
 passions and crosses which have sanctified the bones 
 and relics of the martyrs, and have made them worthy 
 of such veneration. Not only do we fail to accept 
 them when offered to us at home, but we repulse them 
 with all our might, and chase them away from place 
 to place ; whereas we ought to demand of God, with 
 the utmost thirst, and with perennial tears, that He 
 would give us such precious rehcs of Christ, the most 
 sacred of all, as being the gift, of the elect sons of 
 God. So sacred are these relics, so precious are such 
 treasures, that whereas others can be preserved in 
 earth, or when most honoured, in gold, silver, jewels, 
 silk, these can only be preserved in heavenly, living, 
 reasonable, immortal, pure, holy receptacles, that is in 
 the hearts of the faithful, inestimably more precious 
 than all the gold and jewels in the world "i.' 
 ^ See Note 21. 
 
188 The Faith of the Reformation. 
 
 These meditations accordingly may be appropriately 
 concluded by the closing propositions of the Reformer's 
 great disputation. They afford a vivid illustration 
 of the spirit in which the faith of the Reformation 
 found its impulse and its strength : — 
 
 ' Away with all those prophets who say to the 
 people of Christ, Peace, peace, and there is no 
 peace. 
 
 'Blessed be all those prophets who say to the 
 people of Christ, the Cross, the Cross, and there is 
 no Cross. 
 
 ' Christians must be exhorted that they strive to 
 follow Christ, their Head, through punishments, 
 deaths, and hell ; 
 
 * And thus trust to enter heaven rather through 
 many tribulations than through a tranquil security^.' 
 
 i See Note Z2. 
 
LECTURE YIII. 
 
 THE FAITH OF THE CH0ECH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Eph. it. 13-15. 
 
 Till we all come in the VMity of the faith and of the knowledge 
 of the Son of God, v/nto a jperfect man, unto the measure of the 
 stature of the fulness of Christ ; that we henceforth he no more 
 children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind 
 of doctrine, hy the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby 
 they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may 
 grow uj) into Kim in all things, which is the head, even Christ : 
 from, whom the whole body, fitly joined together and com,2)acted 
 by that which every joint sv/pplieth, according to the effectual 
 working in tJie measure of every part, maketh increase of the 
 body unto the edifying of itself in love. 
 
 In the course of the Lectures of which the present 
 sermon is the conclusion, we have mainly been 
 engaged in considering the primary principles and 
 grand outlines of Faith, and in elucidating and 
 vindicating the foundations on which they rest. 
 Whether, in the absence of verified knowledge, faith 
 can afibrd us ' the substance of things hoped for, the 
 evidence of things not seen ; ' what are the reasons 
 which render belief in God, and trust in Him, a 
 matter of moral obligation ; what is the authority of 
 
190 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 the testimonj we possess to a direct supernatural 
 revelation from Him ; what have been the essential 
 characteristics of the faith thus produced, first, in the 
 case of Abraham and the Jews, secondly, by the 
 life and teaching of our Lord, thirdly, by the gift 
 of the Holy Spirit in the early Church ; and lastly, 
 how these essential characteristics of true faith were 
 revived at the Eeformation — such has been the 
 course of our enquiry. But there remains a question 
 to which a brief reference was made at the outset *, 
 and which demands a more complete answer than 
 was then practicable — the question, namely, which is 
 presented by the divisions in the Christian world, 
 and by the disappearance of that unity, with its 
 corresponding authority, which was in great measure 
 possessed in the early Church — an unity of which so 
 imposing a semblance existed in the Church of the 
 middle ages, and which has been the ideal of Chris- 
 tians of every age. It was our Lord's prayer that 
 aU that believed on Him might be one, as He and 
 the Father were one ^ ; and the text speaks of its 
 being a principal object of the dispensation of the 
 Gospel that we might aU come 'unto the unity of 
 the faith <>.' 
 
 A strange and sad contrast to these hopes is ex- 
 hibited by the present state of Christendom. It is a 
 contrast which has been more visible and more painful 
 since the Eeformation ; but it existed long before that 
 
 »■ Lect. I, pp. 24, 25. b St. John xvii. 20-23. 
 
 " Not ' in the unity,' but ei's t^k eyorijra. 
 
VIII.] the Church of England. 191 
 
 great movement. Those cardinal truths we have 
 hitherto been considering touched the deepest 
 elements in the spiritual, moral, and intellectual 
 nature of man ; and when they came to be tested 
 by experience and reflection, they provoked questions 
 of the greatest difficulty. Our Lord and His Apostles 
 raised, of necessity, difficulties of this character. 
 Their words pierced ' to the dividing asunder of the 
 soul and spirit,' and of ' the joints and marrow ' of 
 the inner man ^. Our Lord instituted Sacraments, and 
 His Apostles instituted an organization of His Church, 
 which involved the practical application, through all 
 time, of principles which went to the root of the 
 moral constitution of human nature, and which in 
 their dividing and testing influence have proved 
 ' sharper than any two-edged sword.' The early 
 adherents of Christianity, indeed, were chiefly divided 
 upon points which concerned the central revelation 
 of the Gospel, such as the real Divinity of our Lord. 
 In later times, such controversies have, for the most 
 part, been waged by those who stand outside the 
 Church ; and the divisions by which, in later centu- 
 ries, we have been perplexed, baffled, and disappointed 
 have mainly concerned questions which can be de- 
 bated without ostensibly impugning the truths and 
 facts asserted in the Apostles' Creed. They have 
 arisen upon such points as the relation of the 
 human will to Divine grace, the operation of the 
 Sacraments, the nature and efficacy of Faith, the 
 d Heb. iv. 12. 
 
192 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 inspiration of the Scriptures, the authority of the 
 Church, and the organization necessary for its full 
 vitality. It is chiefly upon points of this kind that 
 Christendom is now divided. There are, indeed, 
 flagrant symptoms of a partial recurrence within the 
 Church itself to the vital controversies of early times. 
 But if the Apostles' Creed alone were in question, 
 there would be visible throughout Christendom a vast 
 and preponderant unity of belief Although, how- 
 ever, our difficulties may thus for the most part 
 relate to subjects which, from one point of view, may 
 be called secondary, they are not the less real and 
 lamentable. They mar the oneness of the faith, and 
 the unity of the Chiirch ; they lead some minds to 
 doubt whether a revelation so divergently interpreted 
 can be a supernatural revelation at all ; and they 
 tempt others to submit, in a kind of desperation, to 
 the authority of that great Church which asserts so 
 persistently the plausible claim to be the one in- 
 fallible and accessible guide, through all these 
 labyrinths of error or of doubt. 
 
 Now, in meeting this difficulty, recourse is often 
 had at the present day to a method which is marked 
 by an error akin to one previously noticed in rela- 
 tion to the primary doctrines of the Faith. It would 
 in some measure disparage the importance of these 
 controversies, and would promote unity by dwelling 
 on the comparative insignificance' of our points of 
 difference, as compared with our points of union. It 
 is a line of argument which lends itself with great 
 
VIII.] the Church of England. 193 
 
 facility to the service of a generous and warm-hearted 
 eloquence; and exhortations conceived in this spirit 
 are undoubtedly of great usefulness in their proper 
 place. To borrow a phrase from Lord Bacon, we cer- 
 tainly are tempted by our passions and by our partial 
 knowledge to so consider ourselves as members of 
 particular churches, communities or parties, as to for- 
 get that we are Christians ^ ; and it is well to have 
 continually sounding in our ears eloquent voices re- 
 minding us of our common relation to our one Lord. 
 But the reproaches so frequently cast on the Christian 
 Church, on account of the intensity with which dog- 
 matic and disciplinary questions have been contested 
 within it, are sufficiently refuted by the very facts on 
 which they are based. No condemnation, indeed, can 
 well be too strong for the unchristian tempers which 
 have been displayed by some of the chief actors in 
 those contests. They are sins which cannot be too 
 clearly marked with reprobation. Yet history proves 
 that, if greater passion has been displayed in theolo- 
 gical than in other controversies, these controversies 
 have also exerted a more important influence than any 
 others upon the spiritual, the moral, and even the 
 political development of human life. It is indeed a 
 safe general rule to regard with suspicion any judg- 
 ment which pronounces mistaken the methods of ac- 
 tion instinctively adopted by the great majority of 
 mankind, and especially of civilised mankind. Those 
 methods may be wrongly applied, and may produce 
 
 e Essay Of Unity in Eeligion. 
 
 
194 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 disastrous results, but it is as perilous to repudiate 
 the metliods and tendencies themselves as to de- 
 nounce syllogistic arguments or inductive reasoning. 
 When we observe that in every age, without excep- 
 tion, theological controversies have aroused more 
 heat, more excitement, more energy than any others, 
 it is only wise to presume that there is some other 
 than a bad reason for it. 
 
 The tendency, in fact, of some modem historians 
 to undervalue the influence upon human nature of 
 variations in rehgious and moral principles is strangely 
 at variance with the evidence before them. It may 
 be that the comparative stability of the social and 
 moral order established among us renders it difficult 
 for us to realize the possibihty of any social system 
 being undermined by the mere force of rehgious 
 ideas. Yet the history of the world would appear 
 to be, in great measure, a history of the manner 
 in which religious ideas, often of an apparently 
 abstract and subtle character, can determine the 
 future of whole races, and of vast regions of the 
 earth. Students of ecclesiastical history, for instance, 
 are often perplexed at the large place occupied in 
 the early Church by the controversies with Gnos- 
 ticism ; and are inclined to wonder that such strange 
 speculations should have had so much attraction for 
 some minds, and should have excited so much alarm 
 among the Christian Fathers. But the late Dean 
 Mansel, in his Lectures on that subject delivered in 
 this University, shewed how close an affinity those 
 
VIII.] the Church of England. 195 
 
 speculations possess with some of the German phi- 
 losophy which has so largely influenced the thought 
 and character of modern times f ; and, perhaps, a still 
 more forcible illustration of the importance of the 
 Gnostic controversies is furnished by the spectacle 
 forced upon our attention in India. In Brahmanism 
 and Buddhism we may observe the practical result 
 of theories akin to Gnosticism, carried out on a large 
 scale, and applied generally to human nature. The 
 fascination which can be exerted by such dreams, and 
 their disastrous consequences, are there exhibited in 
 a portentous experience S. 
 
 But illustrations may be found nearer home. 
 There were of course periods in the history of the 
 Western Church, when ideas and practices which 
 have since culminated in the full Eoman Catholic 
 system were for the first time being introduced. 
 In many of the men to whom the earliest definite 
 intimation of such ideas was due, few can fail to 
 recognize Christian teachers and leaders who, both 
 for their personal character and for the services 
 they rendered to the Church of their day, deserve, 
 in the main, our warm admiration and our sincere 
 sympathy. It would have required great discern- 
 ment — a discernment given only to an Athanasius or 
 an Augustine — to perceive in the first intimations of 
 the idea of transubstantiation the introduction of 
 
 f The Gnostic Heresies of the First and Second Centuries, pp. 14, 
 
 16; U7, 165. 
 
 S See Mansel's Gnostic Heresies, pp. 29-32. 
 
 O 2 
 
196 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 a principle which would modify the whole of Chris- 
 tian worship, or in certain expressions and assertions 
 of the Popes the germ of a doctrine which was 
 destined to develop into Papal infaUibihty, and 
 gradually to subvert the whole constitution of the 
 Western Church. Yet these consequences were latent 
 in those assumptions and in those forms of expression. 
 A similar lesson may be drawn from the history of 
 the Protestant churches. They have, as by some in- 
 ternal law, allied themselves with special political 
 and social dispositions, and they have severally tended 
 to develop peculiar aspects of character and phases 
 of thought. 
 
 The fact may in great measure be explained by a 
 consideration which, in the present day, is urgently 
 insisted upon in most other departments of life, but 
 which is strangely forgotten in respect to theological 
 truths. It is fully recognized in other matters how 
 the aggregation of men in society, together with the 
 accumulation of influences in successive generations, 
 tends to magnify special tendencies, and, by exag- 
 gerating the degree in which they act, almost to 
 transform them in kind. It would, for instance, be 
 harsh and unjust, and contrary to the example of 
 Athanasius himself, to pronounce that every bishop 
 who favoured for a time the Arian or Semi-Arian party 
 was himself consciously untrue to the Christian faith. 
 But apart from the question of the orthodoxy of 
 individuals, the danger was that what would some- 
 times appear but a slight error in an individual, might, 
 
VIII.] the Church of England. 197 
 
 if it had. been perpetuated, stiU more, if it had been 
 formulated, have tended to establish a school and 
 mode of thought in which the distinctive truths of 
 Christianity would have been obliterated. Human 
 societies are organisms, subject to laws which resemble 
 those of other organic bodies. Under a sufficiently 
 powerful microscope, our bodies, which to an ordinary 
 eye seem to consist of continuous matter, would be seen 
 really to consist of a vast number of distinct atoms. 
 Distinct as they are, they nevertheless combine under 
 special laws, and form one organism, which, in its 
 turn, reacts on the atoms themselves, and compels 
 them, as it were, to move and act in ways not their 
 own. Similarly, let us suppose a sufficiently distant 
 observer, and we might conceive him viewing one 
 of our human societies as a single body, contin- 
 uous, not disunited, and compelling the individuals 
 of which it is composed to move in ways they would 
 never have chosen of themselves. To pursue the 
 analogy a little further — just as a slight morbid 
 process in the mutual relations of the atoms of our 
 bodies may develop into a disease which involves 
 the whole organism, so a slight error of doctrine or 
 a fault of discipline, in relation to a few members of 
 the Christian Church, may in course of time develop 
 into a dangerous and fatal disease. The question 
 is not as to the importance of the error, or of the 
 morbid process, in relation to the particular atoms 
 in which it arises, but as to its importance in rela- 
 tion to the whole organism. It is thus that the 
 
198 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 whole Papal system has grown out of errors and 
 assumptions which it was extremely difficult to 
 comhat with sufficient vigour as they arose, and that 
 the character and future of other Churches has been 
 damaged by their unfortunate disregard of certain 
 elements of Church doctrine and discipline. Eccle- 
 siastical history, in short, is a record of the manner 
 in which under various temptations and influences, 
 often operating almost unconsciously, forms of Chris- 
 tian life and thought have been developed, which, like 
 the Koman Catholic system, or the Calvinistic system, 
 or the system of the Greek Church, have moulded, 
 and have sometimes perverted, the character, the 
 habits, and the tone of thought of whole races, and 
 of many generations. 
 
 The facts of history thus affiard conclusive evidence 
 that the instinct of the Christian world, or rather 
 the instinct of mankind, has not been mistaken in 
 attributing extreme importance to those variations 
 in faith, even on points apparently secondary, by 
 which Christendom has been, and is still, so grievously 
 divided. This being the case, the question presses 
 on us with much urgency by what means we are 
 to seek a solution of the problems presented by 
 these divergences, and what is to be our guide 
 in practically applying that revelation which has 
 been committed to the Church, and which is recorded 
 in the Scriptures. In dealing with this problem we 
 have first to consider the solution of it which is 
 offered by the Roman Catholic Church, namely, that 
 
VIII.] the Church of England. 199 
 
 she — or rather, as the claim now stands, the Pope — • 
 is endued with an infallible authority to decide all 
 such uncertainties, and that it is our duty to submit 
 ourselves absolutely to his judgment, abjuring re- 
 liance, in the ultimate resort, upon our own reason, 
 or upon the dictates of our own conscience. This has 
 now become the paramount doctrine of that Church, 
 and the first thing she demands of all who come to 
 her is absolute submission to her authority. She repre- 
 sents that submission as the necessary complement of 
 a true belief, and she seems often regarded, by those 
 who reject the principle of faith, as simply adding 
 one article more to the creed of believers. 
 
 In view of this claim, let us consider the posi- 
 tion to which we have been brought by our previous 
 enquiries. We have been Hfted to an immense height 
 above the merely moral and natural level from which 
 we started. Eecogni2dng that our souls are in 
 communion with God, and that the voice of our 
 consciences is His voice, we have been led by that 
 voice to acknowledge His revelation, vouchsafed in 
 successive utterances, until at length He spoke to us 
 by His Son, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 We believe that our Lord, after His ascension, gave a 
 further revelation to His Apostles, bestowed the gift 
 of the Holy Spirit on those who beheved on Him, 
 assured all who were faithful of final salvation, and 
 gave them the earnest of it in ever increasing de- 
 liverance from sin, and in growth in grace. We are 
 in direct communion with Christ. His Spirit speaks 
 
200 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 in our hearts, and is our ever present guide. Now 
 let it be observed by what means a Christian has 
 reached these heights of faith, and has been raised 
 to a communion so vastly beyond the condition of 
 man apart from Christ. Has it been by reliance on 
 any such external and infallible authority as that of 
 a visible Church 1 On the contrary. At the com- 
 mencement of this grand ascent, the word Church 
 could have no vital meaning for him. The authority 
 of the Church is insisted on by Roman Catholic 
 divines as the authority of a society founded by the 
 Son of God incarnate ; and a man must believe that 
 the Son of God was reaUy incarnate before he has 
 any reason at all to believe in the authority of 
 a society founded by Him. It cannot seriously be 
 supposed that a society like the Eoman Church, 
 or a person like the Pope, can claim our belief 
 by virtue of a bare assertion that they are the de- 
 positaries of all truth, without reference to any 
 prior principles or facts as evidence in support of 
 their claim. If the Eoman Church is to have any 
 valid claim on us, we must already, on grounds prior 
 to her authority, have accepted belief in God, belief in 
 the fact of His having revealed His will to us by Pro- 
 phets and Apostles, and belief in His incarnation in 
 the person of Jesus Christ. These immense acts of 
 faith must have been made before the Eoman Catholic 
 claims have so much as an intelligible foundation on 
 which to rest. A man must believe in the first article 
 of the Creed before he believes in the second ; and he 
 
VIII.] the Church of England. 201 
 
 must believe in the second before he believes in the 
 third, or in any alleged development from it. A man 
 must be a behever in God before he is a believer in 
 Christ as the Son of God, and he must be a believer 
 in Christ before he is a Eoman Catholic. 
 
 If, then, we are capable of arriving at these mo- 
 mentous conclusions on their own evidence, and by- 
 virtue of the inherent claim they assert over our 
 conscience and our reason, does it not seem a very 
 improbable supposition that their apphcation and 
 development in detail, whether in point of truth or of 
 practice, should imperatively need a miraculous in- 
 terposition in the form of a visible authority which 
 was not necessary in order to enable us to reach 
 them 1 Vastly important as the developments of 
 Christian doctrine and practice have been shewn to 
 be, they cannot be compared in importance to the 
 primary truth that God was'incarnate in Jesus Christ. 
 But that truth must be accepted before the question 
 of the character or the infallibility of the Church He 
 founded becomes a practical one. What sufficient 
 reason is there for supposing that the secondary prin- 
 ciples of truth and practice need a support wholly 
 different from that required by the original principles 
 on which they rest 1 The assumption, in fact, in- 
 cessantly reiterated by Eoman Catholic controver- 
 sialists, that revelation is valueless without a living 
 and infallible guide, is at all events liable to the 
 objection that it is contrary to the whole analogy 
 of faith up to the point at which the assumption 
 
202 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 becomes intelligible. We are brought to faith, in 
 God, to faith in Christ, and to faith in the Holy 
 Spirit, to belief in our Creator, Eedeemer, and 
 Sanctifier, on one set of grounds ; and then we are 
 suddenly told that we are helpless creatures, and 
 cannot see oiu- way for a single moment without 
 having an infallible authority at our side. Such 
 an utter annihilation of our independence, at the 
 very moment when it has carried us to so lofty 
 a height, may be conceivable ; but it is certainly 
 in the highest degree improbable. 
 
 If, indeed, we recall more specifically the method 
 by which we reach the grand primary conclusions 
 of faith, this fatal vice of the Koman Catholic argu- 
 ment may be placed in a still stronger light. It rests 
 upon the assumption, more or less clearly acknow- 
 ledged, of a certain untrustworthiness and incapacity 
 in the conscience and reason of the individual, even 
 when seeking divine guidance, in relation to spiri- 
 tual truths. But on what is our whole belief in 
 God and in Christ founded 1 On nothing but the 
 imperative dictates of that conscience and that 
 reason, dealing with the personal and historic facts 
 presented to us. The primary elements of the 
 Christian argument are necessarily common to Roman 
 Catholics and to other Christians ; and they involve 
 an appeal to the moral obligation of obeying the 
 imperative dictates of the conscience. It has been 
 shewn, in the course of these Lectures, that scepticism 
 with respect to the existence of God ultimately 
 
VIII.] the Church of England. 203 
 
 implies scepticism with respect to ' the categorical 
 imperative ' of the conscience ^. It involves a doubt — 
 an avowed doubt — whether right be really supreme 
 over wrong in the universe, whether there be a Judge 
 of all the earth, who will execute judgment and 
 righteousness in respect to all our acts, words, and 
 thoughts. If the dictates of conscience affirming 
 the reality of that judgment be uncertain, everything 
 is uncertain. We may speculate about the existence 
 of a First Cause ; we may come to a theological 
 opinion that such a Cause exists. But we cease to 
 be imperatively bound to believe in a personal God 
 who claims the whole allegiance of our souls. We 
 are no longer in intimate and vital relation to Him. 
 It is upon the intensity and the paramount obligation 
 of this dictate of the conscience that the whole vitality 
 of religion depends, and when a man begins to doubt 
 the primary truths of faith, the main effort of the 
 Christian must be to force him back relentlessly upon 
 the witness of his conscience, to insist upon its im- 
 perious authority, and to ask if he can either dispute 
 the meaning of its utterances, or dare refuse obedience 
 to them. The conscience and the reason — these are 
 the two faculties to which we must in the last resort 
 appeal in order to sustain belief in God and in Christ ; 
 and just in proportion to the intensity with which 
 their witness is apprehended and obeyed is the reality 
 of that behef. But the comer-stone of rehgion having 
 thus been based upon the unreserved appeal to these 
 t See Lect. II, p. 44. 
 
204 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 two faculties, the Eoman Catholic system suddenly 
 calls upon us to abandon all confidence in them, and 
 to assume that they are valueless without an infalhble 
 interpreter. After they have served to lead us to 
 the most momentous of all possible conclusions, the 
 Eoman Church suddenly cuts the ground from under 
 our feet, and warns us not to advance a step further 
 upon such insecTu:e footing. If this warning be 
 justified, every step that has been taken beyond the 
 evidence of mere sense has been unjustifiable ; and 
 faith ceases to have a valid starting-point. Con- 
 science says, with respect to belief in God and in 
 Christ, ' it must be, and I ought to accept it' But 
 the moment it saj^s this respecting the secondary 
 points in question in this Lecture, the Roman 
 Catholic Church exclaims, ' you are an untrustworthy 
 guide and must submit to my superior authority.' 
 Such an argument is an act of religious suicide ; and 
 it is accordingly not surprising that, in the countries 
 where it prevails, men are driven either into blind 
 superstition or into Agnosticism, if not Atheism. 
 Some men and women, under the influence of fear or 
 habit, trust themselves to the Church on her mere 
 assertion. The rest yield to the compulsion of their 
 reason and their conscience so far as to reject her 
 claims ; but they have learnt the lesson of distrust 
 in those faculties too thoroughly to base a reasonable 
 faith upon them. 
 
 To take a definite illustration from recent facts, 
 consider the case of the distinguished ecclesiastical 
 
VIII.] the Church of England. 205 
 
 historian who refused to accept the Vatican decree 
 affirming the Pope's Infallibility. He declares that, 
 according to his convictions, facts are against it, and 
 that his historical conscience forbids his acceptance of 
 it. How is he answered 1' Not, in the last resort, 
 by a reply to his arguments, but by a simple de- 
 mand for submission!. The Church has spoken — 
 Sic volo, sic juheo, stet pro ratione voluntas. But 
 if Dr. DoUinger is incompetent to decide whether, 
 as a matter of fact, the Popes have been in- 
 fallible, how can he be competent to judge of the 
 great historical facts on which the whole authority 
 of the Scriptures reposes, and of the truth of the 
 evidence on which the Christian religion is based 1 
 There must be some fact or truth from which even 
 the Roman Catholic system started, and which is 
 prior to it ; and if our capacity for judging a sub- 
 sequent fact or theological dogma be denied, we must 
 abandon confidence in our capacity to judge of prior 
 facts and dogmas. 
 
 Accordingly, in rejecting the claims of the Eoman 
 Catholic Church, we are not simply refusing, to add 
 one article of faith the more to those which we have 
 already accepted. On the contrary, we are refusing 
 to admit a principle which would be fatal to all faith 
 whatever. There is a terrible truth in the saying of 
 an English divine, that a consistent Eoman Catholic 
 is a man ' who has had the backbone of his con- 
 science broken ; ' and to break the backbone of the 
 i See Note 23. 
 
206 Th& Faith of [Lect. 
 
 conscience is to break the backbone of faith. It 
 is thus that the primary principles of what is 
 called Protestantism involve a revival of the essen- 
 tial conditions of vital faith. Like many designa- 
 tions which seem to arfse by accident, that word 
 is the key to the principles reasserted at the Re- 
 formation. It implies the right and the duty of the 
 human conscience to say No — to say No to assump- 
 tions and to claims which are inconsistent with its 
 clear and imperative dictates, to protest against abuses, 
 usurpations, and falsehoods, however sanctioned. It 
 is this general right to say No, as distinct from oppo- 
 sition to particular errors, which is denied by the 
 Roman Cathohc Church in such cases as those of 
 Dr. DolHnger, and in her elementary assumption of 
 infallible authority. But the right to say No is cor- 
 relative with the right to say Yes. The duty of saying 
 No involves the duty of saying Yes ; and it is pre- 
 cisely because the conscience and the reason have 
 this important prerogative that they are bound, imder 
 penalty of such terrible consequences, to exercise it, 
 and to exercise it aright. When Luther declared 
 at Worms — ' It is neither safe nor honest for a man 
 to act against his conscience — here I stand, I can do 
 no otherwise,' he was not merely protesting against 
 particular errors ; he was vindicating the principle 
 from which faith originally arose, and to which it 
 must perpetually return for its reinvigoration. 
 
 If, then, a Roman Catholic should ask us why, 
 having advanced so far in faith as to accept the 
 
VIII.] the Church of England. 207 
 
 revelation of tlie Creeds and of the Scriptures, we 
 refuse to advance further, and to accept the infalHble 
 authority of the Church, our answer may be at once 
 very simple and very decisive. We advance in faith 
 so far as reason and conscience are allowed to accom- 
 pany us, but no further. Neither the prophets of 
 the Old Testament, nor our Lord, nor His Apostles, 
 ask us, for one moment, to' silence our reason or our 
 conscience. They ask us, indeed, to go beyond the 
 evidence of reason, on their authority, and to trust 
 them further than we can see. But they claim to 
 commend themselves ' to every man's conscience in the 
 sight of God ; ' and they never require us to close 
 our eyes to the dictates of moral or intellectual con- 
 viction. It is because the Roman Church does make 
 that request, because her first requirement of all who 
 approach her is to submit their highest faculties to 
 her authority, that we repudiate her. In a word, it 
 is not merely because we protest against particular 
 doctrines that we accept the honourable designation 
 of Protestants. But we enter a solemn protest on 
 behalf of conscience, on behalf of reason, on behalf of 
 science ; and we confine our allegiance to those 
 divinely inspired authorities, and to those sacred 
 Scriptures, which base their whole appeal upon these 
 elementary voices of Grod within the soul and in the 
 visible world. In a word, there are two extremes in 
 this question of faith — Rationalism and Romanism. 
 Rationahsm consists in denying that there is any 
 supernatural authority or supernatural revelation 
 
208 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 whatever ; Eomanism consists in denying that any 
 coordinate and independent authority can be exercised 
 by the conscience and the reason. True faith consists 
 in asserting that there are supernatural authorities, 
 but that no supernatural authority can require us to 
 sUence the voice of reason and conscience. 
 
 But it is objected, that, in this case, every Christian 
 is left to his private judgment in respect to those 
 secondary points of faith and practice which have 
 been referred to. Such an objection leaves out of 
 sight that which is in several respects the most im- 
 portant privilege of Christians, and which is the 
 cardinal fact in relation to the point under discussion. 
 That fact is the presence with Christians, in propor- 
 tion to their faithfulness, of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit 
 of Truth. ' It is expedient for you,' our Lord said to 
 His disciples, ' that I go away ; for if I go not away 
 the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I de- 
 part I will send Him unto you ;' and 'when He, the 
 Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all 
 truth 1^.' No more ample promise could be recorded. 
 According to the whole tenour of those gracious dis- 
 courses, it applies to all faithful Christians; and it 
 does but express in more direct and touching language 
 that assurance of the gift of the Spirit which is 
 recognised throughout the New Testament as the 
 characteristic blessing of the present dispensation. 
 St. Paul accordingly describes it as the especial 
 office of the Spirit to preserve the unity of Christians 
 
 k St. John xvi. 7, 13. 
 
VIII.] the Church of England. 209 
 
 by bringing into harmony the exercise of all their 
 various gifts. ' There are diversities of gifts, but the 
 same Spirit ; and there are differences of administra- 
 tions, but the same Lord. And there are diversities 
 of operations, but it is the same God which worketh 
 all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is 
 given to every man to profit withal. For to one is 
 given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another, 
 the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit. To 
 another faith, by the same Spirit ; to another the 
 gifts of healing, by the same Spirit ; to another the 
 working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another 
 discerning of spirits, to another divers kinds of 
 tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 
 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame 
 Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will. 
 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and 
 aU the members of that one body, being many, are 
 one body ; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are 
 we aU. baptized into one body, whether we be Jews 
 or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have all 
 been made to drink into one Spirit *.' 
 
 Such is St. Paul's view of the true source of Chris- 
 tian unity. As members of the body of Christ, we 
 are animated by the life of one personal Spirit ; we 
 are guided by His teaching, and controlled by His 
 will. Here is the one sufficient reply to the Boman 
 Catholic argument, that we need an infallible authority 
 to direct us in the interpretation of the Scriptures 
 1 I Cor. xii. 4-13. 
 P 
 
210 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 and in the perplexities of moral duty. Whatever 
 apparent force such an argument may carry is due 
 to a disregard of the truth on which we have been 
 dwelling. The answer is that though we cannot 
 appeal to any visible and infallible Authority, we do 
 possess an unerring Guidance ; and that we possess it, 
 moreover, not merely in the ambiguous, distant, and 
 tardy utterances of a human oracle, but in the voice 
 of a Divine Spirit ever present with us, and help- 
 ing us in all our infirmities. In truth, the Koman 
 assertion of the necessity of a human and external 
 authority amounts to a denial of this internal and 
 Divine guidance, and to a high offence against it. 
 The claim of the Pope to overrule every individual 
 conscience in matters of faith and morals involves, if 
 our Lord's promise and its interpretation by St. Paul 
 be true, a claim to overrule the voice of the Holy 
 pirit ; and he who submits to the Pope renounces 
 the guidance of the only Authority who can be really 
 infallible. The apprehension, indeed, of moral and 
 spiritual truth is necessarily a moral and spiritual, 
 and not a merely intellectual act, and consequently it 
 can never be maintained by any formal dictation. It 
 VTill be true and living in proportion as the heart and 
 conscience, as well as the intellect, are quickened, 
 and this spiritual life can only be assured by that 
 Holy Spirit who is present with every soul in pro- 
 portion to its faith in Him. The errors and sins 
 of Christians, and of the Church as a whole, are only 
 too well explained by their failure to submit them- 
 
VIII.] the Church of England. 211 
 
 selves in all things to His direction and inspiration. 
 Intellectual truth in spiritual things is ultimately 
 inseparable from moral truth ; and there is some- 
 thing actually immoral in the attempt to establish 
 an infallible dogmatic authority independent of a 
 corresponding security for the moral condition of 
 those who are subjected to it. The Spirit of God 
 acts by the opposite method. He works in the 
 hearts of Christ's people to purify their conscience 
 and their wiH, and in proportion as they yield to 
 this influence are they qualified to 'know of the 
 doctrine ™,' and to become united in the truth. 
 
 It will further be seen that this principle provides 
 a safeguard in itself against the undue assertion of 
 private opinions. It follows from it that it is the 
 bounden duty of every Christian, it is implied in 
 the charter of his admission as a member of the 
 Church, to maintain, as far as possible, union with 
 his feUow Christians, and to act and think in har- 
 mony with them. This duty has a natural founda- 
 tion ; but it is elevated to an unprecedented and 
 unsurpassable height by the doctrine of our Lord's 
 relation to those who believe in Him. Every 
 Christian, by virtue of his faith, is in union with 
 Christ, and by means of Christ's Spirit is under 
 His continual influence. The inevitable consequence 
 is, that any Christian who fails to cultivate, so far 
 as he can, communion with another, fails, in some 
 measure, to cultivate communion with His Master 
 
 ™ St. John vii. 17. 
 P 2 
 
212 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 and his Master's Spirit. Communion with Christ, 
 subjection to His gracious influences, the gradual 
 discernment of His will and His character, the in- 
 creasing apprehension of His grace and truth — these 
 are the essential elements in the Christian life, and 
 in proportion as they are realised in individuals is 
 the Church, as a whole, in a position to deal success- 
 fully with the problems now under our consideration. 
 ' Abide in Me/ says the Saviour, ' and I in you.' But 
 the Christian is mistaken who thinks that this com- 
 munion with Christ, and this influence of His Spirit, 
 is only to be obtained in secret, spiritual intercourse. 
 Christ, according to His saying, is to be discerned, in 
 His various characteristics and graces, in His members. 
 Accordingly, whatever Christian soul we meet, no 
 matter in how humble or how lofty a station, no 
 matter whether it be strong or weak, learned or 
 simple, there, in proportion to its faith, is Christ by 
 His Spirit working, and there may we discern 
 glimpses of His grace and rays of His truth. The 
 vast and infinite variety of human souls appears thus 
 to furnish, as it were, an infinite number of reflecting 
 surfaces, from each of which some gleams of the 
 Saviour's glory and truth are displayed. It is this 
 which renders respect to others such an essential 
 element in the Christian character. In every 
 Christian we meet a man in whom the Saviour is 
 present, and we are bound to treat him with some of 
 that reverence which is due to his Master and to our 
 own. It is thus that, in the teaching of St. Paul, 
 
VIII.] the Church of England. 213 
 
 the principle of charity is inculcated in indissoluble 
 connection with the truth that we constitute the 
 body of Christ and are His members in particular ^ ; 
 and the same truth is illustrated in the memorable 
 tradition, that St. John was incessantly reiterating 
 at the close of his life, 'Little children, love one 
 another.' 
 
 It is instructive to observe, that the very first 
 utterances of the Christian Fathers bespeak their 
 sense of the paramount importance of this principle, 
 and of its correlative duty. The few remains we 
 have of St. Ignatius are pregnant with an anxiety 
 for the maintenance of unity among his followers, 
 scarcely less deep than that of the beloved and loving 
 Apostle. He is celebrated for the strong expressions 
 he utters — whatever recension of his Epistles may be 
 accepted — in support of the authority of Bishops. 
 But without entering on the controversial side of 
 those expressions, one thing is patent — that his 
 practical purpose is to ensure the maintenance of 
 unity among his flock o. The Bishop is to him the 
 symbol and instrument of unity, and it is with a view 
 to this result that St. Ignatius is more immediately 
 concerned to maintain episcopal authority. To the 
 steady adherence of the early Christian Church to this 
 principle seems due, in great measure, its firm ad- 
 hesion to the cardinal truths of the faith. In the first 
 centuries, as in subsequent ones, it is very observable 
 
 n I Cor. xii, xiii. 
 
 o See Robertson's History of the Christian Church, vol. i. p. 24. 
 
214 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 how national and individual peculiarities led Churches 
 and Teachers to lay undue stress on particular truths 
 and aspects of truth, until the analogy of the faith 
 became distorted, and grave practical heresies tended 
 to arise. But in the primitive Church such dangers 
 were then averted by the check which never failed to be 
 afforded by some other community,perhaps in a distant 
 part of the world, which apprehended the truth from 
 another side, and was not liable to the same tempta- 
 tion. It does not seem too much to say, that so long 
 as the whole Church remained in free and charit- 
 able intercommunion, heresies, whether doctrinal or 
 practical, were sure to find their check and their 
 correction. To offer one illustration, it is an in- 
 teresting historical circumstance, and explains many 
 of the facts on which Roman controversialists build 
 their arguments, that Eome being the capital of the 
 Empire, all impulses and theories found their way 
 thither, checked and balanced each other, and thus 
 produced a kind of equihbrium at the centre of the 
 Christian world ; much as political or social theories 
 which are exaggerated in the provinces are soon 
 reduced to their true proportions when they are 
 brought to London. 
 
 But, on these principles, it is a cardinal rule for 
 safety, ahke in thought and in action, to bear in 
 mind that neither as individuals, nor as churches, 
 still less as particular parties within a church, is it 
 possible for us to possess all gifts, or to perceive all 
 the bearings of truth. To attain the full Christian 
 
VIII.] the Church of England. 215 
 
 character and to acquire a comprehensive appreciatio.n 
 of Christian truth a man must dihgently cultivate 
 communion with other Christians, must believe that 
 they all have some message for him, and can display 
 to him some gleams of his Master s truth and grace. 
 In this spirit, in daily hfe, he wiU at once submit 
 himself to teachers and learn from those he rules ; in 
 this spirit he will visit the poor, and will listen for 
 his Master's voice by the bedside of the sick and 
 from the mouths of babes. In respect to matters of 
 controversy within the Church, he will feel that, at 
 all events, no judgment can be relied on, which is out 
 of harmony with the tradition and conviction of the 
 Church in its purer times, and in its deeper current. 
 The maxim, Quod semper, quod uhique, quod ah 
 omnibus, may be somewhat rhetorical in form ; but as 
 implying that every Christian, and every community 
 of Christians, ought to be in harmony with the 
 permanent, the general, and the essential convictions 
 of the Church from the earliest times, it is but an 
 expression of St. Paul's principle that we are all 
 members of one body. It is a principle so essential 
 to the character of the Christian Church that we 
 cannot despair of its being visibly asserted. If 
 the poet could look forward to a time when 
 
 ' The battle flags were furled 
 In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world,' 
 
 how can we be so faint-hearted as not to anticipate 
 a time when Christian controversies wiU be sub- 
 
216 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 mitted to a Parliament of Christians, a Federation 
 of the Church ? 
 
 But however this may be, these considerations 
 seem sufficient to show that, subject to the obhga- 
 tions of Christian communion, and, above all, of 
 unity and harmony with the primitive Church, we 
 may well be content to seek the gradual solution 
 of the theological and moral problems presented 
 by the state of Christendom in the patient appli- 
 cation of the same principles which have led us to 
 acceptance of the Christian faith itself, and in re- 
 liance on the game Divine aid which has guided us 
 so far. That aid is to be sought in the exercise and 
 cooperation of all our various gifts — spiritual, moral, 
 and intellectual, and in all the spheres of our action, 
 whether ecclesiastical or political or social. In all 
 we are acting as members of one body, and contri- 
 buting to our mutual edification. In the natural 
 sphere this process and the result towards which it 
 tends are more and more recognised. The contro- 
 versies and divisions of the Christian Church are 
 urged as a reason for distrust in its claims by men 
 who see no difficulty in recognizing the gradual 
 education of the world at large, and who are con- 
 fident of the steady solution of social and political 
 problems. Why should not Christians have at least 
 as much faith as philosophers 1 The history of our 
 disunion is the history of our lack of faith and of our 
 sin ; and in proportion as we submit our whole hearts 
 and minds, alike in life and in thought, in study and 
 
VIII.] the Church of England. 217 
 
 in action, in theology, in pMlosophy, and in science, 
 to the influence of that Spirit who is the source of 
 all unity, will He harmonize our conflicting impulses 
 and our various views of truth, 'tiUwe all come unto 
 the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the 
 Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of 
 the stature of the fulness of Christ.' 
 
 Such a faith, such a grasp of the whole course 
 of the Christian Church, and such a vision of the 
 future, ought to be the special prerogative of Eng- 
 lishmen. It was exemplified at the crisis of the 
 Reformation, when such questions were even more 
 distressing than they are now, by the great theo- 
 logian to whom we owe that work on The Laws 
 of Ecclesiastical Polity, which is on all hands recog- 
 nised as a characteristic expression of the mind 
 of the English Church. The force with which 
 the problems we have been considering was then 
 presented to the minds of our Fathers was over- 
 whelming, alike in its suddenness and in its 
 vehemence. Audacious as was the claim of the 
 Eoman Church of that day to represent an undi- 
 vided Christendom, it had nevertheless imposed on 
 the minds of men to a degree which cannot now 
 be appreciated. Theoretically to divines, and prac- 
 tically to men in general, the Pope was the ulti- 
 mate source of all spiritual and moral authority ; he 
 was the centre of the world, and his annihilation 
 was like the annihilation of the sphere itself. It 
 forcibly illustrates the tremendous weight of that 
 
218 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 authority to reflect that nothing was adequate to 
 its overthrow but an appeal to the word of God 
 Himself. Satirists and humanists might counter- 
 mine it ; hut it was not until the Scriptures were 
 brought home to the people at large, not until they 
 felt that they could appeal to a diviner authority 
 than that of the Pope, that a real reformation was 
 practicable. But when this vast, though usurped, 
 authority had been overthrown by means of the 
 Bible, men felt a craving for something which could 
 visibly and adequately supply its place ; the Napo- 
 leonic genius of Calvin erected the Scriptures into 
 a similar authority, and the principle arose that the 
 law contained in them ought to serve, like that of 
 the Pope, for our direction in all things, without 
 exception P. Such a theory possessed an immense 
 attraction in an age which was sensible of struggling, 
 through a period of anarchy, from an old order into 
 a new one. We have not yet emerged from that 
 period, but our difiiculties, heavy as they are, are 
 not so severe as those which pressed upon our 
 Fathers. 
 
 Now, amidst this turmoil, when the Papal party on 
 the one side, and the Puritan party on the other, 
 were clamouring for the assertion of only one law of 
 existence, an English divine, a 'mild and humble' 
 
 P Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, Tim Second Booh. 'Concern- 
 ing their first position who urge Reformation in the Church of 
 England : namely, that Scripture is the only rule of all things 
 which in this life may be done by men.' 
 
VIII.] the Church of England. 219 
 
 man, as lie is described, a country clergyman, and 
 deriving, perhaps, some of his calm wisdom from that 
 meditative life, had the courage to say to these dis- 
 putants, in a voice which commanded attention, that 
 instead of there being only one law to determine 
 their actions and their thoughts, there were an 
 indefinite number ; and that the wisdom of life con- 
 sisted in striking a just balance between them, and 
 applying them all in their various places and degrees. 
 ' There are in men,' said Hooker % ' operations, 
 some natural, some rational, some supernatural, some 
 politic, some finally ecclesiastical ; which if we 
 measure not each by his own proper law, whereas the 
 things themselves are so different, there will be 
 in our understanding and judgment of them confu- 
 sion.' The first book of his Ecclesiastical Polity, 
 from which these words are quoted, contains the sum 
 and substance of his argument ; and it may weU be 
 regarded as the most characteristic expression of the 
 English mind on these great controversies. Its com- 
 prehensive review of the whole constitution of human 
 nature has for its practical purpose to prove, that 
 ' to measure by any one kind of law all the actions 
 of men were to confound the admirable order, wherein 
 God hath disposed all laws, each as in nature, so in 
 degree, distinct from other ^.' A viAad apprehension, 
 indeed, of this truth is the virtue of an Englishman 
 as much in religion and in theology as in politics. 
 English divines have ever been too sensible of the 
 q Eccl. Polity, Book I. cli. xvi. 5. ' Ecel. Polity, I. xvi. 7. 
 
220 The Faith of [Lect. 
 
 vastness and complexity of human nature to deal with 
 it by system and rule. They have striven to allow 
 every element of life its place and its authority. 
 Eeason, conscience, science, politics — all have been 
 gathered within their view ; and Faith, though 
 superior to them all, has none the less been main- 
 tained in harmony with them, and in sympathy with 
 their just claims. Failures and errors in such an 
 attempt have been inevitable ; but no grander effort 
 has ever been made — ^none more deeply rooted in 
 faith in God, who is the ' Maker of heaven and 
 earth, and of all things visible and invisible.' 
 
 It is, indeed, a habit of mind easily misrepresented, 
 and perhaps vulgarised. A distinguished writer, who 
 is also an eminent statesman, has recently said that 
 'Luther, . . ; the Huguenots, the Puritans — these, 
 among them, have taken up the imaginative sides of 
 the great reforming movement. They exhibit,' he says, 
 ' all its poetry. Anglicanism shows little but the prose 
 of compromise and the Via Media ».' But is poetry 
 thus to be confined to one-sided systems, moulded 
 like the Koman Catholic, or the Calvinistic, after the 
 model of a human imagination, and corresponding to 
 a human ideal 1 If so, Plato and Bacon were right in 
 banishing poetry from their Utopias. But the EngHsh 
 Church system has a large poetry — a poetry like that 
 of Shakspeare — indifiFerent to apparent unities of time 
 
 3 Mr. Gladstone in an article entitled, The Sixteenth Century 
 arraigned before the Nineteenth, contained in Gleanings of Past 
 Years, vol. iii. p. 224. 
 
YIII.] the Church of England. 221 
 
 and place, chiefly careful to seize the grand truths 
 and facts, whether of faith, or reason, or history, which 
 are encountered in the great drama of the world, and 
 to bring them together just so far as to enable them 
 to produce their natural and awful impression upon the 
 soul. Similarly its Articles are like the Aphorisms 
 of its great Philosopher — no arbitrary anticipations of 
 a final theological system, but the modest interpreta- 
 tions of observed facts and truths, waiting to be 
 harmonized by a fuller light, and a deeper experi- 
 ence. While reserving that ultimate right of pro- 
 testation which has just been vindicated, and appeal- 
 ing to the Scriptures as the sole ultimate authority, 
 the greatest English divines have been unanimous 
 in the desire to submit themselves first to their 
 own Church, and then to the Church universal *, and 
 have shrunk, as from a fatal vice, from any positive 
 assertion of their own theories or systems. 
 
 Such is the lofty and comprehensive, but at the 
 same time modest, creed which a Bampton Lecturer 
 on the subject of Faith is concerned to defend. It is 
 summed up in the motto of this University, Dominus 
 illuminatio mea : — God the light of the soul in the 
 conscience, the hght of man in His Son Jesus Christ, 
 who lived and died and rose again for us and 
 ascended into heaven, the light of His Church in 
 holy men of old, who spake as they were moved by 
 His Spirit, the light of reason in history and science, 
 and in all the manifestations of His wondrous works, 
 ' See Note 24. 
 
222 The Faith of the Church of England. 
 
 and finally, the light of all who put their trust in 
 Him, by the blessed assistance of that Spirit who was 
 bestowed on us, as at this season, to guide us to 
 a right judgment in all things. Such are the prin- 
 ciples it has been the object of these Lectures to 
 vindicate. That neither Faith may be sacrificed to 
 Science as by Eationalism, nor Science and Eeason 
 to Faith as by Eoman Catholicism, nor both to a 
 system as in sectarian schemes, but that Faith and 
 Science, Conscience and Eeason, may each have 
 their own, and that God in Jesus Christ may be all 
 in all — such is the design of the Christian culture 
 of this venerable University, and such the spirit 
 which it is its mission to revive in this perilous 
 but noble age. 
 
VITA ANIMAE DEUS EST; HAEC CORPOKIS. hAc FUGIENTE, 
 SOLVITUE HOC; PEEIT HAEC, DESTITUENTE DEO. 
 
 (Quoted by John of Salisbury from modernorvm quidam in 
 De rmgis Cwialium, p. 127, ed. Lugd.) 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 NOTE 1, p. 13. 
 
 The following' is the passage from Professor Huxley's 
 monograph on Hume, to which reference is made in the 
 text : — 
 
 ' Kant has said that the business of philosophy is to answer 
 three questions : What can I know ? What ought I to do ? 
 and For what may I hope ? But it is pretty plain that these 
 three resolve themselves, in the long run, into the first. 
 For rational expectation and moral action are alike based 
 upon beliefs ; and a belief is void of justification^ unless its 
 subject-matter lies within the boundaries of possible know- 
 ledgCj and unless its evidence satisfies the conditions which 
 experience imposes as the guarantee of credibility. 
 
 'Fundamentally, then, philosophy is the answer to the 
 question. What can I know ? and it is by applying itself to 
 this problem, that philosophy is properly distinguished as a 
 special department of scientific research. What is commonly 
 called science, whether mathematical, physical, or biological, 
 consists of the answers which mankind have been able to 
 give to the inquiry, What do I know ? They furnish us with 
 the results of the mental operations which constitute thinking, 
 while philosophy, in the stricter sense of the term, inquires 
 into the foundation of the first principles which those opera- 
 tions assume or imply. 
 
 ' But though, by reason of the special purpose of philosophy, 
 
 Q % 
 
228 NOTE 1. 
 
 its distinctness from other branches of scientific investigation 
 may be properly vindicated, it is easy to see that, from the 
 nature of the subject-matter, it is intimately, and, indeed, 
 inseparably, connected with one branch of science. For it is 
 obviously impossible to answer the question. What can we 
 know ? unless, in the first place, there is a clear understand- 
 ing as to what is meant by knowledge ; and, having settled 
 this point, the next step is to inquire how we came by that 
 which we allow to be knowledge; for, upon the reply, turns 
 the answer to the further question, whether, from the nature 
 of the case, there are limits to the knowable or not. While, 
 finally, inasmuch as What can I know? not only refers to 
 truest knowledge of the past or of the present, but to the 
 confident expectation which we call knowledge of the future ; 
 it is necessary to ask, further. What justification can be 
 alleged for trusting to the guidance of our expectations in 
 practical conduct ? 
 
 ' It surely needs no argumentation to show that the first 
 problem cannot be approached without the examination of 
 the contents of the mind; and the determination of how 
 much of these contents may be called knowledge. Nor can 
 the second problem be dealt with in any other fashion ; for 
 it is only by the observation of the growth of knowledge that 
 we can rationally hope to discover how knowledge grows. 
 But the solution of the third problem simply involves the 
 discussion of the data obtained by the investigation of the 
 foregoing two. 
 
 ' Thus, in order to answer three out of the four subordinate 
 questions into which What can I know ? breaks up, we must 
 have recourse to that investigation of mental phenomena, the 
 results of which are embodied in the science of psychology.' — 
 Eume, by Professor Huxley, 1879; Part II, ch. i, p. 48. 
 
NOTE 2, 229 
 
 NOTE 2, p. 30. 
 
 The word boKinaCa> appears uniformly employed to express 
 careful examination, testing and putting to the proof. Thus 
 St. Peter applies it (i Pet. i. 7) to the trial of gold by fire. 
 In the Septuagint it is similarly used for the refining of 
 silver. So St. Paul employs it when he says (i Cor. iii. 13) 
 that the fire shall try every man's work. It is hence applied to 
 express the use of severe moral and intellectual tests. When 
 St. Paul says (i Cor. xi. 28), ' Let a man examine himself, and 
 so let him eat of that hread and drink of that cup,' the word 
 IS SoKi/yia^eVco eavTov. A still more characteristic use of the 
 word, perhaps, is to be found in the quotation from the LXX. 
 in Heb. iii. 9 : ' When your fathers tempted me, proved me 
 (e8oKt)na(r(ii; /xe) and saw my works forty years.' To quote another 
 forcible instance, when St. Paul says, i Thess. ii. 4, ' As we 
 were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even 
 so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our 
 hearts,' the Greek for ' allowed ' and for ' trieth ' is the word 
 now under consideration. God had not merely allowed St. 
 Paul to be put in trust with the Gospel. He had approved 
 him after severe trial ; and St. Paul accordingly spoke not as 
 pleasing men, but as pleasing the God who continually tries 
 and examines our hearts. Thus St. Paul does not treat the 
 knowledge of God as something to be taken up or laid down 
 by that simple exercise of volition which we associate with 
 liking and disliking. It was a matter which required testing, 
 proving, examining, by the same kind of patient and diligent 
 process as we apply to test the character of the precious 
 metals ; and the fault of .the heathen was that they shrank from 
 the efibrt involved in this process. This interpretation of the 
 expression is further confirmed by the character of the word 
 which the Apostle uses for knowledge, i-nCyvaxns, which is 
 properly applied to express exact and accurate knowledge. 
 
 The accusation, in fact, which St. Paul makes against the 
 Greeks and Eomans is that although the nature of God, His 
 eternal power and Godhead, were to a great extent discernible 
 
230 NOTE 3. 
 
 by them, provided they sought that knowledge with due 
 earnestness and sincerity, they did not deem it worth while to 
 bestow sufficient exertion upon this high aim. They did not 
 bend their whole moral and intellectual energies to the search 
 after God, and the knowledge of Him consequently escaped 
 them. The Apostle's words, thus understood, seem to cor- 
 respond very justly with the course of Greek and Roman 
 thought and life. His statement that ' that which may be 
 known of God is manifest in them,' and that ' the invisible 
 things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly 
 seen, being understood by the things that are made, even 
 His eternal power and Godhead,' appears to be justified on the 
 whole by the course of Greek philosophy. It has been doubted 
 whether any absolutely valid demonstration of the existence 
 and character of God has yet been offered. But if we look at 
 the facts, it is unquestionable that the highest thought of 
 Greece, with its combination of moral and intellectual con- 
 siderations, led to a deep conviction that the world was in the 
 hands of one God, and that a righteous God. It was this 
 combination of moral and intellectual considerations which 
 chiefly distinguished Platonic thought ; and it was in that 
 school of philosophy that these conceptions were brought to 
 the highest point they have attained without the aid of 
 revelation. There was indeed something in the Soeratic and 
 Platonic method which is very aptly described by the word 
 we have been considering. The Platonic dialectic was an 
 elaborate analysis of the various conceptions which were 
 presented to it, trying them as it were by fire, until only 
 the pure gold remained. It is of the utmost importance 
 to remember that this process of trial and examination did, as 
 a matter of fact, conduct the human mind to the very thres- 
 hold of revealed truth. The Christian revelation appeared in 
 the fulness of time to guide it into the recesses of the sacred 
 temple. 
 
NOTE 3. 231 
 
 NOTE 3, p. 33. 
 
 Thus Professor Max Miiller, in his Hibbert Lectures for 
 the year 1878, says (pp. 171-3) — 'AH that remains to us now 
 is to advance, and to see how far we shall succeed in accounting 
 for the origin of religious ideas, without taking refuge in the 
 admission either of a primeval revelation or of a religious 
 instinct. We have our five senses, and we have the world 
 before us, such as it is, vouched for by the evidence of the 
 senses. The question is, how do we arrive at a world beyond ? 
 or rather, how did our Aryan forefathers arrive there ? ' With- 
 out enquiring whether Professor Max Miiller is justified in 
 treating the religious instinct as a mere phrase, it would seem 
 strange that all reference to the moral sense or conscience 
 should be omitted in this enumeration of the possible sources 
 of religion. Even if it were due to evolution, so, on the same 
 hypothesis, are our five senses themselves, and it has a similar 
 claim to be regarded as an element in the case. A sense 
 of the difference between right and wrong can hardly be 
 regarded as included within ' our five senses,' or ' the world 
 before us, such as it is, vouched by the evidence of the senses.' 
 But, in some measure, it has always been a force in the world ; 
 and a discussion of the origin of religion which fails to give 
 }t a prominent place would seem extremely imperfect, 
 
 A similar enquiry is suggested when Professor Max Miiller 
 says (p. 304) that the first prayer in the Veda 'that sounds 
 really strange to us ' is when divine beings ' are implored to 
 keep us from guilt. This,' he proceeds, ' is clearly a later 
 thought.' Why ? Has any state of society been yet brought 
 to light in which human beings had no conscience ? 
 
 A little further, at p. 331, Professor Max Miiller says, 
 ' These two ideas — darkness and sin — which seem to us far 
 apart, are closely connected with each other in the minds of 
 the early Aryans.' How can such ideas seem far apart to those 
 who are familiar with such words as 'Everyone that doeth 
 evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,' or with the 
 declaration, ' This then is the message that we have heard of 
 
333 NOTE 3. 
 
 Him, and declare unto you, that God is light and in Him is 
 no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with 
 Himj and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But 
 if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellow- 
 ship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son 
 cleanseth us from all sin ' ? The connection which Professor 
 Max Miiller deems so strange has been at the very root of 
 Christian thought ; and it is difficult to understand whom he 
 can have had in view when he says that the ideas of darkness 
 and sin seem far apart ' to us.' 
 
 In connection with this subject, the following collection of 
 testimonies from classical authors on the subject of the con- 
 science may be interesting. The author is indebted for it to 
 the kindness of Dr. Watson, of St. John's College, Oxford. 
 
 Quid enim potest esse tam apertum, tamque perspicuum, 
 cum coelum suspeximus, coelestiaque contemplati sumus, quam 
 esse aliquod numen praestantissimae mentis, quo haec re- 
 gantur? . . . Quod qui dubitet, hand sane intelligo, cur non 
 idem, Sol sit, an nuUus sit, dubitare possit. Quid enim est 
 hoc illo evidentius ? — Ciceeo, Be Nat. Beor. lib. ii. cap. a. 
 
 Ita dico, Lucili: Sacer intra nos Spiritus sedet, malorum 
 bonorumque nostrorum observator et custos. Hie prout a 
 nobis tractatus est, ita nos ipse tractat. Bonus vir sine 
 Deo nemo est. — Seneca, Bpist. 41. 
 
 Bona conscientia prodire vult et connpici. Ipsas nequitia 
 tenebras timet. Eleganter itaque ab Epieuro dictum puto : 
 Potest nocenti contingere ut lateat, latenti fides non potest 
 , . . Ita est ! tuta scelera esse possunt, secura non possunt . . . 
 Nee uUum scelus, licet illud fortuna exornet muneribus suis, 
 licet tueatur ac vindicet, impunitum est, quoniam sceleris in 
 scelere supplicium est. — Seneca, Epist. 97. 
 
 Magna vis est conscientiae, et magna in utramque partem : 
 ut neque timeant, qui nihil commiserint, et poenam semper 
 ante oculos versari putent, qui peccarint. — Ciceeo, Pro Milone. 
 
 Magna vis est conscientiae, quam qui negligent, cum me 
 violare volent, . . . se ipsi indicabunt. — Ciceeo, Cat. in. cap. la. 
 
NOTE 3. 233 
 
 Est quidem vera lex, recta ratio, naturae congruens, 
 diffusa in omnes, constans, sempiterna: quae vocet ad oflB- 
 cium jubendo, vetando a fraude deterreat : quae tamen neque 
 probos frustra jubet aut vetat, nee improbos jubendo aut ve- 
 tando movet. Huic legi nee obrogari fas est, neque derogari 
 ex bac aliquid licet, neque tota abrogari potest. Nee vero 
 aut per senatum aut per populum solvi bac lege possumus. 
 Neque est quaerendus explanator aut interpres ejus alius : 
 nee erit alia lex Romae, alia AtbeniSj alia nunc, alia posthac, 
 sed et omnes gentes, et omni tempore una Lex, et sempiterna, 
 et immortalis continebit; unusque erit communis quasi 
 magister, et imperator omnium Deus. lUe legis bujus in- 
 ventor, disceptator, lator : cui qui non parebit, ipse se fugiet, 
 ac naturam bominis aspernabitur : bocque ipso luet maximas 
 poenas, etiam si caetera supplicia, quae putantur effugerit. — 
 Cicero, Fragm. lib. iii. cle Eepuh. 
 
 Nolite enim putare, quemadmodum in fabulis saepenumero 
 videtis, eos, qui aliquid impie scelerateque commiserint, 
 agitari et perterreri Furiarium taedis ardentibus : sua quem- 
 que fraus, et suus terror maxime vexat : suum quemque 
 scelus agitat, amentiaque afficit : suae malae cogitationes 
 conscientiaeque animi terrent. Hae sunt impiis assiduae 
 domestieaeque Furiae. — Ciceeo, Pro Boscio, cap. 24. 
 
 Vis ad recte facta vocandi et a peccatis avocandi non modo 
 senior est quam aetas populorum et eivitatum, sed aequalis 
 illius coelum atque terras tuentis et regentis Dei.' — Ciceeo, 
 De Legib. ii. 4. 
 
 Omnia enim benefacta in luce se coUocari volunt. — Ciceeo, 
 Tuscul. ii. 26. 
 
 Miraris bominem ad deos ire ? Dbijs ad bomines venit ; 
 imo (quod propius est) in homines venit. Nulla sine Deo 
 mens bona est. Semina in corporibus bumanis divina dis- 
 persa sunt, quae si bonus cultor excipit, similia origini 
 prodeunt, et paria his, ex quibus orta sunt, surgunt; si 
 malus, non aliter quam humus sterilis ae palustris, necat, 
 ac deinde creat purgamenta pro frugibus. — Seneca, Epist. 'j^. 
 
234 NOTE 4. 
 
 Cireumretit enim vis, atque injuria, quemque; 
 Atque, unde exorta est, ad eum plerumque revortit. 
 Nee facile est plaeidam, ae paeatam degere vitam. 
 Qui violat factis communia foedera pacis. 
 Et si fallit enim Divom genus humanumque, 
 Perpetuo tamen id fore clam difEdere debet : 
 Quippe ubi se multei, per somnia saepe loquentes, 
 Aut morbo delirantes, protraxe ferantur ; 
 Et celata diu in medium peccata dedisse. 
 
 LucKET. lib. V. 1 151. 
 
 Hie eonsentiamus, mala facinora conscientia flagellari, et 
 plurimum illi tormentorum esse, eo quod perpetua illam 
 soUicitudo urget ac verberat . . . Multos fortuna liberat poena, 
 metu neminem. — Skneca, Epist. 97. 
 
 Note 4, p. 37. 
 
 It has been much discussed of late whether morality would 
 lose if Christian influences were superseded by some form of 
 purely natural culture; and such an enquiry bears closely on the 
 question whether the application of the doctrine of evolution to 
 ethics would weaken the vitality of moral convictions. It 
 seems strange that from a Christian point of view such ques- 
 tions should be deemed so much as open to discussion. One of 
 the three great articles of the Christian faith is a belief in God 
 the Holy Spirit, who, in answer to prayer, bestows upon us His 
 supernatural guidance and assistance. Assuming this to be 
 true, there remains no room for comparison between the two 
 influences ; and in any remarks on the subject, it seems 
 desirable to mention this at the outset, lest, in arguing upon 
 other grounds, this momentous power in Christian Faith 
 should appear to be overlooked. It is, indeed, impossible 
 to avoid introducing into our field of view some of the super- 
 natural elements in Christian Faith, and so far there must 
 remain a complete disparity between the terms of the com- 
 parison. But our faith operates by natural influences as well 
 
NOTE 4. 235 
 
 as by supernatural ; and even its supernatural truths and 
 realities have in some respects a natural 'action upon us. 
 Thus the person of our Lord Jesus Christ is divine, but it is 
 also human ; and He acts upon us not only by supernatural 
 grace, but by natural personal relations. We may here 
 perhaps find a fairly common ground for contrasting the 
 operation of our faith with that of unbelieving culture. , Let 
 us mainly ask what is the natural effect on our minds of 
 Christian faith as contrasted with the natural effects of 
 Sceptical Culture. 
 
 Such culture takes various forms in different schools of 
 thought, such as that of the Positivists, or that of Mr. 
 Herbert Spencer. But, in all, its essential idea is that of 
 the gradual improvement of life by the operation of social 
 forces ; for physical forces may, for the purposes of argument, 
 be regarded as involved in these. The mutual action of 
 human beings upon each other, their relative wants, instincts, 
 passions, and affections, are regarded as exerting, on the whole, 
 a steady upward pressure upon individuals ; and by a skilful 
 use of the arts of education, organization, and government, 
 life, it is urged, may be indefinitely elevated. By philoso- 
 phers, who look at the subject from the point of view of 
 physical science, the process is regarded as analogous to the 
 evolution supposed to prevail in the animal world, by which, 
 under the pressure of the necessities of existence, higher 
 qualities are progressively developed in the species. Now it 
 is to be observed, in the first place, that there is nothing in 
 the least inconsistent with Christian belief in attributing to 
 the operation of these natural influences of organized human 
 society an extremely high value. It may, indeed, as will be 
 presently seen, well be doubted whether their ultimate effects 
 could be relied on if Christianity were not, as it were, per- 
 petually renewing the raw material of human nature on which 
 they work. But that they are among the most potent means 
 of human elevation is unquestionable. Christians, indeed, are 
 the very last persons who should undervalue them; for the 
 conviction of the unity of men, of the intimate dependence 
 
236 NOTE 4. 
 
 of every member of the human family upon the rest, and 
 of human development depending upon the maintenance of 
 that union — these convictions are so essentially Christian, 
 that the Gospel might well be maintained to be the real 
 source of those modern ideas of social culture which would 
 fain dispense with it. St. Paul's language might almost be 
 that of a philosopher of the present day, when, in images 
 drawn from the intimate union of the members of the human 
 body, he describes the almost physical interdependence of the 
 members of the Christian organism. Accordingly, as a matter 
 of fact, the social influence of the Church as a whole upon its 
 members, by means of that discipline of which the abeyance 
 is lamented in our Commination Service, was in the early 
 Church one of the most powerful influences for maintaining 
 the standard of Christian life. The Church, in fact, whatever 
 its other characteristics, was from the first eminently a society 
 for the culture of all righteousness and graciousness among 
 its members. That which first of all struck the impartial 
 eye of the Roman statesman, who observed it in its early 
 vigour, was that its members bound themselves by an oath 
 and a mutual pledge to renounce all vices. To Pliny's eye, 
 the Church was a society visibly stamped with the ' seal ' of 
 St. Paul — ' Let every one that nameth the name of Christ 
 depart from iniquity.' The Church was the first example of 
 an association for this mutual culture of its members in 
 righteousness ; and the existence of such a society constitutes, 
 perhaps, the most vital distinction between the Christian and 
 the pre-Christian world, even when contemplated from a purely 
 natural point of view. If, therefore, in any degree, Christi- 
 anity appears at a disadvantage at the present time in respect 
 to its employment of social forces for the purposes of moral 
 culture, this can be due only to the Church having fallen 
 short of her ideal and of her earliest and purest form. How 
 to recover that form and approach nearer to that ideal, amidst 
 the complex forces of modern life, is a most difiicult problem. 
 But now, not less than at the time of our Reformers, such a 
 restoration of primitive Christian culture is 'much to be 
 wished.' 
 
NOTE 4. 237 
 
 Our faith, therefore, is so far frora disparaging those 
 methods of social culture upou which noa-Christian systems 
 rely, that in principle it claims to be their parent, and it 
 would fain receive them back into the Christian household. 
 But there remains one point, at any rate, in which it would 
 seem, to say the least, extremely desirable that the influence 
 of any such form of social culture should be supplemented. 
 For permanent moral ends, indeed, it may appear as we 
 proceed that such a supplement is essential ; but very simple 
 considerations may suffice to indicate its immense importance. 
 It would seem obvious that the social forces which a society, 
 as a wholcj can exert upon its members are the resultants of 
 the forces contributed by the individual members themselves, 
 and must therefore vary, both in their potency and in their 
 direction, in proportion to the character and the vigour of the 
 individuals. The process of evolution or development, in 
 whatever degree it may operate, depends upon the acquire- 
 ment of special excellences by individuals, and it is in the 
 cumulative effect of these individual excellences that the 
 elevation of the race consists. It is not of material import- 
 ance to what these individual excellences may be due — whether 
 they are mere modifications produced by the pressure of 
 external circumstances, or, as would seem in some instances, 
 the result offerees inherent in the stock, but previously latent. 
 In any case, the improvement of the individual cannot fail to 
 enhance the value of the social force he contributes to the 
 community. Now, if this be the case, it would seem to follow 
 that, under certain circumstances, social influences, without 
 being either disparaged or neglected, may become of less 
 practical importance than influences dealing in the first 
 instance with individuals. Let it be granted, for the sake of 
 argument, that in any human society, the influence of the 
 whole body upon its members will gradually tend to improve 
 them. Nevertheless, if we can directly improve the members 
 individually, by raising them towards their ideal, we shall, in 
 the first place, anticipate in great measure the effect of the 
 social process, while we shall also enhance the efficacy of that 
 
238 NOTE 4. 
 
 process itself. Consequently, the first question which should 
 be asked by an advocate of social culture is whether there 
 exist means for raising individuals, by independent and 
 immediate action, above the level already attained by them. 
 Is it possible for him to sharpen and perfect his tools one by 
 one, before he combines them in his great social machine ? 
 
 Now, it is on this critical point that all systems of sceptical 
 and purely social culture appear to fall short of the Christian 
 faith. They fall short, moreover, of necessity, and by the 
 very law of their existence. On their hypothesis, the indi- 
 vidual is, and ought to be, the product of society. He is its 
 child, determined by it, and to be judged primarily, if not 
 solely, by the tests it supplies. To attempt, therefore, to 
 raise an individual, by direct influence, above the level of the 
 existing social standard, is, to say the least, to incur a great 
 risk of misdirecting his development. It is impossible to be 
 sure that he is being properly trained and developed unless 
 that training and development are in harmony with the whole 
 society of which he is a part ; and it would seem certainly 
 safer to leave the society, as a whole, to determine what that 
 harmony dictates than to attempt to anticipate its judgment 
 by private experiment. The same consideration may be put 
 in another form, by observing that it is in the nature of the 
 case impossible that any system of purely social culture should 
 recognize a fixed and definite standard of individual excel- 
 lence. It is impossible, for the simple reason that the society 
 is, by the hypothesis, engaged in working out this standard. 
 The more true such a system is to its principle the more does 
 the famous description of the Baconian method apply to it. 
 It is a system ' which never rests ; its law is progress. A 
 point which yesterday was invisible is its goal to-day, and 
 will be its starting post to-morrow.' Evolution, by its very 
 nature, is evolution towards an unknown goal ; and to attempt 
 to fix that goal is to assume a prophetic vision. Various 
 methods may, indeed, be laid down for determining the true 
 path of progress — that of utility, for instance, or that of 
 happiness ; but they are only methods for determining the 
 
NOTE 4. 239 
 
 immediate direction of the path we are pursuing, and they 
 cannot tell us whither it will ultimately lead. But it follows 
 that if these systems of sceptical culture offer no absolute 
 standard of individual excellence, it must be impracticable, or 
 at least inconsistent, to attempt the immediate elevation of 
 individuals to a high standard by individual influences. It 
 would not even seem safe to inculcate on a man that he should 
 aim at the standard actually recognized at a given time by 
 the society to which he belongs ; for, on the hypothesis, a 
 deviation on his part might be a first step in a better direc- 
 tion, and the question whether it were or were not could only 
 be decided by the experience of the society. In a word, 
 conceive men, if possible, deprived of any guide to their 
 actions but such as their nature supplies, and in theory, the 
 whole of morals is, by virtue of the hypothesis, reduced to 
 a state of flux ; and individuals, instead of being moulded 
 in accordance with a definite standard, must be left to be 
 fashioned in accordance with the forces operating upon them 
 from moment to moment. 
 
 Accordingly, the great philosopher who stemmed the tide 
 of a similar moral flux in ancient Greece sought for visions of 
 divine ideals as the only solid ground on which he could plant 
 his feet. He felt after them, if haply he might find them ; and 
 they proved in many instances to be not very far from him. 
 But the full revelation of that after which Plato groped is the 
 cardinal truth of the Christian faith. In the person of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ we recognize the ideal perfection of man — 
 a perfection not less absolute and eternal than that divine 
 nature which is indissolubly united with it. Here is a fixed 
 and unalterable standard to the test of which every individual 
 through all future ages may bring his conscience and his 
 heart, and which may be applied to him, nor merely through 
 the influence of Christian social forces, but immediately 
 and personally. It should be observed that such a revela- 
 tion furnishes the only conceivable standard for personal 
 beings. If there be a standard at all for different things 
 of the same kind, it must be something of the same kind 
 
240 NOTE 4. 
 
 as the things themselves. By rules and laws we may, in- 
 deed, approximate indefinitely to the description of a perfect 
 standard, but the standard itself must be of the same nature 
 as that of which it is to be the test. The only perfect 
 standard of a horse would be a perfect horse. Perhaps in no 
 living organism but man is there such a standard. If there 
 be no fixity in species there certainly is none. But at all 
 events the only conceivable standard for a person is a person, 
 and the only possible standard for a man must be a man. If such 
 a man does not exist, or is not known, there is no fixed moral 
 standard for the human race. There may be certain rules 
 and laws, more or less fixed ; but there can be no permanent 
 ideal at which every one may aim. Moreover such a standard 
 though a fixed, is far from being a rigid one ; for the character, 
 revealed by the acts and words of a person, is by no means 
 limited to circumstances similar to those within which such 
 acts and words operated. It is discerned behind them, in 
 infinite elasticity of application, and its impalpable spiritual 
 influence can impress itself upon every moral nature. There 
 is no influence which more steadily grows in delicacy and 
 sureness of touch than that of sympathy with a person ; and 
 even if we had to rely upon the purely natural effect of the 
 revelation of the Lord Jesus Christy that revelation would 
 mould into more and more sympathy with itself all characters 
 which, with due reverence and affection, submitted themselves 
 to its influence. But we have not to rely upon merely natural 
 influences ; and in order to do justice to our Faith, even in 
 this single point of contrast between it and sceptical systems, 
 it becomes necessary once more to pass for a moment into the 
 shrine of the deeper verities of our creed. Mr. Mill has 
 acknowledged the supreme excellence of this Divine Ideal, 
 and has said that it would be no unsatisfactory guide for a 
 man's life to endeavour always so to act that Christ might be 
 supposed to approve his actions. What, then, should be the 
 influence of such an ideal upon one who believes that he has 
 to act, not merely so that Christ would approve his actions, if 
 He saw them, but that he is living now in the presence of 
 
NOTE 4. 241 
 
 Christ, that he will hereafter stand face to face with Him, and 
 that upon his direct personal relation towards that Person 
 the whole of his destiny depends? Professor Tyndall, in no 
 friendly spirit to our creed, said the other day that — ' Facts 
 rather than dogmas have heen the ministers of the power that 
 has moulded us — hunger and thirst, heat and cold, pleasure 
 and pain, sympathy, shame, pride, love, hate, terror, awe — 
 such were the forces ' which wove the web of man's physical, 
 intellectual, and moral nature. It is precisely such forces as 
 these that the direct relation of the human soul to one who is 
 perfect man and perfect God is fitted to evoke^ and to evoke 
 in a strength compared with which all other forms of the 
 same forces are insignificant. The Christian dogmas, which 
 are often treated as something abstract and apart from life, 
 had their origin, and have now their essential importance, in 
 the fact that they are the necessary conditions of an intelligent 
 faith in this permanent relation of a personal soul with the 
 person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their value consists in the 
 fact that they alone enable us rationally to believe that in 
 Him, perfect God and perfect Man, we possess the eternal 
 Lord and Master and Ideal of men, whom it is possible for 
 reasonable human beings to love and to follow, ' with all the 
 heart, with all the soul, with all the mind, and with all the 
 strength.' 
 
 Such, then, in a few essential points, appear to be some of 
 the relative bearings of Christian faith and the moral culture 
 contemplated by adherents of the evolution hypothesis. They 
 may be summed up by saying that Christian faith, even when 
 regarded without reference to some of its supernatural and 
 most characteristic powers, contains within itself all the good 
 influences which sceptical culture offers ; but that it supplies 
 a cardinal necessity in which they are deficient. It recognizes 
 in the highest degree the importance of social influences. It 
 believes that only by keeping the unity of the Spirit in the 
 bond of peace, only by the union of the various gifts bestowed 
 upon various men, can we 'all come to a perfect man, to the 
 measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.' But it also 
 
242 NOTES 5, 6. 
 
 believes, and the history of the Church abundantly confirms 
 the belief, that by the direct personal influence of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ individuals can be directly and immediately 
 endowed with a new spiritual life, and can thus be perpetually 
 contributing new spiritual forces to the social action of 
 Christians upon each other. In a word, the Church provides 
 that supreme ideal which no other religion and no other 
 philosophy has been able to furnish ; she brings individual 
 souls into union with it ; and she is thus perpetually re- 
 generating the primary and constituent forces of human life. 
 — Vrom a jtaper read hy the author at the Church Congress, 
 Croydon, in 1877. 
 
 NOTE 5, p. 68. 
 
 See the author's Boyle Lectures on Christianity and Morality ; 
 Lect. VIII., First Course, pp. 163-164. Fourth Edition. 
 
 NOTE 6, p. 70. 
 
 Professor Clifford's Essay on The Ethics of Belief, republished 
 in his Lectures and Essays, vol. ii. p. 177, expresses very effec- 
 tively a tone of thought which is peculiarly characteristic of 
 an influential school of scientific scepticism. It is distinguished, 
 indeed, from the extravagant Paper which follows it, on the 
 Ethics of Religion, by containing little which directly impugns 
 the faith of Christians, though there are a good many oblique 
 insinuations against it ; and as will appear in the sequel, I 
 venture to think that the tests of belief the article lays down 
 are, on the whole, strongly confirmatory of the validity of 
 Christian evidences, as generally received. 
 
 The following observations on this Essay were drawn up by 
 the author at the time of its publication, and were read at the 
 Victoria Institute. Their chief purpose is to call attention to an 
 essential difference in principle between the spirit of Christian 
 thought and the disposition of mind which the article in 
 
NOTE 6. 243 
 
 questiou represents. The difference is frequently disguised, 
 or reluctantly recognised, on both sides ; and it is the more 
 desirable it should be distinctly acknowledged, and that the 
 practical issue it involves should be fairly faced. 
 
 To state this difference concisely, it is whether in matters 
 of religion and morals we are to build upon grounds of Faith 
 or upon grounds of Science. In stating the issue in this 
 form, it is not, of course, implied for a moment that there 
 can be any conflict between the legitimate and ultimate results 
 of the two principles. Their essential harmony is, and has 
 always been, a primary axiom with the greatest Christian 
 teachers, and to avow belief in it ought to be a superfluous 
 precaution. The spirit of the following observations would 
 again be wholly misunderstood if they were supposed to be 
 prompted by any lack of sympathy with Science. But the 
 best things, as a rule, have their special provinces and spheres 
 of action, and it by no means follows, because the scientific 
 spirit is admirable in itself, that it ought to be allowed to 
 determine our religious thought and our moral conduct. 
 Such, however, is the tacit assumption, not merely of Pro- 
 fessor Clifford's article, but of a large proportion of modern 
 argument on this subject, alike on the part of the advo- 
 cates as on that of the impugners of the Christian Faith. 
 Christianity seems too frequently regarded as a sort of 
 scientific system, composed of a number of propositions on 
 very mysterious subjects ; and the question assumed to be 
 at issue is the possibility or impossibility of verifying such 
 propositions. Now, there may be some truth in this as- 
 sumption with respect to the primary verities of religion, 
 though the general reception even of these is probably to a 
 great extent dependent on the testimony borne to them by 
 those who exert most authority over men's consciences, rather 
 than on the direct arguments in their favour. It is obvious 
 also that there can be no absolute division between the two 
 spheres in question. The scientific man will, in practice, often 
 act on Belief, while the religious man will check the dictates 
 of his faith by the aid of Reason and Science. But, never- 
 
 K 3 
 
244 NOTE 6. 
 
 theless, there is this broad distinction to be drawn — that the 
 object in moral matters is to act, not only to act rightly, but 
 to act promptly, and to act earnestly, while the object in 
 matters of Science is to know, and to know accurately, and 
 for that purpose to reserve a decision for as long a time as may 
 be necessary. The consequence is that for the purposes of the 
 former province the habit to be acquired is that of forming a 
 rapid and positive judgment upon mere probabilities — those 
 being, by the nature of the case, the only materials for judg- 
 ment accessible ; and the men who have the greatest weight 
 with their fellows in practical life, and who become their 
 natural leaders, are those who form such judgments the most 
 boldly, and follow them with the least hesitation. But in the 
 province of Science the habit to be acquired is that of not 
 forming decided judgments upon mere probabilities; but, on 
 the contrary, of suspecting all appearances, and of demanding 
 the most rigid demonstration before laying down a scientific 
 truth as a sure basis for action. Our whole attitude towards 
 religious and moral controversies must, it would seem, depend 
 on our recognizing at the outset the existence, as a matter of 
 fact, of these distinct provinces of human life, together with 
 the distinctness of the habits they respectively require, and 
 determining to which of the two such controversies belong. 
 According as we relegate them to one or the other, we shall 
 approach them with different mental and moral dispositions, 
 and the 'Ethics' we apply to them will proportionately vary. 
 
 Now, in the article in question, this distinction has been 
 so much overlooked that the special meaning of the word 
 'belief has been entirely left out of sight. It is a word of 
 which the employment is somewhat vague in popular usage, 
 but which will be generally recognized as possessing a fairly 
 definite meaning for the purposes of such a discussion as the 
 present. It is, at all events, very surprising to find that the 
 distinction is not observed between belief and opinion — 
 scarcely even between belief and knowledge. ' Belief,' for 
 instance, ' that sacred faculty,' is described as being ' rightly 
 used on truths which have been established by long experience 
 
NOTE 6. 245 
 
 and waiting toil, and which have stood in the fierce light of 
 free and fearless questioning.' But what occasion is there 
 for the exercise of this sacred faculty on truths of this kind ? 
 They are simple matters of knowledge, if knowledge can be 
 predicated of any mental condition. It would be incorrect to 
 speak of believing the law of gravitation ; we have a scientific 
 knowledge of it. Belief is properly applied only to truths 
 which are neither evident of themselves, like mathematical 
 axiomSj nor scientifically established, like the law of gravita- 
 tion, but which are simply probable. Nor does it in strictness 
 apply to all of these. Where the probability arises from argu- 
 ment and from the nature of the case, our assent is not belief, 
 but opinion. Faith or belief properly arises when our ground 
 for accepting a statement is the testimony given in its favour. 
 In the excellent definition of Bishop Pearson, ' Belief is an 
 assent to that which is credible, as credible' — not, that is, 
 so far as it is probable, still less so far as it is demonstrable, 
 but simply so far as it is supported by the evidence of 
 credible witnesses. If we admit the testimony of Conscience 
 as that of a kind of independent authority, bearing its witness 
 within each individual soul, we may bring under this definition 
 those primary religious and moral truths, to which, as Kant 
 observed, our assent has the character of faith rather than of 
 opinion. We can hardly expect a very accurate discussion of 
 the Ethics of Belief when belief is thus confounded with 
 another mental operation; and it is similarly impracticable 
 to form a just estimate of the claims of the Christian Faith 
 when it is treated not as that which is credible, but as that 
 which is knowable. 
 
 Accordingly it may be described as the main doctrine of 
 the article under discussion that the principles of scientific in- 
 quiry ought to be predominant not merely within the sphere 
 of knowledge, but within the whole sphere covered by this 
 vague extension of the word Belief. It commences by in- 
 sisting on the duty of inquiry, and it treats this duty as 
 always and everywhere incumbent upon us. ' No simplicity of 
 mind, no obscurity of station, can escape the universal duty of 
 
246 NOTE 6. 
 
 questioning all that we believe.' Now this may be a very good 
 rule within the domain of science, and may be a very proper 
 attitude of mind for a scientific man ; though it may be 
 surmised with some confidence that Professor Clifford would 
 not listen with much patience to any of those ingenious 
 persons who exercise this universal duty by questioning the 
 roundness of the earth, or the Newtonian system, or the 
 impossibility of squaring the circle. But it may be safely 
 said that, as applied to the practical business of life, such 
 a principle is not only impracticable, but morally wrong. 
 The daily course of life and the organization of society are 
 made up of relations between man and man. Upon what 
 are those relations founded? They are based, as a matter 
 of fact, upon a general habit of mutual trust and faith. The 
 child's first necessity is to believe what is told it, and to 
 believe this in respect to matters which it has no power 
 whatever of investigating for itself. Its instinct, the first 
 dictate of its nature, is to believe everything, to receive and 
 to assimilate all that it hears and reads. If it be replied 
 that it has sufficient evidence upon which to rest this habit 
 in its experience of its father's and mother's trustworthiness, 
 I would ask what parents would not be distressed to suppose 
 that a child's confidence was based upon a mere calculating 
 estimate of this kind? The essence of the filial relation in- 
 volves a moral confidence antecedent to experience, and capable, 
 in fact, of sustaining severe apparent contradictions to that 
 experience. 
 
 The case, however, of trust between adults is perhaps a 
 still stronger instance of this principle. Life would be imprac- 
 ticable unless it were the primary rule to believe what is told 
 us. There is not a single relation in adult life in which we 
 are not compelled to depend upon the word of another — of a 
 husband, a wife, a friend, an agent. We believe certain things 
 respecting them — in their honour, their chastity, their affec- 
 tion, their faithfulness. To what kind of condition would life 
 be reduced if we were to apply to these matters ' the universal 
 duty of questioning all that we believe ? ' In some, at all 
 
NOTE 6. 247 
 
 events, of these relations, it may be observed, it is in the 
 nature of the ease impossible that we should have ' sufficient 
 evidence ' for our belief. It is an unquestionable fact that 
 many a man who has been trusted, and who has for years 
 borne an unexceptionable characterj has proved faithless ; and 
 it is quite impossible I can be sure upon grounds of evidence 
 respecting any particular man that he is incapable of this 
 baseness. But the first condition of a genuine and honour- 
 able friendship is to believe this, to refuse to entertain a doubt 
 of it, and, if need be, to uphold a friend's honour until he 
 is absolutely proved dishonourable. With respect to trust 
 exercised in commercial relations, it might perhaps be said 
 that it is a mere application of the principle of probabilities. 
 As a matter of experience, if customers are trusted, the ma- 
 jority of them will fulfil their engagements. It may be doubted 
 whether tradesmen really do act in practice on this mere cal- 
 culation of probabilities ; but at all events the principle does 
 not apply to the other relations of life just referred to. It 
 would be an insult to a friend to say that you trusted and 
 loved him because you thought it more probable he was true 
 than that he was false. He expects from you, as the primary 
 condition of true friendship, that you believe firmly con- 
 cerning him that of which you cannot possibly have certain 
 evidence. 
 
 This habit of mutual faith is, in fact, the necessary cor- 
 relative of the primary duty of men. That duty is the observa- 
 tion of the Third Commandment — to speak the truth. But if 
 it is the duty of my neighbour to speak the truth, it is equally 
 my duty to believe that he does speak it. I have no right to 
 suspect him of violating this obligation ; and to do so is, in 
 practice, to suggest the idea of falsehood to him, and to sow 
 the seeds of it. A corrupt society is above all things marked 
 by two characteristics — ' a universal ' habit ' of questioning ' 
 all that is said, and an equally universal habit of saying what 
 is not true. On the contrary, in a healthy society, like that 
 of England, habits of trust and of truth mutually support 
 each other ; and it has now become, for instance, a principle 
 
248 NOTE 6. 
 
 of education that the best way to cultivate truthfulness in boys 
 is uniformly to assume that they are speaking the truth, and 
 always to give them the benefit of a doubt, even when appear- 
 ances are against them. In place, therefore, of Professor 
 Clifford's assertion that ' the credulous man is father to the 
 liar and the cheat ; he lives in the bosom of this his family, 
 and it is no marvel if he should become even as they are,' we 
 should be much nearer the experience of practical life if we 
 alleged this of the suspicious man. At all events, it may be 
 safely said that the trustful man is father to the truth-speaking 
 and the honest man ; he lives in the bosom of this his family, 
 and it is natural he should become even as they are. ' With 
 what measure ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you 
 again ; ' and no more forcible appeal can be made to a man's 
 conscience than by placing trust in him. 
 
 Accordingly this principle, applied in its highest degree, 
 has been the most powerful instrument of moral elevation 
 and the indispensable means of all great achievements. In 
 proportion as men have become as little children in this 
 respect have they entered into the kingdoms both of heaven 
 and of earth. It is an essential element in the power of 
 great men, of those saints or men of genius who lift their 
 race to a higher level, that they command the allegiance 
 of numbers who are quite incompetent to judge whether 
 there is sufficient evidence for the principles they assert. 
 They throw the spell of personal influence over their fol- 
 lowers, and induce them to act, with all the earnestness 
 of intense belief, upon assumptions which it is impossible 
 for them to verify. I will not insist on the well-worn 
 example of Columbus and his followers, though it would be 
 a somewhat harsh judgment to condemn them for having 
 acted upon insufficient evidence in making the most momen- 
 tous of geographical discoveries. But let us take the case, 
 adduced by Professor Cliffijrd, of the founders of those great 
 religions, which, with whatever errors and corruptions they 
 have been associated, have still been, beyond question, 
 advances in the elevation of the human race. Let us con- 
 
NOTE 6. 249 
 
 sider their influence, moreover, within the sphere in which it 
 is admitted to have been legitimate — that of morality and of 
 human experience. Has the chief instrument of these ad- 
 vances been, as a matter of fact, the exercise of the duty of 
 inquiry by the prophet's followers? It is very well, and, 
 doubtless, very necessary, to lay down rules after the event 
 as to the limits within which a prophet's authority may be 
 accepted. But it is not by means of any such rules that the 
 religion is established and the new morality enforced. It is 
 by faith ; by personal submission to the personal influence of 
 the prophet, and by childlike obedience to him. 
 
 In matters of morality, in fact, this must always be the 
 case, for moral habits can never to those who first adopt them 
 be matters of experiment. If they are to be real, they must 
 be adopted ' with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the 
 mind, and with all the strength.' This, at all events, is the 
 ideal to be aimed at ; it expresses the spirit in which the 
 most characteristic points of Christian morality were ac- 
 cepted, and it is utterly inconsistent with a doubting habit 
 of mind. Professor Cliiford admits that ' there are many 
 cases in which it is our duty to act upon probabilities, 
 although the evidence is such as not to justify present belief; 
 because it is precisely by such action, and by observation 
 of its fruitSj that evidence is got which may justify future 
 belief. So that we have no reason to fear lest a habit of 
 conscientious inquiry should paralyze the actions of our daily 
 life.' But if the observations just ofifered are valid, we have 
 great reason to fear such a result from a habit of sub- 
 ordinating the duty of faith to the duty of inquiry. To 
 repeat a question I have asked elsewhere*, what would be 
 now the position of our race if the first Christians had con- 
 fined themselves to tentative experiments on the relative 
 advantages of monogamy and polygamy, instead of adopting 
 the former in faith, in reliance on the testiipaony of the ^: 
 Apostles, and resolutely turning their backs upon the in- 
 numerable influences to the contrary which the heathen 
 « The Boyle Lectures for 1875. I. The Province of Faith. 
 
250 NOTE 6. 
 
 society of the day brought to bear upon them ? In a word, 
 if we are to be guided by the experience of mankind, Faith 
 and not Science must determine the practical order of life. 
 The Just, according to Professor Clifford, shall live by 
 Doubt. But the lesson alike of ordinary life and of the 
 Scriptures is that the Just shall live by Faith. 
 
 Whereas, therefore, the first principle laid down in the 
 article under discussion as belonging to the Ethics of Belief 
 is 'the duty of inquiry,' it would be more true to nature 
 to substitute 'the duty of faith.' Distinguishing Belief 
 both from Opinion and from Knowledge, and restricting it, 
 substantially, to the field of testimony, it may be laid down 
 as the first principle of the subject that all testimony has a 
 ^rimd facie claim to be believed, and that the onus probandi 
 always lies upon those who question it. Such, perhaps, is in 
 great measure the force of that appeal to authority in matters 
 of opinion which has lately been discussed by two eminent 
 writers. It seems too narrow an interpretation to say, as 
 Sir James Stephen does, that ' authority is only another 
 name for the evidence of experts.' In practice it is much 
 more than this; the consentient belief of a large mass of 
 mankind, even though the experts among them be com- 
 paratively few, having a distinct influence of its own. How 
 far this influence may amount, as Mr. Gladstone has been 
 understood to imply, to substantial evidence in favour of an 
 impugned doctrine, would seem mainly to depend upon the 
 character of the particular doctrine in question. The testimony 
 of Christians to the fact that in their personal experience they 
 have found the promises of the Gospel fulfilled must carry, 
 for instance, and does carry, the greatest possible weight ; 
 but it can only afford indirect support to the truths beyond 
 their experience which are alleged in the Creeds. It cannot, 
 however, reasonably be denied that such general testimony 
 constitutes a prima facie claim in favour of a doctrine, and 
 casts the burden of proof on those who question it. Our 
 instinct — an instinct no less just than natural — is to believe 
 what comes to us with such testimony, and from this instinct 
 we must start. 
 
NOTE 6. 251 
 
 But of course Faith, like all other instincts of nature, 
 requires to be checked by the exercise of reason. It is like an 
 appetite, a hunger or a thirst, which will insist on asserting 
 itself, but which must nevertheless be controlled. To say, 
 indeed, that a man who has no time to make himself a 
 competent judge of disputable questions ' should have no 
 time to believe,' is like saying that a man who has no time 
 to study medicine should have no time to eat. A man must 
 believe, whether he will or no. He must act every day of 
 his life on the basis of certain moral and political — nay, 
 religious assumptions, of which few men can be competent 
 judges, and all that can be asked of him is that he should 
 give as thorough a consideration as his circumstances will 
 allow to objections which are raised respecting them. It is 
 perfectly easy, indeed, to imagine circumstances in which it is 
 his clear duty to commit that 'sin against mankind,' as 
 Professor Clifford designates it, of ' keeping down and push- 
 ing away doubts which may arise in his mind.' A naval 
 officer who has once accepted a commission, and is in charge 
 of a man-of-war, has no business to let himself be distracted 
 in the enforcement of discipline by doubts respecting the 
 justice of the Mutiny Act. When, moreover, a man has once 
 fairly weighed the existing evidence for and against a certain 
 truth, it is simply a mark of a weak and vacillating mind to 
 be easily induced to re-open the inquiry. When, after full 
 deliberation, we have taken one of two divergent roads, it is 
 childish to be harking back at every difficulty and trying 
 another track. Life was not made for men of science, but 
 for men of action ; and no man of action is good for anything 
 if he cannot sometimes form a belief on insufficient evidence, 
 and take a leap in the dark. 
 
 Nothing, however, is more certain than that it is the in- 
 dispensable condition of progress to regulate by reason the 
 action of even the most healthy instincts. Let the presump- 
 tion only be established in favour of faith, as against scepti- 
 cism, and there is nothing which is more desirable in the 
 interests of a true faith than that the conditions under which 
 
252 NOTE 6. 
 
 it is accepted should be rigidly scrutinized. We may hope in 
 this way to attain to some scientific as well as moral test for 
 distinguishing true from false religious beliefs. Moreover, 
 to every man who is capable of reasoning, the moment may 
 come when he is confronted with some objection which im- 
 poses on him the duty of pausing in his course, and maturely 
 judging of his position ; while in proportion as opportunities 
 allow him, he will be thankful to investigate anew the 
 grounds of his faith, and to qualify himself to explain its 
 reasonableness to inquirers or objectors. Accordingly, we 
 may proceed with pleasure to inquire, with Professor Clifford, 
 into the criteria to be adopted. In this part of his article 
 he restricts himself with more accuracy to the proper mean- 
 ing of belief, and simply investigates the conditions under 
 which it is lawful to believe on the testimony of others. 
 There appears to me, as I said at the outset, no reason to 
 take material exception to the principles he here lays down. 
 They are substantially those of Bishop Pearson — namely, that 
 the credibility of testimony depends upon two conditions — 
 first, the integrity, and secondly the ability of the witness. 
 It is not enough to have a firm conviction of his honesty ; we 
 must also have ground for supposing that he has had the 
 means of knowing the subject respecting which he testifies. 
 
 So far there is no difficulty. But our critic does not 
 stop here. There can be no ground, we are told, for sup- 
 posing that a man knows that which we, without ceasing to 
 be men, could not be supposed to verify. This is, perhaps, 
 a somewhat extreme and inconvenient mode of expression ; 
 but it seems reasonable to admit that the testimony of a 
 man with no other than human powers cannot be accepted 
 in evidence of a fact beyond all natural capacity of human 
 experience. It is clear, for instance, to take one cardinal 
 point of our faith, that no mere human testimony can be 
 adequate evidence, or any evidence at all, in support of the 
 assurance that the Lord Jesus Christ will hereafter judge all 
 men. But it may here be pointed out that this observation 
 does but illustrate the coherence of Christian evidence. It 
 
NOTE 6. 253 
 
 is not upon mere human testimony that the assurance just 
 mentioned is based. At this point the argument from 
 miracles comes in, and by approaching it in this way its 
 legitimate force may perhaps be more easily stated with 
 accuracy. It seems overstating the case to say, as has been 
 sometimes done, that the miracle is the proof of the doctrine. 
 But this must at least be said, that it proves the person 
 who propounds the doctrine to possess powers and to enjoy 
 privileges which are beyond the ordinary range of humanity, 
 and which transcend our measurement. In other words, we 
 cease to be competent judges of such a witness's ability. He 
 may, for aught we can judge, know things which are beyond 
 human experience, just as he can do things which are beyond 
 human powers. We are, therefore, thrown back upon the 
 sole test of his integrity. Shall we, or shall we not, believe 
 his testimony on his own unverified and unverifiable assur- 
 ance ? 
 
 To this question I will return shortly ; but I would 
 interpose one observation on a further principle laid down by 
 Mr. Clifford, which might at first be supposed to render any 
 belief in a miracle inadmissible. To believe a miracle is to 
 believe something entirely beyond our experience ; and on 
 what ground, it is asked, may we go beyond our experience 
 in forming our beliefs? The answer given is that we may 
 do so when that which we believe is like that which we 
 know, or, in other words, when it assumes a uniformity in 
 Nature. I am not concerned to inquire whether this rule be 
 adequate or admissible without qualification. It is sufficient 
 to observe that whatever may be its validity, Christianity 
 complies with it by virtue of that analogy of Religion, 
 natural and revealed, to the constitution and course of 
 Nature, which is the subject of Bishop Butler's great work. 
 Butler, following Origen, has met by anticipation any argu- 
 ment against supernatural revelation derived from the neces- 
 sary unity and harmony — for ' uniformity ' is a very ques- 
 tionable word — of all divine operations. If, indeed, the 
 word Nature be restricted to physical Nature, the harmony 
 
254 NOTE 6. 
 
 of miracles with its constitution and course is easily con- 
 tested. But such a limitation simply begs the question, 
 which is whether the moral and spiritual forces of human 
 nature do not necessitate, under certain circumstances, a 
 supersession of mere physical consequences. It is a matter 
 of evidence whether instances of such supersession have 
 occurred, and in considering the value of this evidence we 
 are brought back to the question from which we started on 
 this short digression. 
 
 That question is whether we can accept the testimony 
 of persons whose competence as witnesses transcends our 
 means of judgment on the sole assurance of their word. If 
 the previous arguments of this paper have been valid, they 
 will at least have advanced us one important step in consider- 
 ing this question. They will have shown that we must 
 approach it from the moral rather than from the scientific 
 point of view, and that we must consider it in relation to 
 action, and not to speculation. The primary question is not, 
 what are we to think ? but what are we to do ? These men 
 — St. Paul, St. John, St. Peter — for reverential reasons I 
 abstain from directly introducing into this discussion the 
 Name which should be the most decisive of all — invite us to 
 accept their guidance in life and their comfort in death, and 
 to trust ourselves, body and soul, to the belief of their 
 assurances. The function of the Christian Church and of 
 its ministry is to bring that invitation home to every man's 
 conscience, and as long as the Church performs its duty the 
 appeal cannot be evaded. Shall we accept it, or shall we go 
 elsewhere, to some modern guide, who will pronounce upon 
 our duties and our destinies by the light of scientific forecast 
 and legal evidence? The answer to that question can only 
 be given individually, and its nature will depend, in the first 
 instance, partly on the degree in which we retain that child- 
 like habit of faith, of mutual trust between person and person, 
 which I have endeavoured to vindicate as our normal and 
 healthy disposition ; and partly on the force with which the 
 moral and spiritual power of such Saints lays hold of our 
 
NOTE 6. 255 
 
 souls. There are those to whom that force is overwhelming, 
 and to whom it appears idle to compare it with the moral 
 force of other religious leaders. It touches at once the 
 strongest and the tenderest fibres of the heart. It controls 
 the fiercest passions and supports the gentlest. It is as- 
 sociated, in a manner which no similar influence has ap- 
 proached, with whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things 
 are honest, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 
 are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report. To those 
 who are sufficiently sensible of this intense moral illumina- 
 tion, the supposition that it is associated with false testimony 
 on matters of supreme moment is inconceivable. The case 
 completely fulfils Hume's condition that, to establish a 
 miracle, ' the testimony be of such a kind that its falsehood 
 would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavours 
 to establish.' It seems idle to draw ' psychological parallels,' 
 as has recently been attempted, between a moral giant like 
 St. Paul and a worthy gentleman like Sir Matthew Hale, 
 and still worse to compare the dark and confused morality of 
 other Eastern religions with the grace and truth which came 
 by Jesus Christ. His Apostles appeal to my whole being, to 
 every moral sense of which I am conscious, to my weakness 
 and my strength, my sin and my repentance, my intellect 
 and my heart, and evoke towards themselves, and still more 
 to One beyond themselves, that complete allegiance of the 
 whole man which is designated Faith ''. I do not pretend to 
 
 ■i There could hardly be a better illustration of the claim of the Apostles in 
 ibis respect than is afforded by the two following parables, which I take the 
 liberty of extracting from Sir James Stephen's article on Authority in the 
 April number of the Nineteenth Century, 1877. He appears to suggest their 
 application to the claims of modem religious authorities. Whether or not 
 those authorities would hare occasion to shrink from such a test, there is 
 nothing they would more desire than that it should be applied to the Apostles. 
 Perhaps the strongest claim of Christ and His Apostles is that • they have 
 proved themselves to be our superiors by appealing to the &culties ' — above all 
 the moral Acuities — ' which we have in common ' : — 
 
 A blind man and a seeing man were once discussing the existence of sight. 
 The seeing man told the blind man that he had a faculty by which he could 
 perceive innumerable things which he could neither hear, touch, smell, nor 
 taste, and which were at a great distance from him. The blind man chal- 
 
256 NOTE 6. 
 
 have a scientific knowledge of divine tilings, or to rest ray 
 convictions upon a scientific demonstration ; but I can venture 
 to say that ' I know in Whom I have believed.' Such a 
 belief will be supported by collateral evidence, acquiring from 
 age to age a cumulative and converging force ; but its 
 essential virtue will in all ages be derived from the vital 
 sources of personal love and trust. 
 
 Such, I would suggest, are in substance the Ethics of 
 Belief, as contra-distinguished from the Ethics of Science. 
 Their essential peculiarity is that they are concerned in the 
 first instance with our relation to certain persons, rather than 
 to certain truths. They thus bring into play those obligations 
 of trust and loyalty on which all social life is founded, and 
 they render our religious convictions a matter of personal 
 allegiance instead of mere opinion. The first question a 
 Christian is asked is not whether he believes certain truths, 
 but whether he believes in certain Persons ; and he is a 
 member of a perpetual society whose fundamental law is 
 allegiance to its Head. The vitality of our religion and its 
 influence for good have always been in proportion to the 
 distinctness with which this characteristic element in it has 
 been realized. In the early ages of Christianity, as Dr. 
 
 lenged the seein man to prove his assertions. ' That,' said the seeing man, 
 ' is easily done. Hold me by the hand. You perceive that I am standing 
 by you. I aifirm that if you will walk fifty steps along the side of this wall, 
 which you can touch with your hand, so as to be sure that you are moving 
 straight on, you wiU find such and such objects, which I specifically describe, 
 and as to the e.\istence of which you can satisfy yourself by your own 
 fingers.' 
 
 The blind man readily admitted that the seeing man had proved his 
 assertion. 
 
 Of two men with eyes, A. and B., A. declared that he could see what went 
 on in the sun, moon, and fixed stars, and that when he said ' see ' he meant not 
 exactly common seeing, but a superior kind of seeing, very hard to describe to 
 any one who did not possess it, which he called ' intuing.' B. (who had a 
 good pair of eyes of his own of the common kind) challenged A. to read the 
 Times newspaper at a distance at which B. could not read it. A. failed to do 
 so. ' Why,' said B., ' should I believe that you can " intue " things in Sirius, 
 when you cannot read small print on the other .side of the room? If you 
 want me to believe that you possess faculties of which I am destitute, you 
 must prove yourself to be my superior by appealing to the faculties which we 
 have in common.* 
 
NOTE 6. 257 
 
 Newman has shown, this personal devotion was predominant 
 over all other influences, and constituted the supreme motive 
 power of the Gospel. The great achievement of the Reforma- 
 tion was to revivify it, and to substitute a personal faith, 
 involving' trust in a person and self-surrender to Him, for 
 mere habits of assent and formal obedience. The effect, 
 wherever the Reformed teaching took root, was to revive at 
 the same time the laoulty of faith between man and man, 
 and thus to reinvigorate society. Possibly a similar revival 
 is equally desirable at the present day in order to hold in 
 cheek the disintegrating forces now at work amongst us. 
 We cannot^ at all events, be too careful not to be driven from 
 this ground in upholding or in propagating our religions 
 belief. The question at issue in the first instance is not 
 whether we think certain opinions on theological questions 
 more tenable than others, but whether we believe certain men 
 more worthy to be followed and trusted than others. Could 
 their testimony be shown to be incompatible with truth 
 scientifically established, of course their authority would be 
 proportionally weakened, if not overthrown. But until this 
 has been done the faith we have once pledged to them 
 imposes on us obligations of trust and loyalty similar to 
 those involved in other personal relations, and we can no 
 more be always questioning their authority than we can be 
 always investigating the iaithftJness of a friend, a wife, or a 
 husband. We are willing to entertain such an inquiry upon 
 good cause shown ; but our whole presimiption is in favour 
 of faith and not in &vonr of doubt. Of the two errors, it is 
 safer in matters of practice, both for the individual and for 
 society, t-o err on the side of belief and trust than on the side 
 of doubt and hesitation. 
 
 Such considerations, it may be added, seem to have an 
 important bearing on the question now under discussion as 
 to the influence upon morality of a decline in religions 
 belief. As the Dean of St PauVs has observed, the question 
 cannot be properly discussed unless it is understood definitely 
 what belief and what morality are intended. But one thing 
 
258 NOTE 7. 
 
 is evident, that a decline in Christian belief involves a decline 
 in the personal influence exerted by our Lord and by His 
 Apostles. It is impossible that men who feel themselves 
 competent, like most sceptical authors, to criticize the state- 
 ments of St. John or St. Paul with as much freedom as those 
 of any other teachers should submit themselves to their 
 moral and spiritual influence as completely as Christians, 
 who accept such Saints as supreme authorities, and believe 
 them to have been in possession of truths far beyond our 
 natural ken. The great personages of the New Testament 
 must cease to be, in anything like the same degree as before, 
 the personal guides and leaders of our moral and spiritual 
 life. Whether morality in the abstract would lose in 
 authority may be a matter for argument. But it seems 
 scarcely questionable that Christian morality would in prac- 
 tice lose one of the most potent forces which sustain it. If 
 we would avert such a misfortune, we must adhere to the 
 old, and it is to be feared too much forgotten. Ethics of 
 Belief. 
 
 NOTE 7, p. 8i. 
 
 In illustration of this argument the author takes the liberty 
 of quoting the following admirable passage from the sixth 
 volume of the Sermons of M. Bersier, of Paris, a volume 
 which he cannot too earnestly recommend to the attention 
 of all who are seriously interested in this great controversy. 
 The subject of the discourse is Le Temoignage des Apotres : — 
 
 ' Arr^tons-nous devant ce mot de t^moins, pour mieux saisir 
 I'idee qu'il exprime, et pour en apprecier la portee. 
 
 ' Toute societe repose sur le . timoignage ; il n'est pas une 
 science, pas une entreprise collective qui puisse se fonder et 
 se soutenir sans la confiance accordee k la parole humaine. 
 Chose digne de remarque ! Tons les jours I'homme trompe 
 I'homme, et ma]gr6 cela I'homme ne pent se passer ni se 
 lasser de croire k I'homme. Voyez, par exemple, le monde 
 de I'industrie. A chaque heure des sommes gigantesques se 
 
NOTE 7. 259 
 
 risquent sur une simple signature, et meme sur quelques mots 
 echang^s. Voyez le monde de la science. . . . Le nombre des 
 affirmations que nous aeceptons sur I'autorite d'autrui est in- 
 finiment plus grand que nous ne le pensons tout d'abord. Ces 
 axiomes scientifiques que nous r^petons continuellement, et 
 qui forment le fond de toute education serieuse, combien y en 
 a-t-il dont nous puissions rendre un compte personnel et que 
 nous fussions capables de prouver d'une maniere rigoureuse 
 s'il prenait a quelqu'un la fantaisie de nous sommer de le 
 faire ? La foi d'autorit6 existe dans le camp de la libre pensee 
 comme ailleurs. Beaucoup de jeunes gens (et plut h Dieu 
 qu'il n'y en eAt que des jeunes) croient avoir tout dit quand 
 ils ont invoque la critique. lis disent " la critique a prononce" 
 avec le meme accent confiant et tranquille que d'autres em- 
 ploient en disant : " I'Eglise a decide." Ils croient faire aete 
 de jugement personnel au moment meme ou 'ils jurent in verba 
 magistri, sur la foi qu'ils accordent k leur maitre. C'est qu'on 
 ne changera pas la nature des choses ; or Dieu a voulu que, 
 nul ne devant vivre pour soi-meme, nul ne put se suffire a 
 soi-meme. 
 
 ' Si cette loi divine est vraie^ si elle est universelle, il faut 
 nous attendre k la retrouver aussi dans la manifestation de la 
 v6rite religieuse. Dieu aurait pu illuminer directement tout 
 homme; sans doute il I'a fait dans une certaine mesure, en 
 imprimant sur toute conscience les ineffagables caracteres de la 
 loi naturelle, il peut le faire encore en repandant dans une ame 
 la clarte d'une grdee surnaturelle, mais c'est 1^ I'exception ; 
 dans la r^gle, Dieu a voulu que la verity revelee parvint k 
 I'homme par le moyen de l^homme ; il lui a plu que I'Eglise 
 fut fondee sur un temoignage, il lui a plu qu'elle n'ecliappS,t 
 point aux conditions de toute soci^tl humaine, qu'elle fAt ex- 
 posee aux doutes^ aux discussions, aux attaques, aux luttes de 
 toute nature ; et, de m^me qu'il a permis que son Pils, pure et 
 parfaite expression de la divinite, put etre "■ en butte k la con- 
 tradiction" (Luc ii. 34), abandonne, livre aux mepris injurieux, 
 aux soufflets et aux cracbats des Scribes et de la populace, il a 
 permis que, dans son incarnation prolongee dans la langue et 
 
 s % 
 
260 NOTE 7. 
 
 dans I'histoire des hommes, la verite religieuse fut soumise k 
 toutes les chances exterieures, k toutes les fatalites apparentes, 
 a toutes les defaites temporairesj et qu'elle poursuivit ainsi k 
 travers les si^cles sa marche douloureuse, se relevant de toutes 
 ses chutes, survivant k toutes les d6faillances, k toutes les in- 
 fidelit^s de ses defenseurs, renaissant de la mort meme, pour 
 s'imposer a la conscience humaine, pour I'agiter, la tourmenter 
 et lui arracher le cri que les possedes adressaient autrefois au 
 Christ : " Qu'y a-t-il done entre toi et moi " ? 
 
 ' Mais en livrant ainsi en apparence la verite revelee k tous 
 les hasards de I'histoire^ Dieu a pris soin de la conserver pure, 
 inalteree, authentique, tellement qu'elle puisse etre la meme 
 dans tous les sifecles et s'offrir k tous ceux qui la cherchent 
 dans la sincerite de leur coeur. II ne se pouvait faire en effet 
 que la personne de Jesus, que sa parole, que son oeuvre, que 
 tout ee qui constitue le fond primordial et I'essence du chris- 
 tianisme pM etre livre aux conjectures et toujours remis en 
 question, et c'est k cela que le temoignage apostolique a 
 pourvu. Des hommes ont ete choisis qui ont suivi le Christ 
 depuis le jour ou le Prieurseur le leur designa sur le bord du 
 Jourdain, jusqu'au jour ou il quitta la terrej ces hommes ont 
 ete avec lui chaque jour et chaque heure pendant son minis- 
 tere ; Us I'ont vu sur les coUines, ou sur le bord des lacs de 
 la Galilee, sur les places publiques ou dans le temple de 
 Jerusalem, comme dans les jardins retires de Bethanie, dans 
 la eampagne de Cesaree ou dans le pays de Sidon ; ils I'ont 
 entendu haranguant les foules ou leur parlant k eux-mSmes 
 dans I'intimite de la chambre haute ; ils etaient la quand la 
 multitude lui eriait hosannah, et quand des cris de mort lui 
 annon9aient son proehain supplice; ils Tout contemple dans 
 la splendeur du mont de la transfiguration et dans I'horrible 
 agonie de Gethsemane ; ils I'ont vu subissant le baiser du 
 traitre et emmene par des brigands; I'un d'eux I'a suivi de 
 loin et I'a renie trois fois ; un autre a assiste a son suppliee ; 
 il a re9u de lui sa mere comme un legs sacre ; puis tous ils ont 
 iti les timoins de sa resurrection ; ils n'y voulaient pas croire, 
 et ils y ont cru. Ils I'ont vu, ils I'ont entendu converser avec 
 
NOTE 7. 261 
 
 eux ; ils ont recueilli de la bouche du ressuscit6 des paroles qui 
 ne s'inventent pas; Pierre efc Thomas ont echange avec lui 
 deux dialogues d'un caractere sublime ; Thomas a mis ses 
 mains dans ses plaies, et n'a voulu eroire qu'apres avoir vu. 
 Ils I'ont accompagne jusque sur la montagne des Oliviers ; de 
 ses levres ils ont regu I'ordre d'aller conquerir le monde, et sur 
 cet ordre ils sont partis. Comprenez-vous maintenant, mes 
 freres, le sens et la valeur de I'apostolat? Certes s'il y eut 
 jamais un siecle ou son role parut necessaire, c'est bien 
 celui-ci. A quoi ont tendu, en effet, k quoi tendent encore 
 tous les efforts de la critique contemporaine, si ce n'est h 
 releguer la figure du Christ dans la region des le'gendes, a la 
 placer au premier rang dans le cortege sublime des creations 
 qu'enfanta le genie des peuples, h en faire la plus pure et la 
 plus splendide des apparitions qui visiterent I'imagination des 
 hommes, pourvu qu'en retour nous concedions que cette vie ne 
 fut qu'une trame merveilleuse de paraboles sous lesquelles il 
 faut renoncer S, trouver le sol ferme et resistant de Fhistoire, 
 pourvu que les miracles du Christ ne soient plus que de 
 brillants symboles, sa resurrection et son ascension que les 
 mythes po^tiques de sa victoire morale, pourvu que I'Evangile 
 renonce £l prendre place au rang des faits et h, troubler avec 
 son caractere surnaturel les lois immuables de la reality? 
 Comprenez-vous ce que vaut pour nous le temoignage de ces 
 Galileens qui, devant ces assertions specieuses, se levent et 
 r^pondent : Ce Christ, nous I'avons vu, ces paroles divines, 
 elles ont frappe nos oreilles, ce visage, nous I'avons contempl^ 
 dans le rayonnement du Thabor et sous la sueur de sang du 
 jardin des Olives; ce mort, il est sorti du sdpulcre, et il a 
 march6 devant nous, et ce que nos yeux ont vu, ce que nos 
 oreilles ont entendu, ce que nos mains ont touche, voiU ce 
 que nous vous annon9ons. Mes freres, il faut choisir entre 
 la critique qui nous dit que I'^fivangile est le plus sublime des 
 reves, et I'apostolat qui nous dit qu'il est le plus vrai des faits. 
 Telle est bien la question, et je n'en sais pas de plus actuelle, 
 de plus saisissante : c'est I'existence meme du christianisme 
 dont il s'agit ici. 
 
262 NOTE 7. 
 
 III. 
 
 ' La necessite du temoignage apostolique nous apparait 
 maintenant avec evidence. Faisons un pas de plus, et de- 
 mandons-nous si ce temoignage est vraiment digne de foi. 
 C'est Ik, nous I'avons dit, le second point que nous avons k 
 traiter. 
 
 ' Je ne me placerai pas, pour le resoudre, sur le terrain de la 
 science ; ce n'est pas que je craigne le moins du monde de 
 voir le debat s'y engager : je crois, au contraire, qu'une 
 recherche scientifique s^rieuse portant sur ce point est tout 
 k notre avantage, et je redoute beaucoup plus, en ces matieres, 
 le parti pris si repandu aujourd'hui de trancher ces questions 
 d'une fa9on sommaire et superfieielle. Si je n'entre pas ici 
 dans un debat scientifique, c'est parce que I'Eglise n'est pas et 
 ne doit pas etre une ecole. D'ailleurs je suis certain que, 
 lorsqu'il s'agit d'appr^cier la valeur g6nerale d'un temoignage, 
 la science n'est pas necessaire et que le simple bon sens j suffit. 
 Cela est si vrai que toutes les legislations modernes I'ont re- 
 connu. Tandis que lorsqu'il s'agit d'appliquer la loi, elles 
 exigent des juges la connaissance precise et sp^ciale des textes, 
 lorsqu'il s'agit d'appr6cier des faits, elles ferment un jury 
 compose d'hommes de toute classe et de toute culture qui 
 laissent \k leurs etudes, leur comptoir, leur ferme, leur In- 
 dustrie, pour formuler un arret d'ou dependent I'honneur, la 
 liberte, la vie peut-etre d'un de leurs semblables. Plusieurs 
 de ceux qui m'ecoutent ont siege sans doute comme jures dans 
 des causes importantes ; d'autres y ont assiste comme spec- 
 tateurs ; tons y ont pris part de loin avec une curiosite 
 passionnee. Eh bien ! voici devant nous un tribunal ; a sa 
 barre voici les ap6tres. lis portent temoignage en faveur de 
 Jesus de Nazareth ; ils disent de lui ce que vous savez tous, 
 ils racontent eette histoire qui, lorsqu'elle a ete crue, a trans- 
 form^ le monde. Ces t6moins sont-ils dignes de foi ? Pour 
 nous en convaincre, voyons d'abord s'ils sont sincferes. Et 
 comme la sincerite ne suffit pas ici, comme elle peut ne pas 
 
NOTE r. 263 
 
 empecher les egarements de I'esprit, nous verrons ensuite ce 
 qu'il faut penser de leur intelligence. 
 
 ' Sur leur sincerite, le doute est difficile, et je cherche vaine- 
 ment ce qu'alleguerait ici un sceptique endurci. La simplicit6 
 de leur accent a quelque chose d'unique devant lequel tombe 
 toute prevention ; c'est evidemment sur leur t^moignage 
 qu'ont ete Merits les evangiles. Connaissez-vous dans la 
 langue des hommes des recits moins appretes, plus abso- 
 lument denues de toute recherche, de toute pretention h 
 Teffet? C'est le plus naif des livres tout en en etant le 
 plus sublime. S'il est de regie qu'un temoin est d'autant 
 plus digue de foi qu'il est moins habile, moins capable d'une 
 combinaison artificielle et d'un plan bien agence, quelle con- 
 fiance ne doivent pas inspirer ceux qui ont 6te les premiers 
 biographes de Jesus de Nazareth? Si Ton sUrprenait chez 
 eux la moindre habilete calculee, la defiance s'eveillerait 
 aussitot, mais il y a dans la candeur je ne sais quelle force 
 invincible qui deconcerte la critique et qui triomphe des 
 preventions les plus acharnees. On a ecrit de nos jours dans 
 rinteret de la defense du christianisme plusieurs Vies de Jesus, 
 redigees k un point de vue rigoureusement historique, oii I'on 
 s'est efibrce de faire disparaitre les contradictions apparentes 
 des evangiles et de montrer I'authenticite de tons les faits et 
 de tous les discours du Christ. J'admire ces travaux dont 
 quelques-uns sont des ceuvres eminentes, mais, I'avouerai-je, 
 I'impression que produit un plaidoyer, si habile, si ingenieux, 
 si convaineant qu'il soit, ne vaudra jamais, pour me persuader, 
 celle que je ressens devant I'absolue ingenuite des Evangiles ; 
 ce sont eux qui defendent leurs avocats plus que leurs avocats 
 ne les defendent; ce qu'ils ont d'inacheve, d'incomplet, de 
 defectueux meme, est ce qui me touche et me convainc le 
 plus de la verite de leur temoignage. A cette premiere 
 consideration dej^ si puissante vient s'ajouter un fait : c'est 
 ce qu'on peut appeler Theroique franchise des apotres. Y 
 avez-vous jamais reflechi ? En racontant la vie de leur Maitre, 
 les apotres ont raconte leur propre vie, ils ont redige leur 
 propre confession. Ici encore il suffit du simple bon sens 
 
264 NOTE 7. 
 
 pour en apprecier la nature. Notre siecle a ete celui des 
 memoires personnels et des autobiographies. Jamais le besoin 
 de se raconter soi-meme n'a ete plus repandu qu'aujourd'hui. 
 Des personnages sans importance dent les noms ont eu la 
 ceMbrite ^phemere du boulevard, des hommes qui avaient tout 
 interet h se faire oublier, ont redige leurs vies. Plutot que de 
 consentir au silence, ils ont decrit jusqu'a leurs egarements et 
 leurs chutes. Eh bien! on peut faire k ce propos une re- 
 marque. L'homme confesse naturellement ce qu'il a fait de 
 bonj il le confesse meme avec exefes ; parfois il consent k 
 avouer ses fautes, mais parmi ses fautes il sait choisir ; voyez 
 avec quel art inconscient il raeonte de preference les en- 
 trainements que la passion justifie, ou qu'elle poetise du moins 
 si elle ne les absout pas. Mais il y a deux choses qu'on ne dit 
 jamais k personne : ce sont les bevues ridicules de son intel- 
 ligence, et ce sont les cotes laches et honteux de sa vie. Or, 
 y avez-vous songe ? Ces traits sont pr6cisement ceux que les 
 ap6tres n'ont eu garde d'oublier en parlant d'eux-memes. lis 
 avouent que pendant trois ans, places k I'ecole de leur Maitre, 
 ils ont constamment meconnu sa pensee, ils I'ont interpret^e 
 de la mani^re la plus grossiere et la plus charnelle, ils ont 
 repondu par Fintelligence la plus stupide k ses epanchements 
 les plus elev(5s, ils ont jusqu'au bout caresse les reves les plus 
 interesses de leur ambition tout egoiste et mesquine. lis 
 avouent que, la veille de la mort de Jesus-Christ, ils se dis- 
 putaient la premiere place dans son royaume; ils confessent 
 qu'ils ont 6t6 etroits, envieux les uns des autres, pleins de 
 prejuges et de fanatisme. Dans les recits les plus touchants 
 des evangiles, qu'il s'agisse de la benediction des petits enfants, 
 de la guerison de la fille de la Cananeenne, de Marie lavant 
 les pieds de leur Maitre ou de Fagonie de Jesus en Geth- 
 semane, ils s'attribuent un r61e qui est parfois odieux ; ils 
 sont sans piti^ devant le cri d'une mire d^sesperee ; ils cal- 
 culent le prix du parfum r6pandu sur les pieds de Jesus ; ils 
 dorment k I'heure oii leur Maitre repand sa sueur de sang. 
 C'est sous ces traits qu'ils se presentent avec une naivete sans 
 ^gale ; pas une reserve en leur faveur, pas un adoucissement, 
 
NOTE 7. 265 
 
 pas un essai d'apologie. On sent que c'est ainsi que les faits 
 se sont passes. II y a plus, ils se confessent d'une defaillance 
 morale que nul homme n'a jamais avouee. Massillon disait 
 que dans sa longue carriere de pretre jamais personne ne 
 s'etait devant lui confess6 d'avarice. Mes frSres, il n'est pas 
 besoin d'etre eveque pour savoir que jamais personne ne s'est 
 confess^ de lachete. S'il j a quelque vieux soldat dans eette 
 assemblee, il en tombera d'accord avec moi. Or les ap6tres 
 ont cette franchise de dire qu'ils ont tremble h I'heure supreme, 
 tremble comme des enfants et des laches; ils avouent que 
 lorsque leur Maltre, qui n'avait cesse de les aimer et de les 
 benir avec une tendresse toute divine, a ete trahi par I'un 
 des leurs et conduit devant ses juges, eux, ils se sont enfuis, 
 qu'ils I'ont tous abandonne, et que celui d'entre eux qui avait 
 jure de lui rester fidMe I'a renie trois fois devant I'inter- 
 pellation d'une servante. Sans s'inquieter du scandale qu'allait 
 produire une telle histoire, ils la racontent avec detail et n'en 
 omettent pas un mot, et lorsqu'ils vont annoncer dans le 
 monde la croix de Jesus-Christ, et dinger sur elle les regards 
 de eeux qu'elle doit sauver, ils osent dire qu'^ I'heure ou cette 
 croix fut dressee, ils I'ont lachement desert^e, laissant k de 
 faibles femmes I'honneur d'assister leur Maitre agonisant, 
 laissant ^ un brigand I'honneur de proclamer le premier 
 l'6ternel]e royaute du Crucifie, comme ils ont laisse trois 
 jours plus tard k une ancienne possed^e Fhonneur de pro- 
 clamer la premiere le triomphe du Christ ressuscite. Voil^ 
 quel a ete sur tous ces points leur temoignage, et j'ai le droit 
 de dire que, si un tel aveu est vraiment heroique, ceux qui 
 I'ont fait meritent d'etre crus. 
 
 IV. 
 
 ' Mais on nous arr^te, on nous dit : " Leur sincerite est hors 
 de doute, mais on pent se tromper en ^tant sincere; I'en- 
 thousiasme est le propre des ames naiVes, et I'honnStete des 
 apotres ne nous garantit pas qu'ils aient vu leur Maitre 
 transfigure, ressuscite ..." 
 
266 NOTE 7. 
 
 ' J'en conviens, et tout k I'heure je vais vous repondre ; mais 
 avouez du moins que^ si tout ce que nous avons dit est fonde, 
 il faut absolument renoncer k la theorie d'apr^s laquelle les 
 recits evangeliques ne se seraient formes que peu k peu dans 
 rimagination du peuple chretien. Si les faits que nous avons 
 rappeles ne sont pas vrais, rien n^est vrai. S^ils sont vrais, 
 I'hypothese que je signale est k jamais d6truite et le te- 
 moignage sincere des apotres nous conduit sur le terrain 
 ferme, inebranlable de I'histoire. Telle est ma premiere 
 conclusion, et nul esprit serieux ne pourra la mettre en doute. 
 Cela ditj j'aborde I'objection que je viens de rappeler. 
 
 ' Si des hommes qui ont vu de si prfes Jesus, qui nous out 
 raconte sa vie avec un accent si naturel et si vrai, ont ete 
 victimes de leur imagination surexcitee, au point de preter 
 sans cesse k leur Maitre des actes qu'il n'aurait jamais ac- 
 complis, au point de ne plus meme le reconnaitre et de se 
 laisser imposer k son sujet les inventions les plus fantastiques, 
 cela ne peut s'expliquer que par une aberration etrange et 
 p6riodique de leur intelligence. Nous avouons que I'histoire 
 religieuse est pleine de recits d'hallucinations ; sans aller bien 
 loin, on en a vu frequemment k notre epoque, et puisqu'on a 
 ose de nos jours rapprocher la Salette et Lourdes de Betbleem 
 et du Calvaire, il faut dire, en passant, ce que nous pensons 
 d'un si monstrueux parallele. 
 
 'Les hallucin^s parlent en hallucines. Que ce soient des 
 bergers, des enfants, des religieuses ou des moines, ils sont les 
 echos plus ou moins naifs des reveries dont on les a berces ; 
 ils croient voir un jour apparaitre la figure qui tant de fois 
 frappa leur imagination, et ils lui attribuent des paroles dont 
 leur m^moire est bantee, exactement comme les adeptes du 
 spiritisme moderne font parler k Pascal, k Bossuet ou k 
 Shakespeare un langage dont la platitude trabit assez I'ori- 
 gine. Cela est si vrai que, de toutes ces l^gendes dont 
 I'histoire de la superstition contemporaine est pleine, il n'est 
 pas rest^ une parole, je dis une seule, digne d'etre conservee, 
 pas un mot qui rappelle de loin la sublime simplicite de nos 
 Evangiles. L'ineoh^rence est le caractfere propre de I'hallu- 
 
NOTE 7. 267 
 
 cinafcion. Or, si les apotres ont ete des hallucines, par quel 
 prodige ont-ils pu nous retracer la figure de Jesus-Christ, 
 telle que I'^fivangile nous I'a conservee? Quelque opinion 
 que Fon ait sur le cote surnaturel de I'ifivangile, il est un 
 point sur lequel tout le monde est d'aecord, c'est que jamais 
 figure n'a r6alise mieux que celle du Christ l'id6e de la per- 
 fection morale. Dans cette peinture sublime, on voit se 
 fondre en un harmonieux ensemble toutes les lignes qui 
 ailleurs nous apparaissent dispersees et bris6es ; les vertus 
 qui semblent opposees se reunissent ici ; les traits qui chez 
 les autres hommes s'excluent et se limitent se rencontrent 
 pour former Un tout acheve. Le calme auguste et I'activit^ 
 infatigable, la grandeur et I'humilite, I'autorite souveraine et 
 I'obeissancej la majeste et la condescendance, la saintete la 
 plus absolue et I'absenee de tout rigorisme, la spiritualite 
 la plus complete et les plus tendres sympathies humaines, 
 I'horreur du mal et la compassion infinie pour ceux qui le 
 commettent, voil^ ce qui nous apparait partout dans la vie de 
 Jesus. Et dans ce tableau, pas un trait faux, dans cette 
 harmonic pas une note dissonante. Songez k I'effet que 
 produirait sur nous un seul penchant mauvais, une seule 
 faiblesse, une seule imperfection, je dis moins, un seul trait 
 vulgaire attribue h, Jesus. On n'en a pas decouvert encore, 
 on n'en d^couvrira jamais. Et remarquez que cette attitude 
 du Christ est toujours la meme, soit qu'il se meuve dans la 
 vie que nous appelons naturelle, soit qu'il accomplisse des 
 actes surnaturels. C'est k propos de ses miracles qu'il pro- 
 nonce beaucoup de ses paroles les plus authentiques, dont 
 nous sentons bien qu'elles n'ont pu etre inventees, et qu'il 
 deploie cette dignity souveraine et sans faste qui n'appartient 
 qu'^ lui. Et Ton voudrait nous faire croire que .cette sainte 
 figure a ete tracee par des esprits faibles, par de pauvres 
 egares, dont I'imagination exaltee en aurait entrevu dans les 
 incoherences de la fi^vre les traits merveilleux ! Plutot que 
 de convenir qu'ils ont vu le Christ tel qu'ils le depeignent, 
 on veut nous faire admettre qu'ils I'ont invente, et que de ce 
 sombre milieu de fanatisme, de prejuges opini&tres, de haines 
 
268 NOTE 7 A. 
 
 nationales, de formalisme et d'hypocrisie ou se mouvait alors 
 Israel, est sorti, par je ne sais quelle evolution bizarre, I'id^al 
 meme de la perfection morale, eet Stre dent le plus illustre 
 ineredule de notre temps a pu dire que desormais la conscience 
 humaine ne distinguerait plus entre Dieu et lui ! ^fitrange 
 supposition, bien digne d'une epoque qui pretend expliquer 
 le monde par la rencontre fortuite des atomes tourbillonnant 
 dans I'espace, et faire sortir du mouvement de cette poussi^re 
 inanimee la loi, I'ordre, la vie, Fintelligence, la conscience et 
 la moralite. Eb bien ! c'est au nom de ma raison, que moi, 
 croyant, je m'insurge contre cette revoltante hypothSse, plus 
 miraculeuse mille fois que les miracles dont on ne veut pas, 
 c'est au nom de ma raison que j'afErme que I'egarement de 
 quelques Galil^ens n'a pas pu enfanter I'barmonie morale, 
 que la folic n'a pas pu creer la raison la plus haute, que 
 rhallucination n'a pas invente Jesus de Nazareth ! ' — Bersier's 
 Sermons, t. vi. pp. 2i7~S'7- 
 
 Note 7 A, p. 95, 
 
 Comparatively few persons are competent to discuss, or 
 even to consider, the intricate questions which have been 
 raised by critics of the present day respecting the structure 
 of the early books of the Bible ; and if the profitable study of 
 these books by men of average capacity and ordinary oppor- 
 tunities depended on their being able to satisfy themselves 
 entirely upon such points, the inspired volume would cease 
 to have much practical value for them. It is to be feared, 
 indeed, that to some minds this has been the effect of our 
 modern discussions, and that in respect to the early chapters 
 of Genesis, for instance, a mist of antiquarian and historical 
 criticism has served unduly to distract and absorb the atten- 
 tion. But happily there is another point of view from which 
 those chapters may be and ought to be considered, and this is 
 independent of any such perplexities. The Book of Genesis 
 is in the form of a history. On the face of it, that book offers 
 us an account of the actual position of man upon the earth, 
 and of that general course of affairs which led to the selection 
 
NOTE 7 A. 269 
 
 by God of one man and one family to be the founders of a 
 spiritual organization, or Church, which should ultimately re- 
 act upon the natural order of human society, and in which, 
 through its great Head, all nations of the earth should be 
 blessed. In other words, it offers to fulfil that which is the 
 essential function of all true history — that is, to put men and 
 things in their right places, to exhibit their true relations, and 
 to give us therefore a sound and just view of life. For this 
 purpose, it may for the moment be treated as a matter of 
 subordinate importance from what particular sources the 
 narrative may have been immediately derived. The Book of 
 Genesis, if only as a venerable record of antiquity, is priceless ; 
 but as revealing to us likewise facts and realities in the con- 
 stitution of the world which affect our present condition, it 
 has a value of another kind. 
 
 We here refer more particularly to the opening chapters. 
 None have occasioned more perplexity in details to many eager 
 disputants. Yet if they are interpreted by a mind able to 
 seize principles and open to the comprehension of a large 
 sphere of facts, those early records, besides the elementary 
 revelation which they communicate on the surface, are seen to 
 be pregnant likewise with profound instruction for thinking 
 men. On this point it is hardly necessary to appeal to argu- 
 mentj for the observation is confirmed by a very striking 
 experience. It would seem to many, perhaps, a paradox to 
 say that the dominant and germinal idea of modern practical 
 science was suggested by the first chapter of Genesis, and re- 
 ceived its earliest definite expression in language quoted from 
 it. Yet this is the simple fact. That chapter has, in this 
 respect, experienced a most singular fate. No portion, per- 
 haps, of the Bible is more utterly abandoned by certain 
 votaries of science in the present day ; while, on the contrary, 
 none was more dear to the great father of the experimental 
 philosophy. The language of Lord Bacon is saturated, so to 
 speak, with thoughts derived from this narrative. He discerns 
 in it types of the whole order of the divine operations, whether 
 in nature or in grace — types, consequently, of the work and 
 
270 NOTE 7 A. 
 
 the nature of that being who was made in the divine image. 
 Some of his references may be ascribed to his exuberant fancy ; 
 but no thoughtful mind will thus dismiss that noble imagery 
 with which he concludes the introduction to the Instauratio 
 Magna, and in which he invokes the divine blessing upon 
 his labours. It is a prayer in which theology, philosophy, 
 and experience combine in one luminous and solemn medita- 
 tion. 
 
 'Thou therefore, O Father,' he exclaims, 'who gavest the 
 visible light as the first-horn of Thy creatures, and didst pour into 
 man the intellectual light, as the top and consummation of Thy 
 workmanship, he pleased to protect and govern this work, which, 
 coming from Thy goodness, returneth to Thy glory. Thou, after 
 Thou hadst reviewed the works which Thy hand had made, 
 beheldest that everything was very good, and didst rest with com- 
 placency in them. But man reflecting on the works which he had 
 made, saw that all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and could by 
 no means acquiesce in them. Wherefore, if we labour in Thy works 
 with the sweat of our brows. Thou wilt make us partakers of Thy 
 vision and Thy sabbath. We humbly beg that this mind may be 
 stedfastly in us, and that Thou by our hands and also by the hands 
 of others on whom Thou shalt bestow the same spirit, wilt please to 
 convey a largesse of new alms to the family of mankind.' 
 
 This meditative summary, as it were, of the first three 
 chapters of Genesis would alone be sufficiently instructive ; 
 but it is not even here that the full depth of Bacon's medita- 
 tion on such passages is to be discerned. That which has 
 been referred to above as the dominant idea of his philosophy 
 is still more conspicuously associated with such reflections. 
 As the title of his great work the Novum Organum, stand the 
 words ' ApAorismi de interjoretatione naturae et regno Aominis ' — 
 ' Aphorisms concerning the interpretation of nature and the 
 dominion of man.' That is^ Bacon discerned a revelation of 
 the true function of man upon the earth in the emphatic 
 commission given him to ' replenish the earth and subdue it, 
 and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl 
 of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon 
 
NOTE 7 A. 271 
 
 the earth.' Those words were apprehended by Bacon not 
 as a mere description of man's dignity, but as a compre- 
 hensive designation of his true position, and as marking out 
 the main work which on earth it was at once his destiny 
 and his duty to fulfil. He proceeds in the first aphorism 
 to indicate the character and limits of this dominion in 
 words which are the best description of all right dominion, 
 of whatever kind. ' Man,' he says, ' is the minister and 
 interpreter of nature.' It need hardly be observed how deeply 
 those words have penetrated the thought of the modern 
 world, or how intimately they are intertwined with the 
 whole spirit of the Baconian philosophy. They are inces- 
 santly repeated as the very burden of Bacon's teaching; and 
 we see them year by year more amply fulfilled. But their 
 full significance is to be appreciated only by associating them 
 with the sacred imagery which, as we have seen, was so con- 
 stantly present to the philosopher's mind, and by regarding 
 them as a commentary upon the scriptural revelation. From 
 that point of view, what a light do they not throw upon the 
 condition and the history of mankind ! Nature, with all its 
 marvellous endowments, is depicted to us, before the creation 
 of man, as a kingdom without a king, an estate without an 
 owner or minister to develope it, a beautiful vision without 
 a painter or an interpreter. Forces of the utmost subtlety or 
 the most stupendous power, infinite possibilities of combination 
 and variation of elements, harmonies of form and colour need- 
 ing a reasonable hand and eye to detect and depict them, lay 
 hid in that vast and complex creation upon which God looked 
 when he declared that it was very good. But a mirror was 
 needed in which the whole mystery and marvel should be 
 reflected, and in which, if the expression may be adapted from 
 the sacred writer, God Himself should behold the full beauty 
 of His own work. When the human eye and the human 
 reason were created, a new universe was created with them, 
 the universe of science, of art, and of all the higher develop- 
 ments of the animal instincts. Perhaps from this point of 
 view we may be permitted to discern an adumbration of a 
 
272 NOTE 7 A. 
 
 great truth in tlie statement that ' out of the ground the 
 Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of 
 the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would 
 call them ; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, 
 that was the name thereof.' To give names to things is to 
 classify them, to observe their resemblances, to abstract and 
 generalise, to exert the reason and the imagination ; and what 
 else, in substance, is the work of science at the present day 
 but that of giving names to every creature ? Viewing man 
 as called into existence by the Creator for the further display 
 of the marvels of creation, we may regard God as at this 
 moment bringing all the varied elements of nature before us 
 to see what we will call them, to behold how very good are 
 those reasonable and moral faculties which He designed to be 
 the mirror of His created works. 
 
 Thus under this simple language, but, though simple, far 
 more accurate than the definitions of any philosopher however 
 distinguished, did the great founder of modern scientific pro- 
 gress discern a revelation of the cardinal facts of man's position 
 on the earth. Not, pf course, that this is a revelation of his 
 ultimate destiny. That is a question which is answered else- 
 where, and which is entirely independent of the particular 
 work we have to perform in this sphere of existence. We all 
 recognise in the case of individuals that they may be the heirs 
 of the highest spiritual blessings and honours, though ap- 
 pointed in this life to the most humble occupations. There 
 can, indeed, in the nature of the case, be nothing in the 
 slightest degree unworthy of the loftiest minds in accepting 
 the function just described — that of co-operating with the 
 Creator Himself in the full exhibition of His creative power. 
 But it is doubtless true that the soul of man has capacities 
 which can never be satisfied by even the highest display of the 
 glories of the visible creation, and that it is only in the spi- 
 ritual sphere that our spirits will find their full rest, and their 
 complete career. Those only, however, can expect to be thus 
 made rulers over many things who have faithfully ruled over 
 the comparatively few things committed to them in this life. 
 
NOTE 7 A. 273 
 
 Yet men have struggled with a strange persistency against 
 this unavoidable task ; and once more in the narrative of the 
 sacred historian did Bacon discern the nature of this perversity. 
 Placed in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it, man 
 could not be content with this simple duty, but entangled 
 himself in speculations respecting what was abstractedly good 
 and evil, and yielded to the first temptation which suggested 
 to him a shorter and a pleasanter path to the full enjoyment of 
 his life. Subsequently, through ages of weary debate and 
 speculation men sought continually to attain the summum 
 ionurn, — their ultimate aim and perfection — by all manner of 
 mental, moral, and physical disci2)lines ; each school of philoso- 
 phers, each sect of theologians, each order of Christian or of 
 heathen monks, deeming that they had found some new tree 
 of the knowledge of good and evil which would introduce them 
 to the fruit of the tree of life. But all these, from whatever 
 quarter they approached, encountered a mysterious sword 
 which kept the way of the tree of life, and which sent them 
 back baffled into their wilderness. At length, in an age of 
 moral and mental regeneration, under the light of a revived 
 and reformed religious intelligence, a vast and patient genius 
 was arrested by the words of the ancient record, and recog- 
 nised in them that still small voice which might reveal, to 
 quote his own image, ' the clue to the labyrinth.' He saw the 
 key of all philosophy and of all life in the statement that the 
 Lord God had sent man forth from the garden of Eden ' to till 
 the ground from whence he was taken.' While the mass of 
 men shrank in fear, as some are still apt to shrink, from the 
 blaze of the new knowledge which was bursting on them, he 
 pointed to this chapter in order to remind them that it was not 
 mere knowledge, not the natural knowledge of the world in 
 which we live which led to man's fall, but a presumptuous 
 attempt to intrude into the hidden mysteries of moral and 
 spiritual truth, and attempts to seek elsewhere than in the 
 revealed will of God for the ultimate principles of good and 
 evil. From that moment, in proportion as men have accepted 
 the task of labouring, according to Bacon's favourite language, 
 
274 NOTE 7 A. 
 
 ' to produce fruit,' in proportion as they have humbly endea- 
 voured to assert their dominion over nature — a dominion only 
 to be asserted by obedience — have they made advances in all 
 departments of life greater than were ever achieved before. 
 In greater or less degree, history has steadily borne witness to 
 the truth of this description of human nature. In proportion 
 as nations, instead of desolating and subduing, have accepted 
 the function of replenishing and subduing, the earth have they 
 been great, prosperous, and happy. It is an humble method, 
 one needing in fact moral qualities of the highest kind — quali- 
 ties which Christianity alone brought to sufficient perfection 
 for the purpose in view. But it is the only method ; and no 
 schemes of spiritual or moral purification have ever been 
 efiFectual which have not recognised this primary duty of 
 labour, and of labour bestowed in developing the resources of 
 this earth. Even the liberal professions are handmaids to the 
 great creative function here discharged by mankind, and are 
 never in a healthy condition unless recognising this duty — a 
 consideration which, if duly weighed, would perhaps reconcile 
 us to many a labour of which we are at times inclined to com- 
 plain that it seems of such purely material and temporal 
 interest. 
 
 But it is not only for the purposes of the apologist, nor 
 merely as throwing an interesting light upon some great 
 questions, that an endeavour has thus been made to illustrate 
 the bearing of some of those statements in the early chapters 
 of Genesis which have provoked modern criticism ; it is rather 
 that we may derive encouragement towards a more simple 
 and patient habit of reading and reflecting on the Scriptures. 
 These instances may serve to illustrate what fruitful truths 
 may be suggested to us, not only by the minute study which 
 is the province of the professed theologian, but also by that 
 quiet meditation on the English text which is practicable for 
 every one, and which, if we mistake not, has been the chief 
 source of English wisdom. ' To know wisdom and instruction, 
 to receive the words of understanding, to receive the instruc- 
 tion of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity,' to obtain those 
 
NOTE 8. 275 
 
 large and just views of life which to every one are -of primary 
 necessity — ^for these ends the most unlearned need only betake 
 himself assiduously to those Scriptures which are able to make 
 him wise unto salvation — alike in this world and in the next. — 
 From a paper iy the Author in the Christian Ohserver, March 
 1877- 
 
 NOTE 8, p. 109. 
 
 'There are, moreover, certain signs which never fail to 
 reveal, even involuntarily, the real condition of an individual 
 or of a nation, though no eye may see it : thus the whole of 
 the internal weakness and perversity of the hagiocracy al- 
 ready betrays itself in the one small but significant circum- 
 stance of its treatment of the name of God. Desirous to 
 maintain the infinite sanctity of the venerable name Jahveh, 
 and fearfiil of desecrating it, it ordained that it should never 
 be pronounced at all, and so allowed this glorious ancient 
 name to lie in absolute obscurity behind a perpetual veil. 
 No doubt this practice was only introduced very gradually 
 at first ; and unless the name had always been treated with 
 a reverence quite peculiar to itself ever since the formation 
 of the community, no such custom of abstaining out of 
 reverence from pronouncing it at all could ever have arisen. 
 But it was only the growing scrupulousness of later days 
 which could conclude from the third injunction of the Deca- 
 logue that for fear of running the risk of misusing the name 
 when taking an oath, or on any -other occasion, and thereby 
 exciting the wrath as it were of an avenging Lordj it would 
 be better never to utter it at all. It now became common 
 to use instead the general name Mohim, i. e. God ; until at 
 last the custom was established of reading the next highest 
 name of Adonai, which corresponded to it most nearly, even 
 in those passages of Scripture where it was found written, 
 or where, as in the books of history, it had to be written 
 then : and, in the same way, men afterwards came to 
 prefer saying Heaven instead of God, in ordinary speech. 
 
 T 3 
 
276 NOTE 8. 
 
 The substitution of Adonai was already customary towards 
 the end of the Persian era, as we see from many indications ; 
 and from that time it maintained itself amongst the Judeans 
 for all succeeding ages, through a constant succession of 
 departures from the free and straightforward course. The 
 Samaritans alone never gave in to the practice. The name 
 of the true God was now suspended. at an infinite distance, 
 high above all the present scene of existence ; and the further 
 notion was soon conceived that it would only be revealed 
 again in the whole of its wondrous significance and power 
 in the fulness of things, at the end of all time. In the same 
 way, the heathen had their mysterious names of deities, 
 and the Chinese emperor's original name is suspended over 
 all his subjects, inviolable and unapproachable during his 
 reign, while he is designated by some other appellation. 
 But this God of the ancient community, though men feared 
 his name above all things, and desired utterly to surrender 
 themselves to him in deepest awe, was in reality ever retiring 
 further and further from them, into a mysterious distance ; 
 and while they were restrained by their scruples from looking 
 into his face or calling upon him by his true name, they 
 were really losing him more and more, so undesigned was 
 this most significant of all the signs of IsraeFs last great era ! 
 As the name of the people changes with each of the three 
 great stages of its history, and each name may serve as a 
 brief symbol of the whole essence of the special era to which 
 it belongs, so it is to a still greater extent with the name of 
 God ; and nothing is more significant than that the simple but 
 sublime Jahveh should be succeeded by the splendid JaAveh 
 of Hosts, together with the very free use of Jahveh, and this, 
 again, finally by a blank. But this practice of avoiding the 
 highest conceivable name of the true religion, when it had 
 acquired the force of law, gradually fostered the most artificial 
 ways of thinking and speaking of God, as though it were 
 impossible, at least for human language, to find any name 
 fully worthy of being used as an adequate designation of the 
 Unspeakable, Nor was this all, it also produced many kinds 
 
NOTE 9. 277 
 
 of superstition, especially the prevalent belief that it was 
 possible to work miracles by the bold utterance of the 
 mysterious heavenly name, the probable sound of which it 
 would still be easy to imitate. These tendencies, no doubt, 
 only reached their further development in the following 
 centuries, but their ultimate source lies hidden here.' — 
 Ewald, History of Israel, vol. v. pp. 198, 199, translated 
 by J. Estlin Carpenter, M.A., 1874. 
 
 NOTE 9, p. III. 
 
 Dr. Lightfoot says, in a Note to his Commentary on the 
 Epistle to the Galatians, pp. 156, 157, second edition: — 
 
 ' From the investigation just concluded it appears that the 
 term " Faith " can scarcely be said to occur at all in the 
 Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament. It is indeed a 
 characteristic token of the difference between the two cove- 
 nants, that under the Law the ^'■fear of the Lord " holds very 
 much the same place as "faith in God," "faith in Christ," 
 under the Gospel. Awe is the prominent idea in the earlier 
 dispensation, trust in the later. At the same time, though 
 the word itself is not found in the Old Testament, the idea 
 is not absent ; for indeed a trust in the Infinite and Unseen, 
 subordinating thereto all interests that are finite and transi- 
 tory, is the very essence of the higher spiritual life. 
 
 In Abraham, the father of the chosen race, this attitude of 
 trustfulness was most marked. By faith he left home and 
 kindred, and settled in a strange land; by faith he acted 
 upon God's promise of a race and an inheritance, though it 
 seemed at variance with all human experience ; by faith he 
 ofiered up his only son, in whom alone that promise could be 
 fulfilled. Thus this one word " faith " sums up the lesson of 
 his whole life. And when, during the long silence of prophecy 
 which separated the close of the Jewish from the birth of the 
 Christian Scriptures, the Hebrews were led to reflect and 
 
378 NOTE 10. 
 
 comment on the records of tteir race, this feature of their 
 great forefather's character did not escape notice. The two 
 languages, which having supplanted the Hebrew had now 
 become the vehicles of theological teaching, both supplied 
 words to express their meaning. In the Greek ■nCa-ns, in the 
 Aramaic XJTUQTT, the hitherto missing term was first found.' 
 
 NOTE 10, p. 137, 
 
 This subject is forcibly and beautifully illustrated in the 
 following Extract from a Sermon in M. Bersier's sixth volume, 
 on Zes Verites Morales et les Verites Bevelees, pp. 300-311 : — 
 
 'Nous arrivons ainsi k la seconde partie de mon texte. 
 Jesus-Christ, qui a, c'est notre conclusion premiere, le droit 
 d'etre cru comme predicateur de la loi morale, reclame la 
 meme foi comme revelateur religieux. C'est ce point que 
 nous aliens maintenant examiner. 
 
 ' Jesus n'est pas seulement un maitre de morale, il ne parle 
 pas seulement des choses terrestres ; il se donne comme etant 
 venu d'en haut. " Personne," dit-il, " n'est monte au ciel que 
 celui qui est descendu du ciel, savoir le Eils de I'homme." 
 II parle avec autorit^ de choses qui depassent absolument nos 
 horizons humains. II nous revile Dieu et parle de lui comme 
 un Eils parle de son P^re, il nous enseigne quel est le gou- 
 vernement de Dieu, quelle est sa providence envers ses 
 creatures, quels sont les desseins de sa mis&icorde pour le 
 salut de l'humanit6, il annonce d'avanee sa mort et enseigne 
 explicitement qu'il s'offrira pour le salut du monde. Dans 
 reatretien meme d'oii j'ai tire les paroles que nous meditons, 
 il expose en quelques mots admirables tout le plan de la 
 redemption. " Dieu a tellement aim6 le monde qu'il a donn6 
 son Eils unique, afin que quiconque croit en lui ne p^risse 
 point, mais qu'il ait la vie eternelle." II sait que cette mort 
 doit attirer tous les hommes k lui ; il annonce 6galement sa 
 resurrection et son triomphe. II parle de sa personne comme 
 etant la manifestation vivante de Dieu ; il se propose aux 
 
NOTE 10. 279 
 
 ames comme Celui en qui il faut croire, qu'il faut aimer par- 
 dessus toutes choses, en qui le monde devra trouver sa vie; il 
 annonce le jugement k venir et dit comment ce jugement 
 se fera. 
 
 ' En face de ces affirmations, notre situation est tout autre 
 qu'en face de son enseignement moral. Tant qu'il s'agissait 
 de celui-ci, nous pouvions le jnger, car nous trouvions dans 
 notre propre conscience un sur critfere pour en apprecier la 
 verite. Chaque precepte du sermon sur la montagne, chaque 
 parabole eveUlait en nous un echo. Ce temoignage interieur 
 suffisait pour nous convaincre de la verite des paroles du 
 Christ, et il est k remarquer que plus notre conscience etait 
 droite, et notre cceur ouvert aux affections pures, plus cette 
 conviction s'affermissait en nous. 
 
 ' Ici, au contraire, tout change. Nous entendons des declara- 
 tions souveraines qu'il nous est impossible de controler. Rien 
 en nous k premiere vue n'j peut rendre temoignage. Rien ne 
 nous prouve absolument qu'elles soient vraies. Nous sommes 
 reduits a croire le Christ sur parole. Jusque-lS, nous avions 
 marche en le suivant sur le terrain ferme de I'experience, ici 
 nous nous langons apr^s lui sur une mer profonde aux horizons 
 sans fin. Nous faisons aete de foi. Deux questions se posent 
 ici devant nous : avons-nous le droit de faire cet acte de foi ? 
 Jesus-Christ doit-il etre cru ? 
 
 ' A la premiere de ces questions la reponse est ais^e. Sup- 
 posons que nous ^cartions d'avance et systematiquement la foi 
 comme moyen d'acces k la v€nt6 religieuse, aucune autre voie 
 ne nous restera pour y parvenir. Sur toutes les questions re- 
 latives k notre origin e et II notre destinee, sur la douleur, sur 
 le mal, sur le pardon, sur nos relations avec Dieu, sur la vie 
 future, la science n'a rien a nous apprendre. Jamais peut-etre 
 elle ne Fa confesse plus franchement qu'aujourd'hui. II me 
 serait facile de citer ici ses aveux si nombreux et si peremptoires. 
 Je ne discute pas I'attitude qu'elle prend Vis-3,-vis de tous ces 
 problemes ; pour tout dire, je crois sa reserve exag^ree, il me 
 semble qu'elle pourrait, a I'aide de ses simples ressources 
 naturelles, p6netrer dans ces questions plus avant qu'elle ne le 
 
280 NOTE 10. 
 
 fait. Je constate simplement ee fait que la science pure est 
 radiealement incapable de calmer les remords de la conscience, 
 de donner au coeur un amour digne de lui, de consoler nos 
 douleurs, de nous apporter quelque certitude sur notre destinee 
 eternelle. Une telle impuissance, aussi clairement constatee 
 dans le siecle meme ou la science a d'ailleurs remport^ ses 
 plus eclatants triomphes, est un phenomene qui doit frapper 
 tout esprit droit. 
 
 ' Cela etant reconnu, que faire ? Renoncer h soulever le 
 voile de notre destinee, nous enfermer dans la vie presente, 
 comme les epicuriens pour jouir, comme les stoiciens pour 
 ob^ir k la loi du devoir, sans rien savoir d'au deik, sans oser 
 rien affirmer, ni rien esp^rer sur DieUj sur le grand inconnu 
 qui nous attend peut-etre? On I'essaie, on Fa tente mille 
 fois, on n'y parvient jamais. L'humanite est religieuse par 
 essence. Le positivisme pourra plaire h une ou deux genera- 
 tions qui passent ; il ne sera jamais la doctrine de l'humanite. 
 
 ' C'est ici que Jesus-Christ nous apparalt avec I'autorite qui 
 n'appartient qu'^ lui. II se donne comme un revelateur venu 
 de la part de Dieu, et sur tons les points obscurs de notre 
 destinee, il repand la lumiere ; il ne cherche pas, il ne raisonne 
 pas, il ne discute pas, il affirme, et quand les Juifs lui 
 reprochent de se rendre temoignage k soi-meme, c'est-k-dire, 
 en langage moderne, d'affirmer sans preuves, il repond par 
 cette parole : " Mon temoignage est veritable, car je sais 
 d'oii je suis venu, et je sais oil je vais." (Jean viii. 14.) 
 
 ' Et voici le fait qui s'est produit : quelques hommes ont cru 
 h cette affirmation de Jesus, puis d'autres y ont cru sur leur 
 temoignage, et cette croyance est devenue aujourd'hui celle 
 de la partie la plus eclair^e et la meilleure de l'humanit6. 
 Nous-memes nous sommes ehr6tiens ; cela veut dire que ce 
 que nous savons de certain sur Dieu, sur la providence, sur le 
 pardon, sur la vie eternelle, nous le tenons de Jesus-Christ. 
 Nous avons cru en Jesus-Christ " parlant des ehoses celestes," 
 en J6sus-Christ revelateur de la verite religieuse. Avons- 
 nous eu raison de le faire? Jesus-Christ est-il un t6moin 
 digne de foi ? 
 
NOTE 10. 281 
 
 'Je remarque, en premier lieu, que I'aceent meme avec 
 lequel ses affirmations se produisent a quelque ctose qui est 
 de nature h, nous faire rlflecliir. Personne n'a jamais parle 
 avec une autorite egale k la sienne. Personne n'a jamais dit 
 comme lui : " Je suis d'en haut, et tous etes d'en bas ; je sais 
 d'oti je suis venu et ou je vais; je suis le chemin, la verite, la 
 vie ; je suis la lumiere du monde ; eelui qui m'a vu a vu 
 le Pere." On ne se defait pas de telles affirmations, on n'a 
 pas le droit d'en attenuer la portee. Elles trahissent ou un 
 prodigieux egarement ou une inspiration veritable. Entre 
 ces deux explications il faut choisir. II n'y en a pas une 
 troisieme, et il semble que la critique antichretienne le 
 reconnaisse clairement aujourd'hui. EUe ne craint pas de 
 dire que J^sus-Christ est le plus sublime des hallueines. 
 
 ' Ce n'est pas nous qui nous plaindrons de la nettete de ces 
 declarations, si douloureuses qu'elles soient h notre coeur. 
 Nous avons tout a gagner h voir disparaitre ici toute 
 6quivoque. 
 
 'Nous croyons, nous, aux affirmations de J6sus-Christ. 
 Pour me servir des paroles de mon texte, nous croyons en 
 lui quand il nous parle des cboses celestes, parce qu'il nous a 
 toujours dit vrai quand il nous a parle des choses terrestres. 
 Ceci est une presomption, rien de plus, je le sais, mais eette 
 presomption nous suffit. Voici un Etre dont on nous dit 
 qu'il a entraine Fhumanite dans la plus fantastique des illu- 
 sions, et cet Etre, dans toutes ses declarations portant sur des 
 sujets que nous pouvons controler, a dit vrai, absolument 
 vrai ; il n'a partage aucun des pr^juges, aucune des erreurs 
 morales de son temps ni de son peuple ; il a depeint I'hu- 
 manite telle qu'elle est, il a donne k la justice, au devoir, i, la 
 misericorde, leur formule eternelle ; sur tous ces points son 
 enseignement n'a pu etre ni r^fut^, ni d^passe. En I'ecou- 
 tant, non seulement nous sentons qu'il dit vrai, mais nous 
 sentons que la verity qu'il a formulee nous domine, qu'elle se 
 dresse devant nous comme un ideal qui nous oblige, nous 
 attire et nous condamne k la fois. A travers les si&cles la 
 puissance de cette parole est telle qu'elle exerce sur des 
 
282 NOTE lO: 
 
 millions d'hommes, et sur les meilleurs, un irresistible 
 ascendant. 
 
 ' Cette seule consideration suflBrait a prouver que nous ne 
 croyons pas a la legSre lorsque nous acceptons ee que Jesus- 
 Christ nous dit du monde invisible qui nous depasse. 
 Songez-y bien. Toute societe humaine repose sur la confi- 
 ance mutaelle. Le nombre de verites que nous acceptons sur 
 le t^moignage d'autrui est immense ; si nous devious tout 
 contr61er, nous ferions ^ peine un pas en avant et le travail 
 de riiumanit^ devrait recommencer avee chaque individu. 
 Or, quand notre confiance a-t-elle ete mieux plac6e que 
 lorsque nous avons cru k Celui dont la parole a ete rincarna- 
 tion meme de la verite morale ? Si nous ne le croyons pas, 
 qui croirons-nous ? 
 
 ' Mais il y a plus, et nous touchons ici au vrai nceud de la 
 question. Si nous croyons aux verites religieuses revel6es 
 par J^sus-Christ, ce n'est pas seulement parce que, nous 
 ayant dit vrai dans toutes les cboses morales, il merite notre 
 confiance, ce n'est pas seulement parce qu'il est S, nos yeux le 
 Saint et le Juste, c'est encore et surtout parce que ces verites 
 religieuses sont le complement et le eouronnement neeessaire 
 des verites morales auxquelles notre conscience nous oblige de 
 croire, tellement qu'acceptant les unes, nous sommes conduits 
 par une logique invincible a accepter les autres. II n'est pas 
 une verite morale de I'Evangile qui ne se prolonge et ne 
 s'epanouisse en une verite religieuse. Yoilk (pour le dire en 
 passant) la raison qui ne nous permettra jamais d'accepter un 
 moment la theorie de la morale independante, car aux yeux de 
 tout Chretien la morale et la doctrine sont etroitement et in- 
 dissolublement unies. Qu'est-ce que la doctrine en eiFet, si 
 ce n'est raffirmation des relations qui doivent exister entre 
 Dieu et nous, et qu'est-ce que la morale, si ce n'est la conse- 
 quence pratique de ces relations? Si tout k I'heure j'ai du 
 distinguer entre Jesus-Christ revelateur de la loi morale et 
 Jesus-Christ revelateur de la verite religieuse, vous avez tous 
 senti d'instinct que ce n'etait la qu'une distinction temporaire, 
 qui ne correspondait a rien de reel, et que la personnalite de 
 Jesus-Christ est absolument une et indivisible. 
 
NOTE 10. 283 
 
 'Prenez, en effet, les traits priucipaux de Tenseignement 
 moral de Jesus-Christ. II recommande k ses disciples la 
 pais interieure, le calme et cette douceur victorieuse qui 
 n''ont rien de commuiij ni avec la resignation fataiiste du 
 bouddhiste, ni avec la fermete guindee du stoieien. Mais 
 comment cette disposition interieure est-elle possible sans la 
 foi au Dieu juste, au Dieu qui sait tout, qui voit tout et 
 sans la permission duquel rien n'arrive? II affirme que, 
 sous le desordre apparent des ehoses, il y a un ordre pro- 
 fondj que pas un iota de la loi morale ne pent etre aneanti, 
 que I'homme moissonnera ce qu'il a seme. Mais ces affirma- 
 tions re9oivent chaque jour dans la realite de I'histoire le 
 dementi le plus insolent, elles sont mis6rablement d^risoires 
 si nous ne croyons pas au Dieu qui sanctionne la loi qu'il a 
 faite et qui jugera le monde avec justice. II annonce aux 
 ames les plus souillees un relfevement possible, une restaura- 
 tion complete, un avenir de joie et de puret6. Mais comment 
 ce fait pourra-t-il se r^aliser sans que les droits de la justice 
 divine aient 6te pleinement reconnuSj sans qu'une expiation 
 ait ete aceeptee et subie, sans que la redemption ait et^ 
 accomplie? II annonce le triomphe du royaume de Dieu 
 dans la justice et la verite, non pas seulement comme un 
 ideal auquel Fhumanite arrivera peut-etre dans ving^ ou 
 cinquante siecles, mais comme une reality dont chaque con- 
 science sera le t^moin. Mais cela ne suppose-t-il pas la vie 
 future et la reparation de toutes les iniquites d'ici-bas? II 
 enseigne k voir dans la douleur une epreuve sanctifiante, k 
 tressaiUir de joie au milieu des larmes. Mais cela aura-t-il 
 un sens si I'amour de Dieu n'est pas le refuge de nos eoeurs 
 degus et brises par le monde ? J^ai done le droit de dire que 
 le Christ r^velateur de la loi morale conduit au Christ re- 
 derapteur et sauveur, que le sermon sur la montagne appelle 
 et fait pressentir la croix du Calvaire, que tout se tient dans 
 r^vangile et que I'homme ne pent pas separer ce que Dieu a 
 uni. 
 
 ' Mes freres, vous avez souvent ripete avec sinceritcj mais 
 avec angoisse, la priere des disciples : " Seigneur, augmente 
 
284 NOTE 11. 
 
 notre foi!" Vous nous avez souvent demand^ comment cette 
 foi pent etre fortifiee. tin genie €ga,ri qui fut jusqu'k. la fin 
 un d^iste sincere a ecrit cette parole profonde : " Si tu veux 
 croire en Dieu, vis de telle maniere que tu aies toujours 
 besoin que Dieu existe." Cette parole de Rousseau n'etait 
 que le eommentaire de cette declaration du Maitre des 
 maitres : " Si quelqu'un veut faire la volont^ de Dieu, il 
 connaltra que ma doctrine est de Dieu/' Croyez-vous au 
 Christ revelateur de la loi morale ? Croyez-vous k la neces- 
 site inflexible du devoir, croyez-vous k la saintete interieure, 
 croyez-vous au droit etemel pour tous, croyez-vous k la 
 reparation n^cessaire de toutes les injustices, h, la consolation 
 de toutes les douleurs, croyez-vous enfin au regne de Dieu? 
 II faut choisir entre cela et les doctrines fatalistes qui, de 
 tous les c6t6s, etendent sur le monde leurs ombres epaisses. 
 Si Jesus-Christ est votre Maitre^ si vous savez qu'il vous dit 
 vrai quand il vous parle des " choses terrestres,'' vous I'ecoute- 
 rez et vous croirez en lui quand il vous annoncera " les celes- 
 tes." Apres I'avoir suivi sur la montagne des beatitudes oil il 
 a donn^ au monde la charte du royaume des cieux, vous le 
 suivrez sur le Calvaire oil il a fonde ce royaume par la vertu 
 de son sacrifice redempteur ; apres lui avoir dit comme Pierre : 
 " Seigneur, tu as les paroles de la vie iterneWe" vous ajoute- 
 rez comme lui : " Nous avons cru et nous avons connu que tu 
 es le Christ, le Fils du Dieu vivant." Amen ! ' 
 
 NOTE 11, p. 145. 
 
 The text of this letter (xcvi. al. xcvii., ed. Keil, 1876) is sub- 
 joined, with the translation of Mr. J. D. Lewis : — 
 
 'C. Plinitjs Teajano Imperatoei. 
 
 ' Sollemne est mihi, domine, omnia de quibus dubito ad te 
 referre. Quis enim potest melius vel cunctationem meam 
 regere vel ignorantiam extruere? Cognitionibus de Chris- 
 tianis interfui numquam; ideo nescio quid et quatenus aut 
 puniri soleat aut quaeri. Nee mediocriter haesitavi sitne 
 
NOTE 11. 285 
 
 aliquod discrimen aetatum an quamlibet teneri nihil a ro- 
 bustioribus differant, detur paenitentiae venia an ei qui 
 omnino Christianus fuit desisse non prosit, nomen ipsum, 
 si flagitiis careat, an flagitia cohaerentia nomini puniantur. 
 Interim jw iis qui ad me tamquam Christiani deferebantur 
 hunc sum seeutus modum. Interrogavi ipsos an essent 
 Christiani. Confitentes iterum ac tertio interrogavi, sup- 
 plieium minatus : perseverantes duci jussi. Neque enim 
 dubitabam, qualecumque esset quod faterentur, pertinaciam 
 certe et inflexibilem obstinatio.nem debere puniri. Fuerunt 
 alii similis amentiae quos, quia cives Romani erant, adnotavi 
 in urbem remittendos. Mox ipso tractatu, ut fieri solet, 
 diflTundente se erimine plures species inciderunt. Propositus 
 est libeUus sine auetore multorum nomina eontinens. Qui 
 negabant esse se Christianos aut fuisse, cum praeeunte me 
 deos appellarent et imagini tuae, quam propter hoc jusseram 
 cum simulacris numinum adferri, ture ac vino supplicarent, 
 praeterea male dicerent Christo, quorum nihil posse cogi 
 dicuntur qui sunt re vera Christiani, dimittendos esse putavi. 
 Alii ab indice nominati esse se Christianos dixerunt et mox 
 negaverunt ; fuisse quidem sed desisse, quidam ante plures 
 annos, non nemo etiam ante viginti quoque. Omnes et 
 imaginem tuam deorumque simulacra venerati sunt [ii] et 
 Christo male dixerunt. Adfirmabant autem hanc fuisse 
 summam vel culpae suae vel erroris, quod essent soliti state 
 die ante lucem convenire earmenque Christo quasi deo 
 dicere secum invicem, seque sacramento non in scelus ali- 
 quod obstringere, sed ne furta, ne latrocinia, ne adulteria 
 committerent, ne fidem faUerent, ne depositum appellati 
 abnegarent : quibus peractis morem sibi discedendi fuisse, 
 rursusque ad capiendum eibum, promiscuum tamen et in- 
 noxium; quod ipsum faeere desisse post edictum meum, 
 quo secundum mandata tua hetaerias esse vetueram. Quo 
 magis necessarium credidi ex duabus ancillis, quae ministrae 
 dicebantur, quod esset veri et per tormenta quaerere. Nihil 
 aliud inveni quam superstitionem pravam immodicam. Ideo 
 dilata cognitione ad consulendum te decucurri. Visa est 
 
286 NOTE 11. 
 
 enim mihi res digna consultatione, maxime propter pericli- 
 tantium numerum. Multi enim omnis aetatis, omnis ordinis, 
 utriusque sexus etiam, vocantur in periculum et vocabuntur. 
 Neque civitates tantum sed vicos etiam atque agros super- 
 stitionis istius contagio pervagata est ; quae videtur sisti et 
 corrigi posse. Certe satis constat prope jam desolata templa 
 coepisse celebrari et sacra sollemnia diu intermissa repeti 
 pastumque venire victimarum, cujus adhuc rarissimus emptor 
 inveniebatur. Ex quo facile est opinari quae turba bominum 
 emendari possit, si sit paenitentiae locus.' 
 
 'Pliny to Tkajan. 
 
 ' It is witb me, Sir, an established custom to refer to you all 
 matters on which I am in doubt. Who, indeed, is better able, 
 either to direct my scruples or instruct my ignorance ? 
 
 ' I have never been present at trials of Christians, and 
 consequently do not know for what reasons, or how far, 
 punishment is usually inflicted or inquiry made in their 
 case. Nor have my hesitations been slight : as to whether 
 any distinction of age should be made, or persons however 
 tender in years should be viewed as differing in no respect 
 from the fall-grown ; whether pardon should be accorded to 
 repentance, or he who has once been a Christian should gain 
 nothing by having ceased to be one : whether the very profes- 
 sion itself if unattended by crime, or else the crimes necessarily 
 attaching to the profession, should be made the subject of 
 punishment. 
 
 ' Meanwhile, in the case of those who have been brought 
 before me in the character of Christians, my course has been 
 as follows: — I put it to themselves whether they were or 
 were not Christians. To such as professed that they were, 
 I put the inquiry a second and a third time, threatening 
 them with the supreme penalty. Those who persisted I 
 ordered to execution. For, indeed, I could not doubt, 
 whatever might be the nature of that which they professed, 
 that their pertinacity, at any rate, and inflexible obstinacy, 
 ought to be punished. There were others afflicted with like 
 
NOTE 11. 287 
 
 madness, with regard to whom, as they were Roman citizens, 
 I made a memorandum that they were to be sent for judgment 
 to Rome. Soon, the very handling of this matter causing, as 
 often happens, the area of the charge to spread, many fresh 
 examples occurred. An anonymous paper was put forth 
 containing the names of many persons. Those who denied 
 that they either were or had been Christians, upon their 
 calling on the gods after me, and upon their offering wine 
 and incense before your statue, which for this purpose I had 
 ordered to be introduced in company with the images of the 
 gods, moreover upon their reviling Christ — none of which 
 things it is said can such as are really and truly Christians 
 be compelled to do — these I deemed it proper to dismiss. 
 Others named by the informer admitted that they were 
 Christians^ and then shortly afterwards denied it, adding 
 that they had been Christians, but had ceased to be so, some 
 three years, some many years, more than one of them as much 
 as twenty years, before. All these, too, not only honoured 
 your image and the effigies of the gods, but also reviled 
 Christ. They affirmed, however, that this had been the sum, 
 whether of their crime or their delusion ; they had been in 
 the habit of meeting together on a stated day, before sunrise, 
 and of offering in turns a form of invocation to Christ, as to a 
 god ; also of binding themselves by an oath, not for any 
 guilty purpose, but not to commit thefts, or robberies, or 
 adulteries, not to break their word, not to repudiate deposits 
 when called upon ; these ceremonies having been gone through, 
 they had been in the habit of separating, and again meeting 
 together for the purpose of taking food — food, that is, of an 
 ordinary and innocent kind. They had, however, ceased from 
 doing even this, after my edict, in which, following your 
 orders, I had forbidden the existence of fraternities. This 
 made me think it all the more necessary to inquire, even by 
 torture, of two maid-servants, who were styled deaconesses, 
 what the truth was. I could discover nothing else than a 
 vicious and extravagant superstition ; consequently having 
 adjourned the inquiry, I have had recourse to your counsels. 
 
288 NOTE 12. 
 
 Indeed the matter seemed to me a proper one for consultation, 
 chiefly on account of the number of persons imperilled. For 
 many of all ages and all ranks, ay, and of both sexes, are 
 being called, and will be called, into danger. Nor are cities 
 only permeated by the contagion of this superstition, but 
 villages and country parts as well ; yet it seems possible to 
 stop it and cure it. It is in truth suflBciently evident that 
 the temples, which were almost entirely deserted, have begun 
 to be frequented, that the customary religious rites which had 
 long been interrupted are being resumed, and that there is a 
 sale for the food of sacrificial beasts, for which hitherto very few 
 buyers indeed could be found. From all this it is easy to form 
 an opinion as to the great number of persons who may be 
 reclaimed, if only room be granted for penitence.' — The Letters 
 of the Younger Pliny literally translated, by John Delaware 
 Lewis, M.A., 1879. 
 
 Some objections which have been raised against the 
 genuineness of this letter are conclusively answered by 
 M. Boissier in the Revue Archeologique for Feb., 1876, p. 114. 
 They are also overruled by M. Eenan, who says in a note 
 to Les tlvangiles, p. 476: ^ Les objections qu'on a faites contre 
 V anthenticite de cette lettre ne sauraient prevaloir contre les 
 arguments tires dv, style, et suriout de la place que la piece 
 occupe dans la correspondance administrative de Pline et de 
 Trajan^ 
 
 NOTE 12, p. 154. 
 
 'Avaj3\(\jras eis tov ovpavov etire" ' Ki;/)ie 6 Osos, 6 ■jiamo- 
 Kp6.Ta>p, 6 TOV ayaTrrjTOV koX evKoyrjTov -naibos crov "'Irjaov 
 XpLCTTOv TxaTTjp, 6t' ov T7]z> Ttepl (TOV iT!iyv<a<Tiv ilkr)<^ap.ev, 6 
 6eos ayyi\u)V nai bvvdixeatv koI irAa-qs KrCa-ems -iravros t« tov 
 yivovs T&v biKaCcov, dl (&<nv iv^iriov crov' evKoy& ere, oti ■^^Luxrds 
 jxe T^s rjufpas kuI Spas TovTtjs, tov Xa/Seii' fj,epos iv api.6p.^ t&v 
 fMipTvpuiV ii> Tu -noTTjpCiD TOV XpiaTov crov els avacrTacnv (laiji 
 aloi>vCov i/fu^^s 7€ Koi o-afxaTos ev a^dapvla Tivevp,aTos ayCoV ev 
 
NOTE 13. 289 
 
 oTs Ttpocrbiydiirfl) eviimov aov (rrifiepov fv Qvala movi koL irpoo-SeicTJ}, 
 Kaflcjs TiporiToCiiaffas koI Trpoe^avepcocras koI eTrXrjpaaas, 6 a\l/ivbr]s 
 Koi aXridivbs Oeoi, bia tovto Kal irepl TrdvTmv tre aiv&, <re ev\oy&, 
 <re So^dfa) bia Toy alutviov Kal etTovpavLov ap^iepiois 'IrjcroS XptoroC, 
 ayaTTriTov aov iratSoy, 6i' o5 crot avv avT^ (cat irvevfjiaTi ayim 
 bo^a Koi vvv koI els tovs jueWoiros al&vas, aixrjv.' — Martyrium. 
 Tolycarpi, cap. xiv. ed. Zahn, 1876. 
 
 NOTE 13, p. 154. 
 
 The following is the original passage in St. Clement's Epistle 
 of which. Dr. Lightfoot's translation is given in the text : — 
 
 Kai alTr\tT6\>.iQa, eKrevrj rfjv berjaiv Kol i/cetrtay iroioijixevoi) oTiats 
 Tov apiOpxiv Tov KaTr]pidij,r]p,4vov t&v eKXsKToiv avTov kv oAu tm 
 Koa-jxiD bLa(f>v\d^ri aOpavarov 6 Sijjutoupyos t&v amavTcav hia tov 
 •qyaTrrjixfVOV Tiaibbs avTov 'irjcrov XptoroC, 81' ov fK&\ecrev fifjias cnro 
 anoTovs els <pS>S) airo dyvmaias els eTtCyvuxriv bo^rjs ovojuaros av- 
 Tov. [A09 ^p.'iv, Kvpte], e\TSiCeii> eTil to dpyeyovov irdo-Tjs Kricreios 
 ovojia. crov, dvoi^as Toiis d00a\/xoi)s ttjs KapbCas fjfi&v els to yivm- 
 cTKeiv ere, tov fxovov ' tj'^kttov ev i\|frj\ots ayiov ev ayCois dvamayo- 
 ixevov, TOV TUireivovvTa vj3piv inTepr](f>dva)v, tov haXvovTa koyia-- 
 fjLovs idv&v, TOV TToiovvTa Taveivoiis els ii\{fovs nal Toiis v^r]Kovs 
 TaiteivovvTa, tov TtXovTiCovTa koI UTafjfiQovTa, tov dnoKTeCvovTa 
 Kal Cv^ TTOiovvTa,' ptovov evepyeTrjv Trv€vp,dTa>v koI &ebv wdo-Tjs 
 aapKOS, TOV ' e-ni^keiiovTa ev rats d^ivacrois ' tov eiroiTTTjv dv- 
 OpodirCvav epymv, tov t&v KivbevovTuiv fiorjOov, tov tu>v ' dwJjX- 
 ■niffjj.eviov (TcoTTjpa,' tov TiavTos itvevixaTos k7iotjjv Kal eniaKOiiov, 
 tov TrXxjOvvovTa edvr] eTil y^s koL ex TtdvTav eK\e^dp.evov rois 
 dyanZvTas (re bia Ijfjaov KpL(TTOv tov 7\yaTSr)p,evov TrotSos (xov, 61' 
 ov fjixas iiraibev(ras fjytaa-as, eTlp,r]<Tas. 'A$tovfji,ev ae, fie'cnrora, 
 ' fio-qdov ' yeveaOai ' Kal dvTiXrjVTopa ' f)p,5)V. tovs ev dkv^ei 
 T]iJ,(ov ar&crov TOvs TaTTeivovs eX4r]<Tov tovs Treiirco/coras eyeipoV 
 Tols beofiivoLS eincjjdvqOi' tovs ao-e/Seis taffaf tovs TsXav(ap.evovs 
 tov Xaov crov eTtCaTpe\lrov' Xopracroi' tovs Tieiv&VTas' XiTpa>aai 
 TOVS becrfxlovs fifj-SiV i^avdcrTr]crov tovs daSevovvTas' TtapaKdXecov 
 tovs 6Xiyo\j/vxpvvTas' ' yvtoraaav' diravTa ' ra eOvt],' Sti ' ov ei 6 
 
 V 
 
290 NOTE 13. 
 
 @ehs f^ioVos,' KOi 'Itjo-oDs Xpioros 6 irais (rov, koi ' ^/xeTs Xaos (tov 
 Koi TipojSaTa lijs vonfjs cov.' 
 
 LX. 2ii TrjV aivaov rov koctixov aijcTTaa-LV bia t&v evepyov[j,4vQii> 
 i(l)av(poT!oCriaas' (ri), Kvpif, rrjv olKOVfi^v-qv iKTiiras, 6 ■jnoros fv 
 TiAa-ais rats yeveais, bUaios ev rots Kpip,a<nv, Oavixaa-rbs iv l(rx_'i'C 
 Koi p.eya\oT!peT!iia, 6 <Tocf)bs kv ru ktlC^lv /cat (TvveTos iv t<S to, 
 yevojifva kbpdcrai, 6 ayados ev toIs opcojue'vois kuI ttuttos ev my 
 ■neitoidoaiv Ittl trk, ' kkfr)iJ,ov koL oiKrCpixov,' &^is fjiuv ras avop,ias 
 fjixuv Kol TCLS ahmCas koI to, •napaitTcap.ara kol ■nXr^p.p.ikeiai. jm) 
 koyCa-Tj Tiaaav ai^apTiav hovKmv (rov koI iraLbiarK&v, akXa Ka6dpi(Tov 
 ^pL&s TOV KaOapuTixov r^s arjs aXriOdas, Koi ' Karevdvvov ra Sia- 
 ^■qp,ara ' fipLav ' kv oo-iottjti ' koI biKawcrvvr] koI aTrKorrjTi ' KapbCas 
 TTopevea-OaL ' koI ' Tsoielv to. koKo, koX evdpta-Ta ivdviov ' aov kol evm- 
 TtLov T&v dpxovT<av r]p.5>v, vol, biintoTa, ' fTtCcliavov to TrpocroiTrov 
 crov e(t>' fjims els ayada kv dprjvrj, ds to crKeTiacrdfjvai ^fxas 'rfj 
 Xeipi aov Trj KpaTaia ' koI pvffOrjvai airb ■Ko.a-rjs afxapTias rm 
 ' ^payiovl (TOV rm ii-^rjX^ ' kol pvcrai fifxas aiib t&v ptiaovvToiV 
 fjnas dS^/cus" 66$ bp.6voiav koX tl(/f\vrjv tumv re koL Trairiv tois 
 KUTOiKOva-LV T?7y yrjv, Kadas eba>Kas rois vaTp6,(nv fip,&v, ' firiKakov- 
 ixevcov ' (re avr&v b(TMS ' iv •ni(TTei k(xI aXri6el(t,' [(Sore trufeo-^at 
 ^pL&si] virrjKoovs yivop,evovs tm TsavTOKp6,Topi Koi TravapeTia 6v6- 
 HarC (rov, rois re 6,pxpvfrLv nal riyovp-evois fip-Qv enl rrjs yrjs. 
 
 LXI. Sii, be(rTroTa, eSojKos ttiv e^ov<riav t^s /3a(ri\eias aims 
 bid TOV fieyaXovpeirovs /cal dveKbi,r]yqT0v KpdTovs crov, els rb yiva- 
 (TKovTas fifjids TTjV virb crov avTois beboptevriv bo^av Kal Tipiqv imo- 
 Td(r(rt(r6ai avTois, ixrjbev evavTiovp,lvovs tu 6e\r\)xaTl (rov' dls bbs, 
 Kvpie, vyielav, elprjvrjv, bp,6voiav, evcrrddeiav, els Tb bieiteiv avrovs 
 T7]v vnb (rov bebofiivqv aiiTois riyep.oviav ompocrKd'nais. (rv yap, 
 bea-irora eTtovpdvie, jSaaiXev t&v al<Lvuiv, bibais toZs viois t&v 
 dvOpatTKnv bo^av Koi Ti,p.r)V Kal e^ovalav t&v em Trjs yrjs vitap- 
 X<3VT(t)V av, Kvpie, bievdvvov ttjv fiovXrjV avT&v Kara 76 Kakbv 
 Kal evdpe(rTov ivdmov crov, 'disuis bievovTes ev elprjvri Kal TtpavrriTi 
 ewefi&s TTIV virb (rov aiiTols bebojxivrjv i^ov(rCav tKe(& (rov rvy- 
 xdvoixriv. 'O juoVos bvvaTbs '!roLr](raL TavTa Kal ■nepi(r(r6Tepa dyaOa 
 ixed' fjp.&v, (rol i^oiwXoyovp.e6ai bta tov ap)(i.epe(as kuI Ttpoa-TaTov 
 T&v ^vx&v fjiJL&v 'lr](rov XpioToO, 6t' o5 crot fi bo^a Kal fi jueya\a)- 
 (Tvvri Kal vvv /col els yeveav yeve&v koi els tovs al&vas T&v al(iv(ov. 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE INCARNATION, 291 
 
 ajxriiT: — St. Clement of Borne, an Appendix, By J. B. Lightfoot, 
 D.D., 1877. 
 
 NOTE 14, p. 160. 
 
 The subjoined extracts from Athanasius's Treatise ' De In- 
 carnatione Verbi' will illustrate the statement in the text. 
 The accompanying translation is that published by Whiston, 
 in 1713:— 
 
 II. 'O ©€os 6 TsavTUiv exonv II. God that has the power 
 
 r ^ Kp&Tos, Sre tS tS>v &v0p<&-noov o^er all things, when He made 
 
 , - V „ ,. , , , , mankind by His own Word, 
 yevoi oia Tov Loi,ov oyov fTtoiei, ., , •,, , ,, ^ 
 
 considered withal the weak- 
 
 Karibiiv Trd\iv rfiv AcrOiveiav ^ggg ^f tj^gir nature, that it 
 
 Trjs (t)V(Tfa)s avT&v, its ov\ iKavr] was not sufficient of itself to 
 
 ih If kavrns yv&vai tov Avixi- ^^^"^ ^^^" Creator, or indeed 
 
 ^ ,^, ^ ^ . - „ to have almost any notion of 
 
 ovpyov.ovo oAios evvoiav AaBfiv -.t- .hi .1 /-^ 
 
 '^' Him at all, because the One 
 
 ©eoC, t5 Thv ixkv dvai d.yevri- ^^g unbegotten and the other 
 TOV, TO. be ef ovk ovtoiv yeye- Was made out of nothing; 
 vrjaeai, ml rbv ix\v ^<Td>p.arov as also because the One was 
 
 , \ »s , n / / incorporeal, and men were, as 
 
 iivai, rovs 6e avapavovs Karw ,,,..„. , „ , 
 
 to their interior part, termed 
 
 TTov (Tiajiari. itev\d<Tdai, Koi S\a>s ^f ^ body ; and because, upon 
 Tro\\r]v itvM TTiVT&v yevr\T&v eX.- the whole, there was a mighty 
 Xei^tvnpbs ri,v rod TttmiriKdTos "defect in things that were 
 
 , , , „ ,, / made with regard to the com- 
 
 KaraMwiv /cat yvcocriv eKeriaas . . ° , , , . „ 
 
 ^ prehension and knowledge 01 
 
 7:d\iv TO yivos to dvdpc&vLvov, gj^^ ^j^^^. ^^^^ them. He 
 S.Te 6jj ayadbs &v, ovk a((>r}Kev also out of His goodness had 
 aiToiis ipwovs ^rjs eavTov yv<k- compassion on mankind ; and 
 
 „ ^ , , „ s accordingly He did not leave 
 
 aeu>i,lva \x.r\ avovi\TOV ey(i>(n KoX ■,/■., p ,, , 
 
 them destitute 01 the know- 
 Tb elva,. Uola yhp o,r,^LS row ^^^^^ ^^ jjj^^^j^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ 
 
 ■neisoirinivoii m yivcicrKovai rbv jjgjjj^ mighi, not be to them 
 
 kavT&v -noirfTriv, *H ir&s hv unprofitable. For what ad- 
 
 iXiv XoyiKoX ixTj yiv<a(niovTis rbv vantage would existence be 
 
 u 3 
 
292 
 
 NOTE 14. 
 
 Tov TlaTfjos koyov, iv w koX 
 yey6va<nv ; Ovh\v yap ovbe 
 a\6yu)V biaipepav ejieWov, el 
 ■nXiov ovhiv r&v TiepiyeCaiv eire- 
 yivcuiTKOv. Tt 8^ Kot 6 ©eos 
 kvoUl rovTOVs, a(j>' &v ovk r]Qi- 
 krjae yivdaKicrQai ; "Odev tva 
 fxri TovTo yivr\Tai,, aya6os oov, 
 TTJs iSt'as etKoVos avroTs rod 
 KvpCov fjfx&v 'lr](Tov Xpiorrou 
 /iieTaStScoin, /cat Tioiei tovtovs 
 Kara rrjv kavrov ehova Kal KaO' 
 6p.oimcnv iva 6ta t^s tolovttis 
 \api,TOs rfiv tlKova voovvres, 
 Xiyca hrj tov tov Ylarpos Ao- 
 701", bvvriOoia-iv hivoiav 8i' av- 
 Tov Toi5 IlaTpos Xa^eiv, Kal 
 yivtoaKovTes top "noirjTrjv facri 
 TOV evSaCnova Kal ^laKapiov 
 ovTots pLov. 'AXX' &vdpan!ot 
 irdKiv '7Tapd(f)poves, KaToXiym- 
 p-qa-avTes koI ovtoo tj]s bodeia-qi 
 avTo'is xdpiTos, TocrovTov ain- 
 cTpdcjiTjaav toi» Qebv, Kal tou- 
 ovTov €$6Kcoa-av eavT&v ttjv 
 '^vffjiv, &)s jUTj jxovov fiTiXadia-Oai 
 Trjs Tiepl &eov ivvolas, aWa koI 
 krepa avd' iTepaiv eairots dva- 
 Tskdaacydai. EffiooXd re yap 
 ovtI Trjs aXrjOeCas {avTo'is aveTV- 
 
 to tliose beings that were 
 made, if they did not know 
 their Maker ? Or how could 
 they be reasonable creatures if 
 they did not know the Word 
 (or Reason) of the Father, by 
 whom they were made ? For 
 they would not at all differ 
 from the irrational creatures 
 if they had no notions but of 
 earthly things. And why did 
 God make such creatures by 
 which He had no mind to be 
 known? Indeed, to prevent 
 this ignorance He out of His 
 goodness made them par- 
 takers of His own image, our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and made 
 them according to His own image 
 and likeness, that by such 
 grace bestowed on them they 
 might reflect on that image, 
 I mean the Word of the 
 Father ; and so might obtain 
 by Him the knowledge of the 
 Father; and that when they 
 knew their Maker they might 
 live a really happy and blessed 
 life. But men grew foolish 
 again, and despised even this 
 grace which was bestowed 
 upon them, and did so far re- 
 ject God, and so far pollute 
 their own souls, as not only 
 to forget the notions of God, 
 but to frame for themselves 
 one thing for another. For 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE INCAENATION. 293 
 
 irataavTO, koI to, ovk ovra tov ov- 
 ros ©eoC 'TrpoerCiJ/rjaav, rfi Krlcrei 
 •napa tov KrCcravTa XarpevovTfs, 
 
 Kol TO ye X^CpKTTOV, OTl Kot ils 
 
 fvAa (cat eh XlOovs, kw, els iracrav 
 i\r]v Koi avOpinovs ttjv tov 
 @eov Tiixriv neTertOovv, Koi 
 TtXeiova TOVToov Ttoiovvres &cntep 
 ev. Tois e}n:pou6ev elprjTai. Totr- 
 ovTov be rjCTe^ovv, otl kol bai- 
 IJLOvas eOpi^cTKevov Xontov /cat 
 6eovs avriyopevov, ras emOvixCas 
 avT&v aTTOvhrfpovvTes. ©uirtas 
 re yap ^(awv aXoyav koi av- 
 OpiaTtcov (T^ayas, &(n!ep eiprjTaL 
 TtpoTepov, eh to tKelvuiv KadrJKov 
 iireTeXovv, irXelov eavTovs Tots 
 eKelviov oloTprjixaari KaraSecr- 
 fievovres. Ata tovto yovv /cat 
 ixayelai Trap' avToh ebibdcTKovTo, 
 Koi fiavTela /cara tottov tovs 
 &v0p(oT!ovs eTrXdva, Koi irdpTes 
 TO, yevicreuis koX tov etvai eavT&v 
 TO, atrta rots darTpois koI rots 
 KaT ovpavov Tiacnv aveTlOovv, 
 fn]bev TiXeov t&v <f)aivopi,evmv 
 Xoyi^opLevoi. Kal 5\<as "n&VTa 
 TjV dcre^elas Kot Traparo/xias 
 (lecTTa, kolX fiovos 6 @eos ovbe 6 
 TovTov Aoyoi iireyivdaKeTo, KaC- 
 
 they formed to themselves 
 idols instead of the truth, and 
 preferred what had no being 
 to the real God, serving the 
 creature more than the Creator ; 
 and, what was still worse, they 
 transferred the honour of God 
 unto wood, and stone, and all 
 sorts of matter, and to men ; 
 nay, they did what was still 
 worse than all this, as we have 
 already shewed. Indeed they 
 came to that degree of impiety 
 that they at last worshipped 
 demons and called them gods, 
 and filled up the measure of 
 their lusts ; for they offered, 
 as we have before discoursed, 
 the sacrifices of brute crea- 
 tures, and performed the obla- 
 tion of human victims, in a 
 way agreeable to such idola- 
 trous superstitions, rendering 
 themselves still more and more 
 obnoxious to their furious 
 emotions. And by this means 
 magic arts were taught by 
 them, and predictions in every 
 place deceived men, and all 
 people ascribed the causes of 
 their nativity and of their 
 being to the stars, and to all 
 the heavenly bodieSj dreaming 
 of nothing besides what was 
 seen; and, in short, all the 
 world was full of impiety and 
 wickedness ; God only and 
 
294 
 
 NOTE 14. 
 
 Tot ovK a(l)avfj eavrbv rot? av- 
 6p(&Troii e'!nKpv\{ras, ovhe cmXrlv 
 Trjv ir^pl kavTov yv&criv avroXs 
 bebcuK^s, aXka koI irotKt'Aus /cot 
 bba TioXX&v avTrjv airots f(j)a- 
 irXdaas. 
 
 13. AvrdpKris fJ^ev yap -qv f] 
 Kwr e'lKova x^P'-^ yvcopi(etv tov 
 &eov Aoyov, Koi 8t' airov top 
 Uaripa' elbios be 6 ©eos Trjv 
 acrOeveiav t&v avdpdmaiv, vpo- 
 ei/OTjcraTo Koi Trjs aixeXeias tov- 
 Toov, tv' eav ajMeXricraiev bi eav- 
 r&v TOV &eov iiriyv&vai, exmcri 
 bia T&v Trjs KTi(Teais 'ipymv tov 
 ArjiJiiovpybv /j-ri ayvoeiv. ''Ew€t6?j 
 be T] avOpciTTcav ajjiiXeia iirl to, 
 X^Cpova KUT oXlyov eviKaTa- 
 ^aivei, TtpoevoricraTo vaXiv 6 
 ©eoy Koi Trjs Toiavrrjs avT&v 
 aadeveCas, voijlov koI irpocpriTas 
 Tovs avTo'is yvmpifxovs amo- 
 (TTelkas, tv , eav /cat els tov ov- 
 pavov oKvfiaaxnv avapXe\j/aL Kal 
 yvSvai TOV voirjTrjV, exftXTtr en 
 T&v iyyvs Tr]v bibaaKaXCav. 
 AvOpcoTtoi yap ■napa avOp^Ticov 
 eyyvTepm bvvavrai fxaOelv irepl 
 
 His word were not known- j 
 although. He had not concealed 
 Himself from men, nor indeed 
 had merely afforded them one 
 means of knowing of Himself, 
 but had redoubled them in 
 diverse manners and by various 
 ways. 
 
 13. For that grace which 
 was afforded them, qfier the 
 image of God, was suiEcient to 
 make known God the Word, 
 and by Him the Father, to 
 them. But God, who knew 
 the weakness of men, made 
 provision even for their care- 
 lessness, that if they were 
 negligent as to the know- 
 ledge of God from themselves, 
 they might have means to 
 avoid being ignorant of their 
 Creator from the works of the 
 creation. And whereas the 
 carelessness of men did by 
 degrees grow still worse and 
 worse, God did farther make 
 provision for even this weak- 
 ness of theirs also, by sending 
 them laws and prophets from 
 among themselves; that when 
 they would not take pains so 
 much as to lift up their eyes to 
 heaven to know their Maker, 
 they might have other readier 
 means at hand to instruct 
 them. For men do most 
 naturally learn from other 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE INCARNATION. 295 
 
 T&V KpHTTOVCOV. 'E^OV OVV TJV, 
 
 avafiXixjfavTas avToiis els to 
 jieyeOos Toi5 ovpavov, Koi Kara- 
 voTqcravras ttiv rfjs Krl(re(os apfio- 
 viav, yv&vai tov ravTrjs ^yenova 
 Tov roS rfarpos Aoyov, tov ttj 
 eavTov els TrdvTa irpovoCq yvuipl- 
 (pPTa ira<n tov Uarepa, koI bia 
 TovTO to,' oXa KivovvTa, tva 6i' 
 avTov irdvres yivda^Koxn tov 
 &e6v. *H el tovto avrois ^v 
 OKvqpov, K&v TOis ayiois bvvaThv 
 rjv avToiis avvTvyx&veiv, /cat hi' 
 avT&v ixaOflv tov t&v irdvraiv 
 br]iJ.iovpyov @eov, tov tov Xpiir- 
 Tov Uarepa* /cat ort t&v elbca- 
 Xav f] OprqcTKeia dOeoTrfs eorj /cat 
 Ttda-qs a<rfj3elas \j,e(TTri. 'E^ov 
 he Tjv avTovs, kcli tov vdfiov 
 eyvonKOTaS) itavcracrdai irda-rjs 
 •napavoiiias, /cat tov kut dpeTr\v 
 ^rj<Tai pLov. Ovh\ yap 8ta 'lou- 
 baCovs [lovovs 6 vofxos rjv, ovhe 
 bC- avTOVS fiovovs ot ispo^ryrai 
 eirepLTTOvTO, aXXa Tip^s 'lovbaCovs 
 fxev eitifj-TTOVTO, koI ■jropa 'lov- 
 baCaiv ehcaKOVTo' itcJo'jjs 6^ Trjs 
 olKovjxevqs rjaav bibatrKdXiov 
 
 men what is most for their 
 advantage. It was therefore 
 in their power to look up to 
 the magnitude of heaven, and 
 by the contemplation of the 
 harmony of the creation to 
 know Him that is the ruler 
 thereof, the Word of the 
 Father, who by His provi- 
 dence over all things makes 
 known the Father to all, and 
 for this reason moves the uni- 
 verse, that all by Him may 
 know God. Or if this method 
 was too troublesome for them, 
 at least it was in their power 
 to converse with holy men, 
 and by their means to arrive 
 at the knowledge of God the 
 Creator of all things, the 
 Father of Christ, and might 
 discover that the worship of 
 idols was an instance of athe- 
 ism and a thing full of all 
 impiety. It was also in their 
 power, by the knowledge of 
 the law, to leave off all kinds 
 of transgression, and to lead 
 a life by the rules of virtue. 
 For the law was not given 
 only on account of the Jews, 
 nor were the prophets sent 
 only out of regard to them ; 
 but while they were indeed 
 sent to the Jews, and were by 
 them persecuted, they were a 
 foundation of sacred instruc- 
 
296 
 
 NOTE 14. 
 
 Upbv Tr]s Ttepl Qeov yvdcreais, 
 Koi T7JS Kara ■^vxjiv ToAtreiaj. 
 Toa-avTrji ovv ovaris tjjs tov 
 ©eoC ayaOoTrjT OS koX (fnXav- 
 6pa>TTLas, o/xcoy ol avOpaitoi, vi- 
 Kiifxevoi Tols -KapavrlKa ffiovah, 
 Kw, Tails tiapa baiixovoov cpavra- 
 criais /cat aTScaais, ovk avevevaav 
 Tipbs rfiv aXrjddav, aXX' eavroiis 
 ■jrXeCoai kokois koL ap.apT7}p,acnv 
 evf^oprjcrav, wy jUJjKfTt boKeiv 
 avTovs XoyiKOvs, aWa aXoyovs 
 eK T&v Tpovmv vojuifeo-^ai. 
 
 13. OrJro) TOivvv oKoytadiv- 
 Ttav tZv avOpatiKav, koX ovTia 
 rrjs haiixoviKTJs TrXdvris enia-Kia- 
 Covcrrjs TO. irazraxoS, kol KpvuT- 
 ovcrris TTiv irepl tov a\r]6ivov 
 &eov yvSxTiv, ri tov @eov 
 ISet TTOifLV ; Sicow^troi to TijXt- 
 KovTov Koi a(peivai. tovs av- 
 dpci-Kovs VTib baiij,6va)v vXa- 
 vaffdai, Koi ixr] yivcocTKeiv av- 
 Tovs TOV &e6v ; Kal ris f/ xpeia 
 TOV ef &PXV^ *'*'"' fl<oi>a ®eov 
 yiviaOai rov S.v9pmi:ov ; "ESet 
 yap avTov awXfis wy &Koyov 
 
 tion to all the world, in divine 
 knowledge and in spiritual 
 conversation. Now although 
 the goodness and lovingkind- 
 ness of God were so great, 
 yet were men so subdued by- 
 present pleasures and those 
 imaginations and deceptions 
 which were derived from de- 
 mons, that they did not at- 
 tempt to arrive at truth, but 
 indulged themselves in greater 
 evils and instances of wicked- 
 ness, till they seemed no longer 
 to be rational creatures, but 
 rather deserved froih their 
 conduct to be esteemed brute 
 beasts. 
 
 13. Wherefore when men 
 were thus become brutes, and 
 demoniacal errors enveloped 
 every part of the universe, 
 and took away the means of 
 knowing what concerned the 
 true God, what was it fit for 
 God to do ? To keep silence 
 in so important a case, and to 
 suffer men to be deceived by 
 demons and to be without the 
 knowledge of God? If so, 
 what occasion was there that 
 man should first have been 
 made after the image of God? 
 For he ought either to have 
 been made barely an irrational 
 creature, or when he was made 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE INCAENATION. 297 
 
 yevicrOai, 17 yevofi.evov \oyiKoi> 
 r-qv T&v aXoyav C'>>h^ M iStow. 
 Tt9 8e oXcos ?jy XP*'"^ evvoias 
 avTov \al3eXv irepl ®€ov e^ 
 apx'js ; e' yap ovbe vvv otto's 
 eoTt \aj3eiv, ebet jUjjSe Kara rrjv 
 apxrjv avT^ boOrivai. Tt 8e kuI 
 ocjxKos r<p veiToirjKOTL 0eu, ^ 
 TToia ooga avTQ) ar etry, et ot inr 
 avTOv yev6p,evoi ov vpodKvv- 
 ovcTLV avrZ, aXK' erepovs etvai 
 Tovs TtmovtjKOTai avrovs vojxi- 
 ^ovcriv; Evpicr/c€Tat yap 6 0eos 
 STepois Koi ov)^ kavrQ tovtovs 
 brnxiovpyrjaas. Eira PacnKeiis 
 jjiev, avdpcoTios Si>v, ras virb av- 
 Tov KTiadeLcras x^^ptis ovk acfiiri- 
 <nv fKboTovs fTepois bov\eveiv, 
 ovbe TTpbs aXXovs Koratpevyew, 
 aWa ypap-fxacriv avrovs imo- 
 fjnUvrjcTKei, TioWaKii be Koi bia 
 (piKoav aiiTo'is eirtoreAAet, el be 
 Koi XPf^o yeviyrai, avrbs irapa- 
 yiverai, rfj -napovcriq, Koivov 
 avTOVS bva-oo'K&v jxovov tva p,r} 
 erepoK bovXeijcrcoa-i, Kal apyov 
 avTOV TO epyov yevrjTai. Ov 
 ttoAAg) Trkeov 6 @ebs r&v eavrov 
 
 rational not to live the life of 
 brutes. And besides, in this 
 case what occasion was there 
 for him at first to be endued 
 with notions of God ? For if 
 he be not now worthy of them, 
 it was not necessary that they 
 should have been implanted in 
 him at first. Farther, what 
 advantage could this be to 
 God that made him ; or what 
 glory could redound to Him 
 hereby; if those men that were 
 made by Him do not worship 
 Him, but imagine that other 
 beings were their makers? 
 Since upon this supposition it 
 appears that God created them 
 for others and not for Him- 
 self. Moreover, if there be but 
 an earthly king, he does not 
 sufier that those places which 
 himself has built should be 
 delivered up to serve any 
 others, or should revolt to 
 others, but he warns them 
 by letters, nay frequently 
 sends to them by his friends, 
 and even, if need be, he comes 
 at length himself and shames 
 them ; and all this that they 
 may not serve others, and so 
 his own workmanship be to 
 no purpose. Is it not then 
 much more reasonable that 
 God should have regard to 
 His own creatures, that they 
 
298 
 
 NOTE 14. 
 
 KTicrjUQTWv (fxio-erai Trpos to fu] 
 ■nXavrjOrjvai an' avrov, koI rocs 
 Oi5k oB(rt hovXeveiv, jxaXiaTa on 
 f) TOiavTT] TtXdvr] oTTCoXetas av- 
 rots ahia Kat dc^arterjuoS yive- 
 Tat ; ovK ehei be to, Sma^ KOiva>- 
 vqiravTa Tr\s tov ©eoC sIkovos 
 anoXiaOai, Ti ovv ebei TTOie'iv 
 TOV @e6v ; *H rt eSei yeviadai 
 d\\' 77 70 (car' elKova TrdXiv 
 avave&crai, "va hi avTov irdXiv 
 avTov yv&vai hvvi\d&cnv ol av- 
 OpcaiTOi ; TovTo 8^ irfis Sy eye- 
 yovei, fl fiT} avTTJs Trjs tov 
 &eov ilKovos Tiapayfvofi,ivr]s 
 tov ScoT^pos riiJ,&v 'Jrjaov Xptcr- 
 Tov ; Ai' cLvOpdTrwv jxev yap ovk 
 rjv bvvaTov, eirei Kal avTol kut 
 ilKova yeyovaa-LV dXX ovbe 81' 
 ayyeXcov. ovb^ yap ovbe avToL 
 flcriv ehoves. "Odev 6 tov @eov 
 Aoyos bi kavTov TrapeyiveTO, Iv' 
 a)s elKotv Sbv TOV UaTpbs tov 
 KaT eUova cLvOpcoTrov avaKTwai 
 bvvrjOfj. "AWcoy be TidXiv ov/c 
 &v eyeyovei, el pJr] o ddvaTos ^v 
 Kal rj (fiOopa e^a(pavia6e'iiTa, 
 oQev eiKOTMs eXa^e iTS)\xa Ovr)Tov, 
 
 may not wander from Him 
 and serve what has no exist- 
 ence, especially when such 
 errors must turn to their de- 
 struction and perdition? It 
 was not therefore fit for beings 
 which had once been par- 
 takers of the image of God 
 to perish. What was then 
 fit for Grod to do, or what else 
 was fit to be done but to pro- 
 vide again for the renovation 
 of what was made after His 
 image, that so thereby men 
 might be able again to know 
 Him? Now how could this 
 be done but by the coming of 
 the image of God itself, our 
 Saviour Jesus Christ ? For 
 by men this thing could not 
 be done, since themselves were 
 made according to the image ; 
 nor indeed by angels, since 
 even they are not the images 
 of God. Whence it was that 
 the Word of God came of 
 Himself, that He as being the 
 image of the Father, might be 
 able to create man again who 
 had once been created after 
 that image. Nay even then 
 this had not been done unless 
 death had been, and mortality 
 was to be abolished. Whence 
 He, as it was but reasonable, 
 took a mortal body, that so 
 for the time to come death 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE INCARNATION. 299 
 
 iva Koi 6 Oavaros kv airu Xoi- 
 irov e^a^avurOrivai hvvr\6y, Kat 
 01 (car f iKoi'a irciXiz' avaKaiviir- 
 BSktw av6pu>iroi. Ovkovv krepov 
 ■npos TavTTjv TTjV xpeiav ovk ^y 
 ti jXTj TTJs {Ikovos toC UaTpos. 
 
 14. '^s yap TJjs ypacpficrrjs 
 ev $v\(a juopc^Tjs Trapatpavia- 
 OeCcrrjs e/c tZv e^otdev pvisMV, 
 TsaXiv "jifiita TOVTOV Trapaye- 
 viadai, ov Ka\ ^cmv fj ixop^rj, 
 'iva avaKaivia-6rjvaL fj eluav 
 bvVTjdfj ev Tjj avrfj vXrj' bia 
 yap T7]V eKiivov ypa<pr]v f) avrrj 
 Kal vXr) ev ^ Kal yiypanrai, 
 OVK ^KJSAWiTai, d\X' iv aiirfi 
 avaTVUovTai. Kara tovto Kal 
 6 TTavdyios tov Uarpos 'Tibs, 
 elKOiv &v TOV Ylarpos, Trapeyevero 
 em Tovs fifierepovs tottovs, 'iva 
 TOV kut' avTov ■ne'Koi.rijxivov av- 
 dpatTSOv avaKaiviarj, Ka\ wy diro- 
 Kofxevov fSprj bia ttjs t&v afiap- 
 Tl&v cujyeaeciis, fj (^rj(7t Kal avTos 
 ev Tois 'Evayye\[ois' ^HXOov to 
 a/noXofxevov evpeiv koH aSxrai, 
 "Odev KM TTpbs TOVS 'JovbaCovs 
 ^Xeyev 'Eav jxij tis avayev- 
 
 might by Him be abolished, 
 and men that were made after 
 that image might again be 
 renewed. Wherefore no one 
 was capable of this attempt 
 but the Image of the Father. 
 
 14. For it is here as with 
 the shape of a man engraven 
 in wood but disfigured by ex- 
 ternal filth ; there is occasion 
 for the presence of that man 
 himself again whose statue it 
 is, that so the image may be 
 renewed in the same piece of 
 wood again. For the wood 
 itself wherein the figure is is 
 therefore not cast away, be- 
 cause of its bearing the man's 
 figure ; but the figure is en- 
 graved over again. In the 
 same manner did that most 
 Holy Son of the Father, who 
 is His very image, come into 
 the places where we live, that 
 he might renew man again 
 who was made after Him, and 
 that He might find him as 
 one that had been lost, by 
 the remission of sins, agree- 
 ably to what He says Himself 
 in the Gospels, I came to find 
 and to save that which was lost. 
 Whence it was also that He 
 said to the Jews, Except a 
 man ie begotten again; not 
 
300 
 
 NOTE 14. 
 
 vriOfj' oil TTjV ex yvvaiKZv ykv- 
 vr\<nv arjiJLaiviav, Sairep vnevoovv 
 fKfivoL, aWa T-qv avay(vva>- 
 fxevriv Koi avaKTiQi]xivr\v \}/v)(7iv 
 fv ra Kar eiKora hrjX&v. 'EiretS?) 
 be Kol eibcoXoixavCa koi dfleoTjjs 
 Kareixe rriv olKov^ivrp, K<xi fj 
 •nepl @eov yv&cris kniKpvTno' 
 TWOS ^v bibd^ai rriv olKovfi,ivr]v 
 Ttepl Tlarpos ; 'AvOptaiiov (pairj 
 Tis av ; 'AAA' ovK rjv &v9pciTT(av 
 kvov Tjyv v(f>-q\i,ov rraaav vvekO- 
 eiv, ovre rfj (j)vaeL rocrovTov 
 icrxyovTOiV bpafielv, ovTf a^io- 
 ■7TL(TTcov Tiepl TOVTOV bvvajxevcov 
 yevea-dai, ovre irpcis rrjv rStv 
 baniovinv aTTaTrjv koI (})avTacriav 
 iKav&v 6t' eavT&v avTiaTrjvai, 
 ndvToiv yap koto, i/'i^x^" ''tAjj- 
 yivTcnv Kal rapayOivTotv ■napa 
 T^s baipLoviK^i a,TTii.Tr]s, koi tjjs 
 T&v elbtakoav ftaraiorjjToSj t5s 
 olov T€ rjv civOpcaiTOV ''jrvxrjv Kal 
 avOpdiriov vovv jueraweto-ai, OTtov 
 ye oibi opav avrovs bvvavrai; 
 o bk )j.r\ opa tis, tcSs bvvavrai 
 IxfTaTTaibevcrat ; 'AAA' iacos av 
 TIS etiToi, TTjv ktC(7iv &pKela0ai„ 
 
 meaning the generation ac- 
 cording to the flesh, as they 
 supposed, but declaring that 
 new generation and new crea- 
 tion of the soul which is made 
 according to His image. Now 
 seeing that the madness of 
 idolatry and atheistical no- 
 tions overspread the whole 
 world, and divine knowledge 
 was hidden from men, to 
 whom did it belong to in- 
 struct the world concerning 
 the Father ? Some body per- 
 haps may say it belonged to 
 a man. But men are not 
 capable of travelling over all 
 the earth, as not of a nature 
 strong enough for that pur- 
 pose, nor of sufiicient credit 
 for the same, nor able of them- 
 selves to oppose the deceits 
 and delusions of demons. For 
 when the souls of all men 
 were affected and disordered 
 by the deceits of demons and 
 the vanity of idols, how was it 
 possible for them to persuade 
 the souls of men and the minds 
 of men to reform, when they 
 were not able so much as to 
 see the men themselves? 
 Now if anyone does not see 
 a person, how can he persuade 
 him to reform ? But perhaps 
 some will say, that the 
 creation is sufficient for that 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE INCARNATION. 301 
 
 AA\' el fi KTiVis rjpKei, ovk &v 
 eyeyovei to, TrjXuaiJra KaKa, 
 Hv yap Koi fj KTicns' Kat ovbev 
 
 ^TTOV ol avdpODTIOL fV T7J avTrj 
 
 TTepl @€ov TrKavrj envXiovro. 
 TCvos ovv ■^v ttclXlv xP^^" V '''"^ 
 @eov Aoyov rod koL ■^vxt]V kuI 
 vovv op&vTos, Tov Kot TO, oXtt ev 
 TTj KrCa-ei kivovvtos, km hC 
 avT&v yvoipiCovTos tov Haripa ; 
 Toi; yap hia ttjs IbCas TtpovoCas 
 Kal hiaKoap/qa-eois rStv oAcov 8t- 
 Sdtcricoi'Tos Ttipi toC YlaTpos, av- 
 Tov Kal TT]!) avTTju bihaffKakCav 
 avave&aai. YI&s ovv &v eye- 
 yoVet TovTo ; 'Icroos av tls etiroi, 
 Sti i^bv ■qv bia t5>v avr&v, (Sore 
 ■nd\LV bia t&v ttjs KrCcrecas epycov 
 TO, Iff pi avTov Sei^at. 'AA.A.' 
 OVK rjv acripaXes €TL tovto. Ovx^ 
 ye' Ttapeibov yap tovto TrpoTepov 
 ol &v9p())Tioi, Kal OVK eTi jxev 
 S,vco, kAto) 8« Toiii 6(j)da\fM0vs 
 fa-)(rJKaa-iV. "Odev etKorcos, av- 
 Opditovs de\cov b)((>eX.rj<rai, a>s 
 avOpanTios eTTtSjj/iet, kajx^avcav 
 iavTUi (Tajxa op.oiov iKeivois, koL 
 e/c tS)V (cdrw Ae'yw 8^ 8ta t5>v 
 
 purpose. But if the creation 
 had proved sufficient, such 
 great evils had not been in 
 the world. For the crea- 
 tion has existed all along, and 
 yet men have nevertheless 
 wallowed in the same error 
 concerning God. Who then 
 was it that was wanting but 
 God the Word, Who sees the 
 very soul and the mind, and 
 Who moved the universe at 
 the creation, and thereby dis- 
 covered the Father. For He 
 that instructed men concern- 
 ing the Father by His own 
 providence and disposal of the 
 universe was the proper per- 
 son to renew the instruction. 
 How then was this to be 
 done ? Perhaps some may 
 say it might be done by the 
 same means as before, and 
 that He might shew them 
 God again by the works of 
 creation. But this was not 
 now to be done to any sure 
 effect ; by no means. For 
 men had overlooked that be- 
 fore, and did no longer cast 
 their eyes upwards, but down- 
 ward. Whereupon with good 
 reason it was, that when He 
 was desirous to do good to 
 men, he sojourned among 
 them as a man, by taking to 
 Himself a body like one of 
 
302 
 
 NOTE 14, 
 
 Tov (T(oiJ.aTos epyoiv' tva ol fxrj 
 6e.kr}(TavT€s avTou yvSivai sk rrjs 
 els TO. oka Ttpovoias koX rjye- 
 
 jJiOVMS aVTOV K&1> SK T&V 8t' 
 
 avTov TOV aajxaTOS ipy<j>v yvdt- 
 (TwvTai, TOV iv T(3 (Tujuari tov 
 ®iov Aoyov, Koi 8i' avTov top 
 narepa. 
 
 15. '^s yap ayaObi bibda- 
 Kakos KJjSojueros tSp kavTOv 
 fjLaOfjT&v, Tovs ixrj bvvap,ivov5 
 Ik t&v nfL^oviav (i)(j)e\r]d^vai, 
 ■ndvToos 8ia t&v evreXeaTfpav 
 crvyKaTa^aivuiV avTovi naihiva, 
 ovTdts Koi 6 TOV @eov Aoyos, 
 Kadaii Kal 6 TIavXos <}>ri(nv 
 'ETiebbrj yap ev t?j (T0cj)lq. tov 
 &eov ovK eyvco 6 Koo-jotos 8ta 
 r^s (to^'ms tov Qeov, eiSo/cjjcrei' 
 6 Qebs Sia Trjs fAcopi'as tov 
 KTipvyixaTos a&crai tovs wtcrrei/- 
 ovTas. 'Eneibr] yap oi &v- 
 dpMT!oi, dmocTTpacfievTes Trjv Trpbs 
 Tbv @ebv Oemplav, Kal as fv 
 Pvd& ^vOicrOivTes k&tu> tovs 
 6<^da\p.ovs Ix""""^** ^^ y^vi(Tii. 
 Kot TOts ala-Orfols tov ®ebv 
 ava^fiTOvv, &v6p(a-novs 6vr]Tovs 
 
 theirs, and from things on 
 earth (I mean by bodily- 
 operations) that so those that 
 would not know Him from 
 His providence and superin- 
 tendence over all, might at 
 least know the Word of God 
 when He was in a body, from 
 the bodily operations which 
 He thereby performed, and so 
 by His means might know 
 the Father. 
 
 15. For as a good master, 
 who is really careful of his 
 scholars, will for certain con- 
 descend to them and teach 
 them by meaner ways, when 
 they can receive no advantage 
 by higher methods of instruc- 
 tion ; so does the Word of 
 God do in this case, as 
 Paul also says : For since 
 through the wisdom of God the 
 world ly wisdom knew not 
 God, it pleased God through 
 the foolishness of preaching to 
 save them that lelieve. For 
 seeing men turned them- 
 selves away from the contem- 
 plation of Godj and like men 
 drowned in the deep fixed 
 their eyes downwards, and 
 sought God in the things 
 that were made and that 
 were sensible, forming to 
 themselves dead men and de- 
 mons for their gods ; for that 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE INCARNATION. 303 
 
 Kot baijiovai kavrois Oeovs ava- 
 
 TVTTOVlJieVOl' TO'iTOV hiiKa 6 
 <^lk6.vdp(OTS0S KOt KOIVOS TtaVTUlV 
 
 2a)r^p, 6 ToC 0€oC Aoyos \a;u- 
 pdvei favT& (r&ij.a, koX ms av- 
 dpcaiios kv avOpd-nois avaarpi- 
 ^erai, Koi ras alcrdiqcreis navTatv 
 T!po(T\a}j,^6.vei, tva oi ev crcofia- 
 TiKois voovvres etvai rbv &eov, 
 d(^' &v 6 K-6pios epy&C^raL bia 
 T&v Tov (Tciixaros epyaiv, oni 
 avT&v vori<TU)ai rrjv aXrjOfiav, 
 KoX St' avTov TOV Tlarepa \oy[- 
 croivraL. " kvdpofnoi. 8e oirej 
 Kat avOpdmiva -navra voovvtss, 
 oTs eav iTii^aKov ras kavT&v 
 alcrdrj(7eLS, kv tovtoi,s "npocrXap.- 
 jSavop-ivovs kavTovs hdipcav, kw. 
 ■navTaxpOev bibacrKOfiivovs rfiv 
 a\ri6(iav. Eire yap ds r-qv 
 KTiaiv eTrTorjVTO, aK\' edpmv 
 avTfjV 6p.oXoyovcTav tov Xpiarbv 
 K-6pLov etre els avdpciitovs ^v 
 avTo>v f] hkavoia itpo\r](f)deia'a, 
 aSore tovtovs Oeovs vofxi^eiv, 
 d\A' CK T&v epyatv tov Sur^poy, 
 avyKpiv6vT(i>v re eKelvtav, e<j)aC- 
 veTo kv &v9p(ivoLS p-ovos 6 ScSnjp 
 0£oi3 'Ttos, ovK SvTicv nap' 
 fKetvois toio'Ctwv ottom Ttapa 
 
 cause the Lover of men and 
 common Saviour of all, the 
 Word of God, takes to Him- 
 self a body and converses 
 among men as a man, and 
 takes upon Him the sensa- 
 tions of all men; that so those 
 who imagined the deity to 
 belong to bodily things, might 
 discover the truth from those 
 very things that the Lord 
 performed by bodily opera- 
 tions, and by Him might 
 come to the knowledge of the 
 Father; and that as they were 
 men and had all the notions 
 of men in them, they, which 
 way soever they turned their 
 understanding, might thereby 
 find themselves caught, and 
 taught the truth on every 
 side. For if they were sur- 
 prised at the creation, they 
 might see that that creation 
 owned Christ the Lord ; or 
 if their mind was already pre- 
 engaged about the aflFairs of 
 men and supposed them to be 
 gods, they might still, by the 
 comparison of our Saviour's 
 works with theirs, discover 
 that He is the only person 
 among men who is the Sa- 
 viour, the Son of God, by 
 observing that those never 
 did such works as were done 
 by God the Word ; or if they 
 
304 
 
 NOTE 14. 
 
 Tov &eov Aoyov yiyovev. Et 
 be Kal ds bai[J,ovas rj<Tav Ttpo- 
 Kri<f>devTei, aWa dpcovres av- 
 Tohs biooKOfjtevovs inro tov Kvpiov, 
 eyCvbHTKOV jxovov etvai tovtov 
 TOV TOV ©eoC Aoyov, nai ovk 
 etvai Oeoxis tovs baifj-ovas. Ei 
 6e Koi els veKpoiis rjbr] ToijTuv 
 TJv 6 vovs KaTaa■)^e^els, ajore 
 6pr)(rKe6ei,v fjpa>as, Kat tovs iiapa 
 ■noLTiTOLS \eyop,ivovs deovs' dW' 
 op&VTes TTjV TOV ^(OTrjpos ava- 
 aTaa-iVjUtptoXoyovv eKeCvovs elvai 
 yf/evbe'ts, koI fiovov tov K-ipiov 
 a\i]divov TOV TOV TIaTpos Aoyov, 
 TOV Kol TOV davojov KvpievovTa. 
 Ata TovTo KoX yey4vr]Tai, koI 
 avOpmitos e(j}dvri, Kal cnreOave, 
 Koi avecTTi], ajx^kuvas koI eiti- 
 (r/cia(ras to, t&v natiioTe yevop-e- 
 vcav av6p<&T!u>v bia t&v ibCuiv 
 epya>v, tva otiov 8 av ootri irpo- 
 \ri(j)devTes ol avOptaitoi, exeWev 
 avTovs avaydyr], KOt StSdfr; tov 
 aXridivov avTov Ylarepa, ko- 
 ddirep KOL avTos (prjtriv ^HKOov 
 c&aai Kal evpeiv to anokatkos. 
 
 1 6. "ATraf yap els aladrjia 
 Tieaova-rjs Trjs biavoias t&v dv- 
 dpantav, vnejSaXev eavrov bid 
 
 were possessed in favour of 
 demons, yet might they, by 
 observing how they were 
 driven away by the Lord, dis- 
 cover that this person alone 
 was the Word of God, and 
 that the demons were not 
 gods. Nay, in case their 
 minds were so entangled with 
 regard to the dead as to wor- 
 ship the heroes and those 
 whom the poets call gods, 
 they might however, by see- 
 ing the resurrection of our 
 Saviour, acknowledge that 
 they were falsities and that 
 the Lord alone was the true 
 Word of the Father, who is 
 Lord over death itself also. 
 On this account was it that 
 He was begotten, and appeared 
 as a man, and died, and rose 
 again, that He might diminish 
 and obscure the actions of all 
 men that ever were by His 
 own works ; that what prepos- 
 sessions soever men were en- 
 gaged in, He might free them 
 from the same, and might 
 teach them His true Father. 
 As Himself says, / came to 
 save and to find that which wai 
 lost. 
 
 1 6. For seeing men's under- 
 standings were already fallen 
 among sensible objects, the 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE INCARNATION. 305 
 
 a^fjiaTOS <l)ai>rivai 6 Aoyos, "va 
 HiTiveyKrj ets kavrov iis av- 
 6/30)7709 Tovi avOpdiiovs, Kol Tas 
 at,(rdr]iT€i,s aiiT&v ets kavrov oltto- 
 K\Cvrj, Kal Xonrov eKSLvovs &s 
 avOpatTTov avTov op&vras, bi' 
 a>v epydferat epyuv, iTiiarj p.ri 
 fivai, eavTov avdpcairov p,6vov, 
 oXka KoL &eov koi, &eov aKrj- 
 6ivov Aoyov KOL (TocpCav. ToCro 
 8e Koi 6 IToSAo? jSovAojuevos 
 (TiqimvaC (prja-iv' 'Ev aydirri ip- 
 piC<ilJLfvot, Kal Te6iixiKica\x€voi, 
 %va i^icr)(V(7rjTe KaTaka^icrdai 
 crvv TiacTi rois ayCoLs, tC to TrXd- 
 Tos, Kal ixfJKOs, Kal v\jros, Kal 
 fidOos, yvSvaC re Trjv vitep^dk- 
 Xovaav t^s yvcacrems dydTTtjv 
 Tov XpicTTOv, 'Iva nkrjpoodrJTe els 
 •nav TO ■nkripatp.a tov ©eoS* 
 T!avTa)(pv yap tov Aoyov kavTov 
 aTtXdo'avTos, Kal dv(o, Kai /cdrco, 
 Koi ets TO fidOos, Kal els to 
 •nXdros' avco p.ev els ttjv KTiaiv, 
 Kara) 6e els Tr\v et>av6pcaiirj<nv, 
 els fiddos 6e els tov abrjv, els 
 irkdTos be els tov koo-ixov' to 
 irdvTa TTJs iiepl @eov yvda-eoas 
 ireTTkripcoTai. Aia be tovto ovbl 
 •napavTo, ■napayevopLevos Trjv fin- 
 
 Word submitted Himself, to 
 appear by a body ; that as if 
 He were a man, He might 
 transfer men to Himself, and 
 might bring their affections 
 unto Himself, and might be- 
 sides induce them to believe 
 by what He did that He whom 
 they saw as a man was not a 
 mere man but also God, and 
 the Word and Wisdom of the 
 true God. This it was which 
 Paul would be understood to 
 mean when he said, Tiat 
 being rooted and grounded in 
 love, ye may he able to com- 
 prehend with all saints what 
 is the breadth and length and 
 height and depth, and to 
 know the love of Christ which 
 passeth knowledge, that ye 
 may be filled with all the 
 fulness of God. Accordingly 
 does the Word shew Himself 
 every way, above, and beloWj 
 and in the depth, and in the 
 breadth. Above by the crea- 
 tion ; below by the Incarna- 
 tion ; in the depth, in the in- 
 visible world; in the breadth, 
 of the wide world, by re- 
 plenishing all regions with 
 the knowledge of God. And 
 on this account it was that 
 even when He came and 
 offered a sacrifice for all, by 
 delivering His body to death 
 
306 
 
 NOTE 14. 
 
 alav rrjv vir^p Tfdvrav eTrereXei, 
 irapabibovs to a&fjia ra Oavara, 
 Kal avL(TT&v avrb, a(pavjj eavTov 
 bia TovTov ■noi.Siv' aXka koI e/x- 
 ^av?) iavTov bia tovtov Kadiarri 
 biaixevav ev avra, Kal Toiavra 
 reX&v epya Kal o-jjjueta StSovs, h 
 IxrjKeTL avdpamov, aXKa ®fov 
 Aoyov avTov eyvdpiQiv. 'A^- 
 (j^oTepa yap f(f>i\av6p(i>i:evero 6 
 Sair^/o 8ta rrjs kvavOpunr-qa-iuis, 
 Sn Kal Tov ddvarov i^ rjix&v 
 T](pdvLCe, Kal aveKaiviCev ■^p.as. 
 Kal OTi, a<j>avfis oi)v Kal doparos, 
 hia T&v epyonv fvicfiaLve, Kal 
 (yv(&piCsv eavTov etvai tov Ao- 
 yov TOV TlaTpOS, TOV TOV TldvTOS 
 
 Tjyeixova Kal fSaa-iXia . . , 
 
 30. Trjv fiiv ovv ahiav t^s 
 a-ooixarLKris €Trt(f)ave[as avTov, 
 bis olov re rjv, eK fiepovs Kal &s 
 fjixfls ribvvqdrjiiev vofjcrai, TTpoel- 
 ■nofiev, oTi ovK dXKov rjv to 
 (pdapTov fls d^dap(rCav pteTa- 
 jSaXelv, et ju^ avTov tov ScoTrjpos 
 TOV Kal T-qv apxfiv e£ ovk ovtuv 
 ■nenoLrjKOTos to. o\a' Kal ovk 
 SXKov rjV TO KaT elKova irdKiv 
 dvaKTiaai Toh dvOpamois, d pi,ri 
 TTJs elKovoi TOV UaTpos' Kal 
 
 and raising it up again, He 
 did not hide Himself in ob- 
 scurity thereby, but thereby 
 made Himself conspicuous, 
 abiding in Him, and perform- 
 ing such works, and shewing 
 such signs, as declared Him to 
 be no longer a man but God 
 the Word. For our Saviour 
 shewed His love to mankind 
 two ways ; both by His. Incar- 
 nation, whereby He took away 
 death from us and renewed us ; 
 and also that being concealed 
 and invisible He manifested 
 Himself by His works, and 
 shewed Himself to be the 
 Word of the Father, the 
 Ruler and King of the uni- 
 verse ... 
 
 ao. We indeed have already 
 in part discoursed about the 
 occasion of His bodily appear- 
 ance ; that is, as far as was 
 convenient, and so far as we 
 have, according to our ability, 
 been able to apprehend of that 
 matter ; that it was not pos- 
 sible for anyone else to change 
 corruption to incorruption, 
 but for the Saviour Himself, 
 who made all things of no- 
 thing ; nor for anyone else to 
 create that part of man again 
 which was made after God's 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE INCARNATION. 307 
 
 ovK aWov ^v TO 6vr)Tov add- 
 varov Trapa<TT7Jcrai) ei [jlti rfjs 
 avToCoTJs ov(Tr]s roi/ Kvpiov 
 Tjixiav Ii/o-ov XptoToi/' kol ovk 
 aWov riv irepi Ylarpos bibd^ai, 
 Kai Trjv elbaX-cov Kadai-prjaai. 
 6pr]crKeCav, el ju^ toC to, itavTa 
 hiaKO(Tii,ovvTos Aoyov kol p.6vov 
 Tov Tlarpos Svtos Tlov p,ovo- 
 yevovs aXriOivov. 'EirctS^ 6e 
 Koi TO 6(pii\6p.evov irapa TtavTmv 
 ISet \onov diiohodr\vai: &)^ei- 
 XeTo KoX irdvTas, i>s ■npouitov, 
 a/nodaveiv, hi' o jxaXLa-ra /cat 
 e7re877)xr)ore" tovtov evsKev [uto, 
 TCLi irepl TTJs deoTrjTos avTov ex 
 T&v epya>v a-iroSeC^eis, ^Stj \oi- 
 •nov KOL virep irdvTcov Trjv Bwiav 
 avi(j>epev, avrl ii&vTmv tov kav- 
 Tov vaov els Odvarov irapabiSovs, 
 tva Tovs y.ev ndvTai dwirev- 
 0VVOVS Koi ikevOepovs t^s ap- 
 XaCas Tsapa^da-etas irot^tnj' 
 Set^a b\ eavTov kcu. OavaTov 
 KpeiTTOva, diidpxrjv ttjs t&v 
 oXatv ava(rTd<xems to ibiov cwjito 
 acpdapTov embeiKviixevos. 
 
 image, but for that Image 
 of the Father; nor for any- 
 one else to raise the mortal 
 body immortal, but for Him 
 that was Life itself, our Lord 
 Jesus Christ : nor for any one 
 else to teach men of the 
 Father, and to pull down the 
 worship of idols, but for that 
 Word that disposed of all 
 things, who was the only, 
 and only-begotteUj and true 
 Son of the Father. But then, 
 since the debt which all men 
 owed was at length to be paid ; 
 for He was obliged on all ac- 
 counts, as we have shewed 
 already, to die ; for which 
 cause principally it was that 
 He came amongst us ; for this 
 cause, I say, it was now proper 
 that, after He had given those 
 demonstrations of His divinity 
 by His works. He should otffer 
 Himself a sacrifice for all, and 
 deliver up His temple to death 
 for all, that so He might 
 render all unobnoxious and 
 free from the original trans- 
 gression, and might shew that 
 He was superior to death, by 
 constituting His own body as 
 incorruptible, and the first- 
 fruits of the general resurrec- 
 tion. 
 
 X 2 
 
308 
 
 NOTE 15. 
 
 NOTE 15, p. i6o. 
 
 The following is St. Hilary's 
 the commencement of his work 
 lation the author is indebted to 
 
 I. In otio et opulentia non 
 est nisi beluinafelicitas. — Cir- 
 cumspicienti mihi proprium 
 humanae vitae ac religiosum 
 officium, quod vel a natura 
 manans, vel a prudentum stu- 
 diis profeetum, dignum aliquid 
 hoc concesso sibi ad intelli- 
 gentiam divine munere obti- 
 neret, multa quidem aderant 
 quae opinionecommuni effieere 
 utilem atque optandam vitam 
 videbantur,maximeque eaquae 
 et nunc et semper antea po- 
 tissima inter mortales haben- 
 tur, otium simul atque opu- 
 lentia, quod aliud sine altero 
 mali potius materies, quam 
 boni esset occasio ; quia et 
 quies inops prope quoddam 
 vitae ipsius intelligatur esse 
 exsilium, et opulens inquietudo 
 tanto plus calamitatis afferat, 
 quanto majore indignitate his 
 caretur, quae maxima et optata 
 et quaesita sunt ad utendum. 
 Atque haecquidem quamquam 
 
 account of his conversion, at 
 Be Trinitate. For the trans- 
 the Rev. R. S. Grignon : — 
 
 I. That happiness which con- 
 sists in ease and abundance is 
 but of a brutish kind. 
 
 As I looked round for some 
 employment of human life, 
 proper to it and religious, 
 either proceeding from nature, 
 or derived from the studies of 
 wise men, which should contain 
 in itself something worthy of 
 the divine gift of reason granted 
 to man, I saw many things 
 which, in common belief, 
 seemed to make life useful 
 and desirable, and most of all 
 those things which are and 
 ever have been held among 
 men to be the most important, 
 ease combined with plenty. 
 Either of these, without the 
 other, would be a source of 
 evil, rather than an occasion 
 of good ; for rest without re- 
 sources is felt to be a kind of 
 exile from life itself, and 
 vsrealth with disquietude brings 
 with it so much the more of 
 misfortune, the more reluctant 
 men are to go without those 
 things, the enjoyment ofwhich 
 has been the most desired and 
 
ST. HILARY'S CONVERSION. 
 
 309 
 
 in se summa atque optima 
 vitae blandimenta contineant, 
 tamen non multum videntur 
 a consuetudine esse beluinae 
 oblectationis aliena : quibus 
 in saltuosa loca ae maxime pa- 
 bulis laeta evagantibus, adsit 
 et securitas a labore, efc satiefcas 
 ex pascuis. Nam si hie opti- 
 mus et absolutissimus vitae 
 humanae usus existimabitur, 
 quieseere et abundare : necesse 
 est hnne eumdem, secundum 
 sui cujusque generis sensum, 
 nobis atque universis rationis 
 expertibus beluis esse com- 
 munem ; quibus omnibus, na- 
 tura ipsa in summa rerum 
 copia et securitate famulante, 
 sine cura habendi copia re- 
 dundat utendi. 
 
 3. Ad alia tiatos se senserunt 
 plerique homines. — Ac mihi 
 plerique mortalium non ob 
 aliam quidem causam banc 
 ineptae ac beluinae vitae con- 
 suetudinem et respuisse a se, 
 et eoarguisse in aliis videntur, 
 quam quod, natura ipsa auc- 
 tore impulsi, indignum be- 
 
 sought for. And tbough these 
 things contain in themselves 
 the highest and best charms 
 of life, still they seem not to 
 differ much from the accus- 
 tomed delights of the brutes, 
 which, as they wander about 
 the woods and in places 
 abounding with pasture, pos- 
 sess at once freedom from 
 labour and ample sufficiency 
 of food. For if we are to con- 
 sider the best and most com- 
 plete employment of human 
 life to consist in being at rest 
 and having plenty, we must 
 necessarily have this in com- 
 mon with all the irrational 
 brutes, according in each case 
 to the susceptibilities of the 
 species. For they, being sup- 
 plied by nature herself with 
 the utmost plenty and freedom 
 from care, have abundant facili- 
 ties for enjoyment without the 
 trouble of acquisition. 
 
 a. ManJcind in general have 
 felt themselves horn for other 
 objects. 
 
 The reason why most men 
 have rejected for themselves, 
 and blamed in others, this 
 senseless and brutish mode, of 
 life, seems to me to be that, 
 under the guidance of nature 
 herself, they have considered 
 
310 
 
 NOTE 15. 
 
 mine esse existimaverunt, in 
 officium se ventris tantum at 
 inertiae natos arbitrari ; et in 
 hanc vitam non ob aliqua prae- 
 clari facinoris aut bonae artis 
 studia esse dednctos, aut hanc 
 ipsam vitam non ad aliquem 
 profectum esse aeternitatis in- 
 dultam quam profecto non 
 ambigeretur munus Dei non 
 esse reputandum, cum tantis 
 afflictata angoribus, et tot 
 molestiis impedita, sese ipsa 
 atque intra se a pueritiae ig- 
 noratione usque ad senectutis 
 deliramenta consumeret : et 
 idcirco ad aliquas se patientiae 
 et continentiae et plaeabili- 
 tatis virtutes et doctrina et 
 opere transtulisse, quod bene 
 agere atque intelligere, id 
 demum bene vivere esse opi- 
 nabantur : vitam autem non 
 ad mortem tantum ab immor- 
 tali Deo tribui existimandam : 
 cum boni largitoris non esse 
 intelligeretur, vivendi jucun- 
 dissimum sensum ad tristissi- 
 mum metum tribuisse mori- 
 endi. 
 
 it a thing unworthy of human 
 nature to look on themselves 
 as born only for the service 
 of the belly and of sloth, and 
 not brought into this life for 
 the pursuit of noble doing or 
 high acquirement ; or to think 
 that this life itself had been 
 granted them without any 
 profit as regards eternity. For 
 there could certainly be no 
 question that life ought not 
 to be considered a gift of God, 
 if, harassed as it is with so 
 many troubles, and beset with 
 so many vexations, it were 
 to wear itself away within 
 itself from ignorant boyhood 
 to doting old age. And they 
 seem to have applied them- 
 selves, both in teaching and 
 in practice, to certain virtues 
 of patience, and continence, 
 and placability, for this reason, 
 that they held a good life 
 to consist in good actions 
 and right understanding ; and 
 thought that life was not to 
 be regarded as given us by 
 the immortal God only that 
 it might end in death. For 
 they saw that it was not the 
 act of a liberal benefactor, to 
 have imparted to us the de- 
 lightful sensation of living, 
 only with aviewto the grievous 
 fear of dying. 
 
ST. HILARY'S CONVERSION. 
 
 311 
 
 3. In Dei cognitionem ardet 
 Hilarius. — Et quamquam non 
 ineptam banc eorum esse sen- 
 tentiam atque inutilem exis- 
 timarem, conscientiam ab 
 omni culpa liberam conser- 
 vare, et omnes bumanae vitae 
 molestias vel providere pru- 
 denter, vel vitare consulte, vel 
 ferre patienter ; tamen bi ipsi 
 non satis mibi idonei ad bene 
 beateque vivendum auctores 
 videbantur, communia tan- 
 tum et eonvenientia bumano 
 sensui doctrinarum praecepta 
 statuentes : quae cum non 
 intelligere beluinum esset, 
 intellecta tamen non agere, 
 ultra beluinae immanitatis esse 
 rabiem videretur. Festinabat 
 autem animus, non baec tan- 
 tummodo agere, quae non 
 egisse, et criminum esset 
 plenum et dolorum : sad bunc 
 tanti muneris Deum paren- 
 temque cognoscere, cui se 
 totum ipse deberet, cui famu- 
 lans nobilitandum se existi- 
 mabat, ad quern omnem spei 
 suae opinionem referret, in 
 cujus bonitate inter tantas 
 praesentium negotiorum cala- 
 
 3. Hilarius burns for the 
 knowledge of God. 
 
 While I considered tbis 
 teaching of theirs as neither 
 foolish nor useless — to keep 
 the conscience free from all 
 fault, and either to obviate by 
 foresight, or avoid with judg- 
 ment, or bear with patience 
 all the ills of human life, still 
 these men did not appear to 
 me sufficiently capable guides 
 to a good and happy life. 
 For they laid down only 
 ordinary precepts, and such 
 as agreed with the common 
 sense of mankind ; such as it 
 were brutish not to under- 
 stand ; while to understand 
 them and yet not act upon 
 them, would be beyond the 
 highest degree of brutish sense- 
 lessness. But my soul felt 
 the impulse, not only to do 
 those things, the not doing 
 of which -would be full at 
 once of reproach and of suflFer- 
 ing, but to learn to know 
 that most bountiful God and 
 father, to whom it owed its 
 own whole being, in serving 
 whom it believed that it would 
 be exalted, to whom it re- 
 ferred every thought of hope, 
 in whose goodness it could 
 rest, as in a most safe and 
 friendly harbour, among all 
 
312 
 
 NOTE 15. 
 
 mitates, tanquam tutissimo 
 sibi porta familiarique requi- 
 esceret. Ad hunc igitur vel 
 intelligendum vel cognoscen- 
 dum studio flagrantissimo 
 animus accendebatur. 
 
 4. Variae antiquorum de Deo 
 qpiniones. Hilario non prohan- 
 tur, jpro certo hahenti Deum 
 non esse nisi unum. — Namque 
 plures eorum numerosas in- 
 certorum deorum familias in- 
 troducebant : et virilem et 
 muliebrem sexum in divinis 
 naturis agere existimantes, 
 ortus ac suceessiones ex diis 
 deorum asserebant. Alii ma- 
 jores ac minores et different es 
 pro potestate decs praedica- 
 bant. NonnuUi nullum om- 
 nino Deum esse affirmantes, 
 earn tantum quae fortuitis 
 motibus atque concursibus in 
 aliquid existeret, naturam ve- 
 nerabantur. Plerique vero 
 Deum quidem esse opinione 
 publica loquebantur, sad hunc 
 eumdem incuriosum rerum 
 humanarum ac negligentem 
 pronunciabant. Aliqui autem 
 ipsas illas creaturarum cor- 
 poreas conspicabilesque formas 
 
 the great troubles of the 
 present state of things. My 
 soul then was inflamed with 
 the most burning desire either 
 to understand, or to attain 
 the knowledge of, this God. 
 
 4. Various opinions of the 
 ancients concerning God. 
 Hilarius does not approve of 
 them, holding for certain that 
 there is no God but one. 
 
 For many of them brought 
 in numerous families of un- 
 certain gods, and, thinking 
 that sex, male and female, 
 could act in divine natures, 
 asserted the origin and suc- 
 cession of gods from gods. 
 Others taught of the gods as 
 greater and lesser^ and of dif- 
 ferent degrees of power. Some, 
 affirming that there was no 
 God at allj adored only that 
 nature which came forth into 
 some form by fortuitous move- 
 ments and combinations. Most 
 of them however, in accord- 
 ance with the general opinion, 
 spoke indeed of God as exist- 
 ing, but pronounced Him to 
 be careless and indifferent 
 about human affairs. Some 
 too adored the bodily and 
 visible forms themselves of 
 creatures, in the earthly and 
 celestial elements. Lastly, 
 
ST. HILARY'S CONVERSION. 
 
 313 
 
 in elementis terrenis et coeles- 
 tibus adorabant. Postremo 
 quidam in simulacris homi- 
 num, pecudum, ferarum, volu- 
 crum, serpentum, deos suos 
 collocabant, et universitatis 
 Dominum atque infinitatis 
 parentem intra angustias me- 
 tallorum et lapidum et sti- 
 pitum coartabant. Dignumque 
 jam non erat, auctores eos ve- 
 ritatis existere, qui ridicula et 
 foeda et irreligiosa sectantes, 
 ipsis illis inanissimarum sen- 
 tentiarum suarum opinionibus 
 dissiderent. Sed inter haee 
 animus sollieitus, utili ae ne- 
 cessaria ad cognitionem Do- 
 mini sui via nitens, cum neque 
 incuriam Deo rerum a se 
 conditarum dignam esse arbi- 
 traretur, neque naturae potenti 
 atque incorruptae competere 
 sexus deorum, et successiones 
 satorum atque ortorum intel- 
 ligeret : porro autem divinum 
 et aeternum nihil nisi unum 
 esse et indifferens pro certo 
 habebat, quia id quod sibi ad 
 id quod esset auetor esset, nihil 
 necesse est extra se quod sui 
 esset praestantius reliquisset : 
 
 some placed their gods in the 
 likenesses of men, of cattle, 
 of wild beasts, of birds, or of 
 serpents, and confined the 
 Lord of the universe and the 
 father of infinity within the 
 narrow limits of metals^ stones, 
 and stocks. And it was not 
 worthy of belief, that men 
 could be authorities respecting 
 truth, who, while following 
 ridiculous and degraded and 
 impious ideas, even disagreed 
 among themselves in the very 
 conclusions of their senseless 
 opinions. My soul, troubled 
 amid these thoughts, and 
 striving after the way useful 
 and necessary for attaining 
 the knowledge of its Lord — 
 while it judged it unworthy 
 of God to be careless about 
 the things created by himself, 
 and while it perceived that 
 sex in gods and successions 
 of parents and offspring were 
 discordant with a powerful 
 and imperishable nature — 
 further held it for certain that 
 the Divine and Eternal could 
 not but be one and undivided ; 
 since that, which was the 
 author of its own being, could 
 necessarily have left without 
 it nothing more excellent than 
 itself; and thus that omni- 
 potence and eternity could 
 
314 
 
 NOTE 15. 
 
 atque ita omnipotentiam ae- 
 ternitatemque non nisi penes 
 unum esse j quia neque in om- 
 nipotentia validius infirmi- 
 usque, neque in aeternitate 
 posterius anteriusve congru- 
 eret : in Deo autem nihil nisi 
 aeternum potensque esse vene- 
 randum. 
 
 5. E Scripturis discit quid 
 sit Dews: quod aeternus. — 
 Haec igitur, multaque alia 
 ejusmodi cum animo reputans, 
 incidi ia eos libros quos a 
 Moyse atque a prophetis 
 scriptos esse Hebraeorum re- 
 ligio tradebat : in quibus ipso 
 creatore Deo testante de se, 
 haec ita continebantur : Ego 
 Bum, qui sum (Exod. iii. 14); 
 et rursum : Haec dices filiis 
 Israel. Misit me ad vos is qui 
 est {Ibidem). Admiratus sum 
 plane tam absolutam de Deo 
 significationem, quae naturae 
 divinae incomprehensibilem 
 cognitionem aptissimo ad in- 
 telHgentiam humanam ser- 
 mone loqueretur. Non enim 
 aliud proprium magis Deo, 
 quam esse, intelligitur ; quia 
 id ipsum quod est, neque de- 
 
 only be the properties of One, 
 since the terms of ' stronger ' 
 and ' weaker ' were incon- 
 sistent with omnipotence, and 
 those of ' latter ' and 'former ' 
 with eternity, while in God 
 nothing was to be adored but 
 that which was all-powerful 
 and eternal. 
 
 5. ne learns from the Scrip- 
 tures what God is : that He is 
 eternal. 
 
 While I was thinking over 
 these and many other like 
 things, I fell in with those 
 books which the religion of 
 the Hebrews has handed down 
 as written by Moses and the 
 prophets. In these were con- 
 tained the following words, 
 God the Creator himself bear- 
 ing witness of himself: — 
 ' I am that I am; ' and again, 
 ' Thus shalt thou say unto the 
 children of Israel, I AM hath 
 sent me unto you ' (Exod. iii. 
 14). I greatly marvelled at 
 so complete a definition of 
 God, which spoke of the in- 
 comprehensible knowledge of 
 the Divine nature in terms 
 most suitable to human in- 
 telligence. For we perceive 
 that there is no more special 
 property of God than to be ; 
 since this very fact, that He 
 
ST. HILARY'S CONVERSION. 
 
 315 
 
 sinentis est aliquando, neque 
 coepti ; sed id quod cum in- 
 eorruptae beatitudinis potes- 
 tate perpetuum est non potuit 
 aut poterit aliquando non 
 esse ; quia divinum omne 
 neque abolitione neque exordio 
 obnoxium est. Et cum in nullo 
 a se Dei desit aeternitas ; digne 
 boo solum, quod esset, ad pro- 
 testationem ineorruptae suae 
 aeternitatis ostendit. 
 
 6. Dews infinitus ; mentecapi 
 nequit. — Et ad hauc quidem 
 infinitatis sig^ificationem sa- 
 tisfecisse sermo dicentis : Ego 
 sum qui sum, videbatur : sed 
 magnificentiae et virtutis suae 
 erat a nobis opus intelligen- 
 dum. Nam que cum esse ei 
 proprium esset, qui manens 
 semper non etiam aliquando 
 coepisset : aeterni et incorrupti 
 Dei dignus de se hie rursum 
 auditus est sermo: Qui tenet 
 caelum pahna, et terrampugillo. 
 {Esa. xl. la) ; et rursum : 
 Coelum mihi thronus est, terra 
 autem scabellum pedum meorum. 
 
 is, is the characteristic of one 
 who will neither ever come to 
 an end, nor has ever had a 
 beginning; but that, which 
 is everlasting with the power 
 of imperishable blessedness, 
 never has been able, and 
 never will be able, not to be ; 
 since all that is divine is sub- 
 ject neither to destruction nor 
 to beginning. And, since the 
 eternity of God is in nothing 
 wanting to itself, He worthily 
 puts forth this fact, that He 
 is, in order to bear witness of 
 His own imperishable eter- 
 nity. 
 
 6. God is infinite ; He can- t 
 not be comprehended by the 
 mind. 
 
 As far as regards this de- 
 claration of the eternity of 
 God, His words, when He 
 says, ' I am that I am,' ap- 
 peared to suffice ; but the 
 work of His greatness and 
 power required to be under- 
 stood by me. For while to 
 be was the property of Him 
 who, ever abiding, had also 
 never had a beginning, I 
 heard again this worthy say- 
 ing of the eternal and im- 
 perishable God concerning 
 himself : — ' Who hath meted 
 out heaven with the span, 
 and comprehended the dust of 
 
316 
 
 NOTE 15. 
 
 Quam domum mihi aedificabitis, 
 aut quis locus erit requietionis 
 meae ? Nonne manus mea fecit 
 haec? (Esa. Ixvi. i. et a.) 
 Universitas coeli palma Dei 
 tenetur, et universitas terrae 
 pugillo eoncluditur. Sermo 
 autem Dei, etiamsi ad opinio- 
 nem religiosae intelligentiae 
 proficit plus, tamen significa- 
 tionis introspeetus sensu eon- 
 tinet, quam exceptus auditu 
 ( Vide Aufftistin. ejpist. cxxxvii. 
 ad Volusian., n. 3). Nam 
 conclusum palma coelum rur- 
 sum Deo thronus est ; et terra, 
 quae pugillo coiitinetur,eadem 
 et seabellum pedum ejus est : 
 ne in throno et scabello, se- 
 cundum habitum considentis, 
 protensio speciei corporeae 
 possit intelligi, cum id quod 
 sibi thronus et seabellum est, 
 rursum ipsa ilia infinitas po- 
 tens palma ac pugillo appre- 
 hendente concluderet ; sed ut 
 in his cunctis originibus erea- 
 turarum Deus intra extraque, 
 et supereminens et internus, 
 id est, eireumfusus et infusus 
 in omnia nosceretur, cum et 
 palma pugillusque continens 
 
 the earth in a measure ; ' and 
 again, ' The heaven is my 
 throne, and the earth is my 
 footstool : where is the house 
 that ye build unto me ? and 
 where is the place of my rest ? 
 For all those things hath my 
 hand made.' The whole hea- 
 ven is held in the span of 
 God, and the whole earth is 
 comprehended in His mea- 
 sure. Now while this saying 
 of God is profitable to the 
 contemplation of religious in- 
 telligence, still it contains 
 more meaning, when looked 
 into by the understanding, 
 than when only received by 
 the hearing. For heaven, 
 which is meted out with the 
 span of God, is again His 
 throne, and the earth, which 
 is comprehended in His mea- 
 sure, is also His footstool ; 
 not that we should under- 
 stand that there was the put- 
 ting forth of any bodily form 
 on the throne and footstool, 
 after the fashion of one sit- 
 ting, since that infinite Power 
 encloses in its span and mea- 
 sure that very thing which, 
 on the other hand, is its throne 
 and footstool ; but that in all. 
 these examples of created 
 things God should be recog- 
 nised as being" within and 
 
ST. HILARY'S CONVERSION. 
 
 317 
 
 potestatem naturae exterioris 
 ostenderet ; ac thronus et sca- 
 bellum substrata esse ut in- 
 terne exteriora monstraret, 
 cum exteriora sua interior 
 insidens, ipse rursum exterior 
 interna concluderet ; atque 
 ita totus ipse intra extraque 
 se continens [supj)le. cuncta), 
 neque infinitus abesset a 
 cunetis, neque cuncta ei qui 
 infinitus est non inessent. His 
 igitur religiosissimis de Deo 
 opinionibus veri studio de- 
 tentus animus delectabatur. 
 Neque enim aliudquid dignum 
 esse Deo arbitrabatur, quam 
 ita eum ultra intelligentias 
 rerum esse, ut in quantum 
 se ad aliquem praesumptae 
 licet opinionis modum mens 
 infinita protenderet, in tan- 
 tum omnem persequentis se 
 naturae infinitatem infinitas 
 immoderatae aeternitatis ex- 
 cederet. Quod cum a nobis 
 pie intelligeretur, tameu a 
 propheta haec ita dicente 
 manifeste confirmabatur : Quo 
 alibo a spiritu tuo, aut a facie 
 tua quo fugiam ? Si adscend- 
 ero in coelum, tu illic esj si 
 
 without, both extending be- 
 yond and dwelling within, 
 that is, spread around all 
 things and infused into all 
 things ; while at the same 
 time the span and the mea- 
 sure, which contain, declare 
 His power over external na- 
 ture, and by the throne and 
 footstool it is shewn that 
 external things are spread 
 under Him, as being within 
 them ; so that, sitting upon 
 outward things, as if within 
 tliem, He himself again en- 
 closes internal things, as if 
 outside of them ; and thus, 
 containing in His whole being 
 all things within and outside 
 of himself. He, the infinite 
 one, is present in all things, 
 while all things are in Him 
 who is infinite. My soul 
 then, taken hold of by an 
 earnest desire for the truth, 
 was delighting itself with 
 these most pious ideas con- 
 cerning God ; and it judged 
 no other view of God to be 
 a worthy one, than that He 
 so entirely surpasses all com- 
 prehension, that, as far as the 
 infinite Mind extends itself 
 to any measure even of arbi- 
 trary acceptation, so far does 
 the infinity of a measureless 
 eternity exceed all infinity of 
 
318 
 
 NOTE 15. 
 
 deseendero in infernum, et ihi 
 ades. Si sumpsero pennas meas 
 ante lucem et habitavero in 
 postremis maris, etenim illuc 
 manus tua deducet me, et tenehit 
 me dextera tua {Psal. cxxxviii. 
 7. et seqq.). Nullus sine Deo, 
 neque ullus non in Deo locus 
 est. In coelis est, in inferno 
 est, ultra maria est. Inest 
 interior, excedit exterior. Ita 
 cum habet atque habetur ; 
 neque in aliquo ipse, neque 
 non in omnibus est. 
 
 7. Beus pulcherrimus. Quia 
 caeterarum rerum speciem si 
 non verbo cerfe sensu assequi- 
 mur ; Dei autem speciem neutro 
 modo. — Quamquam igitur op- 
 timae hujus atque inexpli- 
 cabilis intelligentiae sensu 
 animus gauderet, quod banc 
 
 any nature wbicb seeks to 
 attain to it. "Wbile I piously 
 perceived this truth, it was 
 yet more clearly confirmed by 
 the following words of the 
 prophet : — ' Whither shall I 
 go from thy Spirit ? or whither 
 shall I flee from thy presence? 
 If I ascend up into heaven, 
 thou art there ; if I make my 
 bed in hell, behold, thou art 
 there. If I take the wings 
 of the morning, and dwell in 
 the uttermost parts of the sea, 
 even there shall thy hand lead 
 me, and thy right hand shall 
 hold me ' (Ps. cxxxix. 7-10). 
 There is no place without 
 God, nor any place that is 
 not in God. He is in heaven ; 
 He is in hell ; He is beyond 
 the sea. He is in them, as 
 being within ; He goes be- 
 yond them, as being without. 
 Thus, while He possesses, He 
 is also possessed, and is neither 
 himself in anything, nor other- 
 wise than in all things. 
 
 7. God is most beautiful. 
 For the beauty of all other 
 things we can reach to, if not 
 in word, yet certainly in mind, 
 hut the beauty of God in neither 
 
 Although then my soul was 
 rejoicing in the perception of 
 this excellent and inexplicable 
 
ST. HILARY'S CONVERSION. 
 
 319 
 
 in parente suo et creatore 
 immensae aeternitatis infini- 
 tatem veneraretur ; tamen 
 studio adhuc intentiore ipsam 
 illam infiniti et aeterni Do- 
 mini sui speciem quaerebat, 
 ut incircumscriptam immen- 
 sitatem in aliquo pulchrae 
 intelligentiae esse opinaretur 
 ornatu. In quibus cum reli- 
 giosa mens intra imbecillitatis 
 suae concluderetur errorem, 
 hunc de Deo pulcherrimae 
 sententiae modum propheticis 
 vocibus apprebendit : Be mag- 
 nitudine enim operwm et pul- 
 chritudine creaturarum, con.se- 
 quenter generationum conditor 
 conspicitwr [Sap. xiii. 5) sec. 
 LXX.). Magnorum creator 
 in maximis est, et pulcberri- 
 morum conditor in pulcher- 
 rimis est. Et cum sensum 
 ipsum egrediatur operatic, 
 omnem tamen sensum longe 
 necesse est excedat operator. 
 Pulchrum itaque coelum, 
 aether, terra, maria, et uni- 
 versitas omnis est, quae ex 
 ornatu suo, ut etiam Graecis 
 placet, digne Koafxos, id est 
 mundus nuncupari videtur. 
 
 view that it adored in its 
 father and creator the infinity 
 of an unmeasured eternity, 
 still it was seeking with yet 
 more earnest zeal the very 
 form of its infinite and eternal 
 Lord,' as believingthat bound- 
 less infinity was to be found 
 in some attire of fair intelli- 
 gence. While thus my piously 
 disposed mind was shut up in 
 the wanderings of its own 
 weakness, it laid hold of an 
 admirable statement concern- 
 ing God in the following form 
 in the words of the pro- 
 phet : — ' For by the greatness 
 and beauty of the creatures 
 proportionably the maker of 
 them is seen ' (Wisdom xiii. 
 5). The creator of great 
 things is among the greatest, 
 and the maker of beautiful 
 things is among the most 
 beautiful. And since the 
 work goes beyond the limits 
 of our understanding, the 
 worker must necessarily far 
 exceed all understanding. 
 Thus the heavens are beau- 
 tiful, the sky, the earth, the 
 seas, and the whole universe, 
 which, on account of its 
 adornment, is properly called, 
 as the Greeks say, Koaixos, 
 that is, the Order of things. 
 But if this very beauty of 
 
320 
 
 NOTE 15. 
 
 Sed si banc ipsam rerum pul- 
 chritudinem ita sensus natu- 
 rali metitur instinctu, ut etiam 
 in quarumdam voluerum ac 
 pecudum accidit specie, ut 
 dum infra sententiam sermo 
 est, sensus tamen id ipsum 
 intelligens non eloquatur ; 
 quod tamen rursum, dum 
 sermo omnis ex sensu est, 
 sensus sibi ipse loquatur in- 
 telligens : nonne bujus ipsius 
 pulebritudinis Dominum ne- 
 eesse est totius pulebritudinis 
 esse puleberrimum intelligi ; 
 ut cum aeterni ornatus sui 
 species sensum intelligentiae 
 omnis effugiat, opinionem 
 tamen intelligentiae sensus 
 non relinquat ornatus ? At- 
 que ita pulcberrimus Deus est 
 confitendus : ut neque intra 
 sententiam sit intelligendi, 
 neque extra intelligentiam 
 sentiendi. 
 
 8. Beus intelligentiam ex- 
 cedens fide attingendus. — His 
 itaque piae opinionis atque 
 doctrinae studiis animus im- 
 butus, in secessu quodam ac 
 specula pulcherrimae bujus 
 sententiae requiescebat, non 
 
 tbings is measured by our 
 minds, tbrougb a natural in- 
 stinct — as bappens in tbe 
 case of certain kinds of birds 
 and beasts — so tbat, wbile 
 our speecb falls below our 
 tbougbts, our mind, thougb 
 it may understand, yet cannot 
 express tbat very tbing wbicb, 
 on tbe other band, wbile all 
 speecb proceeds from tbougbt, 
 tbe understanding mind utters 
 to itself; if tbis is so, must we 
 not see tbat the Lord of this 
 beau tyis himself tbe most beau- 
 tiful of all beautiful tbings ? 
 so that, wbile the form of 
 His eternal adornment goes 
 beyond the perception of all 
 intelligence, yet that adorn- 
 ment does not withdraw it- 
 self from the view of the per- 
 ception of intelligence. And 
 thus we must confess God to 
 be most beautiful, in such 
 wise tbat He is neither within 
 the comprehension of under- 
 standing, nor beyond tbe 
 understanding of sense. 
 
 8. God, surpassing all un- 
 derstanding, is to he reached 
 iy faith. 
 
 My soul then, filled with 
 attachment to tbis pious be- 
 lief and doctrine, was resting 
 in a sort of retirement and in 
 contemplation of these ex- 
 
ST. HILARY'S CONVERSION. 
 
 331 
 
 sibi relictum quidquam aliud 
 a natura sua intelligens, in 
 quo majus officium praestare 
 Conditori suo minusve posset^ 
 quam ut tanturn. eum esse in- 
 telligeretj quantus et intelligi 
 non potest, et potest credi : 
 dum intelligentiam et fides 
 sibi necessariae religionis as- 
 sumit, et infinitas aetemae 
 potestatis exeedit. 
 
 9. In immortalitatis spem 
 assurgit Rilarius. Hanc ratio 
 ipsa ei suadet. Suberat autem 
 omnibus his naturalis adhuc 
 sensus, ut pietatis professio- 
 nem spes aliqua incorruptae 
 beatitudinis aleret, quam 
 sancta de Deo opinio et boni 
 mores quodam victricis mili- 
 tiae stipendio mererentur. 
 Neque enim fructus aliquis 
 esset bene de Deo opinari: 
 eum omnem sensum mors 
 perimeret, et oceasus quidam 
 naturae deficientis aboleret. 
 Porro autem non esse hoc 
 dignum Deo ratio ipsa sua- 
 debat, deduxisse eum in hanc 
 participem consilii pruden- 
 tiaeque vitam hominem sub 
 defectione vivendi et aeter- 
 
 cellent ideas, perceiving that 
 nothing else was left to it by 
 its own nature, in which it 
 could offer to its Creator 
 greater or less service, than 
 that it should understand 
 Him to be so great that His 
 greatness cannot be under- 
 stood, but can be believed; 
 necessary religious faith taking 
 understanding to itself, and 
 the infinity of eternal power 
 surpassing understanding. 
 
 9. Hilarius rises to the hope 
 of immortality. Reason itself 
 persuades him of this. 
 
 Now under all this lay the 
 natural feeling that the pro- 
 fession of piety should be 
 nourished by some hope of 
 imperishable blessedness, to 
 be earned, as pay is by suc- 
 cessful military service, by 
 holy views concerning God 
 and by good morals. For 
 there would be no profit in 
 thinking rightly concerning 
 God, if all feeling were to be 
 done away with by death, and 
 put an end to by the sinking 
 of failing nature. Nayfurther, 
 reason itself taught that it 
 was not a thing worthy of 
 Godj to have brought man 
 into this life, capable as it is 
 of judgment and foresight, 
 with the purpose that life 
 
333 
 
 NOTE 15. 
 
 nitate moriendi ; ut in id 
 tantum non exsistens substi- 
 tueretur, ne substitutus ex- 
 isteret ; cum constitutionis 
 nostrae ea sola esse ratio in- 
 telligeretnrj ut quod non esset 
 esse coepisset, non ut quod 
 coepisset esse non esset. 
 
 lo. S^em ac Dei 
 auget Joannis jEvangelium. — 
 Fatigabatur autem animus, 
 partim suo, partim corporis 
 metu. Qui cum et constantem 
 sententiam suam pia de Deo 
 professione retineret, et soUi- 
 citam de se atque hoc occasuro 
 secum, ut putabat, habitaculo 
 suo curam recepisset, post cog- 
 nitionem legis ac propbetarum 
 istius miodi quoque doctrinae 
 evangelicae atque apostolicae 
 instituta cognoscit : In prin- 
 cipio erai Ferbum, et Yerhum 
 erat apud Beum, et Beus erat 
 Verbum. Hoc erat in principiio 
 apud Deum. Omnia per ipsum 
 facta sunt, et sine if so factum 
 est nihil. Quod factum est in 
 eo, vita est, et vita erat lux 
 hominum, et lux lucet in tene- 
 
 should come to an end, and 
 death last for ever; so that 
 he would have been brought 
 from non-existence into being, 
 only that, when brought into 
 being, he might cease to be. 
 For we can understand that 
 the sole purpose of our crea- 
 tion was, that that which 
 was not should begin to be ; 
 not that that which had 
 begun should cease to be. 
 
 lo. The Gospel of John 
 increases his hope and his 
 knowledge of God. 
 
 My soul however, was 
 harassed by fears, partly for 
 itself, partly for the body. 
 But whilst — still holding 
 steadily to its belief, and to 
 a pious confession concerning 
 God — it was anxiously con- 
 cerned about itself, and about 
 that its dwelling-place which, 
 as it thought, was to perish 
 with it ; after becoming ac- 
 quainted with the law and the 
 prophets, it also became ac- 
 quainted in this manner with 
 the teachings of evangelical 
 and apostolic doctrine : — ' In 
 the beginning was the Word, 
 and the Word was with God, 
 and the Word was God. 
 The same was in the be- 
 ginning with God. All things 
 were made by Him, and 
 
ST. HILARY'S CONVERSION. 
 
 323 
 
 ■ bris, et tenelrae earn non com- 
 prehenderunt. Fuit homo missus 
 a J)eo, cui nomen erat Joannes. 
 Hie venit in testimonium, ut 
 testimonium perhiberet de lu- 
 mine. Non erat ille lux, sed 
 ut testimonium perhiberet de 
 lumine. Erat lux vera, quae 
 illuminat omnem hominem ve- 
 nientem in hunc mundum. In 
 mundo erat, et munduspereum 
 f actus est, et mundus eum non 
 cognovit. In sua venit, et sui 
 eum non receperunt. Quotquot 
 autem receperunt eum, dedit eis 
 potestatem filios Dei fieri, iis 
 qui credunt in nomine ejus; 
 qui non ex sanguine, neque ex 
 voluntate viri, neque ex volun- 
 tate carnis, sed ex Deo nati 
 sunt. Et Verbum caro factum 
 est et habitavit in nobis: et 
 vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam 
 tamquam unigeniti a Patre, 
 plenum gratia et Teritate {Joan. 
 i. 1-14). Proficit mens ultra 
 Daturales sensus intelligen- 
 tiam, et plus de Deo quam 
 opinabatur edocetur. Crea- 
 torem enim suum Deum ex 
 Deo diseit: Verbum Deum, 
 et apud Deum in principio 
 
 without Him was not any- 
 thing made that was made. 
 In Him was life ; and the life 
 was the light of men. And 
 the light shineth in darkness ; 
 and the darkness compre- 
 hended it not. There was a 
 man sent from God, whose 
 name was John. The same 
 came for a witness, to bear 
 witness of the Light, that all 
 men through him might be- 
 lieve. He was not that Light, 
 but was sent to bear witness 
 of that Light. That was the 
 true Light, which lighteth 
 every man that cometh into 
 the world. He was in the 
 world, and the world was made 
 by Him, and the world knew 
 Him not. He came unto His 
 own, and His own received 
 Him not. But as many as 
 received Him, to them gave 
 He power to become the sons 
 of God, even to them that 
 believe on His name ; which 
 were born, not of blood, nor 
 of the will of the flesh, nor of 
 the will of man, but of God. 
 And the Word was made flesh, 
 and dwelt among us, (and we 
 beheld His glory, the glory as 
 of the only begotten of the 
 Father,) full of grace and 
 truth' (John i. 1-14). The 
 mind advances beyond the 
 
 Y a 
 
324 
 
 NOTE 15. 
 
 esse audit. Mundi lumen in 
 mundo manens et a mundo 
 non recognitum intelligit. 
 Venientem quoque in sua a 
 suis non receptum ; recipi- 
 entes autem sub fidei suae 
 merito in Dei filios profecisse 
 cognoscit ; non ex complexu 
 carnis, neque ex conceptu 
 sanguinis, neque ex corporum 
 voluntate, sed ex Deo natos. 
 Deinde {supple, cognoscit) 
 Verbum carnem factum, et 
 habitasse in nobis, et gloriam 
 conspectam ejus, quae tam- 
 quam unici a patre, sit per- 
 fecta cum gratia et yeritate. 
 
 1 1 . Films Dei Deus. Filios 
 Dei fieri j)otestas est, non ne- 
 cessitas. Filius Dei /actus 
 homo, ut homo fieret filius Dei. 
 Christus verus Deus et verus 
 homo. — Hie jam mens trepida 
 et anxia plus spei invenit 
 quam expectabat. Ac primum 
 ad cognitionem Dei Patris 
 imbuitur. Et quod antea de 
 
 perceptions of natural sense, 
 and is taugbt more concern- 
 ing God than it thougbt. It 
 learns tbat its Creator is God 
 of God ; it bears tbat the Word 
 is God, and was with God in 
 the beginning ; it perceives the 
 Light of the world dwelling in 
 the world, and not known by 
 the world ; coming to His own, 
 and not received by His own ; 
 it learns that those who re- 
 ceived Him were, through the 
 merits of their faith, promoted 
 to be the sons of God ; born, 
 not of a fleshly embrace, nor 
 of conception by blood, nor of 
 the will of the body, but of 
 God. Furthermore it learns 
 that the Word was made flesh, 
 and dwelt among us, and that 
 His glory was beheld, which, 
 as being that of the only be- 
 gotten of the Father, was per- 
 fected with grace and truth. 
 
 IT. The Son of God is God. 
 There is a power to iecome sons 
 of God, not a necessity. The 
 Son of God was made man, that 
 man might ie made the son of 
 God. Christ is very God and 
 very man. 
 
 The alarmed and anxious 
 mind finds now more hope 
 than it looked for. And first 
 it is taught to know God as a 
 father. And what it formerly 
 
ST. HILARY'S CONVERSION. 
 
 325 
 
 Creatoris sui aeternitate et 
 infinitate et specie natural! 
 sensu opinabatur, hie nllac 
 proprium esse etiam unige- 
 nito Deo accipit : non in decs 
 fidem laxans, quia ex Deo 
 Deum audit ; non ad naturae 
 diversitatem in Deum ex Deo 
 deeedenSj quia plenum gratia 
 et veritate Deum ex Deo 
 diseit ; neque praeposterum 
 ex Deo Deum sentiens, quia 
 in principio apud Deum esse 
 Deum comperit. Rarissimam 
 deinde hujus salutaris cog- 
 nitionis fidem esse, sed maxi- 
 mum praemium noscit: quia 
 et sui non receperunt, et 
 recipientes in filios Dei aucti 
 sunt, non ortu carnis sed fidei. 
 Esse autem filios Dei, non 
 necessitatem esse sed potes- 
 tatem : quia propOsito uni- 
 versis Dei munere, non natura 
 gignentium afferatur, sed 
 voluntas praemium conse- 
 quatur. Ac ne id ipsum^ quod 
 unieuique esse Dei filio fit 
 potestas, in aliquo infirmi- 
 tatem fidei trepidae impediret ; 
 quia per sui diffieultatem 
 aegerrime speretur, quod et 
 
 believed by natural sense con- 
 cerning the eternity and in- 
 finity and beauty of its 
 Creator, this it now receives 
 as being the property also of 
 the only begotten God. It 
 does not widen its faith, so as 
 to believe in more gods than 
 one, because it hears of ' God 
 from God ; ' it does not pass 
 from God to God, as believing 
 in a difierence of nature, be- 
 cause it ieai'ns that ' God from 
 God ' is full of grace and 
 truth; nor does it think of 
 ' God from God ' as earlier and 
 later, because it finds that 
 God was in the beginning 
 with God. It next learns 
 that the belief of this saving 
 knowledge is very rare, but 
 brings with it the highest 
 reward; because, while He 
 was not received by His own, 
 those who did receive Him 
 were advanced to be sons of 
 God, not by the birth of flesh, 
 but of faith. Further, there 
 is a power, not a necessity, to 
 become sons of God ; since, 
 while the gift of God is set 
 before, it is not natural parent- 
 age which is concerned, but 
 willingness obtains the re- 
 ward. And lest the very fact 
 that power is given to every 
 man to be a son of God, 
 
326 
 
 NOTE 15. 
 
 magis optatur et minus ere- 
 ditur : Verbum Deus caro 
 factum est, ut per Deum Ver- 
 bum carnem factum caro pro- 
 ficeret in Deum Verbum. Ac 
 ne Verbum caro factum aut 
 aliquid aliud esset quam Deus 
 Verbumj aut non nostri cor- 
 poris caro esset, habitavit in 
 nobis : ut dum habitat, non 
 alius quam Deus maneret ; 
 dum autem habitat in nobis, 
 non aliud quam nostrae carnis 
 Deus caro factus esset ; per 
 dignationem assumptae carnis 
 non inops suorum, quia tam- 
 quam unigenitus a Patre ple- 
 nus gratiae et veritatis, et in 
 suis perfectus sit, et verus in 
 nostris. 
 
 13. Divina non capit nisi 
 fides. — Hanc itaque divini 
 sacramenti doctrinam mens 
 laeta suscepit, in Deum pro- 
 ficiens per carnem, et in 
 novam nativitatem per fidem 
 vocata, et ad coelestem re- 
 generation em obtinendam po- 
 testati suae permissa, curam 
 
 should hinder any one's weak 
 and trembling faith — for on 
 account of its difficulty we hope 
 more feebly for that, which we 
 at once desire the more, and 
 believe the less — God the 
 Word was made flesh, that, 
 through God the Word made 
 flesh, flesh might go forward 
 to God the Word. And lest 
 the Word made flesh should 
 either be something else than 
 God the Word, or not be flesh 
 of our body. He dwelt among 
 us ; so that, as being a dweller. 
 He should remain no other 
 than God, and, as dwelling 
 among us. He should be no 
 other than God made flesh of 
 our flesh ; not deprived of 
 what is His own, through His 
 condescending to take flesh 
 upon Him ; since, as the only 
 begotten of the Father, full of 
 grace and truth, He is both per- 
 fect in what is His own, and 
 truly present in what is ours. 
 
 13. Divine things are appre- 
 hended only ly faith. 
 
 This doctrine of the divine 
 mystery my mind joyfully 
 adopted, going forward to 
 God through the flesh, and 
 being called to a new birth 
 through faith, and com- 
 mitted to its own power that 
 it might obtain a heavenly 
 
ST. HILARY'S CONVERSION. 
 
 337 
 
 in se parentis sui Creatoris- 
 que cognoscens non in nihi- 
 lum redigendam se per eum 
 existimans, per quern in hoe 
 ipsum quod est, ex nihilo 
 substitisset : et haec omnia 
 ultra intelligentiae humanae 
 metiens sensum, quia ratio 
 " communium opinionum con- 
 silii coelestis incapax, hoc 
 solum putet in natura rerum 
 esse, quod aut intra se in- 
 telligat, aut praestare possit 
 ex sese. Dei autem virtutes 
 secundum magnificentiam 
 aeternae potestatis, non sensu, 
 sed fidei infinitate pendebat : 
 ut Deum in principio apud 
 Deum esse, et Verbum carnem 
 factum habitasse in nobis, non 
 idcirco non crederet quia non 
 inteUigeret, sed idcirco se me- 
 minisset intelligere posse si 
 crederet. 
 
 13. Christi gesta non suc- 
 cumbunt naturalihus mentmm 
 sensibus. — Ac ne in aliquo 
 saecularis prudentiae tardare- 
 tur errore, ad piae confessionis 
 
 regeneration ; recognising the 
 care bestowed on it by its 
 Father and Creator ; and con- 
 fident that it would not be 
 reduced to nothingness by 
 Him, by whom it had been 
 brought out of nothingness to 
 that which it now is. And 
 in judging of all these things 
 it passed the bounds of human 
 intelligence, since ordinary 
 reason, incapable of conceiving 
 heavenly wisdom, thinks that 
 those things alone exist in 
 the nature of things, which it 
 either perceives within itself, 
 or can put forth out of itself. 
 But my mind estimated the 
 qualities of God according to 
 the greatness of His eternal 
 power, not' by sense, but by 
 the boundlessness of faith ; 
 and thus it did not disbelieve 
 that God was in the beginning 
 with God, and that the Word 
 made flesh had dwelt among 
 us, because it could not Under- 
 stand these things; but, on 
 the contrary, it bore in mind 
 that it could understand them 
 only if it believed them. 
 
 13. The actions of Christ 
 do not submit themselves to 
 the natural perceptions of our 
 
 And that my soul might 
 not be impeded by any error 
 
328 
 
 NOTE 15. 
 
 hujus absolutissimam fidem 
 ita insuper per Apostolum 
 divinis dictis edoeetur : Videte 
 ne quis vos spoliei^er philoso- 
 phiam et inanem deceptionem, 
 secundum traditionem hominum, 
 secundum elementa mwndi, et 
 non secundum Christum: quia 
 in ipso inhahitat omnis pleni- 
 tude divinitatis corporaliter, et 
 istis in illo repleti, qui est 
 caput omnis principatus et po- 
 testatis ; in quo et circumcisi 
 estis, circumcisione non manu 
 facta in exspoliatione corporis 
 carnis, sed circumcisione Christi, 
 consepulti ei in haptismate, in 
 quo et resurrexistis per fidem 
 operationis Dei, qui esocitavit 
 eum a mortuis. Et vos, cum 
 essetis mortui in delictis et 
 praeputiatione carnis vestrae, 
 vivificavit cum illo, donatis 
 volis omnibus delictis, delens 
 quod adversum nos erat chiro- 
 grapJium in sententiis, quod 
 erat contrarium nobis : et ipsum 
 tulit e medio affigens illud cruci, 
 exutus carnem, et potestates 
 ostentui fecit, triumphatis iis 
 cumfiducia in semetipso {Coloss. 
 ii. 8, et seqq.). Respuit cap- 
 
 of worldly wisdom, it was 
 further taught to have a 
 most complete faith in this 
 pious confession by the Apos- 
 tle in his divine words : — 
 ' Beware lest any mian spoil 
 you through philosophy and 
 vain deceit, after the rudiments 
 of the world, and not after 
 Christ. For in Him dwelleth 
 all the fulness of the Godhead 
 bodily. And ye are complete 
 in Him, which is the head of 
 all principality and power ; in 
 whom also ye are circumcised 
 with the circumcision made 
 without hands, in putting off 
 the body of the sins of the 
 flesh by the circumcision of 
 Christ ; buried with Him in 
 baptism, wherein also ye are 
 risen with Him through the 
 faith of the operation of God, 
 who hath raised Him from 
 the dead. And you, being 
 dead in your sins and the 
 uncircumcision of your flesh 
 hath He quickened together 
 with Him, having forgiven 
 you all trespasses ; blotting 
 out the handwriting of ordin- 
 ances that was against us, 
 which was contrary to us, and 
 took it out of the way, nail- 
 ing it to His cross ; and hav- 
 ing spoiled principalities and 
 powers, He made a show of 
 
ST. HILARY'S CONVERSION. 
 
 339 
 
 tiosas et iautiles philoso- 
 pliiae quaestiones fides con- 
 stans, neque huraanarum in- 
 eptiarum fallaciis succumbenSj 
 spolium se praebet Veritas 
 falsitati; non secundum sen- 
 sum communis intelligeatiae 
 Deum retinens, neque de 
 Christo secundum mundi ele- 
 menta decemens, in quo di- 
 vinitatis plenitude corpora- 
 liter inhabitet : ut dum in- 
 finitas aeternae in eo est 
 potestatis, omnem terrenae 
 mentis amplexum potestas 
 aeternae infinitatis excedat ; 
 qui nos ad divinitatis suae 
 naturam trabens, non etiam- 
 num corporali praeeeptorum 
 observatione distrinxerit, ne- 
 que per legis umbram ad 
 solemnia deseeandae carnis 
 (id est, circumcisionis) imbu- 
 erit ; sed ut omnem naturalem 
 corporis necessitatem circum- 
 cisus a vitiis spiritus criminum 
 emundatione purgaret ; cujus 
 morti consepeliremur in bap- 
 tismo, ut in aeternitatis vitam 
 rediremus ; dum regeneratio ad 
 vitam mors esset ex vita, et 
 morientes vitiis immortalitati 
 
 them openly, triumphing over 
 them in it' (Coloss. ii. 8-15). 
 A steady faith rejects the 
 captious and useless questions 
 of philosophy ; nor does truth, 
 yielding to the fallacies of 
 human follies, offer itself as a 
 spoil to falsehood. Faith does 
 not hold God according to the 
 apprehension of ordinary un- 
 derstanding, nor judge accord- 
 ing to the elements of the 
 world concerning Christ, in 
 whom dwells all the fulness 
 of the Godhead bodily ; so 
 that, while in Him is the 
 infinity of eternal power, the 
 power of His eternal infinity 
 exceeds all grasp of the earthly 
 mind. He, drawing us to- 
 ward the nature of His own 
 Godhead, has no longer bound 
 us to the corporal observance 
 of precepts, nor held us to the 
 rite of the cutting off of the 
 flesh ; that is, of circumcision ; 
 but to this, that the spirit, 
 circumcised from sin, should 
 purify every natural necessity 
 of the body by the cleansing a- 
 way of offences. We are buried 
 with Him in baptism, that we 
 might come forth to the life of 
 eternity ; so that death from 
 life might be a regeneration 
 to life, and that we, dying to 
 sin, might be born again to 
 
330 
 
 NOTE 15. 
 
 renasceremur J ipso pro nobis 
 ex immortalitate moriente, ut 
 ad inunortalitatem una cum 
 eo excitaremur ex morte. 
 Carnem enim peecati recepit, 
 ut assumptions nostrae carnis 
 delieta donaretj dum ejus fit 
 particeps assumptione, non 
 crimine ; delens per mortem 
 sententiam mortis, ut nova 
 in se generis nostri creatione 
 constitutionem decreti ante- ' 
 rioris aboleret; cruci se figi 
 permittens, ut maledicto cru- 
 cis obliterata terrenae damna- 
 tionis maledicta figeret omnia ; 
 ad ultimum in bomine passus 
 ut potestates debonestaret : 
 dum Deus secundum Scrip- 
 turas moriturus et in bis vin- 
 centis in se fiducia triumpb- 
 aret; dum immortalis ipse, 
 neque morte vineenduSj pro 
 morientium aeternitate more- 
 retur. Haec itaque ultra na- 
 turae bumanae intelligentiam 
 a Deo gesta non suecumbunt 
 rursum naturalibus mentium 
 sensibus ; quia infinitae aeter- 
 nitatis operatio infinitam me- 
 tiendi exigat opiuionem; ut 
 cum Deus bomo, cum immor- 
 
 immortality ; He Himself dy- 
 ing for us out of immortality, 
 tbat we might be raised to- 
 getber witb Him out of death 
 to immortality. For He took 
 sinfal flesh, that, by taking 
 on Him our flesh, He might 
 forgive our trespasses ; be- 
 coming partaker of it by 
 taking it on Him, not by 
 any oifence; blotting out 
 through death the sentence 
 of death, that, by a new crea- 
 tion of our race in Himself, 
 He might do away witb the 
 establishment of the former 
 ordinances ; allowing Himself 
 to be nailed to the cross, that 
 by the curse of the cross He 
 might blot out and nail to the 
 cross all the curses of earthly 
 condemnation ; suffering to 
 the uttermost as a man, that 
 He might dishonour princi- 
 palities and powers ; tbat God, 
 who according to the Scrip- 
 tures was to die, might also 
 triumph over these with the 
 self-confidence of a conqueror ; 
 tbat He, though immortal 
 Himself, and not to be con- 
 quered by death, might die on 
 behalf of the eternal life of 
 dying men. These things, 
 thus done by God beyond the 
 limits of human understand- 
 ing, do not come under the 
 
ST. HILARY'S CONVERSION. 
 
 331 
 
 talis mortuus, cum aeternus 
 sepultus est, non sit intelli- 
 gentiae ratio, sed potestatis 
 exceptio ; ita rursum e eon- 
 trario non sensus, sed virtutis 
 modus sit, ut Deus ex homine, 
 ut immortalis ex m.ortuo, ut 
 aeternus sit ex sepulto. Co- 
 excitamur ergo a Deo in 
 Christo per mortem ejus. Sed 
 dum in Christo plenitudo est 
 divinitatis, habemus et signi- 
 ficationem Dei patris nos co- 
 exeitantis in mortuo, et Chris- 
 tum Jesum non aliud quam 
 Deum in divinitatis plenitu- 
 dine confitendum. 
 
 14. Christi fides et mortis 
 metum et vitae toUit taedium. — 
 In hoc ergo conscio seeuri- 
 tatis suae otio mens spebus 
 suis laeta requieverat : inter- 
 cessionem mortis hujus usque 
 eo non metuens, ut etiam 
 reputaret in vitam aeterni- 
 
 natural perceptions of our 
 minds, because the working 
 of an infinite eternity requires 
 an infinite power of thought 
 to measure it ; so that, when 
 God is man, when the im- 
 mortal One dies, when the 
 eternal One is buried, it does 
 not answer to rational under- 
 standing, but is a putting 
 forth of power ; and so again 
 on the other hand, it does not 
 depend on the measure of 
 sense, but of strength, that 
 He should be God from man, 
 immortal from being dead, 
 eternal from being buried. 
 We are raised up together 
 then by God in Christ through 
 His death. But since in Christ 
 is the fulness of the Godhead 
 we both have God the Father 
 pointed out to us as raising us 
 up together in Him who died, 
 and are taught that Christ 
 Jesus must be confessed to be 
 no other than God in the ful- 
 ness of the Godhead. 
 
 14. Faith in Christ removes 
 both fear of death and weari- 
 ness of life. 
 
 In this state of ease then 
 and conscious security my 
 mind had rested, rejoicing in 
 its hopes, and so far from 
 fearing the coming of death, 
 that it even reckoned it as 
 
332 
 
 NOTE 16. 
 
 tatis. Vitam autem hujus 
 corporis sui noii modo non 
 molestam sibi aut aegram 
 arbitrabatur, ut earn quod 
 pueritiae litteras, quod aegris 
 medicinam, quod naufragis 
 natatum, quod adolescentibus 
 disciplinam, qUod militiam 
 esse crederet imperaturis ; re- 
 rum scilicet praesentium tole- 
 rantiam, ad praemium beatae 
 immortalitatis profieientem. 
 Quin etiam id, quod sibi cre- 
 debat, tamen per ministerium 
 impositi saeerdotii etiam eae- 
 teris praedieabat, munus suum 
 ad officium publicae salutis 
 extendens. 
 
 tbat of eternal life. And this 
 its bodily life it not only did 
 not consider as wearisome or 
 disagreeable, but looked on 
 as being what letters are to 
 childhood, what medicine is 
 to the sick, what swimming 
 is to the shipwrecked, what 
 learning is to young men, 
 what military service is to 
 those who are in future to 
 command ; an endurance, in 
 fact, of the present state of 
 things, profitable towards the 
 reward of a blessed immor- 
 tality. Furthermore, that 
 which is believed for itself, it 
 also preached to others in the 
 ministry of the priesthood 
 which had been laid on it, 
 extending its own gift to the 
 service of the general weal. 
 
 NOTE 16, p. 163. 
 
 Such was one of the reproaches of Celsus. Subjoined is 
 Origen's reply to it, from his work against Celsus. 
 
 9- Mera Ta{)Ta TrporpeTTft fTitro Chap. ix. He next proceeds 
 Ao'yo)A Ko\ov6ovvTas Kal Aoy«<p *° recommend that in adopt- 
 
 ing opinions we should follow 
 reason and a rational guide, 
 
 obrjyio, napabix^ea-dai So'yjiiara' 
 
 m TtavTbis airaTrjs yivofjievris r(p since he who assents to opi- 
 
 ixr, o^Tio (rvyKaraneeiJiha, TLaC- ^^°^^ without following this 
 
 , ' course is very liable to be 
 
 Kat ,ioi,oiol Tov, aAo'ycoy m- deceived. And he compares 
 
 (TTevovTws MrjTpayvpTais Koi inconsiderate believers to 
 
ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 
 
 333 
 
 reparocr/coVots, MiOpaLS re xal 
 2aj8j8a8toty, koX otm tis upocr- 
 iTvyev, 'E/cdrTjs, r} aWrjS 8oi- 
 jjLOVos rj baijJLOVtaP <pdcriJ,aaw. 
 i2j yap kv eKfCvoLS hoWukls 
 lxoyfir)poi avdpanroi, sTnfiaivov- 
 Tes TTj iStctfTeta t&v eve^anaT-q-r 
 Tcav, ayovcTLV avToiis fj jSovXoV'- 
 Taf ovTW <j)r)(Tl Kal iv rots 
 XpioTiavoiy yCyvecrdai. <I>ij(ri 
 he Tivas /^TjSe fiovXajxevovs 
 bibovai 17 \ap.^6.vei,v \6yov irepX 
 &v mcneiova-i, xpfjaOaL tu, M^ 
 e^era^e, aXXa ■nLaTevcrov koX, 
 'H •aCo'Tis cov aiarei ere. Ka£ 
 (p-qiTLV avTovs Keyeiv' ^aKov 77 
 ev Tu ^10) (ro<f>ia, ayaOov 6 ?; 
 ixonpia. AeKTeov be irpos tovto, 
 oTi el fJ-ev oiov re Travras (caro- 
 Xiirovras to. tov /Stow 'npdyp.ara 
 <TXp\<iC^iv TM (f)i\o(To<})eiv, a\- 
 ktjv obbv oi fierabuoKTeov ovbevl 
 fi TovTrjv iJ.6vr]v. EvpedrjaeTaL 
 yap Kal ev t<2 'K.puTTiavicrp.Z ovk 
 eX&TToiiV, 'Iva p,7i (popTiKov ri 
 efeft), efeVacrts t&v TieTnaTev- 
 i>,ev<ov, KOA. bLrjyqcns tSv ev rois 
 wpo^ijTOty alviyp.&Ta)v, Ka\ t&v 
 
 Metragyrtae, and soothsayers, 
 and Mithrae, and Sabbadians, 
 and to anything else that one 
 may fall in with, and to the 
 phantoms of Hecate, or any 
 other demon or demons. For 
 as amongst such persons are 
 frequently to be found wicked 
 men who, taking advantage 
 of the ignorance of those who 
 are easily deceived, lead them 
 away whither they will, so 
 also, he says, is the case 
 among Christians. And he 
 asserts that certain persons 
 who do not wish either to 
 give or receive a reason for 
 their belief, keep repeating, 
 ' Do not examine but believe ! ' 
 and/ Your faith will save you !' 
 And he alleges that such also 
 say, ' The wisdom of this life 
 is bad, but that foolishness is 
 a good thing ! ' To which we 
 have to answer, that if it were 
 possible for all to leave the 
 business of life and devote 
 themselves to philosophy, no 
 other method ought to be 
 adopted by any one, but this 
 alone. For in the Christian 
 system also it will be found 
 that there is, not to speak at 
 all arrogantly, at least as 
 much of investigation into 
 articles of belief, and of ex- 
 planation of dark sayings 
 
334 
 
 NOTE 16. 
 
 fV Tots FivayyeXiois Ttapa^oX&v, 
 Kal SXXui' fjivpCav avfjLJSoXiK&s 
 yeyfvrjixivaiv jj vevo\xodtT7])XiV(av. 
 Et 8e rovT afxriytavov, "nr] yiv 
 Sta ray lov fiiov avayKas, Ttr) 
 be Kal bia rrjv tZv avOpanroiv 
 acrdiveiav, (rtpobpa oK.iymv I'm 
 Tov \6yov aTTOVTcoV TToCa hv 
 &Wr] PiXrCa>v piidobos Ttpos to 
 TOts TToWois PoT]drjiTai fvpedfCr) 
 TTJs anb TOV 'Irja-ov rois 'iOveai 
 •napabod(LCTr}s ; Kal iruvdavo- 
 jxedd ye nepl tov ttXtj^ods t&v 
 Tria'TevovToiv, Trjv iroAATJy )(y(nv 
 TTJs KaKtas cmodep.ivuiiv, ev fj 
 mpoTepov eKoKivbovvTO' iroTepov 
 fieXriov ea-Tiv avToi's aXoyas 
 TtUTTevova-i KaTeo'Ti.XdaL ttcos ra 
 ijOr] Kal dxpeXrjcrdai, bia ttjv vepl 
 T&v KoXaCoiiivoov eirl ajxapTiais, 
 Kal TLixmfJiivav em epyois XP't' 
 oTois irCanv, ij firj irpoa-ieadai 
 avT&v TTjv eTTKTTpo^rjv juera 
 i/fiX'Qs Trtoreajs, etas &v eTTib&cnv 
 eavTovs efeTtlcrei X6yu>v ; ^ave- 
 p&s yap 01 TrAvTes Trap' eXa)(l- 
 (TTOVS Ovbi TOVTO Xrj^ovTai, oTtep 
 elXrjipacnv, ex tov amX&s veTn- 
 
 occurring in the prophetical 
 writings, and of the parables 
 in the Gospels, and of count- 
 less other thingSj which either 
 were narrated or enacted with 
 a symbolical signification, [as 
 is the x;ase with other sys- 
 tems]. But since the course 
 alluded to is impossible, partly 
 on account of the necessities 
 of life, partly on account of 
 the weakness of men, as only 
 a very few individuals devote 
 themselves earnestly to study, 
 what better method could be 
 devised with a view of assist- 
 ing the multitude than that 
 which was delivered by Jesus 
 to the heathen? And let us 
 inquire, with respect to the 
 great multitude of believers 
 who have washed away the 
 mire of wickedness in which 
 they formerly wallowed, whe- 
 ther it were better for them 
 to believe without a reason, 
 and [so] to have become re- 
 formed and improved in their 
 habits, through the belief that 
 men are chastised for sins and 
 honoured for good works ; or 
 not to have allowed them- 
 selves to be converted on the 
 strength of mere faith, but [to 
 have waited] until they could 
 give themselves to a thorough 
 examination of the [necessary] 
 
OKIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 
 
 335 
 
 OTiVKivaC aWa fifvovaiv ev Ka- 
 K[crT(o j3i(o. Enrep ovv 6,\ko ti. /ca- 
 raaKevaariKov eaTi rov, to (j)i\- 
 dvOpayirov rov Xoyov ovk aOefi 
 Ta ^1(0 T&v avOpwiraiv (Tnbehrjixr}- 
 Kevai' Koi tovt' ovtols crvyKara- 
 pidlxrjTeov. 'O yap evXa^-qs 
 ovbe (ra>ixaTa>v larpov, iroWovs 
 eTtl TO piKTiov voaovvTUS aya' 
 yovra, olqaeTai aJditX ■noKecri /cat 
 edvecriv embrnxeiV oibev yap 
 \prj(TTov kv avOpdfuois aO^d 
 yLyverai. Ei 6^ 6 ttoXXSi' 
 crtaju.ara Oepa-nevcras, 17 iiii to 
 pikTiov Trpoayayav ovk aOeel 
 Bepa-nevef itocra mXiov 6 wo\- 
 K&v i\nj)(ai Ofpaveucas, koL eirt- 
 crrpe-^as, Kal ^ekndcras, koI 
 aitapTrjcras avrai 6eov tov ein 
 •nacn, koL hih&^as -naaav Trpa^iv 
 ava<^€peiv ktn ttjv SKiivov api- 
 (TK€iav, Koi TtdvT' iKicXCvfCV, ocr' 
 airApea-Td eort de£, (cat jiiexP' 
 TOV eKaxC(TT0v t&v Xeyo^evaiv rj 
 irpaTTOfxevav rj kol els ivOvjjLri- 
 criv fp)(piJi,€Vcav ; 
 
 reasons. For it is manifest 
 that [on such a plan] all men, 
 with very few exceptions, 
 would not obtain this [ame- 
 lioration of conduct] which 
 they have obtained through 
 a simple faith, but would 
 continue to remain in the 
 practice of a wicked life. 
 Now whatever other evidence 
 can be furnished of the fact, 
 that it was not without divine 
 intervention that the philan- 
 thropic scheme of Christianity 
 was introduced among men, 
 this also must be added. For 
 a pious man will not believe 
 that even a physician of the 
 body, who restores the sick 
 to better health, could take 
 up his abode in any city or 
 country without divine per- 
 mission, since no good happens 
 to men without the help of 
 God. And if he who has 
 cured the bodies of many, 
 or restored them to better 
 health, does not effect his 
 cures without the help of 
 God, how much more he 
 who has healed the souls of 
 many, and has turned them 
 [to virtue] and improved their 
 nature and attached them to 
 God who is over all things, and 
 taught them to refer every ac- 
 tion to his good pleasure, and 
 
336 
 
 NOTE 16. 
 
 10. Etr', eirel to Trepi r^s 
 irCiTTfas 6pvXXov(n, XtKriov on 
 fifieis ijiev TrapaXafjL^dvQVTes av" 
 T7]v &)S xprjcniiov rois ■noWois, 
 oiwXoyovjxev StSdcrxeti' Tna-T fveiv 
 Kot aXoycas, tovs jJ-rj bvvafifvovs 
 ■ndvTa KaTaXiTTfiv Koi aKoXov- 
 6eiv e^fTCLo-fi Xoyov fKelvoi 8^ 
 TOVTO jxri oixoXoyovvres, Tois 
 epyois avTo iTOiov(7i. Th yap 
 •npoTpaiTeis ^ttI (f)LXocTO<f)Cav, koi 
 cmoKXripaiTiK&s eirt riva a'(pi(nv 
 iavTov ([>iXo(T6<f)a>v p(\jfas, rj rw 
 evi!opr\Kivai roiovhe hihaaKaXov, 
 aXXcos fm tovto epx^rai, ri ru 
 TTurreveiv t?)i' aXptaw fKiCvrjv 
 KpeCvTOva flvai ; Ov yap irepi- 
 IxeCvas aKovaai tovs -nAvTutv 
 <piXoa-6(j)(av Xoyovs Kal t&v bia- 
 ^opoiV alpta-ecav, Kal ttjv avarpo- 
 ■771)1' ij.^vT&vbe,KaTaa-Kevr]vbe kre- 
 pcdVjOiiTais alpelTai tjtoi. Srtouos, 
 rj UXaTcaviKos, rj IleptTraTrjTKcos, 
 ^ ^ETiiKOvpcLos (Tvai, rj oiioias- 
 6j)770Te (})LXo<T6(p(ov alpeaftas' 
 
 to shun all that is displeasing 
 to him, even to the least of 
 their words or deeds, or even of 
 the thoughts of their hearts ? 
 Chap, X. In the next place, 
 since our opponents keep 
 repeating those statements 
 about faith, we must say- 
 that, considering it as a use- 
 ful thing for the multitude, 
 we admit that we teach those 
 men to believe without reasons 
 who are unable to abandon all 
 other employments and give 
 themselves to an examination 
 of arguments ; and our oppo- 
 nents, although they do not 
 acknowledge it, yet practi- 
 cally do the same. For who 
 is there that, on betaking 
 himself to the study of phi- 
 losophyj and throwing himself 
 into the ranks of some sect, 
 either by chance, or because 
 he is provided with a teacher 
 of that school, adopts such a 
 course for any other reason 
 except that he believes his 
 particular sect to be superior 
 to any other ? For not waiting 
 to hear the arguments of all 
 the other philosophers, and of 
 all the different sects, and the 
 reasons for condemning one 
 system and for supporting 
 another, he in this way elects 
 to become a Stoic, e.^., or a 
 
ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 
 
 337 
 
 aW a\6y(a rivl, Kav jurj ^ov- 
 \a>VTai TovTO onoXoyeXv, (bopa 
 epXerai inl to aa-Krja-ai, (f)ep' 
 elireiv, tov Sraiticov Xoyov, Kara- 
 KiTsJiv re rovs Xoittovs' rj tov 
 UXaTmviKov {n:ep(ppov^cras, ois 
 TaireivoTepov t&v &X\.a)v, t) tov 
 UepLTTaTTiTLKOv, 0)3 avQpOiTriKa)- 
 Tfpov, K(u fwXKov T&v KoittQiv 
 alpicewv evyvcopAvcas 6/ttoAo-r 
 yovvra to. avdpcainva ayadd, 
 Kal cmo TTpdrrjs 8e Trpoa-j3o\rjs 
 TapaydiVT^s Tives eiy tov ■ntpX 
 ■npovoias \6yov, €k t&v im yrji 
 yevofiivmv <j>avXoLs Koi a-nov- 
 6atoi9, TrpoTteTea-Tfpov (TvyKaTe. 
 devTo TO) ij,rfiap,S>s ftvai upo- 
 voiav, (cat tov 'EmKovpov koI 
 K^Xaov fiXovTo Xoyov. 
 
 II. Etwep ovv bei inaTeveiv, 
 0)9 6 Xoyos eblba^ev, ivi Tivi 
 T&v alpiasLS elcfqyqcraiievuiv iv 
 "EXXrjo-iv fi fiapj3dpoi,s' wSs 
 ov)(l jxaXXov tS im matn df£, 
 KOI rm bibaa-KOVTi, tovtov p.6vov 
 beiv (ri^iiv, to, b'k Xoma, fjToi 
 0)9 jot^ 8vTa, ri as ovTa piev /cat 
 Tifirjs &^ia ov p,r}v (cat mpoaKwr^- 
 
 Platonist, or a Peripatetic^ or 
 an Epicurean, or a follower of 
 some other school, and is thus 
 borne, although they will not 
 admit it, by a kind of irra- 
 tional impulse to the practice, 
 say of Stoicism, to the disre- 
 gard of the others ; despising 
 either Platonism, as being 
 marked by greater humility 
 than the others ; or Peripa- 
 teticism, as more human, and 
 as adm itting with more fairness 
 than other systems the bless- 
 ings of human life. And 
 some also, alarmed at first 
 sight about the doctrine of 
 providence, from seeing what 
 happens in the world to the 
 vicious and to the virtuous, 
 have rashly concluded that 
 there is no divine providence 
 at all, and have adopted the 
 views of Epicurus and Cel- 
 sus. 
 
 Chap, xi. Sijice then, as 
 reason teaches, we must re- 
 pose faith in some one of 
 those who have been the 
 introducers of sects among 
 the Greeks or barbarians, 
 why should we not rather 
 believe in God who is over 
 all things, and in Him who 
 teaches that worship is due 
 to God alone, and that other 
 things are to be passed by 
 
338 
 
 NOTE 16. 
 
 o-ecos Koi (rel3a(r^iov, mapopav ; 
 Tlipt Stv 6 fXT] Tnarevoov jxavov, 
 aWa Kal Aayu Ofcop&v to, irpay- 
 fxara, epei ray irnoTtntTOvcras 
 avr^, Koi evpitTKOfxivas e/c rov 
 "navu C'^reiv airobel^ei's. IlSy 
 8' ovK eiXoycarepov Tt&VTcav t&v 
 avOpooTrCvciiv Trioreojs ripT-q^ivoDV, 
 ^KeCvatv iJ,a\Kov ■aia-Teuuv t(o 
 Bern ; T^y yap -irXel, ^ yajjiei, rj 
 TratSoTTOieirai, rj pnrrei to. aitip- 
 fxara fm ttJ!; yfjv, ixrj to, Kpeh- 
 Tova isuTTeiuiv airaVT-qaecrBai, 
 bwarov ovtos Koi tov ivavrCa 
 yevicrOai koX iaTiv pre yivo- 
 y.ivov ; 'AAX' oji^toy r] Trepl tov 
 TO, KpelzTova /cal to, kut' evxriv 
 anavT-qcTia-Oai ttlcttls ToXjiav 
 TrAvTas ixotei, Kal iirl to, S,br]\a 
 Koi bwara aXXwy crv[Ji,^r]vai,. 
 Et 6e (Tvveyii tov ^Lov Iv iidaTi 
 ■npA^H abrjXm, owcoy iK^ricmai, 
 f) (X-nXs Kol f) Trepl t&v jXiXXAv- 
 Tav \pr](rTOTepa TrCcrns' wwy 
 oil fiaWov avTT] TTapa\r]^6rj-' 
 crerai fikSyai ru iria-TevovTi 
 inrep ttjv -itXeoiJ.ivrjv &&Kacr- 
 (Tav, Kal yfjv (nrnpoixivqv, Kal 
 
 either as non-existent, or as 
 existing indeed, and worthy 
 of honour, but not of worship 
 and reverence ? And respect- 
 ing these things, he who not 
 only believes, but who con- 
 templates things with the 
 eye of reason will state the 
 demonstrations that occur to 
 him, and which are the result 
 of careful investigation. And 
 why should it not be more 
 reasonable, seeing all human 
 things are dependent upon 
 faith, to believe God rather 
 than them? For who enters 
 on a voyage, or contracts a 
 marriage, or becomes the 
 father of children, or casts 
 seed into the ground, without 
 believing that better things 
 will result from so doing, 
 although the contrary might 
 and sometimes does happen? 
 And yet the belief that better 
 things, even agreeably to their 
 wishes, will follow, makes all 
 men venture upon uncertain 
 enterprises, which may turn 
 out differently from what 
 they expect. And if the hope 
 and belief of a better future 
 be the support of life in 
 every uncertain enterprise, 
 why shall not this faith 
 rather be rationally accepted 
 by him who believes, on better 
 
ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 
 
 339 
 
 yvvaiKa yaii,ovixivr]v, Kai to, 
 XoiTTtt kv avdpc&wois TTpdyixara, 
 T& TavTa irdvra hrifuovpyrici-avTi 
 6fS, Kol ra [ji,fTa inrep^aWovcrris 
 HeyaXovoCas koI deCas fxiyaXo- 
 <f)po(r6vris ToXjiricravTi tovtqv 
 Tov Koyov TrapaffTrja-cu, tois nav- 
 Taxpv TTJs olKovp,fvrjs, ixera 
 pieyaXoup Kivbvvaav koL Oavdrov 
 voixi^ofjievov aTCp.ov, h vvep-eivev 
 VTrep avOpcaiTcav 8t8(£fos Kal 
 Toiis virepereLCTdai rfj biba(rKa\i<} 
 avTov kv TTj apxxj -neicTdevTai, 
 IxeTo, Tt&vTcnv KLvhivmv kblL t&v 
 ael •KpocrhoKmp.ivuiv davdrcov, 
 ToAfi^croi airobrjiJ.rja'ai TravTaxpv 
 
 TTJS olKOVfl,ivr)S VTIfp TTJS T&V 
 
 avOpiarnmv aaiTripCas ; 
 
 grounds than be who sails the 
 sea, or tills the ground, or 
 marries a wife, or engages in 
 any other human pursuit, in 
 the existence of a God who 
 was the Creator of all these 
 things, and in Him who with 
 surpassing wisdom and divine 
 greatness of mind dared to 
 make known this doctrine to 
 men in every part of the 
 world at the cost of great 
 danger, and of a death con- 
 sidered infamous, which He 
 underwent for the sake of 
 the human race ; having also 
 taught those who were per- 
 suaded to embrace His doc- 
 trines at the first, to proceed, 
 under the peril of every danger 
 and of ever impending death, 
 to all quarters of the world to 
 ensure the salvation of men? — 
 From the Ante-Nicene Christian 
 Mbrary. T. and T.Clark, 1871. 
 
 NOTE ir, p. 179. 
 
 Luther's teaching on Faith has been so strangely mis- 
 represented that^t may be well to present the reader with an 
 extract of some length from his most beautiful, and perhaps 
 his most characteristic production — the Treatise Be Liiertate 
 Christiana. This work, which was written before the struggle 
 with the Pope had become irretrievably embittered, expresses 
 the very essence of the Reformer's mind, and a perusal of 
 it would dissipate many misconceptions respecting him, 
 
 z 3 
 
340 NOTE 17. 
 
 The most injurious of ttose misconceptions overlook the es- 
 sential point in the teaching embodied in this Treatise. That 
 point is that Paith is a response to the word and promise of 
 God, and derives from that promise its whole justification and 
 efficacy. Without that foundation, it would be baseless and 
 unreal. But with that foundation^ it holds an entirely difie- 
 rent position. For instance. Dr. Mozley says [Essays, vol. i. 
 p. 346), that Luther's Faith was ' a pure and abstract faculty 
 of confidence.' But the Reformer himself says (p. 349, below) 
 that Faith is ' wholly absorbed in the words of God,' and ' is 
 saturated with all their virtue.' He is further represented as 
 saying, ' Feel yourself safe ; if you feel safe, you are safe.' It 
 would rather appear, from these extracts, that he said the very 
 opposite. Luther said, ' If you trust to your feelings you will 
 always have reason to feel unsafe, and in danger of perdition. 
 But God, through Christ and Christ's Church, promises you 
 forgiveness and salvation. Believe that promise, and rest upon 
 it in perfect confidence.' The developments of this principle 
 led to a prolonged and difiicult controversy, on which it would 
 be out of place here to enter. But it would at least appear 
 to be wholly different from the strange theory so often at- 
 tributed to the Reformer. The Word of God, with the pro- 
 mise it conveys, is the vital element in the case, and Faith 
 is merely its correlative. But it is better to let Luther speak 
 for himself. The accompanying translation is that published 
 by the Rev. H. Cole, 1836. 
 
 Facilis res multis est visa Christian faith has ap- 
 
 _,,... f, , . peared to many an easy mat- 
 
 Uhristiana fides, quam et non ^ „ , , ~ , 
 
 ter ; 01 whom not a lew have 
 
 pauci inter virtutes ceu socias classed it among the moral vir- 
 
 . If.-, • tues, nay, have made it merely 
 
 numerant, quod laciunt, quia \ V 1, , , • , 
 
 a sort 01 attendant on virtue. 
 
 nullo experimento earn pro- And this they have done be- 
 
 , , i -J • cause they have never proved 
 
 baverunt, nee quantae sit vir- ,,.,.•'. ,, . ^ 
 
 what it is in their own expe- 
 
 tutis unquam gustaverunt, rience, nor internally tasted 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 341 
 
 cum fieri non possit, ut bene 
 de ea seribat, aut recte seripta 
 bene intelligat, qui non spi- 
 ritum ejusdem, urgentibus tri- 
 bulationibus, aliquando gus- 
 tarit. Qui autem vel paululum 
 gustavit, non potest unquam 
 satis de eadem scribere, dicere, 
 cogitare, audire. Fons enim 
 vivus est saliens in vitam 
 aeternam, ut Christus Johan. 
 iv. appellat. 
 
 Ego autem quamquam de 
 abundantia non glorier, sciam- 
 que, quam sit mihi curta 
 supellexj spero tamen nonnul- 
 1am guttam fidei magnis et 
 variis agitatum tentationibus 
 me consecutum, posseque si 
 non elegantius, certe solidius 
 de ea re dicere, quam literales 
 illi et subtiles nimirum dispu- 
 tatores bactenus disseruerunt, 
 sua ipsorum non intelligentes. 
 
 Quo autem faciliorem viam 
 rudibus (nam iis solis servio) 
 aperiam, duo baec tbemata 
 
 its power. Whereas no one 
 can truly describe it himself, 
 nor really understand it when 
 truly described, unless he has 
 at some time, under the fiery 
 trial of pressing conflicts, 
 tasted the spirit of it in his 
 own soul. And he who has 
 really tasted this, even in 
 the smallest degree, can never 
 write of it, speak of it, think 
 of it, nor hear of it enough : 
 for it is, as Christ calls it, 
 ' a living fountain springing 
 up into everlasting life ' (St. 
 John iv). 
 
 As to myself, though I 
 may not boast of an abundant 
 stock of this grace (for I 
 deeply feel my straitened de- 
 ficiency), yet I do trust that 
 out of the great and various 
 tribulations under which I 
 have been exercised I have 
 gotten of faith a certain 
 drachm ; and that I can there- 
 fore treat of it, if not more 
 eloquently, yet certainly more 
 substantially than any of those 
 learned and subtle ones have 
 hitherto done in all their 
 laboured disputations ; who, 
 after they had done, knew not 
 what they themselves had 
 written upon the subject. 
 But in order to open up this 
 matter the more plainly to 
 
342 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 praemittoj de libertate et ser- 
 vitute spiritus. 
 
 Christianus homo omnium 
 Dominus est liberrimus, 
 nulli subjeetus, Christi- 
 anus homo omnium servus 
 est officiosissimus, omni- 
 bus subjeetus. 
 Haec quamquam pugnare 
 videantur, tamen, ubi conve- 
 nire inventa fuerint, pulehre 
 facient ad institutum nostrum. 
 Sunt enim ipsius Pauli utra- 
 que dicentis i Corinth, ix : 
 Cum liber essem, omnium me 
 servum feci ; Rom. xiii : Ne- 
 mini quidquam debeatis, nisi 
 ut invicem diligatis. Amor 
 vero natura sua officiosus est 
 et obsequens ei, quod amatur. 
 Sic et Christus, quamquam 
 omnium Dominus, factus ta- 
 men ex muliere, factus est sub 
 lege, simul liber et servus, 
 simul in forma Dei et in forma 
 servi. 
 
 simple souls (since it is for 
 them only I write) I lay down 
 at the outset these two propo- 
 sitions concerning the bond- 
 age and liberty of the Spirit : 
 
 i. The Christian man is a 
 most free lord of all, 
 subject to none. 
 
 ii. The Christian man is 
 the most dutiful servant 
 of all, subject to all. 
 
 Though these two things 
 may seem to be contradictions, 
 yet when they shall be found 
 to harmonise, they will sweetly 
 make for our present pur- 
 pose. Both these propositions 
 then are of Paul himself, who 
 saith, I Cor. ix : ' For though 
 I be free from all men, yet 
 have I made myself servant 
 unto all.' Again, Rom. xiii : 
 ' Owe no man anything, but 
 to love one another.' For 
 the nature of love is to be 
 dutiful and affectionately obe- 
 dient unto the object beloved. 
 Thus Christ, though Lord of 
 all, was yet ' made of a woman, 
 made under the law ; ' at the 
 same time free and a servant ; 
 at the same time in the form 
 of God and in the form of a 
 servant (Gal. iv.) 
 
 * * * H; 
 
 * 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 343 
 
 Et ut omnia rejiciamus, 
 etiam speculationes, medita- 
 tiones, et quidquid per animae 
 studia geri potest, nihil pro- 
 dest ; una re, eaque sola opus 
 est ad vitam, justitiam, et 
 libertatem Christianam, ea est 
 sacrosanctum verbum Dei, 
 evangelium Christi, sicut dicit 
 Johan. xi : Ego sum resur- 
 rectio et vita, qui credit in 
 me, non morietur in aeternum; 
 item viii : Si Filius vos libe- 
 raverit, vere liberi eritis ; et 
 Matth. iv : Non in solo pane 
 vivit homo, sed in omni verbo, 
 quod proeedit ab ore Dei. 
 
 Certnm ergo habeamus ac 
 firmiter positum, animam 
 posse omnibus rebus carere, 
 excepto verbo Dei, sine quo 
 nuUis prorsus rebus est illi 
 consultum. Habens autem 
 verbum dives est, nuUius 
 egens, cum sit verbum vitae, 
 veritatis, lucis, pacis, justi- 
 tiae, salutis, gaudii, libertatis, 
 sapientiae, virtutis, gratiae, 
 
 In a word, to reject all 
 things : — neither speculations, 
 meditations, nor the greatest 
 devotional efforts of which 
 the human mind is capable, 
 avail anything. One thing, 
 and that only, can affect the 
 life, the righteousness, and 
 the liberty of a Christian — 
 and that is, the most holy 
 word of God, the Gospel of 
 Jesus Christ : as he saith, 
 John xi, ' I am the resurrec- 
 tion and the life, he that be- 
 lieveth in me shall never die.' 
 Again, John viii, ' If the Son 
 shall make you free, you shall 
 be free indeed.' And again. 
 Matt, iv, ' Man shall not live 
 by bread alone, but by every 
 word that proceedeth out of 
 the mouth of God.' 
 
 This then we may consider 
 as a fixed and absolute Cer- 
 tainty, that the soul may en- 
 dure the want of everything 
 but the word of God. De- 
 prived of this, it cannot re- 
 ceive benefit from any one 
 thing ; but having this, it is 
 rich, wanting nothing : for it 
 is the word of life, of truth, 
 of light, of peace, of righte- 
 ousness, of salvation, of joy, 
 of liberty, of wisdom, of 
 strength, of grace, of glory, 
 of all good that passeth under- 
 
344 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 gloriae, et omnis boni inaes- 
 timabiliter. Hoc est, quod 
 propheta octonario toto, et 
 multis aliis locis tot gemitibus 
 et vocibus suspirat et invocat 
 verbum Dei. 
 
 Rursus nee saevior plaga 
 irae Dei, quam dum Inittit 
 famem auditus verbi sui, ut ia 
 Amos dicit : sicut nee major 
 est gratia, quam si etoittat 
 verbum suumj ut Psal. civ: 
 Misit verbum suum et sanavit 
 eos, et eripuit eos de interiti'- 
 onibus eorum. Neque Christus 
 ad aliud officium missus est, 
 quam verbi, et apostolicus, 
 episcopalis, universusque ordo 
 clericorum non nisi in verbi 
 ministerium vocatus et insti- 
 tutus est. 
 
 Quaeres autem : Quodnam 
 est verbum hoc, aut qua arte 
 utendum est eo, cum tarn 
 multa sint verba Dei ? Re- 
 spondeo : Paulus Apostolus 
 Rom. i. id explicat, scilicet, 
 evangelium Dei de Filio bug 
 
 standing ! And this is the 
 reason why the prophet, 
 throughout the whole of his 
 Octonary, and in many other 
 places, sighs out so many 
 prayers, cries, and groans, 
 concerning the word of God ! 
 
 And hence, as on the one 
 hand no greater plague can 
 be inflicted by the anger of 
 God than when He sends a 
 famine of hearing the word, 
 as in Amos viii ; so on the 
 other, there can be no greater 
 token of His favour than 
 when He sends His word, as 
 in Psalm cvii, ' He sent His 
 word and healed them, and 
 delivered them out of their 
 destructions.' Nor was Christ 
 sent unto any other ofiice 
 than that of the word. Nor 
 was the apostolical, episcopal, 
 nor the whole ministerial 
 order, called and ordained to 
 any other purpose than the 
 ministry of the word. 
 
 But you will ask. Which 
 word of God is this, and how 
 must it be made use of, for 
 there are so many words of 
 God ? I answer, the Apostle 
 Paul, Rom. i, explains which 
 it is. The Gospel of God 
 concerning His Son Jesus 
 Christ our Lord, who was in- 
 carnate, and crucified, and 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 345 
 
 incarnato, passo^ resuscitate et 
 glorificato per spiritlim sanc- 
 tificatorem : praedicasse enim 
 Christum, hoe est, animam 
 pavisse, justificasse, liberasse 
 et salvam fecisse, si crediderit 
 praedicationi. Fides enim 
 sola est saltitaris, et efficax 
 usus verbi Dei, Rom. x : Si 
 confitearis ore tuo, Jesum esse 
 Dominum, et corde tuo cre- 
 dideris, quod Deus ilium sus- 
 citavit a mortuis, salvus eris. 
 Et iterum : Finis legis Chris- 
 tus ad justitiam omni credenti, 
 et Rom. i : Justus ex fide sua 
 vivet. Neque enim verbum 
 Dei operibus ullis, sed sola 
 fide suscipi et eoli potest. Ideo 
 clarum est, ut solo verbo 
 anima opus habet ad vitam et 
 justitiam, ita sola fide et nuUis 
 operibus justificatur. Si enim 
 alio quopiam justifieari posset, 
 verbo non haberet opus, ac 
 per hoc nee fide. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Quaeris autem, qua ratione 
 
 who is risen again, and glori- 
 fied by the Holy Ghost the 
 Sanctifier. For the preaching 
 of Christ, feeds, justifies, sets 
 free, and saves the soul that 
 believeth what is preached. 
 For faith alone is the saving 
 and efiectual use of the word 
 of Godj as in Romans x, ' If 
 thou shalt confess with thy 
 mouth that Jesus is the Lord, 
 and shalt believe in thine 
 heart that God hath raised 
 Him from the dead, thou shalt 
 be saved.' Again, ' Christ is 
 the end of the law for righte- 
 ousness to every one that 
 believeth.' And again, Ro- 
 mans i, 'The just shall live 
 by his faith.' Nor can the 
 word of God be received and 
 embraced by any works what- 
 ever, but by faith only. And 
 therefore it is clear that, as 
 the soul needs nothing but 
 the word unto life and right- 
 eousness, it is justified, with- 
 out any works, by faith only. 
 For if it could be justified by 
 anything else, it would have 
 no need of the word, and con- 
 sequently no need of faith. 
 
 But you will ask, how can 
 it be that faith alone justifies, 
 
346 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 fiat, ut sola fides justificet, et 
 sine operibus tantorum bono- 
 rum tliesaurum praebeat, cum 
 tarn multa opera, ceremoniae, 
 leges in Scripturis nobis prae- 
 scripta sint ? Respondeo : 
 Ante omnia memor esto ejus, 
 quod dictum est, solam fidem 
 sine operibus justificare, libe- 
 rare et salvare, id quod elarius 
 infra faeiemus. 
 
 Interim signandum, uni- 
 versam Scripturam Dei in duo 
 partiri, praecepta et promissa. 
 Praecepta decent quidem bona, 
 sed non statim fiunt, quae 
 docta sunt. Ostendunt enim, 
 quid facere nos oporteat, sed 
 virtutem f'aciendi non donant. 
 In hoe autem sunt ordinata, 
 ut hominem sibi ipsi osten- 
 dant, per quae suam impoten- 
 tiam ad bonum cognoscat, et 
 de suis viribus desperet. Qua 
 causa et vetus Testamentum 
 vocantur et sunt. 
 
 and, without any works, brings 
 in such an abundant treasure 
 of all good, when so many 
 works, ceremonies, and laws, 
 are enjoined us in the Scrip- 
 tures ? I answer-^before all 
 things hold that in mind 
 which I have just shewn; 
 that faith alone, without any 
 works, justifies, sets free, and 
 saves; as shall be more plainly 
 shewn hereafter. 
 
 In the meantime I should 
 set things distinctly before 
 thee thus. The whole Scrip- 
 tures of God are divided into 
 two parts, precepts and pro- 
 mises. The precepts do in- 
 deed teach good things, but 
 those good things which they 
 teach are not at once per- 
 formed ; for though they shew 
 us what we ought to do, they 
 give us no power to perform 
 the same. Therefore they 
 were expressly ordained to 
 this end, that they might 
 shew man to himself; that 
 by them he might be brought 
 to know his utter inability to 
 do that which is good, and to 
 despair of all strength in him- 
 self: and therefore it is that 
 they are called the Old Testa- 
 ment, which indeed they are. 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 347 
 
 Exempli causa, non concu- 
 pisces, praeceptum est, quo nos 
 omnes esse peecatGres convin- 
 cimur, cum nemo possit non 
 concupiscere, quidquid contra 
 molitus fuerit. Ut ergo non 
 concupiscat et praeceptum im- 
 pleat, cogitur de sese despe- 
 rarCj et alibi ac per alium 
 quaerere auxilium, quod in se 
 non invenit, sicut in Hosea 
 dicit : Perditio tua, Israel, 
 tantum in me auxilium tuum. 
 Quod autem hoc uno prae- 
 cepto agitur, idem omnibus 
 agitur. Aeque enim sunt im- 
 possibilia nobis omnia. 
 
 Ubi vero per praecepta doc- 
 tus fuerit impotentiam suam, 
 et jam anxius factus, quo stu- 
 dio legi satisfaciat, cum legi 
 satisfieri oporteat, ut ne iota 
 quidem aut apex praetereat, 
 alioquin sine ulla spe damnabi- 
 tur : tum vere bumiliatus et in 
 nihilum redactus coram oculis 
 suis non invenit in se ipso, quo 
 justificetur et salvus fiat. 
 
 For example, ' Thou shalt 
 not covet/ is a precept, by 
 which we are aU brought in 
 guilty as sinners ; for there is 
 no one that can be free from 
 coveting, how much soever he 
 may strive against it. And 
 therefore, in order that he 
 may be brought not to covet, 
 and to fulfil the law, he is 
 driven to despair in himself 
 and to seek that help else- 
 where, and in another, which 
 he finds not in himself : as it 
 is said in Hosea xiii, ' O Is- 
 rael, thy destruction is from 
 thyself, and thy only help is 
 in me.' And the efiect pro- 
 duced by this one command- 
 ment is produced by all the 
 rest, for they are all alike im- 
 possible unto us. 
 
 When the man has been 
 taught by the precepts his 
 utter inability, and has be- 
 come anxious to know in 
 what way he can possibly 
 satisfy the law (for the law 
 must be satisfied, so that 
 not one jot or tittle thereof 
 fail, or he must be damned 
 without hope), being then 
 truly humbled and brought 
 to nothing in his own eyes, 
 he finds nothing in himself 
 whereby he can become right- 
 eous in order to be saved. 
 
348 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 Hie altera Scripturae pars 
 adest, promissa Dei, quae an- 
 nunciant gloriam Dei, et di- 
 cunt: Si vis legem implere, 
 non concupiscere, sietit lex 
 exigitj en tibi, crede in Chris- 
 tum, in quo promittuntur tibi, 
 gratiam, justitiam, pacem, li- 
 bertatem^ et omnia, si credis, 
 habebis, si non credis, carebis. 
 Nam quod tibi impossibile est 
 in universis operibus legis, 
 quae multa sunt et tamen 
 inutilia, facili compendio im- 
 plebis per fidem : quia Deus 
 Pater omnia in fide posuit, ut, 
 quisquis banc habuerit, omnia 
 habeat, qui non habuerit, nihil 
 habeat. Conclusit enim omnia 
 sub incredulitate, ut omnium 
 misereatur^ Rom. xi. Sic pro- 
 missa Dei hoc donant, quod 
 praecepta exigunt, et implent, 
 quod lex jubet, ut sint omnia 
 solius Dei, tam praecepta et 
 plenitude eorum ; ipse solus 
 praecipit, solus quoque implet. 
 Ideo promissa Dei pertinent 
 
 Then here comes in to his 
 help the other part of the 
 Scripture, the promises of 
 God, which bring the glad 
 tidings of the glory of God, 
 and say, if thou wouldst fulfil 
 the law and not covet, as the 
 law requires, then hearken : 
 Believe in Christ, in whom 
 are promised unto thee grace, 
 righteousness, peace, libej'ty, 
 and all thiilgs. If thou be- 
 lieve, thou shalt have all 
 things ; if thou believe not, 
 thou shalt have nothing. For 
 all the commanded works of 
 the law (which are impossible 
 with thee, and which are in- 
 numerable, and after all of no 
 avail unto salvation) thou 
 shalt fulfil by this ' short con- 
 summate work ' — by believ- 
 ing! For God the Father 
 hath included all things in 
 faith. So that he who hath 
 this hath all things, and he 
 who hath not this hath no- 
 thing. Because God hath in- 
 cluded all things in unbelief, 
 that He might have mercy 
 upon all, Eom. xi. Thus the 
 promises of God give freely 
 all that the precepts exact, 
 and fulfil all that the law 
 commands, that all may be of 
 God only, both the precepts 
 and their fulfilment. God 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 349 
 
 ad novum Testamentum, imo 
 sunt novum Testamentum. 
 
 Cum autem haec promissa 
 Dei sint verba sancta, vera, 
 justa, libera, pacata, et uni- 
 versa bonitate plena, fit, ut 
 anima, quae firma fide illis 
 adhaeret, sic eis uniatur, imo 
 penitus absorbeatur, ut non 
 modo participet, sed saturetur 
 et inebrietur omni virtute 
 eorum. Si enim tactus Christi 
 sanabat, quanto magis bic 
 tenerrimus in spiritu, imo ab- 
 sorptio verbi omnia, quae verbi 
 sunt, animae communicat ? 
 Hoc igitur modo anima per 
 fidem solam, sine operibus, e 
 verbo Dei justificatur, sancti- 
 ficatur, verificatur, paeifi.eatur, 
 liberatur et omni bono reple- 
 tur, vereque filia Dei efficitur, 
 sieut Joban. i. dicit : Dedit 
 eis potestatem filios Dei fieri, 
 iis qui credunt in nomine ejus. 
 
 Ex iis facile est intelleetu, 
 
 alone commands and God 
 alone fulfils. Tberefore the 
 promises belong to the New 
 Testament, and the New 
 Testament indeed tbey are. 
 
 And moreover, as these pro- 
 mises are the words of God, 
 holy, true, righteous, free, 
 peaceable, and full of all good, 
 it comes to pass that the soul 
 which cleaves to them with a 
 steady faith is so united to 
 them, yea wholly absorbed in 
 them, that it not only partakes 
 of, but is saturated and intoxi- 
 cated with all their unctuous 
 virtue. For if the touch of 
 Christ healed, how much more 
 shall the very absorbing of the 
 unctuous spirit of the word 
 into the tender soil of the soul 
 communicate to the soul all 
 the nature of that word ! And 
 it is in this manner that the 
 soul, by faith alone, without 
 any external works, is through 
 the operation of the word of 
 God, justified, sanctified, made 
 true, settled in peace, set free, 
 filled with all good, and made 
 in reality the daughter of 
 God, according to that saying, 
 John i, ' To them gave He 
 power to become the sons of 
 God, even unto them that be- 
 lieve on His name.' 
 
 From these things it may 
 
350 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 unde fides tantum possit, et 
 cur nulla, nee omnia bona 
 opera earn possint aequare : 
 quia nullum opus adhaerere 
 verbo Dei, nee in anima esse 
 potest. Sola autem fides et 
 verbum in ea regnant, quale 
 est verbum, talis ab eo fit 
 anima, ceu ferrum ignitum 
 eandet sicut ignis, propter 
 unionem sui et ignis, ut clarum 
 sit, homini Christiano suam 
 fidem sufiieere pro omnibus, 
 nee operibus ei opus fore, ut 
 justificetur. Quod si operibus 
 non habet opus, nee lege opus 
 habet, si lege non habet opus, 
 certe liber est a lege, verum- 
 que est : Justo non est lex 
 posita. Atque haec est Chris- 
 tiana ilia libertas, fides nostra, 
 quae facit, non ut otiosi simus, 
 aut male vivamus, sed ne cui- 
 quam opus sit lege aut ope- 
 ribus ad justitiam et salutem. 
 
 be plainly understood how it 
 is that faith is of so much 
 efiieacy, and why no works, 
 nor all good works together, 
 are equal unto it. The reason 
 is — no work can cleave to the 
 word of God, nor have any in- 
 dwelling in the soul. Faith 
 and the word of God alone 
 can have dominion there. And 
 such as the word is in nature, 
 into the same is the soul 
 changed ; as iron put into the 
 fire becomes like fire, through 
 the nature of the fire to which 
 it is united. 
 
 It is clear therefore that 
 the faith of a Christian man 
 sufiiceth for all things, and 
 that he has no need of any 
 works whatever unto justifi- 
 cation. And then if he have 
 no need of works, he has no 
 need of the law; and if he 
 have no need of the law he is 
 certainly freed from the law ; 
 and therefore it is true that 
 ' the law was not made for a 
 righteous man,' i Tim. i. This 
 then is that true Christian 
 liberty, even our faith : which 
 does not give us occasion to 
 sit down at ease or live as we 
 list, but is so ordained that no 
 one might have any need of 
 the law or of works unto 
 righteousness and salvation. 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 351 
 
 Haec prima fidei virtus esto, 
 alteram quoque videamus. Ei- 
 dei enim et hoc officium est, 
 ut eum, cui creditj omnium 
 piissima et summa colat opi- 
 nione, nempe, quod eum vera- 
 cem et dignum habeat, cui 
 credendum sit ; neque enim 
 alius est honor similis veritatis 
 et justitiae opinioni, qua hono- 
 ramus eumj cui credimus. Quid 
 possumus tribuere uUi majus, 
 quam veritatem et justitiam 
 et absolutam prorsus bonita- 
 tem ? E diverso summa con- 
 tumelia est, opinione mendacii 
 et iniquitatis quemquam cele- 
 brare, aut suspectum habere, 
 quod facimus, dum non cre- 
 dimus ei. 
 
 Sic anima, dum firmiter 
 credit promittenti Deo, vera- 
 cem et justum eum habet, qua 
 opinione nihil potest Deo prae- 
 stantius tribuere. Hie summus 
 cultus Dei est, dedisse ei veri- 
 tatem, justitiam et quidquid 
 tribui debet ei, cui creditur. 
 
 Let this be considered as 
 the first power of faith. We 
 will now speak of the second. 
 For this also belongs to faith, 
 to have the most high and holy 
 thoughts of him in whom 
 it belie veth ; that is, to hold 
 him as true and worthy to be 
 trusted. Nor is there any 
 honour equal unto that esti- 
 mation of truth and justice in 
 which we hold him in whom 
 we fully confide. What can 
 we ascribe unto any one more 
 honourable than truth, justice, 
 and complete and perfect good- 
 ness ? On the other hand, it 
 is thegreatest of all reproaches 
 to speak of any one as a liar, 
 and dishonest, or even to sus- 
 pect him ; which we in reality 
 do when we do not believe 
 him. 
 
 Thus the soul, while it sted- 
 fastly believes in God promis- 
 ing, holds Him to be true and 
 just, than which opinion no 
 greater homage can be paid 
 Him. The highest worship of 
 God is to ascribe unto Him 
 truth, righteousness, and what- 
 ever we would ascribe unto 
 one in whom we fully confide ! 
 
353 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 Hie paratam sese praebet in 
 omnes voluntates ejus, hie 
 sanetificat nomen ejus, et se- 
 cum agi patitur, sicut plaeitum 
 fuerit Deo. Quia promissis 
 ejus inhaerens, non dubitat 
 eum varum, justum, sapientem, 
 omnia optime faeturum, dis- 
 positurum, curaturum. At 
 nonne talis anima, hae fide 
 sua, per omnia obedientissima 
 Deo est? Quod ergo prae- 
 ceptum est reliquum, quod 
 talis obedientia non abunde 
 impleverit ? Quae plenitudo 
 plenior, quam omnimoda obe- 
 dientia ? At bane non opera, 
 sed sola fides praestat. 
 
 Contra quae rebellio ? quae 
 impietas, quae eontumelia Dei 
 major, quam non eredere pro- 
 mittenti? Quid enim aliud 
 est, quam Deum aut mendacem 
 facere, aut dubitare veraeem 
 esse? hoe est, sibi veritatem 
 tribuere, Deo autem menda- 
 eium et vanitatem. In qua 
 re nonne Deum negat, et se 
 
 This worshipper is prepared to 
 do all the will of God ; he 
 sanetifies His name ; he sub- 
 mits himself to be dealt with 
 as it shall seem pleasing unto 
 God ; beeause he leans entirely 
 upon His promises, not doubt- 
 ing but that, as He is all 
 truth, righteousness and wis- 
 dom, He will manage, order, 
 and do all things for the best. 
 And does not such a soul by 
 this his faith yield obedience 
 unto God in all things ? What 
 precept is there which such an 
 obedience does not abun- 
 dantly fulfil? What ful- 
 filment can be more perfect 
 than universal obedience ? 
 And this obedience is really 
 yielded, not by works but by 
 faith only. 
 
 On the other hand, what 
 rebellion, what impiety must 
 it be ! What greater eon- 
 tempt can be put upon God 
 than not to believe Him when 
 He promises ! What is it 
 else but to hold Him a liar, 
 or at least to doubt His truth ! — 
 That is, for a man to attribute 
 truth unto himself, but lying 
 and vanity unto God! In 
 so doing . does he not deny 
 God altogether, and set up 
 
LUTHER ON CHEISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 353 
 
 ipsum sibi idolum in corde 
 erigit? Quid ergo prosunt 
 opera in hac impietate facta, 
 etiamsi angelica et apostolica 
 forent? Recte ergo Deus, 
 non in ira aut libidine, sed in 
 incredulitate omnia conclusit, 
 ne qui castis et mansuetis 
 operibus legis fingunt se im- 
 plore legem (ut sunt politicae 
 et humanae virtutes) salvos se 
 futures praesumant, cum in 
 peccato increduUtatis compre- 
 hensi aut misericordiam quae- 
 rant, aut per justitiam dam- 
 nentur. 
 
 Ubi autem Deus videt, ve- 
 ritatem sibi tribui et fide 
 cordis nostri se honorari tanto 
 honore, quo ipse dignus est: 
 rursus et ipse nos honorat, 
 tribuens et nobis veritatem et 
 justitiam, propter banc fidem. 
 Fides enim facit veritatem et 
 justitiam, reddens Deo suum, 
 ideo rursus reddit Deus justi- 
 tiae nostrae gloriam. Verum 
 est enim et justum, Deum 
 
 bimself in his heart for a self- 
 worshipping idol ? And what 
 think ye works can avail done 
 in this impious state of heart, 
 be they never so evangelical 
 and apostolical ? Righteously 
 therefore hath God included 
 all, not in wrath, not in lust, 
 but in unbelief, lest those who 
 imagine that they fulfil the 
 law by their chaste and kind 
 works of the law (which are 
 at best but moral or political 
 virtues) should presume to 
 expect that they should be 
 therefore saved when they are 
 all the while included under 
 the sin of unbelief, and must 
 either seek the mercy or be 
 damned by the justice of 
 God! 
 
 But when God sees that 
 truth is ascribed unto Him, 
 and that He is honoured by 
 the faith of our heart with all 
 that honour which is due unto 
 Him ; He in return honours us 
 by imputing unto us truth and 
 righteousness because of this 
 faith only. For it is faith that 
 makes truth and righteous- 
 ness, by ascribing unto God 
 His own ; and in return God 
 rewards that our righteousness 
 with glory. For it is true 
 and just to hold God true and 
 just ; and to ascribe this unto 
 
 A a 
 
354 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 esse veracem et justum, et hoc 
 ei tribuere et confiteri, hoc est, 
 esse veracem et justum. Sic 
 I Beg. V : Quieunque honori- 
 ficat me, glorificabo eum, qui 
 vero contemnunt me^ erunt 
 ignobiles. Sic Paulus Eom. 
 iv. Abrahae dicit, suam fidem 
 esse reputatam in justitiam, 
 quia per eam dedit plenissime 
 gloriam Deo, et nobis eadem 
 causa reputandam ad justitiam, 
 si crediderimus. 
 
 Tertia fidei gratia incom- 
 parabilis est haec, quod ani- 
 mam copulat eum Christo, 
 sicut spousam cum sponso, quo 
 Sacramento (ut apostolus do- 
 cet) Christus et anima effiei- 
 untur una caro. Quod si una 
 caro sunt, verum inter eos 
 matrimonium, imo omnium 
 longe perfectissimum consum- 
 matur (cum humana matri- 
 monia hujus unici figurae sint 
 tenues); sequitur et omnia 
 eorum communia fieri, tam 
 bona quam mala, ut, quaecun- 
 
 Him and confess it is to be 
 true and just, according to 
 1 Sam. ii, 'Whosoever hon- 
 oureth me, I will glorify him, 
 but they that despise me shall 
 be accounted nought.' So 
 Paul, Rom. iv, saith of Abra- 
 ham, that his faith was counted 
 unto him for righteousness, 
 because by it he gave glory to 
 God; and it shall, for the 
 same reason, be imputed unto 
 us for righteousness also, if 
 we believe. 
 
 The third power of this 
 most precious faith is that 
 which couples the soul to 
 Christ as a spouse to her 
 husband; by which sacred 
 union, as Paul teacheth, Christ 
 and the soul are made one 
 flesh ; and if they be one 
 flesh, and there be a true 
 marriage, yea by far the most 
 perfect of all marriages, con- 
 summated between them (for 
 all human marriages are but 
 the faintest representation of 
 this), then it follows that all 
 which belongs to each, both 
 good and evil, becomes com- 
 mon to both. So that what- 
 ever Christ possesses, the 
 believing soul may lay claim 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 355 
 
 que Christus habet, de iis tan- to and glory in as her own ; 
 
 i. 1 and whatever belongs to the 
 quam sui praesumere et glo- s 
 
 soul Christ takes upon Himself 
 riari possit fidelis anima, et, tt- 
 
 quaecunque animae sunt, ea 
 
 sibi arroget Christus tanquam 
 
 sua. 
 
 Conferamus ista, et vide- 
 bimus inaestimabilia, Christus 
 plenus est gratia, vita et salute, 
 anima plena est peecatis, morte 
 et damnatione. Intercedatjam 
 fides, et fiet, ut Christi sint 
 peccata, mors et infernus, ani- 
 mae vero gratia, vita et salus. 
 Oportet enim eum, si sponsus 
 est, ea simul, quae sponsa 
 habet, acceptare, et ea, quae 
 sua sunt, sponsae impartire. 
 Qui enim corpus suum et se 
 ipsum illi donat, quomodo non 
 omnia sua donat? Et qui 
 corpus sponsae accipit, quo- 
 modo non omnia, quae sponsae 
 sunt, accipit? 
 
 Hie jam dulcissimum spec- 
 
 taculum prodit, non solum 
 
 communionis, sed salutaris 
 
 A a 
 
 Now let us only meditate 
 on these things compared 
 together, and we shall find 
 them to be unspeakable. Christ 
 is full of grace, life, and salva- 
 tion ; the soul is full of sin, 
 death, and damnation. Here 
 let faith come in between, 
 and it shall come to pass that 
 the sin, death and hell are laid 
 upon Christ, and His grace, 
 life and salvation made the 
 portion of the soul. For He 
 as the husband must take 
 unto Himself, together with 
 the spouse, all that she brings 
 with her, and impart unto 
 her all that He possesses. For 
 He who freely gives her His 
 body and Himself, how can He 
 not give her all things that are 
 His ? And He who takes unto 
 Himself the body of His spouse, 
 how can He not take with her 
 all things that are hers ? 
 
 Here then is brought to 
 light a most sweet view, not 
 of communion only, but of a 
 saving warfare, of victory, of 
 a 
 
356 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 belli et victoriae et salutis et 
 redemptionis. Cum enim 
 Christus sit Deus et homo, 
 eaque persona, quae nee pec- 
 cavit nee moritur, nee dam- 
 natur, sed nee peccare, mori, 
 damnari potest, ejusque justi- 
 tia, vita, salus, insuperabilis, 
 aeterna, omnipotens est : cum, 
 inquam, talis persona peceata, 
 mortem, infernum sponsae 
 propter annuliim fidei sibi 
 communia, imo propria facit, 
 et in iis non aliter se habet, 
 quam si sua essent, ipseque 
 peccasset, laborans, moriens, 
 et ad infernum descendens, ut 
 omnia superaret, peccatumque, 
 mors et infernus eum absor- 
 bere non possent, necessario 
 in ipso absorpta sunt stupendo 
 duello. Nam justitia sua om- 
 nium peceatis superior, vita 
 sua omni morte potentior, 
 salus sua omni inferno invic- 
 tior. 
 
 Ita fit anima fidelis, per 
 arram fidei suae in Christo 
 sponso suo, omnibus peceatis 
 libera, a morte seeura, et ab 
 
 salvation, and redemption. For 
 since Christ is God and man, 
 and such a person as never 
 has sinned, never dies, nor is 
 damned, nay never can sin, 
 die, or be damned ; and since 
 His righteousness, life, and 
 salvation are unconquerable, 
 eternal, and omnipotent; since, 
 I say, such a person has by 
 the wedding ring of faith, 
 made the sin, death, and 
 hell of His spouse common 
 to Himself, yea His own, and 
 acts and suffers under them 
 as if they were His own, and 
 as if He Himself had sinned, 
 labouring, dying, and descend- 
 ing into hell, that He may 
 overcome them all ; and since 
 sin, death, and hell could not 
 swallow up Him, it is of neces- 
 sity certain that in the stu- 
 pendous conflict they are all 
 swallowed up by Him. For His 
 righteousness is greater than 
 all sin, His life is stronger 
 than all death. His salvation 
 more powerful than all hell. 
 
 Thus the believing soul, 
 by the pledge of faith in Christ 
 her spouse, becomes free from 
 all sins, secure from death, 
 safe from hell, and endowed 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 357 
 
 inferno tuta, donata aeterna 
 justitia, vita, salute sponsi sui 
 Christi. Sic exMbet sibi spon- 
 sam sine macula et ruga, glo- 
 riosam, mundans earn lavacro 
 in verbo vitae, id est, per fidem 
 verbi, vitae, justitiae et salutis. 
 Sic sponsat earn sibi in fide, in 
 misericordia et miserationibus, 
 in justitia et judicio, ut Hos. 
 ii. dicit. 
 
 Quis ergo has nuptias re- 
 gales satis aestimet? Quis 
 divitias gloriae gratiae hujus 
 comprehendat ? ubi dives et 
 pius hie sponsus Christus ducit 
 uxorem banc pauperculanij im- 
 piam meretriculam, redimens 
 earn ab omnibus illius malis, 
 et omans omnibus suis bonis. 
 Jam enim impossibile est, ut 
 peccata sua earn perdant, cum 
 super Christum posita sint, et 
 in ipso absorpta, habeatque 
 ipsa earn justitiam in Christo 
 sponso suo, de qua ut sua pro- 
 pria praesumat, et adversus 
 
 with the eternal righteousness, 
 life, and salvation of her 
 husband Christ. Thus Christ 
 presents unto Himself a spouse 
 without spot or wrinkle, and 
 all glorious through His cleans- 
 ing her with the washing in 
 the word of life, that is by 
 faith in the word of life, 
 righteousness, and salvation. 
 And thus He betroths her unto 
 Himself in faith, in mercy, in 
 loving-kindness, in righteous- 
 ness, and in judgment, as 
 Hosea saith (ch. ii). 
 
 Who then can fully enter 
 into the greatness of this royal 
 marriage ? Who can com- 
 prehend the riches of the glory 
 of this grace, where this rich 
 and holy husband Christ takes 
 unto wife this poor miser- 
 able, sinful harlot, redeeming 
 her from all her evils and 
 adorning her with all His 
 saving benefits? It is im- 
 possible now that her sins 
 should destroy her, for they 
 have all been laid upon Christ, 
 and swallowed up in Him ; 
 and she has that righteousness 
 in Christ her husband which 
 she may glory in as her own, 
 and may with confidence set 
 against all her sins, yea against 
 death and hell, and say, If 
 I have sinned, yet my Christ 
 
358 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 omnia peccata sua, contra 
 mortem et infermim, possit 
 cum fiducia illam opponere et 
 dieere : Si ego peeeavi, at 
 CHristus meus non peccavit, 
 in quem credo, cuius omnia 
 mea sunt, et omnia mea illius, 
 sicut in Cantieis : Dilectus 
 meus mihi, et ego illi, hoc est, 
 quod Paulus dicit i Corinth. 
 XV : Deo gratias, qui dedit 
 nobis vietoriam per Jesum 
 Christum, Dominum nostrum, 
 vietoriam autem peccati et 
 mortis, sicut illic indueit : 
 Peceatum stimulus mortis est, 
 virtus vero peccati lex. 
 
 Ex iis iterum intelligis, qua 
 causa tantum tribuatur fidei, 
 ut sola impleat legem, et sine 
 ullis operibus justificet. Vides 
 enim primum praeceptum, quo 
 dicitur : Unum Deum coles, 
 sola fide impleri. Si enim 
 etiam ipse aliud non esses a 
 planta pedis ad verticem, quam 
 bona opera, non tamen Justus 
 
 hag not sinned, in whom I 
 believe, all whose are mine 
 and mine are His : as in the 
 Canticles, 'My beloved is mine 
 and I am His.' This is what 
 Paul saith, i Cor. xv : ' Thanks 
 be unto God, who giveth us 
 the victory through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord ; ' that is, 
 the victory over sin and death, 
 as he there shews, ' The sting 
 of death is sin, and the strength 
 of sin is the law.' 
 
 From these things you may 
 again understand why it is that 
 so much is attributed unto 
 faith, that it alone fulfils the 
 law and justifies without any 
 works whatever. For you see 
 that the first commandment, 
 in which it is said, ' Thou shalt 
 worship one God,' can be ful- 
 filled only by faith. For if thou 
 thyself wert nothing else but 
 good works from the sole of 
 the foot even unto the head, 
 yet thou wouldst not be 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 359 
 
 esses, nee Deum coleres, nee 
 primum praeceptum impleres, 
 cum Deus coli non possit, nisi 
 tribuatur ei Veritas et imiver- 
 sae bonitatis gloria, sieut vere 
 tribuenda est. Hoc autem 
 opera non faciunt, sed sola 
 fides cordis. Non enim ope- 
 rando, sed eredendo Deum 
 glorificamus et veracem con- 
 fitemur. Hoc nomine fides 
 sola est justitia Cbristiani ho- 
 minis, et omnium praecep- 
 torum plenitude. Qui enim 
 primum implet, cetera omnia 
 faeili opera implet. 
 
 * * * * 
 Cujus enim cor haec audiens 
 non totis medullis gaudeat et 
 tanto solatio accepto non dul- 
 ceseat in amorem Christi ? ad 
 quem amorem nuUis unquam 
 legibus aut operibus pervenire 
 potest. Quis est, qui tali 
 cordi nocere possit, aut ipsum 
 pavefaeiat? Si irruat con- 
 scientia peccati, aut horror 
 mortis, paratum est sperare in 
 
 righteous, nor wouldst thou 
 worship God nor fulfil the 
 first commandment. For God 
 cannot be worshipped unless 
 there be ascribed unto Him 
 truth and the glory of all 
 goodness, as they ought to 
 be ascribed ; and this no works 
 can do, but the faith of the 
 heart only. For it is not by 
 working but by believing that 
 we glorify God and confess 
 Him to be true. On this 
 account it is that faith alone 
 is the righteousness of a Chris- 
 tian man and the fulfilment 
 of all the commandments ; for 
 he who fulfils this first com- 
 mandment fulfils all the rest 
 without any laborious work- 
 ing. 
 
 And whose heart hearing 
 these things is not all glad- 
 ness within, and sweetened, 
 under the enjoyed consolation, 
 into the love of Christ? To 
 which love he never can attain 
 by any law of works. And 
 who is there that can hurt 
 such an heart or cause such 
 an one to fear ? If conscious- 
 ness of sin or the horror of 
 death should rush upon him, 
 he is prepared to hope in the 
 Lord ; nor is he afraid nor 
 
360 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 Domino, nee timet ab audi- 
 tione ista mala, nee commo- 
 vetur, donee despieiat inimicos 
 suos. Credit enim justitiam 
 Christi suam esse et peccatum 
 suum jam non suum, sed 
 Christi esse^ at a facie justi- 
 tiae Christi omne peceatum 
 absorheatur, necesse est prop- 
 ter fidem Christi, sicut supe- 
 rius dictum est, discitque cum 
 apostolo morti et peceato in- 
 sultare et dicere : Ubi est 
 mors victoria tua? Ubi est 
 mors stimulus tuus ? Stimu- 
 lus autem mortis peceatum 
 est, virtus vero peceati lex. 
 Deo autem gratias, qui dedit 
 nobis victoriam per Jesum 
 Christum Dominum nostrum. 
 Absorpta enim est mors in 
 victoria, non tantum Christi, 
 sed et nostra, quia per fidem 
 nostram fit et in ipsa et nos 
 vincimus. 
 
 Haee dicta sint de interiore 
 homine, de ejus libertate et de 
 prinoipe justitia fidei, quae nee 
 
 moved at these evil tidings, 
 ■'until he see his desire upon 
 his enemies,' Psalm exii. For 
 he believes that the righteous- 
 ness of Christ is his, and that 
 his sin is no longer his but 
 Christ's. And all sin must 
 be swallowed up before the 
 face of the righteousness of 
 Christ, by faith in Him, as 
 we have before observed. Thus 
 he learns with the Apostle to 
 triumph over death and sin, 
 and say, ' O grave, where is 
 thy victory ? O death, where 
 is thy sting? The sting of 
 death is sin and the strength 
 of sin is the law ; but thanks 
 be to God which giveth us the 
 victory through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord ; ' i Cor. xv, ' For 
 death is swallowed up in 
 victory;' not in the victory 
 of Christ only, but ours also ; 
 for it becomes ours by faith, 
 and in it we also conquer. 
 
 Suffice it to have spoken 
 thus concerning the inward 
 man, his liberty and his 
 glorious righteousness by faith , 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTL^X LIBERTT. 
 
 361 
 
 legibus nee operibus bonis in- 
 diget, qnin noxia ei sunt, si 
 qois per ea praesumat jastifi- 
 cari. 
 
 Xanc ad alteram partem 
 revertamnr ad externum ho- 
 niinem. Hie enim responde- 
 bitur illis omnibus, qui verbo 
 fidei et iis, quae dicta sunt, 
 offensi dieunt : Si fides omnia 
 fecit, et sola adjustitiam sa- 
 tis est, cur ergo praecepta 
 sunt bona opera? otiabimnr 
 eiwo et nihil operabimur, fide 
 contenti ? Respondeo : Xon 
 sic. impii, non sic. Tere qui- 
 dem sic haberet res ista, si 
 penitus et perfecte intend et 
 spiritnales essemns, quod non 
 fiet. nisi in novissimo die re- 
 surrectionis mortuorum ; do- 
 nee in came Tivimus, non nisi 
 incipimns et profidmus, quod 
 in futora vita perficietur; 
 propter quod apostolus Rom. 
 viii. appeUat primitias spiri- 
 tus, quod in hao rita habemns, 
 aoceptori scilieet decimas et 
 
 which needs neither laws nor 
 good works ; nay, they tend 
 to the destruction of any one 
 who should presume to be 
 justified by them. 
 
 Now let us come to the 
 other part of our subject, 
 the oidirjrd man. Here an 
 answer shall be given to all 
 those who, being' offended at 
 the word feith. and all that 
 is said to esalt it, say, 'If 
 feith do all tbings, and alone 
 suffice unto righteousness, why 
 then are good works com- 
 manded? Cont-entedwithfeith 
 therefore let us be at rest and 
 do no works at all.' I answer, 
 •Not so, ye ungodly, not 
 so I ' This woxdd indeed be 
 the case if we were renewed 
 altogether, and perfectly and 
 whoUy spiritual. But this will 
 not be till in the last day of 
 the resurrection of the dead. 
 As long as we Hre in the 
 flesh, we only b^n, and grow 
 a little iu that which is to be 
 perfected in the life to come. 
 And therefore it is that the 
 Apostle, Rom. viii, calls that 
 which we have in this Hfe, 
 ' the first-firuitB of the Spirit^' 
 intimating that we shall re- 
 ceive the tithes and fulness 
 of the Spirit in the life which 
 is to come. 
 
362 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 plenitudinem spiritus in fu- 
 ture. Ad banc partem per- 
 tinet, quod supra positum est, 
 Christianum esse omnium ser- 
 vum et omnibus subjectum. 
 Qua enim parte liber est, nibil 
 operatur, qua autem servus 
 est, omnia operatur, quod qua 
 ratione fiat, videamns. 
 
 Quamquam bomo^ ut dixi, 
 intus secundum spiritum per 
 fidem abunde satis justificetur, 
 habens quidquid babere debet, 
 nisi quod bane ipsam fidem et 
 opulentiam oportet de die in 
 diem augescere, usque in fu- 
 turam vitam, tamen manet in 
 bac vita mortali super terram, 
 in qua necesse est, ut corpus 
 suum proprium regat, et cum 
 bominibus conversetur. Hie 
 jam incipiunt opera, bic non 
 est otiandum, bic certe curan- 
 dum, ut corpus jejuniis, vigi- 
 liis, laboribus aliisque disci- 
 plinis moderatis exerceatur, et 
 spiritui subdatur, ut homini 
 interiori et fidei obediat et 
 
 To tbis part of our subject 
 therefore belongs that which 
 we laid down at the beginning 
 as our second proposition : — 
 ' The Christian man is the 
 most dutiful servant of all, 
 subject to all.' For as to his 
 spirit, which is free, he worketh 
 not; but as to bis body, in 
 which be is subject, be worketh 
 all things; and how tbis is 
 let us now consider. 
 
 Although theChristian man, 
 as I have shewn, is inwardly 
 as to his spirit, fully and 
 abundantly justified by faith, 
 having all that he needs to 
 have (except that this abund- 
 antly filling faith itself must 
 be increased day by day, even 
 unto the life to come), yet be 
 still remains in this mortal 
 life upon earth, in which be 
 must of necessity govern bis 
 own body and have intercourse 
 with men. Now here begin 
 good works. Here is no sitting 
 down at ease. Here certainly 
 begins a care that the body, 
 by fastings, watcbings, labour- 
 ings, and other moderate disci- 
 pline, be exercised and brought 
 into subjection to the spirit ; 
 so that it may obey and be 
 conformable to the inward 
 man, and to faith, and may 
 not rebel or hinder ; which it 
 
LITHEE OX CHKISTIAX LIBERTY. 
 
 363 
 
 eonformis sit, neo ei rebellet 
 ant ipe^iin impetliat, siout est 
 ingenium ejr>s, si coereitiis 
 ncn ftierit. Interior eisim 
 homo eonformis Deo et ad 
 imasrinem Dei ereflr.is per 
 fidem et gander et jnetrndatnr 
 propter Christtmi. in qno tanta 
 sibi coUata stmt bona, ittLde et 
 hoc solum negotii sibi habet. 
 nt earn gviudio et gratis Deo 
 Scrvi.-t in Ubeia caritate. 
 
 Hoc dmn agit, eooe in came 
 propria onendit Tolnntatem 
 contiariam, qnae mundo ser- 
 \-ire et qnaerere,qnae sna stmt, 
 TLititnr, id qnod spirii-ts fidei 
 ferre non potest ncx^r.e vr«'et, 
 et SiTiTrtxlititr hilari studio ;~i,i 
 opprimendam et coeTCendam 
 eaci. siotit ^olns dieit Bom. 
 vi: ; Conde'.evtor legi Dei, 
 ScXv.tLd-.tra interioiem homi- 
 nem: video atiteni aliam Ieg>eta 
 in membris cieis repttgnanteai 
 leiri Eieatis -jieiie et eaptixan- 
 tem me in les^em peccati. Et 
 alibi : Castig'-^ corpus menm, 
 
 is its nabire to do if it be not 
 restrained. For the inner 
 msu being by feith ereatevi 
 conformable to Giod and after 
 tlie image of God. jors and 
 takes pleasure in him through 
 Christ.in whom such a treasure 
 of all oyod is laid up for him : 
 and therefore all his concern 
 is that he may be enabievl 
 o-'adly and vrillinglT to serre 
 Cnxi in the fireedom ot" love. 
 
 While he strives to do this, 
 behold, he o£&nds a contrsrv 
 wiU ia his own flesb. which 
 lusts to serve the world and 
 fulfil its own desires. And 
 this the spirit of &ith cannot 
 endtn:>f' ar.d will not: and there- 
 fore it struggles with ardent 
 desire to repress and restrain 
 it : aoooniicgly as P^nl saith. 
 Bom. vii, ' I delight in the 
 law of God after the inward 
 man. but I see anotiier law 
 in my members warrini: 
 against the law of my mind, 
 and bringing me into captivity 
 t? tbe law of sin in my mem- 
 bers." And so also in another 
 place. ■ But I keep under mj 
 body and brini: it into sub-'eo- 
 tion. lest after I have preached 
 
364 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 et in servitutem redigo, ne 
 forte aliis praedicans ipse re- 
 probus efficiar : et Gal. v : 
 Qui Christi sunt, earnem suam 
 crueifixerunt cum concupis- 
 centiis suis. 
 
 Verum ea opera oportet non 
 ea fieri opinione, quo per ipsa 
 coram Deo justificetur quis- 
 quam, banc enim falsam opi- 
 nionem fides non feret, quae 
 sola est justitia coram. Deo, 
 sed solum ea opinione, ut cor- 
 pus in servitutem redigatur, 
 et purifieetur a concupiscen- 
 tiis suis malis, ita ut oeulum 
 non nisi vertat ad concupis- 
 centias expurgandas. Cum 
 enim anima per fidem purgata 
 sit et amans Dei facta, vellet 
 omnia pariter purgari^ prae- 
 cipue corpus proprium, ut om- 
 nia secum amarent et lauda- 
 rent Deum. Ita fit, ut homo 
 exigente corporis sui causa 
 otiari non possit, cogaturque 
 ob id multa bona operari, ut 
 in servitutem redigat. Haec 
 
 to others I myself should be a 
 castaway.' And agaiuj Gal. v, 
 ' They vfho are Christ's have 
 crucified the flesh with the 
 aflfeetions and lusts.' 
 
 But these works are not to 
 be done with this opinion, that 
 by them anyone may become 
 righteous before God ; for this 
 false opinion faith will not 
 endure, which alone is right- 
 eousness before God ; but they 
 are to be done with this view 
 only, that the body might be 
 brought into subjection and 
 purified from its lusts, so that 
 its eye might never be so 
 much as turned but with a 
 desire to shun concupiscence. 
 For as the soul is purified by 
 faith and made to love God, 
 it would that all things were 
 purified together with it, 
 especially its own body, that 
 all things might join with it 
 in loving and praising God. 
 Hence it is that the man, 
 from the urgent necessity 
 which he feels in his own 
 body, can never be at ease, 
 but is compelled on that ac- 
 count to do many good works 
 in order to bring his body 
 into subjection. And yet he 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 365 
 
 tamen opera ipsa non id sunt, 
 quo justificetur coram Deo, 
 sed gratuito am ore ea faciat 
 in obsequium Dei, nihil aliud 
 intutus quam divinum bene- 
 placitum, cui per omnia vellet 
 obsequi oflBeiosissime. 
 * * * * 
 
 Non ergo opera bona reji- 
 cimus, imo maxime amplec- 
 timur et docemus. Non enim 
 propter ipsa, sed propter im- 
 pium hoc additamentum et 
 perversam opinionem quae- 
 rendae justitiae, ea damnamus. 
 Qua fit, ut solum in specie 
 appareant bona, cum revera 
 bona non sint, quibus fallun- 
 tur et fallunt, ceu lupi rapaces 
 sub vestimentis ovium. 
 
 Hie autem Leviathan et 
 perversa opinio in operibus 
 insuperabilis est, ubi deest 
 sincera fides. Abesse enim 
 non potest a Sanctis illis ope- 
 rariis, donee fides vastatrix 
 ejus veniat et regnet in corde. 
 Natura per se ipsam non po- 
 
 does not look upon these works 
 as making him righteous be- 
 fore God, but he does them in 
 the freedom of love in obe- 
 dience to God, having nothing 
 else in view but the divine good 
 pleasure, to which he would 
 be most dutifully conformed 
 in all things. 
 
 We do not therefore reject 
 good works, but on the con- 
 trary we strenuously maintain 
 and teach them ; for we do not 
 condemn the works for them- 
 selves, but for that impiously 
 added false opinion of seek- 
 ing righteousness by them, 
 by which they are made to 
 have the appearance of good 
 only, when in reality they are 
 not good ; and thus by them 
 men are deceived themselves 
 and deceive others, as ravenous 
 wolves in sheep's clothing. 
 
 And this devil, this perverse 
 opinion concerning works, 
 where there is no real faith, 
 is insuperable ; for it cannot 
 be beaten out of those holy 
 workmen until faith its de- 
 stroyer come and plant its 
 kingdom in the heart. Nature 
 herself cannot drive it out, 
 nor even know what it is ; 
 nay, she considers it to be a 
 
366 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 test earn expellere, imo ne 
 cognoscere quidem, quin earn 
 dueit loco sanctissimae volun- 
 tatis. Ubi si eonsuetudo ac- 
 cesserit, et banc naturae pra- 
 vitatem roboraverit (sicuti 
 factum est per impios magis- 
 tros), incurabile malum est, et 
 infinites irrecuperabiliter se- 
 dueit ac perdit. Quare etsi 
 bonum est, de poenitentia, 
 confessione, satisfactione prae- 
 dieare et seribere, si tamen 
 hie sistatur, et non ad fidem 
 usque docendam procedatur, 
 sine dubio deceptoriae et dia- 
 bolicae sunt doctrinae. Sic 
 enim Christus cum suo Jo- 
 banne non solum dixit : Poe- 
 nitentiam agite, sed addidit 
 verbum fidei dicens : Appro- 
 pinquabit regnum coelorum. 
 
 Non enim alterum tantum, 
 sed utrumque verbum Dei 
 praedicandum est, nova et 
 Vetera proferenda de tbesauro, 
 tarn vox legis, quam verbum 
 gratiae, Vocem legis proferri 
 
 most holy and obedient will. 
 And where custom has long 
 prevailed and confirmed this 
 depravity of nature (as is the 
 case under wicked teachers) 
 it is an evil incurable and 
 seduces and sends thousands 
 to irremediable perdition. 
 Wherefore although it is 
 good to preach and write of 
 repentance, confession, and 
 satisfaction ; yet, if there be 
 a stopping here and no going 
 on to teach faith, these doc- 
 trines are without doubt de- 
 lusive and devilish. Hence 
 Christ, together with His 
 servant John, not only said, 
 ' Eepent ye,' but added the 
 word of faith, saying, ' The 
 kingdom of heaven is at hand.' 
 For not one part of God's 
 word only, but both must be 
 preached ; new as well as old 
 must be brought forth out of 
 the treasure, the voice of the 
 law as well as the word of 
 grace. The voice of the law 
 must be sounded forth that 
 men may be alarmed and 
 brought to a knowledge of 
 their sins, and then converted 
 unto repentance and newness 
 of life. But there must not 
 be a stopping here ; for that 
 would be to wound without 
 binding up, to smite without 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 367 
 
 oportet, ut terreantur, et in 
 suorum peeeatorum notitiam 
 redueantur, et inde ad poeni- 
 tentiam et meliorem vitae 
 ratioiiem eonvertantur. Sed 
 non hie sistendum, hoc enim 
 esset solum vulnerare et non 
 alligare, pereutere et non sa- 
 nare, oecidere et non vivifi- 
 care, deducere ad inferos et 
 non redueere, humiliare et non 
 exaltare. Ideo et verbum »ra- 
 tiae et promissae remissionis, 
 ad doeendam et erigendam 
 fidem, praedicari debet, sine 
 quo lex, eontritio, poenitentia, 
 et omnia alia firustra fiunt et 
 docentur. 
 
 Supersunt quidem adhuc 
 praedicatores poenitentiae et 
 gratiae, sed non espUcant Dei 
 legem et promissionem eo fine 
 et spiritu, ut disci queat, unde 
 poenitentia et gratia veniant. 
 Poenitentia enim ex lege Dei, 
 sed fides sen gratia ex pro- 
 missione Dei provenit, sicut 
 dicit Rom. x : Fides ex audita, 
 
 healing, to kill without making 
 alive, to bring down to the 
 gates of hell and not to raise 
 up, to cast down without ex- 
 alting. Therefore the word 
 of grace and of the promise 
 of remission of sins must be 
 preached to teach and build 
 up feith, without which the 
 law, contrition, repentance, 
 and everything else wUl be 
 taught and wrought in vain. 
 
 There still i-emain, indeed, 
 preachers of repentance and 
 grace, but they do not set 
 forth the law of God and the 
 promise in that way, and with 
 that spirit, that their hearers 
 may learn whence repentance 
 and grace come ; for repentance 
 comes by the law, but faith 
 or grace by the promise of 
 God ; as the Apostle saith, 
 Rom. X, ' Faith cometh by 
 hearing, and hearing by the 
 
368 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 auditus autem per verbum 
 Christi, quo fit, ut homo per 
 fidem divinae promissionis 
 consoletur et exaltetur, qui 
 per minas et timorem legis 
 divinae humiliatus et in sui 
 cognitionem perduetus est. 
 Sic Psal. xxix : Ad vespe- 
 rum demorabitur fletus, et ad 
 matutinum laetitia. Haec 
 dicta sint de operibus in ge- 
 nera, et simul de iisj quae 
 Christianus in proprium cor- 
 pus exereet. 
 
 Ultimo et de iis dicemus, 
 quae erga proximum suum 
 operatur ; non enim homo sibi 
 vivit soli in corpore isto mor- 
 tali ad operandum in eo, sad 
 et omnibus hominibus in terra, 
 imo solum aliis vivit et non 
 sibi. In hoc enim corpus 
 suum subjectum facit, quo sin- 
 cerius et liberius queat aliis 
 servira, sicut Paulus Rom. xiv. 
 dicit : Nemo sibi vivit et nemo 
 sibi moritur, qui enim vivit. 
 Domino vivit, at qui moritur, 
 
 word of Christ.' Hence it is 
 that the man who, by the 
 threatenings and fear of the 
 divine law, is brought low 
 and cast down into the know- 
 ledge of himself, is comforted 
 and raised up by faith in the 
 divine promise, as in Psalm 
 XXX, ' Weeping shall endure 
 until the night, and joy until 
 the morning.' So far have 
 we spoken concerning works 
 in general J and those also 
 which the Christian works in 
 his own hoAy. 
 
 We will now in the last 
 place speak of those works 
 which he works towards 
 his neighhour. For man does 
 not live for himself alone 
 in this m.ortal body, and 
 to work in it only, but he 
 lives for all men upon the 
 ■earth ; yea, he lives for others 
 only and not for himself, for 
 he brings his body into sub- 
 jection to the very end that 
 he may be able to serve others 
 more sincerely and more 
 freely, as Paul saith, Hom. 
 xiv, ' None of us liveth unto 
 himself, and no man dieth 
 unto himself; for he that 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY, 369 
 
 Domino moritur, Ideo non 
 potest fieri, ut sit otiosus in 
 hac vita et absque opere erga 
 proximos suos. Necesse est 
 enim, ut loquatur, agat et 
 conversetur cum hominibus, 
 sicutChristus in similitudinem 
 factus habitu inventus est ut 
 homo, et conversatus cum ho- 
 minibus, ut Baruch iii. dicit. 
 
 Nullo tamenhorum opus ei 
 est ad justitiam et salutem, 
 ideo in omnibus operibus suis 
 ea debet opinione esse forma- 
 tus, et hue solum spectare, ut 
 aliis serviat et prosit in omni- 
 bus, quaecunque fecerit, nihil 
 ante oculos habens, nisi ne- 
 cessitatem et commoditatem 
 proximi. Sic enim Apostolus 
 jubet, ut manibus laboremus, 
 quo demus necessitatem ha- 
 benti, cum potuisset dicere, 
 quo nos ipsos alamus, sed det, 
 inquit, necessitatem habenti. 
 Nam et in hoc ipsum corporis 
 curam habere Christianum 
 est, quo per ejus salutem et 
 
 Bb 
 
 liveth liveth unto the Lord, 
 and he that dieth dieth unto 
 the Lord.' And therefore it 
 is impossible that he can live 
 at ease in this life, and with- 
 out doing works toward his 
 neighbours; for he must of 
 necessity converse, act, and 
 have intercourse with men, 
 even as Christ was made in 
 our likeness, and found in 
 fashion as a man, and had 
 intercourse with man, as 
 Baruch iii. saith. 
 
 But yet he has no need of 
 these things unto righteous- 
 ness and salvation. Therefore 
 in all his works he ought to 
 be in this mindj and to have 
 only this view — that in all 
 things whatever he does he 
 serve and profit others, having 
 nothing before his eyes but 
 the necessity and profit of his 
 neighbour. For thus the 
 Apostle commands us ' to 
 labour with our hands, ' that 
 we may have to give to 
 him that needeth.' Whereas 
 he might have said, that 
 we may have wherewith to 
 nourish ourselves ; but no : he 
 saith also ' him that needeth.' 
 For it is a part of Christianity 
 to take care of the body for 
 this very end, that by its 
 health and powers we may 
 
370 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 commoditatem laborare, res 
 quaerere et servare possimuS, 
 in subsidium eorum, qui indi- 
 gent, ut sic membrum robus- 
 tum serviat membro infirmo, 
 et simus filii Dei, alter pro 
 altero sollicitus et laboriosus, 
 invicem onera portantes, et 
 sic legem Christi implentes. 
 
 Ecce, haec est vere Chris- 
 tiana vita, hie vere fides efii- 
 cax est per dilectionem, hoc 
 est, cum gaudio et dilectione 
 prodit in opus servitutis liber- 
 rimae, qua alteri gratis et 
 sponte servit, ipsa abunde sa- 
 tura fidei suae plenitudine et 
 opulentia. 
 
 Sic Philippenses cum Pau- 
 lus docuisset, quam divites 
 facti essent per fidem Christi, 
 in qua omnia obtinuissent, 
 docet COS deinceps dicens : Si 
 qua consolatio Christi, si quod 
 solatium caritatis, si qua so- 
 cietas spiritus, implete gau- 
 dium meum, ut idem sapiatis, 
 et eandem caritatem habentes 
 
 labour, earn, and lay up that 
 which may supply the neces- 
 sity of those who are in need ; 
 that thus the member that is 
 strong may serve the member 
 that is weak ; that we may be 
 the sons of God, feeling and 
 labouring for each other, bear- 
 ing each other's burdens and 
 so fulfilling the law of Christ. 
 
 Behold, this is the true 
 Christian life. Here is the 
 true ' faith which worketh by 
 love,'' that is, which goes forth 
 with joy and delight in the 
 work of ' perfect freedom ; ' it 
 serves its neighbours freely 
 and spontaneously, because its 
 own treasure is richly filled, 
 with the overflowing abun- 
 dance which it possesses by 
 faith. 
 
 Hence Paul, when he had 
 made it evident to the Philip- 
 pians how rich they were by 
 the faith of Christ, in which 
 they had possession of all 
 things, goes on to admonish 
 them, saying, ' If therefore 
 there be any consolation in 
 Christ, if any comfort of love, 
 if any fellowship of the spirit, 
 fulfil ye my joy; that ye be 
 like minded, having the same 
 love, being of one accord, of 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 371 
 
 unanimes id ipsum sentientes, 
 nihil per contentionem, neque 
 inanem gloriam, sed in humi- 
 litate superiores invicem arbi- 
 trantes, non quae sua sunt 
 singuK considerantes, sed ea,, 
 quae aliorum. 
 
 Hie clare videmus, vitam 
 Christianorum ab Apostolo in 
 banc regulam esse positam, 
 ut omnia opera nostra ad ali- 
 orum commoditatem ordiuen- 
 tnr, cum per Mem quisque 
 suam sic abundet, ut omnia 
 alia opera, totaque vita ei 
 superfluant, quibus proximo 
 spontanea benevolentia serviat 
 et benefaciat. 
 
 Ad hoc inducit Christum 
 pro exemplo, dicens: Hoc 
 sentite in vobis, quod et in 
 Christo Jesu, qui, cum in 
 forma Dei esset, non rapinam 
 arbitratus est, esse se aequalem 
 Deo, sed exinanivit semet 
 ipsum, formam servi accipiens 
 in similitudinem hominum 
 factus, et habitu inventus ut 
 
 Bb 
 
 one mind ; doing nothing 
 through contention or vain 
 glory, but each in humble- 
 mindedness esteeming other 
 better than himself, and each 
 considering not his own things 
 but the things of another.' 
 Here we see plainly that the 
 Christian life is by the 
 Apostle made to consist in 
 this, directing all our works 
 for the benefit of others ; be- 
 cause each one so abounds by 
 his faith that all his other 
 works, yea, his life itself, are 
 but superabounding blessings 
 which he may devote with 
 spontaneous benevolence to 
 the service and benefit of his 
 neighbour. 
 
 He then moreover brings 
 forward Christ as an example, 
 saying, ' Let this mind be in 
 you which was also in Christ 
 Jesus ; who being in the form 
 of God, thought it not robbery 
 to be equal with God. Never- 
 theless He made Himself of no 
 reputation, and took upon Him 
 the form of a servant, and was 
 made in the likeness of men ; 
 and being found in fashion as 
 a man He became obedient 
 unto death.' This most health- 
 ful admonition has been ob- 
 scured from us by those who, 
 not at aU understanding these 
 z 
 
372 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 homo, factus est obediens us- 
 que ad mortem. Hoc enim 
 verbum Apostoli saluberri- 
 mum nobis obscurarunt ii, qui 
 vocabula apostolica, formam 
 Dei, formam servi, habitum, 
 similitudinem hominum, pror- 
 sus non iutellexeruntj et ad 
 naturas diyinitatis et bumani- 
 tatis transtulerunt, cumPaulus 
 id velit, Christum, cum esset 
 plenus forma Dei, et omnibus 
 bonis abundans, ita ut nullo 
 opere, nulla passione indigu- 
 erit, ut Justus et salvus fieret, 
 habebat enim haec omnia 
 statim ab initio sui, non 
 tamen iis inflabatur, nee super 
 nos elevabatur, et quandam 
 potentiam super nos sibi ar- 
 rogabat, licet id jure potuisset. 
 Sed contra sic egit laborans, 
 operans, patiens, moriens, ut 
 similis esset ceteris hominibus, 
 et habitu et gestu non aliud 
 quam homo, quasi iis omnibus 
 egeret, et nihil haberet for- 
 marum Dei, quod tamen totum 
 
 apostolic terms, ' form of God,' 
 ' form of a servant,' ' fashion,' 
 and 'likeness of men,' have 
 made this passage refer ex- 
 pressly to the divine and 
 human natures. Whereas the 
 Apostle's meaning is, that 
 Christ, though He was full 
 in His form of God, and 
 abounding in all good, so that 
 He wanted no work or suffer- 
 ing in order to His becoming 
 righteous and saved (for He 
 had all these things immedi- 
 ately from the beginning of 
 Himself) ; yet was not puffed 
 up with these, nor lifted up 
 above us, nor did arrogate to 
 Himself a certain power over 
 us (although He might have 
 done that by right); but that, 
 on the contrary. He conde- 
 scended so to labour, suffer, and 
 die, that He might become like 
 other men, and in form and 
 fashion nothing more than a 
 man, as though He had need 
 of these things and had no- 
 thing of the form of God ; and 
 that He did all this for us, 
 that He might serve us, and 
 that all those things might 
 become ours which He did in 
 this form of a servant. 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 373 
 
 propter nos fecit, ut nobis ser- 
 viret, et nostra fierent omnia, 
 quae hac forma servi operare- 
 tur. 
 
 Ita Christianus, quemad- 
 modum caput suum Christus, 
 per fidem suam plenus et satur, 
 contentus esse debet hac forma 
 Dei, per fidem obtenta, nisi 
 quod, ut dixi, ipsam banc 
 fidem augere debet, donee per- 
 fieiatur. Haec enim vita, jus- 
 titia, et salus ejus est, perso- 
 nam ipsam servans et gratam 
 faciens, omniaque tribuens, 
 quae Cbristus habet, ut supra 
 dictum est, et Paulus Gal. i. 
 confirmatj dicens : Quod au- 
 tem in carne vivo, in fide filii 
 Dei vivo. Et quamquam sic 
 liber est ab omnibus operibus, 
 debet tamen rursus se exina- 
 nire hac libertate, formam 
 servi accipere, in similitudi- 
 nem hominum fieri, et habuit 
 inveniri ut homo, servire, 
 adjuvare, et omnimodo cum 
 proximo suo agere, sicut videt 
 
 So the Christian, being 
 by his faith complete and 
 full, like Christ his head, 
 ought to be satisfied with 
 this ' form of God ' which he 
 has obtained by faith (except 
 that, as I have before observed, 
 he ought to increase this same 
 faith until it be perfected ; 
 for this faith is his life, his 
 righteousness, his salvation ; 
 preserving his person and 
 rendering it acceptable, and 
 making him a partaker of all 
 that Christ possesses ; as we 
 have shewn before, and as 
 Paul affirms, Gal. i, saying, 
 ' The life that I now live in 
 the flesh, I live by the faith 
 of the Son of God ') ; but yet, 
 although he is thus free from 
 all works, he ought neverthe- 
 less in this his liberty to 
 make himself of no reputation, 
 to take upon him the form of 
 a servant, to be made in the 
 likeness of men, to be found 
 in fashion as a man, to serve, 
 to help, and in all things to 
 do unto his neighbour as he 
 sees God has done, and still 
 does, for Christ's sake, unto 
 
374 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 seeum actum et agi a Deo per 
 Christum, et hoc ipsum gratis, 
 nuUoque respectu, nisi divini 
 placiti, et ita eogitare : 
 
 En mihi indigno damnato- 
 que homuncioni, citra omne 
 meritum, mera gratuitaque 
 misericordia, dedit Deus meus 
 in Christo omnes divitias jus- 
 titiae et salutis, ut amplius 
 nulla re prorsus indigeam, nisi 
 fide, quae credat, hoc se sic 
 habere. Huic ergo tali Patri, 
 qui me suis his inaestimabi- 
 libus divitiis obruit, cur non 
 liberaliter, hilariter, toto corde 
 spontaneoque studio omnia 
 faciam, quaecunque sciero 
 placita et grata coram illo 
 esse ? Dabo itaque me quen- 
 dam Christum proximo meo, 
 quemadmodum Christus sese 
 praebuit mihi, nihil facturus 
 in hac vita, nisi quod videro 
 proximo meo necessarium, 
 commodum et salutare fore, 
 quandoquidem per fidem om- 
 nium bonorum in Christo 
 abundans sum. 
 
 him ; and that freely and 
 without anything else in view 
 than doing the good will of 
 God. He ought to think thus 
 with himself : — 
 
 Behold, here am I an un- 
 worthy and condemned wretch, 
 and my God has, of his own 
 pure and free mercy, with- 
 out any deserving on my 
 part, given unto me in Christ 
 all the riches of righteous- 
 ness and salvation, so that 
 I want no one thing else 
 whatever but faith to believe 
 that this really is so. Unto 
 such a Father therefore, who 
 has more than filled me with 
 these His inestimable riches, 
 what shall I render ? Shall I 
 not freely, gladly, with all my 
 heart, and with spontaneous 
 desire, do whatever I know is 
 acceptable and well-pleasing 
 in His sight ? Surely then I 
 will give myself as a certain 
 Christ to my neighbour, even 
 as Christ has given Himself 
 unto me. I will do nothing 
 in this life but that which 
 shall be to my neighbour's 
 service, profit, or edification; 
 and that, because by faith 
 I possess an abundance of all 
 good in Christ, 
 
LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 375 
 
 Ecce sic fluit ex fide caritas 
 et gaudium in Domino, et ex 
 caritate hilaris, libens, liber 
 animus, ad sponte serviendum 
 proximo, ita ut nuUam habeat 
 rationem gratitudinis, ingra- 
 titudinis, laudis ac vituperii, 
 lucri aut damni. Neque enim 
 agit hoc, ut homines sibi de- 
 mereatur, nee inter amieos 
 inimieosque discemit, nee gra- 
 tos nee ingratos suspicit, sed 
 liberrime, libentissimeque dis- 
 pergit se et sua, sive ea perdat 
 in ingratisj sive mereatur. Sic 
 enim et pater ejus facit, om- 
 nibus omnia distribuens abun- 
 danter et liberrime, faciens 
 solem suum oriri super bonos 
 et males. Ita filius nihil, nisi 
 gratuito gaudio, quo in Deo 
 per Christum delectatur, tan- 
 tarum rerum largitore, facit 
 et patitur. 
 
 Vides ergo, si cognoscimus 
 ea, quae nobis data sunt, max- 
 ima et pretiosa, ut Petrus ait, 
 mox per spiritum diffundi in 
 
 Thus you see, from faith 
 flow love and gladness in the 
 Lord ; and from love a happy, 
 willing, and free spirit to serve 
 a neighbour spontaneously; 
 and that, without any regard 
 to gratitude or ingratitude, 
 praise or blame, gain or loss. 
 Nor in what it does has it 
 any eye to gaining the favour 
 of men, nor does it make any 
 distinction between friends and 
 enemies, nor has it any respect 
 to the grateful or ungrateful ; 
 but with the utmost freedom 
 and willingness it devotes both 
 itself and its property, whether 
 they prove to be lost upon the 
 ungrateful or given to the 
 deserving. And even as the 
 Father of this free son does, 
 distributing freely and abundr 
 antly all things to all, 'causing 
 his sun to shine upon the just 
 and upon the unjust; ' so the 
 son does nothing and suffers 
 nothing but with that free 
 gladness in which he delights 
 through Christ in God, who 
 has freely given him such 
 exceedingly great things. 
 
 You see therefore that when 
 we once know those exceed- 
 ingly great and precious things 
 (asPeter saith) which arefreely 
 given unto us, love is there- 
 
376 
 
 NOTE 17. 
 
 cordibus nostris caritatem, qua 
 liberi, hilares, omnipotenteSj 
 operatores, et omiiium tribu- 
 lationum victores,proximorum 
 servij nibilominus tamen om- 
 nium domini sumus. Qui 
 vere non cognoscunt donata 
 sibi per Christum, iis Cbristus 
 frustra natus est, per opera 
 illi incedunt, ad istarum rerum 
 gustum et sensum nunquam 
 perventuri. Igitur sieut prox- 
 imus noster necessitatem habet 
 et nostra abundantia indiget, 
 ita et nos coram Deo necessi- 
 tatem babuimus et misericor- 
 dia ejus indiguimus. Ideo 
 sicut Pater coelestis nobis in 
 Christo gratis auxiliatus est, 
 ita et nos debemus gratis per 
 corpus et opera ejus proximo 
 nostro auxiliari, et unusquis- 
 que alteri Cbristus quidam 
 fieri, ut simus mutuum 
 Christi, et Cbristus idem in 
 omnibus, hoc est, vere Chris- 
 tiani. 
 
 Quis ergo comprehendere 
 
 upon largely shed abroad in 
 our hearts by the Holy Ghost ; 
 under the influence of which 
 we are free and happy, all- 
 aiFecting workmen, overcomers 
 of all tribulation, the servants 
 of our neighbours and yet 
 nevertheless lords of all things. 
 Whereas those who know not 
 these things as freely given 
 unto them through Christ, to 
 them Christ is born in vain ; 
 these wander in the ways of 
 working and shall never attain 
 unto a knowledge and taste 
 of these things. As therefore 
 our neighbour has necessity, 
 and stands in need of our 
 abundance; so we ouce had 
 necessity before God and stood 
 in need of His mercy. As our 
 Heavenly Father has freely 
 supplied our necessities in 
 Christ, so we ought by our 
 body and its industry freely 
 to supply the necessity of our 
 neighbour, and each to become 
 to the other a certain Christ, 
 that we may be all as one in 
 Christ and Christ one in us 
 all ; that is, that we may be 
 true Christians. 
 
 Who then can comprehend 
 
NOTE 18. 377 
 
 queat divitias et gloriam the riches and the glory of 
 
 Christianae vitae? quae cm- ^^^ Christian Ufe? It pos- 
 sesses and can do all things, 
 ma potest et habet, et nullius ^^^^^g ^^thing itself; the 
 
 indiget, peccati, mortis, inferni royal conqueress of sin, death, 
 
 domina, simultamen omnibus ^^^ ^^^^' ^^^ ^^^ ** ^^^ ^^"^^ 
 
 time a handmaid humbly sub- 
 serva et obseqmosa et utihs. ^^^^^^ ^^^ profitable to all. 
 
 NOTE 18, p. i8i. 
 
 The following is the comnaencement of Bradwardine's 
 Preface : — 
 
 'Magnorum et multorum petitionibus atque repetitionibus 
 cumulatis incessanter soUicitor, ut quae nuper de causa Dei 
 contra Pelagium, et de virtute causarum, in castris scholasticis 
 mUitando, voce transeunte deprompseram, scripturae mancipem 
 remanenti. Verum baud dubio, sicut Dei amici in causa Dei 
 postulare me provocant et confortant, ita et amici Pelagii, 
 super numerum plures istis, me revocant et deterrent. Ecce 
 enim (quod non nisi tactus dolore cordis intrinsecus refero) 
 sicut olim contra unicum Dei Prophetam octingenti et quin- 
 quaginta Prophetae Baal, et similes sunt reperti, quibus et 
 innumerabUis populus adhaerebat ; ita et hodie in hac causa ; 
 quot, Domine, hodie cum Pelagio, pro Libero Arbitrio, contra 
 gratuitam gratiam tuam pugnant, et contra Paulum pugUem 
 gratiae spiritualem? Quot etiam hodie gratuitam gratiam 
 tuam fastidiunt, solumque liberum arbitrium ad salutem suffi- 
 cere stomachantur ? Aut si gratia utantur, vel perfunctorie ne- 
 cessariam eam simulant, ipsamque se jactant liberi sui arbitrii 
 viribus promereri, ut sic saltem nequaquam gratuita, sed 
 vendita videatur ? Quot etiam, Deus omnipotens, impotentes 
 de sui potestate arbitrii praesumentes, tuae cooperationis 
 auxilium in operationibus suis recusant, dicendo cum impiis, 
 recede a nobis ? Quot insuper, Domine, sui libertatem arbitrii 
 
378 NOTE 19. 
 
 extollentes, tuam refugiunt servitutem? Vel si te cooperari 
 cum eis saltern labiis fateantur, cum illis superbis et odibilibus 
 civibus tuis quondam, te super eos regnare diffugiunt ; imo et 
 superbiores Lucifero aequalitate tui nequaquam contenti, super 
 te, Eex regum, impudentissime gestiunt se regnare? Non 
 enim verentur astruere suam voluntatem in actione communi 
 praeire ut dominam, tuam subsequi ut ancillam j se praeire ut 
 Dominos, te subsequi sieut servum ; se velut reges praecipere, 
 te tanquam subditum obedire. Quinimo et voluntati suae in 
 contingenter futuris omnimodam tribuunt libertatem in tan- 
 tum, ut etiam contra vocem Propheticam a tua subjectione 
 exemptionem praetendant, et voluntatem tuam liberrimam, 
 omnipotentissimam et immutabilissimam cum haee advenerint 
 in praeterilum velabantur de summa aree libertatis antiquae 
 dejieerCj et novellae necessitatis irreperabili servituti subjicere 
 moliuntur. O Domine Deus meus, non nisi gemebundus 
 recogitOj quot et quanti judices seleges Pelagianos, dim 
 damnatos, et a totius Ecclesiae finibus relegates absolvere et 
 reconciliare soUicite machinantur ! Quot turgidi advocati 
 pro eis vociferantur ! Quot improbabiles procuratores partem 
 eorum procurantl Quot insuper, Domine, argumenta arti- 
 ficialia non habentes, ad inartificialia se convertunt, et ut 
 partem Pelagianorum extollant saltern clamoribus, horribilibus 
 probris, conviciis, risu, et gestu, partem tuam deprimere anni- 
 tuntur 1 Et quot et quam innumerabiles eis favent ! Totus 
 etenim paene mundus post Pelagium abiit in errorem. 
 Exurge igitur, Domine, judica causam tuam^ et sustinentem 
 te sustine, protege, robora, consolare. Scis enim quod nus- 
 quam virtute mea, sed tua confisus, tantillus aggredior tantam 
 causam.' — Bkadwabdinb, Be Causa Dei, &c., ed. Savile, i6i8. 
 
 NOTE 19, p. 1 8 1. 
 
 See the fourth of Archbishop Laurence's Bampton Lectures, 
 and the Notes upon it. The following extract is from Note i 
 to that Sermon : — 
 
NOTE 19. 379 
 
 ' It was the universal sentiment of the Schools, that fallen 
 man is both capable of preparing himself for the reception of 
 grace, and of deserving it by his own virtue : " Quod homo 
 possit se pra«parare ad gratiam sine novo dono habituali, sibi 
 divinitus infuso, omnes concedunt." Durandus a Sanct. 
 Pore. In Sentent. lib. ii. distinct. a8, quaest. 3. " Hoc sup- 
 posito, dicendum est, quod ad merendum solum de congruo 
 non est necessarium ponere id nobis gratiam vel earitatem 
 habitualem, quod patet, quia, seemulum omiies, peccator carens 
 gratia poenitendo meretur de eotigruo gratiam Justificantem." ' 
 Id. lib. i. dist. 16, quaest. 2. 
 
 In what sense the scholastical grace, or charity, was deemed 
 requisit-e to render merit complete, or convert that which 
 before was ' meritum de congruo ' into ' meritum de con- 
 dign©,' the writings of Luther abundantly shew, ' Principium 
 fidei illorum capitale est hujusmodi, Hominem posse ex nafu- 
 raiUtus virHus, J'aciendo quod in se est, implere omnia mutidata 
 Dei. 
 
 'Ex quo eapite, quae membra pendeant, vide. Primimi, 
 quod gratia Dei hominibus non est necessaria ex parte facientis, 
 neque ex part-e/acietidorum,, (quod etiam rotundis verbis impu- 
 denter habent eorum libri,) sed ex parte exactori-s Dei, ut qui 
 mandata sua impleri non est contentus, nisi in gratia imple- 
 antuT. Ex quo ulterius sequitur coelum esse clausum, et 
 infernum paratum homini summa iniquitate Dei, nempe non 
 propter peccata hominis, neque propter non impleta man- 
 data Dei, sed propter tyrannicam et arbitrariam exactionem 
 Dei.. . 
 
 ' Breviter, quicquid Christus est, et in Christo nobis donatum 
 est, superfluam et non necessarium est, si nos est naturaUa 
 nostra spectes, sed necessarium solum ; si Dei exactionem 
 spectes . . . 
 
 ' Christum plane noH necessarium facitis, et ex parte nostra. 
 Ideo aperte negatis ipsnm esse Jesum, id est, Salratorem 
 iom in u m. Asseritis autem, potius Satisfactorem exactionis iniqii i 
 Dei. Nee liberavit nos a peccatds, quae nuUa sunt, si liberum 
 arbitriam velit facere, quod est in se, sed ab exactione ultra 
 
380 NOTE 20. 
 
 peceata et mandata in homines saeviente. Ecce corpus sacrae 
 theologiae Parrhisiensis, et Papistarum ex latere uno. 
 
 ' Ex alio latere, aliud principium fidei, Hominem posse, 
 facienAo quod est in se, infaUibiliter et necessario mereri gratiam 
 de congruo. 
 
 ' Nonne sic docetis Almae facultates ? Docetis ergo per hac 
 posse nos satisfacere ex nohis etiam iniquae Dei tyrannidi, ut 
 misero et superfluo Christo non reliquus sit saltern blasphemis- 
 simus ille honor, quo non Salvator hominum, seu JesuSj sed 
 satisfactor divini tyranni et exactoris diceretur. Jam enim 
 nos ipsi gratiam possumus absque Mediatore impetrare. Ac si 
 jam lis superfluus est ChristuSj nee necessarius etiam ex parte 
 Dei exactoris. 
 
 ' Vereor autem ne lector plus non credat haee horrendis 
 horribiliora doeeri in Academiis. Quapropter te oro, Christiana 
 frater, vera me credas loqui ; testes invoco eorum libros extantes, 
 et conscientias turn ipsorummet, turn omnium qui legerunt 
 eorum libros.' — Opera Lutheri, vol. ii. fol. 2,6^. 
 
 NOTE 20, p. 185, 
 
 A similar principle to that of the Royal Supremacy was, in 
 fact, involved in Luther's appeal ' To the Christian Nobility 
 of the German Nation, concerning the Reformation of the 
 Christian Estate.' At the very moment when Eck was 
 returning .to Germany with the bull of excommunication, 
 Luther was completing this treatise. It is described by the 
 editor of the Erlangen edition as ' the work by which he won 
 all hearts, and paralysed the influence of the bull with the 
 thoughtful and unprejudiced portion of the nation.' It ap- 
 peared in August, 1520, and by the i8th of that month more 
 than 4000 copies had been already dispersed — a prodigious 
 circulation, considering the state of literature at that day. 
 Its purport is sufficiently described in its opening paragraph. 
 ' The Romanists,' he says, ' have with great adroitness sur- 
 rounded themselves with three walls, with which they have 
 
NOTE 21. 381 
 
 hitherto secured themselves so that no one should reform 
 them, wherehy the whole of Christendom has been grievously 
 injured. In the first place, when they are pressed by the 
 temporal power, they declare that " the temporal power has 
 no authority over the spiritual; but, on the contrary, that 
 the spiritual power is above the temporal." In the second 
 place, when men rebuke them with the Holy Scripture, they 
 contend " that the office of interpreting the Scripture belongs 
 to no one except to the Pope." In the third place, when 
 threatened with a Council, they then devise " that no one can 
 call a Council except the Pope." ' 
 
 These three walls Luther endeavours to demolish, as he 
 expresses it, with the sound of his trumpet. He then 
 proceeds to depict in the seq-iel with extraordinary vigour 
 and boldness the corruptions of the Church, and his breach 
 from Rome was from the moment of this publication irrepar- 
 able. He appealed, in a word, to the Government and the 
 lay authorities of the German nation to take into their own 
 hands the reformation which was needed. Some abuses, as 
 being within their own control, he calls on them to abolish at 
 once. For the removal of others he begs them to summon a 
 General Council, and, when it is summoned, to protect the 
 freedom of its deliberations. 
 
 It is a characteristic circumstance that, while these princi- 
 ples found their boldest expression in Germany, they received 
 their most practical application in England. 
 
 NOTE 31, p. 187. 
 
 The following is the text of this passage. It occurs in the 
 Besohitiones Dispjitationum de Indulgentiarum Tirtute, under 
 Conclusio LVIII: — 
 
 Theologus crucis (id est, de Deo crucifixo et abscondito 
 loquens) poenas, cruces, mortem docet esse thesaurum omnium 
 pretiosissimum et reliquias sacratissimas, quas ipsemet dominus 
 hujus theologiae consecravit, benedixitque, non solum tactu 
 
383 NOTE 22. 
 
 suae sanctissimae carnis, sed et amplexu suae supersanctae et 
 divinae voluntatis, easque hie reliquit vere osculandas, quae- 
 rendas, amplexandas. Quin beatus et benedictus, qui dignus 
 fuerit Deo visus, ut ei donentur hi thesauri reliquiarum 
 Christi, imo qui intelligat sibi donari. Nam eui non offe- 
 runtur ? Sicut B. Jacobus : Omne gaudium existimate fratres, 
 cum in tentationes varias incideritis. Non est enim oinnium 
 haec gratia et gloria, ut hos accipiant thesauros, sed electissi- 
 morum filiorum Dei. 
 
 Multi peregrinantur Romam aliaque sancta loca, ut tuni- 
 cam Christi, ossa martyrum, loca et vestigia sanctorum videant 
 (quod non damnamus quidem), sed hoc gemimus, quod veras 
 reliquias, scilicet passiones et cruces, quae sanctificaverunt 
 ossa et reliquias martyrum, et tanta veneratione fecerunt 
 digna. Ita nescimus, ut non solum non acceptemus oblatas 
 domi, sed summis viribus repellamus, et persequamur de loco 
 in locum, cum deberemus summa siti et jugibus lacrimis id 
 apud Deum postulare, ut darentur nobis tam pretiosae re- 
 liquiae Christi omnium sacratissimae, tanquam donum elec- 
 torum Dei filiorum. 
 
 ******** 
 
 Quin tain sanctae sunt ejusmodi reliquiae et tam pretiosi 
 thesauri, ut cum aliae possint servari in terra, aut ut honori- 
 ficentissime in auro, argento, gemmis, serico, hae non possunt 
 servari nisi in coelestibus, vivis, ratipnalibus, immortalibus, 
 puris, Sanctis servaculis, id est, cordibus fidelium, omni auro 
 et gemma inaestimabilitur pretiosioribus. — Ltjtheei Opera 
 Latina ad Reformationis historiam imprimis j)ertinentia, Frank- 
 fort, 1865. Vol. II. pp. 270, 471, 
 
 NOTE 22, p. 188. 
 
 The text is subjoined from the Resolutiones Disputationum : 
 
 COFCLUSIO XCII. 
 Valeant itaque omnes illi prophetae, qui dicunt populo 
 
 Christi : Pax, pax, et non est pax. 
 
NOTE 23. 383 
 
 CONCLUSIO XCIII. 
 
 Bene'agant omnes illi prophetae, qui dicunt populo Christi : 
 Crux, cruXj et non est crux. 
 
 CONCLUSIO XCIV. 
 
 Exhortandi sunt Christiani, ut caput suum Christum per 
 poenas mortes infemosque sequi studeant. 
 
 CONCLUSIO XCV. 
 
 Ac sic magis per multas tribulationes intrare coelum, quam 
 per seeuritatem pacis confidant. 
 
 Satis supra de cruce et poenis dictum est, liodie rarus 
 sermo. — Lutheei Opera (nt supra), p. 293. 
 
 NOTE 23, p. 305. 
 
 This subject is sufficiently illustrated by the letter which 
 Dr. DoUinger addressed on the aSth of March, 1871, to the 
 Archbishop of Munich and Freising, in explanation of his 
 position with respect to the decree of Papal Infallibility. 
 The following translation is extracted from The Guardian of 
 April 5, 187 1 : — 
 
 ' Your Excellency has asked me in two letters to explain my 
 position with respect to the Romish Resolutions of July i8th, 
 1 870, which have been published by you. 
 
 ' It has transpired in the circle of your Cathedral Chapter 
 that it is your intention to proceed against me with such 
 penal measures as are used only against such priests as have 
 been guilty of gross moral crimes, and even but seldom 
 against these. This is to occur if I do not, within a certain 
 period, submit myself to the two new articles of faith, as to 
 the universal (AllgewaK) power and infallibility of the Pope. 
 
 ' I learn at the same time that a council-meeting of German 
 Bishops is to take place shortly at Fulda. 
 
 ' In the year 1848, when a meeting of all the German 
 Bishops was held at Wiirzburg, the honour of an invitation 
 
384 NOTE 23. 
 
 was extended to myself, and I took part in the proceedings. 
 Your Excellency might perhaps arrange that I might be 
 allowed in the meeting which is about to take place, not this 
 time to take part in the proceedings, but to have an audience 
 for a few hours. 
 
 ' For I am prepared to prove before this meeting the follow- 
 ing theses, which are of decisive importance for the present 
 situation of the German Church, as well as for my personal 
 position. 
 
 ' Firstly, the new articles of faith are based upon the texts 
 in the Holy Scriptures, St. Matt. xvi. i8 and St. John 
 xxi. 17, and, as far as Infallibility is concerned, upon the 
 text, St. Luke xxii. 3a, with which the same, biblically con- 
 sidered, must stand or fall. But we are bound by a solemn 
 oath, which I myself have twice sworn, to " accept and to 
 explain the Holy Scriptures, not otherwise than according 
 to the unanimous consent of the Fathers." The Fathers of 
 the Church have all, without exception, explained the texts 
 in question as bearing a totally different meaning to the 
 new decrees, and especially in the text St. Luke xxii. 33 have 
 found anything but an infallibility given to the Pope. 
 Therefore, were I to accept with the decrees this explana- 
 tion, without which every biblical basis to the same is 
 wanting, I should commit a perjury. And, as I have said, 
 I am prepared to prove this to the Bishops in council. 
 
 ' Secondly, in several Episcopal pastorals and notices which 
 have lately appeared, the assertion has been made, or the 
 historical proof sought, that the new doctrine now proceeding 
 from Rome as to the universal power of the Pope over every 
 single Christian, and as to the Papal Infallibility in decisions 
 in the Church on matters of faith from the beginning, through 
 all time and for ever, has been generally, or at least nearly 
 generally, believed and taught. I am ready to prove that 
 this assertion is based upon an entire misconception of the 
 traditions of the Church for the first thousand years, and 
 upon an entire distortion of her history. It is in direct 
 contradiction to the plainest facts and testimonies. 
 
NOTE 23. 385 
 
 'Thirdly, I am ready to prove that the Bishops of the 
 Latin countries, Spain, Italy, South America, France, who 
 formed the immense majority at Rome, were, with their 
 clergy, already led astray by the class-books from which 
 they took their ideas during their seminary education ; since 
 the proofs given in these books are for the most part false, 
 invented, or distorted. I shall prove this, firstlvj with the 
 two principal and favourite works of modem theological 
 schools and seminaries. The Moral PAilosojahy of St. Alphonsus 
 lA.guori (and especially as regards the treatise contained 
 therein concerning the Pope), and with The Theology of the 
 Jesuit Peroni ; further, with the writings of the Archbishop 
 Cardoni, and of Bishop Ghilardi, which were distributed 
 in Rome during the Council ; and finally, with The Theology 
 of the Viennese Theologian Schwetz. 
 
 ' Fourthlyj I appeal to the fact, which I am ready to prove 
 in public, that two General Councils and several Popes have 
 already decided in the fifteenth century by solemn decrees, 
 issued by the Councils, repeatedly confirmed by the Popes, 
 the question as to the extent of the Pope's power, and as 
 to his infallibility, and that the decrees of the i8th of July, 
 1870, are in the most glaring contradiction to these resolu- 
 tions, and therefore cannot possibly be considered as bind- 
 ing. 
 
 ' Fifthly, I believe that I shall be able to prove that the 
 new decrees are simply incompatible with the Constitutions 
 of the States of Europe, and especially with that of Bavaria ; 
 and that I find it impossible for me, who am bound by oath 
 to this Constitution, which I have lately sworn on my admis- 
 sion to the Chamber of the Councillors of State, to accept the 
 new decrees, and as their necessary consequence, the Bulls 
 " Unam Sanctam " and " Cum ex Apostolatus officio," the 
 Syllabus of Pius IX, with so many other Papal declarations 
 and laws, which are now to be accepted as infallible decisions, 
 and are in irreconcilable antagonism to the laws of the country. 
 I appeal on this subject to the opinion given by the Legal 
 Faculty in Munich, and am ready to abide by the arbitration 
 
 c c 
 
386 NOTE 23. 
 
 of any German Legal Faculty which your Excellency may be 
 pleased to name. 
 
 ' I only ask two conditions for the Conference which I have 
 proposed^ or rather prayed for ; the first, that my assertions, 
 together with any counter-assertions, shall be recorded, with a 
 view to their subsequent publication j the second, that a man 
 of scientific culture, to be chosen by me, shall be allowed to be 
 present at the Conference. 
 
 ' Should this be unattainable before the German bishops in 
 Fulda, I venture most respectfully to proffer another request, 
 that it may please your Excellency to form, out of the mem- 
 bers of your Cathedral Chapter, a committee, before which I 
 may plead my cause in the way above-mentioned. Several of 
 these venerable gentlemen are Doctors, and were formerly 
 Professors of Theology, and at the same time my former 
 scholars. I may hope that it would be more agreeable to 
 them to treat with me in quiet argument, to confute me, if 
 possible, with reasons and factSj than to draw up, upon the 
 seat of judgment, criminal sentences against me, and to 
 submit the same to your Excellency, to be fulminated, as the 
 saying is. If your Excellency will consent to preside at this 
 Conference, and will condescend to correct any errors into 
 which I may have fallen in the citation and explanation of 
 testimonies and facts, I shall count it as a great honour, and 
 the cause of truth can only profit thereby. And when you 
 place before me the prospect of the exercise of your pastoral 
 power, I may still hope that you will prefer to employ, in the 
 first place, towards me, the finest, most noble, most benevolent, 
 and most Christ-like attribute of this power — namely, the 
 teacher's office. Should I be convinced by testimonies and 
 facts, I engage myself to revoke publicly all that I have 
 written in this matter, and to confute myself. In any case 
 the results must be advantageous to the Church, and the peace 
 of spirits. For it is not myself alone who am concerned ; 
 thousands of the clergy, hundreds of thousands of the laity 
 think as I do, and find it impossible to accept the new articles 
 of faith. 
 
NOTE 23. 387 
 
 ' Up to this day not a single one, even of those who have 
 signed a declaration of submission, has said to me that he is 
 really convinced of the truth of these theses. All my friends 
 and acquaintances confirm me in this experience ; " not a 
 single person believes in it," is what I hear day by day from 
 all lips. A Conference such as I have proposed, and the 
 publication of the proceedings, will in any case afibrd that 
 deeper insight which so many long for. 
 
 ' Perhaps your Excellency will refer me to the Pastoral 
 issued recently by yourself, as a source from which I can draw 
 sufficient instruction and correction of my opinions ; but I 
 must confess that it has had exactly the opposite eflfect upon 
 me, and I am ready to prove that there is there a long list of 
 misunderstood, distorted, mutilated, or invented testimonies, 
 which, taken together with the suppression of the most 
 important facts and counter-proofs, form a most unreal picture 
 of the true tradition. It is certain that the person to whom 
 your Excellency entrusted this task did not invent these falsi- 
 fications, but has borrowed them in good faith from others 
 (Cardoni, for instance)! but were it his desire to defend his 
 work at the proposed Conference, he would find me ready to 
 prove my assertion in a few hours, or, should I not succeed in 
 doing so, to make public apology to him. I would only ask 
 for one condition in consideration of the importance of the 
 matter — viz. that the Government be requested to allow a 
 statesman, learned in historical and ecclesiastical matters, to 
 attend the Conference. As the case is one of the highest 
 importance for all Governments, it may be assumed that this 
 request would not be refused. 
 
 'There is no want of precedents in the past history of 
 the Church, which show that my proposal is in accordance 
 with the principles as well as with the practice of the Church. 
 In the year 411, a Conference of 286 Catholic and 379 
 Donatist Bishops held three sessions under the presidency of 
 the Imperial officer of State, Marcellinus, and the disputed 
 doctrine was discussed, upon which the latter decided in 
 favour of the Catholic Bishops. In the year 1433 Bohemian 
 
 c c 3 
 
388 NOTE 23. 
 
 Calixtines appeared at the Council of Basel, and a decree 
 which had been issued eighteen years before by the Synod of 
 Constance, as to the Communion in one kind, was now sub- 
 mitted to new discussion and examination, the result being 
 that compromise (also acknowledged by the Papal chair) which 
 was a most important and fundamental concession to the 
 Bohemians, and one differing widely from the older decree. A 
 still greater similarity with the transaction proposed by myself 
 is to be found in the Conference, so celebrated in French 
 history, between the Bishop Du Perron, of Evreux, and the 
 Protestant statesman and savant, Du Plessis-Mornay, which 
 took place in the year 1600, at Fontainebleau, under the 
 auspices of King Henry IV. Here it was a question as to 
 the proof that Mornay had falsified or incorrectly quoted a 
 considerable number of authorities in his book upon the 
 Eucharist. Henry himself presided, and the most eminent 
 men of both Churches were present as witnesses. The Con- 
 ference was interrupted after a few days, and after a number 
 of Mornay's quotations had been examined, by the illness of 
 the latter, but caused, nevertheless, a^emarkably favourable 
 effect for the Catholic cause, in the excited minds of that 
 period. 
 
 ' Most venerable Archbishop, I leave entirely to your own 
 judgment which form you will give to a Conference so much 
 desired by myself, and certainly so welcome to multitudes of 
 German Catholics, and what persons you will invite to attend, 
 or oppose to me ; in your diocese there is certainly no want 
 of professional theologians who will be glad to accept your 
 invitation. The practice of the Church proves that a question 
 of faith is just as much an affair of the laity as of the clergy, 
 and that the former may take part in the scientific examina- 
 tion and establishment of the tradition, a fact which both 
 Popes and theologians have acknowledged. And in this case, 
 which is a matter for historical proof, I am gladly ready to 
 submit to the verdict of the most eminent historians of the 
 German nation and of the Catholic faith. Such men as 
 Picker, Eeumont, Hofler, Arneth, Kampschulte, Cornelius, 
 
NOTE 23. 389 
 
 Lorenz, Wegele, Asehbach, may judge whether my proofs be 
 critically and historically right or not. 
 
 ' Your Excellency was pleased formerly to honour my book 
 on the First Ages of the Church Apostolical with your 
 approval, and it was generally considered among German 
 Catholics to be a true picture of the time of foundation : even 
 the Jesuitic-Ultramontane party let it pass without censure. 
 But if the new decrees contain the truthj then I have laid 
 myself open to the reproach of having entirely misrepresented 
 the history of the Apostles. That entire section of my book 
 which concerns the constitution of the earlier Church, my 
 description of the relation in which Paul and the other 
 Apostles stood to Peter — all is fundamentally wrong, and I 
 ought to condemn my own book, and confess that I have 
 neither understood Luke's Acts of the Apostles nor their own 
 Epistles. 
 
 'The new doctrine of the Vatican invests the Pope with 
 entire plenary power {totam plenitudinem jpotestatis) over the 
 whole Church, as well as over every single layman, priest, or 
 Bishop ; a power which is to represent at the same time the 
 truly Episcopal, and again the specifically Papal power — 
 which is to include in itself everything concerning faith, 
 morals, duty, discipline, which shall reach every one from 
 the monarch to the day-labourer, and can punish, command, 
 and forbid him. The wording is so carefully arranged, that 
 no other position and authority remains for the Bishops than 
 that of Papal commissaries or delegates. And in this manner, 
 as every one acquainted with Church history and with the 
 Fathers will confess, the Episcopacy of the early Church is 
 essentially dissolved, and an Apostolical institution to which, 
 according to the judgment of the Fathers, the highest im- 
 portance and authority in the Church is due, is subtilised to 
 a bodiless shadow. 
 
 ' For no one will think it possible that there should exist 
 two Bishops iu the same diocese, one of whom is at the same 
 time Pope, the other being simply a Bishop — and a Papal 
 vicar or diocesan commissary is not a Bishop, is no successor 
 
390 NOTE 23. 
 
 of the Apostles; he may, through the powers conceded to 
 him from Rome, be very mighty, so long as his principal 
 allows him to rule, just in the same way as a Jesuit or 
 mendicant friar to whom the Pope has granted abundance 
 of privileges also possesses great power : and I well know 
 that such an extension of their powers has been held out in 
 prospect to the Bishops in Rome ; that they have been told, 
 "The more irresistible the Pope, the stronger shall ye be, 
 for the rays of the abundance of his power shall fall also on 
 you." The Bishops of the minority have penetrated the 
 delusion of these promises ; they understood clearly, as the 
 " Analytical Synopsis " showSj that as soon as the universal 
 Episcopacy of the Pope should be established, they might 
 indeed continue to be dignitaries of the Church, but no longer 
 true Bishops. You yourself, venerable Sir, took part in the 
 deputation which made such urgent counter-representations 
 to the Pope, on the 15th of July, 1870 — representations which 
 Bishop von Ketteler (Mayence) sought to emphasise by 
 prostration ! We know that these representations were fruit- 
 less. The sole consolation given to the Bishops mourning 
 the loss of their ecclesiastical dignity was confined to the 
 declaration in the decree that the Episcopal power is an 
 " ordinary " one — [i. e. a " potestas ordinaria subdelegata," as 
 the Romish canonists are accustomed to express it), and that 
 the Pope considers it to be his duty to support them, this 
 being vouched by a mutilated saying of Gregory the Great, 
 by a passage which, if it with others had been quoted 
 in its entirety, would indeed have proved to the world that 
 this Pope of the seventh century put away from himself with 
 the deepest horror such a universal Episcopacy as has now 
 been established, considering it a blasphemous usurpation. 
 
 ' Nor has there been any lack of prayers, representations, 
 and warnings, before and during the Council. You yourself, 
 venerable Sir, took part in the same by your signature. The 
 Bishops of the minority have declared in an address to the 
 Pope, on the 13th of January, signed by yourself, that "the 
 declarations and acts of the Fathers of the Church, the irue 
 
NOTE 23. 391 
 
 documents of history, the Catholic educational system itself, 
 presented the most serious difficulties in opposition to the 
 proclamation of the doctrine of Infallibility " — they were, as 
 they themselves said, afraid even to discuss these difficulties, 
 and prayed the Pope to relieve them from the necessity of such 
 a discussion — i.e. to relinquish his infallibility. But when the 
 Pope insisted that the Council should occupy itself there- 
 with, the German Bishops demanded on the nth of March 
 exhaustive conferences on the question of Infallibility, to be 
 conducted by deputations chosen from both sides. These were 
 not granted, and they had to content themselves with speeches 
 in the Aula, where any regular discussion was an impossibility. 
 ' As to the indispensability and urgent need of such con- 
 ferences, I would only quote here one instance. A considerable 
 number of Italian Bishops demanded in a since-printed address 
 that Papal Infallibility should be raised to a dogma of faith, 
 because two men, both Italians and both the pride of their 
 nation, Thomas Aquinas and Alphonsus Liguori, these shining 
 lights of the Church, had thus taught. Now, it was well 
 known and proved by me, as well as by Gratry, that Thomas 
 had been deceived by a long series of invented testimonies, 
 as indeed he bases his teaching in this instance almost ex- 
 clusively upon such falsifications, and never upon genuine 
 passages of the Fathers or Councils. And as to Liguori, a 
 single glance at his writings is sufficient to convince any 
 practised theologian that his dealings with falsified passages 
 are still worse than those of Thomas. My exposure of the 
 fraud to which the latter had succumbed had created great 
 sensation in Rome. The author of a pamphlet published 
 there, and directed against myself, says that a great cry had 
 been raised on the subject round about him. It ought there- 
 fore to have been indispensably necessary to examine closely 
 into the matter. It is true that such an examination, care- 
 fully and thoroughly begun, would have led very far; it 
 would have resulted in the proof that the theory of Papal 
 Infallibility had been introduced into the Church solely by a 
 series of calculated inventions and falsifications, and had then 
 
393 NOTE 23. 
 
 been spread and maintained by force, by the suppression of 
 older teaching, and by the many means and artifices which 
 are at the disposal of the ruling power. 
 
 'All exertions, representations, and petitions, then, were 
 fruitless : nothing was conceded, and yet the example of the 
 so often quoted Council of Florence was before their eyes, 
 when the assertion of the Greeks, that falsified passages of 
 the Fathers were laid before them, led to examinations and 
 discussions lasting many months, and carried on with the 
 greatest care. It is assuredly known to your Excellency 
 that the most careful and ripe consideration of tradition has 
 invariably been required of any true fficumenical Council 
 about to issue dogmatic resolutions. How great the contrast 
 in this respect between Trent and that which occurred in 
 Rome in 1870 ! Certainly the treatise of Archbishop Cardoni, 
 which was accepted at once by the Preparatory Committee, 
 and which was to be considered by the assembled Bishops as a 
 proof, could not have supported examination for one single hour. 
 
 ' In the whole history of the Church I only know of one 
 General Council in which, as in this last, those in power pre- 
 vented any thorough discussion of the tradition, and this was 
 the Second of Ephesus in the year 449 ; there, in the so-called 
 Synod of Thieves (Raubersynode), this was done by force and 
 by tumultuous tyranny. In the Vatican Council the order of 
 proceeding imposed on the assembly, the Papal Committee, 
 and the will of the majority, sufiered no regular and critical 
 examination to be made. Such an examination would assuredly 
 have brought to the light many awkward and unpleasant 
 matters, but it would have preserved the Church from a state 
 of confusion which must appear pitiable to yourself. If you 
 notwithstanding assert that the Vatican assembly was entirely 
 free, you take the word " free " in a sense which theological 
 circles do not generally attach to it. A Council is only then 
 theologically free when free examination and discussion of all 
 objections and difiiculties has taken place, when exceptions 
 have been admitted, and examined in accordance with the 
 rules for ascertaining the tradition. That not even the most 
 
NOTE 23. 393 
 
 modest beginning was made in this directiouj that indeed the 
 immense majority of the Bishops from Latin countries -wanted 
 either the will or the power to distinguish truth from false- 
 hood, right from wrong, is proved by the pamphlets which 
 appeared in Italy and were distributed in Rome, — for instance, 
 those of the Dominican Bishop of Mondori, Ghilardi; and 
 further, by the fact that hundreds of these Bishops could with- 
 out blushing rest theit ease upon the unassailable authority of 
 Alphonsus Liguori. 
 
 ' It is well known that the Jesuits, when they had conceived 
 the plan of establishing Papal absolutism in Church and State, 
 in education and administration, as a dogma, invented the so- 
 called " Sacrificio dell' intelletto,'' and assured their adherents 
 and disciples — yes, even persuaded many, and among them 
 many Bishops— that the most beautiful act of adoration of 
 the Almighty and the most noble Christian heroism consist 
 in this — that man, renouncing his own spiritual light of self- 
 gained imderstanding and discernment, should throw himself 
 with blind faith into the arms of our unerring Papal magis- 
 tracy, as the sole sure source of religious knowledge. And 
 this religious order has indeed had great success in raising in 
 the eyes of numbers intellectual indolence to the dignity of a 
 religious sacrifice full of merit, and has even moved men, 
 whose culture would have enabled them to enter upon an 
 historical examination, to abandon the same. But as far as 
 we may judge from their Pastorals, the German Bishops have 
 not yet descended to this point of delusion. They still con- 
 cede to human knowledge, to human search and examination, 
 a right to exist and a sphere of activity. They themselves 
 appeal to history, as does the Pastoral which has appeared 
 under your name. 
 
 ' In a Pastoral Letter which has just been sent to me. Bishop 
 Lothar von Kiibel in Freiburg says on p. 9 — " Does the Pope 
 receive new revelations ? Can be create new articles of faith ? 
 Certainly not. He can only declare that a doctrine is contained 
 in the Holy Scriptures, and in tradition, therefore is revealed 
 by God, and must be believed of all." I do not doubt that 
 
394 NOTE 23. 
 
 your Excellency^ and all other German Bishops, are fully 
 agreed with these words. But the question is, then, in the 
 present confused state of the Church, simply an historical one, 
 which is to be treated and decided upon according to the 
 means in our power, and to the rules which are applicable to 
 every historic search, to every discovery of past facts — that is 
 to say, of such as belong to history. There are in this case no 
 special or secret sources of which the Popes alone have the 
 right or power to avail themselves. Both Pope and Bishops 
 must in this case necessarily, if I may use the expression, 
 place themselves under the common law — i. e. if their resolu- 
 tions are to endure, they must adopt that course, must initiate 
 that examination of witnesses with the requisite sifting and 
 critical proof of evidence, which alone in the judgment of all 
 men of capacity in historical matters is able to give us truth 
 and certainty. There were therefore, and remain yet, two 
 questions to be answered, in accordance with this course. 
 Firstly, is it the truth that the three sayings of Christ respect- 
 ing Peter were understood from the beginning through all 
 centuries in the whole Church in the sense which is now given 
 to them — namely, that of an infallibility and boundlessly imi- 
 versal power granted thereby to the Popes ? Secondly, is it 
 true that the ecclesiastical tradition of all time in the writinffs 
 of the Fathers, and the facts of history, prove the general 
 acknowledgment of this double right of the Pope ? 
 
 ' If these questions must be answered in the negative, it is 
 not permissible to appeal, as Bishop von Kiibel and others do, 
 to the assistance of the Holy Ghost, as promised to the Pope, 
 and to the obedience of faith due on this account to him : 
 for what we are to examine into historically is just whether 
 this assistance has been promised to him. And where has 
 this been done ? Not in the Council, for there, as Cardoni's 
 principal treatise proves, even falsifications were not shunned, 
 and an entirely unreal picture of tradition has been given, 
 with a suppression of the most striking facts and counter- 
 testimonies. And it is precisely this which I am ready to 
 prove. 
 
NOTE 23. 395 
 
 ' And here I beg your Excellency to consider that the doc- 
 trine which we are now to adopt forms by its own nature, and 
 by the declaration of the Pope himself, by the confession of all 
 infallibilists, 2l, fundamental article of faith — that it is a ques- 
 tion of the regula fidei, of the rule which must decide what is 
 to be believed and what is not. In future every Catholic 
 Christian could only answer the query why he believes this or 
 that, as follows : — " I believe, or deny itj because the infallible 
 Pope has commanded me to believe, or to deny it." Nor can 
 this first principle of faith, as the Holy Scriptures necessarily 
 should most clearly shew, ever have been doubtful in the 
 Church — it must at every date and among every people have 
 governed the whole Church like a brightly shining star, must 
 have been placed in-the front of all instruction ; — and we all 
 wait for an explanation, how it is to be cleared up that only 
 after 1830 years the Church has started the idea of making 
 an article of faith of a doctrine which the Pope calls, in a 
 letter addressed to your Excellency on the 38th of October, 
 " ipsum fundamentale principium Catholicae fidei ac doctrinae." 
 How can it have been possible that the Popes should have, 
 during centuries past, exempted whole countries, whole schools 
 of theology, from belief in this " fundamental article of faith? " 
 And — may I add? — how is it that your Excellency yourself 
 strove so long and so persistently against the enunciation of 
 this dogma ? Because it was not opportune, you say. But 
 can it ever have been " inopportune " to give to believers the 
 key of the whole temple of faith, to announce to them the 
 fundamental article on which all the rest depend ? We stand 
 all of us giddy before a chasm which opened before us on the 
 1 8 th of July last. 
 
 ' He who wishes to measure the immense range of these 
 resolutions may be urgently recommended to compare tho- 
 roughly the third chapter of the decrees in Council with the 
 fourth, and to realise for himself what a system of universal 
 government and spiritual dictation stands here before us. It 
 is the plenary power over the whole Church as over each 
 separate member, such as the Popes have claimed for them- 
 
396 ' NOTE 23. 
 
 selves since Gregory VII, such as is pronounced in the 
 numerous Bulls since the Bull " Unam sanctam/' which is 
 from henceforth to be believed and acknowledged in his life 
 by every Catholic. This power is boundless, incalculable : it 
 can, as Innocent III said, strike at sin everywhere ; can 
 punish every man, allows of no appeal, is sovereign and arbi- 
 trary, for, according to Bonifacius VIII, the Pope " carries all 
 rights in the shrine of his bosom." As he has now become 
 infallible, he can in one moment, with the one little word 
 " orbi ■" (that is, that he addresses himself to the whole 
 Church), make every thesis, every doctrine, every demand, an 
 unerring and irrefragable article of faith. Against him there 
 can be maintained no right, no personal or corporate freedom — 
 or, as the canonists say, the tribunal of God and that of the 
 Pope are one and the same. This system bears its Romish 
 origin on its forehead, and will never be able to penetrate in 
 Germanic countries. As a Christian, as a theologian, as an 
 historian, as a citizen, I cannot accept this doctrine. Not as a 
 Christian, for it is irreconcilable with the spirit of the Gospel, 
 and with the plain words of Christ and of the Apostles : it 
 purposes just that establishment of the kingdom of this world 
 which Christ rejected, it claims that rule over all communions 
 which Peter forbids to all and to himself. Not as theologian 
 — for the whole true tradition of the Church is in irreconcilable 
 opposition to it. Not as historian can I accept it, for as such 
 I know that the persistent endeavour to realise this theory of 
 a kingdom of the world has cost Europe rivers of blood, has 
 confounded and degraded whole countries, has shaken the 
 beautiful organic architecture of the elder Church, and has 
 begotten, fed, and sustained the worst abuses in the Church. 
 
 ' Finally, as a citizen, I must put it away from me, because 
 by its claims on the submission of States and monarchs, and of 
 the whole political order under the Papal power, and by the 
 exceptional position which it claims for the clergy, it lays the 
 foundation of endless, ruinous dispute between State and 
 Church, between clergy and laity. For I cannot conceal from 
 myself that this doctrine, the results of which were the ruin 
 
NOTE 24. 397 
 
 of the old German Kingdonij would, if governing the Catholic 
 part of the German nation, at once lay the seed of incurable 
 decay in the new kingdom which has just been built up *. — 
 Accept, &c., (Signed) I. VON DOLLINGER. 
 
 'Munich, 38 March, 1871/ 
 
 In the next number of The Guardian (April la, 1871) we 
 read (p. 438) that, ' in consequence of the declaration of 
 Dr. DoUinger, the Archbishop of Munich has published a 
 Pastoral Letter, in which he attempts to refute him by setting 
 up against him the following propositions : — 
 
 ' I. That there was no question at all at issue, for the 
 question has been decided by an (Ecumenical Council regularly 
 called together, assembled freely, and directed by the Head 
 of the Catholic Church. 
 
 ' 2. That historical criticism cannot be placed above the 
 authority of the Church. 
 
 ' 3. The assertion that the decisions of the Council are 
 incompatible with the constitution of European States and 
 detrimental to the German Empire is repudiated as an 
 erroneous supposition, and protested against as a false ac- 
 cusation.' 
 
 On the 1 8th of April, Dr. DoUinger was excommunicated. 
 
 NOTE 24, p. 231. 
 
 A striking example of this spirit is afforded by the following 
 passage from Archbishop Bramhall, and it expresses sentiments 
 with which it is very congenial to the author to close the 
 present volume. 
 
 ' No man can justly blame me for honouring my spiritual 
 mother, the Church of England, in whose womb I was con- 
 
 » ' I have just read in the official organ of the Koman Curia and of the 
 Jesuits — in the Ciniilta of the i8th of March, 1870, "The Pope is chief judge of 
 all civil law. In him are combined the spiritual and worldly powers, joining 
 in him as in a point, for he is the Vicegerent of Christ, who is not only the 
 Eternal Priest, but also King of kings and Lord of lords ; " and immediately 
 following this, " The Pope is, by his high dignity, at the head of both powers." ' 
 
398 NOTE 24 
 
 ceivedj at whose breasts I was nourished, and in whose bosom 
 I hope to die. Bees, by the instinct of nature, do love their 
 hives, and birds their nests. But, God is my witness, that, 
 according to my uttermost talent and poor understanding, 
 I have endeavoured to set down the naked truth impartially, 
 without either favour or prejudice, the two capital enemies of 
 right judgment. The one of which, like a false mirror, doth 
 represent things fairer and straighter than they are; the 
 other like the tongue infected with choler makes the sweetest 
 meats to taste bitter. My desire hath been to have Truth for 
 my chiefest friend, and no enemy but error. If I have had 
 any bias, it hath been my desire of peace, which our common 
 Saviour left as a legacy to His Church, that I might live to 
 see the re-union of Christendom, for which I shall always bow 
 the knees of my heart to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 It is not impossible but that this desire of unity may have 
 produced some unwilling error of love, but certainly I am 
 most free from the wilful love of error. In questions of an 
 inferior nature, Christ regards a charitable intention much 
 more than a right opinion. 
 
 ' Howsoever it be, I submit myself and my poor endeavours, 
 first to the judgment of the Catholic CEcumenical essential 
 Church, which if some of late days have endeavoured to 
 hiss out of the schools as a fancy, I cannot help it. From 
 the beginning it was not so. And if I should mistake the 
 right Catholic Church out of human frailty or ignorance 
 (which, for my part, I have no reason in the world to suspect, 
 yet it is not impossible when the Romanists themselves are 
 divided into five or six several opinions, what this Catholic 
 Church, or what their infallible Judge is), I do implicitly and 
 in the preparation of my mind submit myself to the true 
 Catholic Church, the Spouse of Christ, the Mother of the 
 Saints, the Pillar of Truth. And seeing my adherence is firmer 
 to the Infallible Rule of Faith, that is, the Holy Scriptures 
 interpreted by the Catholic Church, than to mine own private 
 judgment or opinions, although I should unwittingly fall into 
 an error, yet this cordial submission is an implicit retractation 
 
NOTE 24. 399 
 
 thereof, and I am confident will be so accepted by the Father 
 of Mercies, both from me and all others who seriously and 
 sincerely do seek after peace and truth. 
 
 ' Likewise I submit myself to the Representative Church, 
 that is, a free General Council, or so General as can be 
 procured ; and until then to the Church of England, wherein 
 I was baptized, or to a National English Synod. To the 
 determination of all which, and each of these respectively, 
 according to the distinct degree of their authority, I yield a 
 conformity and compliance, or at the least and to the lowest 
 of them, an acquiescence.' — Aechbishop Beamhall's Worhs, 
 fol. p. 141, or in the edition contained in the Anglo-CatJiolic 
 Library, vol. ii, p. 31. 
 
 THE END. 
 
OXFORD: 
 
 BT E. PICKARD HALL, M.A., AND J. H. STACY, 
 
 PRINTERS 10 THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
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