nein 4% {att He f Wat i See Sree at Gheoloni¢ | ee gf the Hical Spy iy dty ; PRINCETON, N. J. bak? BT 0d] O10RiMG 4 eee | Maitland, Brownlow, b. 1877.| Scepticism and faith | a He ! ae eh by SCHPTICISM AND FAITH... LONDON: GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN’S SQUARE. SCEPTICISM AND FAITH; PAPERS ON THE GROUNDS OF BELIEF, BY THE REV. BROWNLOW “MAITLAND, M.A. LONDON: THE CHRISTIAN EVIDENCE COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE ; SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORIES: 77, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS i: 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE; 48, PICCADILLY; AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. New Yorr: Port, Youna, & Co. 1877. Tu Christian Evidence Committee of the S.P.C.K., while giving its general approval to the works of the Christian Evidence Series, does not hold itself responsible for every statement or every line of | argument. The responsibility of each writer extends to his own work only. ADVERTISEMENT. THE papers collected in this little volume are the fruit of an endeavour to treat, for un- learned readers, in a short and simple, yet not superficial manner, some of the chief points at issue in the present conflict between Scepticism and Christian Faith. Each is complete in itself, but taken to- gether it is hoped that they will exhibit with tolerable clearness an outline of the argu- ment in behalf of Theism and Christianity, which makes its final appeal to the faculty in our nature variously described as the spiritual consciousness, the religious sentiment, and the V1 ADVERTISEMENT, religious instinct. The writer is convinced that the key of the whole debate is held by this faculty, which is the organ of religion in the soul; and that the ultimate basis of faith is to be found in the validity of the witness borne by it to spiritual truths, in proportion as it is enlightened, and strengthened by re- ligious culture. CONTENTS. No. 1. Two Wars oF Looking at MIRACLES . : 1 II. Evonurion in tHE DEBATING-Room~ . - 89 III. PRovIDENCE AND Sorencr.. : } east IV, Is Revezarron Possrpxe ? : é : ere cae V. HEAD on Hearr tue BEST JUDGE OF THE BIBLE ? 4 ; ‘. . é Ley VI. Bintican Crrricism 3 ITS PROVINCE: anp Limits ‘ te a ; B F Br al ay’ Wn bee: “Par ~4, A JAN ag ee SCEPTICISM AND FAITH Novak TWO WAYS OF LOOKING AT MIRACLES. “A vorcz from heaven would not convince me that water burned, fire extinguished, or a dead man roseagain.” So wrote Goethe to Lavater, and every year seems to increase the number of those who say the same. There is no dis- puting the fact, that miracles are discredited as they never were before. The current of opinion has set strongly against them; to the modern scientific spirit, especially, they are repugnant, incredible. Now, to Christian men this growing denial of miracles cannot but be a matter of very serious concern, for it strikes at the foundation of their faith. As an historical religion, Chris- tianity is rooted in miracles; as a revelation B bo SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. from God it is, at least in part, accredited by miracles. The Christian faith is, that Jesus Christ came from heaven, revealed the Father, scattered around Him supernatural signs of a divine kingdom, died an atoning death, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. Let miracles be taken away, and every one of these articles of belief would be emptied of its meaning, and Christianity be reduced to a mere unsubstantial shadow of its former self. The question of miracles, therefore, presses on us with urgency, and imperatively requires an answer. We must get to the bottom of it if we can. Why are they thus discredited ? Is there really sufficient reason for discarding the belief in all miracles whatsoever, as an untenable and ignorant superstition? Must muracles be jhenceforth classed with things which are so incredible, so monstrous, that no evidence in their fayour is worth listening to ? It is plain, that if miracles are rejected alto- gether in the mass, prior to any scrutiny of the evidence for them, and simply because they are miracles, the rejection must rest on one of two grounds: either, that we know beforehand that a miracle is in itself impossible; or else, that the presumption against its occurrence is so great as to be practically invincible by any : MIRACLES. 3 Se te ae ed conceivable evidence. These are different posi- tions, and must be examined separately. The former need not detain us long. That miracles are in themselves impossible is not the assertion of modern science. Physical science rests entirely on experience; it has the actual for its domain; it knows nothing of antecedent or abstract necessity and impossibility. It is not the students of nature, but the metaphy- sicians—the speculative thinkers—who are not content with knowing things as they are, and go on to dream of an abstract necessity, out of which all existence has emanated, and by which its course is controlled. If miracles are by any pronounced impossible, it is by these. Let us interrogate them, and ascertain how they satisfy themselves that no miracle can possibly happen. Of course it is not to experi- ence that they appeal; that is not in their line, To observe, experiment, and discover is no business of theirs; they shut themselves up and think. Human thought is, with them, the arbiter of all things; it determines the limits of the possible; it prescribes the lines on which the universe must be constructed. A miracle is unthinkable, they tell us, therefore it cannot be. Thought builds out of itself an ideal uni- verse, and in it no room is found for miracles. B 2 4A SCEPTICISM AND FAITH.’ Not that the thoughts of these thinkers run all in the same groove, or present exactly the same ideas of the necessary and the absolute. But that does not alter the conclusion. Whether the necessary and ideal universe of thought is con- ceived of as a huge machine, without volition or intelligence, going on of itself, and blindly grinding out the successive phases of existence ; or is held to be governed by will, but by will acting in accordance with unvarying law, and ordering all things in “mechanical sequence, just as the steam drives the engine, and can drive it in one way only; or is regarded as the necessary self-unfolding of the absolute, accord- ing to some eternal law which binds all things in the iron fetters of fate; the result is in each case the same—miracle is excluded. To all such pretended demonstrations of the impossibility of miracles, what, as seekers after truth and reality, can we say? What but this? that the universe thus built up out of human thought, whatever its structure may be, is only an ideal, imaginary universe, and that we have no evidence that it has any existence, any counterpart, in fact. That miracles are impos- sible in it is no proof that they are impossible in the actual world in which our lot is cast. When we ask, why miracles cannot occur? it MIRACLES. is is no answer to reply that this or that abstract theory of the universe has no room for them, and cannot admitthem. We live in a vast and wonderful system of being, of which our know- ledge is but limited and fragmentary. Who shall take upon himself to assert that outside and above the physical sphere—within which our researches are confined—there is not, and cannot be, a Power which may, for aught we know, interfere occasionally with the order of nature—ain other words, work a miracle? Yet, unless this can be asserted with absolute cer- tainty, and independently of all experience, miracles must be included within the possibili- ties of existence. Clearly, then, it is not on this side that the strength of the case against miracles is to be found. ‘I'he real conflict about them arises within the domain, not of metaphysics, but of actual experience. It is her@ that we are con- fronted with the assertion, that though they cannot be absolutely disproved, yet the pre- sumption against them is so strong as to be practically invincible by any conceivable evi- dence. ‘This is the position which we are now to examine. Let us inquire how this presumption against miracles grows up in the mind; how they come 6 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. to wear an aspect of such extreme and utter improbability as to provoke the mind to an in- stinctive rejection of them, prior to any exami- _ nation of the evidence by which they may be in each case supported. Our minds are so constituted as to derive their estimate of probability from experience. The more accustomed we are to see an event happen, under certain circumstances, with un- varying regularity, with the greater confidence we anticipate its happening again, whenever the circumstances are the same. If, on the con- trary, within the widest range of experience to which we have access an event has never been known to occur, then the occurrence of it in the future appears to us in a very high degree improbable. No one doubts that the sun will rise to-morrow ; yet the only ground of the ex- pectation is the uninterrupted constancy with which it has risen every day since the world began. But that it should rise to-morrow in the west is incredible, because it has never been known to rise except in the east. Applying this principle to the case of any alleged miracle, we see at once why it must appear extremely improbable when regarded exclusively from the ground of experience. A miracle, to say the least, is so rare an event, MIRACLES. 7 that the question is whether there is a single fairly authenticated instance of one on record. {i is an entirely exceptional event, out of and contrary to the common order of things; a break in the sequences which appear invariable ; an anomaly in the midst of laws which seem fixed and universal. Hence, looked at from the side of nature, it must strike the mind as highly improbable; and.this improbability does not become less, but appears rather to grow into larger proportions, with every accession to our knowledge of the natural world and its phenomena. For the more thoroughly we investigate the course of nature, the more deeply we become impressed with its continuity, its unvarying order, its strict accordance with fixed laws. ‘The immense advance in modern times of phy- sical science, the multiplication of observers and discoverers, and the splendid successes of their methods, have augmented our acquaint- ance with the laws and course of nature, in all departments of physics, to an extent that was formerly inconceivable. And nowhere, through- out all the domains of physical science, has any observer ever detected a break in the sequence of cause and effect. All the processes and all the results of scientific investigation depend on 8 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. the assumption that like causes will always produce like effects, and that the operation of natural laws is never interrupted by any unknown and incalculable force, external to nature. ‘The suspicion of an arbitrary suspen- sion, for so much as a moment, of the action of any physical cause, would paralyze every in- quiry, and vitiate the results of every experi- ment. Whatever be the special field of re- search which any student of nature occupies— whether with the telescope he explores the mechanism of the heavens, or with the micro- scope pries into the structure of organic tissues ; whether he deals with mechanical, or chemical, or vital forces; or tracks the vibrations of the luminiferous ether; or follows the subtle wind- ings of electric energy through earth and air ‘—in every province of nature he pushes for- ward his investigations in absolute confidence that no extraneous power, from another order of things, shall ever step in to disturb the natural course of events, and he never finds his ' confidence misplaced. To the natural philosopher, then, whose conception of the universe is derived from the teaching of physical science alone, the notion of miracle can scarcely be otherwise than ex- tremely repugnant. It is in direct antagonism MIRACLES. 9 to all his knowledge, his experience, and his methods. Rouse him from his experiments or observations to tell him of a miracle, and you awaken all his incredulity and scorn. Any- thing seems more likely to him than the truth of your story. The testimony on which it rests must be untrustworthy, as testimony often is; the senses of the witnesses must have played them false, as has frequently happened; the incident must admit of some natural explana- tion, and is only magnified into a miracle by ignorance.. If you point out that the circum- stances are such as to make it very difficult to accept seriously any of these modes of getting rid of the miracle, he replies that it may be so, but that it is still more difficult to accept the miracle; for, of all conceivable events, a miracle is the most incredible, the most con- trary to universal experience. Whatever your evidence is, he pronounces beforehand that it must be insufficient; for the presumption against miracles rests on too wide and general an induction to be shaken by any individual testimony. Such is the result of one way of looking at miracles. When regarded from the side of nature only, they seem incredible. The mind trained exclusively in physical science, and 10 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. deriving its whole conception of the universe from iis source alone, instinctively and im- patiently rejects them. Now if this were the only side from which miracles could be approached, it must be con- fessed that the presumption against them would ‘be insurmountable. Nature herself furnishes no evidence, suggests no conceptions, to coun- teract the impression stamped on the mind by her invariable order and submission to physical law. Even if it be granted that she witnesses for God, the impression is not weakened; for the God for whom alone she can witness is one who works by fixed and unalterable laws, that seem to exclude those special acts of will and purpose which we call miracles. It was not, in fact, from an atheistic, but a theistic point of view that Goethe wrote the words quoted above; for he went on to say that he looked upon the assertion of miracles as a blasphemy against the Creator. Seeing law supreme and universal in nature, he inferred that it must be equally supreme and universal in the God of nature also; and drew the con- clusion that to act otherwise than by fixed, unchangeable rules, of which miracles would be irregular and capricious violations, would be unworthy of the Creator, and contradictory MIRACLES. ll of His manifestation of Himself in the visible universe. But is there no other side from which to approach miracles, no other legitimate way of looking at them? The physical universe is not our whole environment; its laws are not the only laws by which we are governed. We are conscious of a spiritual element in our being, to which physical laws are inapplicable. We possess personality, will, conscience, the faculty of religion; all which seem to indicate a spiritual relationship. May not these peculiar prerogatives of our nature suggest a way of looking at miracles which shall take away their repulsive strangeness, and render them not only credible but highly significant. We have seen that the case against miracles does not rest on a strictly logical basis. They cannot be proved impossible. Experience raises a presumption against them, that is all; a strong presumption, indeed, but not a proof or demonstration. Now a presumption, arising exclusively from one set of facts, may be coun- teracted by a presumption furnished by another set of facts. ‘Things which seem utterly un- likely when regarded in one connexion, or from one point of view, may possibly wear a totally changed aspect when an entirely new order 12 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. of circumstances is taken into account, and brought into association with them. Of such a change of aspect we may borrow an illustra- tion from physical science. Suppose a person, while unacquainted with even the elements of physics, to come across the assertion that the astronomer can calculate the weight of the planets; that is, can tell how many pounds a planet would weigh if it could be put imto scale on the earth’s surface. Judged from the stand-point of his own ex- perience, the assertion would appear to him utterly incredible. He is familiar with the usual modes of weighing bodies, and knows that in every case some access to the body is necessary to the process. It must either be actually placed in the scale, and balanced against a known weight or equivalent force ; or else both its size and material must be ascertained, and then, by weighing a portion of the same material, the weight of the whole mass may be calculated. But in the case of a planet neither process is practicable. We can- not get access to it, either to weigh it, or to discover what it is made of. We can only look at it from a vast distance. And no looking at a body can possibly help us to ascertain what it weighs. It may be hollow, or it may be MIRACLES. 13 solid; 1t may consist of a light material, or of a heavy; it may be composed of various mate- rials, some light and some heavy, in proportions to which we have no clue. Looking at it from a distance can tell us nothing of all this; and at the planet we can do nothing but look. Its substance may be as light as cork, or as heavy as quicksilver, or it may be an aggregate of many different substances of different densities ; looking at it can give us no information on the subject; how then can it be possible to ascer- tain its weight? The more the assertion is tested by our reasoner’s experience, the more it wears the aspect of a hoax or a delusion, and with the greater confidence he pronounces it incredible. Such is the result when the question is approached from the side of common expe- rience. But, perhaps, when it is approached from a different quarter, its aspect will be entirely altered. Let us suppose our reasoner now to enter on the study of physical science. He learns the methods of geometry, and their application to. the determination of distances and magnitudes. He sees how the earth is measured, and then made a base for ascertain- ing the size and configuration of the solar system. Following the line of discovery, he 14 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. comes to understand that all matter is endued, or behaves as if it were endued, with an at- tractive force, in proportion to its mass; and that this force is alike the regulator of the movements of the planets, and the cause of weight at the earth’s surface. And finally, having mastered the relations between attrac- tion, mass, weight, and planetary motion, it becomes evident to him that accurate observa- tion of the movements of the heavenly bodies will lead on to the knowledge which before seemed so impossible of attainment. For such observation reveals how much each planet, by means of its attractive force, pulls its own satellites (if it have any), and the rest of the planets, towards itself, and by the amount of the deflections thus occasioned the planet’s at- traction, and therefore its mass, are rigorously determined ; and the mass, thus ascertained, immediately gives the number of pounds which the planet would weigh if put into scale at the earth’s surface. | Thus, the assertion which struck the mind as absolutely incredible, when looked at in one way, changes its aspect entirely when regarded in another way, and becomes demonstrably true. Let us now inquire if some such change of MIRACLES. 15 aspect be not attainable, by varying our mode of looking at miracles. Instead of contem- plating them, as we have done, from the side of nature, let us shift our position, and gra- dually approach them from. the side ‘of our spiritual consciousness. Among the instinctive beliefs of ee none appears more deserving of that name, or more universal, than some form of belief ina God. That one or more beings exist who are superior to nature, and capable of in- fluencing the course of nature, has been held in every age, and by all tribes and nations of men, almost without exception. Among the more cultivated races, this belief has been purged of the elements of grossness and incon- sistency, with which ignorance had often en- cumbered it; and been refined into a pure monotheism, according to which there ig: one intelligent, all-powerful, righteous God, on whom all things depend. It is this theism, or doctrine about God, which presents itself to us from our earliest years as the true explanation of the universe. We do not invent the theory for ourselves, We find it already made, and existing everywhere around us; we inherit it from the ages before us; it is the embodiment of the uni- versal, or almost universal, voice of mankind. 16 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. Now, as soon as we are capable of reflection, we find this belief eliciting a response from our moral sense, fitting in with the emotions of our religious instinct, and approving itself to our judgment. When we look around on the universe, and observe its order and harmony, and the evidences of intelligent and benevolent purpose of which it is full; and the inquiry arises within us, how this wonderful fabric could have been originated, and by what power it is sustained and governed; it is this theism, this doctrine of an intelligent and gracious Creator and Lord, that presents us with the only answer that has ever been sug- gested. When again we look into ourselves, and discern that we are persons, not machines, nor animals; that we are endowed with intel- lect, will, a moral sense, a religious faculty, a desire for immortality, a yearning to know and worship and find rest in some unseen Being above our sphere; it is still the same theism that steps in to explain us to ourselves, as nothing else has ever done. Being what we are conscious of being, we cannot rest satisfied with being told that our existence has arisen out of the blind ferment of unintelligent atoms and forces, and will speedily sink back into the same. Our personality, our intel- MIRACLES. 137 ligence, our moral and spiritual attributes, all constrain us to imagine some personal, intelligent, spiritual Being from whom they are derived; and it is such a Being whom theism sets before us and points to as our Creator. On the whole, then, this theory or doctrine of the existence of God, which from the dawn of our thought wraps round and permeates our intellectual and moral life, finds support in almost all that we observe of the external universe, and are conscious of in ourselves. It may not be a complete explanation of every- thing that demands explanation ; no doubt it leaves some mysteries unsolved, some diffi- culties still burdensome to our minds. But to say only, that it is the completest theory that has ever attempted to account for the pheno- mena of the universe, would be greatly to understate the fact. It is absolutely the only one; it has no competitor; as an account of the ultimate cause and origin of the varied mechanism and life of the world it occupies the field of speculation alone. It is particularly to be noticed that the God who is thus suggested to us, and to the idea of whom our reason and our hearts respond, is: far more than a cause, or force, or intelligence. C 18 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. The general sentiment of mankind ascribes to Him personal will and moral qualities, and con- ceives of Him as caring about us, dealing in- dividually with us, and exercising a moral government over the world. ‘This view finds a response in our own consciousness, just in proportion to our advance in the scale of virtue. Righteousness, truth, sympathy, benevolence, love, these form our idea of goodness; these furnish the standard by which we measure human conduct. Must not these qualities, which are the glory of man, have first existed in his Maker? Could mere force have origi- nated goodness, mere intelligence have given birth to righteousness and love? So we are irresistibly impelled to ask, when we speculate on the nature of God.. Can we place Him below ourselves ? How can we have gained a higher elevation than is occupied by Him who is the fount and origin of our being? We care for our parents, our wives, our offspring, our friends, our fellow-men; if we conceive of a God at all, can we reasonably conceive of One who does not:care for His children ? We have now made the first step of our approach towards miracles. It is the strong probability, engendered by many different but converging lines of thought, that an Almighty, MIRACLES. 19 righteous, loving God really exists. Our next step is found in the connexion of this doctrine with Christianity. It has already been remarked that, as nations grew more enlightened, they purged their theism from the grosser elements that adulte- rated it, and arrived at a pure, spiritual, mono- theistic conception of God. We now go on to observe, that among all the nations which lead the van. of human progress, and are foremost in culture and knowledge, this conception of God has received a special form, by being cast into the mould of Christianity. The vaguer idea, of a righteous and benevolent Creator and Ruler, has ripened into the conception of a heavenly Father, who has manifested Himself in His Son Jesus Christ for the redemption of His erring children, and is guiding them by His Spirit to a blessed immortality. By this idea of God modern Christendom has been created. We can trace back its working his- torically through eighteen centuries, and discern its beneficent influence and world-sub- duing energy. We can see how it shattered the ancient idolatries, infused a new and purer spirit into society, moulded human character to a higher excellence, and gradually trans- formed the face of the civilized world. C2 20 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. Biron eet h Np ENE ir aaa Se Comparing modern Christendom with the ancient Pagan world, he must be blind indeed who does not perceive that Christianity, taking it altogether in its actual achievements and inherent tendencies, has been to our race as life from the dead. Hindered though it has been by human passion and perverseness, there is scarcely a province of human life which it has not touched with a renovating hand. To the strong it has taught gentleness and chivalry, to the weak resignation and patience. On lawless violence, cruelty, slavery, it has stamped its brand of reprobation; sensual and unnatural vices have been driven by it into the obscure haunts of infamy; against the rule of imperious force it has held up the sacred law of right, against the brutal demands of selfishness it has enforced the generous sacrifices of love. It has lessened the fre- quency and mitigated the -horrors of war, ameliorated legislation, raised the aims of government, bound men together in holy brotherhood, and restored the weaker sex to its due respect and honour. It has produced a roll of martyrs, philanthropists, saints, to which the annals of history can furnish no parallel; it has nurtured millions upon millions of men and women in spiritual purity and good- ——————”Sl ee MIRACLES. 21 ness, cheered their struggle with the inevitable ills of life, and shed brightness over their descent into the grave. And so far from being exhausted by its achievements in the past, it still holds the imperial portion of the world in its embrace, and goes forth to break up new fields in the moral wastes of humanity, and win fresh conquests over the enemies of the peace and happiness of our race. Now looking at the past story, the present existence, and the intrinsic character and tendencies of Christianity, we feel entitled to urge that they are sufficient to sustain a strong probability of the truth of the central idea on which this religion rests, and of which it is the realization, imperfect indeed as yet, in human history. ‘That idea is the conception of God as a loving Father, who has manifested Himself to us in Jesus Christ for our redemp- tion. ‘That a mere illusion or falsehood should have been capable of supporting such a system through long ages, and filling the world with its beneficent fruits, is scarcely conceivable, and would certainly be a course of things without a parallelin experience. A conception of such vitality, such moral fruitfulness, such continuous regenerating power for the world, has at least some claim to be considered, by 22 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. any candid observer, as more likely to be true than false. And if the probability be in favour of its truth, we have made a clear step forward in our argument. We first inferred, from a large circuit of varied facts and ex- periences, that the probabilities are in favour of theism—that is, of the existence of a God who cares for us. Now, from a different set of facts, equally varied, we have inferred the probability that God has actually shown His care for us, by acting towards us in a manner, and by means, which lie outside and above the common course of nature. When we have reached this point, a single step more, of the easiest kind, will place us in the presence of ~ miracles. For this imperial, world-conquering, bene- ficent Christianity can be traced to its begin- ning. We know historically that it arose in the first century of our era, and had for its author Jesus,a man of Jewish race, who was put to death by the enemies of His teaching, when scarcely a third of that century had elapsed. We know with equal certainty, from the four epistles of St. Paul (the first to the Thessalonians, that to the Galatians, and the two to the Corinthians), the authorship and dates of which have never been seriously called into a * MIRACLES. 23 question, even by the most sceptical critics, that within thirty years after the death of Jesus, and while many who had known Him per- sonally were still living, various communities had already been formed out of Jewish and Pagan society, which were founded upon, and held together by, the faith that He was in very truth the Son of God, who had come from heaven into the world to manifest the Father, and, after being crucified by His op- ponents, had risen from the dead and ascended. into heaven. We know also that early in the next century, if not before, when this faith, in spite of both political and religious hostility, was spreading far and wide through the cities of the Roman Empire, four biographies of Jesus were univeysally accepted by all the Christian communities, as furnishing correct delineations of the life and teaching of the great Master in whom they believed; and these biographies, - familiar to us all under the name of the Gos- pels, not only describe a character and a career which are perfectly unique in literature and history, and bear the strongest impress of reality, but distinctly assert that Jesus authen- ticated His mission from God by working beneficent miracles as signs of the divine king- dom which He was introducing, and finally by 24 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. SNE a en Maer Oe il SMD RAPD Ons sk” Fara see RS rising from the dead after His crucifixion and burial. This, then, is the state of the case. The greatest moral, religious, and social pheno- menon that ever appeared in the world, bring- ing healing and blessing for the weary and sinful, and filling the ages with the evidences of its transforming energy, had its rise eighteen centuries ago in an obscure teacher, whom His opponents, out of bigotry and envy, put to death at an early age. Within a few years of His death thousands of persons, shaking off the ties that bound them to their religion and kindred, and braving all manner of violence, and even death itself in its most terrible shapes, that they might be true to their convictions, are found associated together by the belief that this teachercame from God, set up a supernatural kingdom of truth and righteousness, performed miraculous acts of mercy, and crowned His wonderful career by rising from the dead and going up into heaven. This belief they set out to impress on their fellow-men, not by force nor by bribes, but by preaching a doctrine which, notwithstanding the repulsiveness of the Cross, found an echo in the human heart and con- science, and by exhibiting a life whieh shamed the impure and selfish life of the world around MIRACLES. 25 them. And they succeeded. It mattered not that they were often slandered, robbed, tor- tured, and killed; that now the imperial Government attempted to exterminate them, and now the populace rose against them in frenzied outbreaks of violence. The faith spread ; it invaded the schools of learning ; it swept before it the idolatrous temples and altars, with their foul orgies and mocking hypocrisies ; it mounted the imperial throne; it gathered nations under its sway; modern Christendom is the result of it, and it gives promise of fresh triumphs in the future. This, we say, is the case before us, to be reasonably dealt with, estimated, and explained. Now to which side of the question about miracles does this wonderful series of facts give probability? If the assertion of Christianity be true, and Jesus really came from God, witnessed to the divineness of His mission by doing supernatural acts of mercy, and triumphed over death by rising again; then the facts hang together consistently, and the results are accounted for by an adequate cause. Butif He were as other men, a mere unit of the general mass of humanity; if He lived only a common life, speaking out of His own ima- gination, and doing His own will under the 26 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. ordinary limitations of human action, and knew no resurrection from the dead; then the facts do not hang consistently together, and the results are not accounted for by an adequate cause. Then there is a breach, at the very starting-point, between the man Jesus and the amazing development and triumph of His reli- gion—a breach which no sceptical ingenuity has ever been able to devise a method of bridging over. The obscure Jewish teacher is swept from the earth in early manhood by a storm of execration and violence ; His few fol- lowers are stunned and scattered by the blow. Tf He rose not from the dead, there is the natural end of it all. But presently we find them proclaiming that He did rise, boldly facing an incredulous and hostile world with this assertion, living and dying for it, con- quering and regenerating the world by it. Which now seems more likely, more in ac- cordance with the ordinary laws of human con- duct and historical sequence,—that the asser- tion was true or false? Surely, as unpre- judiced men, we must answer, that the whole testimony of historical fact leads back to the resurrection of Jesus as the only adequate start- ing-point of Christianity; and if that be mira- culous, then the historical development of ee MIRACLES. 27 Christianity throws all its weight on the side of the probability of at least one miracle having occurred. Let us now review the course over which we have travelled. Setting out from the almost universal prevalence of theism among mankind, and especially among the higher and more enlightened races, we found in the instinctive character of this belief, in the order and har- mony of the universe, in the manifold appear- ances of intelligent design in the world, and in the intellectual, moral, and spiritual faculties of which we are ourselves conscious, many and varied reasons for concluding that theism, on the whole, furnishes a rational and likely ex- planation of the mystery of being; and that the existence of a God who cares for us, and exercises a moral government over the world, is in a high degree probable. Then in the past history, present aspect, and unexhausted energy of Christianity, we saw this proba- bility greatly strengthened ; and discerned fair grounds for thinking that God has actually shown His care for us in a method of dealing which lies outside and above the natural order of the world, and belongs to a higher sphere of operation to which physical laws are not applicable. Here we are already on the border- 28 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. EMME BSE TS acicand PAPO WP ai ae hme we ME, AR 8s land of miracle, already breathing the atmo- sphere to which miracles are congenial, For if the divine method of dealing, which the facts of Christianity suggest and render probable, be itself supernatural, then individual miracles, if they seemed to occur in connexion with that method and as essential parts of it, would be in strict correspondence with its general character. Lastly, by tracing Christianity his- torically to its source, we found ourselves brought step by step into the presence of at least one event of a miraculous character, as the asserted and only probable starting-pomt of Christendom, and of the religion and Church of Christ. Let the reader now observe how smoothly and easily, and yet with what unintermitted cogency and force, this induction moves on from its foundation in the actual facts around and within’ us, to its conclusion in the mira- culous features of the history of Jesus. Let him put his finger, if he can, on any single point in it at which there 1s an awkward break, any one step at which his mind can honestly revolt, on the ground that the weight of the evidence is against it, and that it 1s so impro- bable as to be incredible. Bearing in mind that it is not demonstration that is aimed at, MIRACLES. 29 or even pretended to be attainable, but only a fair and reasonable estimate of probabilities, on the same principles by which the truth of any historical statement may be tested; let him ask himself whether the cardinal fact of the resurrection of Jesus be not so led up to— alike by the arguments and testimonies which support Christian theism, and by the long suc- cession of most conspicuous and important consequences that seem to be traceable to that alleged fact, and are not otherwise easily explicable—as to make it on the whole consi- derably more probable than not, from the his- torical point of view, that the early preachers of the Gospel announced a fact, when they testi- fied to the world that Jesus rose from the dead. And if the answer be, as surely on all sound principles of historical argument it must be, that the real difficulty lies in the miraculous character of the alleged event, and that, were it not for this, the weight of the evidence would undoubtedly be in its favour; let the force of this admission be considered. It allows that the historical, the moral, the spiritual, arguments or reasons all lie on one side, and throw their weight in favour of a certain miracle having actually taken place; and that there is nothing to place in the balance 30 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. against them, except an antecedent, abstract presumption against miracles. Whether this presumption be entitled to outweigh every other consideration, and constrain our verdict to be on its side, is the only question with which we have still to deal. We have seen that the presumption against miracles arises from looking at them from the side of nature. ‘In all our experience of nature,” says the objector, “ we find no trace of miracle. Law reigns everywhere; order is unbroken; effect follows cause universally, in invariable sequence. There is no breach of continuity, no interruption, no disturbance, no sign anywhere of the interference of an ex- traneous force. Miracles seem alien to the whole constitution of things, and are therefore incredible.” But we have also seen that if, instead of deriving our impressions from nature, as searched and interpreted by physical science, we set out from the phenomena of our spiritual consciousness, and prosecute our in- quiry through the facts of human history which are related to this part of our being, we are led on step by step, in spite of any oppo- sition we can fairly offer, to the probability that a certain event once happened, and that event is clearly of a miraculous character. Here ae} — MIRACLES. are two methods of investigation, equally valid; and yet they lead to conclusions so different as to appear at first sight contradic- tory to each other. That miracles are so improbable as to be practically incredible, is the issue of one method of inquiry; that at least one particular miracle probably happened, is the result of the other. What now are we todo? Are we reduced to saying despairingly, that these conclusions neutralize each other, and leave us helplessly ignorant on the subject? Or can we discover some mode of reconciling or combining them, so as to found upon them some structure of belief which ‘reason may not be ashamed to acknowledge ? It is to be remarked, that a negative pre- sumption differs in kind from affirmative evidence, and is never in ordinary matters considered sufficient to rebut it or set it aside, provided that the evidence is not vitiated by any manifest weakness or taint. In acriminal trial, for instance, it is no answer to the posi- tive evidence against the accused, whether direct or circumstantial, to prove that he has hitherto borne so good a character, as to render it very unlikely that he should have committed the offence with which he is charged 3 y4 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. on the testimony of competent and credible witnesses. Again, a negative presumption holds good only so long as the conditions under which it arose remain absolutely unchanged. Let them vary ever so little, and its force is gone; for the experience gained under the old conditions 1s no longer applicable under the new, and what may have been improbable then may, for aught we know, have become probable now. Or,reversing the order, things which present experience shows to be utterly unlikely now may possibly have been very probable in the remote past, when some condition existed which has now ceased to operate. To the inhabitant of a tropi- cal plain, the presumption against water ever becoming solid would appear of the strongest kind, for such an event would be contrary to all his experience; yet he has only to change his climate for a colder one to see the impro- bable event come to pass. So also, the forma- tion of a glacier in the Scotch Highlands, at the present time, is shown by experience to be in the highest degree unlikely, for as far back as historical records extend such a phenomenon has never been observed there; yet we know from geology that there was atime when, under other conditions of climate, glaciers were plen- MIRACLES. 30 tiful enough in that region, and the rocks bear the scars inflicted by them to this day. _ Once more, to prove a negative is proverbially difficult ; the testimony of a single competent witness to the occurrence of some event would avail more to establish it, than the declarations of a thousand equally competent witnesses, that no similar event had ever occurred within their experience, would avail to disprove it. Hence the only legitimate effect of a presump- tion, grounded on experience, against the hap- pening of an event is to make us scrutinize more closely and jealously whatever positive evidence is offered to prove that it has actually occurred. Applying these well-established principles of evidence to the case before us, they appear to guide us to the following solution of our diffi- culty. The scientific argument may be fairly allowed to have made good the position, that miracles must be exceedingly rare and exceptional events, out of and contrary to the common and regular course of nature; and that the presumption against them, generally, on that ground is amply sufficient to discredit the pre- tence of them under all ordinary circumstances. But beyond this limit the argument cannot D 34. SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. Ie SONAR EMC ar SS le A eee justly be held to be decisive against miracles ; because it is wholly unable to show, that there cannot ever arise, in the course of human deve- lopment, some great, exceptional crisis, Im which the Ruler of the world (whose existence cannot be disproved) may see fit to put forth His hand in a special manner of dealing; and a supernatural order of things, always lying unseen behind nature (for that too cannot be disproved), may for some grand purpose be manifested within the natural order. Let the physical argument, from the continuity and regularity of nature, be held to cover all the rest of the ground, and to be sovereign and supreme in such times as ours, and under all ordinary circumstances; yet it cannot cover this possible exception, it cannot prove that no such exception can occur. Taking his stand on that argument, the man of science may with perfect justice demand, that if any such exception is alleged to have occurred in any period of the world, clear, cogent evidence shall be brought forward to establish it. But to go further, and take on himself to pronounce the idea of such an exception inadmissible, would be to step beyond the space which the argument covers, and to give a judgment for which it fails to furnish him with any reasonable ground. MIRACLES. B5 Here, then, the other line of argument, from man’s spiritual consciousness, environ- ment, and history, comes in, to make good the exception for which the scientific argu- ment, after being pushed to its utmost legiti- mate limit, still leaves room. Gathering to- gether its materials from a wide review of the phenomena of human life and thought and development, this second line of induction es- tablishes the probability, that there is a God and Father of mankind, who deals with them according to spiritual laws; and who, in order to raise them out of ignorance and despair, did in a great crisis of their history manifest to them His power and goodness, by signs in the midst of nature that were above nature, and beyond the range of her familiar order and processes. Thus the two lines of argument come into harmony, and find a mode of living in peace together. The rights of science, that noble gift of God to these latter days, are vindi- cated, and its voice is listened to with respect. Tt is allowed to sweep away from the domain of reasonable belief the crowd of vulgar miracles that are isolated and aimless, mere prodigies, unnecessary to the manifestation of the spiritual order, and the communication of the knowledge of God. On the other hand, religion is allowed D 2 30 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. rule and supremacy in its own higher sphere; the spiritual faculty within us is not driven into a corner, or deprived of its proper nutri- ment and exercise; and room is left for the exceptional miracles, with which revelation and Christianity are inseparably bound up. In conclusion, the reader will observe, that the subject has been treated as one in which absolute or formal demonstration is not pos- sible, and only more or less of probability can be arrived at. But to what height that proba- bility may rise in his individual case, and to what ripe and fruitful conviction it may give birth, will greatly depend on the vital activity and the experience of his own spiritual con- sclousness. If he were content to regard himself as nothing more than a part in the natural order, or a transient being struck out by the blind collision of atoms, and governed by the phy- sical forces of the universe in common with the ranks of existence beneath him, and were to deem the claim of mankind to belong to a higher, a spiritual order, a vain and baseless dream; if no voice from above, no whisper from the unseen, ever awoke an echo within him, thrilling his heart with a desire to worship and to trust; and no recognition of the sacred- MIRACLES. 37 ness of duty ever filled him with awe, no vision of the fatherhood of God and of brotherhood in Christ ever rose bright and attractive on his mental sight, stirring within him strange yearn- ings and hopes; then indeed the supernatural would of necessity seem to him so far off and unreal, that the probability of its manifestation, within the sphere of the natural, must shrink up into the most attenuated and shadowy dimensions. But when, on the other hand, he recognizes within himself capacities, desires, hopes, tbat point upwards, and seem to link him to a higher world than this visible world of matter and force; when he is conscious of a response within himself to the revelation, which Chris- tianity professes to make, of a heavenly Father redeeming His children, and training them for immortality ; then this vexed question of miracles will assuredly appear to him to be lifted above the region where physical law is supreme into the higher sphere of divine providence and grace,—a sphere where things that are above nature may find a fitting place, if only they are charged with spiritual significance, and em- ployed as instruments to convey to us a clearer knowledge of God. And when the question has thus become §8 SCEPTICISM AND’ FAITH. connected. in his mind with the spiritual aspi- rations and destinies of our race, he will be at no loss for helps to advance from the outer region of probability to the inner shrine of faith. In every witness borne by the universe to the presence in it of a divine intelligence and goodness; in every instinctive longing of the heart to be embraced in a spiritual order, wherein its unrest may be exchanged for peace ; in every thrill of wonder and adoration that has ever swept through his soul, as he gazed on the portraiture of the Son of man ; in every bene- ficent influence that Christianity has exerted, to shape and stimulate human progress and quicken the higher life of mankind ; in all these and many other facts, both within and around him, he will catch glimpses, undiscerned by the eye of unbelief, of the divine presence and working in the world. It is thus that the in- tuitive consciousness of God grows up in the recesses of the soul, and issues in the matured and dominant conviction that God, in ancient times, did manifest Himself to us in His Son Jesus Christ, and “‘ raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God.”’ EVOLUTION. 39 No. II. EVOLUTION IN THE DEBATING ROOM. I PRoposE in this paper to give some account of a discussion which lately took place in the lecture-hall of a Literary and Scientific Insti- tute, on “The Bearing of the Modern Theory of Evolution upon Religious Belief.” Under eover of that great theory so many attacks are made on Christianity, and so much support is claimed from it for downright atheism, that I am disposed to think that the sifting which the subjectunderwent on that occasion may become useful to many persons, who have no more than a vague and superficial acquaintance with it. In the Institute to which I refer, much interest is taken in the physical sciences, and books of general information on these subjects are eagerly read. Several of the members are very fairly acquainted with the principal modern discoveries, and the speculations founded upon 40 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. them; and among these more advanced students of nature, it is no wonder that the speculative theory known as Evolution, the widest and grandest scientific generalization perhaps ever made, should have powerfully arrested the atten- tion, and impressed the imagination with its singular comprehensiveness and magnificence. There also exists in the Institute, as unhappily is not unusual in such bodies, a party which is strongly impregnated with sceptical ideas, of a more or less advanced character; and between this and the side which keeps a tight grasp on the Christian creed frequent skirmishes have arisen, in which the theory of Evolution especially has furnished effective weapons to the assailants of religious belief. At last it was decided to give an evening to as full a discussion of the relation of Evolution to religion as was practicable, and I was requested to preside as chairman, witha right to interfere from time to time in the debate, with such questions and remarks as I thought advisable to keep it straight and help it forward toa definite issue. ° When the evening came, I opened the pro- ceedings by reminding the audience that we were not met to discuss the sufficiency of the scientific evidence to sustain the theory, which EVOLUTION. 4] was a task manifestly above our abilities ; but, provisionally accepting the theory in its main features as well-founded, to inquire how far it necessarily led to consequences at variance with the elementary articles of the Christian faith, respecting God and man. Having recommended the speakers to abstain from the use of hard, technical words, and to be satisfied to employ plain, popular language, such as all might understand, I called on the spokesman of the sceptical party to tell us what they meant by Evolution, and to show in what way they deemed it to be adverse to the doctrines of religion. | “ Hvolution,” he explained, ‘‘is the process by » which simpler and lower types of being grow, under the operation of natural laws, into higher and more complex ones. Things have, for the most part, a capacity of change and improve- ment. The hard, tasteless wild berry becomes in course of time, through cultivation, a juicy and delicious fruit; the lank-boned, scraggy wild animal is developed into one which yrtelds abundance of succulent and nutritious flesh for human food. ‘These are instances of Hvolution brought about by man’s skilful interference with nature. But nature of herself effects similar developments. She throws out varieties 42 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. that are in some respects better than their predecessors or rivals; and these, having an advantage over the others, gradually dis- place the older types in the struggle for existence, and thus races are permanently improved. “Taking a wider view, and looking back through the immeasurable vista of ages, during which the world has been growing into its present condition, it seems that Hvolution, or 'the development of races, has always been going on with unintermittent step since the earliest germ of life made its appearance. The present human era was preceded by one in which man had not yet come into being, and the warm-blooded animals were the highest types of life. That again had for its fore- runner an age in which no creatures above the cold-blooded reptiles existed. And so we may go back and back, finding each stage ruder and more elementary than its successor, until we: reach the dawn of animal life in zoophytes and sponges, and, perhaps still farther back, of vegetable life in forms that were but cells or germs of the simplest character. Hereis Evo- lution on a grand scale, each grade of being appearing to grow, by a natural unfolding, out of the one before it, and the whole exhibiting EVOLUTION. 43 a continuous advance from lower to higher types of life. - “Nor is that all. The whole physical universe exhibits incontestible marks of having followed a similar course of development. We trace our globe back to a red-hot solid; thence to a ball of liquid fire ; and still back to matter dif- fused in a gaseous form of incalculable tenuity. And as with our globe, so also with all the heavenly bodies, till we reach at last the primi- tive condition of the universe, and find our- selves in the presence of nothing but incon- ceivably vast clouds of incoherent, uncombined atoms, diffused as a gas or an ether in the measureless regions of space. ‘ Farther back than this science cannot take us. Here the mighty Evolution begins. This nebulous universe of diffused atoms is the starting-point of the drama of being, and con- tains wrapped up in itself the promise and potency ofall future existence. No quickening touch, no guiding power, from without are needed; it is self-evolving; its whole career henceforward is a natural growth. Atom acts on atom, molecule on molecule, according to their inherent tendencies and properties : and as the ages roll on, worlds spring into being ; life appears; races are gradually formed, and 4A, SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. make their struggling advance from lower to higher types, through the mutual action of their vital energies and their physical environ- ments, until man at last crowns the series, and himself pursues a like upward career of de- velopment, from the primitive savage of the age of stone, till he culminates in the civilized Kuropean and the modern philosopher. “'This,”’ said the speaker, ‘is what we mean by Evolution ; the universe developing itself, by its own inherent forces and tendencies, out of the primordial atom-chaos, unguided by intelli- gence, unconscious of its growth, uninfluenced by any power outside itself. “Now it appears to those who think with me,” he went on to say, “that supposing this theory to be a true one, and correctly to represent the process through which all things became what they are, no room is left for the two most funda- mental ideas of the Christian, or indeed any other religious creed; these, namely, the action of a God, whether in creation or provi- dence, and the existence of a spiritual, immortal element in human nature. “ Tf the universe unfolds itself, unintelligently and unconsciously, by the operation ofits own inherent energies, and according to its own physical laws, how can it witness for a God, EVOLUTION. 45 for whom on this supposition there is absolutely no need? ‘The advocates of natural theology used to urge that the complex organisms of the natural world point to a contriving intelli- gence, which must have designed and created their beautiful and delicate mechanism, and adapted it to the circumstances in which it was ordained to exist. But Evolution shows that design and contrivance had no part in the matter. Blind, unconscious, unintelligent forces have done it all. By these the primal germs of life were developed out of hitherto dead matter; and these germs, by their own vitality, and the action upon them of their physical environment, have been gradually shaped and fashioned, until they have grown, by minute and scarcely distinguishable degrees, into those complex organisms, which suggest to our minds the ideas of intelligent contri- vance and adaptation. ‘There really being no purpose, no intention, no exercise of intellect, in the whole process from beginning to end, the only ground on which the inference of an intelligent creating Will could rest is cut from under our feet. “* And as with creating intelligence and pur- pose, so also it seems to us to be with’ upholding and guiding Providence. The idea A6 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. of it has become inadmissible. Tull we knew that the course of Evolution was necessary and continuous and self-governed, an external power might have been supposed to step in and direct it. But as soon as we have ascer- tained the true method of the universe, and recognized its self-evolving energy, we see that it needs no other guide, nor admits of any, and no place is left for a divine Pro- vidence. « And, further, we maintain that the theory of Evolution irresistibly confutes the idea that man is distinguished from the rest of the animal world by the possession of some higher, some immaterial and immortal, element in his being. The child of Evolution, like all his relatives throughout the sentient world, there can be nothing in him that did not first exist in the primordial atom-chaos. He can be nothing more than one particular combination, however felicitous and exquisite, of the original atoms, brought together by unintelligent forces, to be dissolved again when his little day is over, like all the other combinations which make up the kingdoms of animal and vegetable existence. Hence, a spiritual essence and an immortal destiny seem to us to be vain dreams for mankind. ‘The individual but rises for a EVOLUTION. 47 moment out of the mighty ferment, and pre- sently falls back into it again, to furnish materials for his successors in the ever- advancing drama of Evolution.” When the speaker sat down, I remarked that three alleged consequences of the theory of Kyolution had been definitely and boldly put before us. First, that it did away with the need of a creating intelligence; secondly, that it excluded the action of a divine providence ; and, lastly, that 1t confuted the claim of man- kind to possess in their structure any element of an immaterial, spiritual, or immortal kind. These consequences, if established, plainly carried with them the entire destruction of religious belief, and of religion itself except as a mere instinctive sentiment; for if we are neither created nor governed by God, nor possessed of any spiritual faculty for knowing Him, or of any capability of immortality, the whole fabric of religion is left destitute of any foundation whatever. It was therefore of the utmost importance to examine the validity of these deductions from the theory of Evolution ; and I suggested that those who intended to contest them should take them, one by one, in the order named. Upon this a member rose on the opposite 48 SCEPTICISM AND FAITH. Lists A ghd Oak wae, eg side, and said that he should speak to the first point, and endeavour to show that Evolution is no substitute for God, and that the notion of its rendering a creating Intelligence needless is as illogical and baseless as any romancer’s idle dream. “You start with your ready-made atoms,” he said, “and very wonderful things these in- finitesimal particles seem by your account to be. No intelligence directs them, no con- sciousness resides in them; they move about of themselves, blind and purposeless, and run into all manner of combinations under I know not what impulse or guidance. If they merely tumbled into heaps of formless rock, or flats of desert sand, one would scarcely be surprised, or tempted to demand an explanation of their achievements. But they scorn such petty triumphs. Nothing is too arduous, too lofty, for them. Wandering about, not knowing what they are doing, these senseless particles, you assure us, fall of themselves into com- binations of the highest complexity, beauty, and utility. They originate countless forms of life, endowed with those exquisite vital mechanisms that throng all the provinces of sentient being ; they produce out of themselves intellect, conscience, science, poetry, religion ; EVOLUTION, 49 ptt en EP Nees iol Ns Piae Wo Sy out of their mazy dance spring heroes, patriots, philosophers, saints. The magnificent proces- sion of being that has passed, and is passing, across the stage of Time, is all composed of these atoms, is nothing but these atoms. In your unconscious atom-clouds, out of which the universe grew, floated the materials of the imagination of a Shakspeare, the intellect of a Newton, the spiritual intuition of a St. John; and out of that primordial chaos these astonish- ing results, if we are to believe you, have been developed without the smallest guidance of intelligent or conscious purpose.. “Was ever anything more amazing? What various and subtle properties these constituent atoms must possess ; what elaborate and highly- endowed things they must be!