I'i,:''^ 
 
 I ! 
 
 illlllllllllllll I 
 
 Iii||ilji|ilii';>: 
 
 !' i' 
 
 "k 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 Theological Seminary 
 
 PRINCETON,. N. J. 
 
 O BR 45 .H84 1854 
 
 Cowie, Morgan, 1816-1900. 
 '^'^ Scripture difficulties 
 
SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 SERMONS 
 
 PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 THE HULSEAN LECTUKES FOR 1854 
 
 THREE OTHEE SERMONS. 
 
 THE REV. MORGAN COWIE, M.A. 
 
 LiTt FELLOW OF ST JOHN's COLLEGE, 
 HCLSEAX LECTUKEK. 
 
 LONDON: 
 RIVINGTONS, WATERLOO PLACE. 
 
 1855. 
 
^rintetJ at tlje eanifaersitg Press, 
 
THOMAS CHARLES GELBART, LL.D. 
 
 MASTER OF TRINITY HALL, 
 riCE-CHANCELLOR, 
 
 REVEREND WILLLVM WHEWELL, D.D. 
 
 MASTER OF TRINITY COLLEGE, 
 
 REVEREND RALPH TATHAM, D.D. 
 
 MASTER OF ST JOHN'S COLLEGE, 
 
 THESE LECTURES, DELIVERED BY THEIR APPOINTMENT, 
 ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. 
 
 Stoke d'Ahernon, Cobham, 
 
 January, 1855. 
 
The Rev. John Hulse, M.A. by his will bearing date 
 July 21, 1777, founded a Lectureship in the University 
 of Cambridge, to be held by a Clergyman in the Univer- 
 sity of the degree of Master of Arts, and under the age 
 of forty years : the Lecturer to be elected annually on 
 Christmas- day, or within seven days after, by the Vice- 
 Chancellor, the Master of Trinity College, and the Master 
 of St John's College, or any two of them: the subject of 
 the Lectures to be as follows; " The Evidence of Revealed 
 Religion; the Truth and Excellence of Christianity; the 
 Prophecies and Miracles ; direct or collateral proofs of the 
 Christian Religion, especially the collateral arguments ; the 
 more difficult texts, or obscure parts of Holy Scripture ;" 
 or any one or more of these topics, at the discretion of 
 the Lecturer. 
 
CO>tENTS.' 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE KESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 
 
 S. MATTHEW XXII. 31, 32. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye 
 not read that tvhich ivas spoken unto you by God, 
 saying, I am the God of Abt^aham, and the God 
 of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ? God is not the 
 God of the dead, but of the living ... 1 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 
 
 1 CORINTHIANS XV. 44. 
 There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual 
 
 body ........ 35 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 
 
 1 CORINTHIANS XV. 35. 
 
 Hoiu are the dead raised up ? and with what body do 
 
 they come ? . . . . . . .63 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 ON CHRIST PREDICTING HIS OWN RESURRECTION. 
 
 S. JOHN II. 18—22. 
 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What 
 sign shelves t thou unto us, seeing that thou doest 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 TAGE 
 
 things ? Jesus answered and said unto 
 them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I 
 luill raise it up. Then said the Jews^ Forty and 
 six years was this temple in building, and wilt 
 thou rear it up in three days ? But he spake of 
 the temple of his body. When therefore he ivas 
 risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that 
 he had said this unto them ; and they believed the 
 scripture, and the word ivhich Jesus had said . 91 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 S. MATTHEW XII. 31, 32. 
 
 All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven 
 unto men : but the blasphemy against the Holy 
 Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And ivho- 
 soever speaketh a ivord against the Son of man, 
 it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh 
 against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven 
 him, neither in this ivorld, neither in the luorld 
 to come. . . . . . • .117 
 
 LECTUEE VI. 
 
 THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 S. MATTHEW XII. 31, 32. 
 
 All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven 
 unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy 
 Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And who- 
 soever speaketh a ivord against the Son of man, it 
 shall be forgiven him: but whosoever sjyeaketh 
 against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven 
 him, neither in this tvorld, neither in the ivorld 
 to come ....... 145 
 
CONTENTS. ix 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 FEKFECTION THROUGH SUFFERING. 
 
 HEBREWS II. 10. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 It became him, for ivhom are all things, and by whom 
 are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, 
 to make the Captain of their salvation perfect 
 through sufferings . . . . . 173 
 
 LECTURE VIIL 
 
 MORAL QUALITIES OF FAITH. 
 
 S. MATTHEW XII. 33. 
 Them that believe to the saving of the soul . 205 
 
 SERMON FOR GOOD FRIDAY. 
 
 S. LUKE XXIII. 28. 
 Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves . . 3 
 
 SERMON FOR EASTER DAY. 
 
 ROMANS VI. 4. 
 
 As Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory 
 of God the Father, even so we also should walk 
 in newness of life ... . . .21 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 INDIFFERENCE TO THE WORLD NOT ANY HINDERANCE TO 
 ACTIVE EXERTION. 
 
 S. MATTHEW VI. 33. 
 
 Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteous- 
 ness; and all these things shall he added unto 
 you ........ 
 
 PAGE 
 
 37 
 
ERRATUM. 
 
 Page ix. Table of Conhnits, Lecture VIII., for S. Matthew xii. 33. 
 read Hebrews x. 39. 
 
LECTURE L 
 
 S. MATTHEW XXII. 31-32. 
 
 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not 
 read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, 
 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and 
 the God of Jacob ? God is not the God of the dead^ 
 but of the living. 
 
 I HAVE said on a previous occasion, when 
 preaching from this pulpit, that the attacks 
 on the Catholic Faith, which have to be repelled 
 in the present generation, arise chiefly from 
 within. This is true of the grounds, and evidences 
 of the faith, as well as of the actual things to 
 be believed. Men do not at the present time 
 attack Christianity by endeavouring to throw en- 
 tire discredit on its credentials, but those who 
 unfortunately err from the simplicity of the truth, 
 have tried to explain away, to mythicize, to 
 diminish the witness for Christianity, to sub- 
 stitute for a solid reality an empty shadow, which 
 leaves us without any permanent independent 
 foundations of faith. Even those facts of the 
 Gospel, which are left apparently standing, have 
 in this manner been emptied of all substance, and 
 made to appear like the fables of ancient my- 
 thology, — vehicles of doctrine rather than sub- 
 stantial verities, such as S. John says, ' we have 
 
 H. L. A 
 
2 LECTURE I. 
 
 heard, we have seen with our eyes, which we 
 have looked upon, and our hands have handled.' 
 
 The process which some modern interpreters 
 have applied to the Scriptures seems to assume, 
 fundamentally, though not ostensibly, the unten- 
 able ground which Hume advanced long ago, 
 viz. that supernatural effects, even if competently 
 witnessed, were in their nature so incredible, that 
 they ought at once to be set aside on that account. 
 
 They do not indeed contend, that the whole 
 should be believed a falsehood S they do not in- 
 validate, as Hume did, human testimony ; but, 
 allowing the sincerity of the writers of our Gospel 
 histories, they contend that these writers did not 
 intend to put before us matters of fact, that they 
 did not wish us to understand from their narra- 
 tives — occurrences actual and physical; but that, 
 after an oriental fashion, or in the style of the 
 older mythologists, they dressed up in the dra- 
 pery of imaginary facts certain doctrines which 
 they wished to inculcate, they presented ideas 
 to mankind, under the form of certain e'lKoves: 
 which should stand forth as the representatives 
 
 ' Strauss expressly guards himself against this, and quotes 
 Usteri from the Ullman's U' Umlreit's theol. Stud'ien u. Kritiken, 
 1832. 4 Ileft. 'We must not suppose that any one of them (the 
 first Christians) sat down at a table and invented the tales like 
 poetical fictions, and committed them to -writing. No, these stories, 
 like all other legends, were formed by little and little, in a way 
 which cannot now be traced out, gained consistency more and more, 
 and at last were chronicled in our evangelical wx'xinigs'-^hitroduc- 
 tion, § 9. 
 
LECTURE I. 3 
 
 of the leading points of the system, but were not 
 meant to be credited as actual substantial exis- 
 tences'. 
 
 And the root of this system is a disbelief in 
 all miraculous interferences. Thus Strauss 2, in 
 speaking of the resurrection of our Lord, makes 
 general reflections on the impossibility of any 
 resurrection of the body. ' If the souP have to 
 restore the immediate organs of its activity, like 
 a diseased limb, organs which have been ren- 
 dered useless by death, this would be impossible, 
 because, in order to produce any effect on the 
 body, the soul has need of these very organs ; so 
 that even if any charm kept the soul in the body 
 after death, it could not prevent its corruption, as 
 it would be incapable of exerting any influence ; 
 or if by a first miracle the soul were brought back 
 into the body, it must by a second miracle have 
 restored to it those bodily organs which had per- 
 ished. But that would be an immediate inter- 
 ference of the Deity with the regular course of 
 natural life, which is incompatible with enlight- 
 ened ideas on the relation between God and the 
 world.' 
 
 Now, it seems that throughout the investiga- 
 
 ' The difference between a inyth and a legend seems to be, that 
 the former starts with an idea^ and dresses it up under fictitious cir- 
 cumstances ; the latter starts from facts, and they are altered, in- 
 creased, or diminished, and embellished to bring out certain ideas. 
 ^ Leben Jesu. 3, 4, 137- 
 
 ^ The Germans, in metaphysical language, mean by the soul 
 the spirit of man when in his body. 
 
 A2 
 
4 LECTURE I. 
 
 tions undertaken by Strauss, it is the necessity 
 which these 'enlightened ideas' involve, of reject- 
 ing all miracle, which induces him to propose 
 the mythical theory as the solution of difficulties. 
 This then is the process : to attack the genuine- 
 ness and aut/ieniiciti/ of the Gospels, and afterwards 
 to account in a free and unrestrained manner for 
 the Gospel history as it now stands. 
 
 In the first place, this method apparently 
 leaving the facts untouched, questions the genu- 
 ineness of the Gospels, but allows this much : 
 * no doubt these were the early impressions of 
 Christians ; these were the histories and legends 
 which became accepted as the foundation of 
 Christianity ;' but it asserts ' our histories are not 
 testimonies of eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses of 
 the Word.' Having thus got rid of the technical 
 stronghold of the genuineness of the Gospels, it 
 attacks their authenticity by shewing that the 
 parts cohere with difficulty, by getting together 
 all the discrepancies, real or imaginary, which 
 must be found in independent accounts of the 
 same circumstances, related honestly and artlessly 
 by men having high objects in view, variations 
 which have no bearing whatever on the main 
 features of the narrative ; and then our objectors 
 offer a solution of the assumed inconsistencies, by 
 throwing over the whole a mantle of mytliical 
 accommodation, in which historical accuracy is 
 neither intended nor reasonably to be expected, 
 where facts will be mixed up with fiction ; and 
 
LECTURE I. 5 
 
 the Gospel history is frittered away into a series 
 of fabulous legends, to be taken only as the evi- 
 dence of certain floating ideas, prevalent at some 
 period of the existence of the Church, subse- 
 quent by about a hundred years to the birth of 
 Christ. 
 
 These views have been combated successfully 
 by men much more competent to the task than I 
 can pretend to be ; but there still remains to meet 
 and oppose opinions or difficulties which are the 
 germ of the unbelieving spirit, fully developed in 
 these foreign speculations, which unfortunately 
 themselves are so widely diffused amongst us ; and 
 I propose to select a subject for this course of 
 Lectures which is one more than all others ex- 
 posed to the doubts and hesitations of men who 
 give free rein to their reasonings, and admit the 
 control of the Word of God only in a subsidiary 
 and secondary sense, inclining rather to reject its 
 authority, if their reason condemns the conclusions 
 to which it inevitably leads. 
 
 Of course, if such a conduct of the under 
 standing is influential in any subject, it will 
 chiefly be where the whole is confessedly a great 
 difficulty, and where the revelation shews us 
 things to which present experience has no parallel, 
 and which must be hard to be understood : — 
 I mean the revelation of the future life. I shall 
 endeavour in what I have to say to avoid all 
 modern personal controversy, and all differences 
 between Churches, in order more punctually to 
 
6 LECTURE I. 
 
 fulfil the duty devolving on the Christian preacher 
 to promote the general conviction of the truths of 
 revelation, without, in the words of the Founder 
 of this Lecture, ' descending to any particular sects 
 or controversies (so much to be lamented) among 
 Christians themselves.' 
 
 The difficulties and obscurities then to which I 
 wish to call your attention, and with respect to 
 which I would offer some remarks, are connected 
 with the resurrection of the body — the qualities 
 of the resurrection-body, or pneumatic-body of 
 S. Paul, the difficulties of personal identity and 
 the separate existence of the soul, and the pro- 
 phecies of our Lord's resurrection. 
 
 The field of discussion is sufficiently wide to 
 occupy a much longer time than can be devoted 
 to it in so short a course of Lectures. It must 
 therefore be my endeavour to supply food for 
 private meditation and reflection, without estab- 
 lishing conclusions by means of elaborate argu- 
 ment ; but rather indicating sources of informa- 
 tion, and summing up the results to which re- 
 searches have led, selecting and concentrating 
 that which seems to me well-founded, and valu- 
 able in the labours of the learned, and endea- 
 vouring, at times, to put in the modern language 
 of the pulpit, those reasons and trains of thought 
 by which the orthodox writers of our communion 
 have supported the faith of the Church. I am 
 sure that the more we read the works of those 
 great men, whom the Church of England can 
 
LECTURE I. 7 
 
 number amongst its theologians in times of old, 
 the more we become convinced that there is little 
 that is new to be advanced in the s^ihstance, how- 
 ever we may make it appear new in the manner. 
 As the student of the evidences of religion finds 
 continually that the sophisms and objections of 
 modern writers, who bring out their attacks with 
 all energy and great confidence in the originality 
 of their views, have constantly been urged, ex- 
 amined, and refuted before ; so I have found it 
 to be the case, that many things said in defence 
 of the sacred Scriptures, and many arguments that 
 strike us as novel, and convincing, many modes 
 of thought that seem to come with a new force to 
 the encounter, have been often and better treated 
 before. And when we have found this to be the 
 case in our own study of the subject, it must 
 make us constantly apprehensive of the imputa- 
 tion of plagiarism, if we pretend to originality, 
 and make us naturally anxious to take our stand 
 in that true catholic position which the Christian 
 preacher should endeavour to occupy : — to ask 
 for the old paths that we may walk in them ; and 
 in bringing out things new and old, to take care 
 that what is new coheres aptly with the old, that 
 it has its root firmly clinging to those ancient 
 foundations, on which the waves of unbelief have 
 beaten inefi^ectually for many a century. 
 
 The order in which I propose to consider these 
 subjects will be as follows : — 
 
 1. Assuming what the Scriptures tell us of 
 
8 LECTURE I. 
 
 the resurrection of the body, to examine how 
 far this doctrine is peculiar to the Christian or 
 latter dispensation. 
 
 2. To ascertain what the Scriptures tell us of 
 the qualities of the resurrection-body, or pneu- 
 matic-body of S. Paul. 
 
 3. To establish the truth of personal identity 
 in the resurrection, on grounds not inconsistent 
 with physical facts. 
 
 4. To shew, in answer to Strauss' objections, 
 that our Lord did predict his own resurrection, 
 and to explain the difficulties which he finds in 
 the Gospel narrative in reference thereto. 
 
 Such subjects being suited to the period of 
 the Ecclesiastical year at which these Lectures 
 are delivered, may, by God's blessing, be condu- 
 cive to appropriate meditations by all of us, on 
 points connected with our hopes and fears as 
 Christians, and may tend to make us stedfast and 
 immoveable in the faith of the Gospel, and not 
 barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 In each case I shall endeavour to select some 
 difficult or obscure passage of holy Scripture, 
 the explanation or comment on which will have 
 reference to the subjects described, in their pro- 
 per order. 
 
 That which is to occupy us this day is the 
 resurrection of the body. As to the fact of such 
 a resurrection being constantly taught in the 
 New Testament there can be no doubt, and it is 
 
LECTURE I. 9 
 
 needless to offer any proof of it. We may assume 
 it as a doctrine of the Gospel, that the dead shall 
 rise again. We shall hereafter have to consider 
 what is involved in these words, and we may 
 therefore proceed to consider to what extent this 
 doctrine of a resurrection was peculiar to the 
 Gospel : whether, and in what degree, it was 
 known either to the Jews or the Heathen. 
 
 Now, in the text, our Lord arguing against the 
 Sadducees, asserts that they might have learned the 
 doctrine from the law: and there is some difficulty 
 in following the argument He produces to con- 
 vince and silence them. The conclusion drawn 
 from the words of God to Moses has sometimes 
 been, that as He is not the God of the dead, but 
 of the living, therefore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 
 must have been living in some sense at the time 
 when God proclaimed Himself their God. But 
 that they were not living in the ordinary sense 
 is certain, because the same might be said of 
 them that S. Peter said of David : ' He is both 
 dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us 
 unto this day.' They were therefore not living 
 bodies, and it remains that we conclude their 
 souls were alive. In this view, the argument of 
 our Saviour is to prove the immortality of the 
 soul. And so, to controvert the religious system 
 of the Sadducees, the whole fabric of which falls 
 to the ground, if its corner-stone, the denial of the 
 separate existence of spirit, is refuted by the sure 
 word of God himself. 
 
10 LECTURE I. 
 
 This is one interpretation of the passage. The 
 great objection to it is, that it is expressly said 
 our Lord referred to the resurrection of the dead, 
 ' concerning the dead, that they rise ;' and it is 
 certainly not obvious that the separate existence of 
 the soul dra\YS as a necessary consequence after 
 it the revivification of the body, though some 
 have endeavoured to shew this : on the contrary, 
 it might be said, that there are reasons to be urged 
 against the resurrection of the body, if we reason 
 without a revelation, while the fact of « future life, 
 even of the soul only, as meeting many of the 
 moral difficulties which suggest its probability, is 
 assented to very readily. 
 
 In order therefore to support the interpreta- 
 tion put upon our Lord's argument, it is urged, 
 that the words ' resurrection of the dead' are 
 used in a restricted sense. The word e^eye'ipeiv 
 is sometimes used for * to make to stand,' and 
 so, ' to continue,' 'to be preserved.' Thus S. Paul 
 quotes the ninth chapter of Exodus, where God 
 saith to Pharaoh, ' Even for this very purpose 
 have I raised thee up, that I might shew my 
 power in thee.' And the Septuagint represents 
 the words thus : ' For this cause hast thou been 
 preserved to this day.' It is argued, that when 
 S. Luke says, 'the dead are raised,' he may 
 mean only, that they are preserved ^ 
 
 Now the use of the New Testament is certainly 
 
 ' Rom. ix. 17: f'<; uvto tovto e^t'iyeipd (re. Ex. ix. 10: evfKfi/ 
 
 TOVTOV i'l€Tt]pt]dt]<;, 
 
LECTURE I. 11 
 
 to appropriate the words veKpov^ iyelpew, and eyelpe- 
 (j6ai (XTTo T(ov vcKpcov, to the Resurrection of the Body, 
 in the first " place literally, and then figuratively 
 in some places, to conversion of men from sin to 
 holiness, because of the aptness of the figure 
 which represents men in a state of unrepented 
 sin, bringing death, as now dead, dead in tres- 
 passes and sins. It requires therefore some very 
 strong reasons to induce the student of the Gospel 
 before us, to give up here that primary and na- 
 tural meaning of the words ' as touching the resur- 
 rection of the dead' (S. Matt. xxii. 31). 'As 
 touching the dead that they rise' (S. Markxii. 26), 
 ' Now that the dead are raised' (S. Luke xx. 37), 
 which at all events appear to refer to the resur- 
 rection of the body. 
 
 In the next place, an argument which at first 
 has some speciousness in it, is used about the 
 word resurrection. It is observed that, in all 
 three Gospels, in reporting the answer of our Lord, 
 the words the dead, are always used as the mas- 
 culine o'l veKpol, Toys i'ci<:pou^,?ind never rd veKpd in the 
 neuter, dead bodies. 
 
 But this is surely insufficient ; for, in number- 
 less passages of the New Testament, where the 
 resurrection of the body is plainly spoken of, the 
 masculine is used. S. Paul, arguing before king 
 Agrippa, of the reasonableness of his confidence 
 in the resurrection of Christ, says, generally, 
 * Why should it be thought a thing incredible 
 with you that God should raise the dead' {vcKpov^). 
 
J 2 LECTURE I. 
 
 In the 15tli chapter of the 1 Cor., treating ex- 
 pressly of the resurrection of the body, ' we 
 have testified of God, that he raised up Christ ; 
 whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead 
 
 rise not,' e'nrep dpd o'l veKpol ouk eyeipovrai, and Other 
 
 places in that chapter. Moreover, even speaking 
 of dead bodies, it would not be contrary to the 
 phraseology of the New Testament to call them 
 vcKpoi, for, in the phrase ' Let the dead bury their 
 
 dead,' we have d(pes tou9 veKpov<s Od^^/ai tov^ eavTwv 
 
 vcKpovs, where the word Odyj/ai prevents our taking 
 the second vcKpol in a spiritual sensed 
 
 The arguments deduced from the word e^eyei- 
 p€iv^, and the words ' resurrection of the dead,' 
 which tend to prove a restricted sense of the 
 latter, do not seem therefore entitled to much con- 
 sideration. 
 
 The interpretation which assumes, that our 
 Lord here argues for a future life, without as- 
 serting the resurrection of the dead body, cannot 
 derive support from such subsidiary arguments, 
 and it must be examined on its own ground. 
 
 Now the question of the Sadducees^ refers to 
 
 * See Euthymius Zigahenus, quoted by Alford on Matt. viii. 22. 
 
 2 The word e^eyelpetv only occurs in two places, (1) in that 
 already referred to, Rom. ix. 17; and (2) in 1 Cor. vi. 14, 'and 
 God hath both raised up (h^tpc) the Lord, and will raise up 
 (e^eyepel) us by his own power.' 
 
 3 The curious mystical meaning attributed to this passage by 
 S. Augustine, is as follows : 'Scptem fratres, Sec. Matt. xxii. 25. In- 
 tclliguntur homines impii, qui fructum justitia? non potuerunt afterre 
 in terra per oraues septcm niundi a?tates, quibus ista terra consistit: 
 
LECTURE I. 13 
 
 a State in which men's bodies would be in exist- 
 ence, and when those relationships which spring 
 out of corporeal existence would, in their expecta- 
 tions, be necessarily revived. And it does not 
 seem at all clear how they could be convinced of 
 great error with respect to their unbelief in the 
 resurrection of the body, unless the fact of the 
 resurrection of the body is clearly proved by our 
 Saviour. He corrects first of all their erroneous 
 ideas about the state of those risen from the dead, 
 and then returns to convince them of error in their 
 general conception of the impossibility of the re- 
 surrection. It is as though he had told them : 
 Your ideas of the relations of human beings, when 
 raised, are erroneous, and therefore your objec- 
 tion to the resurrection founded thereon is mis- 
 taken ; moreover, you ought from the law to have 
 concluded, that there must be a resurrection. 
 Your error is twofold ; not knowing the Scrip- 
 tures, you have missed the instruction they give 
 you as to a resurrection; and, not knowing the 
 power of God, you have supposed that the dif- 
 ficulties you find in the laws of the method of 
 preservation of animal life, and the positive social 
 enactments of Moses, are 'permanent, and cannot 
 be set aside in the new state of man, ensuing after 
 the resurrection. 
 
 Now, if this view is correct, we ought to find in 
 
 postea enim et ipsa terra transiet, per quam omnes illi quasi septem 
 mariti steriliter transierunt.' — Questiones Evangeliormn, Lib. i. 
 Q. 32. 
 
14 LECTURE I. 
 
 our Lord's argument, a convincing proof of the 
 resurrection of the body. 
 
 Before endeavouring, however, to put in clear 
 language the solution of the difficulty which seems 
 to me most in character with the general current 
 of the Gospel scheme, let us observe, that in fact 
 the resurrection of man must mean the resur- 
 rection of the body. We do not at present enter 
 into the question of identity ; but a body is surely 
 necessary to constitute a living man. We do not 
 mean by man a purely spiritual being; and there- 
 fore, if the man now dead is to live again, he must 
 have a body ; and whatever the resurrection-body 
 may be, the fact that the Scriptures refer to the 
 future life of man, always by words which im- 
 port a re-imparting the principle of life to that 
 which died, we must not suppose that we are 
 gaining much in the way of clearness, if we use 
 the words ' resurrection of man' instead of re- 
 surrection of the body, because we cannot have 
 a conception of a resurrection at all, unless we 
 mean thereby restoration of a corporeal frame to 
 the disembodied spirits But to this we shall 
 return again hereafter. 
 
 * Notwithstanding the objection urged against these words it 
 seems to nic that we are quite justified in using them. The idea ia 
 of course indefinite : but it is generally understood, dim as it is ; and 
 common modes of speaking are surely to be legitimately used in pa- 
 ra^nesis, though it may be right, in philosophical discussions, to 
 require a more rigid adherence to a settled nomenclature, and exact 
 expressions. To use great plainness of speech must mean that we are 
 to address men in the phraseology of the many, and not let metaphysi- 
 
LECTURE I. 15 
 
 The solution of the difficulty which seems to 
 hang over the Saviour's argument, appears to me 
 to depend on the following idea. S. Luke reports 
 our Lord's words as follows : ' Neither can they die 
 any more, for they are equal unto the angels, and 
 are the children of God, being the children of the 
 resurrection.' This points out to us that we are 
 to see in the words of God to Moses an assertion 
 of his being now the God of the patriarchs, and 
 that we are thence to conclude they must rise 
 again. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are declared 
 to be God's — His Son's — and hence the children 
 of the resurrection. Sonship of God is therefore 
 of necessity a state which involves inheritance of 
 Godlike incorruption, and the declaration of this 
 Sonship is a declaration, that ' this corrui3tible 
 must put on incorruption.' Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob are declared by God to be His^, after their 
 bodies have crumbled into dust ; they must there- 
 fore have to inherit an incorruptible life hereafter, 
 at sometime or another, and therefore live again. 
 
 In this sense, in respect of having an incor- 
 ruptible life, Adam, before the fall, was a Son of 
 
 cal forms mar the simplicity of the gospel. The message is to all 
 the people : he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 
 
 * In like manner S. Paul, in the epistle to the Hehrews, xi. J 6, 
 asserts that God proclaimed himself the God of the Old Testament 
 worthies who died in faith, because they thereby proved that they 
 sought the happiness of a future life. ' Now they desire a better 
 country, that is, an heavenly : wherefore God is not ashamed to be 
 called their God : for he hath prepared for them a city :' i. e. he is 
 their God because they have an inheritance of incorruption, and have 
 diligently sought it in faith. 
 
16 LECTURE I. 
 
 God. Those who had the pi-omise^ of redemption 
 are called by anticipation, Sons of God. Our Lord 
 Jesus Christ is the Son of God pre-eminently, 
 having life in Himself; and one of the reasons 
 we find assigned for this peculiar title being be- 
 stowed upon Him, is his resurrection from the 
 dead. He was, says S. Paul, 'declared to be the 
 Son of God, with power, according to the Spirit 
 of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.' 
 And all the regenerate are made Sons of God, as 
 having an incorruptible inheritance, the com- 
 pletion of their vloBeaia, or adoption, being looked 
 for in the redemption of the hochj (Rom. viii. 23). 
 In like manner the angels are said to be Sons 
 of God because they are imperishable,— have an 
 enduring existence. 
 
 Bishop Bull sees in the words of the promise 
 to the patriarchs, intention of conveying the idea 
 of eternal life^. He says : 'There are in the Law 
 general promises; or, at least, given in general 
 
 * See the passage quoted from S. Chrysostom^ (p. 17). 
 
 * And Dr Samuel Clarice., Evidences of Natural and Revealed 
 Religion, p. 241, Ed. 6. The Jewish Rabbis too held this opinion, 
 ' God, speaking to Abraham, says : " I will give to thee and to thy 
 seed after thee, the land in which thou sojoumest." And yet it is 
 certain that Abraham and the succeeding patriarchs did not possess 
 that land ; it is necessary therefore that they should rise again, 
 that they may enjoy the promised gifts ! else the promises of God 
 would be vain and unfulfilled. Hence, therefore, not the immortality 
 of the soul alone is proved, but also an essential foundation of the 
 Law, viz. the resurrection of the dead.' — 3Ianasseh Ben Israel, De 
 Resurrectione Mortuorum, p. 7- See also the arguments of Eulo- 
 gius apud Photium. ccxxx. from the third Book of the Decretum in 
 Samaritanos. 
 
LECTURE I. 17 
 
 terms, ia which eternal life not only may be un- 
 derstood, but it is evidently the Divine intention 
 that it should ; such as, / will he thy God, and, / 
 willhless thee. That in these promises, thus ge- 
 nerally expressed, it is possible those blessings 
 are intended which take place only after death, 
 'Vv^ho can doubt? That God should be the God 
 of any one what does it signify, but that God 
 will embrace him with Divine benevolence? But 
 such benevolence as is Divine, and worthy of 
 God, can be only that beyond which there is 
 nothing greater or better ; it must also be benevo- 
 lence of the longest duration, that is eternal ; most 
 powerful in effect, and therefore liberating from 
 death and destruction. That God intended that 
 under these words, eternal life should be under- 
 stood, appears from the words of Christ and His 
 Apostles^' 
 
 Let us then understand the declaration of God 
 to Moses, * that he was even the God of Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob,' after they were dead and buried, 
 as a proclamation of their having, as His sons, an 
 inheritance of incorruption, and therefore that 
 they should rise again ^ 
 
 * Harmonia ApostoUca, Diss. ii. c. x. § 8. 
 
 ' This seems to me entirely to accord with the sense of St Chry- 
 sostom's explanation of the passage : oJ;^\ twi/ ovk ovtwv, (ptjcr\, koi 
 Kaddva^ d(pavia-6iVT0)Vf Kai ovk fTj dvaa-Trja-OfAevwv. Ov yap eJirev, 
 ^f^t]v, dXX", E</xi, Twu ovrmv koi twv ^mvTiov. "Cttyirep ydp d 'ASa/x, 
 el Kai t^r] tjj tjnepa ») Icpayev dird tov ^vXov, diredave ttj dtroipda-ei, 
 ovTU) Ka\ ovToi, el kcxi ereQvi^Kea-av^ ^C"^" "^^ YFIOSXESEI t^c 
 dvaffTacreu)^. — Homil. in MatthcBum, Lxx. al. lxxi. Benedictine Ed 
 Tar'rs, 1836. Tom. vii. pp. 778, 9. 
 
 H. L. B 
 
18 LECTURE I. 
 
 The fact of the appellation, * sons of God,' 
 being given generally in the Old Testament to the 
 pious, points also to the conclusion which may be 
 drawn as to the extent of the knowledge of the 
 Resurrection which prevailed among the Jews. 
 
 That our Lord came to ' bring life and immor- 
 tality to light,' must mean, as it has been shewn 
 by Bishop Sherlock', ' that he gave full, clear, in- 
 dubitable instruction on this important point, and 
 not that it was utterly unknown before. The very 
 fact of his teaching the Sadducees their error in 
 
 ' See his sermon on this text. He says, ' To hring anything to 
 light may signify according to the idiom of the Enghsh tongue, to 
 discover or reveal anything which was perfectly unknown before ; but 
 the word in the original is so far from countenancing, that it will 
 hardly admit of this sense. The Greek runs thus : ^wrio-ai/Toc oe 
 l^iorjv Kai dcpdapcriav. Now (pwTi^eiv signifies (not to bring to light, 
 but) to enlighten, illustrate, or clear up anything. John i. 9 : o 
 (puiTiiji TTcivra di/9p(i07roi>, " the true light which lighteneth every 
 man," not, which bringeth every man to light. 1 Cor. iv. 5 : o? 
 ^wTiVej TO. KpvTCTo. Tov crK6Tov<!, " who shall bring to light the 
 hidden things of darkness," (E. V.); more suitably, who shall throw 
 light on the hidden things of darkness, these actions of wicked men 
 not being perfectly unknown before, but their root, origin, motive, 
 being not discerned.' 
 
 The verb is sometimes transitive, sometimes intransitive. In 
 the former sense the lexicographers adopt the sense assigned by 
 Bp. Sherlock as the first meaning, and the subsequent ecclesias- 
 tical use of (pu}Ti(Tfxo<: for baptism, and (puyTi^o/jLevoi for the bap- 
 tized, agrees with it. Suidas, however, gives only the meaning 
 which is adopted in the English translation, ek 0ws 07611' : and 
 Kustcr, in his Latin Version, supplies the sense, illumitiare, illus- 
 trate, in brackets. 
 
 (ptoTi^etv sfepe hoc sensu legitur ut explicandum sit, doccre ut 
 Judd. xiii. 8. 2 Reg. xii. 2, ubi Alexandrini Hebr. n^li/l per (puTi^etv 
 expresserunt, add. Ps. xiii. 4. Kuinocl in Ruperti Commentationes 
 Theologicw. Vol. iii. p. 182. 
 
LECTURE I. 19 
 
 rejecting the doctrine, out of the book of Moses, 
 and urging them with the warning, that it was in 
 consequence of their ignorance of their Scriptures 
 that they held false views, proves that there was 
 a revelation of the Resurrection to be deduced 
 from those Scriptures. And the fact of the Pha- 
 risees believing in a Resurrection shews the same. 
 Their idea of the Resurrection doubtless was re_ 
 stricted, and in some degree erroneous. Some 
 only believed in a resurrection of the just^ The 
 
 ' Thus Josepkus of the Pharisees, Antiq. 18, 2: aai ■ro7<: fxev 
 elpjuov di'Ciov Trpoa-Tadea-dai to?? ci paaTwvtjv tov a.vaj3i<7vv ; and 
 De Bello Judaico, 2, 12. It is said, however, that Josephus is 
 wrong in attributing this opinion to the Pharisees, by Drusius, 
 Knappe, Kuinoel. See Blomjield, Bee. Spioptica, on Acts xxiv. 15. 
 
 That the souls of the wicked were mortal was a doctrine held 
 by some ancients. Justin Martyr is accused of holding tliis doc- 
 trine, (^Dialog, c. Tryph.^ p. Ill, E : aWa. ju/ji/ ou'Be dirodvtia-Keiv 
 (pr]fj.\ TraVa? -rdv \//-uT^a?. ..a/ Se {^Trovrjpmu sc.) KoXa'^oi/rat ea-T av 
 avTo.^ KOI elvai Ka\ KoXd^eadai d Geo? OeXei) ; though in other places 
 he speaks of the punishment of the wicked being everlasting. 
 {Apolor/. pp. 76, 91, 92). Tatian also believed that the soul died 
 with the body, but would be restored with it. Oratio contra 
 Chroecos, § 13: dvtjaKet p.ev yap koi Xverai fxen-d tov (TiafxaTO<i^ fxtj 
 yivuxTKOvcra Tr]v aXtjdeiav^ dvla-Tarat Se ci? \j<TT£pov eir) <TWTe\eia tov 
 kofffxov avv T(jp (jajxaTi, ddvuTov Ciid Tip.wp\a^ eu ddavacria XanfBdvovcru. 
 
 Theophilus ad Autolycum, Lib. i. § 7? however, speaks of this 
 restoration of the soul to the body in similar terms, without meaning 
 that in the interval it had perished. This may be said therefore 
 in a different sense from that dogma of certain Arabians mentioned 
 Euseh. Eccl. Hist. vi. 37- 
 
 Dupin ascribes to Irenceus similar opinions, and refers to 
 Lib. II. c. 51, 59—64 ; Lib. iv. c. 37 and 73 ; Lib. v. c. B2. Ter- 
 ttdlian, de Resurrect. Cam. c. 2, relates that Lucanus, a disciple of 
 Marcion, taught the death of the soxil; and in the 7th cb. of the 
 Prcescrip. Hcereticorum, he says the doctrine came from the Epicu- 
 reans. 
 
 B 2 
 
20 LECTURE I. 
 
 Jews believed, most generally, says Bishop Pear- 
 son, that some men should live again, and some 
 should not ; because, in the book of Daniel it is 
 written, * Many of them that sleep in the dust of 
 the earth shall awake,' and not all shall awake. 
 S. Paul, arguing before Felix, says ' that the Jews 
 allowed there should be a resurrection both of the 
 just and of the unjust.' Josephus' says that 'the 
 Pharisees believed the soul immortal ; that the 
 souls of good men only passed into another body ; 
 that the souls of the wicked are punished with 
 eternal punishment 2.' From such testimonies it is 
 clear that the doctrines of the Future Life, and 
 the Resurrection, were not entirely new^; and if 
 we come to enquire how men may have obtained 
 them, we find, that in addition to those dim intima- 
 
 Dr Mackmgld on the Epistles, 1 Thess. iv. 16, adopts the curious 
 notion that the bodies of the wicked will be destroyed in the general 
 conflaorration, having been previously raised from the grave. 
 
 ' \jyvyt]v Ce Traaav fxev acpOapTov, fieTapa'iveiv ce eU eTepou awfxa 
 T>}v T(oi/ dyadwv fj.6vr]v, Ttjv he twi/ (pavXoov aic'iM Tijxuipia. KoXd^effdau 
 Josephus, de Bella Judaico^ ii. 8, 14. 
 
 * The Jews who had no express revelation of that matter, did yet 
 believe it upon a constant tradition : as appears from all their writ- 
 ings, and particularly from the translation of the last verse of the 
 book of Job, which in the LXX. runs thus : ' So Job died, being 
 old and full of days ; but 'tis written that he shall rise again, with 
 those whom the Lord raises up.' — Dr Samuel Clarke^ Three Prac- 
 tical Essays, p. 76, 6th Ed. 1740. 
 
 " One reason against its being popularly held among the Jews 
 may be deduced from the remark of St Mark (ix. 10), that the 
 disciples were doubtful of the meaning of the words ck veKpuv 
 dvatrTrjvai. Being unlearned men of humble origin, it is probable 
 that the speculations of the more educated classes were unknown to 
 them. — See Lecture iv. 
 
LECTURE I. 21 
 
 tions which the law and the prophets held forth, 
 and which it is needless to recapitulate, it may be 
 inferred from the principles of natural religion 
 that there should be a future life. And this, though 
 it does not lead to the full consequence of a resur- 
 rection of the body^ yet certainly is no small 
 support to such a doctrine when it is once con- 
 ceived. Bishop Sherlock thus argues the case : 
 *A11 men have some sense of right and wrong, 
 and of their being accountable for the things done 
 in this world, which account not being taken in 
 this world, as the least degree of observation 
 enables men to see, they conclude, or they feel, 
 from the very force of reason and conscience, that 
 there is an account to be given hereafter^.' The 
 
 ' Yet Cardinal Bellarraine, Controversiw Gencrales, Tom. ii. 
 p. 566, argues that the immortality of the soul involves the idea of 
 a resurrection of the body: 'Apud Judceos olim fuisse usitatissimum 
 habere pro eadem qufestione, illam do resurrectione, et illam de ani- 
 morum immortalitate. . .cum anima Rationalis sit vera forma cor- 
 poris, et proinde vera pars hominis, non est verisimile, Deum voluisse 
 animam perpetuo vivere sine corpora.' 
 
 Pliocylidcs has some singular lines (99, 100), which couple the 
 resurrection of the body with the notion of the immortality of the 
 soul: 
 
 Kai Tci^a o' CK ya'tri^ eXTri^ofxev es <pdo^ e\0e?v 
 Aei\|/-ai/' aTrot^ofxevoiv, k. t. A. 
 But these hexameters are generally considered a forgery, subsequent 
 to the Christian JEra, and not the production of the ancient Ionian 
 poet. 
 
 * The common opinion of the people of Rome may be taken from 
 the speech of Titus Vespasian to his soldiers : ' Who does not know 
 that the souls of brave men when set free by the sword in action, 
 from their bodies, are received and kept in the purest element, the 
 air; and the good deities and propitious heroes shew them to their 
 own offspring ; but the souls of those men who die of disease, even 
 
22 LECTURE I. 
 
 darkness in which such an opinion is involved 
 without revelation is no doubt very great ; but 
 still it exists, and men go on to add to it. Thus, 
 the rewards and punishments which they naturally 
 imagine as the result of evil or good conduct in 
 this life, were generally of a corpoi-eal^ nature, and 
 yet they saw the bodies of the dead dissolve and 
 perish. This involved them in contradictions. 
 Plutarch^, writing about the legend of the disap- 
 pearance of Romulus, gives other instances in 
 which persons who disappeared were supposed to 
 have been translated, and he proceeds in this 
 manner : ' There are many unreasonable, fabu- 
 lous accounts, which carry mortal beings into the 
 society of the Gods. To suppose that virtue is 
 deprived altogether of a Divine reward would be 
 impious and illiberal ; but it is preposterous to 
 mix what is earthly with what is heavenly. This 
 then we should dismiss from our minds; but hold 
 fast to what is safely believed, according to 
 Pindar — " To all-subduing death man's body must 
 submit, but ever remains the living image of eter- 
 nity : this alone comes from the Gods ;" — thence 
 is its origin ; — thither its return ; — not with the 
 body, but when it is freed entirely from the body, 
 
 though they be free from spot or stain, disappear in the darkness 
 below, or arc buried in deep oblivion.' — Joscphus de Bello Jndaico, 
 VI. 1. 5. p. 370. 
 
 1 ' Animos per se viventes non poteran niente complecti ; for- 
 mam aliquam figuramque qua^rebant.' — Cicero, Tusc. Qiucst. i. 16. 
 
 * Plutarch in Romulo. Vita; Parallelce. Bryan's Edition, Vol. 
 I. p. 75. See Dissen's Pindar. Threni. fragni. n. and his note. 
 
LECTURE I. 23 
 
 and is separated, and become entirely pure, in- 
 corporeal, holy.' 
 
 Philosophy thus refined upon the common 
 notion of mankind, and in order to get rid of the 
 absurdities of the vulgar Olympus and Tartarus, 
 either imagined a purely spiritual existence after 
 death — or to escape from the physical difficulties 
 of the separate existence of spirit, denied the im- 
 mortality of the soul altogether — and, in this man- 
 ner, philosophy threw a haze of infidelity over the 
 common notions of mankind'. 
 
 ^ To deny this altogether, and to shew that there was no pre- 
 valent opinion of a future state among the heathen, has been the 
 object of some modern writers. It can be shewn, no doubt, that a 
 great number of those who reasoned deeply on the subject (without 
 a revelation) came to doubtful conclusions, but this does not shew 
 that the prevalent notion among the vulgar was not in favour of a 
 future hfe. Take the similar case of the doctrine of Providence. 
 Philosophers of certain schools denied the interference of the Gods in 
 the affairs of men, because the common conception was full of dif- 
 ficulties. Does this prove to us that the mass of mankind were not 
 under the impression of a divine supervision of human occurrences ? 
 The whole record of the past leads to an opposite tendency, and we 
 are not staggered by such passages as those of Tacitus^ Annal. vi. : 
 'Mihi hasc et talia audienti in incerto judicium est, fato ne res hu- 
 manae et necessitate immutabili, an forte volvantur, quippe sapien- 
 tissimos veterum, qui eorum sectam femulantur, diversos reperies, et 
 multis insitam opinionem, non initia nostra, non finem, non denique 
 homines diis curje.' And it seems to me that the same is true in the 
 case of the doctrine of a Future Life. 
 
 Dr Thomas Broicn, Lectures on the Human Understanding^ 
 Vol. IV. p. 498, talks of the certainty that all men hav« of being 
 the same thinking beings at the end of the year as they were at the 
 commencement, and says they would laugh at the philosopher who 
 should urge them to doubt it ; but with those who entertained the 
 objection the employment of technical terms would render obscure 
 that which had no obscurity till it was darkened with language. 
 
S4 LECTURE I. 
 
 Naturally men have a presentiment of a future 
 life, or of some retribution to man, as man, for his 
 deeds done in the body; but it is hard to see 
 beyond this how such retribution can be justly 
 inflicted on the man, who is made up of spirit, 
 soul and body, when, of these elements, certainly 
 one, the body, has perished and disappeared. 
 Hence, probably, the doubt and hesitation which 
 struggled with the moral conviction, and which 
 made the sanctions of a future life ineffectual 
 among the heathen i. Though surely we are en- 
 titled to take account of the prevalence of the 
 general belief among the people^, from the way in 
 which in tragic poetry the agency of the after- 
 
 So Bishop Sherlock says, ' the popular belief in a future existence 
 after death, was, though indefinite, a universal and popular idea; 
 and it was only when philosophers began to enquire into it, that it 
 became so flimsy that it was easily broken through.' 
 
 Now we may well accept this as the true account of the matter, 
 that the obscure, hazy, floating notion which prevailed before the 
 Christian religion was promulgated, was like the ghmmering of an 
 ignis fatuus, but yet was certainly a portion of the belief of the 
 vulgar, and that it got refined into nothing by the scepticism of the 
 philosophical, and therefore that the Christian revelation was most 
 certainly one which brought life and immortality to light in a full 
 and general sense, without supposing such total darkness on the 
 subject as some would have us conclude. 
 
 1 Although perhaps of those who disbelieved we may take the 
 account of Octavius {^Minucius Felix, § 34), 'Non ignore plerosque 
 conscientia meritorum nihil se esse post mortem magis optare quam 
 credere, malunt enim pcnitus extingui, quam ad supplicia reservari.' — 
 See Uierodes on the Verses of Pythagoras, p. 164. dementis Recog. 
 Lib. V. fol. 95. See Gronovius ed. of Minucius Felix, p. 359. 
 
 * Loiiginus apud Eusehii Pra?p. Ecang. Lib. xv. p. 822, ed. 
 Paris: ko'i oJoe tow iroitjTdi aia->^vuovfxeda, oT, Kaitrep aKpiftt] trvveaiv 
 Twv 9cwu ovK ej(ovT(<;, o/ioi? ra fxei> ik t >; ? Koiutj': e-rrivoiaK twi' 
 
LECTURE I. 25 
 
 life is so constantly insisted upon, and the refer- 
 ences to those below are so many, and various, 
 and influential, on the actions of the personages 
 represented \ and also from the way in which 
 philosophers justify sacred rites and the sanctity 
 
 avO pwiriav, TCt Be ef linvoia^ Tmv Mouo-w;/, rj KiveTu avTov<; eVi TavTa 
 7r6<pvKe, crefjivoTepa elpriKacri irepi avTOJu (nempe ypvywi'Y 
 
 * Dr Thomas Brown in his Lectures on the Human Under- 
 standing [following out the ideas of Cicero {Tusc. Qxmst. i. 14, 15), 
 and Tertullian {De Test. Animce ii. 5)] shews that the desire of 
 glory, as a mere emotion, supposes to a certain degree immortality 
 of the human being. We extend into futurity the conception of our 
 consciousness, and this is in some degree an assumption of the ques- 
 tion. Now nobody can deny that the love of glory was most cha- 
 racteristic of the ancients; and it would seem strange if in their 
 case there was not some dim connexion between this feeling, and 
 a consciousness of future life of some kind. 
 
 The same author has beautifully expressed the idea one naturally 
 entertains of the existence of the thinking principle, after death has 
 changed our bodies : 
 
 ' If our material frame be not thoxight itself, but only that which 
 has a certain relation to the spiritual principle of thought, so as to be 
 subservient to its feelings and volitions, and to perform the beautiful 
 functions of Kfe, as long as the relation, which He who established it 
 made to depend on a certain state of the corporeal organs, remains, 
 it is as little reasonable to conclude from the decay or change of place 
 of the particles of the organs essential to the mere state of relative 
 subserviency, that tlie Spirit united with those organs has ceased to 
 exist, as it would be to conclude that the musician to whom we have 
 often listened with rapture has ceased to exist, when the strings of 
 his instrument are broken or torn away. It no longer indeed, pours 
 on our ear the same delightful melodies, but the skill which poured 
 from it those melodies, has not perished with the delightful sounds 
 themselves, nor with the instrument that was the organ of enchant- 
 ment. The enchanter himself without whom the instrument would 
 have been powerless, exists still, to produce sounds as deliglitful ; 
 and in the intervals of melody, the creative spirit, from which the 
 melody originally flowed, can delight itself with remembered or 
 
26 LECTURE I. 
 
 of the oath, as useful K If Pericles is made to omit 
 in his funeral oration, all topics of consolation 
 which could be derived from the knowledge of the 
 future state, yet we may surely attribute this 
 to the scepticism of the philosophical historian, 
 since we find the poet of the Olympic games sug- 
 gesting in his Cousolator'mm^, the fact of the eter- 
 nal living shade still being left, and there being a 
 dispensation of rewards and punishments to men 
 hereafter according to their deserts, and that trea- 
 tises of rhetoric make the reference to the future 
 state a commonplace of consolation to mourners^ 
 It has been said, that there is no proof that 
 such opinion* of a future life (for knowledge it 
 
 imagined airs which exist only as remembered or imagined, and are 
 themselves, as it were, a part of the very spirit which conceives 
 them.' Dr Brown, Vol. iv. p. 492, On Immortality of the Soul. 
 
 1 Cicero de Lcgihus^ ii. 7- ' Utiles esse autem opiniones has quis 
 neget, cum intelligat quam multa firmentur jurejurando, qnantte 
 salutis sint foederum rcligiones ; quam multos divini supplicii metus 
 a scelere revocarit,' SfC 
 
 2 See the passage quoted above in the extract from Plutarch^ 
 
 p. 22. 
 
 3 Bionysius of Halicarnassus m the Ars lihetorica, c. 6. Me'floSoc 
 
 'E-mTU(}ylu3v, § 5, directs the orator not to omit tlie proper reference to 
 the immortality of the soul, eVi -reXet he irepi i^vx'h dvayKuTov elireTv 
 oTi dddvaro^ ko'i on toJ? toiovtov; iv Qeoh bv-ra^ afxeivov fixo? airaX- 
 XaTTCiv. 
 
 * See Mosheirns conclusion in his Latin Notes to his translation 
 of Ciidworth's Intellectual System, Vol. ii. c. 5, § 3, 'Disciplinam 
 Reccntiorum riatonicorum magnam partem nil esse nisi cumulum 
 opinionum popularium ad pra?cepta philosophorum veterum Py- 
 thawora inprimis ct Platonis, accommodatarum.' Especially he 
 notfces this with regard to opinions about the soul, and lie quotes 
 Plotinus as maintaining that the old opinions and the teaching of the 
 
LECTURE I. 27 
 
 could certainly not be called) was at all influential; 
 I fear that if under the clearer light of the Gospel 
 we were to try to ascertain how influential the 
 constant proclamation of the future life and the 
 resurrection are in reality, we should scarcely find 
 the result produced, corresponding to what the 
 certainty, distinctness and positiveness of the truth 
 would induce us to expect : men now cling to life 
 present, with much the same horror of the future 
 life as Homer puts into the mouth of Achilles ^ 
 who prefers the meanest lot on earth to the glories 
 of Elysium — a passage, by the way, which Plato^ 
 in his Republic, proposes to expunge from the 
 Odyssey, as unworthy of a place therein. And in 
 such cases as the great plague at Florence, the 
 reign of terror in France, and the plague of Lon- 
 don, we have records of recklessnes, not surpassed 
 by the similar records of the desperation of men 
 at Athens during the plague ; though in the former 
 cases immortality and life had been brought to 
 
 ancient mysteries were always to be preserved, Ennead. ii. Lib. ix. 
 c. 6, p. 704 ; he says it is the part of wise men to be eu/^ci'a)? lix°~ 
 Hevwv TO. tKe'wtiiv m^ iraXatoTepwv kui a KaAw? Acyoi'cri ■Trap eKeivwv 
 Xa^ovra^, \|/u^t7'' ddavacriav, votjrov koo-jj-ov, Qeov tov TrpwTOv, &C. 
 It is assumed here that the immortahty of the soul was a commonly 
 received tenet. Plato also, in Cratylo, p. 263, refers to the popular 
 view of the immortality of good men's souls, quoting Hesiod. Op. 
 et Dies, 121. See Maxlmus Tyrius, Diss. xv. and .Ed. Davisii, 
 p. 553, the notes on the chapter. 
 
 1 Achilles' complaint {Odyssey, X. 487 — 489) is more like the 
 ridicule of Lucian, than the noble sentiments of Homer. — See Lu- 
 c'mn. Dialog. Mart. xv. 1. 
 
 2 Plato de Pepuhlica iii. § 1. 
 
28 LECTURE I. 
 
 light, and in the latter, there was nothing but the 
 hazy indefinite notion of a future life, which the 
 human conscience suggested without any help 
 from on High ; and if it is shewn that Cicero, 
 who could write learnedly about the immor- 
 tality of the soul, yet could find no comfort 
 when his daughter's death pressed heavily upon 
 him, in the thoughts of a future state^ ; the litera- 
 ture of the last century will shew, that in a Chris- 
 tian country there was much the same kind of 
 neglect of consolation, founded on higher hopes, 
 and sanctioned by certain knowledge. 
 
 It seems quite a different question when we 
 attempt to shew that the heathen had no sufficient 
 ground for their belief, or persuasion, or opinion, 
 whatever it may be most properly described. 
 Those who maintain that there was a general 
 prevalent notion of a future life do not mean that 
 there was any full and certain knowledge of the 
 subject, but that there was on this point a general 
 prevalence of prejudice in favour of the doctrine 
 of a Future Life, and of moral retribution here- 
 after, which enables us to argue, that the doc- 
 trines of Immortality and the Resurrection have a 
 
 * Seneca comforts Polyhiiis about his deceased brother dififerently, 
 c. 28 : ' Ne invideris fratri tiio: quiescit tandem tutus, tandem njtemus 
 est fruitur nunc apcrto ct libero coelo ; ex humili ct depresso in eum 
 emicuit locum, quisquis ille est, qui sohitas vinculis animas beato 
 recipit sinu,' &c. See also his letters to Jleli-ia, c. 17; Marcia, c. 25. 
 But doubtless he could write differently, and speak of annihilation 
 after death. — Ep. 54 ad Lucilium. — See Gataker's notes on Anto- 
 ninus, p. 142. 
 
LECTURE I. 29 
 
 lurking conscious persuasion to appeal to, resident 
 in all men's breasts ; and in this way, without de- 
 rogating at all from the undoubted characteristic 
 of the Gospel, that it alone exhibits these great 
 doctrines in clear, definite, and convincing reality ; 
 yet, we may, and ought, I think, to maintain that 
 there are evident traces of the want of such a 
 revelation, in these yearnings of man's heart be- 
 fore the Word of God came. The doctrine of the 
 Resurrection of the Body is peculiarly one which 
 meets the exigency of the case, as we discern from 
 Plutarch's reflections what a tendency there is 
 in men to transfer bodily qualities to the spiritual 
 state ; and though speculative thinkers may arrive 
 at conclusions on the subject which shall satisfy 
 them that the intellectual and spiritual part of 
 man is the whole man, such an opinion cannot 
 sway the generality of mankind in a religious 
 sense, and is therefore defective. 
 
 The Jews, however, certainly had grounds to 
 infer more than a future life. They might have 
 deduced, by the aid of subsequent prophecies — 
 even from the Mosaic writings — that there should 
 be a resurrection. Nor, in asserting this, do I think 
 I am at all venturing on the great field of con- 
 troversy stirred up by the publication of the 
 Divine Legation of Moses. Bishop Warburton 
 himself allows that the Resurrection might have 
 been inferred^. He only maintains that it is not 
 openly taught : he grants readily that the later 
 Jewish prophets had given strong intimations of 
 
 ^ Whatelys Essay, Rev. of a Future State, p. 64. 
 
30 LECTURE I. 
 
 an approaching dispensation with a future state, 
 from which those Jews who believed in a Resur- 
 rection and Future Life would draw their conclu- 
 sions. Whether or not they were mistaken in sup- 
 posing that eternal life was revealed in ' the Scrip- 
 tures,' it is clear, on our Lord's own shewing, that 
 the Jews did think that they had eternal life in 
 these Scriptures; though generally it must be 
 confessed, that they arrived at no definite or clear 
 conclusion, worthy of the subject on which their 
 speculations were brought to bear. 
 
 Upon such uncertainties as these comes the 
 flood of Divine light in the Gospel. 
 
 Jesus Christ our Redeemer brings life and 
 immortality to light — clears up the doubts of a 
 Future State, by revealing the Resurrection of the 
 Body, and by abolishing death, which created all 
 the difficulty \ restores the knowledge that men 
 
 ^ This is an expression of Bishop Sherlock. There Is a fine 
 passage In St Chrysostoms Sermon on 1 Cor. xv. 27, which expresses 
 clearly the connexion between the victory over death and the resur- 
 rection: 'But if bodies do not rise again, how are those things true? 
 For the worst enemy of all, death, remains ; having wrought what- 
 ever he listed. " Nay," saith one, " for they shall sin no more," and 
 what of that ? For he is not discoursing here of the death of the 
 soul, but of that of the body ? How then is he put down ? for victory 
 is this, the winning of those things which have been carried off and 
 detained. But if men's bodies are to be detained in the earth, it 
 follows that the tyranny of death remains, these bodies for their part 
 being holden, and there being no other body for him to be vanquished 
 in. But if this which S. Paul spake of, ensue, as undoubtedly it 
 will ensue, God's victory will appear, and that a glorious one, in His 
 being able to raise again the bodies which were holden thereby. Since 
 an enemy too is then vanquished, when a man takes the spoils, not 
 when he suffers them to remain in the other's possession : but unless 
 
LECTURE I. 31 
 
 had of a general accountability, and also restores 
 the capacity for rendering the account. 
 
 Death came into the world through sin — when, 
 then, sin is abolished and death destroyed, human 
 nature is restored to the original condition in 
 which it was before the Fall ; and the faint and 
 glimmering hopes of immortality, which, in the 
 fallen state, were left as witnesses for God in the 
 human breast are now replaced by certain know- 
 ledge, full assurance of faith in the Resurrection 
 to eternal life. 
 
 Thus, through the Incarnation, the inheritance 
 of incorruptibility is restored to man'. For this 
 
 one venture to take what is his, how can we say that he is van- 
 quished ? After this manner of victory doth Christ Himself say in 
 the Gospels, that he hath been victorious, thus speaking, when he 
 shall bind the strong man, then shall he also spoil his goods. Since 
 if this were not so, it would not be at all a manifest victory. For as 
 in the death of the soul, he that is dead is freed from sin (and yet 
 we cannot say that this is a victory, for he is not the victor who 
 adds no more to his wickedness, but he who hath done away the 
 former captivity of his passions), just so in this instance also, I should 
 not call death's being stayed from feeding on the bodies of men a 
 splendid victory, but rather that the bodies heretofore holden by him 
 should be snatched away from him.' — Oxford Translation, p. 562. 
 
 ^ Julius Firmicus de Errore prof. Religiormm, p. 453, iv. 5. 
 Ed. Gronovii: ' Per virginem Mariam ac Spiritum Sanctum Christus 
 
 natus et immortalitatem accepit et regnum Christus Deus cal- 
 
 cata morte ad coelum homlnem quern susceperat revocat...Nam post 
 multa tempera verbum Dei humane se miscuit corpori, ut hominem 
 liberaret, ut mortem vinceret, ut fragilltatem humani corporis cum 
 divina immortilitate conjungeret ;' and Strauss says in the Lehen Jesu, 
 ' The reconciliation of mankind to the Creator through the Incarna- 
 tion was so strongly perceived to be the main idea of the New Testa- 
 ment, that Kant argues that the Incarnation was a myth invented in 
 order to represent this.' 
 
32 * LECTURE I. 
 
 cause, as we read in the Epistle for the day, He 
 is the mediator of the New Testament ; that by- 
 means of death, for the redemption of the trans- 
 gressions that were under the first testament, they 
 which are called might receive the promise of 
 eternal inheritance. When God now owns as his 
 children those who have passed from our bodily 
 sight, it is that, all being present to Him, and 
 accepted in the Beloved, He looks upon them 
 already as restored, living, the sons of God, as 
 having laid hold of the Tree of Life, eaten thereof, 
 and obtained the blessed result, promised by our 
 Lord to all that eat the Bread of Life, and drink 
 of the water that He, the Lord of the new crea- 
 tion, gives. 
 
 ' He that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever ; 
 I will raise him up at the last day.' 
 
 ' He that drinketh of the Water that I shall 
 give him shall never thirst ; but it shall be in him 
 a well of water, springing up into eternal life.' 
 
 In the old dispensation they saw these things 
 afar off; in the new, they are seen clearl}^ and 
 apprehended distinctly by faith ; and hereafter, in 
 the actual fruition of the Godhead, we shall see 
 face to face, and apprehend that for which we have 
 been here apprehended. Thus, a dim, indistinct 
 foreboding of a future life is succeeded by a clear 
 knowledge of it, and is to be finally followed by 
 actual enjoyment thereof ' As in Adam all die, 
 so in Christ shall all be made alive.' Made sons 
 of God, members of Christ, and inheritors of the 
 
LECTURE I. S3 
 
 kingdom of heaven, we shall realise in all its 
 extent the truth, that God is the God of the living 
 and not of the dead, if we cling to the life im- 
 parted to us in the new creation, and do not 
 relapse into the deadly state of sin and godless 
 apathy. 
 
 And as Christ rose from the dead, and thereby 
 ensured to us our resurrection, so ought we now 
 to walk in newness of life. Let us take heed 
 that we do this daily^ — our present life is as it were 
 the childhood of a limitless manhood. Futurity, 
 in its grand and comprehensive sense, should ever 
 be present to our minds, with the solemn convic- 
 tion that the tints of the scene that awaits us are 
 now being painted in by our own hands. If all 
 our energies are wasted in the empty and fast- 
 fading attractions of life present, the picture beyond 
 is nothing but a dreary blank, and thoughts of it 
 must be dark and depressing ; but if we will now, 
 by the help of God's Holy Spirit, rise to higher 
 and holier aims, if now we mould our faculties, 
 and form ourselves for the state in which all that 
 is carnal, terrestrial, is done away; then, bright 
 and glorious are the anticipations we may form — 
 and, through Him who is the Resurrection and 
 the Life, we shall pass into the Divine Presence to 
 those things which God hath prepared for them 
 that love Him — things that eye hath not seen, 
 nor ear heard, and the conception of which has 
 never yet entered into man's heart. 
 
 H. L. c 
 
LECTURE II 
 
 1 CORINTHIANS XV. 44. 
 
 There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 
 
 T^IM was the revelation of a resurrection under 
 -^-^ the elder covenant of God with man, and 
 dark and doubtful the conclusions to which un- 
 enlightened Reason led the enquirer. But there 
 was yet a glimmering of the truth — that all man- 
 kind must stand at the bar of an unerring Judge, 
 and hereafter hear the sentence of approval or 
 condemnation for the deeds done in the body. 
 
 The jEra of our Redemption is the coming 
 forth in clear and distinct tones of the message 
 from on High, to give solid grounds for this wa- 
 vering persuasion ; and, while pointing out the 
 way to escape wrath to come, to bring us in 
 awful exactness, and with certainty, the tidings 
 of our own personal Individual Resurrection to 
 an endless life of happiness, or of misery. 
 
 In reading the New Testament, to learn from 
 it what God has been pleased to reveal to us, we 
 must keep in mind that it never could be the in- 
 tention of these writings to refer to philosophical 
 difficulties, or to meet the captious. Though it 
 be true that the wise are taken in their own 
 craftiness, and there are deep things of God neces- 
 
 C 2 
 
36 LECTURE II. 
 
 sarily involved in the Divine message, yet the 
 Bible in its practical teaching, and in all those 
 didactic parts which specially are meant to in- 
 fluence the conduct and disposition of men, must 
 be taken as a plain book, addressed to men of 
 ordinary capacity. They who will be wise in all 
 things relating to the spiritual, and the future, 
 which are beyond the ordinary limits of human 
 cognizance, must not forget that S. Paul tells the 
 Corinthians, that not many wise men were called, 
 while the ' common people heard Christ gladly ;' 
 and the application of this to our present subject 
 is, that the declarations of holy Scripture on the 
 facts of a Resurrection, must be received as they 
 were written, in their plain, simple, natural sense. 
 All mankind are to be restored again to life — and 
 this life is to be in the body. * The hour is coming 
 in the which all that are in the graves shall hear 
 his voice, and shall come forth ; they that have 
 done good unto the resurrection of life, and they 
 that have done evil unto the resurrection of 
 damnation ' (S. John v. 29, 30) ; and S. Paul, in a 
 passage quoted before (Acts xxiv. 15), expresses 
 his concurrence in the general expectation of a 
 resurrection from the dead, 'both of the just and 
 unjust.' It has been said, that these are the only 
 two places of the New Testament where it is 
 distinctly and expressly asserted, that the Resur- 
 rection of the body shall include both just and 
 unjust. But the doctrine is referred to in many 
 other parts of Scripture, and in such a way as to 
 
LECTURE II. 37 
 
 shew that it was generally taught and believed in 
 the time of the writers. It is involved also in the 
 idea, that human nature is restored by the In- 
 carnation ; for in this sense it may be true that 
 ' Christ is the Saviour of all men, specially of 
 them that believe ;' and as S. Paul writes to 
 Timothy, that God is quickening or regenerating 
 (^looyovouvTo^) ' the whole of the creation.' (See 
 Rom. viii. 19 — 22.) In consequence of the In- 
 carnation and Resurrection of Christ, death, and 
 he that had the power of death, are destroyed — 
 the element of incorruptibility is restored to all the 
 sons of men. After this resurrection, the second 
 death, spoken of by S.John, is the portion of the 
 wicked, and everlasting life the portion of the just. 
 
 We have on the present occasion to insist on 
 the manner in which the Scripture speaks of the 
 Resurrection — the way in which it is to be ac- 
 complished. 'It is,' says S. Paul (Rom. viii. 11), 
 * a quickening of our mortal bodies ;' ([oDOTroiijaei Kal rd 
 6i>t]Td aw/aaTa v/ulwu. These words Calvin restricts to 
 the sanctification of believers ; but almost all other 
 expositors agree in reading here a reference to 
 the resurrection — so that it is this mortal body 
 which is to be quickened, or restored to life. 
 
 Adopting strictly the idea herein contained, 
 theologians have too positively asserted, that it is 
 absolutely necessary, for the verification of the 
 Divine Promise, that the very same substance 
 which constituted the human body at the time of 
 its dissolution, should be re-collected, and the 
 
38 LECTURE n. 
 
 corporeal frame be reconstructed out of the par- 
 ticles which have turned into dust. 
 
 Thus, Bishop Pearsoni : ' Whatsoever we lose 
 in death is not lost to God ; as no creature could 
 be made out of nothing but by Him, so can it 
 not be reduced unto nothing but by the same ; 
 though therefore the parts of the body of man be 
 dissolved, yet they perish not ; they lose not their 
 own entity when they part with their relation to 
 humanity ; they are laid up in the secret places, 
 and lodged in the chambers of nature ; and it is 
 no more a contradiction that they should become 
 the parts of the same body of man to which they 
 did belong, than that after his death they should 
 become the parts of any other body, as we see 
 they do. Howsoever they are scattered, or where- 
 soever lodged, they are within the knowledge 
 and power of God, and can have no repugnancy, 
 by their separation, to be reunited when and how 
 he pleaseth.' And, after giving reasons for the 
 necessity of the raising again of the same flesh — 
 from the words of Scripture, from the use of the 
 word resurrection, from the assertion that this 
 resurrection is out of the grave, from the nature 
 of just retribution in the judgment, from the fact 
 of certain men not dying but being translated, 
 and from actual examples of dead men raised to 
 life miraculously already — he concludes, by as- 
 serting, that ' the same flesh which is corrupted 
 shall be restored: whatsoever alteration shall be 
 ' Exposition of the Cre^d, Vol. i. pp. 631^ 648. 
 
LECTURE 11. 39 
 
 made shall not be of their nature, but of their 
 condition ; not of their substance, but of their 
 qualities.' 
 
 And Dr Barrow^ : ' It is congruous in justice 
 that the bodies which did partake in works of 
 obedience and holiness, or of disobedience and 
 profaneness (which, in S. Paul's language, " were 
 either slaves to impurity and iniquity, or servants 
 of righteousness unto sanctification,") should also 
 partake in suitable recompences ; that the body 
 which endured grievous pains for righteousness, 
 should enjoy comfortable refreshments ; that 
 which wallowed in unlawful pleasures should un- 
 dergo just torments.' 
 
 And Grotius^: 'Christ has promised eternal 
 life, not only to the soul, but to the body ; and 
 most justly; for the body, which for the Divine 
 law must often suffer inconvenience, tortures, 
 and death, should not be without a recompense. 
 Who can say that God is ignorant of the places, 
 distant from one another though they be, where 
 are the parts of the substance of human bodies, 
 or that He has not the power to bring them back, 
 and recompose and do the same in His universe 
 which the chemist can do in his laboratory, viz. 
 to collect together things which have affinity, 
 though they be separate V 
 
 And Whitby^: 'I argue for the resuiTection 
 
 1 On the Creed, Art. Resurrection of the Dead. 
 
 ^ De Veritate ReUgionis Christiance, Lib. ii. § 11. 
 
 3 Preface to Commentary 07i First Epistle to the Corinthians. 
 
40 LECTURE II. 
 
 of the same body thus : If the Scripture teacheth 
 that there shall be a quickening, by raising up our 
 mortal bodies ; a redemption by the resurrection 
 of our bodies ; a changing of our bodies at and 
 by the resurrection into the likeness of Christ's 
 glorious body; it seems sufficiently to say that 
 there shall be a resurrection of that which before 
 was mortal ; and a change by it of the same body 
 which was vile or humble ; and a redemption by 
 it from corruption of the same body which was 
 formerly in bondage to corruption ; for all this 
 must be said of the same body, or not of the 
 same body ; if of the same body, then the same 
 body must be raised ; and if not of the same 
 body, then of another ? And how then is it said 
 of our body ? How can those other bodies be 
 TO. 6vr}Ta awfxara vixoov, 1/our mortal bodies ? How 
 can the redemption of them be tov awtxaro? vfxwvl 
 the change of them, the change tov o-toVaro? raTret- 
 vwaews jJmwv, of our mortal vile bodies?' 
 
 And Archbishop Tillotson : * I take the article 
 of the resurrection in the strictest sense for the 
 raising of a body to life, consisting of the same 
 individual matter that it did before.' 
 
 It is needless to do more than refer to the 
 names and passages of ancient Christian writers 
 who have held the same^ or to multiply instances 
 
 * Sti dementis Ep. n. ad CorintJiios, § 9. Hernias. Simil. 
 V. § 7- TertulUan. Apol. § 48. Mlnucii Fel. Octav. p. 79- Sti 
 Augustini Sermo CCLVI. in diebus Pasckalilus, § 2, ed. Benedict. 
 Tom. VII. pp. 1055, 6. aS'^ Chrysostom, Homily xlii. on 1 Cor. xv. 
 
LECTURE II. 41 
 
 in which orthodox writers in the Church have 
 maintained the necessity of the revivification of 
 the same body which died, from the earliest 
 times to the present. It is well known that such 
 was ever reputed a necessary part of our belief. 
 The opposition to it which arose in past ages was 
 on different grounds from what we now hear al- 
 leged. The opinion of the inferiority of the body, 
 which ancient reasoners held, was the chief ob- 
 jection against admitting the tenet of its recon- 
 struction for an eternal future life ; and this 
 opinion they held in common with the ancient 
 philosophers, who would not allow that the body 
 was at all necessary to individuality. They 
 thought the body the prison of the soul ; that it 
 w^as a punishment to be tied unto it^. They said, 
 We in reality are dead, and our body is a tomb. 
 Some say that the body is the tomb of the soul, 
 as if the soul were now buried in it ; and Socrates, 
 in the Gorgias^, repeats the same. Sextus Em- 
 
 Lii. § 13. (p. 599, Oxf. Translation). aS'^. Ati^ustin, Sermo cclxiv. 
 ill die Ascensionis, § 5, Tom. vii. p, 1078. Idem, de Civitate Dei^ 
 Lib. XXII. c. 20. Symbolum Damasi, p. 14 in the Sylloge Confes- 
 sionum. Sophronms apud Photimn^ ccxxxi. in his Synodical Letter. 
 Exordium, to the Canons of the Council of Worms, a.d. 868. 
 
 * 'Corpus hoc animi pondus et poena est, permanente illo urgetur, 
 in vinculis est.' — Seneca, Ep. 65. 
 
 Kai »;/jie?9 tw ovti Tcdi/aineu, Ka\ to fxev (Tbi[xa ia-Ttv tj/xwy (rfjfia.-— 
 Jamhlichus Protrept. Adh. c. 17. 
 
 Ka( yap (ri]fxa Tii/e? (pa<7iv avTo eli/ai Ttj<; x^i^i^j;?, to? Teda/Ufxevt]^ ev 
 Tw vvv 7r«(Uo'i/Ti, — Plato in Cratylo, p. 275, E. 
 
 And other passages are quoted in Suicer's Thesaurus, ii. 1212. 
 
 * § 104, Ed. Heindorf. — Sextus Empiricus, iii. 24. Clem. Alex. 
 Stromata, iii. p. 434. 
 
42 LECTURE II. 
 
 piricus and Clement of Alexandria quote He- 
 raclitus as affirming, that during life the human 
 soul was dead and buried within us, but that at 
 death our souls should revive and live^ 
 
 Now men who entertained such opinions as 
 these were of course ready to mock when a 
 stranger coming among them preached of the 
 resurrection of the dead^: the idea was hateful 
 to them : and the philosophical among the Jews 
 seem to have held the same, or similar opinions, 
 of the unworthiness of the body, — acting as if it 
 were a clog to the soul. The Son of Sirach says, 
 *The corruptible body presseth down the soul, and 
 the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind 
 
 ^ There is a curious passage in Athencvus (Deifmosop/nstaru7n, 
 Lib. IV. c. 45, Vol. ii. p. 102, Schiceigh.\ where Carneius argues 
 against suicide from fear of the penalty of a future life, as being 
 commonly held. Carneius says to Nic'wn : ' Euxitheus the Pytha- 
 gorean (as Clearchus the Peripatetic reports in his second Book of 
 Lives) used to say that men's souls were tied to the body and to the 
 earthly life, for a penalty : and that God had decreed that if they 
 would not remain there, till he spontaneously set them free, they 
 should fall into more numerous and more grievous calamities. There- 
 fore all men, fearing these threats of the Gods, fear to go unbidden 
 out of this life, and await graciously the death of old age, being 
 persuaded that that liberation of the soul takes place with the will 
 of the Gods.' Casaubon's note on this passage is this: 'There was 
 an opinion of many ancient philosophers that the soul was contained 
 in the present body as in an Ergastulum, and on that account called 
 Se'jua? from oeBejuei/oi/, and life /3io?, quasi j3ia by force.' Themistius. 
 TovTO 'yo.p cena<; KaXova-iv co? 0666juei/»y? vtt avTOV Tr]<: \lyvyrj<: evravOa 
 irapd (hv<Tiv. ovcev jap ev w irecpvKev elvai, KaTej^erat /3iot. koi to 
 Zehea-dai Ttjv re (i'lav Tavrrjv 7rapnjdyovT€<: lovofxaa-av (i'lov^ uia-irep 
 olfxai Tfji/ e<nrepav"Onripov ea-Trepov. 
 
 " See Origen. c. Celsum. 1. Arnoh. ii. p. 42. Lucian. in Pere- 
 grin, cp. PUn. VII. 55. Minucius F. pp. 96, 07- 
 
LECTURE II. 43 
 
 which museth upon many things.' S. Paul refers 
 to the same idea in writing to the Corinthians 
 when he speaks of the burden of the body. And 
 the general objection made to the resurrection 
 of the body on this ground it is his object to meet 
 in that portion of Holy Scripture from which the 
 text is taken. 
 
 He here asserts that a change passes upon the 
 body at its rising again, and that it is no longer 
 to be liable to those infirmities which made its 
 revivification an intolerable idea. 
 
 The objections, however, which men had felt 
 were not silenced by this exposition of the Apo- 
 stle, and others gradually were brought forward. 
 
 We find Celsus^ affirming, that those who have 
 died in old time should put on again their own 
 same flesh out of the earth is a hope of worms, 
 most hateful and abhorrent, as well as a thing 
 impossible. God cannot do ai^xpa, things dis- 
 graceful ; He will not do that which is against 
 nature ; and God neither would nor could exhibit 
 again, in an irrational manner, that flesh which 
 abounds in defects not fit even to be mentioned^. 
 
 Marcus Antoninus^ more modestly asserts that, 
 if it were just, it would not be impossible: but 
 he argues on the assumption of there being no 
 such thing against its justice; and justifies the 
 
 ^ Apud Origenem, Lib. v. p. 240. 
 
 ^ See S. Atigustin. Sermo ccxLii. in diehus Paschalibus, § 7j — 
 he ascribes to Porphyry the saying ' Corpus est omne fugiendum.' 
 3 M. A. Antonim Meditationes, Lib. xii. 5 5. 
 
44 LECTURE II. 
 
 eternal destruction of the body in death as a 
 determination of the Gods. 
 
 AtJienagoras, in his treatise De Besurrectione 
 Mortuorum, shews us adversaries who enlarged 
 the sphere of their objections. The impossibility 
 of the resurrection was then grounded not only 
 on its being unjust, or unworthy of the Deity, 
 but because the parts of man might form the parts 
 of other animals, and possibly of other men 
 also — an objection which is not only noticed by 
 this author, but also by S. Augustine, in the 22nd 
 Book of the City of God. 
 
 And 3Ii)iucius Felix represents Caecilius as 
 ridiculing the idea of supposing a general de- 
 struction of the visible system of the universe, and 
 yet maintaining a promise of eternal duration to 
 those who have now died and perished \ 
 
 Ancient heretics, as well as heathen philo- 
 sophers and opponents of Christianity, seem to 
 have held the same opinion as to the impossibility 
 of the resurrection of the body^ In recounting 
 
 ' Minucii Felicis Octavms, c. 11, Ed. Gronov. p. 108. 
 
 * They also held that the resurrection was spiritual only, and 
 meant the being delivered from sins. Thus S. Chri/sostom represents 
 the doctrine of the Manicliees. Sermon on 1 Cor. xv. 3, and S.Au- 
 gustin. contra Fausttim, Lib. iv. adjinem^ Lib. xi. c 3. 
 
 They said (-S". Augnst'in. de Hcvrcs. § 46), ' Christ did not come 
 to deliver bodies, but the souls of men.' See Epiphanius, Lxvr. § 86, 
 87- Their arguments, as well as those of the Gnostics, were derived 
 from the corrupt nature of all material substance. See note of trans- 
 lator of S. Chrysostonis Homilies on 1 Corinth. Oxford Translation, 
 p. .')r)2, who explains clearly the argument used by S. Paul, as ap- 
 plied by S. Chrysostom to the Manicliees : ' If the word resurrection 
 
LECTURE II. 45 
 
 the errors of the Marcionites, Irenseus (i. 29) says 
 that they taught their adherents that future sal- 
 vation was of the soul only, and that the body 
 forsooth could not possibly share in this salvation 
 because it was formed of the dust of the ground. 
 Among the Basilidian tenets likewise was this : 
 that the soul alone could be saved ; for the body 
 by its own nature is corruptible (Iren. i. 23). 
 Against this opinion of the impossibility of the 
 resurrection of the body from the nature of things, 
 Irenaeus argues in his fifth book, and alleges that 
 it is heretical to maintain that the body is not 
 capable of being made incorruptible (' carnem 
 non esse capacemincorruptibilitatis'), because the 
 Body of Christ is communicated to all the faithful. 
 The Gnostic heretics would all, more or less, have 
 rejected the idea of resurrection in consequence 
 of the character which they attributed to all 
 material substance. 
 
 At the time of the Reformation the Anabap- 
 tists and Libertines denied the resurrection of 
 the body after death, restraining it to a spiritual 
 sense, of the resurrection from sin to a state of 
 grace ; and they maintained that this resurrection 
 only is meant in diverse passages of Holy Scrip- 
 ture, together with the life of the soul, which they 
 allowed to be immortal. They said that the 
 
 means only liberation from sin, the resurrection of Christ and our 
 resurrection are no longer terms implying one another, as S. Paul 
 evidently uses them, 1 Cor. xv. 18. For Christ by his divine nature 
 cannot sin ; it doth not therefore follow^ that if we be not raised, 
 Christ is not risen.' 
 
46 LECTURE II. 
 
 resurrection was past already, as did Hymenseus 
 and Philetus (2 Tim. ii. 17, 18), and that the 
 soul was an immortal spirit existing in heaven 
 for ever, as Calvin tells us in his Instructio Ad- 
 versus Lihertinos, c. 22. And Peter Martyr^ also 
 informs us that they referred the resurrection to 
 the souls of men only^. 
 
 In more modern times the objection to the 
 resurrection of the same body that died has been 
 made to depend on the constant change going on 
 in men; so that it is said in a short period of 
 time all the particles of the system have disap- 
 peared, and been replaced by others ; and there- 
 fore, that the restoration of the same body that 
 died cannot be any answer to the objection made 
 in old times of the injustice of a man sinning 
 in one body, and being punished in another. If, 
 it is said, according to the doctrine of the Church, 
 justice demands that the same body should be 
 raised which formed part of the man, while on 
 earth he obeyed or transgressed, how is this just 
 economy secured by giving him back a body 
 which was only in its substance his during a 
 portion of his life^? 
 
 1 Peter Martyr, Loc. Commun. Class iii. c. 15, n. 4. 
 
 * The Quakers have been accused of denying the Resurrection, 
 but Barclay, Apology^ p. 373, expressly denies it. There was a 
 sect in Holland headed by Henry Nicolaus, of whom Hornleck 
 reports, vi. p. 397, that he taught there was no resurrection of the 
 body after death, but that all resurrection was in this life, \\z. resur- 
 rection from sin to holiness. 
 
 ^ See the objection of Ccccilius in the Octavitis, which is of a 
 
LECTURE 11. 47 
 
 There are, then, objections of two general 
 classes — those which have their root in the feeling 
 of the unworthiness of the body, and which seek 
 a support out of the Scriptures for some spiritual 
 meaning of the resurrection, because it is written, 
 * Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of 
 God, and corruption cannot inherit incorruption ;' 
 and — those objections, which, from the physical 
 fact of the constant change in the body, assume 
 that identity of substance cannot have anything 
 to do with the question. 
 
 The first difficulty ought to be met by shewing 
 that the Scriptures teach us that there is a change 
 to be made in man ; that the spiritual, or resur- 
 rection-body, is free from the infirmities and 
 impurity of the natural, or animal body. 
 
 The second must be met by ascertaining what 
 is meant by identity, and how far such change is 
 compatible with it. 
 
 In the present Lecture we may collect what 
 the Scripture tells us of the resurrection-body, 
 shewing that it obviates completely all the objec- 
 tions which have been urged against the resur- 
 rection from the weakness and defects of our 
 present natural frames. 
 
 We cannot but notice, in the first place, that 
 S. Paul, while adhering positively to the assertion 
 that we are to expect the resurrection of the body, 
 does yet tell us of most important differences 
 
 similar kind, p. 25 ; ' Ipso corpore ? Sed jam ante delapsum est. 
 Alio corpore ? Ergo homo noviis nascitur, non prior ille reparatur.' 
 
48 LECTURE II. 
 
 which are to exist between the risen body and the 
 bodies we now have. He compares the present 
 life and the future life to the seed-time, and the 
 life of the future plant — death being the limit 
 of the two states — and points out that, as there 
 are bodies of different kinds to ours which may 
 not outwardly be less dissimilar than the plant 
 and the seed, so there are bodies fitted for heaven, 
 as well as bodies fitted for earth. So ought we to 
 think of the resurrection of the dead. And con- 
 fining himself to the case of the resurrection of 
 the just, he goes on to say that the body which 
 is here in a state of liability to corruption, de- 
 gradation, and weakness, shall hereafter exist 
 in the state of incorruption, glory, and power. In 
 the present state it is an animal, or natural body, 
 one in which the y^vx^ is the dominant power 
 (the epithumetic part of the soul, according to 
 Plato). In the future state it shall be a spiiitual 
 body, in which the irvedfxa is supreme ; ' for as 
 there is a natural body, so there also is a spiritual 
 body ;' the previous analogies having prepared 
 his hearers for the fact that bodies may exist 
 in very different conditions. He then refers to 
 the Old Testament for the proof of the condition 
 of Adam as the representative of fallen, unre- 
 newed nature, and compares it with the condition 
 of Christ, the Head of the new creation. The 
 regeneration of human nature is the establish- 
 ment of the ascendancy of the irvedna, or spiritual 
 principle, in the place of the i^vxv, or animal 
 
LECTURE II. 49 
 
 principle. Adam, as representing mankind in 
 general, has a body in which the mundane prin- 
 ciple predominates, being formed of the dust of 
 the earth, and his descendants share in these 
 qualities. Those who in the new creation are 
 partakers with Christ, in like manner shall in- 
 herit the heavenly spiritual body. It is quite 
 certain that we have our lot with Adam in the 
 natural body, he being our forerunner according 
 to the flesh. So also shall it be as certain that 
 Christians shall have the heavenly body through 
 their incorporation with Christ Jesus. The change 
 is absolutely necessary : for the corruptible — that 
 which has the property of becoming corrupt — can- 
 not inherit, i. e. cannot, in the natural order of 
 things, succeed to a property of becoming incor- 
 rupt. Corruption cannot put on incorruption ; and 
 therefore a change must be made which shall 
 render the former what it was not before ; and 
 therefore we shall all be changed. 
 
 Here, then, is the ground of which ancient 
 heretics availed themselves. Since S. Paul says 
 that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom 
 of God, how can that flesh and blood whiqh 
 decayed in the earth be raised again to the in cor-* 
 ruptible state ? 
 
 The answer is, that ' flesh and blood,' and the 
 property of liability to corruption, must be distin- 
 guished. By the former we may understand the 
 carnal propensities of the man', or, if the context 
 
 ^ S. Augustin. Sermo cccLxii. de Resurrectione, ^\4, ed. Bened. 
 Tom. VII. p. 1424, and § 17, p. 1426, and § 21, p. 1430. 
 
 H. L. D 
 
60 LECTURE 11. 
 
 be supposed absolutely to require a material sense 
 in the words — that organization which is con- 
 nected with the passions ; and there are reasons 
 of very considerable importance connected with 
 the nature of man, both moral and spiritual, which 
 indicate and require changes ^ The animal frame 
 is not only in its present state the inlet, but the 
 instrument of temptation, and a prompter to sin. 
 It is in this present life a minister of sin; and those 
 qualities in it by which the communication of 
 objects of temptation with the soul of man is kept 
 up, and which give rise to sinful tendencies, must 
 therefore be excluded. The state of happiness 
 cannot be one of temptation, and therefore the 
 body can be no longer the instrument of tempta- 
 tion, either through natural passions or through 
 infirmities. 
 
 Our Lord's answer to the Sadducees is very 
 explicit on this point. 
 
 'The children of this world marry, and are 
 given in marriage ; but they which shall be ac- 
 counted worthy to obtain that world, and the re- 
 surrection from the dead, neither marry nor are 
 given in marriage. Neither can they die any 
 more ; for they are equal unto the angels ^' 
 
 ^ Ta vvv €v ao\ (pOapTa Ka\ X^'P^ *'""' '''° atpQapTov k(xi KpeiTTOv 
 fi€Ta(TToi-x^eiijo6t](TovTai. — T/ieopht/lact. 
 
 2 The idea of equality with the angels is one found in several 
 authors. Whitby quotes Jamhlichus apud Stoh. Bel. p. 144, who 
 (very probably from this place however) says the souls of good men 
 shall be converted when they leave the body eU djyeKov^ Ka\ dyyeXi- 
 kac \//y;^as — and a passage is also quoted from Hierocles, tou? ev to?« 
 
 Bttoit; yeveai (rvvrerayfitvov; dvPpumovv rrffieiv d Xo'yoc irapn'tvei toi'« 
 
LECTURE II. 51 
 
 It seems most reasonable to interpret the words 
 * flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of 
 heaven,' in connexion with these words of our Sa- 
 viour ; to understand therefore thereby, as we are 
 here taught, that those natural passions which are 
 essentially necessary in this life, both for the 
 preservation of individuals and of races, will not 
 exist in the resurrection-body. The word >|/t;;^t/f09 
 is translated sensual in the third chapter of S. 
 James, and 15th ver. : * This wisdom descendeth not 
 from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish ;' and 
 again, in the 19th verse of the Epistle of S. Jude ; 
 and therefore when S. Paul speaks of the natural 
 body, (Twixa ^vxiKov, we are led to understand that 
 he refers to a body in which the animal pas- 
 sions are implanted. 
 
 There is also another argument to be alleged 
 by which we can shew that the qualities of the 
 resurrection-body are very different from those of 
 the natural body, and by which the interpretation 
 of the words ' flesh and blood' is cleared. 
 
 We are directed by the apostolical Epistles to 
 look to the risen body of our Saviour for a know- 
 ledge of what the spiritual body of the resurrec- 
 tion shall be^ ; and this too in more than one place. 
 S. Paul, writing to the Philippians, speaks of our 
 Lord thus : *Who shall change our vile body, that 
 it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body.' 
 And S. John : * It doth not yet appear what we 
 
 \<s-ocai}xova<;, Ka\ la-nyyeXov;, koi to?s ayavoKi ijpua-tv ofxoiov;, p. 52, 
 ed. Londini, 1742. 
 
 ^ S. Augustin. Sermo ccclxii. de Resurrecfione, §§10, 17, 27. 
 
 D2 
 
52 LECTURE II. 
 
 shall be ; but we know that when He shall appear 
 we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He 
 is».' And S. Paul to the Corinthians : 'We shall 
 bear the image of the Heavenly, i.e., the Lord 
 from heaven.' And David, speaking prophetically, 
 and perhaps not himself aware of the meaning of 
 his words : ' When I awake up after thy likeness 
 I shall be satisfied with it.' 
 
 Now the body of our Lord after His resurrec- 
 tion was certainly not one which could be de- 
 scribed as entirely ethereal, whatever changes 
 had passed upon it, since He Himself says, ' Behold 
 my hands and feet, that it is I myself; handle me 
 and see : for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as 
 ye see me have.' And yet our Lord seems to have 
 had the power of transferring His body at will 
 from one place to another ^ ; the power of altering 
 its outward form, so as to prevent persons re- 
 cognising Him, while yet retaining the power of 
 compelling recognition. There is something sin- 
 gular at first in the fact, that the women, whose 
 affection to our Saviour prompted them to go 
 early to the sepulchre on the morning of the resur- 
 rection, should have been unable to recognise 
 Him ; but we see a hesitation in almost all the 
 
 1 See S. Augustine's discussion of this passage, as it bears on the 
 qualities of the resurrection-body, in the Epistle to Paulina, de Vi- 
 dendo Deo, 21, 49, and 22, 51; and in that which follows it in the 
 Benedictine edition, the Commonitorium to For tuna tianus, bishop of 
 Sicca. 
 
 2 ' Credere enim debemus talia corpora nos habituros, ut ubi 
 velimus quando voluerimus, ibi simus.' — «S'. August. Sermo ccxlii. 
 In diehus Faschalihus, § 5. 
 
LECTURE II. 53 
 
 accounts. When He shewed himself to the as- 
 sembled apostles, to the disciples walking to 
 Emmaus, to the disciples when fishing — in all 
 the recognition of Christ M^as not immediate. This 
 indicates some outward change ; and for this, 
 perhaps, the three chosen disciples were prepared 
 by the mysterious event of the transfiguration^ in 
 which they knew of our Lord's identity, notwith- 
 standing a great change in His outward appear- 
 ance (fiere/uLopcpajOr]). And therefore we are by these 
 facts prepared for some general changewhich passes 
 on the whole body. In the case of S. Luke's 
 Gospel, it is mentioned that our Lord did eat 
 before them. Some suppose the same implied in 
 the account in the last chapter of S. John ; and 
 S. Peter says expressly, in the 11th chap. 41st ver. 
 of the Acts, * that the apostles eat and drank 
 with Him after He rose from the dead.' We cannot 
 suppose this to be for any other purpose than to 
 prove to them the truth of His corporal existence^. 
 It has been noticed that our Lord says ' flesh and 
 bones,' in speaking of Himself, not 'blood;' the 
 blood being the principle of animal life. The car- 
 
 ^ S. Chrysostom. Tom. in. p. 488, Horn, de Fuliirce Vitce Deliciis: 
 . . . aveXQcav ev tw opei fxeTefxapcpaidt] e/XTrpoo'dev Taov /jLadtjTwv avTov, 
 irapavoijbov auTO?"? twi/ fxeWovTuiv Trjv Zo^av, nat cos ev alviyfiaTi Ka\ 
 apv6pw<; €irtdetKvv<; olov ecTTai to <Tiop.a to rfpCTepov. — See also ^S". Alt- 
 (Justin. Epistola cxLix. ad Paidinum, § 31. 
 
 2 S. Augustin. Sermo ccclxii. De Resurrectione^ ed. Bened. 
 Tom. VII. p. 1422: 'In terra officia hmnana servavit, ut persuaderet 
 hoc resurrexisse quod sepultum erat. Numquid autem et in ccelo 
 talis cibus est ? Nam et an;^elos officia huraana in terra legimus ex- 
 secutos i and he gives the instance of the angels appearing to Abra- 
 ham (Gen. xviii. 9), and he goes on to shew that as the reason of our 
 
B4> LECTURE II. 
 
 nal mortal element seems to be entirely banished 
 from the glorified body, and the crowning miracle 
 of the ascension proves that the Saviour's human 
 body was of a nature very different indeed to the 
 present. 
 
 I have said that the expressions used by our 
 Lord would exclude the idea of an ethereal or 
 attenuated substance in His risen body; but this 
 also seems to be an accidental, not an essential 
 property. It is said that He became invisible at 
 will; and this is not inconsistent with substance 
 remaining; for we have instances in the natural 
 world of substances existing as solids and in the 
 gaseous state without losing their identity ^ 
 
 The only result, however, to whicli I wish at 
 present to arrive is, that there is sufficient evi- 
 dence of change in the resurrection-body to ob- 
 
 Lord's compliance cannot have any place when men shall rise a^rain, 
 there is no ground to conclude from this example, the existence of 
 carnal appetites in the Resurrection-hody. 
 
 ' Quod manducavit potestatis ftiit non egestatis.' — Sermo ccxlii. 
 in diebus Paschalihus, § 2. 
 
 ^ Ori(/en, and after him, Grotius, thought that there was an in- 
 termediate state of our Lord's body during the forty days; but this 
 seems to have very little to support it. The opinion which I have 
 reported above, is according to what Moshcim writes in his note on 
 Cudworth, V. 3. 20 (4to. ed. p. 442) : ' Quod e discipulorum suorum 
 conspcctu repente Christus evanuit id argumento quidem est, corpus 
 ejus no vis auctum fuisse proprictatibus et vcterem deposuisse gravi- 
 tatcm, aut gloriosum fuisse factum ; nullo vero niodo probat, corpus 
 illud, quod resurgcns habuit, aerium et media? cujusdam natura^ fuisse.' 
 
 Tlie place of Origen referred to is adv. Celsum, Lib. ii, p. 98 : 
 Kat riv ye Ka-ra Tt]i> avacrraaii' avTov wa-irep ev fxedofiiw tivi Tti'^ irayv- 
 Tr/TOC T/7<; irpo rod 7raOov<; crw'/iaTO?, ku] tov jv/jtrnji/ toiovtov (Tw7»aTo<: 
 
 (pa'tveadai 4'^X*^"' ^^^ ^''^ passage of Grotius is Comment, ad Lucce 
 Evang. c. xxiv. 31. 
 
LECTURE II. 65 
 
 viate all objections which can be drawn from the 
 grossness of matter, from the connexion of material 
 substance with weakness or corrupt tendency^ 
 
 So flir only can we maintain that the body of 
 the resurrection is like that in which we now 
 dwell- — that it is capable of recognition ; and this 
 in a peculiar sense, of which we must say more 
 when we have to examine the more difficult sub- 
 ject of identity. 
 
 We may now refer to some points of much 
 interest, on which the Scriptures do certainly 
 speak, it seems to me, without hesitation or indis- 
 tinctness. 
 
 On the separate existence of the soul there 
 seems to be clear intimation, though whether the 
 soul be completely free from all corporeal conco- 
 mitant is not so clearly affirmed. 
 
 When it is said that all live unto God, that 
 the spirit of man returns to God who gave it, that, 
 in the case of the faithful, to depart is to be with 
 
 ^ ' Christianity brought with it not the annihilation hut the 
 ennobling and the glorifying of that which peculiarly belongs to 
 human nature; and the de-humanizing idealism of the Gnostics was 
 wholly incompatible with this fundamental principle of Christianity.' 
 Neanders Church Histori/, Vol. ii. p. 327. (H- J. Rose's Trans- 
 lation.) 
 
 ^ yEneas Gazeus, according to Dupin's account of him, seems to 
 have held this: '11 croit...que les corps ressusciteront en la meme 
 forme qu'ils ont eu en ce monde.' — Nouvelle Billiotheque des Auteurs 
 Eccl. Tom. IV. p. 280. 
 
 S. Augustine has a curious speculation in ch. 15, Book xxii. of 
 the ' City of God.' He supposes that men shall rise with the form 
 which they had when about 30 years of age, because men are then 
 in the prime of life, and because of that being near the age of our 
 Saviour when he died and rose asain. 
 
56 LECTURE 11. 
 
 Christ, that the spirit of man goeth upward, that 
 the resurrection is a bringing back of them that 
 are now fallen asleep in Jesus, we can have, it 
 seems to me, little doubt that the Bible means to 
 teach us the truth embodied in the Burial Service 
 of the Church, where we say, 'With whom do 
 live the souls of them that depart hence in the 
 Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful, 
 after they are delivered from the burden of the 
 flesh, are in joy and felicity \' 
 
 If any objection is made on the ground that 
 incorporeal beings must be without extension, and 
 therefore cannot logically be said to have locality, 
 we must, no doubt, admit a difficulty. But if we 
 are asked, Where are the souls of men after death ? 
 such an appeal to our ignorance is only to be met 
 by urging men with the indefinite idea in which 
 they are content to remain with respect to the 
 Deity. If we ask, where is God ? and we are told 
 that he is present everywhere, the answer, though 
 true, is indefinite and wanting in any positive idea. 
 
 It may be also answered, that, as Holy Scrip- 
 ture favours the idea of a locality for souls of 
 men out of the body 2, it may to the same extent 
 give reason to suppose that the soul may not be 
 
 ^ eh TO o(p€i\onevov avroi'i tottov el<Ti Trapd tw KujOiw. — S. Poly- 
 carp. Epist. § 9. Justin Martyr^ D. Tryph. p. 223, et passim. 
 
 There is a very interesting account of the writers who have 
 argued the question about the sleep of the soul after death in Arch- 
 deacon Blackhurn's Works, Vol. in. but it is one-sided, for the Arch- 
 deacon himself believed m the sleep ; and he has omitted many 
 writers of repute on the other side of the question. 
 
 ' S. Augustine discusses this question at the end of the 12th 
 Book Dc Genesi ad Litteram. 
 
LECTURE II. 57 
 
 altogetlrer separated from all material combina- 
 tion ; an opinion which the Platonists held, and 
 also many of the ancient Christian fathers. Holy 
 Scripture, though perhaps it cannot be said to 
 teach an extended separate existence of spiritual 
 beings, allows us to presume it. The Apostles 
 supposed on several occasions that they had seen 
 a spirit ; and our Lord says, * A spirit hath not 
 flesh and bones, as ye see me have.' 
 
 There is an impression, amounting often to 
 belief, that seems spread over the world, wherever 
 we can find man, that there may be, that there 
 have been, what are called supernatural appear- 
 ances. No doubt, in a matter where the imagi- 
 nation is so easily called into play, and where it 
 is so easy to practise deception, innumerable in- 
 stances have occurred which may be explained on 
 either of these suppositions ; but he would be a 
 rash man who should affirm it impossible that 
 such things may be. The Platonists S acting on 
 their avowed principle of adopting all that had 
 universality and antiquity in its favour as having 
 a germ of truth, held that the souls of men on 
 leaving the body had another spiritual or ethereal 
 body; that the soul never could be quite deprived 
 of all body ; not that the soul always adhered to 
 the same particles, but that it had a property of 
 making a body suitable to itself under any cir- 
 cumstances ^ 
 
 ^ See note on Lecture I. p. 26. and Cudicortlis Intellectual St/stem^ 
 V. 3. 19. 
 
 ^ Porphyrins in d(popna'i<; -rrpo^ rd I'otjTa, § ,32, p. 28.3, (o'<r yap 
 
68 LECTURE IL 
 
 And with the doctrines of this school Christi- 
 anity agrees in some particulars, especially in 
 this, that the highest happiness and perfection of 
 human nature does not consist in a separate state 
 of souls ununited to any body^ and also that it 
 does not consist in the junction of soids to the 
 present gross natural body. As it is not deter- 
 mined in Christianit}^ it may be urged that there 
 is nothing inconsistent in the idea of the soul 
 between death and the resurrection having some 
 kind of body2. Origen^ supposes (and it is a noble 
 idea) that it is a privilege peculiar to the Deity, 
 to live and act alone without vital union with 
 
 civ ZtereOr] evj/tcTKei a-wixct, Tci^ei Ka\ to?? oiKeioi<; Ziwpta-fxei'ov; and 
 Theophrastus apud JEnemn Gazeum, Dialogo Theophrasto, p. 54, 
 
 TOiovTUiv KUi ToaovTbov 1] \lyv^i] aoofxaTwv ejXTr'nrXaTUi, Ci bcrmv Kai 
 o'toau ■^topiujv TTupep'^eTai, 
 
 ^ S. Augustin. de Genesi ad Litteram, Lib. xii. c. 35, § 58, 
 teaches that the resurrection of the body is necessary to complete 
 the happiness of the soul. 
 
 2 Tlie €lcn<: -^apaKTtjpi^ov of Origeu which belonged to the o-w/jta 
 irvevfxaTiKov as well as the o-w/jia ^jyv^iKuv. S. A ugusltm however is 
 of a contrary opinion: ' Utrum habeat aliquod corpus, cum de hoc 
 corpore exierit, ostendat qui potest, ego autem non puto.' — De Genesi 
 ad Litteram, Lib. xir. c. 32, § 60. It should be observed that this 
 notion is quite distinct from what is ordinarily called materialism, 
 or the doctrine tliat the intellectual faculty is the result of physical 
 organization. Dr Cromhie in his Natural Theologg, Vol. ii. seems 
 to me to have collected in the clearest form, tlie arguments from 
 nature on the Immortality of the Soul. Those who have advocated 
 the doctrine of the sleep of the soul, too often are liable to the charge 
 of materialism ; but this is not necessarily the case, for the advo- 
 cates of that doctrine may only maintain that the state of tlie soul 
 after death is like its state in natural sle(>p, without entering on the 
 question of its immateriality. 
 
 3 Origeiies ■nep\ 'Apy^. Lib. ii. c. 2, p. 69, Opp. 
 
LECTURE II. 59 
 
 any body. If it be an essential property of the 
 soul, that it should impart life to matter, then it 
 is improbable it should be kept separate^ Ter- 
 tullian, indeed, seems to go too far in this respect, 
 and make the soul itself material^; but Irenaeus 
 preserves the idea of the incorporeal nature of the 
 soul, and yet supposes it to have a sort of figure 
 and character, of a bodily kind, such as it had in 
 this life^ He says our Lord hath most plainly 
 taught us, that not only do souls continue after 
 death without passing from one body into ano- 
 ther, but that they preserve the character of the 
 body to which they are joined, and remember 
 what they did here, and what they left undone, 
 and that they have the figure of a man, so that 
 they may be known*. 
 
 ^ See S. Attgustin. de Cimtate Dei, Lib. xiii. c. 19, and Lib. 
 XXII. c. 27- 'In Lib. xxi, 10, be adduces tbe case of Dives in illus- 
 tration of tbe suffering of demons, supposing tbat tbey be not, 
 tbougli of aerial, yet corporeal substance.' — Notes on Tertullian, in 
 tbe Library of tbe Fatbers, Apology, c. 48, p. 99. 
 
 2 De Resurrectiove Carnis, § 17- 
 
 2 So /S". Augustin. de Gen. ad Littera7n, Lib. xii. c. 32, § 62 : 
 'Animam vero non esse corpoream non me putare sed plane scire 
 audeo profiteri ; tamen babere posse similitudinem corporis et corpo- 
 ralium omnino niembrorum quisquis negat, potest negare animam 
 esse, quae insomnis videt vel se ambulare, vel sedere, vel liac atque 
 iliac gustu aut etiam voratu ferri ac referri, quod sine quadam simi- 
 litudine corporis non sit,' 
 
 * Irenceus, ii. 62, 3. See Massiiet's Dissertation iii. on Irenams, 
 Art. 11. § 120. 
 
 In anotber place Ircnwus, ii. 19, 6, compares tbe figure wbicb 
 be assigns to tbe soul to tbe sbape of water filling a vessel: 'Non 
 enim angelorum babebit similitudinem et speciem, sed animarum in 
 quibus et formatur ; quomodo aqua in vas missa ipsius vasis babebit 
 formam, et jam si gelaverit in eo, speciem babebit vasculi, in quo 
 
60 LECTURE II. 
 
 And Origen, speaking of S. Thomas's doubts 
 of our Lord's reality, attributes to him a like per- 
 suasion, that he supposed he might have seen a 
 spirit, but was determined to satisfy himself of 
 the substantial verity of the Lord's body before 
 he would consent to receive the truth of his resur- 
 rection ^ 
 
 The substance then of the conclusions to which 
 this exercise should lead are as follows : 
 
 1. That the changes which the Scripture 
 teaches us shall supervene in the resurrection- 
 body, are such that they fully meet all objections 
 which can be drawn from the grossness of the 
 present material frame. 
 
 2. That, whereas the Scripture allows us to 
 presume the separate existence of spirit, it does 
 not forbid, but may rather be supposed to tolerate, 
 the opinion that the soul thus separate, may have 
 some ethereal or refined substance united to it^. 
 
 By this means it has been endeavoured to 
 obviate certain objections wliich have been felt 
 more or less strongly since the first promulgation 
 of Christianity ; and the recapitulation of the 
 answers now, and the conveying of them in plain 
 and modern language, is meant to be proposed 
 as a help to any who may in these days of busy 
 
 gelavit; quando ipsa? animae corporis liabcant figuram; ipsi eiiim 
 adaptatas sunt vasi, qviemadmodum pra>dixiinus.' 
 
 1 See Cudworth's IvteUectiial St/stem, v. 3, 27. 
 
 2 See on this controversy, Leclcrc, Bihliotheque choisic, Tom. viii. 
 p. 81 ; and Mosheim's Notes to his Latin Translation of Cudworth's 
 Intdlcctual Si/stem, v. 3, 2.5. 
 
LECTURE II. 61 
 
 and curious speculation be troubled in their 
 faith. 
 
 How are the dead raised up ? With what 
 body do they come ? What is the promise of 
 Christ's coming ? These are questions which will 
 be asked by men as long as the world standeth. 
 They must be answered, and the answer cleared 
 from time to time from such additional difficulties 
 as may be thrown upon it, as far as the holy 
 Scriptures authorize to do so ; but we must also, 
 as becomes those whose guiding principle is faith, 
 trust in the truth of Christ our Saviour, make all 
 these speculations in humility, and endeavour to 
 repress our too curious feelings, lest, as S. Augus- 
 tine saysS we never rise to the state in which the 
 qualities of the resurrection-body of the just be- 
 come known to us. 
 
 In conclusion, we may fitly notice the con- 
 gruity of this doctrine of the spiritual body with 
 the general scheme of the Gospel. The body 
 with its organization of parts, suited for the as- 
 cendancy of the ^uxrj, is a fit instrument for man 
 in the state of probation ; but if in the contest of 
 the flesh and the Spirit of God which dwelleth 
 within us, the spiritual principle, so supported 
 and strengthened, prevail, then salvation is accom- 
 plished ; and in the resurrection, the man who 
 has become spiritual, will have this victory con- 
 
 ^ ' Qiue sit autem et quam magna spiritualis corporis gratia, 
 quoniam nondum venit in experimentum, vereor ne temerarium sit 
 omne quod de ilia profertur eloquium.' — S. Augiistin. De Civitate 
 Dei, Lib. xxii. c. 21, et seq. 
 
62 LECTURE II. 
 
 firmed and made sure, by the adaptation of his 
 body fixedly to the empire of the spiritual. 
 
 Thus Christ's crucifixion and resurrection are 
 as it were worked out in every Christian in whom 
 the grace of God is efiectual. The carnal, or 
 animal, or natural element is crucified and slain, 
 and the spiritual, heavenly, engrafted element is 
 triumphant, and the man is brought out from the 
 state in which he would have been M'ithout Christ, 
 into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, made 
 free from the law of sin and death. And by this 
 must we now judge of our progress towards our 
 eternal destiny. 
 
 There is a natural body, and there is a spi- 
 ritual body. The subjective idea of Christianity 
 cannot be expressed by a more apt symbolism. 
 There are in life present, the natural state, and 
 the spiritual state ; and as the works of the flesh 
 are manifest as the fruits of the former, so the 
 fruits of the spirit are given to us as the criteria 
 of the latter. By these we may know if God's 
 mercy towards us has been efiectual. By these 
 must we judge ourselves, and ascertain whether 
 we are frustrating the grace of God, or whether 
 we are through faith yielding ourselves to the 
 Divine influence which constantly urges us on- 
 wards, upwards and forwards, to a loftier scale of 
 being, that having escaped the corruption that is 
 in the world through lust, we may, according to 
 the Monderful words of S. Peter, be partakers of 
 the Divine nature. 
 
LECTURE III, 
 
 1 CORINTHIANS XV. 35. 
 
 How are the dead raised iqy ? and with what body do they 
 come ? 
 
 rnHE question that next presents itself to the 
 -L enquirer, about the Scriptural notion of the 
 reviviscence of the human being, is that of identity. 
 We have endeavoured to recapitulate, from sources 
 trustworthy and impartial, what was the idea of a 
 future life before our Saviour brought it to light 
 or made it clear, the progress of the doctrine of 
 the resurrection after the time of the Gospel, and 
 to shew what is the difference between the raised 
 body and the present natural body ; and we have 
 now to consider how far the changes we have 
 described as taking place in the body are con- 
 sistent with sameness of the individual. 
 
 In speaking of identity, or sameness, we are 
 met at once with a notion of the extreme vague- 
 ness of the term ; we are forced to make certain 
 distinctions between the cases to which we apply 
 the word. Even mathematical identity is two- 
 fold ; figures of the same form coincide geome- 
 trically and are identical ; in certain algebraic 
 formulae the form is different, the real value of 
 expressions the same ; here the identity is deduc- 
 tive. And in the physical world, when neither 
 
(li LECTURE III. 
 
 form nor real substance are wholly the same, we 
 yet do not scruple to speak of the sameness of 
 objects ; and the instance which has been made 
 use of most frequently to illustrate this is taken 
 from vegetable growth. The tree which year by 
 year sheds all its leaves, and is renewed through- 
 out its whole structure with its acquired annual 
 increase, we do not hesitate to talk of as the same 
 tree ; we do not require, in order to constitute 
 sameness, the actual existence of the same par- 
 ticles only, and in the same relative positions ; 
 and when in old age all the interior substance 
 may be decayed and gone, that there may not be 
 any particle in common between the old inhabit- 
 ant of the forest and what it was when a tender 
 plant, we yet do not object to its being called the 
 same tree. Sameness from year to year does not 
 seem to us a difficulty, but our conception of it is 
 strangely altered when we compare the individual 
 after a lapse of centuries ; so that our ideas of 
 identity, or sameness', are extremely indefinite, 
 and the question, how much of change is consis- 
 tent with identity of individuals ? is one to which a 
 positive answer cannot be returned. It may be 
 said, that perpetual flux of particles, provided there 
 be a continuity in the change, and in the existence 
 of the subject,, does in the case of vegetable 
 growth satisfy our notion of identity ; but, applied 
 
 1 Mr Mill (On the Human Mind, Vol. ii. p. 127) argues that 
 Same is the name of a certain case of belief, founded either on 
 memory, or testimony, or circumstantial evidence, or on both. 
 
LECTURE III. 65 
 
 to the case which we are considering, of the human 
 body, we have a break in this continuity at death, 
 which takes it out of the analogy. 
 
 There is no doubt that the popular under- 
 standing of the resurrection of the flesh was, 
 that the same particles which composed the 
 perishing body should be reunited to form the 
 risen body ; that the actual atoms deposited in the 
 tomb should be the elements out of which the 
 living man, at the resurrection, shall have his 
 body constructed, and those to whom such identity 
 of particles seemed necessary to constitute identity 
 of the man, have a ready answer to all objections, 
 by urging the omnipotence and omniscience of 
 the Deity'. This reply is sufficient to silence the 
 objectors, if it could be shewn that identity of 
 man requires identity of particles. But before 
 we come to this conclusion, it seems reasonable to 
 settle what identity of man really is, and if it can 
 be made clear that the positive sameness of par- 
 ticles has nothing to do with the identity of any 
 individual, then, of course, there is no need to 
 have recourse to an answer, which is one pre- 
 cluding a reply indeed, but which may, in this 
 case, reasonably be received with hesitation, and 
 with an appeal to other ways and works of God; 
 ways which are not as our ways, thoughts which 
 are not as our thoughts. 
 
 Even divines who have thought it necessary 
 
 ^ This, according to S. Chrysostom on 1 Cor. xv. 36, is not the 
 way of S. Paul. 
 
 H. L. E 
 
€^ LECTURE III. 
 
 to insist most strongly on the material view of 
 the resurrection, which considers men's bodies 
 will be composed then of the same corruptible 
 matter as they are now ; that identical portion of 
 matter being changed in its qualities ; have yet 
 spoken in a manner which shews how sensible* 
 they were of the difficulty which is involved in 
 bringing into close contact the ideas of change 
 and identity. 
 
 Those who will have the same particles re- 
 stored to the resurrection-body, which were depo- 
 sited in the tomb, must assume and be allowed 
 these two propositions, that matter is indestruc- 
 tible 2, and that God knows every atom whereof 
 we are made. Now Bishop Pearson ^ defines a 
 resurrection to be 'a substantial change by which 
 that which w as before, and was corrupted, is re- 
 produced the same thing again.' By substantial, 
 he means not accidental, and when he explains 
 the necessity of saying 'which was corrupted,' he 
 proceeds thus, ' things immaterial and incorrup- 
 
 ^ Even S. Augustine, Sermon on Romans vii. 24. (cliv.) Tom. vii. 
 p. 741 : ' Non enim sic liberaberis de corpore mortis hujus ut hoc 
 corpus non habeas. Habcbis seel jam non mortis hujus. fysum 
 erit, sed non tpsnm erit. Ipsum crit quia ipsa caro erit, non ipsum 
 erit, quia mortale non erit.' 
 
 2 S. Augustin. Sermo lxxvii. (cxxvii. Benedictine Ed.) § 15: 
 'Thou wast made when thou wast not at all; and dost thou not 
 believe that those boncs^ (for in whatever state, of whatever kind 
 they are, yet they are) shall receive the form which they once had, 
 when thou hadst already received what thou hadst not ?' p. 568, 
 Oxford Translation. 
 
 ^ On the Creed: 'He rose from th(> dead.' 
 
LECTURE III. 67 
 
 tible cannot be said to rise again, resurrection 
 implying a reproduction ; and that which after it 
 was, never was not, cannot be reproduced.' Now 
 if physiology had been so far advanced in the 
 time of this great divine, that it had been shewn 
 that all organized forms exist rather as the result 
 of peculiar arrangements and affinities between 
 a constantly flowing changeable set of particles, 
 than as permanent juxtaposition of the same par- 
 ticles, it seems clear that he would have restricted 
 his definition to the form rather than to the sub- 
 stance of human flesh. 
 
 Joannes Clericus (Leclerc) in his notes on 
 Grotius^ says that if any one object to the au- 
 thor's words, he may be answered that it is not 
 at all necessary that the matter be the same in 
 the actual number of particles, as that which was 
 put into the tomb at man's death. He will be 
 the same man, though his spirit be joined to 
 matter with which it never was joined before, 
 provided only it be the same spirit, not less than 
 it is the same man, who at one time is a decrepit 
 sexagenarian, and formerly an infant in the cradle, 
 though not a single particle of the one may have 
 belonged to the other. The body may be said to 
 rise again when a material body is formed of 
 the clay, exactly like the first, and the same 
 spirit is joined to it. There is therefore no need 
 that we should involve ourselves in difficulties in 
 defending the toutotj;? of matter too rigidly. 
 
 ^ See the place cited before, Lecture II. (p. 39.) 
 
 E 2 
 
68 LECTURE III. 
 
 And Whitby ^: ' I am far from thinking that 
 to the raising of the same bodies it can be requi- 
 site that these bodies should be made up wholly 
 of the same particles which were once vitally 
 united to their souls in their former life, without 
 any admixture of any other particle of matter ; 
 for were this necessary to the same living body, 
 we could not have the same bodies for a day ; 
 and if it be not necessary to make the body con- 
 tinue still the same while we live, it cannot be 
 necessary to make the raised body the same with 
 that which died.' 
 
 And Archbishop Tillotson- says : * The diffi- 
 culty of these objections is avoided perfectly by 
 those who hold that it is not necessary that our 
 bodies at the resurrection should consist of the 
 very same parts of matter that they did before ; 
 there being no such great difference between one 
 parcel of dust and another ; neither in respect of 
 the power of God, which can as easily command 
 this parcel of dust as that to become a living body, 
 and being united to the soul to rise up and walk : 
 so that the miracle of the resurrection will be all 
 one in the main, whether our bodies be made of 
 the very same matter they were before, or not. 
 Nor will there be any difference as to us ; for 
 whatever matter our bodies be made of, when 
 they are once reunited to our souls, they will then 
 be as much our own as if they had been made of 
 
 ^ Preface to First Epistle to the Corinthians. 
 s Sermon cxl. Vol. ii. fol. Ed. \^\^. 
 
LECTURE III. 69 
 
 the very same matter of which they consisted 
 before. Besides that the change which the re- 
 surrection will make in our bodies will be so 
 great, that we could not know them to be the 
 same, though they were so.' 
 
 Without agreeing with all that is here said, 
 it is sufficient to shew that Archbishop Tillotson, 
 who did not himself entertain the opinion which 
 he here quotes as sufficient to obviate all diffi- 
 culty, allowed it to be a valid answer while he 
 adhered to the more popular persuasion. 
 
 There is then no abandonment of high theo- 
 logical precedent, when we hesitate to admit the 
 idea of a resurrection of the same material par- 
 ticles as once formed the man's body. Nor are 
 we inconsistent when we turn to the mental phi- 
 losophers and ask for their definition of personal 
 identity, in order to prove that no such preserva- 
 tion of the selfsame atomic constituents is at all 
 necessary to secure a resurrection of the same man. 
 
 The reasons urged against the popular under- 
 standing are : — 
 
 1. That sameness does not consist in iden- 
 tity of particles, because it can be shewn that 
 the same man is, at different periods of his life, 
 composed of different particles. 
 
 2. That identity of the individual must there- 
 fore chiefly be a mental identity. 
 
 3. That even if it require identity of particles 
 in any degree, yet additions to or subtractions 
 from them may be made without that identity 
 
70 LECTURE III. 
 
 being destroyed. And from physical changes 
 viewed as analogies, such as when a piece of ice 
 is converted into steam, we may argue that iden- 
 tity of particles is consistent with change of state 
 to any conceivable extents 
 
 Before proceeding to the discussion of these 
 points, we may remark that there is no strength 
 in the argument used by ancient apologists^ and 
 reiterated by modern divines, that it is necessary, 
 for purposes of justice, that the same particles of 
 matter should suffer happiness or misery, ac- 
 cording to the conduct of the individuals of whom 
 they formed part. 
 
 This is untenable, because it is to endow the 
 particles of matter with qualities of desert, or 
 culpability, which can only attach to the moral 
 agent; it extends to the mere instruments of action 
 the guilt of the actor : and though it be said that 
 under the law of Moses we have examples of 
 
 ^ Though in a succession of related objects it be in a manner 
 requisite that the change of parts be not sudden nor entire in order 
 to preserve the identity ; yet where the objects are in their nature 
 changeable and inconstant, we admit a more sudden transition than 
 would be otherwise consistent with that relation. 
 
 2 TertulUan cle Test'imomo Animce, c. 4 : ' Necessario tibi sub- 
 stantiam pristinam ejusdemque hominis materiam et memoriam re- 
 versuram quod ct nihil mali ac boni sentire possis sine carnis pas- 
 sionalis facultate, et nulla ratio sit judicii sine ipsius exhibitione, qui 
 meruit judicii passionem.' — De Besur. Carnis, c. ^Q. Pearson on 
 the Creed, Art. Resurrection of the Dead. See also TertulUan's 
 Apology, c. 48. Tatian, c. 6. Athenag. 18—22. de Res. 14. 5. 
 Ambrose de Fid. Res. § 88. Ci/ril Jer. xviii. 19. Amir. Exh. 
 Virg. c. 9. § 59. quoted in the notes to the English Translation of 
 TertulUan in the Library of the Fathers. 
 
LECTURE III. 71 
 
 inanimate or irrational instruments of sin being 
 condemned to destruction ^ which seems to a cer- 
 tain extent to justify the idea of the material 
 wherewith sin is committed, being involved in the 
 condemnation incurred by the sinner ; yet most 
 thinking persons will be prepared to admit that 
 the examples thus exhibited must have been de- 
 signed to teach a dull and gross-minded people 
 the sinfulness of sin, rather than to exhibit a ven- 
 geance taken upon material instruments. By 
 means of our present bodies sensations of pain 
 or pleasure may be conveyed to the soul. The 
 risen body may in like manner be made the in- 
 strument of this dispensation ; the result will be 
 the same, whether the same particles be employed 
 or not. In the sentencing of moral agents we 
 admit the idea of retribution ; but to irrational 
 substances this cannot extend. They cannot have 
 any either hateful or commendatory qualities in 
 the sight of the Divine Artificer : there can there- 
 fore be no peculiar necessity that material parti- 
 cles should be doomed to particular states from 
 
 ^ In the Old Testament. The passage in S. Jude, ver. 22, which 
 appears to point at the same hatred of material substances as we see 
 displayed in instruments of sin under the old covenant, seems not to 
 be rightly translated. See Dr Peile's note. He says the ordinary 
 translation would require tov diro Trj<; aapKo^ a-iriXinQeuTa ^irtoi/a — 
 instead of tov citto rrj^ (rapK6<; eo-TTfAw/xefoi/ T^iTwya, which he trans- 
 lates, abhorring even that soiled garment tchich cometh of the jlesh ; 
 that active principle which is still lurking in our earthly members 
 and found in opposition to the heaven-sent and engrafted principle 
 of the Spirit, so that the garment here is taken to mean the deprava- 
 tion of nature which remaineth even in the regenerate. See also 
 Burnet^ De Statu Mortnorum et Resurgaitium, c. ix. p. 197. 
 
72 LECTURE III. 
 
 their accidental connexion with a particular hu- 
 man body, and if they are, we cannot discern any 
 special object therein, for only sentient beings 
 can be capable of moral retribution, in the sense 
 of feeling or perceiving why they are thus sub- 
 jected to it ; and in the case of the general judg- 
 ment the punishment, for example's sake, would 
 not have place. 
 
 It is also a considerable argument against this 
 view, that by the constant flux of particles in the 
 human body, the individual in the sense thus 
 insisted on, cannot at his death be at all the 
 same as he who years before committed acts de- 
 serving punishment ; so that in this regard the 
 argument itself would prove that the risen body 
 must contain many more particles than what it 
 had in its composition at the time of death. 
 
 It is by reflections such as these that men 
 have been led to the conclusion that it can be of 
 little consequence to personal identity that ma- 
 terial particles should be the same. The obser- 
 vations of Sir Kenehn Dighy, on the Religio 3fe- 
 dici, contain the following remark : ' Methinks 
 it is a gross conception to think that every atom 
 of the present individual matter of a body, every 
 grain of ashes of a buried corpse, scattered by the 
 wind throughout the world, and after numerous 
 variations, changed peradventure into the body 
 of another man, should at the sounding of the 
 last trumpet be raked together again from all 
 the corners of the earth, and be made up anew 
 
LECTURE III. 73 
 
 into the same body it was before ^' And Dr 
 Thomas Burnet, in his Treatise de Statu Mortuo- 
 rum et Re sur gentium (c. ix. p. 205) writes in the 
 same strain. 
 
 In what then consists identity? LocJce first of 
 all gives us a clear notion of what he had resolved 
 it to be. He himself sums it up in the words, ' Con- 
 sciousness makes the same person.' That the same 
 immaterial substance or soul, alone, or wherever 
 it may be, or in whatsoever state, makes the same 
 man, he rejects absolutely. This was the conclu- 
 sion to which Cicero had arrived in the Somnium 
 Scipionis^. ' You are not mortal, but only this 
 
 ^ ' Yet if we will be Christians, and rely upon God's promises 
 we must believe that we shall rise again with the same body that 
 walked about, did eat, drink, and live, here on earth, and that we 
 shall see our Saviour and Redeemer with the same, the very same 
 eyes, wherewith we now look upon the fading glories of this con- 
 temptible world.' 
 
 ' How shall these seeming contrarieties be reconciled ? If the latter 
 be true, why should not the former be admitted?' He then asks 
 Lord Dorset if he think he have now the same eyes and same person 
 as in early youth, and in infancy, and continues, ' How can this body 
 be now called the same as it was forty years ago unless some higher 
 consideration keep up the identity of it V and he concludes, that the 
 foryn remains, and that matter by itself hath no distinction ; and 
 then says, 'It is evident that sameness, t/iisness, tkatness, belonweth 
 not to matter by itself (for a general indifference runneth through 
 it all) but only as it is distinguished and individuated by the form, 
 which in our case, whensoever the same soul doth, it must be under- 
 stood always to be the same matter and the same body.' — Observa- 
 tions upon the Religio Medici, by Sir K. Dighj, Knt. 5th Ed. Lond. 
 1672, pp. 134—136. 
 
 2 ' Sic habeto : non esse te mortalem sed corpus hoc ; non enim 
 tu is es, quam forma ista declarat: sed mens cujusque is est quisque, 
 non ea figura qua digito demonstrari potest.' — Cicero, Somnium Set- 
 
74 LECTURE III. 
 
 body of yours : for you are not the being whom 
 this outward form desig^nates; each man's mens 
 is the man himself, not the form which can be 
 indicated by the finger.' Assuming therefore the 
 necessity of a body, or of the constitution of men 
 remaining as it now is, so that he is a compound 
 being, Locke repeats in several places in his 
 chapter on Identity his definition : ' The identity 
 of the same man consists in nothing but a par- 
 ticipation of the same continued life, by con- 
 stantly fleeting particles of matter in succession, 
 vitally united to the same organized body^;' and 
 we know ourselves to be the same by conscious- 
 ness. It was objected to Locke, as by Bishop 
 Butler, that consciousness of personal identity, 
 pre-supposes, and therefore cannot constitute per- 
 sonal identity, any more than knowledge in any 
 other case can constitute truth 2. Consciousness 
 of past actions does indeed shew us the identity 
 of ourselves, or gives us a certain assurance that 
 
 pionis, followinjT Zeno (as he says in Academ. Lib. iv.) : ' Zeno, 
 quasi corporis sirnus expertes, animum solum coniplectitur ;' and see 
 the Commentary oi Macrohius^lAh. ii. Bipont. Ed. Vol. ii. pp. 164—6. 
 Marcus Antoninus, Med. Lib. xii. 3. Tp'ia earw ef thv a-vvea-TtjKu^, 
 amfxanov, •nvevfxd'Ttov, voZ<i' tovtwv tu aWa jwe^p' tov eTrtfjieXeTa-dai 
 Se?!/, ad i<TTt' to le Tp'trov fxovov Kvpita<: a-dv. — Plato, in Alcibiad. I. 
 ovTe TO a-wfxa, ovt£ crvvajxcpOTepov ecmv a.vQpiaTro':...\eitreTai fxritiu 
 uWo Tov uvQpunrov elvcti 17 x/zuT^r/i/. — Aristotle, Eth. IX. 4. hd^ete 3' aV 
 TO voovu cKacTTo? 6ivai, >7 fxaXia-Ta. But Tertulllan recognises the 
 christian truth, De Resur. c. 33, 'tarn corpus homo, quam et anima;' 
 and adv. Marcion. i. 24. 
 
 ^ Essai/ on Human Understanding/, 11. 27- 6. 
 
 2 In the same way Hume objects reasonably to memory pro- 
 ducing personal identity, it rather discovers it. See his Essays. 
 
LECTURE III. 75 
 
 we are the same persons or living agents now 
 wliich we were at the time to which our remem- 
 brance can look back : but still we should be the 
 same persons as we were, though this conscious- 
 ness of what is past were wanting, though all that 
 had been done by us formerly were forgotten. 
 
 The chief defect which Butler, and after him 
 Dr Reid\ find in Locke's definition, is the want 
 of the introduction of an idea of continuance^ and 
 succession. And the latter says, ' Continued 
 uninterrupted existence is necessarily implied in 
 identity, and the proper evidence which we have 
 of it is remembrance.' The remembrance not 
 being necessary to constitute identity, but only 
 necessary to make us aware of our identity ; and 
 he concludes the fourth Chapter of his third 
 Essay with the following remark : 
 
 ' The identity which we ascribe to bodies is 
 not perfect identity ; it is rather something which 
 for convenience of speech we call identity. It 
 admits of a great change of the subject, providing 
 the change be gradual, sometimes even of a total 
 change, and the changes which in common lan- 
 guage are made consistent with identity, differ 
 
 ^ Dr Rc'kTs EssciT/s^ iii. 1. 
 
 2 ' The grain of wheat is cast into the ground ; the full and per- 
 fect stem, blade and ear, spring from it; all differing from the 
 original seed in form, size, colour, and in their constituent material 
 particles; yet the continuity of existence is never for a moment in- 
 terrupted, but whilst minute portions of the substance are succes- 
 sively withdrawn, the gradual substitution and assimilation of others 
 
 build up the entire plant to the full development of its growth.' 
 
 Bishop ShuttJeworth on J Cor. xv. quoted by Dr Peile. 
 
761 LECTURE III. 
 
 from those that are thought to destroy it, not in 
 kind, but in number and degree. It has no fixed 
 nature when applied to bodies ; and questions 
 about the identity of a body are very often ques- 
 tions about words. But identity when applied to 
 persons has no ambiguity, and admits not of de- 
 grees, or of more and less : it is the foundation of 
 all rights and obligations, and of all accountable- 
 ness ; and the notion of it is fixed and precise. 
 
 ' My personal identity implies the continued 
 existence of that indivisible thing which I call 
 myself, and I am conscious of being the same by 
 an exercise of memory.' 
 
 Dr Brown ^ determines, I think most clearly, 
 
 ^ The belief of personal, or as he prefers calling it, mental identity, 
 arises not from any inference of reasoning, but from a principle of 
 intuitive assent, operating universally, immediately, irresistibly, and 
 therefore justly to be regarded as essential to our constitution, — a 
 principle exactly of the same kind, as those to which reasoning 
 itself must ultimately be traced, and from which alone its consecutive 
 series of propositions can derive any authority. This belief, though 
 intuitive, is not involved in any one of our separate feelings, which 
 considered merely as present, might succeed each other in endless 
 variety without affording any notion of a sentient being, more per- 
 manent than the sensation itself, but that it arises, on the considera- 
 tion of our feelings as successive, in the same manner as our belief 
 of proportion or relation in general arises, not from the conception 
 of one of the related objects or ideas, but only after the previous 
 conception of both the relative and the correlative; or rather that the 
 belief of identity does not arise as subsequent, but is involved in the 
 very remembrance which allows us to consider our feelings as suc- 
 cessive, since it is impossible for us to regard them as successive, 
 without regarding them as feelings of our sentient self : not flowing, 
 therefore, from experience or reasoning but essential to them, and 
 necessarily implied in them, since there can be no result in experience. 
 
LECTURE III. 77 
 
 that the result of all this is, that mental' identity 
 would be a more correct expression than personal 
 identity, and that memory is the evidence we 
 have of identity. Consciousness is evidence of 
 present identity, and the memory of past con- 
 sciousnesses the evidence of our being now the 
 same beings that we were at a previous time. 
 
 Let us now add to this the presumption that 
 we have of the perfection of our faculties in the 
 risen state, and we should get a perfect memory 
 which would make us entirely certain of the iden- 
 tity of ourselves with our past man ; and though 
 we concluded in the last Lecture that a similarity 
 of outward form seemed to be presumable from 
 the risen body of our Saviour, yet now we are 
 able to dispense with this; for recognition in the 
 perfected state of the faculties may be quite in- 
 dependent of any bodily quality^. We may be 
 able to have cognizance of the consciousness of 
 others in some way of which now we are ignorant, 
 
 but in the mind which remembers that it has previously observed, 
 and no reasoning bvit to the mind which remembers that it has felt 
 the truth of some proposition from which the truth of its present 
 conclusion is derived. — Dr Broicn's Lectures on the Philosophy of 
 the Human Mind, Lect. xv, pp. 336, 7- 
 
 1 See a curious Tract called ' man in quest of himself in the 
 • metaphysical Tracts by English Philosophers of the 18th century,' 
 edited by Dr S. Parr. — The author was Abraham Tucker. 
 
 2 Thus S. Augustine explains the saying, We shall see Him as 
 He is, 'De visione Dei secundum interiorem hominem certissimi 
 simus. Si autem etiam corpus mira commutatione hoc valuerit, 
 aliud accedet, non illud abscedet.' — Commonitorium ad Fortunatia- 
 num, seu Ep. cxlviii. 
 
78 LECTURE III. 
 
 and thus should not require any material re- 
 semblance to facilitate recognition. S. Paul says, 
 we know that ' we shall be like him, for we shall 
 see him as he is ;' and again, ' then shall we know 
 even as we are known.' May we not conclude 
 from these sayings that the perceptive and reflec- 
 tive faculties shall be enhanced in some won- 
 derful manner, and thus the risen man be capable 
 of knowing others and knowing himself, without 
 those aids which we now require to enable us to 
 do so? so that mental identity may be sufficient 
 in all respects to constitute our ideas oi sameness^. 
 Thus man is composed of a living body and 
 a rational soul, according to ordinary phraseo- 
 logy ; or of body, soul, and spirit, according to 
 that of S. Paul ; the body and soul in the latter 
 case corresponding to the living body with parts 
 and passions in the former, the rational soul of 
 ordinary language to the spirit of the apostolical 
 epistles. That which M. Antoninus^ calls awMa, 
 
 1 Mr Mill {on the Human Mind, Vol. ii. p. 132), ' The life of 
 man is a series of antecedents and consequents, known by experience, 
 i.e. sensation, memory, and other cases of association. Evidence of 
 my own personal identity is the memory of a chain of states of con- 
 sciousness.' 
 
 2 Marci Antonini Meditationes, Lib. ii. § 2, Lib. iii. § 10, Lib. 
 XII. §3. Josephiis, Antiq.l. 1. 2: eVAao-ei/ 6 Geos tov avdpwTroi', 
 yovv diro Trj<s yt]^ \a(imv, Ka\ Trvevfxa evoiKev avTw, Kai ^f/v^t'ji/, 
 
 S. Paul also uses (yiSfxa, yjyvj^t^, vovv^ in Rom. vii. 25. 
 
 There is also another use of the word •4/vx^t] to signify the will, 
 in which case a-iSfxa is the body including the senses and sensitive 
 appetites seated in the body, the flesh and the members, as opposed 
 to the spirit and the mind. The >|/i^X'' "^^d as the toill, is called 
 \l/vx>i TrpuKTiKti. To the (Twfxa thus understood pertains rd irddri, 
 
LECTURE III. 79 
 
 "^v-^rj, vov^i is the actj/xa, ^vy^r}, irveufxa of S. Paul, OF 
 
 the <Tw/ua yj/vxiKov and -rrved/xa of the 15th chapter of 
 the first Epistle to the Corinthians. If during 
 this life by the action of the Holy Spirit of God, 
 the TTveviaa of man be restored to its dominion in 
 the human trilogy, so as to have ascendancy over 
 the crwfjLa and ^|/l'x>7, or (xwfxa yj/u-x^iKof, then the man 
 will be raised to eternal glory. The Trvevfxa, which 
 had returned to God when the natural body de- 
 cayed, and the ^vxn or principle of animal life 
 was suspended S must at the resurrection be re- 
 united to a body, with a principle of life, in order 
 that 7ncm may be raised again or restored : but 
 this body shall be changed, and all the Epithu- 
 metic part of the ^^wxt], which tended to corrup- 
 tion, shall be abolished. ' This mortal must put 
 on immortality, and this corruption must put on 
 incorruption.' The body is not to be altogether 
 lost : nor the existence to be altogether spiritual 2. 
 
 iTTiQvjjiLa, and what Philo calls to QtjXv. Socrates calls it J'tttto?, and 
 the intellectual faculty is tjvioxo^, its rider. In S. Paul the spirit 
 is I'ouc, Sia'i/oia, o-ui/eo-i?. Between them is this ■^rv^rj, as Irenceus, 
 ' Anima est quidem inter hasc duo, ahquando subsequens spiritum 
 elevatur ab eo, aliquando autem consentiens carni decidit in terrenas 
 concupiscentias.' See a learned and interesting note of Dr Ham- 
 mond on 1 Thess. v. 23, where the references are given for what is 
 mentioned above. 
 
 ^ ^//ux^7, the principle of animal life. Juvenal, Sat. xv. 148: 
 ' Mundi 
 Principio indulsit conmiunis conditor illis (sc. gregis mutorum) 
 Tantum animas, nobis animum quoque,' &c. 
 
 Seneca, Ep. lviii.: ' Animantia quemadmodum divido ? ut dicani, 
 quaedam animum habent, queedam tantum animam.' 
 
 2 ' De spiritali corpore, quod in resurrectione habebimus, quan- 
 
80 LECTURE III. 
 
 The spirit is to be reunited to a living body, to 
 be clothed upon with ' our house from heaven,' all 
 that tended to mortality in it being ' swallowed 
 up of life.' 
 
 In the new state the man will be conscious 
 that he is the same person who lived, and acted 
 his part on earth, who believed, and who died ; 
 having perfect memory of all past consciousnesses, 
 perfect apprehension of his past relation to other 
 beings and of their present relation to him, and 
 thus he will know that he is the same Individual 
 being, when he anew walks the earth, and in the 
 certainty of this identity, personality, individu- 
 ality, he will commence, in complete manhood, 
 the Life Everlasting. 
 
 And as far as identity is concerned, the same 
 must be true of the bodies of the wicked as well 
 as of the righteous; we may reasonably conjec- 
 ture (in the silence of Holy Scripture) that in all 
 glorious qualities attaching to the risen body of 
 the just, there must be a marked distinction, while 
 we conceive them to have perfect consciousness 
 of identity, both of themselves and others, and 
 
 turn capiat in melius commutationem, utrum in simplicitatem spi- 
 ritus cedat, ut totus nemo jam spiritus sit ; an quod magis puto, sed 
 nondum plena fiducia confirmo, ita futurum sit spiritale corpus, ut 
 propter inefFabilem quamdam facilitatem spiritale dicatur, servet 
 tamen substantiam corporalem, qu^ per seipsam vivere ac sentire 
 non possit, sed per ilium qui ea utitur spiritum, &c....multa alia 
 quae in hac questione movere (forte moveri) possunt, fateor me non- 
 dum alicubi legisse quod mihi sufficere existimarem sive ad dis- 
 cendum sive ad docendum.' — S. Augustin. Commonitorium ad For- 
 tunatianum, § 16, 
 
LECTURE Iir. 81 
 
 also that they will be incorruptible, that is, fitted 
 for the Future Life of Condemnation ^ 
 
 In all this it has been my endeavour, following 
 the light of reason, in submission to Holy Scrip- 
 ture, to shew wherein identity of persons in the 
 resurrection consists ; to make it plain that such 
 identity involves no contradictions, such as are 
 alleged against the supposition of numerical same- 
 ness of particles ; to indicate the method by which 
 it is shewn to be reasonable that the risen man 
 should be called the same perso7i, even though 
 there be no single particle of matter in the risen 
 body which pertained to the mortal body, viz. 
 this, — by reducing the idea of identity to sameness 
 of the spirit or intellectual part of man ; and so 
 without any call upon faith for singular physical 
 and carnal conceptions of identity of substance, 
 to make good the declaration of Holy Scripture, 
 that all mankind will be raised again incorrupt- 
 ible, to undergo a judgment, which each indivi- 
 dual man will be convinced is several, as far as 
 
 ^ S. Augustini Sermo ccclxii. De Resurrectione : 'Qui antea 
 in Spiritu per fidem non resurrexerint, non ad illain commutationem 
 resurgent in corpore ubi assumetur et absorbebitur omiiis corruptio, 
 sed ad illam pcenalem integritatem. Nam integra erunt et corpora 
 impiorum, nibil ex iis imniinutum apparebit, sed ad poenam erit 
 integritas corporis et quaedam, ut ita dicam, queedam firmitas cor- 
 poris, corruptibilis firmitas, &c.' S. Clirysostom^ Homily x. on 2 
 Ef. ad Cor. : tj /Jiev yap dvda-Taa-ii Koivrj Trduroov, rj Se ^d^a ovKe-rt kowi], 
 a\\ o'l fXiv €v Ti/Jir], ot ce ev a-rifxia, Kai ol fxev el<; pacriXeiav, o'l ce e<<? 
 KoXaa-iv di'aa-TtjaovTai. Homil. de Resurrectione Mortuorum : Ka\ 
 yap TO (TwpaTa twi/ apapTuXmv acpuapTa avtcrTauTai kcii avavaTa' 
 d\\' ri Tifxr] avTV] t(f)oZiov avToTv KoXaaeax; yiverai koi Ttpwpiav. 
 (iCpdapTa y(tp avlcTTaTai^ 'ivn dtaTrnvT0<; Kattj-rat. 
 
 H. L. F 
 
82 LECTURE III. 
 
 he is concerned ; that the words, ' Every man 
 shall bear his own burden,' are verified with scru- 
 pulous exactness ; and that we shall receive the 
 things done in the body with perfect conscious- 
 ness of the justice and equity of the sentence. 
 
 Without attempting to investigate or conjecture 
 further about the pneumatic body, we may yet 
 perhaps be allowed to suggest that certain adap- 
 tations of the body to the governing principle of 
 spirit (to -nyeixoviKov of Antoninus) may be retained; 
 for as we have been accustomed to receive per- 
 ceptions of external things by the senses, and to 
 manifest volition by the bodily organs, it is rea- 
 sonable to connect these organs in the memory 
 with those perceptions and volitions ; and the pe- 
 culiar intellectual mode which is the joint result 
 of this conduct of the understanding, and exer- 
 cise of the bodily powers, both outwardly and in- 
 wardly, may actually constitute the identity which 
 we are seeking to define ; and if so, we shall see 
 herein an additional reason for the restoration of 
 the body to constitute the same man, because it 
 is, as Tertullian^ writes, 'the cogitatorium of the 
 soul.' Caro omne animcB cogitatorium. 
 
 In the Old Testament we have the return of 
 the Spirit to Him who gave it, as the guarantee 
 of the preservation of identity. In the New we 
 get the further notion, that in this life men's 
 bodies are made the Temples of the Holy Ghosts 
 
 ' T>e Resurrectione Carnis, § 15. 
 
 2 This expression is sometimes objected to, but I am unable to 
 
LECTURE III. 83 
 
 and therefore shall hereafter be redeemed from 
 their inheritance of corruption, and when changed 
 from the natural to the spiritual, shall be re-united 
 to the same spirit ; and thus the revelation of the 
 Gospel in this matter is a revelation of the sal- 
 vation of the whole man, of his being transferred 
 from the human tribe where the mundane prin- 
 ciple is predominant, to the new human tribe 
 where the spirit is predominant. 
 
 The quickening of men's mortal bodies by the 
 Spirit is the expression of this change, and the 
 mode in which the Scriptures speak of it allows 
 us to speak of it also as the actual raising of man's 
 body in a new state, and justifies us in so doing. 
 
 While therefore we consider it as undoubted 
 that the glorified body is very different in its 
 qualities and in its substance from those which 
 we now have, yet as the risen body is ours, as 
 w ell as the body in which we now dwell, in respect 
 of this property of being ours, it is the same. If 
 man will be conscious that he is the same being, 
 his resurrection-body will be His body, and the 
 memory of past consciousnesses of connexion with 
 the body, will, to all intents and purposes, make 
 it to him the very same. 
 
 This remark I make because it seems to me 
 that in addressing the majority of mankind, who 
 
 discover why. There is no doubt that the collective body of Chris- 
 tians is called the Temple of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. iii. 16, and 
 2 Cor. vi, 'iQ, Ephes. ii. 21, 22; and as little doubt is there that each 
 Christian's body is called the Temple 6f the Holy Ghost in 1 Cor. 
 vi. 19. Sea Macknight's note on the latter passage. 
 
 F2 
 
84 LECTURE III. 
 
 will not attend to the metaphysical distinctions 
 which obviate difficulties, we must adhere to the 
 way in which the revealed Word of God treats 
 these matters. It is of immense importance that 
 we lose not the idea of final retribution to ourselves 
 individuallij ; and if our Lord, in urging men to 
 the sacrifice of those inclinations which are most 
 dear to us, in order to avoid wrath to come, uses 
 illustrations taken from the notion of our present 
 bodies continuing in the new state of existence, 
 we ought not to shrink from using the same for- 
 cible and earnest monitions. We may defend the 
 doctrine of the resurrection of the body from cavils 
 by shewing that we do not require any faith in 
 things contradictory : we may admit, as I have 
 done, a purely mental Identity as satisfying me- 
 taphysical ideas of sameness in individual per- 
 sons; but this is not to draw us into an abandon- 
 ment of the scriptural mode of speaking, which 
 is no doubt intended, in the wisest manner pos- 
 sible, to influence the majority of mankind, and 
 is adapted to its end by the wisdom of the Divine 
 Spirit. We must not, in compliment to the scru- 
 pulous and captious reasoner, preach the Gospel 
 in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but in 
 words which God the Holy Ghost teacheth. How 
 shall the divine message be made most eflectual 
 to reclaim men from sin ? This it is our bounden 
 duty to inquire ; and though with some men it 
 may be necessary to make such distinctions and 
 admissions as shall secure their assent, and for this 
 
LECTURE III. 85 
 
 purpose it may be shewn that the Scriptures do 
 not contradict any well-founded metaphysical 
 conclusions, yet there are others whose minds, 
 not being keenly sensitive to these scruples, would 
 fail to be touched if they are addressed in the 
 guarded language of the schools. 'Who knoweth 
 the things of a man, ^ave the spirit of man which 
 is in him V The wise must be taken in their own 
 craftiness, but others in their simplicity. As 
 therefore the Spirit of God searcheth all things, 
 yea, the deep things of God, no one can know 
 these things but that Divine Spirit, and in His 
 words are we to teach and exhort men to flee 
 from perdition. 
 
 Now our Saviour tells us that it is better to 
 enter into life maimed, or halt, or deprived of our 
 bodily organs, than to preserve our members 
 which are the instruments of sin to us, and to be 
 cast into hell, ' the fire that never shall be 
 quenched, where their worm dieth not, and the 
 fire is not quenched.' I do not then hesitate to 
 address the same warnings now to myself and 
 others. I fear lest by the idea of change in the 
 body, I should weaken the appeal which is made 
 to me as to the reality of the life to come, lest I 
 should be apt to consider these things as be- 
 longing to a state far from me, and from my pre- 
 sent impressions and feelings ; and I try to arouse 
 myself by such appeals as the following : 
 
 *' Remember, O man, that the Resurrection to 
 which we are to be called at the day of God's 
 
86 LECTURE III. 
 
 just judgment is a Resurrection of the Body. 
 That this sentient frame in which thou now dwell- 
 est, thine own body, is to be restored again with 
 enlarged capabilities and an infinite capacity for 
 happiness or woe. 
 
 " The record of thy past actions shall be un- 
 erring ; the Judge incorruptible and omniscient; 
 the sentence one that cannot be avoided. And all 
 this thou must meet as a man : thine own body 
 shall be there united to thine own soul. And 
 these members, which every one loveth and che- 
 risheth, shall be there, and shall at the bidding 
 of the Almighty be ready to turn informers 
 against thee, and bear testimony to past sins un- 
 repented of. From thine own body shall come 
 the sentence of death. There shall be the hand 
 that hath been put forth to take unlawful gains, 
 that hath been lifted against thy brother, or been 
 raised in reckless impiety to mock the Most High. 
 There shall be the foot that hath walked in the 
 way of sinners, that hath been swift to shed in- 
 nocent blood, that hath spurned the widow and 
 the fatherless. There shall be the eye that hath 
 glared in malice or pierced in envy ; the eye that 
 hath been a willing inlet of lust upon the pas- 
 sions. And the tongue, — that world of iniquity, — 
 the tongue that hath lied, the tongue that hath 
 spoken blasphemy, the tongue that hath sworn 
 falsely, the tongue that hath taught heresy. All 
 these of thine own household shall become thy 
 foes. The partners and instruments of thy guilt 
 
LECTURE III. 87 
 
 shall be the witnesses, when God shall reveal the 
 secrets of men in the day of Jesus Christ. It is 
 no shadowy, unreal, realm of spirits, no mere 
 flitting dreams of a dist«irbed conscience, that 
 thou shalt then await. But thou shalt see the 
 Judge as he is; in substantial verity shalt thou, 
 the same man, hear the words, ' He that soweth 
 to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption :' 
 a sentence, awful, but just: we may not gainsay it. 
 " On the contrary, if penitent and humble, and 
 if thou hast died in faith, and thy sins have been 
 blotted out, the crimson stain having been cleansed 
 away in the fountain open for sin and all unclean- 
 ness, thou shalt recall, when thy merciful Judge 
 addresses thee as blessed, thy hands uplifted in 
 prayer, and thy feet which have carried thee to 
 the house of God, and the dwelling of the mourner, 
 the eyes that have wept for past sins, and shed 
 tears of compassion over the sick and the father- 
 less, the tongue that hath sung God's praises, and 
 the lips that have declared His judgments. Thou 
 shalt remember that the cry of the desolate was 
 not rejected, that thou hast in obedience to Christ 
 and in love for Him opened thine hand freely to 
 help and befriend Him, in succouring the poor 
 and needy in their distress. The bodily exercises 
 which profit nothing, if done with vain hopes of 
 their being in themselves pleasing to God, may 
 yet be remembered, if undertaken to subdue, by the 
 aid of God's holy Spirit, the remnants of corrup- 
 tion. Thou shalt rejoice in all those things which 
 
88^ LECTURE III. 
 
 thou wast counted worthy to suffer for Christ's 
 sake, and in the anticipation of experiencing the 
 fuhiess of His love shalt realize the blessedness 
 whicli S. Paul could tell thee of, when he looked 
 at the far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
 glory which awaited him after his sufferings for 
 Christ in life present, 'bearing about in his body 
 the marks of the Lord Jesus.' " 
 
 There is nothing inconsistent in thus address- 
 ing men, while we hold the true doctrine of per- 
 sonal identity, because they must be instructed 
 as they are able to bear it. There is a certain 
 moral result to be obtained, the empire of Christ 
 is to be promoted in the hearts of men, and the 
 promises and revelations of the Gospel are the 
 means thereunto, to be used as the weapons of 
 the Spirit of God in spiritual warfare against evil. 
 These must be so used as to produce the required 
 effect. And in urging men with the solemn 
 warnings which the Resurrection of the Body is 
 capable of producing, we are no more inconsistent 
 in telling them that in this very same Body they 
 shall live again, than we are in assuring them 
 that they are the same men who years ago were 
 dedicated to God in baptism by a visible outward 
 sign. The seams of vice in the haggard and guilty 
 countenance of a hardened offender will last for 
 years after the substance of the body has changed ; 
 the brand of the galley-slave endures to his dying 
 hour; it is the same body, in the popular and 
 practical sense of the words. So in speaking of 
 
LECTURE III. 89 
 
 the Day of Resurrection, (while he admits to the 
 subtle objector that the word same must be used 
 in a peculiar sense, yet) for all practical and useful 
 purposes the Christian must adhere to the words 
 of Scripture, and, wliile he professes his belief in 
 the Resurrection of the Dead, must have a defi- 
 nite, clear, and unshaken faith in this great mys- 
 tery, — that at the day when God shall be pleased 
 to judge the sons of men by Jesus Christ, he shall 
 come forth, conscious to himself that he is the 
 same man, and then must a^ait the awful decision 
 on which his eternal fate depends. 
 
 The sura then of the remarks offered in this 
 and the preceding Lectures will be as follows : 
 
 There have been left in man in his fallen state 
 yearnings for immortality, a conviction of a future 
 life of some kind, and of retribution for conduct 
 on earth. To the favoured people of God inti- 
 mations were given of something more definite, of 
 inheritance of divine blessings, which, as divine, 
 could not be finite ; and of the bringing back to 
 life those M'ho had departed ; but this still only 
 dimly led to the idea of a resurrection. The un- 
 certainty, however, is made clear by the revela- 
 tion of Jesus Christ. We are herein taught the 
 fact of a new creation, the regeneration of human 
 nature; that the sentence of mortality is abrogated, 
 and that all mankind shall rise again and live in 
 the body; that those whom God owns for His sons 
 thereby inherit incorruption — sonship of God in- 
 volving that idea, from the beginning of the ere- 
 
90 LECTURE in. 
 
 ation to the end of the world \ That when re- 
 stored to life again, all the mortal, carnal element 
 in the Sons of God will have disappeared, and 
 their resurrection-body will be spiritual instead 
 of carnal, an help meet for the glorified, sanctified, 
 purified spirit, and entirely in subjection to it 
 instead of the animal soul. That, though in ma- 
 terial particles it may have nothing in common 
 with the former body, yet undoubtedly by the 
 restoration of the faculties to a jyerfect state, the 
 risen man will be completely conscious of his 
 identity with his former self, as clearly and as 
 distinctly as he now is of being the same person 
 during his existence on earth, and thus will attain 
 to that which he looked for in his mortal exist- 
 ence, — the redemption of the Body. 
 
 This glorious inheritance is within the reach 
 of all of us, who are in Christ's new covenant; 
 w^e should strive now earnestly to become fit for 
 it. And if through Faith we lay hold on the 
 Hope set before us, and shew this by our Love 
 to God and the brethren, the holy Spirit of God 
 will in due time exalt us to the place whither our 
 Saviour Christ is gone before ; and redeemed, we 
 shall in the bright, happy, and glorious train 
 follow our triumphant Master into the Heaven 
 of heavens, the Holy City of our God. 
 
 Unto which may it please Him of his infinite 
 mercy to bring us all through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. 
 
 ' See Archbishop Tillotson, Sermon lxvi. Vol. i. fol. ed. 
 
LECTURE IV, 
 
 S. JOHN II. 18—22. 
 
 Then answered the Jews and said unto him^ What sign 
 shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things ? 
 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, 
 and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the 
 Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, 
 and wilt thou rear it up in three days ? But he spake 
 of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen 
 from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said 
 this unto them ; and they believed the scripture, and the 
 word which Jesus had said. 
 
 rpHE argument for the verity of the Resurrec- 
 -■- tion of our Lord Jesus Christ has been so 
 thoroughly handled that it can hardly need repro- 
 ducing at the present day. We are not surprised, 
 nevertheless, that in the current infidel literature 
 all the old objections are revived. This is the 
 usual plan on which the opponents of Christianity 
 proceed, and the best answer to them is to bring 
 out of the treasury the armour which has been 
 stored up, and reproduce it for the conflict. Bishop 
 Sherlock's 'Trial of the Witnesses,' and subse- 
 quent works of that date, which take up the ques- 
 tion and answer the cavils of dissatisfied antago- 
 nists, are still, as far as I can judge, the best 
 
92 LECTURE IV. 
 
 defence of the orthodox docirine; and to these we 
 ought to refer when need arises. 
 
 But though the main facts on which our reli- 
 gion depends, are as clearly proved, as in the 
 Dispensation of Faith we have any right to 
 expect, there may often remain in some of the 
 particulars which surround them, points which 
 require consideration, because they involve diffi- 
 culties, which therefore are laid hold of by the 
 enemies of Christianity, and may be distorted so 
 as to cause uneasiness in the minds of some, and 
 disturb their convictions, though they may not 
 prevail to overcome them. 
 
 I propose in the present Lecture to consider, 
 as a subject suitable to the season to which these 
 Lectures have been assigned, the question of the 
 prophecies of our Lord's resurrection ; and in so 
 doing to follow the author of the ' Life of Jesus' on 
 this point, and endeavour to set aside the prejudice 
 he creates in the minds of his readers against 
 the truth of Christ's resurrection, by attempts to 
 disprove the fact, that our Lord himself uttered 
 predictions of that event. 
 
 It is very difficult, in one sense, to grapple 
 with selected portions of this writer's arguments ; 
 because there is hardly any common ground on 
 which to rest : his theory being based mainly on 
 this idea — that the synoptical writers, or the first 
 three Evangelists, as well as S. John writing long 
 after the first preaching of Christianity, made 
 their narratives according to the prevalent impres- 
 
LECTURE IV. 93 
 
 sioiis of tlieir day ; the first giving us the ordinary 
 current notions of the Christian Church, and so 
 retailing in their histories legendary tales along 
 with some historical fragments; and the latter 
 putting into the mouth of our Lord sayings which 
 accorded with the form which the doctrine had 
 taken in his time, or supporting his private views 
 by attributing to Christ's own words meanings 
 which the writer himself had conceived, or the 
 teachers of his day and his party had adopted. 
 
 The guidance of the Holy Spirit is completely 
 ignored ; nothing is taken as true because it is 
 written ; our books which we regard as inspired 
 are treated as if they were mere pamphlets tinged 
 with party spirit ; or as we should now treat some 
 ephemeral modern account of any remarkable 
 events of fifty years back. 
 
 No doubt the way to repel such views, and suc- 
 cessfully resist such a system, is to do battle to 
 its first principles, to vindicate to the Evangelists 
 their true character, to re-establish the credibility 
 of their histories, on the solid grounds of their 
 genuineness and authenticity, and to maintain the 
 certainty of their testimony on the truth of their 
 inspiration, and their special guidance by the Holy 
 Spirit of God in recording those facts, doctrines, 
 and precepts, a knowledge of which is essential 
 to the well-being of the Church of Christ. 
 
 But how few of those into whose hands are 
 put the works which reflect on the Faith of the 
 Church ever have the antidote ! How many there 
 
94 LECTURE IV. 
 
 are who take up casually a book like the ' Life of 
 Jesus,' and see the specious objections which are 
 heaped together in every page, and made to tell 
 in the mass of their discordance against our whole 
 theological system ; and how many of these carry 
 away with them the bare fact, that a difficulty has 
 been pointed out, for which they have no ready 
 solution ! And who shall say whether this may 
 not be a plague-spot of the conscience, the germ 
 of a spirit of disaffection to the Church, the com- 
 mencement of a falling away from the faith ? 
 
 It is not then a labour of small importance to 
 endeavour to obviate the force of objections urged 
 against particular parts of the history detailed in 
 the Gospels. It is allowed, that the real contest 
 with the school of mythical interpreters must be 
 carried on against the fundamental ideas of their 
 system, but it is also presumed, that the way in 
 which they bring to bear in their favour difficulties 
 of interpretation, or disagreements of annotators 
 on the Scriptures, may be shewn to be unfair, 
 and sophistical, with advantage to those (a large 
 class) who are prone to take up particular cases, 
 and who are troubled in their minds by such 
 distorted and exaggerated representation of erro- 
 neous conceptions, by ingenious juxtapositions 
 of accounts apparently contradictory, which the 
 subtle foes of dogmatic Christianity pretend to 
 point out in our sacred books. 
 
 In the case which we propose to consider, the 
 main strength of the objection to the ordinary 
 
LECTURE IV. 95 
 
 idea which seems to be patent on the face of the 
 history, that Christ repeatedly foretold his own 
 Resurrection, is this : that the Apostles after our 
 Lord's apprehension, trial, and death, seem to 
 have had no expectation whatever of such an 
 event. ' Nothing,' says Strauss, ' shews the least 
 trace of their remembrance of predictions which 
 had announced to them that their Master's death 
 should be followed by a resurrection ; nor the 
 least spark of hope of seeing such predictions 
 accomplished.' 
 
 The expectation of the women who intended 
 to embalm the body, their amazement at finding 
 the tomb empty, the reception which the apostles 
 gave to the report of the women, which they 
 treated as idle tales, their disbelief in the account 
 of the women who had seen Christ, and the final 
 doubts of some when many had become con- 
 vinced ; all these facts are heaped together to 
 shew that it is not at all probable that our Lord 
 foretold his resurrection, and therefore, argues 
 this writer, when the myth of the Resurrection 
 had become so prevalent as to command general 
 belief, the predictions were invented by the 
 Gospel-writers, and inserted in the narrative, to 
 support the prevalent persuasion. 
 
 The direct predictions of the Resurrection 
 being thus disposed of, he next attacks tlie in- 
 direct or typical prophetic assertions, especially 
 that of our text, to shew that it could not have 
 the meaning which S. John attaches to it. Before 
 
96 LECTURE IV. 
 
 discussing this, we may consider the tirst objec- 
 tions to the record of Christ having foretold his 
 resurrection. 
 
 Its main strength, as we have before said, lies 
 in the acknowledged fact, of the want of faith in 
 the Apostles and others, after our Lord's death : 
 if then we can shew that there was nothing sur- 
 prising in this, but rather the contrary, we shall 
 remove the chief part of the difficulty. It \vill 
 not be necessary to argue against the supposition 
 of the spuriousness of the predictions attributed 
 to Christ, because, consenting to do this would 
 be surrendering important positions, which we 
 have said must be maintained, as to the credi- 
 bility of the whole Gospel History. I mean that 
 the question of the genuineness or spuriousness of 
 the recorded prophecies is not to be decided on 
 narrow grounds, but must be made to rest on the 
 settlement of much larger questions, the Inspi- 
 ration and Authenticity of the Gospels ; and the 
 integrity of the narrative must be preserved from 
 such partial criticisms. While then we keep this 
 in mind, we may with advantage argue from the 
 internal evidence of the history itself, that these 
 unfavourable conclusions are not warranted, and 
 that there is no such inconsistency in the conduct 
 of the Apostles as should make us require an 
 extraordinary adjustment of the facts of the case. 
 For this object we may notice : — 
 
 First: that the Apostles being unlearned men, 
 were not probably acquainted with the doctrine 
 
LECTURE IV. 97" 
 
 of the Resurrection, about which the principal 
 religious schools in Judaea debated and argued : 
 and so the Resurrection of the Dead was a strange 
 idea to them. We are not left in doubt in this 
 matter, for on one occasion, when our Lord spake 
 of His Resurrection, they understood not the 
 saying, as S. Mark tells us, (ix. 32), and also that 
 the saying was hid from them, neither knew they- 
 the things which were spoken (S. Luke xviii. 34), 
 and that they questioned with one another what 
 the Resurrection of the Dead should mean, (S. 
 Mark ix. 10). They were, indeed, hereafter to 
 see instances of persons raised from the dead by 
 our Lord'; but in these cases they had before 
 their eyes the prophet in whom they trusted ex- 
 ercising miraculous power ; and when he was 
 himself apprehended, condemned, and put to 
 death, and their faith in Him was shaken, who 
 was then to call him back to life? With His 
 death came the destruction of all their hopes, and 
 
 ^ Such instances were however of a very different kind to what 
 we conceive involved in the idea of ' the Resurrection of the Dead,' 
 speaking generally; as those persons raised from the dead were, as 
 far as we can learn, not exempted from ultimate mortality. It makes 
 their resurrection not differ very much from the healing of disease. 
 Some persons have made needless enquiries about the fact, whether 
 persons raised from the dead by our Lord were again to die. S. 
 Avgustine may answer the enquiry thus, Enarratio in Ps. cxxvr. 
 V. 7 : ' Unus resurrexit jam non moriturus. Resurrexit Lazarus, sed 
 moriturus; resurrexit Filia archisynagogi, sed moritura; resurrexit 
 filia viduce, sed moriturus ; resurrexit Christus, non moriturus.' In 
 Ps. cxxii. 4 : ' Multi enim ante ilium mortui sunt, sed nemo ante 
 ilium resurrexit in aeternum.' Li Ps. cxxix. 9: 'Nemo resurrexerat 
 nunquam moriturus, nisi Dominus.* 
 
 H. L. G 
 
98 LECTURE IV. 
 
 there was none to whom they could then look for 
 support, encouragement, or assistance. A resur- 
 rection from the dead of any one, without a divine 
 messenger to exert power over him, was a strange 
 idea to them. We have indeed reason to suj^pose 
 that among the more educated of the Jewish 
 people the doctrine of a resurrection was gene- 
 rally received, and though rejected by some, yet 
 understood by them ; but still it does not seem 
 improbable that the words quoted from S. Mark's 
 Gospel are to be taken in their plain literal 
 meaning, and that the poor fishermen from the 
 coasts of the sea of Galilee did not yet under- 
 stand what was meant by the Resurrection of the 
 Dead'. 
 
 But suppose it could be shewn that the idea 
 of a resurrection of the dead were more univer- 
 sally prevalent than such a supposition would 
 assume ; we may, in the second place, argue that 
 the Apostles may only have looked for some re- 
 
 ^ There was a gradual progress in the clearness of the prophecies 
 of the resurrection, as the disciples were able to bear it, and gained, 
 or might have gained, in knowledge of Christ's kingdom. Thus we 
 have the emblematic prophecy in S. John, 2d chapter, at the be- 
 ginning of our Lord's ministry, on his first journey to Jerusalem. 
 After he returned into Galilee, we have the sign of Jonas, S. Matt. 
 xii. 38, S. Luke xi. 29; repeated again at another time, see S, Matt. 
 xvi. 4. Subsequently to those he began to instruct the disciples 
 more clearly, S. Matt, xvi, 21, S. Mark viii. 31, S. Luke ix. 2L 
 Again, S. INLatt. xvii. 9, S. Mark ix. 10; then S, Mark, ix. 30, and 
 parallel passages ; and on his journey to Jerusalem for the last time, 
 S. Matt. XX. 17, S. Mark x. 32, S. Luke xviii. 31 ; and in his last 
 discourses, S. John xiv. 18 — 28; xvi. 16 — 20, and just before his 
 passion, S. Matt. xxvi. 32. 
 
LECTURE IV. 99 
 
 storation of the doctrine, and following of Christ, 
 at so7ne future time, and not have understood that 
 'the third day' was to be taken literally. Now 
 with candour which commands respect and con- 
 fidence in their veracity, the Evangelist tells us of 
 the slowness of comprehension of the immediate 
 hearers of Christ, and how after his resurrection 
 things which he had told them received as it 
 were new light, and were understood by them in 
 their real intent, whereas before they could not 
 comprehend them. So we are told in the text, 
 ' When he was risen from the dead the disciples 
 remembered that he had said this unto them.' 
 And the angel, who told those who came early to 
 the sepulchre about the prophecy of the resur- 
 rection, speaks thus : ' He is not here, but is risen: 
 remember how he spake unto you, when he was 
 yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be 
 delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be 
 crucified, and the third day he must rise again. 
 And thcTj remembered his ivoi^ds.' All this makes 
 us inclined to believe that the disciples could not 
 have understood our Lord in any literal sense, 
 even when he spake openly, {rrapprjaia, S. Mark 
 viii. 32) ; for S. Peter's attempt to rebuke our 
 Lord for applying to himself the words foretelling 
 his passion, shews us what temper they were of, 
 and what aversion they had to entertain thoughts 
 of his actual passion. Therefore it will not be a 
 groundless conjecture if we suppose that on other 
 occasions of His forewarning them, and com- 
 
 G2 
 
100 LECTURE IV. 
 
 forting thera with assurances of his return to life 
 and re-appearance among them, they might con- 
 clude that he only intended the restoration, in 
 some way or other, of the kingdom of heaven, 
 after a temporary obscurity. 
 
 This applies to the time between his death 
 and resurrection still more strongly; for in the 
 third place their minds were pre-occupied Mith 
 an erroneous idea of a temporal kingdom, which 
 would disincline them even to entertain for a 
 short time the notion of the Messiah being really 
 and actually one who had suffered death ; and 
 when their hopes were utterly gone, and they 
 considered that they had been indulging in a 
 dream which was not to be satisfied, * we trusted 
 that it had been He which should have redeemed 
 Israel' (understanding literally the prophecy of 
 Zacharias), we ought not to be surprised that they 
 should have ceased to remember His promise of 
 a Resurrection. When He had, as they thought, 
 so bitterly disappointed them, his mention of a 
 temporary absence, even if they recollected it, 
 must have seemed to them almost a mockery, 
 when contrasted with their frustrated expectations. 
 Their views generally before the outpouring of 
 the Spirit were carnal ; up to the very time of the 
 Ascension, the same impression prevailed that 
 they were to be set up over Israel, (Acts i. 16). 
 How unlikely then that just after the shock of 
 our Lord's death, as a leader of sedition among 
 the peoj)le, and the premature and abrupt close 
 
LECTURE IV. TOl 
 
 of His career, (as they then fancied,) — having for- 
 saken him, and fled from him, and hiding in 
 secret places for fear of the Jews — how unlikely 
 that they should remember his prophecy of 
 coming to life again so as to anticipate any posi- 
 tive actual fulfilment of it. 
 
 Fourthly : Strauss thinks it incredible that the 
 disciples should disbelieve, and the chief priests 
 and Pharisees be sufficiently alive to the report 
 to act upon it^. But let us consider the difference 
 in position of the two parties. The disciples dis- 
 mayed and confounded at the sudden discomfiture 
 of all their anticipations, their worst fears verified, 
 themselves suspected of being privy to seditious 
 intentions, and their Leader and Master taken 
 prisoner and destroyed. On the other hand, the 
 priests and Pharisees considering that they had 
 crushed a dangerous rebellion against their reli- 
 gion and polity, and anxious to take every means 
 to secure their advantage ; many of them (as we 
 cannot but suppose) acting on imperfect informa- 
 tion and exaggerated accounts, honestly thinking 
 that the new sect was like others which they had 
 witnessed, a plot or contrivance of cunning rest- 
 less men to overthrow the government and change 
 the laws ; and conceiving that their security de- 
 pended on the friendly disposition of the Roman 
 power, they would be anxious to assist in re- 
 
 ^ The doubts that have been thrown on the genuineness of this 
 narration are answered in Michaelis ErkUirung der Begr'dhniss und 
 Aufergtehungs gefcMchfe Chrisfi, p. 84, et seq. 
 
102 LECTURE IV. 
 
 moving all appearance of disaffection to the ruling 
 authority. Such men, when any rumour was 
 brought of an intended prolongation of the sedi- 
 tious movement, knowing how easily the people 
 were deceived, would not unnaturally take pre- 
 cautions. While the disciples, from the blasting 
 of their hopes, and the prevalence of fear, would 
 despondingly look for nothing but evil conse- 
 quences to themselves ; the others, exulting in 
 their success, would strive carefully to prevent 
 any, even the most improbable contrivances, from 
 having any effect in reviving the dangerous fac- 
 tion which they had apparently destroyed. 
 
 From these considerations, arising out of the 
 narrative as it comes to us, and assuming nothing 
 more than the honesty of the writers, it seems to 
 me that there is sufficient to account for the un- 
 belief of the Apostles, and the fact that the pro- 
 mise of resurrection did not seem to give them 
 any comfort in their distress. 
 
 And besides. Me may further notice that it is 
 a great exaggeration to say that they were inve- 
 terately disinclined to believe the news of the 
 resurrection. S. Peter and S. John ran to the 
 sepulchre as soon as they heard of it. The sur- 
 prise and astonishment which they must have 
 felt, and the rush of feelings of difierent kinds 
 which must have filled their agitated hearts at 
 this sudden little expected event, the strong re- 
 vulsion from despondency to a wonderful expec- 
 tation of still greater things to follow, beyond all 
 
LECTURE IV. 105 
 
 that they had so lately ventured to think : all 
 this is indicated in the Evangelical accounts. 
 * They believed not for joy.' 'The women de- 
 parted quickly from the sepulchre, with fear and 
 great joy.' * They trembled and were amazed, 
 neither said they anything to any man, for they 
 were afraid.' This fear and trembling, joy and 
 amazement, with hopes of a new and strange kind 
 in their bosoms, must have naturally made the 
 Apostles, and those who came first to the sepul- 
 chre, move to and fro anxiously, and converse 
 somewhat incoherently ; and if we estimate the 
 effect of these various tumultuous feelings, we 
 find rather a congruity and consistency in the 
 variations of the accounts of their conduct^. 
 
 Besides, if the Apostles had been too ready to 
 receive the report of Christ's resurrection, it 
 would have been used as an argument to shew 
 that their expectations deceived them ; and that 
 in their eagerness to receive intelligence of the 
 actual fact of their Master having risen again, 
 they were credulous, and on that account not 
 trustworthy witnesses^. 
 
 With every endeavour to appreciate the diffi- 
 culty which persons have found in the conduct of 
 the Apostles between the Lord's apprehension and 
 resurrection, and the discrepancy which they 
 fancy they discern between that conduct and 
 
 1 ' Quod credunt tardius, non est perfidise sed anxoris.' — S. Ckrt/- 
 sostom. Serm. 81. {Dr Barrow.) 
 
 2 Lampe in Blomf. Syn. Tom. in. p. 63. 
 
104 LECTURE IV. 
 
 what is expected from them, I have not been able 
 to see anything approaching to inconsistency : 
 nothing in their hesitation and doubt but what 
 might have been expected ; and the narrative 
 rather commends itself to me by its artless honest 
 character in this respect, as the plain, true, ge- 
 nuine narrative of men who were real actors in 
 the scenes which they describe. 
 
 To pass on to the text: the objection to the 
 assertion of the Evangelist that this figurative 
 saying referred to the body of Christ and to his 
 resurrection from the dead, is urged thus : The 
 scandal caused by the profanation of the temple 
 by the buyers and sellers having provoked our 
 Lord to an act of holy zeal, the Jews demanded 
 a sign which should prove his mission from God, 
 and so justify the authority which he assumed ; 
 His answer is, 'Destroy this temple, and I will 
 raise it in three days.' The Jews understood this 
 of the temple in which they were standing, but 
 our Lord, it is said, meant the Temple of His 
 Body. Did our Lord then intend to give them a 
 sign really, or not ? It is assumed that as he gave 
 them this answer to their question, he intended 
 that it should be an answer, and yet it was one 
 which in its real sense, as we are assured by S. 
 John, they could not generally understand. In 
 reply to this question, we may observe that this 
 is not the only occasion on which they came to 
 Him w ith a request for a sign. Thus in the sixth 
 chapter of 8. John they said unto him, ' What 
 
LECTURE IV. 105 
 
 sign shewest thou that we may see, and believe 
 thee? What dost thou work?' And they then 
 urge the fact that Moses had clearly shewn his 
 heaven-sent authority by giving them a sign. 
 ' Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is 
 written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' 
 This demand of a sign on another occasion is 
 treated by Christ as the offspring of curiosity, or 
 an ill-disposed mind : ' An evil and adulterous 
 generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall 
 no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet 
 Jonas,' repeated twice in S. Matthew's Gospel. 
 S. Mark tells us the Pharisees came forth and 
 began to question with him, seeking of him a 
 sign from heaven, tempting him. 'And he sighed 
 deeply in spirit, and saith, Why doth this gene- 
 ration seek after a sign? Verily I say unto you, 
 that there shall be no sign given unto this gene- 
 ration ;' or, as S. Luke reports it, ' There shall no 
 sign be given, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.' 
 
 Now from this we may conclude that the sign 
 was not meant to be intelligible to the generality 
 of the audience; the natural character of the 
 Gospel was opposed to this carnal demand for 
 testing all things by actual sight, for this reason, 
 that those who required it were not inclined to 
 obey, not disposed towards eternal life ; they 
 were not in that state of mind in which they were 
 accessible to the soft pleadings of the Spirit of 
 God. S. Paul compares this tendency to require 
 signs and wonders before faith, with the seeking 
 
106 LECTURE IV. 
 
 of the Greeks after wisdom, (1 Cor. i. 16,) and he 
 proclaims the Gospel of Christ crucified as being 
 exactly the opposite to these things, a stumbling- 
 block instead of a sign to the Jews, and foolish- 
 ness instead of wisdom to the Greeks. 
 
 Inasmuch as they would not come to Him that 
 they might have life, our Lord preached to them 
 in parables for a testimony, and taught them by 
 signs not immediately to be apprehended, but 
 such, that when the event signified had come to 
 pass, they might prove to them that there had 
 been a prophet among them. (Ezek. xxxiii. 33.) 
 
 The Evangelist tells us that he spake of the 
 Temple of His Body. The Jews understood Him 
 of the Temple in which they stood; and in answer 
 to the question whether our Lord intended that 
 they should thus understand him, we must reply, 
 that He knew they would so apply His words, 
 and therefore must have so intended. For in a 
 figurative sense it was undoubtedly true that the 
 destruction of the Temple should make way for 
 the new spiritual Temple into which all God's 
 children should be gathered ; the passing away 
 of the Jewish polity was to be succeeded by the 
 fulness and universality of the Christian Church ; 
 and though he meant chiefiy and primarily His 
 own Body as the Temple, yet there was a sense 
 in which the words as understood by the Jews 
 would be a sign of the Divine appointment of 
 Christ to regenerate the world ; a sense which 
 after generations might receive, and which we 
 
LECTURE IV. 107 
 
 can now fully understand, although at the time 
 it was obscure and enigmatical. But we may also 
 urge that it was possible for the Jews to have 
 had perception of Christ's real meaning, for the 
 word temple (vao^) as applied to the body, was not 
 necessarily and altogether a strange idea to them. 
 And there may have been some among his hearers 
 not unfamiliar with the application of the word 
 in this sense. The Hebrew word which signifies 
 a dwelling (ii) is used for a man's body in the 
 song of Hezekiah (Isai. xxxviii. 12.) The words 
 translated 7niue age is departed, are understood by 
 Vitringa as meaning * my body was wasted away,' 
 and he supports his opinion by that of Jewish in- 
 terpreters of the Sacred Text. The words bn'a, 
 and aKtjvos, a tent, to denote the body, are not of 
 unfrequent occurrence. And besides, Philo uses 
 the words vaos and lepou, in speaking of the human 
 body, to express the dignity of the indwelling soul'; 
 so that when S. Paul has these expressions, 
 speaking of the same human body, and of the 
 Church of Christ, and calls them temples of God 
 through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we 
 may conclude that he was making use of phrase- 
 
 1 De Opijlcio Mundi, pp. 93, 94, ed. Pfeiff. de corpore primi 
 
 hominis oiKO<: -yap Ti? i] veto's i€po<: eTenTaivero \|/i;^»7? Aoyi/c^?. See 
 also Origenes contra Celsum, viii. pp. 389 — 391. ed. Spencer. 
 
 Philo imitated P/rtto, who said that the d'ya.KfxaTaQeiau were shut 
 up in the bodies of men endowed with great talents and virtues, 
 Sympos. c. 32; and the Greek fathers adopted this and imitated it in 
 aftertimes. Clemens Alex. Strom, vii. c 5 ; Eusehius adv. Hiero- 
 clem, c. 6. 
 
108 LECTURE IV. 
 
 ology not unknown to writers and readers of Iiis 
 day : and we know that in other subjects it has 
 been conjectured, not without good reason, that 
 he referred to the doctrines and used the language 
 of the Alexandrian Jews. 
 
 That such intelligence of Christ's words on the 
 part of those about him was very limited, we 
 must indeed conclude ; and the fact that the ge- 
 neral idea attached to them was of an indefinite 
 kind, may be gathered from the use made of the 
 words afterwards. They would appear to have 
 made a very deep impression upon the Jews: for 
 we find them quoted by the false witnesses at 
 Christ's trial, and used in insulting mockery by 
 the scribes, when our Lord was hanging on the 
 cross. 
 
 The false witnesses seem to have misrepre- 
 sented what was said, for they do not use the 
 words reported by S. John. They give their 
 testimony in a May which would make us sup- 
 pose that a figurative sense ivcls partially under- 
 stood. Their words are thus reported in S. Mark's 
 Gospel : ' We heard him say, I will destroy this 
 temple that is made with hands, and within three 
 days I will build another made without hands.' 
 
 If in the transmission of the saying such an 
 addition had been made as ayeipoTvon^Tov, it seems 
 probable that it may have arisen from sucli par- 
 tial understanding of a figurative sense in the 
 words. The spiritual character of the second 
 temple seems to be hinted at; and later still, in 
 
LECTURE IV. 10$ 
 
 the depositions against S. Stephen, we have it 
 atfirmed of him that he had said, 'Jesus of Naza- 
 reth shall destroy this place, and change the cus- 
 toms which Moses delivered us.' Does not this 
 intimate that Christ's words had been construed 
 to mean the abolition of the law, and the estab- 
 lishment of the kingdom of God in the Gospel ? 
 There is no doubt, however, that most persons 
 considered them as conveying a boast on our 
 Lord's part, which was a subject of ridicule rather 
 than of solemn refutation. And it is either in 
 this sense, or because it had an appearance of 
 treating lightly what the Jews so much valued, 
 that it was turned into a taunt by the passers by 
 at the crucifixion : ' Thou that destroyest the 
 temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, 
 and come down from the cross.' 
 
 Now while any among the hearers understood 
 literally, it is incredible, as some have supposed, 
 that he should have indicated His own body by 
 outward sign ; for then neither the disciples nor 
 the Pharisees could have been ignorant that he 
 spake of the Temple of His Body ; and we are 
 told they really were so, till after he was risen 
 from the dead. 
 
 We must then conclude that our Lord spoke 
 in a manner that conveyed but a distant meaning; 
 and that it was like others of his sayings l 'These 
 things have I told you before it come to pass, 
 that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that 
 I am He.' And in this sense it agrees entirely 
 
110 LECTURE IV. 
 
 with what has been said of the way in which our 
 Lord treated the demand for a sign on other occa- 
 sions. It is quite clear, from the general tone of 
 Christ's teaching, that the scribes and Pharisees 
 were not of that disposition to which the Gospel 
 is adapted in men. The demand for signs and 
 wonders, if complied with, would not have had 
 any effect. If they did not believe ' Moses and 
 the prophets, neither would they be persuaded 
 though one rose from the dead.' In fact, we may 
 at once assume that the signs if given would not 
 have wrought conviction; for if they would have 
 so done, we have a moral certainty that Christ 
 would have given them. Can we believe that 
 Herod, who hoped to have seen some miracle 
 done by Christ, would have become His disciple, 
 if our Lord had complied with this idle and im- 
 pertinent curiosity ? And since He knew all 
 things, and needed not that any should testify of 
 man, because He knew what was in man, and 
 therefore full well could see the motives, and know 
 the tendencies of His hearers, can we suppose 
 it at all likely that the Divine power which He 
 possessed would be uselessly paraded before them, 
 leading to no result but the hardening of their 
 hearts ? Yet while the questioners were by their 
 want of honest anxiety and genuine desire to 
 know the truth, excluded from obtaining an an- 
 swer, our Lord must have remembered that there 
 were some wondering, trembling, anxious followers 
 of His also standing by, who might have watched 
 
LECTURE IV. Ill 
 
 for his answer with sincere desire to get convic- 
 tion of the Truth,: and for these He gave an an- 
 swer to the question, a sign which as yet they 
 should not understand, but one which, when the 
 time should come, they should remember He had 
 told them, and thus should be produced the con- 
 viction which they were ready to embrace and 
 act upon. 
 
 Considered in this light there is nothing un- 
 reasonable or improbable in the account which S. 
 John gives of the answer of our Lord to his ob- 
 jectors. It is entirely in agreement with the man- 
 ner of his ordinary teaching of those who were 
 not inquirers after truth; it forms a harmonious 
 part of that system ; and in considering it we 
 have also assigned reasons for obviating similar 
 objections to the sign of the prophet Jonas, which 
 is very similar in some respects to that we have 
 been discussing. 
 
 So that, on the whole, we have been unable to 
 discern any reason for doubting about the fact 
 that our blessed Lord before His passion repeat- 
 edly foretold his Resurrection, either from the 
 conduct of the Apostles after His death, or from 
 the obscurity or apparent indirectness of the figures 
 under which it was signified ; and we are there- 
 fore not at all prepared to surrender any ground 
 of faith in the Divine Mission of Christ by ^allowing 
 of inconsistency in the evangelical accounts be- 
 tween the fact of predictions and the slowness 
 
112 LECTURE lY. 
 
 and despondency of Christ's followers in believing 
 the Resurrection. 
 
 Indeed, to argue the question on such low- 
 grounds is rather an effort for a Christian. He 
 feels that his faith in the divinely-inspired Scrip- 
 tures as the Oracles of God, a faith first of all de- 
 termined by external evidence, prevents him from 
 undertaking with patience the examination of the 
 credibility of particular facts recorded therein. 
 We are doing violence to our respect for the 
 sacred writers when we canvass their writings 
 with such pitiful suspicion. And though we are 
 obliged to meet cavils wherever they are started, 
 it is one of the most painful duties of an advocate 
 for Revelation that he has occasionally to suspend 
 or lay aside the conviction he has of the Bible 
 being the true and living Word of the Divine 
 Ruler of the ' iverse, in order to meet objections, 
 and canvass dirf^culties, with those who are other- 
 wise minded. 
 
 Thus in the case we have been considering, 
 when he knows that the Resurrection of Christ is 
 the corner-stone of the Gospel, and that the hesi- 
 tations and doubts which men have invented for 
 themselves, and pretended to find in the sacred 
 narrative, have really for their end to throw dis- 
 credit on that great and fundamental doctrine, he 
 can hardly with patience stay to unravel the small 
 meshes of the net which is being thrown over the 
 faith of Christendom. He longs to get free from 
 
LECTURE IV. 113 
 
 such miserable cavils, and urge the arguments 
 which are weapons of attack rather than of de- 
 fence. 
 
 See the wisdom with which Christ's chosen 
 followers were taken from a class whose limited 
 knowledge and constant prejudices were in all 
 respects obstacles rather than favourable to am- 
 bitious schemes. See their weaknesses recorded, 
 and their slowness of apprehension ; how they con- 
 stantly misunderstood their Master, how they 
 abandoned Him in His hour of peril, how they 
 clung as long as they could to unworthy carnal 
 views of power, opposed entirely to what he wished 
 to impress on them, how they hesitated, and 
 wondered, and doubted, when glimpses of the truth 
 of His Resurrection were made known to them, 
 how completely they were of themselves inca- 
 pable of inventing and carrying out any impos- 
 ture ; and then see if the whole work be not evi- 
 dently of God. See if there be any way of account- 
 ing for the first spread of Christianity, unless 
 these men were endowed with special power from 
 the Creator of men, and Ruler of the universe. 
 
 Their simple story was, that Christ Jesus, whom 
 the Jews had slain, was risen from the dead, and 
 had invested them with powers of the most ex- 
 traordinary kind, to effect the conversion of all 
 nations to his religion. And they succeeded, in the 
 midst of hostile races, hostile governments, and 
 hostile neighbours. Jews, heathen, Roman powers, 
 priests, social institutions, systems of policy, of 
 
 H.L. H 
 
114 LECTURE IV. 
 
 philosophy, of religion, were all against them, 
 were all rudely shocked by their attacks and 
 their new doctrines ; nothing was in their favour 
 but truth, Divine truth, backed by Heaven-sent 
 testimony. And in spite of all opposition, in spite 
 of threats and punishment, in spite of persecutions 
 and dispersion, in spite of Jewish hatred, and 
 Roman violence, and Grecian contempt, they suc- 
 ceeded. They succeeded in convincing thousands 
 that the story they had to tell, the message they 
 had to deliver, were true. And all was based 
 upon the Resurrection of Christ. They them- 
 selves told their hearers, ' If Christ be not risen, 
 our faith is vain.' All depended upon this. Were 
 they not then themselves convinced of its truth? 
 Were not their accounts of it to be credited? 
 
 And if the narrative in its honesty reveal to 
 us what we now call, aj'te?' the event, their marvel- 
 lous unbelief in the predictions of our Lord, this 
 very fact becomes a testimony to their sincerity 
 and singleness of purpose. It shews us that they 
 arc honest and true men, to record their own de- 
 ficiencies. It is a proof of their trustworthiness. 
 Would not a different record have provoked the 
 opposite objections ? If they had believed all 
 our Lord foretold them, and been anxious to find 
 the Resurrection a fact, would not this have called 
 forth from enemies expressions of doubt with 
 respect to a circumstance which those who re- 
 ported it were so much interested in finding to 
 be true ? 
 
LECTURE IV. 115 
 
 But, as it is, the Divinely-inspired histories 
 seem to give us evidence of their origin from their 
 exact accordance with the wants we should feel, 
 in examining into the foundations of our faith ; and 
 the very circumstance, — that in spite of predictions 
 of His Resurrection, the Apostles were slow to 
 expect it, — and yet that they recorded this, — and 
 then spent their lives, their energies, their blood, 
 in testifying to mankind — how true He was whom 
 they had doubted, and in whose words they had 
 not sufficiently confided, — how entirely they trusted 
 in Him whom they had abandoned to His enemies 
 in the hour of peril, — how certain they were in His 
 present existence at the light-hand of God, being 
 raised again from the dead to dispense life and 
 immortality to man : — x\ll this, I say, comes home 
 to our judgments and to our afiections, and by the 
 aid of the Holy Spirit of God, now convinces us 
 that the Christian religion is the only true one ; 
 that in trusting to its monitions and promises we 
 are trusting to the very voice of God, and that our 
 true wisdom and true happiness will be in believ- 
 ing the Scripture, and the Word which Jesus hath 
 said. 
 
NOTE TO LECTURE I. 
 
 Woljli Curce PhilohgiccB et Criticoc, Vol. i. p. 315. 
 
 " Some think that this is an argument adhominem, and not suffi- 
 cient of itself to prove what is proposed. So Richard Simon, in 
 Respons. ad Judicia Thcolor/orum Batavoriwi de Historia sua Cri- 
 tica, c. XX. p. 245, and /. Basnage^ in Hist. Jud. Tom. iii. p. 387 ; 
 and for the opposite opinion, see Olcariiis on this place, and Lacroze, 
 Entreticns sur divers siijets, p. 185, and Scherzer in Profframm. 
 p. 176. The opinion that our Lord's argument is to shew the im- 
 mortality of the soul, and not the resurrection of the body, is main- 
 tained in i\\Q Confession of the Oriental Church, edited hy Laurentius 
 Normannus, p. 61. Now certainly the whole object of the Sad- 
 ducees who disputed with Christ is opposed to tliis. That they 
 wished here particularly to oppose the idea of the resurrection of the 
 body may be concluded from their bringing their argument from 
 matrimonial connexion, which cannot be attributed to the soul, or 
 any existence deprived of bodily passion, but only of the body. 
 When then our Saviour answers them, we must suppose that he 
 followed out their original idea. Interpreters differ in pointing oiit 
 the force of the argument ; w^c will bring that forward which we 
 tliink the best. The Saviour here refers to the covenant made be- 
 tween God and the patriarchs, see Gen. xvii. 7- ' But they with 
 whom God makes a covenant of grace, that he will be their God for 
 ever, they must be recalled to life that they may enjoy the promised 
 foederal grace. This covenant is eternal, and therefore they who are 
 included in it must live for ever, and therefore be raised up.' So 
 Gerhardus in Harmonia Evangelic, c. 155, p. 471, which Olearius 
 in the place cited above has enlarged and improved, by stating thus 
 the conclusion of the whole argument, that the patriarchs by virtue 
 of the covenant which God made with them, through faith in tlie 
 promised seed, have already acquired the principle of life, in virtue 
 of which the death in which they are now held does not involve their 
 destruction, but the completion of tliat life whicli necessarily must 
 
 be exhibited according to the covenant at the proper time TVe 
 
 may remark, that the Jews refer to this covenant when they wish to 
 prove the resurrection of tliC dead. In Gemara. cli. p^r\, the tra- 
 dition of Rabbi Simai is produced : ' In what place docs the Law 
 teach the Resurrection of the Dead? Where it is said, And I will 
 establish my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan.' 
 (Ex. vi. 4). For it does not say with you, but with them. It is 
 also said in the same place, tliat Gamaliel produced against the Sad- 
 ducees, when they were demanding proof of the resurrection from 
 the Law, this place, ' AVhich land the Lord sware unto your fathers 
 that he would give them,' Dent. xi. 21." 
 
 See also the argimients of Eulogius, quoted by Photius, Biblio- 
 theca, ch. cxxxi. p. 886. 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 S. MATTHEW XII. 31, 32. 
 
 All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto 
 men : but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall 
 not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaheth a 
 word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: 
 hut whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it 
 shall not he forgiven him, neither in this ivorld, neither 
 in the ivorld to come. 
 
 TT7E cannot be surprised that in all ages of the 
 ^ ' Church, the meaning of the blasphemy 
 against the Holy Ghost has been the subject of 
 much consideration and argument. The awful- 
 ness of the sentence, 'hath never forgiveness,' 
 must ever awaken in men's minds anxious 
 thoughts for the future, and that not only in the 
 case of those who really endeavour to walk in 
 holiness of life, but also in the case of all others : 
 for men generally persuade themselves that there 
 is some hope for them in the largeness of God's 
 mercy, even though they now reject the law of 
 Christ, and disregard the restraints of the Gospel. 
 Thus both religious and irreligious persons feel 
 an interest in fathoming the meaning and extent 
 of this remarkable saying of our Lord, and ac- 
 cording to the different estimation in which men 
 
 H.L. I 
 
118 LECTURE V. 
 
 have held certain doctrines, or certain practices, 
 they have arrived at conclusions widely different 
 on the subject of the unpardonable sin. 
 
 A very short reference to the opinions of the 
 ancients on this subject will be sufficients The 
 most notable is that of S. Augustine, who deter- 
 mines that the sin against the Holy Ghost is the 
 obstinate rejection of the Christian religion, or 
 the offer of remission of sins made by the Holy 
 Ghost, through Christ, in the new covenant. 
 And the most forcible argument he brings for his 
 view is, that not only all Jews and pagans, but 
 all heretics are supposed upon their repentance 
 to be capable of salvation : and therefore Final 
 impenitency must be the blasphemy which has 
 neither remission in this world, nor in the world 
 to come^. 
 
 The consequence of his view is that no man 
 can be said to have committed the unpardonable 
 sin so long as he is alive, and therefore that the 
 warning against it is of a very peculiar and inde- 
 finite kind, and can hardly be said to be practical 
 in any degree ; and besides this, the opinion 
 referred to omits to notice some particulars which 
 holy Scripture gives us of the characteristics of 
 this sin, to which we shall refer hereafter. 
 
 S. Cyprian, as was natural in one of his tem- 
 perament, applied the scriptural denunciation 
 
 ' See Bin<//ia7n's Antiquities, Book xvi. c. vii, § 3, for the 
 authorities referred to. 
 
 ^ S. Au(/ustine, Ser7)iOXi. de Verbis Domini^ cc. iii, xiii, xxiv. 
 
LECTURE V. 119 
 
 against those who in time of persecution aposta- 
 tized from the truth, [as in his 16th Epistle, 
 (p. 40)] and in each successive age, those who 
 embraced the peculiar heresy which then was the 
 object of the Church's censure were supposed to 
 commit the sin against the Holy Ghost. S. 
 Hilary and S. Athanasius consider that those 
 who deny the divinity of the Son were guilty of 
 it. S. Epiphanius, S. Ambrose, and Philastrius, 
 charge those who denied the divinity of the Holy 
 Ghost with the unpardonable sin ; only S. Am- 
 brose attaches the condition of final impenitency, 
 for he proclaims pardon to all who would return 
 to the Church. 
 
 The Novatians extended the irremediable state 
 to all who committed sin after baptism ^ a heresy 
 revived in the time of the Reformation, and ex- 
 pressly condemned by the Church of England in 
 the XVI th Article. 
 
 Modern theologians have taken more general 
 views, and their opinions on the subject may be 
 classed under two heads. They either suppose, 
 that it was the conduct of the Pharisees to our 
 Lord on the occasion when the words were uttered 
 that is described as sin against the Holy Ghost, 
 or that it was the conduct of those who, in after 
 times, by similarly calumniating the gifts of the 
 
 1 Or'igen and Theognostus according to S. Athanasius, Tom. i. 
 p. 990, held this opinion : oTav o'l KciTu^iuidevTe'i ev tw /Swn-Tia-iJ.a'ri 
 T^v h())pea<; tov djlov Ilvev|^aTO^ irdXiv hponrjauxriv etc to dfxaprdvetv. 
 See his refutation of it. See also English translation of Treatises 
 against Avians, Disc. i. c. xii. § 50, pp. 252, 3. 
 
 12 
 
120 LECTURE V. 
 
 Spirit, should resist tlie full and perfect evidence 
 which then was to be exhibited. 
 
 The most elaborate supporter of the latter view 
 is Dr Whitby, but of the arguments he uses some 
 seem to be untenable ^ 
 
 He says, ' That it is not any blasphemy against 
 the Spirit in his miraculous operations, such as 
 were casting out of devils, and healing of diseases, 
 which is here styled the blasphemy against the 
 Holy Ghost. This being here done by the Pha- 
 risees against the Son of man, for he declareth 
 (v. 28) that he did cast out devils by the Spirit 
 of God ; they therefore must blaspheme that 
 Spirit by which our Saviour did this, by saying 
 he cast out devils through Beelzebub, the prince 
 of the devils; and yet our Saviour saith that even 
 the blasphemy against the Son of man should 
 be forgiven, but it was properly the blasphemy 
 against. the Holy Ghost.' 
 
 This seems to me confused and unconclusive. 
 The casting out of devils is especially here referred 
 to. Our Saviour affirms that He did this by the 
 Spirit of God, or elsewhere by the linger of God, 
 denoting in each case that the JDivine Energy 
 wrought this^. The Pharisees, on the other hand, 
 
 1 See Dr Whlthi/s Paraphrase with Annotations on the Neto 
 Testament, Appendix IV. to S. ]\Iatthew's Gospel, ' Concerning the 
 Nature of the Sin against the Holy Ghost,' § 3. 
 
 2 AoKTuAo? Qeov, Cvvafxi<; voeTTai Qeov, hi' ^c tj KTiat<; TeXetovTat 
 ovpavov KUt yiji. — Clem. Alex. Strom. VI. p G81. X^io-toV (xxKrvXov 
 mudixaa-e to irvevna Qeov, Xeyiov, iroTC nfn, Ei he iyoa ev Trvev/jLaTt 
 Qeov eKfSdXXw tcI huifxovia Trnre Se, Ei ?6 ev haKTvXio Qeov f K/3«'\Afti 
 
LECTURE V. 121 
 
 unable to deny the power, attributed to an evil 
 spirit the work of the Spirit of God. And truly 
 this was more properly blasphemy against the 
 Holy Ghost than blasphemy against the Son of 
 man. The miraculous operations which Christ 
 wrought by the Spirit of God they did not deny, 
 but attributed the power through which He 
 wrought them to the evil spirit. It was the 
 ascription of the supernatural power exercised by 
 Christ to this source that called down upon them 
 the denunciation. Thus in S. Mark's Gospel, 
 after arguing with them of the absurdity of the 
 supposition, and repeating the words, ' He that 
 shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath 
 never forgiveness,' the Evangelist adds, * Because 
 they said He hath an unclean spirit.' 
 
 They did not deny Christ's miracles, but the 
 power through which He wrought them : the blas- 
 phemous words spoken are therefore, not so much 
 against Him, as against that spirit of power whose 
 agency was here manifested. The supernatural 
 work was assigned to Satan instead of the Holy 
 Spirit, and the blasphemy was therefore against 
 that Spirits To suppose that it has reference to 
 a future display of heavenly gifts by which the 
 new covenant was to be attested, is surely to bring 
 in here a meaning far removed from that which 
 the narrative suggests. The Pharisees objected 
 
 rd laifxovia. — Cyrillus Alex, dc Adoratione, Lib. i, p. 8, See also 
 Isidorus Pelusiota, Ep. lx. i. p. 19. Theopliylact on Luke xi. 
 ^ See S. Paciani, Ejnstola ad Symproniamtm, c. 32. 
 
122 LECTURE V. 
 
 to the miracles which our Lord wrought as evi- 
 dences of His Divine power. He warns them 
 that this sin, if persisted in, was unpardonable, 
 not that some future sin they might commit would 
 be unpardonable. The warning loses its whole 
 force if made to refer forward to a case which 
 they could not comprehend, instead of expressly 
 referring to their present contemptuous and inju- 
 rious suppositions. 
 
 In favour of the interpretation to which we 
 are now objecting it is further urged, that the 
 Pharisees could not yet have committed the un- 
 pardonable sin, for if they had been guilty of it, 
 our Lord could not afterwards have prayed for 
 their forgiveness, or offered them any further 
 terms of mercy and salvation ; and yet on the 
 cross He prayed for the Pharisees and rulers, 
 ' Father, forgive them, they know not what they 
 do ;' and further on, He says He will send the 
 Holy Ghost to convince them of sin ; and S. 
 Peter says that they crucified our Lord igno- 
 rantly, 'as did also your rulers.' 
 
 There seems here a fallacy lurking in the use 
 of the word ' unpardonable ^' All state of sin must 
 bring death. Any wilful sin persisted in against 
 warning and without repentance must work death 
 eternal. But in every aise persiste?ice in sin must 
 be understood, and persistence in wilful sin. 
 
 ^ It is called dava-riKti dixaprla by O^cumenius and Atlianasius ; 
 al/a7^o'I'(7r7■o<; by Cyril of Alexandria ; and dvaTroTonrTo^, a^vKTo<: 
 by S. Basil — avairoXdyrjTO'i and da-vy^^wpt]To<;, 
 
LECTURE V. 123 
 
 When we pray to God in the Litany that it may 
 please Him to have mercy upon all men, we do 
 this rightly, because we read that God would have 
 all men to be saved ; but we do not mean to pray 
 to Him that He will give them eternal life ivhile 
 they remain in sin, or die in alienation from Him. 
 The meaning of 'unpardonable' is not that it is 
 impossible that such a sin should be pardoned, 
 even upon repentance, but the absolute and entire 
 want of all plea of mitigation, such as ignorance, 
 weakness, misinformation, want of clearness, 
 feeble understanding. When S. John bids us 
 not pray for the brother who commits the sin 
 unto death, we must understand him as telling us 
 that the only plea that can be urged for deliver- 
 ance of such an one from punishment is in this 
 case non-existent, and therefore that it would be 
 wrong to ask God to excuse and pardon on the 
 score of frailty or ignorance, a wilful rejection 
 of what He himself hath given to save us from 
 perdition. 
 
 I cannot perceive that there is any inconsis- 
 tency in proclaiming a certain sin to be unpar- 
 donable, and yet also praying that men may 
 repent of that sin. If we may charitably and 
 properly intreat of the Almighty that He would 
 turn away all his erring creatures from sin ; this 
 means that leaving their errors they may be con- 
 verted unto Him ; that faith and charity may be 
 given them, and that out of the darkness of 
 ignorance they may come to the knowledge of 
 
124 LECTURE V. 
 
 His truth ^; and if this is right and reasonable, 
 generally, especially must it be so when the sin 
 is one to remain in which is eternal death. When 
 Christ prayed for his murderers, it was because 
 of their ignorance that he prayed their sin, in all 
 its horror, might not be imputed to them — 'Father, 
 forgive them, they know not what they do.' This 
 is different from a prayer that they might repent. 
 Christ himself prayed not for the impenitent. ' I 
 pray not for the world, but for them which thou 
 hast given me out of the world.' The world, as such, 
 lieth in wickedness, but may repent and be saved. 
 The denunciation of the unpardonable nature of 
 blasphemy against the Holy Ghost I understand 
 in the same sense, not as meaning impossibility 
 of repentance^ and forgiveness upon repentance, 
 but rather as indicating, — (i) that all pleas in arrest 
 of punishment, such as weakness, ignorance, and 
 want of understanding, are in this case excluded, 
 and, — (2) that it is a sin which tends to the state 
 of hardened impenitence. 
 
 We have further to consider the meaning of 
 the phrase, ' The Holy Ghost was not yet given,' 
 
 ^ Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity^ B. v. c. 49, § C, quoting 
 Prosper. 
 
 2 S. Athanasius, de Communi Essentia Triiim Personarum^ 
 Torn. I. : <r»7jueia)(ra<r0a( "XP^ otj ovk elirev 6 XjOio-to? tw /3Ka<T(prj- 
 fxt^aavri kui fxeravoovvTi^ ovk dcpeOtjaeTai, aWd tw iSXaacptj/xovvTi^ 
 e'lT ovp, TM ev T>] fS\aa-(pt]nia iirifxevovTi' eirei^tjTrep ovk e<TTiv dixapTia 
 d<Tvy)^oopriro<; irapa tw Gew ev to7<; jvt]a-i(o<; Ka\ kqt' d^'tav juerai/ooDo-j. 
 I do not quote this for its accuracy/ since tw /3\aa-(pt]ptjaavTi is used 
 in S. Luke xii. 10; but the idea is the same as that which is main- 
 tained above. 
 
LECTURE V. 125 
 
 or, as it is in the Greek text, 'The Holy Ghost 
 was not yet,' which is urged as another reason 
 why the Pharisees could not at this time have 
 committed the unpardonable sin. Christ there is 
 speaking of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, 
 by which the new dispensation was to be attested, 
 or in other words, to the new manifestation of the 
 Spirit ; for that the Spirit of God in His ordinary 
 operations (and also in His extraordinary, in time 
 of old,) was even then present with men, though 
 not in the same degree of influence upon their 
 hearts as He was to be hereafter, is testified by 
 those words which Christ addressed to the Apo- 
 stles, 'He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.' 
 The Holy Spirit strove with men before the ascen- 
 sion of Christ, as may be shewn from many 
 records of the Scriptures, His agency being less 
 direct and less individual than under the Chris- 
 tian covenant. Even while our Lord was Himself 
 appealing to His teaching which was the result of 
 His anointing with the Holy Ghost, and His super- 
 natural M orks which He wrought by the Spirit of 
 Power, this same Spirit certainly was striving 
 with the hearts and consciences of all who listened 
 and beheld. It was that Spirit which the Baptist 
 saw descending upon the Son of man, when He 
 entered upon His solemn office ; and though the 
 singular confirmation which the Holy Spirit 
 wrought at the day of Pentecost was yet wanting, 
 there was nevertheless, undoubtedly, in the fact 
 of Christ's miracles a testimony of the Holy Spirit, 
 
126 LECTURE V. 
 
 and the rejection of this testimony constituted a 
 sin against the third Person of the Blessed Trinity. 
 
 We are therefore inclined to consider that the 
 sin of the Pharisees was the rejecting the evidence 
 of the miracles, done by Christ, in the power of 
 the Holy Spirit, in order to attest his mission 
 from the Father. It was peculiarly a sin against 
 the Holy Ghost, we are told; and the most obvious 
 circumstance upon which we can fasten the atten- 
 tion is this error of theirs in rejecting the work 
 of the Holy Ghost, the proof and credential of 
 the divine origin of the system, rather than the 
 system itself. The former no doubt entailed the 
 latter, but its guilt is to be measured by other 
 rules than those which will be applied to the case 
 of men who reject the whole system from igno- 
 rance or misapprehension. 
 
 We must notice, too, that S. John speaks of it 
 as a sin which is committed in the Church: 'If 
 any man see his brother sin a sin which is not 
 unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life 
 for them which sin not unto death. There is a sin 
 unto death. I do not say that he shall pray for it.' 
 So of old to the Church in Judaea. Jeremiah pro- 
 claims like fruitlessness of intercession for those 
 who would not hear the messengers : ' Because I 
 spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but 
 ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered 
 not. Therefore will I do unto this house which is 
 called by my name as I have done to Shiloh. 
 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither 
 
LECTURE V. 127 
 
 lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make 
 intercession for them, for I will not hear thee.' 
 
 If then we apply to ourselves the warning 
 which this denunciation of the heinousness of the 
 unpardonable sin may suggest, we should con- 
 clude that its guilt is incurred by those who 
 discredit and reject the miraculous evidences of 
 Christianity, while yet they call themselves Chris- 
 tians ^ At first sight this may appear to be an 
 inference considerably removed from the case of 
 the Pharisees, and not to follow very obviously 
 from what has been said in opposition to the view 
 which Dr Whitby and others have adopted. And 
 it will therefore be necessary to establish the 
 conclusion by means of a somewhat extended 
 argument. 
 
 We shall endeavour to shew, in the first place, 
 that the work of convincing men of any divine 
 truth is generally in Scripture said to be that of 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
 2. That when God vouchsafes to man pecu- 
 liar and special proofs of his being the author 
 of a Revelation, there must be deep and grievous 
 sin in rejecting such evidence, tendered as it were 
 by God to man. 
 
 3. That though in a certain sense the internal 
 character of the revelation should be a subject of 
 investigation before we yield to the external evi- 
 dence, yet such internal character alone cannot 
 
 ^ See Bede, quoted by Fulke^ Rhemish Testament, on 1 John v. 
 16. 
 
128 LECTURE V. 
 
 convince without the corroborating testimony of 
 miraculous powers in the teacher. 
 
 4. That we are to conclude that the sin 
 against the Holy Ghost may be committed now 
 by those who reject the miracles and prophecies 
 of Scripture, notwithstanding they claim the 
 name of Christian, and profess belief in Christ as 
 the author of a system of moral reformation. 
 
 In the first place, then, the divine action upon 
 the hearts and intellects of men is especially 
 described to us as the work of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 This work is of two kinds, internal influence, 
 or external sign. The former direct, the latter 
 indirect. The direct action of the Holy Spirit 
 upon men's hearts may be either of the nature 
 of suasion, and then it requires willingness on the 
 part of the subject of the influence exerted, and 
 partakes of the nature of the latter or external 
 influence, being not irresistible; or it may be 
 irresistible, reducing the human being on whom 
 it is exerted to an instrument, and in this case it 
 is generally meant to produce an indirect action 
 upon others. 
 
 The first kind of internal influence is the 
 striving of the Spirit of God with man's conscience, 
 and we are taught that there is this one great 
 mark of the new covenant, that all who are called 
 by God's grace into the fold of Christ in tliis 
 world are subject to the Spirit's strivings, they 
 are illuminated, having a conscience touched by 
 a coal from the altar of God, and are thus made 
 
LECTURE V. 129 
 
 sensible of the warfare between the flesh of the 
 carnal element, and the Spirit or the heavenly 
 element. ' The Spirit lusteth against the flesh, 
 and the flesh against the Spirit, in order that ye 
 may not do the things to which ye are inclined 
 naturally.' And the absence of this striving of 
 the Spirit is the state of unconverted heathenism, 
 or of spiritual death and reprobation. ' Know ye 
 not that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, except 
 ye be reprobate V 
 
 Of the second kind of internal influence is 
 the action of the Holy Ghost on the minds of the 
 prophets, properly called Inspiration. This is 
 directly asserted to be the case in times of old 
 in such passages of Scripture as the following: 
 
 When Saul was chosen of the prophet Samuel 
 he was told that on meeting the children of the 
 schools of the prophets, the Spirit of the Lord 
 should come upon him, and, animated with a 
 supernatural energy, he should join their sacred 
 band, and utter words dictated by divine influ- 
 ence. 
 
 ' And it was so, that when he had turned his 
 back to go from Samuel, God gave him another 
 heart, and all those signs came to pass that day. 
 And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a 
 company of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God 
 came upon him, and he prophesied among them.' 
 
 When Jehoram and Jehoshaphat went out 
 against Moab, and, at the request of the latter, the 
 advice of Elisha was sought, the prophet calls for a 
 
130 LECTURE V. 
 
 minstrel. 'And it came to pass, while the minstrel 
 played, that the hand of the Lord came upon 
 him, and he prophesied.' 
 
 Isaiah, in prophetic trance, describes himself 
 as acted on in the same manner, and was under 
 this influence when the vision of glory was vouch- 
 safed to him in the templet 
 
 Similar to these is the instance recorded of 
 Abraham, who in the horror of thick darkness 
 saw a mysterious representation of the accept- 
 ance of his sacrifice by God, the burning lamp 
 passing between the pieces which had been 
 divided, as was the method of making a covenant 
 (Jer. xxxiv. 19 — 28); that of Balaam also, who, 
 being himself an unwilling agent, was made sub- 
 ject to the divine power when the Spirit of God 
 came upon him, and in his parable he uttered 
 words which proclaimed the utter failure of his 
 covetous and selfish schemes. In the new dispen- 
 sation we have S. John declaring himself to be 
 in the Spirit when he had revealed to him the 
 fortunes of the Christian Church to the end of the 
 world ; and those who, in the early ages of Chris- 
 tianity, had the gift of tongues, must have been 
 under the same kind of direct internal influence; 
 their personality or individuality being for the 
 time absorbed in the presence of the mighty, 
 mysterious agent who led and controlled them. 
 
 The most abundant exercise of the direct 
 internal influence is no doubt that of prophecy, 
 
 ^ See also of Azariak, 1 Chron. xv. 1. 
 
LECTURE V. 131 
 
 ill which the subjects of God's marvellous work 
 are said to be out of themselves {e^ecxTrjKevai), and 
 the peculiar state of mental trance in which pro- 
 phets are {to 'iSiov rod fxavrew^ of S. Chrysostom), is 
 one in which the subject is transported or elated 
 by a divine power (OeocpopoviJievoi). Men in this 
 state are said to be in an e/fcrrao-ts, when, as Ham- 
 mond says, the outward senses being bound up 
 as it were in sleep, God's will is inwardly revealed 
 to the understanding by way of intellectual vision. 
 
 Now it is apparent to every one that this 
 inspiration is said unambiguously to be the work 
 of the Holy Ghost. ' Holy men of old spake as they 
 were moved by the Holy Ghost, and not of their 
 own motion or setting free' {e-n-iXvaL^f, and thus we 
 have all the internal influence upon men's minds 
 attributed to the Divine Spirit, both that which is 
 personal and private, and meant for their own 
 edifying, and also that which is prophetic, and 
 meant for the edification of the Church. 
 
 Moreover, of the external influences, or those 
 interferences with the natural order of things 
 which are of the nature of signs, we also have it 
 expressly recorded that the Holy Ghost is the 
 Author. OthnieFs valour, Saul's zeal for the men 
 of Jabesh, Sampson's feats of strength, exhibited 
 as a sign to the Philistines, are said to be the 
 work of the Spirit of God ; and strange events, 
 which were apprehended only, are ascribed to the 
 agency of the Spirit, as when Obadiah expressed 
 1 2S. Peter i. 20, 21. 
 
132 LECTURE V. 
 
 his fears to Elijah, lest he should be mysteriously 
 carried away, while he delivered the prophet's 
 message to the King of Israel his master. And 
 the sons of tlie prophets, when they were doubtful 
 of the reality of Elijah's translation, conjectured 
 the possibility of his having been carried away 
 by the Spirit of the Lord, as in after times Philip 
 was from the Ethiopian eunuch. 
 
 The miraculous manifestations of the day of 
 Pentecost, and all those which were granted as 
 signs and wonders to convince the unbelieving 
 at the outset of Christianity, are affirmed by S. 
 Paul, both gifts of healing, working of miracles, 
 prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of 
 tongues, and their interpretation, to have been 
 wrought by that one and the selfsame Spirit, 
 dividing to every man severally as He will. When 
 he says, that God bore witness to the first mes- 
 sengers of Christianity by signs and wonders, by 
 divers miracles and gifts, he ascribes them directly 
 to this source, and affirms that they were the gift 
 of the Holy Ghost\ 
 
 Even in the case of our Blessed Saviour, the 
 significant events of His life, as well as the power 
 exercised supernaturally, are all ascribed to the 
 Holy Ghost. It is not necessary to do more 
 than mention the Incarnation and Miraculous 
 Conception through the power of the Holy Ghost, 
 the temptation in the wilderness to which He 
 was led of the Spirit, the expiatory sacrifice, of 
 
 ' See Romans xv. 18, 19, and Bishop Terrot's Paraphrase, in loco. 
 
LECTURE V. 133 
 
 which the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 writes that, through the eternal Spirit Christ 
 offered Himself without spot to God ; or the re- 
 surrection, in reference to which S. Peter says 
 that Christ was quickened by the Spirit after His 
 passion. 
 
 When inaugurated to His prophetical office, it 
 was by the Holy Ghost visibly descending upon 
 Him, the fact itself being accompanied by an 
 attestation from heaven, and this is called after- 
 wards, in reference to a passage in the prophecy 
 of Isaiah (Ixi. 1), ' The Spirit of the Lord being 
 upon him.' With this came the bestowal of other 
 extraordinary powers and gifts, as Christ is said 
 by S. Peter (Acts x. 38) to be ' anointed with 
 the Holy Ghost, and with power:' and in virtue of 
 this effusion and unction He Himself says that 
 He cast out devils through the Spirit of God 
 (S. Matth. xii. 28). 
 
 In all these cases of external effects wrought 
 as signs we have it affirmed that God's Holy Spirit 
 was the real agent : so that we think it is clearly 
 made out from the Holy Scriptures, that, as a 
 general assertion, the means internal and external 
 used by the Almighty for influencing men's minds 
 to the acceptance of His laws and revelations 
 are specially ascribed to the agency of the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 As far as it is internal and direct, we nnist 
 suppose this agency to have been employed more 
 or less at all times. S. Peter speaks of the Spirit 
 H. L. K 
 
134 LECTURE V. 
 
 Striving with men before the flood, and S. Stephen 
 addresses the Jewish rulers as resisting the Holy 
 Ghost in the same way and degree that the Fathers 
 had done^ We must, however, undoubtedly con- 
 clude from the words of our Saviour that such 
 striving of the Spirit was not universal, as it is 
 promised to be under the Christian dispensation. 
 That the Holy Ghost strove with the Pharisees 
 during the time they heard our Lord's teaching we 
 cannot doubt, but still on the occasion to which 
 the words of the text refer, He was reproving them 
 for resisting something more than the ordinary 
 influence which was by preaching brought to 
 bear upon their hearts. In the one case we may 
 call the work of the Holy Ghost the subjugation 
 of the affections of men, and in the other it is 
 the subjugation of their intellects ; and we are 
 justified in forming this distinction by the words 
 of the Sacred Record, — irrational as it may seem, 
 philosophically speaking : undoubtedly when the 
 judgment is convinced, obedience ought to follow; 
 but it seems to be a law of mankind that the 
 affections do not necessarily follow the judg- 
 ment. Many believe in the truth of the Christian 
 religion, whose faith comes short even of that of 
 the fallen spirits, and do not even tremble at the 
 
 ' Neliemiali ix. 20 : ' Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct 
 them.' Numbers xi. 17; Isaiah Ixiii. 11. On this subject see S. 
 Athanasius's Treatises against Arianism, (Oxf. Transl.) p. 230 and 
 note tliere; p. 249. As to the heresy which taught that the Spirit 
 which spake in the prophets was different from that which speaks 
 now in the Apostles of Christ, sec Oriffen on Titus, t. 4, p. 695. 
 
LECTURE V. 135 
 
 alternative which awaits them according to their 
 own convictions. Thus it is said that ' many of 
 the Jews believed in Jesus when they saw the 
 miracles that He did ;' yet He would not trust 
 Himself to these persons, because He knew their 
 hearts were not subdued to His doctrine, while 
 yet their understandings were convinced by His 
 miracles. And there were many of the Jews who 
 would not recognize Him as the Messias, who 
 yet, it is said, believed on Him on account of His 
 miracles. ' Many of the people believed on Him, 
 and said, When Christ cometh, w^ill He do more 
 miracles than these which this man hath done?' 
 Many even among the chief rulers believed, who 
 would not confess Him ' because of the Pharisees, 
 lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for 
 they loved the praise of men more than the praise 
 of God.' Simon Magus, when he saw the mira- 
 cles of Philip 'believed,' though he was 'yet in the 
 gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity ;' and 
 this faith, which is not the belief of the heart 
 with which man 'believeth unto justification' (Rom. 
 X. 10), was wrought in many, without doubt, by 
 the exhibition of supernatural power : all convic- 
 tions being the work of the Holy Ghost ; — both 
 the conviction of the judgment, by wonders and 
 signs, — and the conviction of the heart, by which 
 the affections are influenced : but the two, not 
 being necessarily or universally joined together, 
 being neither wrought by the same means nor at 
 the same time. Now all the external influence. 
 
136 LECTURE V. 
 
 and the indirect internal influence, must tend to the 
 former object rather than the latter, — to compel 
 the recognition of the divine origin of Christianity 
 rather than to bring home its soul-subduing power 
 to the heart. And we have been specially con- 
 cerned to shew on this occasion that the works 
 which the Divine Wisdom has appointed for the 
 conviction of man's judgment, in miracles and 
 signs and wonders, are throughout revelation 
 generally called the works of the Holy Spirit, in 
 order to prove that it is these supernatural evi- 
 dences which were the subject of the argument 
 between our Lord and his objectors, and to make 
 it clear that when he denovniced upon them so 
 terrible a woe, it was because they rejected these 
 signs, and in rejecting them, they in some manner 
 specially rejected the testimony of the Holy 
 Ghost, and committed blasphemy against Him. 
 
 Not only must we keep in mind the distinction 
 between the influence of the Holy Ghost on men's 
 hearts, and the workings of the same Divine 
 Spirit for convincing the judgment, we must also 
 notice a very considerable difference between the 
 former influence, as promised, and now exercised 
 under the Christian dispensation, — and the general 
 testimony to the existence and moral government 
 of God which the natural order of the universe 
 furnishes. It is important to call attention to this 
 distinction, because of the words of our Saviour 
 and His apostles, indicating a general action of 
 the Spirit on all the members of the new cove- 
 
LECTURE V. 137 
 
 iiant, as a characteristic of that covenant ; a dis- 
 tinction of which we shall hereafter have to make 
 use of when we urge more closely the conclusion 
 to which we are tending. To the heathen, S. 
 Paul tells us, * God hath not left himself without 
 witness.' This is the New Testament recognition 
 of what is called Natural Religion. All men may, 
 to a certain degree, from the works of creation 
 learn a testimony of God against unrighteousness. 
 * The eternal power and Godhead are clearly seen 
 from the creation of the world, being understood 
 from things created.' 'The heavens declare the 
 glory of God.' And in this sense, God is ' not far 
 from any one of the sons of men.' Now, be it ob- 
 served, the Pharisees did not reject this testimony, 
 and therefore the sin against the Holy Ghost is not 
 the rejection of such truths as may be learned 
 from the works of God, without revelation. Nei- 
 ther can it be the teaching of the Son of man, 
 i.e. of Christ in His human capacity ; for it is the 
 distinction between this teaching and something 
 else that makes the chief point in our Lord's 
 denunciation. It is not the resistance to that 
 doctrine, which is here intended, heart-searching 
 though it be, and fatal as may be the result of 
 obduracy. Ignorance and want of mental capa- 
 bility may, to a certain extent, be bars to the 
 reception of certain doctrines affirmed only by 
 the Son of man, even though He spake as never 
 man spake. It must therefore be resistance to the 
 truth when coming with undeniable authority, 
 
138 LECTURE V. 
 
 an authority divine, and therefore specially the 
 resistance to the demonstration of the Spirit, 
 that attestation which through the Divine Spirit 
 our Lord gave to His teaching, and to which He 
 appealed when He gave answer to the inquiries 
 of John's disciples, ' Go and tell John again the 
 things which ye do hear and see. The blind 
 receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are 
 cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, 
 the poor have the Gospel preached to them.' It 
 was the rejecting these signs and wonders wrought 
 through the power of the Spirit of God, that made 
 the case of Chorazin and Bethsaida so much worse 
 than that of the heathen, because they would not 
 be convinced by the mighty works which had 
 been done in them. When Christ upbraided these 
 cities, in which most of His miglity works had 
 been done, He was using the same argument which 
 the Almighty had addressed in olden time to 
 Ezekiel, ' Thou art not sent to a people of strange 
 speech and hard language. Surely had I sent thee 
 to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.' 
 And when our Lord said, ' If ye believe not me, 
 believe the works,' He was drawing the distinction 
 which He here urges on the Pharisees. Powerful 
 and convincing as ought to have been the teaching 
 of the Son of man, yet if this prevailed not, there 
 was the still stronger testimony of the mighty 
 works, the works of the Holy Ghost. ' If I had not 
 done among them the works which none other man 
 did, they had not had sin.' To reject these was to 
 
LECTURE V. 139 
 
 reject the testimony of the Holy Ghost, and incur 
 the guilt of the unpardonable sin'. 
 
 We conclude, therefore, that the rejection of 
 the supernatural testimony given by Christ is the 
 sin against the Holy Ghost, peculiarly and em- 
 phatically so described, and thus that it consists 
 in the rejection of the evidence offered by Christ 
 that He was sent from God, rather than in the 
 opposition of the corrupt element in man to the 
 ordinary striving of the Spirit, or the testimony 
 of creation to the divine attributes. 
 
 The peculiar malignity of this sin should be 
 the next subject for our consideration, and the 
 reason why it should call for so fearful a sen- 
 tence. 
 
 First, it proceeds, as S. John testifies, from an 
 obstinate and hardened disposition. ' Though He 
 had done so many miracles, yet they believed not 
 on Him.' 'That the saying of Esaias the prophet 
 might be fulfilled which he spake. Lord who 
 hath believed our report and to whom hath the 
 arm of the Lord been revealed ; therefore they 
 could not believe^.' 'And because that Esaias said 
 again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened 
 their heart; that they should not see with their 
 
 ^ Photius, Ep. CXXVII. p. 167, &c. : to?? fxev yap drro rwv dv0po3- 
 TTiKtoTepMv Ka\ TaTreivoTepuJv (yKavhaXia-OeTanv eTrl tw BctrTroVj; XjOio-tw, 
 paZ'ia »;' Bia twit /jLet^ovoov ko.) v\l^t]XoTepwv fxeTajSoXt] Koi tj (i(p€(n<;. to7<; 
 Be TTjoos Ta TTvevpaTiKa Ka.\ BeTa aTrovot^deTai, iray^dXe-JTo^ i] Ka\ 
 atvvaTO^ r] tiopdw(Ti<;. Ata tovto kui ovhc-fx'ta twv 'K\r]fXjxe\t]QevTUiv 
 aTravTrja-ei a(pe(7i<s. 
 
 2 On this punctuation, see Alford. 
 
140 LECTURE V. 
 
 eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be 
 converted, and I should heal them.' And in the 
 next place, when they proceeded to attribute to 
 the evil spirit, or to an alliance of the Saviour 
 with the power of Satan, that authority which He 
 undoubtedly exercised, they were rejecting God's 
 own testimony to His own work in the most offen- 
 sive manner. 
 
 If God suspended His own laws in order to 
 prove that Christ was sent from Him ; if He gave 
 to Jesus the Son of man power over creation, to 
 alter, suspend, and abrogate for a time the laws 
 by which He governs the universe, it cannot be 
 a light matter to reject such undeniably powerful 
 testimony. Such refusal to accept God's own 
 witness of Himself is called tempting and wearying 
 God, and tremendous woes were denounced upon 
 the house of David to Ahaz when this evil dis- 
 posed king refused to ask for a sign, God having 
 offered to convince him by some extraordinary 
 exercise of power. The peculiar wickedness of 
 rejecting the evidences of the divine origin of 
 Christianity as distinguished from rejecting the 
 doctrine itself arises out of this, that the latter is 
 a man's sin against himself, but the former is 
 destructive of the faith of others. It is in moral 
 and spiritual matters akin to the fiendish spirit 
 which in ordinary life is manifested by those who 
 not only delight in iniquity, but endeavour to 
 break down in the innocent the barriers set up 
 against vice ; who not only hate what is virtuous 
 
LECTURE V. 141 
 
 and good, but take pleasure in infusing their 
 hateful principles into the hearts of others. So 
 in the case we are considering, the attempted de- 
 struction of the evidences of divine authority in 
 our Saviour is putting a stumblingblock in the 
 path of the blind, and offending the little ones 
 that believe in Christ; than which it were 'better 
 that a man had a millstone hanged about his 
 neck, and that he were cast into the sea,' i. e. the 
 penalty of such a crime is greater than personal 
 destruction. 
 
 If the greatness of salvation is attested by the 
 singular confirmation which God gave to it in 
 signs and wonders, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, 
 as is affirmed by the author of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, proportionably great must be the con- 
 demnation incurred by those who not only refuse 
 that salvation, but malign, and distort, and slander 
 the proofs which God gave of His having sent a 
 revelation to mankind^ 
 
 What greater offence against the majesty of 
 God than the imputation thus cast upon Him, 
 that He permitted Satan to contrive lying won- 
 ders, even against Himself, to deceive mankind in 
 the things which are of the most unbounded im- 
 portance to them ; and that, too, in order to teach 
 
 1 The author of the Qucestiones et Responsiones ad Ovthodoxos, 
 Qu. cviii. says of the Jews forbidding the Apostles, eKreXelv 6e7a 
 epyci iv Tj; cvvafxei tou dy'iov Di/eJ/xaTo? jivofxeva, ovk e<TTiv (XKOvaiov 
 dyvoia^ <TvyjvwfXtjv ecpeXKO/xevrj^ a'w' iyviaa-fxevr]^ eKova-'iov Qeona-)(ia': 
 Tifiuyp'iav i(pe\KOfievti<!. 
 
142 LECTURE V. 
 
 truth and honesty? The absurdity of the charge 
 is in aggravation of its wickedness. When the 
 object of God's interference is really to promote 
 men's happiness, and rescue them from the do- 
 minion of sin, to relieve them from the bondage 
 to which they are subject, and bring them into 
 the glorious liberty of sons of God ; — while this is 
 the object, — it yet charges the Deity with being in 
 league with the enemy of God and man for the 
 cheating and misleading of mankind. 
 
 Surely such a sin is rebellion of the deepest 
 dye, an insult of the most unpardonable kind. 
 It charges God's message to men with falsehood, 
 his condescension with malignity, his spontaneous 
 offer of the most convincing proofs with cruelty 
 and deception. If a messenger from heaven, to 
 prove his mission, claims divine power, and ac- 
 tually exercises it, — when it is rejected, despised, 
 insulted, what further proof can be given? If 
 insinuations or broad assertions of falsehood are 
 made against the works of the very finger of God, 
 can we conceive that any denunciation of punish- 
 ment for such wickedness is too strong, any 
 penalty too severe for the crime ? 'Woe unto him 
 that striveth with his Maker.' — Is. xlv. 9. 
 
 God deals with us as with rational creatures, 
 offering us proofs and signs, when He would con- 
 vince us of any extraordinary display of His good 
 will towards us : to defeat His gracious purpose is 
 the object of the evil one, and to help this oj^po- 
 sition in such a way as not only to frustrate the 
 
LECTURE V. 143 
 
 grace of God in ourselves, but to undermine and 
 destroy the faith of others, is a sin the magnitude 
 of which we can hardly conceive ; and the denun- 
 ciation of our Lord upon those who commit it, 
 does not appear to us, when we thus reflect upon 
 it, at all disproportionate to the offence. 
 
LECTURE VI, 
 
 S. MATTHEW XII. 31, 32. 
 
 All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto 
 men : but the blasjohemy against the Holy Ghost shall 
 not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a 
 word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him : 
 but luhosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it 
 shall not be forgiven him,, neither in this world, neither 
 in the world to come. 
 
 ^HERE are and have been always persons 
 -'- who undervalue the testimony from miracles : 
 and some who endeavour to shew there can 
 be no such thing as a miracle, who yet profess 
 belief in the Christian religion, after a certain 
 manner of their own. Of course such a belief in 
 Christianity does not include a belief in the 
 Scriptures as inspired writings, it merely re- 
 gards them as the productions of enthusiasts, 
 recording the prevalent opinions of their day, or 
 wrapping up prejudices in a garb of history, or 
 mistaking allegories or figures for actual historical 
 events. 
 
 One plan adopted by them is to magnify the 
 moral evidence of Christianity, or the beauty of 
 Christian morality ; and to make it alone a 
 
146 LECTURE VI. 
 
 convincing proof of the Divine origin of the 
 system, to exalt it above the external evidence, 
 and thus induce men to undervalue the latter, and 
 make them less anxious about maintaining it. 
 
 It is therefore an important question, on which 
 to have clear and definite views, whether external 
 evidence precedes or follows the internal ; and in 
 this way the question has been stated : but the 
 inquiry soon made it evident that this is of uncer- 
 tain determination ; it requires the discussion of 
 another question, ' Must not the character of the 
 doctrine be examined in order to guard against 
 deception ?' We find warnings such as these, 
 That false prophets may arise ; that there are 
 agents of evil, who may pretend to supernatural 
 power, working signs and wonders, which might 
 deceive even God's chosen ones; and that we 
 are to try the spirits, whether they are of God, 
 i. e. decide on the doctrine before we admit the 
 evidence as conclusive. 
 
 On the other hand, how can we know that a 
 teacher is sent from God? If the doctrine is 
 above what we could reach by unassisted reason, 
 how can our reason, uninfluenced by the evidence 
 of miraculous power, admit it as divine ? If it be 
 beyond what we know of God's ways, how can we 
 be judges of its congruity ? And again, how can 
 the majority of mankind be convinced, as they are 
 often incapable of forming correct conclusions on 
 the internal evidence of the divine origin of Chris- 
 tianity ? 
 
LECTURE VI. 147 
 
 Thus it must be an important practical ques- 
 tion, especially in arguing with the heathen, 'What 
 should be the course of the Christian missionary, 
 who has no present power of miracles to appeal to V 
 
 When our Saviour says, ' If ye believe not me, 
 believe the works,' does he intimate that hispersonal 
 character, or the character of his doctrine ought to 
 have produced belief, and that the miracles were 
 only a secondary proof ? This must be answered 
 from a review of the general method of his teaching. 
 
 When He warns His disciples that there should 
 be false Christs who should arise, or when S. 
 Paul tells us that antichrist should have the 
 power of working miracles ; does this shew that 
 signs and wonders are not a safe proof of divine 
 origin, not the primary evidence on which we 
 ought to rely ? This must be answered from the 
 way in which Christ himself speaks of the works 
 which He did in confirmation of His mission. 
 
 Before proceeding to these questions, we may 
 endeavour to set aside one prejudice, that has been 
 entertained against the external evidence of Chris- 
 tianity. We ought not indeed to argue for the 
 value of external evidence, as if it were itself 
 Christianity: though such evidence may awaken 
 attention, it cannot prevail to convince absolutely 
 the minds of thoughtful men^ unless it be shewn 
 
 ^ In tliis sense it is that Archbishop Laud reasons of the insuffi- 
 ciency of miracles to produce saving Faith, or absolute conviction. 
 See Conference with Fisher, § 16. The objections which SterUng 
 made {Essays^ Vol. ii. p. 121) are referred to here. 
 
148 LECTURE VI. 
 
 at the same time that the system in aid of which it 
 comes is a spiritual system ; that it relates to 
 man's highest interests, i. e. to his relations with 
 the Infinite and the Spiritual. It is not right to 
 say that any system whatever, attested by signs 
 and wonders, must command men's instant sub- 
 mission. It is here that the power of the Gospel 
 as a moral and spiritual system makes itself felt. 
 Let the attention be powerfully arrested by the 
 display of heaven-sent power, and then arises the 
 inquiry as to the substance of the things taught. 
 And as it is in subservience of the spiritual system 
 of Christianity that the external physical signs 
 have been wrought, so in this sense ought they 
 to be made secondary ; that is, they cannot be of 
 any value in themselves, as distinguished from the 
 doctrines of which they come in aid. The regene- 
 ration of man is the great object, and for this the 
 internal work of the Spirit is necessary. The ex- 
 ternal testimony is subordinate in quality, though 
 it come first in order of time, to that internal 
 testimony which really works the transformation 
 of man. 
 
 This leads us back to a proposition which has 
 been already stated, that the conviction of the 
 understanding is a very different thing from the 
 subjugation of the heart and affections. The diffi- 
 culties raised on the subject are generally started 
 by philosophical inquirers, who have concluded 
 too hastily, what might be assumed to be true in 
 the case of the conscientious and truth-seeking ; 
 
LECTURE VI. 149 
 
 viz. that when the judgment is convinced, submis- 
 sion of the will must necessarily follow. Now the 
 whole history of the first propagation of Chris- 
 tianity shews that this is not the case. Men ivere 
 convinced by the signs wrought by the Apostles 
 and apostolic men, that Christianity was sent from 
 God, and were admitted to the brotherhood, whose 
 lives and tenets have subsequently proved that the 
 system had no deep hold on their hearts and wills. 
 The external evidence was sufficient to bring them 
 to a knowledge of the divine origin of the Gospel ; 
 and this was a necessary step towards the great 
 object which it was intended to put before them, 
 and work out in them ; but they have then resisted 
 the internal influence of the Spirit, and so not been 
 the subjects of the further work of conversion of 
 the heart to God. Such men were considered 
 afterwards by some to be anomalies. The case 
 was argued thus : the object of Christ's mission was 
 to bring men into a spiritual union with the Deity, 
 to reconcile man to his Creator ; and here this 
 object seems to have failed ; then it was rashly 
 assumed that because the evidence given to them 
 did not lead to any subjugation of the will, it 
 must therefore be useless. The early apologists 
 for Christianity, while they argued against the 
 heathen from the purity of the Gospel, and the 
 self-denial of its converts, never omit to dwell with 
 an emphasis and a confidence which now stagger 
 us, on the supernatural powders which they exer- 
 cised. Every one is acquainted with the celebrated 
 
150 LECTURE VI. 
 
 passage in Tertullian's Apology S where he chal- 
 lenges the proof of the Divine power wielded by 
 Christians of expelling evil spirits, and extorting 
 from persons possessed with familiar spirits a con- 
 fession of the evil origin of the influence. Even 
 those who hesitate to conclude from such passages 
 the actual enjoyment of the privilege laid claim 
 to, will not at any rate fail to notice the method 
 used in arguing with the heathen ; they cannot 
 fail to conclude that those who believe in the 
 miraculous events recorded in the gospel will be 
 following in the wake of their predecessors in the 
 faith ; if they should now argue with the heathen 
 in like manner, and urge upon them the fact that 
 God did attest the Gospel to be from him by signs 
 and wonders ^ It is singular to notice, that in 
 many cases there is little difficulty in getting oppo- 
 nents to admit this, for example, in the contro- 
 versy with the Mahometans ^ Tlie^j will readily 
 agree that miracles may have been wrought, but 
 
 1 Apology, c. 23. See Note in the Oxford Translation, where 
 reference is given to many other passages of the early Christian writers 
 aflSmiing the same fact, such ns Justin Martyr, Dial.c. Tryph. 191 d. 
 (Venice Edition, 1747) Apolog. n. § 6. 
 
 2 An instance from Justin Martyr will be sufficient to shew 
 this. Dial. c. Tryphone, § 11 : Ka« en twi/ epym> Ka\ ck t»/? irapaKO- 
 \ovOov<Tt}<i twdf^ew: avvtevai iraat Sui/aroi/ on outo? eartv^ (sc. ']r](Tov<;) 
 6 Kaii/o? i/o'/io?, Ka.\ t7 xaivt] iiad^Ktj kui t] TrpoahoK'ia twi/ diro irdvTwv 
 Tuv iOvuv dvanevovTwu -rd -rrapd toO Qeod dyaOd. See also § 39 
 
 and § 69. 
 
 3 See Peiirose's Treatise on the Evidence of the Scripture Mi- 
 rages; Archdeacon Goddard^s Bampton Lectures for 1823; Marty ti's 
 Controversial Tracts. 
 
LECTURE VI. 151 
 
 they require an investigation into the doctrine. 
 Now while Christianity lends itself freely to this 
 doctrinal inquiry, that is no reason why we should 
 neglect the previous argument from external evi- 
 dence of miracles, because in a particular case it 
 has but little weight. If we neglect this testimony 
 of God's favour, we may hear a man not unreason- 
 ably say : ' If the Christian religion is so impor- 
 tant — if it is intended, as you say, to embrace all 
 mankind, — and its precepts and doctrines are to 
 have such a world-wide influence, — how is it that 
 the Father of mankind has not given us some sign 
 whereby we may really know that this is His will 
 and His work V S. Paul arguing with the Athe- 
 nians appealed to a miraculous event, the resurrec- 
 tion of Christ, as proving that we should have to 
 give an account of ourselves at God's judgment- 
 seat ; he says that this is an assurance unto all men 
 of the truth which he preached ^ 
 
 If instead of going to the philosophical, who do 
 not represent the majority of mankind, we turn 
 to the records of those who represent a more numer- 
 ous class, we shall find that they believe because 
 there is an evidence, to them satisfactory, of God's 
 having proved the Divine origin of Christianity 
 by miraculous interposition. For example, in the 
 
 ^ S. Chrysostom, Hom'il. xxxii. in S. Matt., giving a reason for 
 the cessation of miracles, is arguing with Gentiles, who objected to 
 Christianity that it was not confirmed by miracles to convince them, 
 or with the people, who required an abundant display of such signs. 
 In either case it shews that there is a natural craving for this kind of 
 testimony. 
 
 L2 
 
152 LECTURE VI. 
 
 24th book of Dante's ParadiseS where the poet 
 is represented as conversing with S. Peter, the 
 Apostle asks him what is the foundation of his con- 
 fidence ; and his reply is that he w as certain of the 
 faith, because so many great works were wrought 
 to prove it, works which nature could not pro- 
 duce in her ordinary operations ; and when further 
 asked, what proof he had that these miracles were 
 wrought, he replies that if the world had been 
 Christianized without the aid of miracles, this of 
 itself would be so marvellous a thing, that all the 
 others, if multiplied a hundred times, would not 
 come up to it 
 
 There may, on the other hand, be some who 
 have dwelt upon the spiritual necessities of man- 
 kind, and the character of God, who feel the 
 burden of sin, and the impediments which this 
 places to their hopes of pleasing Him, and obtain- 
 ing the wished for immortality. To such the 
 character of Christ and that of His doctrine come 
 
 ^ Dante, II Paradiso, Canto xxiv. 97 — 108, quoted by Stilling- 
 Jleet in the Origines Sacrct : — 
 
 L'antica e la novella 
 Proposizione clie si ti conchiiide 
 Perche I'liai tu per divina favella? 
 Ed io : La prova clie il ver mi dischiude 
 Son I'opere seguite, a clie natura 
 Non 9c.'»ldb ferro mai ne batte ancude. 
 Risposto fummi : Di', cbi t' assicura 
 
 Che queir opere fosser ? Quel medesmo 
 Che vuol provarsi, non altri il ti giura, 
 Se il mondo si rivolse al cristianesmo 
 Diss'io, senza niiracoli, quest' uno 
 E tal, clie gli altri non sono il centesmo. 
 
LECTURE VI. 153 
 
 like the rain upon the parched fields, or the dew 
 on the scorched pasture ; they are swayed by the 
 exact adaptation of the Gospel to their wants ; the 
 doctrines of pardon, and regeneration, and sanctifi- 
 cation come to thein with a Divine power ; their 
 congruity with the yearnings of their hearts works 
 in them conviction of the truth of the spiritual 
 message. The Holy Ghost strives with them in- 
 ternally and directly ; they do not resist his striv- 
 ings, they yield to His blessed influence, and 
 believe to the saving of their souls. It is not a 
 mere barren assent which they make, because 
 compelled by strong external evidence. They 
 have the flood of Divine light poured at once in 
 large measure into their souls, and their faith 
 avails to cleanse the conscience. It is the answer 
 of a good conscience towards God. 
 
 Faith is a joint act of the will and the under- 
 standing\ but it need not be perfect in both its 
 parts. That some men's understandings are con- 
 vinced, and yet the subjugation of the will does 
 not follow, is undoubtedly a moral anomaly : the 
 understanding ought to influence the will, but 
 unfortunately, in the fallen state of man, this is 
 not the case, as a general rule. In those who 
 yield themselves from conviction to the sway of 
 the Gospel, who in the full and free exercise of an 
 
 ^ Credere est Aetus intellectus determinati ad unum ex Imperio 
 voluntatis. — -S". Thomas, 2. 2. q. 1. A. 1. c. quoted by Archbishop 
 Laud, Conference with Fisher, § 16. ■Tri<jTiv...eKovaiov t^c \//u;^»7? 
 av^KaTaQiciv. — Theodoret. depanevT. Sermo I. p. 479. 
 
154 LECTURE VI. 
 
 informed understanding become the servants of 
 Christ, this is the case. But how few are these, 
 compared with the rest of mankind! On the other 
 hand, there are many whose wills are subdued by 
 the Spirit's internal influence, and this becomes to 
 them a motive for inclining the understanding \ 
 This is more common. There are many whose 
 sole reason for their faith is that they feel the 
 truth of the Gospel. Somewhat similar is the 
 case of the blind man whom our Lord found after 
 the questioning of the Pharisees, and who in 
 answer to the inquiry, 'Dost thou believe in the 
 Son of God?' replied, 'Who is He, Lord, that I 
 might believe on him V His will was pliant, — he was 
 ready, disposed towards eternal life ^ and so easily 
 gave in his allegiance to the Gospel. Simon Magus 
 had his understanding convinced, while his heart 
 was unconverted. 
 
 I cannot help thinking that those who under- 
 value the external evidence of miracles do so very 
 much from their assigning to it a wrong place. 
 The spiritual power of the Gospel over the heart 
 doubtless does not work by signs and wonders. 
 This external evidence which the Holy Ghost gives, 
 is not for the purifying of the heart ; but for the 
 arresting the attention, and convincing the under- 
 standing that the matter is from God. The internal 
 
 1 S. Augiistm. Sermo xviii. on Ps. 118 : Alia sunt qua) nisi 
 intelligamus, non crcdimus ; et alia sunt qure nisi credamus, non in- 
 telliginius. And again see the Enarratio iti Ps. xxxv. ad i?iit. on 
 the Power of the Will over the Understanding. 
 
 2 TeTCiynevuf; elt (^wtiv aluiviou. Act. Ap. xiii. 48. 
 
LECTURE VI. 155 
 
 Striving of the Spirit must subdue men's hearts 
 and consciences ; and saving faith is rather the 
 result of this latter process than of the former. 
 When we read S. James arguing of the useless- 
 ness of faith without works, he is of course merely 
 arguing of this effect upon the understanding ; he 
 means a dry and barren faith, which even the 
 devils have. Men may believe that Christianity 
 is a Divine scheme, without the understanding 
 influencing the conduct in any rational degree. 
 They sometimes harden their hearts against the 
 pleadings of the Spirit of God, and they would not 
 then believe, even if one rose from the dead ; i. e. 
 they would not believe to any purpose. Their 
 faith would be a bald assent to certain historical 
 truths, the correctness and certainty of which 
 their judgments admitted; and from this conclu- 
 sion they would not be able to escape. But there 
 is a wonderful power of resistance in man, by 
 which he strives against the conclusions of his own 
 judgment; he can disregard what he knows to be 
 true, and what he knows to be all important; and 
 persons in whom this disposition predominates 
 are extremely hostile to the Gospel and its re- 
 quirements. We have instances in which our 
 Lord would not extend the evidence which was in- 
 tended to produce even this conviction, because the 
 men to whom he was preaching were hardened and 
 obstinate, and resisted the Holy Ghost. ' He could 
 not do many mighty works there because of their 
 unbelief.' Yet his ordinary method was according 
 
156 LECTURE VI. 
 
 to the answer to John's disciples : See the miracles, 
 and hear me preach to the poor ; and the marvel 
 of the unbelief of the people is ascribed by S. 
 John to the hardened heart : ' Though he had done 
 so many miracles, yet they believed not on him.' 
 
 We must not be led away from considering 
 the real object of Christ's miracles, because in 
 contemplating them we are impressed with their 
 uniform benevolent tendency. Christ went about 
 doing good, but it was not the primary object of 
 his mission to minister to the temporal wants 
 of man, to relieve sickness and poverty. It was 
 to re-establish the broken covenant between God 
 and man, to restore the human race to a high 
 spiritual state, to repair the breaches, and build 
 up again the damaged and broken pillars of the 
 moral Temple of God ; that the Most High might 
 take up his dwelling in the chambers of man's 
 heart, and the whole family of man be restored to 
 its original place in the creation. For the success 
 of such high objects, besides the awful mystery of 
 the Atonement, there was a necessity that He 
 should tabernacle amongst us, veil the Deity in 
 the Incarnation, and invite men by a reasonable 
 appeal to their understandings and affections, to 
 recognize the Divine message. And who amongst 
 us is not at once prepared to say, that the readiest 
 way to call the attention of mankind, is by the 
 present exercise of Divine power before our eyes, 
 appealing to the senses God has given us for the 
 apprehension of all external Truth ? Who does 
 
LECTURE VI. 157 
 
 not immediately recognize the force of the Lord's 
 appeal — 'The works bear witness of me, that I 
 am sent from God ;' and this with the greater and 
 more overwhelming cogency, when it is habitual f 
 Bring hither the sick, the lame, the halt, the blind, 
 and I will heal them. ' Whithersoever he went, into 
 villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in 
 the streets, and besought him that they might but 
 touch the border of his garment ; and as many as 
 touched were made perfectly whole.' 
 
 If miracles are not the most powerful of per- 
 suasives, if any other method could have had 
 better success in prevailing with the multitude, 
 and convincing them that Christ was a messenger 
 from heaven', we ask. What is it? Would not 
 Christ have employed it, if there were a stronger 
 or a more palpable proof? and that he urged it as 
 the proof we have His own direct assertion ; 'If ye 
 believe not me, believe the works,' must be taken 
 in connexion with another place, where he says, 
 ' If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not 
 true : my Father beareth witness of me :' and if we 
 again ask, How? ' Because I do the works which 
 none other man did. 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.' 
 When they asked him, ' If thou be the Christ, tell 
 us plainly,' Jesus answered, ' I told you, and ye 
 believed not ; the works that I do in my Father's 
 name, they bear witness of me. If I do not the 
 
 ^ See Penrose on Miracles, c iv. 
 
158 LECTURE VI. 
 
 works of my Father, believe me not. The Father 
 that dwell eth in me, he doeth the works.' ' Believe 
 me for the very works' sake.' 
 
 From consideration of this argument of our 
 Lord, we conclude that he allow^ed that the objec- 
 tion made by the Pharisees to his pretensions 
 would have been valid, if he had not had the testi- 
 mony of the Father, as well as his own. As he 
 here meant and was understood to be appealing 
 to a testimony given him by God ; what can we 
 suppose it to mean, but an exercise of Divine 
 power, a power which the Creator alone possessed 
 over creation ? The true order of the evidence 
 appears to be as follows : the miracles proved that 
 the person w ho performed them had Divine power : 
 Christ therefore was a teacher from God, and 
 therefore His teaching was true: hence His testi- 
 mony concerning Himself was to be received, be- 
 cause it was supported by testimony from God, 
 and He affirmed Himself to be the Messiah. 
 
 The miracles were wrought in proof of the 
 doctrine, for Christ did not shew forth this Divine 
 power till He entered upon his ministry, and his 
 office of preaching. After that consider how large 
 a portion of the record is taken up with the 
 history of the miracles. It is not too much to say, 
 that nearly one half of the Gospels is a history of 
 Divine interposition in miracles of various kinds. 
 
 It was this display of power that convinced 
 Nicodemus ; ' We know that thou art a teacher sent 
 from God ; for no man can do the miracles that thou 
 
LECTURE VI. 159 
 
 doest, except God be with him.' It was the miracle 
 at Cana which first induced belief in his disciples 
 (S.John ii. 11), because by it he 'manifested forth 
 his glory,' that is to say, their belief in him began 
 to be of a higher kind ; their previous discipleship 
 must have been similar in some respect to that of 
 John's disciples, ' who did no miracle,' but gained 
 a considerable school (if we may so speak) by his 
 preaching. As the Evangelist marks so strongly 
 the effect of the first miracle, he must intimate 
 that their previous belief in Christ was of a much 
 lower kind than that which was then wrought; 
 even though it was not yet that faith in Christ 
 as the Son of God which S. Peter in the name of 
 himself and his colleagues confessed so nobly on 
 a subsequent occasion. We know, as a fact, that 
 the doctrine at one time drove away many of his 
 disciples (S. John vi. QQ)'^ and those that remained 
 seem to intimate that, hard and diflScult as the 
 saying was, they remained faithful in spite of it, 
 for some other reason which held them bound to 
 Him: ' Lord, to whom should we go?' The form of 
 the narrative when the Evangelist writes, ' Though 
 he did so many miracles, yet they believed not on 
 himS' implies that they ought to have believed in 
 consequence of the number of these works ; and 
 therefore that with the multitude, it was the 
 awakening evidence which first should turn them 
 to listen to the words of Eternal Life ; in the hope 
 
 John xii. 37 •' rco-auTa Ce avruv (rtjjjie'ia TreirottjKOTO'; t/Jiirpoa-dev 
 avrwv, ovK e-jria-Tevov eU avTov, 
 
160 LECTURE VI. 
 
 that afterwards the word might influence their 
 affections and incline their wills permanently and 
 effectually \ 
 
 We next proceed to notice the objection which 
 is made from the fact that Christ himself and the 
 Apostles foretold that there should be signs and 
 wonders wrought by false Christs, and which 
 might deceive even the elect 2. If there can be 
 miracles wrought by the agents of evil and of error, 
 how can these be safe testimonies to the truth of 
 one who professes himself sent from God? 
 
 This was the argument of Celsus the Epicurean. 
 He puts forth with great confidence this objection 
 to miraculous evidence — that Christ should have 
 foretold that others would come and do miracles, 
 to which they must give no heed. He thence infers 
 that miracles have no special Divine power in 
 them. Is it not, says he, a wretched thing that 
 from the same works one should be accounted a 
 God, and others deceivers^? 
 
 ' S. Paul ad Romanos, xv. 18, says that the Gentiles were made 
 obedient, \ojia kui epyia ev cwafxei a^^||^£tu}u kui TefjtiTwv, ev Zvvafxei 
 Ylvevixaro^ dylov. 
 
 S. Augustine, de Catechizandis Rudihus, § 45 : Quemadmodum 
 primi Cliristiani quia nondum ista (sc. prtedicta) provenisse videbant, 
 niiraculis movcbantur ut crederent ; sic nos &c. He here compares the 
 conviction produced in his day with that which was wrought in the 
 beginning of Christianity, and assumes that the first Christians were 
 Jirst induced to belief by miracles. 
 
 2 See this question argued at considerable length by ]\Ir Penrose, 
 Treatise on Scripture Miracles, c. v. 
 
 3 Orijencs c Celsum^ Lib. ii. p. 89 {Spencer's Edition) : ttw? ovv 
 ov (TYeTAioi/, aiTo tiov avTtov epyoDv tov ftev, Geoi/, tou? Oe, yotjTa^ 
 
LECTURE VI. 161 
 
 To this Origen replies, Our Saviour did not in 
 these words bid men beware in general of such as 
 did miracles, but of those only who might announce 
 themselves as anointed of God, and who should 
 endeavour by some appearances {^kxtivwv (pavraaiwi') 
 to convert the disciples of Jesus ; and he also 
 argues, that since false Christs pretended to be 
 Christ because they worked miracles, it shews that 
 the power of working miracles was generally taken 
 to be conclusive as an evidence of Divine power \ 
 
 If there be deceptions, there must be true 
 miracles also. If there be sophisms, there must 
 also be legitimate arguments ; what must be done 
 in such cases, is strictly and severely to examine 
 the pretenders, their life and manners, their effects 
 and consequences, whether they do good or hurt 
 
 tjyeT(T0at • — tI jap fxaWov utto je rovToav, tov<! aWov^ irovtjpov^^ rf 
 TouTov vojjiKTTeov^ ttVTw yowixevow fxapTvpi ; Tavra fxev ye nai avTo^ 
 ufxo\6yt](Tev ov-^i 6e'ia<; (^Jo-ew?, a\\ a-Karewvosv tivmv kui ■jrafxirovripuiv 
 eivat yvwp'icrfxaTa. 
 
 "Opa S»7 el/x»7ci/ toutoic o KeAcro? (racpw^ eXeyy^erai KaKovpydav rov 
 \6yov' aWo fxev tov Irjcrov XeyovTO^ irepi tmv iroirjcravTWv atjueTa kui 
 Tf oaxa, dWo Ze tov Trapa tm KeAcrft) iovoaiov tpacfKovTO^' Kai yap cl fnev 
 d'rr\w<; to7<; iJ.a6r]ra?<; eXeyev 'Irjo-ou? (pvXda-a-ecrOat tou<? rd TCpdaTta 
 (?) eTrayyeWonevov^, ov nrapaTiQefxevo'^ t'i (prjarovcriv €avTOv<; eiuat, 
 raya "ycipav elyev dv tj vTrovota avTov ' crrei o a<p dv veXei (pvXa<T<Te&- 
 0ai t]iJ.d<: 6 'Irjaovi, i-rrayyeXXovrai elvai 6 Xpio-TO? oirep ov iroiovcriv 
 o'l y6r]T€<;^ dXXd Ka) ev tw ovofxaTi 'I>7<rou (3iovvTa<; kokw? <pr](ri Tiva^ 
 Si/i/a'juei? Trotti<Teiv^ Ka\ Sai/aoi/a? diroftdXXeiv dvOpwirvav, 
 
 ^ lb. lib. ii. p. 90 : Kai tovto he hoKeT fxoi ctt) irdvTwv wa-re heiv 
 irapaTidevai on owov ti -^eTpou trpoa-Koiovnevov eivai ofxayeve^ tw 
 KpeiTTOvi tKC? Tra'i/Twc ck tov evavTiov e<TTi ti KpeiTTOv' ovtw kui eiri 
 Tuv Kara yoriTe'iav eTTiTeXovvTwv, on irdpTw; dvdyKt] elvai Ka\ utto 6€ia<; 
 
 evepyeia'! iv tw f3iif yevofxeva^ &c. See also p. 91, Spencer's Edition. 
 
162 LECTURE VI. 
 
 in the world, whether they correct men's manners, 
 and bring men to goodness, holiness, and truth. 
 On this account we are neither to reject all mi- 
 racles, nor embrace all pretences, but carefully 
 and prudently examine the rational evidences 
 whereby those which are true and Divine may be 
 known from such as are counterfeit and diabolical. 
 The argument, when reiterated by modern ob- 
 jectors, has been answered by shewing clearly 
 what criteria are reasonable or necessary to be 
 observed in distinguishing pretended miracles or 
 false signs from true. The chief of these is the 
 congruity of the doctrine in support of which mi- 
 racles are wrought, with that which has been 
 supported and evidenced in the same way. No 
 miracle can be admitted as a proof of Divine 
 Authority, if it be wrought in contradiction of any 
 tenet which is already agreed to proceed from 
 Divine Authority ^ This is already provided for 
 under the Mosaic law. ' If there arise among you 
 a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth 
 thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the 
 wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee, 
 saying. Let us go after other gods, which thou 
 hast not known, and let us serve them ; thou shalt 
 not hearken unto that prophet or dreamer of 
 dreams.' The false prophet was to be put to death, 
 because he spoke to turn them away from the 
 Lord, i.e. the pretensions of the prophet were to 
 
 ^ See Le Bas, ' Considerations on Miracles,' p. 45. 
 
LECTURE VI. 163 
 
 be tried by his doctrine. S. John gives the same 
 rule for trying the spirits, when he says that every 
 spirit which is from God must confess that Jesus 
 Christ is come in the flesh. 
 
 In this there is nothing at all contrary to what 
 we have said before ; for in either case of true or 
 false miracles, they serve to arrest the attention 
 in the first instance, when considered and found to 
 be clear of all suspicion and doubt : they incline 
 the understanding, if found to be wanting in those 
 fair and clear characteristics which an honest 
 truth-seeking mind would apply : they cease to 
 have any effect, and are easily, as is the case now 
 with respect to pretended popish miracles, disre- 
 garded. 
 
 Few persons except those whose tendencies are 
 already towards the Roman Communion, ever pay 
 more than a mere passing attention to the foolish 
 stories of miracles circulated in modern times. 
 The nature of these pretended wonders, and the 
 vain fables they are brought forward to support, 
 both together convince us that there is no need 
 to give any attention to them. 
 
 It is better, in speaking on a subject of this 
 kind, to take a practical case, than to endeavour 
 to make a subtle scientific distinction ; for it would 
 be hard to do this in such a way as to obviate all 
 objections. The more useful way is to point out 
 the emptiness of the cavil, and how completely 
 uninfluential it is, when the case is one of actual 
 occurrence. Such a method will at once shew us 
 
164 LECTURE VI, 
 
 that there is more subtlety than substance in the 
 dilemma to wiiich opponents would reduce us. 
 
 With respect to the Christian religion as a 
 whole, the difficulty is purely theoretical ; for there 
 is not a single vestige of a case to be put in 
 comparison with the multitudinous signs, and the 
 perpetual wonderful exercise of power, which 
 marked our Saviour's life on earth. 
 
 But it should be clearly stated that the dis- 
 tinction drawn between external and internal evi- 
 dence of Christianity, is not one which can be 
 maintained absolutely. Neither is one without 
 the other. The external evidence calls men to 
 hear. It is the awakening call of God to all his 
 creatures. 'A great multitude followed him, be- 
 cause they saw the miracles which he did on them 
 that were diseased.' (S. John vi. 2.) Those who 
 heard his preaching, as from one who spake as 
 never man spake, and one who had authority, 
 probably believed that Christ was a prophet sent 
 from God. Others hardened themselves against 
 Him, and imputed his miracles to the Spirit of 
 evil. 
 
 The former when they heard our Saviour pro- 
 claim the Gospel of the kingdom, if their hearts 
 were not hardened, believed in Him more firmly, 
 and became more than mere nominal disciples ; 
 but if they were lovers of the honour that cometh 
 from men more than of that which cometh from 
 God only, even though their consciences warned 
 them that Christ was a Divine messenger, would 
 
LECTURE VI. ^65 
 
 not confess Him, even though they believed (S. 
 John xii. 42). They had convictions which they 
 were afraid to avow openly (S. John vii. 13, ix. 22). 
 
 But those who not only rejected Christ's words, 
 but maligned and traduced his great works, these 
 men are said to commit the sin against the Holy 
 Ghost. Now what was the difference between 
 these last and those who, while touched, yet would 
 not confess — but this? The Pharisees rejected 
 Christianity and its external evidence ; the others 
 through infirmity and love of the world rejected 
 Christianity, but admitted the force of its evidence. 
 And hence we conclude that the rejection of the 
 external evidence in wonders and signs, the gifts of 
 the Holy Ghost ; the resolute setting oneself 
 against the proofs that God himself, through the 
 power of the Holy Ghost, offered to man, of His 
 interference on their behalf, constitutes the sin of 
 which especially it is said that there cannot be 
 forgiveness. 
 
 Let us suppose for a moment that the internal 
 evidence was that which is intended to produce 
 conviction. A teacher of morality who had great 
 powers of persuasion, and whose life corresponded 
 to his doctrine, would no doubt have considerable 
 success so long as that doctrine involved no 
 novelty ; and by adapting his teaching to the 
 different classes which might come within his 
 reach, he might gain many of all ranks to listen 
 to him and receive him. But he must not bring 
 forward any new doctrine ; his message must not 
 
 H. L. M 
 
166 LECTURE VI. 
 
 clash with the received religious convictions of 
 his hearers ; he must only urge upon them the wit- 
 ness which they already have, with greater power 
 and energy. Repentance and reformation may 
 certainly be promoted by a proclamation of their 
 necessity, and a skilful dissection of the false ex- 
 cuses which men make to themselves for neglect 
 of duty. 
 
 Such was the case with John the Baptist, who 
 without miraculous power attracted Jerusalem and 
 all Judea and all the region round about to hear 
 him ; and they were baptized of him in Jordan, 
 confessing their sins. Pharisees and Sadducees, 
 publicans and soldiers, the most unlikely of man- 
 kind to be moved to repentance and self-condem- 
 nation, were all under the influence of the preacher 
 in the wilderness : — but John proclaimed no new 
 doctrine. His light was the last bright lamp that 
 shone on the letters of the elder covenant. He 
 took up the last warnings of Malachi his prede- 
 cessor, and no prejudices had to be combated. 
 He preached to them what they acknowledged 
 already, although they disobeyed it. He only pre- 
 pared a highway for one mightier than himself, 
 and was to wane and to decrease, as the Lamb of 
 God came forth with the announcement of glad 
 tidings, and salvation through the new and living 
 way consecrated by Himself. John was a burning 
 and a shining light, and they who hesitated to re- 
 ceive Christ were willing for a season to rejoice 
 in his light ; but Christ came Himself, ' that they 
 
LECTURE VI. 167 
 
 might liave life, and that they might have it more 
 abundantly' (S. John x. 10). John the Baptist 
 did not proclaim that the time was coming when 
 men should not be bound to worship at Jerusalem, 
 but in spirit and in truth. It was this that 
 shocked the hearers ; they could not listen with 
 patience to one who came to proclaim the fulfil- 
 ment of their law, and its consequent displacement 
 for the establishment of a new polity extending 
 to all mankind. We cannot help noticing the very 
 different effect which must have been produced 
 upon the people by such announcements as these : 
 ' Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of 
 old time — but I say unto you.' A people jealous of 
 their religion and exclusive privileges would now 
 be shocked ; and what could reassure them, but 
 some evident token of the Divine support to the 
 messenger, who, while he brought such strange 
 doctrines, yet appealed to the Jewish Scriptures, 
 as testifying of Himself? If Christ had merely 
 been a preacher of morality, enforcing lessons which 
 have their germ in every man's heart, and had had 
 no great doctrines of sublime and mysterious im- 
 port to declare, the example of John the Baptist 
 shews that he would have met with a more favour- 
 able reception ; but his new announcements moved 
 them with indignation, zeal, and vehement opposi- 
 tion. ' For a good work we stone thee not, btit for 
 blasphemy, and because that thou, being a man, 
 makest thyself God.' How could such pretensions, 
 again we say it, be maintained, but by a present 
 
168 LECTURE VI. 
 
 evident exercise of Divine power, to shew tliat God 
 had set his seal to the testimony delivered, strange, 
 incomprehensible, bewildering though it were ? 
 
 Though the pure morality of the Christian 
 doctrine might weigh with some, as we have 
 already observed, yet this could not be the case 
 wdth the multitude ; for such evidence can only 
 be appreciated by those who are thoughtful ; and 
 the personal character of Christ, supremely in- 
 fluential as it undoubtedly is in confirming the 
 faith of Christians, could at first only have in- 
 fluenced those who were our Lord's intimate 
 friends and adherents. 
 
 If the evidence had been confined to these 
 points, the majority of mankind would have been 
 left alone, and never have been reclaimed from the 
 congregation of the dead, after they had wandered 
 out of the way of understanding. 
 
 And there is another remark we think worthy 
 of notice ; that those who contend for the validity 
 and necessity of miraculous evidence in the first 
 instance, do not insist upon its necessity for pro- 
 ducing general conviction at the present day among 
 our own people; although, as we think, they do 
 justly plead for the necessity of there being a faith- 
 ful record of such interposition in time of old. It 
 is argued that such testimony was necessary at the 
 time, and under the circumstances of the hearers 
 when the Gospel was preached; but now in all civi- 
 lized countries the establishment of Christianity, 
 and its general prevalence, secure it a hearing 
 
LECTURE VI. 169 
 
 already. It is not therefore necessary that the first 
 arresting of the attention should be secured in any 
 strange, new and startling way. If new sects arise 
 in our day we do not care even to give a hearing 
 to their preachers or heralds ; but if these people 
 pretended to miraculous power, exercised constantly 
 in the face of their opponents, we should feel that 
 there must besomethingdemanding of rational men 
 investigation and attention. This is the case with 
 which we ought to compare the first rise of Chris- 
 tianity ; and we see how large a difference there is 
 between it and the case as we are familiar with 
 it. If, as now, Christianity gains the attention of 
 the multitude from many other circumstances be- 
 sides its pretensions to the support of miraculous 
 powers, this should not induce us to think that 
 internal proofs are all-sufficient without the gifts 
 of the Holy Ghost in wonders and signs. All we 
 can conclude is, that the effect already produced 
 on the world by the success and spread of the 
 Gospel, is sufficient to convince the multitude that 
 Divine power produced and promoted that success 
 and universality. 
 
 In what has been said an attempt has been 
 made to set aside the prejudice raised against 
 miraculous evidence, by exalting the internal evi- 
 dence of Christianity, and to state clearly the 
 separate and joint influence of each. 
 
 In conclusion, for the application of the warn- 
 ing of the unpardonable sin to the Church in our 
 days, we have only to notice that those who 
 
170 LECTURE VI. 
 
 reject the supernatural evidence which has been 
 given by the Holy Ghost for the establishment 
 of the Faith, generally do so, because they re- 
 ject the supernatural doctrines which Christianity 
 teaches. Viewing Christianity as a system of ex- 
 alted morality only, which might have been taught 
 by any highly gifted man, and refusing to recog- 
 nize in it ' Mysteries of Faith,' such as the atone- 
 ment and sacramental grace, they consistently 
 enough persuade themselves that there was no 
 need of any supernatural external signs to aid the 
 promotion of a sublime philosophy — a republished 
 Natural Religion. Arguing of Christianity as one 
 of God's many ways with men, and not as The 
 way. The system, The great end of the existence 
 of mankind, they are averse to admit that there is 
 in its essence or in its credentials anything which 
 stamps it with these characteristics of singularity. 
 The depths and heights of God's counsels declared 
 to man in the Gospel of Jesus Christ they explain 
 away into vague generalities or enthusiastic ex- 
 pressions. They level the everlasting hills, extract 
 all their profundity from the deep things of God, 
 and then cannot admit any necessity for His in- 
 terference with the laws of nature — for his permis- 
 sion of discontinuity in tiie chain connecting 
 effects with their ordinary causes. If the Phari- 
 sees attributed the works of the Holy Ghost to 
 the Spirit of Evil, the men of whom we speak 
 destroy the evidence of these works by denying 
 their existence, or falsifying their character ; they 
 
LECTURE VI. 171 
 
 charge the Word of God, in which these things 
 are recorded for us by men inspired by the Holy 
 Ghost, with error and untruth ; and so this be- 
 comes a sin against the Holy Ghost of much the 
 same kind. It is attributing the work of the Holy 
 Ghost to the Father of lies. If the credit of the 
 Scriptures is assailed, in order to get rid of the 
 difficulties of miracle and prophecy, it seems that 
 this is done in the same spirit of determined oppo- 
 sition and unbelief which the Pharisees exhibited. 
 They rejected the proofs which our Lord gave 
 of His divine authority, and charged Him with 
 being in league with God's enemy ; and now those 
 who reject the same proofs, the record of which 
 is secured to us by the same Spirit, asserting 
 that these records are untrustworthy — deceitful — 
 are surely sinners in the same sense. 
 
 Let it not be said that as they admit the prac- 
 tical parts of the system, therefore they are not to 
 be judged so harshly. Did not the Pharisees 
 admit the Divine Laws of morality? Did they 
 not do battle, as they pretended, for the honour of 
 God, understood in their own sense? Did they 
 not recognize Natural Religion? Did they not 
 profess a zeal for God ? ' Give God the praise ; 
 we know that this man is a sinner.' Though men 
 may now be very zealous for the laws of natural 
 morality; yet if they reject the peculiar doctrines 
 of Christianity because they are abnormal, and 
 the peculiar proofs of those doctrines because they 
 are miraculous, what right have we to say that 
 
172 LECTURE VI. 
 
 their sin is venial, or to assume that a man's faith 
 in these things is non-essential ? 
 
 God's Word is a light unto our path, and a 
 lantern unto our feet. Its doctrines, on which acts 
 of faith are dependent, wonderful and mysterious 
 — high as heaven, deep as ocean — are the very 
 sinews and marrow of the whole system. And to 
 deprive Religion of these, is to tear away its flesh 
 and substance, and present us with a skeleton 
 instead of life. I should therefore fear when I 
 read the words of our Lord's denunciation on the 
 Pharisees, " Whosoever shall speak against the 
 Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him," that 
 if we dare to diminish in any way the wonderful 
 works of the Holy Ghost, which as miracles and 
 gifts were wrought in confirmation of the Faith ; 
 if in any degree we slight their testimony, and 
 teach men so, we may now incur the same awful 
 penalty ; because the sin of the Pharisees consisted 
 in rejection of the wonderful works which the 
 Spirit wrought, and in refusing to acknowledge 
 them as God's. 
 
 From such contempt of thy Word and Com- 
 mandment, good Lord, deliver us for Jesus Christ's 
 sake. Amen. 
 
LECTURE VII 
 
 HEBREWS II. 10. 
 
 It became him, for ivhom are all things, and by whom are 
 all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make 
 the Captain of their salvation perfect through sif- 
 fei'ings. 
 
 THERE are many portions of Holy Scripture 
 which speak of the exaltation of Christ to the 
 right hand of God, as a consequence of his humi- 
 liation and suffering, such as, 'He became obedient 
 unto death, even the death of the Cross ; therefore 
 God also hath highly exalted him.' This is 
 generally explained of Christ's human nature, 
 since in His divine nature he could not receive 
 exaltation; and as connected with the great object 
 of Christ's mission, the regeneration and restoration 
 of human nature to the highest place in God's 
 favour, this doctrine is generally intelligible, and 
 received by the majority of Christendom. There 
 remains however some difficulty in those texts 
 which speak of Christ being made perfect by 
 suffering, because, as He was without sin, as 
 man, it may be asked in what does this making 
 perfect consist? * He did no sin, neither wag guile 
 found in his mouth,' saith S. Peter (i. 2, 22), 
 according to the prophecy of Isaiah (liii. 9). He 
 himself affirmed that He did always that which 
 
174 LECTURE vir. 
 
 was pleasing to the Father (John viii. 29), and he 
 challenged his opponents to convince Him of sin 
 (S. John viii. 46). S. Paul affirms of him that He 
 knew no sin (2 Cor. v. 21), and that though in 
 all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin 
 (Heb. iv. 15). It may then be asked, how can one 
 already perfect be said to he made perfect through 
 suffering, as though he had imperfection? Thus 
 in the text it is said, ' It was fitting that the 
 Captain of our salvation should be made perfect 
 through suffering;' and again, 'Though he was 
 a Son {vlos wv), yet learned He obedience by the 
 things which he suffered ; and being made perfect 
 He became the Author of salvation unto all them 
 that obey him.' 
 
 The answer to this enquiry must be made from 
 a consideration of the. use of the word 'to make 
 perfect.' In one sense it imports progress towards 
 a higher state, in another, the completion of a 
 particular character or office to be fulfilled \ In 
 
 1 There is no doubt that the LXX. use of the word TeAeio'w is 
 consecrare, and Mede has argued strongly for that sense in this 
 passage; but as this sense cannot be universally assigned to the 
 word in the New Testament, I have preferred adhering to the more 
 general signification. Erasmus, Schmid, Bcza, Schcetgcn, take it in 
 the same sense as Mede. Scilicet, says Wolfius, Cures Philolog. 
 Vol. IV. p. 621, Sacerdotes Veteris Testamenti per mortem et 
 victimas animalium, Christus vero per mortem et victimam sui 
 corporis inauguratus est. Interim cum Christus ctiam ante mortem 
 sacerdotio illo functus sit pro hominibus, variis perpcssionibus 
 exantlatis, adeoque huic officio inauguratus censeri debeat, non 
 video quomodo inauguratio ilia simpliciter ad mortem ejus referri 
 possit, imprimis cum vita functus, sacerdotio suo in tantum per- 
 
LECTURE VII. 175 
 
 the first sense it is used by S. Paul speaking of 
 himself, ' not as though I were already perfect,' and 
 S. John speaks of our love being made perfect. 
 In the second sense it is used by our Lord speak- 
 ing of himself: ' Behold, I cast out devils, and 
 I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third 
 day I shall be perfected.' And the author of the 
 
 functus sit. Itaque perstiterim fere in significatu consummandi vel 
 2)erjiciendi de quo conferes Jacohi Lydil Agomst'ica Sacra, p. 129. 
 The subsequent ecclesiastical use of the word is according to Suicer, 
 
 1. de Baptismo, Gregory Nazianz. Orat. xxxvii. p. 596. S. 
 Athanas. Orat. ii, contra Arianos, Tom. i. p. 341. He adds. Cur 
 vero TeXeiova-Qai sit haptizari intelligitur ex Dialogo i. Atha- 
 nasii contra Macedonium, Tom. ii. p. 265, ubi base leguntur : ttw? 
 oi)^ ofXoXojovfxevov ia-Tiv^ oti t»j? irpo(TKVvi']<Teo3<i to ^aTTTta-fxa jneT^oi/, 
 oTTovye Kotj KaTr]-)(^ovfxevoi irpoa-Kvvova-i iraTepa Kai v'lov^ ovk e^ovcri 
 Be TeX6iOT»jTa, idv fxr] (BatrTia-Qtacnv eh to ovofxa tov Trarpo? ko.) tov 
 vlov, Kai TOV aj'iov riv£VfxaTo<;' el Be jui? elai TeXeioi -^picrTiavo) o'l 
 KaTYiyovfxevoi irpiv f] fDairTicrduicn, ptnTTTicrpei/Te? oe TcXeiovvTai, to 
 /SaTTTia-fxa apa fxe7^6v ecTTi t^? Trpoa-Kvvrja-eco^ ; 6 Tt^v TeXeioTtjTa 
 Tapexei. Qui ergo baptizantur dicuntur TeXeiovadat consecrari, 
 quia Deo consecrantur et quasi inaugurantur ; quemadmodura qui ad • 
 sacra promoventur officia dicuntur TeXeiovadai. Anonymus in 
 Vita Atbanasii in appendice, Tom. ii. Hunc nempe Evagrium qui 
 fuit successor Eudoxii Ariani in sede Antiocbena, sed ortbodoxus : 
 lepai T^e?|oe? eVeXe/cocrai/ Yiva-Tadiov, avhpois eirKpavovi. 
 
 2. De morte (1) piorum, frequently in tbe Mcnolog'mm ; also 
 S. Chrysost. Hom. xiv. 1 Tim. p. 309. (2) in specie de morte 
 martyrum. S. Cbrysost. Horn, xxxiv. in Act. Apost. of S. Paul, 
 eVi Ne'pwi/o? eTcXeiwdr], in reference to bis own saying, ' I have 
 finished my course.' (Acts xx. 24.) In 2 Tim. iv. 7, it is tov 
 cpofxov TeTeXeKa. It is a constant expression in tbe Menologium, 
 for tbe deatb of the martyrs, TeXeiovTai. 
 
 As applied to our Lord, tbe word TeXeio^ became in later times 
 a word of peculiar and technical kind in consequence of tbe Arian 
 controversy. See notes to S. Athanasius Treatises against Ari- 
 anis77i, Part i. p. 108, p. 116. 
 
176 LECTCRE VIT. 
 
 Epistle to the Hebrews affirms that the complete- 
 ness of the state of those who in time of old died 
 in faith, depended on the full development of 
 God's purpose towards men as displayed in the 
 Christian Church (Heb. xi. 40) ; and the spirits of 
 just men are made perfect in this sense, that their 
 complete emancipation from death is effected by 
 the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 In both senses may we explain the application 
 of the words ' made perfect' to our Saviour ; for in 
 the first place, Christ took our nature upon Him 
 with its infirmities^ though not with its taint of 
 corruption ; and His being made perfect, as far as 
 this is concerned, imports His triumphing over 
 that infirmity ; through suffering He was made 
 perfect, in order that weakness might no longer be 
 the necessary burden of the redeemed. And in the 
 second place, this process secures the completeness 
 of the work of Redemption ; * in that He Himself 
 hath suff'ered being tempted, He is able to succour 
 them that are tempted.' His contest with the evil 
 one was otily to be carried on through the weak- 
 ness which the nature He took had essentially in 
 itself. As He was incapable of sinning, the temp- 
 ter could only attack Him through the infirmities 
 of His human nature, and by vanquishing the 
 enemy on this ground, the perfection or com- 
 
 ^ See S. Chrysost. on John, Horn. Lxvii. 1,2; S. Cyril, de Red. 
 Fid. p. 18; /S'. Amhros. de Fid. n. n. 56; S. Cyril. Ep. ad Success. 
 I. p. 138, quoted in different places of the Athanasian Treatises as 
 above. 
 
LECTURE VIL 177 
 
 pleteness of His work was secured*. The sense of 
 want, the endurance of temptation and of the 
 withdrawal of God's face, and death, had all to be 
 undergone in order to lift mankind from the fallen 
 state, as well as in order that hereafter He might 
 be one with all His faithful members in like trials. 
 If it had pleased God to restore all mankind at 
 once to the state of innocence after the atonement 
 had been completed, abolishing sin, and all pos- 
 sibility of sinning, then the being made perfect in 
 one sense only would have stood ; but since it has 
 pleased Him that mankind shall render a rational 
 obedience, and by faith in Christ be brought 
 through trial in this life, the other is also neces- 
 sary in order that the work of Christ may be 
 eftectually wrought in each individual soul that 
 is finally saved. 
 
 Thus through Christ's suffering the redemption 
 of human nature is completed, and through His 
 sufferings he is united to each individual Christian 
 in his trials ; and so the salvation of each one of 
 those who attain to eternal life is completed. 
 This seems to be entirely in accordance with the 
 general argument of the Apostle in the place 
 we are considering : ' We see Jesus, who was made 
 a little lower than the angels for the suffering of 
 death, crowned with glory and honour — that He 
 by the grace of God should taste of death for 
 every man. For it became Him, for whom are all 
 
 1 See S. Athanasius' Treatises against the Avians, (Eng. Transl.) 
 p. 241, note h. 
 
178 LECTURE VII. 
 
 things, and by whom are all things, in bringing 
 many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of 
 their salvation perfect through sufferings.... Foras- 
 much then as the children were partakers of flesh 
 and blood, He likewise Himself took part of the 
 same, that He might through death destroy him 
 that had the power of death, and deliver them 
 who through fear of death were all their lifetime 
 subject to bondage.' 
 
 Christ therefore took upon Him the infirmities 
 of flesh and blood, and doing battle to the prince 
 of darkness on this battle-ground, overcame him 
 and set mankind free. It was through death that 
 death was destroyed. It is through the imper- 
 fections which are involved in the idea of liability 
 to suffering, that Christ completed His work. 
 This idea I wish to follow out now, as verified in 
 Christ's body, the Church, ever since it has existed ; 
 and I would argue from the way in which the in- 
 firmities to which the Church is liable, have proved 
 sources of strength and contributed to her ad- 
 vancement, that she must evidently have been 
 preserved by a divine power. Just as Christ, the 
 head of the body, through participation in the 
 infirmities of our nature, relaxed and unfastened 
 the hold which Satan had upon it; so, as S. Paul 
 wrote to the Philippians (i. 12), the disastrous 
 things which happened unto him, fell out rather 
 for the furtherance of the gospel. And in all sub- 
 sequent times the infirmities of the Church have, 
 by God's wonderful providence, been turned into 
 
LECTURE VII. 179 
 
 sources of strength, and caused the spread of the 
 true faith. 
 
 Before proceeding to this development of the 
 doctrine taught us respecting our Saviour, we may 
 notice one or two occasions where the perfection of 
 the members of Clirist through imitation of the Sa- 
 viour is referred to. And in the first place, we may 
 refer to the saying in our Lord's discourse (S. Luke 
 vi. 40), ' The disciple is not above his master ; but 
 every one that is perfect shall be as his master.' 
 The word translated 'perfect' here is not reXeiwOeis, 
 but KaTrjpTia/uei'o^, and the connexion with the pre- 
 ceding verses will be as follows : ' Can the blind 
 lead the blind ? Shall they not both fall into the 
 ditch? The disciple is not above his master.' Being 
 addressed to the disciples, this is a warning to them 
 that to secure a faithful discharge of duty in those 
 who teach others, the teachers must themselves 
 first of all become enlightened, but must not as- 
 sume the office of judging other men individually; 
 which was an office which Christ himself never 
 assumed while exercising his ministry. * I judge 
 no man' (S.John viii. 15). In this respect all 
 Christ's ministers must follow the example of their 
 Master, not set themselves above Him ; and every 
 one nmst be fully prepared or instructed in the 
 same way that He was ; they must be prepared for 
 their office as He was, i. e. by humility. They 
 must declare God's judgments in general terms. 
 'Hath no man condemned thee? neither do I 
 condemn thee : ' but nevertheless hear the word 
 
180 LECTURE VII. 
 
 which condemns all sin, and 'go, and sin no 
 more.' And they must be perfected for their office 
 as He was, through suffering, as S. Epiphanius 
 interprets it, and as our Lord Himself on another 
 occasion warns them : ' If they have persecuted 
 me, they will also persecute you.' This humility 
 and diffidence in judging was to be promoted in 
 them by remembering that they must expect an 
 evil construction on their motives, and therefore 
 not repine under it, but expect to be perfected in 
 one (S. John xvii. 23) by the indwelling of the 
 Holy Ghost, to sustain them under their perse- 
 cutions, knowing that they must take their share 
 with the Captain of their salvation. 
 
 Again, this perfection through infirmity is 
 affirmed (in 2 Cor. xii. 9), when the Lord revealed 
 to S. Paul that it was in weakness that his 
 Master's strength was to be made perfect. Thus, 
 as Christ was made perfect through suffering, so 
 was the Apostle to endure gladly all the afflictions 
 which came upon him, because in these very 
 things he was to be made perfect, or completed, 
 through the strength of Christ imparted to him. 
 
 In passing on to the general subject marked 
 out, we notice that the death of Christ was of such 
 a nature that, humanly speaking, it should have 
 been fatal to his design. If the founder of a 
 Religion suffers death as a malefactor, an igno- 
 minious death, with all attendant circumstances 
 of disgrace, this would, generally speaking, suf- 
 fice to defeat all pretensions to any heaven-sent 
 
LECTURE VII. 181 
 
 mission. 'What,' would it be said, by one who 
 heard of such an event, ' can you put faith in one 
 who was condemned and executed as a criminal 
 by an obscure Roman governor, in a small pro- 
 vince of the Empire, one of an obstinate and 
 turbulent race? Is not this wretched end of one 
 who had such lofty pretensions enough to convince 
 you that you must be under a mistake?' 
 
 Yet how strangely different was the result! 
 Leaving out of all question at present the high 
 mystery involved in Christ's death as a sacrifice, 
 we see that this very fact of Christ's ignominious 
 death was in after ages a most powerful induce- 
 ment to the early Christians in time of persecution 
 to seal their testimony by their blood ; and if the 
 blood of the martyrs be the seed of Christianity, 
 we see how the death of our Saviour promoted 
 their willing sacrifice of life in the same way, how 
 it produced in them that lowliness and humility 
 which He preached. 
 
 But still more, through death Christ subdued 
 the power of death, not only by inspiring His 
 followers with contempt for its pain and courage 
 under its infliction; but leading the way to His 
 Resurrection, it prepared the greatest proof that 
 we can bring of the divinity of His errand to man- 
 kind. His death was the necessary preliminary to 
 His resurrection ; and His proving to His disciples 
 that He had thus vanquished the great enemy of 
 mankind by laying down His life, and then by His 
 own power resuming it, inspired them with the 
 
 H, L. N 
 
182 LECTURE VII. 
 
 utmost confidence and hope. ' If Christ be not 
 risen, we are of all men most miserable;' ' but now 
 is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first 
 fruits of them that slept.' 
 
 Here we have the first most remarkable in- 
 stance of Christ being made perfect through 
 suffering. The completion of our redemption was 
 in His submission to this the great and principal 
 infirmity to which mankind is subject, and the 
 overcoming the fear of death in all Christians, in 
 consequence of death being subject to Him, is 
 another result in which through weakness He is 
 made our strength. If all mankind were subject 
 to bondage through fear of death, Christ's death 
 was to abolish this fear, and to prove (when it led 
 to His resurrection) to all the faithful that Christ 
 had destroyed death as an irreversible sentence. 
 The charnel-house was no longer to be a perpetual 
 cheerless prison. It was to be the threshold of 
 eternal life to all who would obey the Gospel. 
 
 In this then we have an instance of the per- 
 fection and completion of the scheme of redemp- 
 tion through infirmity. The resurrection, the 
 consequence of Christ's death, was the chief 
 ground of the confidence which the disciples had. 
 It sent them out to preach with unwavering 
 assiduity, the message He had left for mankind. 
 When a result so unexpected ensues upon a 
 catastrophe seemingly so fatal, is not this an 
 evidence of overruling by a divine will, an argu- 
 ment that Christianity is from God? 
 
LECTURE VII. 183 
 
 Next consider that in a few years after Christ's 
 death, when considerable progress had been made 
 in converting the people to the new doctrines, 
 the rulers of the Jews, unable to despise or over- 
 look the changes that threatened them, united 
 against the principal teachers, destroyed the chief 
 of the Apostles, broke up the whole society, and 
 scattered them away from Jerusalem. What 
 follows? Did this check the spread of the new 
 doctrine ? Did it put down the innovation, and 
 stop the proselytizing which had gone on ? Quite 
 the contrary. The scattering of the early disciples 
 from their head quarters, and the dispersion of 
 the organization which they had made, produced 
 nothing but enlarged success. They went preach- 
 ing everywhere, and gaining multitudes over to 
 their side, and soon, the narrow boundaries of 
 Jewish nationality being broken down, the hea- 
 then and surrounding nations were persuaded to 
 enrol themselves in the new faith. 
 
 Persecution, contempt, the sword, exile, all 
 tended to the furtherance of the mighty scheme. 
 The things that were meant for its destruction, 
 turned out for its advantage and corroboration ; 
 and thus we see the completeness of the body of 
 Christ promoted and worked out through infirmity 
 and sufferings. 
 
 As we pass on to later times, we noticfe the 
 constant persecutions of the Christians under 
 successive Roman Emperors. These were sufficient 
 to have broken down the strongest hearts. All 
 
184 LECTURE VII. 
 
 that malice and ingenuity could devise w^as 
 employed to shake the resolution of the Christian 
 converts. The rage and insolence of a brutal 
 populace, the scourges and torture of legal bar- 
 barity, subtle promises and entreaties employed 
 to induce compliance with idolatrous rites, were 
 in their turn arrayed against them. They were 
 accused of the most odious crimes, they were 
 made the scapegoats of the most infamous wicked- 
 ness on the part of others ; they were held up to 
 execration as the cause of the public calamities. 
 Vast numbers were put to death throughout the 
 Empire. Fresh modes of torture were invented to 
 terrify them : where public authority was wanting, 
 popular fury in many places overwhelmed them : 
 not only pagans, but Jewish impostors^ were 
 against them. In spite of the more equitable 
 decrees of Trajan and Antoninus Pius, public 
 frenzy prevailed : the calumnies of philosophers, 
 even under the mild rule of Marcus Aurelius, 
 procured them injurious treatment. The rapacity 
 and cowardice of a cruel covetous magistracy, 
 submitting to the voice of the populace, was the 
 source of much suffering to them. When thus 
 the most dreadful penalties were incurred for 
 adherence to the new religion, what was the 
 consequence? Did these sufferings avail to check 
 the spread of the Gospel? Far from it. The 
 Church grew and prospered, and daily its num- 
 
 ^ Barchochebas. Justin Martyr, Apol. i. 31; Euseh. H. E. 
 Lib. IV. 8; Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, Lib. vii. c. 12. 
 
LECTURE VII. 185 
 
 bers increased and multiplied \ The noble ex- 
 ample of the martyrs became arguments wherewith 
 the preachers and apologists for Christianity 
 assaulted the strong holds of their opponents. 
 The things which were wrought for its destruction 
 turned out in every place for the furtherance of 
 the Gospel ; though constancy to their vows 
 never failed to procure exquisite torture to the 
 professors of religion, the weakness of women 
 was turned into tlie most heroic courage. The 
 flames of the stake became beacons of light to 
 draw men to admire, examine and embrace the 
 truth. The heroism which endurance of cruelty 
 called forth became an inducement to many to 
 believe. They could not resist the evidence which 
 such constancy afforded, of high hopes in the 
 condemned. Sincerity, shewn by so ^wrmy, could not 
 but awaken in thoughtful minds desire to know 
 the grounds of such confidence, and thus through 
 suffering again was the Church made perfect. 
 
 So remarkable was the result of these perse- 
 cutions in promoting instead of stopping the 
 spread of Christianity, that it has now become an 
 argument with men for refraining from perse- 
 cutions, because they had so illustrious an example 
 of the growth of the Church, while all was done 
 to prevent it. It was found that the effect pro- 
 duced was exactly the contrary of that which was 
 
 ^ Fundendo sanguinem et patiendo magis quam faciendo contu- 
 melias, Christi fundata est Ecclesia. — Hieronymi Epistol(B, quoted 
 by Dr Barrow, Vol. i. p. 124 (fol. ed.) 
 
186 LECTURE VII. 
 
 anticipated, and that there was in Christianity a 
 power of vitality which only shewed itself the 
 more, as the attempts to destroy it were the more 
 vehement. 
 
 This demands a little further notice. The 
 remark now commonly made, and assented to, 
 that as a general rule, persecution of opinions 
 rather promotes their spread than impedes it, 
 may admit of very considerable question. The 
 Albigenses were effectually extinguished by the 
 blood-thirsty cruelty of Arnold the Abbot of Ci- 
 teaux, and Simon de Montfort. The Hugonots 
 were extirpated from nearly the whole of France 
 by the horrible persecutions which followed the 
 repeal of protecting laws. Mahometan conquest 
 has obliterated the ancient sees of northern Africa, 
 and a country once fertile in most active and 
 intelligent Christian writers, is now utterly without 
 the light of the Gospel. 
 
 It ought not then to be assumed too hastily, 
 that the vigorous flourishing of the Christian 
 Church, whilst assailed by the bitter animosities 
 of human persecutors, was the result of a natural 
 law which makes opposition a source of strength, 
 and ensures the success of whatever is oppressed. 
 I think it is a more true account of this general 
 persuasion, that it has arisen out of the very cir- 
 cumstances to which we are referring. Unin- 
 fluenced by this historical fact, the prevalent 
 opinion of mankind is the exact opposite. Practi- 
 cally, persecution is never considered as promoting 
 
LECTURE VII. 187 
 
 the interest of the party which is persecuted, and 
 it is unreasonable to assume a natural tendency 
 of things, as the solution of the fact that Chris- 
 tianity grew vigorously under the opposition of 
 heathen powers, in order to defeat a conclusion 
 that may more rationally be drawn, that Chris- 
 tianity had a Divine special support. Gamaliel, 
 who opposed persecution, did not do so because 
 it would be sure to defeat its own object, but 
 because it was uncertain whether the new religion 
 were from God or not, and because so many 
 seditious movements came to nothing of themselves. 
 All men naturally are persecutors of those who 
 entertain opinions opposite to their own, and this 
 must arise in a great degree from an impression 
 that what is obnoxious can be stopped or defeated 
 by oppression. 
 
 I am not therefore prepared to assign the con- 
 tinued and substantial progress of Christianity 
 under the Imperial persecutions to this law of 
 contraries. It seems much more according to 
 right reason, to believe that when the religion of 
 self denial and purity made its way through blood 
 and fiery tortures, against the greatest power 
 that the world has ever seen of a temporal kind, 
 it was because the Almighty Father protected it 
 and promoted it ; and because it was under this 
 special protection, therefore it grew and increased 
 while all things seem to portend the contrary. 
 As for this sect^ ive hear it everywhere spohen 
 against, was the ordinary feeling. It could not 
 
188 LECTURE VII. 
 
 have survived this general mistrust and dislike, 
 when they were supported by the terrors of the 
 executioner, if it had not pleased God that it 
 should go on, increase and multiply and subdue 
 the earth, and so, in the midst of sufferings, pro- 
 gress towards perfection and completion. 
 
 Thus as the Captain of our Salvation was 
 made perfect through sufferings, so the body, of 
 which He is the Head, grew, increased, and 
 multiplied through sufferings also, and evinced its 
 divine energy by turning into means of progress 
 what was meant for its annihilation. 
 
 The fortunes of the nascent spiritual kingdom 
 were again severely tried by internal dissensions. 
 The plague of Arianism had well-nigh prevailed 
 at one time. The tares, which the enemy had 
 sown among the wheat, almost overcame the good 
 seed. At the council of Ariminum (359), a decree 
 was passed which seemed to accommodate matters 
 between the contending parties; but it was soon 
 found that through the subtlety of the Arian 
 party, it had in reality admitted the error which 
 was opposed. The true doctrine of the Church 
 was obscured, and the poison had spread to such 
 a degree that the four hundred bishops of that 
 council were either intimidated or deceived into 
 the conclusion they adopted ^ Never was the faith 
 in greater danger. Yet out of this peril was the 
 
 1 S. Athanasius, Epistle concerning the Councils at Ariminum 
 and Seleucia, c. ii. § 30. See the note there, in the English trans- 
 lation, ' Library of the Fathers.' 
 
LECTURE VII. 189 
 
 Church delivered ; and roused by the energy of 
 S. Hilary in the west, the sanction given to error 
 was recalled, and the true doctrine re-established 
 in authority. Now it seems undoubted that out of 
 this peril arose ultimately considerable advantages. 
 The condemnation of the Macedonians, Nestorians, 
 Monophysites, and other heretics must have been 
 the more easy task, in consequence of the rigid 
 investigations which had taken place during the 
 Arian controversy. The final triumph of the 
 orthodox doctrine in the former case, must have 
 led men to place greater trust in the clearness 
 and distinctions which were now able to be made. 
 They were prepared for investigations which 
 would soon put down errors : and according to 
 the saying of S. Paul, that there must needs be 
 heresies, that the faithful may be made manifest, 
 so clearness and precision were attained by the 
 Church being generally bound to certain close 
 and accurate conclusions. 
 
 Sufferings again produced progress towards 
 perfection. Purged that it might bring forth 
 more fruit, the Church came forth from the trial 
 invigorated and ready to do battle to the powers 
 of evil in other forms. Schism and dissension, 
 the rending of the body, the deep and grievous 
 wounds which the prince of darkness could inflict 
 upon the spouse of Christ, like the sufferings of 
 our blessed Redeemer Himself, all resulted in 
 the healing of the nations; all promoted the ex- 
 tension of the covenant among the sons of men. 
 
190 LECTURE VII. 
 
 Further, the irruption of the savage hordes of 
 barbarians which caused the destruction of the 
 Roman Empire in the West was another danger 
 which threatened and severely tried the Church 
 of Christ. The enervated and unwarlike popu- 
 lation which now formed the mass of the Empire 
 could oppose no effectual resistance to the in- 
 vaders ; and carnage and destruction prevailed 
 throughout its boundaries. But to countervail 
 the efforts of the ungodly, the kingdom of Christ 
 had arms miglitier than the sword and the bow. 
 The conquerors of the land were themselves 
 brought under its sway, and were enrolled in 
 the number of the faithful. The nations which 
 mowed down the Imperial ranks, and crushed the 
 decaying remnants of the power of the Cesars, 
 were converted to the faith of Christ, and new 
 subjects were thus added to the kingdom which 
 was really to become universal and permanent. 
 And though out of this very success a new danger 
 arose ; though many of the invaders were converted 
 to heretical forms of Christianity, as were the 
 Vandals in Africa, who embraced the Arian 
 heresy ; yet on the whole, and by degrees, the 
 cloud which had overspread the brightness of the 
 Christian truth was gradually dispersed, and the 
 faith made a gain of that which brought ruin to 
 the human Empire under which it had hitherto 
 been propagated. 
 
 The protecting hand of God was again clearly 
 seen in the final condemnation of the Eutychians 
 
LECTURE VII. 191 
 
 in the sixth (Ecumenical Synod (680). This 
 heresy, like the Arian, threatened to overwhelm the 
 Church, when the Emperor Heraclius made his 
 decree in its favour, and Honorius, the bishop of 
 Rome, concurred in the surrender of the truth, for 
 an apparent reunion of the orthodox and the 
 heretics. Betrayed by one who ought to have 
 been its staunch defender, and harassed by the 
 extension of the power of the State to the main- 
 tenance of false principles, the Church was well- 
 nigh borne down with misfortune. But out of 
 the bitter came forth the strong, and through the 
 courageous resistance to error, backed by power, 
 and connived at by Ecclesiastical authorities, 
 which was conducted by Sophronius, the patriarch 
 of Jerusalem, and others of the faithful, the Church 
 was delivered from this peril, and out of weakness 
 was made strong. Was there not some special 
 favour towards her, when under circumstances so 
 trying, and against influence so potent, the true 
 faith was preserved and the struggling Church 
 was saved? And is there not here a fulfilment of 
 the general characteristic, which we have noticed, 
 so that, through suffering, the Church grew, and 
 achieved independence of the edicts of Emperors, 
 and superiority over the fatal compromises of time- 
 serving Prelates? 
 
 Again, in the midst of safety there is danger. 
 The consideration and influence acquired by the 
 Church led to a tyranny and organization, which, 
 while it had its use, as we shall see, yet was in a 
 
192 LECTURE VII. 
 
 spiritual sense most disastrous. The authority of 
 the Roman See, though encroaching, was at first 
 exercised for good. It was natural so long as 
 Rome was the seat of power, that its bishop 
 should be looked upon as the chief protector of 
 the Church. He was better able than other 
 bishops to resist all encroachments, and to assist 
 in the reformation of abuses either of doctrine or 
 discipline, which in the disordered state of Chris- 
 tendom, during the invasions of the barbarians, 
 spread throughout its length and breadth. The 
 enforcing of submission to the See of Rome, as 
 the head quarters of the Western Church, was a 
 natural consequence of such a state of things ; and 
 detrimental as it was in aftertimes to the purity 
 of the Gospel, yet at first it might seem to be 
 almost necessary to preserve order and uniformity 
 of doctrine. 
 
 We may in the following manner discern how 
 this infliction on the Church of Christ was turned 
 into an instrument of good. In the dark ages, 
 amid universal ignorance and neglect of learning 
 even by those who had time and means at their 
 disposal, the preservation of the faith must have 
 been much assisted by the respect which the 
 political influence of the bishops of Rome secured 
 to Christianity, the promotion of Christian soci- 
 eties, and the immunity gained for religious 
 foundations. The perpetual state of warfare 
 between rival princes, the feebleness of the govern- 
 ments, the insolence of independent powerful 
 
LECTURE VII. 193 
 
 subjects, caused general lawlessness and disorder. 
 Ecclesiastical revenues were constantly in danger 
 of seizure by kings and feudal lords, improper 
 persons were often thrust into places of trust and 
 honour, churches and monasteries were often 
 pillaged and burned, the schools of learning M^ere 
 extinguished, the laity were immersed in gross 
 ignorance, and the clergy were not much superior 
 to them. The unlawful attitude assumed by the 
 bishops of Rome was, under these circumstances, 
 one which God overruled for the good of the 
 Church. The influence which they sought for 
 worldly ends, was of use to preserve the remnant 
 that was left, and the consciousness of this pro- 
 tection produced good fruit. Though the main 
 body of Christians was at this time little careful 
 to obey the law of Christ, yet there were many 
 who shewed forth most ardent and earnest religion, 
 who devoted themselves most unreservedly to the 
 practice of piety and self-denial. Amidst much 
 ignorance and superstition, there was much of cha- 
 rity, much zeal, many good works. There was an 
 earnest spirit of devotion in those who gave their 
 whole energies to the work of missions, in the 
 numbers who retired from the strife and honours 
 of the world to spend their days in penitence and 
 prayer. This was much promoted by the security 
 and sanctity of religious houses, and the respect 
 which generally attached to the profession of reli- 
 gious vows, and both these were in large measure 
 owing to the power and authority of the Pope. 
 
194 LECTURE VII. 
 
 Thus the preservation of religion was ensured 
 by an encroachment which threatened eventually 
 very great evils. What was really an injury and 
 usurpation, led to a result for which we may well 
 even now thank God. The loss of the Church in 
 this case was turned into gain, and the furtherance 
 of the Gospel resulted from the bonds weaved 
 tightly around her : at first they strengthened, 
 though afterwards they threatened to crush. 
 
 Following still the fortunes of the kingdom of 
 Christ, we deplore the prevalence of error in 
 doctrine which gradually crept into it ; but the 
 flagrant abuses which awakened men's indig- 
 nation produced the Reformation of religion, which 
 restored the purity of the Gospel, and set men 
 free from the iron tyranny of Rome, which had 
 become unendurable. It was no doubt attended 
 with many evils. The interruption of communion 
 between churches which ensued, when many 
 resolved upon returning to the purity of the faith 
 and simplicity of ritual which characterized the 
 Apostolic ages, was in itself a great loss. Since 
 by unity and mutual love Christ's kingdom was 
 to be known among men, whatever marred this 
 testimony to the world was a loss and suffering 
 to the Church. Bitter railings and accusations, 
 mutual persecutions and destructive wars, all 
 followed upon this disruption ; and what was the 
 result? Did the world at large begin to argue, as 
 it might be feared they would, that so divided 
 and disunited a body as the Church then was. 
 
LECTURE VII. 195 
 
 could not be the kingdom of peace and good will, 
 and that our Saviour's mission had failed, and the 
 gates of hell had prevailed against the Church, 
 in direct negation of what Christ himself had pro- 
 phesied? We know that the result was quite the 
 reverse, that since the time when the national 
 churches of the Teutonic races declared them- 
 selves free from any obligation to the doctrinal 
 decisions of the Church of Rome, and would no 
 longer submit to papal decrees, piety and charity 
 and good works of every description have more 
 abounded amongst them. Civilization received a 
 marked impulse from that time, and the reformed 
 churches have been the pioneers in all the im- 
 provements which have since taken place for the 
 general benefit of mankind. It is beyond my 
 purpose to trace whether the Reformation of 
 religion proceeded from the revival of learning, 
 and the greater facility acquired in consequence 
 for investigating the Inspired records, and the 
 history and doctrine of the primitive Church. It 
 is sufficient to indicate, that from a period of great 
 suffering, by the want of purity in doctrine, by 
 ignorance and scandalous abuses, when, even on 
 the confession of the rigid adherents of the papal 
 systems there was a most urgent need of refor- 
 mation, out of all this arose a state of things 
 tending to the increase of true piety and rational 
 obedience to the spiritual laws of Christianity. It 
 
 ^ See the Decreta et Constitutiones Concilii Tridentini, passim, 
 and iSarpi, B. i. 
 
196 LECTURE VII. 
 
 seems apparent to most understandings, that the 
 papal pretensions could never have continued 
 under the present state of the world, since even 
 in countries still adhering to the bishop of Rome's 
 communion, the power which he exercises has 
 shrunk most considerably from its former arrogant 
 extent. Popes are no longer of any consequence 
 in the political system of Europe; their decrees 
 are disregarded, their temporal authority a mere 
 shadoAV, the voice which they once had in the 
 destinies of empires is completely silenced. So 
 great a change from the vast pretensions which 
 they set up before the Reformation, must in a con- 
 siderable degree have resulted from it ; and it is 
 difficult to see how so monstrous an evil as the 
 perpetual interference of a power, combining 
 spiritual and temporal authority, in the internal 
 concerns of nearly every nation in Europe, could 
 have been gotten rid of, unless there had been 
 some extraordinary revolution in the whole 
 system. Great good must be purchased by 
 sacrifices ; but in this case the sacrifices were 
 immaterial compared with the result attained. 
 The progress of mankind, intellectually and 
 socially, required the overthrow of the spiritual 
 despotism, and this resulted in great measure 
 from the alliance of the despotism with false 
 doctrine, superstitions, and a variety of abuses. 
 It was these latter which aroused the spirits of 
 men to shake ofi' their fetters, and return to the 
 simple faith of the early Church. It was not an 
 
LECTURE VII. 197 
 
 object of the reformers at first to get rid of the 
 supremacy of Rome. Their first aim was a puri- 
 fication of the defiled Temple of God, and it was 
 only in the course of events, so ordered by the 
 far-reaching care of the Almighty, that this puri- 
 fication involved the downfall of papal tyranny 
 in a large part of the western Church, and its 
 gradual shrinking up into much smaller di- 
 mensions in that part which still acknowledges 
 the spiritual headship of the Pope. 
 
 The sufferings of the Church, the throes and 
 heavings attendant on the struggle, the pains en- 
 dured by the whole body resulted in deliverance 
 from an iron yoke ; the greater expansion and 
 freedom of thought which followed, the clearer 
 perception of the great vital power of the Gospel 
 over men's hearts, the larger and more philoso- 
 phical adaptation of the system to the wants of 
 the human race, have all resulted from the strife 
 which accompanied this great change ; and thus 
 we are again brought to confess that as the Cap- 
 tain of our salvation was made perfect through 
 sufferings, His body also is subject to the same 
 law, and exemplifies still the permanence of the 
 type, — completeness and progress through suf- 
 fering and chastisement. 
 
 If from the time of the Reformation we fix 
 our attention on our own branch of the Church, 
 we shall see much of the same law prevailing. 
 The Erastianism of the age when the princes of 
 the house of Tudor held sway over the land was 
 
 H- L. o 
 
198 LECTURE VII. 
 
 severely punished by the subsequent persecution 
 which Puritan bitterness stirred up ; and the tem- 
 porary cloud which overspread the Church at the 
 time of the civil wars, and during the triumph of 
 the republican party, though it seemed to threaten 
 the annihilation of our ecclesiastical polity, was 
 not without advantage to the spiritual wellbeing 
 of the Church. At no time can she reckon so 
 large a number of sound and learned theologians 
 as during the 17th century. As the downfall of 
 the Stuarts drew near, the prelates of the Church 
 were among the foremost defenders of civil liberty, 
 the most courageous opponents of the illegal 
 measures of the court ; and this was not from any 
 joining in unchristian opposition to the powers 
 that be, from factious or unworthy motives, but, 
 as was shewn soon after, there was a rigid and 
 stern sense of duty which prompted those who 
 had stood up as witnesses for the truth against 
 the prerogative, to sacrifice all for Christ's sake — 
 a noble conscientiousness which even those who 
 cannot sympathize with their scruples, will always 
 recognize : the illustrious name of Ken will ever 
 command the affection and respect of all true 
 churchmen. How different was this spirit from 
 that unfortunate reliance on secular support which 
 characterized the early part of the century ! We 
 cannot but observe how adversity had been a 
 school of discipline, and how through much suf- 
 fering the Church had gained in highminded 
 tone, in regard for the rights of conscience, and 
 
LECTURE VII. 199 
 
 in knowledge of its independent authority and 
 dignity. We cannot fail to see how this was 
 brought about through suffering; how cruel per- 
 secution and oppression had wrought for the 
 spiritual wellbeing and perfecting of the body of 
 Christ amongst us. 
 
 But I refrain from urging this in later times, 
 as it might involve discussion of points too nearly 
 touching present difficulties ; and I hasten to con- 
 clude, merely noticing one feature of our times 
 which seems to me to exhibit much the same 
 general characteristic, that the evils and damage 
 resulting from the infirmity of men, are overruled 
 by God for the welfare and promotion of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 That unity of doctrine and mutual communion 
 are sadly interrupted, is undoubted : we have 
 many sects in the land, producing mutual jealou- 
 sies, much theological disputation, acrimonious 
 altercations, and uncharitable dissension. But 
 there is one result of this separation which indi- 
 cates God's hand. The most vigorous efforts of 
 our chief dissenting bodies are not directed to 
 proselytizing at home. Missions to the heathen 
 and the conversion of the nations to the faith of 
 Christ have been the objects to which they have 
 devoted most of their alms. The efforts made to 
 evangelize the unconverted nations of the earth 
 have multiplied exceedingly, along with the rise 
 of separate bodies amongst us. The energies of 
 those zealous men whose unfortunate prejudices 
 
 02 
 
200 LECTURE VII. 
 
 prevent them from remaining in communion with 
 the Church, have been directed to this object of 
 Christianizing heathen lands, and the sums raised 
 and expended on this important object are surely 
 far larger than they would have been, had we 
 remained a united Church without schism at our 
 doors. I do not wish to be understood as main- 
 taining that all that is done, is well done ; but 
 Christ is preached, and using the words of 
 S. Paul, 'Though some preach Christ of envy 
 and strife, and some of good will, notwithstand- 
 ing every way Christ is preached, and therein 
 I do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.' I cannot but 
 think that our sins have been turned by God to 
 the furtherance of the Gospel, and that which is 
 in itself a calamity, has by divine supervision and 
 through the divine counsels, resulted in the ejreater 
 abundance of exertion for carrying the news of 
 salvation into the dark regions of paganism. 
 I might also notice instances in which the neglected 
 inhabitants of our own land, have by this same 
 agency been rescued from ignorance of the funda- 
 mental truths of the Gospel ; how irregular and 
 unauthorized ministrations have yet been a great 
 blessing to some whom our lack of service would 
 have left to perish in ignorance and vice, and how 
 these have reacted upon the Church to stir up 
 her members to greater diligence and zeal. And 
 though we may be keenly sensible of the difficul- 
 ties which these things create, yet we ought not 
 to overlook the fact that there has been some of 
 
LECTURE VII. 201 
 
 the Lord's work done, where we omitted to supply 
 the means. 
 
 In all these instances I see again that the 
 misfortunes, the neglect, the errors of the Church 
 which in reality were losses and sufferings in a 
 spiritual sense, have yet been by an Almighty 
 hand, overruled for good. The promotion of God's 
 kingdom in the hearts of men is not frustrated by 
 our supineness and want of energy; our sins shall 
 bring us into dangers and difficulties, but these 
 afflictions eventually result in the furtherance of 
 the Gospel. God's holy name is proclaimed. 
 The kingdom of Christ advances. The Church 
 is being built up and souls gathered into the 
 Lord's harvest, even by means which at first 
 threaten impediment and obstruction. 
 
 Now considering this general tendency and 
 constant characteristic of the Christian religion, — 
 that no disasters can crush it, — no persecution 
 overwhelm it, — no prosperity can utterly corrupt 
 it, — no schism can bring its downfall, but that 
 misfortune seems to promote its welfare, and its 
 very feebleness turns out to be its strength, con- 
 trary to all human expectations : — considering its 
 wonderful powers of vitality, of expansion, of pro- 
 gress, — there is no conclusion but one that can 
 explain its history, and that is, — this work must 
 be of God, for if it were of men, it would under 
 such trials have come to nought. The floods have 
 arisen, and the rain has descended, and the winds 
 have blown, and the stream has beat vehemently 
 
202 LECTURE VII. 
 
 upon the house, and it has not fallen. Its foun- 
 dation therefore is the rock. Its builder and its 
 maker is God. 
 
 It is well to accustom ourselves to the con- 
 templation of the whole Catholic Church as one 
 body, not to narrow our conceptions to particular 
 parts of the Church, as if Christ were divided. 
 Paul or ApoUos or Cephas may be followed with 
 undue zeal, and there may be greater or less 
 purity of doctrine and practice in the separate 
 branches, — the brethren may not agree, — but still 
 it is the great spiritual kingdom which Christ has 
 set up among men. Its magnitude, and its growth 
 should be frequently in our thoughts to convince 
 us of the Divine origin of the mighty body into 
 which we have been engrafted. Consider how 
 large a portion of the earth owns the lordship 
 of Christ the crucified. Secure under its shadow, 
 we do not sufficiently refl^ect on the magnitude of 
 the vine. The wandering Arabs in the desert, 
 familiar with the sight of the gigantic structures 
 of the Pharaohs, think little of the vastness of 
 the edifices, the solidity of these stony silent 
 witnesses of the past. The fisherman dwelling 
 near the sea, and concerned only with the outline 
 of his own small bay, does not think of the 
 vastness of the ocean of which he sees but a part. 
 So we are apt to think too narrowly of the vast 
 kingdom of Christ which has a witness in every 
 land. The sun now never sets on its emblem, 
 the Cross. It has been carried throughout nearly 
 
LECTURE VII. 203 
 
 the whole of the habitable globe. It proclaims 
 everywhere the war between the spirit and the 
 world. It is the badge of a system not favouring 
 men's natural inclinations, bat opposing them. It 
 calls them away from things of sense to things 
 unseen, apprehended by faith, future, spiritual ; 
 and yet it succeeds, and all the more, the more it 
 is opposed. It is not a system pandering, like 
 Mahometanism, to men's passions. It does not 
 owe its advance to military conquest. It prevails 
 while warring upon the desires of its own ad- 
 herents. It gains strength through hostility, and 
 is established through opposition. It is made 
 perfect through sufferings. Can this be a human 
 invention? Must we not say, 'Surely God is in 
 this place'? 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 HEBREWS X. 39. 
 
 Them that believe to the saving of the soul. 
 
 \T7HEN we survey the different forms which 
 ' * opposition to Christianity assumes in the 
 present day, we may clearly discern that there is 
 one feature common to many — an aversion to the 
 binding upon men belief in certain doctrines as 
 essential to salvation. There is a deep-seated and 
 widely-spread hostility to dogmatic Christianity. 
 
 When faith is explained only as a trust or 
 confidence in God, it does not offend: there is a 
 religious tendency in men's dispositions, which, 
 even when ineffectual, yet inclines them to accept 
 the reasonable doctrine of trust in God; but when 
 it is asserted that there are certain things most 
 necessary to be believed ; credenda, in order to 
 comply with the conditions under which eternal 
 life or happiness is offered to man ; then we find 
 much opposition. Nevertheless the fundamental 
 condition of admission to the blessings of the 
 Christian covenant, * to believe all the articles of 
 the Christian faith,' is one which must be main- 
 tained by those who will resist the encroachment 
 of that infidel spirit which threatens to level all 
 
206 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 that is positive in Christianity. Sweeping asser- 
 tions and sharp sayings often have most effect 
 upon youthful minds. They ought to be put on 
 their guard against disastrous results by suggesting 
 to them certain considerations to act as antidotes to 
 the destructive insinuations and objections which 
 may be obtruded upon them from time to time. 
 
 The question is, Is it reasonable to suppose 
 that eternal life, or eternal death, should depend 
 upon a man's holding certain truths or disbeliev- 
 ing them? The answer is, that it is reasonable; 
 considering faith in both its aspects, as intellectual 
 and moral, as an operation of the understanding, 
 and as an operation of the will — faith of the 
 intellect, faith of the heart. 
 
 The objection is not new; it has prevailed at 
 all times ; and this prevalence may be taken as 
 evidence of the truth of the assertion so often 
 made in Holy Scripture, that man's heart is 
 hostile to the Divine influence. The charges of 
 credulity, and of resolving all religion into a mere 
 persuasion of the mind, which were made in old 
 times by the enemies of Christianity, presuppose 
 that persuasion in the objectors to which we have 
 referred, that to believe in certain things could 
 not be a necessary point of true religion. Now, 
 in order to shew that when the sacred writer 
 speaks of belief to the saving of tiie soul, it is not 
 unreasonable that this faith should include souie- 
 thing more than trust or conlidence, we may con- 
 sider : — 
 
LECTURE VIII. 207 
 
 1. That belief in revealed truths is, in a cer- 
 tain sense, a test of moral disposition. 
 
 2. That the objection is still farther answered 
 by shewing that Christian doctrines are not barren 
 tenets terminating in themselves, but are all highly 
 influential, morally and spiritually. 
 
 It is not necessary to shew that a revelation is 
 desirable. No one, as Paley says, pretends that 
 we have too much knowledge about things divine 
 and spiritual. On the contrary, most men admit 
 at once that a Divine revelation would be an 
 advantage to mankind ; and if it be granted that 
 the welfare of His creatures must be agreeable to 
 the will of the Creator, it is then probable that He 
 would grant them revelation of such things, un- 
 known to them, as should conduce to their welfare; 
 and confirmation of such things also as they could 
 only find out with an uncertain probability. It 
 seems reasonable that when such a revelation 
 is made, the things revealed should be in great 
 degree of a high spiritual nature, and sometimes 
 not immediately commanding men's assent to their 
 truth. It seems reasonable that in such a case, 
 men should be accounted obedient or disobedient 
 according as they believe or disbelieve what God 
 has revealed. 
 
 The more intelligent statement of the objection 
 would now be as follows : Can there be any 
 moral excellence in believing that which is pro- 
 pounded on sufficient testimony, or anything of 
 moral turpitude, in disbelieving that which is 
 
208 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 propounded on insufficient testimony? If it be 
 made apparent to a man's understanding that cer- 
 tain truths have been attested by a Divine testi- 
 mony, he cannot help believing them ; but if it 
 cannot be made apparent to him that God has 
 revealed them, he cannot incur any moral guilt by 
 withholding his assent. 
 
 The fallacy in such a statement lies in the 
 words 'on sufficient testimony,' and 'be made 
 apparent to man's understanding.' There is no 
 doubt that it would be a pardonable infirmity 
 in a man whose mind was so constituted that 
 he could not understand a mathematical demon- 
 stration : in such cases there is no room for faith 
 or belief, a geometrical proposition is either known 
 or not known : it is an object of Science, not of 
 Faith ; but moral evidence admits of degrees, 
 which the other does not. ' Sufficient testimony ' 
 implies in the very term that it admits of greater 
 or less, and the sufficiency of the testimony de- 
 pends on the qualities of the mind to which it 
 is presented. Its adequacy must depend on the 
 amount of opposite prejudice or resistance with 
 which it meets. The will acting on the under- 
 standing may prevail to oppose convictions of 
 truths depending on moral evidence, or probable 
 evidence ; and it is clear that where the will is 
 concerned, there may be moral qualities involved 
 in assent or dissent. In a Divine revelation, there 
 may be truths contained which clash with pre- 
 conceived notions, which ai)pear to contradict 
 
LECTURE VIII. 209 
 
 generally received conclusions, and then the man 
 who hesitates about believing will not perhaps 
 reject them absolutely, but may set about dimin- 
 ishing, explaining, accommodating, or frittering 
 away the truths at which his mind stumbles. 
 
 The degree in which he can succeed in this 
 attempt must depend very much on the conduct 
 of the understanding, before he comes to the in- 
 vestigation of revealed truths; and this conduct 
 of the understanding is the result of the action of 
 the will upon its powers and its qualities. So that 
 belief in revealed truths or doctrinal deductions, 
 and the degree in which things hard to be under- 
 stood can be apprehended by the understanding, 
 are results in a certain degree of the action of the 
 will on the faculties, and in this light, and as far 
 as it is concerned, the objection falls to the ground. 
 
 If it were written on the sky in letters of fire that 
 Jesus Christ is God, there could be no discussion 
 of the doctrine. It would not be a matter of faith 
 or belief, but of certain absolute knowledge, quite 
 as much as that there is a sun in the firmament; 
 but if this truth is to be deduced from records and 
 from testimony of man by reasonings and interpre- 
 tations, there is room left for an exercise of the 
 faculties in which they are influenced by the will. 
 Men may argue that the record is not sufficiently 
 clear to them, or the testimony not trustworthy, 
 and if they have resolved that the proposition is 
 one which seems to contradict their reason, the 
 result of the investigation will be according to the 
 
210 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 pliancy or obstinacy of theii* minds. Even in the 
 apprehension of mathematical truths, those who 
 have been much engaged in education know how 
 wonderfully different are the capacities of different 
 persons for arriving at conclusions; their powers of 
 assent to strictly logical reasonings which have 
 been settled by a series of powerful understandings, 
 are extremely various in degree, and yet the 
 variety partakes in many cases of a general cha- 
 racter, so that we cannot but conclude that the 
 will may have somewhat to do with the disability. 
 And if in such a case there be room for this 
 influence, there is much more scope for it when 
 the steps of the deduction are by analogies and 
 probabilities rather than by a closely woven chain 
 of syllogisms. 
 
 The scriptural expression of this tendency in 
 man is the depravation of the faculties since the 
 fall ; that the spirit of God strives with men, not 
 irresistibly, but so that there should be room left 
 for choice : according as the understanding is 
 swayed by the corrupt will, so is the capacity for 
 believing things divine. Our Lord's testimony to 
 the Pharisees was, ' Ye will not come to me, that 
 ye might have life.' While they urged that they 
 wanted signs, and wished to know \vhat was 
 Christ's authority, he refused them because of 
 their unwillingness to come to him. 'What sign 
 shewest thou that thou doest such things? and 
 who gave thee this authority?' do not seem un- 
 reasonable demands. But the reply of our Saviour 
 
LECTURE VIII. 211 
 
 shews us that He considered there was already 
 sufficient answer given, though they craved more. 
 He knew that their wills were against believing 
 on Him : and open proofs will not convince such 
 men. ' If ye believe not Moses and the prophets, 
 neither will ye believe though one rose from the 
 dead.' And we have a remarkable instance re- 
 corded of the truth of these very words ; for when 
 Christ had raised Lazarus, of whose death they 
 had had full certainty, some of them went their 
 way to the Pharisees, to give information to them, 
 and they consulted ' that they might put Lazarus 
 also to death, because that by reason of him, many 
 of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus.' 
 
 In the valuable contributions made of late 
 years to the theory of Education, it has been sug- 
 gested as a matter of consideration whether that 
 training of the faculties which is best promoted by 
 the study of the Natural Sciences has received 
 sufficient attention. It has been shewn that there 
 is in these subjects a method of establishing con- 
 clusions abundantly sufficient to sway the judgment, 
 but yet of a different kind to that which is em- 
 ployed in Mathematical Subjects strictly so called. 
 I think it important that this should be viewed in 
 connection with Religion. The reasoning by which 
 many religious truths are established partakes 
 often of the same character. And when it has been 
 asserted, as shewing the unsoundness of the argu- 
 ments by which the Christian faith is support- 
 ed, that many of those who have attained high 
 
212 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 positions in science have been unbelievers, it may 
 well be answered that perhaps these persons have 
 required proofs of a different kind to what they had 
 any right to expect; and have thus failed to believe, 
 because they were unprepared to follow a different 
 method of reasoning — one which, quite as much 
 as accurate logical deduction from simple propo- 
 sitions, was deserving of attention, and abundantly 
 sufficient for the purpose to which it is applied. 
 
 If, as has been observed in a work well known 
 amongst us — if there be certain prejudices which 
 arise from cultivating the intellect by means of 
 mathematics too exclusively' — I fear that in the 
 case of one who doubted of the truth of Chris- 
 tianity, and was endeavouring to satisfy himself 
 of its evidences, they would be very much felt. 
 It must have been from such a persuasion too 
 that Butler conceived that the argument from 
 analogy would be useful, as it indeed proved 
 itself to be in his skilful hands. A mind accus- 
 tomed to this method of argument must receive 
 considerable satisfaction from the study of such 
 an author, especially when the object is to re- 
 move objections to revealed doctrines which can- 
 not be satisfactorily met by direct logical sequences 
 from universally admitted premises. Now the 
 influence which such a method can obtain over 
 men's judgments depends in a great degree upon 
 their moral disposition. The force of an analogy 
 is according to the freshness, the candour of 
 
 * "VVliewell, Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Vol. i. xliii. 
 
LECTURE VIII. 213 
 
 the enquirer. It sways more or less according 
 as the man's mind is less or more warped by 
 prejudice, according to his moral ^^o?: and if 
 this be granted, then we think it goes a very long 
 way to contradict the objection that believing and 
 disbelieving are unconnected with moral qualifi- 
 cations. If the testimony to revealed truths be 
 sufficient, generally speaking, that is, if there be 
 reasonable grounds for conclusions, in the estima- 
 tion of a large number of ordinarily competent 
 persons, this secures us against any objection 
 which can be made generally. And at the same 
 time it gives scope to a moral use of the faculties. 
 Strong probable evidence ought to convince man- 
 kind. Yet inasmuch as it leaves room for choice, 
 it seems exactly suited to the object of moral pro- 
 bation. The rejection or acceptance of the truths 
 so propounded, becomes a test of the disposition 
 of the will. Acceptance of difficult truths on the 
 authority of Divine revelation, testified by evidence 
 generally sufficient, shews that there has been a 
 desire to progress in spiritual things. Rejection 
 shews that the judgment is perverted, or party- 
 coloured, or resolutely tends in a direction different 
 to that in which the evidence was calculated to 
 have weight. 
 
 If there are some persons whose judgments are 
 essentially not convincible by that ordinary evi- 
 dence which is sufficient to sway others, each man 
 would require a revelation specially to himself. 
 Now are we not to expect that in this case, God 
 
 H. L. P 
 
214 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 would act on the usual plan of Divine government 
 — ^viz. by general laws ? And, therefore, there must 
 be degrees in which a man assents to certain truths 
 coming to him with a claim to belief. We can 
 resist evidence of the kind proffered, in a greater 
 or less degree. Willingness to believe is an ingre- 
 dient in the mental process by which conclusions 
 of this kind are arrived at. And, therefore, faith 
 in things revealed is a test of the disposition of 
 men's minds, and ultimately of moral tendencies. 
 
 I ought not to leave this argument without 
 repudiating that view of the testimony to Divine 
 truths, which some have advanced, viz. that it is 
 only of a general probable kind. I have been 
 obliged, in urging the reasons for considering the 
 morality of faith, to take up the objection as it is 
 put by opponents ; but having already on other 
 occasions endeavoured to maintain the infallible 
 testimony of miracles, and to reassert and estab- 
 lish the grounds of belief which so many defenders 
 of religion have in old time put forward, I need 
 not do more on the present occasion than reiterate 
 the persuasion which I entertain, and would earn- 
 estly inculcate on others. Though it is true that 
 the evidence is not a mathematical demonstration 
 now to us, yet we have the very highest probability. 
 In fact the certainty (as we may well call it,) of 
 the truth of Christianity in its external character is 
 such that its opponents are rarely found. Its real 
 and dangerous enemies are those who allow the 
 exterior walls to be strong and valid, but labour to 
 
LECTURE VIII. 215 
 
 corrupt its internal character. For belief in revela- 
 tion and revealed truths, they profess the greatest 
 possible reverence; but in their faithless hands the 
 revealed truth becomes a nonentity, and within the 
 walls of the fortress they fritter away the terms of 
 allegiance till they have no meaning. If urged 
 with the fact of the constant proclamation of the 
 necessity of faith, they resolve it into trust in God 
 only; and, therefore, in controversy with such 
 opponents as these, it may not be amiss to remem- 
 ber that belief in certain doctrines, to which their 
 system is abhorrent, is yet capable of defence on 
 general grounds, antecedent to the consideration of 
 the express command, and does not involve any 
 such difficulty as has been alleged against it. 
 
 But there remains yet another very important 
 view in which this subject should be considered. 
 Belief in certain doctrines, though it may be main- 
 tained as necessary to shew obedience to the will 
 of God as a mere abstract faith, is yet really in 
 Christianity of a very different kind. 
 
 The requirement of belief in certain proposi- 
 tions does not in reality arise mainly from this 
 consideration, but because the propositions them- 
 selves have certain definite ends in view. ' Ex- 
 cepting,' says Bp Taylor^ 'that it acknowledges 
 God's veracity, and so is a direct act of religion, 
 believing a revealed proposition hath no excellency 
 in itself, but in order to that eiid for which we are 
 instructed in such revelations.' That end is that 
 
 ^ Liberty of Prophesying. 
 
 P2 
 
216 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 we should be brought to God. Born again and 
 adopted as sons of God, we are to be sanctified, or 
 made holy, in order that we may be meet to be 
 partakers of the inheritance of the saints. 
 
 Christianity assumes that man is of himself 
 unable to be saved, and provides a salvation for 
 him. In requiring of him faith as the primary 
 condition under which he may become a subject 
 of God's grace in Christ, it is provided that the 
 doctrines which he is called upon to believe are all 
 intimately related to the great work of redemption, 
 and the salvation of the individual man — and 
 especially is this true of those doctrines at which 
 men stumble in God's word. The Incarnation and 
 the Atonement, the personal agency of the Holy 
 Ghost, and the Resurrection — all these are doc- 
 trines on which hang the substance of Christianity. 
 When conscience- stricken with thoughts of the 
 numberless ways in which we have offended our 
 Almighty Father, in thought, and word, and deed, 
 how can we hope for forgiveness, unless there 
 should be some mediator between us, who will 
 ward off from us the justly deserved punishment of 
 our sins? How can such a mediator be cognizant 
 of the weakness and frailty of flesh and blood, how 
 can he sympathize with us, and how could he leave 
 us an example that we may know how we ought 
 to walk and to please God, except he were man, of 
 like nature with ourselves ? And how can a man 
 bring us near to God, since no man can make an 
 agreement unto God for his brother, having his 
 
LECTURE VIII. 217 
 
 own imperfections to overcome ; how can any one 
 exalt human nature to a higher scale of being, 
 unless he be himself above it ; and since we are 
 promised that we shall be partakers of the Divine 
 nature', who but God could have bestowed such a 
 gift? Then how are we now to be brought into 
 the perfect state to which we are tending ? Can 
 ought but a Divine agency effect this ? Must not 
 our Paraclete be Divine, as well as our Mediator 
 and Pattern ? And then to what kind of life are 
 we destined — a merely spiritual life, in which our 
 faculties would be different to what they now are, 
 and our persuasion of its reality dim and indistinct? 
 Will our redemption be complete unless we are set 
 free from the bondage of mortality ? By such 
 questions passing through the mind, we become 
 convinced that even though they be mysterious, 
 difficult, and requiring considerable effort on the 
 part of man to believe them, as abstract truths, yet 
 the doctrines I have mentioned are connected as 
 closely as possible with the hopes and aspirations 
 of Christian men. They all involve deep principle, 
 they lie at the root of our religion, and they are 
 required of men to be believed because of this 
 their intimate relation to the practical, spiritual 
 needs of mankind. A dry assent to a scholastic 
 definition is not a fit subject of comparison with 
 belief in truths like these. And though we have 
 said that the condition of believing in any abstract 
 proposition which comes to us depending on Divine 
 
 1 2 Pet. i. 4. 
 
218 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 testimony to its truth, is not an unfitting trial of 
 man's willing obedience, yet such a condition of 
 salvation is as far removed as possible from the 
 essential and fundamental conditions under which 
 salvation is actually offered to man in the Gospel. 
 Their object is not at all to try men's patience by 
 strivings about things to no profit. When difiicult, 
 it is because of the inherent difficulty of the case. 
 To bring a sinful world into a state of reconciliation 
 w^ith God, and change it into a holy brotherhood, 
 is no such easy matter, due regard being had that 
 none of God's attributes shall be offended, that all 
 His promises and threatenings shall stand, that He 
 shall be a God punishing iniquity, transgression, 
 and sin, a God that will by no means clear the 
 guilty, and yet a God delighting in mercy and 
 longsuffering, a God pardoning iniquity, and a 
 God who will wash away the sins of the ungodly. 
 That in the carrying out and completing of the 
 great work of redemption, wonderful mysteries 
 should have to be accomplished, cannot be matter 
 of surprise to any one who will consider all the 
 depths of the subject. If intelligent obedience, 
 and purity, and complete self-surrender, are to be 
 wrought in the wilfully sinful, the impure, and the 
 selfish, the means thereto must be wonderful ; and 
 the demand made upon mankind is not unreason- 
 able, that they should believe in the truth of what 
 God reveals to them in this matter. When we 
 add thereto that all the hard things which are the 
 objects of faith, are absolutely and intimately 
 
LECTURE VIII. 219 
 
 bound up with the actual working out of the 
 scheme, and its efficient application to the case of 
 each Christian — then it is no longer in the least 
 degree subject of marvel, that belief in these things 
 should be commanded, and made the watchword 
 or symbol of the disciple. Belief to the saving of 
 the soul, so far from being subject of difficulty, be- 
 comes the most reasonable of doctrines, because to 
 return to God we must be prepared to hear Him, 
 and to follow where He points out the road of our 
 return. 
 
 These considerations seem to me well qualified 
 to obviate the difficulty which men have felt in 
 receiving the doctrine of faith. 
 
 The evidence being generally sufficient, the 
 belief or disbelief is according to the action of the 
 will upon the judgment, and therefore is not an 
 improper test of a man's general disposition. 
 
 And the doctrines in which belief is required 
 are not mere trials of men's disposition, but they 
 relate in all cases to practical Christianity. They 
 are necessary to the full understanding and realiz- 
 ing of its method. 
 
 I pass on to a kindred subject, of consider- 
 able importance, especially when we have regard 
 to the audience before w^hom these Lectures are 
 delivered. 
 
 If faith is established most easily in minds that 
 have had the largest and most comprehensive train- 
 ing, if there are moral qualities in faith, arising 
 out of the conduct of the understanding, these facts 
 
220 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 must be matters of very serious import in a place 
 of education. 
 
 Not only have we had instances of men so 
 hardened in understanding as to be incapable of 
 receiving any but mathematical proof, and there- 
 fore making shipwreck of the faith — we have also 
 seen a large class of persons lately led to leave 
 the Church for the Roman schism, whose judg- 
 ments were logic-bound, and who have become 
 complete slaves to the conclusions they could draw 
 from their premises syllogistically, because they 
 could not take more comprehensive views, and 
 views more consistent with the moral and spiritual 
 laws which govern mankind, and which refuse to 
 be bound by the chains of a scholastic discipline. 
 In both cases the judgment has not been free but 
 constrained. 
 
 Intellectual habits are formed by intellectual 
 processes reacting on the judgment, and then the 
 conclusions arrived at are one-sided. To preserve 
 the power of free judgment must be an object to 
 be aimed at, and the possession of such a blessing 
 is not to be secured without diligent care .and con- 
 stant vigilance. We ought to watch in ourselves 
 the ultimate as well as the proximate results of 
 mental processes. The conduct of the understand- 
 ing is a matter of vast importance, on it depends 
 no less than the capacity for apprehending the 
 objects of faith. It must be attended to with the 
 utmost care. Holy Scripture compares the under- 
 standing to the eye. 'The light of the body is the 
 
LECTURE VIII. 221 
 
 eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole 
 body shall be full of light ; but if thine eye be evil, 
 thy whole body shall be full of darkness.' 
 
 The eye, the instrument by which light acts 
 upon the mind, is the human understanding. Christ 
 himself as revealed in the Gospel is the light of the 
 world. The action of this Divine light upon the 
 soul is different in different persons, not from any 
 variation in the external brightness, but from the 
 qualities of the eye or instrument. ' If thine eye 
 be single, thy whole body shall be full of light,' i.e. 
 if the understanding be clear, unwarped by preju- 
 dices, candid, open to impression in the way that 
 the influence tends, many-sided, then the flood of 
 Divine light passes inwards and illuminates the 
 soul with its full radiance; things are seen in their 
 true colour, all parts are seen and at their proper 
 distance and in their proper proportion ; the image 
 of God is imprinted on the soul, and it is a true 
 image, and not one distorted, dim, perplexed, and 
 out of proportion. Such a man learns the true 
 will of God, because he offers of his own accord no 
 impediment to the Divine illumination. He is 
 transformed by the full power of that light which 
 is meant for the enlightenment of all men. ' But 
 if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full 
 of darkness:' the eye which is defective, and there- 
 fore transmits false impressions to the judgment, is 
 like the perverted, vitiated, debilitated understand- 
 ing, whose conclusions are erroneous while consci- 
 entious. Sometimes the eye will get impressed 
 
222 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 with one particular colour till it can recognize 
 none but that colour and its complementary co- 
 lour. So is the understanding influenced, when 
 it forces all conclusions to a state of subserviency 
 to one foregone conclusion, or to a direct antago- 
 nism with it. The eye which represents external 
 objects distorted, is like the understanding which 
 is tortuous, perplexed, crooked, and perverse, which 
 ever sees a fallacy where there is none, and refuses 
 to see an acknowledged flaw, which dwells ever 
 upon a refuted objection, which always bends all 
 arguments one way, will only estimate at one value, 
 will always impart to every view a twist of its own 
 supplying. The eye which has a dim image is like 
 the softened and enervated understanding, which 
 can never arrive at a conclusion, which mistrusts 
 all that it fancies it approves, and has a tender 
 anxious misgiving for all that it fancies it con- 
 demns. It is always wavering, doubting, depend- 
 ing on others, helpless, halting, inconclusive. 
 
 I might follow out the simile with minuteness 
 into many other particulars. It has always seemed 
 to me one of the most remarkable which the Scrip- 
 tures have given us ; but it is sufficient to indicate 
 it to rouse up in most men's minds a conviction of 
 the aptitude of the comparison. Now the culture, 
 management, tending of the understanding, — the 
 great business of education, — will have a most 
 important influence on the faith of the individual, 
 when he comes to argue with himself of the grounds 
 of his belief. And as this belief involves 'savins: 
 
LECTURE VIII. 223 
 
 of the soul/ it is important that the faculties by 
 which faith is to be wrought in us, should be in 
 their perfect state. Having said enough already 
 about mental qualities, I ought before leaving this, 
 to add a word of caution as to moral habits, as they 
 have an important influence on the understanding. 
 The whole testimony of mankind is in one direc- 
 tion on the first point, that sensuality — the giving 
 way to the baser passions of humanity — tends di- 
 rectly to the deterioration of the faculty of judging. 
 Indulgence acts on the mind as it does on the 
 body. It enervates, softens, degrades, and de- 
 stroys. The coarser elements of human nature, 
 when encouraged and pampered, absorb the energy 
 which would have produced a vigorous, severe, 
 noble, and fruitful intellect. Even though the 
 powers of some men, mental and corporeal, may 
 seem to withstand the assaults which they permit 
 their passions to make upon their nobler qualities, 
 yet we may be well assured, that no natural laws 
 of God can be infringed : damage and loss must 
 result from such treatment. We must all be held 
 guilty for the degree in which we fall short of that 
 vigour of mind which we might have attained, if 
 we had not frittered away our powers, and debased 
 our standard : not what we are, compared with 
 others, but what we are, compared with what we 
 might have been, if we had not of our own selves 
 frustrated God's great work within us, and stunted 
 its growth, must be the measure of our culpability. 
 The vigour and tenacity with which we embrace 
 
224 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 the truth will be according to our mental powers, 
 but according to our mental powers, such as we 
 have made them, and not as God gave them to us 
 in germ. If we have enfeebled them, so that they 
 cannot grasp the objects of faith, on us must be 
 the penalty, justly awarded, because the talent 
 committed to us has not been put out to usury, but 
 squandered in the service of Satan instead of the 
 service of God. 
 
 Nearly as fatal to the quality of the under- 
 standing is indolence. The position of a student 
 in the university at the commencement of his ca- 
 reer, is full of temptation of various kinds, but 
 especially of temptation to indolence. 
 
 Its effect again upon the intellect is like its 
 effect upon the body : it enervates. There is also 
 danger that in neglect of the studies and pursuits 
 of the place, if the evil passions do not obtain the 
 mastery, the imagination may yet be more deve- 
 loped than the reasoning faculties, and this is an 
 evil to be deprecated. A luxuriant imagination, 
 kept in check by no bonds of severe reason, is a 
 source of many dangers. It is hostile to the form- 
 ation of a keen, piercing, subtle, and critical judg- 
 ment. It sways decisions by other motives than 
 those of sound reason. It places a man in a dan- 
 gerous position, if ever the tempter should suggest 
 thoughts of infidelity or of schism. 
 
 The development and guidance of the mental 
 powers of the young is a trust of awful importance, 
 and when men are meditating on changes in the 
 
LECTURE VIII. 225 
 
 system, they ought to be mindful of the weighty 
 charge they undertake. If such alterations be 
 carried out with any other motive than a pure and 
 honest desire to produce something better, higher, 
 and more Christian in its tendency, we may be 
 sure that a very deep and grievous responsibility 
 will be incurred. It is no light matter to meddle 
 with systems of such extensive influence. May 
 God grant that in all changes the really import- 
 ant end may be kept in view, that all who are 
 intrusted to the teaching of this seat of sound 
 learning and religious education may be more 
 and more influenced for their good in the high- 
 est sense, i. e. may be prepared to be intelligent, 
 honest, and conscientious Christians. 
 
 Lastly, we may notice that belief in certain 
 revealed propositions, because they are taught us 
 by God, is also an operation of faith viewed in its 
 other capacity, viz. as trust or confidence in God. 
 Under both its aspects, it is concerned in the pro- 
 duction of ' belief to the saving of the soul.' 
 
 Now there is something in faith, trust, or 
 confidence in God, which renders it peculiarly fit 
 to be the condition of salvation. In most other 
 virtues there is a mixture of some selfish feeling, 
 or at any rate a feeling of self-love. In faith there 
 is nothing of this alloy. It is a casting away of 
 self, to repose entirely upon God. In this complete 
 confidence and reliance on God, there is humility, 
 diffidence, acknowledgment of helplessness, gene- 
 rous self-abasement — a childlike clino-inor to the 
 
226 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 One greater, mightier, and wiser — complete sub- 
 mission. 
 
 It is well worth our meditation to consider thus 
 the excellency of faith : ' Faith is the parent of 
 charity ; and whatsoever faith entertains must be 
 apt to produce love to God^' In its highest sense it 
 developes itself into charity, the greatest of Chris- 
 tian graces; because a thorough trust and confi- 
 dence in one who is incapable of deceiving us, or 
 failing us through weakness, leads immediately to 
 the love of God, which is to be the surviving, never- 
 ending Christian grace. 
 
 As deference and submission to earthly parents 
 on the part of children is natural and pleasing, and 
 must be secured in order to influence them for 
 their good, and as this is always intimately con- 
 nected with affection and veneration, so must the 
 same law prevail in matters spiritual and religious. 
 If we would be the children of God, we must have 
 deference, submission, trust, confidence in God. 
 There can be no recognition of God as our Father, 
 unless we have this faith. Christ gives us an ex- 
 ample of the practical effect of faith, when he 
 submitted Himself to the will of the Father in all 
 things. ' I came not to do mine own will, but the 
 will of Him that sent me.' Our mission is similar 
 — we are to seek to thwart our own wills in order 
 to follow the will of God. And the great work 
 which we have to do, in accordance with His 
 revealed will, is to believe. 'This is the will of 
 
 ^ Jcr. Taylor, Holy Limng. 
 
LECTURE VIII. 227 
 
 Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the 
 Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting 
 life, and I will raise him up at the last day.' 
 
 Let us then take heed that we cultivate in our- 
 selves that disposition of mind which leads to faith 
 — that we zealously strive against the contrary 
 disposition which perverts the powers of free judg- 
 ment. Let us approach the Sacred Records with 
 desire to believe — desire to learn the truths of re- 
 velation — that we may embrace them heartily, and 
 act upon them. Then there is not the smallest 
 shadow of doubt that the striving of the Spirit will 
 result in the victory which overcometh the world, 
 even in our faith. And thus we shall be amongst 
 those who believe to the saving of the soul. 
 
 This faith, saith Bishop Taylor^ is the founda- 
 tion of a good life — the foundation of all our hopes: 
 it is that without which we cannot live well, and 
 without which we cannot die well : it is a grace 
 that we shall tlieyi need to support our spirits, to 
 sustain our hopes, to alleviate our sickness, to resist 
 temptation, to prevent despair. Upon the belief 
 of the Articles of our Religion we can do the works 
 of a holy life — upon belief of the promises we can 
 bear sickness patiently, and die cheerfully. 
 
 May this faith be wrought in each one of us 
 here present, by the grace of God, through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. 
 
 ^ Holy Dying. 
 
CAMBRIDGE : 
 PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
SEEMON 
 
 FOR 
 
 GOOD FEIDAY. 
 
Btxmm for iaoi Jfrikg, 
 
 Preached before the University on A2»'il 14, 1854. 
 
 S. LUKE XXIII. 28. 
 
 Weep not for me, hut lueep for yourselves. 
 
 TT7"E are now come to the day of most awful 
 ' * commemoration in the Christian Church — the 
 final consummation and close of the Jewish dis- 
 pensation, taken away by God that He might 
 establish the second covenant — a day on which 
 the marvellous spectacle of the Son of God ex- 
 piring on the cross was exhibited to angels and 
 men ; the public testimony from on High against 
 the malignity of sin ; a solemn and severe ex- 
 ample, such as we can barely comprehend in its 
 deep and world-wide extent ; and moreover, the 
 most singular exhibition of Divine love towards 
 mankind, that we so frail, so sinful, so lost, should 
 be ransomed at a cost so transcendent. 
 
 To-day the Church bids us contemplate the 
 sufferings of the ' author and finisher of our salva- 
 tion ;' to behold and see if there be any sorrow 
 like unto His sorrow ; any pangs so great as those 
 which the offended justice of God exacted from 
 Him — from Him who alone could have borne them. 
 
 If we have been moved by the solemn recital 
 of Christ's agonies, if our warmer feelings have 
 
 1—2 
 
been called into action on this day, and the pathetic 
 story of our Saviour's endurance of all that can 
 be conceived most painful and degrading has 
 made us feel in our hearts the sympathetic yearn- 
 ings of pity and grief, let us ever remember that 
 our sins brought all this to pass — our transgres- 
 sions added bitterness to His cup of sorrow — our 
 wanderings and olfences called down the Divine 
 wrath on the devoted head of the Lamb of God. 
 
 And let us mourn for the sad cause of all the 
 woes that Christ suffered ; let us weep, and pray, 
 and humble ourselves in God's sight, that so the 
 work of salvation may be accomplished in us, and 
 we may be found worthy to share in the blessings 
 of the heavenly inheritance which that precious 
 sacrifice has earned for faithful Christian penitents. 
 
 It is to this recognition of individual unwor- 
 thiness that the gospel is pre-eminently calculated 
 to lead us, and we will endeavour, with God's 
 blessing, to assist you in your meditations this 
 morning, by considering Christ's sorrows, and the 
 way in which we should ponder over them ; first, 
 referring to some of the many ways in which we 
 may regard those sufferings, and then to the hu- 
 man affections which they ought to call forth,— 
 penitential sorrow, and humble gratitude. 
 
 Few subjects are so calculated to affect the 
 stubborn and rebellious nature of man ; but, at the 
 same time, to speak Morthily of such a theme is 
 impossible. Bear, brethren, with the imperfec- 
 tions of expression which we cannot avoid in 
 
speaking of these great mysteries, and endeavour 
 to realise inwardly the fruits of pious medita- 
 tion, that you may heartily feel the deep devo- 
 tion of the ancient Christian hymn — 
 
 Faint and weary Thou liast sought me, 
 On tlie Cross of Suffering bought me, 
 Shall such Grace be vainly brought me ? 
 
 Low I kneel with heart submission. 
 See, like ashes, my contrition; 
 Help me in my lost condition. 
 
 God ' hath laid on Mm the iniquities of %is all^ 
 To appreciate the weight of this enormous bur- 
 den, we must recur to the effects produced by 
 this infliction of His Father. '^He suffered.'' This 
 suffering was both corjioreal and mental : He 
 suffiered in His body — in His affections — in His 
 soul. The scourge, the nails, the piercing thorns, 
 produced in His sacred body the most sharp and 
 painful sensations. The violent tearing of the 
 most sensitive members produced a deep and 
 grievous anguish. ' The ploughei's ploughed iipon 
 his bach, and made long furrows' Add to this the 
 bitterness of suffering, in the stretching of his 
 tender limbs upon the cross, the racking aches 
 which such a posture must have caused, the hard 
 and merciless iron entering into his inmost soul, 
 exposed for three long hours S to the scorching 
 heat — no transient pangs, but acute and lingering 
 tortures, intended by malicious cruelty to be thus 
 searching, grievous, lasting; (for 'they marvelled 
 
 ^ ' Six hours.' Barroio, Vol. i. p. 420, quoting S. Mark xv. 25, 
 34. — ' Three hours.' Bp Taylor, Vol. iii. p. 350, L\fe of Christ. 
 
6 
 
 that he had died so soon,'') and let each one think 
 for himself, when he reflects on the pain caused 
 by ordinary human ills, what must have been 
 the exquisite nature of that corporeal suffering 
 which the Saviour of men underwent for his sake. 
 
 But, not only in His body did our Saviour 
 suffer : He was ' a man of sorrows and acquainted 
 with grief in His affections likewise. He had 
 chosen twelve to be with Him and share His pre- 
 sent humility. He had opened out to them the 
 matchless scenes of future glory. He had taught 
 them, and borne with them, and loved them unto 
 the end. Three especially were attached to His 
 own person ; one of them emphatically designated 
 as * the disciple whom Jesus loved.' These three 
 were with Him in the garden of Gethsemane. They 
 could neither sympathise with His sorrow, nor 
 watch for His safety. They slept, while He prayed 
 and was in His agony. They fled when He was 
 apprehended. They had walked together in the 
 house of God as friends, and taken sweet counsel 
 together, and S. John reclined affectionately in his 
 bosom at the last Supper — but they were now 
 gone. Fear put a bar between His friends and 
 Him, and He is left alone. 
 
 He who had come to bring mankind reconcili- 
 ation with God, to make those who through sin 
 were alienated, sons of God and joint-heirs with 
 Himself of glory, is now abandoned by them. He 
 came to bring God near to man, and while He 
 found that man had rejected Him, there is added 
 
to this the withdrawal of God's countenance, which 
 hitherto had sustained Him. ' 3Iy God, my God, 
 ivJiy hast thou forsaken me T 
 
 His love for man was contemned and despised. 
 His miraculous power, which had ever been ex- 
 erted for their good, turned into a jeer and an 
 insult. His omniscient foreknowledge derided and 
 insulted. His divine teaching accused of being 
 seditious and blasphemous. The heathen Pilate 
 was ashamed of their malicious violence ; His 
 brethren after the flesh, with such frantic and in- 
 veterate hate, so urged, and insisted, and cla- 
 moured for His death. And, when at last He was 
 nailed to the accursed tree, the sneers and cruel 
 mockings of the chief priests and scribes were 
 taken up by the wretched malefactors, whose 
 crimes met with a due reward in their deaths. 
 Can we conceive any circumstance that might 
 have been added to the scene which could have 
 made Him feel more bitter pangs of slighted love 
 and rejected mercy ? Could scorn have done 
 more? Could His affections have been harrowed 
 by any more violent torture ? His feelings wrung 
 by ingratitude more base, — obstinacy more un- 
 relenting? 
 
 Yet, further, our Saviour suffered in His soul. 
 He knew what sin was ; He knew what the dread- 
 ful punishment of sin was ; He moreover knew 
 what was God's hatred of sin ; He himself had 
 the most divine graces infused into His soul, and 
 had the greatest habitual detestation of all ini- 
 
8 
 
 quity. All the iniquity of the world now rested 
 upon Him. He hove our sins. The burden was 
 laid on His shoulders ; and He knew what the 
 burden was. This makes the chief ingredient of 
 His bitter portion. The man that dies in his sins 
 knows not what sin is, till he comes to the judg- 
 ment-seat of God. We know not the full measure 
 of the sinfulness of sin. We cawwo^ know it. One 
 sin unrepented of must have consequences tre- 
 mendous in their intensity, infinite in duration : 
 what can we then know of the burden of the sins 
 of the whole world ? 
 
 Again, our Saviour knew that these sins were 
 against God. He knew the evil and guilt of sin ; 
 the offence against the majesty of God ; the in- 
 gratitude against His goodness. He knew how 
 God hated all sin. " He bore that hatred. God 
 turned away his face from Him. He cried out in 
 the agony of this anticipated trial, * 3Iy soul is ex- 
 ceeding sorrowful even unto death ;' and in actual 
 experience of it, w^hen His sweat ivas as it were 
 great drops of hlood falling to the ground, ' Father, 
 if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; never- 
 theless not what I will, hut what thou iviltJ JVe can 
 know but little of the dreadful agonies of soul that 
 our Saviour endured : His fearful apprehensions ; 
 His unknown sorrows ; His unutterable anguish ; 
 but we can feel how much is contained in those 
 touching words of the Greek Litany : ' By all thine 
 unknown suttcrings, unknown to us, but known 
 and felt by thee, Lord, have mercy on us and 
 
save us/ 'By all thine unknown sufferings, Christ, 
 have mercy upon us.' Now, what effect should 
 this consideration of Christ's suffering produce? 
 We must not rest in a barren and fruitless sym- 
 pathy for Him in His affliction ; not expend our 
 tears in sentimental sorrow, which does not reach 
 the cause of His grief. Deep pangs, brethren, do 
 not thus betray themselves. The inward mourning 
 of the heart is more full of sincerity than the 
 outward display of lamentation, and mourning, 
 and woe. While we cry out in the words of 
 Jeremiah, 'O that my head were waters, and 
 mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep 
 day and night for the slain of the daughter of my 
 people,' we must remember that ' He was wounded 
 for our transgressions. He was bruised for our 
 iniquities' — we must recal the words of our Lord 
 himself, 'Weep not for me, but weep for your- 
 selves.' 
 
 Our sorrow and affliction this day must be for 
 sin. It was sin that brought the Son of God from 
 heaven to suffer and die — the sins of the whole 
 world, and therefore our sins — our individual sins. 
 We must then mourn for these. We must be like 
 those whom Ezekiel saw in prophetic vision, * all 
 of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.' 
 The thoughts of our redemption completed must 
 w^ork the same penitence within us ; for thus saith 
 the same prophet, when setting forth the restora- 
 tion to God's favour of the apostate tribes, ' Then 
 will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall 
 
10 
 
 be clean ; a new heart will T give you, and a new 
 spirit will I put within you ; and I will save you 
 from your uncleanness, and I will be your God. 
 Then shall ye remember your own evil w ays, and 
 your doings that were not good, and shall lothe 
 yourselves in your own eyes for your iniquities 
 and your abominations.' 
 
 We must exclaim when we behold the effects 
 of God's anger displayed in the dreadful sacrifice 
 of Mount Calvary, * Lord, thou hast not dealt with 
 us after our sins, nor remembered us according 
 to our iniquities.' We can learn from that sad 
 spectacle the heavy punishment that sin deserves, 
 and feel that we are spared. We must learn that 
 God hath wrought with us ' for His name's sake, 
 and not according to our wicked ways, nor ac- 
 cording to our corrupt doings,' (Ezek. xx. 44). He 
 hath not laid on us the penalty that we had 
 deserved ; but on Him hath God laid the sins of 
 the whole world. He bare our sins in His own 
 body on the cross, and therefore we should mourn 
 and lament and bewail our evil propensities. 
 
 Amid the thousand pangs that He endured, 
 some there were which our wilfulness and ob- 
 stinacy inflicted ; some there were which our 
 indulgence in sinful pleasures procured for Him ; 
 some which our corrupt appetites produced. 
 
 The load under which He groaned was in- 
 creased by burdens which we have thrown upon 
 Him — the weight of which would have crushed us. 
 
 The cross He carried was erected partly by our 
 
11 
 
 hands — the nails were driven by us. We helped 
 to stretch His weary limbs; and, added to the 
 thorns with which His sacred temples were torn, 
 His tender body was rent by scourges which we 
 had prepared. We were the cause of some aggra- 
 vation of His agonies ; our sinful lusts filled up 
 the cup of His bitternes. He kneiv this, and there- 
 fore He now addresses us in the words of the text : 
 'Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves.' If 
 we understood this fully, and would feel it, such 
 sorrow should be ours as no human calamities 
 could draw from us ; we should not then see 
 man's fiercest outpourings of grief in the chamber 
 of death. We should not then seek the churchyard 
 and the funeral procession for the shedding of 
 man's bitterest tears ; but the ascent of the House 
 of God on Good Friday would witness the deepest 
 humiliation ; — a result of the utmost workings of 
 his soul. And there should the penitent pour 
 forth the tears which the memory of the shame- 
 ful and painful death of Christ should bring into 
 his eyes ; causing him to weep and lament for 
 the sins of a mis-spent life, then expiated and 
 washed away. No transient emotions or passing 
 sorrows should be felt by the sinner who knows 
 himself a sinner ; who knows what sin is ; who 
 knows that the Lamb of God was slain, with 
 every aggravation of cruel mocking and scornful 
 reproach — with shame and dreadful torture — on 
 HIS account. Tears of blood, and grief that knows 
 no bounds, would be the just tribute that he 
 
12 
 
 should then bring. Baptized in blood, and en- 
 during the martyr's most intense agonies, he would 
 feel that this was far short of the grief he would 
 manifest if he could but know the extent of the 
 anguish Christ endured for him. We cannot know 
 it, brethren ; God mercifiill}- interposes to save us 
 the knowledge, — our feeble conceptions are not 
 strong enough, our imaginations fail — we are left 
 far behind in this trial of grief, — immeasurably 
 distanced in the contest of sorrow with the King 
 of Grief. How, indeed, shall we measure the 
 costliness of His blood ? How can ive count up 
 the woes of Christ? The leaves of autumn and 
 the stars of heaven are outnumbered. We can 
 make but one offering to God in return for all 
 this — a poor and miserable offering indeed — but 
 one which God will accept, ' The sacrifice of a 
 broken and contrite heart,' which, in His sight, 
 is of great price. 
 
 This, then, let us render to-day. Let the 
 Passion of our Lord be imprinted on our hearts ; 
 let their stony hardness be broken, by this me- 
 morial imprinted there by the finger of God ; 
 let the strongholds of sin be cast down, and the 
 chamber be swept and garnished ; but let it not 
 remain emptij, but pray that God would take pos- 
 session of it by His grace, and occupy it evermore. 
 Let the image of God be restored to our inner 
 man. Let Christ descend into our hearts this day 
 as He did into the tomb, not to quit them, but to 
 remain there for ever, in a dwell in<i' consecrated 
 
13 
 
 to His use, and freed from all impurity ; that 
 having wept for ourselves with tears of sincerity, 
 He may wipe away the tears from our eyes, and 
 restore us to heavenly serenity and peace. Let 
 the fierce contentions of our passions cease in the 
 presence of Him who bid the elements obey Him, 
 and 'there was a great calm.' May the pride 
 that dwelt there be subdued before Him who 
 was meek and lowly, and dwelt amongst His dis- 
 ciples as one that serveth. May the covetous- 
 ness that reigned there be driven out before Him 
 whose meat and drink was to do the will of God; 
 who was content to fulfil all that will, for it was 
 written in His heart. May all evil concupiscence 
 be put to flight before Him who knew no sin. 
 
 May all the stains of sin be wept over and 
 repented of, that it may please Him to wash us 
 and cleanse us in that blood of purification which 
 was, as on this day, poured out, and that we may 
 finally be brought to heaven, ransomed, cleansed, 
 justified, sanctified, and received up into glory, 
 delivered ' By his agony and bloody sweat. By his 
 cross and passion, By his precious death and 
 burial.' 
 
 If we will make this day one of mourning 
 after this sort, a mourning for sin, the cause of 
 all the deeds of blood which were completed in 
 the crucifixion, then shall we have benefitted 
 truly by the words of Christ, ' Weep not for me, 
 but weep for yourselves.' 
 
 Our tears, however, though full of bitterness, 
 
14 
 
 must not be excluaively so. We must weep tears 
 of remorse, but we may also weep tears of grati- 
 tude. Mingled with our sorrow for the cause of 
 Christ's agonies, must there ever arise within us 
 feelings of grateful love towards Him who under- 
 went all this for our sakes. * Christ loved the 
 Church, and gave himself for it.' ' This love of 
 Christ,' saith St Paul, *passeth knowledge,' for he 
 commendeth his love towards us in that being 
 yet sinners, Christ died for us. ' For scarcely 
 for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure 
 for a good man some would even dare to die ;' but 
 what is the measure of that love to man, which 
 made the Lord of Glory die for His enemies, pray 
 blessings on those that blasphemed and cursed 
 him, give life to His murderers? Surely this is 
 condescension, — affection, — which will cause a 
 grateful return from each sinful heart. ' Greater 
 love hath no man than this,' said our Saviour 
 himself, ' that a man lay down his life for his 
 friends,' and, ' I lay down my life for the sheep.' 
 Surely the greatest love that can be shewn towards 
 man shall meet with some return from its objects. 
 St Paul says, ' If any man love not the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, let him be accursed.' Now if we judge of 
 Christ's love towards us from the things which 
 He suffered on our behalf, we cannot but be raised 
 to the highest pitch of admiration and gratitude. 
 We cannot but admit that if the greatest possible 
 love is manifested in laying down one's life for 
 the sake and benefit of others, then, how great 
 
15 
 
 must that affection have been which wrought upon 
 Christ so that He made this great sacrifice in such 
 a manner, with such dreadful attendant circum- 
 stances of shame and sorrow ? The noble sacrifice 
 of life which men have been reported to have 
 made in ancient story, strike us sometimes with 
 awe. Grecian heroism and Roman fortitude have 
 been chronicled in illustrious instances of self-im- 
 molation for the love of fatherland or in the spirit 
 of clanship. And we cannot but feel warmed as 
 we read the record of their generous enthusiasm. 
 Turn we to the Gospel, and let us ponder there 
 on the scenes which this day have been peculiarly 
 brought to our memories. The glorious applause 
 that awaited the voluntary martyr in the Forum 
 is not read of in these pages. No public recog- 
 nition of benefits conferred was attendant on 
 Christ's sacrifice. The shout of popular appro- 
 bation, and the good will of the attendant spec- 
 tators, are alike wanting. The Son of God lays 
 down his life amidst the despondency of his 
 friends, the cowardice of his attendants, the scorn 
 and hatred of the rulers and chief priests. No 
 sound of human sympathy greeted his ears but the 
 lamentations of a few women among the multitude 
 who wept for his death, because they understood 
 not its import. No look of pity or tender com- 
 passion was attendant on his sufferings, except 
 from a timorous band of three faithful women, and 
 the beloved disciple. He was put to death amidst 
 the exultations of his enemies, in company with 
 
16 
 
 the most contemptible of malefactors. Sacrificed 
 by a pusillanimous ruler to the frenzy of the mul- 
 titude, the victim of acknowledged injustice, 
 offered up to death to quell distant apprehen- 
 sions of visionary tumults. None of the circum- 
 stances attended the execution that have conspired 
 to make men's bosoms glow with unwonted fires, 
 and prompt them to the sacrifice of their lives 
 for others' sake. If we look, then, no further, yet 
 here was a sacrifice greater than any the world 
 ever did or shall witness. But when we add, the 
 dignity of the person on whom these outrages 
 were perpetrated, and the object of his errand, we 
 cannot but confess that love, such as this, is im- 
 measurably beyond all that it hath entered man's 
 heart to conceive. Love, such as this, when 
 thought upon, and weighed, and considered, must 
 make the bosom glow and the heart burn. There 
 can be none so obdurate, so dead to all sense of 
 generous feeling, as not to be stirred by the recital 
 of the Avoes of the prophet of Nazareth. And 
 though he bids us not weep for him, but for our- 
 selves, yet we cannot but yearn with inexpressible 
 longings, to testify by some few tears of joy, the 
 grateful sense we entertain of benefits so immense, 
 a sacrifice so precious, endurance so humble, love 
 of such infinite tenderness. Such then be our 
 grief this day; let it be keen and piercing for our 
 own sinfulness and unworthiness ; but let it be 
 withal mingled with a grateful remembrance of 
 the love manifested towards us in the painful 
 
17 
 
 martyrdom of our Lord and Saviour. Weep for 
 yourselves tears of penitence. Weep for our Sa- 
 viour tears of grateful homage. Let there be a 
 recognition of sin and of love ; of sin on our parts, 
 of love on his part ; and let the mingled stream 
 in unaffected earnestness and sincerity flow fast 
 and copiously. May the image of the cross, im- 
 printed on our brows in infancy, be deeply graven 
 on our hearts, and sink deeper and deeper with 
 every returning anniversary of Passion Week. 
 May our weary eyes rest upon the wounds our 
 sins have inflicted. May we look to the pierced 
 side from whence our sacraments flowed forth, 
 and realize in every celebration of the sacrifice 
 the vital powers of the body and blood of our 
 crucified Redeemer. May we live in him by faith, 
 and make the remembrance of his great expiation 
 an incentive to penitential abasement and grateful 
 adoration. That on Easter Day we may turn our 
 tears into triumphant joy; our solemn humble 
 confessions into glorious hymns of faith, hope and 
 love. He that now goeth on his way weeping 
 shall doubtless come again with joy, sharing in 
 •the condition of his Divine Master, who, after 
 being made a little lower than the angels for the 
 suffering of death, is seen crowned with glory and 
 honour. 
 
SERMON 
 
 FOR 
 
 EASTER SUNDAY. 
 
 2—2 
 
Serniun far d^asier ^^. 
 
 Preached before the University on April 10, 1854. 
 
 ROMANS VI. 4. 
 
 As Christ ivas raised up from the dead by the glory of God 
 the Father^ even we also should walk in newness of 
 life. 
 
 n^HE celebration of Christian fasts and festivals 
 -^ in the Church, calling, as they do, upon its 
 members to shew forth various emotions of hu- 
 miliation or of joy, raise up at times very unsatis- 
 factory reflections. The Church puts into the 
 mouths of the worshippers in her courts, words 
 which speak of deep and heartfelt affections ; the 
 language of her Liturgy is not a barren expression 
 of mere transient feelings ; it is meant to be the 
 outpouring of sincere, earnest, genuine hearts. 
 
 On Friday last we used words of penitential 
 sorrow ; we were called upon to mourn with the 
 Son of God, when undergoing, for our sakes, the 
 bitter pains of death, and the temporary hiding of 
 God's face ; to-day we are bid to exult in God's 
 infinite mercy ; to rejoice in the completion of the 
 deliverance; to thank God for his faithfulness, 
 shewed in the midst of destruction, and to bless 
 him for the certainty we have obtained of the 
 stability of his covenant, that it is indeed ever- 
 lasting. And I think we cannot contemplate with- 
 
9,2 
 
 out apprehension, the fact that we are now ap- 
 pealed to on the subject of such mighty truths, 
 and that we have all taken into our mouths solemn 
 and significant words, the outward expressions of 
 those inward feelings which the Church formu- 
 laries suppose in us. And yet, it is a moral cer- 
 tainty, that numbers among us do not in any 
 degree feel the sorrow at Christ's death, or the joy 
 at his resurrection, which we pretend to when 
 we join in Christian worship. The veriest trifle 
 of human misfortune will cause us more distress 
 than the rehearsal of the agonies of Gethsemane ; 
 the most meagre occasion of human joy will stir 
 in us more exultation of heart than will the words 
 * The Lord is risen indeed.' The history of our 
 Saviour's death and resurrection is one to which 
 we have so often listened ; all its circumstances 
 are so familiar to us, that our emotions, when the 
 record is again brought under our notice, are 
 only vapid and transitory. And if this be the case, 
 how can we to-day, for instance, really feel such 
 buoyant and triumphant hopes as shall make us 
 join with sincerity in the glorious hymns of praise 
 and thanksgiving with which our church-walls 
 ring? If we feel but a dull interest in the fact 
 of the resurrection of our Lord, surely there is 
 something of hypocrisy in making this our High 
 Festival ; and, as we know that in every congrega- 
 tion there must be many who are not walking in 
 the way of everlasting salvation, as we know that 
 many who say ' Lord, Lord,' are to be disowned 
 
23 
 
 by the Saviour in the day of account, it is right 
 and proper that we should endeavour to convince 
 ourselves how deeply we must offend the Almighty, 
 if in such holy services as those we are to-day 
 engaged in, we allow ourselves to be self-convicted, 
 by the testimony of our own consciences, of pre- 
 tending to feel joy to which we are strangers, and 
 to have hopes, about the reality of which we are 
 unconcerned. 
 
 I feel it to be a moral certainty, that there 
 may be many amongst us who have not considered 
 that they are acting hypocritically in making this 
 day an occasion of joy. To enable us to convince 
 our own minds of this truth, let us consider what 
 the apostle tells us is the moral lesson conveyed by 
 the fact of the resurrection, to all those who, having 
 been baptized into Christ, have been buried with 
 him by baptism, into death. It is this : As Christ 
 was raised from the dead by the glory of God the 
 Father^ so we also shoidd walk in newness of life. 
 
 ' Newness of life' — What do these words mean ? 
 Do they convey to us any distinct and tangible 
 idea? or do they give an uncertain sound? This 
 is to be the end wrought in us by the resurrection 
 of Christ, if we profit by the monitions of that 
 final consummation of the earthly sojourn of our 
 Saviour. Before, then, we thank God for the re- 
 surrection, we should ascertain whether we are 
 the children of the resurrection, i. e. we should en- 
 deavour to find out whether we know anything of 
 this 'walk in newness of life.' Let us therefore de- 
 
24> 
 
 vote this exercise to an inquiry into the meaning of 
 these words ; we shall then have words of warning 
 and of consolation for the respective classes into 
 which we shall find ourselves divided, for we are 
 either walking in newness of life, or we are wo^. 
 We cannot be neutral. ' He that is not with me 
 is against me,' saith our Saviour. * Ye cannot 
 serve two masters,' saith He in another place. And 
 it is manifest that we cannot thank God for the 
 resurrection of His Son if we find that we have 
 altogether missed the great end which the resur- 
 rection should have wrought in us. 
 
 What is the newness of life of which the apostle 
 speaks ? A description of the tietv life is given in 
 the Epistle for Easter-Day : * If ye then be risen 
 with Christ, seek those things which are above, 
 where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set 
 your affection on things above, not on things on 
 the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid 
 with Christ in God.' It is not sufficient, however, 
 that we take the words of Scripture, and dwell upon 
 their well-known sound. It is the practical mean- 
 ing of them that we are concerned with : we are 
 too apt to rest contented with the use of a familiar 
 phrase, or a conventional expression, without in- 
 quiring into its deep import. The meaning of the 
 verses just quoted from St Paul's Epistle to the 
 Colossians is surely this : You who have put on 
 the profession of Christianity, and made a cove- 
 nant with God, are told, that as Jesus Christ 
 rose from the dead, you should rise to newness 
 
25 
 
 of life. If ye be then risen with Christ, i. e. 
 if you have set to work to fulfil your share of the 
 covenant, so that you may lay claim, through the 
 merits of Christ, to the rewards of which you are 
 now only prospective heirs, you, I say, should 
 shew your fulfilment of the covenant by having 
 your affections on things in heaven, not on things 
 of the earth. Now things in heaven are spiritual 
 things ; things on the earth are carnal, fleeting, 
 temporary, having reference to bodily pleasures, 
 and such like. Our affections and our seekings 
 should be for the former, and not for the latter. 
 It is natural to us in the uncovenanted state, and 
 before we strive, by God's grace, to become new 
 creatures ; before we shew the development of the 
 newly-implanted principle which, as Christians, 
 we have all received ; it is natural to us, each 
 in his own different case, to set our affections, 
 and make all our exertions, for carnal things, 
 or things which have respect to this life only. 
 Newness of life is shewn by a man's having ex- 
 perienced a change of purpose. Whereas in time 
 past he lived engrossed by temporal matters, and 
 was wholly absorbed, or mainly and chiefly occu- 
 pied himself in those things which end here — as in 
 acquirement of reputation, or honours, or riches, 
 in the temporal advancement of his family, and in 
 acquiring influence over his fellowmen : w^hereas 
 in time past he made these things the chief or 
 only objects of his energies: — now, in newness of 
 life, they become only secondary objects, the 
 
26 
 
 main, the chief, the absorbing cares of his life, are 
 the ordering his own heart and mind, the seeking 
 to be like unto Christ, the endeavour to subdue 
 evil tendencies, and to cherish those dispositions 
 of heart which we see exemplified in our Saviour's 
 life. A strong desire to be conformed to that 
 divine pattern will produce in us a striving to 
 become holy, which God will bless with the as- 
 sistance of His Divine Spirit, and so accomplish in 
 the man the end to which he is striving to attain. 
 
 Formerly he might have thought it sufficient 
 to refrain from speaking of his neighbour's con- 
 duct or affairs, because of the inconvenience re- 
 sulting from indiscretion. Now he endeavours 
 to check in his heart the disposition to criticise 
 and find fault, because it is a law of Christianity, 
 that we think no evil of each other. Formerly he 
 might have toiled and laboured after riches, in 
 order to improve his position in the world, in 
 order to eclipse his neighbours, in order to have 
 more means of gratifying his desires for vain 
 pomps and amusements, in order to become 
 powerful and respected, to be enabled to take a 
 leading part. Now he cares very little about such 
 things ; he now strives to earn a competence for 
 his family that they may be removed from the 
 temptations of poverty ; he strives to gain the 
 affections and respect of his fellow-men in order 
 that he may influence them for their own eternal 
 good, and promote thereby the glory of God. 
 Noiv his views, and objects, and aims, do not 
 
27 
 
 centre in himself, or his own family, but he 
 cares for the promotion of Christ's kingdom in 
 the world, and strives by example, and by pre- 
 cept, to advance the reign of Christian holiness. 
 Formerly he was charitable, as the world calls it, 
 and noiv he may not be able to bestow so much 
 perhaps. Formerly he may have had his name 
 in every benevolent scheme, and now it may ap- 
 pear but seldom ; but how changed may be the 
 motive ! He may have given to the poor, or the 
 sick, in time past, without any sense of Christian 
 duty, perhaps even to be seen of men, or to avoid 
 importunity : Jioiv, he gives what he can (not what 
 he can barely, out of his superfluity, but all that 
 he can honestly, by self-sacrifice and self-denial), 
 from love to Christ in every case. The poor are 
 our brethren, for whom, as well as for us, Christ 
 died ; and we shew that we are his disciples, if 
 we have love one to another. He gives noiv be- 
 cause he knows that God has entrusted him with 
 riches in order to try whether he can be a faithful 
 steward ; and he strives so to acquit himself of 
 the trust, that when he stands before his God, he 
 may be called a ' good and faithful servant.' For- 
 merly, he may have been restrained from mali- 
 cious acts and wrathful passions, because of the 
 discredit such dispositions meet with among men. 
 Now he strives to put away malice out of his 
 heart, because God looketh upon the motive and 
 the disposition ; because he weigheth the thoughts 
 and the hearts of men. 
 
In all this, you will observe, I have taken the 
 case of a man whose outward demeanour shall 
 not have changed, who 2vas laborious in his calling, 
 charitable to the poor, careful not to speak evil 
 of others, watchful over angry passions, and who 
 is 7101V equally zealous in his profession, charitable 
 in his actions and in his conversation, and even- 
 tempered, the same outwardly, but inwardly, how 
 different! In the one case merely thinking of the 
 praise of men, in the other, seeking the honour 
 that Cometh from God only. The former man 
 surely is so different from the latter, there has 
 been such a change in his tendencies, in his real 
 motives, and in the disposition of heart, that we 
 may easily recognize how true the description 
 given in the Gospel of such a change, when it is 
 called newness of life. Of such an one, of a man 
 who has so altered in disposition it is not hyper- 
 bolical language to use, when we say of him that 
 he is ' renewed in the spirit of his mind.' I am 
 not speaking of the icay in which such a change 
 is brought about, but I say that it is evident that 
 we have a true description of such an altered 
 man, in the words ' transformed by the renewing 
 of his mind;' and when S. Paul tells us that 
 ' newness of life ' is the effect to be wrought in us 
 by a proper appreciation of God's mercies in the 
 Resurrection of Jesus Christ, is it not manifest 
 that we must recognize this change in ourselves 
 before we can thank God for that manifestation 
 of his power and glory ? ' He died for all,' says 
 
29 
 
 the same apostle, * that they which live, should 
 not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him 
 who died for them and rose again. Therefore if 
 any man be in Christ, he is a new creature : old 
 things are passed away ; behold, all things are be- 
 come new.' Old objects of desire, old motives 
 to virtue, old feelings towards men and towards 
 God, have all given way to new views of duty, 
 NEW^ and more powerful incentives to exertion, 
 NEW and more energetic efforts to fulfil our duty 
 to God and man ; and this newness of our desires, 
 newness of motive, newness of feeling, make up 
 a new, entirely new, disposition of the whole man, 
 and expressed in Scripture language, constitute 
 that newness of life in which we should walk, even 
 as Christ was raised up from the dead by the 
 glory of God the Father. 
 
 We have thus endeavoured to fulfil the task 
 to which we were to apply ourselves, viz. to enable 
 each one to decide for himself, whether he is 
 walking in newness of life. We have purposely 
 not taken the case of a man who has indulged in 
 coarse and vulgar sins, of one who has given a 
 loose rein to the sinful propensities of our com- 
 mon nature, and yielded himself freely to the 
 service of sin and Satan. In a Christian congre- 
 gation it is not necessary for the preacher to 
 shew how unconformable such a man is to the 
 standard of Christian holiness. Those who do 
 not check the bad propensities of their nature, 
 who mortify none of their ' members which are 
 upon the earth,' are not in danger of fancying 
 
30 
 
 themselves transformed by the renewing of their 
 minds, they have not a shadow of a pretence for 
 believing that they are walking in newness of life; 
 but it is the seeming wise, the outwardly virtuous, 
 those who are noted for decency of deportment 
 and general uniformity of respectable conduct, who 
 are liable to deceive themselves ; and this is why 
 we have selected that case for illustration. ' God 
 looketh not upon the outward appearance,' and 
 therefore it is the duty of His messengers, nar- 
 rowly and searchingly, to discriminate between 
 the inward disposition and the outward appear- 
 ance, that all the members of the flock may be 
 enabled to judge themselves, in order that they be 
 not hereafter judged of the Lord. Each one 
 MUST judge himself. No other can look into our 
 hearts. ' No one knoweth the things of a man, 
 save the spirit of man which is in him.' It is the 
 business of the preacher to declare generally what 
 is laid down in holy Scripture, and to guard 
 against the danger of self-deceit, as he knows it 
 from his own heart. It is essential that we should 
 all examine ourselves in this matter. If we find 
 that the words which have been uttered come 
 home to our hearts with any strong conviction, 
 we shall have a practical assurance of the truth 
 that the word of God is a discerner of the thoughts 
 and intents of the heart, because the storehouse 
 from which the message is taken is His, Christ's 
 holy Gospel, that divine repository of searching 
 and convincing truth which was given by in- 
 spiration of God ; and we are in a position to. 
 
31 
 
 answer to our own consciences the question, Am 
 I walking in newness of life ? if not, have I not 
 missed the great end of the design of God for 
 my salvation in the Gospel ? must I not set to 
 work to secure my birthright which I have hitherto 
 neglected ? 
 
 If I have a good hope that I am walking in 
 newness of life, how shall I shew forth my joy 
 and gratitude to God ? 
 
 Let us now endeavour to answer these ques- 
 tions, after taking warning of one danger in the 
 self-examination which is thus urged upon us. 
 Let not the inquiry into the fact of a change 
 having taken place in our views, habits, and dis- 
 positions be thwarted by a desire to ascertain the 
 manner or the time of the change. If we can now 
 mark a difference, it is the work of God's holy 
 Spirit, whenever or however it w^as wrought. In 
 general, it is not a sudden matter. A man gra- 
 dually becomes moulded to Christian principles. 
 Disjwsifions can change only gradually. The 
 first external motive may be disappointment or 
 affliction, sickness, death of near relatives, God's' 
 word ministered in the Church, or private reading 
 and study of that Book of Life. All these are 
 means which God employs to awaken us to a true 
 sense of our position, but the manner and the time 
 are nothing, in comparison with the actu"al fact. 
 Are we renewed, or are we not ? According as we 
 can answ^er this question on our death-beds must 
 our eternal fate depend ; and if we leave it till 
 then unanswered, if we neglect the warning voice 
 
that urges us now to self-examination, a gradual 
 dimness and obscurity will grow over our mental 
 vision, and we shall run the danger of losing the 
 capability of reflection, or turning the attention 
 inwards to the contemplation of our aft'ections and 
 internal disposition. Let us hear the warning 
 words of S. Paul, * Examine yourselves whether 
 ye be in the faith.' Are we walking in newness 
 oflife"^ If we miss the characteristics that have 
 been given of the new life, the renovated mind, 
 what can we say of ourselves ? We cannot rejoice 
 in the memory of Christ's resurrection, for in 
 truth we shall have hitherto treated it as no con- 
 cern at all of ours. We shall have merely ac- 
 knowledged it as an historical fact, and shall 
 have neglected the truth, that ' As he rose from 
 the dead, so we should have passed from the 
 death of sin to the life of righteousness.' How 
 can we then rejoice this day? Oh, it is not in- 
 deed a day of rejoicing to us, if we remain unre- 
 newed. Our certainty as to the fact of the resur- 
 rection cannot bring us joy ; but, the melancholy 
 truth must be told, to us it then brings nought 
 but apprehension. The message that we must 
 consider as delivered to us is the same that S. 
 Paul delivered to the careless Athenians, ' God 
 hath appointed a day in the Avhich he will judge 
 the world in righteousness by that man whom he 
 hath ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance 
 unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the 
 dead.' And again to the Corinthians, ' He which 
 raised up the Lord shall raise up us also by Jesus.' 
 
3S 
 
 The fact of our Lord's resurrection, this day set 
 before our eyes, certifies to us the truth of a 
 general judgment. It certifies to us the truth 
 that we must all rise again, to receive in our bodies 
 the due reward of our neglect or of our faith. 
 We must appear before Him who * is the Resur- 
 rection and the Life,' and we must be judged by 
 the words of the text, * As He rose from the dead, 
 so should we have walked in newness of life.' 
 And they, the thoughts of whose hearts sorrow- 
 fully acknowledge that they find nothing in their 
 characters which can answer to newness of life, 
 what shall they then say? Who will be their 
 advocate then ? When the renewed in heart and 
 mind scarcely, with diflficulty as it were, pass 
 through that terrible ordeal, what will be their 
 case, if that day find them, as now, unprepared ? 
 Will not these their desecrated Easter Festivals 
 rise up against them and condemn them, because 
 they approached God with hypocritical or careless 
 words, and professed a joy which they did not 
 feel, and joined in an exultation to which they 
 were utter strangers ? 
 
 The Resurrection of the Body then should fill 
 us with apprehension lest we should stand speech- 
 less, and without an advocate, and hemmed in by 
 witnesses of our own household, at the tribunal of 
 this unavoidable, unalterable, unerring judgment. 
 And this is all that the unrenovated can gather 
 from the commemoration of the Resurrection of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. It does not tell them of 
 the redemption of the body from sin, and from 
 
34 
 
 weakness, but it urges them with the overwhelm- 
 ing consciousness of penalties to be paid for neglect 
 of the high things of God's merciful covenant. 
 
 If we are yet unconscious of the change from 
 sin to righteousness, let not this day pass away 
 without a strenuous endeavour to return and 
 repent; let not the reproofs of God's Spirit die 
 away on our ears and sink into forgetful ness, but 
 let us pray to God earnestly to give us of his 
 Spirit in larger measure, that our faith in the 
 truths of the Gospel may grow up into a living 
 principle within us, and work in us that change 
 which is indispensable, if we Avould celebrate 
 next Easter with honest, sincere, and heartfelt 
 
 joy. 
 
 Let me, in conclusion, address but a few words 
 to those who hope to recognize in themselves the 
 newness of life of which S. Paul speaks. Brethren, 
 you may not, perhaps, find within that sweetness 
 of temper, and amiability of disposition, that you 
 think should be found in those who dare to hope 
 that they are faintly endeavouring to imitate the 
 example of the Holy Jesus. You may tremble, 
 as you venture to rank yourselves among those 
 who can rejoice at Easter because the words of 
 S. Paul are not strange to them. But though it 
 is right to be diffident, and careful, and very 
 cautious before we comfort ourselves with the hope 
 of being in the way of Christ's sincere disciples, 
 yet let not your hopes be faint, so as to deprive 
 you of the great consolation which they may 
 bring, if weW founded. 
 
35 
 
 It is not of your feelings that you are to judge, 
 but the habitual frame of mind. What are your 
 desires, first of all? Are they for things above, not 
 for the things of the earth ? Are you so desirous 
 of the happiness of heaven that you strive to fit 
 yourself for it, by forming those dispositions and 
 cherishing those affections only which can be 
 exercised in heaven ? This is the state to which 
 we must continually approximate, which we must 
 have in view. And as we approach nearer and 
 nearer to it, our happiness will more and more 
 increase on earth, we shall care less and less for 
 the crosses and vexations we may meet with, we 
 shall care less and less for the pleasures that 
 temporal things can bring, and we shall realize 
 that truth which was read to us in the Epistle, ' Ye 
 are dead, and ijour life is hid with Christ in God' 
 
 Its meaning surely is this : If life consists in 
 mere animal existence, taking no thought for the 
 future, caring only for things apprehended by the 
 bodily senses, then Christians are dead, they live 
 not such a life; their life is one which is Spiritual, 
 which is directed to the Eternal, which is occupied 
 in the things of God, of Christ, of heaven. Their 
 hearts are not influenced, so as to be guided by 
 sublunary motives, the chamber is lighted from 
 above, not from below. The light that guides them 
 is not the fitful glare of terrestrial fires, but that 
 which is shed by rays from the Sun of Righteous- 
 ness. They are but sojourners on Earth, being really 
 citizens of Heaven. They are looking to it as 
 their home, when they shall be called away by 
 
36 
 
 God's summons. The life they now live is only 
 really life to them as far as it is by faith in the 
 Son of God, and when harassed by cares and 
 errors and carnal tendencies, they can exclaim 
 with S. Paul, * Who shall deliver me from this 
 body of Death?' And like him remember in their 
 hour of peril and weariness, 'I thank God, it shall 
 be through Jesus Christ our Lord.' When we at- 
 tain to this, we shall gratefully recall the fact that 
 Christ is our Life, as well as the Resurrection from 
 the dead ; that He who promises to us eternal life. 
 Himself, this day, gave proof of His omnipotence 
 by resuming the life He had voluntarily laid down, 
 and in the i^ower of an endless life. He now sits at 
 the right-hand of God to dispense, as an Almighty 
 Sovereign, those blessings which He promised 
 when He walked the earth in humility and poverty. 
 Triumphant, therefore, in the solemn assurance of 
 His ability and His willingness to impart spiritual 
 life, may we all be brought to join honestly and 
 heartily in praising the Eternal Father for the 
 glorious resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ our 
 Lord, who is the very Paschal Lamb which was 
 offered for us, and hath taken away the sins of 
 the world; who by His death hath destroyed 
 death, and by His rising to life again hath restored 
 us to Everlasting Life. 
 
INDIFFERENCE TO THE WORLD NOT ANY HINDERANCE 
 TO ACTIVE EXERTION. 
 
 S. MATTHEW VI. 33. 
 
 Seek ye first the hiiigdom of God, mid his righteousness; 
 and all these things shall be added unto you. 
 
 TN this chapter of S. Matthew's Gospel our Lord 
 -■- asserts that the thorough devotion of his dis- 
 ciples to the service of God is absolutely and in- 
 dispensably necessary. ' No man can serve two 
 masters.' 'Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.' 
 And the reasonableness of this assertion is very 
 manifest; for since the service of God demands 
 our whole strength, and soul, and mind, it leaves 
 no room for any conclusion that part can be re- 
 served for another master. All our faculties must 
 be dedicated to God, in order that we may serve 
 Him worthily; there can therefore be none left for 
 the service of the world. 
 
 From this immediately follows the practical 
 lesson, ' Take no thought for your life, what ye 
 shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your 
 body, what ye shall put on,' i. e. we are not to be 
 over anxious and over careful about all these things 
 — they are not to occupy our energies — no pains or 
 anxieties should be wasted upon them ; for it is 
 clear that if our powers of body or mind are over- 
 tasked in these their occasional exercise, they will 
 
 4 
 
be unfit for their higher and more necessary work, 
 the service of God. 
 
 In truth, he who looks on the future in its true 
 light, who appreciates as he ought the momentous 
 interests of eternity, ceases to care much about 
 things present; these things fall to their true level 
 in his estimation; and as his nature becomes sanc- 
 tified and elevated by the continual influences of 
 the Spirit shed abroad in his heart, things tem- 
 poral become more and more indifferent. He is 
 content to take what comes to his hand without 
 murmurs, or too much elation. If prosperous, he 
 is not much excited ; if things are adverse, he is 
 not over- anxious, they move him not much. As 
 he looks to his home far away in the heavens, and 
 refers to that great end all his cares and labours, 
 he can think anxiously only on his own progress 
 towards that blessed consummation; he thinks of 
 his kindred and friends and those under his charge 
 as journeying with him towards a state of being 
 whose never-ending condition is alone worthy of 
 anxious, deep, and constant care : the service of 
 mammon will sound strange to him ; the world's 
 language and mode of thought he will have un- 
 learned, and he is becoming, in real truth, daily, 
 by the Spirit's influence, a citizen of heaven. 
 
 Yet, on the other hand, Christianity encourages 
 no spirit of mystic absorption of the faculties. We 
 are in a state of temptation; in the world, while we 
 are to strive to live above it. Christianity does not 
 command a man to be improvident, or careless, or 
 
39 
 
 neglectful of any of the common duties. The Chris- 
 tian has cares, which he is to cast upon the Lord 
 in prayer and faith, and so find relief; still he 
 must have cares, and these are not only, though 
 they are chiefly, spiritual ; they do not only consist 
 of grief at his own shortcomings, the bitter lessons 
 learnt on the examination of his spiritual state, 
 his want of love to God, his misspent time, his 
 waste of precious opportunities, his unguarded 
 words, the successful inroads of Satan upon his 
 soul ; — these are not the only, though they should 
 be the bitterest cares of the Christian. Cares for 
 his spiritual state, which affect his celestial citi- 
 zenship, — these must be the heaviest cares which 
 beset him, and which weigh down his spirit in 
 repentance, till God mercifully reassures him with 
 the sense of pardon, and so refreshes him in his 
 progress through life. Beyond all this, however, 
 there are cares, cares of this life, cares arising from 
 the system under which God's providence has 
 placed him. Self-examination should be not only 
 in our duty to God, but duty to our neighbour. 
 The improvident and careless man defrauds his 
 neighbour. If, while he makes a profession of 
 religion, he neglects to provide for his own, he 
 throws a burden on his friends, or on his country; 
 and has left unfulfilled the first duty that he owes 
 to society. And he also in this sins against God, 
 for he causes his good to be evil spoken of. 
 We are all to labour for our daily bread in some 
 way. It is the law of God pronounced upon all 
 
 4—2 
 
40 
 
 mankind, after the fall, that they shall by the sweat 
 of their brow earn their daily sustenance; and 
 though in progress of time, and by the subdivision 
 of labour, the consequence of human society, all 
 men have not literally to till the ground, to draw 
 therefrom their food, yet we must all do something 
 or other for those who go through that manual 
 labour for us. We have only re-divided labour; we 
 have not, and never can, get rid of the law imposed 
 upon us by God. We must all fulfil certain duties 
 corresponding to our different stations. And when, 
 therefore, we read that we must ' take no thought 
 for the morrow,' and such admonitions of our Lord, 
 we must remember that it is the Author of Nature, 
 who is also the Founder of the Kingdom of Grace, 
 and He must therefore speak in a way which is to 
 be understood in reference to existing circum- 
 stances, and that the true and obvious meaning of 
 such sentences is to be found by comparing them 
 with the whole of His teaching, and endeavouring 
 to understand the spirit of Christianity, in order to 
 appropriate its main and leading idea as the great 
 scheme of salvation. 
 
 All our faculties are due to God, all should be 
 exercised in his service; the world can only claim 
 a secondary part of our energies, it must not be our 
 master. ' One is our Master, even Christ.' In all 
 worldly matters then we cannot shew that extreme 
 anxiety and earnestness that we should manifest 
 in spiritual matters. It has been truly remarked 
 that the word which we translate ' care,' ' thought,' 
 
41 
 
 means ' anxious care;' it expresses something more 
 than we ordinarily express by the word care, and 
 it is important to understand this aright. The words 
 of our Lord mean what has been already stated — 
 that absorbing attention, distracting care, for 
 things temporal, shews us not to be acting on 
 those principles which guide men who embrace 
 heartily true Christian faith and hope. 
 
 Christians who would realize in their own lives 
 the faith of Christ, must not be over anxious and 
 careful about things temporal. ' By the cross of 
 Christ,' says S. Paul, ' the world is crucified unto 
 me, and I unto the world.' That is, the amazing 
 price paid for redemption so convinces my believ- 
 ing heart of the vanity of the present temporal life, 
 that I cease to care at all about the world ; the world 
 is dead to me and I to it; and it is this new life, the 
 new creation wherein a man lives unto Christ, and 
 is dead to the world, that avails, and shews the 
 power of Christianity. ' In Christ Jesus neither 
 circumcision availeth anything, noruncircumcision, 
 but a new creature.' The new regenerate state, 
 wherein heaven is all and earth as nothing, is what 
 shews the power of the Gospel ; and in proportion 
 as a man can learn to look with indifference on the 
 temporal present, with eagerness on the spiritual 
 future, so may he measure his progress towards the 
 attainment of final salvation. 
 
 Now these things are said to be foolishness 
 unto the natural man. The man who follows the 
 light of his own reason only, unassisted by the torch 
 
4>2 
 
 of revelation which lights up the dark chambers of 
 his intellect, would say thus: *God has placed me 
 in the world, and therefore my duty is to devote 
 myself to those calls on my faculties which the 
 world makes, and therefore I must strive by all 
 meansto getrich, become powerful, to shewwhat can 
 be done by industry and perseverance, that thus I 
 may, by my example, urge men on to a happy and 
 comfortable state of existence here.' But even if 
 we had not to live for the future, as well as the 
 present, it might be shewn clearly that such an 
 estimate of man's happiness is a false one. For in 
 this world there are anomalies; and difficulties, 
 sickness, misfortune, calamity, do not fall only on 
 the indolent and careless, but also on the prudent. 
 As the system of moral government is not com- 
 plete in life present, therefore virtue is not always 
 rewarded nor vice punished. This leads the re- 
 flecting to the question of the future state, and 
 then Divine Revelation comes in, telling us plainly 
 and clearly we are to live for the future mainly and 
 chiefly ; and it follows as a matter of course, that 
 the main and chief employment of our faculties 
 cannot be that which relates only to the present 
 world and terminates in it. 
 
 Because it is, no doubt, hard to realize all 
 this, Christianity is represented as a struggle, 
 and the Holy Spirit dwells within us to strive 
 against our natural tendencies, in order that we 
 may not fulfil the natural desires of the flesh and 
 of the mind. And to help us in this case, to convince 
 
us of the Heedlessness of our anxious cares about 
 temporal matters, to lift us out of the world of 
 sense into the world of faith, our merciful Sa- 
 viour, ever ready to lighten our burdens and 
 remove our stumblingblocks, shews us, by His 
 reasoning on the general superintending provi- 
 dence of God, that clearly on every view of the 
 subject that common sense and daily observa- 
 tion supply, we ought not to be worried and tor- 
 mented by fears of the want of daily food and rai- 
 ment. *If,' saith He, 'God clothes the grass of the 
 field' with such beauty, if He cares for the unrea- 
 soning animals and feeds them, filling all things 
 living with plenteousness, — if you will allow that 
 the eyes of all wait upon the Lord, who giveth 
 them their meat in due season, in the words of the 
 Psalmist who addresses God in the 104th Psalm, 
 ' These wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give 
 them meat in due season. When thou givest it 
 them they gather it, and when thou openest thine 
 hand they are filled with good. When thou 
 hidest thy face they are troubled. When thou 
 takest away their breath they die, and are turned 
 again to their dust. When thou lettest thy 
 breath go forth they shall be made, and thou shalt 
 renew the face of the earth : ' — if all things thus 
 depend upon God, to whom should we go for the 
 certainty of finding that which our soul and our 
 body require? 
 
 Surely, the words of the text come home to us 
 with an irresistible power of truth : ' Seek ye first 
 
44 
 
 the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all 
 these things shall be added unto you.' 
 
 All that we have real need of will God give us, 
 if we seek Him first; and He may do this in two 
 ways :— 
 
 He may either pour upon us the riches of His 
 goodness, and so furnish us with the good things 
 of this life, that, like some of old, we may become 
 monuments to posterity of His unfailing and un- 
 tiring benevolence : — 
 
 Or He may remove from us desires for the 
 abundance of the things of this life, and give us a 
 spirit of contentment with the plainest and sim- 
 plest lot : — 
 
 And thus promote happiness in either case: 
 but such is the weakness of man's nature, his 
 want of firmness, and his sinful tendency, that the 
 first method too generally ends ill for his spiritual 
 stated 
 
 The wise king of Israel, whose name has passed 
 into a proverb throughout the nations, was an 
 example of a man on whom God had poured forth 
 the richest treasures of the earth. In all things 
 temporal he was blessed in a marvellous manner. 
 
 A powerful king, at peace with all the world, 
 his treasury overflowing with riches, his people 
 teeming in singular multitude, with splendid 
 armies, and a navy which was the wonder of the 
 
 ^ TaTreivoTepwv o /\oyi(7/uo<j \<Tm<;, aW' ovi> acrcpaXeaTepiav 1<tov 
 diTe')(eiv KOI v\(/ov^ ko.) Trrw/jiaToc. Grajory Nazianz. Apol. 3. quoted 
 by Hooker^ Eccles. Polity^ Book v. Ixxvi. 5. 
 
45 
 
 time; moreover one who was skilled in all know- 
 ledge and in all mysteries ; Solomon presented to 
 the world an instance of what great things God 
 can do for the sons of men. But what was the con- 
 sequence? we know that he fell away from God, 
 that in his prosperity he forgat the Giver of all 
 good, and fell into idolatry ; and Holy Scripture 
 does not tell us whether his apostasy was final or 
 not. 
 
 Surely, when Christ tells us that God the Fa- 
 ther will give us all temporal good, if we seek first 
 the kingdom of God and his righteousness, — and we 
 see in the verses preceding the name of Solomon, 
 which seems purposely brought in to remind us of 
 his singular case, and the fearful sin into which he 
 fell when fulfilled with God's bountiful gifts, — we 
 should think within ourselves whether we cannot 
 see in the Christian mode of making men happy 
 there is not greater safety than in the old method 
 under the Jewish covenant. Temporal riches are 
 so apt to make us forget God, and miss our ever- 
 lasting salvation, that the experience of ages shews, 
 the best method of preserving us to the day of the 
 Lord, is the new creation — a change in our desires, 
 in our fears, in our hopes. And all things that are 
 needful and pleasant are added to us under the 
 Gospel, by the working of the Spirit within us, 
 which destroys our love of things carnal, makes us 
 care but little for labour and toil, makes us set our 
 hopes on the enduring and solid rewards of heaven, 
 and not on the perishing, vain, and empty joys of 
 
46 
 
 earths 'Seek first the kingdom of God, and his 
 righteousness, and all these things shall be added 
 unto you.' 
 
 Riches you may not have, in gold, and silver, 
 and jDreciOus stones, it may be, but you shall feel 
 as contented with your lot as if you dwelt in a 
 royal palace. 
 
 Not clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring 
 sumptuously every day, but rejoicing in your in- 
 difference to such things, and feeling that you 
 really do not care for such distinctions, do not wish 
 to pamper the appetite. 
 
 This spirit of contentment S. Paul refers to as 
 the fulfilment of the promise of our Saviour when 
 he says to Timothy, ' Godliness with contentment 
 is great gain : we brought nothing into this world, 
 and it is certain we can carry nothing out ; and hav- 
 ing food and raiment, let us be therewith content.' 
 
 We have daily examples of the truth that pos- 
 sessions of vast extent are insufficient for men's 
 happiness, unless there is something more ivithin. 
 The noble and powerful in our own land are not 
 secure — the accumulations of ages in riches of all 
 kinds have been scattered in a few days — the 
 princely domain, and lands added to lands, may 
 be broken up, and leave nothing but a disgraced 
 
 ^ Credenti totus mundus divitiarum est. Infidclis etiam obolo 
 indiget- Sic vivamus, taiiquam nihil habentes, et omnia possidentes. 
 Victus et vestitus divitiie Christianornm. Si babes in potestate 
 rem tuam, vende : si non habes, projice. Facile contemnit omnia, 
 qui se semper cogitat esse nioriturum. — S. Hieronymi Epistoloe, 
 Lib. II. Ep. 2. (Ed. Canisii. 1581.) 
 
47 
 
 name to their former owner. It is impossible not 
 to draw the conclusion that urges itself upon us 
 from these considerations, viz. that in religion alone 
 is real happiness — that the regulation of our affec- 
 tions and our faculties is that which will secure us 
 true contentment; and when we are fully convinced 
 of this from these reflections which our Lord's 
 Sermon in the Gospel gives rise to, we can turn to 
 other passages which tell us, that it is by the Cross 
 of Christ that we must be crucified to the world, 
 and the world unto us — that under the new cove- 
 nant it is the renovation of man by the influence 
 of the Holy Ghost, which alone avails anything — 
 and that peace and mercy shall be on such as walk 
 according to this rule. 
 
 Now it may seem not to be a strict fulfilment 
 of the promise, that this change of desires should 
 be meant ; but if we look to the eflect produced 
 rather than to the means, we shall become con- 
 vinced that there is nothing but what is agreeable 
 to God's laws. If the state of happiness means a 
 state in which the desires are fully satisfied, it is 
 clear that the result is secured by the abatement 
 of the desire quite as much as by repletion. The 
 constant seeking for something which we cannot 
 attain, while we yet believe it to be within our 
 reach, may be removed; and thus happiness may be 
 secured, as much as by granting the fulfilment of 
 desires. The aeronaut increases his buoyancy by 
 casting out the ballast, and the heart of the Chris- 
 tian is lightened and gladdened by the rooting out 
 
48 
 
 of desires for earthly delights. He ascends to the 
 state of freedom and happiness by parting with his 
 earthly and downward tendencies and wishes. 
 
 We cannot interpret the present passage as we 
 should those promises which our Lord makes on 
 another occasion : ' Every one that hath forsaken 
 houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, 
 or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, 
 shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit 
 everlasting life.' This may be understood of the 
 universal brotherhood of Christians; and little as it 
 may seem verified at present, yet in the first ages 
 of Christianity, we know from the Divine Record, 
 that it was fulfilled by the disciples having all 
 things common, and finding in the bonds of Chris- 
 tian fellowship an abundant return for the ties 
 which they severed when joining the new religion. 
 But, in the present instance, it is in reference to 
 the ordinary wants of mankind that our Lord is 
 speaking, and specially of anxiety about more than 
 the bare necessaries of life. For, that we are to 
 pray to our Father in heaven that He would satisfy 
 our daily wants, we learn from the Lord's prayer. 
 If then all our anxiety and earnestness be for 
 spiritual gifts, for progress in righteousness, we 
 shall have all other things added unto us, i. e. we 
 shall be satisfied. In this sense S. Paul had the 
 promise fulfilled to him; he had learned in whatever 
 state he was therewith to be content ; and his con- 
 tentment was not produced by the gratification of 
 desires, but by their abatement. His language is 
 
49 
 
 the expression of one whose desires for earthly 
 comforts and luxuries, earthly power and station, 
 had passed away ; and in respect of them he may 
 be said to have been gratified, and to have received 
 what he desired. Seek first the kingdom of God, 
 and his righteousness ; and all your remaining 
 desires (which in that case will be moderate) shall 
 be abundantly gratified. 
 
 The distinguishing mark of a Christian is mo- 
 deration^ awcppoavvrj^, an indifference to those things 
 after which men naturally strive: the comforts, 
 and elegancies, and luxuries of life, ought not to 
 be primary objects of desire. The Christian ought 
 to be content to go without them — to be ready to 
 resign these things — to set lightly by them ; ac- 
 cording to that saying of our Lord, ' Whosoever he 
 be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he 
 cannot be my disciple.' We have no more reason to 
 take such words literally than we have to take 
 literally the sayings about smiting on the cheek, 
 or forcible abstraction of the cloak. It is clear 
 that these precepts are the vivid expressions of the 
 
 1 eVei Tciy dpKovvd' iKavd to?? ye aacppoa-tv. Eur. Phoen. 554. 
 
 ^ Suidas. amcppoavvt] Xeyerai trapd to <ra)'a? e'^^eii/ ■rd<i (ppeva<s. 
 Aristotle. Ethic, vi. 5, 5. Where Muretus in his note says: Ac prte- 
 terea truxppoavvi^v vocamus non tantum temperantiam veruni etiam 
 moderationem quandam animi, quae constat ex cognitione sui et ex 
 moderatione omnium ailectuum. The government of the passions — 
 rule over them — is the meaning which leads to the third use of the 
 word mentioned in Suicer's Thesaurus, Castitas. A man is <Tw(ppwv 
 when he can restrain and moderate natural desires, as distinguished 
 from one who is led by the passions. 
 
50 
 
 same idea as forsaking all that a man hath — the 
 idea, namely, of indifference to mere worldly good; 
 and it is equally clear that this is the real test of 
 Christianity in jjractice. What do we live for? 
 this world or the next? If we live for this world, 
 then we naturally are anxious ahout things present; 
 we have no idea whatever of sacrificing comforts, 
 or power, or wealth, or station, unless it be for 
 some greater temporal good. These are the legi- 
 timate objects which absorb a man's energies who 
 lives for life present; but if we live for the life to 
 come, it is impossible that these things should be 
 of primary importance to us. We cannot be much 
 absorbed by them, when we know that they are 
 soon to pass away, and that our real life is to begin 
 when they fail. 
 
 Now in applying this to our own case, it may 
 seem a very hard test to propose to judge of our 
 spiritual state, i. e. of our hopes of heaven. 
 
 How few amongst us look upon the University 
 as their home ! How few intend to pass their lives 
 here! The majority are looking forward to some 
 earthly change as an important one ; the younger 
 amongst ils are justly urged to bend their energies 
 to immediate objects ; and things temporal are 
 essentially connected with their views and thoughts. 
 Should we be doing right if we were to apply the 
 warning of the text, so as to make them indifferent 
 to the success or failure of their exertions in the 
 University? Not at all. This is a danger to be 
 guarded against in many who have serious impres- 
 
51 
 
 sions. We should grossly err if we applied the 
 admonition to be little careful for things of earth, 
 so as to produce carelessness in the pursuits of 
 the University. These are not like temporal gra- 
 tifications, terminating in themselves. In as far as 
 they are pursued merely with hopes of emolument 
 they are purely earthly ; and the eagerness dis- 
 played in their acquh^ement is not the offspring of 
 Christian principle ; but in proportion as there is 
 mingled w ith this — desire for cultivating the talents 
 bestowed upon us, and for improving ourselves as 
 men in all noble intellectual qualities — diligence 
 and eagerness in the pursuits of an academical 
 career are proofs of our wish to approve ourselves 
 before God, as His soldiers and servants, and as 
 having a keen sense of responsibility for all the 
 powers with which He has endowed us. We should 
 not be seeking God and His righteousness, if we 
 were to neglect the duties of this place, which all 
 have for their ultimate object the benefit of those 
 who are under instruction. For seeking God 
 implies that we strive to be imitators like our 
 Saviour Jesus Christ, and therefore that we en- 
 deavour in all things to do His will; and to do 
 our duty in that position in which He has placed 
 us now, requires that all our faculties be sharpened, 
 and called into active exercise; that our memories 
 be stored with the wisdom of the past, and that we 
 be able to take the lead in this great nation with 
 intelligence and aptitude, and well freighted with 
 the lessons of prudence which the past history of 
 
52 
 
 mankind can supply. The whole genius of our 
 reformed institutions is against the notion of know- 
 ledge for a man's self, of the isolated treasuring up 
 of information in ourselves. It is in favour of 
 progress, the welfare of the many, extension of 
 knowledge for the improvement moral and social 
 of mankind, general education, the raising up of 
 the lower and more neglected grades of society to 
 a better position, the universal and constant ame- 
 lioration of the state of all classes of men. These 
 are the great and noble objects which the Chris- 
 tian patriot should have in view. To acquire 
 knowledge for a man's self is a mean object com- 
 pared with the desire to progress in all respects in 
 order to impress upon others the results of our 
 mental labour. 
 
 Viewed in this aspect, none can say that the 
 duties of an academical residence are worldly, and 
 therefore ought not to be primary objects of exer- 
 tion. Our means of doing good depend much upon 
 the estimation in which our brethren hold us. It is 
 within the reach of all now to acquire a position 
 which in the world at large will be in their favour. 
 And though it may not be true that academical 
 honours are a sure and certain index of future 
 usefulness, yet if there be in any one a yearning 
 for doing Christ's work, if he have a noble sense 
 of duty, with sincere and honest desire to fulfil it, 
 he will in most cases be gaining the attention of 
 others, be securing an opening for exertions in 
 more serious and important services, if he will now 
 
53 
 
 endeavour, in the abilitj^ which God has given him, 
 to labour heartily in the course set before him, 
 to acquit himself manfully of the duties assigned 
 to him by those whose directions he is bound to 
 observe. 
 
 If he will thus labour honestly, then no doubt 
 he will find the truth of the words of our Lord, 
 whether he succeed here or not. If this settled 
 sense of duty, if right principle have led him, then 
 he will have been really seeking God first. And 
 " then all other things shall be added unto him ;" 
 he will be made to feel that God's work for him 
 has to be yet pointed out; to go on in the higher 
 23ath if he have already made good his standing on 
 the arduous ascent, or to proceed in some other 
 direction if he have not been so well approved in 
 his first attempt. In either case, the conscientious 
 Christian student will find the promise verified that 
 " all other things shall be added unto him.' We 
 must strive to do the best we can. God will employ 
 our energies for the best. A trial of our faith may 
 perhaps be involved in this. We are constantly 
 tempted to think that we are better fitted for some 
 other work than that we are actually engaged in. 
 But God knows best. We should always recollect 
 that there may be propensities lurking within us, 
 which in any other position than that we occupy 
 would have proved fatal to our eternal happiness. 
 Who can tell? Must not our Heavenly Father 
 know full well what is our danger, and where we 
 
 5 
 
54 
 
 are most useful ? Again comes in the idea of our 
 text, * If we seek first God and His righteousness, 
 all other things will be added unto us.' If our 
 sole desire is to do our duty, and promote God's 
 glory, following in the steps of our blessed Re- 
 deemer, then we shall not repine at a position being 
 allotted to us different from that which we desire ; 
 we shall know that He ordereth all things as it 
 seemeth Him best ; and in this confidence we shall 
 be persuaded that whatever is really good for us is 
 realhj added to us. 
 
 Yet it is lamentably certain, that notwith- 
 standing the admonitions of Holy Scripture men 
 do not generally devote their best energies and 
 first thoughts to the service of God. We rather 
 set the world first. We give our chief energy 
 to the accomplishment of worldly aims, and make 
 God's service a secondary matter. Let any man 
 reckon with himself how much time he gives to 
 the consideration of his spiritual state, to anti- 
 cipations of his destiny beyond the grave, to self- 
 examination and prayer, and compare it with the 
 hours he devotes to improvement of his means, to 
 calculations and forming plans for the future of 
 life present, to self-indulgence and indolence, and 
 it will too generally be found that there is a mar- 
 vellous disproportion between them. Have we 
 then any right to find that Christian contentment 
 abiding in us which is promised to those who seek 
 first the kingdom of God and His righteousness ? 
 
55 
 
 The case is similar to that of many of our 
 students who come here with anticipations of suc- 
 cess and honour, and then dwindle down into 
 desultory idlers. To succeed, the goal must be kept 
 constantly in view. It must be uppermost in the 
 thoughts, it must be the first thing sought; and in 
 proportion as any one does this, is self-approval 
 just, and a source of satisfaction ; but if it be not 
 first, if pleasure and sloth be preferred, if exertions 
 are feeble, and labour intermitted, the prize re- 
 cedes from the view, and discontent and despond- 
 ency take the place of contentment. Learning, 
 to be acquired, must be followed after and ensued 
 as the first thing. If any other pursuit engross the 
 affections, failure is certain, and dissatisfaction 
 must follow. 
 
 Again, it is easy to see how one characteristic 
 of the Christian course leads directly to the result 
 which we have said is intended in the promise, 
 'AH these things shall be added unto you.' Self- 
 den'ial is the practical lesson of Christianity which 
 it costs us most to learn ; but when learnt, it plainly 
 leads us to be content with such things as we have. 
 Self-denial — the taking up the Cross — this it is 
 which stops men. This is the deep gulf to be 
 passed, in which many make shipwreck ; and yet 
 how marvellous it is, that for worldly objects men do 
 not repine at the severest of dangers and difficulties. 
 
 At the present time^ we see kindled in most 
 1 OctoUr, 1854. 
 
56 
 
 men some enthusiasm and sympathy when they 
 read of the heroic deeds of valour which those of 
 our own blood are now exhibiting. The feats of 
 manly courage, and the patient endurance of pri- 
 vations, stir in us also a boldness of spirit; and we 
 see no inconsistency in this generous self-devotion 
 between the sacrifices and the object for which 
 they are made. Long may it be so — long may the 
 principle of duty to the Queen and country dwell 
 in the heart of every Englishman. But how 
 strangely at fault are these principles and feelings 
 when we transfer the case to matters moral and 
 spiritual. We have a King to whom our allegiance 
 is due, whose sworn subjects we are, and we are 
 now engaged on His behalf to do battle to the 
 powers of evil in every shape, without and within. 
 Alas ! how is the principle of duty here wanting. 
 To put the two cases in contrast seems strange, 
 so little do men feel it to be necessary to shew 
 activity, earnestness, and enthusiasm, in the service 
 of their Lord in heaven. 
 
 Yet, seeking the kingdom of God and His 
 righteousness is not a matter of indolent uncon- 
 cern. Unless we really are vigorous in spiritual 
 action, we cannot be doing any effective work. 
 Oh let us strive earnestly to secure the true and 
 great reward. I feel that in urging self-denial my 
 voice must be feeble. In calling men to be strenu- 
 ously active on Christ's behalf, I have no heroic 
 example to shew; but 1 cannot avoid reminding 
 
57 
 
 you that you are soon to be addressed from this 
 place by one who has given up all for Christ's sake^ 
 whose admonitions will come upon you with all 
 the force of consistent example and noble self- 
 devotion. May God of His mercy grant that these 
 words spoken in feebleness may be ratified ; that 
 the message of salvation, the warning of self-denial, 
 may be imprinted deeply on the hearts of all. And 
 we have this comforting reflection, that in all cases 
 it is of God's gift that the increase comes ; the 
 message is not dependent for its success on our im- 
 perfect exertions. ' My word, saith the Lord, shall 
 not return unto me void ; it shall accomplish the 
 end whereto I send it.' 
 
 Seekjirst the kingdom of God. When the end 
 is come, it must be the last thing that you think of 
 If we have climbed vigorously up the hill of God, 
 then when we enter the narrow defile that sepa- 
 rates us from the promised land, we may perceive 
 the landscape overspread with mist, and indistinct ; 
 we shall from the mountain-top gaze with confi- 
 dent expectation on that which we may not yet see 
 in all its grandeur and sublimity. But in the 
 morning of the resurrection, when the Sun of right- 
 eousness shall arise in the fulness of his strength, 
 and the mist shall roll away in glorious majesty, 
 our longing eyes shall be satisfied with a full 
 revelation of that kingdom of God which we 
 
 ^ The University Preacher for the month following that in which 
 these Lectures were delivered was the Bishop of New Zealand. 
 
58 
 
 have sought with earnest self-devotion. And 
 the things which God hath prepared for them 
 that love Him, though hitherto unseen, shall be 
 perceived — though hitherto unheard, shall be 
 clearly distinguished. 
 
 But if we will not seek first the kingdom of 
 God now, if we travel onwards in indolent security, 
 along the beaten and easy track, the everlasting 
 hills shall separate us from the brilliant scenes in 
 which we might have taken part, and the ever- 
 descending road into the valley of the shadow of 
 death takes us far away from the land of the 
 blessed. ' And they shall pass through,' saith the 
 prophet, 'hardly bestead and hungry; and it shall 
 come to pass, that when they shall be hungry and 
 faint, they shall fret themselves, and curse their 
 king and their God, and look upward.' 'And they 
 shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble, and 
 darkness, dimness of anguish; and the light is 
 darkened in the heavens thereof.' 
 
 And how bitter then to think of our neglected 
 Saviour, to think how we have carelessly disre- 
 garded the love of One so mighty and so merciful, 
 how we have turned away from the affectionate 
 entreaties of One so anxious to save us, so sympa- 
 thising, so deeply concerned in our welfare. How 
 terrible to think of the requital of our obstinacy, 
 when Jesus, the kind, the merciful, the compas- 
 sionate, is to be the Just Judge, and we are anx- 
 ious to hide ourselves from the face of Him that 
 
59 
 
 sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the 
 Lamh. 
 
 Oh ! listen to the voice of wisdom. Seek 
 first the bread of life which came down from hea- 
 ven. Temporal wants are less than nothing com- 
 pared with spiritual. We have within us a deep 
 desire for immortality, and it is only he that eateth 
 of this bread that shall live for ever. 
 
CAMBRIDGE : 
 PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
JANUARY, 1855. 
 
 N EW BOOKS 
 
 IN THE COURSE OF PUBLICATION 
 
 BV 
 
 Messrs. RIVINGTON, 
 
 WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL, LONDON. 
 
 EVANGELICAL LIFE, as seen in the EXAMPLE of our 
 LORD JESUS CHRIST. By JOHN JAMES, D.D., Canon of 
 Peterborough, Author of a "Comment on the Collects," and other 
 Works. In 1 2mo. 7s. 6d. {Now ready.) 
 
 II. 
 CHRISTIANITY and MODERN INFIDELITY: their 
 relative INTELLECTUAL CLAIMS compared. By the Rev. 
 R. W. MORGAN, Perpetual Curate of Tregynon, Montgomery- 
 shire ; Author of " Verities of the Christian Church," " Vindication 
 of the Church of England," and other Works. In post 8vo. 8s. 6c?. 
 {Just published.) 
 
 III. 
 QUEBEC CHAPEL SERMONS, preached in the former 
 Half of 1854. By HENRY ALFORD, B.D., Minister of the Chapel ; 
 Editor of a New Edition of the Greek Testament, with English Notes. 
 In small Svo. 7*- 6c/. 
 The SECOND SERIES, {completing the Year,) is in the press. 
 IV. 
 
 CHRISTIAN SEASONS ; a Series of Poems. By the Author 
 
 of "The Cathedral." Contents.- — Advent — Christmas — Lent — Easter 
 — Whitsuntide — and Allhallowtide. In small Svo. 3s. 6c?. {Just 
 published.) 
 
 V. 
 
 OCCASIONAL SERMONS, preached in Westminster Abbey. 
 Fifth Series. (On RELIGIOUS RESTORATION in ENGLAND.) 
 By CHR. WORDSWORTH, D.D., Canon of Westminster. 
 Contents: — On National Sins, Judgments, and Duties. — Census of Reli- 
 gious Worship. — Tlie Flpiscopate ; and on Additional Sees. — The Diaconate; 
 and on Lay Agency. — Tithes, Endowments, and Maintenance of the Clergy. 
 — On Church Rates. — On Divorce. — Restoration of Holy Matrimony.— 
 Hopes of Religious Restoration. In Svo. 8s. 
 
 VI. 
 
 MORNING NOTES of PRAISE, a Series of MEDITA- 
 TIONS upon the MORNING PSALMS. By LADY CHARLOTTE- 
 MARIA PEPYS. In small Svo. 3s. 6d. {Just published.) 
 VII. 
 
 QUIET MOMENTS; a FOUR WEEKS' COURSE of 
 
 MEDITATIONS before Evening Prayer; and for Noonday and 
 Sunset. By the Same Authoress. Second Edition. In small 
 Svo. 3s. 6c;. 
 
BOOKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED 
 
 ENGLAND'S SACRED SYNODS; a CONSTITUTIONAL 
 
 HISTORY of the CONVOCATIONS : showing the primitive Source 
 and British Origin of these Assemblies, and tracing their Records 
 from the Earliest Times to the Date of the Establishment of the 
 Book of Common Prayer. By JAMES WAYLAND JOYCE, M.A., 
 late Student of Christ Church, Rector of Burford, Third Portion, 
 and Proctor for the Clergy of the Diocese of Hereford. In One 
 Volume. 8vo. {In the press.) 
 
 IX. 
 
 ENGLAND and ROME; a Discussion of the PRINCIPAL 
 DOCTRINES and PASSAGES of HISTORY in common Debate 
 between the Members of the two COMMUNIONS. By W. E. 
 SCUDAMORE, M.A., Rector of Ditchingham. and late Fellow of 
 St. John's College, Cambridge. In 8vo. 105. 6d. {Now ready.) 
 
 X. 
 
 PAPERS and SERMONS on the WAR. In the course of 
 publication, a Series of Religious Papers for the Seat of War and the 
 Relations at Home; intended to meet the cases of the Wounded, the 
 Dying, the Prisoner, the Relation at Home, the Recruit, and the Public. 
 MANUALof PRAYER for the WOUNDED. 9d. {Ready.) 
 Jan. 1.— SERMON for the WOUNDED. 
 8.— To the DYING. 
 „ 15.— To the MOTHER at HOME. 
 „ 22.— To the RECRUIT. 
 „ 31.— The DUTY of the BRITISH PUBLIC. 
 
 XI. 
 
 The SECOND GERMAN BOOK: a SYNTAX, and Etymo- 
 logical Vocabulary, with copious Reading- Lessons and E.xercises. By 
 the late Rev. T. K. ARNOLD, M.A., Rector of Lyndon, and formerly 
 Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge ; and J. W. FRADERSDORFF, 
 Phil. Dr., of the Taylor-Institute, Oxford. In 12mo. 6s. 6d. {Now 
 ready.) 
 
 Also, by the same Authors, 
 
 1. The FIRST GERMAN BOOK. Third Edition. 5s. &d. 
 
 2. READING COxMPANION to the FIRST GERMAN BOOK. 4s. 
 
 3. HANDBOOK of GERMAN VOCABULARY. 4s. 
 
 XII. 
 
 The GREEK TESTAMENT: ^vith a Critically revised Text; 
 Various Readings ; Marginal References to Verbal and Idiomatic 
 Usage; Prolegomena; and a CRITICAL and EXEGEl'ICAL COM- 
 MENTARY in English. By the Rev. HENRY ALFORD, B.D., 
 Minister of Quebec Chapel, London, and late Fellow of Trinity Col- 
 lege, Cambridge. Vol. 1. Second Edition. In 8vo. 
 
 Lately published, 
 The SECOND VOLUME. (The Third and Concluding Volume is in 
 preparation.) 
 
THE MESSIAH, Theologically and Practically Contemplated, 
 in His Person, Work, and Kingdom. By WILLIAM BROWN 
 GALLOWAY, M.A., Incumbent of St. Mark's, Regent's Park, 
 St. Pancras. In 8vo. 9*. {Now Ready.) 
 
 XIV. 
 
 ARNOLD'S SCHOOL CLASSICS.— HORATII OPERA, 
 
 follcvved by ENGLISH INTRODUCTIONS and NOTES. 
 This Edition of Horace is based upon that of Dr. Dubner, but the 
 Introductions and Notes have been abridged, and in many places re- written, 
 and additional Notes introduced, and pains taken to adapt the Commentary 
 more especially to tlie use of Schools. In 12mo. 7s. {Just published.) 
 
 The INSPIRATION of HOLY SCRIPTURE, its Nature and 
 Proof; Eight Discourses preached before the University of Dublin. 
 By WILLIAM LEE, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College. 
 In 8vo. 14s. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 A CATECHETICAL HELP to BISHOP BUTLER'S 
 ANALOGY. By the Rev. CAMPBELL GREY HULTON, MA, 
 of Brazenose College, Oxford. Crown 8vo. 4s. Qd. {Just pub- 
 lished.) 
 
 XVII. 
 
 PREPARATION of PROPHECY; or, the Use and Design 
 of the OLD TESTAMENT Examined. By WILLIAM ROWE 
 LYALL, D.D., Dean of Canterbury. New and Improved Edition. 
 In Svo. 9*. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 A PLAIN and SHORT HISTORY of ENGLAND for 
 
 CHILDREN : in Letters from a Father to his Son. With Questions. 
 By GEORGE DAVYS, D.D., Lord Bishop of Peterborough. 
 Eleventh Edition. In ISmo. 2s. dd. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 NINE CHARGES delivered to the CLERGY of the 
 DIOCESE of LINCOLN; with SOME OTHER WORKS. By 
 JOHN KAYE, D.D., late Lord Bishop of Lincoln. Edited by 
 his SON, In Svo. 10s. Qd. 
 
 XX. 
 
 A COURSE of SERMONS on the LORD'S PRAYER, with 
 
 Illustrations from the Writings of the Fathers of the Church. By 
 THOMAS HUGO, M.A., F.S.A.. F.L.S., Senior Curate of St. 
 Botolph, Bishopsgate. In 12mo. ()S. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 A MEMOIR of FELIX NEFF, Pastor of the High Alps ; and 
 of his Labours among the French Protestants of Dauphine', a Rem- 
 nant of the Primitive Christians of Gaul By WILLIAM STEPHEN 
 GILLY, D.D., Canon of Durham, and Vicar of Norham. Sixth 
 Edition. In small Svo. 5s. 6c^. {In the press.) 
 
BOOKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED 
 
 XXII. 
 
 MEDITATIONS and PRAYERS on the ORDINATION 
 SERVICE for DEACONS. By the Rev. J. H. PINDER, M.A., 
 Principal of Wells Theological College, In small 8vo. 3*. 6d. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 NOTES at PARIS in 1853; particularly on the State and 
 Prospects of RELIGION. In small 8vo, 4s. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 THE SECOND HEBREW BOOK, containing the BOOK 
 of GENKSIS. With Syntax and Vocabulary. By the late Rev. 
 T. K. ARNOLD, M.A., Rector of Lyndon, and formerly Fellow of 
 Trinity College, Cambridge. In 12mo. 9s. 
 
 Lately published, by the same Author, 
 The FIRST HEBREW BOOK. l2mo. 7s. Qd. {A KEY to this 
 Work is now ready, price 3s. 6d.) 
 
 XXV. 
 
 AN INTRODUCTION to the DEVOTIONAL STUDY of 
 the HOLY SCRIPTURES. By EDWARD MEYRICK 
 GOULBURN, D.C.L., Head Master of Rugby School, and Chaplain 
 to the Lord Bishop of Oxford. In small 8vo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 THE JOURNAL of CONVOCATION, No. IL, being a New 
 Series of " SYNODALIA." Edited by the Rev. CHARLES 
 WARREN, of Over, St. Ives, Hunts. In 8vo. 2*. (Now; ready.) 
 Lately published. No. I., containing the REPORTS of CONVOCATION 
 for 1854. Is. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 A PARAPHRASTIC TRANSLATION of the APOSTO- 
 LICAL EPISTLES, with NOTES. By the late PHILIP 
 NICHOLAS SHU'lTLEWORTH, D.D., Lord Bishop of Chichester. 
 Fifth Edition. In 8vo. 9s. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 MATERIALS for TRANSLATION into LATIN: selected 
 and arranged by AUGUSTUS GROTEFEND. Translated from 
 the German by the Rev. H. H. ARNOLD, B.A., and Edited (with 
 Notes and Excursuses from Grotefend) by the late Rev. T. ARNOLD, 
 M.A., Rector of Lyndon, and formerly Fellow of Trinity College, 
 Cambridge. Third Edition. In 8vo. 7s. 6d. {Just pub/ished.) 
 *«* A KEY to this Work may now be had. In Svo. 45. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 THE HAPPINESS of the BLESSED Considered as to 
 the Particulars of their State ; their Recognition of each other in that 
 State; and its Difference of Degrees. By RICHARD MANT, D.D., 
 late Lord Bishop of Down and Connor. Seventh Edition. In 12mo. 
 
BY MESSRS. RIVINGTON. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER ; Six Sermons preached in 
 LENT. By JOHN JACKSON, D.D., Lord Bishop of Lincoln. 
 Fifth Edition. In small 8 vo. 3s. 6rf. (^Just published.) 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 PRAYERS for the SICK and DYING. By the Author of 
 "Sickness : its Trials and Blessings." In 12mo. Second Edition. 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 XXXIT. 
 
 SOME ACCOUNT of the COUNCIL of NIC^A, in con- 
 nexion with the LIFE of ATHANASIUS. By JOHN KAYE, D.D., 
 late Lord Bishop of Lincoln. In 8vo. 8s. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 HENRY'S ENGLISH GRAMMAR; a Manual for BEGIN- 
 NERS. By the late Rev. THOMAS KERCHEVER ARNOLD, 
 M.A., Rector of Lyndon, and formerly Fellow of Trinity College, 
 Cambridge. In 12mo. 3s. 6d. 
 In this Work Mr. Arnold has applied the scientific method developed 
 
 by Becker to the Syntax of the English language, and the beginner is 
 
 introduced by a simple process of observation and analysis to this method as 
 
 a groundwork of grammatical study. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 The Second Edition of SERMONS on the HOLY DAYS 
 
 observed in the CHURCH of ENGLAND throughout the Year. 
 By the Rev. J. H. FINDER, M.A., Principal of Wells Theological 
 College. In 12mo. 6s. 6c?. 
 
 Also, by the same Author, 
 SERMONS on the BOOK of COxMMON PRAYER. Third Edition. 7s. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 PARISH SERMONS, as preached from his own Pulpit. By 
 the Rev. JAMES ASPINALL, M.A., Rector of Althorpe, Lincoln- 
 shire ; Author of " Sermons Doctrinal and Practical," and other 
 Works. In 12mo. 5s. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 A COURSE of SERMONS on the EPISTLE and GOS- 
 PEL for each Sunday in the Year. By the Rev. ISAAC WILLIAMS, 
 B.D., late Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, and Author of a " Har- 
 mony of the Gospels, with Reflections." In 2 vols, small 8vo. lis. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 THE FIRST ITALIAN BOOK; on the Plan of the Rev. 
 T. K. Arnold's First French Book. By Signer PIFFERI, Pro- 
 fessor of Italian, and DAWSON W. TURNER, xM.A., Head Master of 
 the Royal Institution School, Liverpool. In 12mo. 5s. 6rf. 
 *#* A Key to the Exercises may be had, price Is. 6c?. 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIFE: a MANUAL of SACRED VERSE. 
 By ROBERT MONTGOMERY, M.A., Author of "The Omnipre- 
 sence of the Deity." Sixth Edition. In 32mo. 4s. 
 
BOOKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED 
 
 XXXTX. 
 
 THE COLONIAL CHURCH CHRONICLE and MIS- 
 SIONARY JOURNAL. VOL. VII. [July, 1853— June, 1854.] 
 In 8vo. 7s. 
 *^* This Journal contains numerous Original Articles, Correspondence, 
 and Documents relatinf/ to the CHURCH in the COLONIES, Reviews 
 and Notices of New Publications, and a Monthly Summary of Colonial, 
 Foreign, and Home News. 
 
 Continued in Monthly Numbers, price 6d. each. 
 
 PRIVATE DEVOTIONS ' and FAMILY PRAYERS. 
 
 Edited by the Rev. EDWARD SCOBELL, M.A., Incumbent 
 Minister of St. Peter's, Vere Street, St. Marylebone. In 18mo. 
 Is. 6d. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 ST. HIPPOLYTUS and the CHURCH of ROME in the 
 
 Earlier Part of the THIRD CENTURY; from the newly-discovered 
 "PHILOSOPHUMENA," or, the Greek Text of those Portions 
 which relate to that subject; with an ENGLISH VERSION and 
 NOTES ; and an Introductory Enquiry into the Authorship of the Trea- 
 tise, and on the Life and Works of the Writer. By CHRISTOPHER 
 WORDSWORTH, D.D., Canon of Westminster. In 8vo. 8s. 6d. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 SEVEN SERMONS for a SICK ROOM. By the Rev. 
 EDWARD BERENS, M.A., Archdeacon of Berks, and Vicar of 
 Shrivenham. In I2mo. Is. 6d. {Just published.) 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 RIDDLE and ARNOLD'S ENGLISH-LATIN DIC- 
 TIONARY for the Use of Schools : being an Abridgment of Riddle 
 and Arnold's Copious and Critical English-Latin Lexicon, by the Rev. 
 J. C. EBDEN, late Fellow and Tutor of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. 
 In post 8vo. 10s. 6rf. (Just published.) 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 THINGS AFTER DEATH ; containing Three Chapters on 
 the INTERMEDIATE STATE, with Thoughts on Family Burying 
 Places, and 150 ORIGINAL EPITAPHS in Verse, for Country 
 Churchyards. By the Rev. JOHN MILLER, M.A., of Worcester 
 Colltge, Oxford. Second Edition. In small 8vo. 3s. 6d. 
 XLV. 
 
 XENOPHON'S ANABASIS. With ENGLISH NOTES, 
 
 translated (with Additions) from the German of Dr. HERTLEIN, by 
 the late Rev. '1'. K. ARNOLD, M.A., Rector of Lyndon, and the Rev. 
 HENRY BROWNE, M.A., Canon of Chichester. (Forming a New 
 Vohimt) oi Arnold's School Classics.) In 12mo. 6s. 6d. 
 Books IV. to VII. of this Edition are contained in Mr. Arnold's Fourth 
 Greek Book. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 SICKNESS : its TRIALS and BLESSINGS. Fourth Edition. 
 In small 8vo. 5s. 
 
BY MESSRS. RIVINGTON. 
 
 HYMNS and POEMS for the SICK and SUFFERING. 
 
 In connexion with the Service for the VISITATION of the SICK. 
 Edited by the Rev. T. V. FOSBERY, M.A., Perpetual Curate of 
 Sunningdale. Tfiird Edition. In small 8vo. 6s. 6d. 
 This Volume contains 233 separate pieces; of which about 90 are by 
 writers who lived prior to the 18th Century: the rest are modern, and some 
 of these original. Amongst the names of the writers (between 70 and 80 in 
 numl)er) occur those of Sir J. Beaumont — Sir T. Browne— F. Davison — 
 Elizabeth of Bohemia — P. Fletcher — G. Herbert — Dean Hickes — Bp. Ken 
 — Norris — Quarles — Sandys — Bp J. Taylor — Henry V^aughan — and Sir H. 
 Wotton. And of modern writers : — Miss E. B. Barrett — The Bishop of 
 Oxford— S. T. Coleridge— Sir R. Grant— Miss E. Taylor— W. Words- 
 worth — Rev. Messrs. Chandler — Keble — Lyte — Monsell — Moultrie — and 
 Trench. 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 SERMONS preached at Romsey. By the Hon. and Rev. 
 GERARD J. NOEL, M.A., late Canon of Winchester, and Vicar of 
 Romsey, Hants. With a Preface by SAMUEL WILBERFORCE, 
 D.D., Lord Bishop of Oxford. In r2mo. 7s. Qd. 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 A NEW TRANSLATION of the RECEIVED TEXT of the 
 APOSTOLICAL EPISTLES, slightly interpolated, and illustrated by 
 a Synoptical and Logical Paraphrase of the Contents of each : the 
 whole setting forth the sum of an Ancillary Series of Annotations on 
 the Epistles. By THOMAS WILLIAMSON PEILE, D.D , Head 
 Master of Repton School ; and some time Fellow of Trinity College, 
 Cambridge. PART I.— ROMANS. In 8vo. Is. 6d. 
 
 Also, by the same Author, just published, 
 ANNOTATIONS on ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE to the ROMANS. 
 
 Second Edition, revised and enlarged. In 8vo. Js. 6d. 
 
 L. 
 
 THE THIRD GREEK BOOK; containing a Selection from 
 XENOPHON'S CYROPiEDIA, with Explanatory Notes, Syntax, 
 and a Glossarial Index. By the late Rev. THOMAS KERCHEVER 
 ARNOLD, M.A., Rector of Lyndon, and formerly Fellow of Trinity 
 College, Cambridge. In 12 mo. 3*. 6c?. 
 
 LI. 
 
 THE FOURTH GREEK BOOK; or, the Last Four Books 
 of XENOPHON'S ANABASIS, containing the HISTORY of the 
 RETREAT of the TEN THOUSAND GREEKS: with Explana- 
 tory Notes, and Grammatical References. By the SAME Editor. In 
 12mo. 4*. 
 
 LII. 
 
 THE SECOND ADAM: a COURSE of LECTURES on 
 the DIVINITY of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, and the Union 
 of the Divine and Human Natures in his Sacred Person; (with cer- 
 tain OCCASIONAL SERMONS.) Delivered in St. John's Church, 
 Cheltenham. By WILLIAM JOHN EDGE, M.A., formerly 
 Rector of Waldringfield, Suffolk. In Svo. 10*. 6d. 
 
RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. RIVINGTON. 
 
 LIU. 
 
 A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION to GREEK PROSE 
 
 COMPOSITION, Part the First. By the late Rev. THOMAS KER- 
 
 CHEVER ARx\OLD, M.A., Rector of Lyndon, and formerly Fellow 
 
 of Trinity College, Cambridge. In 8vo. 5s. 6d. Eighth Edition. 
 
 *»* This new Edition has been reprinted from the Sixth in deference to 
 
 opinions of authority as to the coni])arative usefulness of the Sixth and 
 
 Seventh, and will remain in future the standard Edition. 
 
 The object of this AVoik is to enable the Student, as soon as he can 
 decline and conjugate with tolerable facility, to translate simple sentences 
 after given examj)les, and with given words; the principles trusted to being 
 principally those of imitation and very frequent repetition. It is at once a 
 Syntax, a Vocabulary, and an Exercise Book ; and is used at all, or nearly 
 all, the Public Schools, 
 
 Also, by the same Author, 
 A SECOND PART of the above Work (On the PARTICLES). In 
 8vo. 65. 6d. 
 
 LIV. 
 
 THE DARK AGES ; a Series of Essays in illustration of the 
 Religion and Literature of the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth 
 Centuries. By the Rev. S. R. MAITLAND, D.D., F.R.S., and F.S.A., 
 some time Librarian to the late Archbishop of Canterbury, and Keeper 
 of the MSS. at Lambeth. Third Edition. In 8vo. 10s. Cd. 
 
 LV. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL BIOGRAPHY : or, LIVES of EMI- 
 NENT MEN connected with the HISTORY of RELIGION in 
 ENGLAND, from the commencement of the REFORMATION to 
 the RKVOi^UriON. Selected, and Illustrated with Notes. By 
 CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, D.D., late Rector of Buxted 
 with Uckfield, Sussex, and Master of Trmity College, Cambridge. 
 Fourth Edition. In 4 vols. Svo. With 5 Portraits. 2l. 14s. 
 
 Also, by the same Editor (uniformly printed), 
 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTES: A Series of Discoursfs and Tracts, 
 selected, arranged systematically, and illustrated with Notes. Second 
 Edition. In 4 vols. Svo. 2/. Hs. 
 
 LVI. 
 
 The Fifth Edition of LECTURES, HISTORICAL, DOC- 
 TRINAL, and PRACTICAL, on the CATECHISM of the CHURCH 
 of ENGLAND. By FRANCIS-RUSSELL NIXON, D.D., Lord 
 Bishop of Tasmania. In Svo. 16*. 
 
 LVI I. 
 
 CORNELIUS TACITUS, Part IL (ANNALES, Books 
 XI.-XVI.) With FN(iI.ISII NOTES, translated from the German 
 of Dr. KARL NIPFERDEY, with additions, by the Rev. H. 
 BROWNE, M.A., Canon of Chichester. (Forming a New Volume 
 of the Rev. T. K. ARiNOLD'S CLASSICS.) Jn 12mo. 5*. 
 Also, 
 PxVRT I. containing the First Six Books of the ANNALES. 65. 
 
WORKS PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. RIVINGTON. 
 
 RECENT PAMPHLETS AND TRACTS. 
 
 A CHARGE delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of St. David's. By 
 CONNOP THIRLWALL, U.D., Bishoj) of St. David's, at his Fifth Visita- 
 tion, in Septembtr and October, 1854. In 8vo. 2s. 
 
 A CHARGE delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of Worcester, at his 
 Triennial Vihitation, July, 1854 ; coiitainintr Strictures on Arclideacou 
 Wilberforee's Treatise on the Eucharist. By HENRY, Lord liishop of 
 Worcester. In 8vo. Is. 
 
 A CHARGE to the Clergy of the Diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, at his 
 Visitation in August and Se|jtcnibor, 1854. By JAMES-HENRY, Lord 
 Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. In 8vo. 
 
 A CHARGE delivered to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Lindisfarne, in 
 July, 1854. By R. C. COXE, M.A., Archdeacon. In 8vo. Is. 
 
 A CHARGE delivered at the Spring Visitation of the Archdeaconry of 
 Lincoln, in May, 1854. By H. K. BONNEY, D.D., Archdeacon of 
 Lincohi. In 8vo. id. 
 
 VI. 
 
 "The Church Rate Question and the Principles involved in it;" 
 a CHARGE delivered to the Clerj^v of the Archdeaconry of Maid-stone, at 
 the Ordinary Visitation, in May, 1854. By BENJAMIN HARRISON, 
 M.A., Archdeacon of Maidstone. In 8v'o. Is. 
 
 VII. 
 
 LAY of the CRIMEA. Canto I. By JOHN DRYDEN PIGOTT, 
 
 Author of" The Patriarch of the Nile," " Egypt," &c. Is. 
 
 SOME ACCOUNT of the CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT, New Zea- 
 land, 1853. By tlic Rev. R. B. PAUL, M.A., Commissary of the Bishop of 
 New Zealand, and late Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. In 18mo. Is. 
 
 A SERMON ; preached at Christ Church, before his Honour the Super- 
 intendent and the Provincial Council of Canterbury, New Zealand, at the 
 Opening of their First Session, on Tuesday, September 27, 1853. By the 
 Rev. R. B. PAUL, M.A., Commissary of the Bishop of New Zealand, and 
 formerly Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. Gd. 
 
 The DOCTRINE of the CHURCH not to be proscribed in her Normal 
 
 Schools ; the Judgment of tlie Archbishop of York, and the Bishop of 
 RiPON upon alleged erroneous Teaching in the Training School at YoEK ; 
 also the Statkment of the Rev. G. C. Hodgkinson, the Principal, sub- 
 mitted to their Lordships in his Defence. In 8vo. 2s. 
 
10 WORKS PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. RIVINGTON. 
 
 RECENT PAMPHLETS AND TRACTS. {Continued.) 
 XI. 
 
 A SERMON; preached in the Rectory Church of St. Marylebone, on 
 Sunday, Nov. 19, on occasion of the Death of the Rev. .J. H. Spry, D.D., 
 Rector of the Parish, and Canon of Canterbury. By the Rev. ROBERT 
 WHELER BUSH, M.A., Morning Preacher, and Head Master of the 
 Islington Proprietary School, In small 8vo. 6i. 
 
 XII. 
 
 AN ESSAY on CAUSALITY. By an Undergraduate of the University of 
 Cambridge. In 8vo. Is. Gd. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 FOUR SERMONS on the PRESENT CRISIS, and other Subjects, 
 preached at Rome, in the Spring of I«54. By the Rev. FRANCIS 
 GARDEN, xM.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. In small 8vo. Is. 6-^. 
 Also, hy the same Author, 
 LECTURES on the BEATITUDES. 3s. Gd. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 HOSPITALS. — Thoughts on the Indirect Advantages of Hospitals. 
 By CHARLES HEBE RDEN, Esq., Barrister-at- Law. In 12mo. 3,/. 
 
 XV. 
 
 "The Claims of our Country and of God:" a SERMON, preached 
 in Quebec Chapel, London, on Sunday, Nov. 19, 1854, and jiublished at the 
 request of the Congregation. By HENRY ALFORD, B.D., Minister of 
 the Chapel. In 8vo. 6d. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 AnAttempt to elucidatethePROPHECIES CONCERNING ANTICHRIST: 
 with Remarks on some Works of J. H. Frere, Esq. By the Rev. S. R, 
 MAITLAND, D.D., F.R.S., and F.S.A., some time Librarian to the late 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, and Keeper of the MSS. at Lambeth. Second 
 Edition. In 8vo. 2s. Gd. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 THE LATE PAYMENT of WEEKLY WAGES considered in connexion 
 with Sunday Trading in Loudon. By A LAY]\IAN. In 8vo. Gd. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 " No MORE War ;" A SERMON, in aid of the Patriotic Fund, preached 
 in St. Stephen's Church, Westminster, on Sunday, Nov. 26, 1854. Bv the 
 Rev. WILLIAM TENNANT, M.A., Perpetual Curate of St. Stephen's, 
 Westminstei". In 12mo. Gd. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 The Form of Solemnization of MATRIMONY illustrated. By 
 SAxMUEL WIX, M.A., F.R.S., Vicar of St. Bartholomew-the-Less. In 
 18mo. Is. 6d. 
 
 XX. 
 
 "Christian Solemnities;" A SERMON, preached in the New 
 Church of Cockermouth, shortly after its Conseci-ation. By the Rev. 
 JOHN WORDSWORTH, M.A., Vicar of Brigham. In 12mo. 4d. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 SERMON preached in aid of the Patriotic Fund, Nov. 26, 1854. By 
 ROBERT BLACKBURN, M.\., Rector of Selh.am, Sussex, and late 
 Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford. In 12nio. Gd. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 "Death in Battle:" A SERMON, preached at St. Georg^e's, Hanover 
 Square, on Nov. 25, being tlie Sunday after the publication of the Nominal 
 lleturns of the Killed and Wounded at the Battle of Inkei-man. By .1. L. 
 ROBERTS, M.A., Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, and Curate' of St. 
 George's. In 12mo. 6d. 
 
RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. RIVLNGTON. 
 
 11 
 
 TRACTS 
 
 ON CONFIRMATION, THE SACRAMENTS, TFIE CHURCH 
 CATECHISM, AND OTHER SUBJECTS. 
 
 The RITE of CONFIRMATION EX- 
 
 PLiMNED. By the Rev. D. J. EYHE, M.A., 
 Sub-Dean of Sarum. Fourth Edition. Price id., 
 or 3s. bd per dozen. 
 
 II. 
 QUESTIONS and ANSWERS on CON- 
 FIRMATION. By W. F. HOOK, D.D., Vicar 
 of Leeds. Seventti Edition. Price 2d., or 15*. 
 per 100. 
 
 III. 
 A PLAIN CATECHISM before CON- 
 FIRMATION. By the Rev. CHARLES DODG- 
 SON, MA. Price 2rf. 
 
 IV. 
 
 On the SACRAMENT of the LORD'S 
 
 SUPPER. By the PLAIN MAN'S FRIEND. 
 Eighth Edition. Price id. 
 
 A COMPANION to the LORD'S 
 
 SUPPER. By the PLAIN MAN'S FRIEND. 
 New Edition. Price »d. bound. 
 VI. 
 
 The HAPPY COMMUNICANT. By 
 
 the Rev. JOHN JAMES, D.D , Author of a 
 " Comment on the Collects." Price id. 
 VII. 
 
 The BENEFIT of the SACRAMENT 
 
 of the LOHD'S isUPPER EXPLAINED. By ED- 
 WAKD BURTON. D D., late Regius Protef-sor of 
 Pivinity in the University o( Oxford. New Edition. 
 Price 2d., or 15^ per luO. 
 
 VIII. 
 An ORDER of PREPARATION for 
 the HOLY COMMUNION. By the Rev. A. K. B. 
 GRANVILLE, M. A. In ISmo, 6d. 
 
 IX. 
 
 INFANT BAPTISM, and the MODE 
 of ADMINISTERING IT. By R. TWOPENY, 
 B.D. Price 6d. 
 
 X. 
 
 PLAIN REMARKS on INFANT BAP- 
 
 TISM and CONFIRMATION. By \V. J. EDGE, 
 M.A. Fourth Edition. Price 3d. 
 XI. 
 
 The INFANT CHRISTIAN'S FIRST 
 
 CATECHISM. By Mrs. PaRRY, of Barbados. 
 Sixth Edition. Price 3d., or 2s. 6d. per dozen. 
 XII. 
 
 IT IS WRITTEN; or, the CATE- 
 CHISM TEACHING from SCRIPTURE. By the 
 Rev. C. J. HEATriCOTE, M.A., Mini^ter of St. 
 Thomas's, Stamford Hill. Price id., or is. Cd. per 
 dozen. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 QUESTIONS and ANSWERS on 
 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE and DUTY. By a 
 PARENT. Price id., or 3i. 6d. per dozen. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 HELP and COMFORT for the SICK 
 POOR By the Author of " Sickiiess : its Trials 
 and Blessings." Second Edition. Price \s. 
 
 XV. 
 
 PRAYERS for the SICK and DYING. 
 
 By the SAME AUTHOR. Price 2s. 6d. 
 XVI. 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS for the RELIEF of 
 
 the SICK POOR in DISEASES of FREQUENT 
 OCCURR ENCE. By the late R. PEARsON, M.D. 
 Third Edition. In ISmo, Is. 6d. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 The COTTAGER'S PRAYER BOOK. 
 
 By the late Rev. JAMES BEAN, M.A., Author 
 of " Family Worship." Price Gd. 
 XVIII. 
 
 The COTTAGE BEE- HIVE. Second 
 
 Edition. Price 3d., or 2s bd per dozen. 
 
 THREE words' to ONE WHO 
 
 DRINKS. New Editiun. Price 3d., or 2s. 6d. 
 per dozen. 
 
 XX. 
 
 An EXHORTATION to the LORD'S 
 
 DAY. By the Rev. R. W. EVANS, M.A., Author 
 of " The Rectory of Valehead." Price Is. 6d. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 IS the CHURCH of ROME the 
 
 BABYLON of the APOCALYPSE? By CHRIS- 
 TOPHER WORDSWORIH, D.D., Canou of 
 Westminster. In ISmo, Is. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 The FORM of SOLEMNIZATION 
 
 of MATRIMONY ILLUSTRATED. By SAMUEL 
 WIX, M.A., F.R S., Vicar of St. Bartholomew-the- 
 Less. In 18mo, Is. 6d. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 ADVICE to a PUBLIC SCHOOL BOY. 
 
 By the Rev. F. POYNDER, M.A. Third Edition. 
 In ISmo, 6d. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 The HOLY BIBLE the ONE DE- 
 SIGN of ONE ETERNAL MIND. By the Rev. 
 DAVID LAING. M.A., Incumbent of Trinity, St. 
 Pancras. Third Edition. Pfice Is. 
 
 BRIEF HISTORY* of the BOOK of 
 COMMON PRAYER. By the SA.HE AUTHOR. 
 Price Is. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 An EXPLANATION of DR. WATTS' 
 
 HYMNS, iu tinestion and Answer. Fourth Edi- 
 tion. Price 8d., or 7s per dozen. 
 XXVII. 
 
 SIXTY GEMS from THOMAS a KEM- 
 PIS. Price 6d. 
 
12 RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. RIVLXGTON. 
 
 Eecently published, in Eight Volumes, 8vo, price £4 4s., a New and 
 Complete Edition of 
 
 WORKS AND CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OF THE RIGHT HO.N. 
 
 EDMUND BURKE. 
 
 THIS EDITION CONTAINS 
 
 1, Mr. BUEKE'S COEEESPONDENCE between the year 1744 and 
 his Decease in 1797, first pubUshed from the original MSS. in 1844, edited 
 by Earl Fitzwilliam and Sir Eichard Bourke ; containiDg numerous Histo- 
 rical and Biographical Notes, and several Original Letters from the leading 
 Statesmen of the period, and forming an Autobiography of this celebrated 
 AVriter. The most interesting portion of the Letters of Mr. Burke to Dr. 
 French Laurence, published from the original MSS. by the late Archbishop 
 of Cashel in 1827, is now incorporated in the COERESPONDENCE : 
 
 2. The WOEKS of Mr. BUEKE, as edited by his Literary Executors, 
 and completed, by the publication of the 15th and 16th Volumes, in 1826, 
 under the superintendence of the late Bishop of Eochester, Dr. Walker King. 
 
 "The Writings of that eminent Man, whom posterity will regard as the most eloquent of 
 Orators, and the most profound of the philosophic statesmen of modern times." 
 
 The late Sir ROBERT PEEL. 
 " The Speeches he made will be the subject of admiration for all succeeding generations." 
 
 Lord JOHN RUSSELL. 
 
 " Burke was one of the first thinkers, as well as one of the greatest Orators, of his time. 
 
 He is without any parallel in any age or country, except perhaps Lord Bacon and Cicero, and 
 
 his Works contain an ampler store of political and moral wisdom than can be found in any 
 
 other writer whatever." Sir J. MACKINTOSH. 
 
 "That great Master of Eloquence, Edmund Burke." 
 
 The Right Hon. T. B. MACAULAY. 
 
 "The compositions of Burke are master-pieces. Who can withstand the fascination and 
 magic of his eloquence ? His imperial fancy has laid all nature under tribute, and has col- 
 lected riches from every scene of the creation and every walk of art. He who can read his 
 Works without pleasure must resign all pretensions to taste and sensibihty." 
 
 ROBERT HALL. 
 
 " No one can doubt that enlightened men in all ages will hang over the Works of Mr. 
 Burke. — He was a writer of the first class, and excelled in almost every kind of prose com- 
 position. Mr. Fox might well avow, without a compliment, that he had learnt more from 
 him than from all other men and authors." LoRo BROUGHAM. 
 
 This, tlie only complete Edition 7ioiv in circulation, includes the whole 
 of the Contents of the former, published in 20 Vols, ^vo, at the 
 price of£d 5s. 
 
WORKS PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. RIVINGTON. 13 
 
 CLASSICAL AND EDUCATIONAL WORKS, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. T. KERCHEVER ARNOLD, M.A. 
 
 LATE RECTOR OF LYNDON, AND FORMERLY FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 The Works under the several numbers may be studied at or about the same stage of a 
 pupil's progress. 
 
 KEYS {sup2)Ued to Tutors only) are published to those Works to which f is prefixed. 
 
 LATIN. 
 1. 
 
 + HENRY'S FIRST LATIN BOOK. Elerenth Edition. 12mo. 3s. 
 
 The object of iliis Work (which is founded on the principles of imitation and frequent repetition ) 
 is to enable the pupil to do exercises from the first day of his beginning liis Accidence. It is 
 recommended by the Oxfurd Diocesnn Board of Eriucatiov, as a useful work for Middle or Com- 
 mercial Schools; and adopted at the National Society's Training College at Chelsea. 
 
 2. 
 
 t A SECOND LATIN BOOK, and PRACTICAL GRAMMAR. Intended as a 
 Sequel to Henry''s First Latin Book. Sixth Edition. l2mo. 4s. 
 
 t A FIRST VERSE BOOK, Part I.; intemied as an easy Introduction to the Latin 
 Hexameter and Pentameter. Fifth Edition. 12mo. 2s. 
 
 A FIRST VERSE BOOK, Part II. ; containing additional Exercises. Is. 
 
 3. 
 
 HISTORI.E ANTIQUE EPITOME, from Cornelius Nepos, Justin, &c. With English 
 Notes, Rules for Construing, Questions, Geographical Lists, &c. Fifth Edition. 4s. 
 A FIRST CLASSICAL AT LAS, containing fifteen Maps, coloured in outline ; intended 
 as a Companion to the Historice Antiquce Epitome. 8vo. 7s. Qd. 
 "These Maps are executed with great accuracy, and apparently quite free from that indistinctness 
 and disproportion which are the great fault of all our small maps. We think Mr. Arnold suc- 
 cessful here as always; and he has done his part to render geography, as it should be, an 
 additional inducement for work."— G«a;d/on. 
 OVID.— ECLOGiE OVIUIAN^, with English Notes; Part I. (from the Elegiac 
 Poems.) Eiijhth Edition. 12mo. 2s. Gd. 
 This Work is from the Fifih Part of the LatHniiches Elementarbuch of Professors Jacobs and 
 Diirinq, which has an immense circulation on the Continent and in America. 
 OVID.— ECLOGvE OVIDIAN^, Part II. ; containing Selections from the META- 
 MORPHOSES. With English Notes. 12mo. 5s. 
 A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION to LATIN PROSE COMPOSITION. Ninth 
 Edition. 8vo. 6s. M. 
 This Work is founded on the principles of imitation and frequent repetition. It is at once a 
 Syntax, a Vocabulary, and an Exercise Book ; and considerable attention has been paid to the 
 subject of Synonymes. It is now used at all, or nearly all, the public schools. 
 
 4. 
 t COENELIUS NEPOS, Part I. ; with Critical Questions and Answers, and an imi- 
 tative Exercise on each Chapter. Third Edition. 12mo. 4s. 
 VIRGIL.— The ^NEID of VIRGIL, with EngHsh Notes from Dubner. 12mo. 6s. 
 VXRGIL.-VIRGILII yENEIDOS Libri L— VI. ; Addita est luterpretatio ex Adno- 
 tationilius Heynii, Wimderlichii, Wagneri, Forb'geri.aliorum excerpta. 8vo. 12s. 
 HORACE.— ECLOG"^ HORATIANJE, Pars I. ; CARMINA prope Omnia Continens. 
 Addita est Familiiiris Inter])retaii<) ex Adnotationibus Mitscherlichii, Doeringii, 
 Orellii, aliorum excerpta. Second Edition. 12mo. 5s. 
 
 *^* All the ohjectionable passages are omitted from this Edition. 
 HORACE.— The Works of' HORACE, followed by English Introductions and Notes, 
 abridged and adapted for School use, from the Edition of Fr. Dubner. In 
 one Volume, 12nio. 7s. 
 + A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION to LATIN VERSE COMPOSITION. 
 
 Contents : — 1. " Ideas" for Hexameter and Elegiac Verses. 2. Alcaics. 3. Sap- 
 phics. 4. Tiie other Horatian Metres. 5. Appendix of Poetical Phraseology, 
 and Hints on Versification. 8vo. Third Edition. 5s. Gd. 
 GRADUS ad PARNASSUM NOVUS ANTICLEPTICUS;foimdedonQuicherat's 
 Thesaurus Podicus Limjuce Latinw. 8vo. 1 2s. half-bound. 
 " This Work is so superior to an ordinary Gradus as scarcely to come under the same category. 
 The epithets and phrases are equally well chosen and well arranged. A treasury it certainly is, 
 and a valuable one too, for all who wish to read and imitate the Latin Poets with success." — 
 Alhenceum. 
 
14 WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED 
 
 ELLISIAN EXERCISES ; adapted to the " Practical Introduction to Latin Prose 
 Composition." 3s. 6d. Tlie KEY, 3s. 
 
 5. 
 ECLOGiE HISTORIC^ ; or. Selections from the Roman Historians (Sallust, Livy, 
 
 Curtius, Tacitus), witii Latin Notes. 12mo. 4s. 
 CICERO.— Selections from Cicero's ORATIONS, with English Notes, from the best 
 and most recent sources. Contents : — The Fourth Book of the Impeachment 
 of Verres, tlie Four Speeches against Catiline, and the Speech for the Poet 
 Archias. 12mo. 4s. 
 CICERO.— Selections from Cicero, with English Notes, Part II. ; containing EPISTLES, 
 arranged in tlie order of time, with accounts of the Consuls, events of each year, 
 &c. 12mo. 5s. 
 
 The Notes are from the best Commentators, especially Malthis. 
 CICERO.— Selections from Cicero, Part III. ; containing the TUSCULAN DISPU- 
 TATIONS (entire). With English Notes, translated from the German of Tischer, 
 by the Rev. R. B. Paul, M.A. 12mo. 5s. 6d. 
 " The Notes abound in critical and philological remarks of great value. They are copious without 
 being redundant, clearly expressed, and always to the point. All allusions and technical 
 expressions are fully explained. A master's hand is discernible in the translations occasionally 
 given of particular portions that present any difficulty."— ^/Aen^rHm. 
 CICERO.— Selections from Cicero, Part IV. ; containing De FINIBUS MALORUM 
 et BONORUM. (On the Supreme Good.) With a Preface, English Notes, 
 &c., partly from Madvig and others, by the Rev. James Beaven, D.D., late 
 Professor of Theology in King's College, Toronto. 12mo. 5s. 6(/. 
 CICERO. — Selections from Cicero, Part V. ; containing CATO MAJOR, sive De 
 Sexectute DiALOfiUS ; with English Notes from Sommerbrodt, by the Rev. 
 Hknry Browne, M.A., Canon of Chichester. 12mo. 2s. 6(1. 
 TACITUS, Part I. The first Six Books of the ANNALES of TACITUS, ab Excessu 
 Divi August!. Witli English Notes, translated from the German of Dr. Karl 
 Nipferdey, by the Rev. Henry Browne, M.A. 12mo. 6s. 
 TACITUS, Part II. Books XI.— XVI. 12ino. 5s. 
 
 SALLUST.— The HISTORY of the JUGURTHINE WAR, explained by Rudolf 
 Jacobs. The Notes translated by the Rev. Henry Buowne, M.A. I2ino. 3s. 6d. 
 + A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION to LATIN PROSE COMPOSITION, Part II. ; 
 containing the Doctrine of LATIN PARTICLES, with Vocabulary, au Antibar- 
 barus, &c. Third Edition. 8vo, 8s. 
 6. 
 + LONGER LATIN EXERCISES, Part I. Second Edition. 8vo. 4s. 
 
 The object of this Work is to supply boys with an easy collection of short passages, as an 
 Exercise book for those who have gone once, at least, through the First Part of the Editor's 
 " Practical Introduction to Latin Prose Composition." 
 f LONGER LATIN EXERCISES. Part II. ; containing a Selection of Passages of 
 greater length, in genuine idiomatic English, for Translation into Latin. 8vo. 4s. 
 t MATERIALS for TRANSLATION into LATIN: selected and arranged by 
 Augustus Grotefend. Translated from the German bv the Rev. H. H. Arnold, 
 B.A., with Notes and Excursuses. Third Edition. 8vo. 7s. 6d. 
 A COPIOUS and CRITICAL ENGLISH-LATIN LEXICON, by the Rev. T. K. . 
 
 Arnold and the Rev. J. E. Riddle. Third Edition. 11. 5s. 
 An ABRIDGMENT of the above Work, for the Use of Schools. By the Rev. 
 J. C. Ebden, late Fellow and Tutor of Trinity llall, Cambridge, Square 12mo. 
 10s. 6d. bound. 
 
 t The FIRST GREEK BOOK ; on the Plan of « Henry's First Latin Book." Third 
 
 Edition. 12mo. 5s. 
 fThe SECOND GREEK BOOK (on thesame Plan); containingan Elementary Treatise 
 on the Greek Particles and the Formation of Greek Derivatives. 12mo. 5s. 6d. 
 The THIRD GREEK BOOK, containing Selections from Xenophon's Cyrop^dia, 
 
 wiili English Notes, and a Vocabulary. 12nio. 3s. 6d. 
 The FOURTH GREEK BOOK, containing Xenophon's Anabasis, Books IV. to 
 
 Vll., with Engli.sh Notes. 12mo. 4s. i 
 
 A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION to GREEK ACCIDENCE. With Easy E.\er- 
 
 cises and Vocabularv. Fifth Edition. 8vo. 5s. (id. 
 A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION to GREEK PROSE COMPOSITION, Part I. 
 Ei<]hth Edition. 8vo. 6s. (id. I 
 
 This new Edition has been reprinted from the Sixth in deference to opinions of authority as to | 
 the comparative usefulness of the Sixth and Seventh Editions, and will remain in future the i 
 standard Edition of the Work. 
 *,* The object of this Work is to enable the Student, as soon as he can decline and conjugate | 
 with tolerahle facility, to translate •■•imple sentences after given examples, and with given I 
 words; the principles trusted to being principally those of iiniliilion and very frequent repeti- 
 tion. It is at once a Syntax, a Vocabulary, and an Exercise Book. 
 
BY MESSRS. RIVINGTON. 1.5 
 
 COMPANION to the above.— A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION to GREEK CON- 
 STRUING. 8vo. Gs. G'l. 
 This Work is intended to be used simultaneously with the Author's " Practical Introduction to 
 Greek Prose Composition," either as a Reading Book, or for written Exercises. 
 
 t A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION to GREEK PROSE COMPOSITION, Part II. 
 (On the PARTICLES.) 8vo. 6s. 6d. 
 
 A GREEK GRAMMAR ; intended as a sufficient Grammar of Reference for Schools 
 and Colleges. Second Edition. 8vo, half-bound. 10.-;. (jd. 
 
 PROFESSOR MADVIG'S SYNTAX of the GREEK LANGUAGE, especially of 
 the Attic Dialect ; Translated by the Rev. IIenrv Browne, M. A. Together with 
 an Appendix on the Greek Particles, by the Translator. Square 8vo. 8s. 6d,. 
 
 An ELEMENTARY GREEK GRAMMAR. 12mo. 5s.; or, with Dialects, 6s. 
 
 Some Account of the GREEK DIALECTS, for the Use of Beginners ; being an Ap- 
 pendix to "An Elementary Greek Grammar." 12mo. Is. Gd. 
 
 An ELEMENTARY GREEK READER, from the ODYSSEY of HOMER. With 
 Grammatical Introduction, Notes, and Glossary. From the German of Dr. 
 Ahkens, Director of the Lyceum at Hanover. 12mo. 3s. 
 
 HOMER for Beginners.— The First Three Books of the ILIAD, with English Notes; 
 forming a sufficient Commentary for young Students. 12nio. 3s. 6d. 
 
 HOMER.— The ILIAD COMPLETE, with English Notes and Grammatical Refer- 
 ences. In one thick volume, 12mo., half-bound. I2s. 
 In this Edition, the Argument of each Book is divided into short Sections, which are prefixed to 
 those portions of the Text, respectively, which they describe. The Notes (principally from 
 Dubner) are at the foot of each page. At the end of the volume are useful Appendices. 
 
 HOMER. — The ILIAD, Books I. to IV. ; with a Critical Introduction, and copious 
 English Notes. 12mo. 7s. Gd. 
 
 HOMER. — A Complete GREEK and ENGLISH LEXICON for the POEMS of 
 HOMER, and the HOMERID^. Translated from the German of Crusius, 
 bv Professor Smith. New and Revised Edition, ds. half-bound. 
 
 XENOPHON'S ANABASIS, explained by Dr. F. K. Hertlein. In Two Parts. 
 (Part II. forming the "Fourth Greek Book.") Translated from the German, 
 with additional Notes and Grammatical References, by the Rev. Henry 
 Browne, M.A. 12mo. 6s. Gd. 
 
 HERODOTUS.— ECLOGUE HERODOTE^, Part I. ; from the Text of Schweighaeu- 
 ser. With English Notes. 12mo. 3s. Gd. 
 
 THTJCYDIDES, Book the First ; with copious English Notes, especially from Poppo 
 and Kriiger, and Grammatical References. 12mo. 5s. Gd. 
 Book the Second. 4s. Gd. 
 
 DEMOSTHENES, with English Notes from the best and most recent sources, Sauppe, 
 Doberenz, .Jacobs, Dissen, Westermann, &c. 
 The OLYNTHIAC ORATIONS. 12mo. 3s. 
 Tiie ORATION on the CROWN. 12mo. 4s. Gd. 
 The PHILIPPIC ORATIONS. 12mo. 4s. 
 .aSSCHINES.— SPEECH AGAINST CTESIPHON. 12mo. As. 
 
 The Text is that of Baiter and S<iupi>e : the Notes are by Professor Champlin, with additional 
 Notes by President Woolsey and the Editor. 
 SOPHOCLES, with English Notes, from Schneidewin. 
 
 Part I. The AJAX. 3s. Invth^ppv r -r Pahi i\r a 
 
 Part II. The PHILOCTETES. g.j By the Rev. R. B. Paul, M.A. 
 
 Part III. The CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 4s.1 
 
 Part IV. The CEDIPUS COLONEUS. 4s. By the Rev. Henry Browne, M.A. 
 Part V. The ANTIGONE. 4s. J 
 
 "This Edition of Antigone is fully equal in merit to the preceding plays of Sophocles, edited after 
 the German edition of Schneidewin, whose erudite notes are reproduced in English. It is im- 
 possible to turn over tlie pages of this and other editions of the Classics, and to look back upon 
 the School Editions of former da\s, without gratefully acknowledging how much has been 
 done by Mr. Kerchever Arnold towards the advancement of sound class'ical learning by his 
 admirable publications." — John Bull. 
 EURIPIDES, with English Notes, from Hartung, Dubner, Witzschel, Schone, &c. 
 The HECUBA. 3s. The HIPPOLYTUS. 3s. 
 
 The BACCHiE. 3s. The MEDEA. 3s. 
 
 The IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS. 3s. 
 ARISTOPHANES.— ECLOG^ ARISTOPHANIC^, Part I. ; Selections from the 
 CLOUDS, with English Notes, l)y Professor Felton. 12ino. 3s. Gd. 
 
 . Part II., containing the BIRDS. 12nio. 3s. Gd. 
 
 In these Editions the objectionable passages are omitted 
 
 CLASSICAL EXAMINATION PAPERS. A Series of 93 Extracts from Greek, 
 Roman, and English Classics, for Translation, with occasional Questions and 
 Notes ; each extract on a separate leaf. Price of the whole in a specimen 
 packet, 4s., or 6 copies of any Separate Paper may be had for 3'./. 
 
16 ARNOLD'S EDUCATIONAL WORKS {Continued). 
 
 HEBREW. 
 
 The FIRST HEBREW BOOK ; on the Plan of" Henry's First Latin Book." 12nir). 7s. 6r^. 
 
 " The arrangement is excellent. The addilion of English characters is very well calculated to 
 
 assist the learner, and to incite those who, from the difficulty of reading fluently, are disinclined 
 
 to become learners." — EnyUsh Chnrchmnn. 
 
 A KEY to the FIRST HEBREW BOOK. Edited by the Rev. He.nry Browne, 
 
 M.A. Zs. r,d. 
 The SECOND HEBREW BOOK, containing the Book of Genesis ; together with a He- 
 brew Syntax, and a Vocabulary and Grammatical Commentary. 9s. 
 GERMAN. 
 The FIRST GERMAN BOOK ; on the Plan of " Henry's First Latin Book." By the 
 
 Rev. T. K. Arnold and Dr. FrAdersdorff. Fourth Edition. l2ino. 5.s-. 6d. 
 A KEY to the EXERCISES, by Dr. Fradersdorff. 2s. 6d. 
 
 A READING COMPANION to the FIRST GERMAN BOOK ; containing Extracts 
 from the best Authors, withacopious Vocabulary and explanatory Notes. I2mo. 4s. 
 A HANDBOOK of GERMAN VOCABULARY. 4s. 
 
 The SECOND GERMAN BOOK ; a Syntax, and Etymological Vocabulary, with 
 copious Reading- Lessons and Exercises. Edited by Dr. Fradersdorff. 12mo. 
 6s. Gd. 
 
 FRENCH. ^, , 
 
 The FIRST FRENCH BOOK ; on the Plan of " Henry's First Latin Book." Third 
 
 Edition. 12mo. 5s. 6d. 
 A KEY to the EXERCISES, by M. Delille. 2s. 6d. 
 A HANDBOOK of FRENCH VOCABULARY. 4s. 6d. 
 
 ENGLISH. 
 HENRY'S ENGLISH GRAMMAR; a Manual for Beginners. 12mo. 3s. 6^. 
 SPELLING turned ETYMOLOGY. 12mo. 2s. Gd. 
 The PUPIL'S BOOK, (a Companion to the above.) Is. 3d. 
 
 LATIN via ENGLISH ; being the Second Part of the above Work. 12mo. 4s. Gd. 
 An ENGLISH GRAM.MAR for CLA.SSICAL SCHOOLS; being a Practical Intro- 
 duction to " English Prose Composition." Fifth Edition. 12mo. 4s. Gd. 
 
 HANDBOOKS FOR THE CLASSICAL STUDENT (WITH QUESTIONS), under the 
 General Superintendence and Editorship of the Rev. T. K. ARNOLD. 
 
 "The leading characteristic of tliese Handbooks is their exceeding; simiilicity. the excellent order 
 with which they are arranged, ihe completeness of their details, and the remarkal)le accuracy 
 and elaborate erudition which they exhibit in every pasre. They have this furthei advantage, 
 which it is impossible to over-estimate;— that they bring down their respective subjects to the 
 very latest period, and present us with the results of the most recent investigations of the 
 critics and antiquarians by whom they have been discussed." — Dublin Review, Oct. 1, 1851. 
 
 I. HANDBOOKS of HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY. From the German of Puxz. 
 
 Translated by the Rev. R. B. Paul. 
 
 1. ANCIENT HISTORY. Second Edition. Gs.Gd.) The^e Works have been already 
 2 MEDI/EVAL HISTORY. 4s. 6d. ] translated into the Swedish and 
 3. M(H)ERN HISTORY. 5s. Gd. ) Ouich languages. 
 
 II. The ATHENIAN STAGE, from the German of Witzschkl. Translated by the Rev. 
 
 R. B. Paul. 4i. 
 
 m. L GRECIAN ANTIQUITIES.^ 
 
 3.5. 6rf. ^, From the Swedish of Bojesen. Translated from 
 
 2. ROMAN ANTIQUITIES. [Dr. Hoffa's German version by the Rev. R. B. Paul. 
 Second EdiUnn. 3s. 6d. ■' 
 
 The pupil will receive from these works a correct and tolerably complete picture of Grecian and 
 Roman life: the political portions (the account of the national institutions and their elfects) 
 appear to be of great value; while the very moderate extent of each admits of its being tho- 
 roughly mastered— of its being aot up and retained. 
 
 3. HKBREW ANTIQUITIES. By the Rev. Henry Brov/ne, M.A. 4s. 
 
 This Work describes the manners and customs of the ancient Hebrews which were common to 
 them with other nations, and the rites and ordinances which distinguished them as the chosen 
 people Israel. 
 
 IV. HANDBOOKS of SYNONYMES: 
 
 ■ 1. GRKEK SYNONYMES. Fnmi the French of Pillon. Gs. Gd. 
 2. LATIN SYNONYM KS, from the German of Doderlein. Translated by the 
 Rev. II. H. Arnold. Secnnd Edition, is. 
 
 V. HANDBOOK of GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY. From the German of Professor 
 
 STot.L, by the Rev. R. B. Paul. ( With Outline Engravings nf Ancient Statues.) 5s. 
 
 VL HANDBOOK of CHRONOLOGY.— ANN ALES Vetcrimi REGNORUM et 
 
 POPULORUM, imprimis Romanoruni, confecti a C. T. Zumptio. 5s. 
 
 The BOY'S ARITHMETIC, Part I. By the Rev. CHARLES ARNOLD, M.A., 
 Rector of Tinwell, and late Fellow of Cains College, Cambridge. Second Edition. 12mo. 
 3s. Gd. Also, PART II. 3s. 6d. 
 
 The object of this book is to m<ike Arithmetic easier to little boys, by enabling them to under- 
 stand it, and to prevent their lorgetting a rule as soon as they have entered upon a new one. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 RIVINGTONS, WATERLO(J PLACE, PALL MALL. 
 
BOUND BY ^ 
 
m 
 
 i if <i I I 
 
 111:: ' 
 
 'i 
 
 !!ii