T¥9mce /> >, ^ %.om & a BR 45 .B35 1862" Bampton lectures CRITICAL HISTORY OF FREE THOUGHT IN REFERENCE TO THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. EIGHT LECTURES PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, IN THE YEAR M.DCCC.LXII. ON THE FOUNDATION OF THE LATE REV. JOHN BAMPTON, M.A. CANON OF SALISBUEY. BY ADAM STOREY FARRAR, M.A. MICHEL FELLOW OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1862. [The rigid 0/ Translation is reserved.] EXTRACT FROM THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF THE LATE REV. JOHN BAMPTON, CANON OF SALISBURY. " I give and bequeath my Lands and Estates to the " Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of " Oxford for ever, to have and to hold all and singular the " said Lands or Estates upon trust, and to the intents and 1 ' purposes hereinafter mentioned ; that is to say, I will and " appoint that the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ox- " ford for the time being shall take and receive all the rents, " issues, and profits thereof, and (after all taxes, reparations, " and necessary deductions made) that he pay all the re- " mainder to the endowment of eight Divinity Lecture Ser- " mons, to be established for ever in the said University, and " to be performed in the manner following : " I direct and appoint, that, upon the first Tuesday in " Easter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by the Heads " of Colleges only, and by no others, in the room adjoining " to the Printing- House, between the hours of ten in the vi EXTRACT PEOM CANON BAMPTON;S WILL. - morning and fcwo in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity " [jecture Sermons, the year following, at St. Mary's in Ox- « ford, between the commencement of the last month in Lent « Term, and the end of the third week in Act Term. "Also I «lii' .1 and appoint, that the eight Divinity Lecture " Sermons shall be preached upon either of the following Sub- ejects — to confirm and establish the Christian Faith, and to " confute all heretics and schismatics — upon the divine au- u thority of the holy Scriptures — upon the authority of the n writings of the primitive Fathers, as to the faith and prac- u tice of the primitive Church — upon the Divinity of our Lord " and Saviour Jesus Christ — upon the Divinity of the Holy " Ghost — upon the Articles of the Christian Faith, as compre- " hended in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. " Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight Divinity Lec- " ture Sermons shall be always printed, within two months " alter they are preached; and one copy shall be given to the " Chancellor of the University, and one copy to the Head of " every College, and one copy to the Mayor of the city of " Oxford, and one copy to be put into the Bodleian Library; " and the expense of printing them shall be paid out of the n revenue of the Land or Estates given for establishing the " Divinity Lecture Sermons ; and the Preacher shall not be " paid, nor be entitled to the revenue, before they are printed. " Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be quali- u Bed to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons, unless he hath " taken the degree of Master of Arts at least, in one of the 1 fcwo Universities of Oxford or Cambridge; and that the 11 same person shall never preach the Divinity Lecture Ser- " mons twice." PREFACE. _L HE object of this Preface is to explain the design of the following Lectures, and to enumerate the sources on which they are founded. What is the province and mode of inquiry intended in a " Critical History of Free Thought" a ? What are the causes which led the author into this line of study b? What the object proposed by the workc? What the sources from which it is drawn d ? — these probably are the questions which will at once suggest themselves to the reader. The answers to most of them are so fully given in the work e, that it will only be necessary here to touch upon them briefly. The word " free thought" is now commonly used, at least in foreign literature f, to express the result of the revolt of the mind against the pressure of external authority in any de- partment of life or speculation. Information concerning the history of the term is given elsewhere °. It will be sufficient now to state, that the cognate term, free thinking, was appro- priated by Collins early in the last century h to express a Pref. pp. vii-xii. b Id. pp. xiii-xv. c Id. pp. xvi-xviii. d Id. pp. xix. e Lect. I. : andLect. VIII. p. 479 seq. f E. g. in the French expression la librepensee. % In Note 21. p. 588. h In 1713. nii PREFACE. Deism. It differs from the modern term free thought, both in being restricted to religion, and in conveying the idea rather of the method than of its result, the freedom of the mode of inquiry rather than the character of the conclusions attained; but the same fundamental idea of independence and freedom fmm authority is implied in the modern term. Within the sphere of its application to the Christian religion, free thought is generally used to denote three dif- ferent systems; viz. Protestantism, scepticism, and unbelief. Its application to the first of these is unfair i. It is true that all three agree in resisting the dogmatism of any earthly authority; but Protestantism reposes implicitly on what it believes to be the divine authority of the inspired writers of the books of holy scripture; whereas the other two forms acknowledge no authority external to the mind, no communi- cation superior to reason and science. Thus, though Pro- testantism by its attitude of independence seems similar to the other two systems, it is really separated by a difference of kind, and not merely of degree k. The present history is restricted accordingly to the treatment of the two latter species of free thought, — the resistance of the human mind to the Christian religion as communicated through revelation, cither in part or in whole, either the scepticism which disin- tegrates it, or the unbelief which rejects it: the former • liiveting itself especially against Christianity, the latter against the idea of revelation, or even of the supernatural generally. An analogous reason to that which excludes the history of Protestantism, excludes also that of the opposition made to Many of the modern French protestant critics so employ it ; e. g. A.. Re- ville, Rev. des Deux Mondcs, Parker, Oct. 1861. k ( fr- pp. '3 and 139. PREFACE. ix Christianity by heresy, and by rival religions ] : inasmuch as they repose on authorities, however false, and do not profess to resort to an unassisted study of nature and truth. This account of the province included under free thought will prepare the way for the explanation of the mode in which the subject is treated. It is clear that the history, in order to rise above a chronicle, must inquire into the causes which have made freedom of inquiry develope into unbelief. The causes have usually been regarded by theologians to be of two kinds, viz. either superhuman or human; and, if of the latter kind, to be either moral or intellectual. Bishop Van Mildert, in his History of Infidelity, restricted himself entirely to the former m. Holding strongly that the existence of evil in the world was attributable, not only indirectly and originally, but directly and perpetually, to the operation of the evil spirit, he re- garded every form of heresy and unbelief to be the attempt of an invisible evil agent to thwart the truth of God ; and viewed the history of infidelity as the study of the results of the operation of this cause in destroying the kingdom of righteousness. Such a view invests human life and history with a very solemn character, and is not without practical value; but it will be obvious that an analysis of this kind must be strictly theological, and removes the inquiry from the province of human science. Even when completed, it leaves unexplored the whole field in which such an evil prin- ciple operates, and the agencies which he employs as his instruments. The majority of writers on unbelief accordingly have treated 1 Cfr. p. 1 7, and Notes 4, 5, and 6. m Boyle Lectures (1802-4). See note, p. 487. I PREFACE. the subject from a less elevated point of view, and have limited their inquiry to the sphere of the operation of human causes, the media axiomata as it were", which express the motives and agencies which have been manifested on the theatre of the world, and visible in actual history. It will be clear thai within this sphere the causes are specially of two kinds; \iz. those which have their source in the will, and arise from the antagonism of feeling, which wishes revelation untrue, and those which manifest themselves in the intellect, and are exhibited under the form of difficulties which beset the mind, or doubts which mislead it, in respect to the evi- dence on which revelation reposes. The former, it may be feared, are generally the ground of unbelief; the latter the basis of doubt. Christian writers, in the wish to refer unbelief to the source of efficient causation in the human will, with a view of enforcing on the doubter the moral lesson of respon- sibility, have generally restricted themselves to the former of these two classes; and by doing so have omitted to explore the interesting field of inquiry presented in the natural history of the variety of forms assumed by scepticism, and their relation to the general causes which have operated in parti- cular ages:— a subject most important, if the intellectual ;n decedents thus discovered be regarded as causes of doubt; and not less interesting, if, instead of being causes, they are merely considered to be instruments and conditions made use of by the emotional powers. A history of free thought seems to point especially to the study of the latter class. A biographical history of free thinkers would imply the former; the investigation of the moral history of the individuals, the play of their will and n Bacon's Nov. Org. lib. i. Anh. 104. PREFACE. xi feelings and character ; but the history of free thought points to that which has been the product of their characters, the doctrines which they have taught. Science however no less than piety would decline entirely to separate the two ° ; piety, because, though admitting the possibility that a judgment may be formed in the abstract on free thought, it would feel itself constantly drawn into the inquiry of the moral respon- sibility of the freethinker in judging of the concrete cases; — ■ science, because, even in an intellectual point of view, the analysis of a work of art is defective if it be studied apart from the personality of the mental and moral character of the artist who produces it. If even the inquiry be restricted to the analysis of intellectual causes, a biographic treatment of the subject, which would allow for the existence of the emo- tional, would be requisite P. The province of the following work accordingly is, the ex- amination of this neglected branch in the analysis of unbelief. While admitting most fully and unhesitatingly the operation of emotional causes, and the absolute necessity, scientific as well as practical, of allowing for their operation, it is proposed to analyse the forms of doubt or unbelief in reference mainly to the intellectual element which has entered into them, and the discovery of the intellectual causes which have produced or modified them. Thus the history, while not ceasing to belong to church history, becomes also a chapter in the history of philosophy, a page in the history of the human mind. The enumeration of the causes into which the intellectual elements of doubt are resolvable, is furnished in the text of the first Lecture q. If the nature of some of them be obscure, and the reader be unaccustomed to the philosophical ° Cfr. pp. 19-27. p Pp. 45-48. q PP. 33-44- Ml PREFACE. stuch Decessary for fully understanding them; information musl be sou-lit in the books to which references are elsewhere given', as the subject is too large to be developed in the Limited space of this Preface. The work however professes to be not merely a narrative, but a " critical history ." The idea of criticism in a history imparts to it an ethical aspect. For criticism does not rest colli cnl with ideas, viewed as facts, but as realities. It seeks to pass above the relative, and attain the absolute; to deter- mine either what is right or what is true. It may make this determination by means of two different standards. It may be either independent or dogmatic; — independent if it enters upon a new field candidly and without prepossessions, and rests < i intent with the inferences which the study suggests; — dog- matic, when it approaches a subject with views derived from other sources, and pronounces on right or wrong, truth or falsehood, by reference to them. It is hoped that the reader will not be unduly prejudiced, if the confession be frankly made, that the criticism in these Lectures is of the latter kind. This indeed might be expected from their very character. The Bampton Lecture is an establishment for producing apologetic treatises. The authors are supposed to assume the truth of Christianity, and to seek to repel attacks upon it. They are defenders, not investigators. The reader has a right to demand fairness, but not inde- pendence; truth in the facts, but not hesitation in the inferences. While however the writer of these Lectures takes a definite line in the controversy, and one not adopted pro- fessionally, but with cordial assent and heartfelt conviction, he has nevertheless considered that it is due to the cause of scientific truth to intermingle his own opinions as little as r pp. .10, 34, 35. PREFACE. xni possible with the facts of the history. A history without inferences is ethically and religiously worthless : it is a chronicle, not a philosophical narrative. But a history distorted to suit the inferences is not only worthless, but harmful. It is for the reader to judge how far the author has succeeded in the result ; but his aim has been not to allow his opinions to warp his view of the facts. History ought to be written with the same spirit of cold analysis which belongs to science. Caricature must not be substituted for portrait, nor vituperation for descriptions. Such a mode of treatment in the present instance was the more possible, from the circumstance that the writer, when studying the subject for his private information, without any design to write upon it, had endeavoured to bring his own principles and views perpetually to the test; and to reconsider them candidly by the light of the new sug- gestions which were brought before him. Instead of ap- proaching the inquiry with a spirit of hostility, he had inves- tigated it as a student, not as a partisan. It may perhaps be permitted him without egotism to explain the causes which led him to the study. He had taken holy orders, cordially and heartily believing the truths taught by the church of which he is privileged to be an humble minister. Before doing so, he had read thoughtfully the great works of evidences of the last century, and knew directly or indirectly the character of the deist doubts against which they were di- rected. His own faith was one of the head as well as the heart; founded on the study of the evidences, as well as on the religious training of early years. But he perceived in the English church earnest men who held a different view; and. s Cfr. p. 488. \l\ PREFACE. o„ becoming acquainted with contemporary theology, he found the theological literature of a whole people, the Ger- mans, constructed on another baftis; a literature which was acknowledged to be so Pull of learning, that contemporary English writers of theology not only perpetually referred to it, l»nt largely borrowed their materials from German sources. He wished therefore fully to understand the character of these uew forms of doubt, and the causes which had produced them. He may confess that, reposing on the affirmative verities of the Christian faith, as gathered from the scriptures and embodied in the immemorial teaching of Christ's church, be did not anticipate that he should discover that which would overt li row or even materially modify his own faith; but he wished, while exploring this field, and gratifying intellectual curiosity, to re-examine his opinions at each point by the Light of those with which he might meet in the inquiry. The serious wish also to fulfil his duty in the sphere in which he might move, made him desire to understand these new views; that if false, he might know how to refute them when they came before him, and not be first made aware of their existence from the harsh satire of sceptical critics. His own studies were accordingly conducted in a spirit of fairness — the fairness of the inquirer, not of the doubter; and a habit of mind formed by the study of the history of philosophy, was brought to bear upon the investigation of this chapter in church history : first, of modem forms of doubt, and after- wards the consecutive history of unbelief generally. Accord- ing, while lie hopes that he has taken care to leave the student in no case unguided, who may accompany him in these pages through the history, he has wished to place him, as he -trove to place himself, in the position to see the sub- jed in its true Light before drawing the inferences; to under- PREFACE. xv stand each topic to a certain extent, as it appears when seen from the opposite point of view, as well as when seen from the Christian. And when this has been effected, he has cri- ticised each by a comparison with those principles which form his standard for testing them, the truth of which the study has confirmed to the writer's own mind. The criticism there- fore does not profess to be independent, but dogmatic ; but it is hoped that the definite character of the results will not be found to have prevented fairness in the method of inquiry. If the student has the facts correctly, he can form his own judgment on the inferences. The standard of truth here adopted, as the point of view in criticism, is the teaching of Scripture as expressed in the dogmatic teaching of the creeds of the church ; or, if it will facilitate clearness to be more definite, three great truths may be specified, which present themselves to the writer's mind as the very foundation of the Christian religion: (i) the doctrine of the reality of the vicarious atonement provided by the pas- sion of our blessed Lord ; (2) the supernatural and miracu- lous character of the religious revelation in the book of God ; and (3) the direct operation of the Holy Ghost in converting and communing with the human soul. Lacking the first of these, Christianity appears to him to be a religion without a system of redemption ; lacking the second, a doctrine without authority ; lacking the third, a system of ethics without spi- ritual power. These three principles accordingly are the mea- sure, by agreement with which the truth and falsehood of systems of free thought are ultimately tested55. The above remarks, together with those which occur in the text, where fuller explanation is afforded, will illustrate the s See especially Lect. VIII. p. 504 seq. xvi IMIEFACE. province of il>«' inquiry, and the spirit in which it is con- ducted :. The explanation also of the further question concerning the objecl which the writer proposed to effect, by the treatment ach a subject in a course of Bampton Lectures, is given so fully elsewhere, that a few words may here suffice in refer- ence to it". Experience of the wants of students in this time of (loul)i and transition, which those who are practically ac- quainted with the subject will best understand, as well as ob- m nation of the tone of thought expressed in our sceptical literature, led him to believe that a history, natural as well as literary, of doubt; an analysis of the forms and a statement of the intellectual causes of it, would have a value, direct and indirect, in many ways. His desire, he is willing to confess, was to guide the student, rather than to refute the unbe- liever. He did not expect to furnish the combatant with ready-made weapons, which would make him omnipotent in conflict; but he hoped to give him some suggestions in re- ference to the tactics for conducting the contest. The Lectures have a polemical aspect, but they seek to obtain their end by 11 irans of the educational. The writer has aimed at assisting the student, in the struggle with his doubts, in the inquiry for truth, in the quiet meditative search for light and know- ledge, preparatory to ministering to others. The survey of a new region, which ordinary works on the history of infidelity rarely touch, may lay bare unsuspected or undetected causes of unbelief; and thus indirectly offer a refutation of it; for intellectual error is refuted, when the origin of it is referred to false \ sinus of thought. The anatomy of error is the first p to its cure. valuable remarks on the proper balance of the mind in study are con- tain, h! in a Bermon, TJu Nemesis of Excess, recently preached at Oxford, by Bp .lacks,,,,. u pp 49_51 PREFACE. xvii In another point of view, independently of the value of the line of inquiry generally, and the special suitability of it to individual minds, there is a further use, which in the present day belongs to it in common with all inquiries into the his- tory of thought. It is hard to persuade the students of a past generation that the historic mode of approaching any problem is the first step toward its successful solution. Yet a little reflection may at least make the meaning of the assertion understood. If we view the literary characteristic of the present, in comparison with that of past ages, we are perhaps right in stating, that its peculiar feature is the prevalence of the method of historical criticism. If the four centuries since the Renaissance be con- sidered, the critical peculiarity of the sixteenth and seventeenth will be found to be the investigation of ancient literature ; in the former directed to words, in the latter to things. The eighteenth century broke away from the past, and, emanci- pating itself from authority, tried to rebuild truth from its foundations from present materials, independent of the judg- ment formed by past ages. The nineteenth century unites both methods. It ventures not to explore the universe, un- guided by the experience of the past; but, while reuniting itself to the past, it does not bow to it. It accepts it as a fact, not as an authority. The seventeenth century wor- shipped the past ; the eighteenth despised it : the nineteenth mediates, by means of criticism. Accordingly, in literary in- vestigations at present, each question is approached from the historic side, with the belief that the historico-critical inquiry not only gratifies curiosity, but actually contributes to the solution of the problem. Some indeed assert x this, because x Cfr. pp. 43 note, 483 ; and Note 9. pp. 560-63. b xviii PREFACE. (li.\ think that the historic study of philosophy is the whole of philosophy ; and, believing- that all truth is relative to its age, are hopeless of attaining the absolute and unaltering solution of any problem. We, on the other hand, are content to believe that the history of philosophy is only the entrance to philosophy. But in either case, truth is sought by means of a philosophical history of the past; which, tracking the progress of truth and error in any particular department, lays bare the natural as well as the literary history ; the causes of the past, as well as its form. Truth and error are thus dis- covered, not by breaking with the past, and using abstract speculations on original data, but by tracing the growth of thought, gathering the harvest of past investigations, and learning by experience to escape error. These considerations bear upon the present subject in this manner : they show not only the special adaptation to the passing tastes of the age, of an historic mode of approaching a subject, but exhibit also that the mode of proof and of refu- tation must be sought, not on abstract grounds, but historic. The position of an enemy is not to be forced, but turned ; his premises to be refuted, not his conclusions; the antecedent reasons which led him into his opinion to be exhibited, not merely evidence offered of the fact that he is in error. This view, that doubt might be refuted by the historic analysis of its operation, by laying bare the antecedent grounds which had produced it, will explain why the author was led to believe that a chapter of mental and moral phy- siology might be useful, which would not merely carry out the anatomy of actual forms of disease, but discover their origin by the study of the preceding natural history of the patients. These remarks will perhaps suffice for explaining the object PREFACE. xix which was proposed in writing* this history ; and may justify the hope that this work, thus adapted to the wants of the time, may offer such a contribution to the subject of the Christian evidences, as not only to possess an intellectual value, but to coincide with the purpose contemplated by the founder of the Lectures. It remains to state the sources which have been used for the literary materials of the history. Though they are suffi- ciently indicated in the notes, a general description of them may be useful. They may be distributed under four classes : i. The histories which have been professedly devoted to the subject. 2. The notices of the history of unbelief in general histories of the church or of literature. 3. (Which ought indeed to rank first in importance;) the original authorities for the facts, i. e. the works of the scep- tical writers themselves ; or of the contemporary authors who have refuted them. 4. The monographs, which treat of particular writers, ages, or schools, of sceptical thought. In approaching the subject, a student would probably commence with the first two classes ; and after having thus acquired for himself a carte flu pays, would then explore it in detail by the aid of the third and fourth. 1 . The works which have professedly treated of the history of infidelity, as a whole, are not of great importance. One of the earliest was the Historia Univ. Atheismi, 1725, of Reimannus; and the Be At/ieismo, 1737, of Buddeus. (An explanation of the word Atheism, as employed by them, is given in Note 21. p. 585.) They furnish, as the name implies, a history of scepticism, as well as of sceptics ; yet, though the b2 xx PREFACE. labours of such diligent and learned men can never be useless, they afford little information now available. Their date also necessarily precluded them from knowing the more recent forms of unbelief. Perhaps under this head we ought also to name the chapters on polemical theology in the great works of bibliography of the German scholars of the same time, such as Pfaff {Hist. Litt. T/ieol.); Buddeus (Isagoge); Fabricius (De- lectus Argum.); Walch^s (Biblical Theol. Select.)-, which contain lists of sceptical works, either directly, or indirectly by naming the apologists who have answered them. The references to these works will be found in Note 49. p. 616. Among French writers, the only one of importance is Houtteville, who prefixed an Introduction to his work, La Religion Chretienne prouvee par des faits, 1722, containing an account of the writers for and against Christianity from the earliest times. (Translated 1739.) It contains little informa- tion concerning the authors or the events, but a clearly and correctly written analysis of their works and thoughts. Among the English writers who have attempted a conse- cutive history of the whole subject was Van Mildert, after- wards bishop of Durham, who has been already named. The first volume of his Boyle Lectures, in 1802-4, was devoted to the history of infidelity ; the second to a general statement of the evidences for Christianity. This work, on account of its date, necessarily stops short before the existence of modern forms of doubt ; and indeed evinces no knowledge concerning the contemporary forms of literature in Germany, which had already attracted the attention of Dr. Herbert Marsh. The point of view of the work, as already described, almost en- tirely precludes the author from entering upon the analysis of the causes, either emotional or intellectual, which have produced unbelief. Its value accordingly is chiefly in the PREFACE. xxi literary materials collected in the notes ; in which respect it bears marks of careful study. Though mostly drawn from second-hand sources, it exhibits wide reading and thoughtful judgment. A portion of the Bampton Lectures for 1852, by the Rev. J. C. Riddle, was devoted to the subject of infidelity. The author's object, as the title x implies, was to give the natural history of unbelief, to the neglect of the literary. Psycho- logical rather than historical analysis was used by him for the investigation; and his examination of the moral causes of doubt is better than of the intellectual. The notes contain a collection of valuable quotations, which supplement those of Van Mildert, but are unfortunately given, for the most part, without references. This completes y the enumeration of the histories professedly devoted to infidelity, with the exception of a small but very cre- ditable production published since several of these lectures were written, Defence of the Faith ; Fart I. Forms of Unbelief , by the Rev. S. Robins, forming the first part of a work, of which the second is to treat the evidences ; the third to draw the moral. It does not profess to be a very deep work2 ; but it is in- x The Natural History of Infidelity -and Superstition in Contrast with Christian Faith. y A work partly on the history of unbelief, Scepticism a Retrogressive Move in Theology and Philosophy, has also been lately written (1 861) by the accomplished lord Lindsay. Great learning is shown in it. Though written with a special controversial purpose, and though the facts accordingly are briefly stated, without literary references, it contains a useful summary and suggestive reflections. z In a literary point of view it is incorrect, in one chapter, if the author understands Mr. Robins rightly, where he seems to classify together, under the same head of Pantheism, the atheism of the French school of the Encyclopae- dists in the last century and that of the German philosophers of the present. The two indeed agree in denying or ignoring the existence of a personal God ; but in tone, premises, and metaphysical relations, they differ diametrically. (Since this note was written, the sad intelligence of Mr. Robins's death has appeared.) xxii PREFACE. teresting; drawn generally from the best sources, and written in an eloquent style and devout spirit. 2. The transition is natural from these works, which treat of the history of unbelief or give lists of the works of unbe- lievers, to the notices of sceptical writers contained in general histories of the church or of literature. In this, as in the former case, it is only in modern times that important notices occur concerning forms of unbelief. The circumstance that in the early ages unbelief took the form of opposition or persecution on the part of heathens, and that in the middle ages it was so rare, caused the ancient church historians and mediaeval church chroniclers to record little respecting actual unbelief, though they give information about heresy. Even in modern times, it is not till the early part of the eighteenth century that any attention is bestowed on the subject. The earlier histories, both Protestant, such as the Magdeburg Centuriators, and Catholic, like Baronius, wrote the history of the past for a controversial purpose in relation to the contests of their own times : and in the next period, in the one church, Arnold confined himself to the history of heresy rather than unbelief; and in the other, Fleury and Tillemont wrote the history of deeds rather than of ideas, and afford no information, except in a few allusions of the latter writer to the early intellectual opposition of the heathens. But about the middle of the eighteenth century, in the period of cold orthodoxy and solid learning which imme- diately preceded the rise of rationalism, as well as in that of incipient free thought, we meet not only with the historians of theological literature already named above, but with historians of thought like Brucker, and of the church like Mosheim, PREFACE. xxiii possessed of large taste for inquiry, and wide literary sympa- thies, who contribute information on the subject : and towards the close of the century we find Schrockh, who, in his lengthy and careful history of the church since the Reformation2, has taken so extensive a view of the nature of church history, that he has included in it an* account of the struggle with freethinkers. Among the same class, with the exception that he differs in being marked by rationalist sympathies, must be ranked Henkea. In the present century the spread of the scientific spirit, which counts no facts unworthy of notice, together with the attention bestowed on the history of doctrine, and the special interest in understanding the fortunes of free thought, which sympathy in danger created during the rationalist movement, prevented the historians from passing lightly over so im- portant a series of facts. It may be sufficient to instance, in proof, the notices of unbelief which occur in Neander's z Christliche Kirchengeschichte, &c. 45 vols. 1 768-181 2. The writer of these lectures has taken occasion elsewhere (p. 658.) to deplore the want of any com- plete history of the English church. He may here add also the want of a history in English of European Christianity since the Reformation, a It may offer an explanation of subsequent references to some church his- torians, to name the classification given by Schaff (Bibliotheca Sacra, 1850). After treating of the ancient and mediaeval histories, and making the obvious subdivision of the modern into Romish and Protestant, and subdividing these again according to their nations, he arranges the Protestant historians of Ger- many chronologically under five classes : (1) the Polemico-orthodox, such as the Magdeburg centuriators ; (2) the Pietistic, — Arnold and Weismann ; / 3 ) the Pragmatico-supernatural, — Mosheim, Walch, Planck, Schrockh ; (4) the Rationalist, — Sender, Henke, Gieseler (in reference to which latter he is perhaps hardly fair) ; (5) the Scientific, viz. (a) of the Schleiermacher school, — Neander ; ($) of the Hegelian, unchurchlike and heterodox, — Baur ; (7) of the Hegelian, churchlike and orthodox, — Dorner. Concerning older church his- torians, see the late Rev. J. G. Dowling's excellent work, Introduction to the Critical Study of Ecclesiastical History, 1 838 ; and, on the most modern German church historians, see North British Review, Nov. 1858. xxiv PREFACE. Church History. General histories also of literature, like Schlosser's History of Literature in the Eighteenth Century, or the more theological one of Hagenbach (Geschichte des i8n Jahrhunderts) incidentally afford information. The various works just named are the chief of this class which furnish assistance. • 3. After a general preliminary idea of the history has been obtained from these sources, in order to prevent being confused with details; it is necessary to resort next to the original sources of information, without careful study of which the history must lack a real basis. In reference to the early unbelievers, the direct materials are lost ; but the contemporary replies to these writings remain. In the case of later unbelievers, both the works and the answers to them exist. It will be presumed that in so large a subject the writer cannot have read all the sceptical works which have been written, and are here named. With the exception however of Averroes and of the Paduan schoolb, in which cases he has chiefly adopted second-hand informa- tion, and merely himself consulted a few passages of the ori- ginal writers, he has in all other instances read the chief works of the sceptical writers, sufficiently at least to make himself acquainted with their doubts, and in many cases has even made an analysis of their works. The reader will perceive by the foot-notes the instances in which this applies. It may be due to some of the historians who have made a special study of particular periods from original sources, to state, that so far as his limited experience extends he can bear witness to their exactness. Lechler's work on English deism, for example c, is a singular example of truthful narrative ; b Lecture III. pp. 139-145. c Geschichte des Englischen Dcismus, 1841. PREFACE. xxv and Leland's d, though controversial, is worthy of nearly the same praise. 4. There remains a fourth source of materials in the separate monographs on particular men, opinions, or schools of thought. We shall enumerate these according to the order of the lec- tures; dwelling briefly on the majority of them, as being described elsewhere ; and describing at greater length those only which relate to the history of the theological movements in Germany described in Lectures VI. and VII. ; inasmuch as references are there frequently made to these works without a specific description of their respective characters. In relation to the early struggle of Paganism against Christianity6, the work of Lardner, Collection of Ancient Jewish and Heathen Testimonies to the Truth of the Christian Religion (1764-7) (Works, vols, vii-ix), is well known for careful- ness of treatment and the value of its references. Portions also of the works of J. A. Fabricius, especially his Bibliotheca Grteca and Lux Evangelii (1732) are useful in reference to the lost works, and for bibliographical knowledge : also a monograph by Kortholt, Pagamis Obtrectator (1703), on the objections made by Christians in the early ages, gathered from the Apologies. Among recent works it is only necessary to specify one, viz. the second series of the Histoire de I'Eglise Chretienne, by E. de Pressense (1861), containing La Grande Lutte du Christianisme contre le Paganisme, the account of the struggle both of deeds and ideas on the part of the heathens against Christianity, and of the apology of the Christians in reply. d J.LelanoVs View of the Deistical Writers, 1754. An edition published in 1837 contains an account of the subsequent history of Deism by Cyrus R. Edmonds. It is edited by Dr. W. L. Brown. e Lecture II. xxvi PREFACE. The sketches of the arguments used both by the heathens, as recovered from fragments, and by the Christian apologists, are most ably executed. The frequent references to it in the foot-notes will show the importance which the writer attaches to this worke. The long period of the middle ages, together with early modern f history, so far as the latter bears upon the present subject, is spanned by the aid of four works; Cousin's Memoir on Abelard (1836) ; the La Reforme of Laurent (1861), a pro- fessor at Ghent; the Averroes of E. Renan (1851), one of the ablest among the younger writers of France ; and the Essais de Philosophie Religieuse of E. Saisset (1859). All these works are full of learning ; some of them are works of mind as well as of erudition. Cousin's treatise is well known g, and may be said to have reopened the study of mediaeval philoso- phy. The contents of Laurent's work are specified else- where h. That of Renan, besides containing a sketch of the life and philosophy of Averroes, studies his influence in the three great spheres where it was felt, — the Spanish Jews, the Scholastic philosophers, and the Peripatetics of Padua. The work of Saisset is a most instructive critical sketch on reli- gious philosophy. The period of English Deism* is treated in two works ; the well-known work of Leland above cited, and the one also named above by Lechler, now general superintendent at Leipsic ; a work full of information, and exceedingly com- plete ; one of the carefully executed monographs with which many of the younger German scholars first bring their names e An older work, in some respects similar to Pressense's, is Tzchirner's Geschichte der Apologetik, 1805. f Lecture III. g See p. 114, note. h P. 106, note. ' Lecture IV. PREFACE. xxvii into notice. Though the interest of the subject is limited, it well merits a translator^. There is a deficiency of any similar work on the history of infidelity in France ], treating it separately and ex- haustively. The work which most nearly deserves the de- scription is vol. vi. of Henke's Kirchengeschichtem. This want however is the less felt, because almost every portion of the period has been treated in detail by French critics of various schools ; among which some of the sketches of Bartholmess, Histoire Critique des Doctrines Religieuses de la PMlosopkie Modeme, 1 855 ; and of Damiron, Memoires pour servir a I' His- toire de P/iilosop/iie au i8e sieclen; are perhaps the most useful for our purpose. One portion of Mr. Buckle's History of Civilization, the best written part of his first volume, also affords much information, in the main trustworthy, in refer- ence to the intellectual condition of France of the same period °. A description of the events of a period so complex as that of the German theological movement of the last hundred years P would have been an object too ambitious to attempt, especially when it must necessarily, from the size of the subject, be grounded on an acquaintance with single writers of a school, or single works of an author used as samples of the remainder; if it were not that abundant guidance is supplied in the me- moirs by German theologians of all shades of opinion, who have studied the history of their country, and not only nar- rated facts, but investigated causes. A few narratives of it also exist by scholars of other countries; but these are founded k The able French critic C. Re'musat has bestowed attention on some of the English deists. A paper on Shaftesbury has appeared since Lecture IV. was printed, in the Revue des Deux Mondes, Nov. 1862. 1 In Lecture V. m Edited by Vater. n See p. 249, note. 0 See p. 231, note. P Lectures VI. and VII. xxviii PREFACE. on the former. We shall in the main preserve the order of their publication in enumerating these various works. The materials for the condition of Germany at the begin- ning of the last century, antecedently to the introduction of the new influences which created rationalism P, are conveyed in Weismann, Introduclio in Memorabilia Eccl. Hisi. (171 8), and in Schrockh, Christliche Kircken auf clem Gehiete der Theologie in BeutscJdand statt gefunden, now contained in his VermiscJde Schriften, 1839, vol. 1 a. It is valuable for the earlier history of Rationalism. The spirit of it is very similar to that of Dr. Pusey's work. Indeed the latter author, though not aware of the publication of Tholuclv's work, was cognisant of his views on these ques- tions, through lectures heard from him abroad. These works however were all previous to the great agita- tion in German theology, which ensued in consequence of x P. 340. y Dr. S. Lee, of Cambridge, also appended a dissertation on some points of German Rationalism to his Six Sermons on Prophecy, 1 830. z In the Appendix to the second edition of the State of Protestantism in Germany, 1829. a A brief sketch of Tholuck's views is given in the Foreign Quarterly Re- view, vol. 25. xxxii PREFACE. Strauss's Leben Jesu, in 1835. After the first excitement of that event had passed, we meet with three works, two French and one German, in which the history is brought down to a later period. The French ones were, the Histoire Critique du Rationalisme,i%4.i, of Amand Saintes, translated 1849 ; and the Etudes Critiques sur le Rationalisms Contemporain, of the Abbe H. de Valroger, 1846; the latter of which works the writer of these lectures has been unable to see. The German one was, Ber Deutsche Protestantismus, 1847 b, an(i is attributed to Hundeshagen, professor at Heidelberg. The Critical History of Amand Saintes, though thought by the Germans0 to be defective, in consequence of want of suf- ficiently separating between the various forms of rationalism, is more replete than any other book with stores of information, and extracts arranged in a very clear form d. It is very useful, if the reader first possesses a better scheme into which to arrange the materials. It is written also in a truly evangelical spirit. The work of Hundeshagen had a political object as well as a religious. It was composed just before the revolution of 1848, when Germany was panting for freedom; and its object was to defend the position of the constitutional party in b Ber Deutsche Protestantismus, seine Vergangenheit unci seine heutigen Le- bensfragen in zusammenhang der gesammten rationalentivickelung beleuchtet von einem Deutschen. A very instructive article was written in the British Quar- terly Review, No. 26, May 1851, founded chiefly on this work. c Kahnis, Internal History of German Protestantism (E. T.), p. 169, note. d An English clergyman, Mr. E. H. Dewar, wrote a small work in 1844, on German Protestantism ; based chiefly on Amand Saintes, but in tone like that of Mr. Rose. It was considered very unfair, and was answered by Neander in the Jahrbilcher fur Wissenschaftliche Kritih, October 1844 ; and when Mr. Dewar replied, was again answered by him in Antwortschreiben, 1845. It may be pro- per to name here, that Mr. B. Hawkins's work, Germany, Spirit of her His- tory, &c. 1838, contains miscellaneous information on many points of German life, which illustrate this portion of the history. PREFACE. 'xxxiii church and state ; and with a view to establish the import- ance of their moral and doctrinal position, he surveyed the recent history of his country. Hagenbach's Dogmengeschichte (translated), which was pub- lished nearly about the same time, also contain^ a very in- teresting sketch, with valuable notes, of the chief writers and works in the movement of German theology. The view of the history given in Tholuck and Hundeshagen is that which is taken by the school called the " Mediation school" in German theology e. The general cause assigned by them for scepticism was the separation of dogma and piety; the recovery from the rationalistic state being due to the reunion of these elements, which Hundeshagen shows to have been also the great feature of the German reformation. After an interval of about ten years, when the tendencies created by Strauss's movement had become definitely mani- fest, the history was again surveyed in two works, the one, Geschichte des Beutschen Protestantis?miSj by Kahnis (trans- lated 1856), who belongs to the Lutheran reactionary party; the other, Geschichte tier neuesten Theologie, 18 $6, by C. Schwarz, whose work is so candid and free from party bias, that it is unimportant to remark the party to which he belongs f. The narrative of Kahnis, originally a series of papers in a magazine, is very full of facts, and generally fair ; but it wants form. The author's view is, that the sceptical movement arose from abandoning the dogmatic expression of revealed truth, contained in the old Confessions of the Lutheran e P. 393. Neander has also written a work, Geschichte des Verflossenen halb-Jahrhwiderts. {Deutsche Zeitschrift, 1850.) f He belongs to a new form of tlie historico-critical school; see Note 41, p. 620 ; but writes without prejudice. An article elsewhere referred to (p. 10.) in the Westminster Review, may convey an idea of the facts of Schwarz's work ; but it expresses a more definite tendency and opinions than his work. C xxxiv PREFACE. church ; and he considers the reaction of the Mediation school in favour of orthodoxy to be imperfect ; the true restoration being only found by returning to the Confessions. The work of Schwarz is restricted to the latest forms of German theology, and goes back no farther than the circum- stances which led to the work of Strauss. It is unequalled in clearness ; bearing the mark of German exactness and ful- ness, and rivalling French histories in didactic power. These two works differ from most of those previously named, in being histories of modern German theology generally, and not merely of the rationalist forms of it. Such are the chief sources in which a student may learn the view taken by the German critics of different schools, con- cerning the recent church history of their country at various moments of its progress. The fulness of this account will be excused, if it provide information concerning works to which reference is made in the foot-notes of those lectures which treat of this period. In describing the doubts of the present century in Frances, considerable help has been found in the Hist, de la Litterature, &c. written by Nettementn, and in the Essais of Damiron1, as well as in criticisms by recent French writers ; which are cited in the foot-notes to the lecture which treats of the period. The subject of the contemporary doubt in England k has been felt to be a delicate one. It has however been thought better to carry the history down to the present time, and to deal frankly in expressing the writer's own opinion. Delicacy forbade the introduction of the names1 of writers into the text s Lect. VII. p. 408 seq. h P. 408, note. i Id. k Lect. VIII. 1 As the relation of the present condition of religious belief in England to forms of philosophy may not have been made perfectly clear even by the remarks in Lecture VIII. p. 465 seq., and Note 9, it may be well here to state the PREFACE. xxxv of this part of the Sermons, but they have been inserted in the foot-notes. The mention of one additional source of information will complete the examination which was proposed. It will be observed, that references have been very fre- quently given in the notes, to the Reviews, English and French, and occasionally German, for papers which treat on the subjects embraced in the history. When the writer studied the subject for publication, he took care to consult these, as affording a kind of commentary by contemporaries on the different portions of the history. It is hoped that the references to those written in the two former languages will be found to be tolerably complete. The enormous number of those which exist in German, together with the absence for the most part of indexes to them, renders it probable that many separate papers of great value, the special studies by dif- ferent scholars of passages in the literary history of their own sequence intended, even at the risk of repetition. The father of the modern philosophy is Kant. He first gave the impulse to resolve truth, which was supposed to be objective, into subjective forms of thought. Hence, in suc- ceeding systems of philosophy, the idea was thought to be of more im- portance than the facts ; and an a priori tendency was created. But in the two philosophers, Schelling and Hegel, this developed in different modes. Both sought to approach facts through ideas ; to both the ideal world was the real : but with the former, truth was absolute ; with the latter, relative. In the former case the mind was thrown in upon itself, and had a secure ground of truth in the eternal truths of the reason ; in the latter it was thrown (ultimately, though not immediately) outward, and taught to trace the tran- sition of the ideas in the world, the growth of truth in history. Hence in theology, while the tendency of both was to find an appeal for truth inde- pendent of revelation, the one produced an intuitional religion, the other, proximately, an ideal, but ultimately generates scepticism : for the one clings to the eternal ideas in the mind, the other views the fleeting, changing aspects of truth in the world. The spirit of the former is seen in Carlyle, Coleridge, and Cousin ; the spirit of the latter in Renan and Scherer, and is beginning to appear in the younger writers of the English periodical litera- ture. Hence in English theology we have two broadly marked divisions ; one doctrinal, and the other literary ; the former of which subdivides into the two just named. C 2 xxxvi PREFACE. nation, have been left unenumerated. The German literary periodicals are indeed the solitary source of information which the writer considers has not been fully worked for these lec- turesk. Among the articles in English Reviews, many bear marks of careful study ; and it is a pleasure to have the opportunity of rescuing them from the neglect which is likely to occur to papers written without name, and in periodicals. The free- thinking Reviews have discussed the opinions of the friends of free thought more frequently than the others ; but those here cited are of all shades of opinion; and the writer has found many to be of great use, even when differing widely from the conclusions drawn. He is glad indeed to take this opportunity of expressing his thanks to the unknown authors of these various productions, which have afforded him so much in- struction, and often so much help. He trusts that he has in all cases candidly and fully acknowledged his obligations when he has borrowed their materials, or condensed their thoughts. If he has in any case, through inadvertence, failed to do so, he hopes that this acknowledgment will be allowed to compensate for the unintentional omission. The reader being now in possession both of the purpose designed in the lectures, and of the sources of the information used in their composition, it only remains to add a few mis- cellaneous remarks. In the delivery of the lectures, several portions were omitted, on account of the excessive length to which they would have run. It has not been thought necessary to indi- cate these passages by brackets; but, as those who heard k Many references to them are given in Smith's (American) Translation of Hagenbaeh s Hist, of Doctr. 1862. PREFACE. xxxvii them may perhaps wish to have an enumeration, a list is here subjoined l. The notes, it will be perceived, are placed, some at the foot of the text, others at the end. Those are put as foot-notes which either were ■ very brief, or which supplied information that the reader might be supposed to desire in connection with the text. Most of those which are appended are of the same character as the foot-notes ; i. e. sources of in- formation in reference to the subjects discussed in the text. A few however supply information on collateral subjects. The Notes 4, 5, and 49, will be found to contain a history of Apologetic Literature parallel with the history of Free Thought; and Note 21 discusses the history of some technical terms commonly employed in the history of doubt. The size of the subject has precluded the possibility of giving many extracts from other works ; but it may be per- mitted to remark, that the literary references given are de- signed to supply sources of real and valuable information on the various points in relation to which they are cited. It can hardly be necessary to state, that the writer must not in any way be held responsible for the sentiments expressed in the works to which he may have given references. In a subject such as that which is here treated, many of the works cited are neutral in character, and many are objectionable. But it is right to supply complete literary materials, as well as references to works which state both sides of the questions considered. 1 In Lect. I. p. 23 (first halfi), 49, 50 : in Lect. II. p. 93 : in Lect. III. p. in (last half), 112, 128, 135, 136 (part); 138, 139 (part) ; 142, 146, 147, 152, 156 (part) : in Lect. IV. p. 169, 172, 174 (part), 198-202 ; 204-207 ; 209 : in Lect. V. 254-256 ; 259 ; 276-286 : in Lect. VI. p. 296, 334, 335 (part) ; 353- 366 (nearly all) : in Lect. VII. p. 396 (part); 410-425 : in Lect. VIII. p. 432 (part); 437-479 (for which a brief analysis was substituted); p. 485, 486 (part); 5°°> 5° h 506 (part). viii PREFACE. The index appended is brief, and devoted chiefly to Proper Names; the fulness of the Table of Contents seeming to render a longer one unnecessary, which should contain references to subjects. The writer wishes to express his acknowledgments to the chief Librarian of the Bodleian, the Rev. H. O. Coxe, for his kindness in procuring for his use a few foreign works which were necessary. He avails himself also of this opportunity of expressing publicly his thanks to the same individual, for the perseverance with which he has accomplished the scheme of providing a reading-room in connection with the Bodleian Library, open to students in an evening. Those whose time and strength are spent in college or private tuition during the mornings, are thus enabled to avail themselves of the trea- sures of a library, which until this recent alteration was in a great degree useless to many of the most active minds and diligent students in the university. Thanns are aiso due to a few other persons for their advice and courtesy in the loan of scarce books; also, in some instances, for assistance in the verification of a reference"1; and in one case, to a distinguished scholar, for his kindness in revising one of the Notes. The spirit in which the writer has composed the history has been stated elsewhere n. His work now goes forth with no extraneous claims on public attention. If it be, by the Divine blessing, the means of affording instruction, guidance, or comfort, to a single mind, the writer's labour will be amply recompensed. n* His thanks are especially due to Mr. Macray, the Librarian of the Taylor Institution, for his kindness in the last respect. n PP- 53, 534- Oxford, November 28, 1862. ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. LECTURE I, On the subject, method, and purpose of the course of Lectures. 1 HE subject stated to be the struggle of the human mind against the Christian revelation, in whole or in part. (p. i.) Explanation of the points which form the occasion of the conflict, (pp. 1-3.) The mode of treatment, being that of a critical history, includes (pp. 3, 4.) the discovery of (1) the facts, (2) the causes, and (3) the moral. The main part of this first lecture is occupied in explaining the second of these divisions. Importance, if the investigation were to be fully conducted, of carrying out a comparative study of religions and of the attitude of the mind in reference to all doctrine that rests on authority, (pp. 5-8.) The idea of causes implies, I. The law of the operation of the causes. II. The enumeration of the causes which act according to this assumed law. I. The empirical law, or formula descriptive of the action of reason on religion, is explained to be one form of the principle of progress by antagonism, the conservation or discovery of truth by means of xl ANALYSIS OE THE LECTURES. [lECT.I. inquiry and controversy; a merciful Providence leaving men responsible for their errors, but ultimately overruling evil for good. (P- 9-) This great fact illustrated in the four Crises of the Christian faith in Europe, viz. In the struggle (i) With heathen philosophy, about A.D. 160-360. (p. 10.) (2) With sceptical tendencies in Scholasticism, in the middle ages ( 1 100-1400). (p. 11.) (3) With literature, at the Renaissance, in Italy (1400- 1625). (p. 12.) (4) With modern philosophy in three forms (p. 14) : viz. English Deism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (p. 15); French Infidelity in the eighteenth century; German Rationalism in the eighteenth and nineteenth. Proposal to study the natural as well as literary history of these forms of doubt. — The investigation separated from inquiries into heresy as distinct from scepticism, (p. 17.) II. The causes, seen to act according to the law just described, which make free thought develope into unbelief, stated to be twofold (p. 18) : 1. Emotional causes. — Necessity for showing the relation of the intellectual causes to the emotional, both per se, and because the idea of a history of thought, together with the comparative rarity of the process here undertaken, implies the restriction of the attention mainly to the intellectual, (p. 18.) Influence of the emotional causes shown, both from psycho- logy and from the analysis of the nature of the evidence offered in religion (pp. 19, 20). — Historical illustrations of their influence, (pp. 21-23.) Other instances where the doubt is in origin purely intel- lectual (p. 24), but where nevertheless opportunity is seen for the latent operation of the emotional, (p. 25.) Explanation how far religious doubt is sin. (pp. 26, 27.) LECT. I.] ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. xJi 2. Intellectual causes, which are the chief subject of these lectures ; the conjoint influence however of the emotional being always presupposed. The intellectual causes shown to be (p. 28) : (a) the new material of knowledge which arises from the advance of the various sciences ; viz. Criticism ; Physical, Moral, and Ontological science, (p. 29.) (j3) the various metaphysical tests of truth or grounds of certitude employed, (p. 30.) An illustration of the meaning (p. 31), drawn from litera- ture, in a brief comparison of the types of thought shown in Milton, Pope, and Tennyson. Statement of the exact position of this inquiry in the subdivisions of metaphysical science (pp. 33, 34), and detailed explanation of the advantages and disadvantages of applying to religion the tests of Sense, subjective Forms of Thought, Intuition, and Feeling, respectively, as the standard of appeal. (PP- 35-44.) Advantage of a biographic mode of treatment in the inves- tigation of the operation of these causes in the history of doubt, (pp. 45-48.) Statement of the utility of the inquiry : (1) Intellectually, (a) in a didactic and polemical point of view, in that it refers the origin of the intellectual elements in error to false philosophy and faulty modes of judging, and thus refutes error by analysing it into the causes which produce it; and also (/3) in an indirect contribution to the Christian evidences by the historic study of former contests, (p. 50.) (2) Morally, in creating deep pity for the sinner, united with hatred for the sin. (p. 51.) Concluding remarks on the spirit which has influenced the writer in these lectures, (pp. 52, 53.) xlil LNALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. [LECT. II. LECTURE II. The literary opposition of Heathens against Christianity in the early ages. The first of the four crises of the faith, (pp. 54-103.) Agreement and difference of this crisis with the modern, (pp. 55, 56.) — Sources for ascertaining its nature, the original writings of unbelievers being lost. (PP. 57> 58.) Preliminary explanation of four states of belief among the heathens in reference to religion, from which opposition to Christianity would arise : (pp. 59-166.) viz. ( 1 ) the tendency to absolute disbelief of religion, as seen in Lucian and the Epicurean school, (pp. 59, 60.) (2) a reactionary attachment to the national creed, — the effect of prejudice in the lower orders, and of policy in the educated, (pp. 63, 64.) (3) the philosophical tendency, in the Stoics, (p. 62.) and Neo- Platonists ; (pp. 63, 64.) (4) the mystic inclination for magic rites, (p. 65.) Detailed critical history of the successive literary attacks on Christ- ianity, (p. 67 seq.) 1. that of Lucian, about A. D. 170, in the Peregrinus Proteus. (pp. 67-70.) 2. that of Celsus, about the same date. (pp. 70-77.) 3. that of Porphyry, about 270. (pp. 78-86.) 4. that of Hierocles about 303, founded on the earlier work of Philostratus respecting the life of Apollonius of Tyana. (pp. 86-90.) 5. that of Julian, A. D. 363 ; an example of the struggle in deeds as well as in ideas, (pp. 90-96.) (Account of the Philopatris of the Pseudo-Lucian. (p. 94.) Conclusion; showing the relation of these attacks to the intellectual tendencies before mentioned (p. 97.), and to the general intellectual causes LECT. III.] ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. xliii sketched in Lect. I. (p. 98.) — Insufficiency of these causes to explain the whole phenomenon of unbelief, unless the conjoint action of emotional causes be supposed, (pp. 99, 100.) Analogy of this early conflict to the modern. Lessons from considera- tion of the means by which the early Church repelled it. (pp. i 01-103.) LECTURE III. Free Thought during the middle ages, and at the Renaissance ; together with its rise in modern times. This period embraces the second and third of the four epochs of doubt, and the commencement of the fourth. Brief outline of the events which it includes, pp. 104, 105. Second crisis, from A. D. 1 100-1400. pp. 105-128. It is a struggle political as well as intellectual, Ghibellinism as well as scepticism, p. 106. The intellectual tendencies in this period are four : 1. The scepticism developed in the scholastic philosophy, as seen in the Nominalism of Abelard in the twelfth century. Account of the scholastic philosophy, pp. 107-112 : and of Abelard as a sceptic in his treatise Sic et Non. (pp. 112-119.) 2. The mot of progress in religion in the Franciscan book called The Everlasting Gospel in the thirteenth century, (pp. 119-121.) 3. The idea of the comparative study of religion, as seen in the legend of the book De Tribus Impostoribus in the thirteenth century ; and in the poetry of the period, (pp. 122-124.) 4. The influence of the Mahometan philosophy of Averroes in creating a pantheistic disbelief of immortality, (pp. 125-127.) Remarks on the mode used to oppose these movements ; and critical estimate of the period, (pp. 127, 128.) Third crisis, from 1400-1625. (pp. 129-147.) Peculiarity of this period as the era of the Renaissance and of " Humanism," and as the transition from mediaeval society to modern, (pp. 129, 130,) Xliv ANALYSIS OE THE LECTURES. [LECT. IV. Two chief sceptical tendencies in it : (i) The literary tendency in Tuscany and Rome in the fifteenth century ; the dissolution of faith being indicated by («) the poetry of the romantic epic. (pp. 131, 132.) (b) the revival of heathen tastes, (pp. 133, 134.) Estimate of the political and social causes likely to generate doubt, which were then acting, (pp. 135-137.) The unbelief was confined to Italy. — Reasons why so vast a movement as, the Reformation passed without fostering unbelief, (p. 138.) (2) The philosophical tendency in the university of Padua in the sixteenth century, (p. 139 seq.) The spirit of it, pantheism (p. 140.), in two forms; one arising from the doctrines of Averroes ; the other seen in Pomponatius, from Alexander of Aphrodisias (p. 141.) The relation of other philosophers, such as Bruno and Vanini, to this twofold tendency, (pp. 143-145.) Remarks on the mode used to oppose doubt (p. 146.); and estimate of the crisis, (p. 147.) Fourth crisis ; (pp. 147-479.) commencing in the seventeenth century, through the effects of the philosophy of Bacon and Descartes, (p. 148.) The remainder of the lecture is occupied with the treatment of the influence of Cartesianism, as seen in Spinoza. Examination of Spinoza's philosophy (pp. 149-154.); of his criticism in the Theologico-Politicus (pp. 153-158.); and of his indirect influence, (pp. 159, 160.) Concluding remarks on the government of Providence, as witnessed in the history of large periods of time, such as that comprised in this lecture, (pp. 161, 162.) LECTURE IV. Deism in England previous to A. D. 1760. This lecture contains the first of the three forms which doubt has taken in the fourth crisis, (p. 163.) — Sketch of the chief events, political and intellectual, which influenced the mind of England during the seven- LECT. IV.] ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. xlv teenth century (p. 164.); especial mention of the systems of Bacon and Descartes, as exhibiting the peculiarity that they were philosophies of method, (pp. 165, 166.) The history of Deism studied : I. Its rise traced, 1640-1700. (pp. 167-175.) In this period the religious inquiry has a political aspect, as seen (1) in Lord Herbert of Cherbury (De Veritate and Religio Laid) in the reign of Charles I. (pp. 167-9.) (2) In Hobbes's Leviathan, (pp. 170-2.) (3) In Blount (Oracles of Reason, and Life of Apollonius), in the reign of Charles II., in whom a deeper poli- tical antipathy to religion is seen. (pp. 173-5.) II. The maturity of Deism (1700-1740.) pp. 175-202. This period in- cludes (p. 179.) : 1. The examination of the first principles of religion, on its doctrinal side, in Toland's Christianity not Mysterious, &c. (pp. 178-183.) 2. Ditto, on its ethical side, in Lord Shaftesbury, (pp. 183-5.) 3. An attack on the external evidences, viz. On prophecy, by Collins, Scheme of Literal Prophecy , &c. (pp. 186-191.) On miracles, by Woolston, Discourses on Miracles, (pp. 191-194.); and by Arnobius. (p. 202.) 4. The substitution of natural religion for revealed, inTindal, Christianity as old as the Creation, (pp. 194-7.) in Morgan, Moral Philosopher, (pp. 197-9.) and in Chubb, Miscellaneous Works, (pp. 200, 1.) III. The decline of Deism, 1740-T760. (pp. 203-216.) : 1. in Bolingbroke, a combined view of deist objections. (pp. 202-7.) 2. in Hume, an assault on the evidence of testimony, which substantiates miracles, (pp. 207-16.) Remarks on the peculiarities of Deism, the intellectual causes which contributed to produce it (pp. 217-19..); and a comparison of it with the unbelief of other periods, (p. 220.) xlvi ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. [LECT. V. Estimate of the whole period ; and consideration of the intellectual and spiritual means used for repelling unbelief in it (pp. 221-8.); the former in the school of evidences, of which Butler is the type, the mention of whom leads to remarks on his Analogy (pp. 221-5.); and the latter in spiritual labours like those of Wesley, (pp. 226-8.) LECTURE V. Infidelity in France in the eighteenth century ; and unbelief in England subsequent to 1760. Infidelity in France (pp. 229-273). — This is the second phase of unbelief in the fourth crisis of faith. Sketch of the state of France, ecclesiastical, political (pp. 231-3), and intellectual (partly through the philosophy of Condillac, pp. 233, 5), which created such a mental and moral condition as to allow unbelief to gain a power there unknown elsewhere. — The unbelief stated to be caused chiefly by the influence of English Deism, transplanted into the soil thus prepared (p. 286). The history studied (1) in its assault on the Church; as seen in Vol- taire : the analysis of whose character is neces- sary, because his influence was mainly due to the teacher, not the doctrine taught, (pp. 238- 48). (2) in the transition to an assault on the State, in Diderot, (pp. 251, 3); the philosophy of the Encyclopaedists, (pp. 248 — 50) ; Helvetius (p. 254); and D'Holbach. (p. 255, 6.) (3) in the attack on the State, in Rousseau (pp. 257- 64,) — Analysis of the Entile for his views on reli- gion, (pp. 260, 1), and comparison with Voltaire (p. 264). LECT. VI.] ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. xlvii (4) in the Revolution, both the political move- ment and blasphemous irreligion (pp. 265-7); and the intellectual movement in Volney (Ana- lysis of the Ruines, pp. 269, 70). Estimate of the period (pp. 271-3). Unbelief in England, from 1760 to a date a little later than the end of the century (pp. 273-95), continued from Lecture IV. These later forms of it stated to differ slightly from the former, by being partially influenced by French thought, (p. 274.) The following instances of it examined : (1) Gibbon viewed as a writer and a critic on religion (pp. 275-80). (2) T. Paine : account of his Age of Reason (pp. 280-83), (3) The socialist philosophy of R. Owen (pp. 284, 5). (4) The scepticism in the poetry of Byron and Shelley (pp. 286-91). The last two forms of unbelief, though occurring in the present century, really embody the spirit of the last. Statement of the mode used to meet the doubt in England during this period. Office- of the Evidences (pp. 291-95). LECTURE VI. Free Thought in the Theology of Germany, from 175 0-1835. This is the third phase of free thought in that which was called the fourth crisis of faith. — Importance of the movement, which is called "rationalism," as the theological phase of the literary movement of Germany (pp. 296, 97). — Deviation from the plan previously adopted, in that a sketch is here given of German theological inquiry generally, and not merely of unbelief (p. 297). Brief preliminary sketch of German theology since the Reformation. Two great tendencies shown in it during the seventeenth century (p. 298). (1) The dogmatic and scholastic, science without earnestness (p. 299). (2) The pietistic, earnestness without science (p. 300). xlviii ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. [LECT. VI. In the first half of the eighteenth century, three new influences are introduced (p. 301), which are the means of creating rationalism in the latter half: viz. (a) The philosophy of Wolff, explained to be a formal expression of Leibnitz's principles ; and the evil effect of it, accidental and indirect (pp. 301-5). (0) The works of the English deists (p. 305, 6). (y) The influence of the colony of French infidels at the court of Frederick II. of Prussia (p. 306). The subsequent history is studied in three periods (p. 307): viz. Period I. (1750-1810). — Destructive in character, inaugurated by Semler (pp. 308-31). Period II. (1810-1835). — Reconstructive in character, inaugu- rated by Schleiermacher (pp. 331-368). Period III. (1835 to present time). — Exhibiting definite and final tendencies, inaugurated by Strauss (Lect.vii). Period I. (1750-1810), is studied under two Sub-periods: Sub-period I. (1 750-1 790, pp. 309-321), which includes three move- ments; (1) Within the Church (p. 309 seq.); dogmatic; literary in Michaelis and Ernesti; and freethinking in Semler (pp. 311-16), the author of the historic method of inter- pretation. (2) External to the church (pp. 316-19); literary deism in Lessing, and in the Wolfenbuttel fragments of Rei- marus (p. 318). (3) External to the church ; practical deism, in the educa- tional institutions of Basedow (p. 320). Sub-period II. (1790-1810, pp. 321-30); the difference caused by the introduction of two new influences; viz. (a) The literary, of the court of Weimar and of the great men gathered there (p. 321, 22). (/3) The philosophy of Kant, (the effect of which is ex- plained, pp. 323, 24); the home of both of which was at Jena. LECT. VI.] ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. xlix As the result of these new influences, three movements are visible in the Church (p. 325); viz. (1) The critical "rationalism" of Eichhorn and Paulus, the intellectual successors of Semler (pp. 326-28). (2) The dogmatic, more or less varying from orthodoxy, seen towards the end of this period in Bretschneider, Rohr, and Wegscheider (pp. 329, 30). (3) The supernaturalism of Reinhard and Storr (p. 326). Period II. (1810-1835.) — Introduction of four new influences (p. 332.), which completely altered the theological tone; viz. (a) New systems of speculative philosophy; of Jacobi, who followed out the material element of Kant's philosophy (pp. 332); and of Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel, who followed out the formal (p. 336). (/3) The " romantic" school of poetry (pp. 337, 38.) (y) The moral tone, generated by the liberation wars of l8l3- (P- 339-) (3) The excitement caused by the theses of Harms at the tercentenary of the Reformation in 181 7. (PP. 339> 40.) The result of these is seen (p. 341) in (1) An improved doctrinal school under Schleiermacher (pp. 341-53); (description of his Glaubenslehre, p. 346 seq.); and 'under his successors, Neander, &c. (pp. 353-56-) (2) An improved critical tone (p. 356 seq.), as seen in De Wette and Ewald, which is illustrated by an explana- tion of the Pentateuch controversy (p. 359-64.) Concluding notice of two other movements to be treated in the next lecture, (p. 366) ; viz. (1) an attempt, different from that of Schleiermacher, in the school of Hegel, to find a new philosophical basis for Christianity; and (2) the return to the biblical orthodoxy of the Lutheran church. Remarks on the benevolence of Providence in overruling free inquiry to the discovery of truth, (pp. 366-8.) ANALYSIS OF THE LECTTJEES. [lECT. VII. LECTURE VII. Free Thought in Germany subsequently to 1835 ; and in France during the present century. Free Thought in Germany (continued.) — History of the transition from Period II. named in the last lecture, to Period III. (pp. 369-86.) Explanation of the attempt, noticed pp. 341, 366, of the Hegelian school to find a philosophy of Christianity. Critical remarks on Hegel's system, (pp. 370-75) ; its tendency to create an " ideological " spirit in religion, (pp. 372, 373) : — the school which it at first formed is seen best in Marheinecke. (p. 374.) The circumstance which created an epoch in German theology was the publication of Strauss's Leben Jesu in 1835, (p. 375). Description of it (a) in its critical aspect, (pp. 376, 380), whch leads to an explanation of the previous discussions in Germany concerning the origin and credi- bility of the Gospels (pp. 377, 378); and (/3) in its philosophical, as related to Hegel, (p. 381) ; together with an analysis of the work, (p. 382:) State- ment of the effects produced by it on the various theological parties, (pp. 383-85.) Period III. As the result of the agitation caused by Strauss's work, four theological tendencies are seen ; viz. (1) One external to the church, thoroughly antichristian, as in Bruno Bauer, Feuerbach, and Stirner. (pp. 386-90.) (2) The historico-critical school of Tubingen, founded by Chr. Baur. (pp.39°-93-) (3) The " mediation " school, seen in Dorner and Rothe. (pp. 393-97-) (4) A return to the Lutheran orthodoxy, (pp. 398-402,) at first partly created by an attempt to unite the Lutheran and Re- formed churches, (p. 398) ; seen in the " Neo-Lutheranism" of Hengstenberg and Havernick, (p. 398), and the " Hyper- Lutheranism" of Stahl and the younger members of the school, (pp. 399, 401.) LECT. VII.] ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. H Mention of the contemporaneous increase of spiritual life in Germany, (p. 402.) Concluding estimate of the whole movement, (pp. 403-5) ; and lessons for students in reference to it. (pp. 406, 407.) Free Thought in France during the present century, (pp. 408-30,) (continued from Lect. IV. p. 273.) In its tone it is constructive of belief, if compared with that of the eighteenth century. From 1 800- 1 85 2. The speculative thought has exhibited four distinct forms, (p. 408.) (1) The ideology of De Tracy, in the early part of the century. (2) The theological school of De Maistre, &c. to re-establish the dogmatic authority of the Romish church. (3) Socialist philosophy, St. Simon, Fourier, Comte. (4) The Eclectic school (Cousin, &c.) Remarks on the first school. — The recovery of French philosophy and thought from the ideas of this school, partly due to the lite- rary tone of Chateaubriand, (pp. 409, 10.) Influence of the Revolution of 1830 in giving a stimulus to thought, (p. 410.) Remarks on the third school. — Explanation of socialism as taught by St. Simon (pp. 411-13); as taught by Fourier (pp. 413,414); and difference from English socialism, (p. 415.) Positivism, both as an offshoot of the last school, and in itself as a religion and a philosophy, (pp. 416-18.) Remarks on the fourth school. — Eclecticism as taught by Cousin, viewed as a philosophy and a religion, (pp. 418-21.) Remarks on the second school; viewed as an attempt to refute the preceding schools, (pp. 422, 23.) From 1 852- 1 862. New form of eclecticism under the empire (p. 425); viz. the historic method, based on Hegel, as Cousin's was based on Schelling. — E. Renan the type. (pp. 426-28.) Free thought in the Protestant church (pp. 429, 30) regarded as an attempt to meet by concession doubts of contemporaries. d 2 Hi ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. [LECT. VIII. LECTURE VIII. Free Thought in England in the present century : Summary of the Course of Lectures : and Inferences in reference to present dangers and duties. Modern unbelief in England (continued from Lect. V.) : — Intro- ductory remarks on the alteration of its tone, (pp. 431-33.) — The cause of which is stated to be a general one, the subjective tone created (p. 434) by such influences as, (1) the modern poetry (p. 435), and (2) the two great at- tempts by Bentham and Coleridge to reconstruct philosophy, (pp. 436, 7.) The doubt and unbelief treated in the following order (p. 438) : — (1) That which appeals to Sensational experience and to Physical science as the test of truth; viz. (a) Positivism among the educated (pp. 439, 40) ; (/3) Secularism or Naturalism among the masses (pp. 441, 442) ; and in a minor degree, (y) The doubts created by Physical science (p. 443.) (2) That which appeals to the faculty of Intuition (p. 444); — ex- pressed in literature, by Carlyle, (pp. 445-47) ; and by the American, Emerson, (p. 447.) (Influence also of the modern literature of romance, (pp. 448, 449.) (3) Direct attacks on Christianity, critical rather than philosophical : viz. (a) The examination of the historic problem of the develop- ment of religious ideas among the Hebrews, by R.W. Mackay (pp. 45°-52-) (j8) A summary of objections to revelation, by Mr. Greg, The Creed of Christendom (p. 453, 4.) (y) The examination of the psychical origin of religion and Christianity, by Miss S. Hennell, Thoughts in aid of Faith, (p. 455.) (4) The deism, and appeal to the Intuitional consciousness, expressed by Mr. Theodore Parker (p. 458-60); and Mr. F. Newman (pp. 460-64.) LECT. VIII.] ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. Hii (5) The traces of free thought within the Christian church (p. 465) ; viz. (a) The philosophical tendency which originates with Cole- ridge, (pp. 465-71.) (/3) The critical tendency, investigating the facts of revela- tion, (pp. 471-4.) (y) „ „ „ the literature which contains it. (p. 474-76.) This completes the history of the fourth crisis of faith (p. 478), the history of which began near the end of Lect. III. at p. 147. Summary of the course of lectures, (pp. 479-82). — Recapitulation of the original purpose, which is stated to have been, while assuming the potency of the moral, to analyse the intellectual causes of doubt, which have been generally left uninvestigated. Refutation of objections which might be made ; such as (1) One directed against the utility of the inquiry (p. 482.) (2) „ „ against its uncontroversial character. A critical history shown to be useful in the present age, (1) in an edu- cational point of view for those who are to be clergymen, and to encounter current forms of doubt by word or by writing (pp. 483-6) ; and (2) in a controversial point of view, by resolving the intellectual element in many cases of unbelief into incorrect metaphysical philosophy; the value of which inquiry is real, even if such intellectual causes be regarded only as the conditions, and not the causes, of unbelief, (pp. 486, 7.) Further objections anticipated and refuted in reference (3), to the candour of the mode of inquiry, and the absence of vituperation which is stated not to be due to indifference to Christian truth, but wholly to the demands of a scientific mode of treatment (p. 488.); (4) to the absence of an eager advocacy of any particular metaphysical theory; which is due to the cir- cumstance that the purpose was to exhibit errors as logical corollaries from certain theories, without assuming the necessary existence of these corollaries in actual life. (p. 489) ; (5) to the insufficiency of the causes enumerated to produce doubt without taking account of the moral causes; which objection is not only admitted, but shown to be at once the peculiar property which belongs to the analysis of intellectual phenomena, and also a witness to the instinctive conviction that the ultimate cause of belief and unbelief is moral, not intellectual ; which had been constantly assumed, (pp. 489, 90.) liv ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. [LECT. VIII. The Lessons derived from the whole historical survey, (p. 490 seq.) I. What has been the office of doubt in history ? (p. 490.) Opposite opinions on this subject stated, (p. 491.) Examination of the ordinary Christian opinion on the one hand, which regards it as a mischief (p. 491), and of Mr. Buckle's on the other, which regards it as a good. (p. 492.) 1. The office is shown to be, to bring all truths to the test. (p. 492.) Historical instances of its value in destroying the Roman catholic errors, (p. 493.) 2. Free inquiry also shown in some cases to be forced on man by the presentation of new knowledge, which demands consi- deration, (pp. 494, 5.) Denial of the statement that the doubts thus created are an entire imitation of older doubt, (p. 496.) 3. The office of it in the hands of Providence to elicit truth by the very controversies which it creates; (p. 497.) the responsi- bility of the inquirer not being destroyed, but the overruling providence of God made visible, (p. 498.) II. What does the history teach, as to the doubts most likely to present themselves at this time, and the best modes of meeting them ? (p. 498.) The materials shown to be presented for a final answer to these questions, (p. 499.) The probability shown from consideration of the state of the various sciences, mechanical, physiological (p. 500), and mental (p. 501), that no new difficulties can be suggested hereafter, distinct in kind from the present ; nor any unknown kinds of evidence presented on behalf of Christianity. Analogy of the present age as a whole, in disintegration of belief, to the declining age of Roman civilization, (pp. 502, 3.) The doubts which beset us in the present age stated to be chiefly three (p. 504) ; viz. 1. The relation of the natural to the supernatural. This doubt is sometimes expressed in a spirit of utter unbelief; sometimes in a tone of sadness (p. 505), arising from mental struggles, of which some are enumerated (pp. 505, 6). The intellectual and moral means of meeting these doubts, (p. 507.) LECT. VIII.] ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. lv 2. The relation of the atoning work of Christ to the human race. (p. 508.) Explanation of the defective view which would regard it only as reconciling man to God, and would destroy the priestly work of Christ; and statement of the modes in which its advocates reconcile it with Christianity, (p. 509.) The importance that such doubts be answered by reason, not merely silenced by force, (p. 510.) An answer sought by studying the various modes used in other ages of the church (p. 511); especially by those who have had to encounter the like difficulties., e. g. the Alexan- drian fathers in the third century, and the faithful in Ger- many in the present, (pp. 512, 13.) This method shown to have been to present the philosophical prior to the historical evidence, in order to create the sense of religious want, before exhibiting Christianity as the divine supply for it. (p. 513.) In regard to the historic evidence, three misgivings of the doubter require to be met for his full satisfaction (p. 517); viz. (a) The literary question of the trustworthiness of the books of the New Testament. The mode of meeting this explained, with the possibility of establishing Christian dogmas, even if the most extravagant rationalism were for argument's sake con- ceded, (p. 518.) (j3) The doubt whether the Christian dogmas, and especially the atonement, are really taught in the New Testament. The value of the fathers, and the progress of the doctrine in church history, shown in reference to this question, (p. 519.) (y) The final difficulty which the doubter may put, whether even apostolic and miraculous teaching is to overrule the moral sense, (p. 520.) The possibility shown of independent corroboration of the apostolic teaching, in the testimony of the living church, and the experience of religious men. (p. 523, 4.) The utter improbability of error in this part of scriptural teaching, even if the existence of error elsewhere were for argument's sake conceded, (p. 522.) lvi ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. [LECT. VIIT. Difference of this appeal from that of Schleiermacher to the Christian consciousness. 3. The relation of the Bible to the church, whether it is a record or an authority, (p. 525.) Statement of the modes of viewing the question in different ages. (p. 526.) The Bible an authority; but the importance shown of using wisdom in not pressing the difficulties of scripture on an inquirer, so as to quench incipient faith, (p. 527, 8.) The mention of the emotional causes of doubt conjoined with the intellectual, a warning that, in addition to all arguments, the help of the divine Spirit to hallow the emotions must be sought and expected, (pp. 529, 30.) Final lesson to Christian students, that in all ages of peril, earnest men have found the truth by the method of study united to prayer, (p. 530-4.) NOTES APPENDED, LECTURE I. Note 1. Subdivisions of Historical Inquiry page 537 2. The comparative study of Religions 539 3. Zend and Sanskrit Literature 54° 4. The Controversy between Christians and Jews 544 5. The Contest of Christianity with Mahometanism 549 6. Unitarianism 554 7. Classification of Metaphysical Inquiries 556 8. Quotation from Guizot on Prayer 559 9. On the modern view of the historical method in Philosophy 560 LECTURE II. 10. Neo-Platonism 564 11. The Pseudo-Clementine Literature 565 12. The absence of references to Christianity in Heathen writers of the second century 565 13. The Peregrinus Proteus of Lucian 568 14. The work of Celsus * . 569 lviii NOTES APPENDED. Note 15. The charges against Christians, and causes of persecution, in the second century page 571 16. Modern criticism on the book of Daniel 575 17. The Reply of Eusebius to Hierocles 577 18. The Philopatris of the Pseudo-Lucian 578 1 9. The work of Julian against Christianity 579 LECTURE III. 20. The Legendary Book "De Tribus Impostoribus" 582 LECTURE IV. 21. On some technical terms in the History of Unbelief, viz. Infidel, Atheist, Pantheist, Deist, Naturalist, Free- thinker, Rationalist, Sceptic 584 22. Woolston's " Discourses on Miracles" 594 LECTURE V. 23. The literary coteries of Paris in the eighteenth century. . . . 596 24. The term Ideology 597 25. The works of Dr. Geddes 598 26. The works of Dr. Conyers Middleton 599 LECTURE VI. 27. On Pietism in Germany in the seventeenth century 600 28. Classification of Schools of Poetry' in Germany 601 29. The Wolfenbuttel Fragments 602 NOTES APPENDED. \\\ Note 30. Schleiermacher's early studies page 605 31. Schleiermacher's works 606 32. On some German Critical Theologians ; De Wette, Ewald, &c '. , 608 33. The name Jehovah 609 34. The use of the names of Deity in the composition of Hebrew proper names . , 610 LECTURE Til. 35. The Hegelian Philosophy 611 36. The Christology of Strauss 613 37. The writings of Strauss 614 38. The replies to Strauss 615 39. The Tubingen School 616 40. The Theologian Rothe 617 41. The most modern Schools of Philosophy and Theology in Germany 619 42. Table exhibiting a classification of German Theologians ... 621 43. The modern Theology of Switzerland and Holland 626 44. The Eclectic School of France (Cousin) 629 45. The Catholic reactionary School of France (De Maistre). . . 631 46. The modern School of Free Thought in the Protestant Church of France 632 LECTURE VIII. 47. Modern opinions with respect to Mythology 635 48. The office of the External and Internal branches of Evidence C36 49. The History of the Christian Evidences 637 50. On the History of the doctrine of Inspiration 667 ERRATA. Page 64, note, for Boodhism read Buddhism. 78. 1. 13, for introduction to the Organon, it would be more correct to write, introduction to the Categories. in, note, for Prolog, read Proslog. 113, and following pages, for Abelard read Abelard. 285, note, for Brough read Burgh. 299, 305, note, for Sainte's read Saintes'. 299, note, for Schroch read Schrockh. 317. 1. 12, for Mendelsohn read Mendelssohn. 358. 1. 12, for Wolff read Wolf. LECTURE I. ON THE SUBJECT, METHOD, AND PURPOSE OF THE COURSE OP LECTURES. Luke xii. 5. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth ? I tell you, nay j but rather division. J.HE present course of lectures relates to one of the conflicts exhibited in the history of the Church ; viz. the struggle of the human spirit to free itself from the authority of the Christian faith. Christianity offers occasion for opposition by its inherent claims, independently of accidental causes. For it asserts authority over religious belief in virtue of being a supernatural communication from God, and claims the right to control human thought in virtue of possessing sacred books which are at once the record and the instrument of this communication, written by men endowed with supernatural inspira- tion. The inspiration of the writers is transferred to B 2 LECTURE I. the books, the matter of which, so far as it forms the subject of the revelation, is received as true because divine, not merely regarded as divine because per- ceived to be true. The religion, together with the series of revelations of which it is the consummation, differs in kind from ethnic religions, and from human philoso- phy ; and the sacred literature differs in kind from other books. Each is unique, a solitary miracle of its class in human history. The contents also of the sacred books bring them into contact with the efforts of speculative thought. Though at first glance they might seem to belong to a different sphere, that of the soul rather than the intellect, and to possess a different function, explaining duties rather than dis- covering truth ; yet in deep problems of physical or moral history, such as Providence, Sin, Reconciliation, they supply materials for limiting belief in the very class of subjects which is embraced in the compass of human philosophy. A conflict accordingly might naturally be antici- pated, between the reasoning faculties of man and a religion which claims the right on superhuman authority to impose limits on the field or manner of their exercise ; the intensity of which at various epochs would depend, partly upon the amount of critical activity, and partly on the presence of causes which might create a divergence between the current ideas and those supplied by the sacred literature. The materials are wanting for detecting traces of this struggle in other parts of the world than Europe ; LECTURE I. 3 but the progress of it may be fully observed in Eu- ropean history, altering concomitantly with changes in the condition of knowledge, or in the methods of seeking it ; at first as an open conflict, philosophical or critical, with the literary pagans, subsiding as Christianity succeeded in introducing its own concep- tions into every region of thought ; afterwards re- viving in the middle ages, and gradually growing more intense in modern tunes as material has been offered for it through the increase of knowledge or the activity of speculation ; varying in name, in form, in degree, but referable to similar causes, and teaching similar lessons. It is the chief of these movements of free thought in Europe which it is my purpose to describe, in their historic succession and their connexion with intellec- tual causes. We must ascertain the facts ; discover the causes ; and read the moral. These three inquiries, though distinct in idea, cannot be disjoined in a critical his- tory. The facts must first be presented in place and time : the history is thus far a mere chronicle. They must next be combined with a view to interpretation. Yet in making this first combination, taste guides more than hypothesis. The classification is artistic rather than logical, and merely presents the facts with as much individual vividness as is compatible with the preservation of the perspective requisite in the general historic picture. At this point the artis- tic sphere of history ceases, and the scientific com- B 2 4 LECTURE I. mences as soon as the mind searches for any regu- larity or periodicity in the occurrence of the facts, such as may be the effect of fixed causes. If an em- pirical law be by this means ascertained to exist, an explanation of it must then be sought in the higher science which investigates mind. Analysis traces out the ultimate typical forms of thought which are mani- fested hi it ; and if it does not aspire to arbitrate on their truth, it explains how they have become grounds on which particular views have been assumed to be true. The intellect is then satisfied, and the science of history ends. But the heart still craves a further investigation. It demands to view the moral and theological aspects of the subject, to harmonize faith and discovery, or at least to introduce the question of human responsibility, and reverently to search for the final cause which the events subserve in the moral purposes of providence. The drama of history must not develope itself without the chorus to interpret its purpose. The artistic, — the scientific, — the ethical, — these are the three phases of history. (1) The chief portion of the present lecture will be de- voted to explain the mode of applying the plan just indicated ; more especially to develope the second of these three branches, by stating the law which has marked the struggle of free thought with Christi- anity, and illustrating the intellectual causes which have been manifested in it. In searching for such a law, or such causes, we ought not to forget that, if we wished to lay a sound LECTUKE I. 5 basis for generalization, it would be necessary not to restrict our attention to the history of Christianity, but to institute a comparative study of religions, ethnic or revealed, in order to trace the action of reason in the collective religious history of the race. Whether the religions of nature be regarded as the distortion of primitive traditions, or as the spon- taneous creation of the religious faculties, the agree- ment or contrast suggested by a comparison of them with the Hebrew and Christian religions, which are preternaturally revealed, is most important as a means of discovering the universal laws of the human mmd ; the exceptional character which belongs to the latter member of the comparison increasing rather than diminishing the value of the study. All alike are adjusted, the one class naturally and accidentally, the other designedly and supernaturally, to the religious elements of human nature. All have a subjective existence as aspirations of the heart, an objective as institutions, and a history which is connected with the revolutions of literature and society. (2) Comparative observation of this kind gives some approach to the exactness of experiment ; for we watch providence as it were executing an experi- ment for our information, which exhibits the opera- tions of the same law under altered circumstances. If, for example, we should find that Christianity was the only religion, the history of which pre- sented a struggle of reason against authority, we 0 LECTURE I. should pronounce that there must be peculiar ele- ments in it which arouse the special opposition ; or if the phenomenon be seen to be common to all creeds, but to vary in intensity with the activity of thought and progress of knowledge, this discovery would suggest to us the existence of a law of the human mind. Such a study would also furnish valuable data for determining precisely the variation of form which al- teration of conditions causes in the development of such a struggle. In the East, the history of religion, for which material is supplied by the study of the Zend and Sanskrit literature, (3) would furnish ex- amples of attempts made by philosophers to find a rational solution of the problems of the universe, and to adjust the theories of speculative thought to the national creed deposited in supposed sacred books. And though, in a western nation such as Greece, the separation of religion from philosophy was too wide to admit of much parallel in the speculative aspect of free thought, yet in reference to the critical, many instances of the application of an analogous process to a national creed may be seen in the ex- amination made of the early mythology, the attempt to rationalize it by searching for historical data in it, or to moralize it by allegory a. Again, within the sphere of the Hebrew religion, which, though super- a The attitude of the mind towards the national mythology in successive ages of Greek history has been treated by Grote, History of Greece, vol. I. ch. 16. LECTURE L 7 naturally suggested, developed in connexion with human events so as to admit the possibility of the rise of mental difficulties in the progress of its his- tory, how much hallowed truth, both theoretical and practical, might be learned from the divine breathings of pious inquirers, such as the sacred authors of the seventy- third Psahn, or of the books of Job and Ec- clesiastes, which give expression to painful doubts about Providence, not fully solved by religion, but which nevertheless faith was willing to leave unex- plained1*. If in the Oriental systems free thought is seen to operate on a national creed by adjusting it to new ideas through philosophical dogmatism ; if in the Greek by explaining it away through scepticism ; in 11 See Quinet's CEuvres, t. i, c. 5., and especially § 4. On the doubts expressed in the books of Job and Ecclesiastes respectively, see the ar- ticle Job byHengstenbergin Kitto's Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, (reprinted in a volume of Hengstenberg's miscellaneous works), and the article Ecclesiastes by Mr. Plumptre in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. For the free-thinking inquiry into the two books, see the article on Job in the Westminster Review, October 1853, founded mainly on Hirzcl ; and that on Ecclesiastes in the National Review, No. 27, for January 1862, founded chiefly on Hitzig. E. Renan, in his work on Job, and others, have studied the doubts expressed in it as an internal evidence for its date. Very full information in refer- ence to both books may be found in Dr. S. Davidson's Introd. to the Old Testament (1862), vol. ii. p. 174 seq., 352 seq. It is deeply interesting to observe, not merely that the difficulties concerning Providence felt by Job refer to the very subjects which painfully perplex the modern mind, but also that the friends of Job exhibit the instinctive tendency which is observed in modern times to de- nounce his doubt as sin, not less than to attribute his trials to evil as the direct cause. These two books of Scripture, together with the seventy- third Psalm, have an increasing religious importance as the world grows older. " The things written aforetime were written for our learning.'' 8 LECTUKE I. the Hebrew it is hushed by the holier logic of the feelings. The two former illustrate steps in the intellectual progress of free thought ; the last ex- hibits the moral lesson of resignation and submission in the soul of the inquirer. Nor ought this method of comparison to be laid aside even at this point. It would be requisite, for a full discovery of the intellectual causes, that the generalization should be carried further, and the operations of free thought watched in reference to other subjects than religion0. Reason in its action, first on Christianity both in Europe and elsewhere, secondly on Jewish and heathen religions, lastly on any body of truth which rests on traditional au- thority,— these would be the scientific steps neces- sary for eliminating accidental phenomena, and dis- covering the real laws which have operated in this branch of intellectual history. The suggestion of such a plan of study, though obviously too large to be here pursued, may offer matter of thought to re- flective minds, and may at least help to raise the subject out of the narrow sphere to which it is usually supposed to belong. The result of the survey would confirm the view of the struggle now about to be given which is suggested by European history. c Attention, for example, should be directed to the efforts of the mind in emancipating itself, (i) from particular forms of political government, or social arrangements, or artificial laws, in the struggle against the feudal system, and in the development of political liberty in modern times, or (2) from traditional systems of scientific teaching, as the Ptolemaic theory of astronomy, or the Cartesian of vortices. The absence too of such attempts in the stagnation of Eastern life is an instructive negative instance for study. LECTUEE I. 9 When any new material of thought, such as a new religion which interferes with the previous standard of belief, is presented to the human mind ; or when conversely any alteration in the state of knowledge on which the human mind forms its judgment, im- parts to an old established religion an aspect of oppo- sition which was before unperceived ; the religion is subjected to the ordeal of an investigation. Science examines the doctrines taught by it, criticism the evidence on which they profess to rest, and the litera- ture which is their expression. And if such an inves- tigation fail to establish the harmony of the old and the new, the result takes two forms : either the total rejection of the particular religion, and sometimes even of the supernatural generally, or else an eclec- ticism which seeks by means of philosophy to dis- cover and appropriate the hidden truth to which the religion was an attempt to give expression. The attack however calls forth the defence. Ac- cordingly the result of this action and reaction is to produce scientific precision, either apologetic or dogmatic, within the religious system, and scepticism outside of it ; both reconstructive in purpose, but the former defensive in its method, the latter de- structive. The elements of truth which exist on both sides are brought to light by the controversy, and after the struggle has passed become the permanent property of the world. These statements, which convey a general expres- sion for the influence of free thought in relation to religion, are verified in the history of Christianity. 10 LECTURE I There are four epochs at which the struggle of reason against the authority of the Christian religion has been especially manifest, each characterised by energy and intensity of speculative thought, and ex- hibiting on the one hand partial or entire unbelief, or on the other a more systematic expression of Chris- tian doctrine ; epochs in fact of tenvporary peril, of permanent gaind. In the first of these periods, extending from the se- cond to the fourth century, Christianity is seen in anta- gonism with forms of Greek or Eastern philosophy, and the existence is apparent of different forms of scepticism or reason used in attack. The very attempt of the Alex- andrian school of theology to adjust the mysteries of Christianity and of the Bible to speculative thought, by a well meant but extravagant use of allegorical in- terpretation, is itself a witness of the presence or pres- sure of free thought. The less violent of the two forms of unbelief is seen in the Gnostics, the rationalists of the early Church, who summoned Christianity to the bar of philosophy, and desired to appropriate the por- tion of its teaching which approved itself to their ec- lectic tastes; the more violent kind in the rejection of d It is proper to express my obligations for a few hints in this part of the lecture to an able historic sketch of modern German thought, based on the Geschichte cler neuesten Theologie of C. Schwartz, in the Westminster Review, April 1857 (especially p. 333). The enume- ration of the epochs which follows nevertheless occurred to me for the most part independently of those suggestions, and had been previously expressed in public. A classification of a different kind will be found in Reimannus Historia AtJmsmi, 1725, p. 315. LECTUKE I. 11 Christianity as an imposture, or in the attempts made to refer its origin to psychological causes, on the part of the early enemies of Christianity, Celsus and Ju- lian, prototypes of the positive unbelievers of later times. The Greek theology, which embodied the dogmatic statements in which the Christian Church under the action of controversy gave explicit expres- sion to its implicit belief, is the example of the stimu- lus which the pressure of free thought gave to the use of reason in defence. As we pass down the course of European history, the Pagan literature which had suggested the first attack disappears : but as soon as the elements of civilization, which survived the deluge that over- whelmed the Roman empire, had been sufficiently consolidated to allow of the renewal of speculation, a repetition of the contest may be observed. The revived study of the Greek philosophers, and of their Arabic commentators introduced from the Moor- ish universities of Spain, with the consequent rise of the scholastic philosophy in the twelfth and thir- teenth centuries, furnished material for a renewal of the struggle of reason against authority, a second crisis in the history of the Church. The history of it becomes complicated by the circumstance that free thought, in the process of disintegrating the body of authoritative teaching, now began to assume on several occasions a new shape, a kind of incipient Protestant- ism. Doubting neither Christianity nor the Bible, it is seen to challenge merely that part of the actual re- 12 LECTURE I. ligion which, as it conceived, had insinuated itself from human sources in the lapse of ages. Accordingly, the critical independence of Nominalism, in a mind like that of Abelard, represents the destructive action of free thought, partly as early Protestantism, partly as scepticism ; while the series of noted Realists, of which Aquinas is an example, that tried anew to adjust faith to science, and thus created the Latin theology, represents the defensive action of reason. The im- parting scientific definition to the immemorial doc- trines of the Church constituted the defence. In the later middle ages, however, philosophy gra- dually succeeded in emancipating itself so entirely from theology, that when the Renaissance came, and a large body of heathen thought was introduced into the current of European life by means of ancient literature, a third crisis occurred. The independence passed into open revolt, and, fostered by political confusion and material luxury, expressed itself in a literature of unbelief. The mental awakening which had commenced in art and extended to literature paved the way for a spiritual awakening. The Reformation itself, though the product of a deep consciousness of spiritual need, an emancipation of soul as well as mind, is never- theless a special instance of the same dissolution of mediaeval life, and must therefore be regarded as be- longing to the same general movement of free thought, though not to that sceptical form of it which comes within the field of our investigation. LECTURE I. 1 »> For Protestantism, though it be scepticism in respect of the authority of the traditional teaching of the Church, yet reposes implicitly on an outward authority revealed in the sacred books of holy Scripture, and restricts the exercise of freedom within the limits prescribed by this authority ; whereas scepticism proper is an insurrection against the outward authority or truth of the inspired books, and reposes on the un- revealed, either on consciousness or on science. The one is analogous to a school of art which desires to reform itself by the use of ancient models ; the other to one which professes to return to an unassisted study of nature. The spiritual earnestness which characterized the Reformation prevented the changes in religious belief from developing into scepticism proper ; and the theology of the Reformation is ac- cordingly an example of defence and reconstruction as well as of revulsion. During the century which followed, mental ac- tivity found employment in other channels in con- nexion with the political struggles which resulted from the religious changes. But the seventeenth age was another of those epochs which form crises in the history of the human mind. The recon- struction at that time of the methods on which science depends, by Bacon from the empirical side, by Descartes from the intellectual, created as great a revolution in knowledge as the Renaissance had pro- duced in literature, or the Reformation in religion ; and a body of materials was presented from which 14 LECTURE I. philosophers ventured to criticise the Bible and the dogmatic teaching of the Church. This fourth great period of free thought, which extends to the present time, has been marked by more striking events than former onesc. Though the movement relates to a similar sphere, the history is rendered more complex by union with literature, and connexion as cause or effect with social changes, as well as by the reciprocal operation of its influence in different countries. Lan- guage, which is always a record of opinion, popular or scientific f, classifies the forms of this last great movement of free thought under three names, viz. Deism in England in the early part of the eighteenth century ; Infidelity in France in the latter part of it ; and Rationalism in Germany in the nineteenth ; e The author (supposed to be Hundeshagen) of Der Deutsche Pro- testantismus thus expresses himself (§ 6.) : " In the history of the world there are four successive periods in which open unbelief and unconcealed enmity to Christianity made the tour in some degree among the chief nations of Europe. Italy made the beginning in the fifteenth and sixteenth century ; England and France followed in the seventeenth and eighteenth ; the series closed in Germany in the nineteenth." The first of the four crises in our text occurred in the ancient world ; the second is mediaeval ; the third, at the moment of transition into the modern history, is the Italian crisis of the quotation just cited ; the three others therein named make up the fourth in our enumeration. f On the office of language, and the changes to which it is liable, consult the chapter on the " Natural History of the variations in the meaning of terms," in J. S. Mill's Logic (vol. ii. b. 4. ch. 5.) An explanation of many of the terms which occur in the history of doubt, viz. Deism, Rationalism, &c. will be found in Note 21. at the end of these Lectures. LECTURE I. 15 movements which exhibit characteristics respectively of the three nations, and of their intellectual and general history. English Deism, the product of the reasoning spirit which was stimulated by political events, directed itself against the special revelation of Christianity from the stand-point of the religion of natural reason, and ran a course parallel with the gradual emancipation of the individual from the power of the state. French infidelity, breathing the spirit of materialist philosophy, halted not till it brought its devotees even to atheism, and mingled itself with the great movements of political revolu- tion, which ultimately reconstituted French society. German Rationalism, empirical or spirituals, in two parallel developments, the philosophical and the lite- rary, neither coldly denied Christianity with the practical doubts of the English deists, nor flippantly denounced it as imposture with the trenchant and undiscriminating logic of the French infidels ; but appreciating its beauty with the freshness of a poetical genius, and regarding it as one phase of the religious consciousness, endeavoured, by means of the methods employed in secular learning, to col- lect the precious ideas of eternal truth to which Christianity seemed to it to give expression, and by means of speculative criticism to exhibit the literary and psychological causes which it supposed had over- laid them with error. £ " Empirical," as in Lessing and Paulus ; " Spiritual/' as in the later schools. See Lect. VI. and VII. 16 LECTURE I. Nor has the activity of reason used in defence been less manifest in these later movements. The great works on the Christian evidences are the wit- ness to its presence ; and the deeper and truer ap- preciation of Christianity now shown in every coun- try, and the increasing interest felt in religion, are the indirect effect, under the guidance of divine Pro- vidence, of the stirring of the religious apprehension by controversy1'. We have thus at once exhibited the province which will be hereafter investigated in detail, and stated the general law observable in the conflict between free thought and Christianity. The type reappears, perpetuated by the fixity of mind, though the form varies under the force of circumstances. Christianity being stationary and authoritative, thought progressive and independent, the causes which stimulate the restlessness of the latter inter- rupt the harmony which ordinarily exists between belief and knowledge, and produce crises during which religion is re-examined. Disorganization is the temporary result ; theological advance the sub- sequent. Whatever is evil is eliminated in the con- flict ; whatever is good is retained. Under the over- ruling of a beneficent Providence, antagonism is made the law of human progress. The restriction of our inquiry to the consideration h A brief view of the history of the Christian evidences will be found in Note 49 appended to these Lectures. LECTURE I. 17 of the free action of reason will cause our attention to be almost entirely confined to the operation of reason in its attack on Christianity, to the neglect of the evidences which the other office of it has pre- sented in defence ; and will also -exclude altogether the study of struggles, where the opposition to Christianity has rested on an appeal to the authority of rival sacred books ; such for example as the con- flict with rival religions like the Jewish (4) or Ma- hometan (5) ; as well as of heresies which, like the Socinian (6), claim, however unjustly, to rest on the authority of the Christian revelation. The law thus sketched of this struggle needs fuller explanation. We must employ a more exact analysis to gain a conception of the causes which have operated at different periods to make free thought develop into unbelief. It will be obvious that the causes must depend, either upon the nature of the Christian religion, which is the subject, or of the mind of man, which is the agent of* attack. The former were touched upon in the opening remarks of this lecture, and may be reconsidered hereafter'1 ; but it is necessary to gain a general view of the latter before treating them in their application in future lectures. These causes, so far as they are spiritual and dis- connected from admixture with political circum- stances, may be stated to be of two kinds, viz. intel- i Viz. toward the close of Leet. VIII. C 18 LECTURE I. lectual and moral ; the intellectual explaining the types of thought, the moral the motives which have from time to time existed k. The actions, and ge- nerally the opinions of a human being, are the com- plex result arising from the union of both. Yet the two elements, though closely intertwined in a con- crete instance, can be apprehended separately as ob- jects of abstract thought; and the forms of manifesta- tion and mode of operation peculiar to each can be separately traced. In a history of thought, the antagonism created by the intellect rather than by the heart seems the more appropriate subject of study, and will be almost exclusively considered in these lectures. Nevertheless a brief analysis must be here given of the mode in which the moral is united with the intellectual in the formation of opinions. This is the more necessary, lest we should seem to commit the mistake of ignoring the existence or importance of the emotional element, if the restriction of our point * k The moral causes of unbelief have been frequently discussed, but the intellectual rarely. Van Mildert has collected, in his Boyle Lectures (note to Lect. XXIV.), references to many valuable authors where the moral sins of pride and impiety are discussed ; and J. A. Fabricius {Delect. Argument. 1725.) has devoted a chapter to the literature of the subject (c. 36. p. 653.) Dr. Ogilvie wrote in 1783 a separate work on the causes of the recent unbelief; but the causes alleged by him, though well treated in the details, are superficial. A satisfactory discussion of this and cognate topics connected with unbelief is given in a popular but instructive book, Infidelity, its aspects, causes, and agencies, a Prize Essay (1853) of the Evangelical Alliance, by the Rev. T. Pearson, Eyemouth, N.B. LECTURE I. 19 of view to the intellectual should hereafter prevent frequent references to it. The influence of the moral causes in generating doubt, though sometimes exaggerated, is nevertheless real. Psychological analysis shows that the emotions operate immediately on the will, and the will on the intellect. Consequently the emotion of dislike is able through the will to prejudice the judgment, and cause disbelief of a doctrine against which it is directed1. Nor can we doubt that experience con- firms the fact. Though we must not rashly judge our neighbour, nor attempt to measure in any par- ticular mind the precise amount of doubt which is due to moral causes, yet it is evident that where a freethinker is a man of immoral or unspiritual life, whose interests incline him to disbelieve in the reality of Christianity, his arguments may reason- ably be suspected to be suggested by sins of cha- racter, and by dislike to the moral standard of the Christian religion, and, though not on this account necessarily undeserving of attention, must be watched at every point with caution, in order that the emo- tional may be eliminated from the intellectual causes. It is also a peculiarity belonging to the kind of evidence on which religion rests for proof, that it offers an opportunity for the subtle influence of moral causes, where at first sight intellectual might seem alone to act. For the evidence of religion is » Compare some remarks on this point in Whateley's Rhetoric (part 2. ch. i. § 2.) C 2 20 LECTURE I. probable, not demonstrative ; and it is the property of probable evidence that the character and experience determine the comparative weight which the mind assigns in it to the premises m. In demonstrative evidence there is no opportunity for the intrusion of emotion ; but in probable reasoning the judgment ultimately formed by the mind depends often as much upon the antecedent presumptions brought to the investigation of the subject, as upon the actual proofs presented ; the state of feeling causing a variation in the force with which a proposition commends itself to the mind at different times. The very subtlety of this influence, which requires careful analysis for its detection, causes it to be overlooked. Accordingly, in a subject like religion, the emotions may secretly insinuate themselves in the preliminary step of determining the weight due to the premises, even where the final process of inference is purely intellectual. We can select illustrations of this view of the subtlety of the operation of prejudice from in- m Proof being of two kinds, viz. antecedent probability, etVo'r, (Arist. Rhct. i. 2. § 15.) which shows the cause; and evidence, tr^flov, which shows the fact ; it is clear that the latter, if of the positive kind, T€Kfir}piov} is demonstrative ; but if merely of the probable kind, or of the nature of circumstantial evidence, avoivvpov aijfielov, re- quires the antecedent probability in addition for the purpose of effecting conviction. Otherwise the evidence may seem to be an accidental concatenation of circumstances, unless explained by the antecedent probability that existed for the occurrence of the main fact which the accumulation of circumstances is adduced to attest. LECTUEE I. 21 stances of a kind unlike the one previously named ; in which it will be seen that the disinclination of the inquirer to accept Christianity has not arisen pri- marily from the obstacle caused by the enmity of his own carnal heart, but from antipathy toward the moral character of those who have professed the Christian faith. Who can doubt, that the corrupt lives of Christians in the later centuries of the middle ages, the avarice of the Avignon popes, the selfishness shown in the great schism, the simony and nepotism of the Roman court of the fifteenth century, excited disgust and hatred toward Christianity in the hearts of the lite- rary men of the Renaissance, which disqualified them for the reception of the Christian evidences ; or that the social disaffection in the last century in France in- censed the mind against the Church that supported alleged public abuses", until it blinded a Voltaire from seeing any goodness in Christianity ; or that the reli- ligious intolerance shown within the present century by the ecclesiastical power in Italy drove a Leopardi0 n See below, the commencement of Lect. V. ; and on the influ- ence of social disaffection in causing modern unbelief, see Pearson's Infidelity, part 2. ch. 3. p. 373 seq. 0 Giacomo Leopardi (1798 — 1837), a native of the trans- Apennine Roman states. His works were published (1845 — 49)? consisting of philological pieces, poems, papers on philosophy, and letters. The Italians consider him to have been a prodigy in philological power that might have rivalled Niehbuhr. As a poet he was one of the finest of his country in the present century. His letters arc very classical in expression, and have been said iu rival the corre- 22 LECTURE I. and a Bini0 into doubt ; or that the sense of sup- posed personal wrong and social isolation deepened the unbelief of Shelley i and of Heinrich Heine1"? Whatever other motives may have operated in these respective cases, the prejudices which arose from the causes just named, doubtless created an ante- cedent impression against religion, which impeded the lending an unbiassed ear to its evidence. spondence of the best ages of Italy. His fine mind was darkened with the deepest shades of doubt. Shelley is the nearest English representative. A masterly sketch of his mental and literary cha- racter was given in the Quarterly Revieiv (No. 172. March 1850), generally supposed to be from the pen of an English statesman well known for his knowledge of the Italian literature and his sympathy with constitutional government. P Carlo Bini (1806 — 1842), a native of Tuscany of less note, who belonged to the Republican party in politics, and like Leopard! burned with an unquenchable love of la patriot* A monument with an inscription by his friend Mazzini has been recently erected over his grave at Livorno. The tender pathos shown in his poetry has been compared to that of Jean Paul. One of his poems, UAnniver- lario della Nascita 1833, expressive of deep and afflicting scepticism and life-weariness, will be found in the Collection of Italian Poetry cdited by Arrivabene (1 vol. i2mo. 1855.) y these faults. See Grote's History oj vol. viii. ch. 67. LECTURE II. 59 lysing the influence of intellectual causes in the pro- duction of unbelief. Four separate tendencies may be distinguished among heathens in the early centuries in reference to religion & : viz. the tendency, (i) to absolute unbelief, (2) to a bigoted attachment to a national creed, (3) to a philosophical, and (4) a mystical theory of religion. The tendency to total disbelief of the supernatural prevailed in the Epicurean school. A type of the more earnest spirits of this class is seen at a period a little earlier than the Christian era in Lucretius, living mournfully in the moral desert which his doubts had scorched into barrenness11. The world is to him a scene unguided by a Providence : death is uncheered by the hope of a future life. An example of the flippant sceptic is found in Lucian in the second century, A. D. The great knowledge of life which travel had afforded him created a universal ridicule for religion ; but his unbelief evinced no seriousness, no sadness. His humour itself is a type of the man. Lacking the bitter earnestness which §' These tendencies are discussed so fully and with such great learning by Neander {KirchengescMchte, vol. i. Introduction), and by Pressense, Hist, de VEglise Chr&ienne, (2e serie, t. ii. ch. 1.), to whom I am largely indebted, that it is unnecessary to quote the original sources. Neander exhibits an analogous process in the Jewish religion, in sects of the later times of the nation. See also Dollinger's Judenthum und Heidenthum (translated 18 52.) h The mental character of Lucretius has been well analyzed by Mr. Sellai', in the volume of Oxford Essays, 1855. 60 LECTUEE II. gave sting to the wit of Aristophanes, and the cour- teous playfulness exhibited in the many-sided genius of Plato, he was a caricaturist rather than a painter : his dialogues are farces of life rather than satires. It has been well remarked, that human society has no worse foe than a universal scoffer. Lacking aspi- rations sufficiently lofty to appreciate religion, and wisdom to understand the great crises that give birth to it, such a man destroys not superstition only but the very faculty of belief1. It is easy to perceive that to such minds Christianity would be a mark for the same jests as other creeds. A second tendency, most widely opposed in ap- pearance to the sceptical, but which was too often its natural product, showed itself in a bigoted attach- ment to the national religion'. Among the masses such faith was real though unintelligent, but in edu- cated men it had become artificial. When an ethnic religion is young, faith is fresh and gives inspiration to its art and its poetry. In a more critical age, the historic spirit rationalizes the legends, while the phi- losophic allegorizes the myths ; and thoughtful men attempt to rise to a spiritual worship of which rites are symbols k. But in the decay of a religion, the i Pressense' (ut sup. 2e serie, t. ii. 77 seq.) has ably sketched the character of Lucian. His utter scepticism is seen in the Zeus TpaycpSoy (47—49). J Instances, with references, may be seen in the introductory chapter in Neander, p. 18 seq. k The Greek literature otters the opportunity for studying the whole process. See Grote, i. ch. 16, previously quoted. LECTURE II. 61 supernatural loses its hold of the class of educated minds, and is regarded as imposture, and the support which they lend to worship is political. They fall back on tradition to escape their doubts, or they think it politically expedient to enforce on the masses a creed which they contemn in heart. Such a ground of attachment to paganism is described in the dialogue of the Christian apologist, Minucius Felix1. It would not only coincide with the first-named tendency in denying the importance of Christianity, but would join in active opposition. In truth, it marks the commencement of the strong reaction which took place in favour of heathenism at the close of the second century, — twofold in its nature ; a popular re- action of prejudice or of mysticism on the part of the lower classes, and a political or philosophical one of the educated111. Both were in a great degree produced by Eastern influences. The substitution which was gradually taking place of naturalism for humanism, the adoration of cosmical and mystical powers instead 1 The character Csecilius, in the dialogue of Minucius Felix, is made to express this view, (c. 8. and elsewhere.) A useful modern edition of this dialogue is given by H. A. Holden, 1853. m This reaction deserves to be made the subject of special study. Pressense- is one of the few writers who have pointed out its import- ance, (2^ serie, t. ii. ch. 1.) Also compare the remarks in Ben- jamin Constant's posthumous work Du Polytheisme Homain, 1833. (t. ii. 1. 12, 13, 15.) Kurtz refers on this subject to Tzchirner's der Fall des Heidenthum, i. 404. (1829.); H. Kritzler's Ilelden-zeiten des Christentkum, vol. i. (1856.), and Vogt's Neo-Platonismus und Christenthum (1836.) Also Cfr. Tzchirner's Apologetik (1804.) c. 2. parts 2 and 3. 02 LECTURE II. of the human attributes of the deities of the older creed, was the means of re-awakening popular super- stition, while at the same time the Alexandrian spe- culations of Neo-Platonism gave a religious aspect to philosophy. Accordingly the third, or philosophical tendency in reference to religion, distinct from the two already named, of positive unbelief in the supernatural on the one hand, and devotion sincere or artificial to heathen worship on the other, comprises, in addition to the older schools of Stoics and Platonists, the new eclectic school just spoken of. The three schools agreed in extracting a philosophy out of the popular religion, by searching for historic or moral truth veiled hi its symbols. The Stoic, as being the least speculative, employed itself less with religion than the others. Its doctrine, ethical rather than metaphysical, concerned with the will rather than the intellect, juridical and formal rather than speculative, seemed especially to give expression to the Roman character, as the Pla- tonic to the Greek, or as the eclectic to the hybrid, half Oriental half European, which marked Alex- andria. In the writings of M. Aurelius, one of the emperors most noted for the persecution of the church, it manifests itself rather as a rule of life than a subject for belief, as morality rather than re- ligion11. The Stoic opposition to Christianity was the n The Meditations of M. Aurelius were edited by Gataker (1698.) See concerning them Fabricius, Biblioth. Grcec. v. 500. (ed. Harles) ; Donaldson, Gr. Let. ch. 54. § 2. ; and concerning his opinion.'5. LECTURE II. 63 contempt of the Gaul or Roman for what was foreign, or of ethical philosophy for religion. The Platonic doctrine, so far as it is represented in an impure form in the early centuries, sought, as of old, to explore the connexion between the visible and invisible worlds, and to rise above the phenome- non into the spiritual. Hence in its view of heathen religion it strove to rescue the ideal religion from the actual, and to discover the one revelation of the Divine ideal amid the great variety of religious traditions and modes of worship. But its invincible dualism, separating by an impassable chasm God from the world, and mind from matter, identifying goodness with the one, evil with the other, prevented belief in a religion like Christianity, which was pene- trated by the Hebrew conceptions of the universe, so alien both to dualism and pantheism. The line is not very marked which separates this philosophy from the professed revival of Plato's teaching, which received the name of Neo-Platonism, which was the philosophy with which Christianity came most frequently into conflict or contact during the third and two following centuries (10). Fasten- Neander's Kirchengesch. I. 177. Mr. G. Long lias recently trans- lated the Meditations into English. The philosophy of the Roman Stoics, of which M. Aurelius is one of the best types, is briefly but excellently treated by Sir A. Grant in the Oxford Essays for 1858. Also consult Ritter's History of Philosophy , vol. iv. b. 12. ch. 3. and Neander's paper on the relation of Greek Ethics to Christianity in the Zeitschrift fur Christliche Wissenchaft und Christliches Leben (1850.) translated in the American Bibliotheca Sacra for 1853. G4 LECTURE II ing on the more mystical parts of Plato, to the neglect of the more practical, it probably borrowed something also from Eastern mysticism. The object of the school was to find an explanation of the pro- blem of existence, by tracing the evolution of the absolute cause in the universe through a trinal mani- festation, as being, thought, and action. The agency by which the human mind apprehended this process lay in the attainment of a kind of insight wherein the organ of knowledge is one with the object known, a state of mind and feeling whereby the mind gazes on a sphere of being which is closed to the ordi- nary faculties. Schelling's theory of " intellectual intuition" is the modern parallel to this Neo-Platonic state of cKo-rao-is or ivOouo-iao-iuLos. This philosophy, though frequently described in modern times as bearing a resemblance to Christianity in method, as being the knowledge of the one absolute Being by means of faith, is really most widely opposed in its interior spirit. It is essentially pantheism. Its monotheistic aspect, caught by contact with Semitic thought, is exterior only. Its deity, which seems personal, is really only the personification of an ab- straction, a mere instance of mental realism. Man s personality, which Christianity states clearly, was lost in the universe ; religious facts in metaphysical ideas0. Religion accordingly would be exclusive, con- ° Pressense even suggests (2e. serie, t. ii. p. 62.) that the ultimate result was almost the nirvana of Boodhism. It will be observed, that the view taken in the text concerning the Neo-Platonic philosophy. LECTURE IB 65 fined to an aristocracy of education ; and the existing national cultus would be appropriated as a sensuous religion suited for the masses, a visible type of the invisible. The analogy which this philosophy bore to Christianity in aim and office, as well as the rivalry of other schools which is implied in its eclectic aspect, caused it to take up an attitude of opposition to the Christian system to which it claimed to bear affinity. The mystical element in this philosophy enabled some minds to find a home for the theurgy which had been increased by the importation of eastern ideas p. They form as it were the connecting link with the fourth religious tendency, which manifested itself in the craving for a communication from the world invisible, which found its satisfaction in magic and in a spirit of fanaticism. Some of these fanatics were doubtless also impostors <* ; but some were high-minded men struggling after truth, of whom possibly an example is seen at an early period in Apollonius of Tyana ; deceived rather than deceivers. This tendency operated in some minds to cause them to reduce Christianity to ordinary magic and prodigies ; while for which I am largely indebted to Pressense, is different from that which regards it as monotheism, and which has been made popular by Mr. Kingsley's novel, Hypatia, and by his lectures on the Schools of Alexandria (Lect. 3.), 1854. P Hitter happily calls this philosophy Neo-Pythagoreanism, as the former was Neo-Platonism. q E. g. the Alexander of Pontus, whom Lucian holds up to ridi- cule. On Apollonius of Tyana, see a subsequent note. F U<3 LECTURE II. among a few it created yearnings for a nobler satis- faction, which drew them toward Christianity, as in the case of the Clemens, whose autobiography professes to be given in the well-known work of the early ages, the Clementines. (11) Such seem to have been the chief forms of reli- gious thought existing among the heathen to whom Christianity presented itself, on which were founded the preparation of heart which led to the accep- tance of its message, or the prejudices which rejected its claims ; — viz. among the masses, a sensuous un- intelligent belief in polytheism ; — among the edu- cated, disorganization of belief; either materialism, the total rejection of the supernatural, and a political attachment on the principle of expedience to existing creeds ; or philosophy, ethical, dualistic, pantheistic, despising religions as mere organic products of na- tional thought, and trying to seize the central truths of which they were the expression ; or a mystical craving after the supernatural, degrading its victims into fanatics. The further analysis of these tenden- cies would show their connexion with the threefold classification before given of the tests of truth into sense, reason, and feeling. We have thus prepared the way for interpreting the lines of argument used in opposition to Christi- anity, and shall now proceed to sketch in chronological succession the history of the chief intellectual attacks made by unbelievers. It is not until the middle of the second century LECTURE II. 67 that we find Christianity becoming the subject of literary investigation. Incidental expressions either of scorn or of misapprehension form the sole allusions in the heathen writers of earlier date (12) ; but in the reigns of the Antonines, the Christians began to attract notice and to meet with criticism. We read of a work written against Christianity by a Cynic, Crescens, in the reign of Antoninus Piusr; and of another by the tutor of Marcus Aurelius, Fronto of Cirtas, in which probably the imperial persecution was justified. It is at this time too that we meet with an attempt to hold the Christians up to ridicule in a satire of Lucian*, which well exemplifies the views belonging r Crescens is named in Justin Martyr (Apolog. II. 3), who wrote against his attack ; Tatian [Oral. adv. Grac. c. 3) ; Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. iv. 1 6). The last, on the strength of Tatian, accuses him of causing Justin's death. s Cornelius Fronto is referred to by Minucius Felix (Octav. ch. 9. and 31), as having charged incestuous banquets on the Christians. Tzchirner (Opusc. Acad. 1829. p. 294) conjectures that his work may have been a legal speech against some Christian, which implied a defence of the imperial persecution. Part of Fronto's works have been found during the present century, and edited with a disserta- tion on his life and writings by Angelo Mai. (On his work against Christianity, see p. 57. of the dissertation.) A brief account of them may be found in Smith's Biographical Dictionary sub Fronto. 1 Lucian probably lived from about A.D. 125 to 200. Consult the account given by Donaldson (Gr. Lit. ch. 54. § 3 and 4) of his life, opinions, and works, where a comparison is drawn between him and Voltaire ; also Mr. Dyer's article Lucianus in Smith's Biogra- phical Dictionary ; also Fabricius' Bibliotheca Groeca v. 340. (ed. Harles) ; Lardner's Collection of Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, F 2 68 LECTUKE II. to the sceptical of the four classes into which we have divided the religious opinions of the heathen. His tract, the Peregrinus Proteus, it can hardly be doubted, is intended as a satire on Christian martyrdom (13). Peregrinus" is a Cynic philosopher, who after a life of early villany is made by Lucian to play the hypo- crite at Antioch and join himself to the Christians, ' miserable men' (as he calls them), ' who, hoping for immortality in soul and body, had a foolish con- tempt of death, and suffered themselves to be per- suaded that they were brethren, because, having aban- doned the Greek gods, they worshipped the cruci- fied sophist, living according to his lawsx/ Pere- grinus, when a Christian, soon rises to the dignity of bishop, and is worshipped as a god ; and when im- prisoned for his religion is visited by Christians from all quarters. Afterwards, expelled the church, he travels over the world ; and at last for the sake of glory burns himself publicly at Olympia about A.D. 165. His end is described in a tragico-comic manner, Works, vol. viii. ch. 1 9. The satire referred to above is entitled Ilepl rrjs Ilepiypivov T(Xcvttjs. u We learn from other writers that Peregrinus was a real charac- ter; but Aulus Gellius (xii. 11), gives a much more favourable cha- racter of him than Lucian. x The passage (of which this is Tzchirner's paraphrase) is : n«r«- Kao-i yap avrovs oi Kaxobaipoves to pcv oXov aOavaroi ea-eaBai nai fitooo-to-Oai top (U\ xpovov, nap 6 ko.1 Karacppovovo-t rov Qavarov nai ckoptcs avrovs ««- di86aaip ol iroXXoi' e7reira 8e 6 popoderrjs 6 npcbros tnetaep avrovs cos dd(X- ' Cfr. Pereg. Prot. §11 and 1 2. z Bp. Pearson considered ( Vindic. Ignat. part. ii. 6,) that an al- lusion is made to the death of Ignatius, (Cfr. Le Moyne, Varia Sacra (pref.) 1694, for a somewhat similar argument in reference to Poly- carp.) A. Planck in his Lucian und Christenthum (part i.) in Stud. und Krit. 1 851., the references to which are given in note 12 of these lectures, tries to show that Lucian alludes even to Ignatius's letters. If he does not succeed in establishing this point, he at least (part iii.) makes Lucian's knowledge of Christian literature extremely probable. a These are enumerated by A. Planck, (id. partii.) 70 LECTURE II. his satire are, their credulity in giving way to Pere- grinus ; their unintelligent belief in Christ and in im- mortality ; their factiousness in aiding Peregrinus when in prison ; their pompous vanity in martyr- dom, and possibly their tendency to believe legends respecting a martyr's death. His satire is contempt, not anger, nor dread. It is the humour of a thorough sceptic, which discharged itself on all religions alike ; and indicates one type of opposition to Christianity ; viz. the contempt of those who thought it folly. Very unlike to him was his well-known contempo- rary Celsus. If the one represents the scoffer, the other represents the philosopher. Not despising Christianity with scorn like Tacitus, nor jeering at it with humour like Lucian, Celsus had the wisdom to apprehend danger to heathenism, measuring Christ- ianity in its mental and not its material relations ; and about the reign of Marcus Aurelius wrote against it a work entitled Ao'709 aXqOfc, which was considered of such importance, that Origen towards the close of his own lifeb wrote a large and elaborate reply to it. We know nothing of Celsus s lifec. There is even b Huet thinks the date was subsequent to A.D. 246. (Origeniana i. c. 3. § 11. ed. 1668.) c There is a doubt whether the Celsus against whom Origen wrote is the friend to whom Lucian has addressed his life of the magician Alexander of Abonoteichus. The arguments on this question are stated and weighed in Neander's Kirchengeschichte, vol. i. 169, and Baur's Gcschichte der drei ersten Jahrhunderte, p. 371.) Both conclude that the persons were different. The evidence of their oneness is chiefly Origcn's conjecture that they LECTURE II. 71 an uncertainty as to the school of philosophy to which he belonged. External evidence seems to testify that he was an Epicurean ; but internal would lead us to classify him with the Platonic. Unscrupulous in argu- ment, confounding canonical gospels with apocryphal, and Christians with heretical sects, delighting in searching for contradictions, incapable of understand- ing the deeper aspects of Christianity, he has united in his attack all known objections, making use of minute criticism, philosophical theory, piquant sar- casm, and eloquent invective, as the vehicle of his passionate assault. It is impossible to recover a continuous account of the work of Celsus from the treatise of his respon- dent ; but a careful study of the fragments embedded in the text of Origen will perhaps restore the frame- work of the original sufficiently to enable us to per- ceive the points of his opposition to Christianity, and the manner in which his philosophy stood in the way of the reception of it. (14) Celsus commences by introducing a Jewish rabbi to attack Christianity from the monotheistic stand- point of the earlier faith d. The Jew is first made to were the same person (Cont. Celsum. iv. 36.) The evidence against it is, (1) that Lucian's friend attacked magical rites; the Celsus of Origen seems to have believed them : (2) that Lucian's friend was probably an Epicurean, the other Celsus a Platonist or Eclectic : (3) that the former is praised for his mildness, the latter shows want of moderation. Pressense nevertheless (ut sup. vol. ii. p. 105.) re- gards them as the same person. d B. i. c. 28. The references are made to the chapters in the 72 LECTURE II. direct his criticism against the documents of Christ- ianity, and then the facts narrated e. He points out inconsistencies in the gospel narratives of the gene- alogy of Christ f ; utters the most blasphemous calumnies concerning the incarnation S; turns the nar- rative of the infancy into ridicule h ; imputes our Saviour's miracles to magic1; attacks his divinity J; and concentrates the bitterest raillery on the af- fecting narrative of our blessed Lord's most holy passion. Each fact of deepening sorrow in that divine tragedy, the betrayal k, the mental anguish, the sacred agony1, is made the subject of remarks cha- racterized no less by coarseness of taste and un- fairness, than to the Christian mind by irreve- rence. Instead of his heart being touched by the majesty of our Saviour's sorrow, Celsus only finds an argument against the divine character of the adorable sufferer m. The wonders accompanying Christ's death are treated as legends" ; the resurrection regarded as an invention or an optical delusion0. After Celsus has thus made the Jew the means of Benedictine edition by De la Rue (Paris, 1733.) The earlier part of b. i. is miscellaneous in nature and seems prefatory ; and it is not easy to determine the relation of Origen's remarks in it to the arrangement of Celsus's book. e Speaking generally, B. i. ch. 27, 28,32, may be taken as the one, and the rest of b. i., together with 1). ii. as the other. t B. ii. § 32. g B. i. 28, 32-35. h b. i. 37, 58, 66. * B. i. 38, 68. J B. i. 57; ii. 9, etc. k B. ii. 21. 1 B. ii. 24. m B. ii. 16. » B. iii. 38. 0 B. iii. 59, 55, 57, 78. LECTURE II. 73 a ruthless attack on Christianity, he himself directs a similar one against the Jewish religion itself". He goes to the origin of their history ; describes the Jews as having left Egypt in a sedition ^ ; as being true types of the Christians in their ancient factious- ness1* ; considers Moses to be only on a level with the early Greek legislators8 ; regards Jewish rites like circumcision to be borrowed from Egypt ; charges anthropomorphism on Jewish theology1, and declines allowing the allegorical interpretation in explanation of itu ; examines Jewish prophecy, parallels it with heathen oracles x, and claims that the goodness not the truth of a prophecy ought to be considered y ; points to the ancient idolatry of the Jews as proof that they were not better than other nations z ; and to the destruction of Jerusalem as proof that they were not special favourites of heaven. At last he arrives at their idea of creation a, and here reveals the real ground of his antipathy. While he objects to details in the narrative, such as the mention of days before the existence of the sunb, his real hatred is against the idea of the unity of God, and the freedom of Deity in the act of creation. It is the struggle of pantheism against theism. When Celsus has thus made use of the Jew to refute Christianity from the Jewish stand-point, and P B. iii. § i and elsewhere. 1 B. iii. § 5. r B. iii. § 5. s B. i. 17, 18 ; i. 22. t B. iv. 71 \ vi. 62. u B. iv. 48. x B. vii. 3 ; viii. 45. y B. vii. 14. ' B. iv. 22, 23. a B. iv. 74 \ vi. 49, &c. b B. vi. 60. 74 LECTURE II. afterwards refuted the Jew from his own, he proceeds to make his own attack on Christianity ; in doing which, he first examines the lives of Christians c, and afterwards the Christian doctrine d ; thus skilfully prejudicing the mind of his readers against the per- sons before attacking the doctrines. He alludes to the quarrelsomeness shown in the various sects of Christians e, and repeats the calumnious suspicion of disloyalty f, want of patriotism s, and political useless- nessh ; and hence defends the public persecution of them1. Filled with the esoteric pride of ancient phi- losophy, he reproaches the Christians with their care- fulness to proselytize the poork, and to convert the vicious l ; thus unconsciously giving a noble testimony to one of the most divine features in our religion, and testifying to the preaching of the doctrine of a Saviour for sinners. Having thus defamed the Christians, he passes to the examination of the Christian doctrine, in its form, its method, and its substance. His aesthetic sense, ruined with the idolatry of form, and unable to ap- preciate the thought, regards the Gospels as defective and rude through simplicity"1. The method of Chris- tian teaching also seems to him to be defective, as lacking philosophy and dialectic, and as denouncing the use of reason n. Lastly, he turns to the substance of the c B. iii. d B. v. vi. vii. c B. iii. 10. f B. iii. 5, 14. z B. iii. § 55 ; viii. 73. h B. viii, 69. > B. viii. 69. k B. iii. 44, 50. l B. iii. 59, 62, 74. ™ B. iii. 55 ; viii. 37. n B. vii. 9 ; i. 2 ; i. 9 ; iii. 39 j vi. 10. LECTUEE II. 75 dogmas themselves. He distinguishes two elements in them, the one of which, as bearing resemblance to philosophy or to heathen religion, he regards as in- contestably true, but denies its originality, and en- deavours to derive it from Persia or from Platonism0 ; resolving, for example, the worship of a human being into the ordinary phenomenon of apotheosis p. The other class of doctrines which he attacks as false, con- sists of those which relate to creation % the incarna- tion1*, the falls, redemption1, man's place in creation11, moral conversions x, and the resurrection of the dead^. His point of view for criticising them is derived from the fundamental dualism of the Platonic system ; the eternal severance of matter and mind, of God and the world ; and the reference of good to the region of mind, evil to that of matter. Thus, not content with his former attack on the idea of creation in discussion with the Jew, he returns to the discussion from the philo- sophical side. His Platonism will not allow him to admit that the absolute God, the first Cause, can have any contact with matter. It leads him also to give importance to the idea of Sal/moves, or divine mediators, by which the chasm is filled between the ideal god and the world2 ; not being able otherwise to imagine the action of the pure ISea of God on a ° B. vi. 15 ; vi. 22, 58, 62 ; v. 63; vi. 1. P B. iii. 22 j vii. 28-30. q B. iv. 37 ; vi. 49. r B. iv. 14; v. 2; vii. 36. s B. iv. 62, 70. 1 B. v. 14 ; vii. 28, 36; vi. 78. u B. iv. 74, 76, 23. * B. iii. 65. y B. v. 14, 15. z B. vii. 68; viii. (2-14) 35, 38. 70 LECTURE II. world of matter. Hence he blames Christians for attributing an evil nature to demons, and finds a reasonable interpretation of the heathen worship a. The same dualist theory extinguishes the idea of the incarnation, as a degradation of God ; and also the doctrine of the fall, inasmuch as psychological dete- rioration is impossible if the soul be pure, and if evil be a necessary attribute of matter b. With the fall, redemption also disappears, because the perfect cannot admit of change ; Christ's coming could only be to correct what God already knew, or rectify what ought to have been corrected before0. Further, Celsus argues, if Divinity did descend, that it would not assume so lowly a form as Jesus. The same rigorous logic charges on Christianity the undue elevation of man, as well as the abasement of God. Celsus can neither admit man more than the brutes to be the final cause of the universe ; nor allow the possibility of mans nearness to Godd. His pantheism, destroy- ing the barrier which separates the material from the moral, obliterates the perception of the fact that a single free responsible being may be of more dignity than the universe. Such is the type of a philosophical objector against Christianity, a little later than the middle of the second century. We meet here for the first time a remarkable effort of pagan thought, endeavouring to a B. viii. 2. b n. iv. pp. c B. iv. 3, 7, 1 8. d b. iv. 74. LECTURE IL 77 extinguish the new religion ; the definite statements of a mind that investigated its claims and rejected it. Most of the objections of Celsus are sophistical ; a few are admitted difficulties ; but the philosophical class of them will be seen to be the corollary from his general principle before explained. A century intervenes before we meet with the next literary assailant, Porphyry. In the interval the new reactionary philosophy had fully taken root, and the fresh attack accordingly bears the impress of the new system. The chief objections made in the intervening period, as we collect them from the apologies, were such as belong fitly to a transitional time, when Christianity was exciting attention but was not understood6 ; and are chiefly the result of the second of the ten- dencies before named, viz., either of popular prejudice, or of the political alarm in reference to the social disorganization likely to arise out of a large defection from the religion of the empire, which expressed it- self in overt acts of persecution on the part of the state. (15) Both equally lie beyond our field of investigation ; the one because it does not belong to the examination of Christianity made by intelli- gent thought ; the other because it is the struggle of deeds, not of ideas, which only have an interest for us, if, as in Julian's case hereafter, the acts were dic- e On the alteration in the attacks, Cfr. Gerard (of Aberdeen), Compendium of Evidences, 1828. (part ii. ch. 1.) 78 LECTUBE II. tated by the deliberate advice of persons who had attentively examined Christianity. The apprehensions of prejudice gradually subsided, and objections began to be based on grounds less ab- surd in character. The political opposition also was henceforth founded on a more subtle policy, and on an appreciation of the nature of Christianity. Soon after the middle of the third century we meet with the next attack of a purely literary kind, viz., by Porphyry, the most distinguished opponent that Christianity had yet encountered f. The pupil of Longinus, perhaps of OrigenS, and the biographer and interpreter of Plotinus, he is best known for his logical writings, and for the development of the theory of predication hi his introduction to the Orga- non, which formed the text on which hung the medi- aeval speculations of scholasticism11. His Syrian origin and oriental culture perhaps prepared him for a fusion of East and West, and for admitting a deeper admix- ture of mysticism into the Neo-Platonic philosophy, of which he was a disciple. The points of his ap- f Porphyry lived from about A. D. 233 to 305. For his life and writings see Holstenius de Vit. Porphyr. (1630); Fabric. Bibl. Grcec.v. 725. (ed. Harles) ; Lardner's Works, viii. 37 ; Donaldson's Gr. Lit. ch. 53. § 7. For his attack on Christianity consult Nean- der's Kirchengesch. i. 290 ; Pressense ii. 156. S His own words, quoted in Eusebius {Eccl. Hist. iii. 19), have been thought to imply this, but seem merely to state his acquaint- ance in youth with Origen. See Holsten. Vit. Porphyr. p. 1 6. h Cousin (Prcf. to Edition of Abelard's Sic et Non, p. 61. note 46.) considers that a passage which Boethius quoted from Porphyry was the means of reviving philosophical speculation on this point. LECTURE II. 79 proximation to Christianity are the result of those elements in which heathen philosophy most nearly approached to Christian truth, the development of which was stimulated in minds essentially anti- christian by the effort to find a rival to it. Ad- mirably prepared by his serious and spiritual tone to embrace Christianity, he nevertheless lived a disciple of paganism. His feelings rather than his reason led him to defend national creeds. His philosophy and the Christian, which seemed to be aspirations after the same end, being designed to elevate the spirit above the world of sense, were really radically opposed. Understanding therefore the power of the Christian religion, he felt the necessity for supplant- ing it ; and hoped to do so by spiritualising the old creeds, which he harmonized with philosophy by means of regarding them as symbolic '. His opposition to Christianity was not however i He seems especially to have felt the difficulty which was before noticed as marking one type of religious opinion, the craving for a theology which rested on some divine authority, or revelation from the world invisible, (Cfr. Augustin s criticisms on him in De Civ. Dei. x. ch. 9, n, 26, 28) ; and hence he drew such a system from the real or pretended answers of oracles, in his irep\ ri]s e« Xoyiiov (pt- \oo-ocf)ias, of which fragments exist in Eusebius and Augustin (Fabric. Bill. Gr. v. 744). Heathens, it would seem, had consulted oracles on this very subject of Christianity ; and it is these, the genuineness of which maybe doubted, that he uses. His aim seems to have been to support the existing religious system ; and for this purpose he fa- voured the alliance with the priestly system, and the institution of religious rites. See Neander Kirchengesch. i. 293. 80 LECTURE IT. based wholly on a prejudice of feeling. He was a man cultivated in all the learning of his age, and of a more generous temper than Celsus, and seems to have exercised much critical sagacity in the investi- gation of the claims of Christianity. About the year 270, while in retirement in Sicily, he wrote a book against the Christians k. This work having been de- stroyed, we are left to gather its contents and the opinions of its author from a few criticisms in Euse- bius and Jerome. The entire work consisted of fif- teen books ; and concerning only five of these is infor- mation afforded by them. Their remarks lead us to conjecture that it was an assault on Christianity in many relations. The books however of which we know the purpose, seem to have been critical rather than philosophical, directed against the grounds of the religion rather than its character ; being in fact an assault on the Bible. The existence of such a line of argument, of which a trace was already observable in Celsus, is explained by the circumstance that the faith of Christendom was already fixed on the au- thority of the sacred books. The church had always acknowledged the authority of the Jewish scriptures ; and by the middle or close of the second century at the latest, it had come to acknowledge explicitly the co-ordinate authority of a body of Christian lite- k On this work, koto. XpuTTiavvv, see Holsten. ( Vita Porphyr. c. x.) who quotes at length from the Fathers the principal passages in which allusion to it is made. LECTURE II. 81 rature, historic, and epistolary1. Hence, when once the idea of a rule of faith had grown common, the investigation of the contents of the scriptures became necessary on the part of heathen opponents. The growingly critical character of Porphyry's statements, though partly attributable to the literary culture of his mind, is a slight undesigned evidence corrobo- rative of the authoritative nature already attributed to the scriptures in doctrine and truthfulness. Por- phyry seems accordingly to have directed his critical powers to show such traces of mistakes and incorrect- ness as might invalidate the idea of a supernatural origin for the Jewish and Christian scriptures, and shake confidence in their truth as an authority. The first book of his work"1 dragged to light some of the discrepancies, real or supposed, in scripture ; 1 Omitting allusion to the references concerning the canon fur- nished in older works, e. g. of Cosin, Dupin, Jones, Lardner, Michaelis, some of which were written in reference to the controversy between the Romanists and Reformed, others between the Christians and freethinkers, we may at least name Moses Stuart's work on the Canon of the Old Testament, and Credner Zur Geschichte des Kanons with reference to the New ; (the former is apologetic, the latter independent and slightly rationalistic, but full of learning ;) and especially the work on the Canon of the New Testament by Mr. B. F. Westcott (1855), and the article on Canon by him in Smith's Biblical Dictionary, where references to fuller literary materials are given. m Hieronymi Opera, (at the end of the Proem, of the Commentary on Galatians) vol. 4. part i. p. 223, Benedictine edition of Martianay, 1706 ; also Galat. ii. 11. (id. p. 244) ; also at the end of book xiv., (Isaiah liii.) vol. iii. p. 388 ; also Ep. 74 to Augustin (id. iv. part ii. 619, 622.) G 82 LECTURE II. and the examination of the dispute between St. Peter and St. Paul was quoted as an instance of the ad- mixture of human ingredients in the body of apo- stolic teaching. His third book" was directed to the subject of scripture interpretation, especially, with some inconsistency, against the allegorical or mystical tendency which at that time marked the whole church, and especially the Alexandrian fathers. The allegorical method coincided with, if it did not arise from, the oriental instinct of symbolism, the natural poetry of the human mind. But in the minds of Jews and Christians it had been sanctified by its use in the Hebrew religion, and had become associated with the apocryphal literature of the Jewish church. It is traceable to a more limited extent in the inspired writers of the New Testament, and in most of the fathers ; but in the school of Alexandria0 it was adopted as a formal system of interpretation. It is this allegorical system which Porphyry attacked. He assaulted the writings of those who had fanci- fully allegorised the Old Testament in the pious n Euseb. Eccl. Hist.xi. c. 19. (ed. Gaisforcl, p. 414) gives a long extract from Porphyry. Of the second book nothing is known. 0 On the school of Alexandria see H. E. F. Guericke Schola quce Alex, floruit, 1825. (p. 51-81); Matter's Essai sur Fecole d'Alex- andrie, 1840; Nean^er's Kirchengesch. IT. 908 seq, 1196 seq. On the allegorical method of interpretation adopted by Origen, see Huet's Origeniana II. qiuest. 13. (vol. i. 170); Conybeare's Bamp- ton Lecture for 1824 (Lect. 2-4) ; R. A.Vaughan's Essays and Re- mams (Essay I); and an article in the North British Mevietv, No. 46, August 1855. Also compare a note on systems of interpretation in Lect. VI. LECTURE II. 83 desire of finding Christianity in every part of it, in spite of historic conditions ; and lie hastily drew the inference, with something like the feeling of doubt which rash interpretations of prophecy are in danger of producing at this day, that no consistent sense can be put upon the Old Testament. His fourth bookP was a criticism on the Mosaic history, and on Jewish antiquities. But the most important books in his work were the twelfth^ and thirteenth r, which were devoted to an examination of the prophecies of Daniel, in which he detected some of those peculiarities on which modern criticism has employed itself, and arrived at the conclusions in reference to its date, revived by the English deist Collins in the last century, and by many German critics in the present. It is well known that half of the book of Daniel s P Euseb. Prsep. i. 9 \ x. 9 j which passages merely express the hostility of Porphyry. \ These remarks will u E. g. the wars of the kings of the north and of the south, c. xi. * Viz., till about B. C. 164. y He seems also to have entered into some examination of the specific prophecies ; for he objects to the application of the words " the abomination of desolation" to other objects than that which he considers its original meaning. See Hieronym. on Matt. xxiv. 15. the reference to which is given in a preceding note. 86 LECTURE II. give an idea of the critical acuteness of Porphyry. His objections are not, it will be observed, founded on quibbles like those of Celsus, but on instruc- tive literary characteristics, many of which are greatly exaggerated or grossly misinterpreted, but still are real, and suggest difficulties or inquiries which the best modern theological critics have honourably felt to demand candid examination and explanation7. A period of about thirty years brings us to the date of the Diocletian persecution, A.D. 303 ; during the progress of which another noted attack was made. It was by Hierocles, then president of Bithy- nia, and afterwards prsefect of Alexandria, himself one of the instigators of the persecution and an agent in effecting ita. His line of argument was more specific 1 A few other traces of Porphyry's views remain, which are of less importance, and are levelled against parts of the New Testa- ment : e. g. the change of purpose in our blessed Lord (John vii.) [Hieronym. vol. iv. partii. p. 521. {Dial. adv. Pelag.)', Ep. (101) ad Pammach. Several are given in Holsten. (Vit. Porphyr. p. 86)], the reasons why the Old Testament was abrogated if divine, [Augustin. Epist. (102, olim 49, Benedict, ed. 1689) vol. ii. p. 274, where six questions are named, some of which come from Porphyry:] the question what became of the generations which lived before Christianity was proclaimed, if Christianity was the only way of salvation ; objections to the severity of St. Peter in the death of Ananias ; and the inscrutable mystery of an infinite punishment in requital for finite sin. (Aug. Retract, b. ii. c. 31. vol. i. p. 53, concerning Matt. vii. 2.) 8 Hierocles' work was called Aoyoi (pi\a\r]6eis irpos rovs Xpia-navovs. Our knowledge of it depends upon the refutation which Eusebius wrote of it ; and upon passages in Lactantius (Instit. v. 2, and De Mort. Persecut. 16.) Concerning Hierocles see Baylc's Diction- LECTURE II. 87 than those previously named, being directed against the evidence which was derived by Christians for the truth of their religion from the character and miraculous works of Christ ; and his aim accordingly was to develope the character of Apollonius of Ty- anab, as a rival to our Saviour in piety and miraculous power. Apollonius was a Pythagorean philosopher, born in Cappadocia about four years before the Christian era. After being early educated in the circle of phi- losophy, and in the practice of the ascetic discipline of his predecessor Pythagoras, he imitated that philo- sopher hi spending the next portion of his life in travel. Attracted by his mysticism to the farthest East as the source of knowledge, he set out for Persia and India; and in Nineveh on his route met Damis, the future chronicler of his actions. Return- ing from the East instructed in Brahminic lore, he travelled over the Roman world. The remainder of his days was spent in Asia Minor. Statues and temples were erected to his honour. He obtained ary, sub voc. (notes); Fabric. Bibl. Gr. i. 792. note ; Cave's Hist Lit. i. 131. ii. 99 ; Lardner's Works, vol. viii. ch. 39. § 1-4, and Neander's Kirchengesch. i. 296. b On Apollonius of Tyana, see Lardner's Works, vol. viii. ch. 39. § 5, 6. Ritter's History of Philosophy (vol. iv. b. xii. ch. 7.), and especially the monograph by C. Baur of Tubingen, Apollonius von Tyana und Christus oder das Verhaeltniss des Pythagoreismus zum Christenthum (1832); also the Abbe Houtteville's Essay affixed to the Discourse on the Method of tlie Principal Authors for and against Christianity, translated 17395 and the article Apollonius by Professor Jowett in Smith's Biographical Dictionary. 88 . LECTURE II. vast influence, and died with the reputation of sanc- tity late in the century. Such is the outline of his life, if we omit the numerous legends and prodigies which attach themselves to his name. He was partly a philosopher, partly a magician ; half mystic, half impostor0. At the distance of a century and a quarter from his death, in the reign of Septimius Severus, at the request of the wife of that emperor, the second of the three Philostrati dressed up Damis's narrative of his life, in a work still remaining, and paved a way for the general reception of the story among the cultivated classes of Rome and Greece d. It has been thought that Philostratus had a polemical aim against the Christian faith e, as the memoir of Apollonius is in so many points a parody on the life of Christ. The annunciation of his birth to his mother, the chorus of swans which sang for joy on occasion of it, the casting out devils, the raising the dead, and healing the sick, the sudden disappearance and re- appearance of Apollonius, the c He was probably midway between Pythagoras and the Alex- ander named by Lueian. d It was written about A.D. 210, at the request of Julia Domna, and is entitled to. is rbv Tvavia AnoX\a>viov. On this life by Philos- tratus see Fabric. Bibl. Gr. v. 541.; the above-named works of Houtteville and Baur ; Donaldson's Gr. Lit. ch. Hi. § 7 ; Pressense ii. T44seq. ; and a recent translation of Philostratus with remarks by A. Chassang, " Le Marveilleux dans l'Antiquite" (1862). e Lardner and Hitter think that Philostratus did not write with a polemical reference to Christianity, but Baur concludes other- wise. Dean Trench has made a few remarks in reference to this question {Notes to Miracles, p. 62.) LECTURE II. 89 sacred voice which called him at his death, and his claim to be a teacher with authority to reform the world, form some of the points of similarity. If such was the intention of Philostratus, he was really a controversialist under the form of a writer of romance ; employed by those who at that time were labouring (as already named) to introduce an eclecti- cism largely borrowed from the East into the region both of philosophy and religion. Without settling this question, it is at least certain that about the beginning of the next century the heathen writers adopted this line of argument, and sought to exhibit a rival ideal f. One instance is the life of Pythagoras by Iamblichus; another that which Hierocles wrote, in part of which he used Philostratus's untrustworthy memoir for the purpose of instituting a comparison between Apol- lonius and Christ. The sceptic who referred re- ligious phenomena to fanaticism would hence avail himself of the comparison as a satisfactory account of the origin of Christianity ; while others would adopt the same view as Hierocles, and deprive the Christian miracles of the force of evidence, — a line of argument which was reproduced by an English deist s who translated the work of Philostratus at the end of the seventeenth century. The work of Hierocles is lost, f On Iamblichus's Life of Pythagoras, see Fabricius Bibl. Gr. v. 764 ; Lardner viii. 39. § 7., who however concludes in this case, as in that of Philostratus, that the book was not designed against Christianity. g Charles Blount in 1680. See Lect. IV. 90 LECTURE II but an outline of its argument, with extracts, remains in a reply which Eusebius wrote to a portion of it (17). Though couched in a seeming spirit of fairness, the tone was such as would be expected from one who ungenerously availed himself of the very moment of a cruel persecution as the occasion of this literary attack. But the time of the church's sorrow was nearly past. The hour of deliverance was at hand. The emperor Constantine proclaimed toleration11, and subsequently established Christianity as the state- religion. Only one moment more of peril was per- mitted to befall it. After an interval in which Christian emperors reigned, Julian ascended the throne, and employed his short reign of two years1 in trying to restore heathenism; and during the last winter of his life, while halting at Antioch in the course of his Eastern war, wrote an elaborate work against Christianity k. The book itself has been destroyed, but the reply re- mains which Cyril of Alexandria thought it necessary to write more than half a century afterwards ; and by this means we can gather Julian's opinions, just as from his own letters and the contemporary history we can gather his plans. The material struggle of h A.D. 313. i A.D. 361-3. k Kara XpiaTiavaiv. See Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vii. 738 ; Lardner viii. 46. § 2, and 4; Donaldson iii. 303. Fragments of it are preserved in Cyril's reply. The Marquis d'Argens, at the court of Frederick the Great of Prussia, translated and tried to unite them. Defense clu Paganisme par VEmpereur Julian, 1764. LECTURE II. 91 deeds belongs in this instance to our subject, inas- much as it is the overt expression of the struggle of ideas. Julian, as already observed, differed from previous opponents of Christianity, in having been educated a Christian \ Associating when a student at the schools of Athens with Gregory of Nazianzum and Basil, he had every opportunity for understanding the Christian religion and measuring its claims. The first cause of his apostasy from it remains uncertain. One tradition states that the shock to his creed arose from some early injury received through the fraud of a pro- fessing Christian. Something is probably due to ex- asperation at the severity endured from Constantius ; and perhaps still more is due to the natural peculi- arity of his character. He was swayed by the imagi- nation rather than the reason, and was kindled with an enthusiastic admiration of the old heathen litera- ture and the historic glories of the heathen world. His very style exhibits traces of imitation of the old models after which he formed himselfm. With a spirit which the Italian writers of the Renaissance 1 On the life and reign of Julian, see Gibbon (Decline and Fall, c. 22—24) ') Fabricii Lux Evangelii, 17 21, c. 14, where the edicts which refer to Christianity are collected ; Lardner viii. 46 ; Abbe de la Bletterie's Vie de Julien ; Neander, Kir chengesch iii. 7 6. and 188, who also wrote in 18 1 2 a monograph on the subject; Wig- gers in Illgen's Hist. Zeitschr. 1837 ; Milman's Hist, of Christianity iii 6. On Julian's works see Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vi. 719 seq. ; Donald- son iii. 57. § 6. m Wyttenbach Opusc. i. 6 ; Donaldson iii. p. 307. 92 LECTURE II. enable us to understand, his sympathies clung round heathens until they entwined in their embrace heathenism itself. To a mind of this natural bias sufficient grounds unhappily would easily be found to produce aversion to Christianity, in the quarrels among sections of the church, and in the ambition and inconsistency of the numbers of nominal converts who embraced the religion when its public establish- ment had rendered it their interest to do so; and prejudice would add arguments for rejecting it. Accordingly he devoted his short reign to restore the ancient heathenism. Like Constantine, having arrived at the throne through a troublous war, he found the religion of the state opposed to his own convictions, and determined to substitute that which he himself professed. The difference however was great. The religion of Constantine was young and progressive ; that of Julian was effete. It is in this respect that Julian has been compared", in his cha- racter and acts, to those who in modern times, both in literature and in politics, have devoted their lives to roll back the progress of public opinion, and reproduce the spirit of the past by giving new life to the relics of bygone ages. If Julian had succeeded in his attempt, the victory could not have been per- manent. The steps by which he strove to carry out his n By Strauss, Der liomantiker cmf clem Throne des Caesar en oiler Julian der abtruenniye 1847. LECTURE II. 93 views were not unlike those of Constantine °. He first proclaimed the establishment of the emperors religion as the religion of the state, permitting toleration for all others. He next transferred the Christian endowments to heathens, acting on the principle previously established by Constantine. But beyond this point he proceeded to measures which had the nature of persecution. He declared the Christian laity disqualified for office in the state, — a measure which could only be sophistically maintained on the plea of self-defence ; and, afraid of the engine of education, forbade Christian professors to lecture in the public schools of science and literature : and probably he at last imposed a tax on those who did not perform sacrifice. At the same time he saw the necessity of a total reformation in paganism, if it was to revive as the rival of Christianity ; and planned, as Pontifex Maximus, a scheme for effecting it, which involved the concealment of the absurdity of its origin by allegorical interpretation, together with the establishment of a discipline and organisa- tion similar to the Christian, and special attention on the part of the priesthood to morality and to public works of mercy p. His bitter contempt for ° There are some good remarks on Julian in Wacldington's Church History, ch. viii. P He also made the well-known attempt to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem. On the alleged miracle which prevented the execu- tion of the scheme, see Warburton's works vol. iv., Lardner vol. viii. ch. 46. § 3, and Milman's note to Gibbon (c. 23.) Warburton 94 LECTUEE II. Christianity manifested itself in a public edict, which commanded that Christians should be denominated by the opprobrious epithet " Galilseans ;" and in some of his extant letters ia, metaphysics, the inquiry concerning being. See Bp. Hampden's article Aristotle in the Encyclopaedia Britannica; Ritter, History of Philosophy (English translation), vol. ii. b. 8. c. 2 and 3. \ and vol. iii. c. 2. LECTURE III. 109 Christian point of view. In respect to the logical method there was a general agreement of opinion, but difference of system arose in the metaphysical. The form that the problem of science then assumed was peculiar. Instead of examining the data from which deduction starts, with a view of finding their subjective certainty as thoughts, the inquirers strove to settle the problem of their objective nature as things. The question asked was this : Are the ge- nera and species which the mind contemplates, in its attempts to classify and interpret phenomena, real in nature, or produced only by human thought and speech % A comparison with the modern mode of investigation will explain the importance which the question possessed, and the reason why it monopo- lized the entire field of inquiry. The progress of discovery has forced upon us a subdivision of the sciences into two classes, unknown in the middle ages ; in one of which we discover causes ; in the other, in which we are unable to find causes, we rest content with classification by species and genera. In the former we discover antecedents, in the latter types &. But in mediaeval science, as in Greek, the latter class was regarded as the sole form % Viz. antecedents in the mechanical class of sciences, types in the zoological and botanical. The distinction is that which is indicated by Mill under the names of " uniformities of causation," and " uniformities of coexistence." See Mill's Logic, vol. i. b. i. ch. 7. § 4; vol. ii. b. iii. eh. 22 : b. iv. ch. 7. Compare also Whewell's Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, vol. i. b. iii. c. 2. and b. viii. 110 LECTURE III. of all perfect science. Hence the reason will appear why the question as to the .true nature of genera and species had a monopoly of the field of inquiry ; and also why the theory of predication was exalted into the most important part of logic11. Those who thought that genera had a real existence as essences apart from man's mind and from nature, were deno- minated Realists : those who denied to them any real existence, and considered them to be a common qua- lity labelled by a common name, were Nominalists : those who held the intermediate view, and assumed them to exist, not only as artificial names but also as general classes in the human mind, were Con- ceptualists. With the realist, classification was not arbitrary, but true and determined for man. With the nominalist and conceptualist it was created by man, and amenable to correction. The question, though now relegated from meta- physical to physical science, has still sufficient im- portance to enable us to perceive likewise the reason why these different theories could be the means of dividing men into parties. The bitterness with which a zoological inquiry of analogous character into the perpetuity of natural species 'l has been lately assailed may enable us to realize the earnestness shown on this point in the middle ages. The question, as viewed h This is the explanation of the fact already quoted from Cousin, that the mediaeval philosophy depended on a quotation made by Boethius from Porphyry. 1 Viz. Darwin's Inquiry into the Origin of Species, 1859. LECTURE III. Ill by the schoolmen, was really the fundamental one as respects knowledge; and the opinions on it are the counterpart to those which relate to the tests of truth and the nature of being in modern metaphysics. The spirit of realism was essentially the spirit of dogma- tism, the disposition to pronounce that truth was already known k : Nominalism was essentially the spirit of progress, of inquiry, of criticism. Realism was in spirit deductive, starting from accepted dog- mas : Nominalism was in spirit, though not in form, inductive. It tested classifications, and admitted op- portunity for the existence of doubt. " Believe, that you may know," was the expression of the former : " Know, that you may belie ve," that of the latter1. The two theories were of universal application to every subject of thought. An illustration will explain their relation to theology. In the foolish and almost irreverent attempts to explain by philosophy the na- ture of the triune existence of the divine Being, the realist, assuming the reaKty of the one genus Deity, was prepared to allow identity of essence in the three species, the three members of the Divine Trinity. The nominalist, allowing only concrete existence, was k Inasmuch as the realist assumed that the innate ideas of the mind gave a knowledge of real essences in nature. 1 " Neque enim quagro intelligere ut credam, sed credo ut intel- ligam," are the words of the realist Anselm (Prolog. I. p. 43. ed. Gerberon.) " Dubitando ad inquisitionem venimus ; inquirendo veritatem percipimus," are those of the nominalist Abelard. (Sic et Non, p. 16. ed. Cousin.) 112 LECTURE III. obliged either to accept unity, only in a verbal sense, and be charged with tritheism, as Roscelin ; or diver- sity only in a verbal sense, and incur the charge of Sabellanism, as Abelard. Such was Scholasticism, and such its relation to philosophy and theology"1. Existing for several cen- turies as an instinct, it became about the end of the eleventh century an intelligent movement". At this period the problem was consciously proposed, and each of the three centuries which are comprised in our present period exhibits a different phase of the controversy. At first the movement was in favour of nominalism in Roscelin and Abelard, and reason assumed an attitude of alleged scepticism : in the thirteenth century the victory was in the hands of intelligent realists like Aquinas, who used reason in favour of orthodoxy. In the fourteenth, nominalism revived in Occam ; the provinces of faith and phi- losophy were severed, and the final victory on the metaphysical question remained in the hands of the nominalists. The scientific position of Abelard will thus be m The best modern work on scholasticism is the Memoire Cou- ronne, by B. Haureau, 2 vols. 1850, in which the various authors and schools of thought are fully treated. Among older sources, the following are important : Brucker, iii. 709-868 ; Tenneinann's Manual, § 237-79; Bitter's GhristlicJie Philosophie; Buhle, Ges- chichte der Neuern Philosophie, i. 8 1 o seq. ; Hampden's Bampton Lectures (I. and II.), and the article by him on Aquinas in the Encyclopaidia Metropolitana ; also Maurice's Mediwval Philosophy. n Cfr. Tennemann's Manual of Philosophy, § 243. LECTURE III. 113 clear. We must now study his intellectual character, as embodying the sceptical aspect which belonged to nominalism. Abelard's character is in many respects one of the most curious in history0. The record of his trials, bodily and mental p, enlists the romantic sympathy of the sentimentalist, and commands the serious at- tention of the philosopher. His wonderful reputation at Paris as a public lecturer connects him with the university life of the middle ages, and presents him as a type of the class of great professors created by the absence of books and consequent prevalence of oral instruction. It was his vast influence which made his opinions of importance, and aroused the opposi- tion of St. Bernard. It seems to have been the ap- plication of the nominalist philosophy to the doctrine of the Trinity, contained in Abelard's works on dogmatic theology % winch excited alarm. The coun- cil called at Sens1" was a theological duel, wherein these two distinguished characters were matched, the most eloquent theologian and preacher against the 0 On Abelard's personal character, see Guizot's Lettres d'Abelard 1839; and Remusat's Abelard 1845, vol. i. part x., the latter of which writers has long studied his life, philosophy, and theology ; also Taillandier's article La Libre pensee du moyen age {Revue des Deux Mondes, Aug. 1861.) ; Tennemann's Gesch. der Phil. viii. 170 seq. ; Tennemann's Manual, § 251. P In his work Liber Calamitatum. q In his Introductio ad Theologiam, and Theologia Christiana. See Neander's Kirchengeschichte, viii. 505 seq. r In a. d. 1 1 2 1 . 114 LECTURE III. most influential professor and philosopher ; the saint against the critic. Bernard was right in his theology ; Abelard perhaps right in his philosophy8. This event however presents the effect of scholasticism in pro- ducing heresy rather than scepticism. The great work which has laid Abelard open to the latter charge merits a brief notice. It was en- titled the Sic et Non, and remained unpublished in the public documents of France till recent years1. It is a collection of alleged contradictions, which exist on a series of topics, which range over the deepest problems of theology, and descend to the confines of casuistry in ethics'1. In the discussion of them Abelard collects passages from the scriptures and from s The nature of this contest is given in Mabillon's edition of Bernard {Prcrf. § 5.), and the characters of the two disputants are sketched in Sir J. Stephens's Lectures on the History of France, ii. (163-207.) ; also in Neander's Kirchengesch, vol. viii. p. 533 seq. * It was published by Cousin in 1836, with an elaborate preface relating to the literary history of Abelard's works and opinions, as well as the character of the scholastic philosophy generally. An edition of the text, including the passages not printed by Cousin, has subsequently been published by Henke and Lindenkohl, (Mar- burg, 1851.) See also Neander's Kirchengesch. viii. p. 523 seq. u The following are examples of the questions proposed : No. (5.) Quod non sit Deus singularis et contra ; (6) Quod sit Deus tripartitus et contra; (14) Quod sit films sine principio et contra; (18) Quod seterna generatio filii narrari vel sciri vel intel- ligi possit et non; (28) Quod nihil fiat casu et contra; (30) Quod peccata etiam placeant Deo et non ; (38) Quod omnia sciat Deus et non ; (124) Quod liceat habere concubinam et contra ; (153) Quod nulla de causa mentiri liceat et contra ; (156) Quod liceat hominem occidere et non. LECTURE III. 115 the fathers in favour of two distinctly opposite so- lutions. He has however prefixed a prologue to the work, which ought to be taken as the explanation of his object x. He insists in it on the difficulty of rightly understanding the scriptures or the fathers, and refers it to eight different causes y ; advising that when these considerations fail to explain the appa- rent contradictions of scripture, we should abandon the manuscripts as inaccurate, rather than believe in the existence of real discrepancies. He draws also a broad distinction between canonical scripture and other literature, strongly affirming the authority of the former. Is this work sceptical % Is it designed under a fair show to serve the purpose of unbelief? Or is it merely an instance of the awakening of the spirit of inquiry, the free criticism exercised by nominalism, the desire to prove all dogmas by reason 1 In other words, was the freethinking of Abelard rationalism, or was it merely Protestantism and theological criticism ? These questions have met with different answers. The Benedictine editors, viewing his condemnation by St. Bernard as parallel to that of the biblical x Abelard's Preface is analysed and discussed in Cousin, p. 191 seq.), and Stephens, vol. ii. p. 169. y Viz. (1) the peculiarities of their style ; (2) their use of popular language on scientific questions ; (3) the corruption of the text ; (4) the number of spurious books ; (5) the retractation by the fathers of their own previous statements ; (6) their careless use of profane learning ; (7) the describing things as they appear, not as they are ; (8) their ambiguous use of words. I 2 110 LECTURE III. critic R. Simon2 by Bossuet, declined to publish the manuscript of his work'1. More recent inquirers, especially the philosophical critic Cousin, have re- garded Abelard with a more favourable eye. They con- sider his treatise merely to be a provisional scepticism, fortifying the mind against premature solutions. Some would even claim him as an early protestant, as the first of the line of men whose spirits, while fretting under the dogmatic teaching or the political centrali- zation of the Western church, have unhesitatingly bowed before the authority of scripture5. Possibly these several views contain elements of truth. Abe- lard's character was complex, and the purpose of his book equally so. He embodied a movement, and experience had not yet taught men to distinguish in it the boundaries which separate the provinces of free thought. The argument in favour of his scepti- cism drawn from the form of his work seems unfair. The statement of a series of paradoxes is lawful, if a 7 R. Simon had published a work, Histoire Critique du Vieux Testament, 1678, in which positions were stated which were new at that time, hut which, as Hallam observes, (Hist, of Lit. iii. 299,) " now pass without reproof." The history of the controversy con- nected with Simon is contained in Walch's Bibliotheca Theologica Selecta, 1765, vol. iv. (251-9. See also Bp. Marsh's Lectures, part i. P- 52. a See Martene et Durant in Thesaur. Nov. Anecdot. (1717) vol. v. Pref. p. 3. h Cousin thinks him a sceptic. So also sir J. Stephens, ii. 170. Taillandicr {Rev. des Deux Mondes quoted above) takes the view given in the text, that his character was complex. See also Lau- rent's La Re forme, pp. 318 — 331. LECTURE III. 117 solution of them be offered, or an explanation of the reason why a solution is impossible. The disputative, dialectical tone which exists in the work was the ordinary mode of instruction in the mediaeval uni- versities, and finds a parallel in the method of thought observable in other ages. Abelard's statement of para- doxes, of an unsolved mass of contradictions, recalls, for example, the early paradoxes on motion which Zeno presented for the purpose of compelling acquiescence in the Eleatic teaching0, or the series of antinomies which Kant has given, as problems insoluble theo- retically, but capable of harmony when viewed on the moral sided. In truth it is the mark, either, as in one of these cases, of the first awakening of the mind to curiosity ; or, as in the other, of the last limit at which curiosity is compelled to pause. Abelard's method is like that which is observable in Socrates, and in those early dialogues of his disciple Plato, in which the pupil is working in his master s manner, wherein difficulties are propounded without being solved. The hearer is cross-questioned, with the view of being made to feel the necessity of possessing knowledge ; and a method is offered to him by which he is to find the solution of problems for himself e. c See Preller's Hist. Phil. Gr. Rom. xxxviii. § 158. Bayle's Dic- tionary, art. Zeno (vol. iv. edition 5. p. 539 note.) d Kant's Kritik {Transcendent. Dial. b. ii. div. 2. p. 322. Engl, transl.) The illustration is borrowed from Taillandier, to whose article I am indebted for several other suggestions. e Grote, vol. viii. ch. 68. 118 LECTURE III. In this view Abelard's doubt is really the inquiry which is the first step to faith ; the criticism which precedes the constructive process, the negation before affirmation. While its form may be regarded as an embodi- ment of the scholastic method, the manner of hand- ling marks the commencement of modern biblical criti- cism. The suggestions which he offers f in reference to false readings of manuscripts, the spuriousness of books, and the temporary character of the author's sentiments, as elements in determining the reality of a contradiction, or the necessary rejection of a passage on grounds of dogmatic improbability, mark a sagacity which has been perfected into a science by the growth of modern criticism. Thus far we have only the elements of inquiry and criti- cism which enter into doubt ; yet it would be unfair to deny that something of unbelief may have been found in a restless care-worn spirit like that of Abe- lard ; and if any one thinks that he intended in his work to leave the reader with the impression that the solution is impossible, or that the doubter s side is the stronger, then we may consider him to have been an unbeliever, and regard his teaching as an example, often witnessed in later times, of a concealed irony, which, while pretending to accept revelation, has represented its evidence as insufficient, and its doc- trines as unprovable. If however he be taken to be a f In liis Prologue. LECTURE III. 119 sceptic, it is only the' infancy of doubt. It is unlike the bitter disbelief shown by the early antichristian writers, or by the doubters of modern times. What- ever was valuable in the free thought of Abelard out- lived his time. The spirit of inquiry which spoke through him, continued to operate in his successors ^ His method was even adopted by his opponents. His follower, Arnold of Brescia, carried free thought from ideas into acts, and suffered martyrdom in a prema- ture struggle against the papal church h. Being dead, Abelard yet spoke, both politically and philo- sophically ; and his character remains as a type of the spirit of mingled doubt and hope and inquiry which is exhibited in the free thought of any of those great epochs, when knowledge is increased, and when earnest minds are standing in doubt whether the new wine can be placed in the old bottles. The movement, which was beginning to be felt in every branch of life and thought in the twelfth century, was still more manifest in the course of the thirteenth, an age which, whether viewed in its great men or great deeds, its movements, political, ecclesiastical, or intellectual, is the most remarkable of the middle ages, and one of the most memorable in history1. The activity of speculation is evidenced g See Cousin's Preliminary Dissertation, p. (201-3.) h See Laurent's La Reforme, p. 263. i It may be sufficient to allude to names like those of Innocent III., Aquinas, Roger Bacon, Frederick II., Cimabuej Dante; and to 120 LECTUKE lit by the increasing alarm which . alleged heresy like the Albigensian was causing, and by the establishment of the system of ecclesiastical police k which developed into the inquisition. About the middle of the century, the influence of free thought in religion is supposed to have made its appearance, in a work which ori- ginated with one of the newly created mendicant orders. A book which had appeared at the be- ginning of the century, entitled "the Everlasting Gospel," was now edited with an introduction by some person of influence in the Franciscan order1. The idea conveyed was, that, as there are three Persons in the Godhead, so there must be three dispensations ; that of the Father which ended at the coming of Christ, that of the Son which was then about to conclude, and that of the Spirit, of which the reli- gious ideal of the Franciscans was the embodiment. The work caused immense alarm, and was con- the great works of law (civil and canon) and philosophy, the great works in Gothic architecture, and the revival of painting, as examples of the intellectual character of the age ; and to the commencement of constitutional liberty, the final settlement of Europe, and com- mencement of the present European kingdoms, as illustrations of its advance in social government. k In 1229. 1 The work is attributed to Joachim, a Calabrian abbot, about A.D. 1 200, whom Dante names (Paradiso, xii. 1 40). It was edited in 1 250, with an introduction probably written by John of Parma, general of the Franciscans. Mosheim {History, cent. 13. part ii. ch. 2. § 33 note,) has carefully investigated the subject. See also Laurent's La Refarme, pp. 295-302 ; F. Spanheim's Works, vol. i. p. 1665 ; Neanders' Kirchengesch. vol. viii. p. 844 seq. LECTUKE III. 121 demned by the council of Aries'11, on the ground that it assumed that Christianity was imperfect, and was to be replaced by a superior revelation developing from natural causes. It is doubtful whether the book was really intended to be sceptical. More pro- bably it was mystical. Claiming to be founded on an apocalyptic idea", it was a revival of the Chiliasm which haunted the Christians of Asia Minor in the early centuries ; perhaps also it was the utterance of the spiritual yearning which marked the rise of the Franciscan order, and a protest against the world- liness of the times. It was connected too with the longings for political deliverance from the temporal dominion of the Popedom which were now beginning to be felt. In these latter aspects the idea, so far from being false, was an advance. Christianity from time to time admits a progress, but from within rather than from without ; a deeper spiritual appreciation of old truths rather than a reception of new ones. The demand for progress becomes a ground for alarm only when it implies that the world has bidden fare- well to Christianity, either through the mystical expectation of a Millennial reign which is to super- sede it, or through the sceptical belief that our religion has only an historic value, and needs remodelling to meet the requirements of advancing civilization. If the latter was the meaning of this m In 1260. Labbei Condi. (167 1) vol. xi. part ii. p. 2361. " Rev. xiv. 6. 122 LECTURE III. utterance of the Franciscan book, the idea was the germ of the modern conception of the function of Christianity in " the education of the race," the first statement of which is usually attributed to Lessing0. The same century which gave birth to this mot, expressive of progress in religion, created also an- other which embodied the idea of the comparative study of religions. This phrase may have different meanings. It may signify the comparison of Chris- tianity with ethnic creeds in its external and internal character, without sacrificing the belief that a di- vinely revealed element exists in it, which causes it to differ from them in kind as well as degree. Or it may mean a comparison of Christianity with other religions, as equally false with them, equally a- deli- berate and conscious invention of priestcraft, which was the shocking view adopted by writers like Volney in the last century p ; or else a comparison of it as equally true with them, as equally a psy- chological development of the religious intelligence, which is the view prevalent in many noted works on the philosophy of history in the presents It was 0 The work so entitled passed under Lessing's name ; but its authorship has been recently disputed. In an article in Illgen's Zeitschrift ftlr die Histoi'ische Theologie for 1839, Par* lY-> on the life of A. Thaer compiled by Kocrte, there is evidence given that Les- sing was only the editor, Thaer having sent it to him anonymously. See also a remark in a letter of Lessing, Works, vol. xii. p. 503. (Lachmann's edition.) P Les Rumen, c. 24. fl E. g. in Benjamin Constant's work, De La Religion, and Lau- LECTUEE III. 123 the second of these ideas, expressive of actual incre- dulity, which existed in the thirteenth century. It is traceable in the imputation made by Gregory IX r against the celebrated emperor Frederick II, that he had spoken of Moses, Christ, and Mahomet, as the three great impostors who had respectively deceived the Jews, the Christians, and the Arabs. The very possibility of the existence of such a comparison presupposes intercourse with disciples of foreign creeds. The Christians now no longer pos- sessed a merely vague knowledge of Jews and Maho- metans. The crusades were expiring, the danger which evoked them had subsided, and the enmity which supported them was decaying. Europe had entered into relations of commerce, if not of amity, with Mahometan nations ; and through contact with them had come to measure them by an altered standard, and to acquire the idea, of comparing re- ligions. Frederick II, to whom this expression is imputed, is stated to have manifested admiration of Mahometan literature, and affection for his Maho- metan subjects who afforded him aid in carrying out the plans of civilization which his powerful mind had rent's Etudes de I'Histoire de V Humanite ; also in Hegel's Philoso- pity of History ; Buckle's History of Civilization ; Comte's Philo- sophic Positive. It is chargeable in spirit on many others. r The letter of Gregory IX, in which the statement is contained, bears date July i, 1239. It is quoted in Raynald's Supplement to Baronius. (Annal. Eccles. 1747. vol. ii. p. 218. 13 of Greg. IX. xx vi.) 124 LECTURE III. formed s ; and it was his indifference to a crusade, induced probably by other causes, which led the Pope to impute to him the blasphemy just quoted. The contact with the East, half a century later, in like manner afforded the pretext for fastening a charge of unbelief on the Knights Templars1, Contact with Mahometans had thus, we have reason to believe, created a latitude of thought in many parts of Chris- tendom. The same idea of the comparison of Christianity with other creeds reappears in a tale of Boccaccio", in which the three great religions are represented under the allegory of three rings which a father gave to his children, so exactly alike that the judges could not decide which was the genuine one of the three, and which the copies. It is also illustrated by the tradition of the existence of a book, entitled " De Tribus Impostoribus," which has been attributed almost to every great name in the middle ages which was conspicuous for opposition to the claims of the church, or for uneasiness under the pressure of its dogmatic teaching. The existence of the book is legendary : no one ever saw it : and the two dis- tinct works which now bear the title can be shown to have been composed respectively in the sixteenth 3 See Kenan's Averroes et FAverroisme, pp. 292-300, an admi- rable work, to which we shall have occasion frequently to refer. t Michelet's Hist, de France, iii. 201. The charge of unbelief against the Templars was never satisfactorily established. 11 Decameron, i. 3. " Le Trc Annella.^ LECTURE III. 125 and seventeenth centuries : but the legend is a witness to the fact of the existence of the idea which the book was said to embody. (20) It is perhaps in some degree to the influence of the doctrine of absorption in the Mahometan philo- sophy of Averroes, a commentator on Aristotle, who was the contemporary of Abelard, that we may attri- bute the disbelief in immortality to which we find a tendency toward the close of the thirteenth and during the fourteenth century x. Though it is pro- bable that the indirect influence of the Arabic philo- sophy was felt earlier, in stimulating a demand for inquiry, a disposition to make dogmas submit to the test of reason, which has been shown to be the earliest form of mediaeval doubt ; yet it was not until the thirteenth century that the works of Aver- roes definitely influenced scholasticism, through the teaching of Michael Scot and Alexander Hales, and by means of the rapidity of intellectual communication which forms so singular a feature in mediaeval his- tory, spread their influence in Italy as well as in France. It was at this time that the doctrine of Averroes was attacked by Aquinas ; and though the amount of its influence can hardly be estimated, we have the means of tracing the growth of dislike to its author in Christian lands, which is an incidental proba- x On Averroes see Bitter's Gesckichte der Christlichen Philosophic, vol. iv. b. 1 i. c. 5 ; Tennemann's Manual, § 259 ; Laurent's La Re- forme, p. 338-45, 364-85 ; and especially Kenan's Averroes, p. 205 seq. 120 LECTURE III. bility of the increasing danger to Christianity arising from it. In the middle of the thirteenth century the Franciscans study him without evincing hatred. About the end of it Dante describes him still with- out reproaches, though he places him in the Inferno along with other heathen philosophers >T : but half a cen- tury later, in the pictures of the last judgment which exist in several states of Italy, each a little historic satire with its own peculiarities, we find Averroes depicted as the type of incredulity and blasphemy. In a fresco of the Campo Santo of Pisa, executed about 1335, when perhaps the recent canonization of Aquinas as an opponent of Averroes had directed attention to the influence of the Arabic philosopher, Orcagna has placed a separate bolgia, the lowest in his hell, for three persons, — Mahomet, Antichrist, and Averroes2. The disbelief of immortality was however too ob- vious a temptation in a corrupt age, as well as too generally spread, especially in the next century, to be wholly attributable to the subtle influence of the doc- trine of absorption of the Arabic philosophy. A mediaeval English poeta attributes incredulity to the y Inferno iv. 144 ; " Averrois clie il gran comento feo." z Renan enlarges in one chapter of his work in a most interesting- manner on " Le role d' Averroes dans la peinture Italienne du moyen ^•oe"> PP- (3OI-I6). The illustrations above given are borrowed from it. a In the poem Piers Plowman, pp. 179, 180, Wright's edition; the doctrine of the Fall and its consequences is the subject of the scepticism named. LECTURE III. 127 higher classes of his age ; and Dante, in that poem which is a romantic picture of his contemporaries or predecessors, when devoting one circle of the Inferno to the habitation of the " more than a thousand" of those " who make the soul die with the body/' attri- butes the cause of the sin to Epicureanism, a moral and not an intellectual cause b. It is a sad and humiliating thought to reflect also that a cause which must have increased incredulity, if it did not create it, was to be found in the vices of the clergy, especi- ally near the papal court of Avignon. Most of the distinguished laymen whom history records as evin- cing unbelief belonged to the political party, which strove to repress the political centralization and tem- poral authority of the church ; and it is to be feared that the causes just named were the means of repel- ling more deeply from religion the hearts of such persons whose interests or whose vices already led them to hate its promoters c. We have thus collected the few traces which mark the history of free thought in the several great crises of church history, and incidentally illustrated its con- nexion with social movement as well as religious, and shown its relation to intellectual or moral causes. On the intellectual side we have witnessed the scholastic philosophy giving activity to the spirit of change, b Inferno, Canto x ; 15, 118. c Compare Dante, Inferno, xix. 104, &c. See Laurent's Reform 364-70, 372-78. 128 LECTURE III. and contact .with Mahometan life and opinion im- parting the latitude to Christian thought which passed into incredulity. On the moral we have noticed that the effect of social wants or of actual viciousness gave birth respectively to religious rest- lessness, or to actual disbelief of the supernatural. The church of the time was not unaware of the movement. In part it tried to repress it, by perse- cution and by the Inquisition ; but in part also by the lawful weapon of spiritual contest. The grand works of defence of the thirteenth century, which adjusted scholastic philosophy to dogmatic theology, and the spiritual activity of the mendicant orders, were real and lawful means of victory, appealing respectively to the intellect and. heart. The moral judgment formed on the movement seen in the whole period must vary with the phase of it viewed. The attack is not, like those of the early unbelievers, a struggle with which the sym- pathies of Christians cannot be enlisted. The darker aspects of it partake indeed of the same character ; but it embodies a better element, a nobler form of movement, tainted perhaps with doubt, but not with disbelief; viz. the attempt of the human mind to assert its rights in philosophy, theology, and politics ; and as the epoch closes, the great truth has made itself felt in the world as the result of the contest, that Christianity is supreme only within its own sphere, which it is the problem of religious philosophy to discover ; that freedom of inquiry is to be used LECTURE III. 129 outside the boundary, but that speculation must expire in adoration within it. A new crisis may be considered to commence in the fifteenth century, in consequence of the intro- duction of fresh influences through the classical re- vival. Yet as the two periods are connected in time, the transition is not sudden : the old influences gra- dually vanish away ; the new ones had been slowly preparing before they became distinctly evident. The intellectual and social activity of the past period had been the means of educating the mind of Europe for the reception of the new forces which were now beginning to operate d. The fifteenth century was a remarkable period for Europe, and preeminently for Italy. During several ages Italy had grown great by means of commerce and religion. The crusades, which had impoverished the rest of Europe, had enriched her ; and the sub- jugation of the nations to the court of Home had made her the treasury of Europe. Material wealth permitted the encouragement of the study of litera- ture, which relations of commerce or of conquest with the Greek empire had been the means of re- viving. Manuscripts were collected, and the remains of monuments of classic art were studied. The love of antiquity gave perfection to art, and influenced d On this subject, see Laurent, b. iii., and J. D. Burchard's Die Cultur der Renaissance in ItaMen, i860. K 130 LECTURE III. literature. The work which centuries had slowly prepared now came to perfection. The scholastic philosophy declined ; the sources of ecclesiastical edu- cation and of the existing religion were weakened ; and by the close of the fifteenth century the tone of the age was in all respects changed. The devotion which had expressed itself in the great Gothic works of devotion of early ages was expiring, at least in Italy, and art itself gradually became secular, and expressed ideas more earthly. When such a moment of material prosperity, com- bined with intellectual and social change, ensues immediately on the movement previously sketched, we should expect to find religion subjected to re- examination, and placed in temporary peril. The history confirms the supposition. If we regard this crisis as embracing about two centuries and a quar- ter6, comprehending the classical revival, the opening of a new geographical world, and the great religious changes of the Reformation, — a period commencing with the Renaissance, and closed by the creation of modern philosophy ; — we shall find two principal movements of unbelief for investigation, the one caused by literature, a return to a spirit of heathen- ism analogous to that already described in Julian ; the second caused by philosophy, a revival of pan- theism. The first belonged especially to the close of the fifteenth century, and had its seat for the most e 1400-1625. LECTURE III 131 part in Tuscany and Rome ; the second to the six- teenth, and was represented in the university of Padua. In both these movements, especially in the former, the open expression of unbelief in literature is rare, though the incidental proofs of its existence are abundant. It was a time of the dissolution of faith, not of overt attack. Unbelief was Epicurean indifference, rather than earnestness in destroying the old creed. Two of the most obvious proofs that we can select for proving the existence of a state of unbelief f are, the ridicule of religion expressed in the burlesque poetry of the time, and the antichristian sympathies of several distinguished men. It would be incorrect however to attribute the satirical allusions in the poetry wholly to the influ- ence of the classical revival ; for the romantic epic in which they occur is the offshoot of the old prose romance of mediaeval chivalry, which had in earlier ages amused the courts of princes by directing its banter against ecclesiastical persons and institu- tions". But the tone of the poetry is now changed. The satire is directed against religion itself, not merely against the abuse of it, or the eccentricities of its adherents. Free thought is not merely political f An Essay of great value, on " the Literature of the Italian Re- vival," appeared in the British Quarterly Review, No. 42, April, 1855, from which most of the illustrations and remarks which follow in the next two pages are taken. g See Laurent, id. p. 364-70. K 2 132 LECTURE III. dissatisfaction, but religious unbelief. And with the alteration of the tone agrees also the increasing dis- position to carry satire into the domain of the super- natural ; which thus witnesses to the wide-spread unbelief in the hearers for whom it was designed. Italian critics have doubted indeed whether these epics are designed to convey a caricature, or pass beyond lawful satire h : yet even when allowance is made for the fact that they are an historic reproduc- tion, and for the fund presented for humour by eccle- siastical peculiarities, it seems impossible to overlook the covert satire intended on church beliefs1. The intermixture of a comic element would not alone prove this. The miracle plays of the middle ages admitted comedy without intending irreverence k; and a gentle humour pervades many of the Autos of Calderon, h Among recent critics who think so are Foscolo (Quarterly Re- view, No. 42. p. 521.), and Panizzi (Boiardo and Ariosto, vol. i. 203.), and in part also Hallam (History of Literature, vol. i. 195, (303—5.), and Guinguene (Hist. Lit. de VLtalie, vol. iv. c. 3-1 01.) ' The view here taken is maintained with great ability by the writer of the Review named above. One joke, which he cites as not uncommon in these epics, is the representation of St. Peter steaming with perspiration with the labour of opening and shutting the gates of Paradise (Morg. Mag. 26. 91.) ; and, as a more allowable one, the frequent citation of a certain archbishop Turpin as a witness for any absurdities, (Berni Orl. Innam. 18. 26.), whose existence and pseudonymous work Pope Calixtus II. had pronounced to be real. k The last remnant of these miracle plays, which occurs decen- nially in a valley in Bavaria, is an actual proof of this statement. An interesting account of the last celebration of it was written by Dr. Stanley in MacmillarCs Magazine for October, i860. LECTUKE III. 133 which were acted on solemn festivals1. But there exists in the manner in which the supernatural ele- ment is managed by such poets as Pulci, Bella, and Ariosto, such evident purpose to bring into ridicule the existence of belief, that its parallel can only be found in the banter used by their imitator Byron, in his Vision of Judgment, and implies indifference both in author and reader ; the expression of con- tempt, not of anger m. The unbelief which existed in the courts for which this poetry was written, is a specimen of the general incredulity, or indifference to Christianity, which prevailed among the educated classes, and was fos- tered by classical studies and tastes. It seems strange to us, who have been long accustomed to regard classical culture as the basis of general edu- cation, and who are impressed with the conviction of the great assistance ministered by it to theological study, to regard it as the producing cause of unbelief. This result of it however was a transitory one, ori- ginating in the shock which arose from the novel thoughts and tastes which mingled themselves with the ancient pursuits, and altered the previ- ous ideal of life. Ever since the earliest times, a 1 See Dean Trench's Introduction (ch. 3.) to his Translations from Calderon. m The proof of this position must be sought in the Review already indicated. The illustration from Byron is due to it. Pulci lived 1431-87 ; Bello, about the end of the fifteenth century, the exact date not known ; Ariosto, 1474-1533. 134 LECTURE III. chasm had unavoidably separated heathen literature from Christian ; and a dislike to heathen studies existed, which found its full expression in Gregory the Great". The result was, that the Christian civil- ization did not consciously admit the introduction of heathen thought ; and when the mind awoke sud- denly to a perception of its beauty and depth, though deeper spirits, like Erasmus, regarded it with the enlightened Christian approbation which Origen had formerly shown, others were led, like Julian of old, from their admiration of it, to look with indifference or hostility on Christianity. Some of the brilliant and elevated minds that adorned the court of the Medicis were suspected of unbelief, or of preferring Platonism to Christianity0; and after the woes of the French invasion at the end of the century had deep- ened the corruption of morals, and stamped out poli- tical liberty, the last freshness of artistic creation, which had linked the public mind to Christianity through the deep instincts of the taste, disappeared. The art and literature which succeeded are an index of the tone which prevailed. Gaining perfection in form by the imitation of classic models, they were n Eiclihorn's Geschichte cler Literatwr, vol. ii. 443 ; Bayle's Dic- tionary, sub voc. ; Hallani's History of Literature, vol. i. 4. 21. 0 Roscoe, in his works on the Medicis, is silent about these ten- dencies. In the fifteenth century, Ficinus, Poggio, Politian, Aretin ; and at the beginning of the sixteenth, at the Roman court, Paolo Giovio and Bcmbo were suspected. See Brucker's Ilistoria Phi- losophies, Period iii. part 1. 1. ii. c. 3. LECTURE III. 135 cold, sensuous, unspiritualP. Classical mythology was intermixed with gospel doctrines ; and the early years of the sixteenth century represent the semi- heathen tone of thought which was the transition to the perfect fusion which afterwards took place of the old learning and the new. It was an age similar to those of modern times in France and Germany, which have been called periods of humanism, when hope suggests the inauguration of a new moral and social era, and the pride of knowledge produces a general belief in the power of civilization to become the sole remedy for evLK The social conditions of the age added moral causes to the intellectual, which tended to increase the unbelief, especially in the literary classes. One of them is perhaps to be found in the fact that the church prizes were the only reward for authorship. By the beginning of the sixteenth century authors became largely appreciated through the press, and received patronage at the courts of the various TJ- pawoi who had established themselves on the ruins of the old republics. In the absence of any law of copyright there was no protection for themr, and P The comparison of the painting of the Roman, or the later Florentine schools of the sixteenth century, with that of the older Florentine, or of the Umhrian of the fifteenth, will establish this fact so far as regards art. ', Servetus and the u Reginald Pecock was a bishop of Chichester about the middle of the fifteenth century ; who in his rigour against the Lollards himself incurred the charge of deism. His work which laid him open to it, " The Repressor of overmuch blaming of the Clergy," has lately been edited with an instructive preface by Mr. Churchill Bab- ington. The work appeals to reason, but is not open to the charge of deism. In tone it may be compared to Locke's " Reasonableness of Christianity." x The contest in which Hiitten was engaged against the monks, with the Epistolce Obscurorum Virorum, which related to it, is treated in SirW. Hamilton's Discussions on Philosophy, p. 205-240 (reprinted from Edinburgh Review, No. 53, March 1830). Strauss has also published two works on Hiitten, the one a memoir, 1858 ; the other translations from his work, 1861. (See National Review, No. 12, April 1858.) y Servetus, though a Spaniard by birth, learned his protestantism in Italy ; Castellio, Ochino, and the Sozini were Italians. See Hal- lam's History of Literature, i. 366, 379 ; 552 seq. : for their views Merle D'Aubigne's " Three Discourses on the Authority of the Scrip- ture.'''' On the Reformation in Italy see Quinet's (Euvres, vol. iv. b. iii. ch. 1 ; and Professor Blunt's Essays ) p. 89, (Essay reprinted from Quarterly Rt mew, January 1G28.) LECTURE III. 139 Sozini, came forth from Italy, as from the centre of free thought. Nor were they unbelievers in the reality of a revelation ; and they met with no support from the northern reformers. Servetus was martyred at Geneva, and the Sozini were banished into Poland. It was the spiritual earnestness which mingled with the intellectual movement in the Reformation, which pre- vented free thought from producing rationalism or unbelief. Protestantism was a form of free thought ; but only in the sense of a return from human au- thority to that of scripture. It was equally a reliance on an historic religion, equally an appeal to the im- memorial doctrine of the church with Roman Catho- licism ; but it conceived that the New Testament itself contained a truer source than tradition for ascertaining the apostolic declaration of itz. But Italy was the witness of another sceptical tendency, besides that which resulted from the classic Renaissance, in the last remnant of the influence of mediaeval philosophy. Throughout the sixteenth century, pantheism manifested itself in connexion with the philosophical studies of the university of Padua. The form in which it made itself felt was the disbelief of the immortality of the soul on specu- lative grounds. The cause of the disbelief was the z It is important to notice that the question asked by the re- formed churches was simply, what did the inspired apostles teach 1 and the dispute between them and the Roman catholics referred to the question, what source was most suited for supplying information on this point ;— whether ecclesiastical tradition or the original docu- ments of the inspired teachers themselves. 140 LECTURE III influence of the philosophy of Averroes before noticed a. It will be necessary to explain this system with a little detail. It has been already stated that Aver- roes was a noted commentator on Aristotle in the twelfth century. The two ground principles of his philosophy were, the eternity of matter and the im- personality of mind. On this high subject there can be only two theories ; the one theistic, which declares that God is free, a personal first Cause, and the Creator of matter, and that other minds are free and personal ; the other pantheistic, which asserts that matter is eternal, and that individual minds are only the manifestation of the impersonal mind, into which the individual is reabsorbed. Averroes • held the latter theory, claiming to derive it from Aris- totle. It must be confessed however that Aristotle's views are uncertain on this point : he distinguished between mind, immortal and relative, the latter of which, being connected with body, ceased at death ; the former outlived it. But he hardly stated the doctrine that all souls are part of the universal soul, and is silent about their reabsorption into it. These points were added by Averroes b. The influence of the philosophy of Averroes is observable in three classes of thinkers ; viz., the Span- a See Hallam, History of Literature, i. 315. A large portion of Kenan's Averroes, viz. pp. 322-432, is devoted to this subject, and is the source of much of the following information. :' Kenan, id. (122- LECTURE III. 141 ish Jews of his own century, the scholastic philo- sophers of the thirteenth, and the philosophers of the university of Padua in the fourteenth and suc- ceeding ages. The second of these effects has been already traced : we must now notice the third. Padua was the great medical university of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and was a type of the tendency which at that time manifested itself in the north-eastern part of Italy toward material and rational studies, as in Tuscany to ideal and human- istic. It was the medical philosophy of Averroes which had first attracted attention to him. But the influence of his teaching was innocuous there until the sixteenth century, during the whole of which this university became the home of free thought. Strict accuracy would require the separation of two tendencies in the Peripatetic school of Padua, each derived from one of Aristotle's commentators0. The one was the Averroist just named, which con- sisted in the disbelief of immortality on the ground of absorption. Man's soul, being part of the great soul which animates the universe, both emanates from it, and is again reabsorbed. The other was the Alexandrist, so called from following Alexander of Aphrodisiasd ; which consisted in a tendency to pure materialism, an absolute denial of immortality and of religion, which almost reaches the incredulity earlier expressed in the legend of the Three Impostors. c Renan, id. (353-67.) d He lived about A. d. 200. 142 LECTURE III. Pomponatius is the declared representative of the latter view soon after the beginning of the century e. Frequently however the unbelief was secret, and a seeming show of orthodoxy was maintained by draw- ing a broad distinction between philosophy and theo- logy ; and by teaching that these views, though seen to be true in the one, were to be accounted false in obedience to the teaching of the other. It is customary to class along with the Averroists some philosophers of a more original turn ; some of whom were only indirectly connected with Padua, but rather were examples of an attempt to substitute a philosophy in place of that which was expiring. They are said to have manifested the same kind of pantheism, and to have been led by it to similar dis- belief. Such are Cesalpini, Cardan f, Bruno, and Vanini. The charge is perhaps unfair against the two e On Pomponatius (1462 -1530), see Hitter's Gesch der Ch. Phil.Y. pp. 390 seq. ; Hallam's History of Literature, i. 315; Kenan, Averroes, 353, &c. ; Tennemann, Manual, § 293 ; and the Life in the Biograjihie Universelle. His theological treatise which was chiefly suspected was De Immortalitate ; but Brucker quotes from his other writings to prove atheism. As early as 1512 a Lateran council took notice of the disbelief of immortality. f In place of the scholastic philosophy, which was disappearing, but which lived in Padua nearly a century later than in the rest of Europe, three tendencies manifested themselves ; viz., (1) a recon- struction of metaphysical philosophy, on a new, partially Platonic basis ; (2) a reconstruction of logic, by P. Ramus in France (see Hallam, History of Literature, i. (388-90) ; (3) attention to expe- rimental science, which led ultimately to the experimental method of Bacon. Telesius and Campanella belong to the first of these LECTURE III. 143 former, as they seem to have held the separate im- mortality of souls, which is more compatible with theism. The two latter represent the two schools just noticed, about the end of the sixteenth century. Bruno s belonged mainly to the Averroist school, though his views were probably formed indepen- dently, and certainly extended farther. He not only held the existence of a soul pervading the universe, which is the form of Pantheism which has been al- ready considered, but followed the earlier philosophy of the Neo-Platonists, in identifying the soul with the matter which it animates ; regarding the one as an emanation from the other, in the same manner as an effect is merely cause or force transferred. It is classes. The system of the former is briefly explained in Hitter's Christliche Philosophie, p. 561 seq. ; Renouvier's Histoire de Philo- sophie, t. 2 ; and in Hallam, History of Literature, ii. 7 ; and of the latter in Hallam, id. (372-6); Tennemann's Manual, § 317 ; and Hitter, id. vi. 3, seq. Both systems are metaphysical rather than theological. That of Cesalpini is also explained in Hitter, id. v. 653, seq. ; in Hallam, id. ii. 5 ; that of Cardan in Brucker, period iii. part ii. lib. 1. c. 3 ; Buhle, Gesch. der JSfeu. Phil. ii. 857, seq. ; and in Morley's Life of Cardan (1853). s Giordano Bruno (1 550-1 600), Ritter's Chr. Phil v. '595. &c. See Hallam's Hist, of Lit. ii. (8-14.) Buhle's Geschichte der Phil. ii. 703. His life and opinions have been described by Mr. G. H. Lewis in the Biogr. Hist, of Phil. p. 314, seq. A list of his works is given in Buhle Gesch. der Neu. Phil. ii. 703, seq., and more briefly in Tennemann's Manual, § 300. They were collected and published in 1830. One of them, the " Spaccio della bestia trion- fante" being very scarce, and only known by report, was formerly thought to be a translation of the celebrated work " De Tribus Impostoribus." 144 LECTUEE III. this belief which recurs in Spinoza, which is properly denominated Pantheism, where the Creator is for- gotten in creation. The former line of Pantheism noticed in Averroes approaches more nearly to theism. Bruno's unbelief was not gay and flippant, but sombre and earnest. With a fantastical conceit which can hardly be explained, he travelled as the missionary to propagate his own views, like a knight errant tilting at all opinions, with a soul especially embittered against the Christian priesthood11. On his return to Italy from his travels he fell into the hands of the church, and suffered death for his opinions. Vanini1 similarly led a wandering life, but is a character of less seriousness : occasionally he mani- fested the inconsistency of indifference to his own convictions. Reverencing the memory of Pompo- natius, he expressed the same disbelief of the spi- ritual and of immortality. He was possibly an atheist. Certainly his views were tinged with deep bitterness against religion ; and after leading a restless life, he suffered a cruel martyrdom for his belief. h In his travels he reached Oxford, and was admitted to lecture in the university. 1 Lucilio Vanini (1586-16 1 9.) His chief works were " Amphi- theatrum ^Eternse Providentiae," and " De Admirandis Naturae Ar- canis." The latter was condemned by the Sovbonne. Full particu- lars are given in Brucker's Hist. Phil, period iii. part ii. 1. i. ch. 6. See also Buhle, Gesch. der Neu. Phil. ii. 866. seq. ; and the Life in the Biographie Unwerselle. LECTURE III. 145 Bruno and Vanini were the apostles of a doctrine which the world would no longer hear. The dawn of physical knowledge was turning men to a truer study of the universe, and caused their labours to be in vain. The age of indifference was gone. The alarm caused by the Reformation had kindled a strong ecclesiastical reaction, especially in Italy, and the religious earnestness and intellectual activity of Germany had awoke an intelligent reaction on the part of the Catholic church k. Hence these two writers incurred a danger unknown to their prede- cessors. Martyrs are men who are before their age or behind it. Their sad fate throws an interest around their lives. Unbelief must always have its confessors. It is to be hoped that the inhumanity of Christendom will never a^gain cause it to have its martyrs. The survey is now complete of the crisis which occurred in the transition from the middle ages to modern history, forming the third of those enume- rated in a former lecture. We have witnessed amidst its complexity the manifestation of the same principles as in former epochs ; the restless- ness of the human mind struggling to be free, intel- lectually, politically, religiously ; and we have endea- voured to trace the operation of the influence of classical literature and metaphysical philosophy in inducing the decay of Christian feeling and belief. k On this reaction, see Hallam, Hist, of Lit. i. (536-44). L 146 LECTURE III. The means adopted for counteracting the move- ment were similar to those used in former periods, viz. an intellectual argument and a spiritual awaken- ing. In some instances indeed, in accordance with the spirit of the time, or more truly with the spirit of human nature, material force and cruelty were employed, and the unbeliever was silenced by mar- tyrdom. But neither material power nor the auto- cratic unity of the Roman church was able to repress the growth of the human mind. Conviction must be directed, not crushed. The revival of books of evidences, as soon as printing became common, about the close of the fifteenth century, which were de- signed to confirm faith, was a more lawful form of warfare1. They were constructed however on a basis unsuited to an age when t first principles were being reconsidered, being an attempt to establish the au- thority of the church and the duty of submission to an external norm of faith, and lacked the surer basis adopted in Protestant works of evidence, which is found in the external divine authority of the Bible rather than the church. The creation of the order of the Jesuits, though directed more against Pro- testantism than against unbelief, was a witness, like 1 This revival is at the same time the proof of the existence of doubt. Staiidlin, in Eichhorn's Geschichte der Lit. vol. vi. p. 24 seq. enumerates treatises of this kind by Ficinus, Alfonso de Spina, Sa- vonarola, iEneas Sylvius, and Pico di Mirandola. The rare work of Sebonde also, which has been supposed to be deistical, is really a treatise on natural religion as an evidence of revealed. See Hal- lam's Hist, of Lit. i. 139, 40 ; Tennemann's Manual, 277. LECTURE III. 147 the previous reactionary movement of the scholastic writers in the thirteenth century, to the wish to wrest the use of learning out of the hands of the opponents of the church, and to employ the weapon of reason in defence of it. The judgment formed on this epoch of free thought, when we have separated from it the Pro- testantism which craves other satisfaction for the human mind than that which is implied in submis- sion to human authority, and the scepticism which was merely transitional doubt, must be condemnatory. The unbelief was indeed a phase of the general movement ; but one which is instructive as a warn- ing rather than as an example, illustrating the abuse not the use of free thought. The evil nevertheless was temporary, and belongs to the past ; the good was eternal : and the elements of real intellectual improvement contained in the struggle have been taken up into the constitution of modern thought and society. We have now considered three great epochs in the history of free thought, and watched Christianity in contact or conflict with the old heathen philosophy, with the thought Scholastic or Mahometan of the middle ages, and with the revival of classical learn- ing. It remains to enter upon the consideration of the fourth, and to observe it in relation to modern science. The seventeenth century introduced as striking a L 2 148 LECTURE III revolution in philosophy as the corresponding ones which the two preceding ages had produced in litera- ture and religion. Two distinct thinkers, Bacon and Descartes, from different points of view, perceived the necessity for constructing a new method of inquiry. Their posi- tion was similar to that of Socrates of old. They saw that if knowledge was to be rendered sound, it must be based on a new method"1. They both alike sought it in experience ; Bacon in sensational, Descartes in intellectual, the instinctive utterance of conscious- ness". The indirect effects on religion produced by their teaching will be seen more fully hereafter. Our present object is to sketch the influence exercised by Descartes on the theological speculations of Spinoza, before passing in succeeding lectures to the detailed study of those peculiarities which free thought has presented in the different countries in which it has been manifested0. m On Socrates, see Grote's History of Greece, vol. viii. ch. 68. « On Bacon and Descartes see Ritter, Christliche Philosophic, v. 309 seq., and vii. 3 seq., Bulile iii. (1—86), Tennemann's Geschichte, x. 200 seq. ; and the references given in Tennemann's Manual, §312 and 333. Among English sources, see Morell's History of Philosophy, i. 76, 166 ; Lewes' History of Philosophy, Hallam's History of Literature, vol. ii. part 3. ch. 3. On Descartes, see also Bouillet's Histoire de la Revolution Cartesienne (1842) p. 95-144 ; and on Bacon, the monograph by Kuno Fischer of Jena, translated 1857. 0 In chronological order Herbert and Hobbes ought to come before Spinoza. Indeed their works furnished suggestions to him ; but as the forms of scepticism which follow are arranged by nations, it is more convenient to place Spinoza here alone previously to treating the others. LECTURE III. 149 Spinoza's memory has been branded with the stigma which attached to his character during life p. Born in Holland, of Jewish origin, his early repudia- tion of the legends of the Talmud in which he was educated, caused his excommunication by his own people. Finding himself an outcast, he sought society among a few sceptical friends, one of whom was a physician named Van den Ende, whom a sense of injustice united to him by the bond of common sympathy. His life was passed in retirement, in hard, griping poverty. Possessing a mind of great originality, and a fondness for demonstrative rea- soning never surpassed, he lived a model of chaste P The best means of understanding Spinoza is the perusal of his own works. It is only in modern times that he has been under- stood. The old works against him, Reimannus (de Atheismo), Mans- veldt, Cuperus, and Kortholt (de Trib. Impostor ibus), are chiefly obsolete. A memoir exists by Colerus, 1706. Among the moderns he has been carefully studied by E. Saisset, both in Essais de Phi- losophie Eeligieuse, 1859, and in a dissertation prefixed to a trans- lation of his works, 1861, and in a learned article in the Revue des Deux Mondes for Jan. 1862 ; also by Damiron, Essai sur Spinoza. Among English writers, see Hallam, History of Literature, iii. 344 seq., Lewes' History of Philosophy, and an article on the Theolo- gico-Politicus in the British Quarterly Review, No. 16, for Nov. 1848, referring to Spinoza's theology. In Germany his opinions have been examined by Hitter, Chr. Phil. vii. 169 seq.; Buhle iii. 503 seq.; Tennemann's Geschichte, x. 462 seq. Schleiermacher in early life expressed his opinion of him in words of extravagant eulogy, (Reden uber die Reliy., p. 47, quoted in Lewes' History of Philo- sophy.) Consult also the various references given in Tennemann's Manual, § 338. A volume of Spinoza's writings has lately been found and published, which is made interesting by a photograph from a rare portrait of him. 150 LECTURE III. submissive virtue, searching fur speculative truth ; branded as an atheist in philosophy while living, and regarded since his death as the parent of many of the worst forms of rationalism in religion. Yet his character is one that cannot fail to excite a certain kind of pity. Unlike the frivolous selfish atheism, the immoral Epicureanism, of the French unbelief of the following century, his investigations were grave, his tone dignified, his temper gentle, his spirit serious. It is to be feared that he did not worship God ; but he at least worshipped, at the cost of social martyrdom, what he thought to be truth. If he did not believe in revealed religion, he at least tried to embody what he believed to be its moral precepts. Though we may shrink with horror . from his teaching, we cannot, when we compare him with other unbelievers, withhold our pity from the teacher. His works are short, but weighty. Of his impor- tant treatises, the one, the Tractatus Theologico- Politicus, shows him as the Biblical critic ; the other, the Ethica, exhibits his philosophy. In the former, written in early life, he derives his materials and mode of handling from the Jewish mediaeval theologian Maimonides ; in the latter, the product of his riper years, from Descartes ^ But as he had ^ In the admirable article in the Revue, quoted in the last note, Saisset discusses carefully the sources from which Spinoza derived his theology and philosophy. Cousin in earlier life had regarded his philosophy as borrowed from Descartes {Fragm. de Phil. Cartes., p. 428 seq), and Bitter coincides in this opinion. More recently, in the new edition (1861) of his Hist. Gen. de la Philos., LECTURE III. 151 undoubtedly come under the influence of Descartes before writing the former work, and it is certain that the effects of it on his own philosophical scheme are already discernible in it. We shall therefore com- mence with the latter, and attempt to understand his philosophy, and its application to religion, before studying his special criticism of Revelation. Descartes had aimed, like the great thinkers of earlier times, to gain a general view of the universe of being ; but had sought it by a different mode. Caring rather for certitude of method, reality in the highest principles, than for results attained, he had seen that a knowledge of being must rest on a knowledge of the consciousness which tells us of being. His principle, " Cogito, ergo sum," is the expression of this conviction. Therefore, carrying analysis into the human mind, he had grasped those ideas which appeal to us with irresistible clearness, and commend themselves as axioms requiring no proof; and from these ideas, or rather from the idea of cause, the primitive of them, regarded by him as innate, he had demonstrated a priori the being and attributes of God, and the principles which dominate in the great fields of knowledge r. he regards it as borrowed from Maimonides (p. 457). See on Mai- monides' Philosophy, Adolph. Franck's Etudes Orientates, p. 318. Saisset after a careful examination comes to the conclusion that the theology was suggested by Maimonides' More Nevochim, but that the philosophy was derived neither from the Kabbala, nor Averroes, nor Maimonides, but from Descartes. r See the references given in a former note. 152 LECTURE III. Spinoza's object was similar ; but he sought to attain it in a different manner : rejecting, on the one hand, the dualism by which Descartes had opposed mind and matter, he regarded each as a different mode of the same primitive substance, and, on the other, the limited idea of the divine Being, he con- ceived that the mind of man realizes the notion of Him as unlimited. There are three different opinions in reference to our capacity of knowing the infinity of God. Either our knowledge of Him is only nega- tive and relative ; we know only what He is not, and our positive notions of His nature are drawn from the analogy of human personality ; or, secondly, we have an intuition of His infinity, but so bare of attributes, that while it guarantees the reality of our appre- hensions of Him, we are dependent on experience for its development into a conception ; or, thirdly, the human mind can apprehend His infinity positively, antecedent to the application of limitations to its. The last of these three views belonged to Spinoza, along with the ancient Eleatics, the Neo-Platonists of the early ages, and the principal schools of modern German philosophy. Accordingly he tried to work out with mathematical rigour in geometrical form a philosophy of existence, conceiving that the mind grasps the idea of God as infinite substance, and understands its development under two modes ; viz. extension and thought : the former the objective act * Compare the Essay on Cousin by Sir W. Hamilton (Disserta- tions, p. 32.) LECTURE III. 153 of Deity, the latter the subjective1. The universe therefore is nothing but the manifestation of God : God is the sum total of it ; the unity in its variety ; the infinite comprehending its finity. Cause and effect are identical; the natura naburans, and natura naturata. Causation is change ; but it is nothing but substance assuming attributes, and attributes assuming modes. Phenomena are only the bubbles which arise on the bosom of the ocean and disappear, absorbed in its vastness. The universe is bound in one vast chain of fatalism, one grand and perfect whole. Man's perfection is to know by contemplation the universe in which he has his being. Such a system has been called atheistic, because it is silent about the presence of a personal first Cause. It might be more truly denominated Pantheistic, not in the vague sense in which that term is applied to denote the belief in a Deity as an anima mundi, like that explained in reference to the Averroists u, but to imply that the sum total of all things, the universe, is Deity. Its influence on the question of revealed religion will be obvious. It admits that the phenomena which we attribute to miracle in the process of revelation are facts, but it denies their miraculous character x. They are the mere manifes- tation of some previously unknown law, turning up accidentally at the particular moment, some pre- t Ethica, part ii. prop, i and 2. u P. 140. x Theol. Polit. c. vi. 154 LECTURE III viously unknown mode in which the all-embracing substance manifests itself. In this view all religions become various expressions of the great moral and spiritual truths which they embody, and true piety consists in rising beyond them to the vision of the higher truths which they typify, and the practice of the principles which they enjoin as rules. " Dico," wrote Spinoza, " ad salutem non esse omnino necesse, Christum secundum carnem noscere ; sed de seterno illo filio Dei, hoc est, Dei setema sapientia quae sese in omnibus rebus, et maxime in mente humana et omnium maxime in Christo Jesu manifestavit, longe aliter sentiendum x." Spinoza, though a Jew, had examined the claims of Christianity. Indeed the discussions, half political half religious, of the Dutch theology, would have compelled the investigation of it, independently of his own largeness of sympathy with the philosophical history of human religion ^. His philosophy of re- vealed religion is contained in his Tractatus Theo- logico-Politicus2. This work was called forth by the disputes of the age, and had the political object of x Ep. xxi. vol. iii. p. 195. (Lips. ed. 1846.) It will be hereafter seen how exactly this result is parallel to the religious philosophy and Christology developed in the Hegelian school. See Lect. VII. y A succinct account of the contests in Holland is given in C Butler's Life ofGrotius, c. 5, 6, 12. See also Ainand Saintes, Histoire de la Vie de Spinoza, p. 63; Hase's Church History, E. T. § 356 ; Hagenbach, Dogmengeschichte, § 235. '■ A good analysis for an English reader may be found in the article quoted above from the British Quarterly Review. LECTURE III. 155 defending liberty of thought as necessary to the safety both of the state and of religion. The question of predestination had rent the Dutch church shortly before this time ; and when the victory remained with the Calvinistic party, the opinions of the liberal Remonstrants were treated as crimes. Spinoza pro- posed in this work a plan, perhaps suggested by the perusal of Hobbes, for curing these dissensions. The book is a critical essay, in which he surveys the Jewish and Christian religions, and ends in the con- clusion that certainty on the subject of a revelation is impossible ; accordingly that the remedy for theo- logical acrimony must be sought in a return to what he regards to be the simple doctrine which Christ taught, the love of God and one's neighbour ; that philosophy and theology ought to be severed ; the one aiming at truth and resting on universal ideas, the other at obedience and piety and resting on historic authority and special revelation. Hence, while uni- formity of religious worship and practice was to be prescribed, he claimed that unlimited liberty of spe- culation ought to be tolerated a. It is in the survey of Judaism and Christianity in the earlier part of this work that he exhibits the views in which he has anticipated many of the spe- culations of rationalism. He examines first into the grounds which Revelation puts forward for its claim a llieol Pol. cli. 19, 20. The idea here is borrowed from Hobbes. 156 LECTURE III. to authority, viz. prophecy, the Jewish polity, and miracles'3 ; next the principles of interpretation, and the canon of the two Testaments0 ; lastly, the nature of the divine teaching d ; endeavouring to show that the fundamental articles of faith are given in natural religion. In this way he exhibits his views on those branches which are now denominated the evidences, exegesis, and doctrines. In the discussion of prophecy he analyses the nature of prophetic foresight into vividness of imagination; and exhibits the human feeling and sentiment intertwined with ite. He regards the Hebrew idea of election as merely the theocratic mode of representing their own good suc- cess im that region of circumstances which was not in human power f. His explanation of miracles has been already stated : the course of nature seems to him to be fixed and immutable ; and he argues, that interfe- rence with its course is not a greater proof of Provi- dence than a perpetual unchanging administration z. As his philosophy is seen in the treatment of the evidences, so his criticism appears in the discussion of the canon. He examines the several books of scrip- ture, and concludes from supposed marks of editorship that the Pentateuch and historical books were all com- posed by one historian, who was, he thinks, probably Ezra, Deuteronomy being the first composed11. The prophetic books he resolves into a collection of frag- b Ch. (i-f>.) c ch. 7-12. d ch. 13-15. e ch. i, 2. f Ch. 3. g Ch. 6. h Ch. 8. LECTURE III. 157 ments. His opinions on this department would be rejected as immature by modern rationalist critics ; yet they have an historic interest as marking the rise of the searching investigations into the sources and construction of the Hebrew sacred literature, which have been pursued in an instructive manner in modern times. His view respecting the nature of scriptural doctrines1, that they can be reduced to the teaching of natural reason, is a corollary from his philosophy, which cannot admit that any religious truth is obligatory which is not self-evident, and is analogous to the doctrine which a short time previously had been stated by Lord Herbert of Cherbury k. These remarks will suffice in explanation of the criticism exhibited in this work. The book marks an epoch, a new era in the critical and philosophical investigation of religion. Spinoza's ideas are as it were the head waters from which flows the current which is afterwards parted into separate streams. If viewed merely as a specimen of criticism, they are in many respects very defective. For this branch was new in Spinoza's time. Learning had been directed since the Renaissance rather to the acqui- sition of stores of information concerning ancient literature than reflective examination of the authen- ticity and critical value of the sources. Yet Spinoza's sagacity is so great, that the book is suggestive of * Ch. (12-14.) k Be Veritate. See Leet. IV. 158 LECTUEE III information, and fertile in hints of instruction to readers who dissent most widely from his inferences1. In Spinoza's own times the work met with unbounded indignation. Indeed hardly any age could have been less prepared for its reception. So rigorous a theory of verbal inspiration was then held, that the question of the date of the introduction of the Hebrew vowel points was discussed under the idea that inspiration \v< mid be overthrown, if the admission was made that they were introduced after the time of the closing of the canon m. The tone of fairness in Spinoza's man- ner, which compels most modern readers to believe in his honesty, and which presents so striking a con- trast to the profaneness of subsequent scepticism, 1 Great critical sagacity is evinced in describing the characteristics of prophecy (ch. i. and ii.), and the historic peculiarities of the Pen- tateuch (ch. viii.) ; which however, it would seem, had been ob- served partially by some of the learned Dutch theologians of the time. m This lay at the bottom of the opposition which Buxtorf and Owen offered to the view, now universally adopted, of Capellus and Morinus, that the vowel points were a late introduction in Hebrew, perhaps of the sixth to the tenth centuries A. D. The history of the controversy is given in Walch's Bibliotheca Theol. Select, vol. iv. p. 244, 268. ; and Wolf's Bibliotheca Hebr. part iv. p. 7 ; part ii. p. 25. and 270. The Formula Consensus of the Helvetic church (i675)j (on which see Schweizer in Herzog's Realen-Encycl, xi. 439 scq. ; Henke's Kirchenyeschichte, vol. iv. §34; Hagenbach's Doymenyesch, § 222.), was partly designed against the views of Capellus. On the question of the vowel points, consult the Pro- legomena t.> Walton's Polyglot, iii. 39; Carpzov. Crit. Sacr. 242 seq. Wolf's Bibliotheca J/ebraica, ii. 475.; iv. 214 seq. ; and among the moderns, Gesenius's Gesch. der Hebr. Sjwache, § 48. LECTURE III. L59 was then regarded as latent irony. The work on its appearance was suppressed by public authority ; but it was frequently reprinted; and probably no work of free thought has ever had more influence, both on friends and foes, except the memorable work of Strauss in the present age. Not only have free- thinkers been moulded by it, but it has produced lasting effects on those who have loved the faith of Christ. For Spinoza's work, if it did not create, gave expression to the tendency of which slight traces are perceptible elsewhere", to recognize a large class of facts relating to the personal peculiarities of the in- spired writers, and to the " human element," as it has been frequently called0, in scripture, for which or- thodox criticism has always subsequently had to find a place in a theory of inspiration ; facts which first shook the mechanical or verbal theory, which, how- ever piously intended, really had the effect of degrading the sacred writers almost into automatons, and regarded them as the pens instead of the penmen of the inspiring Spirit p. Indirectly the effect of n E. g. in Le Clerc. See Sentimens de Quelques Theologiens d'Hollande sur VHistoire Critique du pere Simon, and his Five Letters on Inspiration ; and in the French Roman catholic critic, R. Simon, in reference to whom see note on p. 1 1 6. ° E. g. by Dr. Lee on Inspiration, Lect. I. P Compare Dr. Lee's learned and valuable work on Inspiration, ch . iv. The writer of this lecture need hardly say, that he cordially and reverently believes in the miraculous character of scripture inspiration ; and that the remarks here in the text are only aimed at the extravagant views held in the seventeenth century, such as 160 LECTUEE III Spinoza's thought was seen even in the English church. The difficulties which, through means of the English deists, it brought before the notice of the great apologetic writers of our own country, created the free, but perhaps not irreverent theory of revelation manifested in the churchmen of the last century % which restricted the miraculous assist- ance of inspiration to. the specific subject of the revealed communication, the religious element of scripture, and did not regard it as comprehending also the allusions, scientific or historic, extraneous to religion. Nor is it merely in respect of criticism that Spi- noza's views have affected subsequent thought. The central principle of his philosophy, the pantheistic disbelief of miraculous interposition, which has sub- sequently entered into so many systems, was first clearly applied to theology by him. Wherever the disbelief hi the supernatural has arisen from a 'priori considerations, and expressed itself, not with allega- tions of conscious fraud against the devotees of religion, nor with attempts to explain it away as merely mental realism, but with assertions that miracles are impossible, and nature an unchanging that, above named, in reference to the Hebrew vowel points. No Christian however ought to fail to appreciate the deep reverence for holy scripture implied in the theory from which dissent is here expressed. Q A note, giving proof of the fact here stated, will be found at the end of Lect VIII. LECTURE III. 101 whole ; this disbelief, whether insinuating itself into the defence of Christianity, or marking the attack on it, has been a reproduction of Spinoza. In taking a retrospect of the long period over which we have travelled in this lecture, embracing the twofold crisis of free thought in the middle ages and the inauguration of the modern era, we cannot fail to be impressed with the grand idea of the per- manent victory of truth, and the exquisite order according to which the fatherly providence of God makes all things conduce together for good. When the course of history is viewed in its true perspec- tive, we perceive that Almighty love ruleth. The period has comprised most of the great movements, political or intellectual, which have occurred in Eu- ropean history since the Christian era. The fall of the Roman empire, the gradual reconstruction of society, the revival of learning, the invention of printing, the discovery of a new geographical world, the creation of modern philosophy, embraced in it, include the mention of almost every great event, with the exception of the French revolution, which has modified the character of the human mind, or affected the destiny of Christianity. At times it seemed as if Christianity was on the point of being extinguished by unbelief ; at other times, the church seemed to lend itself to the extermination of all freedom of investigation. Yet Christianity has lasted through all the dangers, throwing off, like a healthy system, the errors which from time to time insinuated M L62 LECTURE III. themselves into it, and diffusing its blessings of eternal' truth into every region of life and thought. The past is the pledge of hope for the future. Look forth ! — that stream behold, That stream upon whose bosom we have passed Floating* at ease, while nations have effaced Nations, and death has gathered to his fold Long lines of mighty kings : — look forth, my soul I (Nor in this vision be thou slow to trust) The living waters, less and less by guilt Stained and polluted, brighten as they roll, Till they have reached the eternal city — built For the perfected spirits of the justr. r Wordsworth, Ecclesiastical Sonnets, part ii. 47, LECTURE IV. DEISM IN ENGLAND PREVIOUS TO A.D. 1760. Isaiah lix. 19. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. J_ HE forms assumed by free thought in the fourth great crisis of the Christian faith, which commenced with the rise of modern philosophy, and has con- tinued with slight intervals to the present time, have been already stated a to be chiefly three, correspond- ing with the three nations in which they have been manifested. In this lecture we shall sketch the history of one of these forms — English Deism — by which name the form of unbelief is denominated which existed during the close of the seventeenth and the first half of the a See above p. 14. M 2 104 LECTUEE [V. eighteenth century. If the dates be marked by corresponding political history, its rise may be placed as early as the reign of Charles I. ; its maturity in the period from the revolution of 1688 to the invasion of the Pretender in 1745 ; its decay in the close of the reign of George II., and the early part of that of George III. b This long period was marked by those great events in intellectual and social history which were calcu- lated to awaken the spirit of free inquiry. It wit- nessed the dethronement of constituted authorities — intellectual, ecclesiastical, political ; the constant struggle of religious factions; and on two occasions civil war and revolution. It was affected by the rise of the philosophy of Bacon, and the positive advances of natural science under Newton and his coadjutors. It comprehended moments marked by the outburst of native genius, and others influenced by contact with the continental literature, both with the speculative theology of Holland and the dramatic and critical literature of France0. Above all it was illumined by the presence of such an array of great minds in all departments of intellectual activity as can rarely be matched in a single period. If, when b This computation regards lord Herbert of Cherbury as marking the commencement, and Hume the close ; the doubters of the latter half of the eighteenth century, such as Gibbon, being excluded, be- cause their writings are marked by the forms of French unbelief. c The former in the struggle of Arminians and Calvinists in the Puritan controversy; the latter in the revolution supposed to be caused in our literature by the influence of Dryden. LECTUKE IV. 165 the human mind in the middle ages was warmed into life after the winter of its long torpor, under the genial influence of the revival of literature, the renewal of its power was marked by a disposition to throw off the trammels which had bound it in the night of its darkness, how much more might such a result be expected when it was basking under the sunshine of meridian brightness, and exulting hi the consciousness of strength. A special peculiarity of this period likely to pro- duce effects on religion has been already mentioned. The philosophy of this age compared with former ones was essentially a discussion of method. The two rival philosophies which now arose are generally placed in opposition to each other, as physical or mental respectively, that of Bacon being conversant with nature, that of Descartes with mand. But in truth in one respect both were united. Each was ana- lytical ; each strove to lay down a general method for investigating the sphere of inquiry which it selected. Both were reactions against the dogmatic assump- tions of former systems ; both assumed the indispen- sable necessity of an entire revolution in the method of attaining knowledge. Accordingly, though differ- ing widely in appealing to the external senses or the 3 In addition to the references given in Lect. III. (p. 148.) see Cousin's Hist, de la Phil, au i8e siecle (Lecon 3) ; and Remusat's Essai stir Bacon, 1857 ; but especially the sketch of the relation of Bacon's philosophy to religion in K. Fischer's monograph on Bacon, (ex. and xi.) \W LECTURE IV. internal intuitions respectively, they both built philo- sophy in the criticism of first principles. Hence, independently of any particular corollaries from spe- cial parts of their systems, the influence of their spirit was to beget a critical, subjective, and analytical study of any topic. When applied to religion, this is the feature which subsequently characterizes alike the unbelief and the discussion of the evidences. Difficulties and the answers to difficulties are found in an appeal to the functions and capacities of the interpreting mind. This appeal to reason was de- nominated rationalism in the seventeenth century, prior to the present application of the term in a more limited and obnoxious sense. The specific doctrine arrived at by this process, which allows the existence of a Deity, and of the religion of the moral conscience, but denies the specific revelation which Christianity asserts, was called theism or deism. (21) In the period which we have mentioned as marking the first stage of deism, extending from its com- mencement to the close of the seventeenth century the peculiarity which characterized the inquiry was the political aspect which it bore. The relation of religion to political toleration e gave occasion for examining the sphere of truth which may form the subject of political interference. This inquiry was called forth is the disputes of the established church against popery and puritanism, and led to works in favour of toleration by Chillingworth, Bp. Jeremy Taylor (Liberty of Pro - phesyi ,hj). and later by Milton ; and towards the close of the century by Locke. LECTURE IV. 167 Two writers of opposite schools are usually regarded as marking the rise of deism, both of whom belonged to this phase of it, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, and Hobbes, Both formed their systems in the reign of Charles If. The one rejected revelation by making religion a matter of individual intuition, the other by making it a matter of political convenience. Lord Herbert £, the elder brother of the saintly poet, if looked at as a philosopher, must be classed with Descartes rather than with Bacon, though chro- nology forbids the idea that he can have learned any- thing from Descartes. It is probable that while on his early embassy in France he came under the same intellectual influences which suggested to Descartes his views. Fragments of knowledge and partial solutions derived from older philosophies exist before a great thinker like Descartes embodies them in a system. Herbert may have been led by the indirect f Hobbes's Leviathan was not published till 1651 ; but the thoughts were evidently suggested by the woes of the reign of Charles I. S Herbert (1581-1648). His works were, De Veritate, .1624, De Causis Errorum, 1645, De Religione Laid, De Religione Gentilium, 1663. An autobiography was published iu 1764. He was answered by Locke {Reason, of Christianity), Baxter, Halyburton, Leland, (Deists, lett. 1 and 2.), and Kortholt; and his philosophy was attacked by Gassendi. On Herbert see Eitter's Christliche Philosophie, vi. 390 seq. ; Tennemann's Gesch. x. 113 seq. ; Eichhorn's Geseh. der Lit. 6, 95 seq. ; Hallam's History of Literature, ii. 380 seq. ; and Lechler's Geschichte cles Englischen Deismus, p. 36-54 ; Ecmusat in Rev. des Deux Mondes, 18 54, vol. iii. His views in some respects seem to have resembled those of Peeock or Sebonde. 108 LECTURE IV. effect of such influences to a theory of innate ideas, independently of Descartes ; or he may have arrived at it by reaction against the Pyrrhonism of some of the French writers of the preceding age, such as Montaigne, with whose writings he was familiar. His works furnish his views on knowledge and on religion, both natural, heathen, and Christian. They include a treatise on truth, which suggested another on the cause of errors. The views on religion therein named, further suggested one on the religion which could be expected in a layman, and this again a critique on heathen creeds, written to show the universality of the beliefs so described11. In discussing truth5 he surveys the powers of the human mind, and places the ultimate test of it in the natural instincts or axiomatic beliefs. These accord- ingly become the test of a religion. The true religion must therefore be a universal one ; that is, one of which the evidence commends itself to the universal mind of man, and finds its attestation in truths in- tuitively perceived. Of such truths he enumerates five J : — the existence of one supreme God ; the duty of worship ; piety and virtue as the means thereof ; the efficacy of repentance ; the existence of rewards and punishments both here and hereafter. These he regards as the fundamental pillars of universal h In its mode of treatment it has been compared to Bacon's Wisdom of the Ancients. In the De Veritate. J /)< Eelig. Gentil., 15. 199. App. to Kelig. Laici, 2, 3. LECTURE IV. 1G9 religion ; and distinguishes from these realities the doctrines of what he calls particular religions, one of which is Christianity, as being uncertain, because not self-evident ; and accordingly considers that no assent can be expected in a layman, save to the above-named self-evident truths. His view however of revelation is not very clear. Sometimes he seems to admit it, sometimes proscribes it as uncertain. His object seems not to have been primarily destructive, but merely the result of attempts to discover truth amid the jarring opinions of the churches of his day k. The ideas which his writings contributed to deist speculation are two ; viz., the examination of the univer- sal principles of religion, and the appeal to an internal illuminating influence superior to revelation, " the inward light," as the test of religious truth. This was a phrase not uncommon in the seventeenth cen- tury. It was used by the Puritans to mark the appeal to the spiritual instincts, the heaven-taught feelings ; and later by mystics, like the founder of the Quakers, to imply an appeal to an internal sense1. But in Herbert it differs from these in being uni- versal, not restricted to a few persons, and in being intellectual rather than emotional or spiritual. It was not analysed so as to separate intuitional from k There is a curious record in his journal (Autobiography, p. 17 1-3.) of an earnest prayer for guidance on the subject of the publication of his first book Be Veritate, which he no doubt saw was opposed to popular belief. 1 Lechler, Geschichte des E. D. p. 64. 170 LECTURE IV. reflective elements, and seems to have been analogous to Descartes' ultimate appeal to the natural reason, the self-evidencing force of the mental axioms m. If it was the anxiety to find certainty in controver- sies concerning theological dogmas, which suggested Herbert's inquiries, it was the struggle of ecclesiastical parties in connexion with political movements which excited those of Hobbes n. In his philosophical views he belonged to an oppo- site school to Herbert. A disciple of Bacon, he was the first to apply his master's method to morals, and to place the basis of ethical and political obligation in experience ; and in the application of these philo- m Because they bear, as he thought, the great test of being self- evident. It will be remembered that the clearness of an idea was the test of the innate character of it in Descartes' system {Princvpiu Philosophice, § 10.) Such ideas are those which would be regarded in Kant's system as necessary forms of thinking, and in Cousin's as belonging to the impersonal reason. n Hobbes (1588 -1679.) The Leviathan is a philosophy of so- ciety, studied as the development of the individual. He first treats of the individual, book i. ; then the commonwealth, book ii. ; then the Christian commonwealth, book iii. ; and the kingdom of error, book iv. ; borrowing the idea from Augustin's Be Civ. Dei. The brevity of the notice in the text prevents the possibility of doing justice to the grandeur and to the good sense shown in many re- spects in Hobbes's works. He was answered by Cudworth (Intel- lectual System) ; Cumberland (Be Leg. Nat.) ; Dr. Seth Ward ; Bramhall (1658) ; Archbp. Tennyson, 1760; and Lord Clarendon, in his Survey of Leviathan (1676.) For an explanation and cri- ticism on his philosophical principles, see Bitter, ch. vi. 453 seq. ; Tennemann, b. x. 53 seq. ; Lewes' History of Philosophy ; Morcll's Id. ; JIallam, b. ii. 463 seq. j and on his religious opinions, Leland (ch. iii.), and Lechler (p. 67-107.) LECTURE IV. 171 sophical principles to religion, he also represented the contrary tendency to Herbert, state interference in contradistinction from private liberty, political reli- gion as opposed to personal. The contest of indivi- dualism against multitudinism is the parallel in poli- tics to that of private judgment against authority in religion. While some of the Puritans were urging unlimited license in the matter of religion, Hobbes wrote to prove the necessity of state control, and the importance of a fulcrum on which individual opinion might repose, external to itself ; and referring the development of society to the necessity for re- straining the natural selfishness of man, and resolving right into expedience as embodied in the sovereign head, he ended with crushing the rights of the indi- vidual spirit, and defending absolute government. The effect of the application of such a sensational and materialist theory to religion will be anticipated. He traced0 the genesis of it in the individual, and its expression in society ; finding the origin of it in selfish fear of the supernatural. The same reason which led him to assign supremacy to government in other departments induced him to give it supreme control over religion. Society being the check on man's selfishness, and supreme, deciding all questions on grounds of general expedience ; the authority of the commonwealth became the authority of the church P. Though he had occasion to discuss revelation and the ° Part i. c. 12. P Part iii. c. 39. 172 LECTURE IV. canon n as a rule of faith, yet it is hard to fix on any point that was actual unbelief. The amount of thought contributed by him to deism was small ; for his influence on his successors was unimportant. The religious instincts of the heart were too strong to be permanently influenced by the cold materialist tone which reduced religion to state craft. With the exception of Coward r, a mate- rialist who doubted immortality about the end of the century, the succeeding deists more generally followed Herbert, in wishing to elevate religion to a spiritual sphere, than Hobbes, who degraded it to political expedience. A slight additional interest however belongs to his speculations, from the circumstance that his ideas, together with those of Herbert, . most probably suggested some parts of the system of Spinoza s. The two writers of whom we have now been treat- ing, lived prior to or during the Commonwealth. From the date of the Restoration the existence of q Part iii. c. 33. r Coward ( 1657-17 24 circ.) was a physician, who wrote in 1702 Second Thoughts on Human Souls, apparently intended to disprove the existence of spirit and natural immortality, but not of immor- tality itself as a divine gift from God to man, though opponents disbelieved him in this assertion. The list of answers written is given in Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary under Coward. The house of commons in 1704 condemned the book, and caused it to be burned. s Spinoza's view of religion is the part suggested by Herbert, and his view of the relation of the state to religion that suggested by Hobbes. LECTUEE IV. 173 doubt may be accepted as an established fact. During the reaction, political and ecclesiastical, which ensued in the early part of the reign of Charles II, it is not surprising that doubt concealed itself in retirement ; but the frequent allusions to it under the name of atheism1, in contemporary sermons and theological books, proves its existence. Indeed the reaction contained the very elements which were likely to foster unbelief among undiscerning minds. The court set a sad example of impurity ; and the excessive claims of the churchmen, alien to the spirit of political and religious liberty, were calculated to generate an antipathy to the clergy and to religion. Toward the end of Charles's reign, a feeling of this kind expresses itself in the writings of Charles Blount", who availed himself of the temporary inter- val in which the press became free, owing to the omission to renew the act which submitted works to the censor x, to publish with notes a translation of Phi- lostratus's Life of Apollonius of Tyana, with the same * See Note 2 1 . u C. Blount (1654-93) wrote the Anima Mundi 1679; Life of Apollonius Tyana, 1680 ; Oracles of Reason, 1695. (See Ma- caulay, History of England, vol. iv. 352.) He was refuted by Nichols (1723) Conference with a Theist. See Lechler (1 14-124), and Leland, ch. iv. x The Licensing Act of 1662 concerning the press was allowed to expire in 1679. When James II. came to the throne (1685) the censorship was renewed for seven years ; and again in 1693 was re- vived for two years, at which time it finally expired. See North British Review } No. 60, (May 1859.) 174 LECTURE IV. purpose as Hierocles in the fourth century, to disguise the peculiar character of Christ's miracles, and draw an invidious parallel between the Pythagorean philo- sopher and the divine founder of Christianity. " Sub- sequently to Blount's death, his friend Gildon, who lived to retract his opinions ?, published a collection of treatises, entitled " The Oracles of Reason ; " a work which may be considered as expressing the opinions of a little band of unbelievers, of whom Blount was one2. The mention of two of the papers in it will explain the views intended. One is on natural re- ligion11, in which the ideas of Herbert are reproduced, and exception is taken to revelation as partial and not self-evident, and therefore uncertain ; and the ob- jections to the sufficiency and potency of natural religion are refuted. A second is on the deists religion1*, in which the deist creed is explained to be the belief in a God who is to be worshipped, not by sacrifice, nor by mediation, but by piety. Punish- y As proved by his work in 1705, The Deist's Manual. z The Oracles of Reason (1693) consists of sixteen papers in several letters to Mr. Hobbes and others, by Ch. Blount, Gildon, and others. Papers (No. 1-4) are a defence of T. Burnet's archaeology? or on subjects cognate to it. No. 5 is concerning the deist's reli- gion ; 6 on immortality ; 7 on Arians, Trinitarians, and Councils ; 8 that felicity is pleasure ; 9 of fate and fortune ; 10 of the original of the Jews ; ji on the lawfulness of marrying two sisters succes- sively ; 1 2 of the subversion of Judaism, and the origin of the Mil- lennium ; 13 of the auguries of the ancients ; 14 of natural religion ; 1 5 that the soul is matter ; 16 that the world is eternal. a No. 14. b No. 5. LECTURE IV. L75 merit in a future world is denied as incompatible with Divine benevolence ; and the safety of the deist creed is supported by showing that a moral life is superior to belief in mysteries. It will be seen from these remarks that Blount hardly marks an advance on his deist predecessor Herbert, save that his view is more positive, and his antipathy to Christian wor- ship less concealed. At the close of the seventeenth century two new influences were in operation, the one political, the other intellectual ; viz., the civil and religious liberty which ensued on the revolution, generating free speculation, and compelling each man to form his political creed ; and the reconsideration of the first principles of knowledge0 implied in the philosophy of Locke d. The effect of these new influences on religion is very marked. Controversies no longer turned upon questions in which the appeal lay to the common ground of scripture, as in the contest which Church- men had conducted against Puritans or Romanists, but extended to the examination of the first principles c Attention had been called a little earlier to the consideration of the first principles of religion, by the Platonizing Cambridge party of More and Cudworth, followers partly of Descartes. See Burnet's Mem. of his Times, i. 187 ; and the Rev. A. Taylor's able introduction to the edition of Simon Patrick's Works, Oxford 1858, (p. 28-42). d On Locke's philosophy see Ritter Chr. Phil. vii. 449-534 ; Cousin's Hist, de Philos. au i8e siecle, ch. 15-25 ; Morell's Hist, of Phil., vol. i. p. 100 seq. ; Lewes Id. ; Lechler, 154-179. His work the Reasonableness of Christianity typified the tone of the writers on the Christian evidences for the next half century. 176 LECTURE IV. of ethics or politics ; such as the foundation of govern- ment, whether it depends on hereditary right or on compact, as in the controversy against the nonjurors6 before the close of the century ; or the spiritual rights of the church, and the right of every man to religious liberty and private judgment in religion, as in the Con- vocation and Bangorian f controversy, which marked the early years of the next century. The very dimi- nution also of quotations of authorities is a pertinent illustration that the appeal was now being made to deeper standards. The philosophy of Locke, wThich attempted to lay a basis for knowledge in psychology, coincided with, where it did not create, this general attempt to ap- peal on every subject to ultimate principles of rea- son. This tone in truth marked the age, and acting in every region of thought, affected alike the ortho- dox and the unbelieving. Accordingly, as we pass away from the speculations which mark the early period of deism to those which belong to its maturity, we find that the attack on Christianity is less sug- gested by political considerations, and more entirely depends on an appeal to reason, intellectual or moral. e For this and the next named controversy, see Lathbury's Non- Jurors (1845), cn- iv-» an(l History of Convocation, eh. 12-14.) f On the Bangorian controversy (17 17, 18), see Hallam's Consti- tutional History (vol. ii. 408.) A list of the pamphlets which were written during the controversy was made by the antiquarian Tho- iikis Hearne, and is printed in Hoadley's works (3 vols. fol. 1773.) Sec vol. ii. 381, and the continuation in vol. i. 689. LECTUEE IV. 177 The principal phases belonging to this period of the maturity of deism, which we shall now succes- sively encounter, are four : (i) An examination of the first principles of re- ligion, on its dogmatic or theological side, with a view of asserting the supremacy of reason to in- terpret all mysteries, and defending absolute tolera- tion of free thought. This tendency is seen in Toland and Collins, (2) An examination of religion on the ethical side occurs, with the object of asserting the supremacy of natural ethics as a rule of conduct, and denying the motive of reward or punishment implied in dependent morality. This is seen in Lord Shaftesbury. After the attack has thus been opened against re- vealed religion, by creating prepossessions against mys- tery in dogma and the existence of religious motives in morals, there follows a direct approach against the outworks of it by an attack on the evidences, (3) In an examination, critical rather than philo- sophical, of the prophecies of the Old Testament by Collins, and of the miracles of the New by Woolston. The deist next approaches as it were within the fortress, and advances against the doctrines of re- vealed religion ; and we find accordingly, (4) A general view of natural religion, in which the various differences, — speculative, moral, and cri- tical, are combined, as in Tindal ; or with a more especial reference to the Old Testament as in Morgan, and the New as in Chubb ; the aim of each being con- N 178 LECTURE IV. struetive as well as destructive ; to point out the ab- solute sufficiency of natural religion and of the moral sense as religious guides, and the impossibility of ac- cepting as obligatory that which adds to or contra- dicts them ; and accordingly they point out the ele- ments in Christianity which they consider can be retained as absolutely true. The first two of these attacks occur in the first two decades of the century : the two latter in the period from 1720 to 1740, when the public mind not being diverted by foreign war or internal sedition, and other controversies being closed, the deist con- troversy was at its height. After examining these, other tendencies will meet us, when we trace the decline of deism in Bolingbroke and Hume. The first of these tendencies just noticed is seen in Tolands, who directed his speculations to the ground 8 Toland (1669-1722.) He was born an Irish catholic, turned protestant, wrote his first deist book, 1696 ; fled for refuge to the court of Hanover, and found protection there ; wrote political pam- phlets, and lived abroad till near the close of his life. His chief theological writings are, Christianity not Mysterious, 1696 ; Amyu- tor, or Defence of the Life of Milton, 1699 (on the Canon) ; Naza- renus, 17 18 ; Tetradymus, 1720 ; Pantheisticon, 1720, sive formula celebrandse sodalitatis Socraticse, 1720, a parody on the Christian service books. These are collected in his Miscellaneous Works (1726.) (Vol. i. contains his translation of the Spaccio of Bruno.) He was answered by John Norris, Archbp. Synge, and Dr. Peter Browne ; by S. Clarke, and by Jones in his work on the Canon. Consult Leland's View of Deistical Writers, Lett. iv. ; Lechler (180-210), and (463-73), and note on p. 193. LECTURE IV. 17!) principles of revealed theology11, and slightly to the history of the Canon'. Possessing much originality and learning, at an early age, in 1696, just a year after the censorship had been finally removed and the press of England made permanently free, he published his noted work, " Christianity not Mysterious," to show that " there is nothing in the Gospels contrary to reason, nor above it; and that no Christian doctrine can properly be called a mystery/' The speculations of all doubters first originate in some crisis of personal or mental history. In Toland s case it was probably the change of religion from catholic to protestant which first unsettled his religious faith. The work just named, in which he expressed the attempt to bring religious truth under the grasp of the intellect, was one of some merit as a literary production, and written with that clearness which the influence of the French models studied by Dryden had introduced into Eng- lish literature. Yet it is difficult to understand why a single work of an unknown student should attract so much public notice. The grand jury of Middle- sex was induced at once to present it as a nuisance, and the example was followed by the grand jury of Dublin k. Two years after its publication the Irish parliament deliberated upon it, and, refusing to hear h In his Christianity not Mysterious. i In his Amyntor. k For these facts see the Memoir of Toland prefixed to his Mis- cellaneous Works, and also Chalmers's Biographical dictionary. N 2 ISO LECTURE IV. Toland in defence, passed sentence that the book should be burnt, and its author imprisoned, — a fate which he escaped only by flight1. And in 1701, no less than five years after the publication of his work, a vote for its prosecution passed the lower house of the English convocation, which the legal advisers however denied to be within the power of that assembly"1. Toland spent most of the remainder of his life abroad, and showed in his subsequent works a character growing gradually worse, lashed into bitterer opposition by the censure which he had re- ceived. His views, developed in his work, Christianity not Mysterious, require fuller statement. He opens with an explanation of the province of reason", the means of information, external and internal, which man possesses ; a part of his work which is valuable to the philosopher, who watches the influence exer- cised at that time by psychological speculations ; and he proposes to show that the doctrines of the gospel are neither contrary to reason nor above it. He exhibits the impossibility of believing state- 1 This opposition increased Toland's bitterness, for, in the follow- ing year, 1698, in publishing a Life of Milton, and taking occasion to disprove that Charles I. was the author of the Ikon Basilike, he threw out hints of similar forgeries in works attributed to the apos- tles. The hatred of churchmen was further increased by this work. 111 See Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iv. 631; Burnet's History of his own Times, vol. iv. 521; Lathbury's History of Convocation (1842), p. 288 seq. " Sect, I. LECTURE IV. 181 ments which positively contradict reason i} ; and con- tends that if they do not really contradict it, but are above it, we can form no intelligible idea of them. He tries further to show that reason is neither so weak nor so corrupt as to be an unsafe guide <*, and that scripture itself only professes to teach what is intelligible r. Having shown that the doctrines of the gospel are not contrary to reason, he next pro- ceeds to show that they do not profess to be above it ; that they lay claim to no mystery s, for that mystery in heathen writers and the New Testament does not mean something inconceivable, but some- thing intelligible in itself, which nevertheless was so veiled that it needed revealing t ; and that the introduction of the popular idea of mystery was attributable to the analogy of pagan rites, and did not occur till several centuries after the foundation of Christianity u. It is possible that the book may have been a mere paradox x, the effort of a young mind going through the process through which all young men of thought pass, and especially in an age like Toland's, of trying to understand and explain what they believe. But students who are thus forming their views P Sect. ii. ch. r. q Id. ch. 4. r Ch. j, 2. s Sect. iii. ch. 2. t Ch. 3. u Ch. 5. x Cfr. his Apology for Christianity not Mysterious 1697, and also a letter from Mr. Molyneux to Locke. (Locke's Works, ed. 1723. vol. iii. p. 566.) quoted in the memoir (p. 17) prefixed to Toland's Miscellaneous Works. 182 LECTURE IV. ought to pause before they scatter their half-formed opinions in the world. In Toland's case public alarm judged the book to have a most dangerous tendency ; and lie was an outcast from the sympathy of pious men for ever. If he was misunderstood, as he contended, his fate is a warning against the pre- mature publication of a paradox. The question accordingly which Toland thus suggested for dis- cussion was the prerogative of reason to pronounce on the contents of a revelation, the problem whether the mind must comprehend as well as apprehend all that it believes. The other question which he opened was the validity of the canon >\ Here too he claimed that his views were misunderstood. It was supposed that the mention made by him concerning spurious works attributed to the apostles, referred to the canonical gospels. Accordingly, if in his former work he has been considered to have anticipated the older school of German rationalists, in the present he has been thought to have touched upon the questions discussed in the modern critical school. The controversy which ensued was the means of opening up the discussion of the great question which relates to the New Testament canon, viz., y In his Life of Milton (1698) pp. 91, 92, he had alluded to works falsely attributed to Christ and the apostles. This was attacked by Blackhall as if intended against the canonical scriptures, and was defended by Toland by the publication of the Amyntor, a cata- logue of books mentioned by the fathers as truly or falsely ascribed <<» Jesus Christ, his apostles, &c. The learned Pfa If calls it "insig- nem Catalogum" (Diss. Grit. Nov. Test. ch. i. § 2.) LECTURE IV. 183 whether our present New Testament books are a selection made in the second century from among early Christian writings, or whether the church from the first regarded them as distinct in kind and not merely in degree from other literature ; whether the early respect shown for scripture was reverence di- rected to apostolic men, or to their inspired teaching. If Toland is the type of free speculation applied to the theoretical side of religion, lord Shaftesbury2 is an example of speculations on the practical side of it, and on the questions which come under the pro- vince of ethics. The rise of an ethical school parallel with discus- sions on the philosophy of religion is one of the most interesting features of that age, whether it be regarded in a scientific or a religious point of view. The age was one in which the reflective reason or understanding was busy in exploring the origin of all knowledge. The department of moral and spi- ritual truth could not long remain unexamined. In an earlier age the sources of our knowledge con- cerning the divine attributes and human duty had been supposed to depend upon revelation ; but now the disposition to criticise every subject by the light of common sense claimed that philosophy must in- z A Memoir of Lord Shaftesbury (1671-1713), has been lately published, (i860). His chief work was the Characteristics. On his religious views see Leland ch. 5 and 6 ; Lechler 243-265 ; and on his philosophical views, see Ritter vii. 535 seq. ; Eichhorn, Geschi 'elite der Literofvr, vi. 424 seq. 184 LECTU11E IV. vestigate them. Reason was to work out the system of natural theology, and ethics the problem of the nature and ground of virtue. Hence it will be obvious how close a relation existed between such speculations and theology. The Christian apologist availed himself of the new ethical inquiries as a corroboration of revealed religion ; the Deist, as a substitute for it. Lord Shaftesbury is usually adduced as a, deist of this class. He has not indeed expressed it definitely in his writings ; and an ethical system which formed the basis of Butler's sermons a, cannot necessarily be charged with deism. But the charge can be sub- stantiated from his memoirs ; and his writings mani- fest that hatred of clerical influence, the wish to subject the church to the state, which will by some persons be regarded as unbelief, but which was not perhaps altogether surprising in an age when the clergy were almost universally alien to the revolu- tion, and the Convocation manifested opposition to political and religious liberty. The ground on which the charge is generally founded is, that Shaftesbury has cast reflections on the doctrine of future rewards and punishments b. It is to be feared that sceptical insinuations were intended ; yet his remarks admit of some explanation as a result of his particular point of view. a On his moral system, see Mackintosh's Dissertation on Ethics, p. 158-166; and on Butler's ethical system, and its relation to Shaftesbury, see the same work, p. 171 seq. h Works, vol. ii. Inquiry concerning Virtue. Charact. ii. 272 etc. LECTURE IV. 185 The ethical schools of his day were already two ; the one advocating dependent, the other independent morality ; the one grounding obligation on self-love, the other on natural right. Shaftesbury, though a disciple of Locke, belonged to the latter school. His works mark the moment when this ethical school was passing from the objective inquiry into the im- mutability of right, as seen in Clarke, to the sub- jective inquiry into the reflex sense which constitutes our obligation to do what is right, as seen in Butler. The depreciation accordingly of the motives of re- ward, as distinct from the supreme motive of loving duty for duty's sake, was to be expected in his system. The motives of reward and punishment which form the sanctions of religious obligation, would seem to him to be analogous to the employ- ment of expedience as the foundation of moral. His statements however appear to be an exaggeration even in an ethical view, as well as calculated to insinuate erroneous ideas in a theological. It is possible that his motive was not polemical ; but the unchristian character of his tone renders the hypothesis impro- bable, and explains the reason why his essays called the " Characteristics" have been ranked among deist writings. We have seen, in Toland and Shaftesbury respec- tively, a discussion on the metaphysical and ethical basis of religion, together with a few traces of the rise of criticism in reference to the canon. In their successors the inquiry becomes less psychological 186 LECTURE IV. and more critical, and therefore less elevated by the abstract nature of the speculative above the struggle of theological polemic. Two branches of criticism were at this time com- mencing, which were destined to suggest difficulties alike to the deist and to the Christian ; the one the discovery of variety of readings in the sacred text, the other the doubts thrown upon the genuineness and authenticity of the books. It was the large collection of various readings on the New Testament, first begun by Mills c, which gave the impulse to the former, which has been called the lower criticism, and which so distressed the mind of Bengel, that he spent his life in allaying the alarm of those who like himself felt alarmed at its effect on the question of verbal inspiration. And it was the disproof of the genuineness of the Epistles of Phalaris by the learned Bentleyd, which first threw solid doubts on the value attaching to traditional titles of books, and showed the irrefragable character belonging to an appeal to in- ternal evidence ; a department which has been called c The readings of the text had been disturbed by Courcelles (1658), and by Walton in his Polyglot, which caused an alarm, on which see Hody {Be Bibl. Text. 563 seq.), but not widely till Mills, 1707. Mills' readings were attacked by Whitby in 17 10, and the arguments of the latter were afterwards turned by Collins against Revelation. ,l In 1699. Daille's criticism on the Ignatian Epistles (1666) had shown similar sagacity to that afterwards displayed by Bentley, and bore to his inquiries the same relation which those just named in the text bore to those of Mills. LECTU11E IV. 187 the higher criticism. This latter branch, so abundantly developed in German speculation, is only hinted at by the English deists of the eighteenth age, as by Hobbes and Spinoza earlier ; but we shall soon see the use which Collins and others made of the former inquiry. The form, though not the spirit, of Toland and Shaftesbury, might by a latitude of interpretation be made compatible with Christianity ; but Collins and Woolston, of whom we next treat, mark a much further advance of free thought. They attack what has always been justly considered to be an integral portion of Christianity, the relation which it bore to Jewish prophecy, and the miracles which were wrought for its establishment. Collins e must be studied under more than one aspect. He not only wrote on the logic of religion, the method of inquiry in theology, but also on the subject of scripture interpretation, and the reality of prophecy f. It was in 1 7 1 3 that he published " A discourse of e Collins (167 6-1 7 29). His works were on Immortality (1707, 8) in the Dodwell controversy; Freethinhing, 17 13, refuted entirely by Bentley in the Philehutherus Lipsiensis. (See also Dr. Ibbot's Boyle Lectures, 17 13, where the general subject is treated.) On Necessity, 17 15. The Grounds of the Christian Religion, 1724. (occasioned by Winston's work on Prophecy) ; answered by bishop Chandler, Samuel Chandler, T. Sherlock, and Moses Lowman ; Scheme of Literal Prophecy, 1727, in answer to Chandler. See Leland, ch. vii., and Lechler, 217-240. Henke's KirchengesckicMe} vi. s. 29. f In the two works named below in the text. 188 LECTURE IV. free-thinking, occasioned by the rise and growth of a sect called Free-thinkers." This is one of the first times that we find this new name used for Deists ; and the object of his book is to defend the propriety of unlimited liberty of inquiry, a proposition by which he designed the unrestrained liberty of belief, not in a political point of view merely, but in a moral. His argument was not unlike more modern ones s, which show that civilization and improvement have been caused by free-thinking ; and he adduces the growing disbelief in the reality of witchcraft, in proof of the way in which the rejection of dogma had ameliorated political science, which until recently had visited the supposed crime with the punish- ment of death11. After thus showing the duty of free-thinking ', he argued that the sphere of it ought to comprehend points on which the right is usually denied; such as the divine attributes, the truth of the scriptures, and their meaning k ; establishing this by laying a number of charges against priests, to show that their dogmatic teaching cannot be trusted, unchallenged by free inquiry, on account of their discrepant1 opinions, their rendering the canon and text of scripture uncertain m, and their pious frauds" ; concluding by refuting objections against free-think- ing derived from its supposed want of safety °. S E. g. that of Buckle in History of Civilization. h P- 7i. i P. 5-27. ' k P. 32, &c. 1 P- V m P. 86. » P. 92. " P. LOO, cVc. LECTURE IV. L89 The book met with intelligent and able oppo- nents ; the critical part, containing the allegations of uncertainty in the text of scripture, and the charge of altering it, being effectually refuted by Bentley. The work is an exaggeration of a great truth. Undoubtedly free inquiry is right in all depart- ments, but it must be restrained within the proper limits which the particular subject-matter admits of; — limits which are determined partly by the nature of the subject studied, partly by the laws of the thinking mind. Eleven years afterwards, in 1724, Collins pub- lished his " Discourse of the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion." This work is chiefly critical. It does not merely contain the incipient doubts on the variety of readings, and the uncer- tainty of books, but spreads over several provinces of theological inquiry. Under the pretence of esta- blishing Christianity on a more solid foundation, the author argues that our Saviour and his apostles made the whole proof of Christianity to rest solely on the prophecies of the Old Testament p ; that if these proofs are valid, Christianity is established; if invalid, it is false l|. Accordingly he examines several of the prophecies cited from the Old Tes- tament in the New in favour of the Messiahship of Christ, with a view of showing that they are only allegorical or fanciful proofs, accommodations of the meaning of the prophecies ; and anticipates P Part i. § 1-5. q Id. § 6, 7. 100 LECTUEE IV. the objections which could be stated to his views r. He asserts that the expectation of a Messiah among8 the Jews arose only a short time before Christ's coming1 ; and that the apostles put a new interpretation on the Hebrew books, which was contrary to the sense accepted by the Jewish nation ; that Christianity is not revealed in the Old Testament literally, but mystically and allegorically, and may therefore be considered as mystical Ju- daism. His inference is accordingly stated as an argument in favour of the figurative or mystical interpretation of scripture ; but we can hardly doubt that his real object was an ironical one, to exhibit Christianity as resting on apostolic misin- terpretations of Jewish prophecy, and thus to create the impression that it was a mere Jewish sect of men deceived by fanciful interpretations. The work produced considerable alarm ; more from the solemn interest and sacredness of the inquiries which it opened, than from any danger arising from r Id. II. s Id. (8-1 o.) 1 Two other writers, Mandeville and Lyons, have been omitted ; Mandeyille {Fables of the Bees, 1723), because his speculations did not bear directly on religion ; Lyons, because his work is not im- portant. In 1723 he published the Infallibility of Human Judg- mi at, in which he analysed the mind, and applied the results of his analysis to the first principles of natural religion, and to discredit the evidences and doctrines of revealed. It bears more resemblance to Toland and Chubb than to any other writers, but is a feeble work, interesting only as showing the prevalence of psychological inquiries, and the tendency to examine psychologically the subject of religion. LECTUEE IV. 191 excellence in its form, or ability in the mode of put- ting. It anticipated subsequent speculations u, by regarding Christianity as true ideally, not histori- cally, and by insinuating the incorrectness of the apostolic adoption of the mystical system of inter- preting the ancient scripture. A writer came forward as moderator x between Collins and his opponents, who himself afterwards became still more noted, by directing an attack on miracles, similar to that of Collins on prophecy ; — the unhappy Woolston >\ A fellow of a college z at Cambridge, in holy orders, he was for many years a diligent student of the fathers, and imbibed from them an extravagant attachment to the allegorical sense of scripture. Finding that his views met with no support in that reasoning age, he broke out into unmeasured insult and contempt against his brother clergy, as slaves to the letter of scrip- ture a. Deprived of his fellowship b, and distracted u E. g. Some of those in Germany, see Lect. VI and VII. x In the Moderator, or controversy between the author of the Grounds, &c. and his reverend opponents, 1727. (Woolston's Works, vol. v.) y Woolston, 1669-1733. His works are collected in five volumes, with a life prefixed. His pamphlets on Miracles were refuted by bishops Pierce, 1729, Gibson, and Smabroke, by Lardner, and by Sherlock in the Trial of the Witnesses. On Woolston, see Leland. (Let. 8), Lechler (289-311), Henke, vi. 49. z Sydney Sussex. a A Free Gift to the Clergy, or the Hireling Priests challenged, 1722, (Works, vol. iii.). b See Memoir prefixed to his Works, pp. 5 and 22. 192 LECTURE IV. by penury, he extended his hatred from the min- isters to the religion which they ministered. And when, in reply to Collins s assertion, that Christianity reposed solely on prophecy, the Christian apologists fell back on miracles, he wrote in 1727 and the two following years his celebrated Discourses on the Miracles. (22) They were published as pamphlets ; in each one of which he examined a few of the miracles of Christ, trying to show such inconsisten- cies as to make it appear that they must be regarded as untrustworthy if taken literally ; and hence he advocated a figurative interpretation of them ; assert- ing that the history of the life of Jesus is an emblematical representation of his spiritual life in the soul of man d. The gospels thus become a system of mystical theology, instead of a literal history. In defence of this method he claimed the example of the ancient church6, ignoring the fact that the fathers admitted a literal as well as a figurative meaning. Whether he really retained towards the close of his life the spiritual inter- pretation f, or merely used it as an excuse for a more secure advance to the assault of the historic reality of scripture, is very uncertain. The letters were written with a coarseness and irreverence so singular, even in the attacks of that d In Discourse iii. e Disc. i. Div. 1. f Strauss (Leb. Jes. Introd. § 6.) thinks that his bitterness mani- fests that he did not. LECTURE IV. 193 age, that it were well if they could be attributed to insanity. They contain the most undisguised abuse which had been uttered against Christianity since the days of the early heathens. Occasionally, when wishing to utter grosser blasphemies than were permissible by law, or compatible with his assumed Christian stand-point, he introduced a Jewish rabbi, as Celsus had formerly done, and put the coarser calumnies into his mouths, as difficulties to which no reply could be furnished except by figurative interpretation. The humour which marked these pamphlets was so great, that the sale of them was immense. Voltaire, who was in England at the time, and perhaps imbibed thence part of his own opinions, states the immediate sale to have exceeded thirty thousand copies h ; and Swift describes them as the food of every politician1. The excitement was so great, that Gibson, then bishop of London, thought it necessary to direct five pastorals to his diocese in reference to themk, and, not content with this, caused Woolston to be prosecuted ; and the unhappy man, not able to pay the fine in which he was condemned, continued in prison till his death *. S Disc. iv. and Defence, sect. i. h Voltaire, (Euvres Crit. vol. xlvii. pp. 346-356. 1 Swift's Poem on his Death, Works, vol. xiv. p. 359. k The later Pastorals of Gibson are not only against Woolston, but other deists also, such as Tindal. 1 His friends would have found money for the fine ; but Wool- ston could not find securities for his good behaviour if released. O 194 LECTURE IV. In classifying Woolston with later writers against miracles, he may be compared in some cases, though with striking differences of tone, with those German rationalists like Paulus who have rationalized the miracles, but in more cases with those who like Strauss have idealized them. His method however is an appeal to general probability rather than to literary criticism. The next form that Deism assumed has reference more to the internal than the external part of Christianity, the doctrines rather than the evidences. Less critical than the last-named tendency, it differs from the earlier one of Toland in looking at religion less on the speculative side as a revelation of dogma, and more on the practical as a revelation of duties. While it combined into a system the former ob- jections, critical or philosophical, the great weapon which it uses is the authority of the moral reason, by which it both tests revelation and suggests a substitute in natural religion, thus using it both destructively and for construction. Dr. Tindal m, the first writer of this class, had early given offence to the church by his writings ; ™ Matthew Tindal, (1657 -1733), a fellow of All Souls' college, wrote in 1706 The Rights of the Christian Church asserted, pro- bably suggested by Spinoza's writings, to show that the absolute subjection of the church to the state was the only safeguard for public happiness ; and in 1730, Christianity as old as the Creation, which was answered by Conybeare 1732, Leland 1733, and by Waterland. The reply of the latter was attacked by Conyers Middleton. On Tindal, sec Lcchler, 326-341; Leland, Lett. 9; Henke, vi. 57. LECTURE IV. 195 but it was not till 1730, in his extreme old age, that he published his celebrated dialogue, " Christ- ianity as old as the Creation, or, the Gospel a Republication of the Religion of Nature." This was not only the most important work that deism had yet produced, composed with care, and bearing the marks of thoughtful study of the chief contemporary arguments, Christian as well as Deist, but derives an interest from the circumstance that it was the book to which more than to any other single work bishop Butler's Analogy was designed as the reply. Tindal's object is to show that natural religion is absolutely perfect, and can admit of no increase so as to carry obligation. For this purpose he tries to establish, first, that revelation is unnecessary n, and se- condly, that obligation to it is impossible. His argu- ment in favour of the first of these two positions is, that if man s perfection be the . living according to the constitution of human nature0, and God's laws with the penalties attached be for man's good?, no- thing being required by God for its own sake0- ; then true religion, whether internally or externally re- vealed, having the one end, human happiness, must be identical in its precepts1". Having denied the necessity, he then disputes the possibility, of revela- tion, on the ground that the inculcation of positive as distinct from moral duties, is inconsistent with the good of man, as creating an independent rule3. p Ch. iv. " Instances are to be found in Leland, who discusses his opinions at great length. The reader who compares Leland's quotations with Bolingbroke's works will perhaps think that he has pressed their meaning rather far ; but further consideration will show that he has correctly expressed Bolingbroke's spirit and purpose. z Letter on TiUotson. 206 LECTUEE IV. Jewish history to be repugnant to the attributes of a supreme, all-perfect Being. His attack on the records is partly on account of the materials contained in them, such as the narrative of the fall, the numerical sta- tistics, the invasion of the Canaanites, the absence of eternal rewards as sanctions of the Mosaic law; and partly on the ground of the evidence being, as he alleges, not narrated by contemporaries. In giving his opinion of Christianity, he repeats the Aveak objection already used by Chubb, of a distinc- tion existing between the gospel of Christ and of Paul a ; and tries to explain the origin of Christianity and of its doctrines, suggesting the derivation of the idea of a Trinity from the triadic notions of other religions. But he is driven to concede some things denied by former deists. He grants, for example, that if the miracles really occurred, they attest the revelation b ; and he therefore labours to show that they did not occur, by attacking the New Testament canon c as he had before attacked the Old; attempt- ing to show that the composition of the gospels was separated by an interval from the alleged occurrence of the events; applying, in fact, Pouilly's incipient criticism on history, which has been so freely used in theology by more recent critics. These remarks will exhibit Bolingbroke's views, both in their cause and their relation to those of former deists. It will be observed, that they are for the most part a direct result either of sensational a Ch- iv- 328. >> Ch. iv. 227. 8. c ch. iv. 405, 272. LECTURE IV. 207 metaphysics or of the incipient science of historical criticism. The inquiry was now becoming more historical on the part both of deists and Christians. Philosophy was still the cause of religious controversy, but it had changed in character. It was now criticism weighing the evidence of religion, rather than ethics or metaphysics testing the materials of it. The ques- tion formerly debated had been, how much of the internal characteristics of scripture can be supported by moral philosophy; and when the conviction at length grew up, that the mysteries could not be solved by any analogy, but were unique, it became necessary to rest on the miraculous evidence for the existence of a revelation, and make the fact guarantee the contents of it. Inasmuch however as the reve- lation is contained in a book, it became necessary to substantiate the historical evidence of its genuineness and authenticity. Bolingbroke's attacks are directed against a portion of this literary evidence. Historical criticism, in its appreciation of literary evidence, may be of four kinds. It may ( i ) examine the record from a dogmatic point of view, pronouncing on it by reference to prepossessions directed against the facts ; or (2) make use of the same method, but direct the attack against the evidence on which the record rests; or (3) it may examine whether the record is contemporary with the events narrated ; or (4) con- sider its internal agreement with itself or with fact. We have instances of each of these methods in the 208 LECTURE IV. examination of the literary evidence on which mira- cles are believed. The first, the prepossession con- cerning the philosophical impossibility of miracles, is seen in Spinoza ; the second, the impossibility of using testimony as a proof of them, in Hume ; the third, the question whether they were attested by eyewitnesses, is the ground which Bolingbroke touches ; the fourth, the cross-examination of the witnesses, is seen in Woolston. Of these, the first most nearly resembles the great mass of the deist objections to revelation, being philosophical rather than critical. The second forms a transition to the two latter, being philosophy applied to criticism, and is the form which deism now took. The two latter are those which it subsequently assumed d. These remarks will explain Hume's position e, and show how he forms the transition between two modes of inquiry ; his point of view being critical, the cause of it philosophical. His speculations in reference to d The history of Apologetik passes through the same phases, and when it devotes itself to the later forms, becomes of less general interest, and is more simply literary; which illustrates the fact that the later doubts are of a much less practical and more recondite character than those hitherto named. e Hume (1711-1776.] For his philosophy, see Tennemann, Ge- schichte, xi. 425 ; Ritter, Christliche Philosophie, viii. b.7. ch. h\; Cou- sin, J/istoire de la Philosophie Moderne, Legonxi.; Morell, History of Philosophy, i. 338 ; Lord Brougham's Preliminary Discourse to Paleys Natural Theology, p. 248. For his religious opinions, see Leland, Lett. 16-21; Lechler, pp. 425-34. His views on mira- cles were answered by Paley, Bp. John Douglas, Campbell, and Chalmers. LECTURE IV. 209 religion are chiefly contained in his Essays on the Human Understanding. A brief explanation is ne- cessary to show the dependence of his theology on his philosophy. The speculations of Locke, as we have before had occasion to notice, gave an impulse to psychological investigations. He clearly saw that knowledge is limited by the faculties which are its source, which he considered to be reducible to sensation and re- flection; but while denying the existence of innate ideas, he admitted the existence of innate facul- ties. Hartley carried the analysis still farther, by introducing the potent instrument offered by the doctrine of the association of ideas. Hume, adopting this principle, applied it, in a manner very like the independent contemporaneous speculations of Con- dillac in France, to analyse the faculties themselves into sensations, and to furnish a more complete ac- count of the nature of some of our most general ideas, such, for example, as the notion of cause. The intellectual element implied in Locke's account of the process ,of reflection here drops out. Faculties are regarded as transformed sensations ; the nature of knowledge as coextensive with sensation. According to such a theory therefore, the idea of physical cause can mean nothing more than the invariable con- nexion of antecedent and consequent. The notion of force or power which we attach to causation becomes an unreality; being an idea not given in sensation, which can merely detect sequence. p 210 LECTURE IV. Such was Hume's psychology ; an attempt to push analysis to its ultimate limits ; valuable in its me- thod, even if defective in its results ; a striking example of the acuteness and subtle penetration of its author. There is another branch of his philoso- phy, in which he is regarded as a metaphysical sceptic, in reference to the passage of the mind out- wards, by means of its own sensations and ideas, into the knowledge of real being, wherein he takes part with Berkeley, extending to the inner world of soul the scepticism which that philosopher had applied to the outer world of matter. In the psychological branch Hume is a sensationalist, in the ontological a sceptic. The latter however has no relation to our present subject. It is from the former that his views on religion are deduced. In no writer is the logical dependence of religious opinion on metaphysical prin- ciples visible in a more instructive manner. For we perceive that the influence adverse to religion in his case was not merely the result of rival metaphysical dogmas opposed to religion, such as were seen in the Pantheists of Padua, or in Spinoza; nor even the opposition caused by the adoption of a different standard of truth for pronouncing on revelation, as in his fellow English deists ; but it sprung from the application of the subjective psychological inquiry into the limits of religious knowledge, as a means for criticising not only the logical strength of the evi- dence of religion, but, specially the historic evidence of testimony. We consequently see the influence LECTURE IV. 211 exercised by the subjective branch of metaphysical inquiries in the discussion not only of the logic of religion, but also of the logic of the historic aspect of it. Hume's religious speculations f relate to three points : — to the argument for the attributes of God, drawn from final causes ; to the doctrine of Provi- dence, and future rewards and punishments ; and to the evidence of testimony as the proof of miracles. Though he does not conduct an open assault in reference to any of them, but only suggests doubts, yet in each case his insinuations sap so completely the very proof, that it is clear that they are in- tended as grounds not merely for doubt, but for disbelief. His doctrine of sensation is the clue to his remarks on the two former. He argues that we can draw no sound inferences on the questions, because the subjects lie beyond the range of sen- sational experience. It is however in consequence of his remarks on the last of the three subjects in his essay on Miracles that his name has become famous in the history of free thought. The essay consists of two parts. In the first he shows that miracles are incapable of proof by testi- mony. Belief is in proportion to evidence. Evidence rests on sensational experience. Accordingly the tes- timony to the uniformity of nature being universal, and that which exists in favour of the occurrence of a miracle, or violation of the laws of nature, being f Works, vol. iv. Inquiry Concerning the Human Understanding ; Essay xi. on Providence and Future Life ; Essay x. on Miracles. P 2 21 2 LECTURE IV. partial, the former must outweigh the latter. In the second he shows, that if this is true, provided the testimony be of the highest kind, much more will it be so in actual cases ; inasmuch as no miracle is recorded, the evidence for which reaches to this high standard. He explains the elements of weakness in the evidence ; such as the predisposition of mankind to believe prodigies, forged miracles, the decrease of miracles with the progress of civilization, the force of rival testimony in disproof of them, which he illus- trates by historic examples, such as the alleged mira- cles of Vespasian, Apollonius, and the Jansenist Abbe Parish The conclusion is, that miracles cannot be so shown to occur as to be used as the basis of proof for a revelation; and that a revelation, if believed, must rest on other evidence. The argument accordingly is briefly, that testimony cannot establish a fact which contradicts a law of nature ; the narrower induction cannot disprove the wider. The reasoning has been used in subsequent controversy11 with only a slight increase of force, or alteration of statement. The great and undeniable discoveries of astronomy had convinced men in the age of Hume of the existence of an order of nature ; g The miracles connected with the Abbe Paris were defended in La Verite des Miracles tie M. Paris, by C. de Montgeron, 1745. See concerning them, C. Butler's Church of France, (Works, v. PP- I35~i42.)j Bp. John Douglas's "Criterion by which the true miracles contained in the New Testament may be distinguished from those of Pagans and Papists;" Tholuck's Vermischte Schriften, i. 183. h E. g. by Professor Powell, in Essays and Reviews. LECTURE IV. 213 and modern discovery has not increased the proof of this in kind, though it has heightened it in degree, by showing that as knowledge spreads the range of the operation of fixed law is seen to extend more widely ; and apparent exceptions are found to be due to our ignorance of the presence of a law, not to its absence. The statement of the difficulty would accordingly now be altered by the introduction of a slight modification. Instead of urging that testi- mony cannot prove the historic reality of the fact which we call a miracle, the assertion would be made that it can only attest the existence of it as a wonder, and is unable to prove that it is anything but an accidental result of an unknown cause. A miracle differs from a wonder, in that it is an effect wrought by the direct interposition of the Creator and Governor of nature, for the purpose of revealing a message or attesting a revelation. That testimony can substantiate wonders, but not distinguish the miracle from the wonder, is the modern form of the difficulty. The connexion of Hume's view with his meta- physical principles will be evident. If nature be known only through the senses, cause is only the material antecedent visible to the senses. Nature is not seen to be the sphere of the operation of God's regular will ; and the sole proof of interference with nature must be a balancing of inductions. It will be clear also that the true method of replying to Hume has been rightly perceived by those who 214 LECTURE IV. consider that the difficulty must be met by philo- sophy, and not by history. Suppose the historic evidence sufficient to attest the wonder, it does not prove that the wonder is a miracle. The presumption in favour of this may be indefinitely increased by the peculiarity of the circumstances, which frequently forbid the idea of a mere marvel ; but the real proof must depend upon the previous conception which we bring to bear upon the question, in respect to the being and attributes of God, and His relation to nature. The antecedent probability converts the wonder into a miracle. It acts in two ways. It obliterates the cold material- istic view of the regularity of nature which regards materia] laws to be unalterable, and the world to be a machine ; and it adds logical force to the weaker induction, so as to allow it to outweigh the stronger. No testimony can substantiate the interference with a law of nature, unless we first believe on independent grounds that there is a God who has the power and will to interfere5. Philo- sophy must accordingly establish the antecedent 1 This line of thought concerning the necessity of establishing the antecedent probability of the fact, in order that the evidence may be logically convincing, is adopted by two writers of very different opinions, by Mr. Mansel (Essay in the Aids to Faith, § 18-23), and Mr. J. S. Mill (Logic, vol. ii. b. iii. ch. 25. § 2). The distinction between wonder and miracle is allowed by Dean Lyall (Propcedia Propketica) ; and Mr. Penrose (The use of Miracles in proving a Rev lation). Cfr. also Doederlin's Instil. Thcol Christ § 9, 10. LECTURE IV. 215 possibility of miracles ; the attribute of power in God to effect the interruption, and of love in God to pronrpt him to do it. The condition therefore of attaining this conception must be by holding to a monotheistic conception of God as a being possess- ing a personal will, and regarding mind and will as the rule by which to interpret nature and lawk, and not conversely measuring the mental by the material. In this manner law becomes the operation of God's personal fixed will, and miracle the interposition of his personal free will. It will be perceived that in distinguishing miracle from wonder, we also take into account the final cause of the alleged interposition as a reason weighty enough to call forth divine interposition. As soon as we introduce the idea of a personal intelligent God, we regard Him as acting with a motive, and measure His purposes, partly by analogy to ourselves, partly by the moral circumstances which demand the in- terposition '. k See Aids to Faith, Hansel's Essay, § 22. 1 There follows hence another peculiarity in reference to miracles ; viz., that we require an interpreting mind to explain them. This is the reason why so many thoughtful men believe that the outburst of fire when Julian tried to rebuild the Jewish temple, and the wonder of the thorn in the history of Port Royal, were nothing more than natural wonders. If the final cause be considered to have been suffi- cient in these cases to warrant divine interposition, at least there was no interpreter to explain them, nor any revealed message to be taught. It must be conceded that this trait is wanting in some miracles re- corded in scripture, but not in those which are wrought to attest a revelation, those which we use in proof of a special message from 216 LECTURE IV. These remarks may furnish the solution of the puzzle whether the miracle proves the doctrine, or the doctrine the miracle"1. Undoubtedly the miracle proves the particular doctrine which it claims to attest ; but a doctrine of some kind, though not the special one in point, some moral conception of the Almighty's nature and character, must precede, in order to give the criterion for distinguishing miracle from mere wonder. Miracles prove the doctrine which they are intended to attest ; but doctrines of a still more general character are required to prove the miracle. This examination of the doctrine of Hume will not only illustrate our main position, of the influence of intellectual and philosophical causes in generating doubt, or at least in directing free thought into a sceptical tendency, but will illustrate the appli- cation made of that special department of meta- the unseen world. Werenfels (Opusc. Theol. 17 18, Diss, v.) has given tests for the discrimination of miracles which are quoted by Van Mildert (Boyle Lect. II. p. 534). m Cfr. Dean Trench's remarks on the apologetic value of mira- cles, (Notes on Miracles, Introd. ch. vi). In the same work will be found an excellent and interesting account of the various assaults made on the argument from miracles. He classifies the assaults as follows : (1) the Jewish, (2) the heathen (Celsus, &c), (3) the pan- theistic (Spinoza), (4) the sceptical (Hume), (5) that which regards miracles as such^only subjectively (Schleiermacher), (6) the rational- istic (Paulus), (7) the historico-critical (Woolston, Strauss). ' With Dean Trench's remarks. Compare also Pascal, Pensees, part ii, art. 1 9- § 9; Lyall, Prop. Proph. p.441 ; Dr. Arnold's Lectures on Modern History, pp. 133, 137. LECTURE IV. 217 physics which relates to the test of truth, to discredit the literary proof of revelation as an historic system. We have now sketched the natural history of deism, by showing that in this as in former periods the forms which free thought assumed were deter- mined by the philosophy, and, in a slighter degree, by the critical knowledge of the age. The inquiry into method in the seventeenth cen- tury had led men to break with authority, and rebuild from its foundations the temple of truth. Locke, imbibing this spirit, had gauged anew the human understanding, and had sought a new origin for its knowledge, and given expression to the appeal to the reasoning powers, which marked the age. Political circumstances had not only generated free inquiry, but had required each man to form his political creed. In all departments reason was appealed to. Even the province of the imagination was invaded by it, and perfection of form preferred to freshness of conception in art and poetry. The doubt of the age reflected the same spirit. Whether its advocates belonged to the school of Descartes or of Locke, both alike examined religion by the standard of psychology and ethics. That which was to be believed was to be comprehended as well as apprehended. Yet the appeal was not made to reason in its highest form ; and, with a show of depth, philosophy nevertheless failed to exhibit the deepest analysis. We have watched the exhibition of the successive 218 LECTURE IV. phases of the attack, and have seen reason, first ex- amining the method of theology, protesting against mystery in doctrine or morals ; next criticising the historic reality of the evidence offered for its doc- trines ; then denying the moral utility of revelation, or attacking the doctrines and internal truths; lastly denying the validity of testimony for the super- natural. In the later steps the influence of the French school of speculation is already observable, mingling itself with English deism. Consequently the sub- sequent traces of unbelief in England must be de- ferred till the nature of this movement has been explained. Deism stands contrasted with the unbelief of other times by certain peculiarities. In its coarse spirit of bitter hostility, and want of real insight into the excellence of the system which it opposed, it recalls in some respects the attack of the ancient heathen Celsus ; and the difficulties propounded are frequently not dissimilar to those stated by him, though resulting from a different philosophical school. The tenacious grasp which it maintained of the doctrine of the unity of God would cause it to bear a closer resemblance to the system of Julian, if the deists had not lacked the literary tastes which strengthened his love for heathenism. The mono- theism constitutes also a line of demarcation between deism and more modern forms of unbelief. It restrained the deists from falling into the forms of LECTURE IV. 219 subtle pantheism previously noticed, and the atheism which will hereafter meet us. The character of their doubts too, selected from patent facts of mind and heart, which appealed to common sense, and were not taken from a minute literary criticism, which removes doubt from the sphere of the ordinary understanding into the world of literature, separates them from more modern critical unbelief. Standing thus apart, characterised by intense at- tachment to monotheism, and placing its foundation in the great facts of nature, deism errs by defect rather than excess ; in that which it denies, not in that which it asserts. It is a system of naturalism or rationalism ; the interpretation which reason, without attaining the deepest analysis, offers of the scheme of the world, natural and moral. Its only parallel is the particular species of German thought derived from it which existed at the close of the last century, and sought like it to reduce revealed religion to natural n. Whether emotional causes, personal moral faults coincided with these intellectual causes, and were the obstacle which prevented the attainment of a deeper insight into the mysteries of revelation, and made them to halt in the mysteries of nature, ought to be taken into account in forming a judgment on the concrete cases, but does not so properly belong to the general consideration in which we are now engaged, of tracing the types of deist thought. n E. g. Leasing, &c. Reimarus, &c. See Lect. V I . 220 LECTURE IV. Some of the deists were very moral men, a few immoral ; but the truth or untruth of opinions may be studied apart from the character of the persons who maintain them. The movement, if viewed as a whole, is obsolete. If the same doubts are now repeated, they do not recur in the same form, but are connected with new forms of philosophy, and altered by contact with more recent criticism. In the present day sceptics would believe less than the deists, or believe more, both in philosophy and in criticism. In phi- losophy, the fact that the same difficulties occur in natural religion as well as in revealed, would now throw them back from monotheism into atheism or pantheism ; while the mysteries of revelation, which by a rough criticism were then denied, would be now conceded and explained away as psychological pecu- liarities of races or individuals. In criticism, the delicate examination of the sacred literature would now prevent both the revival of the cold un- imaginative want of appreciation of its extreme literary beauty, and the hasty imputation of the charge of literary forgery against the authors of the documents. In the deist controversy the whole question turned upon the differences and respective degrees of obligation of natural and revealed reli- gion, moral and positive duties ; the deist conceding the one, denying the other. The permanent contribution to thought made by the controversy consisted in turning attention from LECTURE IV. ±21 abstract theology to psychological, from metaphysical disquisitions on the nature of God to ethical con- sideration of the moral scheme of redemption for man. Theology came forth from the conflict, recon- sidered from the psychological point of view, and readjusted to meet the doubts which the new form of philosophy — psychology and ethics — might suggest. The attack of revealed religion by reason awoke the defence ; and no period in church history is so remarkable for works on the Christian evidences, — grand monuments of mind and industry. The works of defenders are marked by the adoption of the same basis of reason as their opponents ; and hence the topics which they illustrate have a permanent philo- sophical value, though their special utility as argu- ments be lessened by the alteration in the point of view now assumed by free thought. The one writer whose reputation stands out pre- eminently above the other apologists is bishop Butler °. His praise is in all the churches. Though the force of a few illustrations in his great work may perhaps have been slightly weakened by the modern progress of physical science p, and though objections ° Butler, (1692-1752). The Analogy was published in 1736. The reader's attention is invited to the excellent edition of it by bishop Fitzgerald (1st ed. 1849), and the able memoir and criticism which precede. Mr. Bartlett has also written a memoir of Butler. Cfr. also Blunt's Essays, p. 490 seq. P For example, some of the physical proofs of immortality in part i. ch. i. are weakened by the discoveries of physiology ; and those in favour of the miraculous character of creation, in part ii. ch. ii. 222 LECTUEE IV. have been taken on the ground that the solutions are not ultimate % mere media axiomata ; yet the work, if regarded as adapted to those who start from a monotheistic position, possesses a permanent power of attractiveness which can only be explained by its grandeur as a work of philosophy, as well as its mere potency as an argument. The width and fulness of knowledge displayed in the former respect, together with the singular candour and dignified forbearance of its tone, go far to explain the secret of its mighty influence. When viewed in reference to the deist writings against which it was designed, or the works of contemporary apologists, Butler's carefulness in study is manifest. Though we con- jectured that Tindal's work r was the one to which would be regarded as of small value by those who hold the hypo- thesis either of the transmutation of species, or of their occurrence according to a law of natural selection. Some things of a different kind in Butler, which need correction, are pointed out in Fitzgerald's edition. See e. g. p. 184, note. q This is the objection taken by Tholuck (Vermischt. Schrift. p. 192, 3. A somewhat similar objection is quoted by Fitzgerald from Mackintosh, Introd. p. 49, upon both of which he offers criti- cisms. A kindred objection has been stated (probably by Mr. Mar- tineau) in the National Review, No. J 5. Jan. 1859, (PP- 2 1 1_2 1 4>) an<* another by Miss S. Hennell in the Sceptical Tendency of Butler s Analogy, 1857, in which she traces doubt in Butler's life as well as teaching. Others may be found stated and examined in bishop Hampden's Philosophical Evidence of Christianity , 1827. (pp. 229- 291.) * This conjecture is given by Fitzgerald in the life prefixed to his edition of the Analogy (p. 36), where also two passages are quoted, one from Foster, and the other from Berkeley, which certain pas- LECTURE IV. 223 lie intended chiefly to reply, yet not one difficulty in the philosophy, hardly one in the critical attacks made by the various deists, is omitted ; and the best arguments of the various apologists are used. But both the one and the other are so assimilated by his own mind, that the use of them only proves his learn- ing, without diminishing his originality. They are so embodied into his system, that it is difficult even for a student well acquainted with the deist and apolo- getic literature to point precisely to the doubt or parallel argument which may have suggested to him material of thought. And thus, though his work as an argument ought always to be viewed in relation to his own times, yet the omission of all temporary means of defence, and the restricting himself to the use of those permanent facts which indelibly belong to human nature, and to the scheme of the world, have caused his work to possess an enduring interest, and to be a KTrjua h aei The persuasive moderation of its tone also proves that sages of Butler resemble. It would be interesting to know whether the work of Dr. Peter Browne on Things Divine and Natural conceived of by Analogy, 1733, had come under Butler's notice. Many similar passages, as well as references to the sources of the difficulties which Butler answers, are given in the notes to Fitzgerald's edition. Mr. Pattison also {Essays and Reviews, p. 286) has expressed an opinion that Butler was much assisted by the works of his predecessors. The probability is, that in all great works their authors assimilate an amount of information current in the age, as well as create new material. This was pro- bably the case even in works like Euclid's Geometry and Aris- totle's Natural History and Organum. 224 LECTURE IV. Butler had really weighed the evidence. In its absence of arrogant denunciation, and its candid admission that the evidence of religion is probable, not demonstrative ; and in the request that the whole evidence may be weighed like a body of circum- stantial proofs, we can perceive that Butler had felt the doubts as well as understood them, and evi- dently meant his works for the doubter rather than for the Christian ; to convince foes, or support the hesitating, rather than to win applause from friends. The real secret of its power however lies not merely in its force as an argument to refute ob- jections against revelation, but in its positive effect as a philosophy s, opening up a grand view of the divine government, and giving an explanation of revealed doctrines, by using analogy as the in- strument for adjusting them into the scheme of the universe t. He seems himself to have taken a broad view of God's dealings in the moral world, analogous to that which the recent physical discoveries of his time had exhibited in the natural. In the same manner as Newton in his Principia had, by an extension of terrestrial mechanics, ex- plained the movements of the celestial orbs, and s The value of Butler's argument is fully discussed in the ad- mirable work on Butler by bishop Hampden before quoted, which is the best existing commentary on the author : second to it are Chalmers's Natural Religion and Bridgwater Treatise. 1 Hampden's Phil. Evid. (131-228.) LECTURE IV. 225 united under one grand generalization the facts of terrestrial and celestial motion ; so Butler aimed at exhibiting as instances of one and the same set of moral laws the moral government of God, which is visible to natural reason, and the spiritual go- vernment, which is unveiled by revelation. Probably no book since the beginning of Christ- ianity has ever been so useful to the church as Butler s Analogy, in solving the doubts of believers or causing them to ignore exceptions, as well as in silencing unbelievers. The office of apologetic is to defend the church, not to build it up. Argument is not the life of the church. It is therefore a proof of the philosophical power and truth of Butler's work that it has ministered so extensively to the latter purpose, by actually reinforcing and promoting the faith of professing Christians. It has acted not only as an argument to the deists, but as a lesson of instruction to the church. Few efforts of free thought seemed more unpro- mising in yielding any useful results than deism ; yet by its agitation of deep questions, which are not the mere phantoms of a morbid mind, but real and solid difficulties and mysteries in revelation, it was the means of creating Butlers noble work, and is a fresh illustration of the beneficent arrangement of the Almighty, that makes knowledge progress by antagonism, and overrides evil for good. But there is another weapon for repelling unbelief besides the intellectual ; just as there are two causes Q 220 LECTURE iy. for creating it, the one intellectual, the other emo- tional. Thus, in the period that we are now consi- dering, though we may believe that many hearts were cheered and many doubts hushed by the Christian apologies, yet the revival of religion11 which marked the eighteenth century, and which by spreading vital piety prepared an effectual check against unbelief, when the lower orders were afterwards invaded by it, was due to the spiritual yearnings created by the ministrations of men, often rude and unlettered, who told the wondrous story of Christ crucified, heart speaking to heart, with intuitions kindled from on high. The sinful began to feel that God was not afar off, reposing in the solitude of his own blessed- ness, and abandoning mankind to the government of conscience and to the operation of general laws, but nigh at hand, with a heart of fatherly love to pity and an ear of mercy to listen. The narrative of Christ the Son of God, coming down to seek and to save that which was lost, awoke an echo in the heart which neutralized the doubts infused by the deist. And it is a comfort to every Christian labourer to know that if he cannot wrangle out a controversy with the doubter, he can speak to the doubter's heart. Few would compare the irregular missionaries of spiritual religion in the last century with the great u The revival in the early part of the century was due to the agency of Wesley and Whitfield outside the church ; in the latter to those of such men as Eomaine, Newton, and ultimately Simeon, within it. LECTURE IV. 227 writers of evidence. The names of the latter are honoured ; those of the former are unknown or too often despised. It might seem strange, for example, to institute a comparison between the two contem- poraries, bishop Butler and John Wesley. Yet there are points of contrast which are instructive. Each was one of the most marked instruments of movement and influence in the respective fields of the argumenta- tive and the spiritual ; the one a philosopher writing for the educated, the other a missionary preaching to the poor. Butler, educated a nonconformist, turned to the church, and in an age of unbelief consecrated his great mental gifts to roll back the flood of in- fidelity ; and died early, when his unblemished example was so much needed in the noble sphere of usefulness which Providence had given him, leaving a name to be honoured in the church for generations. Wesley, nursed in the most exclusive church principles, kindled the flame of his piety by the devout reading of mystic books x ; when our university was marked by the half-heartedness of the time ; and afterwards, when instructed by the Pietists of Germany -v, devoted a long life to wander over the country, despised, ill-treated, but still untired ; teaching with indefatigable energy the faith which he loved, and introducing those irregular agencies of usefulness which are now so x E. g., W. Law's Serious Call, and Christian Perfection. y Viz., by means of the Moravians of Hernnliut, whose founder, Zinzendorf, himself sprang from the pietist movement. Q 2 228 LECTURE IV. largely adopted even in the church. He too was an accomplished scholar, and possessed great gifts of administration ; bnt whatever good he effected, in kindling the spiritual Christianity which checked the spread of infidelity, was not so much by argu- ment as by stating the omnipotent doctrine of the Cross, Christ set forth as the propitiation for sin through faith in his blood. The earnestness of the missionary may be imitated by those who cannot imitate the philosopher's literary labours. Gifts of intellect are not in our own power. But industry to improve the talents that we possess is our own ; and the spiritual perception of divine truth, and burning love for Christ which will touch the heart, and before which all unhealthy doubts will melt away as frost before the sun, will be given from on high by the Holy Ghost freely to all that ask. " Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord2." z Zech. iv. 6. LECTURE V. INFIDELITY IN FRANCE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, AND UNBELIEF IN ENGLAND SUBSEQUENT TO Ij6o. Isaiah xxvi. 20. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. W E now approach trie study of a period remarkable no less in the history of the world than in that of reli- gious thought, in which unbelief gained the victory in the empire of mind, and obtained the opportunity of reconstructing society and education according to its own views. The history of infidelity in France in the eighteenth century forms a real crisis in history, important by its effects as well as its cha- racter. For France has always been the prerogative nation of Europe. When wants intellectual or poli- 230 LECTURE V. tical have been felt there, the life of other nations has beat sympathetic with it as with the heart of the European body. Ideas have been thrown into form by it for transmission to others. It will be necessary to depict the free religious thought, both intellectually and in its political action ; to charac- terise its principal teachers ; to show whence it sprung, and to what result it tended ; to point out wherein lay the elements of its power and its wickedness ; to show what it has contributed to human woe, or perchance indirectly to human im- provement. The source of its influence cannot be understood without recalling some facts of the history of French politics and philosophical speculation. What was the cause why English deists wrote and taught their creed in vain, were despised while living and con- signed to oblivion when dead, refrained almost entirely from political intermeddling, and left the church in England unhurt by the struggle ; while on the other hand deism in France became omni- potent, absorbed the intellect of the country, swept away the church, and remodelled the state % The answer to this question must be sought in the ante- cedent history. It is a phenomenon political rather than intellectual. It depended upon the soil in which the seed was sown, not on the inherent qua- lities of the seed itself a. a The most effective sketch of the intellectual and social state of France in the last century is given in Buckle's History of Civilisa- LECTURE V. 2^1 The church and state have hardly ever possessed more despotic power in any country of modern times, or seemed to all appearance to repose on a more secure foundation, than in France ' at the time when they were first assailed by the free criticism of the infidels of the eighteenth century. Each had escaped the alterations which had been effected in most other countries. The clergy of France had in the sixteenth century successfully resisted the Reformation, and gained strength by the issue of the civil wars which supervened on it. In the seventeenth century, though compelled to admit toleration of their Pro- testant adversaries, they had contrived before the end of it to obtain a revocation of the edict, even though the act cost France the loss of a million of her industrious population, and though the enforcing of it had to be effected by the means of the dragon- nades, in which a brutal soldiery was let loose on an innocent population b. Thus the church, united with tion, vol. i. ; especially in ch. 8, n, 12, and 14. His narrative only sets forth the dark side of the picture, and the Christian reader frequently feels pained at some of his remarks ; but it is generally correct so far as it goes, and the references are copious to the ori- ginal sources which the author used. I have therefore frequently rested content with quoting this work without indicating further sources. An instructive account of the centralization under Louis XIV is given in Sir J. Stephens's Lectures on the History of France, Lect. 21-23. The reign of Louis XV is treated in De Tocqueville's Histoire Philosophic du Regne de Louis X V. A brief view of the history may be seen in the works of the liberal Roman catholic, C. Butler, vol. v. on Church of France. b The passages from Benoit's Ilktoire de V Edict de Xantcs 232 LECTURE V. rather than subjected to the state, adorned by great names, asserting its national independence in the pride of conscious strength against the metropolitan see of Christendom c, possessed a power which, while it seemed to promise perpetuity, stood as an impedi- ment to progress and a bar to intellectual develop- ment. Nor was the cause of liberty more hopeful in rela- tion to the state than the church. The crown, in passing through a similar struggle against the feudal nobility to that of other countries, had succeeded in securing its victory without yielding those conces- sions to the demands of the people which in our own country were extorted from it by the civil war. The strength gained by the defeat of the nobility in the wars of the Fronde, offered the opportunity for an able sovereign like Louis XIV to dry up all sources of independent power, by centralizing all authority in the monarchy. Proud in the consciousness of internal power and foreign victory, surrounded by wealth and talent, with a court and literature which were the glory of the country, he seemed likely to transmit vol. v. p. 887 seq., and Quick's Synodicon, i. p. 130 seq., respecting the cruelties of the dragonnades, are quoted at length in Buckle, i. p. 624, note. 0 This occurred in the contest concerning the Gallican liberties, and the dispute about the Bull Unigenitus. Concerning the former see C. Butler's Church of France (Works, vol. v.) p. 34 seq., and Hase's Church History, § 424 ; and, on the latter, Butler ut sup. 188-149, aiRl Hase, § 420. LECTURE V. 233 his power to coming generations. But the inherent weakness of despotism was soon apparent. Unre- strained authority appertains only to the Divine government, because power is there synonymous with goodness ; but it is always unsafe in human. The wisdom which partly supplied the place of goodness in Louis XIY being wanting in his succes- sor, unchecked selfishness produced the corruption which brought inevitable ruin. These remarks on the political state of France will sufficiently show why a free criticism directed against either religion or tyranny should assume revolu- tionary tendencies, and should manifest an antipathy to social and ecclesiastical institutions, as well as to the principles on which they were supposed to depend. But the forces operating in the world of mind, as well as in society, must also be understood, in order to estimate the influence of unbelief in France. In a previous lecture we have seen that in the middle of the seventeenth century the philosophy of Descartes had created a complete revolution in modes of thought. It was only in the philosophy of Spinoza that it produced theological unbelief; but by its indirect influence it had led generally to an en- tire reconsideration of the first data of reasoning, and the method of establishing truth ; and thus had stimulated the struggle of reason against faith, of inquiry against credulity, of progress against reaction, and of hopefulness in the future against re- 234 LECTUKE V. verence for the past. The activity of mind displayed in the literature of the reign of Louis XIV. is its first expression d. But thoughts ferment long in so- ciety before they fully express themselves in form : they first exist as suggestions ; then they become doubts ; lastly, they pass into disbelief. It was not until the time of the regency e, which ensued after the death of Louis, that the literature became im- pressed with a thoroughly new tonef. Other causes of a more direct kind cooperated. The English philosophy of Locke, which marked an epoch in speculation, was introduced at that time. This philosophy however could not have resulted in those speculations which arose in France, if it had not been carried farther by the analysis which Con- dillac employed in that country, analogous to that of Hume in Scotland. In itself it expressed the reasoning type of mind and thought which reigned throughout the English literature ; but the corol- laries from it which produced harm were no part of the original system s. Condillac, desiring to carry out the analysis of the origin of knowledge, lost sight of the intellectual element in Locke s account d The nature of the literature of the reign of Louis XIV, and the alteration of position of authors in the new reign, are explained in Buckle, i. ch. n and 12. e J7J5-i723- f Literature really became a political power, and exercised a similar influence to that of the modern newspaper press. S Professor Webb of Dublin, in his work, The Intellectualism of Locke, has given evidence which establishes this point. LECTUEE V. 23.3 of the process of reflection ; denied the existence of innate faculties as well as innate ideas ; and at- tempted to show that man's mind is so passive, so dependent on the evidence of the senses for the material of its thoughts, and on language for the power to combine them, that its very faculties are transformed sensations11. From these premises it was not hard for his followers to draw the inferences of materialism1 in philosophy, selfishness in morals, and an entire denial of those religious truths which can- not be proved by sensuous evidence. This philosophy began to leaven the mind of France, and was accepted by nearly the whole of French unbelievers. Such was the intellectual state of France in re- ference to the standard of appeal contemporaneously with the political and ecclesiastical condition before described. In the state and church all was authority; all was of the past : in the world of literature and philosophy all was criticism, activity, hope in the future. Into a soil thus prepared the seeds of un- belief on the subject of religion were introduced. We 11 On Condillac see Cousiu, Cours de la Philosophic Morale, le§on 3 ; Renouvier, Philosophie Moderne, v. 2. § 4 ; Villemain, Cours de Literature, ii. 20 ; Morell's History of Philosophy, i. 148 seq. ; Lewes' History of Philosophy. * It may prevent ambiguity to state that the term materialism, when employed in these lectures, is not used in its modern popular sense of mere animalism, the obedience to the lower side of human nature ; but in its technical sense, as the kind of philosophy which so regards spirit to be a property of matter as to produce inferences unfavourable to the belief in immortality or moral obligation. 236 LECTURE V. cannot deny that they were imported mainly from England. Doubt had indeed not been wholly wanting in France. In the preceding centuries Montaigne k and Charron1, and, at the commencement of the one of which we speak, Bayle111 and Fontenelle", were probably harassed with disbelief, and their influence was certainly productive of doubt. And free thought, in the form of literary criticism of the scriptures, had brought down the denunciation of the French church on Richard Simon0. But undoubtedly the direct parent of the French unbelief was English deism p. In no age of French history has English literature possessed so powerful an influenced England had recently achieved those liberties of which France felt the need. It had safely outlived civil war and revo- k On the scepticism of Montaigne (1532-1592) see Tennemann's Geschichte der Philosophie, ix. 443; Vinet's Essai de Philosophie Morale ; Sainte-Beuve Critiques et Portraits Litter aires, vol. iv. ; Hallam's History of Literature, ii. 29; Emerson's Representative Men ; and R. W. Church in Oxford Essays, 1857. 1 On Charron (1541-1603) see Tennemann, Id. ix. 527, Sainte- Beuve, t. xi. ; Hallam, i. 570., ii. 362, 511 ; and the article in the Biographie Universelle. m On Bayle (1647-1 706) see Tennemann, xi. 268 seq. ; Renouvier, Phil. Mod. iii. 3. § 6 ; Sainte-Beuve, iii. 392. n On Fontenelle (1657-17 57) see Sainte-Beuve, iii. and the Biogr. Univ. Another writer, Dolet (1 509-1 546), was also suspected, at an earlier period, not only of scepticism but of atheism. See his Life, by J. Boulmier, 1857. 0 On R. Simon see Lect. III. p. 116. P See Lechler's Gesch. des Eng. Deismus, p. 445. q On the great eagerness for English literature in France at that time, sec the facts collected by Buckle, i. (658-670). LECTURE V. 237 lution, and had established constitutional liberty and religious toleration. In England the victims of the French oppression found shelter. Being itself free, it became the refuge for the exile, the shelter for the oppressed. It thus became the object of study to the politician, and of love to the philanthropist. Its literature too, in two branches, viz. political inquiry, and, towards the middle of the century, romance, offered subjects for imitation. Montesquieu studied the former ; Rousseau and Diderot the latter. But England furnished also a series of fearless inquirers on the subject of religion, whose works became the subject of study and of translation1". Voltaire spent three years of exile in England s, at the time when the ferment existed concerning Woolston s attack on miracles, and both knew Bolingbroke personally, and translated his writings. Having now explained the sources of doubt in France ; we must next direct our attention to the course of its speculations, and to the chief authors. If we estimate its course by literary works, or by social and political movements, we may distribute the history of it into two periods; one comprising the first half of the century, wherein it attacks the French t- A list of those that are said to have been translated is given by Lechler, Id. 446. On the comparison of English and French deism see Henke's Kirchengeschichte, vi. s. 131. * 1 7 26-1 7 29. Cfr. Villemain, Cours de Litt. i. (168-177). A letter of Fleury, quoted from Schlosser by Lechler (Id. 446), proves that his fears were excited by the influence which English literature was producing. 238 LECTURE V. church and Christianity; the other, the latter half, wherein it mingles itself with the demand for political change, and assaults the stated until its effects are seen in the anarchy of the French revolution. In the former of these periods the unbelief is tentative and suggestive. About the time of the transition to the second, in the pride of supposed victory it becomes dogmatic. Christianity is supposed to be exploded. Philosophy seeks to occupy its place in the social and intellectual world. The early doubters and Voltaire mark the former of these epochs. Diderot and the French encyclopaedists, with the ramification of their school at the court of Frederick II. of Prussia, form the point of transition. Rousseau marks the opening of the second period, when unbelief was attempting to reconstruct society and remodel education. The selfish philosophy of Helve tius and his friends then carries on the course of the history of unbelief, until in the storm of the revolution it shows itself in the teaching of Volney, and the absurd acts of the theo- phil anthropis ts. The name of Voltaire, which the logical and chro- nological order introduces first to our notice, is so preeminent, that his character and teaching may ex- press the history of the early movement in France. The story of his life, so far as we require now to fc On this charge of attack about 1750 see Buckle, i. 716-718; and on the origin of the attack on the church, and the causes why it preceded that on the state, Id. 684 seq. Also compare De Tocque- ville's Louis XV. t. ii. eh. 10. LECTURE V. 239 be made acquainted with it, can be briefly toldu. Born toward the close of the seventeenth century, he manifested, as a legend assures us, such a doubting spirit, even in boyhood, that his priestly preceptor predicted that he would prove a CoryphaBus of deism. His rare precocity of intellect early acquired for him a reputation in the world of letters. Compelled to become an exile in England x, he studied its politics, its science, and its scepticism. On his return to France, he endeavoured to introduce among his countrymen the cosmical and mathematical doctrines of Newton ; and made himself conspicuous in history, in poetry, in fiction, and above all, in theology, by his attacks on* revealed religion and the French church. About the middle of the century, accepting an invitation to the court of Frederick the Great of Prussia, he aided thence the introduction of infidel doctrines in Germany. A few years later he with- drew into retirement at Ferney, but was able from his seclusion to wield an intellectual power through- out Europe. 11 Voltaire lived 169 4- 1778. The Life by Lord Brougham, in Lives of Men of Letters, is not only very full of facts, but contains some very able criticism, especially on the dramatic works of Vol- taire. More biographies have been given in this lecture than in others, in accordance with the reasons explained in Lect. I. p. 46, because in this period the infidel influence was the result of the teachers, as much as of the ideas taught. See concerning Voltaire, Henke's Kir- chengesch. vi. 166 ; Schlosser, Hist, of Eighteenth Century, i. 2. §1, iv. § 1. Bartholmess, Hist. Grit, des Doctr. Relig. tie la Phil. Mod. i. 2 1 1 seq. ; Bungener's Voltaire. x Tn T726. 240 LECTURE V. It was from this retirement that he denounced the acts of tyranny, or supposed injustice, inflicted by the French church. His indignant denunciations in the cases of the Sirven?, of La Barrez, and above all of the Calasa, gained for him the commendation and sympathy of Europe, and remain as monuments of the power of the pen. Such was his life. Let us search in it for the secret of his power, and inquire what were his views in the department which we are studying. y Sirven was condemned in 1762, on an unjust suspicion of causing his daughter's death, to prevent her becoming a protestant. z La Barre was a youth of seventeen, who, on the suspicion of having injured a crucifix on the bridge pf Abbeville, was con- demned (1763) to be tortured on the rack, to have his tongue cut out, and to be put to death ; which sentence was literally executed. See Blograpkie Universelle, sub Voltaire, vol. xix. p. 484, and Brougham's Life of him (94-99). a The Calas were a family at Toulouse, the father of which was put to death (1762) by catholic fanaticism. Voltaire investigated the facts with care ; and, by instituting legal proceedings at Paris, got the sentence of the Toulouse court reversed, and all the repara- tion that was possible made to the family. Money to defray the ex- penses was sent to him from all the reformed parts of Europe. The English queen (Charlotte) and the archbishop of Canterbury (Seeker) headed the English subscription list. The facts have lately been reinvestigated by the accomplished A. Coquerel fils., Jean Galas et sa Famille, 1858. The narrative is told in the Westminster Review, No. 28, for Oct. 1858. See also Henke's Kirchengesch. vi. 298 seq. On the tomb of Voltaire, now a cenotaph, in the vaults of the Pantheon, is an inscription, " II defendit Calas, Sirven, De la Barre, et Montbailly." Since the Pantheon has been converted into a church, the side of the tomb which bears this inscription has been concealed by a screen, so that visitors are only permitted to view one of the other sides. LECTURE V. 241 His character has been analysed by so many cri- tics, especially by one of our own countrymen in an essay of rare power, now become classical, that the opportunity of original investigation is impossible, and the attempt undesirable b. In the opinion of this writer, the secret of Vol- taire's strength was the tact which he displayed in ex- pressing the wants of his time to his countrymen in the precise mode most suited to themc. He belonged to the class of those who exercise their influence in their own lifetime — men of the present, not men of the future ; accordingly, whether he be viewed as a man, in his own personal qualities, in the moral and intellectual properties which constituted his charac- ter, or as an artist, in the manner in which he con- veyed his thoughts to the world, he will be found to be the loftiest exponent and type of the spirit of his age. It was an age without originality, without spi- ritual insight, careful of manners rather than morals, corrupted by selfishness, led by ambition, dissatisfied with the present, and anxious for deliverance ; but unable to espy the real causes of the mischief, and to escape confusing principles with men ; fond of form rather than material ; classical rather than Gothic ; critical rather than reverent ; proud of its own dis- coveries, without appreciation of the efforts of the past. — Such are the qualities which characterised b Carlyle's Miscellaneous Works, vol. ii. It will be observed that many of the following remarks are abbreviated from this source. c Carl vie, Id. p. 1 13. R 242 LECTURE V. the times of Voltaire'1, and in their most striking form marked his mind. To qualities which were thus in some sense formed in him by circumstances, he added remarkable ones which were Nature's special gift to him. His extra- ordinary tact and good sense, both in dealing per- sonally with individuals and in literary criticism ; his fiery ardour, and vehement spirit of proselytism ; his singular penetration of vision, and power to ar- range in the clearest mode the thoughts which he wished to transmit ; above all, his wit and wonderful power of satire were qualities which, though in some degree shared by his countrymen, cannot be ex- plained by mere circumstances, but are natural gifts. These three intellectual endowments, acute- ness, order, and satire6, are regarded by the authority that we are taking for our guide, as the qualities which formed the secret of his power as a writer, and at the same time as the sources of intellectual temptation which prevented him from gaining a deeper insight into truth, and deprived him of in- fluence with posterity. For his quickness prevented the exercise of the reflection, the patient meditation, which is the only high road to solve the mysteries of existence. It has been well saidf, that Voltaire saw so much more deeply at a glance than other men, d i. e. the age of Louis XV. See Id. pp. 180-185. e On Voltaire's power of ridicule, see Id. 120, 167 ; and on his power of order, 163 seq. f Id. p. i6t. LECTURE V. 24:1 that no second glance was ever given by him. His power of order assisting his quickness, was a still further temptation. Though far inferior in erudition to some of his contemporaries, such as Diderot, and in depth of feeling to Rousseau, lacking originality, and borrowing most of his philosophical thoughts at second hand, he yet surpassed them all by a match- less power of arrangement. The perfection of form diverted attention from the subject matter. He pos- sessed method rather than genius, intellect rather than imagination. But above all his other powers, his most singular gift was his power of satire. When stimulated by a sense of injustice, or of hatred against men or systems, it made him omnipotent in destruction. This satirical power contributed to pre- clude the possession of depth of reflection. Ridicule has an office in criticism. It is the true punishment of folly. But it has been well observed £, that it is dangerous to him who employs it, as being directly opposed to humility. The satirist places himself above that which he ridicules, and makes himself the judge : the humility of the listener is laid aside ; the selfish belief of his own infallibility is fostered ; forbearance and sympathy are laid aside. The critic argues, the satirist only laughs. Pity may be com- patible with humour, but only contempt with satire. Voltaire was by nature a satirist ; and when his mockery was applied to a subject like Christianity £ T<1. p. J I 9. R 2 244 LECTURE V. or religion, his utter want of reverence not only caused him to substitute a caricature for a picture, but prevented him from exercising discrimination in distinguishing Christianity from its counterfeit, re- ligion from the ministers of it. Hence his attacks on Christianity partake of the tone of blasphemy ; and he manifests in reference to religion, which to most readers was the most sacred of subjects, a tone of indescribable scurrility, which was not only inex- cusable and disgraceful if viewed merely in a literary point of view, but constituted politically a public outrage against the dearest feelings of others which no citizen has a right to perpetrate11. This tone too was mainly his own ; and is not to be found, except in rare instances, in the English deists from whom he borrowed. We have tried to comprehend the mind of Vol- taire, to notice his peculiarities and faults, before con- sidering his opinions ; because his influence was due to his mental and personal character rather than to the matter of his writings. It remains to state his views on religion, and the grounds of his attack on revelation. The chief materials for ascertaining them are the four volumes in the vast collection of his works, which contain his philosophical and theological writings1. They partake of every variety h The question of Voltaire's blasphemy is treated by lord Broug- ham (Life, p. 7). » The four volumes are xxxii-xxxv of the CEuvres Completes, 8vo. 1785. Vol. xxxii. contains the philosophical works, of which ch. 2, LECTUEE V. 245 of form, — essays, letters, treatises, pamphlets, trans- lations, commentaries. They include, besides smaller works, a commentary on the Old Testament ; trans- lations of parts of Bolingbroke and of Toland ; an investigation concerning the establishment of Chris- tianity ; deist sermons which he pretends had been delivered ; discourses written under false names k ; and doubts proposed and solved after the manner of preceding philosophers. Yet in these numerous treatises there is no claim to originality. His doubts and his beliefs are taken mainly from the English deists ; and chiefly from Bolingbroke, the most French in mind of any of the English school. A few words therefore will suffice to charac- terise his opinions. It appears that he believed in a God1, but firmly disbelieved the divine origin of the revealed religion, Jewish and Christian. The 6, 7, 9, of the Traite de Metaphysique, relate to religion ; also the Profession de Foi des Theistes ; the Homelies prononcees a Londres. Vol. xxxiii. contains the Examen de Milord Bolingbroke ; and the Epitre aux Romains. Vol. xxxiv, La Bible enfin Expliquee, where the notes contain Voltaire's views fully. Vol. xxxy, Histoire de V Etablissement du Christianisme. k On the persecutions which fell on literary men, see Buckle, i. (672-684.) 1 The proof of this assertion is clear in his Traite de Metaphysique, c. 2. (CEuvres, vol. xxxii); in Letter iii. of Memmius to Cicero; in the Profess, de Foi des Theistes ; and is shown by the fact of his opposition to the Encyclopaedists on the ground of their atheism ; which is confirmed by the inscription on his tomb, " II combattit les athees." It is his blasphemous tone which has, not unnaturally, given rise to the idea of his atheism. 246 LECTUKE V. main purpose of his life however was not affirmation, but denial'11. Accordingly the sole object of all his efforts was to destroy belief in the plenary inspiration of the scriptures, and the divine origin of revelation which is attested by them. There is hardly a book in scripture that he did not attack. Successively surveying the narrative of Jewish history, the Gospels, and statements of early church history", he tried to show absurdities and contradictions in them all ; not so much literary differences in the authors as difficulties of belief in the material revealed. In his views of Judaism and of Christianity he seems to have fluctuated between attributing them to the fraud or mistake of their propagators, and denying their originality. The science of historical criticism was beginning in his day, and was applied to the legends of Roman history Voltaire embodied the spirit of this inquiry. In his histories he exemplified the cold, worldly, modern mode of looking at events, as opposed to the providential and theocratic view of them which had found expression as recently as in the works of Bossuet0. And he transferred this m " Ecrasez l'infame" are the words, the initials of which, signed at the end of his letters to infidel friends, baffled the French police. Buckle considers them to have been designed against the French church, but offers no proof. It is to be feared that they were rather intended against the Christian religion, if not against the sacred person of our blessed Lord. n See his Commentary (CEuvres, vol. xxxiv.), the Homelies (vol. xxxii), and the Histovre (vol. xxxiv). u On the contrast of his historic tone to that of Bossuet, see LECTURE V. . 247 method to the treatment of holy scripture. No new branch of information was left unused by him for contributing to his impious purpose. The numerous works of travels which were affording an acquaint- ance with the mythology of other nations, were made to furnish him with the materials for hastily apply- ing one solution to all the early Jewish histories, which he failed to invalidate by the application of the historic method just described. By an inversion of the argument of the early Christian apologists he pretended that the early history preserved among the Hebrews was borrowed from the heathens, instead of claiming that the heathen mythology was a trace of Hebrew tradition ; and, with a view to sustain this opinion, he discredited the integrity of the Hebrew literature. In nothing is his singular want of poetic taste, and of the power to appreciate the beauties of the literature of young nations, and the ethical value of moral institutions, more visible, than in denying the literary and monumental value of the Bible, and the moral influence of Christianity *\ Infidels who have hated revealed religion as bitterly as Voltaire, have at least not had the meanness or the want of taste to depreciate the literary and moral interest which attaches to it. Such was the character of the man, and of the efforts which he directed to the injury of revelation. Buckle, i. 726, and Schlosser, History of the Eighteenth Century, (English translation), vol. i. ch. iv. § 2. p. 273. P Compare Carlyle's remarks, ut sup. p. 175. 248 LECTURE V. It has been saith that to obliterate his influence from the history of the eighteenth century would be to produce a greater difference than the absence of any other individual in it would occasion ; and would be similar to the omission of Luther from the six- teenth. The analogy, though startling, is true in the particulars which it is intended to illustrate. The influence of each was European in his respective century ; and the doctrine acted not only on the world of thought, but of action. We have described Voltaire alone ; not because he was isolated by any interval of time from a general movement, but because his attack is more rudi- mentary, being directed rather to disintegrate Chris- tianity than dogmatically to affirm unbelief. He was perhaps rather logically prior to the others than chronologically ; being really connected with two bodies of men, which formed the centres of two in- fidel movements, the one in Paris, the other at the court of Frederick at Berlin. Frederick the Great surrounded himself with French literary menr. They were mostly persons who were exiles from France to escape persecution for their opinions, who had first found a refuge in Hol- land, and thence endeavoured by means of the Dutch booksellers to introduce their writings into France. From about 1740-60 several such teachers of infi- (i Id. 105. ' On Frederick's entertainment of these French refugees, see Henke, Kirchengesch. vi. 180 ; Schlosser, vol. i. 2. § 3. LECTURE V. 249 delity were invited to the Prussian court, and dis- persed their influence in Germany ; the effects of which we .shall subsequently find. One of them was the physician La Mettrie s, who wrote works on phy- siology marked by a low materialism. Such also was De Prades*, and more especially D'Argens". The latter, struck with the force of "the Persian Letters" of Montesquieu, threw his doubts into an epistolary form, " the Jewish Letters f in which the traditional opinions and ruling systems of the time were attacked with great freedom. He translated also some ancient works to serve his purpose, especially the fragments of the abusive work of the emperor Julian against Christianity, written in favour of the state religion of the Greeks and Romans. While this was the character of some of the Frenchmen at the court of Frederick, whom Voltaire subsequently joined ; men who, imbued with the most extravagant form of the philosophy of sensation, verged upon materialism ; there were coteries of lite- rary persons in Paris, which were the rallying point of sceptical minds, and centres of irreligious influence. s La Mettrie (17 09-1 7 51). His views are seen in the Dlscours Preliminaire to his Hist. Nat. del dme, and in the Lliomme machine (1748). See a criticism on him in Ph. Damirons Memoires pour servir a VHistoire de Philosophic au i8e siecle (vol. i. pp. 1-4 9), re- printed from the Report of the Academic dcs Sciences ; also Henke, vi. 13. t De Prades (17 20-1782). See Henke, vi. 201 ; also the article in the Biographic Universelle. 11 D'Argens (1704-17 71). See Damiron, Id. ii. 256-376. 250 LECTURE V. The existence of them is due in part to the altered position already named which literature assumed in reference to the court during the regency. Instead of being fostered, it was discouraged ; and Fleury manifested an almost puritan spirit, and has left on record the expression of his alarm at the growing sceptical tone of literary works, and the imitation of the English spirit. Owing accordingly to the absence of patronage, and to the lavishment of those favours on extravagance which the elder Louis had bestow- ed on the fostering of intellect, literature became disjoined from court influences ; and hence there grew up small centres of literary influence, analogous to those preceding the time of Louis XIV v, and nuclei for intellectual movement, where of old the various bodies had all moved round one central sun. It would be irrelevant to enter into the de- tails of these coteries. (23) Some were simply of fashion and taste; but others were undoubtedly gatherings of powerful thinkers, imbued with in- fidel principles, whose character belongs to French literature and the mental and moral culture of the time. One of the most remarkable of these cote- ries included names noted in French literature, such as Voltaire, Diderot, D'Alembert w, D'Holbach, Mar- v On the old coteries of Rambouillet, &c. see Hallam's Hist, of Literature, iii. 137. w D'Alenibert (171 7-83). For particulars of his life, see Brougham's memoir in Lives of Men of Letters. For his philosophy, see Damiron, ii. 1-114 ; Henke, vi. 218 ; Schlosser, i. 4. § 7. His infidelity was known to friends, hut not openly avowed. LECTURE V. 251 montelx, Helvetius, Grimm?, St. Lambert2, and Raynala. We must notice some of them in detail, in order at once to appreciate the character of their works, and to illustrate the relation of their unbe- lief to the philosophy which they adopted13. Diderot0, next to Voltaire, was the most able of the infidel writers, and greatly superior to the other members of the same class. His history is one of those narratives of struggle and suffering which so often have been the lot of men of letters. Those who have been the teachers of the world have too often x Marmontel (1723-99). See Sainte-Beuve, Portraits, vol. iv. ; Schlosser, ii. 2. § 1. y Grimm, 17 23-1807. See Sainte-Beuve, vol. vii. The Gorre- spondance Litt. far le Baron Grimm et Diderot is the great source for the knowledge of his character. 1 St. Lambert (17 17-1803). See Damiron, ii. 144-256. a Abbe Raynal (171 1-96). See Schlosser, ii. 2. § 1. Henke, vol. vi. enumerates many more of the same class. Particulars of all are given in the Biogra/phie Universelle. b The following refer to places where the tendency and spirit of this whole movement are described, as well as literary information supplied. Henke, vi. 208, &c. ; Bartholmess, i. 1 17-2 10; Lermi- nier's Influence de la Phil, du i8e siecle (1833); Morell's Hist, of Phil. i. 158, &c. ; Maurice, Mod. Phil. p. 527-59 ; H. Martin's Hist, de France, vol. xv. and xvi. liv. 96, 99, 100, 10 1 ; Renouvier, Mod. Phil. b. v. ch. 2. § 6-8 ; also Kuno Fischer's Bacon, p. 451, and the references above given to Schlosser and to Damiron ; Tennemann (Manned, § 378, &c.) also gives many literary references. c Diderot (1713-84). His life and character have been sketched by Carlyle, (Misc. Works, vol. iv.) ; also by Damiron, ii. (227-324); St. Beuve, i. 355. Also see Villemain, Tableau de la Lift, au i8e siecle, lee. xix. 20. His novels are the parent of the impure novel of modern times. See Schlosser, i. 4. § 5-, ii. 2. § 1. 252 LECTUliE V. been also its martyrs. The great peculiarity of Dide- rot, as of Johnson, was his encyclopaedic knowledge, and his versatility in comprehending a variety of subjects. Less critical than Voltaire, and less philo- sophical than Rousseau, he exceeded both as the prac- tical teacher. But in unbelief he unhappily advanced farther than either ; his temper lacked moral earnest- ness ; and in later life he was an atheist. A growth of unbelief may be traced in him : at first he was a doubter, next he became a deist, lastly an atheist. In the first stage he only translated English works, and even condemned some of the English deists. His views seem gradually to have altered, probably under the influence of Voltaire's writings, and of the infidel books smuggled into France ; and he thenceforth as- sumed a tone bolder and marked by positive dis- belief. In 1746 he wrote his Pensees Philosophiques, intended to be placed in opposition to the Pensees of Pascal. Pascal, by a series of sceptical propositions, had hoped to establish the necessity of revelation. Diderot tried by the same method to show that this revelation must be untrue d. The first portion of the propositions6 bore upon philosophy and natu- ral religion, but at length he came to weaken the '• In the Essai sur le Merite et la Vertu, pp. 73, 87, he allows deism, the God of moral order. Similarly in the Pensees Philos. § 46, but it is the God of nature. But in the Dialogue with D'Alem- bert he teaches atheism. On his theological views see Damiron, ii. 261 seq. p § 25, LECTURE V. 253 proofs for the truth of Christianity, and controverted miracles, and the truth of any system which reposes on miracles ; yet even in this work he did not evince the atheism which he subsequently avowed. It was soon after the imprisonment in which he was in- volved by this book, that he projected the plan of the magnificent work, the Encyclopedie, or universal dictionary of human knowledge. Its object however was not only literary, but also theological ; for it was designed to circulate among all classes new modes of thinking, which should be opposed to all that was traditionary. Voltaire's unbelief was merely destruc- tive : this was reconstructive and systematic. The religion of this great work was deism : the philosophy of it was sensationalist and almost materialist ; seem- ing hardly to allow the existence of anything but mechanical beings. Soul was absorbed in body; the inner world in the outer ; — a tendency fostered by physics. It was the view of things taken by the scientific mind, and lacks the poetical and feeling elements of nature — a true type of the cold and me- chanical age which produced it. Diderot's atheism is a still further development of his unbelief. It is expressed in few of his writings, and presents no subject of interest to us; save that it seeks to invali- date the arguments for the being of a God, drawn from final causes. It has been well observed, that the lesson to be derived from himf is, that the f See Carlyle, Misc. Works, iv. 322. 254 LECTURE Y. mechanical view of the world is essentially atheistic; that whosoever will admit no means of discovering God but common logic, cannot find him. Diderot s unbelief may be considered to embody that which resulted from the abuse at once of erudition, physical science, and the sensational theory in metaphysics. Among the band of friends who from connexion with the Encyclopaedia acquired the name of Encyclo- paedists, was also Helvetius =. He was the moralist of the sensational philosophy, one of those who applied the philosophy of Condillac to morals. Each man's tastes are so far affected by circumstances, that it is possible that Helvetius's exclusive association with the selfish circles of the French society, which never lived for the good of others, together with the per- ception of the hollowness of the respect which per- sons paid him for his wealth and influence, led him to regard self-love as the sole motive of conduct. His philosophy is expressed in two works h ; the one g Helvetius (17 15-177 1). See C. Eemusat in Rev. des Deux Mondes, Aug. 15, 1858. On the circle of Helvetius see Carlyle ut sup. 287 seq.; and on their atheism Buckle, i. 786 seq. Con- cerning Helvetius himself see Ritter's Christliche Philos. viii. b. ix. ch. 2 \ Cousin's Hist, de Phil. Morale, lecon 7 ; Schlosser, i. 4. § 6. h Viz., De VK 'sprit et de V Homme (CEuvres compl. 18 18, vol. i. and ii.). Both treatises are excellently analysed in the table of contents prefixed to the work. The allusions in the text here may be thought to fail from their brevity in showing that Helvetius's opinions were a logical corollary from his principles ; they cannot at least give any notion of the great power of analysis exhibited by him in expressing his own views. LECTURE V. 255 on the spirit, the other on man: the former a theo7 retical view of human nature, the latter a practical view of education and society. His primary position is, that man owes all his superiority over animals to the superior organization of his body. Starting from this point, he argues that all minds are originally equal, and owe their variation to circumstances ' ; that all their faculties and emotions are derivable from sensation; that pleasure is the only good, and self- interest the true ground of morals and the frame- work of individual and political right k. If in Diderot we have met with atheism, and in Helvetius with the selfish theory of morals ; in the author of "the System of Nature" we meet with utter materialism, and the two former evils as co- rollaries from it. This work, which was published about 1774, though bearing a different author's name on the title, was probably the work of D'Holbach1, aided by Diderot and Helvetius, and other members i In Discourse ii. k Id. 1 D'Holbach (1723-89). The Systeme de la Nature bears the name of a Mirabaud, secretary to the Academy. Some have thought it to be written by Bobinet, author of a similar work. (His works are discussed in Damiron, ii. 480 seq.). Concerning the work see Villemain, iii. lee. 38; Damiron, i. (93-177); Ritter, Christ. Philos. viii. b. 9. ch. 3 ; Schlosser, i. 4. §1. On D'Holbach's view of God see Damiron, Id. p. 155, &c. ; Buckle, i. 787, note. The Systeme de la, Nature is partly analysed and criticised in Brougham's Discourse on Natural Theology, pp. 232-47. It comprised two volumes, and is followed by a volume containing three small treatises relating to the natural principles of morals, and social philosophy. The work was refuted by Bergier (1771). 256 LECTURE V. of the society which met at D'Holbach's house. It is a work of unquestionable talent and eloquence, in which materialism, fatalism, and atheism, combine to form a view of human nature which even Voltaire is said to have denounced. The grand object of this work being to show that there is no God, the first part is occupied by the most rigorous materialism, and is designed to prove that there is no such thing as mind, nothing beyond the materia] fabric111, which is maintained by simple and invariable laws ; and that the soul is a mode of organism11, the mere action of the body under different functions. The freedom of the will0 and immortality p are accordingly denied. The first part having been directed to disprove the existence of mind, the second part is designed against religion. The author attributes the idea which man has formed of a first Cause to fear0-, generated through suffering-; and at- tempts to show the insufficiency of the a 'priori argument in favour of a Godr, omitting the con- sideration of the arguments derived from final causes. Nature becomes in his scheme a machine ; man an organism ; morality self-interest • deity a fiction. The work we have just named formed the crown- ing result of infidelity s. Voltaire showed philosophy 111 Partie iere ch. iii. and iv. » Part ii. cli. vii. ° Part ii. ch. xi. P Part i. ch. xiii. 'i Part ii. ch. i. r Id, ch. iv. and v. s Damiron discusses, in addition to the writers already named, two or three others, viz., Naigeon, Sylv. Marechal, and DelaLande, whose names are not introduced here into the text. LECTURE V. 257 shrinking from the hard materialism, morality from the fatalism, and religion from the atheism, to which they afterwards attained. In these steps, as wit- nessed in the circle of intellect just sketched, we see the ramifications of the French sensational philosophy pushed to its farthest limits. The writers lately described, though in some degree eminent, do not, like Voltaire, stand in the first rank of the French literary writers. Amid the circle of unbelievers, however, another of the highest rank was found, who, though he must be classed with the others, stood so apart in taste, in sympathy, in pur- pose, and in belief, that the study of his life and character is an interruption to the series of the materialist writers whom we are describing. Rous- seau* was not an atheist like Diderot, nor a mate- rialist like D'Holbach, nor a moralist of the selfish school like Helvetius, nor a scoffer like Voltaire. We discover in him a spirit endowed with deep feeling, and trained by much greater experience of life and of internal sorrow. His writings also mark the period when French philosophy ceased to attack the church, and found itself strong enough to act against the state. The greater portion of his works t On Rousseau see Villemain ii. lecon (23-24) ; Brougham's life of him in Men of Letters ; Bartholmess, i. 233-270; Henke, yi. 232, especially p. 253, which refers to his theology; Schlosser, i. 4. § 4, and ii. § 2 ; St. Marc Girardin on the Emile in Rev. des Deux Mondes, Dec. 1854 ; and an article, too favourably written, but rail of information, in the Westminster Review, Oct. 1859, which has been of much use for this lecture. 258 LECTURE V. lies out of the range of our inquiry. Even his poli- tical writings, which indirectly injured religion in the world of action by stimulating the revolutionary hatred to the church, require notice only so far as they involved principles fiuidamentally opposed to the teaching of revealed religion, It was about the middle of the century11 that Rousseau commenced the " Political Essays" which made his name famous, and unhappily afterwards formed as it were the very bible of the French revo- lution. Retaining through life the preference for the simple institutions of the republic in which he had been born, he saw in French society the abuses which appertain to civilization ; and, with somewhat of the same feeling which Tacitus exhibits in his portraiture of the Germans, was led to study the comparative advantages of a primitive and refined age, and to maintain the paradox that the empire of corruption and inequality was to be regarded as the artificial creation of civilization. Ignoring the natural sinful- ness and selfishness of the human race, he sought deliverance for mankind in the return to a primeval state, in which all should be free, equal, and inde- u The chief facts of Rousseau's life are these : — Born 17 12 ; came to Paris, 1741 ; wrote Sur les Sciences et les Arts, 1750; L'inegalite parmi les hommes, 1753; lived in the Paris coteries, 1754-60; wrote Nouvelle Heloise, 1760; Le Contrat Social, 1761, and Emile ; an exile in Switzerland 1762, where he wrote Lettres de la Montague; accompanied Hume to England 1776; wrote his Confessions; re- turned to the Continent 1767; died 1770. LECTUEE V. 259 pendent. The inartificial state of society was the beau-ideal. And from this philosophical origin he traced society in the historical formation of an actual polity, describing how the social contract, while sub- ordinating individual liberty to the collective will of a society, recompensed men by investing them with rights of civilization. His doctrine was false theologically in its view of human nature ; false philosophically in attempting to investigate an historical question by means of abstract metaphysical analysis ; and false politically in drawing the attention of men away from practical and possible schemes of reform to visionary ones. It typified the movement of the French revolution in its extravagant hopes and its errors, in its de- structive, not its remedial aspect x. It was a few years later than the publication of x There are some good remarks on this theory in the article in the Westminster Revieiv before quoted, the substance of which is to show that Rousseau's doctrine was false in its method and in its tendencies. It marked the stage of inquiry, indicative of the last part of the last century, when men, ignoring the teaching of history, strove to solve problems by means of abstract speculations; the attempt to study the origin of phenomena instead of the facts of their progressive manifestation. The social contract is nothing but the description of the collective development to which society tends. The scheme was visionary : but, as a protest against unjust monopo- lies which existed in that age, it woke up a response in society (cfr. Mill on Liberty, p. 47-50) ; and in its tendency it made Rousseau the precursor of the French revolution ; but in typifying that move- ment it represented only its transient aspect of subversive energy, not its work of political reformation. s 2 260 LECTURE V. these speculations that Rousseau wrote his celebrated treatise on education, the Emile?, which is the chief source for ascertaining his religious opinions. It has been called the Cyropaedia of modern times, an at- tempt to show the education which a philosopher would give his pupil, in contradistinction to the reli- gious and Jesuit training common in Rousseau's time. In examining the religious education to be given to the young, he introduces a Savoyard vicar, the original of which his own early travels had sug- gested to him, to narrate the history of his con- victions, and explain the nature of his creed. This creed is deism, and bears a very striking resemblance to that taught by the English deists. Rejecting tradition and philosophy2, the vicar grounds, his creed on reason, the interior light. Commencing with sensation, he shows how step by step we arrive at the doctrine of the being and attributes of one God. Though he does not reject the argument from final causes, he seems to lay more stress on the metaphysical argument of the necessity of the divine existence. He first proves the existence of person- ality and willa, and uses this idea for the purpose of exploring the outer world ; arguing that matter is inert and not self-active, he regards matter in motion as indicating force, and therefore volition ; y Umile, b. iv. (See (Euvres, vol. iv. p. 14- 119, ed. Paris, 1823, by Musset-Pathay.) z Id. p. 17-20. :i Id. p. 22-30. LECTUEE V. 261 uniformity in its motion as proving a law, and therefore an intelligent willb, in which wisdom, power, and goodness combine e. This being is God, to whom man is subject. The universe is universal order. The physical evil therein originates in our vices, the moral in our free willd. Having established the being of a God, he next proceeds to give reasons for believing in immortality. He bases it on the fact of the goodness of God, which leads Him to recompense with happiness the suffering good ; and he disbelieves the eternity of punishment for the bade. Having fixed the objects of belief, he next lays down the rule of duty in con- science, which he regards as an innate and infallible guide*. After thus establishing natural religion, he proceeds to criticise revealed, arguing its want of irrefragable evidence s, the discrepant11 opinions in reference to it, the improbability of portions of its history1 ; attacking strongly the external evidence of prophecy and miracles; the former on the alleged want of proof of agreement between prophecy and its fulfilment ; the latter on the ground of the al- leged circle, that miracles are made to prove doctrine, and doctrine miracles k. He accordingly rejects the b Emile, p. 33 : "Si la matiere mue me montre une volonte, la matiere mue, selon de certaines lois me montre une intelligence. C'est mon second article de foi." c P- 34, 36- d P- 40-49- e p- 5o-53- 1 P. 57-75- ;: P 83-86. " P. 75-119. » P. 86, &c. k p. go. 262 LECTURE V. idea of Christianity being necessary to salvation ; but renders a tribute of praise to its moral precepts, and regards the gospels, though partly fictitious, as con- taining indestructible moral truths ; and concludes with the well-known comparison of Socrates to Christ, showing the stupendous superiority of the death and example of the latter. " If the death of Socrates," he says, " was that of a sage, that of Jesus was that of a God1". It would have been thought that such teaching as this would hardly have excited a legal prosecution, in comparison with the more violent attacks that were made on religion : but the wide reputation and fas- cinating style of the author, the extraordinary ability of the work, above all the fact that many of the previous infidel doctrines had been published with- out the writers' names, were the means of subjecting him to persecution which they escaped. Voltaire and the infidel party were indignant at Rousseau's partial acceptance of Christianity. The French clergy were angry at his rejection of the remainder. The parliament ordered the book to be burned, and the author to be imprisoned. Rousseau had to seek refuge in Switzerland, and there defended his views of Christianity and miracles in a series of celebrated letters, which in their political effects have been com- pared with the letters of Junius. Driven out from Switzerland, he found a shelter in England, with 1 Emile, pp. 105-107. LECTURE V. ^G3 Hume ; and, until he could safely return to France, employed his time in writing his Confessions™ ; — the celebrated work, a mixture of romance and fact, which takes its place in the first rank of autobio- graphies,— a sad witness to the desperate wickedness of the human heart, and to the impotence of even a high moral creed, which we know Rousseau else- where expressed n, in creating morality, without Christian motives to give practical efficacy to it. Such was Rousseau, an enemy of artificial society, of Roman catholic education, and of supernatural revelation ; yet far removed from Voltaire and the other infidels, both in tone and literary character0. m The comparison of the statements of the Confessions with fragments of Rousseau lately published, shows that many statements which they contain in reference to other persons is false. The statement in the text is made in deference to the opinion latterly stated (e. g. in Heine's Allemagne), that there is a general air of romance pervading the work. If the statements in reference to himself are untrue, the narrative is only a greater proof of the immorality of the author. The supposition however seems ground- less. The defender of Rousseau, G. H. Morin (Essai, 1851), does not exculpate his author by impeaching the historical truthfulness of the Confessions. n The high moral standard is not of course seen in the Con- fessions, which show Rousseau to have been the incarnation of selfishness, and much worse than most of the other unbelievers, but is exhibited in the Emile. The fact that the author of the latter work could write the former is a sad example of a man knowing, like the ancient heathens, how to do good and doing it not. 0 Henke (vi. p. 267 seq.) draws out the comparison of Voltaire with Rousseau in an excellent manner. Coleridge (Friend, vol. 1. 165-186) has given a comparison of Voltaire with Erasmus, and of Rousseau with Luther. 264 LECTURE V. While Voltaire aimed only to destroy, Rousseau sought to reconstruct. Voltaire was a flippant, hasty reviler of Christianity, without originality in the ma- terial of his works, without depth of soul : Rousseau was serious, fresh, full of pathos. Voltaire either had no creed, or thought one unimportant, and was ac- tuated by malignant hatred against Judaism and Christianity : Rousseau had a firm creed, and spoke with decency of the religion which he rejected. Vol- taire was devoid of taste for ancient literature, witty under a mask, a selfish sycophant to the ancient po- litical regime : Rousseau never denied the authorship of his writings, was democratic in tastes, and was the means of exciting a love for antiquity. Finally rejecting to a great degree the sensational philo- sophy ; rising above it in heart, if not in thought, Rousseau taught a spiritual philosophy, destined to bear fruit when the dreams of the revolution had passed. He stands alone however at present in this respect, like Montesquieu in politics p and Buffon in science ; and the course of our history again brings before us men who must be classed with the mate- rialists that preceded him. We have stated that by the middle of the century the infidel writers turned their attention from the attack on the church to that on the state; and had already made such impression on the government, P See Villemain, i. T4, 15., ii. 22 ; Schlosser, i. 2. § 2., 4. § 3, and ii. .?. § 2. LECTUKE V. 265 that it joined them in expelling the Jesuits ^. For more than a quarter of a century before the revolu- tion the literary writers were infidel. At length the evils of the state grew incurable, and the storm of the revolution burst. It is possible in the present age to take a much more dispassionate view of that vast event than was taken by contemporaries1". It can now be ad- justed to its true historic perspective, and its function in the scheme of history can be clearly perceived. The vastness of the movement con- sisted in this, that it was at once political, social, and religious s. It aimed at redressing the grievances under which France had suffered, and reconstructing society with guarantees for future liberty. It sought not merely to destroy the feudalism which had out- lived its time, and to equalize the unfair distribution of the public burdens, as means to accommodate society to modern wants ; but it tried to effect these changes among a people whose minds were fully per- suaded both that the privileges of particular classes and the existence of an established religion were the chief causes of the public misfortune. When so many movements combined, the catastrophe was intensified. It is indeed possible now to see that in the end the q See Buckle, i. (772-783). r Compare Macaulay's remarks in reference to the Revolution, Essays (ed. 8vo. 1843), ii. 215, &c. s For the causes of the revolution compare the statements of Alison, Hist, of Europe, i. ch. ii. and iii., and Buckle, i. (836-850). 266 LECTURE V. solid advantages of the revolution were reaped, while the mischief was temporary ; but the severity of the storm while it lasted was increased by the infidel views with which society had become impregnated. For the revolution attempted to embody in its poli- tical aspect those poetical but wild theories of so- ciety which sceptical students had taught; and was founded on the false assumption of the perfectibility of man, and the perfect goodness of human nature, except as depraved by human government. At first, under the National Assembly, the attack was only made on the property of the church* ; but on the establishment of the Convention, when the nation had become frantic at the alarm of foreign invasion, to which the king and clergy were sup- posed to be instrumental, the monarchy was over- thrown, and religion also was declared obsolete. The municipality and many of the bishops abjured Chris- tianity; the churches were stripped; the images of the Saviour trampled under foot; and a fete was held in November 1793", in which an opera-dancer, impersonating Reason as a goddess, was introduced into the Convention, and then led in procession to the cathedral of Notre Dame; and there, elevated on the high altar, took the place of deity, and re- ceived adoration from the audience. The services of t On the incipient hostility to religion in the National Assembly, see Alison, vol. ii. ch. v. § 46, Id. § 32-35. On the full development of it in the Convention, see Id. iv. ch. xiv. § (45-48). " Nov. 9. LECTURE V. 2()7 religion were abandoned; the churches were closed; the sabbath was abolished ; and the calendar altered. On all the public cemeteries the inscription was placed, " Death is an eternal sleep." Robespierre himself saw the necessity for the public recognition of the being of a God; and after the fall of the Girondists, obtained an edict for that purpose shortly before his death, in 1794 ; which event marks the return of society from atheism and materialism back to deism x. When the horrors of the dictatorship of Robespierre closed, and a regular government was established under the Directory, the priests obtained liberty to reopen the churches provided they main- tained them at their own expense y. But the great majority of the people lived wholly without God in the world; while some sought refuge in the extrava- gant creed of a deist sect called the Theophilanthro- pistsz. Nor was it till the year 1802 that Napoleon was able, and even then amid much opposition, to reestablish the Sunday a. Christianity was then re- x Concerning this act of Robespierre, see Alison, iv. ch. xv. § 23, 24, 27. y On the state of religion under the Directory, see Alison, vol. v. ch. xix. § 41, and vol. vi. ch. xxiv. § 19. 55 See M. Gregoire's Histoire de la Theophihmthropie, forming part of his Histoire des Sectes Belig., and the notice of it in the Quarterly Review, No. 56. Also the references in Alison, vi. ch. xxiv. f 1 9 ; Staiidlin, Geschichte des Rationalismus und Supernat. 1826, (44-54)- a On the state under Napoleon, see Alison, viii. ch. xxxv. § 1, and 30-40. 268 LECTURE V. inaugurated by a public ceremony b in the cathedral, polluted eight years before by the blasphemy of the goddess of Reason. But the total cessation of reli- gious instruction snapped asunder a chain of faith which had descended unbroken from the first ages ; and to this must be ascribed the irreligious mode of spending the Sunday in French society. The reign of atheism in religion was fortified by a philosophy ; and the works of one infidel writer pre- serve the expression of the view which it took of Christianity and religion. As soon as the excitement of the revolution allowed leisure to return to the study of mental facts, there arose the extreme form of sensationalism, which was called (in a different meaning from the present popular use of the term) Ideology. (24) Cabanis and Destutt de Tracy are the best exponents of its physiological and psychological aspects ; and the well-known Volney of its moral and religious side. Starting from the principles of Con- dillac and Helvetius, that the very faculties as well as ideas are derived from sensation, and moral rules from self-love, it almost reaches the same point as D'Holbach. Mental science was approached from the physiological side, and so viewed that mind seemed to be made a property of brain c. The chief work in which Volney expresses his un- belief is entitled the " Ruins, or Meditations on the b April ii, 1802. c Sec Morell, Hist, of Phil. vol. i. cli. iv. § 2. LECTURE V. 2G9 Revolutions of Empires d." It is a poem in prose. Volney imagines himself falling into a meditation, amid the ruins of Palmyra, on the fall of empires6. The phantom of the ruins appears, and, entering into converse with him, causes him to see the kingdoms of the world, and guides him in the solution of the mysteries which puzzle himf. It unveils to him the view of nature as a system of laws, and of man as a being gifted with self-love. It traces the origin of society in a manner not unlike Rousseau £, and refers the source of evil to self-love; states the cause of ancient prosperity and decline, and draws the moral lesson from the past11. While Volney is despondent at the prospect of the future, a vision is unveiled to him of a new age. It is of a nation ridding itself of privileged classes, and arming itself when its young liberties were threatened by foreign powers1. It is an apocalyptic vision of France in his time. Then suddenly the vision changes, and an assembly of the nations of the world is gathered as in one common arena, to ascertain how they may arrive at unity and peace k. Their differences are illustrated by the dis- crepant opinions which they utter on religion ; and the origin of each religion on the earth is traced1. d Les Ruines ou Meditations sur les Revolutions des Empires (1791). A similar view of religion is taken in Dupuis, Origine de tous les Cultes, 1795. e Ch. ii. f Ch. iii. S Cli. v. h Ch. vii-xii. » Ch. xv. k Ch. xix. 1 Ch. xx. &c. 270 LECTURE V. It is here that Volney makes his speaker convey his own scepticism. He tracks the origin of the reli- gious ideas m through the worship prompted by fear of the physical elements" and the stars0 to that of symbols or idols p, with its accompanying mysteries and orders of priests ; and then onward through dualism0* to the belief of an unseen world r; then through mythology s and pantheism1 to the belief in a Creator"; next, to Judaism x as the worship of the soul of the world ; and lastly, through the Persian y and Hindu2 systems to Christianity a; which he at- tempts to show to be the worship of the sun under the cabalistic names of Christ and Jesus. Availing himself of some of the fragments of mythology which such writers as Eusebius have preserved, and with a faint perception of the nature of mythology, he tries to resolve the narrative of the fall of man into solar mythology ; and, pointing to contact with the Per- sians at the captivity as the source from which the Jews borrowed their ideas of a symbolic system, he regards the incarnation and life of Christ as the mis- taken literalization on the part of contemporaries of their preconceived opinions. The conclusions to which Volney makes his interlocutor comeb is, that nothing can be true, nothing be a ground of peace and union, m Ch. xxii. P- 21 8. n P. 226. 0 P. 232 P P. 238. q P. 255- r P. 262 s P. 268. 1 P. 274- u P. 277 x P- 285. y P. 286. z P. 287. a P. 288. b Ch. xxiv. P« 3 20. LECTURE V. 271 which is not visible to the senses. Truth is con- formity with sensations. The book is interesting as a work of art; but its analysis of Christianity is so shocking, that its absurdity alone prevents its be- coming dangerous. It is the most unblushing attempt to resolve the noblest of effects into the most absurd of origins ; and embodies in the consideration of reli- gion the school of philosophy which he represented. We have now completed the history of unbelief in France during the eighteenth century. We have seen how literature gradually emancipated itself from the power of the court, and, under the influence of a sceptical stimulus received from the importation of English free thought, was changed into political and ecclesiastical antipathy, and acquired a mastery over the public mind, until it involved the state, the church, and Christianity, in a common ruin. History offers no parallel instance of the victory of unbelief, through the power of the pen, nor of the union of the political with the theological move- ment, and of the intimate connexion of both with the current philosophy of the time. The theological movement has contributed nothing of permanent literary value. The few apologies written were unimportant ; and the thoughts of those who attacked Christianity were neither new nor characterised by depth. Their criticism was shallow, and was marked by the feature of which- traces were observed in a few English authors, the dispo- sition to charge imposture on the writers of the 272 LECTURE V. holy scriptures ; so that they not only failed to appreciate the literary excellence of the works, but scarcely even allowed the possibility of unintentional deception on the part of the writers. The doubts were chiefly the reproduction of the English point of view, with the addition of a few physical diffi- culties c ; protests of free thought against dogma in natural science. The view entertained concerning deity was eventually grovelling ; the greatness of nature seemed to inspire no reverence. Unbelief gradually lost hold of monotheism ; and in doing so never ascended in grandeur to the idea of pantheism, but fell into blank atheism. The theoretical morality of the English deists, even when depending on ex- pedience, was noble ; but in place of it the French school presented the lowest form of theory which ethical science has ever stated, and which finds its refutation with the philosophy that gave it birth. No age exhibits a body of sceptical writers whose characters are so unattractive as the French un- believers; whose coarseness of mind in failing to appreciate that which is beautiful in Christianity is so evident, that charity could not forbid us to doubt, even if there were not independent proof, that faults of character contributed very largely to the formation of their unbelief. Nevertheless, the political aspect of the movement carries a solemn c Such as the idea of the plurality of worlds suggested by Fontenelle. LECTURE V. 273 warning to the Christian church, not to endanger the everlasting Gospel of the Son of God by making it the buttress to support corrupt political and ecclesiastical institutions. It is true that Christ will not abandon his true church. Whatever is divine and eternally true will always as in this case sur- vive the catastrophe. But this period of history shows that Providence will not work a miracle to save religion from a temporary eclipse, if the church forgets that Christ's kingdom is not of this world ; and that the mission which he has given it is to convert souls to him; and that learning and piety are intellectual and moral means for effecting this object d. The political faults or shortcomings of the church are no apology for the infidelity of France; but they must be taken into account in explaining its intensity. A theological movement so vast could not fail to exercise an influence in other lands. Incidental allusions have already been made to its effects at the court of Prussia e, and to the traces of its tone in some of the later of the English deists. The remainder of this lecture will be employed in tracing the history of free thought in England, from the date at which the narrative was inter- rupted to a little later than the end of the century ; d The apologetic literature of this period of the French church is not powerful. See Buckle, i. 692, note ; and Alison, i. 2. § 62. e The influence on Germany will be seen in Lect. VI. T 274 LECTURE V. especially noticing the mode in which it was influ- enced by the movement in France. It will be remembered that we brought down the history of it as far as Hume f. We paused there, because deism then ends as a literary move- ment. Politics and new forms of literature absorbed the mind. Free thought continued to exist ; but it was less frequently expressed in literature, and was considerably modified by foreign influences. In Gibbon, about 1776, the ancient spirit of deism, the spirit of Bolingbroke, speaks, but the form is changed. Instead of denying Christianity on a priori moral considerations, he feels bound to ex- plain facts. The attack is not so much moral as historic. The inquiry into historical origines as well as logical causes has commenced. The mode of attack too has changed, as well as the point from which it is made. The French influence is visible in the satire and irony prevalent. There is no longer the bitter moral indignation of the early English deists, but the sneer that marks the spirit of contempt. Fear and hatred of Christianity have given way to philosophical contempt. (25) In Thomas Paine, who wrote in France in the midst of the meeting of the French Convention, we meet a nearer reproduction of the spirit of early English deism, but he has even more than Gibbon caught the spirit of the French movement. Gibbon s f In Lect. IV. LECTURE V. 275 scepticism is that of high life ; Paine's of low. The one writer sneers, the other hates. The one is a philosopher, the other a politician. Paine represents the infidel movement of England when it had spread itself among the lower orders, and mingled itself with the political dissatisfaction for which unhappily there was supposed to be some ground. Paine's spirit is that of English deism animated by the poli- tical exasperation which had characterised the French. His doctrines come from English deism ; his bitter- ness from Voltaire ; his politics from Rousseau. Within the limits of the present century two other traces are found of the influence of the French school of infidelity, which therefore ought logically to be comprised with it. The one is political, the other literary; viz. the socialist schemes of Owen, which in some respects seem to be derived by direct lineage from Paine, and the expression of unbelief in the poetry of Byron and Shelley. We must briefly notice these writers in succession. The first in the series is Gibbon g. Though he has left an autobiography, he has not fully unveiled the causes which shook his faith, and made him turn deist. We can however collect that the reaction from the doubts suggested by the perusal of Middle- ton s work on the subject of the cessation of mira- cles, then recently brought into notoriety, (26) turned him to the church of Rome ; and that his residence e Gibbon (1737-17 94). See Autobiography (Milman's edition 1839), ch. iii. p. 73, &c. T 2 27G LECTURE V. abroad and familiarity with French literature caused him to drift afterwards into the opposite extreme of scepticism. He did not become an atheist, like some of the French writers whom we have been studying : but he seems to have given up the belief in the divine origm of Christianity; and he manifested the spirit of dislike and insinuation common in the un- belief of the time. He did not write expressly against Christianity; but the subject came across his path in travelling over the vast space of time which he embraced in his magnificent History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. It is a subject of regret to be compelled to direct hostile remarks against one who has deserved so well of the world. That work, though in the pageantry of its style1 it in some sense reflects the art and taste of the age in which it was written, yet in its love of solid information and deep research it is the noblest work of history in the English tongue. Grand alike in its subject, its composition, and its perspective, it has a right to a place among the highest works of human conception ; and sustains the relation to history which the works of Michael Angelo bear to art. In the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of this work, Gibbon had occasion to discuss the origin of Christianity, and assigned five causes for its spread ; viz. its internal doctrine, and » Cfi\ some remarks (p. 27, 28,) in an instructive paper on Gibbon in the National Review, No. 3, on the relation of his method and style to his age. LECTUEE V. i>77 organization, miracles, Jewish zeal, and excellence of Christian morals. The chapters were received with denunciations. Yet those k who in later times have re-examined Gibbon s statements candidly admit that they can find hardly any errors of fact or intentiona mis-statement of circumstances. The great mistake which he commits is obvious, and the cause hardly less so. The mistake is two- fold : first, he attributes to the earliest period of Christianity that which was only true of a later ; and secondly, he confounds the circumstances of the spread of Christianity with the cause which gave it force l. The powerful influence of the causes which he specifies cannot be doubted m ; and we may hold it to be not derogatory to our religion that it admits of union with every class of efficient causes ; and adapts itself so fully to man's wants, as to accept the support of ordinary sources of influence. But the causes which he alleges operated far less strongly, and some of them not at all, in the primitive age of Christianity. The discussion of this period lay beyond Gibbon s purpose ; and as he dwelt wholly on the aspects of a later age, he has left the impression that the earliest age partook of the same character- istics. Nor is he correct in regarding the five causes k Milnian and Guizot. 1 The first of these is explained by Dr. Milman, Preface to edition of Gibbon, p. 10, and the article in the Quarterly Review, No. ioo. m Cfr. Mackintosh (Life, i. 244), quoted by Milman in his edition of Gibbon, c. xv. first note. 278 LECTURE V. as solely efficient. There is a subtler force at work, of the operation of which they exhibit only the con- ditions. They reveal the mechanism, but do not, explain the principle. Without judging him as a theologian in omitting the theological cause for an alleged supernatural power, he must be censured as a historian in failing to appreciate the spiritual movement at work in Christianity, the deep excite- ment of the spiritual faculty, the yearning of the mind after truth and holiness. The same fault is observable in his appreciation of religion generally, and not merely of Christianity. With the want of spiritual perception common to his age, he had not the ethical sensibility to appreciate the internal part of a religious system ; and hence he regards un- worldly phenomena in the tone of the political world of his time. In pointing out his errors, we have hinted at their causes. The coldness which scepticism and sensa- tional philosophy" had induced in his mind, which could kindle into warmth in describing the greatness either of men or of events, but not in depicting the moral excellence of Christianity, was but the reflec- tion of the cold hatred of religious enthusiasm com- mon in his day. Nor would the historic views of n The remarks which follow are partly taken from the above- named article in the National Bevieiv (pp. 33-36). Nearly the same thing is said by Miss Hennell in the fifth Baillie Prize Essay on the carl)- Christian anticipation of the end of the world, i860, a treatise which in other respects is very objectionable. LECTUKE V. 279 primitive Christianity commonly entertained in his time tend to dissipate his error. For it was usual in that age of evidences to regard the early converts as cold and cautious inquirers, accustomed to weigh evidences and suggest doubts. In attempting to discover the doctrines and discipline of the English church in apostolic times, there was a danger of transferring the notions of modern decorum to the marvellous outburst of enthusiastic piety and super- natural mystery which attended the communication of the heaven-sent message ; and therefore it is some palliation for Gibbon that he too failed to perceive that those were times of excitement, when new ideas fell on untried minds and yearning hearts. And it is a remarkable proof of the improved general concep- tion which men now entertain of Christianity, that no apprehension of danger is now felt from Gibbon s views. The youngest student has imbibed a reli- gious spirit so much deeper, that he cannot fail in- stinctively to perceive their insufficiency as an expla- nation of the phenomena0. One of our great poets has celebrated the two literary exiles of the Leman lake p. But how differ- ent are our feelings in respect of them in relation to this subject! Both were deists; but the one dedi- cated his life to a crusade against Christianity, the ° Bp. Watson's Apology for Christianity was a reply to Gibbon, 1776. Dean Milman's notes to chapters xv. and xvi. of Gibbon arc an excellent comment and criticism. P Byron, Childe Harold, iii. 105-iOcS. 280 LECTURE V. other only insinuated a few slight hints : the one derived his faults from himself, the other from his age : the one, the type of subtlety, acted by his pen on the world political; the other, the type of in- dustry, sought to instruct the student. The writings of Voltaire remain as works of power, but not of information : Gibbon s history will endure as long as the English tongue, Paine is a character of a very different kind from the freethinker last named ^. Instead of the polished scholar, the polite man of letters, and the historian, like Gibbon, we see in him an active man of the world, educated by men rather than books, of low tastes and vulgar tone, the apostle alike of political revo- lution and infidelity. Though a native of England, his earliest life was spent in America at the time of the war of independence. Returning to England with the strong feelings of liberty and freedom which had marked the revolt of the colonies, he wrote at the time of the. outbreak of the French revolution a work called the Rights of Man, in reply to Burke s criticism on that event. Prosecuted for this work, he fled to France, and was distinguished by being the only foreigner save oner elected to the French Convention. During its session he composed the q Paine (1737-1809), published Rights of Man, 1790 ; Age of Reason, 1794. See the life by Cheetham, 1809, and Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary. Bp. Watson's Apology for the Bible was a reply to Paine (1796). r Anacharsis Clootz. LECTURE V. 281 infidel work called the Age of Reason, by which his name has gained an unenviable notoriety ; and after the alteration of political circumstances in France, he returned to America, and there dragged out a miserable existence, indebted in his last illness for I acts of charity to disciples of the very religion that :' he had opposed. The two works, the Rights of Man, and the Age of Reason, being circulated widely in England by the democratic societies of that period, contributed probably more than any other books to stimulate revolutionary feeling in politics and religion s. This popularity is owing partly to the character of the language and ideas, partly to the state of public feeling. Manifesting much plebeian simplicity of speech and earnestness of conviction, they gave ex- pression in coarse Saxon words to thoughts which were then passing through many hearts. They were like the address of a mob-orator in writing, and fell upon ground prepared. Political reforms had been steadily resisted ; and accordingly, when the success of foreign revolution had raised men s spirits to the highest point of impatience, the middle classes, which wanted a moderate reform, were unfortunately s The clanger arising from republican clubs is described in Alison, iv. ch. xvi. § 6 ; and in W. Hamilton Reed's Rise and Dissolution of Infidel Societies in the Metropolis, 1800. See also the Report of the Committee of the House of Lords on them, 1801. The works of Godwin on Political Justice, 1793, and of Mary Woolstencraft on the Bights of Women, are generally adduced as illustrations of the prevalence of French political principles at that time in England. 282 LECTUEE V. thrown on the side of the wild and anarchical spirits that wished for utter revolution. The church, by holding with the state, was partly involved in the same obloquy. Paine s works, resembling Rousseau's in purpose, though quite opposite in style, were as much adapted to the lower classes of England as his to the polished upper classes of France. The Age of Reason, was a pamphlet admitting of quick perusal. It was afterwards followed by a second part, in which a defence was oifered against the replies made to the former part. The object of the two is to state reasons for reject- ing the Bible1, and to explain the nature of the religion of deism u, which was proposed as a substi- tute. A portion is devoted to an attack on the external evidence of revelation, or, as the author blasphemously calls itx, "the three principal means of imposture," prophecy, miracles, and mystery ; the latter of which he asserts may exist in the physical, but not by the nature of things in the moral world. A larger portion is devoted to a collection of the various internal difficulties of the books of the Old and New Testament, and of the schemes of religion, Jewish and Christian y. The great mass of these objections are those which had been suggested by English or French deists, but are stated with ex- treme bitterness. The most novel part of this work 1 Part i. pp. 3-19, and part ii. pp. 8-83. u Part i. pp. 3, 4 ; 21-50; part ii. pp. 83-93. * P. 44- y Part ii. pp. 10-83. LECTURE V. 283 is the use which Paine makes of the discoveries of astronomy z in revealing the vastness of the universe and a plurality of globes, to discredit the idea of interference on behalf of this insignificant planet, — an argument which he wields especially against the doctrine of incarnation. But no part of his work manifests such bitterness, and at the same time such a specious mode of argument, as his attack on the doctrine of redemption and substitutional atone- menta. The work, in its satire and its blasphemous ribaldry, is a fit parallel to those of Voltaire. Every line is fresh from the writer's mind, and written with an acrimony which accounts for much of its influence. The religion which Paine substituted for Christianity was the belief in one God as revealed by science, in immortality as the continuance of conscious exist- ence, in the natural equality of man, and in the obligation of justice and mercy to one's neighbour b. The influence of the spirit of Paine lingered in some strata of our population far into the present century : by means of the views of Owen c, the z Parti, pp. 37-44. This difficulty, first suggested by Fouteuelle, is met in the eloquent Astronomical Discourses (1822) of Chalmers. The controversy has been newly opened by the brilliant essay on the Plurality of Worlds (1853), supposed to be by Dr. Whewell, and pursued by Dr. Brewster [More Worlds than One), Professor Baden Powell (Essays on the Order of Nature), and by Professor H. S. Smith in the Oxford Essays, 1855. a Page 20. b Part i. pp. 3, 4 ; p. 50. c Robert Owen (17 71-1858). About the year 1800 he became known in connexion with schemes of industrial reform at the Lanark 284 LECTUEE V. founder of English socialism, which essentially repro- duce the visionary political reforms which belonged to the philospohy and to the doubt of the last century. Being desirous to' improve the condition of the industrial classes, Owen speculated on the causes of evil ; and, approaching the subject from the extreme sensational point of view, regarded the power of cir- cumstances to be so great, that he was led to regard action as the obedience to the strongest motive. He thus introduced the idea of physical causa- tion into the human will ; and made the rule of right to be each one's own pleasures and pains. Founding political inferences on this ethical theory of circum- stantial fatalism, he proposed the system called so- cialism, which aimed at modifying temptations and removing two great classes of temptations, by facili- tating divorce, and proposing equality of property. mills ; and from 1 8 1 3 - 1 9 conducted them as a social experiment to carry out his views. He attempted also to spread his opinions in Ame- rica. After his return to England, by means of lectures and his work, The New Moral World, he taught them in the manufacturing towns ; and they were widely spread about the time of the Chartist move- ment (1839-41). His opinions may be learned from his Essays on the Formation of Character (18 18), which explain his Lanark system ; and especially his New Moral World, published about 1839. His religious opinions may be gathered from the Debate on the Evidences and on Society ivith A. Campbell, 1839. His auto- biography was published in 1857, and a review of his philosophy by W. L. Sargeant, i860. An article also related to him in the West- minster Review for Oct. i860. See also Morell's History of Philo- sophy, i. 386 seq. Mr. R. Dale Owen, son of the above, published several deist tracts in America, from about 1840-44. LECTURE V. 285 The system is now obsolete both in idea and in history, yet it has an interest from the circumstance that until recently it deceived the minds and cor- rupted the religious faith of many of the manu- facturing population. The history of the influence of French infidelity on the course of English thought closes with names of greater notefl. If Owen, though belonging to the present century, represents the political tone of the past, we must also refer to the same period, morally though not chronologically, the spirit of unbelief which animated literature in the poetry of Byron and Shelley. Saddened by blighted hopes, political and per- sonal, Byron affords a type of the unbelief which is marked by despair6. If compared with the two exiles of the Leman lake, whom the sympathy of a common scepticism and common exile commended to his meditation, he stands in many respects widely contrasted with them in tone and spirit. Allied rather to Gibbon in seriousness, he nevertheless wholly lacked his moral purpose and resolute spirit of perseverance. More nearly resembling Voltaire in d It has been considered unnecessary to name three other unim- portant writers, B*H**g4i, Farmer, a writer on the subject of Demoniacs, and Carlisle, who was prosecuted in 1830. e Byron (1788 -1824). The Vision of Judgment, written in 1 82 1, has been already referred to in Lecture III. as a vehicle for sceptical banter. For a brief comparison between the scepticism of Byron and Shelley, see remarks in the Westminster Review, April 1 84 1, by Mr. G. H. Lewes. 286 LECTURE V. the nature of his unbelief, he nevertheless differed in the features of gloom by which his mind was characterized. His unbelief was a remnant of the philosophic atheism of France ; but it received a tinge in passing through the wounded mind of the poet. His brother poet, of a still loftier genius, is more widely contrasted with him in mental qualities, than imited by similarity in the character of his unbelief. Both were weary of the world ; but the one was drawn down by unbelief to earth, the other soared into the ideal : the one was driven to the gloom of despair, the other was excited by the imagination to the madness of enthusiasm : the one was made sad by disappointment, the other was goaded by it into frenzy. Shelley merits more than a passing notice, both because his poetry is a proof of our main position concerning the influence of certain forms of philoso- phy in producing unbelief, and because his mental history, as learned by means of his works and me- moirs, is a psychological study of the highest value. The infidelity which shows itself in him is an idolum speeds, as well as an idolum theatric His life, his natural character, and his philosophy, all contributed to form his scepticism f. His life is a e Bacon, Nov. Org. Aph. 52, 53. f Shelley (17 92-1 822). The materials are abundant for under- standing the character and works of Shelley, in biographies both friendly and hostile. The second edition of the Shelley Memorials, LECTUEE V. 287 tale of sorrow and ruined hopes, of genius without wisdom : one of the sad stories which will ever ex- cite the sympathy of the heart. Early sent to this university, he seems like Gibbon to have lived alone ; and in the solitude of that impulsive and recluse spirit which formed his life-long peculiarity, to have nursed a spirit of atheism and wild schemes of reform. Charged by the authorities of his college with the authorship of an atheistic pamphlet £, he was ex- pelled the university. An outcast from his family, he went forth to surfer poverty, to gather his live- lihood as he could by the wonderful genius which nature had given him. Wronged as he thought by his university and his country, his wounded spirit imputed the supposed unkindness which he received to the religion which his enemies professed, In a foreign land, brooding over his wrongs, he cherished the bitter antipathy to priestcraft and to monarchy which finds such terrific expression in his poems h. His end was a fit close of a tragic life. A friendly hand paid the last office of friendship to his remains ; by lady Shelley, 1859, contains an essay on Christianity by him. Several important articles in Reviews have been published in refer- ence to him, among which it is desirable to call attention to the one in the National Revieiv, No. 6, Oct. 1856, which contains a very instructive analysis of his mental and moral character. It has been used in the few remarks which follow. S The pamphlet appears to have been an anonymous statement of the weakness of the argument for the existence of deity ; negative rather than positive. See the account of the transaction and its results in T. J. Hogg's Life of Shelley, 1858, vol. i. pp. (269-286). ll E. g. in the Ode to Liberty (§ 15 and 16), written in 1820. 288 LECTURE V. and the urn which contains the ashes of his pyre rests in the solemn and beautiful cemetery of the eternal city, which he himself had described so strikingly in his affecting memorial of his friend, the poet Keats'. His natural character contributed to produce his scepticism not less than his life to increase it. He has left us a clear delineation of himself in his writings. If considered on the emotional side, he was a creature of impulses. His predominant passion was an enthu- siastic desire to reform the world. Filled with the wildest ideas of the French revolution, his impulsive- ness hurried him on to give expression to them. His intellectual nature was analogous to the moral, and itself received a stimulus from it. His mental pecu- liarity was his power of sustained abstraction. His poems are not lyrics of life, but of an ideal world. His tendency was to insulate qualities or feelings, and hold them up to the mental vision as person- alities. The words which he has addressed to his own skylark fitly describe his mind as it soared in the solitude of its abstraction : Higher still and higher From the earth thou springest, * * * * * And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest. It has been well observed, that this tendency of i In the Adonais, §49-51. For Shelley's own cremation and burial, see the Memorials by lady Shelley, p. 201. LECTURE V. 289 the mind to personify isolated qualities or impulses, was essentially the mythological tendency k which had created the religion and expressed itself in the poetry of the Greeks, and possibly contributed to foster Shelley's sympathies with heathen religion. His mind was peculiarly Greek, simple not complex, imagina- tive rather than fanciful, abstract not concrete, intel- lectual not emotional; wanting the many-sidedness of modern taste, partaking of the unity of science rather than the multiformity of nature, like sculp- ture rather than painting. This mental peculiarity contributed to scepticism by inclining his mind to the pantheistic philosophy, which can never be held save by those whose minds can give being to an abstraction, and is revolting to those who are deeply touched with the Hebrew consciousness of person- ality and of duty. His philosophy was at first a form of naturalism, which identified God with nature, and made body and spirit co-essential. In this stage he oscillated between the belief of half personified self-moved atoms, or a general pervading spirit of nature. From this stage he passed into a new one, by contact with the philosophy of Hume ; and, while admitting the diversity of matter and spirit, yet denied the substantial reality of both. In this state of mind he studied the philosophy of Plato, which was originally designed for doubters somewhat ana- logous to him ; and he readily imbibed the theory k This is well put in the Review above quoted, (p 356) U 290 LECTURE V. that the passing phenomena are types of eternal archetypes, embodiments of eternal realities. But it was Plato's view of the universe that he accepted, not his view of man ; his metaphysics, not his ethics. In none of these three theories is the rule of the uni- verse ascribed to a character, but in each to animated abstractions. They are a pantheistic or mythological view of things1. Nor was the effect of this phi- losophy merely theoretical, for the distorted view of the physical and moral cosmos led him to believe that both should be regulated by the same condi- tions ; that men should have the unconstrained liberty which he thought he saw in material things, Like Rousseau, ascribing moral evil to the artificial laws of society, Shelley proposed to substitute a new order of things, in which man should be emancipated from kings and priests. This philosophy also in- creased his hatred against the moral order of the world, and especially against Christianity ; and led him to regard it as the offshoot of superstition and the impediment to progress. Yet even here, while echoing the irreverent doctrines of the French revo- lution, he bore an unconscious witness to the majesty of the Christian virtues, in that he could find no nobler type with which to invest his ideal race of men. 1 The Reviewer thinks that the first stage was in tone like Lucre- tius, i. e. Epicureanism. The second and third are described here in the text. The Queen Mab (end of first division) expressed the first stage \ the first speech of Ahasuerus in the Hellas is a specimen of the second ; and the Adonais (43 and 52) of the third. LECTURE V. 291 We have dwelt long on Shelley, as a most in- structive example for observing the various influ- ences, personal and social, intellectual and moral, philosophical and political, combining to form unbe- lief. His thoughts are the last echo of the unbelief of the last century. The great -movement of Ger- many has completely changed the scepticism of the present. The instances that we have found of unbe- lief in England were indications of a tendency rather than a movement. They were however of sufficient importance to call forth the voices of the church in reply or in protest. It has been remarked, that in the former half of the eighteenth century the attack was chiefly directed against the internal doctrines and narratives of reve- lation, on the assumption that they clashed with the judgment of common sense, or of the moral faculty. And therefore the writers on the evidences, adapting their defence to the attack, employed themselves chiefly in establishing the internal evidences, the moral need of a revelation generally, and the suit- ability of the Christian in particular, before pro- ducing the divine testimony which authenticates it. But about the middle of this century the historic spirit arose, and the point of attack shifted to an assault on the historic value of the literature which contains the revelation. The question thenceforth became a literary one, whether there was docu- mentary proof that a revelation had been given. u 2 292 LECTURE V. The defence accordingly ceased to be philosophical, and became historical01. Opinions have changed with regard to the value of evidences in general, and the historic form of them in particular. When Boyle n at the end of the seven- teenth century, and Bampton and Hulse in the latter half of the eighteenth, established their respective lectures, they looked forward to the probability of the occurrence of new forms of doubt, and to the importance of reasoning as the weapon for meeting them. In more recent times evidences have been undervalued, through the two opposite tendencies of the present age, the churchly and corporate ten- dency on the one hand, which rests on church authority, and the individualising tendency on the other, which rests on intuitive consciousness °. Evi- dences essentially belong to a theory, which places the test of truth objectively in a revealed book, m This contrast however in the evidences, though true in a general way, must not be pressed so as to imply an absolutely defined line of chronological separation between the two classes of evidence. n Robert Boyle died in 1692, and founded the lecture by his last will. The lectures commenced in the same year. Bampton's were founded in 1751 ; but none delivered till 1780. Hulse died in 1790 ; but the lectures did not commence- till 1820. A list of the lectures delivered in each series may be found in Darling's Cyclo- pcedia Bibliographica. 0 The remarks on evidence in Nos. 73 and 84 of the Tracts for the Times, and the tone assumed by the ultramontane writers of France, are instances of the undervaluing evidences from the former causes. The deist literature of the last century, and the writings of Carlyle in the present, are instances of that which arises from the latter. LECTURE V. 293 and subjectively in the reason, as the organ for discovering morality and interpreting the book p. While evidences in general have been undervalued for these reasons, the historic branch of them has been regarded as obsolete, because having reference only to an age which doubts the documents and charges the authors with being deceivers or deceived, and unavailing, like an old fortification, against a new mode of assault. This latter statement is in substance correct. It lessens the value of this argument as a practical weapon against the doubts which now assail us, but does not detract from the literary value of the works in the special branch to which they apply. If the progress of knowledge be the exciting cause of free thought, a similar altera- tion in the evidences would be expected to occur from causes similar to * those which produce an alteration in the attack, independently of the change which occurs from the necessity of adjusting the one to the other. Abstract questions like this concerning the value of evidences find their solution independently of the human will. The human mind cannot be chained. New knowledge will suggest new doubts ; and if so, spirit must be combated by spirit. De- fences of Christianity, attempts to readjust it to new discoveries, must therefore continue to the end P i. e. They belong essentially to the protestant stand-point in theology. 294 LECTURE V. of time. In reference to the minor question of the value of the historic evidences, it is important to remember that these grand works are not simply refutative ; they are indirectly instructive and di- dactic. Just as miracles are a part of Christianity, as well as evidences for its truth, so apologetic is a lesson in Christianity, as well as a reply to doubt <*. It happens also that the most modern doubt of Germany has assumed the historic line, has become critical instead of philosophical ; and, though the criticism is primarily of a different kind, it ulti- mately becomes capable of refutation by the very line of argument used in the eighteenth century r. We cherish therefore with devout reverence the memory of those writers who employed the power of the pen to defend the religion that they loved. They joined their intellectual labours to the spi- ritual earnestness which was the other weapon for opposing unbelief. Providence blessed their work. They sowed the seed of the intellectual and spiritual harvest which this century is reaping. " And herein in consequence of the petition from the pietest pro- fessors, Frederick I. deposed Wolff. See Kahnis (Engl. Transl.) p. 1 1 4. LECTURE VI. 305 philosophy out of scripture, an independent philo- sophy was created, and scripture compared with its discoveries m. Philosophy no longer relied on scripture, but scripture rested on philosophy. Dog- matic theology was made a part of metaphysical philosophy. This was the mode in which Wolff's philosophy ministered indirectly to the creation of the disposition to make scriptural dogmas submit to reason, which was denominated rationalism. The empire of it was undisputed during the whole of the middle part of the century, until it was expelled towards the close by the partial introduction of Locke's philosophy n, and of the system of Kant, as well as by the growth of classical erudition, and of a native literature. The second cause which ministered to generate rationalism was English deism. The connexion of England with Hanover had caused several of the works of the English deists to be translated in Ger- many °, and the general doctrines of natural religion, m In reference to the introduction of Wolff's philosophy, the reference to Tholuck has been already given. See also Schroch's Gesch. viii. 26 ; Lechler, 448 ; Amand Sainte*s Critical History of Rationalism, i. ch. ix. ; Hagenbach's Dogmengesch. § 274 ; Kahnis, p. no. Kahnis (115) names Baumgarten, Canz, and Toellner, as Wolff's pupils. Mosheim and the Walches were too exclusively literary to be affected by the new philosophy. Canz of Tiibingen was the first to apply the system to doctrinal theology (1728). See Pusey, part i. 116. Q Locke's philosophy in a distorted form was introduced by the French philosophers who lived at the court of Frederick II. 0 On the introduction of English deism, see Tholuck, § 3. A few X 300 LECTURE VI. expressed by Herbert and Toland, were soon repro- duced, together with the difficulties put forth by Tindal. But the direct effect of this cause has probably been exaggerated by the eagerness of those who, in the wish to identify German rationalism with English deism, have ignorantly overlooked the wide differences in premises, if not in results, which separated them, and the regular internal law of logical deve]opment which has presided over the German movement. A more direct cause was found about the middle of the century in the influence of the French refugees and others, whom Frederick the Great invited to his court. Not only were Voltaire and Diderot visitors, but several writers of worse fame, La Mettrie, D'Argens, MaupertiusP, who possessed their faults without their mental power, were constant residents. Their philosophy and unbelief were the miniature of that which we have detailed in France. They created an antichristian atmosphere about the court, and in the upper classes of Berlin ; and even minds only of the deist writings were translated, (e. g. Tindal by Schmidt in i74ij) hut very many of the replies ; which proves how much at- tention they excited. See the list in Lechler, p. 447. Up to 1760 no fewer than 106 answers had been written to Tindal alone. Kortholt, in his work De Tribus Impostoribus, (viz. Herbert, Hobbes, Spinoza,) 1680, was the first to notice English deism. The appeal to reason in these replies had the same effect as that noticed in the philosophy of Wolff. P For Maupertius see Biographie Universelle. The others have been named in the notes to Lect. V. LECTURE VI. 307 that were attempting to create a native literature, and to improve the critical standard of literary taste, were partially influenced by means of it*!. We have now seen the state of the German mind in reference to theology at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and the three new influences which were introduced into it in the interval be- tween 1720 and 1760. The dogmatic tendency be- came transformed by the Wolffian philosophy ; the pietistic retired from a public movement into the privacy of life ; while the minds of men were awakened to inquiry by the suggestions of the English deists, or the restless and hopeful tone of the French mind. It was a moment of transition; the streaks of twilight before the dawn. Yet the signs of a change were so slight, that few coidd as yet dis- cern the coming of a crisis, none predict its form. We may now proceed to give the history of the theological movement which sprang up, commonly called Rationalism. It admits of natural division into three parts. The first, a period destructive in its tendency, extending to a little later than the end of the century, exhibits the gradual growth of the system, and its spread over every department of theology. The second, reconstructive in character, the re-establishment of harmony between faith and reason, extends till the publication of Strauss's cele- brated work on the Life of Christ in 1835 ; the q See Tholuck, § 4 and 5. He considers that the French litera- ture, with the exception of Bayle, did not affect the Germans, on account of its shallowness ; but doubtless it did so indirectly. X 2 308 LECTURE VI. third, containing the divergent tendencies which have created permanent schools, reaches to the pre- sent timer. In all alike the harmony of faith and reason was sought : but in the first it was attained by sacrificing faith to reason ; in the second and third, by seeking for their unity, or by separating their spheres. A distinguished name stands at the commencement of each period, representing the mind whose speculations were most influential in giving form to the movements. Semler inaugurated the destructive movement ; Schleiermacher, the con- structive; and Strauss precipitated the final forms which theological parties have assumed. In the present lecture we shall treat only of the first two of these movements. The first of these periods, extending from about 1750 to 1810 s, contains two sub-periods. Till about 1 790 t we find the growth of rationalism. In the last decade of the century we shall meet with its full development ; but at the same time the growth of new causes will be perceived, which prepared the way for a total alteration after the commencement of the present century. The sub-period extending to 1790 is one of tran- sition, in which we can trace three broadly marked r This division does not essentially differ from the threefold one adopted by Kahnis, into the illumination period, that of the renova- tion, and of the church renovating itself. » We place the limit at 18 10, because it is the date of the founda- tion of the university of Berlin, which was the home of the reaction. 1 This date marks the spread of the Kantian philosophy, as will be shown below. LECTURE VI 309 tendencies in religion ; one within the church, two outside of it. Such classes indeed slide away into each other ; nature is more complex than man ; but the use of them may be excused as facilitating in- struction. The movement within the church verged from a literary and dogmatic orthodoxy, which existed chiefly at the Saxon university of Leipsic, through the purely literary tendency, of which Michaelis may be taken as a type in the newly formed uni- versity of Gottingen, to the freethinking method typified by Semler, orthodox in doctrine, but in criticism adopting free views of inspiration, which mingled itself with the old pietism of the university of Halle u. The two movements outside the church were, a literary one, indicated by Lessing, which found its chief utterance in the periodical literature, then in its infancy x ; and a thoroughly deist one, connected with the court of Berlin, embodied in the educational institutions of Basedow y. u There were thus three chief phases within the church ; the dog- matic at Leipsic, the critical at Gottingen, the pietistic eclecticism of Semler at Halle. If to this we add the pietism which still reigned at Tubingen, as seen in Pfaff, &c, we have the condition of the four universities which Avere at that time the chief centres of intellectual activity in Germany. x Lessiag, along with Nicholai, conducted the A llgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek from 1765. y On the purpose and nature of these institutions, which arose at Dessau about 1774, see Schlosser, i. 5, 3 ; ii. 3, 2 ; Kahnis, 310 LECTURE VI. The movement which we have just named as existing within the church, differed from the older dogmatic one, in being a tendency toward an his- torical and critical study of the scriptures, instead of a philosophical study of doctrines. It embraced those whose teaching was not at variance with Christianity, and also those who manifested inci- pient scepticism. Two names, Ernesti2 at Leipsic, and Michaelis a at Gottingen, represent the first class ; the former applying criticism chiefly to the New Testament, the latter to the Old. The endea- vour of both, especially of Ernesti, was to revive the grammatical and literary mode of interpreting scripture, as opposed to the dogmatic previously in use. Their spirit was not sceptical, but was that of p. 47. On Basedow (1724-1790), see Rose on Rationalism, p. 66, note (second edition), and Schroch, viii. 52. z J. A. Ernesti (1707-1781), was author of Inst. Interpret. Nov. Test. 176 1 (translated by bishop Terrot). His chief labours were the editions of several classical authors, among which the most valuable was Cicero. See Schlosser, ii. 187 ; Kahnis, 120 ; Pusey, 132 ; Am. Saintes, part ii. ch. ii. The Rosenmtillers (the father, J. G. Rosenmiiller, on the New Testament ; the son, E. F. Rosen- miiller the antiquarian on the Old,) manifest much the same spirit as Ernesti. a .Job. Dav. Michaelis (1716-1791). His chief works were, Gruendliche Erklaerung des Mosaischen Rechts, and the Einleitung in die Schrift. des Neuen Bundes. The former handled the Hebrew legislation in a free spirit. The latter work was translated by bishop Marsh, and led to the controversy about the composition of the Gospels, to which allusion will be made in the notes of Lecture VII. See Kahnis, p. 121 ; Henke, viii. part ii. § 2. Jerusalem and Spalding manifest the same spirit as Michaelis. LECTURE VI. 311 men who felt the sceptical opinions round them ; ethical and cold, like that of the Arminians of the preceding century. Their system developed into rationalism in the hands of two of their pupils. Eichhorn was the pupil of Michaelis, Semler of Ernesti. The name of Eichhorn will recur later ; Semler b must be con- sidered now. Semler was one of those minds which fall short of the highest order of originality, but by their erudition and appreciation of the wants of their time institute a movement by giving form to the current feeling of their day. Nurtured in pietism, he always retained signs of personal excellence ; and his Christian earnestness is said not to have been destroyed by his speculations. His autobiography furnishes us with the means for the full comprehension of his character, and shows him to have been keenly alive to the difficulties which the English literature had suggested. His labours related to criticism, to exe- b Semler (1725-1791), Professor at Halle. His Lebens-besclirei- bung, published 1781, is the great source for studying his mental development and the history of his times. His works are numerous, consisting chiefly of Commentaries and Ecclesiastical History. He was one of the first to open up the study of the history of doctrine (dogmengeschichte). The works which exhibit his rationalism are chiefly the Frei Untersuchen cles Canons, 177 1 ; Versuch einer freiern lehrart, 1777; Introduction to Baumgartens Dogmatik; Institutiones ad Doctrmam Christianam liber aliter docendam, 1774- His character is discussed at length in Tholuck, § 6 ; Pusey, 138, &c ; Schlosser, ii. 187 ; Am. Saintes, b. ii. ch. ii. and iii. On the successors of the writers recently named, see Am. Saintes, b. ii. ch. iv. » ► 12 LECTURE VI. gesis, and to doctrine. As a critic he did not restrict himself to the examination of texts, but investigated the canonicity of the books of Scripture c. It is probable that the criticism commenced by R. Simon and Spinoza furnished hints for his views. He was one of the first to undervalue external evidence in the formation of the canon. The determination of the canon, i. e. of the list of books which are to be considered scripture, is a question of fact. What did the early church pronounce to be such ; and does internal evidence bear out the idea % Semler under- valued the historical evidence of the church's judg- ment, and replaced it, not by careful study of in- ternal critical evidence, like later rationalism, but by an a priori subjective decision, that only such books were to be received as conduced to a religious object. Rut it is in exegesis that he enunciated the principles which have left a permanent effect. He established what is called the historical method of interpretation d. In the course of Christian history, three great methods for the interpretation of scripture have been used ; the allegorical, the dogmatic, and the c In the work on the Canon named in the last note. d See the historic sketch of interpretation given in Planck's Introduction to Sacred Philology, (English translation, 168-186). Interesting information is supplied in Credner's article Interpretation in Kitto's Biblical Encyclopaedia ; J. J. Conybeare's Bampton Lec- ture for 1824 on the Secondary Interpretation of Scripture ; Dr. S. Davidson's Sacred II ermeneutics (5-7); and an article in the North British Review for August 1855 on the Alexandrian school. LECTURE VI. 313 grammatical6. In the early church the tendency in the main was to the allegorical ; in the middle ages to the dogmatic ; at the Renaissance and Reforma- tion to the grammatical, which however in the seven- teenth century was displaced by the allegorical f and dogmatic ; and it was the work of Ernesti to restore it. Semler added the historic ; by which is meant the method, which, after discovering the grammatical sense of the words, rests content exactly with the meaning which the circumstances of society could permit scripture to have at that age. It declines to search for mystical senses, or to use dogma as a clue to interpretation. This principle, so valuable in itself, yet, when abused, so fruitful in producing rationalism, was the discovery of Semler. The application of this method of interpretation led him to the theory generally known by the name of " accommodation §." He felt a strong reaction against e These tendencies must be considered only to express the average. Thus the school of Antioch, of which Theodore of Mopsuestia is a type, leaned to the grammatical mode ; (see some remarks on it in Neander's Church History, vol. iv. init. Germ. ed. ; vol. iii. fin. Engl. Tr.) In the middle ages the Franciscans showed an inclina- tion to the mystical or allegorical ; and the typical system of the Miracle Plays and of the Biblia Pauperum illustrates the allegorical spirit of those times. f The allegorical is seen in the school of Cocceius (1603-1669) in the Dutch church. The dogmatic has been alluded to above. 8 The system is called variously, in works of Hermeneutics, o-vy- Kard^aa-Ls, condescensio, demissio, obsequium. It is developed in Sender's Prolegomena to some of St. Paul's Epistles ; in the Vor- bereitung zur Theol. Hermenmbik, 1762 ; and in the Apparatus ad lib. Nov. Test, interpr. 1767. Tholuck quotes many instances of it 314 LECTURE VI. the forgetfulness shown by the old dogmatic orthodoxy, which had regarded the Bible as one book, instead of a collection or historic series of books, and had con- founded together the Jewish and Christian dispensa- tions and taken no cognizance of the development of religious knowledge in scripture. Accordingly he desired to remove the deist difficulty by separating the eternal truth in scripture from what he considered to be local and temporary. Our Lord s own decla- ration h, that the Mosaic law of divorce was an adap- tation to the particular needs of the age, seemed to establish the validity of the principle that revelation was an accommodation to be judged of by the his- toric circumstances of the age for which it was in- tended. The principle had been applied by English theologians1 : but it needed a delicate insight to apply it safely. Semler introduced it indiscriminately into prophecy, miracle, and doctrine ; and stated his views in a form which, though well meant, is cer- tainly most repulsive. We may cite an instance in the case of his view of the demoniacal possessions of the New Testament k. Not denying them, Semler in reference to him. (ii. 61) Concerning the subject see Planck's In- troduction to Sacred Philology, (E. T.) 152-168; Wegscheider, Inst. Theol. § 25; Bretschneider, Hist.-Dogm. Auslegung des N. T. 1806. A list of foreign works in reference to it is given at the end of the article Accommodation, in Kitto's Biblical Encyclopaedia. For a criticism on it see J. J. Conybeare's Bampton Lecture for 1824. (Lect.VII.) I'Markx. 5. 1 E.g. By Kidder in his Testimony of the Messias, 1694 ; Nicholls, Conference with a Theist, 1733; and by Sykes, in several works from about 1720-40. k Dr. Puscy speaks (Inquiry, p. 139, n.) of two works by Semler LECTUKE VI. 315 probably considered them to be nothing but the diseases of epilepsy and madness. But he did not ridicule the narrative as a deist would, nor explain the facts away as legends or myths, as is the plan of the later schools, nor account for them by the suppo- sition that the apostles were left in ignorance about physical science, and inspired only in religious know- ledge ; but he regarded the narrative as an inten- tional accommodation on the part of the teachers to their hearers, and consequently stated his views in a form which is the more repulsive as seeming to impute dishonesty1. He went so far as to consider some of the doctrines of the New Testament to be an accommodation on the part of our Lord to the Jewish notions ; and regarded Christ's work as the com- promise between the Mosaic and philosophical parties in the Jewish church, which afterwards were repre- sented in the Christian by St. Peter and St. Paul respectively m. Though he himself held the apostles' creed, and was shocked at some later developments of unbelief", yet he seems to have considered prac- tical morality to be at once the sole aim of Christi- 011 Demons, (of which I have seen only the second, 1779,) the first directed against the belief in the occurrence of possessions in the present day ; the second to show that some of the Greek words descriptive of such phenomena in the New Testament need not necessarily imply superhuman agency. 1 Because it seemed to involve the notion of dissimulation on the part of the scripture writers, or even of the divine Being. m Introd. ad Doctr. Christicmam, b. i. See Am. Saintes, p. 107. n E. g. The Wolfenbuttel Fragments. See Am. Saintes, p. 86, and Niemeyer's Letzte Aesserungen ueber Eeligioese Gegenstaende zwei tage von seinem tode, which he quotes. 316 LECTURE VI. anity, and the supreme rule of doctrine0. He founded no school; but his influence decidedly ini- tiated the rationalist movement within the church ; one peculiarity of which will be found to be, that it was professedly designed in defence of the church, not as an attack upon it. The tendency which we have just studied was within the church. The two now about to be named were external to it. The one, earnest and scholar- like, formed chiefly on the model of English deism, is represented by Lessing. The other, modelled after Rousseau, was practical rather than intellectual, and aimed at remodelling education as well as altering belief. Lessing p, a name honoured in the history of litera- ture, is little known in England, save by his exqui- site comparison of art and poetry, called the Laocoon**. He was one of those whose labours remain for the benefit of other ages, like that of the coral worms, which die, but leave their work. That a native 0 His doctrinal views are seen in the Lebens-beschreibung, part ii. p. 2 20, &c. P Lessing (17 29-1 781). In 1754 he joined Nicholai and Men- delsohn in literary criticism ; in 1 757, in the Bibliothek cler Schonen Wissenschaften ; and in 1765, in the Allgem. Deutsch. Biblioth. An account of his life and literary character may be seen in the Foreign Quarterly Review (No. 50) for 1840 ; and an able criticism on him by C. Dollfus in the Revue Germanique for i860 (vol. ix.). Consult also Menzel's Deutsch. Litt. iii. 291, &c. ; Metcalfe's work based on Vilmar, p. 400 seq. A separate study of his theological opinions was made by C. Schwartz in 1854, entitled Lessing als Theolog, especially c. iv ; see also Bartholmess, b. ii. ch. ii. 3 Published in 1766. LECTURE VI. 317 German literature exists, is the work of Leasing as pioneer; that it is worth studying, is the result of his criticism and influence. Finding literature just arising, and the dispute still raging between the Saxon and Swiss schools, whether it should model itself after reason and form like the French literature, or after nature and the soul like the English, (28) he showed the true mode of uniting the two by turn- ing attention to Greek models ; and, in conjunction with Nicholai and the Jewish philosopher Mendel^ sohn, established a critical periodical, which became the agency for a literary reformation. But the point of interest, in relation to our present subject, is his influence on religion. Availing himself of the right which his position as librarian of Wolfenbuttel, a small town near Brunswick, gave him to publish manuscripts found in the library, he edited, in 1774 and the four following years, several fragments of a larger work, which he professed to have found. They are usually called the Wolfenbuttel frag- ments. (29) Till recently their authorship remained a secret. They are now known to have been written by the learned Hamburg philosopher, Reimarus1". They treated very nearly the same subjects, and in much the same tone, but with consummate skill, as the English deists. Reimarus, as is now known, in the introduction" to the larger imprinted work from which they were extracted, gave his own intellectual r H. S. Reimarus (1694-1768). See Schlosser, ii. 26, &c, and the article Reimarus in the Conversations-Lexicon. s See Note 29. 318 LECTURE VI. history, his early doubts on the doctrines of the Trinity, and the destruction of the heathen ; and also on the history of the Old and New Testaments ; and ends, like the English deists, with resting in natural religion. The first two1 fragments, published by Lessing, touched only upon the question of tolerating deists, and on the custom of declaiming against human reason in the pulpits. The third referred to the im- possibility that all men should be brought to believe revelation on rational evidence. The fourth and fifth attacked the Old Testament history, such as the passage of the Red Sea. The sixth directed an assault against the New Testament ; pointing out .with unsparing severity the discrepancies in the ac- counts of the resurrection. The concluding one was on the object of Christianity, in which our blessed Lord's life and work were represented as a defeated political reform. These views however were not professedly sanc- tioned by Lessing, for he added notes in refutation of them, and stated his object to be merely to stimulate free inquiry11. His wish was gratified in the tre- mendous effect which the publication produced. In the literary controversy which ensued, and which 1 The Fragments are here named according to the order of their original publication ; not that in which they are usually printed, as, e.g. in the Berlin edition, 1835. u Compare Strauss's description of them in his Leben Jesu, Introd. § 5. Lessing's own object in their publication is expressed in the concluding pages of his edition of them. LECTURE VI. 319 embittered his few remaining daysx, he explained himself to be a doubter rather than a disbeliever; and defended himself by urging the distinctness of the religious element in scripture from the scientific; asserting that, as Christianity existed before the New Testament, so it could exist after it. The Christian religion is not true, he said, merely because evange- lists and apostles taught it ; but they taught it because it is true. And in order to restore Christ- ianity to its true place in the estimation of thinking men, he composed or edited a well-known worky on the Education of the World z, which became a fertile source of thought for the philosophy of history, and was designed to explain the function of the Jewish religion in reference to the Christian, and to the world. The theology of Lessing's coadjutors however, if not also that of Lessing himself, did not rise higher than that of the more serious among the English deists a. x The chief opposition arose from Goze, a pastor of Hamburg, who attacked Leasing even before the last and most obnoxious frag- ment was published ; but both Semler and Jerusalem also wrote against him. See Boden's Lessing unci Gaze, Eine Beitrag zur Lit. unci Kirchengesch. des 18, Jahrh. 1862 ; also the references given at the end of Note 29; especially Hagenbach's Dogmengesch. § 275, note. y See the note on p. 122. z Die Erziehung des menschlichen Geschlechts, lately partially translated into English. It conveyed the thoughts suggested by the perusal of some apologies for religion. a The theologians Steinbart and Teller represented a similar spirit. 320 LECTURE VI. The other tendency, more decidedly sceptical even than that of Lesshig, gave definite form to the ex- treme sceptical opinions excited by French philoso- phy, which had been fermenting in German society, and had earlier expressed themselves. It is best represented by Edelmannb, and by the unhappy Bahrdt, who passed gradually from Sender's school into this. Its religious tenets were simple natural- ism, moral as distinct from positive religion; and it was connected with the attempt by Basedow0, pa- tronised by Frederick, to establish educational insti- tutions on the model proposed in Rousseau's Emile. The name which it gave to the movement was, the Period of Enlightenment (Aufklarung-zeit) d, which expressed the consciousness of illumination, and the yearning for deliverance which was finding its expression in France ; and this name therefore b On Edelmami, who died 1767, see Kahnis, p. 126; and on Bahrdt, (1741-92), Id. pp. 136-145; and Schlosser, ii. 211. The life of Bahrdt is a sad subject for study. Kahnis (p. 125 seq.) enu- merates other deists, some of them earlier than those whom we are now considering, e.g. Knuzen, Dippel, (167 3-1 7 34). c See the reference above, p. 309. d The contrast of the English, French, and German periods of illuminism is well drawn out by Kuno Fischer (Bacon, ch. xi. 2, 3, and xiii. 3). I have been unable to discover positively whether the term in its first use meant merely Renaissance (cfr. the Italian term illuminati), or whether it meant the philosophy which makes its appeal to common sense, being connected with the Cartesian prin- ciple, wahr ist, was Mar ist. The former appears almost certain ; but sonic of the German writers seem to favour the latter. On its nature, see Kahnis, p. 61-63. LECTURE VI 321 has been usually adopted among foreign writers to describe this period of the history. Such are the historical tendencies from about 1750 till about 1790 — cold but learned orthodoxy ; the commencement of critical rationalism, and open deism. About that time new influences came into "operation, the effects of which are at once evident. Without taking account of the excitement caused by the political events of the French revolution, we may name two such new causes of movement — the lite- rary influence of the court of Weimar, and the phi- losophy of Kant. The centres of intellectual activity in Germany now changed. We are so apt to forget that Ger- many, especially at the end of the last century, formed a set of independent principalities, which varied in taste, in belief, and in literary tone, that we fail to realise the individuality of the scenes of literary activity. At the end of the last century there was one spot which became the very focus of intellectual life. The court of Karl Auguste at Weimar, insignificant in political importance, was great in the history of the human minde. There were gathered there most of the mighty spirits of the golden age of German literature, — Herder, Wie- e A very interesting article on Weimar and its celebrities appeared in the Westminster Review for April 1859. The illustration about the court of Ferrara, just below, is taken from it. Mr. G. H. Lewes, in his Life of Goethe, gives incidentally sketches of the intellectual and moral influence of the court of Weimar. 322 LECTURE VI. land, Goethe, Schiller, Jean Paul ; a constellation of intellect unequalled since the court of Ferrara in the days of Alphonsof. The influence made itself felt in the adjacent university of Jena ; and this little seminary became from that time for about twenty years P, until the foundation of Berlin, the first uni- versity in Germany. In it alone the philosophy of Kant became naturalized h. Some of the ablest men in Germany were its Professors ; and about this time Jena and Weimar became the stronghold of free thought. Except in the case of Herder1, the literary influ- ence was not directly influential on theology. But it gave moral support to theological movement; though ultimately, by introducing a truer and more subjective appreciation of human nature, it was the means of generating the deep insight in the critical f Alfonso d'Este reigned from 1505-34. He was the husband of Lucrezia Borgia. s i. e. from about 1790 to 18 10. 11 Kant's great work, Kritik der reinen Vernunft, appeared in 1 78 1, but was not known out of Kbnigsberg until one of his disciples, Schulze in 1784, elucidated it in a separate work. The Jenaische Literatur-zeitung also favoured it. In 1786 Reinhold became Professor at Jena, and began to teach Kant's system. See Schlosser, vol. ii. p. 182-4. 1 Herder did not adopt the new philosophy of Kant. His theolo- gical writings were rather earlier than 1790. They created a love for the literature of young nations, and for the Hebrew religion, in a literary rather than a spiritual point of view. On Herder's religious influence, see Schlosser, ii. 278, &c. ; and the article by Hagenbach in Herzog's Realen-Encyclop ; also Hagenbach's Gesch. des 18 Jahrh. § 4 and 5 j and Quinet's (Euvres, vol. ii. LECTURE VI. 323 taste of thinking men which furnished the death- blow to rationalism. The same remark is true of the effects of the philosophy of Kantk. Its ultimate result was valuable in removing the eudaemonism common in ethics, and turning men's attention to the moral law within. But its immediate effects were to reinforce the appeal to reason, and to destroy revela- tion by leaving nothing to be revealed. The nature of this system, so far as is necessary for our purpose, may be soon told. Kant, dissatisfied with the distrust in the human faculties induced by the scepticism of Hume, and the one-sided sensation- alism of Condillac, carried a penetrating analysis into the human faculties' ; attempting to perform with more exactness the work of Locke, to measure the human mind, which is the sounding-line, before k Kant lived 17 24-1 804. On his philosophy see Chalybaus Hist, of Speculative Philosophy (translated 1854); Am. Saintes' Philos. de Kant, 1844 ; Cousin, Lecons cle la Phil, de Kant, 1843. A good account of it also is given in Morell's Hist, of Philosophy, i. 233-63, in R. Vaughan's (sen.) Essays, and in a Lecture by Pro- fessor Mansel on the Philosophy of Kant, i860. See also the references in Tennemann's Manual, § 387-94. In reference to its theological effects, see Am. Saintes' Critical History of Rationalism, ii. 5 and 6 ; Bartholmess, b. v. and vi. The parts of Kant's writings which are of special importance for ascertaining his theological views are, his work Hie Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der blossen Ver- nunft 1793, and his criticism on natural theology in the Kritik der reinen Vemunft, b. ii. div. 3. See Strauss, Leben Jesu, introd. § 7. Staiidlin, Amnion, and Tieftrunk, were Kantist theologians. 1 In the Kritik der reinen Vemunft above named, which was so called because he strove to analyse the pure reason, before it is de- filed by contact with the world through experience. Y 2 324 LECTURE VI. fathoming the ocean of knowledge. Like Copernicus inverting astronomy, he reversed metaphysics, by re- ferring classes of ideas to inward causes which before had been referred to outer. He detected, as he supposed, innate forms of thought"1 in the mental structure, which form the conditions under which knowledge is possible. When he applied his system to give a philosophy of ethics and religion, he asserted nobly the law of duty written in the heart", but identified it with religion. Religious ideas were regarded as true regulatively, not speculatively. Revelation was reunited with reason, by being resolved into the natural religion of the heart. Accordingly, the moral effect of this philosophy was to expel the French materialism and illuminism0, and to give depth to the moral percep- tions : its religious effect was to strengthen the appeal to reason and the moral judgment as the test of reli- gious truth ; to render miraculous communication of moral instruction useless, if not absurd; and to re- awaken the attempt, which had been laid aside since the Wolffian philosophy, of endeavouring to find a philosophy of religion p. From this time in German 111 The categories, the test of the existence of which is necessity and universality. n This appears in his Kritik der practischen Vernunft. ° Illuminism is used as the translation of aufklaerung-zeit. P The difference between Wolff and Kant is, that while the former sought a philosophy of religion ontologically, the latter sought it psychologically, by first ascertaining the functions of the mind in reference to religion. LECTURE VI. 325 theology we shall find the existence of the twofold movement ; the critical one, the lawful descendant of Semler, examining the historic revelation ; and the philosophical one, the offshoot of the system of Kant, seeking for a philosophy of religion. During the next twenty years, from 1790 to 181 o, when so many influences were operating in common, it is not easy to measure the effect of the specu- lative philosophy upon particular minds with such exactness as to ascertain which ought properly to be classed hi the destructive tendency, and which gave signs of the reaction. We must however be careful to exclude those younger minds (i that were already appearing on the field, to become the heroes of the subsequent history, whose tone was so deci- dedly affected by new influences as to belong to the age of reaction. In this sub-period we may name three tendencies : (1) the continuation of the Exegesis inaugurated in the last epoch by Semler, until about the end of the century it found its utmost limit in Pardusr, — the result of the age of illumination ; (2) a dogmatic tendency, more or less the growth of new influences introduced by the new philosophy, which attempted to reconcile reason with the supernatural, and may be represented in its nearest approach to orthodoxy, q Such as Schleiermacher. r Paulus, 1 761-185 1 ; Professor at Jena, and from 181 1 at Heidelberg. Some of his works are named below. :J20 LECTURE VI. at the end of this period, by Bretschneiders ; and (3) the awakening of a distinct expression of the appeal to the supernatural which had never quite died out in the church, in the Arminianism of Rein- hardt in the north, and of Storr in the south1. The last needs no further investigation ; but we shall con- sider briefly the other two, The exegetical method which formed the first was that which is now usually called the old or common- sense rationalism11. This form of rationalism differed from the English deism and French naturalism, in not regarding the Bible as fabulous in character, and the device of priestcraft x ; but only denied the super- s K. G. Bretschneider, 17 76-1 848 ; General Superintendent at Gotha. A short autobiography was published after his death, which is translated in the Bibliotlwca Sacra for 1852-3. His best work is the Handbuch tier Dogmatik, 181 4, 1838. He was the writer of the Probabilia concerning St. John's Gospel, named in Lect. VII. t F. Reinhardt (1753-18 12) of Saxony. His supernatUralism was perhaps rather ethical than biblical. (See Kahnis, 187, Am. Saintes, c. viii.) Storr (1 746-1805) was Professor at Tubingen. The belief in the supernatural had never died out. A philosophical superna- turalism was seen in Flatt, Planck, Schrbch, and a truly biblical kind in Knapp. Along with Reinhardt ought perhaps to be reckoned Moras and Doderlein ; at a little earlier period Seiler, and a little later Steudel : on this school see Am. Saintes, ch. iv. u i. e. Rationalismus Vulgaris. On Rationalism, see Note 21. On this particular kind see Kahnis, p. 169. It is distinguished from naturalism chiefly by being connected with the church, and by the opinion that it is the very essence of Christianity. It was repre- sented by Paulus in criticism, Wegscheider in dogma, and Rohr in preaching. * As Woolston, Bolingbroke, and Voltaire. Cfr. Strauss. Leb. Jes. Introd. § 5. LECTUEE VI. 327 natural. By them the apostles had been regarded as impostors ; and scripture was not only not received as divine, but not even respected as an ordinary his- torical record ; whereas rationalism was intended as a defence against this view. It denied only the revealed character of scripture, and treated it as an ordinary history ; and, distinguishing broadly between the fact related and the judgment on the fact, sought to separate the two, and explained away the superna- tural element, such as miracles, as being orientalisms in the narrative, adapted to an infant age, which an enlightened age must translate into the language of ordinary events. Eichhorn at Gottingen^ applied this view to the Old Testament. Deeming miracles impossible, he did not regard them as fraud, but admitted on the con- trary that the agents or narrators honestly believed them. The supernatural was not imparted to deceive, but was the result of oriental modes of speech, such as hyperbole, parable, or ellipsis, in which the steps by which the process was performed were omitted. The smoke of Sinai was considered a thunderstorm ; the shining of Moses's face a natural phenomenon. The principles which Eichhorn applied to the Old Testament, Paulus of Jena extended to the Newz. y Eichliorn (1752-1827), one of the most learned men of his age. For illustrations see his Einleitung, § 435, and cfr. § 421. The instances cited in the text, from one of his works which the writer could not consult, are quoted from the British Quarterly Review, No. 26 ; cfr. also Strauss, Leben-Jesu, § 6. z In his Exeget. Hanclb. des Neuen Test. The account will be ;328 LECTURE VI. The miraculous cures were explained by an ellipsis in the omission of the natural remedies ; the casting out of devils as the power of a wise man over the in- sane ; the transfiguration as the confused recollection of sleeping men, who saw Jesus with two unknown friends, in the beautiful light of the morning among the mountains : nay, trespassing on still more holy ground, he dared impiously to explain away the re- surrection of our blessed Lord by the hypothesis that his death was only apparent. These are a specimen of the mode of exegesis adopted in this school, which is usually specifically called Rationalism. In this mode Jesus appeared to be merely a wise and virtuous man ; and his miracles were merely acts of skill or accident. Paulus presented this as the original Christianity. The theory did not last long, save in the mind of its author, who lived until a recent pe- riod, to see the entire change of critical belief. Attri- buting the supernatural to ignorance, it did not even propose, like the later schools, to explain the marvel- lousness of the phenomena, objectively by so plausible a theory as legends, nor subjectively by myths a : it found by referring to the respective narratives. See also his com- mentary on the miracle of the tribute money, and of the feeding the multitudes. See Kahnis, pp. ( 1 7 1-6). Eichhorn stopped short when he came to apply his principles to the New Testament. L. Bauer (Ilebr. Mythol), Gabler, Vater, Bertholdt, Von Lengerke, and Von Bohlen, though some of them were affected by later influences, be- longed in the main to this rationalist critical school. » The difference of legend and myth is now well known. " Myth is the creation of a fact out of an idea ; legend the seeing an idea LECTURE VI. 329 was too clumsy, not to say irreverent, an explanation of the facts to satisfy a people of deep and poetical soul like the Germans. While this is a specimen of the critical side of rationalism, its dogmatic side varied from natural ethics to a kind of Socinianism. But in all alike, as its name would imply, it not only asserted that there is only one universal revelation, which takes place through observation of nature and man's reason; but that Christianity was not designed to teach any mysterious truths, but only to confirm the religious teaching of reason ; and that no one ought to recognise as true that which cannot be proved to him rationally. The doctrine of a Trinity was necessarily . disbelieved ; the death of Christ regarded as an historic event, or a symbol that sacrifices were abolished. Holiness was reduced to morality. Extreme veneration for the Bible was called Bibliolatry b. Religion was represented as acting by natural motives : the ethical superseded in a fact." Strauss, Leb. Jes. Einl. § 10. The myth is purely the work of imagination, the legend has a nucleus of fact. b Henke, 1 752-1809, Professor at Helmstadt, is said to have been the first who made use of the term " Bibliolatry" in the pre- face to his Lineamenta Instit. Fidei Christiana}. He probably how- ever only brought it into use. (The writer remembers to have seen it occur somewhere earlier, but cannot recall the reference.) He was a church historian of great learning, whose works have been frequently used for reference in Lect. V. Kalmis speaks with great respect (p. 177) of his earnestness. For Henke's position as a church historian see a note in the Preface to these Lectures. JieiO LECTURE VI. the historic. The early theologians of this dogmatic branch of the school are now little known ; but we may name Bretschneider c as the type of the least heretical portion of it at the close of this period, who believed Christianity to be a republication of natural religion, supernatural but reasonable: and, as the literary tendency of this school continued to exist in Rohr d, after the movement had become ex- c Concerning Bretschneider see a preceding note on p. 326. Bretschneider shows in his reply to Mr. Rose, and in his Autobio- graphy, that he was much hurt at being classed with the rationalists. In truth the dogmatic tendency which we are here describing admits, as is shown more fully in Note 21, of a twofold subdivision. (1) " Rationalists" proper, who are pure Socinians, but hardly believe in the supernatural element of revelation : such were Wegscheider and Rohr ; also Echermann and C. F. A. Fritsche may be reckoned with the same school (see Kalmis, 177 seq. ; Am. Saintes, ch. vii.); and (2) " Rational Supernaturalists," like Bretschneider, Schott of Jena (1780-1835), and Tzchirner of Leipsic (1778-1828), who be- lieved in a supernatural revelation, but held to the supremacy of reason ; — a position not very unlike Locke's in the Reasonableness of Christianity. The tone of opinion changed so much in Germany after 1830, that Bretschneider, who in earlier life had been con- sidered to lean towards orthodoxy as opposed to rationalism, ap- peared in later life, though really standing still, to side with the rationalists against the reaction which took place in favour of super- naturalism. A volume of sermons, translated by Baker in 1829, called The German Pulpit, contains, along with a few sermons of more spiritual tone, many sermons by preachers of this school. See on this school Am. Saintes, ch. viii. Mr. Rose also has collected many facts in reference to this part of the subject ; also Staiidlin in his Gesch. des Rat. unci Supemat., and P. A. Stapfer (Arch, clu CJtristianisme, 1824,) quoted by Rose (second edition). 11 J. F. Rohr (1777-1848), Superintendent at Weimar; noted as LECTUKE VI. 331 tinct in other minds, so Wegscheider6, until a recent period, was the solitary instance of the dogmatic position slightly modified. This completes the history of the first of the three movements, the destructive action of rationalism. The most flourishing period of this form of it was about the beginning of the present century. We have seen it originating in the rational tone of Wolff s philosophy, and the well-meant but ill-judged exegesis which Semler exhibited under the pressure of sceptical difficulties. Stimulated by critical inves- tigations, and by the strong wish which operated on our own theologians, to find the cause of every- thing, its adherents were led into a disbelief of the supernatural, and ended in explaining away the miraculous, and reducing Christianity to natural religion. The movement, it will be observed, was professedly not intended to be destructive of Christ- ianity. Instead of being inimical, it originated with the clergy, and aimed at harmonizing Christianity with reason. But it contained its own death. The negative criticism is essentially temporary. The activity of thought was already producing change. We have previously stated that even the Kantian philosophy itself, though at first stimulating the appeal to reason, fostered a deeper perception of a preacher. His Historical Geography of Palestine has been trans- lated. e Wegscheider (177 1-1848); Professor at Halle. His chief work is Inst. Theol. Chr. Dogmat. 181 3. 332 LECTUEE VI. duty, and thus prepared the way for a moral re- awakening f. We shall accordingly now proceed to state the causes which introduced new elements into the cur- rent of public thought ; and then describe the gradual progress of the reactionary movement which ensued from them. Four causes are usually assigned. The first of them was the introduction of new systems of specu- lative philosophy. It is not unusual, in those who have no taste for speculation, and who understand only .the prosaic, though in some respects the truer, philosophy of Scotland, to despise the great systems of German speculation. Yet, if the series be measured as an example of the power of the human mind, whatever may be the opinion formed in respect to its correct- ness, it stands among the most interesting efforts of thought. Though the writers can be matched by isolated examples in former ages, perhaps no series of writers exists, hardly even the Greek, certainly not the Neo-Platonist nor the Cartesian, which, in far-reaching penetration, in minuteness of analysis, in brilliancy of imagination, in loftiness of genius, in poetry of expression, in grasp of intellect, in influence on every branch of thought or life, approxi- mates to the series of illustrious thinkers which f Hundeshagen calls Kant a second Moses, on account of the moral revolution which his teaching effected. LECTURE VI. 333 commenced with Kant and ended with Hegel s. The two philosophers at this time whose teaching formed a new influence, were Fichte h and Jacobi K Details in reference to their systems must be sought elsewhere k. It is only possible here to indicate their central thought, in order to notice their effects on theological inquiry. We have seen that Kant had reconsidered the great problem, commenced by Descartes and Locke, concerning the ground of certitude, and the nature of knowledge ; and had revolutionised philosophy, by at- tributing to the natural structure of the mind many of those ideas which had usually been supposed to be derived from experience. In his system he had left two elements, a formal and a material ; the formal, or innate forms, through which the mind gains know- £ i. e. Kant, Jacobi, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel ; on whom see Morell, ii. ch. v. § 2, and Chalybaus, History of Speculative Philo- sophy. h J. G. Fichte (1762 -1 81 4); Professor at Jena ; deprived for the supposed atheistic tendency of his philosophy (1799) ; afterwards Professor at Berlin. His great work is his Wissenschafts-lehre, 1794. He was the author of the celebrated patriotic addresses to the German people. The educational institutions of Pestalozzi were founded on Fichte's philosophy, as Basedow's on Rousseau. See Kahnis, p. 216. 1 Jacobi (17 43 -181 9); President of the academy of sciences at Munich. k On Fichte see Chalybaus, ch. vi. and vii. ; Tennemann, Manual §400-5; Morell, ii. p. 89-122; Lewes, History of Philosophy ; Mansel's art. on Metaphysics in Encycl. Britan. p. 607. On Jacobi see Chalybaus, ch. iii. ; Tennemann, § 415 ; Morell, ii. 402; Am. Saintes, part ii. ch. xiii. 334 LECTURE VI. ledge, and the material, presented from external sources. It was the former or ideal element which was examined by Fichte ; the latter by Jacobi. Fichte began to teach at Jena soon after 1790. Grasping firmly Descartes' principle, " Cogito, ergo sum," he conceived that, as we can only know our- selves, there is no proof that the datum supposed to be external is anything but a form of our own consciousness ; and thus he arrived at a subjective idealism not unlike that of bishop Berkeley '. Under his view God was only an idea or form of thought ; a regulative principle of human belief, the moral order of which the mind was conscious in the universe ; and, as atheism was suspected to follow as an inference from his views, he became the subject of persecution. But the instincts of the heart, as well as the arguments of the understanding, were too potent for him ; and when he had thus as it were shut up man within the circle of his own finite self, he strove to find a logical passage into a knowledge of the infinite by a principle analogous to that of Spinoza; viz. by regarding both self and the outer world, the subjective and objective, to be identified in some absolute self-existence, of which they were respectively phases111. This aim was only partially effected by Fichte, and was completed by his distinguished successor, 1 This atheistic corollary is not deducible from Berkeley's system, and was not designed by Fichte. m See Chalybaiis, ch.viii:; and Morell, ii. 118. LECTURE VI. .335 Schelling11. Schelling saw that the subjective ten- dency had been pushed too far ; and, relying on the spiritual sense through which men of all ages have conceived that they saw the infinite, the reality of which accordingly seems to be attested by a uni- versal induction, he tried to grasp the idea of the self-existent One, who is the one absolute Reality, the one eternal Being, the eternal Source from which all other light is derived, and from which all things develope. " Intellectual intuition" he thought to be the means by which we have this knowledge of the infinite, and are able to trace the development of it into its limitations in nature and in the mind. The method is analogous to that of Spinoza, save that the infinite is studied dynamically instead of mechanically, as a movement not a substance, in time not in space. The roll of these great thinkers, whose speculations were suggested by the formal side of Kant's philo- sophy, is not yet full. But the two which have been named wrote and affected thought, the one before, the other soon after, the commencement of the pre- sent century. Hegel followed in the same track, but influenced thought at a later period °. He too aimed at solving the same problem as Schelling : he too sought to transcend the conditions of object and sub- ject which limit thought ; but it was by assuming a » Schelling (1774-1854), Professor at Munich and Berlin. See Chalybaus, ch. ix-xii. ; Tennemann, § 406-11; Morell, ii. 1 22-161; Bartholmess, Hist. Crit. des Doctr. Relig. b. ix. 01770-1831. See Lect. VII. 336 LECTURE VI. representative or mediate faculty that transcends consciousness, and not, as Schelling, an intuitional or presentative p. Such were the philosophers who aimed at solving the problem of knowledge and being from the intel- lectual side. Jacobi on the other hand attempted it from the emotional. Perceiving the necessity of rinding some justification for the material element which Kant had assumed in his philosophy, he sought it in faith, in intuition, in the direct inward revela- tion of truth to the human mind. He thought that, as sensation gives us an immediate knowledge of the world, so there is an inward sense by which we have a direct and immediate revelation of supernatural truth. It is this inward revelation which gives us access to the material of truth. His position was analogous to that of Schelling, but he asserted the element of feeling as well as intuition. These philosophies, of Fichte, Schelling, and Jacobi, formed one class of influences, which were operating about the beginning of the century, and were the means of redeeming alike German literature and theology. Their first effect was to produce exami- nation of the primary principles of belief, to excite inquiry; and, though at first only reinforcing the idea of morality, they ultimately drew men out of them- selves into aspirations after the infinite spirit, and developed the sense of dependence, of humility, of P See some remarks on this point in Mr. Mansel's Lecture on the Ph Hi >8t 7 )h y of Kant . LECTURE VI. 337 unselfishness, of spirituality. They produced indeed ' evil effects in pantheism and ideology <* ; but the results were partial, the good was general. The problem, What is truth 1 — was through their means remitted to men for reconsideration ; and the answers to it elicited, from the one school, — It is that which I can know : — from the other, — It is that which I can intuitively feel: — threw men upon those unalterable and infallible instincts which God has set in the human breast as the everlasting landmarks of truth, the study of which lifts men ultimately out of error. These systems had even a still more direct effect on the public mind. They were the means of creating a literature, which insinuated itself into public thought, and familiarised society with spiritual apprehensions long obliterated. The school of lite- rature commonly called the Rom antic r, commencing with such writers as Schlegel and Novalis, fanciful as it may in some respects seem to be, created the same change in the belief and tastes of the German mind as the contemporary school of Lake Poets in England. The German literature bore the marks either of the old scholasticism, or of the materialism introduced from France, or of -the classic culture q Lect. VII. r The Romantic school included L. F. Stolberg, the Schlegels, Tieck, Novalis (Hardenberg), Fouque. See Kahnis, p. 202 ; Mo- rell, ii. 421 ; Vilmar. (English translation), p. 500 seq. ; Carlyle's Essay on Novalis (Misc. Works, vol. ii.) ; and Bartholmess, ii. b. xi. Z 338 LECTUEE VI. introduced by Leasing and his coadjutors. The element now revived was the mediaeval element of chivalry, the high and lofty courage, the delicate aesthetic taste, which had marked the middle ages. Herder s, to whom Germany owes much, disgusted with the stoical and analytic spirit of the Kan-, tian philosophy, had already attempted, and not in vain, to throw the mind back to an appreciation of old history, and especially had manifested an enthusiastic admiration of Hebrew literature ; but now, as if by one general movement, the public taste was turned to an appreciation of the freshness of feeling, and fine elements of character, which existed in the Christianity of the middle ages *. This literary movement prepared the way for. and accompanied another, which, though occurring a little later, may be reckoned as the third influence which caused a religious reaction. Indeed it is the one to which the Germans attribute the chief effect. It is s Herder, 17 44-1 803. See a previous note. His most inter- esting works were, the Spirit of Hebrew Poetry (translated 1802), and the Philosophy of History (translated 1800). 1 The influence of the movement extended into the Roman catho- lic church j and Hermes, Moehler, and Goerres, were affected by it. Hermes (i775~ l83T) was Professor at Bonn; and, endeavouring to find a philosophy for Romish doctrines, was opposed by his own church. Moehler, 17 96 -1838, author of the Symbolik, which re- vived the controversy with Protestantism, and was answered by the most learned Protestant theologians, has been pronounced (by Schaff) to be the ablest Romish theologian since Bellarmine and Bossuet. Goerres (1776-1848), a mystic writer in Bavaria. See Am. Saintes, c. xx. ; and on Goerres see Quinet, (Euvr. vi. ch. vii. LECTUEE VI. 339 found in the outburst of national patriotism which took place in the liberation wars of 1 8 1 3 u ; the spon- taneous chivalry wdiich made the heart of Germany beat as the heart of one man, to endeavour to hurl back Napoleon beyond the limits of the common fatherland. In that moment of deep public suffer- ing, the poetry and piety of the human heart brought back the idea of God, and a spirit of moral earnest- ness. The national patriotism x, which still lives in the poetry of the time, expelled selfishness : sorrow impressed men with a sense of the vanity of material things, and made their hearts yearn after the imma- terial, the spiritual, the immortal : the sense of terror threw them upon the God of battles. It was the age of Marathon and Salamis revived; and the effect was not less wonderful y. A fourth influence remains to be noticed, which was in its nature more strictly theological, and limited to the church. When after the return of peace the tercentenary of the Reformation was cele- brated in 18 1 7, an obscure theologian at Kiel, named Harms z, published a set of theses as supple- u See Hundeshagen, Der Deutsch Prot. § 12 ; Kahnis, p. 223. x This patriotism still lives in the poetry of Koerner. y This allusion is used by Kahnis (p. 220). He also (p. 221) refers the great outburst of historic study which followed, to the historic sense then awakened. 2 Harms (1778- 1 855). See Am. Saintes, part ii. ch. ix ; Kahnis, p. 223 seq., where some of Harms's Theses are given. They are founded on the doctrinal spirit of the sixteenth century, and are full of force and humour. Some of them are directed against rationalism ; Z 2 340 LECTURE VI ments to the celebrated theses of Luther, which, by the excitement and controversy unexpectedly occa- sioned by them, turned attention anew to the study of the reformational and biblical theology, and created a revival of the spiritual element which was too much forgotten. Such were the four influences — the philosophical, the literary, the political, the spiritual, — which entered into German life, and produced or increased the reaction that took place in German theology in the period which we are about to sketch. We placed the limits of this second period from about 1 8 10 till the literary revolution caused by alarm at Strauss's work in 1835 a. It was in 18 10, in the depth of Prussian humiliation, when Halle had passed into one of the kingdoms dependent on France, that the university of Berlin was founded. Schleiermacher, Neander, and De Wette, were its teachers. The first was the soul of its theological teaching; and through his agency it became the great source of a religious reaction. It is around others are the asseveration of high Lutheran tenets. The following are specimens : No. 3. " With the idea of a progressive reformation, in the manner in which it is at present understood, Lutheranism will be reformed back into heathenism." No. 21. "In the sixteenth century the pardon of sins cost money after all ; in the nineteenth it may be had without money, for people help themselves to it." See Pelt in Herzog's Realen-Encyclop. sub voc. B On this second period, see Schwarz's Geschichte cler Neuesten TJwologie, 1». i. ; and for brief notices of the whole of the German movement, see Hagenbach's Dogmengeschichte (period 5). LECTURE VI. 341 these names that our studies most centre. The signs indeed of some other movements are traceable. The deistic rationalism is not dead, but it is dying : it is a thing of the past : a return to strict dogmatic orthodoxy is also visible in the Lutheran clergy rather than in the university ; but it is as yet in its infancy : and a new form of gnosticism is observ- able in the philosophy of Hegel, but the full deve- lopment of it belongs to the next period. The field is now occupied by the partial reaction to orthodoxy, which aimed at a reconciliation of science and piety, of criticism and faith b. Schleiermacher, with his follower Neander, will typify the philosophical and more orthodox side of it ; perhaps De Wette, and at the end of the period Ewald, the critical. Schleiermacher0 was by education and sympathy eminently fitted to attempt the harmony of science and faith, to which he devoted his life. Gifted with an acute and penetrating intellect, capable of grap- pling with the highest problems of philosophy and b It has been more recently, for this reason, called the Mediation- Theology ( Yermittettungs-Theologie). c Schleiermacher (1768-1834). His Leben in Brie/en (1858) has been recently translated. His philosophical and religious stand- point is well discussed, and some portions of his works analysed, in the Rev. R. A. Vaughan's Essays and Remains (reprinted from the British Quarterly Review, No. 18). A brief explanation of his philosophy is seen in Morell's History of Philosophy, ii. 433, and Julius Scheller's Vorlesungen ihber Schleiermacher, 1844. His reli- gious views are criticised, with extracts, in Amand Saintes, part ii. ch. xiv-xvi ; Kahilis, 204 seq. ; Lucke, Stud, und Krit. 1834, H. 4. The facts of his life are given in the Westm. Rev. for July, 1861. 342 LECTURE VI. the minutest details of criticism, he could sympathise with the intellectual movement of the old rational- ism ; while his fine moral sensibility, the depth and passionateness of his sympathy, the exquisite deli- cacy of his taste and brilliancy of imagination, were in perfect harmony with the literary and aesthetic revival which was commencing. German to the very soul, he possessed an enthusiastic sympathy with the great literary movements of his age, philosophical, classical, or romantic. The diligent student and translator of Plato d, his soul was enchanted with the mixture at once of genius, poetry, feeling, and dia- lectic, which marks that prince of thinkers, and he was prepared by it for understanding the specula- tions of his time. The dialectical process through which Plato's mind had passed (30) represents not improbably, in some degree, the history of Schleier- machers own mental development as traceable in his works. The conviction derived from Plato's early dialogues, that the mind, in travelling outward to study the objective, could not prove the highest realities, but must have faith in its own faculties, prepared him for imbibing the philosophy of Jacobi. The looking inward to the deep utterances of the soul, the interpretation of the objective world by means of the internal, prepared him for Fichte. The mystical (1 He joined F. Schlegel in the plan of translation, and continued it after Schlegel had retired from it. He did not however complete the whole of Plato. The parts finished were published at intervals from 1804-27. The introductions to the dialogues are valuable. LECTURE VI. 343 attempt to understand the ideas themselves, to use the archetype for creating an ontology from the ob- jective side, observable in Plato's latest works, found its parallel in Schelling. Schleiermacher had large sympathies with these three processes, but mainly with the first; which was to be expected from his purpose. Aiming at gaining spiritual certitude rather than speculating for intellectual gratification, Jacobi s philosophy appeared to combine the excel- lences of the other two systems, the subjective cha- racter of the one, and the intuitional of the other ; with the additional advantage of seeming to give expression to the instincts of the heart, as well as the intuitions of the mind. Beyond all these qualities, Schleiermacher inherited from his Moravian educa- tion the spirit of pietism, which, almost extinguished by the recent activity of mind, had retired to the quiet sphere where a Stilling e or an Oberlinf com- muned with God and laboured for man. Possessing therefore the two great elements which e J. H. Jung Stilling (17 40-1817), a distinguished oculist in Westphalia, who employed himself in acts of religious usefulness. His works were published in 1835. His Autobiography, written by desire of Goethe, has been translated. See an article on him in the Foreign Quarterly Review, vol. xxi. f Oberlin (1740-1826), the interesting pastor of the Vosges mountains, who united efforts for civilization with piety, and the temporal improvement of his people with the spiritual. His me- moir has been written in English. To the same class of saintly men about the end of the last century belonged Hamann, Lavatrr, and Claudius. See Kahnis, p. 80 seq. :J44 LECTURE VI. bad been united in the Reformation, — endowed on the one hand with the largest sympathy with every department of the intellectual movement, and the mastery of its ripest erudition, and at the same time with a soul kindled with a hearty love for Christ- ianity,— he was fitted to become the Coryphseus of a new reformation, to attempt again a final reconcilia- tion of knowledge and faith. Whether we view him in his own natural gifts and susceptibilities ; in the aim of his life; in his mixture of reason and love, of philosophy and criticism, of enthusiasm and wis- dom, of orthodoxy and heresy ; or regard the transi- tory character of his work, the permanence of his influence ; church history offers no parallel to him since the days of Origen S. His early education was received in the university of Halle ; an institution which had long been the home of pietism, and has continued with but few intervals11 to evince much of the same Christian spirit. He became professor there early in the cen- tury1, until the town passed, as already stated, into the power of the French. He removed to Berlin 6 Mr. R. A. Vaughan, in the Essay above cited, compares Schleier- macher with Hugo St. Victor (on whom see Ritter, Chr. Phil. viii. 9. 2). The analogy with Origen is close. Speaking technically, the difference would be, that the Neo-Platonic school, to which Origen belonged, was rather one of "Objective Idealism" like Schelling ; Schlciermacher's of "Subjective Idealism" like Fichte. h The Rationalist and Socinian element was taught by Weg- scheider. ■ In 1 802. LECTURE VI. 345 when that university was founded J, and continued to exercise his influence there, from the pulpit and the professor's chair, for a quarter of a century, until his death k. Before the conclusion of the last century, while still the literary influence of Weimar was at its height, he wrote Discourses on Religion1, to arouse the German mind to self-consciousness; which pro- duced as stirring an effect in religion111 as Fichte's patriotic addresses to the German nation subse- quently in politics ; and from them may be dated the first movement of spiritual renovation, as from the latter the first of German liberation from foreign control. In successive works his views on ethics and religion were gradually developed, until, in his Glaubenslehre (31) he produced one of the most important theological systems ever conceived. We can give no idea of the compass exhibited in that work, nor spare time to trace the growth in Schleiermacher's own mind as new influences like that of Harms, which he rejected, indirectly influenced him ; but we must be content to define his general position in its destructive and constructive aspects. The fundamental principles n were, that truth in theology was not to be attained by reason, but by J Halle was taken by the French in 1806 ; the university of Berlin was founded in 18 10. k He died in 1834. 1 See note 31. 111 Neandcr's witness to the effect produced by them is quoted in Kahnis, }>. 208. n Cfr. Glaubemkhre, § 3-6. 34G LECTURE VI. an insight, which he called the Christian conscious- ness", which we should call Christian experience; and that piety consists in spiritual feeling, not in morality. Both were corollaries from his philoso- phical principles. There are two parts, both in the intellectual and emotional branches of our nature ; — in the emotional, a feeling of dependence in the presence of the Infi- nite, which is the seat of religion ; and a conscious- ness of power, which is the source of action and seat of morality ; — and in the intellectual, a faith or intui- tion which apprehends God and truth; and critical faculties, which act upon the matter presented and form science0. In making these distinctions, Schleier- macher struck a blow at the old rationalism, which had identified on the one hand religion and morality, and on the other intuition and reason. Hence from this point of view he was led to explain Christianity, when contrasted with other religions, subjectively on the emotional side, as the most perfect state of the feeling of dependence ; and on the intellectual, as the intuition of Christianity and Christ's work : and n Sclbst-bcwuszt-seyn. ° Schleiermacher's views are rarely put with sharpness of form ; and as they varied in the manner shown in Note 31, it is hardly pos- sible to lay down a fixed account of his system. The following re- marks are rather the spirit of his Glaubenslehre than an analysis of it. His psychological views are seen in § 1-4 of that treatise (ed. 1842); but the Reden, pp. 58, 59, and the introduction by his pupil Schwei- zer to the Entwurf ernes systems der sittenlehre, 1835, besides his posthumous philosophical works,, ought also to be consulted. His psychological views are nearly reproduced in Morell's Philosophy of Religion, ch. iii. LECTURE VI. 347 the organ for truth in Christianity was regarded to be the special form of insight which apprehends Christ, just as natural intuition apprehends God; which insight was called the Christian consciousness p. Thus far many will agree with him. Perhaps no nobler analysis of the religious faculties has ever been given. Religion was placed on a new basis : a home was found for it in the human mind distinct from reason. The old rationalism was shown to be untrue in its psychology. The distinctness of reli- gion was asserted; and the necessity of spiritual insight and of sympathy with Christian life asserted to be as necessary for appreciating Christianity, as aesthetic insight for art. In its reconstruction of Christian truth, however, fewer will coincide. Following out the same prin- ciples ; in the same manner as he regarded the intui- tions of human nature to be the last appeal of truth in art or morals, so he made the collective Christian consciousness the last standard of appeal in Christ- ianity. The dependence therefore on apostolic teach- ing was not the appeal to an external authority, but merely to that which was the best exponent of the early religious consciousness of Christendom in its purest age q. The Christian church existed before the Christian scriptures. The New Testament was written for believers, appealing to their religious consciousness, not dictating to it. Inspiration is not indeed thus reduced to genius, but to the religious p §7-10; and also § 11-14. q § 1 29—13 1. 348 LECTURE VI. consciousness, and is different only in degree, and not in kind, from the pious intuitions of saintly men. The Bible becomes the record of religious truth, not its vehicle ; a witness to the Christian consciousness of apostolic times, not an external standard for all time. In this respect Schleiermacher was not re- peating the teaching of the reformation of the six- teenth age, but was passing beyond it, and abandon- ing its reverence for scripture. From this point we may see how his views of doctrine as well as his criticism of scripture were affected by this theory. For in his view of funda- mental doctrines, such as sin, and the redeeming work of Christ, inasmuch as his appeal was made to the collective consciousness, those aspects of doctrine only were regarded as important, or even real, which were appropriated by the consciousness, or under- stood by it1". Sin was accordingly presented rather as unholiness than as guilt before God s ; redemp- tion, rather as sanctification than as justification ; Christ's death as a mere subordinate act in his life of self-sacrifice, not the one oblation for the world's sin l ; atonement regarded to be the setting forth of the union of God with man ; and the mode of arriving at a state of salvation11, to be a realisa- tion of the union of man with God, through a r His views on sin are given § 65-85 ; and on the work of < 'hristj § 100-105. s § 68. t § I04. " The mode of reconciliation is treated in § 106-112, and indi- rectly in the Weihnachtsfeier. Mr. Vaughan compares it with Osi- ander's view in the sixteenth century. LECTURE VI. 349 kind of mystical conception of the brotherhood of Christ x. Hence, as might be expected, the dogmatic reality of such doctrines as the Trinity was weakened ?. The deity of the Son, as distinct from his superhuman character, became unimportant, save as the historical embodiment of the ideal union of God with hu- manity2. The Spirit was viewed, not as a personal agent, but as a living activity, having its seat in the Christian consciousness of the church a. The objec- tive in each case was absorbed in the spiritual, as formerly in the old rationalism it had been degraded into the natural. It followed also that the Christian consciousness, thus able to find as it were a philo- sophy of religion, and of the material apprehended by the consciousness of inspired men, possessed an instinct to distinguish the unimportant from the important in scripture, and valued more highly the eternal ideas intended than the historic garb under which they were presented. The ideological tendency, as it is now called b, the natural longing of the philosophical mind that tries to rise beyond facts into their causes, to penetrate * His views may be seen in § 50-56, especially § 54. His system in earlier life almost resembled pantheism, as in his praise of Spinoza. See Reden, p. 471. y § 170-172. 7- The person of Christ is discussed § 93-99. Vaughan compares the view with that of Justin Martyr. See also Strauss's Leben Jesu, §148. a § 1 21-125. b See Note 24. 350 LECTURE VI. behind phenomena into ideas, grows up in a country, as is seen by the example of ancient Greece, when the popular creed and the scientific have become discordant. Suggested in Germany by the old rationalism, it had been especially stimulated by the subjective philosophy of Kant and Fichte. Historic facts were the expression of subjective forms of thought. The Non-ego was a form, in which the Ego was expressing itself. This theory, suggested to Schleiermacher from without, fell in with his own views as above developed, and affected his critical inquiries. When he involved himself hi the great questions of the higher criticism, which have been already treated in connexion with Semler, subjective criticism0 was used in an exaggerated manner, not merely to suggest hypotheses, or to check deductions by Christian appreciation, but as a substitute a priori for historic investigation. In the controversy as to the composition of the Gospels, which will be hereafter explained, he was led, by his ideological theory and his instinctive perception c His critical is much less important than his philosophical po- sition. The same spirit of seriousness marks his writings in this department. Two of his chief critical works are, his Ueher den soge- ncmnten ersten Brief des Paulus an den Tihiotheus, 1807, and Ueher die Schriften des Lukes, ein Kritischer Versuch, 18 17, trans- lated into English 1825. The reasons given for his appreciation of the Gospel of St. John in the Weihnachtsfeier, also his posthumous work, llermeneutik und Kritik, 1838, and his Einleitung ins Neue Test. 1845, ought also to be taken into account in estimating his exegetical views. LECTURE VI. 351 of the relative importance of doctrines in theological perspective, to abandon the historical importance of miracles as compared with doctrine, and also the verity of the early history of Christ's life, considered to have been communicated by tradition; while he held fast to the moral and historical reality of the latter'1. These remarks must suffice to point out the posi- tion of Schleiermacher. We have seen how com- pletely he caught the influences of his time, absorbed them, and transmitted them. If his teaching was defective in its constructive side ; if he did not attain the firm grasp of objective verity which is implied in perfect doctrinal, not to say critical, orthodoxy ; he at least gave the death-blow to the old rationalism, which, either from an empirical or a rational point of view, proposed to gain such a philosophy of religion as reduced it to morality. He rekindled spiritual apprehensions ; he above all drew attention to the peculiar character of Christianity, as something more than the republication of natural religion, in the same manner that the Christian consciousness offered some- thing more than merely moral experience. He set <1 The above remarks on Schleiermacher will perhaps be considered severe by those who know his works, and will be regarded as putting the worst face on his system. The criticism however of the late Mr. Vaughan, who deeply appreciated Schleiermacher, and had devoted much patient study to his works, and who viewed him from the stand-point of English orthodoxy, coincides with the above estimate of him. A criticism on Schleiermacher from Bretsclmei- der's point of view may be seen in his DogmaMk, i. p. 93-115. ^:>-2 LECTUKE VI. forth, however imperfectly, the idea of redemption, and the personality of the Redeemer ; and awakened religious aspirations, which led his successors to a deeper appreciation of the truth as it is in Jesus. Much of his theology, and some part of his philo- sophy, had only a temporary interest relatively to his times; but his influence was perpetual. The faults were those of his age ; the excellencies were his own. Men caught his deep love to a personal Christ, with- out imbibing his doctrinal opinions. His own views became more evangelical as his life went on, and the views of his disciples more deeply scriptural than those of their master. Thus the light kindled by him waxed purer and purer. The mantle remained after the prophet's spirit had ascended to the God that gave it. In strict truth he did not found a school. Though his mind was dialectical, he had too much poetry to do this. Genius, as has been often observed, does not create a school, but kindles an influence. The university of Berlin, the very centre of intellectual greatness in every department from its foundation, was the first seat of Schleiermacher's influence ; and the political importance of the capital added impulse to the movement. The reaction extended to other universities0, and not only marked the chief theolo- gians of an orthodox tendency which are commonly known to usf, — Tholuck, Twesten, Nitzch, Julius Especially at Bonn, which was founded in 1818. 1 The following theologians were influenced chiefly by the spirit of Schleiermacher : Tholuck, professor at Halle, author of various LECTURE VI. 353 Mutter, Olshausen, — but even modified the extreme rationalist party, and diffused its influence among theologians of the church of Rome&. It is impossible to specify the views of those who were the chief representatives of the effects of Schleiermacher's teaching. One however, his friend and colleague, deserves mention, the well- -known church historian Neanderh. Brought up a well-known works, (see the expression of his views in the tract, the Guido and Julius, or true Consecration of the Doubter, in reply to De Wette's Theodor) ; Twesten, successor of Schleiermacher at Berlin, author of the well-known Dogmatik ; H. Olshausen, the commentator ; Nitzch, author of the Handbook of Doctrine (trans- lated) ; Julius Mliller, writer of the able work on the Nature of Sin ; Ullmann, editor of the Studien mid Kritiken, the organ of the party. Also Sach, Stier, Tittmann, Umbreit, Ebrart, Hagen- bach, Baumgarten-Crusius, Hundeshagen, Bleek, Liicke, Lange, belong to the same party ; and Gieseler also in the main. Their doctrine is called the Deutsche Theologie. Bunsen must also perhaps be classed with them, though much freer and less biblical than the others. The writings of the late archdeacon Hare are perhaps no inapt English parallel to the tone of these teachers. s More especially Moehler, named above (p. 338 note), was in- fluenced. The modera Catholic theologians are to be treated in the forthcoming (3rd) edition of C. Schwarz's Gesch. der Neuesten Theologie. *» For Neander's life and character as a theologian and church historian, see the interesting particulars gathered in the British Quarterly Review, No. 24, for Nov. 1850, and in the Bibliotheca Sacra, vol. viii. Neander (1 789-1850) was a Jew by birth. About 1805 he embraced Christianity (his life at this period is seen in his letters to Chamisso); studied at Halle under Schleiermacher 1806 ; at Gottingen under Planck ; was made Professor at Berlin 1 8 1 2 : author of various early monographs ; of the Church History, 1825 ; History of the Planting of the Church, 1832 ; Life of Christ, 1837. His opinions may be learned from the Preface to the third edition A a 354 LECTUEE VI. Jew, he passed into Christianity, like some of the early fathers, through the gate of Platonism ; and, knowing by experience that free inquiry had been the means of his own conversion, he ever stood forth with a noble courage as the advocate of full and fair investigation, feeling confidence that Christianity could endure the test. More meditative and less dia- lectical than Schleiermacher, and too original to be an imitator, he surpassed him in the deeper apprecia- tion of sin and of redemption ; placing sin rather in alienation of will than in the sense of discord- ance, and holding more firmly the existence of some objective reality in the anthropopathic expression of the wrath of God removed by Christ's death1. His great employment in life was history ; not, like his master, philosophy and criticism. Viewing human nature from the subjective stand-point, the central thought of his historical works was, that Christianity is a life resting on a person, rather than a system resting on a dogma. Hence he was able to find the harmony of reason and faith from the human side in- stead of the divine, by noticing the adaptation of the divine work to human wants. The inspiration of the scriptural writers was viewed as dynamical not of his Life of Christ, and the Preface to his Church History. On his position as a church historian, see Hagenbach in Studien und K rttiken for 1851. 1 His views on sin and redemption are chiefly to be gathered from criticisms on the Pauline doctrine in the History of tlie Planting of the Church (vol. ii.) j and on the Christian doctrine in vol. ii. of his Church History. LECTURE VI. 355 mechanical, spiritual not literal k ; and Christianity as the great element of human progress, being the divine life on earth which God had kindled through the gift of his Son1. The great aim accordingly of Neander in his historical sketches was to exhibit the Christian church as the philosophy of history, and God's work in Christ, realised in the piety of the faithful, as the philosophy of the Christian church. The his- tory of the church in his view is the record of the Christian consciousness in the world. The subjective and mystical spirit engendered by such a conception, was in danger of converting history into a series of biographies ; but the deep influence which it pos- sessed in contributing to foster the reaction against the old rationalism will be obvious. It becomes us to speak with reverence of the writings of a man whose labours have been the means of turning many to Christ. Though lacking form as works of art, yet, if they be compared with works of grander type, where church history has been treated as an epic, we cannot help feeling that the depth of spiri- tual perception and of psychological analysis compen- sates for the artistic defects. We are conducted by them from the outside to the inside ; from things to thoughts ; from institutions to doctrines ; from the accidents of Christianity to the essence. Neander s teaching, while an offshoot from Schleier- macher, marks the highest point to which the prin- k Introduction to the Life of Christ, § 6. 1 Preface to Church History (first edition). A a 2 350 LECTURE VI. ciples of the master could be carried. It advances farther in the hearty love for Christ and for reve- lation, and bears fewer traces of the ancient spirit of rationalism ; being allied to it in few respects, save in the wish constantly exhibited to appropriate that which is believed ; but the wants of the heart, not the conceptions of the understanding, are made the gauge of divine truth, and the interpreter of the divine volume. We pointed out that the great reaction in the present century was marked not only by the philo- sophical and doctrinal school just described, but by a contemporaneous one, which employed itself on lite- rary and critical inquiries in reference to the Bible, and was the continuation of the earlier rationalist criticism on improved principles. The most import- ant name representing this critical movement in the beginning of the period was De Wette. (32) Per- haps too we may without injustice mention, as a type of it at the close of the period, a theologian who is almost too original to admit of being clas- sified— the learned Ewald. (32) De Wette was nurtured amid the old rationalism of Jena, at the time of its greatest power, about the beginning of the present century; and imbibed the peculiar modification of the doctrines of Kant and Jacobi which was presented in the philosophy of Fries'". It was the appeal to subjective feeling m On Fries' philosophy see Morell, ii. 418 ; Tennemann's Manual, §122. Accepting Kant's categories, he held the existence of an LECTUKE VI. 357 thence derived which preserved him from the cold- ness of older critics, and caused his labours to contri- bute to the reaction. His works were very various ; but the earlier of them were especially devoted to the examination of the Old Testament, and the later to the New. The peculiarity of this school generally may be said to be, a disposition to investigate both Testa- ments for their own sake as literature, not for the further purpose of discovering doctrine. These writers are primarily literary critics, not dogmatic theologians. Like the older rationalists, they are occupied largely with biblical interpretation ; but, perceiving the hollowness of their attempt to explain away moral and spiritual mysteries by reference to material events, they transfer to the Bible the theo- ries used in the contemporary investigations in classical history, and explain the Biblical wonders by the hypothesis of legends or of myths. Though they ignore the miraculous and supernatural equally with the older rationalists, they allow the spiri- tual in addition to the moral and natural, and thus take a more scholarlike and elevated view of the Hebrew history and literature. The system of interpretation adopted is the transition from the previous one, which admitted the facts but explained inward faith-principle, which gives an insight into the real nature of things ; but only as subjective truths, and as tests of truth. The church historian Hase (see Kahnis, p. 236) is moulded by this philosophy. 358 LECTUEE VI them away, to the succeeding one of Strauss, which denies the facts, and accounts for the belief in them by psychological causes. The wish to give a possible basis for the exist- ence of legend, by interposing a chasm between the events and the record of them, stimulated the pur- suit of the branch of criticism slightly touched on by their predecessors, which investigates the origin and date of scripture books. They transferred to the Hebrew literature the critical method by which Woln had destroyed the unity of Homer, and Nie- buhr the credibility of Livy. Not a single book, — history, poetry, or prophecy, — was left unexamined. The inquiries of this kind, instituted with reference to the boo^: of Daniel, were alluded to in a .former lecture ° ; and those which relate to the Gospels will occur hereafter p. At present it will only be possible to specify a single instance in illustration of these inquiries — the celebrated one which relates to the authorship and composition of the Pentateuch. It is the one to which most labour has been devoted, ° Lect. II. p. 85. Similar discussions have arisen with regard to the integrity and purpose of the books of Job, Zechariah, and Isaiah. Particulars of these literary questions will be found in Hengstenberg's articles Job and Isaiah in Kitto's Bibl. Cycl, and in Davidson's Introduction to the Old Testament, in the chapters con- cerning these books. The classical student need hardly be reminded of the close analogy between these literary investigations in the Hebrew literature and those which were conducted by F. A. Wolfjf in respect to Homer, and by other scholars in reference to various classical authors. i' Lect. VII. LECTURE VI. 359 and is an excellent instance for exhibiting the slow but progressive improvement and growing caution shown in the mode of exercising them1*. As early as the time of Hobbes and Spinoza it was perceived that the Pentateuch contains a few allusions which seem to have been inserted after the time of Moses; a circumstance which they, as well as K. Simon, explained, by referring them to the sacred editor Ezra, who is thought to have arranged the canon : but about the middle of the last cen- tury a French physician, Astruc1*, pointed out a circumstance which has introduced an entirely new element into the discussion of the question; viz. the distinction in the use of the two Hebrew names for God, — Elohim and Jehovah. It will be necessary to offer a brief explanation of this distinction, in order that we may be able to perceive the line at which fact ends and hypothesis commences, and under- stand the character of the criticism which we are describing. It is now generally admitted that the word Elohim is the name for Deity, as worshipped by ci Perhaps the clearest account of the controversy will be found in Michel Nicholas, Etudes Critiques sur la Bible, Essay i. T862. See also Hengstenberg's Authentic des Pentateuches (Die Gottesna- men im Pentat. i. 181 seq. ; Havernick's Introd. to tlie Pentateuch (English translation), p. 56, &c. ; Keil's Lehrbuch, p. 82, &c. ; and Dr. S. Davidson's Introduction to the Old Testament (1862), pp. I-I35- r Conjectures sur les Memoires Originaux du Here de la Genese, ^753- 360 LECTURE VI. the Hebrew patriarchs ; Jehovah, the conception of Deity which is at the root of the Mosaic theocracy r. El, or the plural Elohim, means literally "the powers," (the plural form being either, as some unreasonably think, a trace of early polytheism, or more prob- ably merely emphatic8,) and is connected with the name for God commonly used in the Semitic nations. Jehovah4 means " self-existent," and is the name sjDecially communicated to the Israelites. The idea of power or superiority in the object of worship was conveyed by Elohim ; that of self-existence, spirituality, by Jehovah. Elohim was generic, and could be applied to the gods of the heathen ; Jehovah was specific, the covenant God of Moses. (33) In this age, when words are separated from things, we are apt to lose sight of the importance of the difference of names in an early age of the world. The modern investigations however of comparative mythology enable us to realise the fact, that in the childhood of the world words implied real differ- ences in things ; not merely in our conceptions, but in the thing conceived11. But the explanations above r See Exodus vi. 3. ; The older critics however think that the plural form relates to the plurality of persons in the divine Being. t Jehovah is translated in the English version, the Lokd. u Independently of comparative mythology, which is still an hypothesis, there is evidence of the fact in the very derivations constantly offered of words in the Old Testament, as well as in the modern investigations concerning language. Ewald has shown in an interesting manner the means afforded by the Hebrew proper nanus for gaining a conception of Hebrew life (see his article on LECTURE VI. 361 offered will show that, independently of the general law of mind just noticed, a really different moral con- ception was offered by Providence to the Hebrew mind through the employment of these two words. Nor was the difference unknown or forgotten in later ages of Jewish history. The fifty-third Psalm, for example, is a repetition of the fourteenth with the name Elohim altered into Jehovah. In the two first of the five books into which the Psalms are divided, the arrangement has been thought to be not unconnected with the distinction of these names x. In the book of Job also the name Jehovah is used in the headings of the speeches of the dia- logues ; but in the speeches of Job's friends, as not being Israelites, the name Elohim is used ?. In the book of Nehemiah the name Elohim is almost always used, and in Ezra, Jehovah; and in the composition of proper names, which in ancient times were not Names in Kitto's Bibl. Encyel.) ; and a similar analysis has recently been applied to the Indo-Germanic languages in Pictet's Les Origines Indo -Eurojieennes, 1859. x It is well known that the book of Psalms is divided, in the Hebrew and the Septuagint, into five books ; viz. Psalms i-xli ; xlii-lxxii ; lxxiii-lxxxix ; xc-cvi ; cvii-cl ; each of them ending with a doxology, which is now inserted in the text of the psalm. In the first book the name Elohim occurs 15 times, and Jehovah 272 times ; in the second, Elohim 164 times, and Jehovah 30 times. This computation is stated on the authority of Dr. Donaldson, Christian Orthodoxy. >' There are two exceptions, viz. i. 21, xii. 9, which Hengstenberg considers to prove the rule. On this subject see Hengstenberg's Dissertation on Job in Kitto's Bibl. Cyclop, ii. 122, now reprinted in a volume of his Miscellaneous Essays. 362 LECTURE VI. merely, as now, symbolical, the names El and Jah respectively are employed in all ages of the Hebrew nation : and, though no exact law can be detected, it seems probable that in the great regal and prophetic age the name Jehovah was especially used. (34) These remarks will both explain the difference of conception existing in the Hebrew names of Deity, and show that the Jews were aware of the distinction to a late period. When we advance farther, we pass from the region of fact into conjecture. The distinctness of conception implied in the two names has been made the basis of an hypothesis, in which they are used for discovering different elements in the Pentateuch. Throughout the book of Genesis especially, and slightly elsewhere z, the critics that we are describing have supposed that they detect at least two distinct narratives, with peculiarities of style, and differences or repetitions of statement ; which they have therefore regarded as proofs of the existence of different documents in the composition of the Pentateuch ; an Elohistic, in which the name Elohim, and a Jehovistic, in which the name Je- z De Wette tries to exhibit traces in other books than Genesis, but unsuccessfully. It is in Genesis alone that the difference can be so clearly seen, that, even if the peculiar use had no theological meaning, which not even Hengstenberg denies, it must remain as a literary peculiarity. A list of the passages in Genesis which have been considered by these critics to represent the respective uses o\ the two names, is given in the learned and reverently written article Genesis, in Smith's Biblical Dictionary, by Mr. J. J. S. Ferowne. LECTURE VI. 363 hovah was used ; upon the respective dates of which they have formed conjectures. Though we may object to these hazardous specula- tions, we shall perceive the alteration and increasing caution displayed in the criticism, if we trace briefly the successive opinions held on this particular subject. Astruc, who first dwelt on the distinction, regarded the separate works to be anterior to Moses, and to have been used by him in the construction of the Pentateuch a. Eichhorn took the same view, but advanced the inquiry by a careful discrimination of the peculiarities which he thought to belong to each. Vater followed, and allowed the possibility of one collector of the narratives, but denied that it could be Moses. Thus far was the work of the older critical school of rationalists. It was purely anatomical and negative. It is at this point that we perceive the alteration effected by the school which we are now contemplating. De Wette strove to penetrate more deeply into the question of the origin, and to attain a positive result. His discussion was marked by minute study ; and he changed the test for distinguishing the documents from the simple use of the names to more uncertain characteristics, which depended upon internal pecidiarities of style and manner. The con- clusion to which he came was, that the mass of the Pentateuch is based on the Elohistic document, with a The references to these various authors will be found in M. Nicholas, Essay i. 3G4 LECTURE VI. passages supplemented from the Jehovistic ; and he referred the age of both to a rather late part of the regal period. Ewald, with great learning and deli- cacy of handling, has reconsidered the question13 and, though arriving at a most extraordinary theory as to the manifold documents which have supplied the materials for the work, has thrown to a much earlier period the authorship of the main portion ; and the views of later critics are gradually tending in the same direction. Both study the Pentateuch as uninspired literature ; but De Wette absurdly regarded it as an epic created by the priests, in the same manner as the Homeric epic by the rhapsodes : Ewald on the contrary considers it to be largely historic c. l) Geschichte des Hebr. Volk. i. 75 seq. <■ In writing the history of this dispute, as being here viewed only in its literary aspect, it will be seen that my object has been simply to select it, for the purpose of exhibiting the gradual increase of taste as well as of learning shown by the German critics in re- ference to questions of the " higher criticism." Concerning the theological aspect of it we can all form an opinion, which would probably be in a great degree condemnatory ; but concerning the literary, none but a few eminent Hebrew scholars. Some of the greatest of them, Gesenius, De Wette, Ewald, Hupfeld, Knobel, have given in their adherence to some form of the theory above described. The references to the works of Hengstenberg, Haver- nick, and Keil, who have written on the other side, are given above. The rashness of some forms of criticism must not make us abandon a wholesome use of it ; and a literary peculiarity such as that de- scribed, if it really exist, demands the reverent study of those who wish to learn the mind of the divine Spirit, as it was communicated to the ancient chosen people, or expressed in the written word. Compare McCaul's Essay Aids to Faith, p. 195. LECTURE VI. 3G5 This statement of mere results, too brief to ex- hibit the critical acumen shown at different points of the inquiry even where it is most full of peril, will show the increasing learning displayed, and the appreciation of valuable literary characteristics. It will be perceived that prepossessions still predo- minate over this criticism ; but they are of a dif- ferent kind from those which existed earlier. They are not the result of moral objections to the nar- ratives, but of the contemporary critical spirit in secular literature. The discrepancy of result ob- tained by the process is a fair practical argument which proves its uncertainty ; but its adherents allow that both in art and literature internal evi- dence admits of few canons, and consequently that the result of criticism could only admit of probability. The general summary of the movement shows a steady advance in criticism, as was before shown in doctrine, toward a higher and more spiritual standard. It is not the recognition of the inspired authority of scripture, but it is some approach to it. Instead of the hasty denunciation of narratives or of books as imposture, seen in the Wolfenbuttel Fragments, or the merely rationalist view of Eichhorn and Paulus, we perceive the recognition of spiritual and psychological mysteries as subjects of examina- tion ; and even when the result established is alto- gether unsatisfactory, valuable materials have been collected for future students. If we were to abandon our position of traditional orthodoxy, and accept that of Schleiermacher in doctrine, or of De Wette in 366 LECTURE VI. criticism, it would be a retrogression ; but for the Germans of their time it was a progress from doubt towards faith. It was not orthodoxy, but it was the first approach to it. This double aspect, philosophical and critical, of the reaction, brings us to the end of the second period in the history of German theological thought. It has already been stated that the elements of other movements existed, which were hereafter to develoffe; and that one of these was an attempt, originating in the philosophy of Hegel, to reconstruct the harmony of reason and faith from the intellec- tual, as distinct from the emotional side. It bore some analogy to the gnosticism of the early church ; and the critical side of it gave birth to Strauss. We have traced the antecedent causes which pro- duced rationalism, and two out of the three periods into which we divided the history of it. We are halting before reaching the final act of the drama; but we already begin to see the direction in which the plot is developing. It is when a great movement of mind or of society can be thus viewed as a whole, in its antecedents and its consequents, that we can form a judgment on its real nature, and estimate its purpose and use. As in viewing works of art, so in order to observe correctly the great works of God's natural pro- vidence, we must reduce them to their true per- spective. It is the peculiarity of great movements of mind, that when so viewed they do not appear to be all shadow and formless, nor acts of meaningless LECTURE VI. 367 impiety. They are products of intellectual ante- cedents, and perform their function in history. In nothing is the Divine image stamped on humanity, or the moral providence of God in the world, more visible, than in the circumstance, of which we have already had frequent proofs, that thought and honest inquiry, if allowed to act freely, without being- repressed by material or political interference, but checked only by spiritual and moral influences, gradually attain to truth, appropriating goodness, and rejecting evil. Thought seems to run on un- restrained, stimulated by human caprice, sometimes by sinful wilfulness ; yet it is seen really to be re- strained by limits that are not of its own creation. In the world of conscious mind, as in unconscious matter, God hath set a law that shall not be broken. Reason, which creates the doubts, also allays them. It rebukes the unbelief of impiety, making the wrath of man to praise God ; and guides the honest in- quirer to truth. A period of doubt is always sad ; but it would be an unmixed woe for an individual or a nation, if it were not made, in the order of a merciful Provi- dence, the transition to a more deeply -seated faith. It is a means, not an end. You tell me, doubt is devil-born. T know not ; one indeed I knew In many a subtle question versed, Who touched n jarring lyre at first, But ever strove to make it true : 3G8 LECTURE VI. Perplext in faith, but not in deeds, At last he beat his music out. There lives more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds. He fought his doubts, and gathered strength, He would not make his judgment blind, He faced the spectres of the mind And laid them : thus he came at length To find a stronger faith his own d. Religious truth is open to those who will seek it with humility and prayer. In addition to the natural action of reason, the fatherly pity of God is nigh, to give help to all that ask it, and that endeavour to sanctify their studies to His honour. Even though the search be long, and a large portion of life be spent in the agony of baffled effort, the mind reaps improvement from its heart-sorrows, and at last receives the reward of its patient faith. "Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled e/" If we are thankful to be spared the sorrows of the doubter, let us admire the wisdom and mercy shown in the process by which Providence rescues men or nations from the state of doubt. " The Lord God omnipotent reignethf;" and He shall reign for ever and ever. a Tennyson's In Memoriam, § 95. e Matt. v. 6. f Rev. xix. 6. LECTURE VII. FREE THOUGHT: IN GERMANY SUBSEQUENTLY TO 1 835; AND IN FRANCE DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. Matt. xiii. 52. Every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bring eth forth out of his treasure things new and old. X HE last lecture was brought to a close before we reached the final forms assumed by German the- ology. In the present one we must complete the narrative; and afterwards carry on the history of free thought in France, as affected by the influence of German literature, from the period at which the narrative was previously interrupted to the present time. We have noticed the traces of the reaction in favour of orthodoxy, which was produced in Ger- many by the influence of Schleiermacher. We treated b b 370 LECTURE VII. the philosophical side of the movement, the vindi- cation of the distinctness of religion and ethics ; and also witnessed the improved tone in the critical, tending, if not to the recognition of a supernatural character in the holy scriptures, yet to a more spiri- tual appreciation of their literary characteristics, and of the psychological peculiarity of the facts recorded. We adverted also, in conclusion, to a rival philo- sophical influence, springing from -the teaching of Hegel, which assisted the reaction by seeking a phi- losophical reconstruction of religion, though from a different point of view from Schleiermacher. It was this school which gave origin to the sub- sequent movements in Germany. The sudden alter- ation in German thought induced by Strauss, which ushers in the modern period, arose from the union of the philosophical principles of this school with the criticism of that of De Wette. We must there- fore endeavour to understand this movement, which forms the turning point between the reaction before described, which is the second of the three general divisions made of this portion of history a, and the forms which succeed constituting the third division. Hegel b, a name almost as important in its influ- ■ Lect. VI. p. 308. b Hegel, 1770- 183 1, Professor at Berlin after 18 18. The rudi- ments of his system are in the Phenomenology, written about 1806 ; the Logic gives the mature form of it about 18 16 ; the Encyclopaedia its completion ; the two former works being embodied in the latter. For the sources for the study of his system, &c. see Note 35. LECTURE VII. 371 ence on the German mind as that of Goethe, has been already mentioned0 as the last of that band of philosophers which strove to develop the mental as distinct from the material principle, presented in Kant's philosophy. Kant had completed the pro- cess of turning man's search inward, which Descartes had begun. Philosophy became psychology ; the dis- covery of the limits of knowledge, rather than of the nature of the thing known. We have seen that Fichte and Schelling, not content with this result, had sought, though by opposite processes, to escape from this limited knowledge; to attain an ontology as well as a psychology. All philosophy aims at attaining a knowledge of reality, either a 'posteriori by means of generalisation, or a priori from the data of mind. These two philosophers strove to attain it by the latter mode ; but their method either lacked system, or failed in its results: their philo- sophy was poetry rather than logic. Hegel followed in their steps, but adopted a basis which admitted of being developed in a formal system. The logical rigour of his method, and the encyclopaedic grasp which it gave over knowledge, partly accounted, as in the case of Spinoza or of Wolff, for its popu- larity. The universe was to be interpreted from the mind; the laws of thought were the laws of things. The microcosm and the macrocosm were one ; thought, and the mind that thinks ; or, more ' Bee p. 335. B I) 2 372 LECTURE VII. truly, both were phases of the universal mind which was unfolding. The mind of man could transcend the limits of the finite and phenomenal ; and, being able to apprehend the idea, the vov/uevov, absolutely, without condition, thus possessed the solution of any branch of universal knowledge by an a priori process. The problem of philosophy was, to find the laws of this evolution in thought, to catch the ideal when it strives to become immanent and to manifest itself in the actual. Without attempting here to explain the kind of threefold process, (35) according to which this evolu- tion takes place, it is better, as in the case of the former philosophies named, to exhibit the influence of the general method rather than the effects of particular theories inculcated by it. The method had many advantages, in displacing a low materialism, in stimulating loftiness of con- ception, and generating an historic study of every subject, by its view of the universe as a develop- ment ; and also created a largeness of sympathy with differing views, by regarding all things as in transi- tion, relative, true only in reference to their con- tradictory ; and by considering all hypotheses to con- tain a germ of right, and to be the result of partial views of truth ; but it will also be obvious, that the method had its evil effects. For, when applied to any department, it produced a disposition to seize the principle, the idea, of which the concrete is the embodiment ; to descend from the type upon the in- LECTUEE VII. 373 dividual. Its method was deductive and idealistic; giving being to abstractions, like the realism of the middle ages. It lost the fact in the principle; it personified the genus. Philosophy became a vast mythology. When applied to Christianity, for example, it did not attempt to find a philosophic ground for it psy- chologically in the human aspirations, as Schleier- macher had doned, but objectively in the dogma. It discovered the ideal truth in religion, and re- garded Christianity and Christ as being the mani- festation of the effort of the great Spirit of the uni- verse to convert the idea into act; the symbol which expressed the speculative truth of the essential unity of the ideal and the real, of the divine and the human. Like the ancient Gnosticism, it believed in dogmatic Christianity, because it descended upon it from an a priori principle, in which it found the explanation of it. Religion and philosophy were reconciled, because religion was made a phase of philosophy. This system was taught by its founder at Berlin from about 1820 to 1830, contemporary with that of (1 Schleiermacher sought it in the consciousness of dependence, craving for an infinite object; and regarded Christianity as supplying the means for the perfect harmony of this principle with the op- posing one of voluntary power. Hence, the solution of difficulties in religion would be sought in such a system by seeing the adapta- tion of the Christian scheme to human needs, not in the solution of the mysteries themselves. 374 LECTURE VII. Schleiermacher ; and the learned theologian Marhein- eckee is tlie name best known of those who applied it to theology. It was regarded at that time as an in- strument of orthodoxy f. It had the advantage over the old rationalism, in that while using similarity of method in seeking to explain mysteries, it did not pare them down, but absorbed them in principles of philosophy ; and over the school of Schleiermacher, in that it was less subjective, less a matter of feeling, supplying a doctrine and not merely a spirit ; and therefore it satisfied the longing of the mind for dog- matic truth, and at the same time more readily linked e Marheinecke (17 80-1 846), Professor of Theology at Berlin, the author of many works, chiefly on dogmatic theology, of which his Symbolik, 1810, and Dogmatik, 1827, are the most important. See Bretschneider's explanation and criticism on his system (Dogmatik, [. 1 15-140). Perhaps the name of K. Daub (1765-1836), Professor at Heidelberg, ought also to be added. Originally Hegel's teacher, he adopted his pupil's system. See Kahnis's remarks, p. 244 seq., and Amand Saintes, part ii. ch. xvii. It has been usual to classify the followers of Hegel under the analogy of political parties in foreign parliaments, thus : — in the extreme right, Heinrichs and Groeschel ; in the right, Schaller, Erdmann, and Gabler ; in the centre, Rosenkranz and Marheinecke ; in the left centre, Vatke, Snellmann, and Michelet ; in the left, Strauss, Bruno Bauer, and Feuerbach. See Morell, Hist, of Philosophy, ii. 199, 203. Several of these however are philosophers rather than theologians. A simpler classification of the Hegelian theologians is into three parties : the first, Daub and Marheinecke, and more recently Dorner; the second, Chr. Baur and the Tubingen school; the third, Strauss, B.Bauer, and Feuerbach. 1 See the article by Scherer in the Revue des Deux Mondes, Feb. 186 1, p. 841 ; and on the influence of Hegel see Kahnis, p. 244 seq., and Am. Saintes, P. II. ch. 17 ; and Bartholmess, b. xii. LECTURE VII. 375 itself, ecclesiastically with cliurchlike and corporate tendencies, and politically with conservative and au- tocratic ones. Yet it is easy to see that its spirit was really far less Christian than Schleiermacher s. For it not only confused again philosophy and reli- gion, which his system had severed, but it proudly claimed to explain doctrines rationally where his had only sought to appropriate them intuitionally. It verged towards pantheism. It was in danger of losing the historic fact in the idea; of encouraging, as it is now sometimes called, the " ideological ten- dency %;" whereas with Schleiermacher, the historic belief had only been regarded as less important than the emotional apprehension. Its d priori spirit created also a depreciation of the investigations which had been pursued by the critical school. It gave encouragement to the study of history; but it was to the history of philosophy, not to the investiga- tions conducted by historical criticism. Such was the system which, along with those de- scribed in the last lecture, was regarded as contri- buting to favour orthodox reaction, and was dis- puting theological preeminence with that of Schlei- ermacher, when a work was published by one of its disciples, which was the means, through the ferment produced, of altering completely the whole tone and course of German thought. It was the celebrated Life of Jesus by Strauss11, a criticism on the four 6 See Note 24. ]l Lebca Jesu, 1835. 37G LECTURE VII biographies given in the gospels ; a work in which the whole destructive movement was concentrated, with such singular ability and clearness, that hardly any work of theology has subsequently been written without some notice of the propositions there main- tained. It presented a double aspect : it was both philo- sophical and critical. Strauss added to a general admission of the Hegelian point of view a love for the critical studies so much neglected by that party. Brought up in the moderate orthodoxy of Tubingen, he had studied at Berlin under Schleiermacher, but caught the critical rather than the philosophical side of that masters teaching, and especially interested himself in the solution of the question relating to the origin and credibility of the Gospels, already partially considered in the critical inquiries of the old rationalism, and of the school of De Wette. It was an investigation which in its nature, in the spirit in which it was decided, and in its similarity to the contemporaneous discussions of classical criti- cism, bore a close resemblance to that before de- scribed in reference to the Pentateuch. A few words of explanation concerning it are necessary, previous to the statement of the nature of Strauss's work1. 1 The account of this controversy may be seen in bishop Marsh's Dissertation, 1807 ; and a continuation of the history subsequently to his work in the introduction to the Translation of Sehleier- macher's Eaawy on St. Luke, 1825 (by the present Bp. Thirlwall). The controversy is also treated with great learning and reverence LECTURE VII. 377 As early as the last century the resemblances be- tween the three " synoptical" Evangelists had ex- cited attention; and examination was directed to discover the cause. Some, as Wetsteink, supposed that one or two of the Gospels were borrowed from the third ; others, as Michaelis1 and Eichhorn, that the three were all derived from one common ori- ginal, now lost ; others, as Schleiermacher, that they were composed from many detached written narra- tives ; others, as Herder, and subsequently Gieseler, that they were the committal to writing of the oral tradition common in the church. Thus, whether the Gospels were regarded as copies, or as being com- by Dr. S. Davidson, Introd. to New Test. i. (373-425). Important references and quotations in regard to it are given in the Appendix to Tregelles' edition of Home's Introd. 10th ed. vol. iv. ; also see Amand Saintes, Hist. p. ii. 12 ; Kenan's Etudes de VHist. Eelig. (Ess. 3) ; Hase's Leben Jesu ; Quinet's review of Strauss (CEuvres, vol. iii.). A series of studies on the subject is in course of publica- tion in the Revue Germ. 1862, by Michel Nicholas. k Wetstein, with Mill, Calmet, and others, regarded St. Mark's Gospel to be the epitome of St. Matthew's. Griesbach and Dr. Townson thought that St. Luke as well as St. Mark had seen the one by St. Matthew. A further list may be seen in Tregelles (as above), p. 642 ; and Davidson (as above). 1 Michaelis regarded the Greek translator of St. Matthew to have had access to the same Greek document as St. Mark and St Luke. Semler and Lessing advocated a Hebrew or Syriac original. Eichhorn adopted the theory of an Aramaic original, which was adopted with slight alterations by bishop Marsh. (It was criticised by bishop Randolph, by Mr. Veysie, and in Falconer's Bampton Lectures, 1 8 10.) Schleiermacher regarded the Gospels to be pieced together out of separate documents. Gieseler's hypothesis was put forward in 1818. 378 LECTURE VII. posed from earlier documents, or from primitive tra- dition, the effect was, that they were reduced to the level of natural testimony, and instead of being three witnesses they became one. The fourth Gospel also was involved in uncertainty. Bretschneider added the full examination of it, and provoked a discussion concerning the alleged disagreement of its tone and statements with those of the synoptists111. Thus a chasm was introduced between the events and the record of them ; and the testimony was reduced to traditional evidence. This alteration in the critical attempt to shake the evidence of independent authorship had been accom- panied by a corresponding change in the interpreta- tion, as seen in the assaults made on the credibility of the facts narrated. In the hands of the English deists and of Reimarus this attack had been an allegation against the moral character of the writer. In Eichhorn and Paulus the imputation of collusion had been superseded by the rationalistic interpreta- tion, which, without denying the historical recital, denied the supernatural, and explained it away by reference to the peculiarities of time at which the 111 Probabilia de Evangel, et Epist. Joannis origine et i?idole, 1820. The theory suggested was, that it was written in the second century. It was well answered by Schott, Stein, and others. The controversy has been revived in more modern times ; the Tubingen school denying the authorship to St. John, Ewald and others, asserting it. The subject is discussed in Davidson's f introduction to the New Testament, i. 233-313. See also two arti- cles in the National Review, No. 1. July 1855, and No. 9. July 1857. LECTURE VII. 379 events were described. The next step was to transfer the doubt to the recital itself, and to find, in the absence of contemporary evidence for the events, the possibility for legend, and, in the antecedent expec- tation of them, the possibility for myth. This was the state of the critical question with regard to the Gospels when the work of Strauss appeared. The Hegelian philosophy gave him the constructive side of his work, and criticism the de- structive. Setting out with the preconception which had lain at the basis of ■ German philosophy and theology since Kant, that the idea was more im- portant than the fact", the mythical interpretation of history furnished to him the medium for applying this conception as an engine of criticism. The mythical system of interpretation, though slightly suggested by his predecessors in criticism, was Strauss's great work. The difference between alle- gory, legend, and myth, is well known. Our blessed Lord's miracles would be allegories, if they were, as Woolston claimed, parables intentionally invented for purposes of moral instruction, or facts which had a mystical as well as literal meaning : they would be legends if, while containing a basis of fact, they were exaggerated by tradition : they would be myths if, without really occurring, they were the result of a general preconception that the Messiah ought to do mighty works, which thus gradually became trans- n On the spirit of Kant's philosophy in this respect, see Strauss 's own remarks, Leben Jesit, Introd. § 7. 380 LECTUEE VII. lated into fact. A legend is a group of ideas round a nucleus of fact : a myth is an idea translated by mental realism into fact. A legend proceeds upwards into the past; a myth downwards into the future0. Strauss's peculiarity consisted in trying to show that if a small basis of fact, heightened by legend, be allowed in the gospel history, the influence of myth is a psychological cause sufficient to explain the re- mainder. The idea is regarded as prior to the fact : the need of a deliverer, he pretends, created the idea of a saviour : the misinterpretation of old prophecy presented conditions which in the popular mind must be fulfilled by the Messiah. The gospel history is regarded as the attempt of the idea to realise itself in fact. The fimdamental fallacy of the inquiry is apparent from one consideration. Legends are possible in any age ; myths, strictly so called, only in the earliest ages of a nation. Comparative philology has lately shown that mythology is connected with the forma- tion of language, and restricted to an early period 0 On the contrast of myth and legend there are some good remarks in Strauss, who quotes George's Mythus unci Sage for the explanation ; also in the Westminster Review for April 1847 (p. 149), an article which, though written in favour of Strauss, gives an instructive account of the object and position of his work. The history of Strauss's work, with its antecedents and consequents, mainly based on Schwarz (b. ii.) and on Scherer, but bearing marks of independent study, is given in Mr. F. C. Cook's Essay on Ideo- logy in the Aids to Faith, 1862. Theodore Parker has given an accurate analysis, and of course a defence, of Strauss (3Iiscellaneous Writings, p. 23 1). LECTURE VII. 381 of the world's history'1. But the encouragement offered to the mythic interpretation by Hegel's phi- losophy will be apparent. The mythus embodying itself in the facts of the gospel was the miniature of the process of universal nature. Everywhere the idea strives for realisation. The scheme of Strauss formed the link between philosophy and criticism. Philosophy had explained the doctrines of Christianity, but not the facts of Christian history. Criticism had explained the facts by historical examination, but not by philosophy. Strauss attempted, for the first time, to present the philosophical explanation of facts as well as doctrines. He explained them, neither by charge of fraud, nor by historical causes, but by reference to the operation of a psychological law, the same which the Hege- lian philosophy regarded as exemplified universally. Early Christian fiction was resolved into a psycho- logical law, regulated by a definite law of suggestion, of which plausible instances were traced. The gospel history was regarded to be partly a creation out of nothing, partly an adaptation of real facts to pre- conceived ideas. This same philosophy, which thus contributed to the critical or destructive side of the theory, also furnished the reconstructive. The facts in Christianity were temporary, the ideas eternal. Christ was the type of humanity. (36) His life and P The new view ©f the nature of myths is developed in Max Miiller's Essay on Comparative Mythology, Oxford Essays, 1856. See also Note 47. 382 LECTURE VII. death and resurrection were the symbol of the life, death, and resurrection, of humanity. The former were unimportant, the latter eternal. An exoteric religion for the people might exhibit the one : the esoteric for the philosopher might retain the others This is Strauss's system and position. The book itself comprises three parts ; — first, an historic intro- duction, in which the history of previous criticism and of Hermeneutics, and of the formation of the mythical theory is most ably presented r : — secondly, the main body of the work, which consists of a criti- cal examination of the life of Christ8, subdivided into three parts; viz. an examination of the birth and childhood of Jesus1, of his public life", and of his death x ; the object of which is to point out in the nar- rative the historic or mythic elements : — and thirdly, a philosophical conclusion ?, in which the doctrinal signi- q Strauss, Leben Jesu, § 152. (ii. p. 713.) r § 1-16. It contains a history of the different explanations of sacred legends among the Greeks ; the allegorical systems of the Hebrews (Philo,) and Christians (Origen); the system of the Deists; and the Wolfenbiittel Fragmentist ; the naturalist mode of Eichhorn and Paulus, and the moral of Kant ; lastly, the rise of the mythic, both in reference to the Old and New Testaments. Then the dis- cussion of the possibility of myths in. the Gospels, and a description of the evangelical mythus. §1-142. t^,l7_43 u§44_iio. *§hi-i42. ■ § T 43-i 5 2. The author gives the dogmatic import of the life of Jesus, criticising the Christology of Orthodoxy, of Rationalism, of Schleiermacher, the Symbolic of Kant and De Wette, the Hegelian; and draws Ins own conclusions. LECTURE VII. 383 ficance of the life is given. As a specimen of didactic and critical writing it is perhaps unrivalled in the German literature. The second part is the embodi- ment of all the difficulties which destructive criticism had presented. If the historic sketches captivate by their clearness, the critical do so by their surprising acuteness and dialectical power ; and the philosophical by the appreciation of the ideal beauty of the very doctrines, the historic embodiment of which is denied. It is the work of a mind endowed with remarkable analytical power ; in which the force of reflective theory has overwhelmed the intuitional perception of the personality and originality of the sacred cha- racter which is the subject of his study2. The effect of the publication of the work was astonishing. It produced a religious panic unequalled since the Wolfenbuttel fragments. The first impulse of the Prussian government was to prevent the in- troduction of the book into the Prussian kingdom ; but Neander stood up to resist the proposal, with a courage which showed his firm confidence in the per- manent victory of truth ; saying that it must be answered by argument, not suppressed by force ; and forthwith wrote his own beautiful work on the life of Christ in reply to it. Yet neither the peculiarity of Strauss's theory nor the nature of the work gave ground for the panic. For the book was in truth not a novelty, but merely a fuller development of prin- a This idea is well brought out in Kenan's critique on Strauss. {Etudes Relig. Essai iii.) 384 LECTURE VII. ciples already existing in Germany ; and Schleier- machpv, before his death, when contemplating the tendency of religious criticism, had predicted a the probability of such an attempt being made. Nor was the work irreligious and blasphemous in its spirit, like the attacks of the last century. It professed to be executed solely in the interests of science; and, though subversive of historic religion, to be con- servative of ideal. The critical part was only a means to an end ; its real basis was speculative. But the literary aspect of the question was lost sight of in the religious. The heart spoke forth its terror at the idea of losing its most sacred hope, the object of its deepest trust, an historic Saviour. The alarm had not been anticipated by the author of the attack. He is described by a hostile critic b as a ' young man full of candour, of sweetness, and modesty, of a spirit almost mystical, and as it were saddened by the disturbance which had been occasioned/ But he became a martyr for his act, and an outcast from the sympathy of religious men. Unable to exercise his a One passage of this kind is quoted by Amand Saintes (p. 263) from Liicke in Stud, unci Krit. vol. ii. p. 489. b Edgar Quinet ((Euvres, iii. 316, reprinted from Revue des Deux Mondes, Sept. 1838). His words are, " Un jeune homnie plein de candeur, de douceur, de modestie, une ame presque mystique ct comme attristce du bruit qu'elle a cause." The unaltered view which Strauss now takes of his own work, after the interval of twenty- five years, is given in the Vorrede to his Gesprdche von Hiltten uber- setzt und erlaiitert, i860. It is quoted in the National Review, No. 23, art. 7. LECTURE VII. 385 singular gifts of teaching in any professorship, he has continued to write from time to time literary monographs of more defiant tone ; proofs of his ability, but vehicles for the expression of his opinions. (37) The effect on the different theological critics throughout Germany, both friendly and hostile, was so remarkable, that the year 1835, in which the book was published, is as memorable in theology as the year 1848 in politics. The work carried criticism and philosophy to its farthest limits, and demanded from theologians of all classes a thorough recon- sideration of the subject of the origines of Christi- anity0. The ablest theologians either wrote in refu- tation of it, or reconsidered their own opinions by the light of its criticisms. (38) The alarm at the loss of the historic basis of Christianity created a strong reaction in favour of the Lutheran orthodoxy, the commencement of which has already been named d ; c The effect which it produced is described, with details of the answers written, in book ii. of the excellent little work of C. Schwarz already named, Geschichte der Neuesten Theologie, 1856. This part of the work is translated into French, with some useful notes, in the Rev. Germ. vol. ix. parts ii. and iii. See Note 38. The most useful replies are those of Neander and Dorner. Dr. Beard also published a valuable series of papers called Voices of the Church (1845), containing translations of the Essay by Quinet above quoted, of one by A. Cocquerel (pere), and others. Dr. Mill's work on The Appli- cation of Pantheistic Principles to the Gospels (1840) is intended also as a reply. The Life of Christ, contained in vol. i. of Dean Milman's History of Christianity, also contains important remarks on Strauss's scheme. d P. 341- C C 386 LECTURE VII. and gave the death-blow, not only to the Hegelian school, but almost to the passion for ontological spe- culation in Germany! While some thus assumed a churchly and conservative aspect, others outstripped Strauss, and, uniting with French positivism, advanced into utter pantheism and materialism. The Hegelian party, to which Strauss belonged, and which would fain have been excused from this reductio ad absurdum of its principles e, became split into sections through the various attempts made to parry the blow, and reconstruct their system on the philosophical side. The critical tendency had now too found a home, by means of Strauss's work, among the Hegelians ; and this led to the creation of a new school of historical criticism to be hereafter described, which arose in Strauss's own university of Tubingen f. We have now explained the circumstances attend- ing the change which closed the second and intro- duced the third period in German theology. In this third period, which is that of contemporary thought, we may distinguish four broadly marked tendencies ; three within the church, and one directly infidel in character outside of it §'. Scherer clearly brings out this relation of Strauss's work, in § 5 of the article before quoted. 1 Accordingly it will be understood that the mention of " the old Tiibingen school" of the last century denotes a Pietist school like that of Bengel or Pfaff ; the mention of " the new Tubingen school " means one of ultra-rationalism. The materials for the following sketch have been largely sup- LECTURE VII. 387 The last named, which we shall describe first, started from Strauss's position, and advanced still farther. It sprang from the destructive side of the Hegelian philosophy, and has sometimes been named the young Hegelian school. From the first it lacked the air of respect toward religion which Strauss did not throw aside in his work ; and it also extended itself from theology to politics. Bruno Bauer h, a Professor at Berlin, by turning suddenly round from the most orthodox to the most heterodox position in his school, may be classed with Strauss in his method, though not in his spirit. He carried out Strauss's critical examination of the plied by the work of Schwarz, and partly by an article before cited in the Westminster Review for April 1857. Schwarz, after devoting the first chapter of book ii. to the Straussian contests, devotes the second and first three chapters of book iii. to the history of these four movements. h See Amand Saintes, bookii. ch. 18 ; Hase, § 450 ; Hundesha- gen, Der Deut. Prot. §17. Bruno Bauer, born 1809, was once Pro- fessor at Bonn, and teacher at Berlin. In his first manner he showed himself to be a disciple of Hegel, in works published from 1835 to 1839, such as a criticism on Strauss, and also on the Old Testament. From 1839 to 1842 he exhibited a destructive tendency directed against the sacred books ; e. g. a work on the Prussian church and science, and a criticism on St. John's Gospel, The persecution which he encountered stimulating his opposition, he showed in his next works (in 1842 and 1843) a spirit of defiance in his Das Eklekte Clwistentlmm. From 1843 to x^49 ne connected himself with questions of politics, and wrote largely on social science. Since that period he has again written, both in theology, criticisms of the Gospels and Epistles, and on politics. A list of his works and a sketch of his mental character may be found in Vapereau, Diet, des Con temp. 1858. C C 2 388 LECTURE VII. Gospels with a coarse ridicule ; and extended it by denying the historic basis of fact, and imputing the myth to the personal creation of the individual writer. But his successors advanced even farther. As Bauer developed the critical side of Strauss, Feuerbach1 and Bugek developed the philosophical, and destroyed the very idea of religion itself, by showing that the idea of God or of religion is of human construction, the giving objective existence to an idea. The aspiration, instead of guaranteeing the existence of an object to- ward which it is directed, is represented as creating it. This was the. final result of the subjective point of view of the Kantian philosophy, and of the idealism of Hegel. Reason must, it was pretended, be followed, to whatever extent it contradicts the feelings. Theo- logy becomes anthropology ; religion, mythology ; pantheism, atheism ; man, collective humanity, be- i On this movement see Schwarz, b. iii. ch. i ; and on the German political socialism see the North British Review, No. 22, for Aug. 1848. Feuerbach (see Vapereau) was author of many works on the history of philosophy about 1833 to 1845. His chief works on religion were Das Wesen des Christenthum (1851), and Das Wesen der Religion, 1845. The former work was translated in 1854, and contains a discussion (1) of the true or anthropological essence of religion; (2) of the false or theological. His collected works have been published. The Hallische Jahrbilcher was his organ. Criti- cisms on his school are given by Bartholmess {Hist. Crit. des Doctr. de la Phil. Mod. b. xiii. ch. ii.), and by E. Kenan {Etudes de VHist. Relig. p. 405.) k Ruge, once a teacher at Halle ; went into voluntary exile at Paris, like Heine, in 1843 ; was mixed in the revolutionary schemes .of 1848 ; and in 1850 became an exile in England. See Vapereau. LECTURE VII. 389 comes the sole object of the belief and respect which had been previously given to Deity ; religion vanishes in morality. The love of man becomes the substitute for the love of God. This was a position analogous to that which positivism reached in France, but from a mental instead of a physical point of view. This form of thought found expression in literature through the poetry of Heine1, and linked itself with political theories of communism more extreme than the con- temporary ones in France. Still the lowest point was not reached : religion was treated as a psychological peculiarity, and the virtue of benevolence recognised. But when religion was felt to be only an idea, and the belief of the supernatural to be the great obstacle to political reform, an intense feeling of antipathy was aroused ; and Schmidt m, under the pseudonym of Stirner, leached the naturalistic point of view held by Volney, the worship of self-love. This new school, which had arisen in the few years subsequent to Strauss's work, 1 See above, note on p. 22. Gutskow and Mundt belonged to the same school. The former a dramatic poet, whose works against religion were about 1835, in the Prefaces to Letters of F. Schlegel, &c. ; the latter, librarian at Berlin, was noted for his political con- nexion with the party of young Germany, rather than for any assault on religion. See Vapereau for an account of his works. The spirit of this school was tinged with bitterness against existing institu- tions. '" Gaspard Schmidt (1806-1856) wrote in 1845, under the pseu- donym of Max Stirner, Der einsige unci sein Eigenthum. His later works were on political economy. 390 LECTURE VII. mingled itself with the revolutionary movements of Germany in 1848, and was the means of exciting the alarm which caused the suppression of them. Since that date the school has been extinct as a literary movement. The tendency just described was entirely de- structive. The three others, which remain for con- sideration, exist within the church, and are in their nature reconstructive, and aim at repelling the attacks of Strauss and of other previous critics. The one that we shall describe first is that which is most rationalistic, and approaches most nearly to Strauss's views ; and is frequently called, from the Swabian university which has been its stronghold, the Tubin- gen school n. It is a lineal offshoot in some slight n As schools of thought have been occasionally named in this narrative in connexion with universities, it may facilitate clearness to collect together the few hints which have been given concerning the subject. In the first period previous to 1790, we showed the theological tendencies of the four universities, Gottingen, Leipsic, Halle, and Tubingen : next, in the period after 1790, the state of Jena as the home of rationalism and of the Kantian philosophy. In our second period we pointed out the condition of Berlin as the seat of philosophical reaction under Schleiermacher and Hegel ; and indi- rectly of the universities which represented the school of De Wette. In the third period, the school of Lutheran reaction has specially existed in Berlin, Leipsic, Erlangen, Rostock, and the Russian uni- versity of Dorpat ; the school of "Mediation" chiefly at Berlin, Heidelberg, Halle, and Bonn ; and the historico-critical at Tubingen. It may be useful to add, for the completion of the account, that the Tubingen school is now almost extinct in its original home ; and that the two universities which at the present time represent the freest criticism are supposed to be Giessen and Jena. The latter is LECTURE VII 391 degree from the school of Hegel, and more decidedly from the critical school of De Wette, before named. But it stands contrasted with the latter by caution, as marked as that which separates recent critics0 of Roman history from earlier ones, like Niebuhr. Like Strauss, it restricts its attention to the New Testament ; but it is a direct reaction against his inclination to undervalue the historical element. The great problem presented to it is, to reconstruct the history of early Christianity, to reinvestigate the genesis of the gospel biographies and doctrine. De- clining to approach the books of the New Testament with dogmatic preconceptions, it breaks with the past, and interprets them by the historic method; proposing for its fundamental principle to interpret scripture exactly like any other literary work. Pre- tending that after the ravages of criticism, the Gospels cannot be regarded as true history, but only as miscellaneous materials for true history, it takes its stand on four of the Epistles of St. Paul, the genuineness of which it cannot doubt, and finds in the struggle of Jew and Gentile its theory of Christianity p. Christianity is not regarded as mira- culous, but as an offshoot of Judaism,' which received its final form by the contest of the Petrine or Judaeo- marked by the realistic school of philosophy described in Note 41. Hilgenfeld, the best representative of the Tubingen school, is Pro- fessor there ; see Note 39. 0 E. g. Th. Mommsen. !» Viz. the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians, and the two to Corinth. 392 LECTURE VII. Christian paity, and the Pauline or Gentile; which contest is considered by it not to have been decided till late in the second century. By the aid of this theory, constiucted from the few books which it ad- mits to be of undoubted genuineness, it guides itself in the examination of the remainder, tracing them to party interests which determined their aim, pro- nouncing on their object and date by reference to if. In this wa^t arrives at most extraordinary conclu- sions in reference to some of them. Not one single book, except four of St. Paul's Epistles, is regarded to be authentic. The Gospel called that of St. John is considered as a treatise of Alexandrian philosophy, written late in the second century to support the theory of the Aoyog. It will thus be perceived that the inquiry, though it professes to be objective, yet has a subjective cast. The leader of this school was Christian Baur, (39) lately deceased ; a man of large erudition ; a wonder of acuteness even in Germany; distinguished for the extraordinary ability displayed in his reply to the attacks made on Protestantism by the celebrated Roman catholic theologian Moehler : and though the doctrinal result of the school is ethics or pure Socinianism and naturalism, and the critical opinions obviously are most extravagant, the sagacity and learning shown in the monographs published by it make them some of the most instructive, as sources An explanation and criticism of some of these opinions are given in Davidson's Introduction to the New Testament. LECTURE VII. 39:3 of information, in modem theology, to those who know how to use them aright. From an orthodox point of view the effect of the school is most de- structive ; but, if viewed in reference to the pre- ceding schools, it manifests a tenacious hold over the historic side of Christianity, and has affected in a literary way the schools formerly described, which claim lineage from the older critics. As the tendency just described is the modern representative of the older critical schools; so the next holds a similar position to the philosophical. The school is frequently on this account described by the same name, of " Mediation theology r," origin- ally applied to Schleieimacher, because it attempts to unite science with faith, a true use of reason with a belief in scripture. It comprises the chief theolo- gical names of Germany, some of whom were disci- ples of Schleieimacher, others of the orthodox portion of the Hegelian party. Their object is not simply, like the revivers of Lutheran orthodoxy, to surrender the judgment to an external authority in the church, nor to give unbounded liberty to it like the critical school : not going back like the one to the ancient faith of the church, nor progressing like the other to new discoveries in religion, they seek to under- stand that which they believe, to find a philosophy for religion and Christianity. r VerniittpJJiiniis-Theohxjie, and sometimes called Deutsche Tlieo- logie. See Schwarz, book iii. eh. ii. The organs of this party are the Stitrfirn nnd Kritiken and the Neue-Evomgel. Kirchenzeitung. 394 LECTURE VII. Two theologians stand out above the others, as evincing vitality of thought, and boldly attempting to grapple with the philosophical problems ; — Dorner s and Rothe \ both very original, but bearing traces of the influence of their predecessors. The former, moulded by the Hegelian school, investigates the Chi istological problem which lies at the basis of Christianity ; the latter, moulded rather by the school of Schleiermacher, has attempted the cosmological, which lies at the basis of religion and providence. The work of Dorner on "the Person of Christ" formed an epoch in German theology, by its fulness of learning, its orthodoxy of tone, and its union of speculative powers with historic erudition. The Christian doctrine of the incarnation is, that. God and man have been united in an historic person as the essential condition for effecting human salvation. If the doctrine be viewed on the speculative side, the s Dorner, born in 1809; successively Professor in several uni- versities : he has recently gone to Berlin. It is a matter of gra- tification that his great work, described in the text, is now in course of translation. The account of the successive steps through which it passed may be seen in the American Bibliotheca Sacra for 1849. Also an account of it is given in Theodore Parker's Miscel- laneous Works, p. 287. Lange, author of the Leben Jesu, ought perhaps to be named along with the two in the text, as belonging to this school. * Perhaps these two theologians ought to be regarded apart from the average of the members of the Mediation school, as being of a grander type. They approach the subject from a higher stand-point, and also arc more largely moulded by philosophy. On Rothe, see Note 40. LECTURE VII. 395 problem is to show a 'priori that this historic union ought to exist ; if viewed on the historic, to prove that it has existed as a fact. The great aim of the Christology of the Hegelian system was to effect the former ; the aim of Strauss was to destroy the latter. Dorner strove to reconstruct the doctrine, by making the historical study of its progress the means of supplying the elements of information for doing so. He commences by an examination of other religions u, in order at once to show the existence in them of blind attempts to realise that truth which the incarnation supplied, and to prove the impossi- bility that the Christian doctrine can have been borrowed from human sources, as the critical and mythical interpreters would assume. He discovers in all religions the desire to unite man to God ; but shows x that the Christian doctrine cannot have been derived from the oriental, which humanised God ; nor from the Greek, which deified man; nor from the Hebrew in its Palestinian form, which degraded the idea of the incarnate God into a temporal Mes- siah ; nor in its Alexandrian form, which never reached, in its theoiy of the A 0709, the idea of the distinction of person of the Son from the Father. Thus establishing the originality of the idea in Christianity, and exhibiting it as the fulfilment of the world's yearnings, he traces it in the teaching of the apostles, and of the apostolic age, next as marking n In the Einleitung. * Id. y Vol. i. period i. ch. i. 396 LECTURE, VII. the different heretical sects7, which respectively lost sight of one of the two elements, till he finds the church's explicit statement of the doctrine in its fulness a ; and then pursues it onwards through the course of history to the present timeb. Though the work is to an English mind difficult, through the air of speculation which pervades it, and perhaps open to exception in some of its positions ; yet, viewed as a whole, it is a magnificent argument in favour of Christianity ; exhibiting the incarnation as the satis- faction for the world's wants, as the original and independent treasure in Christianity; and showing the process through which Providence in history has caused the doctrine to be evolved and preserved. The other great problem, the origin of things, and the relation of God to the world, which is at the basis of religion, as the incarnation is at the basis of Christianity, has been less frequently handled. Originally discussed, like the latter, in controversy with the early unbelievers, it had been touched upon in the speculations of Averroes and Spinoza, in the materialism of French infidelity, and in the earlier systems of speculative philosophy in Germany itself. It was this problem which was attempted by Iiothe. (40) Advancing beyond this first question, he has considered the scheme of Providence in the development of religion, and the theory of the Christ- ian church in relation to political society. It is '■ Id. ch. ii. and iii. a 2 Epoche, Abth. 2. *> Vol. ii. LECJUEE VII. 397 unnecessary here to explain his system : his mind is too original to admit of comparison without in- justice; yet the speculations of our own Coleridge, who on philosophical principles makes the state to be the realisation of the church, will perhaps give some imperfect conception of the character of his attempts. This second school that we have been considering, though approximating extremely nearly to orthodoxy, and furnishing the works of most value in the mo- dern theology, yet seeks to approach religion from the psychological or philosophical side. It specu- lates freely, and believes revelation because it finds it to coincide with the discoveries of free thought. But there is a third tendency, which believes reve- lation without professing to understand it ; which rests on the revelation in scripture as an objective verity, and believes the Bible on the ground of evi- dence, without questioning its material c. The first germ of this reaction in favour of rigid orthodoxy was observable in the feeling aroused by the theses of Harms, in 1817, already named, on occa- sion of the celebration of the tricentenary of the Beformation ; but it was quickened by the attempts, initiated by the Prussian king, between the years <" If the reader follows out the pedantic but useful mode before named, of arranging the actutil schools of theology after the fashion of foreign assemblies, he will place in the right, the friends of the confessional theology ; in the centre, those of the mediation theo- logy ; in the left, the old critical school of De Wette ; and in the extreme left, the school of Tubingen. The first has its chief seat in Prussia, and the third probably in Thuringia and central Germany. ^98 LECTURE VII. 1821 and 1830, to unite the Lutheran and Calvinistic brandies of the Protestant church d. The time seemed then to thoughtful men a fitting one, when doctrines were either regarded as unim- portant or superseded by the religious consciousness, to unite these two churches under the bond of a common nationality, and the practice of a common liturgy. But the old Lutheran spirit, which still survived in the retirement of country parishes, was aroused, and some pastors underwent deprivation and persecution rather than submit to the union e. This new movement at first caught the spirit of pietism, just as had been the case with that of Schleier- macher; but gradually abandoned it for a dogmatic and churchlike aspect, as he for a scientific expres- sion. Its aim was to return to the Lutheranism of the sixteenth century, and to rally round the con- fessions of faith of that period. Hengstenbergf at Berlin, and Havernick?', are the names best known as representing this party at the period of which we d See Kahnis, p. 262, &c. ; Am. Saintes, part ii. ch. x; Hase, § 453 j Schwarz, book iii. ch. iii. e The dissenters from the union were not recognised legally by the state till 1845. (See the references given in the last note.) The prin- cipal of those who dissented were Kellner, Scheibel, and Buschke. 1 Hengstenberg, born in 1802 ; professor at Berlin. His works are well known. His work on Christology (1829), Introduction to the Pentateuch (1831), Commentary on the Psalms (1842), and several others, are translated. ' H'avernick, Professor at Kbnigsberg ; died a few years since. His chief works are, a Commentary on Daniel (1838); and an Intro- duction to the Old Testament, which is translated. LECTURE VII. 399 speak. Their efforts were directed to criticism rather than to doctrine, to reconstruct the basis for Christ- ianity in Judaism by defending the authenticity and credibility of the ancient scriptures. In doctrine and the canon, they reverted to the position of the Reformation. But the alarm ensuing upon the work of Strauss, in 1835, invested this movement with a more reactionary character; and the journal11 which gave expression to Hengstenberg's views, gradually assumed the character of an ecclesiastical censorship, frequently marked by defiance and severity, like the tone of Luther of old. The panic caused by the revolutions of 1848 gave increased stimulus, by adding a political reaction to the religious. The extreme rationalist party had favoured the Revolution, and the school of Schleier- macher had supported the schemes for constitutional government. In the suppression of liberty which ensued for about ten years, the orthodox movement in theology united itself with the reaction in poli- tical. Absolute government was not merely a fact, but a doctrine. The theological reaction was no longer the spiritual aspiration of Germany seek- ing repose after doubt, but a political movement veiled under an ecclesiastical colour. The result has been, the creation of a Lutheran party far more l> The Evangelische Kirchenzeitung, the organ of his opinions, was Pietist till about 1838 ; after which it favoured the reaction ; especially since the theological disputes of 1845 and the political revolution of 1848. See Hase, § 451 ; Schwarz, book i. 400 LECTURE VII. extreme in its opinions than the one just described; — the political leader of which in the Prussian parliament was the jurist Stahl1; — intolerant towards other churches, suspicious of any independent asso- ciations for religious usefulness in its own, disowning pietism because of its unchurchlike character, and in its principles going back beyond the Reformation, dis- carding the subjective inward principle, and reposing on the objective authority of the church. Taking a political view of religion, it does not so much ask what is truth, but what the church asserts to be true. Though not offending popular prejudices by the in- troduction of Romish doctrines or rites, it really reposes on the Romish principle of a visible authori- tative church with mystical powers, upholding a rigid sacramental theory and the doctrine of con- substantiation. Extending the sacramental efficacy to the ministerial office, and denying communion between God and the individual soul independently 5 Stahl, who died in 1861, was eminent for piety as well as learning. His views may be learned from an address, Ueber Christ- liche Tolercmz, 1855. The Kreuz Zeitung is the journal which has supported this political reaction. The " Theology of the Con- fessions" (i. e. of Augsburg, &c.) is the name which is given to the movement by its friends. See Kahilis, p. 3 1 1 seq. Much interest- ing information in reference to it, though occasionally expressed in a rude manner, together with references to the German authors from which it is drawn, will be found in the North British Review, No. 47, Feb. 1856, and British Quarterly Review, No. 46, April 1856. The extracts there quoted are the authority for several of the statements here made. See also Schwarz, in. 3 ; Huncleshagen, Der Deutsche Protestantismus, § 22. LECTURE VII. 401 of the church as the element of communication1*. Yet it contains many honoured names, and has produced many instructive works. The movement in English theology, which originated a generation ago in the panic caused by the liberal acts of the government which was introduced by the reform act1, offers a parallel; with the exception that the ecclesiastical principles then advocated had always had supporters in the English church, whereas they were nearly new in the Lutheran. The Lutheran movement too, only k In enumerating a few names among those that belong to this reactionary party, it is fair to state that some of them have not taken open part in the political aspects of it, and do not teach all that is described in the last few lines, which rather express the teaching of the more violent, and mark the tendencies to which the others only approximate. Some of the best known are, Harless, Delitzch, Keil, as biblical investigators ; Kudelbach, Guericke, Schmid, Kurtz, and Kahnis, as historical ; and Kliefoth in practical doctrine. (Kahnis has however lately adopted free views in criticism. See Colani's Nouvelle Revue de la Theologie, July 1862.) Vilmar in Hesse Cassel, and Leo at Halle, belong to the most ultra section of the school. The universities where it predominates are named at p. 3.90. Those however who dissent from the views of the theologians here de- scribed ought not to forget to render a tribute to the reverent piety and high motives of many of them. They are men who know and love Christ, and are striving to lead men to love him. 1 It is a remarkable circumstance that the Oxford movement in the church of England was at first an anticatholic movement. The Catholic Emancipation Bill and the liberality of the parliament after the Reform Bill created an alarm, which led to the study of the non- juring divines and Anglo-catholics who had asserted the rights of the church, and to the reproduction of their opinions. Deeper causes were however at work ; among which was the wish to find a more solid groundwork for church belief : but the political circumstances contributed the stimulus, though they were not truly the cause. D d 402 LECTURE VII. proposes to go back to the Reformation, the English ecclesiastical movement professed to go back to the early fathers. (41 ) While the church has thus attempted a renovation of itself in doctrine, the value of which some will dispute, all will allow thankfully that there has been a deep increase of spiritual life throughout the Ger- man churches. Religion indeed had never died out; but in the retirement of country districts111 the flame of divine love still burned with unextinguished glory. This spiritual fire has now spread, and expressed itself in acts of earnest fife. Foreign missions have been promoted"; an inner or home mission esta- blished for schools, and other religious agency0; and an annual ecclesiastical diet0 constituted, for pro- moting co-operation and ecclesiastical improvements m The names of Stilling and Oberlin have been already cited, as instances of devoted Christians who realised the truth and tried to spread it. A writer in the Foreign Quarterly Review, vol. xxv. p. 132, attests from personal experience his knowledge of the existence of earnest faith in parishes at the time when the universities were nurseries of doubt. 9 !! The missions existed previously, having been commenced by the Moravians in the last century, and carried on by several de- tached missionary associations in the present. On the recent improvement in Germany, see articles in the North British Review, No. 31 for Nov. 1 85 1, and No. 40 for Feb. 1854. 0 Die Innere Mission, founded by Dr. Wichern. i» The Kirchentag arose out of the Kirchenbund, and met first at Wittenberg, in the church which contains the bones of Luther and Melancthon, in 1848, while war and revolution were raging around. 'i In addition to those named in the text, mention ought to be made of the association of the " Friends of Light," founded by Uhlich, which represents the individual principle like the Quakers, LECTURE VII. 403 These three separate movements of the present age, even when incorrect, have contributed something to form a perfect theology. In the orthodox school we see the attempt to return to the Bible, as interpreted by the Reformation ; in the mediation school, as inter- preted by the religious consciousness ; in the critical school, as interpreted by historic and critical methods. We have now completed the history of the great movement in German theology, in its two elements, doctrinal and critical. Commencing in the first pe- riod,— in doctrine, with the disbelief of positive reli- gion, replacing dogma by ethics ; and in criticism, supplying a rationalistic interpretation : in the second, it was improved on the doctrinal side by the separa- tion of religion and ethics ; and on the critical by a spi- ritual acknowledgment of the literary characteristics and psychological peculiarities of revelation: in the third, by a total reconstruction of both inquiries, in a more historic and orthodox spirit ; and by the creation of a traditionalist position in reference to each. The solution of the problem how to reconcile faith and reason, was attempted in the first by obli- ancl has resulted in forming some free congregations in Konigsberg and Magdeburg. (Consult Die Deutsche Theoloyie, p. 26 ; Hase's Church History, § 456.) The movement was accused of rationalism by its opponents. Also the Gustavus Adolphus Association, begun in 1832 for the relief of all classes of protestants, was one of the first means of promoting Christian union, and indirectly produced the Kirchentag. An account of these two last associations may be found in a pamphlet (1849) by C. H. Cottrell, Religious Movements of Germany in the Nineteenth Century. Kahnis notices the great facts of this revival, but with a slight sneer (p. 276, &c.) D d 2" 404 LECTURE VII. terating faith ; in the second by uniting them ; in the third by separating them. The whole movement stands remarkable, not only as being the most sin- gular instance in history, where the action of free thought can be watched in its intellectual stages, dis- connected in a great degree from emotional causes, and where the effort was exercised by the friends of religion, not by foes; but also in the circumstance that though referable to the influence of similar intel- lectual causes as former epochs of free thought, it is characterised by wholly different forms of them. We have found, on nearer inspection, as might be anticipated in any great movement of mind, that instead of being without purpose, and a mere heap of ruins, there was a plan and method in it It is a history which offers much cause for sorrow and much for joy. Though, as has been before remarked, a period of harrowing doubt in the life of an indivi- dual or a nation is a melancholy subject for con- sideration, yet when it is not induced by immorality, but produced, as in this instance, by the operation of regular causes, and is the result of the attractiveness of new modes of inquiry which invited application to the criticism of old truths, to be accepted or rejected after being fully tested; there is something to relieve the dreariness of the prospect. And when we look to the result, there is abundant cause for thankfulness. The agitation of free thought has produced permanent contributions to theology. Extravagant and shocking as some of the inquiries LECTURE VII. 405 have been, and injurious in a pastoral point of view, being the utterance of men who had made shipwreck of faith; yet in a scientific, hardly one has been wholly lost, and few could be spared in building up the temple of truth. In criticism, in exegesis, in doc- trine, in history alike, how much more is known than before the movement commenced : and what light has been thrown on that which is the very foundation problem, the just limits of inquiry in religion. Each earnest writer has contributed some fragment of in- formation. At each point error was met by an apo- logetic literature, rivalling it in learning and depth ; reason was conquered by reason ; and though we cannot help rejoicing that we are able to reap the results of the experience, without undergoing the peril of acquiring it, yet we must acknowledge that the free and full discussion has in the end resulted in truth : the very error has stimulated discovery. So far from being a warning against having confidence in the exercise of inquiry, it is an unanswerable ground for reposing confidence in it. Christianity is not a religion that need shrink from investigation. Christians need not tremble at every onset. Our religion is vital, because true ; and we may place trust in the providence of God in history, which overrules human errors and struggles for the per- manent good of men ; and, extricating the human race from the follies of particular individuals, makes the antagonism of free discussion the means to con- serve or to promote intellectual truth. 406 LECTUKE VII. In concluding this sketch however it is proper to make a few remarks, as hints to theological students, in reference to the study of works of German theo- logy. Many such works are translated, and many more exist in the original, which are of the highest value1*, and are likely to be read, and indeed may justly be read, by all students of large cultivation. The works of Schleiermacher or Dorner in doctrine, of De Wette or Ewald in criticism, of Neander or Baur in history, are works of power as well as erudition, and contain a treasure-house of information and sug- gestion for those who know how to use them wisely, and separate the precious from the untrue. While I have endeavoured to present a fair history of the whole movement, I should feel inexpressible pain if these remarks were the means of leading unwary students to plunge unguardedly into the study of many parts of it. Its original connexion with the deist and ethical points of view, and the constant sense of living in an atmosphere of controversy, have im- pressed even some of the more orthodox writers with a few peculiarities, of which a student ought to be made aware : — for example, with a slight tendency to a kind of Christian pantheism ; a disposition to re- duce miracle to a minimum ; and in the department of Christian doctrine to consider Christ's life as more important than his death, and to regard the atone- '' It is enough to mention Schleiermacher's Glausbenslehre, and the works of Ewald j e. g. the prefaces to the poetical and prophetical hooks, and his work, the Geschichte des Hebr. Volkes. LECTURE VII. 407 ment as an effect of the incarnation, instead of the incarnation being the means to the atonement. If then a young student would avoid a chaos of belief, and pursue a healthy study of the German writers, there are two conditions which he ought to observe. First, care should be taken to understand the precise school of thought which his author repre- sents, in order to be able to allow for the possibility of prepossession in him ; — a remark true in reference to all literature, but especially important in that which marks a particular phase of controversy. (42) Secondly, a student's duty to English society, and to the church of which he is a member — as also, I humbly venture to think, to his own soul — requires that he shall first listen thoughtfully to the verna- cular theology of England. Let him learn the chief affirmative verities of the Christian faith before med- dling with the negative side. Let him master the grand thoughts or solid erudition of Hooker and Pearson ; of Bull, and Bingham, and Waterland ; of Butler and Paley ; — the seven most valuable writers probably in the English church; — and then recon- sider his opinions by the light of foreign literature. Each one of us is on his intellectual as well as moral trial. None whom duty calls need be afraid to en- counter it in God's strength, and with prayer to Christ for light and truth and love. It remains to mark the influence produced by Ger- man theology on free thought in other countries. (43) 408 LECTURE VII. In the remainder of this lecture we shall carry- on the history of free thought in France, from the point at which we left its down to the present time. We shall find that the open attacks on Christianity of former times have ceased. There, as elsewhere, the present century has been constructive of belief in spiritual realities, not destructive ; but the reconstruction has in some cases been so con- nected with an abnegation of revelation, that it merits some notice in a history of free thought. The speculative thought in France during the pre- sent century has manifested itself chiefly under four forms1: (i) a sensational school, called in the early part of the century Ideology, in the latter Positivism : (2) a theological school, which has attempted to re- establish a ground for reposing on dogmatic authority : (3) a social philosophy, which has directed itself to the study of society and labour : and (4) the eclectic philosophy, created by German thought, which has sought to reconstruct truth on the basis of psycho- logy. The chronological sequence of these schools connects itself with the political sequence of events, and has altered with their change. We must trace them briefly in succession, in order to understand s In Lecture V. (p. 273.) fc See Damiron, Essai sur VHistoire de la Philosophic en France au 19™ siecle, 1828 ; and Nettement's Hist, de la Litt. Franc, sous la Restoration, 1853, and Hist, de la Litt. Franc, sous le Gouverne- ment de Juillet, especially b. v, vi, vii, xi ; and a review of Nette- ment in the British Quarterly Review, No. 37 ; also H. J. Rose's Christian Advocate's Publication for 1832. LECTURE VII. 409 their religious influence and tendencies. The first has tended directly to atheism, the second to super- stition, the two last indirectly to pantheism. When treating of Volney in a former lecture, we noticed the philosophy which took its rise amid the ruins caused by the revolution. Christianity was replaced by materialism, theism by atheism, ethics by selfishness. The philosophy of Cabanis, of Volney, and of De Tracy", was founded so entirely on a physical view of human nature, that it could hardly aid in any way in instilling nobler concep- tions. Society grew up without the belief of God or immortality ; but in this very poverty the system met its downfall. The deep yearnings of the human heart craved satisfaction. The inextinguishable poetry of the soul yearned for the spiritual ; the devotional instincts of human nature caught the first notes of that heavenly melody to which they were naturally fitted to be attuned. Literature rather than religion was the source from which the mind of France began to imbibe the deep and spiritual conceptions which obliterated the materialism of the revolution. The spiritual tone of such a writer as Chateaubriand x, similar u See Morell's Hist, of Philosophy, i. 543-72, and Damiron, pp. (1-105). x Chateaubriand (1 768-1 848) wrote his Genie du Christianisme in 1802. See Nettement, first work, quoted above, vol. i. b. x. ; and, second work, vol. ii. p. 330 ; and the criticism by Villemain, La Tribune Moderne, ch. v. ; and Sainte-Bcuve's Portraits, vol. x. 410 LECTURE VII. to that of the Romantic literature of Germany, awakened in France early in the century the con- ceptions of a world of spirit, of chivalrous honour, of immortal hope, of divine Providence ; and led mankind to feel that there was something in them nobler than mere material organism ; even a spirit that yearned for the world invisible. Chateaubriand showed y, in answer to the school of Voltaire, that Christianity was not merely suited to a rude age, but was the friend of art, of intellect, of improve- ment. The church as yet possessed only little influ- ence. Beginning to revive under the fostering in- fluence of Napoleon, who saw clearly the necessity of cultivating religion, its moral usefulness was lessened by falling under the suspicion of opposing the public liberty, when patronised by the govern- ment after the re-establishment of the monarchy. The nobler conceptions just described, whether they arose from literature or from religion, gradually penetrated into the minds of thoughtful men : and, the ground being thus prepared, several rival systems of thought gradually sprang up in the fifteen years (18 1 5-1830) of the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty. Accordingly, when the revolution of 1830 gave freedom to France, there was a universal activity of mind, and free thought assumed a bolder attitude ; sceptical, if compared with the Christian standard, but embodying deep moral convictions, if >' In his Genie du Christianisme. LECTURE VII. 411 compared with the unbelief of the last century. Among the definite schemes of philosophy, theo- retical or practical, which were proposed for accept- ance, the first which we shall notice was So- cialism z. It originated with St. Simon a. The stirring events of the great revolutionary era, together with the social philosophy of Rousseau which preceded it, had directed attention to the philosophy of social life. St. Simon had lived through this period, and early in the present century devoted himself to the study of schemes of social reform ; and shortly be- fore his death in 1825, announced his ideas as a new religion, a new Christianity. In the ferment which followed the revolution of 1830, the opinions of this dreamer became suddenly popular, and, en- listing around them some distinguished minds, forced themselves on the attention of the public during z The sources for understanding the systems of Socialism, besides the works of its founders, are Alfred Sudre's Histoire et Refutation du Communisme, 1850, (especially ch. xvi-xx,) which .obtained the Monthyon prize, and gives a history of communism in all ages ; also Nettement, second work, ii. b. vii. ; Morell's Hist, of Philo- soj)hy, ch. vii. § 2 ; an article in the Quarterly Revieiv, No. 90, July 1 83 1 ; and in the Westminster Review, 1832 ; and two very valu- able articles in the North British Revieiv, No. 18, May 1848, and No. 20, Feb. 1849. Those who are aware how much Socialism has influenced French philosophy and literature, as well as politics, will see that it is at once the index of certain forms of religious thought and the cause of subsequent ones, and will pardon the space be- stowed in the text upon these visionary schools. a 1 760-1825. See Morell, as above. 412 LECTURE VII. the two following years ; and as the political schemes which resulted from them have left their mark on the theological literature of the time, they merit some attention. St. Simonism offered itself as a system of religion, of philosophy, and of government, which should be the perfect cure of all the evils which existed. The source of these evils St. Simon conceived to be the want of social unity ; individualism, selfishness, to be the cause of virtual anarchy. He considered that philoso]3hy and religion had striven in vain to remedy the evil, because they had not made the spiritual to bear upon the material interests of mankind. This, which was the true remedy, he proposed to discover historically. Borrowing the thought of the German philoso- phers, he sought it in the elements which are to operate on human nature in the progress of its development. The mode of development by which society advances to perfection he found in a supposed law, that society shows two great epochs, which in long cycles alternate, — the organic and the critical; the former, where the individual is obedient to the pur- pose of the society ; the second, where the individual rises against it. He found two instances of them in the ancient and modern world respectively, viz. in the ancient pagan period and its disruption ; and again in the Catholic centralization of the middle ages, and the disorganization which succeeded from the time of the Reformation to the French revolution. He LECTURE VII. 41;) considered himself to be raised up to announce the dawn of the third organic period, the world's millen- nium, a new epoch, and a new religion. It was to be the realisation of the fraternity, which the great moral teachers of the world had promised and pre- pared. This religion consisted in raising the in- dustrial classes, by a scheme which it is irrelevant to our purpose to explain. Contemporaneously with this socialist system was that of Fourier l), which, though presented more as a scheme of social amelioration, and less as a reli- gion, implied the same abnegation of Christianity. Starting from an avowedly pantheistic view of phi- losophy, the author of it gradually passed through the sciences, until he arrived at man, and reached the study of human history and constitutions. Exag- gerating the good elements of human nature, and ignoring the necessity for any other than a social power to amend the heart, he traced the source of evil to social competition, and proposed to rearrange society on the principle of substituting co-partnership for competition c The two ideas accordingly which these specidations introduced were; — first, that Euro- pean society was approaching a crisis, the peculiarity of which, as distinct from former ones, would be, that b Fourier, 1 768-181 8. See the same sources for information, and Nettement's second work, ii. 30. One of the chief Fourierists was Considerant. <• It was a system in fact which has been tried in the mode of working the Cornish mines. 414 LECTURE VII. it would be an industrial revolution ; and the indus- trial mind would obtain the mastery of the admini- stration ; and, secondly, that the accompaniment would be a new organization of industry on the principle of co-operation. We cannot track these schools into their ramifications d and their indirect exjDression in lighter literature e, nor notice the levelling system of communism or co-operative so- cialism which completed the cycle f ; but it will be d The St. Simonians separated about 1831 into two parties; one led by Bazard, showing a logical tendency, and including Leyroux ; and the other led by Enfantin at Menilmontant, showing an emo- tional, among whose adherents was Michel Chevalier. The source of dispute was the emancipation of the working classes and of woman ; Enfantin going beyond the other school in reference to these points. In 1832 the government interfered, and dispersed his supporters. On the relation of French journalism to the political movements, see two articles in the British Quarterly Review, vols. iii. and ix. e The novels of such writers as George Sand, Victor Hugo, &c. give expression to these aspirations for social improvement, and the disposition to attribute all evil to social disarrangement. 1 The systems of St. Simon and Fourier did not demand the ab- rogation of social inequality between man and man. Both would revolutionise the present state of things ; but the one would replace it by a graduated scale of functionaries, the other by a more demo- cratic and less federal system of corporations. But communism is founded on the idea of entire social equality as regards the material advantages of life. The old schemes of Babceuf and the first French revolution hardly existed in 1848, but were replaced by two forms of communism ; the theoretic or " Icarian" of Cabet, and the prac- tical of Louis Blanc. On these systems, with that of Proudhon, see the sources before described, especially Sudre and the North British Review, No. 20, where this new phase is well described. Also Hase's Church History, § 493. LECTUKE VII. 415 remembered, that when the revolution of 1848 ensued, the schemes for organization of labour were one of its peculiarities ; the social republic of those who regarded the democracy as a means, mixed with the political republicans, who thought it to be an end. It will be noticed that the schemes of these socialist philosophers, though analogous as political theories, in proposing organization of labour and consequent monopoly, to the English socialism of Owen before named, are unlike it in philosophical origin and religious tendency. In philosophical origin his sys- tem rests on sensation, theirs on feeling ; his degrades human nature, theirs elevates it. His denounces priestcraft as imposture, and religion as obsolete ; theirs, though identifying religion and industry, re- gards religion as the highest expression of humanity, the great goal to which nature is developing : his leads to deism or atheism, theirs to pantheism. Yet theirs is not less hurtful, for they reject with con- tempt the dogmatic teaching of revelation, though they appropriate the Christian virtues ; like the German philosophy they resolve the Deity into a law, according to which the universe evolves. One of the minds however which was trained in the school of St. Simon, viz. Comtek, has developed s Comte's chief work, the Philosophie Positive, has been well translated in an abridged form by Miss Martineau, 1853. ^n refer- ence to him see Morell, History of Philosophy, i. 577, y 1 {en an. Taine's literary character was sketched, but not with the praise which he deserves, in the Westminster Review, July 1861; and also with a special reference to his religious opinions in Scherer, Me- langes, eh. xi. He was supposed to be a pusitivist, but now declares himself to favour Spinoza. 426 LECTUEE VII. than in Christianity. While this is the condition of the philosophy just described, positivism, so far as it prevails, is wholly antichristian, and regards religion as the product of an unscientific age, for which a belief in nature's laws and science is a suf- ficient substitute. Christianity, though the ripest of religious forms, is only symbolical of a higher truth towards which humanity is tending. We may select the name of a writer who stands pre-eminent in critical investigations connected with religion, as the best representative of the tone as- sumed in reference to the Christian faith by the most highly educated younger spirits of the French nation, of whose literature he is one of the brightest living ornaments, — Ernest Kenan u. Exhibiting a mind of the rarest delicacy, and bearing traces of the collective cultivation which arises from de- tailed acquaintance with most varied branches of human culture, he has brought his vast acquaint- ance with the Semitic tongues to bear on the historical criticism of portions of the Hebrew litera- u E. Renan, born 1823. His chief works are, Histoire Generate et Systhnes Compares des Langues Semitiques, 1845 ■> ^e VOrigine du Langage, 1849 > Averroes, 1851 ; Job, 1859 ; Cantique des Cantiques i860 ; and Essays collected, viz. Essais de Critique et de Morale, 1859; and especially Etudes de V Histoire Beligieuse, 1859, which contains a remarkable preface on the office of modern criticism. A true criticism on the last two works may be seen in Blackwood's Magazine, Nov. 1861, used in these remarks; and another by Schercr, Melanges de la Critique Beligieuse, ch. xv. He is now writing on Les Origines du Cliristianisme. See Erasers Magazine, October 1862. LECTURE VII. 427 ture ; and has sketched with the hand of a master the great passages in the history of religion, — the symbolism of mythology; the monotheistic systems, Jewish, Christian, and Mahometan ; the four chief phases of Christianity, the Catholic, the Protestant, the Socinian, the rationalist x ; and has speculated on the future religious tendencies of the age, in essays, which those who feel most deeply pained with the views presented must acknowledge to be marked by rare power and freshness. Possessing a delicate appreciation of the past, and a cheerful confidence in the future ; loving the advance of the knowledge of physical nature, yet protesting against the tend- ency to materialism ; dreading the democracy of opinion, which threatens to suppress independence of inquiry by a power analogous to centralization in the state ; the artist no less than the critic, imagina- tive as well as reflective, he may be studied as in all respects the contrast to the French philosopher of the last century, and as the type of the cultivated minds on whom Christianity has made its imj^ression. His view of philosophy is the one recently explained : his view of religion and of Christianity, so far as we x This will be seen to be the enumeration of the essays in the Etudes de VIHstoire lielig. The essay on the future prospects of Christian churches alluded to is in the Revue des Deux Mondes for Oct. 15, i860, where Renan examines the prospects, of the centralised system of papacy, of the national system of the English and Russian churches, and of the individual system of free churches ; and argues that the tendency of society is to adopt the latter, both in freedom of creed and of constitution. 428 LECTUEE VII. can gather it indirectly from his criticisms, seems to mark a belief in the religious sentiment as a subjec- tive feeling, rather than in the reality of its external object of worship. Its objective side seems to him to be a symbolism, and Christian dogma to be an obsolete form of religious philosophy ; inspiration a form of natural consciousness; and even its highest expres- sion to be but the poetry, the art, of the imaginative faculties. There is audible at times an undertone of despondency, as the sigh of one who has searched for truth and not found itx ; and who, in despair of discovering it on the intellectual side, has taken refuge in the moral. Religion, vain speculatively, is resolved by him into ethics. Faith expires in conscience ; dogma in molality. And this interest- ing writer closes his speculations with the regret, that he feels himself isolated from those Christian saints whose characters he regards as the purest in the worlds Such may probably be regarded as the type of thought of the most educated thinkers of France; a feeling of partial belief, partial doubt; a x At the close of La Chaire d'Hebreu, 1862, lie has however as- sumed a view of the world and of nature, less negative and more definite. 5 See the preface to Etudes Relig. especially pp. 14, 15. It is hoped that injustice is not done to M. Renan by these statements. Perhaps they interpret his thoughts more pointedly than he him- self would do, and attribute to him as positive conclusions what rather are incipient tendencies. They are the result however of a careful study of his various works, and were written before his recent Discours d'Ouverture ; Be la part des Peiqdes Semitiques, which seems to confirm them LECTURE VII. 429 keen appreciation of the beauty of the character of the great Founder of Christianity, and of the type of Christian morality, yet mixed with an entire dis- trust in the reality of all doctrines respecting the object of faith, from belief in which alone, as we contend, this morality is the product. Doubts always suggest replies ; and there are not wanting minds in the Protestant church of France (46) that fully appreciate the doubts of edu- cated minds such as these, and try to meet them by a more persuasive method than that by which the Catholic school sought to meet the doubters of the earlier part of the century. By the improper con- cessions however which they have made to save the vital part of religion, they have themselves incurred the charge of sharing the rationalism of the country with whose literature they are acquainted. As- suming a position somewhat like Schleiermacher's, they are careful to distinguish between critical theo- logy and doctrinal, and endeavour to propagate the latter rather than the former. Yet in the branch of doctrinal theology, it must be feared that they have either conceded some of the mysteries of Christianity as obsolete, or at least have improperly concealed them as likely to repel doubters. Though we must indeed be careful wisely to divide the word of life, and not to quench the quivering flame of faith by creating an unnecessary repugnance ; yet, if Christ- ianity be a supernatural revelation from God, our plain course is to present the truth as it is in Jesus, 430 LECTURE VII. unmutilated in the mystery of its difficulties, and leave the result with God. There is one feature however, in which these writers are a pattern worthy of imitation by all Christian apologists. They preach to doubters not Christian dogmas, but Christ. If the doubters can be brought to appreciate Christ ; to meditate on his life ; to think of him as one who tasted of human suffering, and knew the poignancy of human temp- tation ; and whose heart of tender pity was ever open to the petition of the needy ; they will first admire, then believe, then trust : and when they have learned to love him as a Man of pity, it is to be hoped that they may be brought, by the drawings of the Holy Spirit, to worship and adore him as a God of love. Beginning, not with history, but with feeling ; starting with a religion based on the intuitive con- sciousness of needing Divine help ; we may hope to prepare them for receiving the historic testimony which tells of the Divine plan for human redemption : leading them from the sense of sin to Him who saves from sin ; from the inward to the outward ; from Christ to Christianity; from Christian doctrine to the perfectness of Christian faith. LECTURE VIII. FREE THOUGHT IN ENGLAND IN THE PRESENT CENTURY I SUMMARY OF THE COURSE OF LECTURES : INFERENCES IN REFERENCE TO PRESENT DANGERS AND DUTIES, Eccles. xii. 13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : Fear God, and keep his commandments ; for this is the whole duty of man. IN the last lecture we brought the history of unbelief on the continent down to the present time. In this, the concluding one of the series, we shall complete the history of it in our own country or language during this century ; and afterwards deduce the moral of our whole historical sketch, and suggest practical inferences. In the account of unbelief in England, given in a previous lecture11, we hardly entered upon the pre- ■ In Lecture V. 432 LECTURE VIII. sent century, except so far as to observe the influence of the philosophy of the last on works of literature, such as those of Shelley ; or on political speculations, such as those of Owen. Yet even here we were already made to feel the presence of the new influ- ences, which have completely altered the tone of unbelief. Even Shelley's later works, though marked by the outbursts of bitter passion against religion, contain more of the spiritual perception which is the characteristic of present thought b : and the oblivion into which Owen s system soon fell, save as it has been resuscitated in moments of political dis- affection, together with its failure to leave a permanent impression, like the socialist systems of France, arose from the circumstance that the one-sided survey of mans nature, on which it was based, could not deceive an age which was characterised by an in- increasing depth in its moral perceptions. The unbelief of the present day differs from that of the last century in tone and character; and in many respects shares the traits already noticed in the modern intellectualism of Germany, and the eclecticism of France. It is not disgraced by ri- baldry; hardly at all by political agitation against the religion which it disbelieves : it is marked by a show of fairness, and professes a wish not to ignore J Some remarks will be found a few pages farther, in reference to the subjective spirit and stronger consciousness of the ethical element in human nature, which are evinced in the literature of the present century. LECTURE VIII. 433 facts, nor to leave them unexplained. Conceding the existence of spiritual and religious elements in human nature, it admits that their subjective exist- ence as facts of consciousness, no less than their ob- jective expression in the history of religion, demands explanation, and cannot be hastily set aside, as was thought in the last century in France, by the vulgar theory that the one is factitious, and the other the result of priestly contrivance. The writers are men whose characters and lives forbid the idea that their unbelief is intended as an excuse for licentiousness. Denying revealed religion, they cling the more tena- ciously to the moral instincts : their tone is one of earnestness ; their inquiries are marked by a pro- found conviction of the possibility of finding truth : not content with destroying, their aim is to re- construct. Their opinions are variously manifested. Some of them appear in treatises of philosophy ; others insinuate themselves indirectly in literature : some of them relate to Christian doctrines; others to the criticism of scripture documents : but in all cases their authors either leave a residuum which they profess will satisfy the longings of human nature, or confess with deep pain that their conclusions are in direct conflict with human aspirations ; and, instead of revelling in the ruin which they have made, deplore with a tone of sadness the impossibility of solving the great enigma. It is clear that writers like these offer a wholly different appearance from those of the last century. Ff 434 LECTURE VIII. The deeper appreciation manifested by tliem of the systems which they disbelieve, and the more delicate learning of which they are able to avail themselves, constitute features formerly lacking in the works of even the most serious-minded deists0, and require a difference in the spirit, if not in the mode, in which Christians must seek to refute them. The solution of this remarkable phenomenon is to be found in the universal change which has passed over every department of mental activity in England in the present century. The peculiar feature of it may be described by the word spirituality, if that word be used to imply, in contrast to the utilitarian and materialist tendencies of the last century, the consciousness in ourselves, and appreciation in others, of the operation of the human spirit, its rights, its powers, and its effects. This conviction stimulates in one the vivid consciousness of duty and moral earnestness ; in another it hallows human labour, and throws a blessedness around the struggles of industry ; in another it kindles the inspiration of art, breaking up conventionalities of style, or expresses itself in poetry, in soliloquies on the inner feelings or in meditations on life, as a set of problems to be explained by the heart. Elsewhere it lifts the man of science above the grovelling idea that discoveries must be sought solely for the purpose of utility. Again, transferring its perception of the operation of c Such as Herbert and Morgan. LECTURE VIII. 435 spirit to the world of nature, it not unfrequently attributes a soul thereto, and induces a subtle pan- theism. Sometimes too by a singular reaction it has a tendency, by the moral earnestness which it stimulates, to depress intellectual s}3eculation, and to wear the appearance of fostering the utilitarianism which it combats. Such is the central principle which characterises our literature, and which, through the diffusion of reading, has moulded the public judgment, and, operating in every department of educated thought, has even altered the form in which unbelief ex- presses itself. Probably the successive steps of the growth of this subjective tendency in literature might admit of easy statement. The meditative school of poetry, which flourished early in the century fl among a few refined minds at the English lakes ; which loved to ponder mystically on nature or on the spiritual world, or to d On the influence of the Lake school of poetry, see D. M. Moir's Sketches of the Poetical Literature of the past half century, 185 1, ch. i. and ii. The Lake school being a reaction against the mate- rialist school, which almost degraded spirit to matter, traced a soul in nature, and was in danger of elevating matter to spirit. Other branches of art besides poetry exhibit a similar change of tone. This is remarkably manifest in the modern landscape art of Eng- land, and is developed incidentally in Mr. Ruskin's work, The Modem Painters. We have already had occasion, in Lecture VI, to advert to the similarity in result of the Lake school of English poetry to the Romantic school of Germany. Both were spiritual schools ; but the former strove to learn from the freshness of nature, the latter from the freshness of an earlier stage of civilization. F f 2 436 LECTURE VIII. catch the thought excited in the mind by nature, and follow the series of thoughts which the law of mental association suggested e, was one means of creating a subjective and spiritual taste among the youth of the generation which succeeded. Another cause was found in the philosophy which arose. The years following the general declaration of peace, while the public attention was directed to the political reforms which were consummated in the Reform act, were marked by the thorough investigation of the first principles of every branch of knowledge. Two minds of that period have, more than any other, affected the succeeding generation ; the one a utilitarian philosopher, the other an in- tuitional. Both alike carried out the system which Descartes and Bacon had inaugurated, of finding the standard of truth in the analysis of the powers of the human understanding. But Bentham criticised to destroy the past ; Coleridge to rebuild it. The one asked, Is a doctrine true % The other asked, what men had meant by it who had thought it so f % The one overlooked the truth previously known; the other too boldly strove to rebuild it from his own consciousness, after ; A very able analysis of the mental character of Wordsworth, to whom the words in the text allude, was given in the National Review, No. 7, Jan. 1857. 1 Two very valuable essays occur, on Bentham and Coleridge respectively, in Mr. J. S. Mill's Essays and Dissertations, vol. i. (reprinted from the Westminster Review, Aug. 1838 and March 1840). See especially the comparison of these two philosophers at p. 395 seq. LECTURE VIII. 437 surrendering the old proofs of it. The one, with the practical spirit of the Englishman, looked upon an opposing opinion only as an object suited for attack ; the other, with a, spirit caught from Germany, felt that there was some truth everywhere latent. But both were reformers; both stimulated the revolt against the cold spirit of the last century ; both con- tributed to create, the one indirectly, the other inten- tionally, a subjective spirit by their psychological analysis. Even movements which at first sight seem most alien to this spirit in character, have really been aifected unconsciously by its.. The ecclesiastical reaction which sprang up about a quarter of a cen- tury ago, though seemingly most objective in its nature, witnessed not less than the very opj)osite, or rationalistic tendency, to the presence of this influ- ence. For both alike were founded on the idea that religion lacked a philosophical groundwork : both sought a new ground of faith different from that of the last century; the one in those utterances of con- sciousness which created a reverence for historic tradition ; the other in those intuitions which were supposed to rise above scripture and tradition, and to form the basis and measure of both. The causes just named in literature and philo- e This is shown in a very striking manner in the National Review, Oct. 1856, in which a comparison is instituted of the effects on the English mind of the three teachers, J. H. Newman, Coleridge, and Carlyle. 438 LECTURE VIII. sophy respectively, are some of those which have contributed to create or to foster the change in the character of the literature, and in the spirit of the age, which has produced the alteration of tone which exists in the modern sceptical literature. In passing from these remarks on the peculiarly subjective tone of modern unbelief, and the literary influences which have produced the general change in the public taste, of which it is only one example, to an enumeration of the authors who have given expression to doubt, and of the specific forms of doubt now existing, we encounter a difficulty of classification. The most obvious arrangement would be to place the writers in groups, according as they manifest a ten- dency toward atheism, pantheism, deism, or rational- ism11, respectively; but the mode which more nearly accords with our general purpose would be to adopt a philosophical rather than a theological classifica- tion, and arrange them according to the variety in the tests of truth employed by them, and the sources from which their arguments start, rather than the con- clusions at which they arrive. Perhaps the advantage of both plans will be in a great degree combined, if we classify them according to the branch of science, physical, mental, or critical, from which the doubts take their rise. We shall commence with those writers who make Tliis is the arrangement adopted in Mr. Pearson's work on Infidelity, named <>n j>. 18, note. LECTURE VIII. 439 sensation to be the last appeal in belief, or whose doubts arise either from the methods or the results of physical science. This class of opinions varies from positive disbelief of the supernatural, generated by the fixed belief in the stability of nature and dis- belief of miraculous interference, to merely isolated objections suggested by the conflict between the dis- coveries of natural science and the statements of holy scripture. The name which most fitly describes the extreme form of unbelief is Positivism1. This system of phi- losophy, already stated to have been invented by Comte, is silent about the existence of a Deity. It inculcates the belief in general laws, and acknow- ledges the order in Nature, which we are accustomed to regard as the result of mind ; but declines to argue to the existence of a designing mind, where the evi- dence cannot be verified by proof referable to sen- i Concerning Comte's philosophy see the note on p. 416. The Westminster Review is the periodical which at present embodies its spirit. The works of Mr. G. H. Lewes, his History of Philosophy, and his exposition of Comte (Bohn 1853), may De noticed as books in which the philosophical, and, to some extent, the theological spirit of positivism prevails. The mind of Mr. J. S. Mill has been largely influenced by this philosophy, to which his tastes for natural sci- ence disposed him ; though the influence on him of the philosophy of his father, James Mill, and of Bentham, as well as his own ori- ginality of mind, prevents him from being a mere disciple of Comte. These writers however have almost abstained from touching directly on the subject of religion. The character of Positivism, as an intel- lectual tendency, has been sketched by Mr. Morell, in the Lectures on the Philosojthical tendencies of the Age, 1848. 440 LECTURE VIII. sation. Nature's laws are in its view the only Provi- dence ; obedience to them the only piety. A few minds may be found, which not only accept the posi- tive philosophy, but even receive the religion taught in the positivist catechism k. Unable to satisfy the longings of their heart by this system of Cosmism, they receive the extravagant idea of the worship of humanity, which Comte invented in his later days. Such a creed camiot hold the masses. But Posi- tivism in another shape, called Secularism1, is actively k The view of religion as a worship of the ideal of humanity, in the form of practical ethics and social study, which is taken by the better class of Positivists, is stated at length in the Westminster Review for April 1858, together with an explanation of the extra- vagant views of Comte, in the Catechisme Positiviste, which has been translated by one who was formerly highly respected as an indefati- gable teacher, in one of the public schools, and afterwards in one of the universities. 1 Secularism is the name adopted a few years ago by Mr. G. J. Holyoake. See Christianity and Secularism ; Report of the Public Discussion between the Rev. B. Grant and Mr. Holyoake ; also, Modern Atheism, or the Pretensions of Secularism examined ; a course of Four Lectures, delivered in the Athenosum, Bradford, by the Rev. J. Gregory, &c. 1852 ; Secular Tracts, by the Rev. J. H. Hinton ; The Outcast and the Poor of London, Whitehall Sermons, by the Rev. F. Meyrick, p. 91 seq. In its social aspect it is the form of naturalism which has been borrowed from Owen and Combe ; in its religious, from Comte. The political tone of this system is ex- pressed in a poem, The Purgatory of Suicides ; a Prison Rhyme, by Thomas Cooper the Chartist, 1858 ; and the religious in the Con- fessions of Joseph Barker, a Convert from Christianity, 1858. Also in the tracts of Mr. Holyoake, e. g. The Logic of Death, written in t 849, during the cholera. These last two writers are the chief teachers oJ the system. Some small magazines are devoted to its propaga- LECTURE VIII. 441 j>ropagated among the lower orders. Replacing the sensuous philosojjhy and political antipathies of Owen, it is taught, unconnected with the political agitation which marked his views, as a philosophy of life, and a substitute for religion. It asserts three great principles: — first, that nature is the only subject of knowledge; the existence of a personal God being regarded as uncertain : secondly, that science is the only Providence : and thirdly, that the great business of man is, as the name, secularism, implies, to attend to the affairs of the present world, which is certain, rather than of a future, which is uncertain. Not content however with this negative position, the writers of this class, as was to be expected, have directed positive attacks against the special doctrines of Christianity, and regard the Bible to be the enemy of progress m. tion. A criticism on these tendencies among the working classes will be found, from the Unitarian point of view, in the National Review, No. 15, Jan. 1859, where this class of political and religious obstacles, encountered in dealing with the working classes, is con- trasted with the mere animalism described in Miss Marsh's English Hearts and Hands; and from a more sceptical point of view, in the Westminster Review for Jan. 1862, where an extract is given (p. 83) concerning Holyoake's view of Deity. The following terrible utter- ance, taken from his Discussion with Townley (p. 68), will give an idea of his tone : " Science has shown us that we are under the dominion of general laws, and that there is no special Providence. Nature acts with fearful uniformity : stern as fate, absolute as tyranny, merciless as death ; too vast to praise, too inexplicable to worship, too inexorable to propitiate ; it has no ear for prayer, no heart for sympathy, no arm to save." m The chief points against which the objections have been taken 442 LECTUKE VIII. It is impossible to estimate the extent to which these views are diffused. The statistics of the sale of secularist tracts would doubtless give an exagge- rated idea of it. The high standard of morality advocated in them, so likely to attract rather than repel, the clear writing, and the agreement of the views with the experience afforded by the daily life of working men, give them power among the lower orders. The absorbing character of labour has a tendency, especially in an advanced state of civiliza- tion, to depress the sense of the supernatural in man, and fix his thoughts on the present world : and it is generally the sense of trouble alone which can lift men out of themselves, and recall to their remem- brance the presence of a God on whom the sorrowing heart may lean for help. Opinions derived from positivism, or at least from physical science, enter into other spheres of. thought than those just named; and both affect writers who hardly touch upon the subject of religion; and create difficulties in the minds of Christians themselves, either in reference to prime doctrines of religion, or the particular teaching on physical questions implied in the sacred books. The diffusion of the fundamental conception of the perpetuity of nature's laws, has a tendency to create are, the scriptural account of the character of Christ, the doctrine of atonement, and the necessity of faith to salvation. See the Report of the discussion which is referred to at the commencement of the last note. LECTURE VIII. 443 in literature a mode of viewing the world alien to the providential view of the divine government im- plied in religion. The application of statistics in so- cial philosophy for the discovery of the general laws which regulate society and create civilization, not unfrequently leaves an impression that man as well as matter depends upon fixed laws; which is irrecon- cileable with belief in human freedom or in divine interference, and sometimes causes religion to be regarded as a conservative force, which in its nature is alien to civilization n. Nor is the danger confined to the various branches of secular literature : the views of even religious men are not unfrequently modified by it, or painful doubts are created where the head contradicts the heart. In proportion as phenomena are shown not to depend on chance, the misgiving is felt as to the reality of special providence and the value of prayer, in reference to temporal affairs. The sphere for con- fiding petitions is felt to be narrowed; and miracles, instead of becoming an evidence for religion, become a difficulty. Even where fundamental difficulties, such as these, do not sap the religious life, the belief that the inspiration of the sacred books guarantees the truth of the views of physical science, the cos- mogony, physiology, ethnology, and chronology, con- tained therein, creates a further body of difficulties0, 0 Mr. Buckle's work on the History of Civilization is an instance to which these statements apply. " The difficulties alluded to are, those suggested by geology, con- 444 LECTURE VIII. less fundamental but more painful, because founded on the apparent want of harmony of scripture with the progressive discoveries of natural science. While these are the species of temptations to un- belief which appertain to one source of opinions, viz. that which relies upon sensation as the ultimate test of truth ; doubts similar in character, though different in cause, manifest themselves in that portion of our literature which appeals for its proof to the faculty of insight, and which believes in mental sources of information which are independent of sensation. If the one tends towards atheism, or to a deism in which the world is viewed as a machine; the other tends towards pantheism or to naturalism, wherein no opportunity for interposition by miraculous reve- lation is retained, but the inner consciousness of man is regarded as able to create a religion. The former class of views belongs to minds accustomed to ex- perimental science; this to those which are conver- sant with spiritual or aesthetic subjects : the former expresses itself in the region of science, and tempts men of thought; the latter expresses itself rather in the region of literature, and tempts men of senti- ment. One writer, a prince in the region of letters'1, may cerning the narrative of creation, the deluge, and the date of the creation of man ; or by physiology, concerning the longevity of the patriarchs ; or by ethnology, concerning the unity of mankind. P T. Carlyle. The character of his writings and philosophy is explained and criticised in Morell's Histonj of Philosophy, ii. 249 LECTURE VIII. 445 be adduced, many of whose works imply, directly or indirectly, a mode of viewing the world and society contrary to that which is taught in Christianity. He is the highest type of the antagonist position which literature now assumes in reference to the Christian faith, and which finds some parallel in the contest which occurred in Julian's time, and at the Renais- sance. Though possessing too much originality to borrow consciously from the literature of Germany, yet it is easy to discover that the fire of his imagination has been kindled in contact with the marvellous insight of Goethe, the pathos of Jean Paul, and the faith in eternal truth which marked Jacobi. Their rival rather than disciple, he hails the philosophy of his own country as a first approximation to truth ; but regards the German mind as having seen more deeply than any other of modern times into the mysteries of existence. Though not formal enough to throw his philosophy into a system, he has left an impress on the English literature of this century. In every branch of literature which he has surveyed, he has made it his mission to expose the hollow formalism, the cold materialism, which he considers that utilitarian philosophy had produced. " Self in seq. ; and in an able manner in the Westminster Review, Oct. 1839 ; both which sources have been much used in the following brief account. The latter article would be considered probably to need a slight alteration, in consequence of the slight change of character in Carlyle's more recent works. 446 LECTURE VIII. the sense of selfishness, and God as the artificial pro- perty of a party ;" these have been said to be the two faults which he sees in politics, in science, in law, in literature, in religion : and, to oppose this inrush of objective knowledge ; to call man to a recognition of his better self, to the unaltering spiritual laws stamped in the structure of the human consciousness, and to God as the eternal, infinite Divinity, whose presence fills creation; this is the mission which he has striven to effect. Yet can there be no doubt that the victory of this great truth is won at the sacrifice of others ; and that in the general tone of his writings, and above all in his memoir of the doubter Sterling % he occupies a posi- tion opjDOsed to the particular forms of religious truth taught by Christianity, and one which a philosopher of tastes cognate to his own, Coleridge, forming him- self under the pyschological rather than the literary influence of German thought, strove to retain. In elevating the doctrine of the revelation in the soul, he regards as unnecessary the revelation in the book1" : his teaching tends to inculcate a worship of earnestness, and to ignore all consideration of the object toward which the earnestness is directed. In asserting the reality of spiritual laws in the soul, he has implied the veracity of all religions, caring only for the subjective zeal of the believer, not for the 4 Cfr. his Life of Sterling, 1850, pp. 126, 7. r It may be enough to refer to such a passage as Past and Present, pp. 305-9- LECTUBE VIII. 447 objects of his belief s. In opposing the mechanical view of the universe, he is so overwhelmed with the mystery which belongs to it, that the soul recoils in the hopelessness of speculation, to rest content with work rather than belief. And his readers, attracted by his power of satire and depth of insight, ex- pressed in a style full of force by reason of its pecu- liarity, return to their daily life after imbibing his teaching, excited to greater earnestness and faithful- ness, but filled, it is to be feared, with a contempt for objective systems, for dogmatic truth, and for the Christian creed1. In the master the strong and deep sense of per- sonality and of freedom obliterates the tendency to absorb human individuality in the overpowering mystery of the universe ; but this tendency is de- veloped in the early works of an American writer", who has drawn from some of the same sources as the author just described, but who also owes much directly to him. In him philosophy seems to degenerate into pantheism. Nature is a vast whole, in which we are parts, vibrations of a chord, radiations of the eternal light x. Starting from a unitarian point of view, s Past and Present, pp. 193, 4. t Id. pp. 271, 2. u Mr. Emerson : it ought to be noticed however that the follow- ing remarks are applicable mainly, if not wholly, to his earlier works ; on which there is a criticism, similar to that cited in reference to Carlyle, in the Westminster Review, March 1840. x "lam nothing — I see all — the currents of the universal being circulate through me — I am part or particle of God." — Nature, p. 13. 448 LECTURE VIII. Christianity appears to be resolved into natural reli- gion ; and the historic view of Christianity, and the habit of considering the revelation as something long ao*o given, are regarded as being at the bottom of the decay of religion. In his admiration of genius, he seems to imply an idolatry of mere intellect ; and developes that tendency which has been always ob- servable in pantheism to unite the worlds of good and evil, and teach that evil is " good in the making." The universe is God ; evil and good are equally essential parts of it. This peculiar tendency to narrow the barrier be- tween the two worlds is observable, not merely in direct admissions of writers like the one just adduced, but lurks as a peculiar danger hi the modern litera- ture of fiction. The danger in fiction, as in all art, can arise only from the character of the subject portrayed, or the manner employed in producing the copy. In the present day the evil arises specially from the latter cause. The subjective sjiirit, causing a perception of the duty of exactness, has contributed to foster a realistic taste in art, which requires such minuteness of treatment, that a work of fiction so constructed, while preserving the freshness of nature, may violate moral perspective, and leave the impres- These were the words which this author formerly used. The same tendency can probably be traced in the characters of Plato and Goethe in his Representative Men. See also the Oration on the Ch rist if. Successively attacking2 the most sacred doctrines of our faith, — prayer, pardon, sin, — he is at last landed in the doubt of a future life, save so far as the intuitions seem to suggest ita ; and in conclusion he contents himself with the religion which consists in obedience to the physical, moral, intellectual, and social laws ; confessing however that the heart dictates to prayer and religion, but main- taining that the idea of general laws forbids the possibility of their reality1*. The next writer whom we must name c, has not rested content with a literary examination of existing religious forms, but has shown the consummation to which the modern criticism of religion leads. The work, " Thoughts in aid of Faith," that is, hints to y Ch. xv. z Ch. xvi. a Ch. xvii. He quotes the beautiful lines of Wordsworth, {Ode on Intimations of Immortality, § 5.) " Heaven lies about us in our infancy," &c. as illustrative of the instinctive feeling of man in reference to immortality. b Page 303. c Miss S. Hennell, whose chief writings are, Christianity and Infidelity, a prize essay, an exposition of the arguments on both sides, 1857 ■> The Sceptical Tendency of Butler's Analogy, 1859 ; The Early Christian Anticipation of the End of the World, i860 ; Thoughts in Aid of Faith, gathered chiefly from recent works in Theology and Philosophy, i860. Her views originally were the same as those of her brother, a deceased unitarian minister, author of a work on Theism (1852), in which the use of miracles as an evidence was depreciated. It is hoped that it will not be considered improper to have named a writer, whose sex might be expected to shelter her from remark ; but her writings are too able to be unpro- ductive of influent 1 LECTURE VIII. 455 advise those who have given up all other faith, is too characteristic of a certain type of thought to be omitted. It is an instance where the final result, to which philosophical investigation has conducted, bears a resemblance to that reached by Feuerbach in Germany01. In the treatment of the subject, the tenderness of human character has not disappeared ; and belief in the teaching of religion is surrendered with painful sadness. Starting at first from the unitarian point of view, this writer has gradually advanced, by the aid of the modern philosophy, to the very pantheism at which philosophy stood in the early ages of oriental speculation. In a review of the historical and psychical e origin of religion and Christianity, the idea of a divine Being is regarded as merely the giving existence to an abstraction, the objectifying of the subjective; and Christianity, as the form in which the notion of a personal God neces- sarily clothes itself : so that the idea of God becomes a fiction created by the mind; Christianity a fiction created by the heart. Though an appreciation is shown of ancient forms of religion f, all are regarded as visionary ; and, in looking forward to the future, philosophy affords no cheering hope : nothing re- (t Thoughts in Aid of Faith, ch. i. This work was reviewed in the Westminster Review, July i860, and the North British Review for Nov. i860. e Ch. ii. 1 E. g. ch. v. 450 LECTURE VIII. mains, save the annihilation taught by the ancient Buddhists S. The course of the history now brings before us two writers, who stand distinguished from the last group by their firm theism, and strong protest against pantheism in every form. One of them was an American h ; the other an alumnus of this university K The life and work of the former, so far as they relate to our inquiries, may soon be told k. In early s Ch. vi. and vii. It is a result not unlike that of positivism, but reached from the ontological instead of the physical side. h Mr. Theodore Parker of Boston. i Mr. F. Newman. The wide spread of the works of these two writers, especially of the latter, is the reason why it is thought desirable to exhibit their views at some length. The pathos and eloquence which belong to their writings impart to them a fascina- tion which makes it the more necessary that readers should be on their guard, by understanding the position which these authors hold in relation to faith and to unbelief. k The particulars are obtained from the account of Mr. Parker's ministry, prefixed to his Sermons on Theism, He was at first a unitarian minister • but, changing from unitarianism into deism, he left that body, and became a preacher in Boston, until he was com- pelled to visit Europe on account of enfeebled health. He died at Florence, i860. His doctrinal views may be learned from the Discourse on Matters pertaining to Religion, written in 1846, and the Sermons on Theism, Atheism, and the Popular Theology, 1853 ; and his critical and literary views, from the Introduction to the Old Testa- ment, based on De Wette ; and from his Miscellaneous Writings, 1848. A comparison of him with Strauss, which has been here used, was given in the Westm. Rev. for April 1847. His character and life have also been sketched in the Xat. Rev. Jan. i860, and especially by A Reville in the Revue des Deux Mondes, Oct. 18G1. LECTURE VIIL 457 life a unitarian minister, he caught the spirit of intellectual inquiry and reconsideration which Chan- ning had excited; and devoted himself with inde- fatigable industry to study the modem philosophy and criticism of Germany, until he became one of the most learned men of the American continent. In his own country his fearless and uncompromising denunciation of slavery, as well as of political and commercial hollowness, caused him to be viewed as a social reformer rather than a theological teacher. In ours he is viewed as a teacher of deism. The cause of his power is obvious. Feeling that his mission was not merely to pull down, but to build up, he spoke with the vigour of a dogmatist, not with the coldness of a critic. To a burning elo- quence and native wit he united the picturesque power of the novelist or the artist. But his vigour of style was deformed by a power of sarcasm which often invested the most sacred subjects with carica- ture and vulgarity ; a boundless malignity against supposed errors. How different is the tone of his satire from the delicate touches of the modern French critic 1 who was named in the last lecture ! and yet, on the other hand, how changed from that of the infidel writers of the last century. Though he equals Paine in vulgarity, and Voltaire in sar- casm, his spirit and moral tone are higher. They wrote, actuated by a bitter spirit against the Christian religion, without earnestness, without religious aspi- 1 E. Kenan. See p. 426, 458 LECTUKE VIII. rations, with the coldness of unbelievers : he, with the earnestness of a preacher touched with the deepest feelings ; and though the Christian writer will shudder at his remarks as much as at theirs, yet he sees them modified by passages of pathetic sentiment, in which, in words unrivalled in scepti- cal literature, admiration is expressed of Christ, of Christianity, and of scripture111. Such was the man as a teacher. What was his doctrine ? He sought and found in the human faculties the test of truth, not dwelling, like Strauss, on their tendency to deceive ; but, like Schelling, on their certitude. He placed the ground of religion on the emotional side of the soul, in the feeling of dependence" ; and correlative ly, on the intellectual side, in the intuitions of God, the moral law, and immortal life. Assuming, on the principle of spiritual supply and demand, that capacity proves object, (the natural realism which we attribute to the senses being thus applied to the intellectual instincts,) he regarded the intuitions to be real, and traced the mode in which reasoning and experience develope them into concep- tions0. But, afraid of giving too anthropomorphic 111 In the Discourse pertaining to Matters of Religion, books ii, iii, iv. The writer is unable to put the exact references to this work in the remarks which follow; having omitted to note them down -when he had the book at hand. 11 Discourse, hook i. The steps through which he considers that the idea of God is LECTUKE VIII 459 a form to his conception of deity, he fell almost into the abstract conception of the English deists ; and in the notion of God's general providence, lost the fatherlike conception of the divine Being with which the human analogy invests Him. Few nobler attacks however on atheism p, or defences of the benevolent character of the divine Beings, exist, than those which he has supplied. But at this point the Christian must altogether part company with him ; for he next proceeded to argue against the possibility of miracle or special providence ; identifying inspira- tion with the utterance of human genius, and legard- ing Christianity merely as the best exponent of man s moral nature; as one form of religion, but not the final one. The Bible, which as a collection of literaiy works, the religious literature of a Semitic people, he appreciated with enthusiastic admiration s, was degraded from its position of a final authoritative utterance of religious truth, and was regarded as the embodiment of the thoughts of spiritual men of old time who were striving after truth, and s}3oke according to the light which they possessed. The religion which he taught was called by him "the developed into a conception are, Fetishism, Polytheism, and Mono- theism ; Dualism and Pantheism being errors which lead astray from Monotheism. P Sermons on Theism, sermons i. and ii. Q Id. sermons ix. and x. r Discourse on Religion, books ii. and iv. s E. g. in Discov/r8et book in. and several passages in the Intro- duction to the Old Testament. 400 LECTURE VIII. absolute religion." It was merely- deism, built on a sounder basis, and spiritualized by contact with a truer philosophy. The other writer* to whom allusion has been made, though superior to the one just described in refinement and acuteness, resembles him in pos- sessing deep aspirations and serious research, and in standing apart from the unbelief of the last century, which manifested no loftiness of aim, nor earnest conviction. He stands forth too in a more interesting position, from the circumstance that his starting-point was not unitarianism, but the creed of our own church ; and that he has given a psycho- logical autobiography, a painful and thrilling self- portraiture " ; in which he traces step by step his surrender of his early opinions, from the time of his first doubts, when he was a student in this university, to his fully developed deism. The destructive side of his teaching is conveyed in the narrative of the " Phases" of his faith. Educated in the tenets of the more spiritual section of the church, he gradually began, as he has stated, to re- consider his opinions as his mind was awakened by study. The moral identity of Sabbath and Sunday; the practice of infant ba}3tism ; the connexion of a spiritual effect with what he considered to be a material cause implied in baptismal regeneration ; the reasons for the superior efficacy of Christ's sacri- t Mr. F. W. Newman. u The Phases of Faith, 1850. LECTURE VIII. 461 fice over the Mosaic ; the discovery of gradual de- velopment in scripture ; these were the first thoughts that agitated himx. Unable to solve them to his satisfaction, he hesitated not to abandon, with noble and manly self-sacrifice, the friends that he held dear ; and to wander forth from the established church, to seek a primitive Christianity elsewhere. Puzzled by the difficulty of the supposed mistake of the apostolic church, in expecting the sudden return of Christianity, he adopted the chiliastic hypothesis ; and, unable to join in ministerial work in England, went as a missionary into the East*v. On his return, alienated from the friends of his youth and from the new instructors with whom he had consorted, he sought truth in the solitude of his own heart ; and was led to throw off Calvinism and adoj^t Unitarian- ism2. His fourth phase of faith led him, while clinging to Christianity, to renounce the religion of the Book. It consisted in an examination of many of the difficulties which criticism has discovered ; from which he was unhappily led to conclude that the Bible was not free from error, nor above moral criticism a ; believing nevertheless that the Bible was made for man, though not man for the Bible. The two concluding phases of his faith b consisted in ap- preciating the great law of progress which he con- siders to mark religion ; and discovering that faith x Ch. i. y Ch. ii. /- Ch. iii. 8 Ch. iv. b Ch. v. and vi. 402 LECTURE VIII. at second hand is vain, and that the historical truth- fulness of Christianity is unimjoortant, the ideas em- bodied in it constituting its truth0. In reading this painful record, we feel ourselves in contact with a mind cultivated in miscellaneous science and in the Semitic languages, disciplined as well as informed; which lays bare with transparent sincerity the history of the stages through which he has successively passed. Hitherto we have seen only the destructive side of his teaching; but he also strove to attain a definite dogma : his truth-searching spirit, touched by deep longings for the presence of God, could not rest in the blank of unbelief. The nature of this attempt is developed in a work on "the Sould," in which the author lays bare at once his psy- chology, his ethics, and his religion; which in sub- stance are not unlike those of the writer last named. He lays the foundation of religion in the spiritual faculty, the sense of the infinite personality ; show- c To complete this account it is necessary to add, that Mr. New- man has developed some portion of the critical investigations of his studies of Jewish history in the History of the Hebreio Monarchy, 1847. It is a treatment of the Old Testament analogous to that to which we are accustomed in classical history ; the answer to which would be by denying that the records of the Hebrew history are amenable to criticism, inasmuch as they do not partake of the ordinary conditions which appertain to human literature. d The Soul, her Sorrows and her Aspirations, 1849. *n *ne date of publication this preceded the Phases. Mr. Newman has subse- quently published, Theism, Doctrinal, Practical, or Didactic, 1858. The most complete view of his scheme, but of course wholly favour- able to him, is in the Westminster Review, Oct. 1858. LECTURE VIII 463 ing the generation of the various complex feelings which make up religion — awe, wonder, admiration, reverence — as the attributes of this divine Person- ality successively discover themselves e. Holding strongly the doctrine of human freedom and the natural existence of a moral sense, he allows fully the existence of the consciousness of sinf, and the necessity of spiritual regeneration ; asserting the be- lief in God's sympathy and communion with the soul, the efficacy of prayer, and the duty of encouraging holy aspirations £. Few more suggestive, and in many respects few truer, specimens exist of the analysis of those facts of human nature which concern the basis of natural religion and of the spiritual life11, than that which he has offered in order to find a psychological basis for religion. The deep spiritual longing for com- munion with God, the belief in prayer and in moral renewal, are evidences of a creed which separate him utterly from the naturalism and pantheism before described, and place him almost on the fron- tier line between Christianity and deism1. And we may be permitted to express the belief, that philo- sophy could not have raised him to his present moral e Ch. i. f Ch. ii. 8 Cli. iii. and iv. h Ch. i. The scheme much resembles that of Schleiermacher. 1 Deism and Unitarianism are both monotheistic ; but the latter allows the existence of a revelation, the former deuies it. The modern school of Unitarians, however, Dearly approach to the position of Mr. Newman. Sec end of Note 6. 464 LECTURE VIII. standard. His spirituality is due to the fragments of Christianity which he has retained in his system. It has heen truly said, that the defenders of natural religion furtively kindle their torches by the light of revealed. In the course of this sketch of contemporary unbe- lief, we have gradually advanced from the forms most alien to faith, till we have reached the threshold of the Christian church. The necessity for making the narrative complete compels us to pass within its limits, and to indicate, though it be by a brief notice and with a delicate hand, the forms of the movement of free thought therein which have given rise to the charge of rationalism. This movement of thought is separated from those just described, in that it loyally holds that God has revealed His will to man ; but it varies from the general view of the church of Christ in reference to the extent and manner in which He has been pleased to reveal Himself : and, under the pressure of the difficulties, doctrinal or literary, which the progress of knowledge or of spe- culation has suggested, proposes to separate in the holy scripture, or in the immemorial teaching of the church, that which it regards to be the eternal ele- ment of revealed truth from that which it ventures to conceive to be temporary ; the heavenly trea- sure from the earthen vessels in which it is con- tained. The literary parallel to this tendency is not to be found in the deism of the last century, but in some of the schools of free thought in Germany and LECTURE VIII. 465 France in the present. Like them it professes to be conservative of revelation, desiring to surrender a part in order to save the remainder k. The movement is characterised by two forms ; the one philosophical, the other critical. We shall indi- cate their general character, without specifying indi- vidual writings1. It is perhaps to the influence of Coleridge, more than to that of any other single person, that the origin k In many respects it resembles the " Mediation school" of Ger- many, described in Lectures VI. and VII, and the modern school of the French protestant church, described in p. 429, and in Note 46. 1 It would be more delicate perhaps to leave to the reader the application of these tendencies, and to omit the mention of names ; but as the practice in this work has been to give the names even in contemporary history, fairness requires the enumeration. The ten- dencies in the text however are rather a combination from the views of different modern authors, and cannot be definitely referred as a whole to any one single writer. Probably the reader will himself conjecture that the first tendency is meant in the main to describe the teaching of Mr. Maurice and Mr. Kingsley ; the second, of Pro- fessor Jowett ; the third, of some of the writers in Essays and Reviews. But if this be approximately true, it must not be sup- posed that every specific statement in the following account is in- tended to be charged upon these respective authors. The descrip- tion is meant to indicate certain tendencies of free thought, of which their writings among others seem to exhibit instances. It is always hard to judge of a movement which is in progress, and of which we are ourselves spectators. The view here taken is the result of the attempt which the writer of these lectures has made in his own studies, to adjust the existing forms of free thought into their true position in the history of speculation. If injustice is done, it is at least not intended. Hh t 460 LECTURE VIII. of this philosophical movement can be traced1'. We have already1 had occasion to mention the general design of his philosophy. At a time when the world was wishing to break with the past, in politics, in literature, and in religion, his spirit was conservative of older truth, while sympathetic with that which was new. In looking backwards, he sought to discover what mankind had meant by their beliefs; in look- ing around, he asked what were the elements which the present generation disapproved: and, wishing to eliminate the error of the past and appropriate the truth of the present, he looked inwards into the human heart, and thought that he perceived a faculty there which unveiled to man the eternal, absolute truth, — the true, the beautiful, and the good; which k It may be useful to draw attention to a book on the relation of Coleridge to recent theological thought, Modern Anglican Tlieology, by the Rev. J. H. Bigg, 1857. The book is by a Wesleyan minister, and is written from that point of view. The tone of censure on the writers criticised is in some parts severe, and has, it is understood, caused pain to some of them. Apart from its tone, objection may perhaps be taken to it, as discovering in their works as positive teaching, doc- trines which probably only exist as incipient tendencies. Neverthe- less it contains material suggestive of serious thought ; and certainly gives the clue to the interpretation of many points which are usually felt to be obscure in the systems of several of the writers described. The author does not however appear to have distinguished sufficiently between the two forms of modern historical inquiry, (see Note 9 of these lectures). He consequently makes the last of the list of writers whom he criticises (ch.xiii.) to be a disciple of Coleridge; whereas he rather belongs to the other form of the historico-philosophical school. 1 Page 436. LECTURE VIII. 467 had been the object of search in all systems, the end for which all earnest spirits had ever yearned. This faculty, "the reason" or intuition, thus became the guide, by the light of which he was able to thread his way through the manifold systems of thought of past times111. Not content with applying it to other subjects, he carried it also into the domain of re- vealed religion. It was the engine by which he hoped to get a view of the truth which the ancient writers of holy scripture intended to convey. It would become the means of interpreting their thoughts, by raising the student to a perception of the same objects, similar in kind to that which they possessed. Their inspiration was regarded as only an elevated form of this faculty. When accordingly this method was applied by him to the study of Christianity, it did not lead him to pare down the supernatural by the cold interpretation of the older rationalism, but gave the explanation of the mys- teries by raising men to a state where mysteries ceased to be such any longer. It did not pull down revelation to the level of the mind, but strove m The reference to Mr. J. S. Mill's dissertation on Coleridge has been already given (p. 436.) See also the Essay by Mr. Hort in the Cambridge Essays, 1856 ; the British Quarterly Review, Jan. 1854; Morell's History of Philosophy, ii. 343 seq. ; and Remusat in Revue des Deux Mondes, Oct. 1856. Coleridge's philosophy of religion is especially to be found in his Aids to Reflection ; and his critical views of inspiration in the Confessions of an Inquiring SjririL H h 2 468 LECTURE VIII. vainly11 to raise the mind to a level with reve- lation. If viewed in reference to cognate schools of Christian philosophy, it bears similitude in many respects to some of the schools of Germany. In the analysis offered of the human faculties, it has much akin to Kant : in the deep conviction that the highest truth is revealed to a faculty of faith, and in the undoubting belief in our own intuitions and the conviction of their reality, it resembles Jacobi and Schelling : in regarding the human reason to be the impersonal reason, the divinity in man, it resembles Schelling or Cousin. But it also has an element akin to the ancient Neo-Platonic philosophy of Alexandria0. This is seen both in the view taken of the organ of knowledge, and in the scheme of philosophy evolved by it. The intuitive reason, the divine faculty above described, which reveals eternal truth, is viewed as the divine Ao'yo? in man, n The distinctness of the " reason" (yovs) from the " understand- ing" (\6yos or biavoia) has been allowed in these lectures ; but only as guaranteeing the reality of the objects of intuition, not as allow- ing the mind to create a religion ct priori. The objection in the text is accordingly not so much directed against the psychological theory as its theological application. ° The sources for studying Neo-Platonism have been given in Note 10. Among writers influenced by Coleridge, the element of thought which is derived from Neo-Platonism is stronger in the writings of Mr. Kingsley than in those of Mr. Maurice ; but it is sufficiently observable in both to form a separation, by marked philosophical features, between their teaching and the system of Schleiermacher. LECTURE VIII. 469 as was taught by the Neo-PlatonistsP. Inspiration is the action of the same Ao'709. This branch of human intellect is absorbed in divinity : a divine teacher is considered to exist in the human mind^. And as the view of the faculty is parallel with the teaching of this ancient school, so the explanations suggested of divine mysteries r like the Trinity or Redemption are similar. These explanations are the mystical expressions of the thoughts apprehended by this faculty, when it strives to raise itself to oneness with the infinite object which it contemplates. These remarks will explain the philosophical sys- tem taught by Coleridge, and will furnish the clue to interpret the form of theological thought which has originated from him. The parallel between his system and those with which it has now been compared, will be no less obvious in noticing the results of it. The system of Schleiermacher was the theological corol- lary from the theories of German philosophy above P The Aoyos of Philo and of the Neo-Platonists is not to be contrasted with the faculty called reason by Coleridge, and vovs by other au- thors, but to be identified with it. For Philo's views, see Gfrorer, Philo, and Dahne's article Philo in Ersch and Grueber's Encyclo- paidia : see also Jowett's Commentary on St. Paul's Epistles, vol. i. {Essay on Philo, § i.) q The existence of a divine teacher in the human mind in the faculty of conscience would be generally allowed ; especially by those who adopt the theory of the distinctness of the faculty of reason from that of understanding ; but the idea implied in the hypothesis referred to in the text is the existence of a faculty which is supreme over revelation. r Cfr. Biogr. Lit. p. 321. and Aids 1.0 Re/lection, vol. i. 204 s< , 470 LECTURE VIII. named ; and the school of the Alexandrian fathers was the corresponding one which resulted from the Neo- Platonic8. We should therefore expect that, if the phi- losophy of Coleridge was a mixture of the two schools above described, the teaching of his disciples would combine the two theological schools which flowed from those systems. Attentive consideration of the philosophical side of the modern movement of free thought in English theology will confirm this anti- cipation, and show that its chief elements are a union of these two theological schools. The tendency to require that the human soul shall apprehend divine mysteries intellectually, as well as feel their saving power emotionally ; the reduction of inspiration theologically, as well as psychologically, to an elevated but natural state1 of the human consciousness ; the inclination to regard the work of Christ as the office of the divine teacher to humanity, and human history as the longing for such a divine voice ; the description of the work of Christ as a divine manifestation of a reconciliation which previously existed, instead of being the mode of effecting it ; the tendency to view the death of Christ by the light of the incarnation, instead of regarding the incarnation by the light of * On the school of the Alexandrian fathers, see note on p. 82. 1 Cfr. the note on p. 40, where we have conceded the probability that inspiration is, if analysed psychologically, a form of the "reason ;" but considered it, if viewed theologically, to be an elevated state of this faculty, brought about by the miraculous and direct operation of God's Spirit : so that in this view it differs in kind, and not merely in degree, from human genius. LECTURE VIII. 471 the atonement, the death of Christ as the solution of the enigma of God becoming flesh ; — these seem all to be corollaries from the philosophy of the Neo-Pla- tonists, and find their parallel in the school of the Alexandrian fathers : they express too, though with some differences, which will be apparent by recalling the remarks in a preceding lecture", the fundamental religious conceptions of Schleiermacher, to which we before had occasion to object as inverting the gospel scheme, and falling short of the dogmatic teaching of the revelation of God. The causes and character of the philosophical movement of free thought in the church will now be clear. We stated that there had been also a critical tendency. A stricter analysis would probably sub- divide the critical movement into two ; viz. a philo- sophical form of it which examines facts x, and a literary one which examines documents. This philosophical movement differs from the former, in that it neither approaches the subject of inquiry from a lofty speculative point of view, which is intended to furnish a solution of the mysteries of nature and revelation ; nor seeks by means of the intuitive reason to penetrate beneath the doc- trines of ancient teachers, and discover the absolute truth after which they were striving. It rather disbelieves in the possibility of the attainment of absolute truth by the Jiuman mind, and regards all truth to be relative to the age in which it was u Lect, VI. pp. 346-50. * Cfr. note on p. 4' 472 LECTURE VIII. expressed >\ Like the former movement it possesses a method ; but one which is tentative and critical, not speculative ; empirical, not d priori ; founding its knowledge on history, not on philosophy. The mode of investigation is probably indirectly a result of the teaching of Hegel, as that which was before described was the result of the rival schools contemporary with him ; but it is the adoption of Hegel's method, and not of his philosophy. In this respect it may be regarded as a critical tendency rather than a philo- sophical ; but one which is critical of the truths and religious facts of revelation, and of its doctrinal teach- ing, and not merely of the documents which record it. Hence, when applied to revealed religion, in exa- mining the teaching of the scripture writers, it does not attempt, as the former school, to raise the mind to a level with that of the writers, in order to apprehend the eternal truth which was revealed alike to their intuition and to ours ; but it throws itself into the circumstances of their age, so as to understand their meaning ; and tests it by the altered conceptions which the progress of ages has given to the world. Thus the inquirer not only asks what the writers meant, but views the truth which they taught as relative to their own age ; and regards the office of criticism to be, to discriminate in it that which is conceived to have been temporary and local, and that which applies to all time. This school thus resembles y Cfr. Note 9, and the remarks in the Preface on the historic method of study. LECTURE VIII. 473 the last, in asking what the scripture writers meant in their own time, and what their meaning is to us ; but it seeks the answer, by using the same methods for the investigation which would be applied in ordinary literature ; not by abstract speculation, apart from literary study of actual documents. It makes the conceptions which civilization and history have created, to be the test for conrparison, not the eternal truths of reason which are supposed to exist irre- spective of civilization and history. We may select one illustration. In surveying the doctrine of the atoning work of Christ, the former school seeks to apprehend the absolute meaning of the atonement as the manifestation of an act previously wrought out ; and, starting with the notion of the divine teacher of humanity, the Ao'709 of God in Christ teaching the world, and the Ao'709 in the soul of man apprehending this teaching, it construes the atoning work of Christ from its didactic side, as teaching man concerning God's love by means of a majestic example of self-sacrifice. The second school treats the doctrine historically; and, when it has separated the apostolic teaching from all subse- quent additions, compares this doctrine with the age in which it was expressed, in order to separate what it conceives to be the permanent from the temporal y ; and hence comes to view the atonement, apart from all the hallowed associations of propitiatory sacrifice which in the minds of the early converts were insepa- rably united with it. These ideas, which the doctrine 474 LECTUBE VIII. of the church regards as integral portions of revealed verity, it considers to be the peculiarity of the age in which the revelation was communicated. The revealed doctrines are handled in the same manner as corresponding doctrines of philosophy. The minuteness of this method, its disposition to seek for truth in the investigation of details rather than by approaching a subject from some gene- ral principle, connects it with the other form of the critical tendency above named, which employs itself in the literary criticism of the sacred records. The main object of this movement consists in ex- amining the questions, first, of the origin of the canon, its grounds and contents ; next, the authen- ticity and genuineness of the books ; lastly, the credibility of their contents. It is plain that, however objectionable may be the conclusions ar- rived at on questions such as these, they are too recondite and literary in character to possess the same doctrinal and pastoral importance as those of the former kind ; though the alarm which they may cause will often be greater, because the variation from ordinary belief is more easily apprehended by the mind, and, being a variation in fact, and not only in idea, cannot be concealed* by any ambiguity in the use of theological terms, as may be the case in the former instances. Yet 'in the third of these three questions, this species of criticism may have a very intimate relation to practice ; for it may so affect the ride of faith as to overthrow the standard on which LECTURE VIII. 475 we repose for the proof of revealed doctrines. In truth, in this branch it becomes identical with the critical method before described, save so far as that examined the credibility of doctrines, this of facts. But in spirit they are identical. It proceeds upon the assumption, that the same critical process is applicable in the investigation of the sacred history, as the former assumed in the investigation of the sacred philosophy. The attitude of both is inde- pendent : both teach that the sacred books are not to be approached with a rjreconceived definition of their character or meaning : prepossessions are not to bar the way to the exercise of criticism. The difference from the first method above described will be equally obvious. We may adopt the doctrine of inspiration as an illustration. The first view would approach the contents of scripture with a psychological theory of inspiration, as being a form of the intuition, which may furnish an instrument for eclecticism : the second and third would investigate the question empirically, and, declining on the one hand to accept the jDsycho- logical definition just described, and on the other to approach Scripture with the preconceived notion of the nature of insrnration, as held by the Church, would seek to determine the notion of inspiration from the contents of scripture2. z It is a truth indeed to which all will assent, that we must learn from scripture what is meant by inspiration : but the difference between the view here described and the view of the church of Christ is this : the Church discovers in scripture the statements of the writers concerning the reality and nature and authority of their 476 LECTUEE VIII. The relation to holy scripture of the critical modes of inquiry will obviously be as intimate in reference to the standard of faith, as that of the philosophical in reference to doctrine. If the first of the three methods which we enumerated7- overlays doctrine with philosophy; the second is in danger of subtracting from it integral elements of its system ; and the third of disintegrating it by criticism, and introducing uncertainty with regard to the sacred books, which are the basis of doctrine. In questions relating to literary criticism, like those which are made the subject of investigation in the last-named method, it is impossible to lay down, so absolutely as in the two former cases, the tests to distinguish truth from error. The creeds are a practical gauge in the former instances which is partly wanting in the latter. The greater difficulty however which thus appertains to the latter, of placing the limits to which reverent criticism may extend without endangering faith, ought to generate the more solemn caution in its application. We have dwelt long upon the modern forms of free thought which exist within the church of Christ, because they have a living interest for us. They meet us in life as well as in literature ; and we must daily form our judgment upon their truth and falsehood. own inspiration ; and considers henceforth that the character of the revelation is in its substance removed beyond the limits of critical investigation ; and can only admit that an empirical inquiry can be useful in settling the limits to which inspiration extends, and de- termining the question as to the writings to be accounted the sub- ject "I i< z Pages 465 and 471. LECTURE VIII. 477 They are not indeed peculiar to one church, nor to one country51; but form the theological question which is presented to the Christian church in this age. The result of our inquiries in reference to the free a The existence of this movement in foreign churches is stated in Lecture VII. and also in Notes 43 and 46. In America, besides those instances which have occurred in this lecture, the writings of Mr. Bushnell are thought to exhibit a free spirit. They however deviate very slightly from traditional dogmas, and may be compared with the writings of the late archdeacon Hare. In England, in the es- tablished church, there have been several works, besides those referred to in p. 465. They chiefly belong to the first and third classes of the three named in the text. The sermons of the late F. W. Robertson of Brighton, matchless in freshness, but most unsound in questions of vital doctrine ; the sermons, &c. of the Rev. J. L. Davies ; bishop Colenso's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (1861) ; and the Tracts for Priests and People (1861, 62), may be considered to be examples of the first type of thought ; but, if breathing the same spirit as Coleridge, they express his thoughts with a clearness which was wanting in him. The doubts of Blanco White and Sterling; and of Mr. Macnaught, in his work on Inspiration (1856); Mr. Fox- ton's Popular Christianity (1849) > bishop Colenso's work on the Pentateuch (1862); and the Christian Orthodoxy (1857) of Dr. Donaldson, a name honoured by the philological student ; are in- stances of the third tendency named in the text. A tribute of ac- knowledgment is nevertheless due to many of these writers, for the earnest and truth-seeking tone which pervades their works. The movement of free thought exists also outside the national church. The recent work of Dr. S. Davidson, Introduction to the Old Testa- ment (second edition) is an instance. The views however of this eminent biblical scholar met with so little sympathy in his own de- nomination, that he was made to suffer for an earlier edition (1856) of the same work, which deviated in a much slighter degree from received opinions. In the Unitarian body also free thought has wrought a change. (See Note 7.) The influence of Cousin has expelled the old utilitarianism. Mr. Martineau and Mr. W. J. Fox (see his Religious Ideas, 1849,) are illustrations of the new spirit. 478 LECTURE VIII. thought of the present time has been especially to exhibit three main tendencies; one, arising from Po- sitivism, a tendency to deny the possibility of revela- tion1'; a second, from an opposite philosophy, to deny its necessity c ; and a third, to accept it only in part d. These are the three tendencies by which the world and church of the coming generation are likely to be influenced. Our path in life will be in a world where they are operating ; and we shall have need to be armed with the whole armour of God. If we have in our personal history so investigated the evi- dences of our faith, as to feel that we have a well- grounded hope, unassailable by these doubts, we may be thankful : if we have gone safely through the perilous test of a careful examination of them, some- times staggering perhaps in our faith, yet strug- gling after truth in prayerful trust that the Lord would himself be our teacher, until we now are able to feel that we have our faith grounded on a Hock, — a faith which is the result of inquiry, not of igno- rance,— let us be still more thankful, and exemplify our thankfulness by trying to assist the doubter with our tender sympathy, and to aid him in finding b Cfr. p. 440, and the note to it. Positivism only differs from Naturalism (see Note 21), in that it expresses a particular theory concerning the limits and method of science, as well as the dis- belief in the supernatural implied by the latter term. c Cfr. p. 446. d An instructive sketch of the tendencies of modern thought was given by principal Tullock, in his Inaugural Lecture at St. Andrew's, 1845. LECTURE VIII. 479 the truth and peace which Christ has given to us. Our attitude in moments of peril must be that of solemn reliance on God's help ; and our behaviour towards others ought to exhibit Christian firmness, mingled with candour and tenderness ; evincing the moderation of true learning, joined to the uncompro- mising adherence to the Christian faith. The history now given, of the doubt which is ex- pressed at present through the English language, completes the account of the fourth great crisis of belief in church history e ; and with it we bring to an end our long survey of the history of free thought. Since the commencement of the second lecture, we have been so involved in the details of the investiga- tion, that, to those who have lost sight of the plan proposed in the commencement, the lectures may have appeared historical rather than controversial, and hardly compatible with the purpose of the founder of the Lecture. We have been like travellers moving in a tangled plain, where the path at times seems lost. Before entering upon it, we took our stand, as it were, on an eminence ; and indicated the plan of the route; pointed to the kind of territory through which it would conduct us, and the direction to which it would tend. Now, that we have at last extricated ourselves from its windings, and rest after e See p. 14. This crisis has occupied our attention since the middle of Lecture III. p. 147. 480 LECTURE VIII. our journey, let us cast a glance backward over its course, and see how far the result has verified our anticipations. Let us reconsider the purpose designed by this course of inquiry ; notice how far the pro- mises in respect to it have been fulfilled ; show its relation to controversial purpose ; and collect the moral lessons which are derivable. It will be remembered that we stated f the topic to be, a critical history of free thought in Europe in relation to the Christian religion. Our criticism started from a Christian point of view, and assumed alike the miraculous character of Christianity, the exceptional character of the religious inspiration of the first teachers of it, and the reality of its chief doc- trines. From this point of view we proposed to con- sider the attempts of the human mind to get free from the authority of the Christian religion, either by rejecting it in whole or in part&. Four great crises of faith were enumerated in church history11 ; the first, the struggle, literary and philosophical, of early heathenism against Christianity1 ; the second, the reawakening of free thought in the middle agesk; the third, that which appertained to the revival of classical literature1 ; the fourth, to the growth of modern philosophy111 ; — a series of epochs which ex- hibit the struggle of Christianity in the great centres 1 Lect, I. page i. g page 9. h Page IO- i This was treated in Lecture II. k Lecture III. page 106 seq. 1 Lecture III. page 129 seq. m Lectures IV. to VIII. LECTURE VIII. 481 of thought and civilization, ancient or modern ; and it was projDosed that our investigation should not only contain a chronicle of the facts, but explain the causes, and teach the moral". We considered that the causes which make thought develope into unbelief are chiefly two, — the emotional and the intellectual0 ; and, while vindicating distinctness of operation for the intellectual under certain circum- stances p, yet we allowed the union of them with the moral to be so intimate 9, that not only must account always be taken of the latter in estimating the un- belief of individuals, but the exclusive study of the former, without allowing for the existence of the latter, must be regarded as likely to lead to an im- perfect and injurious idea of unbelief. The intellectual causes were however selected as the special subject of our study1"; partly because they have been much neglected by Christian writers, partly because they are the forms which for the most part create the doubts which Christians encounter in the present age. The principal intellectual causes were considered8 to be, either the new material of know- ledge, such as the physical or metaphysical sciences, which may present truth antagonistic to the teaching of the sacred literature ; or new methods of criticism, the application of which creates opinions differing from those of the traditionary belief; and, above all, the effects of the application of particular tests o Page 4. ° Page 1 8. P Pages 23, 24. q Pages 19-23. r Page 27. s Page 28. I i 482 LECTURE VIII. of truth, — sense, reason, intuition, feeling — to the doc- trines of revealed religion. This was our plan; and we have been enrployed in tracing the influence of these causes in generating doubt in the four great crises, with a minuteness which may almost have been tedious ; endeavouring to supply the natural as well as the literary history; analysing each successive step of thought into the causes which produced it ; searching for them when necessary in the intellectual biography of individuals ; and, if not refuting results, at least laying bare by criticism the processes through which they were at- tained. At the same time we have attempted to show the grounds on which the faith of the church has reposed in the various ages of history. A defence, itself also twofold in its character — emotional and in- tellectual— has been generated by the attack in each of the crises, and an example thus furnished of the law which governs human society, — progress by anta- gonism. Permanent gain to truth was seen to be the result of the various controversies ; quiet and refresh- ment after the discharge of the storm had cleared the atmosphere from the intellectual and moral ills with which it was charged. The utility of the inquiry will now, it is hoped, be apparent. Though these lectures must be regarded as instructive for the believer, rather than polemic against the unbeliever, yet they are intended to serve also a controversial purpose. There are times indeed when the mere instructive- LECTURE VIII. 483 ness of a history, independently of practical use, is a sufficient justification for writing it ; — times when it is important to take the gauge of past knowledge as the condition of a step forward in the future. Those who are accustomed to meditate on the present age, on the multifarious elements which in a time of great peace are quietly laying the basis of great changes, and on the unity of intellectual condition which the international intercourse is creating in the world of letters, as really as in that of industry, will perhaps think that the present is such a period, when the knowledge of the history of the former perils of the Christian faith, the nature of the attack and of the defence, is itself of value in regard to the prospects of the future*. Those again also, who are accustomed to look at the contemporary works of evidence in our own country, will deplore the fact that in many cases, however well meant in spirit, they are essentially deficient in a due appreciation of the precise origin and character of present forms of doubt, and the natural and literary history of doubt in general" ; reproducing arguments unanswerable against older kinds of doubt, but unavailing against the modern, like wooden walls against modern weapons of war. We stand in the presence of forms of doubt, which fc Cfr. remarks in Note 9. u This remark does not apply to the principal writers (named in Note 49), nor to the literature called out by the " Essays aud Re- views" controversy ; but it applies to many of the popular manuals which are directed against old deist literature, and are not adapted to modern critical doubts. I i 2 484 LECTURE VIII. press us more nearly than those of former times, be- cause they do not supersede Christianity by disbelief, but disintegrate it by eclecticism ; which come in the guise of erudition, unknown in former times, appeal- ing to new canons of truth, reposing on new methods, invested with a new air. In such a moment a re- consideration of the struggles of past ages becomes indirectly a contribution to the evidences, by supply- ing the knowledge of similarity and contrast, which is necessary, as a preliminary, before entering on a new conflict. The dangers to faith in the present day are some- times exaggerated; but there cannot be a doubt that we live in a time when old creeds are in peril; when the doubt is the result not of ignorance, but of know- ledge, and acts in the minds that are pre-eminent for intellectual influence, and advances with a firm- ness that is not to be repelled by force but by argu- ment. It is not the duty of Christians to shut their eyes to the danger, like the ostrich, which supposes by burying her eyes in the sand to avoid the hunts- man's arrow. There seems accordingly special reason why in such an age an acquaintance with the forms of doubt is requisite on the part of those who have to minister the religion which is the subject of attack. If accordingly a clergy is to be trained up likely to supply the intellectual cravings of the pre- sent day, they must be placed on a level with its ripest knowledge, and be acquainted with the nature and origin of the forms of doubt which they will LECTURE VIII. 485 encounter. The church has indeed a large field, where work and. not thought is to be the engine which the clergy must use in their labours ; truly a home mission, where men and women for whom Christ died, require to be lifted out of their mere animalism, and taught the simplest truths of Christ, and prayer, and immortality : and noble are the efforts that Christians have made, and are making, for an object so religious and philanthropic ; but there is a danger lest this very energy of work, which accords so naturally with the utilitarianism of the English character, should lead us to forget that there is an opposite stratum of society, to which also Christianity has its message, which is only to be reached by the delicate gifts of intellect and by the ripest learning. If Christianity is to be presented to this class, adapted to the demands of the age so far as they are reasonable, but unmutilated and unaltered in its body of revealed doctrine, preserving in its integrity the faith delivered to the saints; so that apostles might recognize it as being that which they themselves taught, and for which they laid down their lives ; it is necessary that Christian students should be trained specially for the work, by a learned and intelligent appreciation of truth, such as will create orthodoxy without bigotry, and charity without latitude. If we have to dread their going forth with hesitating opinions, teaching, through their very silence con- cerning the mysterious realities which constitute the very essence of Christianity, another gospel than that 486 LECTURE VIII. which was once for all miraculously revealed ; there is almost equal ground for alarm if they go forth, able only to repeat the shibboleths of a professional creed, and unable to give a reason of the glorious hope that is in them. In the former case they will fail to teach historic and dogmatic Christianity, because they do not believe it ; in the latter because they do not understand its meaning and evidence. If they need piety as the first requisite, they need knowledge as the second. In certain conditions of the church, study is second only to prayer itself as an instrument for the Christian evangelist. It is hoped, therefore, that a sketch of a depart- ment not previously treated as a whole, may indi- rectly be an aid to the Christian faith, if it shall per- form the humble office of supplying some elements of instruction to the Christian student. Such a purpose however would hardly have justi- fied the introduction of the subject here. The motive which dictated its consideration was much more practical. It was hoped that the answer to many species of doubt would be found by referring them to the forms of thought or of philosophy from which they had sprung ; that it would be possible to per- ceive how they might be refuted, by understanding why and how men have come to believe themx. This is a study of mental pathology seldom under- taken. The practical aim of Christian writers has generally suggested to them a readier mode of x See note on p. 30. LECTURE VIII. 487 treating the history of unbelief, by referring its origin to intellectual pride ; and, if any margin re- mained unaccounted for by this explanation, to refer it to an invisible agent, the direct operation of Satan y. Such a method, however true, commits the error, against which Bacon utters a warning, of ascending at once to the most general causes without interpo- lating the intermediate. It ignores the intellectual class of causes, and omits to trace the subtlety of their mode of manifestation; — a problem equally interesting, whether they be regarded as original causes of doubt, or only as secondary instruments, obeying the impulse of the emotional causes. It would have been possible to investigate the subject, by selecting a few leading instances to illustrate the natural history of doubt ; but the most likely mode for exhausting the subject, as well as for presenting it in a manner which would fall in with the historic tastes of the age, seemed to be, to treat it by means of a critical history, presenting the antidote by a running criticism ; and to ask, frankly and fully, what have been the grounds on which Christianity has been doubted ; and what have been those on which the faith of Christians in their hour of peril has reposed ; and then finally to gather up the lessons which the history itself teaches. The inquiry has been analogous to the study of y Van Mildert so exclusively adopted this latter view in his Boyle Lectures, that his opponents charged him with Manichasism. See remarks on him in the Preface to this volume. 488 LECTURE VIII. the histoiy of a disease ; and scientific rigour re- quired that it should be conducted with a similar spirit of fairness towards those that manifest its symptoms. As the physiologist, who wishes to learn the laws of a disease, watches patiently the symptoms in the subject of it, not reproaching the sufferer, even if the malady be self-caused ; so in moral diagnosis, the student of mental and religious error must carry out his inquiries in the spirit of cold analysis, if he would arrive at the real character of the intricate facts which he studies. The candour of our examination has not been prompted by any spirit of indifference to truth, nor by sympathy with error; but partly by the demands of historical accu- racy, partly by deep pity for those who are the subject of spiritual doubts, even when the doubts are of their own fault. This view of the inquiry, as an analysis of the intellectual causes of doubt, will also explain one or two peculiarities in it, which, if left unnoticed, might leave an impression of its inutility. It will be seen, for example, that in the investi- gation of the natural history of doubt, and in the explanation of the antecedent metaphysical or critical questions which have produced it, we have indicated the schools of thought which have created it, but have abstained from insisting on the inherent necessity of the relation which subsists between the metaphy- sical tests of truth and the religious conclusions discussed. The reason is, that it seemed unfit to LECTURE VIII. 489 assume a side eagerly in the metaphysical contro- versy ; and therefore, while showing that the use of certain grounds of belief and methods of inquiry has produced, both as a matter of history and logic, certain species of doubt or disbelief; we have not attempted to condemn the particular metaphysical theories on the ground of the logical consequences which are supposed to flow from them, nor to deny that they could be so amended, as either to avoid the sceptical conclusions to which our objections are taken, or be rendered innocuous by the co-existence of other causes. Science only shows the general tendency or law of logical connection between intel- lectual causes and effects. The production of the results in particular cases is subject to exception from the introduction of interfering causes z. Another peculiarity which appertains to the ana- lysis of the intellectual sources of doubt, besides the seeming absence of invariable necessity in their operation, might be thought to destroy the practical value of the inquiry ; viz. the feeling of disappoint- ment excited when it is perceived that they do not wholly explain the phenomenon, and are merely antecedents or elements, not causes. This arises from the very nature of mental analysis. Being in nature like chemical, it aims only at the detection of the elements that make up the compound, and furnishes the material or formal causes, not the efficient. This longing of the mind to find causes, and to discover z Cfr. the notes on pp. 36 and 1 |. 490 LECTUEE VIII. the original motive power, is however a witness to the ineffaceable connection of the idea of power with that of will. And while it does not destroy the completeness of the analysis, as the solution of the intellectual problem proposed, it nevertheless points to the instinctive wish of the heart to resolve the causes of doubt into some ultimate source in the will ; and is thus a witness to the truth of the position which we have always asserted a, that the intellectual causes selected for our special study are only one branch, and must be united to the emotional in order to attain a full explanation of the pheno- menon of doubt. Thus the analysis offered will have, it is hoped, a utility in the limited sj3here which was claimed for it, in suj3plying the account of the tangled and subtle processes through which doubt has insinuated itself. What then are the lessons which the whole history teaches % To discover these was part of our original purpose b, as well as to learn the facts and find the causes ; to satisfy the longings of the heart, no less than the curiosity of the understanding. First, What has been the office of doubt in his- tory 1 Has it been wholly an injury, a chronic dis- ease % or simply a gain % or has it operated in both ways % Let us find the answer, by testing each of these theories of its office by means of the facts. The first of the three is that which has generally a Pages 19, 99, &c. b Page 4. LECTURE VIII. 491 been held within the Christian church. It dates from the first ages of the church, and witnesses to a valuable truth. The sacred care with which the Christians treasured the doctrine, and spurned the attempts of heretics to explain it away, proves the strength of the conviction that they possessed a defi- nite treasure of divine truth, introduced at a definite period. Their very want of toleration c, the tenacity of their attachment to the faith, is a proof of their undoubting conviction concerning the historic verity of the facts connected with redemption, and the definite character of the dogmas which interpreted the facts. In later ages however, the same idea of sacredness has been extended by the Romish church to the mass of error which Christianity has taken up into itself in the progress of ages ; and in Pro- testant countries has led to the attempt to restrain the thoughts of men even on the secular subjects most remote from religion, where the ancient sacred literature seemed to suggest any indirect information. The doubt on the part of religious men, of any pro- gress being made by free thought, has often expressed itself too in the affirmation, that the history of un- belief shows an exact recurrence of the same doubts, without progress from age to age, and an intimation that new suggestions of doubt are only old foes under new faces. (' This is seen in their scrupulous cave against heresy, and is at- tested by the very complaint of their opponent Celsus. (Orig. < fontr Cels. i. 9, iii. 44.) 492 LECTURE VIII. While Christians have thus generally regarded free inquiry in religion as wholly a loss ; free- thinkers have taken the very opposite view, and regarded it as an unmixed gain. The distinguished writer01 of our own time on the history of civilisa- tion, whose premature death will prevent the fulfil- ment of his large design, has illustrated, with the clearness and grasp over facts which constitute some of his excellences, the office of scepticism, in securing for the human mind the political liberty and toleration which he prized so dearly. His central thought was, that civilisation depended upon the progress of intel- lect6, the emancipation of the human mind from all authority save that of inductive science: he pointed out with triumphant enthusiasm, the services which he conceived that unbelief had performed, in rescuing Europe from degrading beliefs like witchcraft, and from the introduction of supernatural causes for natural events, and in securing in France, in the eigh- teenth century, the political rights of the lower orders against the claims of the church. Accordingly in his opinion scepticism was an almost unmixed boon. Those who recall the outline of the history will probably think that each of these views, taken alone, is one-sided, and contains a partial truth. The review of facts shows that free thought has had an office in the world; and, like most human agencies permitted d H. T. Buckle, the news of whose death, at the eucl of May 1862, had just reached England when this lecture was delivered. e History of Civilisation, vol. i. ch. iv. LECTURE VIII. 493 under the administration of a benevolent Providence, its influence has neither been unmixed evil nor un- mixed good. It has been an evil, so far as in the conflict of opinions it has invaded the body of essen- tial truth which forms the treasure given to the world, in the miraculous revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ; but it has been a good, so far as it has con- tributed, either directly to further human progress intellectually and socially, or indirectly to bring out into higher relief these very truths by the progress of discussion. When, for example, Christian doctrine has been over- laid from age to age by concretions which had gathered round it, as was the case previously to the Refor- mation, it has been free thought which has attacked the system, and, piercing the error, has removed those elements which had been superadded. Or, when the church has attempted to fetter human thought in other departments than its own proper domain of religion, as when the ecclesiastical authorities dis- graced themselves by vetoing the discoveries of Ga- lileo-, it has been to free thought that we owe the emancipation of the human mind. Or, when the church linked itself in alliance with a decaying poli- tical system, as in the last century in France, it was 1 History of Civilisation, ch. xii and xiii. £ An article by a distinguished scientific writer appeared in the North British Review for Nov. i860 ; in which the question of Galileo's trial was discussed in reference to the recent re-examination of the subject. 494 LECTURE VIII. free thought that recalled to it the lesson to render to Caesar the things that were Caesar's, and to God the things that were God's. It is instances like these, where free thought has been the means of making undoubted contributions to human improvement, or of asserting toleration, which have led writers to describe it as almost innocuous, and hastily to regard the ratio of the emancipation of the human mind from the teaching of the priesthood to be the sole measure of human improvement. In many instances also, free thought has indirectly contributed to intellectual good, in points where it has run a greater risk, than in those just cited, of trespassing upon the sacred truths of religion; in- stances, in fact, where the benefit resulting has been o wing to the overruling Providence which brings good out of evil, rather than to any direct intention on the part of those who have exercised it. Exam- ples are to be found in those epochs, when some sudden outburst of knowledge comj)elled a recon- sideration of old truths by the light of new dis- coveries. The awakening of the mind in the mid- dle age, the Renaissance, the advance of modern science, the birth of literary criticism, are instances of such moments, wherein free inquiry has been a necessity forced on the mind by outward circum- stances, not self-prompted. This attitude of inquiry, this exercise of a provisional doubt, was not, like that described, called forth merely by the circumstance that religion had received additions from error, but LECTURE VIII. 495 must have arisen even if the faith once delivered had been preserved uncorrupted. For religion being a fixed truth, while truth in other departments is progressive, it would have been impossible to avoid the necessity of comparison of it with them from time to time, in those spheres where it intersected the field occupied by them. Such examples, indeed, are not restricted to Christ- ian history, but are general facts of the history of the human mind. The fifth century B.C. was such an epoch in Greece11; when various causes, social and intellectual, created a sudden awakening of the human mind to reconsider its old beliefs, and find a home for the new views of nature and of the world which were opening. The free thought of the Sophists was the scepticism of doubt, of distrust ; the proposal to surrender, to destroy the old : the free thought of Socrates was the scepticism of inquiry, the attempt to reconsider first principles, to rebuild truth anew. In all such moments, investigation is indirectly the means of stimulating knowledge. The history of the progress of it, in reference to the diffi- culties which have beset the Christian church, shows us that the epochs of doubt have not generally been produced by unbelief taking the initiative in attack- ing old truths without some fresh stimulus, and re- peating old objections so as to exhibit perpetually h Cfr. Grote's History of Greece, vol. viii. ch. lxvii ; Lewes, History of Philosophy (chapter on Sophists) * Grant, Aristotle's Ethics, vol. i ; essay ii. 40G LECTURE VIII. recurring cycles of unbelief. We have rather seen that doubt is reawakened by the introduction of new forms of knowledge; and though old doubts recur, yet that they come arrayed in a new garb, suggested by different motives, deduced from fresh premises, and accompanied by doubts of a new kind before unknown. In a practical point of view, frequently they may be thought not to differ widely in appear- ance from old ones, and to present similar effects as well as forms; but in a scientific one, they ought not to be confounded, inasmuch as they do not present identity of cause. There has been a slow but real progress in knowledge, and a slow but real change in the modes of applying it to Christian religion. The effect of the defence offered for Christianity is equally powerful in leaving its impress on subsequent doubt, as the progress of knowledge is in suggesting no- velty of form. The sphere is narrowed, or the direc- tion changed. If thought seems to have come round in its revolution to the same spot in its orbit, it will be found to be moving not on a circle, but on a spiral ; slowly but surely approaching a little nearer to the great central truth, toward which it is uncon- sciously attracted. The value of the free inquiry in this latter class of cases is not in the process, but in the results; in producing the branch of theology which sets forth the evidences of revealed truth. We have previously had occasion to imply that the Christian evidences are too often regarded as mere weapons of defence ; LECTURE VIII. 497 like the battle-fields of history, monuments of the struggle of evil. Being a form of truth which would never have been called forth if the church had not been attacked, the apologetic literature is usually re- garded, either as obsolete because controversial, or as useless for believers. Yet truths brought to light by it, though dearly purchased, are a real contribution to Christian knowledge. As miracles are a part of Christianity as well as an evidence, so apologetic literature, while useful in argument, serves the pur- pose of instruction as well as of defence*. The con- troversy with heresy or unbelief has caused truths to be perceived explicitly, which otherwise would have been only implicit ; and has illustrated features of the Christian doctrine which might otherwise have remained hidden. Though these good results have not been designed by unbelievers, and cannot there- fore warrant the claim asserted for scepticism, that it is always innocuous, nor be set down to the credit of free thought as a spirit ; yet they evidence the value of it as a method ; the free thought, that is, which is inquiry and consideration, not that which is disbelief. While therefore fully appreciating the reverent wish of Christian men to defend the truth with sacred tenacity, which leads them to regard all doubt with alarm ; we can frankly allow the function and use of the phenomenon of doubt in history, when viewed as an intellectual fact. The use of it is to test all beliefs, with the view of bringing out their i See above, Lecture IV. p. 225. Kk 498 LECTURE VIII. truth and error. But the good result lias often, we perceive, been undesigned. It has frequently too been dearly bought, attained at an incalculable spiritual loss to the souls of those who have doubted. The result accordingly leaves untouched the responsibility of the doubter, and only shows the use which an all- wise Providence makes free thought subserve in the general progress of the world. But the heart asks a further moral. Though it derives satisfaction from perceiving that even fea- tures of history which seem the darkest, and mo- ments the most perilous, bear witness to the presence of a benevolent Creator, who overrules all for the improvement of man and the progress of the church ; it still claims to know what those limits are,, where doubt must expire in awe, and speculation in adora- tion. It longs to exercise inquiry, and yet retain the Christian faith. It asks earnestly what does the his- tory teach us concerning the doubts that are most likely to meet us in our lifetime, and what lessons are supplied by it in reference to the best mode at once of maintaining our own faith, and of leading those who doubt to the faith which we receive. The materials are supplied for an answer to these ques- tions ; probably even the materials for the final answer which the church can give to them. We venture not to utter predictions in reference to the future ; but the thought is interesting and so- lemn, that there seems some reason to believe that the weapons which doubt on the one hand, and religion LECTURE VIII. 499 on the other, must use in the final adjudication of their claims, at least in reference to all fundamental questions, are already in men's hands. Though our express denial that doubt perpetually recurs in cycles might cause it to be supposed that we should be inclined to anticipate the existence of future crises of faith ; yet we have remarked that such crises are always produced by the opening of some unexplored field of knowledge, the introduction of a collection of new ideas or of a new spirit excited by new ideas, on subjects traversed either by the Christian religion, or by the Christian inspired books. A survey of the present state of knowledge would probably lead us to think that no field lies unexamined from which such new material can hereafter come. The physical sci- ences which, by the discovery of an order of nature and general laws of causation, have heretofore sug- gested difficulties in reference to miraculous interpo- sition, and, by means of the discoveries in astronomy and geology, have come into conflict with the ancient Hebrew cosmogony, are not likely to suggest fresh ones distinct in kind from the past. If there be not ground for discouragement in science, nor for doubt- ing that the present state of it, which seems to offer employment for originality of mind rather in track- ing old principles into details than in ascending to new onesk, is merely a temporary one, destined to pass away when some happy guess shall reveal the highest laws which now baffle inquiry; yet it is not k Cfr. Mill's Logic, vol. i. book iii. ch. xiii. § 7. K k 2 500 LECTURE VIII. probable that such an advance will traverse the pro- vince of religion. The survey of those regions where discovery seems most hopeful, will explain the reason of this assumption. If the present examination of some of the subtler forms of matter or of force1, and of their existence in other globes of the solar system than our own, should hereafter lead to a generalization which shall extend natural philosophy as widely beyond its present limits as the discovery made by Newton beyond those of his predecessors, yet these discoveries can have no bearing, favourable or unfavourable to religion, dis- tinct in kind from that of present ones. If even a still mightier stride should be taken, and physiology be able to lay bare the subtle processes through which mind acts on bodym ; yet the difficulty would only be an enhanced form of that which is already 1 The allusion is to the discoveries, such as that of Kirchoff, of the existence of some of the material elements in the solar atmosphere, which exist in our own ; also of the connexion between the periodic recurrence of the solar spots, and terrestrial magnetism ; and espe- cially to the discussion on " the correlation of physical forces," con- tained in Mr. Grove's work, and in Sir H. Holland's Essays (essays i. and ii.), reprinted from the Edinburgh Review, July 1858 and Jan. 1859. m The discoveries of the distinction between the sensational and motor nerves, by sir C. Bell ; of the phenomena of reflex action, by Dr. M. Hall j of the connexion of the same phenomena with those of sensation, by Dr. Carpenter ; and the identification of the centres of conscious activity with separate departments of the cerebral organism, by Dr. Laycock ; are instances of hints toward the solu- tion of this problem. Many continental physiologists, such as LECTURE VIII. 501 used to discredit the spirituality and immortality of the soul. If we pass from the physical to the moral or meta- physical sciences, there is still less ground for expect- ing progress. True so far as they go, they offer no opportunity for enlargement, unless perhaps a more careful analysis, by means of the fertile principle of mental association", should cast light on the sensa- tional source of ideas and the physiological side of mind ; and even this would leave the independent evidence of the. mental data, moral and intellectual, of religion, on the same basis as at present. Critical science again has attained such perfection, that there is no possibility of an entirely new range of critical thought springing up in reference to religion, such as arose when the German mind was creating the science of historical criticism. Thus, though each branch of science, — physical, metaphysical, and critical, — offers grounds of hope to the labourer, there is no reason to fear that sceptical difficulties will be generated by any of them, distinct in kind from those which now exist. And a similar Miiller, Cams, Wagner, and Brown- Sequard, have worked toward the same end. J. F. Herbart in Germany, and Mr. H. Spencer in England, are writers who have approached the psychological problem from the physiological side. n Bayn's Senses and Intellect, 1855 ; Emotions and Will, 1859 ; and Spencer's Principles of Psychology, 1855 ; are works in which analysis of this character is carried farther than in former works. A popular view of past attempts of this kind is given in an article on Mental Association, in the Edinburgh Review for Oct. 1859. 502 LECTURE VIII. line of argument will suggest, that there is little reason to hope, on the other hand, for enlargement of the grounds of the evidence of natural and revealed religion. If this be the case, the materials are accord- ingly supplied, from which thoughtful students must make up their minds finally on the questions at issue. Indeed the survey of modern thought which we have already made, will have shown that men are already taking their place in hostile array ; and will have revealed differences so fundamental in reference to religion, on subjects where no further evidence can be offered, that there can be little reason to hope for the alteration of the state of parties to the end of time. Never was there an age wherein Christianity had so real, so potent an effect as the present ; yet' never was there one which, while so largely moulded by it, was so really hostile to it0. It is the hostility, not of opposition which regards Christianity as false, but of the criticism which views it as obsolete, and considers it to be one phase of the world's religious thought, the eternal truths of which may be assimilated with- out the historic and dogmatic basis under which its originators conceived it. Though the special forms of doubt that now exist derive their lineage, philo- sophical and historical, from the modern German and o An example is seen in Strauss. No one can be more inimical to the dogmatic and historical Christianity of the church than he ; yet he asserts firmly that Christ and Christianity is the highest moral ideal to which the world can ever expect to attain. (Solilo- quies, E. T. 1845. part ii. § 27-30.) LECTURE VIII 503 French sources, which we have studied in the last two lectures ; yet it is in an older age of European history that the nearest general parallel to the present state of feeling may perhaps be found ; and there is a deep truth in the analogy which the learned and excellent critic p, who has recently made a special study of the struggle of classical heathenism against Christianity, has pointed out, between the feeling of philosophers in the second and third centuries of the Christian era and in the present time. Amid very wide differences in tone and learning, there is this fundamental agreement between the age which was enriched with the accumulated learning of the old civilization, and the present, enriched with that of the new. There is the same spirit of natural- ism ; the same indisposition to rise to the belief of the interference of Deity ; the same feeling of contempt for positive religions ; the same sensation of heart- weariness, — the utterance as it were of the desponding feeling, "Who will show us any good?" the same lofty theory of stoic morality, and disposition to find perfection in obedience to nature's laws, physical and moral ; the same approximation to the Christian ideal of perfection, while destroying the very proof of the means by which it is to be acquired. And if it be true that the state of intellectual men presents so marked a parallel, so in like manner the study of the arguments by which the early fathers in their P E. de Pressensc. Hidoire 2(1 Serie, ii. 524. 504 LECTURE VIII. apologetic treatises met the doubts of such minds, be- comes a question of great practical as well as literary interests. What then are the doubts which are most likely to meet us, either insinuating themselves into our own minds, or offering their difficulty to those who intend to become ministers of Christ 1 and what are the means by which they may be most effectually repelled ? The main difficulties may be summed up as three : — (i) The question of the relation of religion, and more particularly of Christianity, to the human soul ; whether religion is anything but morality, and Chris- tianity its highest type. (2) The question of the relation of the work of Christ to the human race, whether it involves a secret mystery of redemption known only to God, and hid- den from the ken of man, except so far as revealed ; or whether it is to be measured by the human mind, and reduced to the proportions which can be appro- priated or understood by man. (3) The question of the relation of the Bible to the human mind, whether it is to be that of a friend or a master; and its religious teaching to be a record or an oracular authority. The history of recent doubt has brought before us some whose minds doubt wholly of the supernatural. In the case of a few of these, but only of a few, the doubt has passed into positive unbelief; their con- victions have become so fixed that they manifest a <1 Pressense lias devoted attention to this point, (vol. iv. book iv.) LECTURE VIII. 505 fierce spirit of proselytism, and can dare to point the finger of scorn at those who still believe in the unseen and supernatural relations of God to the human soul. Between these and religious men the struggle is internecine. We can have no sympathy with them : we can rejoice that they retain a moral standard, where they have rejected many of the most potent motives which support it ; but must tremble lest their unbelief end in thorough animalism ; lest Epicureanism be their final philosophy. But there are many more whose tone is that of sadness, not of scorn ; the temper of Heracleitus, not Democritus ; whose souls feel the longing want which nothing but communion with a Father in heaven can supply, but who are so clouded with doubt, and retain so faint a hold on the thought of God's interference, and on the reality of the supernatural, that they are unable to soar on the wings of faith beyond the natural, either material or spiritual, up to the throne of God. The history of such men generally tells of some mighty mental convulsion, which has driven them from their anchor-ground of belief. Sometimes the study of science, as it is seen gradually to absorb successive ranges of phenomena into the regular operation of universal law, until it removes God far away, and creation seems to move on without His interference, has been the cause : — in other cases philanthropic pity, musing on the sad catastrophes which daily occur, when the happiness and lives of innocent human beings are for ever destroyed 506 LECTUEE VIII. by the stern unyielding action of nature's laws, leading the heart to doubt God's nearness, and the fact of a special Providence: — in other cases again, the study of the human mind in history, and the perception of the manner in which the gradual growth of knowledge seems to lessen the region of the supernatural, until the mind doubts whether the supernatural itself is not the mere idolum tribiis, a mere giving objective being to a subjective idea, a truth relative merely to a particular stage of civil- ization. Such causes as these, producing a convul- sion of feeling, may form the sad occasion from which the soul dates its loss of the grasp which it has heretofore had over the belief of God's nearness, and of religion ; and mark the moment from which it has gradually doubted whether anything exists save eternal law; or whether a personal Deity, if he exist, really communes with man ; whether, in short, religion be anything but duty, and Christianity anything but the noble type of it to which one branch of the Semitic people was happy enough to attain. Doubts like these, where they exist in a high- principled and delicate mind, are the saddest sight in nature. The spirit that feels them does not try to proselytise ; they are his sorrow : he wishes not others to taste their bitterness. Any one of us who may have ever felt chilled, as the thought insinuated it- self, of the remote possibility of the perception of the machine-like sweep of universal law removing our LECTURE VIII. 507 belief of the guardian care of Him to whom alone we can fly for refuge when heart or flesh faileth, as to a Father as infinite in tenderness as in condescension, the friend of the friendless : — whoever has known the bitterness of the thought of a universe unguided by a God of justice, and without an eternity wherein the cry of an afflicted creation shall no longer remain unavenged, has known the first taste of the cup of sorrow which is mournfully drunk by spirits such as we are describing. And who that has known it would grudge the labour of a life, if by example, by exhortation, by prayer, he might be the means of rescuing one such soul % Yet no task is so hard; argument well nigh fails, because the doubts refer to those very ultimate facts which are usually required as data for argument. If intellectual means are sought for remedy, it is philosophy to which we must look to supply it ; — the philosophy which recalls man to the natural realism of the heart, to the simple unsophisticated trust in the reality of the spiritual intuitions, not as derived from sense only, nor merely as necessary forms of thought, but as the vision of a personal God by the human soul. If however there is any field which requires the presence of moral means, it is this : and we who believe in a God who careth so much for man that He spared not His own Son for our sakes, may well look upwards for help in such instances ; in hope that the infinite Father, whose love overlooks not one 508 LECTUBE VIII. single solitary case of sorrowing doubt, will con- descend to reveal himself to all such hearts which are groping after Him, if haply they may find Him. The soul of such doubters is like the clouded sky : the warming beams of the Sun of righteousness can alone absorb the mist, and restore the unclouded brightness of a believing heart. The instances however are rare, where we meet with a chaos of faith, half pantheism, half atheism, such as that which we have just described. The great majority of doubters are persons who not only retain a tenacious grasp over monotheism, but even possess a love for Christianity. Their love is however for a modified form of it, different from that which the apostles taught. They cordially believe that God cares for man, and that He has spoken to man through His Son. They accept the superhuman, perhaj)s the divine, character of Christ ; but they consider his life to be a mere example of unrivalled teaching, and of marvellous self-sacrifice ; his death the mere martyrdom that formed the crowning act of majestic self-devotion. God's gift of His son is accordingly, in their view, to reconcile man to God ; to remove the obstacle of distrust which prevented man from coming to God, by showing forth the love which God already bore to the world ; not to remove obstacles, known or unknown, which prevented God from showing mercy to man. Christ is accepted as a teacher, and as a king, but not as a priest. His work is viewed as having for its purpose, to incul- LECTURE VIII. 500 cate and embody a higher type of morality, not to work out a scheme of redemption. The ethical ele- ment of Christianity becomes elevated above the dog- matic. The sermon on the mount is regarded as the very soul of Christ's teaching. And in looking for- ward to the future of Christianity, the Christian reli- gion is considered likely to become the religion of the world, merely because it will have ceased to be the religion of form and dogma, and become the highest type of ethics. Views like these are common, and their com- patibility with Christianity is defended in different ways: — sometimes by the bold attempt, as in the speculations of the Tubingen school, to prove that pri- mitive Christianity was such a religion as that just described ; that the dogmatic Christianity of the early fathers was the addition made by philosophy to the first doctrine, the idola theatri, which haunted the minds of the early teachers; and that the books of the New Testament, to which we appeal to prove the contrary, belong to a later date than that usually assigned : — sometimes, with less consistency, admit- ting the antiquity of the dogmas, by representing that we can penetrate into the philosophy of the apostolic doctrine, and express in modern phrase, more clearly than in the ancient, the meaning which was intended to be conveyed : — at other times, by regarding all truth as relative to its age, and supposing that Christ's work was seen by the light of the sacrificial and Messianic ideas common in the apostolic times. 510 LECTURE VIII. Connected with this fundamental disagreement with the ordinary teaching of the Christian church, on the central question of Christ's work and the nature of Christianity, is the cognate question con- cerning the relation of the Bible as a rule of faith. Its superiority to ordinary books is admitted, as cor- dially as the superiority of Christ's work to that of ordinary beings ; but the religious contents of it, not to speak of the literary, are criticised, not indeed in a polemical, but in an independent spirit ; and are measured in the manner just described, and approved or rejected in accordance with it. Thus these two questions, — the atoning work of Christ, and the authority of the scriptures, — are the two forms of doubt which are most Hkely to meet us in the present age. The expression of them in the clergy of any particular church may of course, if it be deemed necessary, be prevented by political means. A church, if regarded merely in a worldly point of view, is a political as well as a spiritual institution, where the members cede somewhat of individual freedom for the good of the whole ; a compact where certain privileges and remunerations are granted, in return for the communication of certain kinds of i iisl rut -lion, and the performance of certain offices: and no one can object that the terms of a treaty be maintained ; but the prevention of the expression of doubt is not the extinction of the feeling. And such acts of repression cannot reach the laity of the LECTURE VIII. 511 church, even if they touch the clergy. The inquiry accordingly here intended, as to the means for re- pressing such doubts, does not descend to the poli- tical question, but is a spiritual one; viz. if these doctrines are contrary to Christ, how can such thinkers be directed by moral means to the truth which we believe \ or what reason can we give for the hope that is in us, which leads us to decline yield- ing up one iota of dogmatic Christianity to them \ The history of evidences offers a series of experi- ments, in which we may find an answer to these questions, by studying the different methods adopted in various centuries for spreading Christianity. In the earliest age of the church, previous to the establishment of Christianity as the state religion, we observe the unaided appeal to argument, and especially the abundant use made of the internal evidence, or philosophical argument concerning the excellence of Christianity, as a means for arresting attention, preparatory to the presentation of the external and historic proof1". In the long interval of the middle ages, the church was able to supple- ment or supersede argument by force ; yet it must be admitted that the political and intellectual condition of the European mind was then, to a large extent, such as to receive benefit from the imposition of an external rule of religious authority and doctrine, in the same manner that individuals, when in a state of childhood, need a rule, not a principle ; a law, r Cfr. Pressens6, vol. iv. book iv. 161, 521. f>12 LECTURE VIII. not a reason8. This method however was unsuited when the mind of Europe awoke, and when free thought could no longer be suppressed by force. The history of evidences since the spread of modern unbelief exhibits not only the return to the ancient Christian weapon of argument instead of force ; but not unfrequently to the ancient mode of presenting the philosophical proof prior to the historical. An attempt of this kind was intermingled with the English school of evidences of the last century ; and the argument of analogy used by Butler, if viewed as constructive, and not refutative, may be considered to have for its object to prepare the mind for accepting revealed religion, by first showing the probability of it on the ground of its similarity to nature. (48) And in the German movement, where the doubt thrown by criticism over the historical evidences even still more compelled the resort to the philosophical argument on the part of those who strove to defend the faith, we have seen various attempts to reconstruct Christianity from the philosophical side * Both methods, the philosophical and the historical, have had their place ; but their use has varied with the wants of the age. In proportion as the pressure of doubt left less opportunity for the constraining 8 This is the view at which Guizot arrives ; Hist, de la Civil. lecon v, vi, x. t E. g. in Kant, Jacobi, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. See Lec- tures VI. and VII. LECTURE VIII. 513 force of the latter, the persuasiveness of the a "priori moral argument has been used. The history of the means which have been suc- cessful in removing doubts lends little support to the opinion which would save the faith by the sacrifice of the reason, or would imperil the truth of religion by throwing discredit on the immutability of moral distinctions, perceived by the conscience which Providence has placed in the human mind ; to which the great writers on evidence have been wont to make their appeal ; and which they have justly perceived must lie at the basis of the evidences themselves. " If the light that is in thee be dark- ness, how great is that darkness ! " The two periods in church history among those here named, which offer most instruction to us in consequence of affording examples of the same class of difficulties as those which we encounter, are, the struggle in the early centuries, and that in Germany during the present. The line of argument which was used in the former of these crises is seen in the Alexandrian school of the fathers in the third cen- tury, and that used in the latter, in the school of Schleiermacher. The study of the life and mental development of Schleiermacher's disciple, Neander, would be in this view one of the most valuable in history". He was himself led by the mercy and providence of God to the knowledge of Christ ; his u References for the study of Neander's life are given in a note on page 353. L 1 514 LECTURE VIII. own spirit was rescued from doubts such as we describe ; his life was sjjent in trying to save others from the like difficulties, and to plant their feet upon the rock upon which he himself stood : and it is only the secrets of the great day that will declare the number of the souls that were led by his teaching to find Christ and salvation. In both these periods the method adopted for recommending Christianity was, to carry out the plan used by St. Paul at Athens x, to lay a basis for the proof of it by developing the moral and philo- sophical argument. In the Alexandrian period the method used was, to show that all former religions, all former philo- sophies, were not unmixed erroi\ but contained the germ of truth, which Christianity gathered into itself; to exhibit Christianity as the fulfilment in the field of history of the world's yearnings, and thus to awaken the response of the heart to the narrative of its message y Reasons, to which allusion has before been made2, may have lessened the utility at that period of the positive evidence, which proves the fact that a Redeemer had been given ; but we cannot doubt that, independently of this circumstance, a deep philosophical reason suggested the stress which was laid on the moral argument, on account of its x See Acts xvii. 22-31. y Cfr. Pressense on Clement and Qrigen,- Hist. iv. pp. 203, 360, and the references there given. z Page 102. LECTURE VIII. 515 suitability for convincing the opponent ; — -a reason indeed to which the history of some of the fathers gave a personal force in the fact that it was by this manner that they had themselves been led to accept of Christianity a. In the German period the same method has been adopted, with the corresponding alterations suggested by modern philosophy. Not to mention the in- structive attempts of the school of Kant to find a phi- losophy from the subjective side of religion, in the denial of its possibility if attempted on the objective, and to exhibit the limitations of the human mind in speculating on the subject of religious method ; nor again to mention the bold attempt of Hegel, to which we have previously taken exception as opposing the simplicity that is in Christ, to work out this forbidden problem, and find a philosophy for Christianity on the objective side : we allude to that which has marked the disciples of Schleier- macher to find it on the subjective as a life, and fact, and doctrine, which fulfils the yearnings of the in- dividual heart. In pursuing a method of this kind, the appeal must be made to the inextinguishable feeling of guilt ; to our personal consciousness of a personal judge ; our terror at the sense of justice ; our penitence for our own ill deserts ; the deep consciousness of the load of a E. g. Justin Martyr, who gives the account of his own conversion to Christianity in the introduction to the Dialogue with Trypho ; and Clement of Alexandria. Ll 2 516 LECTURE VIII. sin as an insupportable burden from which we cannot rescue ourselves ; and to the guilt of it which sepa- rates between us and God, as a bitter memory that we are powerless to wipe awayl>. When these facts are not only established as psychological realities, but ap- propriated as personal convictions, then the way is prepared for the reception of Christianity. The heart, by realising the personality of God, is at once elevated above naturalism or pantheism. It feels that in Christ's incarnation it finds God near, the infinite become finite, God linked to the heart of a man ; and in his atonement it finds God merciful. Its deep instinct leads it to reject the theories which would pare down the marvel of that mystery. Its conscious- ness of guilt tells it of an obstacle which it' cannot believe to lie merely in itself, but attributes to the mind of the infinite Spirit which it wants a method for removing. No mere example of majestic self- sacrifice proclaiming God's love to man suffices to solace its sorrows. Some mighty process, wrought out between the Son and the almighty Father, is instinctively felt to be necessary, as the means by which God can be just and yet the justifier of the sinful. And when philosophy has thus prepared the heart by its appeal to the yearnings of the soul, and brought it to long for the very remedy which Christianity supplies ; then the historic argument can b Cfr. Lect. I. p. 39. Suggestions on this point are given in Miller's Bamnpton Lectures, 18 17. u The Divine Authority of Holy Scripture asserted from its adaptation to Human Nature." LECTURE VIII. 517 be properly introduced, to afford the solid comforting assurance that the remedy wanted has really been given ; that miracles and prophecy are divine evi- dences, attesting the truth of the claim that certain teachers at a particular period received superhuman aid to reveal certain religious truths. (49) The work of persuasion however is not yet com- pleted ; for, ere the heart can fully trust with adoring thankfulness, there are no less than three questions which must still be answered, if the object be to direct doubt instead of suppressing it, and to lead a sinner to Christ by the bands of love. The first will be the literary one, as to the trust- worthiness of the books of the New Testament, which are the record of this teaching. The second, the inquiry into the fact whether the books teach, and whether the early church taught, dogmatic Christianity as the church now presents it. The third, though of such a nature as in a great degree to be suppressed by the claim of authority already conceded to the apostolic teachers, may still rise up to harass the mind if a further answer be not supplied : it refers to the reason that we possess for believing, that if these teachers asserted such truths as dogmatic Christianity, and especially vicarious atonement, these doctrines were a real verity, and not merely a passing form under which the truth pre- sented itself to their minds, to be explained away by after ages into less mysterious and more self-evident truths. 518 LECTURE VIII. The first of these questions, which concerns the trustworthiness of the books, has been most thoroughly tested by the historical criticism of Germany. The data are thus presented for forming a final decision, which in the oj3inion of most persons will probably be widely different from that which has been ar- rived at by critics in that country. Yet, supposing we should meet with a doubter who accepted all the views of the Tubingen school0, there are nevertheless four books of the New Testament, the genuineness of which the most extravagant criticism fully admits ; viz. the Epistles of St. Paul to the Romans, to the Galatians, and the two to the Corinthians. These four would be sufficient to establish the main articles of dogmatic teaching as presented in the creeds of the Christian church, and the main outline of Gospel and Jewish history as facts on the reality of which St. Paul and his converts relied, and for which he was staking his life. Suppose the Gospels and the Actsa involved in the historic uncertainty which these critics have attributed to them ; yet we possess in the Galatians the outline of the life of Paul, the statement of the reason why Paul accepted a religion which he '' See above, p. 391. The question of the attacks made on the historic character of the Acts was not noticed in Lecture VII. The statement of the difficulties which have given rise to them may be seen in Baur's Ptmhia, der Apostel Jem Christl, 1845, and in an article in the Rational Review, No. 20, for April i860 ; and a refutation of them in Dr. S. Davidson's Introduction to the New Testament, vol. ii. LECTURE VIII. 519 detested. The incomparable argument of Lyttleton0 irrefragably proves his honesty. He cannot have been a deceiver. -Let the reader of the Galatians say if he was deceived. The two Epistles to Corinth attest the history of the early church ; the Epistle to the .Romans its dogmatic beliefs. If there is a doubting heart, thoroughly imbued with the most destructive criticism, unable to find historical standing- ground in scripture, he may surely find it in the study of these four works of St. Paul. The second question, whether the great features of the dogmatic teaching which we receive, and especially the doctrine of vicarious atonement, are taught in the New Testament, admits of satisfactory settlement. The negative of this position has been asserted, in consequence of the alleged fact that this particular doctrine is rather expressed implicitly than explicitly in the earliest fathers; which is to be accounted for by the tendency, while contending against Jewish monotheism, or heathen theism, to put forward the messiahship and incarnation of Christ, in comparison with other religions, rather than his atoning workf. e Observations on the Conversion and Aposthshi/p of St. Paul, by- Lord Lyttleton, 1747. Cfr. also the note above, on p. 294. f The history of the doctrine of the atonement is given in Bp. Thomson's Barn/pton Lectures, 1853 (lectures vi. and vii.), and in the essay on the Atonement in Aids to Faith, 1862 ; also in Hagen- bach's Dogmengeschichte, § 68, 134, 180, 268, and 300. The two chief works on the subject are, Chr. Baur's Lehre von der Versbhnung, 1838, and Dorner's Lehre von der Person Christi. The fair con- clusion in respect to the doctrine of the early church on the sub- 520 LECTURE VIII. Careful study will soon decide a question of this kind, if directed first to the text of scripture ; and secondly, as is most important in all questions of the history of doctrine, to the fathers, as the historic wit- nesses at once to the teaching of their day, and to the traditions of the teaching of an older age than their owns. Supposing however that the authenticity of the books be granted, and the existence in them of dogmatic teaching, as we now hold it, be conceded ; how are we to answer the final misgiving which might arise, that a doctrine like the atonement was not merely truth relatively to the age in which it was taught, to be surrendered if it conflict with the moral sense? If indeed miraculous attestation, the authority of supernatural assistance, be conceded, this doubt will be extinguished in most minds by such an admission ; but how is it to be fully met, consistently with our object to point out how a doubter may be directed, who desires not to have the natural revela- tion in his heart crushed, and yet who does not claim, ject seems to be the one stated in the text. The doctrine of the atonement was believed and taught ; but for the reason here named it was not drawn out into such explicit statement as in modern times. Anselm developed it by eliciting what was already con- tained in it, not by superadding any human elements which did not exist there before. It is Baur, to whom allusion is made in the text, who implies the contrary ; and some English writers have followed him, The work of the late Professor Blunt on the rio-ht use of the Fathers may be consulted for a true and right view of their value. LECTURE VIII. 521 like the deists, that he must comprehend that which he believes, but only that at least he must appre- hend ith 1 We concede the authority of the moral sense to check all dogmas that are not shown to be part of the teaching of men supernatural ly inspired ; and we should feel surprised if there were a direct conflict between God's voice through the apostles and God's voice through the human conscience. Probably it could be shown that no such conflict exists ; but if it did, we should be inclined to ask whether the moral sense, infallible in what it forbids, is equally so in what it asserts i : whether it cannot possibly admit of such improvement as would cause the dif- ficulty not to be felt ; or, if felt, to be cancelled by one of those mental antinomies k, the existence of which is undeniable : or whether there is not still independent and contemporary evidence, to which appeal can be made, to corroborate the apostles' teaching. Let us, for example, suppose that we have come to the conclusion, that the apostles taught the doctrine of h We apprehend a fact when we recognise its existence ; we com- prehend it when we can refer it to the cause which produces it. i Cfr. the remarks in Dr. Whewell's preface to his edition of Butler's first three sermons for some suggestions on the nature of conscience. His object is to show that Butler taught only its psy- chological supremacy, not its moral infallibility. Cfr. also his Lec- ture on Moral Philosophy in England, p. 129 scq. k Page 117. Cfr. also bishop Thomson's Bampton Lectures (lect. v. p. 1 25). 522 LECTURE VIII. the atonement ; and that our moral sense is puzzled with the justice of the system, of the transfer of merit implied in those analogies under which the mysterious verity is unveiled to us, and with its apparent incompatibility with a corrective theory of punishment : the thought of error, or of merely relative truth, in the apostles' teaching in such a matter, is forbidden to the mind of any one who admits the least divine inspiration in them, from the fact that this is the innermost and most sacred truth of their creed. We could imagine the early teachers left unaided in all matters irrelevant to religion ; nay, by a stretch of supposition, possibly even in some un- important things appertaining to religion itself: but a mistake on the work and office of Christ, — the very point which, of all others, they were commissioned to teach ; — an ingredient of error insinuating itself here, is utterly improbable. If even the inspired authority were denied, the improbability would be hardly less apparent. For this was not a doctrine of the head, but of the feelings; not a fact coldly believed, but ap- propriated ; the voice of the inmost consciousness. If the story of the apostles be true, that the belief of this doctrine, and the prayers founded upon it, had made them changed men ; if too their history testifies to the reality of their professions of extraordinary holi- ness ; we could not, even if we did not know from their writings that they were men who were accus- tomed to the careful analysis of their own feelings, conceive a fata] falsehood to lurk here, in a point LECTURE VIII. 523 where trie mixture of inference with consciousness must have been reduced to a minimum. In this particular case of the atonement, there is however an independent proof of the correctness of the apostles teaching, through the corroboration of it which is offered by the Christian consciousness of the church. We have before had occasion ' to ex- plain the introduction of this idea in the teaching of Schleiermacher, and to protest against the use which he proposed to make of it as a source of truth, independently of the Christian consciousness of the apostles and first teachers ; as the gradual source of doctrinal progress, the oracular utterance to this age, as the apostolic consciousness was to the first age. But there is a deep truth in it, if we use the Christian consciousness, not to supersede scripture, but as the living corroboration and interpreter of it. The Spirit of God still works on the hearts of men morally, as upon the apostles of old ; not by confer- ring the intellectual gift of inspiration, but in the moral gifts of penitence, of conversion, of pardon, of holiness. Holy men now feel the Spirit of God striving with them as the apostles did, and appro- priate the excellence of Christianity, and feel its renovating power now as then. Therefore the at- testation of these men, such as is collected by an induction founded on their biographies, to the fact that when they analyse their secret feelings with the most exact care, they recognise that the pardon 1 Page 346 seq. 524 LECTURE VIII. which they receive is through the mercy of Christ ; that their moments of most hallowed communion with the Father- spiv it are when they approach the throne of mercy through the mediation and inter- cession of another, Christ Jesus; that the victory vouchsafed to them over temptation, is by His merits ; that their heart finds no Father for one moment except through him ; — this evidence, if it can be accepted, is an independent corroboration of dogmatic truth. It may be explained away, by de- nying the truth of their analysis, or by referring their feeling to mental association ; but it cannot fail to have a persuasive force for those who have faith in the instinctive utterances of the human soul : and the reliance upon it is not more extraordinary than that on which we depend in cognate subjects like aesthetics, where the taste of practical skill is trusted. Christian consciousness thus becomes a new source of facts in theological study ; the living voice of the church for illustrating and confirming in some degree the utterance of men of old, who spake that which was revealed to their souls by the inspiring Spirit. Such are the chief steps which the history of evidences, in the contest with early heathenism, as well as in the recent struggle in Germany, seems to point out as the most likely to lead a doubter to Christ : and such the order in which the philosophical and historical evidences ought to be respectively pre- sented, if our object be to give due heed to the desire LECTURE VIII. 525 which an inquirer evinces to appropriate the truth which he believes. Such too, if the opinion already advanced concerning the future of modern doubt be correct, seems to be the final answer which the church can give. Without undue compromise, commencing with the internal evidence, we thus lead men to the external, and make philosophy as it were the school- master to lead to Christ. The third question of those which we enumerated as likely to press upon us, viz. that which refers to the inspiration of the scriptures, requires only a few words ; inasmuch as the treatment of it has already, to some extent, been implied. This question has been elevated, since the Reforma- tion, to an importance which it hardly possessed be- fore. Since the authority of the Bible has been substituted for the authority of the church, it has been usual to regard the scriptures as the mode of leading men to Christ, instead of considering the knowledge of Christ received through the ministra- tions of the church as the clue to interpret scripture. Logically, the scripture is the rule of faith, the ground of the church's teaching ; but chronologically, the teaching of the church is the means of our know- ing the scripture111. A caution hence arises, that we should not be will- ing to allow preliminary difficulties, which a doubter m Similarly, an innate law of thought is logically prior as a con- dition in attaining knowledge ; but experience is chronologically prior. 526 LECTURE VIII. may have in reference to the scriptures, to deter us from leading him straight to Christ, and then allow- ing him by the light of this teaching to reconsider the question of the scripture. The difficulties will generally be found to have reference to the historical and literary portions, rather than the doctrinal, or those portions of the literature which contain the doctrinal. If indeed they refer to the doctrinal, they must be answered at the outset in the manner already shown. If however to the literary, they will be viewed in a different light, if the doubter has been brought to appreciate the central truths of Christianity, from that which they will bear if wrangled out on the threshold of his approach. In the last century indeed, the comparative importance of the doctrinal parts of scripture over the literary was so perceived, when doubts were pressed on the attention of the clergy by the pertinacity of the deist controversialists, that many of the eminent writers restricted the plenary inspiration of the scripture writers to the appropriate matter of the revelation, the supernatural communi- cation of the miraculous system of redemption; and conceived that it was no derogation from the supreme religious authority of the sacred writers, but rather compatible with the loftiest idea of the providential adaptation of means to ends, to suppose them un- assisted in literary matters, such as the transcription of genealogies, the reference to natural phenomena, or the literal exactitude of quotations. The jewel of divine truth did not, in their opinion, sparkle less LECTURE VIII. 527 brilliantly because it was handed down in a frame of antique setting. (50) In the present day there is a strong reaction in religious minds in favour of the opposite view, identical with the one held in the seventeenth century by the Puritans. The reaction is only a special instance of the general movement in favour of authority, political and ecclesiastical, which has taken a sudden advance throughout the religious part of Europe, in opposition to the subjective tend- ency already noticed in secular literature". This special view however is dictated by a noble motive, a watchful fear lest the loss of a single atom may weaken the whole structure. Whether it be true or not is not at present under consideration, but merely the caution which ought to be used in pressing it upon doubters at the outset of an approach to the subject of religion. If the object be really to draw them to Christ, we must become all things to all men ; and, while not mutilating the heavenly message, take heed not to repel the weak believer from coming to the Saviour, by interposing unnecessary literary obstacles. It is very common to hear or to read the dilemma put before the doubter, that he must accept everything or nothing in Christianity and the Bible0. Such an alternative, though dictated by a commendable n It has been shown above (p. 437.) that this very reaction is itself indirectly a result of the subjective tendency. 0 E. g. in R. E. H. Greyson (H. Rogers) Correspondence. Cfr. the remarks on it in the National Review for Oct. 1857. LECTURE VIII. motive, is likely to prove ineffectual. The Dilemma is a form of reasoning which rarely persuades. Its ob- ject is rather to silence than to convince. It is more a trick of rhetoric than an argument of logic. It may make a person pause by showing him his apparent position ; but the heart, if not the head, can always find means to escape from an alternative which it dislikes. And in this particular case the use of it involves the risk of overlooking the different degrees of importance which belong to different portions of religion, and the very different degrees of evidence on which different portions of it rest. Though the smallest circumstances in reference to it are of im- portance, yet it were less vital to doubt the miracu- lous inspiration of a genealogy than the authoritative teaching of an epistle ; or to doubt the date of a book than its contents. No doubt is unimportant; but it were merely repeating the sophistry of the Stoics, in making all sins equal, to deny gradations of im- portance in doubts ; gradations which however are not here put forward to defend eclecticism, but to enforce the lesson, that, in dealing with a doubter, the consideration of this fact must guide us in the order in which we present the evidence of different j ►arts to his mind. It not unfrequently happens that the perusal of the holy scripture is the means of drawing a soul to Christ ; the volume in its solitary majesty telling its own tale : or, to speak more re- verently, applied to the heart by the Spirit of God : but generally, if a doubter's heart be filled with his- LECTURE VIII. 529 torical and critical doubts, he must be led through Christ to the Bible, rather than conversely, and through the New Testament to the Old. If once he can be brought to the perception of a Saviour for sinful man, his doubts will assume a new aspect, and will adjust themselves into their true place, or per- haps find their own solution. Yet, when we have used all methods of argument which the survey of the history has given us reason to believe may prove useful, it were affectation to conceal our belief in the perpetual operation, secret and unobserved, of an invisible monitor and per- suader, the blessed Spirit of God. Though we may look to philosophy to prepare the way, by exciting an appreciation of the wants which Christianity sup- plies, and an apprehension of the suitability of Christianity as the perfection of our spiritual nature ; we must confess that it is to the unseen leadings of the Spirit of God that we trust, to make the heart feel the truth as well as perceive it, and love as well as appreciate it. If we accept the fact of God's interference to effect mans salvation, and regard it as His special will to bring men to the knowledge of Christ, and trust His promise of assistance to the church p, it is not enthusiasm, but the most rational faith, to expect divine assistance to attend con- stantly on the efforts made to spread the truth which He has been pleased to reveal; not to interfere indeed with the fixed laws of the rational faculties, but to p Matt, xxviii. 20. M m 530 LECTURE VIII. remove prejudices of the heart which might blind the apprehension, and to hallow the soul into a tem- ple for the enshrinement of His truth. More especially if it be true, as we have per- petually insisted, that there is a large region for the influence of emotional causes of doubt, in addi- tion to the intellectual, which have been the subject of our special study, we may well believe that here is a field where the Holy Spirit alone can enter, and in which He only has the power to operate. Evidence, as evidence, is apprehended and tested by the intel- lectual faculties ; but whatever is the subtle influence, consciously or unconsciously exercised by the emo- tions, in a matter where the evidence is probable, not demonstrative, this offers a sphere where the help of an all-loving God may be hoped for to dissipate the alienation of prejudice or indifference. Paul may plant, and Apollos may water; but it is God that giveth the increase. We have now considered the lessons taught by the history, both as to the moral function of free thought, the forms of it which are most likely to meet Christ- ians in the present day, and the means which seem most useful for guiding a doubter into truth. The history may teach a final lesson to us as Christian students, not so much in reference to lead- ing others to truth, as in relation to the means by which we can attain it ourselves. In all the days of peril through which the church LECTURE VIII. 531 has passed, the means used by those who have striven to find the truth, and become a blessing to the world, have been, — study and prayer. In the solitude of their own hearts, by quiet meditation, they have sought to understand the utterance of the inspired volume ; and to secure by prayer the illuminating in- fluence of the divine Spirit, to cause them to behold wondrous things in God's law 9. And thus in an age of coldness they have kept the flame of divine love burning with unextinguished glory on the altar of their hearts ; and in an age of questioning have been able to burst forth from their prison-house of doubt, and gaze with the clearness of unclouded faith on the truth once for all delivered to the saints. If, in the dark night of doubt or sin which has spread its veil over the world, there have been stars that have shown to the pilgrim steadier and clearer light than the other luminaries of the heavens, the cause has been that they have reflected some rays of the Divine glory, which had been concentrated in the sunlike brightness of the apostolic inspiration. If we have found that the present age offers its peculiar intellectual trials; and if we feel ourselves set in the midst of so many and great dangers ; let us not be paralysed by the consciousness of them, so as to deem the search for truth unimportant, or antici- pate that it will be unsuccessful ; but rather be led to increased energy in striving to follow the example of