(s. as 93 THE BOYLE LECTUEES 1877 and 1878 C/ THE MANIFOLD WITNESS FOR CHRIST Part I. CHRISTIANITY AND NATURAL THEOLOGY Tart II. THE POSITIVE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY %\t $0glt Jtttms 1877 and 1878 By ALFKED BAEEY, D.D. D.C.L. PRINCIPAL OF KTNG'S COLLEGE, LONDON CANON OF WORCESTER : CHAPLAIN IN ORDINARY TO THE QUEEN- NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & CO., 713 BROADWAY 1880 TO THE EIGHT REVEREND JOSEPH BARBER LIGHTFOOT, D.D. LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM THIS VOLUME IS, BY PERMISSION, DEDICATED IN TOKEN NOT ONLY OP HIGH PERSONAL ESTEEM AND ADMIRATION BUT ALSO OP A DEEP SENSE OP THE DEBT OP GRATITUDE DUE TO ONE WHO HAS TAUGHT US BY EXAMPLE TO UNITE CRITICAL ACCURACY WITH BREADTH OP IDEA, FULNESS OP LEARNING WITH CLEARNESS AND BEAUTY OP EXPOSITION, AND PEARLESS INVESTIGATION OP TRUTH WITH FIRM CHRISTIAN FAITH. PEEFACE, The substance of this volume was delivered in the Boyle Lectures of 1877 and 1878. But the whole has been re written ; much has been added ; and in the division and evo lution of the argument I have sometimes ventured, for the sake of clearness, to disregard the limitations imposed on the delivery of the fixed number of 'eight sermons annually,' laid down by the founder of the lectureship. For it has always seemed to me that what is published, as being addressed to the eye, and asking for deliberate consideration, ought to be presented in a form different from that which more properly belongs to an address through the ear to the intelligence and attention of the moment. It should be at once stated that I have taken for granted the argument of the first course of lectures (for 1876), already published, dealing with the cumulative force of the various evidences of Natural Theology. My belief, for which I have in those lectures endeavoured to give reasons, is simply this — that the convergent force of the various lines of that natural witness for God would be absolutely irresistible, if it were not crossed on every line by the disturbing power of the mystery of evil; and that, if thoughtfully considered, even this terrible mystery only presents itself as a serious moral and speculative difficulty, capable of weakening, but in no sense of destroying, the predominant force of the great time- honoured argument of Natural Theology. Starting from that conviction, I have in these pages desired to inquire [8] PREFACE. how (to adopt Butler's phrase) in this mingled Might and darkness of Nature Christianity comes in ; ' and by what process it actually establishes and justifies faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, when in our own days the right to claim such faith for Him is questioned by various forms of modern thought. It is certain, as a matter of fact, that the Christianity of the mass of men is received by inheritance and teaching, and tested first by practical experience, and then by simple study of the Gospel in itself. I contend not only that this is perfectly reasonable, but that by no other method could Christianity, in accordance with the laws of human nature and experience, hope to assert for itself anything like a universal sway. But when this natural process is chal lenged to justify itself by reason, it appears to me that Christian thought generally passes through the two phases which I have attempted to sketch in the first and second parts of this volume. I. Christianity obviously presents herself as the chief re presentative of ' Supernatural Eeligion ; ' probably the only representative who has any chance of a hearing. The first question which suggests itself to most men on hearing her claim, is the question of the relation in which the Gospel stands to the conclusions and doubts of ' Natural Religion.' Can it do anything to strengthen the one, and to dispel the other ? In answer to that question I have endeavoured to show that here, as in all other cases, the ' Supernatural is not Preternatural.' Tracing the gradual development in the Bible of the full Christian doctrine, under the pervading idea of 'Covenant with God,' I have contended that, in relation to the three fundamental points of religion, the personality of God, the spirituality of man, and the solution of the mystery of evil, Christianity accords at all points with the main principles of Natural Eeligion ; but at the same time confirms in the calmness of absolute certitude the modest inductions of Natural Theology, and supplements them, when they are silent or speak with stammering tongue, PREFACE. [9j by declarations of mystery, avowedly undiscoverable by the mere reason of man. If this contention proves to be in any degree true, I hold that it is a preparation for faith in Christ, which must in different degrees affect all minds, and which by very many men will, not unreasonably, be held sufficient to bring them to His feet. At once by analogy with the Natural, and by a power to transcend it, the Gospel will assert itself with no inconsiderable force of probability as being — what it professes to be — a supreme revelation of the God of the world and of man ; and, if its positive evidences are still to be scrutinised, will claim to enter that scrutiny under a prima facie presumption of truth and not of false hood. II. Here, however, comes in the second phase of Chris tian thought, the examination of these positive evidences, so often carried out in times past and present by great thinkers and critics. If (as may well be the case) an apology is needed for entering once more on a well-worn track, in which originality is impossible, I can only offer this — that at all times the inquiry should be into the natural and concrete form under which, in each age, Christian evidence presents itself; and that, while its great abstract principles remain necessarily unchanged, because unchangeable, this concrete exhibition of them is changing every day. Now it seems to me that there are two main points to which modern thought directs our chief attention. The first is the consideration of the unique combination of various powers in Christianity, considered as at once a philosophy, a moral force, and a spiritual life ; for this is, I believe, to us much what the contemplation of fulfilled prophecy and present miracle was in the apostolic age. The next is the contemplation of the life and person of Christ as a whole, in the combined manifestations of power, wisdom, and love, standing out unique and unapproachable, and rightly challenging for Him an absolute faith. These I hold to be the two great points in Christian evidence as it presents itself in these days. I would especially urge that we should look at it in relation to [10] PREFACE. the spirit of our own age, instead of trying to go back to the different experience and thought of days gone by; and I would also contend that, in contemplating, first, Christianity and then Christ Himself, we should contemplate them in their historic reality, discarding all abstract and artificial divisions of the subject, in which the convergent force, arising from the combination of various elements in one living whole, is absolutely lost. For here, as in considering the witness of Natural Theology to God, the witness for Christ shows itself as a ' manifold witness ; ' and, even at the risk of too vague a generality of treatment, we must venture to contemplate it as a whole. It is, indeed, necessary to combat in detail special objections to the Gospel, which present themselves as practical difficulties in the way of belief. It is still more necessary to work out thoroughly and particularly this or that branch of Christian evidence, such as the evidence of miracles, or the argument from prophecy. But in doing these things there is, I think, some danger of forgetting that the whole is greater than its parts. Religious faith, like most of the strongest practical convictions of life, is wrought out in the mind by a convergence of many evidences, moral and speculative, direct and indirect ; and when it fixes on any object, it looks upon it, not in the light of this or that abstract principle, but in its concrete reality as a whole. To different minds, perhaps, different branches of evidence and different aspects of the object of faith emerge'into promi nence. But even then others claim their place, and iihe witness for Christ is still a manifold witness. III. Such I believe to be the two chief processes of Chris tian thought, when it is forced to estimate the evidences of Christianity. But whether we follow either or both of these, there remains one last step to be take a — the acceptance in faith of the word of Christ Himself. It is important here, as before, to recognise the relation of the Natural to the Supernatural. That the law of faith is eminently natural, and that, moreover, it is one of the greatest forces acting PREFACE. [11] upon humanity, is indisputable. That the faith claimed by the Gospel is an entirely supernatural culmination of this natural law, is equally beyond question. It is well to see clearly that on the acceptance or rejection of this claim the very possibility of a vital Christianity turns, and that the profounder doctrines of the Gospel, however they may be prepared for by reason and verified by experience, still rest ultimately on faith, and on faith alone. At whatever point in our previous investigation we stop — and different men stop at various points, naturally and reasonably enough — this last process of faith must always come in to complete a true Christianity. These are the chief points for which this volume is designed to claim attention. In the whole course of the argument I have dealt with what I may call our actual historic Christianity, not with any of those ideal reconstruc tions of it, which are from time to time presented to us in the name of philosophy or ' higher criticism.' For these appear to be as unreal, and as little worth fighting for, as the fanciful Gnostic theories of the early ages. A Chris tianity which surrenders or mythicises almost every article of the Apostles' Creed, and which practically sets aside the historical truth of the New Testament, is not one which will stand or ought to stand. Nor, again, in endeavouring to consider what are the great features of this historic Christi anity, have I thought it necessary to enter into the questions — profoundly interesting and important questions — which are now being raised as to the date and authorship, the genuineness and accuracy, of certain portions of Holy Scrip ture, both in the Old Testament and in the New. I have dealt with the Bible as the Church has actually received it, and made it the standard of the Christian faith. And this I have ventured to do on two grounds. First, I believe that the ascendency of the negative and disintegrating criti cism is on the wane ; and that a sounder method of study — protesting against the arbitrary assumption of that which calls itself the ' higher criticism,' and which certainly is little [12] PREFACE. apt to rest on the solid prosaic ground of external evidence- is vindicating more and more successfully the historical accuracy and genuineness of Holy Scripture as a whole. But next, in relation to such argument as that which I have attempted, it seems clear that the main points of the Creed of Christendom do not depend on the absolute authority of this or that passage or book, or the Apostolic authorship of our Gospels in their present form, or the genuineness of some controverted prophecies or Epistles. They are embodied even in the mutilated Bible which the most destructive criticism would leave us, or in ' the original documents ' which it re produces as confidently as if it had seen them. Nay, they are embodied in the very simplest record of the life of Christ, and in the actual faith of the Christianity which conquered the world. To put them aside is to create a new religion under an old name. It only remains to add that, while it is impossible, as every one knows, to estimate how much in our present knowledge and thought is due to the teaching of others in days past, ' yet in writing these lectures I have tried to work out the main ideas for myself, without consulting any con temporary books on the same subject, except those referred to in the notes ; 2 and that although I have seldom quoted or referred to writings of sceptical or anti-Christian opinion, I have endeavoured to keep always in mind (so far as I know it) what the literature of the day shows to be the main tendencies of modern thought. The object which I have had in view is that which I believe the founder of the Boyle Lectureship contemplated — to offer to those who are startled by loud attacks on Chris tianity, and bewildered by the largeness and multiplicity of 1 Thus, for example, on the rela- from miracles, I am much in agree- tion of Scripture to Natural Theology, ment with Prebendary Row's Bwnvp- it is difficult to estimate the debt ton Zectwes, and, in reference to the due to the lessons taught by Professor Province of Faith, with Professor Maurice, especially in his Sermons on Wace's Bampton Lectures, published the Old Testament. since this volume was written. The 2 I rejoice to find that, in respect agreement is, however, an independ- of the present force of the argument ent agreement. PREFACE. [13] the considerations which they open, some clue to the right method of estimating the true conditions of the great pro blem presented to them. In order to carry out that object with plainness and simplicity, I have abstained from any attempt at exhaustive treatment of details, and even from the addition of such notes and illustrations as might not unnaturally be suggested from time to time in the course of the argument. For I cannot but believe that when once the right method is understood, the work of examination is more than half done. The revelation of Christ, if only it be con templated in its natural order, will prove itself victorious, as of old, over all difficulties whether of mind or of heart. Nor will this examination cease to have value when it has wrought conviction. The same study which brings out the grounds of faith to the inquiring mind will be to the be liever no dead abstract inquiry, but a continual sustenance of spiritual life. Believing that the method itself is the true one — however defectively it may have been exhibited in these pages — I pray God that it may speak alike to in quirer and to believer, and to the yet larger class of those who stand midway between scepticism and belief, earnest in seeking for the religion which they feel that they need, and yet hardly knowing whether they have found what they seek. A. B. King's College, London : July, 1880. CONTENTS, PART I. CHRISTIANITY AND NATURAL THEOLOGY. CHAPTER I. CHRISTIANITY NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL. A. The Two Aspects of Christianity — page Christianity as ' Natural Religion ' and Christianity as supernatural, and the relation between them 1 Christianity, in relation to Natural Theology, seen to be supernatural, not preternatural 5 (a) In the Incarnation . ... 6 (J) In the Passion . . . . . . 7 B. The Supernatural not Preternatural — (a) In relation to the physical sphere ... 9 (&) In relation to the sphere of ordinary humanity . . . 11 Christianity the supreme assertion of this law ... .14 (a) In revelation of God . . 14 (J) In mediation for man 15 C. The Importance of this view of Christianity— (a) As an intrinsic evidence of truth . .... 17 (J) As preparatory to positive evidences 22 '(c) In relation to the argument of Natural Theology . 22 CHAPTER II. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF COVENANT WITH GOD. A. Christianity to be studied in the Bible, tahen as a whole and in historic order 24 B. The Idea of Covenant rcith God, as bearing on— («) The personality of God . 29 (J) The spirituality of man . ... 30 Id) The communion between God and man . . . . 31 Its relation to Natural Theology, speculative and moral ... 32 C The Idea of Covenant with God, as bearing on— The mystery of evil, recognising evil and promising victory over it . 35 a 4243 4446 47 47 48 4850 5152 [16] CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. GOD AND MAN IN PRIMEVAL HISTORY. PAGE A. The Introduction to Scripture History — Symbolical, whether in history or parable 39 B. The Record of Creation, in its bearing on (a) iEtiology • ¦ Its sanction of family unity 250 (J) Its sanction of national unity 251 (c) Its creation of Catholic unity 251 D. Objections to Christian Morality, on the ground of — (a) Selfishness 253 (o) Intolerance . . . 254 (c) Practical failures 255 CHAPTER IV. CHRISTIANITY AS A SPIRITUAL LIFE. The two elements of spiritual life 259 A. Self-consciousness in the instinct of perfection, concentration of thought on self, and extenuation of evil, exhibited in — (a) Stoicism _ 264 (o) Self-culture .... 265 (c) Agnosticism .... ... .265 (dS) Pelagianism _ 265 B. Self-forgetfulness in — (a) Pessimism 268 (o) Worship of the universe 268 (c) Worship of humanity . . 269 (a1) Religious mysticism .... . 270 C. The Gospel harmonises both in the Life of Christ— (a) The principle of faith 272 (i) The principle of spiritual life illustrated in Christian worship and practice 273 CONTENTS. [21] CHAPTER V. THE LIFE OF CHRIST AS SEEN BY THE WORLD. A. The Study of the Life of Christ — page (a) Our means of knowledge ... .... 280 (0) Necessity of study of it as a whole 284 B. The Manifestation of tlie Kingdom of Heaven —