,transcriber's note3 ,a few typographical errors have been corrected3 they are listed at the end of the text4 99 99 99 99 99 ,page numbers enclosed by curly braces 7example3 #be7 have been incorporated to facilitate the use of the ,table of ,contents4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,essays ,,upon ,,some ,,controverted ,,questions ,,by ,,thomas ,h4 ,,huxley1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,london ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co4 ,,and ,,new ,,york #ahib ,all rights reserved 99 99 99 99 99 v ,,contents ,,prologue ,page #a ,i ,,the ,,rise ,,and ,,progress ,,of ,,palaeontology ,an ,address delivered at the ,york ,meeting of the ,british ,association for the ,advancement of ,science1 #ahha #ee ,,ii ,,the ,,interpreters ,,of ,,genesis ,,and ,,the ,,interpreters ,,of ,,nature ,nineteenth ,century1 ,december #ahhe #ge ,,iii ,,mr ,,gladstone ,,and ,,genesis ,nineteenth ,century1 ,february #ahhf #ih ,note on the proper sense of the ,mosaic narrative of the ,creation #abf ,,iv ,,the ,,evolution ,,of ,,theology3 ,,an ,,anthropological ,,study ,nineteenth ,century1 ,march and ,april #ahhf #aca ,v ,,science ,,and ,,morals ,fortnightly ,review1 ,november #ahhf #bji vi ,,vi ,,scientific ,,and ,,pseudo-,,scientific ,,realism ,nineteenth ,century1 ,february #ahhg #bcg ,,vii ,,science ,,and ,,pseudo-,,science ,nineteenth ,century1 ,april #ahhg #bfe ,,viii ,,an ,,episcopal ,,trilogy ,nineteenth ,century1 ,november #ahhg #bih ,,ix ,,agnosticism ,nineteenth ,century1 ,february #ahhi #cbi ,x ,,the ,,value ,,of ,,witness ,,to ,,the ,,miraculous ,nineteenth ,century1 ,march #ahhi #cgh ,,xi ,,agnosticism3 ,a ,,rejoinder ,nineteenth ,century1 ,april #ahhi #djg ,,xii ,,agnosticism ,,and ,,christianity ,nineteenth ,century1 ,june #ahhi #ddi ,,xiii ,,the ,,lights ,,of ,,the ,,church ,,and ,,the ,,light ,,of ,,science ,nineteenth ,century1 ,july #ahij #eja vii ,,xiv ,,the ,,keepers ,,of ,,the ,,herd ,,of ,,swine ,nineteenth ,century1 ,december #ahij #ece ,,xv ,,illustrations ,,of ,,mr4 ,,gladstone',s ,,controversial ,,methods ,nineteenth ,century1 ,march #ahia #eei ,,xvi ,,hasisadra',s ,,adventure ,nineteenth ,century1 ,june #ahia #ehc 99 99 99 99 99 viii ,i am indebted to the ,editors of the ,nineteenth ,century and of the ,fortnightly ,review for permission to reprint such of the following ,essays as have appeared in the pages of those periodicals3 and so large a proportion of the papers has been published in the ,nineteenth ,century that my acknowledgments are especially due to ,mr4 ,knowles4 ,t4 ,h4 ,h4 ,may #d1 #ahib4 99 99 99 99 99 #a ,,prologue ,le plus grand service qu'on puisse rendre a la science est d'y faire place nette avant d'y rien construire4--,,cuvier4 ,most of the ,essays comprised in the present volume have been written during the last six or seven years1 without premeditated purpose or intentional connection1 in reply to attacks upon doctrines which ,i hold to be well founded2 or in refutation of allegations respecting matters lying within the province of natural knowledge1 which ,i believe to be erroneous2 and they bear the mark of their origin in the controversial tone which pervades them4 ,of polemical writing1 as of other kinds of warfare1 ,i think it may be said1 that it is often useful1 sometimes necessary1 and always more or less of an evil4 ,it is useful1 when it attracts attention to topics which might otherwise be neglected2 and when1 as does sometimes happen1 those who come to see a contest remain to think4 ,it is necessary1 when the interests of truth and of justice are at stake4 ,it is an evil1 in so far as controversy always tends to degenerate into quarrelling1 to swerve from the great issue of what is right and what is wrong to the very small question #b of who is right and who is wrong4 ,i venture to hope that the useful and the necessary were more conspicuous than the evil attributes of literary militancy1 when these papers were first published2 but ,i have had some hesitation about reprinting them4 ,if ,i may judge by my own taste1 few literary dishes are less appetising than cold controversy2 moreover1 there is an air of unfairness about the presentation of only one side of a discussion1 and a flavour of unkindness in the reproduction of winged words1 which1 however appropriate at the time of their utterance1 would find a still more appropriate place in oblivion4 ,yet1 since ,i could hardly ask those who have honoured me by their polemical attentions to confer lustre on this collection1 by permitting me to present their lucubrations along with my own2 and since it would be a manifest wrong to them to deprive their1 by no means rare1 vivacities of language of such justification as they may derive from similar freedoms on my part2 ,i came to the conclusion that my best course was to leave the essays just as they were written2#a assuring my honourable adversaries that any heat of which signs may remain was generated1 in accordance with the law of the conservation of energy1 by the force of their own blows1 and has long since been dissipated into space4 ,but1 however the polemical concomitants of these discussions may be regarded--or better1 #c disregarded--there is no doubt either about the importance of the topics of which they treat1 or as to the public interest in the ,controverted ,questions with which they deal4 ,or rather1 the ,controverted ,question2 for disconnected as these pieces may1 perhaps1 appear to be1 they are1 in fact1 concerned only with different aspects of a single problem1 with which thinking men have been occupied1 ever since they began seriously to consider the wonderful frame of things in which their lives are set1 and to seek for trustworthy guidance among its intricacies4 ,experience speedily taught them that the shifting scenes of the world's stage have a permanent background2 that there is order amidst the seeming confusion1 and that many events take place according to unchanging rules4 ,to this region of familiar steadiness and customary regularity they gave the name of ,nature4 ,but1 at the same time1 their infantile and untutored reason1 little more1 as yet1 than the playfellow of the imagination1 led them to believe that this tangible1 commonplace1 orderly world of ,nature was surrounded and interpenetrated by another intangible and mysterious world1 no more bound by fixed rules than1 as they fancied1 were the thoughts and passions which coursed through their minds and seemed to exercise an intermittent and capricious rule over their bodies4 ,they attributed to the entities1 with which they peopled this dim and dreadful region1 an unlimited amount of that power of modifying the course of events of which they themselves possessed a small share1 and thus #d came to regard them as not merely beyond1 but above1 ,nature4 ,hence arose the conception of a ,supernature antithetic to ,nature--the primitive dualism of a natural world fixed in fate and a supernatural1 left to the free play of volition--which has pervaded all later speculation and1 for thousands of years1 has exercised a profound influence on practice4 ,for it is obvious that1 on this theory of the ,universe1 the successful conduct of life must demand careful attention to both worlds2 and1 if either is to be neglected1 it may be safer that it should be ,nature4 ,in any given contingency1 it must doubtless be desirable to know what may be expected to happen in the ordinary course of things2 but it must be quite as necessary to have some inkling of the line likely to be taken by supernatural agencies able1 and possibly willing1 to suspend or reverse that course4 ,indeed1 logically developed1 the dualistic theory must needs end in almost exclusive attention to ,supernature1 and in trust that its over-ruling strength will be exerted in favour of those who stand well with its denizens4 ,on the other hand1 the lessons of the great schoolmaster1 experience1 have hardly seemed to accord with this conclusion4 ,they have taught1 with considerable emphasis1 that it does not answer to neglect ,nature2 and that1 on the whole1 the more attention paid to her dictates the better men fare4 ,thus the theoretical antithesis brought about a practical antagonism4 ,from the earliest times of which we have any knowledge1 ,naturalism and #e ,supernaturalism have consciously1 or unconsciously1 competed and struggled with one another2 and the varying fortunes of the contest are written in the records of the course of civilisation1 from those of ,egypt and ,babylonia1 six thousand years ago1 down to those of our own time and people4 ,these records inform us that1 so far as men have paid attention to ,nature1 they have been rewarded for their pains4 ,they have developed the ,arts which have furnished the conditions of civilised existence2 and the ,sciences1 which have been a progressive revelation of reality and have afforded the best discipline of the mind in the methods of discovering truth4 ,they have accumulated a vast body of universally accepted knowledge2 and the conceptions of man and of society1 of morals and of law1 based upon that knowledge1 are every day more and more1 either openly or tacitly1 acknowledged to be the foundations of right action4 ,history also tells us that the field of the supernatural has rewarded its cultivators with a harvest1 perhaps not less luxuriant1 but of a different character4 ,it has produced an almost infinite diversity of ,religions4 ,these1 if we set aside the ethical concomitants upon which natural knowledge also has a claim1 are composed of information about ,supernature2 they tell us of the attributes of supernatural beings1 of their relations with ,nature1 and of the operations by which their interference with the ordinary course of events can be secured or averted4 ,it does not appear1 however1 that supernaturalists have attained #f to any agreement about these matters1 or that history indicates a widening of the influence of supernaturalism on practice1 with the onward flow of time4 ,on the contrary1 the various religions are1 to a great extent1 mutually exclusive2 and their adherents delight in charging each other1 not merely with error1 but with criminality1 deserving an ensuing punishment of infinite severity4 ,in singular contrast with natural knowledge1 again1 the acquaintance of mankind with the supernatural appears the more extensive and the more exact1 and the influence of supernatural doctrines upon conduct the greater1 the further back we go in time and the lower the stage of civilisation submitted to investigation4 ,historically1 indeed1 there would seem to be an inverse relation between supernatural and natural knowledge4 ,as the latter has widened1 gained in precision and in trustworthiness1 so has the former shrunk1 grown vague and questionable2 as the one has more and more filled the sphere of action1 so has the other retreated into the region of meditation1 or vanished behind the screen of mere verbal recognition4 ,whether this difference of the fortunes of ,naturalism and of ,supernaturalism is an indication of the progress1 or of the regress1 of humanity2 of a fall from1 or an advance towards1 the higher life2 is a matter of opinion4 ,the point to which ,i wish to direct attention is that the difference exists and is making itself felt4 ,men are growing to be seriously alive to the fact that the historical evolution of humanity1 which is generally1 and ,i venture to #g think not unreasonably1 regarded as progress1 has been1 and is being1 accompanied by a co-ordinate elimination of the supernatural from its originally large occupation of men's thoughts4 ,the question--,how far is this process to go8--is1 in my apprehension1 the ,controverted ,question of our time4 ,controversy on this matter--prolonged1 bitter1 and fought out with the weapons of the flesh1 as well as with those of the spirit--is no new thing to ,englishmen4 ,we have been more or less occupied with it these five hundred years4 ,and1 during that time1 we have made attempts to establish a modus vivendi between the antagonists1 some of which have had a world-wide influence2 though1 unfortunately1 none have proved universally and permanently satisfactory4 ,in the fourteenth century1 the controverted question among us was1 whether certain portions of the ,supernaturalism of mediaeval ,christianity were well-founded4 ,john ,wicliff proposed a solution of the problem which1 in the course of the following two hundred years1 acquired wide popularity and vast historical importance3 ,lollards1 ,hussites1 ,lutherans1 ,calvinists1 ,zwinglians1 ,socinians1 and ,anabaptists1 whatever their disagreements1 concurred in the proposal to reduce the ,supernaturalism of ,christianity within the limits sanctioned by the ,scriptures4 ,none of the chiefs of ,protestantism called in question either the supernatural origin and infallible authority of the ,bible1 or the exactitude of the account of the #h supernatural world given in its pages4 ,in fact1 they could not afford to entertain any doubt about these points1 since the infallible ,bible was the fulcrum of the lever with which they were endeavouring to upset the ,chair of ,st4 ,peter4 ,the freedom of private judgment which they proclaimed1 meant no more1 in practice1 than permission to themselves to make free with the public judgment of the ,roman ,church1 in respect of the canon and of the meaning to be attached to the words of the canonical books4 ,private judgment--that is to say1 reason--was 7theoretically1 at any rate7 at liberty to decide what books were and what were not to take the rank of ,scripture2 and to determine the sense of any passage in such books4 ,but this sense1 once ascertained to the mind of the sectary1 was to be taken for pure truth--for the very word of ,god4 ,the controversial efficiency of the principle of biblical infallibility lay in the fact that the conservative adversaries of the ,reformers were not in a position to contravene it without entangling themselves in serious difficulties2 while1 since both ,papists and ,protestants agreed in taking efficient measures to stop the mouths of any more radical critics1 these did not count4 ,the impotence of their adversaries1 however1 did not remove the inherent weakness of the position of the ,protestants4 ,the dogma of the infallibility of the ,bible is no more self-evident than is that of the infallibility of the ,pope4 ,if the former is held by faith1 then the latter may be4 ,if the latter is #i to be accepted1 or rejected1 by private judgment1 why not the former8 ,even if the ,bible could be proved anywhere to assert its own infallibility1 the value of that self-assertion to those who dispute the point is not obvious4 ,on the other hand1 if the infallibility of the ,bible was rested on that of a primitive ,church1 the admission that the ,church was formerly infallible was awkward in the extreme for those who denied its present infallibility4 ,moreover1 no sooner was the ,protestant principle applied to practice1 than it became evident that even an infallible text1 when manipulated by private judgment1 will impartially countenance contradictory deductions2 and furnish forth creeds and confessions as diverse as the quality and the information of the intellects which exercise1 and the prejudices and passions which sway1 such judgments4 ,every sect1 confident in the derivative infallibility of its wire-drawing of infallible materials1 was ready to supply its contingent of martyrs2 and to enable history1 once more1 to illustrate the truth1 that steadfastness under persecution says much for the sincerity and still more for the tenacity1 of the believer1 but very little for the objective truth of that which he believes4 ,no martyrs have sealed their faith with their blood more steadfastly than the ,anabaptists4 ,last1 but not least1 the ,protestant principle contained within itself the germs of the destruction of the finality1 which the ,lutheran1 ,calvinistic1 and other ,protestant ,churches fondly imagined they had reached4 ,since their creeds were professedly based #aj on the canonical ,scriptures1 it followed that1 in the long run1 whoso settled the canon defined the creed4 ,if the private judgment of ,luther might legitimately conclude that the epistle of ,james was contemptible1 while the epistles of ,paul contained the very essence of ,christianity1 it must be permissible for some other private judgment1 on as good or as bad grounds1 to reverse these conclusions2 the critical process which excluded the ,apocrypha could not be barred1 at any rate by people who rejected the authority of the ,church1 from extending its operations to ,daniel1 the ,canticles1 and ,ecclesiastes2 nor1 having got so far1 was it easy to allege any good ground for staying the further progress of criticism4 ,in fact1 the logical development of ,protestantism could not fail to lay the authority of the ,scriptures at the feet of ,reason2 and1 in the hands of latitudinarian and rationalistic theologians1 the despotism of the ,bible was rapidly converted into an extremely limited monarchy4 ,treated with as much respect as ever1 the sphere of its practical authority was minimised2 and its decrees were valid only so far as they were countersigned by common sense1 the responsible minister4 ,the champions of ,protestantism are much given to glorify the ,reformation of the sixteenth century as the emancipation of ,reason2 but it may be doubted if their contention has any solid ground2 while there is a good deal of evidence to show1 that aspirations after intellectual freedom had nothing whatever to do with the movement4 ,dante1 who struck the ,papacy #aa as hard blows as ,wicliff2 ,wicliff himself and ,luther himself1 when they began their work2 were far enough from any intention of meddling with even the most irrational of the dogmas of mediaeval ,supernaturalism4 ,from ,wicliff to ,socinus1 or even to ,muenzer1 ,rothmann1 and ,john of ,leyden1 ,i fail to find a trace of any desire to set reason free4 ,the most that can be discovered is a proposal to change masters4 ,from being the slave of the ,papacy the intellect was to become the serf of the ,bible2 or1 to speak more accurately1 of somebody's interpretation of the ,bible1 which1 rapidly shifting its attitude from the humility of a private judgment to the arrogant ,caesaro-papistry of a state-enforced creed1 had no more hesitation about forcibly extinguishing opponent private judgments and judges1 than had the old-fashioned ,pontiff-papistry4 ,it was the iniquities1 and not the irrationalities1 of the ,papal system that lay at the bottom of the revolt of the laity2 which was1 essentially1 an attempt to shake off the intolerable burden of certain practical deductions from a ,supernaturalism in which everybody1 in principle1 acquiesced4 ,what was the gain to intellectual freedom of abolishing transubstantiation1 image worship1 indulgences1 ecclesiastical infallibility2 if consubstantiation1 real-unreal presence mystifications1 the bibliolatry1 the inner-light pretensions1 and the demonology1 which are fruits of the same supernaturalistic tree1 remained in enjoyment of the spiritual and temporal support of a new infallibility8 ,one does not free a #ab prisoner by merely scraping away the rust from his shackles4 ,it will be asked1 perhaps1 was not the ,reformation one of the products of that great outbreak of many-sided free mental activity included under the general head of the ,renascence8 ,melanchthon1 ,ulrich von ,hutten1 ,beza1 were they not all humanists8 ,was not the arch-humanist1 ,erasmus1 fautor-in-chief of the ,reformation1 until he got frightened and basely deserted it8 ,from the language of ,protestant historians1 it would seem that they often forget that ,reformation and ,protestantism are by no means convertible terms4 ,there were plenty of sincere and indeed zealous reformers1 before1 during1 and after the birth and growth of ,protestantism1 who would have nothing to do with it4 ,assuredly1 the rejuvenescence of science and of art2 the widening of the field of ,nature by geographical and astronomical discovery2 the revelation of the noble ideals of antique literature by the revival of classical learning2 the stir of thought1 throughout all classes of society1 by the printers' work1 loosened traditional bonds and weakened the hold of mediaeval ,supernaturalism4 ,in the interests of liberal culture and of national welfare1 the humanists were eager to lend a hand to anything which tended to the discomfiture of their sworn enemies1 the monks1 and they willingly supported every movement in the direction of weakening ecclesiastical interference with civil life4 ,but the bond of a common enemy was the only real tie between the humanist #ac and the protestant2 their alliance was bound to be of short duration1 and1 sooner or later1 to be replaced by internecine warfare4 ,the goal of the humanists1 whether they were aware of it or not1 was the attainment of the complete intellectual freedom of the antique philosopher1 than which nothing could be more abhorrent to a ,luther1 a ,calvin1 a ,beza1 or a ,zwingli4 ,the key to the comprehension of the conduct of ,erasmus1 seems to me to lie in the clear apprehension of this fact4 ,that he was a man of many weaknesses may be true2 in fact1 he was quite aware of them and professed himself no hero4 ,but he never deserted that reformatory movement which he originally contemplated2 and it was impossible he should have deserted the specifically ,protestant reformation in which he never took part4 ,he was essentially a theological whig1 to whom radicalism was as hateful as it is to all whigs2 or1 to borrow a still more appropriate comparison from modern times1 a broad churchman who refused to enlist with either the ,high ,church or the ,low ,church zealots1 and paid the penalty of being called coward1 time-server and traitor1 by both4 ,yet really there is a good deal in his pathetic remonstrance that he does not see why he is bound to become a martyr for that in which he does not believe2 and a fair consideration of the circumstances and the consequences of the ,protestant reformation seems to me to go a long way towards justifying the course he adopted4 ,few men had better means of being acquainted #ad with the condition of ,europe2 none could be more competent to gauge the intellectual shallowness and self-contradiction of the protestant criticism of catholic doctrine2 and to estimate1 at its proper value1 the fond imagination that the waters let out by the ,renascence would come to rest amidst the blind alleys of the new ecclesiasticism4 ,the bastard1 whilom poor student and monk1 become the familiar of bishops and princes1 at home in all grades of society1 could not fail to be aware of the gravity of the social position1 of the dangers imminent from the profligacy and indifference of the ruling classes1 no less than from the anarchical tendencies of the people who groaned under their oppression4 ,the wanderer who had lived in ,germany1 in ,france1 in ,england1 in ,italy1 and who counted many of the best and most influential men in each country among his friends1 was not likely to estimate wrongly the enormous forces which were still at the command of the ,papacy4 ,bad as the churchmen might be1 the statesmen were worse2 and a person of far more sanguine temperament than ,erasmus might have seen no hope for the future1 except in gradually freeing the ubiquitous organisation of the ,church from the corruptions which alone1 as he imagined1 prevented it from being as beneficent as it was powerful4 ,the broad tolerance of the scholar and man of the world might well be revolted by the ruffianism1 however genial1 of one great light of ,protestantism1 and the narrow fanaticism1 however learned and logical1 of others2 and to a cautious thinker1 by whom1 whatever his shortcomings1 the #ae ethical ideal of the ,christian evangel was sincerely prized1 it really was a fair question1 whether it was worth while to bring about a political and social deluge1 the end of which no mortal could foresee1 for the purpose of setting up ,lutheran1 ,zwinglian1 and other ,peterkins1 in the place of the actual claimant to the reversion of the spiritual wealth of the ,galilean fisherman4 ,let us suppose that1 at the beginning of the ,lutheran and ,zwinglian movement1 a vision of its immediate consequences had been granted to ,erasmus2 imagine that to the spectre of the fierce outbreak of ,anabaptist communism1 which opened the apocalypse1 had succeeded1 in shadowy procession1 the reign of terror and of spoliation in ,england1 with the judicial murders of his friends1 ,more and ,fisher2 the bitter tyranny of evangelistic clericalism in ,geneva and in ,scotland2 the long agony of religious wars1 persecutions1 and massacres1 which devastated ,france and reduced ,germany almost to savagery2 finishing with the spectacle of ,lutheranism in its native country sunk into mere dead ,erastian formalism1 before it was a century old2 while ,jesuitry triumphed over ,protestantism in three-fourths of ,europe1 bringing in its train a recrudescence of all the corruptions ,erasmus and his friends sought to abolish2 might not he have quite honestly thought this a somewhat too heavy price to pay for ,protestantism2 more especially1 since no one was in a better position than himself to know how little the dogmatic foundation of the new confessions was able to bear the light #af which the inevitable progress of humanistic criticism would throw upon them8 ,as the wiser of his contemporaries saw1 ,erasmus was1 at heart1 neither ,protestant nor ,papist1 but an ,independent ,christian2 and1 as the wiser of his modern biographers have discerned1 he was the precursor1 not of sixteenth century reform1 but of eighteenth century enlightenment2 a sort of broad-church ,voltaire1 who held by his ,independent ,christianity as stoutly as ,voltaire by his ,deism4 ,in fact1 the stream of the ,renascence1 which bore ,erasmus along1 left ,protestantism stranded amidst the mudbanks of its articles and creeds3 while its true course became visible to all men1 two centuries later4 ,by this time1 those in whom the movement of the ,renascence was incarnate became aware what spirit they were of2 and they attacked ,supernaturalism in its ,biblical stronghold1 defended by ,protestants and ,romanists with equal zeal4 ,in the eyes of the ,patriarch1 ,ultramontanism1 ,jansenism1 and ,calvinism were merely three persons of the one ,infame which it was the object of his life to crush4 ,if he hated one more than another1 it was probably the last2 while ,d',holbach1 and the extreme left of the free-thinking host1 were disposed to show no more mercy to ,deism and ,pantheism4 ,the sceptical insurrection of the eighteenth century made a terrific noise and frightened not a few worthy people out of their wits2 but cool judges might have foreseen1 at the outset1 that the efforts of the later rebels were no more likely #ag than those of the earlier1 to furnish permanent resting-places for the spirit of scientific inquiry4 ,however worthy of admiration may be the acuteness1 the common-sense1 the wit1 the broad humanity1 which abound in the writings of the best of the free-thinkers2 there is rarely much to be said for their work as an example of the adequate treatment of a grave and difficult investigation4 ,i do not think any impartial judge will assert that1 from this point of view1 they are much better than their adversaries4 ,it must be admitted that they share to the full the fatal weakness of a priori philosophising1 no less than the moral frivolity common to their age2 while a singular want of appreciation of history1 as the record of the moral and social evolution of the human race1 permitted them to resort to preposterous theories of imposture1 in order to account for the religious phenomena which are natural products of that evolution4 ,for the most part1 the ,romanist and ,protestant adversaries of the free-thinkers met them with arguments no better than their own2 and with vituperation1 so far inferior that it lacked the wit4 ,but one great ,christian apologist fairly captured the guns of the free-thinking array1 and turned their batteries upon themselves4 ,speculative infidelity of the eighteenth century type was mortally wounded by the ,analogy2 while the progress of the historical and psychological sciences brought to light the important part played by the mythopoeic faculty2 and1 by demonstrating the extreme readiness of men #ah to impose upon themselves1 rendered the calling in of sacerdotal co-operation1 in most cases1 a superfluity4 ,again1 as in the fourteenth and the sixteenth centuries1 social and political influences came into play4 ,the free-thinking philosophes1 who objected to ,rousseau's sentimental religiosity almost as much as they did to ,l',infame1 were credited with the responsibility for all the evil deeds of ,rousseau's ,jacobin disciples1 with about as much justification as ,wicliff was held responsible for the ,peasants' revolt1 or ,luther for the ,bauern-krieg4 ,in ,england1 though our ancien regime was not altogether lovely1 the social edifice was never in such a bad way as in ,france2 it was still capable of being repaired2 and our forefathers1 very wisely1 preferred to wait until that operation could be safely performed1 rather than pull it all down about their ears1 in order to build a philosophically planned house on brand-new speculative foundations4 ,under these circumstances1 it is not wonderful that1 in this country1 practical men preferred the gospel of ,wesley and ,whitfield to that of ,jean ,jacques2 while enough of the old leaven of ,puritanism remained to ensure the favour and support of a large number of religious men to a revival of evangelical supernaturalism4 ,thus1 by degrees1 the free-thinking1 or the indifference1 prevalent among us in the first half of the eighteenth century1 was replaced by a strong supernaturalistic reaction1 which submerged the work of the free-thinkers2 and even seemed1 for a time1 to have arrested the naturalistic movement of #ai which that work was an imperfect indication4 ,yet1 like ,lollardry1 four centuries earlier1 free-thought merely took to running underground1 safe1 sooner or later1 to return to the surface4 ,my memory1 unfortunately1 carries me back to the fourth decade of the nineteenth century1 when the evangelical flood had a little abated and the tops of certain mountains were soon to appear1 chiefly in the neighbourhood of ,oxford2 but when1 nevertheless1 bibliolatry was rampant2 when church and chapel alike proclaimed1 as the oracles of ,god1 the crude assumptions of the worst informed and1 in natural sequence1 the most presumptuously bigoted1 of all theological schools4 ,in accordance with promises made on my behalf1 but certainly without my authorisation1 ,i was very early taken to hear sermons in the vulgar tongue4 ,and vulgar enough often was the tongue in which some preacher1 ignorant alike of literature1 of history1 of science1 and even of theology1 outside that patronised by his own narrow school1 poured forth1 from the safe entrenchment of the pulpit1 invectives against those who deviated from his notion of orthodoxy4 ,from dark allusions to sceptics and infidels1 ,i became aware of the existence of people who trusted in carnal reason2 who audaciously doubted that the world was made in six natural days1 or that the deluge was universal2 perhaps even went so far as to question the literal accuracy of the story of ,eve's temptation1 or of #bj ,balaam's ass2 and1 from the horror of the tones in which they were mentioned1 ,i should have been justified in drawing the conclusion that these rash men belonged to the criminal classes4 ,at the same time1 those who were more directly responsible for providing me with the knowledge essential to the right guidance of life 7and who sincerely desired to do so71 imagined they were discharging that most sacred duty by impressing upon my childish mind the necessity1 on pain of reprobation in this world and damnation in the next1 of accepting1 in the strict and literal sense1 every statement contained in the protestant ,bible4 ,i was told to believe1 and ,i did believe1 that doubt about any of them was a sin1 not less reprehensible than a moral delict4 ,i suppose that1 out of a thousand of my contemporaries1 nine hundred1 at least1 had their minds systematically warped and poisoned1 in the name of the ,god of truth1 by like discipline4 ,i am sure that1 even a score of years later1 those who ventured to question the exact historical accuracy of any part of the ,old ,testament and a fortiori of the ,gospels1 had to expect a pitiless shower of verbal missiles1 to say nothing of the other disagreeable consequences which visit those who1 in any way1 run counter to that chaos of prejudices called public opinion4 ,my recollections of this time have recently been revived by the perusal of a remarkable document1#b #ba signed by as many as thirty-eight out of the twenty odd thousand clergymen of the ,established ,church4 ,it does not appear that the signataries are officially accredited spokesmen of the ecclesiastical corporation to which they belong2 but ,i feel bound to take their word for it1 that they are stewards of the ,lord1 who have received the ,holy ,ghost1 and1 therefore1 to accept this memorial as evidence that1 though the ,evangelicism of my early days may be deposed from its place of power1 though so many of the colleagues of the thirty-eight even repudiate the title of ,protestants1 yet the green bay tree of bibliolatry flourishes as it did sixty years ago4 ,and1 as in those good old times1 whoso refuses to offer incense to the idol is held to be guilty of a dishonour to ,god1 imperilling his salvation4 ,it is to the credit of the perspicacity of the memorialists that they discern the real nature of the ,controverted ,question of the age4 ,they are awake to the unquestionable fact that1 if ,scripture has been discovered not to be worthy of unquestioning belief1 faith in the supernatural itself is1 so far1 undermined4 ,and ,i may congratulate myself upon such weighty confirmation of an opinion in which ,i have had the fortune to anticipate them4 ,but whether it is more to the credit of the courage1 than to the intelligence1 of the thirty-eight that they should go on to proclaim that the canonical scriptures of the ,old and ,new ,testaments declare incontrovertibly the actual historical truth in all records1 both of past events and of the delivery of predictions #bb to be thereafter fulfilled1 must be left to the coming generation to decide4 ,the interest which attaches to this singular document will1 ,i think1 be based by most thinking men1 not upon what it is1 but upon that of which it is a sign4 ,it is an open secret1 that the memorial is put forth as a counterblast to a manifestation of opinion of a contrary character1 on the part of certain members of the same ecclesiastical body1 who therefore have1 as ,i suppose1 an equal right to declare themselves stewards of the ,lord and recipients of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,in fact1 the stream of tendency towards ,naturalism1 the course of which ,i have briefly traced1 has1 of late years1 flowed so strongly1 that even the ,churches have begun1 ,i dare not say to drift1 but1 at any rate1 to swing at their moorings4 ,within the pale of the ,anglican establishment1 ,i venture to doubt1 whether1 at this moment1 there are as many thorough-going defenders of plenary inspiration as there were timid questioners of that doctrine1 half a century ago4 ,commentaries1 sanctioned by the highest authority1 give up the actual historical truth of the cosmogonical and diluvial narratives4 ,university professors of deservedly high repute accept the critical decision that the ,hexateuch is a compilation1 in which the share of ,moses1 either as author or as editor1 is not quite so clearly demonstrable as it might be2 highly placed ,divines tell us that the pre-,abrahamic ,scripture narratives may be ignored2 that the book of ,daniel may be regarded as a patriotic romance of #bc the second century ,b4,c42 that the words of the writer of the fourth ,gospel are not always to be distinguished from those which he puts into the mouth of ,jesus4 ,conservative1 but conscientious1 revisers decide that whole passages1 some of dogmatic and some of ethical importance1 are interpolations4 ,an uneasy sense of the weakness of the dogma of ,biblical infallibility seems to be at the bottom of a prevailing tendency once more to substitute the authority of the ,church for that of the ,bible4 ,in my old age1 it has happened to me to be taken to task for regarding ,christianity as a religion of a book as gravely as1 in my youth1 ,i should have been reprehended for doubting that proposition4 ,it is a no less interesting symptom that the ,state ,church seems more and more anxious to repudiate all complicity with the principles of the ,protestant ,reformation and to call itself ,anglo-,catholic4 ,inspiration1 deprived of its old intelligible sense1 is watered down into a mystification4 ,the ,scriptures are1 indeed1 inspired2 but they contain a wholly undefined and indefinable human element2 and this unfortunate intruder is converted into a sort of biblical whipping boy4 ,whatsoever scientific investigation1 historical or physical1 proves to be erroneous1 the human element bears the blame2 while the divine inspiration of such statements1 as by their nature are out of reach of proof or disproof1 is still asserted with all the vigour inspired by conscious safety from attack4 ,though the proposal to treat the ,bible like any other book which caused so much #bd scandal1 forty years ago1 may not yet be generally accepted1 and though ,bishop ,colenso's criticisms may still lie1 formally1 under ecclesiastical ban1 yet the ,church has not wholly turned a deaf ear to the voice of the scientific tempter2 and many a coy divine1 while crying ,i will ne'er consent1 has consented to the proposals of that scientific criticism which the memorialists renounce and denounce4 ,a humble layman1 to whom it would seem the height of presumption to assume even the unconsidered dignity of a steward of science1 may well find this conflict of apparently equal ecclesiastical authorities perplexing--suggestive1 indeed1 of the wisdom of postponing attention to either1 until the question of precedence between them is settled4 ,and this course will probably appear the more advisable1 the more closely the fundamental position of the memorialists is examined4 ,no opinion of the fact or form of ,divine ,revelation1 founded on literary criticism and ,i suppose ,i may add historical1 or physical1 criticism of the ,scriptures themselves1 can be admitted to interfere with the traditionary testimony of the ,church1 when that has been once ascertained and verified by appeal to antiquity4#c ,grant that it is the traditionary testimony of the ,church which guarantees the canonicity of each and all of the books of the ,old and ,new ,testaments4 ,grant also that canonicity means infallibility2 yet1 according to the thirty-eight1 this traditionary #be testimony has to be ascertained and verified by appeal to antiquity4 ,but ascertainment and verification are purely intellectual processes1 which must be conducted according to the strict rules of scientific investigation1 or be self-convicted of worthlessness4 ,moreover1 before we can set about the appeal to antiquity1 the exact sense of that usefully vague term must be defined by similar means4 ,antiquity may include any number of centuries1 great or small2 and whether antiquity is to comprise the ,council of ,trent1 or to stop a little beyond that of ,nicaea1 or to come to an end in the time of ,irenaeus1 or in that of ,justin ,martyr1 are knotty questions which can be decided1 if at all1 only by those critical methods which the signataries treat so cavalierly4 ,and yet the decision of these questions is fundamental1 for as the limits of the canonical scriptures vary1 so may the dogmas deduced from them require modification4 ,christianity is one thing1 if the fourth ,gospel1 the ,epistle to the ,hebrews1 the pastoral ,epistles1 and the ,apocalypse are canonical and 7by the hypothesis7 infallibly true2 and another thing1 if they are not4 ,as ,i have already said1 whoso defines the canon defines the creed4 ,now it is quite certain with respect to some of these books1 such as the ,apocalypse and the ,epistle to the ,hebrews1 that the ,eastern and the ,western ,church differed in opinion for centuries2 and yet neither the one branch1 nor the other1 can have considered its judgment infallible1 since they eventually agreed to a transaction1 by which each gave up its #bf objection to the book patronised by the other4 ,moreover1 the fathers argue 7in a more or less rational manner7 about the canonicity of this or that book1 and are by no means above producing evidence1 internal and external1 in favour of the opinions they advocate4 ,in fact1 imperfect as their conceptions of scientific method may be1 they not unfrequently used it to the best of their ability4 ,thus it would appear that though science1 like ,nature1 may be driven out with a fork1 ecclesiastical or other1 yet she surely comes back again4 ,the appeal to antiquity is1 in fact1 an appeal to science1 first to define what antiquity is2 secondly1 to determine what antiquity1 so defined1 says about canonicity2 thirdly1 to prove that canonicity means infallibility4 ,and when science1 largely in the shape of the abhorred criticism1 has done this1 and has shown that antiquity used her own methods1 however clumsily and imperfectly1 she naturally turns round upon the appealers to antiquity1 and demands that they should show cause why1 in these days1 science should not resume the work the ancients did so imperfectly1 and carry it out efficiently4 ,but no such cause can be shown4 ,if antiquity permitted ,eusebius1 ,origen1 ,tertullian1 ,irenaeus1 to argue for the reception of this book into the canon and the rejection of that1 upon rational grounds1 antiquity admitted the whole principle of modern criticism4 ,if ,irenaeus produces ridiculous reasons for limiting the ,gospels to four1 it was open to any one else to produce good reasons 7if he had them7 for cutting them down to three1 or increasing them to #bg five4 ,if the ,eastern branch of the ,church had a right to reject the ,apocalypse and accept the ,epistle to the ,hebrews1 and the ,western an equal right to accept the ,apocalypse and reject the ,epistle1 down to the fourth century1 any other branch would have an equal right1 on cause shown1 to reject both1 or1 as the ,catholic ,church afterwards actually did1 to accept both4 ,thus ,i cannot but think that the thirty-eight are hoist with their own petard4 ,their appeal to antiquity turns out to be nothing but a round-about way of appealing to the tribunal1 the jurisdiction of which they affect to deny4 ,having rested the world of ,christian supernaturalism on the elephant of biblical infallibility1 and furnished the elephant with standing ground on the tortoise of antiquity1 they1 like their famous ,hindoo analogue1 have been content to look no further2 and have thereby been spared the horror of discovering that the tortoise rests on a grievously fragile construction1 to a great extent the work of that very intellectual operation which they anathematise and repudiate4 ,moreover1 there is another point to be considered4 ,it is of course true that a ,christian ,church 7whether the ,christian ,church1 or not1 depends on the connotation of the definite article7 existed before the ,christian scriptures2 and that the infallibility of these depends upon the infallibility of the judgment of the persons who selected the books1 of which they are composed1 out of the mass of literature current among the early ,christians4 ,the logical acumen of ,augustine showed him that the authority of the ,gospel he preached #bh must rest on that of the ,church to which he belonged4#d ,but it is no less true that the ,hebrew and the ,septuagint versions of most1 if not all1 of the ,old ,testament books existed before the birth of ,jesus of ,nazareth2 and that their divine authority is presupposed by1 and therefore can hardly depend upon1 the religious body constituted by his disciples4 ,as everybody knows1 the very conception of a ,christ is purely ,jewish4 ,the validity of the argument from the ,messianic prophecies vanishes unless their infallible authority is granted2 and1 as a matter of fact1 whether we turn to the ,gospels1 the ,epistles1 or the writings of the early ,apologists1 the ,jewish scriptures are recognised as the highest court of appeal of the ,christian4 ,the proposal to cite ,christian antiquity as a witness to the infallibility of the ,old ,testament1 when its own claims to authority vanish1 if certain propositions contained in the ,old ,testament are erroneous1 hardly satisfies the requirements of lay logic4 ,it is as if a claimant to be sole legatee1 under another kind of testament1 should offer his assertion as sufficient evidence of the validity of the will4 ,and1 even were not such a circular1 or rather rotatory1 argument1 that the infallibility of the ,bible is testified by the infallible ,church1 whose infallibility is testified by the infallible ,bible1 too absurd for serious consideration1 it remains permissible to ask2 ,where and when the ,church1 during the period of its infallibility1 as #bi limited by ,anglican dogmatic necessities1 has officially decreed the actual historical truth of all records in the ,old ,testament8 ,was ,augustine heretical when he denied the actual historical truth of the record of the ,creation8 ,father ,suarez1 standing on later ,roman tradition1 may have a right to declare that he was2 but it does not lie in the mouth of those who limit their appeal to that early antiquity1 in which ,augustine played so great a part1 to say so4 ,among the watchers of the course of the world of thought1 some view with delight and some with horror1 the recrudescence of ,supernaturalism which manifests itself among us1 in shapes ranged along the whole flight of steps1 which1 in this case1 separates the sublime from the ridiculous--from ,neo-,catholicism and ,inner-light mysticism1 at the top1 to unclean things1 not worthy of mention in the same breath1 at the bottom4 ,in my poor opinion1 the importance of these manifestations is often greatly over-estimated4 ,the extant forms of ,supernaturalism have deep roots in human nature1 and will undoubtedly die hard2 but1 in these latter days1 they have to cope with an enemy whose full strength is only just beginning to be put out1 and whose forces1 gathering strength year by year1 are hemming them round on every side4 ,this enemy is ,science1 in the acceptation of systematised natural knowledge1 which1 during the last two centuries1 has extended those methods of investigation1 the worth of which is confirmed by daily appeal to ,nature1 to every #cj region in which the ,supernatural has hitherto been recognised4 ,when scientific historical criticism reduced the annals of heroic ,greece and of regal ,rome to the level of fables2 when the unity of authorship of the ,iliad was successfully assailed by scientific literary criticism2 when scientific physical criticism1 after exploding the geocentric theory of the universe1 and reducing the solar system itself to one of millions of groups of like cosmic specks1 circling1 at unimaginable distances from one another1 through infinite space1 showed the supernaturalistic theories of the duration of the earth and of life upon it1 to be as inadequate as those of its relative dimensions and importance had been2 it needed no prophetic gift to see that1 sooner or later1 the ,jewish and the early ,christian records would be treated in the same manner2 that the authorship of the ,hexateuch and of the ,gospels would be as severely tested2 and that the evidence in favour of the veracity of many of the statements found in the ,scriptures would have to be strong indeed1 if they were to be opposed to the conclusions of physical science4 ,in point of fact1 so far as ,i can discover1 no one competent to judge of the evidential strength of these conclusions1 ventures now to say that the biblical accounts of the creation and of the deluge are true in the natural sense of the words of the narratives4 ,the most the modern ,reconciler ventures upon is to affirm1 that some quite different sense may be put upon the words2 and that this non-natural sense may1 with a little trouble1 be manipulated #ca into some sort of non-contradiction of scientific truth4 ,my purpose1 in the essay 7,,xvi47 which treats of the narrative of the ,deluge1 was to prove1 by physical criticism1 that no such event as that described ever took place2 to exhibit the untrustworthy character of the narrative demonstrated by literary criticism2 and1 finally1 to account for its origin1 by producing a form of those ancient legends of pagan ,chaldaea1 from which the biblical compilation is manifestly derived4 ,i have yet to learn that the main propositions of this essay can be seriously challenged4 ,in the essays 7,,ii41 ,,iii47 on the narrative of the ,creation1 ,i have endeavoured to controvert the assertion that modern science supports1 either the interpretation put upon it by ,mr4 ,gladstone1 or any interpretation which is compatible with the general sense of the narrative1 quite apart from particular details4 ,the first chapter of ,genesis teaches the supernatural creation of the present forms of life2 modern science teaches that they have come about by evolution4 ,the first chapter of ,genesis teaches the successive origin--firstly1 of all the plants1 secondly1 of all the aquatic and aerial animals1 thirdly1 of all the terrestrial animals1 which now exist--during distinct intervals of time2 modern science teaches that1 throughout all the duration of an immensely long past1 so far as we have any adequate knowledge of it 7that is as far back as the ,silurian epoch71 plants1 aquatic1 aerial1 and terrestrial animals have #cb co-existed2 that the earliest known are unlike those which at present exist2 and that the modern species have come into existence as the last terms of a series1 the members of which have appeared one after another4 ,thus1 far from confirming the account in ,genesis1 the results of modern science1 so far as they go1 are in principle1 as in detail1 hopelessly discordant with it4 ,yet1 if the pretensions to infallibility set up1 not by the ancient ,hebrew writings themselves1 but by the ecclesiastical champions and friends from whom they may well pray to be delivered1 thus shatter themselves against the rock of natural knowledge1 in respect of the two most important of all events1 the origin of things and the palingenesis of terrestrial life1 what historical credit dare any serious thinker attach to the narratives of the fabrication of ,eve1 of the ,fall1 of the commerce between the ,bene ,elohim and the daughters of men1 which lie between the creational and the diluvial legends8 ,and1 if these are to lose all historical worth1 what becomes of the infallibility of those who1 according to the later scriptures1 have accepted them1 argued from them1 and staked far-reaching dogmatic conclusions upon their historical accuracy8 ,it is the merest ostrich policy for contemporary ecclesiasticism to try to hide its ,hexateuchal head--in the hope that the inseparable connection of its body with pre-,abrahamic legends may be overlooked4 ,the question will still be asked1 if the first nine chapters of the ,pentateuch are unhistorical1 how is #cc the historical accuracy of the remainder to be guaranteed8 ,what more intrinsic claim has the story of the ,exodus than that of the ,deluge1 to belief8 ,if ,god did not walk in the ,garden of ,eden1 how can we be assured that he spoke from ,sinai8 ,in some other of the following essays 7,,ix41 ,x41 ,,xi41 ,,xii41 ,,xiv41 ,,xv47 ,i have endeavoured to show that sober and well-founded physical and literary criticism plays no less havoc with the doctrine that the canonical scriptures of the ,new ,testament declare incontrovertibly the actual historical truth in all records4 ,we are told that the ,gospels contain a true revelation of the spiritual world--a proposition which1 in one sense of the word spiritual1 ,i should not think it necessary to dispute4 ,but1 when it is taken to signify that everything we are told about the world of spirits in these books is infallibly true2 that we are bound to accept the demonology which constitutes an inseparable part of their teaching2 and to profess belief in a ,supernaturalism as gross as that of any primitive people--it is at any rate permissible to ask why8 ,science may be unable to define the limits of possibility1 but it cannot escape from the moral obligation to weigh the evidence in favour of any alleged wonderful occurrence2 and ,i have endeavoured to show that the evidence for the ,gadarene miracle is altogether worthless4 ,we have simply three1 partially discrepant1 versions of a story1 about the primitive form1 the origin1 and the authority for which we know absolutely nothing4 ,but the #cd evidence in favour of the ,gadarene miracle is as good as that for any other4 ,elsewhere1 ,i have pointed out that it is utterly beside the mark to declaim against these conclusions on the ground of their asserted tendency to deprive mankind of the consolations of the ,christian faith1 and to destroy the foundations of morality2 still less to brand them with the question-begging vituperative appellation of infidelity4 ,the point is not whether they are wicked2 but1 whether1 from the point of view of scientific method1 they are irrefragably true4 ,if they are1 they will be accepted in time1 whether they are wicked1 or not wicked4 ,nature1 so far as we have been able to attain to any insight into her ways1 recks little about consolation and makes for righteousness by very round-about paths4 ,and1 at any rate1 whatever may be possible for other people1 it is becoming less and less possible for the man who puts his faith in scientific methods of ascertaining truth1 and is accustomed to have that faith justified by daily experience1 to be consciously false to his principle in any matter4 ,but the number of such men1 driven into the use of scientific methods of inquiry and taught to trust them1 by their education1 their daily professional and business needs1 is increasing and will continually increase4 ,the phraseology of ,supernaturalism may remain on men's lips1 but in practice they are ,naturalists4 ,the magistrate who listens with devout attention to the precept ,thou shalt not suffer a witch to live on ,sunday1 on ,monday1 dismisses1 as intrinsically absurd1 a charge #ce of bewitching a cow brought against some old woman2 the superintendent of a lunatic asylum who substituted exorcism for rational modes of treatment would have but a short tenure of office2 even parish clerks doubt the utility of prayers for rain1 so long as the wind is in the east2 and an outbreak of pestilence sends men1 not to the churches1 but to the drains4 ,in spite of prayers for the success of our arms and ,te ,deums for victory1 our real faith is in big battalions and keeping our powder dry2 in knowledge of the science of warfare2 in energy1 courage1 and discipline4 ,in these1 as in all other practical affairs1 we act on the aphorism ,laborare est orare2 we admit that intelligent work is the only acceptable worship2 and that1 whether there be a ,supernature or not1 our business is with ,nature4 ,it is important to note that the principle of the scientific ,naturalism of the latter half of the nineteenth century1 in which the intellectual movement of the ,renascence has culminated1 and which was first clearly formulated by ,descartes1 leads not to the denial of the existence of any ,supernature2#e but simply to the denial of the validity of the evidence adduced in favour of this1 or of that1 extant form of ,supernaturalism4 #cf ,looking at the matter from the most rigidly scientific point of view1 the assumption that1 amidst the myriads of worlds scattered through endless space1 there can be no intelligence1 as much greater than man's as his is greater than a blackbeetle's2 no being endowed with powers of influencing the course of nature as much greater than his1 as his is greater than a snail's1 seems to me not merely baseless1 but impertinent4 ,without stepping beyond the analogy of that which is known1 it is easy to people the cosmos with entities1 in ascending scale1 until we reach something practically indistinguishable from omnipotence1 omnipresence1 and omniscience4 ,if our intelligence can1 in some matters1 surely reproduce the past of thousands of years ago and anticipate the future1 thousands of years hence1 it is clearly within the limits of possibility that some greater intellect1 even of the same order1 may be able to mirror the whole past and the whole future2 if the universe is penetrated by a medium of such a nature that a magnetic needle on the earth answers to a commotion in the sun1 an omnipresent agent is also conceivable2 if our insignificant knowledge gives us some influence over events1 practical omniscience may confer indefinably greater power4 ,finally1 if evidence that a thing may be1 were equivalent to proof that it is1 analogy might justify the construction of a naturalistic theology and demonology not less wonderful than the current supernatural2 just as it might justify the peopling of ,mars1 or of ,jupiter1 with living forms to which terrestrial biology offers no #cg parallel4 ,until human life is longer and the duties of the present press less heavily1 ,i do not think that wise men will occupy themselves with ,jovian1 or ,martian1 natural history2 and they will probably agree to a verdict of not proven in respect of naturalistic theology2 taking refuge in that agnostic confession1 which appears to me to be the only position for people who object to say that they know what they are quite aware they do not know4 ,as to the interests of morality1 ,i am disposed to think that if mankind could be got to act up to this last principle in every relation of life1 a reformation would be effected such as the world has not yet seen2 an approximation to the millennium1 such as no supernaturalistic religion has ever yet succeeded1 or seems likely ever to succeed1 in effecting4 ,i have hitherto dwelt upon scientific ,naturalism chiefly in its critical and destructive aspect4 ,but the present incarnation of the spirit of the ,renascence differs from its predecessor in the eighteenth century1 in that it builds up1 as well as pulls down4 ,that of which it has laid the foundation1 of which it is already raising the superstructure1 is the doctrine of evolution4 ,but so many strange misconceptions are current about this doctrine--it is attacked on such false grounds by its enemies1 and made to cover so much that is disputable by some of its friends1 that ,i think it well to define as clearly as ,i can1 what ,i do not and what ,i do understand by the doctrine4 #ch ,i have nothing to say to any ,philosophy of ,evolution4 ,attempts to construct such a philosophy may be as useful1 nay1 even as admirable1 as was the attempt of ,descartes to get at a theory of the universe by the same a priori road2 but1 in my judgment1 they are as premature4 ,nor1 for this purpose1 have ,i to do with any theory of the ,origin of ,species1 much as ,i value that which is known as the ,darwinian theory4 ,that the doctrine of natural selection presupposes evolution is quite true2 but it is not true that evolution necessarily implies natural selection4 ,in fact1 evolution might conceivably have taken place1 without the development of groups possessing the characters of species4 ,for me1 the doctrine of evolution is no speculation1 but a generalisation of certain facts1 which may be observed by any one who will take the necessary trouble4 ,these facts are those which are classed by biologists under the heads of ,embryology and of ,palaeontology4 ,embryology proves that every higher form of individual life becomes what it is by a process of gradual differentiation from an extremely low form2 palaeontology proves1 in some cases1 and renders probable in all1 that the oldest types of a group are the lowest2 and that they have been followed by a gradual succession of more and more differentiated forms4 ,it is simply a fact1 that evolution of the individual animal and plant is taking place1 as a natural process1 in millions and millions of cases every day2 it is a fact1 that the species which have succeeded one another in the past1 do1 in many #ci cases1 present just those morphological relations1 which they must possess1 if they had proceeded1 one from the other1 by an analogous process of evolution4 ,the alternative presented1 therefore1 is3 either the forms of one and the same type--say1 e4g41 that of the ,horse tribe#f--;arose successively1 but independently of one another1 at intervals1 during myriads of years2 or1 the later forms are modified descendants of the earlier4 ,and the latter supposition is so vastly more probable than the former1 that rational men will adopt it1 unless satisfactory evidence to the contrary can be produced4 ,the objection sometimes put forward1 that no one yet professes to have seen one species pass into another1 comes oddly from those who believe that mankind are all descended from ,adam4 ,has any one then yet seen the production of negroes from a white stock1 or vice versa8 ,moreover1 is it absolutely necessary to have watched every step of the progress of a planet1 to be justified in concluding that it really does go round the sun8 ,if so1 astronomy is in a bad way4 ,i do not1 for a moment1 presume to suggest that some one1 far better acquainted than ,i am with astronomy and physics2 or that a master of the new chemistry1 with its extraordinary revelations2 or that a student of the development of human society1 of language1 and of religions1 may not find a sufficient foundation for the doctrine of evolution in these several regions4 #dj ,on the contrary1 ,i rejoice to see that scientific investigation1 in all directions1 is tending to the same result4 ,and it may well be1 that it is only my long occupation with biological matters that leads me to feel safer among them than anywhere else4 ,be that as it may1 ,i take my stand on the facts of embryology and of palaeontology2 and ,i hold that our present knowledge of these facts is sufficiently thorough and extensive to justify the assertion that all future philosophical and theological speculations will have to accommodate themselves to some such common body of established truths as the following3-- #a4 ,plants and animals have existed on our planet for many hundred thousand1 probably millions of years4 ,during this time1 their forms1 or species1 have undergone a succession of changes1 which eventually gave rise to the species which constitute the present living population of the earth4 ,there is no evidence1 nor any reason to suspect1 that this secular process of evolution is other than a part of the ordinary course of nature2 there is no more ground for imagining the occurrence of supernatural intervention1 at any moment in the development of species in the past1 than there is for supposing such intervention to take place1 at any moment in the development of an individual animal or plant1 at the present day4 #b4 ,at present1 every individual animal or plant commences its existence as an organism of extremely simple anatomical structure2 and it acquires all the complexity it ultimately possesses by gradual #da differentiation into parts of various structure and function4 ,when a series of specific forms of the same type1 extending over a long period of past time1 is examined1 the relation between the earlier and the later forms is analogous to that between earlier and later stages of individual development4 ,therefore1 it is a probable conclusion that1 if we could follow living beings back to their earliest states1 we should find them to present forms similar to those of the individual germ1 or1 what comes to the same thing1 of those lowest known organisms which stand upon the boundary line between plants and animals4 ,at present1 our knowledge of the ancient living world stops very far short of this point4 #c4 ,it is generally agreed1 and there is certainly no evidence to the contrary1 that all plants are devoid of consciousness2 that they neither feel1 desire1 nor think4 ,it is conceivable that the evolution of the primordial living substance should have taken place only along the plant line4 ,in that case1 the result might have been a wealth of vegetable life1 as great1 perhaps as varied1 as at present1 though certainly widely different from the present flora1 in the evolution of which animals have played so great a part4 ,but the living world thus constituted would be simply an admirable piece of unconscious machinery1 the working out of which lay potentially in its primitive composition2 pleasure and pain would have no place in it2 it would be a veritable ,garden of ,eden without any tree of the knowledge of good and evil4 ,the question of the moral government of such a world #db could no more be asked1 than we could reasonably seek for a moral purpose in a kaleidoscope4 #d4 ,how far down the scale of animal life the phenomena of consciousness are manifested1 it is impossible to say4 ,no one doubts their presence in his fellow-men2 and1 unless any strict ,cartesians are left1 no one doubts that mammals and birds are to be reckoned creatures that have feelings analogous to our smell1 taste1 sight1 hearing1 touch1 pleasure1 and pain4 ,for my own part1 ,i should be disposed to extend this analogical judgment a good deal further4 ,on the other hand1 if the lowest forms of plants are to be denied consciousness1 ,i do not see on what ground it is to be ascribed to the lowest animals4 ,i find it hard to believe that an infusory animalcule1 a foraminifer1 or a fresh-water polype is capable of feeling2 and1 in spite of ,shakspere1 ,i have doubts about the great sensitiveness of the poor beetle that we tread upon4 ,the question is equally perplexing when we turn to the stages of development of the individual4 ,granted a fowl feels2 that the chick just hatched feels2 that the chick when it chirps within the egg may possibly feel2 what is to be said of it1 on the fifth day1 when the bird is there1 but with all its tissues nascent8 ,still more1 on the first day1 when it is nothing but a flat cellular disk8 ,i certainly cannot bring myself to believe that this disk feels4 ,yet if it does not1 there must be some time in the three weeks1 between the first day and the day of hatching1 when1 as a concomitant1 or a consequence1 of the attainment by the brain of #dc the chick of a certain stage of structural evolution1 consciousness makes its appearance4 ,i have frequently expressed my incapacity to understand the nature of the relation between consciousness and a certain anatomical tissue1 which is thus established by observation4 ,but the fact remains that1 so far as observation and experiment go1 they teach us that the psychical phenomena are dependent on the physical4 ,in like manner1 if fishes1 insects1 scorpions1 and such animals as the pearly nautilus1 possess feeling1 then undoubtedly consciousness was present in the world as far back as the ,silurian epoch4 ,but1 if the earliest animals were similar to our rhizopods and monads1 there must have been some time1 between the much earlier epoch in which they constituted the whole animal population and the ,silurian1 in which feeling dawned1 in consequence of the organism having reached the stage of evolution on which it depends4 #e4 ,consciousness has various forms1 which may be manifested independently of one another4 ,the feelings of light and colour1 of sound1 of touch1 though so often associated with those of pleasure and pain1 are1 by nature1 as entirely independent of them as is thinking4 ,an animal devoid of the feelings of pleasure and of pain1 may nevertheless exhibit all the effects of sensation and purposive action4 ,therefore1 it would be a justifiable hypothesis that1 long after organic evolution had attained to consciousness1 pleasure and pain were still absent4 ,such a world #dd would be without either happiness or misery2 no act could be punished and none could be rewarded2 and it could have no moral purpose4 #f4 ,suppose1 for argument's sake1 that all mammals and birds are subjects of pleasure and pain4 ,then we may be certain that these forms of consciousness were in existence at the beginning of the ,mesozoic epoch4 ,from that time forth1 pleasure has been distributed without reference to merit1 and pain inflicted without reference to demerit1 throughout all but a mere fraction of the higher animals4 ,moreover1 the amount and the severity of the pain1 no less than the variety and acuteness of the pleasure1 have increased with every advance in the scale of evolution4 ,as suffering came into the world1 not in consequence of a fall1 but of a rise1 in the scale of being1 so every further rise has brought more suffering4 ,as the evidence stands1 it would appear that the sort of brain which characterises the highest mammals and which1 so far as we know1 is the indispensable condition of the highest sensibility1 did not come into existence before the ,tertiary epoch4 ,the primordial anthropoid was probably1 in this respect1 on much the same footing as his pithecoid kin4 ,like them he stood upon his natural rights1 gratified all his desires to the best of his ability1 and was as incapable of either right or wrong doing as they4 ,it would be as absurd as in their case1 to regard his pleasures1 any more than theirs1 as moral rewards1 and his pains1 any more than theirs1 as moral punishments4 #de #g4 ,from the remotest ages of which we have any cognizance1 death has been the natural and1 apparently1 the necessary concomitant of life4 ,in our hypothetical world 7#c71 inhabited by nothing but plants1 death must have very early resulted from the struggle for existence3 many of the crowd must have jostled one another out of the conditions on which life depends4 ,the occurrence of death1 as far back as we have any fossil record of life1 however1 needs not to be proved by such arguments2 for1 if there had been no death there would have been no fossil remains1 such as the great majority of those we meet with4 ,not only was there death in the world1 as far as the record of life takes us2 but1 ever since mammals and birds have been preyed upon by carnivorous animals1 there has been painful death1 inflicted by mechanisms specially adapted for inflicting it4 #h4 ,those who are acquainted with the closeness of the structural relations between the human organisation and that of the mammals which come nearest to him1 on the one hand2 and with the palaeontological history of such animals as horses and dogs1 on the other2 will not be disposed to question the origin of man from forms which stand in the same sort of relation to ,homo sapiens1 as ,hipparion does to ,equus4 ,i think it a conclusion1 fully justified by analogy1 that1 sooner or later1 we shall discover the remains of our less specialised primatic ancestors in the strata which have yielded the less specialised equine and canine quadrupeds4 ,at present1 fossil remains of men do not take us back further than the later #df part of the ,quaternary epoch2 and1 as was to be expected1 they do not differ more from existing men1 than ,quaternary horses differ from existing horses4 ,still earlier we find traces of man1 in implements1 such as are used by the ruder savages at the present day4 ,later1 the remains of the palaeolithic and neolithic conditions take us gradually from the savage state to the civilisations of ,egypt and of ,mycenae2 though the true chronological order of the remains actually discovered may be uncertain4 #i4 ,much has yet to be learned1 but1 at present1 natural knowledge affords no support to the notion that men have fallen from a higher to a lower state4 ,on the contrary1 everything points to a slow natural evolution2 which1 favoured by the surrounding conditions in such localities as the valleys of the ,yang-tse-kang1 the ,euphrates1 and the ,nile1 reached a relatively high pitch1 five or six thousand years ago2 while1 in many other regions1 the savage condition has persisted down to our day4 ,in all this vast lapse of time there is not a trace of the occurrence of any general destruction of the human race2 not the smallest indication that man has been treated on any other principles than the rest of the animal world4 #aj4 ,the results of the process of evolution in the case of man1 and in that of his more nearly allied contemporaries1 have been marvellously different4 ,yet it is easy to see that small primitive differences of a certain order1 must1 in the long run1 bring about a wide divergence of the human stock from the others4 #dg ,it is a reasonable supposition that1 in the earliest human organisms1 an improved brain1 a voice more capable of modulation and articulation1 limbs which lent themselves better to gesture1 a more perfect hand1 capable among other things of imitating form in plastic or other material1 were combined with the curiosity1 the mimetic tendency1 the strong family affection1 of the next lower group2 and that they were accompanied by exceptional length of life and a prolonged minority4 ,the last two peculiarities are obviously calculated to strengthen the family organisation1 and to give great weight to its educative influences4 ,the potentiality of language1 as the vocal symbol of thought1 lay in the faculty of modulating and articulating the voice4 ,the potentiality of writing1 as the visual symbol of thought1 lay in the hand that could draw2 and in the mimetic tendency1 which1 as we know1 was gratified by drawing1 as far back as the days of ,quaternary man4 ,with speech as the record1 in tradition1 of the experience of more than one generation2 with writing as the record of that of any number of generations2 the experience of the race1 tested and corrected generation after generation1 could be stored up and made the starting point for fresh progress4 ,having these perfectly natural factors of the evolutionary process in man before us1 it seems unnecessary to go further a-field in search of others4 #aa4 ,that the doctrine of evolution implies a former state of innocence of mankind is quite true2 but1 as ,i have remarked1 it is the innocence of the ape and of #dh the tiger1 whose acts1 however they may run counter to the principles of morality1 it would be absurd to blame4 ,the lust of the one and the ferocity of the other are as much provided for in their organisation1 are as clear evidences of design1 as any other features that can be named4 ,observation and experiment upon the phenomena of society soon taught men that1 in order to obtain the advantages of social existence1 certain rules must be observed4 ,morality commenced with society4 ,society is possible only upon the condition that the members of it shall surrender more or less of their individual freedom of action4 ,in primitive societies1 individual selfishness is a centrifugal force of such intensity that it is constantly bringing the social organisation to the verge of destruction4 ,hence the prominence of the positive rules of obedience to the elders2 of standing by the family or the tribe in all emergencies2 of fulfilling the religious rites1 non-observance of which is conceived to damage it with the supernatural powers1 belief in whose existence is one of the earliest products of human thought2 and of the negative rules1 which restrain each from meddling with the life or property of another4 #ab4 ,the highest conceivable form of human society is that in which the desire to do what is best for the whole1 dominates and limits the action of every member of that society4 ,the more complex the social organisation the greater the number of acts from which each man must abstain1 if he desires to do that which is best for all4 ,thus the progressive #di evolution of society means increasing restriction of individual freedom in certain directions4 ,with the advance of civilisation1 and the growth of cities and of nations by the coalescence of families and of tribes1 the rules which constitute the common foundation of morality and of law became more numerous and complicated1 and the temptations to break or evade many of them stronger4 ,in the absence of a clear apprehension of the natural sanctions of these rules1 a supernatural sanction was assumed2 and imagination supplied the motives which reason was supposed to be incompetent to furnish4 ,religion1 at first independent of morality1 gradually took morality under its protection2 and the supernaturalists have ever since tried to persuade mankind that the existence of ethics is bound up with that of supernaturalism4 ,i am not of that opinion4 ,but1 whether it is correct or otherwise1 it is very clear to me that1 as ,beelzebub is not to be cast out by the aid of ,beelzebub1 so morality is not to be established by immorality4 ,it is1 we are told1 the special peculiarity of the devil that he was a liar from the beginning4 ,if we set out in life with pretending to know that which we do not know2 with professing to accept for proof evidence which we are well aware is inadequate2 with wilfully shutting our eyes and our ears to facts which militate against this or that comfortable hypothesis2 we are assuredly doing our best to deserve the same character4 ,i have not the presumption to imagine that1 in #ej spite of all my efforts1 errors may not have crept into these propositions4 ,but ,i am tolerably confident that time will prove them to be substantially correct4 ,and if they are so1 ,i confess ,i do not see how any extant supernaturalistic system can also claim exactness4 ,that they are irreconcilable with the biblical cosmogony1 anthropology1 and theodicy is obvious2 but they are no less inconsistent with the sentimental ,deism of the ,vicaire ,savoyard and his numerous modern progeny4 ,it is as impossible1 to my mind1 to suppose that the evolutionary process was set going with full foreknowledge of the result and yet with what we should understand by a purely benevolent intention1 as it is to imagine that the intention was purely malevolent4 ,and the prevalence of dualistic theories from the earliest times to the present day--whether in the shape of the doctrine of the inherently evil nature of matter2 of an ,ahriman2 of a hard and cruel ,demiurge2 of a diabolical prince of this world1 show how widely this difficulty has been felt4 ,many seem to think that1 when it is admitted that the ancient literature1 contained in our ,bibles1 has no more claim to infallibility than any other ancient literature2 when it is proved that the ,israelites and their ,christian successors accepted a great many supernaturalistic theories and legends which have no better foundation than those of heathenism1 nothing remains to be done but to throw the ,bible aside as so much waste paper4 ,i have always opposed this opinion4 ,it appears to #ea me that if there is anybody more objectionable than the orthodox ,bibliolater it is the heterodox ,philistine1 who can discover in a literature which1 in some respects1 has no superior1 nothing but a subject for scoffing and an occasion for the display of his conceited ignorance of the debt he owes to former generations4 ,twenty-two years ago ,i pleaded for the use of the ,bible as an instrument of popular education1 and ,i venture to repeat what ,i then said3 ,consider the great historical fact that1 for three centuries1 this book has been woven into the life of all that is best and noblest in ,english history2 that it has become the national epic of ,britain and is as familiar to gentle and simple1 from ,john o' ,groat's ,house to ,land's ,end1 as ,dante and ,tasso once were to the ,italians2 that it is written in the noblest and purest ,english and abounds in exquisite beauties of mere literary form2 and1 finally1 that it forbids the veriest hind1 who never left his village1 to be ignorant of the existence of other countries and other civilisations and of a great past1 stretching back to the furthest limits of the oldest nations in the world4 ,by the study of what other book could children be so much humanised and made to feel that each figure in that vast historical procession fills1 like themselves1 but a momentary space in the interval between the ,eternities2 and earns the blessings or the curses of all time1 according to its effort to do good and hate evil1 even as they also are earning their payment for their work8#g #eb ,at the same time1 ,i laid stress upon the necessity of placing such instruction in lay hands2 in the hope and belief1 that it would thus gradually accommodate itself to the coming changes of opinion2 that the theology and the legend would drop more and more out of sight1 while the perennially interesting historical1 literary1 and ethical contents would come more and more into view4 ,i may add yet another claim of the ,bible to the respect and the attention of a democratic age4 ,throughout the history of the western world1 the ,scriptures1 ,jewish and ,christian1 have been the great instigators of revolt against the worst forms of clerical and political despotism4 ,the ,bible has been the ,magna ,charta of the poor and of the oppressed2 down to modern times1 no ,state has had a constitution in which the interests of the people are so largely taken into account1 in which the duties1 so much more than the privileges1 of rulers are insisted upon1 as that drawn up for ,israel in ,deuteronomy and in ,leviticus2 nowhere is the fundamental truth that the welfare of the ,state1 in the long run1 depends on the uprightness of the citizen so strongly laid down4 ,assuredly1 the ,bible talks no trash about the rights of man2 but it insists on the equality of duties1 on the liberty to bring about that righteousness which is somewhat different from struggling for rights2 on the fraternity of taking thought for one's neighbour as for oneself4 ,so far as such equality1 liberty1 and fraternity are included under the democratic principles which assume the same names1 the ,bible is the most #ec democratic book in the world4 ,as such it began1 through the heretical sects1 to undermine the clerico-political despotism of the middle ages1 almost as soon as it was formed1 in the eleventh century2 ,pope and ,king had as much as they could do to put down the ,albigenses and the ,waldenses in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries2 the ,lollards and the ,hussites gave them still more trouble in the fourteenth and fifteenth2 from the sixteenth century onward1 the ,protestant sects have favoured political freedom in proportion to the degree in which they have refused to acknowledge any ultimate authority save that of the ,bible4 ,but the enormous influence which has thus been exerted by the ,jewish and ,christian ,scriptures has had no necessary connection with cosmogonies1 demonologies1 and miraculous interferences4 ,their strength lies in their appeals1 not to the reason1 but to the ethical sense4 ,i do not say that even the highest biblical ideal is exclusive of others or needs no supplement4 ,but ,i do believe that the human race is not yet1 possibly may never be1 in a position to dispense with it4 99 99 99 99 99 #ee ,i ,,the ,,rise ,,and ,,progress ,,of ,,palaeontology ,that application of the sciences of biology and geology1 which is commonly known as palaeontology1 took its origin in the mind of the first person who1 finding something like a shell1 or a bone1 naturally embedded in gravel or rock1 indulged in speculations upon the nature of this thing which he had dug out--this fossil--and upon the causes which had brought it into such a position4 ,in this rudimentary form1 a high antiquity may safely be ascribed to palaeontology1 inasmuch as we know that1 #ejj years before the ,christian era1 the philosophic doctrines of ,xenophanes were influenced by his observations upon the fossil remains exposed in the quarries of ,syracuse4 ,from this time forth not only the philosophers1 but the poets1 the historians1 the geographers of antiquity occasionally refer to fossils2 and1 after the revival of learning1 lively controversies arose respecting their real nature4 ,but hardly more than two centuries have elapsed since this fundamental problem was first exhaustively treated2 it was only in the last century that the archaeological value of fossils--their importance1 ,i mean1 as records of the history of the earth--was fully #ef recognised2 the first adequate investigation of the fossil remains of any large group of vertebrated animals is to be found in ,cuvier's ,recherches sur les ,ossemens ,fossiles1 completed in #ahbb2 and1 so modern is stratigraphical palaeontology1 that its founder1 ,william ,smith1 lived to receive the just recognition of his services by the award of the first ,wollaston ,medal in #ahca4 ,but1 although palaeontology is a comparatively youthful scientific speciality1 the mass of materials with which it has to deal is already prodigious4 ,in the last fifty years the number of known fossil remains of invertebrated animals has been trebled or quadrupled4 ,the work of interpretation of vertebrate fossils1 the foundations of which were so solidly laid by ,cuvier1 was carried on1 with wonderful vigour and success1 by ,agassiz in ,switzerland1 by ,von ,meyer in ,germany1 and last1 but not least1 by ,owen in this country1 while1 in later years1 a multitude of workers have laboured in the same field4 ,in many groups of the animal kingdom the number of fossil forms already known is as great as that of the existing species4 ,in some cases it is much greater2 and there are entire orders of animals of the existence of which we should know nothing except for the evidence afforded by fossil remains4 ,with all this it may be safely assumed that1 at the present moment1 we are not acquainted with a tithe of the fossils which will sooner or later be discovered4 ,if we may judge by the profusion yielded within the last few years by the ,tertiary formations of ,north ,america1 there seems to be no limit to the #eg multitude of ,mammalian remains to be expected from that continent2 and analogy leads us to expect similar riches in ,eastern ,asia1 whenever the ,tertiary formations of that region are as carefully explored4 ,again1 we have as yet almost everything to learn respecting the terrestrial population of the ,mesozoic epoch--and it seems as if the ,western territories of the ,united ,states were about to prove as instructive in regard to this point as they have in respect of tertiary life4 ,my friend ,professor ,marsh informs me that1 within two years1 remains of more than #afj distinct individuals of mammals1 belonging to twenty species and nine genera1 have been found in a space not larger than the floor of a good-sized room2 while beds of the same age have yielded #cjj reptiles1 varying in size from a length of #fj feet or #hj feet to the dimensions of a rabbit4 ,the task which ,i have set myself to-night is to endeavour to lay before you1 as briefly as possible1 a sketch of the successive steps by which our present knowledge of the facts of palaeontology and of those conclusions from them which are indisputable1 has been attained2 and ,i beg leave to remind you1 at the outset1 that in attempting to sketch the progress of a branch of knowledge to which innumerable labours have contributed1 my business is rather with generalisations than with details4 ,it is my object to mark the epochs of palaeontology1 not to recount all the events of its history4 ,that which ,i just now called the fundamental problem of palaeontology1 the question which has to be #eh settled before any other can be profitably discussed1 is this1 ,what is the nature of fossils8 ,are they1 as the healthy common sense of the ancient ,greeks appears to have led them to assume without hesitation1 the remains of animals and plants8 ,or are they1 as was so generally maintained in the fifteenth1 sixteenth1 and seventeenth centuries1 mere figured stones1 portions of mineral matter which have assumed the forms of leaves and shells and bones1 just as those portions of mineral matter which we call crystals take on the form of regular geometrical solids8 ,or1 again1 are they1 as others thought1 the products of the germs of animals and of the seeds of plants which have lost their way1 as it were1 in the bowels of the earth1 and have achieved only an imperfect and abortive development8 ,it is easy to sneer at our ancestors for being disposed to reject the first in favour of one or other of the last two hypotheses2 but it is much more profitable to try to discover why they1 who were really not one whit less sensible persons than our excellent selves1 should have been led to entertain views which strike us as absurd4 ,the belief in what is erroneously called spontaneous generation1 that is to say1 in the development of living matter out of mineral matter1 apart from the agency of pre-existing living matter1 as an ordinary occurrence at the present day--which is still held by some of us1 was universally accepted as an obvious truth by them4 ,they could point to the arborescent forms assumed by hoar-frost and by sundry metallic minerals as evidence of the existence in nature of a plastic #ei force competent to enable inorganic matter to assume the form of organised bodies4 ,then1 as every one who is familiar with fossils knows1 they present innumerable gradations1 from shells and bones which exactly resemble the recent objects1 to masses of mere stone which1 however accurately they repeat the outward form of the organic body1 have nothing else in common with it2 and1 thence1 to mere traces and faint impressions in the continuous substance of the rock4 ,what we now know to be the results of the chemical changes which take place in the course of fossilisation1 by which mineral is substituted for organic substance1 might1 in the absence of such knowledge1 be fairly interpreted as the expression of a process of development in the opposite direction--from the mineral to the organic4 ,moreover1 in an age when it would have seemed the most absurd of paradoxes to suggest that the general level of the sea is constant1 while that of the solid land fluctuates up and down through thousands of feet in a secular ground swell1 it may well have appeared far less hazardous to conceive that fossils are sports of nature than to accept the necessary alternative1 that all the inland regions and highlands1 in the rocks of which marine shells had been found1 had once been covered by the ocean4 ,it is not so surprising1 therefore1 as it may at first seem1 that although such men as ,leonardo da ,vinci and ,bernard ,palissy took just views of the nature of fossils1 the opinion of the majority of their contemporaries set strongly the other way2 nor even that error maintained itself long after the #fj scientific grounds of the true interpretation of fossils had been stated1 in a manner that left nothing to be desired1 in the latter half of the seventeenth century4 ,the person who rendered this good service to palaeontology was ,nicolas ,steno1 professor of anatomy in ,florence1 though a ,dane by birth4 ,collectors of fossils at that day were familiar with certain bodies termed glossopetrae1 and speculation was rife as to their nature4 ,in the first half of the seventeenth century1 ,fabio ,colonna had tried to convince his colleagues of the famous ,accademia dei ,lincei that the glossopetrae were merely fossil sharks' teeth1 but his arguments made no impression4 ,fifty years later1 ,steno reopened the question1 and1 by dissecting the head of a shark and pointing out the very exact correspondence of its teeth with the glossopetrae1 left no rational doubt as to the origin of the latter4 ,thus far1 the work of ,steno went little further than that of ,colonna1 but it fortunately occurred to him to think out the whole subject of the interpretation of fossils1 and the result of his meditations was the publication1 in #affi1 of a little treatise with the very quaint title of ,de ,solido intra ,solidum naturaliter contento4 ,the general course of ,steno's argument may be stated in a few words4 ,fossils are solid bodies which1 by some natural process1 have come to be contained within other solid bodies1 namely1 the rocks in which they are embedded2 and the fundamental problem of palaeontology1 stated generally1 is this3 ,given a body endowed with a certain shape and produced in accordance with natural laws1 to find #fa in that body itself the evidence of the place and manner of its production4#h ,the only way of solving this problem is by the application of the axiom that like effects imply like causes1 or as ,steno puts it1 in reference to this particular case1 that bodies which are altogether similar have been produced in the same way4#i ,hence1 since the glossopetrae are altogether similar to sharks' teeth1 they must have been produced by sharklike fishes2 and since many fossil shells correspond1 down to the minutest details of structure1 with the shells of existing marine or freshwater animals1 they must have been produced by similar animals2 and the like reasoning is applied by ,steno to the fossil bones of vertebrated animals1 whether aquatic or terrestrial4 ,to the obvious objection that many fossils are not altogether similar to their living analogues1 differing in substance while agreeing in form1 or being mere hollows or impressions1 the surfaces of which are figured in the same way as those of animal or vegetable organisms1 ,steno replies by pointing out the changes which take place in organic remains embedded in the earth1 and how their solid substance may be dissolved away entirely1 or replaced by mineral matter1 until nothing is left of the original but a cast1 an impression1 or a mere trace of its contours4 ,the principles of investigation thus excellently stated and illustrated by ,steno in #affi1 are those which have1 #fb consciously or unconsciously1 guided the researches of palaeontologists ever since4 ,even that feat of palaeontology which has so powerfully impressed the popular imagination1 the reconstruction of an extinct animal from a tooth or a bone1 is based upon the simplest imaginable application of the logic of ,steno4 ,a moment's consideration will show1 in fact1 that ,steno's conclusion that the glossopetrae are sharks' teeth implies the reconstruction of an animal from its tooth4 ,it is equivalent to the assertion that the animal of which the glossopetrae are relics had the form and organisation of a shark2 that it had a skull1 a vertebral column1 and limbs similar to those which are characteristic of this group of fishes2 that its heart1 gills1 and intestines presented the peculiarities which those of all sharks exhibit2 nay1 even that any hard parts which its integument contained were of a totally different character from the scales of ordinary fishes4 ,these conclusions are as certain as any based upon probable reasonings can be4 ,and they are so1 simply because a very large experience justifies us in believing that teeth of this particular form and structure are invariably associated with the peculiar organisation of sharks1 and are never found in connection with other organisms4 ,why this should be we are not at present in a position even to imagine2 we must take the fact as an empirical law of animal morphology1 the reason of which may possibly be one day found in the history of the evolution of the shark tribe1 but for which it is hopeless to seek for an explanation in ordinary physiological reasonings4 ,every one #fc practically acquainted with palaeontology is aware that it is not every tooth1 nor every bone1 which enables us to form a judgment of the character of the animal to which it belonged2 and that it is possible to possess many teeth1 and even a large portion of the skeleton of an extinct animal1 and yet be unable to reconstruct its skull or its limbs4 ,it is only when the tooth or bone presents peculiarities1 which we know by previous experience to be characteristic of a certain group1 that we can safely predict that the fossil belonged to an animal of the same group4 ,any one who finds a cow's grinder may be perfectly sure that it belonged to an animal which had two complete toes on each foot and ruminated2 any one who finds a horse's grinder may be as sure that it had one complete toe on each foot and did not ruminate2 but if ruminants and horses were extinct animals of which nothing but the grinders had ever been discovered1 no amount of physiological reasoning could have enabled us to reconstruct either animal1 still less to have divined the wide differences between the two4 ,cuvier1 in the ,discours sur les ,revolutions de la ,surface du ,globe1 strangely credits himself1 and has ever since been credited by others1 with the invention of a new method of palaeontological research4 ,but if you will turn to the ,recherches sur les ,ossemens ,fossiles and watch ,cuvier1 not speculating1 but working1 you will find that his method is neither more nor less than that of ,steno4 ,if he was able to make his famous prophecy from the jaw which lay upon the surface of a block of stone to the pelvis of the same animal which lay hidden in it1 it was not #fd because either he1 or any one else1 knew1 or knows1 why a certain form of jaw is1 as a rule1 constantly accompanied by the presence of marsupial bones1 but simply because experience has shown that these two structures are co-ordinated4 ,the settlement of the nature of fossils led at once to the next advance of palaeontology1 viz4 its application to the deciphering of the history of the earth4 ,when it was admitted that fossils are remains of animals and plants1 it followed that1 in so far as they resemble terrestrial1 or freshwater1 animals and plants1 they are evidences of the existence of land1 or fresh water2 and1 in so far as they resemble marine organisms1 they are evidences of the existence of the sea at the time at which they were parts of actually living animals and plants4 ,moreover1 in the absence of evidence to the contrary1 it must be admitted that the terrestrial or the marine organisms implied the existence of land or sea at the place in which they were found while they were yet living4 ,in fact1 such conclusions were immediately drawn by everybody1 from the time of ,xenophanes downwards1 who believed that fossils were really organic remains4 ,steno discusses their value as evidence of repeated alteration of marine and terrestrial conditions upon the soil of ,tuscany in a manner worthy of a modern geologist4 ,the speculations of ,de ,maillet in the beginning of the eighteenth century turn upon fossils2 and ,buffon follows him very closely in those two remarkable works1 the ,theorie de la ,terre and the ,epoques de la ,nature1 with #fe which he commenced and ended his career as a naturalist4 ,the opening sentences of the ,epoques de la ,nature show us how fully ,buffon recognised the analogy of geological with archaeological inquiries4 ,as in civil history we consult deeds1 seek for coins1 or decipher antique inscriptions in order to determine the epochs of human revolutions and fix the date of moral events2 so1 in natural history1 we must search the archives of the world1 recover old monuments from the bowels of the earth1 collect their fragmentary remains1 and gather into one body of evidence all the signs of physical change which may enable us to look back upon the different ages of nature4 ,it is our only means of fixing some points in the immensity of space1 and of setting a certain number of waymarks along the eternal path of time4 ,buffon enumerates five classes of these monuments of the past history of the earth1 and they are all facts of palaeontology4 ,in the first place1 he says1 shells and other marine productions are found all over the surface and in the interior of the dry land2 and all calcareous rocks are made up of their remains4 ,secondly1 a great many of these shells which are found in ,europe are not now to be met with in the adjacent seas2 and1 in the slates and other deep-seated deposits1 there are remains of fishes and of plants of which no species now exist in our latitudes1 and which are either extinct1 or exist only in more northern climates4 ,thirdly1 in ,siberia and in other northern regions of ,europe and of ,asia1 bones and #ff teeth of elephants1 rhinoceroses1 and hippopotamuses occur in such numbers that these animals must once have lived and multiplied in those regions1 although at the present day they are confined to southern climates4 ,the deposits in which these remains are found are superficial1 while those which contain shells and other marine remains lie much deeper4 ,fourthly1 tusks and bones of elephants and hippopotamuses are found not only in the northern regions of the old world1 but also in those of the new world1 although1 at present1 neither elephants nor hippopotamuses occur in ,america4 ,fifthly1 in the middle of the continents1 in regions most remote from the sea1 we find an infinite number of shells1 of which the most part belong to animals of those kinds which still exist in southern seas1 but of which many others have no living analogues2 so that these species appear to be lost1 destroyed by some unknown cause4 ,it is needless to inquire how far these statements are strictly accurate2 they are sufficiently so to justify ,buffon's conclusions that the dry land was once beneath the sea2 that the formation of the fossiliferous rocks must have occupied a vastly greater lapse of time than that traditionally ascribed to the age of the earth2 that fossil remains indicate different climatal conditions to have obtained in former times1 and especially that the polar regions were once warmer2 that many species of animals and plants have become extinct2 and that geological change has had something to do with geographical distribution4 ,but these propositions almost constitute the framework of palaeontology4 ,in order to complete it but #fg one addition was needed1 and that was made1 in the last years of the eighteenth century1 by ,william ,smith1 whose work comes so near our own times that many living men may have been personally acquainted with him4 ,this modest land-surveyor1 whose business took him into many parts of ,england1 profited by the peculiarly favourable conditions offered by the arrangement of our secondary strata to make a careful examination and comparison of their fossil contents at different points of the large area over which they extend4 ,the result of his accurate and widely-extended observations was to establish the important truth that each stratum contains certain fossils which are peculiar to it2 and that the order in which the strata1 characterised by these fossils1 are superimposed one upon the other is always the same4 ,this most important generalisation was rapidly verified and extended to all parts of the world accessible to geologists2 and now it rests upon such an immense mass of observations as to be one of the best established truths of natural science4 ,to the geologist the discovery was of infinite importance1 as it enabled him to identify rocks of the same relative age1 however their continuity might be interrupted or their composition altered4 ,but to the biologist it had a still deeper meaning1 for it demonstrated that1 throughout the prodigious duration of time registered by the fossiliferous rocks1 the living population of the earth had undergone continual changes1 not merely by the extinction of a certain number of the species which had at first existed1 but by the continual generation #fh of new species1 and the no less constant extinction of old ones4 ,thus the broad outlines of palaeontology1 in so far as it is the common property of both the geologist and the biologist1 were marked out at the close of the last century4 ,in tracing its subsequent progress ,i must confine myself to the province of biology1 and1 indeed1 to the influence of palaeontology upon zoological morphology4 ,and ,i accept this limitation the more willingly as the no less important topic of the bearing of geology and of palaeontology upon distribution has been luminously treated in the address of the ,president of the ,geographical ,section4#aj ,the succession of the species of animals and plants in time being established1 the first question which the zoologist or the botanist had to ask himself was1 ,what is the relation of these successive species one to another8 ,and it is a curious circumstance that the most important event in the history of palaeontology which immediately succeeded ,william ,smith's generalisation was a discovery which1 could it have been rightly appreciated at the time1 would have gone far towards suggesting the answer1 which was in fact delayed for more than half a century4 ,i refer to ,cuvier's investigation of the ,mammalian fossils yielded by the quarries in the older tertiary rocks of ,montmartre1 among the chief results of which was the bringing to light of two genera of extinct hoofed quadrupeds1 the ,anoplotherium and the ,palaeotherium4 ,the rich materials at ,cuvier's disposition enabled him #fi to obtain a full knowledge of the osteology and of the dentition of these two forms1 and consequently to compare their structure critically with that of existing hoofed animals4 ,the effect of this comparison was to prove that the ,anoplotherium1 though it presented many points of resemblance with the pigs on the one hand and with the ruminants on the other1 differed from both to such an extent that it could find a place in neither group4 ,in fact1 it held1 in some respects1 an intermediate position1 tending to bridge over the interval between these two groups1 which in the existing fauna are so distinct4 ,in the same way1 the ,palaeotherium tended to connect forms so different as the tapir1 the rhinoceros1 and the horse4 ,subsequent investigations have brought to light a variety of facts of the same order1 the most curious and striking of which are those which prove the existence1 in the mesozoic epoch1 of a series of forms intermediate between birds and reptiles--two classes of vertebrate animals which at present appear to be more widely separated than any others4 ,yet the interval between them is completely filled1 in the mesozoic fauna1 by birds which have reptilian characters on the one side1 and reptiles which have ornithic characters on the other4 ,so again1 while the group of fishes termed ganoids is at the present time so distinct from that of the dipnoi1 or mudfishes1 that they have been reckoned as distinct orders1 the ,devonian strata present us with forms of which it is impossible to say with certainty whether they are dipnoi or whether they are ganoids4 #gj ,agassiz's long and elaborate researches upon fossil fishes1 published between #ahcc and #ahdb1 led him to suggest the existence of another kind of relation between ancient and modern forms of life4 ,he observed that the oldest fishes present many characters which recall the embryonic conditions of existing fishes2 and that1 not only among fishes1 but in several groups of the invertebrata which have a long palaeontological history1 the latest forms are more modified1 more specialised1 than the earlier4 ,the fact that the dentition of the older tertiary ungulate and carnivorous mammals is always complete1 noticed by ,professor ,owen1 illustrated the same generalisation4 ,another no less suggestive observation was made by ,mr4 ,darwin1 whose personal investigations during the voyage of the ,beagle led him to remark upon the singular fact1 that the fauna1 which immediately precedes that at present existing in any geographical province of distribution1 presents the same peculiarities as its successor4 ,thus1 in ,south ,america and in ,australia1 the later tertiary or quaternary fossils show that the fauna which immediately preceded that of the present day was1 in the one case1 as much characterised by edentates and1 in the other1 by marsupials as it is now1 although the species of the older are largely different from those of the newer fauna4 ,however clearly these indications might point in one direction1 the question of the exact relation of the successive forms of animal and vegetable life could be satisfactorily settled only in one way2 namely1 by comparing1 stage by stage1 the series of #ga forms presented by one and the same type throughout a long space of time4 ,within the last few years this has been done fully in the case of the horse1 less completely in the case of the other principal types of the ungulata and of the carnivora2 and all these investigations tend to one general result1 namely1 that1 in any given series1 the successive members of that series present a gradually increasing specialisation of structure4 ,that is to say1 if any such mammal at present existing has specially modified and reduced limbs or dentition and complicated brain1 its predecessors in time show less and less modification and reduction in limbs and teeth and a less highly developed brain4 ,the labours of ,gaudry1 ,marsh1 and ,cope furnish abundant illustrations of this law from the marvellous fossil wealth of ,pikermi and the vast uninterrupted series of tertiary rocks in the territories of ,north ,america4 ,i will now sum up the results of this sketch of the rise and progress of palaeontology4 ,the whole fabric of palaeontology is based upon two propositions3 the first is1 that fossils are the remains of animals and plants2 and the second is1 that the stratified rocks in which they are found are sedimentary deposits2 and each of these propositions is founded upon the same axiom1 that like effects imply like causes4 ,if there is any cause competent to produce a fossil stem1 or shell1 or bone1 except a living being1 then palaeontology has no foundation2 if the stratification of the rocks is not the effect of such causes as at present produce #gb stratification1 we have no means of judging of the duration of past time1 or of the order in which the forms of life have succeeded one another4 ,but if these two propositions are granted1 there is no escape1 as it appears to me1 from three very important conclusions4 ,the first is that living matter has existed upon the earth for a vast length of time1 certainly for millions of years4 ,the second is that1 during this lapse of time1 the forms of living matter have undergone repeated changes1 the effect of which has been that the animal and vegetable population1 at any period of the earth's history1 contains some species which did not exist at some antecedent period1 and others which ceased to exist at some subsequent period4 ,the third is that1 in the case of many groups of mammals and some of reptiles1 in which one type can be followed through a considerable extent of geological time1 the series of different forms by which the type is represented1 at successive intervals of this time1 is exactly such as it would be1 if they had been produced by the gradual modification of the earliest forms of the series4 ,these are facts of the history of the earth guaranteed by as good evidence as any facts in civil history4 ,hitherto ,i have kept carefully clear of all the hypotheses to which men have at various times endeavoured to fit the facts of palaeontology1 or by which they have endeavoured to connect as many of these facts as they happened to be acquainted with4 ,i do not think it would be a profitable employment of our time to discuss conceptions which doubtless have had their justification and even their use1 but which #gc are now obviously incompatible with the well-ascertained truths of palaeontology4 ,at present these truths leave room for only two hypotheses4 ,the first is that1 in the course of the history of the earth1 innumerable species of animals and plants have come into existence1 independently of one another1 innumerable times4 ,this1 of course1 implies either that spontaneous generation on the most astounding scale1 and of animals such as horses and elephants1 has been going on1 as a natural process1 through all the time recorded by the fossiliferous rocks2 or it necessitates the belief in innumerable acts of creation repeated innumerable times4 ,the other hypothesis is1 that the successive species of animals and plants have arisen1 the later by the gradual modification of the earlier4 ,this is the hypothesis of evolution2 and the palaeontological discoveries of the last decade are so completely in accordance with the requirements of this hypothesis that1 if it had not existed1 the palaeontologist would have had to invent it4 ,i have always had a certain horror of presuming to set a limit upon the possibilities of things4 ,therefore ,i will not venture to say that it is impossible that the multitudinous species of animals and plants may have been produced1 one separately from the other1 by spontaneous generation2 nor that it is impossible that they should have been independently originated by an endless succession of miraculous creative acts4 ,but ,i must confess that both these hypotheses strike me as so astoundingly improbable1 so devoid of a shred of either scientific or traditional support1 that even if #gd there were no other evidence than that of palaeontology in its favour1 ,i should feel compelled to adopt the hypothesis of evolution4 ,happily1 the future of palaeontology is independent of all hypothetical considerations4 ,fifty years hence1 whoever undertakes to record the progress of palaeontology will note the present time as the epoch in which the law of succession of the forms of the higher animals was determined by the observation of palaeontological facts4 ,he will point out that1 just as ,steno and as ,cuvier were enabled from their knowledge of the empirical laws of coexistence of the parts of animals to conclude from a part to the whole1 so the knowledge of the law of succession of forms empowered their successors to conclude1 from one or two terms of such a succession1 to the whole series2 and thus to divine the existence of forms of life1 of which1 perhaps1 no trace remains1 at epochs of inconceivable remoteness in the past4 99 99 99 99 99 #ge ,,ii ,,the ,,interpreters ,,of ,,genesis ,,and ,,the ,,interpreters ,,of ,,nature ,our fabulist warns those who in quarrels interpose of the fate which is probably in store for them2 and1 in venturing to place myself between so powerful a controversialist as ,mr4 ,gladstone and the eminent divine whom he assaults with such vigour in the last number of this ,review1#aa ,i am fully aware that ,i run great danger of verifying ,gay's prediction4 ,moreover1 it is quite possible that my zeal in offering aid to a combatant so extremely well able to take care of himself as ,m4 ,reville may be thought to savour of indiscretion4 ,two considerations1 however1 have led me to face the double risk4 ,the one is that though1 in my judgment1 ,m4 ,reville is wholly in the right in that part of the controversy to which ,i propose to restrict my observations1 nevertheless he1 as a foreigner1 has very little chance of making the truth prevail with ,englishmen against the authority and the dialectic skill of the greatest master of persuasive rhetoric among ,english-speaking men of our time4 #gf ,as the ,queen's proctor intervenes1 in certain cases1 between two litigants in the interests of justice1 so it may be permitted me to interpose as a sort of uncommissioned science proctor4 ,my second excuse for my meddlesomeness is1 that important questions of natural science--respecting which neither of the combatants professes to speak as an expert--are involved in the controversy2 and ,i think it is desirable that the public should know what it is that natural science really has to say on these topics1 to the best belief of one who has been a diligent student of natural science for the last forty years4 ,the original ,prolegomenes de l'histoire des ,religions has not come in my way2 but ,i have read the translation of ,m4 ,reville's work1 published in ,england under the auspices of ,professor ,max ,mueller1 with very great interest4 ,it puts more fairly and clearly than any book previously known to me1 the view which a man of strong religious feelings1 but at the same time possessing the information and the reasoning power which enable him to estimate the strength of scientific methods of inquiry and the weight of scientific truth1 may be expected to take of the relation between science and religion4 ,in the chapter on ,the ,primitive ,revelation the scientific worth of the account of the ,creation given in the book of ,genesis is estimated in terms which are as unquestionably respectful as1 in my judgment1 they are just2 and1 at the end of the chapter on ,primitive ,tradition1 ,m4 ,reville appraises the value of pentateuchal anthropology in a way which ,i should #gg have thought sure of enlisting the assent of all competent judges1 even if it were extended to the whole of the cosmogony and biology of ,genesis3-- ,as1 however1 the original traditions of nations sprang up in an epoch less remote than our own from the primitive life1 it is indispensable to consult them1 to compare them1 and to associate them with other sources of information which are available4 ,from this point of view1 the traditions recorded in ,genesis possess1 in addition to their own peculiar charm1 a value of the highest order2 but we cannot ultimately see in them more than a venerable fragment1 well deserving attention1 of the great genesis of mankind4 ,mr4 ,gladstone is of a different mind4 ,he dissents from ,m4 ,reville's views respecting the proper estimation of the pentateuchal traditions1 no less than he does from his interpretation of those ,homeric myths which have been the object of his own special study4 ,in the latter case1 ,mr4 ,gladstone tells ,m4 ,reville that he is wrong on his own authority1 to which1 in such a matter1 all will pay due respect3 in the former1 he affirms himself to be wholly destitute of that kind of knowledge which carries authority1 and his rebuke is administered in the name and by the authority of natural science4 ,an air of magisterial gravity hangs about the following passage3-- ,but the question is not here of a lofty poem1 or a skilfully constructed narrative3 it is whether natural science1 in the patient exercise of its high calling to examine facts1 finds that the works of ,god cry out against what we have fondly believed to be ,his word and tell another tale2 or whether1 in this nineteenth century of ,christian progress1 it substantially echoes back the majestic sound1 which1 before it existed as a pursuit1 went forth into all lands4 #gh ,first1 looking largely at the latter portion of the narrative1 which describes the creation of living organisms1 and waiving details1 on some of which 7as in v4 #bd7 the ,septuagint seems to vary from the ,hebrew1 there is a grand fourfold division1 set forth in an orderly succession of times as follows3 on the fifth day #a4 ,the water-population2 #b4 ,the air-population2 and1 on the sixth day1 #c4 ,the land-population of animals2 #d4 ,the land-population consummated in man4 ,now this same fourfold order is understood to have been so affirmed in our time by natural science1 that it may be taken as a demonstrated conclusion and established fact 7p4 #fif74 ,understood8 ,by whom8 ,i cannot bring myself to imagine that ,mr4 ,gladstone has made so solemn and authoritative a statement on a matter of this importance without due inquiry--without being able to found himself upon recognised scientific authority4 ,but ,i wish he had thought fit to name the source from whence he has derived his information1 as1 in that case1 ,i could have dealt with his authority1 and ,i should have thereby escaped the appearance of making an attack on ,mr4 ,gladstone himself1 which is in every way distasteful to me4 ,for ,i can meet the statement in the last paragraph of the above citation with nothing but a direct negative4 ,if ,i know anything at all about the results attained by the natural science of our time1 it is a demonstrated conclusion and established fact that the fourfold order given by ,mr4 ,gladstone is not that in which the evidence at our disposal #gi tends to show that the water1 air1 and land-populations of the globe have made their appearance4 ,perhaps ,i may be told that ,mr4 ,gladstone does give his authority--that he cites ,cuvier1 ,sir ,john ,herschel1 and ,dr4 ,whewell in support of his case4 ,if that has been ,mr4 ,gladstone's intention in mentioning these eminent names1 ,i may remark that1 on this particular question1 the only relevant authority is that of ,cuvier4 ,but great as ,cuvier was1 it is to be remembered that1 as ,mr4 ,gladstone incidentally remarks1 he cannot now be called a recent authority4 ,in fact1 he has been dead more than half a century2 and the palaeontology of our day is related to that of his1 very much as the geography of the sixteenth century is related to that of the fourteenth4 ,since #ahcb1 when ,cuvier died1 not only a new world1 but new worlds1 of ancient life have been discovered2 and those who have most faithfully carried on the work of the chief founder of palaeontology have done most to invalidate the essentially negative grounds of his speculative adherence to tradition4 ,if ,mr4 ,gladstone's latest information on these matters is derived from the famous discourse prefixed to the ,ossemens ,fossiles1 ,i can understand the position he has taken up2 if he has ever opened a respectable modern manual of palaeontology1 or geology1 ,i cannot4 ,for the facts which demolish his whole argument are of the commonest notoriety4 ,but before proceeding to consider the evidence for this assertion we must be clear about the meaning of the phraseology employed4 #hj ,i apprehend that when ,mr4 ,gladstone uses the term water-population he means those animals which in ,genesis i4 #ba 7,revised ,version7 are spoken of as the great sea monsters and every living creature that moveth1 which the waters brought forth abundantly1 after their kind4 ,and ,i presume that it will be agreed that whales and porpoises1 sea fishes1 and the innumerable hosts of marine invertebrated animals1 are meant thereby4 ,so air-population must be the equivalent of fowl in verse #bj1 and every winged fowl after its kind1 verse #ba4 ,i suppose ,i may take it for granted that by fowl we have here to understand birds--at any rate primarily4 ,secondarily1 it may be that the bats and the extinct pterodactyles1 which were flying reptiles1 come under the same head4 ,but whether all insects are creeping things of the land-population1 or whether flying insects are to be included under the denomination of winged fowl1 is a point for the decision of ,hebrew exegetes4 ,lastly1 ,i suppose ,i may assume that land-population signifies the cattle and the beast of the earth1 and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth1 in verses #be and #bf2 presumably1 it comprehends all kinds of terrestrial animals1 vertebrate and invertebrate1 except such as may be comprised under the head of the air-population4 ,now what ,i want to make clear is this3 that if the terms water-population1 air-population1 and land-population are understood in the senses here defined1 natural science has nothing to say in favour of the proposition that they succeeded one another in #ha the order given by ,mr4 ,gladstone2 but that1 on the contrary1 all the evidence we possess goes to prove that they did not4 ,whence it will follow that1 if ,mr4 ,gladstone has interpreted ,genesis rightly 7on which point ,i am most anxious to be understood to offer no opinion71 that interpretation is wholly irreconcilable with the conclusions at present accepted by the interpreters of nature--with everything that can be called a demonstrated conclusion and established fact of natural science4 ,and be it observed that ,i am not here dealing with a question of speculation1 but with a question of fact4 ,either the geological record is sufficiently complete to afford us a means of determining the order in which animals have made their appearance on the globe or it is not4 ,if it is1 the determination of that order is little more than a mere matter of observation2 if it is not1 then natural science neither affirms nor refutes the fourfold order1 but is simply silent4 ,the series of the fossiliferous deposits1 which contain the remains of the animals which have lived on the earth in past ages of its history1 and which can alone afford the evidence required by natural science of the order of appearance of their different species1 may be grouped in the manner shown in the left-hand column of the following table1 the oldest being at the bottom3-- ,formations ,first known appearance of ,quaternary4 ,pliocene4 ,miocene4 ,eocene4 ,vertebrate air-population 7,bats74 #hb ,cretaceous4 ,jurassic ,vertebrate air-population 7,birds and ,pterodactyles74 ,triassic4 ,upper ,palaeozoic4 ,middle ,palaeozoic ,vertebrate land-population 7,amphibia1 ,reptilia 874 ,lower ,palaeozoic4 ,silurian4 ,vertebrate water-population 7,fishes74 ,invertebrate air and land-population 7,flying ,insects and ,scorpions74 ,cambrian ,invertebrate water-population 7much earlier1 if ,eozoon is animal74 ,in the right-hand column ,i have noted the group of strata in which1 according to our present information1 the land1 air1 and water-populations respectively appear for the first time2 and in consequence of the ambiguity about the meaning of fowl1 ,i have separately indicated the first appearance of bats1 birds1 flying reptiles1 and flying insects4 ,it will be observed that1 if fowl means only bird1 or at most flying vertebrate1 then the first certain evidence of the latter1 in the ,jurassic epoch1 is posterior to the first appearance of truly terrestrial ,amphibia1 and possibly of true reptiles1 in the ,carboniferous epoch 7,middle ,palaeozoic7 by a prodigious interval of time4 ,the water-population of vertebrated animals first appears in the ,upper ,silurian4#ab ,therefore1 if we found ourselves on vertebrated animals and take fowl to mean birds only1 or1 at most1 flying vertebrates1 natural science says that the order of succession was water1 land1 and air-population1 and #hc not--as ,mr4 ,gladstone1 founding himself on ,genesis1 says--water1 air1 land-population4 ,if a chronicler of ,greece affirmed that the age of ,alexander preceded that of ,pericles and immediately succeeded that of the ,trojan war1 ,mr4 ,gladstone would hardly say that this order is understood to have been so affirmed by historical science that it may be taken as a demonstrated conclusion and established fact4 ,yet natural science affirms his fourfold order to exactly the same extent--neither more nor less4 ,suppose1 however1 that fowl is to be taken to include flying insects4 ,in that case1 the first appearance of an air-population must be shifted back for long ages1 recent discovery having shown that they occur in rocks of ,silurian age4 ,hence there might still have been hope for the fourfold order1 were it not that the fates unkindly determined that scorpions--creeping things that creep on the earth par excellence--turned up in ,silurian strata nearly at the same time4 ,so that1 if the word in the original ,hebrew translated fowl should really after all mean cockroach--and ,i have great faith in the elasticity of that tongue in the hands of ,biblical exegetes--the order primarily suggested by the existing evidence-- #b4 ,land and air-population2 #a4 ,water-population2 and ,mr4 ,gladstone's order-- #c4 ,land-population2 #b4 ,air-population2 #a4 ,water-population2 #hd can by no means be made to coincide4 ,as a matter of fact1 then1 the statement so confidently put forward turns out to be devoid of foundation and in direct contradiction of the evidence at present at our disposal4#ac ,if1 stepping beyond that which may be learned from the facts of the successive appearance of the forms of animal life upon the surface of the globe1 in so far as they are yet made known to us by natural science1 we apply our reasoning faculties to the task of finding out what those observed facts mean1 the present conclusions of the interpreters of nature appear to be no less directly in conflict with those of the latest interpreter of ,genesis4 ,mr4 ,gladstone appears to admit that there is some truth in the doctrine of evolution1 and indeed places it under very high patronage4 ,i contend that evolution in its highest form has not been a #he thing heretofore unknown to history1 to philosophy1 or to theology4 ,i contend that it was before the mind of ,saint ,paul when he taught that in the fulness of time ,god sent forth ,his ,son1 and of ,eusebius when he wrote the ,preparation for the ,gospel1 and of ,augustine when he composed the ,city of ,god 7p4 #gjf74 ,has any one ever disputed the contention1 thus solemnly enunciated1 that the doctrine of evolution was not invented the day before yesterday8 ,has any one ever dreamed of claiming it as a modern innovation8 ,is there any one so ignorant of the history of philosophy as to be unaware that it is one of the forms in which speculation embodied itself long before the time either of the ,bishop of ,hippo or of the ,apostle to the ,gentiles8 ,is ,mr4 ,gladstone1 of all people in the world1 disposed to ignore the founders of ,greek philosophy1 to say nothing of ,indian sages to whom evolution was a familiar notion ages before ,paul of ,tarsus was born8 ,but it is ungrateful to cavil at even the most oblique admission of the possible value of one of those affirmations of natural science which really may be said to be a demonstrated conclusion and established fact4 ,i note it with pleasure1 if only for the purpose of introducing the observation that1 if there is any truth whatever in the doctrine of evolution as applied to animals1 ,mr4 ,gladstone's gloss on ,genesis in the following passage is hardly happy3-- ,god created 7a7 ,the water-population2 7b7 ,the air-population4 ,and they receive ,his benediction 7v4 #bj-bc74 #hf #f4 ,pursuing this regular progression from the lower to the higher1 from the simple to the complex1 the text now gives us the work of the sixth day1 which supplies the land-population1 air and water having been already supplied 7pp4 #fie1 #fif74 ,the gloss to which ,i refer is the assumption that the air-population forms a term in the order of progression from lower to higher1 from simple to complex--the place of which lies between the water-population below and the land-population above--and ,i speak of it as a gloss1 because the pentateuchal writer is nowise responsible for it4 ,but it is not true that the air-population1 as a whole1 is lower or less complex than the land-population4 ,on the contrary1 every beginner in the study of animal morphology is aware that the organisation of a bat1 of a bird1 or of a pterodactyle presupposes that of a terrestrial quadruped2 and that it is intelligible only as an extreme modification of the organisation of a terrestrial mammal or reptile4 ,in the same way winged insects 7if they are to be counted among the air-population7 presuppose insects which were wingless1 and1 therefore1 as creeping things1 were part of the land-population4 ,thus theory is as much opposed as observation to the admission that natural science endorses the succession of animal life which ,mr4 ,gladstone finds in ,genesis4 ,on the contrary1 a good many representatives of natural science would be prepared to say1 on theoretical grounds alone1 that it is incredible that the air-population should have appeared before the land-population--and that1 if this assertion is to be #hg found in ,genesis1 it merely demonstrates the scientific worthlessness of the story of which it forms a part4 ,indeed1 we may go further4 ,it is not even admissible to say that the water-population1 as a whole1 appeared before the air and the land-populations4 ,according to the ,authorised ,version1 ,genesis especially mentions1 among the animals created on the fifth day1 great whales1 in place of which the ,revised ,version reads great sea monsters4 ,far be it from me to give an opinion which rendering is right1 or whether either is right4 ,all ,i desire to remark is1 that if whales and porpoises1 dugongs and manatees1 are to be regarded as members of the water-population 7and if they are not1 what animals can claim the designation871 then that much of the water-population has1 as certainly1 originated later than the land-population as bats and birds have4 ,for ,i am not aware that any competent judge would hesitate to admit that the organisation of these animals shows the most obvious signs of their descent from terrestrial quadrupeds4 ,a similar criticism applies to ,mr4 ,gladstone's assumption that1 as the fourth act of that orderly succession of times enunciated in ,genesis1 the land-population consummated in man4 ,if this means simply that man is the final term in the evolutional series of which he forms a part1 ,i do not suppose that any objection will be raised to that statement on the part of students of natural science4 ,but if the pentateuchal author goes further than this1 and intends to say that which is ascribed to him by #hh ,mr4 ,gladstone1 ,i think natural science will have to enter a caveat4 ,it is by not any means certain that man--,i mean the species ,homo sapiens of zoological terminology--has consummated the land-population in the sense of appearing at a later period of time than any other4 ,let me make my meaning clear by an example4 ,from a morphological point of view1 our beautiful and useful contemporary--,i might almost call him colleague--the horse 7,equus caballus71 is the last term of the evolutional series to which he belongs1 just as ,homo sapiens is the last term of the series of which he is a member4 ,if ,i want to know whether the species ,equus caballus made its appearance on the surface of the globe before or after ,homo sapiens1 deduction from known laws does not help me4 ,there is no reason1 that ,i know of1 why one should have appeared sooner or later than the other4 ,if ,i turn to observation1 ,i find abundant remains of ,equus caballus in ,quaternary strata1 perhaps a little earlier4 ,the existence of ,homo sapiens in the ,quaternary epoch is also certain4 ,evidence has been adduced in favour of man's existence in the ,pliocene1 or even in the ,miocene epoch4 ,it does not satisfy me2 but ,i have no reason to doubt that the fact may be so1 nevertheless4 ,indeed1 ,i think it is quite possible that further research will show that ,homo sapiens existed1 not only before ,equus caballus1 but before many other of the existing forms of animal life2 so that1 if all the species of animals have been separately created1 man1 in this case1 would by no means be the consummation of the land-population4 #hi ,i am raising no objection to the position of the fourth term in ,mr4 ,gladstone's order--on the facts1 as they stand1 it is quite open to any one to hold1 as a pious opinion1 that the fabrication of man was the acme and final achievement of the process of peopling the globe4 ,but it must not be said that natural science counts this opinion among her demonstrated conclusions and established facts1 for there would be just as much1 or as little1 reason for ranging the contrary opinion among them4 ,it may seem superfluous to add to the evidence that ,mr4 ,gladstone has been utterly misled in supposing that his interpretation of ,genesis receives any support from natural science4 ,but it is as well to do one's work thoroughly while one is about it2 and ,i think it may be advisable to point out that the facts1 as they are at present known1 not only refute ,mr4 ,gladstone's interpretation of ,genesis in detail1 but are opposed to the central idea on which it appears to be based4 ,there must be some position from which the reconcilers of science and ,genesis will not retreat1 some central idea the maintenance of which is vital and its refutation fatal4 ,even if they now allow that the words the evening and the morning have not the least reference to a natural day1 but mean a period of any number of millions of years that may be necessary2 even if they are driven to admit that the word creation1 which so many millions of pious ,jews and ,christians have held1 and still hold1 to mean a sudden act of the ,deity1 signifies a process of gradual #ij evolution of one species from another1 extending through immeasurable time2 even if they are willing to grant that the asserted coincidence of the order of ,nature with the fourfold order ascribed to ,genesis is an obvious error instead of an established truth2 they are surely prepared to make a last stand upon the conception which underlies the whole1 and which constitutes the essence of ,mr4 ,gladstone's fourfold division1 set forth in an orderly succession of times4 ,it is1 that the animal species which compose the water-population1 the air-population1 and the land-population respectively1 originated during three distinct and successive periods of time1 and only during those periods of time4 ,this statement appears to me to be the interpretation of ,genesis which ,mr4 ,gladstone supports1 reduced to its simplest expression4 ,period of time is substituted for day2 originated is substituted for created2 and any order required for that adopted by ,mr4 ,gladstone4 ,it is necessary to make this proviso1 for if day may mean a few million years1 and creation may mean evolution1 then it is obvious that the order 7#a7 water-population1 7#b7 air-population1 7#c7 land-population1 may also mean 7#a7 water-population1 7#b7 land-population1 7#c7 air-population2 and it would be unkind to bind down the reconcilers to this detail when one has parted with so many others to oblige them4 ,but even this sublimated essence of the pentateuchal doctrine 7if it be such7 remains as discordant with natural science as ever4 #ia ,it is not true that the species composing any one of the three populations originated during any one of three successive periods of time1 and not at any other of these4 ,undoubtedly1 it is in the highest degree probable that animal life appeared first under aquatic conditions2 that terrestrial forms appeared later1 and flying animals only after land animals2 but it is1 at the same time1 testified by all the evidence we possess1 that the great majority1 if not the whole1 of the primordial species of each division have long since died out and have been replaced by a vast succession of new forms4 ,hundreds of thousands of animal species1 as distinct as those which now compose our water1 land1 and air-populations1 have come into existence and died out again1 throughout the aeons of geological time which separate us from the lower ,palaeozoic epoch1 when1 as ,i have pointed out1 our present evidence of the existence of such distinct populations commences4 ,if the species of animals have all been separately created1 then it follows that hundreds of thousands of acts of creative energy have occurred1 at intervals1 throughout the whole time recorded by the fossiliferous rocks2 and1 during the greater part of that time1 the creation of the members of the water1 land1 and air-populations must have gone on contemporaneously4 ,if we represent the water1 land1 and air-populations by a1 b1 and c respectively1 and take vertical succession on the page to indicate order in time1 then the following schemes will roughly shadow forth the contrast ,i have been endeavouring to explain3-- #ib ,genesis 7as interpreted by ,nature 7as interpreted by ,mr4 ,gladstone74 natural science74 b b b c#a a#c b#b c c c c a#b b#a a a a b a#a b a a a ,so far as ,i can see1 there is only one resource left for those modern representatives of ,sisyphus1 the reconcilers of ,genesis with science2 and it has the advantage of being founded on a perfectly legitimate appeal to our ignorance4 ,it has been seen that1 on any interpretation of the terms water-population and land-population1 it must be admitted that invertebrate representatives of these populations existed during the lower ,palaeozoic epoch4 ,no evolutionist can hesitate to admit that other land animals 7and possibly vertebrates among them7 may have existed during that time1 of the history of which we know so little2 and1 further1 that scorpions are animals of such high organisation that it is highly probable their existence indicates that of a long antecedent land-population of a similar character4 ,then1 since the land-population is said not to have been created until the sixth day1 it necessarily follows that the evidence of the order in which animals appeared must be sought in the record of those older ,palaeozoic times in which only traces of the water-population have as yet been discovered4 ,therefore1 if any one chooses to say that the creative work took place in the ,cambrian or ,laurentian epoch1 in exactly that manner which ,mr4 ,gladstone does1 and natural science does not1 affirm1 natural #ic science is not in a position to disprove the accuracy of the statement4 ,only one cannot have one's cake and eat it too1 and such safety from the contradiction of science means the forfeiture of her support4 ,whether the account of the work of the first1 second1 and third days in ,genesis would be confirmed by the demonstration of the truth of the nebular hypothesis2 whether it is corroborated by what is known of the nature and probable relative antiquity of the heavenly bodies2 whether1 if the ,hebrew word translated firmament in the ,authorised ,version really means expanse1 the assertion that the waters are partly under this expanse and partly above it would be any more confirmed by the ascertained facts of physical geography and meteorology than it was before2 whether the creation of the whole vegetable world1 and especially of grass1 herb yielding seed after its kind1 and tree bearing fruit1 before any kind of animal1 is affirmed by the apparently plain teaching of botanical palaeontology1 that grasses and fruit-trees originated long subsequently to animals--all these are questions which1 if ,i mistake not1 would be answered decisively in the negative by those who are specially conversant with the sciences involved4 ,and it must be recollected that the issue raised by ,mr4 ,gladstone is not whether1 by some effort of ingenuity1 the pentateuchal story can be shown to be not disprovable by scientific knowledge1 but whether it is supported thereby4 ,there is nothing1 then1 in the criticisms of ,dr4 ,reville but what rather tends to confirm than to impair the old-fashioned #id belief that there is a revelation in the book of ,genesis 7p4 #fid74 ,the form into which ,mr4 ,gladstone has thought fit to throw this opinion leaves me in doubt as to its substance4 ,i do not understand how a hostile criticism can1 under any circumstances1 tend to confirm that which it attacks4 ,if1 however1 ,mr4 ,gladstone merely means to express his personal impression1 as one wholly destitute of that kind of knowledge which carries authority1 that he has destroyed the value of these criticisms1 ,i have neither the wish nor the right to attempt to disturb his faith4 ,on the other hand1 ,i may be permitted to state my own conviction that1 so far as natural science is involved1 ,m4 ,reville's observations retain the exact value they possessed before ,mr4 ,gladstone attacked them4 ,trusting that ,i have now said enough to secure the author of a wise and moderate disquisition upon a topic which seems fated to stir unwisdom and fanaticism to their depths1 a fuller measure of justice than has hitherto been accorded to him1 ,i retire from my self-appointed championship1 with the hope that ,i shall not hereafter be called upon by ,m4 ,reville to apologise for damage done to his strong case by imperfect or impulsive advocacy4 ,but1 perhaps1 ,i may be permitted to add a word or two1 on my own account1 in reference to the great question of the relations between science and religion2 since it is one about which ,i have thought a good deal ever since ,i have been able to think at all2 and about which ,i have #ie ventured to express my views publicly1 more than once1 in the course of the last thirty years4 ,the antagonism between science and religion1 about which we hear so much1 appears to me to be purely factitious--fabricated1 on the one hand1 by short-sighted religious people who confound a certain branch of science1 theology1 with religion2 and1 on the other1 by equally short-sighted scientific people who forget that science takes for its province only that which is susceptible of clear intellectual comprehension2 and that1 outside the boundaries of that province1 they must be content with imagination1 with hope1 and with ignorance4 ,it seems to me that the moral and intellectual life of the civilised nations of ,europe is the product of that interaction1 sometimes in the way of antagonism1 sometimes in that of profitable interchange1 of the ,semitic and the ,aryan races1 which commenced with the dawn of history1 when ,greek and ,phoenician came in contact1 and has been continued by ,carthaginian and ,roman1 by ,jew and ,gentile1 down to the present day4 ,our art 7except1 perhaps1 music7 and our science are the contributions of the ,aryan2 but the essence of our religion is derived from the ,semite4 ,in the eighth century ,b4,c41 in the heart of a world of idolatrous polytheists1 the ,hebrew prophets put forth a conception of religion which appears to me to be as wonderful an inspiration of genius as the art of ,pheidias or the science of ,aristotle4 ,and what doth the ,lord require of thee1 but to #if do justly1 and to love mercy1 and to walk humbly with thy ,god8 ,if any so-called religion takes away from this great saying of ,micah1 ,i think it wantonly mutilates1 while1 if it adds thereto1 ,i think it obscures1 the perfect ideal of religion4 ,but what extent of knowledge1 what acuteness of scientific criticism1 can touch this1 if any one possessed of knowledge1 or acuteness1 could be absurd enough to make the attempt8 ,will the progress of research prove that justice is worthless and mercy hateful2 will it ever soften the bitter contrast between our actions and our aspirations2 or show us the bounds of the universe1 and bid us say1 ,go to1 now we comprehend the infinite8 ,a faculty of wrath lay in those ancient ,israelites1 and surely the prophet's staff would have made swift acquaintance with the head of the scholar who had asked ,micah whether1 peradventure1 the ,lord further required of him an implicit belief in the accuracy of the cosmogony of ,genesis6 ,what we are usually pleased to call religion nowadays is1 for the most part1 ,hellenised ,judaism2 and1 not unfrequently1 the ,hellenic element carries with it a mighty remnant of old-world paganism and a great infusion of the worst and weakest products of ,greek scientific speculation2 while fragments of ,persian and ,babylonian1 or rather ,accadian1 mythology burden the ,judaic contribution to the common stock4 ,the antagonism of science is not to religion1 but to the heathen survivals and the bad philosophy under which religion herself is often wellnigh crushed4 #ig ,and1 for my part1 ,i trust that this antagonism will never cease2 but that1 to the end of time1 true science will continue to fulfil one of her most beneficent functions1 that of relieving men from the burden of false science which is imposed upon them in the name of religion4 ,this is the work that ,m4 ,reville and men such as he are doing for us2 this is the work which his opponents are endeavouring1 consciously or unconsciously1 to hinder4 99 99 99 99 99 #ih ,,iii ,,mr4 ,,gladstone ,,and ,,genesis ,in controversy1 as in courtship1 the good old rule to be off with the old before one is on with the new1 greatly commends itself to my sense of expediency4 ,and1 therefore1 it appears to me desirable that ,i should preface such observations as ,i may have to offer upon the cloud of arguments 7the relevancy of which to the issue which ,i had ventured to raise is not always obvious7 put forth by ,mr4 ,gladstone in the ,january number of this ,review1#ad by an endeavour to make clear to such of our readers as have not had the advantage of a forensic education the present net result of the discussion4 ,i am quite aware that1 in undertaking this task1 ,i run all the risks to which the man who presumes to deal judicially with his own cause is liable4 ,but it is exactly because ,i do not shun that risk1 but1 rather1 earnestly desire to be judged by him who cometh after me1 provided that he has the knowledge and impartiality appropriate to a judge1 that ,i adopt my present course4 #ii ,in the article on ,the ,dawn of ,creation and ,worship1 it will be remembered that ,mr4 ,gladstone unreservedly commits himself to three propositions4 ,the first is that1 according to the writer of the ,pentateuch1 the water-population1 the air-population1 and the land-population of the globe were created successively1 in the order named4 ,in the second place1 ,mr4 ,gladstone authoritatively asserts that this 7as part of his fourfold order7 has been so affirmed in our time by natural science1 that it may be taken as a demonstrated conclusion and established fact4 ,in the third place1 ,mr4 ,gladstone argues that the fact of this coincidence of the pentateuchal story with the results of modern investigation makes it impossible to avoid the conclusion1 first1 that either this writer was gifted with faculties passing all human experience1 or else his knowledge was divine4 ,and having settled to his own satisfaction that the first branch of the alternative is truly nominal and unreal1 ,mr4 ,gladstone continues1 ,so stands the plea for a revelation of truth from ,god1 a plea only to be met by questioning its possibility 7p4 #fig74 ,i am a simple-minded person1 wholly devoid of subtlety of intellect1 so that ,i willingly admit that there may be depths of alternative meaning in these propositions out of all soundings attainable by my poor plummet4 ,still there are a good many people who suffer under a like intellectual limitation2 and1 for once in my life1 ,i feel that ,i have the chance of attaining that position of a representative of average opinion which appears to be the modern ideal of a #ajj leader of men1 when ,i make free confession that1 after turning the matter over in my mind1 with all the aid derived from a careful consideration of ,mr4 ,gladstone's reply1 ,i cannot get away from my original conviction that1 if ,mr4 ,gladstone's second proposition can be shown to be not merely inaccurate1 but directly contradictory of facts known to every one who is acquainted with the elements of natural science1 the third proposition collapses of itself4 ,and it was this conviction which led me to enter upon the present discussion4 ,i fancied that if my respected clients1 the people of average opinion and capacity1 could once be got distinctly to conceive that ,mr4 ,gladstone's views as to the proper method of dealing with grave and difficult scientific and religious problems had permitted him to base a solemn plea for a revelation of truth from ,god upon an error as to a matter of fact1 from which the intelligent perusal of a manual of palaeontology would have saved him1 ,i need not trouble myself to occupy their time and attention with further comments upon his contribution to apologetic literature4 ,it is for others to judge whether ,i have efficiently carried out my project or not4 ,it certainly does not count for much that ,i should be unable to find any flaw in my own case1 but ,i think it counts for a good deal that ,mr4 ,gladstone appears to have been equally unable to do so4 ,he does1 indeed1 make a great parade of authorities1 and ,i have the greatest respect for those authorities whom ,mr4 ,gladstone mentions4 ,if he will get them to sign a joint memorial to the effect that our present #aja palaeontological evidence proves that birds appeared before the land-population of terrestrial reptiles1 ,i shall think it my duty to reconsider my position--but not till then4 ,it will be observed that ,i have cautiously used the word appears in referring to what seems to me to be absence of any real answer to my criticisms in ,mr4 ,gladstone's reply4 ,for ,i must honestly confess that1 notwithstanding long and painful strivings after clear insight1 ,i am still uncertain whether ,mr4 ,gladstone's ,defence means that the great plea for a revelation from ,god is to be left to perish in the dialectic desert2 or whether it is to be withdrawn under the protection of such skirmishers as are available for covering retreat4 ,in particular1 the remarkable disquisition which covers pages #aa to #ad of ,mr4 ,gladstone's last contribution has greatly exercised my mind4 ,socrates is reported to have said of the works of ,heraclitus that he who attempted to comprehend them should be a ,delian swimmer1 but that1 for his part1 what he could understand was so good that he was disposed to believe in the excellence of that which he found unintelligible4 ,in endeavouring to make myself master of ,mr4 ,gladstone's meaning in these pages1 ,i have often been overcome by a feeling analogous to that of ,socrates1 but not quite the same4 ,that which ,i do understand1 in fact1 has appeared to me so very much the reverse of good1 that ,i have sometimes permitted myself to doubt the value of that which ,i do not understand4 #ajb ,in this part of ,mr4 ,gladstone's reply1 in fact1 ,i find nothing of which the bearing upon my arguments is clear to me1 except that which relates to the question whether reptiles1 so far as they are represented by tortoises and the great majority of lizards and snakes1 which are land animals1 are creeping things in the sense of the pentateuchal writer or not4 ,i have every respect for the singer of the ,song of the ,three ,children 7whoever he may have been72 ,i desire to cast no shadow of doubt upon1 but1 on the contrary1 marvel at1 the exactness of ,mr4 ,gladstone's information as to the considerations which affected the method of the ,mosaic writer2 nor do ,i venture to doubt that the inconvenient intrusion of these contemptible reptiles--a family fallen from greatness 7p4 #ad71 a miserable decayed aristocracy reduced to mere skulkers about the earth 7ibid47--in consequence1 apparently1 of difficulties about the occupation of land arising out of the earth-hunger of their former serfs1 the mammals--into an apologetic argument1 which otherwise would run quite smoothly1 is in every way to be deprecated4 ,still1 the wretched creatures stand there1 importunately demanding notice2 and1 however different may be the practice in that contentious atmosphere with which ,mr4 ,gladstone expresses and laments his familiarity1 in the atmosphere of science it really is of no avail whatever to shut one's eyes to facts1 or to try to bury them out of sight under a tumulus of rhetoric4 ,that is my experience of the ,elysian regions of ,science1 wherein it is a pleasure to me to think that a man of ,mr4 ,gladstone's #ajc intimate knowledge of ,english life1 during the last quarter of a century1 believes my philosophic existence to have been rounded off in unbroken equanimity4 ,however reprehensible1 and indeed contemptible1 terrestrial reptiles may be1 the only question which appears to me to be relevant to my argument is whether these creatures are or are not comprised under the denomination of everything that creepeth upon the ground4 ,mr4 ,gladstone speaks of the author of the first chapter of ,genesis as the ,mosaic writer2 ,i suppose1 therefore1 that he will admit that it is equally proper to speak of the author of ,leviticus as the ,mosaic writer4 ,whether such a phrase would be used by any one who had an adequate conception of the assured results of modern ,biblical criticism is another matter2 but1 at any rate1 it cannot be denied that ,leviticus has as much claim to ,mosaic authorship as ,genesis4 ,therefore1 if one wants to know the sense of a phrase used in ,genesis1 it will be well to see what ,leviticus has to say on the matter4 ,hence1 ,i commend the following extract from the eleventh chapter of ,leviticus to ,mr4 ,gladstone's serious attention3-- ,and these are they which are unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth3 the weasel1 and the mouse1 and the great lizard after its kind1 and the gecko1 and the land-crocodile1 and the sand-lizard1 and the chameleon4 ,these are they which are unclean to you among all that creep 7v4 #bi-ca74 ,the merest ,sunday-school exegesis therefore suffices #ajd to prove that when the ,mosaic writer in ,genesis i4 #bd speaks of creeping things1 he means to include lizards among them4 ,this being so1 it is agreed1 on all hands1 that terrestrial lizards1 and other reptiles allied to lizards1 occur in the ,permian strata4 ,it is further agreed that the ,triassic strata were deposited after these4 ,moreover1 it is well known that1 even if certain footprints are to be taken as unquestionable evidence of the existence of birds1 they are not known to occur in rocks earlier than the ,trias1 while indubitable remains of birds are to be met with only much later4 ,hence it follows that natural science does not affirm the statement that birds were made on the fifth day1 and everything that creepeth on the ground on the sixth1 on which ,mr4 ,gladstone rests his order2 for1 as is shown by ,leviticus1 the ,mosaic writer includes lizards among his creeping things4 ,perhaps ,i have given myself superfluous trouble in the preceding argument1 for ,i find that ,mr4 ,gladstone is willing to assume 7he does not say to admit7 that the statement in the text of ,genesis as to reptiles cannot in all points be sustained 7p4 #af74 ,but my position is that it cannot be sustained in any point1 so that1 after all1 it has perhaps been as well to go over the evidence again4 ,and then ,mr4 ,gladstone proceeds as if nothing had happened to tell us that-- ,there remain great unshaken facts to be weighed4 ,first1 the fact that such a record should have been made at all4 ,as most peoples have their cosmogonies1 this fact does not strike me as having much value4 #aje ,secondly1 the fact that1 instead of dwelling in generalities1 it has placed itself under the severe conditions of a chronological order reaching from the first nisus of chaotic matter to the consummated production of a fair and goodly1 a furnished and a peopled world4 ,this fact can be regarded as of value only by ignoring the fact demonstrated in my previous paper1 that natural science does not confirm the order asserted so far as living things are concerned2 and by upsetting a fact to be brought to light presently1 to wit1 that1 in regard to the rest of the pentateuchal cosmogony1 prudent science has very little to say one way or the other4 ,thirdly1 the fact that its cosmogony seems1 in the light of the nineteenth century1 to draw more and more of countenance from the best natural philosophy4 ,i have already questioned the accuracy of this statement1 and ,i do not observe that mere repetition adds to its value4 ,and1 fourthly1 that it has described the successive origins of the five great categories of present life with which human experience was and is conversant1 in that order which geological authority confirms4 ,by comparison with a sentence on page #ad1 in which a fivefold order is substituted for the fourfold order1 on which the plea for revelation was originally founded1 it appears that these five categories are plants1 fishes1 birds1 mammals1 and man1 which1 ,mr4 ,gladstone affirms1 are given to us in ,genesis in the order of succession in which they are also given by the latest geological authorities4 #ajf ,i must venture to demur to this statement4 ,i showed1 in my previous paper1 that there is no reason to doubt that the term great sea monster 7used in ,gen4 i4 #ba7 includes the most conspicuous of great sea animals--namely1 whales1 dolphins1 porpoises1 manatees1 and dugongs2#ae and1 as these are indubitable mammals1 it is impossible to affirm that mammals come after birds1 which are said to have been created on the same day4 ,moreover1 ,i pointed out that as these ,cetacea and ,sirenia are certainly modified land animals1 their existence implies the antecedent existence of land mammals4 ,furthermore1 ,i have to remark that the term fishes1 as used1 technically1 in zoology1 by no means covers all the moving creatures that have life1 which are bidden to fill the waters in the seas 7,gen4 i4 #bj-bb74 ,marine mollusks and crustacea1 echinoderms1 corals1 and foraminifera are not technically fishes4 ,but they are abundant in the palaeozoic rocks1 ages upon ages older than those in which the first evidences of true fishes appear4 ,and if1 in a geological book1 ,mr4 ,gladstone finds the quite true statement that plants appeared before fishes1 it is only by a complete misunderstanding that he can be led to imagine it serves his purpose4 ,as a matter of fact1 at the present moment1 it is a question whether1 on the bare evidence afforded by fossils1 the marine creeping thing or the marine plant has the seniority4 #ajg ,no cautious palaeontologist would express a decided opinion on the matter4 ,but1 if we are to read the pentateuchal statement as a scientific document 7and1 in spite of all protests to the contrary1 those who bring it into comparison with science do seek to make a scientific document of it71 then1 as it is quite clear that only terrestrial plants of high organisation are spoken of in verses #aa and #ab1 no palaeontologist would hesitate to say that1 at present1 the records of sea animal life are vastly older than those of any land plant describable as grass1 herb yielding seed1 or fruit-tree4 ,thus1 although1 in ,mr4 ,gladstone's ,defence1 the old order passeth into new1 his case is not improved4 ,the fivefold order is no more affirmed in our time by natural science to be a demonstrated conclusion and established fact than the fourfold order was4 ,natural science appears to me to decline to have anything to do with either2 they are as wrong in detail as they are mistaken in principle4 ,there is another change of position1 the value of which is not so apparent to me1 as it may well seem to be to those who are unfamiliar with the subject under discussion4 ,mr4 ,gladstone discards his three groups of water-population1 air-population1 and land-population1 and substitutes for them 7#a7 fishes1 7#b7 birds1 7#c7 mammals1 7#d7 man4 ,moreover1 it is assumed1 in a note1 that the higher or ordinary mammals alone were known to the ,mosaic writer 7p4 #f74 ,no doubt it looks1 at first1 as if something #ajh were gained by this alteration2 for1 as ,i have just pointed out1 the word fishes can be used in two senses1 one of which has a deceptive appearance of adjustability to the ,mosaic account4 ,then the inconvenient reptiles are banished out of sight2 and1 finally1 the question of the exact meaning of higher and ordinary in the case of mammals opens up the prospect of a hopeful logomachy4 ,but what is the good of it all in the face of ,leviticus on the one hand and of palaeontology on the other8 ,as1 in my apprehension1 there is not a shadow of justification for the suggestion that when the pentateuchal writer says fowl he excludes bats 7which1 as we shall see directly1 are expressly included under fowl in ,leviticus71 and as ,i have already shown that he demonstrably includes reptiles1 as well as mammals1 among the creeping things of the land1 ,i may be permitted to spare my readers further discussion of the fivefold order4 ,on the whole1 it is seen to be rather more inconsistent with ,genesis than its fourfold predecessor4 ,but ,i have yet a fresh order to face4 ,mr4 ,gladstone 7p4 #aa7 understands the main statements of ,genesis in successive order of time1 but without any measurement of its divisions1 to be as follows3-- #a4 ,a period of land1 anterior to all life 7v4 #i1 #aj74 #b4 ,a period of vegetable life1 anterior to animal life 7v4 #aa1 #ab74 #c4 ,a period of animal life1 in the order of fishes 7v4 #bj74 #d4 ,another stage of animal life1 in the order of birds4 #e4 ,another1 in the order of beasts 7v4 #bd1 #be74 #f4 ,last of all1 man 7v4 #bf1 #bg74 #aji ,mr4 ,gladstone then tries to find the proof of the occurrence of a similar succession in sundry excellent works on geology4 ,i am really grieved to be obliged to say that this third 7or is it fourth87 modification of the foundation of the plea for revelation originally set forth1 satisfies me as little as any of its predecessors4 ,for1 in the first place1 ,i cannot accept the assertion that this order is to be found in ,genesis4 ,with respect to ,no4 #e1 for example1 ,i hold1 as ,i have already said1 that great sea monsters includes the ,cetacea1 in which case mammals 7which is what1 ,i suppose1 ,mr4 ,gladstone means by beasts7 come in under head ,no4 #c1 and not under ,no4 #e4 ,again1 fowl are said in ,genesis to be created on the same day as fishes2 therefore ,i cannot accept an order which makes birds succeed fishes4 ,once more1 as it is quite certain that the term fowl includes the bats1--for in ,leviticus xi4 #ac-ai we read1 ,and these shall ye have in abomination among the fowls 444 the heron after its kind1 and the hoopoe1 and the bat1--it is obvious that bats are also said to have been created at stage ,no4 #c4 ,and as bats are mammals1 and their existence obviously presupposes that of terrestrial beasts1 it is quite clear that the latter could not have first appeared as ,no4 #e4 ,i need not repeat my reasons for doubting whether man came last of all4 ,as the latter half of ,mr4 ,gladstone's sixfold order thus shows itself to be wholly unauthorised by1 and inconsistent with1 the plain language of the ,pentateuch1 #aaj ,i might decline to discuss the admissibility of its former half4 ,but ,i will add one or two remarks on this point also4 ,does ,mr4 ,gladstone mean to say that in any of the works he has cited1 or indeed anywhere else1 he can find scientific warranty for the assertion that there was a period of land--by which ,i suppose he means dry land 7for submerged land must needs be as old as the separate existence of the sea7--anterior to all life8 ,it may be so1 or it may not be so2 but where is the evidence which would justify any one in making a positive assertion on the subject8 ,what competent palaeontologist will affirm1 at this present moment1 that he knows anything about the period at which life originated1 or will assert more than the extreme probability that such origin was a long way antecedent to any traces of life at present known8 ,what physical geologist will affirm that he knows when dry land began to exist1 or will say more than that it was probably very much earlier than any extant direct evidence of terrestrial conditions indicates8 ,i think ,i know pretty well the answers which the authorities quoted by ,mr4 ,gladstone would give to these questions2 but ,i leave it to them to give them if they think fit4 ,if ,i ventured to speculate on the matter at all1 ,i should say it is by no means certain that sea is older than dry land1 inasmuch as a solid terrestrial surface may very well have existed before the earth was cool enough to allow of the existence of fluid water4 ,and1 #aaa in this case1 dry land may have existed before the sea4 ,as to the first appearance of life1 the whole argument of analogy1 whatever it may be worth in such a case1 is in favour of the absence of living beings until long after the hot water seas had constituted themselves2 and of the subsequent appearance of aquatic before terrestrial forms of life4 ,but whether these protoplasts would1 if we could examine them1 be reckoned among the lowest microscopic algae1 or fungi2 or among those doubtful organisms which lie in the debatable land between animals and plants1 is1 in my judgment1 a question on which a prudent biologist will reserve his opinion4 ,i think that ,i have now disposed of those parts of ,mr4 ,gladstone's defence in which ,i seem to discover a design to rescue his solemn plea for revelation4 ,but a great deal of the ,proem to ,genesis remains which ,i would gladly pass over in silence1 were such a course consistent with the respect due to so distinguished a champion of the reconcilers4 ,i hope that my clients--the people of average opinions--have by this time some confidence in me2 for when ,i tell them that1 after all1 ,mr4 ,gladstone is of opinion that the ,mosaic record was meant to give moral1 and not scientific1 instruction to those for whom it was written1 they may be disposed to think that ,i must be misleading them4 ,but let them listen further to what ,mr4 ,gladstone says in a compendious but not exactly correct statement respecting my opinions3-- #aab ,he holds the writer responsible for scientific precision3 ,i look for nothing of the kind1 but assign to him a statement general1 which admits exceptions2 popular1 which aims mainly at producing moral impression2 summary1 which cannot but be open to more or less of criticism of detail4 ,he thinks it is a lecture4 ,i think it is a sermon 7p4 #e74 ,i note1 incidentally1 that ,mr4 ,gladstone appears to consider that the differentia between a lecture and a sermon is1 that the former1 so far as it deals with matters of fact1 may be taken seriously1 as meaning exactly what it says1 while a sermon may not4 ,i have quite enough on my hands without taking up the cudgels for the clergy1 who will probably find ,mr4 ,gladstone's definition unflattering4 ,but ,i am diverging from my proper business1 which is to say that ,i have given no ground for the ascription of these opinions2 and that1 as a matter of fact1 ,i do not hold them and never have held them4 ,it is ,mr4 ,gladstone1 and not ,i1 who will have it that the pentateuchal cosmogony is to be taken as science4 ,my belief1 on the contrary1 is1 and long has been1 that the pentateuchal story of the creation is simply a myth4 ,i suppose it to be an hypothesis respecting the origin of the universe which some ancient thinker found himself able to reconcile with his knowledge1 or what he thought was knowledge1 of the nature of things1 and therefore assumed to be true4 ,as such1 ,i hold it to be not merely an interesting1 but a venerable1 monument of a stage in the mental progress of mankind2 and ,i find it difficult to suppose that any one who is acquainted with the cosmogonies of other #aac nations--and especially with those of the ,egyptians and the ,babylonians1 with whom the ,israelites were in such frequent and intimate communication--should consider it to possess either more1 or less1 scientific importance than may be allotted to these4 ,mr4 ,gladstone's definition of a sermon permits me to suspect that he may not see much difference between that form of discourse and what ,i call a myth2 and ,i hope it may be something more than the slowness of apprehension1 to which ,i have confessed1 which leads me to imagine that a statement which is general but admits exceptions1 which is popular and aims mainly at producing moral impression1 summary and therefore open to criticism of detail1 amounts to a myth1 or perhaps less than a myth4 ,put algebraically1 it comes to this1 x a b c2 always remembering that there is nothing to show the exact value of either a1 or b1 or c4 ,it is true that a is commonly supposed to equal #aj1 but there are exceptions1 and these may reduce it to #h1 or #c1 or #j2 b also popularly means #aj1 but being chiefly used by the algebraist as a moral value1 you cannot do much with it in the addition or subtraction of mathematical values2 c also is quite summary1 and if you go into the details of which it is made up1 many of them may be wrong1 and their sum total equal to #j1 or even to a minus quantity4 ,mr4 ,gladstone appears to wish that ,i should 7#a7 enter upon a sort of essay competition with the author of the pentateuchal cosmogony2 7#b7 that ,i should make a further statement about some #aad elementary facts in the history of ,indian and ,greek philosophy2 and 7#c7 that ,i should show cause for my hesitation in accepting the assertion that ,genesis is supported1 at any rate to the extent of the first two verses1 by the nebular hypothesis4 ,a certain sense of humour prevents me from accepting the first invitation4 ,i would as soon attempt to put ,hamlet's soliloquy into a more scientific shape4 ,but if ,i supposed the ,mosaic writer to be inspired1 as ,mr4 ,gladstone does1 it would not be consistent with my notions of respect for the ,supreme ,being to imagine ,him unable to frame a form of words which should accurately1 or1 at least1 not inaccurately1 express ,his own meaning4 ,it is sometimes said that1 had the statements contained in the first chapter of ,genesis been scientifically true1 they would have been unintelligible to ignorant people2 but how is the matter mended if1 being scientifically untrue1 they must needs be rejected by instructed people8 ,with respect to the second suggestion1 it would be presumptuous in me to pretend to instruct ,mr4 ,gladstone in matters which lie as much within the province of ,literature and ,history as in that of ,science2 but if any one desirous of further knowledge will be so good as to turn to that most excellent and by no means recondite source of information1 the ,encyclopaedia ,britannica1 he will find1 under the letter ,e1 the word ,evolution1 and a long article on that subject4 ,now1 ,i do not recommend him to read the first half of the article2 but the second half1 by my #aae friend ,mr4 ,sully1 is really very good4 ,he will there find it said that in some of the philosophies of ancient ,india1 the idea of evolution is clearly expressed3 ,brahma is conceived as the eternal self-existent being1 which1 on its material side1 unfolds itself to the world by gradually condensing itself to material objects through the gradations of ether1 fire1 water1 earth1 and other elements4 ,and again3 ,in the later system of emanation of ,sankhya there is a more marked approach to a materialistic doctrine of evolution4 ,what little knowledge ,i have of the matter--chiefly derived from that very instructive book1 ,die ,religion des ,buddha1 by ,c4 ,f4 ,koeppen1 supplemented by ,hardy's interesting works--leads me to think that ,mr4 ,sully might have spoken much more strongly as to the evolutionary character of ,indian philosophy1 and especially of that of the ,buddhists4 ,but the question is too large to be dealt with incidentally4 ,and1 with respect to early ,greek philosophy1#af the seeker after additional enlightenment need go no further than the same excellent storehouse of information3-- ,the early ,ionian physicists1 including ,thales1 ,anaximander1 and ,anaximenes1 seek to explain the world as generated out of a primordial matter which is at the same time the universal support of things4 ,this substance is endowed with a generative or transmutative force by virtue of which it passes into a #aaf succession of forms4 ,they thus resemble modern evolutionists1 since they regard the world1 with its infinite variety of forms1 as issuing from a simple mode of matter4 ,further on1 ,mr4 ,sully remarks that ,heraclitus deserves a prominent place in the history of the idea of evolution1 and he states1 with perfect justice1 that ,heraclitus has foreshadowed some of the special peculiarities of ,mr4 ,darwin's views4 ,it is indeed a very strange circumstance that the philosophy of the great ,ephesian more than adumbrates the two doctrines which have played leading parts1 the one in the development of ,christian dogma1 the other in that of natural science4 ,the former is the conception of the ,word 7,greek3 logos7 which took its ,jewish shape in ,alexandria1 and its ,christian form#ag in that ,gospel which is usually referred to an ,ephesian source of some five centuries later date2 and the latter is that of the struggle for existence4 ,the saying that strife is father and king of all 7,greek3 polemos panton men pater esti1 panton de basileus71 ascribed to ,heraclitus1 would be a not inappropriate motto for the ,origin of ,species4 ,i have referred only to ,mr4 ,sully's article1 because his authority is quite sufficient for my purpose4 ,but the consultation of any of the more elaborate histories of ,greek philosophy1 such as the great work of ,zeller1 for example1 will only bring out the same fact into still more striking prominence4 ,i have professed no minute acquaintance with either ,indian or ,greek philosophy1 but ,i have taken a great deal of pains to #aag secure that such knowledge as ,i do possess shall be accurate and trustworthy4 ,in the third place1 ,mr4 ,gladstone appears to wish that ,i should discuss with him the question whether the nebular hypothesis is1 or is not1 confirmatory of the pentateuchal account of the origin of things4 ,mr4 ,gladstone appears to be prepared to enter upon this campaign with a light heart4 ,i confess ,i am not1 and my reason for this backwardness will doubtless surprise ,mr4 ,gladstone4 ,it is that1 rather more than a quarter of a century ago 7namely1 in ,february #ahei71 when it was my duty1 as ,president of the ,geological ,society1 to deliver the ,anniversary ,address1#ah ,i chose a topic which involved a very careful study of the remarkable cosmogonical speculation1 originally promulgated by ,immanuel ,kant and1 subsequently1 by ,laplace1 which is now known as the nebular hypothesis4 ,with the help of such little acquaintance with the principles of physics and astronomy as ,i had gained1 ,i endeavoured to obtain a clear understanding of this speculation in all its bearings4 ,i am not sure that ,i succeeded2 but of this ,i am certain1 that the problems involved are very difficult1 even for those who possess the intellectual discipline requisite for dealing with them4 ,and it was this conviction that led me to express my desire to leave the discussion of the question of the asserted harmony between ,genesis and the nebular hypothesis to experts in the appropriate branches of knowledge4 ,and ,i think my course was a #aah wise one2 but as ,mr4 ,gladstone evidently does not understand how there can be any hesitation on my part1 unless it arises from a conviction that he is in the right1 ,i may go so far as to set out my difficulties4 ,they are of two kinds--exegetical and scientific4 ,it appears to me that it is vain to discuss a supposed coincidence between ,genesis and science unless we have first settled1 on the one hand1 what ,genesis says1 and1 on the other hand1 what science says4 ,in the first place1 ,i cannot find any consensus among ,biblical scholars as to the meaning of the words1 ,in the beginning ,god created the heaven and the earth4 ,some say that the ,hebrew word bara1 which is translated create1 means made out of nothing4 ,i venture to object to that rendering1 not on the ground of scholarship1 but of common sense4 ,omnipotence itself can surely no more make something out of nothing than it can make a triangular circle4 ,what is intended by made out of nothing appears to be caused to come into existence1 with the implication that nothing of the same kind previously existed4 ,it is further usually assumed that the heaven and the earth means the material substance of the universe4 ,hence the ,mosaic writer is taken to imply that where nothing of a material nature previously existed1 this substance appeared4 ,that is perfectly conceivable1 and therefore no one can deny that it may have happened4 ,but there are other very authoritative #aai critics who say that the ancient ,israelite#ai who wrote the passage was not likely to have been capable of such abstract thinking2 and that1 as a matter of philology1 bara is commonly used to signify the fashioning1 or forming1 of that which already exists4 ,now it appears to me that the scientific investigator is wholly incompetent to say anything at all about the first origin of the material universe4 ,the whole power of his organon vanishes when he has to step beyond the chain of natural causes and effects4 ,no form of the nebular hypothesis1 that ,i know of1 is necessarily connected with any view of the origination of the nebular substance4 ,kant's form of it expressly supposes that the nebular material from which one stellar system starts may be nothing but the disintegrated substance of a stellar and planetary system which has just come to an end4 ,therefore1 so far as ,i can see1 one who believes that matter has existed from all eternity has just as much right to hold the nebular hypothesis as one who believes that matter came into existence at a specified epoch4 ,in other words1 the nebular hypothesis and the creation hypothesis1 up to this point1 neither confirm nor oppose one another4 ,next1 we read in the revisers' version1 in which ,i suppose the ultimate results of critical scholarship to be embodied3 ,and the earth was waste 'without form1' in the ,authorised ,version and void4 ,most #abj people seem to think that this phraseology intends to imply that the matter out of which the world was to be formed was a veritable chaos1 devoid of law and order4 ,if this interpretation is correct1 the nebular hypothesis can have nothing to say to it4 ,the scientific thinker cannot admit the absence of law and order1 anywhere or anywhen1 in nature4 ,sometimes law and order are patent and visible to our limited vision2 sometimes they are hidden4 ,but every particle of the matter of the most fantastic-looking nebula in the heavens is a realm of law and order in itself2 and1 that it is so1 is the essential condition of the possibility of solar and planetary evolution from the apparent chaos4#bj ,waste is too vague a term to be worth consideration4 ,without form1 intelligible enough as a metaphor1 if taken literally1 is absurd2 for a material thing existing in space must have a superficies1 and if it has a superficies it has a form4 ,the wildest streaks of marestail clouds in the sky1 or the most irregular heavenly nebulae1 have surely just as much form as a geometrical tetrahedron2 and as for void1 how can that be void which is full of matter8 ,as poetry1 these lines are vivid and admirable2 as a scientific statement1 which they must be taken to be if any one is justified in comparing them with another scientific statement1 they fail to convey any intelligible conception to my mind4 #aba ,the account proceeds3 ,and darkness was upon the face of the deep4 ,so be it2 but where1 then1 is the likeness to the celestial nebulae1 of the existence of which we should know nothing unless they shone with a light of their own8 ,and the spirit of ,god moved upon the face of the waters4 ,i have met with no form of the nebular hypothesis which involves anything analogous to this process4 ,i have said enough to explain some of the difficulties which arise in my mind1 when ,i try to ascertain whether there is any foundation for the contention that the statements contained in the first two verses of ,genesis are supported by the nebular hypothesis4 ,the result does not appear to me to be exactly favourable to that contention4 ,the nebular hypothesis assumes the existence of matter1 having definite properties1 as its foundation4 ,whether such matter was created a few thousand years ago1 or whether it has existed through an eternal series of metamorphoses of which our present universe is only the last stage1 are alternatives1 neither of which is scientifically untenable1 and neither scientifically demonstrable4 ,but science knows nothing of any stage in which the universe could be said1 in other than a metaphorical and popular sense1 to be formless or empty2 or in any respect less the seat of law and order than it is now4 ,one might as well talk of a fresh-laid hen's egg being without form and void1 because the chick therein is potential and not actual1 as apply such terms to the nebulous mass which contains a potential solar system4 #abb ,until some further enlightenment comes to me1 then1 ,i confess myself wholly unable to understand the way in which the nebular hypothesis is to be converted into an ally of the ,mosaic writer4#ba ,but ,mr4 ,gladstone informs us that ,professor ,dana and ,professor ,guyot are prepared to prove that the first or cosmogonical portion of the ,proem not only accords with1 but teaches1 the nebular hypothesis4 ,there is no one to whose authority on geological questions ,i am more readily disposed to bow than that of my eminent friend ,professor ,dana4 ,but ,i am familiar with what he has previously said on this topic in his well-known and standard work1 into which1 strangely enough1 it does not seem to have occurred to ,mr4 ,gladstone to look before he set out upon his present undertaking2 and unless ,professor ,dana's latest contribution 7which ,i have not yet met with7 takes up altogether new ground1 ,i am afraid ,i shall #abc not be able to extricate myself1 by its help1 from my present difficulties4 ,it is a very long time since ,i began to think about the relations between modern scientifically ascertained truths and the cosmogonical speculations of the writer of ,genesis2 and1 as ,i think that ,mr4 ,gladstone might have been able to put his case with a good deal more force if he had thought it worth while to consult the last chapter of ,professor ,dana's admirable ,manual of ,geology1 so ,i think he might have been made aware that he was undertaking an enterprise of which he had not counted the cost1 if he had chanced upon a discussion of the subject which ,i published in #ahgg4bb ,finally1 ,i should like to draw the attention of those who take interest in these topics to the weighty words of one of the most learned and moderate of ,biblical critics3-- ,a propos de cette premiere page de la ,bible1 on a coutume de nos jours de disserter1 a perte de vue1 sur l'accord du recit mosaique avec les sciences naturelles2 et comme celles-ci1 tout eloignees qu'elles sont encore de la perfection absolue1 ont rendu populaires et en quelque sorte irrefragables un certain nombre de faits generaux ou de theses fondamentales de la cosmologie et de la geologie1 c'est le texte sacre qu'on s'evertue a torturer pour le faire concorder avec ces donnees4#bc ,in my paper on the ,interpreters of ,nature and the ,interpreters of ,genesis1 while freely availing myself of the rights of a scientific critic1 ,i endeavoured to keep the expression of my views well within those #abd bounds of courtesy which are set by self-respect and consideration for others4 ,i am therefore glad to be favoured with ,mr4 ,gladstone's acknowledgment of the success of my efforts4 ,i only wish that ,i could accept all the products of ,mr4 ,gladstone's gracious appreciation1 but there is one about which1 as a matter of honesty1 ,i hesitate4 ,in fact1 if ,i had expressed my meaning better than ,i seem to have done1 ,i doubt if this particular proffer of ,mr4 ,gladstone's thanks would have been made4 ,to my mind1 whatever doctrine professes to be the result of the application of the accepted rules of inductive and deductive logic to its subject-matter2 and accepts1 within the limits which it sets to itself1 the supremacy of reason1 is ,science4 ,whether the subject-matter consists of realities or unrealities1 truths or falsehoods1 is quite another question4 ,i conceive that ordinary geometry is science1 by reason of its method1 and ,i also believe that its axioms1 definitions1 and conclusions are all true4 ,however1 there is a geometry of four dimensions1 which ,i also believe to be science1 because its method professes to be strictly scientific4 ,it is true that ,i cannot conceive four dimensions in space1 and therefore1 for me1 the whole affair is unreal4 ,but ,i have known men of great intellectual powers who seemed to have no difficulty either in conceiving them1 or1 at any rate1 in imagining how they could conceive them2 and1 therefore1 four-dimensioned geometry comes under my notion of science4 ,so ,i think astrology is a science1 in so far as it professes to reason logically from principles #abe established by just inductive methods4 ,to prevent misunderstanding1 perhaps ,i had better add that ,i do not believe one whit in astrology2 but no more do ,i believe in ,ptolemaic astronomy1 or in the catastrophic geology of my youth1 although these1 in their day1 claimed--and1 to my mind1 rightly claimed--the name of science4 ,if nothing is to be called science but that which is exactly true from beginning to end1 ,i am afraid there is very little science in the world outside mathematics4 ,among the physical sciences1 ,i do not know that any could claim more than that it is true within certain limits1 so narrow that1 for the present at any rate1 they may be neglected4 ,if such is the case1 ,i do not see where the line is to be drawn between exactly true1 partially true1 and mainly untrue forms of science4 ,and what ,i have said about the current theology at the end of my paper p4 #ie leaves1 ,i think1 no doubt as to the category in which ,i rank it4 ,for all that1 ,i think it would be not only unjust1 but almost impertinent1 to refuse the name of science to the ,summa of ,st4 ,thomas or to the ,institutes of ,calvin4 ,in conclusion1 ,i confess that my supposed unjaded appetite for the sort of controversy in which it needed not ,mr4 ,gladstone's express declaration to tell us he is far better practised than ,i am 7though probably1 without another express declaration1 no one would have suspected that his controversial fires are burning low7 is already satiated4 ,in ,elysium we conduct scientific discussions in #abf a different medium1 and we are liable to threatenings of asphyxia in that atmosphere of contention in which ,mr4 ,gladstone has been able to live1 alert and vigorous beyond the common race of men1 as if it were purest mountain air4 ,i trust that he may long continue to seek truth1 under the difficult conditions he has chosen for the search1 with unabated energy--,i had almost said fire-- ,may age not wither him1 nor custom stale ,his infinite variety4 ,but ,elysium suits my less robust constitution better1 and ,i beg leave to retire thither1 not sorry for my experience of the other region--no one should regret experience--but determined not to repeat it1 at any rate in reference to the plea for revelation4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,note ,,on ,,the ,,proper ,,sense ,,of ,,the ,,mosaic ,,narrative ,,of ,,the ,,creation4 ,it has been objected to my argument from ,leviticus 7p4 #ajc71 that the ,hebrew words translated by creeping things in ,genesis i4 #bd and ,leviticus xi4 #bi1 are different2 namely1 reh-mes in the former1 sheh-retz in the latter4 ,the obvious reply to this objection is that the question is not one of words but of the meaning of words4 ,to borrow an illustration from our own language1 if crawling things had been used by the translators in ,genesis and creeping things in ,leviticus1 it would not have been necessarily implied that they intended to denote different groups of animals4 ,sheh-retz is employed in a wider sense than reh-mes4 ,there are sheh-retz of the waters1 of the earth1 of the air1 and of the land4 ,leviticus speaks of land reptiles1 among other animals1 as sheh-retz2 ,genesis speaks of all creeping land animals1 among which land reptiles are necessarily included1 as reh-mes4 ,our translators1 therefore1 #abg have given the true sense when they render both sheh-retz and reh-mes by creeping things4 ,having taken a good deal of trouble to show what ,genesis i4-ii4 #d does not mean1 in the preceding pages1 perhaps it may be well that ,i should briefly give my opinion as to what it does mean4 ,i conceive that the unknown author of this part of the ,hexateuchal compilation believed1 and meant his readers to believe1 that his words1 as they understood them--that is to say1 in their ordinary natural sense--conveyed the actual historical truth4 ,when he says that such and such things happened1 ,i believe him to mean that they actually occurred and not that he imagined or dreamed them2 when he says day1 ,i believe he uses the word in the popular sense2 when he says made or created1 ,i believe he means that they came into being by a process analogous to that which the people whom he addressed called making or creating2 and ,i think that1 unless we forget our present knowledge of nature1 and1 putting ourselves back into the position of a ,phoenician or a ,chaldaean philosopher1 start from his conception of the world1 we shall fail to grasp the meaning of the ,hebrew writer4 ,we must conceive the earth to be an immovable1 more or less flattened1 body1 with the vault of heaven above1 the watery abyss below and around4 ,we must imagine sun1 moon1 and stars to be set in a firmament with1 or in1 which they move2 and above which is yet another watery mass4 ,we must consider light and darkness to be things1 the alternation of which constitutes day and night1 independently of the existence of sun1 moon1 and stars4 ,we must further suppose that1 as in the case of the story of the deluge1 the ,hebrew writer was acquainted with a ,gentile 7probably ,chaldaean or ,accadian7 account of the origin of things1 in which he substantially believed1 but which he stripped of all its idolatrous associations by substituting ,elohim for ,ea1 ,anu1 ,bel1 and the like4 ,from this point of view the first verse strikes the keynote of the whole4 ,in the beginning ,elohim#bd created the heaven and the earth4 ,heaven and earth were not primitive existences from which the gods proceeded1 as the ,gentiles taught2 on the contrary1 the ,powers preceded and created heaven and earth4 #abh ,whether by creation is meant causing to be where nothing was before or shaping of something which pre-existed1 seems to me to be an insoluble question4 ,as ,i have pointed out1 the second verse has an interesting parallel in ,jeremiah iv4 #bc3 ,i beheld the earth1 and1 lo1 it was waste and void2 and the heavens1 and they had no light4 ,i conceive that there is no more allusion to chaos in the one than in the other4 ,the earth-disk lay in its watery envelope1 like the yolk of an egg in the glaire1 and the spirit1 or breath1 of ,elohim stirred the mass4 ,light was created as a thing by itself2 and its antithesis darkness as another thing4 ,it was supposed to be the nature of these two to alternate1 and a pair of alternations constituted a day in the sense of an unit of time4 ,the next step was1 necessarily1 the formation of that firmament1 or dome over the earth-disk1 which was supposed to support the celestial waters2 and in which sun1 moon1 and stars were conceived to be set1 as in a sort of orrery4 ,the earth was still surrounded and covered by the lower waters1 but the upper were separated from it by the firmament1 beneath which what we call the air lay4 ,a second alternation of darkness and light marks the lapse of time4 ,after this1 the waters which covered the earth-disk1 under the firmament1 were drawn away into certain regions1 which became seas1 while the part laid bare became dry land4 ,in accordance with the notion1 universally accepted in antiquity1 that moist earth possesses the potentiality of giving rise to living beings1 the land1 at the command of ,elohim1 put forth all sorts of plants4 ,they are made to appear thus early1 not1 ,i apprehend1 from any notion that plants are lower in the scale of being than animals 7which would seem to be inconsistent with the prevalence of tree worship among ancient people71 but rather because animals obviously depend on plants2 and because1 without crops and harvests1 there seemed to be no particular need of heavenly signs for the seasons4 ,these were provided by the fourth day's work4 ,light existed already2 but now vehicles for the distribution of light1 in a special manner and with varying degrees of intensity1 were provided4 ,i conceive that the previous alternations of light and darkness were supposed to go on2 but that the light was #abi strengthened during the daytime by the sun1 which1 as a source of heat as well as of light1 glided up the firmament from the east1 and slid down in the west1 each day4 ,very probably each day's sun was supposed to be a new one4 ,and1 as the light of the day was strengthened by the sun1 so the darkness of the night was weakened by the moon1 which regularly waxed and waned every month4 ,the stars are1 as it were1 thrown in4 ,and nothing can more sharply mark the doctrinal purpose of the author1 than the manner in which he deals with the heavenly bodies1 which the ,gentiles identified so closely with their gods1 as if they were mere accessories to the almanac4 ,animals come next in order of creation1 and the general notion of the writer seems to be that they were produced by the medium in which they live2 that is to say1 the aquatic animals by the waters and the terrestrial animals by the land4 ,but there was a difficulty about flying things1 such as bats1 birds1 and insects4 ,the cosmogonist seems to have had no conception of air as an elemental body4 ,his elements are earth and water1 and he ignores air as much as he does fire4 ,birds fly above the earth in the open firmament or on the face of the expanse of heaven4 ,they are not said to fly through the air4 ,the choice of a generative medium for flying things1 therefore1 seemed to lie between water and earth2 and1 if we take into account the conspicuousness of the great flocks of water-birds and the swarms of winged insects1 which appear to arise from water1 ,i think the preference of water becomes intelligible4 ,however1 ,i do not put this forward as more than a probable hypothesis4 ,as to the creation of aquatic animals on the fifth1 that of land animals on the sixth day1 and that of man last of all1 ,i presume the order was determined by the fact that man could hardly receive dominion over the living world before it existed2 and that the cattle were not wanted until he was about to make his appearance4 ,the other terrestrial animals would naturally be associated with the cattle4 ,the absurdity of imagining that any conception1 analogous to that of a zoological classification1 was in the mind of the writer will be apparent1 when we consider that the fifth day's work must include the zoologist's ,cetacea1 ,sirenia1 and seals1#be all of which are #acj ,mammalia2 all birds1 turtles1 sea-snakes and1 presumably1 the fresh water ,reptilia and ,amphibia2 with the great majority of ,invertebrata4 ,the creation of man is announced as a separate act1 resulting from a particular resolution of ,elohim to make man in our image1 after our likeness4 ,to learn what this remarkable phrase means we must turn to the fifth chapter of ,genesis1 the work of the same writer4 ,in the day that ,elohim created man1 in the likeness of ,elohim made he him2 male and female created he them2 and blessed them and called their name ,adam in the day when they were created4 ,and ,adam lived an hundred and thirty years and begat a son in his own likeness1 after his image2 and called his name ,seth4 ,i find it impossible to read this passage without being convinced that1 when the writer says ,adam was made in the likeness of ,elohim1 he means the same sort of likeness as when he says that ,seth was begotten in the likeness of ,adam4 ,whence it follows that his conception of ,elohim was completely anthropomorphic4 ,in all this narrative ,i can discover nothing which differentiates it1 in principle1 from other ancient cosmogonies1 except the rejection of all gods1 save the vague1 yet anthropomorphic1 ,elohim1 and the assigning to them anteriority and superiority to the world4 ,it is as utterly irreconcilable with the assured truths of modern science1 as it is with the account of the origin of man1 plants1 and animals given by the writer of the second chief constituent of the ,hexateuch in the second chapter of ,genesis4 ,this extraordinary story starts with the assumption of the existence of a rainless earth1 devoid of plants and herbs of the field4 ,the creation of living beings begins with that of a solitary man2 the next thing that happens is the laying out of the ,garden of ,eden1 and the causing the growth from its soil of every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food2 the third act is the formation out of the ground of every beast of the field1 and every fowl of the air2 the fourth and last1 the manufacture of the first woman from a rib1 extracted from ,adam1 while in a state of anaesthesia4 ,yet there are people who not only profess to take this monstrous legend seriously2 but who declare it to be reconcilable with the ,elohistic account of the creation6 99 99 99 99 99 #aca ,,iv ,,the ,,evolution ,,of ,,theology3 ,,an ,,anthropological ,,study ,i conceive that the origin1 the growth1 the decline1 and the fall of those speculations respecting the existence1 the powers1 and the dispositions of beings analogous to men1 but more or less devoid of corporeal qualities1 which may be broadly included under the head of theology1 are phenomena the study of which legitimately falls within the province of the anthropologist4 ,and it is purely as a question of anthropology 7a department of biology to which ,i have at various times given a good deal of attention7 that ,i propose to treat of the evolution of theology in the following pages4 ,with theology as a code of dogmas which are to be believed1 or at any rate repeated1 under penalty of present or future punishment1 or as a storehouse of anaesthetics for those who find the pains of life too hard to bear1 ,i have nothing to do2 and1 so far as it may be possible1 ,i shall avoid the expression of any opinion as to the objective truth or falsehood of the systems of theological speculation of which ,i may #acb find occasion to speak4 ,from my present point of view1 theology is regarded as a natural product of the operations of the human mind1 under the conditions of its existence1 just as any other branch of science1 or the arts of architecture1 or music1 or painting are such products4 ,like them1 theology has a history4 ,like them also1 it is to be met with in certain simple and rudimentary forms2 and these can be connected by a multitude of gradations1 which exist or have existed1 among people of various ages and races1 with the most highly developed theologies of past and present times4 ,it is not my object to interfere1 even in the slightest degree1 with beliefs which anybody holds sacred2 or to alter the conviction of any one who is of opinion that1 in dealing with theology1 we ought to be guided by considerations different from those which would be thought appropriate if the problem lay in the province of chemistry or of mineralogy4 ,and if people of these ways of thinking choose to read beyond the present paragraph1 the responsibility for meeting with anything they may dislike rests with them and not with me4 ,we are all likely to be more familiar with the theological history of the ,israelites than with that of any other nation4 ,we may therefore fitly make it the first object of our studies2 and it will be convenient to commence with that period which lies between the invasion of ,canaan and the early days of the monarchy1 and answers to the eleventh and twelfth #acc centuries ,b4,c4 or thereabouts4 ,the evidence on which any conclusion as to the nature of ,israelitic theology in those days must be based is wholly contained in the ,hebrew ,scriptures--an agglomeration of documents which certainly belong to very different ages1 but of the exact dates and authorship of any one of which 7except perhaps one or two of the prophetical writings7 there is no evidence1 either internal or external1 so far as ,i can discover1 of such a nature as to justify more than a confession of ignorance1 or1 at most1 an approximate conclusion4 ,in this venerable record of ancient life1 miscalled a book1 when it is really a library comparable to a selection of works from ,english literature between the times of ,beda and those of ,milton1 we have the stratified deposits 7often confused and even with their natural order inverted7 left by the stream of the intellectual and moral life of ,israel during many centuries4 ,and1 embedded in these strata1 there are numerous remains of forms of thought which once lived1 and which1 though often unfortunately mere fragments1 are of priceless value to the anthropologist4 ,our task is to rescue these from their relatively unimportant surroundings1 and by careful comparison with existing forms of theology to make the dead world which they record live again4 ,in other words1 our problem is palaeontological1 and the method pursued must be the same as that employed in dealing with other fossil remains4 ,among the richest of the fossiliferous strata to which ,i have alluded are the books of ,judges and #acd ,samuel4#bf ,it has often been observed that these writings stand out1 in marked relief from those which precede and follow them1 in virtue of a certain archaic freshness and of a greater freedom from traces of late interpolation and editorial trimming4 ,jephthah1 ,gideon1 and ,samson are men of old heroic stamp1 who would look as much in place in a ,norse ,saga as where they are2 and if the varnish-brush of later respectability has passed over these memoirs of the mighty men of a wild age1 here and there1 it has not succeeded in effacing1 or even in seriously obscuring1 the essential characteristics of the theology traditionally ascribed to their epoch4 ,there is nothing that ,i have met with in the results of ,biblical criticism inconsistent with the conviction that these books give us a fairly trustworthy account of ,israelitic life and thought in the times which they cover2 and1 as such1 apart from the great literary merit of many of their episodes1 they possess the interest of being1 perhaps1 the oldest genuine history1 as apart from mere chronicles on the one hand and mere legends on the other1 at present accessible to us4 ,but it is often said with exultation by writers of #ace one party1 and often admitted1 more or less unwillingly1 by their opponents1 that these books are untrustworthy1 by reason of being full of obviously unhistoric tales4 ,and1 as a notable example1 the narrative of ,saul's visit to the so-called witch of ,endor is often cited4 ,as ,i have already intimated1 ,i have nothing to do with theological partisanship1 either heterodox or orthodox1 nor1 for my present purpose1 does it matter very much whether the story is historically true1 or whether it merely shows what the writer believed2 but1 looking at the matter solely from the point of view of an anthropologist1 ,i beg leave to express the opinion that the account of ,saul's necromantic expedition is quite consistent with probability4 ,that is to say1 ,i see no reason whatever to doubt1 firstly1 that ,saul made such a visit2 and1 secondly1 that he and all who were present1 including the wise woman of ,endor herself1 would have given1 with entire sincerity1 very much the same account of the business as that which we now read in the twenty-eighth chapter of the first book of ,samuel2 and ,i am further of opinion that this story is one of the most important of those fossils1 to which ,i have referred1 in the material which it offers for the reconstruction of the theology of the time4 ,let us therefore study it attentively--not merely as a narrative which1 in the dramatic force of its gruesome simplicity1 is not surpassed1 if it is equalled1 by the witch scenes in ,macbeth--but as a piece of evidence bearing on an important anthropological problem4 ,we are told 7#a ,sam4 xxviii47 that ,saul1 encamped #acf at ,gilboa1 became alarmed by the strength of the ,philistine army gathered at ,shunem4 ,he therefore inquired of ,jahveh1 but ,jahveh answered him not1 neither by dreams1 nor by ,urim1 nor by prophets4#bg ,thus deserted by ,jahveh1 ,saul1 in his extremity1 bethought him of those that had familiar spirits1 and the wizards1 whom he is said1 at some previous time1 to have put out of the land2 but who seem1 nevertheless1 to have been very imperfectly banished1 since ,saul's servants1 in answer to his command to seek him a woman that hath a familiar spirit1 reply without a sign of hesitation or of fear1 ,behold1 there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at ,endor2 just as1 in some parts of ,england1 a countryman might tell any one who did not look like a magistrate or a policeman1 where a wise woman was to be met with4 ,saul goes to this woman1 who1 after being assured of immunity1 asks1 ,whom shall ,i bring up to thee8 whereupon ,saul says1 ,bring me up ,samuel4 ,the woman immediately sees an apparition4 ,but to ,saul nothing is visible1 for he asks1 ,what seest thou8 ,and the woman replies1 ,i see ,elohim coming up out of the earth4 ,still the spectre remains invisible to ,saul1 for he asks1 ,what form is he of8 ,and she replies1 ,an old man cometh up1 and he is covered with a robe4 ,so far1 therefore1 the wise woman unquestionably plays the part of a medium1 and ,saul is dependent upon her version of what happens4 #acg ,the account continues3-- ,and ,saul perceived that it was ,samuel1 and he bowed with his face to the ground and did obeisance4 ,and ,samuel said to ,saul1 ,why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up8 ,and ,saul answered1 ,i am sore distressed3 for the ,philistines make war against me1 and ,elohim is departed from me and answereth me no more1 neither by prophets nor by dreams2 therefore ,i have called thee that thou mayest make known unto me what ,i shall do4 ,and ,samuel said1 ,wherefore then dost thou ask of me1 seeing that ,jahveh is departed from thee and is become thine adversary8 ,and ,jahveh hath wrought for himself1 as he spake by me1 and ,jahveh hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand and given it to thy neighbour1 even to ,david4 ,because thou obeyedst not the voice of ,jahveh and didst not execute his fierce wrath upon ,amalek1 therefore hath ,jahveh done this thing unto thee this day4 ,moreover1 ,jahveh will deliver ,israel also with thee into the hand of the ,philistines2 and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me3 ,jahveh shall deliver the host of ,israel also into the hand of the ,philistines4 ,then ,saul fell straightway his full length upon the earth and was sore afraid because of the words of ,samuel 444 7v4 #ad-bj74 ,the statement that ,saul perceived that it was ,samuel is not to be taken to imply that1 even now1 ,saul actually saw the shade of the prophet1 but only that the woman's allusion to the prophetic mantle and to the aged appearance of the spectre convinced him that it was ,samuel4 ,reuss#bh in fact translates the passage ,alors ,saul reconnut que c'etait ,samuel4 #ach ,nor does the dialogue between ,saul and ,samuel necessarily1 or probably1 signify that ,samuel spoke otherwise than by the voice of the wise woman4 ,the ,septuagint does not hesitate to call her ,greek3 engastrimuthos1 that is to say1 a ventriloquist1 implying that it was she who spoke--and this view of the matter is in harmony with the fact that the exact sense of the ,hebrew words which are translated as a woman that hath a familiar spirit is a woman mistress of ,ob4 ,ob means primitively a leather bottle1 such as a wine skin1 and is applied alike to the necromancer and to the spirit evoked4 ,its use1 in these senses1 appears to have been suggested by the likeness of the hollow sound emitted by a half-empty skin when struck1 to the sepulchral tones in which the oracles of the evoked spirits were uttered by the medium4 ,it is most probable that1 in accordance with the general theory of spiritual influences which obtained among the old ,israelites1 the spirit of ,samuel was conceived to pass into the body of the wise woman1 and to use her vocal organs to speak in his own name--for ,i cannot discover that they drew any clear distinction between possession and inspiration4#bi ,if the story of ,saul's consultation of the occult powers is to be regarded as an authentic narrative1 or1 at any rate1 as a statement which is perfectly veracious so far as the intention of the narrator goes--and1 as ,i have said1 ,i see no reason for refusing it this character--it will be found1 on further consideration1 #aci to throw a flood of light1 both directly and indirectly1 on the theology of ,saul's countrymen--that is to say1 upon their beliefs respecting the nature and ways of spiritual beings4 ,even without the confirmation of other abundant evidences to the same effect1 it leaves no doubt as to the existence1 among them1 of the fundamental doctrine that man consists of a body and of a spirit1 which last1 after the death of the body1 continues to exist as a ghost4 ,at the time of ,saul's visit to ,endor1 ,samuel was dead and buried2 but that his spirit would be believed to continue to exist in ,sheol may be concluded from the well-known passage in the song attributed to ,hannah1 his mother3-- ,jahveh killeth and maketh alive1 ,he bringeth down to ,sheol and bringeth up 7#a ,sam4 ii4 #f74 ,and it is obvious that this ,sheol was thought to be a place underground in which ,samuel's spirit had been disturbed by the necromancer's summons1 and in which1 after his return thither1 he would be joined by the spirits of ,saul and his sons when they had met with their bodily death on the hill of ,gilboa4 ,it is further to be observed that the spirit1 or ghost1 of the dead man presents itself as the image of the man himself--it is the man not merely in his ordinary corporeal presentment 7even down to the prophet's mantle7 but in his moral and intellectual characteristics4 ,samuel1 who had begun as ,saul's friend and ended as his bitter enemy1 gives it to be understood that he is annoyed at ,saul's presumption in #adj disturbing him2 and that1 in ,sheol1 he is as much the devoted servant of ,jahveh and as much empowered to speak in ,jahveh's name as he was during his sojourn in the upper air4 ,it appears now to be universally admitted that1 before the exile1 the ,israelites had no belief in rewards and punishments after death1 nor in anything similar to the ,christian heaven and hell2 but our story proves that it would be an error to suppose that they did not believe in the continuance of individual existence after death by a ghostly simulacrum of life4 ,nay1 ,i think it would be very hard to produce conclusive evidence that they disbelieved in immortality2 for ,i am not aware that there is anything to show that they thought the existence of the souls of the dead in ,sheol ever came to an end4 ,but they do not seem to have conceived that the condition of the souls in ,sheol was in any way affected by their conduct in life4 ,if there was immortality1 there was no state of retribution in their theology4 ,samuel expects ,saul and his sons to come to him in ,sheol4 ,the next circumstance to be remarked is that the name of ,elohim is applied to the spirit which the woman sees coming up out of the earth1 that is to say1 from ,sheol4 ,the ,authorised ,version translates this in its literal sense gods4 ,the ,revised ,version gives god with gods in the margin4 ,reuss renders the word by spectre1 remarking in a note that it is not quite exact2 but that the word ,elohim expresses something divine1 that is to say1 superhuman1 commanding respect and terror 7,histoire #ada des ,israelites1 p4 #cba74 ,tuch1 in his commentary on ,genesis1 and ,thenius1 in his commentary on ,samuel1 express substantially the same opinion4 ,dr4 ,alexander 7in ,kitto's ,cyclopaedia s4 v4 ,god7 has the following instructive remarks3-- ,elohim is sometimes used vaguely to describe unseen powers or superhuman beings that are not properly thought of as divine4 ,thus the witch of ,endor saw ,elohim ascending out of the earth 7#a ,sam4 xxviii4 #ac71 meaning thereby some beings of an unearthly1 superhuman character4 ,so also in ,zechariah xii4 #h1 it is said the house of ,david shall be as ,elohim1 as the angel of the ,lord1 where1 as the transition from ,elohim to the angel of the ,lord is a minori ad majus1 we must regard the former as a vague designation of supernatural powers4 ,dr4 ,alexander speaks here of beings2 but there is no reason to suppose that the wise woman of ,endor referred to anything but a solitary spectre2 and it is quite clear that ,saul understood her in this sense1 for he asks1 ,what form is ,,he of8 ,this fact1 that the name of ,elohim is applied to a ghost1 or disembodied soul1 conceived as the image of the body in which it once dwelt1 is of no little importance4 ,for it is well known that the same term was employed to denote the gods of the heathen1 who were thought to have definite quasi-corporeal forms and to be as much real entities as any other ,elohim4#cj ,the difference which was supposed to exist #adb between the different ,elohim was one of degree1 not one of kind4 ,elohim was1 in logical terminology1 the genus of which ghosts1 ,chemosh1 ,dagon1 ,baal1 and ,jahveh were species4 ,the ,israelite believed ,jahveh to be immeasurably superior to all other kinds of ,elohim4 ,the inscription on the ,moabite stone shows that ,king ,mesa held ,chemosh to be1 as unquestionably1 the superior of ,jahveh4 ,but if ,jahveh was thus supposed to differ only in degree from the undoubtedly zoomorphic or anthropomorphic gods of the nations1 why is it to be assumed that he also was not thought of as having a human shape8 ,it is possible for those who forget that the time of the great prophetic writers is at least as remote from that of ,saul as our day is from that of ,queen ,elizabeth1 to insist upon interpreting the gross notions current in the earlier age and among the mass of the people by the refined conceptions promulgated by a few select spirits centuries later4 ,but if we take the language constantly used concerning the ,deity in the books of ,genesis1 ,exodus1 ,joshua1 ,judges1 ,samuel1 or ,kings1 in its natural sense 7and ,i am aware of no valid reason which can be given for taking it in any other sense71 there cannot1 to my mind1 be a doubt that ,jahveh was conceived by those from whom the substance of these books is mainly derived1 to possess the appearance and the intellectual and moral attributes of a man2 and1 indeed1 of a man of just that type with which the ,israelites were familiar in their stronger and intellectually abler rulers and leaders4 ,in a well-known passage of ,genesis 7i4 #bg7 ,elohim is said to #adc have created man in his own image1 in the image of ,elohim created he him4 ,it is man who is here said to be the image of ,elohim--not man's soul alone1 still less his reason1 but the whole man4 ,it is obvious that for those who called a manlike ghost ,elohim1 there could be no difficulty in conceiving any other ,elohim under the same aspect4 ,and if there could be any doubt on this subject1 surely it cannot stand in the face of what we find in the fifth chapter1 where1 immediately after a repetition of the statement that ,elohim created man1 in the likeness of ,elohim made he him1 it is said that ,adam begat ,seth in his own likeness1 after his image4 ,does this mean that ,seth resembled ,adam only in a spiritual and figurative sense8 ,and if that interpretation of the third verse of the fifth chapter of ,genesis is absurd1 why does it become reasonable in the first verse of the same chapter8 ,but let us go further4 ,is not the ,jahveh who walks in the garden in the cool of the day2 from whom one may hope to hide oneself among the trees2 of whom it is expressly said that ,moses and ,aaron1 ,nadab and ,abihu1 and seventy of the elders of ,israel1 saw the ,elohim of ,israel 7,exod4 xxiv4 #i-aa72 and that1 although the seeing ,jahveh was understood to be a high crime and misdemeanour1 worthy of death1 under ordinary circumstances1 yet1 for this once1 he laid not his hand on the nobles of ,israel2 that they beheld ,elohim and did eat and drink2 and that afterwards ,moses saw his back 7,exod4 xxxiii4 #bc7--;is not this ,deity conceived as manlike in form8 #add ,again1 is not the ,jahveh who eats with ,abraham under the oaks at ,mamre1 who is pleased with the sweet savour of ,noah's sacrifice1 to whom sacrifices are said to be food#ca--;is not this ,deity depicted as possessed of human appetites8 ,if this were not the current ,israelitish idea of ,jahveh even in the eighth century ,b4,c41 where is the point of ,isaiah's scathing admonitions to his countrymen3 ,to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me8 saith ,jahveh3 ,i am full of the burnt-offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts2 and ,i delight not in the blood of bullocks1 or of lambs1 or of he-goats 7,isa4 i4 #aa74 ,or of ,micah's inquiry1 ,will ,jahveh be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oil8 7vi4 #g74 ,and in the innumerable passages in which ,jahveh is said to be jealous of other gods1 to be angry1 to be appeased1 and to repent2 in which he is represented as casting off ,saul because the king does not quite literally execute a command of the most ruthless severity2 or as smiting ,uzzah to death because the unfortunate man thoughtlessly1 but naturally enough1 put out his hand to stay the ark from falling--can any one deny that the old ,israelites conceived ,jahveh not only in the image of a man1 but in that of a changeable1 irritable1 and1 occasionally1 violent man8 ,there appears to me1 then1 to be no reason to doubt that the notion of likeness to man1 which was indubitably held of the #ade ghost ,elohim1 was carried out consistently throughout the whole series of ,elohim1 and that ,jahveh-,elohim was thought of as a being of the same substantially human nature as the rest1 only immeasurably more powerful for good and for evil4 ,the absence of any real distinction between the ,elohim of different ranks is further clearly illustrated by the corresponding absence of any sharp delimitation between the various kinds of people who serve as the media of communication between them and men4 ,the agents through whom the lower ,elohim are consulted are called necromancers1 wizards1 and diviners1 and are looked down upon by the prophets and priests of the higher ,elohim2 but the seer connects the two1 and they are all alike in their essential characters of media4 ,the wise woman of ,endor was believed by others1 and1 ,i have little doubt1 believed herself1 to be able to bring up whom she would from ,sheol1 and to be inspired1 whether in virtue of actual possession by the evoked ,elohim1 or otherwise1 with a knowledge of hidden things4 ,i am unable to see that ,saul's servant took any really different view of ,samuel's powers1 though he may have believed that he obtained them by the grace of the higher ,elohim4 ,for when ,saul fails to find his father's asses1 his servant says to him-- ,behold1 there is in this city a man of ,elohim1 and he is a man that is held in honour2 all that he saith cometh surely to pass3 now let us go thither2 peradventure he can tell us concerning our journey whereon we go4 ,then said ,saul to his servant1 ,but behold if we go1 what shall we bring the man8 for the bread is spent in our vessels and there is not a present to #adf bring to the man of ,elohim4 ,what have we8 ,and the servant answered ,saul again and said1 ,behold ,i have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver3 that will ,i give to the man of ,elohim to tell us our way4 7,beforetime in ,israel when a man went to inquire of ,elohim1 then he said1 ,come and let us go to the ,seer3 for he that is now called a ,prophet was beforetime called a ,seer#cb7 7#a ,sam4 ix4 #f-aj74 ,in fact1 when1 shortly afterwards1 ,saul accidentally meets ,samuel1 he says1 ,tell me1 ,i pray thee1 where the ,seer's house is4 ,samuel answers1 ,i am the ,seer4 ,immediately afterwards ,samuel informs ,saul that the asses are found1 though how he obtained his knowledge of the fact is not stated4 ,it will be observed that ,samuel is not spoken of here as1 in any special sense1 a seer or prophet of ,jahveh1 but as a man of ,elohim--that is to say1 a seer having access to the spiritual powers1 just as the wise woman of ,endor might have been said to be a woman of ,elohim--and the narrator's or editor's explanatory note seems to indicate that ,prophet is merely a name1 introduced later than the time of ,samuel1 for a superior kind of ,seer1 or man of ,elohim4#cc ,another very instructive passage shows that ,samuel was not only considered to be diviner1 seer1 and prophet in one1 but that he was also1 to all intents and purposes1 priest of ,jahveh--though1 #adg according to his biographer1 he was not a member of the tribe of ,levi4 ,at the outset of their acquaintance1 ,samuel says to ,saul1 ,go up before me into the high place1 where1 as the young maidens of the city had just before told ,saul1 the ,seer was going1 for the people will not eat till he come1 because he doth bless the sacrifice 7#a ,sam4 x4 #ab74 ,the use of the word bless here--as if ,samuel were not going to sacrifice1 but only to offer a blessing or thanksgiving--is curious4 ,but that ,samuel really acted as priest seems plain from what follows4 ,for he not only asks ,saul to share in the customary sacrificial feast1 but he disposes in ,saul's favour of that portion of the victim which the ,levitical legislation1 doubtless embodying old customs1 recognises as the priest's special property4#cd ,although particular persons adopted the profession of media between men and ,elohim1 there was no limitation of the power1 in the view of ancient ,israel1 to any special class of the population4 ,saul inquires of ,jahveh and builds him altars on his own account2 and in the very remarkable story told in the #adh fourteenth chapter of the first book of ,samuel 7v4 #cg-df71 ,saul appears to conduct the whole process of divination1 although he has a priest at his elbow4 ,david seems to do the same4 ,moreover1 ,elohim constantly appear in dreams--which in old ,israel did not mean that1 as we should say1 the subject of the appearance dreamed he saw the spirit2 but that he veritably saw the ,elohim which1 as a soul1 visited his soul while his body was asleep4 ,and1 in the course of the history of ,israel1 ,jahveh himself thus appears to all sorts of persons1 non-,israelites as well as ,israelites4 ,again1 the ,elohim possess1 or inspire1 people against their will1 as in the case of ,saul and ,saul's messengers1 and then these people prophesy--that is to say1 rave--and exhibit the ungoverned gestures attributed by a later age to possession by malignant spirits4 ,apart from other evidence to be adduced by and by1 the history of ancient demonology and of modern revivalism does not permit me to doubt that the accounts of these phenomena given in the history of ,saul may be perfectly historical4 ,in the ritual practices1 of which evidence is to be found in the books of ,judges and ,samuel1 the chief part is played by sacrifices1 usually burnt offerings4 ,whenever the aid of the ,elohim of ,israel is sought1 or thanks are considered due to him1 an altar is built1 and oxen1 sheep1 and goats are slaughtered and offered up4 ,sometimes the entire victim is burnt as a holocaust2 more frequently only certain parts1 notably the fat about the kidneys1 are burnt on the #adi altar4 ,the rest is properly cooked2 and1 after the reservation of a part for the priest1 is made the foundation of a joyous banquet1 in which the sacrificer1 his family1 and such guests as he thinks fit to invite1 participate4#ce ,elohim was supposed to share in the feast1 and it has been already shown that that which was set apart on the altar1 or consumed by fire1 was spoken of as the food of ,elohim1 who was thought to be influenced by the costliness1 or by the pleasant smell1 of the sacrifice in favour of the sacrificer4 ,all this bears out the view that1 in the mind of the old ,israelite1 there was no difference1 save one of degree1 between one ,elohim and another4 ,it is true that there is but little direct evidence to show that the old ,israelites shared the widespread belief of their own1 and indeed of all times1 that the spirits of the dead not only continue to exist1 but are capable of a ghostly kind of feeding and are grateful for such aliment as can be assimilated by their attenuated substance1 and even for clothes1 ornaments1 and weapons4#cf ,that they were familiar with this doctrine in the time of the captivity is suggested by the well-known reference of ,ezekiel 7xxxii4 #bg7 to the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised1 which #aej are gone down to ,sheol hell with their weapons of war1 and have laid their swords under their heads4 ,perhaps there is a still earlier allusion in the giving of food for the dead spoken of in ,deuteronomy 7xxvi4 #ad74cg ,it must be remembered that the literature of the old ,israelites1 as it lies before us1 has been subjected to the revisal of strictly monotheistic editors1 violently opposed to all kinds of idolatry1 who are not likely to have selected from the materials at their disposal any obvious evidence1 either of the practice under discussion1 or of that ancestor-worship which is so closely related to it1 for preservation in the permanent records of their people4 ,the mysterious objects known as ,teraphim1 which are occasionally mentioned in ,judges1 ,samuel1 and elsewhere1 however1 can hardly be interpreted otherwise than as indications of the existence both of ancestor-worship and of image-worship in old ,israel4 #aea ,the teraphim were certainly images of family gods1 and1 as such1 in all probability represented deceased ancestors4 ,laban indignantly demands of his son-in-law1 ,wherefore hast thou stolen my ,elohim8 which ,rachel1 who must be assumed to have worshipped ,jacob's ,god1 ,jahveh1 had carried off1 obviously because she1 like her father1 believed in their divinity4 ,it is not suggested that ,jacob was in any way scandalised by the idolatrous practices of his favourite wife1 whatever he may have thought of her honesty when the truth came to light2 for the teraphim seem to have remained in his camp1 at least until he hid his strange gods under the oak that was by ,shechem 7,gen4 xxxv4 #d74 ,and indeed it is open to question if he got rid of them then1 for the subsequent history of ,israel renders it more than doubtful whether the teraphim were regarded as strange gods even as late as the eighth century ,b4,c4 ,the writer of the books of ,samuel takes it quite as a matter of course that ,michal1 daughter of one royal ,jahveh worshipper and wife of the servant of ,jahveh par excellence1 the pious ,david1 should have her teraphim handy1 in her and ,david's chamber1 when she dresses them up in their bed into a simulation of her husband1 for the purpose of deceiving her father's messengers4 ,even one of the early prophets1 ,hosea1 when he threatens that the children of ,israel shall abide many days without ephod or teraphim 7iii4 #d71 appears to regard both as equally proper appurtenances of the suspended worship of ,jahveh1 and equally certain to be restored when that is resumed4 #aeb ,when we further take into consideration that only in the reign of ,hezekiah was the brazen serpent1 preserved in the temple and believed to be the work of ,moses1 destroyed1 and the practice of offering incense to it1 that is1 worshipping it1 abolished--that ,jeroboam could set up calves of gold for ,israel to worship1 with apparently none but a political object1 and certainly with no notion of creating a schism among the worshippers of ,jahveh1 or of repelling the men of ,judah from his standard--it seems obvious1 either that the ,israelites of the tenth and eleventh centuries ,b4,c4 knew not the second commandment1 or that they construed it merely as part of the prohibition to worship any supreme god other than ,jahveh1 which precedes it4 ,in seeking for information about the teraphim1 ,i lighted upon the following passage in the valuable article on that subject by ,archdeacon ,farrar1 in ,kitto's ,cyclopaedia of ,biblical ,literature1 which is so much to the purpose of my argument1 that ,i venture to quote it in full3-- ,the main and certain results of this review are that the teraphim were rude human images2 that the use of them was an antique ,aramaic custom2 that there is reason to suppose them to have been images of deceased ancestors2 that they were consulted oracularly2 that they were not confined to ,jews2 that their use continued down to the latest period of ,jewish history2 and lastly1 that although the enlightened prophets and strictest later kings regarded them as idolatrous1 the priests were much less averse to such images1 and their cult was not considered in any way repugnant to the pious worship of ,elohim1 nay1 even to the worship of him under the awful title of ,jehovah4 ,in fact1 they involved a monotheistic idolatry very different indeed from #aec polytheism2 and the tolerance of them by priests1 as compared with the denunciation of them by the prophets1 offers a close analogy to the views of the ,roman ,catholics respecting pictures and images as compared with the views of ,protestants4 ,it was against this use of idolatrous symbols and emblems in a monotheistic worship that the second commandment was directed1 whereas the first is aimed against the graver sin of direct polytheism4 ,but the whole history of ,israel shows how utterly and how early the law must have fallen into desuetude4 ,the worship of the golden calf and of the calves at ,dan and ,bethel1 against which1 so far as we know1 neither ,elijah nor ,elisha said a single word2 the tolerance of high places1 teraphim and betylia2 the offering of incense for centuries to the brazen serpent destroyed by ,hezekiah2 the occasional glimpses of the most startling irregularities sanctioned apparently even in the temple worship itself1 prove most decisively that a pure monotheism and an independence of symbols was the result of a slow and painful course of ,god's disciplinal dealings among the noblest thinkers of a single nation1 and not1 as is so constantly and erroneously urged1 the instinct of the whole ,semitic race2 in other words1 one single branch of the ,semites was under ,god's providence educated into pure monotheism only by centuries of misfortune and series of inspired men 7vol4 iii4 p4 #ihf74 ,it appears to me that the researches of the anthropologist lead him to conclusions identical in substance1 if not in terms1 with those here enunciated as the result of a careful study of the same subject from a totally different point of view4 ,there is abundant evidence in the books of ,samuel and elsewhere that an article of dress termed an ephod was supposed to have a peculiar efficacy in enabling the wearer to exercise divination by means of ,jahveh-,elohim4 ,great and long continued have been the disputes as to the exact nature of the ephod--whether it always means something to wear1 or #aed whether it sometimes means an image4 ,but the probabilities are that it usually signifies a kind of waistcoat or broad zone1 with shoulder-straps1 which the person who inquired of ,jahveh put on4 ,in #a ,samuel xxiii4 #b ,david appears to have inquired without an ephod1 for ,abiathar the priest is said to have come down with an ephod in his hand only subsequently4 ,and then ,david asks for it before inquiring of ,jahveh whether the men of ,keilah would betray him or not4 ,david's action is obviously divination pure and simple2 and it is curious that he seems to have worn the ephod himself and not to have employed ,abiathar as a medium4 ,how the answer was given is not clear1 though the probability is that it was obtained by casting lots4 ,the ,urim and ,thummim seem to have been two such lots of a peculiarly sacred character1 which were carried in the pocket of the high priest's breastplate4 ,this last was worn along with the ephod4 ,with the exception of one passage 7#a ,sam4 xiv4 #ah7 the ark is ignored in the history of ,saul4 ,but in this place the ,septuagint reads ephod for ark1 while in #a ,chronicles xiii4 #c ,david says that we sought not unto it the ark in the days of ,saul4 ,nor does ,samuel seem to have paid any regard to the ark after its return from ,philistia2 though1 in his childhood1 he is said to have slept in the temple of ,jahveh1 where the ark of ,elohim was 7#a ,sam4 iii4 #c71 at ,shiloh1 and there to have been the seer of the earliest apparitions vouchsafed to him by ,jahveh4 ,the space between the cherubim or winged images on the #aee canopy or cover 7,kapporeth7 of this holy chest was held to be the special seat of ,jahveh--the place selected for a temporary residence of the ,supreme ,elohim who had1 after ,aaron and ,phineas1 ,eli and his sons for priests and seers4 ,and1 when the ark was carried to the camp at ,eben-ezer1 there can be no doubt that the ,israelites1 no less than the ,philistines1 held that ,elohim is come into the camp 7iv4 #g71 and that the one1 as much as the other1 conceived that the ,israelites had summoned to their aid a powerful ally in these 7or this7 mighty ,elohim--elsewhere called ,jahve-,sabaoth1 the ,jahveh of ,hosts4 ,if the temple at ,shiloh was the pentateuchal tabernacle1 as is suggested by the name of tent of meeting given to it in #a ,samuel ii4 #bb1 it was essentially a large tent1 though constituted of very expensive and ornate materials2 if1 on the other hand1 it was a different edifice1 there can be little doubt that this house of ,jahveh was built on the model of an ordinary house of the time4 ,but there is not the slightest evidence that1 during the reign of ,saul1 any greater importance attached to this seat of the cult of ,jahveh than to others4 ,sanctuaries1 and high places for sacrifice1 were scattered all over the country from ,dan to ,beersheba4 ,and1 as ,samuel is said to have gone up to one of these high places to bless the sacrifice1 it may be taken for tolerably certain that he knew nothing of the ,levitical laws which severely condemn the high places and those who sacrifice away from the sanctuary hallowed by the presence of the ark4 ,there is no evidence that1 during the time of the #aef ,judges and of ,samuel1 any one occupied the position of the high priest of later days4 ,and persons who were neither priests nor ,levites sacrificed and divined or inquired of ,jahveh1 when they pleased and where they pleased1 without the least indication that they1 or any one else in ,israel at that time1 knew they were doing wrong4 ,there is no allusion to any special observance of the ,sabbath2 and the references to circumcision are indirect4 ,such are the chief articles of the theological creed of the old ,israelites1 which are made known to us by the direct evidence of the ancient record to which we have had recourse1 and they are as remarkable for that which they contain as for that which is absent from them4 ,they reveal a firm conviction that1 when death takes place1 a something termed a soul or spirit leaves the body and continues to exist in ,sheol for a period of indefinite duration1 even though there is no proof of any belief in absolute immortality2 that such spirits can return to earth to possess and inspire the living2 that they are1 in appearance and in disposition1 likenesses of the men to whom they belonged1 but that1 as spirits1 they have larger powers and are freer from physical limitations2 that they thus form a group among a number of kinds of spiritual existences known as ,elohim1 of whom ,jahveh1 the national ,god of ,israel1 is one2 that1 consistently with this view1 ,jahveh was conceived as a sort of spirit1 human in aspect and in senses1 and with many human passions1 but with immensely greater intelligence and power than any #aeg other ,elohim1 whether human or divine4 ,further1 the evidence proves that this belief was the basis of the ,jahveh-worship to which ,samuel and his followers were devoted2 that there is strong reason for believing1 and none for doubting1 that idolatry1 in the shape of the worship of the family gods or teraphim1 was practised by sincere and devout ,jahveh-worshippers2 that the ark1 with its protective tent or tabernacle1 was regarded as a specially1 but by no means exclusively1 favoured sanctuary of ,jahveh2 that the ephod appears to have had a particular value for those who desired to divine by the help of ,jahveh2 and that divination by lots was practised before ,jahveh4 ,on the other hand1 there is not the slightest evidence of any belief in retribution after death1 but the contrary2 ritual obligations have at least as strong sanction as moral2 there are clear indications that some of the most stringent of the ,levitical laws were unknown even to ,samuel2 priests often appear to be superseded by laymen1 even in the performance of sacrifices and divination2 and no line of demarcation can be drawn between necromancer1 wizard1 seer1 prophet1 and priest1 each of whom is regarded1 like all the rest1 as a medium of communication between the world of ,elohim and that of living men4 ,the theological system thus defined offers to the anthropologist no feature which is devoid of a parallel in the known theologies of other races of mankind1 even of those who inhabit parts of the world most remote from ,palestine4 ,and the foundation of the #aeh whole1 the ghost theory1 is exactly that theological speculation which is the most widely spread of all1 and the most deeply rooted among uncivilised men4 ,i am able to base this statement1 to some extent1 on facts within my own knowledge4 ,in ,december #ahdh1 ,h4,m4,s4 ,rattlesnake1 the ship to which ,i then belonged1 was anchored off ,mount ,ernest1 an island in ,torres ,straits4 ,the people were few and well disposed2 and1 when a friend of mine 7whom ,i will call ,b47 and ,i went ashore1 we made acquaintance with an old native1 ,paouda by name4 ,in course of time we became quite intimate with the old gentleman1 partly by the rendering of mutual good offices1 but chiefly because ,paouda believed he had discovered that ,b4 was his father-in-law4 ,and his grounds for this singular conviction were very remarkable4 ,we had made a long stay at ,cape ,york hard by2 and1 in accordance with a theory which is widely spread among the ,australians1 that white men are the reincarnated spirits of black men1 ,b4 was held to be the ghost1 or narki1 of a certain ,mount ,ernest native1 one ,antarki1 who had lately died1 on the ground of some real or fancied resemblance to the latter4 ,now ,paouda had taken to wife a daughter of ,antarki's1 named ,domani1 and as soon as ,b4 informed him that he was the ghost of ,antarki1 ,paouda at once admitted the relationship and acted upon it4 ,for1 as all the women on the island had hidden away in fear of the ship1 and we were anxious to see what they were like1 ,b4 pleaded pathetically with ,paouda that it would be very unkind not to let him see his daughter and grandchildren4 #aei ,after a good deal of hesitation and the exaction of pledges of deep secrecy1 ,paouda consented to take ,b41 and myself as ,b4's friend1 to see ,domani and the three daughters1 by whom ,b4 was received quite as one of the family1 while ,i was courteously welcomed on his account4 ,this scene made an impression upon me which is not yet effaced4 ,it left no question on my mind of the sincerity of the strange ghost theory of these savages1 and of the influence which their belief has on their practical life4 ,i had it in my mind1 as well as many a like result of subsequent anthropological studies1 when1 in #ahfi1ch ,i wrote as follows3-- ,there are savages without ,god in any proper sense of the word1 but none without ghosts4 ,and the ,fetishism1 ,ancestor-worship1 ,hero-worship1 and ,demonology of primitive savages are all1 ,i believe1 different manners of expression of their belief in ghosts1 and of the anthropomorphic interpretation of out-of-the-way events which is its concomitant4 ,witchcraft and sorcery are the practical expressions of these beliefs2 and they stand in the same relation to religious worship as the simple anthropomorphism of children or savages does to theology4 ,i do not quote myself with any intention of making a claim to originality in putting forth this view2 for ,i have since discovered that the same conception is virtually contained in the great ,discours sur l',histoire ,universelle of ,bossuet1 now more than two centuries old3-- ,le culte des hommes morts faisoit presque tout le fond de l'idolatrie3 presque tous les hommes sacrifioient aux manes1 #afj c'est-a-dire aux ames des morts4 ,de si anciennes erreurs nous font voir a la verite combien etoit ancienne la croyance de l'immortalite de l'ame1 et nous montrent qu'elle doit etre rangee parmi les premieres traditions du genre humain4 ,mais l'homme1 qui gatoit tout1 en avoit etrangement abuse1 puisqu'elle le portoit a sacrifier aux morts4 ,on alloit meme jusqu'a cet exces1 de leur sacrifier des hommes vivans3 on tuoit leurs esclaves1 et meme leurs femmes1 pour les aller servir dans l'autre monde4#ci ,among more modern writers ,j4 ,g4 ,mueller1 in his excellent ,geschichte der amerikanischen ,urreligionen 7#ahee71 clearly recognises gespensterhafter ,geisterglaube as the foundation of all savage and semi-civilised theology1 and ,i need do no more than mention the important developments of the same view which are to be found in ,mr4 ,tylor's ,primitive ,culture1 and in the writings of ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer1 especially his recently-published ,ecclesiastical ,institutions4#dj ,it is a matter of fact that1 whether we direct our attention to the older conditions of civilised societies1 in ,japan1 in ,china1 in ,hindostan1 in ,greece1 or in ,rome1#da we find underlying all other theological notions the belief in ghosts1 with its inevitable concomitant sorcery2 and a primitive cult in the shape of a worship of ancestors1 which is essentially an attempt to please1 or appease1 their ghosts4 ,the #afa same thing is true of old ,mexico and ,peru1 and of every semi-civilised or savage people who have developed a definite cult2 and in those who1 like the natives of ,australia1 have not even a cult1 the belief in1 and fear of1 ghosts is as strong as anywhere else4 ,the most clearly demonstrable article of the theology of the ,israelites in the eleventh and twelfth centuries ,b4,c4 is therefore simply the article which is to be found in all primitive theologies1 namely1 the belief that a man has a soul which continues to exist after death for a longer or shorter time1 and may return1 as a ghost1 with a divine1 or at least demonic1 character1 to influence for good or evil 7and usually for evil7 the affairs of the living4 ,but the correspondence between the old ,israelitic and other archaic forms of theology extends to details4 ,if1 in order to avoid all chance of direct communication1 we direct our attention to the theology of semi-civilised people1 such as the ,polynesian ,islanders1 separated by the greatest possible distance1 and by every conceivable barrier1 from the inhabitants of ,palestine1 we shall find not merely that all the features of old-,israelitic theology1 which are revealed in the records cited1 are found among them2 but that extant information as to the inner mind of these people tends to remove many of the difficulties which those who have not studied anthropology find in the ,hebrew narrative4 ,one of the best sources1 if not the best source1 of information on these topics is ,mariner's ,tonga ,islands1 which tells us of the condition of ,cook's ,friendly ,islanders eighty years ago1 before #afb ,european influence was sensibly felt among them4 ,mariner1 a youth of fair education and of no inconsiderable natural ability 7as the work which was drawn up from the materials he furnished shows71 was about fifteen years of age when his ship was attacked and plundered by the ,tongans3 he remained four years in the islands1 familiarised himself with the language1 lived the life of the people1 became intimate with many of them1 and had every opportunity of acquainting himself with their opinions1 as well as with their habits and customs4 ,he seems to have been devoid of prejudices1 theological or other1 and the impression of strict accuracy which his statements convey has been justified by all the knowledge of ,polynesian life which has been subsequently acquired4 ,it is desirable1 therefore1 to pay close attention to that which ,mariner tells us about the theological views of these people3-- ,the human soul1#db after its separation from the body1 is termed a hotooa 7a god or spirit71 and is believed to exist in the shape of the body2 to have the same propensities as during life1 but to be corrected by a more enlightened understanding1 by which it readily distinguishes good from evil1 truth from falsehood1 right from wrong2 having the same attributes as the original gods1 but in a minor degree1 and having its dwelling for ever in the happy regions of ,bolotoo1 holding the same rank in regard to other souls as during this life2 it has1 however1 the power of returning to ,tonga to inspire priests1 relations1 or others1 or to appear in dreams to those it wishes to admonish2 #afc and sometimes to the external eye in the form of a ghost or apparition2 but this power of reappearance at ,tonga particularly belongs to the souls of chiefs rather than of matabooles 7vol4 ii4 p4 #acj74 ,the word hotooa is the same as that which is usually spelt atua by ,polynesian philologues1 and it will be convenient to adopt this spelling4 ,now under this head of ,atuas or supernatural intelligent beings the ,tongans include3-- #a4 ,the original gods4 #b4 ,the souls of nobles that have all attributes in common with the first but inferior in degree4 #c4 ,the souls of matabooles#dc that are still inferior1 and have not the power as the two first have of coming back to ,tonga to inspire the priests1 though they are supposed to have the power of appearing to their relatives4 #d4 ,the original attendants or servants1 as it were1 of the gods1 who1 although they had their origin and have ever since existed in ,bolotoo1 are still inferior to the third class4 #e4 ,the ,atua pow or mischievous gods4 #f4 ,mooi1 or the god that supports the earth and does not belong to ,bolotoo 7vol4 ii4 pp4 #ajc1 #ajd74 ,from this it appears that the ,atuas of the ,polynesian are exactly equivalent to the ,elohim of the old ,israelite4#dd ,they comprise everything spiritual1 from a ghost to a god1 and from the merely tutelar gods to particular private families 7vol4 ii4 p4 #ajd71 to ,ta-li-y-,tooboo1 who was the national god of ,tonga4 ,the ,tongans had no doubt that these ,atuas daily and hourly influenced their destinies and could1 conversely1 be influenced by them4 #afd ,hence their piety1 the incessant acts of sacrificial worship which occupied their lives1 and their belief in omens and charms4 ,moreover1 the ,atuas were believed to visit particular persons1--their own priests in the case of the higher gods1 but apparently anybody in that of the lower1--and to inspire them by a process which was conceived to involve the actual residence of the god1 for the time being1 in the person inspired1 who was thus rendered capable of prophesying 7vol4 ii4 p4 #ajj74 ,for the ,tongan1 therefore1 inspiration indubitably was possession4 ,when one of the higher gods was invoked1 through his priest1 by a chief who wished to consult the oracle1 or1 in old ,israelitic phraseology1 to inquire of1 the god1 a hog was killed and cooked over night1 and1 together with plantains1 yams1 and the materials for making the peculiar drink kava 7of which the ,tongans were very fond71 was carried next day to the priest4 ,a circle1 as for an ordinary kava-drinking entertainment1 was then formed2 but the priest1 as the representative of the god1 took the highest place1 while the chiefs sat outside the circle1 as an expression of humility calculated to please the god4 ,as soon as they are all seated the priest is considered as inspired1 the god being supposed to exist within him from that moment4 ,he remains for a considerable time in silence with his hands clasped before him1 his eyes are cast down and he rests perfectly still4 ,during the time the victuals are being shared out and the kava preparing1 the matabooles sometimes begin to consult him2 sometimes he answers1 and at other times not2 in either case he remains with his eyes cast down4 ,frequently he will not utter a word till the repast is finished and the kava too4 ,when he speaks he generally begins in a low #afe and very altered tone of voice1 which gradually rises to nearly its natural pitch1 though sometimes a little above it4 ,all that he says is supposed to be the declaration of the god1 and he accordingly speaks in the first person1 as if he were the god4 ,all this is done generally without any apparent inward emotion or outward agitation2 but1 on some occasions1 his countenance becomes fierce1 and as it were inflamed1 and his whole frame agitated with inward feeling2 he is seized with an universal trembling1 the perspiration breaks out on his forehead1 and his lips turning black are convulsed2 at length tears start in floods from his eyes1 his breast heaves with great emotion1 and his utterance is choked4 ,these symptoms gradually subside4 ,before this paroxysm comes on1 and after it is over1 he often eats as much as four hungry men under other circumstances could devour4 ,the fit being now gone off1 he remains for some time calm and then takes up a club that is placed by him for the purpose1 turns it over and regards it attentively2 he then looks up earnestly1 now to the right1 now to the left1 and now again at the club2 afterwards he looks up again and about him in like manner1 and then again fixes his eyes on the club1 and so on for several times4 ,at length he suddenly raises the club1 and1 after a moment's pause1 strikes the ground or the adjacent part of the house with considerable force2 immediately the god leaves him1 and he rises up and retires to the back of the ring among the people 7vol4 i4 pp4 #ajj1 #aja74 ,the phenomena thus described1 in language which1 to any one who is familiar with the manifestations of abnormal mental states among ourselves1 bears the stamp of fidelity1 furnish a most instructive commentary upon the story of the wise woman of ,endor4 ,as in the latter1 we have the possession by the spirit or soul 7,atua1 ,elohim71 the strange voice1 the speaking in the first person4 ,unfortunately nothing 7beyond the loud cry7 is mentioned as to the state of the wise woman of ,endor4 ,but what we learn from other sources 7e4g4 #a ,sam4 x4 #bj-bd7 respecting the physical #aff concomitants of inspiration among the old ,israelites has its exact equivalent in this and other accounts of ,polynesian prophetism4 ,an excellent authority1 ,moerenhout1 who lived among the people of the ,society ,islands many years and knew them well1 says that1 in ,tahiti1 the role of the prophet had very generally passed out of the hands of the priests into that of private persons who professed to represent the god1 often assumed his name1 and in this capacity prophesied4 ,i will not run the risk of weakening the force of ,moerenhout's description of the prophetic state by translating it3-- ,un individu1 dans cet etat1 avait le bras gauche enveloppe d'un morceau d'etoffe1 signe de la presence de la ,divinite4 ,il ne parlait que d'un ton imperieux et vehement4 ,ses attaques1 quand il allait prophetiser1 etaient aussi effroyables qu'imposantes4 ,il tremblait d'abord de tous ses membres1 la figure enflee1 les yeux hagards1 rouges et etincelants d'une expression sauvage4 ,il gesticulait1 articulait des mots vides de sens1 poussait des cris horribles qui faisaient tressaillir tous les assistans1 et s'exaltait parfois au point qu'on n'osait pas l'approcher4 ,autour de lui1 le silence de la terreur et du respect4444 ,c'est alors qu'il repondait aux questions1 annoncait l'avenir1 le destin des batailles1 la volonte des dieux2 et1 chose etonnante6 au sein de ce delire1 de cet enthousiasme religieux1 son langage etait grave1 imposant1 son eloquence noble et persuasive4#de ,just so ,saul strips off his clothes1 prophesies before ,samuel1 and lies down naked all that day and night4 ,both ,mariner and ,moerenhout refuse to have recourse to the hypothesis of imposture in order to #afg account for the inspired state of the ,polynesian prophets4 ,on the contrary1 they fully believe in their sincerity4 ,mariner tells the story of a young chief1 an acquaintance of his1 who thought himself possessed by the ,atua of a dead woman who had fallen in love with him1 and who wished him to die that he might be near her in ,bolotoo4 ,and he died accordingly4 ,but the most valuable evidence on this head is contained in what the same authority says about ,king ,finow's son4 ,the previous king1 ,toogoo ,ahoo1 had been assassinated by ,finow1 and his soul1 become an ,atua of divine rank in ,bolotoo1 had been pleased to visit and inspire ,finow's son--with what particular object does not appear4 ,when this young chief returned to ,hapai1 ,mr4 ,mariner1 who was upon a footing of great friendship with him1 one day asked him how he felt himself when the spirit of ,toogoo ,ahoo visited him2 he replied that he could not well describe his feelings1 but the best he could say of it was1 that he felt himself all over in a glow of heat and quite restless and uncomfortable1 and did not feel his own personal identity1 as it were1 but seemed to have a mind different from his own natural mind1 his thoughts wandering upon strange and unusual subjects1 although perfectly sensible of surrounding objects4 ,he next asked him how he knew it was the spirit of ,toogoo ,ahoo8 ,his answer was1 ,there's a fool6 ,how can ,i tell you how ,i knew it8 ,i felt and knew it was so by a kind of consciousness2 my mind told me that it was ,toogoo ,ahoo 7vol4 i4 pp4 #ajd1 #aje74 ,finow's son was evidently made for a theological disputant1 and fell back at once on the inexpugnable stronghold of faith when other evidence was lacking4 ,there's a fool6 ,i know it is true1 because ,i know it1 is the exemplar and epitome of the #afh sceptic-crushing process in other places than the ,tonga ,islands4 ,the island of ,bolotoo1 to which all the souls 7of the upper classes at any rate7 repair after the death of the body1 and from which they return at will to interfere1 for good or evil1 with the lives of those whom they have left behind1 obviously answers to ,sheol4 ,in ,tongan tradition this place of souls is a sort of elysium above ground1 and pleasant enough to live in4 ,but1 in other parts of ,polynesia1 the corresponding locality1 which is called ,po1 has to be reached by descending into the earth1 and is represented dark and gloomy like ,sheol4 ,but it was not looked upon as a place of rewards and punishments in any sense4 ,whether in ,bolotoo or in ,po1 the soul took the rank it had in the flesh2 and1 a shadow1 lived among the shadows of the friends and houses and food of its previous life4 ,the ,tongan theologians recognised several hundred gods2 but there was one1 already mentioned as their national god1 whom they regarded as far greater than any of the others1 as a great chief from the top of the sky down to the bottom of the earth 7,mariner1 vol4 ii4 p4 #ajf74 ,he was also god of war1 and the tutelar deity of the royal family1 whoever happened to be the incumbent of the royal office for the time being4 ,he had no priest except the king himself1 and his visits1 even to royalty1 were few and far between4 ,the name of this supreme deity was ,ta-li-y-,tooboo1 the literal meaning of which is said to be ,wait there1 ,tooboo1 from which it would appear #afi that the peculiar characteristic of ,ta-li-y-,tooboo1 in the eyes of his worshippers1 was persistence of duration4 ,and it is curious to notice1 in relation to this circumstance1 that many ,hebrew philologers have thought the meaning of ,jahveh to be best expressed by the word ,eternal4 ,it would probably be difficult to express the notion of an eternal being1 in a dialect so little fitted to convey abstract conceptions as ,tongan1 better than by that of one who always waits there4 ,the characteristics of the gods in ,tongan theology are exactly those of men whose shape they are supposed to possess1 only they have more intelligence and greater power4 ,the ,tongan belief that1 after death1 the human ,atua more readily distinguishes good from evil1 runs parallel with the old ,israelitic conception of ,elohim expressed in ,genesis1 ,ye shall be as ,elohim1 knowing good from evil4 ,they further agreed with the old ,israelites1 that all rewards for virtue and punishments for vice happen to men in this world only1 and come immediately from the gods 7vol4 ii4 p4 #ajj74 ,moreover1 they were of opinion that though the gods approve of some kinds of virtue and are displeased with some kinds of vice1 and1 to a certain extent1 protect or forsake their worshippers according to their moral conduct1 yet neglect to pay due respect to the deities1 and forgetfulness to keep them in good humour1 might be visited with even worse consequences than moral delinquency4 ,and those who will carefully study the so-called ,mosaic code contained in the #agj books of ,exodus1 ,leviticus1 and ,numbers1 will see that1 though ,jahveh's prohibitions of certain forms of immorality are strict and sweeping1 his wrath is quite as strongly kindled against infractions of ritual ordinances4 ,accidental homicide may go unpunished1 and reparation may be made for wilful theft4 ,on the other hand1 ,nadab and ,abihu1 who offered strange fire before ,jahveh1 which he had not commanded them1 were swiftly devoured by ,jahveh's fire2 he who sacrificed anywhere except at the allotted place was to be cut off from his people2 so was he who eat blood2 and the details of the upholstery of the ,tabernacle1 of the millinery of the priests' vestments1 and of the cabinet work of the ark1 can plead direct authority from ,jahveh1 no less than moral commands4 ,amongst the ,tongans1 the sacrifices were regarded as gifts of food and drink offered to the divine ,atuas1 just as the articles deposited by the graves of the recently dead were meant as food for ,atuas of lower rank4 ,a kava root was a constant form of offering all over ,polynesia4 ,in the excellent work of the ,rev4 ,george ,turner1 entitled ,nineteen ,years in ,polynesia 7p4 #bda71 ,i find it said of the ,samoans 7near neighbours of the ,tongans73-- ,the offerings were principally cooked food4 ,as in ancient ,greece so in ,samoa1 the first cup was in honour of the god4 ,it was either poured out on the ground or waved towards the heavens1 reminding us again of the ,mosaic ceremonies4 ,the chiefs all drank a portion out of the same cup1 according to rank2 and after that1 the food brought as an offering was divided and eaten there before the ,lord4 ,in ,tonga1 when they consulted a god who had a #aga priest1 the latter1 as representative of the god1 had the first cup2 but if the god1 like ,ta-li-y-,tooboo1 had no priest1 then the chief place was left vacant1 and was supposed to be occupied by the god himself4 ,when the first cup of kava was filled1 the mataboole who acted as master of the ceremonies said1 ,give it to your god1 and it was offered1 though only as a matter of form4 ,in ,tonga and ,samoa there were many sacred places or morais1 with houses of the ordinary construction1 but which served as temples in consequence of being dedicated to various gods2 and there were altars on which the sacrifices were offered2 nevertheless there were few or no images4 ,mariner mentions none in ,tonga1 and the ,samoans seem to have been regarded as no better than atheists by other ,polynesians because they had none4 ,it does not appear that either of these peoples had images even of their family or ancestral gods4 ,in ,tahiti and the adjacent islands1 ,moerenhout 7t4 i4 p4 #dga7 makes the very interesting observation1 not only that idols were often absent1 but that1 where they existed1 the images of the gods served merely as depositories for the proper representatives of the divinity4 ,each of these was called a maro aurou1 and was a kind of girdle artistically adorned with red1 yellow1 blue1 and black feathers--the red feathers being especially important--which were consecrated and kept as sacred objects within the idols4 ,they were worn by great personages on solemn occasions1 and conferred upon their wearers a sacred and almost divine character4 ,there is no distinct evidence that the #agb maro aurou was supposed to have any special efficacy in divination1 but one cannot fail to see a certain parallelism between this holy girdle1 which endowed its wearer with a particular sanctity1 and the ephod4 ,according to the ,rev4 ,r4 ,taylor1 the ,new ,zealanders formerly used the word karakia 7now employed for prayer7 to signify a spell1 charm1 or incantation1 and the utterance of these karakias constituted the chief part of their cult4 ,in the south1 the officiating priest had a small image1 about eighteen inches long1 resembling a peg with a carved head1 which reminds one of the form commonly attributed to the teraphim4 ,the priest first bandaged a fillet of red parrot feathers under the god's chin1 which was called his pahau or beard2 this bandage was made of a certain kind of sennet1 which was tied on in a peculiar way4 ,when this was done it was taken possession of by the ,atua1 whose spirit entered it4 ,the priest then either held it in the hand and vibrated it in the air1 whilst the powerful karakia was repeated1 or he tied a piece of string 7formed of the centre of a flax leaf7 round the neck of the image and stuck it in the ground4 ,he sat at a little distance from it1 leaning against a tuahu1 a short stone pillar stuck in the ground in a slanting position1 and holding the string in his hand1 he gave the god a jerk to arrest his attention1 lest he should be otherwise engaged1 like ,baal of old1 either hunting1 fishing1 or sleeping1 and therefore must be awaked4444 ,the god is supposed to make use of the priest's tongue in giving a reply4 ,image-worship appears to have been confined to one part of the island4 ,the ,atua was supposed only to enter the image for the occasion4 ,the natives declare they did not worship the image itself1 but only the ,atua it represented1 and that the image was merely used as a way of approaching him4#df #agc ,this is the excuse for image-worship which the more intelligent idolaters make all the world over2 but it is more interesting to observe that1 in the present case1 we seem to have the equivalents of divination by teraphim1 with the aid of something like an ephod 7which1 however1 is used to sanctify the image and not the priest7 mixed up together4 ,many ,hebrew archaeologists have supposed that the term ephod is sometimes used for an image 7particularly in the case of ,gideon's ephod71 and the story of ,micah1 in the book of ,judges1 shows that images were1 at any rate1 employed in close association with the ephod4 ,if the pulling of the string to call the attention of the god seems as absurd to us as it appears to have done to the worthy missionary1 who tells us of the practice1 it should be recollected that the high priest of ,jahveh was ordered to wear a garment fringed with golden bells4 ,and it shall be upon ,aaron to minister2 and the sound thereof shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before ,jahveh1 and when he cometh out1 that he die not 7,exod4 xxviii4 #ce74 ,an escape from the obvious conclusion suggested by this passage has been sought in the supposition that these bells rang for the sake of the worshippers1 as at the elevation of the host in the ,roman ,catholic ritual2 but then why should the priest be threatened with the well-known penalty for inadvisedly beholding the divinity8 ,in truth1 the intermediate step between the ,maori practice and that of the old ,israelites is furnished by #agd the ,kami temples in ,japan4 ,these are provided with bells which the worshippers who present themselves ring1 in order to call the attention of the ancestor-god to their presence4 ,grant the fundamental assumption of the essentially human character of the spirit1 whether ,atua1 ,kami1 or ,elohim1 and all these practices are equally rational4 ,the sacrifices to the gods in ,tonga1 and elsewhere in ,polynesia1 were ordinarily social gatherings1 in which the god1 either in his own person or in that of his priestly representative1 was supposed to take part4 ,these sacrifices were offered on every occasion of importance1 and even the daily meals were prefaced by oblations and libations of food and drink1 exactly answering to those offered by the old ,romans to their manes1 penates1 and lares4 ,the sacrifices had no moral significance1 but were the necessary result of the theory that the god was either a deified ghost of an ancestor or chief1 or1 at any rate1 a being of like nature to these4 ,if one wanted to get anything out of him1 therefore1 the first step was to put him in good humour by gifts2 and if one desired to escape his wrath1 which might be excited by the most trifling neglect or unintentional disrespect1 the great thing was to pacify him by costly presents4 ,king ,finow appears to have been somewhat of a freethinker 7to the great horror of his subjects71 and it was only his untimely death which prevented him from dealing with the priest of a god1 who had not returned a favourable answer to his supplications1 as ,saul dealt with the priests of the sanctuary of ,jahveh at ,nob4 #age ,nevertheless1 ,finow showed his practical belief in the gods during the sickness of a daughter1 to whom he was fondly attached1 in a fashion which has a close parallel in the history of ,israel4 ,if the gods have any resentment against us1 let the whole weight of vengeance fall on my head4 ,i fear not their vengeance--but spare my child2 and ,i earnestly entreat you1 ,toobo ,totai the god whom he had invoked1 to exert all your influence with the other gods that ,i alone may suffer all the punishment they desire to inflict 7vol4 i4 p4 #ced74 ,so when the king of ,israel has sinned by numbering the people1 and they are punished for his fault by a pestilence which slays seventy thousand innocent men1 ,david cries to ,jahveh3-- ,lo1 ,i have sinned1 and ,i have done perversely3 but these sheep1 what have they done8 let thine hand1 ,i pray thee1 be against me1 and against my father's house 7#b ,sam4 xxiv4 #ag74 ,human sacrifices were extremely common in ,polynesia2 and1 in ,tonga1 the devotion of a child by strangling was a favourite method of averting the wrath of the gods4 ,the well-known instances of ,jephthah's sacrifice of his daughter and of ,david's giving up the seven sons of ,saul to be sacrificed by the ,gibeonites before ,jahveh1 appear to me to leave no doubt that the old ,israelites1 even when devout worshippers of ,jahveh1 considered human sacrifices1 under certain circumstances1 to be not only permissible but laudable4 ,samuel's hewing to pieces of the miserable captive1 sole survivor of his nation1 ,agag1 before ,jahveh1 can hardly be viewed in any other light4 ,the life of ,moses is redeemed from ,jahveh1 who sought #agf to slay him1 by ,zipporah's symbolical sacrifice of her child1 by the bloody operation of circumcision4 ,jahveh expressly affirms that the first-born males of men and beasts are devoted to him2 in accordance with that claim1 the first-born males of the beasts are duly sacrificed2 and it is only by special permission that the claim to the first-born of men is waived1 and it is enacted that they may be redeemed 7,exod4 xiii4 #ab-ae74 ,is it possible to avoid the conclusion that immolation of their first-born sons would have been incumbent on the worshippers of ,jahveh1 had they not been thus specially excused8 ,can any other conclusion be drawn from the history of ,abraham and ,isaac8 ,does ,abraham exhibit any indication of surprise when he receives the astounding order to sacrifice his son8 ,is there the slightest evidence that there was anything in his intimate and personal acquaintance with the character of the ,deity1 who had eaten the meat and drunk the milk which ,abraham set before him under the oaks of ,mamre1 to lead him to hesitate--even to wait twelve or fourteen hours for a repetition of the command8 ,not a whit4 ,we are told that ,abraham rose early in the morning and led his only child to the slaughter1 as if it were the most ordinary business imaginable4 ,whether the story has any historical foundation or not1 it is valuable as showing that the writer of it conceived ,jahveh as a deity whose requirement of such a sacrifice need excite neither astonishment1 nor suspicion of mistake1 on the part of his devotee4 ,hence1 when the incessant human #agg sacrifices in ,israel1 during the age of the kings1 are put down to the influence of foreign idolatries1 we may fairly inquire whether editorial ,bowdlerising has not prevailed over historical truth4 ,an attempt to compare the ethical standards of two nations1 one of which has a written code1 while the other has not1 is beset with difficulties4 ,with all that is strange and1 in many cases1 repulsive to us in the social arrangements and opinions respecting moral obligation among the ,tongans1 as they are placed before us1 with perfect candour1 in ,mariner's account1 there is much that indicates a strong ethical sense4 ,they showed great kindliness to one another1 and faithfulness in standing by their comrades in war4 ,no people could have better observed either the third or the fifth commandment2 for they had a particular horror of blasphemy1 and their respectful tenderness towards their parents and1 indeed1 towards old people in general1 was remarkable4 ,it cannot be said that the eighth commandment was generally observed1 especially where ,europeans were concerned2 but nevertheless a well-bred ,tongan looked upon theft as a meanness to which he would not condescend4 ,as to the seventh commandment1 any breach of it was considered scandalous in women and as something to be avoided in self-respecting men1 but among unmarried and widowed people chastity was held very cheap4 ,nevertheless the women were extremely well treated1 and often showed themselves capable of great devotion and entire faithfulness4 ,in the matter of cruelty1 treachery1 and #agh bloodthirstiness1 these islanders were neither better nor worse than most peoples of antiquity4 ,it is to the credit of the ,tongans that they particularly objected to slander2 nor can covetousness be regarded as their characteristic2 for ,mariner says3-- ,when any one is about to eat1 he always shares out what he has to those about him1 without any hesitation1 and a contrary conduct would be considered exceedingly vile and selfish 7vol4 ii4 p4 #ade74 ,in fact1 they thought very badly of the ,english when ,mariner told them that his countrymen did not act exactly on that principle4 ,it further appears that they decidedly belonged to the school of intuitive moral philosophers1 and believed that virtue is its own reward2 for ,many of the chiefs1 on being asked by ,mr4 ,mariner what motives they had for conducting themselves with propriety1 besides the fear of misfortunes in this life1 replied1 the agreeable and happy feeling which a man experiences within himself when he does any good action or conducts himself nobly and generously as a man ought to do2 and this question they answered as if they wondered such a question should be asked 7vol4 ii4 p4 #afa74 ,one may read from the beginning of the book of ,judges to the end of the books of ,samuel without discovering that the old ,israelites had a moral standard which differs1 in any essential respect 7except perhaps in regard to the chastity of unmarried women71 from that of the ,tongans4 ,gideon1 ,jephthah1 ,samson1 and ,david are strong-handed men1 some of whom are not outdone by any ,polynesian chieftain in the matter of murder and treachery2 #agi while ,deborah's jubilation over ,jael's violation of the primary duty of hospitality1 proffered and accepted under circumstances which give a peculiarly atrocious character to the murder of the guest2 and her witch-like gloating over the picture of the disappointment of the mother of the victim-- ,the mother of ,sisera cried through the lattice1 ,why is his chariot so long in coming8 7,jud4 v4 #bh74 --would not have been out of place in the choral service of the most sanguinary god in the ,polynesian pantheon4 ,with respect to the cannibalism which the ,tongans occasionally practised1 ,mariner says3-- ,although a few young ferocious warriors chose to imitate what they considered a mark of courageous fierceness in a neighbouring nation1 it was held in disgust by everybody else 7vol4 ii4 p4 #aga74 ,that the moral standard of ,tongan life was less elevated than that indicated in the ,book of the ,covenant 7,exod4 xxi4-xxiii47 may be freely admitted4 ,but then the evidence that this ,book of the ,covenant1 and even the ten commandments as given in ,exodus1 were known to the ,israelites of the time of ,samuel and ,saul1 is 7to say the least7 by no means conclusive4 ,the ,deuteronomic version of the fourth commandment is hopelessly discrepant from that which stands in ,exodus4 ,would any later writer have ventured to alter the commandments as given from ,sinai1 if he had had before him that which professed to be an accurate statement of the ten words in ,exodus8 ,and if the writer of #ahj ,deuteronomy had not ,exodus before him1 what is the value of the claim of the version of the ten commandments therein contained to authenticity8 ,from one end to the other of the books of ,judges and ,samuel1 the only commandments of ,jahveh which are specially adduced refer to the prohibition of the worship of other gods1 or are orders given ad hoc1 and have nothing to do with questions of morality4 ,in ,polynesia1 the belief in witchcraft1 in the appearance of spiritual beings in dreams1 in possession as the cause of diseases1 and in omens1 prevailed universally4 ,mariner tells a story of a woman of rank who was greatly attached to ,king ,finow1 and who1 for the space of six months after his death1 scarcely ever slept elsewhere than on his grave1 which she kept carefully decorated with flowers3-- ,one day she went1 with the deepest affliction1 to the house of ,mo-oonga ,toobo1 the widow of the deceased chief1 to communicate what had happened to her at the fytoca grave during several nights1 and which caused her the greatest anxiety4 ,she related that she had dreamed that the late ,how king appeared to her and1 with a countenance full of disappointment1 asked why there yet remained at ,vavaoo so many evil-designing persons3 for he declared that1 since he had been at ,bolotoo1 his spirit had been disturbed#dg by the evil machinations of wicked men conspiring against his son2 but he declared that the youth should not be molested nor his power shaken by the spirit of rebellion2 that he therefore came to her with a warning voice to prevent such disastrous consequences 7vol4 i4 p4 #dbd74 ,on inquiry it turned out that the charm of tattao had been performed on ,finow's grave1 with the view #aha of injuring his son1 the reigning king1 and it is to be presumed that it was this sorcerer's work which had disturbed ,finow's spirit4 ,the ,rev4 ,richard ,taylor says in the work already cited3 ,the account given of the witch of ,endor agrees most remarkably with the witches of ,new ,zealand 7p4 #de74 ,the ,tongans also believed in a mode of divination 7essentially similar to the casting of lots7 by the twirling of a cocoa-nut4 ,the object of inquiry 444 is chiefly whether a sick person will recover2 for this purpose the nut being placed on the ground1 a relation of the sick person determines that1 if the nut1 when again at rest1 points to such a quarter1 the east for example1 that the sick man will recover2 he then prays aloud to the patron god of the family that he will be pleased to direct the nut so that it may indicate the truth2 the nut being next spun1 the result is attended to with confidence1 at least with a full conviction that it will truly declare the intentions of the gods at the time 7vol4 ii4 p4 #bbg74 ,does not the action of ,saul1 on a famous occasion1 involve exactly the same theological presuppositions8 ,therefore ,saul said unto ,jahveh1 the ,elohim of ,israel1 ,shew the right4 ,and ,jonathan and ,saul were taken by lot3 but the people escaped4 ,and ,saul said1 ,cast lots between me and ,jonathan my son4 ,and ,jonathan was taken4 ,and ,saul said to ,jonathan1 ,tell me what thou hast done4444 ,and the people rescued ,jonathan so that he died not 7#a ,sam4 xiv4 #da-de74 ,as the ,israelites had great yearly feasts1 so had the ,polynesians2 as the ,israelites practised circumcision1 so did many ,polynesian people2 as the ,israelites had a complex and often arbitrary-seeming multitude of distinctions between clean and unclean things1 and clean and unclean states of men1 to which #ahb they attached great importance1 so had the ,polynesians their notions of ceremonial purity and their tabu1 an equally extensive and strange system of prohibitions1 violation of which was visited by death4 ,these doctrines of cleanness and uncleanness no doubt may have taken their rise in the real or fancied utility of the prescriptions1 but it is probable that the origin of many is indicated in the curious habit of the ,samoans to make fetishes of living animals4 ,it will be recollected that these people had no gods made with hands1 but they substituted animals for them4 ,at his birth every ,samoan was supposed to be taken under the care of some tutelary god or aitu ,atua as it was called4 ,the help of perhaps half a dozen different gods was invoked in succession on the occasion1 but the one who happened to be addressed just as the child was born was marked and declared to be the child's god for life4 ,these gods were supposed to appear in some visible incarnation1 and the particular thing in which his god was in the habit of appearing was1 to the ,samoan1 an object of veneration4 ,it was in fact his idol1 and he was careful never to injure it or treat it with contempt4 ,one1 for instance1 saw his god in the eel1 another in the shark1 another in the turtle1 another in the dog1 another in the owl1 another in the lizard2 and so on1 throughout all the fish of the sea and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things4 ,in some of the shell-fish even1 gods were supposed to be present4 ,a man would eat freely of what was regarded as the incarnation of the god of another man1 but the incarnation of his own particular god he would consider it death to injure or eat4#dh ,we have here that which appears to be the origin1 or one of the origins1 of food prohibitions1 on the one #ahc hand1 and of totemism on the other4 ,when it is remembered that the old ,israelities sprang from ancestors who are said to have resided near1 or in1 one of the great seats of ancient ,babylonian civilisation1 the city of ,ur2 that they had been1 it is said for centuries1 in close contact with the ,egyptians2 and that1 in the theology of both the ,babylonians and the ,egyptians there is abundant evidence1 notwithstanding their advanced social organisation1 of the belief in spirits1 with sorcery1 ancestor-worship1 the deification of animals1 and the converse animalisation of gods--it obviously needs very strong evidence to justify the belief that the rude tribes of ,israel did not share the notions from which their far more civilised neighbours had not emancipated themselves4 ,but it is surely needless to carry the comparison further4 ,out of the abundant evidence at command1 ,i think that sufficient has been produced to furnish ample grounds for the belief1 that the old ,israelites of the time of ,samuel entertained theological conceptions which were on a level with those current among the more civilised of the ,polynesian islanders1 though their ethical code may possibly1 in some respects1 have been more advanced4#di ,a theological system of essentially similar character1 exhibiting the same fundamental conceptions respecting the continued existence and incessant interference in human affairs of disembodied spirits1 prevails1 or formerly prevailed1 among the whole of #ahd the inhabitants of the ,polynesian and ,melanesian islands1 and among the people of ,australia1 notwithstanding the wide differences in physical character and in grade of civilisation which obtain among them4 ,and the same proposition is true of the people who inhabit the riverain shores of the ,pacific ,ocean1 whether ,dyaks1 ,malays1 ,indo-,chinese1 ,chinese1 ,japanese1 the wild tribes of ,america1 or the highly civilised old ,mexicans and ,peruvians4 ,it is no less true of the ,mongolic nomads of ,northern ,asia1 of the ,asiatic ,aryans1 and of the ancient ,greeks and ,romans1 and it holds good among the ,dravidians of the ,dekhan and the negro tribes of ,africa4 ,no tribe of savages1 which has yet been discovered1 has been conclusively proved to have so poor a theological equipment as to be devoid of a belief in ghosts1 and in the utility of some form of witchcraft in influencing those ghosts4 ,and there is no nation1 modern or ancient1 which1 even at this moment1 has wholly given up the belief2 and in which it has not1 at one time or other1 played a great part in practical life4 ,this sciotheism1#ej as it might be called1 is found in several degrees of complexity1 in rough correspondence with the stages of social organisation1 and1 like these1 separated by no sudden breaks4 ,in its simplest condition1 such as may be met with among the ,australian savages1 theology is a mere #ahe belief in the existence1 powers1 and disposition 7usually malignant7 of ghostlike entities who may be propitiated or scared away2 but no cult can properly be said to exist4 ,and1 in this stage1 theology is wholly independent of ethics4 ,the moral code1 such as is implied by public opinion1 derives no sanction from the theological dogmas1 and the influence of the spirits is supposed to be exerted out of mere caprice or malice4 ,as a next stage1 the fundamental fear of ghosts and the consequent desire to propitiate them acquire an organised ritual in simple forms of ancestor-worship1 such as the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,turner describes among the people of ,tanna 7l4c4 p4 #hh72 and this line of development may be followed out until it attains its acme in the ,state-theology of ,china and the ,kami-theology#ea of ,japan4 ,each of these is essentially ancestor-worship1 the ancestors being reckoned back through family groups of higher and higher order1 sometimes with strict reference to the principle of agnation1 as in old ,rome2 and1 as in the latter1 it is intimately bound up with the whole organisation of the ,state4 ,there are no idols2 inscribed tablets in ,china1 and strips of paper lodged in a peculiar portable shrine in ,japan1 represent the souls of the deceased1 or the special seats which they occupy when sacrifices are offered by their descendants4 ,in ,japan it is interesting to observe that a national #ahf ,kami--,ten-zio-dai-zin--is worshipped as a sort of ,jahveh by the nation in general1 and 7as ,lippert has observed7 it is singular that his special seat is a portable litter-like shrine1 termed the ,mikosi1 in some sort analogous to the ,israelitic ark4 ,in ,china1 the emperor is the representative of the primitive ancestors1 and stands1 as it were1 between them and the supreme cosmic deities--,heaven and ,earth--who are superadded to them1 and who answer to the ,tangaloa and the ,maui of the ,polynesians4 ,sciotheism1 under the form of the deification of ancestral ghosts1 in its most pronounced form1 is therefore the chief element in the theology of a great moiety1 possibly of more than half1 of the human race4 ,i think this must be taken to be a matter of fact--though various opinions may be held as to how this ancestor-worship came about4 ,but1 on the other hand1 it is no less a matter of fact that there are very few people without additional gods1 who cannot1 with certainty1 be accounted for as deified ancestors4 ,with all respect for the distinguished authorities on the other side1 ,i cannot find good reasons for accepting the theory that the cosmic deities--who are superadded to deified ancestors even in ,china2 who are found all over ,polynesia1 in ,tangaloa and ,maui1 and in old ,peru1 in the ,sun--are the product either of the search after the infinite1 or of mistakes arising out of the confusion of a great chief's name with the thing signified by the name4 ,but1 however this may be1 ,i think it is again merely matter of fact that1 among a large portion of #ahg mankind1 ancestor-worship is more or less thrown into the background either by such cosmic deities1 or by tribal gods of uncertain origin1 who have been raised to eminence by the superiority in warfare1 or otherwise1 of their worshippers4 ,among certain nations1 the polytheistic theology1 thus constituted1 has become modified by the selection of some one cosmic or tribal god1 as the only god to whom worship is due on the part of that nation 7though it is by no means denied that other nations have a right to worship other gods71 and thus results a worship of one ,god--monolatry1 as ,wellhausen calls it--which is very different from genuine monotheism4#eb ,in ancestral sciotheism1 and in this monolatry1 the ethical code1 often of a very high order1 comes into closer relation with the theological creed4 ,morality is taken under the patronage of the god or gods1 who reward all morally good conduct and punish all morally evil conduct in this world or the next4 ,at the same time1 however1 they are conceived to be thoroughly human1 and they visit any shadow of disrespect to themselves1 shown by disobedience to their commands1 or by delay1 or carelessness1 in carrying them out1 as severely as any breach of the moral laws4 ,piety means minute attention to the due performance of all sacred rites1 and covers any number of lapses in morality1 just as cruelty1 treachery1 murder1 and adultery did not bar ,david's claim to the title of the man after ,god's own heart among the ,israelites2 crimes against men may be expiated1 #ahh but blasphemy against the gods is an unpardonable sin4 ,men forgive all injuries but those which touch their self-esteem2 and they make their gods after their own likeness1 in their own image make they them4 ,it is in the category of monolatry that ,i conceive the theology of the old ,israelites must be ranged4 ,they were polytheists1 in so far as they admitted the existence of other ,elohim of divine rank beside ,jahveh2 they differed from ordinary polytheists1 in so far as they believed that ,jahveh was the supreme god and the one proper object of their own national worship4 ,but it will doubtless be objected that ,i have been building up a fictitious ,israelitic theology on the foundation of the recorded habits and customs of the people1 when they had lapsed from the ordinances of their great lawgiver and prophet ,moses1 and that my conclusions may be good for the perverts to ,canaanitish theology1 but not for the true observers of the ,sinaitic legislation4 ,the answer to the objection is that--so far as ,i can form a judgment of that which is well ascertained in the history of ,israel--there is very little ground for believing that we know much1 either about the theological and social value of the influence of ,moses1 or about what happened during the wanderings in the ,desert4 ,the account of the ,exodus and of the occurrences in the ,sinaitic peninsula2 in fact1 all the history of ,israel before the invasion of ,canaan1 is full of wonderful stories which may be true1 in so far as they #ahi are conceivable occurrences1 but which are certainly not probable1 and which ,i1 for one1 decline to accept until evidence1 which deserves that name1 is offered of their historical truth4 ,up to this time ,i know of none4#ec ,furthermore1 ,i see no answer to the argument that one has no right to pick out of an obviously unhistorical statement the assertions which happen to be probable and discard the rest4 ,but it is also certain that a primitively veracious tradition may be smothered under subsequent mythical additions1 and that one has no right to cast away the former along with the latter4 ,thus1 perhaps the fairest way of stating the case may be as follows4 ,there can be no a priori objection to the supposition that the ,israelites were delivered from their ,egyptian bondage by a leader called ,moses1 and that he exerted a great influence over their subsequent organisation in the desert4 ,there is no reason to doubt that1 during their residence in the land of ,goshen1 the ,israelites knew nothing of ,jahveh2 but1 as their own prophets declare 7see ,ezek4 xx471 were polytheistic idolaters1 sharing in the worst practices of their neighbours4 ,as to their conduct in other respects1 nothing is known4 ,but it may fairly be suspected that their ethics were not of a higher order than those of ,jacob their progenitor1 in which case they might derive great profit from contact with ,egyptian society1 which held honesty and #aij truthfulness in the highest esteem4 ,thanks to the ,egyptologers1 we now know1 with all requisite certainty1 the moral standard of that society in the time1 and long before the time1 of ,moses4 ,it can be determined from the scrolls buried with the mummified dead and from the inscriptions on the tombs and memorial statues of that age4 ,for1 though the lying of epitaphs is proverbial1 so far as their subject is concerned1 they give an unmistakable insight into that which the writers and the readers of them think praiseworthy4 ,in the famous tombs at ,beni ,hassan there is a record of the life of ,prince ,nakht1 who served ,osertasen ,,ii41 a ,pharaoh of the twelfth dynasty1 as governor of a province4 ,the inscription speaks in his name3 ,i was a benevolent and kindly governor who loved his country4444 ,never was a little child distressed nor a widow ill-treated by me4 ,i have never repelled a workman or hindered a shepherd4 ,i gave alike to the widow and to the married woman1 and have not preferred the great to the small in my gifts4 ,and we have the high authority of the late ,dr4 ,samuel ,birch for the statement that the inscriptions of the twelfth dynasty abound in injunctions of a high ethical character4 ,to feed the hungry1 give drink to the thirsty1 clothe the naked1 bury the dead1 loyally serve the king1 formed the first duty of a pious man and faithful subject4#ed ,the people for whom these inscriptions embodied their ideal of praiseworthiness assuredly had no imperfect #aia conception of either justice or mercy4 ,but there is a document which gives still better evidence of the moral standard of the ,egyptians4 ,it is the ,book of the ,dead1 a sort of ,guide to ,spiritland1 the whole1 or a part1 of which was buried with the mummy of every well-to-do ,egyptian1 while extracts from it are found in innumerable inscriptions4 ,portions of this work are of extreme antiquity1 evidence of their existence occurring as far back as the fifth and sixth dynasties2 while the #abeth chapter1 which constitutes a sort of book by itself1 and is known as the ,book of ,redemption in the ,hall of the two ,truths1 is frequently inscribed upon coffins and other monuments of the nineteenth dynasty 7that under which1 there is reason to believe1 the ,israelites were oppressed and the ,exodus took place71 and it occurs1 more than once1 in the famous tombs of the kings of this and the preceding dynasty at ,thebes4#ee ,this ,book of ,redemption is chiefly occupied by the so-called negative confession made to the forty-two ,divine ,judges1 in which the soul of the dead denies that he has committed faults of various kinds4 ,it is1 therefore1 obvious that the ,egyptians conceived that their gods commanded them not to do the deeds which are here denied4 ,the ,book of ,redemption1 in fact1 implies the existence in the mind of the ,egyptians1 if not in a formal writing1 of a series of ordinances couched1 like the majority of the ten #aib commandments1 in negative terms4 ,and it is easy to prove the implied existence of a series which nearly answers to the ten words4 ,of course a polytheistic and image-worshipping people1 who observed a great many holy days1 but no ,sabbaths1 could have nothing analogous to the first or the second and the fourth commandments of the ,decalogue2 but1 answering to the third1 is ,i have not blasphemed2 to the fifth1 ,i have not reviled the face of the king or my father2 to the sixth1 ,i have not murdered2 to the seventh1 ,i have not committed adultery2 to the eighth1 ,i have not stolen1 ,i have not done fraud to man2 to the ninth1 ,i have not told falsehoods in the tribunal of truth1 and1 further1 ,i have not calumniated the slave to his master4 ,i find nothing exactly similar to the tenth commandment2 but that the inward disposition of mind was held to be of no less importance than the outward act is to be gathered from the praises of kindliness already cited and the cry of ,i am pure1 which is repeated by the soul on trial4 ,moreover1 there is a minuteness of detail in the confession which shows no little delicacy of moral appreciation--,i have not privily done evil against mankind1 ,i have not afflicted men1 ,i have not withheld milk from the mouths of sucklings1 ,i have not been idle1 ,i have not played the hypocrite1 ,i have not told falsehoods1 ,i have not corrupted woman or man1 ,i have not caused fear1 ,i have not multiplied words in speaking4 ,would that the moral sense of the nineteenth #aic century ,a4,d4 were as far advanced as that of the ,egyptians in the nineteenth century ,b4,c4 in this last particular6 ,what incalculable benefit to mankind would flow from strict observance of the commandment1 ,thou shalt not multiply words in speaking6 ,nothing is more remarkable than the stress which the old ,egyptians1 here and elsewhere1 lay upon this and other kinds of truthfulness1 as compared with the absence of any such requirement in the ,israelitic ,decalogue1 in which only a specific kind of untruthfulness is forbidden4 ,if1 as the story runs1 ,moses was adopted by a princess of the royal house1 and was instructed in all the wisdom of the ,egyptians1 it is surely incredible that he should not have been familiar1 from his youth up1 with the high moral code implied in the ,book of ,redemption4 ,it is surely impossible that he should have been less familiar with the complete legal system1 and with the method of administration of justice1 which1 even in his time1 had enabled the ,egyptian people to hold together1 as a complex social organisation1 for a period far longer than the duration of old ,roman society1 from the building of the city to the death of the last ,caesar4 ,nor need we look to ,moses alone for the influence of ,egypt upon ,israel4 ,it is true that the ,hebrew nomads who came into contact with the ,egyptians of ,osertasen1 or of ,ramses1 stood in much the same relation to them1 in point of culture1 as a ,germanic tribe did to the ,romans of ,tiberius or of ,marcus ,antoninus1 or as ,captain ,cook's ,omai did to the ,english of ,george the ,third4 ,but1 #aid at the same time1 any difficulty of communication which might have arisen out of this circumstance was removed by the long pre-existing intercourse of other ,semites1 of every grade of civilisation1 with the ,egyptians4 ,in ,mesopotamia and elsewhere1 as in ,phenicia1 ,semitic people had attained to a social organisation as advanced as that of the ,egyptians2 ,semites had conquered and occupied ,lower ,egypt for centuries4 ,so extensively had ,semitic influences penetrated ,egypt that the ,egyptian language1 during the period of the nineteenth dynasty1 is said by ,brugsch to be as full of ,semitisms as ,german is of ,gallicisms2 while ,semitic deities had supplanted the ,egyptian gods at ,heliopolis and elsewhere4 ,on the other hand1 the ,semites1 as far as ,phenicia1 were extensively influenced by ,egypt4 ,it is generally admitted#ef that ,moses1 ,phinehas 7and perhaps ,aaron71 are names of ,egyptian origin1 and there is excellent authority for the statement that the name ,abir1 which the ,israelites gave to their golden calf1 and which is also used to signify the strong1 the heavenly1 and even ,god1#eg is simply the ,egyptian ,apis4 ,brugsch points out that the god ,tum1 or ,tom1 who was the special object of worship in the city of ,pi-,tom1 with which the ,israelites were only too familiar1 was called ,ankh and the great god1 and had no image4 ,ankh means ,he who lives1 the living one1 a name the resemblance of which to the #aie ,i am that ,i am of ,exodus is unmistakable1 whatever may be the value of the fact4 ,every discussion of ,israelitic ritual seeks and finds the explanation of its details in the portable sacred chests1 the altars1 the priestly dress1 the breastplate1 the incense1 and the sacrifices depicted on the monuments of ,egypt4 ,but it must be remembered that these signs of the influence of ,egypt upon ,israel are not necessarily evidence that such influence was exerted before the ,exodus4 ,it may have come much later1 through the close connection of the ,israel of ,david and ,solomon1 first with ,phenicia and then with ,egypt4 ,if we suppose ,moses to have been a man of the stamp of ,calvin1 there is no difficulty in conceiving that he may have constructed the substance of the ten words1 and even of the ,book of the ,covenant1 which curiously resembles parts of the ,book of the ,dead1 from the foundation of ,egyptian ethics and theology which had filtered through to the ,israelites in general1 or had been furnished specially to himself by his early education2 just as the great ,genevese reformer built up a puritanic social organisation on so much as remained of the ethics and theology of the ,roman ,church1 after he had trimmed them to his liking4 ,thus1 ,i repeat1 ,i see no a priori objection to the assumption that ,moses may have endeavoured to give his people a theologico-political organisation based on the ten commandments 7though certainly not quite in their present form7 and the ,book of the ,covenant1 contained in our present book of ,exodus4 ,but #aif whether there is such evidence as amounts to proof1 or1 ,i had better say1 to probability1 that even this much of the ,pentateuch owes its origin to ,moses is another matter4 ,the mythical character of the accessories of the ,sinaitic history is patent1 and it would take a good deal more evidence than is afforded by the bare assertion of an unknown writer to justify the belief that the people who saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the voice of the trumpet and the mountain smoking 7,exod4 xx4 #ah72 to whom ,jahveh orders ,moses to say1 ,ye yourselves have seen that ,i have talked with you from heaven4 ,ye shall not make other gods with me2 gods of silver and gods of gold ye shall not make unto you 7ibid4 #bb1 #bc71 should1 less than six weeks afterwards1 have done the exact thing they were thus awfully forbidden to do4 ,nor is the credibility of the story increased by the statement that ,aaron1 the brother of ,moses1 the witness and fellow-worker of the miracles before ,pharaoh1 was their leader and the artificer of the idol4 ,and yet1 at the same time1 ,aaron was apparently so ignorant of wrongdoing that he made proclamation1 ,to-morrow shall be a feast to ,jahveh1 and the people proceeded to offer their burnt-offerings and peace-offerings1 as if everything in their proceedings must be satisfactory to the ,deity with whom they had just made a solemn covenant to abolish image-worship4 ,it seems to me that1 on a survey of all the facts of the case1 only a very cautious and hypothetical judgment is justifiable4 ,it may be that ,moses profited by the opportunities afforded him of #aig access to what was best in ,egyptian society to become acquainted1 not only with its advanced ethical and legal code1 but with the more or less pantheistic unification of the ,divine to which the speculations of the ,egyptian thinkers1 like those of all polytheistic philosophers1 from ,polynesia to ,greece1 tend2 if indeed the theology of the period of the nineteenth dynasty was not1 as some ,egyptologists think1 a modification of an earlier1 more distinctly monotheistic doctrine of a long antecedent age4 ,it took only half a dozen centuries for the theology of ,paul to become the theology of ,gregory the ,great2 and it is possible that twenty centuries lay between the theology of the first worshippers in the sanctuary of the ,sphinx and that of the priests of ,ramses ,maimun4 ,it may be that the ten commandments and the ,book of the ,covenant are based upon faithful traditions of the efforts of a great leader to raise his followers to his own level4 ,for myself1 as a matter of pious opinion1 ,i like to think so2 as ,i like to imagine that1 between ,moses and ,samuel1 there may have been many a seer1 many a herdsman such as him of ,tekoah1 lonely amidst the hills of ,ephraim and ,judah1 who cherished and kept alive these traditions4 ,in the present results of ,biblical criticism1 however1 ,i can discover no justification for the common assumption that1 between the time of ,joshua and that of ,rehoboam1 the ,israelites were familiar with either the ,deuteronomic or the ,levitical legislation2 or that the theology of the ,israelites1 from the king who sat on the throne to the lowest of his subjects1 was in #aih any important respect different from that which might naturally be expected from their previous history and the conditions of their existence4 ,but there is excellent evidence to the contrary effect4 ,and1 for my part1 ,i see no reason to doubt that1 like the rest of the world1 the ,israelites had passed through a period of mere ghost-worship1 and had advanced through ,ancestor-worship and ,fetishism and ,totemism to the theological level at which we find them in the books of ,judges and ,samuel4 ,all the more remarkable1 therefore1 is the extraordinary change which is to be noted in the eighth century ,b4,c4 ,the student who is familiar with the theology implied1 or expressed1 in the books of ,judges1 ,samuel1 and the first book of ,kings1 finds himself in a new world of thought1 in the full tide of a great reformation1 when he reads ,joel1 ,amos1 ,hosea1 ,isaiah1 ,micah1 and ,jeremiah4 ,the essence of this change is the reversal of the position which1 in primitive society1 ethics holds in relation to theology4 ,originally1 that which men worship is a theological hypothesis1 not a moral ideal4 ,the prophets1 in substance1 if not always in form1 preach the opposite doctrine4 ,they are constantly striving to free the moral ideal from the stifling embrace of the current theology and its concomitant ritual4 ,theirs was not an intellectual criticism1 argued on strictly scientific grounds2 the image-worshippers and the believers in the efficacy of sacrifices and ceremonies might logically have held their #aii own against anything the prophets have to say2 it was an ethical criticism4 ,from the height of his moral intuition--that the whole duty of man is to do justice and love mercy and to bear himself as humbly as befits his insignificance in face of the ,infinite--the prophet simply laughs at the idolaters of stocks and stones and the idolaters of ritual4 ,idols of the first kind1 in his experience1 were inseparably united with the practice of immorality1 and they were to be ruthlessly destroyed4 ,as for sacrifices and ceremonies1 whatever their intrinsic value might be1 they might be tolerated on condition of ceasing to be idols2 they might even be praiseworthy on condition of being made to subserve the worship of the true ,jahveh--the moral ideal4 ,if the realm of ,david had remained undivided1 if the ,assyrian and the ,chaldean and the ,egyptian had left ,israel to the ordinary course of development of an ,oriental kingdom1 it is possible that the effects of the reforming zeal of the prophets of the eighth and seventh centuries might have been effaced by the growth1 according to its inevitable tendencies1 of the theology which they combated4 ,but the captivity made the fortune of the ideas which it was the privilege of these men to launch upon an endless career4 ,with the abolition of the ,temple-services for more than half a century1 the priest must have lost and the scribe gained influence4 ,the puritanism of a vigorous minority among the ,babylonian ,jews rooted out polytheism from all its hiding-places in the theology which they had inherited2 they created the first #bjj consistent1 remorseless1 naked monotheism1 which1 so far as history records1 appeared in the world 7for ,zoroastrism is practically ditheism1 and ,buddhism any-theism or no-theism72 and they inseparably united therewith an ethical code1 which1 for its purity and for its efficiency as a bond of social life1 was and is1 unsurpassed4 ,so ,i think we must not judge ,ezra and ,nehemiah and their followers too hardly1 if they exemplified the usual doom of poor humanity to escape from one error only to fall into another2 if they failed to free themselves as completely from the idolatry of ritual as they had from that of images and dogmas2 if they cherished the new fetters of the ,levitical legislation which they had fitted upon themselves and their nation1 as though such bonds had the sanctity of the obligations of morality2 and if they led succeeding generations to spend their best energies in building that hedge round the ,torah which was meant to preserve both ethics and theology1 but which too often had the effect of pampering the latter and starving the former4 ,the world being what it was1 it is to be doubted whether ,israel would have preserved intact the pure ore of religion1 which the prophets had extracted for the use of mankind as well as for their nation1 had not the leaders of the nation been zealous1 even to death1 for the dross of the law in which it was embedded4 ,the struggle of the ,jews1 under the ,maccabean house1 against the ,seleucidae was as important for mankind as that of the ,greeks against the ,persians4 ,and1 of all the strange ironies of history1 perhaps the strangest #bja is that ,pharisee is current1 as a term of reproach1 among the theological descendants of that sect of ,nazarenes who1 without the martyr spirit of those primitive ,puritans1 would never have come into existence4 ,they1 like their historical successors1 our own ,puritans1 have shared the general fate of the poor wise men who save cities4 ,a criticism of theology from the side of science is not thought of by the prophets1 and is at most indicated in the books of ,job and ,ecclesiastes1 in both of which the problem of vindicating the ways of ,god to man is given up1 though on different grounds1 as a hopeless one4 ,but with the extensive introduction of ,greek thought among the ,jews1 which took place1 not only during the domination of the ,seleucidae in ,palestine1 but in the great ,judaic colony which flourished in ,egypt under the ,ptolemies1 criticism1 on both ethical and scientific grounds1 took a new departure4 ,in the hands of the ,alexandrian ,jews1 as represented by ,philo1 the fundamental axiom of later ,jewish1 as of ,christian monotheism1 that the ,deity is infinitely perfect and infinitely good1 worked itself out into its logical consequence--agnostic theism4 ,philo will allow of no point of contact between ,god and a world in which evil exists4 ,for him ,god has no relation to space or to time1 and1 as infinite1 suffers no predicate beyond that of existence4 ,it is1 therefore1 absurd to ascribe to ,him mental faculties and affections comparable in the remotest degree to those of men2 ,he is in no way an object of cognition2 ,he #bjb is ,greek3 apoios and ,greek3 akatalektos#eh--without quality and incomprehensible4 ,that is to say1 the ,alexandrian ,jew of the first century had anticipated the reasonings of ,hamilton and ,mansell in the nineteenth1 and1 for him1 ,god is the ,unknowable in the sense in which that term is used by ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer4 ,moreover1 ,philo's definition of the ,supreme ,being would not be inconsistent with that substantia constans infinitis attributis1 quorum unumquodque aeternam et infinitam essentiam exprimit1 given by another great ,israelite1 were it not that ,spinoza's doctrine of the immanence of the ,deity in the world puts him1 at any rate formally1 at the antipodes of theological speculation4 ,but the conception of the essential incognoscibility of the ,deity is the same in each case4 ,however1 ,philo was too thorough an ,israelite and too much the child of his time to be content with this agnostic position4 ,with the help of the ,platonic and ,stoic philosophy1 he constructed an apprehensible1 if not comprehensible1 quasi-deity out of the ,logos2 while other more or less personified divine powers1 or attributes1 bridged over the interval between ,god and man2 between the sacred existence1 too pure to be called by any name which implied a conceivable quality1 and the gross and evil world of matter4 ,in order to get over the ethical difficulties presented by the naive naturalism of many parts of #bjc those ,scriptures1 in the divine authority of which he firmly believed1 ,philo borrowed from the ,stoics 7who had been in like straits in respect of ,greek mythology71 that great ,excalibur which they had forged with infinite pains and skill--the method of allegorical interpretation4 ,this mighty two-handed engine at the door of the theologian is warranted to make a speedy end of any and every moral or intellectual difficulty1 by showing that1 taken allegorically or1 as it is otherwise said1 poetically1 or1 in a spiritual sense1 the plainest words mean whatever a pious interpreter desires they should mean4 ,in ,biblical phrase1 ,zeno 7who probably had a strain of ,semitic blood in him7 was the father of all such as reconcile4 ,no doubt ,philo and his followers were eminently religious men2 but they did endless injury to the cause of religion by laying the foundations of a new theology1 while equipping the defenders of it with the subtlest of all weapons of offence and defence1 and with an inexhaustible store of sophistical arguments of the most plausible aspect4 ,the question of the real bearing upon theology of the influence exerted by the teaching of ,philo's contemporary1 ,jesus of ,nazareth1 is one upon which it is not germane to my present purpose to enter4 ,i take it simply as an unquestionable fact that his immediate disciples1 known to their countrymen as ,nazarenes1 were regarded as1 and considered themselves to be1 perfectly orthodox ,jews belonging to the puritanic or pharisaic section of their people1 and differing from the rest only in their belief that #bjd the ,messiah had already come4 ,christianity1 it is said1 first became clearly differentiated at ,antioch1 and it separated itself from orthodox ,judaism by denying the obligation of the rite of circumcision and of the food prohibitions1 prescribed by the law4 ,henceforward theology became relatively stationary among the ,jews1#ei and the history of its rapid progress in a new course of evolution is the history of the ,christian ,churches1 orthodox and heterodox4 ,the steps in this evolution are obvious4 ,the first is the birth of a new theological scheme arising out of the union of elements derived from ,greek philosophy with elements derived from ,israelitic theology4 ,in the fourth ,gospel1 the ,logos1 raised to a somewhat higher degree of personification than in the ,alexandrian theosophy1 is identified with ,jesus of ,nazareth4 ,in the ,epistles1 especially the later of those attributed to ,paul1 the ,israelitic ideas of the ,messiah and of sacrificial atonement coalesce with one another and with the embodiment of the ,logos in ,jesus1 until the apotheosis of the ,son of man is almost1 or quite1 effected4 ,the history of ,christian dogma1 from ,justin to ,athanasius1 is a record of continual progress in the same direction1 until the fair body of religion1 revealed in almost naked purity by the prophets1 is #bje once more hidden under a new accumulation of dogmas and of ritual practices of which the primitive ,nazarene knew nothing2 and which he would probably have regarded as blasphemous if he could have been made to understand them4 ,as1 century after century1 the ages roll on1 polytheism comes back under the disguise of ,mariolatry and the adoration of saints2 image-worship becomes as rampant as in old ,egypt2 adoration of relics takes the place of the old fetish-worship2 the virtues of the ephod pale before those of holy coats and handkerchiefs2 shrines and calvaries make up for the loss of the ark and of the high places2 and even the lustral fluid of paganism is replaced by holy water at the porches of the temples4 ,a touching ceremony--the common meal originally eaten in pious memory of a loved teacher--was metamorphosed into a flesh-and-blood sacrifice1 supposed to possess exactly that redeeming virtue which the prophets denied to the flesh-and-blood sacrifices of their day2 while the minute observance of ritual was raised to a degree of punctilious refinement which ,levitical legislators might envy4 ,and with the growth of this theology1 grew its inevitable concomitant1 the belief in evil spirits1 in possession1 in sorcery1 in charms and omens1 until the ,christians of the twelfth century after our era were sunk in more debased and brutal superstitions than are recorded of the ,israelites in the twelfth century before it4 ,the greatest men of the ,middle ,ages are unable to escape the infection4 ,dante's ,inferno would be #bjf revolting if it were not so often sublime1 so often exquisitely tender4 ,the hideous pictures which cover a vast space on the south wall of the ,campo ,santo of ,pisa convey information1 as terrible as it is indisputable1 of the theological conceptions of ,dante's countrymen in the fourteenth century1 whose eyes were addressed by the painters of those disgusting scenes1 and whose approbation they knew how to win4 ,a candid ,mexican of the time of ,cortez1 could he have seen this ,christian burial-place1 would have taken it for an appropriately adorned ,teocalli4 ,the professed disciple of the ,god of justice and of mercy might there gloat over the sufferings of his fellow-men depicted as undergoing every extremity of atrocious and sanguinary torture to all eternity1 for theological errors no less than for moral delinquencies2 while1 in the central figure of ,satan1#fj occupied in champing up souls in his capricious and well-toothed jaws1 to void them again for the purpose of undergoing fresh suffering1 we have the counterpart of the strange ,polynesian and ,egyptian dogma that there were certain gods who employed themselves in devouring the ghostly flesh of the spirits of the dead4 #bjg ,but1 in justice to the ,polynesians1 it must be recollected that1 after three such operations1 they thought the soul was purified and happy4 ,in the view of the ,christian theologian the operation was only a preparation for new tortures continued for ever and aye4 ,with the growth of civilisation in ,europe1 and with the revival of letters and of science in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries1 the ethical and intellectual criticism of theology once more recommenced1 and arrived at a temporary resting-place in the confessions of the various reformed ,protestant sects in the sixteenth century2 almost all of which1 as soon as they were strong enough1 began to persecute those who carried criticism beyond their own limit4 ,but the movement was not arrested by these ecclesiastical barriers1 as their constructors fondly imagined it would be2 it was continued1 tacitly or openly1 by ,galileo1 by ,hobbes1 by ,descartes1 and especially by ,spinoza1 in the seventeenth century2 by the ,english ,freethinkers1 by ,rousseau1 by the ,french ,encyclopaedists1 and by the ,german ,rationalists1 among whom ,lessing stands out a head and shoulders taller than the rest1 throughout the eighteenth century2 by the historians1 the philologers1 the ,biblical critics1 the geologists1 and the biologists in the nineteenth century1 until it is obvious to all who can see that the moral sense and the really scientific method of seeking for truth are once more predominating over false science4 ,once more ethics and theology are parting company4 ,it is my conviction that1 with the spread of true scientific culture1 whatever may be the medium1 #bjh historical1 philological1 philosophical1 or physical1 through which that culture is conveyed1 and with its necessary concomitant1 a constant elevation of the standard of veracity1 the end of the evolution of theology will be like its beginning--it will cease to have any relation to ethics4 ,i suppose that1 so long as the human mind exists1 it will not escape its deep-seated instinct to personify its intellectual conceptions4 ,the science of the present day is as full of this particular form of intellectual shadow-worship as is the nescience of ignorant ages4 ,the difference is that the philosopher who is worthy of the name knows that his personified hypotheses1 such as law1 and force1 and ether1 and the like1 are merely useful symbols1 while the ignorant and the careless take them for adequate expressions of reality4 ,so1 it may be1 that the majority of mankind may find the practice of morality made easier by the use of theological symbols4 ,and unless these are converted from symbols into idols1 ,i do not see that science has anything to say to the practice1 except to give an occasional warning of its dangers4 ,but1 when such symbols are dealt with as real existences1 ,i think the highest duty which is laid upon men of science is to show that these dogmatic idols have no greater value than the fabrications of men's hands1 the stocks and the stones1 which they have replaced4 99 99 99 99 99 #bji ,v ,,science ,,and ,,morals ,in spite of long and1 perhaps1 not unjustifiable hesitation1 ,i begin to think that there must be something in telepathy4 ,for evidence1 which ,i may not disregard1 is furnished by the last number of the ,fortnightly ,review that1 among the hitherto undiscovered endowments of the human species1 there may be a power even more wonderful than the mystic faculty by which the esoterically ,buddhistic sage upon the farthest mountain in ,cathay reads the inmost thoughts of a dweller within the homely circuit of the ,london postal district4 ,great indeed is the insight of such a seer2 but how much greater is his who combines the feat of reading1 not merely the thoughts of which the thinker is aware1 but those of which he knows nothing2 who sees him unconsciously drawing the conclusions which he repudiates1 and supporting the doctrines which he detests4 ,to reflect upon the confusion which the working of such a power as this may introduce into one's ideas of personality and responsibility is perilous--madness lies that way4 ,but truth is truth1 and ,i am almost fain to believe in #baj this magical visibility of the non-existent when the only alternative is the supposition that the writer of the article on ,materialism and ,morality in vol4 xl4 7#ahhf7 of the ,fortnightly ,review1 in spite of his manifest ability and honesty1 has pledged himself1 so far as ,i am concerned1 to what1 if ,i may trust my own knowledge of my own thoughts1 must be called a multitude of errors of the first magnitude4 ,i so much admire ,mr4 ,lilly's outspokenness1 ,i am so completely satisfied of the uprightness of his intentions1 that it is repugnant to me to quarrel with anything he may say2 and ,i sympathise so warmly with his manly scorn of the vileness of much that passes under the name of literature in these times1 that ,i would willingly be silent under his by no means unkindly exposition of his theory of my own tenets1 if ,i thought that such personal abnegation would serve the interest of the cause we both have at heart4 ,but ,i cannot think so4 ,my creed may be an ill-favoured thing1 but it is mine own1 as ,touchstone says of his lady-love2 and ,i have so high an opinion of the solid virtues of the object of my affections that ,i cannot calmly see her personated by a wench who is much uglier and has no virtue worth speaking of4 ,i hope ,i should be ready to stand by a falling cause if ,i had ever adopted it2 but suffering for a falling cause1 which one has done one's best to bring to the ground1 is a kind of martyrdom for which ,i have no taste4 ,in my opinion1 the philosophical theory which ,mr4 ,lilly attributes to me--but which ,i have over and over again #baa disclaimed--is untenable and destined to extinction2 and ,i not unreasonably demur to being counted among its defenders4 ,after the manner of a mediaeval disputant1 ,mr4 ,lilly posts up three theses1 which1 as he conceives1 embody the chief heresies propagated by the late ,professor ,clifford1 ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer1 and myself4 ,he says that we agree 7#a7 in putting aside1 as unverifiable1 everything which the senses cannot verify2 7#b7 everything beyond the bounds of physical science2 7#c7 everything which cannot be brought into a laboratory and dealt with chemically 7p4 #egh74 ,my lamented young friend ,clifford1 sweetest of natures though keenest of disputants1 is out of reach of our little controversies1 but his works speak for him1 and those who run may read a refutation of ,mr4 ,lilly's assertions in them4 ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer1 hitherto1 has shown no lack either of ability or of inclination to speak for himself2 and it would be a superfluity1 not to say an impertinence1 on my part1 to take up the cudgels for him4 ,but1 for myself1 if my knowledge of my own consciousness may be assumed to be adequate 7and ,i make not the least pretension to acquaintance with what goes on in my ,unbewusstsein71 ,i may be permitted to observe that the first proposition appears to me to be not true2 that the second is in the same case2 and that1 if there be gradations in untrueness1 the third is so monstrously untrue that it hovers on the verge of absurdity1 even if it does not actually flounder in that logical limbo4 ,thus1 to all three theses1 ,i reply in #bab appropriate fashion1 ,nego--,i say ,no2 and ,i proceed to state the grounds of that negation1 which the proprieties do not permit me to make quite so emphatic as ,i could desire4 ,let me begin with the first assertion1 that ,i put aside1 as unverifiable1 everything which the senses cannot verify4 ,can such a statement as this be seriously made in respect of any human being8 ,but ,i am not appointed apologist for mankind in general2 and confining my observations to myself1 ,i beg leave to point out that1 at this present moment1 ,i entertain an unshakable conviction that ,mr4 ,lilly is the victim of a patent and enormous misunderstanding1 and that ,i have not the slightest intention of putting that conviction aside because ,i cannot verify it either by touch1 or taste1 or smell1 or hearing1 or sight1 which 7in the absence of any trace of telepathic faculty7 make up the totality of my senses4 ,again1 ,i may venture to admire the clear and vigorous ,english in which ,mr4 ,lilly embodies his views2 but the source of that admiration does not lie in anything which my five senses enable me to discover in the pages of his article1 and of which an orang-outang might be just as acutely sensible4 ,no1 it lies in an appreciation of literary form and logical structure by aesthetic and intellectual faculties which are not senses1 and which are not unfrequently sadly wanting where the senses are in full vigour4 ,my poor relation may beat me in the matter of sensation2 but ,i am quite confident that1 when style and syllogisms are to be dealt with1 he is nowhere4 #bac ,if there is anything in the world which ,i do firmly believe in1 it is the universal validity of the law of causation2 but that universality cannot be proved by any amount of experience1 let alone that which comes to us through the senses4 ,and when an effort of volition changes the current of my thoughts1 or when an idea calls up another associated idea1 ,i have not the slightest doubt that the process to which the first of the phenomena1 in each case1 is due stands in the relation of cause to the second4 ,yet the attempt to verify this belief by sensation would be sheer lunacy4 ,now ,i am quite sure that ,mr4 ,lilly does not doubt my sanity2 and the only alternative seems to be the admission that his first proposition is erroneous4 ,the second thesis charges me with putting aside as unverifiable everything beyond the bounds of physical science4 ,again ,i say1 ,no4 ,nobody1 ,i imagine1 will credit me with a desire to limit the empire of physical science1 but ,i really feel bound to confess that a great many very familiar and1 at the same time1 extremely important phenomena lie quite beyond its legitimate limits4 ,i cannot conceive1 for example1 how the phenomena of consciousness1 as such and apart from the physical process by which they are called into existence1 are to be brought within the bounds of physical science4 ,take the simplest possible example1 the feeling of redness4 ,physical science tells us that it commonly arises as a consequence of molecular changes propagated from the eye to a certain part of the substance of the brain1 when vibrations of the luminiferous ether of a certain character fall upon #bad the retina4 ,let us suppose the process of physical analysis pushed so far that one could view the last link of this chain of molecules1 watch their movements as if they were billiard balls1 weigh them1 measure them1 and know all that is physically knowable about them4 ,well1 even in that case1 we should be just as far from being able to include the resulting phenomenon of consciousness1 the feeling of redness1 within the bounds of physical science1 as we are at present4 ,it would remain as unlike the phenomena we know under the names of matter and motion as it is now4 ,if there is any plain truth upon which ,i have made it my business to insist over and over again it is this--and whether it is a truth or not1 my insistence upon it leaves not a shadow of justification for ,mr4 ,lilly's assertion4 ,but ,i ask in this case also1 how is it conceivable that any man1 in possession of all his natural faculties1 should hold such an opinion8 ,i do not suppose that ,i am exceptionally endowed because ,i have all my life enjoyed a keen perception of the beauty offered us by nature and by art4 ,now physical science may and probably will1 some day1 enable our posterity to set forth the exact physical concomitants and conditions of the strange rapture of beauty4 ,but if ever that day arrives1 the rapture will remain1 just as it is now1 outside and beyond the physical world2 and1 even in the mental world1 something superadded to mere sensation4 ,i do not wish to crow unduly over my humble cousin the orang1 but in the aesthetic province1 as in that of the intellect1 ,i am afraid he is #bae nowhere4 ,i doubt not he would detect a fruit amidst a wilderness of leaves where ,i could see nothing2 but ,i am tolerably confident that he has never been awestruck1 as ,i have been1 by the dim religious gloom1 as of a temple devoted to the earthgods1 of the tropical forest which he inhabits4 ,yet ,i doubt not that our poor long-armed and short-legged friend1 as he sits meditatively munching his durian fruit1 has something behind that sad ,socratic face of his which is utterly beyond the bounds of physical science4 ,physical science may know all about his clutching the fruit and munching it and digesting it1 and how the physical titillation of his palate is transmitted to some microscopic cells of the gray matter of his brain4 ,but the feelings of sweetness and of satisfaction which1 for a moment1 hang out their signal lights in his melancholy eyes1 are as utterly outside the bounds of physics as is the fine frenzy of a human rhapsodist4 ,does ,mr4 ,lilly really believe that1 putting me aside1 there is any man with the feeling of music in him who disbelieves in the reality of the delight which he derives from it1 because that delight lies outside the bounds of physical science1 not less than outside the region of the mere sense of hearing8 ,but1 it may be1 that he includes music1 painting1 and sculpture under the head of physical science1 and in that case ,i can only regret ,i am unable to follow him in his ennoblement of my favourite pursuits4 ,the third thesis runs that ,i put aside as unverifiable everything which cannot be brought into a #baf laboratory and dealt with chemically2 and1 once more1 ,i say ,no4 ,this wondrous allegation is no novelty2 it has not unfrequently reached me from that region where gentle 7or ungentle7 dulness so often holds unchecked sway--the pulpit4 ,but ,i marvel to find that a writer of ,mr4 ,lilly's intelligence and good faith is willing to father such a wastrel4 ,if ,i am to deal with the thing seriously1 ,i find myself met by one of the two horns of a dilemma4 ,either some meaning1 as unknown to usage as to the dictionaries1 attaches to laboratory and chemical1 or the proposition is 7what am ,i to say in my sore need for a gentle and yet appropriate word87--well--unhistorical4 ,does ,mr4 ,lilly suppose that ,i put aside as unverifiable all the truths of mathematics1 of philology1 of history8 ,and if ,i do not1 will he have the great goodness to say how the binomial theorem is to be dealt with chemically1 even in the best appointed laboratory2 or where the balances and crucibles are kept by which the various theories of the nature of the ,basque language may be tested2 or what reagents will extract the truth from any given ,history of ,rome1 and leave the errors behind as a residual calx8 ,i really cannot answer these questions1 and unless ,mr4 ,lilly can1 ,i think he would do well hereafter to think more than twice before attributing such preposterous notions to his fellow-men1 who1 after all1 as a learned counsel said1 are vertebrated animals4 ,the whole thing perplexes me much2 and ,i am #bag sure there must be an explanation which will leave ,mr4 ,lilly's reputation for common sense and fair dealing untouched4 ,can it be--,i put this forward quite tentatively--that ,mr4 ,lilly is the victim of a confusion1 common enough among thoughtless people1 and into which he has fallen unawares8 ,obviously1 it is one thing to say that the logical methods of physical science are of universal applicability1 and quite another to affirm that all subjects of thought lie within the province of physical science4 ,i have often declared my conviction that there is only one method by which intellectual truth can be reached1 whether the subject-matter of investigation belongs to the world of physics or to the world of consciousness2 and one of the arguments in favour of the use of physical science as an instrument of education which ,i have oftenest used is that1 in my opinion1 it exercises young minds in the appreciation of inductive evidence better than any other study4 ,but while ,i repeat my conviction that the physical sciences probably furnish the best and most easily appreciable illustrations of the one and indivisible mode of ascertaining truth by the use of reason1 ,i beg leave to add that ,i have never thought of suggesting that other branches of knowledge may not afford the same discipline2 and assuredly ,i have never given the slightest ground for the attribution to me of the ridiculous contention that there is nothing true outside the bounds of physical science4 ,doubtless people who wanted to say something damaging1 without too nice a regard to its truth or falsehood1 have often enough misrepresented #bah my plain meaning4 ,but ,mr4 ,lilly is not one of these folks at whom one looks and passes by1 and ,i can but sorrowfully wonder at finding him in such company4 ,so much for the three theses which ,mr4 ,lilly has nailed on to a page of this ,review4 ,i think ,i have shown that the first is inaccurate1 that the second is inaccurate1 and that the third is inaccurate2 and that these three inaccurates constitute one prodigious1 though ,i doubt not unintentional1 misrepresentation4 ,if ,mr4 ,lilly and ,i were dialectic gladiators1 fighting in the arena of the ,fortnightly1 under the eye of an editorial lanista1 for the delectation of the public1 my best tactics would now be to leave the field of battle4 ,for the question whether ,i do1 or do not1 hold certain opinions is a matter of fact1 with regard to which my evidence is likely to be regarded as conclusive--at least until such time as the telepathy of the unconscious is more generally recognised4 ,however1 some other assertions are made by ,mr4 ,lilly which more or less involve matters of opinion whereof the rights and wrongs are less easily settled1 but in respect of which he seems to me to err quite as seriously as about the topics we have been hitherto discussing4 ,and the importance of these subjects leads me to venture upon saying something about them1 even though ,i am thereby compelled to leave the safe ground of personal knowledge4 ,before launching the three torpedoes which have so sadly exploded on board his own ship1 ,mr4 ,lilly says that with whatever rhetorical ornaments ,i may #bai gild my teaching1 it is ,materialism4 ,let me observe1 in passing1 that rhetorical ornament is not in my way1 and that gilding refined gold would1 to my mind1 be less objectionable than varnishing the fair face of truth with that pestilent cosmetic1 rhetoric4 ,if ,i believed that ,i had any claim to the title of ,materialist1 as that term is understood in the language of philosophy and not in that of abuse1 ,i should not attempt to hide it by any sort of gilding4 ,i have not found reason to care much for hard names in the course of the last thirty years1 and ,i am too old to develop a new sensitiveness4 ,but1 to repeat what ,i have more than once taken pains to say in the most unadorned of plain language1 ,i repudiate1 as philosophical error1 the doctrine of ,materialism as ,i understand it1 just as ,i repudiate the doctrine of ,spiritualism as ,mr4 ,lilly presents it1 and my reason for thus doing is1 in both cases1 the same2 namely1 that1 whatever their differences1 ,materialists and ,spiritualists agree in making very positive assertions about matters of which ,i am certain ,i know nothing1 and about which ,i believe they are1 in truth1 just as ignorant4 ,and further1 that1 even when their assertions are confined to topics which lie within the range of my faculties1 they often appear to me to be in the wrong4 ,and there is yet another reason for objecting to be identified with either of these sects2 and that is that each is extremely fond of attributing to the other1 by way of reproach1 conclusions which are the property of neither1 though they infallibly flow from the logical #bbj development of the first principles of both4 ,surely a prudent man is not to be reproached because he keeps clear of the squabbles of these philosophical ,bianchi and ,neri1 by refusing to have anything to do with either8 ,i understand the main tenet of ,materialism to be that there is nothing in the universe but matter and force2 and that all the phenomena of nature are explicable by deduction from the properties assignable to these two primitive factors4 ,that great champion of ,materialism whom ,mr4 ,lilly appears to consider to be an authority in physical science1 ,dr4 ,buechner1 embodies this article of faith on his title-page4 ,kraft und ,stoff--force and matter--are paraded as the ,alpha and ,omega of existence4 ,this ,i apprehend is the fundamental article of the faith materialistic2 and whosoever does not hold it is condemned by the more zealous of the persuasion 7as ,i have some reason to know7 to the ,inferno appointed for fools or hypocrites4 ,but all this ,i heartily disbelieve2 and at the risk of being charged with wearisome repetition of an old story1 ,i will briefly give my reasons for persisting in my infidelity4 ,in the first place1 as ,i have already hinted1 it seems to me pretty plain that there is a third thing in the universe1 to wit1 consciousness1 which1 in the hardness of my heart or head1 ,i cannot see to be matter or force1 or any conceivable modification of either1 however intimately the manifestations of the phenomena of consciousness may be connected with the phenomena known as matter and force4 ,in the second place1 #bba the arguments used by ,descartes and ,berkeley to show that our certain knowledge does not extend beyond our states of consciousness1 appear to me to be as irrefragable now as they did when ,i first became acquainted with them some half century ago4 ,all the materialistic writers ,i know of who have tried to bite that file have simply broken their teeth4 ,but1 if this is true1 our one certainty is the existence of the mental world1 and that of ,kraft und ,stoff falls into the rank of1 at best1 a highly probable hypothesis4 ,thirdly1 when ,i was a mere boy1 with a perverse tendency to think when ,i ought to have been playing1 my mind was greatly exercised by this formidable problem1 ,what would become of things if they lost their qualities8 ,as the qualities had no objective existence1 and the thing without qualities was nothing1 the solid world seemed whittled away--to my great horror4 ,as ,i grew older1 and learned to use the terms matter and force1 the boyish problem was revived1 mutato nomine4 ,on the one hand1 the notion of matter without force seemed to resolve the world into a set of geometrical ghosts1 too dead even to jabber4 ,on the other hand1 ,boscovich's hypothesis1 by which matter was resolved into centres of force1 was very attractive4 ,but when one tried to think it out1 what in the world became of force considered as an objective entity8 ,force1 even the most materialistic of philosophers will agree with the most idealistic1 is nothing but a name for the cause of motion4 ,and if1 with ,boscovich1 ,i resolved #bbb things into centres of force1 then matter vanished altogether and left immaterial entities in its place4 ,one might as well frankly accept ,idealism and have done with it4 ,i must make a confession1 even if it be humiliating4 ,i have never been able to form the slightest conception of those forces which the ,materialists talk about1 as if they had samples of them many years in bottle4 ,they tell me that matter consists of atoms1 which are separated by mere space devoid of contents2 and that1 through this void1 radiate the attractive and repulsive forces whereby the atoms affect one another4 ,if anybody can clearly conceive the nature of these things which not only exist in nothingness1 but pull and push there with great vigour1 ,i envy him for the possession of an intellect of larger grasp1 not only than mine1 but than that of ,leibnitz or of ,newton4#fa ,to me the chimaera1 bombinans in vacuo quia comedit secundas intentiones of the schoolmen is a familiar and domestic creature compared with such forces4 ,besides1 by the hypothesis1 the forces are not matter2 and thus all that is of any particular consequence in the world turns out to be not matter on the ,materialist's own showing4 ,let it not be supposed that ,i am casting #bbc a doubt upon the propriety of the employment of the terms atom and force1 as they stand among the working hypotheses of physical science4 ,as formulae which can be applied1 with perfect precision and great convenience1 in the interpretation of nature1 their value is incalculable2 but1 as real entities1 having an objective existence1 an indivisible particle which nevertheless occupies space is surely inconceivable2 and with respect to the operation of that atom1 where it is not1 by the aid of a force resident in nothingness1 ,i am as little able to imagine it as ,i fancy any one else is4 ,unless and until anybody will resolve all these doubts and difficulties for me1 ,i think ,i have a right to hold aloof from ,materialism4 ,as to ,spiritualism1 it lands me in even greater difficulties when ,i want to get change for its notes-of-hand in the solid coin of reality4 ,for the assumed substantial entity1 spirit1 which is supposed to underlie the phenomena of consciousness1 as matter underlies those of physical nature1 leaves not even a geometrical ghost when these phenomena are abstracted4 ,and1 even if we suppose the existence of such an entity apart from qualities--that is to say1 a bare existence--for mind2 how does anybody know that it differs from that other entity1 apart from qualities1 which is the supposed substratum of matter8 ,spiritualism is1 after all1 little better than ,materialism turned upside down4 ,and if ,i try to think of the spirit which a man1 by this hypothesis1 carries about under his hat1 as something devoid of relation to space1 and as something indivisible1 even #bbd in thought1 while it is1 at the same time1 supposed to be in that place and to be possessed of half a dozen different faculties1 ,i confess ,i get quite lost4 ,as ,i have said elsewhere1 if ,i were forced to choose between ,materialism and ,idealism1 ,i should elect for the latter2 and ,i certainly would have nothing to do with the effete mythology of ,spiritualism4 ,but ,i am not aware that ,i am under any compulsion to choose either the one or the other4 ,i have always entertained a strong suspicion that the sage who maintained that man is the measure of the universe was sadly in the wrong2 and age and experience have not weakened that conviction4 ,in following these lines of speculation ,i am reminded of the quarter-deck walks of my youth4 ,in taking that form of exercise you may perambulate through all points of the compass with perfect safety1 so long as you keep within certain limits3 forget those limits1 in your ardour1 and mere smothering and spluttering1 if not worse1 await you4 ,i stick by the deck and throw a life-buoy now and then to the struggling folk who have gone overboard2 and all ,i get for my humanity is the abuse of all whenever they leave off abusing one another4 ,tolerably early in life ,i discovered that one of the unpardonable sins1 in the eyes of most people1 is for a man to presume to go about unlabelled4 ,the world regards such a person as the police do an unmuzzled dog1 not under proper control4 ,i could find no label that would suit me1 so1 in my desire to range myself and be respectable1 ,i invented one2 and1 as the chief thing ,i was sure of was that ,i did not know a great #bbe many things that the -ists and the -ites about me professed to be familiar with1 ,i called myself an ,agnostic4 ,surely no denomination could be more modest or more appropriate2 and ,i cannot imagine why ,i should be every now and then haled out of my refuge and declared sometimes to be a ,materialist1 sometimes an ,atheist1 sometimes a ,positivist2 and sometimes1 alas and alack1 a cowardly or reactionary ,obscurantist4 ,i trust that ,i have1 at last1 made my case clear1 and that henceforth ,i shall be allowed to rest in peace--at least1 after a further explanation or two1 which ,mr4 ,lilly proves to me may be necessary4 ,it has been seen that my excellent critic has original ideas respecting the meaning of the words laboratory and chemical2 and1 as it appears to me1 his definition of ,materialist is quite as much peculiar to himself4 ,for1 unless ,i misunderstand him1 and ,i have taken pains not to do so1 he puts me down as a ,materialist 7over and above the grounds which ,i have shown to have no foundation72 firstly1 because ,i have said that consciousness is a function of the brain2 and1 secondly1 because ,i hold by determinism4 ,with respect to the first point1 ,i am not aware that there is any one who doubts that1 in the proper physiological sense of the word function1 consciousness1 in certain forms at any rate1 is a cerebral function4 ,in physiology we call function that effect1 or series of effects1 which results from the activity of an organ4 ,thus1 it is the function of muscle to give rise to motion2 and the muscle gives rise to motion when the nerve which #bbf supplies it is stimulated4 ,if one of the nerve-bundles in a man's arm is laid bare and a stimulus is applied to certain of the nervous filaments1 the result will be production of motion in that arm4 ,if others are stimulated1 the result will be the production of the state of consciousness called pain4 ,now1 if ,i trace these last nerve-filaments1 ,i find them to be ultimately connected with part of the substance of the brain1 just as the others turn out to be connected with muscular substance4 ,if the production of motion in the one case is properly said to be the function of the muscular substance1 why is the production of a state of consciousness in the other case not to be called a function of the cerebral substance8 ,once upon a time1 it is true1 it was supposed that a certain animal spirit resided in muscle and was the real active agent4 ,but we have done with that wholly superfluous fiction so far as the muscular organs are concerned4 ,why are we to retain a corresponding fiction for the nervous organs8 ,if it is replied that no physiologist1 however spiritual his leanings1 dreams of supposing that simple sensations require a spirit for their production1 then ,i must point out that we are all agreed that consciousness is a function of matter1 and that particular tenet must be given up as a mark of ,materialism4 ,any further argument will turn upon the question1 not whether consciousness is a function of the brain1 but whether all forms of consciousness are so4 ,again1 ,i hold it would be quite correct to say that material changes are the causes of psychical #bbg phenomena 7and1 as a consequence1 that the organs in which these changes take place have the production of such phenomena for their function71 even if the spiritualistic hypothesis had any foundation4 ,for nobody hesitates to say that an event ,a is the cause of an event ,z1 even if there are as many intermediate terms1 known and unknown1 in the chain of causation as there are letters between ,a and ,z4 ,the man who pulls the trigger of a loaded pistol placed close to another's head certainly is the cause of that other's death1 though1 in strictness1 he causes nothing but the movement of the finger upon the trigger4 ,and1 in like manner1 the molecular change which is brought about in a certain portion of the cerebral substance by the stimulation of a remote part of the body would be properly said to be the cause of the consequent feeling1 whatever unknown terms were interposed between the physical agent and the actual psychical product4 ,therefore1 unless ,materialism has the monopoly of the right use of language1 ,i see nothing materialistic in the phraseology which ,i have employed4 ,the only remaining justification which ,mr4 ,lilly offers for dubbing me a ,materialist1 malgre moi1 arises out of a passage which he quotes1 in which ,i say that the progress of science means the extension of the province of what we call matter and force1 and the concomitant gradual banishment from all regions of human thought of what we call spirit and spontaneity4 ,i hold that opinion now1 if anything1 more firmly than ,i did when ,i gave utterance to it a score of #bbh years ago1 for it has been justified by subsequent events4 ,but what that opinion has to do with ,materialism ,i fail to discover4 ,in my judgment1 it is consistent with the most thorough-going ,idealism1 and the grounds of that judgment are really very plain and simple4 ,the growth of science1 not merely of physical science1 but of all science1 means the demonstration of order and natural causation among phenomena which had not previously been brought under those conceptions4 ,nobody who is acquainted with the progress of scientific thinking in every department of human knowledge1 in the course of the last two centuries1 will be disposed to deny that immense provinces have been added to the realm of science2 or to doubt that the next two centuries will be witnesses of a vastly greater annexation4 ,more particularly in the region of the physiology of the nervous system1 is it justifiable to conclude from the progress that has been made in analysing the relations between material and psychical phenomena1 that vast further advances will be made2 and that1 sooner or later1 all the so-called spontaneous operations of the mind will have1 not only their relations to one another1 but their relations to physical phenomena1 connected in natural series of causes and effects1 strictly defined4 ,in other words1 while1 at present1 we know only the nearer moiety of the chain of causes and effects1 by which the phenomena we call material give rise to those which we call mental2 hereafter1 we shall get to the further end of the series4 #bbi ,in my innocence1 ,i have been in the habit of supposing that this is merely a statement of facts1 and that the good ,bishop ,berkeley1 if he were alive1 would find such facts fit into his system without the least difficulty4 ,that ,mr4 ,lilly should play into the hands of his foes1 by declaring that unmistakable facts make for them1 is an exemplification of ways that are dark1 quite unintelligible to me4 ,surely ,mr4 ,lilly does not hold that the disbelief in spontaneity--which term1 if it has any meaning at all1 means uncaused action--is a mark of the beast ,materialism8 ,if so1 he must be prepared to tackle many of the ,cartesians 7if not ,descartes himself71 ,spinoza and ,leibnitz among the philosophers1 ,augustine1 ,thomas ,aquinas1 ,calvin and his followers among theologians1 as ,materialists--and that surely is a sufficient reductio ad absurdum of such a classification4 ,the truth is1 that in his zeal to paint ,materialism1 in large letters1 on everything he dislikes1 ,mr4 ,lilly forgets a very important fact1 which1 however1 must be patent to every one who has paid attention to the history of human thought2 and that fact is1 that every one of the speculative difficulties which beset ,kant's three problems1 the existence of a ,deity1 the freedom of the will1 and immortality1 existed ages before anything that can be called physical science1 and would continue to exist if modern physical science were swept away4 ,all that physical science has done has been to make1 as it were1 visible and tangible some difficulties that formerly were more hard of apprehension4 ,moreover1 these difficulties #bcj exist just as much on the hypothesis of ,idealism as on that of ,materialism4 ,the student of nature1 who starts from the axiom of the universality of the law of causation1 cannot refuse to admit an eternal existence2 if he admits the conservation of energy1 he cannot deny the possibility of an eternal energy2 if he admits the existence of immaterial phenomena in the form of consciousness1 he must admit the possibility1 at any rate1 of an eternal series of such phenomena2 and1 if his studies have not been barren of the best fruit of the investigation of nature1 he will have enough sense to see that when ,spinoza says1 ,per ,deum intelligo ens absolute infinitum1 hoc est substantiam constantem infinitis attributis1 the ,god so conceived is one that only a very great fool would deny1 even in his heart4 ,physical science is as little ,atheistic as it is ,materialistic4 ,so with respect to immortality4 ,as physical science states this problem1 it seems to stand thus3 ,is there any means of knowing whether the series of states of consciousness1 which has been causally associated for threescore years and ten with the arrangement and movements of innumerable millions of successively different material molecules1 can be continued1 in like association1 with some substance which has not the properties of matter and force8 ,as ,kant said1 on a like occasion1 if anybody can answer that question1 he is just the man ,i want to see4 ,if he says that consciousness cannot exist1 except in relation of cause and effect with certain organic #bca molecules1 ,i must ask how he knows that2 and if he says it can1 ,i must put the same question4 ,and ,i am afraid that1 like jesting ,pilate1 ,i shall not think it worth while 7having but little time before me7 to wait for an answer4 ,lastly1 with respect to the old riddle of the freedom of the will4 ,in the only sense in which the word freedom is intelligible to me--that is to say1 the absence of any restraint upon doing what one likes within certain limits--physical science certainly gives no more ground for doubting it than the common sense of mankind does4 ,and if physical science1 in strengthening our belief in the universality of causation and abolishing chance as an absurdity1 leads to the conclusions of determinism1 it does no more than follow the track of consistent and logical thinkers in philosophy and in theology1 before it existed or was thought of4 ,whoever accepts the universality of the law of causation as a dogma of philosophy1 denies the existence of uncaused phenomena4 ,and the essence of that which is improperly called the freewill doctrine is that occasionally1 at any rate1 human volition is self-caused1 that is to say1 not caused at all2 for to cause oneself one must have anteceded oneself--which is1 to say the least of it1 difficult to imagine4 ,whoever accepts the existence of an omniscient ,deity as a dogma of theology1 affirms that the order of things is fixed from eternity to eternity2 for the fore-knowledge of an occurrence means that the occurrence will certainly happen2 and the certainty #bcb of an event happening is what is meant by its being fixed or fated4#fb ,whoever asserts the existence of an omnipotent ,deity1 that he made and sustains all things1 and is the causa causarum1 cannot1 without a contradiction in terms1 assert that there is any cause independent of him2 and it is a mere subterfuge to assert that the cause of all things can permit one of these things to be an independent cause4 #bcc ,whoever asserts the combination of omniscience and omnipotence as attributes of the ,deity1 does implicitly assert predestination4 ,for he who knowingly makes a thing and places it in circumstances the operation of which on that thing he is perfectly acquainted with1 does predestine that thing to whatever fate may befall it4 ,thus1 to come1 at last1 to the really important part of all this discussion1 if the belief in a ,god is essential to morality1 physical science offers no obstacle thereto2 if the belief in immortality is essential to morality1 physical science has no more to say against the probability of that doctrine than the most ordinary experience has1 and it effectually closes the mouths of those who pretend to refute it by objections deduced from merely physical data4 ,finally1 if the belief in the uncausedness of volition is essential to morality1 the student of physical science has no more to say against that absurdity than the logical philosopher or theologian4 ,physical science1 ,i repeat1 did not invent determinism1 and the deterministic doctrine would stand on just as firm a foundation as it does if there were no physical science4 ,let any one who doubts this read ,jonathan ,edwards1 whose demonstrations are derived wholly from philosophy and theology4 ,thus1 when ,mr4 ,lilly1 like another ,solomon ,eagle1 goes about proclaiming ,woe to this wicked city1 and denouncing physical science as the evil genius of modern days--mother of materialism1 and fatalism1 and all sorts of other condemnable isms--,i #bcd venture to beg him to lay the blame on the right shoulders2 or1 at least1 to put in the dock1 along with ,science1 those sinful sisters of hers1 ,philosophy and ,theology1 who1 being so much older1 should have known better than the poor ,cinderella of the schools and universities over which they have so long dominated4 ,no doubt modern society is diseased enough2 but then it does not differ from older civilisations in that respect4 ,societies of men are fermenting masses1 and as beer has what the ,germans call ,oberhefe and ,unterhefe1 so every society that has existed has had its scum at the top and its dregs at the bottom2 but ,i doubt if any of the ages of faith had less scum or less dregs1 or even showed a proportionally greater quantity of sound wholesome stuff in the vat4 ,i think it would puzzle ,mr4 ,lilly1 or any one else1 to adduce convincing evidence that1 at any period of the world's history1 there was a more widespread sense of social duty1 or a greater sense of justice1 or of the obligation of mutual help1 than in this ,england of ours4 ,ah6 but1 says ,mr4 ,lilly1 these are all products of our ,christian inheritance2 when ,christian dogmas vanish virtue will disappear too1 and the ancestral ape and tiger will have full play4 ,but there are a good many people who think it obvious that ,christianity also inherited a good deal from ,paganism and from ,judaism2 and that1 if the ,stoics and the ,jews revoked their bequest1 the moral property of ,christianity would realise very little4 ,and1 if morality has survived the stripping off of several sets of clothes which have been found to fit badly1 why #bce should it not be able to get on very well in the light and handy garments which ,science is ready to provide8 ,but this by the way4 ,if the diseases of society consist in the weakness of its faith in the existence of the ,god of the theologians1 in a future state1 and in uncaused volitions1 the indication1 as the doctors say1 is to suppress ,theology and ,philosophy1 whose bickerings about things of which they know nothing have been the prime cause and continual sustenance of that evil scepticism which is the ,nemesis of meddling with the unknowable4 ,cinderella is modestly conscious of her ignorance of these high matters4 ,she lights the fire1 sweeps the house1 and provides the dinner2 and is rewarded by being told that she is a base creature1 devoted to low and material interests4 ,but in her garret she has fairy visions out of the ken of the pair of shrews who are quarrelling downstairs4 ,she sees the order which pervades the seeming disorder of the world2 the great drama of evolution1 with its full share of pity and terror1 but also with abundant goodness and beauty1 unrolls itself before her eyes2 and she learns1 in her heart of hearts1 the lesson1 that the foundation of morality is to have done1 once and for all1 with lying2 to give up pretending to believe that for which there is no evidence1 and repeating unintelligible propositions about things beyond the possibilities of knowledge4 ,she knows that the safety of morality lies neither in the adoption of this or that philosophical #bcf speculation1 or this or that theological creed1 but in a real and living belief in that fixed order of nature which sends social disorganisation upon the track of immorality1 as surely as it sends physical disease after physical trespasses4 ,and of that firm and lively faith it is her high mission to be the priestess4 99 99 99 99 99 #bcg ,,vi ,,scientific ,,and ,,pseudo-,,scientific ,,realism ,next to undue precipitation in anticipating the results of pending investigations1 the intellectual sin which is commonest and most hurtful to those who devote themselves to the increase of knowledge is the omission to profit by the experience of their predecessors recorded in the history of science and philosophy4 ,it is true that1 at the present day1 there is more excuse than at any former time for such neglect4 ,no small labour is needed to raise oneself to the level of the acquisitions already made2 and able men1 who have achieved thus much1 know that1 if they devote themselves body and soul to the increase of their store1 and avoid looking back1 with as much care as if the injunction laid on ,lot and his family were binding upon them1 such devotion is sure to be richly repaid by the joys of the discoverer and the solace of fame1 if not by rewards of a less elevated character4 ,so1 following the advice of ,francis ,bacon1 we refuse inter mortuos quaerere vivum2 we leave the past to bury its dead1 and ignore our intellectual ancestry4 ,nor are we content with that4 ,we follow the evil example set us1 not only by ,bacon but by #bch almost all the men of the ,renaissance1 in pouring scorn upon the work of our immediate spiritual forefathers1 the schoolmen of the middle ages4 ,it is accepted as a truth which is indisputable1 that1 for seven or eight centuries1 a long succession of able men--some of them of transcendent acuteness and encyclopaedic knowledge--devoted laborious lives to the grave discussion of mere frivolities and the arduous pursuit of intellectual will-o'-the-wisps4 ,to say nothing of a little modesty1 a little impartial pondering over personal experience might suggest a doubt as to the adequacy of this short and easy method of dealing with a large chapter of the history of the human mind4 ,even an acquaintance with popular literature which had extended so far as to include that part of the contributions of ,sam ,slick which contains his weighty aphorism that there is a great deal of human nature in all mankind1 might raise a doubt whether1 after all1 the men of that epoch1 who1 take them all round1 were endowed with wisdom and folly in much the same proportion as ourselves1 were likely to display nothing better than the qualities of energetic idiots1 when they devoted their faculties to the elucidation of problems which were to them1 and indeed are to us1 the most serious which life has to offer4 ,speaking for myself1 the longer ,i live the more ,i am disposed to think that there is much less either of pure folly1 or of pure wickedness1 in the world than is commonly supposed4 ,it may be doubted if any sane man ever said to himself1 ,evil be thou my good1 and ,i have never yet had the good fortune to meet with a perfect #bci fool4 ,when ,i have brought to the inquiry the patience and long-suffering which become a scientific investigator1 the most promising specimens have turned out to have a good deal to say for themselves from their own point of view4 ,and1 sometimes1 calm reflection has taught the humiliating lesson1 that their point of view was not so different from my own as ,i had fondly imagined4 ,comprehension is more than halfway to sympathy1 here as elsewhere4 ,if we turn our attention to scholastic philosophy in the frame of mind suggested by these prefatory remarks1 it assumes a very different character from that which it bears in general estimation4 ,no doubt it is surrounded by a dense thicket of thorny logomachies and obscured by the dust-clouds of a barbarous and perplexing terminology4 ,but suppose that1 undeterred by much grime and by many scratches1 the explorer has toiled through this jungle1 he comes to an open country which is amazingly like his dear native land4 ,the hills which he has to climb1 the ravines he has to avoid1 look very much the same2 there is the same infinite space above1 and the same abyss of the unknown below2 the means of travelling are the same1 and the goal is the same4 ,that goal for the schoolmen1 as for us1 is the settlement of the question how far the universe is the manifestation of a rational order2 in other words1 how far logical deduction from indisputable premisses will account for that which has happened and does happen4 ,that was the object of scholasticism1 and1 so far as ,i am aware1 the object of modern science may be #bdj expressed in the same terms4 ,in pursuit of this end1 modern science takes into account all the phenomena of the universe which are brought to our knowledge by observation or by experiment4 ,it admits that there are two worlds to be considered1 the one physical and the other psychical2 and that though there is a most intimate relation and interconnection between the two1 the bridge from one to the other has yet to be found2 that their phenomena run1 not in one series1 but along two parallel lines4 ,to the schoolmen the duality of the universe appeared under a different aspect4 ,how this came about will not be intelligible unless we clearly apprehend the fact that they did really believe in dogmatic ,christianity as it was formulated by the ,roman ,church4 ,they did not give a mere dull assent to anything the ,church told them on ,sundays1 and ignore her teachings for the rest of the week2 but they lived and moved and had their being in that supersensible theological world which was created1 or rather grew up1 during the first four centuries of our reckoning1 and which occupied their thoughts far more than the sensible world in which their earthly lot was cast4 ,for the most part1 we learn history from the colourless compendiums or partisan briefs of mere scholars1 who have too little acquaintance with practical life1 and too little insight into speculative problems1 to understand that about which they write4 ,in historical science1 as in all sciences which have to do with concrete phenomena1 laboratory practice is indispensable2 and the laboratory practice of historical science is #bda afforded1 on the one hand1 by active social and political life1 and1 on the other1 by the study of those tendencies and operations of the mind which embody themselves in philosophical and theological systems4 ,thucydides and ,tacitus1 and1 to come nearer our own time1 ,hume and ,grote1 were men of affairs1 and had acquired1 by direct contact with social and political history in the making1 the secret of understanding how such history is made4 ,our notions of the intellectual history of the middle ages are1 unfortunately1 too often derived from writers who have never seriously grappled with philosophical and theological problems3 and hence that strange myth of a millennium of moonshine to which ,i have adverted4 ,however1 no very profound study of the works of contemporary writers who1 without devoting themselves specially to theology or philosophy1 were learned and enlightened--such men1 for example1 as ,eginhard or ,dante--is necessary to convince oneself that1 for them1 the world of the theologian was an ever-present and awful reality4 ,from the centre of that world1 the ,divine ,trinity1 surrounded by a hierarchy of angels and saints1 contemplated and governed the insignificant sensible world in which the inferior spirits of men1 burdened with the debasement of their material embodiment and continually solicited to their perdition by a no less numerous and almost as powerful hierarchy of devils1 were constantly struggling on the edge of the pit of everlasting damnation4#fc #bdb ,the men of the middle ages believed that through the ,scriptures1 the traditions of the ,fathers1 and the authority of the ,church1 they were in possession of far more1 and more trustworthy1 information with respect to the nature and order of things in the theological world than they had in regard to the nature and order of things in the sensible world4 ,and1 if the two sources of information came into conflict1 so much the worse for the sensible world1 which1 after all1 was more or less under the dominion of ,satan4 ,let us suppose that a telescope powerful enough to show us what is going on in the nebula of the sword of ,orion1 should reveal a world in which stones fell upwards1 parallel lines met1 and the fourth dimension of space was quite obvious4 ,men of science would have only two #bdc alternatives before them4 ,either the terrestrial and the nebular facts must be brought into harmony by such feats of subtle sophistry as the human mind is always capable of performing when driven into a corner2 or science must throw down its arms in despair1 and commit suicide1 either by the admission that the universe is1 after all1 irrational1 inasmuch as that which is truth in one corner of it is absurdity in another1 or by a declaration of incompetency4 ,in the middle ages1 the labours of those great men who endeavoured to reconcile the system of thought which started from the data of pure reason1 with that which started from the data of ,roman theology1 produced the system of thought which is known as scholastic philosophy2 the alternative of surrender and suicide is exemplified by ,avicenna and his followers when they declared that that which is true in theology may be false in philosophy1 and vice versa2 and by ,sanchez in his famous defence of the thesis ,quod nil scitur4 ,to those who deny the validity of one of the primary assumptions of the disputants--who decline1 on the ground of the utter insufficiency of the evidence1 to put faith in the reality of that other world1 the geography and the inhabitants of which are so confidently described in the so-called#fd ,christianity of ,catholicism--the long and bitter contest1 which #bdd engaged the best intellects for so many centuries1 may seem a terrible illustration of the wasteful way in which the struggle for existence is carried on in the world of thought1 no less than in that of matter4 ,but there is a more cheerful mode of looking at the history of scholasticism4 ,it ground and sharpened the dialectic implements of our race as perhaps nothing but discussions1 in the result of which men thought their eternal no less than their temporal interests were at stake1 could have done4 ,when a logical blunder may ensure combustion1 not only in the next world but in this1 the construction of syllogisms acquires a peculiar interest4 ,moreover1 the schools kept the thinking faculty alive and active1 when the disturbed state of civil life1 the mephitic atmosphere engendered by the dominant ecclesiasticism1 and the almost total neglect of natural knowledge1 might well have stifled it4 ,and1 finally1 it should be remembered that scholasticism really did thresh out pretty effectually certain problems which have presented themselves to mankind ever since they began to think1 and which1 ,i suppose1 will present themselves so long as they continue to think4 ,consider1 for example1 the controversy of the ,realists and the ,nominalists1 which was carried on with varying fortunes1 and under various names1 from the time of ,scotus ,erigena to the end of the scholastic period4 ,has it now a merely antiquarian interest8 ,has ,nominalism1 in any of its modifications1 so completely won the day that ,realism may be regarded as dead and buried without hope of resurrection8 #bde ,many people seem to think so1 but it appears to me that1 without taking ,catholic philosophy into consideration1 one has not to look about far to find evidence that ,realism is still to the fore1 and indeed extremely lively4#fe ,the other day ,i happened to meet with a report of a sermon recently preached in ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral4 ,from internal evidence ,i am inclined to think that the report is substantially correct4 ,but as ,i have not the slightest intention of finding fault with the eminent theologian and eloquent preacher to whom the discourse is attributed1 for employment of scientific language in a manner for which he could find only too many scientific precedents1 the accuracy of the report in detail is not to the purpose4 ,i may safely take it as the embodiment of views which are thought to be quite in accordance with science by many excellent1 instructed1 and intelligent people4 ,the preacher further contended that it was yet more difficult to realise that our earthly home would become the scene of a vast physical catastrophe4 ,imagination recoils from the idea that the #bdf course of nature--the phrase helps to disguise the truth--so unvarying and regular1 the ordered sequence of movement and life1 should suddenly cease4 ,imagination looks more reasonable when it assumes the air of scientific reason4 ,physical law1 it says1 will prevent the occurrence of catastrophes only anticipated by an apostle in an unscientific age4 ,might not there1 however1 be a suspension of a lower law by the intervention of a higher8 ,thus every time we lifted our arms we defied the laws of gravitation1 and in railways and steamboats powerful laws were held in check by others4 ,the flood and the destruction of ,sodom and ,gomorrah were brought about by the operations of existing laws1 and may it not be that in ,his illimitable universe there are more important laws than those which surround our puny life--moral and not merely physical forces8 ,is it inconceivable that the day will come when these royal and ultimate laws shall wreck the natural order of things which seems so stable and so fair8 ,earthquakes were not things of remote antiquity1 as an island off ,italy1 the ,eastern ,archipelago1 ,greece1 and ,chicago bore witness4444 ,in presence of a great earthquake men feel how powerless they are1 and their very knowledge adds to their weakness4 ,the end of human probation1 the final dissolution of organised society1 and the destruction of man's home on the surface of the globe1 were none of them violently contrary to our present experience1 but only the extension of present facts4 ,the presentiment of death was common2 there were felt to be many things which threatened the existence of society2 and as our globe was a ball of fire1 at any moment the pent-up forces which surge and boil beneath our feet might be poured out 7,pall ,mall ,gazette1 ,december #f1 #ahhf74 ,the preacher appears to entertain the notion that the occurrence of a catastrophe#ff involves a breach of the present order of nature--that it is an event incompatible with the physical laws which at present #bdg obtain4 ,he seems to be of opinion that scientific reason lends its authority to the imaginative supposition that physical law will prevent the occurrence of the catastrophes anticipated by an unscientific apostle4 ,scientific reason1 like ,homer1 sometimes nods2 but ,i am not aware that it has ever dreamed dreams of this sort4 ,the fundamental axiom of scientific thought is that there is not1 never has been1 and never will be1 any disorder in nature4 ,the admission of the occurrence of any event which was not the logical consequence of the immediately antecedent events1 according to these definite1 ascertained1 or unascertained rules which we call the laws of nature1 would be an act of self-destruction on the part of science4 ,catastrophe is a relative conception4 ,for ourselves it means an event which brings about very terrible consequences to man1 or impresses his mind by its magnitude relatively to him4 ,but events which are quite in the natural order of things to us1 may be frightful catastrophes to other sentient beings4 ,surely no interruption of the order of nature is involved if1 in the course of descending through an ,alpine pine-wood1 ,i jump upon an anthill and in a moment wreck a whole city and destroy a hundred thousand of its inhabitants4 ,to the ants the catastrophe is worse than the earthquake of ,lisbon4 ,to me it is the natural and necessary consequence of the laws of matter in motion4 ,a redistribution of energy has taken place1 which is perfectly in accordance with natural order1 however unpleasant its effects may be to the ants4 #bdh ,imagination1 inspired by scientific reason1 and not merely assuming the airs thereof1 as it unfortunately too often does in the pulpit1 so far from having any right to repudiate catastrophes and deny the possibility of the cessation of motion and life1 easily finds justification for the exactly contrary course4 ,kant in his famous ,theory of the ,heavens declares the end of the world and its reduction to a formless condition to be a necessary consequence of the causes to which it owes its origin and continuance4 ,and1 as to catastrophes of prodigious magnitude and frequent occurrence1 they were the favourite asylum ignorantiae of geologists1 not a quarter of a century ago4 ,if modern geology is becoming more and more disinclined to call in catastrophes to its aid1 it is not because of any a priori difficulty in reconciling the occurrence of such events with the universality of order1 but because the a posteriori evidence of the occurrence of events of this character in past times has more or less completely broken down4 ,it is1 to say the least1 highly probable that this earth is a mass of extremely hot matter1 invested by a cooled crust1 through which the hot interior still continues to cool1 though with extreme slowness4 ,it is no less probable that the faults and dislocations1 the foldings and fractures1 everywhere visible in the stratified crust1 its large and slow movements through miles of elevation and depression1 and its small and rapid movements which give rise to the innumerable perceived and unperceived earthquakes which are constantly occurring1 are due to the #bdi shrinkage of the crust on its cooling and contracting nucleus4 ,without going beyond the range of fair scientific analogy1 conditions are easily conceivable which should render the loss of heat far more rapid than it is at present2 and such an occurrence would be just as much in accordance with ascertained laws of nature as the more rapid cooling of a redhot bar1 when it is thrust into cold water1 than when it remains in the air4 ,but much more rapid cooling might entail a shifting and rearrangement of the parts of the crust of the earth on a scale of unprecedented magnitude1 and bring about catastrophes to which the earthquake of ,lisbon is but a trifle4 ,it is conceivable that man and his works and all the higher forms of animal life should be utterly destroyed2 that mountain regions should be converted into ocean depths and the floor of oceans raised into mountains2 and the earth become a scene of horror which even the lurid fancy of the writer of the ,apocalypse would fail to portray4 ,and yet1 to the eye of science1 there would be no more disorder here than in the ,sabbatical peace of a summer sea4 ,not a link in the chain of natural causes and effects would be broken1 nowhere would there be the slightest indication of the suspension of a lower law by a higher4 ,if a sober scientific thinker is inclined to put little faith in the wild vaticinations of universal ruin which1 in a less saintly person than the seer of ,patmos1 might seem to be dictated by the fury of a revengeful fanatic rather than by the spirit of the teacher who bid men love #bej their enemies1 it is not on the ground that they contradict scientific principles2 but because the evidence of their scientific value does not fulfil the conditions on which weight is attached to evidence4 ,the imagination which supposes that it does1 simply does not assume the air of scientific reason4 ,i repeat that1 if imagination is used within the limits laid down by science1 disorder is unimaginable4 ,if a being endowed with perfect intellectual and aesthetic faculties1 but devoid of the capacity for suffering pain1 either physical or moral1 were to devote his utmost powers to the investigation of nature1 the universe would seem to him to be a sort of kaleidoscope1 in which1 at every successive moment of time1 a new arrangement of parts of exquisite beauty and symmetry would present itself2 and each of them would show itself to be the logical consequence of the preceding arrangement1 under the conditions which we call the laws of nature4 ,such a spectator might well be filled with that ,amor intellectualis ,dei1 the beatific vision of the vita contemplativa1 which some of the greatest thinkers of all ages1 ,aristotle1 ,aquinas1 ,spinoza1 have regarded as the only conceivable eternal felicity2 and the vision of illimitable suffering1 as if sensitive beings were unregarded animalcules which had got between the bits of glass of the kaleidoscope1 which mars the prospect to us poor mortals1 in no wise alters the fact that order is lord of all1 and disorder only a name for that part of the order which gives us pain4 ,the other fallacious employment of the names of #bea scientific conceptions which pervades the preacher's utterance1 brings me back to the proper topic of the present paper4 ,it is the use of the word law as if it denoted a thing--as if a law of nature1 as science understands it1 were a being endowed with certain powers1 in virtue of which the phenomena expressed by that law are brought about4 ,the preacher asks1 ,might not there be a suspension of a lower law by the intervention of a higher8 ,he tells us that every time we lift our arms we defy the law of gravitation4 ,he asks whether some day certain royal and ultimate laws may not come and wreck those laws which are at present1 it would appear1 acting as nature's police4 ,it is evident1 from these expressions1 that laws1 in the mind of the preacher1 are entities having an objective existence in a graduated hierarchy4 ,and it would appear that the royal laws are by no means to be regarded as constitutional royalties3 at any moment1 they may1 like ,eastern despots1 descend in wrath among the middle-class and plebeian laws1 which have hitherto done the drudgery of the world's work1 and1 to use phraseology not unknown in our seats of learning--make hay of their belongings4 ,or perhaps a still more familiar analogy has suggested this singular theory2 and it is thought that high laws may suspend low laws1 as a bishop may suspend a curate4 ,far be it from me to controvert these views1 if any one likes to hold them4 ,all ,i wish to remark is that such a conception of the nature of laws has nothing to do with modern science4 ,it is scholastic #beb realism--realism as intense and unmitigated as that of ,scotus ,erigena a thousand years ago4 ,the essence of such realism is that it maintains the objective existence of universals1 or1 as we call them nowadays1 general propositions4 ,it affirms1 for example1 that man is a real thing1 apart from individual men1 having its existence1 not in the sensible1 but in the intelligible world1 and clothing itself with the accidents of sense to make the ,jack and ,tom and ,harry whom we know4 ,strange as such a notion may appear to modern scientific thought1 it really pervades ordinary language4 ,there are few people who would1 at once1 hesitate to admit that colour1 for example1 exists apart from the mind which conceives the idea of colour4 ,they hold it to be something which resides in the coloured object2 and so far they are as much ,realists as if they had sat at ,plato's feet4 ,reflection on the facts of the case must1 ,i imagine1 convince every one that colour is--not a mere name1 which was the extreme ,nominalist position--but a name for that group of states of feeling which we call blue1 red1 yellow1 and so on1 and which we believe to be caused by luminiferous vibrations which have not the slightest resemblance to colour2 while these again are set afoot by states of the body to which we ascribe colour1 but which are equally devoid of likeness to colour4 ,in the same way1 a law of nature1 in the scientific sense1 is the product of a mental operation upon the facts of nature which come under our observation1 and has no more existence outside the mind than #bec colour has4 ,the law of gravitation is a statement of the manner in which experience shows that bodies1 which are free to move1 do1 in fact1 move towards one another4 ,but the other facts of observation1 that bodies are not always moving in this fashion1 and sometimes move in a contrary direction1 are implied in the words free to move4 ,if it is a law of nature that bodies tend to move towards one another in a certain way2 it is another and no less true law of nature that1 if bodies are not free to move as they tend to do1 either in consequence of an obstacle1 or of a contrary impulse from some other source of energy than that to which we give the name of gravitation1 they either stop still1 or go another way4 ,scientifically speaking1 it is the acme of absurdity to talk of a man defying the law of gravitation when he lifts his arm4 ,the general store of energy in the universe working through terrestrial matter is doubtless tending to bring the man's arm down2 but the particular fraction of that energy which is working through certain of his nervous and muscular organs is tending to drive it up1 and more energy being expended on the arm in the upward than in the downward direction1 the arm goes up accordingly4 ,but the law of gravitation is no more defied in this case than when a grocer throws so much sugar into the empty pan of his scales that the one which contains the weight kicks the beam4 ,the tenacity of the wonderful fallacy that the laws of nature are agents1 instead of being1 as they really are1 a mere record of experience1 upon which we #bed base our interpretations of that which does happen1 and our anticipation of that which will happen1 is an interesting psychological fact2 and would be unintelligible if the tendency of the human mind towards realism were less strong4 ,even at the present day1 and in the writings of men who would at once repudiate scholastic realism in any form1 law is often inadvertently employed in the sense of cause1 just as1 in common life1 a man will say that he is compelled by the law to do so and so1 when1 in point of fact1 all he means is that the law orders him to do it1 and tells him what will happen if he does not do it4 ,we commonly hear of bodies falling to the ground by reason of the law of gravitation1 whereas that law is simply the record of the fact that1 according to all experience1 they have so fallen 7when free to move71 and of the grounds of a reasonable expectation that they will so fall4 ,if it should be worth anybody's while to seek for examples of such misuse of language on my own part1 ,i am not at all sure he might not succeed1 though ,i have usually been on my guard against such looseness of expression4 ,if ,i am guilty1 ,i do penance beforehand1 and only hope that ,i may thereby deter others from committing the like fault4 ,and ,i venture on this personal observation by way of showing that ,i have no wish to bear hardly on the preacher for falling into an error for which he might find good precedents4 ,but it is one of those errors which1 in the case of a person engaged in scientific pursuits1 do little harm1 because it is corrected as soon as its consequences #bee become obvious2 while those who know physical science only by name are1 as has been seen1 easily led to build a mighty fabric of unrealities on this fundamental fallacy4 ,in fact1 the habitual use of the word law1 in the sense of an active thing1 is almost a mark of pseudo-science2 it characterises the writings of those who have appropriated the forms of science without knowing anything of its substance4 ,there are two classes of these people3 those who are ready to believe in any miracle so long as it is guaranteed by ecclesiastical authority2 and those who are ready to believe in any miracle so long as it has some different guarantee4 ,the believers in what are ordinarily called miracles--those who accept the miraculous narratives which they are taught to think are essential elements of religious doctrine--are in the one category2 the spirit-rappers1 table-turners1 and all the other devotees of the occult sciences of our day are in the other3 and1 if they disagree in most things they agree in this1 namely1 that they ascribe to science a dictum that is not scientific2 and that they endeavour to upset the dictum thus foisted on science by a realistic argument which is equally unscientific4 ,it is asserted1 for example1 that1 on a particular occasion1 water was turned into wine2 and1 on the other hand1 it is asserted that a man or a woman levitated to the ceiling1 floated about there1 and finally sailed out by the window4 ,and it is assumed that the pardonable scepticism1 with which most scientific men receive these statements1 is due to the #bef fact that they feel themselves justified in denying the possibility of any such metamorphosis of water or of any such levitation1 because such events are contrary to the laws of nature4 ,so the question of the preacher is triumphantly put3 ,how do you know that there are not higher laws of nature than your chemical and physical laws1 and that these higher laws may not intervene and wreck the latter8 ,the plain answer to this question is1 ,why should anybody be called upon to say how he knows that which he does not know8 ,you are assuming that laws are agents--efficient causes of that which happens--and that one law can interfere with another4 ,to us1 that assumption is as nonsensical as if you were to talk of a proposition of ,euclid being the cause of the diagram which illustrates it1 or of the integral calculus interfering with the rule of three4 ,your question really implies that we pretend to complete knowledge not only of all past and present phenomena1 but of all that are possible in the future1 and we leave all that sort of thing to the adepts of esoteric ,buddhism4 ,our pretensions are infinitely more modest4 ,we have succeeded in finding out the rules of action of a little bit of the universe2 we call these rules laws of nature1 not because anybody knows whether they bind nature or not1 but because we find it is obligatory on us to take them into account1 both as actors under nature1 and as interpreters of nature4 ,we have any quantity of genuine miracles of our own1 and if you will furnish us with as good evidence of your miracles as we have #beg of ours1 we shall be quite happy to accept them and to amend our expression of the laws of nature in accordance with the new facts4 ,as to the particular cases adduced1 we are so perfectly fair-minded as to be willing to help your case as far as we can4 ,you are quite mistaken in supposing that anybody who is acquainted with the possibilities of physical science will undertake categorically to deny that water may be turned into wine4 ,many very competent judges are already inclined to think that the bodies1 which we have hitherto called elementary1 are really composite arrangements of the particles of a uniform primitive matter4 ,supposing that view to be correct1 there would be no more theoretical difficulty about turning water into alcohol1 ethereal and colouring matters1 than there is1 at this present moment1 any practical difficulty in working other such miracles2 as when we turn sugar into alcohol1 carbonic acid1 glycerine1 and succinic acid2 or transmute gas-refuse into perfumes rarer than musk and dyes richer than ,tyrian purple4 ,if the so-called elements1 oxygen and hydrogen1 which compose water1 are aggregates of the same ultimate particles1 or physical units1 as those which enter into the structure of the so-called element carbon1 it is obvious that alcohol and other substances1 composed of carbon1 hydrogen1 and oxygen1 may be produced by a rearrangement of some of the units of oxygen and hydrogen into the element carbon1 and their synthesis with the rest of the oxygen and hydrogen4 #beh ,theoretically1 therefore1 we can have no sort of objection to your miracle4 ,and our reply to the levitators is just the same4 ,why should not your friend levitate8 ,fish are said to rise and sink in the water by altering the volume of an internal air-receptacle2 and there may be many ways science1 as yet1 knows nothing of1 by which we1 who live at the bottom of an ocean of air1 may do the same thing4 ,dialectic gas and wind appear to be by no means wanting among you1 and why should not long practice in pneumatic philosophy have resulted in the internal generation of something a thousand times rarer than hydrogen1 by which1 in accordance with the most ordinary natural laws1 you would not only rise to the ceiling and float there in quasi-angelic posture1 but perhaps1 as one of your feminine adepts is said to have done1 flit swifter than train or telegram to still-vexed ,bermoothes1 and twit ,ariel1 if he happens to be there1 for a sluggard8 ,we have not the presumption to deny the possibility of anything you affirm2 only1 as our brethren are particular about evidence1 do give us as much to go upon as may save us from being roared down by their inextinguishable laughter4 ,enough of the realism which clings about laws4 ,there are plenty of other exemplifications of its vitality in modern science1 but ,i will cite only one of them4 ,this is the conception of vital force which comes straight from the philosophy of ,aristotle4 ,it is a fundamental proposition of that philosophy that #bei a natural object is composed of two constituents--the one its matter1 conceived as inert or even1 to a certain extent1 opposed to orderly and purposive motion2 the other its form1 conceived as a quasi-spiritual something1 containing or conditioning the actual activities of the body and the potentiality of its possible activities4 ,i am disposed to think that the prominence of this conception in ,aristotle's theory of things arose from the circumstance that he was1 to begin with and throughout his life1 devoted to biological studies4 ,in fact it is a notion which must force itself upon the mind of any one who studies biological phenomena1 without reference to general physics1 as they now stand4 ,everybody who observes the obvious phenomena of the development of a seed into a tree1 or of an egg into an animal1 will note that a relatively formless mass of matter gradually grows1 takes a definite shape and structure1 and1 finally1 begins to perform actions which contribute towards a certain end1 namely1 the maintenance of the individual in the first place1 and of the species in the second4 ,starting from the axiom that every event has a cause1 we have here the causa finalis manifested in the last set of phenomena1 the causa materialis and formalis in the first1 while the existence of a causa efficiens within the seed or egg and its product1 is a corollary from the phenomena of growth and metamorphosis1 which proceed in unbroken succession and make up the life of the animal or plant4 ,thus1 at starting1 the egg or seed is matter having #bfj a form like all other material bodies4 ,but this form has the peculiarity1 in contradistinction to lower substantial forms1 that it is a power which constantly works towards an end by means of living organisation4 ,so far as ,i know1 ,leibnitz is the only philosopher 7at the same time a man of science1 in the modern sense1 of the first rank7 who has noted that the modern conception of ,force1 as a sort of atmosphere enveloping the particles of bodies1 and having potential or actual activity1 is simply a new name for the ,aristotelian ,form4#fg ,in modern biology1 up till within quite recent times1 the ,aristotelian conception held undisputed sway2 living matter was endowed with vital force1 and that accounted for everything4 ,whosoever was not satisfied with that explanation was treated to that very plain argument--confound you eternally--wherewith ,lord ,peter overcomes the doubts of his brothers in the ,tale of a ,tub4 ,materialist was the mildest term applied to him--fortunate if he escaped pelting with infidel and atheist4 ,there may be scientific ,rip ,van ,winkles about1 who still hold by vital force2 but among those biologists who have not been asleep for the last quarter of a century vital force no longer figures in the vocabulary of science4 ,it is a patent survival of realism2 the generalisation from experience that all living bodies exhibit certain activities of a definite character is made the basis of the notion #bfa that every living body contains an entity1 vital force1 which is assumed to be the cause of those activities4 ,it is remarkable1 in looking back1 to notice to what an extent this and other survivals of scholastic realism arrested or1 at any rate1 impeded the application of sound scientific principles to the investigation of biological phenomena4 ,when ,i was beginning to think about these matters1 the scientific world was occasionally agitated by discussions respecting the nature of the species and genera of ,naturalists1 of a different order from the disputes of a later time4 ,i think most were agreed that a species was something which existed objectively1 somehow or other1 and had been created by a ,divine fiat4 ,as to the objective reality of genera1 there was a good deal of difference of opinion4 ,on the other hand1 there were a few who could see no objective reality in anything but individuals1 and looked upon both species and genera as hypostatised universals4 ,as for myself1 ,i seem to have unconsciously emulated ,william of ,occam1 inasmuch as almost the first public discourse ,i ever ventured upon1 dealt with ,animal ,individuality1 and its tendency was to fight the ,nominalist battle even in that quarter4 ,realism appeared in still stranger forms at the time to which ,i refer4 ,the community of plan which is observable in each great group of animals was hypostatised into a ,platonic idea with the appropriate name of archetype1 and we were told1 as a disciple of ,philo-,judaeus might have told us1 that this realistic figment was the archetypal light by which ,nature #bfb has been guided amidst the wreck of worlds4 ,so1 again1 another naturalist1 who had no less earned a well-deserved reputation by his contributions to positive knowledge1 put forward a theory of the production of living things which1 as nearly as the increase of knowledge allowed1 was a reproduction of the doctrine inculcated by the ,jewish ,cabbala4 ,annexing the archetype notion1 and carrying it to its full logical consequence1 the author of this theory conceived that the species of animals and plants were so many incarnations of the thoughts of ,god--material representations of ,divine ideas--during the particular period of the world's history at which they existed4 ,but1 under the influence of the embryological and palaeontological discoveries of modern times1 which had already lent some scientific support to the revived ancient theories of cosmical evolution or emanation1 the ingenious author of this speculation1 while denying and repudiating the ordinary theory of evolution by successive modification of individuals1 maintained and endeavoured to prove the occurrence of a progressive modification in the ,divine ideas of successive epochs4 ,on the foundation of a supposed elevation of organisation in the whole living population of any epoch as compared with that of its predecessor1 and a supposed complete difference in species between the populations of any two epochs 7neither of which suppositions has stood the test of further inquiry71 the author of this speculation based his conclusion that the ,creator had1 so to speak1 improved upon his thoughts as time went on2 and that1 as each such #bfc amended scheme of creation came up1 the embodiment of the earlier divine thoughts was swept away by a universal catastrophe1 and an incarnation of the improved ideas took its place4 ,only after the last such wreck thus brought about1 did the embodiment of a divine thought1 in the shape of the first man1 make its appearance as the ne plus ultra of the cosmogonical process4 ,i imagine that ,louis ,agassiz1 the genial backwoodsman of the science of my young days1 who did more to open out new tracks in the scientific forest than most men1 would have been much surprised to learn that he was preaching the doctrine of the ,cabbala1 pure and simple4 ,according to this modification of ,neoplatonism by contact with ,hebrew speculation1 the divine essence is unknowable--without form or attribute2 but the interval between it and the world of sense is filled by intelligible entities1 which are nothing but the familiar hypostatised abstractions of the realists4 ,these have emanated1 like immense waves of light1 from the divine centre1 and1 as ten consecutive zones of ,sephiroth1 form the universe4 ,the farther away from the centre1 the more the primitive light wanes1 until the periphery ends in those mere negations1 darkness and evil1 which are the essence of matter4 ,on this1 the divine agency transmitted through the ,sephiroth operates after the fashion of the ,aristotelian forms1 and1 at first1 produces the lowest of a series of worlds4 ,after a certain duration the primitive world is demolished and its fragments used up in making a better2 and #bfd this process is repeated1 until at length a final world1 with man for its crown and finish1 makes its appearance4 ,it is needless to trace the process of retrogressive metamorphosis by which1 through the agency of the ,messiah1 the steps of the process of evolution here sketched are retraced4 ,sufficient has been said to prove that the extremest realism current in the philosophy of the thirteenth century can be fully matched by the speculations of our own time4 99 99 99 99 99 #bfe ,,vii ,,science ,,and ,,pseudo-,,science ,in the opening sentences of a contribution to the last number of this ,review1#fh the ,duke of ,argyll has favoured me with a lecture on the proprieties of controversy1 to which ,i should be disposed to listen with more docility if his ,grace's precepts appeared to me to be based upon rational principles1 or if his example were more exemplary4 ,with respect to the latter point1 the ,duke has thought fit to entitle his article ,professor ,huxley on ,canon ,liddon1 and thus forces into prominence an element of personality1 which those who read the paper which is the object of the ,duke's animadversions will observe ,i have endeavoured1 most carefully1 to avoid4 ,my criticisms dealt with a report of a sermon1 published in a newspaper1 and thereby addressed to all the world4 ,whether that sermon was preached by ,a or ,b was not a matter of the smallest consequence2 and ,i went out of my way to absolve the learned divine to whom the discourse was attributed1 from the responsibility for statements which1 for anything ,i knew to the contrary1 might contain #bff imperfect1 or inaccurate1 representations of his views4 ,the assertion that ,i had the wish or was beset by any temptation to attack ,canon ,liddon is simply contrary to fact4 ,but suppose that if1 instead of sedulously avoiding even the appearance of such attack1 ,i had thought fit to take a different course2 suppose that1 after satisfying myself that the eminent clergyman whose name is paraded by the ,duke of ,argyll had really uttered the words attributed to him from the pulpit of ,st4 ,paul's1 what right would any one have to find fault with my action on grounds either of justice1 expediency1 or good taste8 ,establishment has its duties as well as its rights4 ,the clergy of a ,state ,church enjoy many advantages over those of unprivileged and unendowed religious persuasions2 but they lie under a correlative responsibility to the ,state1 and to every member of the body politic4 ,i am not aware that any sacredness attaches to sermons4 ,if preachers stray beyond the doctrinal limits set by lay lawyers1 the ,privy ,council will see to it2 and1 if they think fit to use their pulpits for the promulgation of literary1 or historical1 or scientific errors1 it is not only the right1 but the duty1 of the humblest layman1 who may happen to be better informed1 to correct the evil effects of such perversion of the opportunities which the ,state affords them and such misuse of the authority which its support lends them4 ,whatever else it may claim to be1 in its relations with the ,state1 the ,established ,church is a branch of the ,civil ,service2 and1 for those who #bfg repudiate the ecclesiastical authority of the clergy1 they are merely civil servants1 as much responsible to the ,english people for the proper performance of their duties as any others4 ,the ,duke of ,argyll tells us that the work and calling of the clergy prevent them from pursuing disputation as others can4 ,i wonder if his ,grace ever reads the so-called religious newspapers4 ,it is not an occupation which ,i should commend to any one who wishes to employ his time profitably2 but a very short devotion to this exercise will suffice to convince him that the pursuit of disputation1 carried to a degree of acrimony and vehemence unsurpassed in lay controversies1 seems to be found quite compatible with the work and calling of a remarkably large number of the clergy4 ,finally1 it appears to me that nothing can be in worse taste than the assumption that a body of ,english gentlemen can1 by any possibility1 desire that immunity from criticism which the ,duke of ,argyll claims for them4 ,nothing would be more personally offensive to me than the supposition that ,i shirked criticism1 just or unjust1 of any lecture ,i ever gave4 ,i should be utterly ashamed of myself if1 when ,i stood up as an instructor of others1 ,i had not taken every pains to assure myself of the truth of that which ,i was about to say2 and ,i should feel myself bound to be even more careful with a popular assembly1 who would take me more or less on trust1 than with an audience of competent and critical experts4 ,i decline to assume that the standard of morality1 #bfh in these matters1 is lower among the clergy than it is among scientific men4 ,i refuse to think that the priest who stands up before a congregation1 as the minister and interpreter of the ,divinity1 is less careful in his utterances1 less ready to meet adverse comment1 than the layman who comes before his audience1 as the minister and interpreter of nature4 ,yet what should we think of the man of science who1 when his ignorance or his carelessness was exposed1 whined about the want of delicacy of his critics1 or pleaded his work and calling as a reason for being let alone8 ,no man1 nor any body of men1 is good enough1 or wise enough1 to dispense with the tonic of criticism4 ,nothing has done more harm to the clergy than the practice1 too common among laymen1 of regarding them1 when in the pulpit1 as a sort of chartered libertines1 whose divagations are not to be taken seriously4 ,and ,i am well assured that the distinguished divine1 to whom the sermon is attributed1 is the last person who would desire to avail himself of the dishonouring protection which has been superfluously thrown over him4 ,so much for the lecture on propriety4 ,but the ,duke of ,argyll1 to whom the hortatory style seems to come naturally1 does me the honour to make my sayings the subjects of a series of other admonitions1 some on philosophical1 some on geological1 some on biological topics4 ,i can but rejoice that the ,duke's authority in these matters is not always employed to show that ,i am ignorant of them2 on the contrary1 ,i meet with an amount of agreement1 even of #bfi approbation1 for which ,i proffer such gratitude as may be due1 even if that gratitude is sometimes almost overshadowed by surprise4 ,i am unfeignedly astonished to find that the ,duke of ,argyll1 who professes to intervene on behalf of the preacher1 does really1 like another ,balaam1 bless me altogether in respect of the main issue4 ,i denied the justice of the preacher's ascription to men of science of the doctrine that miracles are incredible1 because they are violations of natural law2 and the ,duke of ,argyll says that he believes my denial to be well founded4 ,the preacher was answering an objection which has now been generally abandoned4 ,either the preacher knew this or he did not know it4 ,it seems to me1 as a mere lay teacher1 to be a pity that the great dome of ,st4 ,paul's should have been made to echo 7if so be that such stentorian effects were really produced7 a statement which1 admitting the first alternative1 was unfair1 and1 admitting the second1 was ignorant4#fi #bgj ,having thus sacrificed one half of the preacher's arguments1 the ,duke of ,argyll proceeds to make equally short work with the other half4 ,it appears that he fully accepts my position that the occurrence of those events1 which the preacher speaks of as catastrophes1 is no evidence of disorder1 inasmuch as such catastrophes may be necessary occasional consequences of uniform changes4 ,whence ,i conclude1 his ,grace agrees with me1 that the talk about royal laws wrecking ordinary laws may be eloquent metaphor1 but is also nonsense4 ,and now comes a further surprise4 ,after having given these superfluous stabs to the slain body of the preacher's argument1 my good ally remarks1 with magnificent calmness3 ,so far1 then1 the preacher and the professor are at one4 ,let them smoke the calumet4 ,by all means3 smoke would be the most appropriate symbol of this wonderful attempt to cover a retreat4 ,after all1 the ,duke has come to bury the preacher1 not to praise him2 only he makes the funeral obsequies look as much like a triumphal procession as possible4 ,so far as the questions between the preacher and myself are concerned1 then1 ,i may feel happy4 ,the authority of the ,duke of ,argyll is ranged on my side4 ,but the ,duke has raised a number of other questions1 with respect to which ,i fear ,i shall have to dispense with his support--nay1 even be compelled to differ from him as much1 or more1 than ,i have done about his ,grace's new rendering of the benefit of clergy4 #bga ,in discussing catastrophes1 the ,duke indulges in statements1 partly scientific1 partly anecdotic1 which appear to me to be somewhat misleading4 ,we are told1 to begin with1 that ,sir ,charles ,lyell's doctrine respecting the proper mode of interpreting the facts of geology 7which is commonly called uniformitarianism7 does not hold its head quite so high as it once did4 ,that is great news indeed4 ,but is it true8 ,all ,i can say is that ,i am aware of nothing that has happened of late that can in any way justify it2 and my opinion is1 that the body of ,lyell's doctrine1 as laid down in that great work1 ,the ,principles of ,geology1 whatever may have happened to its head1 is a chief and permanent constituent of the foundations of geological science4 ,but this question cannot be advantageously discussed1 unless we take some pains to discriminate between the essential part of the uniformitarian doctrine and its accessories2 and it does not appear that the ,duke of ,argyll has carried his studies of geological philosophy so far as this point4 ,for he defines uniformitarianism to be the assumption of the extreme slowness and perfect continuity of all geological changes4 ,what perfect continuity may mean in this definition1 ,i am by no means sure2 but ,i can only imagine that it signifies the absence of any break in the course of natural order during the millions of years1 the lapse of which is recorded by geological phenomena4 ,is the ,duke of ,argyll prepared to say that any #bgb geologist of authority1 at the present day1 believes that there is the slightest evidence of the occurrence of supernatural intervention1 during the long ages of which the monuments are preserved to us in the crust of the earth8 ,and if he is not1 in what sense has this part of the uniformitarian doctrine1 as he defines it1 lowered its pretensions to represent scientific truth8 ,as to the extreme slowness of all geological changes1 it is simply a popular error to regard that as1 in any wise1 a fundamental and necessary dogma of uniformitarianism4 ,it is extremely astonishing to me that any one who has carefully studied ,lyell's great work can have so completely failed to appreciate its purport1 which yet is writ large on the very title-page3 ,the ,principles of ,geology1 being an attempt to explain the former changes of the earth's surface by reference to causes now in operation4 ,the essence of ,lyell's doctrine is here written so that those who run may read2 and it has nothing to do with the quickness or slowness of the past changes of the earth's surface2 except in so far as existing analogous changes may go on slowly1 and therefore create a presumption in favour of the slowness of past changes4 ,with that epigrammatic force which characterises his style1 ,buffon wrote1 nearly a hundred and fifty years ago1 in his famous ,theorie de la ,terre3 ,pour juger de ce qui est arrive1 et meme de ce qui arrivera1 nous n'avons qu'a examiner ce qui arrive4 ,the key of the past1 as of the future1 is to be sought in the present1 and only when known causes of change have #bgc been shown to be insufficient have we any right to have recourse to unknown causes4 ,geology is as much a historical science as archaeology2 and ,i apprehend that all sound historical investigation rests upon this axiom4 ,it underlay all ,hutton's work and animated ,lyell and ,scrope in their successful efforts to revolutionise the geology of half a century ago4 ,there is no antagonism whatever1 and there never was1 between the belief in the views which had their chief and unwearied advocate in ,lyell and the belief in the occurrence of catastrophes4 ,the first edition of ,lyell's ,principles1 published in #ahcj1 lies before me2 and a large part of the first volume is occupied by an account of volcanic1 seismic1 and diluvial catastrophes which have occurred within the historical period4 ,moreover1 the author1 over and over again1 expressly draws the attention of his readers to the consistency of catastrophes with his doctrine4 ,notwithstanding1 therefore1 that we have not witnessed within the last three thousand years the devastation by deluge of a large continent1 yet1 as we may predict the future occurrence of such catastrophes1 we are authorised to regard them as part of the present order of nature1 and they may be introduced into geological speculations respecting the past1 provided that we do not imagine them to have been more frequent or general than we expect them to be in time to come 7vol4 i4 p4 #hi74 ,again3-- ,if we regard each of the causes separately1 which we know to be at present the most instrumental in remodelling the state of the surface1 we shall find that we must expect each to be in action for thousands of years1 without producing any extensive #bgd alterations in the habitable surface1 and then to give rise1 during a very brief period1 to important revolutions 7vol4 ii4 p4 #afa74gj ,lyell quarrelled with the catastrophists then1 by no means because they assumed that catastrophes occur and have occurred1 but because they had got into the habit of calling on their god ,catastrophe to help them1 when they ought to have been putting their shoulders to the wheel of observation of the present course of nature1 in order to help themselves out of their difficulties4 ,and geological science has become what it is1 chiefly because geologists have gradually accepted ,lyell's doctrine and followed his precepts4 ,so far as ,i know anything about the matter1 there is nothing that can be called proof1 that the causes of geological phenomena operated more intensely or more rapidly1 at any time between the older tertiary and the oldest palaeozoic epochs than they have done between the older tertiary epoch and the present day4 ,and if that is so1 uniformitarianism1 even as limited by ,lyell1#ga has no call to lower its crest4 ,but if the facts were otherwise1 the position ,lyell took up remains #bge impregnable4 ,he did not say that the geological operations of nature were never more rapid1 or more vast1 than they are now2 what he did maintain is the very different proposition that there is no good evidence of anything of the kind4 ,and that proposition has not yet been shown to be incorrect4 ,i owe more than ,i can tell to the careful study of the ,principles of ,geology in my young days2 and1 long before the year #ahef1 my mind was familiar with the truth that the doctrine of uniformity is not incompatible with great and sudden changes1 which1 as ,i have shown1 is taught totidem verbis in that work4 ,even had it been possible for me to shut my eyes to the sense of what ,i had read in the ,principles1 ,whewell's ,philosophy of the ,inductive ,sciences1 published in #ahdj1 a work with which ,i was also tolerably familiar1 must have opened them4 ,for the always acute1 if not always profound1 author1 in arguing against ,lyell's uniformitarianism1 expressly points out that it does not in any way contravene the occurrence of catastrophes4 ,with regard to such occurrences earthquakes1 deluges1 etc41 terrible as they appear at the time1 they may not much affect the #bgf average rate of change3 there may be a cycle1 though an irregular one1 of rapid and slow change3 and if such cycles go on succeeding each other1 we may still call the order of nature uniform1 notwithstanding the periods of violence which it involves4#gb ,the reader who has followed me through this brief chapter of the history of geological philosophy will probably find the following passage in the paper of the ,duke of ,argyll to be not a little remarkable3-- ,many years ago1 when ,i had the honour of being ,president of the ,british ,association1#gc ,i ventured to point out1 in the presence and in the hearing of that most distinguished man ,sir ,c4 ,lyell that the doctrine of uniformity was not incompatible with great and sudden changes1 since cycles of these and other cycles of comparative rest might well be constituent parts of that uniformity which he asserted4 ,lyell did not object to this extended interpretation of his own doctrine1 and indeed expressed to me his entire concurrence4 ,i should think he did2 for1 as ,i have shown1 there was nothing in it that ,lyell himself had not said1 six-and-twenty years before1 and enforced1 three years before2 and it is almost verbally identical with the view of uniformitarianism taken by ,whewell1 sixteen years before1 in a work with which1 one would think1 that any one who undertakes to discuss the philosophy of science should be familiar4 ,thirty years have elapsed since the beginner of #ahef persuaded himself that he enlightened the foremost geologist of his time1 and one of the most acute and far-seeing men of science of any time1 as to the scope of the doctrines which the veteran philosopher #bgg had grown gray in promulgating2 and the ,duke of ,argyll's acquaintance with the literature of geology has not1 even now1 become sufficiently profound to dissipate that pleasant delusion4 ,if the ,duke of ,argyll's guidance in that branch of physical science1 with which alone he has given evidence of any practical acquaintance1 is thus unsafe1 ,i may breathe more freely in setting my opinion against the authoritative deliverances of his ,grace about matters which lie outside the province of geology4 ,and here the ,duke's paper offers me such a wealth of opportunities that choice becomes embarrassing4 ,i must bear in mind the good old adage1 ,non multa sed multum4 ,tempting as it would be to follow the ,duke through his labyrinthine misunderstandings of the ordinary terminology of philosophy1 and to comment on the curious unintelligibility which hangs about his frequent outpourings of fervid language1 limits of space oblige me to restrict myself to those points1 the discussion of which may help to enlighten the public in respect of matters of more importance than the competence of my ,mentor for the task which he has undertaken4 ,i am not sure when the employment of the word ,law1 in the sense in which we speak of laws of nature1 commenced1 but examples of it may be found in the works of ,bacon1 ,descartes1 and ,spinoza4 ,bacon employs ,law as the equivalent of ,form1 and ,i am inclined to think that he may be responsible for a good deal of the confusion that has subsequently #bgh arisen2 but ,i am not aware that the term is used by other authorities1 in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries1 in any other sense than that of rule or definite order of the coexistence of things or succession of events in nature4 ,descartes speaks of regles1 que je nomme les lois de la nature4 ,leibnitz says loi ou regle generale1 as if he considered the terms interchangeable4 ,the ,duke of ,argyll1 however1 affirms that the law of gravitation as put forth by ,newton was something more than the statement of an observed order4 ,he admits that ,kepler's three laws were an observed order of facts and nothing more4 ,as to the law of gravitation1 it contains an element which ,kepler's laws did not contain1 even an element of causation1 the recognition of which belongs to a higher category of intellectual conceptions than that which is concerned in the mere observation and record of separate and apparently unconnected facts4 ,there is hardly a line in these paragraphs which appears to me to be indisputable4 ,but1 to confine myself to the matter in hand1 ,i cannot conceive that any one who had taken ordinary pains to acquaint himself with the real nature of either ,kepler's or ,newton's work could have written them4 ,that the labours of ,kepler1 of all men in the world1 should be called mere observation and record1 is truly wonderful4 ,and any one who will look into the ,principia1 or the ,optics1 or the ,letters to ,bentley1 will see1 even if he has no more special knowledge of the topics discussed than ,i have1 that ,newton over and over again insisted that he had #bgi nothing to do with gravitation as a physical cause1 and that when he used the terms attraction1 force1 and the like1 he employed them1 as he says1 mathematice and not physice4 ,how these attractions of gravity1 magnetism1 and electricity may be performed1 ,i do not here consider4 ,what ,i call attraction may be performed by impulse or by some other means unknown to me4 ,i use that word here to signify only in a general way any force by which bodies tend towards one another1 whatever be the cause4#gd ,according to my reading of the best authorities upon the history of science1 ,newton discovered neither gravitation1 nor the law of gravitation2 nor did he pretend to offer more than a conjecture as to the causation of gravitation4 ,moreover1 his assertion that the notion of a body acting where it is not1 is one that no competent thinker could entertain1 is antagonistic to the whole current conception of attractive and repulsive forces1 and therefore of the attractive force of gravitation4 ,what1 then1 was that labour of unsurpassed magnitude and excellence and immortal influence which ,newton did perform8 ,in the first place1 ,newton defined the laws1 rules1 or observed order of the phenomena of motion1 which come under our daily observation1 with greater precision than had been before attained2 and1 by following out with marvellous power and subtlety the mathematical consequences of these rules1 he almost created the modern science of pure mechanics4 ,in the second place1 applying exactly the same method #bhj to the explication of the facts of astronomy as that which was applied a century and a half later to the facts of geology by ,lyell1 he set himself to solve the following problem4 ,assuming that all bodies1 free to move1 tend to approach one another as the earth and the bodies on it do2 assuming that the strength of that tendency is directly as the mass and inversely as the squares of the distances2 assuming that the laws of motion1 determined for terrestrial bodies1 hold good throughout the universe2 assuming that the planets and their satellites were created and placed at their observed mean distances1 and that each received a certain impulse from the ,creator2 will the form of the orbits1 the varying rates of motion of the planets1 and the ratio between those rates and their distances from the sun which must follow by mathematical reasoning from these premisses1 agree with the order of facts determined by ,kepler and others1 or not8 ,newton1 employing mathematical methods which are the admiration of adepts1 but which no one but himself appears to have been able to use with ease1 not only answered this question in the affirmative1 but stayed not his constructive genius before it had founded modern physical astronomy4 ,the historians of mechanical and of astronomical science appear to be agreed that he was the first person who clearly and distinctly put forth the hypothesis that the phenomena comprehended under the general name of gravity follow the same order throughout the universe1 and that all material bodies exhibit these phenomena2 so that1 in this sense1 the #bha idea of universal gravitation may1 doubtless1 be properly ascribed to him4 ,newton proved that the laws of ,kepler were particular consequences of the laws of motion and the law of gravitation--in other words1 the reason of the first lay in the two latter4 ,but to talk of the law of gravitation alone as the reason of ,kepler's laws1 and still more as standing in any causal relation to ,kepler's laws1 is simply a misuse of language4 ,it would really be interesting if the ,duke of ,argyll would explain how he proposes to set about showing that the elliptical form of the orbits of the planets1 the constant area described by the radius vector1 and the proportionality of the squares of the periodic times to the cubes of the distances from the sun1 are either caused by the force of gravitation or deducible from the law of gravitation4 ,i conceive that it would be about as apposite to say that the various compounds of nitrogen with oxygen are caused by chemical attraction and deducible from the atomic theory4 ,newton assuredly lent no shadow of support to the modern pseudo-scientific philosophy which confounds laws with causes4 ,i have not taken the trouble to trace out this commonest of fallacies to its first beginning2 but ,i was familiar with it in full bloom1 more than thirty years ago1 in a work which had a great vogue in its day--the ,vestiges of the ,natural ,history of ,creation--of which the first edition was published in #ahdd4 ,it is full of apt and forcible illustrations of #bhb pseudoscientific realism4 ,consider1 for example1 this gem serene4 ,when a boy who has climbed a tree loses his hold of the branch1 the law of gravitation unrelentingly pulls him to the ground1 and then he is hurt1 whereby the ,almighty is quite relieved from any responsibility for the accident4 ,here is the law of gravitation acting as a cause in a way quite in accordance with the ,duke of ,argyll's conception of it4 ,in fact1 in the mind of the author of the ,vestiges1 laws are existences intermediate between the ,creator and his works1 like the ideas of the ,platonisers or the ,logos of the ,alexandrians4#ge ,i may cite a passage which is quite in the vein of ,philo3-- ,we have seen powerful evidences that the construction of this globe and its associates2 and1 inferentially1 that of all the other globes in space1 was the result1 not of any immediate or personal exertion on the part of the ,deity1 but of natural laws which are the expression of his will4 ,what is to hinder our supposing that the organic creation is also a result of natural laws which are in like manner an expression of his will8 7p4 #aed1 #ast edition74 ,and creation operating by law is constantly cited as relieving the ,creator from trouble about insignificant details4 ,i am perplexed to picture to myself the state of mind which accepts these verbal juggleries4 ,it is intelligible that the ,creator should operate according to such rules as he might think fit to lay down for himself 7and therefore according to law72 but that would leave the operation of his will just as much a direct personal act as it would be under any other #bhc circumstances4 ,i can also understand that 7as in ,leibnitz's caricature of ,newton's views7 the ,creator might have made the cosmical machine1 and1 after setting it going1 have left it to itself till it needed repair4 ,but then1 by the supposition1 his personal responsibility would have been involved in all that it did1 just as much as a dynamiter is responsible for what happens when he has set his machine going and left it to explode4 ,the only hypothesis which gives a sort of mad consistency to the ,vestigiarian's views is the supposition that laws are a kind of angels or demiurgoi1 who1 being supplied with the ,great ,architect's plan1 were permitted to settle the details among themselves4 ,accepting this doctrine1 the conception of royal laws and plebeian laws1 and of those more than ,homeric contests in which the big laws wreck the little ones1 becomes quite intelligible4 ,and1 in fact1 the honour of the paternity of those remarkable ideas which come into full flower in the preacher's discourse1 must1 so far as my imperfect knowledge goes1 be attributed to the author of the ,vestiges4 ,but the author of the ,vestiges is not the only writer who is responsible for the current pseudo-scientific mystifications which hang about the term law4 ,when ,i wrote my paper about ,scientific and ,pseudo-,scientific ,realism1 ,i had not read a work by the ,duke of ,argyll1 ,the ,reign of ,law1 which1 ,i believe1 has enjoyed1 possibly still enjoys1 a widespread popularity4 ,but the vivacity of the ,duke's attack led me to think it possible that criticisms directed elsewhere might have come home to #bhd him4 ,and1 in fact1 ,i find that the second chapter of the work in question1 which is entitled ,law2 its definitions1 is1 from my point of view1 a sort of summa of pseudo-scientific philosophy4 ,it will be worth while to examine it in some detail4 ,in the first place1 it is to be noted that the author of the ,reign of ,law admits that law1 in many cases1 means nothing more than the statement of the order in which facts occur1 or1 as he says1 an observed order of facts 7p4 #ff74 ,but his appreciation of the value of accuracy of expression does not hinder him from adding1 almost in the same breath1 ,in this sense the laws of nature are simply those facts of nature which recur according to rule 7p4 #ff74 ,thus laws1 which were rightly said to be the statement of an order of facts in one paragraph1 are declared to be the facts themselves in the next4 ,we are next told that1 though it may be customary and permissible to use law in the sense of a statement of the order of facts1 this is a low use of the word2 and indeed1 two pages farther on1 the writer1 flatly contradicting himself1 altogether denies its admissibility4 ,an observed order of facts1 to be entitled to the rank of a law1 must be an order so constant and uniform as to indicate necessity1 and necessity can only arise out of the action of some compelling force 7p4 #fh74 ,this is undoubtedly one of the most singular propositions that ,i have ever met with in a professedly scientific work1 and its rarity is embellished by another direct self-contradiction which it implies4 ,for #bhe on the preceding page 7#fg71 when the ,duke of ,argyll is speaking of the laws of ,kepler1 which he admits to be laws1 and which are types of that which men of science understand by laws1 he says that they are simply and purely an order of facts4 ,moreover1 he adds3 ,a very large proportion of the laws of every science are laws of this kind and in this sense4 ,if1 according to the ,duke of ,argyll's admission1 law is understood1 in this sense1 thus widely and constantly by scientific authorities1 where is the justification for his unqualified assertion that such statements of the observed order of facts are not entitled to the rank of laws8 ,but let us examine the consequences of the really interesting proposition ,i have just quoted4 ,i presume that it is a law of nature that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points4 ,this law affirms the constant association of a certain fact of form with a certain fact of dimension4 ,whether the notion of necessity which attaches to it has an a priori or an a posteriori origin is a question not relevant to the present discussion4 ,but ,i would beg to be informed1 if it is necessary1 where is the compelling force out of which the necessity arises2 and further1 if it is not necessary1 whether it loses the character of a law of nature8 ,i take it to be a law of nature1 based on unexceptionable evidence1 that the mass of matter remains unchanged1 whatever chemical or other modifications it may undergo4 ,this law is one of the foundations of chemistry4 ,but it is by no means necessary4 ,it #bhf is quite possible to imagine that the mass of matter should vary according to circumstances1 as we know its weight does4 ,moreover1 the determination of the force which makes mass constant 7if there is any intelligibility in that form of words7 would not1 so far as ,i can see1 confer any more validity on the law than it has now4 ,there is a law of nature1 so well vouched by experience1 that all mankind1 from pure logicians in search of examples to parish sextons in search of fees1 confide in it4 ,this is the law that all men are mortal4 ,it is simply a statement of the observed order of facts that all men sooner or later die4 ,i am not acquainted with any law of nature which is more constant and uniform than this4 ,but will any one tell me that death is necessary8 ,certainly there is no a priori necessity in the case1 for various men have been imagined to be immortal4 ,and ,i should be glad to be informed of any necessity that can be deduced from biological considerations4 ,it is quite conceivable1 as has recently been pointed out1 that some of the lowest forms of life may be immortal1 after a fashion4 ,however this may be1 ,i would further ask1 supposing all men are mortal to be a real law of nature1 where and what is that to which1 with any propriety1 the title of compelling force of the law can be given8 ,on page #fi1 the ,duke of ,argyll asserts that the law of gravitation is a law in the sense1 not merely of a rule1 but of a cause4 ,but this revival of the teaching of the ,vestiges has already been examined #bhg and disposed of2 and when the ,duke of ,argyll states that the observed order which ,kepler had discovered was simply a necessary consequence of the force of gravitation1 ,i need not recapitulate the evidence which proves such a statement to be wholly fallacious4 ,but it may be useful to say1 once more1 that1 at this present moment1 nobody knows anything about the existence of a force of gravitation apart from the fact2 that ,newton declared the ordinary notion of such force to be inconceivable2 that various attempts have been made to account for the order of facts we call gravitation1 without recourse to the notion of attractive force2 that1 if such a force exists1 it is utterly incompetent to account for ,kepler's laws1 without taking into the reckoning a great number of other considerations2 and1 finally1 that all we know about the force of gravitation1 or any other so-called force1 is that it is a name for the hypothetical cause of an observed order of facts4 ,thus1 when the ,duke of ,argyll says3 ,force1 ascertained according to some measure of its operation--this is indeed one of the definitions1 but only one1 of a scientific law 7p4 #ga71 ,i reply that it is a definition which must be repudiated by every one who possesses an adequate acquaintance with either the facts1 or the philosophy1 of science and relegated to the limbo of pseudo-scientific fallacies4 ,if the human mind had never entertained this notion of force1 nay1 if it substituted bare invariable succession for the ordinary notion of causation1 the idea of law1 as the expression of a constantly-observed order1 which #bhh generates a corresponding intensity of expectation in our minds1 would have exactly the same value1 and play its part in real science1 exactly as it does now4 ,it is needless to extend further the present excursus on the origin and history of modern pseudo-science4 ,under such high patronage as it has enjoyed1 it has grown and flourished until1 nowadays1 it is becoming somewhat rampant4 ,it has its weekly ,ephemerides1 in which every new pseudo-scientific mare's-nest is hailed and belauded with the unconscious unfairness of ignorance2 and an army of reconcilers1 enlisted in its service1 whose business seems to be to mix the black of dogma and the white of science into the neutral tint of what they call liberal theology4 ,i remember that1 not long after the publication of the ,vestiges1 a shrewd and sarcastic countryman of the author defined it as cauld kail made het again4 ,a cynic might find amusement in the reflection that1 at the present time1 the principles and the methods of the much-vilified ,vestigiarian are being made het again2 and are not only echoed by the dome of ,st4 ,paul's1 but thundered from the castle of ,inveraray4 ,but my turn of mind is not cynical1 and ,i can but regret the waste of time and energy bestowed on the endeavour to deal with the most difficult problems of science1 by those who have neither undergone the discipline1 nor possess the information1 which are indispensable to the successful issue of such an enterprise4 ,i have already had occasion to remark that the #bhi ,duke of ,argyll's views of the conduct of controversy are different from mine2 and this much-to-be-lamented discrepancy becomes yet more accentuated when the ,duke reaches biological topics4 ,anything that was good enough for ,sir ,charles ,lyell1 in his department of study1 is certainly good enough for me in mine2 and ,i by no means demur to being pedagogically instructed about a variety of matters with which it has been the business of my life to try to acquaint myself4 ,but the ,duke of ,argyll is not content with favouring me with his opinions about my own business2 he also answers for mine2 and1 at that point1 really the worm must turn4 ,i am told that no one knows better than ,professor ,huxley a variety of things which ,i really do not know2 and ,i am said to be a disciple of that ,positive ,philosophy which ,i have1 over and over again1 publicly repudiated in language which is certainly not lacking in intelligibility1 whatever may be its other defects4 ,i am told that ,i have been amusing myself with a metaphysical exercitation or logomachy 7may ,i remark incidentally that these are not quite convertible terms871 when1 to the best of my belief1 ,i have been trying to expose a process of mystification1 based upon the use of scientific language by writers who exhibit no sign of scientific training1 of accurate scientific knowledge1 or of clear ideas respecting the philosophy of science1 which is doing very serious harm to the public4 ,naturally enough1 they take the lion's skin of scientific phraseology for evidence that the voice which issues from beneath it is the voice of #bij science1 and ,i desire to relieve them from the consequences of their error4 ,the ,duke of ,argyll asks1 apparently with sorrow that it should be his duty to subject me to reproof-- ,what shall we say of a philosophy which confounds the organic with the inorganic1 and1 refusing to take note of a difference so profound1 assumes to explain under one common abstraction1 the movements due to gravitation and the movements due to the mind of man8 ,to which ,i may fitly reply by another question3 ,what shall we say to a controversialist who attributes to the subject of his attack opinions which are notoriously not his2 and expresses himself in such a manner that it is obvious he is unacquainted with even the rudiments of that knowledge which is necessary to the discussion into which he has rushed8 ,what line of my writing can the ,duke of ,argyll produce which confounds the organic with the inorganic8 ,as to the latter half of the paragraph1 ,i have to confess a doubt whether it has any definite meaning4 ,but ,i imagine that the ,duke is alluding to my assertion that the law of gravitation is nowise suspended or defied when a man lifts his arm2 but that1 under such circumstances1 part of the store of energy in the universe operates on the arm at a mechanical advantage as against the operation of another part4 ,i was simple enough to think that no one who had as much knowledge of physiology as is to be found in an elementary primer1 or who had ever heard of the greatest physical generalisation of modern #bia times--the doctrine of the conservation of energy--would dream of doubting my statement2 and ,i was further simple enough to think that no one who lacked these qualifications would feel tempted to charge me with error4 ,it appears that my simplicity is greater than my powers of imagination4 ,the ,duke of ,argyll may not be aware of the fact1 but it is nevertheless true1 that when a man's arm is raised1 in sequence to that state of consciousness we call a volition1 the volition is not the immediate cause of the elevation of the arm4 ,on the contrary1 that operation is effected by a certain change of form1 technically known as contraction1 in sundry masses of flesh1 technically known as muscles1 which are fixed to the bones of the shoulder in such a manner that1 if these muscles contract1 they must raise the arm4 ,now each of these muscles is a machine comparable1 in a certain sense1 to one of the donkey-engines of a steamship1 but more complete1 inasmuch as the source of its ability to change its form1 or contract1 lies within itself4 ,every time that1 by contracting1 the muscle does work1 such as that involved in raising the arm1 more or less of the material which it contains is used up1 just as more or less of the fuel of a steam-engine is used up1 when it does work4 ,and ,i do not think there is a doubt in the mind of any competent physicist or physiologist that the work done in lifting the weight of the arm is the mechanical equivalent of a certain proportion of the energy set free by the molecular changes which take place in the muscle4 ,it is further a tolerably #bib well-based belief that this1 and all other forms of energy1 are mutually convertible2 and1 therefore1 that they all come under that general law or statement of the order of facts1 called the conservation of energy4 ,and1 as that certainly is an abstraction1 so the view which the ,duke of ,argyll thinks so extremely absurd is really one of the commonplaces of physiology4 ,but this ,review is hardly an appropriate place for giving instruction in the elements of that science1 and ,i content myself with recommending the ,duke of ,argyll to devote some study to ,book ,,ii4 chap4 v4 section #d of my friend ,dr4 ,foster's excellent textbook of ,physiology 7#ast edition1 #ahgg1 p4 #cba71 which begins thus3-- ,broadly speaking1 the animal body is a machine for converting potential into actual energy4 ,the potential energy is supplied by the food2 this the metabolism of the body converts into the actual energy of heat and mechanical labour4 ,there is no more difficult problem in the world than that of the relation of the state of consciousness1 termed volition1 to the mechanical work which frequently follows upon it4 ,but no one can even comprehend the nature of the problem1 who has not carefully studied the long series of modes of motion which1 without a break1 connect the energy which does that work with the general store of energy4 ,the ultimate form of the problem is this3 ,have we any reason to believe that a feeling1 or state of consciousness1 is capable of directly affecting the motion of even the smallest conceivable molecule of matter8 ,is such a thing even conceivable8 ,if we answer these #bic questions in the negative1 it follows that volition may be a sign1 but cannot be a cause1 of bodily motion4 ,if we answer them in the affirmative1 then states of consciousness become undistinguishable from material things2 for it is the essential nature of matter to be the vehicle or substratum of mechanical energy4 ,there is nothing new in all this4 ,i have merely put into modern language the issue raised by ,descartes more than two centuries ago4 ,the philosophies of the ,occasionalists1 of ,spinoza1 of ,malebranche1 of modern idealism and modern materialism1 have all grown out of the controversies which ,cartesianism evoked4 ,of all this the pseudo-science of the present time appears to be unconscious2 otherwise it would hardly content itself with making het again the pseudo-science of the past4 ,in the course of these observations ,i have already had occasion to express my appreciation of the copious and perfervid eloquence which enriches the ,duke of ,argyll's pages4 ,i am almost ashamed that a constitutional insensibility to the ,sirenian charms of rhetoric has permitted me1 in wandering through these flowery meads1 to be attracted1 almost exclusively1 to the bare places of fallacy and the stony grounds of deficient information1 which are disguised1 though not concealed1 by these floral decorations4 ,but1 in his concluding sentences1 the ,duke soars into a ,tyrtaean strain which roused even my dull soul4 ,it was high time1 indeed1 that some revolt should be raised against that ,reign of ,terror which had come to be established in the scientific world under the abuse of a great name4 #bid ,professor ,huxley has not joined this revolt openly1 for as yet1 indeed1 it is only beginning to raise its head4 ,but more than once--and very lately--he has uttered a warning voice against the shallow dogmatism that has provoked it4 ,the time is coming when that revolt will be carried further4 ,higher interpretations will be established4 ,unless ,i am much mistaken1 they are already coming in sight 7p4 #cci74 ,i have been living very much out of the world for the last two or three years1 and when ,i read this denunciatory outburst1 as of one filled with the spirit of prophecy1 ,i said to myself1 ,mercy upon us1 what has happened8 ,can it be that ,x4 and ,y4 7it would be wrong to mention the names of the vigorous young friends which occurred to me7 are playing ,danton and ,robespierre2 and that a guillotine is erected in the courtyard of ,burlington ,house for the benefit of all anti-,darwinian ,fellows of the ,royal ,society8 ,where are the secret conspirators against this tyranny1 whom ,i am supposed to favour1 and yet not have the courage to join openly8 ,and to think of my poor oppressed friend1 ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer1 'compelled to speak with bated breath' 7p4 #cch7 certainly for the first time in my thirty-odd years' acquaintance with him6 ,my alarm and horror at the supposition that1 while ,i had been fiddling 7or at any rate physicking71 my beloved ,rome had been burning1 in this fashion1 may be imagined4 ,i am sure the ,duke of ,argyll will be glad to hear that the anxiety he created was of extremely short duration4 ,it is my privilege to have access to the best sources of information1 and nobody in the scientific world can tell me anything about either the ,reign of #bie ,terror or the ,revolt4 ,in fact1 the scientific world laughs most indecorously at the notion of the existence of either2 and some are so lost to the sense of the scientific dignity1 that they descend to the use of transatlantic slang1 and call it a bogus scare4 ,as to my friend ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer1 ,i have every reason to know that1 in the ,factors of ,organic ,evolution1 he has said exactly what was in his mind1 without any particular deference to the opinions of the person whom he is pleased to regard as his most dangerous critic and ,devil's ,advocate-,general1 and still less of any one else4 ,i do not know whether the ,duke of ,argyll pictures himself as the ,tallien of this imaginary revolt against a no less imaginary ,reign of ,terror4 ,but if so1 ,i most respectfully but firmly decline to join his forces4 ,it is only a few weeks since ,i happened to read over again the first article which ,i ever wrote 7now twenty-seven years ago7 on the ,origin of ,species1 and ,i found nothing that ,i wished to modify in the opinions that are there expressed1 though the subsequent vast accumulation of evidence in favour of ,mr4 ,darwin's views would give me much to add4 ,as is the case with all new doctrines1 so with that of ,evolution1 the enthusiasm of advocates has sometimes tended to degenerate into fanaticism2 and mere speculation has1 at times1 threatened to shoot beyond its legitimate bounds4 ,i have occasionally thought it wise to warn the more adventurous spirits among us against these dangers1 in sufficiently plain language2 and ,i have sometimes jestingly said that ,i expected1 #bif if ,i lived long enough1 to be looked on as a reactionary by some of my more ardent friends4 ,but nothing short of midsummer madness can account for the fiction that ,i am waiting till it is safe to join openly a revolt1 hatched by some person or persons unknown1 against an intellectual movement with which ,i am in the most entire and hearty sympathy4 ,it is a great many years since1 at the outset of my career1 ,i had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having4 ,i came to the conclusion that the chief good1 for me1 was freedom to learn1 think1 and say what ,i pleased1 when ,i pleased4 ,i have acted on that conviction1 and have availed myself of the rara temporum felicitas ubi sentire quae velis1 et quae sentias dicere licet1 which is now enjoyable1 to the best of my ability2 and though strongly1 and perhaps wisely1 warned that ,i should probably come to grief1 ,i am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action ,i have adopted4 ,my career is at an end4 ,i have ,warmed both hands before the fire of life2 and nothing is left me1 before ,i depart1 but to help1 or at any rate to abstain from hindering1 the younger generation of men of science in doing better service to the cause we have at heart than ,i have been able to render4 ,and yet1 forsooth1 ,i am supposed to be waiting for the signal of revolt1 which some fiery spirits among these young men are to raise before ,i dare express my real opinions concerning questions about which we #big older men had to fight1 in the teeth of fierce public opposition and obloquy--of something which might almost justify even the grandiloquent epithet of a ,reign of ,terror--before our excellent successors had left school4 ,it would appear that the spirit of pseudo-science has impregnated even the imagination of the ,duke of ,argyll4 ,the scientific imagination always restrains itself within the limits of probability4 99 99 99 99 99 #bih ,,viii ,,an ,,episcopal ,,trilogy ,if there is any truth in the old adage that a burnt child dreads the fire1 ,i ought to be very loath to touch a sermon1 while the memory of what befell me on a recent occasion1 possibly not yet forgotten by the readers of this ,review1 is uneffaced4 ,but ,i suppose that even the distinguished censor of that unheard-of audacity to which not even the newspaper report of a sermon is sacred1 can hardly regard a man of science as either indelicate or presumptuous1 if he ventures to offer some comments upon three discourses1 specially addressed to the great assemblage of men of science which recently gathered at ,manchester1 by three bishops of the ,state ,church4 ,on my return to ,england not long ago1 ,i found a pamphlet#gf containing a version1 which ,i presume to be authorised1 of these sermons1 among the huge mass of letters and papers which had accumulated during two months' absence2 and ,i have read them not only #bii with attentive interest1 but with a feeling of satisfaction which is quite new to me as a result of hearing1 or reading1 sermons4 ,these excellent discourses1 in fact1 appear to me to signalise a new departure in the course adopted by theology towards science1 and to indicate the possibility of bringing about an honourable modus vivendi between the two4 ,how far the three bishops speak as accredited representatives of the ,church is a question to be considered by and by4 ,most assuredly1 ,i am not authorised to represent any one but myself4 ,but ,i suppose that there must be a good many people in the ,church of the bishops' way of thinking2 and ,i have reason to believe that1 in the ranks of science1 there are a good many persons who1 more or less1 share my views4 ,and it is to these sensible people on both sides1 as the bishops and ,i must needs think those who agree with us1 that my present observations are addressed4 ,they will probably be astonished to learn how insignificant1 in principle1 their differences are4 ,it is impossible to read the discourses of the three prelates without being impressed by the knowledge which they display1 and by the spirit of equity1 ,i might say of generosity1 towards science which pervades them4 ,there is no trace of that tacit or open assumption that the rejection of theological dogmas1 on scientific grounds1 is due to moral perversity1 which is the ordinary note of ecclesiastical homilies on this subject1 and which makes them look so supremely silly to men whose lives have been spent in wrestling with these questions4 ,there is no attempt to hide #cjj away real stumbling-blocks under rhetorical stucco2 no resort to the tu quoque device of setting scientific blunders against theological errors2 no suggestion that an honest man may keep contradictory beliefs in separate pockets of his brain2 no question that the method of scientific investigation is valid1 whatever the results to which it may lead2 and that the search after truth1 and truth only1 ennobles the searcher and leaves no doubt that his life1 at any rate1 is worth living4 ,the ,bishop of ,carlisle declares himself pledged to the belief that the advancement of science1 the progress of human knowledge1 is in itself a worthy aim of the greatest effort of the greatest minds4 ,how often was it my fate1 a quarter of a century ago1 to see the whole artillery of the pulpit brought to bear upon the doctrine of evolution and its supporters6 ,any one unaccustomed to the amenities of ecclesiastical controversy would have thought we were too wicked to be permitted to live4 ,but let us hear the ,bishop of ,bedford4 ,after a perfectly frank statement of the doctrine of evolution and some of its obvious consequences1 that learned prelate pleads1 with all earnestness1 against a hasty denunciation of what may be proved to have at least some elements of truth in it1 a contemptuous rejection of theories which we may some day learn to accept as freely and with as little sense of inconsistency with ,god's word as we now accept the theory of the earth's motion round the sun1 or the long duration of the geological epochs 7p4 #bh74 ,i do not see that the most convinced evolutionist could ask any one1 whether cleric or layman1 to say #cja more than this2 in fact1 ,i do not think that any one has a right to say more1 with respect to any question about which two opinions can be held1 than that his mind is perfectly open to the force of evidence4 ,there is another portion of the ,bishop of ,bedford's sermon which ,i think will be warmly appreciated by all honest and clear-headed men4 ,he repudiates the views of those who say that theology and science occupy wholly different spheres1 and need in no way intermeddle with each other4 ,they revolve1 as it were1 in different planes1 and so never meet4 ,thus we may pursue scientific studies with the utmost freedom and1 at the same time1 may pay the most reverent regard to theology1 having no fears of collision1 because allowing no points of contact 7p4 #bi74 ,surely every unsophisticated mind will heartily concur with the ,bishop's remark upon this convenient refuge for the descendants of ,mr4 ,facing-both-ways4 ,i have never been able to understand this position1 though ,i have often seen it assumed4 ,nor can any demurrer be sustained when the ,bishop proceeds to point out that there are1 and must be1 various points of contact between theological and natural science1 and therefore that it is foolish to ignore or deny the existence of as many dangers of collision4 ,finally1 the ,bishop of ,manchester freely admits the force of the objections which have been raised1 on scientific grounds1 to prayer1 and attempts to turn them by arguing that the proper objects of prayer are not physical but spiritual4 ,he tells us that natural accidents and moral misfortunes are not to be taken #cjb for moral judgments of ,god2 he admits the propriety of the application of scientific methods to the investigation of the origin and growth of religions2 and he is as ready to recognise the process of evolution there1 as in the physical world4 ,mark the following striking passage3-- ,and how utterly all the common objections to ,divine revelation vanish away when they are set in the light of this theory of a spiritual progression4 ,are we reminded that there prevailed1 in those earlier days1 views of the nature of ,god and man1 of human life and ,divine ,providence1 which we now find to be untenable8 ,that1 we answer1 is precisely what the theory of development presupposes4 ,if early views of religion and morality had not been imperfect1 where had been the development8 ,if symbolical visions and mythical creations had found no place in the early ,oriental expression of ,divine truth1 where had been the development8 ,the sufficient answer to ninety-nine out of a hundred of the ordinary objections to the ,bible1 as the record of a divine education of our race1 is asked in that one word--development4 ,and to what are we indebted for that potent word1 which1 as with the wand of a magician1 has at the same moment so completely transformed our knowledge and dispelled our difficulties8 ,to modern science1 resolutely pursuing its search for truth in spite of popular obloquy and--alas6 that one should have to say it--in spite too often of theological denunciation 7p4 #ec74 ,apart from its general importance1 ,i read this remarkable statement with the more pleasure1 since1 however imperfectly ,i may have endeavoured to illustrate the evolution of theology in a paper published in this ,review last year1 it seems to me that in principle1 at any rate1 ,i may hereafter claim high theological sanction for the views there set forth4 #cjc ,if theologians are henceforward prepared to recognise the authority of secular science in the manner and to the extent indicated in the ,manchester trilogy2 if the distinguished prelates who offer these terms are really plenipotentiaries1 then1 so far as ,i may presume to speak on such a matter1 there will be no difficulty about concluding a perpetual treaty of peace1 and indeed of alliance1 between the high contracting powers1 whose history has hitherto been little more than a record of continual warfare4 ,but if the great ,chancellor's maxim1 ,do ut des1 is to form the basis of negotiation1 ,i am afraid that secular science will be ruined2 for it seems to me that theology1 under the generous impulse of a sudden conversion1 has given all that she hath2 and indeed1 on one point1 has surrendered more than can reasonably be asked4 ,i suppose ,i must be prepared to face the reproach which attaches to those who criticise a gift1 if ,i venture to observe that ,i do not think that the ,bishop of ,manchester need have been so much alarmed1 as he evidently has been1 by the objections which have often been raised to prayer1 on the ground that a belief in the efficacy of prayer is inconsistent with a belief in the constancy of the order of nature4 ,the ,bishop appears to admit that there is an antagonism between the regular economy of nature and the regular economy of prayer 7p4 #ci71 and that prayers for the interruption of ,god's natural order are of doubtful validity 7p4 #db74 ,it appears to me that the ,bishop's difficulty simply adds another example to those which ,i have several times insisted #cjd upon in the pages of this ,review and elsewhere1 of the mischief which has been done1 and is being done1 by a mistaken apprehension of the real meaning of natural order and law of nature4 ,may ,i1 therefore1 be permitted to repeat1 once more1 that the statements denoted by these terms have no greater value or cogency than such as may attach to generalisations from experience of the past1 and to expectations for the future based upon that experience8 ,nobody can presume to say what the order of nature must be2 all that the widest experience 7even if it extended over all past time and through all space7 that events had happened in a certain way could justify1 would be a proportionally strong expectation that events will go on so happening1 and the demand for a proportional strength of evidence in favour of any assertion that they had happened otherwise4 ,it is this weighty consideration1 the truth of which every one who is capable of logical thought must surely admit1 which knocks the bottom out of all a priori objections either to ordinary miracles or to the efficacy of prayer1 in so far as the latter implies the miraculous intervention of a higher power4 ,no one is entitled to say a priori that any given so-called miraculous event is impossible2 and no one is entitled to say a priori that prayer for some change in the ordinary course of nature cannot possibly avail4 ,the supposition that there is any inconsistency between the acceptance of the constancy of natural #cje order and a belief in the efficacy of prayer1 is the more unaccountable as it is obviously contradicted by analogies furnished by everyday experience4 ,the belief in the efficacy of prayer depends upon the assumption that there is somebody1 somewhere1 who is strong enough to deal with the earth and its contents as men deal with the things and events which they are strong enough to modify or control2 and who is capable of being moved by appeals such as men make to one another4 ,this belief does not even involve theism2 for our earth is an insignificant particle of the solar system1 while the solar system is hardly worth speaking of in relation to the ,all2 and1 for anything that can be proved to the contrary1 there may be beings endowed with full powers over our system1 yet1 practically1 as insignificant as ourselves in relation to the universe4 ,if any one pleases1 therefore1 to give unrestrained liberty to his fancy1 he may plead analogy in favour of the dream that there may be1 somewhere1 a finite being1 or beings1 who can play with the solar system as a child plays with a toy2 and that such being may be willing to do anything which he is properly supplicated to do4 ,for we are not justified in saying that it is impossible for beings having the nature of men1 only vastly more powerful1 to exist2 and if they do exist1 they may act as and when we ask them to do so1 just as our brother men act4 ,as a matter of fact1 the great mass of the human race has believed1 and still believes1 in such beings1 under the various names of fairies1 gnomes1 angels1 and demons4 ,certainly ,i do #cjf not lack faith in the constancy of natural order4 ,but ,i am not less convinced that if ,i were to ask the ,bishop of ,manchester to do me a kindness which lay within his power1 he would do it4 ,and ,i am unable to see that his action on my request involves any violation of the order of nature4 ,on the contrary1 as ,i have not the honour to know the ,bishop personally1 my action would be based upon my faith in that law of nature1 or generalisation from experience1 which tells me that1 as a rule1 men who occupy the ,bishop's position are kindly and courteous4 ,how is the case altered if my request is preferred to some imaginary superior being1 or to the ,most ,high ,being1 who1 by the supposition1 is able to arrest disease1 or make the sun stand still in the heavens1 just as easily as ,i can stop my watch1 or make it indicate any hour that pleases me8 ,i repeat that it is not upon any a priori considerations that objections1 either to the supposed efficacy of prayer in modifying the course of events1 or to the supposed occurrence of miracles1 can be scientifically based4 ,the real objection1 and1 to my mind1 the fatal objection1 to both these suppositions1 is the inadequacy of the evidence to prove any given case of such occurrences which has been adduced4 ,it is a canon of common sense1 to say nothing of science1 that the more improbable a supposed occurrence1 the more cogent ought to be the evidence in its favour4 ,i have looked somewhat carefully into the subject1 and ,i am unable to find in the records of any miraculous event evidence #cjg which even approximates to the fulfilment of this requirement4 ,but1 in the case of prayer1 the ,bishop points out a most just and necessary distinction between its effect on the course of nature1 outside ourselves1 and its effect within the region of the supplicator's mind4 ,it is a law of nature1 verifiable by everyday experience1 that our already formed convictions1 our strong desires1 our intent occupation with particular ideas1 modify our mental operations to a most marvellous extent1 and produce enduring changes in the direction and in the intensity of our intellectual and moral activities4 ,men can intoxicate themselves with ideas as effectually as with alcohol or with bang1 and produce1 by dint of intense thinking1 mental conditions hardly distinguishable from monomania4 ,demoniac possession is mythical2 but the faculty of being possessed1 more or less completely1 by an idea is probably the fundamental condition of what is called genius1 whether it show itself in the saint1 the artist1 or the man of science4 ,one calls it faith1 another calls it inspiration1 a third calls it insight2 but the intending of the mind1 to borrow ,newton's well-known phrase1 the concentration of all the rays of intellectual energy on some one point1 until it glows and colours the whole cast of thought with its peculiar light1 is common to all4 ,i take it that the ,bishop of ,manchester has psychological science with him when he insists upon the subjective efficacy of prayer in faith1 and on the #cjh seemingly miraculous effects which such intending of the mind upon religious and moral ideals may have upon character and happiness4 ,scientific faith1 at present1 takes it no further than the prayer which ,ajax offered2 but that petition is continually granted4 ,whatever points of detail may yet remain open for discussion1 however1 ,i repeat the opinion ,i have already expressed1 that the ,manchester sermons concede all that science has an indisputable right1 or any pressing need1 to ask1 and that not grudgingly but generously2 and1 if the three bishops of #ahhg carry the ,church with them1 ,i think they will have as good title to the permanent gratitude of posterity as the famous seven who went to the ,tower in defence of the ,church two hundred years ago4 ,will their brethren follow their just and prudent guidance8 ,i have no such acquaintance with the currents of ecclesiastical opinion as would justify me in even hazarding a guess on such a difficult topic4 ,but some recent omens are hardly favourable4 ,there seems to be an impression abroad--,i do not desire to give any countenance to it--that ,i am fond of reading sermons4 ,from time to time1 unknown correspondents--some apparently animated by the charitable desire to promote my conversion1 and others unmistakably anxious to spur me to the expression of wrathful antagonism--favour me with reports or copies of such productions4 ,i found one of the latter category among the accumulated arrears to which ,i have already referred4 ,it is a full1 and apparently accurate1 report of a #cji discourse by a person of no less ecclesiastical rank than the three authors of the sermons ,i have hitherto been considering2 but who he is1 and where or when the sermon was preached1 are secrets which wild horses shall not tear from me1 lest ,i fall again under high censure for attacking a clergyman4 ,only if the editor of this ,review thinks it his duty to have independent evidence that the sermon has a real existence1 will ,i1 in the strictest confidence1 communicate it to him4 ,the preacher1 in this case1 is of a very different mind from the three bishops--and this mind is different in quality1 different in spirit1 and different in contents4 ,he discourses on the a priori objections to miracles1 apparently without being aware1 in spite of all the discussions of the last seven or eight years1 that he is doing battle with a shadow4 ,i trust ,i do not misrepresent the ,bishop of ,manchester in saying that the essence of his remarkable discourse is the insistence upon the supreme importance of the purely spiritual in our faith1 and of the relative1 if not absolute1 insignificance of aught else4 ,he obviously perceives the bearing of his arguments against the alterability of the course of outward nature by prayer1 on the question of miracles in general2 for he is careful to say that the possibility of miracles1 of a rare and unusual transcendence of the world order is not here in question 7p4 #ch74 ,it may be permitted me to suppose1 however1 that1 if miracles were in question1 the speaker who warns us that we must look for the heart of the absolute #caj religion in that part of it which prescribes our moral and religious relations 7p4 #df7 would not be disposed to advise those who had found the heart of ,christianity to take much thought about its miraculous integument4 ,my anonymous sermon will have nothing to do with such notions as these1 and its preacher is not too polite1 to say nothing of charitable1 towards those who entertain them4 ,scientific men1 therefore1 are perfectly right in asserting that ,christianity rests on miracles4 ,if miracles never happened1 ,christianity1 in any sense which is not a mockery1 which does not make the term of none effect1 has no reality4 ,i dwell on this because there is now an effort making to get up a non-miraculous1 invertebrate ,christianity1 which may escape the ban of science4 ,and ,i would warn you very distinctly against this new contrivance4 ,christianity is essentially miraculous1 and falls to the ground if miracles be impossible4 ,well1 warning for warning4 ,i venture to warn this preacher and those who1 with him1 persist in identifying ,christianity with the miraculous1 that such forms of ,christianity are not only doomed to fall to the ground2 but that1 within the last half century1 they have been driving that way with continually accelerated velocity4 ,the so-called religious world is given to a strange delusion4 ,it fondly imagines that it possesses the monopoly of serious and constant reflection upon the terrible problems of existence2 and that those who cannot accept its shibboleths are either mere ,gallios1 caring for none of these things1 or libertines desiring to escape from the restraints of morality4 ,it does not #caa appear to have entered the imaginations of these people that1 outside their pale and firmly resolved never to enter it1 there are thousands of men1 certainly not their inferiors in character1 capacity1 or knowledge of the questions at issue1 who estimate those purely spiritual elements of the ,christian faith of which the ,bishop of ,manchester speaks as highly as the ,bishop does2 but who will have nothing to do with the ,christian ,churches1 because in their apprehension and for them1 the profession of belief in the miraculous1 on the evidence offered1 would be simply immoral4 ,so far as my experience goes1 men of science are neither better nor worse than the rest of the world4 ,occupation with the endlessly great parts of the universe does not necessarily involve greatness of character1 nor does microscopic study of the infinitely little always produce humility4 ,we have our full share of original sin2 need1 greed1 and vainglory beset us as they do other mortals2 and our progress is1 for the most part1 like that of a tacking ship1 the resultant of opposite divergencies from the straight path4 ,but1 for all that1 there is one moral benefit which the pursuit of science unquestionably bestows4 ,it keeps the estimate of the value of evidence up to the proper mark2 and we are constantly receiving lessons1 and sometimes very sharp ones1 on the nature of proof4 ,men of science will always act up to their standard of veracity1 when mankind in general leave off sinning2 but that standard appears to me to be higher among them than in any other class of the community4 #cab ,i do not know any body of scientific men who could be got to listen without the strongest expressions of disgusted repudiation to the exposition of a pretended scientific discovery1 which had no better evidence to show for itself than the story of the devils entering a herd of swine1 or of the fig-tree that was blasted for bearing no figs when it was not the season of figs4 ,whether such events are possible or impossible1 no man can say2 but scientific ethics can and does declare that the profession of belief in them1 on the evidence of documents of unknown date and of unknown authorship1 is immoral4 ,theological apologists who insist that morality will vanish if their dogmas are exploded1 would do well to consider the fact that1 in the matter of intellectual veracity1 science is already a long way ahead of the ,churches2 and that1 in this particular1 it is exerting an educational influence on mankind of which the ,churches have shown themselves utterly incapable4 ,undoubtedly that varying compound of some of the best and some of the worst elements of ,paganism and ,judaism1 moulded in practice by the innate character of certain people of the ,western world1 which1 since the second century1 has assumed to itself the title of orthodox ,christianity1 rests on miracles and falls to the ground1 not if miracles be impossible1 but if those to whom it is committed prove themselves unable to fulfil the conditions of honest belief4 ,that this ,christianity is doomed to fall is1 to my mind1 beyond a doubt2 but its fall will be neither sudden nor speedy4 ,the ,church1 with all the aid #cac lent it by the secular arm1 took many centuries to extirpate the open practice of pagan idolatry within its own fold2 and those who have travelled in southern ,europe will be aware that it has not extirpated the essence of such idolatry even yet4 ,mutato nomine1 it is probable that there is as much sheer fetichism among the ,roman populace now as there was eighteen hundred years ago2 and if ,marcus ,antoninus could descend from his horse and ascend the steps of the ,ara ,coeli church about ,twelfth ,day1 the only thing that need strike him would be the extremely contemptible character of the modern idols as works of art4 ,science will certainly neither ask for1 nor receive1 the aid of the secular arm4 ,it will trust to the much better and more powerful help of that education in scientific truth and in the morals of assent1 which is rendered as indispensable1 as it is inevitable1 by the permeation of practical life with the products and ideas of science4 ,but no one who considers the present state of even the most developed countries can doubt that the scientific light that has come into the world will1 for a long time1 have to shine in the midst of darkness4 ,the urban populations1 driven into contact with science by trade and manufacture1 will more and more receive it1 while the pagani will lag behind4 ,let us hope that no ,julian may arise among them to head a forlorn hope against the inevitable4 ,whatever happens1 science may bide her time in patience and in confidence4 ,but to return to my ,anonymous4 ,i am afraid #cad that if he represents any great party in the ,church1 the spirit of justice and reasonableness which animates the three bishops has as slender a chance of being imitated1 on a large scale1 as their common sense and their courtesy4 ,for1 not contented with misrepresenting science on its speculative side1 ,anonymous attacks its morality4 ,for two whole years1 investigations and conclusions which would upset the theories of ,darwin on the formation of coral islands were actually suppressed1 and that by the advice even of those who accepted them1 for fear of upsetting the faith and disturbing the judgment formed by the multitude on the scientific character--the infallibility--of the great master6 ,so far as ,i know anything about the matters which are here referred to1 the part of this passage which ,i have italicised is absolutely untrue4 ,i believe that ,i am intimately acquainted with all ,mr4 ,darwin's immediate scientific friends2 and ,i say that no one of them1 nor any other man of science known to me1 ever could1 or would1 have given such advice to any one--if for no other reason than that1 with the example of the most candid and patient listener to objections that ever lived fresh in their memories1 they could not so grossly have at once violated their highest duty and dishonoured their friend4 ,the charge thus brought by ,anonymous affects the honour and the probity of men of science2 if it is true1 we have forfeited all claim to the confidence of the general public4 ,in my belief it is utterly false1 and its real effect will be to discredit those who are responsible for it4 ,as is the way with slanders1 it #cae has grown by repetition4 ,anonymous is responsible for the peculiarly offensive form which it has taken in his hands2 but he is not responsible for originating it4 ,he has evidently been inspired by an article entitled ,a ,great ,lesson1 published in the ,september number of this ,review4 ,truly it is a great lesson1 but not quite in the sense intended by the giver thereof4 ,in the course of his doubtless well-meant admonitions1 the ,duke of ,argyll commits himself to a greater number of statements which are demonstrably incorrect1 and which any one who ventured to write upon the subject ought to have known to be incorrect1 than ,i have ever seen gathered together in so small a space4 ,i submit a gathering from the rich store for the appreciation of the public4 ,first3-- ,mr4 ,murray's new explanation of the structure of coral-reefs and islands was communicated to the ,royal ,society of ,edinburgh in #ahhj1 and supported with such a weight of facts and such a close texture of reasoning1 that no serious reply has ever been attempted 7p4 #cje74 ,no serious reply has ever been attempted6 ,i suppose that the ,duke of ,argyll may have heard of ,professor ,dana1 whose years of labour devoted to corals and coral-reefs when he was naturalist of the ,american expedition under ,commodore ,wilkes1 more than forty years ago1 have ever since caused him to be recognised as an authority of the first rank on such subjects4 ,now does his ,grace know1 or does he not #caf know1 that1 in the year #ahhe1 ,professor ,dana published an elaborate paper ,on the ,origin of ,coral-,reefs and ,islands1 in which1 after referring to a presidential address by the ,director of the ,geological ,survey of ,great ,britain and ,ireland delivered in #ahhc1 in which special attention is directed to ,mr4 ,murray's views1 ,professor ,dana says3-- ,the existing state of doubt on the question has led the writer to reconsider the earlier and later facts1 and in the following pages he gives his results4 ,professor ,dana then devotes many pages of his very serious reply to a most admirable and weighty criticism of the objections which have at various times been raised to ,mr4 ,darwin's doctrine1 by ,professor ,semper1 by ,dr4 ,rein1 and finally by ,mr4 ,murray1 and he states his final judgment as follows3-- ,with the theory of abrasion and solution incompetent1 all the hypotheses of objectors to ,darwin's theory are alike weak2 for all have made these processes their chief reliance1 whether appealing to a calcareous1 or a volcanic1 or a mountain-peak basement for the structure4 ,the subsidence which the ,darwinian theory requires has not been opposed by the mention of any fact at variance with it1 nor by setting aside ,darwin's arguments in its favour2 and it has found new support in the facts from the ,challenger's soundings off ,tahiti1 that had been put in array against it1 and strong corroboration in the facts from the ,west ,indies4 ,darwin's theory1 therefore1 remains as the theory that accounts for the origin of reefs and islands4#gg ,be it understood that ,i express no opinion on the controverted points4 ,i doubt if there are ten living men who1 having a practical knowledge of what a #cag coral-reef is1 have endeavoured to master the very difficult biological and geological problems involved in their study4 ,i happen to have spent the best part of three years among coral-reefs and to have made that attempt2 and1 when ,mr4 ,murray's work appeared1 ,i said to myself that until ,i had two or three months to give to the renewed study of the subject in all its bearings1 ,i must be content to remain in a condition of suspended judgment4 ,in the meanwhile1 the man who would be voted by common acclamation as the most competent person now living to act as umpire1 has delivered the verdict ,i have quoted2 and1 to go no further1 has fully justified the hesitation ,i and others may have felt about expressing an opinion4 ,under these circumstances1 it seems to me to require a good deal of courage to say no serious reply has ever been attempted2 and to chide the men of science1 in lofty tones1 for their reluctance to admit an error which is not admitted2 and for their slow and sulky acquiescence in a conclusion which they have the gravest warranty for suspecting6 ,second3-- ,darwin himself had lived to hear of the new solution1 and1 with that splendid candour which was eminent in him1 his mind1 though now grown old in his own early convictions1 was at least ready to entertain it1 and to confess that serious doubts had been awakened as to the truth of his famous theory 7p4 #cje74 ,i wish that ,darwin's splendid candour could be conveyed by some description of spiritual microbe to those who write about him4 ,i am not aware that ,mr4 ,darwin ever entertained serious doubts as to #cah the truth of his famous theory2 and there is tolerably good evidence to the contrary4 ,the second edition of his work1 published in #ahgf1 proves that he entertained no such doubts then2 a letter to ,professor ,semper1 whose objections1 in some respects1 forestalled those of ,mr4 ,murray1 dated ,october #b1 #ahgi1 expresses his continued adherence to the opinion that the atolls and barrier reefs in the middle of the ,pacific and ,indian ,oceans indicate subsidence2 and the letter of my friend ,professor ,judd1 printed at the end of this article 7which ,i had perhaps better say ,professor ,judd had not seen7 will prove that this opinion remained unaltered to the end of his life4 ,third3-- 444 ,darwin's theory is a dream4 ,it is not only unsound1 but it is in many respects the reverse of truth4 ,with all his conscientiousness1 with all his caution1 with all his powers of observation1 ,darwin in this matter fell into errors as profound as the abysses of the ,pacific 7p4 #cja74 ,really8 ,it seems to me that1 under the circumstances1 it is pretty clear that these lines exhibit a lack of the qualities justly ascribed to ,mr4 ,darwin1 which plunges their author into a much deeper abyss1 and one from which there is no hope of emergence4 ,fourth3-- ,all the acclamations with which it was received were as the shouts of an ignorant mob 7p4 #cja74 ,but surely it should be added that the ,coryphaeus of this ignorant mob1 the fugleman of the shouts1 was one of the most accomplished naturalists and geologists now living--the ,american ,dana--who1 after years of #cai independent study extending over numerous reefs in the ,pacific1 gave his hearty assent to ,darwin's views1 and1 after all that had been said1 deliberately reaffirmed that assent in the year #ahhe4 ,fifth3-- ,the overthrow of ,darwin's speculation is only beginning to be known4 ,it has been whispered for some time4 ,the cherished dogma has been dropping very slowly out of sight 7p4 #cja74 ,darwin's speculation may be right or wrong1 but ,i submit that that which has not happened cannot even begin to be known1 except by those who have miraculous gifts to which we poor scientific people do not aspire4 ,the overthrow of ,darwin's views may have been whispered by those who hoped for it2 and they were perhaps wise in not raising their voices above a whisper4 ,incorrect statements1 if made too loudly1 are apt to bring about unpleasant consequences4 ,sixth4 ,mr4 ,murray's views1 published in #ahhj1 are said to have met with slow and sulky acquiescence 7p4 #cje74 ,i have proved that they cannot be said to have met with general acquiescence of any sort1 whether quick and cheerful1 or slow and sulky2 and if this assertion is meant to convey the impression that ,mr4 ,murray's views have been ignored1 that there has been a conspiracy of silence against them1 it is utterly contrary to notorious fact4 ,professor ,geikie's well-known ,textbook of ,geology was published in #ahhb1 and at pages #deg-dei of that work there is a careful exposition of ,mr4 ,murray's views4 ,moreover1 ,professor ,geikie has specially #cbj advocated them on other occasions1#gh notably in a long article on ,the ,origin of ,coral-,reefs1 published in two numbers of ,nature for #ahhc1 and in a presidential address delivered in the same year4 ,if1 in so short a time after the publication of his views1 ,mr4 ,murray could boast of a convert so distinguished and influential as the ,director of the ,geological ,survey1 it seems to me that this wonderful conspiration de silence 7which has about as much real existence as the ,duke of ,argyll's other bogie1 the ,reign of ,terror7 must have ipso facto collapsed4 ,i wish that1 when ,i was a young man1 my endeavours to upset some prevalent errors had met with as speedy and effectual backing4 ,seventh3-- 444 ,mr4 ,john ,murray was strongly advised against the publication of his views in derogation of ,darwin's long-accepted theory of the coral islands1 and was actually induced to delay it for two years4 ,yet the late ,sir ,wyville ,thomson1 who was at the head of the naturalists of the ,challenger expedition1 was himself convinced by ,mr4 ,murray's reasoning 7p4 #cjg74 ,clearly1 then1 it could not be ,mr4 ,murray's official chief who gave him this advice4 ,who was it8 ,and what was the exact nature of the advice given8 ,until we have some precise information on this head1 ,i shall take leave to doubt whether this statement is more accurate than those which ,i have previously cited4 ,whether such advice was wise or foolish1 just or #cba immoral1 depends entirely on the motive of the person who gave it4 ,if he meant to suggest to ,mr4 ,murray that it might be wise for a young and comparatively unknown man to walk warily1 when he proposed to attack a generalisation based on many years' labour of one undoubtedly competent person1 and fortified by the independent results of the many years' labour of another undoubtedly competent person2 and even1 if necessary1 to take two whole years in fortifying his position1 ,i think that such advice would have been sagacious and kind4 ,i suppose that there are few working men of science who have not kept their ideas to themselves1 while gathering and sifting evidence1 for a much longer period than two years4 ,if1 on the other hand1 ,mr4 ,murray was advised to delay the publication of his criticisms1 simply to save ,mr4 ,darwin's credit and to preserve some reputation for infallibility1 which no one ever heard of1 then ,i have no hesitation in declaring that his adviser was profoundly dishonest1 as well as extremely foolish1 and that1 if he is a man of science1 he has disgraced his calling4 ,but1 after all1 this supposed scientific ,achitophel has not yet made good the primary fact of his existence4 ,until the needful proof is forthcoming1 ,i think ,i am justified in suspending my judgment as to whether he is much more than an anti-scientific myth4 ,i leave it to the ,duke of ,argyll to judge of the extent of the obligation under which1 for his own sake1 he may lie to produce the evidence on which #cbb his aspersions of the honour of scientific men are based4 ,i cannot pretend that we are seriously disturbed by charges which every one who is acquainted with the truth of the matter knows to be ridiculous2 but mud has a habit of staining if it lies too long1 and it is as well to have it brushed off as soon as may be4 ,so much for the ,great ,lesson4 ,it is followed by a ,little ,lesson1 apparently directed against my infallibility--a doctrine about which ,i should be inclined to paraphrase ,wilkes's remark to ,george the ,third1 when he declared that he1 at any rate1 was not a ,wilkite4 ,but ,i really should be glad to think that there are people who need the warning1 because then it will be obvious that this raking up of an old story cannot have been suggested by a mere fanatical desire to damage men of science4 ,i can but rejoice1 then1 that these misguided enthusiasts1 whose faith in me has so far exceeded the bounds of reason1 should be set right4 ,but that want of finish in the matter of accuracy which so terribly mars the effect of the ,great ,lesson1 is no less conspicuous in the case of the ,little ,lesson1 and1 instead of setting my too fervent disciples right1 it will set them wrong4 ,the ,duke of ,argyll1 in telling the story of ,bathybius1 says that my mind was caught by this new and grand generalisation of the physical basis of life4 ,i never have been guilty of a reclamation about anything to my credit1 and ,i do not mean to be2 but if there is any blame going1 ,i do not choose to be relegated to a subordinate place when ,i have a claim to #cbc the first4 ,the responsibility for the first description and the naming of ,bathybius is mine and mine only4 ,the paper on ,some ,organisms living at great depths in the ,atlantic ,ocean1 in which ,i drew attention to this substance1 is to be found by the curious in the #hth volume of the ,quarterly ,journal of ,microscopical ,science1 and was published in the year #ahfh4 ,whatever errors are contained in that paper are my own peculiar property2 but neither at the meeting of the ,british ,association in #ahfh1 nor anywhere else1 have ,i gone beyond what is there stated2 except in so far that1 at a long-subsequent meeting of the ,association1 being importuned about the subject1 ,i ventured to express1 somewhat emphatically1 the wish that the thing was at the bottom of the sea4 ,what is meant by my being caught by a generalisation about the physical basis of life ,i do not know2 still less can ,i understand the assertion that ,bathybius was accepted because of its supposed harmony with ,darwin's speculations4 ,that which interested me in the matter was the apparent analogy of ,bathybius with other well-known forms of lower life1 such as the plasmodia of the ,myxomycetes and the ,rhizopods4 ,speculative hopes or fears had nothing to do with the matter2 and if ,bathybius were brought up alive from the bottom of the ,atlantic to-morrow1 the fact would not have the slightest bearing1 that ,i can discern1 upon ,mr4 ,darwin's speculations1 or upon any of the disputed problems of biology4 ,it would merely be one elementary organism the more added to the thousands already known4 #cbd ,up to this moment ,i was not aware of the universal favour with which ,bathybius was received4#gi ,those simulators of an ignorant mob who1 according to the ,duke of ,argyll1 welcomed ,darwin's theory of coral-reefs1 made no demonstration in my favour1 unless his ,grace includes ,sir ,wyville ,thomson1 ,dr4 ,carpenter1 ,dr4 ,bessels1 and ,professor ,haeckel under that head4 ,on the contrary1 a sagacious friend of mine1 than whom there was no more competent judge1 the late ,mr4 ,george ,busk1 was not to be converted2 while1 long before the ,challenger work1 ,ehrenberg wrote to me very sceptically2 and ,i fully expected that that eminent man would favour me with pretty sharp criticism4 ,unfortunately he died shortly afterwards1 and nothing from him1 that ,i know of1 appeared4 ,when ,sir ,wyville ,thomson wrote to me a brief account of the results obtained on board the ,challenger1 ,i sent his statement to ,nature1 in which journal it appeared the following week1 without any further note or comment than was needful to explain the circumstances4 ,in thus allowing judgment to go by default1 ,i am afraid ,i showed a reckless and ungracious disregard for the feelings of the believers in my infallibility4 ,no doubt ,i ought to have hedged and fenced and attenuated the effect of ,sir ,wyville ,thomson's brief note in every possible way4 ,or #cbe perhaps ,i ought to have suppressed the note altogether1 on the ground that it was a mere ex parte statement4 ,my excuse is that1 notwithstanding a large and abiding faith in human folly1 ,i did not know then1 any more than ,i know now1 that there was anybody foolish enough to be unaware that the only people1 scientific or other1 who never make mistakes are those who do nothing2 or that anybody1 for whose opinion ,i cared1 would not rather see me commit ten blunders than try to hide one4 ,pending the production of further evidence1 ,i hold that the existence of people who believe in the infallibility of men of science is as purely mythical as that of the evil counsellor who advised the withholding of the truth lest it should conflict with that belief4 ,i venture to think1 then1 that the ,duke of ,argyll might have spared his ,little ,lesson as well as his ,great ,lesson with advantage4 ,the paternal authority who whips the child for sins he has not committed does not strengthen his moral influence--rather excites contempt and repugnance4 ,and if1 as would seem from this and former monitory allocutions which have been addressed to us1 the ,duke aspires to the position of censor1 or spiritual director1 in relation to the men who are doing the work of physical science1 he really must get up his facts better4 ,there will be an end to all chance of our kissing the rod if his ,grace goes wrong a third time4 ,he must not say again that no serious reply has been attempted to a view which was discussed and #cbf repudiated1 two years before1 by one of the highest extant authorities on the subject2 he must not say that ,darwin accepted that which it can be proved he did not accept2 he must not say that a doctrine has dropped into the abyss when it is quite obviously alive and kicking at the surface2 he must not assimilate a man like ,professor ,dana to the components of an ignorant mob2 he must not say that things are beginning to be known which are not known at all2 he must not say that slow and sulky acquiescence has been given to that which cannot yet boast of general acquiescence of any kind2 he must not suggest that a view which has been publicly advocated by the ,director of the ,geological ,survey and no less publicly discussed by many other authoritative writers has been intentionally and systematically ignored2 he must not ascribe ill motives for a course of action which is the only proper one2 and finally1 if any one but myself were interested1 ,i should say that he had better not waste his time in raking up the errors of those whose lives have been occupied1 not in talking about science1 but in toiling1 sometimes with success and sometimes with failure1 to get some real work done4 ,the most considerable difference ,i note among men is not in their readiness to fall into error1 but in their readiness to acknowledge these inevitable lapses4 ,the ,duke of ,argyll has now a splendid opportunity for proving to the world in which of these categories it is hereafter to rank him4 99 99 99 99 99 #cbg ,,dear ,,professor ,,huxley--,a short time before ,mr4 ,darwin's death1 ,i had a conversation with him concerning the observations which had been made by ,mr4 ,murray upon coral-reefs1 and the speculations which had been founded upon those observations4 ,i found that ,mr4 ,darwin had very carefully considered the whole subject1 and that while1 on the one hand1 he did not regard the actual facts recorded by ,mr4 ,murray as absolutely inconsistent with his own theory of subsidence1 on the other hand1 he did not believe that they necessitated or supported the hypothesis advanced by ,mr4 ,murray4 ,mr4 ,darwin's attitude1 as ,i understood it1 towards ,mr4 ,murray's objections to the theory of subsidence was exactly similar to that maintained by him with respect to ,professor ,semper's criticism1 which was of a very similar character2 and his position with regard to the whole question was almost identical with that subsequently so clearly defined by ,professor ,dana in his well-known articles published in the ,american ,journal of ,science for #ahhe4 ,it is difficult to imagine how any one1 acquainted with the scientific literature of the last seven years1 could possibly suggest that ,mr4 ,murray's memoir published in #ahhj had failed to secure a due amount of attention4 ,mr4 ,murray1 by his position in the ,challenger office1 occupied an exceptionally favourable position for making his views widely known2 and he had1 moreover1 the singular good fortune to secure from the first the advocacy of so able and brilliant a writer as ,professor ,archibald ,geikie1 who #cbh in a special discourse and in several treatises on geology and physical geology very strongly supported the new theory4 ,it would be an endless task to attempt to give references to the various scientific journals which have discussed the subject1 but ,i may add that every treatise on geology which has been published1 since ,mr4 ,murray's views were made known1 has dealt with his observations at considerable length4 ,this is true of ,professor ,a4 ,h4 ,green's ,physical ,geology1 published in #ahhb2 of ,professor ,prestwich's ,geology1 ,chemical and ,physical2 and of ,professor ,james ,geikie's ,outlines of ,geology1 published in #ahhf4 ,similar prominence is given to the subject in ,de ,lapparent's ,traite de ,geologie1 published in #ahhe1 and in ,credner's ,elemente der ,geologie1 which has appeared during the present year4 ,if this be a conspiracy of silence1 where1 alas6 can the geological speculator seek for fame8--,yours very truly1 ,,john ,w4 ,,judd4 ,october #aj1 #ahhg4 99 99 99 99 99 #cbi ,,ix ,,agnosticism ,within the last few months the public has received much and varied information on the subject of agnostics1 their tenets1 and even their future4 ,agnosticism exercised the orators of the ,church ,congress at ,manchester4#hj ,it has been furnished with a set of articles fewer1 but not less rigid1 and certainly not less consistent than the thirty-nine2 its nature has been analysed1 and its future severely predicted by the most eloquent of that prophetical school whose ,samuel is ,auguste ,comte4 ,it may still be a question1 however1 whether the public is as much the wiser as might be expected1 considering all the trouble that has been taken to enlighten it4 ,not only are the three accounts of the agnostic position sadly out of harmony with one another1 but ,i propose to show cause for my belief that all three must be seriously questioned by any one who employs the term agnostic in the sense in which it was originally used4 ,the learned ,principal of ,king's ,college1 who brought #ccj the topic of ,agnosticism before the ,church ,congress1 took a short and easy way of settling the business3-- ,but if this be so1 for a man to urge1 as an escape from this article of belief1 that he has no means of a scientific knowledge of the unseen world1 or of the future1 is irrelevant4 ,his difference from ,christians lies not in the fact that he has no knowledge of these things1 but that he does not believe the authority on which they are stated4 ,he may prefer to call himself an ,agnostic2 but his real name is an older one--he is an infidel2 that is to say1 an unbeliever4 ,the word infidel1 perhaps1 carries an unpleasant significance4 ,perhaps it is right that it should4 ,it is1 and it ought to be1 an unpleasant thing for a man to have to say plainly that he does not believe in ,jesus ,christ4#ha ,so much of ,dr4 ,wace's address either explicitly or implicitly concerns me1 that ,i take upon myself to deal with it2 but1 in so doing1 it must be understood that ,i speak for myself alone4 ,i am not aware that there is any sect of ,agnostics2 and if there be1 ,i am not its acknowledged prophet or pope4 ,i desire to leave to the ,comtists the entire monopoly of the manufacture of imitation ecclesiasticism4 ,let us calmly and dispassionately consider ,dr4 ,wace's appreciation of agnosticism4 ,the agnostic1 according to his view1 is a person who says he has no means of attaining a scientific knowledge of the unseen world or of the future2 by which somewhat loose #cca phraseology ,dr4 ,wace presumably means the theological unseen world and future4 ,i cannot think this description happy1 either in form or substance1 but for the present it may pass4 ,dr4 ,wace continues1 that is not his difference from ,christians4 ,are there then any ,christians who say that they know nothing about the unseen world and the future8 ,i was ignorant of the fact1 but ,i am ready to accept it on the authority of a professional theologian1 and ,i proceed to ,dr4 ,wace's next proposition4 ,the real state of the case1 then1 is that the agnostic does not believe the authority on which these things are stated1 which authority is ,jesus ,christ4 ,he is simply an old-fashioned infidel who is afraid to own to his right name4 ,as ,presbyter is priest writ large1 so is agnostic the mere ,greek equivalent for the ,latin infidel4 ,there is an attractive simplicity about this solution of the problem2 and it has that advantage of being somewhat offensive to the persons attacked1 which is so dear to the less refined sort of controversialist4 ,the agnostic says1 ,i cannot find good evidence that so and so is true4 ,ah1 says his adversary1 seizing his opportunity1 then you declare that ,jesus ,christ was untruthful1 for he said so and so2 a very telling method of rousing prejudice4 ,but suppose that the value of the evidence as to what ,jesus may have said and done1 and as to the exact nature and scope of his authority1 is just that which the agnostic finds it most difficult to determine4 ,if ,i venture to doubt that the ,duke of ,wellington gave the command ,up1 ,guards1 #ccb and at 'em6 at ,waterloo1 ,i do not think that even ,dr4 ,wace would accuse me of disbelieving the ,duke4 ,yet it would be just as reasonable to do this as to accuse any one of denying what ,jesus said before the preliminary question as to what he did say is settled4 ,now1 the question as to what ,jesus really said and did is strictly a scientific problem1 which is capable of solution by no other methods than those practised by the historian and the literary critic4 ,it is a problem of immense difficulty1 which has occupied some of the best heads in ,europe for the last century2 and it is only of late years that their investigations have begun to converge towards one conclusion4#hb ,that kind of faith which ,dr4 ,wace describes and lauds is of no use here4 ,indeed1 he himself takes pains to destroy its evidential value4 ,what made the ,mahommedan world8 ,trust and faith in the declarations and assurances of ,mahommed4 ,and what made the ,christian world8 ,trust and #ccc faith in the declarations and assurances of ,jesus ,christ and ,his ,apostles 7l4 c4 p4 #bec74 ,the triumphant tone of this imaginary catechism leads me to suspect that its author has hardly appreciated its full import4 ,presumably1 ,dr4 ,wace regards ,mahommed as an unbeliever1 or1 to use the term which he prefers1 infidel2 and considers that his assurances have given rise to a vast delusion which has led1 and is leading1 millions of men straight to everlasting punishment4 ,and this being so1 the ,trust and faith which have made the ,mahommedan world1 in just the same sense as they have made the ,christian world1 must be trust and faith in falsehood4 ,no man who has studied history1 or even attended to the occurrences of everyday life1 can doubt the enormous practical value of trust and faith2 but as little will he be inclined to deny that this practical value has not the least relation to the reality of the objects of that trust and faith4 ,in examples of patient constancy of faith and of unswerving trust1 the ,acta ,martyrum do not excel the annals of ,babism4#hc ,the discussion upon which we have now entered goes so thoroughly to the root of the whole matter2 the question of the day is so completely1 as the author of ,robert ,elsmere says1 the value of testimony1 that ,i shall offer no apology for following it out somewhat in detail2 and1 by way of giving substance to the #ccd argument1 ,i shall base what ,i have to say upon a case1 the consideration of which lies strictly within the province of natural science1 and of that particular part of it known as the physiology and pathology of the nervous system4 ,i find1 in the second ,gospel 7chap4 v471 a statement1 to all appearance intended to have the same evidential value as any other contained in that history4 ,it is the well-known story of the devils who were cast out of a man1 and ordered1 or permitted1 to enter into a herd of swine1 to the great loss and damage of the innocent ,gerasene1 or ,gadarene1 pig owners4 ,there can be no doubt that the narrator intends to convey to his readers his own conviction that this casting out and entering in were effected by the agency of ,jesus of ,nazareth2 that1 by speech and action1 ,jesus enforced this conviction2 nor does any inkling of the legal and moral difficulties of the case manifest itself4 ,on the other hand1 everything that ,i know of physiological and pathological science leads me to entertain a very strong conviction that the phenomena ascribed to possession are as purely natural as those which constitute small-pox2 everything that ,i know of anthropology leads me to think that the belief in demons and demoniacal possession is a mere survival of a once universal superstition1 and that its persistence1 at the present time1 is pretty much in the inverse ratio of the general instruction1 intelligence1 and sound judgment of the population among whom it prevails4 ,everything that ,i know of law and #cce justice convinces me that the wanton destruction of other people's property is a misdemeanour of evil example4 ,again1 the study of history1 and especially of that of the fifteenth1 sixteenth1 and seventeenth centuries1 leaves no shadow of doubt on my mind that the belief in the reality of possession and of witchcraft1 justly based1 alike by ,catholics and ,protestants1 upon this and innumerable other passages in both the ,old and ,new ,testaments1 gave rise1 through the special influence of ,christian ecclesiastics1 to the most horrible persecutions and judicial murders of thousands upon thousands of innocent men1 women1 and children4 ,and when ,i reflect that the record of a plain and simple declaration upon such an occasion as this1 that the belief in witchcraft and possession is wicked nonsense1 would have rendered the long agony of mediaeval humanity impossible1 ,i am prompted to reject1 as dishonouring1 the supposition that such declaration was withheld out of condescension to popular error4 ,come forth1 thou unclean spirit1 out of the man 7,mark v4 #h71hd are the words attributed to ,jesus4 ,if ,i declare1 as ,i have no hesitation in doing1 that ,i utterly disbelieve in the existence of unclean spirits1 and1 consequently1 in the possibility of their coming forth out of a man1 ,i suppose that ,dr4 ,wace will tell me ,i am disregarding the testimony of our ,lord 7l4 c4 p4 #bee74 ,for if these words were really used1 the most resourceful of reconcilers can hardly venture to affirm that they are compatible with a disbelief in these things4 ,as the learned and #ccf fair-minded1 as well as orthodox1 ,dr4 ,alexander remarks1 in an editorial note to the article ,demoniacs1 in the ,biblical ,cyclopaedia 7vol4 i4 p4 #ffd1 note73-- 444 ,on the lowest grounds on which our ,lord and ,his ,apostles can be placed they must1 at least1 be regarded as honest men4 ,now1 though honest speech does not require that words should be used always and only in their etymological sense1 it does require that they should not be used so as to affirm what the speaker knows to be false4 ,whilst1 therefore1 our ,lord and ,his ,apostles might use the word ,greek3 daimonizesthai1 or the phrase ,greek3 daimonion echein1 as a popular description of certain diseases1 without giving in to the belief which lay at the source of such a mode of expression1 they could not speak of demons entering into a man1 or being cast out of him1 without pledging themselves to the belief of an actual possession of the man by the demons4 7,campbell1 ,prel4 ,diss4 vi4 #a1 #aj47 ,if1 consequently1 they did not hold this belief1 they spoke not as honest men4 ,the story which we are considering does not rest on the authority of the second ,gospel alone4 ,the third confirms the second1 especially in the matter of commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man 7,luke viii4 #bi72 and1 although the first ,gospel either gives a different version of the same story1 or tells another of like kind1 the essential point remains3 ,if thou cast us out1 send us away into the herd of swine4 ,and ,he said unto them3 ,go6 7,matt4 viii4 #ca1 #cb74 ,if the concurrent testimony of the three synoptics1 then1 is really sufficient to do away with all rational doubt as to a matter of fact of the utmost practical and speculative importance--belief or disbelief in which may affect1 and has affected1 men's lives and their conduct towards other men in the most serious #ccg way--then ,i am bound to believe that ,jesus implicitly affirmed himself to possess a knowledge of the unseen world1 which afforded full confirmation of the belief in demons and possession current among his contemporaries4 ,if the story is true1 the mediaeval theory of the invisible world may be1 and probably is1 quite correct2 and the witchfinders1 from ,sprenger to ,hopkins and ,mather1 are much-maligned men4 ,on the other hand1 humanity1 noting the frightful consequences of this belief2 common sense1 observing the futility of the evidence on which it is based1 in all cases that have been properly investigated2 science1 more and more seeing its way to enclose all the phenomena of so-called possession within the domain of pathology1 so far as they are not to be relegated to that of the police--all these powerful influences concur in warning us1 at our peril1 against accepting the belief without the most careful scrutiny of the authority on which it rests4 ,i can discern no escape from this dilemma3 either ,jesus said what he is reported to have said1 or he did not4 ,in the former case1 it is inevitable that his authority on matters connected with the unseen world should be roughly shaken2 in the latter1 the blow falls upon the authority of the synoptic gospels4 ,if their report on a matter of such stupendous and far-reaching practical import as this is untrustworthy1 how can we be sure of its trustworthiness in other cases8 ,the favourite earth1 in which the hard-pressed reconciler takes refuge1 that the ,bible does #cch not profess to teach science1#he is stopped in this instance4 ,for the question of the existence of demons and of possession by them1 though it lies strictly within the province of science1 is also of the deepest moral and religious significance4 ,if physical and mental disorders are caused by demons1 ,gregory of ,tours and his contemporaries rightly considered that relics and exorcists were more useful than doctors2 the gravest questions arise as to the legal and moral responsibilities of persons inspired by demoniacal impulses2 and our whole conception of the universe and of our relations to it becomes totally different from what it would be on the contrary hypothesis4 ,the theory of life of an average mediaeval ,christian was as different from that of an average nineteenth-century ,englishman as that of a ,west ,african negro is now1 in these respects4 ,the modern world is slowly1 but surely1 shaking off these and other monstrous survivals of savage delusions1 and1 whatever happens1 #cci it will not return to that wallowing in the mire4 ,until the contrary is proved1 ,i venture to doubt whether1 at this present moment1 any ,protestant theologian1 who has a reputation to lose1 will say that he believes the ,gadarene story4 ,the choice then lies between discrediting those who compiled the ,gospel biographies and disbelieving the ,master1 whom they1 simple souls1 thought to honour by preserving such traditions of the exercise of his authority over ,satan's invisible world4 ,this is the dilemma4 ,no deep scholarship1 nothing but a knowledge of the revised version 7on which it is to be supposed all that mere scholarship can do has been done71 with the application thereto of the commonest canons of common sense1 is needful to enable us to make a choice between its alternatives4 ,it is hardly doubtful that the story1 as told in the first ,gospel1 is merely a version of that told in the second and third4 ,nevertheless1 the discrepancies are serious and irreconcilable2 and1 on this ground alone1 a suspension of judgment1 at the least1 is called for4 ,but there is a great deal more to be said4 ,from the dawn of scientific biblical criticism until the present day1 the evidence against the long-cherished notion that the three synoptic ,gospels are the works of three independent authors1 each prompted by ,divine inspiration1 has steadily accumulated1 until1 at the present time1 there is no visible escape from the conclusion that each of the three is a compilation consisting of a groundwork common to all three--the threefold tradition2 and of a superstructure1 consisting1 firstly1 #cdj of matter common to it with one of the others1 and1 secondly1 of matter special to each4 ,the use of the terms groundwork and superstructure by no means implies that the latter must be of later date than the former4 ,on the contrary1 some parts of it may be and probably are1 older than some parts of the groundwork4#hf ,the story of the ,gadarene swine belongs to the groundwork2 at least1 the essential part of it1 in which the belief in demoniac possession is expressed1 does2 and therefore the compilers of the first1 second1 and third ,gospels1 whoever they were1 certainly accepted that belief 7which1 indeed1 was universal among both ,jews and pagans at that time71 and attributed it to ,jesus4 ,what1 then1 do we know about the originator1 or originators1 of this groundwork--of that threefold tradition which all three witnesses 7in ,paley's phrase7 agree upon--that we should allow their mere statements to outweigh the counter arguments of humanity1 of common sense1 of exact science1 and to imperil the respect which all would be glad to be able to render to their ,master8 ,absolutely nothing4#hg ,there is no proof1 nothing #cda more than a fair presumption1 that any one of the ,gospels existed1 in the state in which we find it in the authorised version of the ,bible1 before the second century1 or1 in other words1 sixty or seventy years after the events recorded4 ,and1 between that time and the date of the oldest extant manuscripts of the ,gospels1 there is no telling what additions and alterations and interpolations may have been made4 ,it may be said that this is all mere speculation1 but it is a good deal more4 ,as competent scholars and honest men1 our revisers have felt compelled to point out that such things have happened even since the date of the oldest known manuscripts4 ,the oldest two copies of the second ,gospel end with the #hth verse of the #afth chapter2 the remaining twelve verses are spurious1 and it is noteworthy that the maker of the addition has not hesitated to introduce a speech in which ,jesus promises his disciples that in ,my name shall they cast out devils4 ,the other passage rejected to the margin is still more instructive4 ,it is that touching apologue1 with its profound ethical sense1 of the woman taken in adultery--which1 if internal evidence were an infallible guide1 might well be affirmed to be a typical example of the teachings of ,jesus4 ,yet1 say the revisers1 pitilessly1 ,most of the ancient authorities omit ,john vii4 #ec-viii4 #aa4 ,now let any reasonable man ask himself this question4 ,if1 after an approximate settlement of the canon of the ,new ,testament1 and even later than the fourth and fifth centuries1 literary fabricators had the skill and the audacity to #cdb make such additions and interpolations as these1 what may they have done when no one had thought of a canon2 when oral tradition1 still unfixed1 was regarded as more valuable than such written records as may have existed in the latter portion of the first century8 ,or1 to take the other alternative1 if those who gradually settled the canon did not know of the existence of the oldest codices which have come down to us2 or if1 knowing them1 they rejected their authority1 what is to be thought of their competency as critics of the text8 ,people who object to free criticism of the ,christian ,scriptures forget that they are what they are in virtue of very free criticism2 unless the advocates of inspiration are prepared to affirm that the majority of influential ecclesiastics during several centuries were safeguarded against error4 ,for1 even granting that some books of the period were inspired1 they were certainly few amongst many2 and those who selected the canonical books1 unless they themselves were also inspired1 must be regarded in the light of mere critics1 and1 from the evidence they have left of their intellectual habits1 very uncritical critics4 ,when one thinks that such delicate questions as those involved fell into the hands of men like ,papias 7who believed in the famous millenarian grape story72 of ,irenaeus with his reasons for the existence of only four ,gospels2 and of such calm and dispassionate judges as ,tertullian1 with his ,credo quia impossibile3 the marvel is that the selection which constitutes our ,new ,testament is as free as it is from obviously objectionable #cdc matter4 ,the apocryphal ,gospels certainly deserve to be apocryphal2 but one may suspect that a little more critical discrimination would have enlarged the ,apocrypha not inconsiderably4 ,at this point a very obvious objection arises and deserves full and candid consideration4 ,it may be said that critical scepticism carried to the length suggested is historical pyrrhonism2 that if we are to altogether discredit an ancient or a modern historian1 because he has assumed fabulous matter to be true1 it will be as well to give up paying any attention to history4 ,it may be said1 and with great justice1 that ,eginhard's ,life of ,charlemagne is none the less trustworthy because of the astounding revelation of credulity1 of lack of judgment1 and even of respect for the eighth commandment1 which he has unconsciously made in the ,history of the ,translation of the ,blessed ,martyrs ,marcellinus and ,paul4 ,or1 to go no further back than the last number of this ,review1 surely that excellent lady1 ,miss ,strickland1 is not to be refused all credence because of the myth about the second ,james's remains1 which she seems to have unconsciously invented4 ,of course this is perfectly true4 ,i am afraid there is no man alive whose witness could be accepted1 if the condition precedent were proof that he had never invented and promulgated a myth4 ,in the minds of all of us there are little places here and there1 like the indistinguishable spots on a rock which give foothold to moss or stonecrop2 on which1 if the germ of a myth fall1 it is certain to grow1 without in the least #cdd degree affecting our accuracy or truthfulness elsewhere4 ,sir ,walter ,scott knew that he could not repeat a story without1 as he said1 giving it a new hat and stick4 ,most of us differ from ,sir ,walter only in not knowing about this tendency of the mythopoeic faculty to break out unnoticed4 ,but it is also perfectly true that the mythopoeic faculty is not equally active in all minds1 nor in all regions and under all conditions of the same mind4 ,david ,hume was certainly not so liable to temptation as the ,venerable ,bede1 or even as some recent historians who could be mentioned2 and the most imaginative of debtors1 if he owes five pounds1 never makes an obligation to pay a hundred out of it4 ,the rule of common sense is prima facie to trust a witness in all matters in which neither his self-interest1 his passions1 his prejudices1 nor that love of the marvellous1 which is inherent to a greater or less degree in all mankind1 are strongly concerned2 and1 when they are involved1 to require corroborative evidence in exact proportion to the contravention of probability by the thing testified4 ,now1 in the ,gadarene affair1 ,i do not think ,i am unreasonably sceptical if ,i say that the existence of demons who can be transferred from a man to a pig1 does thus contravene probability4 ,let me be perfectly candid4 ,i admit ,i have no a priori objection to offer4 ,there are physical things1 such as taeniae and trichinae1 which can be transferred from men to pigs1 and vice versa1 and which do undoubtedly produce most diabolical and deadly effects on both4 ,for #cde anything ,i can absolutely prove to the contrary1 there may be spiritual things capable of the same transmigration1 with like effects4 ,moreover ,i am bound to add that perfectly truthful persons1 for whom ,i have the greatest respect1 believe in stories about spirits of the present day1 quite as improbable as that we are considering4 ,so ,i declare1 as plainly as ,i can1 that ,i am unable to show cause why these transferable devils should not exist2 nor can ,i deny that1 not merely the whole ,roman ,church1 but many ,wacean infidels of no mean repute1 do honestly and firmly believe that the activity of such like demonic beings is in full swing in this year of grace #ahhi4 ,nevertheless1 as good ,bishop ,butler says1 probability is the guide of life1 and it seems to me that this is just one of the cases in which the canon of credibility and testimony1 which ,i have ventured to lay down1 has full force4 ,so that1 with the most entire respect for many 7by no means for all7 of our witnesses for the truth of demonology1 ancient and modern1 ,i conceive their evidence on this particular matter to be ridiculously insufficient to warrant their conclusion4#hh #cdf ,after what has been said1 ,i do not think that any sensible man1 unless he happen to be angry1 will accuse me of contradicting the ,lord and his ,apostles if ,i reiterate my total disbelief in the whole ,gadarene story4 ,but1 if that story is discredited1 all the other stories of demoniac possession fall under suspicion4 ,and if the belief in demons and demoniac possession1 which forms the sombre background of the whole picture of primitive ,christianity presented to us in the ,new ,testament1 is shaken1 what is to be said1 in any case1 of the uncorroborated testimony of the ,gospels with respect to the unseen world8 ,i am not aware that ,i have been influenced by any more bias in regard to the ,gadarene story than ,i have been in dealing with other cases of like kind the investigation of which has interested me4 ,i was brought up in the strictest school of evangelical orthodoxy2 and when ,i was old enough to think for myself1 ,i started upon my journey of inquiry with little doubt about the general truth of what ,i had been taught2 and with that feeling of the unpleasantness of being called an infidel which1 we are told1 is so right and proper4 ,near my journey's end1 ,i find myself in a condition of something more than mere doubt about these matters4 #cdg ,in the course of other inquiries1 ,i have had to do with fossil remains which looked quite plain at a distance1 and became more and more indistinct as ,i tried to define their outline by close inspection4 ,there was something there--something which1 if ,i could win assurance about it1 might mark a new epoch in the history of the earth2 but1 study as long as ,i might1 certainty eluded my grasp4 ,so has it been with me in my efforts to define the grand figure of ,jesus as it lies in the primary strata of ,christian literature4 ,is he the kindly1 peaceful ,christ depicted in the ,catacombs8 ,or is he the stern ,judge who frowns above the altar of ,,ss4 ,cosmas and ,damianus8 ,or can he be rightly represented by the bleeding ascetic1 broken down by physical pain1 of too many mediaeval pictures8 ,are we to accept the ,jesus of the second1 or the ,jesus of the fourth ,gospel1 as the true ,jesus8 ,what did he really say and do2 and how much that is attributed to him1 in speech and action1 is the embroidery of the various parties into which his followers tended to split themselves within twenty years of his death1 when even the threefold tradition was only nascent8 ,if any one will answer these questions for me with something more to the point than feeble talk about the cowardice of agnosticism1 ,i shall be deeply his debtor4 ,unless and until they are satisfactorily answered1 ,i say of agnosticism in this matter1 ,j'y suis1 et j'y reste4 ,but1 as we have seen1 it is asserted that ,i have no business to call myself an agnostic2 that if ,i am #cdh not a ,christian ,i am an infidel2 and that ,i ought to call myself by that name of unpleasant significance4 ,well1 ,i do not care much what ,i am called by other people1 and if ,i had at my side all those who1 since the ,christian era1 have been called infidels by other folks1 ,i could not desire better company4 ,if these are my ancestors1 ,i prefer1 with the old ,frank1 to be with them wherever they are4 ,but there are several points in ,dr4 ,wace's contention which must be elucidated before ,i can even think of undertaking to carry out his wishes4 ,i must1 for instance1 know what a ,christian is4 ,now what is a ,christian8 ,by whose authority is the signification of that term defined8 ,is there any doubt that the immediate followers of ,jesus1 the sect of the ,nazarenes1 were strictly orthodox ,jews1 differing from other ,jews not more than the ,sadducees1 the ,pharisees1 and the ,essenes differed from one another2 in fact1 only in the belief that the ,messiah1 for whom the rest of their nation waited1 had come8 ,was not their chief1 ,james1 the brother of the ,lord1 reverenced alike by ,sadducee1 ,pharisee1 and ,nazarene8 ,at the famous conference which1 according to the ,acts1 took place at ,jerusalem1 does not ,james declare that myriads of ,jews1 who by that time had become ,nazarenes1 were all zealous for the ,law8 ,was not the name of ,christian first used to denote the converts to the doctrine promulgated by ,paul and ,barnabas at ,antioch8 ,does the subsequent history of ,christianity leave any doubt that1 from this time forth1 the little rift within #cdi the lute caused by the new teaching1 developed1 if not inaugurated1 at ,antioch1 grew wider and wider1 until the two types of doctrine irreconcilably diverged8 ,did not the primitive ,nazarenism1 or ,ebionism1 develop into the ,nazarenism1 and ,ebionism1 and ,elkasaitism of later ages1 and finally die out in obscurity and condemnation as damnable heresy2 while the younger doctrine throve and pushed out its shoots into that endless variety of sects1 of which the three strongest survivors are the ,roman and ,greek ,churches and modern ,protestantism8 ,singular state of things6 ,if ,i were to profess the doctrine which was held by ,james1 the brother of the ,lord1 and by every one of the myriads of his followers and co-religionists in ,jerusalem up to twenty or thirty years after the ,crucifixion 7and one knows not how much later at ,pella71 ,i should be condemned with unanimity as an ebionising heretic by the ,roman1 ,greek1 and ,protestant ,churches6 ,and1 probably1 this hearty and unanimous condemnation of the creed held by those who were in the closest personal relation with their ,lord is almost the only point upon which they would be cordially of one mind4 ,on the other hand1 though ,i hardly dare imagine such a thing1 ,i very much fear that the pillars of the primitive ,hierosolymitan ,church would have considered ,dr4 ,wace an infidel4 ,no one can read the famous second chapter of ,galatians and the book of ,revelations without seeing how narrow was even ,paul's escape from a similar #cej fate4 ,and1 if ecclesiastical history is to be trusted1 the thirty-nine articles1 be they right or wrong1 diverge from the primitive doctrine of the ,nazarenes vastly more than even ,pauline ,christianity did4 ,but1 further than this1 ,i have great difficulty in assuring myself that even ,james1 the brother of the ,lord1 and his myriads of ,nazarenes1 properly represented the doctrines of their ,master4 ,for it is constantly asserted by our modern pillars that one of the chief features of the work of ,jesus was the instauration of ,religion by the abolition of what our sticklers for articles and liturgies1 with unconscious humour1 call the narrow restrictions of the ,law4 ,yet1 if ,james knew this1 how could the bitter controversy with ,paul have arisen2 and why did one or the other side not quote any of the various sayings of ,jesus1 recorded in the ,gospels1 which directly bear on the question--sometimes1 apparently1 in opposite directions8 ,so if ,i am asked to call myself an infidel1 ,i reply3 ,to what doctrine do you ask me to be faithful8 ,is it that contained in the ,nicene and the ,athanasian ,creeds8 ,my firm belief is that the ,nazarenes1 say of the year #dj1 headed by ,james1 would have stopped their ears and thought worthy of stoning the audacious man who propounded it to them4 ,is it contained in the so-called ,apostles' ,creed8 ,i am pretty sure that even that would have created a recalcitrant commotion at ,pella in the year #gj1 among the ,nazarenes of ,jerusalem1 who had fled from the soldiers of ,titus4 ,and yet1 if the #cea unadulterated tradition of the teachings of the ,nazarene were to be found anywhere1 it surely should have been amidst those not very aged disciples who may have heard them as they were delivered4 ,therefore1 however sorry ,i may be to be unable to demonstrate that1 if necessary1 ,i should not be afraid to call myself an infidel1 ,i cannot do it4 ,infidel is a term of reproach1 which ,christians and ,mahommedans1 in their modesty1 agree to apply to those who differ from them4 ,if he had only thought of it1 ,dr4 ,wace might have used the term miscreant1 which1 with the same etymological signification1 has the advantage of being still more unpleasant to the persons to whom it is applied4 ,but why should a man be expected to call himself a miscreant or an infidel8 ,that ,st4 ,patrick had two birthdays because he was a twin is a reasonable and intelligible utterance beside that of the man who should declare himself to be an infidel on the ground of denying his own belief4 ,it may be logically1 if not ethically1 defensible that a ,christian should call a ,mahommedan an infidel and vice versa2 but1 on ,dr4 ,wace's principles1 both ought to call themselves infidels1 because each applies the term to the other4 ,now ,i am afraid that all the ,mahommedan world would agree in reciprocating that appellation to ,dr4 ,wace himself4 ,i once visited the ,hazar ,mosque1 the great ,university of ,mahommedanism1 in ,cairo1 in ignorance of the fact that ,i was unprovided with #ceb proper authority4 ,a swarm of angry undergraduates1 as ,i suppose ,i ought to call them1 came buzzing about me and my guide2 and if ,i had known ,arabic1 ,i suspect that dog of an infidel would have been by no means the most unpleasant of the epithets showered upon me1 before ,i could explain and apologise for the mistake4 ,if ,i had had the pleasure of ,dr4 ,wace's company on that occasion1 the undiscriminative followers of the ,prophet would1 ,i am afraid1 have made no difference between us2 not even if they had known that he was the head of an orthodox ,christian seminary4 ,and ,i have not the smallest doubt that even one of the learned mollahs1 if his grave courtesy would have permitted him to say anything offensive to men of another mode of belief1 would have told us that he wondered we did not find it very unpleasant to disbelieve in the ,prophet of ,islam4 ,from what precedes1 ,i think it becomes sufficiently clear that ,dr4 ,wace's account of the origin of the name of ,agnostic is quite wrong4 ,indeed1 ,i am bound to add that very slight effort to discover the truth would have convinced him that1 as a matter of fact1 the term arose otherwise4 ,i am loath to go over an old story once more2 but more than one object which ,i have in view will be served by telling it a little more fully than it has yet been told4 ,looking back nearly fifty years1 ,i see myself as a boy1 whose education had been interrupted1 and who1 intellectually1 was left1 for some years1 altogether to his own devices4 ,at that time1 ,i was a voracious #cec and omnivorous reader2 a dreamer and speculator of the first water1 well endowed with that splendid courage in attacking any and every subject1 which is the blessed compensation of youth and inexperience4 ,among the books and essays1 on all sorts of topics from metaphysics to heraldry1 which ,i read at this time1 two left indelible impressions on my mind4 ,one was ,guizot's ,history of ,civilisation1 the other was ,sir ,william ,hamilton's essay ,on the ,philosophy of the ,unconditioned1 which ,i came upon1 by chance1 in an odd volume of the ,edinburgh ,review4 ,the latter was certainly strange reading for a boy1 and ,i could not possibly have understood a great deal of it2#hi nevertheless1 ,i devoured it with avidity1 and it stamped upon my mind the strong conviction that1 on even the most solemn and important of questions1 men are apt to take cunning phrases for answers2 and that the limitation of our faculties1 in a great number of cases1 renders real answers to such questions1 not merely actually impossible1 but theoretically inconceivable4 ,philosophy and history having laid hold of me in this eccentric fashion1 have never loosened their grip4 ,i have no pretension to be an expert in either subject2 but the turn for philosophical and historical reading1 which rendered ,hamilton and ,guizot attractive to me1 has not only filled many #ced lawful leisure hours1 and still more sleepless ones1 with the repose of changed mental occupation1 but has not unfrequently disputed my proper work-time with my liege lady1 ,natural ,science4 ,in this way1 ,i have found it possible to cover a good deal of ground in the territory of philosophy2 and all the more easily that ,i have never cared much about ,a's or ,b's opinions1 but have rather sought to know what answer he had to give to the questions ,i had to put to him--that of the limitation of possible knowledge being the chief4 ,the ordinary examiner1 with his ,state the views of ,so-and-so1 would have floored me at any time4 ,if he had said what do you think about any given problem1 ,i might have got on fairly well4 ,the reader who has had the patience to follow the enforced1 but unwilling1 egotism of this veritable history 7especially if his studies have led him in the same direction71 will now see why my mind steadily gravitated towards the conclusions of ,hume and ,kant1 so well stated by the latter in a sentence1 which ,i have quoted elsewhere4 ,the greatest and perhaps the sole use of all philosophy of pure reason is1 after all1 merely negative1 since it serves not as an organon for the enlargement of knowledge1 but as a discipline for its delimitation2 and1 instead of discovering truth1 has only the modest merit of preventing error4#ij ,when ,i reached intellectual maturity and began to ask myself whether ,i was an atheist1 a theist1 or #cee a pantheist2 a materialist or an idealist2 a ,christian or a freethinker2 ,i found that the more ,i learned and reflected1 the less ready was the answer2 until1 at last1 ,i came to the conclusion that ,i had neither art nor part with any of these denominations1 except the last4 ,the one thing in which most of these good people were agreed was the one thing in which ,i differed from them4 ,they were quite sure they had attained a certain gnosis1--had1 more or less successfully1 solved the problem of existence2 while ,i was quite sure ,i had not1 and had a pretty strong conviction that the problem was insoluble4 ,and1 with ,hume and ,kant on my side1 ,i could not think myself presumptuous in holding fast by that opinion4 ,like ,dante1 ,nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita ,mi ritrovai per una selva oscura1 but1 unlike ,dante1 ,i cannot add1 ,che la diritta via era smarrita4 ,on the contrary1 ,i had1 and have1 the firmest conviction that ,i never left the verace via--the straight road2 and that this road led nowhere else but into the dark depths of a wild and tangled forest4 ,and though ,i have found leopards and lions in the path2 though ,i have made abundant acquaintance with the hungry wolf1 that with privy paw devours apace and nothing said1 as another great poet says of the ravening beast2 and though no friendly spectre has even yet offered his guidance1 ,i was1 and am1 minded to go straight on1 until ,i either come out on the #cef other side of the wood1 or find there is no other side to it1 at least1 none attainable by me4 ,this was my situation when ,i had the good fortune to find a place among the members of that remarkable confraternity of antagonists1 long since deceased1 but of green and pious memory1 the ,metaphysical ,society4 ,every variety of philosophical and theological opinion was represented there1 and expressed itself with entire openness2 most of my colleagues were -ists of one sort or another2 and1 however kind and friendly they might be1 ,i1 the man without a rag of a label to cover himself with1 could not fail to have some of the uneasy feelings which must have beset the historical fox when1 after leaving the trap in which his tail remained1 he presented himself to his normally elongated companions4 ,so ,i took thought1 and invented what ,i conceived to be the appropriate title of agnostic4 ,it came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the gnostic of ,church history1 who professed to know so much about the very things of which ,i was ignorant2 and ,i took the earliest opportunity of parading it at our ,society1 to show that ,i1 too1 had a tail1 like the other foxes4 ,to my great satisfaction1 the term took2 and when the ,spectator had stood godfather to it1 any suspicion in the minds of respectable people1 that a knowledge of its parentage might have awakened1 was1 of course1 completely lulled4 ,that is the history of the origin of the terms agnostic and agnosticism2 and it will be observed that it does not quite agree with the #ceg confident assertion of the reverend ,principal of ,king's ,college1 that the adoption of the term agnostic is only an attempt to shift the issue1 and that it involves a mere evasion in relation to the ,church and ,christianity4#ia ,the last objection 7,i rejoice1 as much as my readers must do1 that it is the last7 which ,i have to take to ,dr4 ,wace's deliverance before the ,church ,congress arises1 ,i am sorry to say1 on a question of morality4 ,it is1 and it ought to be1 authoritatively declares this official representative of ,christian ethics1 an unpleasant thing for a man to have to say plainly that he does not believe in ,jesus ,christ 7l4 c4 p4 #bed74 ,whether it is so depends1 ,i imagine1 a good deal on whether the man was brought up in a ,christian household or not4 ,i do not see why it should be unpleasant for a ,mahommedan or ,buddhist to say so4 ,but that it ought to be unpleasant for any man to say anything which he sincerely1 and after due deliberation1 believes1 is1 to my mind1 a proposition of the most profoundly immoral character4 ,i verily believe that the great good which has been effected in the world by ,christianity has been largely counteracted by the pestilent doctrine on which all the ,churches have insisted1 that honest disbelief in their more or less astonishing creeds is a moral offence1 indeed a sin of the deepest dye1 deserving #ceh and involving the same future retribution as murder and robbery4 ,if we could only see1 in one view1 the torrents of hypocrisy and cruelty1 the lies1 the slaughter1 the violations of every obligation of humanity1 which have flowed from this source along the course of the history of ,christian nations1 our worst imaginations of ,hell would pale beside the vision4 ,a thousand times1 no6 ,it ought not to be unpleasant to say that which one honestly believes or disbelieves4 ,that it so constantly is painful to do so1 is quite enough obstacle to the progress of mankind in that most valuable of all qualities1 honesty of word or of deed1 without erecting a sad concomitant of human weakness into something to be admired and cherished4 ,the bravest of soldiers often1 and very naturally1 feel it unpleasant to go into action2 but a court-martial which did its duty would make short work of the officer who promulgated the doctrine that his men ought to feel their duty unpleasant4 ,i am very well aware1 as ,i suppose most thoughtful people are in these times1 that the process of breaking away from old beliefs is extremely unpleasant2 and ,i am much disposed to think that the encouragement1 the consolation1 and the peace afforded to earnest believers in even the worst forms of ,christianity are of great practical advantage to them4 ,what deductions must be made from this gain on the score of the harm done to the citizen by the ascetic otherworldliness of logical ,christianity2 to the ruler1 by #cei the hatred1 malice1 and all uncharitableness of sectarian bigotry2 to the legislator1 by the spirit of exclusiveness and domination of those that count themselves pillars of orthodoxy2 to the philosopher1 by the restraints on the freedom of learning and teaching which every ,church exercises1 when it is strong enough2 to the conscientious soul1 by the introspective hunting after sins of the mint and cummin type1 the fear of theological error1 and the overpowering terror of possible damnation1 which have accompanied the ,churches like their shadow1 ,i need not now consider2 but they are assuredly not small4 ,if agnostics lose heavily on the one side1 they gain a good deal on the other4 ,people who talk about the comforts of belief appear to forget its discomforts2 they ignore the fact that the ,christianity of the ,churches is something more than faith in the ideal personality of ,jesus1 which they create for themselves1 plus so much as can be carried into practice1 without disorganising civil society1 of the maxims of the ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,trip in morals or in doctrine 7especially in doctrine71 without due repentance or retractation1 or fail to get properly baptized before you die1 and a plebiscite of the ,christians of ,europe1 if they were true to their creeds1 would affirm your everlasting damnation by an immense majority4 ,preachers1 orthodox and heterodox1 din into our ears that the world cannot get on without faith of some sort4 ,there is a sense in which that is as eminently as obviously true2 there is another1 in #cfj which1 in my judgment1 it is as eminently as obviously false1 and it seems to me that the hortatory1 or pulpit1 mind is apt to oscillate between the false and the true meanings1 without being aware of the fact4 ,it is quite true that the ground of every one of our actions1 and the validity of all our reasonings1 rest upon the great act of faith1 which leads us to take the experience of the past as a safe guide in our dealings with the present and the future4 ,from the nature of ratiocination it is obvious that the axioms on which it is based cannot be demonstrated by ratiocination4 ,it is also a trite observation that1 in the business of life1 we constantly take the most serious action upon evidence of an utterly insufficient character4 ,but it is surely plain that faith is not necessarily entitled to dispense with ratiocination because ratiocination cannot dispense with faith as a starting-point2 and that because we are often obliged1 by the pressure of events1 to act on very bad evidence1 it does not follow that it is proper to act on such evidence when the pressure is absent4 ,the writer of the epistle to the ,hebrews tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for1 the proving of things not seen4 ,in the authorised version substance stands for assurance1 and evidence for proving4 ,the question of the exact meaning of the two words1 ,greek3 hupostasis and ,greek3 elenchos1 affords a fine field of discussion for the scholar and the metaphysician4 ,but ,i fancy we shall be not far from the mark if we take the writer to have had in his mind the profound psychological #cfa truth that men constantly feel certain about things for which they strongly hope1 but have no evidence1 in the legal or logical sense of the word2 and he calls this feeling faith4 ,i may have the most absolute faith that a friend has not committed the crime of which he is accused4 ,in the early days of ,english history1 if my friend could have obtained a few more compurgators of a like robust faith1 he would have been acquitted4 ,at the present day1 if ,i tendered myself as a witness on that score1 the judge would tell me to stand down1 and the youngest barrister would smile at my simplicity4 ,miserable indeed is the man who has not such faith in some of his fellow-men--only less miserable than the man who allows himself to forget that such faith is not1 strictly speaking1 evidence2 and when his faith is disappointed1 as will happen now and again1 turns ,timon and blames the universe for his own blunders4 ,and so1 if a man can find a friend1 the hypostasis of all his hopes1 the mirror of his ethical ideal1 in the ,jesus of any1 or all1 of the ,gospels1 let him live by faith in that ideal4 ,who shall or can forbid him8 ,but let him not delude himself with the notion that his faith is evidence of the objective reality of that in which he trusts4 ,such evidence is to be obtained only by the use of the methods of science1 as applied to history and to literature1 and it amounts at present to very little4 ,it appears that ,mr4 ,gladstone some time ago asked ,mr4 ,laing if he could draw up a short summary #cfb of the negative creed2 a body of negative propositions1 which have so far been adopted on the negative side as to be what the ,apostles' and other accepted creeds are on the positive2 and ,mr4 ,laing at once kindly obliged ,mr4 ,gladstone with the desired articles--eight of them4 ,if any one had preferred this request to me ,i should have replied that1 if he referred to agnostics1 they have no creed2 and1 by the nature of the case1 cannot have any4 ,agnosticism1 in fact1 is not a creed1 but a method1 the essence of which lies in the rigorous application of a single principle4 ,that principle is of great antiquity2 it is as old as ,socrates2 as old as the writer who said1 ,try all things1 hold fast by that which is good2 it is the foundation of the ,reformation1 which simply illustrated the axiom that every man should be able to give a reason for the faith that is in him2 it is the great principle of ,descartes2 it is the fundamental axiom of modern science4 ,positively the principle may be expressed3 ,in matters of the intellect follow your reason as far as it will take you without regard to any other consideration4 ,and negatively3 ,in matters of the intellect do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable4 ,that ,i take to be the agnostic faith1 which if a man keep whole and undefiled1 he shall not be ashamed to look the universe in the face1 whatever the future may have in store for him4 ,the results of the working out of the agnostic principle will vary according to individual knowledge #cfc and capacity1 and according to the general condition of science4 ,that which is unproven to-day may be proven by the help of new discoveries to-morrow4 ,the only negative fixed points will be those negations which flow from the demonstrable limitation of our faculties4 ,and the only obligation accepted is to have the mind always open to conviction4 ,agnostics who never fail in carrying out their principles are1 ,i am afraid1 as rare as other people of whom the same consistency can be truthfully predicated4 ,but1 if you were to meet with such a phoenix and to tell him that you had discovered that two and two make five1 he would patiently ask you to state your reasons for that conviction1 and express his readiness to agree with you if he found them satisfactory4 ,the apostolic injunction to suffer fools gladly should be the rule of life of a true agnostic4 ,i am deeply conscious how far ,i myself fall short of this ideal1 but it is my personal conception of what agnostics ought to be4 ,however1 as ,i began by stating1 ,i speak only for myself2 and ,i do not dream of anathematizing and excommunicating ,mr4 ,laing4 ,but1 when ,i consider his creed and compare it with the ,athanasian1 ,i think ,i have on the whole a clearer conception of the meaning of the latter4 ,polarity1 in ,article ,,viii41 for example1 is a word about which ,i heard a good deal in my youth1 when ,naturphilosophie was in fashion1 and greatly did ,i suffer from it4 ,for many years past1 whenever ,i have met with polarity anywhere but in a discussion of some purely physical topic1 such as magnetism1 ,i have shut the book4 ,mr4 #cfd ,laing must excuse me if the force of habit was too much for me when ,i read his eighth article4 ,and now1 what is to be said to ,mr4 ,harrison's remarkable deliverance ,on the future of agnosticism8#ib ,i would that it were not my business to say anything1 for ,i am afraid that ,i can say nothing which shall manifest my great personal respect for this able writer1 and for the zeal and energy with which he ever and anon galvanises the weakly frame of ,positivism until it looks more than ever like ,john ,bunyan's ,pope and ,pagan rolled into one4 ,there is a story often repeated1 and ,i am afraid none the less mythical on that account1 of a valiant and loud-voiced corporal in command of two full privates who1 falling in with a regiment of the enemy in the dark1 orders it to surrender under pain of instant annihilation by his force2 and the enemy surrenders accordingly4 ,i am always reminded of this tale when ,i read the positivist commands to the forces of ,christianity and of ,science2 only the enemy show no more signs of intending to obey now than they have done any time these forty years4 ,the allocution under consideration has the papal flavour which is wont to hang about the utterances of the pontiffs of the ,church of ,comte4 ,mr4 ,harrison speaks with authority and not as one of the common scribes of the period4 ,he knows not only what agnosticism is and how it has come about1 but what will become of it4 ,the agnostic is to content #cfe himself with being the precursor of the positivist4 ,in his place1 as a sort of navvy levelling the ground and cleansing it of such poor stuff as ,christianity1 he is a useful creature who deserves patting on the back1 on condition that he does not venture beyond his last4 ,but let not these scientific ,sanballats presume that they are good enough to take part in the building of the ,temple--they are mere ,samaritans1 doomed to die out in proportion as the ,religion of ,humanity is accepted by mankind4 ,well1 if that is their fate1 they have time to be cheerful4 ,but let us hear ,mr4 ,harrison's pronouncement of their doom4 ,agnosticism is a stage in the evolution of religion1 an entirely negative stage1 the point reached by physicists1 a purely mental conclusion1 with no relation to things social at all 7p4 #aed74 ,i am quite dazed by this declaration4 ,are there1 then1 any conclusions that are not purely mental8 ,is there no relation to things social in mental conclusions which affect men's whole conception of life8 ,was that prince of agnostics1 ,david ,hume1 particularly imbued with physical science8 ,supposing physical science to be non-existent1 would not the agnostic principle1 applied by the philologist and the historian1 lead to exactly the same results8 ,is the modern more or less complete suspension of judgment as to the facts of the history of regal ,rome1 or the real origin of the ,homeric poems1 anything but agnosticism in history and in literature8 ,and if so1 how can agnosticism be the mere negation of the physicist8 #cff ,agnosticism is a stage in the evolution of religion4 ,no two people agree as to what is meant by the term religion2 but if it means1 as ,i think it ought to mean1 simply the reverence and love for the ethical ideal1 and the desire to realise that ideal in life1 which every man ought to feel--then ,i say agnosticism has no more to do with it than it has to do with music or painting4 ,if1 on the other hand1 ,mr4 ,harrison1 like most people1 means by religion theology1 then in my judgment agnosticism can be said to be a stage in its evolution1 only as death may be said to be the final stage in the evolution of life4 ,when agnostic logic is simply one of the canons of thought1 agnosticism1 as a distinctive faith1 will have spontaneously disappeared 7p4 #aee74 ,i can but marvel that such sentences as this1 and those already quoted1 should have proceeded from ,mr4 ,harrison's pen4 ,does he really mean to suggest that agnostics have a logic peculiar to themselves8 ,will he kindly help me out of my bewilderment when ,i try to think of logic being anything else than the canon 7which1 ,i believe1 means rule7 of thought8 ,as to agnosticism being a distinctive faith1 ,i have already shown that it cannot possibly be anything of the kind1 unless perfect faith in logic is distinctive of agnostics2 which1 after all1 it may be4 ,agnosticism as a religious philosophy per se rests on an almost total ignoring of history and social evolution 7p4 #aeb74 ,but neither per se nor per aliud has agnosticism 7if ,i know anything about it7 the least pretension to be a religious philosophy2 so far from resting on #cfg ignorance of history1 and that social evolution of which history is the account1 it is and has been the inevitable result of the strict adherence to scientific methods by historical investigators4 ,our forefathers were quite confident about the existence of ,romulus and ,remus1 of ,king ,arthur1 and of ,hengist and ,horsa4 ,most of us have become agnostics in regard to the reality of these worthies4 ,it is a matter of notoriety of which ,mr4 ,harrison1 who accuses us all so freely of ignoring history1 should not be ignorant1 that the critical process which has shattered the foundations of orthodox ,christian doctrine owes its origin1 not to the devotees of physical science1 but1 before all1 to ,richard ,simon1 the learned ,french ,oratorian1 just two hundred years ago4 ,i cannot find evidence that either ,simon1 or any one of the great scholars and critics of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who have continued ,simon's work1 had any particular acquaintance with physical science4 ,i have already pointed out that ,hume was independent of it4 ,and certainly one of the most potent influences in the same direction1 upon history in the present century1 that of ,grote1 did not come from the physical side4 ,physical science1 in fact1 has had nothing directly to do with the criticism of the ,gospels2 it is wholly incompetent to furnish demonstrative evidence that any statement made in these histories is untrue4 ,indeed1 modern physiology can find parallels in nature for events of apparently the most eminently supernatural kind recounted in some of those histories4 #cfh ,it is a comfort to hear1 upon ,mr4 ,harrison's authority1 that the laws of physical nature show no signs of becoming less definite1 less consistent1 or less popular as time goes on 7p4 #aed74 ,how a law of nature is to become indefinite1 or inconsistent1 passes my poor powers of imagination4 ,but with universal suffrage and the coach-dog theory of premiership in full view2 the theory1 ,i mean1 that the whole duty of a political chief is to look sharp for the way the social coach is driving1 and then run in front and bark loud--as if being the leading noise-maker and guiding were the same things--it is truly satisfactory to me to know that the laws of nature are increasing in popularity4 ,looking at recent developments of the policy which is said to express the great heart of the people1 ,i have had my doubts of the fact2 and my love for my fellow-countrymen has led me to reflect with dread on what will happen to them if any of the laws of nature ever become so unpopular in their eyes as to be voted down by the transcendent authority of universal suffrage4 ,if the legion of demons1 before they set out on their journey in the swine1 had had time to hold a meeting and to resolve unanimously ,that the law of gravitation is oppressive and ought to be repealed1 ,i am afraid it would have made no sort of difference to the result1 when their two thousand unwilling porters were once launched down the steep slopes of the fatal shore of ,gennesaret4 ,the question of the place of religion as an element of human nature1 as a force of human society1 its origin1 analysis1 and #cfi functions1 has never been considered at all from an agnostic point of view 7p4 #aeb74 ,i doubt not that ,mr4 ,harrison knows vastly more about history than ,i do2 in fact1 he tells the public that some of my friends and ,i have had no opportunity of occupying ourselves with that subject4 ,i do not like to contradict any statement which ,mr4 ,harrison makes on his own authority2 only1 if ,i may be true to my agnostic principles1 ,i humbly ask how he has obtained assurance on this head4 ,i do not profess to know anything about the range of ,mr4 ,harrison's studies2 but as he has thought it fitting to start the subject1 ,i may venture to point out that1 on evidence adduced1 it might be equally permissible to draw the conclusion that ,mr4 ,harrison's absorbing labours as the pontifex maximus of the positivist religion have not allowed him to acquire that acquaintance with the methods and results of physical science1 or with the history of philosophy1 or of philological and historical criticism1 which is essential to any one who desires to obtain a right understanding of agnosticism4 ,incompetence in philosophy1 and in all branches of science except mathematics1 is the well-known mental characteristic of the founder of positivism4 ,faithfulness in disciples is an admirable quality in itself2 the pity is that it not unfrequently leads to the imitation of the weaknesses as well as of the strength of the master4 ,it is only such overfaithfulness which can account for a strong mind really saturated with the historical sense 7p4 #aec7 exhibiting the extraordinary forgetfulness of the #cgj historical fact of the existence of ,david ,hume implied by the assertion that it would be difficult to name a single known agnostic who has given to history anything like the amount of thought and study which he brings to a knowledge of the physical world 7p4 #aec74 ,whoso calls to mind what ,i may venture to term the bright side of ,christianity--that ideal of manhood1 with its strength and its patience1 its justice and its pity for human frailty1 its helpfulness to the extremity of self-sacrifice1 its ethical purity and nobility1 which apostles have pictured1 in which armies of martyrs have placed their unshakable faith1 and whence obscure men and women1 like ,catherine of ,sienna and ,john ,knox1 have derived the courage to rebuke popes and kings--is not likely to underrate the importance of the ,christian faith as a factor in human history1 or to doubt that if that faith should prove to be incompatible with our knowledge1 or necessary want of knowledge1 some other hypostasis of men's hopes1 genuine enough and worthy enough to replace it1 will arise4 ,but that the incongruous mixture of bad science with eviscerated papistry1 out of which ,comte manufactured the positivist religion1 will be the heir of the ,christian ages1 ,i have too much respect for the humanity of the future to believe4 ,charles the ,second told his brother1 ,they will not kill me1 ,james1 to make you king4 ,and if critical science is remorselessly destroying the historical foundations of the noblest ideal of humanity which mankind have yet #cga worshipped1 it is little likely to permit the pitiful reality to climb into the vacant shrine4 ,that a man should determine to devote himself to the service of humanity--including intellectual and moral self-culture under that name2 that this should be1 in the proper sense of the word1 his religion--is not only an intelligible1 but1 ,i think1 a laudable resolution4 ,and ,i am greatly disposed to believe that it is the only religion which will prove itself to be unassailably acceptable so long as the human race endures4 ,but when the positivist asks me to worship ,humanity--that is to say1 to adore the generalised conception of men as they ever have been and probably ever will be--,i must reply that ,i could just as soon bow down and worship the generalised conception of a wilderness of apes4 ,surely we are not going back to the days of ,paganism1 when individual men were deified1 and the hard good sense of a dying ,vespasian could prompt the bitter jest1 ,ut puto ,deus fio4 ,no divinity doth hedge a modern man1 be he even a sovereign ruler4 ,nor is there any one1 except a municipal magistrate1 who is officially declared worshipful4 ,but if there is no spark of worship-worthy divinity in the individual twigs of humanity1 whence comes that godlike splendour which the ,moses of ,positivism fondly imagines to pervade the whole bush4 ,i know no study which is so unutterably saddening as that of the evolution of humanity1 as it is set forth in the annals of history4 ,out of the darkness of prehistoric ages man emerges with the marks of #cgb his lowly origin strong upon him4 ,he is a brute1 only more intelligent than the other brutes1 a blind prey to impulses1 which as often as not lead him to destruction2 a victim to endless illusions1 which make his mental existence a terror and a burden1 and fill his physical life with barren toil and battle4 ,he attains a certain degree of physical comfort1 and develops a more or less workable theory of life1 in such favourable situations as the plains of ,mesopotamia or of ,egypt1 and then1 for thousands and thousands of years1 struggles1 with varying fortunes1 attended by infinite wickedness1 bloodshed1 and misery1 to maintain himself at this point against the greed and the ambition of his fellow-men4 ,he makes a point of killing and otherwise persecuting all those who first try to get him to move on2 and when he has moved on a step1 foolishly confers post-mortem deification on his victims4 ,he exactly repeats the process with all who want to move a step yet farther4 ,and the best men of the best epochs are simply those who make the fewest blunders and commit the fewest sins4 ,that one should rejoice in the good man1 forgive the bad man1 and pity and help all men to the best of one's ability1 is surely indisputable4 ,it is the glory of ,judaism and of ,christianity to have proclaimed this truth1 through all their aberrations4 ,but the worship of a ,god who needs forgiveness and help1 and deserves pity every hour of his existence1 is no better than that of any other voluntarily selected fetish4 ,the ,emperor ,julian's project was hopeful in #cgc comparison with the prospects of the new ,anthropolatry4 ,when the historian of religion in the twentieth century is writing about the nineteenth1 ,i foresee he will say something of this kind3 ,the most curious and instructive events in the religious history of the preceding century are the rise and progress of two new sects called ,mormons and ,positivists4 ,to the student who has carefully considered these remarkable phenomena nothing in the records of religious self-delusion can appear improbable4 ,the ,mormons arose in the midst of the great ,republic1 which1 though comparatively insignificant1 at that time1 in territory as in the number of its citizens1 was 7as we know from the fragments of the speeches of its orators which have come down to us7 no less remarkable for the native intelligence of its population than for the wide extent of their information1 owing to the activity of their publishers in diffusing all that they could invent1 beg1 borrow1 or steal4 ,nor were they less noted for their perfect freedom from all restraints in thought1 or speech1 or deed2 except1 to be sure1 the beneficent and wise influence of the majority1 exerted1 in case of need1 through an institution known as tarring and feathering1 the exact nature of which is now disputed4 ,there is a complete consensus of testimony that the founder of ,mormonism1 one ,joseph ,smith1 was a low-minded1 ignorant scamp1 and that he stole the #cgd ,scriptures which he propounded2 not being clever enough to forge even such contemptible stuff as they contain4 ,nevertheless he must have been a man of some force of character1 for a considerable number of disciples soon gathered about him4 ,in spite of repeated outbursts of popular hatred and violence--during one of which persecutions ,smith was brutally murdered--the ,mormon body steadily increased1 and became a flourishing community4 ,but the ,mormon practices being objectionable to the majority1 they were1 more than once1 without any pretence of law1 but by force of riot1 arson1 and murder1 driven away from the land they had occupied4 ,harried by these persecutions1 the ,mormon body eventually committed itself to the tender mercies of a desert as barren as that of ,sinai2 and after terrible sufferings and privations1 reached the ,oasis of ,utah4 ,here it grew and flourished1 sending out missionaries to1 and receiving converts from1 all parts of ,europe1 sometimes to the number of #aj1jjj in a year2 until in #ahhj the rich and flourishing community numbered #aaj1jjj souls in ,utah alone1 while there were probably #cj1jjj or #dj1jjj scattered abroad elsewhere4 ,in the whole history of religions there is no more remarkable example of the power of faith2 and1 in this case1 the founder of that faith was indubitably a most despicable creature4 ,it is interesting to observe that the course taken by the great ,republic and its citizens runs exactly parallel with that taken by the ,roman ,empire and its citizens towards the early ,christians1 except that the ,romans had a certain legal excuse for #cge their acts of violence1 inasmuch as the ,christian sodalitia were not licensed1 and consequently were1 ipso facto1 illegal assemblages4 ,until1 in the latter part of the nineteenth century1 the ,united ,states legislature decreed the illegality of polygamy1 the ,mormons were wholly within the law4 ,nothing can present a greater contrast to all this than the history of the ,positivists4 ,this sect arose much about the same time as that of the ,mormons1 in the upper and most instructed stratum of the quick-witted1 sceptical population of ,paris4 ,the founder1 ,auguste ,comte1 was a teacher of mathematics1 but of no eminence in that department of knowledge1 and with nothing but an amateur's acquaintance with physical1 chemical1 and biological science4 ,his works are repulsive on account of the dull diffuseness of their style1 and a certain air1 as of a superior person1 which characterises them2 but nevertheless they contain good things here and there4 ,it would take too much space to reproduce in detail a system which proposes to regulate all human life by the promulgation of a ,gentile ,leviticus4 ,suffice it to say1 that ,m4 ,comte may be described as a syncretic1 who1 like the ,gnostics of early ,church history1 attempted to combine the substance of imperfectly comprehended contemporary science with the form of ,roman ,christianity4 ,it may be that this is the reason why his disciples were so very angry with some obscure people called ,agnostics1 whose views1 if we may judge by the account left in the works of a great ,positivist controversial writer1 were very absurd4 #cgf ,to put the matter briefly1 ,m4 ,comte1 finding ,christianity and ,science at daggers drawn1 seems to have said to ,science1 ,you find ,christianity rotten at the core1 do you8 ,well1 ,i will scoop out the inside of it4 ,and to ,romanism3 ,you find ,science mere dry light--cold and bare4 ,well1 ,i will put your shell over it1 and so1 as schoolboys make a spectre out of a turnip and a tallow candle1 behold the new religion of ,humanity complete6 ,unfortunately neither the ,romanists nor the people who were something more than amateurs in science1 could be got to worship ,m4 ,comte's new idol properly4 ,in the native country of ,positivism1 one distinguished man of letters and one of science1 for a time1 helped to make up a roomful of the faithful1 but their love soon grew cold4 ,in ,england1 on the other hand1 there appears to be little doubt that1 in the ninth decade of the century1 the multitude of disciples reached the grand total of several score4 ,they had the advantage of the advocacy of one or two most eloquent and learned apostles1 and1 at any rate1 the sympathy of several persons of light and leading--and1 if they were not seen1 they were heard all over the world4 ,on the other hand1 as a sect1 they laboured under the prodigious disadvantage of being refined1 estimable people1 living in the midst of the worn-out civilisation of the old world2 where any one who had tried to persecute them1 as the ,mormons were persecuted1 would have been instantly hanged4 ,but the majority never dreamed of persecuting them2 on the contrary1 they were rather #cgg given to scold and otherwise try the patience of the majority4 ,the history of these sects in the closing years of the century is highly instructive4 ,mormonism 444 ,but ,i find ,i have suddenly slipped off ,mr4 ,harrison's tripod1 which ,i had borrowed for the occasion4 ,the fact is1 ,i am not equal to the prophetical business1 and ought not to have undertaken it4 99 99 99 99 99 #cgh ,x ,,the ,,value ,,of ,,witness ,,to ,,the ,,miraculous ,charles1 or1 more properly1 ,karl1 ,king of the ,franks1 consecrated ,roman ,emperor in ,st4 ,peter's on ,christmas ,day1 ,a4,d4 #hjj1 and known to posterity as the ,great 7chiefly by his agglutinative ,gallicised denomination of ,charlemagne71 was a man great in all ways1 physically and mentally4 ,within a couple of centuries after his death ,charlemagne became the centre of innumerable legends2 and the myth-making process does not seem to have been sensibly interfered with by the existence of sober and truthful histories of the ,emperor and of the times which immediately preceded and followed his reign1 by a contemporary writer who occupied a high and confidential position in his court1 and in that of his successor4 ,this was one ,eginhard1 or ,einhard1 who appears to have been born about ,a4,d4 #ggj1 and spent his youth at the court1 being educated along with ,charles's sons4 ,there is excellent contemporary testimony not only to ,eginhard's existence1 but to his abilities1 and to the place which he occupied in the circle of the intimate friends of the great ruler whose life he subsequently wrote4 #cgi ,in fact1 there is as good evidence of ,eginhard's existence1 of his official position1 and of his being the author of the chief works attributed to him1 as can reasonably be expected in the case of a man who lived more than a thousand years ago1 and was neither a great king nor a great warrior4 ,the works are--#a4 ,the ,life of the ,emperor ,karl4 #b4 ,the ,annals of the ,franks4 #c4 ,letters4 #d4 ,the ,history of the ,translation of the ,blessed ,martyrs of ,christ1 ,,ss4 ,marcellinus and ,petrus4 ,it is to the last1 as one of the most singular and interesting records of the period during which the ,roman world passed into that of the ,middle ,ages1 that ,i wish to direct attention4#ic ,it was written in the ninth century1 somewhere1 apparently1 about the year #hcj1 when ,eginhard1 ailing in health and weary of political life1 had withdrawn to the monastery of ,seligenstadt1 of which he was the founder4 ,a manuscript copy of the work1 made in the tenth century1 and once the property of the monastery of ,st4 ,bavon on the ,scheldt1 of which ,eginhard was ,abbot1 is still extant1 and there is no reason to believe that1 in this copy1 the original has been in any way interpolated or otherwise tampered with4 ,the main features of the strange story contained in the ,historia ,translationis are set forth in the following pages1 in which1 in regard to all matters of importance1 ,i shall adhere as closely as possible to ,eginhard's own words4 #chj ,while ,i was still at ,court1 busied with secular affairs1 ,i often thought of the leisure which ,i hoped one day to enjoy in a solitary place1 far away from the crowd1 with which the liberality of ,prince ,louis1 whom ,i then served1 had provided me4 ,this place is situated in that part of ,germany which lies between the ,neckar and the ,maine1#id and is nowadays called the ,odenwald by those who live in and about it4 ,and here having built1 according to my capacity and resources1 not only houses and permanent dwellings1 but also a basilica fitted for the performance of divine service and of no mean style of construction1 ,i began to think to what saint or martyr ,i could best dedicate it4 ,a good deal of time had passed while my thoughts fluctuated about this matter1 when it happened that a certain deacon of the ,roman ,church1 named ,deusdona1 arrived at the ,court for the purpose of seeking the favour of the ,king in some affairs in which he was interested4 ,he remained some time2 and then1 having transacted his business1 he was about to return to ,rome1 when one day1 moved by courtesy to a stranger1 we invited him to a modest refection2 and while talking of many things at table1 mention was made of the translation of the body of the blessed ,sebastian1#ie and of the neglected tombs of the martyrs1 of which there is such a prodigious number at ,rome2 and the conversation having turned towards the dedication of our new basilica1 ,i began to inquire how it might be possible for me to obtain some of the true relics of the saints which rest at ,rome4 ,he at first hesitated1 and declared that he did not know how that could be done4 ,but observing that ,i was both anxious and curious about the subject1 he promised to give me an answer some other day4 ,when ,i returned to the question some time afterwards1 he immediately drew from his bosom a paper1 which he begged me to read when ,i was alone1 and to tell him what ,i was disposed to think of that which was therein stated4 ,i took the paper and1 as he desired1 read it alone and in secret4 7,cap4 i4 #b1 #c47 #cha ,i shall have occasion to return to ,deacon ,deusdona's conditions1 and to what happened after ,eginhard's acceptance of them4 ,suffice it1 for the present1 to say that ,eginhard's notary1 ,ratleicus 7,ratleig71 was despatched to ,rome and succeeded in securing two bodies1 supposed to be those of the holy martyrs ,marcellinus and ,petrus2 and when he had got as far on his homeward journey as the ,burgundian town of ,solothurn1 or ,soleure1#if notary ,ratleig despatched to his master1 at ,st4 ,bavon1 a letter announcing the success of his mission4 ,as soon as by reading it ,i was assured of the arrival of the saints1 ,i despatched a confidential messenger to ,maestricht to gather together priests1 other clerics1 and also laymen1 to go out to meet the coming saints as speedily as possible4 ,and he and his companions1 having lost no time1 after a few days met those who had charge of the saints at ,solothurn4 ,joined with them1 and with a vast crowd of people who gathered from all parts1 singing hymns1 and amidst great and universal rejoicings1 they travelled quickly to the city of ,argentoratum1 which is now called ,strasburg4 ,thence embarking on the ,rhine1 they came to the place called ,portus1#ig and landing on the east bank of the river1 at the fifth station thence they arrived at ,michilinstadt1#ih accompanied by an immense multitude1 praising ,god4 ,this place is in that forest of ,germany which in modern times is called the ,odenwald1 and about six leagues from the ,maine4 ,and here1 having found a basilica recently built by me1 but not yet consecrated1 they carried the sacred remains into it and deposited them therein1 as if it were to be their final resting-place4 ,as soon as all this was reported to me ,i travelled thither as quickly as ,i could4 7,cap4 ii4 #ad47 #chb ,three days after ,eginhard's arrival began the series of wonderful events which he narrates1 and for which we have his personal guarantee4 ,the first thing that he notices is the dream of a servant of ,ratleig1 the notary1 who1 being set to watch the holy relics in the church after vespers1 went to sleep1 and during his slumbers had a vision of two pigeons1 one white and one gray and white1 which came and sat upon the bier over the relics2 while1 at the same time1 a voice ordered the man to tell his master that the holy martyrs had chosen another resting-place and desired to be transported thither without delay4 ,unfortunately1 the saints seem to have forgotten to mention where they wished to go2 and1 with the most anxious desire to gratify their smallest wishes1 ,eginhard was naturally greatly perplexed what to do4 ,while in this state of mind1 he was one day contemplating his great and wonderful treasure1 more precious than all the gold in the world1 when it struck him that the chest in which the relics were contained was quite unworthy of its contents2 and after vespers he gave orders to one of the sacristans to take the measure of the chest in order that a more fitting shrine might be constructed4 ,the man1 having lighted a wax candle and raised the pall which covered the relics1 in order to carry out his master's orders1 was astonished and terrified to observe that the chest was covered with a blood-like exudation 7loculum mirum in modum humore sanguineo undique distillantem71 and at once sent a message to ,eginhard4 #chc ,then ,i and those priests who accompanied me beheld this stupendous miracle1 worthy of all admiration4 ,for just as when it is going to rain1 pillars and slabs and marble images exude moisture1 and1 as it were sweat1 so the chest which contained the most sacred relics was found moist with the blood exuding on all sides4 7,cap4 ii4 #af47 ,three days' fast was ordained in order that the meaning of the portent might be ascertained4 ,all that happened1 however1 was that at the end of that time the blood1 which had been exuding in drops all the while1 dried up4 ,eginhard is careful to say that the liquid had a saline taste1 something like that of tears1 and was thin as water1 though of the colour of true blood1 and he clearly thinks this satisfactory evidence that it was blood4 ,the same night another servant had a vision1 in which still more imperative orders for the removal of the relics were given2 and1 from that time forth1 not a single night passed without one1 two1 or even three of our companions receiving revelations in dreams that the bodies of the saints were to be transferred from that place to another4 ,at last a priest1 ,hildfrid1 saw1 in a dream1 a venerable white-haired man in a priest's vestments1 who bitterly reproached ,eginhard for not obeying the repeated orders of the saints1 and upon this the journey was commenced4 ,why ,eginhard delayed obedience to these repeated visions so long does not appear4 ,he does not say so in so many words1 but the general tenor of the narrative leads one to suppose that ,mulinheim 7afterwards ,seligenstadt7 is the solitary place in which he had built the church which awaited dedication4 #chd ,in that case1 all the people about him would know that he desired that the saints should go there4 ,if a glimmering of secular sense led him to be a little suspicious about the real cause of the unanimity of the visionary beings who manifested themselves to his entourage in favour of moving on1 he does not say so4 ,at the end of the first day's journey the precious relics were deposited in the church of ,st4 ,martin1 in the village of ,ostheim4 ,hither a paralytic nun 7sanctimonialis quaedam paralytica7 of the name of ,ruodlang was brought in a car by her friends and relatives from a monastery a league off4 ,she spent the night watching and praying by the bier of the saints2 and health returning to all her members1 on the morrow she went back to her place whence she came1 on her feet1 nobody supporting her1 or in any way giving her assistance4 7,cap4 ii4 #ai47 ,on the second day1 the relics were carried to ,upper ,mulinheim1 and finally1 in accordance with the orders of the martyrs1 deposited in the church of that place1 which was therefore renamed ,seligenstadt4 ,here1 ,daniel1 a beggar boy of fifteen1 and so bent that he could not look at the sky without lying on his back1 collapsed and fell down during the celebration of the ,mass4 ,thus he lay a long time1 as if asleep1 and all his limbs straightening and his flesh strengthening 7recepta firmitate nervorum71 he arose before our eyes1 quite well4 7,cap4 ii4 #bj47 ,some time afterwards an old man entered the church on his hands and knees1 being unable to use his limbs properly3-- #che ,he1 in presence of all of us1 by the power of ,god and the merits of the blessed martyrs1 in the same hour in which he entered was so perfectly cured that he walked without so much as a stick4 ,and he said that1 though he had been deaf for five years1 his deafness had ceased along with the palsy4 7,cap4 iii4 #cc47 ,eginhard was now obliged to return to the ,court at ,aix-la-,chapelle1 where his duties kept him through the winter2 and he is careful to point out that the later miracles which he proceeds to speak of are known to him only at second hand4 ,but1 as he naturally observes1 having seen such wonderful events with his own eyes1 why should he doubt similar narrations when they are received from trustworthy sources8 ,wonderful stories these are indeed1 but as they are1 for the most part1 of the same general character as those already recounted1 they may be passed over4 ,there is1 however1 an account of a possessed maiden which is worth attention4 ,this is set forth in a memoir1 the principal contents of which are the speeches of a demon who declared himself to possess the singular appellation of ,wiggo1 and revealed himself in the presence of many witnesses1 before the altar1 close to the relics of the blessed martyrs4 ,it is noteworthy that the revelations appear to have been made in the shape of replies to the questions of the exorcising priest1 and there is no means of judging how far the answers are1 really1 only the questions to which the patient replied yes or no4 ,the possessed girl1 about sixteen years of age1 was brought by her parents to the basilica of the martyrs4 #chf ,when she approached the tomb containing the sacred bodies1 the priest1 according to custom1 read the formula of exorcism over her head4 ,when he began to ask how and when the demon had entered her1 she answered1 not in the tongue of the barbarians1 which alone the girl knew1 but in the ,roman tongue4 ,and when the priest was astonished and asked how she came to know ,latin1 when her parents1 who stood by1 were wholly ignorant of it1 ,thou hast never seen my parents1 was the reply4 ,to this the priest1 ,whence art thou1 then1 if these are not thy parents8 ,and the demon1 by the mouth of the girl1 ,i am a follower and disciple of ,satan1 and for a long time ,i was gatekeeper 7janitor7 in hell2 but1 for some years1 along with eleven companions1 ,i have ravaged the kingdom of the ,franks4 7,cap4 v4 #di47 ,he then goes on to tell how they blasted the crops and scattered pestilence among beasts and men1 because of the prevalent wickedness of the people4#ii ,the enumeration of all these iniquities1 in oratorical style1 takes up a whole octavo page2 and at the end it is stated1 ,all these things the demon spoke in ,latin by the mouth of the girl4 ,and when the priest imperatively ordered him to come out1 ,i shall go1 said he1 not in obedience to you1 but on account of the power of the saints1 who do not allow me to remain any longer4 ,and1 having said this1 he threw the girl down on the floor and there compelled her to lie prostrate for a time1 as though she slumbered4 ,after a little while1 however1 he going away1 the girl1 by the power of ,christ and the merits of the blessed martyrs1 as it were awaking from sleep1 rose up quite well1 to the astonishment of all present2 nor after the demon had gone out was she able to speak ,latin3 so that it was plain enough that it was not she who had spoken in that tongue1 but the demon by her mouth4 7,cap4 v4 #ea47 #chg ,if the ,historia ,translationis contained nothing more than has been1 at present1 laid before the reader1 disbelief in the miracles of which it gives so precise and full a record might well be regarded as hyper-scepticism4 ,it might fairly be said1 ,here you have a man1 whose high character1 acute intelligence1 and large instruction are certified by eminent contemporaries2 a man who stood high in the confidence of one of the greatest rulers of any age1 and whose other works prove him to be an accurate and judicious narrator of ordinary events4 ,this man tells you1 in language which bears the stamp of sincerity1 of things which happened within his own knowledge1 or within that of persons in whose veracity he has entire confidence1 while he appeals to his sovereign and the court as witnesses of others2 what possible ground can there be for disbelieving him8 ,well1 it is hard upon ,eginhard to say so1 but it is exactly the honesty and sincerity of the man which are his undoing as a witness to the miraculous4 ,he himself makes it quite obvious that when his profound piety comes on the stage1 his good sense and even his perception of right and wrong make their exit4 ,let us go back to the point at which we left him1 secretly perusing the letter of ,deacon ,deusdona4 ,as he tells us1 its contents were that he the deacon had many relics of saints at home1 and that he would give them to me if ,i would furnish him with the means of returning to ,rome2 he had observed that ,i had two mules1 and if ,i would let him have one of them and would despatch with him a confidential servant to take charge of the #chh relics1 he would at once send them to me4 ,this plausibly expressed proposition pleased me1 and ,i made up my mind to test the value of the somewhat ambiguous promise at once2#ajj so giving him the mule and money for his journey ,i ordered my notary ,ratleig 7who already desired to go to ,rome to offer his devotions there7 to go with him4 ,therefore1 having left ,aix-la-,chapelle 7where the ,emperor and his ,court resided at the time7 they came to ,soissons4 ,here they spoke with ,hildoin1 abbot of the monastery of ,st4 ,medardus1 because the said deacon had assured him that he had the means of placing in his possession the body of the blessed ,tiburtius the ,martyr4 ,attracted by which promises he 7,hildoin7 sent with them a certain priest1 ,hunus by name1 a sharp man 7hominem callidum71 whom he ordered to receive and bring back the body of the martyr in question4 ,and so1 resuming their journey1 they proceeded to ,rome as fast as they could4 7,cap4 i4 #c47 ,unfortunately1 a servant of the notary1 one ,reginbald1 fell ill of a tertian fever1 and impeded the progress of the party4 ,however1 this piece of adversity had its sweet uses2 for three days before they reached ,rome1 ,reginbald had a vision4 ,somebody habited as a deacon appeared to him and asked why his master was in such a hurry to get to ,rome2 and when ,reginbald explained their business1 this visionary deacon1 who seems to have taken the measure of his brother in the flesh with some accuracy1 told him not by any means to expect that ,deusdona would fulfil his promises4 ,moreover1 taking the servant by the hand1 he led him to the top of a high mountain and1 showing him ,rome 7where the man had never been71 pointed #chi out a church1 adding ,tell ,ratleig the thing he wants is hidden there2 let him get it as quickly as he can and go back to his master2 and1 by way of a sign that the order was authoritative1 the servant was promised that from that time forth his fever should disappear4 ,and as the fever did vanish to return no more1 the faith of ,eginhard's people in ,deacon ,deusdona naturally vanished with it 7et fidem diaconi promissis non haberent74 ,nevertheless1 they put up at the deacon's house near ,st4 ,peter ad ,vincula4 ,but time went on and no relics made their appearance1 while the notary and the priest were put off with all sorts of excuses--the brother to whom the relics had been confided was gone to ,beneventum and not expected back for some time1 and so on--until ,ratleig and ,hunus began to despair1 and were minded to return1 infecto negotio4 ,but my notary1 calling to mind his servant's dream1 proposed to his companion that they should go to the cemetery which their host had talked about without him4 ,so1 having found and hired a guide1 they went in the first place to the basilica of the blessed ,tiburtius in the ,via ,labicana1 about three thousand paces from the town1 and cautiously and carefully inspected the tomb of that martyr1 in order to discover whether it could be opened without any one being the wiser4 ,then they descended into the adjoining crypt1 in which the bodies of the blessed martyrs of ,christ1 ,marcellinus and ,petrus were buried2 and1 having made out the nature of their tomb1 they went away thinking their host would not know what they had been about4 ,but things fell out differently from what they had imagined4 7,cap4 i4 #g47 ,in fact1 ,deacon ,deusdona1 who doubtless kept an eye on his guests1 knew all about their manoeuvres and made haste to offer his services1 in order that #cij with the help of ,god 7si ,deus votis eorum favere dignaretur71 they should all work together4 ,the deacon was evidently alarmed lest they should succeed without his help4 ,so1 by way of preparation for the contemplated vol avec effraction they fasted three days2 and then1 at night1 without being seen1 they betook themselves to the basilica of ,st4 ,tiburtius1 and tried to break open the altar erected over his remains4 ,but the marble proving too solid1 they descended to the crypt1 and having evoked our ,lord ,jesus ,christ and adored the holy martyrs1 they proceeded to prise off the stone which covered the tomb1 and thereby exposed the body of the most sacred martyr ,marcellinus1 whose head rested on a marble tablet on which his name was inscribed4 ,the body was taken up with the greatest veneration1 wrapped in a rich covering1 and given over to the keeping of the deacon and his brother1 ,lunison1 while the stone was replaced with such care that no sign of the theft remained4 ,as sacrilegious proceedings of this kind were punishable with death by the ,roman law1 it seems not unnatural that ,deacon ,deusdona should have become uneasy1 and have urged ,ratleig to be satisfied with what he had got and be off with his spoils4 ,but the notary having thus cleverly captured the blessed ,marcellinus1 thought it a pity he should be parted from the blessed ,petrus1 side by side with whom he had rested for five hundred years and more in the same sepulchre 7as ,eginhard pathetically #cia observes72 and the pious man could neither eat1 drink1 nor sleep1 until he had compassed his desire to re-unite the saintly colleagues4 ,this time1 apparently in consequence of ,deusdona's opposition to any further resurrectionist doings1 he took counsel with a ,greek monk1 one ,basil1 and1 accompanied by ,hunus1 but saying nothing to ,deusdona1 they committed another sacrilegious burglary1 securing this time1 not only the body of the blessed ,petrus1 but a quantity of dust1 which they agreed the priest should take1 and tell his employer that it was the remains of the blessed ,tiburtius4 ,how ,deusdona was squared1 and what he got for his not very valuable complicity in these transactions1 does not appear4 ,but at last the relics were sent off in charge of ,lunison1 the brother of ,deusdona1 and the priest ,hunus1 as far as ,pavia1 while ,ratleig stopped behind for a week to see if the robbery was discovered1 and1 presumably1 to act as a blind if any hue and cry was raised4 ,but1 as everything remained quiet1 the notary betook himself to ,pavia1 where he found ,lunison and ,hunus awaiting his arrival4 ,the notary's opinion of the character of his worthy colleagues1 however1 may be gathered from the fact that1 having persuaded them to set out in advance along a road which he told them he was about to take1 he immediately adopted another route1 and1 travelling by way of ,st4 ,maurice and the ,lake of ,geneva1 eventually reached ,soleure4 ,eginhard tells all this story with the most naive air of unconsciousness that there is anything remarkable about an abbot1 and a high officer of state to #cib boot1 being an accessory1 both before and after the fact1 to a most gross and scandalous act of sacrilegious and burglarious robbery4 ,and an amusing sequel to the story proves that1 where relics were concerned1 his friend ,hildoin1 another high ecclesiastical dignitary1 was even less scrupulous than himself4 ,on going to the palace early one morning1 after the saints were safely bestowed at ,seligenstadt1 he found ,hildoin waiting for an audience in the ,emperor's antechamber1 and began to talk to him about the miracle of the bloody exudation4 ,in the course of conversation1 ,eginhard happened to allude to the remarkable fineness of the garment of the blessed ,marcellinus4 ,whereupon ,abbot ,hildoin observed 7to ,eginhard's stupefaction7 that his observation was quite correct4 ,much astonished at this remark from a person who was supposed not to have seen the relics1 ,eginhard asked him how he knew that8 ,upon this1 ,hildoin saw that he had better make a clean breast of it1 and he told the following story1 which he had received from his priestly agent1 ,hunus4 ,while ,hunus and ,lunison were at ,pavia1 waiting for ,eginhard's notary1 ,hunus 7according to his own account7 had robbed the robbers4 ,the relics were placed in a church and a number of laymen and clerics1 of whom ,hunus was one1 undertook to keep watch over them4 ,one night1 however1 all the watchers1 save the wide-awake ,hunus1 went to sleep2 and then1 according to the story which this sharp ecclesiastic foisted upon his patron1 #cic it was borne in upon his mind that there must be some great reason why all the people1 except himself1 had suddenly become somnolent2 and1 determining to avail himself of the opportunity thus offered 7oblata occasione utendum71 he rose and1 having lighted a candle1 silently approached the chests4 ,then1 having burnt through the threads of the seals with the flame of the candle1 he quickly opened the chests1 which had no locks2#aja and1 taking out portions of each of the bodies which were thus exposed1 he closed the chests and connected the burnt ends of the threads with the seals again1 so that they appeared not to have been touched2 and1 no one having seen him1 he returned to his place4 7,cap4 iii4 #bc47 ,hildoin went on to tell ,eginhard that ,hunus at first declared to him that these purloined relics belonged to ,st4 ,tiburtius2 but afterwards confessed1 as a great secret1 how he had come by them1 and he wound up his discourse thus3 ,they have a place of honour beside ,st4 ,medardus1 where they are worshipped with great veneration by all the people2 but whether we may keep them or not is for your judgment4 7,cap4 iii4 #bc47 ,poor ,eginhard was thrown into a state of great perturbation of mind by this revelation4 ,an acquaintance of his had recently told him of a rumour that was spread about that ,hunus had contrived to abstract all the remains of ,,ss4 ,marcellinus and ,petrus while ,eginhard's agents were in a drunken sleep2 and that1 while the real relics were in ,abbot ,hildoin's hands at ,st4 ,medardus1 the shrine at ,seligenstadt contained nothing but a little dust4 ,though greatly annoyed by this execrable rumour1 spread #cid everywhere by the subtlety of the devil1 ,eginhard had doubtless comforted himself by his supposed knowledge of its falsity1 and he only now discovered how considerable a foundation there was for the scandal4 ,there was nothing for it but to insist upon the return of the stolen treasures4 ,one would have thought that the holy man1 who had admitted himself to be knowingly a receiver of stolen goods1 would have made instant restitution and begged only for absolution4 ,but ,eginhard intimates that he had very great difficulty in getting his brother abbot to see that even restitution was necessary4 ,hildoin's proceedings were not of such a nature as to lead any one to place implicit confidence in anything he might say2 still less had his agent1 priest ,hunus1 established much claim to confidence2 and it is not surprising that ,eginhard should have lost no time in summoning his notary and ,lunison to his presence1 in order that he might hear what they had to say about the business4 ,they1 however1 at once protested that priest ,hunus's story was a parcel of lies1 and that after the relics left ,rome no one had any opportunity of meddling with them4 ,moreover1 ,lunison1 throwing himself at ,eginhard's feet1 confessed with many tears what actually took place4 ,it will be remembered that after the body of ,st4 ,marcellinus was abstracted from its tomb1 ,ratleig deposited it in the house of ,deusdona1 in charge of the latter's brother1 ,lunison4 ,but ,hunus1 being very much disappointed that he could not get hold of the body of ,st4 ,tiburtius1 and afraid to go back to his #cie abbot empty-handed1 bribed ,lunison with four pieces of gold and five of silver to give him access to the chest4 ,this ,lunison did1 and ,hunus helped himself to as much as would fill a gallon measure 7vas sextarii mensuram7 of the sacred remains4 ,eginhard's indignation at the rapine of this nequissimus nebulo is exquisitely droll4 ,it would appear that the adage about the receiver being as bad as the thief was not current in the ninth century4 ,let us now briefly sum up the history of the acquisition of the relics4 ,eginhard makes a contract with ,deusdona for the delivery of certain relics which the latter says he possesses4 ,eginhard makes no inquiry how he came by them2 otherwise1 the transaction is innocent enough4 ,deusdona turns out to be a swindler1 and has no relics4 ,thereupon ,eginhard's agent1 after due fasting and prayer1 breaks open the tombs and helps himself4 ,eginhard discovers by the self-betrayal of his brother abbot1 ,hildoin1 that portions of his relics have been stolen and conveyed to the latter4 ,with much ado he succeeds in getting them back4 ,hildoin's agent1 ,hunus1 in delivering these stolen goods to him1 at first declared they were the relics of ,st4 ,tiburtius1 which ,hildoin desired him to obtain2 but afterwards invented a story of their being the product of a theft1 which the providential drowsiness of his companions enabled him to perpetrate1 from the relics which ,hildoin well knew were the property of his friend4 #cif ,lunison1 on the contrary1 swears that all this story is false1 and that he himself was bribed by ,hunus to allow him to steal what he pleased from the property confided to his own and his brother's care by their guest ,ratleig4 ,and the honest notary himself seems to have no hesitation about lying and stealing to any extent1 where the acquisition of relics is the object in view4 ,for a parallel to these transactions one must read a police report of the doings of a long firm or of a set of horse-coupers2 yet ,eginhard seems to be aware of nothing1 but that he has been rather badly used by his friend ,hildoin1 and the nequissimus nebulo ,hunus4 ,it is not easy for a modern ,protestant1 still less for any one who has the least tincture of scientific culture1 whether physical or historical1 to picture to himself the state of mind of a man of the ninth century1 however cultivated1 enlightened1 and sincere he may have been4 ,his deepest convictions1 his most cherished hopes1 were bound up with the belief in the miraculous4 ,life was a constant battle between saints and demons for the possession of the souls of men4 ,the most superstitious among our modern countrymen turn to supernatural agencies only when natural causes seem insufficient2 to ,eginhard and his friends the supernatural was the rule1 and the sufficiency of natural causes was allowed only when there was nothing to suggest others4 ,moreover1 it must be recollected that the possession of miracle-working relics was greatly coveted1 #cig not only on high1 but on very low grounds4 ,to a man like ,eginhard1 the mere satisfaction of the religious sentiment was obviously a powerful attraction4 ,but1 more than this1 the possession of such a treasure was an immense practical advantage4 ,if the saints were duly flattered and worshipped1 there was no telling what benefits might result from their interposition on your behalf4 ,for physical evils1 access to the shrine was like the grant of the use of a universal pill and ointment manufactory2 and pilgrimages thereto might suffice to cleanse the performers from any amount of sin4 ,a letter to ,lupus1 subsequently ,abbot of ,ferrara1 written while ,eginhard was smarting under the grief caused by the loss of his much-loved wife ,imma1 affords a striking insight into the current view of the relation between the glorified saints and their worshippers4 ,the writer shows that he is anything but satisfied with the way in which he has been treated by the blessed martyrs whose remains he has taken such pains to convey to ,seligenstadt1 and to honour there as they would never have been honoured in their ,roman obscurity4 ,it is an aggravation of my grief and a reopening of my wound1 that our vows have been of no avail1 and that the faith which we placed in the merits and intervention of the martyrs has been utterly disappointed4 ,we may admit1 then1 without impeachment of ,eginhard's sincerity1 or of his honour under all ordinary circumstances1 that when piety1 self-interest1 the glory of the ,church in general1 and that of the church at ,seligenstadt in particular1 all pulled one way1 #cih even the workaday principles of morality were disregarded2 and1 a fortiori1 anything like proper investigation of the reality of alleged miracles was thrown to the winds4 ,and if this was the condition of mind of such a man as ,eginhard1 what is it not legitimate to suppose may have been that of ,deacon ,deusdona1 ,lunison1 ,hunus1 and ,company1 thieves and cheats by their own confession1 or of the probably hysterical nun1 or of the professional beggars1 for whose incapacity to walk and straighten themselves there is no guarantee but their own8 ,who is to make sure that the exorcist of the demon ,wiggo was not just such another priest as ,hunus2 and is it not at least possible1 when ,eginhard's servants dreamed1 night after night1 in such a curiously coincident fashion1 that a careful inquirer might have found they were very anxious to please their master8 ,quite apart from deliberate and conscious fraud 7which is a rarer thing than is often supposed71 people1 whose mythopoeic faculty is once stirred1 are capable of saying the thing that is not1 and of acting as they should not1 to an extent which is hardly imaginable by persons who are not so easily affected by the contagion of blind faith4 ,there is no falsity so gross that honest men and1 still more1 virtuous women1 anxious to promote a good cause1 will not lend themselves to it without any clear consciousness of the moral bearings of what they are doing4 ,the cases of miraculously-effected cures of which ,eginhard is ocular witness appear to belong to classes #cii of disease in which malingering is possible or hysteria presumable4 ,without modern means of diagnosis1 the names given to them are quite worthless4 ,one miracle1 however1 in which the patient1 a woman1 was cured by the mere sight of the church in which the relics of the blessed martyrs lay1 is an unmistakable case of dislocation of the lower jaw2 and it is obvious that1 as not unfrequently happens in such accidents in weakly subjects1 the jaw slipped suddenly back into place1 perhaps in consequence of a jolt1 as the woman rode towards the church4 7,cap4 v4 #ec47ajb ,there is also a good deal said about a very questionable blind man--one ,albricus 7,alberich87--who1 having been cured1 not of his blindness1 but of another disease under which he laboured1 took up his quarters at ,seligenstadt1 and came out as a prophet1 inspired by the ,archangel ,gabriel4 ,eginhard intimates that his prophecies were fulfilled2 but as he does not state exactly what they were or how they were accomplished1 the statement must be accepted with much caution4 ,it is obvious that he was not the man to hesitate to ease a prophecy until it fitted1 if the credit of the shrine of his favourite saints could be increased by such a procedure4 ,there is no impeachment of his honour in the supposition4 ,the logic of the matter is quite simple1 if somewhat sophistical4 ,the holiness of the church of the martyrs guarantees #djj the reality of the appearance of the ,archangel ,gabriel there1 and what the archangel says must be true4 ,therefore1 if anything seem to be wrong1 that must be the mistake of the transmitter2 and1 in justice to the archangel1 it must be suppressed or set right4 ,this sort of reconciliation is not unknown in quite modern times1 and among people who would be very much shocked to be compared with a benighted papist of the ninth century4 ,the readers of this essay are1 ,i imagine1 very largely composed of people who would be shocked to be regarded as anything but enlightened ,protestants4 ,it is not unlikely that those of them who have accompanied me thus far may be disposed to say1 ,well1 this is all very amusing as a story1 but what is the practical interest of it8 ,we are not likely to believe in the miracles worked by the spolia of ,,ss4 ,marcellinus and ,petrus1 or by those of any other saints in the ,roman ,calendar4 ,the practical interest is this3 if you do not believe in these miracles recounted by a witness whose character and competency are firmly established1 whose sincerity cannot be doubted1 and who appeals to his sovereign and other contemporaries as witnesses of the truth of what he says1 in a document of which a ,,ms4 copy exists1 probably dating within a century of the author's death1 why do you profess to believe in stories of a like character1 which are found in documents of the dates and of the authorship of which nothing is certainly determined1 and no known copies of which come within two or three centuries of the #dja events they record4 ,if it be true that the four ,gospels and the ,acts were written by ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john1 all that we know of these persons comes to nothing in comparison with our knowledge of ,eginhard2 and not only is there no proof that the traditional authors of these works wrote them1 but very strong reasons to the contrary may be alleged4 ,if1 therefore1 you refuse to believe that ,wiggo was cast out of the possessed girl on ,eginhard's authority1 with what justice can you profess to believe that the legion of devils were cast out of the man among the tombs of the ,gadarenes8 ,and if1 on the other hand1 you accept ,eginhard's evidence1 why do you laugh at the supposed efficacy of relics and the saint-worship of the modern ,romanists8 ,it cannot be pretended1 in the face of all evidence1 that the ,jews of the year #cj ,a4,d41 or thereabouts1 were less imbued with the belief in the supernatural than were the ,franks of the year #hjj ,a4,d4 ,the same influences were at work in each case1 and it is only reasonable to suppose that the results were the same4 ,if the evidence of ,eginhard is insufficient to lead reasonable men to believe in the miracles he relates1 a fortiori the evidence afforded by the ,gospels and the ,acts must be so4#ajc ,but it may be said that no serious critic denies the genuineness of the four great ,pauline ,epistles--,galatians1 ,first and ,second ,corinthians1 and #djb ,romans--and that in three out of these four ,paul lays claim to the power of working miracles4#ajd ,must we suppose1 therefore1 that the ,apostle to the ,gentiles has stated that which is false8 ,but to how much does this so-called claim amount8 ,it may mean much or little4 ,paul nowhere tells us what he did in this direction2 and1 in his sore need to justify his assumption of apostleship against the sneers of his enemies1 it is hardly likely that if he had any very striking cases to bring forward he would have neglected evidence so well calculated to put them to shame4 ,and1 without the slightest impeachment of ,paul's veracity1 we must further remember that his strongly-marked mental characteristics1 displayed in unmistakable fashion in these ,epistles1 are anything but those which would justify us in regarding him as a critical witness respecting matters of fact1 or as a trustworthy interpreter of their significance4 ,when a man testifies to a miracle1 he not only states a fact1 but he adds an interpretation of the fact4 ,we may admit his evidence as to the former1 and yet think his opinion as to the latter worthless4 ,if ,eginhard's calm and objective narrative of the historical events of his time is no guarantee for the soundness of his judgment where the supernatural is concerned1 the heated rhetoric of the ,apostle of the ,gentiles1 his absolute confidence in the inner light1 and the extraordinary conceptions of the nature and requirements of logical proof which he betrays1 in page after page of his ,epistles1 afford still less security4 #djc ,there is a comparatively modern man who shared to the full ,paul's trust in the inner light1 and who1 though widely different from the fiery evangelist of ,tarsus in various obvious particulars1 yet1 if ,i am not mistaken1 shares his deepest characteristics4 ,i speak of ,george ,fox1 who separated himself from the current ,protestantism of ,england1 in the seventeenth century1 as ,paul separated himself from the ,judaism of the first century1 at the bidding of the inner light2 who went through persecutions as serious as those which ,paul enumerates2 who was beaten1 stoned1 cast out for dead1 imprisoned nine times1 sometimes for long periods2 who was in perils on land and perils at sea4 ,george ,fox was an even more widely travelled missionary2 while his success in founding congregations1 and his energy in visiting them1 not merely in ,great ,britain and ,ireland and the ,west ,india ,islands1 but on the continent of ,europe and that of ,north ,america1 was no less remarkable4 ,a few years after ,fox began to preach1 there were reckoned to be a thousand ,friends in prison in the various gaols of ,england2 at his death1 less than fifty years after the foundation of the sect1 there were #gj1jjj ,quakers in the ,united ,kingdom4 ,the cheerfulness with which these people--women as well as men--underwent martyrdom in this country and in the ,new ,england ,states is one of the most remarkable facts in the history of religion4 ,no one who reads the voluminous autobiography of ,honest ,george can doubt the man's utter truthfulness2 and though1 in his multitudinous letters1 #djd he but rarely rises far above the incoherent commonplaces of a street preacher1 there can be no question of his power as a speaker1 nor any doubt as to the dignity and attractiveness of his personality1 or of his possession of a large amount of practical good sense and governing faculty4 ,but that ,george ,fox had full faith in his own powers as a miracle-worker1 the following passage of his autobiography 7to which others might be added7 demonstrates3-- ,now after ,i was set at liberty from ,nottingham gaol 7where ,i had been kept a prisoner a pretty long time7 ,i travelled as before1 in the work of the ,lord4 ,and coming to ,mansfield ,woodhouse1 there was a distracted woman1 under a doctor's hand1 with her hair let loose all about her ears2 and he was about to let her blood1 she being first bound1 and many people being about her1 holding her by violence2 but he could get no blood from her4 ,and ,i desired them to unbind her and let her alone2 for they could not touch the spirit in her by which she was tormented4 ,so they did unbind her1 and ,i was moved to speak to her1 and in the name of the ,lord to bid her be quiet and still4 ,and she was so4 ,and the ,lord's power settled her mind and she mended2 and afterwards received the truth and continued in it to her death4 ,and the ,lord's name was honoured2 to whom the glory of all his works belongs4 ,many great and wonderful things were wrought by the heavenly power in those days4 ,for the ,lord made bare his omnipotent arm and manifested his power to the astonishment of many2 by the healing virtue whereof many have been delivered from great infirmities1 and the devils were made subject through his name3 of which particular instances might be given beyond what this unbelieving age is able to receive or bear4#aje ,it needs no long study of ,fox's writings1 however1 #dje to arrive at the conviction that the distinction between subjective and objective verities had not the same place in his mind as it has in that of ordinary mortals4 ,when an ordinary person would say ,i thought so and so1 or ,i made up my mind to do so and so1 ,george ,fox says1 ,it was opened to me1 or at the command of ,god ,i did so and so4 ,then at the command of ,god1 on the ninth day of the seventh month #afdc 7,fox being just nineteen71 ,i left my relations and brake off all familiarity or friendship with young or old4 ,about the beginning of the year #afdg ,i was moved of the ,lord to go into ,darbyshire4 ,fox hears voices and he sees visions1 some of which he brings before the reader with apocalyptic power in the simple and strong ,english1 alike untutored and undefiled1 of which1 like ,john ,bunyan1 his contemporary1 he was a master4 ,and one morning1 as ,i was sitting by the fire1 a great cloud came over me and a temptation beset me2 and ,i sate still4 ,and it was said1 ,all things come by ,nature4 ,and the elements and stars came over me2 so that ,i was in a manner quite clouded with it4444 ,and as ,i sate still under it1 and let it alone1 a living hope arose in me1 and a true voice arose in me which said1 ,there is a living ,god who made all things4 ,and immediately the cloud and the temptation vanished away1 and life rose over it all1 and my heart was glad and ,i praised the living ,god 7p4 #ac74 ,if ,george ,fox could speak1 as he proves in this and some other passages he could write1 his #djf astounding influence on the contemporaries of ,milton and of ,cromwell is no mystery4 ,but this modern reproduction of the ancient prophet1 with his ,thus saith the ,lord1 ,this is the work of the ,lord1 steeped in supernaturalism and glorying in blind faith1 is the mental antipodes of the philosopher1 founded in naturalism and a fanatic for evidence1 to whom these affirmations inevitably suggest the previous question3 ,how do you know that the ,lord saith it3 ,how do you know that the ,lord doeth it8 and who is compelled to demand that rational ground for belief without which1 to the man of science1 assent is merely an immoral pretence4 ,and it is this rational ground of belief which the writers of the ,gospels1 no less than ,paul1 and ,eginhard1 and ,fox1 so little dream of offering that they would regard the demand for it as a kind of blasphemy4 99 99 99 99 99 #djg ,,xi ,,agnosticism3 ,a ,,rejoinder ,those who passed from ,dr4 ,wace's article in the last number of this ,review to the anticipatory confutation of it which followed in ,the ,new ,reformation1 must have enjoyed the pleasure of a dramatic surprise--just as when the fifth act of a new play proves unexpectedly bright and interesting4 ,mrs4 ,ward will1 ,i hope1 pardon the comparison1 if ,i say that her effective clearing away of antiquated incumbrances from the lists of the controversy1 reminds me of nothing so much as of the action of some neat-handed1 but strong-wristed1 ,phyllis1 who1 gracefully wielding her long-handled ,turk's head1 sweeps away the accumulated results of the toil of generations of spiders4 ,i am the more indebted to this luminous sketch of the results of critical investigation1 as it is carried out among those theologians who are men of science and not mere counsel for creeds1 since it has relieved me from the necessity of dealing with the greater part of ,dr4 ,wace's polemic1 and enables me to devote more space to the really important issues which have been raised4#ajf #djh ,perhaps1 however1 it may be well for me to observe that approbation of the manner in which a great biblical scholar1 for instance1 ,reuss1 does his work does not commit me to the adoption of all1 or indeed any of his views2 and1 further1 that the disagreements of a series of investigators do not in any way interfere with the fact that each of them has made important contributions to the body of truth ultimately established4 ,if ,i cite ,buffon1 ,linnaeus1 ,lamarck1 and ,cuvier1 as having each and all taken a leading share in building up modern biology1 the statement that every one of these great naturalists disagreed with1 and even more or less contradicted1 all the rest is quite true2 but the supposition that the latter assertion is in any way inconsistent with the former1 would betray a strange ignorance of the manner in which all true science advances4 ,dr4 ,wace takes a great deal of trouble to make it appear that ,i have desired to evade the real questions raised by his attack upon me at the ,church ,congress4 ,i assure the reverend ,principal that in this1 as in some other respects1 he has entertained a very erroneous conception of my intentions4 ,things would assume more accurate proportions in ,dr4 ,wace's mind if he would kindly remember that it is just thirty years since ecclesiastical thunderbolts #dji began to fly about my ears4 ,i have had the ,lion and the ,bear to deal with1 and it is long since ,i got quite used to the threatenings of episcopal ,goliaths1 whose croziers were like unto a weaver's beam4 ,so that ,i almost think ,i might not have noticed ,dr4 ,wace's attack1 personal as it was2 and although1 as he is good enough to tell us1 separate copies are to be had for the modest equivalent of twopence1 as a matter of fact1 it did not come under my notice for a long time after it was made4 ,may ,i further venture to point out that 7reckoning postage7 the expenditure of twopence-halfpenny1 or1 at the most1 threepence1 would have enabled ,dr4 ,wace so far to comply with ordinary conventions1 as to direct my attention to the fact that he had attacked me before a meeting at which ,i was not present8 ,i really am not responsible for the five months' neglect of which ,dr4 ,wace complains4 ,singularly enough1 the ,englishry who swarmed about the ,engadine1 during the three months that ,i was being brought back to life by the glorious air and perfect comfort of the ,maloja1 did not1 in my hearing1 say anything about the important events which had taken place at the ,church ,congress2 and ,i think ,i can venture to affirm that there was not a single copy of ,dr4 ,wace's pamphlet in any of the hotel libraries which ,i rummaged in search of something more edifying than dull ,english or questionable ,french novels4 ,and now1 having1 as ,i hope1 set myself right with the public as regards the sins of commission and #daj omission with which ,i have been charged1 ,i feel free to deal with matters to which time and type may be more profitably devoted4 ,i believe that there is not a solitary argument ,i have used1 or that ,i am about to use1 which is original1 or has anything to do with the fact that ,i have been chiefly occupied with natural science4 ,they are all1 facts and reasoning alike1 either identical with1 or consequential upon1 propositions which are to be found in the works of scholars and theologians of the highest repute in the only two countries1 ,holland and ,germany1#ajg in which1 at the present time1 professors of theology are to be found1 whose tenure of their posts does not depend upon the results to which their inquiries lead them4#ajh ,it is true that1 to the best of my ability1 ,i have satisfied myself of the soundness of the foundations on which my arguments are built1 and ,i desire to be held fully #daa responsible for everything ,i say4 ,but1 nevertheless1 my position is really no more than that of an expositor2 and my justification for undertaking it is simply that conviction of the supremacy of private judgment 7indeed1 of the impossibility of escaping it7 which is the foundation of the ,protestant ,reformation1 and which was the doctrine accepted by the vast majority of the ,anglicans of my youth1 before that backsliding towards the beggarly rudiments of an effete and idolatrous sacerdotalism which has1 even now1 provided us with the saddest spectacle which has been offered to the eyes of ,englishmen in this generation4 ,a high court of ecclesiastical jurisdiction1 with a host of great lawyers in battle array1 is and1 for ,heaven knows how long1 will be1 occupied with these very questions of washing of cups and pots and brazen vessels1 which the ,master1 whose professed representatives are rending the ,church over these squabbles1 had in his mind when1 as we are told1 he uttered the scathing rebuke3-- ,well did ,isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites1 as it is written1 ,this people honoureth me with their lips1 ,but their heart is far from me4 ,but in vain do they worship me1 ,teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men4 7,mark vii4 #f-g47 ,men who can be absorbed in bickerings over miserable disputes of this kind can have but little sympathy with the old evangelical doctrine of the open ,bible1 or anything but a grave misgiving of the results of diligent reading of the ,bible1 without the #dab help of ecclesiastical spectacles1 by the mass of the people4 ,greatly to the surprise of many of my friends1 ,i have always advocated the reading of the ,bible1 and the diffusion of the study of that most remarkable collection of books among the people4 ,its teachings are so infinitely superior to those of the sects1 who are just as busy now as the ,pharisees were eighteen hundred years ago1 in smothering them under the precepts of men2 it is so certain1 to my mind1 that the ,bible contains within itself the refutation of nine-tenths of the mixture of sophistical metaphysics and old-world superstition which has been piled round it by the so-called ,christians of later times2 it is so clear that the only immediate and ready antidote to the poison which has been mixed with ,christianity1 to the intoxication and delusion of mankind1 lies in copious draughts from the undefiled spring1 that ,i exercise the right and duty of free judgment on the part of every man1 mainly for the purpose of inducing other laymen to follow my example4 ,if the ,new ,testament is translated into ,zulu by ,protestant missionaries1 it must be assumed that a ,zulu convert is competent to draw from its contents all the truths which it is necessary for him to believe4 ,i trust that ,i may1 without immodesty1 claim to be put on the same footing as the ,zulu4 ,the most constant reproach which is launched against persons of my way of thinking is that it is all very well for us to talk about the deductions of scientific thought1 but what are the poor and the #dac uneducated to do8 ,has it ever occurred to those who talk in this fashion1 that their creeds and the articles of their several confessions1 their determination of the exact nature and extent of the teachings of ,jesus1 their expositions of the real meaning of that which is written in the ,epistles 7to leave aside all questions concerning the ,old ,testament71 are nothing more than deductions which1 at any rate1 profess to be the result of strictly scientific thinking1 and which are not worth attending to unless they really possess that character8 ,if it is not historically true that such and such things happened in ,palestine eighteen centuries ago1 what becomes of ,christianity8 ,and what is historical truth but that of which the evidence bears strict scientific investigation8 ,i do not call to mind any problem of natural science which has come under my notice which is more difficult1 or more curiously interesting as a mere problem1 than that of the origin of the ,synoptic ,gospels and that of the historical value of the narratives which they contain4 ,the ,christianity of the ,churches stands or falls by the results of the purely scientific investigation of these questions4 ,they were first taken up in a purely scientific spirit just about a century ago2 they have been studied over and over again by men of vast knowledge and critical acumen2 but he would be a rash man who should assert that any solution of these problems1 as yet formulated1 is exhaustive4 ,the most that can be said is that certain prevalent solutions are certainly false1 while others are more or less probably true4 #dad ,if ,i am doing my best to rouse my countrymen out of their dogmatic slumbers1 it is not that they may be amused by seeing who gets the best of it in a contest between a scientist and a theologian4 ,the serious question is whether theological men of science1 or theological special pleaders1 are to have the confidence of the general public2 it is the question whether a country in which it is possible for a body of excellent clerical and lay gentlemen to discuss1 in public meeting assembled1 how much it is desirable to let the congregations of the faithful know of the results of biblical criticism1 is likely to wake up with anything short of the grasp of a rough lay hand upon its shoulder2 it is the question whether the ,new ,testament books1 being1 as ,i believe they were1 written and compiled by people who1 according to their lights1 were perfectly sincere1 will not1 when properly studied as ordinary historical documents1 afford us the means of self-criticism4 ,and it must be remembered that the ,new ,testament books are not responsible for the doctrine invented by the ,churches that they are anything but ordinary historical documents4 ,the author of the third gospel tells us1 as straightforwardly as a man can1 that he has no claim to any other character than that of an ordinary compiler and editor1 who had before him the works of many and variously qualified predecessors4 ,in my former papers1 according to ,dr4 ,wace1 ,i have evaded giving an answer to his main proposition1 which he states as follows-- #dae ,apart from all disputed points of criticism1 no one practically doubts that our ,lord lived1 and that ,he died on the cross1 in the most intense sense of filial relation to ,his ,father in ,heaven1 and that ,he bore testimony to that ,father's providence1 love1 and grace towards mankind4 ,the ,lord's ,prayer affords a sufficient evidence on these points4 ,if the ,sermon on the ,mount alone be added1 the whole unseen world1 of which the ,agnostic refuses to know anything1 stands unveiled before us4444 ,if ,jesus ,christ preached that ,sermon1 made those promises1 and taught that prayer1 then any one who says that we know nothing of ,god1 or of a future life1 or of an unseen world1 says that he does not believe ,jesus ,christ 7pp4 #ced-cee74 ,again-- ,the main question at issue1 in a word1 is one which ,professor ,huxley has chosen to leave entirely on one side--whether1 namely1 allowing for the utmost uncertainty on other points of the criticism to which he appeals1 there is any reasonable doubt that the ,lord's ,prayer and the ,sermon on the ,mount afford a true account of our ,lord's essential belief and cardinal teaching 7p4 #cee74 ,i certainly was not aware that ,i had evaded the questions here stated2 indeed ,i should say that ,i have indicated my reply to them pretty clearly2 but1 as ,dr4 ,wace wants a plainer answer1 he shall certainly be gratified4 ,if1 as ,dr4 ,wace declares it is1 his whole case is involved in the argument as stated in the latter of these two extracts1 so much the worse for his whole case4 ,for ,i am of opinion that there is the gravest reason for doubting whether the ,sermon on the ,mount was ever preached1 and whether the so-called ,lord's ,prayer was ever prayed1 by ,jesus of ,nazareth4 ,my reasons for this opinion are1 among others1 these3--,there is now no doubt that the three ,synoptic ,gospels1 so far from being the work of three #daf independent writers1 are closely interdependent1#aji and that in one of two ways4 ,either all three contain1 as their foundation1 versions1 to a large extent verbally identical1 of one and the same tradition2 or two of them are thus closely dependent on the third2 and the opinion of the majority of the best critics has of late years more and more converged towards the conviction that our canonical second gospel 7the so-called ,mark's ,gospel7 is that which most closely represents the primitive groundwork of the three4#aaj ,that ,i take to be one of the most valid results of ,new ,testament criticism1 of immeasurably greater importance than the discussion about dates and authorship4 ,but if1 as ,i believe to be the case1 beyond any rational doubt or dispute1 the second gospel is the nearest extant representative of the oldest tradition1 #dag whether written or oral1 how comes it that it contains neither the ,sermon on the ,mount nor the ,lord's ,prayer1 those typical embodiments1 according to ,dr4 ,wace1 of the essential belief and cardinal teaching of ,jesus8 ,not only does ,mark's gospel fail to contain the ,sermon on the ,mount1 or anything but a very few of the sayings contained in that collection2 but1 at the point of the history of ,jesus where the ,sermon occurs in ,matthew1 there is in ,mark an apparently unbroken narrative from the calling of ,james and ,john to the healing of ,simon's wife's mother4 ,thus the oldest tradition not only ignores the ,sermon on the ,mount1 but1 by implication1 raises a probability against its being delivered when and where the later ,matthew inserts it in his compilation4 ,and still more weighty is the fact that the third gospel1 the author of which tells us that he wrote after many others had taken in hand the same enterprise2 who should therefore have known the first gospel 7if it existed71 and was bound to pay to it the deference due to the work of an apostolic eye-witness 7if he had any reason for thinking it was so7--this writer1 who exhibits far more literary competence than the other two1 ignores any ,sermon on the ,mount1 such as that reported by ,matthew1 just as much as the oldest authority does4 ,yet ,luke has a great many passages identical1 or parallel1 with those in ,matthew's ,sermon on the ,mount1 which are1 for the most part1 scattered about in a totally different connection4 #dah ,interposed1 however1 between the nomination of the ,apostles and a visit to ,capernaum2 occupying1 therefore1 a place which answers to that of the ,sermon on the ,mount in the first gospel1 there is1 in the third gospel1 a discourse which is as closely similar to the ,sermon on the ,mount1 in some particulars1 as it is widely unlike it in others4 ,this discourse is said to have been delivered in a plain or level place 7,luke vi4 #ag71 and by way of distinction we may call it the ,sermon on the ,plain4 ,i see no reason to doubt that the two ,evangelists are dealing1 to a considerable extent1 with the same traditional material2 and a comparison of the two ,sermons suggests very strongly that ,luke's version is the earlier4 ,the correspondences between the two forbid the notion that they are independent4 ,they both begin with a series of blessings1 some of which are almost verbally identical4 ,in the middle of each 7,luke vi4 #bg-ch1 ,matt4 v4 #dc-dh7 there is a striking exposition of the ethical spirit of the command given in ,leviticus xix4 #ah4 ,and each ends with a passage containing the declaration that a tree is to be known by its fruit1 and the parable of the house built on the sand4 ,but while there are only #bi verses in the ,sermon on the ,plain there are #ajg in the ,sermon on the ,mount2 the excess in length of the latter being chiefly due to the long interpolations1 one of #cj verses before and one of #cd verses after1 the middlemost parallelism with ,luke4 ,under these circumstances it is quite impossible to #dai admit that there is more probability that ,matthew's version of the ,sermon is historically accurate than there is that ,luke's version is so2 and they cannot both be accurate4 ,luke either knew the collection of loosely-connected and aphoristic utterances which appear under the name of the ,sermon on the ,mount in ,matthew2 or he did not4 ,if he did not1 he must have been ignorant of the existence of such a document as our canonical ,matthew1 a fact which does not make for the genuineness1 or the authority1 of that book4 ,if he did1 he has shown that he does not care for its authority on a matter of fact of no small importance2 and that does not permit us to conceive that he believed the first gospel to be the work of an authority to whom he ought to defer1 let alone that of an apostolic eye-witness4 ,the tradition of the ,church about the second gospel1 which ,i believe to be quite worthless1 but which is all the evidence there is for ,mark's authorship1 would have us believe that ,mark was little more than the mouthpiece of the apostle ,peter4 ,consequently1 we are to suppose that ,peter either did not know1 or did not care very much for1 that account of the essential belief and cardinal teaching of ,jesus which is contained in the ,sermon on the ,mount2 and1 certainly1 he could not have shared ,dr4 ,wace's view of its importance4#aaa #dbj ,i thought that all fairly attentive and intelligent students of the gospels1 to say nothing of theologians of reputation1 knew these things4 ,but how can any one who does know them have the conscience to ask whether there is any reasonable doubt that the ,sermon on the ,mount was preached by ,jesus of ,nazareth8 ,if conjecture is permissible1 where nothing else is possible1 the most probable conjecture seems to be that ,matthew1 having a cento of sayings attributed--rightly or wrongly it is impossible to say--to ,jesus1 among his materials1 thought they were1 or might be1 records of a continuous discourse1 and put them in at the place he thought likeliest4 ,ancient historians of the highest character saw no harm in composing long speeches which never were spoken1 and putting them into the mouths of statesmen and warriors2 and ,i presume that whoever is represented by ,matthew would have been grievously astonished to find that any one objected to his following the example of the best models accessible to him4 ,so with the ,lord's ,prayer4 ,absent in our representative of the oldest tradition1 it appears in both ,matthew and ,luke4 ,there is reason to believe that every pious ,jew1 at the commencement of our era1 prayed three times a day1 according to a formula which is embodied in the present ,schmone-,esre#aab of #dba the ,jewish prayer-book4 ,jesus1 who was assuredly1 in all respects1 a pious ,jew1 whatever else he may have been1 doubtless did the same4 ,whether he modified the current formula1 or whether the so-called ,lord's ,prayer is the prayer substituted for the ,schmone-,esre in the congregations of the ,gentiles1 is a question which can hardly be answered4 ,in a subsequent passage of ,dr4 ,wace's article 7p4 #cef7 he adds to the list of the verities which he imagines to be unassailable1 ,the ,story of the ,passion4 ,i am not quite sure what he means by this4 ,i am not aware that any one 7with the exception of certain ancient heretics7 has propounded doubts as to the reality of the crucifixion2 and certainly ,i have no inclination to argue about the precise accuracy of every detail of that pathetic story of suffering and wrong4 ,but1 if ,dr4 ,wace means1 as ,i suppose he does1 that that which1 according to the orthodox view1 happened after the crucifixion1 and which is1 in a dogmatic sense1 the most important part of the story1 is founded on solid historical proofs1 ,i must beg leave to express a diametrically opposite conviction4 ,what do we find when the accounts of the events in question1 contained in the three ,synoptic gospels1 are compared together8 ,in the oldest1 there is a simple1 straightforward statement which1 for anything that ,i have to urge to the contrary1 may be exactly true4 ,in the other two1 there is1 round this possible and probable nucleus1 a mass of accretions of the most questionable character4 #dbb ,the cruelty of death by crucifixion depended very much upon its lingering character4 ,if there were a support for the weight of the body1 as not unfrequently was the practice1 the pain during the first hours of the infliction was not1 necessarily1 extreme2 nor need any serious physical symptoms1 at once1 arise from the wounds made by the nails in the hands and feet1 supposing they were nailed1 which was not invariably the case4 ,when exhaustion set in1 and hunger1 thirst1 and nervous irritation had done their work1 the agony of the sufferer must have been terrible2 and the more terrible that1 in the absence of any effectual disturbance of the machinery of physical life1 it might be prolonged for many hours1 or even days4 ,temperate1 strong men1 such as were the ordinary ,galilean peasants1 might live for several days on the cross4 ,it is necessary to bear these facts in mind when we read the account contained in the fifteenth chapter of the second gospel4 ,jesus was crucified at the third hour 7xv4 #be71 and the narrative seems to imply that he died immediately after the ninth hour 7v4 #cd74 ,in this case1 he would have been crucified only six hours2 and the time spent on the cross cannot have been much longer1 because ,joseph of ,arimathaea must have gone to ,pilate1 made his preparations1 and deposited the body in the rock-cut tomb before sunset1 which1 at that time of the year1 was about the twelfth hour4 ,that any one should die after only six hours' crucifixion could not have been at all in accordance with ,pilate's large experience of the effects of that method of #dbc punishment4 ,it1 therefore1 quite agrees with what might be expected if ,pilate marvelled if he were already dead and required to be satisfied on this point by the testimony of the ,roman officer who was in command of the execution party4 ,those who have paid attention to the extraordinarily difficult question1 ,what are the indisputable signs of death8--will be able to estimate the value of the opinion of a rough soldier on such a subject2 even if his report to the ,procurator were in no wise affected by the fact that the friend of ,jesus1 who anxiously awaited his answer1 was a man of influence and of wealth4 ,the inanimate body1 wrapped in linen1 was deposited in a spacious1#aac cool rock chamber1 the entrance of which was closed1 not by a well-fitting door1 but by a stone rolled against the opening1 which would of course allow free passage of air4 ,a little more than thirty-six hours afterwards 7,friday #f ,p4,m41 to ,sunday #f ,a4,m41 or a little after7 three women visit the tomb and find it empty4 ,and they are told by a young man arrayed in a white robe that ,jesus is gone to his native country of ,galilee1 and that the disciples and ,peter will find him there4 ,thus it stands1 plainly recorded1 in the oldest tradition that1 for any evidence to the contrary1 the sepulchre may have been vacated at any time during the ,friday or ,saturday nights4 ,if it is said that no ,jew would have violated the ,sabbath by taking the former course1 it is to be recollected that ,joseph of #dbd ,arimathaea might well be familiar with that wise and liberal interpretation of the fourth commandment1 which permitted works of mercy to men--nay even the drawing of an ox or an ass out of a pit--on the ,sabbath4 ,at any rate1 the ,saturday night was free to the most scrupulous of observers of the ,law4 ,these are the facts of the case as stated by the oldest extant narrative of them4 ,i do not see why any one should have a word to say against the inherent probability of that narrative2 and1 for my part1 ,i am quite ready to accept it as an historical fact1 that so much and no more is positively known of the end of ,jesus of ,nazareth4 ,on what grounds can a reasonable man be asked to believe any more8 ,so far as the narrative in the first gospel1 on the one hand1 and those in the third gospel and the ,acts1 on the other1 go beyond what is stated in the second gospel1 they are hopelessly discrepant with one another4 ,and this is the more significant because the pregnant phrase some doubted1 in the first gospel1 is ignored in the third4 ,but it is said that we have the witness ,paul speaking to us directly in the ,epistles4 ,there is little doubt that we have1 and a very singular witness he is4 ,according to his own showing1 ,paul1 in the vigour of his manhood1 with every means of becoming acquainted1 at first hand1 with the evidence of eyewitnesses1 not merely refused to credit them1 but persecuted the church of ,god and made havoc of it4 ,the reasoning of ,stephen fell dead upon the acute intellect of this zealot for the traditions of #dbe his fathers3 his eyes were blind to the ecstatic illumination of the martyr's countenance as it had been the face of an angel2 and when1 at the words ,behold1 ,i see the heavens opened and the ,son of ,man standing on the right hand of ,god1 the murderous mob rushed upon and stoned the rapt disciple of ,jesus1 ,paul ostentatiously made himself their official accomplice4 ,yet this strange man1 because he has a vision one day1 at once1 and with equally headlong zeal1 flies to the opposite pole of opinion4 ,and he is most careful to tell us that he abstained from any re-examination of the facts4 ,immediately ,i conferred not with flesh and blood2 neither went ,i up to ,jerusalem to them which were ,apostles before me2 but ,i went away into ,arabia4 7,galatians i4 #af1 #ag47 ,i do not presume to quarrel with ,paul's procedure4 ,if it satisfied him1 that was his affair2 and1 if it satisfies any else1 ,i am not called upon to dispute the right of that person to be satisfied4 ,but ,i certainly have the right to say that it would not satisfy me1 in like case2 that ,i should be very much ashamed to pretend that it could1 or ought to1 satisfy me2 and that ,i can entertain but a very low estimate of the value of the evidence of people who are to be satisfied in this fashion1 when questions of objective fact1 in which their faith is interested1 are concerned4 ,so that when ,i am called upon to believe a great deal more than the oldest gospel tells me about the final events of the history of ,jesus on the authority of ,paul 7#a ,corinthians xv4 #e-h7 ,i must pause4 ,did he think it1 #dbf at any subsequent time1 worth while to confer with flesh and blood1 or1 in modern phrase1 to re-examine the facts for himself8 or was he ready to accept anything that fitted in with his preconceived ideas8 ,does he mean1 when he speaks of all the appearances of ,jesus after the crucifixion as if they were of the same kind1 that they were all visions1 like the manifestation to himself8 ,and1 finally1 how is this account to be reconciled with those in the first and third gospels--which1 as we have seen1 disagree with one another8 ,until these questions are satisfactorily answered1 ,i am afraid that1 so far as ,i am concerned1 ,paul's testimony cannot be seriously regarded1 except as it may afford evidence of the state of traditional opinion at the time at which he wrote1 say between #ee and #fj ,a4,d42 that is1 more than twenty years after the event2 a period much more than sufficient for the development of any amount of mythology about matters of which nothing was really known4 ,a few years later1 among the contemporaries and neighbours of the ,jews1 and1 if the most probable interpretation of the ,apocalypse can be trusted1 among the followers of ,jesus also1 it was fully believed1 in spite of all the evidence to the contrary1 that the ,emperor ,nero was not really dead1 but that he was hidden away somewhere in the ,east1 and would speedily come again at the head of a great army1 to be revenged upon his enemies4#aad ,thus1 ,i conceive that ,i have shown cause for the #dbg opinion that ,dr4 ,wace's challenge touching the ,sermon on the ,mount1 the ,lord's ,prayer1 and the ,passion was more valorous than discreet4 ,after all this discussion1 ,i am still at the agnostic point4 ,tell me1 first1 what ,jesus can be proved to have been1 said1 and done1 and ,i will say whether ,i believe him1 or in him1#aae or not4 ,as ,dr4 ,wace admits that ,i have dissipated his lingering shade of unbelief about the bedevilment of the ,gadarene pigs1 he might have done something to help mine4 ,instead of that1 he manifests a total want of conception of the nature of the obstacles which impede the conversion of his infidels4 ,the truth ,i believe to be1 that the difficulties in the way of arriving at a sure conclusion as to these matters1 from the ,sermon on the ,mount1 the ,lord's ,prayer1 or any other data offered by the ,synoptic gospels 7and a fortiori from the fourth gospel71 are insuperable4 ,every one of these records is coloured by the prepossessions of those among whom the primitive traditions arose1 and of those by whom they were collected and edited2 and the difficulty of making allowance for these prepossessions is enhanced by our ignorance of the exact dates at which the documents were first put together2 of the extent to #dbh which they have been subsequently worked over and interpolated2 and of the historical sense1 or want of sense1 and the dogmatic tendencies of their compilers and editors4 ,let us see if there is any other road which will take us into something better than negation4 ,there is a widespread notion that the primitive ,church1 while under the guidance of the ,apostles and their immediate successors1 was a sort of dogmatic dovecot1 pervaded by the most loving unity and doctrinal harmony4 ,protestants1 especially1 are fond of attributing to themselves the merit of being nearer the ,church of the ,apostles than their neighbours2 and they are the less to be excused for their strange delusion because they are great readers of the documents which prove the exact contrary4 ,the fact is that1 in the course of the first three centuries of its existence1 the ,church rapidly underwent a process of evolution of the most remarkable character1 the final stage of which is far more different from the first than ,anglicanism is from ,quakerism4 ,the key to the comprehension of the problem of the origin of that which is now called ,christianity1 and its relation to ,jesus of ,nazareth1 lies here4 ,nor can we arrive at any sound conclusion as to what it is probable that ,jesus actually said and did without being clear on this head4 ,by far the most important and subsequently influential steps in the evolution of ,christianity took place in the course of the century1 more or less1 which followed upon the crucifixion4 ,it is almost the darkest period of ,church #dbi history1 but1 most fortunately1 the beginning and the end of the period are brightly illuminated by the contemporary evidence of two writers of whose historical existence there is no doubt1#aaf and against the genuineness of whose most important works there is no widely-admitted objection4 ,these are ,justin1 the philosopher and martyr1 and ,paul1 the ,apostle to the ,gentiles4 ,i shall call upon these witnesses only to testify to the condition of opinion among those who called themselves disciples of ,jesus in their time4 ,justin1 in his ,dialogue with ,trypho the ,jew1 which was written somewhere about the middle of the second century1 enumerates certain categories of persons who1 in his opinion1 will1 or will not1 be saved4#aag ,these are3-- #a4 ,orthodox ,jews who refuse to believe that ,jesus is the ,christ4 ,not saved4 #b4 ,jews who observe the ,law2 believe ,jesus to be the ,christ2 but who insist on the observance of the ,law by ,gentile converts4 ,not saved4 #c4 ,jews who observe the ,law2 believe ,jesus to be the ,christ1 and hold that ,gentile converts need not observe the ,law4 ,saved 7in ,justin's opinion2 but some of his fellow-,christians think the contrary74 #d4 ,gentile converts to the belief in ,jesus as the ,christ1 who observe the ,law4 ,saved 7possibly74 #e4 ,gentile believers in ,jesus as the ,christ1 who do #dcj not observe the ,law themselves 7except so far as the refusal of idol sacrifices71 but do not consider those who do observe it heretics4 ,saved 7this is ,justin's own view74 #f4 ,gentile believers who do not observe the ,law1 except in refusing idol sacrifices1 and hold those who do observe it to be heretics4 ,saved4 #g4 ,gentiles who believe ,jesus to be the ,christ and call themselves ,christians1 but who eat meats sacrificed to idols4 ,not saved4 #h4 ,gentiles who disbelieve in ,jesus as the ,christ4 ,not saved4 ,justin does not consider ,christians who believe in the natural birth of ,jesus1 of whom he implies that there is a respectable minority1 to be heretics1 though he himself strongly holds the preternatural birth of ,jesus and his pre-existence as the ,logos or ,word4 ,he conceives the ,logos to be a second ,god1 inferior to the first1 unknowable1 ,god1 with respect to whom ,justin1 like ,philo1 is a complete agnostic4 ,the ,holy ,spirit is not regarded by ,justin as a separate personality1 and is often mixed up with the ,logos4 ,the doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul is1 for ,justin1 a heresy2 and he is as firm a believer in the resurrection of the body1 as in the speedy ,second ,coming and establishment of the millennium4 ,this pillar of the ,church in the middle of the second century--a much-travelled native of ,samaria--was certainly well acquainted with ,rome1 probably with ,alexandria1 and it is likely that he knew #dca the state of opinion throughout the length and breadth of the ,christian world as well as any man of his time4 ,if the various categories above enumerated are arranged in a series thus3-- ,justin's ,christianity _/---------------- ,orthodox ,judaeo-,christianity ,idolothytic ,judaism _/--------- ,christianity ,paganism ,i4 ,,ii4 ,,iii4 ,,iv4 ,v4 ,,vi4 ,,vii4 ,,viii4 it is obvious that they form a gradational series from orthodox ,judaism1 on the extreme left1 to ,paganism1 whether philosophic or popular1 on the extreme right2 and it will further be observed that1 while ,justin's conception of ,christianity is very broad1 he rigorously excludes two classes of persons who1 in his time1 called themselves ,christians2 namely1 those who insist on circumcision and other observances of the ,law on the part of ,gentile converts2 that is to say1 the strict ,judaeo-,christians 7,,ii472 and1 on the other hand1 those who assert the lawfulness of eating meat offered to idols--whether they are ,gnostic or not 7,,vii47 ,these last ,i have called idolothytic ,christians1 because ,i cannot devise a better name1 not because it is strictly defensible etymologically4 ,at the present moment1 ,i do not suppose there is an ,english missionary in any heathen land who would trouble himself whether the materials of his dinner had been previously offered to idols or not4 ,on the other hand1 ,i suppose there is no ,protestant sect within the pale of orthodoxy1 to say nothing of the ,roman and ,greek ,churches1 which would hesitate to declare the practice of circumcision and the #dcb observance of the ,jewish ,sabbath and dietary rules1 shockingly heretical4 ,modern ,christianity has1 in fact1 not only shifted far to the right of ,justin's position1 but it is of much narrower compass4 ,justin _/------------------- ,judaeo-,christianity ,modern ,christianity ,paganism ,judaism _/-------------- _/------------------- ,i4 ,,ii4 ,,iii4 ,,iv4 ,v4 ,,vi4 ,,vii4 ,,viii4 ,for1 though it includes ,,vii41 and even1 in saint and relic worship1 cuts a monstrous cantle out of paganism1 it excludes1 not only all ,judaeo-,christians1 but all who doubt that such are heretics4 ,ever since the thirteenth century1 the ,inquisition would have cheerfully burned1 and in ,spain did abundantly burn1 all persons who came under the categories ,,ii41 ,,iii41 ,,iv41 ,v4 ,and the wolf would play the same havoc now1 if it could only get its blood-stained jaws free from the muzzle imposed by the secular arm4 ,further1 there is not a ,protestant body except the ,unitarian1 which would not declare ,justin himself a heretic1 on account of his doctrine of the inferior godship of the ,logos2 while ,i am very much afraid that1 in strict logic1 ,dr4 ,wace would be under the necessity1 so painful to him1 of calling him an infidel1 on the same and on other grounds4 ,now let us turn to our other authority4 ,if there is any result of critical investigations of the sources of ,christianity which is certain1#aah it is that ,paul of #dcc ,tarsus wrote the ,epistle to the ,galatians somewhere between the years #ee and #fj ,a4,d41 that is to say1 roughly1 twenty1 or five-and-twenty years after the crucifixion4 ,if this is so1 the ,epistle to the ,galatians is one of the oldest1 if not the very oldest1 of extant documentary evidences of the state of the primitive ,church4 ,and1 be it observed1 if it is ,paul's writing1 it unquestionably furnishes us with the evidence of a participator in the transactions narrated4 ,with the exception of two or three of the other ,pauline epistles1 there is not one solitary book in the ,new ,testament of the authorship and authority of which we have such good evidence4 ,and what is the state of things we find disclosed8 ,a bitter quarrel1 in his account of which ,paul by no means minces matters1 or hesitates to hurl defiant sarcasms against those who were reputed to be pillars3 ,james1 the brother of the ,lord1 ,peter1 the rock on whom ,jesus is said to have built his ,church1 and ,john1 the beloved disciple4 ,and no deference toward the rock withholds ,paul from charging ,peter to his face with dissimulation4 ,the subject of the hot dispute was simply this4 ,were ,gentile converts bound to obey the ,law or not8 ,paul answered in the negative2 and1 acting upon his opinion1 had created at ,antioch 7and elsewhere7 a specifically ,christian community1 the sole qualifications for admission into which were the confession of the belief that ,jesus was the ,messiah1 and baptism upon that confession4 ,in the epistle in question1 ,paul puts this--his gospel1 as he calls #dcd it--in its most extreme form4 ,not only does he deny the necessity of conformity with the ,law1 but he declares such conformity to have a negative value4 ,behold1 ,i1 ,paul1 say unto you1 that if ye receive circumcision1 ,christ will profit you nothing 7,galatians v4 #b74 ,he calls the legal observances beggarly rudiments1 and anathematises every one who preaches to the ,galatians any other gospel than his own4 ,that is to say1 by direct consequence1 he anathematises the ,nazarenes of ,jerusalem1 whose zeal for the ,law is testified by ,james in a passage of the ,acts cited further on4 ,in the first ,epistle to the ,corinthians1 dealing with the question of eating meat offered to idols1 it is clear that ,paul himself thinks it a matter of indifference2 but he advises that it should not be done1 for the sake of the weaker brethren4 ,on the other hand1 the ,nazarenes of ,jerusalem most strenuously opposed ,paul's gospel1 insisting on every convert becoming a regular ,jewish proselyte1 and consequently on his observance of the whole ,law2 and this party was led by ,james and ,peter and ,john 7,galatians ii4 #i74 ,paul does not suggest that the question of principle was settled by the discussion referred to in ,galatians4 ,all he says is that it ended in the practical agreement that he and ,barnabas should do as they had been doing1 in respect to the ,gentiles2 while ,james and ,peter and ,john should deal in their own fashion with ,jewish converts4 ,afterwards1 he complains bitterly of ,peter1 because1 when on a visit to ,antioch1 he at first inclined to ,paul's view1 and ate with the ,gentile converts2 but when certain came from ,james1 #dce drew back1 and separated himself1 fearing them that were of the circumcision4 ,and the rest of the ,jews dissembled likewise with him2 insomuch that even ,barnabas was carried away with their dissimulation 7,galatians ii4 #ab-ac74 ,there is but one conclusion to be drawn from ,paul's account of this famous dispute1 the settlement of which determined the fortunes of the nascent religion4 ,it is that the disciples at ,jerusalem1 headed by ,james1 the ,lord's brother1 and by the leading apostles1 ,peter and ,john1 were strict ,jews1 who had objected to admit any converts into their body1 unless these1 either by birth1 or by becoming proselytes1 were also strict ,jews4 ,in fact1 the sole difference between ,james and ,peter and ,john1 with the body of the disciples whom they led1 and the ,jews by whom they were surrounded1 and with whom they for many years shared the religious observances of the ,temple1 was that they believed that the ,messiah1 whom the leaders of the nation yet looked for1 had already come in the person of ,jesus of ,nazareth4 ,the ,acts of the ,apostles is hardly a very trustworthy history2 it is certainly of later date than the ,pauline ,epistles1 supposing them to be genuine4 ,and the writer's version of the conference of which ,paul gives so graphic a description1 if that is correct1 is unmistakably coloured with all the art of a reconciler1 anxious to cover up a scandal4 ,but it is none the less instructive on this account4 ,the judgment of the council delivered by ,james is that the ,gentile converts shall merely abstain from things #dcf sacrificed to idols1 and from blood and from things strangled1 and from fornication4 ,but notwithstanding the accommodation in which the writer of the ,acts would have us believe1 the ,jerusalem ,church held to its endeavour to retain the observance of the ,law4 ,long after the conference1 some time after the writing of the ,epistles to the ,galatians and ,corinthians1 and immediately after the despatch of that to the ,romans1 ,paul makes his last visit to ,jerusalem1 and presents himself to ,james and all the elders4 ,and this is what the ,acts tells us of the interview3-- ,and they said unto him1 ,thou seest1 brother1 how many thousands or myriads there are among the ,jews of them which have believed2 and they are all zealous for the law2 and they have been informed concerning thee1 that thou teachest all the ,jews which are among the ,gentiles to forsake ,moses1 telling them not to circumcise their children1 neither to walk after the customs4 7,acts xxi4 #bj1 #ba47 ,they therefore request that he should perform a certain public religious act in the ,temple1 in order that all shall know that there is no truth in the things whereof they have been informed concerning thee2 but that thou thyself walkest orderly1 keeping the law 7ibid4 #bd74aai ,how far ,paul could do what he is here requested to do1 and which the writer of the ,acts goes on to say he did1 with a clear conscience1 if he wrote the ,epistles to the ,galatians and ,corinthians1 ,i may leave any candid reader of these epistles to decide4 ,the #dcg point to which ,i wish to direct attention is the declaration that the ,jerusalem ,church1 led by the brother of ,jesus and by his personal disciples and friends1 twenty years and more after his death1 consisted of strict and zealous ,jews4 ,tertullus1 the orator1 caring very little about the internal dissensions of the followers of ,jesus1 speaks of ,paul as a ringleader of the sect of the ,nazarenes 7,acts xxiv4 #e71 which must have affected ,james much in the same way as it would have moved the ,archbishop of ,canterbury1 in ,george ,fox's day1 to hear the latter called a ringleader of the sect of ,anglicans4 ,in fact1 ,nazarene was1 as is well known1 the distinctive appellation applied to ,jesus2 his immediate followers were known as ,nazarenes2 while the congregation of the disciples1 and1 later1 of converts at ,jerusalem--the ,jerusalem ,church--was emphatically the sect of the ,nazarenes1 no more in itself to be regarded as anything outside ,judaism than the sect of the ,sadducees or of the ,essenes4#abj ,in fact1 the tenets of both the ,sadducees and the ,essenes diverged much more widely from the ,pharisaic standard of orthodoxy than ,nazarenism did4 ,let us consider the position of affairs now 7,a4,d4 #ej-fj7 in relation to that which obtained in ,justin's time1 a century later4 ,it is plain that the ,nazarenes--presided over by ,james1 the brother of the ,lord1 and comprising within their body all the twelve #dch apostles--belonged to ,justin's second category of ,jews who observe the ,law1 believe ,jesus to be the ,christ1 but who insist on the observance of the ,law by ,gentile converts1 up till the time at which the controversy reported by ,paul arose4 ,they then1 according to ,paul1 simply allowed him to form his congregations of non-legal ,gentile converts at ,antioch and elsewhere2 and it would seem that it was to these converts1 who would come under ,justin's fifth category1 that the title of ,christian was first applied4 ,if any of these ,christians had acted upon the more than half-permission given by ,paul1 and had eaten meats offered to idols1 they would have belonged to ,justin's seventh category4 ,hence1 it appears that1 if ,justin's opinion1 which was probably that of the ,church generally in the middle of the second century1 was correct1 ,james and ,peter and ,john and their followers could not be saved2 neither could ,paul1 if he carried into practice his views as to the indifference of eating meats offered to idols4 ,or1 to put the matter another way1 the centre of gravity of orthodoxy1 which is at the extreme right of the series in the nineteenth century1 was at the extreme left1 just before the middle of the first century1 when the sect of the ,nazarenes constituted the whole church founded by ,jesus and the apostles2 while1 in the time of ,justin1 it lay midway between the two4 ,it is therefore a profound mistake to imagine that the ,judaeo-,christians 7,nazarenes and ,ebionites7 of later times were heretical outgrowths from a primitive universalist ,christianity4 ,on the #dci contrary1 the universalist ,christianity is an outgrowth from the primitive1 purely ,jewish1 ,nazarenism2 which1 gradually eliminating all the ceremonial and dietary parts of the ,jewish law1 has thrust aside its parent1 and all the intermediate stages of its development1 into the position of damnable heresies4 ,such being the case1 we are in a position to form a safe judgment of the limits within which the teaching of ,jesus of ,nazareth must have been confined4 ,ecclesiastical authority would have us believe that the words which are given at the end of the first ,gospel1 ,go ye1 therefore1 and make disciples of all the nations1 baptizing them in the name of the ,father and of the ,son and of the ,holy ,ghost1 are part of the last commands of ,jesus1 issued at the moment of his parting with the eleven4 ,if so1 ,peter and ,john must have heard these words2 they are too plain to be misunderstood2 and the occasion is too solemn for them ever to be forgotten4 ,yet the ,acts tell us that ,peter needed a vision to enable him so much as to baptize ,cornelius2 and ,paul1 in the ,galatians1 knows nothing of words which would have completely borne him out as against those who1 though they heard1 must be supposed to have either forgotten or ignored them4 ,on the other hand1 ,peter and ,john1 who are supposed to have heard the ,sermon on the ,mount1 know nothing of the saying that ,jesus had not come to destroy the ,law1 but that every jot and tittle of the ,law must be fulfilled1 which surely would have been pretty good evidence for their view of the question4 #ddj ,we are sometimes told that the personal friends and daily companions of ,jesus remained zealous ,jews and opposed ,paul's innovations1 because they were hard of heart and dull of comprehension4 ,this hypothesis is hardly in accordance with the concomitant faith of those who adopt it1 in the miraculous insight and superhuman sagacity of their ,master2 nor do ,i see any way of getting it to harmonise with the orthodox postulate2 namely1 that ,matthew was the author of the first gospel and ,john of the fourth4 ,if that is so1 then1 most assuredly1 ,matthew was no dullard2 and as for the fourth gospel--a theosophic romance of the first order--it could have been written by none but a man of remarkable literary capacity1 who had drunk deep of ,alexandrian philosophy4 ,moreover1 the doctrine of the writer of the fourth gospel is more remote from that of the sect of the ,nazarenes than is that of ,paul himself4 ,i am quite aware that orthodox critics have been capable of maintaining that ,john1 the ,nazarene1 who was probably well past fifty years of age when he is supposed to have written the most thoroughly ,judaising book in the ,new ,testament--the ,apocalypse--in the roughest of ,greek1 underwent an astounding metamorphosis of both doctrine and style by the time he reached the ripe age of ninety or so1 and provided the world with a history in which the acutest critic cannot always make out where the speeches of ,jesus end and the text of the narrative begins2 while that narrative is utterly irreconcilable1 in regard to matters of fact1 with that of his fellow-apostle1 ,matthew4 #dda ,the end of the whole matter is this3--,the sect of the ,nazarenes1 the brother and the immediate followers of ,jesus1 commissioned by him as apostles1 and those who were taught by them up to the year #ej ,a4,d41 were not ,christians in the sense in which that term has been understood ever since its asserted origin at ,antioch1 but ,jews--strict orthodox ,jews--whose belief in the ,messiahship of ,jesus never led to their exclusion from the ,temple services1 nor would have shut them out from the wide embrace of ,judaism4#aba ,the open proclamation of their special view about the ,messiah was doubtless offensive to the ,pharisees1 just as rampant ,low ,churchism is offensive to bigoted ,high ,churchism in our own country2 or as any kind of dissent is offensive to fervid religionists of all creeds4 ,to the ,sadducees1 no doubt1 the political danger of any ,messianic movement was serious2 and they would have been glad to put down ,nazarenism1 lest it should end in useless rebellion against their ,roman masters1 like that other ,galilean movement headed by ,judas1 a generation earlier4 ,galilee was always a hotbed of seditious enthusiasm against the rule of ,rome2 and high priest and procurator alike had need to keep a sharp eye upon natives of that district4 ,on the whole1 however1 the ,nazarenes were but little troubled for the first twenty years of their existence2 and the undying hatred of the ,jews against those later #ddb converts1 whom they regarded as apostates and fautors of a sham ,judaism1 was awakened by ,paul4 ,from their point of view1 he was a mere renegade ,jew1 opposed alike to orthodox ,judaism and to orthodox ,nazarenism1 and whose teachings threatened ,judaism with destruction4 ,and1 from their point of view1 they were quite right4 ,in the course of a century1 ,pauline influences had a large share in driving primitive ,nazarenism from being the very heart of the new faith into the position of scouted error2 and the spirit of ,paul's doctrine continued its work of driving ,christianity farther and farther away from ,judaism1 until meats offered to idols might be eaten without scruple1 while the ,nazarene methods of observing even the ,sabbath1 or the ,passover1 were branded with the mark of ,judaising heresy4 ,but if the primitive ,nazarenes of whom the ,acts speaks were orthodox ,jews1 what sort of probability can there be that ,jesus was anything else8 ,how can he have founded the universal religion which was not heard of till twenty years after his death8#abb ,that ,jesus possessed in a rare degree the gift of attaching men to his person and to his fortunes2 that he was the author of many a striking saying1 and the advocate of equity1 of love1 and of humility2 that he may have disregarded the subtleties of the bigots for legal observance1 and appealed rather to those noble #ddc conceptions of religion which constituted the pith and kernel of the teaching of the great prophets of his nation seven hundred years earlier2 and that1 in the last scenes of his career1 he may have embodied the ideal sufferer of ,isaiah1 may be1 as ,i think it is1 extremely probable4 ,but all this involves not a step beyond the borders of orthodox ,judaism4 ,again1 who is to say whether ,jesus proclaimed himself the veritable ,messiah1 expected by his nation since the appearance of the pseudo-prophetic work of ,daniel1 a century and a half before his time2 or whether the enthusiasm of his followers gradually forced him to assume that position8 ,but one thing is quite certain3 if that belief in the speedy second coming of the ,messiah which was shared by all parties in the primitive ,church1 whether ,nazarene or ,pauline2 which ,jesus is made to prophesy1 over and over again1 in the ,synoptic gospels2 and which dominated the life of ,christians during the first century after the crucifixion2--if he believed and taught that1 then assuredly he was under an illusion1 and he is responsible for that which the mere effluxion of time has demonstrated to be a prodigious error4 ,when ,i ventured to doubt whether any ,protestant theologian who has a reputation to lose will say that he believes the ,gadarene story1 it appears that ,i reckoned without ,dr4 ,wace1 who1 referring to this passage in my paper1 says3-- ,he will judge whether ,i fall under his description2 but ,i repeat that ,i believe it1 and that he has removed the only objection to my believing it 7p4 #cfc74 #ddd ,far be it from me to set myself up as a judge of any such delicate question as that put before me2 but ,i think ,i may venture to express the conviction that1 in the matter of courage1 ,dr4 ,wace has raised for himself a monument aere perennius4 ,for really1 in my poor judgment1 a certain splendid intrepidity1 such as one admires in the leader of a forlorn hope1 is manifested by ,dr4 ,wace when he solemnly affirms that he believes the ,gadarene story on the evidence offered4 ,i feel less complimented perhaps than ,i ought to do1 when ,i am told that ,i have been an accomplice in extinguishing in ,dr4 ,wace's mind the last glimmer of doubt which common sense may have suggested4 ,in fact1 ,i must disclaim all responsibility for the use to which the information ,i supplied has been put4 ,i formally decline to admit that the expression of my ignorance whether devils1 in the existence of which ,i do not believe1 if they did exist1 might or might not be made to go out of men into pigs1 can1 as a matter of logic1 have been of any use whatever to a person who already believed in devils and in the historical accuracy of the gospels4 ,of the ,gadarene story1 ,dr4 ,wace1 with all solemnity and twice over1 affirms that he believes it4 ,i am sorry to trouble him further1 but what does he mean by it8 ,because there are two stories1 one in ,mark and ,luke1 and the other in ,matthew4 ,in the former1 which ,i quoted in my previous paper1 there is one possessed man2 in the latter there are two4 ,the story is told fully1 with the vigorous homely diction and the #dde picturesque details of a piece of folklore1 in the second gospel4 ,the immediately antecedent event is the storm on the ,lake of ,gennesaret4 ,the immediately consequent events are the message from the ruler of the synagogue and the healing of the woman with an issue of blood4 ,in the third gospel1 the order of events is exactly the same1 and there is an extremely close general and verbal correspondence between the narratives of the miracle4 ,both agree in stating that there was only one possessed man1 and that he was the residence of many devils1 whose name was ,legion4 ,in the first gospel1 the event which immediately precedes the ,gadarene affair is1 as before1 the storm2 the message from the ruler and the healing of the issue are separated from it by the accounts of the healing of a paralytic1 of the calling of ,matthew1 and of a discussion with some ,pharisees4 ,again1 while the second gospel speaks of the country of the ,gerasenes as the locality of the event1 the third gospel has ,gerasenes1 ,gergesenes1 and ,gadarenes in different ancient ,,mss42 while the first has ,gadarenes4 ,the really important points to be noticed1 however1 in the narrative of the first gospel1 are these--that there are two possessed men instead of one2 and that while the story is abbreviated by omissions1 what there is of it is often verbally identical with the corresponding passages in the other two gospels4 ,the most unabashed of reconcilers cannot well say that one man is the same as two1 or two as one2 and1 #ddf though the suggestion really has been made1 that two different miracles1 agreeing in all essential particulars1 except the number of the possessed1 were effected immediately after the storm on the lake1 ,i should be sorry to accuse any one of seriously adopting it4 ,nor will it be pretended that the allegory refuge is accessible in this particular case4 ,so1 when ,dr4 ,wace says that he believes in the synoptic evangelists' account of the miraculous bedevilment of swine1 ,i may fairly ask which of them does he believe8 ,does he hold by the one evangelist's story1 or by that of the two evangelists8 ,and having made his election1 what reasons has he to give for his choice8 ,if it is suggested that the witness of two is to be taken against that of one1 not only is the testimony dealt with in that commonsense fashion against which the theologians of his school protest so warmly2 not only is all question of inspiration at an end1 but the further inquiry arises1 ,after all1 is it the testimony of two against one8 ,are the authors of the versions in the second and the third gospels really independent witnesses8 ,in order to answer this question1 it is only needful to place the ,english versions of the two side by side1 and compare them carefully4 ,it will then be seen that the coincidences between them1 not merely in substance1 but in arrangement1 and in the use of identical words in the same order1 are such1 that only two alternatives are conceivable3 either one evangelist freely copied from the other1 or both based themselves upon a common source1 which may either have been a written #ddg document1 or a definite oral tradition learned by heart4 ,assuredly1 these two testimonies are not those of independent witnesses4 ,further1 when the narrative in the first gospel is compared with that in the other two1 the same fact comes out4 ,supposing1 then1 that ,dr4 ,wace is right in his assumption that ,matthew1 ,mark1 and ,luke wrote the works which we find attributed to them by tradition1 what is the value of their agreement1 even that something more or less like this particular miracle occurred1 since it is demonstrable1 either that all depend on some antecedent statement1 of the authorship of which nothing is known1 or that two are dependent upon the third8 ,dr4 ,wace says he believes the ,gadarene story2 whichever version of it he accepts1 therefore1 he believes that ,jesus said what he is stated in all the versions to have said1 and thereby virtually declared that the theory of the nature of the spiritual world involved in the story is true4 ,now ,i hold that this theory is false1 that it is a monstrous and mischievous fiction2 and ,i unhesitatingly express my disbelief in any assertion that it is true1 by whomsoever made4 ,so that1 if ,dr4 ,wace is right in his belief1 he is also quite right in classing me among the people he calls infidels2 and although ,i cannot fulfil the eccentric expectation that ,i shall glory in a title which1 from my point of view1 it would be simply silly to adopt1 ,i certainly shall rejoice not to be reckoned among ,christians so long as the profession of belief in such stories as the ,gadarene pig affair1 on the #ddh strength of a tradition of unknown origin1 of which two discrepant reports1 also of unknown origin1 alone remain1 forms any part of the ,christian faith4 ,and1 although ,i have1 more than once1 repudiated the gift of prophecy1 yet ,i think ,i may venture to express the anticipation1 that if ,christians generally are going to follow the line taken by ,dr4 ,wace1 it will not be long before all men of common sense qualify for a place among the infidels4 99 99 99 99 99 #ddi ,,xii ,,agnosticism ,,and ,,christianity ,nemo ergo ex me scire quaerat1 quod me nescire scio1 nisi forte ut nescire discat4--,,augustinus1 ,de ,civ4 ,dei1 xii4 #g4 #abc,the present discussion has arisen out of the use1 which has become general in the last few years1 of the terms ,agnostic and ,agnosticism4 ,the people who call themselves ,agnostics have been charged with doing so because they have not the courage to declare themselves ,infidels4 ,it has been insinuated that they have adopted a new name in order to escape the unpleasantness which attaches to their proper denomination4 ,to this wholly erroneous imputation1 ,i have replied by showing that the term ,agnostic did1 as a matter of fact1 arise in a manner which negatives it2 and my statement has not been1 and cannot be1 refuted4 ,moreover1 speaking for myself1 and without impugning the right of any other person to use the term in another sense1 ,i further say that ,agnosticism #dej is not properly described as a negative creed1 nor indeed as a creed of any kind1 except in so far as it expresses absolute faith in the validity of a principle1 which is as much ethical as intellectual4 ,this principle may be stated in various ways1 but they all amount to this3 that it is wrong for a man to say that he is certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can produce evidence which logically justifies that certainty4 ,this is what ,agnosticism asserts2 and1 in my opinion1 it is all that is essential to ,agnosticism4 ,that which ,agnostics deny and repudiate1 as immoral1 is the contrary doctrine1 that there are propositions which men ought to believe1 without logically satisfactory evidence2 and that reprobation ought to attach to the profession of disbelief in such inadequately supported propositions4 ,the justification of the ,agnostic principle lies in the success which follows upon its application1 whether in the field of natural1 or in that of civil1 history2 and in the fact that1 so far as these topics are concerned1 no sane man thinks of denying its validity4 ,still speaking for myself1 ,i add1 that though ,agnosticism is not1 and cannot be1 a creed1 except in so far as its general principle is concerned2 yet that the application of that principle results in the denial of1 or the suspension of judgment concerning1 a number of propositions respecting which our contemporary ecclesiastical gnostics profess entire certainty4 ,and1 in so far as these ecclesiastical persons can be justified in their old-established #dea custom 7which many nowadays think more honoured in the breach than the observance7 of using opprobrious names to those who differ from them1 ,i fully admit their right to call me and those who think with me ,infidels3 all ,i have ventured to urge is that they must not expect us to speak of ourselves by that title4 ,the extent of the region of the uncertain1 the number of the problems the investigation of which ends in a verdict of not proven1 will vary according to the knowledge and the intellectual habits of the individual ,agnostic4 ,i do not very much care to speak of anything as unknowable4 ,what ,i am sure about is that there are many topics about which ,i know nothing2 and which1 so far as ,i can see1 are out of reach of my faculties4 ,but whether these things are knowable by any one else is exactly one of those matters which is beyond my knowledge1 though ,i may have a tolerably strong opinion as to the probabilities of the case4 ,relatively to myself1 ,i am quite sure that the region of uncertainty--the nebulous country in which words play the part of realities--is far more extensive than ,i could wish4 ,materialism and ,idealism2 ,theism and ,atheism2 the doctrine of the soul and its mortality or immortality--appear in the history of philosophy like the shades of ,scandinavian heroes1 eternally slaying one another and eternally coming to life again in a metaphysical ,nifelheim4 ,it is getting on for twenty-five centuries1 at least1 since mankind began seriously to give their minds to these topics4 #deb ,generation after generation1 philosophy has been doomed to roll the stone uphill2 and1 just as all the world swore it was at the top1 down it has rolled to the bottom again4 ,all this is written in innumerable books2 and he who will toil through them will discover that the stone is just where it was when the work began4 ,hume saw this2 ,kant saw it2 since their time1 more and more eyes have been cleansed of the films which prevented them from seeing it2 until now the weight and number of those who refuse to be the prey of verbal mystifications has begun to tell in practical life4 ,it was inevitable that a conflict should arise between ,agnosticism and ,theology2 or rather1 ,i ought to say1 between ,agnosticism and ,ecclesiasticism4 ,for ,theology1 the science1 is one thing2 and ,ecclesiasticism1 the championship of a foregone conclusion#abd as to the truth of a particular form of ,theology1 is another4 ,with scientific ,theology1 ,agnosticism has no quarrel4 ,on the contrary1 the ,agnostic1 knowing too well the influence of prejudice and idiosyncrasy1 even on those who desire most earnestly to be impartial1 can wish for nothing more urgently than that the scientific theologian should not only be at perfect liberty to thresh out the matter in his own fashion2 but that he should1 if he can1 find flaws in the ,agnostic position2 and1 even if demonstration is not to be had1 that he should put1 in their full force1 the grounds of the conclusions he thinks probable4 ,the #dec scientific theologian admits the ,agnostic principle1 however widely his results may differ from those reached by the majority of ,agnostics4 ,but1 as between ,agnosticism and ,ecclesiasticism1 or1 as our neighbours across the ,channel call it1 ,clericalism1 there can be neither peace nor truce4 ,the ,cleric asserts that it is morally wrong not to believe certain propositions1 whatever the results of a strict scientific investigation of the evidence of these propositions4 ,he tells us that religious error is1 in itself1 of an immoral nature4#abe ,he declares that he has prejudged certain conclusions1 and looks upon those who show cause for arrest of judgment as emissaries of ,satan4 ,it necessarily follows that1 for him1 the attainment of faith1 not the ascertainment of truth1 is the highest aim of mental life4 ,and1 on careful analysis of the nature of this faith1 it will too often be found to be1 not the mystic process of unity with the ,divine1 understood by the religious enthusiast--but that which the candid simplicity of a ,sunday scholar once defined it to be4 ,faith1 said this unconscious plagiarist of ,tertullian1 is the power of saying you believe things which are incredible4 ,now ,i1 and many other ,agnostics1 believe that faith1 in this sense1 is an abomination2 and though we do not indulge in the luxury of self-righteousness so far as to call those who are not of our way of thinking hard names1 we do feel that the disagreement between ourselves and those who hold this #ded doctrine is even more moral than intellectual4 ,it is desirable there should be an end of any mistakes on this topic4 ,if our clerical opponents were clearly aware of the real state of the case1 there would be an end of the curious delusion1 which often appears between the lines of their writings1 that those whom they are so fond of calling ,infidels are people who not only ought to be1 but in their hearts are1 ashamed of themselves4 ,it would be discourteous to do more than hint the antipodal opposition of this pleasant dream of theirs to facts4 ,the clerics and their lay allies commonly tell us1 that if we refuse to admit that there is good ground for expressing definite convictions about certain topics1 the bonds of human society will dissolve and mankind lapse into savagery4 ,there are several answers to this assertion4 ,one is that the bonds of human society were formed without the aid of their theology2 and1 in the opinion of not a few competent judges1 have been weakened rather than strengthened by a good deal of it4 ,greek science1 ,greek art1 the ethics of old ,israel1 the social organisation of old ,rome1 contrived to come into being without the help of any one who believed in a single distinctive article of the simplest of the ,christian creeds4 ,the science1 the art1 the jurisprudence1 the chief political and social theories1 of the modern world have grown out of those of ,greece and ,rome--not by favour of1 but in the teeth of1 the fundamental teachings of early ,christianity1 to which science1 art1 and any serious occupation with the things of this world1 were alike despicable4 #dee ,again1 all that is best in the ethics of the modern world1 in so far as it has not grown out of ,greek thought1 or ,barbarian manhood1 is the direct development of the ethics of old ,israel4 ,there is no code of legislation1 ancient or modern1 at once so just and so merciful1 so tender to the weak and poor1 as the ,jewish law2 and1 if the ,gospels are to be trusted1 ,jesus of ,nazareth himself declared that he taught nothing but that which lay implicitly1 or explicitly1 in the religious and ethical system of his people4 ,and the scribe said unto him1 ,of a truth1 ,teacher1 thou hast well said that ,he is one2 and there is none other but ,he and to love ,him with all the heart1 and with all the understanding1 and with all the strength1 and to love his neighbour as himself1 is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices4 7,mark xii4 #cb1 #cc74 ,here is the briefest of summaries of the teaching of the prophets of ,israel of the eighth century2 does the ,teacher1 whose doctrine is thus set forth in his presence1 repudiate the exposition8 ,nay2 we are told1 on the contrary1 that ,jesus saw that he answered discreetly1 and replied1 ,thou art not far from the ,kingdom of ,god4 ,so that ,i think that even if the creeds1 from the so-called ,apostles' to the so-called ,athanasian1 were swept into oblivion2 and even if the human race should arrive at the conclusion that1 whether a bishop washes a cup or leaves it unwashed1 is not a matter of the least consequence1 it will get on very well4 ,the causes which have led to the development of morality in mankind1 which have guided or #def impelled us all the way from the savage to the civilised state1 will not cease to operate because a number of ecclesiastical hypotheses turn out to be baseless4 ,and1 even if the absurd notion that morality is more the child of speculation than of practical necessity and inherited instinct1 had any foundation2 if all the world is going to thieve1 murder1 and otherwise misconduct itself as soon as it discovers that certain portions of ancient history are mythical2 what is the relevance of such arguments to any one who holds by the ,agnostic principle8 ,surely1 the attempt to cast out ,beelzebub by the aid of ,beelzebub is a hopeful procedure as compared to that of preserving morality by the aid of immorality4 ,for ,i suppose it is admitted that an ,agnostic may be perfectly sincere1 may be competent1 and may have studied the question at issue with as much care as his clerical opponents4 ,but1 if the ,agnostic really believes what he says1 the dreadful consequence argufier 7consistently1 ,i admit1 with his own principles7 virtually asks him to abstain from telling the truth1 or to say what he believes to be untrue1 because of the supposed injurious consequences to morality4 ,beloved brethren1 that we may be spotlessly moral1 before all things let us lie1 is the sum total of many an exhortation addressed to the ,infidel4 ,now1 as ,i have already pointed out1 we cannot oblige our exhorters4 ,we leave the practical application of the convenient doctrines of ,reserve and ,non-natural interpretation to those who invented them4 #deg ,i trust that ,i have now made amends for any ambiguity1 or want of fulness1 in my previous exposition of that which ,i hold to be the essence of the ,agnostic doctrine4 ,henceforward1 ,i might hope to hear no more of the assertion that we are necessarily ,materialists1 ,idealists1 ,atheists1 ,theists1 or any other ists1 if experience had led me to think that the proved falsity of a statement was any guarantee against its repetition4 ,and those who appreciate the nature of our position will see1 at once1 that when ,ecclesiasticism declares that we ought to believe this1 that1 and the other1 and are very wicked if we don't1 it is impossible for us to give any answer but this3 ,we have not the slightest objection to believe anything you like1 if you will give us good grounds for belief2 but1 if you cannot1 we must respectfully refuse1 even if that refusal should wreck morality and insure our own damnation several times over4 ,we are quite content to leave that to the decision of the future4 ,the course of the past has impressed us with the firm conviction that no good ever comes of falsehood1 and we feel warranted in refusing even to experiment in that direction4 ,in the course of the present discussion it has been asserted that the ,sermon on the ,mount and the ,lord's ,prayer furnish a summary and condensed view of the essentials of the teaching of ,jesus of ,nazareth1 set forth by himself4 ,now this supposed ,summa of ,nazarene theology distinctly affirms the existence of a spiritual world1 of a ,heaven1 and of a #deh ,hell of fire2 it teaches the ,fatherhood of ,god and the malignity of the ,devil2 it declares the superintending providence of the former and our need of deliverance from the machinations of the latter2 it affirms the fact of demoniac possession and the power of casting out devils by the faithful4 ,and1 from these premises1 the conclusion is drawn1 that those ,agnostics who deny that there is any evidence of such a character as to justify certainty1 respecting the existence and the nature of the spiritual world1 contradict the express declarations of ,jesus4 ,i have replied to this argumentation by showing that there is strong reason to doubt the historical accuracy of the attribution to ,jesus of either the ,sermon on the ,mount or the ,lord's ,prayer2 and1 therefore1 that the conclusion in question is not warranted1 at any rate on the grounds set forth4 ,but1 whether the ,gospels contain trustworthy statements about this and other alleged historical facts or not1 it is quite certain that from them1 taken together with the other books of the ,new ,testament1 we may collect a pretty complete exposition of that theory of the spiritual world which was held by both ,nazarenes and ,christians2 and which was undoubtedly supposed by them to be fully sanctioned by ,jesus1 though it is just as clear that they did not imagine it contained any revelation by him of something heretofore unknown4 ,if the pneumatological doctrine which pervades the whole ,new ,testament is nowhere systematically stated1 it is everywhere assumed4 ,the writers of #dei the ,gospels and of the ,acts take it for granted1 as a matter of common knowledge2 and it is easy to gather from these sources a series of propositions1 which only need arrangement to form a complete system4 ,in this system1 ,man is considered to be a duality formed of a spiritual element1 the soul2 and a corporeal#abf element1 the body4 ,and this duality is repeated in the ,universe1 which consists of a corporeal world embraced and interpenetrated by a spiritual world4 ,the former consists of the earth1 as its principal and central constituent1 with the subsidiary sun1 planets1 and stars4 ,above the earth is the air1 and below it the watery abyss4 ,whether the heaven1 which is conceived to be above the air1 and the hell in1 or below1 the subterranean deeps1 are to be taken as corporeal or incorporeal is not clear4 ,however this may be1 the heaven and the air1 the earth and the abyss1 are peopled by innumerable beings analogous in nature to the spiritual element in man1 and these spirits are of two kinds1 good and bad4 ,the chief of the good spirits1 infinitely superior to all the others1 and their creator1 as well as the creator of the corporeal world and of the bad spirits1 is ,god4 ,his residence is heaven1 where he is #dfj surrounded by the ordered hosts of good spirits2 his angels1 or messengers1 and the executors of his will throughout the universe4 ,on the other hand1 the chief of the bad spirits is ,satan1 the devil par excellence4 ,he and his company of demons are free to roam through all parts of the universe1 except the heaven4 ,these bad spirits are far superior to man in power and subtlety1 and their whole energies are devoted to bringing physical and moral evils upon him1 and to thwarting1 so far as their power goes1 the benevolent intentions of the ,supreme ,being4 ,in fact1 the souls and bodies of men form both the theatre and the prize of an incessant warfare between the good and the evil spirits--the powers of light and the powers of darkness4 ,by leading ,eve astray1 ,satan brought sin and death upon mankind4 ,as the gods of the heathen1 the demons are the founders and maintainers of idolatry2 as the powers of the air they afflict mankind with pestilence and famine2 as unclean spirits they cause disease of mind and body4 ,the significance of the appearance of ,jesus1 in the capacity of the ,messiah or ,christ1 is the reversal of the satanic work by putting an end to both sin and death4 ,he announces that the kingdom of ,god is at hand1 when the ,prince of this world shall be finally cast out 7,john xii4 #ca7 from the cosmos1 as ,jesus1 during his earthly career1 cast him out from individuals4 ,then will ,satan and all his devilry1 along with the wicked whom they have seduced to their destruction1 be hurled into the abyss of #dfa unquenchable fire--there to endure continual torture1 without a hope of winning pardon from the merciful ,god1 their ,father2 or of moving the glorified ,messiah to one more act of pitiful intercession2 or even of interrupting1 by a momentary sympathy with their wretchedness1 the harmonious psalmody of their brother angels and men1 eternally lapped in bliss unspeakable4 ,the straitest ,protestant1 who refuses to admit the existence of any source of ,divine truth1 except the ,bible1 will not deny that every point of the pneumatological theory here set forth has ample scriptural warranty4 ,the ,gospels1 the ,acts1 the ,epistles1 and the ,apocalypse assert the existence of the devil1 of his demons and of ,hell1 as plainly as they do that of ,god and his angels and ,heaven4 ,it is plain that the ,messianic and the ,satanic conceptions of the writers of these books are the obverse and the reverse of the same intellectual coinage4 ,if we turn from ,scripture to the traditions of the ,fathers and the confessions of the ,churches1 it will appear that1 in this one particular1 at any rate1 time has brought about no important deviation from primitive belief4 ,from ,justin onwards1 it may often be a fair question whether ,god1 or the devil1 occupies a larger share of the attention of the ,fathers4 ,it is the devil who instigates the ,roman authorities to persecute2 the gods and goddesses of paganism are devils1 and idolatry itself is an invention of ,satan2 if a saint falls away from grace1 it is by the seduction of the demon2 if heresy arises1 the devil has suggested it2 #dfb and some of the ,fathers#abg go so far as to challenge the pagans to a sort of exorcising match1 by way of testing the truth of ,christianity4 ,mediaeval ,christianity is at one with patristic on this head4 ,the masses1 the clergy1 the theologians1 and the philosophers alike1 live and move and have their being in a world full of demons1 in which sorcery and possession are everyday occurrences4 ,nor did the ,reformation make any difference4 ,whatever else ,luther assailed1 he left the traditional demonology untouched2 nor could any one have entertained a more hearty and uncompromising belief in the devil1 than he and1 at a later period1 the ,calvinistic fanatics of ,new ,england did4 ,finally1 in these last years of the nineteenth century1 the demonological hypotheses of the first century are1 explicitly or implicitly1 held and occasionally acted upon by the immense majority of ,christians of all confessions4 ,only here and there has the progress of scientific thought1 outside the ecclesiastical world1 so far affected ,christians1 that they and their teachers fight shy of the demonology of their creed4 ,they are fain to conceal their real disbelief in one half of ,christian doctrine by judicious silence about it2 or by flight to those refuges for the logically destitute1 accommodation or allegory4 ,but the faithful who fly to allegory in order to escape absurdity resemble nothing so #dfc much as the sheep in the fable who--to save their lives--jumped into the pit4 ,the allegory pit is too commodious1 is ready to swallow up so much more than one wants to put into it4 ,if the story of the temptation is an allegory2 if the early recognition of ,jesus as the ,son of ,god by the demons is an allegory2 if the plain declaration of the writer of the first ,epistle of ,john 7iii4 #h71 ,to this end was the ,son of ,god manifested1 that ,he might destroy the works of the devil1 is allegorical1 then the ,pauline version of the ,fall may be allegorical1 and still more the words of consecration of the ,eucharist1 or the promise of the second coming2 in fact1 there is not a dogma of ecclesiastical ,christianity the scriptural basis of which may not be whittled away by a similar process4 ,as to accommodation1 let any honest man who can read the ,new ,testament ask himself whether ,jesus and his immediate friends and disciples can be dishonoured more grossly than by the supposition that they said and did that which is attributed to them2 while1 in reality1 they disbelieved in ,satan and his demons1 in possession and in exorcism8#abh ,an eminent theologian has justly observed that we have no right to look at the propositions of the ,christian faith with one eye open and the other shut4 7,tract #he1 p4 #bi47 ,it really is not permissible to see1 with one eye1 that ,jesus is affirmed to declare the personality and the ,fatherhood of ,god1 ,his loving providence and ,his accessibility to prayer2 and to #dfd shut the other to the no less definite teaching ascribed to ,jesus in regard to the personality and the misanthropy of the devil1 his malignant watchfulness1 and his subjection to exorcistic formulae and rites4 ,jesus is made to say that the devil was a murderer from the beginning 7,john viii4 #dd7 by the same authority as that upon which we depend for his asserted declaration that ,god is a spirit 7,john iv4 #bd74 ,to those who admit the authority of the famous ,vincentian dictum that the doctrine which has been held always1 everywhere1 and by all is to be received as authoritative1 the demonology must possess a higher sanction than any other ,christian dogma1 except1 perhaps1 those of the ,resurrection and of the ,messiahship of ,jesus2 for it would be difficult to name any other points of doctrine on which the ,nazarene does not differ from the ,christian1 and the different historical stages and contemporary subdivisions of ,christianity from one another4 ,and1 if the demonology is accepted1 there can be no reason for rejecting all those miracles in which demons play a part4 ,the ,gadarene story fits into the general scheme of ,christianity2 and the evidence for ,legion and their doings is just as good as any other in the ,new ,testament for the doctrine which the story illustrates4 ,it was with the purpose of bringing this great fact into prominence2 of getting people to open both their eyes when they look at ,ecclesiasticism2 that ,i devoted so much space to that miraculous story which happens to be one of the best types of its class4 ,and #dfe ,i could not wish for a better justification of the course ,i have adopted1 than the fact that my heroically consistent adversary has declared his implicit belief in the ,gadarene story and 7by necessary consequence7 in the ,christian demonology as a whole4 ,it must be obvious1 by this time1 that1 if the account of the spiritual world given in the ,new ,testament1 professedly on the authority of ,jesus1 is true1 then the demonological half of that account must be just as true as the other half4 ,and1 therefore1 those who question the demonology1 or try to explain it away1 deny the truth of what ,jesus said1 and are1 in ecclesiastical terminology1 ,infidels just as much as those who deny the spirituality of ,god4 ,this is as plain as anything can well be1 and the dilemma for my opponent was either to assert that the ,gadarene pig-bedevilment actually occurred1 or to write himself down an ,infidel4 ,as was to be expected1 he chose the former alternative2 and ,i may express my great satisfaction at finding that there is one spot of common ground on which both he and ,i stand4 ,so far as ,i can judge1 we are agreed to state one of the broad issues between the consequences of agnostic principles 7as ,i draw them71 and the consequences of ecclesiastical dogmatism 7as he accepts it71 as follows4 ,ecclesiasticism says3 ,the demonology of the ,gospels is an essential part of that account of that spiritual world1 the truth of which it declares to be certified by ,jesus4 ,agnosticism 7me judice7 says3 ,there is no good #dff evidence of the existence of a demonic spiritual world1 and much reason for doubting it4 ,hereupon the ecclesiastic may observe3 ,your doubt means that you disbelieve ,jesus2 therefore you are an ,infidel instead of an ,agnostic4 ,to which the agnostic may reply3 ,no2 for two reasons3 first1 because your evidence that ,jesus said what you say he said is worth very little2 and secondly1 because a man may be an agnostic1 in the sense of admitting he has no positive knowledge1 and yet consider that he has more or less probable ground for accepting any given hypothesis about the spiritual world4 ,just as a man may frankly declare that he has no means of knowing whether the planets generally are inhabited or not1 and yet may think one of the two possible hypotheses more likely than the other1 so he may admit that he has no means of knowing anything about the spiritual world1 and yet may think one or other of the current views on the subject1 to some extent1 probable4 ,the second answer is so obviously valid that it needs no discussion4 ,i draw attention to it simply in justice to those agnostics who may attach greater value than ,i do to any sort of pneumatological speculations1 and not because ,i wish to escape the responsibility of declaring that1 whether ,jesus sanctioned the demonological part of ,christianity or not1 ,i unhesitatingly reject it4 ,the first answer1 on the other hand1 opens up the whole question of the claim of the biblical and other sources1 from which hypotheses concerning the spiritual world are derived1 to be #dfg regarded as unimpeachable historical evidence as to matters of fact4 ,now1 in respect of the trustworthiness of the ,gospel narratives1 ,i was anxious to get rid of the common assumption that the determination of the authorship and of the dates of these works is a matter of fundamental importance4 ,that assumption is based upon the notion that what contemporary witnesses say must be true1 or1 at least1 has always a prima facie claim to be so regarded2 so that if the writers of any of the ,gospels were contemporaries of the events 7and still more if they were in the position of eye-witnesses7 the miracles they narrate must be historically true1 and1 consequently1 the demonology which they involve must be accepted4 ,but the story of the ,translation of the blessed martyrs ,marcellinus and ,petrus1 and the other considerations 7to which endless additions might have been made from the ,fathers and the mediaeval writers7 set forth in a preceding essay1 yield1 in my judgment1 satisfactory proof that1 where the miraculous is concerned1 neither considerable intellectual ability1 nor undoubted honesty1 nor knowledge of the world1 nor proved faithfulness as civil historians1 nor profound piety1 on the part of eye-witnesses and contemporaries1 affords any guarantee of the objective truth of their statements1 when we know that a firm belief in the miraculous was ingrained in their minds1 and was the pre-supposition of their observations and reasonings4 ,therefore1 although it be1 as ,i believe1 demonstrable that we have no real knowledge of the #dfh authorship1 or of the date of composition of the ,gospels1 as they have come down to us1 and that nothing better than more or less probable guesses can be arrived at on that subject1 ,i have not cared to expend any space on the question4 ,it will be admitted1 ,i suppose1 that the authors of the works attributed to ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john1 whoever they may be1 are personages whose capacity and judgment in the narration of ordinary events are not quite so well certified as those of ,eginhard2 and we have seen what the value of ,eginhard's evidence is when the miraculous is in question4 ,i have been careful to explain that the arguments which ,i have used in the course of this discussion are not new2 that they are historical and have nothing to do with what is commonly called science2 and that they are all1 to the best of my belief1 to be found in the works of theologians of repute4 ,the position which ,i have taken up1 that the evidence in favour of such miracles as those recorded by ,eginhard1 and consequently of mediaeval demonology1 is quite as good as that in favour of such miracles as the ,gadarene1 and consequently of ,nazarene demonology1 is none of my discovery4 ,its strength was1 wittingly or unwittingly1 suggested1 a century and a half ago1 by a theological scholar of eminence2 and it has been1 if not exactly occupied1 yet so fortified with bastions and redoubts by a living ecclesiastical ,vauban1 that1 in my judgment1 it has been rendered impregnable4 ,in the early part of #dfi the last century1 the ecclesiastical mind in this country was much exercised by the question1 not exactly of miracles1 the occurrence of which in biblical times was axiomatic1 but by the problem3 ,when did miracles cease8 ,anglican divines were quite sure that no miracles had happened in their day1 nor for some time past2 they were equally sure that they happened sixteen or seventeen centuries earlier4 ,and it was a vital question for them to determine at what point of time1 between this terminus a quo and that terminus ad quem1 miracles came to an end4 ,the ,anglicans and the ,romanists agreed in the assumption that the possession of the gift of miracle-working was prima facie evidence of the soundness of the faith of the miracle-workers4 ,the supposition that miraculous powers might be wielded by heretics 7though it might be supported by high authority7 led to consequences too frightful to be entertained by people who were busied in building their dogmatic house on the sands of early ,church history4 ,if1 as the ,romanists maintained1 an unbroken series of genuine miracles adorned the records of their ,church1 throughout the whole of its existence1 no ,anglican could lightly venture to accuse them of doctrinal corruption4 ,hence1 the ,anglicans1 who indulged in such accusations1 were bound to prove the modern1 the mediaeval ,roman1 and the later ,patristic1 miracles false2 and to shut off the wonder-working power from the ,church at the exact point of time when ,anglican doctrine ceased and ,roman doctrine #dgj began4 ,with a little adjustment--a squeeze here and a pull there--the ,christianity of the first three or four centuries might be made to fit1 or seem to fit1 pretty well into the ,anglican scheme4 ,so the miracles1 from ,justin say to ,jerome1 might be recognised2 while1 in later times1 the ,church having become corrupt--that is to say1 having pursued one and the same line of development further than was pleasing to ,anglicans--its alleged miracles must needs be shams and impostures4 ,under these circumstances1 it may be imagined that the establishment of a scientific frontier between the earlier realm of supposed fact and the later of asserted delusion1 had its difficulties2 and torrents of theological special pleading about the subject flowed from clerical pens2 until that learned and acute ,anglican divine1 ,conyers ,middleton1 in his ,free ,inquiry1 tore the sophistical web they had laboriously woven to pieces1 and demonstrated that the miracles of the patristric age1 early and late1 must stand or fall together1 inasmuch as the evidence for the later is just as good as the evidence for the earlier wonders4 ,if the one set are certified by contemporaneous witnesses of high repute1 so are the other2 and1 in point of probability1 there is not a pin to choose between the two4 ,that is the solid and irrefragable result of ,middleton's contribution to the subject4 ,but the ,free ,inquirer's freedom had its limits2 and he draws a sharp line of demarcation between the patristic and the ,new ,testament miracles--on the professed ground that the accounts of the #dga latter1 being inspired1 are out of the reach of criticism4 ,a century later1 the question was taken up by another divine1 ,middleton's equal in learning and acuteness1 and far his superior in subtlety and dialectic skill2 who1 though an ,anglican1 scorned the name of ,protestant2 and1 while yet a ,churchman1 made it his business to parade1 with infinite skill1 the utter hollowness of the arguments of those of his brother ,churchmen who dreamed that they could be both ,anglicans and ,protestants4 ,the argument of the ,essay on the ,miracles recorded in the ,ecclesiastical ,history of the ,early ,ages1#abi by the present ,roman ,cardinal1 but then ,anglican ,doctor1 ,john ,henry ,newman1 is compendiously stated by himself in the following passage3-- ,if the miracles of ,church history cannot be defended by the arguments of ,leslie1 ,lyttleton1 ,paley1 or ,douglas1 how many of the ,scripture miracles satisfy their conditions8 7p4 cvii74 ,and1 although the answer is not given in so many words1 little doubt is left on the mind of the reader1 that1 in the mind of the writer1 it is3 ,none4 ,in fact1 this conclusion is one which cannot be resisted1 if the argument in favour of the ,scripture miracles is based upon that which laymen1 whether lawyers1 or men of science1 or historians1 or ordinary men of affairs1 call evidence4 ,but there is something really impressive #dgb in the magnificent contempt with which1 at times1 ,dr4 ,newman sweeps aside alike those who offer and those who demand such evidence4 ,some infidel authors advise us to accept no miracles which would not have a verdict in their favour in a court of justice2 that is1 they employ against ,scripture a weapon which ,protestants would confine to attacks upon the ,church2 as if moral and religious questions required legal proof1 and evidence were the test of truth#acj 7p4 cvii74 ,as if evidence were the test of truth6--although the truth in question is the occurrence1 or the non-occurrence of certain phenomena at a certain time and in a certain place4 ,this sudden revelation of the great gulf fixed between the ecclesiastical and the scientific mind is enough to take away the breath of any one unfamiliar with the clerical organon4 ,as if1 one may retort1 the assumption that miracles may1 or have1 served a moral or a religious end1 in any way alters the fact that they profess to be historical events1 things that actually happened2 and1 as such1 must needs be exactly those subjects about which evidence is appropriate and legal proofs 7which are such merely because they afford adequate evidence7 may be justly demanded4 ,the ,gadarene miracle either happened1 or it did not4 ,whether the ,gadarene question is moral or religious1 or not1 has nothing to do with the fact that it is a purely #dgc historical question whether the demons said what they are declared to have said1 and the devil-possessed pigs did1 or did not1 rush over the cliffs bounding the ,lake of ,gennesaret on a certain day of a certain year1 after ,a4,d4 #bf and before ,a4,d4 #cf3 for vague and uncertain as ,new ,testament chronology is1 ,i suppose it may be assumed that the event in question1 if it happened at all1 took place during the procuratorship of ,pilate4 ,if that is not a matter about which evidence ought to be required1 and not only legal1 but strict scientific proof demanded by sane men who are asked to believe the story--what is8 ,is a reasonable being to be seriously asked to credit statements1 which1 to put the case gently1 are not exactly probable1 and on the acceptance or rejection of which his whole view of life may depend1 without asking for as much legal proof as would send an alleged pickpocket to gaol1 or as would suffice to prove the validity of a disputed will8 ,infidel authors 7if1 as ,i am assured1 ,i may answer for them7 will decline to waste time on mere darkenings of counsel of this sort2 but to those ,anglicans who accept his premises1 ,dr4 ,newman is a truly formidable antagonist4 ,what1 indeed1 are they to reply when he puts the very pertinent question3-- whether persons who not merely question1 but prejudge the ,ecclesiastical miracles on the ground of their want of resemblance1 whatever that be1 to those contained in ,scripture--as if the ,almighty could not do in the ,christian ,church what ,he had not already done at the time of its foundation1 or under the ,mosaic ,covenant--whether such reasoners are not siding with the sceptic1 #dgd and whether it is not a happy inconsistency by which they continue to believe the ,scriptures while they reject the ,church#aca 7p4 liii74 ,again1 ,i invite ,anglican orthodoxy to consider this passage3-- the narrative of the combats of ,st4 ,antony with evil spirits1 is a development rather than a contradiction of revelation1 viz4 of such texts as speak of ,satan being cast out by prayer and fasting4 ,to be shocked1 then1 at the miracles of ,ecclesiastical history1 or to ridicule them for their strangeness1 is no part of a scriptural philosophy 7pp4 liii-liv74 ,further on1 ,dr4 ,newman declares that it has been admitted that a distinct line can be drawn in point of character and circumstance between the miracles of ,scripture and of ,church history2 but this is by no means the case 7p4 lv7 444 specimens are not wanting in the history of the ,church1 of miracles as awful in their character and as momentous in their effects as those which are recorded in ,scripture4 ,the fire interrupting the rebuilding of the ,jewish temple1 and the death of ,arius1 are instances1 in ,ecclesiastical history1 of such solemn events4 ,on the other hand1 difficult instances in the ,scripture history are such as these3 the serpent in ,eden1 the ,ark1 ,jacob's vision for the multiplication of his cattle1 the speaking of ,balaam's ass1 the axe swimming at ,elisha's word1 the miracle on the swine1 and various instances of prayers or prophecies1 in which1 as in that of ,noah's blessing and curse1 words which seem the result of private feeling are expressly or virtually ascribed to a ,divine suggestion 7p4 lvi74 ,who is to gainsay our ecclesiastical authority #dge here8 ,infidel authors might be accused of a wish to ridicule the ,scripture miracles by putting them on a level with the remarkable story about the fire which stopped the rebuilding of the ,temple1 or that about the death of ,arius--but ,dr4 ,newman is above suspicion4 ,the pity is that his list of what he delicately terms difficult instances is so short4 ,why omit the manufacture of ,eve out of ,adam's rib1 on the strict historical accuracy of which the chief argument of the defenders of an iniquitous portion of our present marriage law depends8 ,why leave out the account of the ,bene ,elohim and their gallantries1 on which a large part of the worst practices of the mediaeval inquisitors into witchcraft was based8 ,why forget the angel who wrestled with ,jacob1 and1 as the account suggests1 somewhat overstepped the bounds of fair play1 at the end of the struggle8 ,surely1 we must agree with ,dr4 ,newman that1 if all these camels have gone down1 it savours of affectation to strain at such gnats as the sudden ailment of ,arius in the midst of his deadly1 if1 prayerful1#acb enemies2 and the fiery explosion which #dgf stopped the ,julian building operations4 ,though the words of the ,conclusion of the ,essay on ,miracles may1 perhaps1 be quoted against me1 ,i may express my satisfaction at finding myself in substantial accordance with a theologian above all suspicion of heterodoxy4 ,with all my heart1 ,i can declare my belief that there is just as good reason for believing in the miraculous slaying of the man who fell short of the ,athanasian power of affirming contradictories1 with respect to the nature of the ,godhead1 as there is for believing in the stories of the serpent and the ark told in ,genesis1 the speaking of ,balaam's ass in ,numbers1 or the floating of the axe1 at ,elisha's order1 in the second book of ,kings4 ,it is one of the peculiarities of a really sound argument that it is susceptible of the fullest development2 and that it sometimes leads to conclusions unexpected by those who employ it4 ,to my mind1 it is impossible to refuse to follow ,dr4 ,newman when he extends his reasoning from the miracles of the patristic and mediaeval ages backward in time as far as miracles are recorded4 ,but1 if the rules of logic are valid1 ,i feel compelled to extend the argument forward to the alleged ,roman miracles of the present day1 which ,dr4 ,newman might not have admitted1 but which ,cardinal ,newman may hardly reject4 ,beyond question1 there is as good1 or perhaps better1 evidence for the miracles worked by our ,lady of ,lourdes1 as there is for the floating of ,elisha's axe1 #dgg or the speaking of ,balaam's ass4 ,but we must go still further2 there is a modern system of thaumaturgy and demonology which is just as well certified as the ancient4#acc ,veracious1 excellent1 sometimes learned and acute persons1 even philosophers of no mean pretensions1 testify to the levitation of bodies much heavier than ,elisha's axe2 to the existence of spirits who1 to the mere tactile sense1 have been indistinguishable from flesh and blood1 and1 occasionally1 have wrestled with all the vigour of ,jacob's opponent2 yet1 further1 to the speech1 in the language of raps1 of spiritual beings1 whose discourses1 in point of coherence and value1 are far inferior to that of ,balaam's humble but sagacious steed4 ,i have not the smallest doubt that1 if these were persecuting times1 there is many #dgh a worthy spiritualist who would cheerfully go to the stake in support of his pneumatological faith1 and furnish evidence1 after ,paley's own heart1 in proof of the truth of his doctrines4 ,not a few modern divines1 doubtless struck by the impossibility of refusing the spiritualist evidence1 if the ecclesiastical evidence is accepted1 and deprived of any a priori objection by their implicit belief in ,christian ,demonology1 show themselves ready to take poor ,sludge seriously1 and to believe that he is possessed by other devils than those of need1 greed1 and vainglory4 ,under these circumstances1 it was to be expected1 though it is none the less interesting to note the fact1 that the arguments of the latest school of spiritualists present a wonderful family likeness to those which adorn the subtle disquisitions of the advocate of ecclesiastical miracles of forty years ago4 ,it is unfortunate for the spiritualists that1 over and over again1 celebrated and trusted media1 who really1 in some respects1 call to mind the ,montanist#acd and gnostic seers of the second century1 are either proved in courts of law to be fraudulent impostors2 #dgi or1 in sheer weariness1 as it would seem1 of the honest dupes who swear by them1 spontaneously confess their long-continued iniquities1 as the ,fox women did the other day in ,new ,york4#ace ,but1 whenever a catastrophe of this kind takes place1 the believers are no wise dismayed by it4 ,they freely admit that not only the media1 but the spirits whom they summon1 are sadly apt to lose sight of the elementary principles of right and wrong2 and they triumphantly ask3 ,how does the occurrence of occasional impostures disprove the genuine manifestations 7that is to say1 all those which have not yet been proved to be impostures or delusions78 ,and1 in this1 they unconsciously plagiarise from the churchman1 who just as freely admits that many ecclesiastical miracles may have been forged2 and asks1 with calm contempt1 not only of legal proofs1 but of common-sense probability1 ,why does it follow that none are to be supposed genuine8 ,i must say1 however1 that the spiritualists1 so far as ,i know1 do not venture to outrage right reason so boldly as the ecclesiastics4 ,they do not sneer at evidence2 nor repudiate the requirement of legal proofs4 ,in fact1 there can be no doubt that the spiritualists produce better evidence for their manifestations than can be shown either for the miraculous death of ,arius1 or for the ,invention of the ,cross4#acf #dhj ,from the levitation of the axe at one end of a period of near three thousand years to the levitation of ,sludge ,co4 at the other end1 there is a complete continuity of the miraculous1 with every gradation from the childish to the stupendous1 from the gratification of a caprice to the illustration of sublime truth4 ,there is no drawing a line in the series that might be set out of plausibly attested cases of spiritual intervention4 ,if one is true1 all may be true2 if one is false1 all may be false4 ,this is1 to my mind1 the inevitable result of that method of reasoning which is applied to the confutation of ,protestantism1 with so much success1 by one of the acutest and subtlest disputants who have ever championed ,ecclesiasticism--and one cannot put his claims to acuteness and subtlety higher4 444 the ,christianity of history is not ,protestantism4 ,if ever there were a safe truth it is this4444 ,to be deep in history is to cease to be a ,protestant4#acg ,i have not a shadow of doubt that these anti-,protestant epigrams are profoundly true4 ,but ,i have as little that1 in the same sense1 the ,christianity of history is not ,romanism2 and that to be deeper in history is to cease to be a ,romanist4 ,the reasons which compel my doubts about the compatibility of the ,roman doctrine1 or any other form #dha of ,catholicism1 with history1 arise out of exactly the same line of argument as that adopted by ,dr4 ,newman in the famous essay which ,i have just cited4 ,if1 with one hand1 ,dr4 ,newman has destroyed ,protestantism1 he has annihilated ,romanism with the other2 and the total result of his ambidextral efforts is to shake ,christianity to its foundations4 ,nor was any one better aware that this must be the inevitable result of his arguments--if the world should refuse to accept ,roman doctrines and ,roman miracles--than the writer of ,tract #he4 ,dr4 ,newman made his choice and passed over to the ,roman ,church half a century ago4 ,some of those who were essentially in harmony with his views preceded1 and many followed him4 ,but many remained2 and1 as the quondam ,puseyite and present ,ritualistic party1 they are continuing that work of sapping and mining the ,protestantism of the ,anglican ,church which he and his friends so ably commenced4 ,at the present time1 they have no little claim to be considered victorious all along the line4 ,i am old enough to recollect the small beginnings of the ,tractarian party2 and ,i am amazed when ,i consider the present position of their heirs4 ,their little leaven has leavened1 if not the whole1 yet a very large lump of the ,anglican ,church2 which is now pretty much of a preparatory school for ,papistry4 ,so that it really behoves ,englishmen 7who1 as ,i have been informed by high authority1 are all1 legally1 members of the ,state ,church1 if they profess to belong to no other sect7 to wake up to what that #dhb powerful organisation is about1 and whither it is tending4 ,on this point1 the writings of ,dr4 ,newman1 while he still remained within the ,anglican fold1 are a vast store of the best and the most authoritative information4 ,his doctrines on ,ecclesiastical miracles and on ,development are the corner-stones of the ,tractarian fabric4 ,he believed that his arguments led either ,romeward1 or to what ecclesiastics call ,infidelity1 and ,i call ,agnosticism4 ,i believe that he was quite right in this conviction2 but while he chooses the one alternative1 ,i choose the other2 as he rejects ,protestantism on the ground of its incompatibility with history1 so1 a fortiori1 ,i conceive that ,romanism ought to be rejected1 and that an impartial consideration of the evidence must refuse the authority of ,jesus to anything more than the ,nazarenism of ,james and ,peter and ,john4 ,and let it not be supposed that this is a mere infidel perversion of the facts4 ,no one has more openly and clearly admitted the possibility that they may be fairly interpreted in this way than ,dr4 ,newman4 ,if1 he says1 there are texts which seem to show that ,jesus contemplated the evangelisation of the heathen3 444 ,did not the ,apostles hear our ,lord8 and what was their impression from what they heard8 ,is it not certain that the ,apostles did not gather this truth from ,his teaching8 7,tract #he1 p4 #fc74 ,he said1 ,preach the ,gospel to every creature4 ,these words need have only meant ,bring all men to ,christianity through ,judaism4 ,make them ,jews1 that they may enjoy ,christ's privileges1 which are lodged in ,judaism2 teach them those rites and ceremonies1 circumcision and the like1 which #dhc hitherto have been dead ordinances1 and now are living3 and so the ,apostles seem to have understood them 7ibid4 p4 #fe74 ,so far as ,nazarenism differentiated itself from contemporary orthodox ,judaism1 it seems to have tended towards a revival of the ethical and religious spirit of the prophetic age1 accompanied by the belief in ,jesus as the ,messiah1 and by various accretions which had grown round ,judaism subsequently to the exile4 ,to these belong the doctrines of the ,resurrection1 of the ,last ,judgment1 of ,heaven and ,hell2 of the hierarchy of good angels2 of ,satan and the hierarchy of evil spirits4 ,and there is very strong ground for believing that all these doctrines1 at least in the shapes in which they were held by the post-exilic ,jews1 were derived from ,persian and ,babylonian#ach sources1 and are essentially of heathen origin4 ,how far ,jesus positively sanctioned all these indrainings of circumjacent ,paganism into ,judaism2 how far any one has a right to declare1 that the refusal to accept one or other of these doctrines1 as ascertained verities1 comes to the same thing as contradicting ,jesus1 it appears to me not easy to say4 ,but it is hardly less difficult to conceive that he could have distinctly negatived any of them2 and1 more especially1 that demonology which has been accepted by #dhd the ,christian ,churches in every age and under all their mutual antagonisms4 ,but1 ,i repeat my conviction that1 whether ,jesus sanctioned the demonology of his time and nation or not1 it is doomed4 ,the future of ,christianity1 as a dogmatic system and apart from the old ,israelitish ethics which it has appropriated and developed1 lies in the answer which mankind will eventually give to the question whether they are prepared to believe such stories as the ,gadarene and the pneumatological hypotheses which go with it1 or not4 ,my belief is they will decline to do anything of the sort1 whenever and wherever their minds have been disciplined by science4 ,and that discipline must1 and will1 at once follow and lead the footsteps of advancing civilisation4 ,the preceding pages were written before ,i became acquainted with the contents of the ,may number of the ,nineteenth ,century1 wherein ,i discover many things which are decidedly not to my advantage4 ,it would appear that evasion is my chief resource1 incapacity for strict argument and rottenness of ratiocination my main mental characteristics1 and that it is barely credible that a statement which ,i profess to make of my own knowledge is true4 ,all which things ,i notice1 merely to illustrate the great truth1 forced on me by long experience1 that it is only from those who enjoy the blessing of a firm hold of the ,christian faith that such manifestations of meekness1 patience1 and charity are to be expected4 #dhe ,i had imagined that no one who had read my preceding papers1 could entertain a doubt as to my position in respect of the main issue as it has been stated and restated by my opponent3 an ,agnosticism which knows nothing of the relation of man to ,god must not only refuse belief to our ,lord's most undoubted teaching1 but must deny the reality of the spiritual convictions in which ,he lived4#aci ,that is said to be the simple question which is at issue between us1 and the three testimonies to that teaching and those convictions selected are the ,sermon on the ,mount1 the ,lord's ,prayer1 and the ,story of the ,passion4 ,my answer1 reduced to its briefest form1 has been3 ,in the first place1 the evidence is such that the exact nature of the teachings and the convictions of ,jesus is extremely uncertain1 so that what ecclesiastics are pleased to call a denial of them may be nothing of the kind4 ,and1 in the second place1 if ,jesus taught the demonological system involved in the ,gadarene story--if a belief in that system formed a part of the spiritual convictions in which he lived and died--then ,i1 for my part1 unhesitatingly refuse belief in that teaching1 and deny the reality of those spiritual convictions4 ,and ,i go further and add1 that1 exactly in so far as it can be proved that ,jesus sanctioned the essentially pagan demonological theories current among the ,jews of his age1 exactly in so far1 for me1 will his authority in any matter touching the spiritual world be weakened4 #dhf ,with respect to the first half of my answer1 ,i have pointed out that the ,sermon on the ,mount1 as given in the first ,gospel1 is1 in the opinion of the best critics1 a mosaic work of materials derived from different sources1 and ,i do not understand that this statement is challenged4 ,the only other ,gospel1 the third1 which contains something like it1 makes1 not only the discourse1 but the circumstances under which it was delivered1 very different4 ,now1 it is one thing to say that there was something real at the bottom of the two discourses--which is quite possible2 and another to affirm that we have any right to say what that something was1 or to fix upon any particular phrase and declare it to be a genuine utterance4 ,those who pursue theology as a science1 and bring to the study an adequate knowledge of the ways of ancient historians1 will find no difficulty in providing illustrations of my meaning4 ,i may supply one which has come within range of my own limited vision4 ,in ,josephus's ,history of the ,wars of the ,jews 7chap1 xix471 that writer reports a speech which he says ,herod made at the opening of a war with the ,arabians4 ,it is in the first person1 and would naturally be supposed by the reader to be intended for a true version of what ,herod said4 ,in the ,antiquities1 written some seventeen years later1 the same writer gives another report1 also in the first person1 of ,herod's speech on the same occasion4 ,this second oration is twice as long as the first1 and though the general tenour of the two speeches is #dhg pretty much the same1 there is hardly any verbal identity1 and a good deal of matter is introduced into the one1 which is absent from the other4 ,josephus prides himself on his accuracy2 people whose fathers might have heard ,herod's oration were his contemporaries2 and yet his historical sense is so curiously undeveloped that he can1 quite innocently1 perpetrate an obvious literary fabrication2 for one of the two accounts must be incorrect4 ,now1 if ,i am asked whether ,i believe that ,herod made some particular statement on this occasion2 whether1 for example1 he uttered the pious aphorism1 ,where ,god is1 there is both multitude and courage1 which is given in the ,antiquities1 but not in the ,wars1 ,i am compelled to say ,i do not know4 ,one of the two reports must be erroneous1 possibly both are3 at any rate1 ,i cannot tell how much of either is true4 ,and1 if some fervent admirer of the ,idumean should build up a theory of ,herod's piety upon ,josephus's evidence that he propounded the aphorism1 is it a mere evasion to say1 in reply1 that the evidence that he did utter it is worthless8 ,it appears again that1 adopting the tactics of ,conachar when brought face to face with ,hal o' the ,wynd1 ,i have been trying to get my simpleminded adversary to follow me on a wild-goose chase through the early history of ,christianity1 in the hope of escaping impending defeat on the main issue4 ,but ,i may be permitted to point out that there is an alternative hypothesis which equally fits the facts2 and that1 after all1 there #dhh may have been method in the madness of my supposed panic4 ,for suppose it to be established that ,gentile ,christianity was a totally different thing from the ,nazarenism of ,jesus and his immediate disciples2 suppose it to be demonstrable that1 as early as the sixth decade of our era at least1 there were violent divergencies of opinion among the followers of ,jesus2 suppose it to be hardly doubtful that the ,gospels and the ,acts took their present shapes under the influence of these divergencies2 suppose that their authors1 and those through whose hands they passed1 had notions of historical veracity not more eccentric than those which ,josephus occasionally displays3 surely the chances that the ,gospels are altogether trustworthy records of the teachings of ,jesus become very slender4 ,and since the whole of the case of the other side is based on the supposition that they are accurate records 7especially of speeches1 about which ancient historians are so curiously loose71 ,i really do venture to submit that this part of my argument bears very seriously on the main issue2 and1 as ratiocination1 is sound to the core4 ,again1 when ,i passed by the topic of the speeches of ,jesus on the ,cross1 it appears that ,i could have had no other motive than the dictates of my native evasiveness4 ,an ecclesiastical dignitary may have respectable reasons for declining a fencing match in sight of ,gethsemane and ,calvary2 but an ecclesiastical ,infidel6 ,never4 ,it is obviously impossible that1 in the belief that the greater includes the less1 #dhi ,i1 having declared the ,gospel evidence in general1 as to the sayings of ,jesus1 to be of questionable value1 thought it needless to select for illustration of my views1 those particular instances which were likely to be most offensive to persons of another way of thinking4 ,but any supposition that may have been entertained that the old familiar tones of the ecclesiastical war-drum will tempt me to engage in such needless discussion had better be renounced4 ,i shall do nothing of the kind4 ,let it suffice that ,i ask my readers to turn to the twenty-third chapter of ,luke 7revised version71 verse thirty-four1 and he will find in the margin ,some ancient authorities omit3 ,and ,jesus said ,father forgive them1 for they know not what they do4 ,so that1 even as late as the fourth century1 there were ancient authorities1 indeed some of the most ancient and weightiest1 who either did not know of this utterance1 so often quoted as characteristic of ,jesus1 or did not believe it had been uttered4 ,many years ago1 ,i received an anonymous letter1 which abused me heartily for my want of moral courage in not speaking out4 ,i thought that one of the oddest charges an anonymous letter-writer could bring4 ,but ,i am not sure that the plentiful sowing of the pages of the article with which ,i am dealing with accusations of evasion1 may not seem odder to those who consider that the main strength of the answers with which ,i have been favoured 7in this review and elsewhere7 is devoted1 not to anything in #dij the text of my first paper1 but to a note which occurs at p4 #aga4 ,in this ,i say3 ,dr4 ,wace tells us3 ,it may be asked how far we can rely on the accounts we possess of our ,lord's teaching on these subjects4 ,and he seems to think the question appropriately answered by the assertion that it ought to be regarded as settled by ,m4 ,renan's practical surrender of the adverse case4 ,i requested ,dr4 ,wace to point out the passages of ,m4 ,renan's works in which1 as he affirms1 this practical surrender 7not merely as to the age and authorship of the ,gospels1 be it observed1 but as to their historical value7 is made1 and he has been so good as to do so4 ,now let us consider the parts of ,dr4 ,wace's citation from ,renan which are relevant to the issue3-- ,the author of this ,gospel ,luke is certainly the same as the author of the ,acts of the ,apostles4 ,now the author of the ,acts seems to be a companion of ,st4 ,paul--a character which accords completely with ,st4 ,luke4 ,i know that more than one objection may be opposed to this reasoning2 but one thing1 at all events1 is beyond doubt1 namely1 that the author of the third ,gospel and of the ,acts is a man who belonged to the second apostolic generation2 and this suffices for our purpose4 ,this is a curious practical surrender of the adverse case4 ,m4 ,renan thinks that there is no doubt that the author of the third ,gospel is the author of the ,acts--a conclusion in which ,i suppose critics generally agree4 ,he goes on to remark that this person seems to be a companion of ,st4 ,paul1 and adds that ,luke was a companion of ,st4 ,paul4 ,then1 somewhat needlessly1 ,m4 ,renan points out that there is more than one objection to jumping1 from such data as these1 to #dia the conclusion that ,luke is the writer of the third ,gospel4 ,and1 finally1 ,m4 ,renan is content to reduce that which is beyond doubt to the fact that the author of the two books is a man of the second apostolic generation4 ,well1 it seems to me that ,i could agree with all that ,m4 ,renan considers beyond doubt here1 without surrendering anything1 either practically or theoretically4 ,dr4 ,wace 7,nineteenth ,century1 ,march1 p4 #cfc7 states that he derives the above citation from the preface to the #aeth edition of the ,vie de ,jesus4 ,my copy of ,les ,evangiles1 dated #ahgg1 contains a list of ,renan's ,oeuvres ,completes1 at the head of which ,i find ,vie de ,jesus1 #ae;e edition4 ,it is1 therefore1 a later work than the edition of the ,vie de ,jesus which ,dr4 ,wace quotes4 ,now ,les ,evangiles1 as its name implies1 treats fully of the questions respecting the date and authorship of the ,gospels2 and any one who desired1 not merely to use ,m4 ,renan's expressions for controversial purposes1 but to give a fair account of his views in their full significance1 would1 ,i think1 refer to the later source4 ,if this course had been taken1 ,dr4 ,wace might have found some as decided expressions of opinion in favour of ,luke's authorship of the third ,gospel as he has discovered in ,the ,apostles4 ,i mention this circumstance because ,i desire to point out that1 taking even the strongest of ,renan's statements1 ,i am still at a loss to see how it justifies that large-sounding phrase1 practical surrender of the adverse case4 ,for1 on p4 #dch of ,les ,evangiles1 ,renan speaks of the way in #dib which ,luke's excellent intentions have led him to torture history in the ,acts2 he declares ,luke to be the founder of that eternal fiction which is called ecclesiastical history2 and1 on the preceding page1 he talks of the myth of the ,ascension--with its mise en scene voulue4 ,at p4 #dce1 ,i find ,luc1 ou l'auteur quel qu'il soit du troisieme ,evangile2 at p4 #bhj1 the accounts of the ,passion1 the death and the resurrection of ,jesus1 are said to be peu historiques2 at p4 #bhc1 ,la valeur historique du troisieme ,evangile est surement moindre que celles des deux premiers4 ,a ,pyrrhic sort of victory for orthodoxy this surrender6 ,and1 all the while1 the scientific student of theology knows that the more reason there may be to believe that ,luke was the companion of ,paul1 the more doubtful becomes his credibility1 if he really wrote the ,acts4 ,for1 in that case1 he could not fail to have been acquainted with ,paul's account of the ,jerusalem conference1 and he must have consciously misrepresented it4 ,we may next turn to the essential part of ,dr4 ,wace's citation 7,nineteenth ,century1 p4 #cfe7 touching the first ,gospel3-- ,st4 ,matthew evidently deserves peculiar confidence for the discourses4 ,here are the oracles--the very notes taken while the memory of the instruction of ,jesus was living and definite4 ,m4 ,renan here expresses the very general opinion as to the existence of a collection of logia1 having a different origin from the text in which they are embedded1 in ,matthew4 ,notes are somewhat suggestive of a shorthand writer1 but the suggestion is #dic unintentional1 for ,m4 ,renan assumes that these notes were taken1 not at the time of the delivery of the logia but subsequently1 while 7as he assumes7 the memory of them was living and definite2 so that1 in this very citation1 ,m4 ,renan leaves open the question of the general historical value of the first ,gospel1 while it is obvious that the accuracy of notes taken1 not at the time of delivery1 but from memory1 is a matter about which more than one opinion may be fairly held4 ,moreover1 ,renan expressly calls attention to the difficulty of distinguishing the authentic logia from later additions of the same kind 7,les ,evangiles1 p4 #bja74 ,the fact is1 there is no contradiction here to that opinion about the first ,gospel which is expressed in ,les ,evangiles 7p4 #age74 ,the text of the so-called ,matthew supposes the pre-existence of that of ,mark1 and does little more than complete it4 ,he completes it in two fashions--first1 by the insertion of those long discourses which gave their chief value to the ,hebrew ,gospels2 then by adding traditions of a more modern formation1 results of successive developments of the legend1 and to which the ,christian consciousness already attached infinite value4 ,m4 ,renan goes on to suggest that besides ,mark1 pseudo-,matthew used an ,aramaic version of the ,gospel originally set forth in that dialect4 ,finally1 as to the second ,gospel 7,nineteenth ,century1 p4 #cfe73-- ,he ,mark is full of minute observations1 proceeding1 beyond doubt1 from an eye-witness4 ,there is nothing to conflict with the supposition that this eye-witness 444 was the ,apostle ,peter himself1 as ,papias has it4 ,let us consider this citation by the light of ,les ,evangiles3-- #did ,this work1 although composed after the death of ,peter1 was1 in a sense1 the work of ,peter2 it represents the way in which ,peter was accustomed to relate the life of ,jesus 7p4 #aaf74 ,m4 ,renan goes on to say that1 as an historical document1 the ,gospel of ,mark has a great superiority 7p4 #aaf72 but ,mark has a motive for omitting the discourses1 and he attaches a puerile importance to miracles 7p4 #aag74 ,the ,gospel of ,mark is less a legend than a biography written with credulity 7p4 #aah74 ,it would be rash to say that ,mark has not been interpolated and retouched 7p4 #abj74 ,if any one thinks that ,i have not been warranted in drawing a sharp distinction between scientific theologians and counsels for creeds2 or that my warning against the too ready acceptance of certain declarations as to the state of biblical criticism was needless2 or that my anxiety as to the sense of the word practical was superfluous2 let him compare the statement that ,m4 ,renan has made a practical surrender of the adverse case with the facts just set forth4 ,for what is the adverse case8 ,the question1 as ,dr4 ,wace puts it1 is1 ,it may be asked how far can we rely on the accounts we possess of our ,lord's teaching on these subjects4 ,it will be obvious that ,m4 ,renan's statements amount to an adverse answer--to a practical denial that any great reliance can be placed on these accounts4 ,he does not believe that ,matthew1 the apostle1 wrote the first ,gospel2 he does not profess to know who is responsible for the collection of logia1 or how many of them are authentic2 though he calls the second ,gospel the #die most historical1 he points out that it is written with credulity1 and may have been interpolated and retouched2 and1 as to the author1 quel qu'il soit1 of the third ,gospel1 who is to rely on the accounts of a writer who deserves the cavalier treatment which ,luke meets with at ,m4 ,renan's hands8 ,i repeat what ,i have already more than once said1 that the question of the age and the authorship of the ,gospels has not1 in my judgment1 the importance which is so commonly assigned to it2 for the simple reason that the reports1 even of eye-witnesses1 would not suffice to justify belief in a large and essential part of their contents2 on the contrary1 these reports would discredit the witnesses4 ,the ,gadarene miracle1 for example1 is so extremely improbable1 that the fact of its being reported by three1 even independent1 authorities could not justify belief in it unless we had the clearest evidence as to their capacity as observers and as interpreters of their observations4 ,but it is evident that the three authorities are not independent2 that they have simply adopted a legend1 of which there were two versions2 and instead of their proving its truth1 it suggests their superstitious credulity3 so that if ,matthew1 ,mark1 and ,luke are really responsible for the ,gospels1 it is not the better for the ,gadarene story1 but the worse for them4 ,a wonderful amount of controversial capital has been made out of my assertion in the note to which ,i have referred1 as an obiter dictum of no consequence #dif to my argument1 that if ,renan's work#adj were non-extant1 the main results of biblical criticism1 as set forth in the works of ,strauss1 ,baur1 ,reuss1 and ,volkmar1 for example1 would not be sensibly affected4 ,i thought ,i had explained it satisfactorily already1 but it seems that my explanation has only exhibited still more of my native perversity1 so ,i ask for one more chance4 ,in the course of the historical development of any branch of science1 what is universally observed is this3 that the men who make epochs1 and are the real architects of the fabric of exact knowledge1 are those who introduce fruitful ideas or methods4 ,as a rule1 the man who does this pushes his idea1 or his method1 too far2 or1 if he does not1 his school is sure to do so1 and those who follow have to reduce his work to its proper value1 and assign it its place in the whole4 ,not unfrequently they1 in their turn1 overdo the critical process1 and1 in trying to eliminate error1 throw away truth4 ,thus1 as ,i said1 ,linnaeus1 ,buffon1 ,cuvier1 ,lamarck1 really set forth the results of a developing science1 although they often heartily contradict one another4 ,notwithstanding this circumstance1 modern classificatory method and nomenclature have largely grown out of the work of ,linnaeus2 the modern conception of biology1 as a science1 and of its relation to climatology1 geography1 and geology1 are as largely rooted in the results of the labours of ,buffon2 comparative #dig anatomy and palaeontology owe a vast debt to ,cuvier's results2 while invertebrate zoology and the revival of the idea of evolution are intimately dependent on the results of the work of ,lamarck4 ,in other words1 the main results of biology up to the early years of this century are to be found in1 or spring out of1 the works of these men4 ,so1 if ,i mistake not1 ,strauss1 if he did not originate the idea of taking the mythopoeic faculty into account in the development of the ,gospel narratives1 and though he may have exaggerated the influence of that faculty1 obliged scientific theology hereafter to take that element into serious consideration2 so ,baur1 in giving prominence to the cardinal fact of the divergence of the ,nazarene and ,pauline tendencies in the primitive ,church2 so ,reuss1 in setting a marvellous example of the cool and dispassionate application of the principles of scientific criticism over the whole field of ,scripture2 so ,volkmar1 in his clear and forcible statement of the ,nazarene limitations of ,jesus1 contributed results of permanent value in scientific theology4 ,i took these names as they occurred to me4 ,undoubtedly1 ,i might have advantageously added to them2 perhaps ,i might have made a better selection4 ,but it really is absurd to try to make out that ,i did not know that these writers widely disagree2 and ,i believe that no scientific theologian will deny that1 in principle1 what ,i have said is perfectly correct4 ,ecclesiastical advocates1 of course1 cannot be expected to take this view of the matter4 ,to them1 these mere seekers after truth1 in so far as #dih their results are unfavourable to the creed the clerics have to support1 are more or less infidels1 or favourers of infidelity2 and the only thing they care to see1 or probably can see1 is the fact that1 in a great many matters1 the truth-seekers differ from one another1 and therefore can easily be exhibited to the public1 as if they did nothing else2 as if any one who referred to their having1 each and all1 contributed his share to the results of theological science1 was merely showing his ignorance2 and as if a charge of inconsistency could be based on the fact that he himself often disagrees with what they say4 ,i have never lent a shadow of foundation to the assumption that ,i am a follower of either ,strauss1 or ,baur1 or ,reuss1 or ,volkmar1 or ,renan2 my debt to these eminent men--so far my superiors in theological knowledge--is1 indeed1 great2 yet it is not for their opinions1 but for those ,i have been able to form for myself1 by their help4 ,in ,agnosticism3 a ,rejoinder 7p4 #daj71 ,i have referred to the difficulties under which those professors of the science of theology1 whose tenure of their posts depends on the results of their investigations1 must labour2 and1 in a note1 ,i add-- ,imagine that all our chairs of ,astronomy had been founded in the fourteenth century1 and that their incumbents were bound to sign ,ptolemaic articles4 ,in that case1 with every respect for the efforts of persons thus hampered to attain and expound the truth1 ,i think men of common sense would go elsewhere to learn astronomy4 ,i did not write this paragraph without a #dii knowledge that its sense would be open to the kind of perversion which it has suffered2 but1 if that was clear1 the necessity for the statement was still clearer4 ,it is my deliberate opinion3 ,i reiterate it2 and ,i say that1 in my judgment1 it is extremely inexpedient that any subject which calls itself a science should be entrusted to teachers who are debarred from freely following out scientific methods to their legitimate conclusions1 whatever those conclusions may be4 ,if ,i may borrow a phrase paraded at the ,church ,congress1 ,i think it ought to be unpleasant for any man of science to find himself in the position of such a teacher4 ,human nature is not altered by seating it in a professorial chair1 even of theology4 ,i have very little doubt that if1 in the year #ahei1 the tenure of my office had depended upon my adherence to the doctrines of ,cuvier1 the objections to those set forth in the ,origin of ,species would have had a halo of gravity about them that1 being free to teach what ,i pleased1 ,i failed to discover4 ,and1 in making that statement1 it does not appear to me that ,i am confessing that ,i should have been debarred by selfish interests from making candid inquiry1 or that ,i should have been biassed by sordid motives4 ,i hope that even such a fragment of moral sense as may remain in an ecclesiastical infidel might have got me through the difficulty2 but it would be unworthy to deny or disguise the fact that a very serious difficulty must have been created for me by the nature of my tenure4 ,and let it be observed that #ejj the temptation1 in my case1 would have been far slighter than in that of a professor of theology2 whatever biological doctrine ,i had repudiated1 nobody ,i cared for would have thought the worse of me for so doing4 ,no scientific journals would have howled me down1 as the religious newspapers howled down my too honest friend1 the late ,bishop of ,natal2 nor would my colleagues of the ,royal ,society have turned their backs upon me1 as his episcopal colleagues boycotted him4 ,i say these facts are obvious1 and that it is wholesome and needful that they should be stated4 ,it is in the interests of theology1 if it be a science1 and it is in the interests of those teachers of theology who desire to be something better than counsel for creeds1 that it should be taken to heart4 ,the seeker after theological truth and that only1 will no more suppose that ,i have insulted him1 than the prisoner who works in fetters will try to pick a quarrel with me1 if ,i suggest that he would get on better if the fetters were knocked off2 unless indeed1 as it is said does happen in the course of long captivities1 that the victim at length ceases to feel the weight of his chains1 or even takes to hugging them1 as if they were honourable ornaments4#ada 99 99 99 99 99 #eja ,,xiii ,,the ,,lights ,,of ,,the ,,church ,,and ,,the ,,light ,,of ,,science ,there are three ways of regarding any account of past occurrences1 whether delivered to us orally or recorded in writing4 ,the narrative may be exactly true4 ,that is to say1 the words1 taken in their natural sense1 and interpreted according to the rules of grammar1 may convey to the mind of the hearer1 or of the reader1 an idea precisely correspondent with one which would have remained in the mind of a witness4 ,for example1 the statement that ,king ,charles the ,first was beheaded at ,whitehall on the #cjth day of ,january #afdi1 is as exactly true as any proposition in mathematics or physics2 no one doubts that any person of sound faculties1 properly placed1 who was present at ,whitehall throughout that day1 and who used his eyes1 would have seen the ,king's head cut off2 and that there would have remained in his mind an idea of that occurrence which he would have put into words of the same value as those which we use to express it4 #ejb ,or the narrative may be partly true and partly false4 ,thus1 some histories of the time tell us what the ,king said1 and what ,bishop ,juxon said2 or report royalist conspiracies to effect a rescue2 or detail the motives which induced the chiefs of the ,commonwealth to resolve that the ,king should die4 ,one account declares that the ,king knelt at a high block1 another that he lay down with his neck on a mere plank4 ,and there are contemporary pictorial representations of both these modes of procedure4 ,such narratives1 while veracious as to the main event1 may and do exhibit various degrees of unconscious and conscious misrepresentation1 suppression1 and invention1 till they become hardly distinguishable from pure fictions4 ,thus1 they present a transition to narratives of a third class1 in which the fictitious element predominates4 ,here1 again1 there are all imaginable gradations1 from such works as ,defoe's quasi-historical account of the ,plague year1 which probably gives a truer conception of that dreadful time than any authentic history1 through the historical novel1 drama1 and epic1 to the purely phantasmal creations of imaginative genius1 such as the old ,arabian ,nights1 or the modern ,shaving of ,shagpat4 ,it is not strictly needful for my present purpose that ,i should say anything about narratives which are professedly fictitious4 ,yet it may be well1 perhaps1 if ,i disclaim any intention of derogating from their value1 when ,i insist upon the paramount necessity of recollecting that there is no sort of relation between the ethical1 or the aesthetic1 or even #ejc the scientific importance of such works1 and their worth as historical documents4 ,unquestionably1 to the poetic artist1 or even to the student of psychology1 ,hamlet and ,macbeth may be better instructors than all the books of a wilderness of professors of aesthetics or of moral philosophy4 ,but1 as evidence of occurrences in ,denmark1 or in ,scotland1 at the times and places indicated1 they are out of court2 the profoundest admiration for them1 the deepest gratitude for their influence1 are consistent with the knowledge that1 historically speaking1 they are worthless fables1 in which any foundation of reality that may exist is submerged beneath the imaginative superstructure4 ,at present1 however1 ,i am not concerned to dwell upon the importance of fictitious literature and the immensity of the work which it has effected in the education of the human race4 ,i propose to deal with the much more limited inquiry3 ,are there two other classes of consecutive narratives 7as distinct from statements of individual facts71 or only one8 ,is there any known historical work which is throughout exactly true1 or is there not8 ,in the case of the great majority of histories the answer is not doubtful3 they are all only partially true4 ,even those venerable works which bear the names of some of the greatest of ancient ,greek and ,roman writers1 and which have been accepted by generation after generation1 down to modern times1 as stores of unquestionable truth1 have been compelled by scientific criticism1 after a long battle1 to descend to the common level1 and to confess to a large admixture of error4 ,i might #ejd fairly take this for granted2 but it may be well that ,i should entrench myself behind the very apposite words of a historical authority who is certainly not obnoxious to even a suspicion of sceptical tendencies4 ,time was--and that not very long ago--when all the relations of ancient authors concerning the old world were received with a ready belief2 and an unreasoning and uncritical faith accepted with equal satisfaction the narrative of the campaigns of ,caesar and of the doings of ,romulus1 the account of ,alexander's marches and of the conquests of ,semiramis4 ,we can most of us remember when1 in this country1 the whole story of regal ,rome1 and even the legend of the ,trojan settlement in ,latium1 were seriously placed before boys as history1 and discoursed of as unhesitatingly and in as dogmatic a tone as the tale of the ,catiline ,conspiracy or the ,conquest of ,britain4444 ,but all this is now changed4 ,the last century has seen the birth and growth of a new science--the ,science of ,historical ,criticism4444 ,the whole world of profane history has been revolutionised4444#adb ,if these utterances were true when they fell from the lips of a ,bampton lecturer in #ahei1 with how much greater force do they appeal to us now1 when the immense labours of the generation now passing away constitute one vast illustration of the power and fruitfulness of scientific methods of investigation in history1 no less than in all other departments of knowledge4 ,at the present time1 ,i suppose1 there is no one who doubts that histories which appertain to any #eje other people than the ,jews1 and their spiritual progeny in the first century1 fall within the second class of the three enumerated4 ,like ,goethe's ,autobiography1 they might all be entitled ,wahrheit und ,dichtung--,truth and ,fiction4 ,the proportion of the two constituents changes indefinitely2 and the quality of the fiction varies through the whole gamut of unveracity4 ,but ,dichtung is always there4 ,for the most acute and learned of historians cannot remedy the imperfections of his sources of information2 nor can the most impartial wholly escape the influence of the personal equation generated by his temperament and by his education4 ,therefore1 from the narratives of ,herodotus to those set forth in yesterday's ,times1 all history is to be read subject to the warning that fiction has its share therein4 ,the modern vast development of fugitive literature cannot be the unmitigated evil that some do vainly say it is1 since it has put an end to the popular delusion of less press-ridden times1 that what appears in print must be true4 ,we should rather hope that some beneficent influence may create among the erudite a like healthy suspicion of manuscripts and inscriptions1 however ancient2 for a bulletin may lie1 even though it be written in cuneiform characters4 ,hotspur's starling1 that was to be taught to speak nothing but ,mortimer into the ears of ,king ,henry the ,fourth1 might be a useful inmate of every historian's library1 if ,fiction were substituted for the name of ,harry ,percy's friend4 #ejf ,but it was the chief object of the lecturer to the congregation gathered in ,st4 ,mary's1 ,oxford1 thirty-one years ago1 to prove to them1 by evidence gathered with no little labour and marshalled with much skill1 that one group of historical works was exempt from the general rule2 and that the narratives contained in the canonical ,scriptures are free from any admixture of error4 ,with justice and candour1 the lecturer impresses upon his hearers that the special distinction of ,christianity1 among the religions of the world1 lies in its claim to be historical2 to be surely founded upon events which have happened1 exactly as they are declared to have happened in its sacred books2 which are true1 that is1 in the sense that the statement about the execution of ,charles the ,first is true4 ,further1 it is affirmed that the ,new ,testament presupposes the historical exactness of the ,old ,testament2 that the points of contact of sacred and profane history are innumerable2 and that the demonstration of the falsity of the ,hebrew records1 especially in regard to those narratives which are assumed to be true in the ,new ,testament1 would be fatal to ,christian theology4 ,my utmost ingenuity does not enable me to discover a flaw in the argument thus briefly summarised4 ,i am fairly at a loss to comprehend how any one1 for a moment1 can doubt that ,christian theology must stand or fall with the historical trustworthiness of the ,jewish ,scriptures4 ,the very conception of the ,messiah1 or ,christ1 is inextricably interwoven with ,jewish history2 the identification #ejg of ,jesus of ,nazareth with that ,messiah rests upon the interpretation of passages of the ,hebrew ,scriptures which have no evidential value unless they possess the historical character assigned to them4 ,if the covenant with ,abraham was not made2 if circumcision and sacrifices were not ordained by ,jahveh2 if the ten words were not written by ,god's hand on the stone tables2 if ,abraham is more or less a mythical hero1 such as ,theseus2 the story of the ,deluge a fiction2 that of the ,fall a legend2 and that of the ,creation the dream of a seer2 if all these definite and detailed narratives of apparently real events have no more value as history than have the stories of the regal period of ,rome--what is to be said about the ,messianic doctrine1 which is so much less clearly enunciated8 ,and what about the authority of the writers of the books of the ,new ,testament1 who1 on this theory1 have not merely accepted flimsy fictions for solid truths1 but have built the very foundations of ,christian dogma upon legendary quicksands8 ,but these may be said to be merely the carpings of that carnal reason which the profane call common sense2 ,i hasten1 therefore1 to bring up the forces of unimpeachable ecclesiastical authority in support of my position4 ,in a sermon preached last ,december1 in ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral1#adc ,canon ,liddon declares3-- #ejh ,for ,christians it will be enough to know that our ,lord ,jesus ,christ set the seal of ,his infallible sanction on the whole of the ,old ,testament4 ,he found the ,hebrew ,canon as we have it in our hands to-day1 and he treated it as an authority which was above discussion4 ,nay more3 ,he went out of ,his way--if we may reverently speak thus--to sanction not a few portions of it which modern scepticism rejects4 ,when he would warn ,his hearers against the dangers of spiritual relapse1 ,he bids them remember ,lot's wife4#add ,when ,he would point out how worldly engagements may blind the soul to a coming judgment1 ,he reminds them how men ate1 and drank1 and married1 and were given in marriage1 until the day that ,noah entered into the ark1 and the ,flood came and destroyed them all4#ade ,if ,he would put ,his finger on a fact in past ,jewish history which1 by its admitted reality1 would warrant belief in ,his own coming ,resurrection1 ,he points to ,jonah's being three days and three nights in the whale's belly 7p4 #bc74adf ,the preacher proceeds to brush aside the common--,i had almost said vulgar--apologetic pretext that ,jesus was using ad hominem arguments1 or accommodating his better knowledge to popular ignorance1 as well as to point out the inadmissibility of the other alternative1 that he shared the popular ignorance4 ,and to those who hold the latter view sarcasm is dealt out with no niggard hand4 ,but they will find it difficult to persuade mankind that1 if ,he could be mistaken on a matter of such strictly religious importance as the value of the sacred literature of ,his countrymen1 ,he can be safely trusted about anything else4 ,the trustworthiness of the ,old ,testament is1 in fact1 inseparable from the trustworthiness of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ2 and if we believe that ,he is the true ,light of the world1 we shall close our ears against suggestions impairing the credit of those ,jewish ,scriptures which have received the stamp of ,his ,divine authority 7p4 #be74 #eji ,moreover1 ,i learn from the public journals that a brilliant and sharply-cut view of orthodoxy1 of like hue and pattern1 was only the other day exhibited in that great theological kaleidoscope1 the pulpit of ,st4 ,mary's1 recalling the time so long past by1 when a ,bampton lecturer1 in the same place1 performed the unusual feat of leaving the faith of old-fashioned ,christians undisturbed4 ,yet many things have happened in the intervening thirty-one years4 ,the ,bampton lecturer of #ahei had to grapple only with the infant ,hercules of historical criticism2 and he is now a full-grown athlete1 bearing on his shoulders the spoils of all the lions that have stood in his path4 ,surely a martyr's courage1 as well as a martyr's faith1 is needed by any one who1 at this time1 is prepared to stand by the following plea for the veracity of the ,pentateuch3-- ,adam1 according to the ,hebrew original1 was for #bdc years contemporary with ,methuselah1 who conversed for a hundred years with ,shem4 ,shem was for fifty years contemporary with ,jacob1 who probably saw ,jochebed1 ,moses's mother4 ,thus1 ,moses might by oral tradition have obtained the history of ,abraham1 and even of the ,deluge1 at third hand2 and that of the ,temptation and the ,fall at fifth hand4444 ,if it be granted--as it seems to be--that the great and stirring events in a nation's life will1 under ordinary circumstances1 be remembered 7apart from all written memorials7 for the space of #aej years1 being handed down through five generations1 it must be allowed 7even on mere human grounds7 that the account which ,moses gives of the ,temptation and the ,fall is to be depended upon1 if it passed through no more than four hands between him and ,adam4#adg #eaj ,if the trustworthiness of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ is to stand or fall with the belief in the sudden transmutation of the chemical components of a woman's body into sodium chloride1 or on the admitted reality of ,jonah's ejection1 safe and sound1 on the shores of the ,levant1 after three day's sea-journey in the stomach of a gigantic marine animal1 what possible pretext can there be for even hinting a doubt as to the precise truth of the longevity attributed to the ,patriarchs8 ,who that has swallowed the camel of ,jonah's journey will be guilty of the affectation of straining at such a historical gnat--nay midge--as the supposition that the mother of ,moses was told the story of the ,flood by ,jacob2 who had it straight from ,shem2 who was on friendly terms with ,methuselah2 who knew ,adam quite well8 ,yet1 by the strange irony of things1 the illustrious brother of the divine who propounded this remarkable theory1 has been the guide and foremost worker of that band of investigators of the records of ,assyria and of ,babylonia1 who have opened to our view1 not merely a new chapter1 but a new volume of primeval history1 relating to the very people who have the most numerous points of contact with the life of the ancient ,hebrews4 ,now1 whatever imperfections may yet obscure the full value of the ,mesopotamian records1 everything that has been clearly ascertained tends to the conclusion that the assignment of no more than #djjj years to the period between the time of the origin of mankind and that of ,augustus ,caesar1 is wholly inadmissible4 ,therefore the ,biblical #eaa chronology1 which ,canon ,rawlinson trusted so implicitly in #ahei1 is relegated by all serious critics to the domain of fable4 ,but if scientific method1 operating in the region of history1 of philology1 of archaeology1 in the course of the last thirty or forty years1 has become thus formidable to the theological dogmatist1 what may not be said about scientific method working in the province of physical science8 ,for1 if it be true that the ,canonical ,scriptures have innumerable points of contact with civil history1 it is no less true that they have almost as many with natural history2 and their accuracy is put to the test as severely by the latter as by the former4 ,the origin of the present state of the heavens and the earth is a problem which lies strictly within the province of physical science2 so is that of the origin of man among living things2 so is that of the physical changes which the earth has undergone since the origin of man2 so is that of the origin of the various races and nations of men1 with all their varieties of language and physical conformation4 ,whether the earth moves round the sun or the contrary2 whether the bodily and mental diseases of men and animals are caused by evil spirits or not2 whether there is such an agency as witchcraft or not--all these are purely scientific questions2 and to all of them the canonical ,scriptures profess to give true answers4 ,and though nothing is more common than the assumption that these books come into conflict only with the speculative part of modern physical science1 no assumption can have less foundation4 #eab ,the antagonism between natural knowledge and the ,pentateuch would be as great if the speculations of our time had never been heard of4 ,it arises out of contradiction upon matters of fact4 ,the books of ecclesiastical authority declare that certain events happened in a certain fashion2 the books of scientific authority say they did not4 ,as it seems that this unquestionable truth has not yet penetrated among many of those who speak and write on these subjects1 it may be useful to give a full illustration of it4 ,and for that purpose ,i propose to deal1 at some length1 with the narrative of the ,noachian ,deluge given in ,genesis4 ,the ,bampton lecturer in #ahei1 and the ,canon of ,st4 ,paul's in #ahij1 are in full agreement that this history is true1 in the sense in which ,i have defined historical truth4 ,the former is of opinion that the account attributed to ,berosus records a tradition-- not drawn from the ,hebrew record1 much less the foundation of that record2 yet coinciding with it in the most remarkable way4 ,the ,babylonian version is tricked out with a few extravagances1 as the monstrous size of the vessel and the translation of ,xisuthros2 but otherwise it is the ,hebrew history down to its minutiae 7p4 #fd74 ,moreover1 correcting ,niebuhr1 the ,bampton lecturer points out that the narrative of ,berosus implies the universality of the ,flood4 ,it is plain that the waters are represented as prevailing above the tops of the loftiest mountains in ,armenia--a height which must have been seen to involve the submersion of all the countries with which the ,babylonians were acquainted 7p4 #ff74 #eac ,i may remark1 in passing1 that many people think the size of ,noah's ark monstrous1 considering the probable state of the art of shipbuilding only #afjj years after the origin of man2 while others are so unreasonable as to inquire why the translation of ,enoch is less an extravagance than that of ,xisuthros4 ,it is more important1 however1 to note that the universality of the ,deluge is recognised1 not merely as a part of the story1 but as a necessary consequence of some of its details4 ,the latest exponent of ,anglican orthodoxy1 as we have seen1 insists upon the accuracy of the ,pentateuchal history of the ,flood in a still more forcible manner4 ,it is cited as one of those very narratives to which the authority of the ,founder of ,christianity is pledged1 and upon the accuracy of which the trustworthiness of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ is staked1 just as others have staked it upon the truth of the histories of demoniac possession in the ,gospels4 ,now1 when those who put their trust in scientific methods of ascertaining the truth in the province of natural history find themselves confronted and opposed1 on their own ground1 by ecclesiastical pretensions to better knowledge1 it is1 undoubtedly1 most desirable for them to make sure that their conclusions1 whatever they may be1 are well founded4 ,and1 if they put aside the unauthorised interference with their business and relegate the ,pentateuchal history to the region of pure fiction1 they are bound to assure themselves that they do so because the plainest teachings of ,nature 7apart from all doubtful #ead speculations7 are irreconcilable with the assertions which they reject4 ,at the present time1 it is difficult to persuade serious scientific inquirers to occupy themselves1 in any way1 with the ,noachian ,deluge4 ,they look at you with a smile and a shrug1 and say they have more important matters to attend to than mere antiquarianism4 ,but it was not so in my youth4 ,at that time1 geologists and biologists could hardly follow to the end any path of inquiry without finding the way blocked by ,noah and his ark1 or by the first chapter of ,genesis2 and it was a serious matter1 in this country at any rate1 for a man to be suspected of doubting the literal truth of the ,diluvial or any other ,pentateuchal history4 ,the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the ,geological ,club 7in #ahbd71 was1 if ,i remember rightly1 the last occasion on which the late ,sir ,charles ,lyell spoke to even so small a public as the members of that body4 ,our veteran leader lighted up once more2 and1 referring to the difficulties which beset his early efforts to create a rational science of geology1 spoke1 with his wonted clearness and vigour1 of the social ostracism which pursued him after the publication of the ,principles of ,geology1 in #ahcj1 on account of the obvious tendency of that noble work to discredit the ,pentateuchal accounts of the ,creation and the ,deluge4 ,if my younger contemporaries find this hard to believe1 ,i may refer them to a grave book1 ,on the ,doctrine of the ,deluge1 published eight years later1 and dedicated by its author to his father1 the then ,archbishop of ,york4 ,the first chapter #eae refers to the treatment of the ,mosaic ,deluge1 by ,dr4 ,buckland and ,mr4 ,lyell1 in the following terms3 ,their respect for revealed religion has prevented them from arraying themselves openly against the ,scriptural account of it--much less do they deny its truth--but they are in a great hurry to escape from the consideration of it1 and evidently concur in the opinion of ,linnaeus1 that no proofs whatever of the ,deluge are to be discovered in the structure of the earth 7p4 #a74 ,and after an attempt to reply to some of ,lyell's arguments1 which it would be cruel to reproduce1 the writer continues3-- ,when1 therefore1 upon such slender grounds1 it is determined1 in answer to those who insist upon its universality1 that the ,mosaic ,deluge must be considered a preternatural event1 far beyond the reach of philosophical inquiry2 not only as to the causes employed to produce it1 but as to the effects most likely to result from it2 that determination wears an aspect of scepticism1 which1 however much soever it may be unintentional in the mind of the writer1 yet cannot but produce an evil impression on those who are already predisposed to carp and cavil at the evidences of ,revelation 7pp4 #h-i74 ,the kindly and courteous writer of these curious passages is evidently unwilling to make the geologists the victims of general opprobrium by pressing the obvious consequences of their teaching home4 ,one is therefore pained to think of the feelings with which1 if he lived so long as to become acquainted with the ,dictionary of the ,bible1 he must have perused the article ,noah1 written by a dignitary of the ,church for that standard compendium and published in #ahfc4 ,for the doctrine of the universality of the ,deluge is therein altogether given up2 and ,i #eaf permit myself to hope that a long criticism of the story from the point of view of natural science1 with which1 at the request of the learned theologian who wrote it1 ,i supplied him1 may1 in some degree1 have contributed towards this happy result4 ,notwithstanding diligent search1 ,i have been unable to discover that the universality of the ,deluge has any defender left1 at least among those who have so far mastered the rudiments of natural knowledge as to be able to appreciate the weight of evidence against it4 ,for example1 when ,i turned to the ,speaker's ,bible1 published under the sanction of high ,anglican authority1 ,i found the following judicial and judicious deliverance1 the skilful wording of which may adorn1 but does not hide1 the completeness of the surrender of the old teaching3-- ,without pronouncing too hastily on any fair inferences from the words of ,scripture1 we may reasonably say that their most natural interpretation is1 that the whole race of man had become grievously corrupted since the faithful had intermingled with the ungodly2 that the inhabited world was consequently filled with violence1 and that ,god had decreed to destroy all mankind except one single family2 that1 therefore1 all that portion of the earth1 perhaps as yet a very small portion1 into which mankind had spread was overwhelmed with water4 ,the ark was ordained to save one faithful family2 and lest that family1 on the subsidence of the waters1 should find the whole country round them a desert1 a pair of all the beasts of the land1 and of the fowls of the air were preserved along with them1 and along with them went forth to replenish the now desolated continent4 ,the words of ,scripture 7confirmed as they are by universal tradition7 appear at least to mean as much as this4 ,they do not necessarily mean more4#adh #eag ,in the third edition of ,kitto's ,cyclopaedia of ,biblical ,literature 7#ahgf71 the article ,deluge1 written by my friend1 the present distinguished head of the ,geological ,survey of ,great ,britain1 extinguishes the universality doctrine as thoroughly as might be expected from its authorship2 and1 since the writer of the article ,noah refers his readers to that entitled ,deluge1 it is to be supposed1 notwithstanding his generally orthodox tone1 that he does not dissent from its conclusions4 ,again1 the writers in ,herzog's ,real-,encyclopaedie 7,bd4 ,x4 #ahhb7 and in ,riehm's ,handwoerterbuch 7#ahhd7--;both works with a conservative leaning--are on the same side2 and ,diestel1#adi in his full discussion of the subject1 remorselessly rejects the universality doctrine4 ,even that staunch opponent of scientific rationalism--may ,i say rationality--,zoeckler1#aej flinches from a distinct defence of the thesis1 any opposition to which1 well within my recollection1 was howled down by the orthodox as mere infidelity4 ,all that1 in his sore straits1 ,dr4 ,zoeckler is able to do1 is to pronounce a faint commendation upon a particularly absurd attempt at reconciliation1 which would make out the ,noachian ,deluge to be a catastrophe which occurred at the end of the ,glacial ,epoch4 ,this hypothesis involves only the trifle of a physical revolution of which geology knows nothing2 and which1 if it secured the accuracy of the ,pentateuchal writer about the fact of the ,deluge1 would leave the details of his #eah account as irreconcilable with the truths of elementary physical science as ever4 ,thus ,i may be permitted to spare myself and my readers the weariness of a recapitulation of the overwhelming arguments against the universality of the ,deluge1 which they will now find for themselves stated1 as fully and forcibly as could be wished1 by ,anglican and other theologians1 whose orthodoxy and conservative tendencies have1 hitherto1 been above suspicion4 ,yet many fully admit 7and1 indeed1 nothing can be plainer7 that the ,pentateuchal narrator means to convey that1 as a matter of fact1 the whole earth known to him was inundated2 nor is it less obvious that1 unless all mankind1 with the exception of ,noah and his family1 were actually destroyed1 the references to the ,flood in the ,new ,testament are unintelligible4 ,but ,i am quite aware that the strength of the demonstration that no universal ,deluge ever took place has produced a change of front in the army of apologetic writers4 ,they have imagined that the substitution of the adjective partial for universal1 will save the credit of the ,pentateuch1 and permit them1 after all1 without too many blushes1 to declare that the progress of modern science only strengthens the authority of ,moses4 ,nowhere have ,i found the case of the advocates of this method of escaping from the difficulties of the actual position better put than in the lecture of ,professor ,diestel to which ,i have referred4 ,after frankly admitting that the old doctrine of universality involves physical impossibilities1 he continues3-- #eai ,all these difficulties fall away as soon as we give up the universality of the ,deluge1 and imagine a partial flooding of the earth1 say in western ,asia4 ,but have we a right to do so8 ,the narrative speaks of the whole earth4 ,but what is the meaning of this expression8 ,surely not the whole surface of the earth according to the ideas of modern geographers1 but1 at most1 according to the conceptions of the ,biblical author4 ,this very simple conclusion1 however1 is never drawn by too many readers of the ,bible4 ,but one need only cast one's eyes over the tenth chapter of ,genesis in order to become acquainted with the geographical horizon of the ,jews4 ,in the north it was bounded by the ,black ,sea and the mountains of ,armenia2 extended towards the east very little beyond the ,tigris2 hardly reached the apex of the ,persian ,gulf2 passed1 then1 through the middle of ,arabia and the ,red ,sea2 went southward through ,abyssinia1 and then turned westward by the frontiers of ,egypt1 and inclosed the easternmost islands of the ,mediterranean 7p4 #aa74 ,the justice of this observation must be admitted1 no less than the further remark that1 in still earlier times1 the pastoral ,hebrews very probably had yet more restricted notions of what constituted the whole earth4 ,moreover1 ,i1 for one1 fully agree with ,professor ,diestel that the motive1 or generative incident1 of the whole story is to be sought in the occasionally excessive and desolating floods of the ,euphrates and the ,tigris4 ,let us1 provisionally1 accept the theory of a partial deluge1 and try to form a clear mental picture of the occurrence4 ,let us suppose that1 for forty days and forty nights1 such a vast quantity of water was poured upon the ground that the whole surface of ,mesopotamia was covered by water to a depth certainly greater1 probably much greater1 than fifteen cubits1 or #ebj twenty feet 7,gen4 vii4 #bj74 ,the inundation prevails upon the earth for one hundred and fifty days2 and then the flood gradually decreases1 until1 on the seventeenth day of the seventh month1 the ark1 which had previously floated on its surface1 grounds upon the mountains of ,ararat#aea 7,gen4 viii4 #cd74 ,then1 as ,diestel has acutely pointed out 7,sintflut1 p4 #ac71 we are to imagine the further subsidence of the flood to take place so gradually that it was not until nearly two months and a-half after this time 7that is to say1 on the first day of the tenth month7 that the tops of the mountains became visible4 ,hence it follows that1 if the ark drew even as much as twenty feet of water1 the level of the inundation fell very slowly--at a rate of only a few inches a day--until the top of the mountain on which it rested became visible4 ,this is an amount of movement which1 if it took place in the sea1 would be overlooked by ordinary people on the shore4 ,but the ,mesopotamian plain slopes gently1 from an elevation of #ejj or #fjj feet at its northern end1 to the sea1 at its southern end1 with hardly so much as a notable ridge to break its uniform flatness1 for #cjj to #djj miles4 ,these being the conditions of the case1 the following inquiry naturally presents itself3 not1 be it observed1 as a recondite problem1 generated by modern speculation1 but as a plain suggestion flowing out of that very ordinary and archaic piece of knowledge that water cannot be piled up #eba in a heap1 like sand2 or that it seeks the lowest level4 ,when1 after #aej days1 the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped1 and the rain from heaven was restrained 7,gen4 viii4 #b71 what prevented the mass of water1 several1 possibly very many1 fathoms deep1 which covered1 say1 the present site of ,bagdad1 from sweeping seaward in a furious torrent2 and1 in a very few hours1 leaving1 not only the tops of the mountains1 but the whole plain1 save any minor depressions1 bare8 ,how could its subsidence1 by any possibility1 be an affair of weeks and months8 ,and if this difficulty is not enough1 let any one try to imagine how a mass of water several1 perhaps very many1 fathoms deep1 could be accumulated on a flat surface of land rising well above the sea1 and separated from it by no sort of barrier4 ,most people know ,lord's ,cricket-ground4 ,would it not be an absurd contradiction to our common knowledge of the properties of water to imagine that1 if all the mains of all the waterworks of ,london were turned on to it1 they could maintain a heap of water twenty feet deep over its level surface8 ,is it not obvious that the water1 whatever momentary accumulation might take place at first1 would not stop there1 but that it would dash1 like a mighty mill-race1 southwards down the gentle slope which ends in the ,thames8 ,and is it not further obvious1 that whatever depth of water might be maintained over the cricket-ground so long as all the mains poured on to it1 anything which floated there would be speedily whirled away by the current1 like a cork in a gutter when the rain pours8 #ebb ,but if this is so1 then it is no less certain that ,noah's deeply laden1 sailless1 oarless1 and rudderless craft1 if by good fortune it escaped capsizing in whirlpools1 or having its bottom knocked into holes by snags 7like those which prove fatal even to well-built steamers on the ,mississippi in our day71 would have speedily found itself a good way down the ,persian ,gulf1 and not long after in the ,indian ,ocean1 somewhere between ,arabia and ,hindostan4 ,even if1 eventually1 the ark might have gone ashore1 with other jetsam and flotsam1 on the coasts of ,arabia1 or of ,hindostan1 or of the ,maldives1 or of ,madagascar1 its return to the mountains of ,ararat would have been a miracle more stupendous than all the rest4 ,thus1 the last state of the would-be reconcilers of the story of the ,deluge with fact is worse than the first4 ,all that they have done is to transfer the contradictions to established truth from the region of science proper to that of common information and common sense4 ,for1 really1 the assertion that the surface of a body of deep water1 to which no addition was made1 and which there was nothing to stop from running into the sea1 sank at the rate of only a few inches or even feet a day1 simply outrages the most ordinary and familiar teachings of every man's daily experience4 ,a child may see the folly of it4 ,in addition1 ,i may remark that the necessary assumption of the partial ,deluge hypothesis 7if it is confined to ,mesopotamia7 that the ,hebrew writer must have meant low hills when he said high mountains1 is quite untenable4 ,on the eastern side of the #ebc ,mesopotamian plain1 the snowy peaks of the frontier ranges of ,persia are visible from ,bagdad1#aeb and even the most ignorant herdsmen in the neighbourhood of ,ur of the ,chaldees1 near its western limit1 could hardly have been unacquainted with the comparatively elevated plateau of the ,syrian desert which lay close at hand4 ,but1 surely1 we must suppose the ,biblical writer to be acquainted with the highlands of ,palestine and with the masses of the ,sinaitic peninsula1 which soar more than #hjjj feet above the sea1 if he knew of no higher elevations2 and1 if so1 he could not well have meant to refer to mere hillocks when he said that all the high mountains which were under the whole heaven were covered 7,genesis vii4 #ai74 ,even the hill-country of ,galilee reaches an elevation of #djjj feet2 and a flood which covered it could by no possibility have been other than universal in its superficial extent4 ,water really cannot be got to stand at1 say1 #djjj feet above the sea-level over ,palestine1 without covering the rest of the globe to the same height4 ,even if1 in the course of ,noah's six hundredth year1 some prodigious convulsion had sunk the whole region inclosed within the horizon of the geographical knowledge of the ,israelites by that much1 and another had pushed it up again1 just in time to catch the ark upon the mountains of ,ararat1 matters are not much mended4 ,i am afraid to think of what would have become of a vessel so little seaworthy as the ark and of its very numerous passengers1 #ebd under the peculiar obstacles to quiet flotation which such rapid movements of depression and upheaval would have generated4 ,thus1 in view1 not1 ,i repeat1 of the recondite speculations of infidel philosophers1 but in the face of the plainest and most commonplace of ascertained physical facts1 the story of the ,noachian ,deluge has no more claim to credit than has that of ,deucalion2 and whether it was1 or was not1 suggested by the familiar acquaintance of its originators with the effects of unusually great overflows of the ,tigris and ,euphrates1 it is utterly devoid of historical truth4 ,that is1 in my judgment1 the necessary result of the application of criticism1 based upon assured physical knowledge1 to the story of the ,deluge4 ,and it is satisfactory that the criticism which is based1 not upon literary and historical speculations1 but upon well-ascertained facts in the departments of literature and history1 tends to exactly the same conclusion4 ,for ,i find this much agreed upon by all ,biblical scholars of repute1 that the story of the ,deluge in ,genesis is separable into at least two sets of statements2 and that1 when the statements thus separated are recombined in their proper order1 each set furnishes an account of the event1 coherent and complete within itself1 but in some respects discordant with that afforded by the other set4 ,this fact1 as ,i understand1 is not disputed4 ,whether one of these is the work of an ,elohist1 and the other of a ,jehovist narrator2 whether the two have been pieced together in this #ebe strange fashion because1 in the estimation of the compilers and editors of the ,pentateuch1 they had equal and independent authority1 or not2 or whether there is some other way of accounting for it--are questions the answers to which do not affect the fact4 ,if possible ,i avoid a priori arguments4 ,but still1 ,i think it may be urged1 without imprudence1 that a narrative having this structure is hardly such as might be expected from a writer possessed of full and infallibly accurate knowledge4 ,once more1 it would seem that it is not necessarily the mere inclination of the sceptical spirit to question everything1 or the wilful blindness of infidels1 which prompts grave doubts as to the value of a narrative thus curiously unlike the ordinary run of veracious histories4 ,but the voice of archaeological and historical criticism still has to be heard2 and it gives forth no uncertain sound4 ,the marvellous recovery of the records of an antiquity1 far superior to any that can be ascribed to the ,pentateuch1 which has been effected by the decipherers of cuneiform characters1 has put us in possession of a series1 once more1 not of speculations1 but of facts1 which have a most remarkable bearing upon the question of the trustworthiness of the narrative of the ,flood4 ,it is established1 that for centuries before the asserted migration of ,terah from ,ur of the ,chaldees 7which1 according to the orthodox interpreters of the ,pentateuch1 took place after the year #bjjj ,b4,c47 ,lower ,mesopotamia was the seat of a civilisation in which art and science and literature had attained a development formerly unsuspected1 or1 #ebf if there were faint reports of it1 treated as fabulous4 ,and it is also no matter of speculation1 but a fact1 that the libraries of these people contain versions of a long epic poem1 one of the twelve books of which tells a story of a deluge1 which1 in a number of its leading features1 corresponds with the story attributed to ,berosus1 no less than with the story given in ,genesis1 with curious exactness4 ,thus1 the correctness of ,canon ,rawlinson's conclusion1 cited above1 that the story of ,berosus was neither drawn from the ,hebrew record1 nor is the foundation of it1 can hardly be questioned4 ,it is highly probable1 if not certain1 that ,berosus relied upon one of the versions 7for there seem to have been several7 of the old ,babylonian epos1 extant in his time2 and1 if that is a reasonable conclusion1 why is it unreasonable to believe that the two stories1 which the ,hebrew compiler has put together in such an inartistic fashion1 were ultimately derived from the same source8 ,i say ultimately1 because it does not at all follow that the two versions1 possibly trimmed by the ,jehovistic writer on the one hand1 and by the ,elohistic on the other1 to suit ,hebrew requirements1 may not have been current among the ,israelites for ages4 ,and they may have acquired great authority before they were combined in the ,pentateuch4 ,looking at the convergence of all these lines of evidence to the one conclusion--that the story of the ,flood in ,genesis is merely a ,bowdlerised version of one of the oldest pieces of purely fictitious literature extant2 that whether this is1 or is not1 its origin1 the #ebg events asserted in it to have taken place assuredly never did take place2 further1 that1 in point of fact1 the story1 in the plain and logically necessary sense of its words1 has long since been given up by orthodox and conservative commentators of the ,established ,church--,i can but admire the courage and clear foresight of the ,anglican divine who tells us that we must be prepared to choose between the trustworthiness of scientific method and the trustworthiness of that which the ,church declares to be ,divine authority4 ,for1 to my mind1 this declaration of war to the knife against secular science1 even in its most elementary form2 this rejection without a moment's hesitation of any and all evidence which conflicts with theological dogma--is the only position which is logically reconcilable with the axioms of orthodoxy4 ,if the ,gospels truly report that which an incarnation of the ,god of ,truth communicated to the world1 then it surely is absurd to attend to any other evidence touching matters about which he made any clear statement1 or the truth of which is distinctly implied by his words4 ,if the exact historical truth of the ,gospels is an axiom of ,christianity1 it is as just and right for a ,christian to say1 ,let us close our ears against suggestions of scientific critics1 as it is for the man of science to refuse to waste his time upon circle-squarers and flat-earth fanatics4 ,it is commonly reported that the manifesto by which the ,canon of ,st4 ,paul's proclaims that he nails the colours of the straitest ,biblical infallibility to the mast of the ship ecclesiastical1 was put forth as a #ebh counterblast to ,lux ,mundi2 and that the passages which ,i have more particularly quoted are directed against the essay on ,the ,holy ,spirit and ,inspiration in that collection of treatises by ,anglican divines of high standing1 who must assuredly be acquitted of conscious infidel proclivities4 ,i fancy that rumour must1 for once1 be right1 for it is impossible to imagine a more direct and diametrical contradiction than that between the passages from the sermon cited above and those which follow3-- ,what is questioned is that our ,lord's words foreclose certain critical positions as to the character of ,old ,testament literature4 ,for example1 does ,his use of ,jonah's resurrection as a type of ,his own1 depend in any real degree upon whether it is historical fact or allegory8444 ,once more1 our ,lord uses the time before the ,flood1 to illustrate the carelessness of men before ,his own coming4444 ,in referring to the ,flood ,he certainly suggests that ,he is treating it as typical1 for ,he introduces circumstances--eating and drinking1 marrying and giving in marriage--which have no counterpart in the original narrative 7p4 #ceh-i74 ,while insisting on the flow of inspiration through the whole of the ,old ,testament1 the essayist does not admit its universality4 ,here1 also1 the new apologetic demands a partial flood3 ,but does the inspiration of the recorder guarantee the exact historical truth of what he records8 ,and1 in matter of fact1 can the record1 with due regard to legitimate historical criticism1 be pronounced true8 ,now1 to the latter of these two questions 7and they are quite distinct questions7 we may reply that there is nothing to prevent our believing1 as our faith strongly disposes us to believe1 that the record from ,abraham downward is1 in substance1 in the strict sense historical 7p4 #cea74 ,it would appear1 therefore1 that there is nothing #ebi to prevent our believing that the record1 from ,abraham upward1 consists of stories in the strict sense unhistorical1 and that the pre-,abrahamic narratives are mere moral and religious types and parables4 ,i confess ,i soon lose my way when ,i try to follow those who walk delicately among types and allegories4 ,a certain passion for clearness forces me to ask1 bluntly1 whether the writer means to say that ,jesus did not believe the stories in question1 or that he did8 ,when ,jesus spoke1 as of a matter of fact1 that the ,flood came and destroyed them all1 did he believe that the ,deluge really took place1 or not8 ,it seems to me that1 as the narrative mentions ,noah's wife1 and his sons' wives1 there is good scriptural warranty for the statement that the antediluvians married and were given in marriage2 and ,i should have thought that their eating and drinking might be assumed by the firmest believer in the literal truth of the story4 ,moreover1 ,i venture to ask what sort of value1 as an illustration of ,god's methods of dealing with sin1 has an account of an event that never happened8 ,if no ,flood swept the careless people away1 how is the warning of more worth than the cry of ,wolf when there is no wolf8 ,if ,jonah's three days' residence in the whale is not an admitted reality1 how could it warrant belief in the coming resurrection8 ,if ,lot's wife was not turned into a pillar of salt1 the bidding those who turn back from the narrow path to remember it is1 morally1 about on a level with telling a naughty child that a bogy is #ecj coming to fetch it away4 ,suppose that a ,conservative orator warns his hearers to beware of great political and social changes1 lest they end1 as in ,france1 in the domination of a ,robespierre2 what becomes1 not only of his argument1 but of his veracity1 if he1 personally1 does not believe that ,robespierre existed and did the deeds attributed to him8 ,like all other attempts to reconcile the results of scientifically-conducted investigation with the demands of the outworn creeds of ecclesiasticism1 the essay on ,inspiration is just such a failure as must await mediation1 when the mediator is unable properly to appreciate the weight of the evidence for the case of one of the two parties4 ,the question of ,inspiration really possesses no interest for those who have cast ecclesiasticism and all its works aside1 and have no faith in any source of truth save that which is reached by the patient application of scientific methods4 ,theories of inspiration are speculations as to the means by which the authors of statements1 in the ,bible or elsewhere1 have been led to say what they have said--and it assumes that natural agencies are insufficient for the purpose4 ,i prefer to stop short of this problem1 finding it more profitable to undertake the inquiry which naturally precedes it--namely1 ,are these statements true or false8 ,if they are true1 it may be worth while to go into the question of their supernatural generation2 if they are false1 it certainly is not worth mine4 ,now1 not only do ,i hold it to be proven that the story of the ,deluge is a pure fiction2 but ,i have no #eca hesitation in affirming the same thing of the story of the ,creation4#aec ,between these two lies the story of the creation of man and woman and their fall from primitive innocence1 which is even more monstrously improbable than either of the other two1 though1 from the nature of the case1 it is not so easily capable of direct refutation4 ,it can be demonstrated that the earth took longer than six days in the making1 and that the ,deluge1 as described1 is a physical impossibility2 but there is no proving1 especially to those who are perfect in the art of closing their ears to that which they do not wish to hear1 that a snake did not speak1 or that ,eve was not made out of one of ,adam's ribs4 ,the compiler of ,genesis1 in its present form1 evidently had a definite plan in his mind4 ,his countrymen1 like all other men1 were doubtless curious to know how the world began2 how men1 and especially wicked men1 came into being1 and how existing nations and races arose among the descendants of one stock2 and1 finally1 what was the history of their own particular tribe4 ,they1 like ourselves1 desired to solve the four great problems of cosmogeny1 anthropogeny1 ethnogeny1 and geneogeny4 ,the ,pentateuch #ecb furnishes the solutions which appeared satisfactory to its author4 ,one of these1 as we have seen1 was borrowed from a ,babylonian fable2 and ,i know of no reason to suspect any different origin for the rest4 ,now1 ,i would ask1 is the story of the fabrication of ,eve to be regarded as one of those pre-,abrahamic narratives1 the historical truth of which is an open question1 in face of the reference to it in a speech unhappily famous for the legal oppression to which it has been wrongfully forced to lend itself8 ,have ye not read1 that he which made them from the beginning made them male and female1 and said1 ,for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother1 and cleave to his wife2 and the twain shall become one flesh8 7,matt4 xix4 #e74 ,if divine authority is not here claimed for the twenty-fourth verse of the second chapter of ,genesis1 what is the value of language8 ,and again1 ,i ask1 if one may play fast and loose with the story of the ,fall as a type or allegory1 what becomes of the foundation of ,pauline theology8-- ,for since by man came death1 by man came also the resurrection of the dead4 ,for as in ,adam all die1 so also in ,christ shall all be made alive 7#a ,corinthians xv4 #ba1 #bb74 ,if ,adam may be held to be no more real a personage than ,prometheus1 and if the story of the ,fall is merely an instructive type1 comparable to the profound ,promethean mythus1 what value has ,paul's dialectic8 ,while1 therefore1 every right-minded man must sympathise with the efforts of those theologians1 who #ecc have not been able altogether to close their ears to the still1 small voice of reason1 to escape from the fetters which ecclesiasticism has forged1 the melancholy fact remains1 that the position they have taken up is hopelessly untenable4 ,it is raked alike by the old-fashioned artillery of the ,churches and by the fatal weapons of precision with which the enfants perdus of the advancing forces of science are armed4 ,they must surrender1 or fall back into a more sheltered position4 ,and it is possible that they may long find safety in such retreat4 ,it is1 indeed1 probable that the proportional number of those who will distinctly profess their belief in the transubstantiation of ,lot's wife1 and the anticipatory experience of submarine navigation by ,jonah2 in water standing fathoms deep on the side of a declivity without anything to hold it up2 and in devils who enter swine--will not increase4 ,but neither is there ground for much hope that the proportion of those who cast aside these fictions and adopt the consequence of that repudiation1 are1 for some generations1 likely to constitute a majority4 ,our age is a day of compromises4 ,the present and the near future seem given over to those happily1 if curiously1 constituted people who see as little difficulty in throwing aside any amount of post-,abrahamic ,scriptural narrative1 as the authors of ,lux ,mundi see in sacrificing the pre-,abrahamic stories2 and1 having distilled away every inconvenient matter of fact in ,christian history1 continue to pay divine honours to the residue4 ,there really seems to be no reason why the next generation #ecd should not listen to a ,bampton ,lecture modelled upon that addressed to the last3-- ,time was--and that not very long ago--when all the relations of ,biblical authors concerning the old world were received with a ready belief2 and an unreasoning and uncritical faith accepted with equal satisfaction the narrative of the ,captivity and the doings of ,moses at the court of ,pharaoh1 the account of the ,apostolic meeting in the ,epistle to the ,galatians1 and that of the fabrication of ,eve4 ,we can most of us remember when1 in this country1 the whole story of the ,exodus1 and even the legend of ,jonah1 were seriously placed before boys as history1 and discoursed of in as dogmatic a tone as the tale of ,agincourt or the history of the ,norman ,conquest4 ,but all this is now changed4 ,the last century has seen the growth of scientific criticism to its full strength4 ,the whole world of history has been revolutionised and the mythology which embarrassed earnest ,christians has vanished as an evil mist1 the lifting of which has only more fully revealed the lineaments of infallible ,truth4 ,no longer in contact with fact of any kind1 ,faith stands now and for ever proudly inaccessible to the attacks of the infidel4 ,so far the apologist of the future4 ,why not8 ,cantabit vacuus4 99 99 99 99 99 #ece ,,xiv ,,the ,,keepers ,,of ,,the ,,herd ,,of ,,swine ,i had fondly hoped that ,mr4 ,gladstone and ,i had come to an end of disputation1 and that the hatchet of war was finally superseded by the calumet1 which1 as ,mr4 ,gladstone1 ,i believe1 objects to tobacco1 ,i was quite willing to smoke for both4 ,but ,i have had1 once again1 to discover that the adage that whoso seeks peace will ensue it1 is a somewhat hasty generalisation4 ,the renowned warrior with whom it is my misfortune to be opposed in most things has dug up the axe and is on the war-path once more4 ,the weapon has been wielded with all the dexterity which long practice has conferred on a past master in craft1 whether of wood or state4 ,and ,i have reason to believe that the simpler sort of the great tribe which he heads imagine that my scalp is already on its way to adorn their big chief's wigwam4 ,i am glad therefore to be able to relieve any anxieties which my friends may entertain without delay4 ,i assure them that my skull retains its normal covering1 and that though1 naturally1 ,i may have felt alarmed1 nothing serious has happened4 ,my doughty #ecf adversary has merely performed a war dance1 and his blows have for the most part cut the air4 ,i regret to add1 however1 that by misadventure1 and ,i am afraid ,i must say carelessness1 he has inflicted one or two severe contusions on himself4 ,when the noise of approaching battle roused me from the dreams of peace which occupy my retirement1 ,i was glad to observe 7since ,i must fight7 that the campaign was to be opened upon a new field4 ,when the contest raged over the ,pentateuchal myth of the creation1 ,mr4 ,gladstone's manifest want of acquaintance with the facts and principles involved in the discussion1 no less than with the best literature on his own side of the subject1 gave me the uncomfortable feeling that ,i had my adversary at a disadvantage4 ,the sun of science1 at my back1 was in his eyes4 ,but1 on the present occasion1 we are happily on an equality4 ,history and ,biblical criticism are as much1 or as little1 my vocation as they are that of ,mr4 ,gladstone2 the blinding from too much light1 or the blindness from too little1 may be presumed to be equally shared by both of us4 ,mr4 ,gladstone takes up his new position in the country of the ,gadarenes4 ,his strategic sense justly leads him to see that the authority of the teachings of the synoptic ,gospels1 touching the nature of the spiritual world1 turns upon the acceptance or the rejection of the ,gadarene and other like stories4 ,as we accept or repudiate such histories as that of the possessed pigs1 so shall we #ecg accept or reject the witness of the synoptics to such miraculous interventions4 ,it is exactly because these stories constitute the key-stone of the orthodox arch1 that ,i originally drew attention to them2 and1 in spite of my longing for peace1 ,i am truly obliged to ,mr4 ,gladstone for compelling me to place my case before the public once more4 ,it may be thought that this is a work of supererogation by those who are aware that my essay is the subject of attack in a work so largely circulated as the ,impregnable ,rock of ,holy ,scripture2 and who may possibly1 in their simplicity1 assume that it must be truthfully set forth in that work4 ,but the warmest admirers of ,mr4 ,gladstone will hardly be prepared to maintain that mathematical accuracy in stating the opinions of an opponent is the most prominent feature of his controversial method4 ,and what follows will show that1 in the present case1 the desire to be fair and accurate1 the existence of which ,i am bound to assume1 has not borne as much fruit as might have been expected4 ,in referring to the statement of the narrators that the herd of swine perished in consequence of the entrance into them of the demons by the permission1 or order1 of ,jesus of ,nazareth1 ,i said3 ,everything that ,i know of law and justice convinces me that the wanton destruction of other people's property is a misdemeanour of evil example 7,nineteenth ,century1 ,february #ahhi1 p4 #agb74 ,mr4 ,gladstone has not found it convenient to cite this passage2 and1 in view of various considerations1 #ech ,i dare not assume that he would assent to it1 without sundry subtle modifications which1 for me1 might possibly rob it of its argumentative value4 ,but1 until the proposition is seriously controverted1 ,i shall assume it to be true1 and content myself with warning the reader that neither he nor ,i have any grounds for assuming ,mr4 ,gladstone's concurrence4 ,with this caution1 ,i proceed to remark that ,i think it may be granted that the people whose herd of #bjjj swine 7more or fewer7 was suddenly destroyed suffered great loss and damage4 ,and it is quite certain that the narrators of the ,gadarene story do not1 in any way1 refer to the point of morality and legality thus raised2 as ,i said1 they show no inkling of the moral and legal difficulties which arise4 ,such being the facts of the case1 ,i submit that for those who admit the principle laid down1 the conclusion which ,i have drawn necessarily follows2 though ,i repeat that1 since ,mr4 ,gladstone does not explicitly admit the principle1 ,i am far from suggesting that he is bound by its logical consequences4 ,however1 ,i distinctly repeat the opinion that any one who acted in the way described in the story would1 in my judgment1 be guilty of a misdemeanour of evil example4 ,about that point ,i desire to leave no ambiguity whatever2 and it follows that1 if ,i believed the story1 ,i should have no hesitation in applying this judgment to the chief actor in it4 ,but if any one will do me the favour to turn to the paper in which these passages occur1 he will find that a considerable part of it is devoted to the #eci exposure of the familiar trick of the counsel for creeds1 who1 when they wish to profit by the easily stirred odium theologicum1 are careful to confuse disbelief in a narrative of a man's act1 or disapproval of the acts as narrated1 with disbelieving and vilipending the man himself4 ,if ,i say that according to paragraphs in several newspapers1 my valued ,separatist friend ,a4 ,b4 has houghed a lot of cattle which he considered to be unlawfully in the possession of an ,irish land-grabber2 that in my opinion any such act is a misdemeanour of evil example2 but that ,i utterly disbelieve the whole story and have no doubt that it is a mere fabrication3 it really appears to me that1 if any one charges me with calling ,a4 ,b4 an immoral misdemeanant1 ,i should be justified in using very strong language respecting either his sanity or his veracity4 ,and1 if an analogous charge has been brought in reference to the ,gadarene story1 there is certainly no excuse producible on account of any lack of plain speech on my part4 ,surely no language can be more explicit than that which follows3 ,i can discern no escape from this dilemma2 either ,jesus said what he is reported to have said1 or he did not4 ,in the former case1 it is inevitable that his authority on matters connected with the 'unseen world' should be roughly shaken2 in the latter1 the blow falls upon the authority of the synoptic ,gospels 7p4 #agc74 ,the choice then lies between discrediting those who compiled the gospel biographies and disbelieving the ,master1 whom #edj they1 simple souls1 thought to honour by preserving such traditions of the exercise of his authority over ,satan's invisible world 7p4 #agd74 ,and ,i leave no shadow of doubt as to my own choice3 ,after what has been said1 ,i do not think that any sensible man1 unless he happen to be angry1 will accuse me of 'contradicting the ,lord and his ,apostles' if ,i reiterate my total disbelief in the whole ,gadarene story 7p4 #agh74 ,i am afraid1 therefore1 that ,mr4 ,gladstone must have been exceedingly angry when he committed himself to such a statement as follows3 ,so1 then1 after eighteen centuries of worship offered to our ,lord by the most cultivated1 the most developed1 and the most progressive portion of the human race1 it has been reserved to a scientific inquirer to discover that ,he was no better than a law-breaker and an evil-doer4444 ,how1 in such a matter1 came the honours of originality to be reserved to our time and to ,professor ,huxley8 7pp4 #bfi1 #bgj47 ,truly1 the hatchet is hardly a weapon of precision1 but would seem to have rather more the character of the boomerang1 which returns to damage the reckless thrower4 ,doubtless such incidents are somewhat ludicrous4 ,but they have a very serious side2 and1 if ,i rated the opinion of those who blindly follow ,mr4 ,gladstone's leading1 but not light1 in these matters1 much higher than the great ,duke of ,wellington's famous standard of minimum value1 ,i think ,i might fairly beg them to reflect upon the general bearings of this particular example of his controversial method4 ,i imagine it can hardly commend itself to their cool judgment4 #eda ,after this tragi-comical ending to what an old historian calls a robustious and rough coming on2 and after some praises of the provisions of the ,mosaic law in the matter of not eating pork--in which1 as pork disagrees with me and for some other reasons1 ,i am much disposed to concur1 though ,i do not see what they have to do with the matter in hand--comes the serious onslaught4 ,mr4 ,huxley1 exercising his rapid judgment on the text1 does not appear to have encumbered himself with the labour of inquiring what anybody else had known or said about it4 ,he has thus missed a point which might have been set up in support of his accusation against our ,lord 7p4 #bgc74 ,unhappily for my comfort1 ,i have been much exercised in controversy during the past thirty years2 and the only compensation for the loss of time and the trials of temper which it has inflicted upon me1 is that ,i have come to regard it as a branch of the fine arts1 and to take an impartial and aesthetic interest in the way it is conducted1 even by those whose efforts are directed against myself4 ,now1 from the purely artistic point of view 7which1 as we are all being told1 has nothing to do with morals71 ,i consider it an axiom1 that one should never appear to doubt that the other side has performed the elementary duty of acquiring proper elementary information1 unless there is demonstrative evidence to the contrary4 ,and ,i think1 though ,i admit that this may be a purely subjective appreciation1 that 7unless you are quite certain7 there is a want of finish1 as a great #edb master of disputation once put it1 about the suggestion that your opponent has missed a point on his own side4 ,because it may happen that he has not missed it at all1 but only thought it unworthy of serious notice4 ,and if he proves that1 the suggestion looks foolish4 ,merely noting the careful repetition of a charge1 the absurdity of which has been sufficiently exposed above1 ,i now ask my readers to accompany me on a little voyage of discovery in search of the side on which the rapid judgment and the ignorance of the literature of the subject lie4 ,i think ,i may promise them very little trouble1 and a good deal of entertainment4 ,mr4 ,gladstone is of opinion that the ,gadarene swinefolk were ,hebrews bound by the ,mosaic law 7p4 #bgd71 and he conceives that it has not occurred to me to learn what may be said in favour of and against this view4 ,he tells us that ,some commentators have alleged the authority of ,josephus for stating that ,gadara was a city of ,greeks rather than of ,jews1 from whence it might be inferred that to keep swine was innocent and lawful 7p4 #bgc74 ,mr4 ,gladstone then goes on to inform his readers that in his painstaking search after truth he has submitted to the labour of personally examining the writings of ,josephus4 ,moreover1 in a note1 he positively exhibits an acquaintance1 in addition1 with the works of ,bishop ,wordsworth and of ,archbishop ,trench2 and even shows that he has read ,hudson's commentary on ,josephus4 ,and yet people say that #edc our ,biblical critics do not equal the ,germans in research6 ,but ,mr4 ,gladstone's citation of ,cuvier and ,sir ,john ,herschel about the ,creation myth1 and his ignorance of all the best modern writings on his own side1 produced a great impression on my mind4 ,i have had the audacity to suspect that his acquaintance with what has been done in biblical history might stand at no higher level than his information about the natural sciences4 ,however unwillingly1 ,i have felt bound to consider the possibility that ,mr4 ,gladstone's labours in this matter may have carried him no further than ,josephus and the worthy1 but somewhat antique1 episcopal and other authorities to whom he refers2 that even his reading of ,josephus may have been of the most cursory nature1 directed not to the understanding of his author1 but to the discovery of useful controversial matter2 and that1 in view of the not inconsiderable misrepresentation of my statements to which ,i have drawn attention1 it might be that ,mr4 ,gladstone's exposition of the evidence of ,josephus was not more trustworthy4 ,i proceed to show that my previsions have been fully justified4 ,i doubt if controversial literature contains anything more piquant than the story ,i have to unfold4 ,that ,i should be reproved for rapidity of judgment is very just3 however quaint the situation of ,mr4 ,gladstone1 as the reprover1 may seem to people blessed with a sense of humour4 ,but it is a quality1 the defects of which have been painfully obvious to me all my life2 and ,i try to keep my ,pegasus--at #edd best a poor ,shetland variety of that species of quadruped--at a respectable jog-trot1 by loading him heavily with bales of reading4 ,those who took the trouble to study my paper in good faith1 and not for mere controversial purposes1 have a right to know1 that something more than a hasty glimpse of two or three passages of ,josephus 7even with as many episcopal works thrown in7 lay at the back of the few paragraphs ,i devoted to the ,gadarene story4 ,i proceed to set forth1 as briefly as ,i can1 some results of that preparatory work4 ,my artistic principles do not permit me1 at present1 to express a doubt that ,mr4 ,gladstone was acquainted with the facts ,i am about to mention when he undertook to write4 ,but1 if he did know them1 then both what he has said and what he has not said1 his assertions and his omissions alike1 will require a paragraph to themselves4 ,the common consent of the synoptic ,gospels affirms that the miraculous transference of devils from a man1 or men1 to sundry pigs took place somewhere on the eastern shore of the ,lake of ,tiberias2 on the other side of the sea over against ,galilee1 the western shore being1 without doubt1 included in the latter province4 ,but there is no such concord when we come to the name of the part of the eastern shore on which1 according to the story1 ,jesus and his disciples landed4 ,in the revised version ,matthew calls it the country of the ,gadarenes3 ,luke and ,mark have ,gerasenes4 ,in sundry very ancient manuscripts ,gergesenes occurs4 #ede ,the existence of any place called ,gergesa1 however1 is declared by the weightiest authorities whom ,i have consulted to be very questionable2 and no such town is mentioned in the list of the cities of the ,decapolis1 in the territory of which 7as it would seem from ,mark v4 #bj7 the transaction was supposed to take place4 ,about ,gerasa1 on the other hand1 there hangs no such doubt4 ,it was a large and important member of the group of the ,decapolitan cities4 ,but ,gerasa is more than thirty miles distant from the nearest part of the ,lake of ,tiberias1 while the city mentioned in the narrative could not have been very far off the scene of the event4 ,however1 as ,gerasa was a very important ,hellenic city1 not much more than a score of miles from ,gadara1 it is easily imaginable that a locality which was part of ,decapolitan territory may have been spoken of as belonging to one of the two cities1 when it really appertained to the other4 ,after weighing all the arguments1 no doubt remains on my mind that ,gadarene is the proper reading4 ,at the period under consideration1 ,gadara appears to have been a good-sized fortified town1 about two miles in circumference4 ,it was a place of considerable strategic importance1 inasmuch as it lay on a high ridge at the point of intersection of the roads from ,tiberias1 ,scythopolis1 ,damascus1 and ,gerasa4 ,three miles north from it1 where the ,tiberias road descended into the valley of the ,hieromices1 lay the famous hot springs and the fashionable baths of ,amatha4 ,on the north-east side1 the remains of the extensive necropolis of ,gadara are still to be seen4 #edf ,innumerable sepulchral chambers are excavated in the limestone cliffs1 and many of them still contain sarcophaguses of basalt2 while not a few are converted into dwellings by the inhabitants of the present village of ,um ,keis4 ,the distance of ,gadara from the south-eastern shore of the ,lake of ,tiberias is less than seven miles4 ,the nearest of the other cities of the ,decapolis1 to the north1 is ,hippos1 which also lay some seven miles off on the south-eastern corner of the shore of the lake4 ,in accordance with the ancient ,hellenic practice that each city should be surrounded by a certain amount of territory amenable to its jurisdiction1#aed and on the other grounds1 it may be taken for certain that the intermediate country was divided between ,gadara and ,hippos1 and that the citizens of ,gadara had free access to a port on the lake4 ,hence the title of country of the ,gadarenes applied to the locality of the porcine catastrophe becomes easily intelligible4 ,the swine may well be imagined to have been feeding 7as they do now in the adjacent region7 on the hillsides1 which slope somewhat steeply down to the lake from the northern boundary wall of the valley of the ,hieromices 7,nahr ,yarmuk71 about half-way between the city and the shore1 and doubtless lay well within the territory of the polis of ,gadara4 ,the proof that ,gadara was1 to all intents and purposes1 a ,gentile and not a ,jewish city is complete4 #edg ,the date and the occasion of its foundation are unknown2 but it certainly existed in the third century ,b4,c4 ,antiochus the ,great annexed it to his dominions in ,b4,c4 #aih4 ,after this1 during the brief revival of ,jewish autonomy1 ,alexander ,jannaeus took it2 and for the first time1 so far as the records go1 it fell under ,jewish rule4#aee ,from this it was rescued by ,pompey 7,b4,c4 #fc71 who rebuilt the city and incorporated it with the province of ,syria4 ,in gratitude to the ,romans for the dissolution of a hated union1 the ,gadarenes adopted the ,pompeian era on their coinage4 ,gadara was a commercial centre of some importance1 and therefore1 it may be assumed1 ,jews settled in it1 as they settled in almost all considerable ,gentile cities4 ,but a wholly mistaken estimate of the magnitude of the ,jewish colony has been based upon the notion that ,gabinius1 proconsul of ,syria in #eg-ee ,b4,c41 seated one of the five sanhedrims in ,gadara4 ,schuerer has pointed out that what he really did was to lodge one of them in ,gazara1 far away on the other side of the ,jordan4 ,this is one of the many errors which have arisen out of the confusion of the names ,gadara1 ,gazara1 and ,gabara4 ,augustus made a present of ,gadara to ,herod the ,great1 as an appanage personal to himself2 and1 upon ,herod's death1 recognising it to be a ,grecian city like ,hippos and ,gaza1#aef he transferred it back to its former #edh place in the province of ,syria4 ,that ,herod made no effort to judaise his temporary possession1 but rather the contrary1 is obvious from the fact that the coins of ,gadara1 while under his rule1 bear the image of ,augustus with the superscription ,greek3 ,sebastos--a flying in the face of ,jewish prejudices which even he did not dare to venture upon in ,judaea4 ,and ,i may remark that1 if my co-trustee of the ,british ,museum had taken the trouble to visit the splendid numismatic collection under our charge1 he might have seen two coins of ,gadara1 one of the time of ,tiberius and the other of that of ,titus1 each bearing the effigies of the emperor on the obverse3 while the personified genius of the city is on the reverse of the former4 ,further1 the well-known works of ,de ,saulcy and of ,ekhel would have supplied the information that1 from the time of ,augustus to that of ,gordian1 the ,gadarene coinage had the same thoroughly ,gentile character4 ,curious that a city of ,hebrews bound by the ,mosaic law should tolerate such a mint6 ,whatever increase in population the ,ghetto of ,gadara may have undergone between ,b4,c4 #d and ,a4,d4 #ff1 it nowise affected the ,gentile and anti-,judaic character of the city at the outbreak of the great war2 for ,josephus tells us that immediately after the great massacre at ,caesarea1 the revolted ,jews laid waste the villages of the ,syrians and their neighbouring cities1 ,philadelphia and ,sebonitis and ,gerasa and ,pella and ,scythopolis1 and after them ,gadara and ,hippos 7,wars1 ,,ii4 xviii4 #a74 ,i submit that if ,gadara had been a city of ,hebrews bound by the #edi ,mosaic law1 the ravaging of their territory by their brother ,jews in revenge for the massacre of the ,caesarean ,jews by the ,gentile population of that place1 would surely have been a somewhat unaccountable proceeding4 ,but when we proceed a little further1 to the fifth section of the chapter in which this statement occurs1 the whole affair becomes intelligible enough4 ,besides this murder at ,scythopolis1 the other cities rose up against the ,jews that were among them3 those of ,askelon slew two thousand five hundred1 and those of ,ptolemais two thousand1 and put not a few into bonds2 those of ,tyre also put a great number to death1 but kept a greater number in prison2 moreover1 those of ,hippos and those of ,gadara did the like1 while they put to death the boldest of the ,jews1 but kept those of whom they were most afraid in custody2 as did the rest of the cities of ,syria according as they every one either hated them or were afraid of them4 ,josephus is not always trustworthy1 but he has no conceivable motive for altering facts here2 he speaks of contemporary events1 in which he himself took an active part1 and he characterises the cities in the way familiar to him4 ,for ,josephus1 ,gadara is just as much a ,gentile city as ,ptolemais2 it was reserved for his latest commentator1 either ignoring1 or ignorant of1 all this1 to tell us that ,gadara had a ,hebrew population bound by the ,mosaic law4 ,in the face of all this evidence1 most of which has been put before serious students1 with full reference to the needful authorities and in a thoroughly judicial manner1 by ,schuerer in his classical work1#aeg one reads #eej with stupefaction the statement which ,mr4 ,gladstone has thought fit to put before the uninstructed public3 ,some commentators have alleged the authority of ,josephus for stating that ,gadara was a city of ,greeks rather than of ,jews1 from whence it might be inferred that to keep swine was innocent and lawful4 ,this is not quite the place for a critical examination of the matter2 but ,i have examined it1 and have satisfied myself that ,josephus gives no reason whatever to suppose that the population of ,gadara1 and still less 7if less may be7 the population of the neighbourhood1 and least of all the swine-herding or lower portion of that population1 were other than ,hebrews bound by the ,mosaic law4 7,pp4 #cgc-d47 ,even rapid judgment cannot be pleaded in excuse for this surprising statement1 because a ,note on the ,gadarene miracle is added 7in a special appendix71 in which the references are given to the passages of ,josephus1 by the improved interpretation of which ,mr4 ,gladstone has thus contrived to satisfy himself of the thing which is not4 ,one of these is ,antiquities1 ,,xvii4 xiii4 #d1 in which section ,i regret to say ,i can find no mention of ,gadara4 ,in ,antiquities1 ,,xvii4 xi4 #d1 however1 there is a passage which would appear to be that which ,mr4 ,gladstone means1 and ,i will give it in full1 although ,i have already cited part of it3 ,there were also certain of the cities which paid tribute to ,archelaus2 ,strato's tower1 and ,sebaste1 with ,joppa and ,jerusalem2 for1 as to ,gaza1 ,gadara1 and ,hippos1 they were ,grecian cities1 which ,caesar separated from his government1 and added them to the province of ,syria4 ,that is to say1 ,augustus simply restored the state of things which existed before he gave ,gadara1 then certainly a ,gentile city1 lying outside ,judaea1 to #eea ,herod as a mark of great personal favour4 ,yet ,mr4 ,gladstone can gravely tell those who are not in a position to check his statements3 ,the sense seems to be not that these cities were inhabited by a ,greek population1 but that they had politically been taken out of ,judaea and added to ,syria1 which ,i presume was classified as simply ,hellenic1 a portion of the great ,greek empire erected by ,alexander4 7,pp4 #bie-f47 ,mr4 ,gladstone's next reference is to the ,wars1 ,,iii4 vii4 #a3 ,so ,vespasian marched to the city ,gadara1 and took it upon the first onset1 because he found it destitute of a considerable number of men grown up fit for war4 ,he then came into it1 and slew all the youth1 the ,romans having no mercy on any age whatsoever2 and this was done out of the hatred they bore the nation1 and because of the iniquity they had been guilty of in the affair of ,cestius4 ,obviously1 then1 ,gadara was an ultra-,jewish city4 ,q4,e4,d4 ,but a student trained in the use of weapons of precision1 rather than in that of rhetorical tomahawks1 has had many and painful warnings to look well about him before trusting an argument to the mercies of a passage1 the context of which he has not carefully considered4 ,if ,mr4 ,gladstone had not been too much in a hurry to turn his imaginary prize to account--if he had paused just to look at the preceding chapter of ,josephus--he would have discovered that his much haste meant very little speed4 ,he would have found 7,wars1 ,,iii4 vi4 #b7 that ,vespasian marched from his base1 the port of ,ptolemais 7,acre71 on the shores of the ,mediterranean1 into ,galilee2 and1 having dealt with the so-called ,gadara1 was minded #eeb to finish with ,jotapata1 a strong place about fourteen miles south-east of ,ptolemais1 into which ,josephus1 who at first had fled to ,tiberias1 eventually threw himself--,vespasian arriving before ,jotapata the very next day4 ,now1 if any one will take a decent map of ,ancient ,palestine in hand1 he will see that ,jotapata1 as ,i have said1 lies about fourteen miles in a straight line east-south-east of ,ptolemais1 while a certain town1 ,gabara 7which was also held by the ,jews71 is situated about the same distance to the east of that port4 ,nothing can be more obvious than that ,vespasian1 wishing to advance from ,ptolemais into ,galilee1 could not afford to leave these strongholds in the possession of the enemy2 and as ,gabara would lie on his left flank when he moved to ,jotapata1 he took that city1 whence his communications with his base could easily be threatened1 first4 ,it might really have been fair evidence of demoniac possession1 if the best general of ,rome had marched forty odd miles1 as the crow flies1 through hostile ,galilee1 to take a city 7which1 moreover1 had just tried to abolish its ,jewish population7 on the other side of the ,jordan2 and then marched back again to a place fourteen miles off his starting-point4#aeh ,one would think that the most careless of readers must be startled by this incongruity into inquiring whether there might not be something wrong with the text2 and if he had done so he would #eec have easily discovered that since the time of ,reland1 a century and a half ago1 careful scholars have read ,gabara for ,gadara4#aei ,once more1 ,i venture to point out that training in the use of the weapons of precision of science may have its value in historical studies1 if only in preventing the occurrence of droll blunders in geography4 ,in the third citation 7,wars1 ,,iv4 vii47 ,josephus tells us that ,vespasian marched against ,gadara1 which he calls the metropolis of ,peraea 7it was possibly the seat of a common festival of the ,decapolitan cities71 and entered it without opposition1 the wealthy and powerful citizens having opened negotiations with him without the knowledge of an opposite party1 who1 as being inferior in number to their enemies who were within the city1 and seeing the ,romans very near the city1 resolved to fly4 ,before doing so1 however1 they1 after a fashion unfortunately too common among the ,zealots1 murdered and shockingly mutilated ,dolesus1 a man of the first rank1 who had promoted the embassy to ,vespasian1 and then ran out of the city4 ,hereupon the people of ,gadara 7surely not this time ,hebrews bound by the ,mosaic law7 received ,vespasian with joyful acclamations1 voluntarily pulled down their wall1 so that the city could not in future be used as a fortress by the ,jews1 and accepted a ,roman garrison for their future protection4 ,granting that this ,gadara really is the city of the ,gadarenes1 the reference1 without citation1 to #eed the passage in support of ,mr4 ,gladstone's contention seems rather remarkable4 ,taken in conjunction with the shortly antecedent ravaging of the ,gadarene territory by the ,jews1 in fact1 better proof could hardly be expected of the real state of the case2 namely1 that the population of ,gadara 7and notably the wealthy and respectable part of it7 was thoroughly ,hellenic2 though1 as in ,caesarea and elsewhere among the ,palestinian cities1 the rabble contained a considerable body of fanatical ,jews1 whose reckless ferocity made them1 even though a mere minority of the population1 a standing danger to the city4 ,thus ,mr4 ,gladstone's conclusion from his study of ,josephus1 that the population of ,gadara were ,hebrews bound by the ,mosaic law1 turns out to depend upon nothing better than a marvellously complete misinterpretation of what that author says1 combined with equally marvellous geographical misunderstandings1 long since exposed and rectified2 while the positive evidence that ,gadara1 like other cities of the ,decapolis1 was thoroughly ,hellenic in organisation and essentially ,gentile in population is overwhelming4 ,and1 that being the fact of the matter1 patent to all who will take the trouble to inquire about what has been said about it1 however obscure to those who merely talk of so doing1 the thesis that the ,gadarene swineherds1 or owners1 were ,jews violating the ,mosaic law shows itself to be an empty and most unfortunate guess4 ,but really1 whether they that kept the swine were ,jews1 or whether they were ,gentiles1 is a #eee consideration which has no relevance whatever to my case4 ,the legal provisions which alone had authority over an inhabitant of the country of the ,gadarenes were the ,gentile laws sanctioned by the ,roman suzerain of the province of ,syria1 just as the only law which has authority in ,england is that recognised by the sovereign ,legislature4 ,jewish communities in ,england may have their private code1 as they doubtless had in ,gadara4 ,but an ,english magistrate1 if called upon to enforce their peculiar laws1 would dismiss the complainants from the judgment seat1 let us hope with more politeness than ,gallio did in a like case1 but quite as firmly4 ,moreover1 in the matter of keeping pigs1 we may be quite certain that ,gadarene law left everybody free to do as he pleased1 indeed encouraged the practice rather than otherwise4 ,not only was pork one of the commonest and one of the most favourite articles of ,roman diet2 but1 to both ,greeks and ,romans1 the pig was a sacrificial animal of high importance4 ,sucking pigs played an important part in ,hellenic purificatory rites2 and everybody knows the significance of the ,roman suovetaurilia1 depicted on so many bas-reliefs4 ,under these circumstances1 only the extreme need of a despairing reconciler drowning in a sea of adverse facts1 can explain the catching at such a poor straw as the reckless guess that the swineherds of the country of the ,gadarenes were erring ,jews1 doing a little clandestine business on their own account4 ,the endeavour to justify the asserted destruction of the swine by the analogy of breaking open a cask of #eef smuggled spirits1 and wasting their contents on the ground1 is curiously unfortunate4 ,does ,mr4 ,gladstone mean to suggest that a ,frenchman landing at ,dover1 and coming upon a cask of smuggled brandy in the course of a stroll along the cliffs1 has the right to break it open and waste its contents on the ground8 ,yet the party of ,galileans who1 according to the narrative1 landed and took a walk on the ,gadarene territory1 were as much foreigners in the ,decapolis as ,frenchmen would be at ,dover4 ,herod ,antipas1 their sovereign1 had no jurisdiction in the ,decapolis--they were strangers and aliens1 with no more right to interfere with a pig-keeping ,hebrew than ,i have a right to interfere with an ,english professor of the ,israelitic faith1 if ,i see a slice of ham on his plate4 ,according to the law of the country in which these ,galilean foreigners found themselves1 men might keep pigs if they pleased4 ,if the men who kept them were ,jews1 it might be permissible for the strangers to inform the religious authority acknowledged by the ,jews of ,gadara1 but to interfere themselves in such a matter was a step devoid of either moral or legal justification4 ,suppose a modern ,english ,sabbatarian fanatic1 who believes1 on the strength of his interpretation of the fourth commandment1 that it is a deadly sin to work on the ,lord's ,day1 sees a fellow ,puritan yielding to the temptation of getting in his harvest on a fine ,sunday morning--is the former justified in setting fire to the latter's corn8 ,would not an ,english court of justice speedily teach him better8 #eeg ,in truth1 the government which permits private persons1 on any pretext 7especially pious and patriotic pretexts71 to take the law into their own hands1 fails in the performance of the primary duties of all governments2 while those who set the example of such acts1 or who approve them1 or who fail to disapprove them1 are doing their best to dissolve civil society--they are compassers of illegality and fautors of immorality4 ,i fully understand that ,mr4 ,gladstone may not see the matter in this light4 ,he may possibly consider that the union of ,gadara with the ,decapolis by ,augustus was a blackguard transaction1 which deprived ,hellenic ,gadarene law of all moral force2 and that it was quite proper for a ,jewish ,galilean1 going back to the time when the land of the ,girgashites was given to his ancestors1 some #aejj years before1 to act as if the state of things which ought to obtain in territory which traditionally1 at any rate1 belonged to his forefathers1 did really exist4 ,and1 that being so1 ,i can only say ,i do not agree with him1 but leave the matter to the appreciation of those of our countrymen1 happily not yet the minority1 who believe that the first condition of enduring liberty is obedience to the law of the land4 ,the end of the month drawing nigh1 ,i thought it well to send away the manuscript of the foregoing pages yesterday1 leaving open1 in my own mind1 the possibility of adding a succinct characterisation of ,mr4 ,gladstone's controversial methods as illustrated #eeh therein4 ,this morning1 however1 ,i had the pleasure of reading a speech which ,i think must satisfy the requirements of the most fastidious of controversial artists2 and there occurs in it so concise1 yet so complete1 a delineation of ,mr4 ,gladstone's way of dealing with disputed questions of another kind1 that no poor effort of mine could better it as a description of the aspect which his treatment of scientific1 historical1 and critical questions presents to me4 ,the smallest examination would have told a man of his capacity and of his experience that he was uttering the grossest exaggerations1 that he was basing arguments upon the slightest hypotheses1 and that his discussions only had to be critically examined by the most careless critic in order to show their intrinsic hollowness4 ,those who have followed me through this paper will hardly dispute the justice of this judgment1 severe as it is4 ,but the ,chief ,secretary for ,ireland has science in the blood2 and has the advantage of a natural1 as well as a highly cultivated1 aptitude for the use of methods of precision in investigation1 and for the exact enunciation of the results thereby obtained4 99 99 99 99 99 #eei ,,xv ,,illustrations ,,of ,,mr4 ,,gladstone',s ,,controversial ,,methods ,the series of essays in defence of the historical accuracy of the ,jewish and ,christian ,scriptures contributed by ,mr4 ,gladstone to ,good ,words1 having been revised and enlarged by their author1 appeared last year as a separate volume1 under the somewhat defiant title of ,the ,impregnable ,rock of ,holy ,scripture4 ,the last of these essays1 entitled ,conclusion1 contains an attack1 or rather several attacks1 couched in language which certainly does not err upon the side of moderation or of courtesy1 upon statements and opinions of mine4 ,one of these assaults is a deliberately devised attempt1 not merely to rouse the theological prejudices ingrained in the majority of ,mr4 ,gladstone's readers1 but to hold me up as a person who has endeavoured to besmirch the personal character of the object of their veneration4 ,for ,mr4 ,gladstone asserts that ,i have undertaken to try the character of our ,lord 7p4 #bfh72 and he tells the many who are1 as ,i think unfortunately1 predisposed #efj to place implicit credit in his assertions1 that it has been reserved for me to discover that ,jesus was no better than a law-breaker and an evil-doer6 7p4 #bfi74 ,it was extremely easy for me to prove1 as ,i did in the pages of this ,review last ,december1 that1 under the most favourable interpretation1 this amazing declaration must be ascribed to extreme confusion of thought4 ,and1 by bringing an abundance of good-will to the consideration of the subject1 ,i have now convinced myself that it is right for me to admit that a person of ,mr4 ,gladstone's intellectual acuteness really did mistake the reprobation of the course of conduct ascribed to ,jesus1 in a story of which ,i expressly say ,i do not believe a word1 for an attack on his character and a declaration that he was no better than a law-breaker and evil-doer4 ,at any rate1 so far as ,i can see1 this is what ,mr4 ,gladstone wished to be believed when he wrote the following passage3-- ,i must1 however1 in passing1 make the confession that ,i did not state with accuracy1 as ,i ought to have done1 the precise form of the accusation4 ,i treated it as an imputation on the action of our ,lord2 he replies that it is only an imputation on the narrative of three evangelists respecting ,him4 ,the difference1 from his point of view1 is probably material1 and ,i therefore regret that ,i overlooked it4#afj ,considering the gravity of the error which is here admitted1 the fashion of the withdrawal appears more singular than admirable4 ,from my point of view--not from ,mr4 ,gladstone's apparently--the little discrepancy between the facts and ,mr4 ,gladstone's #efa carefully offensive travesty of them is probably 7only probably7 material4 ,however1 as ,mr4 ,gladstone concludes with an official expression of regret for his error1 it is my business to return an equally official expression of gratitude for the attenuated reparation with which ,i am favoured4 ,having cleared this specimen of ,mr4 ,gladstone's controversial method out of the way1 ,i may proceed to the next assault1 that on a passage in an article on ,agnosticism 7,nineteenth ,century1 ,february #ahhi71 published two years ago4 ,i there said1 in referring to the ,gadarene story1 ,everything ,i know of law and justice convinces me that the wanton destruction of other people's property is a misdemeanour of evil example4 ,on this1 ,mr4 ,gladstone1 continuing his candid and urbane observations1 remarks 7,impregnable ,rock1 p4 #bgc7 that1 ,exercising his rapid judgment on the text1 and not inquiring what anybody else had known or said about it1 ,i had missed a point in support of that accusation against our ,lord which he has now been constrained to admit ,i never made4 ,the point in question is that ,gadara was a city of ,greeks rather than of ,jews1 from whence it might be inferred that to keep swine was innocent and lawful4 ,i conceive that ,i have abundantly proved that ,gadara answered exactly to the description here given of it2 and ,i shall show1 by-and-by1 that ,mr4 ,gladstone has used language which1 to my mind1 involves the admission that the authorities of the city were not ,jews4 ,but ,i have also taken a #efb good deal of pains to show that the question thus raised is of no importance in relation to the main issue4#afa ,if ,gadara was1 as ,i maintain it was1 a city of the ,decapolis1 ,hellenistic in constitution and containing a predominantly ,gentile population1 my case is superabundantly fortified4 ,on the other hand1 if the hypothesis that ,gadara was under ,jewish government1 which ,mr4 ,gladstone seems sometimes to defend and sometimes to give up1 were accepted1 my case would be nowise weakened4 ,at any rate1 ,gadara was not included within the jurisdiction of the tetrarch of ,galilee2 if it had been1 the ,galileans who crossed over the lake to ,gadara had no official status2 and they had no more civil right to punish law-breakers than any other strangers4 ,in my turn1 however1 ,i may remark that there is a point which appears to have escaped ,mr4 ,gladstone's notice4 ,and that is somewhat unfortunate1 because his whole argument turns upon it4 ,mr4 ,gladstone assumes1 as a matter of course1 that pig-keeping was an offence against the ,law of ,moses2 and1 therefore1 that ,jews who kept pigs were as much liable to legal pains and penalties #efc as ,englishmen who smuggle brandy 7,impregnable ,rock1 p4 #bgd74 ,there can be no doubt that1 according to the ,law1 as it is defined in the ,pentateuch1 the pig was an unclean animal1 and that pork was a forbidden article of diet4 ,moreover1 since pigs are hardly likely to be kept for the mere love of those unsavoury animals1 pig-owning1 or swine-herding1 must have been1 and evidently was1 regarded as a suspicious and degrading occupation by strict ,jews1 in the first century ,a4,d4 ,but ,i should like to know on what provision of the ,mosaic ,law1 as it is laid down in the ,pentateuch1 ,mr4 ,gladstone bases the assumption1 which is essential to his case1 that the possession of pigs and the calling of a swineherd were actually illegal4 ,the inquiry was put to me the other day2 and1 as ,i could not answer it1 ,i turned up the article ,schwein in ,riehm's standard ,handwoerterbuch1 for help out of my difficulty2 but unfortunately without success4 ,after speaking of the martyrdom which the ,jews1 under ,antiochus ,epiphanes1 preferred to eating pork1 the writer proceeds3-- ,it may be1 nevertheless1 that the practice of keeping pigs may have found its way into ,palestine in the ,graeco-,roman time1 in consequence of the great increase of the non-,jewish population2 yet there is no evidence of it in the ,new ,testament2 the great herd of swine1 #bjjj in number1 mentioned in the narrative of the possessed1 was feeding in the territory of ,gadara1 which belonged to the ,decapolis2 and the prodigal son became a swineherd with the native of a far country into which he had wandered2 in neither of these cases is there #efd reason for thinking that the possessors of these herds were ,jews4#afb ,having failed in my search1 so far1 ,i took up the next work of reference at hand1 ,kitto's ,cyclopaedia 7vol4 iii4 #ahgf74 ,there1 under ,swine1 the writer1 ,colonel ,hamilton ,smith1 seemed at first to give me what ,i wanted1 as he says that swine appear to have been repeatedly introduced and reared by the ,hebrew people1#afc notwithstanding the strong prohibition in the ,law of ,moses 7,is4 lxv4 #d74 ,but1 in the first place1 ,isaiah's writings form no part of the ,law of ,moses2 and1 in the second place1 the people denounced by the prophet in this passage are neither the possessors of pigs1 nor swineherds1 but those which eat swine's flesh and broth of abominable things is in their vessels4 ,and when1 in despair1 ,i turned to the provisions of the ,law itself1 my difficulty was not cleared up4 ,leviticus xi4 #h 7,revised ,version7 says1 in reference to the pig and other unclean animals3 ,of their flesh ye shall not eat1 and their carcases ye shall not touch4 ,in the revised version of ,deuteronomy xiv4 #h the words of the prohibition are identical1 and a skilful refiner might possibly satisfy himself1 even if he satisfied nobody else1 that carcase means the body of a live #efe animal as well as of a dead one2 and that1 since swineherds could hardly avoid contact with their charges1 their calling was implicitly forbidden4#afd ,unfortunately1 the authorised version expressly says dead carcase2 and thus the most rabbinically minded of reconcilers might find his casuistry foiled by that great source of surprises1 the original ,hebrew4 ,that such check is at any rate possible1 is clear from the fact that the legal uncleanness of some animals1 as food1 did not interfere with their being lawfully possessed1 cared for1 and sold by ,jews4 ,the provisions for the ransoming of unclean beasts 7,lev4 xxvii4 #bg7 and for the redemption of their sucklings 7,numbers xviii4 #ae7 sufficiently prove this4 ,as the late ,dr4 ,kalisch has observed in his ,commentary on ,leviticus1 part ii4 p4 #abi1 note3-- ,though asses and horses1 camels and dogs1 were kept by the ,israelites1 they were1 to a certain extent1 associated with the notion of impurity2 they might be turned to profitable account by their labour or otherwise1 but in respect to food they were an abomination4 ,the same learned commentator 7loc4 cit4 p4 #hh7 proves that the ,talmudists forbade the rearing of pigs by ,jews1 unconditionally and everywhere2 and even included it under the same ban as the study of ,greek philosophy1 since both alike were considered to lead to the desertion of the ,jewish faith4 ,it is very possible1 indeed probable1 that the ,pharisees of the fourth decade of our first century took as #eff strong a view of pig-keeping as did their spiritual descendants4 ,but1 for all that1 it does not follow that the practice was illegal4 ,the stricter ,jews could not have despised and hated swineherds more than they did publicans2 but1 so far as ,i know1 there is no provision in the ,law against the practice of the calling of a tax-gatherer by a ,jew4 ,the publican was in fact very much in the position of an ,irish process-server at the present day--more1 rather than less1 despised and hated on account of the perfect legality of his occupation4 ,except for certain sacrificial purposes1 pigs were held in such abhorrence by the ancient ,egyptians that swineherds were not permitted to enter a temple1 or to intermarry with other castes2 and any one who had touched a pig1 even accidentally1 was unclean4 ,but these very regulations prove that pig-keeping was not illegal2 it merely involved certain civil and religious disabilities4 ,for the ,jews1 dogs were typically unclean animals2 but1 when that eminently pious ,hebrew1 ,tobit1 went forth with the angel the young man's dog went with them 7,tobit v4 #af7 without apparent remonstrance from the celestial guide4 ,i really do not see how an appeal to the ,law could have justified any one in drowning ,tobit's dog1 on the ground that his master was keeping and feeding an animal quite as unclean as any pig4 ,certainly the excellent ,raguel must have failed to see the harm of dog-keeping1 for we are told that1 on the travellers' return homewards1 the dog went after them 7xi4 #d74 #efg ,until better light than ,i have been able to obtain is thrown upon the subject1 therefore1 it is obvious that ,mr4 ,gladstone's argumentative house has been built upon an extremely slippery quicksand2 perhaps even has no foundation at all4 ,yet another point does not seem to have occurred to ,mr4 ,gladstone1 who is so much shocked that ,i attach no overwhelming weight to the assertions contained in the synoptic ,gospels1 even when all three concur4 ,these ,gospels agree in stating1 in the most express1 and to some extent verbally identical1 terms1 that the devils entered the pigs at their own request1#afe and the third ,gospel 7viii4 #ca7 tells us what the motive of the demons was in asking the singular boon3 ,they intreated him that he would not command them to depart into the abyss4 ,from this1 it would seem that the devils thought to exchange the heavy punishment of transportation to the abyss for the lighter penalty of imprisonment in swine4 ,and some commentators1 more ingenious than respectful to the supposed chief actor in this extraordinary fable1 have dwelt1 with satisfaction1 upon the very unpleasant quarter of an hour which the evil spirits must have had1 when the headlong rush of their maddened tenements convinced them how completely they were taken in4 ,in the whole story there is not one solitary hint that the destruction of #efh the pigs was intended as a punishment of their owners1 or of the swineherds4 ,on the contrary1 the concurrent testimony of the three narratives is to the effect that the catastrophe was the consequence of diabolic suggestion4 ,and1 indeed1 no source could be more appropriate for an act of such manifest injustice and illegality4 ,i can but marvel that modern defenders of the faith should not be glad of any reasonable excuse for getting rid of a story which1 if it had been invented by ,voltaire1 would have justly let loose floods of orthodox indignation4 ,thus1 the hypothesis to which ,mr4 ,gladstone so fondly clings finds no support in the provisions of the ,law of ,moses as that law is defined in the ,pentateuch2 while it is wholly inconsistent with the concurrent testimony of the synoptic ,gospels1 to which ,mr4 ,gladstone attaches so much weight4 ,in my judgment1 it is directly contrary to everything which profane history tells us about the constitution and the population of the city of ,gadara2 and it commits those who accept it to a story which1 if it were true1 would implicate the founder of ,christianity in an illegal and inequitable act4 ,such being the case1 ,i consider myself excused from following ,mr4 ,gladstone through all the meanderings of his late attempt to extricate himself from the maze of historical and exegetical difficulties in which he is entangled4 ,i content myself with assuring those who1 with my paper 7not ,mr4 ,gladstone's #efi version of my arguments7 in hand1 consult the original authorities1 that they will find full justification for every statement ,i have made4 ,but in order to dispose those who cannot1 or will not1 take that trouble1 to believe that the proverbial blindness of one that judges his own cause plays no part in inducing me to speak thus decidedly1 ,i beg their attention to the following examination1 which shall be as brief as ,i can make it1 of the seven propositions in which ,mr4 ,gladstone professes to give a faithful summary of my errors4 ,when1 in the middle of the seventeenth century1 the ,holy ,see declared that certain propositions contained in the works of ,bishop ,jansen were heretical1 the ,jansenists of ,port ,royal replied that1 while they were ready to defer to the ,papal authority about questions of faith and morals1 they must be permitted to judge about questions of fact for themselves2 and that1 really1 the condemned propositions were not to be found in ,jansen's writings4 ,as everybody knows1 ,his ,holiness and the ,grand ,monarque replied to this1 surely not unreasonable1 plea after the manner of ,lord ,peter in the ,tale of a ,tub4 ,it is1 therefore1 not without some apprehension of meeting with a similar fate1 that ,i put in a like plea against ,mr4 ,gladstone's ,bull4 ,the seven propositions declared to be false and condemnable1 in that kindly and gentle way which so pleasantly compares with the authoritative style of the ,vatican 7,no4 #e more particularly71 may or may not be true4 ,but they are not to be found in anything ,i have written4 #egj ,and some of them diametrically contravene that which ,i have written4 ,i proceed to prove my assertions4 ,,prop4 #a4 ,throughout the paper he confounds together what ,i had distinguished1 namely1 the city of ,gadara and the vicinage attached to it1 not as a mere pomoerium1 but as a rural district4 ,in my judgment1 this statement is devoid of foundation4 ,in my paper on ,the ,keepers of the ,herd of ,swine ,i point out1 at some length1 that1 in accordance with the ancient ,hellenic practice1 each city of the ,decapolis must have been surrounded by a certain amount of territory amenable to its jurisdiction3 and1 to enforce this conclusion1 ,i quote what ,josephus says about the villages that belonged to ,gadara and ,hippos4 ,as ,i understand the term pomerium or pomoerium1#aff it means the space which1 according to ,roman custom1 was kept free from buildings1 immediately within and without the walls of a city2 and which defined the range of the auspicia urbana4 ,the conception of a pomoerium as a vicinage attached to a city1 appears to be something quite novel and original4 ,but then1 to be sure1 ,i do not know how many senses ,mr4 ,gladstone may attach to the word vicinage4 ,whether ,gadara had a pomoerium1 in the proper technical sense1 or not1 is a point on which ,i offer no opinion4 ,but that the city had a very considerable rural district attached to it and1 notwithstanding #ega its distinctness1 amenable to the jurisdiction of the ,gentile municipal authorities1 is one of the main points of my case4 ,,prop4 #b4 ,he more fatally confounds the local civil government and its following1 including1 perhaps1 the whole wealthy class and those attached to it1 with the ethnical character of the general population4 ,having survived confusion ,no4 #a1 which turns out not to be on my side1 ,i am now confronted in ,no4 #b with a more fatal error--and so it is1 if there be degrees of fatality2 but1 again1 it is ,mr4 ,gladstone's and not mine4 ,it would appear1 from this proposition 7about the grammatical interpretation of which1 however1 ,i admit there are difficulties71 that ,mr4 ,gladstone holds that the local civil government and its following among the wealthy1 were ethnically different from the general population4 ,on p4 #cdh he further admits that the wealthy and the local governing power were friendly to the ,romans4 ,are we then to suppose that it was the persons of ,jewish ethnical character who favoured the ,romans1 while those of ,gentile ethnical character were opposed to them8 ,but if that supposition is absurd1 the only alternative is that the local civil government was ethnically ,gentile4 ,this is exactly my contention4 ,at pp4 #edg and #eec of the ,essay on ,the ,keepers of the ,herd of ,swine ,i have fully discussed the question of the ethnical character of the general population4 ,i have shown that1 according to ,josephus1 who surely ought to have known1 ,gadara was as much a ,gentile #egb city as ,ptolemais2 ,i have proved that he includes ,gadara amongst the cities that rose up against the ,jews that were amongst them1 which is a pretty definite expression of his belief that the ethnical character of the general population was ,gentile4 ,there is no question here of ,jews of the ,roman party fighting with ,jews of the ,zealot party1 as ,mr4 ,gladstone suggests4 ,it is the non-,jewish and anti-,jewish general population which rises up against the ,jews who had settled among them4 ,,prop4 #c4 ,his one item of direct evidence as to the ,gentile character of the city refers only to the former and not to the latter4 ,more fatal still4 ,but1 once more1 not to me4 ,i adduce not one1 but a variety of items in proof of the non-,judaic character of the population of ,gadara3 the evidence of history2 that of the coinage of the city2 the direct testimony of ,josephus1 just cited--to mention no others4 ,i repeat1 if the wealthy people and those connected with them--the classes and the hangers on of ,mr4 ,gladstone's well-known taxonomy--were1 as he appears to admit they were1 ,gentiles2 if the civil government of the city was in their hands1 as the coinage proves it was2 what becomes of ,mr4 ,gladstone's original proposition in ,the ,impregnable ,rock of ,scripture that the population of ,gadara1 and still less 7if less may be7 the population of the neighbourhood1 were ,hebrews bound by the ,mosaic law8 ,and what is the importance of estimating the precise proportion of ,hebrews who may have resided1 either in the city of ,gadara #egc or in its dependant territory1 when1 as ,mr4 ,gladstone now seems to admit 7,i am careful to say seems71 the government1 and consequently the law1 which ruled in that territory and defined civil right and wrong was ,gentile and not ,judaic8 ,but perhaps ,mr4 ,gladstone is prepared to maintain that the ,gentile local civil government of a city of the ,decapolis administered ,jewish ,law2 and showed their respect for it1 more particularly1 by stamping their coinage with effigies of the ,emperors4 ,in point of fact1 in his haste to attribute to me errors which ,i have not committed1 ,mr4 ,gladstone has given away his case4 ,,prop4 #d4 ,he fatally confounds the question of political party with those of nationality and of religion1 and assumes that those who took the side of ,rome in the factions that prevailed could not be subject to the ,mosaic ,law4 ,it would seem that ,i have a feline tenacity of life2 once more1 a fatal error4 ,but ,mr4 ,gladstone has forgotten an excellent rule of controversy2 say what is true1 of course1 but mind that it is decently probable4 ,now it is not decently probable1 hardly indeed conceivable1 that any one who has read ,josephus1 or any other historian of the ,jewish war1 should be unaware that there were ,jews 7of whom ,josephus himself was one7 who ,romanised and1 more or less openly1 opposed the war party4 ,but1 however that may be1 ,i assert that ,mr4 ,gladstone neither has produced1 nor can produce1 a passage of my writing which affords the slightest #egd foundation for this particular article of his indictment4 ,,prop4 #e4 ,his examination of the text of ,josephus is alike one-sided1 inadequate1 and erroneous4 ,easy to say1 hard to prove4 ,so long as the authorities whom ,i have cited are on my side1 ,i do not know why this singularly temperate and convincing dictum should trouble me4 ,i have yet to become acquainted with ,mr4 ,gladstone's claims to speak with an authority equal to that of scholars of the rank of ,schuerer1 whose obviously just and necessary emendations he so unceremoniously pooh-poohs4 ,,prop4 #f4 ,finally1 he sets aside1 on grounds not critical or historical1 but partly subjective1 the primary historical testimony on the subject1 namely1 that of the three ,synoptic ,evangelists1 who write as contemporaries and deal directly with the subject1 neither of which is done by any other authority4 ,really this is too much6 ,the fact is1 as anybody can see who will turn to my article of ,february #ahhi1 out of which all this discussion has arisen1 that the arguments upon which ,i rest the strength of my case touching the swine-miracle1 are exactly historical and critical4 ,expressly1 and in words that cannot be misunderstood1 ,i refuse to rest on what ,mr4 ,gladstone calls subjective evidence4 ,i abstain from denying the possibility of the ,gadarene occurrence1 and ,i even go so far as to speak of some physical analogies to possession4 ,in fact1 my quondam opponent1 ,dr4 ,wace1 shrewdly1 but quite fairly1 made the most of these admissions1 and stated that ,i had #ege removed the only consideration which would have been a serious obstacle in the way of his belief in the ,gadarene story4#afg ,so far from setting aside the authority of the synoptics on subjective grounds1 ,i have taken a great deal of trouble to show that my non-belief in the story is based upon what appears to me to be evident2 firstly1 that the accounts of the three synoptic ,gospels are not independent1 but are founded upon a common source2 secondly1 that1 even if the story of the common tradition proceeded from a contemporary1 it would still be worthy of very little credit1 seeing the manner in which the legends about mediaeval miracles have been propounded by contemporaries4 ,and in illustration of this position ,i wrote a special essay about the miracles reported by ,eginhard4#afh ,in truth1 one need go no further than ,mr4 ,gladstone's sixth proposition to be convinced that contemporary testimony1 even of well-known and distinguished persons1 may be but a very frail reed for the support of the historian1 when theological prepossession blinds the witness4#afi #egf ,,prop4 #g4 ,and he treats the entire question1 in the narrowed form in which it arises upon secular testimony1 as if it were capable of a solution so clear and summary as to warrant the use of the extremest weapons of controversy against those who presume to differ from him4 ,the six heretical propositions which have gone before are enunciated with sufficient clearness to enable me to prove without any difficulty that1 whosesoever they are1 they are not mine4 ,but number seven1 ,i confess1 is too hard for me4 ,i cannot undertake to contradict that which ,i do not understand4 ,what is the entire question which arises in a narrowed form upon secular testimony8 ,after much guessing1 ,i am fain to give up the conundrum4 ,the question may be the ownership of the pigs2 or the ethnological character of the #egg ,gadarenes2 or the propriety of meddling with other people's property without legal warrant4 ,and each of these questions might be so narrowed when it arose on secular testimony that ,i should not know where ,i was4 ,so ,i am silent on this part of the proposition4 ,but ,i do dimly discern in the latter moiety of this mysterious paragraph a reproof of that use of the extremest weapons of controversy which is attributed to me4 ,upon which ,i have to observe that ,i guide myself in such matters very much by the maxim of a great statesman1 ,do ut des4 ,if ,mr4 ,gladstone objects to the employment of such weapons in defence1 he would do well to abstain from them in attack4 ,he should not frame charges which he has1 afterwards1 to admit are erroneous1 in language of carefully calculated offensiveness 7,impregnable ,rock1 pp4 #bfi-gj72 he should not assume that persons with whom he disagrees are so recklessly unconscientious as to evade the trouble of inquiring what has been said or known about a grave question 7,impregnable ,rock1 p4 #bgc72 he should not qualify the results of careful thought as hand-over-head reasoning 7,impregnable ,rock1 p4 #bgd72 he should not1 as in the extraordinary propositions which ,i have just analysed1 make assertions respecting his opponent's position and arguments which are contradicted by the plainest facts4 ,persons who1 like myself1 having spent their lives outside the political world1 yet take a mild and philosophical concern in what goes on in it1 often find #egh it difficult to understand what our neighbours call the psychological moment of this or that party leader and are1 occasionally1 loth to believe in the seeming conditions of certain kinds of success4 ,and when some chieftain1 famous in political warfare1 adventures into the region of letters or of science1 in full confidence that the methods which have brought fame and honour in his own province will answer there1 he is apt to forget that he will be judged by these people1 on whom rhetorical artifices have long ceased to take effect2 and to whom mere dexterity in putting together cleverly ambiguous phrases1 and even the great art of offensive misrepresentation1 are unspeakably wearisome4 ,and1 if that weariness finds its expression in sarcasm1 the offender really has no right to cry out4 ,assuredly1 ridicule is no test of truth1 but it is the righteous meed of some kinds of error4 ,nor ought the attempt to confound the expression of a revolted sense of fair dealing with arrogant impatience of contradiction1 to restrain those to whom the extreme weapons of controversy come handy from using them4 ,the function of police in the intellectual1 if not in the civil1 economy may sometimes be legitimately discharged by volunteers4 ,some time ago1 in one of the many criticisms with which ,i am favoured1 ,i met with the remark that1 at our time of life1 ,mr4 ,gladstone and ,i might be better occupied than in fighting over the ,gadarene pigs4 ,and1 if these too famous swine were the only parties to the suit1 ,i1 for my part1 should fully admit the #egi justice of the rebuke4 ,but1 under the beneficent rule of the ,court of ,chancery1 in former times1 it was not uncommon that a quarrel about a few perches of worthless land ended in the ruin of ancient families and the engulfing of great estates2 and ,i think that our admonisher failed to observe the analogy--to note the momentous consequences of the judgment which may be awarded in the present apparently insignificant action in re the swineherds of ,gadara4 ,the immediate effect of such judgment will be the decision of the question whether the men of the nineteenth century are to adopt the demonology of the men of the first century as divinely revealed truth1 or to reject it as degrading falsity4 ,the reverend ,principal of ,king's ,college has delivered his judgment in perfectly clear and candid terms4 ,two years since1 ,dr4 ,wace said that he believed the story as it stands2 and consequently he holds1 as a part of divine revelation1 that the spiritual world comprises devils1 who1 under certain circumstances1 may enter men and be transferred from them to four-footed beasts4 ,for the distinguished ,anglican divine and ,biblical scholar that is part and parcel of the teachings respecting the spiritual world which we owe to the founder of ,christianity4 ,it is an inseparable part of that ,christian orthodoxy which1 if a man rejects1 he is to be considered and called an infidel4 ,according to the ordinary rules of interpretation of language1 ,mr4 ,gladstone must hold the same view4 ,if antiquity and universality are valid tests of the truth of any belief1 no doubt this is one of the beliefs #ehj so certified4 ,there are no known savages1 nor people sunk in the ignorance of partial civilisation1 who do not hold them4 ,the great majority of ,christians have held them and still hold them4 ,moreover1 the oldest records we possess of the early conceptions of mankind in ,egypt and in ,mesopotamia prove that exactly such demonology1 as is implied in the ,gadarene story1 formed the substratum1 and1 among the early ,accadians1 apparently the greater part1 of their supposed knowledge of the spiritual world4 ,m4 ,lenormant's profoundly interesting work on ,babylonian magic and the magical texts given in the ,appendix to ,professor ,sayce's ,hibbert ,lectures leave no doubt on this head4 ,they prove that the doctrine of possession1 and even the particular case of pig possession1#agj were firmly believed in by the ,egyptians and the ,mesopotamians before the tribes of ,israel invaded ,palestine4 ,and it is evident that these beliefs1 from some time after the exile and probably much earlier1 completely interpenetrated the ,jewish mind1 and thus became inseparably interwoven with the fabric of the synoptic ,gospels4 ,therefore1 behind the question of the acceptance of the doctrines of the oldest heathen demonology as part of the fundamental beliefs of ,christianity1 there lies the question of the credibility of the ,gospels1 and of their claim to act as our instructors1 outside that ethical #eha province in which they appeal to the consciousness of all thoughtful men4 ,and still1 behind this problem1 there lies another--how far do these ancient records give a sure foundation to the prodigious fabric of ,christian dogma which has been built upon them by the continuous labours of speculative theologians during eighteen centuries8 ,i submit that there are few questions before the men of the rising generation on the answer to which the future hangs more fatally than this4 ,we are at the parting of the ways4 ,whether the twentieth century shall see a recrudescence of the superstitions of mediaeval papistry1 or whether it shall witness the severance of the living body of the ethical ideal of prophetic ,israel from the carcase1 foul with savage superstitions and cankered with false philosophy1 to which the theologians have bound it1 turns upon their final judgment of the ,gadarene tale4 ,the gravity of the problems ultimately involved in the discussion of the legend of ,gadara will1 ,i hope1 excuse a persistence in returning to the subject1 to which ,i should not have been moved by merely personal considerations4 ,with respect to the diluvial invective which overflowed thirty-three pages of this ,review last ,january1 ,i doubt not that it has a catastrophic importance in the estimation of its author4 ,i1 on the other hand1 may be permitted to regard it as a mere spate2 noisy and threatening while it lasted1 but forgotten almost #ehb as soon as it was over4 ,without my help1 it will be judged by every instructed and clear-headed reader2 and that is fortunate1 because1 were aid necessary1 ,i have cogent reasons for withholding it4 ,in an article characterised by the same qualities of thought and diction1 entitled ,a ,great ,lesson1 which appeared in this ,review for ,september #ahhg1 the ,duke of ,argyll1 firstly1 charged the whole body of men of science interested in the question with having conspired to ignore certain criticisms of ,mr4 ,darwin's theory of the origin and coral reefs2 and1 secondly1 he asserted that some person unnamed had actually induced ,mr4 ,john ,murray to delay the publication of his views on that subject for two years4 ,it was easy for me and for others to prove that the first statement was not only1 to use the ,duke of ,argyll's favourite expression1 contrary to fact1 but that it was without any foundation whatever4 ,the second statement rested on the ,duke of ,argyll's personal authority4 ,all ,i could do was to demand the production of the evidence for it4 ,up to the present time1 so far as ,i know1 that evidence has not made its appearance2 nor has there been any withdrawal of1 or apology for1 the erroneous charge4 ,under these circumstances1 most people will understand why the ,duke of ,argyll may feel quite secure of having the battle all to himself1 whenever it pleases him to attack me4 99 99 99 99 99 #ehc ,,xvi ,,hasisadra',s ,,adventure ,some thousands of years ago1 there was a city in ,mesopotamia called ,surippak4 ,one night a strange dream came to a dweller therein1 whose name1 if rightly reported1 was ,hasisadra4 ,the dream foretold the speedy coming of a great flood2 and it warned ,hasisadra to lose no time in building a ship1 in which1 when notice was given1 he1 his family and friends1 with their domestic animals and a collection of the wild creatures and seed of plants of the land1 might take refuge and be rescued from destruction4 ,hasisadra awoke1 and at once acted upon the warning4 ,a strong decked ship was built1 and her sides were paid1 inside and out1 with the mineral pitch1 or bitumen1 with which the country abounded2 the vessel's seaworthiness was tested1 the cargo was stowed away1 and a trusty pilot or steersman appointed4 ,the promised signal arrived4 ,wife and friends embarked2 ,hasisadra1 following1 prudently shut the door1 or1 as we should say1 put on the hatches2 and ,nes-,hea1 the pilot1 was left alone on deck to do #ehd his best for the ship4 ,thereupon a hurricane began to rage2 rain fell in torrents2 the subterranean waters burst forth2 a deluge swept over the land1 and the wind lashed it into waves sky high2 heaven and earth became mingled in chaotic gloom4 ,for six days and seven nights the gale raged1 but the good ship held out until1 on the seventh day1 the storm lulled4 ,hasisadra ventured on deck2 and1 seeing nothing but a waste of waters strewed with floating corpses and wreck1 wept over the destruction of his land and people4 ,far away1 the mountains of ,nizir were visible2 the ship was steered for them and ran aground upon the higher land4 ,yet another seven days passed by4 ,on the seventh1 ,hasisadra sent forth a dove1 which found no resting place and returned2 then he liberated a swallow1 which also came back2 finally1 a raven was let loose1 and that sagacious bird1 when it found that the water had abated1 came near the ship1 but refused to return to it4 ,upon this1 ,hasisadra liberated the rest of the wild animals1 which immediately dispersed in all directions1 while he1 with his family and friends1 ascending a mountain hard by1 offered sacrifices upon its summit to the gods4 ,the story thus given in summary abstract1 told in an ancient ,semitic dialect1 is inscribed in cuneiform characters upon a tablet of burnt clay4 ,many thousands of such tablets1 collected by ,assurbanipal1 ,king of ,assyria in the middle of the seventh century ,b4,c41 were stored in the library of his palace at #ehe ,nineveh2 and1 though in a sadly broken and mutilated condition1 they have yielded a marvellous amount of information to the patient and sagacious labour which modern scholars have bestowed upon them4 ,among the multitude of documents of various kinds1 this narrative of ,hasisadra's adventure has been found in a tolerably complete state4 ,but ,assyriologists agree that it is only a copy of a much more ancient work2 and there are weighty reasons for believing that the story of ,hasisadra's flood was well known in ,mesopotamia before the year #bjjj ,b4,c4 ,no doubt1 then1 we are in presence of a narrative which has all the authority which antiquity can confer2 and it is proper to deal respectfully with it1 even though it is quite as proper1 and indeed necessary1 to act no less respectfully towards ourselves2 and1 before professing to put implicit faith in it1 to inquire what claim it has to be regarded as a serious account of an historical event4 ,it is of no use to appeal to contemporary history1 although the annals of ,babylonia1 no less than those of ,egypt1 go much further back than #bjjj ,b4,c4 ,all that can be said is1 that the former are hardly consistent with the supposition that any catastrophe1 competent to destroy all the population1 has befallen the land since civilisation began1 and that the latter are notoriously silent about deluges4 ,in such a case as this1 however1 the silence of history does not leave the inquirer wholly at fault4 ,natural science has something to say when the phenomena of nature #ehf are in question4 ,natural science may be able to show1 from the nature of the country1 either that such an event as that described in the story is impossible1 or at any rate highly improbable2 or1 on the other hand1 that it is consonant with probability4 ,in the former case1 the narrative must be suspected or rejected2 in the latter1 no such summary verdict can be given3 on the contrary1 it must be admitted that the story may be true4 ,and then1 if certain strangely prevalent canons of criticism are accepted1 and if the evidence that an event might have happened is to be accepted as proof that it did happen1 ,assyriologists will be at liberty to congratulate one another on the confirmation by modern science of the authority of their ancient books4 ,it will be interesting1 therefore1 to inquire how far the physical structure and the other conditions of the region in which ,surippak was situated are compatible with such a flood as is described in the ,assyrian record4 ,the scene of ,hasisadra's adventure is laid in the broad valley1 six or seven hundred miles long1 and hardly anywhere less than a hundred miles in width1 which is traversed by the lower courses of the rivers ,euphrates and ,tigris1 and which is commonly known as the ,euphrates valley4 ,rising1 at the one end1 into a hill country1 which gradually passes into the ,alpine heights of ,armenia2 and1 at the other1 dipping beneath the shallow waters of the head of the ,persian ,gulf1 which continues in the same direction1 from north-west to south-east1 for some eight hundred #ehg miles farther1 the floor of the valley presents a gradual slope1 from eight hundred feet above the sea level to the depths of the southern end of the ,persian ,gulf4 ,the boundary between sea and land1 formed by the extremest mudflats of the delta of the two rivers1 is but vaguely defined2 and1 year by year1 it advances seaward4 ,on the north-eastern side1 the western frontier ranges of ,persia rise abruptly to great heights2 on the south-western side1 a more gradual ascent leads to a table-land of less elevation1 which1 very broad in the south1 where it is occupied by the deserts of ,arabia and of ,southern ,syria1 narrows1 northwards1 into the highlands of ,palestine1 and is continued by the ranges of the ,lebanon1 the ,antilebanon1 and the ,taurus1 into the highlands of ,armenia4 ,the wide and gently inclined plain1 thus inclosed between the gulf and the highlands1 on each side and at its upper extremity1 is distinguishable into two regions of very different character1 one of which lies north1 and the other south of the parallel of ,hit1 on the ,euphrates4 ,except in the immediate vicinity of the river1 the northern division is stony and scantily covered with vegetation1 except in spring4 ,over the southern division1 on the contrary1 spreads a deep alluvial soil1 in which even a pebble is rare2 and which1 though1 under the existing misrule1 mainly a waste of marsh and wilderness1 needs only intelligent attention to become1 as it was of old1 the granary of western ,asia4 ,except in the extreme south1 the rainfall is small and the air dry4 ,the heat in summer is intense1 while bitterly cold northern blasts #ehh sweep the plain in winter4 ,whirlwinds are not uncommon2 and1 in the intervals of the periodical inundations1 the fine1 dry1 powdery soil is swept1 even by moderate breezes1 into stifling clouds1 or rather fogs1 of dust4 ,low inequalities1 elevations here and depressions there1 diversify the surface of the alluvial region4 ,the latter are occupied by enormous marshes1 while the former support the permanent dwellings of the present scanty and miserable population4 ,in antiquity1 so long as the canalisation of the country was properly carried out1 the fertility of the alluvial plain enabled great and prosperous nations to have their home in the ,euphrates valley4 ,its abundant clay furnished the materials for the masses of sun-dried and burnt bricks1 the remains of which1 in the shape of huge artificial mounds1 still testify to both the magnitude and the industry of the population1 thousands of years ago4 ,good cement is plentiful1 while the bitumen1 which wells from the rocks at ,hit and elsewhere1 not only answers the same purpose1 but is used to this day1 as it was in ,hasisadra's time1 to pay the inside and the outside of boats4 ,in the broad lower course of the ,euphrates1 the stream rarely acquires a velocity of more than three miles an hour1 while the lower ,tigris attains double that rate in times of flood4 ,the water of both great rivers is mainly derived from the northern and eastern highlands in ,armenia and in ,kurdistan1 and stands at its lowest level in early autumn and in ,january4 #ehi ,but when the snows accumulated in the upper basins of the great rivers1 during the winter1 melt under the hot sunshine of spring1 they rapidly rise1#aga and at length overflow their banks1 covering the alluvial plain with a vast inland sea1 interrupted only by the higher ridges and hummocks which form islands in a seemingly boundless expanse of water4 ,in the occurrence of these annual inundations lies one of several resemblances between the valley of the ,euphrates and that of the ,nile4 ,but there are important differences4 ,the time of the annual flood is reversed1 the ,nile being highest in autumn and winter1 and lowest in spring and early summer4 ,the periodical overflows of the ,nile1 regulated by the great lake basins in the south1 are usually punctual in arrival1 gradual in growth1 and beneficial in operation4 ,no lakes are interposed between the mountain torrents of the upper basis of the ,tigris and the ,euphrates and their lower courses4 ,hence1 heavy rain1 or an unusually rapid thaw in the uplands1 gives rise to the sudden irruption of a vast volume of water which not even the rapid ,tigris1 still less its more sluggish companion1 can carry off in time to prevent violent and dangerous overflows4 ,without an elaborate system of canalisation1 providing an escape for such sudden excesses of the supply of water1 the annual floods of the ,euphrates1 and especially of the #eij ,tigris1 must always be attended with risk1 and often prove harmful4 ,there are other peculiarities of the ,euphrates valley which may occasionally tend to exacerbate the evils attendant on the inundations4 ,it is very subject to seismic disturbances2 and the ordinary consequences of a sharp earthquake shock might be seriously complicated by its effect on a broad sheet of water4 ,moreover1 the ,indian ,ocean lies within the region of typhoons2 and if1 at the height of an inundation1 a hurricane from the south-east swept up the ,persian ,gulf1 driving its shallow waters upon the delta and damming back the outflow1 perhaps for hundreds of miles up-stream1 a diluvial catastrophe1 fairly up to the mark of ,hasisadra's1 might easily result4#agb ,thus there seems to be no valid reason for rejecting ,hasisadra's story on physical grounds4 ,i do not gather from the narrative that the mountains of ,nizir were supposed to be submerged1 but merely that they came into view above the distant horizon of the waters1 as the vessel drove in that direction4 ,certainly the ship is not supposed to ground on any of their higher summits1 for ,hasisadra has to ascend a peak in order to offer his sacrifice4 ,the country of ,nizir lay on the north-eastern side of the ,euphrates #eia valley1 about the courses of the two rivers ,zab1 which enter the ,tigris where it traverses the plain of ,assyria some eight or nine hundred feet above the sea2 and1 so far as ,i can judge from maps#agc and other sources of information1 it is possible1 under the circumstances supposed1 that such a ship as ,hasisadra's might drive before a southerly gale1 over a continuously flooded country1 until it grounded on some of the low hills between which both the lower and the upper ,zab enter upon the ,assyrian plain4 ,the tablet which contains the story under consideration is the eleventh of a series of twelve4 ,each of these answers to a month1 and to the corresponding sign of the ,zodiac4 ,the ,assyrian year began with the spring equinox2 consequently1 the eleventh month1 called the rainy1 answers to our ,january-,february1 and to the sign which corresponds with our ,aquarius4 ,the aquatic adventure of ,hasisadra1 therefore1 is not inappropriately placed4 ,it is curious1 however1 that the season thus indirectly assigned to the flood is not that of the present highest level of the rivers4 ,it is too late for the winter rise and too early for the spring floods4 ,i think it must be admitted that1 so far1 the physical cross-examination to which ,hasisadra has been subjected does not break down his story4 ,on the contrary1 he proves to have kept it in all essential respects#agd within the bounds of probability or #eib possibility4 ,however1 we have not yet done with him4 ,for the conditions which obtained in the ,euphrates valley1 four or five thousand years ago1 may have differed to such an extent from those which now exist that we should be able to convict him of having made up his tale4 ,but here again everything is in favour of his credibility4 ,indeed1 he may claim very powerful support1 for it does not lie in the mouths of those who accept the authority of the ,pentateuch to deny that the ,euphrates valley was what it is1 even six thousand years back4 ,according to the book of ,genesis1 ,phrat and ,hiddekel--the ,euphrates and the ,tigris--are coeval with ,paradise4 ,an edition of the ,scriptures1 recently published under high authority1 with an elaborate apparatus of ,helps for the use of students--and therefore1 as ,i am bound to suppose1 purged of all statements that could by any possibility mislead the young--assigns the year ,b4,c4 #djjd as the date of ,adam's too brief residence in that locality4 ,but ,i am far from depending on this authority for the age of the ,mesopotamian plain4 ,on the contrary1 ,i venture to rely1 with much more confidence1 on another kind of evidence1 which tends to show that the age of the great rivers must be carried back to a date earlier than that at which our ingenuous youth is instructed that the earth came into existence4 ,for1 the alluvial deposit having been brought down by the rivers1 they must needs be older than the plain it #eic forms1 as navvies must needs antecede the embankment painfully built up by the contents of their wheelbarrows4 ,for thousands of years1 heat and cold1 rain1 snow1 and frost1 the scrubbing of glaciers1 and the scouring of torrents laden with sand and gravel1 have been wearing down the rocks of the upper basins of the rivers1 over an area of many thousand square miles2 and these materials1 ground to fine powder in the course of their long journey1 have slowly subsided1 as the water which carried them spread out and lost its velocity in the sea4 ,it is because this process is still going on that the shore of the delta constantly encroaches on the head of the gulf#age into which the two rivers are constantly throwing the waste of ,armenia and of ,kurdistan4 ,hence1 as might be expected1 fluviatile and marine shells are common in the alluvial deposit2 and ,loftus found strata1 containing subfossil marine shells of species now living1 in the ,persian ,gulf1 at ,warka1 two hundred miles in a straight line from the shore of the delta4#agf ,it follows that1 if a trustworthy estimate of the average rate of growth of the alluvial can be formed1 the lowest limit 7by no means the highest limit7 of age of the rivers can be determined4 ,all such estimates are beset #eid with sources of error of very various kinds2 and the best of them can only be regarded as approximations to the truth4 ,but ,i think it will be quite safe to assume a maximum rate of growth of four miles in a century for the lower half of the alluvial plain4 ,now1 the cycle of narratives of which ,hasisadra's adventure forms a part contains allusions not only to ,surippak1 the exact position of which is doubtful1 but to other cities1 such as ,erech4 ,the vast ruins at the present village of ,warka have been carefully explored and determined to be all that remains of that once great and flourishing city1 ,erech the lofty4 ,supposing that the two hundred miles of alluvial country1 which separates them from the head of the ,persian ,gulf at present1 have been deposited at the very high rate of four miles in a century1 it will follow that #djjj years ago1 or about the year #bajj ,b4,c41 the city of ,erech still lay forty miles inland4 ,indeed1 the city might have been built a thousand years earlier4 ,moreover1 there is plenty of independent archaeological and other evidence that in the whole thousand years1 #bjjj to #cjjj ,b4,c41 the alluvial plain was inhabited by a numerous people1 among whom industry1 art1 and literature had attained a very considerable development4 ,and it can be shown that the physical conditions and the climate of the ,euphrates valley1 at that time1 must have been extremely similar to what they are now4 ,thus1 once more1 we reach the conclusion that1 as a question of physical probability1 there is no ground for objecting to the reality of ,hasisadra's adventure4 #eie ,it would be unreasonable to doubt that such a flood might have happened1 and that such a person might have escaped in the way described1 any time during the last #ejjj years4 ,and if the postulate of loose thinkers in search of scientific confirmations of questionable narratives--proof that an event may have happened is evidence that it did happen--is to be accepted1 surely ,hasisadra's story is confirmed by modern scientific investigation beyond all cavil4 ,however1 it may be well to pause before adopting this conclusion1 because the original story1 of which ,i have set forth only the broad outlines1 contains a great many statements which rest upon just the same foundation as those cited1 and yet are hardly likely to meet with general acceptance4 ,the account of the circumstances which led up to the flood1 of those under which ,hasisadra's adventure was made known to his descendant1 of certain remarkable incidents before and after the flood1 are inseparably bound up with the details already given4 ,and ,i am unable to discover any justification for arbitrarily picking out some of these and dubbing them historical verities1 while rejecting the rest as legendary fictions4 ,they stand or fall together4 ,before proceeding to the consideration of these less satisfactory details1 it is needful to remark that ,hasisadra's adventure is a mere episode in a cycle of stories of which a personage1 whose name is provisionally read ,izdubar1 is the centre4 ,the nature of ,izdubar hovers vaguely between the heroic and the divine2 sometimes he seems a mere man1 sometimes #eif approaches so closely to the divinities of fire and of the sun as to be hardly distinguishable from them4 ,as ,i have already mentioned1 the tablet which sets forth ,hasisadra's perils is one of twelve2 and1 since each of these represents a month and bears a story appropriate to the corresponding sign of the ,zodiac1 great weight must be attached to ,sir ,henry ,rawlinson's suggestion that the epos of ,izdubar is a poetical embodiment of solar mythology4 ,in the earlier books of the epos1 the hero1 not content with rejecting the proffered love of the ,chaldaean ,aphrodite1 ,istar1 freely expresses his very low estimate of her character2 and it is interesting to observe that1 even in this early stage of human experience1 men had reached a conception of that law of nature which expresses the inevitable consequences of an imperfect appreciation of feminine charms4 ,the injured goddess makes ,izdubar's life a burden to him1 until at last1 sick in body and sorry in mind1 he is driven to seek aid and comfort from his forbears in the world of spirits4 ,so this antitype of ,odysseus journeys to the shore of the waters of death1 and there takes ship with a ,chaldaean ,charon1 who carries him within hail of his ancestor ,hasisadra4 ,that venerable personage not only gives ,izdubar instructions how to regain his health1 but tells him1 somewhat a propos des bottes 7after the manner of venerable personages71 the long story of his perilous adventure2 and how it befell that he1 his wife1 and his steersman came to dwell among the blessed gods1 without passing through the portals of death like ordinary mortals4 #eig ,according to the full story1 the sins of mankind had become grievous2 and1 at a council of the gods1 it was resolved to extirpate the whole race by a great flood4 ,and1 once more1 let us note the uniformity of human experience4 ,it would appear that1 four thousand years ago1 the obligations of confidential intercourse about matters of state were sometimes violated--of course from the best of motives4 ,ea1 one of the three chiefs of the ,chaldaean ,pantheon1 the god of justice and of practical wisdom1 was also the god of the sea2 and1 yielding to the temptation to do a friend a good turn1 irresistible to kindly seafaring folks of all ranks1 he warned ,hasisadra of what was coming4 ,when ,bel subsequently reproached him for this breach of confidence1 ,ea defended himself by declaring that he did not tell ,hasisadra anything2 he only sent him a dream4 ,this was undoubtedly sailing very near the wind2 but the attribution of a little benevolent obliquity of conduct to one of the highest of the gods is a trifle compared with the truly ,homeric anthropomorphism which characterises other parts of the epos4 ,the ,chaldaean deities are1 in truth1 extremely human2 and1 occasionally1 the narrator does not scruple to represent them in a manner which is not only inconsistent with our idea of reverence1 but is sometimes distinctly humorous4#agg ,when the storm is at its height1 he exhibits them flying in a state of panic to ,anu1 the god of heaven1 and crouching #eih before his portal like frightened dogs4 ,as the smoke of ,hasisadra's sacrifice arises1 the gods1 attracted by the sweet savour1 are compared to swarms of flies4 ,i have already remarked that the lady ,istar's reputation is torn to shreds2 while she and ,ea scold ,bel handsomely for his ferocity and injustice in destroying the innocent along with the guilty4 ,one is reminded of ,here hung up with weighted heels2 of misleading dreams sent by ,zeus2 of ,ares howling as he flies from the ,trojan battlefield2 and of the very questionable dealings of ,aphrodite with ,helen and ,paris4 ,but to return to the story4 ,bel was1 at first1 excluded from the sacrifice as the author of all the mischief2 which really was somewhat hard upon him1 since the other gods agreed to his proposal4 ,but eventually a reconciliation takes place2 the great bow of ,anu is displayed in the heavens2 ,bel agrees that he will be satisfied with what war1 pestilence1 famine1 and wild beasts can do in the way of destroying men2 and that1 henceforward1 he will not have recourse to extraordinary measures4 ,finally1 it is ,bel himself who1 by way of making amends1 transports ,hasisadra1 his wife1 and the faithful ,nes-,hea to the abode of the gods4 ,it is as indubitable as it is incomprehensible to most of us1 that1 for thousands of years1 a great people1 quite as intelligent as we are1 and living in as high a state of civilisation as that which had been attained in the greater part of ,europe a few centuries ago1 entertained not the slightest doubt that ,anu1 #eii ,bel1 ,ea1 ,istar1 and the rest1 were real personages1 possessed of boundless powers for good and evil4 ,the sincerity of the monarchs whose inscriptions gratefully attribute their victories to ,merodach1 or to ,assur1 is as little to be questioned as that of the authors of the hymns and penitential psalms which give full expression to the heights and depths of religious devotion4 ,an infidel bold enough to deny the existence1 or to doubt the influence1 of these deities probably did not exist in all ,mesopotamia2 and even constructive rebellion against their authority was apt to end in the deprivation1 not merely of the good name1 but of the skin of the offender4 ,the adherents of modern theological systems dismiss these objects of the love and fear of a hundred generations of their equals1 offhand1 as gods of the heathen1 mere creations of a wicked and idolatrous imagination2 and1 along with them1 they disown1 as senseless1 the crude theology1 with its gross anthropomorphism and its low ethical conception of the divinity1 which satisfied the pious souls of ,chaldaea4 ,i imagine1 though ,i do not presume to be sure1 that any endeavour to save the intellectual and moral credit of ,chaldaean religion1 by suggesting the application to it of that universal solvent of absurdities1 the allegorical method1 would be scouted2 ,i will not even suggest that any ingenuity can be equal to the discovery of the antitypes of the personifications effected by the religious imagination of later ages1 in the triad ,anu1 ,ea1 and ,bel1 still less in ,istar4 ,therefore1 unless some plausible reconciliatory scheme #fjj should be propounded by a ,neo-,chaldaean devotee 7and1 with ,neo-,buddhists to the fore1 this supposition is not so wild as it looks71 ,i suppose the moderns will continue to smile1 in a superior way1 at the grievous absurdity of the polytheistic idolatry of these ancient people4 ,it is probably a congenital absence of some faculty which ,i ought to possess which withholds me from adopting this summary procedure4 ,but ,i am not ashamed to share ,david ,hume's want of ability to discover that polytheism is1 in itself1 altogether absurd4 ,if we are bound1 or permitted1 to judge the government of the world by human standards1 it appears to me that directorates are proved1 by familiar experience1 to conduct the largest and the most complicated concerns quite as well as solitary despots4 ,i have never been able to see why the hypothesis of a divine syndicate should be found guilty of innate absurdity4 ,those ,assyrians1 in particular1 who held ,assur to be the one supreme and creative deity1 to whom all the other supernal powers were subordinate1 might fairly ask that the essential difference between their system and that which obtains among the great majority of their modern theological critics should be demonstrated4 ,in my apprehension1 it is not the quantity1 but the quality1 of the persons1 among whom the attributes of divinity are distributed1 which is the serious matter4 ,if the divine might is associated with no higher ethical attributes than those which obtain among ordinary men2 if the divine intelligence is supposed to be so imperfect #fja that it cannot foresee the consequences of its own contrivances2 if the supernal powers can become furiously angry with the creatures of their omnipotence and1 in their senseless wrath1 destroy the innocent along with the guilty2 or if they can show themselves to be as easily placated by presents and gross flattery as any oriental or occidental despot2 if1 in short1 they are only stronger than mortal men and no better1 as it must be admitted ,hasisadra's deities proved themselves to be--then1 surely1 it is time for us to look somewhat closely into their credentials1 and to accept none but conclusive evidence of their existence4 ,to the majority of my respected contemporaries this reasoning will doubtless appear feeble1 if not worse4 ,however1 to my mind1 such are the only arguments by which the ,chaldaean theology can be satisfactorily upset4 ,so far from there being any ground for the belief that ,ea1 ,anu1 and ,bel are1 or ever were1 real entities1 it seems to me quite infinitely more probable that they are products of the religious imagination1 such as are to be found everywhere and in all ages1 so long as that imagination riots uncontrolled by scientific criticism4 ,it is on these grounds that ,i venture1 at the risk of being called an atheist by the ghosts of all the principals of all the colleges of ,babylonia1 or by their living successors among the ,neo-,chaldaeans1 if that sect should arise1 to express my utter disbelief in the gods of ,hasisadra4 ,hence1 it follows1 that ,i find ,hasisadra's account of their share in his adventure #fjb incredible2 and1 as the physical details of the flood are inseparable from its theophanic accompaniments1 and are guaranteed by the same authority1 ,i must let them go with the rest4 ,the consistency of such details with probability counts for nothing4 ,the inhabitants of ,chaldaea must always have been familiar with inundations2 probably no generation failed to witness an inundation which rose unusually high1 or was rendered serious by coincident atmospheric1 or other1 disturbances4 ,and the memory of the general features of any exceptionally severe and devastating flood1 would be preserved by popular tradition for long ages4 ,what1 then1 could be more natural than that a ,chaldaean poet should seek for the incidents of a great catastrophe among such phenomena8 ,in what other way than by such an appeal to their experience could he so surely awaken in his audience the tragic pity and terror8 ,what possible ground is there for insisting that he must have had some individual flood in view1 and that his history is historical1 in the sense that the account of the effects of a hurricane in the ,bay of ,bengal1 in the year #ahge1 is historical8 ,more than three centuries after the time of ,assurbanipal1 ,berosus of ,babylon1 born in the reign of ,alexander the ,great1 wrote an account of the history of his country in ,greek4 ,the work of ,berosus has vanished2 but extracts from it--how far faithful is uncertain--have been preserved by later writers4 ,among these occurs the well-known #fjc story of the ,deluge of ,xisuthros1 which is evidently built upon the same foundation as that of ,hasisadra4 ,the incidents of the divine warning1 the building of the ship1 the sending out of birds1 the ascension of the hero1 betray their common origin4 ,but stories1 like ,madeira1 acquire a heightened flavour with time and travel2 and the version of ,berosus is characterised by those circumstantial improbabilities which habitually gather round the legend of a legend4 ,the later narrator knows the exact day of the month on which the flood began4 ,the dimensions of the ship are stated with ,munchausenian precision at five stadia by two--say1 half by one-fifth of an ,english mile4 ,the ship runs aground among the ,gordaean mountains to the south of ,lake ,van1 in ,armenia1 beyond the limits of any imaginable real inundation of the ,euphrates valley2 and1 by way of climax1 we have the assertion1 worthy of the sailor who said that he had brought up one of ,pharaoh's chariot wheels on the fluke of his anchor in the ,red ,sea1 that pilgrims visited the locality and made amulets of the bitumen which they scraped off from the still extant remains of the mighty ship of ,xisuthros4 ,suppose that some later polyhistor1 as devoid of critical faculty as most of his tribe1 had found the version of ,berosus1 as well as another much nearer the original story2 that1 having too much respect for his authorities to make up a tertium quid of his own1 out of the materials offered1 he followed a practice1 common enough among ancient and1 particularly1 among ,semitic historians1 of dividing #fjd both into fragments and piecing them together1 without troubling himself very much about the resulting repetitions and inconsistencies2 the product of such a primitive editorial operation would be a narrative analogous to that which treats of the ,noachian deluge in the book of ,genesis4 ,for the ,pentateuchal story is indubitably a patchwork1 composed of fragments of at least two1 different and partly discrepant1 narratives1 quilted together in such an inartistic fashion that the seams remain conspicuous4 ,and1 in the matter of circumstantial exaggeration1 it in some respects excels even the second-hand legend of ,berosus4 ,there is a certain practicality about the notion of taking refuge from floods and storms in a ship provided with a steersman2 but1 surely1 no one who had ever seen more water than he could wade through would dream of facing even a moderate breeze1 in a huge three-storied coffer1 or box1 three hundred cubits long1 fifty wide and thirty high1 left to drift without rudder or pilot4#agh ,not content with giving the exact year of ,noah's age in which the flood began1 the ,pentateuchal story adds the month and the day of #fje the month4 ,it is the ,deity himself who shuts in ,noah4 ,the modest week assigned to the full deluge in ,hasisadra's story becomes forty days1 in one of the ,pentateuchal accounts1 and a hundred and fifty in the other4 ,the flood1 which1 in the version of ,berosus1 has grown so high as to cast the ship among the mountains of ,armenia1 is improved upon in the ,hebrew account until it covers all the high hills that were under the whole heaven2 and1 when it begins to subside1 the ark is left stranded on the summit of the highest peak1 commonly identified with ,ararat itself4 ,while the details of ,hasisadra's adventure are1 at least1 compatible with the physical conditions of the ,euphrates valley1 and1 as we have seen1 involve no catastrophe greater than such as might be brought under those conditions1 many of the very precisely stated details of ,noah's flood contradict some of the best established results of scientific inquiry4 ,if it is certain that the alluvium of the ,mesopotamian plain has been brought down by the ,tigris and the ,euphrates1 then it is no less certain that the physical structure of the whole valley has persisted1 without material modification1 for many thousand years before the date assigned to the flood4 ,if the summits1 even of the moderately elevated ridges which immediately bound the valley1 still more those of the ,kurdish and ,armenian mountains1 were ever covered by water1 for even forty days1 that water must have extended over the whole earth4 ,if the earth was thus covered1 anywhere between #djjj and #ejjj years ago1 or1 at any other time1 since the #fjf higher terrestrial animals came into existence1 they must have been destroyed from the whole face of it1 as the ,pentateuchal account declares they were three several times 7,genesis vii4 #ba1 #bb1 #bc71 in language which cannot be made more emphatic1 or more solemn1 than it is2 and the present population must consist of the descendants of emigrants from the ark4 ,and1 if that is the case1 then1 as has often been pointed out1 the sloths of the ,brazilian forests1 the kangaroos of ,australia1 the great tortoises of the ,galapagos islands1 must have respectively hobbled1 hopped1 and crawled over many thousand miles of land and sea from ,ararat to their present habitations4 ,thus1 the unquestionable facts of the geographical distribution of recent land animals1 alone1 form an insuperable obstacle to the acceptance of the assertion that the kinds of animals composing the present terrestrial fauna have been1 at any time1 universally destroyed in the way described in the ,pentateuch4 ,it is upon this and other unimpeachable grounds1 that1 as ,i ventured to say some time ago1 persons who are duly conversant with even the elements of natural science decline to take the ,noachian deluge seriously2 and that1 as ,i also pointed out1 candid theologians1 who1 without special scientific knowledge1 have appreciated the weight of scientific arguments1 have long since given it up4 ,but1 as ,goethe has remarked1 there is nothing more terrible than energetic ignorance#agi2 and there are1 even yet1 very #fjg energetic people1 who are neither candid1 nor clearheaded1 nor theologians1 still less properly instructed in the elements of natural science1 who make prodigious efforts to obscure the effect of these plain truths1 and to conceal their real surrender of the historical character of ,noah's deluge under cover of the smoke of a great discharge of pseudoscientific artillery4 ,they seem to imagine that the proofs which abound in all parts of the world1 of large oscillations of the relative level of land and sea1 combined with the probability that1 when the sea-level was rising1 sudden incursions of the sea1 like that which broke in over ,holland and formed the ,zuyder ,zee1 may have often occurred1 can be made to look like evidence that something that1 by courtesy1 might be called a general ,deluge has really taken place4 ,their discursive energy drags misunderstood truth into their service2 and the glacial epoch is as sure to crop up among them as ,king ,charles's head in a famous memorial--with about as much appropriateness4 ,the old story of the raised beach on ,moel ,tryfaen is trotted out2 though1 even if the facts are as yet rightly interpreted1 there is not a shadow of evidence that the change of sea-level in that locality was sudden1 or that glacial ,welshmen would have known it was taking place4#ahj ,surely it is difficult to perceive the relevancy of bringing in something that happened in the glacial #fjh epoch 7if it did happen7 to account for the tradition of a flood in the ,euphrates valley between #bjjj and #cjjj ,b4,c4 ,but the date of the ,noachian flood is solidly fixed by the sole authority for it2 no shuffling of the chronological data will carry it so far back as #cjjj ,b4,c42 and the ,hebrew epos agrees with the ,chaldaean in placing it after the development of a somewhat advanced civilisation4 ,the only authority for the ,noachian deluge assures us that1 before it visited the earth1 ,cain had built cities2 ,jubal had invented harps and organs2 while mankind had advanced so far beyond the neolithic1 nay even the bronze1 stage that ,tubal-cain was a worker in iron4 ,therefore1 if the ,noachian legend is to be taken for the history of an event which happened in the glacial epoch1 we must revise our notions of pleistocene civilisation4 ,on the other hand1 if the ,pentateuchal story only means something quite different1 that happened somewhere else1 thousands of years earlier1 dressed up1 what becomes of its credit as history8 ,i wonder what would be said to a modern historian who asserted that ,pekin was burnt down in #ahhf1 and then tried to justify the assertion by adducing evidence of the ,great ,fire of ,london in #afff4 ,yet the attempt to save the credit of the ,noachian story by reference to something which is supposed to have happened in the far north1 in the glacial epoch1 is far more preposterous4 ,moreover1 these dust-raising dialecticians ignore some of the most important and well-known facts #fji which bear upon the question4 ,anything more than a parochial acquaintance with physical geography and geology would suffice to remind its possessor that the ,holy ,land itself offers a standing protest against bringing such a deluge as that of ,noah anywhere near it1 either in historical times or in the course of that pleistocene period1 of which the great ice age formed a part4 ,judaea and ,galilee1 ,moab and ,gilead1 occupy part of that extensive tableland at the summit of the western boundary of the ,euphrates valley1 to which ,i have already referred4 ,if that valley had ever been filled with water to a height sufficient1 not indeed to cover a third of ,ararat1 in the north1 or half some of the mountains of the ,persian frontier in the east1 but to reach even four or five thousand feet1 it must have stood over the ,palestinian hog's-back1 and have filled1 up to the brim1 every depression on its surface4 ,therefore it could not have failed to fill that remarkable trench in which the ,dead ,sea1 the ,jordan1 and the ,sea of ,galilee lie1 and which is known as the ,jordan-,arabah valley4 ,this long and deep hollow extends more than #bjj miles1 from near the site of ancient ,dan in the north1 to the water-parting at the head of the ,wady ,arabah in the south2 and its deepest part1 at the bottom of the basin of the ,dead ,sea1 lies #bejj feet below the surface of the adjacent ,mediterranean4 ,the lowest portion of the rim of the ,jordan-,arabah valley is situated at the village of ,el ,fuleh1 #beg feet above the ,mediterranean4 ,everywhere else the #faj circumjacent heights rise to a very much greater altitude4 ,hence1 of the water which stood over the ,syrian tableland1 when as much drained off as could run away1 enough would remain to form a ,mere without an outlet1 #bgeg feet deep1 over the present site of the ,dead ,sea4 ,from this time forth1 the level of the ,palestinian mere could be lowered only by evaporation4 ,it is an extremely interesting fact1 which has happily escaped capture for the purposes of the energetic misunderstanding1 that the valley1 at one time1 was filled1 certainly within #aej feet of this height--probably higher4 ,and it is almost equally certain1 that the time at which this great ,jordan-,arabah mere reached its highest level coincides with the glacial epoch4 ,but then the evidence which goes to prove this1 also leads to the conclusion that this state of things obtained at a period considerably older than even #djjd ,b4,c41 when the world1 according to the ,helps 7or shall we say ,hindrances7 provided for the simple student of the ,bible1 was created2 that it was not brought about by any diluvial catastrophe1 but was the result of a change in the relative activities of certain natural operations which are quietly going on now2 and that1 since the level of the mere began to sink1 many thousand years ago1 no serious catastrophe of any description has affected the valley4 ,the evidence that the ,jordan-,arabah valley really was once filled with water1 the surface of which reached within #afj feet of the level of the pass of ,jezrael1 and possibly stood higher1 is this3 ,remains #faa of alluvial strata1 containing shells of the freshwater mollusks which still inhabit the valley1 worn down into terraces by waves which long rippled at the same level1 and furrowed by the channels excavated by modern rainfalls1 have been found at the former height2 and they are repeated1 at intervals1 lower down1 until the ,ghor1 or plain of the ,jordan1 itself an alluvial deposit1 is reached4 ,these strata attain a considerable thickness2 and they indicate that the epoch at which the freshwater mere of ,palestine reached its highest level is extremely remote2 that its diminution has taken place very slowly1 and with periods of rest1 during which the first formed deposits were cut down into terraces4 ,this conclusion is strikingly borne out by other facts4 ,a volcanic region stretches from ,galilee to ,gilead and the ,hauran1 on each side of the northern end of the valley4 ,some of the streams of basaltic lava which have been thrown out from its craters and clefts in times of which history has no record1 have run athwart the course of the ,jordan itself1 or of that of some of its tributary streams4 ,the lava streams1 therefore1 must be of later date than the depressions they fill4 ,and yet1 where they have thus temporarily dammed the ,jordan and the ,jermuk1 these streams have had time to cut through the hard basalts and lay bare the beds1 over which1 before the lava streams invaded them1 they flowed4 ,in fact1 the antiquity of the present ,jordan-,arabah valley1 as a hollow in a tableland1 out of reach of the sea1 and troubled by no diluvial or other #fab disturbances1 beyond the volcanic eruptions of ,gilead and of ,galilee1 is vast1 even as estimated by a geological standard4 ,no marine deposits of later than miocene age occur in or about it2 and there is every reason to believe that the ,syro-,arabian plateau has been dry land1 throughout the pliocene and later epochs1 down to the present time4 ,raised beaches1 containing recent shells1 on the ,levantine shores of the ,mediterranean and on those of the ,red ,sea1 testify to a geologically recent change of the sea level to the extent of #bej or #cjj feet1 probably produced by the slow elevation of the land2 and1 as ,i have already remarked1 the alluvial plain of the ,euphrates and ,tigris appears to have been affected in the same way though seemingly to a less extent4 ,but of violent1 or catastrophic1 change there is no trace4 ,even the volcanic outbursts have flowed in even sheets over the old land surface2 and the long lines of the horizontal terraces which remain1 testify to the geological insignificance of such earthquakes as have taken place4 ,it is1 indeed1 possible that the original formation of the valley may have been determined by the well-known fault1 along which the western rocks are relatively depressed and the eastern elevated4 ,but1 whether that fault was effected slowly or quickly1 and whenever it came into existence1 the excavation of the valley to its present width1 no less than the sculpturing of its steep walls and of the innumerable deep ravines which score them down to the very bottom1 are indubitably due to the operation of rain and streams1 during an enormous length of time1 #fac without interruption or disturbance of any magnitude4 ,the alluvial deposits which have been mentioned are continued into the lateral ravines1 and have more or less filled them4 ,but1 since the waters have been lowered1 these deposits have been cut down to great depths1 and are still being excavated by the present temporary1 or permanent1 streams4 ,hence1 it follows1 that all these ravines must have existed before the time at which the valley was occupied by the great mere4 ,this fact acquires a peculiar importance when we proceed to consider the grounds for the conclusion that the old ,palestinian mere attained its highest level in the cold period of the pleistocene epoch4 ,it is well known that glaciers formerly came low down on the flanks of ,lebanon and ,antilebanon2 indeed1 the old moraines are the haunts of the few survivors of the famous cedars4 ,this implies a perennial snowcap of great extent on ,hermon2 therefore1 a vastly greater supply of water to the sources of the ,jordan which rise on its flanks2 and1 in addition1 such a total change in the general climate1 that the innumerable ,wadys1 now traversed only by occasional storm torrents1 must have been occupied by perennial streams4 ,all this involves a lower annual temperature and a moist and rainy atmosphere4 ,if such a change of meteorological conditions could be effected now1 when the loss by evaporation from the surface of the ,dead ,sea salt-pan balances all the gain from the ,jordan and other streams1 the scale would be turned in the other direction4 ,the waters of the ,dead ,sea would become diluted2 its level would rise2 #fad it would cover1 first the plain of the ,jordan1 then the lake of ,galilee1 then the middle ,jordan between this lake and that of ,huleh 7the ancient ,merom72 and1 finally1 it would encroach1 northwards1 along the course of the upper ,jordan1 and1 southwards1 up the ,wady ,arabah1 until it reached some #bfj feet above the level of the ,mediterranean1 when it would attain a permanent level1 by sending any superfluity through the pass of ,jezrael to swell the waters of the ,kishon1 and flow thence into the ,mediterranean4 ,reverse the process1 in consequence of the excess of loss by evaporation over gain by inflow1 which must have set in as the climate of ,syria changed after the end of the pleistocene epoch1 and 7without taking into consideration any other circumstances7 the present state of things must eventually be reached--a concentrated saline solution in the deepest part of the valley--water1 rather more charged with saline matter than ordinary fresh water1 in the lower ,jordan and the lake of ,galilee--fresh waters1 still largely derived from the snows of ,hermon1 in the upper ,jordan and in ,lake ,huleh4 ,but1 if the full state of ,jordan valley marks the glacial epoch1 then it follows that the excavation of that valley by atmospheric agencies must have occupied an immense antecedent time--a large part1 perhaps the whole1 of the pliocene epoch2 and we are thus forced to the conclusion that1 since the miocene epoch1 the physical conformation of the ,holy ,land has been substantially what it is now4 ,it has been more or less rained upon1 searched by #fae earthquakes here and there1 partially overflowed by lava streams1 slowly raised 7relatively to the sea-level7 a few hundred feet4 ,but there is not a shadow of ground for supposing that1 throughout all this time1 terrestrial animals have ceased to inhabit a large part of its surface2 or that1 in many parts1 they have been1 in any respect1 incommoded by the changes which have taken place4 ,the evidence of the general stability of the physical conditions of ,western ,asia1 which is furnished by ,palestine and by the ,euphrates ,valley1 is only fortified if we extend our view northwards to the ,black ,sea and the ,caspian4 ,the ,caspian is a sort of magnified replica of the ,dead ,sea4 ,the bottom of the deepest part of this vast inland mere is #cjjj feet below the level of the ,mediterranean1 while its surface is lower by #he feet4 ,at present1 it is separated1 on the west1 by wide spaces of dry land from the ,black ,sea1 which has the same height as the ,mediterranean1 and1 on the east1 from the ,aral1 #ach feet above that level4 ,the waters of the ,black ,sea1 now in communication with the ,mediterranean by the ,dardanelles and the ,bosphorus1 are salt1 but become brackish northwards1 where the rivers of the steppes pour in a great volume of fresh water4 ,those of the shallower northern half of the ,caspian are similarly affected by the ,volga and the ,ural1 while1 in the shallow bays of the southern division1 they become extremely saline in consequence of the intense evaporation4 ,the ,aral ,sea1 though supplied by the ,jaxartes and the ,oxus1 has brackish water4 ,there is evidence #faf that1 in the pliocene and pleistocene periods1 to go no farther back1 the strait of the ,dardanelles did not exist1 and that the vast area1 from the valley of the ,danube to that of the ,jaxartes1 was covered by brackish or1 in some parts1 fresh water to a height of at least #bjj feet above the level of the ,mediterranean4 ,at the present time1 the water-parting which separates the northern part of the basin of the ,caspian from the vast plains traversed by the ,tobol and the ,obi1 in their course to the ,arctic ,ocean1 appears to be less than #bjj feet above the latter4 ,it would seem1 therefore1 to be very probable that1 under the climatal conditions of part of the pleistocene period1 the valley of the ,obi played the same part in relation to the ,ponto-,aralian sea1 as that of the ,kishon may have done to the great mere of the ,jordan valley2 and that the outflow formed the channel by which the well-known ,arctic elements of the fauna of the ,caspian entered it4 ,for the fossil remains imbedded in the strata continuously deposited in the ,aralo-,caspian area1 since the latter end of the miocene epoch1 show no sign that1 from that time onward1 it has ever been covered by sea water4 ,therefore1 the supposition of a free inflow of the ,arctic ,ocean1 which at one time was generally received1 as well as that of various hypothetical deluges from that quarter1 must be seriously questioned4 ,the ,caspian and the ,aral stand in somewhat the same relation to the vast basin of dry land in which they lie1 as the ,dead ,sea and the lake of ,galilee to the ,jordan valley4 ,they are the remains of a vast1 #fag mostly brackish1 mere1 which has dried up in consequence of the excess of evaporation over supply1 since the cold and damp climate of the pleistocene epoch gave place to the increasing dryness and great summer heats of ,central ,asia in more modern times4 ,the desiccation of the ,aralo-,caspian basin1 which communicated with the ,black ,sea only by a comparatively narrow and shallow strait along the present valley of ,manytsch1 the bottom of which was less than #ajj feet above the ,mediterranean1 must have been vastly aided by the erosion of the strait of the ,dardanelles towards the end of the pleistocene epoch1 or perhaps later4 ,for the result of thus opening a passage for the waters of the ,black ,sea into the ,mediterranean must have been the gradual lowering of its level to that of the latter sea4 ,when this process had gone so far as to bring down the ,black ,sea water to within less than a hundred feet of its present level1 the strait of ,manytsch ceased to exist2 and the vast body of fresh water brought down by the ,danube1 the ,dnieper1 the ,don1 and other ,south ,russian rivers was cut off from the ,caspian1 and eventually delivered into the ,mediterranean4 ,thus1 there is as conclusive evidence as one can well hope to obtain in these matters1 that1 north of the ,euphrates valley1 the physical geography of an area as large as all ,central ,europe has remained essentially unchanged1 from the miocene period down to our time2 just as1 to the west of the ,euphrates valley1 ,palestine has exhibited a similar persistence of geographical type4 ,to the south1 the valley of the ,nile #fah tells exactly the same story4 ,the holes bored by miocene mollusks in the cliffs east and west of ,cairo bear witness that1 in the miocene epoch1 it contained an arm of the sea1 the bottom of which has since been gradually filled up by the alluvium of the ,nile1 and elevated to its present position4 ,but the higher parts of the ,mokattam and of the desert about ,ghizeh1 have been dry land from that time to this4 ,too little is known of the geology of ,persia1 at present1 to allow any positive conclusion to be enunciated4 ,but1 taking the name to indicate the whole continental mass of ,iran1 between the valleys of the ,indus and the ,euphrates1 the supposition that its physical geography has remained unchanged for an immensely long period is hardly rash4 ,the country is1 in fact1 an enormous basin1 surrounded on all sides by a mountainous rim1 and subdivided within by ridges into plateaus and hollows1 the bottom of the deepest of which1 in the province of ,seistan1 probably descends to the level of the ,indian ,ocean4 ,these depressions are occupied by salt marshes and deserts1 in which the waters of the streams which flow down the sides of the basin are now dissipated by evaporation4 ,i am acquainted with no evidence that the present ,iranian basin was ever occupied by the sea2 but the accumulations of gravel over a great extent of its surface indicate long-continued water action4 ,it is1 therefore1 a fair presumption that large lakes have covered much of its present deserts1 and that they have dried up by the operation of the same changed climatal conditions as those which have #fai reduced the ,caspian and the ,dead ,sea to their present dimensions4#aha ,thus it would seem that the ,euphrates valley1 the centre of the fabled ,noachian deluge1 is also the centre of a region covering some millions of square miles of the present continents of ,europe1 ,asia1 and ,africa1 in which all the facts1 relevant to the argument1 at present known1 converge to the conclusion that1 since the miocene epoch1 the essential features of its physical geography have remained unchanged2 that it has neither been depressed below the sea1 nor swept by diluvial waters since that time2 and that the ,chaldean version of the legend of a flood in the ,euphrates valley is1 of all those which are extant1 the only one which is even consistent with probability1 since it depicts a local inundation not more severe than one which might be brought about by a concurrence of favourable conditions at the present day1 and which might probably have been more easily effected when the ,persian ,gulf extended farther north4 ,hence1 the recourse to the glacial epoch for some event which might colourably represent a flood1 distinctly asserted by the only authority for it to have occurred in historical times1 is peculiarly unfortunate4 ,even a ,welsh antiquarian might hesitate over the supposition that a tradition of the fate of ,moel ,tryfaen1 in the glacial epoch1 had furnished the basis of fact for a legend #fbj which arose among people whose own experience abundantly supplied them with the needful precedents4 ,moreover1 if evidence of interchanges of land and sea are to be accepted as confirmations of ,noah's deluge1 there are plenty of sources for the tradition to be had much nearer than ,wales4 ,the depression now filled by the ,red ,sea1 for example1 appears to be1 geologically1 of very recent origin4 ,the later deposits found on its shores1 two or three hundred feet above the sea level1 contain no remains older than those of the present fauna2 while1 as ,i have already mentioned1 the valley of the adjacent delta of the ,nile was a gulf of the sea in miocene times4 ,but there is not a particle of evidence that the change of relative level which admitted the waters of the ,indian ,ocean between ,arabia and ,africa1 took place any faster than that which is now going on in ,greenland and ,scandinavia1 and which has left their inhabitants undisturbed4 ,even more remarkable changes were effected1 towards the end of1 or since1 the glacial epoch1 over the region now occupied by the ,levantine ,mediterranean and the ,a,egean ,sea4 ,the eastern coast region of ,asia ,minor1 the western of ,greece1 and many of the intermediate islands1 exhibit thick masses of stratified deposits of later tertiary age and of purely lacustrine characters2 and it is remarkable that1 on the south side of the island of ,crete1 such masses present steep cliffs facing the sea1 so that the southern boundary of the lake in which they were formed must have been situated where the sea now flows4 ,indeed1 there are #fba valid reasons for the supposition that the dry land once extended far to the west of the present ,levantine coast1 and not improbably forced the ,nile to seek an outlet to the north-east of its present delta--a possibility of no small importance in relation to certain puzzling facts in the geographical distribution of animals in this region4 ,at any rate1 continuous land joined ,asia ,minor with the ,balkan peninsula2 and its surface bore deep freshwater lakes1 apparently disconnected with the ,ponto-,aralian sea4 ,this state of things lasted long enough to allow of the formation of the thick lacustrine strata to which ,i have referred4 ,i am not aware that there is the smallest ground for the assumption that the ,a,egean land was broken up in consequence of any of the catastrophes which are so commonly invoked4#ahb ,for anything that appears to the contrary1 the narrow1 steep-sided1 straits between the islands of the ,a,egean archipelago may have been originally brought about by ordinary atmospheric and stream action2 and then filled from the ,mediterranean1 during a slow submergence proceeding from the south northwards4 ,the strait of the ,dardanelles is bounded by undisturbed pleistocene strata forty feet thick1 through which1 to all appearance1 the present passage has been quietly cut4 ,that ,olympus and ,ossa were torn asunder and the waters of the ,thessalian basin poured forth1 is a very ancient notion1 and an often cited confirmation of ,deucalion's flood4 ,it has not yet ceased to #fbb be in vogue1 apparently because those who entertain it are not aware that modern geological investigation has conclusively proved that the gorge of the ,peneus is as typical an example of a valley of erosion as any to be seen in ,auvergne or in ,colorado4#ahc ,thus1 in the immediate vicinity of the vast expanse of country which can be proved to have been untouched by any catastrophe before1 during1 and since the glacial epoch1 lie the great areas of the ,a,egean and the ,red ,sea1 in which1 during or since the glacial epoch1 changes of the relative positions of land and sea have taken place1 in comparison with which the submergence of ,moel ,tryfaen1 with all ,wales and ,scotland to boot1 does not come to much4 ,what1 then1 is the relevancy of talk about the glacial epoch to the question of the historical veracity of the narrator of the story of the ,noachian deluge8 ,so far as my knowledge goes1 there is not a particle of evidence that destructive inundations were more common over the general surface of the earth in the glacial epoch than they have been before or since4 ,no doubt the fringe of an ice-covered region must be always liable to them2 but1 if we examine the records of such catastrophes in historical times1 those produced in the deltas of great rivers1 or in lowlands like ,holland1 by sudden floods1 combined with gales of wind or with unusual tides1 far excel all others4 ,with respect to such inundations as are the #fbc consequences of earthquakes1 and other slight movements of the crust of the earth1 ,i have never heard of anything to show that they were more frequent and severer in the quaternary or tertiary epochs than they are now4 ,in the discussion of these1 as of all other geological problems1 the appeal to needless catastrophes is born of that impatience of the slow and painful search after sufficient causes in the ordinary course of nature which is a temptation to all1 though only energetic ignorance nowadays completely succumbs to it4 ,,postscript4 ,my best thanks are due to ,mr4 ,gladstone for his courteous withdrawal of one of the statements to which ,i have thought it needful to take exception4 ,the familiarity with controversy1 to which ,mr4 ,gladstone alludes1 will have accustomed him to the misadventures which arise when1 as sometimes will happen in the heat of fence1 the buttons come off the foils4 ,i trust that any scratch which he may have received will heal as quickly as my own flesh wounds have done4 ,a contribution to the last number of this ,review of a different order would be left unnoticed1 were it not that my silence would convert me into an accessory to misrepresentations of a very grave character4 ,however1 ,i shall restrict myself to the barest possible statement of facts1 leaving my readers to draw their own conclusions4 ,in an article entitled ,a ,great ,lesson1 published in this ,review for ,september #ahhg3 7#a7 ,the ,duke of ,argyll says the overthrow of ,darwin's speculations 7p4 #cja7 concerning the origin of coral reefs1 which he fancied had taken place1 had been received by men of science with a grudging silence as far as public discussion is concerned 7p4 #cja74 #fbd ,the truth is that1 as every one acquainted with the literature of the subject was well aware1 the views supposed to have effected this overthrow had been fully and publicly discussed by ,dana in the ,united ,states2 by ,geikie1 ,green1 and ,prestwich in this country2 by ,lapparent in ,france2 and by ,credner in ,germany4 7#b7 ,the ,duke of ,argyll says that no serious reply has ever been attempted 7p4 #cje74 ,the truth is that the highest living authority on the subject1 ,professor ,dana1 published a most weighty reply1 two years before the ,duke of ,argyll committed himself to this statement4 7#c7 ,the ,duke of ,argyll uses the preceding products of defective knowledge1 multiplied by excessive imagination1 to illustrate the manner in which certain accepted opinions established a sort of ,reign of ,terror in their own behalf 7p4 #cjg74 ,the truth is that no plea1 except that of total ignorance of the literature of the subject1 can excuse the errors cited1 and that the ,reign of ,terror is a purely subjective phenomenon4 7#d7 ,the letter in ,nature for the #agth of ,november #ahhg1 to which ,i am referred1 contains neither substantiation1 nor retractation1 of statements #a and #b4 ,nevertheless1 it repeats number #c4 ,the ,duke of ,argyll says of his article that it has done what ,i intended it to do4 ,it has called wide attention to the influence of mere authority in establishing erroneous theories and in retarding the progress of scientific truth4 7#e7 ,the ,duke of ,argyll illustrates the influence of his fictitious ,reign of ,terror by the statement that ,mr4 ,john ,murray was strongly advised against the publication of his views in derogation of ,darwin's long-accepted theory of the coral islands1 and was actually induced to delay it for two years 7p4 #cjg74 ,and in ,nature for the #agth ,november #ahhg1 the ,duke of ,argyll states that he has seen a letter from ,sir ,wyville ,thomson in which he urged and almost insisted that ,mr4 ,murray should withdraw the reading of his papers on the subject from the ,royal ,society of ,edinburgh4 ,this was in ,february #ahgg4 ,the next paragraph1 however1 contains the confession3 ,no special reason was assigned4 ,the ,duke of ,argyll proceeds to give a speculative opinion that ,sir ,wyville #fbe dreaded some injury to the scientific reputation of the body of which he was the chief4 ,truly1 a very probable supposition2 but as ,sir ,wyville ,thomson's tendencies were notoriously anti-,darwinian1 it does not appear to me to lend the slightest justification to the ,duke of ,argyll's insinuation that the ,darwinian terror influenced him4 ,however1 the question was finally set at rest by a letter which appeared in ,nature 7#bith of ,december #ahhg71 in which the writer says that3 talking with ,sir ,wyville about ,murray's new theory1 ,i asked what objection he had to its being brought before the public8 ,the answer simply was3 he considered that the grounds of the theory had not1 as yet1 been sufficiently investigated or sufficiently corroborated1 and that therefore any immature1 dogmatic publication of it would do less than little service either to science or to the author of the paper4 ,sir ,wyville ,thomson was an intimate friend of mine1 and ,i am glad to have been afforded one more opportunity of clearing his character from the aspersions which have been so recklessly cast upon his good sense and his scientific honour4 7#f7 ,as to the overthrow of ,darwin's theory1 which1 according to the ,duke of ,argyll1 was patent to every unprejudiced person four years ago1 ,i have recently become acquainted with a work1 in which a really competent authority1#ahd thoroughly acquainted with all the new lights which have been thrown upon the subject during the last ten years1 pronounces the judgment2 firstly1 that some of the facts brought forward by ,messrs4 ,murray and ,guppy against ,darwin's theory are not facts2 secondly1 that the others are reconcilable with ,darwin's theory2 and1 thirdly1 that the theories of ,messrs4 ,murray and ,guppy are contradicted by a series of important facts 7p4 #ac74 ,perhaps ,i had better draw attention to the circumstance that ,dr4 ,langenbeck writes under shelter of the guns of the fortress of ,strassburg2 and may therefore be presumed to be unaffected by those dreams of a ,reign of ,terror which seem to disturb the peace of some of us in these islands 7,april #ahia74 ,printed by ,r4 ,r4 ,,clark1 ,,edinburgh4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,messrs4 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co4',s ,,publications4 ,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author4 ,,lay ,,sermons1 ,,addresses1 ,,and ,,reviews4 #ith ,edition4 #hvo4 #gs4 #f;d4 ,,critiques ,,and ,,addresses4 #hvo4 #ajs4 #f;d4 ,,standard--,the whole book is well worthy of the reputation of a writer whom all1 whether they agree or not with his views upon education and ,darwinism1 will admit is one of our foremost thinkers4 ,,scotsman--,there is so much that is suggestive in the volume1 so much that is valuable in the way of scientific information1 and so much that is good in point of literary style1 that the volume should be widely and generally read4 ,,science ,,and ,,culture1 ,,and ,,other ,,essays4 #hvo4 #ajs4 #f;d4 ,,academy--,some of these essays are among the most interesting of ,professor ,huxley's contributions to the literature of science4 ,,westminster ,,review--,a most valuable contribution to literature1 and at the same time an excellent enunciation of the relation of learning to science in general4 ,,social ,,diseases ,,and ,,worse ,,remedies3 ,,letters ,,to ,,the ,,times ,,on ,,mr4 ,,booth',s ,,schemes4 ,with a ,preface and ,introductory ,essay4 #b;d ,edition4 ,crown #hvo4 sewed4 #as4 net4 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,london4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,messrs4 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co4',s ,,publications4 ,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author4 ,,lessons ,,in ,,elementary ,,physiology4 ,with ,numerous ,illustrations4 ,new ,edition4 ,foolscap #hvo4 #ds4 #f;d4 ,,spectator--,a very useful little manual which should be received with acclamation4 ,,medical ,,press--,it is an admirable illustration of how the greatest masters of a science may teach its elements in the most simple manner4 ,,lancet--,to intending medical students this work will prove of great value4444 ,we welcome this book then as a valuable addition to elementary education4 ,,physiography4 ,,an ,,introduction ,,to ,,the ,,study ,,of ,,nature4 #acth ,edition4 ,crown #hvo4 #fs4 ,,saturday ,,review--,written in that attractive style which is characteristic of a great natural history demonstrator1 a style in which clearness and precision of language are combined with a vivid survey of the various objects touched upon4 ,,academy--,it would hardly be possible to place a more useful or suggestive book in the hands of learners and teachers1 or one that is better calculated to make physiography a favourite subject in the science schools4 ,,american ,,addresses4 ,,with ,a ,,lecture ,,on ,,the ,,study ,,of ,,biology4 #hvo4 #fs4 #f;d4 ,,british ,,quarterly ,,review--,this interesting and instructive volume has all the clearness and the earnestness of honest conviction that characterise the writings of its eminent author4 ,,scotsman--,these lectures are models of calm and dispassionate treatment of the subject regarded as a question of history1 and contain the clearest exposition1 as well as the best justification that has yet appeared of the doctrine of evolution4 ,,science ,,primer4 ,,introductory4 #ahmo4 cloth4 #as4 ,,guardian--,it is distinguished by the perfect lucidity and excellent literary style of which he is so great a master4 ,the elementary conception of nature and science of material and immaterial objects1 of mineral and living bodies are explained in the fewest and clearest words4 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,london4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,messrs4 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co4',s ,,publications4 ,by the ,,bishop ,,of ,,london4 ,,the ,,relations ,,between ,,religion ,,and ,,science4 ,bampton ,lectures1 #ahhd4 #gth and ,cheaper ,edition4 ,crown #hvo4 #fs4 ,by ,,rev4 ,,professor ,,salmon4 ,,non-,,miraculous ,,christianity1 and other ,sermons4 #bnd ,edition4 ,crown #hvo4 #fs4 ,,gnosticism ,,and ,,agnosticism1 and other ,sermons4 ,crown #hvo4 #gs4 #f;d4 ,by the ,,author ,,of ,,ecce ,,homo4 ,,natural ,,religion4 ,by the author of ,ecce ,homo4 #crd ,edition4 ,globe #hvo4 #fs4 ,by ,,professors ,,tait and ,,balfour ,,stewart4 ,,paradoxical ,,philosophy3 ,a ,sequel to ,the ,unseen ,universe4 ,crown #hvo4 #gs4 #f;d4 ,by ,r4 ,h4 ,,hutton4 ,,essays ,,on ,,some ,,of ,,the ,,modern ,,guides ,,of ,,english ,,thought ,,in ,,matters ,,of ,,faith4 ,globe #hvo4 #fs4 ,,theological ,,essays4 ,globe #hvo4 #fs4 ,by ,,rev4 ,t4 ,w4 ,,fowle4 ,a ,,new ,,analogy ,,between ,,revealed ,,religion ,,and ,,the ,,course ,,and ,,constitution ,,of ,,nature4 ,crown #hvo4 #fs4 ,by ,,canon ,,curteis4 ,,the ,,scientific ,,obstacles ,,to ,,christian ,,belief4 ,the ,boyle ,lectures1 #ahhd4 ,crown #hvo4 #fs4 ,by ,,prof4 ,,calderwood4 ,,the ,,relations ,,of ,,science ,,and ,,religion4 ,crown #hvo4 #es4 ,by the late ,,professor ,,birks4 ,,the ,,difficulties ,,of ,,belief ,,in ,,connection ,,with ,,the ,,creation ,,and ,,the ,,fall1 ,,redemption1 ,,and ,,judgment4 #bnd ,edition4 ,crown #hvo4 #es4 ,,supernatural ,,revelation3 or1 ,first ,principles of ,moral ,theology4 #hvo4 #hs4 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,london4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,messrs4 ,,macmillan ,,co4',s ,,publications4 ,,works ,,by ,,dr4 ,a4 ,r4 ,,wallace4 ,new and ,cheaper ,edition4 ,extra ,crown #hvo4 #fs4 ,,the ,,malay ,,archipelago3 ,,the ,,land ,,of ,,the ,,orang ,,utan ,,and ,,the ,,bird ,,of ,,paradise4 ,a ,narrative of ,travel4 ,with ,studies of ,man and ,nature4 ,by ,,alfred ,,russell ,,wallace1 ,,ll4,d41 ,f4,l4,s41 ,author of ,darwinism1 etc4 ,with ,maps and ,illustrations4 ,,glasgow ,,herald--,there is probably no more interesting book of travel in the language4444 ,for one-and-twenty years it has held its place as a monograph in a region of the ,east which is full of fascination1 not only for the naturalist and ethnographer1 but for the ordinary reader of travels4 ,new ,edition4 ,in one vol4 ,extra crown #hvo4 #fs4 ,,contributions ,,to ,,the ,,theory ,,of ,,natural ,,selection3 ,,and ,,tropical ,,nature ,,and ,,other ,,essays4 ,by the same ,author4 ,new and ,cheaper ,edition4 ,crown #hvo4 #fs4 ,,island ,,life3 ,,or1 ,,the ,,phenomena ,,and ,,causes ,,of ,,insular ,,faunas ,,and ,,floras4 ,including a ,revision and attempted solution of the problem of ,geological ,climates4 ,by the same ,author4 ,with ,illustrations and ,maps4 ,third ,edition4 ,crown #hvo4 #is4 ,,darwinism4 ,an ,exposition of the ,theory of ,natural ,selection1 with some of its ,applications4 ,by the same ,author4 ,illustrated4 ,,saturday ,,review--444 ,mr4 ,wallace's volume may be taken as a faithful exposition of what ,darwin meant4 ,it is written with perfect clearness1 with a simple beauty and attractiveness of style not common to scientific works1 with a dignity and freedom from anything like personal bitterness worthy of ,darwin himself1 and with an orderliness and completeness that must render misconception impossible4 ,,athenaeum--,mr4 ,wallace adds so much that is new1 and he writes in so charming and simple a style1 that his readers more than he are to be congratulated on the latest service he has rendered to the science he has served so well4444 ,,scotsman--444 ,there can be only one opinion of the great mental grasp and ingenuity1 the lucidity of view1 and the brilliancy of exposition displayed by him in going over this immense and profound field of inquiry4 ,,manchester ,,examiner--,a singularly useful and timely contribution to the higher literature of popular science4444 ,it has the weight and interest which are given by unwearying research1 patient investigation1 and shrewd vigorous thought4 ,,cambridge ,,review--,it is a work of the most admirable lucidity1 and it may be recommended as a charming one to the general reader4 ,so many new facts and arguments have been discovered since the publication of the ,origin of ,species1 that the work should also be studied by the scientific specialist4444 ,the final chapters on man are deeply interesting4 ,,works ,,by ,,sir ,,john ,,lubbock4 ,crown #hvo4 #cs4 #f;d4 ,,the ,,origin ,,and ,,metamorphoses ,,of ,,insects4 ,with ,illustrations4 ,crown #hvo4 #ds4 #f;d4 ,,on ,,british ,,wild ,,flowers ,,considered ,,in ,,their ,,relation ,,to ,,insects4 ,with ,illustrations4 ,crown #hvo4 #ds4 #f;d4 ,,flowers1 ,,fruits1 ,,and ,,leaves4 ,with ,illustrations4 ,second ,edition1 revised4 #hvo4 #hs4 #f;d4 ,,scientific ,,lectures4 ,with ,illustrations4 #hvo4 #hs4 #f;d4 ,,political ,,and ,,educational ,,addresses4 ,gl4 #hvo4 ,,the ,,pleasures ,,of ,,life4 ,new ,edition4 #as4 #f;d42 sewed1 #as4 #fjth ,thousand4 ,library ,edition4 ,globe #hvo4 #cs4 #f;d4 ,part ,,ii4 ,globe #hvo4 #as4 #f;d42 sewed1 #as4 ,library ,edition4 ,globe #cs4 #f;d4 ,two ,parts in one vol4 ,gl4 #hvo4 #bs4 #f;d4 ,crown #hvo4 #bs4 #f;d4 ,,fifty ,,years ,,of ,,science3 ,address to the ,british ,association1 #ahha4 #eth ,edition4 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,london4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,messrs4 ,,macmillan ,,co4',s ,,scientific ,,books4 ,,some ,,volumes ,,of ,,nature ,,series4 ,crown #hvo4 ,cloth4 ,,seeing ,,and ,,thinking4 ,by ,prof4 ,w4 ,k4 ,,clifford1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,diagrams4 #cs4 #f;d4 ,,charles ,,darwin4 ,memorial ,notices reprinted from ,nature4 ,by ,,thomas ,h4 ,,huxley1 ,f4,r4,s42 ,g4 ,j4 ,,romanes1 ,f4,r4,s42 ,,archibald ,,geikie1 ,f4,r4,s42 and ,w4 ,t4 ,,dyer1 ,f4,r4,s4 #bs4 #f;d4 ,,on ,,the ,,colours ,,of ,,flowers4 ,by ,,grant ,,allen4 ,illustrated4 #cs4 #f;d4 ,,the ,,scientific ,,evidences ,,of ,,organic ,,evolution4 ,by ,,george ,j4 ,,romanes1 ,m4,a41 ,,ll4,d4 #bs4 #f;d4 ,,popular ,,lectures ,,and ,,addresses4 ,by ,lord ,,kelvin1 ,p4,r4,s4 ,in #c vols4 ,vol4 ,i4 ,constitution of ,matter4 ,illustrated4 #gs4 #f;d4 ,vol4 ,,iii4 ,navigation4 #gs4 #f;d4 ,,are ,,the ,,effects ,,of ,,use ,,and ,,disuse ,,inherited8 ,an ,examination of the ,view held by ,spencer and ,darwin4 ,by ,w4 ,,platt ,,ball4 #cs4 #f;d4 ,,the ,,right ,,hand3 ,,left-,,handedness4 ,by ,sir ,d4 ,,wilson4 ,illustrated4 #ds4 #f;d4 ,,the ,,apodidae3 ,a ,,morphological ,,study4 ,by ,,henry ,,meyners ,,bernard1 ,m4,a41 ,cantab4 ,with #ga ,illustrations4 #gs4 #f;d4 ,,scotsman4--,a book which zoologists will very greatly prize4 ,the writer has worked out the task he set before him with the greatest care and in the most elaborate manner1 and has presented the fruits of his labour in a volume which every lover of scientific investigation will thoroughly appreciate4444 ,a valuable contribution to zoological investigation4 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,london4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,messrs4 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co4',s ,,books ,,on ,,biology1 ,,anatomy1 ,,and ,,physiology4 ,,elementary ,,biology4 ,by ,t4 ,h4 ,,huxley1 ,f4,r4,s41 and ,h4 ,n4 ,,martin1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,new ,edition4 ,revised and extended by ,g4 ,b4 ,,howes and ,d4 ,h4 ,,scott4 ,cr4 #hvo4 #ajs4 #f;d4 ,,an ,,atlas ,,of ,,practical ,,elementary ,,biology4 ,by ,g4 ,b4 ,,howes4 ,with a ,preface by ,t4 ,h4 ,,huxley1 ,f4,r4,s4 #dto4 #ads4 ,,comparative ,,embryology 7,a ,treatise on74 ,by ,f4 ,m4 ,,balfour1 ,m4,a41 ,f4,r4,s4 ,illustrated4 ,in #b ,vols4 ,vol4 ,i41 #ahs42 ,vol4 ,,ii41 #bas4 ,,the ,,elements ,,of ,,embryology4 ,by ,professor ,m4 ,,foster1 ,m4,d41 ,f4,r4,s41 and the late ,,francis ,m4 ,,balfour1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,third ,edition1 ,revised4 ,edited by ,,adam ,,sedgwick1 ,m4,a41 and ,,walter ,,heape4 #ajs4 #f;d4 ,a ,,text-,,book ,,of ,,comparative ,,anatomy4 ,by ,dr4 ,,arnold ,,lang1 ,professor of ,zoology in the ,university of ,zurich1 formerly ,ritter ,professor of ,phylogeny in the ,university of ,jena4 ,with ,preface to the ,english ,translation by ,prof4 ,dr4 ,,ernst ,,haeckel1 ,director of the ,zoological ,institute in ,jena4 ,translated into ,english by ,,henry ,m4 ,,bernard1 ,m4,a41 ,cantab41 and ,,matilda ,,bernard4 ,part ,i4 #hvo4 #ags4 net4 ,,text-,,book ,,of ,,physiology4 ,by ,professor ,,michael ,,foster1 ,m4,d41 ,f4,r4,s4 ,with ,illustrations4 ,sixth ,edition1 largely revised4 ,in ,four ,parts4 #hvo4 ,parts ,i4 and ,,ii41 #ajs4 #f;d4 each4 ,part ,,iii41 #gs4 #f;d4 ,part ,,iv41 #ajs4 #f;d4 ,,practical ,,physiology ,,and ,,histology3 ,an ,elementary ,course4 ,by ,professor ,m4 ,,foster1 ,f4,r4,s41 and ,j4 ,n4 ,,langley1 ,f4,r4,s41 ,cr4 #hvo4 #gs4 #f;d4 ,,zootomy 7,vertebrata73 ,a ,course of ,instruction in4 ,by ,professor ,t4 ,j4 ,,parker4 ,illustrated4 ,crown #hvo4 #hs4 #f;d4 ,,elementary ,,lessons ,,in ,,anatomy4 ,by ,,st4 ,,george ,,mivart1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,with #djj ,illustrations4 #ahmo4 #fs4 #f;d4 ,,elements ,,of ,,comparative ,,anatomy ,,of ,,vertebrates4 ,adapted from the ,german of ,,robert ,,wiedersheim4 ,by ,professor ,w4 ,n4 ,,parker4 ,with #bgj ,illustrations4 #hvo4 #abs4 #f;d4 ,,the ,,osteology ,,of ,,the ,,mammalia 7,an ,introduction to74 ,by ,,william ,,henry ,,fowler1 ,,ll4,d41 ,f4,r4,s4 ,third ,edition4 ,revised with the assistance of ,,hans ,,gadow1 ,ph4,d41 ,m4,a4 #ajs4 #f;d4 ,,the ,,myology ,,of ,,the ,,raven 7,corvus corax sinuatus74 ,a ,guide to the ,study of the ,muscular ,system in ,birds4 ,by ,r4 ,w4 ,,shufeldt4 ,illustrated4 #hvo4 #acs4 net4 ,,elementary ,,practical ,,histology4 ,by ,,william ,,fearnley4 ,with ,illustrations4 ,crown #hvo4 #gs4 #f;d4 ,,lessons ,,in ,,elementary ,,biology4 ,by ,professor ,t4 ,,jeffrey ,,parker1 ,b4,sc41 ,f4,r4,s4 ,illustrated4 ,crown #hvo4 #ajs4 #f;d4 ,,diseases ,,of ,,field ,,and ,,garden ,,crops1 chiefly such as are caused by ,fungi4 ,by ,,worthington ,g4 ,,smith1 ,f4,l4,s4 ,fcap4 #hvo4 #ds4 #f;d4 ,,timber ,,and ,,some ,,of ,,its ,,diseases4 ,by ,h4 ,,marshall ,,ward1 ,f4,r4,s41 ,professor of ,botany1 ,royal ,indian ,engineering ,college1 ,cooper's ,hill4 ,crown #hvo4 #fs4 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,london4 99 99 99 99 99 ,notes #a ,with a few exceptions1 which are duly noted when they amount to more than verbal corrections4 #b ,declaration on the ,truth of ,holy ,scripture4 ,the ,times1 #ahth ,december #ahia4 #c ,declaration1 ,article #aj4 #d ,ego vero evangelio non crederem1 nisi ecclesiae ,catholicae me commoveret auctoritas4--,contra ,epistolam ,manichaei1 cap4 v4 #e ,i employ the words ,supernature and ,supernatural in their popular senses4 ,for myself1 ,i am bound to say that the term ,nature covers the totality of that which is4 ,the world of psychical phenomena appears to me to be as much part of ,nature as the world of physical phenomena2 and ,i am unable to perceive any justification for cutting the ,universe into two halves1 one natural and one supernatural4 #f ,the general reader will find an admirably clear and concise statement of the evidence in this case1 in ,professor ,flower's recently published work ,the ,horse3 a ,study in ,natural ,history4 #g ,the ,school ,boards3 ,what they can do and what they may do1 #ahgj4 ,critiques and ,addresses1 p4 #ea4 #h ,de ,solido intra ,solidum1 p4 #e4--;,dato corpore certa figura praedito et juxta leges naturae producto1 in ipso corpore argumenta invenire locum et modum productionis detegentia4 #i ,corpora sibi invicem omnino similia simili etiam modo producta sunt4 #aj ,sir ,j4 ,d4 ,hooker4 #aa ,the ,nineteenth ,century4 #ab ,earlier1 if more recent announcements are correct4 #ac ,it may be objected that ,i have not put the case fairly1 inasmuch as the solitary insect's wing which was discovered twelve months ago in ,silurian rocks1 and which is1 at present1 the sole evidence of insects older than the ,devonian epoch1 came from strata of ,middle ,silurian age1 and is therefore older than the scorpions which1 within the last two years1 have been found in ,upper ,silurian strata in ,sweden1 ,britain1 and the ,united ,states4 ,but no one who comprehends the nature of the evidence afforded by fossil remains would venture to say that the non-discovery of scorpions in the ,middle ,silurian strata1 up to this time1 affords any more ground for supposing that they did not exist1 than the non-discovery of flying insects in the ,upper ,silurian strata1 up to this time1 throws any doubt on the certainty that they existed1 which is derived from the occurrence of the wing in the ,middle ,silurian4 ,in fact1 ,i have stretched a point in admitting that these fossils afford a colourable pretext for the assumption that the land and air-population were of contemporaneous origin4 #ad ,the ,nineteenth ,century1 #ahhf4 #ae ,both dolphins and dugongs occur in the ,red ,sea1 porpoises and dolphins in the ,mediterranean2 so that the ,mosaic writer may well have been acquainted with them4 #af ,i said nothing about the greater number of schools of ,greek philosophy1 as ,mr4 ,gladstone implies that ,i did1 but expressly spoke of the founders of ,greek philosophy4 #ag ,see ,heinze1 ,die ,lehre vom ,logos1 p4 #i et seq4 #ah ,reprinted in ,lay ,sermons1 ,addresses1 and ,reviews1 #ahgj4 #ai ,ancient1 doubtless1 but his antiquity must not be exaggerated4 ,for example1 there is no proof that the ,mosaic cosmogony was known to the ,israelites of ,solomon's time4 #bj ,when ,jeremiah 7iv4 #bc7 says1 ,i beheld the earth1 and1 lo1 it was waste and void1 he certainly does not mean to imply that the form of the earth was less definite1 or its substance less solid1 than before4 #ba ,in looking through the delightful volume recently published by the ,astronomer ,royal for ,ireland1 a day or two ago1 ,i find the following remarks on the nebular hypothesis1 which ,i should have been glad to quote in my text if ,i had known them sooner3-- ,nor can it be ever more than a speculation2 it cannot be established by observation1 nor can it be proved by calculation4 ,it is merely a conjecture1 more or less plausible1 but perhaps1 in some degree1 necessarily true1 if our present laws of heat1 as we understand them1 admit of the extreme application here required1 and if the present order of things has reigned for sufficient time without the intervention of any influence at present known to us 7,the ,story of the ,heavens1 p4 #ejf74 ,would any prudent advocate base a plea1 either for or against revelation1 upon the coincidence1 or want of coincidence1 of the declarations of the latter with the requirements of an hypothesis thus guardedly dealt with by an astronomical expert8 #bb ,lectures on ,evolution delivered in ,new ,york 7,american ,addresses74 #bc ,reuss1 ,l',histoire ,sainte et la ,loi1 vol4 i4 p4 #bge4 #bd ,for the sense of the term ,elohim1 see p4 #ada4 #be ,perhaps even hippopotamuses and otters6 #bf ,even the most sturdy believers in the popular theory that the proper or titular names attached to the books of the ,bible are those of their authors will hardly be prepared to maintain that ,jephthah1 ,gideon1 and their colleagues wrote the book of ,judges4 ,nor is it easily admissible that ,samuel wrote the two books which pass under his name1 one of which deals entirely with events which took place after his death4 ,in fact1 no one knows who wrote either ,judges or ,samuel1 nor when1 within the range of #ajj years1 their present form was given to these books4 #bg ,my citations are taken from the ,revised ,version1 but for ,,lord and ,,god ,i have substituted ,jahveh and ,elohim4 #bh ,i need hardly say that ,i depend upon authoritative ,biblical critics1 whenever a question of interpretation of the text arises4 ,as ,reuss appears to me to be one of the most learned1 acute1 and fair-minded of those whose works ,i have studied1 ,i have made most use of the commentary and dissertations in his splendid ,french edition of the ,bible4 ,but ,i have also had recourse to the works of ,dillman1 ,kalisch1 ,kuenen1 ,thenius1 ,tuch1 and others1 in cases in which another opinion seemed desirable4 #bi ,see ,divination1 by ,hazoral1 ,journal of ,anthropology1 ,bombay1 vol4 i4 ,no4 #a4 #cj ,see1 for example1 the message of ,jephthah to the ,king of the ,ammonites3 ,so now ,jahveh1 the ,elohim of ,israel1 hath dispossessed the ,amorites from before his people ,israel1 and shouldest thou possess them8 ,wilt not thou possess that which ,chemosh1 thy ,elohim1 giveth thee to possess8 7,jud4 xi4 #bc1 #bd74 ,for ,jephthah1 ,chemosh is obviously as real a personage as ,jahveh4 #ca ,for example3 ,my oblation1 my food for my offerings made by fire1 of a sweet savour to me1 shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season 7,num4 xxviii4 #b74 #cb ,in #b ,samuel xv4 #bg ,david says to ,zadok the priest1 ,art thou not a seer8 and ,gad is called ,david's seer4 #cc ,this would at first appear to be inconsistent with the use of the word prophetess for ,deborah4 ,but it does not follow because the writer of ,judges applies the name to ,deborah that it was used in her day4 #cd ,samuel tells the cook1 ,bring the portion which ,i gave thee1 of which ,i said to thee1 ,set it by thee4 ,it was therefore ,samuel's to give4 ,and the cook took up the thigh 7or shoulder7 and that which was upon it and set it before ,saul4 ,but1 in the ,levitical regulations1 it is the thigh 7or shoulder7 which becomes the priest's own property4 ,and the right thigh 7or shoulder7 shall ye give unto the priest for an heave-offering1 which is given along with the wave breast unto ,aaron the priest and unto his sons as a due for ever from the children of ,israel 7,lev4 vii4 #ca-cd74 ,reuss writes on this passage3 ,la cuisse n'est point agitee1 mais simplement prelevee sur ce que les convives mangeront4 #ce ,see1 for example1 ,elkanah's sacrifice1 #a ,sam4 i4 #c-i4 #cf ,the ghost was not supposed to be capable of devouring the gross material substance of the offering2 but his vaporous body appropriated the smoke of the burnt sacrifice1 the visible and odorous exhalations of other offerings4 ,the blood of the victim was particularly useful because it was thought to be the special seat of its soul or life4 ,a ,west ,african negro replied to an ,european sceptic3 ,of course1 the spirit cannot eat corporeal food1 but he extracts its spiritual part1 and1 as we see1 leaves the material part behind 7,lippert1 ,seelencult1 p4 #af74 #cg ,it is further well worth consideration whether indications of former ancestor-worship are not to be found in the singular weight attached to the veneration of parents in the fourth commandment4 ,it is the only positive commandment1 in addition to those respecting the ,deity and that concerning the ,sabbath1 and the penalties for infringing it were of the same character4 ,in ,china1 a corresponding reverence for parents is part and parcel of ancestor-worship2 so in ancient ,rome and in ,greece 7where parents were even called ,greek3 deuteroi kai epigeoi theoi74 ,the fifth commandment1 as it stands1 would be an excellent compromise between ancestor-worship and monotheism4 ,the larger hereditary share allotted by ,israelitic law to the eldest son reminds one of the privileges attached to primogeniture in ancient ,rome1 which were closely connected with ancestor-worship4 ,there is a good deal to be said in favour of the speculation that the ark of the covenant may have been a relic of ancestor-worship2 but that topic is too large to be dealt with incidentally in this place4 #ch ,the ,scientific ,aspects of ,positivism1 ,fortnightly ,review1 #ahfi1 republished in ,lay ,sermons4 #ci ,oeuvres de ,bossuet1 ed4 #ahjh1 t4 xxxv4 p4 #bhb4 #dj ,i should like further to add the expression of my indebtedness to two works by ,herr ,julius ,lippert1 ,der ,seelencult in seinen ,beziehungen zur alt-hebraischen ,religion1 and ,die ,religionen der europaeischen ,culturvoelker1 both published in #ahha4 ,i have found them full of valuable suggestions4 #da ,see among others the remarkable work of ,fustel de ,coulanges1 ,la cite antique1 in which the social importance of the old ,roman ancestor-worship is brought out with great clearness4 #db ,supposed to be the finer or more aeriform part of the body1 standing in the same relation to the body as the perfume and the more essential qualities of a flower do to the more solid substances 7,mariner1 vol4 ii4 p4 #abg74 #dc ,a kind of clients in the ,roman sense4 #dd ,it is worthy of remark that ,greek3 daimon among the ,greeks1 and ,deus among the ,romans1 had the same wide signification4 ,the dii manes were ghosts of ancestors ,atuas of the family4 #de ,voyages aux iles du ,grand ,ocean1 t4 i4 p4 #dhb4 #df ,te ,ika a ,maui3 ,new ,zealand and its ,inhabitants1 p4 #gb4 #dg ,compare3 ,and ,samuel said unto ,saul1 ,why hast thou disquieted me8 7#a ,sam4 xxviii4 #ae74 #dh ,turner1 ,nineteen ,years in ,polynesia1 p4 #bch4 #di ,see ,lippert's excellent remarks on this subject1 ,der ,seelencult1 p4 #hi4 #ej ,sciography has the authority of ,cudworth1 ,intellectual ,system1 vol4 ii4 p4 #hcf4 ,sciomancy 7,greek3 skiomanteia71 which1 in the sense of divination by ghosts1 may be found in ,bailey's ,dictionary 7#agea71 also furnishes a precedent for my coinage4 #ea ,kami is used in the sense of ,elohim2 and is also1 like our word ,lord1 employed as a title of respect among men1 as indeed ,elohim was4 #eb ,the ,assyrians thus raised ,assur to a position of pre-eminence4 #ec ,i refer those who wish to know the reasons which lead me to take up this position to the works of ,reuss and ,wellhausen1 and especially to ,stade's ,geschichte des ,volkes ,israel4 #ed ,bunsen1 ,egypt's ,place1 vol4 v4 p4 #abi1 note4 #ee ,see ,birch1 in ,egypt's ,place1 vol4 v42 and ,brugsch1 ,history of ,egypt4 #ef ,even by ,graetz1 who1 though a fair enough historian1 cannot be accused of any desire to over-estimate the importance of ,egyptian influence upon his people4 #eg ,graetz1 ,geschichte der ,juden1 ,bd4 i4 p4 #cgj4 #eh ,see the careful analysis of the work of the ,alexandrian philosopher and theologian 7who1 it should be remembered1 was a most devout ,jew1 held in the highest esteem by his countrymen7 in ,siegfried's ,philo von ,alexandrien1 #ahge4 ,also ,dr4 ,j4 ,drummond's ,philo ,judaeus1 #ahhh4 #ei ,i am not unaware of the existence of many and widely divergent sects and schools among the ,jews at all periods of their history1 since the dispersion4 ,but ,i imagine that orthodox ,judaism is now pretty much what it was in ,philo's time2 while ,peter and ,paul1 if they could return to life1 would certainly have to learn the catechism of either the ,roman1 ,greek1 or ,anglican ,churches1 if they desired to be considered orthodox ,christians4 #fj ,dante's description of ,lucifer engaged in the eternal mastication of ,brutus1 ,cassius1 and ,judas ,iscariot-- ,da ogni bocca dirompea co' denti ,un peccatore1 a guisa di maciulla1 ,si che tre ne facea cosi dolenti4 ,a quel dinanzi il mordere era nulla1 ,verso 'l graffiar1 che tal volta la schiena ,rimanea della pelle tutta brulla-- is quite in harmony with the ,pisan picture and perfectly ,polynesian in conception4 #fa ,see the famous ,collection of ,papers1 published by ,clarke in #agag4 ,leibnitz says3 ',tis also a supernatural thing that bodies should attract one another at a distance without any intermediate means4 ,and ,clarke1 on behalf of ,newton1 caps this as follows3 ,that one body should attract another without any intermediate means is1 indeed1 not a miracle1 but a contradiction2 for 'tis supposing something to act where it is not4 #fb ,i may cite in support of this obvious conclusion of sound reasoning1 two authorities who will certainly not be regarded lightly by ,mr4 ,lilly4 ,these are ,augustine and ,thomas ,aquinas4 ,the former declares that ,fate is only an ill-chosen name for ,providence4 ,prorsus divina providentia regna constituuntur humana4 ,quae si propterea quisquam fato tribuit1 quia ipsam ,dei voluntatem vel potestatem fati nomine appellat1 sententiam teneat1 linguam corrigat 7,augustinus ,de ,civitate ,dei1 ,v4 c4 i47 ,the other great doctor of the ,catholic ,church1 ,divus ,thomas1 as ,suarez calls him1 whose marvellous grasp and subtlety of intellect seem to me to be almost without a parallel1 puts the whole case into a nutshell1 when he says that the ground for doing a thing in the mind of the doer is as it were the pre-existence of the thing done3 ,ratio autem alicujus fiendi in mente actoris existens est quaedam prae-existentia rei fiendae in eo 7,summa1 ,qu4 xxiii4 ,art4 i47 ,if this is not enough1 ,i may further ask what ,materialist has ever given a better statement of the case for determinism1 on theistic grounds1 than is to be found in the following passage of the ,summa1 ,qu4 xiv4 ,art4 xiii4 ,omnia quae sunt in tempore1 sunt ,deo ab aeterno praesentia1 non solum ea ex ratione qua habet rationes rerum apud se presentes1 ut quidam dicunt1 sed quia ejus intuitus fertur ab aeterno supra omnia1 prout sunt in sua praesentialitate4 ,unde manifestum est quod contingentia infallibiliter a ,deo cognoscuntur1 in quantum subduntur divino conspectui secundum suam praesentialitatem2 et tamen sunt futura contingentia1 suis causis proximis comparata4 ,as ,i have not said that ,thomas ,aquinas is professedly a determinist1 ,i do not see the bearing of citations from him which may be more or less inconsistent with the foregoing4 #fc ,there is no exaggeration in this brief and summary view of the ,catholic cosmos4 ,but it would be unfair to leave it to be supposed that the ,reformation made any essential alteration1 except perhaps for the worse1 in that cosmology which called itself ,christian4 ,the protagonist of the ,reformation1 from whom the whole of the ,evangelical sects are lineally descended1 states the case with that plainness of speech1 not to say brutality1 which characterised him4 ,luther says that man is a beast of burden who only moves as his rider orders2 sometimes ,god rides him1 and sometimes ,satan4 ,sic voluntas humana in medio posita est1 ceu jumentum2 si insederit ,deus1 vult et vadit1 quo vult ,deus4444 ,si insederit ,satan1 vult et vadit1 quo vult ,satan2 nec est in ejus arbitrio ad utrum sessorem currere1 aut eum quaerere1 sed ipsi sessores certant ob ipsum obtinendum et possidendum 7,de ,servo ,arbitrio1 ,m4 ,lutheri ,opera1 ed4 #aedf1 t4 ii4 p4 #dfh74 ,one may hear substantially the same doctrine preached in the parks and at street-corners by zealous volunteer missionaries of ,evangelicism1 any ,sunday1 in modern ,london4 ,why these doctrines1 which are conspicuous by their absence in the four ,gospels1 should arrogate to themselves the title of ,evangelical1 in contradistinction to ,catholic1 ,christianity1 may well perplex the impartial inquirer1 who1 if he were obliged to choose between the two1 might naturally prefer that which leaves the poor beast of burden a little freedom of choice4 #fd ,i say so-called not by way of offence1 but as a protest against the monstrous assumption that ,catholic ,christianity is explicitly or implicitly contained in any trustworthy record of the teaching of ,jesus of ,nazareth4 #fe ,it may be desirable to observe that1 in modern times1 the term ,realism has acquired a signification wholly different from that which attached to it in the middle ages4 ,we commonly use it as the contrary of ,idealism4 ,the ,idealist holds that the phenomenal world has only a subjective existence1 the ,realist that it has an objective existence4 ,i am not aware that any mediaeval philosopher was an ,idealist in the sense in which we apply the term to ,berkeley4 ,in fact1 the cardinal defect of their speculations lies in their oversight of the considerations which lead to ,idealism4 ,if many of them regarded the material world as a negation1 it was an active negation2 not zero1 but a minus quantity4 #ff ,at any rate a catastrophe greater than the flood1 which1 as ,i observe with interest1 is as calmly assumed by the preacher to be an historical event as if science had never had a word to say on that subject6 #fg ,les formes des anciens ou ,entelechies ne sont autre chose que les forces 7,leibnitz1 ,lettre au ,pere ,bouvet1 #afig74 #fh ,nineteenth ,century1 ,march #ahhg4 #fi ,the ,duke of ,argyll speaks of the recent date of the demonstration of the fallacy of the doctrine in question4 ,recent is a relative term1 but ,i may mention that the question is fully discussed in my book on ,hume2 which1 if ,i may believe my publishers1 has been read by a good many people since it appeared in #ahgi4 ,moreover1 ,i observe1 from a note at page #hi of ,the ,reign of ,law1 a work to which ,i shall have occasion to advert by and by1 that the ,duke of ,argyll draws attention to the circumstance that1 so long ago as #ahff1 the views which ,i hold on this subject were well known4 ,the ,duke1 in fact1 writing about this time1 says1 after quoting a phrase of mine3 ,the question of miracles seems now to be admitted on all hands to be simply a question of evidence4 ,in science we think that a teacher who ignores views which have been discussed coram populo for twenty years1 is hardly up to the mark4 #gj ,see also vol4 i4 p4 #dfj4 ,in the ninth edition 7#ahec71 published twenty-three years after the first1 ,lyell deprives even the most careless reader of any excuse for misunderstanding him3 ,so in regard to subterranean movements1 the theory of the perpetual uniformity of the force which they exert on the earth-crust is quite consistent with the admission of their alternate development and suspension for indefinite periods within limited geographical areas 7p4 #ahg74 #ga ,a great many years ago 7,presidential ,address to the ,geological ,society1 #ahfi7 ,i ventured to indicate that which seemed to me to be the weak point1 not in the fundamental principles of uniformitarianism1 but in uniformitarianism as taught by ,lyell4 ,it lay1 to my mind1 in the refusal by ,hutton1 and in a less degree by ,lyell1 to look beyond the limits of the time recorded by the stratified rocks4 ,i said3 ,this attempt to limit1 at a particular point1 the progress of inductive and deductive reasoning from the things which are to the things which were--this faithlessness to its own logic1 seems to me to have cost uniformitarianism the place as the permanent form of geological speculation which it might otherwise have held 7,lay ,sermons1 p4 #bfj74 ,the context shows that uniformitarianism here means that doctrine1 as limited in application by ,hutton and ,lyell1 and that what ,i mean by evolutionism is consistent and thoroughgoing uniformitarianism4 #gb ,philosophy of the ,inductive ,sciences1 vol4 i4 p4 #fgj4 ,new edition1 #ahdg4 #gc ,at ,glasgow in #ahef4 #gd ,optics1 query #ca4 #ge ,the author recognises this in his ,explanations4 #gf ,the ,advance of ,science4 ,three sermons preached in ,manchester ,cathedral on ,sunday1 ,september #d1 #ahhg1 during the meeting of the ,british ,association for the ,advancement of ,science1 by the ,bishop of ,carlisle1 the ,bishop of ,bedford1 and the ,bishop of ,manchester4 #gg ,american ,journal of ,science1 #ahhe1 p4 #aij4 #gh ,professor ,geikie1 however1 though a strong1 is a fair and candid advocate4 ,he says of ,darwin's theory1 ,that it may be possibly true1 in some instances1 may be readily granted4 ,for ,professor ,geikie1 then1 it is not yet overthrown--still less a dream4 #gi ,i find1 moreover1 that ,i specially warned my readers against hasty judgment4 ,after stating the facts of observation1 ,i add1 ,i have1 hitherto1 said nothing about their meaning1 as1 in an inquiry so difficult and fraught with interest as this1 it seems to me to be in the highest degree important to keep the questions of fact and the questions of interpretation well apart 7p4 #baj74 #hj ,see the ,official ,report of the ,church ,congress held at ,manchester1 ,october #ahhh1 pp4 #bec1 #bed4 #ha ,in this place and in the eleventh essay1 there are references to the late ,archbishop of ,york which are of no importance to my main argument1 and which ,i have expunged because ,i desire to obliterate the traces of a temporary misunderstanding with a man of rare ability1 candour1 and wit1 for whom ,i entertained a great liking and no less respect4 ,i rejoice to think now of the 7then7 ,bishop's cordial hail the first time we met after our little skirmish1 ,well1 is it to be peace or war8 ,i replied1 ,a little of both4 ,but there was only peace when we parted1 and ever after4 #hb ,dr4 ,wace tells us1 ,it may be asked how far we can rely on the accounts we possess of our ,lord's teaching on these subjects4 ,and he seems to think the question appropriately answered by the assertion that it ought to be regarded as settled by ,m4 ,renan's practical surrender of the adverse case4 ,i thought ,i knew ,m4 ,renan's works pretty well1 but ,i have contrived to miss this practical 7,i wish ,dr4 ,wace had defined the scope of that useful adjective7 surrender4 ,however1 as ,dr4 ,wace can find no difficulty in pointing out the passage of ,m4 ,renan's writings1 by which he feels justified in making his statement1 ,i shall wait for further enlightenment1 contenting myself1 for the present1 with remarking that if ,m4 ,renan were to retract and do penance in ,notre-,dame to-morrow for any contributions to ,biblical criticism that may be specially his property1 the main results of that criticism1 as they are set forth in the works of ,strauss1 ,baur1 ,reuss1 and ,volkmar1 for example1 would not be sensibly affected4 #hc ,see ,de ,gobineau1 ,les ,religions et les ,philosophies dans l',asie ,centrale2 and the recently published work of ,mr4 ,e4 ,g4 ,browne1 ,the ,episode of the ,bab4 #hd ,here1 as always1 the revised version is cited4 #he ,does any one really mean to say that there is any internal or external criterion by which the reader of a biblical statement1 in which scientific matter is contained1 is enabled to judge whether it is to be taken au serieux or not8 ,is the account of the ,deluge1 accepted as true in the ,new ,testament1 less precise and specific than that of the call of ,abraham1 also accepted as true therein8 ,by what mark does the story of the feeding with manna in the wilderness1 which involves some very curious scientific problems1 show that it is meant merely for edification1 while the story of the inscription of the ,law on stone by the hand of ,jahveh is literally true8 ,if the story of the ,fall is not the true record of an historical occurrence1 what becomes of ,pauline theology8 ,yet the story of the ,fall as directly conflicts with probability1 and is as devoid of trustworthy evidence1 as that of the ,creation or that of the ,deluge1 with which it forms an harmoniously legendary series4 #hf ,see1 for an admirable discussion of the whole subject1 ,dr4 ,abbott's article on the ,gospels in the ,encyclopaedia ,britannica2 and the remarkable monograph by ,professor ,volkmar1 ,jesus ,nazarenus und die erste christliche ,zeit 7#ahhb74 ,whether we agree with the conclusions of these writers or not1 the method of critical investigation which they adopt is unimpeachable4 #hg ,notwithstanding the hard words shot at me from behind the hedge of anonymity by a writer in a recent number of the ,quarterly ,review1 ,i repeat1 without the slightest fear of refutation1 that the four ,gospels1 as they have come to us1 are the work of unknown writers4 #hh ,their arguments1 in the long run1 are always reducible to one form4 ,otherwise trustworthy witnesses affirm that such and such events took place4 ,these events are inexplicable1 except the agency of spirits is admitted4 ,therefore spirits were the cause of the phenomena4 ,and the heads of the reply are always the same4 ,remember ,goethe's aphorism3 ,alles factische ist schon ,theorie4 ,trustworthy witnesses are constantly deceived1 or deceive themselves1 in their interpretation of sensible phenomena4 ,no one can prove that the sensible phenomena1 in these cases1 could be caused only by the agency of spirits3 and there is abundant ground for believing that they may be produced in other ways4 ,therefore1 the utmost that can be reasonably asked for1 on the evidence as it stands1 is suspension of judgment4 ,and1 on the necessity for even that suspension1 reasonable men may differ1 according to their views of probability4 #hi ,yet ,i must somehow have laid hold of the pith of the matter1 for1 many years afterwards1 when ,dean ,mansell's ,bampton lectures were published1 it seemed to me ,i already knew all that this eminently agnostic thinker had to tell me4 #ij ,kritik der reinen ,vernunft4 ,edit4 ,hartenstein1 p4 #bef4 #ia ,report of the ,church ,congress1 ,manchester1 #ahhh1 p4 #beb4 #ib ,fortnightly ,review1 ,jan4 #ahhi4 #ic ,my citations are made from ,teulet's ,einhardi omnia quae extant opera1 ,paris1 #ahdj-ahdc1 which contains a biography of the author1 a history of the text1 with translations into ,french1 and many valuable annotations4 #id ,at present included in the ,duchies of ,hesse-,darmstadt and ,baden4 #ie ,this took place in the year #hbf ,a4,d4 ,the relics were brought from ,rome and deposited in the ,church of ,st4 ,medardus at ,soissons4 #if ,now included in ,western ,switzerland4 #ig ,probably1 according to ,teulet1 the present ,sandhofer-fahrt1 a little below the embouchure of the ,neckar4 #ih ,the present ,michilstadt1 thirty miles ,n4,e4 of ,heidelberg4 #ii ,in the ,middle ,ages one of the most favourite accusations against witches was that they committed just these enormities4 #ajj ,it is pretty clear that ,eginhard had his doubts about the deacon1 whose pledges he qualifies as sponsiones incertae4 ,but1 to be sure1 he wrote after events which fully justified scepticism4 #aja ,the words are scrinia sine clave1 which seems to mean having no key4 ,but the circumstances forbid the idea of breaking open4 #ajb ,eginhard speaks with lofty contempt of the vana ac superstitiosa praesumptio of the poor woman's companions in trying to alleviate her sufferings with herbs and frivolous incantations4 ,vain enough1 no doubt1 but the mulierculae might have returned the epithet superstitious with interest4 #ajc ,of course there is nothing new in this argument2 but it does not grow weaker by age4 ,and the case of ,eginhard is far more instructive than that of ,augustine1 because the former has so very frankly1 though incidentally1 revealed to us not only his own mental and moral habits1 but those of the people about him4 #ajd ,see #a ,cor4 xii4 #aj-bh2 #b ,cor4 vi4 #ab2 ,rom4 xv4 #ai4 #aje ,a ,journal or ,historical ,account of the ,life1 ,travels1 ,sufferings1 and ,christian ,experiences1 c41 of ,george ,fox4 ,ed4 #afid1 pp4 #bg1 #bh4 #ajf ,i may perhaps return to the question of the authorship of the ,gospels4 ,for the present ,i must content myself with warning my readers against any reliance upon ,dr4 ,wace's statements as to the results arrived at by modern criticism4 ,they are as gravely as surprisingly erroneous4 #ajg ,the ,united ,states ought1 perhaps1 to be added1 but ,i am not sure4 #ajh ,imagine that all our chairs of ,astronomy had been founded in the fourteenth century1 and that their incumbents were bound to sign ,ptolemaic articles4 ,in that case1 with every respect for the efforts of persons thus hampered to attain and expound the truth1 ,i think men of common sense would go elsewhere to learn astronomy4 ,zeller's ,vortraege und ,abhandlungen were published and came into my hands a quarter of a century ago4 ,the writer's rank1 as a theologian to begin with1 and subsequently as a historian of ,greek philosophy1 is of the highest4 ,among these essays are two--,das ,urchristenthum and ,die ,tuebinger historische ,schule--which are likely to be of more use to those who wish to know the real state of the case than all that the official apologists1 with their one eye on truth and the other on the tenets of their sect1 have written4 ,for the opinion of a scientific theologian about theologians of this stamp see pp4 #bbe and #bbg of the ,vortraege4 #aji ,i suppose this is what ,dr4 ,wace is thinking about when he says that ,i allege that there is no visible escape from the supposition of an ,ur-,marcus 7p4 #cfg74 ,that a theologian of repute should confound an indisputable fact with one of the modes of explaining that fact is not so singular as those who are unaccustomed to the ways of theologians might imagine4 #aaj ,any examiner whose duty it has been to examine into a case of copying will be particularly well prepared to appreciate the force of the case stated in that most excellent little book1 ,the ,common ,tradition of the ,synoptic ,gospels1 by ,dr4 ,abbott and ,mr4 ,rushbrooke 7,macmillan1 #ahhd74 ,to those who have not passed through such painful experiences ,i may recommend the brief discussion of the genuineness of the ,casket ,letters in my friend ,mr4 ,skelton's interesting book1 ,maitland of ,lethington4 ,the second edition of ,holtzmann's ,lehrbuch1 published in #ahhf1 gives a remarkably fair and full account of the present results of criticism4 ,at p4 #cff he writes that the present burning question is whether the relatively primitive narrative and the root of the other synoptic texts is contained in ,matthew or in ,mark4 ,it is only on this point that properly-informed 7sachkundige7 critics differ1 and he decides in favour of ,mark4 #aaa ,holtzmann 7,die synoptischen ,evangelien1 #ahfc1 p4 #ge71 following ,ewald1 argues that the ,source ,a 7 the threefold tradition1 more or less7 contained something that answered to the ,sermon on the ,plain immediately after the words of our present ,mark1 ,and he cometh into a house 7iii4 #ai74 ,but what conceivable motive could ,mark have for omitting it8 ,holtzmann has no doubt1 however1 that the ,sermon on the ,mount is a compilation1 or1 as he calls it in his recently-published ,lehrbuch 7p4 #cgb71 an artificial mosaic work4 #aab ,see ,schuerer1 ,geschichte des juedischen ,volkes1 ,zweiter ,theil1 p4 #chd4 #aac ,spacious1 because a young man could sit in it on the right side 7xv4 #e71 and therefore with plenty of room to spare4 #aad ,king ,herod had not the least difficulty in supposing the resurrection of ,john the ,baptist--,john1 whom ,i beheaded1 he is risen 7,mark vi4 #af74 #aae ,i am very sorry for the interpolated in1 because citation ought to be accurate in small things as in great4 ,but what difference it makes whether one believes ,jesus or believes in ,jesus much thought has not enabled me to discover4 ,if you believe him you must believe him to be what he professed to be--that is1 believe in him2 and if you believe in him you must necessarily believe him4 #aaf ,true for ,justin3 but there is a school of theological critics1 who more or less question the historical reality of ,paul and the genuineness of even the four cardinal epistles4 #aag ,see ,dial4 cum ,tryphone1 ,sec4 #dg and ,sec4 #ce4 ,it is to be understood that ,justin does not arrange these categories in order1 as ,i have done4 #aah ,i guard myself against being supposed to affirm that even the four cardinal epistles of ,paul may not have been seriously tampered with4 ,see note #aaf1 p4 #dbi above4 #aai ,paul1 in fact1 is required to commit in ,jerusalem1 an act of the same character as that which he brands as dissimulation on the part of ,peter in ,antioch4 #abj ,all this was quite clearly pointed out by ,ritschl nearly forty years ago4 ,see ,die ,entstehung der alt-katholischen ,kirche 7#ahej71 p4 #ajh4 #aba ,if every one was baptized as soon as he acknowledged ,jesus to be the ,messiah1 the first ,christians can have been aware of no other essential differences from the ,jews4--,zeller1 ,vortraege 7#ahfe71 p4 #bf4 #abb ,dr4 ,harnack1 in the lately-published second edition of his ,dogmengeschichte1 says 7p4 #ci71 ,jesus ,christ brought forward no new doctrine2 and again 7p4 #fe71 ,it is not difficult to set against every portion of the utterances of ,jesus an observation which deprives him of originality4 ,see also ,zusatz #d1 on the same page4 #abc ,the substance of a paragraph which precedes this has been transferred to the ,prologue4 #abd ,let us maintain1 before we have proved4 ,this seeming paradox is the secret of happiness 7,dr4 ,newman3 ,tract #he1 p4 #he74 #abe ,dr4 ,newman1 ,essay on ,development1 p4 #ceg4 #abf ,it is by no means to be assumed that spiritual and corporeal are exact equivalents of immaterial and material in the minds of ancient speculators on these topics4 ,the spiritual body of the risen dead 7#a ,cor4 xv47 is not the natural flesh and blood body4 ,paul does not teach the resurrection of the body in the ordinary sense of the word body2 a fact1 often overlooked1 but pregnant with many consequences4 #abg ,tertullian 7,apolog4 adv4 ,gentes1 cap4 xxiii47 thus challenges the ,roman authorities3 let them bring a possessed person into the presence of a ,christian before their tribunal2 and1 if the demon does not confess himself to be such1 on the order of the ,christian1 let the ,christian be executed out of hand4 #abh ,see the expression of orthodox opinion upon the accommodation subterfuge already cited above1 p4 #ccf4 #abi ,i quote the first edition 7#ahdc74 ,a second edition appeared in #ahgj4 ,tract #he of the ,tracts for the ,times should be read with this ,essay4 ,if ,i were called upon to compile a ,primer of ,infidelity1 ,i think ,i should save myself trouble by making a selection from these works1 and from the ,essay on ,development by the same author4 #acj ,yet1 when it suits his purpose1 as in the ,introduction to the ,essay on ,development1 ,dr4 ,newman can demand strict evidence in religious questions as sharply as any infidel author2 and he can even profess to yield to its force 7,essay on ,miracles1 #ahgj1 note1 p4 #cia74 #aca ,compare ,tract #he1 p4 #aaj3 ,i am persuaded that were men but consistent who oppose the ,church doctrines as being unscriptural1 they would vindicate the ,jews for rejecting the ,gospel4 #acb ,according to ,dr4 ,newman1 ,this prayer that of ,bishop ,alexander1 who begged ,god to 'take ,arius away' is said to have been offered about #c ,p4,m4 on the ,saturday2 that same evening ,arius was in the great square of ,constantine1 when he was suddenly seized with indisposition 7p4 clxx74 ,the infidel ,gibbon seems to have dared to suggest that an option between poison and miracle is presented by this case2 and1 it must be admitted1 that1 if the ,bishop had been within the reach of a modern police magistrate1 things might have gone hardly with him4 ,modern ,infidels1 possessed of a slight knowledge of chemistry1 are not unlikely1 with no less audacity1 to suggest an option between fire-damp and miracle in seeking for the cause of the fiery outburst at ,jerusalem4 #acc ,a writer in a spiritualist journal takes me roundly to task for venturing to doubt the historical and literal truth of the ,gadarene story4 ,the following passage in his letter is worth quotation3 ,now to the materialistic and scientific mind1 to the uninitiated in spiritual verities1 certainly this story of the ,gadarene or ,gergesene swine presents insurmountable difficulties2 it seems grotesque and nonsensical4 ,to the experienced1 trained1 and cultivated ,spiritualist this miracle is1 as ,i am prepared to show1 one of the most instructive1 the most profoundly useful1 and the most beneficent which ,jesus ever wrought in the whole course of ,his pilgrimage of redemption on earth4 ,just so4 ,and the first page of this same journal presents the following advertisement1 among others of the same kidney3-- ,,to ,,wealthy ,,spiritualists4--,a ,lady ,medium of tried power wishes to meet with an elderly gentleman who would be willing to give her a comfortable home and maintenance in ,exchange for her ,spiritualistic services1 as her guides consider her health is too delicate for public sittings3 ,london preferred4--,address ,mary1 ,office of ,light4 ,are we going back to the days of the ,judges1 when wealthy ,micah set up his private ephod1 teraphim1 and ,levite8 #acd ,consider ,tertullian's sister 7hodie apud nos71 who conversed with angels1 saw and heard mysteries1 knew men's thoughts1 and prescribed medicine for their bodies 7,de ,anima1 cap4 #i74 ,tertullian tells us that this woman saw the soul as corporeal1 and described its colour and shape4 ,the infidel will probably be unable to refrain from insulting the memory of the ecstatic saint by the remark1 that ,tertullian's known views about the corporeality of the soul may have had something to do with the remarkable perceptive powers of the ,montanist medium1 in whose revelations of the spiritual world he took such profound interest4 #ace ,see the ,new ,york ,world for ,sunday1 #bast ,october #ahhh2 and the ,report of the ,seybert ,commission1 ,philadelphia1 #ahhg4 #acf ,dr4 ,newman's observation that the miraculous multiplication of the pieces of the true cross 7with which the whole world is filled1 according to ,cyril of ,jerusalem2 and of which some say there are enough extant to build a man-of-war7 is no more wonderful than that of the loaves and fishes is one that ,i do not see my way to contradict4 ,see ,essay on ,miracles1 #b;d ed4 p4 #afc4 #acg ,an ,essay on the ,development of ,christian ,doctrine1 by ,j4 ,h4 ,newman1 ,d4,d41 pp4 #g and #h4 7#ahgh47 #ach ,dr4 ,newman faces this question with his customary ability4 ,now1 ,i own1 ,i am not at all solicitous to deny that this doctrine of an apostate ,angel and his hosts was gained from ,babylon3 it might still be ,divine nevertheless4 ,god who made the prophet's ass speak1 and thereby instructed the prophet1 might instruct ,his ,church by means of heathen ,babylon 7,tract #he1 p4 #hc74 ,there seems to be no end to the apologetic burden that ,balaam's ass can carry4 #aci ,nineteenth ,century1 ,may #ahhi 7p4 #gja74 #adj ,i trust it may not be supposed that ,i undervalue ,m4 ,renan's labours1 or intended to speak slightingly of them4 #ada ,to-day's ,times contains a report of a remarkable speech by ,prince ,bismarck1 in which he tells the ,reichstag that he has long given up investing in foreign stock1 lest so doing should mislead his judgment in his transactions with foreign states4 ,does this declaration prove that the ,chancellor accuses himself of being sordid and selfish1 or does it not rather show that1 even in dealing with himself1 he remains the man of realities8 #adb ,bampton ,lectures 7#ahei71 on ,the ,historical ,evidences of the ,truth of the ,scripture ,records stated anew1 with ,special ,reference to the ,doubts and ,discoveries of ,modern ,times1 by the ,rev4 ,g4 ,rawlinson1 ,m4,a41 pp4 #e-f4 #adc ,the ,worth of the ,old ,testament1 a ,sermon preached in ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral on the ,second ,sunday in ,advent1 #hth ,dec4 #ahhi1 by ,h4 ,p4 ,liddon1 ,d4,d41 ,d4,c4,l41 ,canon and ,chancellor of ,st4 ,paul's4 ,second edition1 revised and with a new preface1 #ahij4 #add ,st4 ,luke xvii4 #cb4 #ade ,ibid4 #bg4 #adf ,st4 ,matt4 xii4 #dj4 #adg ,bampton ,lectures1 #ahei1 pp4 #ej-ea4 #adh ,commentary on ,genesis1 by the ,bishop of ,ely1 p4 #gg4 #adi ,die ,sintflut1 #ahgf4 #aej ,theologie und ,naturwissenschaft1 ii4 #ghd-gia 7#ahgg74 #aea ,it is very doubtful if this means the region of the ,armenian ,ararat4 ,more probably it designates some part either of the ,kurdish range or of its south-eastern continuation4 #aeb ,so ,reclus 7,nouvelle ,geographie ,universelle1 ix4 #chf71 but ,i find the statement doubted by an authority of the first rank4 #aec ,so far as ,i know1 the narrative of the ,creation is not now held to be true1 in the sense in which ,i have defined historical truth1 by any of the reconcilers4 ,as for the attempts to stretch the ,pentateuchal days into periods of thousands or millions of years1 the verdict of the eminent biblical scholar1 ,dr4 ,riehm 7,der biblische ,schoepfungsbericht1 #ahha1 pp4 #ae1 #af71 on such pranks of ,auslegungskunst should be final4 ,why do the reconcilers take ,goethe's advice seriously8-- ,im ,auslegen seyd frisch und munter6 ,legt ihr's nicht aus1 so legt was unter4 #aed ,thus ,josephus 7lib4 ix47 says that his rival1 ,justus1 persuaded the citizens of ,tiberias to set the villages that belonged to ,gadara and ,hippos on fire2 which villages were situated on the borders of ,tiberias and of the region of ,scythopolis4 #aee ,it is said to have been destroyed by its captors4 #aef ,but as to the ,grecian cities ,gaza and ,gadara and ,hippos1 he cut them off from the kingdom and added them to ,syria4--,josephus1 ,wars1 ,,ii4 vi4 #c4 ,see also ,antiquities1 ,,xvii4 xi4 #d4 #aeg ,geschichte des juedischen ,volkes im ,zeitalter ,christi1 #ahhf-ij4 #aeh ,if ,william the ,conqueror1 after fighting the battle of ,hastings had marched to capture ,chichester and then returned to assault ,rye1 being all the while anxious to reach ,london1 his proceedings would not have been more eccentric than ,mr4 ,gladstone must imagine those of ,vespasian were4 #aei ,see ,reland1 ,palestina 7#agad71 t4 ii4 p4 #gga4 ,also ,robinson1 ,later ,biblical ,researches 7#ahef71 p4 #hg note4 #afj ,nineteenth ,century1 ,february #ahia1 pp4 #cci-dj4 #afa ,neither is it of any consequence whether the locality of the supposed miracle was ,gadara1 or ,gerasa1 or ,gergesa4 ,but ,i may say that ,i was well acquainted with ,origen's opinion respecting ,gergesa4 ,it is fully discussed and rejected in ,riehm's ,handwoerterbuch4 ,in ,kitto's ,biblical ,cyclopaedia 7ii4 p4 #ea7 ,professor ,porter remarks that ,origen merely conjectures that ,gergesa was indicated2 and he adds1 ,now1 in a question of this kind1 conjectures cannot be admitted4 ,we must implicitly follow the most ancient and creditable testimony1 which clearly pronounces in favour of ,greek3 ,gadarenon4 ,this reading is adopted by ,tischendorf1 ,alford1 and ,tregelles4 #afb ,i may call attention1 in passing1 to the fact that this authority1 at any rate1 has no sort of doubt of the fact that ,jewish ,law did not rule in ,gadara 7indeed1 under the head of ,gadara1 in the same work1 it is expressly stated that the population of the place consisted predominantly of heathens71 and that he scouts the notion that the ,gadarene swineherds were ,jews4 #afc ,the evidence adduced1 so far as post-exile times are concerned1 appears to me insufficient to prove this assertion4 #afd ,even ,leviticus xi4 #bf1 cited without reference to the context1 will not serve the purpose2 because the swine is cloven footed 7,lev4 xi4 #g74 #afe #ast ,gospel3 ,and the devils besought him1 saying1 ,if ,thou cast us out send us away into the herd of swine4 #b;d ,gospel3 ,they besought him1 saying1 ,send us into the swine4 #c;d ,gospel3 ,they intreated him that he would give them leave to enter into them4 #aff ,see ,marquardt1 ,roemische ,staatsverwaltung1 ,bd4 ,,iii4 p4 #djh4 #afg ,nineteenth ,century1 ,march #ahhi 7p4 #cfb74 #afh ,the ,value of ,witness to the ,miraculous4 ,nineteenth ,century1 ,march #ahhi4 #afi ,i cannot ask the ,editor of this ,review to reprint pages of an old article1--but the following passages sufficiently illustrate the extent and the character of the discrepancy between the facts of the case and ,mr4 ,gladstone's account of them3-- ,now1 in the ,gadarene affair1 ,i do not think ,i am unreasonably sceptical if ,i say that the existence of demons who can be transferred from a man to a pig does thus contravene probability4 ,let me be perfectly candid4 ,i admit ,i have no a priori objection to offer4444 ,i declare1 as plainly as ,i can1 that ,i am unable to show cause why these transferable devils should not exist4444 7,agnosticism1 ,nineteenth ,century1 #ahhi1 p4 #agg74 ,what then do we know about the originator1 or originators1 of this groundwork--of that threefold tradition which all three witnesses 7in ,paley's phrase7 agree upon--that we should allow their mere statements to outweigh the counter arguments of humanity1 of common sense1 of exact science1 and to imperil the respect which all would be glad to be able to render to their ,master8 7ibid4 p4 #age74 ,i then go on through a couple of pages to discuss the value of the evidence of the synoptics on critical and historical grounds4 ,mr4 ,gladstone cites the essay from which these passages are taken1 whence ,i suppose he has read it2 though it may be that he shares the impatience of ,cardinal ,manning where my writings are concerned4 ,such impatience will account for1 though it will not excuse1 his sixth proposition4 #agj ,the wicked1 before being annihilated1 returned to the world to disturb men2 they entered into the body of unclean animals1 often that of a pig1 as on the ,sarcophagus of ,seti ,i4 in the ,soane ,museum4--,lenormant1 ,chaldean ,magic1 p4 #hh1 ,editorial ,note4 #aga ,in ,may #ahdi the ,tigris at ,bagdad rose #bba_/b feet--#e feet above its usual rise--and nearly swept away the town4 ,in #ahca a similarly exceptional flood did immense damage1 destroying #gjjj houses4 ,see ,loftus1 ,chaldea and ,susiana1 p4 #g4 #agb ,see the instructive chapter on ,hasisadra's flood in ,suess1 ,das ,antlitz der ,erde1 ,abth4 ,i4 ,only fifteen years ago a cyclone in the ,bay of ,bengal gave rise to a flood which covered #cjjj square miles of the delta of the ,ganges1 #c to #de feet deep1 destroying #ajj1jjj people1 innumerable cattle1 houses1 and trees4 ,it broke inland1 on the rising ground of ,tipperah1 and may have swept a vessel from the sea that far1 though ,i do not know that it did4 #agc ,see ,cernik's maps in ,petermanns ,mittheilungen1 ,ergaenzungshefte #dd and #de1 #ahge-gf4 #agd ,i have not cited the dimensions given to the ship in most translations of the story1 because there appears to be a doubt about them4 ,haupt 7,keilinschriftliche ,sindfluth-,bericht1 p4 #ac7 says that the figures are illegible4 #age ,it is probable that a slow movement of elevation of the land at one time contributed to the result--perhaps does so still4 #agf ,at a comparatively recent period1 the littoral margin of the ,persian ,gulf extended certainly #bej miles farther to the north-west than the present embouchure of the ,shatt-el ,arab4 7,loftus1 ,quarterly ,journal of the ,geological ,society1 #ahec1 p4 #bea47 ,the actual extent of the marine deposit inland cannot be defined1 as it is covered by later fluviatile deposits4 #agg ,tiele 7,babylonisch-,assyrische ,geschichte1 pp4 #egb-c7 has some very just remarks on this aspect of the epos4 #agh ,in the second volume of the ,history of the ,euphrates ,expedition1 p4 #fcg1 ,col4 ,chesney gives a very interesting account of the simple and rapid manner in which the people about ,tekrit and in the marshes of ,lemlum construct large barges1 and make them watertight with bitumen4 ,doubtless the practice is extremely ancient2 and as ,colonel ,chesney suggests1 may possibly have furnished the conception of ,noah's ark4 ,but it is one thing to build a barge #dd ft4 long by #aa ft4 wide and #d ft4 deep in the way described2 and another to get a vessel of ten times the dimensions1 so constructed1 to hold together4 #agi ,es ist nichts schrecklicher als eine thaetige ,unwissenheit4 ,maximen und ,reflexionen1 iii4 #ahj ,the well-known difficulties connected with this case have recently been carefully discussed by ,mr4 ,bell in the ,transactions of the ,geological ,society of ,glasgow4 #aha ,an instructive parallel is exhibited by the ,great ,basin of ,north ,america4 ,see the remarkable memoir on ,lake ,bonneville by ,mr4 ,g4 ,k4 ,gilbert1 of the ,united ,states ,geological ,survey1 just published4 #ahb ,it is true that earthquakes are common enough1 but they are incompetent to produce such changes as those which have taken place4 #ahc ,see ,teller1 ,geologische ,beschreibung des sud-oestlichen ,thessalien3 ,denkschriften d4 ,akademie der ,wissenschaften1 ,wien1 ,bd4 xl4 p4 #aii4 #ahd ,dr4 ,langenbeck1 ,die ,theorien ueber die ,entstehung der ,korallen-,inseln und ,korallen-,riffe 7p4 #ac71 #ahij4 99 99 99 99 99 ,changes made against printed original4 ,page #f4 deserving an ensuing punishment of infinite severity3 'deserving and ensuing' in original4 ,page #gh4 ,i cannot bring myself to imagine3 'cannnot' in original4 ,page #bcj4 which has been causally associated3 'casually' in original4 ,page #cfd4 but what will become of it3 duplicated 'what' across line break in original4 ,page #edj4 will accuse me of 'contradicting the ,lord and his ,apostles'3 'me' omitted in original4 ,page #fjj4 by familiar experience3 'familar' in original4