,,modern ,,scepticism4 ,,modern ,,scepticism4 ,a ,,course ,,of ,,lectures ,,delivered ,,at ,,the ,,request ,,of ,,the ,,christian ,,evidence ,,society1 ,,with ,,an ,,explanatory ,,paper ,,by ,,the ,,right ,,reverend ,c4 ,j4 ,,ellicott1 ,d4,d41 ,,lord ,,bishop ,,of ,,gloucester ,,and ,,bristol4 ,,new ,,york3 ,,anson ,d4 ,f4 ,,randolph ,,and ,,co41 #ggj1 ,,broadway4 ,,mdccclxxi4 ,issued in this ,country by special arrangement with the ,english ,publishers1 ,,messrs4 ,,hodder ,,and ,,stoughton4 ,,preface4 ,the following ,lectures1 delivered at the request of the ,christian ,evidence ,society1 are now1 for the convenience of the reader1 gathered together into one volume1 and earnestly commended to his serious consideration4 ,a short account of the general designs of the ,society1 of the plan of the ,lectures1 and the reasons for their appearing in a different order from that in which they were delivered1 will be found in an explanatory paper which the ,bishop of ,gloucester and ,bristol has been kind enough to draw up at the request of the ,committee4 ,though placed1 as last written1 at the end of the volume1 the attention of the reader should be early directed to this paper4 ,the ,committee take this opportunity of offering their best thanks to the eminent men who have found time1 in the midst of their varied and laborious avocations1 to lend such able and efficient service to the great cause in hand1--the maintenance of the truth of the ,christian ,revelation4 ,,harrowby1 ,chairman of ,committee4 ,,contents4 ,page ,,design ,,in ,,nature #a ,,by ,,the ,,most ,,reverend ,,the ,,lord ,,archbishop ,,of ,,york4 ,,pantheism #cc ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,j4 ,h4 ,,rigg1 ,d4,d41 ,principal of ,westminster ,training ,college4 ,,positivism #gi ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,w4 ,,jackson1 ,m4,a41 ,f4,s4,a41 late ,fellow of ,worcester ,college1 ,oxford4 ,,science ,,and ,,revelation #aci ,,by ,,the ,,very ,,rev4 ,r4 ,,payne ,,smith1 ,d4,d41 ,dean of ,canterbury2 late ,regius ,professor of ,divinity1 ,oxford4 ,,the ,,nature ,,and ,,value ,,of ,,the ,,miraculous ,,testimony ,,to ,,christianity #agi ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,,john ,,stoughton1 ,d4,d4 ,,the ,,gradual ,,development ,,of ,,revelation #bbi ,,by ,,the ,,right ,,rev4 ,,the ,,lord ,,bishop ,,of ,,carlisle4 ,,the ,,alleged ,,historical ,,difficulties ,,of ,,the ,,old ,,and ,,new ,,testaments1 ,,and ,,the ,,light ,,thrown ,,on ,,them ,,by ,,modern ,,discoveries #bfe ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,,george ,,rawlinson1 ,m4,a41 ,camden ,professor of ,ancient ,history1 ,oxford4 ,,mythical ,,theories ,,of ,,christianity #cje ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,,charles ,,row1 ,m4,a41 of ,pembroke ,college1 ,oxford4 ,,the ,,evidential ,,value ,,of ,,st4 ,,paul',s ,,epistles #cfa ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,,stanley ,,leathes1 ,m4,a41 ,professor of ,hebrew1 ,king's ,college4 ,,christ',s ,,teaching ,,and ,,influence ,,on ,,the ,,world #dji ,,by ,,the ,,right ,,rev4 ,,the ,,lord ,,bishop ,,of ,,ely4 ,,the ,,completeness ,,and ,,adequacy ,,of ,,the ,,evidences ,,of ,,christianity #deg ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,,canon ,,cook1 ,m4,a41 ,canon of ,exeter2 ,preacher at ,lincoln's ,inn4 ,,explanatory ,,paper #ejc ,,by ,,the ,,right ,,rev4 ,,the ,,lord ,,bishop ,,of ,,gloucester ,,and ,,bristol4 ,,notes #ebi ,,design ,,in ,,nature4 ,,by ,,the ,,most ,,reverend ,,the ,,lord ,,archbishop ,,of ,,york4 ,,design ,,in ,,nature4 ,all things are full of ,god1 said the father of ,greek philosophy4 ,we have no need of the hypothesis of ,god1 said a modern ,french astronomer4 ,it is with the latter saying1 which is descriptive of the attitude of modern science at this time1 that the present address will have to do4 ,atheism no doubt exists2 but far more common is the mode of thinking which would dispense with all questions about the ,divine nature in dealing with the world and its phenomena2 which considers that the introduction of the name of ,god into scientific research1 complicates what is simple1 obscures the rules of observation1 introduces controversies that are useless to science1 restrains the free course of inductive reasoning by an apprehension of consequences1 and entangles physical inquiry which leads to sure and clear results1 with mental and with spiritual inquiry which have produced nothing but disputation4 ,those who hold such views would think it unphilosophical to deny1 just as they would regard it to affirm1 the existence of ,god4 ,but the popular mind is not equal to nice distinctions2 and it seems almost the same thing to most people to deny the existence of ,god as to exclude the thought of ,him when exploring ,his creation4 ,i am not without hope that a few words delivered here upon the argument from design1 as it is called1 may tend to diminish the growing estrangement between science and religion1 and at the same time to revindicate for religion her legitimate share in matters of scientific interest4 ,i may undertake that the subject1 however unworthily treated in other respects1 shall be discussed without bitterness1 and with a fitting respect for those who have done so much for physical science during the present generation4 ,it is necessary to sketch in a few sentences that field of creation with which the argument from design has to do4 ,the world presents to us four kingdoms or classes of facts4 ,one of these1 and the first in point of order1 is the mineral kingdom4 ,a few so-called elements1 as metals1 earthy bases1 and the like1 acted upon by certain forces1 known to us as gravitation1 motion1 heat1 electricity1 magnetism1 chemical affinity1 have formed the mountain and the valley1 the wind and the clouds1 the sea margin and the cave2 in a word1 all the grand substructure on which the higher kingdoms are to take their places4 ,modern science has discovered however1 that these physico-chemical forces are interchangeable or convertible2 that retarded motion turns to heat1 as in the railway break1 that heat generates electricity1 and the electric current magnetises the iron round which it passes4 ,not only this1 but each force generates a certain equivalent of another--so much and no more2 and no force is lost1 though a force may pass from an active to a potential state4 ,for example1 two tuns of water are raised by evaporation from the sea1 and one of them falls in rain in a valley drained by a river1 and in its downward motion back to the sea it will turn the water-wheel1 lift the tilt-hammer1 bear the barge swiftly in its current1 leap over the rocky ledge a foaming cataract1 and in all these it is only sending back a portion of the force which was spent upon its evaporation2 and the real source of all this work is1 and must be1 the sun's heat4 ,and ere the water rests again in the sea it will have accounted for the whole of the force1 neither less nor more1 that had operated upon it2 part of it in friction on its bed and in consequent heat2 part of it in tasks imposed by human skill4 ,the other tun of water shall fall into some land-locked tarn1 high in the hills1 where it cannot at once render back its force in work or duty1 but the force is there1 held in suspense or in reserve4 ,water lifted from the sea level to the valley of the ,engadine1 a mile higher1 has used much of the sun's heat2 it will restore that heat or some equivalent force1 as soon as you make a way for it to the sea level again2 and it will have parted with all the force1 neither more nor less1 which raised it to that height4 ,that forces are convertible1 and that whether converted or not they are conserved1 so that nothing is lost1 are propositions demonstrated4 ,it is not1 ,i believe1 demonstrated1 but it is a probable supposition1 that all forces are but one force manifested in different modes4 ,then as to the material elements on which these forces work2 the hydrogen1 carbon1 iron1 lime1 and the like1 the name of elements must be held to mean no more than that they have not as yet been resolved into simpler substances4 ,of their ultimate composition we know nothing4 ,they may be so many modifications of an ultimate matter2 but whether this ultimate matter exists1 whether it be1 as modern materialists tell us with such confidence1 eternal and indestructible1 whether impenetrability be one of its properties1 whether it be not a kind of polar opposite to the physico-chemical forces1 and engendered with them1 so that in a different universe1 with other forces at work1 there must have been different elements1 these are all questions of mere speculation1 incapable of proof4 ,the physical enquirer has bound himself to consider only the facts which he can observe2 and when he tells us that matter is eternal1 and that therefore creation is impossible1 he is deserting the ground where alone he is strong4 ,bishop ,berkeley's and ,collier's denial that matter truly exists is quite as probable as this affirmation4 ,but both alike are speculative guesses and not science4 ,there is a second kingdom to add to the first4 ,the world is not a mere agglomeration of rocks and mountains1 seas and lakes4 ,before the physical forces had completed their work1 a new force had been added to them2 that of life4 ,the bare rocks became clothed with living moss4 ,in marshy places1 warm and moist1 a rich vegetation grew and decayed4 ,along the slopes the interlacing roots of grasses detained the particles of soil which would otherwise have been washed down to some lower bed4 ,the vegetable world1 with thousands of varieties1 clothed and adorned the stony earth4 ,england's greatness in the present was taken order for in those ages when her coal measures were formed out of the forests which grew rank and died in a climate different in all respects from that which forms the subject of our daily animadversion4 ,third in order comes the ,animal ,kingdom4 ,i do not attempt to define life1 whether animal or vegetable1 with exactness4 ,every one has failed in that attempt4 ,as a rough description of animal life1 it may1 perhaps1 suffice to say that the living being is one endowed with sensation and spontaneous motion1 of which each of the parts contributes something to the continuance of the whole1 and is in turn preserved or defended by the whole4 ,if those who find fault with this1 look for another definition in ,dr4 ,whewell's comprehensive work1#a they will find my excuse in the variety and the inadequacy of the definitions there collected4 ,the animal life spread out over the globe from the first is profuse1 is beautiful and various4 ,the oolitic limestone and the white chalk are almost wholly made up of shells of ,foraminifera4 ,on the river ,columbia is a bed of clay #ejj feet thick1 which consists largely of the shells of ,diatoms1 if1 indeed1 these are to be ranked in the animal kingdom4 ,the shells of the ,foraminifera1 which can only be examined by the microscope1 exhibit wonderful variety and beauty4 ,still more remarkable in this respect are the ,polycystina1 whose shells1 as figured in ,mr4 ,ponton's book1 recall censers and vases1 jewelled crosses and stars1 pendants and tripods1 such as a ,london goldsmith would do well to reproduce4 ,until the microscope was invented no eye can have explored this wonderful dust4 ,the shells of both these humble tribes1 the ,foraminifera and ,polycystina resemble the shells of other animals much higher in the scale of organization2 but nearly as they are related in organization to each other1 the forms are very different1 and each in itself presents a wonderful diversity of forms4 ,in higher families of animals there are the same characters4 ,the globe teems with life in earth1 and air1 and water4 ,if you will permit me1 so early in my argument1 to speak of the ,maker of them all1 ,i will say that the creative power is inexhaustible in invention1 both of useful and beautiful parts4 ,and in the ceaseless activity of these creatures1 great and small1 we recognise the physical happiness which accompanies so much life4 ,it is a chorus of thanksgiving and praise1 from pool and jungle1 from treetop and soft grass1 from the creatures that revel in the life that ,god has given them4 ,in demanding the right to regard man as the fourth kingdom of nature1 ,i am aware that some may demur to the claim4 ,no doubt he must take rank in the kingdom of the animals1 by reason of his identity with animals in all the vital functions4 ,disparaging things have been said of his brain2 and ,moleschott has remarked1 ,i think1 that all its finest things are but modified phosphorus after all4 ,no phosphorus1 no thinking6 ,the slight projection on the outer margin of the ear has lately assumed portentous proportions4 ,the possession of that precious relic1 which has turned up suddenly like the locket of the long lost child in a stimulating novel1 proves our kinship to the ,simian race1 from some balder specimens of which we are supposed to have descended1 and gives us a place on an unsuspected family tree4 ,but1 after all that has been said by the naturalists to teach us humility1 there do remain some facts1 which entitle man to a separate place1 to one at least of which the modern school have given greater prominence than before4 ,they are these4 ,man can control nature4 ,he can read nature and understand it4 ,he has a power of self-regulation1 which we call conscience4 ,and he can and does think much about ,god4 ,as to the power of man to control nature1 ,i prefer to employ the words of ,mr4 ,wallace1 one of the first to put forward what is called the law of natural selection1 who will not be suspected of claiming any transcendental place or privilege for man4 ,with a naked and unprotected body1 he says1 man's intelligence gave him clothing against the varying inclemencies of the seasons4 ,though unable to compete with the deer in swiftness1 or with the wild bull in strength1 it has given him weapons wherewith to capture and overcome both4 ,though less capable than most other animals1 of living on the herbs and the fruits which unaided nature supplies1 this wonderful faculty taught him to govern and direct nature to his own benefit1 and to make her produce food for him when and where he pleased4 ,from the moment when the first skin was used as a covering1 when the first rude spear was formed to assist in the chase1 the first seed sown or root planted1 a grand revolution was effected in nature1 a revolution which in all the previous ages of the world had had no parallel1 for a being had arisen who was no longer necessarily subject to change with the changing universe1 a being who was1 in some degree1 superior to nature1 inasmuch as he knew how to control and regulate her action1 and could keep himself in harmony with her1 not by a change in body1 but by an advance in mind4 ,here1 then1 we see the true grandeur and dignity of man4 ,on this view of his special attributes we may admit that even those who claim for him a position and an order a class or a sub-kingdom by himself1 have some reason on their side4 ,he is indeed a being apart1 since he is not influenced by the great laws which irresistibly modify all other organic beings4 ,nay1 more1 this victory which he has gained for himself gives him a directing influence over other existences4 ,man has not only escaped natural selection himself1 but he is actually able to take away some of that power from nature which before his appearance she universally exercised4 ,we can anticipate the time when the earth will produce only cultivated plants and domestic animals2 when man's selection shall have supplanted natural selection2 and when the ocean will be the only domain in which that power can be exerted1 which for countless cycles of ages ruled supreme over the earth4#b ,thus eloquently and forcibly speaks ,mr4 ,wallace2 and ,i do not stop now to criticise the exaggeration of language which treats the law of natural selection as supreme ruler of the earth4 ,let me say a few words next upon man's power to reflect on1 and to understand nature4 ,for this was the second mark by which man was distinguished from the animal creation1 with which he has so much in common4 ,man alone is capable of an unselfish interest in the world around him2 that is1 an interest that does not bear immediately on his bodily wants4 ,how far he has carried this interest1 let modern science bear witness4 ,the common feat of foretelling all the eclipses of sun and moon for a given year1 is performed for our almanack yearly1 without exciting surprise or gratitude4 ,yet it means that man can so follow the heavenly bodies in their path1 for years and years to come1 for all the years that are gone1 that he can tell1 without fear of error1 on what day the cone of shadow thrown by the sun-lighted earth into space1 shall sweep over the face of the moon and blot out her light1 completely or a little4 ,but this is an old triumph1 hardly worth quoting1 but for its aptness to impress all kinds of minds4 ,a clerk in one of our public offices1 using only such leisure as official work allowed1 has told us lately wonders about the composition of the sun2 and here in ,london1 armed with a little instrument 7the spectroscope71 this distinguished man has been able to ascertain that in yonder photosphere the same elements are found which the chemist seeks and finds in the crust of our little earth4 ,what proofs can be more convincing of the fitness of man to play his part in the scene in which he is placed8 ,his senses are adapted to the facts he is to observe2 his eye to light1 his ear to sonorous vibrations1 his touch to resistance and to weight4 ,but the naked organ soon falls short of his wishes4 ,and soon the microscope unfolds the beautiful forms of the ,polycystina shells1 the minute fibril of the muscle1 and the components of the blood of life4 ,the telescope brings near the world of stars1 and resolves the bright mist into clusters of distinct orbs4 ,the balance weighs quantities of matter too small for the touch to appreciate4 ,and lastly1 the spectroscope takes the picture1 so to speak1 of chemical phenomena too distant to be realised by these means2 and so the composition of the heavenly bodies1 about which the most sanguine observer twenty years ago would have admitted that we should never know anything firmer than conjecture1 is already the subject of exact observation4 ,the names of ,homer1 ,plato1 and ,shakspeare remind us how marvellously the world is imaged and reproduced in the minds of some great men1 and of the share which we smaller men can take in their work by an admiring sympathy4 ,a production of art1 whether literary1 pictorial1 or plastic1 is a creation4 ,the things of ,troy were not so touching nor so grand in their reality as they became in the form which the poet gave them4 ,legend enters largely into the stories of ,macbeth and ,hamlet4 ,the histories are shadowy1 but the plays are substantial2 they contain some touch of truth4 ,old and young read them1 and lend to the author all their feelings to work on as he will4 ,weigh this fact well4 ,it seems to me to show so plainly that man's constitution has been fitted by foresight and preparation for the place in earth that he was to fill4 ,supposing that ,moleschott was right in his startling aphorism1 ,without phosphorus there is no thought1 what a wonder are we forced to recognise here4 ,the rage of ,achilles1 the death of ,socrates1 the resolute wickedness of ,lady ,macbeth1 the character of her husband1 so weak in his crime1 so grand in his remorse and ruin2 the refined and gentle ,hamlet1 forced by a preternatural command to assume the character of an avenger2 to all these the presence of phosphorus in the brain is indispensable4 ,how comes so small a cause to work such grand effects4 ,it is sufficiently wonderful to hear ,joachim discourse eloquent music upon the simplest of instruments1 a violin2 take away the violin and substitute a bit of wood2 if the music still continues1 what was before a wonderful exercise of skill is now miraculous4 ,if great thoughts are but phosphorus burnt in the closed stove of a poet's brain1 ,i am more ready than ever to admire that creative wisdom which could bring this out of that1 which could so dispense with ordinary means in ,his highest productions4 ,but the aphorism is not true as it stands4 ,i believe there is no free phosphorus in the brain4 ,without lime1 no thought2 without oxygen1 no thought2 without water1 no thought4 ,all these are true1 and they import a well-known fact1 that man who thinks is a creature in a material world1 and that certain forms of matter are needful to his existence as an organised being4#c ,two things are awful to me1 said ,kant1 the starry firmament and the sense of responsibility in man4 ,in his ,metaphysics of ,ethics he has treated this sense of responsibility with singular logical power4 ,it is one of the marks that separate man from all other creatures4 ,no doubt this principle has allowed men to come to very wrong and absurd conclusions4 ,because the savage practises cannibalism1 and knows no rules of chastity but those which flow from the husband's right of property in the wife1 it is inferred that the savage has no moral sense4 ,it would be as fair to infer that because ,england once traded in slaves1 fought cocks1 baited bulls1 and oppressed the native races in ,india and her colonies1 therefore there was no sense of right and wrong in ,england4 ,it is for the existence of the principle that ,i contend1 and not for its perfect education and enlightenment4 ,the principle is that something is right to will and to do1 and something is not right4 ,the existence of the principle is proved if the poor savage of whom ,i spoke would consider his manhood disgraced by fleeing1 even for his life's sake1 before the foe1 or by suffering one cry to escape him under the tortures1 wherewith his captors are doing him to death4 ,the education of this principle is a different matter2 no one could say that even now his conscience was completely educated4 ,so act that your principle of action would bear to be made a law for the whole world1#d is a noble maxim2 but it requires knowledge and light1 as well as right intention4 ,if you twit us with the fact that men have been cruel1 impure1 capricious1 and absurd in their conduct1 we answer that they had still a right and a wrong4 ,one who has the sense of sight may find himself compelled to live in some narrow cleft or ravine1 where there is little to see1 but the sense is there still4 ,the bathing-men at ,pfeffers1 with the earth closed almost over their heads1 see little of the scenery of ,switzerland3 but they have eyes not the less4 ,we are claiming for men now1 not the fine sweep of moral prospect1 but the moral sense of sight2 and this is never wanting4 ,upon this sense every artifice has been used to make it look like something else2#e for until it can be so transformed1 it is a powerful witness for another world than this4 ,the commonest explanation is that it is only a principle of enlightened self-interest4 ,study it for yourself in the savage1 in the little child2 you will find that these two principles run on different lines4 ,the last mark of man1 that distinguishes him from all animals is1 that he believes in ,god4 ,one half the human race at this moment profess some creed in which ,god is the great first cause1 the ,creator and ,governor of the world4 ,of the other half1 hardly any are quite without religion4 ,obliged as ,i am1 says ,m4 ,quatrefages1 in words which ,i have had occasion to quote elsewhere1#f even by my education1 to pass in review the races of men1 ,i have sought for atheism in the lowest and in the highest1 but nowhere have ,i met with it1 except in an individual1 or at most in some school of men1 more or less known1 as we have seen in ,europe in the last century1 and as we see at the present day4 ,everywhere and always the masses of the people have escaped it4 ,but for my present argument it is not necessary to insist that a right belief in ,god prevails4 ,there is a belief in ,god1 and it cannot have come from experience or observation of visible facts4 ,you may lower the position of man1 by comparing him to the apes1 and by chemical analysis of his brain2 all the more wonderful is it that a creature in such sorry case should pretend to hold communion with the divine4 ,his feet are in the earthy clay1 but his head is lifted up towards heaven4 ,heir to a hundred maladies1 the sport of a hundred passions1 holding on this life1 so chequered in its complexion1 but for a few days1 this creature cries out of his trouble3 ,god exists2 and he can see and hear me4 ,man1 if ,i have proved my position1 stands quite alone at the head of the kingdoms of nature1 alone in his power of controlling it1 alone in his appreciation of its beauty1 alone in the self-government of conscience1 the first of all the creatures of ,god1 to pronounce the name of ,him who had made all things1 in a world which for ages had been blind to its ,maker1 and thankless because blind4 ,now it has become1 and will probably continue to be1 a question of the deepest interest to mankind1 how these four kingdoms came into being4 ,and at present there is a tendency towards a theory purely material and mechanical4 ,it is so in ,germany1 the country of ,bchner1 ,vogt1 and ,moleschott2 it is so in ,france1 where ,comte and ,littr have written2 it is so here in ,england1 where it is needless to quote distinguished names4 ,i purpose1 in the remainder of this lecture1 to attempt an interpretation of the facts before us1 quite different from this prevalent notion2 and also to show how vicious and how inadequate in a scientific point of view the system known as materialism appears to be4 ,the time is all too short for such a purpose3 but any address like this can only aim to scatter germs of thought1 not to present a system4 ,that the creation was gradual1 appears alike from the account of the ,bible and from scientific observation4 ,matter and motion must have existed before the ball of earth was formed2 and the physico-chemical forces must have been in full play when the first lichen clothed the rocks1 or the first plants were formed in the sea4 ,the first appearance of life on the globe was a mighty step in creation1 and from this point the question of design becomes a very urgent one4 ,observe3 the plant world is a new world1 with a series of wonders all its own4 ,there was nothing in the heat of the sun1 nor in the earth's motion or magnetic currents1 to give any promise or presage of the marvels of the forest4 ,supposing that we admit that these were evolved by law1 that is to say1 that as a matter of fact plants only appeared where certain conditions of light and heat and moisture combined to favour them1 and that wherever these conditions were combined they never failed to appear4 ,the question next arises whether matter and force evolved them from their own inherent nature1 or force and matter were created with the intention to produce them1 so that the plant was intended and prepared then when the other forces began to stir the formless void4 ,is the plant world the accidental or necessary outcome of the forces that made the mineral world8 or must we say that it bears marks of design8 ,here we must observe that it is a wider and richer world than that which preceded it3 more full by far of forms of beauty and grace1 each of them sustained by a vascular system of which the mineral world affords no parallel4 ,you stand before the gnarled and twisted oak that rises out of the feathering ferns2 you never think that this giant of two centuries1 endued with a certain power of self-protection against the storms of two hundred years1 is an accidental product4 ,it is so grandly strong1 so richly clothed with a myriad leaves1 alike but yet in something different each from each4 ,the cattle count upon its friendly shade2 the fowls of the air make it their resting-place4 ,this a result of certain motions in the universe and certain properties of matter1 not designed at all1 foreseen by no eye8 ,to no one would such a thought naturally occur4 ,the world1 full in its first stage of marks of order and purpose1 shows more of the same marks in its second and more complicated state4 ,the change that has taken place is not towards confusion and exhaustion from unforeseen defects in mechanism1 but a higher development4 ,the mineral kingdom was wonderful2 that it should be able to clothe itself with a mantle of verdure1 and pass into another kingdom much more complex1 heightens the wonder4 ,but then comes the further change1 the pouring out of animal life upon the globe4 ,was this too an inevitable consequence of physical forces8 ,all the animal creation teems with marks of purpose4 ,consider only some of the contrivances by which the fowls of the air are fitted for their peculiar life4 ,describing a night of extreme coldness1 the poet says3 ,the owl1 for all her feathers1 is a-cold4 ,that warm covering of the bird must be portable as well as warm2 it weighs about an ounce and a half4 ,but the covering of birds would be useless to them if the showers to which they must be exposed were absorbed by the plumage1 so that it became a heavy clinging mass4 ,an oily secretion makes it waterproof2 we have all seen the duck free itself by one shake from every trace of its recent bath4 ,the heavy skeleton that befits pedestrian creatures1 would disable the bird from flight2 so it is provided with tubes of thin bone1 surrounding a cavity filled with air4 ,its pinions must be light as well as strong2 observe how the light barbs of the feather have roughened edges so that they form one strong continuous surface1 almost impervious to the air which they strike4 ,the air in the bones of birds and in other cavities of the body1 heated too by an inner warmth much greater than that of man1 contributes something to their buoyancy4 ,their speed and endurance are enormous4 ,it is said that the swallow's flight is ninety miles an hour4 ,one long stretch across the ,north ,sea brings the sea-fowl from ,norway to ,flamborough ,head2 they rest for a short time after this flight1 and pass inland1 not the worse for their exploit4 ,you may infer from the beak of a bird its habits and its food4 ,the bill of a woodpecker is a pointed tool1 tipped with hardest horn1 to break open the bark of the tree for insects4 ,the flat bill of the duck has plates of horn at the side2 an excellent instrument for straining off the water and retaining the food4 ,the bill of the snipe is long1 and narrow1 and sensitive1 to pierce the marshy ground1 and feel after its food4 ,we might go on for hours multiplying such instances1 and from every part of the field of creation4 ,now1 any mind in its natural state knows that in human works such adaptations could only proceed from contrivance1 and is willing to regard these in the same way as proofs of design in creation4 ,the physicist has to tutor himself to a different view4 ,all these things are evolutions1 under pressure of circumstances1 of the original forces of creation4 ,for example1 out of certain birds tenanting marshy places1 one has a somewhat larger beak1 and this gives him an advantage in piercing the ground for food2 and so his share of food is larger1 and his strength and courage greater1 and he has a freer choice of a mate2 and so the long beak grows longer in the next generation1 and the grandson's beak is longer than the son's1 from the same causes2 and thus the law works1 until in course of time there stands confessed a new species--a perfect snipe4 ,is the scientific theory better in this case than the popular8 ,it is not4 ,it does not account for the facts so well4 ,but is not our belief that ,god made the fowl of the air with fitting instruments for a peculiar life because ,he saw that it was good1 and wished all portions of ,his varied earth to be the scene of the joy and energy of appropriate tenants1 a mere hypothesis8 ,the worship of ,god is universal1 and exists without any explicit opinion that ,he is the ,creator1 the first ,cause4 ,because you are able to conceive of ,him1 and are willing to accept ,him as the ,ruler of your will and conscience1 ,he must exist4 ,does this seem too rapid an assumption8 ,consider the alternative4 ,if ,he exists not1 the sound of worship has gone up from all lands in vain1 and in vain have all good men consecrated their lives to an obedience to the law of duty4 ,were such deceit felt to be possible1 a darkness that might be felt would settle upon our spirits1 and the hands would indeed hang down1 and the feeble knees be paralyzed1 and a strict silence on all moral subjects become us best4 ,but we must see with such eyes as ,god has given us2 and scepticism about faith and conscience is perhaps as unprofitable as scepticism about touch and sight4 ,god exists then1 it is assured to us by the common faith of mankind1 by the highest law within ourselves4 ,and as ,he exists1 to ,him1 and to no other1 must we assign the place of ,creator4 ,there cannot be two ,gods4 ,i cannot give my conscience to one as its guide1 and adore another for the wisdom of the universe4 ,god exists then1 and ,his existence is not merely assumed in order to account for marks of design in nature4 ,and we maintain that the easier supposition is also the truer4 ,these marks of purpose are what they appear to be1 tokens of the wisdom of ,god4 ,thou hast made heaven1 the heaven of heavens with all their host1 the earth and all things that are therein1 the sea and all that is therein1 and thou preservest them all4#g ,if ,i were to venture to express in a few sentences the belief of a man of ordinary education upon this subject ,i should say that ,god alone is and can be the first cause of this universe1 the mover of its motion1 the giver of its life4 ,the wise purposes which shine forth for us in nature1 were in the mind of ,god from the first act of creation4 ,in saying that ,he has wrought by laws1 we do not detract from ,his power2 we seem rather to enhance it to our minds in attributing to ,him constancy as well as wisdom4 ,a law is not a restraint2 it is a fixed manner of working4 ,to say of a painter that he never produces any but fine works1 does not affirm that he is less free than an inferior artist2 just because producing bad work is no power or privilege but a defect4 ,and so1 when we admit that ,god works by law1 and expect to find the same spectrum from the sun's rays1 which we have once made with our own prism1 at every time and in every place where the sun's light shines1 and so on1 we do not narrow the power of the ,great ,artificer1 unless it can be shown that caprice is a privilege and a good4 ,the subject of miracles is not here to be discussed2 ,i will only observe that they are presented to us as parts of a great purpose for the good of man2 and that our ,lord refused1 when ,he was tempted1 to work wonders out of wilfulness1 or only to astonish4 ,the extreme jealousy of scientific men of admitting any allusion to theology1 in connection with the course of nature1 proceeds from erroneous conceptions of ,god4 ,mr4 ,wallace1 whom ,i have already quoted with respect1 is ready to admit that the ,creator works in the beginning as the founder of the laws on which the world is to proceed2 but he is afraid of admitting that there has been continual interference and re-arrangement of details4#h ,but this eminent naturalist attributes to us a conception of the ,most ,high which we do not hold1 nay1 which we energetically reject4 ,if the laws were wise and good1 whence would come the need of interference or re-arrangement8 ,who are we that we should bid ,god speak once1 and forbid ,him twice to speak8 ,the laws of nature are ,god's laws1 and ,god's laws are ,his utterance of ,himself through the speech of nature4 ,god is the same yesterday1 to-day1 and for ever2 and so ,his laws remain the same4 ,they are1 if ,i may say so without irreverence1 the veil and vesture over the form of ,god1 too bright in itself for us to look on2 they take their outline from ,him who is beneath them4 ,you may continue your researches in full confidence that the laws will stand sure1 not because you have the slightest guarantee as a man of science that these laws will never be interfered with2 such a guarantee you have on your own principles no right to ask4 ,you are to observe that the facts are so2 that they shall eternally be so is not for you1 for that is all beyond experience4 ,but the wisdom that made the laws needs not to revise its work1 and erase and insert and amend its code4 ,in the days of creation ,god saw that it was good2 the eye that so approved it changes not4 ,until the purpose that runs through the ages is completed the laws will stand sure4 ,but each new kingdom of nature has introduced a change amounting to a revolution1 which neither the theologian nor the naturalist regards as an interference or a caprice4 ,when the principle of plant-life was introduced1 the mineral world became the material on which the plant-life worked2 it gathered into itself the lower elements1 carbon1 silica1 nitrogen1 and used them as means of its own organic life4 ,the plant partook of the nature of the class below it1 whilst it dominated and used that class4 ,this same took place when animal life was introduced4 ,the beautiful plants become the material whereon the animal life worked1 the food whereby it sustained itself4 ,it was the same when man was added1 in whom instinct is replaced by reason1 and ethical action supervenes over action by impulse and appetite4 ,each of these kingdoms has much in common with that which is below it4 ,the animal is in many respects a plant2 for the diatomaceous creatures one knows hardly in which kingdom to find their place4 ,the man is an animal in much1 and perhaps his animal instincts play a larger part in the world's history and in his own development than we are wont to allow4 ,but each higher step brings in something wholly new4 ,an animal1 says ,hegel1 is a miracle for the vegetable world4 ,each step is a revolution in one point of view2 but then the lower state prepared itself for the higher1 prophesied1 so to speak1 of its coming1 and the higher seated itself so easily on the throne prepared for it1 that we do not wonder to find it there4 ,you call it evolution2 we call it a creative act4 ,we think that ,god exists1 and if ,he acts anywhere it must be in this1 the universe of things4 ,greek3 ,ex henos ta panta gignesthai is an old saying long before ,christianity4 ,but you and we may work by the same calculus and rules of observation4 ,the facts are the same1 the interpretation of what is behind them is different4 ,nor need we deny that the principle of which ,mr4 ,wallace spoke as supreme in the world1 has its truth and its use in explaining the facts of creation4 ,it never raised an inert mineral mass into a vegetable organism2 it never raised a plant into an animal4 ,it never raised an ape into a man4 ,no facts have yet been produced that go to prove any such leaps1 and if our logic is to be improved in anything by the light of experience1 it is in this1 that facts should be recorded and generalised1 but not assumed4 ,but that climatic conditions1 and the struggles for life1 have modified species1 and worked out new varieties1 or new species1 we may fearlessly admit2 it is one more proof1 perhaps1 that the world is a meet school and training ground for the creatures placed in it for discipline4 ,but a law is not a god2 it never ruled supreme2 never was other than one precept out of many in the ,divine code of the world4 ,it has become the fashion with some naturalists to speak of ,god as the ,unknowable4 ,mr4 ,martineau has finely observed1 somewhere1 that this name is self-contradictory2 for we affirm by the use of it that we know so much1 that ,he cannot be known4 ,i go much further4 ,it assumes the existence of ,god1 and in the same breath separates us from ,him for ever4 ,theologians have ever been ready to confess that ,god cannot be known in ,his own essence to creatures such as we4 ,lo6 these are parts of ,his ways3 but how little a portion is known of ,him8 but the thunder of ,his power who can understand8#i ,an uninspired writer speaks the same language as the inspired4 ,for us that are men to talk about divine things is as when the unmusical discourse of music or civilians of strategy4#aj ,but shall we then sit down in despair1 and no more look up to ,god8 ,we shall be untrue to our own best instincts2 we shall not have used all our means of enlightenment4 ,i grant that the mere contemplation of ,god in nature is not enough4 ,like the pillar of cloud of old1 it is at once light and darkness2 a light to us in contemplating the book of nature1 a darkness to our hearts1 shut in with their own sins and sorrows4 ,naturalists have never done justice1 as it seems to me1 to the most important facts of man's nature4 ,not only can he study nature1 but he can act in it and upon it4 ,and this power of action assures him of his freedom4 ,possessed of this gift1 that places him a little lower than the angels1 he knows that he can use it either way4 ,he may follow his own foolish vanity1 his own evil wishes1 and set up for his own law1 and be his own ,god2 or he may return to ,him1 whence he came out1 and offer to ,god the homage of his own will1 of his love1 and his obedience4 ,to one who has performed this great act ,god is no more the ,unknowable4 ,in the mutual commerce of two wills1 two spirits1 the finite and the infinite1 the finite rises more and more1 and sees more and more of ,him who has manifested ,himself to us in ,his creation of the world out of free love1 in ,his creation of a free being to rule in the same world1 crowned with glory and honor1 in ,his giving that free being a law of duty wherewith to rule himself1 in ,his having planted in him hopes and longings that will be satisfied only in eternity4 ,yes2 man is humble and low4 ,by every organ1 and by every fibre he is mated with some analogous creature in the brute world4 ,he surpasses them in the variety of his ailments1 and the profundity of his pains4 ,he is part of a system1 which naturalists tell us is hastening towards night and death2#aa the motion of the power of nature tending plainly towards universal rest4 ,but ,placed on this isthmus of a middle state1 ,a being darkly wise and rudely great1 he has that in him which unites him to another sphere4 ,to be able to conceive of ,god at all2 to have within him a will and a power of worship1 these make him one with ,god1 and assure him against death and darkness4 ,to deny oneself this privilege of viewing the earth in its relation to ,god1 to shut out ,god artificially from that sphere where the natural understanding has always found ,him without assistance1 is a pedantry for which we shall surely suffer4 ,god will find us out4 ,there is often a certain irritation in those who would exclude ,him from their sphere of view4 ,they lose their philosophic calmness when they speak of religious things4 ,these are the tokens of past conflicts and past quarrels1 of a soul that might know more of ,god if it had not refused4 ,god is reflected in the world1 in the man's intelligence1 in his conscience1 in his will4 ,whither shall ,i go from ,his presence8 we seem to be saying4 ,it is better to be able to say1 ,whom have ,i in heaven and earth but ,thee8 ,,pantheism4 ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,j4 ,h4 ,,rigg1 ,d4,d41 ,,principal ,,of ,,westminster ,,training ,,college4 ,,pantheism4 ,a hundred years ago the controversy of ,christianity in ,england was with ,deism1 and in ,france with ,atheism2 while at that time the transcendental infidelity of ,germany was as yet undeveloped1 and the name of ,spinoza was nowhere held in honour4 ,now1 however1 deistic infidelity appears to be obsolete1 and it is universally felt by those who have entered truly into the thought and controversies of the age1 that the question for the present is between ,christian ,theism and that style of philosophy which recognises an impersonal divinity in all things4 ,deism grants too much to the ,christian4 ,if a man really believes in a living and personal ,god1 a ,divine ,maker and ,ruler of the universe1 with a moral character and will1 he finds it hard to deny the possibility and probability of a revelation1 and impossible to maintain the impossibility of miracles4 ,having been obliged to yield thus far to the ,christian argument1 the deist is unable thereafter to withstand the positive evidence in favour of ,christianity4 ,moreover ,deism is beset by the same difficulties in effect which surround the ,christian revelation1 without its lights1 its consolations1 its blessings4 ,the man1 therefore1 who rejects ,christianity seldom finds his resting-place in ,deism4 ,he becomes a pantheist or an atheist4 ,naked atheism1 however1 is a repulsive creed4 ,it is a heart-withering negation4 ,it touches no sympathy2 it stimulates no play of intellect2 under the deadly chill of its unlighted vacancy1 imagination cannot breathe4 ,there is nothing about it refined1 or subtle1 or profound4 ,it is the barest and hardest form of infidelity1 and has been professed by the coarsest minds4 ,it demands no effort to comprehend its one universal negation and it taxes no skill to expound it4 ,it is an arid and barren1 a cold and dreary1 hypothesis1 which no genius1 not even that of ,lucretius1 could make attractive4 ,the old illustration is conclusive as to its absurdity4 ,it would be immensely less monstrous to maintain that the ,iliad1 in its full perfection1 might have been the product of the fortuitous concourse of the letters of the ,greek alphabet1 than that this infinitely wonderful and glorious universe is the result of the fortuitous concourse of atoms4 ,stark atheism1 therefore1 however it may have flourished in the heartless and hopeless ,france of a hundred years ago1 was never likely to take root in the soil of ,european scepticism as the alternative of ,christianity4 ,in ,england it has had very few votaries4 ,nor has atheism1 as such1 ever found favour in the land of ,luther and ,melancthon1 the favourite soil of mysticism and pietism4 ,english deism and ,scottish scepticism did1 indeed1 produce potent effects in ,germany a hundred years ago2 but the result was neither deism1 nor such scepticism as that of ,hume1 nor atheism1 but a dreamy idealistic pantheism4 ,and now ,germany1 with a disastrous fidelity1 by an infusion into our literature of its pantheistic unbelief1 has repaid to ,britain the debt which it contracted by its importation of ,english deism and ,scottish scepticism4 ,at the present moment a pantheistic philosophy is the philosophy in which unbelief for the most part invests itself in ,england4 ,hence the task which falls to me to-day cannot but be felt by myself to be one of very grave importance4 ,i could unfeignedly have wished that it had fallen into other and more competent hands4 ,perhaps1 however1 ,i may venture to claim two qualifications which may1 in some measure1 help to fit me for dealing with the subject on which ,i have to speak4 ,one is1 that the subject of ,pantheism is one which has much and frequently exercised my thoughts for many years past1 ever since ,i learnt from the writings of ,coleridge1 ,hare1 and others the meaning of what ,hare spoke of as the fascination of ,pantheism2 ever since ,i was led to the study of philosophy and its development1 and especially of the thoughts of the early ,greek wrestlers with the mysteries of being1 of the ,alexandrian ,neo-,platonists1 and of the modern thinkers of ,germany1 who have filled with transcendental exhalations of verbal dialectics the vacuum in speculation which had been created by the destructive logic of ,kant4 ,the other qualification which ,i venture to claim for my task to-day is that ,i have some knowledge of the difficulties of thought and belief which may lead honest men to become pantheists2 that ,i understand the manner of thought of one who has become entangled in the mazy coil of pantheistic reasonings2 at all events1 that ,i know that honest searchers after truth may reluctantly become intellectually pantheists1 while yet their heart longs to retain faith and worship towards a personal ,god4 ,if1 therefore1 one necessary condition of true success in argument is an intellectual and1 as far as possible1 a moral sympathy with one's opponents1 that condition1 ,i believe1 is fulfilled in my case4 ,and ,i cannot but think that all ,christian controversialists ought to feel a tender sympathy towards honest thinkers who are involved in the bewildering confusions of a philosophy which they do not love1 even although they may1 after many a struggle and in sadness of heart1 have succumbed at length to ,pantheism as the only conclusion of controversy in which they are able to abide4 ,my subject to-day is not the history of ,pantheism1 but its principles4 ,the history could not be dealt with in one lecture2 the principles1 ,i hope1 may4 ,and whatever may be the intellectual genesis1 the descent and derivation1 or the special character1 of any particular form of ,pantheism1 all its forms will be found to coincide in certain respects4 ,the semi-,hegelian of ,oxford1 and the pantheist who falls back on the lines of ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer's speculations as his place of defence1 may both be regarded as standing on common ground for the purpose of my present argument4 ,in attempting a criticism of the principles of ,pantheism1 the first thing to be done is to obtain as clear an idea as possible of what is to be understood by ,pantheism1 as distinguished from ,theism on the one hand1 and from ,atheism on the other4 ,there can be no doubt that the difficulties1 both metaphysical and moral1 which attach to the conception of a personal ,god1 the ,creator and ,governor of the universe1 have1 more than any other cause1 constrained thoughtful men who have pondered the problem of the universe1 to endeavour to escape from their perplexities and bewilderments by taking refuge in the notion of a diffused impersonal divinity4 ,and it must be confessed that these difficulties are so oppressive and so staggering to our incompetent human reason1 that they might well tempt the mere reasoner1 the mere logician1 the mere metaphysician1 to give up faith in a personal ,god1 if so to do were not really to involve one's self in more than equivalent difficulties of the very same class1 besides many other difficulties1 and in truth contradictions1 both intellectual and also moral1 which are involved in the pantheistic hypothesis4 ,that the alternative is such as ,i have now stated1 that the pantheistic hypothesis is necessarily beset with such difficulties and contradictions1 will in part be shown by the inquiry which1 as ,i have intimated1 must needs come first of all in the criticism ,i am to attempt4 ,an investigation of the meaning of ,pantheism1 of the characteristic idea proper to the intermediate hypothesis which rejects equally ,a-,theism and ,theism1 will open to view the metaphysical difficulties and contradictions involved in the hypothesis4 ,i shall afterwards try to show the incompatibility of the principles of ,pantheism with the true principles of natural science4 ,the moral considerations belonging to the ,christian controversy with ,pantheism ,i shall reserve till the final stage in my argument4 ,pantheism agrees with atheism in its denial of a personal ,deity4 ,its divinity of the universe is a divinity without a will and without conscious intelligence4 ,in what respect1 then1 does ,pantheism really differ from atheism8 ,if we eliminate from our idea of the divinity of the universe all consciousness1 all sympathy1 all will1 what sort of a divinity remains1 what sense of a present and real divine power is left to the man that shrinks from atheism8 ,atheism denies that in1 or over1 or with nature there is anything whatever besides nature4 ,does not ,pantheism do the very same8 ,if not1 what is there1 let the pantheist tell us1 in nature besides nature8 ,what sort of a divinity is that which is separate from conscious intelligence and from voluntary will or power8 ,is it said that though there be no ,deity in the universe1 yet there is a harmony1 a unity1 an unfolding plan and purpose1 which must be recognised as transcending all limitation1 as unerring1 inexhaustible1 infinite1 and therefore as divine8 ,let us ask ourselves what unity that can be which is above mere nature1 as such1 and yet stands in no relation to a personal ,lord and ,ruler of the universe2 what plan and purpose that can be which is the product of no intelligence1 which no mind ever planned2 what infinite and unerring harmony can mean1 when there is no harmonist to inspire and regulate the life and movement of the whole4 ,do not the points of distinction which the pantheist makes between his philosophy and the bald tenets of the atheist amount in effect to so many admissions that the facts of the universe cannot be stated1 that the phenomena of nature cannot be described1 with anything like fidelity or accuracy1 without the use of language such as has no real meaning unless it implies the existence and operation throughout universal nature of a supreme actuative and providential ,mind and ,will8 ,the least and lowest implication which is involved in ,pantheism1 the most elementary idea which the word pantheism can be held to connote1 the barest minimum of meaning which the creed of the pantheist can be presumed to contain1 is that there is in the whole of nature--in this universe of being--a divine unity4 ,let us then look at this word unity1 and consider closely what it must mean4 ,those who believe in a divine unity pervading all nature must imply that in the midst of the infinite complexity and variety of the universe there is everywhere to be recognised a grand law and order of nature--a method1 plan1 and harmony in the great whole1 which must consequently be traceable through all the parts4 ,but whose and whence is this grand law8 ,is it indeed a reality8 ,are all things fitted to each other1 part to part1 law to law1 force to force1 throughout the infinite depths of microscopic disclosures1 throughout the infinite exuberance of nature's grandest provinces1 throughout all space and all duration8 ,do all things work to meet each other8 ,is every several life-cell1 each organic fibre1 moving1 tending1 developing1 making escapes or overtures1 as if a separate angel of unerring sympathy and insight1 of illimitable plastic skill and power1 of creative energy and perfect providence1 inhabited1 inspired1 and actuated it8 ,is it so that the man of science1 who enters into communion with nature's actual life1 and movement1 and purpose1 seems to see and feel divinities1 unrestingly1 unweariedly1 in silent omnipotence1 in infinite diffusion1 everywhere at work1 so that the reverent inquirer and gazer to whom this wondrous spectacle is unveiled1 could almost1 in his own pantheistic sense1 adopt the invocation of ,coleridge1 and address the powers he sees at work in such words as these3 ,spirits that hover o'er ,the immeasurable fount1 ,ebullient with creative ,deity6 ,and ye of plastic power that interfused ,roll through the grosser and material mass1 ,in organising surge6 ,holies of ,god6 7,and what if ,monads of the ,infinite ,mind87 ,is it so8 ,i ask4 ,then1 what does such a real harmony and such universal correspondence and providence as this imply8 ,surely we must perforce adopt one of two alternatives4 ,if we refuse to believe in ,one ,ruling1 ,organizing1 ,creative ,mind1 ,one ,living1 ,universal ,mind and ,will and ,providence1 which works through all1 we must endow each separate being1 or at least each form of life1 with creative energy1 illimitable and all-answering sensibility and sympathy1 unerring wisdom1 and veritable will4 ,nay1 ultimately1 as it seems to me1 the alternative must be between accepting the faith in an infinite ,god1 and attributing to even the particles of inorganic matter1 amenable as these are to the laws of gravitation and chemical combination1 a wisdom1 will1 and power of their own1 the power of intelligence and of self-direction4 ,as to what are called the laws of gravitation and of chemical combination1 we know that a law1 like an idol1 is nothing in the world but a name4 ,there is no power but of ,god2 the powers that be1 are ordained of ,god4 ,a law is not a power2 the laws of science do but define observed methods of movement or forms of customary relation between thing and thing4 ,of one thing1 at any rate1 ,i think we may be sure1 that a mere order of nature1 ascertained though it may have been by the truest and surest induction1 cannot have made and cannot sustain itself1 cannot be self-originated and self-impelled4 ,so also it is certain that a mere plastic universal power1 apart from any creative or providential mind1 however its products might seem to imply intelligence1 could be animated by no conscious purpose1 and could not be conceived as working with blind automatic certainty conformably to a grand cosmical plan or towards a providential end4 ,and if the divinity of the pantheist is nothing more than a personified law or order of nature1 his personification of this order or law can add nothing to its virtue or potency1 can by no means transform it from a phrase into a living power1 from a figure of speech into a real and intelligent force1 can never constitute it into a divinity4 ,the more ,i reflect upon the subject1 the more assured the conclusion appears to be1 that any conception of a real unity in and of nature is self-contradictory and unmeaning1 except upon the assumption of a conscious and intelligent ,creator4 ,the unity of nature1 to a man who denies the existence of a real ,god1 cannot be a unity inherent in nature1 cannot be a unity according to which nature itself has been planned1 and is really working2 it is an imputed unity1 the conception of the pantheistic philosopher's own mind4 ,unity1 indeed1 as apprehended by us--and it can only be known through our apprehension of it--is essentially a conception1 a relative idea4 ,if one could conceive nature as existing destitute of a mind either to work on a plan1 or to recognise a plan in working1 in such nature there could be no unity4 ,unity in action implies a plan of voluntary working1 and therefore a regulating mind4 ,unity of conception and exposition implies an intelligent observer4 ,the unity of nature1 if it be not the plan and work of the very ,god1 can be nothing more than a scheme and conception which has been invented and imputed by man4 ,but perhaps it may be thought that the word unity1 as used by pantheists1 should be understood rather as referring to the ultimate oneness and identity of all force throughout the universe1 than to harmony of universal plan and purpose4 ,various as are the appearances of nature1 and the modes in which the laws of nature operate1 it may yet be set forth by the pantheist as his belief1--a belief1 he will say1 which the modern advance of science tends continually to establish as the true theory of the universe1--that all force is ultimately one1 that the different forces of nature are mutually convertible and equivalent1 that one energy of nature1 ,protean1 universal1 of infinite plasticity and power of variation or adaptation1 pervades and actuates all things4 ,it may be called gravitation1 or electricity1 or light1 or heat1 or nervous energy1 or vital force2 but ultimately and essentially it is one and the same2 it is1 to quote well-worn lines which will be held here strictly to apply-- ,changed thro' all1 and yet in all the same4 ,it ,warms in the sun1 refreshes in the breeze1 ,glows in the stars1 and blossoms in the trees2 ,lives thro' all life1 extends thro' all extent1 ,spreads undivided1 operates unspent3 ,breathes in our soul1 informs our mortal part1 99 99 99 99 99 ,to it no high1 no low1 no great1 no small1 ,it fills1 it bounds1 connects1 and equals all4 ,now if this be the pantheistic unity which is admitted by men who deny a personal ,deity1 ,i will not stay to object that such a view is hardly consistent with the essential distinction in nature which even ,professor ,huxley and men of his school unwaveringly and powerfully maintain1 between inorganic matter and living forms4 ,it is more to my purpose to remark that it is much simpler and easier to believe in a personal ,god1 than in such an impersonal divinity as this ,protean ,force4 ,every difficulty which belongs to the thought of ,god's existence belongs to this also4 ,this force must be self-originated1 must have been from everlasting1 must be creative1 omnipresent1 providential1 equal to all plans1 purposes1 contrivances1 inspirations1 which have been1 or ever will be1 in this ddalean and infinite universe2 must be the source of all intelligence1 though itself unintelligent2 of all sympathy1 although itself incapable of sympathy2 must have formed the eye1 though it cannot see1 and the ear1 though it cannot hear2 must have blossomed and developed into personal intelligences1 although personal intelligence is a property which cannot be attributed to it2 must unquestionably be omniscient as well as omnipresent1 or it could not1 in its infinite convertibility1 anticipate all needs1 meet all demands1 answer in absolute and universal harmony to every faculty1 capability1 and tendency of all things that are and all things that become4 ,now is it reasonable to object to the doctrine of a personal ,deity because of its inconceivability and its stupendous difficulties1 and yet to believe in such a primal1 essential1 immaterial1 creative1 infinite1 blind and unintelligent force as this8 ,surely no contradiction could be greater4 ,the conception of ,god as from everlasting is stupendous4 ,but an infinite ,protean ,force from everlasting1 destitute of intelligence and will1 yet continually operative as the life1 soul1 wisdom1 and providence1 of all things1 is nothing less than contradictory and absurd4 ,i can come to no conclusion1 accordingly1 but that ,pantheism really only differs from atheism1 in so far as it confesses that it is impossible to speak with ordinary propriety1 or in any such way as to meet the necessities either of science itself or of the common sense and feelings of mankind1 without employing theistic language4 ,it has been said that hypocrisy is the homage which vice pays to virtue4 ,so a profession of ,pantheism is the tribute of compliance at least in speech1 is the outward language of homage1 which theism has power to extort from atheism4 ,pantheism1 as is said by the author of ,lothair1 is but atheism in domino4 ,nothing1 as the same writer adds1 can surely be more monstrous than to represent a creator as unconscious of creating4 ,yes1 ,pantheism is but veiled atheism4 ,strip ,pantheism of all involutions of thought and all investitures of language1 and in its naked truth it stands forth as mere atheism4 ,every form which ,pantheism takes1 every disguise which it assumes1 to hide from itself and from the world its real character1 is a testimony borne by atheism to the necessity which all men feel for assuming the existence of ,deity2 ,what ,robespierre is reported to have said with reference to political government and national well-being1 that if there were not a ,god1 it would be necessary to invent one1 is felt by pantheistic philosophers to be true in regard to nature4 ,so monstrous a conception is that of this universe without a governing mind2 so clearly and directly to the common sense of mankind do the infinite harmonies of the universe seem to imply a designing and governing ,intelligence2 so indubitably does the might and life of the universe1 ever coming forth anew1 ever springing up afresh1 ever unfolding and advancing1 imply a central living ,power1 ,one with the infinite governing ,intelligence2 that pantheists1 in order to speak and write intelligibly1 are compelled to invest nature with the qualities which they deny to the ,deity1 to attribute a spirit and intelligence to the whole machine1 because they deny the existence of the great ,mechanist2 to personify a harmony and unity which is but an abstraction1 which1 on their own hypothesis1 is but a grand accident1 a result without a cause1 because they refuse to believe in a personal ,god4 ,i am very far indeed from wishing to come under the definition of what ,mr4 ,hutton has spoken of as the ,hard ,church1 or to carry my positions merely by the use of the dilemma1 yet ,i cannot refrain from saying1 parenthetically1 that the argument of the dilemma1 carefully and truly applied1 is not only always legitimate but often necessary1 and ,i must affirm that it applies very closely in the present instance4 ,the pantheist cannot maintain his position midway between atheism and theism4 ,if he absolutely refuses to be a theist1 it is necessary to show him that he will have to yield to the cruel necessity of acknowledging himself to be an atheist4 ,standing midway1 his position is altogether untenable1 from whichever side it is assailed4 ,on the one side1 the pantheist is condemned by the same arguments which condemn atheism2 on the other side1 the atheist may justly allege against the position of the pantheist the self-same difficulties which both pantheist and atheist urge against theism4 ,but if pantheism be in reality only atheism1 ,i may henceforth disregard the verbal distinction between the two1 and bring forward considerations and arguments which apply indifferently to either4 ,in pursuing the discussion ,i shall take up in detail some points of argument already1 as to their general scope1 more or less distinctly intimated in the preliminary considerations which ,i have advanced4 ,to explode any view of the world which excludes from it the presence and government of a personal ,god1 nothing more is needed than to realize and truly understand the atheistic view in its various aspects4 ,let us try the atheist's theory on the history of the universe1 and see whether it can be made to fit1 or must be broken in the attempt to fit it4 ,the will and interference of ,god1 as the ,lord and ,ruler of the universe1 is excluded4 ,the universe is held to have been from the beginning without a shaping and ruling intelligence and will4 ,no mind has presided over its destinies1 has animated its energies2 no providence of ,divine power and wisdom has guided its changes and progress1 has renewed and replenished and sustained it4 ,it follows that no power or will from beyond itself has ever touched the universe4 ,its own unaided and unguided powers have done all4 ,if the universe did not make itself1 it has developed itself3 all that has been1 or is to be1 was included potentially in that which was at the beginning1 and has unfolded in necessary order4 ,the vision presented is to certain minds very fascinating3 it is a vision of vast unbroken progress1 of continual and infinite self-development4 ,but let it be worked out1 and let us consider what it really means4 ,such an hypothesis must lead us back1 in the infinite dim distance of the original and indistinguishable past1 into a universe-mist of germinal powers from which all has since developed4--,but stay4 ,was this mist and expanse of universal nature in its origines all homogeneous and at one stage of existence8 ,then ,i have to ask1 whence came it8 ,what1 going ever further and further back1 where were the infinitely earlier1 fainter1 evanishing entities or powers1 into which infinite creative force and potentiality was diffused8 and what the one life and grand harmony of influences and impulses1 tending towards an infinite goal of progress and perfection1 which pervaded the whole8 ,what does all this mean8 ,is this easier1 simpler1 more rational1 than to believe in ,god from everlasting8 ,is anything gained in simplicity1 comprehensibility1 probability1 or in scientific character1 by denying that in the increasing purpose which runs through the ages there is any guidance of a divine intelligence or working of a divine will2 and calling the whole process from first to last1 from everlasting to everlasting1 development8 ,what is this word development but a name8 ,does the use of the word explain anything8 ,does the use of the word reduce the mystery of the universe to the simplicity of an axiom8 ,does the use of the word provide a simple equivalent for all that divine wisdom1 power1 and providence1 have ever been imagined to do for the universe8 ,men call the mystery of being and becoming by the name of development1 and then say that all things are effected by development1 and that development explains all6 ,whereas this development of which they talk so familiarly1 as though they understood all its secrets1 and were privy to its infinitely various and mighty workings1 and could unfold its source and meaning1 is itself all the time the very mystery to be resolved and explained4 ,development is in truth as amazing and incomprehensible a mystery as creation4 ,it seems to be but another word for creation4 ,only they who affect its use instead of the word creation1 insist upon creation without a creator4 ,the unintelligent and unconscious universe1 on their view1 is continually creating itself4 ,the hypothesis of development1 however1 is not only unintelligible and utterly devoid of reality1 when criticized in its general principle2 as might be expected1 it altogether breaks down when it is tested in detail4 ,professor ,huxley's protoplasm breaks it down4 ,all the scientific evidence1 as that eminent teacher of science showed at ,liverpool last autumn1 is opposed to the idea that protoplasm was developed out of inorganic matter4 ,the hypothesis of spontaneous life-generation appears to be exploded4 ,science1 at any rate1 on its own positive principles1 has no right whatever to pretend that life has ever been developed out of what was not living4 ,here1 then1 a great and1 so far as science can help us to form a judgment1 an altogether impassable barrier rises to view against any development hypothesis4 ,at a certain stage in the history of the universe protoplasm1 organized life1 made its appearance on the scene1 starting up as a perfectly new1 an original1 an undeveloped phenomenon4 ,before1 all had been inorganic and dead2 now ,life was abroad in the world1 destined to increase and multiply1 and replenish the universe4 ,let those who deny divine and creative will and government1 inform us whence came this life4 ,it was not developed4 ,must it not have been created4 ,if not1 then whence1 ,i ask1 whence did it spring8 ,the argument which ,i have just urged should1 as ,i venture to think1 be conclusive even with those who know1 and seek to know1 nothing more of science than the order and method of its phenomenal processes4 ,i will now bring forward a consideration which will1 ,i hope1 be admitted to have weight by those men of science--it is to be greatly lamented that there should be so few of these--who have studied the nature and working of the mind as well as the phenomena of sense4 ,we have seen that protoplasm--that ,life--was not developed out of inorganic matter1 but appears to have been an entirely new and primary fact on the face of the universe4 ,life came in and appropriated1 put to its own uses1 bound up under its own seal1 impregnated with its own specific virtue1 the raw inorganic materials which it found in nature2 but the power of ,life itself was altogether new4 ,a fact in some sort analogous to this confronts us in a higher sphere1 in the sphere of living intelligence itself4 ,i refer to the emergence of personal consciousness among the world of living creatures4 ,to me it appears that the sense of personality is an altogether new and original fact1 one which cannot be conceived as developed or developable out of any pre-existing phenomena or conditions4 ,whence it comes1 or how it arises1 ,i know not4 ,but it appears to be1 in and of itself1 the assertion of an essential separateness between ,one's ,self and all phenomena1 all constituents1 all conditions whatever4 ,the sense of an ,i ,myself1 of ,personality1 asserts an antithesis between the ,man1 and all that the ,man uses1 takes up into his personality1 makes his own4 ,as ,life binds up inorganic matter under its seal1 but is not developed out of inorganic matter1 so the voluntary and responsible ,self binds up under the seal of its own personality all that belongs to the manifold life of its complex being4 ,as life brings into the universe a new world of phenomena1 higher and more manifold than those of mere inorganic matter1 yet embodying and adopting these1 so personality brings into the universe a new world of vastly higher and rarer phenomena than those of mere vitality1 yet embodies and adopts these3--it introduces all that belongs to reflection and morality1 giving birth to an intelligence and a world of thought1 in which all the lower and anterior phenomena of the world become matters of cognisance1 and are mirrored as objects of thought4 ,as ,i venture to think that this sense of personality1 with the new world of reflective consciousness and morality which it brings in1 is a fact1 starting up in the midst of a universe of anterior developments1 such as all ,mr4 ,darwin's solvents utterly fail to touch1 a phenomenon which remains as far from explanation as before he wrote his last book1 so it appears to me that the power of human speech is another fact starting up in the midst of the line of supposed developments which no hypothesis of evolution can afford any help towards explaining4 ,miraculously developed reason1 something higher1 as it seems to me1 than any development of human reason our race has1 in its highest culture1 as yet put forth1 must have been necessary in order to the invention of language by any race even of the most sagacious mammals4 ,and yet1 again1 speech itself is a necessity1 a necessary instrument1 in order to the high development of reason4 ,we have some idea what deaf mutes of our human family are like1 when no painstaking and kindly culture has been bestowed on their intelligence1 and temper1 and affections1 and conscience4 ,let us conceive the whole race of man to be1 and to have been from the beginning1 not indeed deaf1 but congenitally and irreversibly dumb1 with no more power of articulate expression than a horse1 or let us say1 a dog4 ,what would the development of human reason have been under such conditions8 ,how1 then1 is it possible to conceive that the wondrous faculty and instrument of speech was ever invented and perfected by mammals of infra-human faculty and development1 and that they were afterwards through this invention developed yet more highly1 until they attained to the dignity and advancement of humanity8 ,such infra-human mammals must have been more miraculously endowed in order to such an invention than ever man himself has been4 ,after all that ,mr4 ,darwin has written1 does or can any reasonable man or woman actually believe in the possibility1--apart from the ,divine ,power and ,will and ,guidance1--for that is the point1--of the self-development1 the spontaneous upgrowth of articulate language8 ,let us study our quadrupedal familiars1 for the sake of illustration and analogy4 ,we see daily how our noble dogs strain and groan after speech1 do all but speak3 we mark their eloquent looks1 their speaking gestures1 their wonderfully expressive movements1 how they watch us speak1 and seem as if they understood what speech is to us1 and as if they craved most longingly the power for themselves4 ,we cannot but sympathetically admire the intelligent1 the benevolent1 the noble1 the sagacious physiognomies which they show4 ,if any creature ever could1 would1 or did develop speech in any rudimentary form1 are not they just in the circumstances to do it8 ,and when once rudimentally begun1 however uncouthly and imperfectly1 should not their organs continually improve by the continual effort and the increasing intelligence8 ,is it not immensely less hard of belief1 and less difficult to imagine1 that dogs should develop speech1 than that man should have been developed from the larv of the ascidi8 ,yet is there even a beginning made towards the canine development of articulate language1 or does any living man believe that such a beginning ever could be made8 ,to me it appears that human speech and human personality are in some way bound up with each other1 that the one1 in some sort1 implies the other1 and that these two characteristics of our race present an insuperable obstacle to the acceptance by really scientific thinkers of any hypothesis of evolution which1 leaving ,god out of nature1 would account for the whole existence and progress of the universe on the principle of spontaneous development4 ,but again1 let me be allowed to test the development hypothesis in detail at another point4 ,this hypothesis--and any pantheistic or atheistic view of the universe which professes to be scientific--is obliged to confess that all living beings1 of whatever sort1 have been developed out of a single primary cell--called often a germ-cell--of protoplasm4 ,here they find the beginning of every kind of life4 ,the plant1 the animal1 of every sort1--the lichen1 the cedar1 the sponge1 the bird1 the mammal1 the minutest entozoon1 the most microscopic infusorium1 and man1--have been developed out of these primary cells4 ,what then do the same men who teach us this1 find to be the constitution of these same cells1 when microscopically examined8 ,they find them to be1 for the most part1 and indeed always1 if allowance be made for very trivial exceptions1 identically the same4 ,the matter is identically the same1 the appearance identically the same2 no difference whatever of constitution1 form1 or properties1 is to be detected4 ,they cannot tell whether the nettle1 or the frog1 or the eagle1 or the man1 is to be developed out of any given cell3 for anything their science can teach them1 any of these might be developed1 as they call it1 out of any cell4 ,but if this be so1 is it scientific1 is it real or true1 is it not altogether misleading1 to speak of mere development in such a case8 ,the flower may be said to be developed out of the bud because the bud is the flower in miniature1 the flower is really folded up in the bud4 ,but surely here is no case of mere development2 here is no unfolding out of the germ-cell of what is potentially contained in the cell1 regarded as a merely material organism4 ,judged by every test of physical experiment1 the primary cells are identically the same2 and yet they grow into forms essentially and infinitely dissimilar4 ,does it not clearly appear that here is a matter in which some power above and beyond the mere physical constitution and nature of the primary cell must be admitted1 on every principle of science1 on every ground of pure candour and truth1 to be of necessity present8 ,is it not evident that with each germ-cell there must be associated some individual life-power which animates the cell1 which uses it as a unit to multiply1 as a foundation to build upon1 which does build and weave and work into it and upon it continually new material1 which1 for its own use in its work of weaving and fabricating1 and for the completion of its own distinctive form and vehicle1 takes toll of air and earth and water and heat-power--the ancient elements--selecting out of them its appropriate pabulum1 in whatever chemical combinations of the primary elements known to our modern scientific analysis may be fit and needful8 ,surely not development1 but life1 the mystery of individual life1 is here4 ,and if the philosopher will deny the omnipresent creative and sustaining power of ,god1 it appears to me that he must be prepared to animate each germ-cell with an individual intelligence which works with divine power1 on a definite and most miraculous plan1 and towards a distinct goal of perfection4 ,to call such various powers and processes1 such diverse and generically different operations1 in every sphere of life1 by the same term1 appears to me to be unscientific2 to speak of them all alike as processes of unfolding or development1 when results the most infinitely unlike and separate are obtained from beginnings which are identically alike1 appears to be not only unscientific but altogether misleading4 ,i do not think it arrogant or unwarranted to conclude from such considerations as ,i have been trying to set forth1 that evolution1 or development1 apart from the power and guidance of the ,living ,god1 is an unphilosophical1 an unscientific idea1 an empty1 an unmeaning word4 ,it is a thing of naught1 utterly impotent to solve the mysteries of the universe1 even when expounded and reinforced by ,mr4 ,darwin's ,natural ,selection4 ,i have not a word to say here against the views of ,mr4 ,darwin1 as defined and modified by the requirements of scientific modesty and precision4 ,if ,i had any pretensions to be called a student of natural science1 ,i should sit at the feet of ,mr4 ,darwin when he speaks1 not as a philosophic theorist1 but as a scientific observer and a truly inductive naturalist4 ,but ,i must say here in respect to ,natural ,selection1 regarded as1 according to ,mr4 ,darwin's hypothesis1 the handmaid of development1 that1 like development1 it is but a name1 and not a power4 ,it describes the order and mode according to which ,providence works2 it is not itself a force--a working energy4 ,mr4 ,darwin himself indeed often speaks as if ,natural ,selection were itself a power and a providence4 ,i find to my hand in ,mr4 ,kingsley's fine1 suggestive paper on ,the ,natural ,theology of the ,future1 recently published in ,macmillan's ,magazine1 a sentence of ,mr4 ,darwin's in regard to ,natural ,selection which ,i will quote4 ,it may be metaphorically said1 writes ,mr4 ,darwin1 that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinizing throughout the world every variation even the slightest2 rejecting that which is bad1 preserving and adding up that which is good1 silently and necessarily working whenever and wherever opportunity offers at the improvement of every organic being4 ,it may be metaphorically said1 are ,mr4 ,darwin's words4 ,but in fact he is using1 not a metaphor1 but a personification4 ,the distinction ,mr4 ,darwin does not see4 ,he repeatedly speaks of his personifications as metaphors4 ,but the distinction notwithstanding is most important4 ,by personifying ,natural ,selection ,mr4 ,darwin makes it appear to be a cause1 attributes to it a real power1 nay1 wisdom and providence1 as well as power4 ,he speaks in one place of ,nature's power of selection2 contrasting this with the powers of artificial selection exercised by feeble man1 by which1 however1 man can do so much2 and arguing that ,nature's power of selection must be incomparably greater1 and competent to produce incomparably superior effects in respect of the beauty and infinite complexity of the co-adaptations between all organic beings1 one with another1 and with their physical conditions of life4 ,language of a similar sort he very frequently uses4 ,he has1 therefore1 as a scientific man laid himself open to the reproof of ,m4 ,flourens1 whom no one will deny to be a scientific critic4 ,either1 says ,m4 ,flourens1 ,natural ,selection is nothing1 or it is nature1 but nature endowed with the attribute of selection--nature personified1 which is the last error of the last century2 the nineteenth century has done with personifications4 ,the nineteenth century ought to have done with personifications2 but with the spirit of ,lamarck's speculations the style of the ,french atheistic philosophy of the last century reappears4 ,mr4 ,darwin1 in the passage quoted by ,mr4 ,kingsley1 describes the manner in which his ,natural ,selection may be conceived as operating4 ,what1 if his meaning were expressed with strict scientific truth1 he ought to intend to say1 is that such as he describes is the result of providential working according to the mode and order which he designates by the phrase ,natural ,selection4 ,all we ask1 says one of ,mr4 ,darwin's ablest critics1 is that we may be allowed to believe in a ,god and a real ,divine ,providence1 as powerful and wise and good as ,mr4 ,darwin's ,natural ,selection4 ,but1 moreover1 it must not be forgotten that there is something besides the mere process of change and growth1 of what our philosophers call development1 to be accounted for4 ,there is a fact on which the growth1 the change1 the evolution1 must be held in a true sense to depend3 a prior fact to be taken account of4 ,the growth proceeds upon a plan1 and fulfils an idea3 protoplasm itself embodies a scientific principle4 ,but as the seal must be before the impression1 the original before the copy1 so the principle must be before its embodiment1 the plan and the idea must be before the growth3 the end1 towards which as its goal the growth or development proceeds1 must have been conceived and set up as an aim before its fulfilment began4 ,we are bound therefore1 if we would exhaust the problem1 nay1 if we would truly conceive1 and justly state it1 to ask how and whence the principle1 the plan1 the idea1 the end1 had their existence8 ,these are realities2 they are the most inner and essential realities in every instance of growth or development2 to deal only with the development of the physical basis1 is to leave untouched the kernel of the matter1 is altogether superficial and unreal4 ,but principles1 plans1 types and ideas1 ends contemplated in movement and progress1 these at any rate are not physical1 are not matters of sense and organization4 ,they are1 as ,i have said1 prior to what is physical1 they are conditions antecedent to organization and growth4 ,moreover1 they are mental conceptions1 not physical affections4 ,they are only possible1 they have no meaning1 except as the thoughts of some mind4 ,here1 then1 we are brought back by an inevitable necessity to an antecedent mind1 the seat and origin of all the principles1 the plans the ideas1 the ends1 embodied in organized beings1 and fulfilled in their existence1 growth1 and perfection4 ,in short1 from whatever side we contemplate the problems of nature1 and whencesoever we take our point of departure in their investigation1 we find ourselves brought face to face with creative mind4 ,the things which are seen and temporal lead us always inwards to the things which are unseen and eternal2 man and creaturely existence conduct us to the living ,god4 ,if any one would escape from the pressure of this argument by hardily denying that living organization involves principle or plan1 type or idea1 purpose or end1 it can only follow that the living forms of the universe are an infinite congeries of accidental combinations1 that in reality there are no such things as organs1 that there can be no such thing as development1 and that there is no such thing as law4 ,what men call law is mere sequence that happens to follow regularly4 ,the whole universe has been constituted and regulated by the fortuitous concourse of atoms4 ,against such a conclusion as this ,i do not need to argue4 ,it is the naked and repulsive atheism of which ,i spoke in the introduction to this lecture4 ,the line of argument which ,i have been pursuing seems to force us to the conclusion that there is no logical resting-place between such theism as ,christianity teaches and such ,democritean atheism as that of which we have now had a glimpse4 ,but if this be so1 it follows that it is impossible to deny design and final causes in creation1 and the sway and oversight of a universal ,divine ,providence1 the providence of a living ,god1 except by denying all law4 ,to the ,christian theist1 science is living science indeed2 to the pantheist1 no less than the atheist1 science is hardly better than a dead register4 ,he may talk of the wisdom1 the power1 the order1 the benevolence1 of nature4 ,but such expressions on the lips of a pantheist are utterly illusive4 ,all the wisdom1 all the marvellous adjustments of nature1 are but the happy conjunctures1 the exquisite chance unisons1 of he knows not what4 ,when lost in admiration of marvellous organizations1 complexly apt and beautiful contrivances1 of what seem like the most studied and beneficent provisions1 the soul that is beginning to glow with wonder at this seeming wisdom1 and to swell with thankfulness because of this seeming love1 must be chilled into blank confusion and amazement by the thought that there is no ,being of ,wisdom and ,benevolence ,who is to be thanked and adored because of these ,his marvellous works4 ,surely this is enough to darken the universe to the explorer of nature's mysteries1 and to fill his soul with perpetual melancholy4 ,nor is it easy to understand how any man of true science1 any real inductive philosopher1 who comes into contact with nature's living processes and hears the perpetual whisper of her living voice1 can be ensnared into the acceptance of such a hard mystery of sceptical belief as this4 ,surely1 then1 on purely scientific grounds1--the grounds not only of metaphysical but also of natural science1 on every ground which can be appealed to by high and pure philosophy1 we are at liberty1 ,i should say we are bound1 to reject the hypothesis which attempts to expound nature and to solve its mysteries1 without the admission of a divine mind4 ,sense and matter and the observed order of phenomena do not constitute the whole of our science4 ,there are some words written by a poet1 too much neglected at the present time1 which ,i cannot forbear from quoting here4 ,how should matter occupy a charge ,dull as it is1 and satisfy a law1 ,so vast in its demands1 unless impelled ,to ceaseless service by a ceaseless force1 ,and under pressure of some conscious cause8 ,the ,lord of all1 ,himself through all diffused1 ,sustains1 and is the life of all that lives4 ,nature is but a name for an effect1 ,whose cause is ,god4 ,he feeds the secret fire ,by which the mighty process is maintained1 ,who sleeps not1 is not weary2 in whose sight ,slow circling ages are as transient days2 ,whose work is without labour2 whose designs ,no flaw deforms1 no difficulty thwarts2 ,and whose beneficence no charge exhausts4 ,surely1 if ,i may here quote some words of ,mr4 ,kingsley's in the lecture to which ,i have already referred1 this is what men of science are finding1 more and more1 below their facts1 below all phenomena which the scalpel and the microscope can show1 a something nameless1 invisible1 imponderable1 yet seemingly omnipresent and omnipotent1 retreating before them deeper and deeper1 the deeper they delve1 that which the old schoolmen called 'forma formativa1' the mystery of that unknown and truly miraculous element in nature which is always escaping them1 though they cannot escape it1 that of which it was written of old1 ',whither shall ,i go from ,thy presence1 or whither shall ,i flee from ,thy ,spirit8' ,the observations which ,i have thus far offered are directed wholly to the philosophical and scientific aspect of the argument respecting ,pantheism4 ,i cannot bring this lecture to an end without referring to the moral branch of the argument4 ,the existence of evil in the universe is alleged as an argument against the existence of ,god and divine government4 ,doubtless1 the existence of evil is a painful mystery4 ,many good ,christians have felt it to be an oppressive and almost an overwhelming mystery4 ,it is one of the difficulties attendant on the ,christian's belief2 it is1 in fact1 the one moral difficulty4 ,but difficulties and mysteries cannot annul the positive necessities of thought and argument4 ,if such arguments as ,i have endeavoured to state make all science to be contradictory and unintelligible which speaks1 in one breath1 of the laws and wisdom of nature1 and1 in the next1 denies the existence of a ,god1 then we are bound to accept theism with its inevitable consequences1 notwithstanding the mysteries1 whether metaphysical or moral1 which our faith may involve4 ,mysteries are not contradictions1 and1 in whichever direction we move1 we shall find it impossible to escape from them4 ,mysteries surround the position of the sceptic or the atheist1 no less than that of the ,christian theist2 not only mysteries1 but1 as we have seen1 contradictions1 beset him round1 in whichever direction he turns4 ,the ,christian theist1 by his faith in ,god1 accepts the mysteries which are involved in the thought of ,god1 but1 unlike the unbeliever1 he escapes from contradictions and absurdities4 ,it appears that the morality of man--his great glory--that his sense of responsibility and of voluntary moral power1 that which most peculiarly constitutes him man1 involves the law of moral influence as between man and man4 ,it appears further that the power and faculty of moral influence for good must needs involve the law of moral influence for evil4 ,from the fact of man's own moral nature and moral responsibility1 and the consequent fact of his moral influence over his fellow-men1 is derived1 not only the possibility of moral evil in the case of a solitary individual1 but the possibility1 perhaps ,i may say the naturalness1 the probability1 of a contagion of moral evil spreading throughout the race1 the effect of which can only be counteracted or limited by moral arrangements and influences specially constituted for that end4 ,so much ,i may perhaps say in general1 although the subject is one on which ,i think it wiser1 as a rule1 to say nothing4 ,i feel it to be a profound and perilous mystery1 however gloriously it may have been made the occasion for the manifestation in ,christ ,jesus our ,lord of the ,divine superabounding wisdom1 mercy1 and power4 ,but if we admit the subject to be involved in profound1 even terrible mystery1 is that a reason why1 making shipwreck at one plunge of all that belongs to humanity1 faith and hope and philosophy should commit suicide1 and descend together into the gulf of everlasting darkness and despair6 ,reason may reel and grow dizzy while it looks too long and too absorbedly down the fearful and fathomless depths of the mystery of sin1 but that is no sufficient cause why reason should cast itself headlong into the abyss4 ,pantheism has only one way in which to escape from the mystery of evil1 and that is to deny all distinction between right and wrong1 between moral good and moral evil4 ,of course there can be no such thing as sin for the pantheist1 because all1 according to his creed1 is nature and development and necessity4 ,holiness is a matter of taste or sentiment4 ,conscience is an illusive development2 what we regard as divine morality is but utilitarianism sentimentalized and exalted into sacred law under the influence of unenlightened impulse and antique superstition1 a mere affair of the association of ideas which science will some day explain away4 ,the ontology and ethics of ,pantheism may be summed up in one sentence1 ,whatever is1 is2 and there is neither right nor wrong1 but all is fate and nature4 ,pantheism--,i say ,pantheism just as truly and completely as atheism1 for the difference between the two1 as we have seen1 is but one of name and phrase1 and both alike deny ,god and conscience--,pantheism thus does cruel violence to every better instinct of our nature1 outrages all the demands of religion and government1 whether human or divine1 and makes itself the direst foe of human progress and well-being4 ,many pantheists1 doubtless1 have been and are virtuous1 even noble1 men2 some1 ,i am prepared to believe1 may even1 in a certain sense1 be religious men4 ,but the direct tendency of the pantheistic philosophy is confessedly what ,i have now stated4 ,when moral and pure1 its pure morality can be nothing more1 at least in theory1 than a refined utilitarianism4 ,only as such can any pantheist pretend to impose morality as law4 ,to sum up1 may ,i not say that ,pantheism1 whether in its metaphysical or its moral aspect1 is the dream of men who will not admit that there is in the universe anything beyond what their senses immediately reveal to them8 ,its philosophy was represented in the last century in its lower and more popular form by ,condorcet2 the basis of whose system was laid in the principle1 penser c'est sentir1--thought is nothing more than sense or feeling2 in its higher and more intellectual form it was represented by the sceptical sense-idealism of ,hume4 ,at the present day ,bain and ,mill have endeavoured to develop the principle of ,condorcet in harmony with the higher and more subtle philosophy of ,hume4 ,the result appears to be a sort of nihilistic sense-idealism4 ,matter is probably nothing different from our mental ideas--so far ,berkeley1 no less than ,hume1 is followed2 our ideas1 however developed1 are yet essentially only the combination and interfusion of our sensations and sense-associations2 meantime there is no evidence of the real and substantial existence either of the world outside us1 or of ourselves as true and separate selves or persons1 or of ,god4 ,such at least would seem to be the metaphysics of the distinctively ,english school of ,pantheism1 i4e41 of ,pantheism rendered into philosophic system by the ,english mind4 ,the ,german ,pantheism has infected the tendencies of ,english thought and criticism1 but1 notwithstanding the influence of ,hegel at ,oxford1 has not been reproduced in any ,english system of egoistic ,pantheism4 ,in their aspects and results1 in relation to theism and ,christian faith1 the ,german egoistic ,pantheism and the ,english sense-idealistic ,pantheism strictly coincide4 ,such then is the highest philosophy to-day of those who1 refusing to be called atheists1 nevertheless reject all faith in ,god2 of those who1 rejecting ,christian theism1 claim to be positively neither more nor less than the men of science4 ,men of science though they be1 their philosophy is the philosophy of nescience and the philosophy of despair4 ,we need be under no apprehension that such a philosophy will ever be generally accepted4 ,it is too strong1 too sorrowful1 too nauseous a composition to suit the common taste4 ,it not only dissolves morality and its foundations1 but it precludes all hope of immortality4 ,the race indeed may be immortal and progressively great and glorious1 although how even so much can be known is more than ,i can see2 but the individual man by man1 woman by woman1 child by child1 perishes each one for ever4 ,men and women with yearning1 loving hearts1 with tender and passionate affections1 who have buried their dead out of their sight1 and who could not endure to live if they were doomed to sorrow without hope1 cannot but reject with loathing and horror such doctrines as these4 ,men of various culture1 of manifold intellectual resources1 who live in the midst of refined and accomplished society1 and who are not suffering from the pang of immedicable anguish and irreparable bereavement1 may possibly live so merely intellectual and speculative a life1 may be so wholly absorbed in mere science1 may have so far separated themselves from all that belongs to the heart's affections and the trembling religious sensibilities of human nature1 as to adopt the philosophy of nihilism with hardy calmness1 although ,i confess that it passes my power to understand or conceive this2 such men may be content to follow their speculative conclusions into the blackness of darkness for ever1 and may thus1 if not less1 be more than the common crowd of humanity4 ,but such a philosophy will not content those who share the ordinary wants and sensibilities of our race4 ,the working1 sorrowing1 loving1 hoping men and women of this human race will no more be able to satisfy themselves with any atheistic or1 if any should prefer so to call it1 pantheistic philosophy1 than they can feast upon the east wind4 ,they will cleave to that ,christian truth and faith which has brought life and immortality to light1 and which1 in showing to the craving heart of needy1 sorrowing1 sinful man the ,father reconciled in ,christ1 has blessedly sufficed a longing world4 ,indeed1 it would seem that1 when1 it comes to the point1 even distinguished leaders in the ranks of those against whose views ,i have been arguing1 find it impossible to give up their faith1 at least in immortality4 ,rnan is unquestionably one of the most distinguished leaders among those men of learning and culture who deny the existence of a creative will and ,personal ,god4 ,yet ,rnan cannot make up his mind that he has lost for ever his beloved sister2 that she has passed into the night of nothingness into which he must soon follow her4 ,in the dedication to her memory of his ,life of ,jesus1 he addresses an invocation to the pure soul of his sister ,henriette1 who died at ,byblos1 ,sept4 #bdth1 #ahfa2 and appeals to her to reveal to him1 from the bosom of ,god in which she rests1 those truths which are mightier than death1 and take away the fear of death4 ,rnan1 then1 after all1 cannot give up his sister1 nor1 if it were only for her sake1 his belief in immortality4 ,and yet how utterly unscientific is such a belief1 if science is to be defined and limited in accordance with the principles of the anti-theistic philosophy4 ,where can our men of mere sense-science find any physical basis of immortality8 ,there is no hope1 no instinct or faith1 at once so indissolubly bound up with our nature1 so necessary to the development of all that is best in man1 and so utterly destitute of evidence and basis in merely natural science1 as our assurance of immortality4 ,if we are to retain our belief in immortality1 we must maintain our faith in realities above and apart from sense1 in realities which cannot be tested or investigated by any appliances of natural science4 ,if immortality be true1 ,pantheism cannot be true4 ,what1 then1 have we found respecting the seductive and too fashionable illusion which has led astray so many minds1 especially of speculative1 restless1 and daring intelligence1 in the present age8 ,we have found that ,pantheism is essentially only atheism in disguise1 and occupies a position in which it combines against itself the arguments which theists have to allege against atheism1 and atheists against theism2 that1 while it dethrones the true ,god1 it sets up in ,his place ,development and ,natural ,selection as its divinities1 clothing them with the attributes which it denies to deity2 that its development hypothesis will not bear the test of science1 of the natural science to which it professes to appeal2 that the origin of protoplasm1 the attributes of man1 and the growth and transformation of germ-cells1 alike refuse to accord with the hypothesis2 that the very nature of science itself1 as recognizing law and organization1 is incompatible with any philosophy which denies theism2 that the moral difficulties which rise up as a barrier against a denial of the ,christian theism are no less insurmountable than the metaphysical and scientific difficulties2 that morality1 conscience1 natural affection1 immortal hope1 every deepest1 most tender and sacred1 most blessed and humanising1 instinct of our nature is violated by the denial of a personal and holy ,god and ,judge2 in a word1 that our whole humanity revolts against it4 ,may ,i venture to hope that the views which ,i have now endeavoured to set forth may have some weight with young and inquiring spirits8 ,no more terrible suffering can there be1 than for an honest1 loving1 and virtuous nature to become involved in the meshes of pantheistic doubt and unbelief4 ,we must make up our minds to bear with many profound and painful mysteries which are not to be solved by man2 but may the good ,spirit of ,god save us each and all from losing our childlike faith in ,his almighty1 omnipresent1 and absolutely good and holy government and providence6 ,,positivism4 ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,w4 ,,jackson1 ,m4,a41 ,f4,s4,a41 ,,late ,,fellow ,,of ,,worcester ,,college1 ,,oxford4 ,,positivism4 ,everybody in this room has1 ,i suppose1 heard of the positive sciences1 or ,positivism in some shape or other4 ,what does ,positivism mean8 ,a system based on positive facts4 ,but what are facts8 ,they are 7says the ,positivist7 observed phenomena4 ,as for metaphysical conceptions of all sorts1 these are negatives with nothing real1 nothing positively true in them4 ,truth must be sought amongst observed phenomena4 ,it is worth our while to examine this last proposition4 ,take a phenomenon4 ,you have all observed colour1--what is it8 ,a physicist1 if you ask him1 will tell you of a modification in a ray of light variously produced--by refraction1 for example--as when sunlight breaks a dark cloud into many-tinted beauty4 ,but how if all the world of men and animals were blind8 ,the physiologist will step in and speak to you of the structure of the eye--the susceptibility of its retina for special impressions2 there he says you may find colour4 ,put both accounts together1 and they appear as part-causes1 each a factor helping to make up a result2 which result physicist and physiologist would agree to call colour4 ,yet again3 ,suppose the human and animal world were deprived of all consciousness1 all which in the widest meaning we call mind--their eyes remaining like mirrors1 telescopes1 microscopes2 perfect instruments1 only every kind of intelligence1 instinctive or rational1 gone4 ,where would colour then be8 ,the sun might play upon cloud or rain1 the light of a rainbow be reflected in the eye4 ,were there but perceiving mind1 the impression would exist4 ,but we are supposing the impressible to be wanting2 there is no sensation1 no percipient2 colour must remain unknown1 for there is nothing capable of observing it4 ,now this shows you1 first1 how important it is to emphasize the word observed added to phenomenon4 ,it shows you1 secondly1 where the ultimate seat of every observation really lies2 each observed phenomenon1 each positive fact1 is at last neither more nor less than a mental state4 ,the evidence for each fact is the condition of your own mind1 your consciousness as it is called4 ,you may sift the thing witnessed1 verify1 examine1 and cross-examine2 but after all1 your own consciousness is the first real evidence you have got4 ,it would seem1 then1 that the most positive of all sciences would be the science of mind2 and the next most positive the sciences which enable us to draw conclusions from our positively existing mental states2 the statements1 we may call them1 which our minds make to us4 ,yet1 strange to say1 the very first thing ,positivism does is to dispense with a science of mind1 as mind1 altogether4 ,mr4 ,mill makes it a severe reproach against ,comte1 that he ignores both psychology and logic2 recognizes no power in the mind1 even of self-observation2 accepts no theory even of the inductive process4 ,mr4 ,mill characterises ,comte's want of mental science as a grave aberration4#ab ,it is indeed so4 ,this appears plainly enough in the example just adduced from our commonest sensation1 the every-day phenomenon of colour4 ,it was made up1 you saw1 of three factors1 a physical antecedent1 a condition of the sensitive apparatus1 and a mind which received into its consciousness the impression instrumentally conveyed to it4 ,this last1 you will remember1 was the first fact to us4 ,it is the fact3 the revelation of an outward world1 its changes and its continuing presence1 its rest and its constant motion4 ,without this fact of inward consciousness1 nature would have possessed no more significance than pictures seen in the eyes of the newly dead4 ,such being the case1 it needs no argument to show the importance of making quite sure that our interpretation of nature is correct4 ,if there be any unobserved illusion in our sensory instruments1 or what must evidently be much worse1 in our percipient mind1 truth is at an end1 and falsehood received in its stead4 ,hence the necessity of observing our own observations1 subjecting our consciousness to scrutiny1 and being acquainted with the criteria1 not only of our perceptions1 but of our judgments4 ,it is this process of analysis and criticism which forms a large part of the method of verification1--a method the value of which did not escape the great ,greek philosophers1 though some recent writers seem to fancy it a modern discovery4 ,inexperienced observers are often so little aware of the pre-eminent importance of this critical process1 that ,i will detain you with an illustration of it for the benefit of my younger auditors4 ,my example shall be taken from perception par excellence--our eyesight1 the sense pronounced surest both in poetry and prose4 ,you will remember your ,horace ,segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem1 ,quam qu sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus1 et qu ,ipse sibi tradit spectator4 ,and almost everybody else has said the same1 as witness the old proverb1 ,seeing is believing4 ,now ,i will mention five instances in which people believe they see something1 and do not see it2 in other words1 the objective antecedent is wanting1 and the impression is produced partly by the sensory apparatus1 partly by the mind itself4 ,as ,i describe these instances one by one1 let my hearers ask themselves1 ,how does this illusion come about8 ,is it produced by our optic instrument or by our mental activity8 ,first1 then1 ,take a lighted stick1 and whirl it rapidly round and round4 ,you believe you see a circle of sparks--in reality it is no more than a simple train1 and on a like illusion the ,catherine-wheel is constructed4 ,again1 put yourself in the hands of an optically inclined friend1 and let him operate upon you thus4 ,he shall place a cardboard down the middle axis of your face1 quite close against your nose--one side of his board1 say the right1 coloured a brilliant red1 the left a vivid green4 ,after an instant or two let him suddenly substitute another board1 white on both sides4 ,do my young friends guess what will follow8 ,your right eye will see green1 your left red--the reverse of what they saw before2 yet neither will see correctly1 for both eyes are looking at uncoloured surfaces4 ,thirdly1 ,watch the full moon rising--how large and round she looks1 resting as it were upon that eastern hill1 and seen amidst the tops of its forest trees6 ,how much larger and broader than when she hangs aloft in upper sky6 ,has every one here learned the true reason why8 ,if not1 look at her through a slit in a card1 and her diameter will be the same4 ,fourthly1 ,a schoolboy is crossing his bedroom in the deep dark night1 anxiously hoping that his head may not come into collision with the bed-post4 ,though carefully and successfully avoiding it1 he imagines of a sudden that the blow is imminent4 ,quick as thought he stops to save his head1 and1 behold1 the room is as quickly filled with sparks or flames of fire4 ,another moment1 and all becomes dark once more4 ,i have heard many a schoolboy exclaim over this phenomenon1 but never knew one who could explain it4 ,finally1 did you ever1 on opening your eyes in a morning1 close them quickly again1 and keep them shut1 directing them as if to look straight forwards8 ,most persons of active nervous power1 after a few trials--say a dozen1 or a score--are surprised to see colours appear and flit before the sight4 ,some years ago1 ,germany's greatest poet tried1 at the suggestion of her greatest physiologist1 a series of experiments on these coloured images4 ,he found that by an effort of will he could cause them to come and go1 govern their movement1 march1 and succession4 ,and this took place under no conditions of impaired sensation1 nor any hallucination of a diseased mind4 ,a thoroughly healthy will succeeded in impressing itself upon physical instruments1 controlling their law1 and creating at its own pleasure an unfailingly bright phantasmagoria4 ,some here may1 others may not1 have apprehended the distinctions between our five cases4 ,the first two are due to the sensory apparatus1 its optical laws of continued impression and complementary colour4 ,in the latter three1 mind intervenes4 ,the enlarged size of the moon occurs through rapid comparison1 the fiery lights in a dark room through instinctive apprehension1 both influences of mind on the sensory system4 ,the fifth and most interesting of all is no bad example of interference between moral and material law4 ,the will truly causative 7you may remark7 overrules the natural process of physical impression1 alters it1 and creates a designed effect4 ,i wish ,i could induce my young friends to devise a number of experiments on similar mixed cases1 and1 having tried them1 to dissect out their real laws4 ,these sharpenings of the critical faculty are exceedingly useful--they cultivate clearness2 and most people know that two-thirds among our mistakes in life are caused by confusion of thought4 ,besides all other uses1 such lessons teach at once the necessity1 as we said before1 of observing your own observations4 ,and as1 first1 the real witness of every observation is our mind2 every fact#afh which comes through our bodily senses being to us a mental impression1 it seems but common sense to hear above all things what mind has to say for and about itself4 ,then1 secondly1 where would be the benefit derived from our observations1 if we could not reason upon them1 or could place no confidence in our own reasonings8 ,yet the art of reasoning is so purely a mental process1 that it can be represented by symbols as abstract and free from material meaning as if they were bare algebraic signs4 ,thirdly1 in the most accurate of sciences mind extends our knowledge far beyond the circle of observation1 and gives us axiomatic assurance of its own accuracy4 ,who ever saw1 or ever can see1 all straight lines in all conceivable positions1 yet who doubts that throughout the whole universe no two straight lines ever did inclose or can inclose a space8 ,and1 fourthly1 can it be a matter of indifference to any of us what evidence the mind offers concerning its own moral nature1 and what is the value of that evidence1 and the laws deducible therefrom8 ,how true it thus appears that know thyself lies at the root of all knowledge1 and that the man who receives no witness from within can know nothing as he ought to know it6 ,comte swept away all these and the like considerations by a neat little fiction of his own4 ,we cannot observe ourselves observing1 he said1 we cannot observe ourselves reasoning4 ,so1 then1 logic becomes a chimera1 and psychology a word of contempt4 ,respecting this fallacy1 ,mr4 ,mill thinks the only wonder is that it should impose on any one4 ,clearly it imposed on ,comte himself4 ,but1 what organon1 asks ,mill1 for the study of our moral and intellectual functions does ,m4 ,comte offer in lieu of the direct mental observation which he repudiates8 ,we are almost ashamed to say it is phrenology6 ,mill regards this statement as a reductio ad absurdum1 but the actual organon substituted is more absurd still4 ,comte's phrenology was not the phrenology of ,gall or ,spurzheim1 but a funny small bantling of his own1 a sort of infant phenomenon1 called into existence not without a ,positive purpose4 ,in plain words1 mind was no longer to give evidence respecting itself4 ,we must study its laws in brain4 ,how any true correspondence of brain and mind could be known unless both were studied1 does not appear4 ,comte overlooked the question in his anxiety to substitute for psychology and its laws a bodily function and its laws4 ,yet his motive appears to have been excellent6 ,he regarded this dwarfed superficial phrenology1 ,mr4 ,mill tells us1 as extricating the mental study of man from the metaphysical stage1 and elevating it to the positive4 ,the chief gist of which sentence1 bewildering to the uninitiated1 opens up the very core and centre of the ,positive system--a subject for dissection of some considerable human interest4 ,each science is brought into the positive stage when it is co-ordinated according to positive laws--systematized1 ,comte would say4 ,he has a perfect mania for systematization2 system is with him almost an equivalent for truth4 ,of course1 the real value of every system turns entirely on its co-ordinating method1 or principle of formation2 and ,comte's1 we see1 was one of positive laws4 ,the nature of these laws is1 therefore1 the essence and turning-point of the whole matter4 ,i cannot impress upon you too strongly the paramount importance of keeping this truth steadily in view4 ,but if any one inquires exactly what these laws are1 he asks1 ,i fear1 a puzzling question4 ,puzzling1 for this reason that1 say what one will--employ any words1 however carefully selected--one may become liable to the charge of raising a false impression4 ,positivist savans themselves do not use any uniform phraseology1 and many phrases they do use are necessarily derived from philosophies most disedifying to ,positive ears4 ,examples showing what sort of law is really meant are therefore always welcome2 and few could be more instructive than this way of making mind ,positive4 ,comte did not falter in his purpose4 ,later on he explained the necessity 7for his system1 you understand7 of bringing our intellectual and moral phenomena under the same law with other phenomena of animal life2 and reduced them1 not to brain action pure and simple1 but to cerebral functions1 controlled by the viscera and vegetative movements of our bodily existence4 ,let us look at the meaning of all this4 ,soul used to be conceived of as different in kind from body4 ,the brain1 the nervous system1 the body1 were its organs1 allies1 machines4 ,sometimes they1 especially the instruments through which the soul more immediately works1 exercised reaction on their sovereign employer2 they impeded or suspended her functions1 and troubled her serenity4 ,but though they might cloud the manifestation1 they could not destroy the essence of a living soul4 ,what they did was temporal and transitory2 but they shall pass away and be dissolved1 while soul will endure for ever4 ,the word mind has been much used to signify soul1 as acting in and through body4 ,there is1 however1 some vagueness in its employment4 ,yet we constantly speak of the laws of mind1 because soul is in this life the partner of body2 and therefore known to us as mind1 and as mind is studied through its laws4 ,one psychological task has always been to separate the pure activity of soul from the mixed workings of mind1 by examination and cross-examination of our internal consciousness4 ,you will now easily understand how vast the change ,comte intended by his physiological organon for the study of our moral and intellectual functions4 ,you will see what is meant by elevating mental science to the ,positive stage1 and systematizing it under laws which people may variously describe as phenomenal1 mechanical1 or material2 adjectives all roughly used to express the same general idea4 ,what we took for a spiritual essence is only a developed animal nature1 the difference between men and beasts of the field is not one of kind1 but of degree4 ,man,k,i,n,d is a misnomer4 ,humanity is 7as ,comte thought7 a higher degree of animality4 ,we have no right to suppose a personal immortality4 ,man may be said to live after death in the memory of his fellow-men1 but the truly ,positive philosopher believes in no other deathless existence4 ,what we really can see and investigate is a vast moving mechanism1 our universe4 ,beyond this all knowledge is a blank4 ,we know of nothing which set this mechanism in motion2 it may have moved from all eternity2 it may go on moving everlastingly2 or it may wear itself out4 ,philosophy can teach us no more than distinctions and degrees in the phenomenal law which pervades and rules a universe without a ,god4 ,yet ,comte said that he was no ,atheist4 ,he even denounced ,atheism1 and declared it as bad as theology4 ,he did not wish to deny1 only to ignore ,god4 ,neither did he desire to appear ungrateful2 7pardon words which sound in your ears profanity27 ,god was a really useful hypothesis once2 in the days when men had recently issued from their primval forests4 ,thanking the ,deity for ,his provisional services1 ,comte courteously dismissed ,him from ,his throne4 ,all this will have seemed to you a most monstrous tissue of negations4 ,but ,comte held it to be a code of ,positive faith2 a faith firmly grounded on the self-sufficingness of human nature1 read according to his version of course--void of belief in a personality which survives the grave1 without knowledge of1 trust in1 or prayer to ,god4 ,the blessings of this advanced faith he desired to extend far and wide4 ,at the present moment his desire is realizing itself2 for the like attitude of thought has become a favourite position among the savans of our ,western world4 ,when it penetrates the more active classes1 we shall discern it easily by its fruits6 what those fruits will be1 is a question for statesmen and for us all4 ,the chief hindrance opposing its spread amongst unsophisticated minds has been a point much dwelt upon of old by ,plato1 and by ,cicero after him4 ,it is the protest which that irrepressible entity called soul perseveres in alleging4 ,we are all apt to shrink from the picture of bodily dissolution3 ,to lie in cold obstruction1 and to rot2 ,this sensible warm motion to become ,a kneaded clod6 ,but what if the delighted spirit has been developed by brain1 and with brain must be dissolved8 ,our whole distinctive human life1 our mind1 moral1 intellectual1 spiritual1 rebels against a doom of subjection to that crass material law6 ,yet can we establish a difference8 ,can we show that the law of our true being differs from the law of things outside us8 ,this question1 unspeakably interesting to every one of us1 might be put in various shapes4 ,we might ask1 ,can the protest of soul be set down as a mere sentiment only8 ,if it were no more than an instinct of our nature1 it would deserve consideration2 for why should so high and noble an instinct be aimless and misleading8 ,if we cannot trust our own souls1 what are we to trust8 ,phenomena themselves are given us within4 ,mathematical truths1 which ,positivists are obliged to exempt from phenomenal law1 have a subjective validity--we cannot help thinking them1 and we cannot think their contradictories4 ,but suppose that a future state of recompence with its inferential moralities cannot be denied without denying our own consciousness--pronouncing the clearest of our intuitions a will o' the wisp--or1 sadder still1 a corpse light on the grave of hope--nay1 more1 without subverting the law which makes human society to differ from animal gregariousness1 and gives to human action its spring1 its liberty1 its life--suppose all this true1 what shall1 what can we say8 ,and such is the issue ,i propose to try this morning4 ,the plan ,i have devised for trying it fairly is1 first1 to get as clear an idea as short compass will allow of what ,positivism says on our question4 ,afterwards to state a case for moral law by way of antithesis4 ,it is through the law of our moral being that we may most readily look for something to difference our souls from creatures below them4 ,the strain ,i shall have to put on your attention lies in this2 after grasping in brief the ,positivist attitude1 ,i must ask that you will not take my facts or arguments on trust1 but will verify each severally by an appeal to your own consciousness4 ,it is always upon the law deduced from or applied to facts that you ought to exercise your greatest vigilance4 ,for law interprets facts to us--we might almost say that under its manipulation they bend like a nose of wax2 nothing1 you will remember1 so flexible as figures1 except facts4 ,let me represent these maxims to you under a similitude4 ,everybody has looked 7when young at least7 through a kaleidoscope1 and has observed the beauty of its many-coloured figures1 their symmetrical shapes1 and the enchantment of their succession4 ,what magic creates this phantasmagoria8 ,some pretty bits of coloured glass1 shining gewgaws1 scraps of lace1 fripperies1 and other odds and ends1 are put into a translucent box1 and beheld through a tube fitted with mirrors which are set at an angle determined by optical law4 ,the broken knick-knacks represent the facts of everybody's phenomenal kaleidoscope2 the reflecting angle under which they are seen is its law2 the coloured images are everybody's impressions of things1 nature1 and mankind4 ,as long as you live1 remember that whenever you are contemplating the world's phenomena--whenever you see facts of life1 either great or small1 you are looking at them through some optical instrument or another4 ,if its law accords with their law1 your view is truthful2 but then it will be all the less pretty1 the less symmetrical4 ,there are dark spots in our real world1 checks of all sorts1 moral evil1 anguish of heart and conscience1 foresights1 stern accountabilities6 ,you have lost your childhood's magic glass1 and have got a clear reflecting telescope in its stead6 ,pity to forego the nice kaleidoscope where all was so bright1 so harmonious1 and arrayed in such regular shapes4 ,yet the view it gave was worth what most people's views are worth--precisely nothing6 ,comte had his kaleidoscope4 ,every systematizer who allows no mystery1 no darkness anywhere1 must keep the article2 in point of fact1 most people enjoy having one4 ,alas6 for the #aith century6 ,it has such a feverish viewiness1 such a fashion of incessantly turning its magic tube1 that life seems little else than a dreamy phantasmagoria6 ,to construct a steady reflecting instrument for yourself requires industry1 time1 and thought1 three things which few people care to bestow upon their beliefs4 ,therefore the practice is to pick up kaleidoscopes ready-made at a cheap rate1 and to feel as easy as stern realities will permit on the subject of their truthfulness4 ,romances are the kaleidoscopes of one class1 cram-books of a second1 newspapers of a third1 self-love the optical law of the greatest number4 ,we are met this morning to break up a grand kaleidoscope1 and to look into its construction4 ,i shall do my endeavour to prevent you all from replacing it by any instrument of a ready-made sort4 ,the easiest plan for all lecturers is to display a series of transparent conclusions2 but ,i shall prefer furnishing you with facts and arguments1 letting you put them together1 look at them1 and verify their law of true vision for yourselves4 ,let us see ,comte's law first4 ,it was1 strictly speaking1 a law of succession and resemblance4 ,you will guess at once that were this all we could see in the phenomenal world1 our insight would be very limited4 ,and ,comte's object was to limit us4 ,we can never know1 ,positively speaking1 final causes2 those which make up the common notion of design1 purpose1 intention4 ,nor yet any efficient causes2 nothing truly productive of an effect1 as men usually say4 ,all we can know is the middle of a chain of successive phenomena4 ,the two ends are absolutely hidden from our eyes4 ,it was in this sense that ,comte denied causation--his language was vigorous2 he denounced it as metaphysical1 and when ,comte nicknames anything metaphysical or theological1 he means1 as everybody knows1 ,anathema maranatha4 ,the difficulty here is palpable4 ,a law of averages--a statistical law1 as it is often called1 does not profess to account for anything2 it merely generalizes crude material1 and gets it ready for scientific thought to work out the true law4 ,but a law of succession has an imposing sound1 and it does in the worst sense impose4 ,the fallacy may be shown in an instant4 ,day and night succeed each other regularly4 ,does either account for the other8 ,the rotation of the earth is simultaneous with both--it accounts for both4 ,its effect is to expose the earth's two hemispheres alternately to the sun's rays4 ,this rotation coincides again with other laws of our planetary system1 and they account for it4 ,it is on these laws1 and not on such grounds as ,hume1 ,comte's great ,positive antecedent1 alleged1 that we look for sunset and sunrise4 ,when they fail1 the system of which our globe forms part will have collapsed4 ,such then was the original kaleidoscope of ,positivism4 ,it was condemned for reasons which will have plainly appeared to you4 ,other eyes have swept the field of vision this world offers1 and other instruments to aid our insight have been adopted4 ,you will not have failed already to remark the extreme vagueness of that word law4 ,there are very few ,english words more vague3 it is applied to almost every sort of formula1 force1 principle1 idea2 besides being misused in ways almost innumerable4 ,you must therefore1 when busy with questions like the present1 fix your attention upon the adjectives added to it1 and the examples selected by way of illustration4 ,the ,positive system is1 according to ,littr1 of immeasurable extent1 embracing the whole universe4 ,thus1 whatever was conceived in dark preparatory ages1 theological or metaphysical2 whatsoever persons1 who philosophize in either of those antiquated ways may even now dream2--if the conception cannot be reduced under ,positive laws1 it must be regarded as non-existent4 ,all that really exists is included within such laws1 the definition of which1 therefore1 becomes a subject of the greatest possible importance4 ,they are1 he says1 immanent causes4 ,the room we are in contains intelligent and educated people1 but how many here could define this word immanent8 ,it and its correlative1 transcendent1 are in truth metaphysical terms4 ,if you will turn to ,mellin's ,encyclopdic ,word-,book 7favourably known to metaphysicians for purposes of pillage71 you will find immanent explained1 under the ,german einheimisch1 into ten shades of usage4 ,probably1 in common ,english ,littr might have said inherent4 ,the universe1 he writes1 now appears to us as a whole1 having its causes within itself1 causes which we name its laws4 ,the long conflict between immanence and transcendence is touching its close4 ,transcendence is theology or metaphysic1 explaining the universe by causes outside it2 immanence is science1 explaining the universe by causes within itself4#ac ,now1 one stock-in-trade example is that a stone falls to the ground by virtue of an immanent cause4 ,in plainer words1 the stone belongs to universal matter of which gravity is an inherent law4 ,next1 we find this same example ,positively applied to the human will4 ,volition is free just as a falling stone is free2 it obeys its own inherent law4 ,further1 we read of the rigorous fatalities which make the world what it is4 ,comte1 ,littr1 and others object against calling these fatalities materialistic1 because they distinguish gradations of law4 ,yet they limit all human knowledge within the materialistic circle1 and ,janet1 who refuses to acquit them of ,materialism1 dwells on the point that1 instead of defining mind as an unknown cause of thought1 emotion1 and will1 it is said to be1 when anatomically considered1 the sum of the functions of brain and spinal cord2 and when considered physiologically1 the sum of the functions of brain in consciously receiving impressions4#ad ,we need not wish to dispute about words4 ,but suppose it had been stated in plain ,french or ,english that all known or knowable objects in the universe are placed by ,positivism under the rule of laws as rigorous in their fatality as the laws of matter1 would not the ultimate point in question have been more tangible1 more intelligible8 ,people might indeed have said1 ,why1 after all ,positivism comes to the same thing as ,fatalism1 or ,materialism2 and with certain writers this risk may very possibly be held a decisive objection4 ,once more1--another explanation given by ,littr is1 that ,positivism lies strictly within the relative4 ,many here are aware how1 since ,kant's time1 ,england1 ,france1 and ,germany have been flooded with metaphysic1 good1 bad1 and indifferent1 on the relative and the conditioned4 ,pity that ,littr should have plunged into these whirlpools6 ,ravaisson refers to ,herbert ,spencer and ,sophie ,st4 ,germain for the point that this conception1 the relative1 must always imply the existence of an absolute1 known or unknown4#afi ,i cannot follow him now1 but any one interested in doing so will find the subject commenced at page #ff of his ,philosophie en ,france1 7one of the ,imperial ,reports71 and continued through sections #i and #aj4 ,it is a very important discussion4 ,ravaisson stands out amongst ,frenchmen as a consummate master of his science2 and he inclines to infer that ,comte tended1 and that ,positivism generally now tends1 towards a final return to metaphysic4 ,however this may be1 ,i fear ,i have tired you1 and am glad to quit this dry part of my lecture1 and get away to more common-sense ground4 ,by way of introducing our most interesting topic1 let me draw one common-sense conclusion from the difficult tract just shot over4 ,during our passage1 a thought may have flashed upon you which ,i remember hearing in a ,bampton ,lecture1 somewhat to this effect--,positivism is the most negative system of all4 ,it appears hard to avoid this idea2 for ,positivism denies in express terms that human beings have any knowledge outside those generalized laws of experience which make up the ,positive sciences4 ,it denies 7in a word7 the most essential part of what was formerly held to be a knowledge of mind1 both human and ,divine4 ,positive thinkers rebut the charge of negativism this way4 ,we confine ourselves1 they say1 to what we know2 we do not venture1 like ,pantheists and ,atheists1 into the unknowable4 ,we do not deny ,god1 we only ignore ,him4 ,we do not ask about the first cause of the world1 or whether it has a constructural final end4 ,such questions as these are disedifying4 ,the ,positive philosophy1 says ,littr1 does not busy itself with the beginning of the universe1 if the universe had a beginning--nor yet with what happens to living things1 plants1 animals1 men1 after their death1 or at the consummation of the ages1 if the ages have a consummation4#ae ,littr's sentence1 which ,i have rendered verbatim1 reminds one of the prayer told to ,bishop ,atterbury1 as offered by soldier on the eve of battle3 ,o ,god1 if there be a ,god1 save my soul1 if ,i have a soul6 ,i am sorry to repeat ill-sounding words again2 but is not this really the exact religious attitude of an honest ,positivist1 who feels sometimes touched by visions of possible life after death1 ,of all the nurse and all the priest have taught2 that is1 if we conceive his attitude according to the least negative interpretation put upon the system8 ,continuing this least negative interpretation1 let us view under its light the ,positive cosmology or theory of the world's existence2 of creation1--that is to say1 if there ever was a creation4 ,a stone falls to the ground4 ,trying to account for the phenomenon1 we grasp a law inherent in the material world4 ,other phenomena lead us to other laws4 ,we contemplate the material world with its laws in operation1 a magnificent spectacle of moving forces2 an organic whole1 shining through its own intrinsic glory of never-ceasing development4 ,if we turn and pursue the reverse road1 and trace evolution back to its elementary principles1 we may dissolve worlds into primordial force1 or we may1 as ,professor ,tyndall suggested at ,liverpool1 find the ,all in a fiery cloud occupying space4 ,then comes the complex question1#agj ,what beyond8 ,what before8 ,whence1 and ,how produced8 a ,positivist thinker may return one of two answers4 ,he may either say1 ,we do not know1 or he may say1 ,nothing can be known4 ,take the least negative first1 as we proposed2 it surely deserves this rejoinder3 ,if you plead ignorance1 but surmise that knowledge is possible1 you ought not1 for reasons valid with every true lover of wisdom1 to stop here4 ,you are substituting for the ideas of creation and first cause1 what you call a primordial universe1 a material condition of some kind1 producing phenomena regulated by inherent laws1 successive1 perishable1 and nothing more6 ,all once believed beyond1 a blank6 ,even the very name of philosophy consecrated by consent of ages to the ,first and to the ,last1 admonishes you4 ,renounce your vocation1 deny your name1 or proceed4 ,we demand a ,positive result in the highest sense1 not a fog of ignorance1 not a slough of despond4 ,but if the second answer be the true one1 if the teaching of ,positivism is that nothing more can be known1 let us be told so in plain words4 ,let no one be charmed into the ,positive circle by false allurements2 for of all vices treachery and hypocrisy are the most cowardly4 ,are you really wiser than the pagan ,lucretius8 ,if not1 why boast of #aith century discoveries in wisdom1 insight1 happiness8 ,if you have examined the relics of a primval world1 explored the races of living and thinking creatures1 if you have ascended to the starry firmament1 and traversed its shining hosts1 to come back with shame and disappointment1 and tell us this is your all1 our all1 then indeed the wages of your science is death4 ,while you speak your final verdict at least cover your faces1 ,and1 sad as angels for a good man's sin1 ,weep to record1 and blush to give it in6 ,these thoughts have brought us to the most essential considerations of this lecture4 ,whether the ,positive savant puts in a plea of ignorance or of blank negation1 we care not4 ,we will treat it as a challenge thrown down1 and do our best to meet it4 ,succeed or not1 we will take no refuge in ambiguities1 but maintain a truly positive assertion4 ,we say that the world we live in is not one world1 but two1#aga distinguishable through the laws by which each is governed4 ,there exists such a thing as phenomenal law2 we accept the fact4 ,but distinct1 broadly distinct1 apart in its working1 its elements1 and its final result1 is moral law4 ,an appeal lies to facts1 and we shall try to justify our assertion4 ,the mode of proof now to be adopted is not metaphysical4 ,i mention the circumstance because investigations into mind are apt to be confounded with metaphysic1 and are then supposed too difficult to deserve attention4 ,my argument will demand nothing beyond a hearing and a scrutiny4 ,it will consist of just so much mental dissection as may be needful to show1 first1 a structural law of our inward nature1 and1 secondly1 to illustrate its workings and effects4 ,these two sets of facts will be placed side by side1 in order that each may check the other1 and that their coincidence may also 7as ,i hope it will7 furnish a fresh and sufficient proof of the contrast between moral and material law4 ,everybody knows how convincing are1 and ought to be1 facts separately ascertainable1 yet converging into one and the same conclusion4 ,one form of speech almost unavoidable ought to be remarked beforehand4 ,i mean the word freedom as applied to the human will and its volitions4 ,when compelled to use it1 ,i shall do so only in the sense of philosophic as contrasted with theological free will4 ,by philosophic freedom ,i understand that sort and degree of active choice free from constraint which is required for the idea of responsibility1 an idea universally agreed on by divines opposed to each other on the point of theological freewill4 ,by this last-named idea ,i understand supposed powers of spiritual attainment1 which go to make up a notion of self-sufficing moral strength4 ,with it the present lecture1 being purely philosophical1 can have nothing whatever to do1 but ,i should much deplore misconception1 because any theory of self-sufficingness would be repugnant to my own personal convictions4 ,look now at the life of an animal1 with senses often more instrumentally accurate than ours4 ,survey the world around1 which furnishes the objects of his perception and his intelligence4 ,the mode in which that intelligence acts is held to be more or less under the absolute rule of instinct1 and creatures below man are commonly described as those that nourish a blind life within the brain4 ,whether this be or be not perfectly correct makes no difference to our present purpose4 ,the point ,i want you to fix your thoughts upon is the directness of relation between the feeling or intelligent principle of mere animal life1 and the object perceived1 felt1 or apprehended4 ,perhaps it may give vividness to your thought1 if you figure this relation under the similitude of a right line connecting two points--object without1 apprehension within4 ,the line itself will then represent the impulsive activity of a creature1 as1 for example1 when a hungry tiger leaps upon his prey4 ,now this directness of action is not the thing most marked in our own proper human existence4 ,what is really marked is the exact reverse2 the more truly human any action appears1 the farther is it away from resemblance to that animal characteristic4 ,suppose a man acts like a tiger1 he is simply brutal2 if he be governed by his feelings1 however amiable1 we pronounce him weak or unreasoning4 ,absolutely impulsive doings1 such as the indulgence of an appetite1 blows struck in passion1 or even in self-defence1 we separate from our volitions proper1 and call them irrational and instinctive4 ,in educating children we check displays of impulse1 we bid them pause and reflect4 ,and it is obvious that education presupposes an educable power or principle1 which principle self-education 7the most important training of all7 will place in a clear light before you4 ,interrogate yourselves1 then4 ,you will see that the mental power you most wish to train and augment is distinguishable enough even in the commonest affairs of life4 ,take a case of feeling4 ,some object--no matter what--kindles an emotion within you--anger1 wish affection1 pursuit1 dislike1 avoidance--and you feel strongly impelled to take action thereupon4 ,this would be the movement which was imaged to our minds as a simple line4 ,but to launch along it inconsiderately you would feel neither proper per se--nor yet doing what is due to yourself1 because it is your human prerogative to act1 not according to impulse1 but according to reason4 ,and observe1 to do1 or to forbear doing1 is a question by no means determined by finding whether another emotion be or be not stronger than the first4 ,what reason demands is that the impulse you feel1 or it may chance the strongest of a dozen impulses1 shall become to you an object of careful scrutiny4 ,you are bound in honesty to scrutinize it2 not only because it exists as an incitement felt within yourself1 but much1 much more because it is felt to be your actual self4 ,it is your character which gave the spring1 and lives in the movement to action4 ,perchance this point of character is a hidden nook1 an unknown depth of feeling or desire1 undiscovered1 unsuspected by your fellow-creatures--a secret of your inner self4 ,nevertheless it is amenable to the tribunal of a more inward self still1 to be brought before it as an object that shall be examined and cross-examined1 sentenced either to vivid freedom or present suppression--it may be even to extinction evermore6 ,each human being possesses this wonderful self-objectivizing power4 ,he is able to look at himself as a ,,not-self--a something partitioned off1 and external2 to be thought about1 felt about1 reasoned about2 to be controlled1 chastened1 corrected4 ,this power is our inalienable heritage2 we cannot resign it if we would2 we cannot finally suspend its exercise4 ,mountains could not crush1 nor oceans drown it2 flames of fire never burned it out from the breast of one single martyr4 ,whether we use our birthright for good or for evil1 it still remains with us2 when we act1 our will is not a feeling1 an appetition1 travelling simply from one point to another4 ,it is a movement of our world within1 a movement of that microcosm called ,man4 ,suppose a person resolves to employ this power aright4 ,some wish or feeling1 such as might drive a lower creature to instinctive action1 stirs within him1 and becomes the object of his contemplation4 ,to the sessions of silent thought he summons whatever assistants he can get2 the witnesses of experience1 prudence1 duty1 the golden rules of the ,gospel2 whatever seems most proper to determine the question at issue1--fitness or unfitness1 to act or to abstain from acting4 ,he says to himself 7as all here have done a thousand times71 ,this longing1 thought1 state of mind1 is wise or foolish1 good or bad1 right or wrong2 nay1 'tis ,i myself that am so6 ,and in thus saying he is conscious of that sort of freedom to will or not to will1 which makes up responsibility4 ,he does not deny--contrariwise1 with the might of his whole essential humanity he asserts--that the act of will is thus taken out of the direct line of inevitable antecedency1 away from the physico-mechanical series1 and enabled to commence a series of its own4 ,in a word1 his consciousness evidences to him that functional law which makes the human soul a thing more wonderful than all the inorganic or all the animated universe besides4 ,and the law thus evidenced is the law of moral causation4 ,i said that our own soul thus becomes to us more wonderful than all the known universe besides4 ,i might have said more mysterious2 so truly sui generis and different from all things not ensouled1 as to be inexplicable by human sciences1 an enigma to itself1 dwelling alone in its own awful isolation4 ,do but think what cause is--nothing less than originating power2 what then must it be in stern and sad reality for a soul to originate a sin6 ,yet we cannot deny the fact4 ,we confess it every day1 not only in our hearts and deeper utterances1 but in the commonest though most tremendous of words1 the word responsibility4 ,if a man were in no true sense the cause of his own actions1 he could never be held responsible either by ,god or ,man4 ,but as long as ,justice maintains her seat1 each criminal will be so held1 so judged1 so recompensed4 ,and the only principle under which ,justice can justify her judgments is the reality of moral causation4 ,if1 then1 this law be established1 we have proved our point4 ,just as we recognize a material world by mechanical law--and indeed our knowledge of matter itself is only a knowledge of its laws--so in like manner1 and pari passu1 we recognize a moral world by its distinctive law4 ,we live1 therefore1 not in one world1 but in two3 ,man is one world1 and hath ,another to attend him4 ,the point is of surpassing importance6 ,upon it turns the whole issue4 ,can mechanism--or1 as it is vaguely called1 materialism--be or be not accepted1 with its attendant theories1 as the truth2 that is1 our whole truth1 all we have to live by and to die by8 ,infinitely important issue6 having much to do at this very moment with the happiness and real good of millions amongst our fellow-creatures and fellow-countrymen4 ,it is for this reason we must not spare pains to demonstrate our moral law1 for this reason also we will give some passing sentences to show how worthless in argument is the sophism most commonly circulated against it4 ,men speak of a law of motives1 with complete assurance1 and without seeming to be aware of the twofold fallacy underlying it4 ,writers on the subject furnish statistics of suicide1 murder1 and the like2 and then ask how the freedom of moral cause can be compatible with so visible a law8 ,but what sort of a law is this8 ,clearly not a law upon which the results are conditioned1 as sunrise on the earth's rotation2 but a mere generalization1 like the laws of average before mentioned4 ,such a law does not govern the acts1 but the acts the law1 or1 in plain words1 they are the law4 ,it is an epitomized result1 inferring no more consequence to our free moral causation1 than a life assurance infers to the contingency of our individual life or death4 ,the sophism would be readily detected if it were not for that unfortunate word motive4 ,people forget that a motive is not a power that compels us1 but an object which we choose to seek4 ,will1 we are seriously told1 must be determined by the strongest motive4 ,now if1 in thus speaking1 the strongest motive objectively be meant1 that is the motive essentially and in its own nature the strongest1 then indeed we may exclaim1 ,would that this were true6 ,for are not right1 justice1 goodness1 absolutely and in themselves the strongest8 ,yet men in general fail to pursue them2 they are chosen by those of whom the world is not worthy4 ,but if1 on the other hand1 the phrase strongest motive is to be understood subjectively1 and means that which on each occasion is felt to be the strongest2 what form of sounding words has ever yielded a more barren sense1 a simpler truism8 ,will must be determined by the choice of will4 ,it means this1 and nothing more4 ,we may sum the whole matter of motive in a single sentence4 ,motives do not make the man1 but the man his motives4 ,to conceive it otherwise would be to imagine each man a mere bundle of instincts1 such instincts as we calculate with certainty in the brute animals we wish to allure1 to subdue1 or to destroy4 ,be not like dumb driven cattle1 says the ,psalm of ,life1 and old ,herbert exhorts-- ,not rudely1 as a beast1 ,to run into an action4 ,the beast feels an incitement1 and rushes direct upon the pitfall4 ,it is the prerogative of a true man to subsume 7as logicians speak7 each line of impulse into the circle of his own soul2 to deliberate in the secret chambers of a being impenetrable even to his own understanding1 and to put in force the result which becomes as it were the free manifestation of himself4 ,when therefore you examine the actions of a fellow-creature1 and discern his motives1 you praise or blame what8 not the motives1 but the man4 ,permit me to close this discussion by an example of the manner in which we make and unmake our own motives4 ,no one present is so young1 or so careless1 as never to have felt the pains of self-reproach4 ,some light or shade of life projects before us the outline of ourself4 ,by virtue of the law described1 we view and review it1 as if it were the picture of another being4 ,in contrast with it1 we place our own ideal1 all that our boyhood fondly fancied our manhood would become2 the semblances of those we have loved and lost2 of the father1 who taught us to prize truth and virtue above earthly wealth and distinction2 of the mother1 at whose knee we knelt in prayer1 and whose upraised eye imaged the serenity of that heaven to which she implored us to aspire4 ,these beloved forms1 robed in the unfading freshness of a love stronger than death1 stir our heart of hearts1 with accents unmistakable4 ,they remind us of what we resolved and trusted one day to be found1 in thought1 in feeling1 and in life4 ,but1 close to the glowing portrait of our purposed self stands the dwindled figure of what we actually are2 and1 oh1 the shame1 the anguish of that stern1 disappointing comparison6 ,among the lower creatures 7we ask in passing7 what is there to resemble this self-reforming principle8 ,in the domesticated animal1 both beast and bird1 we see wounded affection1 grief under a master's anger1 and desire to win back his love4 ,in the gregarious tribes we find respect for a common bond of what we almost may call utility2 but has any sense of wrong as wrong1 or sin as sin1 ever been found educable8 ,man shows the mighty strength of this principle within him1 even when he shows it in its most repulsive shapes4 ,the remorseful wretch who throws himself beneath the wheel of ,juggernaut1 is a different kind of being from the horse or dog4 ,and considering the self-interest1 self-flattery1 and self-indulgence arrayed against it1 may we not say that the root of such passionate remorse has something sound in it1 else it would long ago have been trodden out from the life and heart of mankind8 ,for now1 as always1 our honest anguish and shame sow the appointed seed of our noblest attainments4 ,those steps by which we climb our steep ascent are hewn in the travail of our souls4 ,david found it so1 when he heard the voice of ,nathan saying1 ,thou art the man6 and wrote words which have come down near three thousand years2--,the sacrifices of ,god are a broken spirit4 ,of all acts1 asks ,mr4 ,carlyle1 is not1 for a man1 repentance the most divine8 ,the deadliest sin1 ,i say1 were that same supercilious consciousness of no sin2 that is death2 the heart so conscious is divorced from sincerity1 humility1 and fact2 is dead2 it is 'pure' as dead dry sand is pure4 ,david's life and history1 as written for us in those ,psalms of his1 ,i consider to be the truest emblem ever given of a man's moral progress and warfare here below4 ,truest emblem indeed6 ,in it1 we see1 as in a glass1 how living in two worlds we cannot but have a sympathy with each2 insomuch that every man feels himself to be two selves1 not one2 a spiritual and a psychical man4 ,there is1 says ,sir ,thomas ,browne1 another man within me1 that's angry with me1 rebukes1 commands1 and dastards me4 ,a double consciousness which grows upon many a soul1 until its truer choice and better motives are attained3 ,the life which is1 and that which is to come1 ,suspended hang in such nice equipoise ,a breath disturbs the balance2 and that scale ,in which we throw our hearts preponderates4 ,this lecture started from the question1 what is a phenomenon1 and how do we know of its existence8 ,seeing that our knowledge rests primarily on the evidence of our own mind1 we drew the inference that ,comte committed a fatal error when he banished the science of mind1 as mind1 from his cycle4 ,reviewing his various devices1 and some devices of his successors1 for eliminating psychology1 and reducing the study of mind to a study of bodily functions1 we approached the stronghold of ,positivism1--law4 ,and1 after discussing the theories maintained respecting it1 we boldly threw down our challenge to this effect3 law phenomenal or mechanical admitted1 we assert1 the existence of another kind of law4 ,we say that the freedom of human choice between evil and good is utterly unlike the freedom of a stone which falls by mechanical law1 and cannot choose but fall4 ,the inference from phenomenal law is the existence of a phenomenal world4 ,the inference from another existent law is that there is another existent world4 ,man1 we affirm1 lives in both2 has sympathies with both2 and1 by virtue of his double nature1 is a true citizen of both4 ,the ultimate principle of man's higher nature is to us inscrutable2 for1 even as the eye sees not itself1 so neither does the spirit of a man discern that which makes it spirit4 ,but1 though we cannot know the soul1 we can know much and many things about it2 things most important--nay1 all-important for us to know1 since they distinguish the spirit that burns within us from matter1 from mechanism1 and from mere animality4 ,hence we do not1 with the ,positivist1 ignore the unknowable4 ,contrariwise1 confessing our ignorance1 where we are ignorant1 we strive to observe and gather all we can4 ,one thing that can be thus known is the principle of moral causation2 and this we have inductively investigated4 ,we began by observing a process in our own minds1 a process or law of self-objectivity4 ,i am sorry to use such an uncouth word2 but it saves a long description1 and you will all remember the fact4 ,that process carries1 on the very face of it1 adaptation to the purposes of moral choice1 free from the material necessity which governs a falling stone1 and disengaged from the control of such impulses as the incitement of ruling instincts4 ,we next verify this law by observing its operation2 first1 in single acts of the ,will accompanied1 as you will recollect1 by distinct consciousness of choice and responsibility4 ,it was in respect of this conscious certainty that ,dr4 ,johnson said1 ,we know we are free1 and there ends the matter4 ,we verified1 a second time1 the self-objectivising law1 by its working and effects upon our motives1 which it makes and unmakes2 eliminating some1 adopting others1 so as to modify and alter our whole real character4 ,any one who is happy enough to recall the slow advances of successful self-education1 or a less ordinary process by which old things passed away and all things became new1 may recollect with pleasure how this law served as an instrument of change2 how it placed himself before his own inward eye1 even daily1 in freshly instructive lights1 awakening new self-questionings1 emotions1 aversions1 desires1 hopes1 and stimulating to new exertions2 how it opposed itself to the mastery of any single dominant passion1 under which we say a man acts mechanically1 because he has already surrendered himself a slave to its sway2 how it became a check upon all day-dreaming or drifting with the tide1 when again we are said to act mechanically because we yield to circumstances as they flow1 and live a blind life1 like creatures that cannot escape the chain of ,instinct4 ,for1 observe3 let any instinct1 even the noblest1 be ever so nobly developed1 if we act from its impulse only1 and not from a reflective choice of the prompting which it gives1 we are living below the image of our true nature1 because we are not striving to become a law unto ourselves4 ,you may verify our moral law in numberless ways among the common walks of life2 and it really is a task of no great difficulty1 if you take with you the truth that the whole issue is summed in one word--,responsibility4 ,a falling stone cannot choose but fall2 were a man subject to material law1 he could have no choice whatever4 ,neither would it make any real difference1 if the ,will were impelled by overpowering motive1 and did not make its motive to itself4 ,the slate which slides from a roof1 and kills a child1 we do not accuse of murder2 we do not attach moral accountability to the hungry tiger4 ,it is because man is not impelled like stones or tigers1 that we hold him responsible4 ,and we praise or blame in the highest degree his most deliberate acts4 ,the wrong he does with malice aforethought is a crime in the strongest sense2 the good he works with considerate purpose we esteem his highest well-doing4 ,in our time the wills of individual men have changed the destinies of nations2 and any one who reads books1 reviews1 or newspapers sees a vigorous use of that word responsibility4 ,no one doubts that these powerful wills are the true causes of effects felt throughout all ,europe1 effects which will remain when those who caused them are in the grave2 nay1 even when generations--perchance dynasties--shall have passed away4 ,in lower life1 we honour the truly causative man who conquers a habit of intemperance or any evil passion3 it is greater to overcome one's self than to conquer many cities4 ,we deem every one accountable for what he allows1 or disallows1 in relation to his ,god1 his fellows1 or himself4 ,in a word1 we consider each man so far the true cause of his own conduct1 as to load him with responsibility4 ,yes1 responsibility6 ,do not shrink from the thought2 it is wholesome for all4 ,do but practise self-control enough to look yourself with honest purpose in the face when you are about to act1 you will never suppose that you act mechanically1 and you will seldom act amiss4 ,if you wish to benefit your countrymen1 inculcate the grand lesson of responsibility2 for what well-informed person doubts that one main root of our present social and religious ailments lies in compromise with known immoralities1 indolent acquiesence in hollow words1 and lifeless outside shows1 where ought to be heard and seen the rigid truths of accountability1 duty1 consistency8--all impossible without a practical law of self-scrutiny and self-control4 ,yet further3 ,responsibility is also an undeniable witness to a world of life beyond death4 ,just as even ,herbert ,spencer himself has remarked1 that the idea of relativity involves the correlative idea of an absolute2 even so1 in thought1 responsibility involves its correlative belief1 a recompence6 ,but1 in morality1 the evidence is stringent beyond expression4 ,for1 the idea of responsibility is fixed in the nature of things2 unchangeable1 eternal4 ,and it contains in itself the loftier idea of personality4 ,leading us to look for a world of righteous recompence1 it leads also to belief in a personal ,being1 before whom we are responsible1 and who will award to each of us our recompence4 ,david travelled the same road to the same conclusion1 when he looked round upon men1 who lacked mercy because they lacked justice1 and said1 ,unto thee1 ,o ,lord1 belongeth mercy3 for thou renderest to every man according to his work4 ,did ,i not feel that my strain upon your attention must now cease1 ,i should have liked to show at length how the law by which we discover moral causation1 may be verified everywhere in the whole province of mind4 ,it is difficult1 for instance1 to look at the perplexing questions raised about language1 without perceiving that there runs through its purely human formation the articulate results of an element resembling internal dialogue2 in other words1 a law of self-objectivising representation4 ,in art1 again1 the perpetual efforts of ages is to present our human manifoldness of thought1 feeling1 and idea1 before our one individual self4 ,hence the art formula of multeity in unity4 ,and what is the true bond of society as distinguished from gregariousness8 ,is it not the ,gospel's golden rule8 ,but how can our neighbour be viewed as a second self1 unless self has been already objectivised before our moral intuitions8 ,we might follow the same thread throughout the conditions of all philosophy4 ,the one thing we have to remember in every research concerning man is that education1 whether of self or others1 implies an educable principle2 a germ1 of which education and attainment are the bud1 the blossom1 and the fruit4 ,therefore1 if we want to know ,humanity1 we must look to the educated human being4 ,the philosopher1 the artist1 the thinker of every sort1 must have risen into clearness ere he can become a typical man4 ,is it not1 therefore1 a mistake to appeal for theories of human nature to the statistics 7always statistics67 of ignorance and savagery8 ,when modelling our physical form1 ,buonarotti did not seek his type in hospitals for maimed or distorted limbs1 and exclaim1 ,behold1 such is man6 ,curious too1 and contradictory1 the way in which appeals to barbarism have worked4 ,in the #ahth century we used always to hear of that golden age1 ,when free in woods the noble savage ran1 ,and man1 the brother1 lived the friend of man4 ,in the #aith1 savage life is cannibalism1 superstition1 cruelty1 terrible1 revolting1 loathsome2 perchance1 time must yet pass before we learn justice to our fellows of any age6 ,meanwhile1 we may feel sure that our human ideal is not to be found in the frost-bitten rickety infant species2 nor yet in its dwarfed and stunted adult2 the cretin and the imbecile will not give its lineaments2 and it may be hard to say which is least like a true man1 the undeveloped or the perverted creature4 ,for example1 what superiority in moral height has the savant1 whose self-satisfied science ignores or denies a ,god1 over the poor pigmy barbarian1 unskilled in the use of fire1 and living upon berries and insects1 who props himself against a tree with earthward face1 and prays1 saying1 ,yere1 if indeed thou art1 why dost thou suffer us to be killed8 ,thou hast raised us up4 ,why dost thou cast us down8#af ,better perhaps the rude stammering of our race's childhood than its half-speechless1 half-paralyzed old age6 ,and here the argument of this lecture ends4 ,of causation in general1 and the grand subject of design1 it has not been my hint to speak4 ,these vast topics have fallen into higher hands than mine4 ,my aim was limited to finding the differentia of man--the moral characteristic which places him in contrast with physico-mechanical laws4 ,it occurs to me1 however1 that you may employ ten minutes not unpleasantly1 upon what we can hardly help calling the romance of ,positivism4 ,the story1 taken from first to last--part comic1 part tragic--is as wild and weird as one of the ,frenchman ,dor's pictures1--a story too strange to be thought true1 if it did not happen to have been true6 ,it has also its stinging lessons1 and they follow naturally2 evolved1 as it were1 from the motley and mystifying commencement4 ,comte's life has been written by friend and foe4 ,for fulness of detail the right book is by his disciple and executor1 ,dr4 ,robinet1 who has just figured among those who rule in the ,commune of ,paris4 ,robinet is very interesting1 for he thoroughly believes in his master1 and accepts the whole ,comtist religion1 calendar and all1 which ,littr and others reject4 ,no reproach this to ,comte's biographer1 for that same worship is celebrated in our cooler atmosphere of ,england4 ,the ,pall ,mall ,gazette has1 by its notices1 made the celebrations widely known4 ,there is an account of the grandest yearly solemnity which will suffice many1 and excite the curiosity of more1 in its number for ,january #gth1 #ahfh4 ,it is not hard to see that the worshippers differ from the recusants by a strong feeling that they cannot live upon axioms sounding like negatives4 ,they want sentiment1 emotion1 excitement to sustain them4 ,let us observe how ,comte caught the first glimpse of this requirement4 ,his life was sombre--a boy delicate and fractious1 disliked by his masters1 turned out of the ,polytechnique1 repudiated by his great socialist teacher ,st4 ,simon4 ,his family relations not happy1 his marriage least of all4 ,we cannot wonder at vagaries1 for he had a real fit of rampant insanity1 and after release from an asylum had nearly drowned himself in the ,seine4 ,his wife found him intolerable1 and left her home4 ,mr4 ,mill speaks of her respect for him2--it was oddly testified after his death1 for she pleads in law that he was a madman1 an atheist1 and immoral2 repudiates his will1 and seizes the consecrated relics of his dwelling4 ,littr supported her against those who1 like ,robinet1 thought her little less than blasphemous4 ,if she had appeared in an ,english law court1 we should have known more truth than we do4 ,let us now look at such facts as we have from the more favourable side4 ,the man lived a lonely life1 as became a sort of conceptual alchemist1 sustained by a belief that he was turning men's leaden thoughts into his own pure gold4 ,one brilliant projection of his has made him the idol of ,positivists4 ,i confess it puzzles me1 among many others1 to imagine how a qualified critic can treat such a philosophic solvent either as true or as original4 ,it supposes the history of all human thinking to pass necessarily through three stages1 theology1 metaphysics1 positive truth2 and that the world makes progress accordingly4 ,we will hope that the thing called theology1 a benighted belief in the government and intervention of supreme will1 is not altogether extinct in this age of progress2 if it be so1 ,mr4 ,froude encourages us to look for a revival4 ,among lesser matters1 the hypothesis of metaphysical cookery is an idea one fails to realise4 ,was it a banquet with joints cut ,laputa-like1 after some fashion of concepts1 or syllogistic figures8 ,was it a feast of reason and a flow of soul1 or1 more probably1 an abstraction pure and simple1 as if a man could ,cloy the hungry edge of appetite ,by bare imagination of a feast8 ,comte's comicalities strike most people all the more because he writes on1 always utterly insensible to his own comedy4 ,if any one wishes for a serious critique in small compass1 ,i may mention ,stirling's appendix to his translation of ,schwegler's ,handbook2 ,whewell in his ,philosophy of ,discovery1 and elsewhere4 ,comte was most confiding in his own theory4 ,littr is not so confident1 for he has another theory of his own4 ,but1 putting aside the question of its verification1 we may remark that in the rough idea ,comte showed himself before his age4 ,positive thinkers have busied themselves with physical evolution2 for example1 the development of a brain from an oyster or an eozoon2 but ,comte was intent upon mental evolution4#agb ,man need not much care about the congeners of a body sprung from earth2 but soul is another thing4 ,we trust our own spirit1 as carrying some image and superscription of ,god2 we feel and conceive it to be different in kind from sensitive life2 we love to think of it in its finality as a spark flowing out from ,divine ,light2 a breath breathed into body from above4 ,in the reverse of this belief there is doubtless an element unfavourable to happiness2 it makes some men cynics1 some pessimists1 some simply victims4 ,comte's infinite self-satisfaction probably saved him from self-torture4 ,but we judge that he felt his condition deeply1 from the rapture with which he hailed a new and brilliant discovery6 ,yes1 it was the most wonderful of all his discoveries2 he one day found an unsuspected law of life within himself2 he discovered that he had a heart4 ,to many1 this is the black spot on ,comte's memory2 they cannot receive his love1 nay1 his frantic adoration1 of the lonely wife of a convict1 absent in the gallies1 as a piece of pure ,platonism4 ,had ,madame ,comte's allegations been sifted fully1 we might have known all4 ,as it is1 ,i for my own part like to think him innocent2 he was mad from disease1 and perhaps from conceit2 a conceit1 says ,mr4 ,mill1 too colossal to be believed without reading him up2 but ,i trust he was not immoral4 ,his letters are against it1 the lady's face is against it1 and above all1 there is against it the lasting effect upon himself4 ,after a year's happiness to ,comte1 she died and left him1 as he thoroughly supposed1 an enlightened and a religious man4 ,poor ,comte6 ,his sweeter life was buried with the dead1 who to him could never rise again4 ,his religion was no more than a funereal cult2 a veil thrown over it1 no hope1 no thought of reunion6 ,the episode of ,clotilde was1 in itself1 one of those touches of nature which make the whole world kin2 the brief1 bright1 and long sad experience the solitary had of his heart2 the love1 the loss1 the unforgetting sorrow6 ,but1 did it not prove1 beyond the force of reclamation to disprove1 that ,comte's system ends1 at last1 in what is commonly called materialism8 its faith 7or negation of faith7 being in effect this1 that we look for entire human dissolution coincident with bodily death4 ,and the end flows naturally from the beginning2 all we think is phenomenal1 all we know is phenomenal1 first and last4 ,our life is only a phenomenon2 and death1 death joins us to the unreturning past4 ,we are absorbed1 all that is good of us1 into general and generic humanity2 an ,eidolon1 called the ,great ,being for our comfort2 as if a name 7what's in a name87 could console us6 ,the race we may have tried to serve is to be our ,euthanasia1 our sepulchre1 ,i had almost said our cenotaph6 ,strange thought1 not without a kind of serpent-fascination6 ,epidemic in ,england now1 gaining force from its unhallowed audacity6 ,the consistent pessimist1 who rates men at the worst1 thinks the worst in himself1 and does the worst by all others1 and by himself1 if he is but fixed in this unbelief1 need not fear what the world1 man1 or ,god shall do unto him4 ,it is the old whisper1 ,ye shall be as gods6 ',tis superhuman to sit and watch the storm2 to have our strong sensations1 illusions they are called in ,france2 blood-poisons which circulate in our life1 working hot passion and mischief2 sorrow to many a loving1 many a confiding heart2 passion1 mischief1 sorrow1 what matters it8 there comes an opiate by-and-by6 ,the man of overwrought brain1 used up1 worn-out feelings2 the distempered dreamer2 the reckless worker of wrongs2 the disappointed striver for an earthly crown1 all shall have their common slumber at last2 unconscious1 impervious1 unbroken4 ,i will read you three stanzas from a longer piece written by one not unknown always where that tree of knowledge grew3-- ,cessation is true rest1 ,and sleep for them opprest2 ,and not to be1--were blest4 ,annihilation is ,a better state than this2 ,better than woe or bliss4 ,the name is dread2--the thing ,is death without its sting2 ,an overshadowing4 ,if such be the thought to them whose natural heritage stands strong1 fringed with luxurious hope to live beloved1 to die regretted2 what will the overshadowing be when it passes1 like a plague breath1 over the children of toil and anxiety1 over them whose life is at best hard1 and their lot depressed and without illusions8 ,will they not want their strong sensations8 ,will they respect any law1 human or divine1 which stands between them and their enjoyments8 ,will they not crush all who bar their pleasures1 aye1 choke them in their own blood8 ,why not8 ,the opiate comes to all at last4 ',tis an act of oblivion6 ,the overshadowing will cover all4 ,and this is the coming creed of the #aith century4 ,to return to ,comte1 about whom ,i might say much1 but must not2--of course1 he had no foresight of anything worse than an immediate realization of his crowning ideas--sociality1 fraternity1 ,positivism4 ,europe split into small states2 women made incapable of property1 but held objects of religious worship2 men worked on a communistic principle2 an oligarchy of rich2 a spirituality of ,positive believers1 with a supreme infallible pontiff at their head2 ,paris the seat of infallibility and of order4 ,clotilde had shown ,comte a principle antagonistic to1 and predominating over1 all egoism2 ,altruism was to burn out of men all selfish aims1 nay1 the ordinary feelings of a man6 ,a rigorous rule of life was to aid1 and a religion without a ,god to enforce1 this new law4 ,two hours a day1 divided into three private services1 were to be spent in the adoration of ,humanity under the form of a living or dead woman4 ,the image of the fair idol1 dress1 posture1 everything was to be brought distinctly to mind2 and the whole soul to be prostrated in her honour4 ,comte1 it has been said1 gave woman everything except justice4 ,there is a grave moral in this tale4 ,theology was extinguished2 but the desire to worship burned on--a fire unquenchable4 ,is that desire1 or is it not1 a broad reality1 an inalienable truth of our nature8 ,comte accepted it for himself1 and not for himself alone1 but for our whole human race4 ,along with it he accepted the only principle which could bestow universal validity4 ,our moral intuitions were acknowledged safe guides1 and something more2 the rulers of an intellectual world1 the revealers of truth higher than all beside4 ,often and often he asserted the dominion of heart over mind4 ,probably1 if ,comte had lived longer he would have acknowledged other revelations of our moral nature4 ,moral causation1 for example4 ,that strange phrase of his--a modifiable fatality1 self-contradiction in words1 suicide in sense1 what did it portend8 ,was it the first sound of a marriage-bell1 freedom and duty once again united8 ,a change of his system wonderful to contemplate1 yet not more wonderful than the state in which he left it4 ,one cannot help here asking how matters would have stood if ,comte had died without knowing his ,clotilde4 ,how incomplete according to his own account his philosophy6 how wanting in that which perfected the whole6 ,a notable fact this1 throwing great light on the value of such-like systematization which1 after all1 much resembles secretion from that interesting viscus1 the system-maker's own particular brain4 ,and there is another fact quite as notable4 ,how curious that ,comte should have lived so long without discovering whatever truth his own heart and a strong human affection disclosed to him6 ,hence we might illustrate and confirm a previous remark1 that any one not living a truly human life--call him undeveloped1 uneducated1 dwarfed1 or immature--is no typical man2 and if we believe ancient maxims1 scarcely a learner in philosophy1 certainly not a judge of its highest and widest problems4 ,the most notable fact and greatest surprise of all is1 that ,comte's prayer without petition1 his passionate self-mesmerizing adoration1 his religion without a ,god1 should have taken any hold on men4 ,no one can transfer to others his private sorrow or his private joy2 it is hard for a man to get his thought understood1 harder still to make common pasture of his heart4 ,but ,comte devised extraordinary propagandist expedients2 those who consider his developments mere madness1 should explain why sane people have accepted them4 ,comte set no value on ,protestantism in any shape4 ,the religion of his own country he carried back to medival forms1 and then travestied it4 ,there were many festivals1 a calendar of saints1 nine sacraments1 and a horrible caricature of the ,christian ,trinity4 ,this idea crowned his sociology1 which ,i need hardly say was communistic socialism1 enfolding 7as socialism always must enfold7 and scarcely veiling the most iron of despotisms1 both temporal and spiritual4 ,his mind delighted in contemplating a synthesis of the great ,fetish1 ,earth1 with the great ,being ,humanity2 which last somehow assumes on occasion a feminine gender4 ,to ,clotilde1 symbolizing that supreme object1 ,clotilde1 his noble and tender patroness1 he transferred ,dante's homage of ,beatrice2 addresses to the mother of our ,lord2 and stranger than all1 the prayer of ,thomas ,kempis to ,almighty ,god1 ,amem te plusquam me1 nec me nisi propter te--,may ,i love ,thee more than self1 nor self at all except for ,thee4 ,now consider3 when ,comte died1 sixty-four years had not quite elapsed since goddesses of ,reason were worshipped in the cathedral and other churches of ,paris4 ,upon each high altar a fair woman1 chosen for her faultless beauty1 sate enthroned1 her feet resting upon the consecrated slab4 ,gaily clothed in tunic and ,greek mantle1 she was so displayed by a torch behind her throne1 so elevated above her worshippers1 as to attract from ,phrygian cap to ,italic shoe their passionate gaze and adoration4 ,low down beneath her footstool lay the broken symbols of a faith then declared effete and passed away2 just as half a century afterwards ,comte declared theology passed away4 ,music sounded1 incense smoked1 ,bishop ,gobel1 who assisted at a parody of sacred rites1 wept tears of shame1 but in fear and trembling he assisted4 ,the object of this mad mockery of religion1 this empire of heart over mind1 this woman-worship1 was to proclaim afresh ,fraternity1 ,progress1 ,sociality4 ,sociality1 for the supposed law of which final development ,comte worshipped humanity and ,clotilde--but disowned immortality and ,god4 ,these two madnesses1 how near akin1 how far apart were they8 ,the world is not really made young by destroying old things2 yet the path of #ahth century madness lay through fire and blood4 ,its deeds are sometimes spoken of1 even now1 as great crimes2 but no great crime is criminal in the sight of men whose life is godless1 dark1 and unsubstantial4 ,horrors pass before them like unrealities4 ,the world1 writes ,mercier on the trial of ,louis ,,xvi1--,the world is all an optical shadow4 ,in our #aith century life1 'tis a skilfully prepared overshadowing1 beneath which men beat their brows till their blood-shot eyes see red4 ,i see red1 exclaimed ,eugene ,sue's ruffian1 and then ,i strike with the knife4#ag ,let me end by telling you a dream1 which is not all a dream4 ,a company of savans were seen in the visions of the night1 busy with a new scientific invention4 ,earth1 they argued1 earth has her volcanoes1 her burning exhalations2 men have electric lights1 fires1 gas lamps1 furnaces4 ,these make up the world's proper illumination4 ,the effect intended was1 therefore1 to darken the air we breathe1 so that no rays from the upper sky should pass through it4 ,the inventors hoped that a district1 a country1 nay1 even a world1 might thus be overshadowed by a gloom impervious to moon and stars by night1 to sun by day2 and the human eye see no changes1 save those which the earth's activity1 or human power and skill1 might produce4 ,terrestrial and artificial alternations excepted1 all was to be changeless as winter midnight--deep impenetrable darkness6 ,it was seen slowly1 very slowly1 to descend4 ,in thirty years the men of science hoped and purposed its perfection4 ,did those who had previously known the beautiful light of heaven1 who had bathed and basked in the life-giving sunbeam1 feel happy1 or even calm1 when they saw their children and children's children robbed of celestial glory and gladness8 ,yet there is one thing worse than a world without a sun--you know what ,i mean--,humanity without a ,,god4 ,,postscript4 ,the ,lecturer purposely abstained from reading ,professor ,huxley's acute critique on ,positivism until this ,lecture had gone to press4 ,he now strongly recommends his auditors to read ,no4 viii4 of the ,lay ,sermons4 ,should any reader find difficulties in pages #bc-be of the foregoing ,lecture1 he will do well to peruse ,littr's ,auguste ,comte et la ,philosophie ,positive1 chapter iii41 particularly pp4 #db1 #dc4 ,,science ,,and ,,revelation4 ,,by ,,the ,,very ,,reverend ,r4 ,,payne ,,smith1 ,d4,d41 ,,dean ,,of ,,canterbury2 ,,late ,,regius ,,professor ,,of ,,divinity1 ,,oxford4 ,,science ,,and ,,revelation4 ,the duty which has been imposed upon me to-day by the ,christian ,evidence ,society is1 ,i conceive1 to state as clearly as ,i can1 what is our ground for believing that a revelation is not only possible1 but is a necessary part of the system of this world4 ,as the programme further joins science and revelation1 ,i conceive that ,i am debarred from any but a strictly scientific proof4 ,we may reasonably infer the probability of a revelation from ,god's necessary attribute of love4 ,we may ourselves feel morally sure that a creature1 approaching so nearly to the spiritual world1 and capable of so much good as is man1 would not be left by his ,maker in that miserable state of vice and misery in which we find ourselves4 ,there are many good and weighty reasons for believing that ,god would give us a revelation1 and that the ,christian religion is ,god's revelation--reasons drawn from the nature of ,god1 from the actual condition in which man is placed1 and from the direct teachings of ,holy ,scripture--all these1 like a cord of many threads that cannot easily be broken1 serve to confirm the faith of the believer1 but ,i must forego their use4 ,in confining myself to what ,i conceive to be the strictly scientific basis of a revelation1 ,i would1 nevertheless1 beg you to remember that the evidences of ,christianity are cumulative4 ,they cover a vast field1 and it is in their united force that their strength lies4 ,the very vastness of the field often invites attack4 ,some outlying work seems capable of overthrow4 ,some discovery in the domains of history1 of philology1 or of physical science1 seems to provide new weapons for the assault4 ,possibly not all the arguments used in defence of ,christianity will endure the test of close and accurate examination4 ,possibly1 too1 in our views of the nature of ,christianity1 and in our exegesis of the ,scriptures1 we have arrived only at partial truth1 and do not distinguish with sufficient accuracy between what is certainly revealed1 and what is nothing more that a possible explanation of the ,divine word4 ,there are1 moreover1 ,i will candidly confess1 difficulties in the way of faith4 ,however new may be the form of the attack1 and however modern the materials which it uses1 yet the strength of the attack lies in real difficulties1 which are no new matter1 but have ever lain deep in the minds of thoughtful men4 ,i do not believe that belief is a thing easy of attainment1 any more than virtue is4 ,i believe that both are victories1 gained by a struggle--gained over opposing forces4#agc ,but as certain as ,i am that this present state of things was intended to train man to virtue1 though ,i cannot answer all the objections brought against the system of the world being exactly what it is1 nor solve all the doubts and difficulties1 moral and metaphysical1 which surround us3 so ,i am convinced1 in spite of similar difficulties in the way of religion1 that belief1 and not unbelief1 is the end at which man ought to aim4 ,i believe that man was intended to attain to a higher and more perfect state than that in which he now finds himself1 and that he can only attain to it by virtue and faith2 but as the very value of these lies apparently in their being won by an effort1 long and earnestly maintained1 ,i am not surprised at the existence of difficulties1 least of all of such difficulties as arise from our ignorance4 ,still belief would be unnecessarily#ah difficult1#agd and we may even say1 morally impossible1 if the sum of the arguments in defence of a revelation did not largely exceed the sum of the arguments against one4 ,with these arguments ,i have to-day nothing to do4 ,the evidences of ,christianity1 external and internal1 will be treated of by others4 ,my business is to show that a revelation was to be expected2 that it was probable1 or at all events possible1 and1 therefore1 that the evidences of ,christianity have a claim upon the consideration of every right thinking man4 ,in showing that a revelation was to be expected1 ,i shall at the same time show what is the exact position which it holds1 and in what way revealed knowledge differs from all other knowledge1 scientific and unscientific4 ,now the argument which ,i shall use as my proof of the possibility of a revelation is simply this1 that in the present system of things we find no being endowed with any faculties without there being also provided a proper field for their exercise1 and a necessity imposed upon that being of using those faculties4 ,in this statement ,i assume nothing4 ,i do not assume that there is a ,god who made these beings4 ,i do not assume that they were made or created2 still less do ,i assume that they were intended to use their faculties4 ,i put aside all theories of design and causation1 not because ,i do not believe that they possess force1 but because the actual facts which ,i see around me1 or which ,i am taught by scientific men1 are enough for my proof4 ,the only thing which ,i assume is1 that the laws of nature are universal2 and ,i assume this simply because it will be readily granted me4 ,the universality of nature's laws compels us to admit that a law which holds good in all known cases1 will necessarily hold good in all cases whatsoever4 ,our whole language is so essentially based upon religious ideas that it would be very difficult for me to use only neutral words4 ,but in using religious words1 ,i wish them to be understood in a neutral sense4 ,if ,i speak of creatures1 ,i mean only beings1 things which exist now1 or have existed4 ,if ,i speak of them as endowed with faculties1 ,i merely mean that they possess them4 ,by nature1 ,i mean simply the present state of things1 whether designed by an intelligent mind1 or a mere come-by-chance4 ,i look simply around me at what is--or at all events appears to be--and ,i find myself in a world in which there is a very exact correspondence between the endowments and faculties of every existent being1 and the state of things in which it happens to be4 ,so exact is this correspondence1 that if you give ,professor ,owen a bone1 he will tell you to what order of animals its owner belonged1 what were its habits1 the nature of its food1 of its habitat1 and mode of life4 ,nature works out this correspondence even to the most minute detail4 ,by looking at the bone of a quadruped we can tell1 not merely great things about it1 but such trifles as which leg it used first in getting up from the ground4 ,for nature is so undeviating that the outward habits1 even in things of no apparent moment1 correspond to the internal conformation4 ,now1 possibly1 it will readily be granted that such is the present state of things4 ,whatever may have been the stages through which we have1 or have not1 passed1 we now find ourselves in a world of apparent cause and effect--full of infinitely varied forms of life1 but of which none are purposeless4 ,i cannot upon this point bring forward a better witness than ,professor ,huxley1 who1 in his most interesting essay on ,geological ,contemporaneity 7,lay ,sermons1 p4 #bcf7 speaks as follows3--,all who are competent to express an opinion upon the subject are1 at present1 agreed that the manifold varieties of animal and vegetable form have not either come into existence by chance1 nor result from capricious exertions of creative power2 but that they have taken place in a definite order1 the statement of which order is what men of science term a natural law4 ,the whole chain of animal and vegetable life seems to this great authority so perfect and complete1 that even the variations which have taken place in it1 have been governed1 he considers1 by a law1 that is1 a regular and orderly succession4 ,these variations have been the result1 apparently1 of certain changes in the external state of things1 to which the external conformation of the animal has somehow or other been made to correspond4 ,but as ,professor ,huxley points out1 these variations have been confined to very narrow limits4 ,when people speak of the enormous changes which have taken place in the living population of the globe during geological eras1 they refer1 he says1 to the presence in the later rocks of fossil remains of a vast number of animals not discoverable in the earlier rocks2 but the fossils which you do find in the early rocks differ but little from existing species4 7,see p4 #bch47 ,he thus negatives on sure grounds the idea that a state of things ever existed on this globe essentially unlike what exists now4 ,what then exists now8 ,i answer1 first of all a vast chain of vegetable life1 fitted in every portion of it to find its own subsistence1 and to propagate its species4 ,its main function is to manufacture out of mineral substances that protoplasm1 upon which1 in the long run1 all animal life depends4 7,lay ,sermons1 p4 #ach47 ,i need not detain you by enumerating the many various contrivances by which plants are enabled to manufacture food for us out of carbon1 hydrogen1 oxygen1 and nitrogen--substances upon which1 in their original state1 animals cannot feed--nor the still more curious and elaborate processes by which their fecundation1 and the propagation of each species is provided for--processes which seem often to require the intervention of animal life4 ,i need not detain you upon this point3 you will readily grant that this correspondence does exist4 ,if a plant is not suited to its habitat1 and cannot use its natural powers1 nature imposes upon it the severe penalties--first1 of degradation1 and then of death4 ,upon the animal world she imposes just the same penalties4 ,there is neither excess nor defect in her operations4#ai ,whatever she gives must be used1 but animals1 being governed in the main by instincts1 have no choice4 ,they necessarily employ all their living powers1 and apparently have no powers beyond those indispensable for their existence4 ,this point1 however1 ,i will not press1 though it seems to follow from the fact asserted by ,professor ,huxley1 that no important difference can be observed between the fossil remains found in the earliest strata1 and animals of the same species and order existent now4 7,see pp4 #bda1 #bdb1 and for vegetables1 p4 #bdj47 ,for1 as he tells you1 facts establish a scientific law--law in the mouths of scientific men1 meaning an established order of facts4 ,well then6 ,i will put this fact of absence of progress aside1 and with it the corollary of the absence of latent powers4#bj ,but of actual powers it is evident that animals do use them all1 and have to use them all4 ,so close1 too1 is the agreement between the powers and the external position of every animal1 that a change in its external relations will modify its powers to a certain extent4 ,but only to a certain extent2 there are fixed limits to the adaptability of those living powers4 ,if the changes are such as to occasion a more active exercise of its living powers1 the animal increases in strength1 size1 and beauty2 if unfavourable1 but still permitting some use of its powers1 it dwindles and decays4 ,but pass the appointed bounds and the animal dies4 ,nature is exacting the penalty of the non-use of what it has given4 ,nature exacts a severe penalty for the mis-use1 and the last and final penalty for the violation of her laws4 ,i do not know that an ascidian jelly-bag has any other faculties than those of sucking in water1 and of sticking to a stone4#ba ,but this ,i know1 that if it does not use all the powers it possesses and suck in its water1 and stick to its stone1 no process of natural selection will ever develop it into a monkey3 it will go to the limbo of nonentity4#bb ,but what an alarming thought1 that at a period separated from us by such vast geologic ages1 that1 according to the nebular hypothesis1 held by so many of our leading astronomers as a probable theory1 this whole universe was a mass of heated vapour2 what an alarming thought that the very existence of man should have depended upon a jelly bag sticking to a stone and sucking up water6 ,alas6 there was then no water1 no stones1 no jelly bags1 and therefore there are now no men6 ,man escapes1 poor thing1 from his humble parentage3 he need not feel his ears to find the proof there of his monkeyhood3#bc but his escape costs him dear4 ,what with astronomy and biology1 men of science between them have cleared us out of existence4 ,scientifically1 man is no more4 ,my argument1 fortunately1 depends upon matters of fact3 facts for which the believer accounts by holding that this world is the work of a ,being possessed of infinite wisdom and power1 and who therefore has endowed all ,his creatures with those faculties which they needed1 and with no others2 because to give useless faculties would be a violation of ,god's attribute of wisdom4 ,the student of natural science may take another view4 ,it is no part of his business to do so4 ,his office is to discover and tabulate the order of facts1 of phenomena1 and this order he calls a natural law4 ,well and good4 ,but teleology1 the science of ends1 which gives the reason why a thing is what it is--teleology belongs to the metaphysician4 ,it is his business to inquire into causes and effects4 ,still1 as a matter of fact1 scientific men do try their hand at accounting for the present state of things1 and they say1 perhaps1 that there is a struggle1 a competition in nature1#agg so sharp and close that no creature can continue to exist save by the vigorous exercise of all its necessary faculties1 while all useless qualities will be cast away as mere overweight and incumbrance4 ,i need no decision upon this point2 the fact is all ,i want4 ,i do not want you to decide whether mind preceded matter1 and consequently that there is a ,god3 or whether matter and mind came into existence contemporaneously1 in which case there is no room for the theory of development1 but abundant room for impossibilities1 metaphysical and actual2 or1 lastly1 whether matter preceded mind1 the latter being simply the result of a high corporeal organisation1 slowly attained to by the processes of selection1 natural and sexual4 ,whether this present state of things was worked out intelligently1 by a ,being possessed of will and understanding1 or is the result of blind and unintelligent powers1 working fortuitously1 this1 to my argument1 matters not4 ,all ,i want is the admitted fact--that every living organisation fully possesses all those faculties which it needs1 and must use all its faculties under penalty1 first of degradation1 and1 finally1 in the long run1 of extinction4 ,but man is a living organization1 and must1 therefore1 come under this law4 ,let us see whether the fact confirms this deduction4 ,now1 in all the long line1 from the ascidian upwards to man1 nature had supplied none but physical wants4 ,her children need food2 she gives them each those senses and that conformation which enables them to get each their own food4 ,they need safety3 she uses much ingenuity in providing for their safety4 ,she is1 moreover1 liberal4 ,their food is1 in general1 gained so easily1 and their safety so well provided for1 that their lives are full of enjoyment4 ,her care1 however1 is taken in the main for the species1 and not for the individual4 ,he enjoys his food because nature has taken loving care for the whole family to which he belongs2 and she further takes care that that family shall continue to exist4 ,if it perish1 it is because by some change in temperature1 or the like1 the correspondence is destroyed between its faculties and its external position4 ,short of this1 the ingenuity employed by nature in providing for the continued existence of every species of insect and animal is as wonderful as that employed by her in continuing vegetable life2 and1 as a rule1 the lower the creature is in the scale of being1 the more curious the contrivances used for its preservation4 ,well1 when we come to man we find these three leading necessities equally well provided for4 ,man is provided with the means for obtaining food1 for providing for his safety1 and for propagating his species4 ,but1 though nature's ends are the same1 and reached with equal certainty1 her means are1 in the main1 different4 ,the animals are moved to gain their existence by their senses working upon their instincts4 ,this is a great advance upon vegetable life4 ,you had there neither senses nor instincts1 but simply powers4 ,but man rises above the animals as much as they transcend vegetables4 ,he attains to these same ends of food1 safety1 and continued existence by the use of his reason4 ,now1 ,i wish you to notice this4 ,nature is not limited in her resources1 nor confined to one method4 ,she is not obliged to plant animals in the ground that they may suck up food through their legs2 she can and does give them instincts by which they can get their food in a very different way4 ,but perfect as these instincts are1 nature can do still better4 ,she can produce an animal capable of reasoning upon causes and effects1 and who1 therefore1 provides for everything which he imagines to be good for him by setting those causes in motion which produce the desired effect4#bd ,but with the possession of reason there also goes the possession of what we call mental faculties4 ,not only can man by the use of his reason obtain food1 provide for his safety1 and continue his race1 but higher ends are made possible for him1 to be attained to by the use of this higher endowment4 ,man has the power of articulate speech1 and upon this follows the power of learning to read1 to write1 and to cypher2 and upon the power of doing these three things follows a plenitude of other powers4 ,now1 ,i shall not stop to enquire how man gained these powers1 whether by natural and sexual selection or not2 but ,i venture to point out that there is a vast chasm between physical and intellectual powers4 ,the most sensible monkey is a parody rather than an imitation of man1 and the difference between the two is enormous4#be ,the points of agreement serve rather to enable us to measure this interval1 and see how wide it is1 than to bridge it over4 ,now1 let us suppose ourselves philosophers come1 we will say1 from the planet ,jupiter1 on a mission intrusted to us by the ,jovians1 to examine and report upon the nature of the creatures which people the four inferior planets1 ,terra1 ,venus1 ,mercury1 and ,mars4 ,of course1 we should look upon the inhabitants of such small communities with contempt1 but1 being philosophers1 we should not neglect anything because it was trifling4 ,well1 when we came to ,terra we should report that it was a very curious region1 inhabited by a long scale of beings1 each one fitted to its place1 and that at their head there was a rather noxious1 troublesome1 and uppish creature called man1 whose examination had caused us an infinity of trouble4 ,in examining this creature we should find that it shared in all the wants of those beneath him1 but that it supplied its wants1 not by the use of instincts1 but of reason4 ,over and above1 however1 man's physical wants1 we should find that he had mental wants2 and with these wants faculties also1 by which he could supply them4 ,supply all the physical wants of an animal1 and having none besides1 it will lie still for hours or days until hunger stirs it to renewed exertion4 ,supply all man's physical wants1 and his mental wants then develop into full activity4 ,give him the lowest and basest drudgery2 make him work morning1 noon1 and night in the meanest occupations1 for the supply of merely physical necessities1 and1 though you can infinitely degrade1 you cannot destroy his mental powers4 ,he still thinks1 still connects causes and effects4 ,but our purpose will be best answered by taking the case of those whose faculties are most highly cultivated4 ,has nature supplied a proper field for the exercise of the mental powers1 not merely of ,fuegians1 but of the most highly developed man8 ,you know that she has4 ,take the senses which he has in common with the animals1 but see what vast means have been provided by which he can make an intellectual use of them4 ,what arts and sciences1 painting1 music1 harmony1 numbers1 eloquence1 have grown out of their use4 ,as for our mental powers1 think only of the vast number of ologies which are claiming admission into our very normal schools4 ,think only of all our learned ,associations1 our ,royal ,societies1 our ,social ,congresses1 our ,british ,museums full of books1 which have been written1 and are waiting only to be read1 and you must own that men do use their mental powers1 and have means enough for a more ample use of them4 ,nature makes us use our mental powers to some extent4 ,she encourages us to use them thoroughly and earnestly4 ,use them we must4 ,man is placed in such a position that he must study what passes round him4 ,man learns by experience4 ,instincts are but slightly progressive4 ,unless brought into contact with man1 the animals learn little--perhaps nothing4 ,i do not doubt but that those huge monsters1 whose remains we behold in geological museums1 were the most dull and stupid creatures possible4 ,i think this simply because ,i suppose that man did not then exist1 and1 therefore1 that these monsters had nothing to waken them up out of their sluggish torpor4 ,but scientific men#bf tell me that existing mammals actually have larger brains than their ancient tertiary prototypes of the same order4 ,let man enter the stage1 and the instincts of animals are quickened4 ,nature did not create man without taking care to guard the inferior animals from his destructive powers4 ,but man in himself1 essentially1 is at once progressive and retrogressive4 ,bound up with him is an infinite possibility of advance and decay4 ,he is never stationary4 ,both individuals and communities are perpetually either ascending or descending in the scale1 morally and intellectually4 ,but this law of nature obliges man to perpetual mental effort under the usual penalty of degradation4 ,we have not merely to advance1 to win new ground4 ,if this were all1 at length we should have nothing to do4 ,we have to win back lost ground4 ,our gains are1 ,i hope1 greater than our losses2 but the progress of no community will ever be fast enough1 continued enough1 and assured enough1 to justify the members of it in living in a fool's paradise4 ,this1 then1 was our second point4 ,the first was1 that nature has provided us with a proper field for the exercise of our mental faculties2 the second1 that she imposes upon us the necessity of using them4 ,we may add1 that the law of scientific progress also makes it certain that no advance of science will ever deliver us from the necessity of using our faculties4 ,the valuable part of every science is its theory--the mental part4 ,facts and fossils are of no value1 except as being the materials for thought4 ,no geologist would care much for a discovery of fossils in agreement with an established theory1 but if the theory were still debated1 then every discovery that tended to prove or disprove it1 would be canvassed with intelligent interest4 ,the pure sciences can grow1 ,i am well aware1 only by additions4 ,but then they are simply instrumental4 ,they are to the mixed sciences what arithmetic is to the ordinary business of life4 ,logarithms1 algebra1 the integral and differential calculuses1 are simply easy ways of doing difficult sums4 ,it is a great thing1 no doubt1 for science to perfect its instruments and processes1 but scientific progress lies in the mixed sciences themselves1 and these are constantly undergoing modification4 ,the spectrum analysis is largely modifying the science of astronomy4 ,deep sea dredging1 and other fresh means of information1 have so modified geology1 that no one holds now that similar strata are necessarily of the same date4 ,a vast cretaceous formation is probably going on at this very day in the bed of the ,atlantic4 7,huxley1 ,lay ,sermons1 p4 #bjf47 ,the law1 then1 of scientific progress is constant modification2 fresh facts are discovered1 new theories started1 old theories revived1 existing theories altered1 recast1 newly shaped4 ,should a science become1 practically1 complete and perfect1 scientific men would care for it no longer4 ,the manufacturer and merchant would then seize upon it4 ,in this way what was once a problem in the mind of the student1 becomes an article of use1 comfort1 and enjoyment in our daily lives4 ,meanwhile1 new sciences spring up1 and old sciences take new shape1 and1 as a matter of fact1 so large has become the scientific domain1 that no one man can master it4 ,division of labour has become as necessary here as in the manual crafts4 ,we are no longer encyclopdists1 but each one must stick to his own page in the great book of learning4 ,many of these sciences relate to our social condition4 ,and of these the importance and value every day rapidly increases4 ,good government largely depends upon knowledge of all those natural laws upon which moral and physical well-being depends4 ,upon good government follow increased wealth1 active trade1 higher wages1 and larger consumption of commodities4 ,upon these follows increased population1 and that population concentrated upon spots favourable for all this activity4 ,and upon this follow new social difficulties2 fresh problems arise to be solved1 and new questions to occupy the mind both of the student and of the statesman4 ,unless solved1 society will retrograde2 it will suffer in health1 in wealth1 and morality2 turbulence will take the place of quiet industry2 and that community will decay4 ,here again nature provides a field for the employment of our faculties1 and compels us to use them4 ,if not there is the same penalty1 degradation4 ,i do not know how many geological periods it would take before1 by the neglect of our powers1 we could retrograde back to our ascidian progenitor2 but ,i see everywhere around me the proofs that retrogression is as much a law of man's nature as progress4 ,we can only continue what we are by using all our powers4#bg ,but ,i may have lingered over this part of my subject too long4 ,no one perhaps will deny that man both can and must use his mental powers as thoroughly as an animal must use its instincts1 and a plant its vegetative powers1 or it will suffer for its neglect4 ,only remember that my argument has nothing to do with individuals2 ,i am treating of man as a species1 and investigating the general laws which regulate his well being4 ,well1 now1 has man any other powers than those already described8 ,has he merely physical powers to enable him to get food1 and other bodily necessaries2 and mental powers to enable him to read1 write1 and cypher8 ,is this all8 ,you know that it is not all4 ,there is another broad distinction between man and all the other inhabitants of this earth4 ,he alone distinguishes between right and wrong4#bh ,now if man possesses this faculty1 however acquired1 and by whatever name called1 then if nature's laws are universal1 he is both bound to use it1 will suffer from not using it1 and will have a proper field provided for its use4 ,nature gives no faculty without imposing an obligation of exercising it3 an obligation1 however1 which rests in its full force upon the species1 and upon the individual only as belonging to the species4 ,some powers every individual must use or he would die2 there are other powers which1 if he does not use1 nature will be content with a lighter penalty4 ,far be it from me to affirm that every one here uses his reasoning powers4 ,i hope he does2 but if he does not use them1 ,i am quite sure that nature will exact of him the penalty of stupidity4 ,but the species must use them2 if not1 upon degradation would soon follow extinction4 ,nature1 for instance1 would not let man exist as a mere animal4 ,if he did not use his reason1 the instincts of other animals are so superior to his1 that while they found food he would be unable to do so4 ,even if necessity quickened his instincts1 he would yet have ceased to be a man1 and would be retrograding back to the ascidian4 ,to continue to be a man he must make some low use at all events of his mental powers4 ,now1 can you establish any such difference between man's intellectual and moral powers1 as will justify you1 while acknowledging that you must use the one1 in neglecting the other8 ,can you give any reason why you need not use the faculty which undoubtedly you possess of distinguishing between right and wrong1 and the faculty1 let us say1 of using the imagination in matters of science4 ,i am sure you cannot4 ,by not using your mental powers you will be in an inferior mental position2 by not using your moral powers you will hold an inferior moral position4 ,but you may say the penalty is slight1 and we will pay it4 ,we will use our physical powers1 and become grand animals and we will use our mental powers1 and become grand intellectual men4 ,not men ,i answer4 ,add intellectuality to animality1 and you merely get an intellectual animal4 ,your moral powers are an essential part of yourselves4 ,confessedly too1 there is ample field for using them4 ,the whole world is so constituted that morning1 noon1 and night1 the question perpetually arises of right and wrong4 ,you cannot take a step in life without conscience intervening4 ,it is so inseparably a part of yourselves that constantly it acts as a mere instinct1 and approves or condemns your conduct as spontaneously as your palate distinguishes between sweet and bitter4 ,you may render your palate dull1 so that you cannot taste what you eat and drink2 you may render your conscience dull1 but it has a strong recuperative force1 and1 after years of dullness1 will awaken1 and exercise again its judicial functions with stern and decisive energy4 ,struggle as much as you like1 but the conclusion cannot be evaded1 that you can distinguish between right and wrong1 that you ought to do so1 and that you must do so4 ,if so1 what follows8 ,i answer1 the necessity of religion1 and therefore of revelation4 ,resist as men will and do1 they have but a choice between two alternatives4 ,either all this present state of things1 in which every faculty has its appropriate field of exercise1 and every external possibility has opposite to it an internal faculty2 either all this is an illusion and deceit1 a purposeless and objectless piece of jugglery2#bi or if it be a reality1 then the existence in man of faculties1 obliging him to distinguish between right and wrong1 constitute him a responsible agent4 ,if he is responsible1 he is responsible to some one3 and certain penalties are necessarily attached to the neglect1 the misuse1 and the violation of his moral powers4 ,the person to whom man is responsible must be capable of forming an equitable judgment1 and therefore must know the motives as well as the outward acts1 and for this nothing less than omniscience will suffice4 ,he must have the power of apportioning adequate rewards and punishments to human actions1 which will need little less than omnipotence4 ,and as no adequate reward or punishment follows in this life1 there must be some other state in which men will be dealt with according to their true deserts4 ,if not1 then there exists in man a whole class of faculties1 moral faculties1 which seem to find in this present state of things an appropriate field for their exercise1 but which man is under no necessity of using4 ,a man who lives in the habitual violation of every moral obligation1 but does so with discretion1 may have a very large enjoyment of the things of this world3 while generally a man whose conscience is tender1 and whose life is regulated by the highest motives1 necessarily and voluntarily abandons much1 both of pleasure and prosperity4 ,nature cannot have so bungled her work4 ,the highest possible exercise of the powers which she has given us must necessarily lead to the highest possible good4 ,it does not matter to the argument whether conscience and your other moral faculties be natural or acquired4 ,if nature endowed an ascidian with the power of acquiring moral faculties1 it was bound to use them as soon as it had got them4 ,the question whether you are bound to use your mental faculties does not depend in the least upon the question whether man is an improved monkey4 ,you are bound to use them simply because you have them4 ,so you are bound to live as a responsible being simply because you have the faculty of distinguishing between right and wrong4 ,you know1 too1 that you act yourselves upon this principle4 ,if any one were to push one of you out of your seat and take it himself1 not only would you be angry1 but our chairman would call in a policeman to expel the disturber1 and give you your seat back again4 ,why8 ,because the man would have been doing wrong1 and need not have done it2 and because it was wrong you are angry and punish him4 ,but can you stop there8 ,there are things which we know to be wrong1 but which hurt none but ourselves2 things we know to be wrong1 but which benefit society4 ,a man may liberally support useful institutions from motives of ostentation1 or as a bribe1 if he is a candidate1 let us say1 for a seat in parliament4 ,an act may be apparently right1 but the inner motive wrong4 ,now1 conscience judges of things absolutely2 it condemns or approves of things1 not as they seem1 but as they really are3 not by results1 but by their intrinsic character4 ,what is there which answers to this outside of man8 ,must there not be a judge who also judges men absolutely8 ,you can find no such judge but ,god4 ,either1 then1 nature is a sham1 and her laws not universal1 and this present state of things a delusion1 or there is a universal judge1 and a future state in which reward and punishment will be meted out in strict accordance with the rightness and wrongness of human action4 ,a being omniscient and almighty can alone judge actions absolutely in the same way as conscience judges us1 both for our thoughts1 words1 and deeds4 ,i have chiefly spoken of conscience1 but the argument takes in all man's moral and spiritual powers4#cj ,no man can doubt but that man has within him powers which exactly answer to religion outside of him4 ,the power of faith is as much a faculty as that of sight2 and so also is that instinct1 ,i had almost called it1 which makes a man ever turn away in discontent from the present to struggle for the future4 ,and what is more1 man's moral and religious faculties develop with advancing civilization just as his mental faculties do4 ,the mental questions which agitate our minds would be entirely void of interest to a savage2 the social difficulties which occupy the attention of our political economists and statesmen would be mere trash to a peasant3 so1 too1 with religion4 ,i do not see any reason why a race may not sink so low as to lose the very idea of a ,god2 but ,i am sure that such a race would hold the very lowest place in the scale of humanity4 ,whatever round in the ladder of human progress you like to examine1 ,i will make bold to say that you will find the religious and moral state of mankind there holding a very close relation to the degree of mental culture and civilization to which it has attained4 ,now1 the only thing that acts powerfully upon man's moral faculties is religion4 ,i do not say that this ought or ought not to be so2 all ,i assert is that it is so4 ,call1 if you like1 the great mass of your fellow men ,philistines1 and despise their low culture1 but you will find nothing that acts powerfully upon these ,philistines to give them culture1 to raise1 refine1 and purify them1 except religion4 ,conscience1 too1 holds a most direct and evident relation to religion4 ,you will not find conscience amenable to reasoning4 ,when virtue begins to reason1 the proverb tells you it is lost4 ,when conscience condemns1 it is because the thing condemned is a sin against ,god2 when it approves1 it is because the thing done is absolutely right1 and as ,god commanded4 ,conscience never asks whether a thing is a sin against society2 it never troubles about consequences1 knows nothing about political economy1 or political morality either4 ,it judges by a higher and absolute rule4 ,by so doing it makes man a responsible agent absolutely1 brings him into direct relation with ,god as the absolute judge1 and renders necessary a more exact apportionment of rewards and punishments than exists at present4 ,there must be some other state of existence in which man will be judged in the same way as now he judges himself1 and in which the natural effects of this judgment will be fully carried out4 ,but1 if there is thus a future judgment1 and a state in which happiness and misery will follow as the natural#ca results of our actions here1 man will require a certain amount of knowledge concerning this judgment4 ,by the possession of conscience and other religious faculties1 man holds a definite relation towards ,god4 ,plainly the most tremendous results may follow from this relation1 and man ought to have some sure knowledge of these results4 ,now it is conceivably possible that ,god might have given us this knowledge by means of the light of nature1 as we call it4 ,but ,he has not4 ,confessedly natural religion is neither clear enough nor certain enough to affect powerfully the masses4 ,man is not a quiet1 orderly1 neutral sort of being2 he bears about with him a nature fraught and fully charged with the most dangerous passions4 ,reason1 with its prudential maxims1 has never done much to restrain these passions4 ,to take1 then1 the lowest possible ground4 ,as nature has given us moral qualities1 ,i suppose that moral excellence is a thing as necessarily to be attained to as physical and mental excellence4 ,but while nature has provided ample means for attaining to the two last1 she will not1 without a revelation1 have provided sufficient means for the attainment of the first4 ,by the aid of religion1 about as many men probably attain to moral excellence1 as by other natural means attain to physical and mental excellence4#cb ,without religion nature will have broken down4 ,you would have universally a state of things like that in ancient ,greece--one ,plato1 surrounded by the mass leading the most grossly sensual life4 ,nature cannot develop any being higher than herself1 nor endow it with wants which she cannot supply4 ,if nature develops intellect1 morality1 religion1 then that power which developed these faculties must also be intellectual1 moral1 religious4 ,what1 then1 can this power in nature be but the working of ,god8 ,out of nothing comes nothing4 ,the effect cannot be greater than the cause4 ,the existence of man1 with his mental1 moral1 and religious powers1 forbids us to believe that that which caused man to exist can be less possessed of these powers than he is4 ,infinitely higher he may be1 lower he cannot be4 ,and as surely as man's physical and mental wants are provided for by that power which called these wants into being1 so surely will man's moral and religious wants be supplied4 ,they are not supplied by the light of nature2 nothing then remains but revelation4 ,into the formal proof of revelation ,i must not enter2 all that devolved upon me was to show the priori probability1 or at least possibility1 of a revelation4 ,i have endeavoured to show this by a consideration of what man is1 viewed simply as a natural being1 and by the consideration of his natural wants4 ,i have not taken into consideration any of the additional knowledge given us in the ,bible concerning man4 ,i have treated him in much the same way as ,i might one of the creatures in the ,zoological ,gardens1 if ,i had been asked to study it in order that ,i might see what its wants were1 and tell the keeper what to give it to maintain it in the full possession of its powers4 ,no doubt it would have helped me if ,i had been told what and where the creature had been before4 ,i should then have had no difficulty in explaining and accounting for everything4 ,such knowledge1 however1 even revelation does not give us1 because it is not indispensable4 ,it gives us that only which is necessary for the supply of our wants4 ,even with this knowledge my argument is not concerned2 but certain general principles about revelation follow from what ,i have laid down4 ,and first1 revelation has nothing to do with our physical state4 ,reason is quite sufficient to teach us all those sanitary laws by which our bodies will be maintained in healthful vigour4 ,if the ,bible condemns drunkenness1 gluttony1 and the like1 it does so not for sanitary reasons1 but for moral reasons1 because they are sins4 ,so revelation has nothing to do with our mental powers2 whatever we can attain to by our mental powers we are to attain to by them4 ,physical and metaphysical science alike lie remote from the object-matter of revelation4 ,because ,god has1 in the ,bible1 given us revelation in an informal way1 in order1 perhaps1 to commend it to our entire nature1 people often forget that its proper object-matter is simply the moral relation in which man stands to ,god1 especially with reference to a future state of being4 ,religious men forget this4 ,they often take up an antagonistic position to science1 and try to make out systems of geology and astronomy and anthropology from the ,bible and by these judge all that scientific men say4 ,really the ,bible never gives us any scientific knowledge in a scientific way4 ,if it did1 it would be leaving its own proper domain4 ,when it does seem to give us any such knowledge1 as in the first chapter of ,genesis1 there is a very important differentia about it4 ,what it says has always reference to man4 ,the first chapter of ,genesis does not tell us how the earth was formed absolutely2 geology ought to tell us that4 ,it tells us how it was prepared and fitted for man4 ,look at the work of the fourth day4 ,does any man suppose that the stars were set in the expanse of heaven absolutely that men might know what time of year it was8 ,but that is their special service1 and in old time a most important service for man4 ,to the geologist man is just as much and just as little as a trilobite or a megatherium4 ,to the student of the ,bible man is everything1 and the first chapter of ,genesis teaches him that man was the cause of all other terrestrial creation1 the sum and crown of the ,creator's work4#ahj ,but if believers mix up science and revelation1 so do the students of physical science4 ,no sooner is a theory started1 than it is immediately compared with what the ,bible says1 or is supposed to say4 ,now1 no doubt1 the comparison between the teachings of revelation and science is inevitable4 ,whatever is mixed up with revelation1 owing to the manner in which ,god has been pleased to bestow it1 must1 at least1 be true4 ,it would be impossible for us to accept the authority of the ,bible upon those points in which we cannot judge of its truth1 if in those points in which we are competent judges we found it erroneous4 ,the teachings1 therefore1 of science and of revelation must be compared2 but in this comparison not only must we remember that it is not the object of the ,bible to teach science1 and that1 as it speaks to all people at all times1 it must use popular language1 but also that the comparison must be made1 not with the floating theories of the hour1 but only with established truths4 ,if the wisest geologist of our days could show that there was an exact agreement between geology and the ,bible1 it would rather disprove than prove its truth4 ,for1 as geology is a growing science1 it would prove the agreement of the ,bible with that which is receiving daily additions1 and is constantly undergoing modification1 and ten years hence the two would be at hopeless variance4 ,at the same time there is a good side to the discussion1 and the theologian especially is the gainer4 ,in the present day the attack upon revelation draws its weapons from our increased knowledge of physical science1 of philology1 and of history1 and the theologian can no longer neglect these studies4 ,i have no scruple in saying that ,i look with pride upon what my countrymen have done1 and are doing1 in enlarging the bounds of our scientific knowledge1 even if ,i do not always approve of their spirit1 or accept their conclusions2 and ,i am quite sure theologians must study1 intelligently and dispassionately1 all those branches of knowledge which are brought into contact with revelation1 or they will lose their influence over the intellect of the country4 ,it is no use treating physical science as a bugbear4 ,let our theologians master it1 and they will find it a manly study1 which will give their minds breadth1 will teach them what are the difficulties which press heavily on many thoughtful minds1 and which must be fairly met4 ,an opposition between an old science like theology and new sciences there must be3 but let both sides remember that revelation was never intended to teach us anything that we could learn by the use of our natural faculties1 and that what the ,bible teaches must be compared not with floating and probable theories1 but with proved theories4 ,these proved theories will1 ,i believe1 fall into their place in due course of time1 as easily as ,galileo's theory about the revolution of the earth round the sun4 ,if not1 ,i do not see how the claims of the ,bible to be the ,word of ,god can be maintained3 for ,i cannot believe that there is any chasm between the teachings of ,god in nature and in revelation4 ,but ,i think it perfectly possible that men may misinterpret and misunderstand both one and the other4 ,i have detained you too long4 ,but ,i must make one more remark4 ,if the proper object matter of revelation is that knowledge1 which being necessary for us as moral agents1 was yet unattainable by our natural powers1 then reason is no judge of what revelation teaches4 ,there may be in our relations to ,god1 things which we never should have expected3 deep truths opening onwards into mysteries past our present finite comprehension4 ,if everything had been plain1 easy1 commonplace1 revelation would not have been needed4 ,nevertheless1 reason holds a very high office with respect to revelation4 ,in a matter of so high consequence1 as whether ,god has spoken to us or not1 we are bound to examine most scrupulously the evidence upon which the fact of the revelation rests4 ,and this examination involves an enquiry into the teachings of revelation4 ,the existence of mysteries in a revelation is reasonable3 the existence of immorality in it would be fatal to its claims4 ,for if the scientific basis for my belief in the gift of a revelation is the existence in me of conscience1 and of moral faculties which make me a responsible being1 ,i am left absolutely without a basis for a revelation which makes me violate my conscience4 ,a revelation which degrades my moral and spiritual powers is as much against nature as anything that degraded my physical or mental powers4 ,if religion be true1 it must ennoble1 elevate1 purify1 and perfect me1 here as far as the present condition of my existence permits1 entirely in that other state to which our present responsibility points1 provided1 of course1 that ,i submit myself to its teachings4 ,i know of no way by which ,i can make this examination except by reason and experience4 ,and ,i hold this further1 because ,i hold that a true religion must be commensurate with the whole of man4 ,it must make him better physically1 mentally1 morally1 and spiritually1 and consecrate all his powers to ,god4 ,i am only too well aware that much which ,i have said has been put in a feeble and confused manner4 ,much also necessary for the support and elucidation of the argument had to be omitted because of the necessity of compressing it into so short an essay2 but ,i trust that the main line of thought is clear1 namely1 that religion outside of us stands in so plain a relation to what we are internally1 that either it is real1 or this whole state of things is a delusion4 ,man1 without a revelation1 and therefore without religion1 is the only one thing of all that exist upon the face of the earth that is a bungle1#cc a failure1 and a mistake4 ,,the ,,nature ,,and ,,value ,,of ,,the ,,miraculous ,,testimony ,,to ,,christianity4 ,,by ,,john ,,stoughton1 ,d4,d41 ,,kensington4 ,,miracles4 ,one of the most touching narratives in the ,new ,testament relates to a want of faith in miracles4 ,it is said that when ,thomas was told of his ,master's resurrection1 he replied1 ,except ,i shall see in ,his hands the print of the nails1 and put my finger into the print of the nails1 and thrust my hand into ,his side1 ,i will not believe4 ,he was not denounced for this4 ,no word of withering scorn1 or cutting ridicule1 or threatening anger1 fell on the ear of the doubting disciple4 ,but evidence was offered4 ,reach hither thy finger1 and behold my hands2 and reach hither thy hand1 and thrust it into my side2 and be not faithless1 but believing4 ,as far as rebuke appeared1 it was only by implication1 in words respecting those whose faith is of keener eye1 and swifter foot3 ,blessed are they that have not seen1 and yet have believed4 ,i think that every one who speaks of miracles to doubting minds should from this narrative take a lesson4 ,surely the gist and purpose of it is1 that we should distinguish between intellectual difficulty and moral prejudice1 and deal patiently and convincingly with honest seekers after truth4 ,sometimes the subject before us has been so handled as to drive the unbeliever into deeper unbelieving--,i would rather strive to work upon a little faith1 and make it more4 ,i4 ,i am to speak to you respecting the nature of the miraculous testimony to ,christianity4 ,my business is with mighty works1 recorded in the ,new ,testament as having been wrought for the purpose of testifying to a ,divine mission4 ,no definition of their character in relation to physical law can anywhere be found in this ancient record4 ,they are not spoken of as violations of law1 or as suspensions of law1 or as interferences with law1 or as contradictions to law4 ,they are described1 not on the side of their physical nature1 but on the side of their moral signification4 ,they are depicted1 not in their connection with the obvious order of the material universe1 or with any hidden powers and principles of a higher and harmonious description2 but in their connection with ,him who claimed to be the ,redeemer of mankind1 who came1 according to ,his own words1 to seek and save that which was lost4 ,they are denominated wonders1 startling occurrences1 things contrary to common experience2 and signs1--not mere marvels bursting idly on the public gaze1 and exciting in a multitude of spectators a barren curiosity1 but signs1--replete with an ulterior meaning1 and testifying to the character and work of ,him through whom they were accomplished4 ,there is no necessity1 then1 for us at the outset to define a miracle on the physical side of it--to call it a violation of law1 or a suspension of law--an interference with it1 or a contradiction to it4 ,in other words1 there is no need imposed by the conditions of our argument1 to inquire into the mode in which such a phenomenon can be produced4 ,it is enough to show that it did occur1 and to dwell upon the religious significancy of its occurrence first to the witnesses1 and next to ourselves4 ,what is the exact position which miracles may be thought to occupy as wonders in the universe1 whether1 through breaking in upon common experience1 they are referable to the operation of occult laws1 known and controlled at a fitting moment by the mysterious touch of the wonder-worker2 or whether they are to be considered as resulting simply from the immediate fiat of the ,supreme will1 are questions which may with advantage be relegated for consideration elsewhere4 #a4 ,but1 at the very threshold of our inquiry we are met by the assertion1 that a miracle1 however defined1 is in itself simply impossible4 ,impossible6 ,in what sense impossible8 ,does it mean impossible to man1 or impossible to ,god8 ,impossible to man1 of course1 it is4 ,that impossibility enters into the popular idea of a miracle4 ,man has no such control over nature as to be able to produce one4 ,but if it be said a miracle is impossible to ,god1 such an impossibility involves the extension of human inability to ,god ,himself4 ,it involves either the idea1 that nature has ever been independent of ,god1 or the idea1 that if produced by ,him1 ,he is no longer ,lord of ,his own works--this ,lordship having been surrendered by ,his will1 or having escaped from ,his hands4 ,summarily disposing of this gross anthropomorphism1 we find behind it the dogma of ,spinoza1 that there is nothing transcendental anywhere1 no transcendental beginnings1 no transcendental interpositions2 for ,god and nature are one through the eternities4 ,in the wake of ,spinoza's philosophy follows the modern axiom--to recognise the impossibility even of any two material atoms subsisting together without a determinate relation--of any action of the one on the other1 whether of equilibrium or of motion1 without reference to a physical cause--of any modification whatsoever in the existing conditions of material agents1 unless through the invariable operation of a series of eternally impressed consequences1 following in some necessary chain of orderly connexion4#cd ,here1 in limine1 before examining this principle1 let me observe1 once for all1 that miracles do by no means cast any slur upon the settled order of nature1 as if it were faulty and imperfect1 and required correction or supplement for effectuating its proper ends--as frail constructions in engineering departments of human contrivance need subsequent repairs4 ,nature is perfect enough for her own ends2 miracles are introduced for other and higher purposes4 ,this requires to be borne in mind throughout our entire discussion4 ,but to come to the antagonist principle1 that there is a development in nature through the agency of physical laws1 apart from an original ,creator and an everlasting ,lord4 ,i do not say--far from it--that the principle denies the existence of such a ,creator and ,lord1 but it supposes at least that the physical order of the universe is fixed in such a sense1 as to have ever excluded from it the action1 directly or indirectly1 of a ,divine will1 beyond the inflexible maintenance of ordinary operations4 ,it is said1 ,the enlarged critical and inductive study of the natural world cannot but tend powerfully to evince the inconceivableness of imagined interruptions of natural order1 or supposed suspensions of the laws of matter1 and of that vast series of dependent causation which constitutes the legitimate field for the investigation of science1 whose constancy is the sole warrant for its generalization4 ,in reply to this it may be fairly urged that science1 whilst she maintains the invariable sequence of causes and effects1 and the uninterrupted order of physical events1 is a prophetess of truth and wisdom4 ,she enunciates lessons bound up with the welfare of the race4 ,thus far there is no antagonism between her and religion4 ,she can1 without abandonment of her principles1 nay1 in the act of carrying them out1 officiate as a priestess at the altar of ,god2 nor is there anything in the position for which she stipulates contrary to the claims of ,revelation4 ,for ,revelation1 in appealing to miracles1 supposes the ordinary course of physical phenomena to be inviolable1 and no book more than the ,bible exhibits the normal constancy of natural agencies4 ,but when science pronounces as impossible all such signs and wonders as are recorded in ,scripture1 she steps out of her province4 ,in her own province she may justly affirm there are no signs of miracles2 she may sweep her telescope over the fields of the sky1 and ply her microscope amidst the growths of the earth1 and say1 ,i can see no traces anywhere but of inflexible law4 ,these realms of existence are full of order4 ,it is the perfection of their beauty1 that they are free from violations1 suspensions1 disturbances1 and interferences4 ,but to say this--and ,i fully concur in it--is not to demonstrate that the ,scriptures relate impossibilities4 ,to do so1 philosophy must pass beyond the range of physical observation1 since there no place can be found for working out the desired demonstration4 ,philosophers do not always remember how difficult it is to prove a negative4 ,showing that certain things are1 they are apt to slide into a belief that therefore certain other things cannot be1 the conclusion proving on logical examination a simple non sequitur4 ,doubtless it is a fact1 that we can detect nowhere in nature a provision made for producing miracles such as come under our review in this lecture1 that no prophecy nor hint of them can be discerned throughout her measured realms2 but this is a very different thing from saying1 that nature teaches the belief of them to be absurd4 ,so far from its being absurd1 there may1 after all1 be found in nature something analogous to a miracle4 ,in nature there are distinct worlds1 worlds between which there are gaps and gulfs4 ,i do not dispute that there are striking approximations in the phenomena of some realms to the phenomena of others2 but there are also broad deep spaces1 here and there1 never bridged over by the discoveries of science4 ,hence1 an animal1 as you have been told already1 in the words of ,hegel1 is a miracle for the vegetable world4 ,it is a new creation in some way1 and a new creation in any way is a miracle4 ,after wandering amongst rocks1 we find in plants a new world4 ,organized life is so2 so also1 compared with animal instinct1 is the mind of man1 with its spiritual reason1 and its moral consciousness4 ,not only do ,coleridge1 ,kant1 and ,plato regard man's highest faculty as essentially different from the mere adaptive understanding of an animal nature2 but what is still more remarkable1 ,aristotle himself1 whose turn of mind was so different from theirs1 differentiates man from other creatures on the ground of his being endowed with the faculty of reason4 ,in his work on the ,generation of ,animals1 he says that there is no resource except to believe1 that the reason has no affinity with the material elements out of which the human embryo is formed1 but that it comes from without1 and that it alone1 of all the component parts of man1 is divine4#ce ,thus1 in the opinion of one of the greatest philosophers the world has ever known1 the line of demarcation between man and all lower creatures is broad and clear1 a line which in the simple order and development of nature they could never cross4 ,the superior attributes of humanity1 according to him1 come from without2 here1 then1 amongst the component parts of humanity is something divine4 ,in other words1 we have a new world2 a new creation4 ,i do not say there is a strict parallel between any new race or species in nature and the occurrence of individual miracles on rare occasions1 but ,i do say that there is enough of resemblance between these two descriptions of change to exempt a believer in both of them from the charge of being absurd4 ,furthermore1 there are in human minds varieties of power of an astonishing description3 although there be faculties common to all men1 the vigour of those faculties in some cases is such as perfectly to eclipse the vigour of them in others4 ,the superiority of individual minds1 whose works have filled the world with wonder1 is such as to leave behind1 at an unapproachable distance1 the ordinary measure of human endowment4 ,certain intellects 7,i need not name them7 have long exercised a formative power upon the civilized portions of our race4 ,they have been as crystals inserted in a solution1 and other crystals have received shape from them4 ,whence have come these typical energies in the intellectual world8 ,no law of development will account for a resplendent genius now and then flashing on the world2 for the appearance of a master mind1 after humanity has kept on a low level through generation after generation2 for the ascent again of gifted spirits into the highest heaven of invention1 after another lapse into mere mediocrity4 ,no known laws of causality account for such facts in the realms of intellectual existence4 ,if1 in the case of man1 as compared with other animals1 the difference1 as ,aristotle says1 is something which comes from without1 the same may be said with respect to the difference between ordinary mortals and ,william ,shakespere or ,john ,milton4 ,there is forced upon us the conviction1 that these stars which dwell apart are kindled by fires burning in superhuman spheres4 ,i do not say1 in this case1 any more than in the others ,i have cited1 that we find an exact parallel to a miracle2 but ,i do maintain1 that we discover here a kind of inspiration which1 like the miraculous1 transcends all known laws1 and brings to mind what was said by the first of those just named3 ,there are more things in heaven and earth1 ,horatio1 ,than are dreamt of in your philosophy4 ,what is called physical science must change her name1 and renounce her office1 and assume functions of another order1 before she can pronounce a peremptory negative upon the point in controversy4#cf ,physical science needs to become metaphysical1 and to pass into fields of abstract reasoning in order to the utterance of a universal dictum4 ,to this kind of mental employment in itself ,i make no objection2 for the science of merely physical nature1 without any outlook into higher regions1 keeps the soul in humiliating imprisonment4 ,the excursions of thought1 however1 now before us are regarded in some quarters under the singular delusion of being strictly scientific1 whilst employed in devising a theory of the universe which excludes the constant control of a personal ,god1 an ,almighty will4 ,the assaults on what is miraculous can be carried on only with metaphysical weapons4 ,the facts of physical nature do not supply them2 only from theories of physical nature1 taking a metaphysical form1 can they be gathered4 ,even ,positivism1 with all its doubtfulness and denial--strange contradiction that--must1 in order to deny the possibility of miracles1 build up a wall to shut them out1 by trenching first on ground beyond its own domain4 ,pure ,positivism1 consistently with itself1 is not competent to contradict the existence of the supernatural2 it can but leave it an open question4 ,the common method of distinctly denying miracles is one involving either some atheistic or pantheistic principle4 ,assume--and it is but an assumption--that matter is eternal and self-sufficient2 that natural laws have not originated in1 or are not administered by1 a personal will2 and thus assuming what prepares for1 if it does not necessitate1 some atheistic or pantheistic hypothesis1 you can plausibly maintain that the wonders of which we speak are utterly inconceivable4 ,but1 as you see1 it is not physical science simply considered which brings out this result2 the result comes through adding to physical science what is really a metaphysical element4 ,at what a tremendous cost1 it may be observed by the way1 is such a result achieved4 ,the philosophy of universal necessity places man in the same predicament as it does simple matter4 ,if all nature excludes voluntary control1 and is subject only to an iron rule of invariable succession1 then man also must himself be incapable of voluntary control1 whether it comes from a supreme will or from his own4 ,thus the warfare which assails miracles1 threatens to destroy all ideas of freedom and moral responsibility4 ,and this dark foreshadowing is not concealed4 ,step by step1 we are confidently and calmly told1 the notion of evolution by law is transforming the whole field of our knowledge and opinion4 ,not the physical world alone is now the domain of inductive 787 science1 but the moral1 the intellectual1 and the spiritual are being added to the empire4 ,it is the crown of philosophy to see the immutable even in the complex action of human life4#cg ,but when all assumptions are denied1 the whole question presents another aspect4 ,given the fundamental distinction between things physical and things moral2 given the higher nature of man1 the personal existence of ,god1 a moral element in the ,divine rule1 the immortality of the human soul1 and the present vicinity of invisible spiritual realms2 and1 immediately1 miracles wrought by the ,divine will for men's moral welfare are completely removed out of the sphere of the impossible4 ,positivism1 ,atheism1 and ,pantheism are considered in other lectures of this course1 and therefore it is not my office to examine them4 ,to what has been said by the ,archbishop of ,york and the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,jackson1 and to what may be said by the ,rev4 ,dr4 ,rigg1 ,i must refer my hearers4 ,i would only observe in passing1 what1 indeed1 ,i have hinted at already1 that it puzzles me beyond description to conceive how1 by any course of natural evolution1 independent of the introduction of a new force by an overruling power1 the phenomena of the human will with its morally creative energy for good and evil could have been produced4 ,to solve1 on the principle of pure development1 the problem of the genesis of that mysterious faculty1 is an insuperable task4 ,if we may speak of what is inconceivable--and scientific men set us the example--we should say the existence of volition in man1 with its moral accompaniments1 is utterly inconceivable1 apart from belief in a ,divine will1 of which ours is the offspring4 ,it appears1 then1 that science really presents no antecedent grounds for rejecting miracles1 and that if we believe in a personal ,god1 the presumed impossibility melts away4 ,this point has been conceded by one of the masters of modern reasoning4 ,a miracle1 as was justly remarked by ,brown1 is no contradiction to the law of cause and effect2 it is a new effect1 supposed to be produced by the introduction of a new cause4 ,of the adequacy of that cause1 if present1 there can be no doubt1 and the only antecedent improbability which can be ascribed to the miracle1 is the improbability that any such cause existed4#ch #b4 ,when we have disposed of the preliminary objection which1 in some way or other1 says miracles are impossible1 we are met by another objection1 namely1 that they are immensely improbable4 ,hume's ingenious position1#ci--that miracles are contrary to human experience1 that no amount of human testimony is sufficient to establish them1 and that it is far more likely men should be deceived or mistaken1 than that such events as miracles must be1 could ever take place1--has been made to do abundant service in this controversy2 very little1 if anything1 has been added by those who have persistently used the argument1 to improve its form or to increase its plausibility4 ,one of its latest modifications is1 that incidents out of the common course of things1 said to happen in the present day1 are by all of us sceptically regarded1 that supernatural pretensions are felt by us to be inadmissible1 and that where we are compelled to allow the honesty of witnesses1 if they affirm anything involving a miraculous nature1 we at once dispose of the whole matter by saying 'there must be a mistake somewhere4' ,undoubtedly it is true that miracles are contrary to common experience4 ,they must be so1 or they would not be what they are4 ,if they were of frequent occurrence1 if they had happened in the history of the world so often as to become familiar to mankind1 they would change their character completely4 ,their nature and purpose1 in the view of those who receive them1 is such as to render it necessary that we should bear this in mind4 ,but to allege that they are contrary to human experience1 taken in the widest point of view1 is to beg the question at issue1 a fact remarked a thousand times4 ,that they are not contrary to the experience of certain persons who lived eighteen hundred years ago1 is what ,christians affirm2 to say that they are1 is illogically to cut the controversy short1 and1 by a general denial of everything of the kind1 to put out of court the very case about to be tried1 in support of which there are credible witnesses waiting to give evidence4 ,the question of probability must be looked at all round4 ,the circumstances under which any alleged wonders may have happened must be taken into account1 before we pronounce upon their probability or improbability4 ,when extraordinary things1 coloured with a supernatural tinge1 are related to us as having occurred without any assignable purpose1 or only for some sectarian or party end1 in connection with beliefs long cherished and avowed1 of course we look on them suspiciously2 giving to the authorities relating the narratives1 credit for integrity and truthfulness1 we naturally say 'there must be a mistake somewhere4' ,and1 no doubt1 the general culture of the present age1 however superficial that culture may be1 makes us far less ready than our fathers were1 to endorse popular tales of wonder4 ,there is a salutary scepticism which grows out of extensive knowledge4 ,truth is of such immense value1 that we should not be indifferent to it in the smallest communications and concernments of life4 ,most assuredly any wayward1 eccentric1 unmeaning1 and useless departure from the common course of things1 tending only to shake our faith in nature1--as if men might gather grapes of thorns1 or figs of thistles1 as if barley being sown1 wheat should spring up1 or an apple tree by a sudden freak should bear oranges1--would deserve to be stigmatized as unworthy of belief4 ,but the wonders in question come under another category4 ,they are represented in the history which has recorded them1 not only as being exceptional incidents in themselves1 but as having been accomplished under exceptional circumstances4 ,they are not waifs and strays on the stream of time1 floating no one knows why and whither2 but growths rooted in what appears as a unique system of moral instruction and improvement1 designed by the loving ,father of spirits for ,his lost children4 ,they do not produce what may be called a disturbance of nature--that is1 a throwing things in the physical world out of gear1 so that men are thereby puzzled to make out what nature is1 and how far it may be trusted4 ,the documents which contain our miraculous chronicles attest the immutability of ,him who is the ,king of nature1 and the unchangeable foundation of ,his government and law1 with a pre-eminent luminousness and with an unparalleled force4 ,the wonders chronicled were avowedly wrought for purposes of the highest order2 and here1 again1 we fall back upon the distinction between what is physical and what is moral4 ,those purposes of the highest order to which we refer are moral4 ,they bear on the noblest destinies of humanity1 and they link themselves with the principles of natural religion1 with the being and sway of a mighty1 wise1 and gracious ,god1 with our conscience and responsibility1 and with the future existence of the soul4 ,natural religion1 though it speaks not a word of miracles1 though it gives no prophecies of their advent1 yet prepares for their appearance so far1 that its teachings1 fairly considered1 cut off all antecedent unlikelihood of their occurrence4 ,for natural religion suggests the desirableness of revealed religion1 and revealed religion is only another name for supernatural interposition4 ,in a lecture upon ,science and ,revelation1 by the ,dean of ,canterbury1 it has been shown that man's moral nature1 man's religious susceptibilities1 render religion a necessity for the supply of his deepest wants2 but that what is called natural religion is not clear enough1 nor certain enough1 to affect the generality of our race4 ,revelation1 then1 it may be fairly argued1 looking at man1 is a desideratum1 looking at ,god1 is a probability2 and ,revelation1 being obviously a supernatural bestowment1 seems to imply some authentication of itself1 in part at least1 by means of evidence corresponding with its own supernatural origin and character4 ,the conditions under which ,scripture miracles are said to have been performed must be kept in view when we are told they are improbable4 ,they were not performed in one continued series by a succession of ,thaumaturgists2 but they are found grouped together in certain clusters4 ,as science indicates particular epochs of the energizing power of nature1 so the ,bible records particular epochs of an energizing power above nature4 ,the first great cluster of ,bible wonders we find gathered round the ,lawgiver of ,israel2 the second round the great ,reformer of ,god's ancient ,church2 the third round ,him who is spoken of as ,the ,word made flesh1 who dwelt among us1 and who imparted to ,his apostles miraculous powers akin to ,his own4 ,miracles1 for the most part1 are halos of divine light encircling three grand names--,moses1 ,elijah1 ,jesus1--the last the greatest of the three4 ,physical wonders we meet with in company with spiritual ones--wonders in outward nature in company with wonders in the great soul-world1 of which sensible things are the types and shadows4 ,in other words1 miracles occur in connection with inspiration1 and1 whilst marvels startle the eye1 new truths or new applications of truth are addressed to the mind4 ,in harmony with facts in the intellectual universe already noticed1 resembling the exceptional illuminations of genius which at intervals have flashed on the rest of mankind1--like the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven1 and shineth unto the other part under heaven1--souls inspired with a grand moral message have come forth from the secret place of the ,most ,high2 and it has been in the pathway of these inspired souls that physical miracles have started up2 rather1 it has been by their hands that physical miracles have been wrought4 ,there have been surprising coincidences in modern times between the wonderful in nature and the wonderful in history2 for example1 between the sailing of the invincible ,spanish ,armada1 and the storm which strewed the shores of ,great ,britain with its ponderous wrecks--between the march of ,napoleon's army and the winter's snow which blinded1 benumbed1 and destroyed so many thousands4 ,the connection is unexplained except on the principle of a ,divine providence4#dj ,and so in ancient times there were coincidences between the lightning and thunder of ,sinai1 and the legislative wisdom of ,moses--between the fire that fell on ,carmel1 and the reforming zeal of ,elijah4 ,the connection is explicable only on the principle of these men having been the internunciators of the ,divine will4 ,this explication is strengthened by what they did with their own fingers or their own lips4 ,it may be considered as entrenching too much on the domain of doctrine to speak in this lecture of the ,incarnation2 but ,i would venture to say thus much1 that ,jesus appears on the face of the evangelical narratives1 as the ,son of ,god1 in a sense in which no other being can be rightly called so2 that in the opinions of early ,christendom1 the lowest as well as the highest1 ,he was esteemed as a supernatural ,person2#da and that1 by common consent1 amidst diversities of theological sentiment1 it is acknowledged1 never man spake like this man1 or lived like this man1 or died like this man1 or was like this man4 ,and being1 by the perfection of ,his moral character1 and by the purpose of ,his benevolent mission1 a truly exceptional person1 it is only in keeping with the first blush1 and with the deeper study of ,his wondrous life1 to believe in signs and wonders attending ,his earthly career1 showing whence ,he came1 and illustrating what ,he came to do4 ,christ ,himself is the greatest of wonders in the history of the world4 ,no other approaches ,him in wisdom1 love1 beautifulness1 and glory4 ,in more senses than one ,his name is above every name4 ,taking the four ,gospels together1 the ,incarnation of the ,word is associated with a supernatural birth4 ,the miracle in the spiritual world of the manifestation of ,god in ,jesus ,christ1 is coupled with the miracle in the physical world of the ,virgin's conception4 ,if ,christianity be more than the republication of natural religion1 if it be the revelation of ,god's redeeming love1 it involves a miracle as the very starting-point of the process2 and the unfolding of the idea in the ,new ,testament includes a divine manifestation1 which is a miracle in history1 and a divine birth1 which is a miracle in nature4#db ,his advent in the world comes out in the four ,gospels as a central sunlike marvel1 and therefore it seems no improbability1 but rather the clearest of all probabilities1 that around ,him there should revolve a planetary circle of miracles4 ,difficulties are needlessly created by forgetfulness of the character ascribed to this extraordinary ,person4 ,to argue as to what ,he did1 or as to what ,he did not do1 without a recognition of the actual ,one painted in the ,gospels1 is really to argue about another ,christ1 not the one whom ,christians follow4 ,in accordance with the view ,i have taken1 is the manner in which the ,new ,testament miracles are narrated4 ,it seems assumed that such things might be expected in the wake of such a personage as the ,son of ,god4 ,they are not introduced as a procession of facts challenging supreme admiration4 ,no flourish of trumpets heralds their march2 but they follow as the fitting and humble retinue of ,him who walked the earth its undisputed ,master4 ,the ,evangelists write as men who were not astounded at what their ,master did1 because they were so filled with reverence and admiration1 at the thought of what their ,master was4 ,having considered the antecedent objections made to miracles1 we are now prepared to look at what is really the nature of the miraculous testimony afforded to ,christianity4 ,and here1 for the sake of simplifying the argument1 ,i shall confine myself to the miracles ascribed to ,christ4 ,faith in ,his miracles will lead to faith in the miracles of ,his apostles4 ,if it be granted1 as we contend from what has been said it ought to be1 that this is a case in which historical proof is admissible1 then it is impossible to find stronger historical proof than comes to hand in support of the truth of the evangelical narratives4 ,the historical proof1 as such1 has of late been comparatively little impugned2 the assaults made on the prior credibility of supernatural facts being the main opposition with which believers in ,christianity have to contend4 ,that opposition overcome1 and the validity of competent witnesses1 as to the question at issue1 established1 the course is free for an accumulation of evidence1 such as ,dr4 ,lardner1 with rare erudition1 has piled up in his volumes on the ,credibility of the ,gospel ,history3 such as ,archdeacon ,paley1 with unique ingenuity1 and with singular felicity of arrangement and illustration1 has condensed in his view of the ,evidences of ,christianity4#dc ,the works now mentioned do not1 it must be confessed1 supply all that is wanted for the settlement of the question1 according to the phase it assumes at present4 ,but when scientific and metaphysical difficulties of modern creation have been grappled with and removed1 the array of pagan and ,christian testimonies in support of the original credibility of the ,evangelists1 as collected by these and other writers1 comes to render service of immense value4 ,it is more than any one has yet attempted1 to overturn1 by citation against citation1 criticism against criticism1 argument against argument1 the bulwarks of historical defence built up by the researches of learned advocates4 ,indeed1 the early historical evidence all goes one way4 ,it is evidence without counter-evidence4 ,and to pass for a moment to foreign literature4 ,after the endeavours of ,strauss and others to resolve much of the ,gospel story into myths of a later age1 and of ,rnan1 to construct out of the original documents a ,french philosophical romance1 we are provided with the works of ,ebrard and ,pressens1 who have vindicated the truth of the ,new ,testament story4 ,it would be idle to attempt1 within the compass of this lecture1 any outline of the mass of matter brought together in this service4 ,but ,i may be allowed to indicate that it may be arranged in three divisions4 ,first1 the concessions of the ,jews4 ,talmudical writings imply that ,jesus of ,nazareth did many mighty works4 ,the ,toldoth ,jeschu relates a number of things1 such as raising the dead1 healing lepers1 and restoring the lame4 ,it represents people as falling down before ,him1 exclaiming1 ,truly ,thou art the ,son of ,god4#dd ,the ,christian miracles are allowed1 but they are attributed to magic4 ,there can be no doubt1 says ,whately1 that this must have been 7as our sacred writers tell us it was7 what the adversaries of ,jesus maintained from the first4 ,for if those who lived on the spot in ,his time had denied or doubted the facts of the miracles1 and had declared that the accounts of them were false tales1 and that no miracles had ever really been wrought1 we may be sure that the same would have been said ever after by their descendants4#de ,secondly1 the admissions of heathens4 ,the extracts from ,celsus in ,origen afford an abridged history of ,jesus ,christ1 and acknowledge that ,he did many marvellous things4 ,celsus explains the fact by saying1 ,jesus went into ,egypt1 and having made trial of powers practised there1 returned highly elated1 and pronounced ,himself a ,god4#df ,porphry speaks of ,christian miracles as wrought by poor rustics through magical arts4#dg ,julian does not contradict them when he contemptuously affirms1 that ,jesus did nothing in ,his lifetime worthy of remembrance1 unless any one thinks it a mighty matter to heal lame and blind people1 and exorcise demons in the villages of ,bethsaida and ,bethany4#dh ,to these heathen admissions1 which are of considerable value1 are to be added1 thirdly1 the affirmations of ,christians4 ,miracles are asserted by them in manifold forms and in manifold writings4 ,the ,fathers follow in the wake of ,apostles and ,evangelists2 and1 be it remembered1 each ,new ,testament author who testifies to these superhuman achievements is an independent witness1 so that their statements bear the value of as many concurrent proofs3 and if it should be said that1 because they were ,christians1 they are partial witnesses1 on the other hand it can be said that some of the ,fathers1 and all the ,new ,testament writers1 had become so1 contrary to former habits and prejudices1 in part1 at least1 through the very force of miracles1 and that too at the cost of extraordinary self-sacrifice and suffering4 ,i have not sufficient space to exhibit adequately the argument for the credibility of the ,new ,testament witnesses4 ,i must1 however1 observe that the force has not departed from the old-fashioned method of stating the case1 namely1 that you must accept them as competent and satisfactory2 or you must believe either that they were dishonest men1 intending to deceive1 or that they were dupes of their own or of other people's fancies4 ,i am disposed to extend the dilemma1 and to say1 that there is a third supposition1 growing out of the junction of these two1 the supposition 7according to a not uncommon occurrence in the mysteries of human nature7 that the witnesses might be partly the victims of delusion1 and partly the inventors of fiction1 that credulity and imagination might be both at work1 the result being a fabrication of miracles1 having no basis1 or but an exceedingly slender one1 in facts occurring before men's eyes4 ,with these alternatives under our view1 the inquiry is1 ,which shall we apply to the witnesses of the miracles of ,christ8 ,rnan has applied the composite supposition to the witnesses of the resurrection4 ,on the ,sunday morning1 ,mary ,magdalene first came very early to the tomb4 ,the stone was displaced from the opening1 and the body was no longer in the place where they had laid it4 ,at the same time the strangest rumours were spread in the ,christian community4 ,the cry1 ',he is risen1' quickly spread amongst the disciples4 ,love caused it to find ready credence everywhere4 ,such was the impression ,he had left in the hearts of ,his disciples1 and of a few devoted women1 that during some weeks more1 it was as if ,he were living and consoling them4 ,had ,his body been taken away1 or did enthusiasm1 always credulous1 create afterwards the group of narratives by which it was sought to establish faith in the resurrection8 ,in the absence of opposing documents this can never be ascertained4 ,let us say1 however1 that the strong imagination of ,mary ,magdalene played an important part in this circumstance4 ,divine power of love6 ,sacred moments in which the passion of one possessed gave to the world a resuscitated ,god6 ,no one is more ready than ,i am to do justice to the extraordinary literary merits of the ,vie de ,jsus1 its lucid style1 its descriptive power1 its manifold charms2 but ,i cannot conceal my amazement that the author1 with his exquisite genius1 should adopt such a travestied rendering of the noblest of ,bible stories4 ,there are no documents1 as he confesses1 to work upon but the four ,gospels2 and from these ,gospels it distinctly appears that1 so far from the witnesses produced being of the character he indicates1 so far from their love snatching at anything within reach1 however airy1 out of which to weave a web of wonders1 there were men amongst them slow of heart to believe what the prophets had written1 and what ,jesus had said about the resurrection2 men who counted the report of that resurrection1 when they first heard of it1 as an idle tale1--one of whom even would not yield to sight itself1 but demanded to touch the nail-prints in the holy palms1 and to thrust his hand into the sacred side4 ,and as to the women1 when they came to the sepulchre on the third day1 it was not to hail a risen ,jesus1 but to anoint a buried one4 ,that persons represented by the historians as burdened with doubts1 and fears1 and unbelief1 and demanding demonstrative evidence1 should have been finally convinced1 and should have staked their all upon that conviction1 removes them for ever utterly beyond all reasonable suspicion of dreaming strangely coloured dreams of their ,lord's risen life1--to say nothing of collusion and fraud1--and places them at once amongst witnesses1 who well knew what they said1 and whereof they affirmed4 ,the credibility of the witness borne to another resurrection is also well established4 ,for evidence of the authenticity of the ,gospel of ,st4 ,john1 ,i refer to ,professor ,lightfoot's lecture1 and would only remark upon the narrative in this ,gospel--a narrative so full of pathetic beauty--that it is impossible to explain away its details by possibilities of misapprehension1 and pardonable exaggerations of extraordinary incidents4 ,thus much is indisputable1 ,lazarus was sick unto death4 ,to all human appearance he died4 ,he died1 and was buried1 and remained so long in the grave that it was believed the corruption of his corpse had commenced4 ,coincident with the utterance by ,jesus1 at the door of the tomb1 of the words1 ,lazarus1 come forth6 the body moved1 arose1 came forth1 bound hand and foot with grave-clothes2 in consequence of which1 many of the ,jews which came to ,mary1 and had seen the things which ,jesus did1 believed on ,him4 ,here were presented to the senses of witnesses phenomena involving the performance of a miracle4 ,a distinction has been justly drawn between testimony to phenomena cognizable by the senses1 and miracles completely considered on their invisible and divine side1 as well as their visible and human one4 ,testimony1 it is said1 can apply only to apparent sensible facts2 testimony can only prove an extraordinary and perhaps inexplicable occurrence or phenomenon2 that it is due to supernatural causes is entirely dependent on the previous belief and assumption of the parties4#di ,with the omission of the words previous belief and assumption1 and the substitution of the words reflection and conviction1--whether exercised and experienced at the time or afterwards1--,i accept the statement4 ,phenomena are immediately apprehensible2 the cause is not so4 ,a persuasion that the cause is miraculous arises in the mind as an inference from what is directly witnessed4 ,but what is directly witnessed may be of such a nature as to compel the witness1 as a reasonable person1 to believe that what has taken place results from a supernatural interposition4 ,this conviction implies1 indeed1 that the person believes in the existence of supernatural power--in other words1 believes in the existence and agency of ,god--which belief may be described as a previous belief3 but a conviction that particular phenomena are the result of a supernatural cause1 depends on the exercise of reason in regard to the phenomena themselves4 ,no testimony1 ,i admit1 can reach to the supernatural1 directly1 but it may reach it by implication4 ,keeping in view the distinction laid down1 we say of the narrative of the resurrection of ,lazarus1 that no natural solution of the event recorded is within reach4 ,fraud1 collusion1 trickery1#ej are excluded by the character of ,christ and of ,lazarus3 no reference to accidental coincidences1 or to mesmerism1 or to electric influences1 or to any known physical agencies1 meets the case4 ,nor is there room for the anticipation that the advancement of science will ever solve this problem4 ,if a solution be attainable1 we are shut up to the one solution accepted by ,christians4 ,to leave it unsolved1 to refer it to the class of unaccountable phenomena1 through a persistent determination not to believe in anything supernatural1 in the face of all which can be said in reply to antecedent objections1 is most unphilosophical4 ,let me here add1 in reference to narratives of the miraculous1 that it is easy to marshal a number of general reflections together1 casting a slur upon evidence1 and to invest with some plausibility its denial or non-acceptance4 ,but1 when we think how fallaciously1 yet plausibly1 general reflections may be employed for the contradiction of evidence1--how1 by reference to the proverbial exaggerations of travellers' stories1 accounts of other countries1 of their customs and productions1 may be discredited2 how1 by insisting upon men's liability to illusion1 the observations of scientific inquirers may be set aside2 how1 by dwelling on credulity and passion1 party spirit1 and the like1 historic doubts may be conjectured respecting the existence of ,napoleon ,i41 and how1 in the same way1 historic doubts may be hereafter raised respecting a large part of the career of ,napoleon ,,iii42 we see how little such general reflections are to be trusted1 how much more they may do to hinder the interests of truth than to help them4#ea ,the absurdity of the conclusions in such cases discredits the process by which they are reached4 ,let us not pass from this part of the subject without saying one word as to the presumption in favour of the ,new ,testament narratives of miracles1 when compared with narratives of miracles found elsewhere4 ,place side by side with the ,scripture narratives the miraculous stories in the ,apocryphal ,gospels1 in the writings of the ,fathers1 in medival chronicles1 in modern legends of ,saints1 and one sees the force of a remark by an eminent ,german theologian3 ,the critical acumen of ,niebuhr was1 as is admitted1 inferior to that of no man1 and he has done away with only too much of the ancient history of ,rome4 ,yet he acknowledged1 'with respect to a miracle1 in the strictest sense of the word1 it needs but an unprejudiced and searching investigation of nature to perceive1 that the miracles related are anything but absurd1 and a comparison of them with the legends or so-called miracles of other religions1 to recognize what a different spirit dwells in them4'#eb ,to take only one step farther in this direction1 when it is asked1 ,what1 if so many apparently competent witnesses were to assure you1 that they had seen such and such a miracle--mentioning the most monstrous absurd1 fantastic1 and ludicrous confusion of nature--would you believe them8 ,we answer in the words of a modern ,writer3 ,we are only concerned with the miraculous under that form and those conditions under which it has actually by trustworthy report taken place1 as subordinated to what has been called 'a general law of wisdom1' i4e4 to a wise plan and design in the ,divine mind under which check the course of miracles has1 so to speak1 kept near to nature1 just diverging enough for the purpose1 and no more4#ec ,,ii4 ,it is time to attend to the second part of our subject1 the value of the miraculous testimony to ,christianity4 #a4 ,the miracles must not be taken alone2 they form a part of ,christianity2 and therefore1 to be rightly understood1 they should hold in the mind an inseparable relation to the rest of ,christianity4 ,christianity is its own evidence4 ,each portion harmonizes with the other portions4 ,they yield mutual support4 ,miracles1 therefore1 are concurrent with other proofs4 ,external and internal are convenient words1 but they are liable to mischievous application4 ,one objection to the word external1 as designating the evidence of miracles1 is that it assumes them to be outside the ,gospel--only bulwarks for defence1 not pillars identical with the inner structure4 ,it is curious that opposite classes of persons have attributed to miracles an externality which their place in ,scripture will not allow4 ,by one class1 consisting of advocates for the evidence1 miracles are presented as the chief part of the evidence1 as marks indispensable for the authentication of ,divine truth1 yet quite ab extra things1 placed round about the temple to ward off evil-disposed persons who would dare to violate the shrine4 ,by another class1 consisting of those who take exception to the miracles1 they are also treated as things ab extra1 things which may well be cut off from ,christianity--burdens which there is no necessity it should be made to bear--a dress which disfigures it rather than otherwise1 and which1 for the sake of its progress in the world1 had better be stripped off and cast away4 ,these two modes of assuming one and the same thing1 are as objectionable in themselves1 as they are curious in their coincidence4 ,the miracles really run into and intersect the lines of ,new ,testament teaching from end to end4 ,they are not seals externally attached1 but contents deposited inside--not post-marks showing simply whence the letter comes1 but paragraphs written in the folded sheet4 ,the internal and the external--if we may use the words in their popular currency--must occupy our attention together4 ,miracles cannot be torn from the life of ,christ4 ,his nature1 character1 teaching1 wonders1 constitute an unparalleled spiritual unity4 ,criticism here1 of course1 has its own department of duty to fulfil4 ,what really constitute the synoptical ,gospels and the ,gospel of ,st4 ,john1 is its province to determine4 ,readings of ,,mss4 require to be examined with an honest desire to render the textus receptus as perfect as possible--a desire which a reverential regard for the genuine contents of the record must serve to stimulate4 ,when all that labour has been accomplished1 the miracles of the genuine rolls of ,scripture are to be regarded as integral elements of faith4 ,the facts of ,christianity1 says ,archdeacon ,lee1 are represented by some as forming no part of its essential doctrines2 they rank1 it is argued1 no higher than its external accessories4 ,it is impossible to maintain this distinction4 ,in the ,christian ,revelation the fact of the ,resurrection is the cardinal doctrine1 the doctrine of the ,incarnation is the fundamental fact4 ,christianity exhibits its most momentous truths as actual realities1 by founding them upon an historical basis1 and by interweaving them with transactions and events which rest upon the evidence of sense4#ed #b4 ,miracles are reasonable attestations of a ,divine mission4 ,as such our ,lord appeals to them1 they bear witness of me1 that the ,father hath sent me4 ,as such ,nicodemus received them3 ,we know that ,thou art a teacher come from ,god3 for no man can do these miracles that ,thou doest1 except ,god be with him4 ,as such the poor blind man regarded them in that exquisite piece of navet1 in which he says1 ,why herein is a marvellous thing1 that ye know not from whence ,he is1 and yet ,he hath opened mine eyes4 ,as it is reasonable1 in the case of an ambassador1 to refer to his credentials in proof of his legitimate authority2 so it is reasonable1 in the case of a professedly ,divine teacher1 to refer to signs and wonders he is capable of working1 in proof of his ,divine commission4 ,of vast importance is it that we should note precisely the point touched by the finger of miraculous evidence4 ,it may be said1 not only are miracles incapable of enforcing a train of argument1 but they are incapable of establishing any moral or religious proposition4 ,no physical demonstration1 it may be alleged1 can ever link itself on to a spiritual truth1 because the two things belong to totally different spheres4 ,we should get involved in metaphysical subtleties1 were ,i to inquire thoroughly into this position4 ,it is enough to say1 that1 admitting it1 the exact point touched by miraculous evidence1 is1 according to the teaching of ,scripture itself1 the office sustained and the commission borne by a person4 ,the works which the ,father hath given me to finish1 the same works that ,i do1 bear witness of me4 ,jesus of ,nazareth1 a man approved of ,god among you1 by miracles1 and wonders1 and signs1 which ,god did by ,him4 ,in these passages1 the witness of miracles is attached to a person4 ,my works bear witness of me1 says ,jesus4 ,they are the approval of a man1 says ,peter4 ,the evidential force of them bears on ,christ ,himself1 the sent of ,god4 ,thus considered1 miracles free themselves from objections made to their competency to serve as direct proofs of spiritual truths4 ,the miracles of ,moses afford evidence of his ,divine legation3 in like manner the miracles of ,jesus afford evidence of ,his ,divine ,messiahship4 ,it is said of ,him that ,he taught them as one having authority1 and not as the scribes4 ,authoritativeness is characteristic of ,his mode of teaching4 ,verily1 verily1 ,i say unto you4 ,he claimed a right to speak1 as one who had power to command men that they should obey4 ,there is in ,his utterance little of argument1 but much of law4 ,miracles can add no force to a chain of reasoning1 and you may say they cannot immediately demonstrate spiritual truth1 but they afford a basis for the enunciation of a ,divine message1 a mandate of the ,divine will4 ,miracles1 no doubt1 come within relations to spiritual truth1 through the medium of the miraculously demonstrated authority of its utterer2 but spiritual truth has other distinct and appropriate marks of its ,divine origin and character4 ,it contains an inward witness--it shines by its own light4 ,it commends itself to men's consciences in the sight of ,god1 and when believed1 vindicates the justness and wisdom of such belief4 ,it cannot be too much insisted on1 that miraculous evidence comes not out in ,scripture by itself4 ,the works of ,jesus include more than ,his miracles4 ,the whole beneficent influence of ,his life is covered by the words1 who went about doing good4 ,with the thought of what ,he did1 stands associated the thought of what ,he was2 and with the character of ,his matchless life is interwoven the character of ,his matchless teaching4 ,miracles form but one strand in the cable which binds the ,church's faith to ,him who is the ,anchor of her hope2 and they expose the ship to peril who untwist the rope1 and lay upon that single strand the whole amount of strain--the entire stress of tension4 ,holy ,writ warrants no such course2 but warns against it4 ,if there arise among you a prophet1 or a dreamer of dreams1 and giveth thee a sign or a wonder1 and the sign or the wonder come to pass1 whereof he spake unto thee1 saying1 ',let us go after other gods which thou hast not known1 and let us serve them2' thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet1 or that dreamer of dreams4 ,moses1 himself a worker of miracles1 appeals to something beyond miracles as essential to the final establishment of religious authority4 ,the moral proof is put in the foremost place1 and no mere physical achievement can exercise exclusive force apart from that4 ,and1 as if to remind us of these words in ,deuteronomy1 we read in the last chapters of ,revelation of men being deceived by the miracles of the beast1 of the spirits of devils working miracles1 and of the false prophet that wrought miracles4 ,thus the ,new ,testament teaches us to bind the evidence of ,christian miracles to that which shows how utterly different they are from all the pretensions of deceivers1 from all the delusions of fanatics4 ,to dwell on extraordinary incidents1 apart from other considerations1 is to open a door to superstition1 and even revolting credulity4 ,in this way1 a belief in witchcraft1 sanctioning most unrighteous and cruel laws1 maintained its ground in ,england to the end of the seventeenth century4 ,from anything like the unreasonableness of staking religious faith upon physical events or historical circumstances1 simply because they are unaccountable upon any ordinary hypothesis of human affairs1 the ,gospel is perfectly free4 ,he who appeals to ,his own mighty works1 appeals also to ,his own self-evidencing words1 and to the moral disposition of ,his disciples4 ,to this end was ,i born1 and for this cause came ,i into the world1 that ,i should bear witness unto the truth4 ,every one that is of the truth heareth my voice4 ,my doctrine is not mine1 but ,his that sent me4 ,if any man will do ,his will1 he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of ,god1 or whether ,i speak of myself4 ,he that speaketh of himself1 seeketh his own glory2 but he that seeketh his glory that sent him1 the same is true1 and no unrighteousness is in him4 ,the solitary position assigned to the evidence of miracles in the controversies of the last century was mischievous to the interests of religion4 ,i believe with ,coleridge1 how little of divine1 how little fitting to our nature a miracle is1 when insulated from spiritual truths1 and disconnected from religion as its end3--and ,i would ask with him1 ,what then can we think of a theological theory1 which1 adopting a scheme of prudential legality1 common to it with 'the sty of ,epicurus1' as far at least as the springs of moral action are concerned1 makes its whole religion consist in the belief of miracles6 ,there is some room for this severe censure of theologians in the last century1 who failed to insist on the creating of a new heart1 which collects the energies of a man's whole being in the focus of the conscience--the one essential miracle1 the same1 and of the same evidence to the ignorant and the learned1 which no superior skill can counterfeit1 human or demoniacal4 ,i should assign a higher place to the physical miracle than ,coleridge did1--but there is to my mind a true and deep sense in what he asks respecting the moral one3--,is it not that implication of doctrine in the miracle1 and of miracle in the doctrine1 which is the bridge of communication between the senses and the soul8#ee ,christianity as a whole1 at the present time1 establishes its claims by the new spiritual creation which it effects in its sincere disciples4 ,and here1 let me add3 looking at the position of our inquiry at the present day1 it appears of great importance1 not to lay down as a principle1 that miracles are indispensable in the authorization of a ,divine message4 ,to do so hampers our argument4 ,to do so contradicts ,scripture1--,john did no miracle4 ,if one eminent servant of the ,most ,high could make good his authority without effecting any physical marvel1 so might another4 ,regarding ,jesus simply as a ,divine ,teacher1 there would1 then1 be no absolute necessity for ,his working wonders in the fields of material nature4 ,his moral acts1 ,his freedom from moral defects1 and the whole moral tenor of ,his life1 would evince the holiness of ,his character1 and the oneness of ,his own spirit with that of the ,father of spirits1 the fountain of love and truth2 for what ,he said of men applied to ,himself1 ,by their fruits ye shall know them4 ,yet1 though ,i cannot see that miracles1 as some think1 were essential to the proof of what ,he said respecting ,himself1 they are1 as indicated already1 what might be expected in one who was all that ,jesus of ,nazareth claimed to be2 they also corroborate claims to spiritual authority1 resting on other grounds2 and1 still further1 the manner in which some of them were performed1 points to the higher nature which tabernacled in ,his humanity4 ,the place in the sphere of evidence occupied by the miracles of ,jesus1 is not exactly the same to us that it was to the multitudes who witnessed them4 ,i fully agree in the remark1 ,we do not ask any one to begin with the miracles1--to regard power1 and still more the record of power1 centuries afterwards1 as the one irresistible proof of the truth and ,divine origin of a ,revelation4 ,this has been done--done perhaps too long--done certainly in this age without conviction4#ef ,a miracle never was the one irresistible proof4 ,it never was more than one amongst others4 ,but at first it had a power of awakening attention1 which it does not possess now4 ,seen1 it irresistibly produced excitement1 which led to inquiry4 ,recorded1 it fails of that effect4 ,it is wise1 at this time of day1 to begin the exposition of ,christian evidence by insisting on ,christianity as a fact--as a moral spiritual power in the world2 and then1 examining its principles1 and tracing its achievements to the beginning1 to bring out the evidential worth of ,christ's miracles as a crown on the head of other proofs4 ,at the same1 time it should be observed1 that their pertinency as proofs remains unaltered4 ,they are not less true for being old4 ,they are as good witnesses now as they were eighteen centuries ago4 ,what was done by ,julius ,csar1 what was done by ,alexander the ,great1 as it appears on record1 is still as valid an indication as ever1 of the genius and prowess which the men possessed4 ,so1 what ,jesus did1 as we find it recorded in ,his fourfold memoirs1 produces undiminished assurance of ,his superhuman character4 ,if any one asks for miracles now1 ,i reply1 they are not wanted1 they could not be used as credentials of one who left the world ages since4 ,his own miracles1 ascertained by history1 will1 to the end of time1 in connection with ,his whole life1 avail as guarantees for faith in ,his ,divine might and goodness4 #c4 ,and1 finally1 the miracles promote the acceptance of ,christian truths by the illustrations of them which they afford4 ,christ's miracles are of the same description as the principles and precepts in ,christ's teaching4 ,they are animated with benevolence1 instinct with love4 ,the ,gospel perpetually offers to men a spiritual salvation2 ,miracles at the beginning brought them salvation of a lower kind1 which nevertheless pointed to a higher4 ,of the author of ,christianity it might be said literally1 ,he is the ,saviour of the body4 ,his wondrous works of healing sparkled with a tenderness1 compassion1 and help1 like those with which ,his main mission to mankind was filled4 ,and1 as they were eminently beneficial to human beings1 and so were of the same class as the other bestowments the ,christ of ,god came to confer1 they exhibited types of the nobler blessings themselves4 ,they are mirrors reflecting larger and better gifts4 ,signs they are as well as wonders2 parables as well as proofs4 ,in cures of the blind1 there are parables of spiritual illumination2 in the cleansing of lepers1 parables of spiritual purification2 and in exorcisms1 parables of spiritual disenthralment4 ,the benevolent animus1 and the didactic form of the miracles of ,jesus seized the attention of early ,christian writers1 and were employed by them for the purpose of establishing and recommending the ,christian religion4 ,they used them much more under their illustrative than under their strictly evidential aspect4 ,arnobius 7,a4,d4 #cjf71 in ten chapters of his seven books1 ,adversus ,gentes1 lays special stress upon their kind and beneficent tendency4#eg ,lactantius1 his contemporary in his ,institutions1 whilst regarding ,christ's miracles as proofs of ,his higher nature1 manifests particular delight in searching out their ethical significance4 ,he goes through the mighty works of our ,lord in order1 and points out1 how they demonstrated the renewal of the human soul1 the opening of its eyes1 the unstopping of its ears1 the loosening of its tongue4#eh ,and ,athanasius 7,a4,d4 #cbf7 takes special pains to show that the miracles of ,jesus were revelations--self-representations of ,his ,person as ,divine ,creator1 not mere credentials of ,his doctrine1 but veritable victories over nature1 so that no one can doubt who ,christ is1 when once he beholds ,his works3--and moreover1 that by the manner of ,his working miracles1 ,he at once proved his ,divinity1 and ,his humanity1 ,his ,godhead and ,his incarnation4#ei ,and ,augustine insists much on their design as symbolical of redemption1 as instructive acts1 charged with prophetical import1 and calculated to inspire delight more than wonder4#fj ,these remarks and quotations bear chiefly on the relation of miracles to the spiritual blessings of the ,gospel at the beginning4 ,but miracles also sustain a very interesting relation to the like blessings as bestowed in after1 and in present times4 ,when the spring is over1 and its produce of blossoms has passed away1 it is found1 that though the ground is covered with leaves of white and pink1 the blossoms have set into precious fruit4 ,they have bequeathed more than blossoms4 ,each folded up a promise of what is richer than itself4 ,the peach flower1 the peach--the pear flower1 the pear4 ,we read in the ,apocalypse1 of the ,tree of ,life4 ,is not the ,gospel the ,tree of ,life8 ,is not ,christ the ,tree of ,life8 ,it is not fanciful to speak of the miracles as early blossoms4 ,long since they burst out profusely4 ,long since they fell4 ,to some eyes1 they may seem to lie in the paths of history1 as withered leaves4 ,but if the spring-time is past1 the autumn-time has long since come4 ,christianity can tell of spiritual blessings which it has conferred on the children of men down to this day1 and is conferring still4 ,a tranquil conscience1 a pure heart1 a holy life1 a hope that maketh not ashamed1--these are the clustering felicities1 the manifold beatitudes1 of the ,gospel of ,love4 ,thank ,god6 abundant has been the ingathering4 ,thank ,god6 abundant is the harvest1 still waiting to be gathered4 ,in nature the bloom is more plentiful than the fruit1 but here the fruit is more plentiful than the bloom4 ,,the ,,gradual ,,development ,,of ,,revelation4 ,,by ,,the ,,right ,,reverend ,,the ,,lord ,,bishop ,,of ,,carlisle4 ,,the ,,gradual ,,development ,,of ,,revelation4 ,when ,i undertook1 at the request of the ,christian ,evidence ,society1 to deliver a lecture having for its title ,the ,gradual ,development of ,revelation1 ,i confess that ,i did not perceive that the title was open to criticism4 ,i thought that ,i understood the terms employed1 and ,i still trust that this is so2 but a little consideration showed me that the language was not used very strictly1 and that there was in it a confusion of metaphors1 which might possibly be connected with a confusion of thought4 ,this being so1 ,i propose to introduce what ,i have to say by a short examination of the words which express the subject of my lecture3 and ,i do so1 as ,i need hardly say1 not for the purpose of finding fault1 but because it seems to me that ,i shall in this manner most easily explain the nature of the subject which ,i conceive to be committed to me1 and indicate the manner in which ,i purpose to treat it4 ,now the word development1 which like many other long words has become very common1 is also1 like many other words1 not unfrequently used somewhat loosely4 ,the root of it1 the word velop1 is unknown in any other form than the two words envelope and develope4#fa ,in mathematics1 the word develope is used1 as all words are1 with the utmost precision4 ,we speak of developing a function1 that is1 putting it into a new and unfolded form1 which1 however1 shall be essentially equivalent to the original4 ,so also we speak of developable surfaces1 that is1 surfaces such as cones and cylinders1 which can be unfolded and laid flat upon a plane without tearing4 ,it will be seen that in these applications of the word the essential thought is that of a change1 by a process of unfolding1 in the condition of something which you already possess2 and this ,i take to be the true definition of development4 ,from this1 however1 we easily pass to a cognate meaning of the term4 ,thus we speak of the development of an idea1 that is1 the unfolding and applying of the results of an original thought1 a discovery or principle1 which were truly contained in it from the first1 but were not from the first perceived to be so contained4 ,for example1 we say that railways are only a development of the original idea of turning to account the expansive force of steam2 or that ,newton's ,principia and ,laplace's ,mecanique ,celeste1 and1 in fact1 the whole of modern physical astronomy1 are developments of the idea1 or fact1 call it which you will1 of the universal gravitation of matter2 or that the ,british constitution of this century is a development of ,magna ,charta2 and so forth4 ,what we mean by this language is that the essential principles of the development were implicitly contained in the original idea1 and that one has been derived from the other somewhat in the same way as that in which the bird comes from the egg and the plant from the seed4 ,dr4 ,newman1 in his ,essay ,on the ,development of ,christian ,doctrine1 takes a somewhat different view4 ,he speaks of the development of an idea as follows3 ,when some great enunciation1 whether true or false1 about human nature1 or present good1 or government1 or duty1 or religion1 is carried forward into the public throng and draws attention1 then it is not only passively admitted in this or that form into the minds of men1 but it becomes a living principle within them1 leading them to an ever-new contemplation of itself1 an acting upon it1 and a propagation of it4 ,such is the doctrine of the natural bondage of the will1 or of individual responsibility1 or of the immortality of the soul1 or of the rights of man1 or of the divine right of kings1 or of the hypocrisy and tyranny of priestcraft1 or of the lawfulness of self-indulgence4444 ,let one such idea get possession of the popular mind1 or the mind of any set of persons1 and it is not difficult to understand the effects which will ensue4#fb ,taking this view1 there is manifestly a difficulty in determining whether an idea has been rightly or wrongly developed1 whether the growth be wholly from the root or partly parasitical2 and the prime intention of ,dr4 ,newman's book is to supply tests of genuine development1 and to apply them in one particular case2 but ,i wish it to be perceived that whether we take this wider view1 or the stricter one which ,i endeavoured to present to you just now1 it is essentially necessary to regard development as the exhibition in a new unfolded form of that which already existed in another4 ,when therefore we speak of development with reference to ,god1 we must regard ,him as the developer1 and ,his eternal purposes as the thing developed3 the point which ,i have to bring before you with reference to its bearing upon the faith of ,christians1 and the unbelief of those who scruple to be regarded as disciples of ,christ1 is the gradual character of the process by which ,god has developed ,his purposes4 ,and this being the meaning of development1 ,i think it is manifest that it is a confusion of figures to speak of the development of a revelation4 ,to reveal is to draw back a veil1 and so to uncover something which was concealed before4 ,hence we can properly speak of ,god as revealing to us ,his person1 ,his character1 ,his will4 ,his person is eternal and unchangeable2 so is ,his character2 so is ,his will2 but ,he uncovers and shows these to us2 it may be by ,holy ,scripture1 it may be by the living voice1 or the life1 or the person of the ,lord ,jesus ,christ2 but however it be1 the conception appropriate to the word revelation is that of something which exists independently of our minds1 and which is uncovered1 so that our minds can perceive it4 ,revelation1 therefore1 cannot be developed2 if we use the word as meaning the process of revealing1 then this is a different process from that of developing2 and if we use the word as meaning objectively the knowledge which has been revealed1 the knowledge which we obtain of ,god by revelation1 then this knowledge comes to us in an already developed form3 it is not an idea to be developed1 but a truth to be received4 ,on the whole1 ,i regard as the most important word in the title of my lecture1 the word gradual3 whether we speak of the development of ,his eternal purposes and intentions1 or the revelation of ,his person and character1 the process appears to have been a gradual one1 and in a certain sense a slow one3 and this gradualness of operation may be variously estimated according to the turn of mind and habits of thought of him who considers it3 some will be content simply to bow their heads and worship as being in the presence of ,him whose ways are past finding out3 some will say that that which ,christians believe to be the development of ,his purposes and the revelation of ,his person is inconsistent with their conceptions of ,god1 and so will reject it3 others will hesitate to reject on priori grounds that which1 to say the least1 admits of a strong argument in its favour1 but will confess that they feel the difficulties which have been urged against the creed of ,christendom2 and with regard to that particular phase of difficulty with which ,i am professing to deal in this lecture1 they will say1 and perhaps say with sadness1 that the revelation which the volume of ,holy ,scripture purports to contain1 does not commend itself to their minds1 as corresponding to their highest thoughts of that which ,god might be expected to do in making ,himself known to man4 ,now it is to minds in this condition that considerations concerning the doings of ,god may be hopefully offered4 ,i do not see how it is possible to treat such a subject as mine1 if ,i consider myself as speaking to persons who deny the impossibility of revelation as distinct from human knowledge3 if a revelation be impossible1 per se1 it is useless to discuss the qualities of that particular form of revelation which ,christians profess to have received2 but if a man is willing to receive a revelation1 and has something of the spirit indicated by the words1 ,oh1 that ,i knew where ,i might find ,him1 then it does seem to be possible to offer some suggestions which shall tend to show that the manner of revelation which ,holy ,scripture exhibits is in harmony with all that we know of our ,creator from other sources1 and that the gradual character of the ,divine operations1 as exhibited in that history which culminates in the ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 is wonderfully analogous to the character of every other operation which we can rightly call divine4 ,let us then observe what the revelation of ,god purports to be2 and for the special end which ,i have in view1 ,i think we may suitably divide it into the following principal steps3-- #a4 ,that made to ,adam and ,eve2 #b4 ,that made to ,abraham2 #c4 ,that made to ,moses2 #d4 ,that made in and by ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 ,let us look at each of these for a moment4 ,the revelation to ,adam and ,eve is represented as being of the simplest kind possible4 ,in fact it is difficult to conceive how anything beyond a very simple and partial revelation could be possible in the very infancy of humanity4 ,it amounts to little more than the revelation of ,god as a personal governor1 whose will must be obeyed3 a command is given2 that command is broken1 and a punishment is inflicted2 and then mankind is represented as cast out of ,eden into the wild1 uncultivated world4 ,it is necessary to realize the extreme simplicity of this history1 and the imperfect character of the revelation3 the more so1 because there is some temptation to imagine ,adam and ,eve as being in the possession of more knowledge than ,scripture attributes to them2 ,scripture in reality attributes no knowledge to them1 but rather represents the tree of knowledge as having been the cause of their fall4 ,philosophically speaking1 we may describe the condition of things which existed in ,eden as being the dawn of man's religious consciousness2 he has no responsibility1 and no sin2 but a law is imposed upon him1 and thus comes responsibility1 and thus by the breach of law comes sin3 man was alive without the law once1 but when the commandment came sin revived1 and man died4 ,the sacred history represents the world as engaged1 so to speak1 in working out the results of this primitive revelation till the time of ,abraham4 ,god is represented as punishing the evil and rewarding the good1 the punishment of the evil being the more conspicuous conduct of the two2 thus ,cain is punished1 the people in the days of ,noah are punished1 the builders of the tower of ,babel are punished3 but ,i do not think it can be said that the being and character of ,god are any further revealed till the time of ,abraham4 ,then we have the new fact of ,god calling out a family2 granting to that family special promises and special privileges1 and making it 7as it were7 the depository of the fortunes of the world4 ,probably this is a step which we should not have expected2 possibly it may even be argued that it is no real step in advance2 but1 be this as it may1 it is represented in ,scripture as the next step in the process of revelation2 whether it strike us as strange or not1 we are compelled1 on the hypothesis that ,scripture contains the history of revelation1 to regard ,abraham and his family as a point1 a station1 in the process4 ,and so we come to ,moses4 ,i am disposed1 however1 to regard the ,mosaic revelation as differing in degree rather than in kind from that made to ,abraham4 ,a family was called in ,abraham1 a nation in ,moses2 but in the one case as in the other1 the fortunes of the whole world were bound up with the history and conduct of a chosen few2 the family of ,abraham was a peculiar and chosen family1 the ,israelites whom ,moses made into a nation were a peculiar and chosen people3 the principle was the same1 namely that of selection1 and whatever difficulty belongs to one case1 belongs equally to the other4 ,it would be a long task1 and for my purpose an unnecessary one1 to trace the gradual progress of the revelation made in sundry times and in divers manners to the ,israelitish church and people2 beginning with the grand announcement of the ,name of ,god from the ,burning ,bush1 and continued by the declaration of the law in the wilderness1 rendered visible1 so to speak1 by the sacrificial ritual1 and expounded by priests and prophets1 it gradually became clearer and clearer1 until the fulness of time came1 and ,god sent forth ,his ,son made of a woman4 ,i need not say that to ,christians this is emphatically the revelation of ,god--he who has seen the ,son has seen the ,father4 ,all previous revelations are only preparatory for this2 and when we have received this1 all others seem to be lost1 just as the moon and stars which shine so brightly at night are absolutely extinguished as soon as the sun is risen4 ,assuming all this1 however1 it may be worth while to remark1 first1 that ,jesus ,christ expressly connected ,himself with all that had gone before1 saying that ,he came not to destroy1 but to fulfil2 and secondly1 that ,he1 like ,moses and ,abraham before ,him1 founded an ,greek3 ekklsia1 or church1 as a depository of the fortunes of mankind1 only with this difference or extension of principle1 that whereas the church of ,abraham was a family1 and the church of ,moses was a nation1 the church of ,christ was catholic1 knowing no distinction of family or nation1 but embracing all who were willing to take ,him as their ,captain1 and ,his ,cross as their banner4 ,this sketch1 slight as it is1 of the progress of revelation1 as presented to us in ,holy ,scripture1 will be abundantly sufficient for my present purpose4 ,in considering its claims to be received by mankind1 ,i think it should be at once candidly owned1 as seems indeed to be conceded in ,holy ,scripture1 that the method of revelation is probably different from anything which we should have expected on general grounds of reason4 ,perhaps it is difficult1 it may be impossible1 to say very precisely what we should have expected2 but certainly ,i think we should not have expected to have found the principal revelations of ,god made1 as they are alleged to have been made1 to a selected family1 a selected nation1 a selected corporate body4 ,it is only candid to acknowledge that1 from a philosophical point of view1 we may here see a great difficulty2 and the difficulty becomes more salient when we look out of the narrow groove of sacred history into the wide history of the world at large4 ,there we find a remarkable growth of knowledge1 and an exhibition of the highest powers and gifts of humanity1 quite separated from that region which is asserted to have been specially illuminated with light from heaven4 ,the progress of our knowledge of the literature of ancient nations1 and a greater familiarity with the thoughts and feelings of people outside the ,christian pale1 have tended to throw this difficulty into stronger relief3 our old acquaintance with ,greece and ,rome1 our more recent acquaintance with such countries as ,india and ,china1 have made us aware that1 somehow or other1 great light did shine upon these countries in olden days1 and it is harsh to say that the light did not come from heaven4 ,let1 therefore1 the difficulty be frankly acknowledged2 while at the same time it is also acknowledged that in a matter so much beyond the scope of our faculties as that of saying in what manner ,god can best reveal ,himself to mankind1 all difficulties depending upon the strangeness or unexpectedness of a method alleged to have been adopted1 must in the nature of things be of less than first-rate magnitude1 and must give way to sufficient evidence4 ,acknowledging1 however1 as frankly as can be desired1 the difficulty here stated1 ,i observe that there is anyhow a remarkable consistency in the scheme of revelation which ,scripture contains4 ,one step leads naturally to another2 and looking at the whole course of ,scripture history1 from the first verse of the ,book of ,genesis to the last verse of the ,book of ,revelation1 it is wonderful 7perhaps upon any infidel hypothesis1 more than wonderful7 how the various parts hang together1 and how the beginning1 the middle1 and the end seem to dovetail themselves together into one connected and consistent whole4 ,i do not know that ,i have ever been more struck with this1 than when reading the recent work on ,the ,history and ,literature of the ,israelites1 by ,c4 and ,a4 de ,rothschild4 ,in this work we have the advantage of seeing the ,old ,testament exhibited in a reverent and loving spirit without the ,new1 and as it might have appeared if ,jesus ,christ had not been born4 ,any one reading the book would be impelled to say that the influence of the literature of the ,israelites must be for the improvement and enlightenment of mankind2 but the questions press upon the mind of the reader--at least they did upon mine--,what does all this lead to8 ,what has become of these ,israelites8 and what is the meaning of the language of their prophets8 ,in fact1 the book seems to put the reader very much in the position of the ,ethiopian nobleman in the ,book of the ,acts of the ,apostles1 who was prepared by reading some of the literature of the ,israelites to receive from ,philip the evangelist the preaching of the name of ,jesus4 ,the ,new ,testament seems exactly to fit upon the ,old2 and that gradual progress of revelation which we notice in the ,old ,testament1 seems to lead up to1 and find its completion and explanation in1 the history which is contained in the ,new4 ,on the whole1 looking at the scheme of revelation as it appears in ,scripture1 and as it has been illustrated by history1 both profane and sacred1 ,i believe that ,i discern these features4 ,i see the knowledge of ,god emerging from very obscure beginnings1 and imparted in very unexpected ways2 ,i see1 however1 that this knowledge does somehow or another not merely remain with mankind1 but increase and become clearer and more influential2 ,i see a particular family and nation selected for the reception and spread of this knowledge1 and the family and nation so selected1 after going through much education and many vicissitudes1 producing at length ,one in whom the whole history appears to culminate1 and then disappearing from all position of influence upon the fortunes of the world except through this one pre-eminent member4 ,still further1 ,i perceive1 and it is absolutely impossible for the most sceptical to deny1 that the name of this remarkable member of the selected family and nation has been the most potent that has ever been named1 and that ,his influence in the world has been and is far greater1 more extended1 and more intense in its action1 than any other influence which has ever been brought to bear upon the human heart and mind4 ,even in the work to which ,i referred just now1 in which the ,old ,testament alone comes under consideration1 the dates of the history are given by reference to the birth of ,jesus ,christ2 and whatever view men may be disposed to take of the more mysterious and transcendental allegations concerning the life of ,jesus of ,nazareth1 it is impossible to deny that the civilization and improvement of the world1 and the purification of human society and the like1 are more connected with ,his ,name than with that of any other philosopher or teacher or leader of mankind4 ,when ,i say that it is impossible to deny this1 ,i am of course aware that it has been denied1 and that there are and have been persons who have asserted that ,christianity has not only not been that which ,christians believe it to have been1 but has been positively detrimental to human progress2 but what ,i mean is1 that to make the denial to which ,i refer1 is so contrary to the general verdict of mankind that it is hard for any one to make it1 and impossible for any one who is at all likely to be influenced by anything that ,i can say4 ,for those who are at all likely to be influenced are persons who are sceptical1 not those who are antagonistic2 a man may doubt--who has not doubted8--and a man may be tortured by his doubts1 and it may be possible to relieve him2 but ,i see no probability of helping that man who has come to the conclusion that the influence of ,jesus ,christ has been a mischievous and obstructive influence in the history of human progress2 with such a man1 ,i1 at least1 as a ,christian apologist1 do not feel that ,i have any common ground4 ,taking then the view of revelation to which ,i have referred as being that contained in ,holy ,scripture1 and acknowledging that such a view presents difficulties to thoughtful and inquiring minds1 ,i wish to examine and see whether we cannot find some help towards a right appreciation of ,god's method of revelation by examining the course of nature1 or that which is supposed to be its course4 ,and when we look to nature with this purpose1 it is impossible not to be struck by this general fact1 namely1 that gradualness of development appears to be a universal law4 ,the manner in which the original design of the ,creator 7for ,i assume that there was an original design7 has been carried out1 so far from being sudden1 has been very slow2#fc and more than this1 the method of operation has been frequently such as we should scarcely have expected1 and greatly opposed to those notions of creative majesty which most of us are very much disposed to preconceive4 ,in order to put this clearly before you1 let me call your attention to the very picturesque and poetical view of creation1 contained in ,chateaubriand's ,genie du ,christianisme4 ,that work appeared after the explosion of the volcano of the first great ,french revolution1 and was intended to reconcile the minds of men1 weary with the infidelity and atheism which had so long been rampant1 to the views of ,god contained in ,holy ,scripture1 and maintained by ,christians4 ,writing with this purpose1 ,m4 ,chateaubriand tells us that we may conceive of the ,creator as having called the world into existence in a condition as complete1 and having as many marks of antiquity1 as we now see about us3 when this earth was created there would be already ancient forests1 and abundance of animals1 some in their maturity1 others dancing about in the friskiness of youth2 the trees would be furnished with birds' nests1 and the crows and pigeons would be hatching their eggs1 or tending their young2 the butterflies and moths would be sporting on the plants2 the bees would be making honey from the new-formed flowers2 the sheep would be followed by their lambs2 and the nightingales would be astonishing themselves with their first1 yet perfect songs1 in all the groves4 ,finally1 ,adam would be a man of thirty1 and ,eve a girl of sixteen4 ,without this original antiquity1 says our author1 there would have been neither pomp nor majesty in the work of the ,eternal2 and1 which could not well be1 nature in her innocence would have been less fair than she is now in her corruption4 ,an insipid infancy of plants1 animals1 elements1 would have crowned a world devoid of poetry4#fd ,no doubt this description is anything but devoid of poetry2 it is perhaps the only way in which a poet would be disposed to conceive of creation2 it is difficult to imagine the music of ,haydn set to any other description of the creative work2 but undoubtedly it is not scientific1 and1 what is more1 it is not ,scriptural4 ,chateaubriand no more got his picture of creation from the ,book of ,genesis than ,ernest ,rnan got his picture of ,jesus ,christ from the four ,gospels2 and that there may be no mistake about this latter point1 let me ask you to observe that the most marked and salient feature of the ,bible picture of creation is the gradualness of the creative work4 ,i do not say that the picture is not poetical2 ,i believe it to be quite as poetical as that which ,chateaubriand would substitute for it1 and ,i quite admit that it ought to be regarded from a poetical rather than a scientific point of view2 still gradualness of development is the most marked and salient of its features3 first1 a chaos of matter without life2 then vegetable life2 then the lower forms of animal life2 then mammals2 and lastly1 man4 ,no one can deny that these and other steps1 spread over the time which is indicated by the mysterious creative days1 do together make up the ,bible history of physical creation2 and no one can fail to perceive that the order of proceeding is as different as possible from that described by the ,french apologist4 ,according to this latter view1 creation starts forth1 ,minerva-like1 from the mind of ,god2 according to ,scripture1 the work is expressly gradual and presumably slow4 ,we are so accustomed to the first chapter of ,genesis1 that ,i think we sometimes scarcely perceive its peculiarities2 but suppose that the reverse order of arrangement had been adopted1 and that man in deference to his dignity had been represented as coming in first1 and that other creatures had been represented as being made afterwards for his use and pleasure1 would not this have made a radical change1 and introduced an enormous scientific difficulty8 ,i remember once being told by a person1 who held strong views with regard to the dangerous character of the conclusions of geology1 that it seemed to him absolutely incredible that a period should have existed when the earth was inhabited by nothing but fishes1 reptiles1 and the like2 yet this is precisely what ,scripture affirms to have been the fact2 and if the creative work had been concluded with the fifth day1 there would have been no mammals upon the earth1 and no man4 ,gradualness in creative work1 therefore1 is so far from being contrary to the indications of ,god's method given in ,scripture1 that it is one of the few things which stand out from the scriptural account with undeniable prominence4 ,that this same feature is not less prominent in the results of all the physical sciences1 it would take more time and more ability to demonstrate than are at my command2 nevertheless it is necessary that ,i should ask you kindly to accompany me1 while ,i endeavour to show you that the conclusions of science1 and even the guesses of scientific men1 point to this conclusion1 and tend to make untenable any objections to the revelation of ,god contained in ,scripture1 on the ground of the gradual manner in which that revelation is alleged to have been made4 ,the general evidence of geology is familiar probably to most of us1 and it is only the general evidence with which ,i can desire to deal on such an occasion as this2 but pray observe that while the particular conclusions of geology1 like those of other physical sciences1 are liable to continued modification and amendment1 the general drift of the conclusions is sufficiently clear and certain4 ,no one can doubt1 for instance1 the great antiquity of our globe1 and the fact that it has gone through successive changes with regard to the character of its surface1 the nature of its inhabitants1 and the like4 ,undoubtedly there was a time when civilized men did not dwell upon it2 undoubtedly there was a still more distant period when men did not dwell upon it in any form1 civilized or uncivilized2 perhaps there was a period even more distant1 when life was not to be found upon the earth's surface at all4 ,and physical astronomy will take us even beyond geology1 and will make it probable that the earth was originally in a fluid condition1 in which from the excessive temperature no form of life could have existed4 ,few problems are more curious than that which deduces the present figure of our globe from the hypothesis of original fluidity4 ,take a mass of fluid1 and set it revolving slowly about an axis1 as our earth revolves1 and it can be shown that it will assume such a form as that which our earth has4 ,i do not lay stress upon the remarkable numerical coincidence of the ellipticity of the earth1 as derived by ,laplace from theory1 with that which is discovered by observation1 because this involves certain arbitrary hypotheses2 but taking those results which involve nothing arbitrary at all1 it is almost impossible not to believe that the earth was at one time a hot fluid mass1 and that it has gradually cooled down and hardened into its present permanent condition4 ,look upon the earth then as being once in this hot fluid condition4 ,it turns slowly round upon its axis and cools4 ,i cannot trace the whole of the process1 but before it arrived at its present condition there must have been crackings and burstings and eruptions2 and so continents and islands and mountains would be formed2 but upon the whole1 even in the wildest times1 the process would be very gentle1 for the highest mountains on the earth's surface are but as the down upon the surface of a peach4 ,then upon this globe appear creatures suited to its condition2 and the eye which could have watched the world in its progress would have seen animals of successively higher types occupying the earth's surface1 till at length that surface was spotted with cities built by the hand of man1 and the ocean studded with his ships4 ,it is impossible to guess the time which must have elapsed between the epoch when the earth was a hot revolving mass of fluid1 and the epoch in which we live2 neither is it very possible to say1 though it is possible to guess1 what would have been the successive scenes presented by the earth to the eye which should have witnessed the whole of the changes2 but whatever may have been the nature of the changes1 this conclusion is inevitable1 namely1 that there has been a progression of some kind from the fluidity of the primval dead revolving mass to the inhabited world of this nineteenth century2 it matters not for my argument whether the progression1 so far as animal life is concerned1 has been due to natural selection1 or to such a process as that advocated by the author of ,vestiges of ,creation1 or to successive and distinct creative acts2 the fact holds good1 upon any hypothesis1 that the ,almighty ,creator has produced that universe which we see1 not by one act1 but by a gradual and apparently very slow creative process1 whether continuous or discontinuous it matters not for my purpose to inquire4 ,now this course of nature is strikingly analogous to that gradual mode of proceeding which is alleged to belong to revelation2 and any difficulty which belongs to one appears to attach equally to the other4 ,nay1 if we are to give any weight to the most recent physical speculations1 it may be fairly argued that the difficulties connected with revelation are but as trifles compared with those which nature presents4 ,i refer to those views of which the latest exposition is to be found in ,mr4 ,darwin's ,descent of ,man4 ,let me touch upon those views for a moment4 ,it seems that the early progenitors of man were once covered with hair1 both sexes having beards2 their ears were pointed and capable of movement2 and their bodies were provided with a tail1 having the proper muscles4444 ,the males were provided with great canine teeth1 which served them as formidable weapons4444 ,at a still earlier period1 the progenitors of man must have been aquatic in their habits4 ,and lastly1 the most ancient progenitors in the kingdom of the ,vertebrata1 at which we are able to obtain an obscure glance1 apparently consisted of a group of marine animals resembling the larv of existing ascidians4 ,this is certainly a somewhat alarming conclusion2 looking however to the ascent 7for so ,i think it ought to be called7 rather than the descent1 it would seem to be the view of some of our advanced natural investigators1 that the marine animals in question produced certain lowly organized fishes2 these produced ganoids and the like2 these produced amphibians2--here there seems to be a difficulty--,no one1 writes ,mr4 ,darwin1 can at present say by what line of descent the three higher and related classes1 namely1 mammals1 birds1 and reptiles1 were derived from either of the two lower vertebrate classes1 namely1 amphibians and fishes4 ,however1 once get to the mammals1 and all difficulty ceases3 the ,monotremata produced the ,marsupials2 these the placental ,mammals3 thus we come to the ,lemurid1 and from them the interval is not great to the ,simiad2 the ,simiad branched off into two great stems1--the ,new ,world and ,old ,world ,monkeys2 and from the latter at a remote period1 ,man1 the wonder and glory of the universe1 proceeded4#fe ,of this pedigree1 which1 if not of noble quality1 is of prodigious length1 ,mr4 ,darwin tells us we need not feel ashamed4 ,perhaps not2 though certainly the nerves of any one unaccustomed to anthropological investigations may be excused for trembling slightly as he hears it recited2 but the point which ,i wish to press is this1 that supposing 7for argument's sake7 this view of man's origin1 or anything like it1 to be true1 it is impossible to imagine a more thorough case of gradual development2 there is nothing in the religious history of mankind as expounded in ,holy ,scripture so amazingly marvellous as that which is contained in this physical history2 and certainly those who are prepared to receive the ,darwinian view of the development of man's body1 ought not to find anything to offend them on the ground of improbability in the ,scriptural account of the revelation made by ,god to the human soul4 ,i do not know to what extent ,mr4 ,darwin's views are likely to be permanent2 but supposing that they1 or any view of the same class1 should eventually overcome all existing difficulties1 and be generally regarded as representing the process by which it has pleased ,god to bring about man's physical and mental supremacy1 then it can hardly seem strange that the same ,god should have adopted a course of progress and development in the spiritual and religious world4 ,i say1 emphatically1 if it has pleased ,god to act thus2 because if ,i accept the hypothesis of the nebular origin of planetary systems1 or the supposition of the earth being a fluid globe gradually cooled1 or even the assertion that our most ancient progenitors were marine animals1 ,i must do so with the underlying assumption that it has pleased ,god so to work4 ,i do not find fault with scientific men for not putting their theories in this form2 but looking at the question from a religious1 or even from a philosophical1 point of view1 ,i cannot consent to lose sight of ,god1 as the intelligent maker of the whole4 ,if this earth was originally a fluid mass1 then ,i believe that that was the best1 or1 for anything ,i know to the contrary1 the only way of making a world2 if the marine animals1 which ,mr4 ,darwin sees through his scientific telescope1 did become fish1 and those fish eventually became men1 then ,i believe that that was the best1 or1 for anything ,i know to the contrary1 the only way of making men2 and this being so1 why may ,i not deal in the same manner with the alleged course of man's spiritual history8 ,i have in my hands something which purports to be a revelation to my intellect1 and to my soul1 of the ,god who made me3 that revelation is contained in a history which tells me that ,god spake at sundry times and in divers manners to the people of olden time1 and that finally ,he spake by ,one who is called ,his ,son4 ,now ,i do not say that this revelation is or is not a real one2 but ,i do say that there is nothing to render us suspicious of its reality in the fact that it has been communicated gradually1 that it has grown as the human race has grown1 and that some of the steps in the process of revelation appear strange1 or even1 at first sight1 unworthy of the grand scheme of which they form a part4 ,no one has a right to find fault on this ground who has read the lessons of natural science1 and observed how it points to gradual progression as a characteristic of the doings of ,god4 ,least of all can they find fault on this ground1 who receive in whole1 or even in part1 the recent theories concerning the origin of man4 ,i will not undertake to answer for those students who have gone deeply into these physical questions2 but ,i do assert1 without fear of contradiction1 that to men of ordinary education1 and ordinary habits of thought1 the difficulties of accepting ,scripture as the revelation of ,god to the human soul1 however much those difficulties may be expounded or even exaggerated1 are absolutely nothing as compared with the difficulty of accepting recent views of man's prodigious pedigree4 ,the fact is1 that it is not so much the process by which a result has been brought about1 as the result itself1 which is the all-important thing4 ,whatever may have been the history of our earth in the dark dim distance of incalculable ages1 we know that its present condition is very beautiful1 and that it answers admirably well the purpose for which it seems to have been originally designed1 namely1 that of serving for the residence of intelligent man2 and whatever may have been the process by which that creative work was consummated1 which is described in ,scripture as the making of man out of the dust1 and breathing into his nostrils the breath of life1 we know that man is high above all the rest of creation1 and worthy of being spoken of as being made in the image of ,god4 ,and so in the case of man's spiritual history1 we need not be over-careful to criticize the several steps when we are able to see the result2 the question is1 not so much whether the steps of ,god which we trace in ,old ,testament history be such steps as we should imagine that the ,most ,high would have left1 as whether the mystery of the ,incarnation1 and the truth that ,god has spoken to us by ,his own ,son1 be not worthy of all acceptation4 ,if ,christ be worthy of our adoration and love1 then1 though the way may have been long1 and strange1 and dark1 and sometimes even weary1 yet we may be sure that it is the right way1 because it has led us to ,him4 ,for there is this further analogy between nature and revelation1 namely1 that in each the progress is not indefinite1 but tends to a limit4 ,whatever theory be adopted with regard to the history of the earth1 we seem to see in its present settled condition the limit towards which everything has been moving in past geological ages2 and even if man has been a progressive animal1 and has only gradually attained his present physical perfection1 ,i presume it is not anticipated that the process of natural selection1 or any other process1 will carry him beyond the point which he has now reached4 ,or1 if we take the divine picture of creation1 we see the creative work tending from the limit of chaos to the limit of man2 then physics cease and religion begins1 and we hear utterances of the voice of ,god beginning with whispers1 and becoming more and more distinct1 until we are permitted to listen to divine oracles uttered by human lips4 ,beyond this the dreams of philosophy1 and the aspirations of the human heart1 and the longings of the weary and heavy-laden cannot carry our thoughts or raise our desires4 ,those who are acquainted with ,bishop ,butler's great work will perceive that ,i have now been endeavouring--how imperfectly no one knows better than myself--to apply to the question of the gradual development of revelation1 those principles of reasoning which ,bishop ,butler has taught us to use4 ,i was very sorry to see it stated in the evidence taken before the select committee of the ,house of ,lords on ,university ,tests1 that ,bishop ,butler's ,analogy was out of fashion in ,oxford4#ff ,i trust that the witness only intended to assert that the ,analogy was not now so commonly chosen for examinations as formerly1 for it will be an evil day for us all when the method of reasoning which ,bishop ,butler taught us shall be out of fashion with thinking people4 ,in truth1 the advantage of the method is that1 properly speaking1 it never can be out of fashion2 it is like the method of ,euclid1 or that of the ,differential ,calculus2 it is an organum1 an instrument1 a machine1 which may be applied in all the varying circumstances of theological controversy1 and to almost all religious difficulties4 ,for the principle of the method is this4 ,you find certain difficulties in that which professes to be a revelation of ,god2 you think to get rid of these difficulties by denying the revelation2 will you succeed in doing so8 ,not if you find precisely analogous difficulties in the course of nature2 unless you go further1 and deny not only that there is a ,god of revelation1 but a ,god of nature too4 ,nay1 the argument carries you beyond this point1 and suggests to you that if there be difficulties in ,god's natural world1 and if ,he be pleased to reveal the spiritual world to us1 then we ought to expect to find the same general method of proceeding in matters spiritual which we have been able to observe in the natural world4 ,i quite admit that this reasoning has no force for the man who says ,there is no ,god2 he must be dealt with in another way2 but it has force and it has comfort for the doubting inquiring soul1 by assuring it that it can find a logical resting-place1 and that the refuge from the misery of blank and hopeless atheism is to be found in simple faith in the ,lord ,jesus ,christ4#fg ,with the atheist1 ,i honestly confess1 that ,i have little or no sympathy2 certainly ,i should not think it worth while to compose a lecture intended for his special behoof4 ,i should feel disposed rather to send him for his answer to the fourteenth and fifty-third ,psalms4 ,the difficulty of supposing the framework of the universe to have had no architect1 appears to me to be so great1 so absolutely immeasurable1 that the man who can fancy that he has got over it must1 as ,i believe1 either not have understood the difficulty1 or else have deceived himself as to his power of solving it2 anyhow1 ,i feel that he has cut away all ground of argument1 as between him and me4 ,not so the man whose mind is sceptically inclined4 ,be it ever remembered that the word sceptic is derived from a word which means to look or to see--it is the same word which forms the root of the word bishop or overseer2 and accordingly there is nothing radically reproachful in the name of sceptic4 ,it implies that a man is determined to look into matters for himself1 not to trust every assertion1 not to repeat a parrot creed2 and so far as this determination is concerned1 it is high and noble1 and is in fact the very root and spring of all human knowledge2 but who can wonder if looking should lead to doubting1 and that so the name of sceptic should popularly imply1 not the man who looks and believes1 but the man who looks and doubts8 ,and ,i am not ashamed to confess that ,i have much sympathy with this sceptical frame of mind4 ,not only is it closely connected with a noble instinct of inquiry and search for truth which ,god has implanted in the human mind1 but also1 as ,i believe1 it is well-nigh impossible that an inquiring mind should deal seriously with religious subjects and remain entirely free from doubt4 ,in my opinion1 the amount of scepticism which has1 during some period of his life1 occupied the mind of each thoughtful earnest man1 will be merely a question of degree2 while1 at the same time1 ,i most sincerely believe that scepticism ought not to be1 and need not be the lasting condition of the human soul1 and that all doubts may be made to vanish in the light which ,god has given to lighten every man who is born into the world4 ,i know not what may be the condition of mind of those to whom ,i have been speaking to-day4 ,i presume the hope of the ,christian ,evidence ,society is that some persons who feel practically the pressure of doubt and unbelief1 will come and see whether any of their difficulties can be resolved by this course of ,lectures4 ,if there be such in this company1 ,i beg them1 in concluding this ,lecture1 to believe that they have been listening to one who does not wish to treat their speculative difficulties as trifles1 but who would consider it as an unspeakable privilege to be able to help a doubting brother to get rid of his doubts1 and to exchange them for the steady assurance of faith in the ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,,the ,,alleged ,,historical ,,difficulties ,,of ,,the ,,old ,,and ,,new ,,testaments1 ,,and ,,the ,,light ,,thrown ,,on ,,them ,,by ,,modern ,,discoveries4 ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,,george ,,rawlinson1 ,m4,a41 ,,camden ,,professor ,,of ,,ancient ,,history1 ,,oxford4 ,,the ,,alleged ,,historical ,,difficulties ,,of ,,the ,,old ,,and ,,new ,,testaments4 ,in addressing you on the historical difficulties of the ,old and ,new ,testaments--a large subject1 which it will be hard to treat adequately within the time allowed to me--,i must in the first place premise1 that with difficulties which lie on the verge or outskirts of the historic field1 on the debatable ground between ,science and ,history1 ,i do not on the present occasion profess to deal4 ,questions as to the origin of man1 whether by development or by direct creation1 whether from one pair or from more2 questions as to his primval condition1 his possession from the first of the faculty of speech1 his original savagery or civilisation1 and the like1 lie 7,i think7 beyond the domain of history proper1 belonging to what has been properly termed the pre-historic period of our race1 and so not coming within the terms of the subject on which ,i have undertaken to speak to-day4 ,history deals with man from the time to which written records reach back4 ,historical difficulties arise from divergence1 real or apparent1 between the different accounts contained in those records4 ,now the profane records1 to which any modern critical school would attribute an historical value1 do not reach back within many ages of the origin of man1 and thus no historical difficulty can arise with respect to these primitive times4 ,it is only when we descend to an age of records1 when the apparently authentic accounts of ancient countries preserved to our day can be compared with the ,scriptural narrative that difficulty arises and that either agreement or disagreement can be shown4 ,the first difficulty1 really historical1 which meets us when we open the volume of ,scripture1 is the shortness of the time into which all history is 7or at any rate appears to be7 compressed1 by the chronological statements1 especially those of ,genesis4 ,the exodus of the ,jews is fixed by many considerations to about the fifteenth or sixteenth century before our era4 ,the period between the ,flood and the ,exodus1 according to the numbers of our ,english version1 but a very little exceeds a thousand years4 ,consequently1 it has been usual to regard ,scripture as authoritatively laying it down that all mankind sprang from a single pair within twenty-five or twenty-six centuries of the ,christian era1 and therefore that all history1 and not only so1 but all the changes by which the various races of men were formed1 by which languages developed into their numerous and diverse types1 by which civilization and art emerged and gradually perfected themselves1 are shut up within the narrow space of #b1ejj or #b1fjj years before the birth of our ,lord4 ,now this time is said with reason to be quite insufficient4 ,egypt and ,babylonia have histories1 as settled kingdoms1 which reach back 7according to the most moderate of modern critical historians7 to about the time at which the numbers of our ,english ,bible place the ,deluge4 ,considerable diversities of language can be proved to have existed at that date2 markedly different physical types appear not much subsequently2 civilization in ,egypt has1 about the ,pyramid period1 which few now place later than ,b4,c4 #b1dej1 an advanced character2 the arts exist nearly in the shape in which they were known in the country at its most flourishing period4 ,clearly1 a considerable space is wanted anterior to the pyramid age for the gradual development of ,egyptian life into the condition which the monuments show to have been then reached4 ,this space the numbers of our ,english ,bible do not allow4 ,such is the difficulty4 ,now how is it to be met8 ,in the first place1 candour should 7,i think7 induce all those who urge it to let their readers1 or hearers1 know that a special uncertainty attaches to the numbers in question1 from the fact that they are given differently in the different ancient versions4 ,we possess the ,pentateuch in three very ancient forms1 in ,hebrew1 in the ,greek version known as the ,septuagint1 and in ,samaritan4 ,our ,english numbers represent those of the ,hebrew text4 ,the numbers of the ,septuagint and the ,samaritan version are different4 ,those of the ,samaritan version extend the period between the ,deluge and the birth of ,abraham from the #bib years of the ,hebrew text to #idb years1--an addition of six centuries and a half--while those of the ,septuagint1 according to some copies1 give #a1jgb years as the interval1 according to others #a1agb years1 thus increasing the period between the ,deluge and ,abraham by a space of nearly eight1 or nearly nine centuries4 ,now if the ,greek1 or even if the ,samaritan1 numbers are the right ones1 if they represent1 that is1 the original text1 it may be questioned whether anything more is wanted4 ,it may be questioned whether a term of from six to eight centuries is not enough for the production of that state of things which we find existing in ,babylonia and in ,egypt when the light of history first dawns upon them1 whether within that space might not have been produced such a state of civilization1 so much progress in art1 such differences of physical type1 and such diversities of language as appear to have existed at that period4 ,if1 however1 the ultimate verdict of calm reason1 and rigid scientific inquiry should be against this view1 if more time seem to be absolutely wanted for the development of settled government1 of art1 science1 language1 ethnical diversities1 varieties of physical type1 and the like1 than even the enlarged chronology of the ,septuagint allows1 then ,i should not be afraid to grant that the original record of ,scripture on this point may have been lost1 and that1 as it is certain that we cannot possess the actual chronological scheme of ,moses in more than one of the three extant versions of his words which have come to us with almost equal authority1 so it is quite possible that we may not posses his real scheme in any4 ,nothing in ancient ,,mss4 is so liable to corruption from the mistakes of copyists as the numbers2 the original mode of writing them appears in all countries of which we have any knowledge to have been by signs1 not very different from one another2 the absence of any context determining in favour of one number rather than another1 where the copy is blotted or faded1 increases the chance of error1 and thus it happens that in almost all ancient works the numbers are found to be deserving of very little reliance4 ,where they to any extent check one another1 they are generally self-contradictory2 where they do not1 they are frequently in the highest degree improbable4 ,a second historical difficulty connected with ,genesis was much insisted upon by the late ,baron ,bunsen4 ,the primitive ,babylonian kingdom is declared in the tenth chapter of ,genesis to have been ,cushite4 ,baron ,bunsen held that there were no ,cushites out of ,africa1 and that an ,asiatic ,cush existed only in the imagination of ,biblical interpreters1 and was the child of their despair4#fh ,but an analysis of the earliest documents recovered from ,babylonia has shown that the primitive ,babylonian people1 that which raised the first structures whereof any trace remains1 in the country1 and whose buildings had gone to ruin in the days of ,nebuchadnezzar1 was 7at any rate to a large extent7 ,cushite1 its vocabulary being undoubtedly ,cushite or ,ethiopian1 and presenting numerous analogies with those of the non-,semitic races of modern ,abyssinia4 ,hence1 modern historical science1 in the person of one of its best representatives1 ,m4 ,lenormant1 commences now the history of the ,east with a ,first ,cushite ,empire1 which it regards as dominant in ,babylonia for several centuries before the earliest ,semitic ,empire arose4#fi ,a difficulty less noticed1 yet one which was1 in the state of our historical knowledge a few years since1 more real1 may be found in the narrative contained in the #adth chapter of ,genesis with respect to the invasion of ,palestine in the time of ,abraham by a number of kings from the vicinity of the ,persian ,gulf4 ,these kings act under the presidency of a monarch1 called ,chedorlaomer 7or ,chedor-lagomer71 who is stated to be king of ,elam4 ,now till very recently there was no profane evidence that ,elam--which is not ,persia1 as many have supposed1 but ,elymas or ,susiana1 the country between ,babylonia and ,persia--had ever been an independent state1 much less a powerful kingdom1 and still less one that at so remote a date could have exercised suzerainty over so many and such important nations4 ,but the ,assyrian cuneiform inscriptions have shown that throughout almost the whole of the ,assyrian period ,elam maintained herself as an independent state and one of considerable military strength on the south-eastern borders of the empire2 and very recently#gj it has further been discovered that1 according to the ,assyrian belief1 an ,elamitic king was strong enough to invade and plunder ,babylonia at a date1 which expressed in our ordinary manner would be ,b4,c4 #b1bhf1 or somewhat earlier than the time commonly assigned to ,abraham4 ,further1 the primitive ,babylonian remains bear traces of the extension of ,elamitic influence into ,babylonia at a remote era2 and the possibility of such distant military expeditions at this far-off period of the world's history1 receives illustration at once from the epithet ,ravager of ,syria1 which is borne by a ,babylonian monarch of about this date1 and also from the numerous expeditions conducted not very much later by the ,egyptian princes from the valley of the ,nile into ,mesopotamia4 ,no other historical difficulties1 so far as ,i know1 present themselves in the narrative of ,genesis4 ,some attempts were made in ,germany1 about thirty or forty years ago1 to prove that the description of ,egypt contained in the latter portion of the book exhibited numerous mistakes and inaccuracies2 but the mistakes and inaccuracies alleged were scarcely of an historical character1 and the writers who alleged them have been so triumphantly refuted by ,hengstenberg1 and others1 that the sceptical school has ceased to urge the point1 and now allows the entire truthfulness and accuracy of the whole account4 ,few things are in truth more remarkable than the complete harmony and accordance which exist between the picture of ancient ,egypt and the ancient ,egyptians1 as drawn for us by ,moses1 and that portraiture of them which is now obtainable from their own contemporary writings and monuments4 ,with regard to the narrative contained in the last four books of the ,pentateuch1 modern criticism has chiefly employed itself in objections turning upon the numbers4 ,the multiplication of the ,israelites1 as related in ,genesis and ,exodus1 has been declared to be utterly and absolutely incredible4 ,the sudden exodus from ,egypt of a body of two millions of persons in the way narrated has been pronounced an impossibility4 ,the subsistence of such a multitude1 with their flocks and herds1 in the ,desert of ,tih for forty years1 or even a single year1 has been said to be inconceivable4 ,many minor objections1 turning on the same point of numerical difficulty1 have been urged1 and the conclusion has been drawn that the entire narrative of ,exodus1 ,numbers1 ,leviticus1 and ,deuteronomy is unhistorical--a romance drawn up at a comparatively late period of the nation's history1 having perhaps a certain historic foundation1 but in its details wholly and entirely imaginary4#ga ,now1 with respect to these objections1 let it be observed1 in the first place1 that they all turn upon the one point of number2 and that the numbers of the sacred texts are 7as has been already observed7 exactly the part of it which is most liable to corruption and least to be depended upon4 ,so that if the difficulties of the multiplication1 as stated1 of the exit from ,egypt1 the march1 the passage of the ,red ,sea1 and the sojourn in the wilderness1 were all allowed to be as great as represented1 it would be enough to reply that there may have been a corruption of the numbers--the addition 7say7 of a cipher in each case--and that the whole narrative would stand good1 and the difficulties disappear1 if for six hundred thousand that were men in ,exodus xii4 #cg1 we were to read #fj1jjj1 and so on--the entire exodus being thus made one of #bjj1jjj instead of two million souls4 ,but this mode of meeting the difficulty is not1 perhaps1 here the right one4 ,the numbers may be defended as they stand4 ,in ,germany the best critics1 including so subtle and little credulous a writer as ,ewald1 accept them4 ,they seem required by the general tenor of the whole narrative1 especially by the great unwillingness of the ,egyptians to let the people go1 and by their power1 within little more than a generation to conquer and occupy ,canaan4 ,assuming therefore the numbers to be sound1 to have come to us as they were delivered by ,moses1 let us inquire what the great difficulties are of which so much has been made1 and see if they are really so insuperable4 ,in the first place1 as to the multiplication in ,egypt4 ,now here1 before we can form any judgment1 two things have to be determined--,what was the number of the ,israelites when they entered ,egypt1 and ,what was the duration of their stay there8 ,what was their number when they entered ,egypt8 ,we are commonly told1 seventy souls4 ,now1 no doubt1 these words occur in ,scripture1 ,all the souls of the house of ,jacob1 which came into ,egypt1 were threescore and ten4#gb ,but1 when we come to look into details1 we find first1 that the seventy souls of ,jacob's descendants comprise only two women1 the married daughters and grand-daughters of ,jacob not being mentioned1 who yet1 we are told1 followed the migrations of the tribe1#gc and no account being taken of the wives of his sons and grandsons4 ,supplying these omissions1 we have for the family of ,jacob as it entered ,egypt1 the number #bfg1 instead of the number seventy1 or nearly four times the ordinary estimate4 ,but this is far from being all4 ,the children of ,israel entered ,egypt with their households1 or retainers4#gd ,what the size of a patriarchal household was we may gather from the history of ,abraham1 who had #cah trained servants born in his house1 capable of active military service4 ,it has been well observed that we shall scarcely find so many in a clan of three thousand souls4#ge ,jacob's retainers are likely to have been more numerous rather than less numerous than those of ,abraham2 and the conclusion of ,kurtz1 that they amounted to several thousands#gf is therefore perfectly reasonable4 ,it appears to me quite probable that the tribe which took possession of the ,land of ,goshen on the invitation of ,joseph and ,pharaoh was a body of five or six thousand persons4 ,next1 as to the duration of the sojourn in ,egypt1 the ,hebrew text lays it down very positively that it was #dcj years4#gg ,the best ,,mss4 of the ,septuagint agree4 ,there was a tradition among the later ,jews which brought down the term to #bae years2 but this tradition cannot reasonably be set against the plain words of ,exodus2 and consequently we must take #dcj years as the duration of the sojourn4 ,is it then1 or is it not1 conceivable1 that under the circumstances of the time and country1 a tribe or clan of #e1jjj persons may have increased in #dcj years to one of two millions8 ,here it has to be remembered that there were two modes whereby they might increase1 one that of ordinary natural increase1 the other by augmentation of the number of their retainers4 ,the natural tendency of population has been shown by ,mr4 ,malthus1 to be to double itself1 if unchecked1 every #be years4#gh ,the ,israelites1 having the land of ,goshen1 a large fertile territory1 capable of supporting a population of several millions1 assigned them1 would be in a position where the checks on the natural tendency1 especially at first1 would be very slight4 ,now1 according to the estimate of ,mr4 ,malthus1 a body of #e1jjj persons increasing without check1 would have become more than two millions at the end of #bbe years2 a body of #bfg persons would have exceeded the same amount at the close of #cbe years2 and a body even of seventy persons would have done the same at the expiration of #cge years2 so that1 except for the operation of artificial checks1 the family of ,jacob1 had it really consisted of seventy persons only1 would have become one of above two millions fifty-five years before the time of the exodus4 ,but1 no doubt1 as the increase took place1 the artificial checks1 which keep down the natural tendency of population1 began to operate1 and the result was1 that if the original immigrants were1 as ,i have supposed1 about #e1jjj1 the actual rate of increase had been a doubling1 not once each twenty-five years1 but once each forty-eight years1 or not very much beyond the rate which prevails in our own country at the present time4 ,if we add to this the consideration that the ,israelites1 being in a very flourishing condition during the earlier portion of their sojourn in ,egypt1 would naturally augment1 by purchase1 the number of their households1 and might even receive1 by agreement1 whole tribes into their body1 we shall not be surprised that at the end of the #dcj years1 the clan had grown to be a nation of two million souls4 ,with respect to the difficulties of the exit of this large body of persons from ,egypt in the sudden way which the narrative in ,exodus seems to describe1 they depend 7,i think7 mainly on the broad and general manner of description habitual to ,oriental writers1 who do not trouble themselves with details1 or with exceptions1 but describe in the mass1 stating that to be done by all which was done by most1 or by those of most account2 regarding a nation as concentrated in its heads2 and directing attention to the main events1 to the neglect of the various details into which they were broken up4 ,a candid reader1 making fair allowance for these characteristics of ,oriental style1 and for the brevity of the sacred narrative1 will scarcely be much troubled by the difficulties of the start and the march1 as they have been urged by some critics4 ,it is certain migrations of tribes1 quite as large as that of ,israel is said to have been1 have from time to time taken place in the east1 and indeed in the west also4 ,such migrations have frequently been sudden--the emigrants have started off with their women1 children1 and all their possessions on a certain day#gi--they have traversed enormous distances1 much greater ones than the ,israelites traversed1 and have finally settled themselves in new abodes4 ,that the ,israelites made such a migration there cannot be a doubt4 ,the ,egyptians1 ,greeks1 ,romans1 all accepted the fact as certain4 ,cavils as to their exact numbers1 or as to the particular expressions used in ,exodus1 do not touch the main fact1 but show 7if they show anything7 either that our ancient manuscripts are here and there defective1 or that an early ,oriental historian does not write in the exact and accurate style of a nineteenth-century occidental critic4 ,the difficulty which attaches to the subsistence of the ,israelites for forty years in the wilderness of ,tih1 concerns almost wholly the sustenance of their flocks and herds1 which are said to have been numerous1 and have been calculated at two million head of cattle4 ,the answer to this difficulty may be very brief4 ,in the first place1 we are not told that the cattle did not very rapidly decrease2 for no mention is made of the people possessing any considerable number in the later portion of the sojourn1 until an enormous booty is captured from the ,midianites2#hj and in the second place1 there is ample reason to believe that the wilderness was anciently very much more fertile than it is at present1 and quite capable of furnishing pasturage to flocks and herds of a large size4 ,the recent explorations of ,mr4 ,tristram and ,mr4 ,holland have placed this fact beyond a doubt1 and have shown that the ,sinaitic peninsula1 at any rate1 was a desert merely in comparison with the richly agricultural countries of ,egypt and ,palestine4 ,historical difficulties are scarcely alleged with respect to the portion of the ,biblical narrative which follows upon the sojourn in the wilderness4 ,the conquest of ,canaan by the immigrant ,israelites is a fact too well attested to be denied2 and the subsequent chequered history of the race1 as delivered to us in ,judges and in the ,first ,book of ,samuel1 is for the most part too modest and unpretending an account to tempt the assaults of sceptics4 ,the exploits of ,gideon and ,samson are viewed indeed with incredulity2 but merely on the ground that they are intrinsically improbable4 ,it is not until we come to the time of ,david and ,solomon that any further difficulties1 really of an historical character1 present themselves1 and that an examination of the difficulties by the light of historical documents becomes possible4 ,the sudden rise of the ,israelites to power and greatness in the reign of ,david1 the grandeur1 magnificence1 and extent of the kingdom of ,solomon1 and the entire collapse of the empire at his death appear to some1 not merely in themselves strange and improbable1 but incompatible with what is known from history of the condition of the neighbouring countries4 ,the little country of ,palestine was placed midway between the territories of two great and powerful monarchies1 of which it may be said1 in a general way1 that for a thousand years before the rise of the ,persians to power1 they contested the sovereignty of the ,east4 ,over-shadowed by the grand forms of ,egypt and ,assyria1 how could ,israel 7it may be asked7 emerge from obscurity1 how especially advance at a bound from a dependent to a dominant position1 asserting1 and for above fifty years maintaining1 her place among the great ones of the earth8 ,we may answer1 that1 in the first place such a revolution has numerous analogies in the history of the ,east1 where the rapid rise of petty states to greatness1 the sudden conversion of an oppressed into a dominant power1 is the rule rather than the exception2 where ,babylon1 ,media1 ,persia1 ,parthia1 where the histories of ,timur1 ,yenghis ,khan1 ,nadir ,shah1 all illustrate it4 ,but further1 in this particular case1 we can see not only a general analogy1 but a fitness in the peculiar circumstances of the time for the production of such a phenomenon as that which ,scripture places before us4 ,the monumental evidence of the two countries shows1 that exactly at the time when the conquests of ,david and the ,empire of ,solomon are placed1 both ,egypt and ,assyria were exceptionally weak4 ,egypt1 after the time of ,ramesses ,,iii4 7ab4 ,b4,c4 #a1bjj7 ceased to be aggressive on the side of ,syria1 and continued until the accession of ,sheshonk or ,shishak1 7ab4 ,b4,c4 #iij7 to be a quiet and unwarlike power4 ,assyria1 which1 about ,b4,c4 #a1ajj1 extended her sway into the valley of the ,orontes1 and threatened ,palestine with subjection1 passed under a cloud soon afterwards1 and did not again become a terror to ,syria1 till about ,b4,c4 #hhj4 ,for a ,jewish ,empire to arise it was necessary that ,egypt and ,assyria should be simultaneously weak4 ,such simultaneous weakness is found for the hundred or hundred and twenty years between ,b4,c4 #a1ajj and ,b4,c4 #iij4 ,and exactly into this interval fall the rise of the ,jews to power under ,saul and ,david1 and the establishment of their empire under ,solomon4 ,doubts were thrown a few years since1 by an able writer1 on the expeditions of ,shishak against ,rehoboam1 ,solomon's son1 and of ,zerah1 the ,ethiopian1 against ,asa1 ,rehoboam's grandson2#ha which1 it was suggested1 might be mere embellishments of a history1 otherwise tame and uninteresting4 ,the careful analysis which the inscription of ,shishak at ,karnac has undergone at the hands of ,mr4 ,stuart ,poole1#hb and ,dr4 ,brugsch1#hc not to mention other scholars1 and the evidence thus furnished of the reality and the importance of his expedition into ,palestine1 render the continuance of incredulity1 as to the former of these attacks1 impossible4 ,the analysis has thrown a flood of light on what was previously obscure in the scriptural narrative4 ,it has shown that ,shishak went up1 not so much with any extensive scheme of conquest1 as to settle his proteg1 ,jeroboam1 in his kingdom1 where he was in great danger from the ,levitical and ,canaanite towns not being in his hands4 ,these ,shishak reduced and made over to ,jeroboam1 thus giving him a firm hold on the northern kingdom4 ,having done this1 he was content to receive the mere submission of ,rehoboam1 and allowed him to retain the southern kingdom1 perhaps not wishing to make ,jeroboam too strong4 ,it was the constant practice of the great monarchs of ,egypt1 ,assyria1 and ,babylon1 to maintain1 on dependent thrones1 a large number of petty princes1 who were checks upon each other1 and could easily be dealt with1 if they shewed any inclination to rebellion4 ,the expedition of ,zerah has not yet received any distinct confirmation from monuments4 ,but the recent discovery that there reigned about this time a king called ,azerch-,amen in ,ethiopia1 has removed the difficulties which attached to the name and the description of the invader1 and has indicated to the dispassionate and candid student1 that here1 too1 the ,jewish historian had probably contemporary records to guide him1 and related real facts of history1 not figments drawn from his imagination4 ,a real historical difficulty meets us soon after this1 in the sacred narrative1 in the invasion of the kingdom of ,samaria1 by ,pul1 who is called a king of ,assyria1 and is said to have put ,menahem to a tribute of a thousand talents of silver4#hd ,we possess the history of ,assyria for this period1 apparently in a state of completeness2 and this history shows us no monarch at this time 7or indeed at any other time71 bearing a name in the least resembling that of ,pul4 ,the predecessor of ,tiglath-pileser on the throne of ,assyria1 was a certain ,asshur-lush 7or ,asshur-likkis71 whose predecessor was ,asshur-dayan1 who followed on ,shalmaneser ,,iii4 ,it seems impossible that any one of these kings can be ,pul4 ,moreover1 ,assyria1 in the time immediately preceding the accession of ,tiglath-pileser1 instead of being a great1 aggressive power1 capable of marching armies into ,palestine1 was in a depressed state1 troubled by frequent insurrections among her own subjects1 and quite incapable of sending out distant military expeditions4 ,thus ,pul1 king of ,assyria1 constitutes to the modern historical inquirer a real difficulty--a difficulty which it has been proposed to meet in various ways4 ,the best explanation hitherto suggested is1 ,i think1 the following4 ,pul1 who was called by ,berosus1 the great ,babylon historian1 king of the ,chaldeans1 was probably a monarch who reigned at ,babylon1 while ,asshur-lush was reigning at ,nineveh4 ,in the troublous decade of years which preceded ,tiglath-pileser's accession1 he became a powerful prince1 perhaps deprived ,assyria of her western provinces1 and invaded ,syria and ,palestine from the quarter from which ,assyrian invasions had been wont to come4 ,presenting himself to the ,israelites as the representative of the great ,mesopotamian power1 with which they had been contending for centuries1 they termed him loosely king of ,assyria when he was in reality a king of ,babylon1 who had possessed himself of a portion of the ,assyrian dominions4 ,in the same way1 they subsequently termed ,nabopolassar1 the father of ,nebuchadnezzar1 and even ,darius ,hystaspis1 kings of ,assyria4#he ,a difficulty used to be felt with respect to ,sargon1 king of ,assyria1 who is said to have taken ,ashdod by the hand of one of his captains4#hf ,sargon's name is not contained in the historical books of ,scripture1 nor is he mentioned by any of the classical writers1 who speak of ,shalmaneser1 ,sennacherib1 and ,esarhaddon4 ,the occurrence of his name in ,isaiah was thought to indicate an irreconcilable difference between the historical data possessed by that prophet and those of the writer of ,kings4 ,even his existence was doubted1 and different writers proposed to regard his name as a mere variant for those of each of the three princes just mentioned4 ,the ,assyrian inscriptions have completely cleared up all this obscurity4 ,sargon is found to have been the successor of ,shalmaneser2 the predecessor and father of ,sennacherib4 ,he speaks of having captured ,ashdod4 ,all that ,isaiah says of him is confirmed2 and it appears to have been quite accidental that the writer of ,kings1 who more than once alludes to him1#hg does not mention his name4 ,the strictly historical character of the later portion of the ,old ,testament narrative1 especially of that delivered to us in ,kings1 ,chronicles1 ,ezra1 and ,nehemiah1 and in the contemporary prophets1 ,jeremiah1 ,zechariah1 and ,haggai1 is generally admitted1 even by sceptics4 ,the only writings belonging to this period1 whereto exception is taken are the ,books of ,daniel and ,esther1 which many still regard as full of historical inaccuracies1 and as quite unworthy of credence4 ,i shall therefore conclude my observation on the alleged historical difficulties of the ,old ,testament1 and the light thrown on them by modern discoveries1 by a brief consideration of these two books and of the objections taken to them4 ,the chief historical inaccuracies alleged against ,daniel are the following3 ,he is said to have invented two kings1 ,belshazzar1 and ,darius the ,mede1 whose existence is not merely unknown to history1 but precluded by it2 to have falsely ascribed a government by satraps to the ,babylonians2 to have incorrectly represented the condition of their wise men2 to have made ,susa a residence of the ,persian monarchs when it was not even built2 to have wrongly made the last king of ,babylon a son of ,nebuchadnezzar1 and to have misrepresented his fate2 to have misconceived the relative position of the ,medes and ,persians at the time of the capture of ,babylon2 and to have related an utterly incredible circumstance1 viz4 that ,daniel was admitted among the ,babylonian wise men1 and even constituted their head4#hh ,now of these charges some are quite incapable of being either substantiated or distinctly refuted from our insufficient knowledge of the times to which they refer4 ,nothing is really known of the classes into which the wise men of ,babylon were divided in ,nebuchadnezzar's time1 excepting what we learn from ,daniel himself4 ,the authors supposed to contradict ,daniel on this point1 write of the state of things in their own day1 which happens to be eight centuries later6 ,and they do not write about the ,babylonian wise men at all1 but about the divisions of the ,persian magi1 an entirely different class4 ,we do not even know enough about the wise men to say whether there was anything strange and unusual in a foreigner being placed at their head4 ,we may suspect that it was so1 but we have really no sufficient evidence on the subject4 ,the little evidence that we have is to the effect that the wise men were a learned1 not a priestly1 body2 and that they admitted foreigners among them--more we do not know2 but there is certainly not the slightest difficulty in supposing that the despotic power of a ,babylonian monarch would have been amply sufficient to overcome any repugnance which any class of his subjects might have felt towards one of his appointments4 ,similarly1 we have no sufficient knowledge of the ,babylonian governmental system to say that it was not1 at any rate1 to some extent1 satrapial4 ,a satrapial system is simply one in which governors are appointed over the provinces1 instead of their being suffered to remain under the rule of native kings4 ,our present ,indian system is in part satrapial1 in part a government by means of kings4 ,the ,assyrian government was one of the same kind2 and1 on the whole1 it is most probable that so was the ,babylonian4 ,gedaliah1 who succeeded to ,king ,zedekiah in ,judea1 was a governor1#hi that is1 a satrap1 appointed by ,nebuchadnezzar2 and ,berosus speaks of a satrap of ,egypt1 ,cle-,syria1 and ,phnicia1 as holding office under ,nabopolassar1 ,nebuchadnezzar's father4 ,thus there is no inaccuracy in ,daniel's speaking of ,nebuchadnezzar as summoning1 among his other great officers1 his satraps4#ij ,that the word1 which is ,persian1 was not used in ,babylonia is probable2 but ,daniel1 writing for ,jews under ,persian government1 who were perfectly familiar with the term1 employed it for a corresponding ,babylonian expression4 ,the charge that ,daniel misapprehended the relative position of the ,medes and ,persians at the capture of ,babylon1 regarding the supremacy of the ,medes as still continuing1 is unjust1 and rests on an omission to look carefully to the original text4 ,it is true that the ,medes are placed before the ,persians in the words of the handwriting upon the wall1 and also in the formula1 according to the law of the ,medes and ,persians1 which altereth not4 ,but this honorary precedence assigned to the ,medes is a mere trace of their ancient supremacy--a trace much more strongly marked in ,greek writers1 who actually call ,cyrus and his successors ,medes--and is not an indication of its continuance4 ,daniel twice marks very strongly the subordinate position of the ,medes1 stating in one place#ia that ,darius the ,mede received the kingdom--i4e41 was given it by another2 and further declaring that he was made king over the nation of the ,chaldans1#ib using in this case an expression which distinctly implies that he derived his position from some superior authority1 which made him king4#ic ,the notion that ,susa1 or at any rate1 its palace1 was not built at the time when ,daniel says that he saw himself in vision there1 rests wholly upon a statement made by ,pliny1 six hundred years later1 that ,susa1 the ancient regal city of the ,persians1 was built by ,darius ,hystaspis4#id ,now this statement1 one of very weak authority1 had we nothing to set against it1 is contrary to the declarations of various other classical authorities1 among them notably of ,herodotus2 and is completely disproved by the ,assyrian inscriptions1 which show that ,susa was one of the most ancient of all the ,mesopotamian cities1 and that its palace was famous for many centuries before the time of ,daniel4 ,the truth which underlies ,pliny's statement1 is the fact that ,darius ,hystaspis was the first ,persian monarch to build a palace at ,susa after the ,persian fashion2 but the ancient residence of the ,susian kings1 the ,memnonium1 as the ,greeks called it1 had existed for considerably more than a thousand years when the son of ,hystaspes began his edifice4 ,of the two remaining charges1 which concern ,darius the ,mede1 and ,belshazzar1 one--and that the more important of the two--has been completely rebutted by the evidence of the ,babylonian monuments4 ,these monuments show that ,nabonnedus 7or ,labynetus71 the king of ,babylon attacked by ,cyrus1 had a son named ,bel-shar-ezer1 or ,belshazzar1 whom during some years he associated with him in the government4 ,this son may well have been on the mother's side descended from ,nebuchadnezzar1 as ,daniel says that ,belshazzar was2#ie he may have played the part in the siege which ,daniel states that he did1 while his father 7as ,berosus mentioned7 defended the fortress of ,borsippa2 and he may have fallen in the general massacre during the night in which ,babylon was taken1 while his father was subsequently made prisoner1 and kindly treated by ,cyrus4 ,all the supposed contradictions of profane history by ,daniel in connection with this matter1 are entirely removed by one little document1 exhumed in our own day from the soil of ,mesopotamia1 by the exertions of an ,english gentleman4 ,with respect to ,darius the ,mede1 nothing has been as yet discovered4 ,it is clear from ,daniel that he was not a king in his own right1 but a viceroy set up by ,cyrus4 ,he held his government probably for not more than two years4 ,perhaps he is to be identified with ,astyages1 the ,median king1 whom ,cyrus deposed but treated kindly2 perhaps he was merely a ,median noble1 whom ,cyrus advanced1 as he did other ,medes1 to a position of trust and importance4 ,the monuments have not at present thrown any light on this matter2 but he would be a bold person1 who1 after the discovery with respect to ,belshazzar1 would undertake to say that there may not1 ere many years are past1 be as much light thrown upon the obscure history of this monarch1 as has been recently thrown on the history1 formerly at least as obscure1 of his predecessor4 ,i cannot leave this matter and turn to another without strongly advising those who have any doubts as to the genuineness and authenticity of the ,book of ,daniel1 which have been of late so fiercely attacked1 to study carefully the recent work of ,professor ,pusey upon the subject4 ,they will find in it a complete answer to all the objections1 historical1 and critical1 which have been urged against this portion of ,scripture4 ,the historical difficulties alleged against the ,book of ,esther1 are chiefly the following4 ,assuming ,ahasuerus to be ,xerxes1 which is no doubt a highly probable identification1 it is said that ,esther's position is impossible1 since ,xerxes had but one wife1 ,amestris1 who cannot be ,esther4 ,nor could any ,persian king have married a ,jewess1 since there was a law that the kings should take all their wives out of seven noble ,persian families4 ,such a feast as that described in the first chapter1 where all the princes of the provinces were entertained for #ahj days1 could not have taken place1 since the governors could not without ruin to the empire have been so long absent from their governments4 ,it is incredible that a ,persian king should have given the command1 said to have been given by ,ahasuerus to ,vashti4 ,the edicts ascribed to ,ahasuerus are all incredible--especially the second and third4 ,no king would have consented to the murder of #b1jjj1jjj of his subjects2 nor would any king ever have allowed at a later time those two millions to stand up and slay as many as they pleased of their enemies4 ,finally1 the honours granted to ,mordecai are said to be excessive1 and such as no monarch would have allowed to a subject4 ,with respect to the first of these objections1 we may reply that though ,amestris cannot be ,esther1 she may well be ,vashti2 and that though the classical writers tell us of no other wife of ,xerxes1 yet it is quite possible that he may have had several4 ,polygamy was the rule with the ,persian kings4 ,amestris was no doubt on the whole the chief wife of ,xerxes1 and if she at one time fell into disgrace1 must have been afterwards restored to favour2 but the accounts which we have from the ,greeks do not at all preclude the possibility of such a temporary disgrace1 and of the elevation of another wife to the first place for a time4 ,as to its being impossible that any ,persian king could have married a ,jewess1 it is sufficient to remark1 that though the ,persians had laws1 the ,persian kings were above the law1 and could always disregard its restraints4 ,when ,cambyses having conceived an affection for his full sister1 ,atossa1 asked the royal judges if they could find a law allowing a ,persian to marry such a near relative1 their reply was1 that they could find no law permitting the marriage of brothers and sisters1 but that they found a law1 that the king of the ,persians might do what he liked4#if ,the objection to ,xerxes feasting all his princes for #ahj days is an objection1 not to anything contained in the ,book of ,esther1 but to something which the critic who makes it has intruded into the book4 ,the writer of the book tells us that ,xerxes made a feast to all his princes and his servants 7ch4 i4 #c71 and subsequently relates that the feast lasted an hundred and fourscore days 7verse #d72 but he nowhere states that the princes were all present during the whole of the time4 ,indeed1 the reader possessed of common sense sees clearly enough that the very duration of the festivity was probably contrived1 in order that all the princes might in their turn partake of it4 ,the critic says1 it is not so stated in the text1 which is true3 but neither is that stated which he has thought that he saw in it4 ,the command given to ,vashti is undoubtedly strange and abnormal4 ,it was an outrage on ,oriental custom2 and as such the narrative sets it before us4 ,the king does not issue the order until he is merry with wine2 and the ,queen refuses to obey1 because she feels the order to be an insult4 ,but can we say that no ,oriental king could possibly have issued such a command8 ,is it not more reasonable to allow1 with a ,german critic of the sceptical school1 that the narrative is here possible on account of the advancing corruption in ,xerxes' time1 and through the folly of ,xerxes himself8#ig ,indeed is it not clear that we can set no limit to the caprices of absolute power1 or to the orders that may not be issued by a proud and silly despot8 ,considerations of this kind go far also to remove the difficulty which has been felt as to the main facts of the narrative of ,esther1 the intended massacre of the ,jews1 and the counter-edict allowing them to defend themselves and slay their enemies4 ,such facts are altogether out of the ordinary experience of ,western nations2 and it is not surprising that they have been met with incredulity on the part of those whose knowledge of the past is limited to an acquaintance with the course of ,european1 and especially of modern ,european1 history4 ,but can it be said that they are altogether out of nature8 that they have no counterpart in the history of the ,east8 that they transcend altogether what authentic history relates of the doings of ,oriental tyrants8 ,here again the ,german sceptic is more cautious than some of those who have sought to popularise him1 and allows that from what we know of the base character and despotism of ,xerxes it may perhaps be believed that ,haman obtained from him a decree for the extirpation of the ,jews1 and ,mordecai in return a corresponding counter-decree#ih4 ,all that he objects to is1 the fierceness with which the ,jews set to work1 and the consequent massacre by them of above #ge1jjj persons4 ,this fact he thinks incredible4 ,it may be allowed that had the persons slain been1 as the objectors suppose1 ,persians1 the circumstances related would have been extremely hard of belief2 but it is on the whole most probable that there were few or no ,persians among them4 ,a religious sympathy united the ,persians with the ,jews2 and it is scarcely likely that any of them would have taken part in the proposed destruction of the ,jewish nation4 ,the adversaries of the ,jews were to be found in the ranks of the conquered nations1 not of the conquering one4 ,they were ,persian subjects1 not ,persians4 ,there is no reason to think that the loss even of #ge1jjj of such persons would have been felt by ,xerxes as a matter of much importance4 ,we must remember1 however1 that the number #ge1jjj is doubtful4 ,the ,septuagint version has #ae1jjj2 and this number is more in harmony than the other with the #hjj slain in the capital4 ,finally1 to the objection that the honours granted to ,mordecai are excessive1 it may be replied1 in the first place1 that they are analogous to those granted to ,joseph1#ii and ,daniel1#ajj and therefore such as were occasionally allowed to subjects by ,oriental sovereigns2 and secondly1 that if there were anything abnormal in them1 it would be sufficiently accounted for by the wild and extravagant temper of ,xerxes1 which delighted in strange acts and exhibitions of an unusual character4 ,haman1 who knew his master's weakness1 might well speculate upon it1 and suggest extraordinary honours1 since he imagined that it was himself for whom they were intended4 ,i have now noticed all the historical difficulties of any force or weight1 which have come before me in the course of my studies on the history of the ,old ,testament4 ,i have dwelt particularly on those connected with the ,pentateuch and with the two ,books of ,daniel and ,esther1 because of late years the attacks of sceptics have been especially directed against those portions of the ,sacred volume4 ,i have left myself but scant time for noticing historical difficulties connected with the narrative of the ,new ,testament2 but this is of the less consequence1 since there are no more than one or two such difficulties on which any stress has recently been laid by our opponents4 ,it has been said that ,st4 ,luke1 in connecting the name of ,cyrenius with the taxing which caused ,joseph and ,mary to go from ,nazareth to ,bethlehem1 undeniably contradicts history4#aja ,cyrenius 7or ,quirinus7 was appointed governor of ,syria about ten years after the death of ,herod the ,great1 and made a census of his province shortly afterwards4 ,this census ,st4 ,luke is accused of placing ten years too early4 ,the answer to this charge is1 that the words of ,st4 ,luke 7chap4 ii4 #b7 cannot possibly mean that ,cyrenius was governor at the time of the taxing2 had it been ,st4 ,luke's intention to express this1 the verse would have ran thus3 ,this taxing was made when ,cyrenius was governor of ,syria1 and not this taxing was first made1 etc4 ,first1 that is1 which is manifestly the emphatic word of the sentence1 would then have been absent from it4 ,evidently1 therefore1 ,st4 ,luke's words must bear some other meaning4 ,they may signify1 this taxing was made before ,cyrenius was governor1 and so before that better known taxing which he ordered4 ,this is an allowable translation of the passage4 ,or they may mean1 and ,i think they do mean1 this taxing was first completed--first took full effect--when ,cyrenius was governor2 that is to say1 the taxing ordered by ,augustus1 and commenced under ,herod the ,great1 was interrupted 7as it may easily have been1 since the ,jews were very bitter against it71 and the business was first accomplished under ,cyrenius4 ,this is a sense which the ,greek verb translated incur version was made sometimes has4 ,again1 it has been said that ,st4 ,luke erred in stating that ,lysanias was tetrarch of ,abilene 7iii4 #a7 in the fifteenth year of the reign of ,tiberius ,csar4#ajb ,lysanias1 it is said1 died sixty years previously2 and ,st4 ,luke has ignorantly made him alive1 being deceived by the fact that ,abilene continued to be called the ,abilene of ,lysanias1 after its former ruler1 for sixty or seventy years subsequently4 ,now here it is in the first place assumed1 without any word of proof1 that the ,lysanias who died ,b4,c4 #cd once ruled over ,abilene4 ,secondly1 it is assumed1 also without any word of proof1 that ,abilene came to be known as the ,abilene of ,lysanias1 from him4 ,i venture to assert that there is absolutely no ground for believing that the old ,lysanias was ever ruler of ,abilene2 and ,i venture to maintain that ,abilene came to be called the ,abilene of ,lysanias from a second or later ,lysanias1 a son of the former one1 who is the person intended by ,st4 ,luke4 ,till recently1 ,christian apologists were defied to show historically that there was ever more than one ,lysanias1 and were accused of inventing a second to escape a difficulty4 ,but a few years since1 a discovery was made which must be regarded by all reasonable persons as having set the whole matter at rest4 ,this was an inscription found near ,baalbek1#ajc containing a dedication of a memorial tablet or statue to ,zenodorus1 son of the tetrarch ,lysanias1 and to ,lysanias1 her children1 by 7apparently7 the widow of the first1 and the mother of the second ,lysanias4 ,zenodorus was already known as having succeeded the first ,lysanias in his government4 ,it is thus clear1 that there were1 as previously suspected1 two persons of the name1 a father1 and a son1 and there is not the slightest reason for doubting ,st4 ,luke's statement that the latter was tetrarch of ,abilene in the fifteenth of ,tiberius4 ,i know of no other cavil against the historical accuracy of the ,new ,testament1 that ,i can regard as worthy of being dignified with the name of difficulty4 ,it has been denied that any decree ever went out from ,csar ,augustus1 that all the world should be taxed1#ajd but as ,savigny1 the best authority on ,roman antiquities1 holds the contrary to be certain1 this denial need not detain us4 ,it has been asserted that if the massacre of the ,innocents had taken place1 it must have been noticed by ,josephus2#aje but this argument from omission is too weak to deserve more than a passing notice4 ,nothing is more familiar to historical students than the unaccountable omissions which occur in the works of almost all historians4 ,scepticism has searched in the most minute and unsparing way every detail of the ,gospel and the ,acts1 and has endeavoured earnestly to find differences and divergences between these facts and those of profane history2 but again and again has it been compelled to own that the divergences are slight1 and the differences such as may be reconciled by natural and probable suppositions4 ,the entire result of the searching criticism1 whereto the historical character of the ,new ,testament has been exposed1 has been to show that not only the general narrative1 but all its minuti1 are trustworthy4 ,no evangelist has been convicted of error in respect of any historical statements4 ,where a shallow learning and a defective knowledge of the records of the past have led men to think that they had found a slip or a mistake1 and a shout of triumph has been raised1 profounder research has always demonstrated the veracity and accuracy of the sacred writer1 and has exposed the ignorance of his assailant4 ,the historical character of the ,new ,testament is1 ,i think ,i may say1 in the eyes of all sober historical critics established4 ,,mythical ,,theories ,,of ,,christianity4 ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,,charles ,,row1 ,m4,a41 ,,of ,,pembroke ,,college1 ,,oxford4 ,,mythical ,,theories ,,of ,,christianity4 ,it is hardly possible to over-estimate the importance of the issues to which it will be my duty to address myself in this lecture4 ,they involve the central position of ,christianity2 viz41 the all-important question whether ,jesus ,christ was an historical person1 or a creation of the imagination4 ,is the ,church which is erected on ,him founded on an historic fact1 which had an objective existence2 or is the ,jesus of the ,evangelists a subjective creation which existed only in the minds of its originators8 ,many of the attacks which have been made on ,revelation are directed against its outworks merely2 this is one directed against the very key of the ,christian position4 ,if it can be carried by our opponents1 the whole line of our defences becomes untenable4 ,let us not deceive ourselves4 ,if the ,gospels are not in their main outlines historically true1 ,christianity is no more divine than ,shakespeare4 ,it may be the highest development of man2 but it can have no pretence to be esteemed a revelation from ,god4 ,the objections of this school have done more to undermine the belief of the educated classes in ,christianity as a divine revelation than any one single cause4 ,they have largely created the so-called rationalism of the ,continent4 ,they are widely diffused in ,america4 ,in our own country1 a numerous class of writers who obtain ready access to our periodical literature are not only imbued with similar views1 but write with the quiet assumption that the historical foundation of ,christianity cannot be defended4 ,as my subject is a wide one1 ,i must address myself to it without any preliminary observations4 ,the question before us is simply this1 ,are the ,gospels credible histories1 in the sense that other writings of the same description are8 or are the larger portion of their contents fictitious8 ,it should be observed that although these schools support their views by an immense critical apparatus1 the real ,greek3 skandalon of the ,gospels is the supernatural element which they contain4 ,apart from this1 their historical character would never have been questioned4 ,the theory that miracles are impossible underlies the entire mass of these objections4 ,but the question of the miraculous has been already handled by another lecturer4 ,i shall therefore only observe on it that it forms no portion of a strictly historical inquiry4 ,it appertains to the abstract regions of thought4 ,history has to deal with evidence1 not with abstract dogmas or philosophical questions4 ,to begin an historical inquiry with the assumption that miracles are impossible1 and that any event which involves the supernatural must be a fiction1 is quietly to assume the point at issue4 ,but as the ,christian ,church is an institution which actually exists1 and as its origin can be traced up to the times of ,jesus ,christ1 and as it is erected on the ,gospels as its foundation1 these schools are fully aware that the question cannot be settled by the quiet assumption that miracles are impossible4 ,the case stands thus4 ,the ,christian ,church exists4 ,it has had its origin in the events of past history4 ,the ,church itself asserts now1 and has asserted in all ages1 that it is founded on the historical truth of the divine person of ,christ our ,lord1 as ,he is depicted in the ,gospels4 ,if the ,gospels are true1 they give a rational account of its origin1 ,but those with whom ,i am reasoning deny that they are a statement of historic facts1 and consequently that they are not the true account of it4 ,but as the ,church is an historic fact1 they are quite aware that any mere general assumption that miracles are impossible is not sufficient4 ,they find themselves1 therefore1 compelled to do two things1--first1 to invent a critical apparatus to destroy the credibility of the ,gospels2 and1 secondly1 to propound a theory which shall account for the origin of the ,church on principles purely human4 ,the solution propounded is the mythical and ,tbingen theories4 ,this critical apparatus keeps two aims in view1--first1 to prove the existence of statements in the ,gospels at variance with those of contemporaneous history2 secondly1 to show that these narratives abound with a multitude of contradictions4 ,to effect this latter purpose1 every variation of statement is made to assume the character of a contradiction4 ,the extent to which this has been carried is scarcely credible4 ,this process having as they hope destroyed the substance of the ,gospels1 the next procedure is to invent a theory out of the imagination as the account of the origin of ,christianity1 and to propound it as true history4 ,at first sight it would appear to have been the easiest course to assert that they are simple forgeries1 in the same sense in which the ,donation of ,constantine or the ,false ,decretals are forgeries4 ,but this is what no unbeliever of the present day who regards his literary reputation ventures to propound as the alternative to their historical credibility4 ,why is the simple course abandoned1 and an infinitely complicated theory substituted in its place8 ,the answer is that their entire phenomena negative the supposition that they could have originated in directly conscious fraud4 ,a more elaborate theory1 therefore1 has to be substituted for the simple one4 ,it must be observed that ,i can only speak of it in its general aspect1 for its modifications are extremely numerous1 and hardly any two writers can be found who take precisely the same view4 ,but the following may be stated as the principles which underlie these systems of modern unbelief1 throwing aside their minor details4 ,first4 ,that miracles being impossible1 no supernatural element whatever enters into the character of the historical ,jesus4 ,second4 ,that ,he was probably a very great man1 though1 whenever the exigencies of the system require it1 it is necessary to assume that ,he was deeply implicated in the prejudices and superstitions of the age in which ,he lived4 ,third4 ,that ,he probably believed ,himself to be the ,messiah expected by ,his countrymen1 though as to the precise nature of ,his ,messianic claims my opponents are not agreed4 ,fourth4 ,that ,he succeeded in inspiring a crowd of followers with an enthusiastic attachment to ,him4 ,fifth4 ,that they were honest people after their fashion2 but were impelled by an enthusiasm only equalled by their credulity4 ,sixth4 ,that they invented a multitude of fabulous stories1 ascribed them to ,jesus1 and in time mistook them for facts4 ,seventh4 ,that out of these and kindred elements1 aided by a succession of developments1 the human ,jesus was gradually metamorphosed1 in the course of the seventy years which followed the crucifixion1 into the ,christ of the ,synoptic ,gospels1 and in a hundred and thirty into that of the ,gospel of ,st4 ,john4 ,now1 as these schools deny the existence of the supernatural1 this whole development must have been due to causes which are purely human2 in one word1 to the laws which regulate the developments of the moral and spiritual worlds4 ,as those of the natural world have been effected through the agency of natural laws1 so the creation of the ,jesus of the ,evangelists is due to laws which regulate with equal potency the action of the mind4 ,both sets of laws are equally constant and invariable4 ,to examine the critical apparatus which has been applied to the ,gospels for the purpose of proving their unhistorical character1 could only be accomplished in a work of considerable length4 ,i shall therefore only make two observations on the principles adopted4 ,first4 ,these schools assault the ,gospels by charging them with containing a multitude of inaccuracies1 discrepancies1 and contradictions4 ,while they do this they carefully keep in the background the minute accuracies1 agreements with contemporaneous history1 and plain indications of autoptic testimony with which they abound4 ,such a line of conduct is the same thing as to place before the ,court which is to try the cause everything which an acute counsel can adduce in opposition1 and to suppress the whole evidence for the defence4 ,secondly4 ,a great majority of these objections are founded on a view of the ,gospels which their writers expressly repudiate4 ,it is taken for granted that the ,gospels are histories in the strictest sense of that word4 ,by a strict history ,i mean a narrative in which the events are connected together in accordance with the sequences of time and place4 ,this is the arrangement which is generally adopted in modern histories and biographies4 ,but the ,gospels expressly assert that they belong to a different class of writings4 ,they are not histories1 but memoirs4 ,in a memoir1 the arrangement of events in the strict sequence of time and place is not the predominant idea4 ,the ,gospels are not only memoirs1 but memoirs of a peculiar character4 ,they are details of the actions and teachings of ,jesus ,christ written for the express purpose of teaching the ,christian religion4 ,in works of this kind the arrangement and grouping of events are formed on very different principles from those adopted in the composition of pure histories4 ,as this is a most important point1 ,i must adduce proof of it which is beyond all contradiction4 ,st4 ,john's ,gospel asserts1 in as many words1 that it was the purpose of its author to write such a memoir1 and not a strict history4 ,at chap4 xx41 ver4 #cj1 #ca1 he says1 ,and many other signs truly did ,jesus in the presence of ,his disciples1 which are not written in this book3 but these are written1 that ye may believe that ,jesus is the ,christ1 the ,son of ,god2 and that believing ye may have life through ,his name4 ,again1 in the last verse of the ,gospel it is expressly stated that ,jesus did many things which the writer has not recorded4 ,the author therefore clearly asserts that he has made a selection of certain events in the life of ,jesus ,christ1 from a very much larger number1 with which he was acquainted1 and that the principle which guided him1 both in the selection and arrangement1 was a religious one4 ,these are written that ye may believe that ,jesus is the ,christ1 etc4 ,it is impossible more distinctly to assert that the ,gospel is a religious memoir4 ,no less clear is the statement of ,st4 ,luke4 ,he says that he wrote in order to the most excellent ,theophilus1 that he might know the certainty of the things in which he had been instructed4 ,the original shows that the instruction was given with a definite religious purpose4 ,the ,gospel is a declaration of those things most surely believed among ,christians4 ,in one word1 the work is a memoir1 and not a history4 ,if it be replied that ,luke says that he wrote in order1 ,greek3 en taxei1 ,i answer that there are other orderly arrangements besides those of time and place2 and that if a work is a religious memoir1 the arrangement would be regulated1 though not exclusively1 by the reference of the facts to the religious end in view4 ,the assertions of the other two ,gospels are not so express1 but viewed in connection with their contents they prove that they belong to the same class of writings4 ,mark writes1 ,the beginning of the good news of ,jesus ,christ1 the ,son of ,god4 ,here a religious purpose is asserted to be the guiding principle of the work4 ,matthew1 in accordance with ,hebrew phraseology1 entitles his work ,the book of the generation of ,jesus ,christ1 the ,son of ,david1 the son of ,abraham4 ,the whole contents of the ,gospel answer to this description4 ,it was written to prove that ,jesus was the ,messiah of prophecy according to the conceptions of ,jewish ,christianity4 ,such being the distinct assertions of the writers of the ,gospels as to the character of their works1 it is absurd to criticize them as one might be justly entitled to do if four ,boswells had set forth four lives of ,dr4 ,johnson1 the arrangement of which was professedly regulated by the historical sequence4 ,the writer of a religious memoir is entitled to adopt a very different order of events in his narrative from that which ought to be adopted by the writer of a history4 ,an illustration will make this matter plain4 ,if ,i were to compose a biography of ,wesley1 ,i should be bound to narrate the events in the order of time1 with a distinct specification of the order of place2 but if ,i were to compose a memoir for the purpose of teaching the doctrines of ,wesleyanism1 ,i should follow a very different arrangement4 ,still more remarkable would be the variation in the arrangement if ,i wrote his memoir for the purpose of proving that ,wesley never designed that the ,church which he founded should dissent from the ,church of ,england4 ,such being the character of the ,gospels1 objections which would be serious as against regular histories are harmless against compositions of this description4 ,a large portion of their alleged discrepancies arise from the different arrangement of the events narrated in them1 owing to the predominance in them of the religious idea4 ,now observe that in compositions of this description it frequently happens that the connecting links which would make events perfectly harmonize together1 are wanting1 simply because the purpose of the writer has not led him to record them4 ,i adduce a single instance where the connecting link has been accidentally preserved1 and which at once converts a narrative against which most serious objections might have been alleged1 into one of the strongest proofs of the historical truthfulness of the ,evangelists4 ,we all remember the account of the murder of ,john the ,baptist4 ,it is told with all those minute and delicate touches which are the peculiar indication of autoptic testimony4 ,it places before our eyes the great feast--the young lady dancing her lascivious dance--the words of ,herod's vow--the girl's going out with excitement to her mother--the demand of the ,baptist's head in a large dish--the sorrow and reluctant consent of ,herod--the mission of the executioner--the presentation of the head to the girl1 and by her to her mother4 ,everything betokens the presence of an eye-witness4 ,the narrative is open to this obvious objection3 ,how could the disciples of ,christ1 mean and low as they were1 procure so accurate a description of an event which happened in the palace at the great feast8 ,there were neither newspapers nor reporters in those days4 ,but this is only the beginning of the difficulty4 ,the authors of the ,gospels profess to give us the ipsissima verba which were uttered by ,herod1 in the retirement of his palace1 when the reports brought him of the fame of ,jesus rendered him conscience-stricken4 ,the words are most remarkable1 and leave no alternative between their being the words of ,herod or a forgery4 ,it is ,john1 says he1 whom ,i beheaded3 he is risen from the dead1 and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him4 ,our version spoils the force of the last words-- ,greek3 hai dunameis energousin en aut--which1 rendered literally1 are1 ,the powers energize in him4 ,this is certainly a most singular expression1 and one open to a strong suspicion of forgery2 for how could the followers of ,jesus have got hold of the very words of an utterance of ,herod spoken in the retirement of the palace8 ,but besides all this1 the words ,greek3 hai dunameis energousin en aut plainly imply that it was the general idea that a large number of miracles had been wrought by our ,lord4 ,my opponents suppose that the historic ,jesus only attempted to work miracles in a very few questionable cases1 and that the multitude of miracles which have been subsequently ascribed to ,him are the inventions of ,his deluded followers4 ,such are the difficulties4 ,now for their solution4 ,it has been observed that the author of the ,acts of the ,apostles tells us that among the teachers of the ,church at ,antioch during ,paul's sojourn there1 was ,manaen1 who was a foster-brother of ,herod the ,tetrarch4 ,this is told us in a manner which is purely incidental1 and supplies us with a possible source from whence the information might have been derived4 ,still it by no means follows that a man who had the same wet-nurse as ,herod was an inmate of his palace1 or witnessed the great feast4 ,but a passage of the most incidental character in ,st4 ,luke's ,gospel supplies us with the source of information which we want4 ,in narrating our ,lord's last journey to ,jerusalem1 ,luke tells us that ,he was accompanied by the twelve apostles1 and several women who ministered to ,him4 ,of these he designates three by name4 ,one of these is described as ,joanna1 the wife of ,chuza1 ,herod's steward4 ,here then we have the very person we are in want of4 ,chuza's office of ,greek3 epitropos1 or steward1 imposed on him the duty of superintending the great feast4 ,he therefore witnessed the whole procedure1 and his wife was in constant communication with the disciples4 ,his office must have brought him into daily communication with his master4 ,what more likely than when he waited on ,herod for his orders1 he would ask him the news2 and that he should report to him the fame of the great teacher with whom his wife was in attendance8 ,he was therefore in the exact situation to have heard ,herod's conscience-stricken exclamation4 ,the source of information is before us4 ,the incidental mention of ,joanna and her husband affords to this narrative an attestation such as few events in past history possess4 ,if this incident had been lost1 the difficulty would have been insuperable4 ,the manner in which little circumstances dovetail into one another in the ,gospels is only consistent with their historical character4 ,it would be impossible if they were bundles of myths or legends4 ,i adduce one instance of the manner in which the ,gospels fulfil the conditions of history1 even where the absence of the connecting link has occasioned serious difficulty4 ,you all know that the want of any reference in the ,synoptics to the miracle of the resurrection of ,lazarus is the stronghold of those who deny its historical credibility4 ,in the absence of any direct information1 we are driven for the solution of the difficulty to the regions of conjecture4 ,let us suppose1 then1 that the story is a myth4 ,if so1 it is obvious that it is a very grand and perfect one4 ,the inventor must have been a man of the highest genius in his way4 ,if a person wished to invent a description of a resurrection1 he would find it impossible1 in the same number of words1 to surpass its perfection4 ,if the author of ,st4 ,john's ,gospel has failed to depict another resurrection in an equally graphic manner1 it was not for want of sufficient genius4 ,yet the ,gospel asserts the fact of another resurrection--that of ,jesus ,christ2 but it utters not one word descriptive of it4 ,all that it says is that ,mary ,magdalene came in the morning1 and found the tomb empty4 ,i put it to your common sense to determine1 on the sup position that this ,gospel was written by a partisan for the purpose of throwing a halo of glory around the person of his ,master1 whether the author of the resurrection of ,lazarus would not have forged a still more magnificent description of the resurrection of ,jesus ,christ4 ,his failure to do so is clearly not owing to lack of ability4 ,but how stands the case on the supposition that the ,gospel is historical8 ,everything is exactly as it should be4 ,the ,evangelist has given his pictorial description of the resurrection of ,lazarus1 because he witnessed it4 ,he has not done so with respect to the resurrection of ,jesus ,christ1 because no human eye beheld it4 ,the narrative therefore fulfils the conditions of history1 and breaks down under the tests which belong to fiction4 ,the limits of a single lecture necessarily preclude me from entering on any minor consideration4#ajf ,i therefore proceed at once to address myself to the demolition of the central position of my opponents1 that while the ,gospels contain a few grains of historic truth1 buried beneath a multitude of fables1 the greater portion of their contents is a spontaneous growth which sprung up in the bosom of the ,christian society in the last seventy years of the first century2 and that by means of a number of mythical and legendary inventions1 and a succession of developments1 a good and holy ,jew1 named ,jesus1 was metamorphosed into the divine ,christ of the ,evangelists4 ,in reasoning on this point1 ,i shall assume nothing but what is conceded by the ,schools in question4 ,what are the concessions which ,i ask as the foundations of my reasoning8 ,very simple ones indeed1 and such that no man can deny me4 ,first1 that the ,gospels exist2 secondly1 that the three first ,gospels were in existence about ,a4,d4 #ajj1 and the fourth about #afj2 thirdly1 that in addition to the facts or fictions which make up our ,gospels1 they contain the delineation of a great character--,jesus ,christ4 ,on the existence of this character my argument is founded4 ,i now concentrate your attention on it1 which ,i shall call for the future the portraiture of ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 ,i need not prove that it exists in the ,gospels1 for the most ordinary reader perceives that it is there4 ,the question is1 ,how did it get there8 ,it is very easy to say that the ,gospels consist of a mass of fictions4 ,but this is no account of the origin of the portraiture4 ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral undoubtedly consists of an immense multitude of stones4 ,but to say that a multitude of quarrymen dug them1 and that a multitude of masons arranged them according to their spontaneous impulses1 is no account of the origin of that magnificent structure4 ,let us carefully observe what this great portraiture of ,jesus ,christ1 as it is exhibited in the ,gospels1 consists of4 ,it is the delineation of a great moral and spiritual character dramatized over a wide sphere of action4 ,this portraiture is not the result of the artificial delineation of a character such as we see very commonly presented to us by historians1 and of which we see very numerous examples in ,lord ,macaulay's ,history of ,england4 ,such characters are the artificial creations of the historian1 and exhibit his view of what his heroes actually were4 ,but neither of the authors of the ,gospels have once attempted thus to delineate the character of his ,master4 ,but the portraiture of ,jesus ,christ is delineated in the ,gospels most clearly and most distinctly4 ,of what materials then does it consist8 ,only one answer can be returned4 ,it is the combined result of all the facts1 or1 as my opponents say1 fictions1 which compose the ,gospels4 ,now as the existence of this portraiture is not a theory1 but a fact1 it is plain that it must be accounted for4 ,the assumption that the ,gospels are historically true1 and that their authors have truly delineated the actions and sayings of one who had an historical existence1 is a rational account of its origin4 ,but as these ,schools deny their historical character1 they are bound to tell us how the portraiture got there4 ,the only answers which they propound are the mythic and ,tbingen theories4 ,according to these theories1 a good and holy ,jew1 who had attracted a crowd of enthusiastic and credulous followers1 was gradually metamorphosed by them into the divine ,christ of the ,evangelists4 ,the inventors of the character were impelled by purely spontaneous instincts4 ,they had no intention of conscious deception4 ,they mistook their ,master for the ,messiah4 ,in the depths of their enthusiastic credulity1 they invented multitudes of fictions1 and in time mistook them for realities1 and innocently ascribed them to ,jesus4 ,development succeeded development4 ,the fruitful mind of the infant ,church created myth after myth4 ,party spirit raged4 ,compromise followed compromise4 ,spontaneous impulse by the end of the century had created the materials of our present ,gospels4 ,at last three unknown men appeared who arranged these materials into their present form1 and produced the ,synoptics4 ,sixty years later1 another great unknown arose1 whose character must have been a compound of mysticism1 enthusiasm1 and imposture1 and produced the fourth ,gospel1 which he successfully palmed off on the ,church as the work of the ,apostle ,john1 some seventy or eighty years after he was silent in the grave4 ,such is the alternative which modern unbelief presents as a substitute for the historical reality of the portraiture of ,jesus ,christ as we behold it in the ,gospels4 ,one cannot help pausing to observe the kind of analogy which exists between these theories and those of a certain class of philosophers who attempt to prove that the moral and religious being whom we designate man has been slowly developed out of the lower forms of life by causes purely physical4 ,like as in the one case each development became an improvement on its predecessor1 so in the other the lower fabulous creations must have died out1 and the nobler ones prevailed1 until at last there emerged from them ,christianity and the glorious ,christ of the ,gospels4 ,physical philosophers1 however1 work at a great advantage in developing an ape into a moral being1 compared with the mythologists who developed a ,jew of the year #cj into a ,christ4 ,the one can draw cheques to any extent on the bank of eternity4 ,if a million of years is not sufficient1 a million of millions may be easily had4 ,but in the other case my opponents are limited by the stern conditions of history2 and the respective periods of seventy and one hundred and thirty years are all that they venture even to demand4 ,now1 observe2 the portraiture of the ,jesus of the ,evangelists consists of a multitude of parts which harmoniously blend into a complicated whole4 ,it is composed1 in fact1 of as many distinct portions as there are incidents recorded in the ,gospels1 which all concur in imparting to it a common effect4 ,those with whom ,i am contending admit that the character is a very great one4 ,many of them allow that it is greater and more perfect than any which has ever existed as a fact or been conceived as a fiction4 ,yet the character1 taken as a whole1 presents us with an essential unity4 ,this is obviously the case in the three first ,gospels1 and will hardly be disputed except on a very few subordinate points4 ,but it is equally remarkable that of the various traits which compose the character1 and which are very numerous1 each presents us with a similar unity1 although they are dramatized over a very wide sphere of action4 ,to this fact ,i earnestly invite your attention4 ,in the portraiture of ,jesus at least twenty distinct aspects of moral character are blended together1 and a number of subordinate ones not easy to be counted2 and each of these constitutes a separate unity1 which harmoniously blends with the others1 and together compose the great unity of the portraiture4 ,numerous as they are1 and dramatized over a wide sphere of action1 they are yet depicted with a faultless propriety1 even in the most minute details4 ,nor does it to any serious extent differ with the fourth ,gospel4 ,this is certainly the case as far as the actions attributed to ,jesus are concerned1 though it is not so obvious in the case of the discourses4 ,still even in these an underlying unity of conception can be found4#ajg ,the four ,gospels contain1 in fact1 four portraitures of one and the same ,christ1 only differing from each other in the point of view from which they are taken4 ,now the obvious course would have been to have assumed that the conception of the original character was the creation of some great poet1 and that the fourfold modification of it which our present ,gospels exhibit has been the work of four subsequent poets4 ,but this supposition the facts and phenomena of the case consign to the region of hopeless impossibilities4 ,it is therefore necessary to assume that the character itself1 and the ,christianity of the ,new ,testament1 have been gradually elaborated bit by bit1 not by a succession of great poets1 but of credulous1 enthusiastic mythologists2 and that the ,synoptic ,gospels originated in piecing together a multitude of tales which in the latter end of the first century were floating on the surface of the ,christian ,church4 ,it is impossible to deny that the ,jesus of the ,evangelists is an immeasurably finer conception than either the ,prometheus of schylus1 which exhibits the divine in suffering1 or the ,macbeth or ,hamlet of ,shakspeare4 ,each of these characters is distinguished by a unity of conception which proves that as characters they are the creation of a single mind4 ,but supposing we were to be told that these1 and the dramas which contain them1 were not the creations of single poets1 nor even of a succession of poets1 but had been slowly elaborated1 step by step1 during a considerable interval of time by a number of credulous enthusiasts4 ,my opponents would be the first to receive such a suggestion with shouts of derision4 ,it is plain that if the portraiture of our ,lord be an ideal creation1 those who framed it must have been gifted with a high order of genius4 ,let me illustrate the position by the art of painting4 ,high genius in painting is analogous to high genius in poetry4 ,let us suppose that we are contemplating a great ideal picture1--e4g41 the ,marriage ,feast in ,cana of ,galilee1 at the ,louvre1--and that we are told that it is not the work of a single artist1 nor even of four1 but of a succession who gradually developed it4 ,nor1 to make the case a parallel one1 is this all which we should be asked to believe4 ,as ,i have already observed1 the portraiture of the ,jesus of the ,evangelists is made up of a multitude of parts1 each of which has a separate unity1 from the union of which the unity of the whole results4 ,these are said to have been elaborated out of a number of myths and developments which have been the creations of many minds4 ,in a similar manner the picture of the ,marriage ,feast at ,cana consists of a number of separate figures which harmoniously blend into a whole1 and to which the magnificent colouring has been adapted4 ,now suppose that we were told that each of these figures had been gradually developed into its present form by a set of improvements effected unconsciously by a succession of painters2 and that all that the artist who formed the picture did was skilfully to combine these separate figures1 and place them in juxtaposition4 ,surely one would not be uncharitable in assuming that the author of such a suggestion had escaped from a lunatic asylum4 ,similar is the theory of these ,schools as to the origin of the ,gospels1 and of the great character contained in them4 ,such a theory of their origin demands our acquiescence in a greater miracle than all the miracles of the ,new ,testament united together4 ,viewed in its great outlines1 this theory is self-condemned by its inherent absurdity4 ,but when we apply a sound logic to its details1 it vanishes like one of the palaces of the ,arabian ,nights4 ,professing to be based on rational principles1 it violates all the laws of reason4 ,for historic truth it substitutes wild dreams of the imagination4 ,you will please to keep steadily in mind that the means by which my opponents undertake to metamorphose a ,jew of the year #cj into a divine ,christ1 stated generally1 are a succession of mythical and legendary creations and developments1 contests and compromises1 between hostile sects evolved in conformity with the laws of the intellectual and moral world4 ,let us now assume the truth of their position1 and see how it will work4 ,if the ,jesus of the ,evangelists be a development1 it is evident that it must have had a starting-point4 ,this could have been none other than the atmosphere of thought and feeling which existed in ,juda during the first thirty years of the first century4#ajh ,but none more firmly profess their belief in the reign of law in the world of mind and matter than those whose theories ,i am controverting4 ,in consequence of this belief they pronounce all supernatural interventions in human affairs impossible4 ,i thankfully concede to them the fact that all developments affecting the mind of man which are of purely human origin must be brought about in conformity with law4 ,let it be clearly understood1 therefore1 that my reasoning is based on this assumption4 ,this point being clear1 the question immediately presents itself1 what is the nature of the laws which regulate the mental developments of man1 especially in his character of a moral and religious being8 ,are they rapid1 or do they require long intervals of time for their elaboration8 ,are great changes in our moral or religious ideas of a quick or a slow growth8 ,the answer to these questions is of vital importance to the argument1 because on the showing of my opponents they have only seventy years at their command during which they can develop the ,christ of the ,synoptics1 and the ,christianity of nearly all the ,epistles1 from the religious and moral ideas of the ,judaism of the year #cj4 ,fortunately for us1 the universal testimony of history answers these questions with no ambiguous voice4 ,the developments of man1 whether moral1 social1 or religious1 are slow4 ,the whole course of civilization1 including within that term everything which relates to the growth of the mind of man1 and which tends to his refinement and higher culture1 is a very gradual one2 and its successive stages require long intervals of time for their development4 ,whenever unbelievers attempt to account for the growth of human civilization from a savage state1 or to develop a man out of an ape1 in the one case they demand tens of thousands and in the other millions of years for its accomplishment4 ,as this point is of great importance to the argument1 ,i must adduce distinctive proof of it4 ,no truth is more certain than that it is impossible for men1 either individually or collectively1 to raise themselves except by very gradual stages above that moral and spiritual atmosphere in which they were born4 ,we are united by the closest ties of habit and education with the past4 ,we breathe from the dawn of our consciousness the very atmosphere of its thought and feeling4 ,every succeeding state of society is most closely bound to that which preceded it4 ,every great change in thought or feeling has been produced by a succession of changes leaving no deep gulf between4 ,individual progress1 unless external influences are brought to bear on the mind1 follows the same law of gradual growth4 ,even genius1 and what are called the creative powers of the mind1 are fettered by these conditions4 ,all greatness is relative to and bears the impress of the age which produced it4 ,great men differ from others only in being able to advance a few stages beyond ordinary humanity4 ,but the greatest genius is unable to elevate itself into a very high region of thought or feeling at a single bound1 or to sever the links which unite it with the past4 ,the utmost effect which the greatest of men have been able to produce on those by whom they have been surrounded is to cause their actual developments to advance at a somewhat accelerated ratio4 ,to the truth of these general principles all history testifies4 ,when we measure each stage of human growth1 we find that it has occupied long intervals of time4 ,so gradual is the process1 that considerable changes can only be discovered after the lapse of lengthened periods4 ,the whole history of philosophy1 art1 morality1 and religion testifies to this4 ,all philosophic schools of thought have been of gradual growth4 ,the daub of a savage has never suddenly developed itself into the creations of a ,michael ,angelo or a ,rubens1 nor have his rough imitations of the human form passed but by a succession of gradual stages into the perfection of a ,phidias4 ,poetry1 the most creative of arts1 is subject to similar conditions4 ,the ideas with which the poet works are those of the age in which he lives4 ,he paints the phenomena and reflects the line of thought1 the morality1 the religion1 the intellectual and social conditions of the times which gave him birth4 ,what he accomplishes is to exhibit them under new combinations4 ,a bushman never at a single bound became a ,homer or a ,shakspeare4 ,the history of philosophy bears witness that the universal law of our nature is a gradual growth4 ,each of its developments was closely allied to that which preceded it1 and directly grew out of it4 ,each ,school has occupied a considerable time in its development1 has grown out of that which preceded it1 and prepared the way for its successor4 ,the interval which separates the respective stages is small4 ,each great race of mankind has also created a philosophy stamped with its own impress1 and directly related to its peculiar character4 ,a native of ,australia has never suddenly elevated himself into a ,socrates4 ,the same law is no less applicable to religions4 ,we know no instance of the direct creation of one4 ,it is true that the origin of many is buried in the obscurity of the past4 ,yet as soon as they emerge into the light of history1 it is clear that they are subject to a law of gradual growth2 and after they have attained their full development1 to a no less remarkable law of gradual decay4 ,all the religions on earth1 with the exception of ,christianity1 bear witness to this rule4 ,what have been called new religions1 have been evolved out of previously existing materials1 modified and adapted to the growth and decay of civilization4 ,no ,fetish worshipper1 however lofty his genius1 could have evolved the systems of ,brahmanism or ,buddhism by a single bound of his imagination4 ,if the law of the growth of religions is a very gradual one1 that of our moral ideas is far more so4 ,improvements in the great moral principles which regulate the life of man are most painfully slow4 ,all the great races of mankind have presented the same general outlines of character1 with only slight improvements1 from age to age4 ,i quote only two examples1 the modern ,french and ,germans4 ,how strikingly like are certain portions of the character of the former1 to the picture of the ,gauls given in the pages of ,csar2 or to the descriptions of the same race inhabiting a distant region which the great apostle has drawn in the ,epistle to the ,galatians4 ,we may still read the general outline of the character of the ,german race in the pages of ,tacitus4 ,developments there have been1 and the slowness is sadly disappointing to the philanthropist4 ,to be able even to recognize progress1 we must survey long intervals of time4 ,the optimist has indeed need of patience2 and the most enthusiastic may be certain that long ages before any considerable advance is made1 according to the mere laws of natural development1 he will be slumbering in the grave4 ,but it must not be forgotten that the developments which our opponents postulate are always in the way of progressive improvements4 ,stern historical fact compels us to assert that developments are frequently retrogressive4 ,no less gradual is the moral progress of the individual4 ,it is also a painful but undeniable fact that retrogressive ones are much more rapid than progressive ones4 ,the moral ideas in the midst of which we are educated cling to us with the firmest grasp4 ,the best men exhibit only a slight advance above the general morality of their age4 ,i now draw your attention to the fact that the inventive powers of the composer of fiction are limited by the same laws4 ,he too1 in the strict sense of that term1 is unable to create the new4 ,the materials with which he can work are the idealization of the times in which he lives4 ,whether he be poet or novel writer1 he can neither invent a new religion or a new morality4 ,mythical inventions of every kind embody the state of thought1 feeling1 and general idealization of the times which produced them4 ,the entire mass of existing mythology testifies to this fact4 ,such1 then1 are the instruments and materials with which my opponents have to work in the elaboration of ,christianity out of ,judaism1 and in metamorphosing a human ,jesus into a divine ,christ4 ,let us examine the possibility of the attempt4 ,we must place ourselves in the position of the followers of ,jesus on the evening of the crucifixion4 ,his individual influence had gathered around ,him a number of enthusiastic and credulous followers who mistook ,him for the ,messiah of popular expectation4 ,the crucifixion certainly dashed their hopes4 ,but according to the theory of my opponents1 in the height of their enthusiasm they determined to believe in ,him as the ,messiah still4 ,to carry out this resolution1 it is obvious that new ground had to be taken4 ,a development of some kind was absolutely necessary4 ,no amount of credulity could mistake a dead body mouldering in the grave for the ,messiah of ,jewish expectation4 ,it was absolutely necessary1 therefore1 if ,his ,messiahship could become a possibility1 that the crucified ,jesus should be rescued from the tomb4 ,if a resurrection could not be effected in reality1 it was indispensable that one should be in imagination4 ,until ,his followers could be brought in considerable numbers to believe that this had happened1 no developments in the direction of the ,gospels were possible4 ,the most obvious expedient to have accomplished this would have been for some of the disciples to have done that which1 according to one of the ,evangelists1 the ,jews accused them of1 viz41 to have stolen the body1 and report that ,jesus was risen from the dead4 ,but those against whom ,i am reasoning do not venture to accuse them of conscious fraud4 ,this assumption all educated unbelievers have long abandoned as hopelessly untenable4 ,such a basis will certainly not bear the weight of the ,christianity of the ,new ,testament4 ,in place of this1 they assume that the credulity1 idealism1 and enthusiasm of the followers of ,jesus was bottomless4 ,with this machinery they think that ,he can be rescued from the grave4 ,two theories have been propounded for this purpose4 ,one is that some enthusiastic woman--,mary ,magdalene1 for example--thought that she saw ,jesus with the mind's eye1 or mistook the gardener for ,him1 and converted this appearance into a bodily reality4 ,she communicated her enthusiasm to the rest4 ,others may have imagined that they saw ,him in a similar manner1 and committed a similar mistake4 ,the other theory is that ,he was buried in a swoon1 that ,he managed to creep out of ,his grave1 that ,he partially recovered1 and died shortly after in retirement4 ,on such a foundation my opponents propose to erect the whole weight of the historic ,church1 and from such a chimera to develop the portraiture of the divine ,christ4 ,the second theory ,i should not have mentioned if it had not been dignified by the name of ,bunsen4 ,it is obvious that it will not support the weight of the ,christian ,church4 ,what6 a man who died from weakness shortly after creeping out of his grave1 metamorphised by his followers into a divine ,messiah1 and seated on the right hand of ,god6 ,if ,he lived in retirement1 and died in ,phnicia shortly afterwards1--according to an assumption for which there is not even the ghost of historical testimony1--,his followers had access to ,him or they had not4 ,if we adopt the former part of the alternative1 no amount of credulity could have mistaken ,him for a glorious ,messiah rescued from the tomb4 ,the very sight of ,him must have acted as a complete extinguisher on the powers of the imagination4 ,if we adopt the latter1 it falls under the general head that the belief in the resurrection was merely due to an excited imagination4 ,all the assistance which it renders is to dispose of the dead body4 ,now1 in theory1 nothing is easier than to say that an excited woman saw ,jesus with her mental eye1 mistook it for a bodily reality1 and communicated her enthusiasm to the rest of ,his followers4 ,but in practice1 such things are not quite so easy4 ,although it is no hard matter to persuade the credulous to believe in the appearance of ghosts and phantoms1 yet ,i do not know that the whole history of man presents us with a single example of a great institution which owes its origin to such a belief4 ,but even the credulous believers in such apparitions are very difficult to persuade that they have actually seen a man who once had died again restored to life4 ,i doubt whether the entire mass of fictitious literature presents us with anything at all analogous to the supposed belief of the credulous followers of ,jesus in the resurrection of their ,master4 ,even persons who have a most imperfect knowledge that nature is governed by law1 are quite aware that dead men do not revive4 ,the followers of ,jesus could have been hardly more credulous than modern spiritualists1 yet these latter have not yet succeeded in erecting a great institution on the basis of an actual resurrection from the dead1 or even on the presence of a spirit in a table4 ,supposing1 therefore1 that some fanatic follower of our ,lord made the mistake in question1 it could really have been no easy matter to have communicated this enthusiasm to the rest1 damped as their spirits were by the crucifixion4 ,still more difficult would it have been for any considerable number to have made the mistake of converting a flight of the imagination into an objective fact4 ,at any rate my opponents must concede that to have persuaded any number of men under such circumstances that the crucified ,jesus was actually risen from the dead must have required a considerable interval of time4 ,it would be much more easy to create a belief in a resurrection after the lapse of a century1 than within a few years of the event4 ,when we survey a past event through the haze of time1 it helps to confuse our ideas as to what is possible4 ,but long intervals of time so convenient for the physical speculator are precisely the things which my opponents have not at their disposal4 ,seventy years is all which they themselves think it possible to ask for2 and as all developments are slow1 one or two entirely exhaust it1 and they require a multitude to effect their purpose4 ,but not only was it necessary to get some of the enthusiastic followers of our ,lord to believe in ,his resurrection1 but also to constitute a society founded on its basis4 ,until this was done1 all development was impossible4 ,but each step requires a considerable interval of time4 ,but how could the ,church be held together while the belief in the resurrection was forming8 ,but even supposing that ,jesus by the power of the imagination had been rescued from the grave1 it became a very serious question what to do with ,him4 ,no amount of credulity could have brought ,him into daily communication with ,his followers4 ,if ,he continued on earth1 ,his not doing so was a very serious affair4 ,the obvious expedient was that ,he should be taken up into heaven1 from which at some future day he should come back again and take possession of his ,messianic throne4 ,such is the idea adopted by these schools of thought1 and they are never wearied with telling us that the chief if not the only article in the primitive belief of the followers of ,jesus was ,his speedy return to realize their expectations of ,his ,messianic glory4 ,be it so2 for the consequences are very serious to the position of those whose views ,i am combating4 ,his followers then expected ,him to return as the ,jewish ,messiah4 ,now nothing is more certain than as long as this expectation lasted there could have been no development in the direction of the ,christ of the ,gospels4 ,how long1 then1 did this state of stagnation last in the bosom of the ,church8 ,when did it occur to the followers of ,jesus that the expectation of the speedy return of their ,master was a baseless one1 and that they must set themselves to work to develop a different conception of a ,christ8 ,it is a fact that such beliefs do not speedily die out1 and that they can survive many a disappointment4 ,the modern prophetic ,school affords a striking proof of the tenacity of such hopes4 ,they have repeatedly prophesied that the ,advent will happen in our times2 and notwithstanding the falsification of their predictions1 ,i believe that they still cling to this belief4 ,at any rate it has required a long interval of time to undeceive them2 and as credulity was1 according to the views which ,i am combating1 the leading trait of the followers of ,jesus1 it must have been a considerable interval of time before they could have been persuaded to part company with their darling expectation4 ,but as long as a ,jewish ,messiah satisfied their aspirations1 the ,church could have developed no new ,messianic conceptions4 ,but to afford something like a basis for reasoning1 ,i will suppose these obstacles to have been surmounted2 that the work of development has commenced1 and that the womb of the ,church is at last become pregnant with its future ,christ4 ,fresh and ever-increasing difficulties present themselves for solution4 ,let it be observed that1 after they have effected the resurrection1 all which has been accomplished was to repair the damage inflicted on the ,church by the crucifixion1 and to restore to it1 as a necessity of its existence1 a living instead of a dead ,messiah4 ,that ,messiah was still the ,messiah of ,judaism4 ,they have scarcely advanced a stage in the creation of the ,gospels1 and of the ,christ therein delineated1--not to say of the entire moral and spiritual teaching of the ,new ,testament4 ,let us observe the steps of the process by which the metamorphose must have been effected4 ,it is1 say my opponents1 very uncertain whether the historic ,jesus ever attempted to perform a miracle4 ,but according to the conceptions of the times1 ,his followers thought that the ,messiah ought to have performed them4 ,to supply the defect1 they invented a mass of miraculous stories1 and in their fond credulity thought that ,jesus had actually performed them1 and thus the delusion of ,his miraculous wonder-working was propagated in the ,church4 ,but all experience proves that mythic and legendary miracles are grotesque4 ,yet those in the ,gospels are all sober ones1 and stamped with a high moral tone4 ,they must therefore have undergone a succession of developments before they could have assumed their present form4 ,still a ,jewish ,messiah has yet to be transformed into the ,jesus of the ,evangelists4 ,after a while a happy thought occurs to these uninstructed ,jews4 ,they determine to invest the ,teacher with whom they had habitually conversed with a character at once divine and human4 ,the mythic faculty is again invoked1 and the human ,jesus1 by the aid of development after development1 gradually assumes the aspect of the divine ,christ4 ,in a similar manner they feel that the moral aspect of the ,messiah of their fondest expectations must undergo a change1 and in due time the triumphant ,king becomes the meek and the lowly ,jesus1 and the morality of ,pharisaism becomes that of the ,new ,testament4 ,few persons are at all aware of the enormous difficulties which would have beset any persons who1 whether consciously or unconsciously1 set themselves to metamorphise a ,jew of the year #cj into the ,christ of the ,gospels4 ,familiarity with the character induces numbers to think that poets or fabulists1 inventors of myths and legends1 might easily have created it4 ,to form a correct estimate of the difficulty1 it is necessary to transport ourselves out of the nineteenth century into the ,jewish atmosphere of thought and feeling of the century which preceded the ,advent4 ,a starting-point it must have had4 ,there could have been no other than it4 ,let it be observed that before the elaboration of the ,jesus of the ,gospels1 those who fabricated the conception were wholly without a model to guide them4 ,all ancient fact or fable fails to furnish anything at all analogous to this great character4 ,such models as they had would have guided its inventors wrong4 ,the only ones which they possessed were the popular ,messianic conceptions of the period1 and the prevailing ,jewish ideas of religion and morality4 ,besides these1 they might have fallen back on the general ideas contained in the ,old ,testament ,scriptures and the apocryphal books4 ,the ideal of a ,jewish hero would certainly not have helped them in forming the conception of the ,evangelical ,jesus4 ,one apocryphal book has been frequently referred to as affording considerable aid--the ,book of ,enoch4 ,i have fully discussed this subject elsewhere1#aji and the conclusion to which ,i have arrived is1 ,i think1 incontrovertible1 that even if we grant that its ,messianic portions were composed prior to the ,christian era 7a concession which ,i am by no means prepared to make71 the aid which it would have afforded the mythologists who invented the ,christ of the ,gospels would have been inconsiderable4 ,to avoid a lengthened controversy as to its date1 ,i am quite willing that these schools of thought should make all the use they can of them4 ,let me point out a few of the difficulties which must have beset the path of the inventors of the great portraiture of the ,gospels4 ,every reader at once recognizes that the character who is there depicted is a superhuman one2 or rather1 to speak more accurately1 it is exhibited as uniting the human and the divine4 ,this is a plain matter of fact1 and is quite independent of the question whether the ,evangelists were right in so representing it4 ,nor is my argument at all affected by any supposed difficulty in defining1 in the terms of an abstract creed1 the precise measure of the divine which they have ascribed to it4 ,all that ,i contend for is that the ,jesus of the ,evangelists is dramatized as uniting a divine and human consciousness1 and that it is exhibited with a faultless propriety4 ,now the moment the mythologists made a movement in this direction1 a hundred problems of a most difficult character must have demanded their solution before they could advance a single step4 ,i can only adduce one or two examples4 ,how was the human to be represented as acting in union with the divine1 and the divine with the human8 ,in what proportions were they to be combined8 ,how was the one to be prevented from swallowing up the other8 ,let it be observed that there was no model to guide them4 ,the attempt to exhibit the divine and human in a single personality had never been attempted before4 ,the difficulty will be at once seen from a reference to the ,old ,testament4 ,the nearest approach which it exhibits to uniting the human and the divine is in the act of prophetic inspiration4 ,but in this the two factors are invariably distinct4 ,the ,old ,testament prophet1 when under the influence of the prophetical illapse1 invariably prefaces his utterances with ,thus saith the ,lord4 ,these words are never once placed in the mouth of ,jesus throughout the entire ,gospels4 ,instead of them1 ,his most solemn utterances are introduced with the words1 ,i say unto you4 ,the prophet is generally vehemently excited4 ,the ,jesus of the ,evangelists is invariably calm4 ,you must never forget that the position of those against whose theories ,i am reasoning compels them to assume that the contents of the ,gospels have been elaborated by the action of a multitude of minds4 ,be it so4 ,it follows that these problems must have received as many different solutions as there were minds engaged in the attempt4 ,instead of the character which resulted therefrom presenting a unity of aspect1 it would have been a mass of hopeless confusion4 ,my limits will only allow me to draw your attention to one or two of these difficulties out of the vast multitude4 ,the historical ,jesus was unquestionably crucified4 ,how was a crucified man to be represented as divine8 ,he died in agony4 ,how was an artist to dramatize the divine in suffering8 ,if my hearers are not aware of the difficulties which would have attended the solution of these and kindred questions1 ,i advise them to study the creation of the great ,grecian dramatist1 the ,prometheus ,vinctus of schylus1 and compare it with the ,jesus of the ,gospels4 ,i am sure that correct taste will pronounce that the creation of the fishermen of ,galilee utterly transcends that of the genius of the great tragedian4 ,nothing is more difficult1 even in works of fiction1 than to combine the attributes of holiness and benevolence as harmoniously acting in the same person4 ,in living men they almost invariably jar4 ,they possess them imperfectly1 and one generally counteracts the action of the other4 ,the difficulty of combining them is greatly increased if the being uniting them is to be represented as both human and divine4 ,holiness and benevolence are in fact opposite sides of character1 and no more difficult problem can be presented to the imagination than to exhibit them as acting harmoniously in the same character4 ,no question in theology is more embarrassing than the mode in which they coexist in ,god4 ,it follows that if the contents of the ,gospels were due to a multitude of minds1 they must have exhibited as many aspects of the character of a ,christ as there were fabulists engaged in its creation4 ,but the character of the ,jesus of the ,gospels1 in its combination of holiness with benevolence1 presents us with a complete unity4 ,not only is the unity complete1 but the perfection of the picture is inimitable4 ,where can we find1 either in fact or fiction1 anything like the perfection of the holiness and benevolence of the ,jesus of the ,evangelists8 ,yet we are asked to believe that it has been a gradual growth created by successions of credulous mythologists4 ,the moral and religious teaching of the ,gospels forms a subject by itself of large dimensions1 and it is impossible for me within the limits of a lecture to do more than glance at it4#aaj ,it consists of two perfectly distinct portions3 first1 the subject of morality and religion as it is exhibited in the person of ,jesus ,christ2 secondly1 as ,he taught them for the use of ordinary men4 ,most unbelievers will admit that the portraiture of ,jesus ,christ1 as it is exhibited in the ,gospels1 is one of the most spotless moral beauty1 and the greatest elevation4 ,i am quite aware that a few exceptions have been made to it2 but some of them are obviously founded on misapprehension1 and others are evidently incorrect4 ,at any rate it cannot be denied that the entire moral aspect of the person of ,christ is unique in human literature4 ,no less remarkable is ,his moral teaching for the use of ordinary men4 ,it is pure1 elevated1 beneficent1 grand4 ,it bears the unquestionable marks of having been the elaboration of a single mind4 ,the parts are adapted to each other and to the whole4 ,but our ,lord's moral character1 and ,his moral teaching as they are exhibited in the ,gospels1 consist of a number of detached portions1 which together make up a complicated whole4 ,their solution involves such a multiplicity of questions1 as to render it difficult to count them4 ,they are questions which the profoundest thinkers have solved in the most varied manner4 ,yet in the ,gospels the mode of their solution is a complete unity4 ,they coalesce with an inimitable beauty4 ,let unbelievers cavil as they may1 an overwhelming majority of the holiest and the best of men have bowed before the character of the ,jesus of the ,evangelists in humble adoration1 and felt that it was immeasurably above them4 ,numbers of these subjects were inquired into by ancient philosophers with the keenest interest1 but they found no adequate solution4 ,my opponents assert that this great character1 around which the entire morality of ,christianity centres1 is not an historical one4 ,how did it then originate8 ,the answer is1 that it is founded on the traditional reminiscences of the teaching of a ,jewish peasant who died in early manhood2 and that the numerous parts of which the character and ,his teaching consist were unconsciously elaborated in the course of many years by a multitude of credulous1 enthusiastic mythologists4 ,i must now advance to another stage of my argument4 ,as my opponents assert that the development of the ,gospels1 and of the portraiture of the ,christ which they contain1 were entirely due to natural causes1 it is evident that they must have been effected in conformity with the laws which regulate the developments of the human mind4 ,let us test this principle4 ,taking the atmosphere of ,jewish thought and feeling as it existed in the year #cj as the starting-point1 it is evident to every one at all acquainted with the subject1 that the interval which separates its conceptions from those of the ,gospels is far greater than that which separates any two types of human thought4 ,to take a single example4 ,the interval between the free spirit of morality as it is exhibited in the ,new ,testament1 and the casuistic and ritualistic tendencies of moral thought which ultimately developed themselves into ,rabbinism1 is profound4 ,if1 therefore1 ,christianity grew out of ,judaism by a succession of natural causes1 the interval between them must have been bridged over by a succession of developments4 ,so1 again1 with respect to ,messianic conceptions4 ,a profound interval separates that of ,christ from that of ,barchocebas1 to which ,jewish ,messianism was then tending4 ,that of ,barchocebas was a natural growth out of the popular ,messianic conceptions of the year #cj1 and separated from them by no great interval4 ,but their development occupied no less than a century4 ,but if the ,jesus of the ,evangelists grew out of the popular idea of the year #cj1 it is evident that the succession of developments must have been very numerous1 and have required long intervals of time1 before it was possible to create the portraiture of ,christ4 ,let me take another example1 which those against whom ,i am reasoning cannot refuse to accept4 ,the interval which separates the state of religious and moral thought involved in the primitive ,mosaic institutions from that of the year #cj is considerable1 though far less than that which separates the latter from that contained in the ,gospels4 ,in adducing this example1 ,i use one most favourable to my opponents4 ,christians maintain that this development was accelerated by supernatural causes4 ,the proper subject of comparison would have been one which both sides are agreed to have been effected by causes purely natural4 ,i need not however fear making the concession1 for it will more than bear the weight of my argument4 ,we will suppose that the entire history of ,judaism1 as those with whom ,i am reasoning say1 contained in it nothing supernatural4 ,i ask you therefore to observe that the development in question was completed only after an interval of more than a thousand years from its commencement4 ,yet we are invited to believe that the ,christianity of the ,synoptics1 and of the larger portion of the ,epistles1 was evolved in a period of seventy years1 and the ,christian ,church erected on them1 as its foundation1 and that of the fourth ,gospel in #acj years4 ,let us take another mode of measurement of my opponents' own choosing4 ,the ,synoptic ,gospels1 as they say1 are separated from that of ,st4 ,john by an interval of sixty years4 ,is it possible to bridge over the interval which separates the ,synoptics from the ,jewish atmosphere of thought and feeling of the year #cj1 in seventy years1 if it required sixty years to effect the development in question8 ,against one convenient assumption ,i must present a most respectful protest4 ,whenever it suits their purpose1 the human ,jesus is represented as a very great man1 who towered high above the ordinary conditions of humanity4 ,again1 when it is convenient ,he is represented to have been a very little man1 the prey of all the superstitions of ,his age4 ,i am prepared to reason on either side of this alternative1 but not on both4 ,these ,schools postulate greatness whenever they want to make a prodigious leap in religion and morality2 littleness when they want to account for the miraculous element in ,christianity4 ,but while ,i am ready to assume as the basis of the argument that the human ,jesus was a great man1 let it be understood that ,he could have been great only in the sense in which all other great men have been great4 ,those who deny the possibility of physical miracles must not1 when it suits their purpose1 assume the existence of moral ones4 ,his greatness must have been limited by the conditions imposed on it by the environment of a ,jew of the year #cj who was born a peasant1 and perished at thirty-five years of age4 ,observe again1 the miracles of the ,gospels have to be invented somehow4 ,i am ready to concede that miraculous stories of a certain type have been invented in rich abundance4 ,but the whole class of fictitious miracles invented in credulous ages are stamped with a peculiar trait from which those of the ,gospels are free4 ,the one are monstrous1 undignified1 and grotesque4 ,the others are sober1 dignified1 and ,i think that my opponents will allow1 if miracles are possible1 worthy of ,god4 ,the preservation of the apocryphal ,gospels enables us to know what sort of miracles the mythic spirit commencing with the next century attributed to ,jesus ,christ4 ,i have examined the subject elsewhere4 ,the following passage sums up the result3-- ,the case stands thus3 our ,gospels present us with the picture of a glorious ,christ2 the mythic ,gospels with that of a contemptible one4 ,our ,gospels have invested ,him with the highest conceivable form of moral greatness2 the mythic ones have not ascribed to ,him one action which is elevated4 ,in our ,gospels ,he exhibits a superhuman wisdom2 in the mythic ones a nearly equal superhuman absurdity4 ,in our ,gospels ,he is arrayed in all the beauty of holiness2 in the mythic ones1 this aspect is entirely wanting4 ,in our ,gospels1 not one stain of selfishness defiles ,his character2 in the mythic ones1 the ,lord ,jesus is both pettish and malicious4 ,our ,gospels exhibit to us a sublime morality2 not a ray of it shines in those of the mythologists4 ,the miracles of the one and the other are contrasted in every point4 ,a similar opposition of character runs through the whole current of thought1 feeling1 morality1 and religion4#aaa ,i ask my opponents to account for this difference1 and specially to say why in the second century the mythic spirit began to create a ridiculous ,christ1 and in the first it produced a glorious one2 and through how many stages of development the creation passed until it culminated in what we read in the ,gospels1 and the interval of time to be assigned to each4 ,but according to the theories ,i am combating1 the ,messianic aspects of the character of the ,jesus of the ,evangelists must have passed through a succession of developments before they could have attained their present form4 ,different parties had to invent different aspects of it4 ,next1 these had to procure acceptance in the various ,churches4 ,each party would cling to its own views4 ,the formation of hostile sects in the ,church was a certain consequence4 ,if they gradually wore themselves out1 all experience of sectarian warfare proves that the interval must have been long4 ,we know as fact that nothing is more difficult than to effect compromises between contending religious factions2 and that they are only1 if at all1 possible after long and bitter experience4 ,i ask you to compute for yourselves how many developments and compromises must have been required1 and the interval of time each must have occupied8 ,far more difficult and more numerous must have been the developments by which the moral aspects of the ,gospels and of their divine ,christ must have been elaborated out of the ,judaism of the year #cj1 and the popular conceptions of its ,messiah4 ,i shall select for illustration only two examples out of a vast multitude4 ,one of the most marked distinctions between ,gospel and ancient moral teaching is this3 the whole aspect of ancient moral teaching assigned the highest place to the heroic and political virtues1 and a subordinate one to the mild1 meek1 benevolent1 and humbler ones4 ,this is precisely reversed in the morality of the ,new ,testament4 ,again3 the aspect of a ,jewish saint and hero1 as it is depicted in the ,old ,testament1 forms a singular contrast to that which the ,new ,testament has assigned to ,jesus ,christ4 ,i have proved that moral developments in the direction of improvement are very slow4 ,i propose1 therefore1 the following problem for my opponents to solve4 ,through how many stages must these have passed before the creation of the ,gospels became a possibility1 and how many years must they have occupied8 ,but all the while that the ,christian ,church was creating a mythology1 and struggling with developments and contentions and external opposition1 it is an historical fact that it succeeded in extending itself over a wide geographical area4 ,this greatly aggravates the difficulty of developing an improved ,christ out of her pregnant womb4 ,the wider the geographical area over which she gradually extended herself1 the more difficult would have become the interchange of ideas necessary for developments and compromises4 ,it by no means follows that one little society would immediately swallow the mythic creation of another4 ,i must observe that this portion of the argument is cumulative1 and admits of being pressed to an indefinite extent4 ,it now remains for those against whose theories ,i have been reasoning to count the number of these developments1 and to assign a reasonable interval for each4 ,if they will do so1 they will then find that these theories are hopelessly untenable4 ,i have hitherto argued1 on the chosen position of my opponents1 that the ,synoptic ,gospels were written about the year #ajj1 and the fourth about #afj4 ,such dates are entirely fallacious1 and against all evidence4 ,but as far as my reasoning is concerned1 it matters little when the ,gospels were composed4 ,if ,i can prove that the portraiture of ,christ and the general aspect of the ,gospels were familiarly known in the ,church at a much earlier period1 it is not the smallest difference for my argument whether they existed in an oral or a written form4 ,the concession of seventy years for the creation of the ,synoptic ,gospels1 and one hundred and thirty for that of ,st4 ,john1 has now to be entirely revoked4 ,the most extreme of the ,school that ,i am opposing concede that the four most important epistles of ,st4 ,paul are unquestionably genuine1 and written by him within less than thirty years after the resurrection4 ,the genuineness of at least four others is conceded by the most eminent unbelievers4 ,we have1 then1 before us genuine historical documents of ,christianity1 composed by its most active missionary at about the same distance of time from the resurrection as that which separates us from the repeal of the ,corn ,law ,act4 ,now by the aid of these epistles it is possible to prove by a multitude of incidental allusions that all the great features of the portraiture of ,jesus ,christ were fully developed when ,st4 ,paul wrote them4 ,nay1 what is more1 the manner in which the allusions are made prove that this portraiture was not a new one1 but that it had been long known in the ,christian ,society4 ,to exhibit this proof would require a lecture of equal length to the present4 ,as ,i have given it already elsewhere1#aab and it has not been assailed1 ,i shall assume that my position is incontestable4 ,the period of time during which the human ,jesus must have been developed into the divine ,christ of the ,gospels1 if the portraiture be a fictitious creation1 must be reduced to one of less than ten years4 ,but whether it be ten1 seventy1 or one hundred and thirty1 it contradicts the laws by which all human developments are regulated4 ,its creation involves a moral miracle of the most stupendous character4 ,my opponents postulate a number of conditions which history and philosophy refuse to concede4 ,they require a long interval of time2 history will only grant them a short one4 ,they require that developments should be rapid2 they are always slow1 especially moral ones4 ,they require the creation of elevated moral sentiment2 their only instruments with which to work are credulous mythologists4 ,they require that developments should be always progressive towards higher perfection2 history declares that they are frequently retrograde ones4 ,they postulate party spirit1 but it produces endless division4 ,they require compromises1 but they must be made by credulous enthusiasts4 ,they require unity of result2 they postulate a multitude of agents4 ,they ask for credulity1 and are confronted by sobriety4 ,they ask for seventy years2 historical fact will concede them less than ten4 ,they deny physical miracles1 and ask us to believe in moral ones4 ,such is the position of the school of thought against whom ,i have been reasoning4 ,they are called by a sad misnomer rationalistic4 ,i ask1 are these theories rational1 probable1 or possible8 ,defenders of revelation have no grounds for dreading an appeal to reason4 ,if the ,gospels1 and the glorious ,christ therein delineated1 have been evolved in accordance with the various theories against which ,i have been contending1 it involves a greater miracle than all the miracles of the ,new ,testament united together4#aha ,,the ,,evidential ,,value ,,of ,,st4 ,,paul',s ,,epistles4 ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,,stanley ,,leathes1 ,m4,a41 ,,professor ,,of ,,hebrew1 ,,king',s ,,college4 ,,the ,,evidential ,,value ,,of ,,st4 ,,paul',s ,,epistles4 ,the attacks upon that body of traditional belief and received thought which is conveniently expressed and commonly understood by the term ,christianity have turned very much of late years upon the authenticity of the several books composing the ,new ,testament4 ,inquiries of this nature have commended themselves to an age which we need not shrink from characterising as critical and discriminating4 ,there is a manifest and a very intelligible pleasure to be derived from reopening questions which many have been accustomed to regard as settled1 from proving former conclusions erroneous1 or showing that considerable doubt still remains where certainty was believed to exist2 and in the natural enthusiasm attending investigations of this kind1 it is by no means a matter of surprise if the actual importance of the results has been somewhat overrated4 ,the inferences following from the conclusions arrived at1 have been estimated in proportion to the supposed certainty of the conclusions4 ,if a particular ,gospel can be shown to be falsely1 or at any rate with doubtful truth1 ascribed to its traditional author1 the inference drawn1 or at least suggested1 is the comparative depreciation1 if not worthlessness1 of that ,gospel4 ,we know not why1 but it is frequently assumed that if everything is not in exact accordance with the popular belief in any matter1 nothing which is popularly associated with that belief can reasonably be maintained4 ,the whole edifice will fall1 or must even be destroyed1 because a stone here or there is faulty1 or out of place4 ,because investigation shows that the foundation does not lie as it was thought to lie1 therefore there is no foundation at all4 ,the rashness and precipitancy of any such inference will be at once apparent to every thoughtful mind4 ,because the reasons usually assigned are inconclusive1 it by no means follows that no reasons can be given4 ,the central questions really involved1 may be altogether unaffected by the technical and subordinate question1 who was actually the writer of some particular book4 ,the critical investigation of authorship may have positively no bearing at all on the opinions expressed1 or the facts recorded in the book4 ,whether or not this be so in any given instance1 it is at any rate conceivably possible in the abstract4 ,in the case now before us1 however1 we have to deal with a converse position4 ,there are four ,epistles in the ,new ,testament which have been admitted on all hands to be the veritable productions of the ,apostle ,paul4 ,these are the two ,epistles to ,corinth1 the ,epistle to the ,church at ,rome1 and the ,epistle to the ,galatians4 ,the writers1 if any1 who have ventured to call in question the authenticity of these ,epistles are so few1 and so insignificant1 as to be unworthy of mention4 ,we may safely pass them by without fear of challenge or dispute4 ,there is absolutely no room for any reasonable doubt that we have in our hands in these four letters the true and genuine compositions of ,saul of ,tarsus1 after he had become a ,christian4 ,it will be my business1 then1 on the present occasion1 to examine and weigh the precise value of this admission of authenticity1 which can only be spoken of as universally made4 ,what is the evidence in support of ,christianity which can be fairly adduced from it8 ,in endeavouring to estimate the nature and amount of this evidence1 ,i shall not assume these ,epistles to be what we commonly understand by inspired4 ,i shall regard them only as the natural human productions of a certain man whose personal history1 to a considerable extent1 can be discovered from them4 ,if1 on internal or other grounds1 there is cause to believe they have any higher authority1 that will be another matter4 ,but we shall not assume it in dealing with them4 ,our aim in the first place must simply be to inquire what the acceptance of these four ,epistles as the work of ,st4 ,paul legitimately demands of us2 what are the inferences fairly deducible from their statements2 what insight they give us into the character and motives of the writer1 and what information they convey as to the nature and constitution of the early ,christian society to which they were addressed4 ,and first1 as to their date4 ,we cannot place the death of the ,apostle ,paul later than the year of our ,lord #fh4 ,it may have been the year before2 but as he is said by ,jerome and ,eusebius to have suffered under ,nero1 and ,galba succeeded ,nero in ,a4,d4 #fh1 it cannot have been afterwards4 ,again1 we are safe in saying that1 on the supposition of the latter date1 these four ,epistles had been written ten years before the ,apostle ,paul died2 that is to say1 they were all written before the end of ,a4,d4 #eh4 ,festus probably succeeded ,felix in the year of our ,lord #fj4 ,but ,paul had been two years a prisoner at ,csarea1 when ,festus came into the province2#aac and these letters were written while he was still at liberty4 ,we have1 then1 in ,st4 ,paul's ,epistles1 by which we mean always and exclusively these particular ,epistles1 undoubted genuine productions of about five-and-twenty years1 or not much more1 after the death of ,jesus ,christ4 ,making all due allowance for possible variation in the requisite dates1 we are warranted in saying that the interval between the ,crucifixion and the sending of these letters to their several destinations1 did not exceed by more than two or three years the quarter of a century4 ,it was certainly less than thirty years4 ,the best way of appreciating such an interval as this is to take a corresponding period in our own lives4 ,we have most of us a very clear recollection1 probably1 of events which happened in the year #ahdd or #ahde4 ,the war in the ,punjaub1 and the ,irish famine1 which happened shortly afterwards1 in #ahdf1 and the great ,european events of #ahdh1 some two years later1 are fresh and vivid in the memory of every person who has arrived at middle age4 ,to others yet more advanced1 an interval of five-and-twenty or thirty years can effect but little in effacing events or circumstances which at the time produced a deep and powerful impression4 ,they remember them as yesterday4 ,so it must have been with many who were living at ,corinth when the first ,epistle to the ,church there was written1 and who read it on its arrival4 ,but from this ,epistle we know#aad that more than #bej persons who had seen the risen ,jesus at one time were still alive and able to give their testimony to that effect4 ,these persons1 therefore1 must have had as vivid a recollection of the circumstance referred to1 as we ourselves have of the battles on the ,sutlej4 ,the ,queen's coronation is to us an event farther in the background of the past than the vision of the crucified ,jesus was to the #bej brethren who still survived4 ,and the way in which their experience is mentioned is one which is the more striking because it is so casual4 ,st4 ,paul alludes to it incidentally as a thing of which he had often spoken to the ,corinthians4 ,he could not have done so had this not been the case4 ,they knew perfectly well that he had mentioned it to them4 ,they had not forgotten that it formed a part of his oral communications4 ,he could not have referred to it in this way had it not been so4 ,but so neither is it possible that he could have spoken of the fact had the #bej witnesses been the mere invention of his own brain4 ,were there no shrewd men of common sense in the ,church of ,corinth who could have detected an imposition so gross as this1 if it had been one8 ,had there been even a small minority of such men1 we should have had no second ,epistle to the ,corinthians1 or the second ,epistle would surely have been very different from what it is4 ,we are obliged1 in accepting the first ,epistle to ,corinth as the veritable work of ,st4 ,paul1 to conclude that during his stay in that city he had habitually spoken of the fact1 which none could call in question or deny1 that there were living at that time more than #bej persons who had a distinct recollection of having seen ,jesus ,christ at some period less than six weeks after ,he had been crucified1 but who never saw ,him again4 ,st4 ,paul not only said this1 but the whole ,corinthian ,church knew that what he said was true1 for otherwise he would not in this way have dared to say it4 ,there is no occasion now to discuss the question what it was these people saw1 because that would carry us far astray4 ,all we need for the present insist upon is the fact that we have contemporary evidence of the very best kind1 in the form1 namely1 of a genuine letter1 that a large number of persons were still alive1 say in the year of our ,lord #eh1 who believed that they had seen a person1 not merely as a spectre or vision1 but as a living and substantial man1 whom they knew to have been crucified and buried but a short time before1 and who likewise knew that there were many more who could have corroborated their evidence on this point if they had not been dead4 ,we fully admit1 then1 that this is a circumstance which is open to explanation in various ways1 the true explanation being determinable upon other and additional considerations2 but what we do maintain is that upon the premises conceded to us by the most rigid criticism1 it is not possible to set aside the evidence on which it rests1 be its explanation what it may4 ,and here it is worth while asking1 before we pass on1 how we should feel ourselves justified in regarding the testimony of #ejj persons now1 not more credulous or weak-minded than ourselves1 to an event which had passed under the cognisance of their own senses1 even though that event were the posthumous appearance of a man who had been put to death as a malefactor8 ,is it not certain that any such supposed appearance would be calculated to make an impression on the beholders which might well last for five-and-twenty or thirty years1 and should we not regard their uniform agreement in the matter as a very remarkable circumstance imperatively demanding some solution8 ,the first point1 then1 which the existence of this ,epistle establishes1 is the fact that at the time it was written there were living many competent eye-witnesses of what was believed by them to have been the reanimation of a body which had been dead and buried1 and that their testimony was accepted by a very large number of persons who implicitly believed it4 ,here1 then1 we have written evidence to the effect that a particular event was amply testified and very generally believed upon the testimony4 ,but1 again1 the same ,epistle shows that this belief was by no means unquestioning4 ,the very same chapter proves that there were those at ,corinth who said there was no resurrection of the dead4#aae ,they did not believe1 that is1 in the doctrine that the dead will ultimately rise4 ,they held no doubt in common with others that the resurrection was past already2 that the change which had passed upon the ,christian upon belief in ,christ was so radical and so complete1 that he might literally1 without any violent figure of speech1 be said to have risen again from the dead4 ,they acquiesced so fully in the truth expressed by ,st4 ,paul in the second ,epistle1 ,if any man be in ,christ1 he is a new creature1#aaf that the felt newness of that spiritual creation seemed to satisfy all their longings after life1 and they relegated to the insignificance of a non-essential and a dreamy unreality the thought of a resurrection of the body yet to come4 ,the way1 then1 in which the ,apostle meets this form of unbelief is in the highest degree noteworthy4 ,he argues from the known to the unknown1 from what was believed to what was not believed1 from what these early doubters implicitly accepted to that which they sceptically rejected4 ,now1 if ,christ be preached that ,he rose from the dead1 and ye believe it1 how say some among you that there is no future resurrection of the dead8 ,for if there be no future resurrection of the dead1 then is ,christ not risen8 but ye know and believe ,him to be risen1 otherwise ye would not be what ye are4 ,this1 and nothing else than this1 is the drift of the ,apostle's argument4 ,it shows us plainly1 therefore1 that there was a discriminating exercise of reason at work in men's minds at ,corinth4 ,the struggle between reason and faith had landed them in a logical inconsistency4 ,they rejected the future resurrection on what seemed to be rational grounds1 because it appeared to them contrary to reason and experience1 but they forgot that they had already submitted their reason to a belief no less absolute and imperious1 which1 if logically held1 would stultify their scepticism4 ,and there is no setting aside the inference from this argument1 that the tendency of the mind which rejected the future resurrection was to reject likewise the personal resurrection of the ,lord ,jesus1 and the testimony of the greater part of the #ejj brethren yet surviving who had seen ,him after ,he was risen4 ,that is to say1 the character of the faith in the one case is enhanced by the scepticism in the other4 ,just as the belief of ,thomas after his doubt1 accepting for the sake of illustration the narrative in ,st4 ,john1#aag was the stronger and more convincing because he had only adopted it upon conclusive evidence1 so is the belief of the ,corinthians in the resurrection of ,jesus of the greater value evidentially1 because we know it to have been their habit of mind not unquestioningly to believe4 ,we arrive1 then1 at this further position that we may not lightly regard the belief of the ,corinthian ,church in the validity of the evidence for ,christ's resurrection as the belief of persons who were credulous enough to believe anything4 ,upon fairly estimating all the circumstances1 there is abundant and conclusive proof1 which we may call contemporary1 that the resurrection of the ,lord ,jesus was believed in as a fact by a vast number of persons who were convinced they had received that fact upon ample or sufficient testimony4 ,we must not forget1 also1 the nature of the fact that was believed4 ,the resurrection of a dead body is so contrary to all reason and experience1 that the difficulties in the way of believing it may be estimated as practically equal in all cases4 ,no one can profess to believe it without being fully conscious of the absurdity of that which he professes to believe4 ,it is a point in which the imagination can scarcely hope to take the reason at a disadvantage1 or at unawares4 ,in only two ways is deception possible4 ,first1 on the supposition of the unreality of the previous death2 and secondly1 that the subsequent appearance was unreal4 ,now in the first case the notion of unreality is precluded1 because it was firmly and universally believed1 and not by ,christians only1 that ,christ had died2 and there is no vestige of any evidence to show that ,he died in any other way than on the cross4 ,this death was as needful an element in the creed of the ,corinthian ,church as ,his resurrection1 not to say that any true belief in ,his resurrection involved the belief in ,his death4 ,it will not do to explain ,his supposed resurrection on the ground that ,his death was unreal4 ,where would have been the foolishness of the cross1 if ,christ had not died8 ,to secure the resurrection of ,christ at the expense of ,his death would have been simply absurd1 for two reasons3 first1 because that would have made the resurrection after all no resurrection--an unreality2 and secondly1 because the death of ,christ alone and by itself was a fact that was implicitly believed1 and without which the faith of the ,church cannot be conceived or comprehended4 ,we are reduced1 therefore1 to the necessity of explaining the resurrection of ,christ on the alternative supposition that the subsequent appearance was unreal4 ,and here we are met by the transcendent difficulty1 that it is antecedently in the highest degree improbable that any sane man should be found to believe that the appearance of a person after death1 who had been crucified and buried1 could be other than imaginary and delusive4 ,and we become1 in fact1 bound to determine whether in the abstract it is more improbable that multitudes of competent persons should believe in what was contradicted by universal experience1 and especially by their own1 or that something may have occurred which1 in spite of themselves and their experience1 had compelled them to this belief4 ,for we must not fail to remember that the two suppositions are mutually destructive4 ,if ,christ died1 then the belief in ,his resurrection can only be explained on the theory that ,his subsequent appearance was unreal4 ,if ,his subsequent appearance was unreal1 then1 to say the least1 it is entirely gratuitous to deny the fact of ,his having died1 because if ,he did not truly die1 there is no discoverable reason why ,his supposed appearance after death should not have been real4 ,we may choose which explanation we deem preferable4 ,we cannot alternately or simultaneously adopt both4 ,i am not now called upon to prove more than what is clearly proved1 that the existence of this one ,epistle as the genuine work of ,st4 ,paul affords abundant evidence that the resurrection of ,jesus ,christ from the dead was accepted as a fact by large numbers of men1 some of whom1 at least1 can only have accepted it on evidence which seemed to them sufficient to counteract the adverse testimony of their experience1 their reason1 and their senses4 ,and it is almost needless to observe that the belief in the resurrection as here depicted1 involved also a belief in the burial#aah of ,jesus ,christ1 in the main and essential features of ,his death1#aai that it was on the third day that ,he arose1#abj that ,his appearances after ,his resurrection were distinct and manifold1#aba and that the ,apostle who depicted it had himself been among the most vehement opponents of this very belief in the person of the ,lord1 whose resurrection he proclaimed4#abb ,all this is established by the admission of this letter as genuine1 and by the admission which cannot be denied1 that the writer was giving a natural and plain statement of the truth1 and not a fabricated or ideal narrative of fictitious occurrences4 ,that is to say1 so far the testimony of this ,epistle is in conformity with the framework of the ,gospel history4 ,if the four ,gospels were lost to us1 the life1 and death1 and resurrection of ,jesus ,christ would still remain firmly and distinctly imbedded in the original faith of the ,corinthian ,church4 ,we know from this letter that less than thirty years after the death of ,christ1 there was a very large body of men at ,corinth who believed implicitly that ,he had risen from the dead1 and that they knew that many persons were still alive who were eye-witnesses of the fact4 ,i ask you1 then1 very carefully to observe that this does not prove the fact4 ,it only shows us conclusively that less than thirty years after the fact there were many persons who believed in it as such4 ,and let us put a parallel case4 ,suppose a person coming to ,london in the present day1 and declaring that less than thirty years ago a certain man in a distant country who had been put to death as a malefactor1 had risen from the dead the third day1 and was still alive4 ,what success think you would he meet with8 ,most assuredly there would not be half-a-dozen people who would believe him4 ,but if1 on the contrary1 a new society should be formed1 consisting exclusively of persons professing to believe all this1 would not the circumstance be so remarkable as to lead us to infer that there must be some adequate cause for it8 ,if the persons professing this belief were of all stations and classes1 and many of them1 as is proved by this ,epistle1 men of intelligence and discernment1 should we not be constrained to confess that the only reasonable supposition was that there was something in the evidence which could not be lightly set aside8 ,however strange and mysterious the tale might be1 it could not be altogether a cunningly devised fable4 ,there must be something at the bottom of it4 ,no effect can exist without an adequate cause4 ,here is clear evidence of a very considerable effect existing4 ,what was the cause of it8 ,the cause alleged would doubtless be a sufficient cause1 for truth is not only stranger1 but mightier than fiction4 ,and it may be fairly questioned whether1 under all the circumstances1 any other cause can be discovered which would be sufficient4 ,there is so far1 therefore1 an antecedent probability that the cause alleged was the true cause4 ,again1 it is to be observed throughout all these ,epistles of ,st4 ,paul that the resurrection of ,christ was to him not a past influence1 but a present power4 ,if the evidence of the first ,epistle to ,corinth is less than thirty years after the death of ,christ1 the evidence of the second carries us back to nearly half that time4 ,the writer speaks of himself as being in ,christ more than fourteen years before4#abc ,this brings us virtually to not more than a dozen or fifteen years from the actual occurrence of the resurrection2 and in all probability the ,epistle to the ,galatians carries us back even further still4 ,critics are divided as to the computation of the time mentioned in it4 ,but if the fourteen years after of chap4 ii4 are to be added to the three years after which ,paul went up to ,jerusalem to see ,peter1 then the whole period can be little less than twenty1 and the extreme limit referred to scarcely more than ten years after the resurrection4#abd ,at that time1 then1 ,st4 ,paul himself fully and implicitly believed in it4 ,at that time he had made great sacrifices for his belief in it4 ,at that time1 or shortly after1 he had not improbably suffered privation and persecution because of it4 ,but the faith which he held then he is found holding as tenaciously as ever fourteen or twenty years afterwards1 holding it1 in fact1 so tenaciously that he is able to bring many others to share it with him4 ,a man must be something more than an enthusiast who for fourteen years could retain a conviction so monstrous as this1 if false1 and at the end of that time could make more converts than before4 ,surely this is not the ordinary experience of mankind1 that it is so easy to get men to believe as a fact1 contradicting their own experience1 what after all is no fact at all4 ,it is one thing to win converts to our opinions or our principles1 and quite another to gain credence for a fact that it is every one's interest to disprove4 ,for at that time what secondary advantage could there be in the profession of a faith which was universally despised1 and which exposed its more prominent votaries to imminent peril1 as the eleventh chapter of the second letter to ,corinth abundantly shows4 ,it is obvious that at fifteen years after the death of ,christ many of the #ejj brethren who were afterwards dead were still alive1 and it is not too much to infer that ,st4 ,paul1 from the position he held in the ,church1 was personally acquainted with many or most of them4 ,he therefore personally must have had numerous opportunities of amply satisfying himself as to the truth of the fact which he proclaimed so persistently4 ,but still it is evident that it possessed for him a power and an influence totally different from that of any ordinary occurrence or event4 ,it was not the ,christ who once rose1 but the ,christ who was risen that he proclaimed4 ,his first rising from the grave was the work of a distinct moment of time4 ,the influence of which ,he thereby revealed ,himself as the centre and source was continuous and inexhaustible4 ,it was this influence which the ,apostle felt in his life4 ,he could tell the ,galatians in language it would be impossible to counterfeit1 ,i am crucified with ,christ1 nevertheless ,i live2 yet not ,i1 but ,christ liveth in me1 and the life which ,i now live in the flesh ,i live by the faith of the ,son of ,god1 who loved me1 and gave ,himself for me4#abe ,a declaration such as this is worth volumes of evidence2 it is its own evidence2 it bubbles up clear and sparkling from the very fountain and well-head of truth4 ,no man could have said it who did not feel it1 and no man could have felt it1 and not known that what he felt was an intense reality1 defying all explanation except on the hypothesis that the central core of it was truth1 and not falsehood4 ,if an influence thus operating on the life was derived from the death and resurrection of ,jesus ,christ1 there must have been something very unusual in that death1 and something more than a mistake or an illusion in that rising again to set such a force in operation4 ,no other man's death would produce the same effect1 7who cares for the death of ,socrates87 and no other man's resurrection1 whether alleged or proved1 could do so2 but if this man's death and resurrection did produce it1 as it plainly did1 then the result speaks for itself4 ,the ,epistle to the ,galatians1 though written more than eighteen centuries ago1 is a standing witness to it4 ,there is no wonder that such an influence was felt then in every part of the known world1 and especially in the centres of its life1 such as ,rome and ,corinth1 because we cannot but feel it now2 and a principle so instinct with life cannot but be superior to and independent of the power of death4 ,here is the present power of the resurrection acting concurrently with the mass of cumulative evidence converging in the point when it was an event of actual history1 and combining therewith to show the truth of it4 ,nothing can prove more conspicuously the strength of this influence in the personal life of ,st4 ,paul than his great ,epistle to the ,romans4 ,everywhere ,christ is present with him as an energising power1 which is vastly more than a mere memory of the past1 and is a vital and potent agency still in operation4 ,he did indeed die unto sin once1 but evermore ,he liveth unto ,god4#abf ,the gift of ,god is eternal life1 through ,jesus ,christ our ,lord1 who was declared to be the ,son of ,god with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead4#abg ,but what is not the least remarkable feature about the ,epistle to the ,romans is the fact that it was written to a ,church of which ,st4 ,paul was personally ignorant4 ,he had never been at ,rome4 ,it is evident1 however1 that there were many ,christians there4 ,these ,christians were not his converts4 ,he says he had had a great desire for many years to come unto them4#abh ,then there had been ,christians at ,rome for many years4 ,the many can be scarcely less than ten or a dozen2 but if so1 this brings us again to little more than fifteen years after the death of ,christ4 ,we find1 however1 these ,christians professing identically the same belief in the same person and the same facts as ,st4 ,paul himself4 ,they also believed in a ,jesus ,christ who had been crucified1 and who had been raised from the dead4 ,how they came to believe in ,him we cannot tell4 ,it is plain they did believe in ,him4 ,it is also probable in the highest degree1 nay1 it is impossible but that many of them from whom they received their faith1 had either been eye-witnesses1 or companions of eye-witnesses of the life of ,jesus ,christ4 ,at any rate1 it is obvious that the substantial framework of belief was identical with that which was current among the ,churches of ,galatia1 and in the ,church at ,corinth4 ,a man who had been crucified and risen again1 was the centre of their hope1 their affection1 their joy1 their confidence4 ,in ,him they all felt they were supernaturally united in a supernatural life2 and as their knowledge of ,christ was altogether independent of ,st4 ,paul's preaching1 it possesses the value of independent testimony1 and presents an additional amount of difficulty in the face of any attempt to account for the belief in ,christ's resurrection on the hypothesis of some error or deception4 ,however unreasonable it was to attempt to account for it in that way at ,corinth1 the difficulty becomes greater when the case of ,rome is added to that of ,corinth4 ,here the personal influence of the enthusiastic ,paul is removed1 and yet the results produced are manifestly undistinguishable4 ,their faith had been spoken of throughout the whole world1#abi and it was faith in a crucified and risen ,jesus2 a faith which they as ,gentiles were not ashamed to profess in the ,jew ,christ ,jesus1 and to be confirmed in by the ,jew ,saul of ,tarsus4 ,there is something very remarkable in these results4 ,how many national and personal prejudices must have been overcome2 how many rooted and inherent animosities must have been eradicated2 how much stubborn pride must have been bent and mortified2 and how many acute sensibilities deadened1 before results such as these could have been obtained4 ,and what was it all for8 ,no earthly advantage had been or was likely to be secured4 ,no hope of visible reward was offered4 ,simply the loss of self-respect1 in having believed what was only a gross absurdity if it was not the truth1 was incurred4 ,the knowledge that under any circumstances their temporal condition would have been far better if they had never heard of ,christ ,jesus2 that the belief in ,his name could give them neither lands nor houses1 but only lay upon them additional hindrances in the way of gratifying their natural inclinations1 only expose them more and more to the hatred and contempt of men4 ,if in this life only they had hope in ,christ1 they were of all men most miserable2 there was no one redeeming point1 no one compensating advantage4 ,they had believed a lie1 and they were all the worse for it4 ,these two points at least are clear3 that they thought it no lie1 and that under the circumstances they must have been strangely constituted1 if1 being a lie1 it had the power to sustain them as it did4 ,for observe1 connected with the faith of ,christ there was not even the gratification of flattered vanity in the case of these first believers4 ,there is an intelligible pleasure that a man can find nowadays in constituting himself the apostle of unbelief4 ,there is the promise of a certain intellectual glory in the effort to overthrow an ancient faith like that of ,christianity4 ,the hope of possible triumph is dazzling4 ,there is a pleasure in seeming to be so much wiser than so many others1 in having outstripped the accumulated wisdom of ages1 in being the pioneer of intellectual emancipation1 the harbinger of light that has emerged from every trace of religious darkness1 the forerunner of the downfall of superstitious prejudices1 the demolition of the last and oldest of the creeds4 ,there is something to attract the imagination in all this1 something to foster a self-complacent estimate of self1 together with a kind of malevolent joy in indulging the passion of destructiveness4 ,but what was there to flatter the vanity in the belief of a proclamation which was foolishness to the ,greeks8 ,what was there to exalt the intellect1 or to magnify the self1 in the doctrine of ,christ crucified8 ,we do not deny that it was possible for the self to enter in and mix even with the doctrine of the cross2 but it could only do so as a principle that was fatally antagonistic to it4 ,the two could not co-exist2 one must destroy the other4 ,the belief that a crucified malefactor had risen in triumph from the grave1 was subversive of everything calculated to honour the intellect1 or to please the natural desire of man to worship and admire himself4 ,there was no harvest to be reaped from belief in the ,crucified on this score4 ,we are at a loss to discover in any one point what secondary motive can1 with any show of probability1 be attributed to the first believers1 as predisposing them to their belief1 if the motive was not a simple and sincere conviction of its truth4 ,and yet if so1 the difficulty becomes still greater in assuming that what they believed was not the truth1 but a flagrant lie4 ,for it must ever be remembered that it is an assumption after all4 ,it is certainly not less difficult to prove in the face of all the evidence that ,christ did not rise1 than it is to prove upon that evidence that ,he did4 ,if the result of the whole argument in the one case is a presumption1 it most assuredly is not less so in the other4 ,once more1 it cannot for one moment be asserted that the ,epistle to the ,romans originated in any way the faith which it assumes4 ,it is absurd to suppose that an unknown man merely on the credit of his reputation could have substantially modified the belief of a particular ,church by simply inditing a letter to it4 ,the state of things assumed at ,rome1 and the faith depicted in the ,epistle to the ,romans1 are only intelligible on the supposition that they are true4 ,it is obvious that the body of the writer's faith was substantially identical with that of those to whom he was writing4 ,both were attached to a particular person whom they believed to be the ,son of ,god1 who had been crucified1 dead1 and buried1 had risen again1 and was then sitting at the right hand of ,god as an intercessor4#acj ,and more than that1 both believed that this person was the giver of a new ,spirit which influenced both1 and animated all believers1 and made them all one1 and was not only the evidence to them of the actual truth and resurrection of ,christ1 but was also the pledge that they themselves were accepted in a new relation to ,god by ,christ4#aca ,this gift of the new ,spirit was the invisible bond between them and ,christ1 between them and one another1 between them and the ,macedonian ,christians1 between them and the brethren of ,corinth1 between them and ,st4 ,paul himself4 ,nothing the least like this ,spirit had been known before in their own experience or in that of the ages past4 ,it was a new phenomenon which they felt1 and saw1 and acknowledged1 and could not deny4 ,now the eighth chapter of the ,epistle to the ,romans contains incontrovertible proof of the operation of this ,spirit4 ,no letters from ,paul could have made the ,christians at ,rome imagine they were influenced by it4 ,we can see for ourselves that it was not less familiar to them than it was to him4 ,no message of his had made it familiar to them4 ,years before they had known it1 although from whom they had received it none can tell1 but it is perfectly certain that a condition of belief like that at ,rome could not have been the work of a day4 ,it must have taken time to grow4 ,and yet at the same time it is no less clear that it was a product of the existing generation4 ,there was not one of those to whom the ,apostle wrote who had not in his own being the consciousness of a prior condition of unbelief4 ,many of them had probably been defiled with some of the dark catalogue of crimes enumerated in the first chapter1 but they had been justified by faith1 and had found peace with ,god through our ,lord ,jesus ,christ4#acb ,they knew this2 they were conscious of the double experience2 they could compare the one with the other4 ,the ,apostle's letter had not originated these experiences of their consciousness3 it had reflected and expressed them4 ,the notion of the ,epistle to the ,romans being an imaginary letter written under imaginary circumstances to imaginary persons1 describing imaginary incidents and imaginary feelings1 is too monstrously preposterous to be for one moment entertained4 ,it has preserved the real and irresistible evidence of a vast spiritual influence at work among a large body of men which was precisely contemporaneous with one event--their belief1 namely1 in the resurrection of a man who had been crucified in ,palestine4 ,now it must be admitted that in this alone and by itself1 if it was not true1 there is nothing that can be discovered which is adequate to the production of results so remarkable4 ,when it is asserted that the death of ,jesus ,christ is surpassed in excellence and sublimity by any other death1 the one question that suggests itself is1 ,if this be so1 how is it that the results which followed that death were not more remarkable than or so remarkable as those which followed the death of ,jesus8 ,this is a simple fact that no criticism or scepticism can destroy1 that the preaching of the death and resurrection of ,jesus ,christ in the first thirty years afterwards did produce results1 as testified by these ,epistles1 which are simply unparalleled in the history of the world4 ,if the death was not a real death1 or the resurrection not a true resurrection1 then the responsibility must rest upon us of discovering some other explanation sufficient to account for effects which are too palpable to be ignored1 and can assuredly be accounted for on this supposition1 but have not yet been adequately accounted for on any other4 ,it is no part of my present design1 and time would fail me1 to enlarge upon all the points in which the history of the ,gospels is confirmed by these ,epistles4 ,i am not now concerned to establish the credibility of the ,gospels1 but only the general credibility of the ,gospel history2 and therefore it may suffice to say that we find ,st4 ,paul and the ,romans believing that ,jesus ,christ was made of the seed of ,david according to the flesh1#acc an admission which1 coming from the pupil of ,gamaliel1 who must have had the requisite technical information1 is very remarkable2 but separated as the ,son of ,god with power1 which is at least consistent with our ,gospel narrative1 that makes ,him the ,son of ,god1 but born of a virgin1 and especially characterised during ,his ministry by miraculous powers2 that in each of these ,epistles the custom of baptism is expressly mentioned or implied2#acd that if the origin of this rite is not directly to be referred to the institution of ,christ1 as recorded in the ,gospels1 we are altogether ignorant of its origin2 that the practice of it was clearly universal1 which is so far consistent with the belief that it was derived from the express command of ,christ2 that in the first ,epistle to the ,corinthians#ace the writer speaks of ,jesus ,christ taking bread the same night that ,he was betrayed1 and blessing it1 and speaks of it in terms almost identical with those of the ,gospels1 thus showing not only that the death of ,christ1 but that the main circumstances of ,his death were commonly known1 and the record of them so far unvarying1 and that consequently the supposition of any great or substantial divergence is precluded2 that the portrait of ,jesus which all recognised was1 in all its principal and important features1 identical with that which we recognise now2 and that1 therefore1 as the existence of some ,gospels is1 under the circumstances1 a matter of necessity1 the question is not so much whether our ,gospels are true1 as whether there are any others which can be regarded as truer and more trustworthy4 ,and when we bear in mind that at this time the interval of thirty years had not yet elapsed since the death of ,christ1 we can partly estimate the possibility of dim or uncertain recollection in the case of events so clearly defined1 and so simple1 and so important1 by the freshness with which we ourselves remember other events more complicated that have happened within a similar period of time4 ,there is1 moreover1 clear evidence that at the date of these ,epistles two practices were universal in the ,church--those1 namely1 of baptising converts1 and of commemorating what was called the ,lord's ,supper4 ,these practices must have had a commencement1 and have had an origin4 ,the period of thirty years1 before which there is no trace of the second1 even if the first existed in other forms1 is too short a time for their origin to have been forgotten1 or for the practice of them to have become materially modified4 ,but the commemoration of the ,lord's ,supper is unmeaning1 except in connection with the death of ,christ1 and ,st4 ,paul declared1 ,as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup1 ye do show the ,lord's death till ,he come2#acf and whatever relation there may have been between baptism as practised by the ,jews or by ,john the ,baptist1 and ,christian baptism1 it is certain that baptism in the name of ,jesus is unintelligible1 except on the supposition of ,his having risen from the dead1 or having in some way established ,his claim to be the ,son of ,god1 or the founder of a new society4 ,st4 ,paul1 however1 distinctly says that ,christ sent him not to baptise1 but to preach the ,gospel1#acg as though ,he had sent others to do both2 or at any rate1 had sent others to baptise4 ,the prevalence1 therefore1 of these significant practices1 which is clearly traceable less than thirty years after the death of ,christ1 is well-nigh equivalent to contemporary evidence1 both as to their origin and to the reality of the events they signified4 ,if ,christ had been a shadow1 or a myth1 or a mere crystallised idea1 it is absolutely impossible that we should have the kind of evidence we have as to the universality of these practices4 ,we can account for them on no theory but the express command of ,christ1 which must have been substantially identical with that recorded in the ,gospels4 ,it is perfectly clear1 therefore1 that the known writings of ,st4 ,paul contain incontrovertible evidence of the whole framework of the life of ,christ1 which was the basis of the ,christian faith less than thirty years after ,his death4 ,they show us the existence of a large and organised society1 which was held together solely by the attachment of its members to ,his person2 and which1 but for faith in ,him1 would have had no existence at all4 ,this society was notorious for the profession and the practice of a very high morality1 such as had never before been seen1 and can never be surpassed1--at least1 it is such a morality these ,epistles inculcate4 ,the occurrence of one or two flagrant breaches of this morality in the ,church at ,corinth1 only serves as a foil to what was1 beyond all question1 its general standard2 but1 in addition to this1 there were other features in it of a wholly exceptional and unprecedented character4 ,one of these was what we may call1 for want of a better name1 its unworldliness4 ,every one must feel that there is that in the writings of ,st4 ,paul which is distasteful to the common humanity of the world4 ,it is as if a new sense had been suddenly created1 and the writer was bent upon satisfying it4 ,the whole range of sympathies and requirements and tastes is new4 ,it is not a natural thing for men to care about communion with ,jesus1 or prayer to ,god1 or participation in the ,holy ,spirit1 to have hearts overflowing with gratitude to the ,divine ,being for having redeemed them1 for adopting them into ,his family1 and making them partakers of the holiness of ,his own nature4 ,however this is to be accounted for--if it can be accounted for--it was not then1 and is not now1 a condition of mind natural to man4 ,now1 take away the expression of these feelings1 and the letters of ,st4 ,paul come to an end1 and the occasion for writing them comes to an end1 and the existence of the society for which they were written comes to an end4 ,but as the letters exist1 the occasion for writing them must have existed1 and the society for which they were written must have existed2 and none of these things can have existed without a sufficient and analogous cause4 ,they are inseparably connected with the preaching of ,jesus and the belief in ,his name4 ,take away these two things1 and they would not have existed at all4 ,but their very existence is a proof at the same time that they can only have made their way in opposition to the prevailing tendencies of human nature1 because they cherished and exhibited a condition of mind which is foreign to the natural tastes and inclinations of mankind4 ,there is internal evidence1 therefore1 in the writings of ,st4 ,paul that the faith which he preached had only succeeded1 wherever it was successful1 by triumphing over much that was naturally and fatally opposed to it2 thus showing that we cannot refer to any natural causes the success of a scheme of religious belief which was itself contrary to nature1 and is still felt to be contrary to nature4 ,but there is another feature1 wholly exceptional and unprecedented1 which characterised the new society2 the evidence for which is too distinct to be set aside or explained away--the first ,epistle to ,corinth affords conclusive proof of the existence of miraculous gifts in the ,church there4 ,these gifts were of various kinds2 the most mysterious of them being the gift of tongues4 ,whatever this was1 it is sufficiently clear that it was over-estimated1 and that it was abused4 ,the possessors of it were puffed up on account of it4 ,they were disposed to prefer it before charity1 and the less obtrusive gifts of the ,spirit4 ,we can only conclude1 therefore1 that this gift was a reality which was acknowledged and envied by others1 but a reality likewise which was peculiar to the ,church1 and which was limited to the area of belief in ,christ4 ,now we must not assume that the possession of this gift was miraculous2 all we may insist upon is the validity of the evidence that it was real1 and of this the fourteenth chapter of the first ,epistle to the ,corinthians presents incontestable proof1 and consequently the existence of this gift is a distinguishing characteristic of the effects which followed the original profession of the faith of ,jesus4 ,not only was the standard of morality raised by it1 not only were new dispositions awakened by it1 and new capacities and tastes created1 and new desires and hopes implanted1 not only were the original propensities1 inclinations1 and antipathies of nature resisted1 thwarted1 and overcome2 but in addition to this1 there is a plain evidence of new powers and endowments being conferred upon the first believers concurrently with their belief in ,christ4 ,now it is obviously impossible that delusion can have operated in all these cases2 but unless it did1 the multiplicity and combination of them supply no inconsiderable confirmation of the reality of that event1 the belief in which was the very basis of their existence4 ,multitudes believed in the fact that ,christ had risen from the dead1 and the profession of that belief was followed by one or other of these results4 ,a great change was wrought in numerous instances which was unprecedented in the experience of the individual1 and which could find no counterpart in the experience of the heathen world2 and if the results which followed the proclamation of a fact were conspicuously so real1 is it possible that the fact itself was less so8 ,for there is only one alternative--if the cause producing these results was not a fact--namely1 that belief in a particular event which was not a fact1 produced them4 ,in other words1 not only was the faith of the early ,church self-originated1 but moreover1 all the phenomena of its existence were the product of that which itself had no existence4 ,we need not fear to admit that a very strong conviction may suffice to produce considerable results1 even though the conviction may be based upon a falsehood2 but we may well question whether all the results here manifested1 combined1 could have been produced by mere belief in the resurrection of a man whose resurrection was not a fact4 ,what was there in this belief1 supposing it to have been based upon a lie1 which could have wrought so powerfully and so generally on the minds of men as it did8 ,could such a belief have made them morally new1 have made them willing to encounter shame and contempt1 and endowed them with powers which rendered them the objects of envy to their fellow-believers8 ,if we think it could1 we must still confess that a combination of circumstances like these1 taken all together1 is so exceptional as to be virtually without a parallel in the history of the world4 ,there is1 however1 another point in the ,epistles of ,st4 ,paul which deserves our notice when estimating their value as evidence1 and that is the witness they afford us of his own altered feelings with regard to ,christ4 ,he speaks1 in his letter to the ,galatians1 of having been formerly a devoted ,jew1 and having persecuted the ,church of ,god and laid it waste4#ach ,if we had no other evidence than this1 it would be sufficient4 ,there is no reason to doubt what the ,apostle says4 ,he had been a bitter enemy of ,christ4 ,but there is no evidence whatever that while he was thus hostile to ,christ he had ever believed ,his death and ,his resurrection to have been an unreality4 ,had he disbelieved in these events as facts1 it is more than probable that some trace of such disbelief would have escaped him in his writings4 ,but it is not so4 ,the death of ,christ was manifestly a notorious fact which neither he nor any one cared to deny4 ,the resurrection of ,christ1 though perhaps received more questioningly1 was nevertheless put by or explained away rather than actually denied4 ,the tradition mentioned at the end of ,st4 ,matthew's ,gospel1 as commonly reported among the ,jews1#aci is probably a fair sample of the indolent spirit in which the story of ,christ's resurrection was met by them1 and1 perhaps1 regarded by ,saul of ,tarsus4 ,in his own case it was not so much that he disbelieved these things as facts1 as that he was ignorant of their power4 ,the death of ,christ was no more to him than the death of any one else4 ,the resurrection of ,christ was to him nothing more than an idle ,christian tale4 ,he disregarded both rather because of the principles associated with them than because of their intrinsic falsehood4 ,but the time came when it was otherwise4 ,it pleased ,god1 who separated him from his mother's womb1 and called him by ,his grace to reveal ,his ,son in him4#adj ,he then found that the man whose death he had known as a fact1 though not as a power1 was intimately connected with himself1 that he had a share in ,his death1 and had been crucified with ,him1 and the resurrection1 which had been to him before but as an idle tale1 he now found to be the unfailing source of a new spiritual life to him4 ,this was probably more than twenty years before he wrote any one of these ,epistles4 ,if we place his escape from ,damascus under ,aretas in the year of our ,lord #ci1 this will bring his conversion to the year of our ,lord #cf4 ,now1 ,i ask you notice this date very carefully4 ,it is as late as we can well fix the conversion of ,saul2 some have fixed it much earlier4 ,but supposing it to have happened as late as ,a4,d4 #cf1 this was but five or at the most six years after the death of ,jesus ,christ1 which happened in ,a4,d4 #cj1 or1 as ,i believe1 in ,a4,d4 #ca4 ,now1 if the death of ,christ was an unreality1 ,he would in all probability at that time have been still alive1 as ,he would not yet have been forty years old1 and ,his death by natural means was not likely to have occurred4 ,but conceive for one moment the impossible absurdity of the conversion of ,saul taking place and the active life of the ,christian ,church going on for many years while ,christ1 who was supposed to have died upon the cross1 was actually living in obscurity in some unknown corner of the world4 ,the idea is simply preposterous4 ,the supposition of ,christ not having died as ,he was believed to have died is too impossible to be maintained4 ,if we have got ,christ's death then as a positive historical fact which is unquestionable1 we have a platform of reality on which to rear our superstructure of evidence for the reality of ,his resurrection4 ,if ,christ did not truly rise1 there is one very important question to be answered which has not been1 and which never will be answered1 namely--,what became of ,his dead body8 ,the production of that dead body by the enemies of ,christ would have been absolutely fatal to all the preaching and the faith of the ,christians2 the ,christian ,church would have been effectually stifled in its very birth4 ,i should not now1 after an interval of almost nineteen centuries1 be lecturing in ,st4 ,george's ,hall on the evidences of ,christianity if the dead body of ,christ had been produced1 and yet nothing1 surely1 would have been easier for ,his enemies to do4 ,if1 then1 the disciples stole ,him away from the sepulchre while the soldiers slept1 and so made away with the body1 we must admit that these ,epistles of ,st4 ,paul1 which at least are unrivalled in the literature of the world1 and which cannot again be produced at will1 owe their origin to a deliberate lie2 and that after an interval of five-and-twenty years1 which might have sufficed for it to have been successfully exposed4 ,and we must confess that one of the most distinguished and highly educated of the ,jews of that time1 who himself had been a violent persecutor of the ,christians1 was induced against his will1 and apparently not by ,christian influence1 to connive at this collusion or become the victim of it1 and that in such a way as to ruin all his worldly prospects1 to entail upon him years of hardship1 and to inspire him1 or at least to leave him1 after almost a quarter of a century1 with all the tact1 wisdom1 and discretion which are so conspicuous in his letters to the ,churches at ,rome and ,corinth4 ,verily this supposition is absolutely precluded by the very nature of the case4 ,there remains then but one other to be advanced1 and that is this4 ,the primitive ,christians and ,st4 ,paul himself were alike the victims of delusion4 ,the testimony of the first disciples was based upon an error4 ,the vision which had arrested ,saul on his journey to ,damascus1 and changed the whole current of his life1 was nothing more than the hallucination of a sunstroke4 ,the preaching in which he passed so many years of his life1 and breasted so much resistance1 was only an infatuation2 the hope1 and peace1 and joy of which his letters are so full1 and which had taken permanent possession of him upon belief in ,christ1 were all a lie4 ,he had sacrificed himself for nothing1 he had toiled and suffered for nought4 ,he had thrown away his life for a dream4 ,we do not deny that such a position is conceivable2 but we do deny that the letters of ,st4 ,paul give evidence of it4 ,had the resurrection of ,christ been merely a delusion1 the ,epistles to ,rome1 ,corinth1 and ,galatia are not the kind of fruits we should have expected it to produce after so long an interval2 nay1 there is room for the gravest possible doubt whether1 being a delusion1 it could have produced them4 ,this1 then1 is our standing ground4 ,we do not assume that ,st4 ,paul was inspired4 ,we do not say that his writings are authoritative or binding upon our faith4 ,we take up no such position4 ,we take only what we find--the genuine letters of an early convert to ,christ1 which were certainly written less than thirty years after the death of ,christ1 which contain internal evidence on the part of their writer to his belief in the central facts they proclaim1 at an interval of little more than five years after those facts occurred4 ,we treat these letters as the natural productions of any ordinary man4 ,we deduce from them only such evidence as we should deduce from the letters of ,cicero1 or anyone else4 ,we do not affirm that they are in any way supernatural1 but we say that they supply conclusive evidence to the very wide-spread belief in centres of life so far removed as ,rome1 ,corinth1 and ,galatia1 in a supernatural fact less than thirty years after it occurred4 ,we do not say that this wide-spread belief proves the fact to have occurred2 but we do say that if the fact really did occur1 it would account for the belief1 and we do say that taking all the circumstances into consideration there is at least room for the very gravest possible doubt whether had it not occurred1 the phenomena we witness would have been presented4 ,given the resurrection1 and ,st4 ,paul's ,epistles are explained2 deny the resurrection1 and you cannot account for them4 ,given the resurrection1 and ,st4 ,paul's own character is the natural consequence of it1 ,st4 ,paul's conversion its natural product2 deny the resurrection1 and he is the greatest of all inconsistencies1 and his conversion1 with its effects1 the most inexplicable of all enigmas4 ,and here we might be content to leave the case1 confident that we have not overstrained it1 and confident in its own intrinsic soundness and inherent strength1 for the more the character1 the history1 and the writings of ,st4 ,paul are fairly studied1 the more disciples they will win to ,christ2 but it may1 perhaps1 be expedient to notice briefly one or two points in their bearing on this position4 ,it will1 of course1 be said that no amount of belief in a fact will prove it to have been a fact1 which is obviously true4 ,the resurrection1 if a fact1 is a miraculous fact1 so far removed from the limits of ordinary experience and natural law as to be well-nigh sufficient to cover almost any contradiction of the one1 or any violation of the other4 ,it is no part of my present business to discuss the question to what extent a belief in miracles is defensible2 that has already been done in a previous lecture of this course2 but ,i may make this observation1 that1 granting the actual occurrence of a miracle like the resurrection1 there are those to whom it would be impossible to prove it by any testimony whatever4 ,nay1 there are those who would not believe it on the evidence of their own senses1 or1 at least1 who say so4 ,any demonstration1 therefore1 of a miracle1 even if it could be demonstrated1 would be clearly useless for them4 ,it would1 of course1 on this hypothesis1 fail to reach them4 ,now1 we may concede at once that ,christianity is wholly unable to offer any such demonstration2 nay1 we may go further1 and say that if it could1 it would be no nearer to the overcoming of such opposition4 ,but let it be observed that the existence of such opposition by no means proves the evidences of ,christianity to be unsatisfactory or unsound4 ,the person who declares that he would not believe a miracle like the resurrection even though he were himself the witness of it1 is not likely to believe it on the testimony of a second person1 be he never so trustworthy1 even if it had actually occurred4 ,and this is a fact that deserves to be borne in mind1 because so far from showing that the evidences of the great ,christian miracle are inadequate1 it rather shows the absolute impossibility of their being adequate to meet successfully the case in point4 ,it rather concedes the strength of those evidences1 from mere eagerness to affirm that nothing could make them strong enough4 ,but1 besides this1 it must be remembered that1 granting the reality of a miracle like the resurrection1 it is obvious that1 having been witnessed by a limited number of witnesses1 it must necessarily be dependent afterwards for its acceptance upon testimony4 ,on the supposition of its actual occurrence1 a few only could receive it upon ocular demonstration1 and the vast majority of mankind1 if they received it1 could only do so upon the testimony of others4 ,it is therefore clearly conceivable on the hypothesis that many who rejected it might do so in direct contravention of the truth4 ,indeed1 all who rejected it must do so4 ,because1 then1 there are found those who reject the evidence of the resurrection of ,christ1 it by no means follows they have not done so in contravention of the fact4 ,the question really is not whether there is still left any possible room for doubt--for that we have seen there always must be--but whether the existing testimony is sufficiently unbroken1 and sufficiently uniform1 and sufficiently valid1 to be reasonably conclusive4 ,and on this point the known ,epistles of ,st4 ,paul are singularly clear4 ,they witness to the fact of five hundred persons having seen the risen ,jesus at one time1 of the universal acceptance of belief in the resurrection1 so that neither in the ,churches of ,rome1 ,corinth1 or ,galatia1 does there seem to have been a single ,christian who doubted it4 ,they witness to the fact that ,st4 ,paul himself had lived in familiar intercourse with ,peter1 ,james1 and others1 who had known the ,lord1 and that he had originally joined the ,christian body at the most six or seven years after the resurrection1 when he must have had abundant opportunities of testing the validity of its evidence1 and when it would have been impossible for him to have given in his allegiance to an event so contrary to his experience1 except upon conclusive proof4 ,bearing in mind that under any circumstances some must content themselves with belief on testimony1 it is difficult to conceive of any testimony which could be more convincing or more satisfactory than that of this ,apostle2 especially seeing that he was at the first a violent persecutor of the faith he preached2 that he must have had ample means of sifting the evidence on which it rested2 and1 because1 living at the time he did1 so near to the death of ,christ1 that which his testimony loses in the matter of personal eye-witness it more than gains1 all things considered1 in the matter of deliberate conviction and devoted lifelong service4 ,that is to say1 the conversion of the persecutor ,saul of ,tarsus is itself a wondrous evidence of the resurrection of ,jesus ,christ4 ,the letters of the ,apostle are the expression of his mature belief2 but at the time when that belief was formed he must have had ample means of knowing how far he had followed a cunningly devised fable1 and how far that which he believed was truth and was no lie4 ,lastly1 it may be said1 ,if the evidence for ,christ's resurrection was so satisfactory when it was first proclaimed1 why was it not universally believed8 ,to this we may answer1 ,why was ,paul the ,apostle at any period of his history ,saul the persecutor8 or ,why were there any that believed if there were some who doubted8 ,it is gratuitous to affirm that the want of universality on the one side is more remarkable than on the other4 ,we can only say that faith is the great touchstone of man's moral nature4 ,to the end of time it will be true that some will believe the things that are spoken1 and some believe them not4#ada ,why are there now any intelligent and able men who believe in ,christ's resurrection if it is absolute folly to believe in it8 ,that it is not folly to believe in it we can show to demonstration1 while if1 as a matter of fact1 it did occur1 as for the moment we may assume it did1 it is obvious that the actual effects are what we see them now to be4 ,there are those who believe1 but there are those also who disbelieve4 ,it is from the nature of the case impossible that a fact like the resurrection should appeal to man's acceptance like any ordinary fact of history1 a battle or an earthquake4 ,it cannot do so4 ,if it did1 there were no place for the question1 ,why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that ,god should raise the dead8#adb ,in accepting the resurrection of ,christ1 we accept also the inference that it was ,god who raised ,him from the dead1 and that ,he did so for a special purpose--the purpose1 namely1 of testifying to ,his life1 ,his character1 ,his mission1 ,his teaching1 and ,his claims1 which are inseparable from ,his teaching4 ,in accepting the resurrection1 we accept not only a bare fact1 but a fact that influences our relation to ,god and our thoughts of ,god--a fact involving antecedently many important principles1 and resulting in momentous consequences4 ,but be it remembered that if the resurrection is established as a fact at all1 it is established as a fact for all time2 no progress of mind1 no advancement of science1 no change of circumstances1 no distance of time1 no lapse of ages can affect its truth4 ,that which has happened once has happened for ever4 ,the undisputed ,epistles of ,st4 ,paul furnish what may be regarded virtually as evidence of a contemporary character to the truth of ,christ's resurrection4 ,had it not truly happened1 they could not have been written2 for the pulse of resurrection life beats strong in every page4 ,had it not truly happened1 those exigencies of the early ,church would never have occurred which were the occasion of their being written1 for without the death and resurrection of the ,redeemer the ,church of the redeemed is an impossibility4 ,had it not truly happened1 the ,christian ,church would have had no existence now1 and the commentary of eighteen centuries on the advice and judgment of ,gamaliel1 when confronted with the first preaching of the resurrection1 would have been quite other than it is3 ,and now ,i say unto you1 ,refrain from these men and let them alone2 for if this counsel or this work be of men1 it will come to nought2 but if it be of ,god1 ye cannot overthrow it1 lest haply ye be found even to fight against ,god4 99 99 99 99 99 ,for further treatment of this subject the reader is referred to the ,boyle ,lectures for #ahfi--,the ,witness of ,st4 ,paul to ,christ4 ,,christ',s ,,teaching ,,and ,,influence ,,on ,,the ,,world4 ,,by ,,the ,,right ,,reverend ,,the ,,lord ,,bishop ,,of ,,ely4 ,,christ',s ,,teaching ,,and ,,influence ,,on ,,the ,,world4 ,my subject is a large one1 and my time is short2 therefore1 ,i will say but very few words of preface4 ,i propose to assume nothing but the patent facts of history1 admitted even by the most advanced sceptics of the day4 ,heartily as ,i myself believe in all the canonical scriptures1 and in all that they teach us1 ,i do not ask you to admit the truth of miracles1 or the inspiration of the ,apostles1 or the genuineness of the fourth ,gospel1 or anything which any moderately reasonable man can doubt of4 ,all ,i would assume is this1 that we have in history a general outline of the life and teaching of ,jesus ,christ1 that that outline corresponds with what we read in the three ,synoptical ,gospels4 ,there is really no discordant account or contradictory tradition either among the early ,christians or the early heretics1 or the contemporary heathens4 ,it is everywhere one and the same4 ,it may be more filled up1 more coloured1 more draped in one picture than another2 but the features and the lineaments belong unmistakably to one ,man4 ,in all the biographies1 all the letters1 all the traditions1 and they are many and most unusually numerous and diversified though not diverse1 there is in reality nothing like the discrepancy which we observe in the character of ,socrates as portrayed by his disciple ,xenophon1 and the character of the same ,socrates as drawn by his other and more famous disciple ,plato4 ,the account in the first three ,gospels is uncontradicted by that in the fourth1 by what we read in the ,acts1 by the letters of the early disciples1 by the traditions carefully gathered up by men like ,papias1 some seventy years after the events1 by the general belief of after ages1 or by the few notices to be found in the writings of enemies and unbelievers4 ,i shall ask1 then1 that you admit the general truth of the history of ,jesus as handed down to us by ,st4 ,matthew1 ,st4 ,mark1 and ,st4 ,luke1 just as you would generally admit the evidence of common men1 even if some choose to think that they were credulous men4 ,i4 ,let us first look at the character of ,christ as so depicted4 ,i venture to say1 in the first place1 that it exhibits the most perfect picture of sublime simplicity ever drawn4 ,the ,gospels seem very much like notes taken from memory by men who were anxious not to lose some record of ,one whom they had known and loved4 ,it is impossible to imagine anything more simple or more simply graphic than their style--it is still more impossible to imagine anything more removed from the vulgarity of rhetoric or display or effort at effect1 than the character of ,jesus ,christ4 ,people have spoken as though ,he had been merely a first-rate political reformer1 a demagogue belonging to a type of unusual disinterestedness4 ,surely ,his retired1 unseen youth1 ,his gentle1 quiet manhood1 ,his calm1 dignified1 unimpassioned words are the very opposite in tone and character to those of the noblest demagogue or the purest political leader that was ever heard of4 ,he went about doing good1 seems almost to record ,his history4 ,he was meek and lowly of heart1 seems almost to sum up ,his character4 ,the most untiring energy1 the most patient endurance1 the most tender and affectionate benevolence strike us in every act and every word of ,christ4 ,and yet there was nothing feeble1 nothing effeminate1 nothing sentimental about ,him4 ,simple as the gentlest child1 ,he was brave as the hardest warrior4 ,weeping with the tenderness of a woman for the sad and the suffering1 ,he rebuked with inflexible sternness the base1 the cruel1 and the hypocritical4 ,with the most unsullied purity of thought and life1 ,he had yet a heart of such large and gentle sympathy that the very outcasts of mankind could come to ,him for help and counsel1 and ,he never rejected them4 ,he did not shrink from touching the leper1 and the leprous sinner went away from ,him a new man1 with a new heart and a new life4 ,but the covetous1 the proud1 the treacherous1 the actor in religion1 were rebuked by ,him in words which have made a new language in ,christendom2 ,scribes1 ,pharisees1 hypocrites1 sounding to us no longer as writers of the law1 members of a religious body in ,palestine1 and actors in dramatic performances1 but as synonyms for all that is untrue in religion and in life4 ,and there is one thing which signally separates ,him as a teacher from all other teachers of religion and morality1 viz41 that the great lesson was ,himself4 ,i must speak further of this presently4 ,what ,i mean here is1 that the biographies1 though they give many of ,his discourses1 set before us most of all1 not what ,he said1 but what ,he did2 and ,his actions are to us1 and have been in all time1 the most impressive lessons ever given to man4 ,probably all men--even those who do not believe in ,him--would confess1 that if they could see anyone living just the life which is related to have been the life of ,jesus1 the man so living would be perfect in all parts1 the very ideal of humble-hearted1 active-spirited1 pure-minded1 high-souled humanity4 ,he taught ,himself1 by simply living ,himself2 and ,his life is the great lesson to every age of man4 ,and the originality of ,his character is almost as observable as its excellence4 ,he was not simply the ,great ,teacher1 like the philosophers of old1 to whom crowds of disciples were gathered to listen4 ,he was not the contemplative thinker1 living retired from human society4 ,he was no ascetic1 frowning coldly on the innocent happiness of man4 ,on the other hand1 with all ,his marvellous activity1 there is not the smallest appearance of restlessness1 excitement1 impetuosity4 ,he was1 if ,he be rightly described by ,his biographers1 what no other man ever was--perfectly unselfish1 living1 acting1 thinking1 speaking1 always with reference either to the service of ,god or the good of man4 ,of course1 as ,i do not assume the truth of miracles1 ,i am unable to ask you to give unlimited credence to all that ,his followers have recorded concerning ,him4 ,but this is evidently the impression that ,he left upon their minds1 viz41 that ,he possessed amazing power1 but that it was united with infinite condescension1 and that it was constantly engaged in doing good1 and never exerting itself to do mischief4 ,they believed that ,he had power to do all things1 but that he restrained it from doing evil even to ,his greatest enemies2 that ,he never used it to gratify ,himself1 nor to save ,himself from trouble1 or even from suffering2 that it was always exercised for the benefit of others2 that in fact the ,self which was unspeakably grand was incessantly restrained and denied4 ,,ii4 ,now let us turn for a few moments to ,his teaching4 ,it was as remarkable as ,himself4 ,other moral philosophers1 or teachers of the art of living1 argued with their followers1 setting forth moral systems or propounding theological theories4 ,he used no arguments1 propounded no theories1 weaved no elaborate systems4 ,all ,he said was with an authority which astonished ,his hearers1 and all the more1 because of the humility of ,his life and the self-denial of ,his character4 ,his whole system of casuistry would be contained in four or five pages of common printing2 and though much of it was new1 and all of it of the severest stringency1 it yet commended itself at once to the consciences of them that heard ,him2 it has commended itself in the main to the consciences of all subsequent ages1 and in principle at least it yet rules the morality of all ,christendom1 and in great measure even the morality of the followers of ,mohammed4#adc ,it is easy to sketch out a few of the great principles which ,he thus set forth4 ,at the root of all lay truth4 ,the ,easterns1 among whom ,he taught1 have always been accounted as too ready to practise deceit4 ,there was nothing ,jesus ,christ condemned so much as dishonesty or hypocrisy--the very word hypocrisy1 as ,i have said already1 and all our instinctive hatred and contempt of it1 being due to ,his denunciations of it to ,his disciples4 ,closely connected with this was the stress which ,he laid on purity of thought4 ,to impose a weight and put a strain on outward conduct was all too little3 it would very likely lead to superficial character1 to the dreaded and denounced hypocrisy4 ,from the heart come evil thoughts1 and evil words1 and evil actions4 ,and the axe must be laid to the root of the tree4 ,make the tree good1 and its fruit will be good4 ,to give way to the desire of evil is to do evil4 ,again3 there was plenty of partial goodness4 ,the heathens and even the ,jews had learned an ardent patriotism1 but it was linked1 as to its alter ego1 with a burning hatred of their country's enemies1 never stronger in ,palestine than when ,jesus taught there4 ,and this principle of love to country and hostility to aliens came home1 too1 into private life4 ,it was an axiom that men should love their neighbours and hate their enemies4 ,never before were those words clearly uttered upon earth1 ,i say unto you1 love your enemies4 ,imperfectly1 miserably ill indeed1 as they have been acted on1 they have revolutionized human thought4 ,it was not only ,spare your enemies1 not only ,forgive your enemies1 but ,love your enemies4 ,like everything that ,he taught1 it was to have its seat deep down in the heart4 ,it was essential to every ,christian that he should from his heart forgive everyone his brother their trespasses4 ,it has been objected to ,his teaching that it undermined the principle of heroic virtue1 absorbing active patriotism in a dreamy philanthropy4 ,but the objection is false4 ,his teaching was at the farthest possible distance from dreaminess or sickliness4 ,the benevolence ,he taught was1 like ,his own1 active and energetic1 busying itself1 as everything practical must1 first on those most easily and most naturally within its reach1 but then extending to every created being1 made by the same ,god1 and loved by the common ,father4 ,there did1 indeed1 arise a new kind of patriotism1 to which ,i may1 perhaps1 allude hereafter2 but can anyone read our ,lord's lamentations over ,jerusalem1 or ,st4 ,paul's utterances of his heart's desire for ,israel1 his almost wish that he himself might be lost if he could save them1 and yet maintain that patriotism in its truest essence was quenched either in the heart of ,jesus or in the feelings of ,his most devoted followers8 ,but whatever else may have been peculiar and exceptional in the teaching of ,christ1 that which chiefly distinguishes ,him from all other teachers is this4 ,moral philosophers like ,socrates1 ever kept themselves in the background4 ,it was philosophy that was everything1 ,socrates was but the humble tyro1 feebly feeling after truth4 ,prophets of every religion1--,moses1 ,zoroaster1 ,mohammed1 all spoke the word which ,god put into their mouths4 ,he was all2 and they were at the best ,his honoured subjects and servants4 ,but ,jesus ,christ1 the meek1 the gentle1 the humble1 the unselfish1 the self-denied1 the self-devoted1 not only showed ,himself as the ,pattern of life1 but even propounded ,himself as the ,object of faith1 hope1 love1 obedience1 loyalty1 devotion1 adoration1 worship4 ,it is impossible to deny this without rending to pieces every ,christian record4 ,it is argued1 ,i know1 that this was no part of ,christ's original teaching1 that it grew up after ,his death among ,his devoted followers1 who looked back upon ,him as a loved and lost friend and teacher1 and who by degrees invested ,him with ,divine attributes and paid ,him ,divine honours2 and especially it is thought that the writings of ,st4 ,john1 or rather writings in the second century falsely ascribed to ,st4 ,john1 and the later epistles attributed to ,st4 ,paul1 fostered this exaggerated belief4 ,i may well leave the genuineness of these later writings to those who have so ably and so amply dealt with them before me4 ,all ,i wish to say now is1 that if ,st4 ,john's ,gospel and ,st4 ,paul's ,epistles had never come down to us1 we should still be just where we are4 ,this special teaching of ,christ by ,himself is fully developed in every portion of the three synoptical ,gospels4 ,they are interpenetrated by it from end to end4 ,if it never came from ,christ1 the writers of those ,gospels have misconceived ,him altogether1 and their record is mere fiction and falsehood4 ,and so it is of every document which we possess--history1 letters1 traditions1 anecdotes1 apocalypses--they all turn the same way1 they all speak the same tongue4 ,nay2 ,i have often thought that if we had only the three synoptical ,gospels left1 though we should suffer terribly indeed by losing the deep theology of ,st4 ,john the ,divine1 we should still have the clearest possible statements--though of the character sometimes called undesigned1 or more properly indirect and incidental--as to the ,godhead1 ,kingship1 ,priesthood of ,christ2 and that we should have none1 or at most but one or two of those passages which have been thought by many to be inconsistent with the highest belief in our ,lord's supreme1 co-equal1 co-eternal ,deity4 ,it is in fact in ,st4 ,john and in ,st4 ,paul that we find the most developed form of the ,new ,testament theology1 but on that very account the appearance1 for appearance it is only1 of inconsistency and difficulty4#add ,let us briefly recall our ,lord's words in the first three ,gospels4 ,constantly ,he calls ,himself the ,son of ,man1 meaning--7can we doubt87--one who had no ordinary interest in mankind1 in manhood1 in all humanity2 constantly ,he confesses ,himself1 and is confessed to be1 the ,son of ,god2 constantly ,he claims to be ,king3 ,he demands absolute obedience1 boundless love 7he that loveth father or mother more than ,him is not worthy of ,him72 ,he forgives sins2 ,he has authority over the ,sabbath2 ,he baptizes with the ,holy ,ghost2 ,he promulgates ,his own law even where it seems to contradict ,moses' law2 ,he is at least represented 7as ,i do not assume miracles ,i must say no more7 as with creative power1 multiplying bread1 restoring sight1 calling the dead to life1 saying to the tempest1 ,peace1 be still2 ,he proclaims ,himself the ,judge of all the earth1 about to sit upon ,his throne1 with all nations1 the dead1 small and great1 gathered before ,him1 and the angels of ,god waiting to do ,his pleasure2 ,he pronounces the sentence1 and it runs in words which indicate that the great act of obedience was waiting on ,himself in prison1 in sickness1 in need1 and in suffering1 that the great sin was neglecting ,him1 ,him as represented by ,his servants4 ,there is one other scene which seems to me even more telling than all these4 ,each of the three ,evangelists relate1 ,st4 ,john alone omits to relate1 the institution of the ,last ,supper4 ,there distinctly--whatever may be held by differing sects as to its meaning and its blessing--there distinctly ,jesus ,christ presents ,himself to our faith as the ,power which sustains all spiritual life2 pointing to ,himself as the great ,sacrifice1 the anti-typical ,paschal ,lamb1 and then professing that ,his ,body and ,blood can feed and sustain the souls of all disciples in all coming time4 ,what is this but1 first to proclaim ,himself the ,lamb of ,god which taketh away the sin of the world2 and then to attribute that sustaining1 strengthening1 life-giving power to ,himself which can be predicated of nothing short of ,god8 ,i therefore fearlessly assert that1 if our ,christian records be in any way better than waste paper1 if they be any records of ,christ at all1 we cannot but learn from them that ,he presented ,himself to ,his followers1 not as ,prophet merely1 not as ,teacher only1 but as their ,priest1 their ,king1 their ,god4 ,now1 observe1 first1 the perfect originality of this4 ,no one ever professed anything like it before4 ,all the heathen fables about gods coming down among men1 all their belief or half belief that some men were the offspring of deity1 meant nothing like this4 ,their gods were themselves but deified men or personified powers of nature4 ,it was easy to make mythic stories about their bodily appearance1 or about their earthly loves and their earthly progeny4 ,or1 to speak of something grander1 though perhaps less poetical1 the great pantheistic religions gave ready room for the fancy that there was a spark of deity in every sentient being1 and that it might be more and more developed into ,god4 ,in them1 indeed1 ,god is but the general principle of life and intelligence which runs throughout all the universe2 it is duller in one spot and brighter in another2 here it may almost go out in darkness1 and there it may burst forth into the light of heaven and of glory4 ,but it is not a person2 at the highest it is an impersonal power4 ,it may dwell therefore in the ,bull ,apis1 it may reside in the ,lama of ,thibet1 it may grow to be the highest intelligence in ,buddha4 ,in none of them is it really ,god4 ,it is but the embodiment and the kindling up of a spark of ,divine ,being1 but not a living1 thinking1 willing maker of the universe and ruler of all things4 ,but ,jesus ,christ1 when ,he was upon earth1 lived among the only people on the earth who had a clear conception of one great and personal ,god1 so one and so personal as each separate man is one and personal1 man having been made in the express likeness of ,god4 ,jesus ,christ lived among a people who esteemed that one personal ,god so great and so awful that they dared not even speak ,his name1 the name by which ,he had specially revealed ,himself1 for they thought that that name1 if human lips should utter it1 would shake heaven and earth4 ,yet it was this great1 only1 incommunicable1 unutterable ,being1 whose ,son ,he called ,himself1 whose very essence ,he claimed for ,his own4 ,let it not be said1 that ,he came at a moment when ,jewish hopes were all centred on some heavenly ,messenger to redeem and restore them1 that ,he only fell into their notions1 took advantage of their expectations and flattered their prejudices4 ,they expected a ,messiah1 no doubt1 with much in him that was heavenly 7if you will1 ,divine72 they expected ,him to redeem their nation1 to overthrow their enemies1 to advance their kingdom4 ,but they never thought that their ,messiah would claim to be the ,supreme ,,jehovah1 they never thought that ,he was to redeem1 not their bodies1 but their souls1 by dying as a lamb sacrificed upon the altar2 they never thought that1 instead of satisfying their patriotism and elevating their nation1 ,he would teach them to subordinate patriotism to universal love of man1 and that instead of extending the earthly kingdom of ,israel through the world1 ,he would found a kingdom which should be wholly moral and spiritual1 and which would place the ,greek1 the ,roman and the ,samaritan on the same footing with the long-favoured children of ,abraham4 ,so far were they from any thoughts like these1 that it was because of all this that they crucified their ,christ4 ,and if all this were original in ,jesus1 it was as bold as it was original4 ,the humble1 unostentatious1 unselfish1 ,jewish peasant declares ,himself the ,one ,eternal ,god4 ,if it was assumption only1 it deserved the death which was its consequence4 ,but just let us consider it for a moment4 ,was it fanaticism8 ,i have already pointed to the calmness1 self-possession1 soberness of ,christ4 ,no character in history exhibits these qualities so markedly4 ,there is not a symptom of restlessness1 excitement1 intemperance1 of any kind in one of ,his discourses4 ,his eloquence--and no one can doubt ,his eloquence who has read1 ,consider the lilies of the field1 who has heard ,come unto ,me1 all ye that travail and are heavy laden--but ,his eloquence1 though more heart-thrilling than any human eloquence1 was never rhetorical1 never emotional4 ,it carried conviction because it sounded like truth uttered by love4 ,in fact1 fanaticism or insanity are charges that cannot be made against ,him on any ground whatever1 except on the ground that ,he believed what ,he taught1 and that no reasonable man could believe it4 ,and if so1 ,i think the charge must be abandoned1 for ,bacon1 ,locke1 ,leibnitz1 ,newton have believed it1 and it is still believed by the most reasoning minds in ,christendom4 ,imposture is another charge4 ,i have reminded you that the great principle of ,christ's teaching was truth4 ,if there was one point on which it could with some colour of probability be said that ,he was an enthusiast1 it would be in ,his love of truth1 and ,his scorn for all that was false and hypocritical4 ,it would be strange indeed that such a teacher should lay the foundation of ,his teaching in falsehood4 ,and be it remembered1 that the supposed falsehood was not to please popular tastes1 or to take advantage of popular prejudices1 but to run counter to and offend them all1 having apparently no purpose1 but the purely disinterested purpose of mending men's manners against their wills1 and having evidently no earthly end but persecution1 suffering1 and death4 ,the fanaticism is the most inexplicable1 the imposture the most improbable ever heard or thought of4 ,,iii4 ,and now let us see what the teaching of this so-called fanatic or impostor has done4 ,i suppose it will be acknowledged that ,he lived at a time when the world was singularly in want4 ,heathenism had failed to satisfy it4 ,the world had outgrown its infancy1 and had tossed away its dolls4 ,the philosophers derided1 even the poets could hardly play with1 their old heathen deities4 ,society was corrupt to its core4 ,the old monarchies had sunk one by one1--,egypt1 ,assyria1 ,babylon1 ,persia1 ,macedonia--oppressed with their own vices4 ,rome had indeed reached the height of power1 but it was power to be vile and so to be miserable4 ,and there was a groan uttered from universal humanity for something to save it from the utter exhaustion of sensuality hard by suffering1 of moral1 social1 and political degradation4 ,judea itself1 where still ,god was worshipped1 was no exception to the general rule1 though it had yet hardly fallen to the depth of imperial ,rome4 ,and what of philosophy8 ,certainly it could never have had a better trial4 ,the greatest moral philosophers the world ever knew1 ,socrates1 ,plato1 ,aristotle1 had taught at ,athens4 ,the sound of their voices reached ,rome1 and echoed through all the civilized world4 ,without doubt1 their teaching was valued1 without doubt it was valuable to the thinking few2 but the effect produced upon the many is too truly described by ,ovid1 ,video meliora proboque1 ,deteriora sequor4 ,the salt of society had not been discovered2 for society stank1 and was corrupt throughout4 ,and then ,jesus ,christ set forth a remedy1 and it was ,,himself4 ,it cannot be too emphatically said1 or too steadily borne in memory1 that ,,christianity ,,is ,,christ4 ,so ,he taught2 so ,his disciples after ,him--not a law--not a theory--not a code of morals--not a system of casuistry--not even an elaborate theology--but they ceased not to teach and to preach ,jesus ,christ4 ,and this did satisfy human wants4 7#a7 ,moral philosophy never moved more than a few thoughtful minds4 ,a strong law1 like the law of ,moses or the laws of ,rome1 may put a curb on men's passions and keep them in by bit and bridle1 lest they fall upon you4 ,but there was something vastly more powerful in the teaching of ,christ4 ,he propounded ,himself to ,his followers1 as the one great object of their loyalty and love4 ,now love and loyalty are the very groundsprings of noble and disinterested life4 ,the servant of law lives in obedience to law1 because to break law is to incur its penalties4 ,the moralist trains himself with special reference to himself4 ,the very necessity of his training turns the moral eye inward1 creates self-consciousness1 and produces1 perhaps despondency from failure1 perhaps self-confidence from success4 ,the effect of loyalty is altogether otherwise4 ,the eye1 the heart1 the hope1 are all turned outwards--and in the case of the ,christian--not outwards only but upwards4 ,the result is1 not the calculating morality1 which may easily make a man selfish1 but the absorbing love of a master1 which makes him self-devoted4 ,and coincident with the love and loyalty to the ,master1 came the brotherhood of all who loved and obeyed that ,master2 a close tie of brotherhood towards them1 and earnest desire to bring others into that brotherhood1 and so an universal charity to mankind4 ,thus did the ,great ,teacher provide for the wants of man1 considered as a moral being4 7#b7 ,let us see how ,he provided for ,his wants as a spiritual being4 ,it is the witness of all religious antiquity1 that1 whilst the soul longed to look up to1 and rest in something above it1 it was ever striving to bring that which was above it down to a level with itself4 ,it could not grasp infinity1 and it was ever trying to make it finite4 ,so it devised man-gods and idol-gods4 ,so it degraded ,god to be no higher than man1 nay1 likened its ,maker to the grazed ox4 ,what ,jesus ,christ did was to bring ,god down to man1 but not to degrade and lower ,him by doing so4 ,he professed not to be a ,man-,god1--like the ,saturn and ,jupiter of ,latium1 like the ,lama of ,thibet1 or like the ,buddha of ,ceylon and ,china2 but the ,god-,man1 ,god dwelling in human flesh1 and manifesting all the character of infinity in the person of the finite4 ,so ,he satisfied the yearnings of the human soul1 without lowering the dignity of the ,divine ,spirit4 ,it is impossible to remember the fables of heathenism without feeling that ,deity is not only lowered1 but utterly lost in them4 ,but ,i appeal to your experience and to your hearts1 whether the conception of ,god conveyed to us through ,christ is not raised1 rather than depressed--raised even above the conception of the ,high and ,lofty ,one which inhabiteth eternity1 as discovered by our reasonings1 or as revealed to our faith1 in the theism of the philosopher or the writings of the ,jewish prophets4 7#c7 ,once more1 ,he provided for man's wants as a social and political being4 ,social polity has ever oscillated between an absolute despotism and a pure democracy4 ,there are many who say that the only ideal of good government is either a paternal despotism1 or liberty1 equality1 and fraternity4 ,it is most true that our ,lord declined persistently to mingle ,himself with earthly politics1 or to meddle in the affairs of earthly kingdoms4 ,but ,he declared that ,his mission was to set up in this world a kingdom not of this world4 ,and the principles1 the polity of that kingdom combined in a marvellous manner the unopposed will of the ,father-,king with the fraternal equality of all the people4 ,as ,king of the kingdom of ,god ,he exacted the most devoted loyalty and the most unswerving obedience2 but to the members of the kingdom ,he said1 ,all ye are brethren4 ,he forbade any to aspire to pre-eminence1 or authority1 like the kings of the ,gentiles2 to those who desired to sit on ,his right hand and on ,his left ,he only promised that they should drink of ,his cup of suffering1 and be baptized with ,his baptism of blood4 7#d7 ,lastly1 ,he provided for man's natural wants as a sinful being4 ,every religion witnesses to the anxiety of the religious mind to throw off a weight from the conscience by austerities1 or by sacrifices1 or by gifts4 ,i am aware that ,i am treading on ground which may lead me into controversy1 and from this ,i must guard myself4 ,still ,i think every one who reads the ,gospels must confess that the ,christian history and the ,christian faith culminate in sacrifice4 ,i do not wish to reason on it2 ,i readily admit its deep mystery1 and the great difficulty of explaining it2 ,i only assert1 and ,i assert without fear of contradiction1 that ,christ set forth ,himself1 and that ,his disciples set ,him forth to the world as ,one who suffered for the sins of that race which ,he had made ,his own2 that ,he first bound them closely to ,himself1 and then drained off to the dregs that cup which their sins had prepared for them4 ,he came into mankind that ,he might carry off the curse which sin had cast into the midst of it4 ,and ,i know1 indeed1 that there are some1 and some for whose scruples and difficulties ,i feel deep respect1 who1 acknowledging all the debts due to ,christianity1 for raising1 ennobling1 and purifying human life and human thought1 yet say that they could accept every portion of it save only its doctrine of atonement and sacrifice4 ,they think it derogatory to the mercy and to the love of ,god1 and they doubt if the sins of feeble beings like ourselves can ever be so offensive to ,his majesty as to need such an intervention1 or to cost so tremendous a price4 ,i say ,i respect their scruples1 for in some cases ,i believe they have been the scruples of men very pure in life and very loving in heart4 ,but of this ,i am most certain1 that there is nothing in ,christianity which has so commended it to the acceptance of mankind at large4 ,and certainly its effect1 if fully exhibited1 is very remarkable4 ,its effect is first to enhance our sense of sin1 and secondly to enhance our sense of the love of ,god4 ,wellnigh every other system of forgiveness tends to make light of sin4 ,if repentance be easy1 sin cannot be so very hard4 ,wellnigh every other system of religion has created a dread of the ,sovereign ,ruler of the ,universe1 and has seldom1 if ever1 led to devoted love of ,him4 ,strangely enough1 too1 all past religions had treated sin1 when great1 as inexpiable1 and gave no room for repentance1 even though sought carefully and with tears4 ,but the ,christian faith in the atoning love of ,christ has deepened1 beyond all comparison with aught besides1 our conviction of the darkness and the danger of sin2 has yet assured us that repentance for sin is not impossible1 but to be attained and then certain to be accepted2 and1 lastly1 has been the one only convincing evidence that1 for all the clouds and darkness in which nature and natural religion have enveloped the ,deity1 there is yet a loving ,heart in heaven1 and that we may1 with undoubting1 filial confidence cast our orphan souls upon the ,fatherhood of ,god4 ,and so it is a fact1 which nothing can take away1 that1 with all its admitted mystery and deep obscurity1 the cross of ,christ has been1 even more than all else in ,his marvellous history1 that which has won human hearts1 and which has satisfied human yearnings4 ,,iv4 ,let us pass to the reception of ,christ's teaching in the world4 ,there is not much that is new to be said about this4 ,first1 as to the mode of its propagation3 it was not propagated by force1 like the religion of ,mohammed2 nor was it a political revolution1 as ,buddhism was a great rising against the caste system of the ,brahmins1 joined with a modification or so-called reformation of their theological and philosophical theories4 ,christ forbade ,his followers to mix themselves up in the politics either of the ,jews or of the heathens2 and1 as to force1 ,he told them1 in words which all ,christian history since has verified1 that they who take the sword shall perish with the sword4 ,in fact1 the mode of the propagation of the faith of ,christ was the simplest conceivable3 it was merely a proclaiming of ,christ as the ,prince and the ,saviour of the world4 ,apostles preached the kingdom of ,god1 invited men to come into it1 declared that ,christ was its ,king1 claimed from ,his subjects obedience to ,his sovereignty1 and promised them peace in their hearts here and happiness in ,his home hereafter4 ,it is a matter of perfect indifference to my present argument whether you acknowledge that this preaching was accompanied with miracles or not4 ,if it was1 then cadit qustio4 ,probably no one in this company will say1 as the ,jews said and as some of the heathens said1 that those miracles were due to ,satanic agency4 ,if there were miracles therefore1 they were of ,god4 ,but1 if you refuse your assent to miracles1 then ,i only say the result was all the more miraculous4 ,if there was nothing but a simple teaching of ,christ--if only men narrated the life of the ,jewish carpenter1 told of ,his death1 declared him to be their ,king1 set up ,his cross as their hope1 and claimed submission to ,him as their ,god2 and if thereupon1 in the midst of ,jerusalem and ,rome1 and ,athens and ,corinth1 and ,ephesus and ,philippi1 and ,smyrna1 and ,antioch1 and ,alexandria1 at a time when art and science1 and civilization and philosophy were at the greatest height ever known2 if then and there1 in the space of a single generation1 thousands and hundreds of thousands1 of all ages and all classes1 bowed their heads and gave up their hearts to ,christ1 ,i ask what was it that gave such magic power to the so-called foolishness of preaching8 ,i answer1 ,it was the force of truth2 and ,i ask again1 ,has any other answer ever been given8 ,the progress of ,christianity in every stronghold of heathenism soon roused the jealousy of the governors of the world4 ,we need not dwell upon the cruelties with which its votaries were persecuted4 ,men clothed in garments smeared with pitch1 and then lighted up as living torches1 to add a horrid lustre to the festivities of the ,emperor4 ,men crucified with their heads downwards4 ,men thrown to wild beasts4 ,the heart sickens at the recital of their sufferings1 and still more at the ferocity of their torturers4 ,but nothing stopped them4 ,every human power was exerted4 ,every device was tried4 ,but neither skill nor force availed4 ,the stream flowed onwards till it became a river2 the river spread out till it became a flood4 ,in the short space of three centuries from the death of ,jesus1 ,europe1 ,asia1 and ,africa1 as far as civilization had reached1 owned ,him as their sovereign1 and marched under ,his banner4 ,not a blow had been struck in ,his favour1 though thousands and hundreds of thousands had died rather than disown ,him4 ,and then the heathen oracles were silent1 the heathen altars were deserted1 the heathen philosophers were changed to ,christians2 ,christian presbyters ministered where heathen priests had sacrificed2 ,christian orators spoke where heathen advocates had pleaded2 ,christian judges decreed justice in the seats of the prtors and the proconsuls2 a ,christian ,emperor sat upon the throne of the ,csars4 ,it is so still2 the great bulk of the civilized world still retains1 and professes to be guided by1 laws1 customs1 and morals1 which are really drawn from the teaching of ,jesus ,christ4 99 99 99 99 99 7#a7 ,it is said that the spread of ,christianity is at least partly due to mere human and common-place causes4#ade ,it is said for instance1 that the civilization of the heathen empire was effete1 that society was corrupt1 that the very world was wearied with its own wickedness4 ,very true3 yet it was in the ,augustan age that ,christ lived and taught1 the very climax of ancient art and letters1 and refinement1 and philosophy4 ,very true2 but still1 that which will be our only refuge if we are driven out of our faith1 had offered everything that it can ever have to offer4 ,moral philosophy had done its best4 ,socrates1 ,plato1 ,aristotle1 ,epictetus1 ,seneca1 had done all that could be done by reasoning and moral teaching1 to win men from vice1 and to train them to virtue4 ,and earth1 for all that1 was wearing the very semblance of hell4 ,men1 no doubt1 were weary of it1 and they listened the more readily to ,him who promised to the weary rest4 ,is it no mark of design and wisdom1 that the remedy was offered at that very time when it was the most needed1 and when the need was the most keenly felt8 7#b7 ,it is said1 that the world then1 in its deep dissatisfied restlessness and inquietude1 was turning right and left for satisfaction1 and that thus it readily lent an ear to the superstitious and the supernatural4 ,it may have been so4 ,it had apparently given up all faith2 and the unbeliever passes readily into the credulous4 ,but ,i cannot think it reasonable to conclude1 that an age of philosophical scepticism1 of unbridled licentiousness1 even though it might combine with these some disposition in favour of the marvellous1 would be likely to admit the pretensions of ,christianity without careful investigation2 when ,christianity bore with it requirements of the most rigid morality1 offered in exchange for its philosophy simple faith1 in exchange for its licentiousness the sternest self-denial1 and gave it no promise in this life1 but of contempt and suffering1 and very likely martyrdom4 7#c7 ,it is said once more1 that the unequalled organization of the ,primitive ,church made it a firm phalanx sure to win its way through the ranks of the fiercest foes4 ,very true4 ,the economy of the ,primitive ,church1 with its bishops1 priests1 deacons1 and deaconesses in every city and suburb1 with its strict and unbroken unity throughout the world which it had won and was winning1 was1 no doubt1 an organization1 a freemasonry1 a secret society if you will1 which constituted the best possible machinery for preserving and propagating its faith4 ,is it no sign of the superhuman wisdom of its ,founder1 that ,he not only taught the great secret of life2 but that ,he devised means whereby that secret should be guarded and handed on to men8 ,i must here consider for a moment one of the gravest questions which arises in many minds about the progress of ,christianity4 ,granted that its speed was rapid at the first1 why has it ever stagnated since8 ,if it be the great remedy for human woes1 and the great prompter of human virtue and morality1 why did not its ,divine ,author1 if ,divine ,he be1 ordain that it should at once find its way everywhere1 and should never fail anywhere8 ,i am ready to admit the gravity of the question4 ,i doubt if there be any greater mystery connected with the faith of ,christ4 ,it was objected to that faith by ,lord ,herbert of ,cherbury1 perhaps the most eminent of the deists of the last century1 and it has tried many a believing1 as well as many a doubting spirit1 since4 ,we naturally feel1 that a religion meant to save all men ought to be made known to all men4 ,in the few words ,i can say on it now1 ,i do not pretend to clear up all the mystery4 ,i cannot clear up all the mystery of ,god's actions or of ,god's will4 ,i would only remind you first1 that this is at all events but one specimen of the working of that general law1 which seems to rule in creation1 in ,providence1 and in grace4 ,the analogy between the development of nature and the development of revelation was ably traced in the lecture of one who preceded me some fortnight or three weeks back4 ,it certainly seems the principle of the ,divine action1 that all things should rise up into maturity by steady gradual progress and growth4 ,so the infancy of mankind was left in the glimmer of twilight2 then there was a dawning light in the ages of the patriarchs and the prophets1 till the day broke full upon the world in the coming into it of ,jesus ,christ4 ,by the same kind of gradual working1 that day-spring from on high has extended its brightness first to one land and then to another4 ,it is no more marvellous that ,china and ,india and ,central ,africa should not yet have seen it all1 than that for thousands of years of man's past history1 the whole human race1 except at most a very small portion of it1 should have known nothing of ,christ or even of ,god4 ,there has been an infancy of man1 as there has been an infancy of the ,universe2 and we may well believe1 that there may have been a preparation for ,christ's coming1 and elsewhere a preparation for the knowledge of ,his coming1 corresponding with the preparation through countless ages past for the habitation of man upon the earth4 ,and as to the imperfect reception of ,christianity in some places and times1 and its actual retrogression1 as from the ,mohammedan conquest1 in others2 is it not plain that we have to expect ,christianity to advance by moral means and not by mechanical8 ,christ left a leaven in the world1 that it might work and leaven mankind4 ,we are apt to expect that it should work by magic1 and not by its own moral influence4 ,now1 our ,lord never so worked on earth4 ,if ,he worked in ,his miracles by a mechanical force on nature1 ,he never applied such a force to human wills1 nor does ,his ,gospel work so now in the world4 ,he called ,his church the salt of the earth2 but ,he warned it that the salt might lose its savour4 ,he said it was a grain of mustard seed1 which should grow into a tree and fill the earth2 but ,he never said that there should be no blights1 no frosts1 no tempests which might check its growth1 or nip its leaves or rend off its branches4 ,the apostles themselves knew that they had the ,gospel treasure in earthen vessels1 and when the vessel was injured the treasure could not be safely conveyed by it4 ,it is very natural to expect that a potent remedy should produce an instantaneous cure4 ,but we are constantly taught by experience that maladies are too deep-seated1 or constitutions too sickly1 for rapid or perfect restoration4 ,we naturally expect every man under the true influence of ,christianity to become perfect3 we expect ,christianized society to exhibit no defects4 ,but1 in reality1 we only find that both the man and the people have a new principle1 which gradually raises them1 that they become instinct with a new life1 which shows itself sometimes indeed by vigorous action1 but which sometimes1 too1 becomes languid and feeble4 ,if we make these allowances1 there will be nothing to stagger our faith in the slow progress of the ,gospel through the world4 ,in the beginning1 ,christianity was thrown into mortal conflict with heathenism4 ,that heathenism it steadily extirpated1 whilst the sounder philosophy which had lived in the midst of heathenism it adopted for its own4 ,in the midst of this there came too often an attempt at compromise4 ,there sprang up a fusion between ,christian verity and philosophy1 and philosophy1 too1 of the corrupter heathen type1 not of the purest or most divine type4 ,hence the strange forms of heresy which meet us in the earlier centuries4 ,after the barbarian conquests1 ,christendom indeed took its fierce captors captive4 ,they who had trod down imperial ,rome1 bowed lowly before ,him whom ,roman governors had crucified and ,roman emperors had persecuted4 ,then came a struggle between barbarism and faith1 the faith gradually subduing the barbarism1 but the barbarism still clouding the faith4 ,and ,i think we do not enough remember how through the ,middle ,ages1 on which we often look so contemptuously back1 there was ever going on a great mission work of the church and of the ,gospel1 the fierce barons and the rude churls being as hard to win to the obedience of faith as the heathens with whom the apostles pleaded in the early ages of the faith4 ,on the whole there has been a constant progress1 greatest certainly at first1 but never seriously slackened1 till ,mohammed devised a great ,christian heresy 7for a ,christian heresy it was1 as much as that of the ,gnostics1 or that of the ,manichees before him17 thereby blighting the growth of the ,eastern ,church for centuries2 still1 however1 there was progress again in the west1 among ,germans1 and ,slaves and ,scandinavians2 stagnation for a time from the twelfth to the eighteenth century1 as far at least as visible increase was concerned2 and now1 again1 progress1 through the over-spreading of new continents by ,christian colonists1 and the bringing in of newly-known heathen tribes to the faith of the ,church4 ,unless we insist that the world should be won by miracle1 ,i do not see that we can ask more evidence to the winning power of the teaching of ,christ4 ,v4 ,and now for its effect on those taught by it1 and on the world at large through them4 ,i have argued that philosophy failed2 has ,christianity succeeded8 ,with the allowances which must be made for the matter on which it has to work1 and with the premised condition that it was not intended so to act as a spell that man's will would simply be enslaved by it1 his moral responsibility lost1 and his state of probation done away with2 then ,i assert that it has succeeded incomparably beyond anything else that has ever been devised1 or ever attempted by man4 ,let us take great and acknowledged facts4 ,it is confessed that under the influence of ,christianity gladiatorial shows1 and the throwing of prisoners to wild beasts1 were given up and done away with4 ,it is impossible to deny that the worst forms of licentiousness1 which were not only tolerated in ,greece and ,rome1 but indulged in openly by their heroes1 attributed to their deities1 and celebrated in verse by their poets1 have been universally reprobated in ,christendom1 and dare not now show their heads abroad even in the most corrupted centres of modern society4 ,the respect paid to woman is due before any other cause to the honour with which the ,great ,founder of our faith treated those women who waited on ,him1 and to ,his filial reverence for the mother that bare ,him4 ,the laws of marriage which now rule in ,europe are not heathen1 not even ,jewish1 but pre-eminently ,christian4 ,what ,christ spoke concerning marriage and divorce regulated the principles of the ,church1 and the first ,christian rulers incorporated those principles into the laws of the empire4 ,our domestic morals have thus been governed by a few sentences from the lips of one ,man4 ,the existence of hospitals for the sick and wounded is entirely due to the charity of the early ,christian ,church4 ,the softening of the horrors of war1 and the better treatment of prisoners1 are equally the result of ,christian influence4 ,contrast1 for instance1 the conduct of the most humane of heathen conquerors with the conduct of any great ,christian general4 ,no one among the ancients is more celebrated for his humanity than ,titus2 yet when ,titus had taken ,jerusalem1 he crucified by thousands its undoubtedly brave defenders1 and the historian tells us that there lacked crosses for the bodies and room for erecting the crosses4 ,when ,gustavus ,adolphus took a city1 he so guarded the lives of its inhabitants1 that it is said that no injury passed upon the head of one of them4 ,in the war we have just witnessed1 the ,german army marched into ,paris1 after fierce fights and long sieges1 yet the first care of the invaders was not to slay or torture1 but to feed the famished inhabitants of the city they had taken1 the conquering army even giving up its rations to supply food to their enemies1 who might else have perished for hunger4 ,and as for the prisoners in modern warfare1 the wounded and the sick are tended by the surgeons1 and nursed in the hospitals of those against whom they have been fighting1 and against whom it is possible they may yet live to fight4#adf ,this regard for human life is justly regarded by philanthropists as the truest test of a high civilization2 and ,i confidently ask whether it has ever come but from the influence of ,christian teaching and the effect of ,christian sympathy4 ,let us turn to the question of slavery4 ,it is objected by some that there is no direct denunciation of slavery in the ,scriptures4 ,i am not now concerned with the ,old ,testament2 but ,i may yet1 in passing1 say1 that whilst ,moses could hardly refuse to recognise slavery as a prevailing institution1 he still gave laws concerning it which mitigated its horrors to the utmost1 and placed the ,jewish slave in a condition1 moral1 social1 and spiritual1 utterly unlike to his condition in any heathen state4 ,as regards the ,gospel1 we must remember1 once more1 that ,christ was not a political reformer1 not professedly a social reformer1 not even primarily a moral reformer4 ,his mission was to elevate men's whole spiritual nature2 and this ,he did by the infusion into society of a new religious or spiritual principle4 ,it did not fall in with the purposes of that mission to descend to every detail of social life1 still less to regulate political institutions4 ,so1 ,he never denounces war1 nor imperial tyranny1 nor even the political factions of the ,jews4 ,it is scarcely a question that sudden emancipation of a great slave population is never desirable4 ,and if the first ,christians had preached against a deeply-rooted social institution1 they might easily have produced great political convulsions1 and have ultimately rendered less tolerable than ever the conditions of those whom they desired to befriend4 ,but the principles of ,christ's teaching are directly adverse to slavery1 and their progress has invariably tended to mitigate1 and at length to eradicate it4 ,the principle of the brotherhood of all men1 of their common interest in ,god1 of their common humanity with ,christ2 the principle that there was neither ,jew nor ,greek1 neither male nor female1 neither bond nor free1 in the great ,christian commonwealth1 but that all were one in ,christ--this principle cannot be worked out without destroying the abject servitude of one man to another4 ,and1 as a matter of fact1 this is what it has done4 ,the change brought about was gradual1 but it was sure4 ,at first monks1 especially eastern monks1 refused to be waited on by slaves4 ,then missionaries never lost an opportunity of redeeming slaves4444 ,ecclesiastical legislation declared the slave to be a man1 and not a thing1 or chattel2 laid it down as a rule that his life was his own1 and could not be taken without public trial2 enforced on a master guilty of involuntary murder of his slave penance and exclusion from the communion2 opened asylums to those who fled from their master's cruelty2 declared the enfranchisement of the serf a work acceptable to ,god4 ,the abolition of domestic slavery was one of the most important duties incumbent on the missionary energies of the medival ,church4#adi ,it is sad1 indeed1 to think how the plague of slavery again broke out on the discovery of the ,west ,indies and of ,america--slavery1 too1 in one of its most revolting and debasing forms2 but it still is true that ,christianity and ,christian missions have struggled with it from the first1 and that now1 at length1 it seems to be yielding1 and there is good hope that it may ere long be utterly subdued4 ,in every way ,christianity has been the pioneer of civilization1 and the giver of social comfort and peace4 ,very truly1 many colonists from ,christian lands have given to the colonies which they founded not comfort1 nor peace1 nor civilization2 but it has been because they have left ,christian lands and not carried their ,christianity out along with them4 ,often1 indeed1 they have only laid waste heathen lands and oppressed heathen races2 and ,christianity following after them1 has had to undo the evil1 which apostate ,christians had inflicted4 ,still we may challenge any one to show a single instance1 in which civilization in modern times has spread to any place to which ,christianity has not first found its way4 ,we may challenge any one to deny1 that1 where ,christianity has been forsaken or neglected1 there have sprung up1 instead of it1 as in revolutionary ,france1 cruelty1 licentiousness1 and social degradation4 ,christianity1 once more1 has been favourable at least to the development of mind1 the cultivation of letters1 the advancement of science4 ,it is easy1 of course1 to say that there have often been efforts among ,christians to check the progress of science1 still more frequently panic terrors as to its unexpected discoveries4 ,it is easy to point to ,galileo1 easy to speak of the fate of geology in the earlier days of the present century1 of the reception of ,mr4 ,darwin's theory now4 ,as to ,galileo1 we may at once disown the ,inquisition as representing the ,christian faith4 ,but it is unnecessary to deny that an appearance of antagonism between faith and science1 or faith and literary criticism1 will alarm timid believers1 and so may lead to temporary misunderstandings between ,christians and men of science or of literature4 ,yet look at past history and say1 first1 whether science and philosophy and literature did not for centuries find their only shelter in the ,church1 even under the deepest shadows of its cathedrals and monasteries4 ,when all the world besides was unlettered and ignorant1 learning flourished among the schoolmen1 philosophy and even physical science were pursued1 as far as they then could be pursued1 by ecclesiastics and divines4 ,the name of ,roger ,bacon stands out conspicuously as one who1 in the cell of a convent and under the garb of a friar1 carried inquiries into physical truth to a height which1 considering his date and his difficulties1 may compare even with the great and rapid discoveries of the present day4 ,in short1 it may be said truly and fearlessly1 that whilst the only other religious systems in the world1 which deserve consideration1 ,mohammedanism1 ,brahminism1 and ,buddhism1 have either stifled1 or at the best stunted science and made stagnant civilization2 ,christianity has fostered learning of all kinds1 and has been in itself the highest civilization ever known4 ,i have naturally dwelt upon the external development of the religious life of ,christians1 not upon its inner being4 ,a lecture on evidence1 must of necessity appeal to that which can be known and read of all men4 ,yet ,i might1 if there were time1 point to the characters of individual ,christians as proof of the elevating1 ennobling1 purifying1 sanctifying power of the teaching of ,christ1 of the contemplation of ,christ1 and of the love of ,christ4 ,i will content myself with quoting words which many here have read1 and read with interest1 long ago4 ,the author of ,ecce ,homo writes3 ,that ,christ's method1 when rightly applied1 is really of mighty force1 may be shown by an argument which the severest censor of ,christians will hardly refuse to admit4 ,compare the ancient with the modern world4 ',look on this picture and on that4' ,one broad distinction in the characters of men forces itself into prominence4 ,among all men of the ancient heathen world1 there were scarcely one or two to whom we may venture to apply the epithet 'holy4' ,in other words1 there were not more than one or two1 if any1 who1 besides being virtuous in their actions1 were possessed with an unaffected enthusiasm of goodness1 and besides abstaining from vice1 regarded even a vicious thought with horror4 ,probably no one will deny that in ,christian countries this higher-toned goodness1 which we call holiness1 has existed4 ,few will maintain that it is exceedingly rare4 ,perhaps the truth is1 that there has been scarcely a town in any ,christian country since the time of ,christ1 where a century has passed without exhibiting a character of such elevation that his mere presence has shamed the bad and made the good better1 and has been felt at times like the presence of ,god ,himself4 ,and if this be so1 has ,christ failed8 or can ,christianity die8#aej ,let us apply this test to one or two of the greatest and best of the heathen philosophers4 ,take ,socrates first4 ,is it possible to imagine an apostle of ,christ joining1 as we know that ,socrates joined1 in drinking bouts where many were intoxicated1 not himself drinking willingly1 but when pressed making deeper potations than any one besides1 yet never exhibiting symptoms of drunkenness8#aea ,it cannot be conceived that the unutterable licentiousness of ,alcibiades1 manifested during one of those drinking bouts1 could have been so manifested1 ,i will not say in the presence of ,st4 ,paul or ,st4 ,john1 or in the presence of any ,christian clergyman since them1 but even in the lowest assembly of ,english drunkards4 ,take ,marcus ,aurelius3 ,mr4 ,lecky1 the eloquent and able writer on ,european ,morals1 has held him up as an example of what pure philosophy can do1 and has challenged comparison between him and the most exalted and sanctified of the followers of ,christ4 ,we may well acknowledge the nobleness1 the disinterestedness1 the simplicity1 and the elevation of his character4 ,no absolute and irresponsible governor of men has ever been more clear in his high office4 ,yet the concessions1 which his panegyrist has made concerning him1 separate him off by a broad line of demarcation from the highest types of ,christian holiness4 ,when his wife died1 for his children's sake he would not contract a second marriage2 but he preferred the society of a mistress4 ,when he persecuted the ,christians1 an act which we may perhaps attribute to mistaken conscientiousness1 he not only persecuted them1 but he derided their sufferings4 ,could we in these days even call a man ,christian who could so err8 ,professed ,christians1 no doubt1 fall into licentiousness1 but then they know they are in act repudiating their ,christianity4 ,christians1 alas6 have persecuted those whom they regarded as heretics4 ,but we must look fairly at the sad history of persecution before we simply say that ,roman emperors did no more4 ,in the first place1 persecution was not inconsistent with the principles of heathenism1 nor is it inconsistent with the principles1 if such there be1 of atheism or of atheistic philosophy2 but it is wholly inconsistent with the principles taught by ,christ1 and can only have been tolerated when those principles had been perverted or obscured4 ,in the next place1 ,christian persecutors1 believing that their own form of ,christianity was the only faith that could save mankind1 esteeming therefore those who defiled that faith as more dangerous to mankind than any robbers or murderers1 thought consistently1 though erroneously1 that they were bound to stamp out heresy as they would stamp out pestilence in their cattle sheds1 or moral pestilence in their homes and villages4 ,in the third place1 though deeds of violence always harden the hearts of those that do them1 it is well known that even inquisitors1 so far from ridiculing the sufferings of their victims1 often decreed those sufferings with trembling hands and broken accents1 and eyes filled with tears4 ,persecutors are no types of ,christian excellence2 the truest ,christianity utterly repudiates them2 but even persecutors have generally been so1 not from love of persecution1 but from a deep and painful conviction that persecution was a duty and a necessity4 ,it will be replied1 and very truly1 that for all this1 ,socrates and ,marcus ,aurelius were grand specimens of humanity1 rising to a noble height of moral greatness in an age of cruelty and licentiousness1 and that we cannot expect them to have been all that we should expect from a ,christian apostle or from a ,christian king4 ,granted most heartily this4 ,it only proves that ,christianity has raised our standard of excellence and has raised the characters of those who embrace and follow it immeasurably above the highest standard and the noblest characters of the world1 which had never heard of ,christ4 ,i must bring my words1 my most feeble and imperfect words in this high argument1 to a close4 ,i have tried to show that the life of ,christ1 and the teaching of ,christ1 as we have them recorded in the most unsuspicious records1--records which could not possibly have been the gradual concoctions and concretions of subsequent times1 the careful afterthoughts of enthusiasts or impostors2 that the life and teaching of ,christ were original in the highest degree1 not calculated to attract from any pandering to prejudice or to passion1 that they exhibit the most marvellous ideal of simple grandeur or grand simplicity2 that the power which they exercise is from no apparent effort--not even from reasoning and argumentation1--but from the strength of truth1 and from their satisfaction to human want2 that the power which they exercised1 and yet exercise1 is the greatest moral power ever tried upon man2 that they have raised1 and yet do raise1 men and nations to a greater height of civilization1 humanity1 and purity1 than anything has ever raised them before4 ,and ,i ask1 ,how can we account for the fact that all this has been done by the teaching of one unlettered ,peasant in the most despised corner of a despised land8 ,is there any phenomenon in moral science1 or in physical science1 which demands a patient and honest investigation more seriously than this8 ,there are those who think the influence of ,christianity is on the wane4 ,i confess ,i can see no sign of this2 though1 without doubt1 its enemies are many1 and the wish is father to the thought4 ,but ,i will just put my case in one other shape1 which will more or less deal with this question of decay1 and then ,i will end4 ,if an assembly of #ejj or #a1jjj persons could be gathered together1 in any city of ,europe1 or ,european ,america1 it being provided that all of them should be intelligent1 well-educated1 high-principled1 and well-living men and women2 and if the question were put to each of them1 ,to what influences do you attribute your high character1 your moral and social excellence8 ,i feel no doubt that nineteen out of twenty of them would1 on reflection1 reply1 ,to the influence of ,christianity on my education1 my conscience1 and my heart4 ,i will suppose a yet further question to be put to them1 and it shall be this3 ,if you were to be assured that the object you hold dearest on earth would be taken from you to-morrow1 and if at the same time you could be assured with undoubting certainty that ,jesus ,christ was a myth or an impostor1 and ,his ,gospel a fable and a falsehood1 whether of the two assurances would strike upon your heart with the more chilling and more hope-destroying misery8 ,and ,i believe that nine-tenths of the company1 being such as ,i have stipulated they should be1 would answer1 ,take from me my best earthly treasure1 but leave me my hope in the ,saviour of the world4 ,this is the effect produced upon the most civilized nations of the world by the teaching of four years1 and the agony of a few hours1 of ,one who lived as a peasant1 and died as a malefactor and a slave4 ,whence had this man this wisdom and these mighty works8 ,,the ,,completeness ,,and ,,adequacy ,,of ,,the ,,evidences ,,of ,,christianity4 ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,f4 ,c4 ,,cook1 ,m4,a41 ,,canon ,,of ,,exeter2 ,,preacher ,,at ,,lincoln',s ,,inn4 ,,completeness ,,and ,,adequacy ,,of ,,the ,,evidences ,,of ,,christianity4 ,the evidences of ,christianity form a department of sacred literature of vast extent1 to which the most valuable contributions have been made in ages when the faith of the ,church was most vehemently assailed1 and her powers were developed by severe and protracted struggles4 ,it was the subject to which the ablest ,christian writers of the first three centuries devoted their energies1 carrying on in no alien spirit the work of the ,apostles1 meeting assailants at every point1 demolishing with comparative ease the fabric of heathen superstition2 winning a nobler and more fertile triumph over the intellect of ,greece4 ,nor was the work thus well begun wholly intermitted during the ages which intervened between the overthrow of ancient1 and the full development of modern1 civilization2 a civilization which owes whatever it has of life and power to its reception and assimilation of ,christian principles4#aeb ,but1 as might be expected1 the work had to be begun anew1 new difficulties were to be met1 new victories were to be achieved1 when the spiritual and intellectual energies of ,europe were set free by the vast upheaval of mind at the ,reformation4 ,the way was opened by representative men4 ,grotius1 who combined in a most remarkable degree the accurate and profound learning and the clear dispassionate judgment characteristic of his countrymen1 produced the first complete treatise1 ,de ,veritate ,christian ,religionis1 soon adopted as the standard work by ,protestants1 translated into every language of ,europe1 and by our own ,pocock into ,arabic1 for the use of the ,east4 ,england followed early in the field1 and in the last century fairly won the place1 which she still retains1 among the foremost champions of the ,cross4 ,nor did the persecution which arrested the progress of the ,reformation in ,france1 then1 as ever1 unhappy in her struggles for light and air1 suppress the workings of spiritual thought4 ,of all advocates of the faith1 none penetrated more deeply into its foundation1 none ascended with a stronger flight or keener vision into its highest sphere1 none combined more varied gifts of intellect and spirit than ,pascal1 a name bright with the gracious gleam of letters1 dear to science1 dearest above all to ,christian truth4#aec ,germany1 too1 great in every field of intellectual power1 has not been unmindful of the duty of maintaining and defending the deposit of truth--a duty specially incumbent upon her as first leader in the revolt against usurped authority--not wholly unmindful1 though as yet she is far from having discharged her debt to ,christendom1 of late years perplexed and harassed by her reckless abuse of power4 ,still in the past1 among other great names1 ,leibnitz1 who represents1 perhaps more fully than any one man1 the peculiar characteristics of ,german intellect1 laid the foundations of a system1 in which the true relation between the ,christian revelation and ,god's universe is examined4 ,and at this present hour men sound in the faith1 full of the love and light of ,christ1 are bringing the resources of profound learning and vigorous intellect to bear upon the chaotic turmoil of anti-,christian influences4 ,within this present year several works have appeared in which infidelity is confronted1 both in the sphere of general cultivation1 and in the abstrusest fastnesses of philosophy1 by ,luthardt1 ,steinmeyer1 and ,delitzsch4#aed ,one of the greatest works at present incumbent upon the ,church of ,christ is to bring together into a compact and systematic body the results of previous investigations1 which from their very extent are inaccessible to the generality of inquirers4 ,it is a work for which this society has been formed2 it will only be accomplished by the combined efforts of men varying in gifts and powers1 but animated alike by one spirit of fealty and love to our ,lord4 ,on this occasion ,i propose1 with all possible brevity1 to show that those evidences of ,christianity which are accessible to every careful inquirer are complete and adequate2 complete inasmuch as they meet the fair requirements of our moral and rational nature1 and adequate with reference to their purpose1 which is to bring us into contact with the central and fundamental truths of our religion1 and with the ,person of its ,founder4 ,it may be assumed that persons who meet to consider the evidences of revealed religion have previously satisfied themselves of the existence and the personality of ,god2 or at least that they have not accepted the theory1 once deemed too irrational to need refutation1 that the universe is but an assemblage of forces1 self-existent1 and uncontrolled by a conscious will4 ,that is a question antecedent to our present inquiry4 ,it would be useless to discuss the proofs of a supernatural intervention with one who held that there is no supernatural power to intervene4 ,materialism under any form1 and ,christianity in any stage1 are mutually exclusive4 ,they are not even1 properly speaking1 antagonistic2 since antagonism implies a common field of action1 and the recognition of some principle to which disputants can appeal4 ,we can only argue now with those who admit the possibility of a revelation1 and are therefore willing to examine the evidences1 and to accept the conclusions to which those evidences may lead4 ,our first object will be to see what conclusions are fairly drawn from those broad facts which first present themselves in the history of ,christianity1 and which no one thinks of disputing4 ,put yourselves1 if possible1 in the position of an inquirer to whom the facts might be new1 and who had simply to satisfy himself as to their bearings upon his own convictions and upon the state of man4 ,here is one fact4 ,at the central point of the world's history1 central both in time and in historical import1 equidistant from the end of what men are agreed to call the prehistoric period and our own time1 the man ,jesus arose1 and claimed to be1 in a sense altogether apart from other men1 the teacher and the ,saviour of the world4 ,he claimed a direct mission from ,god1--nay1 more1 to be1 in a sense hereafter to be ascertained1 the ,son of ,god4 ,he assumed that the truth which ,he had to teach was new1 inasmuch as it was one which man could not discover for himself1 but at the same time one to which man's conscience would bear testimony1 which could not therefore be rejected without sin4 ,as credentials of ,his mission1 ,he appealed to works which those who accepted ,him and those who opposed ,him admitted could not be wrought without supernatural aid4#aee ,to one work1 as the crowning work of all1 ,he directed ,his followers to appeal1 as one capable of being attested1 and incapable of being explained away1 even ,his own resurrection from the dead4 ,and now observe1 the fact of this assumption1 quite independent of the evidence by which it was supported1 stands absolutely alone in the world's history4 ,consider the existing religions of the world4 ,three are associated with the names of individuals as their founders4 ,of ,mahomet we need not speak4 ,his doctrine was avowedly derived from ,judaism1 he claimed no special relationship to ,god1 nor did he profess to work miracles2 as coming after our ,lord1 we might have expected a far nearer resemblance in pretensions advanced by himself1 and to some extent at a later period advanced by his followers4 ,two other men1 however1 stand before us with characteristics which attract our warmest interest1 and enable us to understand the permanent influence they have exerted over the countless myriads of ,asia4 ,i know nothing in history more touching than the account of ,siddartha#aef 7called ,sakya ,monni1 that is1 monk of the royal race of the ,sakyas71 the founder of ,bhuddism1 whose tender and noble spirit was driven by the contemplation of human misery into desperate struggles to escape from this prison of the universe even at the cost of personal annihilation2 but observe this1 he did not even profess to support his strange gospel of despair by assertions or attestations which would necessarily imply the personality of ,god1 and ,his sovereignty over the universe4 ,if1 again1 you consult the four books in which ,confucius#aeg sets forth with singular simplicity and force the great principles of moral truth1 you will find that he never presents them as revelations1 as a message supernaturally imparted or attested1 but as evolutions of man's inner conscience1 as the product of a faculty inherent equally in all4 ,seekers after truth1 honest1 earnest1 and noble seekers1 to whom no ,christian should refuse a tribute of admiration1 the world has produced1 but you will find no one man1 save ,jesus only1 among the founders of existing religions1 no one indeed within the historic period1 who ever professed to be the giver of a truth at once absolutely new and attested by works such as ,god only could enable him to perform4 ,and now consider this fact4 ,the appearance of this man ,jesus1 unparalleled as it is shown to have been1 was nevertheless expected4 ,at present ,i have not to show that ,his person1 ,his offices1 ,his work1 together with their permanent effect1 had actually been foretold1 or that the predictions referred to ,him as accomplisher of a divine purpose2 but this we know1 as a fact beyond controversy1 that when ,he began to teach and work1 his countrymen were familiar with a long series of texts1 beginning with the first1 and continued to the end1 of their sacred books1 in which they recognized descriptions of such a teacher4 ,you will remember that those descriptions included all particulars by which an individual could be identified4 ,as for their accurate coincidence with what is recorded of our ,lord1 it is scarcely necessary to argue1 since our ablest opponents hold that it is too close to be accounted for1 save on the supposition that the records1 whether consciously or unconsciously1 were moulded so to produce the conformity4 ,with that theory ,mr4 ,row and others have dealt4 ,i do not believe that it is likely to retain a hold on the minds of our countrymen1 but it is a most striking attestation to an all-important fact which ,i request you most seriously to weigh1 remembering that of this man ,jesus alone in the world's history can it be asserted that such an expectation existed4 ,the next fact1 again1 is so obvious that men are in real danger of overlooking its significance4 ,the faith in this ,man took root4 ,it took root at once1 and so deeply that storms which might have sufficed to tear up any human institution1 served only to fix it more firmly4 ,this ,man died1 ,his followers were hounded to the death1 man's passions1 man's superstitions1 man's intellect1 during centuries of struggle1 were opposed to this religion1 and yet it prevailed4 ,will you say it did not prevail universally8 ,well1 what is its actual extent8 ,i answer1 it is co-extensive with the civilization of the world4 ,is this assertion too strong8 ,look at the facts4 ,beyond the pale of ,christendom1 the great races of humanity1 which in past ages have shown equal capacities for the highest culture1 have at this present time no single representative nation1 ,turanian1 ,semitic1 or ,aryan1 in which liberty1 philosophy1 nay1 even physical science1 with its serene indifference to moral or spiritual truth1 have a settled home or practical development4 ,the elements of civilization are there1 capable undoubtedly of being evoked and energized1 but as a plain matter of fact at this present time1 after thousands of years for development1 throughout the vast regions of ,islamism1 ,buddhism1 and ,confucianism1 not to speak of lower forms of paganism1 they are stunted1 distorted1 and1 to all human ken1 in hopeless and chaotic ruin4 ,it would not be difficult to prove that the special evils which have choked the human mind1 and blighted its energies1 are in each case distinctly traceable to evils inherent in those religious systems2 but we are dealing now with facts not depending upon argument1 nor demanding lengthened inquiries4 ,it suffices to state the bare fact that the religion of the crucified ,jesus1 with its doctrines that were a stumbling-block to the ,jews1 and foolishness to the ,gentiles1 is at this day conterminous with human progress1 with all advance in liberty1 science1 and social culture1 with all that is substantially precious in the civilization of the world4 ,to these facts others might be added of a similar character1 such as the recognition of our ,lord ,jesus as the true ,master and ,teacher of the world1 by men acknowledged in every age of ,christendom to be conspicuous for moral worth and intellectual power2 such1 again1 as the pre-eminence in ,christendom1 in every age1 of nations which profess at least to acknowledge ,him as their ,lord1 and as the rapid disintegration or ruin of communities which have corrupted or abjured ,his religion4 ,but the broadest and simplest facts thus stated are sufficient for the one purpose we have now in view2 sufficient to induce every one who cares to know the truth to go at once to that ,man1 to ask what ,he has to teach4 ,the inquirer will do this1 as ,i should think1 before he enters into the lengthened and very difficult inquiry into the origin or interpretation of the predictions or the words of which we have spoken4 ,he will do it because1 after all1 no evidence has anything approaching the weight which attaches to the personal influence of a teacher1 in this case1 of one who declares ,himself to be ready to receive inquirers1 and to satisfy their wants1 who claims to be the living and ever-present ,teacher of man4 ,the inquirer will certainly do this if he feels the same moral wants1 and experiences the same moral difficulties and perplexities which beset the most thoughtful heathen before the coming of this ,man2 feelings well expressed in the ,phdo of ,plato by ,simmias1 a good representative of sturdy1 even sceptical1 but thoroughly honest seekers after truth4 ,these are his words3 ,it seems to me1 ,socrates1 as probably to you also1 that to know the certainty about such questions in this present life is a thing either impossible or exceedingly difficult2 yet that1 nevertheless1 not to test thoroughly whatever is said about them1 or to desist until we have done our utmost by inquiring in every direction1 would be sheer cowardice4 ,for some one at least of the following results we ought to attain about them1 either to learn from others how the truth stands1 or discover it for ourselves2 or1 if neither should be possible1 then1 at any rate1 to take the best and most irrefragable of human theories1 and use it as a raft1 so to speak1 to convey us1 though in much danger1 through the sea of life1 unless1 indeed1 one were enabled to accomplish the passage1 with no risk of error or mishap1 upon the firmer conveyance of a word from ,god4#aeh ,the question now meets us1 ,how can we be sure that we have ,his teaching8 ,where can we find ,his own words8 ,where can we learn what ,he really did8 ,have we a thoroughly trustworthy1 not to say unquestioned1 record of the words ,he uttered8 of the works ,he is asserted to have wrought8 ,now there can be no doubt1 that of all assaults upon the faith1 the most effective in this age are those which have been made upon the documents which compose the ,new ,testament4 ,the reason for this is obvious4 ,an investigation into the authenticity of any ancient book demands an amount of knowledge and critical ability1 a soundness and keenness of judgment1 which are the very rarest of qualifications4 ,turn to secular literature1 and you will find critics arguing for ages1 without any approximation to a settlement1 touching the genuineness of works attributed to men whose peculiarities of genius and of style would seem to defy imitation4 ,who would venture on his own judgment to determine how much of the ,homeric poems belong to ,that ,lord of loftiest song1 ,who above others like an eagle soars8 ,quel ,signor dell' altissimo canto1 ,che sovra gli altri com' aquila vola4#aei ,look at the controversy between ,grote1 ,jowett1 and the latest ,german critics touching the authenticity of no small portion of the ,platonic dialogues4 ,taken simply as a question of critical inquiry1 no man of sense would venture to determine1 on internal data1 the authorship of any book in the ,new ,testament1 without years of laborious preparation4 ,i will add1 no prudent man at all conversant with the history of criticism would accept assertions1 however confident1 of critics whose known and avowed prepossessions would make it priori certain that they would be averse to the acceptance of documents which1 if genuine1 supply substantial grounds for belief in supernatural works and a supernatural ,person4 ,what then are we to do8 ,well1 in the first place we may inquire whether any portion of the documents in that book is admitted to be wholly unaffected by the corrosive solvent of negative criticism4 ,this will give us at once a most important set of documents1 no less than those epistles of ,st4 ,paul#afj which contain the fullest exposition of ,christ's doctrine1 and the most explicit statements of the supernatural facts on which that doctrine is based2 above all1 the fact of the ,resurrection4 ,there you will find ,christ speaking1 according to ,his own promise1 by ,his ,spirit4 ,but we are not to be cheated of our heritage by a criticism of which the main negative results are repudiated1 not only by all who believe in any form or degree of objective revelation1 but by a great majority of avowed rationalists4 ,one by one we recover1 with their concurrence1 the other general epistles of ,st4 ,paul1 the first of ,st4 ,peter and of ,st4 ,john1 the ,gospel of ,st4 ,mark1 the discourses in ,st4 ,matthew1 the two treatises of ,st4 ,luke1 and1 though hotly contested1 as might be expected1 considering its vital importance1 still triumphantly1 and ,i do not fear to say irrevocably1 secured1 attested by external evidence ever more perfect1 and by internal evidence#afa daily more convincing1 as you can witness1 the ,gospel of ,st4 ,john4 ,i might go farther still1 and point to the reception of nearly all contested portions by some or other of our opponents1 and show the cogency of the reasons which overcame deep-seated prejudices2 but it is sufficient for our immediate purpose to argue ex concessis4 ,if we take at first those books only which the severest critics1 with the exception of certain scholars of the ,tbingen school hold to be indisputable1 we have ,christ before us1 the characteristics of ,his ,personality1 the cardinal events of ,his life1 the subject matter of ,his teaching4 ,even ,keim and ,rnan admit that ,his mark is unmistakably stamped upon those discourses to which every inquirer will naturally turn at once1 when he seeks to know what ,jesus taught4 ,and here let me speak out frankly my own opinion4 ,the whole result of inquiry into the truth of ,christianity will depend upon the effect produced upon you by the ,personality of ,jesus ,christ4 ,if a careful study of ,his words1 of ,his works1 does not constrain you to recognize in ,him a divine ,teacher1 if it does not lead you to discern the ,being in whom alone humanity attained to that ideal perfection of which philosophers had ever dreamed1 but of which they deemed that the realization was impossible1 nay1 more1 a ,being in whom the moral and spiritual attributes of ,deity1 perfect holiness1 and perfect love1 were manifested1 then indeed ,i admit1 nay1 ,i am in truth convinced1 that no other evidences will have any real or permanent effect upon your spirit4 ,the completeness of those evidences may fill your minds with anxious questionings1 their adequacy may leave you without excuse for their rejection2 but without a personal influence they will also leave you cold1 and in a position1 if not of outward antagonism1 yet of inward alienation4 ,if1 on the other hand1 you accept ,jesus as your ,teacher and ,master1 simply and wholly because ,he has won your heart and conquered your spirit1 then all other evidences will fall into their proper place2 they will not be set aside1 contemned1 or neglected--had they been needless1 they would not have been given--but they will be used as subsidiary and supplementary2 enabling you to give a reason for the faith which is in you1 both for your own satisfaction1 and for the defence and advancement of ,christian truth4 ,the one great evidence1 the master evidence1 the evidence with which all other evidences will stand or fall1 is ,christ ,himself speaking by ,his own word4 ,our first endeavour must therefore be to acquire a distinct and1 so far as may be possible1 a complete conception of the personal character of ,jesus ,christ4 ,here1 however1 we are met by the question1 ,are we to consider ,him at first in ,his human nature separately1 or must we1 in order to appreciate ,him truly1 contemplate ,him at once in the completeness of ,his ,personality1 combining the human with the divine8 ,i answer1 not without some hesitation1 that the line seems pointed out by ,holy ,scripture4 ,we are told there that ,his nature is twofold1 that in ,him we see ,god in man1 that the whole work which ,he came to accomplish depended upon that nature2 but1 on the other hand1 we find that the form in which ,he presented ,himself to ,his contemporaries1 and through the medium of historical records to the ,church1 in which and by which ,he drew mankind to ,himself1 was thoroughly human2 and so it seems to me clear that our first duty must be to collect from the ,gospel narrative all the characteristic traits of ,his humanity1 and so learn to know ,him as perfect man4 ,we may or may not avail ourselves of external help in this part of the inquiry2 but if we do1 the utmost caution and discrimination will be needed4 ,it is certain that all so-called lives of ,jesus are written under some kind of prepossession1 and convey impressions which1 however fair and honest they may be1 have a strong colouring of personal feelings4 ,doubtless by such lives as those by ,neander1 ,baumgarten1 ,pressens1 not to speak of the ,ecce ,homo1 a student may have his attention drawn to traits which he might otherwise fail to appreciate3 but ,i believe that1 until the mind is saturated with the truth set forth with all plainness and in all completeness in ,scripture1 the loss will outweigh the gain4 ,i do not say that1 in an advanced stage of inquiry1 those among us especially who have to consult the wants of other minds1 may not profitably resort to these and similar writings for supplementary information or suggestions3 but this observation is to some extent true of other works in which the false infinitely preponderates over the true2 and if you once go outside of the ,gospels for aid in the natural attempt to gain an independent position as an impartial inquirer1 you may entangle yourself in the subtle webs of sophistry1 such as are woven by ,rnan1 ,keim1 or ,strauss4 ,speaking indeed of ,pressens's work on our ,saviour's life1 which1 on the whole1 approaches most nearly to a faithful and complete portraiture1 a friend remarkable for sound strong sense remarked to me that a careful perusal served but to convince him of the needlessness of such remouldings of the sacred history4 ,and for my own part1 ,i do not hesitate to say that you will act most wisely if you keep to the gospel narrative exclusively until you have ascertained to your own satisfaction what are the true characteristics of our ,lord4 ,i do not entertain any doubt as to the result4 ,no healthy moral nature ever came into contact with that ,personality without recognizing its unapproached and unapproachable excellence4 ,nay1 ,i will add1 no human heart susceptible of tender or noble emotions ever fixed its gaze upon ,jesus without acknowledging in ,him the embodiment of love4 ,attestations to this effect might be adduced in abundance from writings of men who have passed their lives in ineffectual efforts to extricate themselves from the perplexity arising from their inability to reconcile that impression with their intellectual system3 but we need no testimony from without4 ,go to ,christ1 hear ,him speak1 watch ,his actions1 and you will have an evidence1 at once complete and adequate1 that in ,him was a human nature which1 in its entire freedom from all moral evil1 and in its perfect development of all moral goodness1 stands absolutely alone4 ,you may say this is mere assumption4 ,i can only answer1 ,you have to judge for yourselves4 ,i do not profess to draw out the evidence1 but simply to show what is its nature1 and where it is to be found4 ,i do not attempt to delineate that character2 at the utmost1 ,i could but give you but a very imperfect account of the impression which it has made on my own very imperfect nature4 ,i simply assert that the evidence is there1 and that upon you rests the responsibility of examining it4 ,its effect1 as ,i doubt not1 will depend upon your moral nature2 not indeed upon your moral goodness--,christ speaks to sinners--but upon your moral susceptibility1 your capacity to discern and appreciate moral goodness4 ,if that character does not attract1 subdue1 and win you1 ,i freely admit all other evidence will be useless so far as your innermost convictions are concerned4 ,but numerous as are the cases of individuals who have remained in1 or relapsed into1 a state of scepticism from various causes1 intellectual or moral1 few indeed are the cases of men who have not borne with them into that dreary region an abiding sense of the personal and supreme goodness of ,jesus4 ,but the more carefully you examine that character1 the more forcibly you will be struck by the fact that this ,man1 of whom the most special and most distinctive characteristics are absolute truthfulness and absolute humility1 speaks throughout with an authority which involves the assumption of a divine nature4 ,this statement does not rest on particular texts open to misconstruction or evasion1 but on the tenor of each and every discourse1 on ,his acts not less than ,his words4 ,he addresses man as man's ,master2 ,he speaks as the ,son of ,god1 as one with ,god4 ,this fact is stated in strong1 not to say irreverent1 terms by the author of ,ecce ,homo3 ,during ,his whole public life ,jesus is distinguished from the other prominent characters of ,jewish history by ,his unbounded personal pretensions4 ,two writers1 differing widely in tone of mind1 but alike in depth of thought and earnestness of purpose1 prove1 were proof needed1 that those pretensions are justified by the truth of the ,incarnation1 and by that alone4 7,see the ,rev4 ,m4 ,f4 ,sadler1 ,immanuel1 pp4 #bfd-cji2 and ,mr4 ,hutton's ,essay on the ,incarnation47 ,you will1 in fact1 soon find that you have no alternative but either to give up all that has wrought itself into your moral nature1 and intwined itself around the fibres of your affections1 all your convictions of the moral excellence of ,jesus1 or to accept ,him1 even as ,he presents ,himself1 the ,god-man4 ,his enemies felt this4 ,they persecuted ,him because ,he made ,himself1 as they said truly1 equal with ,god4 ,they crucified ,him because ,he claimed the powers and attributes of the ,son of ,god4 ,modern sceptics of loftier strain feel this keenly4 ,they might be content to accept ,him as a moral teacher2 for1 in that case1 they could deal with ,him as their equal by nature1 receiving or rejecting ,his teaching as it might accord or not with their own judgment2 if they reject ,him it is simply or mainly1 as they will tell you1 because ,he claims to be more than man1 and1 as they well know1 to be no less than ,god4 ,they ask 7perhaps you will ask71 how did ,he justify the claim8 ,the answer1 of course1 involves the whole controversy2 but ,i will once more state my own conviction4 ,if you put yourselves under ,his teaching1 ,he will not leave you in doubt4 ,you will attain by degrees only to any real appreciation of ,his human goodness2 but together with the growth of that appreciation will dawn upon you the consciousness1 ever increasing in clearness and intensity1 that in ,him you are gazing upon the ,incarnate ,god4 ,you will have a twofold evidence3 the evidence of a perfectly logical conviction1 founded on sure inferences from sure premises1 upon the inseparability of truth and goodness1 self-knowledge and perfect wisdom1 and the evidence of direct intuition2 you will feel yourselves in the presence of ,god4 ,and now let me read a passage which is a very remarkable attestation to the effect produced upon a man of strong sense and thorough independence of character1 by an honest and reverent study of our ,lord's ,person and teaching4 ,you will find it in the treatise on the ,incarnation1 published within the last few months1 in ,mr4 ,hutton's ,essays3 ,and now let me honestly ask myself1 and answer the question as truly as ,i can1 whether this great1 this stupendous fact of the ,incarnation is honestly believable by an ordinary man of modern times1 who has not been educated into it1 but educated to distrust it2 who has no leaning to the orthodox creed1 as such1 but has generally preferred to associate with heretics2 who is quite alive to the force of the scientific and literary criticisms of his day2 who has no antiquarian tastes1 no predilection for the venerable past2 who does not regard this truth as part of a great system1 dogmatic or ecclesiastical1 but merely for itself2 who is1 in a word1 simply anxious to take hold1 if he so may1 of any divine hand stretched out to help him through the excitement and the languor1 the joy1 the sorrow1 the storm and sunshine1 of this unintelligible life4 ,from my heart ,i answer1 ,yes--believable1 and more than believable1 in any mood in which we can rise above ourselves to that supernatural spirit which orders the unruly wills and affections of sinful men2 more than believable1 ,i say1 because it so vivifies and supplements that fundamental faith in ,god as to realize what were else abstract1 and1 without dissolving the mystery1 to clothe eternal love with breathing life4#afb ,let me call your attention to the remarkable resemblance1 of which ,i believe the writer to have been unconscious1 between these most striking words and those which ,i quoted from ,plato4 ,what the ancient inquirer longed for1 but sought in vain1 the modern has sought and found1 and with it the one and the only imaginable solution of the mystery of life4 ,i speak to persons able to bring the stores of varied reading to bear upon these questions1 and we live in a time when learning has fairly rivalled science in bringing regions of thought hitherto unknown1 or known only to solitary students1 within the cognizance of men of general cultivation4 ,as a matter of a deep interest and importance1 ,i would ask you1 when you have attained to a complete conception of our ,lord's ,person1 to compare ,his teaching with that of men whose influence has been most widely and abidingly felt in the world4 ,i will not insult our ,master by placing ,his name in juxtaposition with the founder of ,islamism1 nor indeed would it fairly enter into the inquiry2 for if you separate the elements of truth derived from ,judaism and from ,christianity1 through the medium of a corrupt tradition1 the ,koran will yield you but a mass of idle legends4 ,it is indeed the fashion at present to speak of ,mahomet as a great and genuine prophet1 with a ,divine mission 7see ,hutton's ,essays1 i4 p4 #bgg74 ,now ,i do not doubt his sincerity at the beginning of his career1 or his steadfast adherence to the one great truth which he proclaimed2 but it must never be forgotten that he invented a special revelation to justify indulgence in his master-sin 7see the ,koran1 c4 #ff71 and that he commanded the propagation of his religion by the sword4 ,there are1 however1 three great names connected with those mighty revolutions of thought which have permanently affected the moral or religious convictions of mankind2 ,i speak of them specially1 because their character and teaching were wholly uninfluenced by revelation1 and because they severally represent the highest development of pre-,christian character3 ,buddha1 ,confucius1 and ,socrates4 ,of two ,i have already spoken1 and will now simply refer you to the clear and impartial accounts given by ,ampre1 ,francke1 and ,barthlemi ,st4 ,hilaire1 to justify my statement1 that although1 as might be expected1 in some points of their moral teaching and in their spiritual aspirations they bear a true resemblance to ,him in whom human nature was perfectly represented1 yet each of them differed1 as indeed all other men differ1 from ,him1 in one special characteristic2 each of them is the creature of his race and of his age2 the influence of each is felt in the full development of the peculiar tendencies of his own section of the human family2 in the one case1 of physical languor and mental dreaminess2 in the other1 of a formal and conventional morality1 and of political unity secured by the sacrifice of all independent action and thought4 ,i turn to ,socrates4 ,there is a special reason why we should direct our attention to his character4 ,it has at various times been brought into comparison with that of our ,lord2 even when that comparison is not distinctly brought out1 it is often intentionally1 or it may be unintentionally1 suggested4 ,that character has been delineated by ,mr4 ,jowett1 in the prefaces of his translation of the ,platonic dialogues1 with a sagacity beyond all praise1 with an impartiality which trenches upon indifference1 not merely in questions of merely speculative interest1 but of moral concernment4#afc ,it is a noble work1 representing the labour of long years devoted almost exclusively to the study of the master-mind of ,greece4 ,socrates there stands before us4 ,we enter into his thoughts1 we know him as a living man4 ,his character may indeed have undergone some change of representation in passing through the mind of the most imaginative of human teachers1 his greatest disciple1 ,plato2 but it is a change which does but magnify and idealize his loftiest characteristics4 ,let us see1 then1 in what respects this wisest and best of men1 this teacher whom the great ,fathers of ,christendom justly reverenced as a true though unconscious preparer of men's spirits for the coming ,teacher1 resembles1 in what respects1 not less than the other two1 he especially differs1 from our ,lord4 ,this strikes us at a glance4 ,socrates is altogether and throughout a ,greek4 ,his intellect1 his character1 is ,greek4 ,the stamp of an exclusive nationality is upon him4 ,he has the feelings1 the prejudices1 of a singularly exclusive section of an exclusive race4 ,his code of morals tolerates1 ,i will not say sanctions1 habits and feelings quite at variance1 as ,mr4 ,jowett says1 with modern and ,christian notions4 ,characters moulded to a great extent under his influence became living embodiments of some of the worst characteristics of heathenism1 of force1 pride 7 ,greek3 hubris71 and licentiousness1 as1 for instance1 ,critias1 ,charmides1 and ,alcibiades4 ,exquisite and perfect as was his sympathy with all that was noble1 all that was graceful and beautiful in ,hellenic culture1 it went no further4 ,graces which to the ,christian are the very foundation of spiritualist life1 had no place1 no name even1 in his philosophy4 ,i cannot recall1 among all his sayings1 one that expresses sympathy with man in his extremest degradation and misery1 or indignation with his countrymen for their treatment of their slaves4 ,i would not be unjust4 ,i never turn to the pages in which his spirit breathes without recognizing its attractions for the lover of man and the seeker after ,god2 but still the fact remains1 and stands out more clearly the more fully that spirit is made known1 that ,socrates1 in his best and in his worst characteristics1 was out and out an ,athenian by character1 by temperament1 by moral sympathy1 and by religion also1 not less than ,confucius was a ,chinese1 and ,siddartha a ,hindoo4 ,i touch briefly on another important point ,socrates was a true1 honest1 earnest seeker after truth4 ,i give this high praise unreservedly4 ,as such1 he represents the best tendencies of ,gentile thought4 ,as an honest seeker he had the fitting reward4 ,so far as his search was not impeded by moral causes to which ,i have alluded1 it was successful4 ,he apprehended and taught truths of infinite value4 ,but note this2 he had not1 did not profess to have1 definite convictions upon the most important of all truths4 ,mr4 ,jowett says deliberately1#afd and as ,i think truly1 ,socrates cannot be proved to have believed in the immortality of the soul4 ,his speculations concerning a future state of retribution1 recorded doubtless with a considerable admixture of ,platonism in the ,phdo1 are deeply interesting2 but they are speculations only1 resting partly on grounds of which he recognises the insufficiency1 or of which we cannot doubt the unsoundness4 ,socrates gave what he found4 ,he sought for life and immortality2 he drew very near to the region where they are to be found2 he prepared the spirit of man for their announcement2 but he did not bring them to light ,that was the work of ,him who at once declares the truth1 and justifies its reception4 ,and now1 keeping these characteristics in mind1 let me ask you to consider them in reference to our ,lord's teaching4 ,one of our most popular and graceful writers--the ,dean of ,westminster--has done good service to the truth by pointing out repeatedly the very conspicuous and utterly peculiar characteristic of the ,saviour1 that ,he is wholly devoid of national exclusiveness4 ,this is the more striking since ,his birth and all the circumstances of ,his early life would naturally have imbued ,him with the prejudices of the most exclusive of all nations3 a nation which was intended to be exclusive1 which could only fulfil its special mission by exclusiveness4 ,mr4 ,hutton puts this with his usual force1 but somewhat harshly3 ,to trust in ,him really1 to believe that ,he can help us to reduce the vulgar chaos of our ,english life to any order resting on an eternal basis1 is far easier if we believe that the very same mind is shining on our consciences which entered into the poorest of lots among nearly the most degraded generation of the most narrow-minded race that the world has ever known1 and made it the birthplace of a new earth 7,essays1 vol4 i41 p4 #bhc74 ,christ speaks ever to man as man2 ,his words find an echo in universal consciousness2 in ,him there is neither ,jew nor ,gentile1 and1 note specially this point1 neither bond nor free4 ,at this point1 however1 we may be met with an objection which has been presented with considerable skill1 and appears to have seriously affected the judgment of inquirers4 ,it is asserted that1 after all1 our ,lord was but a ,jewish ,rabbi1 differing indeed in some remarkable characteristics from other teachers of the synagogue1 but only to an extent which may be accounted for1 partly by ,his position and education1 and the influence of ,essenian principles1 partly by peculiarity of nature and gifts which our opponents admit to have been of the highest order1 marking ,him1 as they would say1 as a man of transcendent genius1 one of the few in the world's history in whom men are compelled to recognise a master of the soul4 ,hebrew writers of great learning1 by whom this notion is gladly accepted1 in their efforts to establish it have done signal if unwitting service to our cause4 ,they have enabled readers of general culture and unbiassed judgment to ascertain for themselves some important facts which were formerly known thoroughly to those only who had sufficient learning and leisure to enable them to penetrate into the depths of ,rabbinical literature1 the most intricate and repulsive which human labour ever produced4 ,it is now comparatively easy to ascertain what was the true character of the ,jewish ,rabbi1 and of ,rabbinical teaching2 what1 too1 was the special character of the ,essenian teaching1#afe at and about the period when our ,lord impressed ,his stamp upon the mind of man4 ,now ,i would challenge any controversialist to deny that our ,lord's teaching differed from that of all the ,rabbis1 not merely in degree1 but in kind4 ,it differed in principle1 in its processes1 in its results1 in its tone1 its spirit1 in every essential characteristic4 ,this was felt at once by ,his hearers3 the first and most abiding impression made upon the mass of ,his countrymen was that ,he taught not as the scribes4 ,this was the secret of the attraction which drew and retained disciples4 ,where shall we go8 ,thou hast the words of eternal life4 ,this was the cause of the fierce antagonism on the part of the ,rabbis4 ,they felt that ,his system was incompatible with their own4 ,the scribe1 as such1 was a mechanical instrument2 his authority was that of the system under which he worked1 he held the minds of his hearers bound down and crippled by fetters by which he was himself bound even more tightly4 ,properly speaking1 he was not even an interpreter of the law1 with the principles of which he was little concerned1 but simply a referee on points of casuistry or of formal observance which had been settled in past ages4 ,the one merit which he claimed was that of unswerving adherence to the old customs1 the old interpretations1 the old applications of the law4 ,of all disqualifications for the office of a scribe1 the most fatal would be independence of spirit1 originality of thought or feeling4 ,many sayings of the ,rabbis express this principle with the utmost navet3 e4g41 ,a scribe will have no portion in the world to come1 even should he be faithful to the law of ,god1 and full of good works1 if his teaching be not wholly in accordance with tradition4 ,our ,lord's charge against them1 that they made the word of ,god of none effect by their tradition1 scarcely puts this point in a stronger light than their declaration that it is highly perilous for any learned man to read the ,bible1 since he may be induced to trust to its guidance rather than to his teacher4 ,for the more advanced disciple the rule was1 that for one hour given to the study of the ,bible1 two should be devoted to the ,talmud4 ,when we read of different schools of ,rabbis1 and learn that they represented different tendencies1 we naturally suppose that there must have been some movements of spirit1 some struggles of moral and intellectual spontaneity4 ,and it is true that between the school of ,shammai and that of ,hillel and the ,gamaliels there was a wide divergence1 the one relaxing and the other enforcing rigorous observances1 the one encouraging1 the other condemning all genial culture2 but when we compare the teaching of the two parties which is fully represented in the ,talmud1 we see that the liberality of the most advanced is bounded within very narrow limits4 ,hillel1 the best of all1 had the spirit of his caste4 ,eternal life1 according to him1 was the portion of those who had attained to a perfect knowledge of the unwritten and traditional system to which he devoted his own life4 ,it is quite possible to cull from the ,talmud1 especially from one section 7the ,pirke ,aboth1 i4e41 decisions of the ,fathers7 a set of maxims which breathe a high and grave morality1 which enjoin temperance1 chastity1 gentleness1 love of country1 earnestness in the study of ,god's law1 contempt for wealth1 celebrity1 and power2 but the general spirit is cold1 formal1 casuistical1 and the decisions are1 on the whole1 determined by considerations of interest and expediency4 ,in short1 errors of every kind1--errors of interpretation1 errors in the foundations of moral truth1 errors in the representation of ,god's attributes1 errors originating in the grossest superstitions1 and above all in narrow1 bitter1 exclusive prejudices1--bear an overwhelming proportion to the whole compilation1 and belong unquestionably to that ,talmudic atmosphere in which we are told that the pure and lofty spirit of our ,master attained its natural development4 ,it is true that the second portion of the ,talmud1 the ,gemara1 presents those characteristics in an exaggerated form2 but the first part1 the ,mishna1 is replete with a casuistry so trifling and repulsive as to make a continuous perusal almost impossible1 save to one who has some special motive for the study4 ,it contains not less than #d1jjh mishnaioth1 that is1 decisions or precepts1 of which the largest proportion is attributed to ,hillel or his followers4 ,out of this vast collection it would be difficult to fix upon any consecutive series of maxims1 say fifty1 which would approve themselves to the moral sense4 ,widely as our ,lord's teaching differs from that of the ,greek or the ,asiatic1 far more does it differ from that of ,his ,hebrew contemporaries3 it belongs altogether to a different sphere1 the sphere in which the human spirit was emancipated from all narrow1 dark1 exclusive prejudices1 and all its powers developed by that ,spirit which rested on ,him without measure1 which ,he received as man1 and which ,he bestowed as ,god4 ,it may be said that if the evidence supplied by knowledge of the ,person of our ,lord be of itself complete and adequate for the highest purpose1 further inquiries may be dismissed as superfluous4 ,nor is the remark unfair4 ,it is1 ,i believe1 quite true that of the myriads who accept the ,christian revelation an immense proportion1 including spirits of every class1 are moved chiefly1 if not exclusively1 by the personal influence of ,jesus1 by the intuition1 so to speak1 which they thus attain into the manifested truth4 ,the sun shines with its own lustre1 and needs no evidence to prove its existence4 ,but our nature is full of inconsistencies4 ,our strongest convictions1 after all1 are held with a feeble grasp1 and are liable to be wrenched from us by sudden assaults1 most especially when they depend upon what in modern parlance are called subjective impressions4 ,it is well1 therefore1 that even this strongest and deepest of all convictions should have outward and independent support1 that it should appeal to palpable and ascertainable facts1 never indeed surrendering its true position in the central stronghold of our spirits1 but going forth when challenged1 and examining at frequent intervals the state of its defences and outposts4 ,let us1 then1 very briefly consider some of those evidences which the ,christian apologist recognizes as most important for the confirmation of faith4 ,here1 undoubtedly1 we have first to look at the evidence of miracles1 which has been discussed by ,dr4 ,stoughton1 and1 among all miracles1 first and foremost--with which all other proofs of miraculous intervention stand or fall--the miracle of the resurrection4#aff ,i take it in this place1 not as it is often taken1 as an antecedent evidence to be examined or rejected previous to examination of the character of our ,saviour2 but as an evidence of which the true force is inseparably bound up with the result of that preliminary inquiry4 ,the mind may indeed submit to logical inferences drawn from undisputed or demonstrated facts1 but it will submit reluctantly1 and will1 sooner or later1 shake off its shackles1 unless those inferences accord with its sense of moral fitness1 of harmony between the outward manifestation of power and the inward demands of conscience4 ,all moral antecedent objection to the resurrection of ,christ disappears when it is acknowledged that ,his character satisfies those conditions4 ,the first apologist of ,christianity--,st4 ,peter at ,pentecost--puts this in the very foreground of his argument3 ,god raised ,him up1 having loosed the pains of death1 because it was not possible that ,he should be holden of it4 ,it was impossible1 considering the relation of the ,son to the ,father1 and of the ,father to the universe4 ,the expectation1 in fact1 of the resurrection of one approved by ,god as perfect in holiness1 such as ,christians believe their ,master to be1 is actually admitted to be so natural that the most subtle opponents of revelation assume that it must have existed in the minds of the first disciples1 bringing them into a state which prepared them to receive without questioning the rumours which were gradually moulded into a semblance of historical consistency4 ,this theory at least proves this1--given the two facts of ,god's power and justice1 and of ,christ's nature1 as acknowledged by the ,christian1 the resurrection1 if proved on other grounds1 will find no obstacle to its reception in our moral consciousness4 ,but the very fact that such a hope exists1 one which1 if fulfilled1 transcends all human longings1 carrying with it1 as ,st4 ,paul shows1 the pledge and the only pledge of our personal redintegration1 will but make the inquirer careful to prove every link in the chain of evidence4 ,and here we have to remark that1 so far from having that assumed expectation1 ,his disciples were utterly in despair after the crucifixion4 ,with their ,master's last breath their last hope departed4 ,they treated the first accounts which reached them as idle1 they did not believe till they had the evidence of their senses2 then were they glad1 when they saw the ,lord4 ,it is a remarkable1 not to say unique1 combination of two conditions for the perfect establishment of an ascertainable fact1 that on the one side it should be in perfect congruity with an eternal principle1 and on the other that it should be witnessed by persons wholly unprepared for its occurrence1 and attested under circumstances which make it impossible to doubt their sincerity4 ,that the attestation was given1 that it was confirmed by outward effects otherwise psychologically inexplicable1 by an immediate and complete change in the character of the disciples1 and by the rapid triumph of the religion so attested1 these and kindred points you will find discussed in every treatise on ,christian evidences3 they are1 in fact1 not open to reasonable doubt4 ,weigh more especially the attestation of ,st4 ,paul1 both as one who knew previously all that could be alleged against the belief1 as one whose strong intellect and strong prejudices rendered him inaccessible to mere subjective impressions1 and as a man of whose conversion no rational1 no intelligible account has ever been given which does not involve the fact of a personal manifestation of ,christ1 and then you will have all that can be needed for steadfast conviction1 evidence complete and adequate for its purpose1 proving that ,jesus was shown to be the ,son of ,god with power by the resurrection from the dead4 7,rom4 i47 ,with an equal interest the student of evidence will now turn back to the inquiry into the teaching of prophecy4 ,at the outset it sufficed to know the broad fact that the characteristics of the coming ,christ were believed by ,his contemporaries to have been announced in predictions which1 whether of divine origin or not1 unquestionably moulded their anticipations4 ,he is now able to test their accuracy1 to satisfy himself as to their origin1 and to study them with a far deeper and more intelligent interest than would be possible without the previous appreciation of our ,lord's nature4 ,at first his attention will naturally be caught by separate predictions1 by their correspondence with outward occurrences in the ,gospel narration2 but as he advances in the study his whole spirit will be gradually absorbed in contemplation of their internal coherence1 their unbroken continuity1 their ever progressing development4 ,distinct1 accurate1 and in the strictest sense of the word evidential1 those predictions are1 taken separately and independently2 as such they are recognised by one and all the sacred writers--by none more fully than by the two who stand pre-eminent among the disciples of ,jesus--by ,st ,paul1 who represents the highest development of the intellectual forces in ,christianity1 the acute disputant1 the subtle reasoner1 the spiritualist philosopher1 or1 as he has been lately called1 the metaphysician of ,christianity--and by ,st4 ,john1 whose spirit1 insphered in the region of love1 came into nearest contact with the divine1 who represents the very highest of all faculties1 that of spiritual intuition4 ,nay1 those predictions are repeatedly and distinctly recognised as conclusive evidences by our ,lord ,himself4 ,but their full significance is only discerned when we contemplate them as parts of a mighty whole1 as a continuous and complete testimony of the ,spirit of ,god4 ,two lines of light traverse the realm of spiritual manifestation1 the one revealing the divine1 the other the human characteristics of the future ,saviour3 the one ever expanding1 but from the beginning broad1 luminous1 equable2 the other advancing1 so to speak1 with varying progress1 ever and anon bursting out in sudden flashes1 each bringing into vivid light some event in the life1 above all each event in the crowning work1 of the ,saviour4 ,these two lines gradually converge until they meet in the ,incarnation4 ,from that point of meeting the ,christian goes back2 then he learns to combine and to comprehend their intimations4 ,under ,christ's teaching1 prophecy becomes to him a guiding light--an evidence so complete that if it stood alone he might dispense with other proofs1 and feel it adequate for the support of his faith4 ,you will1 however1 remember that besides those predictions which apply directly to our ,lord's person1 an inexhaustible treasury of predictions refer to events in the providential history of the world1 and they1 too1 are strictly evidential4 ,even writers to whom the very word revelation is distasteful1 acknowledge in the ,hebrew prophets true seers2 that is1 men whose spirit was in unison with the everlasting harmonies of the universe4 ,but it is only when we know ,christ as ,he reveals ,himself1 as the ,lord of history1 that the long series of prophetic intimations present themselves in their true light to our minds4 ,the exact explanation of each specific prediction1 such as are found in ,isaiah and ,daniel1 taxes and rewards the industry of students1 but the real interest consists not in the satisfaction of a rational curiosity1 or the bearing upon controversy1 but in the help which is thus supplied1 enabling us to realize vividly the presence of ,christ foreordering all events so as to make them work together for the accomplishment of ,his will4 ,if time allowed1 ,i might here dwell on other topics4 ,i might point out how deep thinkers1 ,pascal perhaps most powerfully1 have shown that ,christianity1 and ,christianity alone1 fully recognises the two opposite and apparently irreconcilable aspects of our common humanity1 its unspeakable misery and degradation out of ,god1 and its capacity for restoration and reunion with the ,divine1 and1 again1 that it corresponds to an extent wholly incomprehensible1 save on the admission of its divine origin1 with those requirements of man's conscience and spirit which every system of philosophy recognises1 but which one and all admit that they fail to satisfy4 ,i might dwell upon the fact that between the acceptance of the entire truth thus made known to us1 and utter negation of the supernatural and divine1 the intermediate positions long defended as tenable have been1 both here and on the continent1 all but universally abandoned by the representatives of modern thought4 ,i might point out that together with that abandonment1 and as a direct result of that abandonment1 a dark1 drear hopelessness1 not merely as to the immediate issue of the storms which convulse the atmosphere we breathe as spiritual1 social1 and intellectual beings1 but as to the future and abiding consequences of those convulsions1 appears to be settling down upon men's minds3 a hopelessness for which there is no remedy save that which depends upon the triumph of righteousness and truth1 a triumph to be achieved only under the banner of ,christ4 ,what ,i have attempted to do1 none can feel as ,i do how imperfectly1 has been to set before you in orderly sequence facts within the reach of all2 facts of which the truth and power and far-reaching influences will be felt more and more in proportion to the earnestness and sincerity of your own inquiry2 facts which once admitted are evidences complete in themselves1 and adequate for their purpose in each stage of our spiritual development3 evidences sufficient to constrain all who believe in ,god to believe also in the ,son whom ,he has sent2 to know ,him as the way1 the truth1 and the life4 ,in ,his school that rational conviction1 retaining all its clearness1 will undergo a process at once of development and transfigurement2 and become a living faith4 ,,explanatory ,,paper ,,by ,,the ,,right ,,rev4 ,,the ,,lord ,,bishop ,,of ,,gloucester ,,and ,,bristol4 ,,explanatory ,,paper ,having been requested by the ,committee of the ,christian ,evidence ,society to draw up a short paper which might serve as a partial introduction to the ,lectures1 and especially might set forth their general plan and connexion1 as originally designed by the ,committee1 ,i have much pleasure in submitting the following brief comments to the many readers of this valuable series4 ,the ,lectures were delivered in the course of the spring in the present year1 to large audiences1 in ,st4 ,george's ,hall1 ,langham ,place1 and were specially designed to meet some of the current forms of unbelief among the educated classes4 ,they were delivered at the request of the ,christian ,evidence ,society1 and represent a portion of the work undertaken by the ,committee of that ,society in the present year4 ,as they thus stand in such close connection with our ,society1 it may not be unsuitable for me to make a few explanatory remarks on the ,society itself1 and its general objects1 as well as on the plan of the lectures which have been delivered at its request1 and which are now presented to the reader in a collected and continuous form4 ,first1 then1 as to the ,society1 and its present working and design4 ,i4 ,the ,society was established in the spring of the past year4 ,it had long been felt by earnest and thoughtful persons1 both ,churchmen and ,nonconformists1 that some combined attempt ought to be made to meet in fair argument the scepticism and unbelief which for the last few years have been distinctly traceable in all classes of society4 ,into all the causes of this state of things it is not now our object to inquire4 ,these are1 probably1 many and various1 and may defy any formal classification4 ,it is1 indeed1 seldom that those who live in the stream and current of a quickly moving generation can properly estimate the variously combined movements around them1 or can always very successfully refer them even to their more proximate causes4 ,we may1 however1 very profitably1 as thus illustrating the general design of the lectures1 pause to advert to two or three of what would seem to be leading causes of this present prevalence of doubt and scepticism4 ,we may1 in the first place then1 venture to express the opinion that it does seem to stand in some degree of connection with the historical criticism1 or1 to speak more exactly1 with the philosophical mode of treating ancient history1 which1 especially since the time of ,niebuhr1 has so honourably marked the present and the latter half of the preceding generation4 ,it was obviously impossible that a system which appeared to yield results judged to be eminently satisfactory and trustworthy in regard of the general history of the past1 should not be applied to sacred history1 and to the various documents which together make up the ,holy ,bible4 ,and it has been applied1 sometimes cautiously and reverently1 and with a due regard for the religious convictions of ,christian readers1 but sometimes also with an eagerness and persistence which may not unfairly be characterized as both inconsiderate and unjustifiable4 ,this method of criticism1 especially in its more unfavourable manifestations1 may certainly be specified as one of the earlier causes of that suspended belief in the historical truth of several portions of the ,old and ,new ,testament1 which many entertain at the present time1 and make no scruple of avowing and justifying4 ,we may also as certainly specify as a second cause the tendency to over-hasty generalization that has of late marked the rapid development of some of the natural sciences4 ,from true science true religion has nothing to fear4 ,but it is otherwise when results newly obtained1 and at present1 from the very circumstances of the case1 imperfectly tested and verified1 are confidently put forward2 and when inferences of perhaps doubtful validity are set1 if not in actual opposition to the statements of ,revelation1 yet in such a studious juxtaposition1 that comparison is challenged1 and by consequence many an early conviction weakened and impaired4 ,we say by consequence1--for no acute observer of the heart and its mysteries can have failed to mark how1 even in minds of higher strain there is often a secret sympathy with the attacking party1 not so much on the merits of the case1 as from the simple fact that it is the attacking party2 and that while on this side there is only the passivity of prescription1 on the other there is all the vigour of assault and progress4 ,this obvious fact1 which1--like some other mental facts of a similar nature1--is1 we fear1 proved by almost daily experience1 has not been sufficiently taken into consideration2 but if estimated properly1 it will account for much that is otherwise perplexing4 ,it will even tend to reassure us1 as it will enable us to assign to its true though hidden reason much of the present startling readiness with which scientific inferences1 supposed generally to be unfavourable to received views1 have received at least some measure of sympathy and approval ,it may be1 too1 that this latent feeling of sympathy with the attack will be neutralized when it is found that the defence is not deficient in energy or vigour1 and when ,english fair play seems to suggest that each side should be allowed to fight it out without having any advantages arising from prepensions or prejudice4 ,however this may be1 there is no doubt that the cause we have specified is a real and a prevailing one4 ,over-hasty scientific generalization is certainly one of the causes of the present state of modern religious belief4 ,one more cause we may also pause to specify1 as it involves in it much that will minister comfort and reassurance4 ,this cause is the eager and often impatient search for solid ground whereon religion and morality may be based4 ,with all their faults1 men are now certainly seeking for truth4 ,there may be misapplications of historical criticism1 there may be misuses and misapprehensions of the real testimony of science1 but amid all there is clearly a searching for truth and firm ground4 ,the processes of destructive criticism are in fact nearly over1 and the difficult process of reconstruction is commencing4 ,the due remembrance of this will help us in estimating a little more calmly1 and perhaps also a little more fairly1 some of the startling phenomena presented by the present state of religious belief4 ,let us1 for example1 take for a moment into consideration two remarkable characteristics of the present time1--first1 the attempts to form a system of morality independent of revealed religion2 and1 secondly1 the acceptance on the part of several earnest and truthful minds of such a system as ,positivism4 ,these really would seem to be at first sight two inexplicable phenomena4 ,both1 however1 are to be accounted for by that searching for something to rest on1 which has just been mentioned4 ,it has been assumed in the one case1 far too hastily1 that the uncertainties connected with the belief in the facts of revealed religion are so great1 that no system of morality could be considered securely founded if it rested only on the ,scriptures4 ,it has been felt by many earnest thinkers that any such system1 to be a true one1 ought to rest solely on principles acknowledged to be of universal application1 and on maxims that have received the assent of all the better part of civilized mankind4 ,if the teaching of ,scripture be in general harmony with such maxims and principles1 its concurrence is not to be slighted2 but it is not deemed as of more real moment than the concurrence of any other form of religious teaching that has exercised a real influence over any large portion of the human family4 ,religion generally is accepted as a buttress to the rising edifice of morality1 but as nothing further4 ,the tower is being builded really with the desire to reach heaven3 if the sequel be what it was of old1 it may still be conceded1 with all fairness1 that the attempt is not made in a bad spirit ,to change slightly the allusion1 the effort is not made in the spirit of the ,titans who piled ,pelion on ,ossa1 but with all the earnestness and anxiety of hoping1 enquiring1 and searching1 though we are bound to add1 mistaken men4 ,in the other case1 though it may seem to many rash to say one word to mitigate the severity of the judgment that both is and ever will be passed on such a system as ,positivism1 yet1 even here1 let us be just and sympathising4 ,there is1 no doubt1 in ,positivism much that is plainly repulsive1 and really calls for severity2 still1 even in this system1 we may trace the prevailing desire to find something solid1 something which appears to be proof to the changes of opinion or the fluctuation of creeds4 ,so the attempt is made to secure a scientific basis1 and to place thereon fact after fact1 when each has become verified and established1 and so to build onward--we cannot honestly say upward--until something like a system is so far constructed that succeeding generations may feel induced to continue it4 ,so even in this sombre and cheerless system there is1 we believe1 really at work a desire to touch ground4 ,to that desire1 however1 it must be sorrowfully added1 every loftier aspiration1 every nobler incentive1 is necessarily sacrificed4 ,science and scientific truth is used in a way that warrants the apprehension that--if such is to be the use made of it--the progress of science may tend1 first1 to impair1 and1 next1 to obliterate1 the sense of responsibility on which the present and the future alike so solemnly rest4 ,it is not without reason1 then1 that this is dwelt gravely upon by all sober thinkers2 nor is it too much to say that this is now one of the gravest considerations connected with the advance of modern scientific investigations4 ,the tendencies of such investigations certainly do appear to hinder the due recognition of these two momentous principles--first1 the sense of responsibility2 and1 secondly1 the sense of dependence on something higher than law1 order1 and evolution4 ,this hindrance1 we trust1 is only in appearance2 still that appearance is accepted by many as reality1 and it is not without reason that we are again and again reminded that the acceptance of the truth of the ,christian creed will with many depend on its power of assimilating the doctrine of universal causation1 or1 to speak more precisely1 of demonstrating that that doctrine is itself only a form of a yet higher and holier truth4 ,we turn1 however1 back again to the design and working of the ,society4 ,it was established to meet this growing scepticism1 and with a due recognition of the causes which have just been specified4 ,it was not started1 as has been sometimes said1 with a little irony1 for the purpose of restoring a belief in ,christianity1 but for the purpose of meeting argument with argument1 and of supplying the many that are now fluctuating between belief and no belief with sober answers and valid arguments drawn forth anew from the great treasury of ,christian evidences4 ,this is the true design and object of the ,society4 ,its mode of carrying out this design has hitherto been threefold--first1 by means of lectures addressed to the educated2 secondly1 by the formation of classes under competent class-leaders1 for the instruction of those in lower grades of society who are exposed to the thickening dangers arising from that organized diffusion of infidel principles which is one of the saddest and most monitory signs of the present time4 ,thirdly1 the ,society is endeavouring to stimulate private study by the circulation of useful tracts1 and by the offer of prizes to such as may be willing that their private study should be tested by competitive examination4 ,all these three modes of carrying out its work have been adopted during the present year2 and1 so far as can be inferred from the work that has been done1 and from the various expressions of public opinion1 with considerable success4 ,popular attention has naturally been directed more especially to the first of the modes specified--the lectures to the educated2 but it is satisfactory to state1 ere we pass at once to our explanatory comments on the plan of these lectures1 that the formation of classes has answered even beyond expectation1 and that1 from the amount of the competition for the prizes that have been offered1 examination in ,christian evidences will form a large and most interesting portion of the future work of the ,society4 ,,ii4 ,we may now turn our attention to the lectures that are included in the present volume--our first year's work4 ,the number of the lectures was twelve4 ,one of these1 the lecture on the ,internal ,evidence of the ,authenticity of ,st4 ,john's ,gospel1 is unfortunately not included in the present volume1 owing to the desire expressed by the learned writer that it should not be published4 ,the absence is much to be regretted2 first1 on account of the value and importance of the lecture2 and1 secondly1 on account of the partial break which has thus been caused in the sequence of the lectures4 ,the lectures were not delivered in the order in which they are here presented to the reader4 ,the convenience of the active as well as distinguished men who consented to act as lecturers1 had naturally to be consulted2 adjustments had to be made1 and interchanges of days of lecturing acceded to1 so as to secure the continuous delivery of the lectures on the days specified4 ,in this collective edition1 however1 the proper order is restored1 and may now be briefly explained1 as some criticisms have been passed on the subjects of the lectures1 which would certainly have been modified if the whole series had been delivered in the order originally designed4 ,the first three lectures were designed to be preparatory and prelusive4 ,they were directed against the three systems which are now more especially1 in different ways1 coming into collision with ,christianity--,materialism and its theories1 ,pantheism1 and ,positivism4 ,it was judged by those who sketched out the plan of the lectures1 that until these subjects were shortly dealt with1 and until the objections against ,christianity1 founded upon them or derived from them1 were briefly noticed1 the evidences for ,christianity could hardly be expected to have a fair hearing4 ,the internal arguments in favour of the leading truths of the ,christian religion could scarcely be fairly estimated if there were to be antecedent objections of a grave and general character left wholly unnoticed and unanswered4 ,hence the three opening lectures3 ,the first of these breaks ground by the consideration of some leading materialistic opinions1 and especially by an exposition of the argument from design4 ,it thus prepares the reader more fully to accept the deep truth so well and succinctly stated by ,bishop ,martensen1#afg that the world has not merely a cosmogonic but also a creational origin1 and that the mysterious problem of creation and life can never be solved in a merely natural way1 but demands a supernatural solution1 that is1 a solution through a creative teleology4 ,the second lecture very suitably follows by a clear exposition of that great system which has of late been found to exercise such a fascination over thoughtful and cultivated minds that it becomes1 to far more than we may suppose1 the conclusion of all controversy4 ,we allude to the system of ,pantheism1 into which of late many noble spirits have seemed willing to merge all their hopes and all their fears4 ,swayed to and fro1 unable to accept ,law for their ,god1 and yet equally held back from the blessed truth that the ,god of the universe is a ,,person1 thousands fall back upon the subtle and fascinating system which supplies a moving ,principle1 but withholds the blessed idea of a holy ,will2 which discloses to them a natura naturans1 but denies the existence of a loving ,creator and a personal ,god4 ,it was thus very properly provided that the lecture on this subject should follow the lecture on ,design in ,nature1 as exhibiting the true characteristics of that modified ,atheism which only too often becomes the refuge of men whose minds have been shaken by the inferences of pure materialism1 or who may have been drawn towards the disguised forms of it which lurk in many of our popular treatises on the origin and evolution of ,man4 ,after a careful study of these two lectures1 the thoughtful reader will be enabled to recognize the true nature and force of the argument from design1 and so will be led the better to appreciate the enduring validity of that great natural foundation for our belief in a personal ,god4 ,of the four great arguments by which man is permitted to rise to the knowledge of ,god1 the argument from design1 or1 as it is technically called1 the teleological argument1 is the most important1 as it1 in fact1 includes the moral argument1 which1 properly estimated1 is only its subjective aspect4 ,apart from revelation we rise to the knowledge of ,god in two ways1 by the consideration of ourselves1 and by the contemplation of the world around us2 what the moral argument is in the former method1 that the teleological argument is in the latter4 ,hence the importance to the general reader of having an argument of such validity clearly set before him on different sides1 and from different points of view4 ,the third lecture1 on ,positivism1 completes the first group1 and forms1 as it were1 a kind of useful appendix to the other two4 ,here we have the investigation of a special system1--a system that professes to be based on positive and observed phenomena1 and claims to extricate the mental study of man from metaphysics and abstractions1 and to place it in the realm of the realizable and the positive4 ,such a system1 though neither now prevailing to any extent1 nor ever likely to become prevalent or popular1 is still worthy of attention1 as it stands in close connection with current materialistic conceptions1 and suggests some instructive contrasts to ,pantheism4 ,in the latter system we have1 at any rate1 some idea of pervading ,deity2 but in ,positivism1 if we understand the system aright1 ,god1 and all conceptions of ,god1 are not so much denied as simply and entirely ignored4 ,if ,pantheism be deemed fascinating1 ,positivism will appear to most minds utterly repellent3 still it is a system that claims some distinguished men among its professed exponents1 and perhaps a larger number than we may suppose of conscious or unconscious adherents4 ,it may therefore well claim from us investigation1 and1 in the position it occupies in the order of these lectures1 may fairly be considered to be in its right place4 ,we have dwelt upon the first group of the lectures1 as both the position and the importance of the subjects considered in it have seemed to require a fuller notice4 ,on the remaining groups we may speak more briefly1 as their connection and the special subjects on which they treat are much more self-explanatory4 ,the first three lectures having1 as it were1 cleared the ground1 and having demonstrated1 as we believe1 successfully the untenable nature of the systems that have been placed in competition with ,christianity1 the two next lectures1 which form the second group1 deal with the chief difficulties arising from the supposed conflict between science and the ,holy ,scriptures4 ,the first of these two lectures1 that on ,science and ,revelation1 enters into the subject generally1 by showing how1 on scientific considerations1 a revelation was to be expected1 and how1 consequently1 the evidences of ,christianity have a strong claim upon the attention of every right-thinking man4 ,the second of these two lectures is confined to a special but prerogative case1 in which science and religion are supposed to be more particularly in opposition to each other1--viz41 the case of miracles4 ,here it is necessary1 not only to investigate generally the nature of the miraculous evidence to ,christianity1 but fairly to face the antecedent question1 whether miracles1 however defined1 are not in themselves impossible4 ,in facing that question1 however1 attention is rightly called to the nature of the weapons that are used in the conflict1 and especially to the fact1 so often overlooked1 that all the assaults on the miraculous that can in any degree be deemed worthy of consideration1 are carried on only with metaphysical weapons4 ,the whole question really turns upon the belief in a personal ,god3 if it be conceded that this belief is just and reasonable1 then1 as the writer of the lecture rightly observes1 the presumed impossibility in reference to miracles at once melts away4 ,the very idea of a free-creating ,god carries with it the possibility of new manifestations of the ,divine will1 whether in history or nature4 ,the sustaining power of ,god1 which we recognise in the form of law and orderly progress1 changes whensoever it shall have seemed good to ,his holy will for it to pass into the creative2 ,his immanent workings are then seen in the realm of the transcendental1 and the result is that which ,pantheism1 ,naturalism1 and all similar systems must1 if consistent1 regard as impossible1 a new movement from the ,divine centre1 an epiphany of a creative and overruling will1 a wonder1 a miracle4 ,when ,spinosa said that ,god and nature are one from eternity to eternity1 he was quite consistent in adding that there is no transcendental beginning1 and that miracles are impossible2 but for any one who believes in a personal ,god1 or who believes nature to be what it is1--not a system eternally fixed1 but a system passing through a development characterised by design1--to deny the possibility of miraculous interpositions1 reason and consistency must certainly1 in this particular1 be suspended or sacrificed4 ,the third group of lectures1 which may be regarded as subdivided into two portions1 naturally connects itself with1 and follows1 the subjects just specified4 ,after the general consideration of difficulties connected with religion and ,christianity1 the attention of the reader is now directed to the more special difficulties connected with the ,holy ,scriptures4 ,in the first portion of the group the subject of the ,gradual ,development of ,revelation1 or1 as the title was re-defined by the lecturer1 the ,gradual ,nature of ,divine ,revelation1 properly occupies the first place4 ,it is followed by a lecture in which there will be found a careful consideration of some special instances of difficulty connected with the historical portions especially of the ,old ,testament4 ,these two lectures were to have been followed by a consideration of the moral difficulties that have been felt in reference to some parts of the ,old ,testament2 but for this subject1 which1 if properly treated1 would have probably claimed a large share of attention1 the ,committee were not able to secure the services of a lecturer for the present year4 ,this is to be regretted1 as there is no subject connected with the ,holy ,scriptures which at the present time more requires a candid and sober consideration2 no discussion which1 if fairly conducted1 would do more to remove many honestly felt difficulties1 and to many minds to bring probably lasting reassurance4 ,without presuming to enter1 however slightly1 into such a subject in a discursive paper like the present1 we will venture to make this general remark1 which perhaps may be found helpful1 viz41 that in dealing with all such difficulties we must carefully distinguish between those connected with ,divine workings1 and those connected with human actions4 ,the former are1 in their real nature1 utterly beyond the finite judgment of man4 ,all that we may presume to consider is the way or manner in which they are brought before us by the writer1 and all that we can either safely or wisely subject to criticism are the aspects or colouring under which they are presented4 ,we really are not competent to sketch out theories of ,divine government1 even in the simplest matters1 and with all the advantages of contemporaneous knowledge2 nay1 in the lives of ourselves and those around us1 there are1 as has been wisely observed1 innumerable events of sorrow1 and countless circumstances of suffering1 of which the economic purpose cannot even be guessed at in our present state of knowledge1 and of the exact purposes of which no sober or reverent thinker ever dreams of attempting to form any estimate whatever4 ,it is thus utterly out of the question to attempt to consider the difficulties connected with the ,divine workings1 except as to the manner of their representation by the human narrator1 whose human powers were the instruments by which ,god was pleased to communicate the outward facts of those workings to the children of men4 ,in regard of the ,divine workings themselves1 especially when they come before us in the general forms of judgments on individuals or nations1 all we may presume safely to do is to regard them as manifestations of ,divine righteousness in judicial relations or contradistinctions to the sins or transgressions of men4 ,in reference1 however1 to the moral difficulties connected with recorded human actions1 we may venture to go farther1 and to take into consideration the fact already referred to of the gradual nature of ,god's revelation1 and all the modifying thoughts which such a fact brings with it4 ,it is thus not only right1 but necessary1 to accept as our guide in all such investigations or discussions this sober spiritual principle1--that the ,old ,testament must be interpreted from the stand-point of the ,new ,testament1 and under the fuller light which is afforded by the later dispensation4 ,if we cling to these two great truths--first1 that the history of the past1 as we find it in the ,old ,testament1 ever involves a reference to final purposes2 and1 secondly1 that every attempt to realize the deeper significance of that history must use ,christianity as its basis--we shall probably find our way in this difficult domain of speculation as far and as safely as the finite powers of man can be deemed capable of advancing2 we shall see as clearly as we can be permitted to see1 when poor human reason is endeavouring to survey the adorable mysteries that surround the recorded workings of the manifold wisdom of ,god4 ,the second portion of this third group is more especially devoted to difficulties connected with the ,new ,testament1 the first place being naturally reserved for the questions relating to the life of our ,lord and the ,gospel narrative4 ,the first lecture is thus directed to a consideration of the ,mythical ,theories of ,christianity2 the second to the ,evidential ,value of ,st4 ,paul's ,epistles4 ,as has already been mentioned1 the lecture on ,st4 ,john's ,gospel1 which would have occupied a position between the two just specified1 owing to the request of the writer1 has not been published1 and the series in this part of it has in consequence suffered4 ,the two remaining lectures1 viz41 that on ,christ's ,teaching and ,influence on the ,world1 and that which follows it1 on the ,completeness and ,adequacy of the ,evidences of ,christianity1 form the last group1 and worthily conclude the interesting series4 ,a third lecture on the additional strength which is brought to the evidences of ,christianity by the convergence of various lines of independent testimony1 was intended to have been added to this group1 but for this important and comprehensive subject1 as in the case of another subject recently mentioned1 the ,committee were not able to procure a lecturer4 ,the series1 as above described1 is now commended to the thoughtful reader4 ,it will be found to be marked throughout with learning1 candour1 and we believe also with gentleness and sympathy4 ,on this last characteristic we ourselves lay great stress4 ,if we would reclaim the wandering1 or confirm the wavering1 it is not by hard words and unkindly imputations1 but by the expression of that love and gentleness which an apostle reminds us are numbered among the fruits of the ,spirit4 ,we must regard ourselves as far as possible in their places1 endeavour to see as they see1 and feel as they feel1 and then it may be permitted to us to return from our charitable quest1 bringing back the friendly wanderers with us1 and ourselves sharing some portion of that holy joy which is felt in heaven and in earth when the doubter is led back to belief1 and the lost is found4 ,this rightful characteristic of all true ,christian controversy is not1 we believe1 anywhere wanting in this volume1 and we thus1 with fullest confidence1 commend it to the consideration of all who love the truth1 and humbly seek it in history1 science1 and theology4 ,lastly1 we may call attention to the encouraging fact1 that in this great work good men have agreed to forget minor differences4 ,among the distinguished men whose independent lectures are now1 for convenience1 gathered together in a common volume1 are members of the ,church of ,england and members of other religious communities4 ,it is long that this co-operation has existed in the circulation of the ,holy ,scriptures2 it is recently that it has again appeared in the effort to present those ,scriptures in their most accurate form to the ,english reader2 it is now again happily exemplified in the present attempt to defend and maintain the truth as it is in ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 ,these things are of good augury4 ,though there may be dissensions1 sad and pitiful1 within the ,church1 and assaults made upon it from without1 often sadly characterized with the marks of political strife1 yet we may thank ,god that in efforts such as the present1 and in the calm and serenity of studies such as those which this volume commends1 a true union has been felt and acted on4 ,yes1 it is a cause for thankfulness and rejoicing that the love of ,christ is more and more binding us together in companionships of high duty and gentle sympathy1 and that reverence for ,his ,holy ,word1 ,his ,word of ,life and ,truth1 is making us feel that our work is a common one1 and that as we have in common freely received1 so it is a blessed thing in common freely to give4 ,we may humbly pray then that ,god's gracious favour may rest on this ,course of ,lectures1 and may be permitted to bear a blessing to those that read it4 ,may they feel anew convinced in heart and spirit that we have not followed cunningly devised fables1 but that in the ,holy ,scriptures of the ,old and ,new ,testament there is light and truth1 even because they bring us nearer to ,him who is the ,truth1 as ,he is the ,way and the ,life1 for evermore4 ,c4 ,j4 ,,gloucester ,,and ,,bristol4 ,july #ai1 #ahga4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,philosophy of the ,inductive ,sciences4 #b ,mr4 ,wallace1 in the ,anthropological ,journal1 #ahfd2 see also ,lubbock's ,prehistoric ,times1 last chapter4 #c ,moleschott1 ,circulation of ,life3 ,letter ,,xviii41 with ,liebig's opinion there quoted4 #d ,kant1 ,metaphysics of ,ethics4 #e ,see1 for example1 ,renouvier1 ,science de la ,morale1 #ahfi4 #f ,limits of ,philosophical ,enquiry4 #ahfh4 #g ,nehem4 ix4 #f4 #h ,see ,duke of ,argyll's ,reign of ,law4 #i ,job xxvi4 #ad4 #aj ,plutarch1 ,de ,justitia4 #aa ,buchner4 #ab ,see ,mill on ,comte1 p4 #fb1 seq4 #ac ,paroles de ,philosophic ,positive1 p4 #ed4 #ad ,janet refers to ,nysten's ,dictionnaire de ,mdecine1 etc41 by ,littr and ,robin4 #ae ,paroles de ,philosophie ,positive1 p4 #ec4 #af ,harris's ,highlands of thiopia1 vol4 iii4 p4 #fc4 #ag ,while these sheets were passing through the press1 ,i read in the ,pall ,mall ,gazette for ,april #bdth1 as follows3 ,one of the ,communist papers1 the ,montagne1 writes3 ,education has made sceptics of us2 the ,revolution of #ahga is atheistic2 our ,republic wears a bouquet of immortelles in her bosom4 ,we take our dead to their homes1 and our wives to our hearts without a prayer4 ,priests6 throw aside your frocks1 turn up your sleeves1 lay your hands upon the plough1 for a song to the lark in the morning air is better than a mumbling of psalms1 and an ode to sparkling wine is preferable to a chanting of hymns4 ,our dogs that used only to growl when a bishop passed will bite him now1 and not a voice will be raised to curse the day which dawns for the sacrifice of the ,archbishop of ,paris4 ,we owe it to ourselves1 we owe it to the world4 ,the ,commune has promised us an eye for an eye1 and has given us ,monseigneur ,darboy as a hostage4 ,the justice of the tribunals shall commence1 said ,danton1 when the wrath of the people is appeased2 and he was right4 ,darboy6 tremble in your cell1 for your day is past1 your end is close at hand4 #ah ,i use this word because if the value of faith and virtue consists in their being a discipline1 while this implies the existence of difficulty1 it also limits the degree of the difficulty4 #ai ,rudiments1 so far from disproving1 prove this4 ,a rudiment shows that nature might have given more1 but has not done so4 ,why8 ,because the further gift would have been useless1 for instance1 man would not have been benefited by being able to feel with his eye-brows4 7,see ,darwin1 ,descent of ,man1 i4 #be47 #bj ,professor ,huxley's words are1 ,in these groups there is abundant evidence of variation--none of what is ordinarily understood as progression2 and if the known geological record is to be regarded as even any considerable fragment of the whole1 it is inconceivable that any theory of a necessarily progressive development can stand1 for the numerous orders and families cited afford no trace of such a process4 7p4 #bde47 #ba ,darwin1 ,descent of ,man1 i4 #bje4age #bb ,it is a curious fact that these ,ascidians possess a heart and a circulation1 but that after the heart has beaten a certain number of times it stops1 and then beats the opposite way1 so as to reverse the circulation4 7,lay ,sermons1 p4 #ie47 ,in what stage of its progress did it so degenerate as to lose this remarkable power8 #bc ,darwin1 ,descent of ,man1 i4 #bb4agf #bd ,there is something of this in animals just as1 on the other hand1 man is not altogether devoid of instincts4 ,i should have expected this from the teaching of the first chapter of ,genesis1 which represents men not as a distinct creation but as the last act of creation4 #be ,physically the monkey is man's superior4 ,anatomists assure us that they can find no very great difference between his brain and ours4 ,his larynx also is as well fitted as ours to produce articulate sounds4 ,so far we are equal4 ,but he has four hands1 and we have but two4 ,read ,sir ,c4 ,bell's ,bridgewater ,treatise upon the ,hand1 and you will see at once that a vast superiority is implied in this4 ,i can never believe that when1 by natural and sexual selection1 a creature had been attained possessed of four hands1 nature could so degradate in her work as to fall back upon two4 ,no well-bred monkey would have mated with one so deformed4#agh #bf ,lartet1 quoted by ,darwin1 ,descent1 i4 #ea4 #bg ,the body politic is in fact very much like the natural body4 ,there is a constant waste and a constant repair4 ,the waste may be greater than the repair--and in that case the body dwindles--but the repair may be greater than the waste1 in which case there is growth1 progress4 ,in both alike real growth can only be by assimilation4 ,the new must be taken up into the old1 and become part with it4 ,that which is losing vitality must be put away2 but that which is to take its place must become one with the old4 ,after a certain time1 however1 natural bodies lose their powers of assimilation1 and old age and death are the result3 ,i cannot enter into the question how far this is also the case with political bodies4#agi #bh ,animals brought into contact with man attain some small share in this power4 ,the influence of man over domesticated animals is most remarkable4 ,i should doubt whether a wild animal was at all capable of making such a distinction4 #bi ,i have taken these words from the ,vedanta ,philosophy4 ,it teaches that the apparent reality of this world is my1 i4e41 deceit1 illusion1 jugglery3 naught besides the ,one exists3 the world was made out of nothing and is nothing4 ,all that is real in this visible1 is the ,god who is invisible4 ,see ,ballantyne's ,christianity compared with ,hindu ,philosophy1 pp4 xxxi-xxxvii1 #dc-ej4 #cj ,it is the examination of these moral and spiritual faculties which makes it so probable that man possesses something more than a highly organised body and mental powers1 which1 though superior in degree1 are still of the same kind as those possessed by the animals4 ,and it should be remembered that the proof that man possesses a soul1 and that the soul is immortal1 is entirely independent of revelation4 ,it is based upon the intelligent study of the facts of psychology4 ,if1 however1 it is said that man does not really possess1 but only seems to possess these faculties1 ,i answer that then nature is a mere deceiver1 and its works a sham3 and that1 consequently1 all physical science would be the study of the illusive4 #ca ,though we draw a distinction between the natural and the supernatural1 this distinction is tenable only when we look at things from below1 and not when we look at them from above4 ,we call those processes natural of which we know or might know the secondary causes4 #cb ,it is no argument against revelation that it does not make us all holy and devout4 ,it is not the law of this present state of things that all men attain to the highest possible physical and mental excellence4 ,all that we can say is1 that they ought to aim at nothing less4 ,so neither do all men attain to moral and religious excellence4 ,equally it ought to be their aim2 but why they so often fail in attaining to it is more than any one can answer4 ,the failure of individuals to attain to the highest good possible for the species is one of nature's universal laws4 ,why this present state of things is so constituted is a mystery1 which cannot be solved here2 but which will certainly be solved when we have the perfect knowledge promised us in #a ,cor4 xiii4 #ab4 #cc ,professor ,huxley considers that man is a bungle4 ,at all events he would be glad to be turned into a sort of clock1 and wound up every morning before he got out of bed1 on condition that he should always think what is true1 and do what is right4 7,lay ,sermons1 p4 #cgc47 ,i suppose this means that we should like to be governed by very perfect instincts1 but ,i question whether he would not find his new kind of life dull4 ,at present both right thinking and right doing require of him an effort1 which1 from the spirit of his writings1 ,i should think he enjoys4 ,but1 after all1 what he says has a true foundation4 ,sin is not a necessary part of man's lot4 ,it cleaves to him because he is fallen2 and this world apparently offers us a state of moral and religious discipline1 by the aid of which1 in a future state1 we shall be free from sin4 ,but those who do not wish to retrograde would prefer to have this freedom by the force of perfected habits than by the force of instinct4 #cd ,essays and ,reviews 7,baden ,powell71 p4 #acc4 ,the italics are mine1 simply to call attention to the point of the quotation4 #ce ,de ,gen4 ,an4 ,,ii4 iii4 #aj4 ,see article by ,sir ,alexander ,grant in the ,contemporary1 ,may1 #ahga1 p4 #bgg4 #cf ,since writing the above1 ,i have lighted on the following passage in an able university sermon by one of the lecturers in the present course4 ,i am glad to confirm what had struck my own mind1 by quoting the words of so careful a reasoner4 ,in reference to philosophic doubts directed against the idea of design1 and the analogy between human and natural productions1 he remarks3 ,this is evidently a very hard question1 and if it properly belonged to the province of physical inquiry ,i should shrink from hazarding any investigation of its merits4 ,but the question has overstepped the boundary of such sciences1 and become a branch of philosophy4 ,i may seem obscure in making this assertion1 but you will see its truth if you consider for a moment the limit which divides science from philosophy4 ,sciences are often content to accept their principles1 the lower from the higher 7as ,aristotle puts the case7 in an ascending scale up to metaphysic1 which1 if it is anything at all1 is the philosophy of first grounds so far as they are discoverable4 ,while the various kinds of inquiry assume their several grounds as postulates1 each keeps its separate and subordinate place4 ,but one prime impulse of the human mind is unification1 and thus1 in every science1 there springs up a tendency to ground itself4 ,the moment this attempt is made1 a science becomes a philosophy1 and must be tested by the ordinary criteria of philosophic procedure4--,right and ,wrong1 by the ,rev4 ,w4 ,jackson1 ,m4,a4 #cg ,westminster ,review1 ,oct41 #ahfj4 ,art4 on ,new ,christianity4 #ch ,mill's ,system of ,logic1 ii41 #afj4 #ci ,the argument in ,hume's celebrated ,essay on ,miracles was very far from being a new one4 ,it had1 as ,mr4 ,coleridge has pointed out1 been distinctly indicated by ,south in his sermon on the incredulity of ,st4 ,thomas2 and there is a remarkable statement of much the same argument put into the mouth of ,woolston's ,advocate1 in ,sherlock's ,trial of the ,witnesses4--,art4 on ,miracles in ,smith's ,dictionary of the ,bible4 #dj ,see ,martensen's ,christian ,dogmatics1 #bbb4 #da ,i must here refer to ,dorner's ,doctrine of the ,person of ,christ1 where evidence is afforded of what ,i say4 #db ,see again ,martensen's ,christian ,dogmatics1 #bbj4 #dc ,i would also mention ,the ,divine ,origin of ,christianity1 by ,john ,sheppard4 ,a work less known than it deserves to be4 #dd ,wagenseil's ,confutation of the ,toldoth ,jeschu3 ,sheppard's ,divine ,origin of ,christianity1 ii4 #bje1 et seq4 #de ,lessons on ,christian ,evidence1 #cc4 #df ,celsus in ,orig41 ,l4 i41 #bh4 #dg ,hieron1 ,t4 ii4 #ccd4 #dh ,cyril contra ,jul41 ,l4 vi41 p4 #aia4 ,see1 respecting these and similar passages1 ,lardner's ,credibility1 vii4 #bbe1 #ddb1 #fbg4 #di ,essays and ,reviews 7,baden ,powell71 #ajg4 #ej ,that ,rnan should treat the ,resurrection of ,lazarus as a pious fraud1 and the one moral blot in the story of ,christ1 is the greatest literary1 as well as moral1 blot in his ,vie de ,jsus4 ,see ,hutton's ,essays1 i41 #big4 #ea ,see ,art4 on ,miracles in ,smith's ,dic4 #eb ,niebuhr's ,lebensnachrichten1 quoted in ,luthardt's ,apologetic ,lectures1 #bjj4 #ec ,mozley's ,lectures on ,miracles1 #abj4 #ed ,lectures on ,miracles1 #e4 #ee ,coleridge's ,friend1 iii41 #ajd-f4 #ef ,dr4 ,vaughan's ,christ the ,light of the ,world1 #agb4 #eg ,ad4 ,gen4 #a4 i4 c4 #db1 et seq4 #eh ,inst4 ,l4 iv4 c4 #be4 #ei ,dorner1 in his ,person of ,christ 7,clark's ,trans471 ii4 #bed1 dwells upon this subject as unfolded by ,athanasius4 ,see also ,athanasius' third discourse against the ,arians1 #cb4 #fj ,in ,johan4 ,evan4 ,tract1 #af1 #bd1 #di4 #fa ,see ,brachet's ,dictionnaire ,etymologique1 sub voc3 ,developper4 #fb ,essay on ,development1 page #ce4 #fc ,i will here quote the words of a great man1 who has for many years been one of the chief scientific ornaments of this country1 and whose departure from this life1 at the ripe age of seventy-nine years1 ,i see1 with much sorrow1 recorded in the ,times of this day4 ,speaking of the manner in which the universe has come into its present condition1 and is preserved in that condition1 and of the possibility of collision amongst the constituent bodies1 ,sir ,john ,herschel says3 ,ages1 which to us may well appear indefinite1 may easily be conceived to pass without a single instance of collision1 in the nature of a catastrophe4 ,such may have gradually become rarer as the system has emerged from what must be considered as its chaotic state1 till at length1 in the fulness of time1 and under the pre-arranging guidance of that ,,design which pervades universal nature1 each individual may have taken up such a course as to annul the possibility of further destructive interference4--,outlines of ,astronomy1 p4 #fjj4 ,i quote these words for the sake of the phrase which they contain1 and the importance of which it is impossible to exaggerate1 ,the pre-arranging guidance of that ,,design which pervades universal nature4 #fd ,le ,genie du ,christianisme1 ,bk4 iv41 chap4 v4 #fe ,descent of ,man1 p4 #bjh4 #ff ,report of ,evidence1 #ahgj3-- ,q4 #cgf4 ,i thought you said ,bishop ,butler had been excluded8--,it is not excluded1 but being an optional subject it is one that has been discouraged4 ,q4 #cgg4 ,why8--,he is gone out of fashion2 ,i do not know why4 ,q4 #cgh4 ,who makes the fashion8--,i suppose the particular set of examiners at one time4 ,q4 #cgi4 ,what are the works of ,bishop ,butler which have so gone out of fashion8--,the ,analogy and the ,sermons were the books which we used to take up4 #fg ,the subject of this ,lecture is touched upon1 but not expanded1 in the following pregnant passage of ,butler's ,analogy3 ,the thing objected against this scheme of the ,gospel is1 that it seems to suppose ,god was reduced to the necessity of a long series of intricate means in order to accomplish ,his ends1 the recovery and salvation of the world3 in like sort as men1 for want of understanding or power1 not being able to come to their ends readily1 are forced to go roundabout ways1 and make use of many perplexed contrivances to arrive at them4 ,now1 everything which we see shows the folly of this1 considered as an objection against the truth of ,christianity4 ,for1 according to our manner of conception1 ,god makes use of a variety of means1 what we often think tedious ones1 in the natural course of providence1 for the accomplishment of all ,his ends4 ,indeed1 it is certain there is somewhat in this matter quite beyond our comprehension3 but the mystery is as great in nature as in ,christianity4--,analogy1 ,part ,,ii41 chap4 iv4 #fh ,philos4 of ,univ4 ,hist4 i4 p4 #aia4 #fi ,manuel d',histoire1 tom4 ii4 p4 #af4 #gj ,zeitschrift f4 gypt4 ,sp4 ,nov4 #ahfh4 #ga ,colenso4 ,the ,pentateuch and the ,book of ,joshua4 #gb ,gen4 xlvi4 #bg2 compare ,ex4 i4 #e4 #gc ,gen4 xlvi4 #g4 #gd ,gen4 xlvi4 #e4 ,the word taph 77 here1 translated little ones means households4 ,the ,septuagint translate it by ,greek3 oikia or ,greek3 sungeneia4 #ge ,payne ,smith1 ,bampton ,lectures4 p4 #hi4 #gf ,history of ,old ,covenant1 vol4 ii4 p4 #adi4 ,e4 ,t4 #gg ,ex4 xii4 #dj1 #da4 #gh ,essay on ,population1 vol4 i4 p4 #h2 ,encycl4 ,brit4 vol4 xviii4 p4 #cdj4 #gi ,it was on the #eth of ,january1 #agga1 the day appointed by the high priests1 that ,oubacha began his march1 with seventy thousand families4 ,most of the hordes were then assembled in the steppes1 on the left bank of the ,volga1 and the whole multitude followed him4--,hommaire de ,hell1 ,travels1 p4 #bbg1 ,e4 ,t4 #hj ,num4 xxxi4 #cb1 #cc4 #ha ,f4 ,newman's ,hebrew ,monarchy1 pp4 #afj1 #afa4 #hb ,dictionary of the ,bible1 ad voc4 ,,shishak4 #hc ,geographische ,inschriften1 vol4 ii41 p4 #cb1 et seq4 #hd #b ,kings xv4 #ai4 #he #b ,kings xxiii4 #bi2 ,ezra vi4 #bb4 #hf ,isaiah xx4 #a4 #hg #b ,kings xvii4 #f2 xviii4 #g1 #aa4 #hh ,von ,lengerke1 ,das ,buch ,daniel2 ,einleitung1 #ac2 p4 lxiii4 ,de ,wette1 ,einleitung in d4 ,abte ,testament1 p4 #bbe1 a2 ,davison1 ,introduction to the ,old ,testament1 vol4 iii4 pp4 #agd-aib4 #hi #b ,kings xxv4 #bc4 #ij ,dan4 iii4 #b4 translated in our version1 princes1 but really the ,hebrew equivalent of the ,persian khshatrapa1 satraps4 #ia ,dan4 v4 #ca4 #ib ,dan4 ix4 #a4 #ic ,see ,pusey's ,lectures on ,daniel1 pp4 #abd1 #abe4 #crd edition4 #id ,h4 ,n4 vi4 #bg4 #ie ,dan4 v4 #aa4 #if ,herod4 iii4 #ca4 #ig ,de ,wette1 ,einleitung1 p4 #bfg4 #ih ,ibid4 loc4 cit4 #ii ,gen4 xli4 #db1 #dc4 #ajj ,dan4 v4 #bi4 #aja ,strauss1 ,leben ,jesu1 #cb4 #ajb ,strauss1 ,leben ,jesu1 #dd4 #ajc ,see ,krafft1 ,topografie ,jerusalems1 ,inscr4 #bi4 #ajd ,strauss1 ,l4 ,j4 #cb4 #aje ,ibid4 #cd4 #ajf ,those who wish to see the cumulative force of the entire argument will find it in the ,jesus of the ,evangelists4 ,it is impossible to compress its reasonings4 #ajg ,see ,appendix to ,st4 ,john's ,testimony to ,christ1 in ,professor ,leathes' ,boyle ,lectures4 ,no one who has not read this can form an idea of the extent of similarity of thought and expression to the fourth ,gospel which underlies the ,synoptics4 #ajh ,to give precision to the argument1 it is necessary to determine its definite character4 ,but it is impossible to do so within the limits of a single lecture4 #aji ,jesus of the ,evangelists1 chap4 x4 #aaj ,see ,jesus of the ,evangelists1 chap4 v4 #aaa ,jesus of the ,evangelists1 p4 #cha4 ,the entire collection of apocryphal ,gospels has been translated by ,mr4 ,cowper4 ,i am sure that their perusal will greatly confirm our faith in the historical character of the true4 ,the order of mind which invented the one could not have invented the other4 #aab ,jesus of the ,evangelists1 chap4 xvii4 #aac ,acts xxiv4 #bg4 #aad #a ,cor4 xv4 #f4 #aae #a ,cor4 xv4 #ab4 #aaf #b ,cor4 v4 #ag4 #aag ,for evidence as to the authenticity of this ,gospel see the ,boyle ,lectures for #ahgj1 ,the witness of ,st4 ,john to ,christ4 #aah #a ,cor4 xv4 #d4 #aai #a ,cor4 xi4 #bg4 #abj #a ,cor4 xv4 #d4 #aba #a ,cor4 xv4 #e-h4 #abb #a ,cor4 xv4 #i4 #abc #b ,cor4 xii4 #b4 #abd #a ,gal4 ii4 #a1 and i4 #ah4 #abe ,gal4 ii4 #bj4 #abf ,rom4 vi4 #aj4 #abg ,rom4 vi4 #bc2 i4 #c1 #d4 #abh ,rom4 xv4 #bc4 #abi ,rom4 i4 #h4 #acj ,rom4 i4 #d2 vi4 #f-i2 viii4 #cd4 #aca ,rom4 viii4 #ad1 #af1 #ag4 #acb ,rom4 v4 #a4 #acc ,rom4 i4 #c1 #d4 #acd ,rom4 vi4 #c2 #a ,cor4 i4 #ac2 ,gal4 iii4 #bg2 cf4 #b ,cor4 i4 #bb4 #ace #a ,cor4 xi4 #bc4 #acf #a ,cor4 xi4 #bf4 #acg #a ,cor4 i4 #ag4 #ach ,gal4 i4 #ac4 #aci ,st4 ,matt4 xxviii4 #ae4 #adj ,gal4 i4 #ae1 #af4 #ada ,acts xxviii4 #bd4 #adb ,acts xxvi4 #h4 #adc ,it must always be remembered that ,mohammed learned the best of his morals and his theology from ,jews or ,christians4 #add ,in answer to this theory of development or afterthought it may be said that all the early records1 the writings of the ,apostles and ,evangelists1 the writings of the ,apostolic fathers1 are clear about the ,godhead of ,christ4 ,it was comparatively late that doubters arose1 heretics like ,cerinthus and ,theodotus1 and philosophic ,christians like ,justin ,martyr1 ,clement of ,alexandria1 and ,origen1 accepting the gospel indeed1 but diluting it by their reasonings upon it4 #ade ,the arguments here considered are those propounded in ,lecky's ,history of ,european ,morals4 #adf ,the terrible scenes just enacted1 and even now enacting1 in ,paris1 almost seem to contradict my words concerning mercy in war1 words written and even printed before ,paris was burned and wasted4 ,but let us remember that eighty years ago ,france threw away its ,christianity1 and took ,atheism for its creed2 that in the last fifty years it has been slowly and painfully recovering its faith2 that ,paris has been the centre of the unbelief of ,europe2 that so1 a large portion of its inhabitants have grown up utterly without religion2 that1 according to a friendly witness1 the people of ,paris believe not in any ,god1 nor in any man2#adg or1 according to another statement1 the ,communists acknowledge no ,god1 no man1 no faith1 no hope1 nothing but better wages and more pleasure2#adh that the chief perpetrators of the horrors of the past week not only abhorred ,christianity1 but murdered priests1 only because they were ministers of ,christ1 and proclaimed ,atheism and ,materialism to be the very basis of their theory1 both in politics and in life4 ,there is nothing to surprise us when we find that those who deliberately cast off religion and humanity1 faith in ,god1 and faith in man1 fall lower than those who are simply ignorant of the true principles of either4 ,atheists in the midst of faith are very likely to be much worse than heathens4 #adg ,fortnightly ,review1 quoted in ,times1 ,may #ca1 #ahga4 #adh ,times1 ,may #ca1 #ahga4 #adi ,maclear's ,history of the ,christian ,missions in the ,middle ,ages1 p4 #dag4 ,macmillan1 #ahfc4 #aej ,ecce ,homo1 p4 #ga4 ,second edition1 #ahff4 #aea ,platon4 ,symposium4 ,steph4 iii41 #bbj4 #aeb ,midway stands ,anselm1 the father of modern metaphysics1 with the scientific demonstration of the two fundamental truths of all religion1 the existence of ,god and the ,incarnation4 #aec ,pascal1 ,fragmens d'une ,apologie du ,christianisme1 in the #bnd vol4 of ,penses du ,blaise ,pascal4 ,paris1 #ahad4 #aed ,luthardt 7,apologetische ,vortrge1 in two parts71 presents in a form peculiarly adapted for general readers1 a very complete survey both of the internal and external evidences4 ,steinmeyer1 ,apologetische ,vortrge1 in three parts1 discusses the historical evidence for the miracles1 the death and the resurrection of our ,lord1 with special reference to the latest criticisms4 ,delitzsch's ,system der ,christlichen ,apologetik is of a more exclusively philosophical and dogmatic character4 ,it has been reviewed in the ,studien u4 ,kritiken1 by ,dr4 ,sack1 of ,bonn1 whose own work1 ,christliche ,apologetik1 #ahda1 is one of the best on the whole subject of evidences4 #aee ,it is well known that both ,jews and ,gentiles admitted that the works were wrought1 though they denied that the power came from ,god4 ,superstition1 then as ever1 opposed the faith of which it is the counterfeit4 #aef ,the most interesting and accessible accounts of this man are given by ,m4 ,barthlemi ,s4 ,hilaire1 ,le ,bonddha et sa ,religion2 and by ,m4 ,ampre1 in ,la ,science et les ,lettres en ,orient4 ,siddartha lived about the end of the seventh century1 ,b4,c4 ,the name ,sakya ,monni is an appellative1 meaning the monk or hermit of the ,sakyas1 the royal race to which he belonged4 ,the true end of all philosophy and religion in his system is to enter into ,nirvana1 i4e4 7according to ,m4 ,eugne ,burnouf1 the highest authority on this subject71 the complete annihilation1 not only of the material elements of existence1 but also1 and more specially1 of the thinking principle4 ,in this view the majority of ,oriental scholars agree2 the few who differ1 as ,colebrook does1 identify ,nirvana with an endless and dreamless sleep4 ,see ,m4 ,s4 ,hilaire1 l4c41 p4 #acc4 ,m4 ,ampre 7p4 #bae7 thus characterizes the system1 ,la fin suprme de l'homme t de perdre le sentiment de son moi1 de renoncer sa libert1 de s'lever au dessus des affections les plus pures1 d'arriver un tat1 o il ne restt plus que le vide4 #aeg ,the four books of ,khung-fu-tseu were written in the second half of the sixth century1 ,b4,c4 ,they contain the religions and philosophy of ,china in a dogmatic form4 ,the second book1 called ,tchung yung1 represents most fully his moral code1 of which the principle is obedience to natural reason1 and the rule is observance of the via media1 with due regard to times and circumstances4 ,in one passage1 ccxi41 iv41 ,confucius says a man of strong virtue goes beyond this via media which prescribes indifference and exact conformity to natural law4 ,for a just appreciation of the ,confucian system1 the reader may consult ,m4 ,ampre1 ,la ,science et les ,lettres en ,orient1 p4 #ih ff4 #aeh ,for a very remarkable echo of this passage1 showing the depth and permanence of such feelings1 see the words of ,mr4 ,hutton1 quoted further on4 #aei ,dante1 ,inferno1 c4 iv4 #afj ,romans1 ,corinthians1 and ,galatians1 accepted by all the ,tbingen ,school4 7,see ,mr4 ,leathes' lecture47 #afa ,in addition to the well-known work of ,tischendorf1 and ,german1 ,french1 and ,english commentaries1 attention may be called to a valuable treatise by ,p4 ,h4 de ,groot1 of ,groningen1 ,basilides als erster ,zeuge des ,johannesevangeliums4 ,leipzig1 #ahfh4 ,the internal evidence has already been discussed by ,dr4 ,lightfoot1 who promises a complete treatise on the subject1 with which no one can deal more effectively4 ,some good points are made by ,mr4 ,hutton in ,essays1 vol4 i4 #afb ,essays ,theological and ,literary1 by ,r4 ,h4 ,hutton2 vol4 i41 p4 #bhb4 #afc ,notice the faint condemnation1 if it be a condemnation at all1 of the peculiar shame of ,athens1 as greatly at variance with modern and ,christian notions1 but in accordance with ,hellenic sentiment 7vol4 i41 p4 #dhb1 and compare p4 #eee74 #afd ,see the preface to the ,republic1 in vol4 ii4 ,compare also the words of ,socrates on his trial 7p4 #dj in the ,greek1 vol4 i41 p4 #ced1 ,jowett72 they probably represent his views more truly than the brilliant speculations in the ,phdo4 ,one alternative which he seems disposed to accept1 viz41 that death may be a sleep like the sleep of him who is undisturbed by dreams1 resembles very nearly the ,nirvana of ,buddhism4 #afe ,ritschl shows very conclusively that the ,essenian principle was even more exclusive than the ,rabbinical1 and more antagonistic in principle to ,christianity4 ,see ,altkatholische ,kirche1 pp4 #agi-bjc4 #aff ,within the few last months1 ,steinmeyer has published a treatise on the history of the resurrection1 with reference to the latest criticisms1 which ,i would commend to readers of ,german4 ,serious attempts have been made in ,england to disjoin this cardinal truth from the doctrinal system of ,st4 ,paul1 attempts which seem passing strange on the part of critics who accept him as a thoroughly truthful man1 nay1 as an inspired apostle1 and who must know that he makes the resurrection the very centre or foundation of his teaching4 ,even ,hegel1 the very ,corypheus of idealism1 declares ,die ,auferstehung gehrt wesentlich dem ,glauben an2 i4e41 the resurrection belongs essentially to the faith4 ,see ,die ,philosophie der ,religion1 p4 #cjj4 ,in a note on the same page1 ,hegel shows that he takes it as a real objective event3 wie alles ,bisherige in der ,weise der ,wirklichkeit fr das unmittelbare ,bewusstsein zur ,erscheinung gekommen1 so auch diese ,erhebung4 #afg ,christian ,dogmatics1 #fc4 7,clark47 ,,notes ,,to ,,modern ,,scepticism4 ,,notes4 ,,on ,,positivism4 #afh ,does any one fancy that he sees a solid cube8 ,it is easy to show that the solidity of the figure1 the relative position of its faces and edges to each other1 are inferences of the spectator--no more conveyed to his conviction by the eye alone than they would be if he were looking at a painted representation of a cube4 ,the scene of nature is a picture without depth of substance1 no less than the scene of art2 and in the one case1 as in the other1 it is the mind which1 by an act of its own1 discovers that colour and shape denote distance and solidity4 ,most men are unconscious of this perpetual habit of reading the language of the external world1 and translating as they read4 ,the draughtsman1 indeed1 is compelled1 for his purposes1 to return back in thought from the solid bodies which he has inferred1 to the shapes of surface which he really sees4 ,he knows that there is a mask of theory over the whole face of nature1 if it be theory to infer more than we see4 ,but other men1 unaware of this masquerade1 hold it to be a fact that they see cubes and spheres1 spacious apartments1 and winding avenues4 ,and these things are facts to them1 because they are unconscious of the mental operation by which they have penetrated nature's disguise4444 ,our sensations require ideas to bind them together2 namely1 ideas of space1 time1 number1 and the like4 ,if not so bound together1 sensations do not give us any apprehension of things or objects4 ,all things1 all objects1 must exist in space and in time--must be one or many4 ,now space1 time1 number1 are not sensations or things4 ,they are something different from1 and opposed to1 sensations and things4 ,we have termed them ideas4 ,it may be said they are relations of things1 or of sensations4 ,but granting this form of expression1 still a relation is not a thing or a sensation2 and therefore we must still have another and opposite element1 along with our sensations4444 ,we are often told that such a thing is a fact--a fact1 and not a theory1--with all the emphasis which1 in speaking or writing1 tone or italics or capitals can give4 ,we see from what has been said1 that when this is urged1 before we can estimate the truth1 or the value of the assertion1 we must ask to whom is it a fact8 what habits of thought1 what previous information1 what ideas does it imply1 to conceive the fact as a fact8 ,does not the apprehension of the fact imply assumptions which may with equal justice be called theory1 and which are perhaps false theory8 in which case the fact is no fact4 ,did not the ancients assert it as a fact1 that the earth stood still1 and the stars moved8 and can any fact have stronger apparent evidence to justify persons in asserting it emphatically than this had8--,whewell's ,philosophy of the ,inductive ,sciences1 #bnd ed41 vol4 i41 p4 #db1 seq4 ,that the solidity of figures is in truth given by mental judgment1 has been often proved experimentally2 see for examples1 ,huxley's ,elementary ,physiology1 ,lesson x41 #ac-af4 ,the experiment with a coin1 lens and pin1 p4 #bei1 is easy as well as conclusive1 but ,wheatstone's ,pseudoscope more surprising to most observers4 ,compare on this curious subject ,brewster's ,natural ,magic1 ,letter v4 #afi ,it is important to bear in mind that1 from an admitted incompetency of our faculties to know the absolute1 we cannot infer an impossibility of knowing its existence4 ,to know that a thing is1 and to know what it is1 are two totally distinct degrees and sorts of knowledge4 ,the moment this distinction is stated1 every one sees its truth2 but many persons omit stating it to themselves when they reason upon these difficult subjects4 ,ravaisson1 after giving a brief account of ,herbert ,spencer's opinion1 goes on to say3 ,comment il y a1 au fond de toute connaissance1 un absolu1 auquel correspond1 comme son oppos1 le relatif1 c'est ce qu'tablissait1 il y a plus de vingt sicles1 contre une doctrine dj rgnante alors de relativit et de mobilit universelles1 la dialectique platonicienne1 qui fraya le chemin la metaphysique4 ,elle faisait plus3 elle montrait que par cet absolu seul les relations sont intelligibles1 parce qu'il est la mesure par laquelle seule nous les estimons4 ,la mtaphysique1 entre les mains de son immortel fondateur1 fit davantage encore3 elle montra que cet absolu1 par lequel l'intelligence mesure le relatif1 est l'intelligence mme4 ,c'est ce que redisait ,leibniz1 lorsque1 cette assertion1 renouvele de la scolastique par ,locke1 qu'il n'tait rien dans l'intelligence qui d'abord n'et t dans le sens1 il rpondait3 sauf l'intelligence1 et que1 avec ,aristote1 il montrait dans l'intelligence la mesure suprieure du sens4--,rapport1 p4 #ff4 ,ravaisson then gives interesting extracts from ,sophie ,st4 ,germain1 and proceeds to show how ,comte1 without admitting any self-contemplating intelligence1 and thus inferring the possibility of an ,absolute1 did in fact pursue the idea of ,unity1 and extended this idea to the universe1--a principle which1 if fully grasped1 must be fatal to ,positive views4 ,d'accord maintenant avec ,platon1 ,aristote1 ,leibniz1 il dclarait que l'ensemble tant le resultat et l'expression d'une certaine unit1 laquelle tout concourt et se co-ordonne et qui est le but o tout marche1 c'est dans cette unit1 c'est dans le but1 c'est dans la fin ou cause finale qu'est le secret de l'organisme4--,rapport1 p4 #gf4 ,a special interest attaches to the work of ,ravaisson as an authoritative ,french rating of the philosophic exchange between ,england and ,france4 ,it is almost unnecessary to refer for a less abstract account of these relations to the widely known writings of ,m4 ,taine4 #agj ,it should have been stated in the text1 as it was in the delivered lecture1 that these questions were not forgotten by the eminent ,professor4 ,the passages referred to will be found in his eloquent address on the ,scientific use of the ,imagination1 p4 #dg1 seq41 or in his volume of collected ,essays1 p4 #afc1 seq4 ,the reader may observe that1 both in ,professor ,tyndall's pages and two sentences back in this lecture1 ,development is spoken of as a process or law in operation4 ,the various kinds of philosophy which may be engrafted on such a law are severally determined by whatever reply is given to the questions above suggested4 ,it would seem inappropriate here to state the possible relations between a law of development and such consequent 7or inconsequent7 philosophies4 ,those who wish to consider them the writer may refer to his little volume entitled ,right and ,wrong1 for a brief discussion of this subject1 and more particularly for the results to natural theology4 ,the following ,german sketch of an evolution-philosophy may not be without interest3--,vermge einer ewigen ,kreisbewegung entstehen als ,verdichtungen der ,luft unzhlige ,welten1 himmlische ,gottheiten1 in deren ,mittelpunkt die cylinderfrmige ,erde ruht1 unbewegt wegen des gleichen ,abstandes von allen ,punkten der ,himmelskugel4 ,die ,erde hat sich aus einem unsprnglich flssigen ,zustande gebildet4 ,aus dem ,feuchten sind unter dem ,einfluss der ,wrme in stufenweise ,entwickelung die lebenden ,wesen hervorgegangen4 ,auch die ,landthiere waren anfangs fischartig und haben erst mit der ,abtrocknung der ,erdoberflche ihre jetzige ,gestalt gewonnen4 ,die ,seele soll ,anaximander als luftartig bezeichnet haben4 ,anaximander of ,miletus was born about ,b4,c4 #faj4 ,consequently he ranks early among ,european theorizers on development4 ,the extract is from ,ueberweg's ,grundriss1 t4 #a1 p4 #dj4 ,cf4 ,plutarch de ,placit4 v4 #ai1 and ,sympos viii4 qu4 #h1 with ,euseb4 ,prp4 ,evang4 i4 #h4 #aga ,the sight of a dualism apparently insoluble never fails to suggest some such questions as these3 ,was it always so8 will it be so always8 and were ,i at the centre of the universe1 should ,i see it so now8 ,there are three possible ways of conceiving otherwise3 #a1 by reducing mind to matter2 #b1 by reducing matter to mind2 #c1 by comprehending both under a higher unity4 ,we need only write down these issues for common sense to perceive that ,nos4 #a and #b arise from1 and end in one-sided speculation4 ,a man who lives shut up amongst machinery is apt to think of his own mind as a machine4 ,great chemists have ere now taken the human stomach for a laboratory1 and were slow in awakening to those physiological facts which put the vital processes of assimilation in a nobler and truer light4 ,comte began by reducing all sciences to mathematical elements4 ,afterwards he discovered that to explain a higher order of things by a lower is the essence of materialism4 ,to a meditative spirit1 the inner world is nearer than the outer2 and therefore the evidence of its reality is stronger by wanting the weakness of a second link4 ,but active life brings home to us the existence of both2 we suffer by defying or neglecting the laws of either2 and pain and sorrow are often the advanced guard of much stern unyielding truth4 ,in a world where we all endure the friction of things external1 it is hard not to believe in objective as well subjective realities4 ,the truth is1 that the primary question belongs to the practical reason1 and can be settled by no other criterion4 ,there is a philosophical maxim that we can never speak of the ,divine univocally1 but only by analogy1 figure1 or similitude2 the cause being that all attributes belonging to the ,infinite require words which1 if taken literally1 must land us in self-contradiction4 ,how vivid an idea do we gain of ,omniscience or ,omnipotence by saying that it is a circle of which the centre is everywhere1 the circumference nowhere4 ,and what signifies the obvious inconsistency8 ,deny the ,infinite1 try to find a place for its centre or circumference1 and the inconsistency remains1 together with a host of absurd consequences4 ,when of two hypotheses both cannot1 but one must be true1 and either position lands us in logical inconsistency1 it is easy to see that our theoretical understanding will never clear up the inexplicable issue4 ,a rule by which we live and act becomes the surest touchstone of truth or falsehood4 ,let us see whether the two worlds in which we live can be practically treated as one4 ,suppose a bivouac into which a shell descends1 certain in another moment1 by physical law1 to explode4 ,is the moral law--the effort of this man or that man to escape--equally certain8 ,arguing abstractedly1 most people would hold it so1 yet we know that the fact lies otherwise4 ,there is a fatalism among soldiers--every bullet has its billet--as there is among nurses who believe that every epidemic must kill its destined prey4 ,one may have trained himself to wish for death1 another is indifferent1 a third so undecided that he leaves the event to a doctrine of chances1 a fourth is simply capricious4 ,each by a course of life and action has made or modified his present moment for choice1 and any one may or may not draw back from the coming peril4 ,had the falling shell been a splash from a carriage wheel1 every man would have shrunk from it4 ,the latter risk is too simple for human ponderings or human self-direction1 and in such cases people act by a proximate straightforward instinct4 ,but on what principles must he who shrinks from either risk really proceed8 ,he is sure that his own movements are in his own power and contingent4 ,he is equally sure that the movements of shell or mud are absolutely determined in calculable curves1 and not at all contingent4 ,acting on these two conjoint data1 he succeeds in avoiding death or dirt2 and1 whatever theorists may write1 he would have perilled his success by acting otherwise4 ,nay1 what is much to our purpose1 all theoretical men would themselves act upon the like assumption in all cases of practical consequence and emergency4 ,suppose dualism banished from the world in fact as well as in theory1 the problems of education ought to be as demonstrable as those of geometry or chemical experiment4 ,the paths of men and of comets being equally calculable1 because equally subject to uniform law1 how comes it that biography and history abound in the records of grossly falsified predictions8 ,let the courses of nations be tabulated1 and statesmanship is made easy4 ,we must owe it to some egregious oversight that criminal punishments are not invariably deterrent4 ,perhaps the law of the strongest motive has been neglected2 if so1 re-enact the code of ,draco1 and virtue will become universal4 ,till then the supposition must continue only an unverified hypothesis4 ,if we go back to our starting-point1 and ask1 can the practical dualism be reduced to a higher unity8 our answer must confess a present condition of ignorance4 ,we are so far from knowing what constitutes the thing we call matter1 or what the entity we feel within us--our soul or mind--really is1 that we cannot tell how they act and react on each other4 ,we fail in tracing our own sensations from their outward antecedents to their impression on our consciousness2 and1 vice vers1 we cannot follow our energies from the springs of our volitions outward4 ,while thus baffled1 the longed-for unity floats before our inward eye like a dim vision of that intuitive faculty which pronounces subject and object to be ultimately identical1 or as a revelation of that religious faith which accepts the incomprehensible1 and reposes in the bosom of ,god4 #agb ,since ,comte's time it has been shown that mental development is no very difficult process1 provided we assume that several principles which consciousness distinguishes and sometimes places in antagonism1 may be treated as equivalents1 and be resolved into each other interchangeably4 ,for example1 we have been apt to reverence those who suffered the loss of all things rather than accept the ,expedient as the ,right1 and who died resolute in disallowing the rule of policy to be pleaded in foro conscienti4 ,we have also in common parlance asserted a distinction between these two principles1 while holding that the one claims the other for its assured attendant4 ,honesty1 we said1 is the best policy2 and we never meant thereby that thorough policy is the best policy4 ,what we did mean was that a regard to expediency fails of the success which a straightforward observance of right deserves1 and will at last obtain4 ,but to make mental development easy1 antitheses must appear fluent1 the noble be convertible with the useful1 the human with the merely animal4 ,thus1 when ,comte adored ,clotilde1 and ,dante immortalized ,beatrice1 they rehearsed for a millionth time the loves of preadamite plants4 ,coleridge used to maintain that the test of a philosophy was its ultimate coincidence with common sense4 ,in the theories under consideration1 right is philosophically resolved into the greater happiness of the greater number1 and this equivalent exactly coincides with the common sense of starving thinkers who are possessed by a fixed idea that the happiness of the impoverished many is promoted by an opportune pillage of the wealthy few4 ,it is less easy to verify mental development than to theorize upon it1 yet verification may not be impossible6 ,if disbelief in a future life1 denial of responsibility1 duty1 and morality1 as opposed to expediency1 make sufficient way in the world1 and if practice harmonize with speculation1 progress may become more evidently regress1 and ,man be proved a brute animal at last4 ,the promising events in ,france are patent to every one2 a less known1 but still more encouraging fact1 which we learn on scientific authority1 is that certain ,basuto tribes have lately adopted the 7to them7 novel custom of cannibalism4 ,pending the hoped-for verification1 if an identity of human with animal nature be accepted as provisionally true1 it may be as well to anticipate a few of its logical consequences4 ,eating the flesh of our instinctive congeners ought positively to be discountenanced2 or1 as men and women are simply animal1 all carnivorous human beings should on compulsion become cannibals4 ,despotism being the form of government adopted by us with general applause1 as regards the animal kingdom1 it cannot be too soon transferred to our own mismanaged nationalities4 ,in a word1 our practices in reference to men1 women1 beasts1 fishes1 birds1 and reptiles1 ought to be made uniform4 ,above all1 the new school-boards should be charged with the education of our poor relations1 and the linguistic professors of ,oxford and ,cambridge be instructed to use every effort for the promotion of a universal language4 ,charity may be thought by some to begin at home1 therefore a commencement may be made with the domesticated irrationals1 finches spaniels1 cats1 hackneys1 sheep1 mules1 all asses1 all pigs1 and all monkey favourites4 ,it is just possible that volatile creatures unaccustomed to habits of reflection 7some tribes of light-minded birds1 for example7 may find abstract ideas and declarative sentences a little difficult4 ,yet1 after all1 it need not be such a long step in the case of contemplative owls2 and we may then apply the old proverb1 ,il n'y a que le premier pas qui cote4 ,at all events1 the ,simious process1 so successful in our world of fashion1 will be likely to suffice with every well-disposed chimpanzee2 the circle of knowledge will continually widen until the world of animals becomes identified with the world of man4 ,then1 but not till then1 the astonished psychologist may cease his useless labours1 and record the inauguration of a new era by acknowledging ,omnia jam fient fieri qu posse negabam2 or1 still more conclusively1 ,thinking is but an idle waste of thought1 ,and nought is everything1 and everything is nought4 ,,on ,,science ,,and ,,revelation4 #agc ,in an answer to this lecture by ,julian1 it is replied that ,belief is the easiest thing possible for weak and ignorant minds4 ,but ,julian by belief means acquiescence2 and every church-goer is aware that the worthlessness of mere acquiescence is constantly being urged upon them from the pulpit4 ,it holds the same relation to faith that respectability--i4e41 acquiescence in the ordinary standard of morality--holds to holiness4 ,the subject is too difficult to be discussed adequately in a note2 but in my first ,bampton ,lecture ,i have shown how belief1 though gained by a struggle1 is equally possible for the unlearned and the learned1 but in every case it has to be won by an effort 7,mal4 xi4 #ab74 #agd ,julian asserts that there ought not to be any difficulty4 ,there ought not to be the least shadow of doubt whether a given book is from ,god or not 7p4 #e73 ,if the handwriting of ,jehovah in the ,scriptures be doubtful1 it cannot be divine4 ,but1 as ,bishop ,butler has shown in his ,analogy1 there are no difficulties1 as regards ,revelation1 different in kind from those which we daily encounter in common life4 ,julian's easy assertions involve a tremendous difficulty2 for what he virtually affirms is that ,god ought to have acted1 in matters of religion1 in an entirely different way from that in which ,he has acted in the ordinary constitution of this world4 ,the whole question turns upon something quite as much out of ,julian's depth as it is out of mine2 namely1 what was ,god's purpose in creating man4 ,by the study of the constitution and course of nature1 and of what is said in ,holy ,scripture1 ,i arrive at the conclusion that ,god has1 for some wise purpose1 been pleased to place man here in a state of discipline4 ,such a state implies the existence of difficulties2 the greatness and degree of these difficulties we can know solely by experience1 being able only to guess at the reasons which have made a state of probation necessary for us4 ,but the difficulties must not be insuperable2 for if they were1 then this present state would be a discipline no longer4 #age ,mr4 ,darwin1 in his ,descent of ,man 7i4 #bja-bjf71 enumerates the several stages through which man is supposed to have passed1 of which the first stage is an imaginary group of animals1 resembling in many respects the larv of our present ,ascidians1 which diverged into two great branches--the one retrograding in development1 and producing the present class of ,ascidians1 the other rising to the ,vertebrata4 ,he further describes these ,ascidians as hardly appearing like animals1 and consisting of a simple1 tough1 leathery sack1 with two small projecting orifices4 ,i must own that in ,mr4 ,darwin's book ,i can find no proof either of the degradation of the present race of ,ascidians or of the development of their cousins1 whom ,mr4 ,darwin has summoned into existence to serve his purpose1 into apes4 ,the work is full of interesting facts and ingenious speculations1 but the speculations can scarcely be said to have consistency enough to merit the name even of a theory4 #agf ,if this struggle existed1 it seems unaccountable that we do not find creatures in every stage of evolution4 ,we must suppose that these ,ascidian larv existed by millions--at all events1 many thousand species of animals exist1 all according to this theory1 evolved from them2 and1 as many have failed and become our present ,ascidians1 and others were content to remain as they were1 the number of possible starters in this race must have been vast4 ,reasonably1 then1 we should expect to find creatures in every stage of progress1 and at the head numbers pressing closely on man4 ,instead of this1 we find an empty space between each several order1 and that between man and the animal second in the race is enormous4 ,the difference between the mind of the lowest man and that of the highest animal is immense 7,darwin1 i4 #ajd74 #agg ,a monkey must walk1 and does so quite as frequently as man1 but he walks very ill4 ,the gorilla runs with a sidelong shambling gait1 but more commonly progresses by resting on its bent hands4 ,the long-armed apes occasionally use their arms like crutches3 444 yet they move awkwardly1 and much less securely than man 7,darwin1 i4 #adc74 ,now the theory of revolution would require that1 before men and monkeys separated from some common ancestor1 their configuration was the same4 ,how and when did the hands become feet1 or1 vice vers1 the feet hands8 #agh ,i do not think that ,julian can have observed this note4 ,for he retorts upon me that dogs1 monkeys1 and jackdaws have a conscience1 and that what ,i deduce from it as regards men1 would justify a similar conclusion as regards cats and dogs4 ,but ,i had already pointed out that whatever appearance of the higher moral qualities is to be observed in animals is apparently the result of contact with man4 ,it is part of the present constitution of things that certain animals have been domesticated1 and over these the dominion given to man 7,gen4 i4 #bh7 is very large4 ,i cannot see how any animal could be domesticated if it were quite incapable of quasi-moral qualities4 ,i see then no difficulty in a domestic animal having a sort of conscience3 without it a dog could scarcely be faithful4 ,and note1 too1 that this rudimentary conscience in a dog implies responsibility in it quite as much as man's more perfect conscience does in man4 ,the dog's responsibility is to his master2 to whom is his master responsible8 ,still1 as regards these rudiments of conscience1 ,i cannot see any real proof for more than a very curious influence of man's qualities upon those of animals brought into contact with him4 ,with ,mr4 ,darwin 7i4 #hi7 ,i hold that man only can with certainty be ranked as a moral being2 and that as regards conscience man differs profoundly from the lower animals 7ib47 ,i do not hold1 however1 as ,julian imagines1 that conscience is an unerring guide4 ,the exact contrary is implied in ,matt4 vi4 #bc4 ,conscience needs more than itself to guide men aright4 #agi ,julian considers that ,i must be one of those who believe a stop occurs in the middle of the second verse of ,gen4 i41 which severs the preadamite world from the world as it now is4 ,i answer that ,i am one of those who know a little ,hebrew1 and ,i am therefore aware that the verb rendered was in verse #b is not a copula1 but means continued existence4 ,as regards the geologic notions ascribed to me by ,julian1 ,i can only express my regret that scientific men should persist in ascribing to theologians mere nonsense4 ,nothing is easier than to slay men of straw1 but is it worth the trouble8 ,i would recommend him to read a discussion upon the ,mosaic record in the last chapter of ,mr4 ,capes' ,reasons of ,returning to the ,church of ,england4 ,he would then see that the opinions of theologians are not so puerile as he supposes4 ,,on ,,miracles4 #ahj ,the publishers have asked me whether ,i have any remarks to make on ,julian's ,reply4 ,a few lines will be sufficient for all ,i have to say4 ,julian quotes 7page #af7 a sentence within inverted commas1 as mine1 which the reader will in vain search for in my ,lecture4 ,he1 on page #ag1 attributes to me1 for the purpose of exciting ridicule1 a statement which ,i never dreamed of making4 ,yet he adds3 ,the words are ,dr4 ,stoughton's1 and you may read them for sixpence4 ,he concedes the point maintained in the first twenty-six pages of my ,lecture1 by remarking3 ,we do not say that miracles are improbable or impossible4 ,although ,i distinctly explain that my argument in the remainder of the ,lecture is confined to the miracles ascribed to ,christ1 ,julian simply indulges in an attack on the authenticity and genuineness of the ,pentateuch4 ,he concludes by saying3 ,the ,new ,testament stands on no better foundation1 although we need not enter on that question now4 ,most people will think this was the very question on which ,julian ought to have entered1 in answer to a ,lecture on ,the ,miraculous ,evidences of ,christianity4 99 99 99 99 99 ,exception has been taken to what ,i have said respecting remarkable coincidences between natural events and historical facts 7p4 #bjj74 ,some of my remarks1 as the foot-note indicates1 were suggested by one of the most thoughtful of modern ,continental divines4 ,i therefore subjoin the following passage3-- ,there is a mysterious harmony between the natural and the moral1 between facts of nature and facts of history1 manifest in what we call the 'wonderful' 7mirabile71 as distinct from what is properly called the 'miraculous' 7miraculum74 ,while the miracle1 properly speaking1 implies a violation of the laws of nature1 the wonderful1 which is closely connected with it1 is such a coincidence and working together of nature and history as reveals a supernatural result to the religious perceptions1 while the natural explanation still holds good for the understanding4 ,the march of ,napoleon into ,russia1 pregnant with results1 and the severe winter2 the invincible ,armada of ,philip the ,second1 and the sudden storm 7afffavit deus et dissiparit eos71 serve as examples of the 'wonderful' in the sense referred to4 ,there is in these things a surprising and unaccountable harmony of nature and history1 and yet all is natural2 no law is broken1 but the coincidence is inexplicable4 ,wonders such as these continually present themselves to us1 both in the world at large and in the lives of individuals4 ,there is1 generally speaking1 an unaccountable power of nature which plays its part in the historical and moral complications of human life2 and it cannot escape the notice of the careful observer that wonderful coincidences often occur1 which to reason may appear only as an extraordinary1 inexplicable chance2 to the poet as a profound play of the spirit of the world1 and an active presence of a divine phantasy in the world's progress2--combinations which lie beyond the range of rational computation1 and which1 like genii1 scorn the narrow laws of human knowledge2--but in which the ,christian discerns the finger of ,god4 ,but he who truly recognizes the finger of ,god in these strange coincidences must be led on to a recognition of the actually miraculous4 ,the wonderful is only the half-developed1 unperfected miracle4 ,the wonderful possesses that ambiguous character1 half chance1 half providence1 half natural1 half divine1 just because the coincidence of the holy and the natural is external only2 and faith must still demand a relation wherein nature and freedom--separate in the usual course of events--shall not only seek one another in wonderful configurations1 shall not only approach one another1 but be immediately and essentially united2 faith must still long for an unequivocal sign1 of which it can say1 ,here is ,god1 and not nature4 ,this sign is given in the sacred history of ,christ2 a sign which is spoken against1 and which is set for the fall of many1 and for the rising again of many4--,martensen's ,christian ,dogmatics1 p4 #bbb4 ,,on ,,mythical ,,theories ,,of ,,christianity4 #aha ,the following quotation from ,mr4 ,lecky1 who is a witness of the most unexceptionable character1 sets forth in a striking light the solitary grandeur of the character of ,christ as it has been depicted in the ,gospels4 ,it was reserved for ,christianity to present to the world an ideal character which throughout all the changes of eighteen centuries has inspired the hearts of men with an impassioned love2 has shown itself capable of acting on all ages1 nations1 temperaments1 and conditions2 has not only been the highest pattern of virtue1 but the strongest incentive to its practice2 and has exercised so deep an influence that it may be truly said that the simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers1 and all the exhortations of moralists4 ,this has1 indeed1 been the well-spring of whatever is best and purest in the ,christian life4 ,amid all the sins and failings1 amid all the priestcraft and persecution and fanaticism that has defaced the ,church1 it has preserved in the example and character of its ,founder an enduring principle of regeneration4--,lecky's ,history of ,morals1 vol4 ii41 p4 #i4 ,mr4 ,lecky distinctly admits that it is an historical fact that the ,christ of the ,gospels has exerted a power compared with which that of all characters1 whether real or mythical1 has been inconsiderable4 ,a true philosophy must account for this unique power possessed by ,jesus ,christ4 ,if the character is a fiction1 why is it that it has exerted an influence compared with which all other fictions have been feebleness8 ,if ,jesus ,christ was a great man only1 why has ,he done more to regenerate mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers1 and all the exhortations of moralists8 ,why has ,he left immeasurably behind ,him all other great men who have ever lived8 ,the historical truth of the ,divine character portrayed in the ,gospels adequately accounts for this mighty influence4 ,nothing else does4 ,a character which leaves every other human character indefinitely behind it1 must belong to the supernatural1 not to the natural1 order of things4 ,it is a moral and spiritual miracle4 ,to suppose that such a character has been generated by the slow and gradual action of natural laws1 contradicts alike the acts of history and the principles of philosophy4 ,nature recognizes no mighty leaps in her order of production4 ,watson ,hazell1 ,printers1 ,london and ,aylesbury4 ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book2 otherwise they were not changed4 ,simple typographical errors were corrected2 occasional unbalanced quotation marks retained4 ,ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained4 ,greek words are shown in ,greek and then in ,english transliterations that are indicated by ,greek3 and were added by the ,transcribers4 ,accent mark errors in ,greek text have been remedied4 ,the original book used both footnotes 7at the bottom of each page7 and endnotes 7at the end of the book74 ,the footnotes have been numbered in a single sequence and moved nearly to the end of the book1 just before the endnotes4 ,there are #ad endnotes1 the first of which is identified here as #afh4 ,typographical inconsistencies in the identifications of the footnotes have been corrected1 but the original endnote anchors 7in the main text7 #agf-ahj 7originally #i-ac7 appear to have been numbered #a too high4 ,also1 anchor #ahj originally was numbered #a instead of #ac1 and endnote #ahj 7originally #ac7 is associated with a chapter that contains no endnote anchors4 ,anchor #aha 7originally #ad7 is correct4 ,one footnote 7#adf in this e,book7 contains anchors to footnotes of its own 7#adg and #adh in this e,book74 ,they appear as separate footnotes1 immediately after their parent4 ,page #ade3 in a neutral sense4 ,if ,i speak of ,the period was printed as a comma4