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PRESBYTERIAN QUARTERLY
AND
PRINCETON REVIEW.
EDIT OFJS :
LYMAN H. ATWATER ; JAMES M. SHERWOOD.
NEW SERIES.— VOL. VI.
1877.
NEW YORK :
Published by J. M. SHERWOOD,
21 BARCLAY STREET.
PRINCETON : McGdtness & Runyan.
PHILADELPHIA : Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1334 Chestnut St. American News Co., New York News Cr, General Agents.
Preas^of Rogebs & Shebwood, 21 Barclay Street, New York .
THE PRESBYTERIAN QUARTERLY
AND
PRINCETON REVIEW.
1877.
CONTENTS OF THE JANUARY NUMBER.
PA^E
I. — EXEGETICAL THEOLOGY, ESPECIALLY OF THE OLD TES-
TAMENT. . . . . . . . 5
By Charles A. Briggs, D.D., Union Theological Seminary.
II. — THE EARLY RELIGION OF IRELAND, ... 30
By Wm. Hamilton, D.D., Northfield, O. ni.— DALE ON BAPTISM, ...... 39
By Prof. W. J. Beecher, Auburn, N. Y.
IV.— AN INDIANA PIONEER, . . . . .71
By II. A. Edson, D.D., Indianapolis.
V. — THE SABBATH QUESTION, S8
By Byron Sunderland, D.D., Washington, D. C.
VI. — PRESENT FACILITIES FOR EVANGELIZING THE WORLD, 108 By Rev. R. G. Wilder, late Missionary to India.
VII.— PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGES, AS RELATED TO THE GROWTH
OF OUR MINISTRY 134
By A. A. E. Taylor, D.D., President of Wooster University, Ohio.
VIII.— THE VOWEL-POINTS CONTROVERSY IN THE XYI, XVII,
AND XVIII CENTURIES. . . . . .163.
By Rev. B. Pick, Rochester, N.
IX. — CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE, . . . .169
X. — THEOLOGICAL AND LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. . 190
V
CONTENTS OF THE APRIL NUMBER.
Page
I. — PROBLEMS FOR EDUCATED MINDS IN AMERICA IN
THE NEW CENTURY 197
By Charles E. Knox, D.D., Bloomfield, N. J.
II. — THE PERPETUAL AUTHORITY OF THE OLD TESTA-
MENT, . . . . . . . . 221.
By William Henry Green, D.D., LL.D., Princeton, N. J.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
III.— EQUABLE REDUCTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, . 255
By Edward P. Wood, Princeton, N. J.
IV— PROFESSOR HENRY BOYNTON SMITH, . 273
By Marvin R. Vincent, D.D.,New York.
V.— EVANGELISTS AND LAY-EXHORTERS,
By Rev. J. M. Otts, D.D., Wilmington, Del.
VI.— THE POWER AND IMPORTANCE OF UNCTION IN PREACHING, ........
By Rev. Arthur Pierson, D.D., Detroit, Mich.
VII. — THE NEW MANUSCRIPT OF CLEMENT OF ROME,
By C. J. H. Ropes, Union Seminary.
VIII. — CURRENT »TES :
Prof. Hi-' B. Smith, as Editor, and his Successor Contribute 'Ns of PrfoF. Smith to this Review,
America# Ec$£esiastical Law, ...
IX.— A GRAMMAR OF THE HINDI LANGUAGE,
X.— DR. MCDONALD’S LIFE AND WRITINGS OF ST. JOHN,
XI.— CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE,
XII.— THEOLOGICAL AND LITERARY INTELLIGENCE,
29 r
310
325
344
345 35°-
354 X 359 363 382
CONTENTS OF THE JULY NUMBER.
I.— THE HIGHER LIFE, AND CHRISTIAN PERFECTION, 389
By Lyman H. Atwater.
II.— THE GREAT MESSIANIC PROPHECY, . . .421
By Wolcott Calkins, Buffalo, N. Y.
III.— THE LAW PASSING AWAY, NOT BY DESTRUCTION BUT
BY FULFILLMENT, ...... 439
By Prof. Addison Ballard, Lafayette College.
IV. -PRESBYTERIANISM ON THE FRONTIERS, . . 445
By Rev. Joseph F. Tuttle, Prest. Wabash College,
V.— TOTAL DEPRAVITY, . . . . . 470^
By Henry A. Nelson, D.D., Geneva, N. Y.
VI.— THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, . . . -479
By Rev. J. K. Wight, New Hamburg, N. Y.
VII. — A JEWISH PRAYER-BOOK, ..... 495
By Rev. D. W. Fisher, D.D., Wheeling, W. Va.
VIII.— WHAT IS TRUTH? ...... 506
By Prof. Jacob Cooper, D.C.L , Rutgers College.
IX.— THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, . . . . .536
X.— CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE. . . . .543
IV.
CONTENTS.
CONTENTS OF THE OCTOBER NUMBER.
PAGE
I.— DOGMA AND DOGMATIC CHRISTIANITY, . I . 581
By Prof. Thomas Croskery, Magee College, Derry. Ireland.
II. — THE DEVELOPMENT THEORY, . . . .603
By Rev. J. S. Beekman.
III. — SOME PHASES OF MODERN THOUGHT, . . 608
By Rev. V'm. M. Taylor, D.D., New York.
IY._ GOD’S SEVENTH DAY’S REST, . . ... 627
By A Layman.
V. -WHO WROTE THE EPISTLE OF JAMES? . . . 652
By Rev. Samvei. Dodd, Hangchow, China.
VI. — THE INDUCTIVE SCIENCES OF NATURE AND THE BIB^E, 674.
By Rev. L. R Craven, D.D., Newark, N. J.
VII. —' THE BRAIfMO SOMAJ, S ' 689
By Rev. A. BroadHEAD, D.D. , Allahabad, India.
VIII.— FAITH AND TRUST, . 695
By Prof. Edward A. Lawrence.
IX.— “ THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK,” . 7°3
By Rev. John M. Layman.
X.— THE GREAT RAILROAD STRIKE, . . . . 719
By L. II. Atwater.
XI.— THE TYPICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ELIJAH AND ELISHA, 745 By Rev. W. G. Ready, Savannah, Mo.
XII.— CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE, 755
THE
PRESBYTERIAN QUARTERLY
AND
PRINCETON REVIEW.
NEW SERIES, No. 21.— JANUARY, 1877.
Art. I.— EXEGETICAL THEOLOGY, ESPECIALLY OF THE OLD
TESTAMENT.*
By Charles A. Briggs, D.D., Prof, in Union Theological Seminary, N. Y.
Exegetical THEOLOGY is one of the four grand divisions of Theological Science. It is related to the other divisions, historical, systematic, and practical, as the primary and funda- mental discipline upon which the others depend, and from which they derive their chief materials. Exegetical Theology has to do especially with the sacred Scriptures, their origin, history, character, exposition, doctrines, and rules of life. It is true that the other branches of theology have likewise to do with the sacred writings, in that their chief material is derived therefrom, but they differ from Exegetical Theology, not only in their methods of using this material, but likewise in the fact, that they do not themselves search out and gather this material, directly from the holy writings, but depend upon Exegetical Theology therefor ; whilst their energies are directed in Historical Theology in tracing the development of that material as the determining element in the history of the people of God ; in Systematic Theology, in arranging that material in the form most appropriate for systematic study, for attack and defense, in accordance with the needs of the age ; in Practical Theology, in directing that material to the conversion of souls, and training them in the holy life.
* The substance of this article was delivered as an Inaugural Address, by occasion of the induction of Dr. Briggs (Sept. 21, 1876) into the chair of Hebrew .and the Cognate Languages in the Union Theological Seminary, N. Y.
6
Exegetical Theology ,
[Jan.
Thus the whole of theology depends upon the exegesis of the Scriptures, and unless this department be thoroughly wrought out and established, the whole structure of theological truth will be weak and frail, for it will be found, in the critical hour, resting on the shifting sands of human opinion and practice, rather than on the rock of infallible divine truth.
The work of Exegetical Theology is all the more important, that each age has its own peculiar phase or department of truth to elaborate in the theological conception and in the life. Unless, therefore, theology freshen its life by ever-repeated draughts from the Holy Scriptures, it will be unequal to the tasks imposed upon it. It will not solve the problems of the thoughtful, dissolve the doubts of the cautious, or disarm the objections of the enemies of the truth. History will not. with her experience, unless she grasp the torch of divine rev- elation, which alone can illuminate the future and clear up the dark places of the present and the past. Systematic Theology will not satisfy the demands of the age if she appear in the worn-out armor or antiquated costume of former generations. She must beat out for herself a new suit of armor from Biblical material which is ever new ; she must weave to herself a fresh and sacred costume of doctrine from the Scriptures which never disappoint the requirements of mankind ; and thus armed and equipped with the weapons of the Living One, she will prove them quick and powerful, convincing and invincible, in her training of the disciple, and her conflicts with the infidel and heretic. And so Practical Theology will never be able to convert the world to Christ, and sanctify the church, without ever renewing its life from the Bible fountain ; and so pervading our liturgy, hymnology, catechetical instruction, pastoral work and preaching, with the pure, noble, and soul-satisfying truths of God’s word, that the necessities of the age may be supplied, for “ man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out ot the, mouth of God. ” (Matt, iv : 4 ; Deut. viii : 3.)
And the history of the church, and, indeed, Christian experi- ence, has shown that in so far as the other branches of Theology, have separated themselves from this fundamental discipline, and in proportion to the neglect of Exegetical Theology the church has fallen into a dead orthodoxy of scholasticism.
1877-]
Especially of the Old Testament.
7
has lost its hold upon the masses of mankind, so that with its foundations undermined, it has yielded but feeble resist- ance to the onsets of infidelity. And it has ever been that the reformation or revival has come through the resort to the sa- cred oracles, and the organization of a freshly stated body of doc- trine, and fresh methods of evangelization derived therefrom. We thus have reason to thank God, that heresy and unbelief so often drive us to our citadel, the sacred Scriptures, and force us back to the impregnable fortress of divine truth, in order that, depending no longer merely upon human weapons and defenses, we may use rather the divine, and thus reconquer all that may have been lost, and advance a stage onward in our victorious progress toward the end. Our adversaries may overthrow our systems of theology, our confessions and cate- chisms, our church organizations and methods of work, for these are, after all, human productions, the hastily thrown up out-works of the truth ; but they can never contend success- fully against the word of God that liveth and abideth forever (i Peter i : 23), which, though the heavens fall and the earth pass away, will not fail in one jot or tittle from the most com- plete fulfillment (Matt, v : 18), which will shine in new beauty and glory as its parts are one by one searchingly examined, which will prove itself not only invincible but all- conquering, as point after point is most holy contested, until at last it claims universal obedience as the pure and faultless mirror of him who is himself the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of his person. (2 Cor. iii : 18; Heb. i: 3.)
Now it is an important characteristic of our Reformed and Calvinistic churches, that they give the sacred Scriptures such a fundamental position in their confessions and catechisms, and lay so much stress upon the so-called formal principle of the Protestant Reformation. Thus in both Helvetic confessions and the Westminster they constitute the first article*, whilst in the Heidelberg and Westminster catechisms they are placed at the foundation, in the former as the source of our knowl- edge of sin and misery, and of salvation (Quest, iii, xix), in the latter as dividing the catechism into two parts, teaching “what
* Niemeyer, Collectio Confess., pp. 1 1 5, 467.
'8
Exegctical Theology ,
[Jan.
man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.” — ( Larger Catechism, Quest, v; Shorter Catechism, Quest, iii.) And the authority of the word of God as “the only rule of faith and obedience” ( Larger Catechism, Quest, v), has ever been maintained in our churches and seminaries.
Exegetical Theology being thus according to its idea the fundamental theological discipline, and all important as the fruitful source of theology, it must be thoroughly elaborated in all its parts according to exact and well-defined scientific methods. The methods proper to Exegetical Theology are the synthetic and the historical, the relative importance of which has been hotly contested. The importance of the historical method is so great that not a few have regarded the discipline, as a whole, as at once a primary division of Historical Theology. The examination of the Bible sources, the sacred writings being of the same essential character as the examination of other historical documents, they should be considered simply as the sources of Biblical history, and thus the writings them- selves would be most appropriately treated under a history of Biblical literature (Hupfeld, Reuss, Fuerst, et all), and the doc- trines under a history of Biblical doctrine (the school of Baur).* But the sacred writings are not merely sources of historical information ; they are the sources of the faith to be believed and the morals to be practiced by all the world ; they are of everlasting value as the sum total of sacred doctrine and law for mankind, being not only for the past, but for the present and the future, as God’s holy word to the human race, so that their value as historical documents becomes entirely sub- ordinate to their value as a canon of Holy Scripture, the norm and rule of faith and life. Hence the synthetic method must predominate over the historical, as the proper exegetical method, and induction rule in all departments of the work ; for it is the office of Exegetical Theology to gather from these sacred writings, as the storehouse of divine truth, the holy material, in order to arrange it by a process of induction and generalization into the generic forms that may best express the generic conceptions of the sacred Scriptures themselves. From this point of view it is clear, that the analytic method
* Compare my article on Biblical Theology, Am. Prcsb. Review, 1870; p. 122, seq.
1 8 77.] Especially of the Old Testament. 9
can have but a very subordinate place in our branch ot' theol- ogy. It may be necessary in the work of separating the material . in the work of gathering it, but this is only in order to the synthetic process, which must ever prevail. It is to the im- proper application of the analytic method to exegesis, that such sad mistakes have been made in interpreting the word of God, making exegesis the slave of dogmatics and tradition, when she can only thrive as the free-born daughter of truth, whose word does not yield to dogmatics, but is divinely authoritative over dogmatics, and before whose voice tradition must ever give way ; for exegesis cannot go to the text with preconceived opinions and dogmatic views that will constrain the text to .accord with them, but rather with a living faith in the perspicuity and power of the word of God alone , of itself, to pursuade and convince ; and with reverential fear of the voice of him who speaks through it, which involves assurance of the truth, and submission and prompt obedience to his will. Thus, exegesis does not start from the unity to investigate the variety, but from the variety to find the unity. It does not seek the author’s view and the divine doctrine through an analysis of the writing, the chapter, the verse, down to the word ; but, inversely, it starts with the word and the clause, pursuing its way through the verse, paragraph, section, chap- ter, writing, collection of writings, the entire Bible, until the whole word of God is displayed before the mind, from the summit that has been attained after a long and arduous climb- ing.
Thus Exegetical Theology at least is a science, whose pre- mises and materials are no less clear and tangible than those with which any other science has to do, and whose results are vastly more important than all other sciences combined, as they concern our salvation and everlasting welfare ; and if, further- more, this material with which we have to do be what it claims to be — the very word of God to man, — it is clear that here alone we have a science that deals with immutable facts and infallible truths, so that our science may take its place in the circle of sciences, despite all the efforts of false science to cast it out, as the royal, yes, the divine science. But let it be remembered that this position will be accorded it by the scien- ces only in so far as theology as a whole is true to the spirit
10
Exegctical Theology ,
[Jan.
and character of its fundamental discipline, and does not as- sume a false position of dogmatism and traditional prejudice, or attempt to tyrannize over the other sciences in their earnest researches after the truth.
Exegetical Theology being thus fundamental and important, having such thorough-going scientific methods, it must have manifold divisions and subdivisions of its work. These, in their order and mutual relation, are determined by a proper adjustment of its methods and the subordination of the his- torical to the inductive process. Thus at the outset there are imposed upon those who would enter upon the study of the sacred Scriptures certain primary and fundamental questions respecting the holy writings, such as : Which are the sacred writings ? why do we call them sacred l whence did they origi- nate ? under what historical circumstances ? who were their authors ? to whom were they addressed ? what was their design ? are the writings that have come down to us genuine ? is the text reliable ? and the like. These questions may be referred to the general department of Biblical Introduction. Then the text itself is to be interpreted according to correct principles and by all the instrumentalities at hand, with all the light that the study of centuries may throw upon it. This is Biblical Exegesis. Finally, the results of this exegetical process are to be gathered into one organic whole. This is Biblical Theology. These then are the three grand divisions into which Exegeti- cal Theology naturally divides itself, each in turn having its appropriate subordinate departments.
I. Biblical Introduction has as its work to determine all those introductory questions that may arise respecting the sa- cred writings, preliminary to the work of exegesis. These ques- tions are various, yet may be grouped in accordance with a general principle. But it is, first of all, necessary to limit the bounds of our department and exclude from it all that does not properly come within its sphere. Thus Hagenbach* brings into consideration here certain questions which he assigns to the auxiliary disciplines of Sacred Philology, Sacred Archaeology, and Sacred Canonics. But it is difficult to see why, if these are in any essential relation to our department, they should not
Encyklopddit. 9te Auf. s. 40.
i S / / •] Especially of the Old Testament. n
be logically incorporated ; whilst if they do not stand in such close relations, why they should not be referred to their own proper departments of study. Thus Sacred Canonics clearly be- longs to our discipline, whilst Sacred Archaeology no less certainly belongs to the historical department ; and as for Sacred Philology, it should not be classed with theology at all, for the languages of the Bible are not sacred from any inherent virtue in them, but only for the reason, that they have been selected as the vehicle of divine revelation, and thus their connection with the scriptures is accidental rather than nec- essary. And still further we are to remark, that all departments of theology are in mutual relation to one another, and in a higher scale all the departments of learning act and react upon one another — such as theology, philosophy, philology, and history. Hence, that one department of study is related to another does not imply that it should be made auxiliary thereto. Thus the languages of scripture are to be studied precisely as the other languages, as a part of General Philology. The Hellenistic Greek is a dialect of the Greek language, which is itself a prominent member of the Indo-Germanic family, whilst the Hebrew and Chaldee are sisters with the Assyrian and Syriac, the Arabic and Ethiopic, the Phoenician and Samar- itan, of the Shemitic family. The study of these languages, as languages, properly belongs to the college or university course, and has no appropriate place in the theological seminary. Valuable time is consumed in these studies that is taken from Exegetical Theology itself and never compensated for. The Shemitic languages are constantly rising into prominence, oyer against the Indo-Germanic family, and demand their appropri- ate place in the curriculum of a liberal education. The time has fully come when philologists and theologians should united- ly insist that a place should be found for them in the college course ; and that this valuable department of knowledge, upon the pursuit of which so much depends for the history of the Ori- ent, the origin of civilization and mankind, as well as the whole subject of the three great religions of the world, should not give way to the physical sciences, which, whilst properly of subordi- nate importance as dealing mainly with material things, have already assumed an undue prominence in our institutions of learning over against philology, history, and philosophy, that
12
Exegetical Theology,
[Jan.
deal with higher and nobler problems. German theology has a great advantage, in that the theological student is already pre- pared in the gymnasium for the university with a knowledge of Hebrew relatively equivalent to his Greek. The Presbyterians of Scotland have advanced beyond us in this respect, by requir- ing an elementary knowledge of Hebrew, in order to entrance upon the seminary course, at the same time providing such elementary training during the seminary vacation. This is a step in which we might readily follow them. We cannot afford to wait until all the colleges follow the noble lead of the University of Virginia, Lafayette, and others, in giving their students the option of Hebrew instruction ; but must use all our influence to constrain them to fulfill their duty of preparing students for the study of theology, as well as of the other professions. We might,, at least for the present, provide in our larger seminaries a spe- cial preparatory course of study, of say three months in the summer in which instruction might be given in Hebrew, Hellenistic Greek, and Philosophy. Now this or some other plan must be adopted, if the study of the Old Testament is to assume its proper place in our theological instruction ; if our church is to successfully meet and overcome the assaults, daily becoming more frequent and bitter, not only from without, but from within {vide Scribner s Monthly, Sept., 1876., Art. — “Protestant Vaticanism”), upon the Old Testament foundations of our faith.
Still further it is to be noticed, that there can henceforth be no thorough mastery of the Hebrew tongue by clinging rever- ently to the skirts of the Jew. We might as well expect to master the classic Latin from the language of the monks, or acquire evangelical doctrine from Rome. The cognate lan- guages are indispensable. And it is just here that a rich treasure, prepared by divine Providence for these times, is pouring into our laps, if we will only use it. The Assyrian alone, as recently brought to light, and established in her position as one of the oldest sisters, is of inestimable value, not to speak of the Arabic and Syriac, the Ethiopic, Phoenician, Samaritan, and the lesser languages and dialects that the monuments are constantly revealing. Immense material is now at hand, and is still being gathered from these sources, that will considerably modify our views of the Hebrew language, and of the history and religion
1 877.] Especially of the Old Testament. ij
of the Hebrews in relation to the other peoples of the Orient, We are only beginning to learn that the Hebrew language has such a thing as a syntax, and that it is a highly organized and wonderfully flexible and beautiful tongue, the result of centuries of development. As the bands of Massoretic tradition are one after another falling off, the inner spirit and life of the lan- guage are being discovered, the dry bones are clothing them- selves with flesh, and rich, warm blood is animating the frame, giving to the features nobility and beauty.* If the Presbyterian Church is to be renowned for its mastery of the Bible, if the symbols and the life of the church are to harmonize, we must ad- vance and occupy this rich and fruitful field for the Lord, and not wait for the unbelievers to occupy it before us, and then be com- pelled to contend at a disavantage, they having the prestige of knowledge and success. f
Whilst, therefore, we exclude the study of the Hebrew and cognate languages from the range of Exegetical Theology, we magnify their importance, not only to the theological student, but also to the entire field of scholarship. Other scholars may do without them, but for the theologian these studies are indispen- sable, and we must at the very beginning strain all our energies to the mastery of the Hebrew tongue. If we have not done it out of the seminaries, we must do it in the seminaries. We must take our disadvantages as we find them, and make up by severity of study for the lack of time ; and whilst we cannot at present do justice to the requirements of the Exegetical Theology of the Old Testament, though for the present she must be the little sister in the seminary course, yet we must not undervalue her : we must form a proper conception of her, employ faithfully her methods, cover the ground of her divisions, even if but thinly, and she will grow upon our hands and prove herself one of the excellent ones. For though we can only deal with selections , and study the broad outlines of our discipline, and have but a
*It is exceedingly gratifying that our American students are eagerly entering upon these studies. The large classes in the cognate languages, not only in our seminary (the Syriac class of 1875 was 9> the Arabic class of 1876 is 19), but also at Trinceton, promise great things for the future in this regard.
fThe church should be very grateful that the Assyrian researches have fallen at once into Christian hands, and not, like the Egyptian, been the storehouse at the start for the enemies of the truth.
Exegetical Theology ,
[Jan.
fragmentary course at the best, yet we may taste of some of the tit-bits of Scripture and enjoy them to the full, and thus learn the richness of the word of God as the true soul food. We may be prepared by little things for greater things, and, above all, learning to love our methods and our work, we may devote our lives to it for the glory of God and the good of our race.
Having excluded Sacred Philology from Exegetical Theology and from Biblical Introduction, we now have to define more closely the proper field of Biblical Introduction. Biblical In- troduction has to do with all introductory questions respecting the sacred Scriptures, all the introductory work that may be necessary to prepare the way of Biblical Exegesis. Looking at the sacred Scriptures as the sources to be investigated, we see three fields of inquiry presenting themselves : the individual writings, the collection or canon, and the text ; or, in more detail the three groups of questions: i. As to the origin, authorship, time of composition, character, design, and direction of the individual writings that claim, or are claimed, to belong to the sacred Scriptures. 2. As to the idea, extent, character, and authority of the Canon , into which these writings have been collected as the sacred Scriptures of the church. 3. As to the text of which the Canon is composed, the MSS. in which it is preserved, the translations of it and citations from it. These subordinate branches of Biblical Introduction may be called sacred Isagogics, sacred Canonics, and sacred Criticism.
Now with reference to these departments in detail : (1) Sacred Isagogics is in itself a kind of introduction to Biblical Introduc- tion, dealing with those questions that are most fundamental. Here we have to do with individual writings and groups of writ- ings. The parts are ever to be investigated before the wholes, the individual writings before the collected ones. With refer- ence to each writing, or, it may be, part of a writing, we have to determine the historical origin and authorship, the original readers, the design and character of the composition, and its relation to other writings of its group. These questions must be settled partly by external historical idence, but chiefly by internal evidence, such as the language, style of composition, archaeological and historical traces, the conceptions of the author respecting the various subjects of human thought, and the like. Now with reference to such questions as these, it is manifest
i87/.]
Especially of the Old Testament .
15
that we have nothing to do with traditional views or dogmatic opinions. Whatever may have been the prevailing views in the church with reference to the Pentateuch, Psalter, or any other book of Scripture, they will not deter the conscientious exegete an instant from acceptingand teaching the results of a historical and critical study of the writings themselves. It is just here that Christian theologians have greatly injured the cause of the truth and the Bible b^’ dogmatizing in a department where it is least of all appropriate, and, indeed, to the highest degree improper, as if our faith depended at all upon these human opinions respecting the word of God ; as if the Scriptures could be benefited by defending the indefensible, whereas by these frequent and shameful defeats and routs these traditionalists bring disgrace and alarm even into the impregnable fortress itself, and prejudice the sincere inquirer against the Scriptures, as if these were questions of orthodoxy or piety, or of allegiance to the word of God or the symbols of the church. Our stand- ards teach that “the word of God is the only rule of faith and obedience,* and that ’’the authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God, the the author thereof.”f How unorthodox it is therefore to set up another rule of prevalent opinion as a stumbling block to those who would accept the authority of the word of God alone. So long as the word of God is honored, and its decisions regarded as final, what matters it if a certain book be detached from the name of one holy man and ascribed to another, or classed among those with unknown authors? Are the laws of the Pentateuch any less divine, if it should be proved that they are the product of the experience of God’s people from Moses to Josiah?]: Is the Psalter to be esteemed any the less precious that the Psalms should be regarded as the product of many poets sing- ing through many centuries the sacred melodies of God-fearing souls, responding from their hearts, as from a thousand-stringed lyre, to the touch of the Holy One of Israel ? Is the book of Job less majestic and sublime, as, the noblest monument of sacred poetry, it stands before us in its solitariness, with un-
* Larger Catechism, Quest, iii. f Confess, of Faith, Chap, i : 4.
t British and Foreign Evang. Review, July, 1868, Art. “The Progress of Old Testament Studies.’’
1 6 Exegetical Theology, [Jan.
known author, unknown birthplace, and from an unknown period of history ? Are the ethical teachings of the Proverbs, the Song of songs, and Ecclesiastes, any the less solemn and weighty, that they may not be the product of Solomon’s wisdom alone, but of the reflection of many holy wise men of different epochs, gathered about Solomon as their head ? Is the epistle to the Hebrews any less valuable for its clear presentation of the fulfillment of the Old Testament priesthood and sacrifice in the work of Christ, that it must detached from the name of Paul ? Let us not be so presumptuous, so irreverent to the Word of God, so unbelieving with reference to its inherent power of convincing and assuring the seekers for the truth, as to condemn any sincere and candid inquirer as a heretic or a rationalist, because he may differ from us on such ques- tions as these ? The internal evidence must be decisive in all questions of Biblical Isagogics and we must not fear but that the truth, whatever it may be, will be most in accordance with God’s Word and for the glory of God and the interest of the church.
The individual writings having been examined in detail and in their inter-relation, we now have to consider them as col- lected writings in the canon of the church.
(2) Sacred Canonics considers the Canon of sacred Scripture as to its idea in its historical formation, its extent, character, author- ity, and historical influence. These inquiries, like those in the previous department, are to be made in accordance with the his- torical and synthetic methods. We are not to start with precon- ceived dogmatic views as to the idea of the canon, but derive this idea by induction from the sacred writings themselves; and in the same manner decide all other questions that may arise. Thus the extent of the Canon is not to be determined by the con- sensus of the churches, * or by the citation and reverent use of them in the fathers, and their recognition by the earliest stan- dard authorities, f for these historical evidences, so important in Historical Theology, have no value in Exegetical Theology,
* Indeed, they do not agree with reference to its extent whether it includes the Apocryphal books or not, and, still further, they differ in the matter of distinguishing within the canon, between writings of primary and secondary authority.
•(•These, indeed, are not entirely agreed, and if they were, could only give us a hu- man and fallible authority.
1 877.] Especially of the Old Testament. 17
as they had no influence in the formation of the Canon itself ; nor, indeed, by their accord with orthodoxy or the rule of faith,’" for it is not only too broad, in that other writings than sacred are orthodox, but again too narrow, in that the standard is the shifting one of subjective opinion, or external human authority, which, indeed, presupposes the Canon itself as an object of criti- cism ; and all these external reasons, historical and dogmatic, after all, can have but a provisional and temporary authority — but the only authoritative and final decision of these questions is from the internal marks and characteristics of the Scriptures, their recognition of one another, their harmony with the idea, character, and development of a divine revelation, as it is derived from the Scriptures themselves, as well as their own well -tested and critically examined claims to inspiration and authority. These reasons, and these alone, gave them their historical position and authority as a Canon ; and these alone can have their place in the department of Exegetical Theology. And it is only on this basis that the historical and dogmatic questions may be properly considered, with respect to their recognition by Jew and Christian, and their authority in the church. The writings having thus been considered individ- ually and collectively, we are prepared for the third step, the examination of the text itself.
(3) Sacred Criticism considers the text of the sacred Scriptures both as a whole and in detail. The sacred writings have shared the fate of all human productions in their transmission from hand to hand, and in the multiplication of copies. Hence, through the mistakes of copyists, the intentional corruption of the heretic, and supposed improvement of the over-anxious orthodox, the MSS. that have been preserved betray differen- ces of reading; and questions arise with respect to certain parts of writings, or, indeed, whole writings, whether they are gen- uine or spurious. This department has a wide field of investiga- tion. First of all, the peculiarities of the Bible language must be studied, and the idiomatic individualities of the respective authors. Then the age of the various MSS. must be determined, their peculiarities, and relative importance. The ancient versions
*It was in accordance with this subjective standard that Luther rejected the epistle of James and Esther. Comp. Donter, Gesch der Protest. Theologie, s. 234, seq.
1 8 Exegetical Theology , [Jan.
now come into the field, especially the Septuagint, the Chaldee and Samaritan Targums, the Syriac Pechito, and the Vulgate, which again, each in turn, has to go through the same sifting as to the critical value of its own text. Here, especially in the Old Testament, we go back of any MSS. and are brought face to face with differences that can be accounted for only on the supposi- tion of original MSS., whose peculiarities have been lost. To these may be added the citations of the original text in the works of rabbins, and Christian scholars. Then we have the still more difficult comparison of parallel passages, where dif- ferences of text show a difference in MSS. reaching far back of any historical MSS., or even version." Now, it is manifest that Biblical Criticism has to meet all these difficulties and an- swer all these questions, and harmonize and adjust all these differences, in order that the genuine, original, pure, and uncor- rupted text of the word of God may be gained, as it proceeded directly from the original authors to the original readers. And the exegetical method will begin with the differences of the Scripture texts, before it enters upon the study of MSS. and versions. This department of study is all the more difficult for the Old Testament, that the field is so immense, the writings so numerous, various, and ancient, the lan- guages so little understood in their historical peculiarities, and, still further, in that we have to overcome the prejudices of the Massoretic system, which, whilst faithful and reliable so far as the knowledge of the times went, yet, as resting sim- ply on tradition, without critical or historical investigation, and without any proper conception of the general principles of grammar and comparative philology, cannot be accepted as final ; for the time has long since passed when the vowel points and accents can be deemed inspired. We have to go back of them, to the unpointed text, for all purposes of criticism.
Thus the work of Biblical Introduction ends, by giving us all that it can learn respecting the individual writings, their collection in the Canon, and their text, by presenting to us
*Comp. Psalm xiv with Psalm liii ; Psalm xviii with 2 Samuel xxii, and the books of Samuel and Kings on one hand, with the books of the Chronicles on the other, and indeed, throughout. Compare also the Canonical books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Dan. iel, with the Apocryphal additions and supplements in the Septuagint version, and ti. nallv the citation of earlier writings in the later ones, especially in the New Testarntn1.
l9
1 877.] Especially of the Old Testament.
the sacred Scriptures as the holy word of God, all the errors and improvements of men having been eliminated, in a text so far as possible, as it came from holy men who “spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter i: 21), so that we are brought into the closest possible relations with the living God through his word, having in our hands the very form that contains the very substance of divine revelation ; so that with reverence and submission to his will we may en- ter upon the work of interpretation, confidently expecting to be assured of the truth in the work of Biblical Exegesis.
II. Biblical Exegesis. And now first of all we have to lay down certain general principles derived from the study of the word of God, upon which this exegesis itself is to be con- ducted. These principles must accord with the proper methods of Exegetical Theology and the nature of the work to be done. The work of establishing these principles belongs to the introductory department of Biblical Hermejieutics. The Scriptures are human productions, and yet truly divine. They must be interpreted as other human writings, and yet their peculiarities and differences from other human writings must be recognized,* especially the supreme determining difference of their inspiration by the Spirit of God, in accordance with which they require not only a sympathy with the human element in the sound judgment and practical sense of the grammarian, the critical investigation of the historian, and the aesthetic taste of the man of letters; but also a sympathy with the divine element, an inquiring, reverent spirit, to be enlightened by the Spirit of God, without which no exposition of the Scriptures as sacred, inspired writings is possible. It is this feature that distinguishes the discipline from the other corresponding ones, as Sacred Hermeneutics. Thus we have to take into the account the inspiration of the Scriptures, their harmony , their unity in variety, their sweet simplicity, and their sublime mystery; and all this not to override the princi- ples of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, but to supplement them, yes, rather, infuse them with a new life and vigor, making them sacred grammar, sacred logic, and sacred rhetoric. And just here it is highly important that the history of exegesis should come
* Comp. Ixnmer, Ilermer.eutik der N. T. 5. 9.
20 Exegctical Theology , [Jan.
into the field of study in order to show us the abuses of false prin- ciples of interpretation as a warning ; and the advantages of correct principles as an encouragement.*
After this preliminary labor, the exegete is prepared for his work in detail, and, indeed, the immensity of these details is at once over-powering and discouraging. The extent, the richness, the variety of the sacred writings, poetry, history, and prophecy, extending through so many centuries, and from such a great number of authors, known and unknown, the in- herent difficulty of interpreting the sacred mysteries, the things of God — who is sufficient for these things ? who would venture upon this holy ground without a quick sense of his in- capacity to grasp the divine ideas, and an absolute dependence upon the Holy Spirit to show them unto him ! (John xvi : 15.) Truly, here is a work for multitudes, for ages, for the most profound and devout study of all mankind, for here we have to do with the whole word of God to man. The exegete is like the miner of Job xxviii.f
“To (nature’s) darkness man is setting bounds ;
Unto the end he searcheth every thing,—
The stones of darkness and the shade of death Breaks from the settlers’ view the deep ravine ;
And there, forgotten of the foot-worn path,
They let them down — from men they roam afar.”
For the exegete must free himself as far as possible from all traditionalism and dogmatic prejudice, must leave the haunts of human opinion, and bury himself in the word of God. He must descend beneath the surface of the word into its depths. The letter must be broken through to get at the precious idea. The dry rubbish of misconception must be thrown out, and a shaft forced through every obstacle to get at the truth. And whilst faithful in the employment of all these powers of the human intellect and will, the true exegete fears the Lord, and only thereby hopes through his intimacy with the Lord for the revelation of wisdom 4
1. The exegete begins his work with Grammatical Exegesis. Here he has to do with the form, the dress of the revelation,
^Compare especially Diestel, Gesch. d. A. T. in der Christ. Kirche, Jena, 1869. •j-Taylor Lewis’ version Lange's Commentaries, Volume on Job. N. Y., 1874. j Job xxviii : 28; Psalm xxv : 14; Proverbs viii : 17 , seq.
1 877.] Especially of the Old Testament. 21
which is not to be disregarded or undervalued, for it is the form in which God has seen fit to convey his truth, the dress in which alone we can approach her and know her. Hebrew grammar must therefore be mastered in its etymology and syn- tax, or grammatical exegesis will be impossible. Here patience, exactness, sound judgment, and keen discernment are re- quired, for every word is to be examined by itself, etymolog- ically and historically, not etymologically alone, for Greek and Hebrew roots have not unfrequently been made to teach very false doctrines, forgetting that a word is a living thing, and having, besides its root, the still more important stem , branches, and products — indeed, a history of meanings. The word is then to be considered in its syntactical relations in the clause ; and thus step by step the grammatical sense is to be ascertained, the false interpretations eliminated, and the various possible ones correctly presented and classified. Now, without this patient study of words and clauses no accurate translation is possible, no trustworthy exposition can be made.* It is true that grammatical exegesis leaves us in doubt between many possible constructions of the sense ; but these doubts will be solved as the work of exegesis goes on, and then, on the other hand, it eliminates many views as ungrammatical which have been hastily formed, and effectually prevents that jumping at conclusions to which the indolent and impetuous are alike inclined.
2. The second step in exegesis is Logical and Rhetorical Ex- egesis. The words and clauses must be interpreted in accord- ance with the context, the development of the author’s thought and purpose ; and also in accordance with the principles of rhetoric, discriminating plain language from figurative, poetry from prose, history from prophecy, and the various kinds of history, poetry, and prophecy from one another. This is to be done not after an arbitrary manner, but in accordance with the general laws of logic and rhetoric that apply to all writings whatever. Now it is clear, that whilst the use of figurative language has given occasion to the mystic and the dogmatist
*Yes, we may say that no translation can be thoroughly understood after the gen- eration in which it was made, without this resort to the original text, which alone can determine in many cases the meaning of the translators themselves, when we come upon obsolete terms, or words whose meanings have become modified or lost.
New Series, No. 21. 2
22 Excgetical Theology, [Jan.
for the most arbitrary and senseless exegesis, yet the laws of logic and rhetoric, correctly applied to the text, will clip the wings of the fanciful, and destroy the foundations of the dog- matist, and, still further, will serve to determine many ques- tions that grammar alone cannot decide, and hence, more nar- rowly define the meaning of the text.
3. The third step in exegesis is Historical Exegesis. The author must be interpreted in accordance with his historical sur- roundings. We must apply to the text the knowledge of the au- thor’s times, derived from archaeology, geography, chronology, and general history. Thus only will we be able to enter upon the scenery of the text. It is not necessary to resort to the his- tory of exegesis; one’s own observation is sufficient to show the absurdities and the outrageous errors into which a neglect of this principle leads many earnest but ignorant men. No one can present the Bible narrative in the dress of modern every-day life without making the story ridiculous. And it must be so from the very nature of the case. Historical circumstances are essential to the truthfulness and vividness of the narrative. Instead of our transporting Scripture events to our scenery, we must transport ourselves to their scenery, if we would cor- rectly understand them and realize them. If we wish to apply Scripture truth we may, after having correctly appre- hended it, eliminate it from its historical circumstances, and then give it anew and appropriate form for practical purposes; but we can never interpret Scripture without historical ex- egesis. This will serve to more narrowly define the meaning of the text, and to eliminate from the results thus far attained in the exegetical process.
4. The fourth step in exegesis is Comparative Exegesis. The results already gained with reference to any particular passage are to be compared with the results attained in a like manner in other similar passages of the same author, or other authors of the period, and in some cases from other periods of divine revelation. Thus, by a comparison of Scripture with Scripture, mutual light will be thrown upon the passage, the true con- ception will be distinguished from the false, and the results attained adequately supported.
5. The fifth step in exegesis is one of vast importance, which, for lack of a better name, may be called Literary
23
1 877.] Especially of the Old Testament.
Exegesis. Great light is thrown upon the text by the study of the views of those who, through the centuries, in the various lands, and from the various stand-points, have studied the Scriptures. Here in this battle ground of interpretation we see almost every view assailed and defended, so that mul- titudes of opinions have been overthrown, never to reappear ; others are weak and tottering — comparatively few still main- tain the field. Manifestly it is among these latter that we must in the main find the true interpretation. This is the fur- nace into which the results thus far attained by the exegete must be thrown, that its fires may consume the hay, straw, and stubble, and leave the pure gold thoroughly refined. Christian divines, Jewish rabbins, and even unbelieving wri- ters, have not studied the word of God for so many centuries in vain. No true scholar can be so presumptuous as to neg- lect their labors. No interpreter can claim originality or freshness of conception, who has not familiarized himself with this mass of material that others have wrought out. Nay, on the other hand, it is the best check to presumption, to know that every view that is worth anything must pass through the furnace. Any exegete who will accomplish anything, must know that he is to expose himself to the fire that centres upon any combatant that will enter upon this hotly-contested field. Thus, as from the study of the Scriptures he first comes into contact with human views, traditional opinions, and dogmatic prejudices ; whilst on the one side these will severely criticize and overthrow many of his results, on the other side the results of his faithful study of the word of God will be a fresh test of the correctness of those human views that have hitherto pre- vailed, so that, from the acting and reacting influences of this conflict, the truth of God will maintain itself, and it alone will prevail.
I have thus far described these various steps of exegesis, in order that a clear and definite conception may be formed of its field of work — not that they are ever to be represented by themselves in any commentary, or even carried on independ- ently by the exegete himself, but that they should be regarded as the component parts of any thorough exegetical process, and that although as a rule naught but the results are to be pre-
24
[Jan.
Exegetical Theology ,
sented to the public, yet these results imply that no part of the process has been neglected, but that all have harmonized in them, if these are true and reliable results.
In advancing now to the higher processes of exegesis, we have to observe a marked difference from the previ- ous processes, in that the former have had to do with the entire text, these with only select portions of it. And still further we are to remark, that whilst in these pro- cesses, the results are to be attained which will be most profitable to the great masses of mankind, we must severely criticize those who, without having gone through the previous processes themselves, either use the labors of the faithful exegete without acknowledgment, or else, accepting without examination traditional views, build on an unknown founda- tion ; for the world does not need theological castles in the air, or theories of Christian life, but a solid structure of divine truth as the home of the soul, and an infallible guide for living and dying.
6. The sixth step in exegesis is Doctrinal Exegesis, which considers the material thus far gathered in order to derive there- from the ideas of the author respecting faith and morals. These ideas are then to be considered in their relation to one another in the section and chapter. Thus we get the doctrine that the author would teach, and are prepared for a com- parison of it with the doctrines of other passages and authors. Here we have to contend with a false method of searching for the so-called spiritual sense, as if the doctrine could be independent of the form in which it is revealed, or, indeed, so loosely attached to it, that the grammar and logic should teach one thing, and the spiritual sense another thing. There can be no spiritual sense that does not accord with the results thus far attained in the exegetical process. The true spiritual sense comes before the inquiring soul as the product of the true exegetical methods that have been described. As the differences of material become manifest in the handling of it, the doctrine stands forth as divine and infallible in its own light. Any other spiritual sense is false to the word of God, whether it be the conceit of Jewish cabbalists or Christian mystics.
7. The seventh and final effort of exegesis is Practical Exe-
1 877.] Especially of the Old Testament. 25
gesis — that is, the text is now to be given its application to the faith and life of the present. And here we must eliminate not only the temporal bearings of the text from the eternal, but also those elements that apply to other persons and cir- cumstances than those in hand. And here all depends upon the character of the work, whether it be catechetical, homiletical, evangelistic, or pastoral. All Scripture may be said to be prac- tical for some purpose, but not every Scripture for every purpose. Hence, practical exegesis must not only give the true meaning of the text, but also the true application of the text to the matter in hand. Here we have again to deal with a false method of seeking edification and deriving pious reflections from every passage, thus constraining the text to meanings that it cannot bear, doing violence to the word of God, which is not only not to be added to or taken from as a whole, but also as to all its parts. This spirit of interpretation, whilst nominally most reverential, is really very irreverential. It originates from a lack of knowledge of the Scriptures, and a negligence to use the proper methods of exegesis, as if the Holy Spirit would re- veal the sacred mysteries to the indolent, even if they should be pious ; for whilst he may hide the truth from the irreverential critic, he cannot be expected to reveal it except to those who not only have piety, but also search for it as for hidden treasures. This indolence and presumptuous reliance upon the Holy Spirit, which too often proves to be a dependence upon one’s own conceits and fancies, has brought disgrace upon the word of God, as if it could be manifold in sense, or was able to prove anything that might be asked of it. Nay, still worse, it leads the preacher to burden his discourse with material which, however good it may be in itself, not only has no con- nection with the text, but no practical application to the cir- cumstances of the hour, or the needs of the congregation. Over against this abuse of the Scriptures, the exegete learns to use it properly, and whilst he cannot find everywhere what he needs, yet he can find by searching for it, far more and better than he needs ; yes, he will learn, as he studies the word, that it needs no forcing, but aptly and exactly satisfies with appropriate material every phase of Christian experience, gently clears away every shadow of difficulty that may disturb the inquiring spirit, proving itself sufficient for each and every one, and abundantly ample for all mankind.
26
Exegetical Theology ,
[Jan.
We thus have endeavored to consider the various processes of exegesis by which results are attained of essential impor- tance to all the other departments of theology. The work of the exegete is foundation work. It is the work of the study, and not of the pulpit, or the platform. It brings forth treas- ures new and old from the word of God, to enrich the more prominent and public branches of theology. It finds the nugget of gold that they are to coin into the current con- ceptions of the times. It brings forth ore that they are to work into the vessels or ornaments, that may minister comfort to the household and adorn the home and the person. It gains the precious gems that are to be set by these jewelers, in or- der that their lustre and beauty may become manifest and admired of all. Some think it strange that the word of God does not at once reveal a system of theology , or give us a confession of faith , or catechism. But experience shows us that no body of divinity can answer more than its generation ; no catechism or confession of faith but what will in time become obsolete and powerless, remaining as historical monu- ments and symbols, as the worn and tattered banners that our veterans or honored sires have carried victoriously through the campaigns of the past — but not suited entirely for their de- scendants. Each age has its own peculiar work and needs, and it is not too much to say, that not even the Bible could devote itself to the entire satisfaction of the wants of any par- ticular age, without thereby sacrificing its value as the book of all ages. It is sufficient that the Bible gives us the material for all ages, and leaves to man the noble task of shaping that material so as to suit the wants of his own time. The word ot God thus is given to us in the Bible, as his truth is displayed in physical nature — in an immense and varied store-house of material. We must search in order to find what we require for our soul’s food, not expecting to employ the whole, but recognizing that as there is enough for us, so there is sufficient for all mankind and for all ages, in its diversities appropriate for the various types of human character, the various phases of human experience, so that no race, no generation, no man, woman, or child, but what may find in the Scriptures the true soul-food, material of abounding wealth, surpassing all the powers of human thought and all the requirements of human life.
1 877.] Especially of the Old Testament. 27
The work of Exegetical Theology does not end, however, with the work of Biblical Exegesis, but advances to its con- clusion in Biblical Theology. Exegetical Theology not only in the department of Biblical Exegesis produces the material to be used in the other department of theology in a confused and chaotic state, but it has its own highest problem to solve, in the thorough arrangement of that material in accordance with its own synthetic method. As there is a history in the Bible, an unfolding of divine revelation, a unity, and a wonder- ful variety, so Exegetical Theology cannot stop until it has arranged the Biblical material in accordance with its historical position, and its relative value in the one structure of divine revelation. And here, first, we see the culmination of the exegetical process, as all its departments pour their treasures into this basin, where they flow together and become com- pacted into one organic whole — for Biblical Theology rises from the exegesis of verses, sections, and chapters, to the higher exegesis of writings, authors, periods, and of the Old and New Testaments as wholes, until the Bible is discerned as an organism, complete and symmetrical, one as God is one, and yet as various as mankind is various, and thus only divino- human as the complete revelation of the God-man.
In this respect Biblical Theology demands its place in the- ological study as the highest attainment of exegesis. It is true that it has been claimed that the history of Biblical Doc- trine, as a subordinate branch of Historical Theology, fully answers its purpose ; and again, that Biblical Dogmatics, as the fundamental part of Systematic Theology, covers its ground ; and, indeed, these branches of the sister grand divisions of theology do deal with many of its questions and handle much of its material. But this is simply for the reason, that Biblical Theology is the highest point of exegesis, where the most suitable transition is made to the other departments ; but it does not, it cannot, belong to either of them. As. Biblical Theology was not the product of Historical or Systematic The- ology, but was born in the throes of the exegetical process of the last century, so it is the child of exegesis, and can flourish only in her own home. The idea, methods, aims, and, indeed, results, are entirely different from those presented in the above- mentioned parts of Historical and Systematic Theology. It
28
Exegetical Theology ,
[Jan.
does not give us a history of doctrine, although it does not neglect the historical method in the unfolding of the doctrine. It does not seek the history of the doctrine, but the formation , the organization , of the doctrine in history. It does not aim to present the Systematic Theology of the Bible, and thus arrange Biblical doctrine in the forms that Systematic Theology must assume for the purposes of the day; but in accordance with its synthetic method of seeking the unity in the variety, it endeavors to show the Biblical system of doctrine, the form assumed by theology in the Bible itself, the organization of the doctrines of faith and morals in the historical divine revelation. It thus considers the doctrine at its first historical appearance, examines its formation and its relation to others in the struc- ture, then traces the formation as it unfolds in history, sees it evolving by its own inherent vitality, as well as receiving con- stant accretions, ever assuming fuller, richer, grander propor- tions, until in the revelation of the New Testament the organization has become complete and finished. It thus not only distinguishes a theology of periods, but a theology of authors and writings, and shows how they harmonize in the one complete revelation of God.* Now it is manifest that it is only from this elevated standpoint that many important ques- tions can be settled, such as the relation of the Old Testament to the New Testament — a fundamental question for all depart- ments of theology. It is only when we recognize the New Testament as not only the historical fulfillment of the Old Testament, but also as its exegetical completion, that the unity and the harmony, all the grander for the variety and the diver- sity of the Scriptures, become more and more manifest and evident. It is only from this standpoint that the appar- ently contradictory views, as, for instance, of Paul and James, in the article of justification, may be reconciled in their dif- ference of types. It is only here that a true doctrine of inspiration can be given, properly distinguishing the divine and human elements, and yet recognizing them in their union. It is only thereby that the weight of authority of the Scripture can be fully felt, and the consistency of the in- fallible Canon invincibly maintained. It is only in this
* See my article on Biblical Theology, in Am. Presb. Review, 1870.
1 877.] Especially of the Old Testament. 29
culminating work that the preliminary processes of exege- sis may be delivered from all the imperfections and errors that still cling to the most faithful work of the exegete. It is only from these hands that history receives its true keys, systematic theology its indestructible pillars, and practical theology its all-conquering weapons.
Thus Exegetical Theology is a theological discipline, which* in its various departments, presents an inexhaustible field of labor, where the most ambitious may work with a sure prospect of success, and where the faithful disciple of the Lord may rejoice in the most intimate fellowship with the Master, di- vine truths being received immediately from the divine hand, old truths being illuminated with fresh meaning, new truths filling the soul with indescribable delight. The Bible is not a field whose treasures have been exhausted, for they are inexhaustible, As in the past holy men have found among these treasures jewels of priceless value ; as Athanasius, Au- gustine, Anselm, Luther, and Calvin, have derived therefrom new doctrines that have given shape not only to the church, but to the world ; so it is not too much to expect that even greater saints than these may yet go forth from their retire- ment, where they have been alone in communion with God through his word, holding up. before the world some new doctrine, freshly derived from the ancient writings, which, although hitherto overlooked, will prove to be the necessary complement of all the previous knowledge of the church, and, indeed, no less essential to its life, growth, and progress than the Athanasian doctrine of the Trinity, the Augustinian doctrine of sin, or the Protestant doctrine of justification through faith.
30
The Early Religion of Ireland.
[Jan.
Art. II.— THE EARLY RELIGION OF IRELAND.
By Rev. Wm. Hamilton, D.D., Northfield, O.
Prince ^Elfrid’s Itinerary through Ireland, A.D. 684.
I. I found in Inisfail the fair, in Ireland, while in exile there,
Women of worth, both grave and gay men, many clerics and many laymen.
II. I travelled its fruitful provinces round, and in every one of the five* I
found,
Alike in church and in palace hall, abundant apparel and food for all.
III. Gold and silver I found, and money, plenty of wheat and plenty of
honey ;
I found God’s people rich in pity, found many a feast and many a city.
IV. I also found in Armagh the splendid, meekness, wisdom, and pru-
dence blessed,
Fasting, as Christ hath recommended, and noble counsellors untran- scended.
V. I found in each great church, moreo’er, whether on island or on shore, Piety, learning, fond affection, holy welcome and kind protection.
VI. I found the good lay monks and brothers, ever beseeching help for
others,
And in their keeping the holy word, pure as it came from Jesus the Lord.
VII. I found in Connaught the just, redundance of riches, milk in lavish
abundance,
Hospitality, vigor, fame, in Cruachan’s land of heroic name.
VIII. I found in the country of Connell the glorious, bravest warriors, ever victorious ;
Fair complexioned men and warlike, Ireland’s lights, the high, the star-like !
IX. I found in Munster unfettered of any, kings and queens and poets a many —
Poets well skilled in music and measure, prosperous doings, mirth, and pleasure.
X. I found in Ulster, from hill to glen, hardy warriors, resolute men; Beauty that bloomed when youth was gone, and strength transmitted from sire to son.
XIII. I found from Ara to Glea, in the broad rich country of Ossorie,
Sweet fruits, good laws for all and each, great chess-players, men of truthful speech.
* Meath, which is now part ©f Leinster, was then a separate province.
IS77-]
3i
The Early Religion of Ireland.
XIV. I found in Meath’s fair principality, virtue, vigor, and hospitality;
Candor, joyfulness, bravery, purity, Ireland’s bulwark and security.* XV. I found strict morals in age and youth, I found historians recording truth,
The things I sing of in verse unsmooth, I found them all — I have written, sooth.
Nothing has greater influence in forming national charac- ter than religion. In the British Islands there are three dis- tinct types of religious principle, and, consequently, three equally distinct varieties of national character— Romanism in Ireland, Protestant Episcopacy in England, and Presbyterian- ism in Scotland and in Ulster, or the North of Ireland. Each of these may easily be seen in the varying character of the people.
But in all the diversities of habit and temperament which may be found in Great Britain and Ireland, we can scarcely dis- cover anywhere a greater difference than between the native or aboriginal Irish, and the Scottish Highlanders ; and yet they were originally the same people. History shows them both to be Celtic. The writer of this article, just before leaving the old country for Canada, thirty years ago, called on the Rev. Walter McGilvray, of Glasgow, a minister of distinguished repu- tation as a preacher, both in Gaelic and English. In the course of conversation on missions, Mr. McGilvray mentioned that he had at one time seriously thought of accepting a call which he had to Dublin, that he might become the means of introducing Highland ministers into Ireland to act as missionaries among the Roman Catholic Irish-speaking population of the West and South. “ The Gaelic language,” said he, “ and the Irish are so much alike, that a preacher who knew Gaelic, could, in three or four weeks easily learn to preach in Irish.”
And yet how different now are the Celtic irishman and the Scottish Highlander, as well in character as in religion. Each is, indeed, of warm and earnest temperament, and each is devo- tedly attached to the religious system he professes ; but the Highlander is among the bluest of Presbyterians, while there is no more zealous and bigoted partisan of Popery than the Irish- man. The history of the two countries explains and accounts
* The allusion here is to the palace of Tara, the residence of the Supreme Monarch.
32
The Early Religion of Ireland.
[Jan.
for the difference. The Church of Scotland performed her duty to the brave and hardy mountaineers, but the govern- ment and Church of England perpetrated in Ireland an almost unbroken succession of cruelties, crimes, and blunders for cen- turies, so that Protestantism became in that unhappy country a synonym for oppression, and Popery the symbol of patriotic resistance to innumerable wrongs. The Protestant clergyman was a tithe-lifter, the priest an angel of consolation.
We live, however, in an age of revolutions. The changes that have been wrought within the memory of men who are still living are wonderful. It is but a few years since the Church of Scotland was quietly, by Act of Parliament, delivered from the incubus of patronage, which had century after cen- tury produced repeated secessions in that land of martyrs. Ireland has also felt the genial influence of the age. The op- pressive yoke of the established church has been broken, the power of the landlords, by which that yoke had been main- tained, has been overthrown, the political disabilities of Irish Roman Catholics have been removed, so that now they stand on a footing of perfect equality with their fellow subjects. Three-fourths of the twelve judges in Ireland were lately Ro- man Catholics, and one-half of the Board of National Educa- tion profess the same creed. We mention these things as sig- nificant facts, without intending to justify the policy of pro- ceeding so far in liberalism. The accumulated wrongs of seven centuries have been removed, and nothing of the kind now really remains but their bitter recollection. The system of Romanism still survives, as a bar to improvement and an in- centive to disaffection and disturbance ; but the Roman Cath- olic Irishman has no more real political grievances now than his Protestant fellow subject. Still Ireland is to England, though from a different cause, what the South is to the Ameri- can Union.
In such circumstances it becomes a matter of most interest- ing inquiry' : What was the original Christianity of Ireland, and how has she come into her present religious and political condition ?
"W e propose to enter briefly into these inquiries. The ven- erable records of the book of Genesis point to the East as the cradle of the human race. Greeks, Romans, and northern
33
1 877.] The Early Religion of Ireland.
barbarians may be traced back to oriental sources. The evi- dence comes partly from languages which indicate a common origin, and partly from traditionary history. The evidence for the eastern origin of the ancient Irish is varied and ample. Julius Caesar, in his commentaries on the wars, mentions the Celts, or, more properly, the Kelts, as being in his day among the most formidable tribes in Gaul. The Irish language is the best preserved dialect of the ancient Celtic. It is, as we have said, the same as the Gaelic spoken in the Highlands of Scot- land. The Irish alphabet is also identical with the Phoenician, which was brought by Cadmus from Phoenicia to Greece. But we can go still further in this direction. In a drama written by the old Latin poet, Plautus, there are twenty-five lines of a foreign tongue, supposed to be spoken by Hanno, a Phoenician, but quite unintelligible to modern scholars, until it was dis- covered that the words gave a suitable meaning in Irish. This indicates clearly that Ireland was peopled or colonized from Phoenicia, whose inhabitants, we know, were early addicted to sea-faring and colonization. Another remarkable proof is, that the first of May has always been observed in Ireland with great festivity, under the name of Beltine or Bealtine, which means the fire of Baal or Bel, the false god of Phoenicia, so often men- tioned in the Old Testament. The sun and moon were wor- shipped under the names of Bel and Samen, and O’Halloran, in his History of Ireland, says, that the most cordial wish of blessing and courtesy among the Irish peasantry used to be : “The blessing of Samen and Bel be with you ! ” One of the lines of Plautus, to which reference has been made, is “ O ! that the good Balsamen may favor them ! ” Is not this a remarka- ble coincidence ?
No other country in Europe boasts of a longer line o ancient monarchs than Ireland. Martin Haverty’s history of that country, published in 1865, goes back one thousand seven hundred years before the Christian era ; but there is one melancholy feature of the history, whether true or fabu- lous, that nearly all the kings died by violence, either in war or by assassination. The early inhabitants were shepherds or agriculturalists. On the tops of hills, which have lain uncultivated as long as the oldest traditions can testify, there are found, at the present day, manifest traces of ancient hus-
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bandry. Immense numbers of beautifully wrought golden or- naments have been found buried in Irish bogs. The gold for making these must have been imported in ages of some com- merce and refinement. Music was in earlier times much cultivated in that country. The bards were famous for their minstrelsy. Some of the finest Irish melodies are of the greatest antiquity.
The conquest of Great Britain by the Romans neither in- cluded the Highlands of Scotland nor extended to Ireland. In the life of Agricola, by Tacitus, mention is made of an invitation from Ireland, by an expelled chieftian of that coun- try, for the Romans to invade and conquer that island. But the Roman eagles were never displayed there. After the Romans left England the Britains were hard pressed by the Piets and Scotts from North Britain ; so that they invited the warlike Saxons to come from the continent and aid them, which they did ; but when they had driven back the enemy, they likewise drove off their allies, the British, into Wales and Cornwall. Thus England and the Lowlands of Scotland be- came Saxon ; while the Irish, or, as they called the Scotts, a people of Eastern origin, occupied Ireland and the High- lands of Scotland.
We have now briefly indicated the origin and history of the early inhabitants of Ireland. So much seemed necessary to introduce our special subject.
The time, at which Christianity was first introduced into Ireland is not known with any degree of exactness. That it had made some progress before the time of St. Patrick is admitted by Roman Catholic writers to be “without doubt.” Frequent mention is made of four Christian bishops, as labor- ing among the Irish people before the arrival of St. Patrick. But this is a question of far less importance than the question, whether the great missionary was commissioned by the Church of Rome and subordinated to her authority. To disentangle the real facts of St. Patrick’s life from the tissue of fabulous legends with which monkish ingenuity has interwoven them, *s extremely difficult ; but we shall endeavor to present the leading features of his career as correctly and briefly as possible.
The great Apostle of Ireland, as Patrick has been called,
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was born in 387 A. D. This appears from his own writings. Some say that his birth-place was Dunbarton or Kilpatrick, in Scotland. Others, with more probability, say that he was a native of the West of France. The circumstances of his early life agree better with the latter locality. When he was only sixteen years of age he was taken captive by freebooters from Ireland, who had been sent on a marauding expedition by the celebrated King Niall of the Nine Hostages. Patrick was sold into captivity to a chief named Milcho, who dwelt in the county Antrim, near the mouutain of Slieve Mis, now called Slemish. Here he spent six years as a shepherd. He describes the manner of his life at the period in his book— “ Patrick's Confession. ” “ My constant business ,” he says,
“ was to feed the flocks” ; “ I was frequent in prayer ; the love and fear of God more and more inflamed my heart ; my faith was enlarged, and my spirit augmented ; so that I said a hundred prayers before day, in the snow, in the frost, in the rain ; and yet I received no damage ; nor was I affected with slothfulness ; for the spirit of God was warm within me.”
How simply beautiful and pious is this language ! How unlike the superstitious utterances of Romish saint-worship ! It bears every mark of genuine faith and Christian piety. Such is the uniform character of St. Patrick’s book. There is no special honor to the Virgin Mary, no worship of saints or angels ; nothing but simple piety and the love of Jesus. Here is one of the most convincing evidences by which we can ascertain the character of St. Patrick’s labors.
At the end of six years he obtained his freedom. His ac- count of the manner of his escape is told in his own words in the Confession. “ I was warned, ” he says, “ in a dream, to return home ; and I arose and betook myself to flight, and left the man with whom I had lived six years.” After a month’s travelling, he was again seized ; and again he escaped after six months’ captivity. Within three months more he reached home ; but he had a dream, in which he saw a man com- ing to him, called Victorinus, with a great number of letters. He gave Patrick one to read, which began “Vox Hibernianorum.” While he was reading, he heard a voice coming from a neigh- boring wood, and crying to him: “We entreat thee, holy
youth, to come and walk among us.”
36 The Early Religion of Ireland. [Jan.
This dream, whatever may have been its origin, determined him to prepare for the work of the ministry among the Irish. It was not, however, till he was forty-five years of age that he accomplished his purpose. In the mean time little is known of his history. Former missionaries had been driven away from Ireland by the opposition of the Pagan priesthood and by the fierceness of the people. But Patrick, accompanied by more than twenty young men, landed at Dundrum, in the county Down, and was received more favorably. During thirty years he labored in all parts of Ireland with astonishing suc- cess ; and at the age of seventy-eight, he died near Down- patrick, on the 17th day of March, A. D. 465, at a place called Sabhul, or Saul, full of age and honors. The last work he performed was the writing of his “Confession,” a simple, un- pretending, Christian document, in which no trace of Roman- ism appears.
The next person of much note in the ecclesiastical history of Ireland is Columb-kill, the chief leader of the Culdees, and the founder of the so-called monastery of Hy or Iona, in a small island of the same name on the west of Scotland. He was born at Garten, in the county Donegall, in 521, and died in 577. In his days England had been reduced almost to bar- barism by the Anglo-Saxon wars. But in the sixth and sev- enth centuries Ireland was renowned throughout Europe as the home of piety and learning, and the refuge of the perse- cuted and oppressed. Among the galaxy of eminent men in Ireland, none was more eminent than Columb-kill. The first forty-three years of his life were spent in his native country. Being connected with the royal family of the O’Neills, he was enabled to found many schools or monasteries, among which that of Derry was the most illustrious. The college at Ar- magh had been founded by St. Patrick, and was in those days attended by thousands of students from all parts of Europe. Roman Catholic writers particularly mention that Columb-kill never consented to be ordained as a prelate. He was content with priest’s orders. Is not this a significant fact, showing the system he followed ? The learned Selden maintains that the Culdees were strict Presbyterians ; and Bede, an English Ro- man Catholic writer, says, “ that they preached only such works of charity as they could learn from the prophetical,
T 877.] The Early Religion of Ireland. 37
evangelical, and apostolic writings,” that is, in short, from the Word of God.
Civil wars having broken out in Ireland, Columb-kill turned his attention to the conversion of the barbarous Piets in the north of Scotland, now called the Highlands. Colonies of Scotts from the north of Ireland had already settled in that region and established their influence over the Piets. Conall, king of the Irish Scotts in the Highlands, gave Columb-kill, who was his relative, the small island of Iona for the location of his monastery. It was, at that time, occupied by the Druids, whose memorials may still be traced there. Having expelled the Druids, Columb-kill made Iona the headquarters — the Mount Zion of Culdeeism. His missionary operations began in the wild regions of Scotland, north of the Grampian mountains. Brude, the king of that part of the country, was converted, and his people, as was usual in those days, em- braced the same faith as their chieftain.
It does not belong to our present design to enter, at any length, into the history of Culdeeism in Scotland and the north of England. It has been our purpose, in this article, merely to show the connection between Ireland and the Cul- dees ; that we may from their principles and practice infer the character and condition of the country from which they emigrated. Culdeeism owed its origin to Ireland, and was an evidence of the pure Christianity that had been established there.
Still, we may be permitted to linger awhile amidst the recol- lections of that ancient Christian colony planted amidst the isles of Scotland. Iona is one of the few places in the world whose wealth consists entirely in their memorials. The trav- eller who visits that rocky and barren isle sees no towering re- mains of gorgeous temples ; no classic fragments of marble pillars and statues ; no high-raised mound of mouldering war- riors but the rude, spacious church edifice and the humble, now roofless dwellings of those who preached the pure and simple gospel to the poor twelve hundred years ago.
It was no wonder that the learned and pious Dr. Samuel Johnson, knowing, as he did, the sacred recollectious of that hallowed isle, made a pilgrimage from London to Iona in the last century, when there were neither stea mboats nor railroad New Series, No. 21.
3
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The Early Religion of Ireland.
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to make the journey commodious. In the following beautiful passage he gives expression to the feelings he experienced in Iona :
“ We were now treading that illustrious island which was once the lumin- ary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion. To abstract the mind from all knowledge would be impossible if it were endeavored, and would be foolish if it were possible. Whatever draws us from the power of the senses, whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future, predomi- nate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me and my friends be such frigid philosophy as may conduct us indif- ferent or unmoved over any ground which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.”
Johnson was a tory, but his heart was in the right place.
Two reflections are suggested by this concise account of the Early History of Ireland :
1. It is remarkable how truth, though long obscured and hidden, will, on careful examination, shine forth from the very midst of error. The lives of St. Patrick and St. Columb-kill, as written by the monks, are full of absurd fictions; but the Confessions of Patrick and the grand mission-work of Co- lumb-kill, with the occasional hints of Roman Catholic wri- ters, enable us to discover that they were real men of God — beacon lights amid the darkness. So it is ever with Christ and his Apostles. When we look back into the ages of an- cient Christianity we see already the gathering clouds of Papal superstition ; but when we come to the age of the Apostles — the age of saints and martyrs — we find in the Apostolic F’athers but little, and in the Scriptures themselves nothing, of Romish corruption. “The Bible, and the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants,” and of the primitive Christian Church.
2. The history of Ireland shows that the influence of Rome has been the bane of that country. It must, indeed, be the ruin of any country in which it gains the ascendancy. In a few centuries after the time of St. Patrick, Ireland was the home of religion and learning. The Bible was taught in her schools, and copied in her monasteries. Thousands of stu-
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39
dents from all parts of Europe crowded to her seminaries of education, and were received with open arms and splendid hospitality. An interesting memorial of all this is still pre- served by Prince ALIfrid,* of Northumberland, of which we have given, at the head of this article, a rarely beautiful and very exact translation, by James Clarence Mangan.
Art. III.— DALE ON BAPTISM. |
By Rev. W. J. Beecher, Professor in Theological Seminary, Auburn, N. Y.
Baptist writers have been accustomed to insist that a word has but a single meaning, which always clings to it, and from which it cannot be dissevered. Upon the application of this claim to baptizo they have largely depended. This word, they say, has one signification, and only one, throughout the Greek literature. Their opponents have generally deemed it quite important to dislodge them from this position. They have dealt largely in the instances in which the secondary signifi- cations of words have virtually become new significations. They have fortified the position, that even if immerse could be proved to be the original and classical meaning of baptizo , the word may, nevertheless, in its technical use in describing re- ligious rites, have become independent of that primary meaning.
In Dr. Dale’s controversial attitude all this is changed.
* This rElfrid must not be confounded with Alfred the Great, who reigned more than a century afterward in the south of England.
f Classic Baptism. An Inquiry into the Meaning of the word B A II T I 7.D. , as Determined by the Usage of Classical Greek Writers.
An Inquiry into the Usage of B A TIT I ZT1, and the Nature of Judaic Baptism, as Shown l>y Jewish and Patristic Writings.
An Inquiry into the Usage of B A TIT I ZI2, and the Nature of Johannic Bap- tism, as Exhibited in the Holy Scriptures.
An Inquiry into the Usage of BAIITIZI2, and the Nature of Christie and Patristic Baptism , as Exhibited in the Holy Scriptures and Patristic Writings. By James W. Dale, D.D., Pastor of Wayne Presb. Church, Delaware Co., Pa. Philadelphia : Wm. Rutter & Co., 1871-74.
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Dale ou Baptism.
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Instead of insisting that Baptists adhere too rigidly to the physical signification of the word, hei nsists that they have never been half rigid enough. Instead of asking leave to vary from the generic meaning which they have assigned, he narrows this to the limits of a specific meaning. Instead of complaining that they make the word too scant, he complains that they make it too wide. He claims that it means only a part of what they count it to mean ; and that the other part is that from which all their conclusions are drawn.
Other controversialists on his side of the question have been accustomed to say, ‘ A word may have secondary meanings : therefore, our opponents may be mistaken ; and the facts show that they are mistaken.’ Dr. Dale says, ‘ Our opponents must be mistaken, because the primary meaning of the word is so specific as to contradict their conclusions. By it their views are not only not proved, but disproved. Most of the propositions which men on our side of the question are accustomed to hold, as ascertained by induction, may not only be reconciled with the strict meaning of the word, but positively deduced from it.’
Some Baptist writers give baptizo a sufficiently broad scope of meaning to make it include the condition of being within a receptive element, as well as the act of coming within, or put- ting something within, such an element. Others, in terms, confine it to the act, and deny that it can be used to express the mere condition ; although nearly all of these sometimes use the word in the latter sense, and inconsistently with their own definitions. In other words, some of them say, “ dip, and nothing but dip,” and others say “ dip, or immerse.” Against both Dr. Dale sets up the opposing definition, “ immerse, or rather, merse , as distinguished from dip.” The difference he affirms to be radical in two respects. First, dip expresses action, rather than condition ; but merse, condition, rather than action. Secondly, the act of dipping is always brief, quick- ly terminated, unless the contrary appears from additional statements, or from circumstances ; while the condition of mersion, unless the contrary appears from circumstances, or from additional statements, is not terminated at all, but is permanent. Physical baptism is, in all the extent of this dis- tinction, not dipping, and not dipping or immersion, but mer- sion, as distinguished from dipping. But Dr. Dale is careful to
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explain that he does not employ the word merse as the equiva- lent of baptize, but only to distinguish the intusposition which constitutes baptism, from all the inconsistent notions with which his opponents have confounded it.
It absolutely follows that the water used in the rite of bap- tism cannot possibly be the receptive element within which the baptized person is placed. If the distinctions just made are correct, then, in the natural meaning of words, to baptize one within water, as distinguished from dipping him, would be to drown him. The intusposition , in ritual baptism, must needs be into something else than the water, — something within which the baptized person can stay ; and the use of the water must be for something else than an enveloping element.
This accords with the constructions which ordinarily follow baptizo. Eis with the accusative, denotes the receptive element within which that which is baptized is brought by baptism. The dative, or in Hebraized Greek, iv with the dative, denotes some special agency used in the baptism. In purely physical baptisms the agency may be the same with the receptive element, or may be different. In other baptisms, the recep- tive element, expressed by with the accusative, is the new condition of character, or of relation to other beings, within which that which is baptized is placed by the baptism ; while the agency, expressed by the dative, with or without iv, may be either water, fire, Holy Ghost, wine, ashes, stones, tear drops, blood drops, opiate pills, or something else, according to the character of the particular baptism in hand ;-and may be used by dipping, pouring, sprinkling, swallowing, or other- wise, according to the circumstances.
Hence, ritual baptism is not the placing of a person within the water, or fire, or Holy Ghost, or ashes, and taking him out again, which is contrary to the established meaning of the word baptize ; but the putting of the person into certain new conditions or relations, and leaving him there,— this being done by the appropriate symbolical use of water or other agencies.
Has Dr. Dale succeeded in establishing his position ?
He begins with the question, whether the results hereto- fore reached by Baptist investigators are so satisfactory as to preclude the need of further investigation ? This question he answers in the negative, on merely prima facie grounds.
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Dale on Baptism.
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First, these investigators confound the two words, bapto and baptizo, which is presumptively contrary to the analogies of language. Secondly, to the two words thus confounded, they attribute various and irreconcilable meanings and uses. They define them by “dip, and nothing but dip,” plunge, sink, overwhelm, cover by flowing, by rising up, by pouring over, immerse, immerge, submerge, plunge, imbathe, whelm, and a multitude of other incongruous terms, some indicating act, some indicating condition, some changing with juggler-like agility from act to condition, and back again.
Having found these former investigations thus unsatisfactory', Dr. Dale enters upon an independent inquiry. In the follow- ing synopsis, the attempt is made to retain the essential sub- stance of his argument, though, for the sake of brevity, an entirely' different order of arrangement is adopted.
I. Dr. Dale sustains his opinion, first, from the presumption that the Greek language, having already the word bapto to express the act of momentary' intusposition, would not gratu- itously' form another word from the same root for exactly the the same use. This presumption is certainly very' strong. Symonyms, and especially those formed by' ordinary processes, from the same root, are almost invariably' formed for the distinct object of expressing differences as well as resemblances. These differences seldom fade out, because they' constitute the very reason of being of the new word. Xo other differences between words are so persistently maintained. It is extremely improb- able, then, at the outset, that the difference between bapto and baptizo was either originally' so slight, or has so vanished from view, as to leave the two words with practically' the same use and signification.
Some of the lexicons call baptizo the frequentative of bapto , and give “to immerse repeatedly'” as its primary' meaning. This definition Dr. Dale distinctly' repudiates. Probably he would not object to designating baptizo as the intensive of bapto , so dipping its object that it will stay dipped. If his opponents prefer to call it causative, they must still admit that causative and intensive forms, in different languages, are often inter- changeable, and may be so in this instance. Make the word bapto , therefore, causative-intensive, or intensive-causative, by
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the formative appendage, izo, and you have, as a natural gram- matical result, even if it is not a result absolutely inevitable, that baptizo should cause its object permanently to assume the condition which, in being bapted , it would assume momen- tarily. Form the derivative in this way, according to the usual analogies, and all vestiges of modal act and of brevity in the act at once vanish. The condition reached by the object becomes the one important fact under consideration. It is no longer of the least consequence how that condition came to be, or whether it will ever cease to be.
1 1. Dr. Dale further argues from the analogy of the use of two distinct classes of words in various languages. One class, like bapto, call attention to the act by which a given condition is secured. The other class, like baptizo , call attention to the securing of the condition, without reference to the form of the act by which it is secured. Among the words currently used in the Baptistic controversy, for example, dip, dive, plunge, tingo, etc., belong to the former class; bury, whelm, merse, steep, drench, drown, etc., to the latter class.
Verbs of the first of these two classes differ among them- selves in the form of the act they describe. Dip presents a quiet, momentary act ; plunge, a violent, momentary act ; dive, an act more prolonged. When used intransitively, the motion of the act is performed by the subject of the verb. The boy dives. The oar dips in the water. The sailor plunges over- board. When used transitively, the motion of the act is per- formed by the object of the verb, “He dips the oar.” It is still the oar that moves, though oar is now the object of the verb, and no longer its subject. “The pirate plunges the sailor over- board.” The object that moves is the sailor. In words of this sort, in fine, the differences and changes of meaning belong to the act described. Except through the act, they have no reference to the condition secured by the act. Their pri- mary meaning in the passive voice precisely corresponds to their meaning in the active.
On the other hand, the words of the second of the two classes, differ among themselves in regard to the condition in which the object is placed. The animal immersed in water is simply within the water, and if it happens to be a fish, may
44
Dale on Baptism.
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enjoy itself there. The animal whelmed in the water is some- what under the destructive power of the water, as well as within it. Drowned in the water, it has come wholly un- der its destructive power. When these verbs are used trans- itively, it makes no difference whether the motion called for be performed by the object of the verb, or by something else. You bury a seed, either by putting the seed in the earth, or by putting the earth over the seed. A boat is equally whelmed, whether a whirlpool pulls it under water, or a storm pushes the waves over it. A potato in a pan of water is equally immersed, whether you first pour in the water, and then drop in the potato, or first put in the potato, and then pour in the water. A man may be drenched, or drowned, or soaked, indifferently, by moving him into water, or by mov- ing water upon him. In these words the differences and changes of meaning belong to the condition to be secured. Except through the condition they have no reference to the securing act. In the active voice, they make demand for some act, but not for one particular form of action rather than another. In the passive they may even cease to imply any securing act whatever. A pebble in the lake may be just as much immersed as the knife that fell upon it, though the pebble be thought of as having always been there, and so as never having come there by any act of any kind. We speak of veins of coal buried in the earth, without bringing into consciousness any idea as to the act of burial — simply having in mind the mere condition of burial. We may nut in the least think how the coal came to be there, or whether it ever came to be there at all. We only think of the fact of it being in that condition.
Now it is characteristic of words of the first of these two classes, to avoid expressing the continuance of the condition which they initiate. They either express or suggest its speedy discontinuance, or else refuse to express or suggest anything in regard to it. When you hear of a thing dipping into water, you expect its instant emergence. When you hear of a person diving, you expect that he will emerge before long. When you hear of something plunged into water, you have no expectation at all as to whether it will emerge or not. In no case does the word itself lead you to a definite expectation that the condi-
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tion reached will continue. You may expect that the diver will stay under water because you know that he is weighted, but never from the mere fact of his diving.
As the words which express the form of the act by which a given condition was arrived at, thus refuse to express the continued condition itself, so do the words which express con- dition refuse to express either the form of the act by which the condition was reached, or the discontinuance of the condi- tion itself. To say that a thing is buried, or whelmed, ormersed, or drenched, or drowned, gives you no information as to the particular process by which it came so, and awakens no expect- ation of its ever ceasing to be so. The mode in which the condition was produced, or the discontinuance of the condi- tion itself, may be suggested by something in connection with the use of the word, never by the word itself.
Since the word bapto evidently belongs to the first of these two classes, and is, by the laws of language, confined to the first, it leaves a clear field for its intensive, baptizo , to occupy, in representing the same line of thought in the second. And a word of this meaning in the second class is imperatively needed. Is it credible, therefore, that baptizo , if it ever came into use, should forsake its own proper realm, and usurp that already occupied by its primitive ? And since baptizo is thus essentially a word which expresses condition rather than the act by which the condition was arrived at, it is likely to share the peculiarity of its class in persistently retaining its own proper character, and refusing to denote a definite act per- formed in a certain prescribed mode.
III. This position Dr. Dale fortifies by citations from many of the best Baptist scholars.
On pages 126 and 238 of Classic Baptism , Dr. Gale is quoted as saying, “ Besides, the word baptizo , perhaps, does not so ne- cessarily express the action of putting under water, as in gen- eral, a thing’s being in that condition, no matter how it comes so, whether it is put into the water, or the water comes over it.”
On page 56, Classic Baptism , Cox is quoted as assuming that bapto and baptizo are equivalent, and saying of the dew with which Nebuchadnezzar was bapted — Dan. iv : 33 — “The verb, does not imply the manner in which the effect was produced.
46 Dale on Baptism. [J an.
but the effect itself ; not the mode by which the body of the king was wetted, but its condition .”
On page 58, Morell is quoted as saying, that the most usual meaning of baptizo is to dip. “ But it appears quite evident that the word also bears the sense of covering by superfusion. This is admitted by Dr. Cox, who says, ‘ A person maybe immersed by pouring ; but immersion is the being plunged into water, or overwhelmed by it. Was the water to ascend from the earth, it would still be baptism, were the person wholly covered by it.’ Thus far we surrender the question of immersion, and in doing so, feel no small pleasure in finding ourselves in such good company as that of Dr. Cox.”
In Judaic Baptism , page 47, the Religious Herald is quoted as saying, in its review of Classic Baptism : “ It is conceded that the Greeks called drunkenness baptism ; and in this baptism there was no envelopment. An intoxicated man was baptized by wine. It was not the drinking of wine, nor the opera- tion of it. but the condition — the intoxication resulting from its use — that was called the baptism.”
These citations certainly seem to support Dr. Dale’s opinion. A baptism is not an act of a certain peculiar form. It is not even, necessarily, an act of any form. It may be a mere condition.
In Classic Baptism, page 71, and in numerous other places, Dr. Conant is quoted as conceding that physical baptism does not require any particular form of act, although clinging to the idea that it requires act of some form. “ The ground idea expressed by this word is, to put into or under water (or other penetrable substance), so as entirely to immerse or sub- merge ; that this act is always expressed in the literal applica- tion of the word, and is the basis of its metaphorical use.”
To the same effect, Ingham, of London, is cited in Johannic Baptism, page 46 ; “Admitting that bapto may more exclu- sively retain the idea of putting any thing into another, whilst baptizo means to immerse, not only when the object is put into the element, but, as in occasional instances on record, when the element is brought upon and around the object.”
To the effect that baptizo differs from bapto and all like words, in that it leaves its object within the receptive element where it has placed it, our author quotes, on page 45 of Classic Bap-
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/ism, from Dr. Dagg : “ Bapto more frequently denotes slight
or temporary immerson than baptizo." “In nearly one-half of the examples in which baptizo occurs in the literal sense, it signifies the immersion which attends drowning and the sink- ing of ships.”
On page 95, Dr. Conant is cited as saying : “ The idea of
emersion is not included in the Greek word. It means simply to put into or under water, without determining whether the object immersed sinks to the bottom, or floats in the liquid, or is immediatly taken out.”
In Judaic Baptism, p. 25, our author cites from the review of Classic Baptism in the National Baptist, to the effect, that “he,” Dr. Dale, “has established a difference in use between bapto and baptizo. His statement of that difference seems to us de- fective, but that there is a difference is evident. He has, also, brought clearly out, what our own examination had before proved, that the word baptizo does not of itself involve the lifting out from the fluid of that which is put in.”
On page 49, he quotes Dr. Kendrick : “ Baptizo became naturally applied ordinarily to immersions of a more formal and longer character, while bapto ordinarily denoted the lighter and shorter.” “Granted that bapto always engages to take its subject out of the water (which we do not believe), and that baptizo never does engage to take its subject out of the water (which we readily admit). We let baptizo take us into the water, and can trust to men’s instinctive love of life, their common sense, their power of volition and normal muscular action, to bring them safely out.”
On page 90, several short quotations are given from Carson, as follows. “ The classical meaning of the word is in no in- stance overwhelm." When drunkenness is called baptism, “Literally, it is immersed in wine.” Yet “There is no like- ness between the action of drinking and immersion.” “ The likeness is between their effects.” “Between a man com- pletely under the influence of wine, and an object completely subjected to a liquid, in which it is wholly immersed.”
Passages like these certainly leave Dr. Dale very little to desire in the way of concessions. There is no great room for difference between him and his opponents, except in regard to the true bearing of the conceded facts.
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IV. But the most important argument, of course, is that from usage. In Classic Baptism, our author cites one hundred and thirteen passages in which baptizo is used. On page 135 he says of these, “Every passage of what may be termed Classical Greek (liberally interpreted) which I have met with, either as the fruit of my own direct examination, or that of others, has been adduced. The period embraced within these quotations is about one thousand years.” The subse- quent volumes give lists equally exhaustive from the writers of Hebraized Greek, and full extracts from the Patristic writers Of these instances, this article will now present those which must, of necessity, control the whole argument, namely, those in which baptizo is followed by si? with the accusative, or by the dative with or without sv. The design is, within this limit, to give all the instances which Dr. Dale cites as classic, all the instances which he cites from the Jewish writers of Greek and from the New Testament and a sufficient number from the Christian fathers. For the translations Dr. Dale is mainly re- sponsible, except in the cases of the italicized words, and of the New Testament passages. The passages not designated are from the classic Greek lists of the volume on Classic Baptism.
In the following list baptizo is followed by s i? with the ac- cusative, and by no dative. Three exceptional instances are deferred to a subsequent list. Into is uniformly given as the translation of si?. Notice, that in every instance the accusa- tive following si? describes the receptive element within which the person or thing baptized is placed by its baptism. In all the cases of ritual baptism, and in many of the others, this recep- tive element is a new condition or relation, and not water or any other physical element. Notice, also, that in absolutely every case, the baptizing leaves that which is baptized within the element, and in nearly every case, with a positive certainty that it will remain there for some prolonged period of time.
‘‘I found Cupid among the roses, and holding him by the wings, I baptized him into the wine, and took and drank him.” “But when the Sun had baptized himself into the ocean flood,”
“They baptize , therefore, a pole into the water.”
• 11 Baptizing others into the lake.”
“Nobly baptizing himself into the lake Copais.”
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These two are cases of drowning.
“Then dipping into oil” “apply it during the day, and, as soon as it stings, take it away, and baptize it, again, into wom- an’s milk.”
“He gathered the shields of the slain foe, and, having baptized his hand into the blood, he reared a trophy and wrote upon it.”
“The water is incrusted so easily about every thing baptized into it, that they draw up crowns of salt, when they let down a rush circle.”
“And stretching out his right hand, so as to escape notice by none, he baptized the entire sword into his throat.” — Josephus , Jewish Wars, ii : l8.
“And baptized by ( vno ) drunkenness into insensibility and sleep.” — Josephus, Ant. x: g.
Symmachus translates Psalm lxix : 2. — (“I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing”) — “I am baptized into boundless depths, and there is no standing.”
The Septuagint translates Isaiah xxi : 4. — “My heart wand- ers ; iniquity baptises me; my soul is put into fear.”
“And preaching a baptism of repentance into remission of sins.” — Mark i : 4 ; Luke iii : 3.
“But he said to them, into what then were ye baptized ? But they said into the baptism of John.” — Acts x ix : 3.
“But hearing, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.” — Acts x ix : 5.
“Know ye not that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death?” — Rom. vi : 3.
“Therefore, we were buried with him through the baptism into the death.” — Rom. vi : 4.
“Rgpent ye, and let every one of you be baptized upon the name of Jesus Christ into remission of sins.” — Acts ii : 38.
“Only they were baptized into the name of the Lord Je- sus.”— Acts viii : 16.
“Or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?” — 1 Cor. i : 13.
“ Baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” — Matt, xxviii : 19.
“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, put on Christ.” — Gal. iii : 27.
Speaking of John the Baptist, comparing his own water
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baptism with that of the Holy Ghost and of fire, Basil the Great says (ii : 341) : “ Since then the Lord conjoined both that from (ev) water into repentance, and that from the Spirit into regeneration, the Scripture, also, foreshadows both these baptisms. ”
Clemens Alex, says (ii : 1212): “They baptize out of chastity
into fornication, teaching to indulge in pleasures and passions.”
Most of these instances, and perhaps all, so far imply modal act, that what is baptized is represented as moved into the receptive element. This suggests that there may be some limits within which baptizo , either by its own force, or by that of its combinations with other words, calls for some kind of act ; and that the current claim of Baptist writers to this effect may, within these limits, be established. That no such force, however, is regularly and necessarily inherent in the word it- self, will sufficiently appear as we advance.
Before giving the instances in which baptizo is followed by the dative, we cite a few, taken at random from among many, in which the word may be said to be absolutely used. This article has already noticed the conceded fact, that a Greek was often said to be baptized, with the meaning that he was drunk. It is similarly conceded that one was said to be baptized, with the meaning that he was bewildered, or senseless, or helpless, or destroyed, or otherwise in a ruinous condition ; and that cities and other things were said to be baptized when they were badly damaged or ruined. In most of these instances, the primary physical meaning of the word can doubtless be traced in some form, and its adjuncts supplied. But to all practical purposes, its use was evidently absolute, and without any thought of the adjunct. All this is conceded, but the cases of this kind throw so much light on those in which the dative is employed, that it is desirable to examine a few of them, for the sake of distinctness of impression. Notice, also, that these instances are all such as imply permanence of condition, and that they are such as call for various forms of modal act.
The following passage is from Achilles Tatius: “ For what is sudden, all at once and unexpected, astounds the soul, falling on it unawares, and has catabaptizcd it.” The soul is here said to be catabaptizcd, not by being put into something sudden, but
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by having something sudden fall upon it. It would doubtless be possible to complete the regimen by saying catabaptized into amazement. But this is unnecessary. The sense is suffici- ently complete if we call the use of the word virtually absolute. The soul is simply said to be catabaptized , that is, bewildered.
“If I purpose to see all the rivers, my life will be catabaptized , not seeing Glycera.” That is, if the love-sick fellow shall be absent from Glycera long enough to see all the rivers, his life will be made thoroughly miserable.
“ Misfortunes befalling baptize us” — that is, ruin us, or tend to ruin us.
“ This is he, who, having found the miserable Cimon baptized (distressed) and forsaken, did not overlook him.”
“ One heavy-headed and baptized" — that is, drunk.
“ I myself am of those who, yesterday, were baptized ” — that is, drunk.
“ A lofty billow, rising above, baptized them ” ( Jos ., Jewish Wars, iii : 9); that is, destroyed the vessels by sinking them. Here are two modal acts. The vessels are poured upon by the baptising agency, the billow, and are moved into the receptive element, the sea. But the thing prominently meant is, that the ships were destroyed in the storm. And one might suffi- ciently catch this meaning without at all attending to either of the modal acts by which the destruction was effected.
This appears yet more distinctly in our next example. “Already being baptized and ready to go down, some of the pirates at first attempted to pass into their own boat.” Here the pirates are said to be baptized when they and their ship are ruined, and before either sink into the water.
“ Who, independently of the sedition, afterward baptized the city. — { Jos. Jewish Wars, iv : 3) — that is, ruined the city by famine.
There are dozens of similar instances. It is possible, of course, to trace the primitive meaning of baptizo through them all, and so classify each, under some long name, as an instance of some sort of rhetorical figure. But as a matter of fact, people who spoke Greek went through no such process when they said of a person or thing that was drunk, or drowned, or destroyed, or ruined, or badly injured, or bewildered, or miserable, that he or it was baptized.
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Dr. Dale admits that the classic dative, following ev, may, like £ is, with the accusative, denote the receptive element of a baptism. He claims however, that the classic dative without ev, and the Hebraic dative with or without ev , regularly denote, not receptive element, but agency or instrument. He cites some instances where this is certainly the case, even when the thing denoted by the dative is water or other penetrable sub- stance, which might, in other circumstances, be used as the enveloping element. And if this is sometimes so, even in physical baptism, much more may it be usually so in ritual baptism.
But when we bring all the instances together, and examine them in detail, we find that, without an exception that is prop- erly such, the dative after baptizo, classic or Hebraic, with or without iv, denotes something that might be conceived of as enveloping that which is baptized. With equal uniformity, it denotes agency, rather than envelopment, in the case actually in hand. In no case, probably, does it denote the receptive ele- ment as such ; although, in some cases, the receptive element is the same with the baptizing agency.
We begin with the most numerous class of instances — those in which the classic dative occurs without ev. By is used, in every instance, as the sign of the dative.
“ And dying, they filled the lake with dead bodies; so that to the present many barbaric arrows, and helmets, and pieces of iron breastplates, and swords, embaptized by the marshes, are found.” The marshes are something that might conceivably envelop the armor of the men who perished in them. One might try the experiment of governing the dative here by ev understood, and translating, “ embaptized in the marshes,” making the passage mean that the old pieces of armor were found sunk in the mud and water of the marshes, and covered by them. This makes good sense, and doubtless comes very near the true sense of the passage. But it gives a still better mean- ing in this case, and a meaning imperatively required, as we shall see, by the analogy of the succeeding instances, to count the dative as denoting agency, and translate “ embaptized by the marshes.” The marshes are spoken of as that which em- baptizes the old armor ; whether into their own mud and water where it was found, or into the ruinous condition in which it
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was found, or into yet some other physical or ideal receptive element, is not stated.
“Although the spear should fall out into the sea, it is not lost ; for it is constructed out of both oak and pine, so that the oaken part being baptized by weight, the rest is floating and easily recovered.” Weight might conceivably be spoken of as a quality enveloping its substance ; but is here actually spoken of, not as enveloping it, but as an agency baptizing it into something else, namely, the sea, as an enveloping element.
“ They have the soul very much baptized by the body, and therefore the seminal element, partaking in the highest degree of the rational and physical power, makes its offspring more intelligent.” The body may be conceived of as enveloping the soul. Evidently, however, it is here represented, not as envel- oping the soul, but as acting upon it, baptizing it into some- thing else as an enveloping element, namely, into the condition of being able to transmit its qualities to posterity.
“ Shall I not ridicule one baptizing his ship by much freight, the blaming the sea for sinking it full? ” It is entirely possi- ble to form a mental picture of freight so piled on and around a ship as literally to inclose it. But that is not at all the pic- ture presented here. The freight is agency, and baptizes the ship into something else, namely, into the sea, or into ruin, as the enveloping element.
“ The others, baptizing the attacking ships by stones and engines from above.” Not enclosing them within a covering of stones and other missiles shot from engines, although this is a conceivable notion ; but baptizing them by the missiles — into the sea, perhaps, that is, sinking them — or, perhaps, into ruin ; or, using the words absolutely, simply baptizing them, that is, ruining them.
In these five instances, notice how perfectly unessential is the mode of the use of the baptizing agency. The marshes baptize the armor by envelopment, or, perhaps, by corrosion. The weight baptizes the spear by pulling it down. The body baptizes the soul by interpenetration. The man baptizes his ship by freight, by loading the freight on. The defenders baptize their assailants by missiles, by shooting.
Substantially the same comments apply to all the following instances :
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“But I, baptizing you by sea waves, will destroy with bitterer billows.”
To make a pickle, “ baptize many by strong brine, after dipping in boiling water.”
“To be baptized by such a multitude of evils.”
Love contending with anger in the same bosom, “ baptized by anger, is subdued.”
Of yEsop’s fox, it is said, “ baptizing tow by oil, binding it to her tail, he set it on fire.”
“On account of the abundant revenue from these sources, they do not baptize the people by taxes.”
“Cnemon, perceiving that he was deeply grieved and bap- tized by the calamity, and fearing lest he may do himself some injury, removes the sword privately.”
“When midnight had baptized the city by sleep.”
“But let us not be sumbaptized, ( co-baptized ) by this grief of his, nor be, unobservantly, carried away by his tears, as by torrents.”
The running away of the bakers would be a great calamity, “by which the city would, immediately, be baptized, just as a ship, the sailors having deserted it.”
“ Baptized by diseases and by arts of wizards.”
“Knowing him to be licentious and extravagant, and bap- tized by debts of fifty millions.”
One should be cautious against overtasking studious chil- dren, “For as plants are nourished by water, in measure, but are choked by excess, after the same manner the soul grows by labors, in measure, but is baptized by those which are excessive.”
“The Io-Bacchus, baptized by much wantonness, was sung in feasts and sacrifices of Bacchus.”
horn having catabaptized (thoroughly baptized) by the same drug," is spoken of Satyrus, drugging the chamber ser- vant of Leucippe into a stupid sleep.
To be drunk is to be “ baptized by unmixed wine.”
“Thebe exhorted to the murder, and having baptized and put to sleep Alexander, by much wine, she dismisses the guards of the bcd-chamber under pretext of using the bath, and called the brothers to their work.”
“Bacchus” “ baptizes by sleep, the neighbor of death.”
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“Since, now, a mass of iron pervaded with fire, drawn out of the furnace, is baptized by water, and the heat, by its own nature quenched by water, ceases.”
“You would not have seen a shield, or a helmet, or a long pike ; but the soldiers by bowls and cups and flagons, along the whole way baptizing , out of large wine jars and mixing ves- sels pledged one another.”
Didymus Alexandrinus (692) says, “ Baptism is effected by every water, indiscriminately.”.
Clemens Alexandrinus (ii : 649) says of the repentant captain of a band of robbers, who had formerly been a disciple of the apostle John, “He wept bitterly”, “being baptized a second time by the tears.”
Gregory Thaumaturgus (x : 1188) records the prayer, “ Bap- tize me who am about to baptize them that believe, through [dux with genitive) water and spirit and fire ; by water, possess- ing power to wash away the filth of sins; by spirit, possessing power to make the earthly spiritual, by fire, possessing a nature to burn'up the thorns of transgressions.”
Justin Martyr says that Christ, “through being crucified,” “redeemed us who were baptized by the most heavy sins which we had committed.”
Clemens Alexandrinus says (i : 57) : “ The man who is bap -
tized by ignorance is more stupid than a stone.”
The following from Philo, as cited by Eusebius, is perhaps the only instance in a properly Judaic Greek author in which the dative without iv is used in regimen after baptizo ; except, of course, the instances hereafter to be cited, where it is used in company with certain other adjuncts. Speaking of the evils of gluttony, Philo says, “ The sober and content are more intelligent, but those always filled with drink and food are least intelligent, as though the reason were baptized by the things coming upon it.”
The dative with iv after baptizo is nearly as rare in classic and patristic Greek, as is the dative without iv in the Greek written by Jewish authors. This goes very far toward prov- ing that there is no difference between the Hebraized dative with iv, and the classic dative without. And an examination of the instances now to be given, will show that the presence or absence of the preposition between baptizo and its dative
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makes no important difference, even in classic Greek. Per- haps the true explanation may be, that iv never occurs in this position in a properly classic passage, all the instances being the result of real, though indirect, Hebraistic influence.
Origen, iv : 280, says of Elijah, “ Having taken his mantle and wrapped it together, he smote the water, which divided hither and thither, and they both passed through ; to wit, he and Elisha ; for he is made more fitted to be taken up, having baptized himself ev the Jordan, seeing that Paul called, as we have before shown, a more wonderful passage through the water baptism.” He evidently means that Elijah was in some sense baptized by the Jordan, but certainly not within its water as an enveloping element.
Alexander, the Aphrodisian, accounts for the stupidity of* brutes, “Because they have their nature and perceptive power baptized iv the depth of the body.”
Plotinus says of the soul, that “death to her, even yet bap- tised iv the body, is to sink in matter, and to be filled of it.” Chariton says, “ I saw a vessel wandering in pleasant wea- ther, full of its own storm, and baptized iv calm.”
In these three instances, Dr. Dale admits that the dative following iv designates the receptive element. Yet surely it does not, even here, designate the receptive element as such. It is not being inclosed within a body that renders a soul brutish or dead, but being affected by the inclosing body. Our attention is not so much called to the fact that the vessel is surrounded by calm, as to the fact that it is affected by the surrounding calm. Even these instances are no exceptions to the law, that the dative after baptiso , with or without iv, expresses agency rather than receptive element, though in these, as in some other instances, the agency and the receptive element happen to coincide.
All this is strongly confirmed by the following passages, where the datives with ev are used interchangeably with those without.
“ John indeed baptised by water, but ye shall be baptized ev Holy Ghost not many days hence.” — Acts i : 5.
tl I indeed baptise you by water,” “ he shall baptize you iv Holy Ghost and fire.” — Luke iii : 16.
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Cyril, of Alexandria, says, “ We have been baptized , not iv bare water, nor yet by the ashes of a heifer.”
Origen says, “ Christ, therefore, did not baptize iv water, but his disciples. He reserves to himself the baptizing by Holy Spirit and fire.”
And if the dative with iv after baptizo differs so little from the pure dative, and always expresses agency rather than en- velopment, even in authors whose style is comparatively near that of the classic Greek, much more may we expect the same thing in the more Hebraic Greek of Josephus and Matthew.
Josephus says, ( Jewish War , i : 22) describing the murder of Aristobulus : “ And then, being baptized iv pool by the Gala- tians, according to command, he died,” There is no article before pool. He was baptized, not iv the pool , but iv pool. The idea is not that he was baptized into the pool and left there. The context shows that he was not. The statement is, that they baptized him absolutely ; that is, destroyed him ; or, if you please, baptized him into death, using the pool as the destroying agency. It happens that we know that the agency was used in this case, by repeatedly ducking the head of the swimming boy under water. This we know, however, from the context, and not from the words themselves. And if, in this instance, where we know that there was actual inclosure within the substance denoted by the dative, the dative thus denotes the instrument by which the baptism was performed, rather than the element into which the baptized person was introduced, much '■more is the same likely to be true in other cases, where we have no such knowledge.
Aquila translates Job ix : 31, “ Even then thou wilt bap- tize me iv pollution.”
The Septuagint translates 2 Kings v: 14, “ And went down Naaman, and baptized himself iv the Jordan seven times, ac- cording to the word of Elisha.” The article here has no ef- fect on the syntax. The translator simply follows the Hebrew usage, which regularly prefixes the article to this particular proper name. For the rest, the natural meaning is that he baptized himself, that is, performed whatever lustrations were appropriate in the circumstances, by the aid of the Jordan as agency or instrumentality. This would still remain true, even if we should admit a thing of which there is no sufficient evi-
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dence, namely, that he performed the baptism by immersing himself within the water of the river. Even in that case, the Greek still calls attention to the fact, that he baptized himself by using the river, and not to his putting himself within the river. If the translator had desired to say that Naaman bap- tized himself into the Jordan, he could easily have said it.
The remaining instances of ev with the dative are all in- stances of New Testament baptisms, and are as follows:
“ He shall baptize you ev Holy Ghost and fire.” — Mat. iii : 1 1.
“I, indeed, baptized you ev water, but he shall baptize you ev Holy Ghost.” — Mark i : 8.
“I. indeed, baptize ev water.” — John i : 26.
“ I came baptizing ev water,” or, according to some copies, ev the water.” — John i : 31.
“And were baptized of him ev the Jordan, confessing their sins.” — Mark i : 5.
“ He who sent me to baptize ev water, the same said unto me,” “He is the one baptizing ev Holy Ghost.” — John i: 33.
“And he commanded them to be baptized ev the name of the Lord.” — Acts x: 48.
This is the only instance of baptism '‘ev the name.” Else- where it is uniformly “into” or “upon ” the name.
That the distinction thus insisted upon between ei s with the accusative, and the dative with or without ev, following baptizo, is not imaginary, is further confirmed by the following instances where the two constructions are employed together.
“And were all baptized into Moses, ev the cloud and ev the sea.”— 1 Cor. x : 2.
Origen says, and substantially many times repeats it : “Paul
might say of this, I do not wish you, brethren, to be ignorant that all our fathers passed over through the Jordan, and were all baptized into Jesus (Joshua) ev the spirit and river.” — iv: 277.
“ Wherefore, though they were all baptized into Moses, by the cloud and the sea, their baptism has something bitter and unpleasant, because still fearing . their enemies.” “But the baptism into Jesus, ev the truly sweet and potable river, has many choice things above that.” “For ev the baptism into Jesus, we know that the living God is in us. And the Lord acknowledges the reproach of Egypt to be taken away in the day of the baptism into Jesus, when Jesus thoroughly purified the children of Israel.”
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“I indeed baptize you ev water into repentance.” — Matt, iii: 1 1 . •
“For also iv one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body.” — 1 Cor. xii : 13.
Can anything possibly be clearer than this difference of regi- men ? If baptism is immersion, then these baptized persons are said to be immersed into Moses, into repentance, into one body, into Joshua. Certain special agencies are also designa- ted ev the use of which these immersions are effected. These agencies are the cloud and the sea in the first instance, water in the second, one spirit in the third, and the “truly sweet and potable river,” Jordan, in the fourth. This last instance is par- ticularly noticeable. Origen does not say that the children of Israel were baptized iv the dry bed of the Jordan. He does not even leave this open for inference. He expressly says that in their crossing the dry bed of the river, they were baptized ev the “sweet and potable river” itself. The modal use of the baptizing agency, in this instance, is characterized, not by its covering the baptized persons, but by it being restrained from covering them. The water is here distinctly made to baptize by positive 7zc>/z-immersion, and not by immersion. This is worthy the attention of those who so strenuously insist, on the strength of this same preposition iv following baptizo, that Naa- man and John’s disciples must have been physically submerged under the waters of the same Jordan.
These two forms of regimen, that with EiS and that with ev might be made to follow baptizo in nearly or quite every in- stance in which it occurs. And in every such instance, cor- rectly constructed, the distinction which has just been made will be found to hold. The accusative preceded by always denotes the receptive elemeht. The dative, with or without ev always denotes instrumentality. It is peculiar instrument- ality, indeed. It ordinarily differs from that denoted by the prepositions dia and vno in that its nature is such that it might conceivably become enveloping element. It also usually dif- fers from other forms of instrumentality, in that some portion of its own substance is used up with every baptism effected.
The things named in the dative are such things as water, fire, blood, missiles, and not such as the hand, a cup, a hyssop branch. But to this instrumental construction the dative after baptizo is rigidly confined. It never departs from it, and, con-
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sequently, never denotes the covering element as such, though, as we have seen, the covering element and the instrumental agen- cy may, in some cases, be the same substance.
There are a few apparent (though not real) exceptions.
In the following two instances, ev is evidently not in special regimen after baptizo, but indicates mere general relation of locality.
Judith “went out nightly into the valley of Bethulia, and bap- tized herself iv the camp, upon the fountain of water.”
“John was baptizing ev the wilderness.” — Mark i : 4.
Probably the same construction most naturally explains John iii : 23, “John was also baptizing fVyEnon near to Salim;” and many scholars will prefer to give this construction to some of the examples cited above as instances of the ordinary regimen. Instances of this sort, of course, have no special weight on either side of the main question now under discussiom.
In the following three instances eis apparently indicates mere locality, instead of having its ordinary force. Perhaps, in each case the preposition properly following a verb understood, and does not really follow baptizo. In the first instance, it is claimed to be known that baptism was performed on the sea shore, and not within the sea.
“Call the purifying Old Woman, and baptize thyself at fis) the sea, and remain all day sitting on the ground.” Or, “[Going] unto the sea, baptize thyself.”
“Those, therefore, defiled by a dead body, introducing a little of the ashes and hyssop-branch into a spring, and baptizing of this ashes (introduced) into the spring, they sprinkled both on the third and seventh of the days.”
“Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John at (eis) the Jordan.” — Mark i : 9. That is, having entered into the Jordan region, he -was baptized. If this passage stood by itself, it would be naturally translated, “baptized into” the Jordan, immersed within the water of the river. One could not object, in this instance, that Jesus would have been drowned by such a baptism, for the context, (on the supposition that he was within the water), immediately takes him out of it. It this translation of the present passage were countenanced by even any diversity of usage in other passages, it might be plau- sibly defended. But it is not. In absolutely every other in-
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tance of ritual baptism, the element introduced by si? is ideal and not physical. If the contrary is true here, it is true in direct contradiction to an extended usage which is elsewhere strictly uniform. It is much easier to suppose that here is a case of elliptical expression. Strictly parallel expressions are common. See, for instance, John x : 40 ; “And he went away again be- yond Jordan, into the place where John at first baptized."
We have thus traversed a definite class of the instances in which the Greek word baptizo occurs. The field traversed in the volumes of Dr. Dale is much more extensive. The results from every part agree. Baptism, by the usns loquendi of the word, is never mere dipping, but always unlimited intus- position. It is entirely indifferent as to the form of the act by which the intusposition is secured, whether by plunging, sink- ing, pouring, dripping, absorption, or some other. Baptizo is regularly followed by si? with the accusative of that into which the baptized object is intusposed, and by the dative, with or without iv, of a certain peculiar instrumentality by which the intusposition is effected. In physical baptisms, this instrument tality used for effecting the intusposition may be the same as the element into which the intusposition is effected, but is oftener different. In ritual and spiritual baptisms the element into which the intusposition is effected is always ideal, never phys- ical, and always differs from the special instrumentality which effects the intusposition.
If the mode of effecting the intusposition is indifferent, of yet less consequence is the mode of using the special instrumen- tality, when the latter differs from the receptive element. If it were granted that the baptizing of a person is the immersing him into certain new conditions or relations, and that this must always be done by a certain modal act, — namely, the moving of him from a position without those relations to a position with- in them — it would not at all follow that the water, or Holy Ghost, or other special instrumentality used in so moving him, must needs go through the same forms of motion. Even if the mode of intusposition were important, the mode of using the special instrumentality by which the intusposition was effected might be altogether unimportant.
According to the New Testament, the believer is baptized by the Holy Ghost into Christ, and by water into visible rela-
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tions with Christ. It is of no consequence under what form we conceive of the intusposition into Christ as taking place; whether by the believer’s moving to Christ and entering him, or by Christ’s coming to the believer and surrounding him, or in some other form of conception. No matter what the form, it is still baptism into Christ, or, the terms being changed, baptism into outward relations with Christ. Of yet less consequence is it by what form of act the Holy Ghost or the water effect these baptisms.
V. A fifth line of argument in Ur. Dale’s volumes is found in his analysis of the patristic use of the words that describe baptism.
The doctrine and practice of the Christian fathers, in the matter of baptism, is one thing, and their use of language, in describ- ing their doctrine and practice, quite another thing. And since they were better linguists than theologians, the argument from their use of language is much stronger than that from their opin- ions and customs.
Most of these writers practiced baptism by immersion, in ordinary cases. Many of them doubted whether bap'tism by any other form was valid, or, at best, equally valid with that in the form usually practiced. They held that water has been medicated by the brooding of the Holy Ghost upon it at the creation, or by the baptism of Jesus in it, or both, so that it has a drug-like quality, in virtue of which it washes away sin.
They baptized men and women naked, since it was their persons and not their clothes that needed to have the sin washed out of them. Many of them immersed the candidate thrice in commemoration of the Trinity, or of the three days which Christ lay in the grave. Many of them, in baptizing, used salt and oil and spittle, and practiced cauterization and other superstitious additions to the rite.
Their doctrine and usage, then, were confessedly very cor- rupt, and cannot have great weight in determining what our doctrine and usage should be. But this does not change the fact that they spoke and wrote either Greek, or Latin full of Greek technical terms. We may resort to their writings to find the meanings of words. And if we find that their jisus loquendi differs from what their practices would lead us to ex-
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pect, then their errors of practice may even strengthen, rather than weaken, our argument from their use of words.
Now it is remarkable that these men, although they baptized by immersion in water, do not currently speak of baptism as being immersion in water. According to their uniform or- dinary use of language, Christian baptism is the passing into a condition of healing from sin, and other baptisms consist in other analogous changes of condition or character. Their bap- tism was not immersion in water, although, as a matter of fact, it was usually by immersion in water.
The Greek and Latin passages in which this usage appears, would fill a good sized volume. A few specimens must suffice.
Baptism was accounted a thorough change of character. In Basil the Great (iii : 736) is the following question and answer : “What is the purport and power of baptism?”
“ The baptized is thoroughly changed as to thought, and word, and deed, and becomes, according to the power bestowed, the same as that by which he was born.”
The result of baptism was supposed to be accomplished by a medicinal quality supernaturally imparted to the waters. Ambrose (iii : 627) says, “Perhaps some one may say, ‘Why did he who was holy wish to be baptized ?’ Hear then : Christ was therefore baptized, not that he might be sanctified by the waters, but that he might sanctify the waters, and by his own purity purify the stream which he touches ; for the consecration of Christ is a greater consecration of the element. For when the Saviour is washed ( abluitur ) the whole water is cleansed ( mundatur ) for our baptism, and the fountain is purified ( purificatur ), that the grace of the washing may be supplied to the people coming after.”
Tertullian (ii : 615) says, “Christ having been baptized, that is, sanctifying {sanctijicante) the waters by his baptism.” Ignatius says, (660) “Jesus Christ was born and baptized, that he might purify the water by his passion.”
Jerome (ii : 161) says, “How is the soul, which has not the Holy Spirit, purged from old defilements? For water does not wash the soul, unless it is first washed by the Holy Spirit, that it may be able spiritually to wash others. ‘The Spirit of the Lord,’ says Moses, ‘was borne above the waters.’ From which it appears that baptism is not without the Holy Spirit.”
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Didymus Alexandrinus (692) says, “Accordingly the Holy Spirit by his movement upon the waters, appears from that time to have sanctified them, and made them life-giving. For it is evident to every one, that what overlies imparts of its own quality to that which underlies, and all underlying matter is accustomed to take of the peculiarity of that which overlies. Whence baptism belongs to all water indiscriminately, in ne- cessity, as waters are of one nature, and all are sanctified.” Tertullian (iii : 1082) argues, that there can be no baptism except within the Catholic church. “It is necessary, also, that the water be purified and sanctified first by the priest, that it may be able, by its own baptism , to cleanse the sins of the baptized man.”
Clement of Alexandria (i : 285) declares, that “sins are re- mitted by one perfect drug (cpappaKcp), spiritual baptism.”
In all this, notice, it is not at all the immersion in the water that is spoken of as constituting the baptism; but the being brought by the medicinal power of the water into a state of healing from sin. Many times over, a per- son is said to be baptized by water, and in the same breath the water itself is said to be baptized by the brooding of the Spirit, or the descent of Jesus into Jordan, or the priestly character of the officiating minister. Evidently, the baptizing of the water was not thought of as the immersing it into the priestly character, or into the descent of Jesus, or into the brooding of the Spirit ; but as the bringing it, through these agencies, into the possession of a sin-remitting power which it did not otherwise possess. So the baptizing of a person was not thought of as the immersing him in water, but as the bringing him, through the agency of the water, into the new condition of remitted sin.
This usage is confirmed by the following passages, in which tears or blood or suffering, without any idea of envelopment within either, take the place of water as the baptizing agency.
Tertullian (i : 1217) says, “ We have a second washing, one and the same, to wit, of blood. These two baptisms he shed forth from the wound of his pierced side. It is this baptism which takes the place of the washing of water when it has not been received, and restores it when it has been lost.” “ Mar- tyrdom will be another baptism.”
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Cyprian (iii : 1123) speaks of “ martyrdom, when one con- fesses Christ before men, and is baptized by his own blood. And yet not even this baptism profits the heretic. The bap- tism of a public confession and of blood cannot profit a heretic unto salvation.”
Origen (ii : 980) says, “ It is the baptism of blood only which makes us more pure than the baptism of water. The Lord says : ‘ I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished?’ You see that he called the pouring out of his blood, baptism.” “ By the baptism of water, past sins are remitted ; by the baptism of blood, future sins are prevented.” “ If God should grant unto me that I might be washed by my own blood, that I might receive this second baptism, enduring death for Christ, I would go safe out of this world.”
Augustine (ix : 276): “ Petilianus says, The Saviour having been baptized by John, declared that he must be baptized again ; not now by water or spirit, but by the baptism of blood, by the cross of his passion.” “Blush, O persecutors ! ye make martyrs like to Christ, whom, after the water of true baptism, baptizing blood sprinkles.”
Jerome (iv : 35) represents the Saviour as declaring that, “in- stead of ancient victims, and incense, and new moons,” and so forth ; “ the religion of the Gospel pleases me ; that ye should be baptized by my blood, by the washing of regeneration, which alone can remit sin.”
Clemens Romanus (837) says, of the unbaptized martyr, “ Let him die without sorrow, for the suffering which is for Christ will be to him a truer baptism.”
Jerome (v : 730) says, “ Hear the Saviour in two passages, indicating the need of fire and knife. In one place, he says, ‘ I have not come to send peace upon earth, but a sword and in another, ‘ I am come to send fire upon the earth.’ Therefore, the Saviour brings fire and sword, and baptizes those sins which could not be purified by the purification of the Holy Spirit.”
Athanasius (iv : 644) says, “ God has granted to the nature of man three baptisms, purifying from all sin whatsoever. I mean, 1. The baptism by water; 2. The baptism by our own blood through martyrdom ; 3. The baptism by tears into which [baptism] the harlot was purified. And likewise Peter, the
66 Dale on Baptism. [Jan.
chief of the holy apostles, after his denial, having wept, was received and saved.”
Xow the baptism which consisted in Peter’s going out and weeping bitterly was neither physical immersion, nor by physical immersion. The baptism of the woman who was baptized by washing the Saviour’s feet with her tears, was neither physical immersion, nor by physical immersion. The baptism which consists in being stabbed, or torn to pieces, or burned, or stran- gled, or poisoned, as a martyr, is neither physical immersion, nor by physical immersion. The baptism of incorrigible sin by fire and sword is neither physical immersion, nor by physical immersion. The baptism which consists in “the suffering which is for Christ ” is neither physical immersion, nor by physical immersion. The baptism wherein all believers are baptized by the Saviour’s blood is neither physical immersion, nor by physical immersion. The baptism in which “baptizing blood sprinkles” is not physical immersion, nor by such immersion. Jesus, bap- tized “ by the cross of his Passion,” was not physically im- mersed in the cross. The baptism of which it is said “ He called the pouring out of his blood baptism,” and “ These two baptisms he shed forth from the wound of his pierced side,” is not physical immersion, nor by physical immersion. The “bap- tism of public confession ” is neither physical immersion, nor by physical immersion. In this whole class of passages no notion of envelopment appears. The baptizing consists in being brought into healing from sin.
The same usage further appears in the passages in which clinic baptism is discussed. The form of the question is not whether the pouring or sprinkling upon a sick person, or an imprisoned martyr, is a baptism ; but whether such baptism is valid, or equally valid with the more usual mode? Without any dissent, the disputants on both sides agree that it is proper enough to call this rite of sprinkling or pouring for the remis- sion of sins, a baptism.
Yet, further, these authors constantly apply the- name bap- tism to the sprinklings, pourings, and other forms of rite men- tioned in the Old Testament, or practiced among Jews or heathen.
For instance, they repeatedly designate as baptism the emp- tying of the four water-pots of water upon the sacrifice of
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Elijah — I Kings xviii : 34. The following, from Origen (iv : 241), is a specimen : “For he,” that is, Elijah, “commanded the priests to effect this baptism. How, then, is he coming to baptise, who did not then baptize? Christ does not baptize with water, but his disciples ; but he reserves for himself the baptizing by the Holy Spirit and fire.”
Ambrose (i : 875), commenting upon Psalm, li : 10 — “Sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be clean” — says : “ He who wished to be cleansed by typical baptism was sprinkled with the blood of the lamb by a bunch of hyssop.”
Jerome (v : 341) thus discourses upon Ezekiel xxxvi : 16. “ I will pour out or sprinkle upon you clean water, and ye shall be cleansed from all your defilements. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a right spirit within you.” “ I will pour out the clean water of saving baptism.” “And it is to be considered, that a new heart and a new spirit may be given by the pouring out and sprinkling of water.” “And I will no more pour out upon them the waters of saving baptism, but the waters of doctrine and of the word of God.”
Tertullian (i : 1204) : “ But the nations without the knowledge of spiritual things, attribute the same efficacy to their idols, but with unmarried waters they deceive themselves. They everywhere purify villas, houses, temples, and whole cities by sprinkling water, and are washed in the spectacles of Apollo and Eleusis.” “ Here we see the work of the devil emulating the things of God, since he practices even baptism among his own people.”
Justin Martyr (437) says of circumcision: “What need is there of that baptism to one baptized by the Holy Spirit?”
As a plain matter of fact, therefore, many of the operations which the early Christian literature designates as baptisms, were performed by pouring, sprinkling, cutting, or other forms of modal act. But, in every instance, the operation is thought of as causing the person or thing baptized to pass out of one con- dition into another and different condition, — usually out of a condition of sin-sickness into a condition of healing from sin.
VI. Dr. Dale further strengthens his argument by citing the instances in which we probably or certainly know that baptisms, recognised by the New Testament, or the early church, as proper Christian baptisms, were performed otherwise than by
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immersion. The limits of this article forbid our delaying here, except to note, in passing, a single point, in which the logical force of this argument differs from that of the other arguments which we have been considering.
Admitting the position so abundantly proved, that baptism is not immersion in water, one might still claim that immersioji in water is peculiarly fitted to be the mode of baptism, and that it is the only mode sanctioned by the usage of the apostles and of the earlier Christians. But the fact is, that no usage can be proved sufficiently uniform and authoritative to satisfy this claim.
VII. Incidentally, Dr. Dale contends that many of the New Testament instances of baptisms, commonly supposed to be ritual, are not so, but are exclusively spiritual. In maintaining this view, he distinguishes between ritual baptism and real baptism — that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Then he argues, that real baptism is presumably meant wherever the contrary is not designated. Yet, if any one should maintain that ritual baptism is, in its own proper kind of reality, as real as spiritual baptism ; and that this reality, as being the one that most people naturally think of, is the one which has the presumption in its favor; this difference would not affect the main issues in question.
Notably, Dr. Dale uses this kind of reasoning in disposing of the cases where burial is mentioned in connection with baptism. He regards these as cases of spiritual baptism, and therefore denies all inferences drawn from them in regard to the mode of ritual baptism. Yet, the question which baptism is intended in these cases, is simply the question whether Paul is arguing from Christian experience or from Christian profession. It is true that believers should be dead to sin and alive to holiness, because they have experienced the benefits of Christ’s sin-aton- ing death, that is, have been spiritually baptized into his death. It is equally true that they should be dead to sin and alive to holiness, because, in being ritually baptized into the death of Christ, they have outwardly professed the experience of its benefits. On either supposition, the thing spoken of is the significance of the baptism, and not the mode of it. The question, whether Dr. Dale is correct in here excluding ritual
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baptism, is not one which greatly affects the main issues.
In its statement of the conclusion that follows from these premises, this article has constantly adhered to the direct form. Spiritual baptism into Christ is the intusposing of a person, by the agency of the Holy Ghost, into a genuine Christian con- dition and character, so that henceforth he shall remain en- veloped in this character, and marked by it. Ritual Christian baptism is the intusposing of the person by water, as the divinely appointed agency, emblematically, into a genuine Christian character and -condition, and actually into the out- ward character and name of Christian. Dr. Dale, however, constantly prefers a less direct form of statement, and one which involves the yet fuller discussion of the subject. He finds the word baptizo developing a secondary meaning. That which is intusposed comes to be controllingly under the power of the enveloping substance. Hence, baptizo comes to denote •controlling characteristic influence, no matter whether it comes by intusposition or not. This position he maintains by an extensive examination of the analogies of the secondary mean- ings of bapto, of other analogies, and of usage. In this form he almost uniformly states his conclusion.
There is no doubt about the reality of this secondary mean- ing. The new mode of statement which it affords has certain advantages. Yet it is simply a new form of statement, and not a real change of meaning. To baptize one into repentance is to bring him, either actually or emblematically, under the controlling power of repentance. This is accurately the same as to introduce him into a repentant state. The same double form of statement might be everywhere employed.
It is no slight confirmation of the view taken in these vol- umes, that it points out distinct boundaries for several of the controversial positions heretofore held, and shows that these positions, if thus bounded, cease to be antagonistic.
For example, the great body of those who have defended baptism by other forms than immersion, have strongly in- sisted on the character of baptism as a purifying ordinance. Spiritual baptism is purification from sin. The ceremonial lustrations by which Jewish worshipers were purified from uncleanness were baptisms. Water is the chosen agent in baptism, because of its purifying quality. Ashes figure in New Series, No. 21. 5
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other baptisms, because their alkaline quality gives them a purifying power greater than even that of pure water. Fire is the symbol of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, because it is- the most intense and thorough of all purifying agencies. Jewish proselyte baptism was ritual cleansing from the defile- ments of idolatry. Christian baptism is an emblem of Christ’s cleansing from sin, — that is, of justification ; and of the Holy Ghost’s cleansing from sin, —that is, of renewal and sanctifica- tion. This view they are able to support by page after page of citation from the Scripture and from the early Christian authors. All the current Greek and Latin words for washing, cleaning, purifying, laving, bathing, rinsing, are familiarly applied to baptism.
At first thought, all this seems inconsistent with the view taken by Dr. Dale. But a little reflection shows us that the new condition or character into which one is introduced by- baptism is always a purified character or condition. Or. to take the other form of statement, the agency-, or element, under the controllingpower of which one is brought by baptism, is always a purifying, cleansing agency or element. No writer insists upon this more strenuously than Dr. Dale. He denies, indeed, that purification is the differential characteristic of baptism. But he magnifies it as the most important and essential property of baptism. In all their main features, the two views are identical, and not inconsistent. The real difference between them is simply a difference in logical nomenclature.
On the other hand, Baptist controversialists have been so impressed with the weight of the evidence they have gathered, to the effect that baptism is identical with immersion, that they have been betrayed into certain very- jealous utterances regard- ing their opponents, who failed of being convinced by the evidence. Dr. Dale first indicates the need of a more precise definition of the term immersion — in which most Baptists of real scholarship will agree with him — and then accepts their evidence and their conclusions; merely pointing out, that the immersion, which is proved by their evidence, in the case of ritual baptisms, is always into the new religious condition entered by the candidate, and never, except incidentally-, into the water or other baptismal agency-.
Once more, the distinctions, so clearly'- drawn by- Dr. Dale,
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show the true bearing of the large body of evidence quoted by the advocates of the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. Spirit- ual baptism is regeneration, the new birth, in which one, who was formerly born outside the spiritual kingdom of God, be- comes a citizen born. Ritual baptism is the outward recogni- tion of this new birth. But in being this, it is itself ritual new birth, the being born into outward citizenship of the visible kingdom of God. This truth has been so discredited, by being associated with superstition, that we are are in danger of losing sight of its real value. Baptism is a seal as well as a sign ; and a seal of citizenship in Christ’s kingdom, as well as of that purification which characterizes citizenship there. The initial seal of citizenship is baptism. It is neither some public cove- nant service, nor the vote of some congregation or church court, but baptism.
In fine, Christ has ordained baptism to be “ a sign and seal of ingrafting into himself, of remission of sins by his blood and regeneration by his spirit; of adoption, and resurrection unto everlasting life ; and whereby the parties baptized are solemnly admitted into the visible church, and enter into an open and professed engagement to be wholly and only the Lord’s.”
Art. IV.— AN INDIANA PIONEER.
By the Rev. H. A. Edson, D. D., Indianapolis.
WHETHER lineage, talents, character, or usefulness be re- garded, there is abundant reason for an attempt to trace the careers of the founders of Presbyterian institutions in Indiana. Todd and Balch are memorable names in Presbyterian annals. If Providence had sent William Wirt to hear “ Father Martin” preach, the description of James Waddel’s eloquence might fitly have had a companion-piece. Crowe and Johnston were as brave and good, as they were discreet and successful. Cam- eron and McGready, and Thomas Cleland, of Kentucky, gave some of their best labors to the wilderness north of the Ohio.
An Indiana Pioneer.
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[Jan.
And among the living, Dr. Ravaud K. Rodgers and Dr. Charles C. Beatty recall with pleasure their missionary tours in the West.* Not the least worthy of recognition is the man whom Gillett describes, perhaps with justice, as “the father of the Presbyterian Church in Indiana. ”f
John McElroy Dickey was born in York District, South Car- olina, December 16, 1789. His grandfather, of Scotch-Irish descent, came from Ireland to America about the year 1737. His father, David Dickey, was twice married, first on March 28, 1 7/5 , to Margaret Robeson, who died four months after her marriage ; and subsequently, September 4, 1788, to Margaret Stephenson. John was the first-born and only son of this latter marriage. He had four sisters, of whom one died in infancy.
His parents were in humble circumstances, but of excellent Christian character. David Dickey was a man of unusual intelligence, and, according to the testimony of his son, had remarkable self-control. “ I never saw him angry but once,” the latter declared ; “nor did I ever see him manifest peevish- ness or fretfulness, even in old age.” No pressure of business could ever induce him to omit the customary household wor- ship or other religious duties. For years he taught the neigh- borhood school, and when John was but three years of age carried him to it daily. Of such a man the wife was a true help- meet. Like Hannah, she had given her son to God, and for- mally devoted him to his service. It was her habit, while at the wheel spinning flax or cotton, to gather her children about her for instruction in the Shorter Catechism. “To my mother,” said Mr. Dickey, “ more than to any other human being, am I indebted for what I am. In the midst of doubts, fears, dis- couragements, and toils, it has often been a source of consola- tion to know that I had a mother who. in covenant with God,
* Dr. Rodgers spent the winter of 1818-19 in Indiana; Dr. Beatty that of 1822-23. At the recent semi-centennial commemoration of the Synods of Indiana,
1 Indianapolis, October, 1876) it was observed that these two are the only survivors of all the itinerants previous to 1S26. The Rev. Samuel G. Lowr)r, of Minnesota, became a settled minister in 1825 — the only resident clergyman, previous to the Synod's organization, who still lives.
4 GilMi's I/is/cty , vol. .i : p. 307.
An Indiana Pioneer.
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1877.]
gave me up to him and to the work of the ministry. If all mothers were like her, the Lord’s vineyard could not long lack laborers.”
Under such a home influence, the children all grew insensi- bly into the habits of piety, and were unable to fix the time when their early religious experience began. The son became familiar with the Scriptures, the Confession of Faith and Form of Government of the Presbyterian Church — the reading books of that day — and the foundations were permanently laid for the clear theological views of his subsequent ministry. At four years of age, it is said that he had read the Bible through. Not much later he was acquiring a considerable knowledge of mathematics, under his father’s instruction, and aided by a coal and a pine board. He eagerly improved his humble op- portunities for study, until new advantages were providentially opened to him by the removal of the family northward in 1803. David Dickey, though reared in a slave state, looked upon slavery as a curse, and sought to deliver his family from its in- fluence ; but upon leaving South Carolina he found himself obliged by circumstances to remain in Livingston County, Kentucky. After assisting for two or three years in the labor of clearing and cultivating his father’s land, J ohn went to study under the direction of his cousin, the Rev. William Dickey,'1' about a mile from his own home. The manse, however, had but one room, and the proprietor had several children of his own. Young Dickey, therefore, built a shelter near the house where he might keep his books and study. Thus he read Virgil and the Greek Testament, remaining with his cousin for about eighteen months. A school was then opened by the Rev. Dr. Nathan H. Hall, at Hardin’s Creek Church, two hundred and fifty miles distant, whither he determined to make his way. His father was quite unable to assist him, but John had secured a colt on the farm and raised it, so that he was
* The valuable notice of Mr. Dickey, in Sprague’s Annals, is marred by several inaccuracies. The Rev. William Dickey appears as Wilson; Mr. D.’s great-grandfather is said to have emigrated from Ireland about 1740, whereas it was his grandfather, who came several years earlier than that date ; Muhlenburg Presbytery is changed to Mecklenburg ; the date of the organization of Salem Presbytery is set forward seven years; Columbus, Ohio, is substituted for Colum- bus, Indiana. The appended communications from Mr. Dickey’s ministerial brethren are singularly pictorial and just.
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An Indiana Pioneer.
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now in possession of a fine young horse. Thus mounted, with perhaps two dollars in money, he set out upon the long journey. For board and lodging he sold his horse to a Mr. McElroy, and entered with zeal upon his studies. The horse ran away and was never recovered, but the student was already a favorite, and continued a member of the McElroy household until his course at Dr. Hall’s school was completed. He gave such assistance as he could in the labors of the farm, and all further compensation was refused by the hospitable host. It was thus, that afterward, to avoid confusion often arising from the commonness of his own name, Mr. Dickey added McElroy to John. Soon becoming an assistant-teacher in the school, he was enabled to support himself, at the same time working hard at his own course of study.
Here he remained nearly two years, when he entered upon the study of theology with the cousin who had previously been his instructor, and with the Rev. John Howe, at Glasgow, Ken- tucky. He was licensed to preach by Muhlenburg Presbytery, August 29, 1814. in the twenty-fifth year of his age, having already. November iSth of the previous year, been united in marriage with Miss Nancy W., daughter of William and Isabel (Miller) McClesky, of Abbeville district, South Carolina.
In December, after his licensure, he made a visit to Indiana, and spent a few Sabbaths at what is now Washington, Davies County) with a church that had been constituted, in August of the same year, by the Rev. Samuel Thornton Scott, Indiana’s first resident Presbyterian minister. There were now but two other organized Presbyterian societies within the limits of In- diana territory — the “ Indiana” church, near Vincennes, con- stituted in 1806, and the Charlestown church, established in 1812. A church formed in 1807, and known as the Palmyra church, had become extinct. There were but two Presby- terian meeting-houses, both of logs, and both in the “ Indiana ” parish. But two Presbyterian ministers were already settled in Indiana,* Mr. Scott and the Rev. William Robinson.
Mr. Dickey engaged to return to the Washington congre- gation, and accordingly, in May, 1815,+ still a licentiate under
• The Rev. Samuel Baldridge, M.D., had, in 1810, settled at Lawrenceburg, but before Mr. Dickey’s arrival had removed to Ohio.
+ Dickey's Brief History, pp. 12, 13.
*877-3
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the care of Muhlenburg Presbytery, he set out for his home in the wilderness, with his wife and their infant daughter. The family, and all their earthly goods, were carried on the backs of two horses. His library consisted of a Bible, Buck’s Theo- logical Dictionary, Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, and Fisher’s Catechism. When the ferriage across the Ohio was paid, they had a single shilling left.
Now began the self-denials and struggles of pioneer life. It was impossible to expect a comfortable support from the feeble congregation." There was little money in the neighborhood. Taxes were partly paid in raccoon skins, fox skins, and “ wolf- -scalps.” People lived on what they could raise from the small clearings, by barter, and by hunting. Indians still occasioned annoyance and anxiety. Corn was pounded in mortars, or rubbed on tin graters. Wheat flour was seldom seen. Fruit was rare, except the wild plums, grapes, gooseberries, and paw- paws. Mr. Dickey, therefore, aided the support of his family by farming on a small scale, f teaching a singing-class, and writing deeds, wills, and advertisements. He also surveyed land, and sometimes taught school. Much of this work was done gratuitously, but it secured the friendship of the people. His average salary, including money and gifts, of which he kept a record, even to the minutest detail, for the first sixteen years was eighty dollars. In some way he secured forty acres of land, to which he subsequently added eighty acres. Twenty or thirty acres he cleared, chiefly by his own labor. With his neighbors’ help he built his house in the woods. It was a small log-cabin — the floor of slabs split and hewed from oak and poplar trees ; the windows small, greased paper serving instead of glass; the chimney partly of stone and partly of sticks, and daubed with clay. In later years he erected a school-house on his farm, and made sash with his own hands for the small glass then in use, He was “handy” with tools, and fashioned the wood-work of his plows and other farming implements. Often
* All the pioneers were compelled by some make-shift to eke out a maintenance. Through much intermediate “ weariness and painfulness ’’ on the farm, or in the shop or school, they were glad to win their way to a Sunday pulpit, or a “ sacra- mental meeting,’’ or a protracted preaching tour.
f The character of the man came out, however, in the style of his farming. It was so thorough and intelligent, that the productiveness of his fields was proverbial.
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would less skillful neighbors work for him in the field, while he “stalked” their plows, or made them a harrow or rake. He also had a set of shoemaker’s tools, mending the shoes of his family, and often those of his neighbors. He could himself cut out and make a neat shoe, but “never liked the work, and avoided it if possible.” Music he read with great facility, sup- plying the lack of books with his pen, several of these manu- script volumes being carefully kept by his children. He was not unaccustomed, on special occasions, to compose both music and hymns for the use of the congregation. Under his man- agement the winter singing-school became a prominent and happy feature of the life in the wilderness.
Preaching every Sabbath, and often during the week, he was compelled to do much of his studying while at work on the farm, or as he rode on horseback from place to place. The family were too poor to afford a lamp or candles, and often, after a day of manual labor, Mr. Dickey would gather pine knots, and having kindled a bright fire, would sit on the hearth and write the plans of his sermons. His best opportunities for meditation, however, came while riding to his preaching-sta- tions, through the forests, and along the quiet roads. With his Bible, hymn-book, and Confession of Faith in the saddle-bags, and a Testament or small Concordance in his pocket ready for use, he pursued careful investigations of important themes.
“ On a pony that had learned to avoid the mud by going close to the rail fence,” says his son,* “ I have seen him riding for miles, and at every corner lifting his leg and drawing it up on the saddle to avoid the rails, too much absorbed in thought to observe what the pony or himself was doing. Occasionally returning to consciousness of things about him, he would rein the horse out into the road ; but the beast, preferring the harder ground, would soon go back to the fence, and creep so close to the sharp corners that the process of leg-lifting would begin again, and go steadily on for another hour.”
At one time, returning from a preaching-tour to find the family entirely out of meal and flour, he remounted his horse, went to the mill several miles distant, procured a supply, and with the sack on the horse’s back started homeward. But be-
* The Rev. Ninian Steele Dickey, to whom the writer is under many obligations, for the facts of this article, and for the use of MSS.
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coming engaged in meditation, the sack fell off without his notice. The hungry children, who had made several meals of potatoes, saw with dismay that he was returning without the supplies, and calling their mother, met him as he rode up to the gate. A single question was enough to reveal the state of the case, and wheeling about, half-amused and half-ashamed, he hurried back to find the sack at the roadside. He often said, that to think closely he must be on his horse. There was no subject engaging the attention of the world which he did not ponder as thoroughly as his opportunities allowed. He was well informed on questions of public policy, and sometimes addressed communications to those in power, always urging that “righteousness exalteth a nation.” These communica- tions were kindly received, and often elicited respectful replies.
Mr. Dickey’s cheerful labors were overshadowed, however, and sometimes wholly interrupted, by the alarming diseases, common in such new settlements. At first his own family escaped, but before a year had passed all were prostrated, and on October 2, 1816, Mrs. Dickey died. Added to these personal sorrows was the discouragement arising from fre- quent removals of his people to other neighborhoods. There was, moreover, no suitable place of worship. This latter want was soon supplied, however. Though it was difficult to select a site against which no one would object, scattered, as his congregation were along White River, upon a tract sixteen miles long by ten wide, they finally united upon apiece of “Congress land,” “whose sterile soil would not be likely soon to tempt a purchaser to dispossess them. The members of the little society met on a day appointed, and cut logs twenty feet in length, which, with their native cover- ing of bark and moss, were laid together. The minister was present to encourage his people, and some of the logs were notched by his own hands. The roof was of clap-boards. The earth formed both floor and carpet. ,The seats were hewed puncheons. On this log meeting-house, the third, it would seem, which the Indiana Presbyterians possessed, the people looked with pride. Rude as was the humble sanctuary, it equalled, if it did not surpass, the houses in which several of the congregation lived. It continued to be the place of worship until shortly after Davies County was.
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organized, when the county-seat was located at Washington, a temporary court-house was erected, and this then became the meeting-house.”*
After four years servicef in this field, Mr. Dickey removed to Lexington, Scott County, and became pastor of the New Lexington and Pisgah churches, while he also had charge of the Graham church, s'tuated on a creek of that name be- tween Paris and Vernon, in Jennings County. His installation, August, 1819, over the two former congregations, was the first formal Presbyterian settlement in the territory.:}; Pre- viously, however, April 2, 1818, Mr. Dickey had married Miss Margaret Osborn Steele. This wife shared his trials and suc- cesses for nearly thirty years, f and became the mother of eleven children. The picture of the pioneer parsonage and its busy life would be sadly imperfect without the portrait of this Christian woman.
She was worthy of her husband. Much of his usefulness must be attributed to her. For the maintenance of the fam- ily she gave her full share of toil and self-denial, often living alone with her children for months together, disciplining them to industry and usefulness, while their father was absent upon long and laborious missionary journeys. She cultivated a garden which supplied many household wants. Reared as she had been on the frontier, her education was at first limited, but under her husband’s tuition she became a respectable scholar, able to instruct her own and her neighbors’ children. She was an adept at the spinning-wheel and loom, and for many years made with her own hands all the linen and woolen cloth and garments for the family. There were also frequent additions to the exchequer from the sale of jeans of her manu- facture. Such was her trust in God, that fear never seemed to disturb her peace. She had lived for a time where the dread of prowling savages forbade the lighting of a lamp, or of a fire at night, and ordinary trouble produced no visible
* MSS. of the Rev. Thomas S. Milligan, long a friend of Mr. Dickey’s family, a man of studious tastes and noble character. His death (October 7, 1876) has occasioned great and sorro wful surprise.
\ Dickey's Brief History, p. 4.
J Read's Christian Traveller, pp. 91, 213. f Her death occurred October 24, 1847.
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•disturbance of her mind. In every good work she was fore- most, whether it were making husk mattresses for the students at Hanover College, gathering supplies for destitute mission- aries, or caring for the sick and unfortunate at home. The meagreness of her own household stores did not prevent her from doing much for others. In the absence of her hus- band the family altar was regularly maintained, and the Sab- bath afternoon recitations from the Shorter Catechism were by no means omitted. Though her residence was on a farm, and most of Mr. Dickey’s public life was spent as pastor of a country church, the scattered homes of the people did not prevent her sustaining a woman’s weekly prayer-meeting. In the Sabbath-school and at public worship her place was seldom vacant, notwithstanding the claims of so large a family. It was the custom to begin the communion services on Friday, which was often a fast-day, and to continue them through the fol- lowing Monday. Neighboring ministers and congregations attended these services in great numbers. Often was the hospitality of the parish taxed to the utmost. “Though I relished heartily the enthusiasm of these gatherings, especially the singing and the social enjoyment,” says a member of Mr. Dickey’s family, “I recollect that in my early days I dreaded these occasions, because I had to sleep on the floor, often without even a carpet or pillow, that room might be made for strangers. One of my father’s neighbors, they used to say, had accommodation for sixty guests, while many young men and boys slept on the hay in the barns. Notwithstanding the claims of guests and the necessity of unusual work at these seasons, everything was ordered so that the women of the household might be present at all the public meetings. I do not recollect ever to have known my mother to be absent except on account of the severe illness of herself or some member of the family, and never did I hear her complain of the burden of entertaining so many strangers. I have known her to be much concerned as to suitable provision for their comfort, but what she had was cheerfully given.” Is it not natural to ask, whether the dignity and gracefulness of these hospitable rites are often surpassed or equalled now ? The preparations are more elaborate and the ceremonies more pretentious, but is the welcome as warm or as wise ?
So
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It is not surprising that a mother, so prudent and diligent* so religious in her denial of self and her generosity to others, aided, too, by such a husband, should be blessed with dutiful and noble children. Her sons and daughters grew up in piety, and most of them survive in prominent and useful stations.*
In the midst of the scenes now described, Mr. Dickey’s inde- fatigable labors continued. He served the New Lexington and Pisgah churches until April, 1835, a period of sixteen years, when the care of the former congregation was committed to other hands, though he held the pulpit of the Pisgah Society for twelve years longer, and until the infirmities of age admon- ished him that the end was near. It is not as pastor of the small country flock that his usefulness is to be measured, how- ever. He was a travelling bishop. From far and near he was called to assist in special services, in revivals, at communions, and in vacant churches. The whole southern half of the terri- tory he often traversed in difficult horseback journeys, and fre- quently his mission work extended to the “regions beyond.” In January and Feburary, 1823, having received an appoint- ment from the Assembly’s “Committee on Missions,” he made an exploring tour to Vincennes and Crawfordsville, and return- ing, fulfilled appointments for preaching which he had scattered as he advanced. “Before he had reached the end of his out- ward journey violent rains had fallen, and the Wabash, with its tributaries, became very high, and was for the most part with- out bridges. Yet he preached thirty one sermons in thirty days, and kept all his appointments save two. In a number of cases if the engagements had been a single day earlier or later, the
* It would seem that our pioneer history furnishes a notable illustration of the power of parental influence. Especially do the humble parsonages of the early days in the woods, prove what worthy children God gives to faithful fathers and mothers. Of Mr. Dickey’s children nine survive, viz. : Margaret, wife of Dr. James F. Knowlton, Geneva, Kansas; Jane, wife of Dr. W. W. Britain, on the homestead, near New Washington, Glark Co., Indiana; the Rev. Ninian S., for eighteen years pastor of our church in Columbus, Indiana, now at Greenville, Illi- nois ; John P., a Presbyterian ruling elder, and James H., in Allen County, Kan- sas ; Nancy E., wife of Mr. Mattoon. Geneva, Kansas ; Martha E., wife of Thomas Bone, Esq., Chester, Illinois ; Mary E., wife of James M. Haines, Esq., New Albany, Indiana ; and William Matthews, a graduate of Wabash College, a stu- dent of medicine, a prisoner at Andersonville, and now a resident of California.. The oldest son died at the age of seventeen, while a student for the ministry.
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impassable streams must have detained him. And so he was accustomed to say, ‘the Lord delivered me out of the deep waters.’ In the summer of 1824 he spent two months in the counties of Bartholomew, Rush, Shelby, and Decatur, under the direction of the Indiana Missionary Society, which a short time before he had assisted in forming. During this journey he organized the churches of Columbus and Franklin, and the church of New Providence, near Shelbyville.. His custom was to make a tour of two weeks, preaching daily, and then for an equal length of time remain at home laboring in his own parish.”*
We are aided in recalling the methods and sacrifices of those days by the vivid pen of one of Mr. Dickey’s fellow- laborers. “At Madison, in 1829,” he says, “I first met with leather Dickey, who came to assist Mr. Johnstonf during a protracted meeting. He had been delayed a little by stress of weather and bad roads ; the congregation were assembled when he entered the church, fresh from his horse and journey. 1 seem to see his figure, of full medium height, spare and bent, marching up the aisle in a well-worn and soldier-like overcoat, and drab leggings, with saddle bags on his arm, and present- ing a face, thoughtful, gentle, and earnest, expressive of an equable spirit, firm and mild. When he spoke from the pulpit he had an unnatural tone ; he showed little rhetoric, little of the learning or art of the schools, but much good sense, faith, and fruit of study in prayer and love. The people listened with a kind and appreciative attention. His character evidently helped him. He was well known in Madison, and everybody felt that his words were those of a wise and disinterested friend. There I learned to revere him as one communing much with God, and ever penetrated with everlasting things ; whose mind and heart were habitually conversant with the greatest inter- ests ; who sought not his own, but was revolving plans of large usefulness ; a man, sober and trusty of judgment, and of organizing ability ; laborious and modest ; stable in the truth ; candid and liberal, but not lax ; fraternal and broad
* MSS. of the Rev. Thos. S. Milligan.
J The Rev. James H. Johnston, who died atJCrawfordsville March 8, 1876, hav- ing completed the longest term of continuous service ever attained by a minister of our church in Indiana — more than fifty-one years.
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in his sympathies, loving and, like Christ, loving the world.
“A few days later I found Father Dickey at Indianapolis, attending the anniversaries of the State Benevolent Societies, in establishing which he had been among the prime movers, and in which he continued to show an efficient interest. The legislature was in session, and on the Sabbath he preached to a large audience, from Jeremiah vi : 16 — ‘Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.’ He spoke with unction and to general acceptance, notwithstanding his peculiar mode of delivery.
“Two months afterward he surprised me with a visit at my bachelor’s room at an inn in Logansport. He had come on an exploring mission from his home in the southern part of the State, in February, 1830, encountering such difficulties from the roads and high waters and rude beginnings of the settlers, remote from each other, as belonged to that period, and all from a desire, preaching as he went, better to know the spiritual destitutions of the State, and more intelligently to labor in removing them.
“During a few more years I was wont to see him at synods where his presence was always valued, and notably I remem- ber him in the General Assembly at Philadelphia, 1832. In the strifes of the times he was not a warm partisan ; he knew nothing of intrigue ; and beyond most men seemed to act above prejudice, and in the light of conscience and the Spirit of Christ.”*
Though never of a rugged constitution, the contrast with his wife’s vigor and endurance being the occasion of frequent re- mark on her part, indulging the hope, as she did, that she might
* MS. letter of the Rev. Dr. Martin M. Post, dated January 7, 1876. Born in Cornwall, Vermont, December 3, 1805 ; Middlebury’s valedictorian in 1826 ; a graduate of Andover ; reaching his mission field at Logansport, Indiana, Decem- ber, 1829, he there continued to reside until his death, October 11, 1876. For the fathers of the Indiana Synod the semi-centennial year has been a fatal one. John- ston fell asleep March 8th, but three days before John Ross (at. 92', these two having been the sole remaining representatives in the Synod, North, of the former times. Dr. Post’s demise occurred but four days later than that of Thomas S. Milligan. Dr. Post’s five sons all received a collegiate and theological training, the youngest, Roswell O., being now pastor of the flock so long cared for by his father.
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be permitted to cheer him in life’s decline, Mr. Dickey sustained such various labors as have been described for a long period. Not until April, 1847, was he compelled by failing health to surrender the pastorate he had held for twenty-eight years. After an interval of a few months his health was so far restored that he was able to labor in the service of the American Tract Society for nearly a year. On the termination of this work he sought no further fixed employment, but ministered in the pulpit and as a counsellor, most usefully, as opportunity came.
In 1828 Mr. Dickey had published, under the direction of the Synod, “ A Brief History of the Presbyterian Church in the State of Indiana,” now the source of our best information with regard to the early days.* This small pamphlet it was his ear- nest desire to enlarge and complete. “The last work of my father’s life, on which his heart was set,” writes his son, “ was the completion of the history. He was very feeble in body at the last, but vigorous in mind, and sat at his table and wrote as long as he was able. Industry was his characteristic. I never saw him idle an hour. When forced to lay down his pen it cost him a struggle. At his request I acted as his amanuensis and prepared several sketches of churches, of which he said no other living man knew so much as he.” All was, however, left quite unfinished. He lived but a day or two after laying aside his pen.f
*“ In regard to the early history of Presbyterianism in Indiana, he was a sort of gazetteer or book of reference, from which we had rarely, if ever, occasion to ap- peal.”—Dr. Henry Little in Sprague’s Annals, vol. iv : pp. 518-19.
f As to the origin of the Brief History , and the various efforts to supplement and complete it, see Minutes of Salem Pres., vol. i : p. 20 ; Minutes of Madison Pres., vol. i : p. 26; Minutes of Indiana Synod, vol. i : pp. 13, 15, 31, 53, 59, 60, 549, 586, 612, 624 ; vol. ii : pp. 207, 225, 347, 384, 401, 419, 423, 436, 437, 446. Mr. Dickey's pamphlet, though accurate, is not infallible. I have before me the author’s coDy, with his manuscript corrections. The more important of these are the following : Page 5, as to Madison Church, read, “ it was supplied by Mr. Robinson for two years. In the summer of 1819 the Rev. Thomas S. Searle located at Madison, and was installed the following year pastor of Madison and Hanover Churches ; ” page 6, as to the date of the organization of Pisgah Church, read, “ February 27, 1816 the name of Daniel C. Banks is substituted for that of James McGready, as having constituted the New Albany Church, the latter having formed the church at Jef- fersonville; page 7, as to the date of the Rev. Isaac Reed’s settlement in Owen County, read, “ October, 1822 ; ” page 8, read, “ Mr. Proctor labored three-fourths of his time (at Indianapolis) for a year, beginning October, 1822. Mr. George Bush commenced his labors there in June, 1824;” page 10, read, “June, 1821,”
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The only meetings of the Presbytery and Synod he had failed to attend were those held at New Albany a few weeks pre- vious to his death. He wrote to his brethren apprising them of his feebleness, and assuring them that his work was nearly done. Synod appointed a committee to suggest a suitable re- ply, on the reception of which Mr. Dickey was deeply moved, at the family altar with choked utterance giving thanks to God that the lines had fallen to him in such goodly places, among •such loving and faithful brethren, and praying that God would greatly prosper them. Suffering intensely in the closing hours, his peace was great. Although for twenty-five years af- flicted with a pulmonary disease, his endurance was remarkable. He finally fell asleep November 21, 1849. The Rev. Philip Bevan, a licentiate of Cincinnati Presbytery, at this time sup- plying the New Washington Church, officiated at the funeral. On the following Sabbath the Rev. Dr. Harvey Curtis, then pastor of the Second Church, Madison, preached in the New Washington Meeting-house, a commemorative discourse from the text descriptive of Barnabas : “He was a good man, and
full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith.” — Acts xi : 24.
Mr. Dickey’s remains lie buried beside his second wife and three of his children, in the cemetery of the Pisgah (now New Washington) Church. His tombstone is a plain marble slab, inscribed with his name, age, the date of his death, and the text of the commemorative discourse.* *
Of the man who so wisely and laboriously laid the founda- tions of Christian society in Indiana, the best estimate is pre-
ss the date of the organization of Evansville Church ; page 1 1, for James Bakh, -substitute Nathan B. Derrow, the name of the “ New Hope ” Church, having been originally, and until 1825, “Hopewell.”
There are such typographical errors as Samuel B. Robinson for Robertson , and Martin B. for Nathan B. Derrow.
It is also to be observed that Dickey makes no allusion to the organization of Concord Church, Orange County, Sept. 27, 1818 (by Orin Fowler), nor to the use- ful labors of Samuel Baldridge (1810-12), Samuel J. Mills (1814-15), William Coodell (1822', Lucius Alden (1825), and John Ross (1822-1876).
* On the announcement of his death in Synod, a movement was made to erect a monument to his memory at the expense of his brethren. The motion was op- posed by Samuel Merrill, Esq., who said that he knew Mr. Dickey well enough to be sure that such display would have offended hismodesty. Mr. Merrill suggested instead, that funds be raised for a hall in Wabash College, to be known as “ Dickey Hall.” The suggestion met with cordial approbation, but was never carried out.
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sented in the simple record of his career. It is, however, to be observed, how sagacious and determined he was in the advocacy of views which then were new, but now are generally accepted among good men. In his personal appearance, most unostentatious, his dress was usually homespun. Though in his later years he wore broadcloth in the pulpit — his every-day garb was of the jeans provided by the hands of his wife and daughters. Doubtless, the necessity of economy determined this habit, but there was also still remaining among the plain people of the frontier that prejudice against imported stuffs, which, during the Revolution, had been so violent.* Beneath such an unassuming exterior, however, dwelt a singularly broad and self-reliant mind.
The character of the man was indicated in his early and bold advocacy of the temperance reform. It has been asserted that he preached the first sermon in Indiana against intemperance. f A lady, who became his daughter-in-law, relates, as illustrating the propriety of such preaching at the time, that on one oc- casion, when a child, she was put out a back window by her mother, and sent with great haste to one of the neighbors for whiskey, “ because they saw Mr. Dickey, the preacher, coming.” One of his son’s earliest recollections is of a stormy onset upon him by four of his parishioners, all distillers, as they were gathered under a spreading beech, after one of his discourses against the prevailing vice. “ I expected,” says the witness, “ that he would give them a severe castigation, and was in- dignant, when afterward, with reference to the affair, he merely said, * Why, I didn’t suppose they would like the sermon.’ And yet, so great was the influence of his teaching, that two of these men never distilled whiskey afterward. One of them would not even sell his distilling apparatus, but let it
* The Rev. James Dickey, of South Salem, Ohio, a cousin of “Father Dickey,” went to the General Assembly at Philadelphia, dressed in homespun, and on a Sabbath was invited to fill one of the city pulpits. After ascending the pulpit the sexton first came to him, and subsequently the elders, to offer him a pew, as he was now occupying the clergyman’s place. But they were soon surprised with a good sermon from the intruder. The next day the ladies of the congregation pre- sented him with a clerical suit, but he gently declined it, saying, that where he lived the people would not hear him preach in such clothes.
f The honor seems to belong either to him, or to “ Father Cravens,” of the Methodist Church.
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stand and rot. In a few years, public sentiment, aided by a fire which destroyed one of the establishments, closed the other stills, so that intoxicating drinks were not manufactured withirr the bounds of his congregation.” He met the neighboring ministers in argument upon this subject, and so ably and with such good humor did he maintain his cause, that largely ow- ing to his influence, the region where he lived and labored banished intoxicating liquors from use as a beverage. His reputation as a debater in behalf of total abstinence was so as- sured, and the unpopularity of opposing him so well known, that a young man who had represented the district in Congress, and was an aspirant again for the position, declined to debate the question with him, though he had issued a challenge to any one who would meet him.
"Father Dickey” was always an earnest anti-slavery man.'"' For several years he cast the only ballot in his township for free-soil principles. By and by, his convictions became so strong that, though he never introduced politics into the- pulpit, privately and in debating societies he discussed the question, and ultimately won over nearly all his people to anti- slavery sentiments. + Living on the border where runaway negroes were numerous, he fearlessly preached from such texts as “Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee” (Deut. xxiii : 15); and under his instructions the better men of the community ceased the lucrative business of hunting fugitives, although the prac tice had been thought innocent and necessary. The name of “ the old Abolitionist,” which those “ of the baser sort ” gave him, rather pleased him. He said it would one day be popular.
“ I remember Father Dickey,” writes Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, * “ chiefly through the warm praises of my brother and
* See Mrs. Stowe’s Men of Our Times, p. 54S ; Cf. Reed’s Christian Traveler r p. 152; Johnson’s Forty Years in Indiana, pp. 12, 13, 15, and 17; and Crowe’s
Abolition Intelligencer.
f I have before me a thick, yellow manuscript, in the careful handwriting of Father Dickey, and entitled, An Address to Christians on the Duty of Giving Suitable Instruction to Slaves. The argument is tender and convincing. It is dated December 20, 1822 — a very early period for such an argument upon the Kentucky border.
+ From Mandarin, Florida, February 5i 1876.
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my husband, who used to meet him at Synods and Presbyteries. They used to speak of him as an apostle after the primitive order — ‘ poor, yet making many rich ; having nothing, and yet possessing all things.’ He advocated the cause of the slave in the day when such advocacy exposed one to persecution and bodily danger. My husband, to whom I have appealed, says he re- members him well and loves his memory, but that he was a man that ‘ didn’t make anecdotes ;’ always constant, steady, faithful, he inspired younger ministers by his constancy and faith, and the simplicity of his devotion to Christ.* * * § In my novel of Dred, now changed in title to Nina Gordon, the char- acter of Father Dickson was drawn from my recollection of this good man, as described to me.” +
The services Mr. Dickey rendered to the cause of education were also important. His own early opportunities for study had been secured amidst manifold difficulties, and he sought the more earnestly to provide for his children, and his neigh- bors’ children, an easier and better way. In his first parish in Davies County he taught school.:}: Until the division of the
Presbyterian Church in 1837, he was an active trustee of Han- over College.^ Chiefly through his influence a wealthy Eng- lishman, Mr. Thomas Stevens, was induced to establish and maintain a female seminary on the Ohio River, near Bethlehem, In a suitable brick building, erected by Mr. Stevens for that purpose, Mr. Dickey resided several years, providing a home for the teachers, and securing educational privileges for his chil- dren. The first principal of the school was Miss Longly, who, after two years in the seminary, became the wife of the Rev.
* A clergyman, who was at one time a pastor in southern Indiana, and went back to New England after a few years’ trial of the frontier, relates that on a cer- tain occasion he saddled his horse and rode fourteen miles to lay his discourage- ments before Mr. Dickey, and obtain advice and sympathy. But when he observed how the latter was supporting a large family, without a thought of faltering, though in the midst of difficulties compared with which his own were trifling, he returned home without even mentioning the object of his visit,
f See Stowe’s Nina Gordon , vol. i : pp. 300, 301, and passim.
% The Presbyterian minister was almost inevitably the schoolmaster in the early days at the West. Scott, Baldridge, Robinson, Todd, Martin, Crowe — nearly all of the earliest settled ministers taught schools.
§ It is evident that in all the first struggles of the school at Hanover, he, with Johnston, was Crowe’s “ brother beloved.”
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Dr. Riggs, of the Sioux mission. Much was accomplished by the school for the whole surrounding region.
It is not surprising that a life so variously useful, and a char- acter so strikingly symmetrical, have elicited affectionate eulo- gies. “ He was always spoken of with great reverence by my mother," says one who in childhood was accustomed to see him at her own home. “ I met him first in Presbytery,” wrote another, “ and I well remember that the impression of his goodness derived from others was heightened in me by the first day’s observation. . . I was never with one whose flow of feel- ing savored so much of heaven.” * “ He has left a name,”
said Dr. Martin M. Post, “ which suggests a wise counsellor, a true worker, a thoroughly honest and godly man. May a double portion of his spirit rest on his successors in the Synods of In- diana.”
Art. V.— THE SABBATH QUESTION. f
By Rev. Byron Sunderland, D. D., Washington, D. C.
One of the latest expositions of the Sabbath ordinance is the paper of Rev. S. M. Hopkins, D. D., Professor in the Auburn Theological Seminary, read before the Evangelical Alliance, at Pittsburgh, last year. He concedes a Christian consensus “ as to the duty of consecrating one day in the week to the ends of physical rest, and moral and religious culture.”
“ But,” he continues, “ at that point the agreement ends. As respects the grounds of the obligation and the manner of per- forming it, there prevails a wide difference of opinion.” He speaks of it as “ the Sunday observance,” and, beginning with the Sabbatarian Pharisees, in the time of Christ, he alludes to the dispute which then arose, and recalls the views and practice existing from that day to the present. He argues the
* Henry Ward Beecher, in Sprague's Annals, vol. iv : p. 519. f Published at the special request of a large number of the clerical and lay members of the Baltimore Synod.
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abrogation of the fourth commandment, from the teaching of Christ and of Paul, and from the testimony of Barnabas, Ter- tullian, Justin Martyr, Luther, Calvin, and Alford. He con- cludes, “ that Sabbatical obligation to keep any day, whether seventh or first, was not recognized in apostolical times and says that the term “Sabbath” was then never applied to the day of Christian convocation.
Finally, however, he places “ the sanction for a Christian Sabbath” on “the ground of custom,” or, of what he terms, “ a fixed, invariable usage ” — “ corroborated by a wide obser- vation of its beneficial influence.”
We confess that we are not satisfied with this exposition. Nor has any advocate of the Christian Sabbath, either in earlier or later times, with whose views we are acquainted, presented the subject in what seems to us to be the best form. From the days of the Christian fathers down to this hour, there is no symbol of the Sabbath doctrine which fully meets^the case. Even the Westminster Confession is no exception. To much of the moralizing on the need of the day and the man- ner of its observance, we, of course, assent. But in regard to an ordinance of such import to mankind, it seems that there must be some expression of the will of God. The Scriptures are supposed to contain His will. If, upon a fair and candid investigation, it shall be discovered that all divine legislation on this subject has been swept away, and that we are remanded to tradition and custom, and the grounds which pertain there- to, for the only sanction of the day, then we see not how, as Christians, we are to defend the Sabbath against overwhelm- ing assault.
Setting aside, therefore, the whole controversy, as it has stood in the history of the church and of the nations, let us go back to the Word of God.
What is the Scriptural Authority , Design , and Observance of the Christian Sabbath ?
I. — Authority.
Christ asserts that he came not to destroy, but to fulfill, the law and the prophets (Matt, v : 17). Whatever may be em- braced in these terms, we suppose the decalogue — that is the moral law, to be included. He says he did not come to repeal that law, but to confirm it — to expound, exemplify, and
go
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emphasize it. The fourth commandment is apart of this moral law ; we have no right to separate it from the rest. It stands or falls with the body to which it belongs. If the prohibition of theft, or adultery, or murder, remains, so does the sanctity of the Sabbath. And not only do the moral reasons of the law remain with it, but also the exempli gratia, the divine example. If the fact, that God rested from his labors on the seventh day, was ever a reason why any man should remember the Sabbath- day to keep it holy, that reason remains to-day in all its force.
That Christ recognized this truth in his contest with the Pharisees is evident from his doctrine. (Mark ii : 27; Luke vi : 5.) He claimed lordship over the institution, and de- clared that the Sabbath came to be through the man, not the man through the Sabbath. And while it is true, as Prof. Hop- kins suggests, that the Jewish Sabbath was appointed for the Jewish man ; this does not limit the teaching of Christ, nor does it seem to have been in his contemplation at the time. The Jews complained that their Sabbath had been violated by his disciples. Christ answered, first, by a precedent specific to the Jewish law, and, second, by the broad assertion of the re- lation of humanity itself to the Sabbatic institution. He plainly teaches that this institution arises on account of human nature, and not human nature on account of the institution. And he crowns the whole by assuming the right, in pursuance of the commandment, to fix not only the status, but the manner, of observing the Sabbath ordinance. This he did by his doc- trine and example. As to the obligations of the Jewish Sab- bath, he did treat them as no longer binding. But did he thereby abrogate all Sabbath law and institutions? That is the question. Did he intend then and there to abolish the fourth commandment, and leave his followers and the world thence- forth without the sanction of divine authority for a Sabbath ordinance? Others may think he did, but we can come to no such conclusion. The lordship of the Sabbatic ordinance must imply its existence ; and the truth that it exists on account of humanity, involves a parallel of continuance. So long as man- kind remain, so long must the Sabbath remain. It is consti- tuted by Christ, and founded in the needs of human nature. This is not an abolition or repeal of the fourth commandment, but rather its confirmation. That law, by the very doctrine of
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■Christ, is carried over the existing Sabbath in every dispensa- tion.
If this view be correct, what shall we say of the subsequent teachings of the Apostle Paul ? We cannot suppose him to contravene the doctrine of Jesus, or to assail the perpetual obligation of the moral law. Therefore, all that he says must be applicable to the Jewish system only. And what he does teach, is that this system, with its types and its calendar, is now abolished; it is no longer binding, either on Jew or Gentile. To term this “a quibble,” as Prof. Hopkins does, is to fly in the face of a logical necessity.
We admit, then, that the Jewish Sabbath is abolished. Its requirements are no longer obligatory. But how do we show that the Christian Sabbath, with all the sanction of the fourth commandment, endorsed and re-endorsed by Christ himself, .has supervened ?
On this point we first introduce the weekly period. In the Mosaic cosmogony we find a provision for the measurement of time — “ for signs and seasons, days and years — ” but none for a septenary. Yet, the week is one of the most important di- visions of time in the word of God. How does it arise ? Let us take three examples, the Creation week, the Jewish week, and the Christian week. Here are three distinct cases of a division of time, consisting of six secular days, followed by a seventh and sacred day. They are each and all founded tipon and reckoned from some great providential event. Thus, the Creation week is founded upon, and reckoned from, the provi- dential event of the creation. The Jewish week is founded upon, and reckoned from, the falling of the manna. The Christian week is founded upon, and reckoned from, the great- est event of all, the Resurrection of Christ, the Saviour of the world ! For these statements, see Gen. i and ii ; Ex. xvi and xx ; John xx : 1, 19-26. We have here the narrative of the origin and measurement of the weekly periods, affording, in this respect, a beautiful and striking analogy in the successive dispensations. Though in the Scriptures we find no trace of identity, or even connection, between them ; yet, each is con- stituted on a similar principle, with a similar number of secular and sacred days, following in a similar order, while each has a special and peculiar design, and each is reckoned from a dis-
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tinct and separate providential event. It hence follows, that as the Creation Sabbath was the seventh day of the Patriarchal week, and the Jewish Sabbath was the seventh day of the Levitical week ; so the Lord’s day, or Christian Sabbath, is the seventh day of the Christian week.
We next introduce, in the Scripture view, the change of calendar, on which we remark two things : first, that in the Bible record, no special notice of this change is given, either from the Creation week to the Jewish, or from the Jewish to the Christian ; and, second, that in each case the narrative pro- ceeds with the change of reckoning as though such notice had been given. Thus, we find in the sixteenth of Exodus an account of the Jewish reckoning, involving the Jewish calendar without the slightest allusion to the cessation of the Creation week, or to any change of calendar. What became of the Creation week or its calendar the Scriptures do not inform us. We only know from the record, that the Jewish reckon- ing, or calendar of weeks, began after the Exodus, and at the falling of the manna. In a similar manner we find the Scrip- ture narrative, proceeding with the Christian calendar, or reckoning of time, after the resurrection of Christ, and this without any special notice given of the change. But that then there was such a change of calendar appears in three par- ticulars, viz. :
(a) There was a change of era. Before, the year had been counted from the beginning of the world ; afterward, it was counted from the birth of Christ.
(. b ) There was a change in the beginning of the day. Before, it had been at sunset ; afterward, it was at midnight, as would appear from Mark xvi : 9, unless the passage be rejected as spurious ; still, in that case, as a matter of fact, the Greek con- struction favors the change which has actually taken place, so that the day in the Christian calendar is reckoned from mid- night, and not, as formerly, from sunset.
(c) There was a change also of the week ; the Christian week displacing the Jewish week, and the Christian calendar sup- planting the Jewish calendar, in all the nations of Christendom. In John xx : 26, we find the narrative proceeding with the reckoning of the first Christian week. The phrase “after eight days” is evidently equivalent to the Hebraism for a week*
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This first Christian week, or octave of days, is inclusive of the day on which Christ rose, and the seven days following it, six of these days being secular and the seventh a Sabbath ! — for the seventh day of the established week is always a Sabbath according to the instruction of the Fourth Commandment. But why, it may be asked, do we not count our week from the first seven, rather than the last seven, of this octave of days ? The reason why we do not will presently more fully appear. It is sufficient now to say that a new reckoning is made, and a new calendar is adopted.
This brings us directly to the consideration of the next point of investigation, which involves the accuracy of our English version. It is said Christ arose “on the first day of the week,” meaning the Jewish week. If the Jewish calendar is to be re- tained, then, as a matter of fact, Christ did rise on the first day of the Jewish week. And on the same principle, if the Pagan calendar is to be employed, Christ likewise rose on the Sunday of the Pagan week ; and one coincidence has just as much to do with the occurrence of the event as the other; but both are wholly foreign to anything which we are able to extract from the Greek original. There are just eight passages where this English phrase, “ first day of the week,” appears, namely :
1. Matt, xxviii : I — ei? piav Gap fiat gov.
2. Mark xvi : 2 — npooi ti/S pia? GafifiaToov.
3. Mark xvi : 9 — npooi npobrij GafifiaTov.
4. Lukexxiv: I — rrj 6k pia tgov GafifiaTcov.
5. John xx : I — rrj 6e pia tgov GafifiaToov.
6. John xx : 19 — rrj pia GafifiaToov.
7. Acts xx : 7 — tij pia tgov GaftfiaToov.
8. I Cor. xvi : 2 — uaToi pi'av GaftfSaToov.
A careful examination of these passages leads us to wonder how the whole Christian world have consented to such a con- struction. As to the force of interpretation, all these passages may be regarded as but a single case , since the Greek expres- sion, whether found in the New Testament, or cited by the Fathers, with some slight grammatical variations, is substan- tially the same in all ; and its literal English signification is, “ On one of the Sabbaths.” That we are not presuming, without a precedent, to array our individual opinion, as to this rendering, against that of the entire conclave of Christian
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scholars, let us here observe, that no less a man than J ohn Calvin, in his notes on I Cor. xvi : 2, gives it this identical construc- tion— “ On one of the Sabbaths !”
Where, then, is the authority in any other Greek usage for making the phrase mean “ the first day of the week?” Out of the hundreds of places where this word Gafifiarov occurs, both in Scripture Greek, and all other Greek, so far as we can find, there is not one single instance where the word in any of its forms has, or can have, the signification of efido/jaS. We are aware of the almost universal consent to give the word in these eight or nine passages of the New Testament the meaning of week. Scholars seem to have blindly followed one another, generation after generation. As a specimen of this arbitrary and forced construction, we may refer to Dr. Edward Robin- son. one of the most eminent of modern exegetists. What does he say ? Why, that wherever the word GafiftctTov is preceded by a numeral it has the signification of 'week. And what are his examples? Substantially only two in all Greek literature, namely — the eight passages already cited, which for this pur- pose can only be counted as one, and another passage in Luke xviii : 12, where the phrase, viprevco Si? tov GacfifiaTov, is translated, “ I fast twice in the week.” But why not give the literal rendering, which would much better suit the circum- stances, “ I fast twice on the Sabbath?” This constitutes the entire array of Greek precedent and usage for the present Eng- lish version of the phrase. If there be any other authority or principle on which our version can be justified, we should like to see it produced. But in the absence of all such proof, we are not inclined to take any ipse dixit — and feel constrained, like Galileo, in his day, to reject the general opinion, and adhere to the literal version — “ On one of the Sabbaths.”
What then follows ? Why, simply, that Christ rose on a day which is called in the Scriptures a Sabbath ; that on that day he first met with his disciples ; that “ eight days after,” which is confessedly the idiom for a week, he met with them again, so that the last of those days which closed the first Christian week was the Christian Sabbath. If Christ rose on a Sabbath, as we have shown, and on the same day met with his disciples, and then “ eight days ” after they met again, the second meeting must have been likewise on the Sabbath. For, counting the
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Sabbath on which he rose an intercalated day, as commencing a new calendar, then the eighth day after would be another Sabbath, which with the six intervening secular days, or Chris- tian week, fills out the octave, and gives us the demonstration required. Hence we see why the last seven days of this oc- tave must be counted as the first Christian week. If this be correct, we have, in that narrative of John, the introduction of the new calendar and the reckoning of the first Christian week, with its seventh day for the Christian Sabbath, and so onward from that time to this. Now, discarding our English version, which is simply discarding the Jewish calendar, which with the whole typical system, the apostle in his writing says, again and again, was abrogated, we come back to the real narrative of the Christian Sabbath, and find that, despite the frequent asser- tions to the contrary, this day of Christian convocation is called a Sabbath, and that this is the first and principal title given to it in the New Testament. In one place (Rev. i: 10) it seems to be called “the Lord’s day,’’ rrj xvpiaMij r/ptpa. In another place (Acts xiii : 42) it appears to be described as to pera^v ddfiparor, “ the Sabbath intervening, ’“or, between two Jewish Sabbaths, and it is never called “ the first day of the week,” much less “ Sunday,” which belongs to the Pagans.
In further confirmation of this point, look carefully at the Greek of Matt, xxviii : I. What is it? 6'pe GafifiaToov —
literally, “ but late of Sabbaths ” — or, as we should say, “ at the close of the Sabbaths,” that is, the series of Jewish Sab- baths— r/J inicpoD'iKOVGij — literally “ in the dawning eis piav GaflfiaTodv — literally, “ on one of the Sabbaths,” that is, the new series of Sabbaths then commencing. So far as we can see, this passage distinctly relates to the close of one series of Sabbaths and the beginning of another series, which is precisely according to the fact. The Jewish Sabbaths were then legally closed, and the Christian Sabbaths began. So we find two Sabbaths coming together at the Resurrection of Christ. He slumbered in the sepulchre during the Jewish Sabbath, and rose from the dead on the next day, which is styled, in a narrative inspired by the Holy Ghost, piav rdov ffafi/jaToov — “ one of the Sabbaths.” And this concinnity, by which the Christian Sabbath is made to supervene the Jewish Sab- bath, finds a stiking parallel in the narrative of the Pass-
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over and the Eucharist. At the institution of the Lord's Supper, the two feasts come together, one immediately after the other. From that day the yearly observance of the Pass- over was legally concluded, and the Lord’s Supper succeeded it. Although the Jews continued afterward the Passover observance, it had no binding authority of law. In like man- ner, the Christian Sabbath succeeded the Jewish, although the Jews continue the observance of their Sabbath to this day. Their calendar, however, is no longer in vogue but among themselves, and it never had any obligatory or legal force among the nations of Christendom. But what a gloss on this passage has been perpetuated in our English version ! Not only does it violate the grammar of the passage, but it gives to the second GafS^aroov a meaning altogether different from the first, and for no reason in the premises. The con- struction is purely arbitrary and calculated to mislead. After thus turning the text of Scripture upside down, it is no wonder that men deny to the Christian Sabbath its proper title.
Having now shown the clear existence and recognition of the Christian Sabbath in the New Testament, we cannot fail to see how completely it comes under the direct application of the fourth commandment. “ Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” “ The seventh ” of what ? Certainly the seventh day of the established week, whatever it may be. Under the Patri- archal dispensation it was the seventh day of the Creation week; under the Jewish dispensation it was the seventh day of the Jewish week ; and now, under the Christian dispensation it is the seventh day of the Christian week. Hence our pres- ent Christian Sabbath has all the sanction and obligation which the fourth commandment can give to it. It is the Sabbath of the Lord our God ; Christ is God and the Lord of the Sabbath. He has fixed its status in the Christian era by his resurrection, and has taught men how to observe it. The doctrine is simple and the proof is clear. Stated from the Bible stand-point, it seems to be impregnable.
What it obviates.
1. In the first place we avoid the old false issue, respecting the alleged change from the seventh to the first day of the Jew-
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ish week. We have nothing to do with that. The mere circum- stance, that our Christian Sabbath happens to fall on the first day of the week in the Jewish calendar, has no more to do with its origin and establishment, than the fact that it also happens to fall on the Sunday of the Pagan week. It is nothing more than a coincidence of time — and we might as well call the Pagan Sunday the first day of the Jewish week, and vice versa , as to call our Christian Sabbath either “ Sunday,” or “the first day of the week.” It is this misapplication of Pagan and Jewish terms to our Christian Sabbath which has brought confusion, erroq and long protracted controversy. Let us call it by the name which is given it in the New Testament, and not by any for- eign title. This point, we are glad to say, was insisted upon in our last General Assembly. So with the falling of this old issue falls a great part of the discussion which constitutes the vast and tiresome literature of the Sabbath question.
2. Again, we thus avoid the necessity of demoralizing the Decalogue, of conceding that the fourth commandment is no part of the moral code. True, as applied to the observance of the Jewish Sabbath for the Jews alone, peculiar restrictions and rigors were added to it. (See Ex. xxxi : 13-17, and xxxv : 2-3; and Num. xv: 32-36.) Christ, however, struck these off in the new dispensation. He distinguished between the form and spirit of the law as it stands in the Decalogue on the one hand, and on the other, those conditions and peculiar regula- tions of the Jewish Sabbath, which were designed for that peo- ple and that ordinance alone. But the abrogation of these reg- ulations left the fourth commandment still in all its force — just as His abrogation of the Mosaic causes of divorce left the validity of the one cause unimpaired. The law which requires the sanc- tity of the Sabbath stands upon the same footing in the doc- trine of Christ, with the law which protects the marriage state. The seventh commandment is no more a part of the moral code than the fourth. There is no cause for its segregation, save and except only the supposed change from the seventh to the first day of the Jewish week. This fruitless speculation assails the integrity of a law which was designed to be, and is, perpetual.
3. Again, we avoid the necessity of tracing any identity of time between the Patriarchal, the Jewish, and the Christian
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weeks — and so between their respective Sabbaths. Specious but doubtful arguments have been adduced for their chronolo- gical identity, as though this would add to their authority. But the question is wholly immaterial, and as we find in the Scriptures no trace of their historic connections — as each of them stands on the merit of its separate nature and design, and as one supersedes the other without any special notice of the change, it is only idle to moot the point at all.
4. Again, we avoid the necessity of answering arguments drawn from all those notices of the Jewish Sabbath in the New Testament, on which were held assemblies to whom Christ and his apostles preached. Notwithstanding the Jewish Sab- baths were then legally closed, yet the Jews, by force of cus- tom, held then, as they do now, to their Sabbath ordinance. In the beginning it was necessary’, for an effectual ministry,, that Christ and his followers should be brought in contact with the collected people. But the fact that they used for this purpose the Jewish day’s of convocation no more invali- dates the origin and authority of the Christian Sabbath than the fact that they’ preached to the multitudes on other days of the week negatives the existence of the Jewish Sabbath custom. And so all arguments drawn from this source against the Christian Sabbath are seen to be irrelevant.
5. Again, we thus avoid the necessity’ of refuting arguments, drawn from the doctrine of Paul, respecting the sacred days of the Jewish calendar. These days in all their routine, he plainly tells us, are no longer of divine sanction and obliga- tion— no longer binding on the conscience, whether of Jew or Gentile. They’ have all alike become indifferent — men may keep them or not, at their pleasure. But we are not for a moment to suppose that this teaching of Paul is designed to abrogate the fourth commandment, or to detract from the doctrine of Christ himself in regard to the Sabbath ordinance. When we hear from the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews — see iv : 9 — that “there is left a Sabbath-keeping to the people of God,” and have grounds to believe that these are the words of Paul, we must look for some principle of harmoniz- ing one part of this statement with the other ; and the only’ conclusion is, that while he altogether sets aside the Levitical economy, he plainly shows that the Sabbatic Institution
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changed to a different day, by the change of the Hebrew week, is to continue in perpetuity to the people of God.
6. Again, we thus avoid all devious reasoning on the Institu- tion of the Christian Sabbath, from the days of the early fathers until now. We find such reasoning fanciful and in- consistent, full of assumption and contrariety, and the fruit of a capricious and fertile imagination. It proceeds often from the confusion of subjects, from false analysis, from imperfect investigation, from dubious illustration, from a traditional credulity, from the power of custom, from the weight of great names, from the spirit of partisanship, and from the pride of victory. One proposal is, that the law re- quires only one-seventh of the time — one day in seven, no mat- ter which ; another is, that the requirement is impracticable,, since the antipodes cannot observe the same time — nor can the observance of any time be enforced on multitudes of human beings ; another is, that there is no trace either of the name, or of the observance of our Christian Sabbath through the first three centuries; another is., that the day observed by Christians was never called “the Sabbath” until the time of Origen (A. D. 254); another is, that the Sabbath ordinance had its rise in the decree of Constantine the Great (A. D. 321), and so on ad libitum. Now we know that all these propositions are inadequate— if not unfounded ; and, by simply adhering to what we find in the word of God upon the Sabbath ques- tion, we can afford to cast aside all arguments and expositions which spring from other quarters. And thus we think we show a valid Bible ground for the authority and obligation of this Christian ordinance — one of the most beneficent of God’s gifts to man, and for the maintenance and defense of which we are sacredly bound to use all lawful means in our power, both with individuals and nations.
II. — Design.
Time in itself is an abstraction. It is of no value separate from life and history. Events in their succession give to it a measurement and periodicity. Creation, with all it contains, subsists in conditions of activity and repose. A period of mo- tion followed by a period of rest is the requirement of all living beings. This is pre-eminently true of human nature, an apti-
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tude which is recognized and utilized in the Word of God. The weekly period of labor and rest is not founded in caprice, but in the constitution of man himself. The design of the Sab- bath, or seventh day of the week, is not arbitrary, but fits into the needs of mankind. The Scriptures show this design to be, physical rest and moral uses, suspension from secular and en- gagement in sacred things. The Sabbath is God’s memorial in the earth — one of those grand religious land-marks by which the course of generations is to be traced throughout successive ages. Its design is to break the current of human affairs and create a pause for the advantage of man’s higher nature. It is to grant occasion to turn away the thoughts from perishable things to those which are imperishable, from converse with the mundane to communion with the heavenly sphere, from His works ot creation to God himself. In other words, the Sabbath is to be a day for those hallowed uses of all things, those humane deeds and religious acts which lift up society to a nobler plane of existence, and fit mankind for a better life here, and a sublime immortality hereafter. We surely know this both from the law and the prophets, the evan- gelists and apostles, and, more than all, the living Christ him- self.
“ And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work.” — Gen. ii : 3.
“ Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy — six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” — Ex. xx : 8, 9, 10.
“ Blessed is the man that doeth this ; that keepeth the Sab- bath from polluting it.” — Isa. lvi : 2.
‘‘If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord — honorable — and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy Father.” — Isa. lviii : 13, 14.
“ And it shall come to pass from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to wor- ship before me, saith the Lord.” — Isa. lxvi : 23.
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*• There remaineth therefore a Sabbath-keeping to the people of God.” — Heb. iv : 9.
And to crown this testimony by showing the perpetual de- sign of the Sabbath, we have both the acts and the doctrines of the ascended Saviour. The transcript of his example and the great fact of his resurrection from which our Sabbath is reckoned, and of which it is the continued memorial, is all before us. And then, as we have already seen, we have the positive in- struction of his words : “ the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath..’ This, as expressed in the original, is a deeply philosophical statement of the very design of the holy day. How is the Sabbath made for man ? First, a seventh day, the last of the weekly period is set apart. It is so much time to be consecrated and employed for the highest and most enduring interest of our nature. Next, this time man devotes to such uses, and by such devotion it becomes a hallowed day; man keeps it holy according to the commandment. The Sab- bath does not hallow the man, but the man the Sabbath. This is the order and mode in which it comes to be. In doing this man honors the Lord of the Sabbath, and receives in return the promised blessing. The Sabbath cannot make man holy, but he can make it holy, and therein glorify God and enrich himself. This is the truth which Christ unfolded while declar- ing himself to be Lord of the Sabbath. It would be long, and is, perhaps, now needless, to show in how many ways the full working of this benignant design among men would benefit the world. It may be safely said that there is no real good for man, however considered, which it would not promote, and no evil which it would not tend to mitigate or remove.
III. — Observance.
Having now shown the authority and design of the Christian Sabbath, as a divine ordinance of perpetual obligation, we come to submit some observations on the manner of its ob- servance. What light do the Scriptures cast on this important practical subject ? While the teaching of God’s word is mainly general, yet it is broad enough to cover the whole question of human duty, and the obligations of individual conscience in every condition and generation of mankind. The Bible is a book of principles, as well as of institutions. The law is clearly New Series, No. 21 7
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stated, but at the same time, in its detailed application to- specific acts and circumstances, much has been left to the in- dividual conscience and judgment of men. It is here that our responsibility begins. Here we must seek to know the will of God, and to cherish the spirit of obedience.
A studious collation of Scripture hints would disclose the following particulars of a Christian observance of the Sabbath t
1. The Sabbath must be remembered. — Ex. xx : 8.
2. It must be hallowed. — Ex. xx: 8.
3. It must be secure from ordinary secular occupation, being,, in this respect, a day of rest. — Ex. xx : 9.
4. It must be employed in divine worship — private and public — with meditation, prayer, and the preaching of the word. — Isaiah lxvi : 23, and Acts xx: 7.
5. It must be hailed as the honorable of the Lord, and held in delight as a day of gladness and of the Eucharist. — Isaiah lviii : 13 ; Ps. cxviii : 24 ; Acts xx: y; 1 Cot. x : 16.
6. It must not be dishonored by frivolcrus recreation or idle pleasure. — Isaiah lviii : 13.
7. It must not be disturbed by unseemly noise and tumult. — Hab. ii : 20 ; Matt. 24 : 20 ; Heb. iv : 9.
8. It must not be outraged by gala spectacles and vain parades. — Isaiah lviii: 13 ; Ps. Ixv : 1, 2, 4, 7.
9. It must not be profaned by traffic for gain or sordid in- dustry.— Neh. xiii : 15-22; Isaiah lviii : 13.; John \ i: 13, 17.
10. It must not be polluted by any form of vice or dissipa- tion.— Isaiah lvi : 2.
11. It may be used in acts of social intercourse; spent in im- perative travel ; visiting the prisoner, the sick, or the poor ; in religious instruction, and deeds of charity.— Matt, xii : 1,13; Luke xiii : 10, 17, and xxiv: 13,31.
12. It may be employed in any works of necessity or mercy. — Mark ii : 23, 28, et passim.
These conditions of Sabbatic obligation apply generally to human society. They belong alike to the individual, the fam- ily, the community, the church, and the state. They are equally binding on young and old, and find their modification only in those cases of exigency which are clearly sanctioned under some phase of Providence.
Such is the Scripture outline of a Sabbath observance which
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seems equally removed from that of the Jewish synagogue, and that of a German beer-garden. A Pharisaic austerity and a French indulgence are alike excluded. In the reaction in this country from Puritan Sabbatism, the nation has been drifting to the opposite extreme of continental license, and the danger now is, that with such views as have passed current among pro- fessedly Christian teachers through many centuries, the divine ordinance, as it was left by Christ and his apostles, may be in- undated and practically swept away. Are the Christian church and this favored Republic prepared for such a catastrophe ?
It remains for us, in this light, to distinguish the more prev- alent forms of Sabbath desecration, or Sabbath abuse, in our time, to show the consequent demoralization, and to offer an appeal for a return to the old Scripture path, wherein is the right way of prosperity and peace
1. In the first place, the Sunday press, as conducted among us, must be regarded as a monstrous example of Sabbath dese- cration. Its very name denotes its Pagan origin and spirit. Under the Sabbath law, as Christ left it, the only possible jus- tification of any Sabbath publication must be found in public necessity for the diffusion of current intelligence. It is possible that on this ground, a Sabbath journalism can be made to stand. But we all know the general nature of the product of the Sun- day press, and the outrage upon the quiet of the Christian Sabbath, and the public morals, which its sale inflicts. It may be truly stated as a rule, the exceptions being rare, that the reading thus furnished to the nation, and, unhappily, to large portions of the church, is of a fearfully debauching character. No possible necessity exists. It is simply a transcendant and unblushing violation of the law of God.
2. Again, Sunday parades and noisy processions in time of peace, excursions of pleasure, and open places of amusement, or dissipation, are, as a rule, clearly in conflict with the law of the Christian Sabbath. So far from securing one of the primary objects of the Sabbath — physical repose and refreshment — they tend to just the opposite result — fatigue, exhaustion, and dis- ease of body ; a clouded mind; a seared conscience; and the paralysis of the whole moral man. They thus unfit their devo- tees for the succeeding sober and necessary duties and respon-
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sibilitics of life. Their influence is every way pernicious, giving rein to disorder, and disregard for all law, human and divine. In the light of the Christian Sabbath ordinance, they must be condemned as flagrant offences against the welfare of society- both in church and state. The specious pretexts by which they are upheld are only worthy of their heathen origin and Pagan name. The Christian Sabbath is not a holiday for riot, and noise, and public pageantry, even though it were guised in Romish ceremonies or funeral solemnities. The poor and friendless laboring classes may sometimes find a pitiful relief in this uncertain and transient excitement, but they will invari- ably pay for it in subsequent animal depression, and the utter prostration of the moral sense. It is all very fair to talk about going forth to feel the balmy air, and bask in the clear sunlight ; about opening libraries, and furnishing art galleries, and the like, for the gratification and improvement of the lower orders, but let us not for this purpose conspire to cheat both God and man out of that day which is consecrated to our Redeemer’s worship, and to the paramount interests of the human soul !
3. There is another prevalent form of Sabbath abuse, from which continual evil flows, and that is the work and travel of those who, in official station, or in a wide connection of indus- trial, commercial, or governmental affairs, plead necessity from lack of time or pressure of business. It is possible that excep- tional cases may exist for such a deviation from ordinary Sab- bath law, but, at the very best, it is an evil without any other palliation ; and where submission to it is voluntary or habitual, it becomes an offence against the Lord’s Day. That there is a stolidity of conscience and a laxity of practice in this regard, widespread and increasing, is obvious to the most careless ob- server. The whole usage is wrong and pernicious. It is sub- versive of the very intent and spirit, as well as the letter, of the Sabbath law. It perverts the Sabbath to improper uses, and prepares the mind for other and grosser forms of Sabbath vio- lation.
At this point we may hold the government of the nation and corporate bodies responsible for every causeless infraction of the Sabbath law, either by themselves or those whom they employ; whatever can be avoided out of respect to the divine authority of this Christian ordinance, men in every condition
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are bound to avoid. Whether in legislation or its execution this principle holds good, and its wanton contravention will produce unmixed evil with the growth of the country and the advance of civilization. Certain great forms of public demands have come into existence, requiring arrangements for the run- ning of cars and the movement of vessels, for telegraphic op- eration, for mail transportation, and the transmission of intelli- gence. It is most difficult to draw the exact line of necessity about transactions of so wide a scope and so complicated a casuistry. But this one thing is plain, the principle of the Sabbath law remains, and there can be no case of rational and beneficent exertion for which it does not provide, while its sanction is withheld from all needless, selfish, or sordid appli- cation or employment of the day.
Nor are we clear that even in the church itself there has not grown to be an excessive and exhaustive labor. The necessity for preaching is as great as ever. The pulpit is more in de- mand than ever, but the quantity of ministration, especially in the centres of population, has been largely compensated by the changed circumstances of society. Books, periodicals, newspapers, and Sabbath-schools have, to a great extent, sup- plemented the work of the Gospel’s ministry. Attendance up- on Sabbath preaching, morning and evening, in addition to all the other duties which have their claim upon us, has become in many cases burdensome, if not impracticable. In this intense life and exacting civilization, both body and mind all the more need rest, while the demand of home life and family re- ligion are likely to suffer neglect as well on the Sabbath as on other days of the week. Meanwhile, the labors of the Christian ministry have been augmented in many other directions. Their hands are full of appropriate work aside from pulpit preparation. And when to this is added the growing custom of Sabbath funer- als, may it not be a question of the reduction of sermons to be preached on the Sabbath to the stated congregation, and of the discountenance of Sabbath funerals which but too frequently amount to a mere Sunday display.
Demoralization .
Upon a review, therefore, of the whole situation, can there be any doubt of the tendency to Sabbath desecration, and of
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the moral deterioration it inevitably involves? We have al- ready seen the connection of this most beneficent ordinance of Heaven with the highest welfare of human nature ; and we think there is no doubt that the most upright men among us — those of the deepest religious convictions, and the purest daily lives, other things being equal — are those on whom in child- hood was impressed by a pious parentage the sanctity of the Sabbath, and the fidelity of its observance. There is a wondrous connection, as all experience and observation show, between the influence of this hallowed day, and the varied welfare of humanity. When, therefore, it is prostrated, wantonly and wickedly trampled under foot, we may expect nothing but an outbreak of irreligion, infidelity, vice and pollution on every hand. Its general disregard would be like the opening of Pandora’s box. It would be hoisting the flood-gates of in- iquity, to deluge the land with all forms of immorality, all deeds of turpitude and shame. The very permanence of society would be thus endangered, and the people would be fitted for such calamities and wars, as have been so often the sad maturity of human infatuation. History is full of ex- amples of the most solemn warning. And it is no wonder that when men like Luther, the ruling spirit of the Reformation, came to tell the people of Central Europe that they are at liberty to trample down this ordinance of God — all the li- centiousness of a continental Sunday should be the result — or that when men like Prof. Hopkins, eminent in the church of our own time, come to tell Americans that there is no express divine authority for the Christian Sabbath, all the grosser ele- ments of society should hail the announcement, and prepare themselves with greater freedom for a carnival of Sunday pleasure, low and unrestrained ! Such, I am sure, is not the doctrine of the holy prophets and apostles. Such is not the will of Christ himself, the Head of the church and the supreme Lawgiver of the world !
The Appeal.
When, therefore, we come to read in God’s word, the bles- sings which fall on the keepers of the Sabbath, and the curses which overtake all those who habitually neglect or dishonor it ; when to the voice of the written Revelation is joined the
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testimony of nattire, and of man himself, the evidence of in- dividual experience, and of national prosperity, the support of historic demonstration, and of providential care ; do we not find the strongest motives to a united and earnest effort to rescue the Christian Sabbath from profanation, and to defend it from all assaults ? When we recall the attitude of the founders of the Republic, the noble words they uttered for the Sabbath, and their warnings against its popular demoralization ; when we remember the recent attempt to blot out the Sabbath during the progress of that grand Centennial Exposition, which is designed for a memorial alike of the birth of the Republic, the mighty deeds of our fathers, and of all the triumphs of the first great century of our national existence ; an attempt which was happily frustrated by the energies of the most noble and Christian men of the country; and when, at this moment, we are reminded of the convention of European Protestants, at Geneva, during this very year, to consider in what way they may bring back their nationalities to the simple doctrine of the New Testament, upon the question of the Christian Sab- bath ; must we not, in all this, find a new incitement and a fresh encouragement in every honest effort to maintain the sanctity of the Lord’s day, and to impress upon our govern- ment, and upon all classes of our people, an immanent sense of its overwhelming importance?
Let us then hear no more and have no more of that vain liberalism, which virtually surrenders the battle before it is begun. But let the Christian ministry and the Christian church, let every patriot and every philanthropist, join hands together in this divine cause, and let the resolution be, never to quit the work of Sabbath Reformation, till everywhere the day shall be sincerely acknowledged, and held with reverence in every heart.
If the Sabbath of the Christian is such as we have described it, we may well feel that it is the sheet-anchor of our individual, social, and national prosperity. Its faithful observance will not alone be pleasing to God, which is the highest considera- tion, but will also surely entail his gracious Benediction on us, and on our children, and children’s children, to the latest generations.
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Art. VI.— PRESENT FACILITIES FOR EVANGELIZING THE
WORLD.
By the Rev. R. G. Wilder, late Missionary to India.
An impression is widely current that missionaries engaged in evangelizing heathen nations at the present time, labor at serious disadvantage compared with the Apostles, and their immediate successors. A recent writer, the Rev. G. H. Rouse, of Calcutta, India, has developed this idea at some length in the July number (ix) of The Indian Evangelical Review, and his sentiments are so generally entertained, that there is the more reason for noticing them, in speaking of present facilities for prosecuting this evangelizing work. In noticing them, how- ever, we desire to do so, not at all in the spirit of controversy, but entirely in the interest of the work itself. The writer re- ferred to states his proposition as follows, viz. :
“ The early preachers of the Gospel enjoyed many great ad- vantages, as compared with the preachers of the present day.” And in specifying these advantages, he mentions, first, “ The power of working miracles.” And after giving a somewhat extended list of apostolic miracles, and dwelling on their start- ling and convincing effect, he removes all ambiguity, and ren- ders his view complete and distinct by saying, “ We have no such power ; therefore, we cannot be surprised if our success is not equal to that of the Apostles.”
On this we remark :
i. It was the special ^advantages of those early preachers that made this power of working miracles in their case proper and, in a measure, necessary. Had they possessed all the facil- ities of the present day, and this power of working miracles superadded, we might then speak of it as a positive advantage. But such was not the case. The very fact that God gave them, and not us, this power of working miracles, justifies the infer- ence that God saw a special reason for bestowing on them this gift. And though we may not be able to comprehend this reason in its full extent, we can see, in the special circumstan- ces of the case, enough to justify its bestowment on the preachers of that age, rather than on those of any subsequent
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Opposition to the Gospel was then universal. “ Darkness cov- ered the earth, and gross darkness the people.”* Outside the Hebrew nation, superstition and idolatry everywhere prevailed ; while Christ encountered the most intense hatred and opposi- tion from the Jews themselves. “ He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” f If the reigning idolatry and superstition were to be broken up, if that intense darkness, and the perversity of Jewish minds, even, were to be penetra- ted with divine light, the occasion, then, if ever, fully justified miraculous intervention for the mere purpose of startling and arresting attention. Besides, it was the beginning of a new dispensation. The old Mosaic ritual, finding its fulfilment in the advent of the promised Messiah, was to be abrogated. Usages which had gathered force for ages were to be discon- tinued. “ The kingdom of heaven was at hand.”;}; And the difficulty of inaugurating it, in that climax of human depravity and spiritual death, justified and, in a measure, necessitated the use of miracles, merely for their startling and convincing effect — in such measure, indeed, as does not now exist. We shall be told that the case of heathen nations now is much the same. In the fact of the darkness, idolatry, and superstition of some of them we grant it. But in the absence of any Christian nation to break the universal darkness, and, both by precept and example, hold up to them the true light of life, the condition of existing heathen is not the same. In this re- spect, missionaries of the present day have an immense advan- tage, as will appear more fully in the sequel. Hence we assume, that to those early preachers the gift of miracles, estimated only for their startling and convincing effect, was not so much an advantage over present preachers, as it was a partial com- pensation for their great disadvantages.
But this startling and convincing effect of miracles — the only one (save their healing efficacy) which can be urged in plea of their necessity now — was not their primary or chief object, even in Apostolic times. Their true object was to attest the Messiahship and resurrection of Jesus. The special need of miracles for this purpose is universally conceded ; as, also, the necessity of their being performed at or near the time and
* Isaiah lx : 2.
f John i : II.
J Mat. iv : 17.
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place of Christ’s advent and public ministry. Here was an occasion worthy of miracles. The union of divinity and hu- manity in the person of the Son of God is itself the greatest of all miracles, and required the most positive confirmation by God himself. It is not too much to say that, excepting those specially taught of God. like Simeon and Anna in the temple,* a readiness to receive Jesus of Nazareth as the true Messiah, without such confirmation, would have been credulity, not faith.
And so, too, in regard to the evidence of Christ’s resurrec- tion— the last and crowning proof of his Messiahship. Ordi- nary witnesses were not sufficient. Their testimony needed confirmation. Their veracity and credibility, in a matter of such immense moment, required to be divinely attested. God could and did attest the Messiahship of Jesus by “a voice from the excellent glory,” declaring, “ This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” + But only a few heard this voice, and, to render it of service to others, this direct testi- mony of God himself, like . that in proof of the resurrection, depends on the veracity of the disciples. Hence the need of divine testimony to their veracity and credibility. And how was this testimony possible by other and more conclusive means than this gift to them of working miracles in Christ’s name. This was bestowed in the time, place, manner, and extent most fitting in the view of God himself.
Looking at the great scheme of human redemption in its progressive development, to plead that those early preachers had advantages over those of the present age, is virtually to urge that they have the advantage in a most difficult enter- prise, who plan and labor near its inception, rather than those who push forward the same enterprise after grand and glorious results have been achieved.
Doubtless it will be readily conceded that there was a neces- sity for this power of working miracles, in the case of those early preachers, not now existing — that we can conceive in no way in which the Messiahship of Jesus, and the divine commis- sion of the Apostles, could have been established without the gift of this power. And yet, some may still urge, that could
* Luke ii : 25-36.
f 2 Pet. i : 17.
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missionaries have this power superadded to their present facil- ities for evangelizing the heathen, they might hope for much more rapid success. To such we reply :
2. Miracles have no converting efficacy. Such efficacy is not claimed by the writer mentioned. He frankly concedes, “ We do not, for a moment, say that miracles, by themselves, will convert the soul.” The special virtue he claims for them, is their power to arrest the attention of careless and stolid hearers. Waiving here the question, whether God has ever bestowed the gift of miracles merely or mainly for this purpose, or whether it would be worthy of him to do so, it may be safely affirmed, that of all who witnessed the miracles wrought by Christ and the Apostles, by far the larger part disregarded them, and lived and died in unbelief. Even in case of that most astounding miracle, the raising of Lazarus from the dead — while we read “many . . believed on him;” we also
read, “ but some of them went their ways to the Pharisees,” who “ from that day forth took counsel together, to put him to death,” and even conspired to kill Lazarus also.* The thousands who saw the miracle of the loaves and fishes, followed Christ, not because of the miracle, but because they did eat of the loaves and were filled. f So far were miracles from having any converting or saving power, that they not un- frequently roused the most implacable hatred. The healing of the cripple at Lystra startled and roused the people, at first, to such an extent, that they were ready to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas as gods.:}: But how evanescent this result of
the miracle ! How quickly they stoned Paul and drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.” The casting out of the “spirits of divination’’ from the damsel, § in- stead of convincing and converting the people, proved but the signal for a murderous attack on Paul and Silas.
Pretended miracles are not infrequent among superstitious heathen at the present time ; and their effect on minds re- ceiving them as veritable miracles, is probably not altogether unlike the effect of true miracles on most of those who witnessed them in the days of the Apostles. At the village of Ratrer, on the banks of the Krishna River, in India, thirty
* John xi : 45, 46, 53, and xii : 10. f John vi : 26. J Acts xiv : 8-19. § Acts xvi : 16.
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miles from the writer’s Home, there recently appeared a re- ligious devotee — a Hindoo Wainegi — claiming to exercise miraculous power in curing certain diseases. His fame spread rapidly and widely through the whole region. Thousands flocked to him, and scores claimed to have become healed of their diseases by his miracles. It was estimated by intelligent observers, who regarded him only as an impostor, that 50,000 people visited him the first month — generally the lowest and most superstitious of the people. After the first month curiosity subsided, the throngs rapidly diminished, and at the end of three months, when we visited him personally, he had not had a visitor for ten days, and was just on the point of deserting the place for some remote region, and yet, of all the superstitious thousands who visited him, and the scores who claimed to have been cured of pains and diseases by him, we were never able, before or after our visit to him, to elicit from any one a word of doubt as to his miraculous power. Many stoutly affirmed their previous sufferings and their positive re- lief on visiting the miracle-worker. But curiosity was thus quickly sated, and he ceased to draw. Take, with this fact, the testimony of Merivale, as to the influence of miracles in the first centuries of the Christian era, viz. : “ There was great proneness to accept the claim of miracles ; but, at the same time, and in consequence of this very proneness, very little weight was attached to it [this claim] as an argument of divine power.”*
We need not stop to point out the difference between such spurious miracles and those recorded in the New Testament. The latter had a worthy purpose aside from all healing mercy attending them. They were to attest the Messiahship and resurrection of Jesus, the credibility of the Apostles, and the divine authority of their teaching; and thus to subserve the highest good of man and the glory of God. The former furnished credentials to no new teacher, introduced no new truth — no moral or spiritual teaching whatever. The Wainegi’s religious character and claims were as readily admitted before as after his pretended miracles ; and his motive and object were patent — selfishness and personal aggrandizement, fame and the offer-
Conversion of Rom. Empire, p. 9.
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ings of those who visited him ; and these latter received from him no moral or spiritual teaching, nothing of any kind which could become the germ of a new or better life. The only benefit from such miracles, wholly disconnected with moral and spiritual teaching, must be temporal good — the healing of bodily disease. But even this, in the case before us, existed only in the fancy of the superstitious persons claiming to have been healed. No benefit to them, even, was manifested to others.
The New Testament miracles, on the other hand, are in- separately linked with the most profound and vital spiritual truths ever conceived of by the human mind. Detached from these, true miracles would at once become comparatively in- significant. Linked with them, as the Apostolic miracles always are, and still it is not the miracles, but the vital truths they teach, substantiate and enforce, that produce spiritual and saving effects on human hearts. Hence, the instances of conversion as the direct results of true miracles, without preaching, are few, if any ; whereas, “ it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”* Preach- ing, without miracles, was effective in Apostolic times, as well as now. At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas “ so spake that a great multitude . . believed. ”f The miracle which shook the
foundation of Paul and Silas’ prison at midnight, struck off their manacles, and threw open their prison doors, only made the jailor unsheath his sword to kill himself. It was Paul’s preaching that led him to cry out, “ What must 1 do to be saved?” and led to his faith and baptism. £ It may be doubted whether the startling miracle on the day of Pentecost would have resulted in the conversion of a single soul, but for Peter’s sermon ; for it was “ when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts,” and cried out, “ What shall we do ?” And “ they that gladly received his word were baptized,” and added to the church. § The Apostle Paul ranks preaching much above the gift of tongues, even in his day.
When we speak of our disadvantages from inability to work miracles now, it becomes us to bear in mind that a perpetual miracle is impossible in the very nature of the case. It must
* 1 Cor. i: 21. f Acts xiv : 1. t Acts xvi : 2"-jo.
£ Acts ii : 57, 41. || 1 Cor. xiv: 2-6.
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transcend all usages and actions of known laws, or it is no miracle ; and the perpetual recurrence of any event, takes from it the inherent elements of a miracle. Had God con- tinued to send manna from Heaven, from the days of Moses to the present time, it would be no more a miracle now, than is the daily rising and setting of the sun. And, without doubt, every repetition of a miracle weakens its force, diminishes that much its startling and convincing effect, and by parity of reasoning, more or less weakens the force of any and all miracles ; so that the use of miracles is limited, both by the inherent elements of a miracle, and by the very nature of the human mind.
As to the use of miracles for their startling and convincing effect, it is worthy of serious consideration, whether missionaries of the present day have not all desirable facilities for arresting the attention of their ignorant and superstitious, or careless and stolid hearers. Their foreign nationality, strange manners and customs, their different complexion and style of living, and, most of all, their marked superiority in education and knowl- edge of the arts and sciences, and the divine origin, character, power and sanctions of their holy faith, avail at once to attract all necessary attention. The first sight of a magic lantern, the first shock from an electric battery, the first sight of a rail- road car flying thirty miles an hour, or of a message brought from the other side of the globe in a few minutes by means of a wire passing under the ocean, are really as startling and con- vincing to ignorant and superstitious heathen as any miracle that was ever wrought ; so that the necessity of miracles for arresting the attention of the heathen can hardly be urged in this age. And in case of those whose attention has once been arrested, till they have heard the Gospel and turned away rejecting it, whether found in heathen or in Christian lands, if they desire to see miracles, they are much like those who came to Christ, seeking a sign (miracle), but whom he would not gratify.*
But would not this power of working miracles now furnish to heathen minds mighty and most desirable credentials to the character and divine authority of missionaries, and thus secure
* Mat. xvi : 1-4.
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a ready reception of their message. Our train of remark on this point would take us over ground already traversed, and develop the comparatively barren results of miracles in the way of conversion, even in case of those performed by the Apostles, and by Christ himself. We readily admit that Christ and his Apostles needed such credentials. It was fitting and necessary that God should furnish miraculous proof of the mes- siahship of Christ, and of the character of the witnesses to his life, death and resurrection. But this has been done ; and in doing it, the doctrines of the Gospel have been clearly de- fined and established, so that its teachers and preachers now need no higher credentials than those which obtain from preaching those doctrines already stamped with the approval and seal of God. And this leads us to remark :
3. The value of every true miracle is perpetual.
Not for the people of Palestine only were the miracles of Christ and the Apostles wrought, but for the world ; not for that age only, but for all subsequent time. We might as well attempt to limit the value of the resurrection, or the virtue of Christ’s death, to the men of that generation, as to attempt thus to limit the design and use of the miracles of Christ and the Apostles. If matter is indestructible, how much more properly may we affirm that all moral truth is indestructible for all time and for all eternity? If God’s dealings with his ancient people, the Jews, was not for them alone, but “ for our admonition,”* how manifestly must this be true of every mir- acle of past generations? And as to the miracles wrought in proof of Christ’s Messiahship, and in confirmation of the char- acter and credibility of those early preachers and witnesses of his resurrection, we submit the inquiry, Have not the Christian preachers of the present day a special advantage ? Does not the fancied advantage of those early preachers turn wholly on the startling and convincing character of miracles, already shown to be so barren of results in actual conversions? Is there not a special value in the test to which these same mira- cles have been subjected for eighteen centuries? Prudent and thoughtful minds are not carried away by the blaze and glare of sudden events, however startling. They will not readily be led captive by false prophets and false Christs. And who can
* 1 Cor. x : 11.
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doubt that it is better to be slow and cautious in recognizing and receiving truth, even, than rashly to follow Theudas and his four hundred, to be slain, or scattered and brought to nought ?*
And so far as the use of miracles to convince the unbeliev- ing is concerned, could not the hearers of those early preachers, in the very presence of their miracles, plead a better excuse for suspending judgment or withholding faith than can be urged by unbelievers of the present day? When the chief priests and elders suborned the soldiers to report — “His disci- ples came by night and stole him away while we slept ”f — had they not a far better chance for the success of their plot than they would have now? When Galileo first announced the earth’s motion and was compelled to recant on pain of death, what wonder if others still doubted ? But since his declaration has endured the criticism and test of centuries, only to be more clearly demonstrated and fully confirmed, can any one longer doubt, or furnish any reasonable excuse for unbelief? As we go to the heathen and supplant their false physical sci- ence with the facts and teachings of true science, demonstrated and established beyond the possibility of a doubt by any intel- ligent mind, so also we take to them the facts and teachings of the Gospel, attested and demonstrated with no less clearness and certainty. We grant that the sight of the cross, with the Son of God dying upon it, would move some minds more deeply than a perusal of the recorded tragedy. But is not this because of the more direct appeal to the passions through the sense of sight? It is the fact of the sufferings and death of the Son of God that appeals to the reason, the intellect, and the heart, and results in repentance and saving faith, when these obtain. Of all that multitude who followed him to Cal- vary, how few repented and believed, even though the sun was darkened, the earth quaked, the rocks were rent, the graves were opened, and many dead saints arose and went into the city, and the centurion and they that were with him were con. strained to exclaim, “ Truly, this was the Son of God.”]; We cannot doubt the profoundness of their impression, but, alas ! how transient and ineffective! And can anyone desire that
Acts v: 37 .
f Mat. xxviii : 13.
X Mat. xxvii : 51-54.
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the scenes of the crucifixion and resurrection be re-enacted for their convincing effect on careless, worldly, and stolid hearers? And is there, really, any more occasion for a repetition of one of the miracles, divinely appointed and employed for demon- strating tne Messiahship of Jesus, and attesting the character and credibility of those early preachers and witnesses ? When a case has been brought into court, and all the facts and wit- nesses have been duly examined, and a decision has been reached after the most searching and thorough investigation and the most mature deliberation possible, if a party come and ask for a new trial, or a repetition of the testimony, must he be gratified ? Is it not rather obligatory on said party to point out some error in fact or in testimony before asking a re- hearing ? And, in this case, an attempt to point out such error having been repeated again and again by successive generations of infidels during a period of more than eighteen hundred years, and all in vain, are we not now entitled to consider this case finally closed ? — to receive the Gospel as fully established, requiring no new proof, and no repetition of the miracles which attended Christ’s advent, attesting once for all time his Mes- siahship and resurrection? Whether preaching to unbelievers in Christendom, or to ignorant and superstitious heathen, are we not entitled to take the Gospel as God’s only remedy for sin, and the proofs by which it was established as potential and operative for all time, without any attempt or wish to re- enact them ?
We would attribute no intentional impiety to those who seem to desire this power of working miracles, and regard its absence a weakness and disability in their practical ministry; and yet, do not their views and desires savor somewhat of the spirit of those who came to Jesus, saying, “ Master, we would see a sign from thee,” * when he had just restored the withered hand and cast out a devil, causing one blind and dumb both to see and speak? It is worthy of notice, in this connection, that Merivale mentions the “ historical testimony" to the mir- acles of Christ and the Apostles as one of the chief agencies in the conversion of the Roman empire.
The second advantage claimed for those early preachers is
* Mat. xii: 38-39; x: 22.
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the wide diffusion of Judaism. The language of the writer above mentioned is, “Another great advantage which the early heralds of the cross possessed, lay in the fact that the way had been prepared for them by the spread of Judaism,” through “the dispersion of the Jewish people into all parts of the Ro- man empire.”
We are ready to admit the full value of the “ oracles of God,” and the highest estimate of the elements of the Gospel as embodied in the Old Testament Scriptures, which had been translated into Greek, and were more or less widely known in Apostolic times. We cheerfully concede that the centurion of Cesarea was, probably, not the only Jewish proselyte — not the only Gentile who was “ a devout man,” “ feared God,” and “prayed to God always.”* And yet, do not all the facts on this point, embodied in history, furnish ample proof that at the date of Paul’s conversion such devout Gentiles were exceedingly few. Cannot every missionary in India reckon up a larger number of such praying, God-fearing men among the unbaptized Hindus of his acquaintance, than history gives us any reason to believe there was in the whole Gentile world at that date ? And as to the “ Hebrew Scrip- tures,” translated into the one Greek language of that time, but existing only in manuscript, have we not now both the Old and New Testament translated, not only into Greek, and into English, more widely spoken than Greek ever was, but into some 200 of the prominent languages of the world, and printed and circulated widely in every large unevangelized nation, in its own native tongue ?
And as to the dispersion of the Jews, those living repre- sentatives of Judaism — were they any more dispersed than they are now? Have we not the “ Beni-Israel" in India? Are they not found in China and Africa, and all parts of the known world ?
And as to the help to those early preachers from Judaism and the Jews — Is there not danger of somewhat overestimating it? Does not the light from this source shine even more brightly now, only that their glimmering torch pales before the clearer shining of the full-orbed Gospel? Did the unbelieving Jews really prove helpful to those early preachers? Who commenced the persecution against them? Who murdered
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the first martyr, Stephen, venting their rage by gnashing on him with their teeth?* Who but Jews conspired against Paul, as soon as he was converted, “ watching the gates of Damascus day and night to kill him ?”f Who but Jews were those “ more than forty men,” who “ bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul ?”%
In estimating the influence of Judaism on the Pagan mind with reference to Christianity, we must never forget that the orthodox Jews had crucified its founder, and the Pagans knew it ; that every Christian sermon, like that of Peter on the day* of Pentecost, charged home upon them this terrible crime, and that this new faith, at every step of its progress, impugned the national belief of the Jews. So directly opposed to Judaism,, as then formulated, were the most vital elements of the Chris- tian’s faith and practice, that the Jewish priests, teachers and rulers everywhere opposed and interdicted the Christian teachers, imprisoned and scourged them, threatened them with death, stoned and beheaded them when they could, even irt Pagan cities, calling in the aid of heathen magistrates, and rousing the prejudices and hatred of the heathen against the Christians, by every possible argument and influen ce in thei? power.
In prosecuting missions in India and elsewhere, we some- times find occasion to lament the hindrance to our work from the pernicious influence of renegade Europeans and Americans, who, being nominal Christians, are looked upon by the heathers as representatives of Christianity, and yet misrepresent and belie our holy faith by their unholy lives. But let circum- stances be so changed that the great mass of our countrymen, both in Christendom and in pagan lands, shall manifest the bit- terest hostility to us, and persecute us with murderous hate from city to city, as the Jews did those early preachers, compassing every now and then the death of one and another of the most zealous and successful of our missionary band — let such a state of things obtain, and such events be transpiring constantly in sight of those we seek to evangelize, and should we not feel ourselves at far more serious disadvantage than we now are ?
* Acts vii : 54.
f Acts vii': 24.
f Acts xviii : 12.
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With the hope of their expected Messiah still deferred, and the mighty argument of the passing centuries forcing upon the minds of the Jews the ever-recurring question, “Was not Jesus of Nazareth, after all, our promised Messiah?” Scattered, as they still are, in all lands, and their feeble remnant in Jerusalem, gathering at their “wailing place,” every Friday, to kiss and bathe with tears the fragment of their broken temple-walls, and chant their bitter lamentations and peni- tential prayers to their father’s God, whose chastenings they no longer fail to recognise — with Jewish converts to Christian- ity multiplying at such a rate, that in the Protestant countries of Europe there are now more than three hundred of them in clerical orders, preaching Chfist and him crucified, as the true Messiah ; must we not feel that from this very source, Judaism and the Jews, we have an immense advantage over those early preachers ?
The third advantage specified is, that “ those early preachers had not to contend with such compact and mighty systems of idolatry as we have to meet at the present day in India or China.”
There is nothing in China, or any other part of the world but India, that, in compactness, massive strength, grossness or intensity of superstition and cruel rites, can make good any claim to pre-enfinence over Greek and Roman idolatry. The one peculiarity of Hinduism, which gives it compactness and strength above all other religions invented by man, is caste. Hindu idolatry has nothing, in its origin, elements, univer- sality, or the blind devotion of its votaries, at all more formid- able than those systems of idolatry with which those early preachers had to contend. But caste has proved Satan’s master-piece. This has been the cement of Hinduism and the source of its special power of resistance. But it is worthy of notice, that to make good his position, in regard to India, even to his own mind, our writer goes back nearly a century, and takes Hinduism, not as it is, but as it was, in the days of Carey’s and Marshman’s first aggression upon it, at almost the first contact of Christianity with it. Surely there has been a mighty change in Hinduism since that day ; and the proposi- tion to be demonstrated required the comparison to be re- stricted to “ preachers of the present day.” Of those early
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preachers our writer says : “ The religions they had to assail were long past their prime ; they were already on the wane.’' Is not the same true of Hinduism, to-day? And of every other false religion known ? If pagan philosophy had weak- ened the systems of idolatry prevalent in the Roman Empire in the days of the Apostles, has not the Gospel done vastly more than this to the idolatrous systems of the present day ? If the educated of Apostolic times had become “skeptics,”' is it not equally true now that educated young Hindus, by the thousand, have no more faith in their 330,000,000 gods, than the missionaries themselves have ? At the very time this article referred to was passing through the press in Bombay, was not the educated, non-Christian Brahmin, Dyaram, preaching against idolatry to thousands of his co-religionists in Poona, the capital of the old Marathi Empire, and the stronghold of the Brahman faith ? Wielding his eloquence with such effect, that some of his idolatrous hearers who were convinced broke in pieces their idol gods, and threw them into the gutter? And what of the thousands of educated young Hindoos, repre- sented by the Kurta Bhojas , of Northern India, the Bhramo- Somaj, of Bengal, and the Prarthna Subha, of Bombay? Do they not abjure and preach against idolatry? And do not the adherents of the two latter societies condemn and discard caste also ? Is not this cement of Hindooism already crumbling under their vigorous blows ? Do they not publicly condemn infant marriages, and nearly the whole list of Hindu abomi- nations? And advocate female education, remarriage of Hindu widows, and most of the rites and usages of Christian civilization ? Were there any organizations like these in Apostolic times, marking the decay of idolatry and the progress of enlightenment ?
And what of our converts, as fellow-laborers in the work of the Gospel ? Is it true that those early preachers were favored above us in this respect ? Paul tells us of the Greek Titus, and of the Eurasian Timothy — both worthy helpers, we may well believe, from his account of them. But in all that is said of Gentile preachers in Apostolic times, do we find any com- parable to our noble band of native brethren and co-workers in India — scores of them, in education, social position, birth, and brains, ranking with the highest of their countrymen, and in
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piety and devotion to their work, with the most zealous and efficient of the missionaries. That any one can think those early preachers had better facilities than we in India have, for establishing independent, self-supporting churches, with native pastors and elders, is simply a marvel. So far as the finding of suitable men for pastors and church officers among our far more numerous converts, the advantage is largely ours.
As to the decay and weakness of idolatry in Apostolic times, our writer speaks more correctly when he says: “ Not, how- ever, that idolatry was a weak enemy at the time of the Apostles — very far from it. It had its worship and its priests, and the common people still were its adherents. It was patronized by the emperor and court,” etc. Here is a frank admission of the almost unbroken prestige and power of idolatry throughout the Roman Empire in the life-time of the Apostles. The great mass of the people were wedded to their gods — “in all things too superstitious ”* (excessively devoted), as Paul says to the people of Athens. The emperors and nobles favored and patronized idolatry, and the philosophers, despite all that can be said of their skepticism, loved to have it so, and did what they could to keep it up for the sake of the common people, and for its political use and influence, if not from their own convictions. In his “ Conversion of the Roman Empire ,” Merivale describes the elements of the then prevalent paganism, and emphatically testifies : “ It was a for- midable foe to the Gospel. It not only dwelt in the hearts and persuasions of the people, but was supported by all the powers of political interest ; it glowed with the powers of cere- monial observances ; it was hallowed by the charm of long possession, by its pretended appeal to actual experience, and the demonstration it affected to derive from the worldly suc- cess of the Roman Empire. It was still a living and active principle, for it was capable of a marked revival, a new growth and development, as proved more than once in the course of the Roman history .+
Another advantage claimed for those early preachers is,
The gospel spread at first among the inhabitants of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, whose moral stam- ina was far superior to that of the Hindus.” That the low
* Acts xvii : 22.
f Conversion of the Roman Empire , p. 58.
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caste people of India are greatly wanting in moral stamina we admit. That the descendants of the genuine Aryans, the Hindus proper, fail to exhibit the highest moral principle and character in their heathen state, we also admit. That they possess or exhibit less moral stamina than did the Gentiles bordering on the Mediterranean, to whom those early preach- ers first carried the gospel, we do not believe. We feel cer- tain that an impartial balancing of all the facts in both cases would bring out results decidedly in favor of the Hindus. Let those who think differently, and are inclined to endorse the views of our writer on this point, read again Paul’s description of those same Gentiles in his day, as left on record in the first chapter of his Epistles to the Romans. Let them read again his epistles to the other churches he himself had planted, and weigh deliberately his condemnation of sins and enormities such as never yet have been known among the converts of,our India churches. Let them study Roman society, even during “ the brilliant age of Augustus and the Antonines yea, in the great Emperor Augustus himself, begging money through the streets of Rome in obedience to his dreams, and wearing the skin of a sea-calf as an amulet against lightning in a thunder- storm. What darker, fouler element of Pagan superstition or human depravity ever existed than prevailed among the upper classes of Rome in the reign of Domitian, as painted in the 6th and 9th Satires of Juvenal , when “ fetid licentiousness frothed even in the imperial palace? ” No, from close observa- tion during some thirty years spent among the Hindus, and from some knowledge of their history for twenty-five centuries past, we are constrained to dissent very decidedly from the opin- ion that they are at all inferior in moral stamina to the inhabi- tants of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean in the early days of Christianity.
From the facts and data thus far developed, may we not then assume it as clearly demonstrated, that ^the missionaries of the present day, instead of being at any ^advantage, really posess a very decided advantage over those early preachers in these very points where the advantage has been claimed for them ; with the single exception of the gift of miracles, which had its special and appropriate use in their day, and which would be out of place and, to say the least, of very doubtful utility at the present time?
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From this standpoint let us consider a little more in detail, some of the advantages of our missionaries now laboring in in this work — some of the facilities of the present age for evan- gelizing the world. If we glance at physical and material fa- cilities, it is obvious to remark ;
i. Rapid aud easy travel is an advantage to our present mis- sionaries unknown to the apostolic and early preachers.
The conveniences and safety of travel throughout the Roman Empire in the days of the apostles are often mentioned as one of their advantages in disseminating the gospel. And yet any and every part of the world is now practically nearer to London or to New York than the outlying provinces of the Ro- man Empire then were to their capital. A missionary now can visit his antipodes from any point on the globe in half the time it took Paul to go from Cesaerea to Rome. This advantage of our missionaries is not limited to the mere rapidity and com - fort of travel to themselves personally. It has to do with inter- communication in all its phases — the frequent visits of their Christian friends and countrymen to the mission fields, the visits of intelligent Hindus, Chinese, Japanese, and other un- evangelized races to the Christian lands, and the rapid ex- change of letters and telegrams, bringing all lands and peoples into close intercommunion and literally realizing the prophet’s vision, “ many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” *
We are aware that the same facilities of locomotion and intercommunication may be enlisted in the cause of error, false doctrine, and irreligion. But the grosser forms of heathen superstition rarely leave their habitats to seek new climes and conquests by these modern facilities of travel. Like the evil spirits cast out by Jesus, they pray rather to be let alone in their possessions. The special work of the missionary is to let in heaven’s light into these dark and stagnant cess-pools of superstition — to teach all nations the blessed gospel, knowing it will prove “a savor of death unto death ” to some, but of “life unto life ” to all who receive it into good and honest hearts. Confident in the power of God’s truth to secure the final victory over all forms of error and superstition, the
* Dan. xii : 4.
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church may well regard these wonderful facilities for travel and intercommunication as a special dispensation to aid her in evangelizing the world, a work dearer to God than all the secu- lar enterprises of the race.
2. The world is open to the Gospel.
We do not attach so much importance to this advantage as some minds seem inclined to. This world has always belonged to Christ and for more than eighteen centuries his disciples have lacked neither authority nor ability to invade and subdue any part of it, and to bring it all back to his allegiance. In the long and drowsy prayers of many for the removal of inter- dicts and opposition to the Gospel in heathen lands — prayers savoring more of an apology for the neglect of known duty, than of an ardent desire to press forward in the path of duty at all hazards, as abundantly shown by the failure of the church to occupy heathen lands when every hindrance has been re- moved— is there not much in tone and spirit which, to Christ and holy angels, must seem a solemn mockery? There never has been a time or a people since the crucifixion, when the Gospel of God’s grace was not divinely adapted to become the power of God to salvation ; and nowhere has it been faithfully preached, under whatever interdicts and opposition, without winning souls to Christ. When the divine commission was given, “ Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,” * it was not added, “ where kings and rulers do not interdict you.” Such qualifying clause was not appended, even in parenthesis. Rather were the disciples duly notified, “ If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” f And still they were to go and teach all nations — not those only which should be opened to their efforts by some miraculous Providence, but those among whom they should encounter opposition and persecution, even unto death. Those first dis- ciples obeyed, and the result was, that in a few centuries Christianity supplanted all forms of paganism and superstition, and triumphed throughout the Roman empire, despite the most persistent efforts of her rulers to oppose and destroy it. Here is early and ample proof that the church need never have hesitated to enter China, or India, or any other part of the
* Mark xvi : 15.
f John xv : 20.
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world, because of governmental interdicts and opposition. The teaching of Christ anticipates and provides for all such emergencies — “ For whosoever will save his life shall lose it ; but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall find it.”f The relaxing of this spirit in the church marked her weakness and degeneracy. It is the shame and disgrace of the Christian church of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, that a commercial stock-jobbing company of Protestant Eng- land was allowed, from sheer greed of gold and lust of power, to exclude the Gospel from their heathen subjects under their rapidly extending rule in India, more than two hundred years, without a single Christian martyr suffering the penalty of vio- lating their unrighteous interdict. It is the special glory of the church of this nineteenth century, that God raised up a band of Christian young men, so inspired with the love of Jesus and the true type and spirit of primitive Christianity, that they dared to disregard that unrighteous interdict, and to go and make efforts to preach the Gospel to those perishing idolaters at any peril. It is a severe rebuke to the small faith of our Christian Israel, that one stripling, David, was able so quickly to conquer a giant so mighty — that Gordon Hall, single- handed, while held in durance by Sir Evan Napier, in Bombay, under strict orders of banishment, and waiting a ship to convey him forever from India, was helped of God to pen words and move moral and spiritual forces which speedily broke down the barriers and opened all India to the Gospel ; while this glorious result of high-daring in the cause of Christ becomes a beacon-light on which the church may well turn her eye in every like emergency.
The result of Judson’s noble daring, in throwing himself into Burma, under native rule, when banished from British India, and, with much privation and suffering, commencing single- handed a work which has developed into scores of churches and thousands of converts won to Christ ; the labors of Swartz and Ziegenbuld in the native states of Southern India, as also of Moffat and Livingstone in Africa, and noble workers in other mission fields, furnish abundant evidence that the church, or individual Christians, need not wait for the permission of human rulers to obey Christ. In their legitimate work of sav-
* Luke ix : 24.
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ing souls they may trust God in any and all perils ; and his special care of all true workers in this service, inclining capri- cious rulers to extend toleration to them, and often shielding from cruel plots and murderous hands, deserves the thoughtful study, both of humble saints and scornful sinners. Even the Jesuits, in Japan, found toleration and protection from the native rulers till, discarding the teaching of their divine Mas- ter— “ My kingdom is not of this world ” * — they embroiled themselves in politics, and thereby incurred deserved banish- ment.
But though, in this important sense, belonging to Christ, and being wholly embraced in the “ Great Commission,” the world has ever been open to the Gospel, and the church has had no valid excuse for leaving one nation or tribe of the race unevangelized ; yet, in the recent removal of all interdicts and barriers, and the universal toleration of Protestant mission- aries in all lands and nations, there is a significance which marks a special Providence in the progress of this work. Those who covered their paltry gifts and puny efforts under long and languid prayers for the removal of these interdicts, are now confronted with needy millions and nations, no longer resisting, but inviting, nay, challenging, their largest efforts and most generous gifts for making known to them the blessings of the Gospel. Those who have been most sincere and earnest in their supplications have now the rich joy and inspiration of answered prayers, showing God’s readiness to hear and bless, and inciting to continuance in well-doing, on a scale more com- mensurate with the magnitude of this world-wide enterprise.
Contrast this present state of the world with what it was in Apostolic times, when the Gospel was bound so far as human powers could bind it, when Christians were everywhere spoken against and persecuted, were often flying from place to place at peril of their lives, and often suffering imprisonment and torture, even unto death ; and can we speak of the advantages of those early preachers over the missionaries of the present day? Is not the advantage wholly with those now laboring to evangelize the world ?
3. The most influential and powerful nations are now Chris- tian.
* John xviii : 36.
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Taking Christianity in its widest limits, embracing the Greek, Roman, and Protestant branches of the Christian church, and though still outnumbered by the thronging millions of the Pagan and Moslem races, yet with whom is the balance of power among the nations? We need not enumerate “the five great powers of Europe,” or speak of the prestige and influ- ence of our own country — the United States — these six Chris- tian nations holding the unquestioned dictatorship of the world. Their influence is felt and acknowledged in every land. Not only are the influence and prestige of Great Britain felt through- out Europe. British America and Australia own her dominion, and glory in it; while her rule over 300,000,000 Hindus and Moslem, in India, is well nigh absolute ; and her growing power in China and Central Asia, in Southern and Eastern Africa, New Zealand, and scores of the islands of Oceanica, is undis- puted. The few Pagan nations of any note still existing seem conscious of their impotence. The Sultan of Turkey — the head of the whole Moslem race — holds his throne and power only by leave of these Christian nations, and the Khedive of Egypt listens meekly to their advice. Japan and China — the latter holding in check her pride of celestial birthright and prerogatives, are sending their youth into the very heart of Christendom to learn true science, civilization, and govern- ment, and study the genius of our Christian institutions.
We need not express our grief at the imperfection, nay, pos- itive evils and wrongs, still manifest in the rule of these Chris- tian nations — the favor and support of idolatry and false re- ligions, the enforced opium traffic, the pernicious licensing of the grossest vice and intemperance, and kindred national crimes and enormities, still tolerated and practised by our rulers. Let the forces of the Christian church be summoned to correct these evils, and make the rule of these Christian powers such as shall everywhere bless humanity and honor God.
We need not recall the fact, that the sources of prosperity and power among these nations are in Christianity itself. This fact but intensifies the arguments and motives for enlisting the utmost energies of the church in efforts to make the Gospel the controlling force in the mind and heart of ever}' ruler, and in every act of the governing body; while, at the same time.
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it makes manifest the certainty, that in proportion as Christian- ity permeates the body politic of these nations, just in the same proportion will their influence and rule be extended and perpetuated over the whole world. But taking things as they now exist — the actual status of Christian and Pagan nations to-day — and what a mighty contrast rises to view between the advantages — nay, the difficulties and hindrances, the buffetings and cruel persecutions, th.e crucifixions and beheadings, of those early preachers, and the grand vantage-ground of the church and her missionaries at the present time.
4. True science , education , and literary culture , are mainly in the hands of Christians.
This fact is too manifest to require demonstration. It is felt and conceded wherever Christian missionaries go among the heathen. It gives them a mighty vantage-ground for over- turning systems of superstition and false religion, mixed, as they always are, with false science. Even Brahmanism, the most compact and impregnable religious system ever yet in- vented by human genius or Satanic cunning, becomes stulti- fied and impotent under the teaching of true science.
This is an advantage of present missionaries quite unknown to those early preachers. They were, mostly, uneducated. Paul, the only one of literary culture among the early disci- ples, recognizes this fact, and, for special reasons, glories in it, affirming : “ God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” * He would have Christ and his cross receive all the glory of those early triumphs of Christianity. And all the glory of her tri- umphs must and will be his forever. But no proper source of influence and power for arresting and impressing minds in favor the Gospel need be despised or rejected. This source of influ- ence is just as legitimate now as was the power to work mira- cles in Apostolic times. And who shall say it is not equally potent ? Converting efficacy inheres in neither.
The contrast here is very marked. Those early preachers went forth comparatively ignorant. The highest development of science, and the profoundest erudition of that age, were the heritage, mainly, of Jewish rabbis, and of the schools and
* 1 Cor. i : 27.
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philosophers of Greece and Rome. From their prouder literary eminence both Jews and Pagans looked down upon Christians with scorn, ready to exclaim, “ Thou wast altogether born in sin, and dost thou teach us?”* Now, Christian missionaries go forth from the best institutions of learning the world has ever known, thoroughly versed in profane and sacred lore, and in the latest scientific discoveries and investigations ; able at once to explain many of the dark problems and mysteries in life and nature which perplex the heathen, and thereby to ex- plode the cruel superstitions which have held them all their lifetimes in bondage. Wielding this potent influence, and see- ing its effect on ignorant and superstitious minds, and the still mightier influence of the Gospel itself, why should we desire the gift of miarcles, even if God were willing to bestow it?
5. The wealth of the world is largely in the hands of Chris- tians.
We would not unduly exalt this advantage. Experience has abundantly shown that both wealth and power may prove a curse, instead of a blessing — may weaken and demoralize the church herself, instead of extending her influence and spiritual conquests over others. Paul did vastly more to evangelize the world at his own charges, while supporting himself and those that were with him by tent-making, than many a modern mis- sionary does, sustained with large resources furnished by the church.
And yet the economy of the Gospel recognizes the value of wealth laid on God’s altar for his service and glory. In no other way can wealth be so invested with vital and spiritual elements, in no other way be so made to promote spiritual and eternal interests, as in making it aid in this work — in teaching to the ignorant and perishing Christ and him crucified. Given the men and women of Christ-like spirit and zeal in this work, and the great want is the means for sustaining them and their schools and labors in the foreign field. And the marvel is,, that Christian men and women do not discern and seize their opportunity for thus transmuting their gold into eternal treasure, by making it subserve God’s glory in enlightening and saving souls. The amount of wealth in the Christian church is immense. With all her imperfections of Christian
John ix: 34.
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character and practice, she has still proved the truth of Apos- tolic teaching, that “ Godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is,” as well as “ of that which is to come.” As so-called Christian nations hold the chief power, so also do they hold the greater portions of the world’s wealth. Unevangelized nations occupy portions of the world equally rich, doubtless, in universal and natural re- sources, but these are largely undeveloped. The great accum- ulations of developed resources are found in Christendom. If professing Christians would use their wealth in evangelizing the world with the fierceness, fixed purpose, energy, and effective- ness with which they use it in carrying on wars, building man- ufactories, railroads, telegraphs, and commercial navies, ten years would suffice to bring the Gospel to the intelligent understanding of every dweller on our globe. The accomplish- ment of an object so dear to Jesus, and in itself so good and glorious, ought to be an incitement sufficient to nerve every Christian heart to the putting forth of the utmost ability and effort ; while the immense gifts of the heathen in support of their false religions, like the $2,000,000 expended every year on one single feast to Doorga, in Calcutta, rise to view as if to shame and reproach Christians for the smallness of their gifts and efforts in the service of him, who gave his own life a ransom for them.
Contrast this wealth of the church now with the weakness and poverty of the Apostolic church, when Christians who had a little property felt constrained to sell it, and place all avails in a common treasury to meet the wants of the needy and suffering of their own number ; and can we speak of the advantage of those early preachers over those of the present day on this point? Must we not rather take shame to our- selves, that despite this immense advantage in our favor, they so far surpassed us in benevolence, zeal, devotion, self-sacrifice, and earnest, persistent effort in the service of the Gospel ?
6. The wide diffusion of the English language.
The value of this advantage turns on the fact, that English is the language of the most influential Protestant nations, and embodies most of the Protestant Christian literature of the world. The general prevalence of the Greek language in Apostolic times, and the translation of the Old Testament into
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Greek, is claimed as a special advantage of those early preach- ers. But English is vastly more prevalent now than Greek was then; and the amount of Christian literature it carries over the world with it is beyond all comparison. The English language is a common medium of communication now the world over. It is used on every continent, and on almost every island of the ocean. The natives of every land and clime have come to know something of the paramount power and in- fluence of the English-speaking-race, and develop a wonderful eagerness to master the language of a people so active, enter- prising, and powerful. In the different countries of South America, in all the more prosperous settlements begirting the continent of Africa, in the seaports and commercial centres of Japan and China, and in all the large towns and cities of India, hundreds and thousands of the native inhabitants use the English language fluently and correctly enough for all practical purposes, while many use it with much accuracy and beauty. And having gained the key to treasures so vast and valuable as are to be found in our Christian science and literature, they are not likely to leave them unexplored. Thousands of heathen youth are exploring them, and in doing so, are brought under influences, and into relations with their Chris- tian teachers, most favorable to Christianity and fatal to superstition. The venerable Dr. Duff has labored some thirty years for Hindoo youth in the metropolis of India, all in Eng- lish, finding no necessity to learn a vernacular language. Drs. Somerville, Seeley, and others, fresh from Scotland and America, have visited the large cities of India, preaching and lecturing to the educated young Hindus in the English language. Such a wide success and controlling influence has this language gained over the entire world, that in the work of evangelizing the nations, we venture to assume that we have, in this language, an advantage far greater than those early preachers had in the gift of tongues.
7. Foundations are now laid.
And here we approach a class of advantages which can ob- tain only in the progress of an enterprise — advantages wholly unknown to those early workers. In the completed canon of sacred Scriptures — the possession of the New Testament — who can estimate our advantage over the Apostolic church? — an
133
1 877.] Evangelizing the World.
advantage in itself far surpassing the gift of miracles for any other purpose than to attest the Messiahship of Jesus and fur- nish Apostolic credentials.
But in the entire work of laying foundations, the mind is almost overwhelmed with the magnitude and multiplicity of the considerations to be weighed, and shrinks from the attempt to form any adequate impression of the immense advantages we now have over those who laid the foundations of the Christian church under the New Testament dispensation, and over all who have borne their part in building and bringing it to its present status. Even in the case of Peter, notwith- standing the special teaching for years of Christ himself, it required God’s intervention to make him extend the narrow foundations, on which he began to build, far enough to make room for the centurion Cornelius ; while it cost Paul and Barnabas the long journey from Antioch to Jerusalem, and the solemn deliberations of the whole Apostolic college there, to decide the terms of church membership for Gentile con- verts.
But viewing the difficult problems which were cropping up ever and again in those early centuries ; the repeated church councils for eliminating and guarding against heresy, and de- termining the creeds and practice of the church ; the contrast between the state of things at the inception of the modern missionary enterprise, only some sixty years ago, and the present time, reveals an immense advantage in our favor. Then, everything was tentative ; the languages of the heathen were to be learned, and, in most cases, to be learned under gravest disadvantages — in many cases, to be learned from vocal sounds, their elements to be first determined, and then reduced to writing. And the languages once acquired, they were still destitute of Christian ideas. The herculean labor of translat- ing the Bible, preparing text-books, and creating a Christian literature was still to be accomplished. This work is not yet perfected. Languages have still to be learned by each new worker, but special helps greatly lessen this toil ; while the Bible, faithfully translated, published, and circulated more or less widely in some 200 of the principal languages and dialects of the heathen, and a Christian literature, embracing scores and hundreds of volumes in these various languages, disclose an New Series, No. 21. 9
134 Presbyterian Colleges , as Related to [Jan.
immense amount of labor, the full harvest of which we and our successors are yet to reap and garner, and mark, somewhat our grand vantage-ground over our predecessors over sixty years ago, and still, moreover, those early preachers toiling at the foundations of their work, without even the cost of printing to aid them in disseminating Christian truth. Carry out the parallel in all the other foundations laid — the schools and printing-presses established, the Christian communities and churches organized, and the hundreds of places in every part of the unevangelized world, whose Gospel light has been kindled, and how is it possible, for a moment, to compare our position with that of those early preachers at the inception of their mighty work, without feeling that God has given us- facilities for carrying it forward to completion, of which they were able to catch but the feeblest glimpse, and this only in prophetic vision !
Art. VII.— PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGES, AS RELATED TO THE GROWTH OF OUR MINISTRY *
By Rev. A. A. E. Taylor, D.D., President of Wooster University, Ohio.
The preaching of the Gospel is conceded to be the diyinely ordained method of propagating true religion upon the earth. It, therefore, becomes one of the fundamental duties of the church to provide the supply of ministers needful for the task, of course subject to the action of the personal divine call to the ministry. There are two principal reasons that make this labor on the part of the church incessant, as they require a constant supply of new candidates for the pulpit. These are, first, the natural waste of the clergy by retirement from active
* Annual Catalogues of Allegheny , Auburn , Chicago , Danville , Lane, Princeton , and Union (N. Y.) Theological Seminaries, for 1875-76.
Annual Reports of the Board of Education, and Annual Minutes of the General Assembly .
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The Growth of Our Ministry.
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duty, by dismission to other branches of Christian work, and such like causes, and by death; and, second, the ever enlarg- ing demand arising from the steadfast increase in number of home churches to be supplied, and in the expansion of the missionary work. In our rapidly developing nation, the home cause of itself requires a large, constant increase of ministers.
Confining our attention in this article to the “ Presbyterian Church of the United States of America,” as distinguished from other Presbyterian bodies, let us take the Minutes of its General Assembly for the current year as the basis of some estimates relating to the demand and supply of its ministry. So doing, we herein discover that during the past ecclesiastical year 85 ministers have died, and 27 have been dismissed to other denominations, while there has been an increase of 78 in the number of the churches. This creates the need for 190 new ministers, not taking into account now the question of any surplus number that may be already on hand. As an offset to this loss, we have, during the same period, ordinations, 137 ; ministers received from other churches, 53 ; in all, precisely 190, thus so far balancing these accounts. There is left, there- fore, as the deficiency for the year, exactly that number lost to the church by retirement to other duties, or to rest from active labors, and the increased requirement of new missionary fields during the year. This number of retiring clergymen is diffi- cult to estimate with any approximate accuracy from lack of proper data, but that it must be very considerable is shown by the fact, that fully one-fourth of our enrolled ministry is not en- gaged in direct supply of our churches, and that one-fifth of our churches now stand vacant.*
That there is a serious falling off in the proportionate supply of our ministry, the following comparison will show, as drawn from the Minutes of the following respective years:
|
1876. |
Ministers, 4,744 |
Churches, 5,077 |
Members, 535,210 |
|
1871. |
“ 4.- 346 |
“ 4,616 |
“ 455.378 |
|
Gain |
“ 398 |
“ 461 |
“ 79.832 |
|
Here we |
find that in |
five years there |
have been 63 more |
* By an accurate count in the Minutes of Assembly of 1875, it *s found that of 4.706 ministers, 1,153 are reckoned as either retired, teaching, acting as agents, off
136 Presbyterian Colleges, as Related to [Jan.
churches added than ministers, and, also, that while the general average at present yields about 112 communicants for each minister enrolled, the comparative increase of these five years has been but one minister to each 200 communicants. Taking into account, however, the fact already mentioned, that one- fourth of the ministry is out of the pulpit, it leaves the present average of one active minister to each 150 members. Thus we have a falling off in these five years in the supply of minis- ters of at least 25 per cent., or 5 per cent, per annum, in pro- portion to the increase of membership. If it be suggested that this is no serious loss, since it is remedied by the average in- crease of membership in each church, the reply is evident that this distribution of increase cannot go on very long, the churches “being, on the average, quite large enough for the strength of "the ministry now, and it will not do to depend upon it for any length of time, or otherwise than as a temporary expedient. The above result is also indicated by the valuable tables of comparative increase in churches and ministry in the last re- port of the Board of Education, wherein it is proved, that while the increase of membership for the past five years has been 7 per cent, per annum, the increase of the ministry for the same period has been but 2 per cent, per annum. The comparison of the tables for the last ten years yields a still greater disproportion, while as we run our eye still further back, comparing the growth of the church by decades, the steadfast decline of both ministry and membership is really alarming.
If we now turn to the direct means used for the supply of ministers, we find that our church has made liberal and efficient provision for the theological training of candidates, fully equal in all respects to the demand likely to be imposed upon her. We have eight theological seminaries in active operation. Of these the Pacific Seminary has as yet but very few students (seven last year), and in the absence of a printed catalogue, its data are beyond our reach, and have not been estimated or taken into our account at all.
supplies for churches in other connections . Beside these, many are designated as Evangelists, which seems now to be the popular phrase, of whom a goodly number are agents, or preach but rarely, and without regular appointments. Also, out of our 5,077 churches, the Minutes show 1,074 to be vacant in 1876.
1 877.] the Growth of Our Ministry. 137
The remaining seminaries report for the last year, as follows:
|
Union (N. Y. ) Professors and Teachers, 7 |
Students, |
142 |
|
|
Princeton “ |
“ 7 |
(i |
120 |
|
Allegheny “ |
“ 7 |
U |
85 |
|
Auburn |
“ 6 |
i< |
48 |
|
Lane “ |
“ 5 |
u |
38 |
|
Chicago “ |
“ 6 |
a |
24 |
|
Danville “ |
“ 4 |
u |
20 |
|
Total |
42 |
477 |
|
|
These figures show an average of about 1 1 |
students to each |
||
|
instructor. However, the |
first mentioned |
four seminaries |
|
|
having 27 teachers and 395 |
students, have nearly 15 |
students |
to each professor ; while the remaining three seminaries, with 15 teachers and 82 students, average but five and a half stu- dents to a professor.
It is aside from our present purpose or desire to comment on these figures, further than to say, that if the church lack candi- dates it is evidently not from want of sufficient provision under able and renowned professors, and with large endowments and means of pecuniary assistance in the theological schools. Twice the present number of students might be therein accommo- dated. But now, taking the number of students in these semi- naries, and dividing by three, which is the number of years in the seminary course of study, we have resulting a prospective yearly increase of candidates from this source of about 160. It is, however, to be considered, as will hereafter be illustrated, that a goodly proportion of these students are candidates of various other denominations, seeking here the superior educa- tional facilities offered by our schools, which fact seriously lessens the prospective proportion of candidates herefrom for our own supply. But, as already shown, the average annual number demanded by the wants of the church from other sources than that caused by retirement from active duties of the ministry is 190. This makes apparent the necessity of an increase for estimated demands of our churches, of certainly not less than 100, aud probably 150, ministers annually, of whom, if, as last year’s figures show, 50 came from other churches, we should have to satisfy the demand of no less than 100 more theological students annually. And this estimate is based upon the present rate of progress in our church without
138 Presbyterian Colleges, as Related to [Jan.
providing for that enlargement of her work, naturally to be ex- pected, and certainly to be prayed for and looked for in her present position.
Now the grave question inevitably arises, whence are we to reasonably expect this increase, imperatively required to meet the demand which is now steadfast, and that will constantly grow more pressing in its necessity year by year, unless the church decline ?
It is a legal requirement of our system, and according to our time-honored custom and inherited principles, that candidates should be prepared, before entering upon their theological training, by a thorough collegiate course, or its full equivalent. It is, therefore, both lawful and expedient to inquire what our church has been doing meanwhile, and what she is now doing, to prepare educated material for her theological schools, by establishing, or fostering, an adequate system of collegiate train- ing preparatory to these technical schools of theology. The answer is as evident as it is damaging, and may reveal, in large part, the secret of this growing insufficiency of candidates. It is a fact that this most important matter has been largely left to provide for itself, in the hands of private educational cor- porations, often representing her interests, indeed, but very feebly aided by the direct agency and efforts, and, alas ! often not encouraged by the sympathies of the church itself. There are a few of these noble collegiate institutions that, through a struggle for many years, a struggle, often, for bare existence, have done most of this preliminary work ; but one or two of which have been able to attain, in long years, the rank and power absolutely needed for the demand the church has ever made upon them. The sacrifice has mainly fallen upon a few self-sacrificing instructors, who have devoted their lives, and not unfrequently, besides, their individual means, to the bear- ing of burdens that justly belonged to the church they were serving.
Now, it is a growing conviction among many of the thought- ful and far-seeing ministers and members of the church, that she has failed, and is failing, just at this point, and that she is suffering, and must suffer more in the future, because of this failure. They feel, that before she can secure to herself such an educated ministry, as she must needs have to insure success
J 877.] the Growth of Our Ministry. 139
in her labors, she must, as a church, extend her educational work further down toward youth, and lay hold with energy and enthusiasm upon the system of collegiate training. In other words, for the sake of her theological schools, and her coming ministry, not to mention the expanding need of an educated Presbyterian laity in this day of increasing lay effort, the church herself should do for the colleges, also, what has been recognized and performed as bounden duty in the case of theological training. For while we have been in large part neglecting this sphere of work altogether, except in a few special and partial instances, other and rival interests have been quietly assuming control of collegiate training, and turn- ing its practical influence and products into other channels than the supply of the ministry.
A careful analysis of the various colleges whence students come to our theological seminaries will yield abundant light on this subject. Fortunately, the annual catalogues of these sem- inaries, for 1875-76, furnish us with carefully prepared tables that afford the information desired. There were, as we have already seen, 477 students in these seminaries last year, of whom ten are enrolled as post-graduates, whose colleges are not named, and who, therefore, are necessarily omitted in our count. With regard to the remaining 467 students, an exact collation of the catalogues yields the following results : There are 13 colleges represented in these lists, that are enrolled as “ Presbyterian ” in Johnson's Universal Cyclopcedia , which is supposed to be the most recent and accurate authority on this point, and in which it is inferred, on substantial grounds, that the authorities of the colleges themselves have been consulted as to the statement of their denominational connections, since the special accounts of these colleges in this Cyclopaedia have been avowedly prepared, in most cases, by some official con- nected therewith. That no injustice may be done to any, we have faithfully followed, in every case, this authority of the Cyclopaedia, which is also confirmed by the Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Education. These 13 colleges labeled 44 Presbyterian,” furnish the following number of theological students for the year 1875-76, arranged in the order of their comparative numbers: Princeton College, 64 ; Hamilton, 28 ; Washington and Jefferson, 26 ; Wooster, 24 ; Lafayette, 23 ;
140 Presbyterian Colleges , as Related to [Jan.
Hanover, 20; Wabash, 18 ; Maryville, 13 ; Blackburn, 4; Westminster (Mo.), 3 ; Center, 3 ; Highland, 2 ; Lincoln, 2 — total, 230 students. Thus, colleges reckoned as Presbyterian furnish but 230 of 467 students therein — a little less than half the number — leaving 237 to come from other quarters. Of this remainder a few are enrolled as from high-school, school, col- legiate institute, academy, normal school, and naval academy, not having had any proper collegiate[training whatever ; while a goodly number of those from colleges named are not enrolled as graduates, but as having been in partial attendance upon their course ; both of which facts deserve the earnest attention of the church, and especially of the Presbyteries, in view of Form of Government , chap, xiv: sec. 3.*
Of those students from colleges not enrolled as “ Presby- terian,” the following list shows those institutions represented by numbers of four or upward: Amherst (Cong.) 18; Yale (Cong.) 12 ; Westminster, Pa. (U. P.) 12; Williams (Cong.) 9 ; Marietta (Undenom.) 9 ; Union (Under.om.) 8 ; Western Re- serve (Undenom.) 8; Oberlin (Cong.) 7 ; Dartmouth (Cong.) 6: Rochester (Bap.) 5; Dalhousie 5; and the following by four each: Allegheny (Meth.), Franklin (P. and U. P.), Mon- mouth (U. P.), Muskingum (Undenom.), Rutgers (Ref.), Knox (Cong.), Michigan Univ. (State), Univ. of Penn. (Undenom.), and Waynesburg (Cumb. Pres.) These twenty colleges furnish 135 students, leaving the remainder of 102 students either non- collegiates, or scattered among forty-five other colleges men- tioned, among which, it may be stated, incidentally, for subse- quent use, but eight State universities are named, which give sixteen students in all, an average of two students for the ministry for each State university ; while of the larger secular institutions, Cornell gives two, and Harvard but ONE. Now, of these, about sixty students are from Congregational colleges, and twenty others from institutions in which Pres- byterians have a partial interest, while the Reserves, such as Marietta and Western Colleges, of nearly all the other de- nominations, are represented. This last fact has an important
* “And it is recommended that the candidate (for licensure) be also required to produce a diploma of Bachelor or Master of Arts, from some college or university ; or, at least, authentic testimonials of his having gone through a regular course of learning.”
1877-]
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bearing on the previous estimate, made to show our delin- quency of candidates ; since, judging by the denomination of the colleges attended, oyie-third of the students would belong to other branches of the church. This, however, is too large an estimate, considering the fact that Presbyterian students do not unfrequently attend other denominational schools. An estimate of one-fifth of our theological students belonging to other denominations, is certainly within reasonable inference. Nor is this difference remedied by Presbyterian students in theological seminaries of other denominations. This tedious, but accurate collation of figures must assuredly fix the at- tention of every thoughtful and earnest member of our church upon the startling fact of the utter and lamentable inadequacy of collegiate institutions under our own control, or even in- fluence, as related merely to the wants of the rising ministry.
It is also not impossible that this promiscuous training of half our ministry during their collegiate education, in sixty- five (!) non-Presbyterian institutions, may have something to do with the intimation not unfrequently heard as to the character of the coming ministry, and its relative efficiency and power as compared with that of former days ; and may further assist in accounting for both the large number of vacant churches, and of unoccupied ministers.
When, however, we enlarge our view, and take into account the necessity of a laity thoroughly trained under Presbyterian influences, and the bias almost certainly given to students, and impressing them for life, by the special religious and denom- inational influences of the colleges they attend, surely no one who loves our branch of the church, and has hopes for her permanence as a body of believers, can remain unimpressed with the disastrous lack of Presbyterian collegiate education.
Let us now consider some important facts bearing upon this subject, holding the coming ministry especially in view ; and, afterward, inquire as to some possible modes of remedy for the evil.
First. — In the first place, it is hardly necessary to do more than mention the absorbing interest taken in the cause of collegiate education by the fathers in our church, and their indefatigable and zealous labors to secure the establishment of such institutions under their own immediate control. We
142
Presbyterian Colleges , as Related to [Jan.
might, indeed, go back to Geneva, and to Scotland, and to the Reformed Churches of the Continent generally, and show how their position in conflict with spiritual powers that held the means and instruments of education, so far as they existed at all, in their hands, opened before the Reformers, as a prime necessity of self-existence, and of ecclesiastical succession, the establishment of such institutions as would prove promotive of the Reformed principles, and under their own direction ; and, undoubtedly, under a similar pressure from the Established Church, and having the critical position and wise example of the Reformers before their eyes, did our American fathers awaken to their need of the defensive and protective power of colleges in which men after their own heart and mind might be trained. We have reaped the fruit of their far-seeing wisdom in this respect, and, in so doing, we should consider what our ecclesiastical descendants, in turn, may require at our hands. This statement, thus made, does not need verification to those who have even the slightest familiarity with the early history of American collegiate effort. Before the middle of the last century, and when the first synod of our church numbered but fifty ministers, direct action was begun, and a school of an academical character, as preparatory to higher effort, was definitely established, to teach “ languages, philos- ophy, and divinity.” And this action was subsequent to the establishment of the Log College of Tennent, and of other schools holding a real though informal relation to the synod, as its records abundantly show. The connection of this synod subsequently with Princeton College is well known, and though, for State reasons, it was not formally recognized, yet, the sending by the synod of Gilbert Tennent and Samuel Davis abroad as agents in its behalf, and the address issued and sent by their hands to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, with the generous response of the National Col- lection ordered by the Scottish Assembly, amounting to $12,000, together with repeated ordering of collections in all the congregations of the synod for it, abundantly expound the relations existing between the synod and the college, which has also been illustrated in all their subsequent history. In those days, synod and presbytery, and in due time the as- sembly, in various forms and modes, all took direct action,
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1877-]
looking to the establishment and maintenance of Presby- terian colleges. In Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, North and South Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and else- where, such efforts were countenanced and encouraged. In- deed, there seemed to be but one spirit in the church on this subject, down to a recent period, and the ablest pens of our ministry have devoted their highest eloquence to the main- tenance of these views. Perhaps it is owing to the many failures in these efforts, from causes usually wholly beyond the control of the church and its courts, that the zeal of the church herein has grown slack, and the sentiments so ardently advocated have been permitted to find a temporary repose.
But these views, inherited from the Reformers and pressed into activity by the demands of their own times, are no less true and no less important in these present days. And we may, hereafter, attempt to show that the nature of the times calls most loudly for their resurrection and enforcement, and that the difficulties that interposed for their temporary abate- ment do now no longer exist. If the fathers were wise in these opinions, it certainly behooves the church to re-examine them, and inquire whether certain evils, that are likely to befall her interests, may not be traced to the modern neglect of a subject deemed formerly so essential to her life.
Second. — Attention should also be further directed to the fact, that other Christian denominations are evidently impressed with the extreme importance of these views, and have taken action accordingly in the foundation of institutions that repre- sent and propagate their own doctrinal opinions. The zeal and activity of some of these sister churches, resulting to their vast advantage, should afford us a stimulus for re-awakened ex- ertion, while the comparative decline of others who have ne- glected them should prove a warning, lest we fall under the same condemnation. We may instance the American Metho- dist Church, whose growth and power have advanced to a de- gree parallel with the expansion of their educational efforts, and who now stand in the forefront in the advocacy of the cause of especial education for their own ecclesiastical develop- ment. And statistics might be offered to prove, beyond a cavil, that both the ministry and the laity of our church have suffered seriously from the influences thus brought to bear upon our
144
Presbyterian Colleges , as Related to
[Jan.
own youth who have been subjected to the educational direc- tion of other denominational institutions. The only consola- tion is, that our loss has been their gain, and that the general cause of Christ has not suffered as it might, had these students been given over to the formative power of purely secular edu- cation.
We may, indeed, learn some valuable lessons in this respect from the Romish Communion, and its unswerving maintenance of the necessity of education under its own control. Fas est ab hoste doceri. For without trenching upon the discussion of the relation of the church to the secular schools, this much will appear evident, that the Church of Rome is right from its standpoint, and only provides for its own safety by insisting upon holding the higher, not to speak of the lower, education of its youth in its own hands. What now appears as an urgent requirement for its self-preservation, may ere long impress itself upon the Protestant churches as an equal necessity for their existence, in these days of the boasting advocacy of so-called scientific opposition to the truth in many educational quarters, and in schools and colleges utterly beyond church control. This secret of the power of Rome and her great gains in many quarters through her educational organizations, so often patron- ized by Protestants, may admonish us to be warned in time, while the popular growth of skeptical views largely among our youth, and mainly advanced through irreligious or non-relig- ious educational agencies, should fix our attention upon facts and prospects, and guard us against disasters, whose approach is portended not only by hostile, but by friendly voices.
Third. — The peril in which our church is placing herself by neglecting direct collegiate education is to be found, not as in some former times, in the state of general ignorance that might result, at least in part, from such neglect. But the danger now is, that the rising generation may be very thoroughly instructed under influences alien, if not positively hostile to the spread of evangelical piety. Since the leaders of our church have ceased to take a prominent and persistent position on this subject — that is, within the last few years, there has been a steadily and rapidily advancing spirit of education laying hold of our Amer- can youth. The development of the popular influence of our public schools, through their increasing thoroughness and sci-
1 877.]
the Growth of Our Ministry.
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entific management in the last score of years, is something really remarkable. New and systematic methods, organized and trained teachers, lavish means of support, and adequate buildings and apparatus, have increased their efficiency ten- fold. Well nigh all the children of the land have been drawn into these schools, and their courses of study have been grad- ually advanced until many of them land their pupils, moderately well prepared on the average, at the doors of the college course The subject of compulsory education is also now seriously dis- cussed. Meanwhile, much of the religious education formerly gained for such of them as were of pious parentage, by a cer- tain proportion of home education, and more largely by private schools and academies under avowedly religious teachers, is now almost entirely lost. For the average religious influence of State schools cannot rise, in the nature of the case, above the same influence in the State itself. Even were the reading of the Scriptures and opening prayer permitted — which are not every where allowed — these exercises must necessarily be but formal and general in their religious impression, to suit the views of everybody’s children who attend. Thus the educa- tional power of the primary schools has grown to be well nigh universal in the land with a religious influence necessarily infini- tesimal ; and the church has already lost, and probably irre- deemably lost, much in this respect that it formerly held. Also, growing out of this primary education is the growing tendency of the State to enter into contest for the control of the higher education afforded by colleges and all institutions preparatory to professional or purely technical training. In the East gen- erally, where colleges have been taking root fora century past, and where many of them have become fortified in financial means and influence and in public favor, this encroachment of State education does not seem so alarming. But in the West- ern States and in some parts of the East, not thoroughly fur- nished with collegiate advantages, the State colleges are rapidly rising into a power that endangers the very existence of all de- nominational or independent institutions. The vast advan- tage of State funds upon which to fall back for support renders their success unquestionable, allowing necessary time for growth and experience in work. There are State institutions West of the Mississippi whose annual income fully equals $30,000, be-
146 Presbyterian Colleges , as Related to [Jan.
sides large annual appropriations. Looking upon this subject purely in the light of popular education, the rise and growth of these universities may be matters of public congratulation. But, considering the question as purely secular, as distinguished from religious education in the colleges, and the results likely to flow to religion in the land from the grasp of the State laid upon higher education, we do most earnestly feel and contend that the result will logically and necessarily be that the church will thereby become largely shorn of the power that comes through the direction of the education of her youth, and more especially as related to the furnishing of her future ministry. We are aware that we are touching upon delicate ground, and we feel it necessary to express our respect for the general management of these State institutions thus far in their history. But we invoke the candid and foreseeing consideration of religious men to the results likely and, as we believe, inevitably to flow from the wide prevalence of this system. It is admitted that there may be, and that there are, in some, or in all, of these institutions, individual professors who are godly men, and who, from their respective chairs of lan- guages, science, and philosophy, may exert a positive religious influence upon the students under their control. And the gen- eral impression of such institutions may be, for a time, in a positively religious direction. But certain other facts are also to be considered, as follows : First, from the fact of their con- trol by the State, such colleges cannot be made sure for such a position, because they belong to the people, and are under the direction of the Legislatures, and, as every one knows, these can- not be controlled and permanently held in any religious direc- tion. The same conditions will insure that they eventually follow in the same direction with the public schools of lower grade.
Fourth. — It is beyond dispute, and, therefore it is not invidi- ous to mention, that in many of their chairs there are, and that in any of them there are likely to be placed, professors who are thoroughly imbued with the modern spirit of opposition to religion, which claims support from science, or, at least, to or- thodox views of religion. For it is a boast openly made, that clergymen are, and should be, shut out from these chairs, as in the days of Julian, even where their qualifications may be
1 877.] the Growth of Our Ministry. 14 j
equal to those of others, and that these institutions are to be kept free from any teachers who may impart a denominational or religious bias. And so, perhaps, it should be. But all direct religious influence is necessarily denominational to this extent, that all religious people belong to one or other of the denomi- nations ; and the hue and cry raised against denominationalism is made simply as the most popular appeal by which to oppose religious influence of all kinds in education. Now, as these State institutions succeed in possessing the control of higher education, do they deprive the church, in the same degree, of the influence of education for its own benefit, and obtained by such control. What colleges the church has are compelled to struggle all the more desperately for existence under the rivalry, if not with the aroused opposition, of the State insti- tutions. The question that results therefore, is this — whether the church can succeed, as she might and ought, provided, ultimately, the higher education passes out of her hands into that of the State. We have already seen what were the views of the Fathers upon this subject, growing out of their experi- ence of the control of higher education by powers not in sym- pathy with the church. And while these State universities have large and constantly increasing attendance, and among them sons of our ministers, and graduates numbered annually by hundreds, the statistics of the seminaries, already considered in this article, show the relatively small proportion of candi- dates for the ministry furnished from their walls — there being but eight of them represented in the seminaries, with an aver- age of but two students from each institution, and sixteen in all. Looking now at the necessity of a supply, and especially of an increase, of candidates for the ministry who must come through college halls, the importance of securing institutions under church control, in view of the failure of these State insti- tutions to do this work, would seem to be most urgent. And the question, whether the passing of collegiate control from the church to the State has not much to do with the compara- tive decrease in candidates, is one demanding most serious examination. Leaving the State her institutions for her public uses, can the church neglect to establish and maintain her own institutions for her own use without prospect of serious peril ?
Fifth. — As the counterpart of the last consideration,
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which we have endeavored to present as mildly as the circum- stances of the case permit, there arises the estimate of the value of institutions under church influence, direct or indirect, to the advancement of the church, and especially to the supply of the ministry. And surely the historical argument here should be decisive without any protracted elaboration. Every- one who knows anything whatever about the subject, under- stands the vast religious power exercised in these church col- leges upon all the youth educated therein. This power arises, first, from the presence of men of positive religious views in the several chairs, who, in the presentation of every subject, bring to bear the arguments for religion belonging to the range of that study. There is scarcely a branch taught in any de- partment of higher education that may not be made, that is not made, consciously or unconsciously, by the professor thereof, either subversive or confirmatory of religion. Moreover, the religious character and avowed opinions of the professor create deep and abiding influence upon his pupils. And a teacher, even by incidental comment, or a sneer, and by the general tone of his instructions, without positive and openly ex- pressed bias, will seriously affect the views of the youth in his department. Young men at the period of college education are learning to inquire for themselves into all questions, and religion with the rest. The age of inquiry is the age of natural skepticism, which is well nigh certain to affect every young mind at the point where it begins to think for itself. Inquiring too often begins with displacing the presumption of the truth of religion as the basis of exam- ination. If the doctrine of the natural depravity of the human mind and heart, and that man has lost the image of God in knowledge, be true, it follows that the presumption naturally leans in the direction of the rejection of religion. And the youth, from this standpoint, demands that the truth of religion be demonstrated, contrary to the bent of his natural feelings. This is, then, a very dangerous period in life, and one that de- mands incessant and positive religious influences everpresent, in every department of training, as a safeguard against the dan- gers of skepticism and the natural unbelief of the human heart.
The general tone and impression of religious society among students is also a very essential factor in the safeguard of col-
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legiate education. Youth run in flocks, and where the public opinion is not vigilantly guarded and directed toward religious belief, the rush of the multitude, the force of public opinion, is a very serious danger to all subjected to its control. And then, again, the great gain made to religious ranks, both in laity and for the clergy, by those revivals of religion that so frequently appear in religious colleges, is universally conceded. There is not a college connected with our church from whose classes year after year there have not gone forth into the ministry young men who were converted within its walls, and whose attention and intention have been therein directed toward this sacred sphere of toil. Many of the brightest lights in the church, and many of its most efficient servants in all fields of her work, at home and abroad, acknowledge the direction thus given to their lives by the specific power of the college revival, and of the college influence when revivals have not appeared. Many of these ministers have been drawn from outer circles not religious, or from other denominations, and have proved a direct gain, which would not have been made but for the control of the college over their spiritual lives. Now the practical question arises, whether colleges not under religious control have done, or can do, this work for the church ; and whether the church can endure to leave this kind of work undone. Be it also noted in this connection, that the revivals of religion, so extensive in our religious colleges during the past winter, did not extend, to any appreciable extent, among institutions under secular or non-religious direction ; and the material increase of students for the ministry already in our theological seminaries in the present year, of itself, bears ample testimony to the correctness of these views.
Sixth — Another thought, bearing upon the increase of our candidates for the ministry, deserves attention. Connected with the more extensive education of youth in the land, and largely springing from it, is the increase of spheres for the employment of educated talent. The old limitation of the educated to the three leading professions, law, medicine, and theology, has passed away. New fields have been added quite as broad, influential, and to many far more attractive than these. The press, with the various literary occupations con- nected therewith, demands annually quite as many laborers New Series, No. 21. 10
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as were formerly required for the three learned professions. Scientific occupations have opened in every direction, with amorous charms for the young and ambitious mind. Art has increased her spheres a hundred-fold. The building of rail- roads, architecture, and the working of the metals, annually demand thousands for their service. Politics have grown into a profession largely followed ; every form of manufacture and trade now invoke the aid of educated mind, as never before in the history of the world. The profession of the teacher is calling to our young men from ten thousand school-houses,, even in the farthest regions of the West, while the law and medicine need their representatives in every hamlet from Maine to Oregon. The whole world meanwhile is open to missionary labor, and our home fields are but sparsely scat- tered over with those who carry the glad tidings of salvation. Now whence, amidst all these various calls, are the Christian fields to be supplied with sufficient laborers? The attractions of the other callings are growing every year more fascinating, as these callings are becoming more profitable, and offering increasing opportunities to ambition and love of fame and power. That the ministry suffers very seriously in the loss of the best talent formerly devoted to its service, by the ri- valry of these new occupations, any one may see, and the church has already felt the loss. There is also need for renewed and utmost diligence on the part of the church, to increase and strengthen every influence by which our young men may be drawn back, against these rival forces, to her ranks. And where does the secret of her practical power in this respect lie, but in giving herself with a new and great awakening to the necessity of striking early in life, and beginning to train youth for her own heavenly uses, in the stage of collegiate education, during which the young usually decide upon their course in life ?
Seventh. — Nor do we dare omit reference to that alien spirit of the age which has reared its head aloft with so much audacity and determination in this latter time, challenging the power of the church, and defying her on every hand, to self- defense. There never has been a valuable scientific discovery, nor any seeming advance in knowledge, that has not been in- stantly seized by the enemies of religion, and urged on some
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pretext against the fundamental positions of the church. The warfare has usually been begun by the boastful declaration, that now the church will be put to her utmost strength to save herself from overthrow, and her downfall has been triumphantly proclaimed in advance. This exultation of anticipated victory carries with it the popular phrenzy, and often weakens the confidence even of believers themselves. The past is repeat* ing itself, in this respect, in the present, and it has taken into alliance with itself all the power of the modern scientific dis- covery it can seduce or torture into its service ; while modern popular philosophy, in its strongholds, is avowedly its guardian and high authority. The science of nature, and the science of the human mind, including the new science of society, have struck hands in an appeal to the widely educated mind of the century for the overthrow of religion, as a superstition of the past. The fickle, but powerful, spirit of the age is in danger of yielding ready submission to this organized combination, and the church has already a terrible conflict on her hands. Without dread as to the ultimate result, the church must .yet see and feel that for this battle she must have a ministry fortified in the faith, and widely instructed in science. The well-nigh universal hold which the press has gained upon the public mind, both through the volume and the newspaper, avails to scatter the knowledge of evil as well as good, and to instruct all reading minds everywhere, both in the discoveries of science, and in the influences thence drawn by hostile minds against the positions of Christianity. The pulpit is no longer the only nor the main channel for the publication of opinions upon religion. And the minister preaches on the Sabbath, even in remote districts, to an audience daily fed on religious themes by other teachers, and often by those holding views contrary to his own, of science, philosophy, and religion. It follows, therefore, that the ministry of the present and future must be one versed, at least, as well as are the people upon all themes bearing upon the defence of religion, and upon the phases of its conflict with all other departments of knowledge.
These things are widely reflected upon, and often written about. But they bear with peculiar force upon the position herein defended, that such a ministry as the times demand is not likely to be forthcoming, if the church continue to rely
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upon secular collegiate institutions, for the supply of a min- istry to be educated along the line of her necessary defence. It is a mistake common to many of our most thoughtful and penetrating minds, if it be a mistake, that the church is already seriously suffering in her highest interests from her remissness in planting and sustaining colleges for her own young men, wherein they may be trained with rigid exactness and ex- haustive thoroughness, in those fundamental principles that enter into this modern phase of the contest with unbelief, and in which they may be saved to the ranks of her learned de- fenders. The enemies of religion have grasped much of this influence, and in many institutions of this land, abundantly patronized by Christian parents, their sons are being indoc- trinated, with great subtlety, in the new views, which, beginning with scientific and philosophic skepticism, lead on to practical infidelity and ruin ; and by these means, which the church seems slow to employ, her own sons are being seduced to the ranks of those who are proving themselves her most dangerous adversaries.
Eighth. — It is worth while to mention, if not to elaborate, the most popular argument urged against Christian colleges, and pressed with especial fervor by the leaders in the ranks of secular education. Assuming the position of friends of gen- uine religion and a pure Christianity, they display their zeal in behalf of the church by avowing themselves the particular champions of her unity, and the baptized defenders of her con- solidation as against sectarian divisions. One could think, to hear them argue, that denominationalism were the highest phase of apostasy, worse than skepticism, worse than atheism — even the betrayal of Christ by his own people. In their eyes, denominational colleges are the crying evil of the day, since they tend to keep alive sectarianism and to postpone the day of consolidated unity. It is apparent to every penetrating ob- server that such theorists have mounted this hobby merely for the purpose of advancing their own particular schemes of edu- cation. But in this age of sincere, loving desire for unity, and for organic union among God’s people, the dogmatism of these teachers and their followers affects many truly devout persons even of our branch of the church, and renders them cautious in their support of their own church institutions. We need
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only pause to show that this outcry against sects and sectarian institutions is pure and silly sentimentalism, unpractical and inpr acticable sensationalism. The existence of denominations representing different phases of interpretation of the meaning of the Scriptures, in the statement of its doctrinal truths, does by no means imply or necessitate mutual hostility or even enmity between these various branches of the church. Through their instrumentality and the power of their various organiza- tions, all classes of people and nearly all nations have been reached by the gospel. We doubt whether as much could have been accomplished for Christianity by any other system of propagation. The mingling of all branches of the church into one heterogeneous mass, while their conscientious views differ as to leading truths of the gospel, would be folly, as ab- surd as destructive. And to compel or persuade all Christians to the same religious convictions, while they remain in an un- sanctified condition, is an Utopian dream, possible only to the most visionary theorists. What is needed is not organic union, but spiritual unity. Experience also shows that the more zeal- ous each Christian is in promoting his own especial theories of work, the more effectually does the general cause of pure re- ligion advance. The entrance of coldness and want of zeal into any denomination opens the door to liberalism and consequent feebleness in pressing on the gospel. And the catholic spirit is invariably found to be broadest among those who maintain the greatest activity in their particular spheres of Christian toil. But looking at the matter in the only possible, practical light, we see that the various denominations do exist and are certain to endure for a considerable time to come. What then shall be done in the church meanwhile, before the boasted day of absolute unity arrives ? Shall each denomination cease its in- dividual efforts, surrender its particular schemes of activity, and fall in with any general current that may chance to sweep it away ? As for ourselves, so long as we have a Presbyterian organization, no necessity would seem more imperative than that of urgently maintaining in full power and efficiency all our own methods of self-support and advancement. And until, as a denomination, we are prepared for surrender or death, it would be egregious folly for us to listen to the syren voices of those enthusiasts who decry denominationalism and invoke us
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by their delusive songs to the strait betwixt the shoals of lib- eralism on the one hand, and the whirlpool of absolutism on the other. If such enemies, whom we believe to be the most dangerous foes of the true spiritual unity of the church, can persuade us to abandon the only efficient means by which our ministry, and consequently our branch of the Lord’s Zion, can be maintained, they will gain an easy victory for their heresies, and strike a serious blow at the cause of Christ itself. How much of the apathy of the church as to her own educa- tional organizations may have sprung from the wide-spread diffusion of these liberal notions of church unity we cannot tell, but that such views naturally would produce precisely such an effect, and that they have been most zealously advocated in the ears of our people, we all do know.
And this fact is especially patent as relating to our collegiate system. For while there is no question as to the vital impor- tance of pure religious family training that precedes the col- lege course, or as to the same necessity for denominational theological training for the ministry that follows the college work, the no less important duty in regard to the collegiate education that intervenes, seems to have fallen into disrepute and largely into neglect. That many earnest efforts formerly organized have failed, for various reasons, has undoubtedly caused the loss of heart therein. But the change of the senti- ment of the times as to education in general, and especially the awakening of zeal in the endowment of educational schemes, show that the former causes of failure may now be largely remedied, and that the church may press on her collegiate sys- tem to success, if she will but apply her energies to the in- viting task.
It only remains to consider what practical means may be employed for the reorganization of this system of collegiate instruction, and its future efficient administration. The first appeal must evidently be made to the educated ministry and laity of our church, who should carefully consider the vital bearing of this subject upon the coming life and energy of our own church organization. This is a call for personal activity and influence in support of our own organized colleges, and for the establishment of new colleges, where the future may reasonably seem to demand their existence. The ministry,
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from the pulpit, and in private, should bring their whole in- fluence to bear in encouraging Presbyterian parents to shun the dangers of educating their children in other schools, and to send them where they know every lawful power will be brought to bear to save them to our own faith, and to our own church organizations. Parents need not only instruction but example here. And the sons of our ministers, from whom our ministerial ranks are so largely recruited, should be sent con- scientiously to our own schools, in preference to all others, despite convenience of location, and other comparatively trivial advantages. That our own institutions accomplish this train- ing quite as efficiently and successfully, will be conceded by those who take sufficient pains to examine. The laity of our church, who believe in her divine calling to an especial mission among men for Jesus Christ, should also be awakened, not only to encourage and support our own colleges, but to contribute liberally of their means for their endowment. If our laity were as keenly alive to our own interests, as are those of many other denominations, there would be comparatively little diffi- culty in the support of our colleges. For Presbyterians are notably an educating church, as we have ever been, and we need only to preserve our own forces within ourselves, to en- sure eminent prosperity. And we have reason to know that our own sons are urgently and systematically spirited away by exaggerated representations to other schools, even of other denominations.
That our synods and presbyteries should likewise enter with revived zeal into this cause is also apparent. The power of their approval and support is one of the strongest aids that can be rendered, and is eagerly sought in many quarters by schools whose influence is not directly to our advantage, to say the least. That their active sympathy and approval should be withheld from others, where thereby a disadvantage falls upon our own colleges, is evidently the first step. After that the discussion may fairly be opened as to what measures may be taken that will best elevate and strengthen those institutions that represent their own principles, and furnish candidates for their own ministry. The influence of local jealousies that have often proved so disastrous, and the partiality of ministers for their own alma maters, often distant from their present fields
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of labor, should be considerately repressed, and, with one heart and mind, all should unite for the maintenance of the institu- tions most directly advantageous to their own Presbyterial or Synodical interests. We feel that such counsel is not only wise, but absolutely essential to our church extension, and that it needs to be openly expressed, and considered carefully, in these times of the pressure of many-sided education upon the people at large. The Presbyteries might likewise direct candi- dates for the ministry to our own schools.
But, rising to a still higher point of view, we are led to in- quire what may our church do through her general agencies, for the spread of the gospel, in the advancement of this cause. This brings us to the discussion of a question of considerable delicacy, and which is approached with much hesitancy, after long and serious deliberation. Our church has organized certain general schemes for the direction of particular spheres of church activity, and has committed the same to Boards, appointed to the control of these several departments. Among these, is this vast educational field, with its Board of Educa- tion. It is fair to inquire, in a friendly and thoroughly loyal spirit, laying aside all tendency to mere criticism, what this Board is doing, and what it may lawfully do, for the encourage- ment and maintenance of our colleges. It becomes necessary, at this point, to revert to the past. In what may be termed the palmy days of the educational work, under Assembly di- rection, when Van Rensselaer and Chester on the one side, and Thornton A. Mills on the other, gave their enthusiasm, and well-nigh their lives, to its promotion, the cause of de- nominational education was constantly and eloquently advo- cated throughout the bounds of the church, both by the secre- taries themselves, and by the great masters in Israel, sum- moned to their aid. Both the Reviews, of which this Review is the successor, bear abundant testimony in their pages to the efficiency of these efforts. The “Home, School, and the Church,” an annual magazine, edited by the able and zealous Secretary, Van Rensselaer, was conducted through ten volumes with great power, and furnishes well nigh 2,000 pages, containing about 200 articles bearing directly upon our own church educational schemes. The address of the leading educators were therein carefully collected, and published to the church.
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among them the various exhaustive discussions of the editor himself, presented previously in person before various Synods and Presbyteries and educational institutions. These volumes form, without exception, the most valuable repository of in- formation and argument, on this subject, to be found in this country. The General Assembly was itself encouraged and rallied every year to zeal in this cause; many institutions were organized, and others were lifted up to conditions of temporary efficiency. Had the work been pressed on to the present, in the same spirit and power, there would be less need of the argument and plea here presented. In those days, the secre- taries visited the various institutions, in person, as required by the constitution of the Board, wrought among the teachers and youth, awoke a lively spirit in all hearts toward this cause, as well as toward that of personal religion, and gained many valuable accessions to the ministry, not a few of whom are now in active labor in our ranks. The course of education stood well-nigh abreast with those of Home and Foreign Missions,, and the annual pleas made to the church in its behalf, pre- sented the highest arguments, and rang with electric appeals, that the church could not resist, showing “that the educational institutions of the church have ever constituted a part of her true glory and power, from primitive times, through the Reformation, down to the present period.”
In addition to this advocacy of the claims of this cause, plans were organized for the raising of funds, through this agency, to support such institutions as needed immediate assist- ance. And while no effort was made to raise permanent funds for endowment, in one branch of the church at least, grants were annually voted to aid professors and teachers in such in- stitutions to reimburse them for their expenses in the educa- tion of candidates for the ministry, while collections were taken in the churches for the securing of funds to be thus used. Scholarships were also founded in various institutions through the agency of the Board and as authorized by the Assembly. Thus, for example, we have the action of the Assembly (O. S.) as follows :
1848. “ Resolved , That colleges, as an integral part, and in their widespread relations to the best interests of society, a vitally important part, of a complete system of Christian edu-
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cation, demand the fostering care of the church, and that the Board of Education be, and hereby is, authorized to assist in the promotion of the cause of collegiate education by means of any funds that may be given for that purpose.”
1851. “ It is recommended to our churches and members to assist, as far as possible, in the endowment of our colleges, and to co-operate with the Board of Education in sustaining them during the interval for which they may need aid.” — Baird's Digest , p. 41 1.
The protracted alliance of the other branch of the church with the American Education Society, or its branches, and the more recent organization of its own committee of education by its General Assembly, insured large success to this cause in that field. And the enthusiasm awakened, and the generous offerings made in its support, need no comment. Suffice it to say that the whole Presbyterian Church was thoroughly aroused to the importance of constant and active exertion in its behalf, and that its growth in both branches was steadfast, exceedingly profitable to the church, and beneficial to the ministry. We have the authority of the present administration of the Board of Education for saying, that a careful examination of the Minutes of Assembly for the present year shows that out of 4,744 ministers enrolled, 1,853 — about one-third of the number — have been aided by the Boards of our church, as constituted before and since re-union. If we add to these those who were assisted by local organizations in the late N. S. branch before 1S62, when the Assembly’s committee was organized, the pro- portion will be greatly increased.
In turning to consider the condition of this work in our re- united church, a candid statement reveals the fact, that the pleas and appeals to the church, except as to the general work of the promotion of revivals of religion, which is the remote and indi- rect mode of advancing this cause of education, have fallen into comparative desuetude ; that the visits of the representatives of this cause to our educational institutions have well nigh ceased ; that collections are no longer made in the churches for aid of the academies and colleges ; that all popular enthusiasm in the church on the subject has expired ; that the work of this Board has fallen into an humble and subsidiary place beside the other great agencies for the spread of the Gospel ; and that no zeal
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is enkindled in the Assembly in its behalf. And all this has come to pass while education in society and in the State has awakened more and more the popular enthusiasm, and has ad- vanced with liberal expenditures and rapid strides. And we state the literal fact when we assert, that the sphere of this Board has been reduced well-nigh to the single agency whereby food and clothing are doled out to a moderate number of can- didates for the ministry every year. Meanwhile, many in the church have grown incredulous as to the propriety of even this much effort and expenditure ; influential organs of the press have called in question the necessity and propriety of the ex- istence of the board ; for which, and other reasons, it has been steadily losing popular favor, and the comparatively small sum needed for its meagre and recently reduced appropriations is with difficulty obtained. Instead of assisting the colleges in the support of the young men who are passing through their course, the Board does nothing in this direction whatever, all its funds being needed for their temporal necessities. Every one of our colleges in which candidates are educated has to expend annually, in furnishing free tuition to the candidates under the care of the Board, fully as much money as the Board gives these students for the supply of their material wants — estimating by the proportionate expense for the education of each pupil. The college takes care of his brains, and the Board takes care of his body only. Whether or not the colleges should be required to bear this burden alone, year in and year out, without any remuneration from the church therefor, is a question that it would not seem difficult for justice to answer. When the Board has the annual collections of the church to fall back upon, and the colleges, especially in the West, wherein so many of our candidates are educated, have only the narrow income from very insufficient endowments upon which to draw, it would seem but right that the church should at least lift this burden of expenditure in her own behalf from the backs of the colleges, through the agency of her educational administra- tion.
Thus the broader and wider sphere of increased usefulness may be re-opened to the Board, whereby it may enlarge its operations, invoke new sympathies for its efforts, and increase its usefulness to the church and to the world, in laying plans
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for the establishment of scholarships, and for the payment of the tuition of the youth committed by the Presbyteries to its care, to add nothing as to the new zeal it may awaken in behalf of our colleges. That we are justified in fixing this duty upon the Board may be seen by quoting from its constitution, as adopted by the re-united church, as follows :
“Art. II. — Objects. The Board of Education shall be the organ of the General Assembly of the church, for the general superintendence of the church’s work in furnishing a pious, educated, and efficient ministry, in sufficient numbers to meet the calls of its congregations ; to supply the wants of the des- titute classes and regions of our own country, and to go into all the woild and preach the Gospel to every creature. It shall provide for the collection and judicious distribution of the funds which may be requisite in the proper education of can- didates for the ministry under its care, and it shall, in co-oper- ation with the ecclesiastical courts, do whatever may be proper and necessary to develop an active interest in education throughout the church.”
Two things, by this showing, the Board is expected to do, as the organ of the church : first, to superintend the furnishing of a ministry in sufficient numbers for the demands of the church ; and, secondly, to superintend the raising of neces- sary funds. And yet in the report of the Board for the cur- rent year, by the presentation of elaborate tables, it is shown, in its own words, that “ the number of candidates for the min- istry in the Presbyterian Church is not commensurate with the necessities and obligations of the Presbyterian Church in this country; the number of ministers is not enough for the churches and communicants, and it is relatively diminishing.” The report of the last Assembly Committee on Education, in considering this report of the Board, states that there has been a falling off in the number of candidates from the previous year of 38, and from two years past, of 92 ; and adds, that “the ratio of ministers, both to the communicants of the church and to the increasing population of the country, //#.$• continued for many years to decline." The statistics presented by the Board also show, that while the present number of candidates is 460, “ the probable total annual average, in both branches of the church, from 1850 to 1869, would be 5 72,” including 155 acad-
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emical students now dropped, leaving the church just where she has stood, in this respect, for the last quarter of a century, except that she has ceased her academical work. Meanwhile, the church has gone on increasing, and other boards of the church have advanced with its progress.
A comparison of the present status of the church with that of the O. S. branch alone, in i860, will further illustrate the subject, as follows:
1876 — Home Mis. $287,717 For. Mis. $517,689 Ed. $72,041 Mem. $535,210 i860 — “ “ 118,904 “ “ 237,583 “ 70,970 “ 292,927
To these figures add, 1876, candidates 460 ; i860, candidates 492 ; while the average amount annually contributed to edu- cation in the last five years is, according to the report, but $62,000.
Thus, while the mission funds have both been more than doubled, and the church membership is well-nigh doubled also, education has barely held its own ; all the academical students, being one-fifth of the whole number, having been cut off; and while, in i860, $6,340 were raised for the school-fund, not a dollar is reported as now secured for this purpose. The case would have appeared more hopeful if, in connection with this unfortunate showing of the Annual Report, some plans had been presented, by way of superintendence, for giving the cause a new impetus ; had some adequate efforts been put forth for arousing the failing zeal of the church, or, at least, for putting an end to the gradual but sure decline. We believe that the figures prove that from the time when the church began to lose her zeal and to cease her activity in behalf of her own colleges, the public interest waned, the funds ceased to flow, and the plan of struggle for existence by the Board began. The church surely has a right to look for the pro- gress of this cause in relative proportion to the progress of her other schemes of work, especially since the furnishing of a ministry lies at the basis of success in every other depart- ment.
We have no disposition, as before stated, to reflect upon the Board or its executives, past or present, we are even zeal- ous in our sympathy. But the statement of these facts seemed absolutely necessary both for the information of the
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church, and for its benefit, and for the proper strength of our argument. The present time, moreover, when a change in the administration of the Board has occurred, and when there is a brief interval before full work may begin with new plans and higher purposes, seemed less offensive for the presentation of the facts, than a subsequent occasion might have proved. Under this new administration, opening with such promise of renewed vigor, may we not hope for an era of better things for church education. We have several strong colleges in the East, and quite a number on comparatively safe footing, though with very limited incomes, in the West — all are striv- ing with much self-sacrifice on the part of capable professors to do the preliminary part of the training for the ministry that falls to their lot, conscientiously and effectively. We believe, after quite extensive examination into their condition, that they are in every respect worthy of the confidence and affection of the church. And not writing in any sense in behalf of any one of them, but sincerely desiring the success and enlargement of them all, to the utmost extent, we do with intense earnestness invoke the attention of our ministry and of our thoughtful laity to the work the institutions are doing so quietly, and to the necessity of fitting them ade- quately for the attainment of higher efficiency and larger results. As essential to the consecration of the purity, power, and very life of the church, as so intimately connected with the character and force of the ministry of the future, they assuredly do deserve the prayers, the cheering words, the helpful hands of all who love our Presbyterian fold. As against the encroachment of the world, as against the boasting attack of organized skeptical and materialistic forces, as against the inducements offered by other branches of the church, drawing many of our youth to their sendee, our colleges, though com- paratively weak and much neglected, are doing duty that the future will be glad to recognize, though the present may underestimate its intrinsic value and ignore its wide extent.
The serious question, therefore, that presses upon the church in connection with their work, is not merely whether they are sufficient for the adequate supply of the ministry , provided the church do not increase but come to a stand-still,, but what they are capable of doing in this direction, pro-
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vided her work extend as it should. And the other question follows, if these church colleges do not afford that supply, from whence have we any expectation, founded upon experi- ence or reason, that the necessary supply can be elsewhere se- cured.
Art. VIII.— THE VOWEL-POINTS CONTROVERSY IN THE XVI, XVII, AND XVIII CENTURIES.
By Rev. B. Pick, Rochester, N. Y.
In the second half of the last century, the controversy as to the age of the Hebrew vowel-points was terminated by the gen- eral acknowledgment that they were of comparatively recent origin. It is not our intention to review the whole range of literature treating on that subject, which is in part enu- merated in Malcolm’s Theological Index under Vowels* We will give the gist of the matter in the briefest possible manner.
As early as the ninth century, Natronai II. ben Hilai,f in reply to the question, whether it is lawful to put the points to the Synagogal Scrolls of the Pentateuch, distinctly declared the points not to be Sinaitic (i. e., sacred), but invented by the sages, hence we must not put the points to the scrolls of the law. “ The same opinion as to the recent origin of the vowel- points was expressed by no less an authority than Ibn Ezra (born 1088, and died 1176), in his Hebrew Grammar, entitled On the Purity of the Hebrew Style (Zathuth, p. 79, ed. Fiirth, 1827.) From Ibn Ezra, this opinion.was also espoused by some Christian scholars in the middle ages, such as the celebrated Dominican, Raymond Martin (died 1287), who mhls Pugis Fidei (pars iii, dissert, iii, cap. xxi, p. 895, ed. Carpzoo, Leipzig, 168 7), boldly asserted that the vowel-points in the text of the Old Testament were put there by Ben Naphtali and Ben Asher, circa
* Malcolm puts Scaliger among those who defended the antiquity of the vowel- points, but this is a mistake, as he opposed it.
f Comp, our art. Natronai II. ben Hilai in the Cyclop, of McClintock and Strong.
164
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900-960 (“sed duo Judsei, quorum unus dictus est Naphtali, alter vero Ben Asher, totum rebus Testamentum punctasse leguntur.”) This opinion of Raymond was confirmed by no less an authority than the celebrated Nicolaus de Lyra (died 1340), in his commentary on Hosea ix: 12, and it was regarded as paramount by all succeeding Catholic writers.
To invest it with an air of originality, Jacob Perez de Valencia (died 1491), gives the following account of the origin of the vowel-points, which we give, not on account of its intrinsic value, but on account of its amusing nature. “ After the con- version of Constantine the Great, the Rabbins perceived that great multitudes of Gentiles embraced Christianity with the greatest devotion all over the globe ; that the church prospered very favorably, and, that also of the Jews an immense number became convinced of the truth by experience and miracles, whereby their gains and revenues were lessened. Roused by this wickedness, they assembled in great multitudes at the Babylon of Egypt, which is called Cairo, where they, with as much secrecy as possible, falsified and corrupted the Scriptures, and concocted about five or seven points to serve as vowels, these points having been invented by Ravina and Ravashe, two of their doctors. The same Rabbins also concocted the Talmud.” {Prolog, in Psalmos, tract vi.) Hence, he maintains, “ that as faith is to be placed in the Holy Scriptures as the Jews now interpret and punctuate them.” {Ibid., tract ii, fol. xxiii : “ ideo nulla fides adhibenda est scripturae sacrae sicut hodie habent (Judaei) sic interpretatum et punctuatum.”)
Among Jewish commentators and grammarians, it was the general belief that the vowel-points were either given to Adam in Paradise, or communicated to Moses on Sinai, or were fixed by Ezra and the Great Synagogue. This view was deemed all the more orthodox, and the famous sabbatistical work called Zohar, which was believed to be a revelation from God, com- municated through) R. Simon ben Yorhai {circa A.D. 70-110), maintained it, which was adopted as final. *
This opinion, however, was assailed by no less an authority than Elias Levita (died T 549), who, in his Massoreth ha Masso-
* It is now admitted that the author of this cabalistical work was Moses de Leon , of Spain, who died in 1305 ; cf. our art. Moses de Leon , in McClintock and Strong's
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rcth, denied the divine origin and the antiquity of the vowel- points, and defended his heterodoxy by the most unassailable arguments.
Levita’s arguments soon became known to the Christian world through S. Munster’s (died 1552) and Pellican’s (died 1556) translation, and Christendom, otherwise divided, at once agreed to welcome Levita’s results.' The assertion made in former years by R. Martin, Nic.de Lyra, Perez de Valencia, re- echoed now in Luther (who called the vowels “ neu menschen- fuendlein ”), Calvin, Zwingle, Mercer, Th. Beza, Drusius, Joh. Scaliger, Gessner, Mercier, etc., who boldly disclaimed the antiquity, divine origin, and authority of the points. “ The con- viction of the Protestant leaders undoubtedly was, that by liberating themselves from the traditional vowel-points of the synagogue, after having discarded the traditions of the Church of Rome, they could more easily and independently prosecute their Biblical studies, without any trammels whatever,” thus making the Bible, and the Bible alone, without gloss and with- out tradition, the rule of faith and practice. .But Rome soon changed her tactics. Whilst in former years it was the hatred of the Jews which induced men like Raymond to charge the Jews with having introduced innovations and corruptions into the text of the Bible, the Church of Rome now laid hold of the admission made by Levita, in order to confute thereby her opponents. From the novelty of the points she deduced, I. “That the Bible could only be read in ancient days by the few chosen spiritual teachers;” and II. “That the Scriptures, with- out these points, cannot possibly be understood, apart from the traditions of the Church of Rome.” This opinion soon found its wayjnto England, and was advocated by Dr. Th. Harding (1512-1572), the celebrated antagonist of Bishop Jewel (cf. Works of John Jewel, ii, p. 678 ; Parker Society Edition).
Alarmed at this modus operandi, the defenders of Protestant- ism commenced beating a retreat. They now declared that the points were put to the text by the Prophets themselves, and that to say otherwise was heathenish and popish. Thus, the charge of Gregory Martin ( circa 1534-82) in his work, en- titled, “ A Discovery of the Manifold Corruptions of the Holy Scripture, by the Heretics of our Days" (reprinted in Fulke’s Defence of the Translators, Parker Society, 1843), that Protest- New Series, No. 21. 11
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ants in their versions follow the Hebrew vowels, which were of a recent origin, was rebutted by Fulke, with the declaration, that “ seeing our Saviour hath promised that never a particle of the law shall perish, we may understand the same also of the Prophets, who have not received the vowels of the later Jews, but even of the Prophets themselves, however that heathenish opinion pleaseth you, and other papists.” Among those who beat retreat are also to be found Hugh Broughton (1549- 1626) in his commentary on Daniel ix : 26, London, 1597), and the celebrated Piscator (1546-1626) in his commentary on Matt.v: 18.
Hitherto, both Catholics and Protestants chiefly relied upon abusing each other. None of them thought of examining Levita’s arguments, or of corroborating or refuting his state- ments. To be or not to be, that was the question on both sides, and besides, neither of the two parties had sufficient Talmudical learning and critical tact. The first attempt to meet Levita’s book was made by the learned Azariah dc Rossi, in 1574-5, in chapter lix, part iii, of his work, The Light of the Eyes f (Meor Agnaim, Mantua, 1 574-5, Vienna, 1829), where- in he tried to prove the antiquity of the vowel-points from the Zohar and the Talmud.
With weapons like these, the Protestants now opened a new campaign, under the leadership of Buxtorf, the Father (died 1629), with a display of Rabbinical bayonets. The antiquity and divinity of the vowel-points, which were formerly abandoned, were now defended, and in his Tiberias sive Commentarius Masorethicus, Basle, 1620, Buxtorf made use of de Rossi’s argu- ments. Feeble as these arguments were, they nevertheless found many supporters, who rangfed themselves under the leadership of Buxtorf, who, however, was not destined to carry everything before him in his first battle against Levita. The Buxtorf-de-Rossi alliance produced a counter alliance, headed by Lewis Capellus (died 1658). Before Capellus published his treatise, he sent it in manuscript to Buxtorf for examina- tion, who returned it with the request that it might not be printed. He then sent it to Erpenius, who was so convinced by its arguments and learning, that, with the sanction of the author, he printed it at Leyden, under the title, “ The Mystery of the Points Unveiled ” ( Arcanum pnnetatonis revelatum , Leyd. 1624, afterwards reprinted by his son,Amsterd. 1689, fol.)
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A time of anxious suspense followed the publication of Capellus’ work, during which time Father Morinus (1 591-1659), formerly a Protestant, published his “ Biblical Exercitations on the Hebrew and Greek Texts ” (Paris, 1633), against the an- tiquity of the vowel-points, in which he compared “ the Scrip- tures to a mere nose of wax, to be turned any way, to prove thereby the necessity of one infallible interpretation.”
After a silence of twenty-four years, Buxtorf, the son, pub- lished, in 1648, a reply against Capellus, entitled “ A Treatise on the Origin, Antiquity, and Authority of the Vowel-points and Accents in the Hebrew Scripture of the Old Testament,” Basle, 1648; to which Capellus answered in a rejoinder, “A Vindication of the Mystery of the Vowels Unveiled,” pub- lished by his son in 1689.
The consequence of this controversy was, that Protestant Christendom everywhere was divided into two hostile camps, vowelists and anti-vowelists. Soon the controversy was trans- planted to England, where Levita and Capellus were repre- sented by Walton, de, Rossi and Buntorf by Lightfoot and Owen. Twelve months after the publication of Owen’s work On the Integrity and Purity of the Hebrew and Greek Text of the Naphtali, London, 1659, vol. iv., p. 44, fob, of his collected works, London, 1823), Walton published a reply, The Consid- erator Considered, London, 1659, (reprinted by Todd in the 2d vol. of his Memoirs of Bishop Walton, London, 1821), contain- ing more additional and valuable contributions to the literature of this controversy.
Although the antiquity of the vowel-points still found advo- cates in Joseph Cooper {Dor mis Mosaicce Clavis, sive Legis Sep- timentum, etc., London, 1673), Samuel Clark {An Exercitation Concerning the Original of the Chapters and Verses in the Bible , etc., ibid, 1698), Whitfield {A Dissertation on the Hebrew Vowel- Points, Liverpool, 1748), and Dr. Gill {A Dissertation Concern- ing the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language , Letters, Vowel-Points, and Accents, London, 1 767), who published learned disserta- tions in defense of Dr. Owen and against Walton, yet it must be admitted that Walton’s works decided the battle in Eng- land in favor of the anti-vowelists.
On the continent Wasmuth, with his Vindicice Hebr. Script. (Rostock, 1664), and others, entered the lists in support of Bux- torf, whose adherents in Switzerland exalted his views to a con-
1 68 The Vowel-Points Controversy. [Jan*
fessional article of belief in the Formula Consensus, Art. iv, Can. ii, so that a law was enacted in 1678, that no person should be licensed to preach the gospel in their churches, unless he pub- licly declared that he believed in the integrity of the Hebrew text and in the divinity of the vowel points and accents ( codicem Hebr. Vet. Test, turn quoad consonas turn quoad vocalia sive puncta ipsa sive punctorum saltern potestatem deonvevarov esse.
An intermediate course, proceeding on the assumption that there had been a simpler system of vowel-marks, either by three original vowels, or by diacritic points, was opened up by Rivetus (Isagoge seu Introductio Generalis, Vet. et Novi Test., Leyd., 1627, ch. 8,§ 15, p. 104), Hottinger, and others, and was pursued especially by J. D. Michaelis (von de Alter der Hebr. Vocale, Orient. Bibl., ix : 82ff. 88ff.), Trendelenburg (in Eich- horn's Repertor.), xviii, p. 78ff.), Eichhorn, Jahn, Berthold, and others.*
The controversy, which so vehemently raged for more than three centuries, may now be regarded as ended. Modern research and criticism have confirmed the arguments urged by Levita against the antiquity of the present vowel signs. It is now established beyond question, from the discovery of an- cient MSS., that there were two systems of vocalization con- trived almost simultaneously, the earlier or first system devel- oped by Achaor Achai, of Irak (Babylon), about 550; the later or second system by Motha, of Tiberias, about A. D. 570.
As to the first system, representing the traditional pronun- ciation of the text in the East, its peculiarity consists in hav- ing signs of a different shape to represent the vowels, and that these are almost uniformly placed above the letter. Hence it is called the svperlineary system and the Babylon or Assyrian system, from the fact that its contriver lived in Babylon.
The later or second system has been for centuries com- monly adopted both by Jews and Christians in the pointed edi- tions of Hebrew Bibles, and it is'far more complete and exten sive, and exhibits more sharply the niceties of the traditional pronunciation and intonation of the text, than does the Baby- lonian system, with which it competed. It is called the Tibe- rian system, and the Palestinian or Western system.
*Diestel, Gesch. d. Alien Test, in der Christ!. Kirche, Jena, 1869. Pp. 253, 334ff, 401, 451, 566, 570, 595ft.
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Art. XI.— CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE.
Theology.
We have received from A. S. Barnes & Co., New York, two substantial volumes of the English “Congregational Union Lectures,” for 1874 and 1876. The course for 1874 (now in its second edition) was given to a “ select class of the students” of Cheshunt College, by Dr. H. R. Reynolds, On John the Baptist: a Contribution to Christian Evidences (pp. 548). The other course, by E. Mellor, D.D., has for its subject, Priesthood in the Light of the New Testament (pp. 423). The prelections are under the care of the Congrega- tional Union of England and Wales. Even “the oral delivery can be dispensed with.” These volumes furnish good evidence of the wisdom with which this trust is dispensed. Both of them are fundamental and vigorous discussions of important themes, in a way to meet objectors and to fortify believers. The importance of such public lectures at the present time is increasingly ap- preciated.
The monograph of Dr. Reynolds is not merely a life of John the Baptist, but a full survey of his times and surroundings, of his relations to the old and the new dispensations, and especially of his relations to Christ and the gospel narrative. It is a critical history, with due consideration of the difficulties and objections raised by the later criticism, especially of the German schools. It thus becomes a valuable “ contribution to Christian evidences.” And this thorough piece of work is all the more welcome, because it fills an almost vacant place in theological literature. The literature of the subject is found chiefly in the lives of Christ, the most important of which are freely used by Dr. Reynolds. The eight lectures are under the following heads : Signifi- cance and Sources of the Biography of John ; his Nativity — examining the theories of Strauss and others ; John, as the Exponent of the Old Tes- tament Dispensation, as Priest, Ascetic, Prophet, and more than Prophet ; The Preaching in the Wilderness ; The Transitional Work of John ; his later Ministry and Special Revelations ; The Ministry of the Prison ; Results, Echoes, and Lessons of the Ministry. This gives the outline for a full treat- ment of the subject, which is pursued with sound judgment to satisfactory results. It is an indispensable book to one who would thoroughly study the immediate antecedents of the life of our Lord.
Dr. Mellor’s volume on “ The Priesthood,” as might be expected from the lecturer’s high reputation, is an acute and vigorous presentation of the doc- trine, in the light of the New Testament authority and testimony, freed from all the accretions of tradition. In the first two lectures it is shown that “the priesthood is not an order in the New Testament,” and in the third, “its alleged order and lineage ” are subjected to a keen criticism, while the diffi- culties, and, in fact, historical impossibility, of the “Episcopal Succession” are convincingly exhibited. ... In the remaining lectures, the general doctrine is applied to the Lord’s Supper, the Real Presence, and the Con-
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fessional — advocating with old and fresh arguments the ground of the Re- formed churches, in the spirit of Whately, Jacob, Lightfoot, and other recent writers. We regret to miss another lecture on the connection between Sac- erdotalism and Skepticism, which the writer had “ hoped to prepare ” for this work. The style is popular and earnest, so that it is well adapted to general reading. It lays bare, with critical anatomy, that subtle sacerdotal element, which has in so many ways perverted the Christian system and banished Christ behind the forms and ordinances of the external church.
Jehovah- Jesus : the Oneness of God , the True Trinity, by Robt. D. Weeks. Dodd, Mead & Co. The doctrine of this treatise is — that Jesus is “ the Supreme God, the Only Begotten Son of God, and the Son of Man” — all in one ; the only Trinity is not a Trinity of Persons, but the above Trinity in Jesus. It is the Swedenborgian view, which identifies Jehovah and Jesus. The writer's proof of the divinity of Jesus is clear and forcible. His attempted proof, that there is no real personal and eternal distinction between the Father and the Son, seems to us to confound things that differ. The careful dis- criminations of the orthodox doctrine are not thoroughly mastered. For ex- ample, he seems to suppose that the received doctrine of the Trinity involves, or implies “ the co-existence of three infinite beings,” which is quite as em- phatically repudiated by the orthodox as by himself.
The True Man, and other Practical Sermons, by Rev. Samuel S. Mit- chell, D.D. New York : R. Carter & Bros. The pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, of Washington, D. C., gives full proof in these discourses of his eminent fitness for his work and position — a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. He speaks cogently and concisely on such themes as “The Great Requirement,” “Physical Conditions,” “Spiritual Assimilation,” “ Faith Culture,” “The Death of Jesus,” “ Life Wisdom,” etc.
J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, publish Christ the Teacher of Men, by A. W. Pitzer, author of Ecce Dens Homo, in some respects the best of all the Ecce books. This book sets forth Christ as the divine, authoritative, and infallible teacher, in opposition to the infidelity of rationalism and mate- rialism, within and without the church. It treats of the prophetical office of Christ. The extent and manner of his teachings, as the covenant prophet, through the Holy Ghost, by miracles and types, as well as by literal state- ment, together with his personal peculiarities and credentials, as the divine teacher of men. He takes occasion to explode the doctrine that Christ’s teachings in the New Testament only are inspired, while the Old Testament is uninspired. He shows, what needs now to be vindicated, that Christ re- affirmed the law and the prophets, and that “ all Scripture is given by inspi- ration of God.”
In The Different Phases of Infidelity, Including Evolution Examined and Compared with the Evidence of the Truth of Revelation, by a Leyman, we recognize the hand that has enriched the pages of this Review with articles which our readers will, doubtless, remember, on the Sabbath, and on the anointment of our Saviour by Mary. It is published by Brearley & Sto’.l,
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•of Trenton, N. J., and it is a very creditable contribution to the apologetic literature of the day.
The same may be justly said of the Baccalaureate discourse of Dr. Asa D. Smith, President of Dartmouth College, in reference to prevalent skepticism, delivered to the last graduating class.
William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh and London, and Scribner, Wel- ford & Armstrong, in this country, have published The Christian Doctrine of Sin, by JOHN TULLOCH, D.D., being six lectures on the Croall Foun- dation, delivered in Edinburgh. Whatever might be published by Principal Tulloch, on this or any theological topic, would be sure to command atten- tion, on account of his decided eminence and theological antecedents. Theo- logians and Christian inquirers will eagerly look for his views on a subject which has tasked, and on many sides baffled, the profoundest thinkers of Christendom from the beginning until now.
In these lectures the author treats of evil and the sense of sin, as they are recognized in the consciousness of the most barbarous and degraded peoples, and upward through the ascending stages of moral and religious culture, till he deals with it as it arises under the different degrees of revelation; while he discusses the contents and normal authority of this revelation. These stages of revelation, which he specially considers in their relation to sin, are three — that of the Old Testament, of Christ in the Gospels, and of Paul in his Epis- tles. In the Old Testament representations, sin “everywhere comes forth as an act of the human will done against the divine will, or some special in- stitution supposed to represent the divine will. . . . It is something
wrong in the disposition or state of man toward the divine, something always for which man is responsible. But there is no analysis of the conception be- yond the fact that, it is at variance with the divine order ” (pp. 86-7). The significance of such statements in the author’s presentation of the subject lies in the strong antithesis between them and every seeming or real attempt to trace the origin or authorship of sin to God. This carries us into that abyss which, as yet, the human intellect has never fully sounded— the relation of the decretive to the preceptive will of God. All will sympathize with the author’s endeavor to fasten the origin of, and responsibility for, sin upon the will of the creature. Yet it is not necessary for this purpose to follow him in his reluctance to view the tempter of our first parents as the personal devil, so abundantly and manifoldly set forth in the New Testament, as he admits; or to be as chary, as he sometimes is, of connecting all events, evil included, with the divine providential purpose; lest he should thereby impute to the Most High “ the abominable thing which his soul hateth.” He, however, comes very near the sum and substance of Scriptural and Catholic truth on this whole subject, in the final summation, with which he closes his very able lec ture on this subject.
“As a whole, we may sum up the doctrines of the Old Testament as fol- lows, gathering into one view the results of our analysis :
“I. The Hebrew conception of evil is distinctively moral. It is the disobedience of the human will against the divine, expressed in the form of command, revelation, or law. In other words, it is what we specially mean by sin.
lj2 Contemporary Literature. [Jan,
“ 2. It is not only a rejection of divine law, but a rejection of divine good.
“ 3. All sin is in its nature destructive. It bears death in it as its natural working or outcome.
“4. It is not merely individual, but diffusive. Having once entered into human nature, it becomes a part of it, an hereditary taint, passing from generation to gene- ration, often with accelerated force.
“ 5. It is connected with a power or powers of evil outside of man, the character and influence of which are as yet but dimly revealed.
“ 6. And to these several points of our summary we may add a further, which has been emphasized by certain expositors of the religion of Israel. Evil is also con- nected with the will of Jahveh as the supreme source of all energy and events. Facts of evil ( ra ), no less than of good, are traced upward to the Almighty Will, as the ultimate source of all things. This is true beyond all question, but it exceeds the truth to say, as (Knenen) does, that the older Israelitish prophets and historians did not hesitate to derive even moral evil from Tahveh. ... It was, nevertheless,, true, as has been clearly seen in the course of our exposition, that the essential idea of evil in the Hebrew mind was so far from associating itself with the Divine Will, that its special note or characteristic was opposition to this Will.” — pp. 95-6.
When Principal Tulloch takes in hand Christ’s exhibition of sin in the Gospels, he finds it to be more intense, spiritual, inner, reaching to all devi- ations from, or coming short of, a perfect standard ; and against a God whose perfection in love, holiness, and power are set over against it in more luminous and impressive contrast. The deformity of sin, as the free disobedience to God of the creatures of his goodness and love, becomes more conspicuous m the light of the unmatched goodness and benignity of the Being it defies.
Passing to the Pauline doctrine of sin, the main points in the author’s view arrange themselves under three heads : “ 1st — The universality of sin ;
2d — The nature and seat of sin; 3d — The effects or consequences of sin.” As to the first, he maintains this universality. As to the second, he soundly says: “ The seat of sin is the ‘ flesh.’ This, in its broadest sense, is distin- guished from the ‘ spirit.’ As thus distinguished from the spirit, it represents the whole of this human nature in its estrangement from the Divine — all the activities of body and mind with which fallen man is capable of opposing the Divine.” The consequences of sin are “death,” in both a subjective and objective sense ; in the former as it works the destruction and misery of the sinner, in all his parts and faculties, by its own inherent tendency and influ- ence ; in the latter, as it exposes him to all the positive penal inflictions-and visitations of God’s wrath against all sin and unrighteousness.
The closing lecture is on original sin. He maintains that the Scriptures teach the fall of all men in the fall of the first ; and, although somewhat wavering, he in the main makes a close approach to the doctrine of our con- fession: “ Our first parents being the root of all mankind, the guilt of their sin was imputed, and the same death in sin, and corrupted nature con- veyed to all their posterity.” He says — “ I am glad to be able to quote these words for their own sake, and because of their source. They are weighty and, on the whole, sober words ; and although they necessarily take us away from the immediate atmosphere of Scripture, they do not seem to me,.
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rightly understood, to exceed the fair meaning of St. Paul.” (P. 19 1.) The manner in which the author touches certain collateral topics enhances the value and interest of the discussion. A few masterly strokes dispose of all manichean, fatalistic, pantheistic, or materialistic solutions of the problem. He is especially incisive in pointing out the antagonism of the evolution the- ory of the genesis of man and nature to morality, religion, and the Bible. Many apologists for evolution and the Bible suppose that they have removed this antagonism, when they show that there may be a theistic form of it which leaves the teleological argument for the Being of God substantially intact ; and that the Creator may use antecedent forms of being as material on which he engrafts the successive and higher forms of it. But this, by no means, suf- fices to clear the inconsistency between it and revelation, in itself, and as including morality and religion.
In the language of Principal Tulloch :
“ The favorite conceptions of modern science involve, if they do not start froms a definite view of human nature, at variance with the old Biblical or spiritual view. Man is conceived as developed — from lower forms of life by lengthened processes of natural selection. There is nothing necessarily inconsistent with enlightened Christianity in this idea, so far. The Divine mind may work out its plans by pro- cesses of growth or adaptation as readily as by any other way. Nay, as it has been recently admitted by one of the most distinguished advocates of the modern idea, the teleological conception, or the conception of design, is prominently sug- gested, rather than excluded, by the theory of development as a mere modus opcrandi. But, beyond question, the chief advocates of the theory mean some- thing very different. Nature is supposed by them to be not merely the sphere of operation, but the operating power itself — beyond which there is nothing. Man is not merely, like all other things, a natural growth ; but he is nothing else. There is no higher divine element in him. There is no such thing — or, at least, nothing that we can know and validly infer. Material facts and their relations, or laws, are all that we can ever know. It is this underlying sense of the theory which is at variance with the old Biblical view of human nature. It leaves no room, for example, for the idea of sin. For that which is solely a growth of nature cannot contain anything that is at variance with its own higher laws. . . The two concep- tions of sin, and of development, in this materialistic sense, cannot co-exist.”' (Pp- 4, 5.)
While Dr. Tulloch laboriously unfolds and compares the teachings of Scripture on the subject of sin, and makes them the basis of his own doc- trines to an extent seldom true of Rationalists, yet he often suggests the query — whether the statements of Scripture or the deductions of reason are the more authoritative in his view. He says : “ No doctrine has come forth in complete lineaments from the Divine mind. The modern theologian does not consider doctrines to be formed by the mere analogies and co-ordination of texts. They are not only logical deductions from Scriptural data ; they are vital growths wdtliin the Christian consciousness. So the business of the theologian is, not only to deduce conclusions from Scriptural premises, but to trace the vital links in the organism of Christian thought.” — (Pp. 24, 25.) “ If we identify Revelation with its record — in other words, with Scripture —
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then it might be assumed that Divine truth was something absolutely fixed in the text of Scripture. . . But Revelation can only be conceived as a new force of spiritual light and knowledge, communicated to a spiritual intelli- gence. This force enters, like every other force of knowledge and morality, into the higher culture of the race, and, from a supernatural point of view- is the most powerful factor in advancing that culture.” — (P. 216). According to this, the great Protestant doctrine that “ The Word of God is the only and sufficient rule of faith and practice,” must give way ; and reason, in, formed in some sort by it, under the title of Christian consciousness, must be installed as supreme arbiter of faith and morals in its place.
While we throw out a caution here, we do not wish it to be understood as depreciating the value of this volume as a contribution to the literature of its subject. We rate it highly in this respect.
T. & T. Clark, of Edinburgh, and Scribner, Welford & Armstrong, New York, issue at $2.50, Messianic Prophecy ; its Origin , Historical Character , and Relation to New Testament Fulfilment, by Dr. Edward Rheim, Pro- fessor of Theology in Halle ; translated from the German, with the author’s approbation, by the Rev. John Jefferson — a very learned, solid, and judicious work, which cannot fail to be helpful to students of prophecy. It asserts a real significance in the mind of the prophet as to the events he predicted ; that these events thus meant by him were a part of the prophecy, whatever else they may have typified, symbolized, or foreshadowed, and they often pointed to ulterior and grander meanings to which the literal predictions bore about the same relation as the shell to the kernel. But Dr. Rheim strenu- ously maintains that, in order to give any due interpretation of the prophe- cies in their higher significance, we must first understand the intent of the prophet in using the words of the prophecy ; and that otherwise prophetic interpretation has no other safeguard to keep it from evaporating into an im- aginative idealism.
While thus guarding against this extreme, he is equally strenuous against that mere literalism in prophetic interpretation which sacrifices its vital im- port to the letter which kills. In particular, he rejects those constructions of prophecies in regard to the future of the Jews, which looks for the consum- mation of Christ’s kingdom on earth through their restoration to their native land, and to their former pre-eminence in God’s earthly kingdom. The sub- stance of this volume originally appeared in the form of contributions to the Studien und Kritiken, in the years 1865 and 1869. We should have been glad if the translation could have been rendered into more simple and idio- matic English.
The same houses in Edinburgh and New York publish, at $6.00, The Humiliation of Christ in its Physical, Ethical , and Official Aspects, by Dr. Alexander B. Bruce, Professor of Divinity in the Free Church College, Glasgow, which is a valuable contribution to Christological literature. It is learned, discriminating, and orthodox. It discusses the Kenosis with great thoroughness, and much to our satisfaction. He maintains it to have pro- ceeded from the free determination of our Lord, before his abasement, to
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undergo it for the sake of exalting his people ; and that it consisted not in emptying himself of his Godhead, either in its essence or essential properties, but in suspending some of its visible manifestations and splendors, which are separable from its essence. Yet he maintains that there was a special glory in this very Kenosis, and all the other points of Christ’s humiliation, on ac- count of the dignity of the being who bore it, and the glorious ends he sought by it. As to the physical element in his humiliation, it consisted in this Kenosis involving the assumption of true and proper manhood, with all its sinless infirmities, exposures, temptations ; the scorn, derision and insults of men ; the conflict with Satan ; the agony of Gethsemane ; the accursed death of the cross.
As to its ethical character, while it was sinless, it involved on the human side moral development along with his growth in wisdom and stature, and his temptability in all points like ourselves, yet without sin. He strenuously opposes the extravagant views of Edward Irving and others— that Christ took upon himself not only a temptable. but a sinful, human nature.
As to its official aspects, Prof. Bruce earnestly and ably insists that this humiliation was, although voluntary, yet none the less vicarious and penal in satisfaction of the violated justice and law of God. Under this head he presses a vigorous criticism of the views of Socinians, McLeod, Campbell, Bushnell, and other adversaries.
Theology as a Science, involving an Infinite Element, is the title of the Inaugural Discourse delivered before the Southern General Assembly, at Savannah, last May, by the Rev. John L. Girardeau, D.D., Professor of Didactic and Polemic Theology in the Columbia Theological Seminary. We see in it evidences of the contact of the author’s mind with some of the vexed questions which lie at the base of the psychology and metaphysics of theology. The mutual relations, and the distinctive characteristics of Faith and Knowl- edge, and the part which each performs in our apprehensions and convictions concerning the Infinite, are discussed in a style which has, it may be, “ the promise and potency ” of future clearness, when longer culture and practice in the study and teaching of these problems shall have brought the eloquent author to ripe views of this subject. But, meanwhile, the Inaugural seems to us to deliver a mass of metaphysics which only the rarest of assemblies could digest, even if presented with the clearness and brilliancy which were so characteristic of Dr. Girardeau’s predecessor, Thornwell.
Scribner, Armstrong & Co. are publishing a new edition of Dr. Bush. NELL’S works, of which the Sermons on the New Life appear as one install- ment. They are marked by the freshness, originality, the fervent and devout spirit which characterize most of his practical works. They also, at times, startle by those doctrinal eccentricities to which he was prone, and which constitute the great drawback to his life and works. It is all the more mar- vellous in the case of such an eminent genius that his most important aber- rations should have arisen from ignorance of catholic theology. His con- ception of accepted orthodoxy seems to have been determined very much by some provincial and personal forms of theologizing which had currency in his
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own region. His antagonism to them seems to have received its chief im- pulse and direction, not from any servile following, but still from the influ- ence, of Coleridge and Schleiermacher. Curiously enough, it frequently hap- pens that he thinks he is sapping or re-casting some article of catholic truth, when, in fact, he is battering down some narrow provincialism or idiosyncracy in theology to replace it with substantial catholic doctrine. In his sermon on regeneration, for example, he says : “ The wrong is back of the act, in some habit of soul, some disposition, some status of character, whence the action comes. Now this something, whatever it be, is the wrong of all wrong, the sin of all sin ; and this must be changed — which change is the condition of salvation.” (P. 116. )
The American Tract Society publishes Three Colloquies on Vital Matters in Religion , between D. L. Moody and Dr. Wm. S. Plumer, which were held with very solemn effect during the meetings conducted by Mr. Moody last winter ; also, The Difference Between a Protestant and a Roman Catholic, from the French of Roussel, in which the points of contrast are very clearly and strikingly drawn out in a dialogue between the two.
The Metropolitan Pulpit , edited by Rev. I. K. Funk, a Monthly devoted to the publication of Themes and Outlines of Sermons preached each month in New York and Brooklyn, has recently been started in this city, and we are glad to learn is meeting with encouraging success. The idea is a happy one. It meets with favor from our leading preachers of all denominations, who cheerfully lend their aid to the editor in his worthy undertaking. The Amer- ican National Preacher, during the forty years of its existence, performed an invaluable service to the ministry and the church of this country, both as an informing and an educating power, and had no little influence on the pulpit of other lands, in which it circulated largely in its serial form and where many thousands of its bound volumes have been sold. On the whole the plan of the “ Metropolitan Pulpit ” is preferrable, at least to the student and the preacher, to that of the old “ Preacher.” These carefully prepared outlines of sermons, fresh from the lips and pens of our best preachers, as models of thought, as themes of study, as suggestive of texts, topics, and illustrations, can scarcely fail to be influential and eminently helpful to the student of sermonic literature, and to the preacher, whoever he may be and whatever his talents and acquirements, who make a judicious use of them. Each number will contain from twelve to fifteen outlines of sermons, fifty themes and texts of leading sermons. It is offered also, at a very low price.
— J. M. S.
History and Biography.
History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, by the Rev, J. H. Merle d’Aubigne, D.D. Translated by W. L. R. Cates. Vol. VII. Geneva, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, the Netherlands. New York: R. Carter & Bros., 1877. This volume, as now published, was fully written out by Dr. Merle d’Aubigne — the editor’s task consisting in verifying quotations and making slight emendations. The best
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and most complete part of the book is devoted to Geneva and Calvin ; the History of the Reformation in the other countries is less thorough. One more volume will complete the work. While it cannot be said that many new dis- coveries are made as .to Calvin’s character and career, yet this delineation has the merit and effect of a new and great historical picture, with striking group- ings of the chief actors and a warm coloring of the canvass. So severe a critic as M. de Remusat said of the work, “That it is one of the most re-, markable books in our language.” The finer and softer tides of Calvin’s re- markable personality are lovingly depicted. Many readers will be surprised to learn that, speaking of predestination, Calvin writes in his Institutes : “Ig- norance of these things is learning, but craving to know them is a kind of madness.” “ It is a singular fact,” adds Dr. Merle, “ that what Calvin in- dignantly calls a madness should be named Calvinism .”
History of Neshawing Presbyterian Church of Warwick, Hartsville, Bucks Co., Pa., 1726-1876, by Rev. D. K. Turner. Philadelphia : Cul- bertson & Bache ; 8vo, pp. 370. This is the fullest and most complete local history which the Centennial year has as yet brought us. It is illustrated by engravings, including a profile likeness of Rev. Wm. Tennent, Sr. The writer was pastor of the church for twenty-five years, from 184810 1873, being the successor of Dr. Jas. P. Wilson, who was settled there eight years, from 1839 to 1847, and who still labors wisely and faithfully in his highly honored ministry in Newark, N. J. The other pastors were Wm. Tennent, 1726 to 1742 — the founder of the famous Log College ; Chas. Beatty, for twenty-nine years, from 1743 to 1772; Nathl. Irwin, 1774 to 1812, nearly thirty-eight years; Robt. B. Belville, for twenty-five years, from 1813 to 1838 ; and the present pastor, Rev. Wm. E. Jones, since 1873. Few churches of its num- bers have had an abler ministry or a wider influence. The historian has not only given an account of its ministers and elders, but also of their relatives and descendants, so that the book is a valuable biographical repertory. Six chapters are devoted to Tennent and his sons, and the history of Log Col- lege and its alumni, including such names as Samuel and John Blair, Sam- uel Davies, Samuel Finley, Wm. Robinson, John Rowland, and his remark- able trial. The seventh chapter is on Rev. Francis McHenry, an assistant to Mr. Tennent, who was at last installed over the “ Old Lights” there. Chap- ters eight to eleven are upon Rev. Chas. Beatty and his descendants, one of the staunchest patriotic and Presbyterian families of the land, still repre- sented in its best qualities in our Presbyterian ministry. Extracts from Mr. Beatty’s journal, which was published in London, relating to the Indian wars and missions, are given in the ninth chapter. The pastorate of Rev. N. Ir.vin falls in part in the period of the War of the Revolution, and he was earnest in word and work for the good cause — as were almost all the Presbyte- rians of the land. They never flinched on the question of civil and religious liberty. We cannot go further into detail in respect to this excellent history, and are obliged to omit extracts which we would gladly make. It is an ex- ample of what should be written about all our prominent churches, now that there is special impulse and opportunity, as well as encouragement, for such
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literary labors. The volume is beautifully got up as to paper and type, so that it is ornamental as well as useful.
Forty Years' Mission Work in Polynesia and New Guinea, from 1835 to 1875, by the Rev. A. N. Murray, of the London Missionary Society. New York : R. Carter & Bros. pp. 509. With maps of Polynesia and New Guinea. These artless and truthful records of a long, trying, and faithful missionary career can not be read without deep interest and sympathy. They enlarge our view of the need and possibilities of the missionary work, of its trials and triumphs. No tribe can prevail against Christian self-denial and love. We need not despair of the gospel when we are witnessing its new victories among the Samoans cf Manua and the Papuans of New Guinea. The latter island is the largest on the globe, excepting Australia and, possi- bly, Borneo. It has not yet been fully explored. The mission began in 1871 is full of promise. Mr. Murray’s testimony as to his work is valuable. He went entirely unarmed and unmolested, and says : “I have found in all my experience that the rule that holds in dealing with men, whether civilized or savage, is, that what we are to others, they are to us." He also testifies, that he “ never found in all his wanderings among savage tribes any who had not some idea of a future life, and of beings superior to themselves, to whom they owed some sort of homage, and whom they feared and sought in some way to propitiate.
The same publishers issue The Judgment of Jerusalem — Predicted in Scripture, Fulfilled in History, by the Rev. Wm. Patton, D.D., pp. 231, w’hich presents a forcible picture of the fall of Jerusalem, from Josephus and other authorities, and vindicates the accuracy of the inspired record.
Nelson & Phillips issue The Life and Letters of the Rev. John McClin- tock, D.D., LL.D., Late President of Drew Theological Seminary, by George R. Crooks, D.D. Dr. McClintock was, if not foremost, at least the peer of the foremost, of the recent great lights in the American Methodist Church. Eloquent as a preacher, eminent as a scholar, a man of affairs, remarkable for practical wisdom, of devout and exemplary piety, he seldom touched anything which he did not adorn. He excelled as an educator and an author. The Cyclopcedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, which he edited in connection with Dr. Strong, will be a lasting monument to its originators and editors.
This volume is very' largely an autobiography, in which the accomplished editor lets the subject of it speak largely ior himself. It consists mostly of his correspondence, including letters to him of importance. These give an in- sight into his inner life and real character. They also show the part he took and the influence he exercised on public affairs. The correspondence with his English friends during the late war, and especially in regard to the Trent affair, sheds much light on the British view of that subject, still a puzzle to many.
Presbyterianism in Sewickley Valley — a historical discourse delivered by James Allison, July 16, 1876 — is among the newest and most instructive of the historical discourses of which the year has been prolific.
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Addresses at the Dedication of the Chapel and Library of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the Northwest, by Drs. Halsey, Jonathan Ed- wards, and Kittredge, are well suited to the occasion. The chief is that of Dr. Edwards, which renders important service in rescuing from oblivion, or from an obscurity of chaotic confusion, which is hardly better, the history of this important Theological Seminary, not merely during its own life, but in those antecedent institutions which preceded and prepared the way for it.
MacMillan & Co. publish the 5th volume of that greatest of recent English Historical Works, The History of the Norman Conquest of England ; its Causes and Results. By Edward A. Freeman, LL.D. This treats of the effects of the Norman Conquest. It is replete with the same vastness of erudition, keenness of criticism, breadth and depth of historico-philosophical insight, which have won for the previous volume a foremost and enduring place in historical literature. The present volume is especially rich and valuable in the light it sheds on the development of some of the great dis- tinctive features of the British Constitution. It enables us to get a better understanding of them, as it brings to view their formative causes. For sale by McGinness & Runyon, Princeton.
Scribner, Armstrong & Co. have issued two more volumes of their ad- mirable series of Epochs of History, Ancient and Modern. These are Roman History, the Early Empire, from the Assassination of Julius Ccesar to that of Domitian, by W. W. Capps, M. A., with two Maps; and in Modern Histroy, The Early Plantagenets, by William Stubbs, M. A., Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford, also with two Maps. These, like their predecessors in the series, furnish facilities for acquiring a knowledge of the Epochs treated, not elsewhere accessible to the general reader. For sale by McGinness & Runyon, Princeton.
J. L. Libole, of Philadelphia, publishes a small volume of Acrostical Pen-Portraits of the Eighteen Presidents of the United Stales, by D. F. Locherby. They will hardly bear criticising, being of all grades, good, bad, and indifferent, with a preponderance of the latter sort.
Centenary Memorial of the Planting and Growth of Presbyterianism in Western Pennsylvania and Parts Adjacent. Pittsburg, 1876. This Book is peculiarly attractive and valuable. It was projected nine years ago, at a convention held in Pittsburg, of representatives from the four Synods of Pittsburg, Allegheny, Wheeling, and Ohio; and completed in the delivery of its contents at another convention of the same sort, held in December last. 1875 was the centennial year of Western Presbyterianism, reckoning from the advent of John McMillan, the first pastor who was settled beyond the Alle- ghenies. The authors, whose discourses fill the volume, had ample time, and rich resources, and rare abilities for the task assigned, and have done their work exceedingly well. They are the Rev. Drs. D. H. Junkin, Aaron Williams, James I. Brownson, E. E. Swift, S. J. M. Eaton, and S. J. Wil- son; Wm. M. Darlington, Esq., and the Hon. James Veech, LL.D. The last mentioned contributed the “ Secular History ” of that interesting region.
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so renowned at present for its richness of soil and mineral resources, its coal and iron, and oil, its intelligence also, and high moral culture, not surpassed if equalled by any other country in the world. It is “ the backbone of Presbyterianism.” And Mr. Veech enlivens the secular portion itself with intimate and vivacious allusions to Presbyterian ministers and institutions. But apart from this, the essay is of the very highest value, as a fragment of history which has never been furnished before. The research of the writer is original and profound, the style is polished and brilliant, and the intelli- gent reader must marvel that such a pen has been so little used in the litera- ture of which he is master, almost without a rival. His narrative of the “Whisky Insurrection,” during the presidency of Washington, is rare and racy, graphic and truthful, and worth more than all the cost of this elegant volume. It is embellished, moreover, with portraits of Dr. John McMillan, Rev. Jos. Patterson, Dr. Elliott, Dr. Beatty, and Dr. Francis Herron, as well as lithographs of numerous buildings, past and present, connected with the various institutions. The only questionable feature of this publication is the extra centennial collection of speeches and documents previously made. For example, the “ History of the Western Theological Seminary,” given in 1872, by Dr. Brownson, colored with panegyric of living men all around him at the time, though extremely well done for its occasion, hardly belongs in fairness to the calm retrospect of a centenary memorial. The history of that excellent institution is yet to be written. Sacrifices and services both of the dead and the living must be weighed again, if we are to be particular, in turning annals over to impartial history. No one of the gifted authors in this volume could be trusted better than Dr. Brownson himself for the faith- fulness of true history, when time shall have done its work, in mellowing tints and bringing shaded figures into fuller view. As a whole, this book is a treasure which our church should keep among her jewels, and the possession of it everywhere would not fail, at such a time as this, to increase the wonder and gratitude with which we exclaim, “what hath God wrought.” — A. T. M.
The Old Chapel and the New is the title of two discourses preached by President Porter of Yale College, on the occasion of the last service held in the Old and the first in the New Chapel, recently erected for the institu- tion. Many interesting and important reminiscences are thus preserved from oblivion, while various important principles are advocated or suggested. We quite concur with him when he says: “ But we also contend that faith is as helpful to science as science is useful to faith, and we assert that in a truly Christian university science will be more truly scientific than in one which is atheistic or anti-Christian, simply because faith, w'hen other things are equal, tends to make science more thorough, more liberal, more candid, more comprehensive, more sagacious.”
Nelson & Phillips issue Methodism and its Methods , by Rev. J. T. Crane, D. D., one of the leading ministers and authors of the denomination. It is a clear and vigorous exhibition of the peculiarities of that body w?hich will reward careful examination. It is good authority for a large portion of the
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statements, which form a condensed summary of the leading facts in the case as presented in the opening article of our present number.
The same house also publishes The Christian Ministry , a sermon preached before the New York Preachers’ Meeting, Feb. 8, 1876, by Bishop E. S. Janes, D.D., LL.D., which is full of wise counsels and fruitful sug- gestions, in exposition and true application of 1 Peter iv : 1 1 — “ If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth ; that God in all things may be glorified- through Jesus Christ.” Ministers of all communions may read it with profit.
The American Bible Society publish Out Treasure and Our Trust ; or , The Bible in the Last One Hundred Years. An Historical Discourse for the American Bible Society, in the United States Centennial, 1776-1876, Delivered at Its Sixtieth Anniversary. By William J. R. Taylor, D.D., a former Secretary of the Society. A discourse worthy of the author, the subject, and the occasion.
A Century in the History of the First Presbyterian Church, Princeton, New Jersey, with Special Reference to its Several Houses of Worship, by James M. Macdonald, is the last memento, from his own pen, of a greatly honored and lamented minister of our church, and contributor to this Re- view, who died before he was permitted to deliver it ; and by it, as in many other ways, he, being dead, yet speaketh.
Centennial. One Hundred Years of Progress in the Business oj Bank- ing, is an Address of the Hon. Eldridge Gerry Spaulding, at themeet- ingof the Bankers’ Association, at the International Exposition, Philadelphia, May 30, 1876, from the pressof Baker, Jones & Co., Buffalo. It fills several compact octavo pages, and is an exceedingly thorough, discriminating, and critical history of the development of the banking system of the country, in- cluding National and State banks, together with the different fiscal agencies of the Government, such as the successive United States Banks, the State Deposit Banks, the sub-treasury, the legal-tender and National Bank notes of the present time. It is a valuable addition to our financial literature.
Addresses before the Alumni Association oj Princeton Theological Semi- nary at its Annual Meeting in Princeton, April 25, 1876, published at the request of the Association, is a solid pamphlet, with the following con- tents : The Relation of Princeton Theological Seminary to, 1 the Work of Foreign Missions, by Rev. John C. Lowrie, D.D., New York City; 2. The Growth and Character of the American Church, by Rev. George Norcross. Carlisle, Pa.; 3. The Formation of a Religious Literature, by Prof. D niel S. Gregory, D.D., Wooster, Ohio; 4. The Work of Education, b R^v. Edward D Ledyard, Cincinnati, Ohio. These papers have solid value and interest, and will form good material for future history. A tone of occasional exaggeration will be pardoned when it comes of the fervors of Centennial jubilation, and of filial and brotherls devotion, while it was inevitable t at some who deserved honorable mention should be overlooked.
New Series, A~o. 21. 12
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We have just received a historical sketch of the The Second Presbyterian Church of Trenton , New Jersey, by the pastor, Rev. James B. Kennedy, which illustrates the healthful growth of a Presbyterian church under earnest and efficient pasters and elders, and in the due improvement of the stated ordinances and ministrations of the church of God. It presents an excellent record
The same may be said of the Manual and Tenth Anniversary Sermon of the Westminster Presbyterian Church, of Elizabeth, N. J. by the pastor, Rev.WM. C. Roberts, D.D., its first and only pastor, a rare instance of con- stant growth, including the removal of a debt of nearly $40,000, in this year of nethermost financial depression.
Nelson & Phillips issue Laws Relating to Religious Corporations. A Compilation of the Statutes of the several States in the United States in relation to the Incorporation and Maintenance of Religious Societies and to the Disturbance of Religious Meetings, by Rev. Sanford Hunt, D.D., with an address on Laws affecting Religious Corporations in the State of New York, by Hon. E. L. Fancher, LL. D. Its title shows its character and utility
Centennial Literature. Under this head Nelson & Phillips send to us two substantial volumes, as follows: Methodism and the Centennial of American Independence; or, the Loyal and Liberal Services of the Methodist Episco- pal Church during the First Century of the History of the United States, with a Brief History of the Various Branches of Methodism, and full Sta- tistical Tables, by Rev. E. M. Wood, Ph.D. Also, A Hundred Years of Methodism, by Bishop Simpson. The former of these presents the subject from the points of view set forth in the title-page ; the latter is “ not de- signed to be a History of Methodism, but to give the general reader a glance at what Methodism is, and what it has accomplished during the cen- tury.” This is done in the Bishop’s vigorous and glowing style. The value of the book is enhanced by the Appendix, which contains the “Articles of Re- ligion,” the “ General Rules,” and other important facts of the denomina- tion.
The same publishers also bring out, Past Successes — Future Probabilities; a Centennial Sermon delivered before the New York East Co?iference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, By Rev. HENRY Warren, D.D. , in which rapid future triumphs of Christianity are augured from its past successes.
Philosophy.
Outlines of Lectures on the History of Philosophy, by John J. Elmen- DORF, S.T.D., University Professor of Philosophy in Racine College. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, pp. 296. A pretty difficult task is attempted in this concise manual, to give an outline of the History of Philosophy from the East Indian Vedas to the latest forms of idealism and materialism. It would have been easier to make a book of twice the size, and we are not sure but that it might have been better. This is almost too compressed. It gives
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a broad map of the whole field, with commendable fulness and impartiality. The exposition of Aquinas is one of the best points in the bock. But the pres- ent French Philosophy is not given over to positivism ; there is a strong reac- tion against it. The account of American Philosophy is rather meagre ; the works of Dr. Hickok, for example, seem to have escaped the author’s atten- tion. But such slight defects are outweighed by the general character of the book, which, in the hands of a competent teacher, may be of great use in saving dictation, and for the purposes of a review.
Nelson & Phillips publish The Modern Genesis ; being an Inquiry into the Credibility of the Nebular Theory , of the Origin of Planetary Bodies, the Structure of the Solar System, and of General Cosmical History, by Rev. W. B. Slaughter. He opposes the nebular hypothesis on purely scientific grounds. It is quite clear, indeed, that he does not see its full congruity with Scripture. But he does not assail it by arguments from this source. We have long thought that many adherents of this theory have, on very inadequate grounds, assumed its indisputable certainty ; that it is so surely proved as to cast discredit on any utterance, whether of God or man, apparently inconsistent with it. We do not so see it. Whether true or false it is in no necessary conflict with the Bible. But it is by no means so self evident that it ought not to be subjected to the searching criticism of this book. If its advocates can refute the objections to it, their position will only be strengthened. If not, it will and ought to be undermined.
An Address before the Literary Societies of the University of Wooster, by Stanley Matthews, presents an elevated range of thought, expressed with beauty and force, and delivers some crushing blows at the fashionable ma- terialism and positivism of the day. We need not despair of the Republics or of the church, so long as our laymen furnish them office-bearers of the spirit and power here evinced.
Although in the form of a Baccalaureate sermon to the last graduating class of Wooster University, the address of President A. A. E. Taylor gives such a philosophical discussion of the inadequacy of merely secular edu- cation to meet the wants of humanity, that we notice it here. All the arguments which prove religion [the most indispensable requisite to man’s true well-being and normal development, prove any • system of education which ignores or discards Christian teaching and training to be fatally at fault.
The Unseen Universe ; or, Physical Speculations on a Future State. By B. Stewart and P. G. Tait. Fourth edition (revised and enlarged. London: Macmillan & Co., 1876.
This book is one of the products of the reaction against the views of the quasi-scientists, who, for some time past, have managed to maintain almost exclusive control of the ways of access to the ear of the non-scientific public. This reaction is one of the reassuring signs of the times. True science is beginning to speak out against science, “falsely so called.” There is not the slightest doubt that the true advanced science of this age owes its origin
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chiefly to the labors of Christian scientists, and is mainly sustained by their efforts. Witness the glorious line of names from Newton and Boyle to Fara- day and Agassiz !
Yet, somehow, the impression has gone abroad, that directly the opposite is the truth. There is a ready explanation of this strange and, at first ap- pearance, almost unaccountable fact. In the first place, the thing is in the atmosphere of the age. In the second place, a class of noisy, shallow, showy men have availed themselves of the investigations and thoughts of the truly great men, and paraded them along with their own most extravagant a priori speculations and guesses, assuming the undoubted truth of the whole absurd mass, and arrogating to themselves the leadership in the scientific world. These men have pushed themselves forward in scientific conventions, and wherever opportunity offered, to secure prominence ; have enlisted the aid of great and popular publishing houses, and sent out a constant stream of magazines, reviews, and text-books ; they have crossed the ocean to give be- nighted men the benefit of their crude metaphysics, recommended by brilliant experiments, and at the same time to turn a thrifty penny. In their manifold ways they have come up over the world like the locusts of Egypt. In the third place, the vagaries of these men have been so evidently absurd to the minds of the great scientists, that it has seemed to them arrant folly to attempt any answer. Of one of the most popular of these speculations Professor Agassiz is reported to have said, “ I will give it five years to run its course and die.” So the quasi-scientists have had it pretty much all their own way.
We believe their day is about over. Men are recalling to mind the splendid examples shown by intellectual giants, like Newton and Faraday, and ceasing to stand aghast at the materialistic statements of these a priori dog- matists, so often made of late, professedly in the name of science. Abler- men, mostly Christian scientists, are appearing in the exposition and de- fence of truly scientific views, and combining to show up the brilliant quasi- scientific absurdities. To give an illustration: Professor Tyndall, one of the ablest and most brilliant of his class, published his guesses about dust, under the name of science, and Professor Beale, the great microscopist, straightway appeared to demonstrate his ignorance of the facts. He pub- lished his guesses about the stars, in the name of science, and Professor Proctor forthwith demonstrated their absurdity. He sent abroad his imaginative doubts about God and the future existence, in the name of science, and Professors Watts, Stewart, Tait, and others, have already demonstrated that there is neither science nor sense in such views. The tide is evidently turning.
“ The Unseen Universe/’ we say, is one of the products of this turning tide. It was first published anonymously in Great Britain, and speedily ran through three editions, and it has been reprinted on this side the water. In the fourth edition, the first authors, two of the best-known among foreign scientists, who were scarcely able longer to conceal themselves from the public, came forward, acknowledging their work, and presenting it in a re-
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vised and improved form. In general, the writers aim to demonstrate that the presumed incompatibility of science and religion, of which the quasi- scientists have made so much, does not exist. In particular, they contend, from a purely physical point of view, for the possibility of immortality and of a personal God. In their own language (see Preface to the First Edition, p. 10) : “We endeavor to show, in fact, that immortality is strictly in ac- cordance with the principle of continuity (rightly viewed) — that principle which has been the guide of all modern scientific advance. As one result of this inquiry we are led, by strict reasoning on purely scientific grounds, to the probable conclusion, that a life for the unseen, through the unseen, is to be regarded as the only perfect life.”
Want of space precludes us from giving, as we had desired, a pretty full view of the course of the argument, and confines us to the most meagre statement of the main points. The writers frankly state their own position, in opposition to the materialists. They assume that there are two essential requisites to continued, organized, and conscious existence — an organ of memory, connecting the individual with the past, and the possibility of action in the present. Upon this two-fold assumption they build their argument, which is simply an application to this subject of the scientific principle of continuity — a principle of which the quasi-scientists make as much as the scientists. ( See p. 78. )
There are three possible suppositions with reference to individual existence after death. “ It may be regarded as the result of a transference from one grade of being to another in the present visible universe ; or, secondly, of a transference from the visible universe to some other order of things intimately connected with it; or, lastly, we may conceive it to represent the result of a transference from the present visible universe to an order of things entirely unconnected with it.” The third supposition is set aside as opposed to the principle of continuity, leaving the first two as hypotheses, to be considered in the course ot the argument. (See page 96.) Is either of these two hypothe- ses scientifically tenable ? It is shown, in answering this, that the latest science, holding fast the principle of continuity, as seen in the conservation of energy, assures us that energy, upon which the continuance of life depends, is con- stantly being transformed, diffused, and degraded, so that the universe must ultimately become a dead universe, and must originally have been such. (See chapter iii.)
The latest investigations concerning the intimate nature of matter and ether, or the stuff of which the universe is made, and which constitutes the vehicle of energy, seem to point to the probable truth of the vortex-atom theory, and to indicate that the ether in which all matter is immersed (so to speak), is not a perfect fluid, but exhibits the action of friction in connection with the movements of light and the other forms of energy, and in the revo- lutions of the heavenly bodies. If this be so, the material worlds are grad- ually slowing in their movements, and the physical universe must eventually come to a stand still, and the atoms of matter itself, which was originally formed out of the ether, must be ephemeral, and dissolve in ether again, just as the
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smoke-rings developed in the air by the strong and sudden puff of the loco- motive, dissolve into the air again, instead of remaining through the ages a huge, useless, inert mass. “ Why should not the universe bury its dead out of sight ? ” ( See chapter iv. )
The latest science has established Bio-genesis, or the law that life can origi- nate only from previously existing life. This is another application of the principle of continuity, just as firmly established as the conservation of mat- ter or energy. Admitting, for the sake of the argument, all that is in the least scientifically probable along the line of development, we are brought to the first germ of life in the universe, which must somehow have been devel- oped out of the invisible. The previous argument points to the last life, which, when the universe becomes dead, or dissolves, must go out into the invisible. (See chapter v.)
Immortality is impossible for beings like man in the present physical uni- verse, since the assumed conditions of continued conscious existence will cease to be found in it.
The writers next proceed to show scientifically, that all this power which makes life at present possible in the universe is not derived from superior intelligences who are a part of this visible order of things. There are, doubt- less, other spiritual intelligences, as the angels and God, but they are not of the visible. Science and religion unite in assuring us that man, and beings similar to man, are at the head of the visible universe. We must look beyond it, therefore, for the origin of the mysteries we find in it. (See chapter vi.)
The first hypothesis of immortality having thus been shown to be unten- able, the authors proceed to establish the truth of the remaining supposi- tion, of an immortality through the drifting off of the soul into an unseen uni- verse intimately connected with the visible, somewhat as ether is connected with matter. W'e cannot here detail the successive steps of an argument of great compactness and exceeding interest. From the small circle of light which we may call the universe of scientific perception, scientists have driven the original mysteries ; “but the greater the circle ot light (to adopt the words of Dr. Chalmers), the greater the circumference of darkness, and the mystery which has been driven before us looms in the darkness that surrounds this circle, growing more mysterious and more tremendous as the circumfer- ence is increased. In fine, we have already remarked that the position of the scientific man is to clear a space before him, from which all mystery shall be driven away, and in which there shall be nothing but matter and certain definite laws, which he can comprehend. There are, however, three great mysteries (a trinity of mysteries), which elude, and will forever elude, his grasp, and these will persistently hover around the border of this cleared and illuminated circle — they are the mystery of matter arid energy ; the mystery of life, and the mystery of God — and these three are one ” (p. 234). We are thus driven by the mysteries of the visible universe, unexplained by sci- ence, to the idea of a “ mysterious, infinitely energetic, intelligent, developing agency, residing in the universe, and therefore in some sense conditioned,” and yet not strictly belonging to the visible order of things.
It is at this point that science and revelation, the one ascending from be-
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low, and the other descending from above, meet and harmonize. In the Trinity the mysteries are explained. “ The first person of the Trinity, God, the Father, is represented as the unapproachable Creator — the Being in vir- tue of whom all things exist.” The Scriptures also indicate another subsis tence, the second person of the Trinity of the same substance as the Father, “who has agreed to develop the will of the Father, and thus, in some myste- rious sense, to submit to conditions and to enter into the universe. The re- lation of this Being to the Father is expressed in Hebrews (x: 7), in the words of the Psalmist, ‘ Then said I, Lo, I come ! in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God ! yea, thy law is within my heart !’ In fine, such a being would represent that conditioned, yet in- finitely powerful, developing agent, to which the universe, objectively con sidered, appears to lead up.” (Seep. 223). The Christian system recog- nizes a third agent in the universe, the Lord and Giver of life, the third per- son of the Trinity. “ The third person of the Trinity is regarded in this system as working in the universe, and, therefore, in some sense, as con- ditioned. One of his functions consists in distributing and developing this principle of life, which we are forced to regard as one of the things of the uni- verse, just as the second person of the Trinity is regarded as developing that other phenomenon, the energy of the universe. The one has entered from everlasting into the universe, in order to develop its objective element, energy; the other has also entered from everlasting into the universe, in order to de- velop its subjective element, life.” (See p. 230).
It is through and in this unseen universe, to which true science and religion both point, that the second theory of immortality becomes scientifically pos- sible, nay, probable, and, by divine revelation, certain.
Even this meagre view is sufficient to show that “ the unseen universe ” is no ordinary work. This judgment is confirmed by the extent and rapid ity of its circulation and the verdict of the most competent critics. While not committing ourselves to all the positions and inferences of its learned authors, it seems very clear that they have made their main point certain. The opposing infidel hypotheses are as truly unscientific as they are unscrip- tural. We have read few things at all comparable with it in breadth and elevation of religious views, in exactness and grasp of scientific principles, in keenness and inexorableness of logic, and in accuracy and clearness of state- ment. It is one of those rare works which cannot fail to profit the man of intelligence and culture, to whom either a metaphysical turn of mind or per- plexing doubts may have rendered the subject discussed one of special in- terest.
We cannot forbear to add the opinion and wish of the distinguished authors, expressed in some of the closing paragraphs of the book (p. 270) :
“ The truth is, that science and religion neither are nor can be two fields of knowledge, with no possible communication between them. Such a hy- pothesis is simply absurd.
“ There is, undoubtedly, an avenue leading from the one to the other, but this avenue is through the unseen universe, and, unfortunately, it has been
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walled up and ticketed with ‘No road this way,' professedly alike in the name of science at the one end, and in the name of religion at the other.
“We are in hopes that when this region of thought comes to be further examined, it may lead to some common ground on which the followers of science on the one hand, and of revealed religion on the other, may meet together, and recognize each other’s claims without any sacrifice of the spirit of independence, or any diminution of self-respect.” We notice in parts of the work a Swedenborgian tinge, ana, in particular, some views in regard to the supernatural, miracles, and the resurrection, to which we cannot un- qualifiedly assent.
Elements of Psychology, by Henry N. Day, is issued by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, and, as we believe, completes the series of mental science text-books, prepared by the accomplished author, who achieved his first great success in his text-book on rhetoric. His usual acuteness, methodical precision, and sharp definitions and distinctions, even to the extent of sometimes being a little arbitrary and wire drawn, are conspicuous in this volume. It has some characteristics which fit it to be very helpful to teacher and learner.
All this makes us the more sorry that we find ourselves obliged to dissent wholly from what we understand to be its fundamental position, viz. : that the mind can know nothing but its own exercises; he says, “Nothing but idea is object for the mind;” also, “We may define idea, in the words of Locke, to be ‘whatever the mind can be employed about.’” — (p. 36.) He then declares, “ Idea, both as of mind and for mind, may be more fully and exactly defined to be any form of mental activity." The capitals and italics are the author’s. According to this, the mind can know nothing but “ some form of mental activity.” It cannot get beyond its own subjective activities. Any real non-ego, or non-egoistic substance or property, is unknowable. We can make nothing of this but idealism — it may be sensuous, it may be spiritualistic. What is more, not only cognitions and thoughts, but voli- tions and feelings, are thus declared to be ideas. We see not how, on this theory", we can go beyond Locke’s doctrine of knowledge, which easily enough developed into the idealism of Berkeley, and the nihilism of Hume and his followers. Locke sometimes defined knowledge as “ the perception of the agreement and disagreement of our ideas.” But he, himself, points out the apparent impossibility of any real knowledge of objects, upon his theory, that the only immediate knowledge is not of things, but of ideas ; and the escape from this impossibility, which he flatters himself he has found, amounts to a contradiction of the doctrine which leads to it. He say's:
“ It is evident the mind knows not things immediately, but only by the intervention of the ideas it has for them. Our knowledge, therefore, is real, only so far as there is a conformity between our ideas and the reality of things. But what is here the criterion ? How shall the mind, when it per- ceives nothing but its own ideas, know that they" agree with the things them- selves?” Sure enough. And echo answers, how? This problem must confront every" man who adopts the doctrine, that the mind knows im- mediately only ideas and modes of its own activity.
MacMillan & Co. bring out Modern Physical Fatalism and the Doctrine
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of Evolution, including an Examination of Mr. H. Spencer's First Princi- ples. By Thomas Rawson Birrs, M.A., Professor of Moral Philosophy, Cambridge. In this, Prof. Birks well sustains the reputation he has acquired as a metaphysical writer. He has rendered a valuable service in exposing the flimsy pretensions of the materialistic evolutionism of the day. The fine range of his subjects by no means surpasses the learning and ability with which he handles them. They include the Doctrine of the Unknowable ; Ultimate Ideas in Physics ; the Relativity of Knowledge, in itself and ac- cording to Hamilton and Mill ; the Reality of Matter, its Indestructibility; the Continuity of Motion, and the Conservation of Force; the Transformations of Force and Motion ; the Laws of Attraction and Repulsion; Choice and Will in Physical Laws ; Evolution, Heterogeneity, Force, and Life ; Natural Selection.
The volume contains the substance of a course of lectures delivered during the year 1875-6. Spencer’s views he declares “ radically unsound, full of logical inconsistency and contradiction, and flatly opposed to the funda- mental principles of Christianity, and even the very existence of moral science.” In this judgment we fully concur. And, therefore, so far from being alien from the proper sphere of theology and ethics, these sciences must contend against this system for very life. For sale by McGinness & Runyon, Princeton.
Biblical.
MacMillan & Co. publish, as one of the Clarendon Press Series, a second edition, revised and corrected, of Outlines of Textual Criticism Applied to the New Testament , by C. E. Hammond, M.A. ; a neat, compact volume, which brings together in a small compass, a summation of the facts and ar- guments for and against the retention of the various disputed passages in the texlus receptus of the original Greek. Those interested in these in- quiries— and surely all students and preachers of the Word mustbe — will find here, accessible and convenient, at small cost, w hat they could not find with out great difficulty, labor, and probable expense, in any other way. For sale by McGinness & Runyon, Princeton.
Scribner, Armstrong & Co. have imported into this country a special edi- tion of Keil’s two volumes on the Prophecies of Ezekiel, at $3.00 per volume. This constitutes the 49th and 50th volumes of Foreign Theological Library of the Clerks of Edinburgh. Fourth Series. These volumes have the candid, scholarly, and judicious character, which have given value to previous com- mentaries on other books of Scripture by the same author. They are adapted, not to popular use, but to the needs of students, exegetes, and preachers.
Nelson & Phillips bring out The Chronology of Bible History , and How to Romember it, by Rev. C. Minger, A.M., in which charts are presented tabulating the great facts and personages of the Bible, down to and includ- ing Christ, in a form fitted to assist their retention in the memory.
The Name Mackabee, by Samuel Ives Curtiss, Jr., Ph.D. Leipzig. Printed by Ackermann & Glaser, 1876. Mr. Curtiss, a graduate of the Union
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Theological Seminary in this city, has been pursuing his philological studies in Germany, and this dissertation, appropriately dedicated to Dr. Franz De- litzsch, with whom'he studied, gives the first fruits of his researches, and excel- lent promise for the future. All that bears upon the origin and meaning of the word Machabee seems to have been thoroughly explored, and the differ- ent theories are concisely criticised. Mr. Curtiss rejects the most popular theory, the Hammer theory, and prefers with hesitation one which makes it mean the Extinguisher. Dr. Delitzsch, in a letter addressed to the writer, suggests another derivation, which yields the sense — What is like [com- parable to) my Father ?
The Footsteps of St. Peter, by J. R. Macduff, D.D. New York: Carter & Bros., pp. 632, with illustrations. An excellent and popular work, and a fitting companion to the author’s Footsteps of St. Paul. The descriptions are made impressive by Dr. MacdufF s familiarity with the sacred places which were the scenes of Peter’s labors. His character, journeys, and writings are well described. While Dr. Macduff does not credit the legend that Peter was the first bishop of Rome for twenty-five years, he accepts as sufficient the evidence that he was a martyr there under Nero.
The Carters also publish the third series of Dr. Donald Fraser’s Synop- tical Lectures on the Books of Holy Scripture, from Romans to Revelation, completing the work, which well deserves the favor it has received, as giving a definite and compressed synopsis of the contents of the Sacred Scriptures. Pastors will find these lectures of great use.
Miscellany.
S. C. Griggs & Co., Chicago, publish, and have on sale, at Princeton, through McGinness & Runyon, Viking Tales of the North j the Sagas of Thorstein, Viking’s Son, and Fridthjof the Bold ; translated from the Icelandic by Rasmus B. Anderson, A. M., Professor of the Scandinavian Languages in the University of Wisconsin, and Jon Bjarnason ; also, Teg- nier’s F ridthjof s Saga, translated into English by George Stephens. These specimens of Icelandic and Scandinavian literature are brought within reach of the English student and reader, in this volume, in admirable style, as might be expected from the past achievements of Prof. Anderson and his collaborators in this department of literature.
Art. XII.— THEOLOGICAL AND LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.
GERMANY.
foumal of Church History. [Zeitschrift f. Kirchengeschichte. II. 1876.) The second number of this new and promising quarterly opens with a thoughtful article by Dr. W. Gass on the “ Significancy and Working of the Historical Sense” — an appropriate introduction to such a journal ; the need, aim, and limits of historical studies are ably set forth. Dr. Ferd. Piper, the veteran archaeologist of Berlin, fol-
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lows with a long essay of 60 pages on “the History of the Church Fathers from Epigraphic Sources,” showing what services have been rendered to church history by inscriptions and like memorials ; these are traced out in the Greek church, in the Latin, and in various libraries with a fulness of special learning, exact and admira- ble. A. Harnack contributes an interesting essay (part one) on the so-called Second Epistle of Clement in the light of the new edition, as illustrating the characteris- tics of primitive homilies, especially in the Eastern churches. His own opinion as to this Clementine Homily, however, is that it originated in the Western church — though it is not found “ cited by any Roman writer before the seventeenth century.” In the East it was for a long time read as a Clementine Homily (and Bryennios ascribes it to Clement), though not spoken of as addressed to the Corinthians. Eu- sebius had heard of it, but had not seen it. Its origin remains obscure ; and Harnack promises a further discussion of it. The next article, by Prof. Dr. W. Moeller, is a Critical Review of the Works published in 1875 (chiefly in France and Germany) on the History of the Church between A. D. 325 and 768 — an excellent guide to the contents and scope of some fifty works, such as Rothe’s Lectures on Church History, Boehringer’s Church of Christ and its Witnesses (2d ed.), Werner’s Venerable Bede, Plefele’s History of Councils, new edition, etc. The Analecta in this number are a Criticism on the Text of the new Clementine passages, by O. von Gebhardt : H. Roensch, on the last sentence of the Muratorian Fragment; a Letter of Luther, sent by Fr. Schirrmacher ; and a Memoir of the Cardinal of Lothringia, 1563, by A. Fournier.
Jahrbticher f. deutsche Theologie. I. 1876. Dr. C. Weizsacker, in the opening article on the “ Beginnings of Christian Morals,” shows from the New Testament, especially the Epistles of Paul, how the new Christian faith manifested itself in a new and higher moral life — the life sprang from and was shaped by the faith : the doctrines about God, and Christ, and the Kingdom of God gave a new character to the daily and social life of Christians. Christian morals are not a mere extension of natural ethics, but have a character of their own, derived from the new revelation, with its higher motives and objects. This general position is illustrated at length, with fine criticism, and in application to a variety of moral duties and ethical ques- tions. Dr. Ferdinand Piper of Berlin, in the second article, writes with great learn- ing on the gain to Church History from the Ancient, especially the Christian, In- scriptions. This is an important essay, by the man best qualified to discuss the sub- ject, he having devoted a large part of his life to these investigations. In his “ Monumental Theology” he has written at length on the general question. In the present article (66 pages) he first shows the Posture of the Inquiry, and the use made of these Inscriptions by church historians since the Reformation, as in Baronius, the Magdeburg Centuriators, Bingham, Wald, and others. Then, in the second part of the essay, he runs over the different periods of church history, and shows what light has been thrown upon each of them from these sources. Every careful reader will be surprised to find how much has been gained and garnered up from these monu- ments, which are dispersed through all the Christian countries, giving indubitable testimony to facts and doctrines. This is followed out through the different epochs, down to the seventh century, taking in all the General Councils. There are two other articles in this number ; one by Prof. Schultz of Heidelberg on the last chapters of the epistle to the Romans — (he takes the ground that Rom. xii. to xv., 7, was originally addressed to the Ephesians) ; and some centennial memorabilia for the year ’76 — beginning with A. D. 176, and coming down to 1776, “the American War of Independence, and the Conflicts of European Culture.” Among the critical
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notices is a full account by the same writer of the recently discovered complete MS. of Clement’s two Epistles to the Corinthians, as edited by Philotheos Bryennios, metropolitan of Sevrac. The second Heft contains the last literary work of the late Dr. Sack, of Bonn, on Psalm 104, verse 4 — its correct translation and in- terpretation, which is thus given : “ He lets his angels and servants clothe them-
selves with winds and flames of fire, lets them work in and through these, to guard or punish men.” Dr. Weizsacker has a long and able article on “ the Oldest Christian Church at Rome,” defending the view that it was not made up of Jews, but chiefly of heathen converts. The other articles are Geiger on the History of the Study of the Hebrew Language in Germany ; and Wagenmann on the History of the University of Helmstedt.
Philosophische Monatshefte, Bd. XII., 7 Hefte, 1876, Leipzig. Edited by Dr. E. Bratuschek, Professor at Giessen, with the co-operation of Dr. F. Ascherson of Berlin, and Prof. J. Bergmann of Marburg. Dr. Vaihinger in the first Heft reviews “ the Three Phases of Czolbe’s Naturalism,” and it is an interesting contribution to the history of modern materialism in Germany, exhibiting its various aspects. Incidentally the points of agreement and difference between Czolbe and Ueberweg are noted — both of whom, like Lange, denied a personal God and immortality. Articles in the other numbers are by A. Spir of Stuttgart, on the Question as to First Principles ; Opitz, the Limits of the Rights and Duties of the State ; Prof. Boehm of Budapest, Contributions to the Theory of Consciousness ; J. H. von Kirchmann, Berlin, the Significance of Philosophy ; Dr. PI. v. Struve, of the University of Warsaw, Psychological and Metaphysical Analysis of the Fundamental Laws of Thinking, etc. Dr. Vaihinger (pp. 84-90) on “The Origin of the Word Erkenntnisstheorie ” (Theory of Knowledge), traces it back to the elder Fichte. In the fifth Heft , Superintendent Opitz presents a concise and clear exhibition of the general theory of Spinoza, as “ a Monist, Determinist, and Realist and Dr. H. Muller sets forth the Doctrine of Plotinus on the Beautiful. The two next parts are chiefly occupied with a discussion by the editor, Dr. Bratuschek, of the charges made by Prof. Mommsen and others against some German universities about conferring degrees in an irregular way — in absentia, etc. Kiel and Giessen seem to have been compromised. The dispute in Germany has been a lively one. Dr. Ascherson, custodian of the University Library of Berlin, gives in each number a full and convenient Bibliography of Philosophy, including not only the titles of new books, but also the articles on philosophical subjects in the principal journals, and even newspapers. In connection with these Monatshefte are also published, at irregular intervals, “ Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Berlin,” chiefly of a Hegelian type. The second Heft, 1876, contains an essay by Prof. Michelet on Ideal-Realism, and one by Dr. Lasson on the Problem of Matter.
University Libraries in Germany. The library of the Berlin University con- tains 115,000 printed volumes and 40,000 charts. The University of Bonn contains
180.000 volumes, several hundred manuscripts and a large collection of maps. The University of Breslau has 340,000 volumes of books and 2,900 manuscripts. The Erlangen University has 110,000 printed volumes and 1,900 manuscripts, besides
50.000 treatises, 10,000 autograph letters, and a collection of designs and engrav- ings. The Freiburg University contains 250,000 printed volumes and 500 man- uscripts. The Giessen University has 150,000 printed volumes and 1,268 manu- scripts ; that of Gottingen 400,000 printed volumes and 5,000 manuscripts ; that of Greifswald 70,000 volumes ; and that of Halle 100,000 volumes and 1,000 manu- scripts. The University of Heidelberg has 300,000 volumes, 70,000 treatises, 3,000
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manuscripts, 1,000 charts, a collection of maps and another of engravings. The University of Jena has 100,000 volumes, and that of Kiel 150,000 volumes and several hundred manuscripts. The University of Konigsberg has 220,000 volumes, in addition to about 50,000 double copies of books for the purpo se of exchange. The University of Leipsic contains 350,000 printed volumes and 4,000 manuscripts. The University of Marburg has 120,000 printed volumes, but very few manuscripts. The University of Munich contains 283,300 volumes, 17,500 manuscripts, 3,600 portraits and 3,200 medals. The University of Rostock has about 140,000 volumes ; that of Tubingen 280,000 volumes, 60,000 treatises and 2,000 manuscripts ; and that of Wurzburg more than 200,000 volumes and 2,000 manuscripts. The library of the Strasburg University is said to contain 300,000 volumes, of which 5,400 relate to the history of Alsace, and about 500 manuscripts. The library of the Vienna University contains 211,220 volumes and 83 manuscripts, and the library of the Basle University contains 100,000 printed volumes, 4,000 manuscripts, and 180 charts.
Theologische Sluditn und Kritiken, IV : 1876. The first article, by R. Smend, Privatdocent at Halle, is entitled “ The Degree of Development of the Israelite Religion presupposed by the Prophets of the Eighth Century ” before Christ. It is partly a reply to the recent work of Duhm, on The Theology of the Prophets. The object of the discussion, which is successfully accomplished, is to show that there is an organic connection of the prophets of the eighth and following centuries before Christ with the whole of the preceding history — there is unity running through the whole. Amos and Hosea presuppose the main facts of the old Hebrew his- tory as well as Isaiah and Jeremiah. The same spirit pervades the whole pro- phetic period of over three hundred years to Ezra. Boniface (Winfrid), the apostle of the Germans, has been the subject of renewed investigations in Ebrard’s Irish-Scotch Missionary Church, and in the extended life of Boniface by the Roman Catholic divine, Prof. Dr. A. Werner (Lpzg., 1875). Th. Forster ably re- views his character and deeds, and while fully conceding his great qualities, con- tends that his sanctity and apostolicity have been exaggerated and overlaid with a legendary halo ; this is also the general view of Ebrard in his able work. Prof. Jacobi, of Halle, has a clear and concise account of the new edition of epistles of Clement of Rome, by Bryennios of Macedonia. He fully recognizes the value of the new discoveries. He thinks, however, that the public prayer, which forms so large a part of the new matter in the first epistle, was not contained in the Roman letter, but was added at Corinth (or Alexandria) when the epistle was publicly read in the churches. Seidermann contributes to the History of the Reformation critical editions of three epistles of Melanchthon. Prof. Beyschlag, of Halle, pre- sents a capital review of Iiase’s History of Jesus, applauding its literary merits, and exposing its doctrinal and historical inconsistencies.
Hilgenf eld's Journal (Zeitschrift f. miss. Theologie ), III. — 1876. Alb. Thoma, The Lord’s Supper in the New Testament— an essay of 50 pages, critical and exegetical, reducing it to its simplest elements ; in John’s Go=pel the writer does not find the institution itself, but a meal and a speech. H. Tollin continues his work on Servetus by expounding his doctrine about the devil : he believed in the existence of Satan, as originally an angel, who fell by occasion of the creation. E. Harmsen, on Rom. xi: 36 and I Cor. viii: 6, does not find in these passages that Christ is the mediator in creation; he excludes it for the verse in Corinthians by substituting the accusative d' on, for the genitive d'ou, following the Vatican MS. H. Ronsch continues his critical studies on the Itala. Franz Gorres shows that
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Pope Sixtus V. claimed and proclaimed full papal infallibility in respect to canon- ization, etc., in a Consistory A.D. 15S8, according to the testimony of Galesinius. Dr. Hilgenfeld gives the full Latin version of 4th Ezra, from Bersly’s scholarly work (Leod, 1875'; the hitherto missing fragment makes a whole by itself, and it is ascribed by Hilgenfeld to Christian authorship. The fourth part contains G. Heinrki on the Christian Church of the Corinth, and the religious societies of the Greeks. F. Gorres on the Persecution under the Emperor Maximinus I ; and F. Schiirer on Luke and Josephus.
Dr. B. Weiss, formerly of Kiel, who has just been called to Berlin, has pub- lished an elaborate critical work on the “ Gospel of Matthew, and its Parallels in Luke ” (Halle), in continuation of a similar work on Mark issued a few years since. The basis of his criticism is the theory, that the three synoptic gospels have a com- mon “ apostolic source,” of about A. D. 67, which Mark first made use of, in com- bination with the narrative he received from Peter. The Logia of Papias give the primitive document, which Weiss holds contained not merely the words of Jesus, but also narrations of facts.
The veteran Prof. I. H. Fichte of Bonn, just before his decease, at eighty years of age, addressed to Prof. Zeller of Berlin a letter of “ Questions and Doubts about the latest Development of German Speculation,” with special reference to Zeller’s Historv of German Philosophy. Fichte claims that Zeller has not done full justice to such writers as Herbart, Fries, Baader, and Krause ; also that he sets aside, with too brief credit, the writings of Weisse, Ulrici, and Carriere, as well as Fichte’s own system. The “ ethical and religious view of the world” and the personality of God are comparatively ignored by Zeller ; and his general view of German specula- tion would be no barrier to “ the current audacious spirit of negation which is now- celebrating its orgies in open market.” Fichte says, that “ the great idea of a personal author of the world, when once fully grasped, cannot possibly be regarded as a merely plausible hypothesis, or remain idly in the recesses of the soul as an ineffectual article of faith.”
The Neue Evangelise he Kirchenzeitung in noticing the 4th edition of “ Lectures on the Mosaic Primeval History and its Relation to the Results of Natural Science,” by Dr. F. H. Reusch, Old Catholic Professor of Theology at Bonn, says that it is one of the very best books of its class. It carefully reviews modem astronomy and neology, the Darwinian controversy, etc., and vindicates the Mosaic record in respect to creation, the deluge, the unity of the race, and other questions. “ This work, and Hettinger’s ‘ Apology of Christianity ’ are undoubtedly the ablest apologetic achievements in the recent Catholic theological literature of Germany.”
The newr work on “ the Apostle Barnabas,” by a Roman Catholic writer, received a prize from the Munich Theological Faculty. It is especially valuable for its full collection of all the legends about Barnabas.
A new edition of Herzog’s Real-Encyclopadie is announced, with a host of contributors ; it is to be in 15 volumes, and completed in seven to eight years. It will be issued in 150 parts, costing 45 cents each, free by mail. Dr. Plitt is to be joint editor.
Of the new edition of the Apostolic Fathers, edited by Gebhardt, Hamack, and Zahn, the second fasciculus is out (pp. lvi., 404), edited by Zahn. and contain- ing the works of Ignatius and Polycarp. A second edition of the first fasciculus contains the additions to the epistles of Clement of Rome, published by Bryennios.
A Text-Book of Symbolics, by the late Dr. G. F. Oehler, is edited by the late
1 877.] Theological and Literary Intelligence. 195
J. Delitzsch, who was engaged upon it at the time of his decease (pp. 653, published in Tubingen),
W. W. Baudissin, in his Studies on the History of Semitic Religions, Part I, 1876, examines, first, the History of Sanchoniathon, in its bearings on the Phoenician religion ; then follows an extended critical essay on the Old Testament references to the heathen deities, whether they are regarded as real — which is denied : the third treatise is an enlargement of an article in the Journal of Historical Theology, 1875, on the name of God, Jao, refuting the theory that it is the name of a god outside of Israel. A fourth essay is on the Symbolism of the Serpent in the Semitic religions.
A concise memorial of Karl Rudolph Hagenbach, whose works have been so widely used in this country and Great Britain, has been written by Pastor C. F. Eppler (pp. 160, with a likeness of Hagenbach). It gives extracts from his minor works, selections of his poems, and some autobiographical notices. There is said to be a full autobiography among Hagenbach’s papers.
Of Dr. Alzog’s (Roman Catholic) Handbook of Patrology, a third enlarged edition has appeared (pp. xvi., 572).
FRANCE.
The Revue des deux Mondes for the last half year contains several noteworthy articles, bearing on questions of current interest. In the number for July 15, M. Charles Leveque, of the Institute, reviewing the question about “ Instinct and Life, as viewed by Darwinism and Comparative Psychology " — putting at the basis a work by the late Albert Lemoine, L' Habitude et l’ Instinct (Paris, 1875), which is com- mended as altogether the best on the subject ; he is also the writer of works ot good repute on Body and Soul, Physiognomy and Speech, etc. M. Leveque reviews all the noted theories of instinct — the mechanical (automatic), of Descartes, the semi- rational of Montaigne, the mixed automatism of Buffon (in his Nature of Animals), and the reflection which Cordillac ascribes to animals as well as to man, deriving instinct from habit. Following Lemoine, the nature of habit is scrutinized, and it is shown that instinct is presupposed in habit, and that habit does not make instinct : habit is “ a second nature,” instinct is primitive and irreducible. Lamarck, 1809, first resolved instinct into “ hereditary habit.” It is ingeniously shown, however, against him and Darwin, that Heredity presupposes instinct — viz. all the instincts necessary to the nourishment and reproduction of living beings. Here is the proper domain of Instinct. Plants do not have it, animals live by it. There is de- sire, and a direction to some end, with feeling, but not reflection. It is simple, necessary, with slight consciousness, and but a pale glimmer of intelligence.
M. E. Vacherot, of the Institute, who is perhaps the most metaphysical of living French philosophers, examines the question of Final Causes in relation to the First Cause, in the Revue for Aug. I, and Sept. 1. He bases his discussion on Janet’s recent work on Final Causes, a part of which was translated in our quarterly for April, 1876. He entirely agrees with Janet as to the fact of design, of final causes (as the French say, of finality), in the works of nature. This position he cogently defends against the Comtists or positivists, and the materialists. The choice is only between chance and design. Where there is order, where there is law, there is and must be an adaptation of means to ends. The whole Cosmos is an order, a plan, a work of art. In this, all the greatest philosophers of all schools (excepting the purely materialistic) are agreed. Plato and Aristotle, Leibnitz, Kant, and Hegel are all one on the position, that the universe cannot be explained by merely mechanical laws and forces. If this is so, then there is intelligence, wis-
196 Theological and Literary Intelligence. [Jan. 1877.
dom, mind, in nature, working for an end. This, too, is conceded by Vacherot, in agreement with Janet. Vacherot, having strong pantheistic tendencies, hesitates on the point, whether this Intelligence be immanent in, or transcendent above, the course of nature ; whether it be conscious, or unconscious — whether it be personal, or above personality. He also objects to the doctrine of pure creation. But though he cannot compend the First Cause, and bind it in a formula, he confesses its “ in- finite power, goodness, and wisdom.” “ The Final Cause is the only true cause ; the Efficient Cause is only the instrument of the Final Cause.”
Revue Philosophique de la France et de r Etranger, Mai, Oct., 1876. The chief articles are : F. Bouillier, on the Cause of Pleasure and Pain ; J. Soury, on Lange’s History of Materialism ; J. Lachelier, Study upon the Theory of the Syllogism — worthy of careful examination ; A. Horwicz, History of the Development of the Will ; E. von Hartmann, Schopenhauer and his disciple Frauenstaedt, two articles ; Dr. R. Lepine, Cerebral Localizations, two articles ; G. H. Lewes, Spiritualism and Materialism ; P. Regnaud, E. Indian Philosophy, the Vedanta School, two articles on its sources and authorities ; an excellent analysis by Ch. Ber.ard, of Schasler’s History of Aesthetics ; Ernest Naville, on the place of Hypothesis in Science ; Ribot, on Herbert’s Psychology ; L. Carran on the Philosophy of G. H. Lewes ; A. Penjon, on the Metaphysics of Ferrier — a good and appreciative account. The October number opens with an article on Art and Psychology, by James Sully : J. Delboeuf continues a discussion on what he calls “ Algorithmic Logic,” i. e., the representing of logic by symbols, like arithmetic and algebra ; E. Cazelles criticizes the ethical (utilitarian) theory of Grote ; and Luigi Ferry gives an account of the late work of Prof. Berti of Rome on the Trial of Galileo. Among the notices of books is a sharp criticism of Renan’s recent Philosophical Dialogues, ending with a mot of De la Rochefoucauld : “ La plus subtile folie est faite de la plus subtile
sagesse.”
Revue Tkdologique , published under the direction of Professors Bois and Bonifas, of the Faculty of Theology at Montauban, Third Year, No. 1, July. 1876. This review is published four times a year, in numbers of about 100 pages, at five francs ; it is proposed to issue it every two months. It contains valuable and in- structive papers. The contents of the July number are : P. Vallotton, on the Roman Religion from Augustus to the Antonines ; D. Coussirat, the Principles of Negative Criticism, and the Person of Jesus — discussing the views of Strauss, Renan, and Pecaut ; Jundt, the Precursors of John Huss ; Ch. Bruston, the Hypo- thesis (of Reuss and others) of Maccabee Psalms ; Doumergue, the Synodal Pres- byterian Regime (in France) at the end of the eighteenth century.
We have also received from Montauban an address by Professor Jean Monod, on the object of Dogmatics, delivered at the opening of the public Session of the Faculty ol Theology, Nov. 16, 1S75. It is a clear and forcible exposition of its theme.
M. Savons, a conscientious and learned scholar, intimately acquainted with the Hungarian language, has published the first volume of a Histoire Gdnerale des Hongrois (Paris, Didier). In the present complications on the Danube, the Hungarians and Turks, it is suggested by French writers, may be forced into some common action against their common foes.
The fifth volume of Pressense’s History of the three first Christian centuries is announced, treating of the organization, worship, and social and domestic life of the Christian church in the third century.