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SEELEY  W.  MUDD 

and 

GEORGE  1.  COCHRAN     MEYER  ELSASSER 

DR.JOHNR.  HAYNES    WILLIAM  L.  HONNOLD 

JAMES  R.  MARTIN         MRS.  JOSEPH  F.  SARTORI 

to  the 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

SOUTHERN  BRANCH 


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Cjl.' 


^>^  tVi  ■. 


This  book  is  DUE  on   the  last  date  -»^mnrH  »^elo^ 


UNIVERSITY  of  CALIFORNIA 

AT 

LOS  ANGELES 

UBRARY 


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NEAV     THEORIES 


OLD     F  A I T  H 


NEW  THEOEIES  and  the  OLD  FAITH. 


A  COURSE  OF  LECTURES  ON 


RELIGIOUS   TOPICS   OF   THE   DAY, 


DELIVERTCn   IX 


ST.  THOMAS'S  SQUARE  CHAPEL,  HACKNEY, 


KEY.    J.    ALLANSON    PICTON,    M.A. 


WILLIAMS   AND    NORfxATE, 

t,    HKXRrKTTA    STREET.   COVKNT  fiAFlDE  N.    LOXDON 
And  -20,  SOUTFI  FliKUK  RIC  STREET.   KDrXP.UHGH. 


1«70. 


ni.EAcn  Axn  df.armxo, 

PKINTF.IiS, 
DISHOPSGATE  WITHOUT,    B.C. 


URL  ^  "^  --r  H 


.NOTICE. 


Those  readers  who  were  also  hearers  of  the  following 
Course  of  Lectures  will  observe  that  it  has  been  increased 
by  the  additicjn  of  the  first  discourse,  which  was  preached 
earlier  in  the  year.  The  purpose  of  that  sermon  seemed 
to  fall  in  with  the  general  aims  of  the  succeeding  course 
so  well  that  it  was  difficult  to  resist  the  temptation  to 
include  it.  though  it  is  to  ])e  fearcitl  tliat  here  and  there 
the  similarity  amounts  to  repetition.  The  compression 
and  occasional  mutilation  caused  by  limits  of  time  has 
heen  in  some  places  rejjaired  by  exjjansioii :  >but  the  com- 
pai'ative  fn'cdnjii — ])(-rhaps  roughness — of  oral  delivery  is 
pri'S'Tvi'd. 


COiNTENTS. 


LECTURE  I. 

PAGE 

The  iSouLs  Loxging  aftkr  a  Final  Causi!        ...        1 

LECTUKE  II. 
The  GoD-coxsciousNKsa  in  Humanity 31 

LECTUKE  III. 
Inspiration 69 

LECTURE  IV. 

iNFALLIBILirV 104 

LECTUKE  V. 
The  Ube  and  Abusk  oi"  the  Bihle 140 

APPENDIX. 

Note  A. — On  Buddhism  as  an  Argument   for  the  possi- 
bility OF  REST  IN  Atheism        ,        .        .        .185 
,,     li.— On  the  Development   Theory   in    relation  to 

the  S(n;L  and  Im.mortality       ....  190 

,,     c. — On  Natural  Process  and  Original  Force.        .  204 
,.     D. — On    the      Metaphysical     Issues    of    Physical 

Science  .........  207 

..     E. — On  St.  Paul's  Revelations 209 

..     f.  — EusKHius  on  the  Canon 219 

,     c— On  the  Divinity  of  '"jirist 22S 


LECTURE   I. 


THE  SOUL'S  LOXGING  AFTER  A  FINAL 
CAUSE. 

'•  Till'  eye  is  not  snthficd  Kith  seeing,  nor  the  oar  filled  ovitk 
hcariii'j"' — Keel.  i.  8. 

'•  Tlidt  theij  .should  sech  the  Lord,  if  h(q)hj  they  might  feel  after  ILim 
and  find  lllni." — ^Vcts  xvii.  27. 

If,  as  I  presmnc,  yoii  all  take  an  interest  in  the  progress 
of  scientific  discovery  and  the  consequent  modifications 
in  tlieological  opinion  during  the  last  half-century,  I 
cannot  appeal  to  unsympathetic  hearts  Avhen  I  say  that 
sometimes  the  future  seems  a  v(?ry  dreary  outlook.  I 
do  not  of  course  r(!fer  to  the  revolutions  in  time-honoured 
organizations  and  modes  of  thought,  Avhicli  appear  m on; 
and  moi-(.'  incnitahle.  The  issue  with  which  I  pro])oseto 
deal  is  much  dfX'jx'r  than  that.  A  vai)our  "  heavy, 
huclc.-s,  foi-mlcss,  cold"  C7'(,'C[)S  more  and  more  above  the 
distaiU  !ioi-izon,  and  \v(;  feel  as  though  its  touch  must  \)(\ 
so  i'ar  deadlier  than  physical  death,  that  we  would  very 
much  rather  die  l)cfoi-('  it  (;oiu(;s  any  nearer.  In  (me  word, 
as  all  our  hodily  actions  tend  to  death,  so,  to  some  moods 

B 


2  THE  SO  UrS  L  OKGIXG 

of  mind  at  the  present  day,  all  activities  of  thought  seem 
to  have  but  one  inevitable  goal,  a  blank  material 
atheism.  I  am  of  course  not  stating  my  own  fears; 
though  I  should  be  ill  prepared  to  deal  with  the  subject 
if  I  had  never  felt  them.  But  I  can  easily  imderstand 
the  frame  of  mind  to  which  in  view  of  prevalent  currents 
of  thought  at  the  present  day,  it  may  appear  that  there 
is  no  ultimate  issue  })ossible  other  than  the  one  I  have 
named.  Let  us  therefore  at  the  outset  put  the  fears 
natural  to  such  a  frame  of  mind  in  the  most  plausible 
light,  in  order  that  we  may  not  overestimate  our  re- 
sources against  them. 

The  tendencies  of  the  future,  it  may  be  urged,  are  to 
be  augured,  not  from  the  present  enthusiasms  or  prtyu- 
dices  of  the  many,  but  rather  from  the  uniform  leanings 
of  those  leaders  of  thought,  mIio  best  know  what  the 
significance  of  scientific  progress  is.  Indeed  the  real 
state  of  ])ublic  opinion  now  is  to  be  gathered,  not  from 
formulas  of  religious  profession  or  worship^  but  rather 
from  the  practical  attitude  of  men's  minds,  and  the  con- 
clusions which  this  tacitly  assumes.  Judging  then  in 
this  Avay  of  the  general  tendency  of  thought,  we  may 
regai'd  certain  positions  as  permanently  and  irreversibly 
taken  up,  at  least  by  the  sort  of  minority  which  always 
decides  the  future  of  tlie  world.  It  used  to  be  regarded 
as  a  great  stretch  of  cliiirity  if  one  could  hope  for  the 
salvation  of  a  liomanist  or  a  Unitarian.  But  now  it 
has  come  })ractically  to  this,  tluit  no  intellectual  o])inion 
whatever  whether  religious  or  otiierwise  can    pijssibly 


AFTER  A  FINAL  CAUSE.  6 

save  or  condemn  a  man's  soul.  We  are  simply  to 
apply  the  rule  "by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them" 
impartially  to  Atheists,  Deists  and  Christians,  making 
abstraction  altogether  of  their  opinions  Avhile  "vve  do  so. 
Farther,  no  one  can  now  state  a  theory  of  the  infalli- 
bility of  the  Bible,  "without  encumbering  it  "with  so 
many  limitations  as  to  amount  practically  to  its  denial. 
Again  the  unmistakeable  and,  it  may  be  added  the 
resistless  tendency  of  science  is  to  extend  the  reign  of 
law  not  (mly  to  all  phenomena  of  existing  nature,  but 
also  to  every  conceivable  process  in  its  development. 
And  still  farther,  physiologists  exhibit  an  always  in- 
creasing confidence  that  all  movements  of  mind  are 
associated  with,  and  find  their  equivalent  expression  in 
cliaiiges  in  the  matter  of  the  brain.  AVliat  more  is 
needed,  ask  some,  to  show  that  atheism  is  already 
clcai-ly  in  vitnv  ?  One  by  one  all  sacred  principles  and 
oljjects  of  reverence  are  undermined  or  exploded:  and 
very  soon  we  shall  have  nothing  left  to  us  beyond  wliat 
we  can  toucli  and  taste  and  handle, — matter,  nothing  but 
matter,  godless  matter,  or  in  other  words  material 
atheism. 

J  might  reply,  I  am  not  so  sure  of  that,  at  least  so  i'ar 
as  (:oiicci-ns  tlic  issue.  A\'liy  sliould  matter  necess;!i-ilv 
be  godless?  To  lii-ge  lliat  coiiclusioii  so  coiiHd;'))', j\- 
one  ought  to  have  found  out  what  matter  is;  and  1 
a(n  not  aware  that  any  one  has  done  so  yet.  Tlie 
most  |)hiu<il)le  conjee.:!  ures  on  ilie  subject  wotdd  ratluir 
begin   an  upward  moveinent  in  the  e\erlasting  see-saw 


4  THE  SOUT/S  LOXGIXO 

oi"  opinion,  by  showing  that  matter  is  only  a  form 
of  force,  or  aggregation  of  forces.  And  this  "would 
certainly  point  the  -way  hack  to  spiritualism.  No ;  I 
am  not  at  all  sure  that  the  reduction  of  everything 
to  matter  would  involve  atheism ;  in  fact  rather  the 
contrary.  As  in  Browning's  famous  ring,  tlie  base 
alloy  needed  to  work  out  the  theory  would  fly  off  on 
its  com})letion,  and  leave  only  forces,  which,  if  they 
inliere  in  anything,  are  more  likely  to  inhere  in  spirit 
and  life  tlian  in  aught  else. 

But  that  is  scarcely  the  kind  of  reply  to  the  religious 
fears  of  the  times  which  I  desire  to  urge  noAv.  I  wish 
rather  to  insist  on  a  principle  in  human  nature  which 
really  makes  the  issue  of  all  such  controversies  a  fore- 
gone conclusion,  however  perplexing  and  imcertain  they 
may  apjiear  to  be  in  their  course.  A  traveller,  who 
comes  upon  a  winding  river  in  an  unknown  mountainous 
land,  is  not  more  sure  that  the  ultimate  destiny  of  that 
river  is  the  sea,  than  we  may  be  about  the  final  issue  of 
the  ouJ;i  controversy  which  caii  be  regarded  as  a  question 
of  spiritual  life  or  death.  I  do  not  for  a  moment  deny 
that  individual  men  may  conscientiously  hold  atheistic 
<j})inions.  But  I  say  that  to  regard  these  instances  as 
]>roplietic  tokens  of  the  final  destiny  of  human  thought 
is  just  as  though,  standing  by  a  river  and  noticing  a 
i)ack  eddy  here  and  there,  you  were  to  fancy  that  at 
some  jtoint  in  its  course  the  stream  might  turn  round 
and  go  up  hill.  In  both  cases  there  is  an  inward 
principle  which,  in  spite  of  apparent  exceptions  to  its 


AFTER  A  FINAL  CA  USE.  0 

working,  all  explicable  on  close  examination,  points  to 
one  only  possible  ultimate  issue.  In  a  word,  what 
gi'avitation  is  to  the  stream,  that  I  contend,  the  irre- 
pressible longing  of  the  soul  after  a  final  cause  of 
existence  is  to  the  course  of  human  opinion.  It  makes 
atheism  for  ever  impossible,  unless  as  a  very  exceptional 
position,  and  then  only  provisional,  the  negative  expe- 
dient of  suspense,  not  the  confidence  of  assurance.  Of 
course  the  position  is  not  self-evident ;  and  therefore  the 
first  thing  that  we  have  to  do  is  to  explain  and  support 
it.  Afterwards  I  shall  ask  your  attention  to  the 
degrees  and  disguises  of  which  the  apprehension  of  this 
final  cause  is  susceptible,  and  the  security  which  we  have 
for  its  ultimate  achievement  in  ourselves  and  others. 

I. 

Tliis,  says  St.  Paul,  is  the  reason  why  God  made 
the  AA'orkl ;  tliat  it  might  be  the  abode  of  men,  and 
that  they  might  seek  the  Lord.  We  cannot  help  ask- 
ing ourselves  how  comes  St.  Paul  to  S})eak  with  such 
confidence  of  God's  object  in  the  creation  of  mankind? 
To  say  that  he  docs  so  by  inspiration  is  to  say  little, 
because  the  t(;rm,  thovigh,  as  we  shall  try  to  show  in 
anothci'  lecture,  it  has  a  very  real  significance,  is  so  ex- 
ceedingly indetinite.  Is  this  a  part  oC  tlie  iiiroi-mation 
lie  received  in  the  ecstatic  visions  of  his  exiihed  inter- 
coursfj  with  th(!  risen  Lord?  That  does  not  appear 
likely,  for  this  reason;  that  all  St.  Piiul's  rell'rences  to 
this   source   of   his  knowhnlge  seem   to   imply  that  the 


6  THE  sours  LOXGIXO 

instnictions  he  thus  rcceivocl  concerned  only  the  special 
form  in  which  he,  as  the  A])ostle  of  the  Gentiles,  was  to 
})reach  the  gospel.     Did  he  learn  it  froni  the  Old  Testa- 
ment?    Well,  it  is  implied  in  the  Old  Testament;  but 
in  such  a  mode  that  perhaps  only  those  who  bring  this 
idea  to  the  study  of  its  pages  are  likely  to  find  it  there. 
I  rather  think  that  St.  Paul  in  these  words  uttered  a 
truth,   which   ho   in    his    consciousness    found    funda- 
mentally necessary,  while  it  was  doubtless  illustrated 
and  developed  by  his  Christian  experience.     Indeed  the 
whole  tone  of  the  speech  on  Mars'  Hill  is  that  of  one 
who  desires  to  appeal   to  first  principles.     He  speaks 
not  as  a  Jew,  but  as  a  man.     And  he  was  a  man  who 
could  not  take  life  easily.     He  could  not  live,  as  the 
saying  is,  from  hand  to  mouth.    There  are  some  men  who 
appear  satisfied  with  the  consciousness   that  they    are 
alive,  and  are  on  the  Avliole  enjoying  it.     But  not  such 
a  man  was  St.  Paul.     He  felt  driven  to  seek  for  some 
ulterior  signihcance  in  life,  some  divine  purpose,  attain- 
ment of  which  should  be  the  highest  goal  and  perfect 
bliss  of  man.     And  this  instinctive  impulse  found,  as 
he  believed,  its  exj)lanation   and  its  satisfaction  in  the 
divine  life  which  Christ   awoke   in  his   soul  and   was 
awaking   in  the  world.     Therefore  he  says  with  such 
confidence  that  the  ]\Iost  High  has  made  all  nations  of 
men    that  tliey  should   s(H'k   the    Lord.     Now  this   is 
insj)ir:iti()n  undoid)tedly  ;  l)ut  it  is  an  inspiration  which 
is   f)pen  to  us   all,   and  which   in  some  degree  we   all 
possess,  whether  we  yield  to  it  or  not ;    for  it  is  just 


A  FTER  A  FINAL  CA  USE.  7 

the  quenchless  longing  of  human  natiire  after  a  final 
cause  of  creation. 

These  remarks  upon  St.  Paul's  words  may  illustrate 
the  meaning  that  we  are  to  attach  to  the  phrase  '  final 
cause,'  in  this  connection.  I  mean  by  it  such  a  supreme 
and  comprehensive  motive,  or  purpose,  as  would  give 
us  a  rational  if  only  approximate  conception  of  the 
ultimate  significance  of  creation.  Of  course  our  ob- 
servations are  necessarily  confined  to  the  part  of  crea- 
tion in  which  humanity  is  unmistakeably  the  predominant 
feature.  But  Avhatever  satisfies  the  craving  for  a  final 
caiisc  here  will  also  suggest  the  possibility  of  an  analo- 
gous moti\c  pervading  the  whole  universe. 

Let  no  one  think  that  because  science  has  no  place 
for  final  causes  therefore  there  is  no  place  for  them  in 
philosophy  or  religion.  As  an  anatomist,  or  a  Ijotanist, 
or  a  g(^ologist,  the  student  may  be  very  right  in  saying, 
I  have  nothing  to  do  with  final  causes,  my  only  business 
is  with  observed  appearances  and  ascertained  connections. 
But  as  a  man  ho  cannot  hel])  himself;  final  causes  will 
obtrud*;  ujton  him  whether  he  likes  it  or  not.  For  as  a 
man  he  not  only  sees  and  classifies,  but  he  wistfully 
tiiinks  and  wonihirs.  There  are  relations  betw(H'n  liim- 
selt"  and  tiie  universe,  whicli  no  analysis  of  sensuous 
obsci-\  ations  can  exhaust.  The  starry  sky  has  some 
nainrlcss  gi-andeur,  whi(;h  no  results  of  mathematical 
calculation  can  exjjress.  Tlu'  tender  clouds,  whose 
colours  lie  analyses  with  In's  ])rism,  speak  a  language  to 
his  li(;ai-t,  which  no  j)risniatic  chart  can  interpret.     And 


8  THE  sours  LOXGINQ 

amongst  sucli  incalculable  relations  between  liimself 
and  the  universe  is  the  wistful  longing  after  inner 
meaning  and  ultimate  aim,  which  the  enigma  of  creation 
always  excites  in  the  contemplative  souJ.  Most  natural 
is  the  artless  hymn  which  represents  the  young  child 
as  appealing  to  the  little  star  on  high  and  exclaiming, 
''  How  I  wonder  what  you  are !"  So  all  life  long  we 
stand  at  gaze,  the  vision  exjmnding  from  a  star  to  a 
imiverse,  while  still  all  our  cry  is  of  wonder  what  it  is. 
And  this  enquiry  after  what  ts,  includes  manifestly  a 
longing  after  the  significance  and  purpose  of  appear- 
ances ;  that  is,  it  involves  the  hunger  of  the  soul  ibr 
a  final  cause  of  creation. 

But  it  is  time  to  show  the  relation  of  this  to  the 
moral  and  religious  outlook  of  the  age.  For,  as  we 
have  said,  the  fear  is  entertained  by  many,  that  critical, 
physiological,  and  philosophical  enquiries  all  converge 
on  one  inevitable  goal — Atheism.  AVell  then  let  us 
suppose  the  goal  to  be  reached.  Let  us  imagine  the 
Bible  to  be  regarded,  not  only  as  fallible,  but  as  delu- 
sive, and  God  to  be  given  up  as  a  poetic  myth.  Let  us 
conceive  the  reign  of  law  so  interpreted  as  to  exclude 
any  possible  freedom  of  will ;  let  us  assume  it  estab- 
lished as  the  combined  triumph  of  all  scientific  enquiries, 
that  in  every  direction  the  last  obtainable  result  leaves 
us  with  centres  of  force  and  their  vibrations.  Does 
any  one  think  that  such  a  conclusion  can  ever  be  re- 
garded as  slmtting  u])  the  mysteries  of  the  universe  or 
closing  the  avenues  of  spiritual  perspective  ?     Opinions 


AFTER  A  FIXAL  CAUSE.  9 

change,  but  human  nature  survives ;  and  no  decrees  of 
a  scientific  hierarchy  can  long  hush  the  questions,  what 
is  force,  or  how  is  it  gathered  into  centres,  and  why 
do  they  for  ever  vibrate,  and  what  is  the  stupendous 
movement  working  out  ?  If  there  is  a  Ijahmce  of  forces 
in  the  universe,  why  do  they  not  ncutrahze  one  another? 
If  there  is  not,  how  are  we  held  off"  fi-om  chaos  ?  And 
is  thcH'c  no  meaning  in  it  all,  no  purpose  accordant 
witli  mind  and  heart  and  conscience  in  man  ?  Is  the 
universe  but  a  stupendous  kaleidoscope,  in  which  forms 
of  beauty  tumble  together,  only  to  be  scattered  by  the 
next  revolution  ?  If  it  be  so,  I  am  not  of  that  world 
on  which  I  look  through  the  window  of  the  eye.  In 
this  etherial  inward  world  to  which  I  belong,  Avill, 
purpose,  reason,  atfection,  {trinciple  reign  as  supreme 
all-animating  powers.  And  I,  being  as  I  am,  lune  no 
part  nor  lot  in  that  great  and  terrible  wilderness  masked 
with  a  shimmering  mirage  of  Ijcauty  that  rings  me 
round,  ^'ay,  I  am  myself  more  real  than  anything 
without.  That  desert  woi'ld  is  a  dream  for  auglit  I 
kiKjw:  but  as  for  nu;  I  live — and  Oh  Jbr  a  mu'versal 
life,  that  in  it  I  may  liv(!  and  move  and  hav(;  my 
bt.'ingl  Surely,  surely  tluy  were  ri<,dit  of  old  who  said 
that  iir(j  w;is  the  b(g-iiiniiig  and  the  (>nd  of  all.  And 
wli;il  ifaftcf  all  tlie  lbrc(!s  of  which  nuiii  speak  and  their 
vibj-atidiis  be  th(,'  sii;'ns  of  some  etei'iial  eiici'gy  ofHfe? 

••  Tin-  -i;n.  ill''  iii(j.,ii.  the  ^tar^.  llic  s!vi<,  tlic  IpIN  riml  tlie  plains, 
\v  W'X  ih''-!-.  ()  -(,ul.  the  vi-iMi!  (if  llim  wliM  rciunis  .' 
j^  ii'.l  thf  vi-i'jii  Jlc.'  thuULfh  liij  bu  lu.i  thai  whi'jh  lie  sr(;)ii-? 


10  THE  SOWS  LONGING 

Dreams  are  true  while  tliey  last,  and  do  we  not  live  in  dreams? 
S{X)ak  to  llini  thou,  for  lie  hears,  and  spirit  with  spirit  can  meet, 
Closer  is  He  than  breathing,  and  nearer  than  hands  and  feet." 

But  it  will  not  need  modern  poets  to  give  voice  to 
the  resurrection  joy  of  laitli.  There  was  one  of  old 
who  to  a  Hebrew  harp  uttered  words,  which  may  yet 
express  the  rej^entance  of  a  world  awaking  from  a 
short  nightmare  of  material  atheism.  ^^  So  foolish  was 
I  and  vjnorant^  1  was  as  a  least  before  thee.  Neverthe- 
less I  am  continualhj  with  thee;  thou  hast  holden  me  hy 
my  right  hand.  Thou  shalt  guide  ivith  thy  counsel,  and 
afterward  receive  me  to  glory.  Whom  have  I  in  heaven 
hut  thee  ?  And  there  is  none  ■upon  earth  that  I  desire 
beside  thee.  Jify  flesh  and  my  heart  faileth,  but  God  is 
the  strength  of  my  heart  and  my  portion  for  ever.'''' 

I  believe  then  this  irrepressible  longing  after  a  final 
cause,  after  some  significance  and  purpose  in  creation, 
which  sliall  have  due  reference  to  human  nature,  will 
for  ever  make  atheism  impossible  except  as  a  tem- 
porary ex])e(lient  of  suspense,  or  the  paralysis  of  despair 
A\iliich  comes  in  the  darkest  hours  of  times  transitional 
through  ilecay.*  For  human  nature  is  a  part  of  the 
universe,  and  in  interpreting  the  universe  it  must  surely 
have  duo  weight.  If  then  the  hunger  after  a  final  cause 
be  as  ineradicable  from  fully  developed  human  nature  as 
th(;  l)('lief  itself  that  the  senses  really  ini])ly  an  external 
world,    I   regard    it    as    a   very   important    indication 

*  Si.-e  Aiipi-iKlix  Note  A  on  Buddhism  as  an  argument  for  the  possi- 
bility of  rest  ill  Atheism. 


AFTER  A  FIXAL  CA  USB.  11 

that  a  final  cause  exists.  I  do  not  now  say  how  far 
it  can  come  into  clear  consciousness.  I  do  not  contend 
that  it  can  ever  be  adequately  and  absolutely  appre- 
hended. But  I  do  say  that  it  may  hint  itself  to  the 
spiritual  imagination.  I  do  contend  that  it  may  give 
prophetic  types  of  its  reality  in  the  noblest  moments  of 
this  mortal  life,  as  the  glory  of  manly  or  womanly  love 
may  be  anticipated  in  the  affections  of  the  child.  And 
if  immortality  should  be  the  ever  growing  apprehension 
of  this  final  cause,  that  itself  is  sufficient  to  make 
heaven  an  cxhaustless  joy,  a  joy  which  continually 
enlarges  the  power  of  perception,  and  for  ever  exceeds 
its  capacity. 

Tlie  suggestion  which  St.  Paul  makes  as  to  the  nature 
of  th(;  final  cause  of  creation  is  this,  that  the  world  was 
evolved  for  tlie  piu'poso  of  bringing  al)0ut  the  comnmnion 
of  th(j  created  spirit  Avith  the  eternal  God.  The  value  of 
this  suggestion  will  be  better  understood,  when  Ave  have 
considered  the  deorees  and  disofuises  of  Avliich  that  com- 
munion  is  susceptible.  Meantime  I  urge  that,  like  truth 
and  love,  tliis  is  one  of  those  things  Avhich  commend 
thomsolves  to  our  spiritual  ])erce])tions  as  good  and 
worthy  for  their  own  sakes,  apart  from  any  other  con- 
sid(n-ati()ns  Avhatever.  Nny,  eveiy  special  instance  of 
our  joy  in  truth  and  love  suggests  a  larger  raTige  of 
sucli  bliss  ;  nor  can  the  iinaginati<m  once  aroused  stop 
short  of  a  possible  universe,  in  Avhich  (;very  creature  is 
blessed  I)ee;ius(j  consciously  ti'ue  to  tlu;  divine  thought, 
con>ei(»usly  (Mubraced  by  and  responsive  to  the  divine 


1 2  THE  SOUL'S  L OXGIKO 

love.  In  such  a  conception,  and  in  sucli  a  conception 
only  can  wo  find  an  nltimate  rest  for  our  souls.  Give 
us  that,  and  we  find  no  insuperable  difficulty  in  the  long, 
slow,  often  painful  process  of  development  which  leads 
up  to  the  final  issue.  For  it  may  well  be  that  degrees 
and  contrasts  of  finite  experience  are  necessary  to  the 
fulness  of  that  issue,  and  when  enshrined  therein  will 
explain  themselves.  Grive  us  that,  and  it  is  not  even 
needful  for  us  to  imagine  that  creation,  development, 
conflict,  redem})tion  shall  ever  really  cease.  A  completed 
universe,  a  closed  heaven,  an  exhausted  mystery  may  be 
only  an  expedient  of  the  mind  for  iacility  in  embodying 
the  desires  of  the  heart.  But  those  desires  in  their 
essential  significance  are  satisfied,  if  we  can  dare  to 
conceive  of  some  pinnacle  in  the  throne  of  God,  from 
which  the  imivcrse  though  in  eternal  flux,  is  seen  to  be 
working  out  in  every  newly  created  ])art  some  i'resh 
creature  consciousness  of  the  Divitie  Life. 

Though  no  such  com])rehensive  vision  be  j)ossi])le  to 
us  now,  still  there  are  many  hints  that  tlie  purest  and 
keenest  ha])])iness  Avliich  existence  ever  yields  us  is  of 
the  nature  of  communion  with  God.  ^\lmn  we  indig- 
nantly revolt  from  wrong  and  earnestly  stand  uj)  for 
right,  the  im])ulse  which  sustains  us  is  I'elt  to  be  a 
triumphant  joy.  And  I  know  not  better  how  to  describe 
that  imi)ulse  than  by  the  Avord  loyalty — loyalty  to  the 
Supn'ine  Goodness  which  all  in  one  sense  or  another, 
however  dimlv,  feel  to  b(!  tin;  ultimate  law  of  existence. 
And    in    the  warmth  of   this  lovaltv  I   recofmise    the 


AFTER  A  FIXAL  CAUSE.  13 

embrace  of  our  souls  by  God's  purity  and  love.  Tlie 
very  eag-erness  of  science  in  the  pursuit  of  natm^iil 
truth  receives  in  my  view  its  real  exj^lanation,  only 
when  we  think  of  each  new  discovery  as  a  fresh  hint 
of  the  eternal  light  in  which  all  things  are  open  and 
miconcealed  to  the  consciousness  of  God.  And  when 
the  Psalmist  in  his  oavu  rapture  at  the  magniticence  of 
the  world  as])ires  to  think  of  the  bliss  of  the  Creator  in 
His  work — '■'the  glory  of  the  LORD  shall  endure  for 
ever.,  the  LORD  shall  rejoice  in  his  works^'' — I  think  he 
suggests  the  real  secret  of  the  strange  and  deep  emo- 
tions which  are  stirred  in  our  hearts  by  our  intercourse 
witli  Nature.  When  we  can  stand  in  the  midst  of  God's 
beautiful  imiverse,  and  feel  that  wo  love  it  because  He 
loves  it,  a.iid  that  our  love  is  one  with  His  ;  when  we 
ciiii  realize'  it  as  living  because  He  lives,  nay  as  being 
only  the  trans])arent  veil  tluit  moderates  His  intolerable 
light :  then  we  know  why  every  feature  of  noble  scenery 
has  a  meaning  to  tht;  soul  as  well  as  to  the  eye.  For 
our  hearts  an;  not  alone  in  the  universe;  they  answer 
tlirough  the  \v\\  U)  the  life  of  God.  Tlien  Ave  know 
why  the  ])iiritv  of  Alpine  jx.'aks  sliould  touch  the  heart 
with    a-piration;    and   why  i\\v.   sweet  jiei'sjx'ctive  of  a 


wooulnnd    "ilade 


dioiild  dim  tiie  eyes  with  t(!ars  ;  and 
wliv  the  ocean  niurmurs  of  eternity  ;  and  why  all  sounds 
ol'Tiatnre  seem  to  vail  oi'  sigh,  with  longing  moi-e  than 
sadne.-s.  I"'or  what  is  lov(!  in  God  is  longing  in  his 
ci-eatni-es.  "  As  fur  me  J  irijl  behold  linj  fare  in  rufhteons- 
ness,  I  sh'dl  be  satisjicd  tchen  /  axixike  icifh  th/j  likeness^ 


14  THE  SOUL'S  LONGING 

''  The  earnest   e.vpectat'ion  of  the  creature  waitethfor  tlie 
manifestation  of  tJie  sons  of  Gody 


II. 


It  will  natiirany  occur  to  many  that  if  the  final 
cause  of  creation  be  the  communion  of  the  creature 
with  the  creator,  there  is,  at  any  rate  so  far  as  the 
field  of  hmnan  ohservation  extends,  hardly  any  con- 
ceivahle  end  which  creation  has  hitherto  fulfilled  so 
little.  But  such  a  thought  is  probably  sugf^ested  hj  too 
limited  an  idea  of  the  meaning  of  communion  between 
the  Creator  and  the  creature.  To  this  limited  idea 
consciousness  on  the  part  of  the  creature  that  it  is  God 
to  whom  the  heart  answers  is  considered  absolutely 
necessary.  Now  that  is  true  no  doubt  of  the  highest 
communion.  But  if  God  gives  himself  in  some  mea- 
smx'  to  all  His  creatures,  and  if  their  feelings  are  any- 
thin";  to  Him,  then  there  may  be  endless  dem-ees  and 
disguises  of  this  communion ;  or  the  final  cause  of 
creation  may  be  attained  more  or  less  ])erfect!y,  and 
in  many  ways.  The  meaning  of  this  Avill  perha})s  be- 
come clearer  as  am;  ])roceed.  But  first  of  all  it  must 
be  plain  that  by  tlie  attainment  of  the  final  cause  of 
creation  in  any  single  instance  we  cannot  mean  only 
an  intellectual  apprehension  of  it.  What  we  mean  is 
such  a  practical  realization  as  satisfies  the  desires  of 
the  sold.  For  example,  my  o])inion  as  to  this  final 
cause  miirlit  be  held  with   inlcilectual   clearness,   even 


AFTER  A  FINAL  CAUSE.  15 

wliilc  in  tone  and  temper  and  deeds  I  mio;lit  be  selfish, 
base  and  false,  tliat  is,  utterly  ungodly.  But  in  sueh  a 
case  it  could  not  for  one  moment  be  maintained  that  in 
mc  the  ultimate  aim  of  creation  was  realized.  Yet 
thouoli  my  intellectual  notions  on  the  subject  might 
be  considered  imperfect,  still,  if  in  my  soul  I  realize 
anything  of  the  tone  and  temper  which  come  from  com- 
munion Avith  God,  and  if  I  am  the  means  of  infusing 
something  of  this  s})irit  into  those  about  me,  then  the 
end  of  creati(jn  is  to  that  extent  attained  in  me  ;  and  I 
am  made  the  instrument  of  promoting  it  in  others. 
Thi>  rcmai'k  is  obvious  enough  ;  but  it  leads  us  a  good 
deal  i'arthcr.  For  if  an  intellectual  a])])rehension  of  the 
final  cause  of  creation  is  nothing  a])art  from  the  lile 
that  shows  a  moral  conniuniion  with  Grod,  the  question 
narurally  arises,  su])])osing  the  life  to  exist  altogether 
a])art  innn  any  correct  intellectual  a])])reliension  of 
its  source,  what  then  ?  Docs  the  absence  of  a  right 
ojfiiiion  change  the  essential  iiature  of  the  lifi;  ?  The 
answer  niay  b(;  ready  on  many  lips,  tliat  such  a  case  is 
iin])o-sil!!c.  But  some  of  our  greatest  ])er])lcxitics  at 
t!ic  pix--cnt  time  arise  ironi  tlie  jiractical  pi'oof  lo  llie 
contrary,  wliicli  is  foi'ccd  on  us  by  all  social  experience 
(!xce|)i  ilie  narrowest  and  most  scctariiui.  And  nolliing 
but  ;i  t'ui'lori!  ()]•  j)ei-\'ei'se  delenninat ion  to  constiMie  the 
mo.-t  unconronnable  facts  accoi'ding  io  a  jireccjiieeivcd 
theory  can  long  maintain  sn(b  an  an>\\('r.  The  smallest 
eii'<'le  ol'  societ\-,  containii:.'.';  ;i!i\'  in;ii'ked  \arieties  of 
tliou'.'-liL   aiid    (■}ia!',".cler,   is   (jr.lle   suliicieni    to  illu>trate 


1 6  THE  SO  VL '  S  L  OXGIXO 

the  startlinix  and  paradoxical  extent  to  wliicb  moral 
and  s})iritual  life  is  independent  of  tlieolorrical  opinion. 
To  Lrino;  the  argnnient  to  a  point,  take  an  extreme  case, 
which  unfbrtnnately  is  too  common  at  the  ])resent  day. 
It  is  by  no  means  micommon  to  meet  with  men  not 
only  t)t"  keen  activity  of  thonsht,  but  of  high  })urpose 
and  chi\alrous  tem])er,  who,  when  pressed,  Avill  t(>ll  you 
that  we  do  not  and  cauTiot  know  whether  there  is  a  God 
at  all,  and  that  at  all  events  any  personal  direct  and 
conscious  communicm  with  Him  is  impossible.  Yet 
often  the  life  of  such  men,  not  the  outward  semblance 
only,  l)ut  the  essential  character,  so  far  as  the  most 
intimate  intercourse  can  ascertain  it,  is  distinguished 
by  u})rio;htuess,  kindliness,  earnestness,  loyalty  of  soul, 
sometimes  even  by  the  enthusiasm  from  which  self- 
forgetfulness  and  self-sacrifice  are  inseparable.  Now 
there,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  you  have  the  life  without  the 
oj)ini()n.  Well,  Avill  any  one  undertake  to  say  that  the 
final  cause  of  creation  is  to  no  extent  realized  in  such 
cases  ?  Are  uprightness,  truth,  honour  and  love  any 
the  less  divine  bec^ause  the  intellect  of  their  ])ossessor 
is  mistaken  alxnit  their  fundamental  nature  and  origin? 
You  might  just  as  well  deny  that  they  are  spiritual  at 
all,  because  their  ])ossessor's  theory  is  that  they  are 
functions  of  the  tissue  of  liis  brain.  Our  creaticm  by 
the  hantl  of  God  does  not  dejjcnd  upon  our  o])inion  on 
the  question.  And  the  procession  of  all  good  thoughts 
and  holy  desires  from  the  Sj)irit  of  the  Most  High  is 
just  as  much  a  (juestion  of  fact ;  and  therefore  surely 


AFTER  A  FIXAL  CAUSE.  17 

inJeponclent  of  the  opinions  of  those   in  whom   good 
thoiights  and  holy  desires  are  awakened. 

At  the  same  time  truth  or  falsehood  of  opinion  is 
never  indifferent,  least  of  all  on  subjects  of  such  trans- 
ctindant  import.  For  in  the  unity  of  our  personal  being 
our  faculties  are  to  such  an  extent  mutually  inter- 
dependent, that  the  opinions  to  which  we  have  alluded, 
though  they  cannot  affect  the  essential  nature  of  the 
moral  life,  must  of  course  prevent  its  highest  development 
as  a  clear  consciousness  of  God  in  the  soul.  The  God- 
conscioHsiiess  indeed  is,  as  I  shall  try  to  show  in  another 
lecture,  itself  capable  of  many  degrees,  and  in  its  obscurer 
forms  may  co-exist  with  the  most  erroneous,  even  with 
materialistic  opinions.  But  t(^  become  '^.  consciousness  of 
Go<l.  it  necessarily  demands — or  ])(>rhaps  in  becoming 
this  it  ])roduces — an  intellectual  a})preliension  of  the  filial 
relations  between  ourselves  and  the  Father  in  Heaven. 
I  can  \\(,'ll  Ijelieve  that  tlu*  full  attairnuent  of  cmr  ideal 
]»erfection  is  the  co-ordinate  result  of  accuracy  in  o])inion 
and  loyalty  in  heart.  But  I  cannot  and  dare  not 
believi!  that  in  any  iii(li\i(lual  man  the  final  cause  of 
his  creation  is  wholly  missed  becaiis(,',  in  the  candid 
exercise  of  his  reascjn,  he  arriv(!s  at  erroneous  oj)inions 
e\cn  as  to  the  Ijeing  of  G(jd.  Nor  can  J  deny  that  such 
instanco  of  cundid  conscientious  though  as  \  :im  very 
sui-e  rurnlauiental  error  exist,  without  doing  violence, 
L  will  nut  -ay  to  charity,  but  to  coniuioii  sense.  Vet 
in  tile  -coiie  for  miwai-jted  judgenient  ^\hi(•h  the  frank 
acceptance  (;f  such  a  j)o>ition  gi\cs  me  I  am,  if  jtossible. 


1 8  THE  SOUL'S  L OXGIXG 

more  conHdent  than  over  that  conscious  communion 
Avith  God  is  open  to  all  .seekiiiDj  souls,  and  must  needs 
bo  a  noljlor  state  and  a  keener  joy  than  any  hlind 
partici])atioii  in  his  lil'e.  Ft)r  he  who  can  trace  the 
mystic  lio-ht  that  conscience  loves,  who  can  follow  it 
u])  the  beams  of  heaven  and  tind  its  soui'ce  in  the 
brightness  of  God's  glory  is  more  consistent,  and  is 
likely  to  be  more  earnest,  in  cherishing  that  light  with 
reverence,  than  any  man  who  tinds  in  it  only  an  electric 
condition  of  the  brain.  All  I  contend  is  that  the  one 
o])inion  or  the  other  cannot  possibly  alter  the  essential 
nature  of  the  moral  life,  and  therefore  cannot  change  its 
character  as  a  commmiion  with  God. 

The  use  of  this  word  communion  to  express  any- 
thing short  of  ])ersonal  conscious  and  recognized 
relationship  to  God  will  no  doubt  a])pear  incongruous  to 
soriie.  Yet,  as  it  describes  the  sharing  in  some  common 
elements  of  lif'  if  all  ijood  thouolits  and  holy  desires  do 
really  ])r()c;'e(l  from  God's  Spirit,  such  a  use  of  the  word 
caiin.ot  lie  inaccurate  or  illegitimate;  and  it  is  most 
conveni(!?it  to  our  pur])ose.  Indee(l  it  is  vc^y  conunon 
for  good  ;'.!!  I  pious  a'lvis{M-s  of  the  faint-hearted  to 
comfort  them  in  their  religious  d(>pression  by  assuring 
tlieni  that  they  an^  partakers  of  the  divine  natiu'c  to  a 
much  greater  extent  than  they  are  a^vare.  I  then  would 
merely  ])ush  this  ])ossible  dissidence  between  conscious- 
ness and  n'ality  to  the  exti-eine  limit  which  facts  require, 
ami  would  maintain  that  God's  creatures  may  be  par- 
takers o:'  the  divine  r.ature  \\'ithuut  knowino;  it  at  all. 


AFTER  A  FINAL  CAUSF.  19 

In  this  view  it  is  evident  tliat  there  is  opened  up  to  its 
an  endless  scale  of  deforces  and  disfjuises  of  wliieli  tlie 
attainment  of  creation's  tinal  cause  is  suscepti1)le.  In- 
deed the  possibility  of  many  deo:rces  in  attainment  is 
surraested  Ijy  St.  Paul,  when  he  hints  that  men  niay 
have  to  feel  after  God  before  they  find  Him.  And 
sui'ely  they  often  feel  after  Him,  when  they  know  not 
at  all  what  it  is  they  want,  i^ay,  in  the  sense  which 
we  have  seen  to  he  inherent  in  the  word,  there  is  some 
comm\inion  with  God  even  in  the  humblest  parts  of 
creation.  For  tliere  is  a  certain  communion  possil)le 
b(;t\veeii  the  artist  and  his  work,  thouo;li  indefinitely 
lower  than  that  Ijetween  a  father  and  his  children.  A 
])art  of  the  wcn'ker  himself  has  ixone  into  his  work  :  it 
aj)])ca!s  to  him  as  it  cantiot  do  to  any  one  else.  A  thin;: 
bcaotlcn,  he  knows  not  how,  in  the  d(>pths  of  his  life 
benc;ith  consciousni'ss  has  risen  more  and  more  clearly 
into  the  sui'faee  liis-lit.  And  in  his  ea^'er  desire  to 
n;i\-e  it  the  most  articulate  cxiircssion  he  has  put  it 
ahon'-ilicr  outsi'le  him  in  the  dry  li^'ht  of  the  outer 
\voi-!il.  Hut  tlKr.iii-h  it  is  outside  him  he  feels  a<  t!ieU;:h 
hi,--  own  life  were  in  it;  aiid  in  its  ndiection  of  !iis 
tlioiiiilit  wittiout  the  eilbi-t  of  concepiion.  or  at  h  ast 
in  t!ie  '•omiuunicatio;i  and  diifu>ion  of  the  tr<'a-ure>  !iid 
in  sell',  he  finds  pei'hiiis  some  faint  annloi'.'x'  to  creative 
bliv-.  r'oi-  so  the  S:ip--;'i;ie  A\'orker,  we  I'e.l.  must  li;i\;' 
a  eeilaiii  eoiii:nu:H"on  with  la.ndseape  beaul:es.  am!  or- 
;fa;iie  worrlei-,^,  with  niounlain  }ieii;hts  and  nc>lhnu' 
violet  >,  with  lexialhati  in  his  stren^'th,  and  with  the  i::ik 


20  THE  SO  UL '  S  L  ONGIXG 

in  his  ecstaey.  I  doubt  not  these  are  precious  to  the 
soiil  just  because  thev  are  thoughts  of  God;  they  are 
great  or  beautiful  because  tliey  are  ])artakers  of  the 
divine  nature.  If  we  may  dare  to  say  it,  they  reflect 
God  u])on  Himself;  in  them  the  treasures  of  his  nature 
are  dirtused  abroad ;  and  He,  the  changeless,  dwells  in 
everlasting  comnnxnion  with  the  always  changing  uni- 
verse, whose  revolutions  are  phases  of  his  glory.  Thus 
no  blossom  drops,  no  withered  leaf  flitters  down,  but  it 
enshrines  its  little  i)art  in  the  final  cause  of  creation. 
For  not  at  the  birth  of  the  world  only,  but  now  and  for 
evermore  the  Divine  Artist  looks  on  all  that  his  hands 
have  made,  "and  behold  it  is  very  good." 

But  the  Su})reme  Worker  is  a  Father  too ;  and  in  this 
relationship  Ave  believe  Him  to  seek  a  higher  com- 
munion, which  bears  a  transcendental  analogy  to  the 
most  })erfect  communion  of  fathers  and  children  on 
(»arth.  Tlie  first  approach  to  this  higher  communion 
was  made,  when  the  first  moral  sentiment  was  felt ;  and 
this  relationship  between  God  and  Man  will  be  consnm- 
nuited  when  all  things  are  gathered  into  one  in  Christ,  that 
is  in  the  divine  humanity.  By  a  purely  moral  sentiment 
I  mean  the  j)reference  for  an  action  because  it  is  right, 
because  it  is  kind  or  good,  even  at  the  (>xpense  of  self, 
or  at  any  rate  apart  from  any  consideration  of  comfort 
or  convenience  or  advantage.  If  for  example  we  may 
suppose  that  after  ages  of  ci'catiAc  })rogress  one  of  those 
dim  fiir)t-splitting  creatures,  who  haunt  the  shadows  on 
the  borders  of  a  past  et(;rnity,  took  pity  on  a  wounded 


AFTER  A  FIXAL  CAUSE.  21 

comrade  left  on  an  abandoned  field  and  said  '  I  will 
cjirry  him  food  and  water  though  I  die,  for  that  is  brave 
imd  right,'  then  I  maintain  that  in  him  this  higher 
divine  communion  was  beofun,  thouo-h  he  could  not 
know  it  as  we  do  now.  Onlv  little  bv  little  woidd  such 
moral  sentiments  acquire  clear  distinctness  from  the 
carnal  life,  and  in  the  continuity  of  progress  we  can 
easily  believe  that  the  first  steps  might  be  imperceptible; 
but  could  they  be  traced,  that  would  be  the  begimiing 
of  this  higher  communion  with  God,  and  an  a})proxi- 
mation  towards  the  purest  and  intensest  form  of  creation's 
final  cause.  But  when  men  looked  up  to  the  glory  of 
the  da^\^^,  and  dreamed  that  day  Avas  })oured  from  a 
source  of  light,  supreme,  unapproachable,  which  no  man 
had  seen  or  could  se(;;  when  they  began  to  associate 
that  Shining  One  with  the  imj)artial  sanction  of  the 
g<^od]iess  they  ab'cady  loved,  and  to  see  in  the  lightning 
and  the  sun-stnAe  images  of  his  vengeance  against  evil 
theJi  the  gates  of  a  nearer  access  to  the  divine  majesty 
were  ojicnecl,  and  the  ])()ssibility  of  a  conscious  com- 
munion with  the  Mi>st  High  touched  their  hearts  Avith  a 
blc-scd  awe. 

I  nl;d^(;  no  pnitenee  at  ])resenting  anything  but  a 
|)os>ibl('  (juth'iie  of  th(,'  earhCst  spiritual  ])i'()gress,  an 
outh'uc  to  wliich  1  sliall  ask  attention  again  from  another 
[)oiiit  of  view.*  The  Avhole  subject  is  \ct  far  too  obscure 
to  alli^w  any  confident  assertion  of  precise  ste[is  and  tlniir 

*  See  Leciurc  J  I. 


22  THE  SO  I'L  'S  L  ONaiNCr 

conncetioii.  But  -when  I  tliiiik  Low  onr  faith  in  God 
and  even  the  patent  facts  of  spiritual  consciousness  are, 
by  the  ])erv(>rse  obstinacy  of  a  zeal  not  accordinfr  to 
knowledo-e,  made  to  stand  or  fall  with  certain  theories 
of  human  history  which  every  }ear  makes  more  miten- 
ahle,  I  should  he  false  •  to  e\('ry  highest  duty  of  my 
^"ocation  did  I  not  attempt  to  show  that  the  reality  of 
our  personal  divine  relationship  is  conceivably  consistent 
with  any  scheme  of  the  past  that  science  can  i)ossibly 
propomid.  Wheii  I  am  smnmoned  to  stand  and  deliver 
on  the  one  hand  candour  and  common  sense  or  on  the 
other  my  faith  in  God,  it  is  high  time  to  show  cause  why 
I  decline  to  do  either. 

It  will  easily  be  conceived  that  every  movement  in  this 
high  progress  might  be  accompanied  by  eddying  fancies 
or  even  back  currents,  by  fetisliism,  or  magic,  or  the 
wild  theogonies  of  old  ;  by  devil -worshij)  which  ])assed 
backward  through  the  beast  to  the  demon ;  or  by  the 
material  pantheism,  which  often,  as  in  the  case  of 
Lucretius,  had  an  inspiration  little  suspected  by  itself. 
But  on  the  whole  the  history  of  human  ])rogrcss  is  the 
history  of  the  growing  ])urity  and  lustre  with  which  this 
final  cause  of  creation,  creatm-e  life  in  God,  has  Ijeamed 
forth  on  human  souls.  Prophets  who  heard  in  stillness  and 
s])oke  in  thunder,  lawgi\'ers  Avho  strove  to  bring  down 
the  marsballed  order  of  the  heavens  on  earth,  poets  who 
cauglit  the  su])tle  s])irit  of  earthly  beauty  and  breathed 
it  i'rom  their  lyres,  ])salmists  who  iiiterj)r(!ted  the  meaning 
looks  of  sky  and  field  and  flood  and  found  their  whole 


AFTEB  A  FINAL  CA  Z'SF.  23 

significance  to  be  the  praise  of  God, — all  had  their  part 
in  attracting,  in  fixing  the  eje  of  conscience,  and  iin- 
folding  before  it  the  splendoiu*  of  its  desire.  To  such 
as  these,  St.  Peter  says,  "  men  did  ^srell  that  they  gave 
heed,  as  nnto  a  light  shining  in  a  dark  place,  until  the 
day  dawned,  and  the  day-star  arose  in  their  hearts."* 

When  the  ideal  of  all  purity,  self-sacrifice  and  love 
stood  on  earth  and  said  "  he  that  hath  seen  mo  hath  seen 
the  Father,"  then  the  Day-star  did  arise  in  the  hearts  of 
men,  l)ringing  with  it  the  da^vn  of  a  clearer  and  universal 
communion  with  God.  That  dawn,  after  what  many 
think  the  darkest  hour  of  night,  a])pearcd  a  sudden 
and  startling  brightness;  but  to  us  who  are  longing  for 
high  noon  it  may  seem  gradual  and  slow.  Yet  the 
divine  consciousness  of  Christ  has  an  exhaustless  wealth 
of  sjiii'itual  sugo-cstion,  which  always  re-animates  our 
faith  whenever  we  are  brought  into  vital  connnmiion 
with  him.  And  it  is  of  tins  effect  of  his  glorious 
personal  life,  not  of  tlie  letter  of  the  gospels,  not 
of  any  dogmatic  theologv  that  I  speak,  Avhen  I  say  that 
at  his  coming  suspicion  changed  1o  certainty  and  as])i- 
ratioii  to  a  soul-felt  grasp  of  God.  Christ  in  his  own 
manire>t  communion  with  tlie  Father,  and  llirough  the 
(convictions  he  produced  of  the  close  and  sui)ernatural 
relation  of  (jlod  and  man, — su])ernatural  because  irans- 
c(;nding  all  phenomenal  investigations — -lied   a  light  on 

*  2  I'.t.  i.  I'.i.  TIk!  npi.^ilf-  rcfrr^  npi.annily  1'i  tln'  second  ccniiiiif: 
of  r'hrUt  :  l.ut  \vi'  iniiy  vcvy  well  apply  lliu  ^v,,ni.s  Id  a  fuller  a].jiiv. 
heii.^ii.ii  (.,1;  tlie  J.oi'il'.s  spiritual  wurk. 


24  THE  SOUL'S  L OXGIXG 

the  dim  desires  of  tlie  soul,  -wliieli  brings  the  final  cause 

of  creation  clearly  into   view,    and    awoke  in    human 

nature  a  spirit,  which  is  nothing  less  than  God's  creative 

energy  in  the  evolution  of  a  better  world.     He  awoke 

it  by  imparting  not  wisdom,  not  morality,  not  theology, 

but  himself  to  mankind,  by  dying  and  entering  into  our 

life.*     For  "  the  Lord  is  that  Sjnrit,'''  the  spirit  of  the 

latter  day,  the  spirit  of  truth,  of  candour,  of  reverence 

for  fact,  the  spirit  of  high  pi-inci})le,  self-sacrifice,  divine 

commmiion.     And  they  who  are  in  that  spirit,  if  still 

they  seek  the  finger  of  God 

"  in  world  or  sun, 
In  eagle's  wing,  or  insect's  eye," 

seek  it  not  by  way  of  proof  that  He  is,  but  in  com- 
munion with  his  creative  joy,  which  they  realize  first  of 
all  by  the  sense  of  His  work  within  their  o'svn  souls. 
'•  The  Lord  is  that  Spirit ;"  and  as  the  might  of  the  sun 
is  sllo^^^l,  not  by  the  burning  spot  he  makes  in  the  blue 
of  the  sky,  but  by  the  wide  atmos})liere  of  liglit  that 

*  How  Christ  \\Touglit  this  work  ior  manhood,  that  is,  what  was  the 
particular  bearing  thereon  of  his  ministry,  his  suiTering,  his  death 
and  resurrection,  is  a  question  outside  the  limits  of  the  present  subject, 
and  our  ideas  on  that  question  are  best  formed  gradually  in  the  light 
of  practical  Christian  experience.  Teaching  on  such  a  subject  may 
fairly  be  i-egarded  as  the  main  duty  of  the  Christian  ministry  ;  but  it 
should  be  for  the  most  part  the  teaching  of  the  prophet  "line 
upon  line,  precept  upon  precept,  here  a  little  and  there  a  little." 
'ilius  is  it  host  kept  closely  associated  with  a  realization  of  the  moral 
needs  to  which  it  applies  ;  and  without  that  association  any  attempt 
at  systematic  teaching  on  such  a  question  too  readily  results  in  the 
substitution  of  opinion  for  faith,  and  of  sectarian  confidence  for  spi- 
ritual life. 


AFTER  A  FIXAL  CA  USE.  25 

fills,  and  bv  filling  expands  tlie  world,  so  lie  who  rightly 
uses  the  all  pervasive  spiritvial  light  that  streams  from 
Christ  better  knows  the  power  of  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness, than  he  who  too  much  concentrates  his  gaze  on 
one  dazzling  spot  in  history.  The  healing,  says  the 
prophet,  is  in  his  wings,  those  wings  of  light  that  sweep 
the  ever  Avidening  horizon  of  life. 

Thus  men  have  been  feeling  after  God,  tliat  finding 
Him  they  might  know  the  reason  of  their  own  being, 
and  in  it  the  final  cause  of  creation.  And  though  since 
the  day  of  Christ,  Christian  0})ini()n  and  organization 
have  often  undergone  corruption  and  revolution,  yet  on 
the  wlK)le,  wliatever  that  narrow  faith  which  is  all  but 
universal  doubt  ma}'  say,  great  progress  has  been  made 
in  that  high  ([ucst;  and,  though  some  may  scoiit  it  as  a 
mei-c  ])ara(lox,  I  verily  believe  that  taking  heart  and 
iutellect  and  moral  life  t(^g(;ther  num  is  nearer  to  God 
than  ever.  Our  highly  organized  civilizati(m  is  very 
])robab]y  more  liable  to  souk;  forms  of  evil,  such  as 
connnercial  (•()nspira(;ies  to  dei'raud,  and  hojx'lessly  de- 
moralized pauperism,  than  wc^'e  simj)ler  states  of  society. 
And  on  the  other  liand  we  feel,  mon^  j)ainfully  than 
gfuci-ations  to  whom  the  extent  of  the  earth  was  little 
known,  the  \  ast  expanse  oi"  ])ai'I)ai'ism.  Jbit  on  tlie 
whole  puhlic  spirit  ncNci"  had  highei'  aims;  public  oj)in ion 
never  \\ii>  ruled  by  more  ])Ui'elv  ethical  j)i"inciples  as 
distingiii>he(l  from  the  jiassions  of  super>tition  ;  and  the 
"entliii>ia>m  of  huniarn"t\',''  which  is  always  kindled 
directl\-  or  indirecllv  bv  a   sense  of  man's  sacre<ln(;ss  as 


26  THE  so  urs  l  on  gin  g 

the  son  of  God,  -was  never  more  f^enerally  felt  tlian  at 
the  present  day.  Al)o^•(!  all,  seienee,  politics,  social  life, 
as  well  as  s})iritual  revolutions,  are  workin  front  at  leno;th 
a  true  catholicity  of  relifjion,  according  to  which  the  life 
of  God  in  the  soul  of  nnm  shall  be  freely  reverenced 
and  loved,  no  matter  -vvliat  the  intellectual  form  it  may 
take.  At  any  rate  the  need  of  such  a  genuine  catholicity 
was  never  more  widely  realized.  It  presses  itself  upon 
thousands  of  anxious  hearts,  who  while  they  hold  their 
religious  o]>inions  dear,  are  galled  to  agony  by  the 
limitations  which  such  opinions  8eem  to  impose  on  the 
recognition  of  earnestness,  truth,  and  loyalty  of  soul 
unless  stam])ed  as  piety  by  some  intellectual  creed. 
Meantime  morbid  developments  of  Christian  dogma,  and 
the  incongruous  worldliness  of  Christian  organizations 
have  led  to  many  paradoxical  reactions,  in  which  the 
very  energy  of  faith  in  goodness  drives  men  into  the 
forms  of  intellectual  unbelief.  AVhat  then?  "/s-  not 
the  life  more  ilmn  meat,  and  the  hodij  than  raimeiitr'' 
We  cannot  indeed  pretend  to  the  prerogative  of  God, 
who  alone  looketh  directly  at  the  heart.  Ihit  yet  we 
can  discern  through  many  an  intellectual  disguise  the 
emotional  and  moral  life  which  is  only  possiljle  by  com- 
munion with  God ;  and  whether  "\\e  caTi  or  can  not 
reconcile  the  evident  fact  with  our  opinions,  we  can  at 
least  hold  fast  the  fact,  while  the  faith  that  is  the  living 
soul  of  our  opinions  f(;rces  them  to  adapt  themselves 
to  a  wider  catholicity  of  love.  That  seems  at  least 
to   be   the  lesson  taught  us   and    the  example  set  by 


AFTER  A  FINAL  CAUSE.  27 

the  ;rreatest  and  best  amongst  the  leading  spirits  of  the 
age.* 

Yet  let  not  any  one  think  tliat  this  charity,  which 
believeth  all  things  and  hopcth  all  things,  can  ever 
lessen  our  own  joy  in  that  faith  vrhich  knows  in  whom 
it  has  believed.  Our  highest  idea  of  manhood,  and 
surely  oiir  truest  conception  of  immortality,  is  still  the 
contemj)lative  but  not  necessarily  inactive  life,  which, 
being  consciously  embraced  by  the  love  of  God,  finds 
in  the  universe  an  ever  expanding  revelation  of  his 
glory.  And  that  life  can  bo  ora's  now  only  so  far  as 
we  enter  into  the  spirit  of  Christ. f  "  He  that  believeth 
(m  me,''  saith  tlu;  Lord,  ^^  ItafJi  everlasting  lil'e ;"  and, 
making  allowance  for  differences  in  forms  ol"  sjjcech 
and  thought,  we  cannot  doul^t  that  the  essence;  of  that 
l^'Iief  is  ])os>(.'>sion  of  tlie  s])irit  of  Christ.  Most  blessed 
are  tiny  who  can  aj)pr(,'hend  in  Clirist  a  divinity  btyond 
all  other  human  ex])erience,  and  who  v/ithout  fear  of 
idolatry  can  worshi]^  God  in  him.  "  Let  iis  therefore  as 
many  as  he  j)erfectt  he  thus  minded;  and  if  in  any  respect 

*  Tli;;r  .-(;cms  in  nic  lo  liave  Lcen  (specially  ilie  nliifiido  suij^ecstcrl 
by  K'il.iii-ai,  c4'  l'.i:;j^liiiiii.  and  A.  J.  Scdtt.  (if  .Maiic-lir.-icf.  i)f  whum 
tint  fonni  r  liv  liis  eiiui-iniiiis  |)()si1iuiiiohs  influence,  and  the  laiter  by  a 
peculiar  jici-'.nal  |i(i\vci- i)i'  insjiii-at  i'jii  diu'inL''  liis  life.  ;:cniiinaiit  iji 
many  iniii'U  ~ini'i'  his  ileatli.  )iav(;  doiie  wvivv  tlian  many  \\\vi  in  their 
lii"i'ti!:ie  ha'.-e  ;/i'|.;it(.r  names  U>  !-i ren.ft hen  reli-j-ioiis  I'aiiii  ilui'intr  this 
sickly  \,>v\',<\  (if  l!-ah-il  inn. 

t  'i'lii-  !.'  -uicly  tint  fundarndital  and  nnivcfsal  sen^c  of  the  wni'dn. 
"1  am  \^:'-  way.  the  tpiitli  and  the  life':  mi  man  cnmeih  mito  the 
l-'athif  \<\\\   \>\  Mie." — ■.Jolin  .\iv.  (i. 

:j;  Till' 'iieek  r^Afioi  does  tkA  neces-arily  involve  the  vain  t'lorioiis 
a.^sumjii  i' II  that  s(;ems  tu  lit/   in  our  Jin'_di>h  vei':-ion.     J'.iit  to  render 


28  THE  so  UL  'S  L  OXGIXG 

ye  he  pfhericise  minded,  God  shall  reveal  eveii  this  unto 
you.  Nevertlieless,  ichereto  loe  have  already  attained,  let 
us  icalh  hy  the  same  rule,  let  us  mind  the  same  thing." 
If  Ave  are  lowly  reverent,  aspirin;(if  and  devoted,  this  is 
the  real  spirit  of  Christ ;  and  in  it  wo  shall  experience 
the  truth  of  the  pro])hetic  testimony,  "  to  this  man  ivill  I 
look,  even  to  him  that  is  "poor,  and  of  a  contrite  sjyirit, 
a7id  trembleth  at  my  word.''''  "  Tlie  secret  of  the  Lord  is 
with  them  that  fear  him.''''  Snrely  in  words  of  inspira- 
tion like  these  there  is  an  endless  gerniinative  power  to 
fill  with  spiritual  life  the  widest  horizon  of  knowledge. 
For  what  is  the  secret  of  the  Lord  but  this,  that  all  life 
is  a  connnunion  with  the  Heavenly  Father,  all  beauty 
a  glimpse  of  His  light,  all  joy  a  share  in  Plis  bliss,  all 
struggle  and  sorrow  but  a  hint  of  the  ineffable  burden 
that  He  bears  "  in  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory  ?" 
He  then  Avho  has  this  blessed  secret  knows  why  he  lives, 
and  why  creation  ens])lieres  his  life,  and  why  the  whole 
world  groans  and  travails  in  ])ain  together  until  now. 
Such  an  ex])ericnce  when  l^right  and  clear  is  lieaven 
benfun  on  earth  ;  it  is  a  draun-ht  from  that  "  river  of 
God's  ])leasurcs,"  which  some  tlay  we  shall  follow  uj)  to 
its  source  behind  the  veil.  And  he  with  whom  is  this 
secret  of  the  Lord  can  look,  if  Avith  ])!iinful  longing, 
yet  Avithout  despair  on  all  the  darkness  of  the  Avorld's 
mystery  of  sin.     For  his  oAvn  exjKjrience  tells  him  that 


"  cc)m])ktoly  initiated,"  which  I  believe  St.  I'aul  to  have  meant,  would 
seem  har.sh  and  pedantic. 


AFTER  A  FIXAL  CAUSE.  29 

God  is  not  very  far  from  every  one  of  us.  His  own 
communion  with  God  lie  values,  not  as  a  personal  or 
sectarian  peculiarity,  but  as  a  token  of  the  divine 
kinshi])  of  all  mankind.  Indeed  herein  often  lies  the 
distinction  between  fjenuine  religious  experience  and 
mere  sectarian  fanaticism.  For  the  one  makes  us  more 
human  than  before,  brings  us  down  from  our  personal 
isolaticm  unto  the  dee])er  region  of  life,  which,  though 
beneatli  the  surface  of  consciousness  in  many,  is  never- 
theless Ave  feel  a  generic  attril)iite  of  man.  The  other 
shuts  us  u])  in  self  or  sect,  and  makes  us  feel  as  the 
detestable  Calvinistic  sentiment  has  it — 

"  a  garden  walled  around, 
Cliosen  and  made  pecidiar  ground." 

Xor  is  tliis  all  the  distinction.  Sec^tarian  fanaticism 
will  generally  be  J'ound  to  eye  the  future  with  gloomy 
tear,  sweetened  only  by  the  fierce  joy  of  personal 
sahatioii  as  a  brand  snatched  from  a  burning  world. 
But  he  Avho  I'cels  most  profoundly  God's  essential 
nearness  to  liimsclf,  Avill  derive  from  that  a  secure  and 
Sonuitimcs  tr!uni])hant  (confidence  that  one  day  God  will 
be  all  in  all.  The  jiresent  life  w(!  ha\'e  in  CJod  should 
rill  us  from  any  slavish  depeTuh^icc!  on  the  letter  of 
Sci'ipture.  Therel'oi-e  we  shall  not  try  to  guess  the 
ful  ui'e  of  eju'th  and  heaven  I'roni  peildling  ei-itieisin  of 
words,  which.  liowe\cr  di\ine  in  s|)iritual  suggestion, 
wei-e  specially  ada|)ted  to  times  when  the  oidy  a\ail- 
able  foi-ni>  of  speech  and  thought  were  inseparabh;  I'roni 
utter    misconceptions    of   the    universe.      The   dawning 


30  TUE  sours  LOXGIXG 

of  God's  presence  in  ourselves,  interpreted  l^y  the 
creneral  continuity  of  j^ro^i'css,  is  the  most  certain 
propliecy  we  can  have  of  tlie  final  and  universal  pre- 
valence of  life  in  Him.  The  feelini^  that  the  final  cause 
of  our  own  creation  is  our  joy  in  God  and  his  joy  in 
us  assures  us  tliat  the  mystery  of  God  can  never  be 
finished  until  the  kino;doms  of  heaven  and  earth  and 
hell  are  delivered  up  to  the  Father,  that  He  may  he 
all  in  all. 


LECTL'RE   II. 


THE  GOD-COXSCIOUSNESS  IN  HUMANITY. 

^-  Xercrthrlegx  I  am  continually  Kith  fhcc." — Ps.  bciii.  2:!. 
•'  If  haply  they  might  feel  after  Ilim.  ami  fnd  Illm  though  lie  he 
not  far  from  ecery  one  of  vs." — Acts  xvii.  27. 

The  ])]inis(',  '  God-consciousnes.s,'  awkwanlly  iniitat(^d 
t'roH!  thr  (Icnuun,  soiuids  no  douht  luirsldy  to  English 
rar.-,  ;iiid  it  i.s  as  well  to  coiii'e.ss  at  onco  tluit  I  am 
ahout  to  ixlvc.  to  it  a  wider  sense;  tliaii  jx'rliajjs  is 
usual.  ]jut  wliether  I  could  liav<!  used  any  bettei- words 
to  e.\))ress  my  JiK'auiiiu;  I  must  leave  yon  to  judae;  ni'ior 
tliat  meaiiiti^'  is  uui'oldcd.  I  will  only  by  way  oi"  anti- 
eijtaiion  s;i_v  tliai  it  at  least  expresses  a  ])reseiir  actual 
tact  nt  liu)iiaii  life.  And  this  much  at  least  W(W)\\-e  to 
til"  "r(i>iti\(!  l*hiloso])Iiy,"  that  wo  ;ir(!  di-iveu  more 
tliau  c\(T  to  seek  the  roots  ol"  reliirious  conviction 
as  well  as  ol"  scientific  knov.led£i"(!  in  the  undeiu'alilc 
realiiits  of  exi  ei-"c;!ce.  besides,  I  ha\<'  said  'in 
liiim.inliy'  I'a'.her  t!:aii  'in  mai!,'  l;ecause  I  do  not 
in'an   an   occasioird   or  e\'.  :>  ;5  "re;  li  km  it   ])h"nouiei;o!;   of 


32         THE  G  OB-  COXSCIO  USNESS  IN  HUMANITY. 

experience,  but  a  constituent  element  in  human  nature, 
a  foculty  so  irrc})ressil)le  and  universal,  that  if  it  be 
blocked  in  one  direction  it  almost  invariably  re-appears 
in  another ;  an  instinct  so  deep  that  even  where  it 
does  not  a])pear  in  the  articulate  consciousness  of  the 
individual,  it  broods  in  an  im})ersonal  form  round  the 
bases  of  the  life  of  his  race.  For  every  single  member  of  a 
tribe  or  nation  may  be  Avholly  without  any  perception 
of  personal  communion  with  a  living  eternal  Spirit, 
while  yet  in  the  ideal  aspirations,  or,  if  you  wall,  in  the 
superstitious  habits  which  move  or  control  the  commu- 
nity there  may  be  signiticant  indications  of  that  element 
in  humanity  which  is  the  subject  of  our  thoughts. 

If  I  read  aright  the  signs  of  the  times,  the  interpre- 
tation to  be  given  to  this  element  in  human  nature 
is  likely  to  become  more  and  more  the  one  religious 
question ;  and  will  ])erhaps  bo  felt  to  carry  within  itself 
the  decision  of  all  others  worth  contending  about. 
Ajid  farther  one  may  venture  to  say  that  if  only 
earnest  a})preciative  attention  can  be  secured  to  the 
thing  itself,  the  mere  name  that  shall  be  given  to  it  is 
at  most  a  secondary  question,  and  l)y  no  means  so  vital 
as  sonu!  a])])ear  to  think.  For  men  otherwise  lost  in 
doubt,  may  still  be  candid,  still  Ix;  faithful  to  what  they 
feel  to  be  the  noblest  instincts  of  their  nature.  And  if 
so,  I  maint'ciin  they  may  be  })ractically  obeying  the 
God-consciousness  within  them,   even  thouo-h   throu<rh 

''  oft 

intellectual  error  they  may  call   it  by  another  name. 
Let  a  man  realize  with  awe  the  vastness  of   creation 


THE  a  OB-  COXSCIO  USXESS  IX  HUM  A  XITY.         33 

and  tlie  de])tli  of  life ;  let  him  realize  tlie  siipersensuoiis 
significance  of  the  perceptions  of  conscience,  and  own 
the  })()wer  of  its  imperial  voice ;  let  him  measure  self 
against  the  imiverse,  and  feel  that  while  his  place  is 
that  of  a  sacrifice  to  higher  ends  yet  in  the  conscious 
act  of  sacrifice  he  is  greater  than  all  the  material 
world — Avliy  then  we  must  at  least  oyva  that  he  is  loval 
to  his  liigh  vocation  as  a  man.  But  if  he  should 
say  '  I  know,  I  feel  all  this,  yet  what  you  call  God 
I  call,  alas !  I  know  not  what, — shall  we  then  cry 
Anathema  I  atheist !  fool  ?  Nay  rather,  surely  Maran- 
atha  !  the  Lord  is  at  hand, — thou  art  not  far  from  the 
kii)gdom  of  (xod. 

1  am  Xw)  well  awure  of  the  anxieties  felt  hy  many 
minds  at  tlu;  jn'csent  time  to  douLt  for  a  moment 
that  the  words  already  uttered  may  suggest  or  re- 
wakon  more  (piestioiis  than  we  can  h()])e  to  solve. 
Jjiit  the  most  important  of  such  questions  I  think  I 
can  catch,  tlii>ngh  the  li])s  of  the  questioners  are  silent. 
'  Tell  us  more  ])lainly  what  you  mean,'  says  om; ;  '  have 
we  all  this  (iod-consciousness,  as  you  call  it,  whether 
we  l)clic\c  in  (Jod  or  not?'  'Of  what  use  then  is  the 
Jjililc,  a>ks  another;  'or  what  is  the  relation  of  this 
faculty  to  i-cv(;lation  ?'  '  ^<ay  rather,'  asks  a  third, 
'how  can  tin;  existence  of  such  an  element  in  mail 
l)c  harmonized  with  the  theories  of  man's  ])liysical 
origin  which  scientific  men  hegin  to  regard  as  already 
ItroNcil':'"  'After  all,'  savs  a  fourth  m()i'(!  jiractical, 
'what    is    it    wortii,    this    God-consciousness    in    num  ? 


oi         THE  a  OB-  COXSCIO  USXESS  IX  HUM  A  XI TT. 

Can  it  give  lis  the  strength  to  live  or  die  ?'  To  svich 
qnestions  as  these  I  hope  to  give  at  least  some  hint  of 
answer ;  and  to  dcnd  Avith  some  of  them  more  fully  in 
the  following  leetnres.  Meanwhile  I  Avill  endeavour 
first  to  ex])lain  more  clearly  the  meanino;  I  associate 
with  this  phrase,  the  '  God-consciousness  in  humanity.' 
Then  afterwards  I  will  venture  to  offer  certain  suofores- 
tions  as  to  the  probahle  history  of  this  faculty.  And 
without  endorsing  any  scientific  theories  yet  in  dispute, 
I  trust  these  suggestions  may  be  found  consistent  with 
any  possible  theory  about  the  physical  origin  of  man. 
Finally,  I  should  like  to  say  something  on  the  practical 
bearings  of  the  question,  that  is  on  the  moral  and 
spiritual  value  of  the  Grod-consciousness  in  humanity. 

I. 

Althongh  the  phrase  which  describes  our  subject  is 
undeniably  an  awkward  one,  yet  after  all  it  carries  its 
meaninir  on  its  front.  It  expresses  a  mino-linfr  of  God 
with  our  personal  life.  It  is  in  fact  a  short  and  em- 
phatic way  of  putting  St.  I'aul's  words  "m  Him  xoe 
live,  and  move,  and  have  our  heincj.^''  Xo  doul)t  the 
phrase  in  its  German  original  means  pro])erly  a  con- 
sciousness of  God.  But  I  prefer  the  (^ther  and  more 
awkward  rendering,  because  it  is  more  open  to  the 
wider  meaning  which  I  am  desirous  of  associating  with 
it.  'Consciousness  of  God'  would  express  both  more 
and  less  than  I  wish  to  convey — intensively  more, 
extensi\elv   less.     I    do    not    sav    that    every    man    is 


THE  G OD-  COXSCIO  USXESS  IN  IIUMAXITY.         35 

directly  conscious  of  such  ideas  as  may  be  suggested 
to  our  minds  by  the  name  of  Grod,  or  by  the  phrase 
c^mnnmion  with  God.  The  position  I  take  is  this.  I 
find  certain  elements  in  my  own  deepest  life,  elements 
which  experience,  nay,  which  my  generic  consciousness 
itself  assures  me  are  common  to  all  mankind,  and  which 
when  closely  examined  seem  to  me  necessarily  to  involve 
God  and  my  moral  relationship  to  Him.  I  may  of 
course  l)e  pointed  to  individual  men  here  and  there  to 
wh(jm  these  elements  however  closely  examined  do  not 
seem  to  involve  God.  But  then  I  do  not  feel  driven  to 
seek  uncharitaljle  reasons  for  tliis.  Be  it  so,  I  would 
say,  yet  these  men  have  what  we  call  the  God-conscious- 
ness nevertheless ;  and  if  I  can  induce  them  to  giv(^ 
mon;  heed  to  these  divine  elements  in  consciousness, 
ev(;n  thougli  they  may  never  in  this  life  put  the  same 
interjn'ctation  upon  them  that  I  do,  I  shall  not  have 
spoken  in  vain. 

B(,'f()re  we  go  any  farther  it  may  be  necessary  to  say 
a  few  woi'ds  in  explanation  of  a  ])erha]is  uiuisual  ])hrase 
which  T  have  just  used,  and  which  has  I  v(,'nture  to  tliink 
an  important  betiring  upon  our  present  enquiry,  I  refer 
to  th(?  term  generic  as  distinguished  from  hidivldnal 
consciousness.  13y  this  I  mean  the  consciousness  which 
we  in-tincri\cly  take  lor  graiited  tliat  we  shai-e  with  the 
wiiole  of  our  race,  as  e()nti-asted  with  what  we  feel  to 
lie  |»er>onal  peculiarities  of  oui'scKcs  or  of  a  limited 
nunibei-.  ilowcNcr  the  propriety  of  the  term  may  he 
disputed,  some  -ucji  distinction  certainK'  exists;  whether 


op 


THE  GOD-COXSCIOLSNESS  IN  HUMANITY. 


Avliolly  the  growtli  of  experience  or  not,  I  shall  not  care 
to  dispute.  There  are  certainly  some  things  which  you 
readily  believe  to  be  characteristic  only  of  yourselves 
and  a  few  more.  There  are  others  which  you  cannot 
help  feeling  confident  you  share  with  the  whole  race. 
For  example,  there  may  be  some  one  amongst  you  with 
such  a  genius  for  calcvdation,  that  the  moment  a  com- 
plicated arithmetical  problem  is  put  before  him,  he  has 
what  seems  an  instinctive  perce])tion  of  the  result. 
This  he  will  know  of  course  to  be  peculiar  to  himself. 
But  if  you  were  to  tell  him  of  a  race  of  men  who  could 
not  distinguish  between  one  and  two,  or  two  and  three, 
and  who  never  thought  of  counting  their  cows,  or  pigs 
or  canoes,  he  would  probably  reply,  you  are  not  telling 
me  of  men  but  of  monkeys ;  I  will  believe  in  no  such 
race ;  for  the  tendency  to  numeration  is  an  essential 
clement  in  hxnnanity.  Such  a  man  woidd  be  speaking 
out  of  his  generic  consciousness ;  and  if  I  say  that  he 
would  be  })crfectly  right,  I  do  not  mean  that  he  would 
l)e  justified  in  denying  that  there  ever  Avere  antliro])o- 
morphous  creatures  who  could  not  coimt ;  but  only  that 
such  a  deficiency  would  })ut  them  outside  of  the  ])ro])erly 
human  kind.  Man,  liowever  he  came  to  bo  constituted 
as  at  present,  has  certainly  a  notion  of  a  generic  inner 
nature,  as  well  as  a  power  of  recognizing  the  generic 
outward  form ;  and  a  race  of  creatures  who  could  not 
count  three  would  no  more  be  men  than  a  race  of 
creatures  with  hairy  bodies  and  prehensile  feet  and  tails. 
Similarly,  a  man  who  is  conscious  of  such  delight  in  the 


THE  G  OB-  CONSCIO  USXJESS  IX  HUMAXITY.        3 7 

pursuit  of  truth  tliat  he  prefers  abstract  speculation  to 
money-making,  knows  Avell  enough  that  in  this  respect 
he  is  in  a  minority.  But  if  he  were  told  of  a  tribe  Avho 
could  watch  a  thiuiderstorm  or  an  eclipse  without  a  trace 
of  wonder  or  imaginative  awe,  he  would  probably  be 
incredulous ;  at  least  his  generic  consciousness  would 
suggest  that  such  a  form  of  human  nature  was  in  the 
highest  degree  unlikely.  Still  farther  if  he  were  told 
of  beings  in  the  shape  of  men  who  cared  nothing  at 
all  about  the  reason  why ;  who  could  see  a  watch  or  a 
mechanical  toy  for  the  first  timci,  and  neither  form  nor 
try  to  form  any  theory  whatever  about  the  cause  of  its 
movements,  his  generic  consciousness  would  lu-ge  him 
to  suspect  unfairness  in  the  accoimt,  or  if  not,  to  insist 
that  whether  through  imperfect  develo])ment,  or  because 
of  degradation,  such  creatures  wei'c  below  the  level  of 
hmnaiiity.  These  ol)servations  will  show  tluit  the  idea 
of  a  generic  consciousness  is  not  to  ])e  taken  in  too 
extended  a  significance.  Assuming  for  a  moment,  wliat 
many  of  high  authority  hold  to  be  inost  ])rolja1)]e,  that 
man  has  gradually  risen  through  Icnver  grades  to  l)e 
wliat  he  is  now,  then  this  generic  consciousness  may 
include  many  ])re-historic  races,  but  by  no  means  neces- 
sarily all.     V)\  humanity  we  mean 

'■  Men  our  Ijrolliers.  men  tlie  workers,  ever  learning  sometliini;  new.'' 

— not  aiiv  creatui'c;  lioN'ei'ini:  betwecTi  a|ie  and  man.  I 
(•(iiit'c-^  1  do  not  Wwr  the  alarming  iulei-eiKcs  which  some 
suitiio-e  to  be  iii\ul\cd    in  lli«'  L;r;idual  in>teadof  sudden 


3  S         THE  G  OD-  COXSCIO  USXESS  IX  HUM  A  XITY. 

creation  of  mankind.  However  it  came  to  be,  this 
generic  consciousness  for  -whicli  I  contend  is  now  an 
actual  fact.  And  it  associates  with  the  idea  of  humanity 
a  s])iritual  nature,  which  remains  the  same  whatever  may 
have  been  tlie  means  wliich  God  lias  used  for  calling  it 
forth.  Nay  we  may  conceive  that  should  this  theory 
be  ultimately  established,  it  may  even  relieve  us  of 
the  pressure  of  some  difficulties.  For  as  our  generic 
consciousness  does  not  feel  bound  to  gather  all  possible 
])re-historic  races  into  its  embrace,  so  its  confidence  need 
not  necessarily  be  shaken  by  isolated  instances  of  ap- 
])arent  exception  at  the  present  day.  If  for  instance  a 
Bushman,  or  an  Andaman  Islander,  or  an  Australian 
Savage  be — thougli  I  do  not  acknowledge  that  these 
races  are — in  any  respect  ovitside  its  range,  all  Ave  can 
say  is  that  such  races  must  have  stoj)ped  short  of,  or 
fallen  b(!low  tlus  generic  inner  idea  of  humanity.  It  is 
as  an  essential  element  in  this  generic  imier  idea  of 
liumanity  that  I  am  anxious  to  look  at  the  God- 
consciousness  noAV. 

In  the  book  of  Jol),  Elihu,  in  the  heat  of  a  vehement 
re-action  against  what  he  thinks  the  ignoble  tone  of  the 
other  speakers,  exclaims  "  hut  tliere  is  a  spirit  in  man, 
and  the  inspiration  of  tlie  Ahnightij  liath  given  them 
'understanding.''''  This  is  ])lain]y  an  utterance  of  his 
generic  consciousness.  And  Ave  all  know  moments  of 
sacred  })assion  Avlien  our  souls  hear  ringing  in  his  Avords 
the  key-note  of  the  higliest  human  life.  Noav  Avhat  do(;s 
such  an  utterance  mean  to  us  Avlien  it  affects  us  so  ? 


THE  G OD-  COXSCIO  I'SXESS  IX  IIUMAXITY.         39 

Surely  we  do  not  interpret  it  then  as  a  pliilo.sopliieal  or 
metaphysical  proposition  about  the  rehitions  of  body  and 
souL  AVe  love  it  rather  because  it  gives  articulate  ex- 
])ression  to  an  experience  which  is  very  dear  to  us. 
'•  There  is  a  s})irit  in  man"'  means  simply  then,  there  is 
something  in  us  deeper  than  self  or  sense.  And  the 
"  ins2)iration  of  the  Almighty"  expresses  our  feeling  of 
direct  dependence  for  this  inner  life  on  "  that  which 
made  the  world  so  fair."  "There  is  a  spirit  in  man;" 
we  are  not  Avholly  the  slaves  of  pleasures  and  of  pains,  of 
mercenary  gain  or  loss  ;  there  is  a  keen  unutterable  joy 
in  the  pursuit  of  truth  for  its  own  sake,  in  self-sacrificing 
love,  in  longing  contem])lations  of  the  mystery  of  lite. 
In  sucli  moments  the  God-consciousness  s})eaks  out.  It 
is  the  deep  and  fiery  energy  of  a  divine  impulse  breaking 
through  the  cold  hard  surface  of  oiu"  self-containment ; 
it  is  our  oneness  witli  the  su])stance  of  the  world 
rc-actiiig  against  the  superfi{;ial  intensity  of  our 
indivi(bud  isolation.  When,  in  a  time  of  })erplexity 
and  temptation,  you  say  'I  will  do  the  right  thing, 
then  let  cohk;  on  what  may,'  A\hat  is  the  S(;c-ret  of 
the  >trange  stern  joy  you  feel?  AVhen,  in  painful 
(lonbt.  you  say  t(j  timid  teaehei"s  '  doii"t  talk  of  safety 
and  prudence,  tell  us  oidy  tin;  truth,'  what  is  the  iii>pi- 
I'ation  or\()ni'  ^ti'ong  desire?  AVhen  voulnuc  I'oi"  once, 
in  >e(i(t  and  unpraised,  made  an  uni'esei'Ncd  sacrifice  of 
yoiii'-clf  tiir  a  cause  that  toucheil  \-oui'  hearts,  what  was 
the  li;iiiii  that  dropped  into  \dui'  soul,  and  made  a  holier 
pence  than  y<;u  had  ever  kiKjwn?      1  am  jtersuaded  that 


40         THE  G  OD.  coys  CIO  TJSNESS  IN  II UMAKITY. 

were  it  not  incongruous  even  to  tliink  of  self-scrutiny 
in  sucli  exalted  moments,  you  would  feel  that  the  secret 
of  this  spiritual  glory  was  a  sense  of  oneness  with  an 
order  gi'ander  than  material  laws,  with  an  all-jHTvading 
life  in  which  for  ever  all  is  well,  with  an  all-emhracing 
love,  to  be  at  one  Avith  which  is  your  lieart's  final  joy. 

I  know  very  well  the  claims  or  hopes  of  physiological 
research  to  show  for  every  s})iritual  emotion  a  vibration 
in  the  brain.  I  know  how  laws  of  association  with 
lower  pleasures  are  invoked  to  account  for  strains  of 
thought  which  seem  rather  an  echo  of  the  harps  of 
heaven.  Nor  can  I,  like  a  jealous  landed  proj)rietor, 
build  out  by  walls  of  prejiidice  obtrusive  fact,  then 
take  my  pleasure  in  my  narrow  garden  as  though  such 
things  were  not.  I  am  content  with  a  conviction  which 
is  as  impregnable  as  a  mathematical  axiom,  that  however 
accurately  or  exhaustively  science  may  display  the 
accom])anying  conditions,  or  material  phenomena  of 
thought,  it  never  can  produce  a  feeling  of  conscious 
identity  A\ath  nerve  vibratioiis  ;  it  never  can  eft'ect  such 
a  realization  to  self  of  an  existence  terminable  inwards 
by  the  anatomy  of  the  ])rain,  as  would  alon(!  avail  to 
disturb  the  Grod-consciousness  in  man.  After  all,  brain 
is  only  a  phenomenon,  or  collection  of  phenomena  ;  and 
however  completely  a  correspondence  could  be  shown 
between  its  variations  and  variations  of  anotlier  kind  in 
the  j)]ienomena  of  consciousness,  the  two  things  com- 
])ared  are  to  every  sense  or  ],)erce])tion  Ave  possess  so 
entirely  different,  that   their    ultimate   unity   must    be 


THE  GOD-CONSCIOUSXESS  IN  HUMANITY.        41 

conceived  as  concealed  in  the  true  substance  underlyino- 
tlieni  both.  aSTow  physical  science  does  not  affect  to 
deal  with  substance.  But  so  far  as  its  subtle  analysis, 
its  revelations  of  infinity  in  an  atom,  its  generaliza- 
tions concerning  force  give  any  hint,  it  is  certainly 
adverse  to  the  gross  materialism  which  really  identifies 
material  phenomena  with  substance.  If  the  epithet 
'material'  means  anything,  it  ought  to  signify  every- 
thing that  appeals  to  the  bodily  senses.  And  if  that  be 
so  science  knows  nothing  material  except  forms  of  force, 
or  if  you  will,  forces.  That  is,  it  follows  up  all  material 
phenomena  to  a  kind  of  border  land,  beyond  which  it 
loses  them  in  a  certainly  immaterial  mystery.  No  one 
then  under  any  conceivable  condition  of  science  could 
be  entitled  to  say  'brain  tissue  is  the  substance  of 
which  our  consciousness  is  the  mere  phenomenon.'  It 
will  always  be  o])en  to  re})]y  that  we  recognise  brain 
energv  as  a  form  of  forc(^,  so  far  as  observation  goes 
inextricably  associated  with  the  definite  forms  assumed 
by  consciousness.  All  the  admission  amounts  to  is  this, 
that  brain  seems  to  be  a  condition  necessary  to  the 
limitation  or  definition  of  that  poi-ti(m  of  miiversal  sid)- 
stance  which  takes  form  in  human  personal  life;  but 
whether  that  condition  be  initial  and  tempoi'aiy,  or 
permanent  anil  essential,  there  is  on  this  mode;  c)f  en([uiry 
no  evi<lence  to  show.  I>ut  to  sup])os<'  that  science  tends 
to  pT'o\  ('  bi'uin  only  sul)stantial  and  mind  ',\n  'eidolon,' 
is  a  (lehi-ion  which  it  would  Ik;  most  unjust  to  charge 
(ju  the  greatest  and   most  unconipi'oniising  ])li\sicists  of 


4  2         THE  G  OB-  CONS  CIO  USKESS  IX  II UMA  MTY. 

the  day.  Tliey  know  nothing  of  substance  and  care  io 
know  nothing,  save  oidy  in  some  moments  of  wistful 
reverie  when  "what  they  seem"  would  so  fain  "behold 
what  is,  and  no  man  understands,"  And  in  such 
moments  I  maintain  that  men  are  nearer  to  the 
substance  of  the  universe  tlum  in  any  scientific  gene- 
ralization. It  is  the  Grod-consciousness  that  enthrones 
us  above  a  visionary  world. 

I  believe  that  this  divine  element  in  tis  appears  some- 
times as  pure  reason,  sometimes  as  spiritual  imagination, 
sometimes  as  conscience,  thus  presenting  a  triune  mani- 
festation of  the  one  God-consciousness  in  man.  I  need 
not  stop  to  discuss  the  question  of  pure  reason  as 
between  one  school  of  philosophy  and  another.  Even 
granting  that  every  universal  judgment  which  wo  form, 
and  every  supersensuous  aspiration  which  we  breathe  is 
the  issue  of  experience,  still  ex])erience  requires  two 
factors,  the  sul^ject  and  the  object ;  and  the  ibrms  which 
experience  takes  in  consciousness  must  owe  something 
to  each  of  these.  Let  it  be  granted  for  instance  that 
the  universal  judgment,  "  things  which  are  equal  to  the 
same  are  equal  to  one  another,"  is  not  merely  suggested 
but  learned  by  ex])erience.  Still,  the  fact  that  experience 
takes  this  form  is  due  to  a  certain  susceptibility  in  the 
nature  which  is  educated  iq)  to  that  point  by  experience. 
And  this  susce})ti])ility  has  a  right  to  considerati(m  just 
as  much  as  the  })lienomena  which  influence  and  educate 
it.  For  the  purpose  of  our  })resent  argument  then,  I 
am  content  that  the  pm'e  reason  should  take  the  loAvest 


THE  GOD-COXSCIOUSKESS  IX  JIUMAXITY.        43 

fonn  tliat  can  well  be  assigned  to  it.  For  if  there  is  in 
our  personal  life  a  susceptibility  wliieli  under  impressions 
from  the  external  world  is  led  inevitablj  and  nniversally 
ti)  certain  judgments  which  we  cannot  conceivably  re- 
verse, we  slioidd  be  disloyal  to  the  order  of  the  universe 
if  we  did  not  hold  that  these  judgments  involved 
an  ultimate  truth.  I  hold  then  that  there  are  some 
deeply-seated  convictions  or  impressions — call  them 
intuitions,  call  them  conclusions  or  what  you  will, — such 
as  no  science  which  deals  with  a})pearances  can  possibly 
overthrow.  Pure  reason  insists  that  appearances  or 
])henomena  always  imply  substance;  it  suggests  that 
ultimately  all  substance  is  one,  and  thus  sets  us  groping 
towai'ds  (mA.  Pure  reason  insists  on  cause,  and  so  step 
l>y  step  leads  us  l)ack  towards  God.  It  joins  cause  to 
torce,  and  i'oi-ce  to  liviui;  will,  and  so  draws  iis  uj)  to 
(xod.  So  long  as  men  kec})  within  the  limits  of  the 
jiractica!  ujiderstanding  which  is  content  with  calculating 
the  chances  of  phenomenal  succession  and  acting  accord- 
ingly, thei'e  is  nothing  to  o])en  th(!  inward  vista  which 
!(iok>  to  the  infinite.  Put  no  sooner  do  we  I'calize  tiie 
inipuUc  to  (listingui>h  what  seems  from  what  /*,  what 
mo\c>  from  A\hat  is  moved,  than  a  door  is  ojx'iied  in 
licaxcii,  and  we  heai"  a  voice  saying,   ''•come  up  hither. 

^  cl  we  do  not  in  fact  ascend  thithci-  unless  reason  is 
winireil  |,y  ~|jii-itual  imagination.  I)\- this  |ihi-ase  L  mean 
of  CMiiiM'  iioi  the  more  or  le>s  .-en-uou>  faeuhy  which 
l)uilil>  out  of  the  ruins  of  memory  an  ideal  outward 
woi-M,  iitit    rather  the  same  cnerifN'  of  the    soul,    which 


44         THE  G OD-  CONSCIO  TJSNESS  IN  HUMANITY. 

enorenders  tlie  lonoin<x  after  a  final  cause,  the  con- 
templative  gaze  wLieh  dotes  upon  the  vision  of  life, 
until  its  depths  0})en  up  and  its  inward  meaning 
da"^^^ls.  The  spiritual  imagination,  aroused  by  per- 
ceptions of  congruity  and  beauty  as  real  and  far  more 
searching  than  the  sight  of  the  eyes,  roams  through 
the  universe  seeking  some  object  of  supreme  adoration, — 
an  object  apart  from  which,  existence  seems  not  an 
Aiigma  only,  but  a  contradiction  to  every  demand  of 
reason,  to  every  longing  of  the  heart  and  every  convic- 
tion of  the  conscience.  The  spiritual  imagination  may 
be  poetic,  mystic,  vague,  even  visionary,  but  it  is  no 
liar ;  and  its  unconquerable  feeling  that  the  life  of 
humanity  cannot  be  alone  in  the  universe  commends 
itself  after  all  to  the  most  dispassionate  judgment. 

Of  the  conscience  we  have  in  effect  already  s])oken. 
I  only  desire  now  to  add  that  in  its  sense  of  a  supreme 
eternal  authority  as  the  ultimate  sanction  of  right  it  is 
the  most  commonly  realized  aspect  of  the  God-conscious- 
ness in  man.  Whatever  theory  is  held  of  the  moral 
standard,  whether  it  is  supposed  to  make  its  appeal  to  a 
special  intuitive  perception,  or  is  regarded  as  the  product 
of  utilitarian  experience  and  transferred  associations, 
the  sanction  which  binds  us  to  obey  is  a  wholly  distinct 
question ;  and  no  satisfactory  account  can  be  given  of 
this,  which  does  not  in  one  form  or  another  involve, 
wdiat  we  may  call  the  common  sense  view,  '  I  mvist,  I 
ought,  because  Grod  wills  it.'  Say  that  a  man  is  bound 
to  live  in  harmony  with   the  order   of  the   universe, 


THE  GOD-CONSCIOrsyESS  IN  IIUMAXITY.        45 

say  th.at  lie  is  bound  to  coiitrilnite  his  part  to  the  com- 
mon good.  I  do  not  deny  that  he  may  i'eel  the  force  of 
this  without  ever  asking  the  reason  why.  But  it  is  not 
tlie  less  true  that  in  this  feelincr  the  righteous  and  lovincj 
Life  which  embraces  all  things  manifests  itself  in  him 
though  he  may  not  know  it.  And  in  this  obscure 
inarticulate  sense  of  indefeasible  obligation  I  recognize 
the  God-consciousness  of  humanity. 

Once  more  I  repeat  that  the  possession  of  this  divine 
sense  docs  not  necessarily  bring  any  man  consciously  into 
]>ersonal  comnuinion  with  God.  But  it  does  tend  to 
this;  it  does  come  very  near  to  it.  ^' I  (jlrded  thee 
tJionqli  tlion  Itast  not  hnoim  rue''  is  a  prophetic  word 
ap])lic;d)le  to  more  than  C\tus,  and  in  a  deej)er  sense 
than  the  ]iro])het's  immediate  meaning.  JMaiiy  a  man, 
who  in  early  life  has  given  little  attention  to  religious 
tliouglit,  feels  in  after  times  of  deep  sj)iritual  ex])erience 
that  (idd  has  been  with  him  and  in  him  all  his  days. 
AVhile  thcreiore  1  cannot  maintain  that  the  God- 
ciiiisciousness  alwavs  involves  a  realization  of  communion 
with  a  living  Person,  I  contend  that  it  does  bear  out  the 
wor^ls  ot'  St.  Paul,  "  lie  is  not  far  front  every  one  of  us  ;" 
il  does  lead  up  to  (bxl  ;  it  does  give  everlasting  meaning 
to  the  revelation  in  .Jesus  Christ;  and  when  realised  as 
beIoni;itii!'  t(j  the  generic  consciousness  of  mankind,  it 
(ioe>  i;i\("  an  undying  interest  and  significance  to  all 
reliiiious  history.  Of  one  thing  at  least  we  may  be 
conliileiit  ;  it  will  Ibr  e\('r  forliid  Atheism  as  the  finality 
of  human  thou'dit.     As  the  soui"s  loiiifinii-  for  a  final  caus(^ 


4  G         THE  G  OB-  coy  SCI  0  C&NESS  IX  TL  UMA  NITY. 

still  iittors  its  sio;li  when  apparently  crushed  out  Ly  the 
dead  weight  of  materialism,  so  the  God-conseiousness  in 
ijeneral  even  where  to  the  intellect  there  is  no  God,  wakes 
afresh  in  craving's  for  religion  such  as  followed  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Positive  Philosophy.  Nor  was  Comte  so 
inconsistent  as  many  suppose,  however  melancholy  the 
fantastic  development  of  his  positive  religion  may  have 
been.  For  if  Positivism  means  taking  facts  as  they  stand, 
it  was  impossible  in  the  science  of  humanity  to  ignore 
the  feelings  and  atfections  Avliich  generate  religion.  An 
essential  condition  of  our  highest  life  is  some  supreme 
loyalty,  for  which  Humanity  has  been  otiered  as  the 
object,  but  which  that  is  neither  spiritually  definite  nor 
morally  exalted  enough  to  command.  It  lacks  the 
majesty  of  eternity  :  it  has  no  tenderness  like  the  name 
of  Our  Father ;  it  is  too  evidently  a  laboured  abstrac- 
tion to  excite  the  ])assion  of  worshij).  But  if  a  man 
should  say  I  worship  the  universe, — the  All  in  All, — I 
should  be  bold  to  say,  sir,  you  worship  God,  though  you 
call  Him  by  another  name,  and  ajiproach  Him  from 
another  as})ect.  For  a  man  cannot  worslii])  a  thing 
however  big  ;  and  the  moment  he  talks  of  a  harmony 
order  and  beauty  that  touch  his  heart,  he  shows  a  sense 
of  a  hidden  life,  wlii(;h  I  welcome  as  a  sign  that  the  God- 
consciousness  is  awake  Avithin  him.  Should  mankind 
tlicu  b(>  driven  in  a  momentary  maze  into  intellectual 
srilicisiii.  what  would  they  do  Avitli  this  obstinate  irre- 
])ressil)le  faculty,  the  religious  nature,  Avliich  we  smn  up 
as    the    Go(l-conscious]ie.-s?       Its    bei^-inning    and    end 


THE  GOD-COXSCIOUSXESS  IN  IIIWANITY.        47 

would  l)e  tlieoreticallv  cut  off,  its  origiu  and  inspiration 
fTone,  but  still  it  wonld  not,  could  not  die.  I  have  seen 
a  so-called  air-plant  cliniiing  to  a  little  bit  of  wood 
suspended  by  a  string.  But  even  this  has  fibres  which 
grasp  the  wood,  and  pores  which  drink  in  the  moisture 
and  gases  of  the  air.  And  no  freak  of  natin-e,  no 
miracle  indeed,  iinless  the  creation  of  something  out  of 
nothing,  could  rival  the  harsh  discontinuity  with  the 
reality  of  things  which  would  be  presented  by  a  God- 
consciousness  without  a  God.  It  would  be  a  universal 
aspiration  without  an  aim,  a  restless  mystic  tendency 
without  any  conceivable  adeqtiate  impidse,  a  lie  inherent 
in  the  generic  consciousness  of  man,  a  fundamental 
discord  in  the  highest  i-csults  of  creation.  Surely  nuito 
inanimate  law,  which  necessarily  carries  within  itself 
only  the  gei-ms  o\'  action  congruous  with  itself,  coukl 
never  ])i'oduce  so  cruel  an  isstie  as  this.  Such  a  law 
would  kcc])  all  things  within  the  symmetry  ol'7iature,  and 
not  a  thought  of  man  could  have  waiidered  beyond. 
Under  such  a  law  there  could  hav(^  been  tio  dream  of 
God  to  bui'u  its  creatures  with  vain  desire,  and  maki; 
the  fj'iilli  abhorrent  to  their  noblest  affections.  Xo ;  if 
li\iiig  lo\('  is  not  creation's  final  law.  there  is  soniething 
in  tlie  eon>titution  of  the  universe  which  looks  like 
malice.  The  (lod-consciousness  in  humanity  ine\ita1)ly 
iji\(i]\e<  either  religion  oi-  super.^tilion  :  the  woi'ld  is 
ruled  eiilier  l»v  (lod  or  |)e\il;  and  no  one  who  I'eels 
lldil  i--U'>  will  he-~itate  about  his  choice. 


48         THE  G 01)-  CONSCIO  USXESS  IiV  II UMANITY. 

11. 

Tbo  question  tlicn  naturally  arises,  what  is  the  relation 
of  all  this  to  the  Bible  and  the  Christian  revelation? 
"Yon  tell  ns/'  it  may  be  said,  "of  a  voice  in  every 
man  throiifrhoiit  the  race  speaking  of  God ;  what  then 
was  the  use  of  the  voices  of  Sinai,  or  of  the  utterances 
of  prophets  and  apost'es?  AVe  read  in  the  Scriptures 
that  man  fell  from  a  state  of  hapi)y  innocence  and 
utterly  died  to  God.  Did  he  not  at  the  same  time  lose  his 
God-consciousness  and  all  heavenly  inspiration  unless  by 
special  grace?"  Others  again  from  a  diiferent  })oint  of 
view  may  ask,  "  supposing  the  theory  of  the  natural 
origin  as  distinguished  from  the  instantaneous  creation 
of  man  to  be  established,  as  some  who  are  best  able  to 
judge  think  it  will  be,  if  it  is  not  established  already, 
how  will  yoiu'  opinions  consist  with  this  ?"  I  shall  give 
mv  ansAver  to  both  sets  of  enquiries  in  the  form  of  a 
\x\\\i — [  can  scarcely  call  it  a  sketch — of  the  ])robable 
liistory  of  the  God-consciousness  in  man.  A\'e  have 
alreadv  seen  the  fundamental  impossibility  that  scientific 
investi  o-ations  of  material  phenomena  can  affect  the 
substantial  nature  of  present  spiritual  facts.  But  dis- 
coveries as  to  the  liistory  of  the  material  world  do  affect 
the  process  by  which  those  s])iritual  facts  have  come  to 
be  what  they  are.  Whether  God  made  man  out  of 
an  anthropomorphous  ape,  or  made  him  directly  out  of 
inorganic  dust,  either  way  lie  made  him  a  man ;  and 
the  decision  of  the  question  cannot  alter  the  meaning  of 


THE  G  OB-  COXSCIO  USXESS  IX  II UMA  NITY.        4  9 

the  word ;  but  it  must  necessarily  alter  our  opinions 
about  the  history  of  the  spiritual  consciousness  Avhich  is 
an  essential  element  in  that  meaning.  And  here  I  take 
leave  to  protest  against  the  senseless  use  which  is  some- 
times made  of  the  solemn  truism — '  reliWon  is  one  thino:, 
science  another.'  If  it  be  meant  that  they  approach 
the  central  Truth  from  different  sides,  and  that  the 
one  mode  of  access  leads  more  deeply  into  the  heart  of 
it  than  the  other ;  or  in  other  words,  if  it  be  meant  that 
science  deals  with  jjhenomena  of  one  kind,  and  religion 
with  phenomena  of  another,  but  phenomena  much  more 
significantly  suggestive  of  ultimate  substance,  that  is 
all  very  well.  But  when  as  is  sometimes  the  case  this 
formula  is  used  to  justify  the  holding  of  two  directly 
contrary  sets  of  opinions  on  the  same  subjects,  one  can 
hardly  refrain  from  characterizing  it  as  a  subterfuge  of 
spiritual  cowardice.  It  is  perfectly  consistent  to  say 
'  my  heart  holds  to  the  living  God  as  the  substance  of 
all  tilings,  a  faith  no  scientific  theory  can  touch.'  But 
it  is  iKjt  consistent,  and  but  for  the  effect  of  custom 
would  be  felt  to  l^e  sheer  seli-stultification  for  an 
acciiinplislicd  ireologist  solemnly  to  declare  as  a  fact 
th:tt  ••  (joil  xjxike  all  these  wordx,  scvjIikj^  .  .  .  i/i.  .-/>/• 
(fi/^/s  the  Loud  mode  lieaven  and  earth,  the  .^m  a/td  all  that 
i.n  thnii  !.<,  a/id  rested  the  seventh  da)j:^  In  i-c^-;!i-d  to 
many  rcliidous  opinions  it  is  not  trui,'  that  religion  is 
one  thinij;  and  scaence  anothi-r.  They  reju'ocnt  simply 
op]»o>iic  jii'lLf:nrtits  on^tlic  >ain('  facts  in  the  san.c  aspect 
oft!i";ii,   tli.u  is.  ih(Mr  lu-t(;fica!   reality;  and  ilicr(  I'ofc 

E 


50      THE  god-consciousjVess  in  humanity. 

one  or  the  otlier  must  be  false.  Of  course  scientific 
theories  are  often  formed  very  rashly  and  are  often 
superseded.  But  that  some  theories  totally  incon- 
sistent with  old  religious  opinions  are  finally  established, 
only  stolidity,  or  a  faith  desperate  through  ignorance 
of  its  own  immortal  essence,  can  possibly  deny.  And 
surely  it  is  intolerable  to  go  on  any  longer  holding  our 
religious  faith  as  though  on  sufferance  of  imperfect 
knowledge, — miserable  to  hold  our  ground  like  tenants 
along  the  line  of  an  unfinished  railway,  who  hope  against 
hope  that  bankruptcy  of  the  company  or  some  diversion 
may  occur  to  save  their  old  habitations.  It  is  necessary 
not  merely  to  yield  a  grudging  admission  to  such  new 
facts  as  are  thrust  upon  our  attention,  but  also  if  possible 
once  for  all  to  take  some  view  of  the  spiritual  nature 
which  shall  be  entirely  independent  of  all  contingencies 
of  future  opinion,  because  it  can  afford  scope  for  them 
all.  I  have  tried  to  keep  this  object  before  me  in  the 
remarks  made  hitherto ;  and  at  this  point  I  am  particu- 
larly anxious  it  should  be  understood  that  I  do  not 
undertake — it  is  no  part  of  my  duty — to  recommend 
this  or  that  scientific  speculation  Avhich  may  yet  be 
in  dispute,  but  to  show  that  the  -vdew  of  the  God- 
consciousness  which  I  have  m'ged  gives  ample  room 
for  all. 

In  attempting  to  give  any  hint  as  to  the  probable 
history  of  the  God-consciousness  in  humanity,  we  grant 
at  once  that  the  Bible  does  not  yield  us  the  means  of 
o])servinn:   its    earliest    manifestations.      For   whatever 


THE  GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS  IN  HUMANITT.         51 

fragmentary  reminiscences  of  preliistoric  Hebre"\v  origins 
scholars  may  think  they  can  disinter  from  the  early 
chapters  of  Genesis,  it  is  useless  in  the  present  state  of 
archaeological  research  to  contend  for  the  historical 
character  of  the  narrative  in  which  they  are  imbedded. 
Such  reminiscences  have  their  value ;  but  as  for  the 
primeval  lieginnings  of  human  history,  they  leave  these 
in  utter  impenetrable  darkness.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
farther  prehistoric  archaeology  advances,  the  more  remote 
does  the  first  appearance  of  man  upon  the  earth  appear 
to  be :  while  at  the  same  time  indications  multiply 
which  suggest  that  only  by  slow  degrees  did  he  assume 
mentally  and  spiritually  the  full  proportions  of  humanity. 
As  to  the  mode  of  his  creation  we  have  no  need  here  to 
decide.  It  is  sufficient  if  we  exhibit  a  theory  of  his 
spiritual  nature  consistent  with  acknowledged  facts,  and 
dependent  on  no  contingencies  of  any  controversy  that 
may  yet  bo  undeci(l(;(l.*  AVe  only  assume  that  the  his- 
tory is  an  inconceivably  long  one,  and  that  its  iirst 
indications  suggesting  a  very  low  condition  appear  to 
many  to  imply  a  pr(;vious  progrc-ss  from  a  condition 
lower  still.  But  Grod's  })urposes  concerning  inankind 
were  from  the  very  beginning  marked  in  the  bodily 
form  he  gave  them — a  form  which  l)y  whatcne)'  process 
it  was  (iriginated  was  equally  the  work  of  (jlod — a  I'orm 
which  ill  itself  was  a  prophecy  that  a  spiritual  kingdom 
of  God  was  at  hand.     The  signs  oi'  menttil  suj)remacy 

*  Note  1!  on  the  relation  of  the  I)cvcl(;pnieut  nieory  to  Immortality. 


52      THE  Gon-coNsciousNESs  iw  iimiAmrr. 

over  the  world  Avould  soon  be  inanifest.  Little  by  little, 
we  may  su|)])0se,  the  mind  of  man  rose  to  a  self-eon- 
scioiisness  elearly  separable  from  merely  animal  instincts. 
And  when  once  he  coidd  so  far  stand  distinct  I'rom  and 
over  against  nature  as  to  feel  wonder,  the  life  of  con- 
templation was  begun,  and  at  least  the  germ  of  the  God- 
consciousness  was  formed.  For  the  sense  of  wonder 
involves  the  realization  of  a  disturbed  unity  which  the 
soul  struggles  to  restore.  And  here  we  have  the  begin- 
ning both  of  science  and  religion,  which  like  highly 
differentiated  oi'gaus  in  the  mature  animal,  may  very 
well  have  been  indistino-uisliable  in  their  o-erms.  The 
sense  of  wonder  too  is  closely  akin  to  that  of  awe,  and 
easily  suggests  some  Unknown  Power  which  from  the 
vast  beyond  breaks  through  the  limits  of  vision  and 
maTiifests  itself  in  the  marvellous  object  of  contempla- 
tion. But  it  is  the  distinct  consciousness,  involved  in 
wonder,  of  self  as  separate  from  and  set  over  against 
Nature,  on  which  I  would  most  insist.  This  would  stig- 
gest  the  possibility  of  overccming  natural  forces  by 
skill,  as  for  instance  of  conquering  the  Avolf  by  the  stone 
hatchet,  or  the  ele])hant  by  the  jntfall ;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  woidd  beget  a  tenderer  feeling  towards 
human  kind,  exhibited  first  of  all  towards  mend)ers  of 
tlie  same  horde  or  clan,  but  leading  on  towards  the 
recognition  of  a  mystic  sacredness  in  man.  In  all  this 
there  was  assuredly  the  teaching  of  God,  "  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Almighty,"  although  a  spiritual  conception, 
nay  the  \  eiy  notion  of  His  being  uiight  yet  be  miformed. 


THE  GOD-COXSCIOUSKESS  IX  IIVMAXITY.         r)3 

But  the  sharper  grew  the  contrast  between  Man  and 
Nature,  the  more  would  wonder  and  reflection  be 
awakened  by  the  sunset  and  the  daA\ni,  bj  the  woodland 
vista  and  the  deep  abyss,  above  all,  perhaps,  by  the 
thunderstorm,  the  earthquake  or  the  eclipse.  Thus,  it 
may  be,  was  engendered  the  first  tendency  to  worship. 
For  if  it  is  true  that  the  liiofhest  civilization  is  the  residt 
of  long  fermentation  amongst  inferior  elements  often 
utterly  unlike  itself,  there  can  be  little  difficulty  in 
recofTiiizino:,  what  manv  phenomena  amoncr  barbarous 
reliiiions  would  sua: (rest,  that  the  nol)lest  sentiments  of 
love  and  reverence  for  an  Almighty  Father  are  connected 
in  a  direct  line  of  ascent  with  the  dread  felt  by  the  savage 
of  the  Power  that  can  withhold  the  sunlight  or  shake 
the  solid  ground.  Probably  the  first  signs  of  conscience 
would  be  shown  in  loyalty  to  the  interests  of  the  A-illage 
or  the  trilK".  VmX  as  the  sense  of  an  Unseen  Power  frrew 
more  and  more  upoTi  tlui  soul,  an  association  would  be 
gradually  realized  between  the  voice  of  conscience  and 
the  authority  of  the  gods.  Then  as  wonder  at  the 
greatness  of  nature;  deejx'ued  into  reverence  and  awe, 
breaking  sometimes  into  love,  and  someitimes  into  dread, 
the  heart  would  long  for  som(!  word  from  the  unseen  ; 
and  if  we  say  that  the  sj)iritual  imagination  suj)])lied 
this  want,  let  it  not  be  su])|)osed  for  a  moment  that  this 
inip!ie>  th(>  inirealitv  of  all  divine;  connnunications  with 
the  soul  of  man.  On  the  contrary,  according  to  the 
view  taken  now,  that  craving  I'or  a  word  from  tlu^ 
unseen  was   itself  ;i  divine  .suggestion,   and    the   meeting 


54         THE  G  OD-  CONSCIO  USNESS  IN  HUMANITY. 

of  that  want  through  the  avenue  of  the  spiritual  imagina- 
tion was  just  a  mingling  of  divine  inspirations  and 
human  thoughts,  capable  of  all  modifications  of  degree 
up  to  the  visions  of  an  Isaiah  or  a  Paul. 

The  danger  of  misconception  here  arises  from  the 
strange  but  inveterate  tendency  to  sujipose  that  divine 
action  is  necessarily  sudden,  complete,  and  incapable  of 
progress  through  various  degrees  of  perfection.  When 
geology  first  became  a  science  many  seemed  to  think 
that  it  necessarily  ignored,  or  rather  denied  the  agency 
of  a  Creator.  For  if  God  did  not  make  the  universe  in 
six  days,  and  each  main  division  of  it  in  a  second  of 
time,  they  could  not  conceive  that  God  made  it  at  all. 
So  when  it  began  to  be  maintained  that  species  are  the 
result  of  gradually  accumulating  modifications  of  struc- 
ture, inherited  by  successive  generations,  many  seemed 
to  impersonate  Development  as  a  sort  of  huge  ugly 
idol  which  was  set  up  as  a  rival  to  the  Creator.  They 
could  not  conceive  that  it  was  really  God  who  made  an 
elephant,  unless  he  did  it  in  one  particular  way,  that  is, 
imless  he  gathered  a  heap  of  inorganic  dust  together 
and  commanded  it  instantly  to  become  a  living  animal. 
If  the  theory  of  the  'process  be  changed,  and  instead  of 
springing  instantly  out  of  inorganic  dust,  the  elephant 
is  supposed  to  be  the  result  of  successive  modifications 
according  to  an  ascertainable  law,  then  to  such  minds 
as  these  it  seems  that  divine  energy  is  entirely  eliminated 
from  the  process,  and  creation  ex})lained  without  God. 
Yet  a  little  reflection  would  show  that  it  is  just  as  easy 


THE  G OB-  CONSCIO  USNESS  IN  HUMANITY.         55 

to  conceive  of  God  working  gradually  as  suddenly ;  and 
a  little  more  reflection  would  sliow  that  no  theory  which 
touches  the  process  implies  any  opinion  one  way  or  the 
other  as  to  the  original  energy  by  which  the  process  is 
worked  out.* 

So  with  regard  to  the  growth  of  the  God-consciousness 
in  man  ;  let  no  one  think  for  a  moment  that  if  we  believe 
its  origin,  like  all  other  origins,  to  bo  lost  in  mystery, 
and  its  progress  to  have  been  gradual,  that  avo  therefore 
empty  it  of  in>})iration.  Kot  one  step  in  the  whole 
process  can  be  rationally  accounted  for  apart  from 
the  inspiration  of  the  Almighty,  least  of  all  the  deep 
instinctive  association  of  conscience  with  the  voice  of 
God.  But  I  am  assuming  that  inspiration  all  through, 
and  only  pointing  out  thu  steps  by  which  it  may  be 
conceived  as  advanciug. 

There  is  Jiotliing  unnatural  or  arljitrary  in  the  sup- 
position tluit  tlie  God-consciousness  might  bo  developed 
much  more  ra])idly  in  some  races  than  in  others.  The 
extent  to  whicli  it  did  so  is  not  a  matter  of  faith,  but 
simply  of  historical  enrpiiry.  ]3ut  there  can  hardly  be 
any  dis])utc  that  amongst  the  Jews  its  ])re-eminenc(! 
became  tluj  distinguishing  characteristic  of  their  national 
life.  And  accordingly  to  deny  an  unusual  degree  of 
ins])iratinu  in  llieir  cas(!  would  1)0  as  al)surd  as  to 
supjiosc  that  the  Go(l-consciousn(;ss  was  awakened  in 
man   ^\itllout    any   inspiration    at    all.       F;irlli(,'r,   that 

*    Svc  Apiiciiflix.  Ni/a;  C. 


5  6         THE  G  OB-  COXSCIO  USXESS  IK  HUM  A  KITY. 

extraordinary  inspiration  may  affect  tlio  ordinary  relations 
between  human  volition  and  snrromidinor  phenomena 
is  an  idea  not  necessarily  op]x>sed,  so  far  as  I  am  aware, 
to  any  established  conclusions  in  philosophy  or  science. 
Believing  as  I  do  that  the  only  ultimate  force  is  the 
energy  of  God,  and  that  this  is  the  energy  of  a  free  and 
lo\'ing  Will,  I  have  no  sympathy  with  any  tendency  to 
impose  the  limit  of  experience  on  possibility,  or  to  say 
that  no  evidence  can  prove  a  miracle.  That  such  a 
thing  is  on  merely  natural  groimds,  that  is,  from 
observations  on  the  regularity  of  nature,  highly  impro- 
bable, I  fully  admit ;  that  it  requires  uncommonly 
strong  evidence  to  prove  it  I  allow ;  and  I  conjecture 
farther  that  even  where  proved,  it  would  be  found,  if 
we  could  know"  all  about  it,  to  be  simply  the  super- 
session of  a  lower  order  by  a  higher.  The  issue  is  that 
the  reality  or  non-reality  of  miraculous  occurrences  is 
not  necessarily  a  matter  of  religious  faith ;  but  that  it  is 
necessarily  a  question  of  historical  evidence  in  which 
testimony  should  be  scrutinized  with  unusual  care ; 
while  the  moral  and  spiritual  interests  of  mankind, 
and  the  Godward  direction  of  the  highest  progress 
should  have  due  weight  in  determininfj  the  degi^ee  of 
possibility  or  probability  that  some  such  extraordinary 
manifestations  of  power  might  mark  great  eras  in 
universal  history.  Looking  in  such  a  frame  of  mind 
at  the  narratives  which  describe  the  growth  of  the 
God-consciousness  amongst  the  Jews,  we  should  be 
disposed  to  say  that  as  regards  the  Old  Testament  we 


THE  G OB-  COXSCIO  USXESS  IX  JTUMA XITY.         0  V 

have  really  no  historical  CA-idence  to  go  iipon,  at  least 
none  sufficient  to  maintain  by  its  own  force  the 
stupendous  and  sometimes  apparently  gratuitous  mira- 
cles it  enshrines.  And  therefore  the  amount  of  belief 
which  men  accord  to  those  miracles  will  be  foimd  to 
depend  simply  on  the  extent  to  wliich  they  think  them 
to  have  been  necessary  for  the  religious  education  of 
mankind.  For  myself  I  do  not  believe  that  the  literal 
truth  of  Old  Testament  miracles  can  be  maintained  on 
this  ground  alone.  The  history  is  most  suggestive  and 
impressive.  It  shows  many  tokens  of  a  special  inspira- 
tion in  the  Israelitish  race  and  its  writers.  Its  preser- 
vation is  a  rich  blessino;  to  the  Avorld :  vet  that  blessing 
consists  not  in  any  literally  accurate  preservation  of 
the  external  history  of  the  Jews,  but  much  more  in 
the  helps  it  gives  to  the  imagination  in  realizing  the 
im])ulses  of  their  inner  life.  That  God  revealed  Him- 
self in  virions,  I  do  not  at  all  doul^t ;  but  in  producing 
them  the  Divine  Spirit  wrought  through  the  nerves 
and  brain  of  the  excited  seer.  That  miracles  may  have 
been  wrought  in  those  early  days  I  have  no  wish  to 
deny:  but  the  evidence  for  individual  instances  has  not 
come  down  to  us  in  a  form  which  will  bear  historical 
criticism.  All  that  remains  and  must  always  remain 
]>crf'ectly  certain  is  this,  that  the  Jewish  race  b(>camc 
the  natural  and  inevitable  line  of  the  liighcsi  (le^•el^p- 
UK'ut  of  the  ( iod-consciousness  in  ]iian,  Avhich  in  this 
pre-ciiiiiicnt  liiK,'  reached  in  Christ  a  critical  culmination 


58         THE  GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS  IN  UUMANITY. 

such  as  introduced  a  wholly  now  era,  and  almost  a  new 
species  of  man. 

On  reaching  the  ministry  of  Christ  I  contend  that 
we  enter  at  once  into  the  light  of  historical  evidence. 
I  do  not  indeed  suppose  for  a  moment  that  the  Gospel 
narratives  are  perfectly  and  uniformly  accurate.  But 
the  variety  and  congruity  of  the  evidence  connecting 
them  with  the  living  testimony  of  Apostles  are  to  my 
mind  so  resistless,  and  the  idea  of  falsehood  on  their 
part  is  to  me  so  impossible,  that  as  a  matter  of  historical 
opinion  I  am  compelled  to  regard  the  narrative,  miracles 
included,  as  substantially  true.  On  the  other  hand  it 
seems  not  unworthy  of  the  Most  High  that  the  stupen- 
dous energy  of  a  spiritual  life,  which  so  dominated  the 
future  of  the  world,  should  be  associated  with  a  command 
of  nature  such  as  set  before  the  wondering  eyes  of 
simple  men  the  most  expressive  symbols  of  saving  grace. 
At  the  same  time  a  judgment  on  historical  evidence 
cannot  be  regarded  as  a  matter  of  relioious  faith.  I 
know  it  may  be  urged  that  spiritual  sympathies  neces- 
cessarily  affect  our  judgment  of  evidence ;  but  if  it  is 
meant  that  the  historical  evidence  for  Christian  miracles 
leaves  no  room  for  difference  of  opinion  except  what  is 
occasioned  by  varieties  of  s})iritual  sympathy,  candour 
as  to  my  own  feeling  com])el3  mo  to  demur.  Still 
farther,  if  it  is  meant  that  historical  disbelief  of  the 
Christian  miracles  necessarily  implies  an  unchristian 
heart,  there  are  facts  to   the   contrary  so  patent  and 


THE  GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS  IN  HUMANITY.        59 

undeniable,  that  he  who  can  ignore  them  would,  if 
bom  a  Jew  at  the  Christian  era,  have  refused  to  believe 
the  resurrection  of  Christ  though  he  had  seen  it  wnth 
his  own  eyes. 

To  me,  while  I  hold  fast  to  the  historical  facts,  these 
are  but  the  "flesh  and  blood"  to  which  our  Heavenly 
Father  has  "  linked  a  truth  divine."  The  appearance 
of  Jesus  on  the  field  of  history  may  be  regarded  as  a 
crisis  of  universal  progress  greater  than  the  birth  into  the 
world  of  the  first  creature  that  could  be  called  a  man. 
So  far  St.  Paid's  parallel  and  contrast  between  Adam 
and  Christ  would  be  tenable  on  any  theory.  For  a  new 
race  was  born  in  Christ ;  the  divine  humanity  to  which 
God  is  not  01)ject  only  but  Subject.*  Up  to  Christ's 
day  the  God-consciousness  had  availed  mainly  to  give 
significance  to  the  tokens  of  God's  being  which  were 
more  objetttively  than  sul)jcctively  regarded,  whether 
seen  in  vision  or  in  outward  events.  But  the  one  pre- 
eminently distinctive  characteristic  of  tlie  Lord  Jesus 
is  his  intense,  marv(?llous,  unwavering  consciousness  of 
God.  In  the  sunny  clearness  of  the  synoptic  discourses 
which  like  a  summer  day  hide  their  depth  in  light,  in 
the  diiiiiiicr  vistas  o])ened  up  into  the  mind  of  tlie  Lord 
by  tli(!  discourses  of  the  fourth  gos])('l,  in  such  words 
as  "t!i(!  l'\ithcr  that  dwelh'tli  in  me,  lie  doctli  the 
works,"'  a;ul  oven  in  the  a])par(!ntly  d('S])airing  cry, 
"  My  (^utl,  my  God  why  hast  tlioti  Ibrsaken  uie,"  wo 

*  F(/r  t]i's  '■•iK't.'cstion  I  ,'ini  iii'lchtcd  fo  ilic  rorriiirk  of  a  fric'iid  who 
[trohahly  would  not  desire  to  have  his  unnic  lucutiuiicd  iii  these  [)afrc3. 


60         THE  G OD-  COXSCIO  USNESS  IX  UZTMAXITY. 

have  tlic  manifestations  of  a  life  of  wliicli  God  was  felt 
to  be  the  inmost  substance  as  well  as  the  basis  and  the 
law  and  the  glory  of  creation.  I  have  little  sympathy 
Avith  the  efforts  that  are  sometimes  made  to  describe  the 
nature  of  the  Incarnation  in  pseudo-ontological  essays. 
It  is  sufficient  for  me  to  recognize  and  to  worship  a 
fulness  of  divinity  in  Christ  which  makes  him  the 
most  perfect  expression  to  us  of  Avhat  God  is  in  moral 
relations,  and  of  what  man  may  be  in  communion  with 
God.  Henceforward,  without  any  dislocation  or  break 
of  continuity  in  the  spiritual  history  of  the  race,  men 
were  to  learn  that  in  seeking  after  God  they  need  not 
ascend  into  the  heavens  nor  descend  into  the  abyss, 
because  the  word  is  nigh  them  in  their  hearts.  Hence- 
forward men  were  to  grow  in  the  knowledge  of  God, 
not  merely  as  the  supreme  Object  of  contemplation 
reflected  from  all  the  works  of  nature,  but  also  as 
i\\G  inmost  Subject  deeper  than  self-consciousness,  but 
coming  to  light  in  ever-recurrent  inspirations.  In  this 
point  of  view  we  may  mark  a  special  significance  in  the 
mission  of  the  Comforter,  so  prominent  a  feature  of  the 
Christian  dispensation.  With  this  tendency  of  Christ's 
religion  also  we  may  connect  the  promise  of  the  Lord, 
"  if  a  man  love  me  he  will  keep  my  icords,  and  my  Father 
will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him  and  take  up  our 
aJjode  rrifh  him.'"'  Surely  this  implies  that  the  spiritual 
consciousness  of  Christ  was  to  be  renewed  in  his  people 
according  to  their  measure.  In  this  direction  we  may 
look  for  the  fulfilment  of  some  of  the  most  mvsterious 


THE  G OD-  COXSCIO  USXESS  IX  IIU.MAXITY.         6 1 

longings  and  promises  of  the  Lord.     '•  The  glory  icJnch 
thou  gavest  me  I  have  given  tliem ;  that  they  may  he  one 
even  as  we  are  one ;  I  in  them  and  thou  in  me,  that  they 
may  be  made  perfect  in  one, — and  I  have  declared  unto 
them  thy  name,  and  will  declare  it,  that  the  love  whei^eioith 
thou  hast   loved   me  may   he  in   them  and  I  in   them.'''' 
Strange  as  these  words  may  sound  to  some,  they  have  a 
very  practical  significance  to  those  who  can  feel  with 
St.   Paul,  that  God  "has  revealed  his  Son  in  them." 
"  For  God  who  commanded  the  light  to  shine  out  of  dark- 
ness hath  sinned  in  our  hearts,  to  give  the  light  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.^^ 
So  every  man  who  knows   God  in   Clu-ist  may  enjoy  a 
God-consciousness,  the  calm  intensity  and  filial  confi- 
dence  of  which  surpass  all    prophetic  vision.     And   I 
maintain  that  the    real    matter  of  interest    for    us    is 
practically  to   enter  into  that  diviner  manhood  which 
feels  God  to  be  the  soul  of  its  soul  as  well  as  the  sub- 
stance of  the  world.     Theoretic  (juestions  as  to  the  precise 
nature  of  Christ's  j)erson  will  perhaps  never  be  set  at 
rest,  unless  by  the  j)rcvalence  of  a  deeper  philosojthy  of 
the  relations  of  man  to  God  and   of  the  creatur(!  to  the 
Crrutor.      Ji'  1   feel   that   I  am  broiiglit   nearer  to  God 
through  ('hri>t,  if  I   realize  through  faith  iu  hiui  as  a 
true  mauircstation  of  (iod  a  keenness  oi'  self-rei)r()ach, 
a   glow   of  love,   a  self-sacrificing  zeal   that  intensities 
every  bc>t  element  in  my  nature;  whatever  th(;ory  I  may 
hold  concerning  his   ])erson,  or  even  if  I  have  no  theory 
at   all.   he   is   to    nie  the  jtower   of  (j!od   unto  salvation. 


62         THE  GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS  IN  HUMANITY. 

We  need  not  follow  the  history  of  the  God-consciousness 
beyond  the  appearance  of  Christ.  Indeed  all  the  latter- 
day  glory  of  which  wo  make  our  boast,  even  those 
triumphs  of  science  which  some  foolishly  suppose  to  be 
at  the  expense  of  religion,  are  only  a  fuller  expansion  of 
the  Spirit  of  Christ,  the  spirit  of  purity,  truth  and  love, 
and  of  lowly  self-sacrifice  for  them  all.  Nay  if  we  turn 
our  eyes  to  the  future,  the  spiritual  imagination,  like 
poetic  foresight  in  its  highest  mood,  sees  only  in  the 
more  perfectly  divine  Humanity  to  come,  "  the  Christ 
that  is  to  be." 

III. 

But  after  all,  what  is  the  value  of  such  an  element  in 
our  nature?  I  hear  some  complain  that  all  spiritual 
perceptions  are  dim  and  vague ;  that  religious  notions 
are  for  the  most  part  incapable  of  clear  definition.  To 
this  it  is  customary  to  reply  that  from  the  nature  of  the 
case  it  must  be  so.  But  I  am  by  no  means  sure  about 
that  necessity  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  urged.  Of 
course  it  is  far  easier  to  define  a  triangle  than  it  is  to 
define  a  conviction  of  the  conscience.  But  that  is  only 
what  may  be  said  about  the  colour  red  or  blue ;  and  for 
very  much  the  same  reason.  For  the  triangle  is  made 
up  of  parts  which  can  be  mentioned  and  their  relation- 
ship to  one  another  specified ;  but  the  colours  red  and 
blue  are  presented  to  the  eye  as  a  confused  intuition 
which  can  be  distinguished  from  all  other  objects  only 
by  saying  that  it  is — what  it  is,  namely  red  or  blue.    The 


THE  G  OD-  CONS  CIO  USNESS  IN  HUM  A  NITY.        63 

sufficiency  of  the  definition  depends  upon  the  sameness 
of  the  idea  which  we  and  others  are  accustomed  to  asso- 
ciate with  the  words.  But  a  few  cases  of  colour  bhnd- 
ness  are  not  thought  to  justify  any  compLaint  about 
the  uncertainty  of  the  idea  represented  by  the  words. 
Supposing  the  vibratory  theory  of  light  to  be  accepted, 
it  would  indeed  be  possible  to  define  red  as  a  colour,  the 
rays  of  which  vibrato  so  many  thousands  of  times  in  a 
second.  But  whatever  place  such  a  definition  might 
have  in  a  theory  of  optics,  it  would  not  in  the  least  help 
us  in  our  practical  consciousness  of  the  perception  of 
red.  I  believe  that  our  difficulty  in  defining  some  of  the 
intuitions  of  the  God-consciousness  may  be  illustrated 
by  this  analogy.  For  if  I  say  that  to  speak  the  truth 
is  right,  or  to  tell  a  lie  is  wrong,  the  sense  of  right  or 
wrong  Avhich  accompanies  the  Avords  is  in  conscious- 
ness— whatever  theory  may  be  held  about  the  remote 
origin  of  that  consciousness — a  confused  intuition,  which 
is  marked  to  my  apprehension  only  by  its  difference 
from  all  other  intuitions  ;  and  expressible  to  others  only 
by  saying  that  it  is — what  it  is,  namely,  right  or  wrong. 
It  is  a  sort  of  moral  colour  that  I  see,  and  of  which 
I  speak  to  others  in  the  belief,  usually  justified,  that  the 
word  recalls  to  tlu'ir  mental  eye  the  same  sensation 
which  I  YVAxVvAQ  myself.  The  origin  of  this  mental  sen- 
sation, if  1  may  use  the  phrase,  that  is,  the  ])rocess  by 
which  God  has  produced  it  in  maTi,  may  very  well  bear 
discii.-sion  ;  but  no  theory  on  that  subject  can,  or  at  any 
rate  ought  to,  afi'ect  the  natun;  of  the  impression  that  I 


64         THE  G  OB-  CONSCIO  USNE&S  IN  H  UMANITY. 

feel,  any  more  than  the  adoption  or  rejection  of  the 
vibratory  theory  of  light  can  affect  my  perception  of  red 
colour.  In  Loth  cases  the  theories  must  Le  judged  by 
their  adequacy  to  account  for  the  perception.  And  so 
with  regard  to  our  perceptions  of  communion  with  God, 
of  the  beauty  of  self-sacrifice,  or  our  anticipations  of 
immortality,  the  difficulty  or  impossibility  of  defining 
them  can  be  no  proof  of  their  unreality.  For  they  are 
confused  intuitions  of  dawning  spiritual  faculties,  which 
we  may  believe  destined  to  attain  fuller  powers  in 
another  world. 

But  it  may  be  urged  that  if  we  all  have  the  same 
feeling  when  we  say  of  one  thing  that  it  is  right,  and  of 
another  that  it  is  wrong,  yet  we  differ  very  much  indeed 
about  the  actions  with  which  we  associate  the  fet^ing. 
And  as  to  perceptions  of  Grod  in  creation  or  God  in  the 
soul,  it  may  be  said  that  even  in  those  who  are  most 
vividly  conscious  of  such  experience  it  is  so  misty  and 
so  incapable  of  verification  that  it  may  very  well  be  a 
mere  projection  of  fancy.  Should  this  notion  seem 
probable,  I  can  only  lament  that  I  have  been  so 
unsuccessful  in  exhibiting  the  place  and  im])ortance 
of  the  God-consciousness  in  humanity.  Here  in 
conclusion  I  can  only  suggest,  that  much  of  the  vague- 
ness and  variability  which  is  charged  against  our 
spiritual  perceptions  may  be  explained  if,  as  just  now 
hinted,  the  God-consciousness  be  regarded  as  an  im- 
perfect attribute  of  the  soul,  awaiting  a  fuller  growth 
in  the  individual    and  in  the  race.     If  the  theory  of 


THE  G OD-  COXSCIO  USA'ESS  IN  HLWANITY.         05 

development  has  any  truth  in  it,  we  have  no  right  to 
assume  that  the  generic  consciousness  of  man  has 
attained  its  utmost  stature  yet.  We  are  in  truth  only 
waking  up  from  unconsciousness ;  and  we  cannot  tell 
how  men  will  feel  in  a  fuller  consciousness  of  themselves, 
the  world  and  God.  Even  a  man  who  wakes  up  from 
sleep  in  a  strange  place  is  often  some  time  before  ho 
can  bring  his  .])erceptions  into  order,  or  as  we  say, 
collect  himself.  He  sees  the  walls  and  windows  clearly 
enough,  but  his  own  relation  to  them  and  to  the  living- 
society  thev  sufrfjest  is  for  a  time  very  misty  and 
disjointed.  Xow  such  a  moment  may  ])ossibly  be 
anal()""()us  to  a"-es  of  affes  in  the  history  of  the  o-eneric 
consciousness  of  man.  For  what  are  these  amidst 
et(!rnity?  And  if  there  is  any  law  of  continuity  in 
l)ust  jtrogrcss  IVom  animalism  to  rationality,  from  the 
rule  of  the  senses  t(j  spe(;ulations  of  the  soul,  from  self- 
seeking  ])ussion  to  self-sacrificing  love,  surely  the  God- 
consciousness  in  humanity  has  all  the  promise  of  the 
I'utnrc.  i\Ieantiine  its  intuitions  nuiy  be  indefinite,  but 
they  are  not  dim  ;  as  our  s(!nse  of  the  ])Octic  glory  of  a 
landscape  is  indcHnite,  not  dim.  ft  has  the  indefinitc- 
ness  of  ii  honndless  splendour  which  one  feels  to  be 
<l;i\vrn'ng  moi-e  iind  more.  1  admit  the  rapidity  with 
winch  the  o-|i)ii])ses  that  we  get  of  an  Infiin'le  Life  are 
lost,  in  ;i  light  that  is  unaj)proachal)le.  I'ut  1  anticipate 
a  day  when,  us  ;ill  the  (colours  of  the  flowers  are  known 
to  he  only  ini])erlec,t  reflections  of  the  suidight,  so  that 
Life  shall   he    lelt    to  be   one   with   all    its    fragmentary 

F 


&6         THE  GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS  IN  HUMANITY. 

manifestations  in  creation.  I  anticipate  a  day  when 
the  God-consciousness  shall  have  such  an  insight  into 
the  universe  as  to  feel  that  Holy  Love  is  not  only  God 
over  all,  blessed  for  evermore,  but  Al])ha  and  Omega, 
beginning,  midst  and  end.  But  if  you  ask,  what  is 
that  to  us  who  depart  we  know  not  whither,  while 
God's  dawn  is  so  very  faint?  I  can  only  urge  that 
the  very  existence  of  an  individual  God-consciousness 
implies  that  elsewhere,  and  in  other  guise,  we  shall  play 
our  part  in  the  endless  revelation.  The  observations 
which  show  that  each  man  in  his  earliest  growth  sums 
up  all  the  })rogress  of  the  past,  and  the  endless  analogies 
of  the  macrocosm  without  to  the  microcosm  within 
suggest  that  each  individiial  may  repeat  in  himself  the 
whole  evolution  of  the  mystery  of  God.  ^'  Go  thou  thy 
way  till  the  end  he ;  for  thou  shalt  rest,  and  stand  in  thy 
lot  at  the  end  of  the  days.''"' 

Finally,  to  gather  up  in  briefest  compass  all  that  I 
have  claimed  for  the  God-consciousness  in  humanity,  I 
do  not  contend  that  it  is  a  separate  and  independent 
facvdty ;  but  rather  that  it  is  a  perception  of  relationship 
to  God,  a  perception  capable  of  numy  degi'ces  of  dimness 
or  disguise,  and  glimmering  in  the  mystic  outlook  of 
many  higher  {)owers  of  man,  esjx'cially  of  conscience.  1 
maintain  that  it  has  been  an  esscMitial  power  in  all  the 
noblest  triumphs  of  man  over  self  and  nature,  and  next 
that  its  very  force  and  essence  lies,  if  not  in  a  clear 
apprehension  of  God,  at  least  in  its  indications  of  a 
veiled  majesty,  such  as  inspires  awe,  reverence  and  love. 


THE  G  OB-  CON  SCI  0  USXESS  IN  HUM  A  XITY.         6  7 

When  I  say  the  noblest  triumphs,  I  do  not  mean  the 
bridging  of  abysses  or  the  levelling  of  mountains, 
though  these  have  not  been  always  uninspired  by 
worship  ;  I  mean  rather  mastery  over  the  brute  ferocity 
originally  inherent  in  man,  I  mean  the  miracle  of 
orderly  society,  and  the  gathering  federation  of  the 
world.  What  feeling  of  loyalty,  what  bond  of  brother- 
hood, what  self-forgetfid  heroism  ever  ruled  or  refined 
the  hearts  of  men  apart  from  some  appeal  to  Heaven  't 
What  is  said  of  the  great  prophet  of  the  Jews  is  in  one 
sense  or  other  true  of  every  grandest  soul  the  world 
has  ever  known — "  lie  endured  as  seeing  Illm  who  is 
invisible."'  Enthusiasm  and  inspiration  do  not  spring 
I'rom  deductions  of  the  intellect.  They  breathe  we 
know  not  how — as  "  tin?  wind  l)loweth  where  it  listetli,'' 
l)tit  always  from  the  realms  of  the  Infinite  and  Divine. 
A  revolution  in  modes  of  thought  is  nothing:  the 
o\('rfhi-ow  of  an  ojjinionative  creed  is  little — has  been 
accomplished  often,  and  is  in  course  of  achievement 
ev(Mi  now.  IJtit  the  elimination  of  that  adorable  mys- 
t(;rv,  which  we  call  God,  from  the  soul's  intensest  lite 
and  longings  would  l)e  more  thati  a  rcxolution  of 
thought  or  creed;  it  Avould  be  the  destruction  oi'  the 
generic  consciousness  of  man.  Foi*  ch.oose  what  theo)-\- 
\ou  like  of  cons(!ienc(!.  \-et  vour  obedience  to  its  \-oice 
i-  pi'oni|ited  by  no  i-ational  calculation,  but  by  a  sense 
of  niitiioril  V  from  which  no  tlieorv  eliminates  unstcrv. 
Make  what  \ou  will  of"  the  |)h\si<-al  (lispi()])ort!on 
bctLween  ourselves  and    the  iiiidniaht  hea\ens  ;    still  it  i- 


fi8  THE  GOD- CONSCIOUSNESS  IN  HUMANITY. 

the  inner  oneness  of  the  vast  expanse,  the  secret  spell 
of  universal  Power,  which  touches  the  contemplative 
spirit  with  awe.  Magnify  as  you  may  the  sweets  of 
intellectual  ambition  and  of  gratified  human  pride;  yet 
the  silent  rapture  which  men  feel  in  the  sublimest 
generalizations  on  substance  and  on  force  is  something 
of  a  purer  and  a  higher  tone  ; — it  is  as  the  joy  of  Moses 
in  his  narrow  cleft,  when  ho  felt  the  skirts  of  Jehovah 
sweeping  by.  Enlarge  as  you  like  on  the  principle  of 
curiosity  in  human  nature,  which  magnifies  the  little 
cell  a  thousand  times  in  pursuit  after  the  fugitive  life ; 
yet  after  all,  the  deepest  impulse  of  this  yearning  desire 
to  know  is  the  feeling  that  could  we  in  any  single 
microscopic  cell  catch  the  mystery  of  substance  or  of 
life,  we  should  have  touched  the  secret  of  all  that  is, 
we  should  be  translated  out  of  this  seeming  phantastic 
world,  and  should  be  as  gods  knowing  the  eternal 
good.  I  care  not  then  what  may  be  said  about  the 
variability  or  the  vagueness  of  this  God-consciousness 
in  man.  The  thing  is  there.  Ami  as  the  earth  cleaves 
to  the  sun,  as  the  needle  points  to  the  pole,  as  the  rivers 
often  through  devious  tracts  hurry  to  the  sea,  so  this 
diviner  nature  within  us  cleaves  to  God,  it  points  to 
heaven,  it  pants  onward  tovt^ard  immortality. 


LECTURE   III 


INSPIRATION. 


■•  For  it  is  not  ye  that  speak,  hut  the  Spirit  of  your  Father  ivhlch 
i<peuketh  in  you." — Matt.  x.  20. 

Perhaps  no  passage  in  the  Scriptures  Avoiild  be  more 
suitable  than  this,  as  a  starting  point  for  the  considera- 
tion of  the  subje('t  which  we  have  now  in  hand.  Foi- 
that  subject  is  not  simply  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible, 
though  this  will  naturally  occupy  a  good  deal  of  oui' 
attention;  but  we  have  to  deal  with  Inspiration  in 
general,  of  which  on  any  theory  the  Bible  is  only  a 
particular  manifestation.  '  On  any  theory,'  I  have 
said,— because  even  those,  if  any,  who  seriously  main- 
tain the  '  verbal  insjnration'  of  the  Scriptures,  and  who 
acc<)r(lingly  regard  them  as  the  only  instance  h;ft  to  us 
of  tin's  action  of  God's  Spirit  on  th(!  souls  of  nuai,  would 
scar-ccly  insist  that  all  the  insj)ircd  uttcTances  of  pro[)hets 
and  a])ostl(;shave  been  preserved.  Besides,  a  (comparison 
of  the  recortlcd  names  of  God's  nicssen<rers  to  mankind 


70 


IXSPIIiATIOy. 


will  show  that  there  has  been  a  considerable  number  of 
inspired  men  who  so  far  as  we  know  never  left  any 
writing  behind  them  at  all.*  In  a  word,  the  work  of 
inspiration  has  not  on  any  theory  been  confined  to  the 
production  of  a  book.  It  has  been — and  in  this  lectm*e 
I  shall  contend  that  it  is — a  continuous  though  variable 
force  in  the  development  and  progress  of  mankind.  I 
want  us  then  to  understand,  what  we  can  only  under- 
stand by  sympathetic  feeling,  the  nature  of  that  ex- 
perience, half  human  half  divine,  which  has  so  gloriously 
helped  our  race  in  its  aspirations  towards  God. 

For  such  a  purpose,  I  repeat,  the  text  is  pre-eminently 
fitted.  Its  object  is  not  to  announce  a  theory,  but  to 
describe  a  plain  practical  experience ;  though  like  many 
another  plain  practical  experience,  that  here  described 
is  in  its  origin  and  essence  very  mysterious.  "  Do  not 
be  over  anxious,"  says  the  Lord  to  his  disciples,  already 
perhaps  somewhat  fearful  at  the  prospect  before  them, 
''  never  be  over  anxious  about  what  you  shall  say  when 
brought  before  kings  and  governors ;  for  divine  sug- 
gestions shall  arise  in  your  minds ;  you  shall  feel 
reasons,  motives,  appeals  springing  from  unknown 
depths  within  you;  and  al]  you  will  have  to  do  will  be 
to  clothe  them  in  language  natural  to  you;  for  it  is 
not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  Spirit  of  yoiir  Father  which 
speaketh  in  you."  The  mingling  of  human  faculties 
and  divine    suffo-estions   is  somewhat   obscured  in  our 


"too" 


E.g.,  Elijah,  Elisha,  Stephen,  etc. 


IKSPIRATIOX.  71 

version  by  the  rendering,  "  take  no  thought  how  ye 
shall  speak,"  For  what  the  Lord  really  said  was, 
'■  take  no  anxious  thought."*  And  when  he  adds,  "  it 
is  not  ye  that  speak," — since  it  was  certainly  through 
their  lips  that  the  speech  must  come, — every  one  feels 
that  this  is  an  instance  of  legitimate  hyperbole,  needed 
to  impress  upon  the  wondering  disciples  with  sufficient 
emphasis  the  reality  of  the  divine  origination  of  their 
thoughts.  To  the  idea  of  inspiration  implied  in 
these  words  the  rough  practical  conception  generally 
cherished  by  the  po])ular  mind  may  fairly  be  considered 
as  corresponding.  And  in  dealing  with  this  sub- 
ject the  popular  teeling  is  most  important.  For  you 
caunot  work-  out  a  satisfactory  doctrine  of  Inspira- 
tion as  you  might  Avork  out,  let  us  say,  the  Cal- 
vinistic  doctrine  of  original  sin,  by  a  consultation  and 
oomj)arison  of  books.  You  cannot  settle  it,  as  you 
Jiiight  the  Jewish  doctrine  of  Messiah,  by  an  induction 
oi' texts.  For  it  is  not  a  thing  of  sacred  arclueology. 
not  a  l)Ook,  doctrine,  not  a  technical  link  in  any 
raticmalisticf  theory  of  the  imiverse.  As  is  well  knoAvn 
fh<'  word  insj»iration  hardly  occurs  in  the  Bible  at 
all  :  and  when  it  does,  it  offers  no  means  whatever  Ibr 
deterniining  its  significance  apart   from    its   aj)peal  to 


fiij  fupijit'iinriTt 

t  Jf  this  cpillict.  describes  the  tendency  to  map  out  the  nature  of 
'.iml  and  the  histuj-y  of  liis  {.'race  so  as  t<i  )iiak(;  tliem  conl'oi-niahlc 
to  tcclmical  ti-ic,ks  of  }]uman  reasuii,  iIk;  ))alir)  of  rationalism  must  Ijo 
a.ssi'Mied  not  tu  Tubjn'j:eii  but  to  Geneva. 


72  INSPIRATION], 

/ 

a  general  popular  conception.*  /  But  it  is  equally  well 
known  that  the  notion  of  inspi;i^ation  belongs  to  what  we 
have  recently  described  as  the  generic  consciousness  of 
man.  Our  best  plan  therefore  is  to  realize  as  well  as 
we  can  first  of  all  what  is  the  common  and  essential 
sio-nificance  of  the  notion :  then  we  mav  illustrate  this 
by  some  of  the  most  remarkable  phenomena  which 
answer  to  the  notion;  and  in  this  course  we  cannot 
help  marking  the  variations  in  form  and  degree  of  which 
it  is  susceptible. 

I. 

In  seeking  what  is  common  and  essential  in  the 
notion  we  naturally  recur  to  the  derivation  of  the  word. 
But  while  doing  so  we  ought  carefully  to  bear  in  mind 
that  etymology,  if  a  good  servant,  is  a  bad  master.  It 
generally  suggests  with  wonderful  precision  the  root 
idea  of  the  word,  which  idea  animates  all  its  later 
applications.  But  if  we  allow  ourselves  to  suppose  that 
the  root  idea  can  accurately  define  or  limit  these  secon- 
dary limitations,  we  are  sure  to  fall  into  arbitrary 
pedantry.  For  example,  the  root  ideas  of  notorious 
(weU-known)  and  famous  (much  spoken  of)  are  very 
closely  akin ;  but  the  usage  of  spee<-;h  shows  that  this 
does  not  prevent  secondary  applications  of  the  most 
divergent  and  indeed  opposite  character.     In  both  cases 

*  Whether  OtoirvtxTOTOQ  in  2  Tim.  iii.  IG  be  part  of  the  predicate  or 
of  the  suVjject  this  remark  is  equally  true  of  that  passage. 


INSPIRATION.  73 

the  root  idea  is  siifjo-estive  enoucjli  as  to  the  meauino;  of 
the  words ;  but  in  neither  does  it  define  or  limit  the 
a{>plication  sanctioned  by  usage.  Now  the  root  idea  of 
inspiration  is  of  course  '  a  breathing  in,'  as  a  man 
breathes  into  a  flute  when  he  plays  on  it.  But  if  it  is 
argued  that  prophets  and  evangelists,  being  inspired, 
were  nothing  but  pipes  through  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
breathed,  and  that  therefore  every  word  they  wrote  was 
directed  by  God,  the  error  is  committed  of  turning  a 
mere  vague  sufjofestion  into  an  exhaustive  definition. 
While  however  we  decline  so  rigid  an  application,  we 
gladly  adopt  the  suggestion  ;  for  it  is  very  grateful  to 
the  s])iritual  imagination,  and  Avill  be  found,  I  hope,  to 
fall  in  with  all  that  was  said  in  our  last  lecture  on  the 
God-consciousness  in  man. 

How  often  we  say  of  one  who  has  uttered  lofty  truths 
with  a  pure  jjassion  that  ho  spoke  as  one  inspired ! 
Such  an  expression  requires  no  ex])Ianation  to  the 
c<>mmon  heart.  By  it  we  mean  of  course  that  in  sucli  a 
("ise  self  is  suljordinate  to  a  great  intellectual  idea,  or  to  a 
lofty  moral  purpose.  Such  a  man  is  moved  by  an  im])ulse 
\viii{;h  is  from  beyond  himself,  and  which  is  su})erior  to  all 
s(!lfisli  considerations.  Yet  we  do  not  mean  merely  that 
h((  is  disinterested.  For  the  disinterested  man  either 
feels  that  self  is  not  at  all  concerned,  or  hy  a  candid 
efi'ort  of  cons(tious  self-control  he  ])iits  it,  on  one  side. 
l>ut  tli(!  man  who,  as  we  say,  seems  like  one  ins])ired 
do(^s  not  feel  anything  about  s(;lf  either  one  way  or  the 
(jthcr.     He  is  not  his  own;  he  is  as  though   possessed 


74  INSPIRATION. 

by  a  power  greater  than  his  will,  beyond  his  control, 
vaster  than  his  imagination.  This  element  of  spon- 
taneity, of  im])nlse  from  beyond  the  range  of  conscious- 
ness, must  be  constantly  kept  in  view,  if  we  would  get  a 
satisfiictory  notion  of  inspiration.  It  does  not  occur 
to  us  to  regard  as  inspired  any  work  that  is  evidently 
laboured,  patched,  hammered  together  with  many  a 
re-consideration  and  re-arranijement.  It  is  of  course 
quite  possible  that  we  may  be  wrong  here.  For  quite 
apart  from  the  mere  pertinacity  of  self-will,  we  see 
sometimes  a  quiet  earnestness,  sustained  by  an  unselfish 
impulse,  and  maintaining  a  patient  continuance  in  well- 
doing, notwithstanding  the  utter  absence  of  any  facility 
in  performance.  ^\^hen  we  have  any  sufficient  sym- 
pathetic knowledge  of  such  a  character  we  feel,  not  that 
the  man  s})eaks  or  acts,  but  that  he  lives  like  one 
inspired.  But  at  present  we  are  trying  to  get  at  that 
popular  idea  of  inspiration,  which  we  believe  to  have  a 
very  strong  hold  on  the  generic  consciousness  of  man. 
And  with  that  object  we  refer  to  the  phenomena  which 
most  manifestly  realize  that  idea.  For  we  naturally 
think  of  inspiration  as  a  rushing  impulse  that  comes 
we  know  not  how,  that  pours  through  the  soul  like  a 
glorioxis  gale,  and  away  out  into  the  world  of  speech  or 
action,  with  no  strain  of  effort  and  hardly  a  movement 
of  the  will.  Such  a  notion  may  require  to  be  modified 
or  corrected  in  some  instances  of  its  application ;  but 
certainlv  it  is  a  main  and  distin^cuishino-  feature  of 
inspiration  as  commonly  understood  by  mankind. 


INSPIRA  TION.  7  5 

Farther,  when  we  say  of  any  man  that  he  spoke  or 
acted  like  one  inspired,  Ave  generally  imply  that  his 
s])eech  or  action  was  characterized  by  an  exalted  moral 
tone.  We  talk  indeed,  it  is  true,  of  poetic  inspiration. 
But  it  jars  on  the  conscience  to  ascribe  that  to  any 
poetic  utterance  which  is  morally  bad.  There  have  of 
course  been  bad,  or  at  any  rate  impure  men  of  genius, 
in  whose  works  we  often  catch  the  tones  of  inspiration. 
But  such  utterances  have  been  the  impulse  of  moments 
when  an  intense  longing  after  the  purity  of  an  ideal  life 
subdued  or  silenced  all  baser  desires.  "  Tarn  O'Shanter" 
shows  the  tire  of  genius  ;  but  I  hardly  think  it  suggests 
to  one  the  notion  of  ins])iration,  unless  indeed  in  a 
secondary  sense,  in  which  we  consciously  limit  the  sig- 
lu'ticance  to  a  free  and  fervid  impulse.  Whereas  "Mary 
iu  Heaven"  and  the  "  Cotter's  Saturday  Night"  show 
that  Burns  too  in  a  higher  sense  could  speak  as  one 
inspired. 

In  addition,  when  we  use  such  an  expression  with 
most  em[)hasis  aiid  in  its  highest  significance,  we  are 
impH'ssed  witli  a  fulness  of  life  whicli  seems  too  great 
to  Ixilong  to  an  individual  soid.  Who  docs  not  feel  at 
times  in  reading  Shaks])eare  as  thougii  tliese  could  not 
be  the  utterances  of  a  h'liiited  ])ersonal  ex])erieuce,  as 
though  some  large  collective  life;  of  many  ages  and 
nations  must  have  centred  in  him,  and  found  ex])7'ession 
in  his  woi'ds?  Tluy^  search  the  depths  of  tlu;  heart; 
tliey  enhirirc  consciousness  inward,  towards  tlu;  roots  of 
being  in  which   ail  hunuuiity  is  one.     Nor  is  such  an 


76 


INSPIRATION. 


impression  confined  to  the  words  of  the  dead  who  yet 
speak,  and  whose  shadowy  forms,  discerned  through 
the  darkness  of  the  past,  may  be  supposed  to  affect 
the  imagination  with  a  special  reverence.  For  as  it  is 
said  of  those  spiritual  orators,  who  perhaps  best  illustrate 
ancient  prophetic  power,  that  they  lose  self  in  their 
subject ;  so  it  is  true  of  their  hearers,  that  in  the  larger 
views  and  deeper  feelings  realized  they  forget  for  a 
while  at  least  the  individuality  of  the  speaker.  He 
becomes  to  them  an  oracle,  through  which  for  the  time 
they  have  fuller  access  to  the  everlasting  Life  about 
us,  and  the  eternal  truths  which  in  ordinary  moments 
are  so  dim  and  far  away. 

These  then  are  the  notes  which  make  up  the  idea  of 
inspiration,  when  in  ordinary  speech,  Avithout  presuming 
to  say  that  such  an  one  is  actually  inspired,  we  say  that 
he  spoke  or  acted  as  one  inspired.  We  attribute  to 
him  possession  by  a  gi'eat  idea  or  lofty  purpose,  a 
mysterious  impulse  from  beyond  self,  exalted  purity 
of  moral  tone,  and  altogether  a  fulness  of  life  which 
seems  to  break  u]X)n  us  from  beyond  things  seen  and 
temporal.  Hitherto  we  have  said  nothing  of  the  source 
of  inspiration ;  because  that  hardly  comes  into  view  in 
this  common  and  popular  use  of  the  word,  which  we 
have  been  trying  to  describe.  That  is  usually  associated 
exclusively  with  certain  historical  experiences  of  special 
men.  But  when  we  say  of  any  one  whom  we  know,  that 
he  spoke  or  acted  as  one  inspired,  this  is  about  what  we 
mean.     What  then  is  wanting  to  enable  us  to  recognize 


IXSPIItA  TION.  7  7 

in  any  instance  not  a  mere  similarity,  but  an  actual 
realization  of  the  idea?  Simply  a  confidence  in  the 
true  divinity  of  the  impulse  which  gives  a  spontaneity 
beyond  any  etfort  of  the  will.  We  need  to  feel  that  the 
origin  of  that  impulse  is  the  very  life  of  Grod,  the  love 
of  God,  the  truth  of  God.  And  this  is  just  what  is 
expressed  by  our  text,  "  it  is  not  ye  that  speak,  hut  the 
Spirit  of  your  Father  luhich  speaketh  in  you.'''' 

Is  there  anything  in  this  notion  of  the  reality  of  a 
divine  impulse  in  tlie  soul  to  make  it  an  abnormal  or 
xmnatural  condition  of  mind  ?  The  Christian  theory  of 
th(!  universe  teaches  that  God  Avas  in  the  beginning,  and 
will,  in  the  in\(\,  in  yet  a  higher  sense  be  all  in  all.  It 
sj)(;aks  of  "■  one  God  n)i<l  Father  of  all,  vho  is  above  all, 
and  thronijh,  all,  and,  'in,  you  all."'  Indeed  I  trust  I 
sliall  not  be  misunderstood  if  I  say  that  the  Christian 
tlieorv  of  the  universe  has  for  its  background  a  mystical 
pantheism  ;  not  that  it  dissolves  aAvay  the  personality 
of  the  Most  High,  oi-  of  any  of  his  creatures;  but  it  does 
seem  to  inij)lv  that  (Jod  is  the  only  ultimate  Substance 
and  the  oik;  oiiiiiiprcsciit  energy  of  lif('.  And  in  this 
its  i'uiHhuuental  assiunption  it  has  by  ins])irati()n  aiiti- 
eipatcil  from  of  old  the  lina!  issues,  towai'd  which  science 
on  its  (iwn  line  of  en(|uii'y  is  diitdy  pointing  now,  l)ut 
which  by  the  necessiu'v  Jiiuiiations  of  its  mission  science 
c:ui  ncNcr  reach.*  She  tells  us  that  tlie  whol(>  creation  is 
in  :i  state  of  movem(.'nt  and  flux,  for  ever  changing  I'rom 

*   Sec  Appendix.  Note  I>. 


78  INSPIRATION. 

glory  to  glory.  Christianity  tells  xis  it  is  "by  the 
spirit  of  the  Lord."  As  some  years  ago  a  myriad 
meteors  burst  from  one  vanishing  point  in  space,  and 
blazed  over  the  whole  heaven ;  so  to  the  contemplative 
mind  beneath  the  sky  of  eternity  the  sjilendours  of 
creation  rush  upon  the  sight;  and  beyond  the  vanishing 
point  of  vision  no  eye  can  intrude  :  religion  only  tells 
us  of  Him  who  dwells  in  light  that  is  unapproachable. 
To  us  as  Christians  there  is  no  beauty,  l)ut  in  it  we 
know  that  God  shines  out ;  there  is  no  life  but  feels  the 
impidse  of  his  breath  ;  there  is  no  virtue  but  manifests 
the  energy  of  his  grace.  If  then  we  have  confidence  in 
the  reality  of  the  divine  impulse  which  we  regard  as 
the  secret  of  inspiration,  there  is  in  our  view  nothing 
abnormal  or  imnatiu-al  in  this.  It  is  sim})ly  a  particular 
a]>j)lication  of  that  theory  of  the  universe  which  Chris- 
tianity assmnes,  and  which  indeed  is  the  only  one  that 
can  ultimately  consist  with  taith  in  God  at  all. 

It  may  be  imagined  by  many  that  such  a  view 
necessarily  does  away  with  everything  distinctive  in 
the  idea  of  ins|)iration,  and  that  in  fact  we  are  simply 
explaining  the  thing  away.  But  to  this  I  altogether 
demur.  I  might  as  well  be  told  that  if  I  refer  to  the 
falls  of  Niagara  as  an  instance  of  gravitation,  I  do 
away  with  their  distincti\e  grandeur ;  or  that  if  I 
call  a  flash  of  lightning  a  particidar  manifestation  of 
<'lectricity,  I  ex])lain  away  its  ])ower  and  terror.  A 
particular  nuaii/estatioii  remains  a  ])articidar  manifesta- 
tion still,  to  whatever  generalization  it  may  be  referred. 


INSPIRA  TION.  7  9 

Circumstance,  degree,  effect,  all  have  to  be  considered  as 
well  as  the  ultimate  cause.  And  as  I  should  not  think 
of  calling  a  spark  from  a  Leyden  jar  a  thunderbolt,  so 
I  have  a  perfect  right  to  confine  the  name  Ins})iration 
to  special  and  exalted  instances  of  a  divine  impulse  in 
human  souJs.  God  manifests  Himself  in  the  lilies  of 
the  field,  but  we  do  not  call  that  inspiration ;  because 
so  far  as  we  know  there  is  here  no  creature  conscious- 
ness. Grod  numifests  Himself  in  the  strength,  and 
grace,  and  instinct  of  the  animal  world;  but  we  do 
not  call  that  inspiration,  because  there  is  no  God- 
consciousness.  God  manifests  Himself  in  tlu;  laAvs  of 
thought  which  govern  the  operations  of  human  intellect ; 
but  we  do  not  call  that  inspiration,  because  there  is  in 
th;'se  no  feeling  of  divine  conununion.  God  manifests 
Himself  in  answer  to  every  ])rayerful  aspiration,  but 
we  do  not  n(;cessarilv  ("ill  this  inspiration — tiiough  we 
nearly  t(jueli  it  here — b(;cause  there  may  be  no  definite 
impulse,  and  no  distinct  overmastering  idea.  In  a 
word,  our  idea  of  inspiration  is  a  divine  impulse;  whieli 
takes  the  I'oi'm  of  intense  purity  of  moral  feeling,  ol' 
jjossession  l)y  a  lofty  purpose,  of  a  I'ulness  of  life  which 
energizes  in  \:irious  ])roportions  every  faeully  of  heart 
and  mind.  I  believe  that  this  essentially  aee(ji(ls  with 
the  po])u!ar  idea  wliieh  we  have  been  seeking  to  illus- 
trate :  but  whciher  the  exelusi\ciiess  with  which  the 
populai-  notion  is  usnally  applied  can  faii'ly  he  juaintainc.'d, 
is  a  (piolioii  which  1  at  j)res<'nt  reserve. 

If  it  is  asked  how  are  we  to  know  that  the  ini])ulse  is 


80  IKSPIRATION. 

divine ;  I  reply,  partly  by  its  fruits ;  partly  by  the  cir- 
cumstances under  wliicli  the  manifestation  takes  place. 
If  the  issue  is  an  utterance  of  qui(;kening,  elevating, 
hallowing  ])o\ver,  it  is  quite  possibly,  though  not  certainly, 
a  genuine  insjjiration.  "Not  certainly"  I  have  said; 
for  if  the  circumstances  are  such  that  surrounding 
social  and  educational  influences  amply  account  for  the 
utterance  or  deed,  without  the  supposition  of  any  great 
originality  of  imj)ulse,  of  course  inspiraticm  in  the  highest 
sense  has  no  ])lacc.  But  if  it  is  impossible  to  account 
by  such  mundane  influences  for  the  moral  and  spiritual 
])ower  of  deeds  ami  words  that  give  men  higher  life,  then 
we  may  safely  say  this  is  inspiration.  A  Xenophon 
or  a  Euripides,  however  salutary  their  teachings,  are 
accounted  for  if  we  consider  them  as  instances  of  culti- 
vated genius ;  a  Moses  or  a  John  the  Baptist  is  an 
ii>congruous  portent  if  not  inspired.  We  cannot  main- 
tain indeed  that  any  man  is  free  from  the  influences  of 
inheritance  and  early  surroundings.  It  is  in  a  great 
measure  a  qiiestion  of  degree.  All  we  can  say  is,  that 
making  due  allowance  for  this,  there  are  some  men  who 
strike  us  as  animated  by  an  original  impulse  pre- 
eminently di\in('. 

But  supposing  that  we  are  satisfied  of  the  genuineness 
of  ins])iration  in  any  ])articular  case,  what  amount  of 
authority  are  avc  to  attribute;  to  it  ?  Are  we  bound  to 
i-eceiv(^  an  o})inion  b(;cause  it  has  been  announced  by  an 
ins[)ired  man  ?  These  are  questions  which  cannot  be  fully 
answered  aj)art  I'rom  a  discussion  of  infallibility,  which 


INSPIRA  HON.  8 1 

I  reserve  for  another  lecture.  At  present  however  it 
lies  within  the  limits  of  our  present  subject  to  observe, 
that  according  to  the  idea  of  inspiration  which  I  have 
been  urging  upon  you,  its  force  lies  in  its  appeal  to  the 
God-consciousness  in  man.  The  amount  of  its  authority 
therefore  will  depend  upon  two  factors ;  one  being  the 
degree  of  purity  and  power  with  which  it  passes  through 
tlie  human  faculties  of  the  divine  messenger  into 
utterance;  the  other  being  the  amount  of  attention, 
susceptibility,  and  candour  in  the  spiritual  nature  of  the 
hearers.  And  these  factors  are  so  related  that  if  the 
one  be  increased,  the  other  may  perhaps  be  diminished 
without  much  difference  in  the  effect ;  while  if  one  be 
diminislicd,  the  otluir  miist  be  inci'eased,  or  the  authority 
realized  is  correspondingly  slight.  The  inspiration 
which  fails  to  reach  the  obstinate  Jews  of  Thessalonica  is 
all  ])owerful  in  the  nobler  minded  svnafjofjue  of  Beroea. 
And  the  Hellenic  mind,  which  can  scoft'  at  the  intellectual 
fervour  of  St.  Paul  on  JMar's  Hill,  yields  in  Corinth  to 
a  simj)l('r  and  fuller  s})iritual  ins])iration.*  So  amongst 
oursches,  the  ins])iration  which  fails  to  penetrate  self- 
satisfied  irreverent  arrogance,  brings  the  moral  su])remacy 
of  (Jud  home  to  the  lunnble  soul.  And  spiritual  natures 
unsuscc])til)l<;  to  the  di\ine  impulse  beneath  the  wilder 
forms  of  ancient  Hebrew  insj)irati()n  are  stirred  to 
r(»pent;inc(!  and  faith  by  the  everlasting  gospel  of  God's 
love.  l>ut  tin's  \  lew  manifestly  puts  the  responsible 
relation  of   indi\idual    men   t<>   jiarticular   instances   of 

*  Sec  1  Cor.  ii.  1,  ^:<', 

O 


82  INSPIRATION. 

inspiration,  especially  to  the  earthly  vessel  in  which  the 
heavenly  treasure  is  contained,  in  a  great  measure 
beyond  human  judgment.  Indeed  I  am  convinced  that 
could  we  rightly  apprehend  the  real  nature  of  the 
authority  of  inspiration,  we  should  feel  opinionative 
bigotry  and  sectarian  uncharitableness  to  be  impossible, 
or  at  least  most  grossly  incongruous  with  the  nature  of 
the  case.  For  the  authority  of  inspiration  rests  only 
in  the  efficacy  of  its  appeal  to  the  tribunal  of  conscience.* 
And  concerning  the  righteousness  of  the  judgment  there 
the  opinions  of  the  man  are  no  evidence  whatever,  one 
way  or  the  other.  His  outward  life,  his  manifest  dis- 
position may  in  marked  cases  be  a  sufficient  indication; 
but  for  the  most  part  the  purity  or  impurity  of  that 
tribunal  is  kno\\^l  only  to  God. 

Still,  it  may  be  urged,  if  inspiration  has  been  accom- 
panied by  miracles,  and  if  it  has  risen  to  the  intensity 
of  supernatural  visions,  not  only  should  its  moral 
influence  be  commanding,  but  even  the  intellectual 
opinions  announced  on  such  credentials  must  be  binding. 
So  far  as  miracles  and  visions  are  necessarily  bound  up 
with  the  present  subject,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  reply,  that 
without  at  all  derogating  from  the  import  of  certain 
miracles  at  critical  periods  of  religious  history,  it  may 
be  very  safely  affirmed  that  there  is  no  necessary  con- 
nectirm  between  any  such  wonders  and  the  truth  of 
opinions  propoimded  by  their  worker.     No  holder  of  the 

*  Oij  tlie  submission  of  personal  judgment  to  the  authority  of  the 
Bible,  see  Lect.  v. 


IXSPIRATION.  83 

infallibility  of  the  Bible  can  possibly  dispute  tliis  position : 
because  there  we  find  statements  to  this  effect  expressly 
made  by  Moses,  by  our  Lord,  and  by  St.  Paul.*  While 
those  who  believe  in  certain  miracles  on  historical 
evidence,  apart  from  the  infallibility  of  the  Bible,  are 
disposed  to  view  them  as  an  extraordinary  development 
of  occult  powers  in  humanity,  such  as  mifjht  Avell 
correspond  with  an  unusual  excitement  of  the  spiritual 
nature.  But  neither  on  this  view  is  there  any  necessary 
connection  between  miracle  and  truth  of  opinion. f 
Thus  the  doctrine  taught,  though  it  is  certainly  likely  to 
attract  more  attention  and  to  come  with  more  weight 
when  accomjianied  by  miracle,  must  be  judged,  as  we 
have  said  that  all  inspiration  is  to  be  judged,  by  the 
eii'ect  of  its  appeal  on  the  spiritual  nature.  x\nd  the 
same  princi])le  is  a])])licable  to  visions.  For  visions  are 
ins})iration  in  a  pictorial  form;  and  in  every  case  that  is 
described  in  the  Scrij)tures  they  manifestly  owe  much 
ol"  that  form  to  the  memory  and  associations  of  the  seer. 
But  that  is  only  a  mode  of  saying  that  in  this,  as  in 
ev(;rv  other  form,  inspiration  issues  into  utterance  under 
th(^  necessary  limitations  and  imperfections  of  the  indi- 
vidual mind  and  its  surrounding  circumstances. 

*  Dent.  xiii.  \—?,  :  M;ifl.  xxiv.  24  ;  2  Tlicss.  ii.  '.).  Even  tlio  douht- 
ful  view  ilial  tlicse  iiassngos  all  refer  only  to  pretended  niiraclcs 
would  make  no  diil'erenee  in  the  arj^umeut ;  becaust;  tin;  works  arc 
(IcscriKfil  a-  hav;!:'/  on  the  .svn.^r.s  all  the  ellVct  of  nal   on^'s. 

t  'J'hi'ii'  ai'-  'lie  or  two  ajiparont  1  y  woll  an;  lioni  icateil  events  in  the 
life  of  ^\v(  (lcnl)(>i';_'  whieh  werf.  in  iIk'  only  senx:  I  can  attach  to  the 
w(jrd,  inirac'iloii-;,  i.e.,  allon-cthcr  Ijcycnd  the  known  order  of  nature. 
But  I  do  not.  f.,cl  hound  to  accept  his  doctrines  on  that  ac  uuiit. 


84  IXSPIIiATION. 

No  doubt  if  wc  })elioyc  that  Moses  received  his 
account  of  the  creation  in  articidate  intercourse  with 
the  Deity,  that  woukl  be  a  case  in  Avliicli  assent  would 
be  a  binding  duty.  But  the  most  devout  su))])orter  of 
such  a  view  would  hardly  maintain  the  historical 
evidence  on  the  subject  to  be  such  as  to  make  all  dif- 
ferences of  opinion  impossible  unless  from  dejn-avity  of 
heart.  And  if  there  is  room  for  conscientious  difference 
of  opinion  here,  the  notion  of  a  binding  authority  in  the 
theories  taught  by  Moses  collapses  at  once. 

There  is  one  other  point  on  which  I  would  touch  with 
all  the  reverence  and  love  which  a  devotion  at  least  sincere, 
though  far,  far  too  inadequate  can  give.  For  we  bless 
God  for  One  greater  than  Moses,  Avhose  story  also 
stands  in  a  clearer  play  of  historic  light.  And  not  only 
is  his  Sj)irit  our  unfailing  inspiration ;  but  his  Word 
remains  to  us  the  highest  law.  Still  He  speaks  to  us 
"as  one  having  authority,"  and  we  hear  only  to  obey. 
'  Is  not  this  then,'  it  may  bo  asked,  '  precisely  the  case 
which  you  seem  to  regard  as  impossible  ?  True,  "  the 
Father  giveth  not  th(^  spirit  by  measure  unto  him,"  and 
he  stands  altogether  above  apostles  and  pro])hets  as 
"  the  brightness  of  the  Father's  glory  and  the  express 
image  of  His])crson."  But  still  his  word  is  not  merely 
an  a])peal  to  the  s])iritual  nature ;  it  is  also  a  law  im- 
posing on  us  assent  to  certain  opinions  altogether 
irrespective  of  any  verifying  faculty  in  man.'  Even  if 
this  were  so,  it  would  be  strictly  consistent  with  all  that 
■\\'C  have  said  on  the  general  subject  of  inspiration ;  for 


IJVSPIRATIOX.  85 

by  that  word  we  understand  not  a  reception  of  the 
spirit  beyond  measure,  but  in  measure,  and  in  combina- 
tion with  the  ordinary  action  of  human  faculties.  Biit 
though  the  supreme  spiritual  authority  of  our  Lord 
Himself  does  not  in  itself  come  properly  within  the 
limits  of  our  present  subject,  yet  its  outward  action  upon 
us  does ;  because  unless  in  our  communion  with  the 
Eternal  Spirit  of  Christ,  which  is  of  course  not  outward 
but  inward,  the  word  of  our  Lord  comes  to  us  not 
directly  but  indirectly  through  the  gospels,  which  are 
on  any  theory  ordiiuiry  instances  of  inspiration.  And 
here  I  may  remark  that  there  is  perha])s  more  signifi- 
cance than  is  generally  felt  in  the  fact  that  our  Lord 
neither  committed  aTiything  to  writing  himself,  nor 
commanded  his  disci[)les,  so  far  as  we  know,  to  take  any 
memorandum  of  the  forms  in  which  his  doctrines  were 
to  be  taught.  Once  more  we  are  reminded  of  St.  Paul's 
most  pr<;gnant  words,  "the  Lord  is  the  S})irit;"  for  the 
Lord's  method  in  his  divine  mission  suggests  that  he 
felt  that  mission  to  Ijc,  not  the  autlioritative  imposition 
of  opinions,  but  rather  the  infusion  of  a  spirit  into  all 
(;oming  time.  Certaitdy  he  is  said  to  liave  ]m)niised  the 
a])ostles  that  the  Holy  (Ihost  should  bring  "all  things 
to  their  nniiembi-ance  whatsoever  Ik;  had  said  unto 
them."  I)Ut  tlif!  actual  differences  amongst  tlie  gospels 
show  cleai'ly  enough,  that  this  inspii'ation  was  subject  to 
limitations  invoked  in  the  faculties  of  the  individual 
writiu's.  Still  farther,  tlu;  inunbei'  of  intellectual  pro- 
})ositions     to     which     our    Lord    is    rejiorted    to     have 


86  INSPIBA  TION. 

authoritatively  demanded  an  intellectual  assent  is  amaz- 
ingly small.*  The  compilers  ot'theolofrjcal  systems  have 
usually  had  recoiirse  far  more  to  the  Ej)istlcs  than  to 
the  Gos})els.  Indeed  the  one  point  on  which  the  Lord 
does  seem  to  have  insisted,  the  acknowledgment  of  his 
Messiahship,  was,  under  the  circimistances  of  the  Jewish 
life  of  the  period,  much  more  a  practical  matter  of  the 
heart  than  the  decision  of  an  intellectual  question.  All 
men  around  him  were  expecting  the  Messiah ;  but  only 
those  who  Avere  seeking  God  w^ould  recognize,  in  an 
incarnation  of  goodness  and  love,  the  lonfj-looked-for 
salvation  of  Israel. 

We  cannot  allow  then  that  the  exceptional  character 
and  mission  of  the  Lord  Jesus  makes  any  real  exception 
to  the  account  we  have  given  of  the  authority  apper- 
taining to  ins})iration.  This  must  lie  in  the  force 
with  which  it  appeals  to  the  God-consciousness  in 
man.  It  is  mainly  a  divine  im])ulse  giving  elevation 
and  intensity  to  the  spiritual  life ;  but  the  fulness  of 
that  life  energizes,  as  we  have  said,  in  various  de- 
grees every  fac;ulty  of  heart  and  mind.  Insight  into 
religious  truth,  knowledge  of  human  nature,  sympathy 
with  God,  susceptibility  to  heavenly  suggestions  which 
no  reflection  or  reasoning  could  have  reached,  all 
associate  themselves  with  such  an  elevation  of  soul  in 
conununion  with  the  Most  High.  And  these  are  amply 
sufficient  to  account  for  all  the  phenomena  which  are 

*  Inferences  from  Christ's  use  of  lanj^uage  and  ideas  common  to  the 
lime  in  which  he  lived  are  not  in  point  here  ;  but  see  Lectures  iv.  and  v. 


INSPIRA  TION.  8  7 

actually  presented  by  the  Scriptures,  and  possibly  by 
other  monuments  of  the  spiritual  history  of  man.  I 
repeat  that  this  view  does  not  explain  away  everything 
distinctive  in  inspiration.  It  does  indeed  best  accord 
with  that  theory  of  the  universe  which  I  have  suggested 
as  the  mystical  back-ground  of  Christian  truth ;  but  it 
is  not  to  be  dissolved  away  into  the  generalities  of  any 
theory.  In  the  previous  lectures  we  argued  that  the 
divin3  self-manifestation  has  assumed  a  special  form  in 
assoc.ation  with  the  gradually  awakening  self-conscious- 
ness jf  man  ;  that  it  has  in  fact  become  a  God-conscious- 
ness in  the  creature,  a  comnmnion  higher  than  that  of 
the  Maker  with  His  works,  a  communion  of  the  Father 
witL  His  children,  and  as  such  capable  of  endless  degrees 
of  perfection.  All  we  assert  now  amounts  to  this,  that 
inspration  is  a  peculiarly  intense  form  of  the  God- 
coasc'iousness  in  man.  It  does  not  belong  like  that  to 
tlit  gfineric  consciousness  of  man.  It  is  something 
sj)tcial  and  individual.  It  is  the  manifestation  of  God 
in  tlie  sha])e  of  an  energy  felt,  a  mission  realized,  a 
trith  grasped,  a  fuller  wave  of  life  which  the  enraptured 
5onl  knows  to  be  the  overflowing  of  God.  That  is,  to 
ay  mind  at  least,  the  essential  idea  of  inspiration.  And 
t  has  this  advantage,  that  it  enables  us  to  see  in  this 
>less('(i  inlhi('iic(;,  not  a  fixed,  arbitrary  and  extraneous 
orcc  ;  but  a  living  imjjulse  capable  of  all  degrees,  from 
lie  higher  mind  God  sometimes  breathes  on  you  and 
ae,  u])  through  all  the  rang(,'s  of  insight,  vision  and 
tjvelation,  to  the  sublimest  contem})lations  of  St.  Jolm. 


OO  INSPIRATION. 

11. 

I  will  now  lay  before  you  one  or  two  illustrations,  to 
show  how  the  views  advanced  apply  to  acknowledged 
instances  of  inspiration.  And  one  most  admirably 
suited  to  our  purpose  we  shall  find  in  Ste})hen  the  first 
martyr  for  Christ.  If  Ave  needed  any  other  evidence 
of  his  ins])iration  in  addition  to  his  own  work  and 
testimony,  we  have  it  in  the  assurance  of  the  primitive 
church,  that  he  was  "  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  in  the 
transfiguration  of  his  countenance  by  the  light  wi.hin, 
and  in  the  heavenly  vision  that  accompanied  his 
triumphant  death.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  exporitTice 
and  to  signalize  the  fulfilment  of  the  Saviour's  prom'se, 
"  it  shall  he  given  you  in  that  hour  what  ye  shall  specky 
And  in  his  speech  before  the  council  we  shall  find  the 
best  comment  on  the  meaning  of  the  Lord  when  he 
said,  "  it  is  not  ye  that  speak,  hut  the  Spirit  of  yoxr 
Father  which  speaketh  in  you.''''  What  then  are  the  attr- 
butes  that  most  strike  our  attention  in  the  brief  lust'e 
with  which  tliis  character  shines  out  from  the  sacroi 
page?  At  first  thought  indeed  it  is  hard  to  say.  Fcr 
the  holy  passion  that  consumed  him  to  death,  or  rather 
transfigured  him  into  immortality,  gives  him  a  sort  of 
single-toned  radiance,  which  makes  us  conscious  only 
of  a  longing  sympathy  with  some  divine  intensity  of  life, 
with  some  unworldly  exaltation  of  motive,  some  stainless 
purity  of  purpose.  But  if  we  must  examine  farther,  we 
should  say  that  the  elements  which  unite  in  the  singular 
spiritual  beauty  of  Stephen  are  loyalty  of  soul,  spiritual 


INSPIRATION.  89 

freedom,  singleness  of  eye,  religions  insight,  and  forget- 
fulness  of  self  in  the  blessed  enthralment  of  a  God-given 
mission.  Of  these  qualities  we  may  say,  not  only  that 
they  are  precisely  the  elements  which  make  a  man 
an  apostle,  a  prophet  or  a  martyr ;  but  that  in  such 
circumstances  as  make  apostleshi])  or  martyrdom  pos- 
sible, that  is,  in  formative  periods,  they  are  rinfailing 
tokens  of  an  original  impulse  of  inspiration.  God  shone 
very  brightly  in  the  heart  and  conscience  of  this  man ; 
and  therefore  his  devotion  was  not  patient  only,  nor  yet 
exulting,  but  of  that  pure  calm  intensity  which  we 
associate  with  a  seraph's  joy.  He  was  "  full  of  faith,"  it 
is  said  ;  and  of  course  it  is  involved  therein  that  he  had 
clear  and  definite  o})iniuns  u})on  the  Messiahship  of 
Jesus.  l)Ut  that  does  not  exhaust  the  meaning  of  the 
phrase.  F(jr  if  you  try  the  effect  of  this  and  say,  "he 
was  a  man  full  of  Christian  o])inion,"  ycm  will  feel  how 
meagre  and  inadequate  it  sounds.  No ;  his  soul  had 
eml)raced  with  all  its  powers  of  self-forgetful  affection 
the  divinity  that  dwelt  in  Jesus  Christ, — the  eternal 
righteousness,  the  exhaustless  love,  the  rc'conciling 
sacrifice,  which  make  the  three-fold  c()in])h;teness  of  the 
GosjK'Fs  manifestation  of  God  to  sinful  men.  It  was 
his  complete;  ])osses.sion  by  the  spirit  of  Christ,  which 
gave  to  this  man  a  loyalty  of  soul  so  (earnest  and  de<'j), 
so  fearless  of  any  change  or  faithlessness,  that  in  its 
strength  Ik;  felt  anq)]e  liberty  t(j  meet  new  circumstances 
and  fresh  needs  with  tu;w  asiHicts  of  Christ's  truth,  in 
unconventional    lano;ua"-e    fresh  from    the  lieart.     Nor 


90  INSPIRATION. 

can  wc  doubt  that  in  this  respect  he  was  distinguished 
above  all  the  earlier  apostles,  and  proved  the  forerunner 
of  St.  Paul,  to  whom  it  was  finally  reserved  to  break 
the  yoke  of  Judaism  off'  the  neck  of  the  growing  church. 
Neither  Peter,  nor  James,  nor  even  John  had  yet  ade- 
quately conceived  the  utter  spirituality  of  the  reign  of 
Christ.  They  seem  to  have  cherished  still  the  hope 
that  the  kingdom  should  be  restored  to  Israel.*  The 
]>aradox  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  law  by  its  abrogation, 
through  the  expansion  of  the  spirit  beyond  the  letter, 
had  not  yet  become  an  open  secret  in  their  minds. 
There  is  no  (evidence  that  they  had  any  expectation  of 
"chanmnnr  the  customs  which  Moses  delivered,"  or  of 
making  the  world  instead  of  their  Holy  Place  the 
temple  t)f  the  Living  God.  In  their  view  the  ancient 
land,  hallowed  by  the  very  footsteps  and  echoing  to  the 
voice  of  God,  should  ever  be  the  imperial  province  of 
Messiah's  kingdom.  As  Jews  kindled  with  a  more 
devoted  and  generous  zeal  than  others,  they  would  have 
proselytized  the  whole  world  ;  but  they  could  not  think 
that  Judaism  like  a  ripened  flower  must  shed  its  seed 
and  die.  That  Stephen  had  already  passed  beyond  this 
strictly  Judaic  Christianity  is  significantly  hinted  in 
the  accusation  made  against  him,  and  confirmed  by  the 
whole  tenour  of  his    a])oIogy.t     A   Hellenist  himself, 

*  Acts  i.  6  :  iii.  1!)— 21. 
t  It  is  true  the  witnesses  are  called  false  (Acts  vi.  13)  ;  but  so  they 
are  in  the  case  of  the  Lord  himself  (Matt.  xxvi.  61),  ret  these  only 
distorted,  apparently,  the  actual  words  of  Christ.     (John  ii.  19.) 


IXSPIRA  TION.  9 1 

and  frequenting  principally  the  foreign  s^Tiagogues 
Avhicli  received  wanderers  from  all  the  earth,  he  seems 
to  have  felt  the  want  of  a  large  catholicity  in  religion, 
and  to  have  realized  by  the  sort  of  insight,  which  is  the 
peculiar  gift  of  inspiration,  that  a  true  catholicity  must 
needs  be  exclusively  spiritual.  It  may  be  thought 
indeed  that  here  one  of  the  conditions  of  a  genuine 
inspiration  is  scarcely  fulfilled,  namely,  circumstances 
suggestive  of  marked  originality.  For  did  not  Christ 
proclaim  that  his  kingdom  was  not  of  this  world  ?  He 
did ;  but  the  disciples  had  not  generally  understood 
the  bearing  of  his  doctrine.  And  that  Stephen  alone 
should  have  had  such  an  insiglit  into  the  real  nature  of 
the  Lord's  mission  surely  suggests  a  special  inspiration 
by  his  ]Master"s  Spirit.  In  that  inspiration  Stephen 
already  kn(!W,  what  St.  Peter  himself  ai'terwards  learned 
so  well,  tlie  IVcedom  that  is  in  no  danger  of  license 
because  it  is  the  spontaneous  service  of  God.  There 
could  be  no  danger  in  the  freedom  of  such  a  man,  whose 
cloudless  loyalty  of  soul  left  no  obscurities  in  the  path 
of  duty.  The  (claims  of  righteousness  and  expediency 
never  strove  together  in  his  heart ;  for  to  the  singleness 
of  an  v\i\  bright  with  the  fulness  ol"  liis  inspired  life 
they  were  always  one.  Such  qualities,  in  a  soul  enriched 
by  j)raycr  and  contenq)lation,  always  bring  with  them 
more  or  less  (jf  religious  insight.  J)Ut  il"  1  rightly 
a])prflicn(l  the  tendency  of  Stephen's  a])oli»gy,  there  was 
in  hjs.  iri>i::ht  just  that  fir>t  K>()k  over  the  mountain 
ridge  bari-inif   the  \va\'.  which   alwavs  nudvcs  an  era  in 


92  INSPIRATION. 

the  pilgrimaf^e  of  pro|^ess.  I  tliink  I  see  those  parch- 
ment-bound slaves  of  the  letter,  those  scribes  and  priests, 
idolaters  of  a  land,  a  city,  a  buildinfr,  a  book,  as  the 
martyr's  face  beaming  with  supernatural  light  looked 
back  throufrh  the  centuries  past  and  called  them  up  in 
vision.  What  matter  that  here  or  there  he  fell  into 
mistakes  of  date,  or  name,  or  place  ?  The  sympathetic 
souls  who  saw  his  face  and  heard  his  voice  would  no 
more  have  thought  of  explaining  such  errors  than  of 
seeking  to  polish  the  spots  off  the  sun.  And  sympathetic 
or  unsympathetic,  how  strangely  transformed,  with 
what  a  wealth  of  spiritual  suggestion  the  history 
vmrolled  itself  before  the  hearers,  searched  out  by  the 
keen  insight  of  inspiration !  Abraham  the  father  of 
the  faithful,  an  alien  and  a  stranger  to  the  sacred  land ; 
Joseph  like  Jesus,  rejected  of  his  brethren ;  Moses  like 
Jesus,  spurned  by  the  people  whom  he  would  save ; 
Moses  like  Jesus,  a  ruler  and  deliverer  in  spite  of  all ; 
Moses  unlike  Jestis,  the  maker  only  of  symbols  of 
heavenly  things,  the  antitypes  of  which  were  out  of 
earthly  sight  ;*  Grod  refusing  a  temple  made  with  hands, 
because  enthroned  everywhere  as  the  eternal  king — 
such  were  the  flashes  of  truth  which  seemed  to  leap 
forth  from  the  dulness  of  the  well-worn  story,  when  it 
was  touched  by  a  soul  that  glowed  with  the  present  con- 
sciousness of  God.  In  his  view  the  history  was  a 
progress  from  bondage  into  liberty,  from  the  flesh  to 

*  Verse  44. 


inspiration:  93 

the  spirit,  from  darkness  into  light.  All  through  he 
seemed  to  hear  a  divine  voice  ever  "  speaking  unto  the 
children  of  Israel  to  go  forward ; "  all  through  he  could 
mark  a  divine  hand  ever  pointing  onwards ;  alike 
speaking  and  pointing  in  vain  to  the  stitf-necked  and 
imcircumcised  who  would  always  resist  the  Holy  Ghost. 
^^  And  all  that  sat  in  the  council,  looking  steadfastly  on 
him,  saiv  his  face  as  it  had  been  the  face  of  an  angel.'''' 
Yes ;  for  if  anything  can  make  a  man's  face  like  an 
angel's,  it  is  the  joy  that  comes  of  an  inspiration 
hringing  larger  views  of  truth,  and  impelling  to  a  self- 
forgetful  mission. 

Were  not  the  Lord's  words  fulfilled  in  Ste])hen  ?  He 
was  not  over-careful  to  think  what  he  should  say. 
Indeed  he  liad  no  time.  But  as  the  hour  demanded,  the 
light  in  his  soul  shed  its  heams  over  all  ])ast  history. 
"  While  li(!  mused  the  fire  burned;  thv.n  s])ak(!  he  with 
his  tongue  ;''  and  he  knew  that,  however  imperfectly,  he 
s])oke  tlu!  purposes  of  God.  Not  self-consciousness,  but 
God-consenousness  pre\'ailed  in  him  as  he  sjjoke.  They 
wen;  not  merelv  the  conclusions  of  experience?  that  he 
uttered,  but  the  suggestions  of  tlu;  t^^pirit  of  God. 
Therefore  it  was  not  (mly  Ik;  that  spoke,  but  tlu;  Spirit 
ol"  the  I'^ither  that  sj)oke  in  him. 

Is  not  tliis  very  nnicii  the  feeling  which  St.  Paul 
must  have  had  in  writing  out  of  the;  fulness  ol'  liis  own 
(jod-consciousncss  to  sustain  and  strengthen  tlu;  faith  ol 
his  coincrts?  A  great  deal  Iins  been  made  of  a  certain 
|)ass;;g('  in  the  first  Kpisth'  to  tlu;    Corinthians,  wiiich  is 


94  INSPIRATION. 

supposed  to  imply  that  St.  Paul  wrote  verbatim  from 
the  dictation  ot"  the  Holy  Sjjirit.  "  Now  ive  have  received, 
not  the  spirit  of  the  world,  but  the  Sjnrit  which  is  of  God ; 
that  we  might  know  the  things  that  are  freely  given  to  us  of 
God.  Which  things  also  we  speak,  not  in  the  words,  which 
maris  wisdom  teacheth,  hut  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth.''''* 
In  these  last  words  St.  Paul  has  been  imagined  distinctly 
to  assert,  that  every  word  which  he  dictated  to  his 
amanuensis  was  first  dictated  to  him  by  a  Higher 
Power.  Now  I  would  ])ut  it  to  any  candid  reader  who 
has  given  any  attention  to  the  style  of  St.  Paxil,  whether 
the  apostle  writes  at  all  like  a  man  who  thought  every 
word  he  uttered  was  an  infallible  communication  from 
God  ?  Such  a  man  would  surely  never  argiie  in  support 
of  what  he  advances ;  nor  would  he  ever  allow  himself 
to  be  swayed  by  any  passionate  impulse.  For  he 
who  argues  expects  to  prevail  not  by  authority  but  by 
reason ;  and  he  who  is  possessed  by  a  passionate 
impulse  is  conscious  only  of  a  feeling  that  struggles  into 
im])erfect  expression,  not  of  facility  and  perfection  such 
as  would  be  involved  in  dictation  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Such  a  man  would  never  use  forms  of  adjuration  to 
attest  his  sincerity,  as  for  instance,  "  I  p)rotest  by  your 
rejoicing^  which  I  have  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord 
I  die  daily."  Such  a  man  would  never  indulge  in 
biting  sarcasm,  or  in  impatient,  though  most  natural 
wislies  which   soimd  like  a  curse,  as  for  example,   "I 

*  1  Cor.  ii.  12,  13. 
vTf  Ti'jv  vfit-'tpai'  Kavx>l'^i-v  1  Cor.  xv,  31. 


ixspiration:  95 

would  they  were  even  cut  off  which  trouble  you."*    Such 
a  man  would  not  make  an  express  distinction  in  favour 
of  the    authority   of  well-known    moral   laws   or    the 
received  sayings  of  Christ,  as  when  St.  Paul  says  "  to 
the  married  I  command,  yet  not  I  hut  the  Lord,  let  not 
the  wife  depart  from  her  husband : — But  to  the   rest 
speak  I  not  the  Lordy'\     Such  characteristics  are  surely 
utterly  incongruous   in   any  man  wlio    is  supposed  to 
regard  himself  as  simply  an   amanuensis  to  heavenly 
dictation.      No ;  I  think  we  may  give  a  much  more 
natural  interpretation  to  the  passage  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians,  where  he  speaks  of  "  the  words  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  teachoth."     For  before  the  apostle  was  at 
Corinth  he  had  been  in  Athens,  and  he  had  tried  there 
the  effect  of  such  words  as  man's  wisdom  might  suggest. 
The    speech    which    he    delivered    there    was     a    very 
noble  oiu!  :  but,  as    f  have  already  intimated,  I  cannot 
avoid  a  feeling  that  the  intellectual  interest  of  the  occa- 
sion somewhat    overbore  the   simj)licity   of  the   spirit. 
The  imjmlsf!  of  inspiration   is  imdoubtedly  there,  but  it 
is  much  more  embarrassed  by  self-conscious  intellectual 
effort  than,  for  instance,  in  the  same  apostle's  address  to 
the   elders   of  E])liesns.      He  who  gloried   in   being  all 
things  to  :dl  men  doired  no  doubt  to  show  how  the  mes- 
sag(!  he  had  to  deliver  could  be  presented  in  philosophic 
gTiise.      Nor  iKM'd  we  for  a   moment  supj)ose  that  there 
was  anything  WTong  in  such  a  desire;  l)ut  in  that  period 
of  sud<leM  I'cgciicration  b}"  tlic  niar\clIous  out])ouring  of 
*  Cal.  V.  12.  tl  dr.  vii.  10—12. 


96  IKSPinATIOK 

God's  Spirit,  the  time  Avas  liardlv  suited  for  its  fulfilment. 
St.  Paul  appears  then  to  have  gone  to  Corinth  in  some 
depression,*  saddened  by  the  unimpressionable  levity  of 
Athens,  and  feeling  deeply  the  strange  incongruity  of 
the  S})iritual  life  ho  proclaimed  with  the  formalized, 
polished,  and  supercilious  self-satisfaction  of  the  world 
innnediately  around  him.  And  yet  when  he  reached 
Corinth  he  could  not  choose  but  speak.  "  Necessity  was 
laid  u})on  him,"  and  silence  was  a  worse  woe  than  the 
scorn  of  unbelief.  But  as  he  spoke  out,  in  what  the 
Saturday  lieviewers  of  the  time  no  doubt  thought 
barbarous  forms  of  thought  and  speech,  the  tale  of  divine 
love  he  liad  to  tell ;  behold  the  hearts  of  men  were  melted, 
and  their  sj^irits  felt  the  glory  of  an  inner  revelation. 
A  sacred  excitement  spread  from  house  to  house ;  a  holy 
})ower  testified  its  presence  in  a  moral  reformation ;  and 
even  the  sick  in  body  were  healed  by  the  strange  and 
sudden  grace  of  God.  So  says  St.  Paul,  "  my  speech 
and  mj  preacliing  icas  not  with  enticing  words  of  mans 
irisdom^  hut  in  demoJistration  of  the  Spirit  aiid  of  power. '''^ 
And  this  gi\es  ample  meaning  to  the  passage  which  has 
been  su])])()sed  to  profess  dictation  from  the  Holy  Ghost. 
"  Which  things  cdso  ice  speah,  not  in  the  words  which 
man''s  wisdom  teacheth,  hut  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth; 
comparing  spiritual  tldngs  with  spiritual.''''  The  contrast 
is  not  Ijetween  his  OAvn  words  and  the  words  of  another 
Being;  but  between  words  carefully  selected  in  accordance 
with  a  prudent  intellectual  design,  as  at  Athens,  and 
*  Compare  1  Cor.  ii.  3. 


IXSPIRATIOX.  97 

words  rising  freely  to  the  lips  from  a  heart  full  of 
emotion  kindled,  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  This  view  of  St. 
Paid's  experience  of  inspiration  could  easily  be  con- 
firmed by  a  farther  survey  of  his  writings.*  But  for  our 
purpose  this  illustration  suffices.  It  suggests  in  St. 
Paul's  case,  as  in  that  of  Stephen,  a  general  exaltation  of 
the  moral  nature  energizing  every  faculty,  an  impulse, 
an  idea,  a  mission  borne  in  upon  the  soul  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  but  taking  form  according  to  the  individuality 
of  the  man  ;  and  this  it  is  which  constitutes  inspiration. 
Bearing  in  mind  what  has  been  said  about  visions  or 
dreams  as  a  pictorial  form  of  inspiration,  we  may  safely 
affirm  that  the  ideas  hitherto  ])r()pounded  answer  very 
fairly  to  the  ancient  prophetic  notion  of  the  'word  of 
Jcli()\  all."  This  comes  out  clearly  in  a  very  touching 
and  descriptive  passage  of  Jeremiah,!  wliere  the  pro})het 
complains  of  the  hopeless  ])urd<'n  which  his  mission 
s('eme(l  at  times.  '•  llien  I  said  I  ivi.K  not  make  mention 
of  J  lint,  nor  speak  any  more  in  His  name.  But  His 
wo?'(l  was  in  mine  heart  as  a  hurning  jire  shut  vp  in  my 
J)(nip!<,  and  I  was  iceary  with  forbearing ,  and  I  could  not 
stay."  Here  again  w(!  recognize  the  same  experience 
as  ill  ('hrisliaii  Apostles,  an  idea,  a  ])urpose,  a  mission 
boi'iic  in  npon  a  man  from  beyond  himself, — the 
Life  ol'  God  flowing  in  npon  him  witii  such  j)ower  as 
to  bccoiiic  practically  a  resistless  impulse.  This  is  a 
notion  of  ins|)iration  which  amply  I'ulHls  the  conditions 
requirc.'d  ly  po])ular  feeling  on  the   subject  :    while  with 

*  Sec  ApnciKlix.  N'Mfc  K.  t  ''li-  ^■-■-  '-i'- 


98  INSPIRATION. 

due  allowance  for  changes  in  modes  of  speech  and  forms 
of  thought,  it  is  applicable  to  every  genuine  instance  of 
inspiration  which  the  world  has  known. 

At  this  juncture  it  may  be  fairly  asked,  has  this 
experience  of  inspiration  been  confined  exclusively  to 
the  Jews ;  and  are  its  only  records  in  the  Bible  ?  To 
which  I  answer,  most  unquestionably  not.  For  all  the 
tokens  of  a  genuine  inspiration,  impulse,  idea,  mission, 
associated  with  unusual  elevation  of  moral  life,  are  to 
be  found  in  some  of  the  greatest  heathen  teachers ;  and 
if  you  judge  inspiration  by  one  rule  amongst  Jews 
and  make  another  to  exclude  it  amongst  Gentiles,  you 
only  reduce  it  to  mere  conventional  emptiness.  Who 
does  not  know  how  Socrates  declared  himself  guided 
by  some  divinity  within,  which  animated  him  with  the 
right  impulse  at  the  right  moment?  And  who  that 
has  heard  or  read  it  does  not  feel  the  pathetic  earnest- 
ness and  deej)  significance  of  his  words  when  condemned 
to  death,  that  never  had  ho  felt  the  inward  divine 
indications  of  duty  so  luminously  clear  ?  How  strange 
— we  dare  not  say  ca])ricious — are  the  issues  of  the 
history  of  faith  I  It  is  not  Nature  only  but  also  Grace 
that  "of  fifty  seeds"  "often  brings  but  one  to  bear." 
And  while  wcj  bless  the  Providence  which  has  evolved 
from  the  old  Hcbnnv  consciousness  of  the  Word  of 
Jehovah  the  glory  of  Christian  inspiration,  we  cannot 
but  lament  that  a  true  Hellenic  form  of  the  same  doctrine 
should  have  wasted  into  idle  jests  or  idler  curiosity 
about  '' the  Demon  of  fSocrates."'     One  illustration  here 


IXSPIRATION.  91> 

suffices.  It  is  not  necessary  that  I  should  give  any 
list  of  uncanonical  writers  whom  I  think  to  show  traces 
of  inspiration.  "  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them;" 
the  inspired  teachers  of  mankind  as  well  as  their  fol- 
lowers. Show  me  the  man  whose  moral  and  spiritual 
stature  rises  above  his  times,  and  who  earlier  than  his 
fellows  notes  the  jirophetic  tokens  of  a  coming  day ;  a 
man  who  by  a  profound  insight  discerns,  and  by  heroic 
faith  meets  the  critical  needs  of  the  period  ;  a  man 
who  is  driven  by  an  impulse,  the  soiu'cc  of  which  no 
r(;flcction  can  search,  to  sink  all  private  interests  in  the 
ennoblement  of  hunuiii  life  and  the  glory  of  God;  and 
1  care  not  what  his  creed,  his  race  or  his  country 
may  be, — there  I  hail  and  reverence  an  ins])ired  man. 
Let  no  one  fcai'  that  acknowledgment  of  God's  work  in 
other  races  can  (!vcr  mar  tlie  immortal  ]K:)wer  of  the 
j)r()j)hcts  and  apostles  of  the  Jews.  1  do  not  lower  the 
Alps  by  calling  Si)owdon  or  Ben  Nevis  a  moimtain.  I 
do  not  narrow  the  Atlantic  or  Pacific  by  calling  the 
shallow  German  sea  an  ocean.  I  do  not  dim  the  glory 
of  the  ros(j  by  admii-ing  the  daisy  and  the  buttercu|) 
as  flowers  i»l'  spring,  is  Shaks])ear(,''s  genius  any  the 
less  iinrivniled  because  Ave  attribute  a  sombre  majestv 
to  ^I'lscliyiiis,  poetic  gi'ace  to  Sophocles,  iitid  human 
piitlios  to  i'hiripides?  Xo  :  nor  aii\'  the  more  will  the 
siijifciii;-  -jiii'it  ;ial  in-]iirat  ion  of  the  dewisli  I'ace  sutler 
any  (le]ii-cciation  thfough  a  fi'ank  ackiiowlediiuierit  of 
iiil'ci'ioi'  in>|Mi;ii  ion  elsewhere. 

( )f'  co;ir-c  if  the  admissioti  of  the  I'cality  of  inspiriitiim 


100  IXSPIIIA  TION. 

elsewhere  })e  takcMi  as  e<pxivalent  to  a  denial  of  it  any- 
wliere,  that  is,  as  iiierelv  a  mode  of  explainiiifr  it  away, 
I  eaii  very  well  understand  the  ol)jection  whieh  is  often 
felt.  But  if  w(!  lusartily  insist  on  the  full  signiticance 
of  the  word  ;  if  we  verily  believe  that  God  does  breathe 
into  the  souls  of  men,  and  manifest  liimself  in  a  form 
higher  than  any  generic  consciousness,  int(nis(;r  than 
ordinary  comminiion  in  jirayer ;  then  surely  it  cannot 
lessen  the  value  of  the  highest  inspiration  if  w(;  admit 
analogies  to  it  elsewhere.  But  it  may  perhaps  be 
ask<^(l,  as  in  the  days  of  St.  Paul,  "  what  advantage 
thcMi  has  th(^  Jew?"  What  profit  was  there  in  the 
special  covenant  of  circumcision?  And  the  answer 
given  must  be  the  same,  "  much  every  w^ay  ;  chiefly 
be(^aus(;  unto  them  were  committed  the  oracles  of  God," 
that  is,  the  records  of  sacred  utterance  whicth  pre- 
eminentlv  deserve  that  name.  Xor  can  such  language 
])ossildy  be  too  strong  for  the  inestimable  s])iritual 
])rivilege,  which  that  naticm  ]>ossessed  in  its  extraordinary 
prophetic  gifts  and  in  the  sublime  religious  tone  of  its 
litci'ature.  All  the  difference  mad(;  by  such  views  of 
ins})ii'ation  as  we  liave  enunciated  is  this,  that  the 
claim  of  those  ancient  documents  to  be  by  ])re-eminence 
•'oracles  of  Gcjd"  is  not  to  be  maintained  on  any 
abstract  or  <i  j^riori  theoiy.  Neither  will  technical  tests 
of  authenticity  and  canonicity  suffice.  The  question 
with  us  is  simply  to  what  extent  do  they,  like  Stephen, 
make  the  imj)ression  of  ins])iration  on  our  hearts? 
With  wliat  degree  of  power  do  they  appeal  to,  and  stir, 


INSPIRA  TIOiY.  101 

and  brighten  the  God-consciousness  within  ns  ?  Let 
no  one  fear  lest  the  Scriptures  should  not  abide  a  test 
like  that  Herein  is  precisely  the  strength  of  tlieir  hold 
on  human  kind,  on  the  generic  consciousness,  on  the 
common  heart  of  the  race.  For  not  one  man  in  a 
million  can  estimate  the  historic  accuracy  of  the  story 
of  David,  or  judge  the  technical  validity  of  his  claims, 
or  those  of  the  other  Psalmists,  to  inspiration.  But  all 
can  feel  the  peace  that  steals  over  the  soul  with  the 
words,  "  the  Lord  is  my  sheplierd  I  shall  not  want ;"'  all 
can  perceive  the  expansive  faith  of  the  resolve,  "  /  icill 
run  the  tray  of  thy  cominandments  wlienthou  slialt  enlarge 
my  heart;''  all  cnn  realize  the  completeness  with  which 
the  relation  of  sinful  man  to  God  is  set  forth  in  the 
\vf)r(ls,  "/  h<u:e  gone  astray  like  a  lost  slieep ;  seek  thy 
servant^  far  I  do  not  forget  thy  commandments y  And  in 
jiroportion  to  the  ])ower  with  which  such  utterances 
a])p('al  to  the  God-consciousness,  will  inevitably  be  the 
slreiigtli  of  a  num's  confidence  in  the  inspiration  of  the 
writ<'r. 

For  my  oyvn  ])art,  unless  when  pressed  by  en(piir(n's 
(n-  c^jiiipclled  by  the  duties  of  a  teacher.  [  have  Tiever 
\''At  any  desji-(i  to  I'orm  for  mvself  an  iiitelicctiud  theory 
of  iii>piratioii.  Hut  when  1  have  I'clt  the  reah'ty  of  the 
thin/i-  itx'lt'  breath(!  like  an  invigorating  air  from  tlu; 
jj;i2"('-  ol' the  Scrij>tures,  this  has  b<'en  a  joy  which  it  is 
lianl  for  articuhiti;  speech  to  set  I'orth.  Anil  1  do  not 
K'now  any  part  of  the  Bible  with  which  the  (!\i)erienee 
«iJ'  thi-;  iov  has  been  more  associated   thnn  with  tin;  first 


102  INSPIRA  TION. 

Epistle  of  St.  Peter.  This  does  not  tell  of  any  great 
mental  gifts ;  it  has  none  of  the  intellectual  eagerness  of 
St.  Paul.  But  there  seems  such  a  quiet  deep-toned 
earnestness  about  it,  such  a  clear-eyed  artless  sincerity, 
such  a  quick  insight  into  the  practical  spiritual  power 
and  highest  use  of  facts  and  doctrines,  that  one  can 
hardly  fail  to  realize  in  it  the  direct  impulse  of  God's 
Spirit.  The  exuberant  thanksgiving  at  the  outset  is 
radiant  with  heartfelt  joy  in  the  higher  life  which  God's 
grace  has  given.  The  appreciative  sympathetic  com- 
munion with  Divine  Love,  shown  in  all  the  allusions  to 
Christ;  the  moral  elevation  which  rises  to  a  tone  of 
grandeur  touched  now  and  then  with  human  scorn*  in 
the  second  chapter ;  the  hallowing  light  shed  on  all 
human  suffering  from  the  cross  of  Christf — such  charac- 
teristics as  these  require  no  external  formulas  of  sanctity 
to  ensure  their  appeal  to  the  heart.  They  come  straight 
home  there  at  once. 

Finally,  if  in  this  view  the  Bible  should  cease  to  be  in 
the  harsher  sense  a  perpetual  miracle,  on  the  other  hand 
there  are  voices  in  your  own  souls  which  at  once  claim  a 
supernatural  dignity.  Moses,  Elijah,  Paul  and  John — 
|>utting  aside  for  a  moment  external  miracles,  which  are  not 

*  '•  For  so  is  the  will  of  God,  that  with  well-doing  ye  may  put  to 
silence  the  ignorance  of  foolish  men'"- — literally — muzzle  the  ignor- 
ance of  fools,     (verse  15.) 

f  '•  Beloved,  think  it  not  strange  concerning  tlie  fiery  trial  which  is  to 
try  you,  as  though  some  strange  thin  g  had  hapjtcned  imto  you :  but 
rejoice  inasmuch  as  yc  are  ])artaliers  of  Chrisfs  sufferings." 
(iv.  12,  13.) 


INSPIRATION.  103 

necessarily  connected  with  inspiration — became  prophets 
and  apostles  through  obedience  to  the  same  voice  that 
sounds  in  your  own  consciences  and  your  own  hearts. 
In  proportion  as  the  creature  Avill  prevails,  and  consi- 
derations of  policy  and  expediency  usurp  the  tribunal 
of  the  soul,  so  will  God  seem  to  be  far  away,  and 
inspiration  an  incredible  fable  of  the  past.  But  he  that 
will  do  the  will  of  the  Father  shall  have  experience  of  this 
doctrine.  And  in  proportion  as  expediency  and  pru- 
dence are  bowed  before  the  majesty  of  duty ;  in  propor- 
tion as  the  sanction  which  touches  the  conscience  with 
awe  is  owned  to  be  the  supremacy  of  God ;  in  proportion 
as  we  acquaint  ourselves  with  God,  and  feel  that  to 
devout  self-sacrifice  communion  with  Divine  Love  is 
real  and  possible ;  so  shall  we  realize  that  to  contem- 
jilative  faith  all  life  may  be  a  perpetual  inspiration. 


LECTURE  IV. 


INFALLIBILITY. 

"  Yea,  and  7vhy  even  of  yonrselces  judge  yc  not  what  is  right?" — 
Luke  xii.  57. 

There  is  somewhere  or  other  in  the  Government  offices 
a  standard  yard  measure,  which  is  the  criterion  of  all 
other  measures  of  lencrth  used  in  this  realm.  And  of 
course  by  hypothesis  it  is  an  infallible  test,  by  which 
every  draper's  yard  wand  and  every  surveyor's  chain 
may  bo  finally  and  indisputably  judged  Or  corrected. 
In  such  a  case  it  is  most  satisfactory,  and  indeed  abso- 
lutely necessary,  to  have  an  external  standard  of  final 
appeal,  which  will  permit  of  no  farther  discussion  or 
controversy.  Similarly  men  very  commonly  think  that 
God  must  of  necessity  have  given  us,  in  some  outward 
objective  form,  an  infiillible  standard  of  religious  truth 
and  moral  right.  But  in  such  a  mode  of  arfjnment 
there  is  too  often  forgotten  an  important  element  in 
the   case,    which  has  no  place   at    all    in    the    analogy 


INFALLIBILITY.  105 

suggested ;  an  element  which  may  perhaps  be  brought 
into  view  by  another  illustration.  I  suppose  in  rifle 
practice  one  object  in  training  is  to  acqitire  a  quick  and 
approximately  accurate  power  of  judging  distance. 
For  without  this,  in  the  field  the  rifleman  would  be 
incapable  of  accommodating  the  sights  and  elevation  of 
his  weapon  to  the  required  range.  And  therefore  it  is 
the  custom  in  some  corps,  perhaps  in  all,  to  assemble 
the  men  for  practice  in  judging  distance  by  naming  the 
range  of  various  objects  that  may  be  in  sight.  Here 
then,  by  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  reliance,  on  the 
part  of  the  men  in  training,  on  any  infallible  standard  is 
altogether  excluded.  And  why  ?  Simply  because  the 
express  object  of  the  practice  is  the  education  of  the 
power  of  measurement  by  the  eye.  Some  hasty  unre- 
flecting youth,  who  did  not  understand  the  object,  might 
naturally  exclaim,  ''  what  fumbling  sort  of  guess-work 
this  is  I  How  much  better  to  stick  to  a  ground  already 
marked  out  I"  Here  is  in  effect  a  desire  to  fall  back 
upon  the  infallible  yard  measure.  But  the  obvious 
answer  would  l)e,  "our  purpose  is  not  to  inform  you 
what  the  distance  is  ;  but  to  practise  you  in  judging 
for  yoTu-selves."'  That,  as  you  see,  is  an  element  of 
consideration  which  was  entirely  k'ft  out  in  the  analogy 
suggested  just  now.  lieligious  and  niei-al  truth,  say 
some,  is  so  inefl'ably  im]>ortant,  that  to  suppose  a 
Government  of  the  universe,  which  leaves  us  without  any 
external  and  inliilliblf^  appeal  in  sucli  a  nuitter,  is  as 
absui'd   as  to   inuigine  a   civilized  earthlv  (jlovernment 


106  INFALLIBILITY. 

which  has  do  standards  by  which  its  subjects  can  judge 
their  weights  and  measures.  As  we  shall  presently 
insist,  this  is  very  much  a  question  of  fact ;  for  it  is 
easier  to  find  out  what  God  has  done  than  to  decide 
what  He  should  do.  But  as  regards  the  principle 
involved  in  such  an  argiunent,  what  we  now  say  is  this ; 
that  if  the  office  of  religious  and  moral  truth  is  to 
draw  out  men's  spiritual  susceptibilities,  to  educate  the 
judgment  and  the  conscience,  then  an  infallible  standard 
is  precisely  what  we  ought  not  to  expect.  It  is  indeed 
necessary  that  shopkeepers  and  surveyors  should  have 
access  to  an  infallible  standard  of  length.  But  that  is 
because  there  is  no  question  as  to  the  education  of  their 
judgment.  The  measure  is  a  pui'ely  conventional  thing, 
which  has  no  existence  except  so  far  as  it  is  similarly 
understood  by  every  one.  But  now  change  the  case. 
Suppose  that  every  shopkeeper  had  not  only  in  his  hand 
a  yard  measure  liable  to  be  corrected  by  an  infallible 
standard,  but  also  before  him  on  his  counter  a  visible 
and  unerring  test  of  honesty.  By  a  stretch  of  fancy 
you  may  conceive  a  crystal  phial  standing  by  him 
within  view  of  all,  filled  with  limpid  water,  which  at 
the  moment  of  any  unrighteous  dealing  should  change 
to  blue,  or  brown,  or  black,  according  to  the  shade  of 
dishonesty  involved.  This  might  be  very  convenient  to 
customers  ;  but  it  would  manifestly  do  away  altogether 
with  the  exercise  of  conscientious  judgment  on  the  part 
of  the  trader.  And  as  all  are  in  one  way  or  another 
traders  in  their  turn,  the  imiversal  application  of  such 


INFALLIBILITY.  107 

an  external  infallible  appeal  would  simply  eliminate  the 
freedom  of  man's  moral  nature,  and  with  that  its  very 
existence.  For  nobility  of  conscience  consists  not  in 
such  agreement  with  a  conventional  criterion  as  can  be 
instantly  and  definitely  detected  by  the  eyes,  or  enforced 
by  the  authority  of  others;  but  rather  in  the  refined 
perceptions  which  distinguish  what  coarseness  cannot 
feel ;  in  the  purity  of  tone  which  elevates  the  standard, 
as  well  as  in  the  loyalty  that  obeys  it.  Any  thing 
therefore  that  dispenses  wdth  the  exercise  of  such  quali- 
ties— and  this  the  establishment  of  any  infallible  objective 
standard  must  do — necessarily  puts  a  stop  to  all  educa- 
tion of  the  moral  judgment.  ''  Yea,  and  iclnj  even  of 
yourselves  judge  ye  not  ichat  is  rxfjht  ?  " 

It  may  occur  to  some,  that  while  this  argument  is 
good  enough  against  the  advantage  of  an  infallible  test 
of  conduct,  it  is  no  objection  whatever  to  an  infallible 
rule  or  law,  which  can  only  ])e  made  a  test  by  the  free 
operation  of  the  individual  conscience.  But  a  little 
reflection  will  show  that  a  rule,  the  api)licability  of 
which  in  each  separate  case  can  only  be  decidecl  by  the 
conscience,  is  not  an  ext(;rnal  infallible  statidard  of 
practice.*  It  might  indeed  be  a  certain,  or  if  you  like 
infallible  declaration  of  a  general  truth  :  as  for  instance, 
that  it  is  wrong  to  steal,  or  to  murder,  or  to  li(\  But 
without  siiying  anything   as  to  the  iuade(juacy  ol"  such 

*  SupfKjsc  tlic  imperial  yanl  to  b(;  incai),'il)l(:  of  iiii'allihlo  apjilii'ation 
f^xccpt.  hy  t,li(;  (■oiiH<!ienc'o  (jf  tin;  ti'adcr  ;  ami  it  will  bu  seen  that  it 
would  ('(iasc  to  be  an  infallible  external  stundani  at  ail. 


108  IXFALLIBILITY. 

words  to  define  ])rccisely  tlie  wrong  that  is  forbidden,  if 
any  one  will  try  to  think  whj  the  thino;  he  feels  to  ho, 
meant  by  them  is  in  his  view  so  certainly  wrong,  he  will 
find  that  it  is  because  of  the  im])ossibiIity  of  thinking 
the  contrary.  That  is,  the  infallibility  of  the  rule  lies 
not  in  the  external  authority  however  august  which 
imposes  it ;  but  in  the  resistless  assent  of  his  spiritual 
nature  to  it  when  imposed.  But  it  Avill  be  said,  such  an 
assent  is  not  universally  resistless.  There  are  many 
barbarous  tribes  who  do  not  think  it  wrong  to  murder 
or  steal.  Precisely  so,  I  answer ;  and  this  only  shows 
that  the  standard,  as  well  as  its  application,  is  a  matter 
of  spiritiial  education.  Or  as  we  have  already  said, 
nobility  of  conscience  is  shown  in  the  purity  of  feeling 
which  elevates  the  standard,  or  in  other  words,  discerns 
more  of  God's  righteousness,  as  well  as  in  the  loyalty 
that  obeys  it.  And  this  purity  of  feeling  is  surely  best 
secured,  not  by  the  authoritative  imposition  on  unprepared 
consciences  of  an  infallible  general  rule  in  the  form  of  a 
positive  law  ;  but  by  successive  inspirations  awakening 
men's  minds  to  a  more  and  more  distinct  pei'ce})tion  of 
eternal  principles  of  right.  A  race  in  a  barbaric  state 
is  much  more  likely  to  be  helped  by  inspirations  that 
come  mingled  with  and  limited  by  the  imperfect  notions 
of  the  time,  than  by  any  infallible  exhibition  of  truth 
which  is  necessarily  beyond  its  range.  But  when  that 
race  is  educated  u[)  to  the  apprehension  of  a  purer  truth,  it 
will  need  no  infallible  guarantee.  The  security  of  the 
truth  will  lie  in  the  imjjossibility  of  thinking  the  contrary. 


ly FALLIBILITY.  109 

These  observations  of  course  apply  mainly,  and  the 
last  perhaps  exclusively,  to  the  a])prehension  of  moral 
princi{;le.  But  it  may  he  said,  the  highest  life  of  man 
is  intimately  connected  with  the  apprehension  of  super- 
natural or  supersensuous  facts,  such  as  the  being  oi' 
God,  our  moral  relations  to  Him,  and  the  immortality 
which  awaits  us ;  all  of  which  are  entirely  beyond 
scientific  discovery,  and  absolutely  require  a  divine 
revelation,  if  they  are  to  be  known  at  all.  Most 
heartily  do  I  grant  this ;  that  is,  I  believe  it  quite 
impossible  to  explain  human  history  and  ])rogress  a})art 
ft'om  the  (xod-consciousness  and  the  inspirations,  which 
have  liecn  the  subjects  of  ])reviotis  lectures.  Through 
these  (jJod  has  revealed  Himself  and  immortality  and 
heaven  to  liian.  These  ibrm  together  the  supernatural 
element  in  our  being,  which  generates  the  otherwise 
in(K\plic;ible  antagonism,  or  at  least  antithesis,  of  3Ian 
and  Nature,  and  rais(\s  us  into  connnmiion  with  (lod. 
In  man  there  is  sonu'tliing  that  we  do  not  know  to  exist 
anywliL-rt!  else,"  in  creation — wonder,  reficH-tioji,  hunger 
alter  a  final  cause.  And  this  implies  in  human  b.istory, 
as  distinguished  fnnii  the  ])1iysical  growtli  of  creation, 
the  intfoduciion  of  a  lunu  itiodc  of  the  continuous 
creative  power;  which  mode  we  call  gi'iiee,  ilivine  com- 
munion, inspiration,  rev<;lation,  accor(h'ng  to  tlie  degree 
of  intensit\-  wit!)  which  we  recognizi^  it.  ^l'or  do  I 
know  of  anv  i-eally  established  conclusions  which  make 
it  irrational  to  believe;  that  this  new  mode  of  the  con- 
timious  creative  junver  has.  like  jirevious  modes,  liad  its 


110  INFALLIBILITY. 

marked  crises  of  what  seems  to  us  special  intensity. 
The  doctrine  of  continuity  is  probaMy  as  applicable  to 
human  history  as  to  the  geological  periods  ;  but  in 
neither  application  can  it  be  so  construed  as  to  exclude 
any  seasons  of  special  activity.  And  such  seasons  of 
special  activity  we  may  recognise  perhaps  in  the 
development  of  the  Caucasian  race ;  perhaps  in  its 
separation  into  tlie  Aryan  and  Semitic  branches; 
perhaps  in  the  golden  ages  of  imagination  which 
generated  their  respective  mythologies ;  perhaps  in 
the  severance  of  tlie  Hebrew  family  from  their  Chal- 
dean congeners ;  more  certainly  in  the  emancipa- 
tion of  the  Hebrews  under  the  sublime  spiritual 
dominion  of  Moses ;  clearly  in  the  pure  aspirations 
and  impassioned  protests  of  psalmists  and  prophets ; 
and  most  plainly  in  the  glorious  outburst  of  spiri- 
tual life  at  the  Christian  era.  At  such  seasons, 
even  including  the  earliest,  we  may  believe  the 
minds  of  men  to  have  been  quickened  by  hints 
and  tokens,  or  by  bright  manifestations  of  higher 
truth ;  all  of  which  came  from  the  8])irit  of  (rod, 
from  the  fidlcr  flow  of  the  life  of  God  into  the 
souls  of  men.  The  final  cause  of  all  this  process 
we  feel  must  l)e — if  we  are  capable  of  ap])rehend- 
ing  it  at  all — the  elevation  of  human  nature  into 
a  nearer  coDimimion  Avitli  God,  by  the  working  io- 
gether  of  creative  grace  and  ercuiure  receptivity  in 
tnvitual  acti(m  and  reaction.  l)Ut  with  such  a  pro- 
cess   the    presentation    of    sjjiritual    do(;trines    in    tlie 


INFALLIBILITY.  Ill 

form  of  an  infallible*  standard  for  all  time  is  entirely 
inconsistent.  Inspiring  suggestions  are  most  precious  : 
glimpses  of  the  divine  ideal  of  life  have  a  glorious 
power;  commands  in  the  name  of  God  arouse  us  just 
so  far  as  they  can  establish  their  authenticity  in  the 
conscience;  but  the  moment  these  are  set  up  as  an 
infallible  yard  measure  of  our  thoughts,  or  words,  or 
deeds,  at  any  rate  to  whatever  extent  they  arc  allowed 
to  dispense  with  the  exercise  of  om*  judgment,  they 
contravene  a  manifest  and  fundamental  principle  in 
God's  education  of  the  race. 

All  the  I'emaining  remarks  I  have  to  make  will  be 
more  or  less  an  application  of  this  principle.  I  do  not 
at  all  forget  that,  as  we  said  just  now,  the  question  is  in  a 
great  measure  oiu'  of  fiict.  Has  our  Heavenly  Fatlien 
or  has  he  not,  seen  tit  to  give  us  an  infalHble  objective 
appeal  ifi  matters  of  faith  and  morals?  If  he  has  really 
<lone  so,  the  same  reasons  which  made  it  necessarv 
would   also  suggest   that   the   I'act  should  be  plain  and 

*  I'o.ssibly  >iime  rco.drrs^  ni'ij  tliiiik  tliiit  tliis  iiivoives  a  denial  ni' 
tlic  Divinity  (if  Chi-ist.  I'lit  it  iciill y  dix-s  iioi.  Was  tlic  maTiifcstation 
of  Divinity  in  Clirist.  liniitcil  or  unlimited  .'  If  tin;  former,  wa.s  it, 
eoiidiiioticil  only  l»y  tlie  fact  of  its  presentation  in  humanity,  or  also 
i)y  the  specialit  ie's  hcilonuini,'  to  the  humanity  of  a  [)ai-ticular  ai^'e  or 
i-aco.'  \i  the  lattei-  is  theeas(- — anil  with  the  (lospel  iiairativcs  before 
us  it  would  1)0  ilitlieult  to  deny  it — then  it  follows  that  some  forms,  in 
whieli  his  Divinity  was  be.^t  manifestecl  to  that  aire,  liave  t<i  be 
di--solved.  liefMre  we  (•.■m  .-ippn  rini-  t!i' ■!:•  I  i-e:i  iii'e.  'Iliat  is,  wiiir-ii 
is  ijerfeei  ly  true,  in  St.  I'e'ter"s  sensi'.  tli;il  ilie  Lord  liiis  the  woi-ds  of 
eternal  life,  yet  he  saves  us  iK/t  ly  his  wurds  but  by  his  Spirit  :  aiui 
the  Spirit  is  iqipreliendi'd  liy  s\  iiip:;;  hy,  n  'l  by  sulijiiiration  to  an 
infallible  verbal  standard.      See  beei  i.i;e  v. 


112  INFALLIBILITY. 

palpable.  But  iu  pursiiing  tlic  question  of  fact  we  are 
likelj  to  be  at  once  less  hampered  by  fear,  more  reverent 
and  less  negative  in  our  treatment,  if  we  keep  in  view 
the  principles  with  whicli  we  have  started.  As  for  my 
aim,  the  impression  I  hope  to  leave  on  yoiu*  minds  is 
this ;  that  while  insistance  on  any  external  infallible 
standard  is  a  contravention  of  the  will  of  God,  still  in 
the  Bible,  in  the  ordinances  of  the  Church,  in  the  signs 
of  the  times,  and  abt)ve  all  in  the  communion  of  our 
own  souls  with  the  divine  Spirit,  we  have  amply  sufficient 
guidance  to  righteousness,  immortality  and  God. 

First,  then,  think  of  the  history  of  this  craving  after 
infallibility  ;  and  judge  for  yourselves  what  arc  the  indi- 
cations of  God's  will  wdiich  that  history  suggests.  It  is 
of  course  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  trace  that  desire 
as  it  has  atfected  the  Christian  Church. 

It  would  perhaps  surprise  many  who  are  conversant 
only  with  modern  theological  discussions,  to  see  how 
disputed  questions  are  treated  by  the  early  Fathers.  I 
remember  a  debate,  somewhat  celebi-ated  at  the  time,  in 
which  an  evangelical  clergyman  persisted  in  interrupting 
his  o])ponent  by  calling  out  "  chaj)ter  and  verse  !  chapter 
and  verse  I "  as  though  the  very  words  were  a  magic 
talisman  of  error.  ]5ut  the  early  Fathers  did  not  care 
nearly  so  much  about  chapter  and  verse.  At  least  they  did 
not  discuss  Christian  doctrines  with  any  such  exclusive 
reference  to  the  Scriptures.  Their  quotations  indeed 
give  most  valuable  indications  as  to  the  history  of  the 
canon  and  the  sacred  text,  establishing  with  considerable 


INFALLIBILITY.  113 

certainty  the  authenticity  of  most  of  the  Xew  Testament 
books.  Still  their  mode  of  dealing  with  the  Apostolic 
writings  shows  a  feeling  in  some  respects  considcrably 
different  from  that  which  has  been  so  sedulously  culti- 
vated since  the  reformation.  I  will  try  to  illustrate 
what  I  mean.  Papias,  writing  in  the  former  half  of  the 
second  century,  says  that  it  has  never  been  his  habit  to 
care  so  much  for  books  as  for  the  words  that  still 
breatlu^  in  living  men,  that  is,  he  is  much  more  in- 
terested in  the  siu'viving  traditions  of  the  church  than 
in  studying  any  documents  whatever.  And  Eusebius, 
writing  two  centuries  afterwards,  divides  the  books  oi' 
the  Xew  Canon  into  three  classes;  namely,  those  which 
were  acknowledged  by  common  consent ;  those  which 
w(!rc  dispiitcd ;  and  tliose  which  were  rejected  ;  while  one  or 
two  ])()oks  acknowledged  by  us,  and  which  it  is  thought 
a  jMjirit  oi'  our  allegiance  to  the  faith  to  defend,  arc 
])laced  by  him,  a])})ar('ntly  without  any  feeling  that  nuich 
was  involved  in  the  matter,  either  in  the  division  of  the 
doul)triil,  or  in  that  of  the  rejected.*  These  two  references 
will  suggest  Avhat  might  be  borne  out  by  manv  others, 
that  th(^  ap])('al  of  the  earliest  Fathers  was  not  simjjly 
to  tlic  New  Testament,  but  rather  to  the  testimony  and 
traditidu  of  successive  generations  in  the  church,  in 
tact  it  would  not  lie  uid'air  to  say  that  in  their  view  tlie 
cliureh  guaranteed  the  writings,  rather  than  the  writings 
tli(;  cliui-ch.  And  the  New  Testanierii  was  prized  as  the 
voice  ol'  the  earliest  and  most  purely  inspired  congregation 
*  See  Apiieiidix,  Xole  V. 

J 


114  INFA  LLIBILITY. 

of  the  saints.  The  very  epithet  '  Catholic '  shows  this ; 
for  of  eoxirsc  it  means  simply  universal ;  and  the 
Catholic  faith  was  not  exactly  that  which  could  be  most 
lon;ically  deduced  from  the  gospels  and  e[)istles,  but 
rather  that  which  represented  a  universal  and  uniform 
tradition.  tSo  one  often  finds  tlu;  earliest  controver- 
sialists counting  u})  the  lunnbcr  and  exalting  the  re- 
spectability of  the  bishops  who  agreed  with  them,  with 
th(^  evident  confidence  that  should  they  be  able  to 
convict  tlu'ir  o])]K)nents  of  transgressing  the  tradition  of 
the  elders,  those;  op})onents  would  be  condemned  by  an 
infallible  standard.  I  am  very  far  from  insinuating 
that  they  undervalued  the  Scriptures.  On  the  contrary, 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  they  had  a  more  thoroughly 
sympathetic  and  therefore  more  truly  noble  estimate  of 
them,  than  those  who  seem  to  put  the  Bible  in  the  place 
of  God.  What  I  do  say  is  this,  that  on  the  whole  they 
socm  to  hav(^  prized  the  New  Testament  mainly  as 
recording  the  earliest  and  most  authoritative  tradition 
concerning  the  foundation  and  corporate  life  of  the 
church.  And  the  classification  of  Eusebius  shows  that 
the  separate  books  were  themselves  submitted  to  this 
informal  judgment  of  the  church.  Most  en([uirers 
alter  infallil)ility  will  acknowledge  that  this  vague  notion 
of  a  Ccuholic  ti'adirion  gives  a  very  inefficient  standard 
of  api)eal.  Something  of  the  kind  is  indeed  em])loyed 
in  the  English  coininon  law:  but  Avitli  the  inevitable 
result  of  gradual  groAvth  and  ex])ansion,  such  as  none  of 
our  religionists,  who  at  the  ])resent  day  so  strenuously 


I^'^FA  LLTBILITY.  115 

insist  upon  the  need  of  infallibility,  conld  for  a  moment 
contemplate  with  satisfaction.  And  as  a  matter  of  fact 
crises  arose,  in  which  it  was  felt  necessary  to  define 
authoritatively  Avhat  the  tradition  of  the  church  actually 
was.  With  this  object  Provincial  or  CEcumenical  Councils 
were  from  time  to  time  assembled  ;  that  is,  the  Catholic 
church  was  summoned  to  say,  by  her  authorized  re]>re- 
sentatives,  what  was  the  truth  and  life  which  she  en- 
shrined in  her  heart.  The  decisions  of  such  Councils, 
bein^  supposed  to  sum  up  the  Catholic  tradition  on  the 
subjects  agitated,  were  naturally  invested  with  intitlli- 
bility  which,  if  not  formally  professed,  was  at  least  assumed 
in  the  claim  of  im])licit  srtbmission  from  all  the  faithful. 
The  simple  words  in  which  the  a])()St!cs  and  elders 
at  Jerusalem  expn.'sscd  tlieir  confidence  that  their  deci- 
S!r)ii  was  the  issue  of  diviiK;  teaching — "■  it  seemed  [toad 
to  the  Jhihj  Ghost  oud  to  vs," — were  taken  to  justiiy  the 
arrogance  which  claimed  for  the  ihction  fights  of 
wr;nigling  ecclesiastical  mobs  the  infalliljle  guidaiK  r 
and  omnipotent  control  of  Clod's  Spirit.  IJul  thf 
\voi-|il  changes  rapiflly  :  ;Mid  the  intere>ts  >u])])oseil  to 
be  liounil  uj)  witli  I't'ligious  opinion  gave  a  swift  impul.-e 
lollie  evolution  ol'thought.  Thus  llic  aullioi'itali\c  deei- 
si(jn.- of  one  eoinieil  iiad  hardly  bee?i  given  1;eibre  li  scoix' 
of  n"W  (pii'>tions  wei'e  raised,  which  demaiuled  aiiotlief 
::pji''-:l  to  ^fm\i'.  infallibh;  Iriljuna!  for  tli'  ir  seitiement. 
l)Ut  ii  w;;s  inipo>>ib!e  that  eounei.U  on  aii\'  great  scale 
should  a--~enible  \cr\-  olten.  And  in  the  mean  lime 
ih;'   I'ight  and   diUv   of  private  judgment  had   been   su 


116  INFALLIBILITY. 

completely  overborne  or  in;nore(l,  that  each  ChristiaJi 
felt  utterly  dependent  on  the  decisions  of"  the  Church. 
The  })riests  then,  being  the  authorized  exponents  of 
those  decisions,  woidd  become  more  and  more  the 
keepers  not  only  of  the  consciences  but  of  the  intellects 
of  their  flock.  And  as  hierarchial  authority  inevitably 
involves  centralization,  the  tendency  grew  up  in  the 
Western  Church  to  regard  the  Pope  as  the  standing 
representative  of  an  (Ecmuonical  Covmcil,  and  as  in- 
vested, for  the  direction  of  faith  and  morals,  with  the 
same  infallibility.  No  attempt  was  made  until  the 
present  day  to  define  the  doctrine  in  an  authoritative 
form.  But  as  a  vague  notion,  accepted  in  some 
undefinable  sense  by  all  Ilomanists,  it  has  undoubtedly 
existed  for  long.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  those  who  are 
most  argumentative  in  their  comments  on  this  new 
'  Papal  aggression,'  and  loudest  in  their  protest  against 
it,  are  precisely  those  who  fail  to  perceive  the  real  sig- 
nificance of  the  rev-ulsion  which  it  is  exciting  in  men's 
minds.  For  it  is  the  '' redudio  ad  absnrdiaii'  of  the 
whole  notion  of  the  infallibility  whicli  we  are  discussing. 
The  dogma  of  papal  infallibility  is  in  fact  a  very  logical 
issue  of  any  real  and  earnest  insistance  on  the  necessity 
for  an  infallible  standard  of  truth.  For  no  standard  is 
an  infallible  rule  in  prac'tice,  whatever  it  may  be  in 
theory,  if  it  is  open  to  various  interpretations ;  and, 
outside  the  range  of  mathematics,  this  is  probably  the 
case  with  every  ])ro})osition  ])ossible  to  human  language, 
when  the  authoi'  is   not   there  to  be  cross-questioned. 


IXFALLIBILITY.  117 

What  is  wanted  therefore  is  a  living  voice  which  can 
give  authoritative  interpretation  to  the  standards ;  and 
that  is  precisely  the  office  which  an  infallible  living 
P()])e  coidd  discharge  to  perfection.  There  need  be  no 
amljiguity  in  such  a  case.  If  two  bishops  should  differ 
about  the  decision  of  such  a  Pope,  they  could  refer  the 
matter  to  him,  and  ask  him  point  blank  did  he  mean 
this  or  that.  This  now  would  be  sometldng  like  infalli- 
bility ;  and  every  earnest  and  sincere  insistance  on  the 
absolute  necessity  f:)r  a  ready  and  perfect  criterion 
of  truth  ouo'ht  looicallv  to  involve  the  need  for  an 
infallibility  like  this. 

But  the  history  of  infallibility  diverged  into  a  new 
direction  at  the  Rel'ormation.  Then  it  was  declared 
that  both  Popes  and  Councils  had  eri-cd,  indeed  had 
been  oftener  wrong  than  right ;  and  no  ecclesiastical 
tradition  was  allowed  to  have  any  weight,  unless  it 
could  l)e  shown  that  it  was  not  merely  primitive  but 
ajiostolic.  Then  in  the  earthquake  that  shook  down 
the  old  landmarks,  when  enquirers  eagerly  asked  what 
guidance  was  left  for  them  through  the  })crplexitics  of 
their  age,  tluy  were  told  that  the  Bible  was  anq)ly 
sufficient  for  them,  ^s'ow  this  was  very  true  ;  and  it  was 
j)rccis(,'ly  iJie  truth  which  was  ncicded  in  those  times. 
Bui  J  very  nnich  <|uestion  whether  some  zeahms  Pro- 
testants of  our  time  bear  in  mind  ])recise]y  liow  that 
truth  (»perat(Hl  on  tlu!  age  of  the  Kefoi'ination.  Ifw(^ 
would  estim:it(!  th(!  j-eal  value  of  that  teaching,  and 
would    rightly  judge   the   direction  in  wliieh  it  ])ointod. 


118  INFA  LLIBILITY. 

we  ought  to  remember  what  a  terrible  shaking  of  the 
foundations  seemed  to  be  involved  in  the  substitution 
of  a  difficult  book  for  the  plain  assertions  of  Papal 
aixtliority.  I  suppose  that  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century  and  in  tlui  begiuning  of  the  sixteenth,  not 
courts  and  cities  only,  but  families  and  households  were 
distracted  and  divided,  somewhat  as  at  the  present  day. 
''  "What  I"  asked  the  elders,  "  do  you  mean  to  set  up 
your  conceited  judgment  against  the  venerable  authority 
of  the  Church  and  the  Holy  See  ?"  And  doiibtless  the 
earnest  answer  was  often  meekly  given  by  the  young 
who  were  thus  rebuked,  "No,  not  our  judgment:  we 
appeal  to  the  Word  of  Grod  in  the  Bible ;  and  that  we 
must  obey  rather  than  any  Pope."  Then  would  come 
the  rejoinder,  "Biit  you  know  that  in  the  interpretation 
of  the  sacred  Book  many  learned  Fathers  have  differed 
much,  and  have  submitted  their  differences  to  the  deci- 
sion of  the  Catholic  Clnu'ch  :  how  can  you  pretend  to 
distino-uish  the  true  meanintr,  where  <xreat  men  have 
gone  astray?"  AVliat  reply  could  be  made  but  this? 
"  We  believe  that  the  Spirit,  wliich  gave  the  Word,  will 
enable  us  to  interpret  it  to  the  salvation  of  our  souls. 
Our  prayer  is  like  that  of  tlu;  Psalmist,  '  0  Lord,  open 
thou  mine  ^^^(i^^  and  I  shall  see  wondrous  things  out 
of  thy  LaAv.'  We  may  be  mistaken  in  many  things ; 
l)ut  light  enough  will  be  given  us  to  find  our  way  to 
heaven."  Every  general  reader  knows  that  something 
like  this  was  the  effect  of  the  displacement  of  ecclesias- 
tical authority  by  the  Bible.     It  was  a  movement  on 


INFALLIBILITY.  119 

the  part  of  the  reformers  towards  freedom,  not  into 
anotlier  form  of  bondage ;  and  whatever  value  might 
l)e  reverently  attached  to  the  Bible,  it  was  in  effect  an 
appeal  to  the  individual  reason  and  conscience  as 
illumined  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  How  far  this  was  the 
case  may  be  illustrated  l)y  the  well-know7i  rashness  of 
Luther  ;  who.  because  the  Epistle  of  James  did  not  seem 
to  answer  to  his  needs,  or  at  least  a]>])eared  to  contradict 
those  Scriptures  which  did,  rejected  it  as  a  thing  of 
straw.  We  cannot  help  sometimes  lamenting  that  the 
course  of  human  affairs  should  so  often  have  swept 
aside  when  approximating  to  an  ideal  goal.  Like  as  the 
children  of  Israel,  when  in  sight  of  the  promised  land, 
were  diiven  to  march  back  again  towards  Lgy})t ;  so, 
repeatedly,  wlien  in  a  happy  hour  some  ideal  goal  of 
])rogniss  was  in  view,  uiaid<ind  have  turned  aside, 
and  jtrolonged  their  7narch  for  a  generation  or  an 
age.  Lut  there  has  ])een  a  meaniug  and  a  necessity  in 
it  always.  The  Israelites  raAV  from  Egy])t  w(,Te  hardly 
lit  to  encounter  the  fierce  Anakim  so  soon.  And  the 
IJelbrmcd  Church  fresh  from  Home  in  Luther's  days 
was  liardiv  fitted  to  gi-apple  with  the  problems,  that 
must  inevitably  present  theu)selv(;s  on  the  sittainmeut 
of  ]»erloct  sj.iritual  freedom.  Hence  men  turned  aside 
in  their  niarcli,  :ind  had  lonif  waTidei-ings  in  the  wilder- 
ness wliir'l)  wa>,  nidther  J'lii'vpt  )ior  Canaan,  neither 
l?om(!  ?ior  the  libertv  of  Christ.  And  only  at  the 
present  (l;iv  do  W(;  their  children  liegi'i  to  see  some 
prospect,  thouL;))  remote  as  yet,  of  the  ])ur(?  and  unfet- 
t+;red  lif(!  whiili  lives  in  th(^  S])irit  of  the  Lord. 


120  ixFALLiiuLirr. 

The  old  cravinfj  for  infiiUibility  !i"svokc  again  as  tlie 
remodelled  ehnrches  sought  to  elaborate  their  formulas, 
and  were  startled  by  the  rai)id  growth  of  divergent 
I'eligious  opiuions.  Nor  was  that  craving  left  unsatis- 
fied. Just  as  the  Israelites  longed  for  the  flesh-pots  of 
Egypt,  and  were  answered  by  a  surfeit  of  quails  which 
fell  in  heaps  till  they  bred  a  pestilence  in  the  camp, 
so  the  Protestants,  in  their  liomanist  longing  for 
infallibility,  Avere  answered  by  a  surfeit  of  scripture- 
proved  creeds  and  textual  comments  on  the  Bible,  which 
from  their  day  to  ours  have  been  at  once  a  satire  on 
infallibility  and  the  source  of  needless  sectarian  bitter- 
ness. And  still,  doAvai  to  the  present  day,  I  suppose  that 
a  large  proportion  of  the  Protestant  public  would  regard 
the  infallibility  of  the  Bible  as  the  Shibboleth  whicli 
distinguishes  the  believer  from  the  infidel.  It  remains 
therefore  that  we  should  address  ourselves  to  a  consi- 
deration of  this  substitution  of  an  Infallible  Book  for 
an  Infallible  Ecclesiastical  Authority.  That  for  my  otnti 
part  I  do  so  with  some  trepidation  I  shall  not  affect  to 
conceal :  trepidation,  not  from  any  uncertainty  as  to  the 
ultimate  issue  of  the  opinions  I  advocate ;  but  from  fear 
lest  my  Avords  should  injure  any  who  have  not  yet 
realized  the  significance  of  the  religious  revolution  through 
which  Ave  are  living  ;  and  from  a  haunting  doubt  as  to 
how  iai-  it  is  possible  for  any  one,  Avho  has  gradually 
grown  into  particular  forms  of  faith,  to  help  others  in 
suddenly  achieving  them,  Avithout  doing  violence  to  the 
religious  life  Avhich  he  only  seeks  to  expand.  God 
forbid  that  I  should  say  one  Avord  to  shake  the  true 


INFALLIBILITY.  121 

foundatioTis  of  any  man's  faitli  in  God's  redeeming  love 
as  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ.  God  forbid  that  I  should 
in  any  wise  depreciate  the  Bible  as  the  best  source,  next 
to  immediate  communion  with  God's  Spirit,  of  the 
pectdiar  inspirations  that  come  with  Christian  truth. 
But  necessity  is  laid  upon  us ;  and  woe  to  those  who  in 
these  times,  through  worldly  expediency  applied  to 
heavenly  tilings,  keep  back  even  the  faintest  glimmer 
of  light  which  they  think  they  can  throw  on  the  present 
perplexities  of  faith !  If  then  I  speak  at  all,  it  is 
because  of  an  overmastering  sense  of  danger  to  the  faith 
of  the  rising  generation  amongst  us  and,  so  far  as  they 
can  affect  it.  to  that  of  the  coming  age,  if  we  obstinately 
cling  to  a  solemn  lorm  of  Avords  wliich  has  no  longer  any 
soul  or  meaning  in  it.  In  this  respect  m\  imfortunate 
and  calamitous  example  is  set  us  by  some  generally 
noble  leaders  of  thought,  who  make  no  scruple  about  a 
solemn  declaration  that  they  '^  unfeujncdhjheUeve  allthe 
anioidcdl  scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament;''^  to 
which  Av<irds  no  granmiatical,  comnum-sense,  or  real 
meaning  can  Ix-  given,  that  is  not  habitually  contradicted 
by  the  whole  tendency  of  their  influence.  The  levity  of 
[)roi'e>sion  and  sid)scription,  and  the  unreality  in  the  iise 
of  language,  which  ai'e  unavoidably  encouraged  l)y  this 
Cast  and  loose  method  ol'  plaving  with  the  Bible,  must 
surely  liave  a  deiuorah'zing  influence  which  the  noblest 
sentiments  cniniot  neutralize.  It  niav  be,  and  indeed 
pi'objibly  is  true,  that  the  formal  nature  of  such 
subsci-iption>  ;uid  profl-ssions  nudics  tlu;m  more  strikingly 


122  INFALLIBILITY. 

obnoxious  to  animadversion ;  while  ten  thonsand  instances 
of  more  informal  inconsistency  escape  our  attention. 
But  when,  in  li^htinfT  for  religious  freedom  in  the  open, 
we  are  taunted  with  the  special  difficulties  sometimes 
found  in  the  narrowness  and  exclusiveness  of  free 
churches — difficulties  often  ridiculously  exaf^gerated — 
it  is  not  in  human  nature  to  suppress  a  protest  against 
the  intrusion  of  legal  fictions  into  the  divine  life  in  the 
supposed  interests  of  a  liberty  which  it  is  well  able  to 
assert  for  itself.  Otherwise  our  protest  would  be  out  of 
place.  We  should  have  to  search  a  long  time  before 
we  found  a  man  without  sin  in  this  matter  to  fling 
the  first  stone  at  the  Broad  Church  Clergy.  Many  of 
us,  who  are  bound  by  no  formal  pledges  on  the  subject, 
have  yet,  in  our  legitimate  anxiety  to  maintain  the 
reality  of  God's  inspirations  and  redeeming  grace, 
thought  it  necessary  to  insist  on  the  infallibility  of  the 
records  which  embody  the  history  of  God's  brightest 
revelations.  And  under  the  stress  of  that  supposed 
necessity  we  have  done  violence  not  only  to  our  own 
mental  faculties,  but  to  the  sacred  volume  itself.  Is  it 
not  for  instance  violence  which  would  not  be  tolerated 
in  dealing  with  any  other  record,  to  import  Satan  into 
the  narrative  of  the  fall,  when  no  mention  is  made  of 
any  agent  but  a  subtle  beast  of  the  field  ?  And  what 
compels  us  to  do  so,  unless  the  notion  that  the  comments 
of  inspired  men  on  this  narrative  give  an  infallibly 
true  interpretation?  Any  one,  who  attends  to  the 
imity  and  internal   connection  of  the  sixteenth  psalm, 


INI  A  LLIBILITY.  123 

must  surely  feel  that  to  preserve  St.  Peter's  infallibility 
we  do  \iolence  to  David,  when  we  try  to  conceive  in 
that  psahn  any  conscious  reference  to  Christ.  But 
if  tlie  views  advocated  in  the  previous  lectures  are 
in  the  main  true,  our  confidence  in  God's  inspira- 
tions and  redeemino;  OTace  has  no  need  of  factitious 
support  from  a  dogma  that  has  become  a  mere  form. 
In  commencing  these  Lectures  we  mentioned,  as  one 
of  the  signs  of  the  times,  that  it  was  impossible  to 
stat«  any  theory  of  the  Bible's  infallibility,  without 
encumbering  it  with  so  many  limitations  as  to  amount 
virtually  to  its  denial.  But  unfortunately  A-ery  few 
try  to  define  to  themselves  what  they  mean  by  it. 
It  is  sufficient  that  a  spurious  peace  and  rest  is  given  by 
the  decisive  ring  of  the  word.  Bear  in  mind  what  we 
should  mean  by  it  if  we  use  the  word  in  its  fair  and 
proper  sense.  Substantial  ti'uth  is  one  thing;  infalli- 
bility is  another  and  a  very  different  thing.  Now  once 
more  I  repeat,  I  want  to  loosen  no  one's  hold  on  the 
substantial  truth  of  the  Bible.  Were  there  any  prospect 
of  that  being  seriously  threatened,  the  future  might  seem 
black  indeed.  For  that  would  mean  that  men  w(Te  going 
to  lose  their  faith  in  the  Heavenly  Father,  their  hoi)cs 
of  immortality,  and  therefore  all  the  higher  moral  and 
social  forces  in  wbich  tluise  are  essential  elements.  But 
infalliliility,  if  it  is  to  be  taken  in  any  strict  and  proper 
sense,  mnst  inean  an  entin;,  unlimited,  and  tliercfon! 
rniraculons  freedom  from  error.  iS'ow  I  do  contend  that 
any  one  who  jirofesses  to  attach  this  notion  to  the  Bible 


124  INFALLIBILITY. 

uses  a  form  of  AvorJs  without  any  definite  meaning  at  all. 
For  if  you  ask  liim  is  the  English  version  free  from  error, 
he  Avill  of  course  have  to  answer,  no ;  and  therefore  the 
infallibiHty  for  which  he  contends  cannot  reside  in  that. 
If  farther  you  ask  him  does  he  loiow  of  any  Greek  or 
Hebrew  text  that  is  free  from  error,  he  nmst,  at  least  if 
he  understands  what  you  are  talking  about,  again  answer, 
no.  What  then  can  he  mean  by  insisting  that  the  Bible 
is  infallible  ?  What  Bible  ?  He  himself  never  saw  a 
Bible  free  from  error,  that  is,  infallible  ;  nor  has  he  heard 
of  any  one  else  who  has.  The  only  meaning  then  which 
he  can  possibly  have  is  this ;  that  the  first  or  autograph 
copy  of  each  book  now  bound  up  in  the  canon  was 
infallible  as  it  issued  from  the  hand  of  its  particular 
author.  But  no  one  contends  that  the  next  scribes,  who 
made  copies  from  each  autograph,  were  miraculously 
kept  from  making  mistakes ;  and  the  separate  books  were 
certainly  copied  out  several  times  before  they  were 
feathered  into  the  collection  which  we  call  the  Bible. 
Hence  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  no  such  thing  as  a  really 
infallible  Bible,  that  is,  a  complete  copy  of  the  Scriptures 
entirely  free  from  error,  ever  did  or  could  exist. 

The  usual  answer  made  to  this  mode  of  dealing  with 
the  question  is  of  course  that  it  is  hypercritical ;  that  it 
makes  a  mountain  out  of  a  mole-hill :  that  the  mistakes  of 
copyists  and  translators  are  altogether  trifling,  and  do  not 
affect  any  essential  doctrine.  But  how  arc  we  to  know 
that  ?  Properly  speaking,  degrees  of  infallibility  are  just 
as  impossible  as  degrees  of  parallelism  or  perpendicularity. 


IXFALLIBILITY.  125 

You  may  say  that  one  pair  of  lines  is  more  nearly 
})arallel  than  another ;  hut  to  say  that  it  is  more 
l)arallel  Avoukl  simply  bo  an  incorrect  use  of  language 
instinctively  corrected  in  thought.  But  unless  there  are 
definite  degrees  of  infallibility,  some  one  of  which  can 
bo  distinctly  guaranteed,  how  are  we  to  know  that 
in  any  copy  ot"  the  Scriptures,  or  in  any  Text,  there  are 
no  mistakes  above  a  certain  magnitude  ?  The  answer 
here  airain  is  of  course  that  the  daufjer  is  exao:o:<'i"ated : 
that  any  serious  undetected  mistakes  are  very  unlikely, 
and  that  an  enlightened  criticism  shows  this  to  Ix;  the 
case.  Precisely  so,  I  reply ;  but  one  indis})ensable 
element  in  criticism  is  the  amomit  of  moral  ])robability 
that  this  or  that  should  l)e  the  original  reading ;  and 
thercfon;  an  infallible  outward  standard,  tlumgli  once 
established,  la])ses  after  all  into  an  a})])eal  for  judgment 
to  '•  tlu;  verifying  faculty"  in  man.  Why,  what  then 
was  the  \i>^i  of  that  hypothetical,  momentary,  ami 
miracidous  s(;])arati()n  of  truth  from  error?  We  have 
to  separate  them  as  well  as  wo  can  now  ;  we  have  to 
d(!cide,  by  research  and  candid  criticism,  as  to  the 
amount  (if  ])i'()l)abiliry  that  any  important  eri'firs  remain 
undisc()\ci'('(|.  AVliat  then  is  gained  ])y  tlu;  dogma  of 
infalliljijity,  unless  the  satisfactioii  of  knowing  that  the 
trouble  \\assa\'ed  at  did'ei'ent  ])('i-iodsof  liistory  t(»  a  poi'tion 
of  sonic  one  generation  ?  See  then  to  what  an  absurdity 
this  Jiolion  of  infallihle  writers  with  ei'i-ing  copyists  and 
transl;;lors  reduces  us.  (rid  wrought  a  niii'acle  to 
secuiT  in  each  casi;  an  aufoi;Ta:i!i  infallible  copv  of  each 


126  IKFA  LLIBIL ITY. 

book,  whicli  none  but  a  few  scores  of  people  ever  saw ; 
but  He  did  not  sec  fit  to  watch  over  the  preservation  of 
that  copy ;  while  every  scribe  and  every  translator  who 
afterwards  meddled  with  it  was  suffered  to  fall  into 
error.  The  notion  is  altogether  abnormal,  monstrous, 
incongruous,  entirely  unworthy  of  association  with  the 
noble  history  of  inspiration. 

Thus  even  on  the  hypothesis  that  the  writers  of  each 
separate  book  were  infallible,  to  contend  for  the  existence 
of  an  infallible  Bible  now  is  to  iise  words  out  of  their 
natm-al  meaning,  and  in  the  non-natural  sense  with 
which  we  are  unfortunately  too  familiar.  But  perhaps 
it  may  be  said  that  all  our  attempts  hitherto  to  repre- 
sent the  doctrine  are  mere  caricature.  It  may  be 
admitted  that  no  one  contends  for  the  existence  of  any 
absolutely  infallible  copy  or  version  of  the  Bible  now. 
The  real  doctrine  it  may  be  said  is  this,  that  whatever 
statements  we  have  reasonable  ground  for  supposing 
to  Ijelong  to  the  original  text  we  are  bound  to  regard 
as  infallibly  true.  This  we  may  regard  as  a  moderate 
statement  of  the  doctrine;  tiie  most  moderate  in  fact 
which  is  consistent  with  the  retention  of  any  substantial 
meaning  in  the  phrase  "infallible  Bible."  And  in 
dealiiig  with  this  we  pass  over  the  incongruity  between 
'reasonable  ground'  and  infallible  certainty.  When  it 
is  rememl)ercd  what  is  meant  by  '  reasonable  ground,' 
how  entirely  the  arguments  of  textual  and  historical 
criticism  lie  within  the  compass  of  the  earthly  under- 
standing or  the  merelv  loirical  faculties ;  it  will  be  felt  at 


INFALLIBILITY.  127 

once  that  the  probahility  meant  by  '  reasonable  oround. ' 
in  such  a  case  is  entirely  incomniensiirable  Avith  tlie 
intaliil)]e  certainty  of  a  spiritual  faith  which  is  supposed 
to  be  Ijuilt  upon  it.  But  let  that  pass.  We  assume  it 
as  a  fair  description  of  Biblical  infallibility,  that  whatever 
statements  may  rio-htly  be  regarded  as  part  of  the 
original  documents  must  be  acce])ted  as  infallibly  true. 
Is  it  then  infallibly  true  that  the  earth  as  it  now 
stands,  and  the  sun,  moon  and  stars  of  heaven  were  all 
created  in  six  days  some  five  or  six  thousand  years 
ago  ?  As  surely  as  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  forms 
))art  of  the  now  existing  Pentateuch,  so  certainly  was 
that  the  simple  burden  of  the  writer's  story.  And  the 
])rocesses  of  torture,  by  Avliich  every  fresh  result  of 
g^'ological  science  has  im}>osed  a  new  interpretation  on 
one  of  the  most  umnistakeable  and  straightl'orward  of 
narratives,  are  a  striking  illustration  ol'  the  violence 
which  the  dogma  of  infallibility  has  done  to  the  l)ook 
it  ])rofesses  to  honour.  AVith  all  the  accumulating 
proofs  we  have  of  tlic  wry  gradual  growth  of  ci\Ilizaiion ; 
with  ()\\v  ])rcsent  certaintj'  as  to  the  enormous  anti([uity 
ol'  hiiii;'uag!-^  widely  removed  as  tlie  Sausci-it  and  (he 
IJasipic.  touctlicr  with  the  long  ])i\"vi(i!is  dc\c!.)piiifiit 
whicli  they  imply:  with  our  knowledge  tluit  the  Xegrf), 
the  l\g\|iti;in,  the  Chinese,  \W^  Ar\an  e\i>!ed,  in  all 
theii'  <li\ei-.>ity  oC  feature,  ianguaire.  and  (•i\ilizat  ion  at 
least  two  tlxdisand  years  Icfore  Christ  :  is  it  po-sihle  to 
regard  it  as  inlallibly  triu;  that  the  \vhole  ]io|iidatioii  of 
the   world   had   been  reduced  bv  a  delui''e  t(^  one  fami.N' 


128  IXFALLllilLlTY. 

some  low  hundred  years  before  that  date  ?  Is  it  infal- 
libly true  that  the  Almighty  Father  of  mankind  made 
himself  a  sympathizing  ])artizan  in  the  savage  and 
pitiless  Avartare  of  the  early  Hebrews  ?  Is  it  infallibly 
true  that  He,  who  is  the  husbaml  of  the  widow  and  the 
Father  of  the  fatherless,  looked  on  and  ap})roved  the  base 
and  cruel  murder  of  the  seven  sons  of  Saul,*  nay  was 
appeased,  and  satisfied,  and  forewent  his  wrath  when 
He  saw  their  AVi'etched  mother  watching  in  her  misery 
by  their  gibbeted  corpses?  "  0  you  must  make  allow- 
ance for  the  difference  of  the  times,"  say  some;  "you 
must  remember  that  God  has  been  educating  the  race, 
and  that  all  these  records  belong  to  the  imperfect  ages 
of  childhood."  Good  ;  but  that  is  not  the  way  to  treat 
an  infallible  standard  of  historical  and  moral  truth. 
Truly  this  would  indeed  be  to  play  fast  and  loose  with 
infallil)ility  I  Are  we  to  understand  that  the  difference 
of  the  times  affected  the  essential  nature  of  the  truth, 
or  only  the  character  of  the  record  ?  If  the  latter,  then 
this  is  only  a  I'ound-about  way  of  saying  that  the 
difference  of  times  })revented  the  record  from  being 
infallible.  AVas  it  any  more  true  when  the  Penta- 
teuch was  -vM'itten  than  it  is  now,  that  the  universe  was 
made  in  six  days?  If  that  is  not  the  allowance 
we  are  to  make  for  difference  of  the  times,  the  only 
alternative  is  that  we  are  to  make  allowance  for  the 
inevitable  scientific  ignorance  of  the  A\Titer ;  and  then 
of  course  infallibility  is  gone.  Or  if  we  are  to  a|)ply 
*  2  Sam.  xxi.  1.  kc. 


INFALLIBILITY .  129 

(lie  remark  to  the  moral  diffieultv  mentioned  just  now, 
since  we  know  tliat  difference  of  times  cannot  affect 
tJje  nature  of  the  Most  Hio;h,  the  only  other  alternative 
which  the  difference  of  the  times  sufrgests  is  a  duller 
perception  of  the  supreme  holiness  of  God.  KxA  here 
again  the  claim  of  infallibility  is  dropped.  AVe  are  no 
doubt  \ery  rightly  called  upon  to  make  allowance  for 
the  difference  of  the  times.  Indeed  we  ought  always  to 
l)e  most  anxious  to  do  so  ;  because  thus  only  can  we 
come  into  sympathizing  contact  with  the  struggles  of 
human  souls  in  those  days.  Studied  in  this  way,  the 
l)Ooks  of  the  Old  Testament  are  most  ])reci()us  documents, 
])(,'aring  indubital)le  traces  of  the  divine  inspirations 
wliich  lune  Ix'cn  the  grand  impulse  of  j)rogress.  Ikit 
all  that  remains  when  the  figment  of  infallibility  is 
abandoned;  and  abandoned  it  really  is  even  by  those 
who  nominally  maintain  it. 

There  is  how<'ver  a  notion  that  infalliljility  may 
]»ossi]jly  be  confined  to  moral  and  spiritual  truth.  And 
this  Would  pei'liaps  be  maintained  l)y  some,  who,  Avhen 
the  ^allle  limited  iid'allibility  is  clainiecl  for  the  I'ope. 
would  detect  the  lalhuy  in  an  instant.  ]Moral  and 
.■-jiii-itiial  truth  thev  would  ure-e  (h)  not  exi>t  in  aTiy 
abstract  ^tate;  tluy^  are  oiiK'  e.\|)ressions  of  relation 
belweeii  mall,  (jod,  and  creation  :  and  whenev<'r  any  of 
the  terni^  in\ol\c(|  are  mi^eonc(  i\'ed,  the  relations  will 
be  inoi-e  ())■  !e-s  mi.---tated.  And  heside,-,  the  method  of 
Scri]>ture.  \\iii<'h  is  like  tlu't  of  rnation.  conci'ele  and 
objectisx',   eon.-i>ting  in   (j\-olulion   of  the  cunsciou.^-scif 

K 


130  IXFA  LLiniLITY. 

Ly  contemplation  of  tlie  not-self,  is  wholly  inconsistent 
with  any  such  separation  of  the  two  elements.  The 
lesson,  the  power,  the  life  are  on  the  whole  in  the 
history ;  and  therefore  must  more  or  less  share  the 
defects  of  the  history.  The  le<j:endary  account  of  the 
ori^Lvin  and  fall  of  man  naturally  lead  on  to  a  legendary 
system  of  dogma  concerning  transmitted  gviilt  and  the 
visitation  of  the  parents'  sins  upon  the  children,  such  as 
will  hardly  he  maintained  now  to  he  of  perfect  purity. 
Besides,  as  we  cannot  allow  different  degrees  of  infalli- 
bility, the  Scriptures  ought  on  such  a  view  to  exhibit 
one  continuous  level  tone  of  feeling  on  moral  and 
s})iritual  life  from  Genesis  to  llevelation.  But  this  is 
notoriously  not  the  case ;  and  the  instances  already 
given  are  sufficient  to  ])rove  it.  Nay,  while  I  gladly 
admit  and  earnestly  maintain  that  the  New  Testament 
presents  us  with  ;i  most  pure  and  lofty  law  of  life;  yet 
it  c-amiot  be  denied  that  here  and  there  notions  of 
morality  are  taught,  Avhich  modern  Christians  ([uietly 
ignore  as  unsuited  to  tlu'ir  times.  Thus  the  A[)ostles,  in 
the  council  at  Jerusalem,  insisted  that  abstinence  from 
things  strangled  and  from  blood  was  as  much  a 
]);>rt  of  Christian  law  as  purity  i'rom  foi'nication  ;  and 
the  complete  subjection  of  Avomen,  suggested  in  the 
social  and  domestic  ethics  of  the  e[)istles,  is  either 
explained  away  or  openly  rej)udiated  now.  On  the 
Avhole  then,  if  the  existence  of  an  infallible  standard  be 
discussed  as  a  question  of  fact,  it  can  easily  be  shown 
that    it   is   imjjossible   to  contend  Ibr  it  as   a  practical 


INFALLIBILITY.  131 

issue   at  all ;    that  it    is    merely   a    sort  of  pass-word 
distinfruisliiiif^  rival  camps  of  tlioiiglit. 

But  the  subject  has  yet  one  other  aspect,  justice 
to  -which  wt)uld  require  f^ir  more  time  than  we 
have  at  our  disposal.  For,  as  I  hinted  in  my  intro- 
ductory remarks,  it  is  to  many  minds  by  no  means 
sufficient  to  show  what  God  lias  done ;  but  they  recpiire 
us  also  to  show  that  He  ounld  to  have  done  it,  and  that 
it  is  the  best  thing  for  us.  Well  then,  if  I  might 
})resume  to  justify  the  ways  of  God  to  man,  I  slioidd 
urge  that  successive  impulses  of  ins})iration  apart  from 
infallibility  are  best  adapted  to  that  gradual  progress 
which  God  has  ordained  to  be  the  history  of  man, 
Xcxt  I  would  suggest,  that  reasonable  historical  certainty 
eonccruing  th(;  grealest  crises  of  insj)iration  is  all  th;it 
is  needed  lor  the  sj)iritual  education  of  following  ages. 
Tills  <i\\ii>  all  the  assistance  and  sufjo-esticm  and  con- 
finiiation  that  a  liighly  developed  i'aith  requires,  without 
sutt'ering  it  to  fall  into  that  abject  dependence  u])on  the 
past,  which  too  often  seeks  the  living  God  only  amongst 
the  dead.  In  su])])ort  of  this  ])oint  I  would  remind  you. 
that  the  direct  iiiHuonc(!  of  tlu;  J)ivine  S]>irit  is  as 
a<'ee->ible  now  as  ever  it  was  to  every  devout  mind. 
And  of  course  this  is  in  some  soi't  admitt(.'d  by  all 
(,Mn-i-tians,  though  we  carniot  but  b(^  ania/ed  at  the 
little  signitieance  they  seem  io  attach  to  it.  And  finally 
I.  would  insist  that  our  moral  and  sjiiritual  sal\ation 
dejx'iuU.  not  on  intelleclnal  a]i|ii'ehension  of  dogma,  but 
(;n  that  lovaltv  of  sold  which  is  the   esso.'ice   of  all   true 


132  INFALLIBILITY. 

laitli.     On  caeli  of  these  points  I  will  say  a  word  to 
indicate  its  hearings. 

On  the  wliole  then  we  see  in  the  history  of  mankind 
a  gradual  progress  from  a  sim})ler  to  a  more  complex 
life,  from  ignorance  to  knowledge,  from  narrow  super- 
stitions towards  a  universal  n^ligion.  Now  if  in  the 
midst  of  this  slowly  growing  dawn  any  sudden  tiash  of 
absolutely  infallible  knowledge  had  fallen  on  eyes 
unprepared  for  such  a  light,  it  must  have  made  only  a 
blinding  glare,  that  could  only  confuse  instead  of 
cieai'ing  })orce})tion.  Suppose  for  instance  that  Moses, 
at  the  remote  age  when  he  lived,  had  been  made 
conversant  Avith  the  geological  history  of  creation : 
imagine  him  to  have  been  taught  that  the  love  of  God 
embraces  all  men  of  every  nation  without  partiality  to 
any,  and  that  His  kingdom  is  not  of  this  Avorld  but 
s])iritual  and  universal ;  would  not  such  knowledge  have 
tlirown  the  great  ])rophet  wholly  oxit  of  sym})athy  with 
his  tim(\«;,  and  made  him  inca])able  of  dealing  with  a 
stiff-necked  and  barbarous  })eople?  But  feeling  only 
a  divine  imjmlse  in  his  soul  to  raise  his  people  from 
bondage  into  frce(lom,  to  wean  them  i'rom  idolatry,  to 
inspire  them  with  devotion  to  the  supreme  God,  to 
educate  them  by  the  wisest  laws,  and  to  enrich  their 
memories  by  the  noblest  traditions  he  could  collect  from 
tlie  past,  this  enabled  him  to  ser\-e  his  oAvn  generation 
so  that  he  becamci  an  midying  jjower  throughout  the 
liistory  of  the  Avoi'ld:  an  undying  ])owcr,  because  his 
constitution    and  his  laws    generated    spiritual    results 


ly FALLIBILITY.  133 

impossible  for  him  to  have  foreseen;  so  that,  as  the  Lord 
himself  said,  not  one  jot  or  tittle  passed  from  Mosaism  till 
all  was  fulfilled  in  a  higher  form.  So  is  it  in  all  instances 
of  extraordinary  influence  over  the  progress  of  human 
affairs.  That  influence  was  exerted  mider  circumstances 
which  would  have  made  the  exhibition  of  absolutely 
infallible  knowledge  an  insuperable  obstacle  to  success. 
Even  Christ  himself,  though  so  consciously  divine, 
claimed  not  on  earth  equality  with  God.  He  arrogated 
to  himself  no  consciousness  of  omniscience  ;*  nor  any 
supernatural  knowledge,  except  what  bore  upon  the 
mission  He  came  to  fulfil ;  but  meekly  lived  and  died 
a,s  a  strictly  Innnan  incarnation  of  divine  purity,  love, 
self-sacrifice,  in  a  Avord,  of  spiritual  truth. 

If  it  b('  asked  how  we  are  to  know  what  He  vfas 
and  did,  without  any  infidlible  witnesses,  I  answer  that 
reasonable  historical  testimony  is  all  Ave  need;  and  this 
the  Xew  Testament  gives  us.  The  misfortune  is  that  if 
a  man  denies  the  infallibility  <jf  the  gospels,  he  is  sup- 
posed to  deny  their  authenticity  as  well;  though  there 
is  no  necessary  connection  whatever  betAveen  the  tAvo 
positions.  Their  fallacious  association  in  so  many 
minds  arises  ]mrtly,  I  imagine,  from  the  [)revalent 
exclusivencss  of  schools  of  thought,  Avliich  gather  into 
SA'mmctrical  glolniles  like  (piicksiKci'  dropped  upon  a, 
tal)lc,  and  know  of  no  comnninion  but  complete  absorj)- 
tion.  Thus  it  comes  to  jniss  that  if  \vc  adopt  a  suggestion 
from   any  one   party,  we   arc   .siij)[»oscd  to   be   identified 


134  INFALLIBILITY. 

Avitli  it  wholly.  But  the  fallacious  association  referred 
to  arises  also  froui  another  cause,  and  that  is  a  distrust, 
on  the  j)art  of  spiritual  conservatives  theuiselves,  of  the 
strength  of  the  critical  e\idences  for  the  authenticity 
of  the  gospels — distrust  sometimes  merely  ignorant^ 
sometimes  only  nervous — but  in  either  case  leading  to 
a  rash  determination  to  treat  the  scriptm-al  books  in  a 
mode  utterly  unknown  to  scientific  criticism.  For 
practically  it  is  because  of  their  importance  that  the  infal- 
libility of  those  books  is  assumed ;  and  the  question  of 
their  authenticity  is  discussed  only  to  give  a  show  of  sup- 
l)ort  to  this.  If  then  any  one  abandons  the  one,  he  is 
supposed  as  a  matter  of  course  to  surrender  the  other. 
At  the  same  time,  those  who  object  to  the  infallibility 
of  the  books  seem  influenced  by  the  same  fallacious 
association  to  overlook  the  real  strength  of  the  external 
evidence  for  their  apostolic  origin.  For  my  own  part, 
I  am  strongly  of  opinion  that  there  are  not  more  than 
two  or  three  books  in  the  Kew  Testament  about  the 
authorship  of  which  there  is  any  reasonable  doubt. 
The  (piotations  in  Irenanis,  especially  considering  his 
connection  with  Polycarp;  the  references  in  Justin 
JMartyr;  and  the  impression  made  by  most  writers, 
whether  orthodox  or  heterodox,  of  the  second  century, 
that  the  church  had  grown  uj)  luidor  the  influence  of 
])recisely  such  an  apostolic  legacy  as  we  possess  in  the 
New  Testament  Canon,  are  it  ap])ears  to  me  decisive  of 
the  cpiestion ;  or  at  least  would  Ix.'  considered  so  in  the 
case  of  any  heathen  philosophers  or  historians.     Even 


INFALLIBILITY.  135 

making  a  larger  allowance  tlian  I  have  done  for  cases 
of  reasonable  doubt,  still  the  books*  and  the  body  of 
apostolic  tradition,  admitted  by  all  but  the  wildest 
prophets  of  unbelief,  form  a  very  strong  testimony  to 
the  chief  events  of  the  Gospel  History,  including  of 
course  the  resurrection  of  Christ.  It  Avill  be  well  under- 
stood that  I  am  brino-ing  no  charo;e  of  hardness  of 
heart  or  wilful  l:)lindness  ao-ainst  those  who  think 
otherwise.  I  am  so  convinced  of  the  possiljle  inde- 
pendence of  faith  and  ojjinion,  that  I  trouble  myself 
comparatively  little  about  the  latter.  I  am  only  con- 
tending that  if  the  events  of  that  wonderful  divine 
sunrise  are  credible  at  all,  we  have  evidence  enough  to 
pro\e  them  ;  and  that  if  they  are  altogether  incredible, 
the  claim  of  infallibility  for  the  Book  which  reports 
them  only  recoils  upon  it,  in  the  addition  of  undeserved 
hatred  and  })rejudice  to  mibelief.  All  that  we  need  is 
a  consensus  of  historical  testimony  strong  in  proportion 
to  the  greatness  of  the  issue ;  and  that  I  maintain  we 
have  in  the  Xew  Testament  books. 

The  reasonableness  of  such  a  position  will  be  more 
a])pan'nt,  if  we  remem])er  that  the  inspirations  of  old 
times  were  not  intended  to  rob  the  modern  age  of  direct 
communion  Avith  God  ;  but  rather  to  enrich  the  nature 
which  makes  it  ])ossi])le.  Thev  suggest  the  tendei"  yet 
soleiiui  rcs])onsibi]ity  and  the  immoi'tal  significance 
which  nmh^-lie  tlie  commonest  life;  and  in  awakening 

*  Tlic  E])i>tlcs  to  tlif  ('(irititliiaii-.  Ilmiuins,  (ialatiiuis,  and  the 
Ileveliitinji  of  Si.  .Juliu  ^voul'l  hardly  be  disputed  by  ujiy  one. 


136  i:X FALLIBILITY. 

the  conscienco  tliey  prove,  not  tlie  possibility  only,  but 
the  actniil  reality  of  present  communion  with  the 
Father.  When  once  the  reality  of  this  is  felt,  then  a 
criterion  of  truth  is  given  better  far,  because  more 
educational  in  its  inflvience,  than  any  outward  infallible 
standard.  For  God  must  be  better  than  the  best  that 
we  can  think ;  juster  and  purer  than  our  highest  thoiights ; 
more  loving,  tender,  and  patient  than  our  compassion's 
widest  reach.  Ask,  therefore,  when  other  certainties 
fail,  does  this  or  that  view  of  religious  truth  most 
enlarge  and  deepen  my  love  to  God  and  man  ?  Do  I 
feel  more  the  embrace  of  a  Divine  Life,  when  I  try  to 
believe  in  everlasting  damnation,  or  when  I  "  faintly 
trust  the  larger  hope?"  What  is  most  congruous  with 
the  most  essential  conditions  of  thought  and  s])rings  of 
feeling  within  me,  a  universe  of  lifeless  atoms,  or  a 
world  that  lives  and  moves  and  has  its  being  in  God  ? 
How  do  I  most  worthily  think  of  the  Father  of  my 
Spirit — as  a  nameless  Abstraction,  lonely  and  apart,  or 
as  the  glory  in  the  sun,  the  majesty  in  the  sky,  the 
warmth  in  the  heart,  the  inspiration  of  apostles  and 
prophets,  "  the  love  of  Christ  that  passeth  knowledge?" 
I  know  that  questions  like  these  may  lead  to  different 
issiies  in  different  men ;  I  know  that  they  aftbrd  no 
rule  to  ensure  uniformity  of  theological  o]>inion.  But 
if  that  be  made  a  reproach,  it  is  ])recisely  the  difficulty 
which  Homanists,  quite  as  forcibly,  make  about  the 
substitution  of  a  Ik)ok  for  the  autlioritative  decisions  of 
the  Church.     And  farther,  they  who  make  this  objection 


INFA  LLIBILITY.  137 

would  for  the  most  part  tbemselves  deny  that  any  man 
can  read  the  Bible  aright  without  the  help  of  the 
Holv  Ghost.  But  if  He  is  our  teacher,  He  needs  no 
infallible  hook  to  help  Him.  Xor  is  it  His  method  to 
dazzle  us  Avith  unmixed  truth  at  once.  Amidst  a  world 
of  distracting  suggestions,  He  leads  us  on  from  step  to 
step,  though  in  obscurity  yet  always  consciously  higher. 
As  when  we  climb  a  mountain  in  a  mist,  guided  by  the 
piercing  glimmer  of  the  snow  that  crowns  the  cloudless 
summit.  He  draws  us  by  His  "  kindly  light,"  Avhicli 
promises  to  every  aroused  and  active  soul  a  clearer  day, 
a  brighter  experience,  a  higher  truth.  Keep  your  face 
toward  the  light — in  the  direc-tion  of  purer  feeling, 
larger  charity,  firmer  self-control,  profomider  devotion 
— keep  }'our  i'ace  toward  the  light ;  for  then  you  are 
climbing  towards  God. 

Finally,  the  absence  of  any  infallible  measure  of  theo- 
logical correctness  is  Tiot,  as  some  would  urge  that  it  is, 
the  slightest  derogation  from  the  closely  Avatchful  pro- 
vidence; and  earnest  redeeming  purpose  of  God  ;  nor 
•  Iocs  it  make  any  difticulty  in  access  to  His  favour: 
because  for  this  only  is  nuui  res])onsible,  not  ibi-  belief 
of  this  or  that  opinion,  not  for  correctness  oi' conclusion, 
but  ibr  keeping  his  face;  toward  tlie  liglit  ;  that  is,  i'or 
lo}'ahy  of  soul.  Jbit  whenever  men  urge  liiat  (bxl  must 
iiccmIs  have  given  us  some  outward  infalHl)!(!  testimony 
to  this  or  that  doctrine  becaux'  it  is  so  important, 
there  al\\;iy>  underlies  this  assei'tion  an  :i>>innption  that 
the  know  lcdi:<;   and  l)elief  of  the  doctrini;  in  (piesiiou  is 


138  INFALLIBILITI, 

necessary  to  salvation.  But  against  such  an  assumption, 
not  the  intellect  only,  but  the  heart  and  conscience  of 
humanity  increasingly  rebel.  Yet  we  i'reely  grant  that 
such  a  notion  could  hardly  have  taken  so  strong  a 
hold  of  mankind  as  it  has  done,  unless  it  had  been  a 
perversion  of  truth  rather  than  entirely  false.  What  is 
true  in  it  I  believe  to  be  this ;  that  we  always  need  in 
the  future  the  growing  light  of  some  ideal,  fairer  than 
anything  we  have  attained.  But  this  ideal,  by  necessity 
of  the  case,  just  because  it  is  higlier  and  better  than  any 
past  attainment,  is  to  that  extent  a  revelation  of  God ; 
and  therefore  devotion  to  that  is  loyalty  of  soul  and 
faith  in  God.  So  Abraham  was  saved,  that  is,  delivered 
from  base  associations,  piu'ified,  exalted,  and  made  a 
saint,  not  by  faith  in  Christ,  at  least  as  that  phrase  is 
generally  imderstood,*  but  by  faith  in  the  Providence  that 
guided  him  away  from  an  idolatrous  house  towards  an 
indejiondent  and  more  spiritual  life.  He  followed  an 
ideal  higher  than  had  been  attained;  and  in  this  he 
showed  the  loyalty  of  soul,  which  is  always  in  one  way 
or  other  equivalent  to  faith  in  God.  So  David  was 
saved,  not  by  the  meek  virtues  of  a  later  age,  but  by 
truth  to  the  kingly  instincts  which  came  as  an  inspiration 
from  God.  So  Elijah  ascended  the  heavens  of  sacred 
fame  in  a  chariot  of  fire,  not  by  a  creed  like  that  of 
Augustine  or  Calvin,  but  by  the  ardour  with  which  he 
followed  the  high  calling  of  God,  iji  protest  against  the 

*  But  if  the  words  Lc  taken  as  equivalent  to  faith  in  the  Love  of 
God,  then  it  is  veiy  true  that  Abraham  was  saved  by  faith  in  Christ. 


INFALLIBILITY.  139 

baseness  of  the  times.  I^ow  in  the  divine  humanity  of 
Christ  the  ■world  received  an  ideal,  which  as  we  believe 
needs  no  renewal,  save  in  '"the  Christ  that  is  to  be,"  the 
ideal  embodied  in  a  race  instead  of  in  a  man.  He 
breathed  upon  the  world  and  it  arose  from  death.  Since 
His  day  it  lives  a  new  life,  because  of  the  spirit  with 
which  He  has  inspired  it.  And  if  there  is  any  failure 
in  the  force  of  our  religious  life  now,  it  is  not  a  new 
ideal  that  we  want,  but  only  an  expansion  of  His  spirit. 
Why  should  you  be  alarmed  at  the  responsibility  of 
living  in  the  spirit  instead  of  on  the  letter  ?  God  is 
with  you,  God  is  in  you ;  and  because  He  is  with  you 
He  asks,  "  u-laj  even  of  yourselves  judge  ye  not  that 
ichich  is  riylitf  He  Avill  not  condemn  you  ibr  any 
intellectual  mistake  :  but  only  for  the  disloyalty  of  soul, 
which  will  not  follow  the  guidance  of  his  Spirit  towards 
a  higher  tone  of  life  and  a  larger  hearted  faith.  But 
he  who  in  reverence,  sincerity,  and  self-sacrifice  follows 
the  brightest  shining  of  God's  light,  may  feel  assured 
th;it  lik(i  the  sliip  with  its  compass  he  carries  a  guide 
withi/i  him,  which  shall  bring  him  right  at  last. 


LECTUKE   V. 


THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

^'  Search  the  scriptui'es,  for  in  them  ye  thinh  ye  have  ctcrnalWfe; 
and  they  are  they  which  testify  of  vie. — John  v.  3'J. 

As  tliis  is  our  concluding  lecture,  it  will  be  well  to 
recall  your  attention  to  tlie  chief  points  on  which  we  have 
insisted  in  the  preceding  discourses  ;  because  those  points 
are  directly  suggestive  of  the  remarks  I  have  to  offer  on 
the  final  subject  announced.  In  the  first  two  lectures  I 
asked  your  attention  to  certain  admitted  facts  of  Human 
Natin-e,  which  imply  the  absolute  necessity  of  religion 
for  all  the  ultimate  aims  of  progress  ;  and  at  any  rate 
make  Atlu;ism  impossible  as  the  finality  of  human 
thought.  The  longing  for  a  Final  Cause,  such  as  can 
give  significance  and  rationality  to  the  bewildering 
maze  of  forces  around  us,  is  so  ineradicable  a 
characteristic  of  mankind,  that  we  mny  well  suppose 
it  has  some  reason  in  the  vdtimate  reality  of  things. 
Some  feeling  of  the  Divinity  about  us  is  an  element  in 


THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE.  141 

tlie   o;c'ieric  consciousness   of  the    race ;    and   tliis  avo 
liavo  maintained   to   involve   a   susce})tibility  to  direct 
])crceptions  of  God,  and  to  personal  comniimion  with 
the  Eternal  Spirit.     The  instinctive  reverence  which  is 
awakened  in  the  heart  by  any  enlarged  view  of  Creation  ; 
the  warm  loyalty  with  which  the  sonl  recognizes  universal 
law  ;  the  feeling  of  a  mystery  in  life  ;  the  prophetic  fore- 
caste  that  this  must  he  nnfolded  more  and  more,  yet  never 
can  be  wholly  revealed — all  these  are  fornas  of  the  God- 
consciousness  in  man ;  nay,  I  believe  its  signs  may  be 
detected  in  the  humblest  emotions  of  wonder,  faithful- 
ness,  and  even  curiosity,  which  distinguisli  the  lowest 
barbarian  from  the  beast.     On   the  other  hand,  if  the 
noblest  historic  experiences  of  the  race,  nay  if  our  own 
hiii,he>t    moments   wiiich    live   in    memory  inean    any- 
thing, this  sensitiveness  to  the  hHvinity  which  miderlies 
and    o\'('r-i"iiles    tiie   w(jrld    is    capable   of   becoming  a 
direct   and  personal  comnumion  Avith  God.     What  tlien 
is  the  food  in\  which    tliis   God-consciousness   b^'cs  and 
grows?      ()Iod   breathes  upon  it  the  breath  of  life;;   and 
in  pi'oportioii  as  it  is  awa.kened   to   a  realization  of  its 
own  iii>tincts,  it  c;in   find   (iod  everywhere.      Jhit  in  tin,' 
wealaie.'S   and   uiiceriiiinty   oi'    its    youth   A\hi(h    is    not 
V!'t    ovci'passed,   it  uiosl,  rea(ii]y  and  naturally  s(!zes  on 
the   in-jiin.'d    utt('i"ances  of  other   men    and    olhci'  ages. 
Vuv    Niich     ulicninees    sum     ujt    and    set     in    store     tin; 
aecumulaled     spiritual     exjiei'ienees    of    diiys   gone    b\-, 
lhu>  ein'ii-hing  our  souls  witli    the   concehira^ed    life  ol" 
great  crises  in  which  the  pr('gre.-.s  oi' centui'io  biU'c  fruit. 


142  THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

Pursuing  this  suLject  in  another  lecture,  we  argued  that 
to  look  for  an  infallible  standard  of  truth,  which  can 
correct  the  notions  of  the  God-consciousness  as  exactly 
as  the  standard  imperial  yard  corrects  the  tradesman's 
measure,  is  to  misunderstand  the  divine  disci])line  of 
our  souls,  and  to  misread  all  human  history.  In  this 
course  of  thought  we  have  made  repeated  and  special 
reference  to  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Scriptm-os,  and 
have  endeavoured  to  show  that  the  princi])les  we  have 
maintained  are  of  necessity  applicable  to  them.  As 
regards  their  spiritual  teaching,  we  have  contended  that 
these  Scriptures  are  supreme  but  not  alone  in  their 
inspiration ;  Avliile  we  have  also  endeavoured  to  show 
that  their  infallibility  is  entirely  untenable,  and  indeed 
is  practically  abandoned  even  by  those  who  strive  for 
the  name.  The  question  then  naturally  arises,  what  is 
the  right  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  cidtivation  of  our 
spiritual  faculties  ?  At  the  same  time  the  very  necessity 
for  asking  the  question  suggests  the  j)Ossibility  of  abuse; 
and  experience  shows  that  abuse  of  the  Bible  has  been 
far  too  connnon,  with  the  most  mischievous  results,  not 
only  to  religious  ])hil(^sophy,  but  to  J'iety  and  morality. 

In  an  attem])t  to  meet  such  questions,  we  cannot  do 
better  than  follow  out  the  suggesti(jns  ai'ising  out  of 
the  instructive  and  impressive  words  of  our  Lord  which 
we  have  taken  for  our  text.  I  venture  to  agree  with 
those  who  would  read  those  words  thus  :  "  Ye  do  search 
the  Scr'n.tures,  because  in  them  ye  think  ije  have  eternal 
life ;  and  they  are  thcij  ichich  testify  of  me  :  and  ye  will 


THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE.  U3 

not  come  unto  ine  that  ye  might  have  life.'''  As  it 
would  be  out  of  place  to  occupy  much  time  now  with  a 
point  of  mere  critical  discussion,  I  will  content  myself 
with  stating  in  a  word  or  two  my  reasons  for  adopting 
tliis  mode  of  reading  the  text.  You  are  probably  aware 
that  the  verb  at  tlie  commencement  may  be  taken  either 
as  imperative  or  as  indicative.  I  will  not  conceal  that 
there  is  a  preponderance  of  critical  authorities  in  favour 
of  tlie  im[)erative  rendering.  Their  grammatical  reasons 
for  this  how<iver  are  not  decisive ;  and  I  have  a 
strong  feeling  that  the  context  not  only  suggests,  but 
almost  re([nires  the  indicative.  For  there  was  no  need 
to  exliort  the  chiss  of  Jews  witli  whom  our  Lord  was 
s])eak!ng  to  search  the  scri[)tures;  ])ecause  in  truth  they 
hardh'  did  anytln'ng  else.  Indeed  tiie  Lord  himself 
recognizes  tliis  in  tlui  final  verses  of  the  chapter,  wlien 
he  njbiikes  th(;  hoUowness  of  their  confidence  in  Closes. 
And  when  he  sp.ys,  "if  ye  bebeve  not  Moses,  how  sluill 
v<!  bcHcve  my  words?''  the  argument  evidently  is,  "if 
vm  arc  unimpressed  by  the  ])reliminary  instnu-tion 
with  W!ii<-!i  voii  ai'e  so  boastfully  familiar,  \u)\v  is  it 
likclv  that  \'i)U  can  understand  niy  mission?""  The 
indicati\(;  would  therefore  Ije  more  coiisonajit  with  the 
(•ircum>tun(('s  and  with  tlu;  ibliowing  context.  ]jut  it 
is  also  more  consist(!nt  with  tin;  preci'ding  context  as 
well.  J''or  in  the  latt<.'r  j)art  of  tlic  cha])ter  i\\v.  Lord  is 
rei'erriiig  his  o])])onents  to  certain  t(.'slimonics,  whicii  they 
thi'msfl\-!'S  jii-ofcss  to  acknowlcilg.".  lie  is  not  asking 
tlicii)    to   seek   out   new  \vituess(,'S.      lie  is  r;ither  ui-ifiriii- 


144  THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

tlicni  to  be  consistent  Avitli  tlie  resjieet  or  reverence 
wliicli  they  ])rofess  for  those  whom  they  already  recog- 
nize. He  does  not  say,  '  send  to  John's  disciples  and 
ask  tliem  what  he  said,'  hut,  ''ye  sent  unto  John  and 
he  })are  witness  unto  tlie  truth.  .  .  He  was  a 
burnino;  and  a  shining  liglit,  and  ye  were  willing  for  a 
season  to  rejoice  in  his  light."'  Now  since  they  certainly 
thought  much  more  of  the  Scriptures  than  of  John, 
and  were,  in  their  own  estimation,  much  more  willing 
to  rejoice  in  the  light  of  the  old  prophets  than  in  that  of 
the  ncAv,  it  a})i)ears  only  natural  that  Christ  should  add 
"  you  are  also  in  the  habit  of  searching  the  Scriptures ;  you 
are  confident  you  have  eternal  life  in  them  ;  and  they 
are  just  God's  inspired  witnesses  for  me,  to  whom  yon 
will  not  come."  In  that  sense  then  I  take  the  words. 
And  the  suggestions  I  get  from  them  are  these :  that 
the  use  of  the  Bible  is  to  lead  us  to  Christ,  the  ideal 
]nanhood,  the  revealer  of  the  Father,  the  atonement  for 
sin  ;  while  the  germ  of  every  abuse  of  the  Bible  lies  in  the 
superstitious  attribution  to  it  of  any  power  or  sanctity 
a])art  from  the  inspired  anci  inspiring  suggestiveness, 
Avhich  is  realized  only  by  the  Christ-seeking  heart.  For 
when  the  Lord  says,  "  in  them  ye  tldnh  ye  have  eternal 
life,"  his  woi'ds  an;  just  as  muc-h  suggestive  of  a  fallacy  in 
the  tliouglit,  as  when  he  says  concerning  the  heathen  '"'they 
think  that  tlicy  shall  be  heard  for  their  much  speaking." 

I. 

in  raking  up  the  first  part  of  our  subject,  which  is 


THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  TUE  BIBLE.  145 

the  use  suggested  for  the  Bible,  a  preliminary  observa- 
tion or  two  may  be  necessary,  or  at  least  oppoi'tune. 
For  it  might  be  asked,  "why  take  so  much  trouble  about 
the  meaning  of  the  text  ?  On  your  view  of  the  authority 
of  the  Bible,  what  difference  does  it  make  whichever 
way  the  words  are  read?"  I  might  be  content  with 
rej)lying,  that  but  for  the  mode  of  reading  which  I  have 
just  recommended  I  should  have  lost  what  seem  to  me  to 
be  verv  fruitful  suo-cpestions.  But  I  would  rather  make 
some  observations  here  on  the  nature  of  the  authority  of 
Scripture  in  regard  to  moral  and  spiritual  truth  ;  obser- 
vations, Avhich  may  supply  a  needful  supplement  to  what 
ha.s  been  said  on  Inspiration  and  Inhillibility,  while  they 
will  ])reparc  the  way  for  what  must  here  follow.  ^Miat 
I  liMve  said  about  Iufalli!)ility  is  in  no  Avay  inconsistent 
witli  the  ascription  of  a  very  high  authority  to  the  Bible, 
or  with  the  utmost  anxiety  for  the  right  inter])retation  of 
Scripture  ;  but  the  authority  is  necessarily  linu"ted  and 
modifi(.'d  by  the  essential  conditions  of  the  case,  that  is,  it 
is  a  moi'al  and  not  a  ])Ositive  authority.  In  other  words, 
as  ill  effect  we  said  when  s{)(^aking  of  Inspiration,  there  is 
as  mucli  autliority  as  the  AVord  has  force  enough  to  carry 
and  as  1  have  suscojjtibility  enough  to  feel.  The  objc'ction 
fell  to  >u(h  a  view  generally  arises  from  the  idea  that  they 
will)  hold  it  arc  so  filled  with  carnal  ])i-i(le,  tliat  on  every 
possilile  subject  tluy  Would  maintain  their  own  Ju<Iginent 
ag;iin>t  tlu' authority  of  the  iJihle.  But  this  idea  springs 
Ifoin  a  uii-'iake  ;!s  to  the  meaning  of  moi'al  authority.  H 
a  man  avIio  has  nitide  frequent  whaling  voyages   assures 

L 


14G  THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

me  that  whales  are  often  ninety  feet  long,  I  submit  my 
OAvn  judgnieut  to  his  knowledge.  Tiiere  is  no  positive 
authority  compelling  me  to  do  so ;  but  there  is  a  moral 
authority  which  I  have  the  sense  to  acknowledge.  I 
may  have  been  of  opinion  that  they  are  never  over  fifty 
feet  in  length;  but  when  a  man  whom  I  respect  tells 
me  he  has  seen  them  so,  I  give  in  at  once.  If  however 
the  same  man  should  assure  me  that  Avhales  arc  never 
so  long  as  a  hundred  feet,  because  he  has  never  seen 
one,  I  do  not  feel  the  authority  to  be  so  great ;  and  if 
I  have  a  strong  opinion  on  the  point,  I  hesitate  about 
mvino;  u;)  mv  iudo-ment,  imtil  I  know  more  of  the  rantje 
and  lengtli  of  his  experience.  It  does  not  follow  then, 
because  we  ascribe  only  moral  authority  to  the  Bible, 
that  therefore  we  shall  never  submit  our  judgment  to  it. 
My  judgment,  for  instance,  would  naturally  be  that  it 
is  cpiite  impossible  for  any  dead  man  to  come  back  to 
lii'e.  But  I  give  u])  my  own  judgment  in  deference  to 
the  moral  authority  of  men,  who  certainly  testified  that 
they  had  seen  this  very  thing  happen,  and  whom  I 
believe  to  have  been  cpiite  incapable  of  telling  a  lie. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  is  rightly  understood  as  saying  that  no  Christian 
who  relapsed  into  deadly  sin  had  any  chance  of  salvation,* 
I  must  certainly  hesitate  to  submit  my  faith  in  God's 
love  to  his  denial,  because  I  am  by  no  means  sure  what 
opportunities  he  had  of  knowing.  Butthe  v(;ry  grounds 
on  which  I  decline  to  submit  my  judgment  in  this  case 
*  Hcb.  vi.  ■! — S. 


THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE.  147 

seem  to  ine  to  involve  submission  in  the  former.  Similarly 
it  is  a  great  tallaey  to  suppose  tliat  they  ^vlio  ascribe  only 
a  moral  authority  to  the  Biljle  can  never  feel  boimd  to 
submit  their  feelings,  or  affections,  or  habitudes  of  mind 
to  its  rule.  When  a  parent  says  to  a  young  child,  '  sit 
up  straight ;'  this  is  a  case  of  positive  authority,  in 
which  the  judgment  of  the  child  has  no  place,  and  such 
an  authority  as  this  the  Bible  certainly  cannot  exert. 
But  when  the  Methodist  pitman  stirred  up  the  members 
of  his  little  prayer  meeting  by  shouting,  '"'Now  lads, 
shut  your  eyes  and  look  straight  to  the  Lord,"'  there  is 
no  doubt  that  his  exhortation  would  come  with  authority 
of  a  very  different  kind.  They  Avould  feel  in  effect  that 
this  oiKjId  to  bo  their  desii'e  ;  audhoAvever  their  thoughts 
might  have  been  wandering,  tliey  would  realize  in  the 
words  of  their  leader  a  moral  authority  constraining 
them  to  attention.  In  tlie  same  Avay  a  clever  hasty 
youth  will  often  feel  debarred  from  rash  conclusions  about 
Hiligiou,  ])y  the  moral  authority  of  a  spiritual  veteran 
whom  he  respects  and  loves;  and  not  only  so,  but  he  will 
lj(i  promjjted  to  a  desire  for  the  same  nobh;  feelings 
which  have  moved  his  admiration.  This  is  the  kind  of 
authority  with  which  tlu;  words  of  Scri])tiu-e  often  come 
home  to  (jur  hearts,  '■'•  cnMliig  domi  ii)W(ji nations  and 
evcrg  li'uih.  thing  that  e.ralfeih  ifself  (igaiusl  the  knoir- 
le(lg<i  of  (J(i(J,  end  bv'ingelli  cvvrii  llionght  into  the 
oliedhiK-i'  of  Chj-ist."'  I  hav(!  lu'ard  of  a  man  whose 
scornful  (li>bcli(,'f'  of  inunortality  was  overcome  by  the 
sim})le  words  '^  thon  fool'''  in  St.  Baiil's  discourse  on  tlie 


148         THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

resurrection.  Nor  is  such  a  case  at  all  beyond  credi- 
bility or  understanding.  For  there  is  a  moral  weight 
in  St.  Paul's  ^yords,  such  as  might  very  well  produce  a 
revulsion  from  materialistic  sciolism.  I  repeat  then,  it 
is  not  true  that  we  who  deny  the  infallibility  of  the 
Bible  necessarily  refuse  to  submit  our  own  judgment 
or  feelings  to  its  teaching.  But  in  the  absence  of  any 
positive  authority  attaching  to  the  book,  such  submission 
is  necessarily  limited  to  those  cases,  in  which  a  clearly 
proved  su:periority  of  knowledge,  or  the  home-thrust  of 
some  resistless  spiritual  energy  gives  a  feeling  of  moral 
constraint  to  obey. 

Is  not  this  really  what  is  meant  when  it  is  said  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  that  "  lie  spahe  as  one  haviiig  authority 
and  not  as  the  scribesf*  There  are  those  indeed  who 
insist  upon  this  passage  as  showing  that  even  in  the 
commencement  of  his  ministry  the  Lord  claimed  a 
positive  authority  over  men's  faith,  as  God's  vicegerent 
u]Jon  earth.  But  the  addition  of  the  words,  "  not  as  the 
scribes^''  shows  us  clearly  enough,  by  contrast,  what  Avas 
the  real  natm'e  of  the  impression  whicli  Christ's  method 
of  teaching  made  upon  the  peo])le.  For  the  scribes 
made  their  appeal  constantly  to  the  positive  authority  of 
sacred  books  or  of  tradition.  But  in  the  teaching  of 
Christ  no  need  of  any  such  appeal  was  felt.  The  word 
came  to  their  hearts  carrying  its  own  authority  with  it. 
The  sense  of  an  extraordinary  vigoiu*  and  impressiveness, 
requiring  no  support  from  rul)binical  traditions,  woukl 
*  Matt.  vii.  28,  29. 


THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE.         149 

naturally  astonisli  people  who  "v^'ere  accustomed  to  liear 
eveiy  doctrine  discussed  as  thougli  it  depended  merely 
on  the  coni])aratiye  Aveiglit  of  rival  masters.  And  this 
astonishment  would  find  most  appropriate  expression  in 
the  exclamation,  that  "his  word  was  with  power,"*  or 
that  "  he  taught  them  as  one  having  authority  and  not 
as  the  scribes."  I  believe  we  are  best  able  to  appreciate 
the  feelino;  of  the  Lord's  first  hearers,  when  we  our- 
selves  realize  how  great  is  the  contrast  between  the  words 
of  our  text  and  the  de<n'adin£f  uses  to  which  the  Bible 
is  often  put  in  our  own  times.  It  is  in  submission  to 
this  authority  that  we  find,  in  the  education  of  the  Avorld 
and  oiu-  own  souls  up  to  the  spirit  of  Christ,  the  sole 
mission  of  the  Bible.  I  do  not  of  course  mean  that  wo 
take  tin's  view  as  we  should  accept  a  legal  decision  from 
the  positive  authority  of  some  final  court  of  appeal. 
The  authority  is  soinething  nobler  in  nature  than  that. 
Tii(3  Bei'son  of  Christ,  associated  as  it  is  with  every  ])ure 
moral  iin])idse  Ave  have  known,  with  every  joy  of  our 
di\iner  life — the  Person  of  Christ,  from  whose  feet  every 
spring  of  uKxIei'n  ])rogress  seems  to  rise,  in  whose 
])red(-»iiiinaiice  e\'ery  ho})e  of  the  future  seems  to  cuhni- 
nat(;,  exercises  over  our  hearts  a  power  of  which  we  are 
mon;  or  less  intelligently  conscious,  and  to  which  we 
cheerriilly  submit.  Tlu;  Berson  of  ( 'hrist,  elevated  from 
age  to  ag<'  by  tin;  grtnviug  apprehension  of  his  Sjiirit, 
al)Stracte(l  fi-om  s])e(;ial  limitations  of  time  and  place 
witliout  losin'f  anvtliin"'  of  his  human  tenderness, 
*  Luke  iv,  a.'. 


150  TRE  rSE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  THE  EIBLE. 

comniCTids  itself  to  lis  as  the  very  soul  of  tlic  divine 
liuinunity,  the  end  and  consnnnnation  of  all  i)ro})hetic 
longings  and  apostolic  y.eal.  Hence  it  is  tliat  his  word 
comes  to  iis  with  power  in  the  ntterance  of  our  text ; 
and  we  find  in  it  a  gcrniinant  principle,  which  is  capable 
of  ever-widening  aj)plication,  in  j)roportion  to  men's 
increasing  knowledge  of  the  Bible  and  their  under- 
standing of  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  The  bearing  of  all  this 
will  be  plainer  as  we  proceed. 

AVhen  our  Lord  uttered  the  words,  or  the  sentiment, 
of  our  text,  he  was  speaking  to  peo})le  who  may  l)e  said 
to  have  worshipped  and  served  the  Bible  more  than  the 
Creator.  And  were  it  not  for  the  use — or  rather  abuse — 
which  is  sometimes  made  of  our  Lord's  occasional 
references  to  the  Old  Testament  scriptures,  it  might  be 
sufficient  for  us  simply  to  insist  on  the  office  which  our 
Lord  assigns  to  the  Bible,  and  to  pass  on.  But  in 
dealing  with  our  text  it  is  of  the  hi<xhest  conse- 
qucnce  to  distinguish  between  the  spirit  and  the  letter. 
Those  to  whom  the  letter  is  dear  will  argue  Avith 
gi'eat  force,  that  in  these  words  our  Lord  himself 
appears  to  acknowledge  a  certain  positive  authority  in 
the  ancient  scriptures;  and  to  sanction  that  sort  of 
Messianic  interpretation  of  ancient  prophecy,  which 
almost  of  necessity  involves  some  infallible  dictation 
from  the  Holy  Ghost.  Now  as  to  the  first  point,  the 
]iositiA'e  authority  supposed  to  be  accorded  here  to  the 
ancient  scrij)tures,  a  reference  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
is  sufficient  to  show  that  otir  Lord  did  not  recognize  any 


THE  USE  AXE  AEUSE  OF  THE  BIELE.  151 

authorit}',  even  in  the  most  sacred  words  of  the  Old 
Testament,  which  could  not  be  superseded  by  a  fuller 
manifestation  of  divine  ri^'hteousness.  '''  Ye  liave  heard 
that  it  was  said  to  them  of  old  time*  thou  shalt  not  fore- 
swear thijself ;  hut  I  say  urdo  you  swear  not  at  all.'''  When 
it  is  remembered  that  the  command  is  (juoted  from 
Leviticus. f  where  the  words  bear  the  mystic  seal  of 
ancient  sanctitv,  in  the  ibrmula,  ''  I  am  the  Lord,"  it 
^vill  be  felt  that  Christ  here  expressly  claims  a  rio;ht  to 
over-ride  the  positive  aiithority  of  the  Mosaic  Law  l)y  a 
revelation  of  fuller  riiditeousness.  His  uniform  treat- 
ment  of  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath  implies  the  same 
thinir.  And  if  ho  says  that  not  one  jot  or  tittle  shall 
])ass  from  the  law  till  all  Ijc  fulfilled,  the  very  form  of 
the  utterance  seems  to  involve  the  paradox  of  fulfilment 
])y  altroirntioii.  At  tlie  same  time  it  can  hardly  be 
denied  that  the  Lord  Jesus  does  so  far  adopt  the 
customs  of  the  time  as  to  speak  in  the  ordinary  manner 
of  frencrally  recoiruized  ^L'ssianic  predictions.^  Tlie 
measureless  power  of  the  Divine  S})irit  in  him  could 
not  brook  the  limitations  of  ])Ositive  laAV,  wher(!  the  letter 
in  any  dciii-ee  fettei'cd  tluj  lile  ;  but  it  would  have  been 
inc()nsi.-,tent  witli  the  Loi'd's  .-])eci!d§  mini-^try  to  a. 
])articular  age  and  race,  if  he  liad  lieen  unable  to  make 

•'■"    Miif.  V.  :'.!).!';  t,  70/r  (l/)Y<^i('mr  cnillioi  li'!  C  [ui  V.'ilenf  toArro  run'  an\(tiotv 

t  1m  \.  I'l  nil,.  1,1'  ilic  i('ii  (•(iininuinlnicnt.- i-;  tivatcl  in  ihr.  saitit:  way. 

X   .)-;ii!  V.  l5-}7:  viii.  :,C,:    Matt.  xxii.  1 1  --(•;. 

i;  'J'hat  i-.  <]M'i-ia!  in  urilcr  that  it  ini'jlit  1)|'<'miiic  '-'''i"''"'' ;  l"'"il  Ji'til 
nat'wiia!  a-  an  iiiili-iii'ii-alili'  cnriililii;!!  "T  :t>  ln-dininir  imiversaJ.  S(,'c 
Miui.  .XV.  L't,  X.  ■}  ;  .\i:\~,  ii.  l'.",.  l'i',. 


152  THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

a  free  use  of  the  forms  in  -which  tlie  people  immediately 
aromid  him  were  accustomed  to  express  the  spiritual 
hopes  of  their  fathers  and  themselves. 

AVhile  therefore  Ave  OAvn  and  how  before  the  moral 
and  spiritual  supremacy  of  Christ  with  a  reverence  and 
love  which  no  merely  positive  authority  could  command, 
I  think  we  should  totally  misunderstand  the  mission  of 
the  Lord  if  we  supposed  that  it  involved  the  teaching 
of  a  scientific  system  of  Liblical  criticism,  or  a  correct 
history  of  the  Old  Testament  Canon.  Devout  Christians, 
who  loioAv  the  unanswerable  reasons  which  support,  and 
who  mark  the  resistless  tendency  of  piTblic  opinion  to 
accept  modern  views  on  the  gradual  formation  of  the 
Pentateuch  and  the  uuhistorical  character  of  its  account 
of  human  origins,  must  see  with  pain  the  practice  of 
setting  up  incidental  allusions  in  our  Lord's  discourses 
as  a  sv;fficient  reply  to  the  most  im])regnable  conclusions. 
But  this  practice  is  only  one  of  many  dangerous  results, 
which  spring  from  the  assumption  of  a  dogma  usually 
undefined  and  never  realized,  in  fact  impossible  of 
conception,  inconsistent  with  any  true  incarnation,  and 
expressly  contradicted  by  the  Saviour  himself,*  I  mean 
the  omniscience  of  Christ.  I  have  always  maintained, 
and  I  maintain  now,  that  a  hearty  belief  in  the  essential 
and  conscious  divinity  of  Christ  does  not  at  all  involve 


*  Mark  xiii.  32  ;  also,  according  to  the  Codex  Sin.,  Matt.  sxiv.  36- 
One  such  instance  is  enough  to  show  that  the  limitation  of  his  know- 
ledge was  not,  in  the  Lord's  mind,  inconsistent  with  his  conscious 
divinity. 


THE  rSE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  TUE  BIBLE.  153 

the  su}>p(i.<ition  of  liis  omniscience  when  on  earth.  If  it 
did,  no  real  belief  in  the  incarnation  would  be  possible  ; 
and  we  should  have  to  fall  back  on  the  phantastic 
notions  of  the  Doceta^,  who  regarded  the  Lord's  body  as 
a  mere  spectral  illusion,  the  arbitrary  and  empty  sign  of 
the  presence  of  a  heavenly  Spirit.  For  what  the  incarna- 
tion really  means  is  that  God  was  manifested,  not  in 
an  abstraction  of  humanity,  but  in  an  individual  man 
who  '•  was  made  of  the  seed  of  David  according  to  the 
flesh,"'  and  therefore  was  subject  in  all  things  innocent 
to  the  mental  associations  of  Jewish  life.  I  say  'in  all 
things  iimocent,'  for  when  the  national  traditions  or 
institutions,  such  as  '  Corl)an,' ablutions,  or  the  Sabbath, 
would  have  limited  the  free  action  of  his  divine  charity 
in  word  and  deed,  the  measureless  Spirit  within  him 
spurned  such  trammels  with  sacred  indignation.  That 
by  a  supernatural  insight  the  Lord  Jesus  kncAV  all  that 
was  neeckMl  to  establish  in  the  world  a  imiversal  religion, 
and  to  I'eveal  the  moral  bases  of  divine  and  human 
rel;ition>hi])  in  a  ministry  of  divine  life  and  sacriflcial 
death,  is  a  belief  that  not  oidy  commends  itself  to  the 
cTdiglitciicd  sovd,  but  is  very  much  a  matter  of  I'act 
dfmoiisti'alilc  by  evidence.  If  however  you  sujipose 
this  su])eniatural  insight  to  involve  a  knowledge  of 
everything  that  ever  did  lKip])en  or  will  ha])])en  in  all 
the  nni\ei's(! — for  omniscience;  can  in<'an  notliing  else — 
and  if  you  then  tiw  to  imagine  such  a  Being  g<»iiig 
about  a-'  a  man  aniong-t  men,  '*■  hearing  them  and 
asking  them  (|uesti(»ns,""  jiassing  through  alternations  of 


154  THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

joj  and  sorrow,  "tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are," 
experieneinoj  all  om-  infirmities  so  many  of  which  spring 
from  our  io;noranee,  expressing  anxiety,  snhjeet  to 
paroxjms  of  s])iritual  conflict,  praying  that  the  cup 
may  pass  from  him,  cryiiig  in  a  horror  of  great  dark- 
ness, "J/y  God,  my  God,  ivhj  hast  thou  forsaken  meV 
— you  will  find  not  merely  that  there  is  a  mystery 
involved,  but  that  the  one  conception  absolutely  excludes 
the  other,  and  that  either  the  one  or  the  other,  the 
conscious  omniscience  or  the  real  Innnanity,  must  be 
given  up.  The  question  is  not  usually  faced  by  those 
who  adore  the  divinity  of  Christ.  Xor  is  this  much 
to  be  wondered  at.  For  the  comfort,  and  strength,  and 
love,  the  Avarm  realization  of  our  kinship  to  God,  which 
comes  with  a  sense  of  Christ's  divinity,  is  not  at  all 
dependent  on  any  metaphysical  definition  of  what  is 
meant  by  it.  And  when  we  reflect  on  the  subject,  any 
searching  questions  seem  to  touch  so  nearly  all  we  hold 
most  dear  of  God's  redeeming  grace,  that  we  naturally 
hesitate  to  press  them.  I  am  not  saying  how  far  this  is 
right, — })articula]'ly  in  times  when  men  are  everywhere 
sinking  shafts  to  examine  primeval  foundations,  and 
when  any  prohibition  of  the  search  seems  to  imply  a 
fear  that  there  is  no  foundation  there.  But  whether  or 
not,  the  feeling  is  most  natural  and  when  unaccompanied 
by  bigotry  often  even  salutary.  The  point  however  on 
which  I  would  insist  is  this,  that  before  any  one  sets  up 
incidental  allusions  in  reported  words  of  Christ  as  a 
contradiction  to  conclusions  dependent  on  scientific  or 


THE  USE  AXE  ABUSE  OF  THE  lilBLE.  155 

critical  evidence,  he  is  bound  to  face  tliis  question  and 
tx)  answer  it.  In  fact  in  using  siicli  an  aro-nnient  he 
assumes  an  answer,  the  nature  of  which  he  lias  pi'ohahly 
never  defined,  and  the  inevitable  consequences  of  which 
he  would  certainly  abjure.  Was  the  Lord  Jesus  con- 
sciously omniscient  or  was  he  not?  Sujjposing  that  we 
could  so  far  i  o-nore  his  O'wn  words  as  to  say  that  he  was ; 
then  Avhat  is  meant  by  callino;  hi|n  a  man?  L)r  how 
could  he  be  tempted  in  all  points  like  as  Ave  are  ?  But 
if  he  was  not;  then  how  do  we  knoAV  that  biblical 
criticism  and  sacred  arcluvology  lay  within  those  limits 
of  consciousness  Avhicli  were  amongst  the  inevitable 
conditions  of  his  mission?  There  is  nothing  A\hatever 
in  his  ovrn  descriptions  of  his  earthly  mission  to  involve 
the  need  for  such  knowledge  ;  and  we  have  no  authority 
either  jiositive  or  moral  for  insisting  on  his  possession, 
of  it.  There  are  I  suppose  those  avIio  attempt  to  meet 
the  difficulty  by  asserting  what  in  effect  amounts  to 
this,  that  though  the  Lord  Avas  not  consciously  omniscient, 
yet  lie  was  vncoii.'^-loii-vlij  so;  that  is,  that  ever\'  thought 
as  it  prc-cntcd  itscH'  to  his  mind  Av;is  seen  in  it>  abso- 
lute ti'iith,  and  tlieretbre  that  every  \M»rd  he  uttered 
how.'vei-  ineidemally,  necessarily  im])lie(l  ficts  in  strict 
accordance  ihei-ewith.  ]>ut  to  sa\'  nothing  of  the 
impossibility  of  knowin^j;  anA'thing  in  it-  abxihite  truth 
unie>>  it  i.^  knou'ii  in  all  its  relations,  that  i>,  unless  it  is 
Aicwi'd  as  coiHcious  omniseieiice  oidy  can  \  iew  il  ;  ii 
littlf  rcllcctioii  would  .-how  that  this  is  just  as  incon- 
si-ti'iii  as  the  (.ther  notion  with   participation   iti   liiimaa 


156  THE  rSE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

nature  and  its  infirmities.  On  tliis  theory,  as  well  as 
on  the  other,  there  could  he  no  suhstantial  truth  what- 
ever in  the  thouo^ht  so  dear  to  Christians  that  the  Lord 
"was  tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are."  For  we 
all  agree  that  he  was  not  exposed  to  the  temptations  of 
a  depraved  disposition.  Now  if  abstraction  be  made  of 
this,  it  may  fairly  be  contended  that  no  point  of  tempta- 
tion remains  which  is  not  simply  the  result  of  our 
ignorance,*  and  in  particular  of  our  ignorance  concerning 
some  bearings  of  the  matter  in  hand.  By  no  possibility 
then  can  we  consistently  keep  at  once  the  human  trials 
of  the  Saviour  and  his  unlimited  knowledge.  Not 
without  deep  significance  does  St.  John  the  Divine 
reiterate  with  so  much  emphasis  that  Jesus  Christ 
came  in  the  flesh.  That  glorious  pathetic  life  was  no 
mere  simulation  of  our  nature,  no  impossible  picture 
in  which  practical  conditions  are  ignored.  He  came  in 
the  flesh  ;  He  was  made  under  the  law.  And  the  veiled 
spiritual  majesty  which  dwelt  in  him  gives  us  no  right 


*  A  depraved  inclination  being,  ex  IiT/pothcsi,  eliminated,  it  is 
certain  that  if  we  could  see  things  in  all  their  relations  as  God  does, 
we  should  choose  what  is  best  without  any  temptation  to  do  other- 
wise. Our  shortsightedness  has  to  be  supplemented  by  faith  in  God. 
Even  apart  from  any  depraved  inclination,  it  requires  a  considerable 
effort  of  faith  to  keep  on  in  the  path  of  duty,  when  all  foreseen  conse- 
quences arc  against  us.  Now  if  all  ultimate  consequences  were  seen,  it 
would  recjuire  no  faith  to  do  what  is  right.  It  is  therefore  only  through 
linuted  knowledge  that  an  innocent  being  can  know  temptation.  But 
if  at  any  single  point  the  alternative  presented  is  entirely  and  utterly 
known  in  the  light  of  absolute  trath,  this  limitation  of  knowledge  is 
practically  done  away. 


THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE.  157 

whatever  to  expect,  tliat  in  his  forms  of  thought  and 
speech  he  should  wholly  dissociate  himself  from  the 
mental  habits  and  traditions  of  his  day.  I  repeat  that 
God  was  manifested  not  in  an  abstraction  of  humanity, 
but  in  individual  man,  who  did  not  disdain  Jewish 
nationality  and  Galilean  associations,  even  while  con- 
sciously the  Son  of  God. 

But  now  in  pursuit  of  our  subject,  the  sense  in 
which  the  scriptures  bear  witness  to  Christ,  I  must 
remind  you  that  one  main  object  of  the  incarnation 
was  to  give  a  more  definite  idea  of  a  universal 
Spirit.  The  words  may  be  vague ;  yet  the  signifi- 
cance is  felt  by  all  who  have  longed  after  a  true 
catholicity  of  religion.  It  is  to  this  that  we  are  to  look 
in  our  highest  Christian  aims,  in  accordance  with  the 
words  of  St.  Paul  to  which  we  have  so  often  referred, 
"the  Lord  is  the  Spirit;  and  where  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  is,  there  is  liberty."  I  woidd  apj)ly  this  principle 
to  our  text.  The  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus  are  often 
marvellously  susceptil)le  both  to  interpretation  in  the 
forms  of  thought  familiar  to  his  own  age,  and  also  to 
expansion  ])y  the  growth  of  the  S})irit  Avhich  he  1  reathed 
Ujton  the  world.  I  do  not  of  course  atti-ibute  to  liim, 
whose  every  utterance  makes  so  deep  an  iin])r('ssiou  of 
'•'truth  ill  the  inward  parts,"  any  ciuijiiiig  device  of 
concealing  impopular  esoteric  doctrine  hy  a  disguise  f)t 
popular  exoteric  language.  Tin;  characlei-istic  to  which 
I  refer  was  simply  an  inevit.ibl*!  incident  of  the  inmrna- 
tion  of  a  divine  Spirit  in  a  man  of  a  particular  ago  and 


158  THE  rSE  AXB  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

race.  Even  words  of  genius  such  as  Sliakspeare's  have 
au  ever  <T(>rniinant  significance,  and  constantly  find  new 
apj^lications  in  modes  of  human  life  which  Shakspeare 
could  Ly  no  possibility  have  imagined.  IMuch  more 
might  we  look  that  the  incarnate  AVord  of  God,  speaking 
in  strict  accordance  with  the  national  and  temporal 
associations  of  liis  earthly  life,  should  aimounce  principles 
whicli  show  themselves  immortal,  thou(Th  their  oriixinal 
associations  are  dead  and  huried  beyond  hope  of  revival. 
And  so  even  should  "it  prove  that  the  application  which 
the  Jews  would  make  of  Christ's  words  is  hardly  any 
longer  tenable,  it  may  very  well  be  that  there  is  in  the 
words  a  wider  truth  which  is  imperishable. 

It  was  necessary,  in  speaking  of  the  one  use  of  the 
Bible  which  our  text  suggests,  to  premise  these  remarks, 
because  the  more  we  search  the  Scrij^tures,  the  more  are 
we  compelled  to  acknowledge,  that  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  testimony  rendered  by  the  Old  Testament  the  primi- 
tive church  was  very  largely  mistaken.  There  are 
indeed  passages,  such  as  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah, 
which  answer  marvellously  to  the  character  and  work 
of  Christ.  Nor  can  a  Christian  be  wrong  in  ever  keeping 
tliat  supreme  a})plication  in  view  as  he  reads  them.  But 
there  is  a  well-known  passage  in  one  of  Plato's  dialogues, 
d(,'scriptive  of  the  career  which  would  be  necessary  to 
prove  a  love  of  virtue  for  its  o^\'^l  sake,  and  showing 
8uch  a  startling  resemblance  to  the  general  outlines  of 
the  life  of  Clu'ist,  nay  so  nearly  suggesting  the  very 
mode  of  his  death,  that  it  is  just  as  impossible  for  a 


THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  THE  lilELE.  159 

Christian  in  reading  it  to  keep  sncli  an  api)licati()n  out 
of  view,   as   it  is  in  reading  the  chapter  I'roni.  Isaiah. 
Both  tliese  voices  from  the  past  are  in  a  very  true  sense 
prophecies  of  Christ ;  that  is,  they  sliow  an  inspired  idea 
of  what  perfect  purity,  love  and  devotion  must  undergo 
in  a  world  of  sin.     And  in  addition,  Isaiah  sees  in  this 
vision  of  goodness  and  self-sacrifice  a  Messenger  of  God, 
who  may  very  well  have  been  his  divinely  sugiiested 
conception  of  the  Messiah.     But  it  is  as  little  likely  of 
the  one  vrriter  as  of  the  other,  that  he  coidd  lia\e  had 
any  foresight  of  the  actual  and  historical  ministry  of 
''  the  3Ian  Christ  Jesus."     That  the  Jews  had  anticipa- 
tions of  a  ^lessiali,  wliich  grew  more  and  more  exalted 
as  the  de})ression  of  the  nation  increased,  and  as  the 
needs   of  the   spiritual   nature   were    more    ])]-ofoundly 
realized,  no  one  can  dispute.     But  with  Aery  f(;w  ex- 
ceptions, the  most  startling  of  these  anticipations  are 
found  in  the  post-canonical  literatm'c  of  tlie  Jews,  and 
th(!  number  of  passages  in  the  Old  Testament  whicli  can 
b(!  lioncstly  sup{)osed  to  have  had  originally  a  ]\l('ssianic 
be;u'iiig  is  very  limited  indeed.     But  tlu;  Jews   at  the 
Chri>tian    era    did    not    think    so.     Their    method    of 
intcrpi'eiaticjn   allowed   them   to   catch   a!    any   isolated 
cx))i'('s>ioiis,  wiiich   bv  ignoring  tlu;   cr)n1c\t    could  bo 
forced   into   ^lessiauic,  allusions;   and   if  wc  were  to  be 
b;iund  l>y  iIk;  scns(!  which  we  ha\e  cNcry  reason  to  believe 
ihe\-  \Nould    ])Ut  u])on   the  words  of  our  text,  the  only 
result  Would  be  a  jici'ilous  liold  on  douhtiiil   ])i'edictions, 
<iie   nuiijlier  oj'  which   seems  contiinialK'  to  diminish  as 


160  THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

biblical  criticism  advances.  Besides,  the  text  refers 
only  to  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament ;  but  to  us, 
who  are  seeking  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  it  suggests  the 
study  of  the  New  Testament  far  more  than  of  the  Old. 
And  this  shows  that  as  a  matter  of  practice  we  are 
actually  in  the  habit  of  looking  at  the  general  principle 
of  the  words,  disentangled  altogether  from  the  imme- 
diate application  which  in  the  circumstances  of  that 
time  they  would  inevitably  receive.  But  the  general 
principle  is  this,  that  the  scriptures  of  both  Testaments 
bear  witness  to  Christ ;  that  their  divinest  meaninof  is 
embodied  in  Christ;  that  their  ultimate  mission  and 
the  highest  blessing  they  can  confer  upon  us  is  to  lead 
us  to  Christ. 

Now  consider  the  needs  of  the  God-consciousness, 
or  if  you  like  the  phrase  better,  of  our  spiritual  nature. 
Like  all  other  attributes  of  humanity,  it  needs  to  be 
excited,  called  forth,  enlarged  by  appropriate  external 
objects.  And  amongst  such  external  excitements 
nothing  perhaps  is  more  quickening  than  the  powerful 
expression  of  exalted  spiritual  experience  in  others. 
The  same  principle  is  true  of  all  artistic  faculty.  A 
sculptor,  or  a  painter,  or  a  poet  finds  everywhere  in 
nature  the  objects  which  stimulate  his  genius ;  but  yet 
nature  alone  would  never  act  intensely  enough  to  educate 
his  faculty,  to  anything  like  the  extent  of  its  capacity, 
within  the  short  limit  of  his  life.  But  from  a  study  of 
tli<^  works  of  other  artists  he  receives  the  general 
i!i(hieuces  of  nature  in  a  concentrated  form;  and  their 


THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE.  161 

action  upon  his  o'wti  imagination  is  correspondingly 
intense  and  sw-ift.  He  must  not  indeed  abandon  the 
contemplation  of  Nature ;  but,  consciously  or  imcon- 
sciously  to  himself,  the  works  of  art  which  he  has  seen 
are  to  him  the  interpreters  of  Xature ;  and  by  their  help 
he  passes  in  the  mere  infancy  of  his  genius  through 
all  past  steps  of  progress,  over  which  his  art  has  pain- 
fully toiled  diu'ing  a  hundred  generations  gone.  So 
with  regard  to  the  religious  faculty ;  natural  religion, 
as  it  is  called,  never  yet  made  a  saint.  Its  operation  I 
suppose  to  have  been  slow  and  gradual,  prolonging  the 
evolution  of  the  God-consciousness  in  man  over  unmea- 
sured ages  of  anti(piity.  But  any  instance  of  exalted 
spiritual  experience,  especially  when  it  reaches  the 
height  of  inspiration,  may  sum  up  for  us  the  whole 
divine  education  of  the  race.  And  as  Christ  is  the 
ideal  of  divine  manhood  in  this  sta^i^e  of  our  endless 
lite,  e^'cry  fragmentary  inspinjd  hint  of  that  ideal  leads 
to  Him. 

Tliiis  there  is  no  better  food  of  the  God-consciousness 
in  man  than  its  exhibition  in  m(,'n  of  like  ])assions  with 
ourselves.  And  this  is  at  least  one  im])ortant  source 
of  the  f|uick(Miing  influence  exercised  over  us  by  the 
worshi])  of  the  (congregation.  I'ut  to  give  the  whole 
human  race,  ])ast,  ])r(;s('jit  and  to  come,  tiie  solidarity 
of  one  religious  life,  the  conscious  imjndse  of  one 
religions  growth,  it  was  needful  that  there  siumld 
be  a  sneec^sioii  of  insjiii-ed  prophets,  ])salniists,  ])reaehers, 
morali-'t ;,    wI:o,>e  voices    should    ('elio  and   who-^e  light 

M 


162  THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

should    shine   far    beyond   the    bounds    of   their   own 

horizon.     And  towards  the  aecomplislnnent  of  this  the 

Bible  has  certainly  done  more  than  any  other  literature 

in  the  Avorld.     When  I  read  the  words  of  Moses,    "  the 

eternal     God    is    tloj    refuge,    and    underneath   are  tlie 

everlasting    arms  ;^^   when  I   hear   of   Joshua's    manly 

decision,  "  as  for  me  and  my  house,   ice  ivill  serve  the 

LoBD;''^  when    I    catch  the    strains    of  David's  harp, 

"  thou  icilt   shoio  me   the  path   of  Ife ;    in    thy  presence 

is  fulness  of  joy ;''    I  have  a  feeling  as  of  a  river  of 

life  flowing  through  the  heart ;  a  life  Avhich  is  not  mine, 

nor  was  it  theirs ;   a  life  too  vast  for  any  individual  man 

or  nation ;  a  life  belonging  to  the  Avhole  race,  as  it  lives, 

and  moves,   and  has  its  being  in   God.     This  then  I 

conceive  to  be  one  of  the  happiest  uses  of  the  Bible ; 

not  to  teach  mere  moral  maxims  which  may  be  found 

equally  well  in  Confucius  or   Seneca ;  not  to  give  an 

impossible    interpretation    to    mysteries    of  the   third 

heaven,  unla^-ful  to  be  uttered  ;  but  to  excite  in  the  soul 

that  sense  of  life,  and  love,  and  joy  in  God,  from  which 

the  purest  morality  and  the  dee])est  insight  alike  proceed. 

But  just  in  pro})ortion  as  it  docs  this  the  Bible  leads 

our  souls  to  Christ.     For  in  him  the  God-consciousness 

is  deep  beyond  our  soimding  line,  intense  beyond  our 

power  of  appreciation.     And  all  life,  love,  joy  in  God 

kindle  afresh  our  desires  for  the  incarnate  A\'ord  who 

calls  us  to  the  bosom  of  the  Father. 

Still  farther,  in  these  Christi'\n  times  not  only  do  the 
scriptures  exhibit  tlicir  highest  influence  in  leading  us 


THE  USE  Ayi)  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE.  163 

to  Christ,  but  the  peculiar  spiritual  snn:gestiveness  which 
has  this  effect  arises  to  a  larger  extent  than  we  are  many 
of  us  aware  from  the  reflected  light  of  the  Lord's  divine 
life  and  death.  Divine  death !  Is  that  a  discord  ? 
Nay  ;  his  death  was,  if  possible,  more  divine  than  his 
life.  The  Grod-nature  was  never  more  supreme  in  him 
than  when  he  hung  fainting  upon  the  cross.  For  that 
scene  of  wickedness,  darkness,  and  horror,  the  centre 
of  which  was  a  loving  broken  heart,  was  surely  an 
expression,  so  far  as  that  can  be  given  in  forms  of  time 
and  sense,  of  the  mystery  of  sin's  relationship  to  a 
righteous  and  loving  Father.  Tiu-ning  from  such  a 
scene  to  the  rude  sim})licity  which  in  the  beginning  of 
the  Bible  declares  that  in  view  of  the  corruptions  of  the 
world  ^Ht  repented  the  LoRD  that  lie  had  made  man  on  the 
earth,  and  it  grieved  him  at  his  lieart,''''*  we  can  feel  a 
signiflcance  in  these  Avords  Avhich  their  author  could  not 
know — a  whisper  of  a  possible  Divine  Sorrow,  of  a 
mysterious  burden  in  the  Father's  heart,  such  as  to  om' 
consciences  condemns  sin  more  than  any  flames  of 
hell,  while  it  makes  us  burn  to  ex[)end  b'fe  and  all  in 
championsliip  of  the  cause  of  righteousness  on  earth. 
Thus  the  wildest  dn.'ams  of  H(,>])rew  h'geiid  a])pear  to 
strain  towards  Christ.  And  as  in  some  well-ordered 
garden  all  flowers  seem  to  nod  with  rcverencf;  towards 
one  central  monarch,  all  lines  to  trend,  all  sc(mts  to 
draw  to  one  midmost  mountain  of  bloom  whicii  ends 
every  perspective  and  pervades  the  whole  air  with  its 
*  Gen.  vi.  0. 


164  THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  TUE  BIBLE. 

fragrance,    so   in  tlio  garden  of  the  scriptures  Christ 

stands  in  the  midst,  the  tree  of  life,  Avith  healing  leaves 

and  resplendent   bloom,    dominating    every  avenue    of 

thought.     It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  Lord  Jesus 

merely  by  breathing  upon  them  lias  re-written  the  whole 

Psalms  of  David.     The  words  indeed  remain  the  same ; 

but  as  in  a  piece  of  music,  the  whole  strain  of  thought 

is  raised  to  a  higher  pitch  by  the  change  of  the  key 

note.     For  tem2)oral   dominion  we  now  read  spiritual 

power,  for  deliverance  from  enemies  redemption  from 

sin,    for    Mount  Zion  the   Universal  Church,    for   the 

anointed  king  of  Israel  the  Christ  of  God.     The  very 

vocabulary  is  exalted  in  meaning ;  the  soul,  salvation, 

life,  glory,  God's  word,  heaven  and  hell,  all  have  a  more 

spiritual  and  therefore  an  intenser  meaning  than  they 

could  have  to  David.     And  so  it  comes  to  pass  in  the 

providence  of  God  that  the   Psalmist  is  the  means  of 

suggesting  to  us  thoughts  which,  coidd  we  meet  him 

as  he  was  on  earth,  he  would  utterly  fail  to  understand. 

For    our   ideal   of  life    is   higher,   our   conceptions  of 

creative  Majesty   are  larger,   while  at  the  same  time 

our  feeling  of  divine  kinship  is  more  tender  and  more 

close  than  his.     It  may  be  said  that  all  this  is  only  the 

inevitable  result  of  the  spiritual  progress  of  maid^ind. 

Yes ;   but  wo  must  look  at  the  means  by  which  this 

progress  has  been  effected ;  and  if  avc  do  that  candidly, 

I   am   ])ersuaded  we  shall  feel  that  the   one  event  in 

history  which  more  than  any  or  all  others  has  purified 

our  ideas  of  God  and  brouirht  us  into  conscious  nearness 


THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  01  lEE  BIBLE.  165 

to  Him  is  the  ministry  in  life  and  death  of  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.  For  the  gospel  story  is  like  a  crystal 
lens  amidst  converging  rays  of  light  which  passing 
through  it  immediately  assume  a  nobler  power.  Or 
rather  as,  according  to  some  recent  astronomical  specu- 
lations, certain  stars  drink  up,  to  emit  with  brighter 
splendour  the  nebulous  glory  that  surrounds  them,  so 
each  dreamy  touch  of  spiritual  light  and  beauty  from 
Genesis  to  Kevelation  is  first  absorbed  by  Christ  l^efore 
it  cumes  to  us,  and  radiates  from  him  with  the  power  of 
the  Avhole  ideal  divine  life.  And  then  only  do  we 
realize  the  full  spiritual  influence  which  the  scriptures 
are  now  caj^able  of  exerting,  when  their  utterances  come 
to  us  animated  and  emjthasized  by  some  reminiscence 
of  the  divine  incarnation  and  perfect  hiunan  life  Avhich 
we  recognize  in  Him. 

Again,  there  is  a  meaning  both  prophetic  and  ])rofoimd 
in  St.  I'aul's  words  before  Agri])pa  aljout  "the  promise 
unto  wliich  tlu'  twelv(,'  tribes  instantly  serving  God  day 
and  night  liope  to  come."  The  Jews  were  but  the 
proplicts  of  iiumanity.  Tlieir  longings  were  tlie  sighs 
of  the  whole  world's  heart.  For  all  aspirations  after  a 
])urer  .spirituality,  and  all  desires  for  a  mon,'  conscious 
neai'ne>s  to  God,  h^ok  towards  an  iileal  of  a  (li\inely 
lumiaii  lili — -(iod  in  man  and  man  in  God — the 
enibo(h'iii('nl  of  which  in  Chi'ist  is  the  saKatioJi  of  the 
Avoi'Id.  Think  of  Da\i(l's  agonizing  pi-ay<'rs  j'or  recon- 
ciliation: think  of  dob"s  pei-plexit \-  and  horror  at  the 
a])pai'ent  chaos  uf  sin  and  jow  i'ighte(>u>iiess  and  stdfering. 


166  THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

that   seems   to   brand   the    constitution    of  the   world 
with  injustice ;  tliink  of  the  s})ccuhitions  half  expressed 
half  implied  in  the  early  legends  of  Genesis;  and  the 
wonder  of  the  prophets  concerning  the  relation  of  this 
world's  sorrowful  and  guilty  burden  to  the  power  and 
love  of  God.     '  The  promise  to  Avhich  all  these  hope  to 
come'   is  not  merely  an  ideal  human  life,  but  such  a 
a  manifestation  of  God  as  might  make  clearer  the  feel- 
ings of  His  heart  towards  the  world,  and  especially  the 
relation  of  His  moral  government  to  human  sin.     The 
occasional  glimpses  of  some  tenderness  in  this  relation- 
ship, which  flit   amongst  prophetic  denunciations  like 
the  sweet  sad  light  that  hovers    amongst   the  broken 
clouds  of  a  gathering  storm,  are  amongst  the  profoundest 
forecastings  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  which  the  Old  Testa- 
ment ever  yields.     "  lliey  say,  If  a  man  j^ut  aicay  his 
rvife   and  she  go  from  him   and   become  another  mans, 
shall  he  return  unto  Iter  again  ?     Shall  not  that  land  he 
greatly  polluted^     But  thou  hast  played  the  harlot  with 
many  lovers;  yet  return  again  to  me  saith  the  LOJW.^'* 
Surely  this  is  an  anticipation  of  a  lament  diviner  still, 
through   which    a   holy   indignation    passed    into    the 
silence  of  death ;    "  0  Jerusalem,   Jerusalem,  thou  that 
killest  the  prophets  and  stonest  them  that  are  sent  unto 
tJiee;  how  often  icould  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together 
as  a  lien  gatheretlt   her  chickens    binder  her  wings;    and 
ye  ivould  not!"'     "  Jliey  shall  look  on  me  whom  they  have 
pnerccd,  and  shall  mourn^''  says  Zachariah  in  the  name 
*  Jcr.  iii,  1. 


THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE.  167 

of  God.  And  well  might  John  call  this  to  mind  at 
Calvary  when  all  was  still.  Indeed,  apart  from  all 
controversy  about  special  predictions,  it  is  most  signifi- 
cant that  as  anticipations  of  the  Messiah  grew  in 
wistfid  eagerness,  so  they  were  clothed  more  and  more 
in  the  darkness  of  imaginative  woe.  In  the  doubtful 
touches  of  such  anticipations  which  gleam  here  and 
there  amongst  the  Psalms f  the  idea  is  for  the  most  part 
bright  and  joyful ;  the  expectation  of  some  king  greater 
than  David,  under  whom  the  sacred  kingdom  of  Israel 
should  attain  all  the  glory  of  ancient  promise.  But 
Isaiah  sees  Jehovah's  Servant  as  "  a  man  of  sorrows 
and  acquainted  with  grief."  According  to  Daniel 
Messiah  shall  be  cut  off  amidst  a  sea  of  troubles.  And 
the  ])ictures  of  his  advent  as  described  in  the  post- 
canonical  writings  of  the  Jews  are  often  still  more  gloomy 
and  terrible.  AVhen  we  feel  the  mystery  of  the  iniipiity 
which  abounds  in  the  world,  avc  cannot  think  that  this 
tendency  is  without  a  deep  spiritual  significance.  It 
shows  the  God-consciou^ncss  in  humanity  groping 
towards  tlie  truth  so  grandly  expressed  in  the  ])atheti(! 
and  glorious  self-sacrifice  of  Christ.  It  betrays  a  dim 
sus]»icion  that  th(!  vital  relationship  of  (Jod  and  man 
must  first  Ix;  realized  amidst  tlu^  very  dcejx'st  >iiadows 
of  sin.      '"  If  I  uiake  iny  Led  In  hell.)"'   sa}'S  the  I'saliiiist, 


f   rn(l(:r  lliis  (lescrijition  I  iiH-lmli'  siicli  jisalnis  nK  ii,  l.xxii.  and  ex., 

in  wiiii'li  -Dini;  iTiirniuir  kinir  may  lia\i'  ln-in  iilfalizrd  as  thr  Anuinted 
of  till'  I.Mi'd.  in  such  a  way  as  ti;  .~ii'_'':j'i'--1  in  iniairinat  ivc  minds  some 
fuliin;  li^ipc  <j\-i_:rpassjii<^'  all  pa.-t  <ir  jJixxjiil  rcali/.aliuii. 


168  THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  Oi  TUL  BIBLE. 

'"'■heliold  lliou  art  tlierer  And  we,  who  perhaps  feel 
nearest  of  all  to  the  suffering  Christ  when  wo  awake 
in  a  great  horror  of  gnilt,  cannot  resist  rising  those 
words  in  a  sense  of  Avhich  the  ^vl■ite^  could  hardly  have 
dreamt.  For  the  one  thinij  above  all  others  which 
makes  Jesus  Christ  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  is 
the  conviction,  which  he  begets  in  us,  that  the  heavenly 
Father  feels  the  burden  of  His  children's  sins,  and  that 
the  one  awful  but  most  blessed  spring  of  redemption 
is  the  self-sacrifice  of  God  shared  by  His  children ;  or 
in  other  words,  the  cross  of  Christ  taken  up  and  borne 
by  his  members.  To  this  all  the  Scriptures  point.  For 
this  I  prize  them  most  of  all ;  perhaps  in  this  only  do 
they  stand  mirivaUed  and  alone  in  the  monuments  of 
ancient  inspiration ;  that  they  awaken  our  divinest  life 
by  giving  us  to  feel  that  in  all  our  moral  conflict, 
whether  for  our  own  salvation  or  for  that  of  others,  we 
are  only  taking  our  part  of  the  measureless  burden 
which  oppresses  the  sensitive  love  of  God.  If  this  then 
is  the  testimony  to  Christ  which  you  value,  if  this  is  the 
inspiring  influence  which  you  prize,  you  may  read  on 
undisturbed  by  rival  theories  of  inspiration ;  you  will 
bo  preserved  from  any  desire  to  make  the  Bible  an 
armomy  for  sectarian  passion :  you  may  differ  from 
what  you  think  an  idolatry  of  the  letter ;  but  you  will 
feel  in  spirit  heartily  at  one  with  all  past  generations 
ol'  (Jhristians  in  the  love  they  cherished  for  the  Book 
of  hooks  ;  because  your  own  soul's  experience  tells  you 
that  the  secret  of  their  fervour  lay  in  no  opinion  that 


THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  TUE  BIBLE.  169 

they  held,  but  rather  in  their  devout  feeling  of -whut 
no  articles  can  define,  no  canons  enforce,  no  intellectual 
error  exclude — ''  the  power  of  an  endless  life." 

It  might  be  expected  that  I  should  here  add  some 
remarks  on  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  Church,  in 
schools,  in  the  family,  and  in  private  meditaticm.  That, 
however,  scarcely  comes  within  the  scope  of  our  pr(>sent 
purpose,  which  is  rather  the  suggestion  of  general  prin- 
ciples. But  as  regards  the  school  and  the  family,  I  can 
scarcely  resist  the  tcm[)tation  of  foUoAving  iip  these  prin- 
ci])lcs  into  certain  obvious  deductions.  If  the  great  iise 
of  the  Bible  were  the  inculcation  of  moral  maxims,  or 
the  prescription  of  rules,  which,  like  those  of  arithmetic, 
could  easily  be  called  to  mind  when  the  conditions  of 
their  a])]»lication  arose,  then  I  coidd  Avell  tinderstand  the 
determination  with  which  some  insist  on  making  the 
.Scriptures  a  school-book.  But  if,  as  we  have  urged,  the 
authority  of  the  Bible  is  moral,  not  ])ositive  ;  if  the  ])ur- 
pos(.'  of  the  Scri[)tures  is  tiie  inspiration  of  a  di\'ii)('  lil'e 
and  tIk;  excitement  in  the  soul  of  a  longing  foi'  tlie 
(.'lii'i>T  of  (jlod,  then  no  iniiversal  rule  whatcxcr  can  be 
laid  down  about  tli(;  eni])lovment  of  the  J'ook  in  schools, 
\'ery  much  must  depend  on  the  |)hice  occu|iictl  by  the 
school  instruc^tiou  in  the  efhication  of  tlie  chiKL  Thus  if 
the  X  hoo]  he  ibr  ;i  while  the  home  ot'the  cliilil,  it  must, 
so  I'ar  as  pos.-ihle.  fulfil  the  otlices  of  home,  ami  pro\  ide 
sea.-ons  (dgc'iitle,  symjiathet  ic,  inspicing  inlhicnce,  such 
as  the  IJilile,  j-cad  thi'ough  the  li\ing  faith  of  a  de\()ut 
teachc)-,  can  so  well  su|iply.     But  if  the  cliild  goes  only 


170  THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

to  spend  four  or  five  hours  every  day  with  some  skilled 
instructor,  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  special  branches 
of  secular  knowledge,  while  the  real  process  of  education 
goes  on  at  home,  then  surely  it  is  better  that  the  school 
should  be  content  with  doing  one  thing  well,  and  should 
not  lessen  the  time  for  its  proper  duties  by  attempting 
what  it  is  qiute  incapable  of  performing.  Under  such 
circumstances  the  cases  are  rare  and  exceptional  in  which 
the  reading  of  the  Bible  is  anything  more  than  the 
mechanical  recitation  of  a  measured  quantity  of  Scrip- 
ture ;  a  practice  not  only  unlikely  to  have  any  inspiring 
influence  in  itself,  but  also  exceedingly  well-calculated 
to  prevent  that  influence  elsewhere.  The  associations, 
the  sense  of  drill,  the  amomit  of  pressure  and  hurry, 
which  are  inevitable  in  any  large  day-school,  may  be 
perfectly  consistent  with  a  healthy  moral  tone,  and  with 
a  reasonable  amount  of  affection  between  teachers  and 
taught ;  but  in  most  instances  these  inevitable  incidents  are 
totally  incongruous  with  the  kind  of  tone,  and  with  the 
subtle  spiritual  sympathy  required  to  enable  the  Bible 
to  exert  its  distinctive  power.  The  superstition  of  l)ibli- 
olatry  is  not  found  practically  incoiisistent  with  great 
levity  in  the  treatment  of  the  Scriptures.  And  we  can- 
not be  far  wronof  in  thinking  that  the  sort  of  familiar 
lightness,  alternating  with  conventional  biit  most  unreal 
reverence,  which  is  so  very  common  a  treatment  of  the 
Bible,  is  cviltivated  far  more  than  is  generally  supposed 
\)j  turning  it  into  a  lesson-book  for  schools.  "  When 
we  become  men,  we  put  away  childish  things."     The 


THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  TEE  BIBLE.  171 

arithmetical  rules  of  the  school-room  are  not  those 
of  the  counting-house  or  the  bank.  The  round  childish 
hand,  which  was  the  pride  of  copy-books,  is  despised  by 
the  youth  who  cultivates  the  rushing  style  of  a  busy 
man.  And  when  we  abandon  sum-book,  copies,  and 
pedantic  grammars,  there  is  great  danger  that  the  Bible, 
if  associated  distinctively  with  the  class  and  school,  may 
suffer  from  the  general  sense  of  stiffness  and  unpracti- 
cal theory  which  is  connected  with  all  the  customs  of 
school.  There  may  be  teachers  here  and  there  gifted 
with  so  fine  a  tact,  and  animated  by  so  spiritual  a  life, 
that  they  can  make  to  appear  natural  in  a  day-school 
what  would  seem  absurd  and  out  of  place  in  a  warehouse 
or  shop  ;  but  they  are  very  few  and  far  between.  And 
till  sucli  teachers  can  be  ensured,  I  am  sure  that  Ave 
show  the  truest  reverence  for  the  Bible  by  leaving  it  to 
take  its  part  in  education  through  the  family  and  the 
church. 

By  (rod's  ordination,  the  family  is  the  true  nursery  of 
life.  The  bond  of  home  is  strongest  and  most  sacred 
when  it  is  not  merely  a  fleshly  tie,  but  a  si)iritual  com- 
munion ;  and  blessed  is  that  household  in  wliich  family 
affections  are  enriched  by  the  inspirations  wliicii  hallow 
them  in  the  love  of  God.  l^ut  if,  as  we  l)clicv(^,  the 
divine  life  is  dcjK'ndent  for  its  cultivatiDii  on  the  use;  of 
th(!  means  which  God  puts  into  our  hands,  it  is  difficult 
to  overestimate  the  value  of  family  worship  in  sanctify- 
ing the  ndations  (;f  wliicii  it  e\]»res>es  the  (livin(!  ground. 
Xo  doubt  the  superstition  whieh  I'l'gards  each  scriptural 


172  THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

syllable  as  an  infallible  utterance  of  God,  and  wliich 
therefore  in  daily  reading  impartially  plods  tlirough 
dry  chronicles  and  effete  legislature,  as  well  as  the  still 
living  words  of  psalmists  and  evangelists,  may  here  as 
everywhere  else  mar  the  inspiring  power  of  the  Bible. 
But  the  fiither  or  the  mother  who  bears  in  mind  the 
words  of  Christ,  ''Hhey  are  they  that  testify  of  Me"  will 
so  read  the  scriptures  that  their  undying  music  shall  at 
every  sunset  mingle  heaven  with  earth,  and  morning  by 
morning  brighten  with  the  vision  of  the  divine  humanity 
the  daily  horizon  of  life.  In  after  years  when  the  chil- 
dren who  knelt  together  are  scattered  over  land  and  sea, 
the  memory  of  those  sacred  moments  will  come  back ; 
and  familiar  words  on  the  sacred  page  will  search  the 
heart,  and  stir  the  soul,  because  they  fall  therein  with 
the  cadence  of  a  revered  but  silent  voice.  Kor  is  it 
parents  only  who  thus  ensure  an  eternal  commimion 
with  their  children.  As  river  communication  binds  into 
one  realm  the  snowy  mountains  and  the  sunny  shore, 
so  the  tradition  of  a  divine  life  is  the  livino-  rill  which 
most  vitally  joins  "the  generations  each  to  each." 
Never  is  the  gi'andsire's  hoary  head  so  truly  a  crown  of 
glory  as  when  in  the  children's  memory  it  is  associated 
with  an  impressive  utterance  of  the  words  of  eternal  life. 
There  are  Avords  of  scriptiu'e  which  never  meet  my  eyes 
without  recalling  the  tones  of  a  voice  now  heard  only  in 
heaven,  but  still  echoing  in  grave  musical  cadence  from 
the  memories  of  childhood ;  tones  rich  in  venerable 
experience,  in   ripened  charity,  in  all  the  dignity  and 


THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE.  173 

tenderness  that  follow  a  good  figlit  well  fought,  and  a 
life's  work  nobly  done.  If  I  refer  to  personal  remini- 
scences, it  is  because  I  am  sure  I  am  not  alone  when 
I  say  that  the  scene  which  these  words  bring  back  is 
like  the  gates  of  the  daAvn,  which  the  traveller  looking 
behind  him  beholds  afar  off  amongst  the  beloved  hills  of 
home,  if  tender  with  regrets,  yet  bright  with  hope,  and 
rich  in  the  promise  of  life's  day.  Ah,  who  can  doubt  a 
genuine  touch  of  inspiration  in  those  well-known  lines 
of  Burns  ? — 

"Then  kneeling  down,  to  heaven's  eternal  king, 

The  saint,  the  father,  and  the  husband  prays  ; 
Hope  'sjjrings  exulting  on  triumphant  ■\ving,' 

Tliat  thus  they  all  shall  meet  in  future  days  : 
There  ever  bask  in  increased  rays, 

Xo  more  to  sigh,  or  shed  the  bitter  tear. 
Together  hymning  their  Creator's  praise, 

In  such  society,  yet  still  more  dear  ; 
Wliilc  circling  time  moves  round  in  an  eternal  sphere. 

"  Compar'd  with  tliis  how  poor  lieligion's  pride 

In  all  the  pomp  of  method  and  of  ait, 
When  men  dis])lay  to  congregations  wide, 

Devotion's  ev'ry  grace,  except  the  heart ! 
Tlie  I'ow'r,  incens'd,  the  pageant  will  desert, 

The  ])ompous  strain  the  sacerdotal  stole  ; 
But  haply,  in  some  cottage  far  a])art. 

May  licar.  well  plcMsed,  the  language  of  the  sou!  ; 
And  iu  His  book  of  life  the  inmates  poor  eimjl." 

IT. 

It  is  more  agreeable  to  sjieak  of  the  use  ilianoftlu^ 
abuse  1)1'  llic  15ibl(\  A\  liciics  (m*  wr  are  driven  to  say 
anything  about  the  abns(!   or  pci'versiou  ol'  holy  things 


174  THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

there  is  a  natural  disposition  on  the  part  of  timid  souls 
to  take  alarm,  or  at  least  to  question  Avhether  it  is  safe. 
*'  But  lie  that  doeth  truth  cometh  to  the  light,  that  his  deeds 
inan  he  made  manifest,  that  they  are  tcrotcght  in  God/^* 
And  "  all  things  that  are  reproved  are  made  manifest  hy 
the  light;  for  ichatsoever  doth  make  manifest  is  light.''''] 
Brethren,  all  honest  enquiry  and  all  protest  against 
error  are  safe  so  long  as  we  loyally  keep  our  f\ices 
towards  the  light.  If  there  are  errors  in  the  Bible 
itself  although  its  inspirations  are  so  high,  much  more 
may  we  expect  mistakes  to  be  made  about  its  right  use. 
That  we  can  infallibly  rectify  them  of  course  we  do  not 
for  one  moment  su.ppose.  But  that  is  no  reason  why 
we  should  withhold  suo-o-estions  which  have  even  a 
probable  or  possible  value.  And  there  is  great  need 
for  the  most  serious  attention  to  this  matter.  For  while 
the  advance  of  biblical  criticism  is  teaching  the  educated 
classes  to  value  in  the  sacred  volume  mainly  its  power 
of  attraction  to  "  the  foundation  of  apostles  and  prophets, 
Jesus  Christ  himself  beinof  the  chief  corner  stone,"  still 
amono-st  the  less  educated  such  are  the  absurd  and 
grotesque  perversions  of  the  Bible,  that  we  can  only 
wonder  how  its  more  healthy  influence  has  survived  at 
all.  Only  the  other  day  I  noticed  in  a  shop  window 
amongst  a  number  of  publications  calculated  to  tempt 
religious  purchasers  a  pamphlet  with  this  startling  title; 
"  the  English  Nation  identified  with  the  Lost  House  of 
Israel  by  seventeen  identifications  based  upon  Scripture." 
*  John.  iii.  21.  f  Ephes.  v.  13. 


THE  USE  AXD  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE.  175 

In  the  course  of  the  argument  we  find  that  because 
Isaiah  says,  "listen  0-isles  unto  me,"  and  much  else  to 
the  same  effect,  therefore  we  are  to  look  for  Israel  upon 
an  island  ;  because  Isaiah  says,  "  keep  silence  before  me 
0  islands,  and  let  the  people  renew  their  strength," 
therefore  we  mav  look  for  Israel  amonrrst  the  '  Saxons' 
who  have  very  much  renewed  their  strength  since  they 
came  to  England ;  because  Balaam  says,  "  his  seed 
shall  l^e  in  many  waters,"  and  because  ''  many  are  the 
references  to  her  calkers  and  mariners " — I  quote  the 
words  of  the  ?nofZe?vi  prophet — "the  identity  can  here 
be  found  in  an  old  ballad  sung  for  many  years  by 
British  tars,  to  the  effect  that  '  Britannia  rules  the 
waves/  "  Impious  nonsense  of  this  kind — impious  not 
in  intention  but  in  effect — may  perhaps  seem  to  be 
unworthy  of  notice  in  grave  discourse.  But  it  is  only 
an  extreme  instance  of  a  sort  of  production  which  is 
far  to(j  common,  and  which  I  suspect  would  not  l)e  so 
common  imless  it  })aid.  There  seems  to  bo  prevalent 
amongst  a  large  section  of  the  'religious  woi-ld'  a 
morbid  taste  for  turning  the  scriptures  into  Siln'lliiie 
leaves,  and  interrogating  them  about  the  ten  lost  trihes, 
the  fall  of  the  rai)acy,  the  conflagration  of  tlie  world — 
anything  rather  than  the  Divine  Jlinnanity  to  which 
tluy  point.  The  pro])h(,'ts  sulfcr  more  cruelly  from 
thfii'  nioilern  students  than  from  their  persecutors;  for 
while  some  are  bent  upon  sawing  Isai;ih  asunder  once 
more,  other-^  stretch  him  upon  the  rack  of  a  perverse 
ingenuity  and  put  him  to   the  f|uestion   hy  torture,  that 


176  THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

they  may  learn  wlietber  tlie  Jews  are  to  go  back  to  the 
Holy  Land  or  not.  It  is  a  sign  of  a  sickly  spiritual 
life,  it  shows  a  sad  want  of  any  genuine  interest  in 
the  true  mission  of  the  scriptures,  when  men  think  to 
stimulate  piety  by  excitements  more  proper  to  the  Black 
Art.  Indeed  grovelling  necromancy  of  this  kind  must 
more  or  less  withdraw  the  mind  from  the  Bible's  noblest 
influences,  and  by  vain  curiosity  harden  the  heart 
against  them. 

Perhaps  this  and  most  other  abuses  arise  from  some 
such  misapprehension  of  the  true  place  of  Scripture 
as  is  involved  in  our  text,  to  which  we  noAv  revert. 
^^  Ye  do  search  the  scriptures ;  for  in  them  ye  think  ye 
have  eternal  life;  and  tliey  are  they  that  testify  of  me; 
and  ye  loill  not  come  unto  me  that  ye  might  have  life^ 
Now  let  us  see  what  is  the  difference  between  the  man 
who  seeks  eternal  life  in  the  scriptures  and  the  man  Avho 
finds  it  in  Christ.  The  man  who  thinks  he  has  eternal 
life  in  the  scriptures  looks  into  the  Bible  mainly  for 
infallible  definitions  of  doctrine,  acquaintance  with 
which  or  acceptance  of  which  is  his  salvation.  Tims 
the  Pharisaic  Jews  thougiit  they  had  eternal  life 
because  letter  by  letter  they  stuck  to  the  teaching  of 
Moses.  So  too  our  Christian  Jews  appear  to  think 
that  they  arc  sure  of  salvation  if  they  can  prove  that 
their  opinions  are  identical  with  those  of  St.  Paul. 
But  the  man  who  looks  into  the  Bible  as  a  record  more 
or  loss  im])('rfect  of  the  inspirations  which  have  given 
biiili  to  the  divine  humanity,  seeks  that  Christ  may  be 


TBE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  TUE  BIBLE,  111 

formed  in  his  heart ;  and  this,  the  revelation  of  God's 
Son  in  us,  is  even  now  on  earth  the  beginning  of  ever- 
lasting life.  Or  he  who  thinks  that  in  the  scriptures 
he  has  eternal  life  looks  into  the  Bible  for  promises 
made  to  his  o^vn  nation,  or  sect,  or  opinions.  Thus  the 
Jew  looked  for  the  promise  of  a  heavenly  kingdom 
which  should  give  tlie  supremacy  to  his  own  race. 
And  thus  an  argumentative  Baptist,  whom  I  met  once 
in  the  street — of  course  no  fair  representative  of  his 
sect,  but  indiscreetly  zealous  for  the  faith  as  it  is 
received  by  them — proclaimed  most  strenuously  that 
he  had  sought  and  found  in  the  Bible  a  salvation 
strictly  private  to  the  elect  members  of  his  own  denomi- 
nation alone ;  for  said  he,  "  it  is  written  in  this  book, 
not  'he  that  bolieveth'  only,  but  'ho  that  believeth 
and  is  haptlzed  shall  be  saved  ;'*  now  you  have  no  right 
to  strike  out  the  second  condition  any  more  than 
the  first;  the  one  is  just  as  necessary  as  the  other."  J 
could  not  refrain  Irom  testing  the  extent  to  which  it 
might  be  possible  to  carry  a  sectarian  and  exchisivc; 
appropriation  of  Heaven,  and  therefore  1  joined  the 
wrangling  theological  circle.  "  Sir,*'  I  said,  "you  an; 
aware  that  the  overwhelming  majority  oi'  Christians 
have  Ix'cu  l^aptizcd  in  infancy;  is  this  a  sufficient 
conijtlian(:(;  with  the  condition?"  '' (A'rtaJnly  not,"  lu; 
ro]»lic(l.  '"  Do  you  mean  to  say  then  that  \\wj  cannot 
be  saved?"  I  eiKiuircd,  thinking  that  my  friend  would 

'  Miuk  .\vi.    It^ 


178         TEE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

surely  be  appalled  at  the  tremendous  consequences  of 
his  creed.  "  If  they  die  in  infancy,"  said  he,  as  though 
making  a  liberal  concession.  "  But,"  I  lu-ged,  "  if  they 
grow  up,  and  live  consistently  with  their  Christian 
profession,  will  they  not  be  saved?"  "No,"  said  he 
boldly,  "  not  unless  they  are  baptized  again^  Now 
surely  this  man  thought  that  in  the  scriptures — in  the 
chapters,  and  verses,  and  syllables,  and  letters — he  had 
eternal  life.  And  whatever  may  have  been  his  other 
estimable  qualities  I  maintain  that  he  was  far  more  of 
a  Jew  than  a  Christian. 

But  he  who  searches  the  scriptures  for  "springs 
of  life"  and  "seeds  of  bliss"*  will  find  by  expe- 
rience of  the  inward  growth  of  a  Christlike  na- 
ture that  he  has  eternal  life  in  Christ.  To  look 
for  eternal  Hfe  in  the  scriptures  themselves  is  to 
misapprehend  the  whole  nature  and  purpose  of  the 
Bible.  For  it  is  not  a  voliune  of  sacred  incantations, 
the  mere  utterance  of  which  can  cast  out  the  Devil 
from  the  heart.  It  is  not  a  '■^schema  defide,^^  which  we 
are  compelled  to  hold  on  pain  of  an  anathema  more 
terrible  than  the  Pope's.  It  is — avc  repeat  it  for  the 
last  time — a  record  of  highest  thoughts  in  days  of  old, 

*  There  is  surely  both  truth  and  beauty  in  the  lines  of  Dr.  Watts — 

"  'Tis  a  broad  land  of  wealth  vinknown, 
Where  springs  of  life  arise ; 
Seeds  of  immortal  bliss  are  sown, 
And  hidden  glory  lies." 


THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  TEE  BIBLE.         179 

an  eclio  of  holy  voices  reverberating  in  our  souls,  and 
renewing  in  us  the  aspirations  which  gave  them  utterance. 
Or  it  is  like  a  constellation,  each  star  comparatively 
meaningless,  but  all  together  marking  on  the  sky  of 
history  the  image  of  the  Divine  Humanity,  the  Christ 
of  God.  Or  it  is  like  the  bright  clouds  of  da^^•n,  a 
splendour  most  touching  yet  insufficient,  strong  only 
to  awaken  longings  which  are  never  appeased  till  the 
perfect  orb  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  rises  on  the 
heart,  and  the  Son  of  Grod  is  revealed  within.  The 
man,  who  loves  the  Bible  because  through  it  he  meets 
with  men  of  deep  spiritual  needs  answered  l)y  a  special 
inspiration,  will  be  able  to  jndge  the  scriptures  by  sanc- 
tified reason  Avithout  the  slightest  danger  of  im})airing 
their  informing,  suggestive,  quickening  power.  Such  a 
man  will  leel  the  spiritual  inspiration  of  Closes  none  the 
less  1  )ecause  he  finds  the  great  prophet  to  have  been  ignorant 
of  geological  facts.  Nor,  should  ho  be  convinced  that 
St.  Paul's  ideas  of  biblical  criticism  fall  short  of  modern 
requirements,  will  he  any  the  less  testify  from  his  own 
expci-ionce  that  the  Apostle's  preaching  is  still  "with 
demonstration  of  the  Sj)irit  and  of  jiowcr."'  A\  liile 
acting  boldly  on  the  convicti(m  that  the  Bible  was  made 
for  man,  and  not  man  for  the  liible  ;  wliilc  steadfastly 
refusing  therefore  to  ignore  any  essential  instinct 
oi"  7-ea>on  f)r  conscience  out  of  deference  to  ancient 
inspii-ation  :  such  a  devout  student  will  recogni/.e  in 
the  sci'i])lures,  ])rol)ably  with  mon'  real  meaning 
ljecaus(;  with  fr{;er  loyalty  than   tiiose  who  make   larger 


180  THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

professions,  God's  great  charter  of  man's  freedom 
from  slavery  to  Natm-e,  God's  OAvn  testimony  to  man's 
kinship  with  Himself;  in  a  word,  the  legends,  records, 
and  prophecies  of  the  very  kingdom  of  heaven. 

In  conclusion,  I  urge,  as  the  one  most  practical  issue 
of  all  our  thoughts,  that  if  we  would  find  God  our  Father, 
we  must  not  seek  the  living  amongst  the  dead.  We  must 
look  to  present  spiritual  facts  rather  than  to  the  ruins  of 
a  departed  world.  Art  perishes  when  it  ceases  to  believe 
in  a  still  unerabodied  still  unattained  ideal  (jlimnierino: 
upon  the  future  horizon.  Even  learning,  which  treasures 
up  the  memories  of  the  past,  sinks  into  a  dusty  pedantry 
when  it  neglects  to  enrich  and  inspire  by  those  memories 
the  immortal  Humanity,  of  whose  ever  ripening  expe- 
rience they  are  but  half  forgotten  notes.  The  temples, 
the  cathedrals,  the  pictures,  and  the  statues  of  ancient 
or  medioBval  genius,  are  a  most  suggestive  study  for  the 
artist  now ;  their  office,  however,  is  not  to  supersede, 
but  to  exalt  the  ideal  proper  to  the  present  time.  The 
scholar  makes  a  strange  use  of  his  Demosthenes  or  his 
Cicero  when,  not  content  with  infusing  into  English  the 
classic  spirit  of  purity  and  grace,  he  seeks  to  stilfon  his 
native  language  into  classic  forms.  And  sutely  religion 
is  not  less  than  art  or  knowledge  a  power  of  the  present ; 
for  it  is  our  life, — our  deepest  consciousness,  our  highest 
feeling,  our  strongest  energy, — the  life  which  we  and  all 
mankind  live,  or  may  live,  in  God.  When  I  say  that 
religion  is  of  the  Present,  of  course  I  feel  equally  that  it 
is  of  the  Past,  as  art  is  of  the  past,  and  actual  civilization 


THE  VSE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE.  181 

is  of  the  past.  It  is  the  now  existent  moral  and  spiritual 
life  which  has  been  evoked  in  the  soul  of  man  under  the 
teaching  of  God's  Spirit  in  manj  forms.  Even  as 
regards  the  incarnation,  I  contend  that  its  value  to  us  is 
the  definiteness  it  gives  to  an  eternal  Spirit,  and  the 
kinship  it  reveals  between  that  Spirit  and  ourselves, 
oppressed  though  we  are  by  sorrow  and  by  sin.  "  God 
so  loved  the  world;"  that  is  the  supremo  testimony  of 
Christianity ;  and  however  different  parties  may  insist  on 
distinctive  views  of  the  atonement,  all  such  views  in 
the  end  come  to  this,  that  "  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling 
the  world  to  Himself,"  teaching  men  to  cry  Abba,  Father, 
in  the  new  spirit  of  sonship  breathed  on  them  by  the 
Saviour.  Not  what  once  took  place,  but  what  now  lives 
and  breathes  in  us  is  the  real  work  of  Christianity  for  us. 
We  have  not  denied,  we  do  not  deny  the  serious  impor- 
tance of  the  relation  between  the  records  of  inspiration 
and  present  spiritual  experience.  But  we  do  maintain 
that  the  question  as  to  the  nature  of  that  relation, 
whether  it  be  one  of  suggestion  or  of  direct  authori- 
tative information,  cannot  or  at  least  ouglit  not  to 
affect  the  reality  of  the  life  we  live  in  God.  At  any 
rate  our  watchword  should  no  longer  b(>,  like  that 
of  ancient  and  modern  Jews,  "  to  tlie  Law  and  to 
the  Testimony;"  but  rather  "the  Lord  is  the  Sjjirit." 
"\V(;  own  with  fervent  gratitu(l(;  and  reverence  the 
Go(l-S(,'nt  gifts  wliic^h  have  l)een  handed  down  to  us 
from  ancient  days ;  tlie  enlarged  spiritual  faculties 
that  hav(,'  been  inherited  hy  us  through  the  accumulated 


182  THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

experience  of  af^es  ;  the  still  breathing  inspirations  that 
were  sighed  forth  by  broken  hearts,  or  were  sounded  in 
trumpet  tones  by  victorious  faith.  We  bow  down  and 
worship  before  that  Spirit  ofpurity,  love  and  self-sacrifice, 
which  has  verily  proceeded  from  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
that  Spirit  which  is  the  vital  impulse  of  all  true  progress. 
We  will  study  with  eager  delight,  but  with  patient 
labour,  the  suggestive  histories  of  God's  prophets  and 
apostles.  Above  all  we  will  dwell,  with  a  love  wliich  no 
familiarity  can  exhaust,  upon  the  story  of  holy  flesh  and 
blood  for  ever  luminous  with  divine  truth.  We  believe 
the  promise  given  by  the  Lord  Jesus;  '■^wlien  He,  the 
spirit  of  truth  is  come,  He  will  guide  you  into  all  truth.'''' 
But  if  we  are  exhorted  to  deny  newly  ascertained  facts 
because  they  are  incongruous  with  the  forms  in  which 
ancient  inspirations  came,  we  answer,  "  the  Lord  is  the 
Spirit"  not  the  form.  If  we  are  urged  to  look  suspici- 
ously upon  Science  because  she  cannot  pronounce  the 
Shibboleth  of  old  church  discipline,  we  say,  she  is  the 
child  of  truth,  therefore  the  sister  of  Religion ;  her  speech 
likewise  has  its  inspiration  as  well  as  ours.  We  do  not 
care  for  old  cosmogonies,  mythologies,  or  dogmas,  save 
so  far  as  they  add  their  feeble  refracted  ray  to  the  grow- 
ing brightness  of  God's  own  dawn.  We  do  not  care  to 
stickle  for  the  words  and  opinions  of  men,  whose  worth 
is  measured  only  by  the  spiritual  impulse  which  they 
give  to  our  souls.  Let  us  look  to  the  Bible  as  God's 
bow  in  the  clouds  of  mystery  which  hover  over  human 
life    and    progress,     God's   bow    bright    with    broken 


THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  THE  BIBLE.  183 

splendours  of  revelation ;  and  generations  to  come  shall 
find  it  the  gateway  of  life  under  which  they  march  to  a 
fairer  day  and  a  brighter  land,  where  they  need  no 
refracted  light,  because  the  Lord  Grod  Himself  giveth 
them  liorht  for  ever. 


APPENDIX. 


KOTE   A. 


On  Buddhism  as  an  Argument  for  the  possibility  of  rest 
in  Atlieism. 

In  the  ''  Theological  Review"  for  April  of  this  year 
tliere  was  an  interestinnr  article,  by  Mr.  11.  A.  Armstrong, 
on  "  Buddhisin  and  Christianity,"  in  which  the  writer 
seems  to  regard  the  former  reliirion,  with  its  long 
history  and  numerous  adherents,  as  an  overwhelming 
argument  against  the  natural  theism  of  man.  He  says 
(p.  197)-  ^ 

"  This  I'liddliism  exhibits  to  us  not  one,  but  innumerable  commu- 
nities Ixirn,  Ijred,  dying,  witliout  thought  or  desire  of  (iod.  It  sliows 
us  a  stupendfjus  power,  -which  has  enchaiTied  the  dwellers  over  many 
myriads  of  leagues  without  God.  It  dis])lays  a  moral  empire,  wliich 
for  three-and-twenty  centuri(;s  has  grown  and  swelled  with  cvct- 
increasing  might  without  (iod.  It  reveals  a  fortress  of  nick,  against 
wliifli  the  waves  of  Islam  and  the  waves  of  Christendom  liave  alike 
beaten  uttei'ly  in  vain, — though  the  foilrcss  contains  no  wors!ii]iiiers  of 
fiod.  It  manifests  a  cohesion  and  endurance  wliicli.  godless  though 
it  be,  mo<'ks  .and  shames  Christianity  with  her  numy  convulsions  and 
her  reiterated  revolutions. 

'•  'J'licrefore  to  insist  that  tiod  is  naturally  revealed  to  .all  meii,  how- 
ever dimly,  is  to  ignore  tlie  larircst  fact  in  all  hisloi-y.  .and  to  jnig  a 
e/diclusion  wliich  is  destitute  of  prenii>es.  It  ni.ay  lie  iiiiite  true,  that 
wv  have  intuitive  sense  of  DcmIv.  but  there  are  ;i(K).()(>0,(i(»<)  of  hiniuin 
lieing^  in  whom  that  sense  is  not  to  b<.'  detected." 


186  APPENDIX. 

On  this  passage  I  would  remark  that  very  much 
deiJends  upon  the  sense  in  which  the  words  "God" 
and  "Deitj"  are  used.  If  they  are  used  in  tlie  full 
Christian  sense  of  "one  God  the  Father  Almighty, 
Maker  of  Heaven  and  earth,  and  of  all  thinfjs  visible 
and  invisible,"  no  doubt  the  writer's  observations  are 
in  that  case  perfectly  correct.  But  then,  mutatis  mutandis^ 
almost  the  same  observations  might  have  been  made  in 
the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century  about  Teutonic 
and  Hellenic  Polytheism.  Whatever  illustrious  excep- 
tions they  may  have  allowed,  on  the  whole  these 
systems  showed  great  vitality,  and  even  moral  })ower, 
without  any  notion  of  God  in  the  full  Christian  sense. 
But  no  one  would  think  of  adducing  this  as  an  argu- 
ment against  the  natural  theism  of  man.  If  however 
the  words  "God"  and  "Deity"  in  the  above  extract 
stand  for  "object  of  worship,"  the  observations  are  of 
course  notoriously  inconsistent  with  facts.  But  the 
writer  does  not  think  that  worship  necessarily  involves 
"  theism."  Here  again  everything  turns  on  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word.  In  our  sense  of  theism,  it  certainly 
is  not  necessarily  involved  in  worship.  But  it  by  no 
means  follows  that  worship  is  consistent  with  atheism — at 
least  if  that  word  is  contined,  as  it  ought  to  be,  to  a 
denial  of  any  universal,  rational  and  sensitive  Life — 
or  what  is  the  same  thing,  an  assertion  of  the  deadness 
of  the  universe.  If  that  is  the  meaning  of  atheism,  I 
do  not  think  that  worship  is  reconcilable  with  it.  The 
reason  why  the  various  deities  of  a  polytheistic  system 


APPENDIX.  187 

give  satisfaction  to  the  instinct  of  -worship  is  that 
these  deities  are  embraced  by  the  heart  as  representa- 
tives or  impersonations  of  overruling  and  abiding  Power. 
This  is  also  the  reason  why  Comtist  Avorship  proved  im- 
possible ;  because,  as  the  system  ignored  any  over-ruling 
and  abiding  Power,  of  Avhich  therefore  collective  kindred 
or  humanity  could  not  be  taken  as  the  representative,  the 
instinct  of  worship  was  not  and  could  not  be  satisfied. 
On  the  other  hand,  whatever  may  have  been  the  case 
with  Sakyamuni  himself,  I  understand  on  the  authority 
of  friends  born  and  brought  up  amongst  them  and  in 
eveiy  way  qualified  to  form  a  judgment,  that  the  actual 
religion  of  the  Buddhists  is  practicalhj  polytheistic. 

Again,  if  in  the  above  extract  the  words  "  God"  and 
"Deity*'  stand  for  the  Ultimate  Mystery  of  Being, 
involving  both  the  beginning  and  the  end,  the  ol)serva- 
tions  made  are  inconsistent  with  the  traditions  detailed 
in  the  article  itself  as  to  the  orirrin  of  Buddhism.  It 
was  the  ])ressure  of  the  mystery  of  })ersonal  existence 
which  gave  to  Sackyamuni  his  first  impulse  towards 
the  foundation  of  a  now  religicm.  Xow  what  I  contend 
against  in  Lecture  I.  is  the  notion  that  in  delight  at  the 
clear  and  tangible  results  of  })hysical  science  men  can 
ever  sit  down  iniconcernod  about  the  world's  mystery, 
wliich  of  course  involves  the  Pinal  Cause  of  Creation. 
It  may  be  true  that  under  tlie  ])ressur(!  of  this  mystery 
Buddhism  at  tlu;  outset  took  tlu;  desperati;  (•ours(!  of 
ignorin;^'  or  even  detying  it.  l)Ut  tlie  rapid  and  uni- 
versal  devel<i[)m(;ut  of  its  superstitious  foi-nis  of  worship 


188  APPENDIX. 

is  as  good  an  illustration  as  I  need  of  the  observation  I 
have  made  that  such  a  desperate  course  can  only  be 
temporary. 

The  relation  of  Buddhism  to  the  subject  discussed 
in  this  Lecture  may  be  suggested  in  one  or  two  questions 
and  observations. 

1.  If  Nirvana  meant  simply  annihilation,  why  was  not 
instant  suicide  conceived  to  be  the  nearest  way  to  its  attain- 
ment ?  The  answer  may  be  that  the  notion  of  re-birth 
or  transmigration  was  too  deeply  ingrained  in  the 
Indian  mind  to  be  easily  shaken  off.  But  a  man  who 
got  rid  of  so  much,  could  surely  have  found  no  diffi- 
culty in  shaking  off  this.  Is  it  not  plain  that  Sakya- 
muni  realized  personality  as  too  deep  and  intense  to 
be  necessarily  dissolved  wdth  the  body  ? 

2.  Why  should  personal  existence  be  singled  out  as 
the  germ  or  centre  of  all  evil  ?  Is  there  not  here  a 
hint  of  the  spiritual  mysticism  which  finds  in  creature 
isolation  from  the  Universal  Good  the  essence  of  all 
sin  and  misery  ? 

3.  If  Nirvana  was  to  be  attained  by  purity,  self- 
denial  and  contem])lation,  does  it  not  look  like  absorption 
more  than  annihilation?  Do  not  the  means  for  its 
attainment  suggest  that  originally  it  miist  have  been 
regarded  as  a  dissolution  of  Subject  in  Object,  of  self  in 
the  Ultimate  Good  ? 

I  have  no  knowledge  of  the  sources  of  information, 
and  therefore  cannot  pretend  to  answer  such  enquiries 
confidently.     But  so  far  as  I  have  learned  the  facts  from 


APPENDIX.  189 

authority  they  seem  to  point  to  Pantheism  rather  than 
Atheism.  In  that  case  they  do  not  necessarily  invali- 
date the  ])rinciples  for  which  I  contend  in  the  Lecture. 
But  such  facts  concern  only  Sakyamuni  and  a  few 
exceptionally  enlightened  followers ;  certainly  not  the 
300,000,000  to  whom  Mr.  Armstrong  ai)peals.  And 
therefore  I  ask — 

4.  How  many  of  the  300,000,000  differ  at  all  from 
ordinary  Polytheists,  in  whom  superstition  satisfies  the 
stimted  soul  by  pi-esenting  a  degrading  object  to  a 
perverted  instinct  of  worship  ? 

5.  Is  not  the  perpetual  succession  of  Buddhas  very 
like  an  eternal  series  of  incarnations — of  what  ? 

I  have  been  impelled  to  make  these  remarks,  because 
I  know  that  some  who  are  interested  in  the  publication 
of  the  present  lectures  are  readers  of  the  Theological 
Review.  Those  who  like  myself  have  to  lament  their 
want  of  information  on  one  of  the  most  stupc'udous 
phenomena  of  history  must  have  felt  grateful  to  3Ir. 
Armstrong  for  the  clear,  succinct  and  candid  manner  in 
which  he  has  arranged  his  facts.  It  is  ])ossible  I  may 
be  mistaken  as  to  the  inferences  intended  to  lie  drawn 
from  them.  At  any  rate  I  see  nothing  in  the  reecixed 
facts  concerning  Buddhism  to  invalitlate,  but  much  to 
confirm  the  belief  expiHjssed  in  j).  10  from  which  refer- 
ence was  nia<l(!  to  this  note. 

As  1  ha\(3  (piotcid  llu!  words,  I  must  say  1  do  not 
at  a!]  agree;  with  the  scntiineiit,  th;it  'Mhc  ctphcsion 
and    en(kn"ance "    of    Buddni^iii    '"  m<jcks    and    shauies 


190  APPENDIX. 

Christianity  Avith  her  many  conATilsions  and  her 
reiterated  revolutions."  One  might  as  well  say  that 
"the  cohesion  and  endurance"  of  China  "  mocks  and 
shames  Europe  with  its  convulsions  and  its  reiterated 
revolutions."  The  higher  the  life,  the  more  violent 
often  are  the  crises  of  growth,  and  certainly  the  more 
extreme  is  the  differentiation  of  parts. 

Note  B. 

On  the  Development  Theo7y  in  relation  to  the  Soul  and 
Immortality. 

On  p.  51  I  have  expressed  my  belief  in  the  possibility 
of  "  a  theory  of  man's  spiritual  nature,  consistent  with 
acloiowledged  fjicts,  and  dependent  on  no  contingencies 
of  any  controversy  that  may  yet  be  undecided." 
Whether  the  development  of  species  by  some  continuous 
law  be  an  undecided  question,  I  am  ha])pily  not  called 
upon  to  determine.  But  I  suppose  that  one  great 
reason  for  the  repiignance  felt  to  it  in  years  gone  by 
has  been  the  instinctive  perception  that  if  it  were 
established  as  regards  animals,  it  must  inevitably  be 
applied  to  man.  And  in  such  an  application  it  is 
very  generally  thought  that  more  is  at  stake  tlian  the 
historical  value  of  Genesis.  At  the  touch  of  such  a  theory, 
if  it  should  be  proved,  the  soul,  religion,  immortality, 
must,  it  is  supposed,  vanish  like  a  dream.  If  man  was 
born  of  a  brute,  it  is  insisted  that  he  must  of  necessity 


APPEXDIX.  191 

be  a  brute  still.  But  tbis  of  course  assumes  precisely 
what  the  theory  in  question  rejects,  namely  the  constant 
and  insuperable  resemblance  of  descendants  to  all  past 
progenitors,  however  remote.  For  a  moment  conceive 
the  theory  to  be  limited  only  to  the  lower  animals.  Let 
us  suppose  some  one  to  be  contending  that  birds  are 
remotely  descended  from  some  form  of  aquatic  animals. 
"What  would  be  thought  of  any  one  who  insisted  that  if 
birds  were  born  of  fish,  they  must  of  necessity  be  fish 
still  ?  It  would  of  coiu'se  be  said  that  he  was  talkino- 
nonsense.  The  object  of  the  theory  is  not  to  deny  or 
explain  away  any  established  facts  as  to  the  actual  organi- 
zation of  birds,  such  as  the  fourfold  cavity  of  the  lieart, 
their  hot  blood,  their  wings  and  feathers ;  but  to  suggest 
how  the  origin  of  these  distinctive  phenomena  may  be 
accounted  for  without  recourse  to  the  A'iolent  su})position 
of  a  little  heap  of  dust  being  suddenly  transformed  into 
a  full  fledged  bird.  Siu'ely  it  is  not  less  nonsensical  to 
argue  tliat  if  the  theory  of  man's  remote  descent  from 
an  anthropoid  ape  be  established,  it  will  })rove  him  to  be 
an  a])('  still.  Tlie  theoiy  uses  the  Avord  'man'  in  its 
])roper  significance,  involving  intellect,  moral  nature,  and 
affections,  together  with  all  the  undeniabl(^  ])hen(imeiia 
which  1  have  urged  as  implying  a  God-consciousness 
in  oiii'  race.  As  the  doctrini;  docs  Tiot  deny  the 
p(!culiariti(!s  of  liuinan  f'ct  and  hanils,  nor  tiic  facial 
angle,  bui  onlv  tries  to  account  for  theiu  ;  so  it  does  not 
deny  the  mental,  moral  or  spiritual  attriltutes  wliieli  have 
given  iJiankind  su])reniacy  on  the  earth,  but  only  asserts 


192  APPENDIX. 

that  they  may  be  accounted  for  on  the  hypothesis  of 
development  from  a  lower  stage  of  existence.  Whether 
the  theory  be  adequate  to  the  facts  or  not,  is  altogether 
another  question.  But  if  we  could  only  see  the  theory 
in  its  true  light,  we  should  not  impart  so  much  heat  into 
its  discussion. 

Still  some  difficulties  remain.  One  is  merely  a  matter 
of  sentiment.  For  at  first  sight  it  appears  abhorrent  to 
religious  feelino:,  that  "  man  who  is  made  in  the  imaije 
of  God"  should  be  for  a  moment  conceived  as  possibly 
descended  from  an  ape.  But  is  there  not  something 
Manichean  in  such  a  sentiment  ?  For  the  lower  animals 
are  God's  creatures,  as  w^ell  as  ourselves.  We  all  feel 
the  truth  of  the  prophet's  words  to  the  Jews,  "  I  say 
unto  you,  that  God  is  able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up 
children  unto  Abraham."*  But  surely  a  beast  is  higher 
in  the  scale  of  creation,  and  more  likely  material  for  such 
a  transformation  than  a  stone.  Or  the  case  may  be  put 
thus.  Both  the  literal  believers  in  Genesis  and  the 
adherents  of  the  development  hypothesis  alike  admit  that 
a  material  basis  was  used  by  the  Creator  in  the  formation 
of  man.  The  former  think  that  "  God  formed  man 
of  the  dust  of  the  ground ; "  the  latter  believe  that  the 
Creator  formed  him  out  of  an  anthropoid  ape;  or  in 
other  Avords,  the  former  believe  that  the  material  basis 
in  the  first  man,  w^ho  was  "  of  the  earth,  earthy,"  was 
inorganic  dust  gathered  from  the  groimd;  the  latter 
believe  that  the  material  basis  was  dust  already  organized 
*  Mutt.  iii.  9. 


APPEXDIX.  193 

in  the  form  of  one  of  tlio  higher  animals.  Why  the 
latter  view  should  be  more  repulsi\'e  to  sentiment  than 
the  former,  it  woulcl  not  be  easy  to  say.  It  is  of  no  nse 
to  urge  that  the  material  basis  in  the  one  case  implies 
something  more,  viz.,  that  "  God  breathed  into  man"s 
nostrils  the  breath  of  life."  For  I  maintain  that  the 
material  basis  in  the  other  case  implies  precisely  the  same 
thing,  viz.,  that  by  ''inspiration  of  the  Almighty"  man 
has  come  to  be  what  he  is.  It  is  of  no  use  to  reiterat<- 
ad  nauseam  that  the  scientific  men  who  uphold  the  origin 
of  man  by  development  are  all  materialists  and  atheists. 
In  the  first  })lace,  it  is  not  true  ;  in  the  next,  I  am  not  at 
all  concerned  with  their  individual  o})inions,  but  oidy 
with  the  scientific  theories  which  they  seem  in  a  f;iir 
way  of  ])roving  by  facts. 

AiK^thcr  difficulty  is  one  of  more  than  sentiment,  i 
may  be  asked  how  can  we  have  soids  if  we  are  developed 
out  of  l)easts  which  had  none?  To  Avhirh  I  should 
reply,  I  do  not  })retend  to  have  a  soul ;  I  on  a  soal.  And 
the  collection  of  ])henomena  called  my  body  is  merely 
the  aiTaiigement  of  i'orces  necessary,  in  this  present  st;ig( 
ol'  existence,  to  mark  off  and  concentrate  in  Ihe  tonn 
of  ]»ei-sonality  that  ]»ortion  of  univer>al  substance  wliici, 
J  call  'mysfif.'  This  arraiig<>iiieiit  of  (oives  i>  the  i-sue 
of  an  indefinitely  long  process  of  creation  pas.-ing  tlii-ough 
innniiiei-;ible  steps.  How  fai'  the  ]»r;'ced.ing  links  in  ihe 
proee-^.>  invohcd  jiersonulit v,  we  have  none  ot  ns  any 
niean>  of  (Ictci'inining  l»v  direct  oliser\  at  ion,  excc])!  lor 
on(j  or  two  i'-('nei'ati(»ns.      .Dul  on  hi.-ioric  te-t!H;ony  we 

u 


194  APPENDIX. 

believe  that  tlio  same  arrangement  of  forces,  called  the 
human  body,  has  for  thousands  of  years  been  associated 
with  personality ;  and  when  historic  testimony  fails,  we 
infer  from  the  relics  left  us,  and  which  bear  tokens  of 
})ersonal  intelligence,  that  in  pre-historic  times  this  same 
association  prevailed  between  a  certain  arrangement  of 
forces  and  the  definition  of  personal  life.  That  is,  every 
one  of  the  innumerable  beings  of  whom  we  thus  find 
traces — we  do  not  say  had,  but — 'Was  a  soul.  But 
when  we  ask  after  the  ultimate  origin  of  this  ever- 
renewed  phenomenon  of  organic  forces,  the  human  body, 
we  are  led  to  believe  that  it  was  formed  by  gradual 
modifications  in  a  pi^evious  series  of  bodies  which  were 
no  less  than  ours  simply  a  certain  arrangement  of  forces 
marking  out  and  limitino;  universal  substance.  As  then 
we  go  back  in  imagination  down  the  bewildering  links 
of  existence  till  they  merge  in  forms  utterly  different 
from  ours,  we  need  not  look  to  find  the  lines  of  continuity 
over  broken  or  disturbed.  At  every  stage  creature 
existence  may  still  be  regarded  as  consisting  of  tAvo 
factors  ;  the  substance,  which  is  the  life,  and  the  defining 
forces  wdiich  make  the  phenomenon  of  an  organic  body. 
Does  it  then  foUow  that  we  carry  the  notion  of  soul  with 
us  into  every  stage  ?  Certainly  not.  What  we  mean 
by  that — if  we  can  at  all  tell  what  we  mean,  which  is 
not  always  the  case — is  a  certain  sense  of  personality, 
individuality,  more  or  less  consciously  distinguishing 
subject  and  object.  Now  it  is  of  course  common 
enough   to   suppose   that   this    sent^e    of  personality    is 


APPEAL  IX.  195 

developed  in  the  spiritual  substance  of  our  being  by 
the  education  of  the  senses. 

"  So  rounds  he  to  a  separate  mind 

From  whence  clear  memory  may  begin, 
As  thro'  the  frame  that  binds  him  in 
His  isolation  gi-ows  defined." 

But  it  is  not  the  senses  only  that  are  concerned  in  this 
definition.  The  senses  of  manv  beasts  are  aniazinfjlv 
keener  than  ours;  but  no  one  supposes  that  they  have 
any  such  feeling  of  individuality  as  we.  If  then  the 
" frame  that  binds  us  in"  "defines  our  isolation,"  we 
must  take  that  frame  as  a  whole,  in  nerve  and  brain 
and  blood  and  muscle,  as  well  as  in  the  senses.  It 
follows  that  supposing  it  possible  by  imagination  or 
knowledge  ever  to  trace  the  generations  of  mankind  l)ack 
to  a  race  with  an  entirely  different  form  of  body,  or  even 
of  ])rain  and  nervous  system,  the  attribution  of  a  soul  in 
the  abo\'e  meaning  to  such  a  race  woidd  be  unnecessary 
and  contrary  to  analogy.  The  lower  animals  contem- 
porary with  us,  quite  as  certainly  as  ourselves,  consist 
of  two  factors,  substantial  life  and  ])henomenal  body. 
For  all  the  arguments  which  go  to  prove  the  ininia- 
t(;riality  of  human  life  are  quite  as  ap]jh'cable  to  {\u\  case 
of  animals.  U  the  difference^  ])etwecn  living  and  dead 
protoplasm  involves  a  subtle;  s]>iritiial  entity  present  in 
the  one,  absent  in  the  other,  that  spii-itiial  entity  is 
th(!  essence  of  cwry  animafs  existence,  as  well  :ik  of 
man's.  Nevertheless,  the  pojmlar  unwillingness  to 
attribute    a    soul    to    beasts    is    (luite    iustified    bv    the 


196  APPENDIX. 

absence  of  any  tokens  of  that  individtialitj  and  isolation 
which  we  instinctively  associate  with  the   word.     The 
probable,   or   at   any   rate   possible   truth  is,  that  the 
arrangement  of  forces  constituting  the  body  even  of  the 
highest  animals  is  inadequate  to  give  that  intensity  of 
detinition   implied   in    a   personal    soul.       And    if  the 
ascending  stem  of  human  genealogy  blends  at  its  roots 
with  the  horizontal  stems  of  animal  species,  all  we  can 
say  is,  beyond  that  point  we  cease  to  attribute  existence 
in  the  form  of  soul.     The  transition  from  the  one  form 
of  existence  to  the  other  may  be  conceived  as  effected 
by  the  gradual  perfection  of  the  defining  forces  which 
make  up  the  phenomenon  of  body.     There  is  no  need  in 
this  case  to  suppose  that  the  transition  must  have  been 
sudden.     For  if  j^ersonality  is  the  product  of  a  certain 
intensity  in  the  definition  of  a  part  of  a  universal  sub- 
stance, it  is  just  as  capable  of  gradual  development  as  is 
bodily  form.      This  may  be  illustrated  by  our  own  per- 
sonal experience.    There  is  ap])arently  a  good  deal  of  truth 
in  the  idea,  that  as  we  sometimes  see  each  passing  Avave 
lined  with  ripple  marks  which  mimic  the  surface  of  the 
whole  ocean,  so  each  individual  history  is  marked  by  a 
summary  of  all  the  past  progress  of  creation.    Certainly 
there  was  a  time  with  each  one  of  us  when  in  every 
respect  except  in  latent  power  of  growth  we  were  mere 
animals.     AVe  have  no  memory  of  that  time,  either  be- 
cause we  had  no  sense  of  personality  or  not  sufficiently 
clear ;    but  w^e  know  that   having  once    dawned,   this 
sense  of  personality  grew  more  and  more  in  intensity 


APPENDIX.  197 

by  action  and  re-action  through   means  of  the  body 
between  itself  and  the  world. 

I  will  now  try  to  show  the  bearing  of  these  remarks 
on  immortality.  Here  at  least  it  may  be  thought  is 
an  aspect  of  the  spiritual  nature  which  is  necessarily 
dependent  on  the  contingencies  of  scientific  controversy. 
Were  all  the  lower  progenitors  of  man  immortal  ?  If 
not,  when  did  they  begin  to  be  so  ?  And  how  is  such 
a  stupendous  transition  consistent  with  the  continuity 
which  science  is  seeking  to  associate  with  develo^mient? 
In  attempting  to  suggest  an  answer  to  such  questions  it 
will  of  course  be  understood  that  I  am  not  dealing  with 
the  question  of  immortality  on  its  own  groimds,  but 
only  with  the  relation  of  the  development  theory 
thereto.  For  tliose  who  attach  no  im})ort  to  the  instinct 
of  immortality  within  us  what  I  have  to  say  may  have 
little  force.  But  for  those  who,  Avliile  believing  in 
immortality,  are  per[)lex('d  Ijy  what  they  think  the 
threatening  aspects  of  ])hysical  enquiry,  I  trust  my  sug- 
gestions may  not  l)e  altogether  valueless.  Immortality 
is  one  of  those  "truths  Avhich  never  can  be  proNcd,' 
and  ])('riia[)s  pre-eminently  rc(itiires  "the  iaith  that 
comes  of  self-C(mtrol."  AVe  who  on  historical  evidence 
believe  in  the  historical  resun-eetion  of  Christ  may  derive 
from  that  event  great  comfort,  and  confirniat  ion  oi"  our 
faitli.  r>ut  we  value  it  as  a  eonfinnation  of  arguments 
already  existing  in  our  own  sr)uls,  or  i-athei-  in  the 
generic;  consciuusnes>  (jf  the  race:  not  as  a  lir>t  i-(!\cla- 
tion,  nor  as  an  isolated  ])ro(^f  of  immortality.      I»<'  that 


108  APPENDIX. 

as  it  may,  the  belief  in  a  future  life  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  and  surely  most  significant  characteristics 
of  human  nature.  But  now,  say  some,  if  the  develop- 
ment theory  is  applied  to  mankind  there  is  an  end  to 
our  hope  of  immortality.  I  suppose  if  the  precise  diffi- 
culty is  pressed  for,  it  might  be  presented  somewhat 
thus : — 

"  If  we  are  immortal  and  our  remote  progenitors 
were  not,  there  must  have  been  a  time  when  the  tran- 
sition was  made.  That  is,  it  came  to  pass  at  some 
period  in  the  history  of  development  that  a  mortal 
father  begot  an  immortal  son.  There  is  no  alternative. 
Either  a  creature  is  immortal,  or  he  is  not.  Here  is  a 
transition  which  you  cannot  bridge  over  by  any  gra- 
duated process.  Therefore  you  must  believe  that  up  to 
a  certain  point  all  the  human  or  quasi-human  race  were 
annihilated  when  they  died ;  and  then  suddenly  the  next 
generation  began  to  live  for  ever.  Is  not  this  on  the 
face  of  it  absurd  ?  Is  it  not  quite  as  great  a  miracle 
as  any  act  of  instantaneous  creation  ?  Is  it  not  totally 
inconsistent  with  the  boasted  laAv  of  continuity  ?" 

I  hope  I  state  fairly  the  difficulty  which  many  may 
feel  as  to  the  bearing  of  the  theory  of  development  on 
the  doctrine  of  immortality.  That  I  can  completely 
remove  the  difficulty  I  do  not  for  a  moment  suppose ; 
for  I  believe  it  to  be  only  one  aspect  of  the  one  com- 
prehensive mystery  involved  in  the  relationship  of  finite 
self-conscious  life  to  the  Infinite  One  who  is  its  only 
true  Substance.     But  somethinjr  is  done  if  we  show  that 


APPEXDIX.  199 

no  new  difficulty  is  introduced ;  that  it  is  in  fact  very 
closely  analogous  to  an  old  one  which  has  never,  so  far 
as  I  am  aware,  seriously  disturbed  men's  confidence  in 
immortality.  I  spoke  just  now  of  the  notion  that  each 
individual  in  his  own  life  sums  up  the  past  progress  of 
creatJon.  It  niay  be  of  some  assistance  by  way  of 
analory  here.  Are  all  human  offspring  from  the  very 
moment  of  conception  immortal  ?  I  hardly  think  that 
any  one,  however  zealous  for  the  proper  immortality  of 
man,  ,vould  maintain  this.  Or  at  any  rate  it  is  a  very 
exceptional  opinion.  The  ordinary  view  certainly  is 
tha:  the  first  beginnings  of  the  individual  life  do  not 
involve  immortality,  and  that  when  such  an  incij)ient, 
merely  germinant  life  deceases,  it  perishes  utterly. 
F(.r  myself,  I  do  not  believe  that  it  })erishes  utterly  : 
nothing  does  ;  but  let  that  pass  for  the  present.  Xow 
at  what  stage  of  growth,  according  to  the  ordinary 
view,  does  immortality  begin  to  be  a  proper  attribute  of 
the  individual  ?  Putting  aside  all  old  wives'  fables, 
which  imply  tliat  the  soul  is  a  sort  of  foreign  entity 
inserted  by  a  miracle  into  the  Innuan  creature  after  lie 
has  begun  to  be,  is  it  not  felt  to  1)0  an  impossibility  to 
assign  any  date  to  tliis  momentous  transition?  Still  if 
he  is  to  Ix'coine  immortal  at  all  tlicrc  must  be  sucii  a 
period.  That  is,  if  he  died  one  iiioincut  b^'l'orc  a  certain 
time  he  would  b(!  annihilat(;d  ;  whereas  if  lie  survives  a 
moment  longer  he  will  live  \\)V  ever.  Here  you  have 
in  tlie  individual  history  jirecisely  the  difliculty  al)OV(; 
suggested  in  the  relation  ol"  the  develo])inent  theory  to 


'200  APPENDIX 

iniiiiortality.  Is  not  tins,  it  might  be  asked,  absurd  on 
the  face  of  it  ?  Is  it  not  totally  inconsistent  with  that 
t!ontinnity  of  organic  growth,  upon  which  all  common 
s(^nse  doctrines  concerning  the  nurture  of  the  earHest 
springs  of  life  are  foimded  ?  Yet  ordinary  Christians, 
strong  in  the  instinct  of  immortality,  quietly  ignore 
any  such  difficulty;  or  if  they  ever  think  of  it  are 
content  with  a  confidence  that  there  must  be  son.e  way 
out  of  it.  Far  be  it  for  me  to  say  that  they  act 
unwisely ;  but  it  is  not  open  to  the  same  nx-n  on 
account  of  a  precisely  analogous  difficulty  to  declare 
that  the  development  theory  is  subversive  of  immortaity. 
But  though  the  production  of  a  parallel  difficilty 
notoriously  ignored  may  be  a  sufficient  argument  ad 
hominem,  it  is  not  sufficient  ad  rem.  And  if  I  left  ^he 
matter  here,  I  should  have  done  little  to  show  the  bear- 
ing of  the  earlier  part  of  this  note  upon  the  present 
suljject.  Let  me  then  recall  the  suggestion  that  every 
creature  existence  is  made  up  of  two  factors,  viz.,  a  defi- 
nite portion  of  universal  substance,  and  the  arrangement 
of  forces,  i.e.  the  body,  which  marks  out  and  limits  that 
substance.  If  physical  science  has  established  any  uni- 
versal doctrine  at  all,  surely  it  has  established  the  truth 
that  nothing,  whether  it  be  substance  or  force,  is 
ever  anniliilated.  Xeither  then  of  the  factors  in  animal 
(existence  can  utterly  perish.  The  forces  which  have 
d(!fined  its  life  return  into  nature's  order,  as  the  dis- 
tributed type  of  the  printer  returns  to  its  fount ;  but 
what  of  the  substance  which  these  forces  isolated  from 


APPEXDIX.  201 

the  universe  ?  The  view  which  regards  it  as  "  re-merging 
in  the  general  Soul,"  has  surely  a  great  deal  in  its  flivour, 
although  such  an  opinion  needs  to  be  carefully  guarded, 
lest  it  should  degenerate  into  such  a  form  of  Pantheism 
as  denies  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  But  it  is  sm-ely 
conceivable,  that  if  the  definition  and  isolation  of  creature 
individuality  through  bodily  organization  became  suffi- 
ciently intense,  it  might  survive  the  shock  of  death, 
and  henceforward  be  sustained  by  more  ethereal  forces 
such  as  would  be  involved  in  St.  PauFsidca  of  a  celestial 
bodv.  Here  again  we  have  a  suggestion  given  us  by 
the  poet,  who  far  more  truly  than  the  author  of  Sartor 
liosartus,  has  been  the  Prophet  of  his  age. 

•'  Such  use  mny  lie  in  blood  and  breath ; 
Which  else  were  fruitless  of  their  due, 
Had  man  to  learn  himself  anew 
Beyond  the  second  birth  of  death.'' 

Supposing  such  a  speculation  permissible,  then  the  whole 
de\"elo])ment  of  the  animal  creation  might  be  regarded 
as — to  speak  hunumly — a  continued  nisas  to  give  j)er- 
manciice  by  definition  to  finite  forms  of  Universal 
Substance.  Xor — though  I  do  not  (piote  Scrij)turc  in 
support  of"  such  speculation — can  1  furl)ear  rccalHng  in 
cxjnnoction  with  such  a  tliought,  the  words  of  St.  Paul, 
''■the  t'jxrui'Ht  ej'iicctailon  of  ike  crenture  v  ait  ell t  for  tlie 
manifesto  I  Ion  of  the  so)is  (f  ijod.  For  the  creature 
iras  nto.de  subject  to  vaii'dij,  not  trilluiglij,  but  by  reason  oj 
1 1  an  'u:ho  hath  salijected  the  siuite  in  hope;  lieeause  the 
creature  itself  also  shall  bt  delicered  front,    the  bonda<je  of 


202  APPENDIX. 

corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty/  of  the  children  of  God. 
For  we  knoio  that  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth 
in  pain  together  until  nowy*  If  then  the  whole  progress 
of  creation  has  been  an  effort  in  the  direction  of  creature 
immortality,  it  is  not  by  any  means  certain  that  so  sharp 
a  line  as  is  sometimes  assumed  must  necessarily  be  drawn 
between  so-called  annihilation  and  immortality.  There 
is  no  such  thing  as  annihilation  properly  so  called.  The 
nearest  approach  to  it  is  absorption  into  the  universe. 
But  it  may  very  fairly  be  questioned  whether  any- 
thing in  the  form  of  created  life  is  ever  so  completely 
absorbed  into  the  universe  as  to  become  as  though  it 
had  never  existed  in  that  form.  The  very  particles 
of  the  decaying  body  have  a  power  surviving  its 
death,  and  are  richer  in  influence  than  they  were 
when  previously  existing  in  an  inorganic  state.  And 
though  all  scientific  knowledge  fails  us  in  the  attempt 
to  follow  the  other  factor  of  the  creature  life,  the 
substance,  which  is  if  possible  more  indestructible  than 
the  forces  which  defined  it,  we  cannot  help  imagining 
that  it  too,  after  passing  through  this  stage,  retains  some 
sort  of  effect  from  the  process.  Where  there  has  been 
no  individuality  in  mortal  life  there  can  be  no  individual 
immortality ;  but  still,  even  while  absorbed  into  the  life 
of  the  universe,  the  immaterial  principle  of  every  beast 
may  enrich  or  re-enforce  that  life  as  its  decaying  body 
fertilizes  the  ground.     It  is  possible  to    conceive   too 

*  Rom.  viii.  19—22. 


APPENDIX.  203 

that  of  a  number  of  creatures  making  different  approxi- 
mations to  personality  or  soul,  the  function  of  the 
immaterial  principle  in  the  invisible  Avorlcl  of  substance 
may  be  proportionably  various.  And  only  where  the 
isolation  has  grown  defined  enough  to  give  a  strong 
sense,  or  at  least  a  sufficiently  determinate  germinant 
sense  of  individuality  and  detachment  from  nature,  may 
the  creature  life,  still  marked  out  and  self-conscious, 
sur-vive  the  shock  of  death.  The  application  of  such 
speculations  to  the  development  theory  will  now  I  hope 
be  obvious.  It  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  the 
anthropoid  predecessors  of  mankind  Avere  all  annihilated 
up  to  a  certain  generation,  and  then  suddenly  bloomed 
into  immortality.  There  is  no  more  reason  against 
conceiving  various  kinds  or  degrees  of  inmiortality,  from 
com])leto  absorption  to  beatific  contemplation,  than  there 
is  against  the  acknowledgment  of  various  degi'ces  in 
the  definition  of  creature  existence,  from  the  mere 
])assing  bubble  of  miiversal  life  in  the  barnacle  or 
lichen,  to  the  mysterious  microcosm  of  God  and 
weature,  heaven,  self  and  nature;  in  man.  As  X\w 
agitated  sea  flings  its  bubbles  up  into  the  light, 
for  the  most  part  they  do  but  s])arkl('  a  moment  and 
sink  a<rain  into  the  bosom  of  the;  flood.  Some  liaiig 
together  upon  the  crests  of  the  billows,  a  mere  white 
streak  of  foam.  ]jut  wJK^ro  tin;  ocean  is  iiioi-c  power- 
fully movcMJ,  tlie  retiring  tid(!  olten  lea\('s  u]»oii  the  shon; 
wreatiis  of  glassy  dom<is  shimiiieriiig  in  the  sun  with 
a  richness   of  colour  and  a  j)(;rfeet   symmetry  that  long 


204  APPENDIX. 

survive  the  struggle  of  water  and  air  which  gave  them 
tbrm. 

It'  wc  befool  ourselves  with  fancies,  the  resistless 
temptation  thereto  is  after  all  an  indication  of  the 
strength  of  that  faith  which  for  ever  fights  with  death. 
If  I  have  stepped  beyond  the  limit  of  justifiable 
speculation,  it  is  in  protest  against  the  unjustifiable 
pressure  of  the  dilemma  which  is  too  often  pre- 
sented to  us, — a  faith  dej)cndent  on  contingencies  of 
scientific  research,  or  no  faith  at  all.  I  repeat  I  can 
cx)nceive  of  no  possible  contingency  which  would 
absolutely  exclude  immortality.  For  the  rest,  the 
Bible  is  singularly  reserved  and  certainly  encourages 
no  vain  curiosity.  "  Brethren,  ice  hiow  not  ichat  tee 
shall  he.''''  Happy  are  we  if  we  realize  that  divine 
communion  is  the  power  of  an  endless  life ;  happy  if 
we  know  that  we  shall  be  like  Him,  because  day  by 
day  seeing  Him,  the  Divine  Humanity,  more  nearly 
as  He  is  I 

Note  C. 
On  Natural  Process  and   Original  Force. 

"  Xo  theory  which  touches  tlie  process  implies  any 
opinion  one  way  or  the  other  as  to  the  original  energy 
Ijy  which  the  process  is  worked  out."  I  sIkjuM  have 
said  "  the  process  only,"  but  by  an  oversight  have 
omitted  the  latter  word.  This  is  the  one  point  upon 
wliicli    in    the    relations    of    science    and    reliixion    all 


APPENDIX.  205 

ultimate   questions  must  turn.     Yet  this  is  just  -u'hat 
extreme  men  on  the  one  side  or  the  other  constantly 
refuse  to  see.     And  it  is  remarkable  how  at  this  point 
extremes  meet.     For  men  who  in  their  superficial  zeal 
for  divine  creation  decline  to  recoirnise  it  in  anvthino: 
but  a  sudden  miraculous  act,  thereby  iniply  the  ahseyice 
of  creative  energy  from  all  the  ordinary  processes  of 
the  universe.     According  to  them  the  first  pair  of  each 
s}>ecies,   and    only   the   first  pair,   was  the  product  of 
divine  creation;  but  every  successive  generation  tliat  has 
come   into   the  world  since  owes  its  lite  entirely  and 
solely  to  the  working  of  natural  laws.     At  least  if  this 
be  not  their  view  I  am  at  a  loss  to  imderstand  why  they 
should  connect  the  development  theory  Avith  atheism. 
The  notion  implied  is,  that  wherever  the  ordinary  laws  of 
nature  are  in  operation  they  are  sufficient  of  themselves 
to  account  for  everything,  and  leave  no  place  ibr  God. 
And  thus  the  extreme  advocates  of  sudden  and  instanta- 
neous creation  agree  in  the  main,  whether  they  know  it 
or  not,  with  th(;  extreme  men  on  the  other  side,  who 
when  they  have  reduced  a  nundjcr  of  ])lienoincna  to  a 
general  law,  tliat  is,  have  defined  the  procesn  cr  mode  of 
crpertiiidii  oljservable  in  all  the  cases,  niainlain  that  n<» 
fartliei-  explanation  is  necessary  or  desirnl)Ie. 

Let  us  sup])()S<!  that  an  inteliigenf  ehilil  who  had 
never  seen  a  steam  engine,  and  has  no  notioii  ol 
ma<-hinery,  were  on  a  visit  to  a  niaiuil'actnring  town,  and 
were  told  that  he  shonid  see  cotton  yarn  made  by  steam. 
He  knows  what  cf)ttoii  varn  is  :   he  knows  what  steam 


206  APPENDIX. 

is ;  but  he  has  no  notion  of  the  process  by  which  tlie 
one  is  made  to  produce  the  other.  He  has  a  vague 
notion  however  that  he  is  to  see  them  evidently  connected 
together  in  some  surprising  and  startling  manner.  But 
when  he  is  led  into  the  carding  room  he  sees  no  steam  : 
amongst  all  the  rows  of  spindles  he  sees  no  steam : 
the  self-acting  mules  do  their  work  like  rational 
creatm'es,  apparently  without  the  slightest  assistance  from 
steam.  "  Why,"  says  the  child,  "  I  thought  you  said 
the  yarn  was  made  by  steam ;  but  now  you  show  me 
how  it  is  made  by  iron  spindles  and  wheels  and  straps." 
"  Certainly,"  answers  the  guide,  "  but  that  is  only  the 
process  through  which  the  steam  works ;  these  are  only 
the  tools  that  steam  uses ;  come  to  the  engine  house 
and  I  will  show  you  the  power  that  moves  it  all."  Yet 
even  in  the  engine  house,  the  child  woidd  have  to  take 
it  on  faith  that  inside  the  cylinder  is  an  invisible  vapour 
which  is  the  secret  source  of  every  movement.  He 
would  also  necessarily  have  very  confused  ideas  as  to 
the  precise  links  of  the  mechanical  process  by  which  the 
cotton  yarn  is  produced,  ideas  which  it  would  require 
a  good  many  visits  to  the  mill  to  rectify.  But  however 
often  his  theory  on  this  point  required  improvement,  he 
need  never  feel  it  to  affect  his  original  faith  as  to  the 
motive  power  of  the  jirocess. 

No  doubt  the  analogy  is  imj)erfect.  And  I  should 
be  especially  unwilling  to  coimtonance  the  notion  that 
the  Creator  works  upon  creation  by  means  of  levers  and 
jiulleys  and  cords,  which  put  Him  a  long  way  off  from 


APPEXDIX.  207 

it.  Nevertheless  such  an  illustration  may  help  plain 
minds  to  separate  theories  as  to  the  process  from  theories 
as  to  the  efficient  cause. 

Note  D. 
071  the  Metaphysical  Issues  of  Physical  Science. 

In  explanation  of  my  meaning  in  the  passing  reference 
to  this  subject  on  p.  77,  I  venture  to  append  an  extract 
from  a  paper  read  before  the  Leicester  Literary  and 
Philosophical  Society  in  1868. 

"  I  wish  to  say  a  few  words  on  a  third  point  on  which  I  believe 
alarmists  take  a  defective  view  of  the  facts.  I  have  ventured  the 
remark  that  they  are  blind  to  the  metaphysical  bearings  of  the  most 
advanced  physical  researches.  All  things  have  their  day  in  turn, 
and  if  we  wait  long  enough  their  day  comes  over  again.  As  in  the 
time  of  iSocrates  natural  history  was  surrendered  for  wluit  seemed 
the  more  tangible  results  of  metaphysical  ])hiloso[)hy  :  as  in  more 
recent  times  physics  have  had  it  all  their  own  way,  until  pliilosophy 
lias  been  almost  eager  to  declare  itself  materialistic  ;  sn  hdw,  para- 
doxical as  it  may  sound  to  some,  I  am  persuaded  we  may  discern 
signs  that  the  current  will  soon  turn  once  again,  andtliat  the  ultimate 
i.s.sues  of  all  knowledge  will  be  found  to  land  us  in  iiiiiiKUerial  suIh 
staiicc  and  'the  power  of  an  endless  life.'  'I'he  bearing  of  these 
rcnnarks  may  be  made  clear  by  a  brief  reference  t(^  some  of  the  iiu.st 
recent  speculations  on  matter  and  force,  'ilie  atomic  theory  of  iniitKT 
is  so  highly  ctmvenient  for  the  purposes  of  quar.titative  analy.-is.  that 
it  is  often  made  to  assume  a  delusive  aiiix'ai'atico  of  a-;ci'rtaiiird  I'l-a'ity. 
I5ut  T  imagine  that  very  few,  if  any.  jihiloxipluTs  of  the  jircsi  nt  d;iy 
Ixjlieve  in  ultimate  and  indivisibh'  innlcculr^.  I  u-cd  to  b(' told  at 
s<'!iool  that  if  we  had  instniinents  fine  enough,  wr'  might  in  j.roccss 
(if  division  come  Upon  these  atoms  and  find  tliry  could  no  longer  be 
divided.  Just  ;is  a  child  might  break  up  a  conglom'-rat  ion  of  pciiblcs, 
but  could  not  divide  the  pebbles  themselves,  so  we  were  told  ih.at  if 
we   had  the   implements  we  could    divide   ;ind   sulj-divide   until  we 


208  APPENDIX. 

reached  the  little  indivisible  aud  indestructible  kernels  that  were 
called  atoms.  But  since  that  day  one  instrument  at  least  has  been 
discovered  of  a  keenness  surpassing  almost  infinitely  the  subtlest 
analysis  deemed  possible  in  those  by-gone  days.  And  not  many  years 
ago  I  listened  to  a  lecture  on  this  discovery,  given  by  an  old  school- 
fellow of  mine,  who  sat  once  in  the  same  class  and  learned  the  same 
doctrineof  atoms,  now  an  eminent  Professor  of  Chemistry.  The  spectrum 
analysis  was  then  recent,  aud  has  made  great  progi'css  since  that 
time,  but  even  then  enough  was  shown  to  manifest  an  infinite  subtlety 
in  the  constitution  of  matter.  I  remember  the  line  of  yellow  light, 
which  would  intrude  when  least  expected,  and  the  explanation  given 
that  sodium  is  almost  everywhere  diffused,  while  the  presence  of  one 
80,000th  part  of  a  grain  will  show  itself  in  the  spectrum.  I  remember 
also  a  little  inch  cube  of  a  new  metal — coesium — a  substance  unknown 
before  the  spectrum  analysis. — and  when  told  that  this  minute  quan- 
tity was  the  whole  result  after  the  evaporation  of  40  tons  of  water,  I 
did  not  much  wonder  that  it  had  been  hitherto  concealed.  In  the 
course  of  the  evening,  conversing  with  a  great  man,  too  little  known 
and  now  passed  away.  I  ventured  to  suggest  that  this  new  mode  of 
analysis  appeared  to  refine  matter  away  altogether,  and  at  least  to  be 
inconsistent  with  the  theory  of  ultimate  atoms.  To  this  he  answered 
that  it  only  confirmed  the  view  he  had  held  for  years , — he  had  long 
felt  convinced  that  in  the  last  result  matter  is  nothing  but  conglom- 
erated centres  of  force,  an  opinion  which,  if  I  mistake  not,  is  gaining 
ground,  and  likely  to  be  universally  adopted.  If  that  is  the  tendency 
of  modern  science,  to  regard  all  matter  as  a  form  of  force,  then  it  is  a 
tendency  which  brings  the  whole  material  universe  into  a  closer 
relationship  with  our  own  consciousness  of  living  energy,  and  at  any 
rate  draws  it  into  the  field  of  metajjhysical  speculation.  But  force 
itself  has  been  made  the  subject  of  striking  experiment  and  startling 
hypothesis.  And  the  results  have  been  brought  together  in  Mr.  Geo. 
Grove's  treatise  on  the  "  Correlation  of  Forces."  The  ujxshot  of  the 
whole  subject  as  set  forth  there  is  this,  that  all  force  is  ultimately 
and  essentially  one : — that  it  is  in  fact  a  sort  of  Proteus  capable  of 
assuming  endless  phases,  each  of  which  is  interchangeable  with  every 
other.  Tlius  gravity,  or  pressure,  can  be  changed  into  heat, — heat 
into  chemical  affinity,  this  again  into  electricity,  electricity  into  light, 
light  into  organic  action, — and  on  and  on  through  all  the  undulations 
of  movement  in  the  world.  Not  only  so,  but  making  allowance  for 
dis-sipation  through  imperfection  of  instruments,  it  is  found  that  each 
f  ir'>e  can  be  transmuted  into  an  approximate  equivalei^t  of  its  corre- 
lative.    Thus  it  is  maintained  that  no  force  is  annihilated,  but  onlv 


APPEXDIX.  209 

changed  into  equivalents  in  other  forms.  The  expansive  power  of  the 
gases  in  the  exploded,  cannon  is  not  lost  or  destroyed  when  the  ball 
falls  to  the  ground.  It  is  only  transmuted  into  a  variety  of  forms, 
partly  into  heat,  partly  into  molecular  alterations  in  the  metal,  partly 
into  currents  of  air  or  vibrations  through  the  earth  ;  and  none  of  these 
are  ever  lost,  but  are  diffused,  or  i-e-combined.  and  ever  taken  up 
again  into  the  economy  of  iiniversal  energy.  For  all  force  is  one. 
though  it  may  show  itself  in  a  myriad  forms.  Now  put  these  two 
tendencies  of  physical  research  together,  the  disposition  to  regard  all 
matter  as  simply  a  form  of  force,  and  all  force  as  ultimately  one. 
"WTiat  is  that  One  Power  by  which  all  things  subsist  I  in  which  they 
literally  'live  and  move  and  have  their  being  ?'  It  is  a  question  too 
dread  to  be  hastily  answered  here.  But  it  docs  seem  to  yield  a  point 
of  \'iew  from  which  all  paths  of  knowledge,  like  lines  of  gloiy  on  the 
sea,  appear  converging  towards  one  issue  where  we  'lose  ourselves  m 
light."  ^\1lat  that  issue  is  of  cottrse  physical  scietice  cannot  tell.  It 
owns  no  speech  that  can  express  it,  appeals  to  no  faculty  that  can 
understand  it ;  Imt  physical  science  may  refine  away  the  coarseness  of 
sense. — it  7uay  make  the  material  universe  like  to  a  transi)arent  veil 
which  dimly  hides  the  shrine  of  an  Eternal  Being.— it  may  bring  us 
in  high  wrought  tension  of  soul  to  the  Ixjrders  of  that  land  where — 

'  on  the  glimmering  limit  far  withdrawn, 
God  makes  Himself  an  awful  rose  of  dawn.' "' 


Note  E. 

On  St.  Paul's  Revelations. 

In  writing  to  the  Galatians  (i.  11,  12)  St.  I'aiil  .'^ays, 
"  /  certifij  ijou^  hretliren,  that  tlie  cjospi'l  vhicJi  ir^is preached 
of  me  IS  not  after  man.  For  I  ne'iijier  reec'ircd.  tt  of  mini, 
neitlier  teas  I  tjoujld  it^  hit  hij  verelntnut  of  Jesus  Christ. 
This  ])assaii(^  and  one  or  two  otlicrs  of  similar  import 
are  sometimes  insiste(l  (»n  as  a  str<ini!-er  proof  than  vwn 
1  Cor.  ii.  lo  (»(■  St.  PauTs  claim  1o  l)e  an  amanuensis 
writinic    from    liea\cnly    dictation.      ]>ut    it    \\oul(l    l)e 


210  APPEXDIX. 

difficult  to  maintain  this.  If  we  except  the  extraordinary 
event  wliicli  produced  his  conversion,  and  about  which 
there  are  ditt'erences  of  opinion,  no  one  contends  that 
St.  Paul  received  his  revelations  otherwise  than  in  a 
state  of  trance  or  ecstatic  vision.*  That  is,  they  were 
instances  of  pictorial  inspiration,  and  like  the  visions  of 
the  ancient  prophets,  owed  form  and  colourino;  to  the 
individuality  of  the  apostle.  I  can  well  understand, 
and  to  a  certain  extent  sympathize  with,  the  first  impulse 
of  a  simple  faith  when  confronted  with  such  an  assertion, 
to  deny  it,  and  to  maintain  that  in  St.  Paul's  revelations 
every  word  was  the  direct  and  unrefracted  utterance  of 
a  Divine  Person.  But  on  which  side  does  the  burden 
of  proof  lie?  Surely  with  that  view  of  the  case  in 
hand  which  is  least  natural.  Now  when  we  hear  of 
visions  and  trances  and  dreams  it  is  I  hope  not  pre- 
suminfT  too  much  to  say,  the  more  natural  view  is  that 
they  must  have  owed  something  to  the  nervous  system 
and  imagination  and  tendencies  of  the  seer ;  while  the 
least  natural  view  is  that  siich  human  elements  had  no 
])art  in  the  matter.  I  am  assmniiig  all  througli,  that 
such  visions  and  trances  were  a  ])ossible  medium  of 
ins})iration.  Whether  they  were  actually  so  nmst  be 
determined  by  the  results ;  and  in  St.  Paul's  case  these 
are  amply  sufficient  to  determine  it  in  the  aflirmative. 
But  a  medium  of  ins})iration  is  one  thing,  and  direct 
heavenly  dictation  is  anotlier.     And  as  I  have  suggested, 

*  Acts  xxii.  17.  2  Co;-,  xii.  2.  St.  Panl  ^ecins  also  to  have  Ij'jcii  occa- 
slo'.iaUv  directed  bv  dreams.     Acts  xvi.  i) :  xxvii.  23. 


APPEXDIX.  211 

the  burdeu  of  proof  lies  -with  those  -vvlio  maintain  tljc 
latter  in  the  present  case.  But  how  Avill  they  set  about 
it  ?  So  far  as  St.  Paul  gives  any  descri[)tion  of  his 
state  of  mind  under  "  the  abundance  of  revelations," 
his  words  rather  confirm  the  more  natural  view  than 
otherwise.  In  recalling  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of 
such  experiences  he  says  that  whether  he  was  at  the 
time  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body  he  cannot  tell.* 
A  fortiori  then  he  Avould  be  incapable  of  determining 
whether  the  '"unspeakable  words*'  were  heard  outwardly 
or  inwardly;  whether  they  were  entirely  independent  of 
his  own  sul)jectivity  or  not.  On  what  then  can  those  who 
adhere  to  the  less  natural  view  rely?  St.  Paul  says  thai 
he  received  certain  things  by  revelation  from  he;iven — 
irluit  tJi'uigs  Ave  shall  ])r('sently  try  to  determine.  A\  c 
I'uUy  admit  the  reality  and  divin(.'  source  of  lhe>e 
revelations:  but  Ave  maintain  that  they  came  in  the 
form  of  ])ictorial  inspiration,  and  form  no  exception  to 
the  iLsual  mingling  of  heavenly  suggestions  Avith  human 
thoughts.  If  asked  Avhy  Ave  believe  the  sugL^estioTis  to 
have  l)ei'n  I'rom  h(\aven  ;  we  atisAver,  because;  of  their 
fi-ult<.  because;  of  their  power  over  the  (lod-conscionsness 
in  humanity.  If  asked  why  Ave  Ih^Hcvc  these -;iig!ie>t ions 
t)  have  become  mingled  witli  mistakes  natural  to  the 
lime,  or  to  ha\-(!  been  developed  only  inipcrf.  diy  in  >ouie 
resjx'cts:  avc  answei-,  been  u-e  !lio>e  >un-:^-e-l  ions,  lio\ve\ci- 
])right,  left  St  r.iul  at  liberty  to  -.wnu-  (.cca^ii.nahy  like 

'■-  -1  '■<!?■.  xii.  1  —  1.      Tliiit  1:1  ilii-  ]Ki-^;i:/.'  Si.  I';-:!   (!■  ~:-iil">  Ir^  '  ■.'.!) 
cxi'Ci'ivU''",  i-^.  .'t-  I)cri:i  Altni',1  njrii.-.rk/.  cvi.lvil  fi'-iii  \  i-r.  7. 


212  APPEXDIX. 

:i  Rabbi,*  :ni(l  to  import  meanings  into  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, ■\vbieli,  witli  all  our  veneration  for  his  anthority, 
it  is  impossible  for  us  to  receive  as  really  belongino;  to 
it  ;t  because  also  his  ideas  about  the  near  approach  of 
Christ's  second  coming,:}:  besides  his  constant  adoption 
of  current  ideas  about  the  unseen  world,  §  show  that 
while  the  abimdance  of  the  revelations  gave  him  an 
extraordinary  elevation  of  spiritual  life,  it  did  not  give 
him  any  clear  intormation  as  to  the  real  bearing  of 
Cinist's  mission  on  the  future,  that  is,  its  place  in  his- 
tory. But  what  reasons  for  their  belief  can  be  adduced 
by  those  who  maintain  that  our  Lord  himself,  or  his 
angel,  revealed  the  truth  to  St.  Paul  in  articidately 
spoken  language  iniallibly  distinguishable  from  his  o^\ti 
thouo-hts  ?  Puttinof  aside  the  manifestations  of  Christ 
ill  Acts  ix,  in  which  so  far  as  we  know  nothing  new 
was  revealed,  the  only  reason  for  such  a  supposition 
ill  regard  to  any  of  the  revelations  is  the  alleged 
confidence  and  assertion  of  St.  Paul  that  so  it  was. 
But  where  is  the  assertion?  To  produce  the  above 
l)assage  from  Gahitians  (i.  11,  12)  is  simply  to  beg  the 
question.  I  have  shown  that  it  is  susceptible  of  two 
ditierent  interpretations,  of  which  one  is  more,  and  the 
other  less  natural.  The  reason  for  adopting  the  less 
natural  interpretation  must  surely  be  something  outside 
tli('  passage  itself.  It  may  be  said  that  in  1  Cor.  xi.  23 
the    apostle    distinctly    declares   tliat    he    received    by 

'^  r.cj.  (!al.  iii.  K!  f  r.g.  Acts  xiii.  34— .TZ. 

X  1  TIicss.  iv.  15—17  ;  2  Thess,  ii.  G,  9.     §  2  Cor,  xii.  2  ;  Epli.  vi.  12. 


APPEXDIX.  213 

revelation  a  fact  of  gospel  history.  But  is  it  at  all 
credible  that  even  Saul  the  persecutor  was  ignorant  of  the 
Christian  custom  of  the  Eucharist,  or  of  the  accoiuit 
given  of  it  bv  the  disciples ?  The  ab(ne  passage  must 
necessarily  be  interpreted  in  one  of  two  modes,  neither 
of  which  is  opjjosed  to  the  views  here  suggested  on  St. 
Paul's  revelations.  Either  it  means  "  I  have  received 
and  delivered  to  you  the  sacred  tradition  which  originated 
with  the  Lord  himself;"  or  it  means  that  a  fact  which 
the  apostle  already  kncAv  beforehand  was  sanctified  antl 
raised  to  a  hitxher  sifjuificance  bv  the  revelations  with 
which  he  was  favoured.  There  is  in  truth  no  assertion 
of  the  apostles  to  Ijo  found,  which  is  at  all  inconsistent 
with  the  idea  that  his  revelations  were,  like  prophetic 
visions,  ordinaiy  insjdration  in  a  ])ictorial  fo]"m. 

Xotwithstanding,  however,  the  absence  ol'  any  asser- 
tion Avliieh  in\olves  it,  let  us  su])pose  that  St.  Paul,  by 
his  general  mode  ol' speech,  suggests  a  confidence  on  his 
part  that  his  revelations  were  something  essentially 
distinct  from  his  ordinary  inspiration,  an  assui'ance 
that  unlike;  the  lattc^r,  the  former  consisted  in  dii'eet, 
articulate,  infallible  eomniunications  of  unmingled  truth. 
That  his  confideiU'e  is  of  such  a  nature  as  would  justify 
the  i?ifei"eric(;  oi'  which  I  lia\"e  spoken  nbo\-e,  L  do  not  for 
a  moment  allow.  To  make  such  an  infci-enee  legitimate, 
we  ought  to  have  some  ^ood  gi-ound  Ibi'  belie\ing  that 
tiie  a|)o>t!e  was  in  the  habit  <>\'  distinguishing  Ix'twcen 
the  di\ine  sugii-e.-tion.-,  that  kimlletl  his  >oul  on  the  one 
haml,    and    the    foi'm>    ol'    thouiiht    natui'al    to    his    own 


214  APPEXDIX. 

individual  character  on  tlic  otlioi" ;  also  that  in  his 
nn-elations  ho  arrived  deliberately  at  the  conclusion,  thut 
his  own  mind  and  lieart  had  nothing  whatever  to  do 
with  the  nature  of  the  impressions  he  received.  But 
no  such  indications  exist.*  On  the  contrary,  in  his 
most  exalted  trance  he  could  not  even  tell  whether  he 
was  in  the  body  or  out  of  it ;  and  in  giving  advice  on  a 
subject  concerning  which  no  decisive  external  authority 
coidd  be  quoted,  he  says,  "  I  think  also  for  my  part  that 
I  have  the  spirit  of  God.^'''\  Still,  for  the  sake  of  a 
farther  point  to  which  I  would  call  attention,  let  it  be 
allowed  that  the  apostle  was  morally  confident  of  the 
unmingled  purity  of  the  communications  made  to  him  in 
his  visions.  On  what,  then,  did  his  confidence  rest? 
In  answering  this  question  it  is  often  quietly  assumed 
that  St.  Paul  realized  the  visit  of  an  angel  or  a  spirit 
in  the  same  way  in  which  we  realize  the  entrance  of  a 
i'riend  into  our  chamber,  and  that  the  comnmnications, 
of  such  visitants  were  made  in  an  equally  objective 
manner.  But  it  need  hardly  be  said  that  with  tlie 
exex^ption  of  the  appearance  of  the  risen  Lord  described 
in  Acts  ix.,  an  appearance  which  is  iisually  regarded  as 
something  more  than  spiritual,  there  is  no  gi'oimd 
whate\'cr  for  such  an  assumption.  The  eyes  and  ears, 
so  far  as  they  were  concerned  at  all,  Avere  acted  on  not 
from  without  but  from  within ;  and  St.  Paul's  confidence 

*  1  Cor.  vii.  10 — 12  lias  quite  a  different  bearing ;  on  which  see 
Lectm'e  iii.  p.  'Jo. 

f  coKw  ci  Kc'iyd)  TTVivjia  Gioii  iyiLv  1  Cor.  vii.  40. 


APPEXBIX.  215 

in  such  cases  as  his  trance  in  the  Temple*  and  the 
answer  to  his  prayer  for  deliverance  from  the  thorn  in 
tlie  flesh, f  could  not  possibly  depend  on  the  evidence  of 
his  senses.  On  what  then  did  it  depend  ?  He  himself 
believed  that  Satan  might  possibly  appear  as  an  angel 
of  light.J  He  was  looking  for  the  revelation  of  "  that 
Wicked  .  .  whose  comino;  is  after  the  working  of 
Satan,  W'ith  all  power  and  signs  and  lying  wonders." 
Therefore  he  could  not  think  that  the  miraculous  nature 
of  his  visions  was  in  itself  any  infallible  guarantee  of  their 
unmingled  divinity ;  §  and  the  extraordinary  character 
of  his  ex])erience  could  not  be  the  ultimate  foimdation 
of  his  confidence.  Then  what  was  that  foundation? 
^\  e  answer  it  was  a  moral  and  spiritual  understanding 
of  what  was  congruous  with  the  majesty  of  God.  "  God 
u-lto  commanded  the  light  to  sliirie  orit  of  darkness  hath 
sldned  in  our  hearts  to  (jive  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  glorij  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.^'' \\  ^^  Now 
he  that  hath  wrought  xis  for  the  self-same  thing  is  God, 
who  also  hath  given  unto  us  the  earnest  of  the  spirit. 
Therefore  we  are  always  confident.''^^  "  Jfe  that  is 
sjnritual  judgeth  all  things,  yet  he  himself  is  judged  of  no 
man..  For  v)ho  haih  known  the  vdnd  of  the  Lord,  that  he 
may  in.strurt  lam?  But  ice  liaxe  the  mind  (f  Christ.''** 

*  Acts  xxii.  17.  t  -'  *'"!■.  xii.  S,  '.). 

%  2  Cor.  xi.  11.  §  foiii]).  I  .Inliii  iv.  1— :5. 

II  2  Cor.  iv.  0.  •    2  Cur.  v.  n,  i). 

**  1  Cor.  ii.  I.").  K;,  vo?]'  i.e.ihc.  rcnson,  inirimsc.  (.r — s|jciikiii<^  rc- 
verontly — •  cast,  of  tliouij-ht.'  'lli'-  idea  is  tliat  li;Lviiiu  llic  mind  of 
(Jhri>t  foniKMl  witliiii  us.  \vc  are  aide  tu  discern  the  mind  (jf  (Jod. 


216  APPENDIX. 

But  if  St.  Paul's  own  confid(>ncG  in  the  revelations 
vouchsafed  to  him  was  moral,  not  positive ;  suhjcctive, 
not  objective  ;  the  perception  of  a  divine  glory,  not 
blind  submission  to  portents  ;  does  it  not  follow  that  any 
confidence  which  he  generates  in  us  must  be  of  the  same 
kind  ?  The  difference  between  this  kind  of  confidence 
and  that  which  by  an  abuse  of  the  passage  in  Galatians 
(i.  11,  12)  is  demanded  from  us  is  plain.  When  St. 
Paid  says  concerning  the  risen  Lord  :  "  last  of  all  he 
icas  seen  of  me  also  f  every  one  who  believes  the  apostle 
to  have  been  an  honest  man  and  to  have  uttered  these 
words,  takes  his  word  for  the  fact,  however  it  may  be 
explained.  We  may  not  understand  the  precise  nature 
of  the  manifestation,  nor  even  try  to  explain  it.  All  we 
know  is  that  the  form  of  the  Lord  Jesus  was  made 
visible  to  him,  and  we  take  his  word  for  that.  In  this 
we  allow  him  the  authority  which  belongs  to  every 
honest  witness  who  testifies  of  a  matter  which  he 
alone  knows.  There  is  not  necessarily  required  any 
sympathy  with  him,  or  agreement  with  his  o]:)inions.  All 
that  such  authority  touches  is  the  bare  fact.  Similarly 
when  St.  Paul  speaks  of  his  visions  and  revelations  in 
a  state  of  trance  ;  we  believe  that  he  had  such  expe- 
riences simply  on  his  authority.  But  when  we  are 
commanded  on  this  account  to  receive  as  infallible  truth 
i)YQYj  word  he  uttered,  we  ask  how  he  distinguished 
heavenly  suggestions  from  s])iritual  delusicms  or  national 
and  individual  peculiarities?  As  we  liave  seen,  the  only 
])ossible  answer  is  that  he  did  so  by  spiritual  discernment. 


APPEXDIX.  217 

a  gift  in  which  he  insists  that  all  Christians  onirht  to 
shai-e.  Here,  then,  the  simple  and  direct  action  of 
authority  is  out  of  place.  Ho  far  as  we  really  and 
heartily  accept  his  revelations  we  can  only  do  so  becaiise 
we,  like  him,  feel  that  thev  are  conofruous  with  '•  the 
glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ."'  This  is  the 
only  acceptance  that  he  cared  for  when  on  earth.  Ami 
could  he  now  speak  from  heaven  he  would  not  depart 
from  the  spirit  in  which  he  Avrote  to  the  niili])])ians, 
"  if  hi  anyth'uKj  ye  he  otherwise  minded^  God  slwll  reveal 
even  this  unto  yon;  nevertheless  whereto  we  haxe  nlreody 
attained  let  us  icalk  hy  the  same  rule,  let  us  mind  the  same 
thinyy 

In  conclusion  let  mc  say,  what  ought  perhaps  to  have 
been  said  before,  that  tlie  inferences  from  (ral.  i.  11,  12, 
on  whifh  I  have  conuuented,  are  oljviously  i'ounded  on 
a  total  mismiderstandlng  of  the  passage.  For  the  sake 
of  the  argument,  and  to  allow  such  inferences  the 
strongest  conceivable  ground,  I  lune  s])oken  as  though 
I  acce])ted  tin;  inter[)retation.  Jiut  to  any  one  who 
considers  that  the  young  innn  Saul  was  no  sti'aiiger  in 
Jeiaisalem,  and  that  he  bad  a  jierscculor's  inlci'i'st  in 
making  bimself  acquainted  with  cxci-vtliing  in  Cliris- 
tiain'ty  wliicb  was  repujsi\('  to  tlic  dews,  that  is,  with  all 
the  salient  points  of  its  hi>torv  and  doctrine,  it  will  be 
])erfectly  plain  that  St.  i'aul  ilid  not  and  cduld  iint  mean 
to  tell  the  CJalatians  that  he  liad  received  fi-oui  heaven 
his   inl'oi-mation   of  Cjn-i-tian   fact-.      \\'h:it  then  did  lu; 


218  APPENDIX. 

moan?  In  q\\^\>.  ii.  2  he  tells  ns  that  in  visiting; 
Jerusalem  he  communicated  to  the  other  apostles  "  that 
gospel"  which  he  preached  among  the  Gentiles.  Now 
certainly  he  did  not  declare  among  the  Gentiles  any 
other  facts  than  those  preached  at  Jerusalem.  What  he 
means  then  by  "that  gospel"  is  that  aspect  of  saving 
truth  in  its  freedom  from  Mosaism,  which  was  specially 
adapted  to  the  Gentiles,  and  which  he  was  divinely 
commissioned  to  preach  to  them.  But  whatever  is 
meant  by  "that  gospel"  in  chap.  ii.  is  certainly  also 
signified  by  "  the  gospel  which  was  preached  of  me," 
(i.  11).  And  when  he  says  that  he  "  neither  received 
it  of  man,  neither  was  taught  it,  but  by  revelation  of 
Jesus  Christ,"  he  clearly  means  that  the  free  non-Mosaic 
Gos})el  which  he  proclaimed  came  to  him  when  he  was 
in  Arabia  or  Damascus,  in  solitary  commmiion  with 
tlie  Spirit  of  the  Lord  Jesus ;  while  he  maintains  that 
his  commission  to  declare  it  was  quite  as  divine  as  that 
of  Peter  and  James  to  preach  a  gospel  suited  to  the 
circimicision.  Farther,  as  St.  Paid  deeply  felt  how 
essential  to  the  yet  imdeveloped  glory  of  "the  ministra- 
tion of  the  Spirit"  was  this  freedom  from  the  letter,  we 
can  well  understand  the  vehemence  with  which  he 
denounced  those  who  would  have  entangled  the  Galatians 
again  in  the  yoke  of  bondage.  On  this — certainly  the 
more  reasonable — interpretation  of  the  passage,  its  entire 
agreement  with  the  purport  of  this  note  needs  no  farther 
remark. 


appexdix.  219 

Note  F. 

Eusehius  on  tlie   Canoyi. 

To  ri'aders  not  well  ac([naiiited  witli  tlio  ranire  of 
t<'.stimony  on  which  the  existing;  Canon  of  the  New 
Testament  depends,  it  mio-lit  appear  that  what  I  have 
said  on  p.  113  abont  Eusebius  is  scarcely  consistent 
with  what  is  afterwards  asserted  on  p.  134  concerning 
tlie  Christian  Scriptures.  But  let  i:s  distino-uish  clearly 
between  two  conceivable  views  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  the  consistency  of  the  tAvo  ])assa^es  Avill  I  hope  be 
clear.  (Jne  view  then  tends  to  rei^ard  the  Canon  as  a 
standard  clearly,  nay  even  miraculously  defined,  from 
the  time  Avhen  the  latest  book  now  found  in  it  was 
c^>mpleted  :  and  as  containinii'  the  only  law  of  the  Church, 
I'rom  the  death  of  the  last  of  the  Apostles.  Accordin<2: 
to  this  view,  Christian  traditioii  and  opinion  ounht 
always  to  have  been  ruled  by  the  Canon,  and  never  the 
Canon  by  tradition  oi'  ojiinion.  Ao-ainst  such  an  idea 
tli(t  words  of  Eusebius  alone  an;  a  very  serious  and  even 
fatal  olijection.  Another  ^iew  holds  that  the  hooks  o{ 
i\\v.  (Janon  were  i;-raduallv  separate(l  iVom  a  uiiinber  of 
othei's  throuLdi  the  opei'ation  of  Chi'istian  tracbtion  and 
opinion,  i.e.  tlie  Aoice  of  the  ('hurch:  and  wei'c  lunioured 
in  propoi'tion  U)  the  inci'easinir  i-everence  feh  for  their 
a])ostoh'c  or  (pia>i-a[)ostoHe  anthoi's.  ( )n  this  \ie\vthc 
<Janon  niav  have  remained  eoniparativcly  unsettled  for 
ccntui'ies  without  anv  i!;eneral   douht   beiiii:   necessarily 


220  APrEXDix. 

thrown  on  the  authorship  of  the  collection ;  and  at  the 
same  time  the  question  which  should  have  most  interest 
foi'  us  is  not  so  much  what  authority  belono^s  to  the 
Canon  as  a  whole,  but  rather  what  evidence  is  there  for 
the  authorship  of  the  diiierent  books  ?  This  is  the  view 
which  is  implied  in  the  present  Lectures. 

Premising  these  remarks,  let  me  sum  up  the  testimony 
of  Eusebius,*  and  its  bearino-.  Amongst  the  acknow- 
ledged  books  he  places  the  four  Gospels,  the  Acts,  the 
fourteen — or  to  speak  more  exactly — thirteen  epistles  of 
St.  Paul,  (mentioning  a  doubt  only  about  that  to  the 
Hebrews,!)  the  first  Epistles  of  Peter  and  of  John.  In 
the  second  class,  or  those  doubtful,  he  places  (the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews,)  the  second  of  Peter,  those  of  James, 
and  Jude,  and  the  second  and  third  of  John.  About 
the  Apocalypse  he  hesitates  considerably :  indeed  the 
classification  is  altogether  somewhat  uncertain ;  but 
after  mentioning  the  lievelation  doubtfully  in  the  two 
former  classes  he  seems  finally  inclined  to  resign  it  to 
the  third,  or  that  of  the  rejected  and  spurious. 

Such  a  passage  serves  very  well  to  illustrate  what  has 
been  said  about  the  mode  of  regarding  the  scriptm-es  in 
early  Clnistian  times.  So  far  as  it  goes  however  it 
confirms  oiu'  belief  in  the   apostolic  authorship  of  the 

*  H.  E.  iii.  3,  24,  25. 
f  on  yf  /()))'  riv'tc  I'lOirijKarri  ti)i>  Trpoc  'E/^o«(o?)f;  ~puc  rJ/c  'I'w^fli'wi'  t/c 
KXyjGiag  ojc  ///)  Ilai'Xor'  ovaav  avrijv  dvTi\tyi(jOai  (pi]navTiQ  ov  cikulov 
dyj'oi'ii'.  '•  That  howerer  some  have  rejected  the  (  Epistle)  to  the  Hebrews, 
and  have  alleged  an  oLjeetion  to  it  on  the  part  of  the  I'oman  Chtirch,  as 
i:ut  being  written  by  Paul,  it  were  not  right  to  ignore.'' — H.  E.  iii.  2. 


APPEXDIX.  221 

majority  of  the  books.     And   as  to  tlie  one  Avhieh  lie 
seems  disposed   to   reject,   viz.,   the  Eevelation  of  St. 
John,    it    is    in    oiu'    times    precisely   the    com])arative 
e<!rtainty  of  its    anthorshij)    which  is  urged  on   many 
hands   as  an  objection  to  the  Johannine  origin  of  the 
fom-th  Gospel.    The  two  books,  it  is  said,  are  so  ditfbrent 
that  they  could  not  have  been  written  by  the  same  man ; 
and  we  have  much  more  e\'idenco  for  the  authorship  of 
tlie  Apocalypse  than  for  that  of  the   Gospel.     I  do  not 
agree  in  these  assertions,  particularly  the  last.     I  only 
adduce  them  now  to  show  that  a  doubt  cast  upon  a 
book  in  one  or  more  early  writers  is  not  necessarily  a 
very    strong    argument    against    it.       Tliough    perhaps 
nin(!-tcntlis  or  even  more  of  the  literature  existing  in 
the   time   of  Eusebius  has   been  destroyed,  yet  throno-h 
the   advance   (jf  scholarship  modern  critics  are   able  to 
make  a  nnich  better  use  of  what  remains,  than  he  could 
make  of  all   the  libraries  at   his    service.     And    so    it 
comes  to  ])ass  that  earlier  references  which  he  ignored  or 
slighted  are  wrought  out  now  into  clear  and  ti'ustworthy 
evidence.     Justin  ^lartyr,  writing  in  Ww  middle  of  the 
s<K'ond    century  gives   what  is   now  considered   miim- 
p(!acliabl(!   testimony  in  favour  of  th(.' Apocalypse  ;   and 
though  per]ui])s  some  of  us  luighi  be  glad  to   saci'ifice  it 
iJ'  we   might   tliere]»y  secui'e   the    foui'lh    (losjx'j    for    St. 
Jolin  clr;ir  of  all  conti"(»\('i'sy,  such  a  course  is  not   o])en 
to  us.      It  should  be  renieuiliered  lidwcNcr  that  the  same 
.Justin  has  some  preftv  clear  reiiiiniseenees  of  St.  .lohrfs 
(iosj.'cl  ;   iliat  Papias  app(,'ars  to  take;  iVoui   il  ids  list   of 


222  APPEXDIX. 

Apostles  Avliose  testimony  lie  loves  to  hear  from  surviving 
elders;*  and  that  if  the  quotations  in  Hippolytus  are  to 
be  trusted,  the  gospel  was  referred  to  in  favour  of  their 
opinions  by  the  earliest  Gnostics  of  the  second  century. 
These  illustrations  may  suggest  to  hasty  readers  the 
danger  of  any  too  rash  conclusions  about  Xew  Testament 
books  from  the  doubts  or  the  silence  of  early  ecclesiastical 
writers.  When  once  the  notion  of  Biblical  infallibility 
is  imiversally  and  frankly  surrendered,  I  am  persuaded 
that  not  only  will  the  real  inspiration  of  the  sacred 
writers  be  more  genuinely  a})preciated,  but  the  (juestion 
of  authorship  will  be  discussed  with  less  of  passion  and 
prejudice,  and  as  I  believe  with  the  result  of  establishing 
sul)stantially  the  ecclesiastical  tradition  on  which  the 
present  Canon  is  founded. 

*  Andrew.  Peter,  rhilij"),  Thomas,  James.  John,  Matthew.  See  a 
masterly  article  by  Steitz  in  Studien  und  Kritiken.  1868.  Heft  iii.  Die 
Tradition  von  der  Wirksamkeit  des  Apostels  Johannes  in  Ephcsns. 
He  urges  with  great  force  that  leaving  out  Matthew,  whose  presence 
he  accounts  for  by  the  fact  of  his  being  the  only  other  evangelist  among 
the  Apostles,  the  remaining  six  appear  precisely  in  the  order  in  which 
they  occur  in  St.  John's  narrative,  an  order  entirely  different  from  the 
classified  lists  in  the  synoptic  gospels,  with  which  alone  it  is  said  that 
Papias  was  acquainted.  ITie  two  son.-:  of  Zebedee  come  last  in  the  list, 
though  among  the  greatest.  But  if  the  writer  was  running  over  in  his 
mind  the  names  of  the  Apostles  as  they  occur  in  !St.  John's  Gospel,  this 
is  natural ;  for  they  are  not  distinctly  mentioned  till  the  last  chapter. 
"When  it  is  remembered  that  John  alone  gives  a  character  and  a  voice  to 
three  of  the  above  mentioned,  Andrew,  Philip,  and  Tliomas  ;  when  it 
is  borne  in  mind  that  with  the  dubious  exception  of  Nathanael,  Papias 
mentions  rtZ^  the  A-postles  appearing  in  St.  John,  an^l  prccLfchj  intJtc 
(rrdcr  in  irh'trh  iliey  appear,  it  will  perhaps  be  acknowledged  that  a 
niiiro  acute  and  discerning  and  suggestive  critical  observation  has 
rnj'cly  been  made  than  this  of  Steitz  on  the  well  woi-n  passage  of 
Paiiias. 


APPEXDIX.  223 

Note  Gt. 
On  tlie  Divinity  of  Christ. 

In  reference  to  the  assumption  of  our  Lord's  earthly 
omniscience  I  have  not  noticed  the  practically  Corinthian 
theory  which  I  suppose  some  would  regard  as  satisflictory, 
I  mean  the  notion  that  qua  divine  he  was  omniscient,  but 
qua  human  he  was  not.  I  have  not  noticed  it  because, 
however  stated,  it  is  to  me  simply  a  collection  of  articu- 
late soimds  without  any  meaning  whatever.  The  nearest 
approach  I  can  make  to  the  attachment  of  any  meaning 
to  it  is  this,  that  the  Divine  and  the  Human  wei'c  in 
Christ  so  distinct,  that  the  one  could  know  what  the 
other  did  not  and  could  hide  that  meaning  from  the 
other.  Ijut  such  a  separation  is  evidently  inconsistent 
with  any  genuine  unity  of  person.  For  it  would 
amount  t(j  the  proposition  that  the;  same  Person  knew 
and  did  )iot  know  the  same  thing,  in  the  same  sense,  at 
the  same  moment. 

Il'  any  otk;  j>r(d'ers  to  think  that  omniscience  was 
latent  in  the  veiled  divinity  of  the  Lord,  and  otiIv  vnuw 
t/)  the  surface  of  ccmsciousness  according  to  the  needs 
of  th(!  hour,  thm  view  is  ))erfectly  con.-i>tent  with  all 
that  is  advanced  on  tin's  sid)ject  in  Leciure  A  .  The 
ni'i'ds  of  the  liour  did  not  require  ihat  the*  Son  >houId 
know  the  xlnu;  I'or  the  end  of  the  world,   ari'l    mnch  less 

*  Mark  x.ii.  '.)-. 


224  APPEXDIX. 

did  tlicy  require  that  the  Messiah  should  know  the  time 
when  the  Jewish  canon  began  or  c1os(hI. 

The  only  vital  interest  which  such  a  question  can 
have  for  ordinary  Christians  who  are  content  with  the 
practical  power  of  godliness,  arises  from  the  svipposed 
relation  of  the  subject  to  the  divinity  of  Christ.  This 
is  of  course  much  too  large  an  issue  to  enter  upon  here. 
I  only  desire  to  record  my  conviction  that  the  question 
does  not  at  all  necessarily  affect  the  reality  or  essen- 
tiidity  of  the  divinity  of  the  Lord.  Whatever  be  the 
original  mystery  of  Christ's  person  (as  to  which,  pro- 
bably a  deeper  philosophy  of  creation  is  needed  before 
we  get  even  the  right  point  of  view),  we  all  believe  that 
in  respect  to  that  mystery  he  em})tied  or  impoverished 
himself*,  and  "  was  found  in  fashion  as  a  man."  The 
more  the  correlation  of  limitation  in  knowledge  with 
all  other  limitations  of  humanity  is  considered,  the  more 
will  it  be  felt  that  this  "emptying"  or  impoverishment 
must  have  included  the  former.  And  if  a  consciously 
divine  life  coiild  not  be  limited  in  that  way,  then  the 
incarnation  or  manifestation  of  God  in  humanity  is 
impossible,  because  a  contradiction  in  terms.  But  any 
one,  who  has  reflected  upon  the  nmltifarious  divine 
self-limitations  involved  in  Creation,  will  I  am  persuaded 
find  no  insuperable  difficulty  at  all  in  the  notion  of  a 
Being  C(;nsciously  consubstantial  with  God,  yet  limited 
in  laiowledge. 

*  Phil.  ii.  7.  tKivoxrev  tavrov 


APPEyoix.  225 

After  all.  the  aspects  in  which  the  divinity  of  Christ 
most  directly  and  praeticallv  affects  our  religious  life 
are  his  intense  unrivalled  consciousness  of  God,  and 
his  oneness  in  feeling,  disposition  and  will  with  the 
heavenly  Father.  By  the  first  he  raised  our  abjetst  and 
despairing  human  life  into  the  pleroma  of  the  Divine 
Love;  by  the  second  he  assures  us  that  in  his  sym})athy, 
purity  and  self-sacrifice  we  have  a  true  ex]:)ression  of 
God's  purpose  towards  the  world.  Though  it  is  doubt- 
less true  that  we  are  embraced  by  God's  everlasting 
arms  even  when  we  least  know  it,  yet  it  is  also  true 
that  the  purifying  influence  of  His  love  can  only  be 
realized  in  proportion  as  we  are  consciously  its  objects. 
And  this  is  what  Christ  makes  us  to  be  by  the  light 
which  his  intense  consciousiuss  of  God  shed  upon  the 
God-consciousness  in  man.  Through  his  infinitely  strong 
and  clear  perce})tion  of  God  as  tSubject  no  less  than 
Object,  togetlicr  with  his  marvelloiis  power  to  propagate 
this  sense  in  others,  we  couk;  to  have  a  feeling  (piite 
as  compi'ehensive  and  far  more  elevating  than  the  Xatm-e- 
worshij)  of  tlu;  Greeks,  the  feeling  of  a  Divinity  under- 
lying, jtcrvading,  over-ruling,  gloriiying  all  things. 
Again,  the  assurance  that  we  have;  "the  kiiDwIedgc!  of 
the  glory  of  God  in  the  i'ace  of  Jesus  Christ,"  that  the 
Lord's  moral  natiire  and  spiritual  ininistry  -dw  an 
exj)ression  of  God's  will  towards  tiie  world,  or  in  other 
words  of  the  Final  Clause  of  creation, — this  it  is  which 
satisfies  the  heart  and  cpiickens  in  the  soul  that  faith 
which   ])ractirany  justifies  by   giving   an    adef|uat('   end 


226  APPENDIX. 

in  life.  These  two  aspects  of  Christ's  Being,  his  supreme 
consciousness  of  God,  and  that  unity  with  the  Father 
which  is  inconceivable  apart  from  consubstantiality, 
make  every  word  and  deed  of  the  Lord  Jesus  luminous 
with  suggestive  revelations  of  the  divine  background 
of  existence,  and  confer  an  infinite  preciousness  upon 
His  endurance  and  death,  as  an  embodiment  of  the  true 
relations  between  sinful  man  and  God's  loving  vinre- 
vengeful  goodness.  I  believe  that  these  two  aspects  of 
the  Lord's  divine  humanity  are  the  one  soiirce  of  all 
peculiarly  evangelical  power  and  fervour,  from  St.  Paul's 
epistles,  or  the  truly  inspired  letter  to  Diognetus,  down 
to  John  Wesley,  or  the  Ritualists  and  the  Primitive 
Methodists,  who  at  opposite  })oles  are  Wesley's  true 
successors.  No  revolutions  of  thought  which  leave  any 
sort  of  practical  reality  to  these  aspects  of  Christ's  Being 
will  in  the  slightest  degree  imperil  "  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation,"  which  Christianity  enshrines.  Nor  do 
I  think  that  this  vital  essence  of  the  Old  Faith  is 
even  seriously  threatened.  Some  one  may  ask,  "  is  it 
possible  you  can  be  so  blind  as  to  suppose  that  the 
dogma  of  a  Man's  divinity  is  likely  to  survive  the 
reduction  of  human  nature  to  protoplasm?"  If  you 
mean  the  dogma  of  the  Athanasian  creed,  I  answer.  No. 
But  if  you  mean  the  direct  intuitive  consciousness  of 
Christ  that  his  deepest  self  was  God,  and  his  humanity 
a  transparency  through  which  God  shone,  I  say,  Yes. 
This  transition  period  is  but  a  sort  of  "blind  man's 
holiday,"  and  the  blind  often  make  a  far  better  use  of 


APPEXDIX.  227 

their  other  senses  than  do  the  keen-sighted.  I  may  be 
blind,  but  I  have  a  strong  feeling  that  the  divinity 
which  has  made  Christ  the  Lord  of  modern  history  is 
losing  none  of  its  significance.  The  gospel  of  proto- 
plasm is  very  far  from  being  opposed  to  the  Gospel  of 
God, 

"  Not  only  cunuing  casts  in  clay  I 

Let  science  prove  we  are  and  then.'"— 

But  science  cannot  do  it.  The  really  projdietic  signs  of" 
the  times  point  in  a  very  difl'erent,  indeed  an  opi)Osite 
direction. 


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Lloyd  (W.  "Watkiss)  Christianity  in  the  Cartoons,  referred  to 
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Lowndes  (Richard)  on  the  Philoso]-)hy  of  Primary  Beliefs. 

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Mackay  (R.  AY.)  Progress  of  the  Intellect,  as  exemplified  in 

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Mackay  (R.  AV.)  Sketch  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  Chris- 
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Mackay  (R.  W.)  The  Sophistes  of  Plato :    a  Dialogue  on 

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Mackay   (R.    ^\.)    Christian   Perfectilnlity.      Tlie    Eternal 

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Man's  (A)  Belief:  an  Kssay  on  the  Facts  of  Religious  Know- 
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Martineau  (Rev.  Jas.)  A  Word  i'ur  Scientific  Theology,  in 

appeal  from  the  Mcuof  Science undtheTlieologians.  8vo..  sewed.  Is. 

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Parry,    Clirisiianiiy    versus   Theology.       Tn    Ten    Tjctters, 

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Quarry  (Max.  J.)  (iciicsis  and  its  Anlhorship.     Two  Disscr- 

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Shore  (Rev.  Th.)    The  Churchman  and  the  Free  Thinker ; 

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Spencer  (Herbert)  First   Principles.      Second   Edition,  re- 

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Spencer  (Herbert)  Social  Statics ;  or,  the  Conditions  essen- 
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Spencer  (Herbert)  Essays  :  Scientific,  Political,  and  Specu- 
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Stark  (J.)  On  the  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  showing  the 
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Strauss  (Dr.  D.  F.)  New  Life  of  Jesus.      The  Authorized 

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Tayler  (Rev.  J.  J.)  An  attempt  to  ascertain  the  Character 

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Theological  Review :  A  Journal  of  Religious  Thought  and 

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Williams  (Dr.  Rowland)  The  Pro])hets  of  Israel  and  Judah 

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Williams  (Dr.  Rowland)  Broadchalke  Sermon-Essays,  on 
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