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SCIENCE  AND  REVELATION; 


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^  Stries  of  lectures 


IN    REPLY   TO 


THE  THEORIES 


OF 


TYNDALL,  HUXLEY,  DARWIN,  SPENCER, 


ETC. 


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<-^teki^3;'^W. 


N. 


V 


BELFAST: 
WILLIAM      MULLAN. 

NEW     \'  ()  R  K  : 
SCRIBNER,     \A/'ELFORD      &     ARMSTRONG. 

1875. 


PREFACE. 


JTIHESE  lectures  owe  their  origin  to  certain  proceedings 
^  connected  with  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association 
in  Belfast  in  the  autumn  of  1874.  In  his  opening  address, 
the  President  thought  fit  to  assail  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant principles  of  religion,  whether  natural  or  revealed. 
In  that  address,  and  in  some  others  subsequently  delivered, 
the  facts  of  science  were  presented  as  antagonistic  to  the 
claims  of  every  form  of  religion  which  recognises  the  exist- 
ence of  a  personal  God  ;  and  although  the  wonders  of  nature 
were  disclosed,  the  hand  of  God  was  ignored. 

Whilst  courtesy  and  precedent  forbade  any  protest  at  the 
time,  it  was  felt  by  many,  and  more  especially  by  those  resi- 
dent in  Belfast,  that  such  teaching  should  not  be  permitted 
to  pass  unchallenged.  The  paramount  importance  of  the 
questions  at  issue,  the  literary  and  scientific  prestige  of  the 
men  by  whom  these  strange  doctrines  were  propounded,  the 
injurious  influence  which  such  deliverances  were  calculated 
to  exercise  on  some  minds,  and  the  strong  desire  expressed 
by  many  honest  and  earnest  believers  in  the  sacred  Scriptures 
that  these  adverse  theories  should  be  thoroughly  analysed, 
suggested  the  necessity  of  an  elaborate  defence  of  the  funda- 
mental truths  so  wantonly  impugned  ;  and  at  a  meeting  of 
ministers,  held  shortly  afterwards,  the  programme  of  the 
lectures  now  published  was  arranged. 

These  lectures  will  speak  for  themselves,  for  the  men 
who  delivered  them,  and  for  those  Divine  truths  which 
they  so  ably  and  eloquently  expound.  They  will  be  found 
clear,  logical,  and  conclusive.     Each  subject  is  thoroughly 


IV.  PREFACE.  - 

sifted.  H^XQ  facts  of  science  are  admitted,  whilst  the  infer- 
ences of  the  savans  are  disputed.  The  respective  territories 
of  science  and  rehgion  are  distinctly  defined  ;  and  whilst 
the  conflicting  theories  of  these  philosophers — some  mate- 
rialistic, some  idealistic,  and  others  rationalistic — are  brought 
out  as  demoralising,  and  often  mutually  destructive ;  the 
harmony  ever  subsisting  between  true  philosophy  and  true 
religion ;  the  moral  beauty  of  Christianity,  and  its  adaptation 
to  the  wants  and  wishes  of  our  common  humanity;  and  the 
being  and  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  as  manifested  in  the 
pages  of  inspiration,  the  works  of  creation,  and  the  arrange- 
ments of  providence,  will  be  found  unfolded  with  a  fresh- 
ness, a  fulness,  and  a  power  highly  creditable  to  the  men  by 
whom  the  discussion  is  conducted,  and  to  the  Church  which 
they  so  well  represent. 

The  lectures  were  delivered  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
Rosemary  Street,  Belfast,  during  the  past  winter,  and  have 
already  received  the  favourable  imprimatur  of  the  public. 
They  have  been  heard  with  pleasure  and  profit  by  intelli- 
gent audiences,  they  have  been  sought  for  in  pamphlet 
form  by  tens  of  thousands  ;  and  they  are  now  issued  in  one 
harmonious  whole,  and  given  to  the  Church  and  to  the 
world,  with  the  earnest  prayer  that  the  perusal  of  the 
volume  may  confirm  many  in  the  faith  once  delivered  to 
the  saints,  and  produce  in  all  who  read  it  a  loving  and 
intelligent  allegiance  to  Him  whom  to  know  is  life  eternal. 

WM.  JOHNSTON, 

Ex- Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly, 
Belfast,  March,  iSyj. 


CONTENTS. 


-♦♦- 


By  J.   L.  PORTER,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Belfast. 
Science   and    Revelation  :     their    Distinctive    Provinces. 
With  a  Review  of  the  Theories  of  Tyndall,  Huxley,  Darwin,  and 
Herbert  Spencer. 


By  Dr.   MOORE,  Glasnevin. 
Design  in  the  Structure  and  Fertilisation  of  Plants  a 
Proof  of  the  Existence  of  God. 


By  Rev.  Professor  WATTS,  D.D.,  Belfast. 
An  Examination  of  Herbert   Spencer's   Biological   Hypo- 
thesis. 


By  Rev.  W.  TODD  MARTIN,  M.A.,  Newtownards. 
The  Doctrine  of  an   Impersonal   God   in   its   Effects   on 
Morality  and  Religion. 


By  Rev.  A.  C.   MURPHY,  M.A.,  Londonderry. 
Miracles  and  Prophecy  :  Direct  Proofs  that  the  Bible  is 
A  Revelation  from  God. 


By  Rev.  Professor  WALLACE,  Belfast. 
Prayer  in  Relation  to  Natural  Law. 


By  Rev.  JOHN  MACNAUGHTAN,  Belfast. 
Man's  Responsibility  for  his  Belief. 


By  Rev.  JOHN  MORAN,  Belmont. 
The  Life  and  Character  of  Christ  an   Evidence  of  the 
Truth  of  Christianity. 


By  Rev.  WILLIAM  MAGILL,  Cork. 
The  Achievements   of   the   Bible   a   Proof   of   its    Divine 
Origin. 


r 


SCIENCE  AND  REVELATION. 

^.^^ —  ■'  ft/ 

To  be  able  to  define  the  exact  province  and  limits  of 
each  branch  of  knowledge  under  investigation,  is  one 
of  the  best  evidences  of  intellectual  power  and  logical 
training.  Until  the  student  can  do  so  he  is  not  a  safe 
guide.  And  farther,  the  man  who,  knowing  the  limits  of 
any  particular  branch,  deliberately  attempts,  by  alleged 
deductions  or  specious  theories,  to  pass  beyond  them,  is,  in 
so  far,  unworthy  of  trust ;  and  his  conclusions,  even  on  other 
points  within  his  proper  sphere,  must  be  received  with 
caution,  for  a  lax  method  of  reasoning,  when  once  indulged 
in,  has  a  tendency  to  become  habitual.  No  matter  how 
profound  a  man  may  be  in  his  knowledge  of  any  one  de- 
partment, he  is  not  thereby  warranted  in  attempting  to 
make  that  knowlege  a  passport  for  theory  and  speculation, 
nor  for  dogmatism  in  another  department.  It  is  of  the  very 
essence  of  science  that  the  mind  form  accurate  conceptions 
of  what  is  submitted  to  it  ;  that  it  be  able  to  draw  round 
each  subject  a  clear  line  of  demarcation,  separating  it  from 
all  others,  and  making  it  stand  out  in  its  distinctive  indivi- 
duality. Then  only  will  thought  be  restrained  from  what 
is  vague  and  indefinite,  and  rigidly  confined  to  what  is  real 
and  true. 

I  admit  that  the  several  departments  of  knowlege  in  some 
respects  overlap  each  other,  and  that  all  have  certain 
mutual  relations  ;  yet  this  fact  does  not  tend  to  confuse  the 
boundaries  of  mathematics  and  psychology,  or  of  science  and 
theology,  as  fields  of  research  and  thought ;  nor  does  it 
warrant  the  student  of  one  department  to  intrude  his  views 
and  theories  into  another  so  as  to  overthrow  its  legitimate 
deductions.  No  psychological  belief,  for  example,  can 
affect  a   mathematical   demonstration,   and  no  theological 


4  SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION. 

dogma  can  annul  a  fact  of  science  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
psychology  has  a  sphere  in  which  mathematics  has  no 
place,  and  theology  has  a  sphere  into  which  science  must  not 
intrude.  The  method  of  investigation  in  each  department 
is  specifically  different.  The  mathematician  has  a  pro- 
blem which  he  works  out  in  accordance  with  certain  funda- 
mental axioms,  until  he  arrives  at  a  demonstration  which 
cannot  be  disputed.  The  scientist  examines  natural  objects 
through  his  senses  ;  his  mind  interprets  the  observations 
thus  made,  compares  them,  and  frames  generalisations  to 
which  he  gives  the  name  of  "  laws  ;"  and  these,  though 
never  attaining  the  absolute  certainty  of  mathematical  de- 
monstrations, are  yet,  as  a  rule,  readily  comprehended  and 
accepted  as  facts  of  science.  In  the  departments  of 
psychology  and  natural  theology  a  different  method  is 
followed,  because  the  grand  subjects  with  which  they  are 
concerned  are,  for  the  most  part,  presented  directly  to  the 
mind,  and  not  to  the  senses  or  the  logical  faculty.  They  can 
only  be  grasped  and  comprehended  in  their  entirety  by 
abstract  thought  and  profound  reflection — quickened  and 
guided  in  the  case  of  theology  by  Divine  illumination.  It 
consequently  happens  that  minds  trained  to  scientific  re- 
search alone,  and  habitually  occupied  with  the  severe  and 
exact  demonstrations  of  geometry,  or  with  the  palpable 
forms  of  matter,  encounter  an  almost  insuperable  difhculty 
when  they  attempt  to  enter  the  field  of  abstract  thought. 
They  cannot  place  the  problems  of  metaphysics  and  theo- 
logy under  the  microscope,  nor  can  they  apply  to  them  the 
test  of  the  mathematical  axiom,  and,  therefore,  they  cannot 
always  comprehend  and  will  not  receive  them.  And  yet  to 
those  who  are  intellectually  qualified  for  this  higher  depart- 
ment of  knowledge,  and  thoroughly  trained  in  it,  the  sub- 
lime truths  which  it  embraces  become  as  definite  and  as 
convincing  as  the  truths  of  physical  science.  It  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that  "  each  man  is  strong  in  that  he  is  trained 
in,  weak  in  other  regions — so  much  so,  that  often  the 
objects  there  seem  to  him  non-existent."* 

*  Shairp,  "  Culture  and  Religion/'  p.  80. 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  5 

All  this  shows  the  necessity  in  these  days  of  determining 
the  exact  provinces,  and  defining  the  precise  limits  of 
Science  and  Revelation.  The  attempts  in  times  past, 
and  even  yet  on  the  part  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  to  fetter 
science  by  ecclesiastical  shackles,  have  brought  discredit 
upon  Christianity  at  large.  We  hear  scientific  men  now  com- 
plaining loudly,  but  not  very  logically,  that  all  theologians 
are  despots  ;  and  they  whine  as  if  they  were  martyrs  to 
free  thought.  I  would,  therefore,  warn  all  Christian  men 
not  to  betray,  or  give  the  appearance  of  betraying,  any 
opposition  to  science.  Let  us  look  upon  it  as  a  friendly 
territory — a  province  of  God's  universe,  where  His  foot- 
steps can  be  traced  by  every  unprejudiced  scientific 
observer,  and  where  His  wisdom  can  be  seen  by  every 
philosophic  mind.  But  then,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  plain 
to  all  educated  men  that  science  is  at  this  moment  com- 
mitting the  very  error  which  it  charges  on  theologians — it 
is  striving  to  invade  the  province  of  Revelation,  and  to 
sweep  away  its  most  sublime  doctrines,  not  by  established 
facts,  but  by  crude  theories  and  wild  speculations.  There 
can  be  no  peace  between  them  until  each  is  rigidly  con- 
fined to  its  own  sphere  ;  there  they  are  in  harmony,  and 
they  mutually  contribute  to  the  solution  of  the  highest 
problems.  As  a  theologian  I  have  no  desire  to  fetter 
science.  I  willingly  accord  to  it  the  utmost  freedom,  and 
bid  it  "  God  speed"  in  its  own  field.  There  it  does  noble 
service  to  my  cause,  enabling  me  to  reason  with  the  uner- 
ring rigour  of  logic  from  palpable  manifestations  of  design 
in  every  department  of  nature,  to  the  existence  of  an  Omni- 
potent Designer.  But  when  science  leaves  its  legitimate 
field  to  assail  Revelation  ;  or  when  the  scientist,  to  use  the 
words  of  the  distinguished  president  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion, having  reached  the  limits  of  experimental  evidence, 
attempts  to  prolong  the  vision  backwards  into  the  un- 
known,* so  as  to  solve  a  problem  which  science  cannot  solve, 
and  thus  to  overthrow  theological  truth,  then,  as  a  theolo- 
gian, and  in  the   name  of  science   itself,  I  place  an   arrest 

*  Tyndall,  "  Acklicss,"  p.  56. 


6  SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION. 

upon  him  as  he  would  do  upon  me ;  and  if  he  will  not 
desist,  I  shall  ever  feel  it  my  duty  to  warn  the  public  that 
his  conclusions  so  arrived  at,  however  skilfully  framed  and 
eloquently  expressed,  are  no  more  worthy  of  belief  than  the 
splendid  creations  of  a  poet's  fancy.  In  this  course  of 
action  I  am  virtually  sustained  by  Professor  Tyndall,  who 
says — "The  profoundest  minds  know  best  that  Nature's 
ways  are  not  at  all  times  their  ways,  and  that  the  brightest 
flashes  in  the  world  of  thought  are  incomplete  until  they 
have  been  proved  to  have  their  counterparts  in   the  world 

of  fact His  experiments  constitute  a  body,  of 

which  his  purified  intuitions  are,  as  it  were,  the  soul."* 

By  science  I  here  mean  Physical  or  Natural  Scie?tce,  which 
has  for  its  field  the  universe  of  matter,  and  which,  by  obser- 
vation and  experiment  on  its  various  parts  and  organisms, 
endeavours  to  gain  a  knowledge  of  the  facts  and  phe- 
nomena of  matter,  with  their  relations  and  laws.  The 
field  of  science  being  the  material  universe,  it  follows  that 
our  knowledge  of  it  must  be  obtained  through  the  senses  ; 
so  that  scientific  evidence  is  evidence  addressed  to,  and 
apprehended  by,  the  senses  ;  so  far,  then,  as  science  is  con- 
cerned, the  only  knowledge  we  can  obtain  is  through  the 
senses,  or  through  legitimate  deductions  from  facts  thus 
perceived. 

In  investigating  the  province  of  science  I  shall  proceed 
as  follows  : — I  shall  critically  examine  the  attempts  made 
by  scientists  to  solve  certain  great  problems  which  natur- 
ally force  themselves  upon  the  attention  of  thoughtful 
men  in  every  age. — I.  The  origin  of  matter  and  of  the 
existing  material  universe.  II.  The  origin  of  life.  III. 
The  origin  of  species.  IV.  The  origin  of  mind  ;  and,  con- 
nected with  it,  the  conceptions  formed  by  mind  of  a  God 
and  of  a  future  state.  I  shall  then  turn  to  Revelation, 
sketch  its  purpose,  and  define  its  province.  The  field 
before  me  is,  as  you  may  see,  a  very  wide  one  ;  it  is  a  field, 
too,  which  embraces  most  momentous  questions,  bearing 
alike  on  time  and  eternity,  on  man's  happiness  here  and  on 

*  "  Fragments  of  Science,''  p.  in. 


SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION.  7 

his  state  hereafter.  It  is  difficult  to  treat  it  at  all  within 
the  scope  of  a  single  lecture  ;  and  I  can  only  promise  to 
give  you,  with  as  much  clearness  as  is  in  my  power,  the 
results  of  anxious  thought  and  laborious  research,  extend- 
ing at  intervals  over  many  years. 

One  point  I  think  it  right  to  notice  at  the  outset,  because 
much  has  been  made  of  it.  Professed  scientists  complain 
that  their  conclusions  are  criticised  by  many  who  have 
never  examined  nature  for  themselves,  who  have  never  con- 
ducted a  single  investigation,  physiological,  chemical,  or 
anatomical  ;  and  they  denounce,  in  no  measured  terms, 
such  presumptuous  criticisms.  The  charge  is  plausible,  but 
not  very  logical.  Let  me  show  this  in  a  sentence.  The 
scientist,  by  his  researches,  long,  minute,  laborious,  and 
complicated,  establishes  certain  facts.  He  explains  these 
facts  in  intelligible  language,  so  that  all,  scientific  and  non- 
scientific  alike,  can  understand  them.  Then  he  proceeds  to 
deduce  from  them  conclusions  with  regard,  say,  to  the 
origin  of  matter,  or  the  origin  of  life,  or  the  origin  and  | 
nature  of  mind.  Now,  I  take  his  facts  as  established 
and  explained  by  himself;  and  I  maintain  that  I  am  as 
competent  to  examine  and  test  the  accuracy  of  the  general 
conclusions  he  professes  to  deduce  from  them  as  he  is.  It 
is  not  practical  science  which  is  here  required,  it  is  logic ; 
and  scientific  men  cannot  lay  claim  to  a  monopoly  of  this 
gift.  So  then,  in  prosecuting  my  critical  examination,  T 
shall  not  attempt  to  enter  the  domain  of  the  professional 
student  of  nature.  I  shall  simply  accept  his  observations 
and  demonstrations ;  not  his  theories,  however,  nor  his 
speculations,  nor  his  guesses,  but  those  phenomena  which 
he  has  established  by  observation  ;  and  then  I  shall  place 
them  side  by  side  with  the  conclusions  to  which  they  are 
supposed  to  lead,  and  submit  the  whole  to  a  searching  logi- 
cal analysis.  Surely  this  is  not  presumption  ;  and  if  fairly 
carried  out,  no  real  scientist  will  venture  to  take  exception 
to  it. 


8  SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION. 

I. — The  Origin  of  Matter  and  of  the  Existing 
Material  Universe. 

The  teachings  of  scientists  on  matter  and  the  material 
universe  are  not  uniform  ;  were  they  so  they  would  have 
much  greater  weight.  Nearly  every  scientific  man  has  a 
theory  of  his  own,  which  he  propounds  with  all  authority, 
not  to  say  dogmatism  ;  and  it  so  happens  that  these  theories 
are,  for  the  most  part,  inconsistent  with  each  other — and 
indeed  in  some  cases  mutually  destructive.  Democritus,  a 
Greek  sage,  who  lived  about  B.C.  400,  propounded  a  theory 
of  the  structure  and  origin  of  the  material  universe,  which 
he  appears  to  have  derived  from  Leucippus,  its  founder. 
It  was  substantially  adopted  by  the  Latin  poet  Lucretius, 
whose  prime  object  in  adopting  it  was  thereby  to  banish 
from  the  mind  of  man  all  idea  of  a  creating  and  superin- 
tending deity.  It  has  received  its  latest  development  or 
exposition  in  the  address  of  Professor  Tyndall  before  the 
meeting  of  the  British  Association  in  Belfast.  Its  leading 
principles  are  as  follows  : — Matter  is  eternal ;  it  has  two 
characteristics — I.  Quantitative  relations, which  are  original; 
2.  Qualitative,  which  are  secondary  and  derived  ;  and  thus 
the  distinction  between  matter  and  mind  is  abolished. 
Matter  consists  ultimately  of  atoms,  which  were  at  first 
distributed  through  empty  space  ;  the  atoms  are  homo- 
geneous in  quality,  but  heterogeneous  in  form  ;  motion  is 
the  eternal  and  necessary  consequence  of  the  original  va- 
riety of  atoms  in  the  vacuum  ;  the  atoms  are  impenetrable, 
and,  therefore,  offer  resistance  to  one  another  ;  all  existing 
forms — the  stars,  the  planets,  the  earth,  plants,  animals, 
mind  itself — evolved  from  these  atoms  ;  the  process  of  evo- 
lution began  by  the  atoms  striking  together,  and  the  lateral 
motions  and  whirlings  thus  produced  were  the  beginnings 
of  worlds  ;  the  varieties  of  things  depend  on  the  varieties 
of  their  constituent  atoms  ;  the  first  cause  of  all  existence 
is  necessity,  that  is,  the  necessary  succession  of  cause  and 
effect.     To  this  succession  they  gave  the  name  "  chance,"  as 


SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION.  'J 

Opposed  to  the  "mind"  (vovs)  of  Anaxagoras.*  There  are 
many  differences  in  details  among  atomic  philosophers,  but 
the  leading  principles  are  embodied  in  the  foregoing  pro- 
positions. Many  of  the  modern  atomists  admit  that  matter 
was  created,  as  I  shall  show  in  the  sequel. 

As  this  theory  is  now  put  forward  in  the  name  of  science, 
we  naturally  ask — What  are  its  scientific  proofs  ?  We  can- 
not admit  theories.  They  have  no  weight  in  our  present 
critical  investigation.  And  first — What  proof  is  advanced 
that  matter  is  eternal  .-*  There  is  none  ;  and  from  the  nature 
of  the  case  there  can  be  none.  All  that  science  can  prove 
is,  that  matter  has  existed  so  long  as  man  has  existed  to  ob- 
serve it.  We  all  admit  this  ;  and  farther  science  cannot  pos- 
sibly go.  To  affirm  that  it  is  eternal  is  a  pure  assumption, 
which  has  no  logical  connection  with  observed  facts.  Her- 
bert Spencer  rightly  says  that  the  eternity,  or  self-existence, 
of  matter  is  unthinkable ;  and  he  argues,  with  true  philosophic 
insight,  that  "the  assertion  that  the  universe  is  self-existent 
does  not  really  carry  us  a  step  beyond  the  cognition  of  its 
present  existence  ;  and  so  leaves  us  with  a  mere  re-state- 
ment of  the  mystery."-}-  And,  besides,  while  science  cannot 
advance  one  step  towards  the  proof  of  the  eternity  of  matter, 
some  of  the  most  eminent  scientific  men  of  the  present  age 
affirm  that  this  atomic  theory  affords  the  strongest  proof 
of  the  existence  of  a  Creator.  At  the  meeting  of  the  British 
Association  in  1873,  Professor  Clerk  Maxwell  said,  *' We 
are  unable  to  ascribe  either  the  existence  of  the  molecules 
or  any  of  their  properties  to  the  operation  of  any  of  the 
causes  which  we  call  natural."  On  the  other  hand,  the  exact 
equality  of  each  molecule  to  all  others  of  the  same  kind 
gives  it,  as  Sir  John  Herschel  has  well  said,  **  the  essential 
character  of  a  manufactured  article''  And  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  the  celebrated  French  philosopher  and 
mathematician,  Gassendi,  enunciated  views  substantially  the 
same.  So  much  then  for  the  teaching  of  science  as  to  the 
eternity  of  matter. 

*  Tyndall,  "Address,"  p.  4.     Brandis,  GeschichtCy  !.,  p.  293,  sq. 
t  "  First  Principles,"  p.  32. 


10  SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION. 

But  we  now  return  to  the  atoms.  Democritus,  following 
Leucippus,  held  that  they  were  originally  scattered  through- 
out empty  space,  and  that  they  combined  in  obedience 
to  mechanical  laws.  Empedocles,  a  Sicilian  philosopher 
of  the  same  age,  could  not  believe  this  possible,  and  he 
suggested  that  the  atoms  possessed  original  and  elementary 
powers  or  sensations,  some  of  love  and  some  of  hate,  and 
that  influenced  by  these  sensations  they  combined  or  sepa- 
rated. Lucretius  conceived  the  atoms  falling  eternally 
through  space,  and  their  interaction  throughout  infinite 
time  forming  the  worlds  ;  it  was  a  truly  poetic  conception, 
worthy  of  its  author.  Professor  Clerk  Maxwell  supposes 
the  atoms  to  have  been  originally  created,  and  endowed 
with  certain  powers,  under  the  guidance  of  which  they 
gradually  evolved  those  complex  forms  now  presented  to 
the  eye  of  the  observer  ;  and  Tyndall,  though  he  speaks  with 
hesitation,  appears  to  think  that  the  material  atoms  possess 
some  inherent  energy  or  life ;  and  hence  he  discerns  in 
"molecular  force  the  agency  by  which  both  plants  and 
animals  are  built  up,"  though  he  does  not  tell  us  whence 
this  molecular  force  has  come. 

I  do  not  profess  to  reconcile  these  discordant  theories  ; 
nor  is  it  necessary  for  my  purpose,  even  were  it  possible. 
My  sole  object  is  to  submit  them  to  the  test  of  scientific 
proof  As  to  the  atoms  themselves,  they  have  never  yet 
been  discovered.  Scientists  have  searched  for  them  ;  the 
highest  powers  of  the  microscope,  and  the  utmost  skill  of 
the  chemist,  have  been  tried  in  vain.  "  Loschmidt,  Stoney, 
and  Sir  William  Thomson  have  sought  to  determine  the 
sizes  of  the  atoms,  or  rather  to  fix  the  limits  between  which 
their  sizes  lie,"*  and  they  have  failed.  Their  very  existence, 
then,  is  a  theory — a  theory,  too,  which  has  no  logical  con- 
nection with  any  observed  fact.  And  besides,  the  idea  of 
an  atom  is  inconceivable,  or,  as  Herbert  Spencer  would  say, 
it  is  unthinkable.  To  conceive  of  a  piece  of  matter,  having 
necessarily,  because  it  is  matter,  length  and  breadth,  and 
yet  being  indivisible,  is  an  absurdity.     And  if  we  adopt  the 

*  Tyndall,  "Address,"  p.  26. 


SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION.  11 

view  of  Faraday,  that  atoms  are  "centres  of  force,"  the 
difficulty  remains.  A  centre  of  force  must  be  either  ma- 
terial or  immaterial ;  if  material,  the  absurdity  is  as  before  ; 
if  immaterial,  then  no  aggregate  of  the  immaterial  could 
form  the  material  universe.  Science  is  thus  completely  at 
fault  regarding  these  imaginary  atoms. 

And  when  we  proceed  to  test  the  atomic  theory  in  its 
development,  difficulties  and  absurdities  accumulate  at  every 
stage.     It  is  held  that  atoms,  whether  eternal  or  "  manufac- 
tured articles,"  whether  inert  or  gifted  with  love  and  hate, 
or  possessing  inherent  potency,  have  arranged  themselves, 
by  chance  friction  and  spontaneous  interaction,  throughout 
the  infinite  past,  into  those  forms  of  wondrous  beauty,  and 
delicate  and  complicated  mechanism,  which  we  now  see  in 
every  part  of  the  universe,  and  which  appear  to  be  guided 
by  wise  laws,  and  adapted  to  wise  ends.     What  is  the  scien- 
tific proof  of  this  theory }     There  is  none,  and  there  can 
be  none.     No  scientist  professes  to  have  seen  atoms  building 
up  worlds.     The  nature  of  the  theory  places  it  beyond  the 
range  of  science,  away  in  the  infinite  past.     And  farther, 
the  theory  of  matter  arranging  itself  spontaneously  into 
systems  governed  by  exact  law,  and  organisms  exhibiting 
the   most  exquisite    design,   is    not    only  unsupported    by 
scientific  observation,  but  is  opposed  to  the  whole  analogy 
of  scientific  observation.     Spontaneous  action  is,  as  Huxley 
rightly  says,  action  without  a  cause,  which  is  unscientific 
and  impossible.     It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  a  change 
taking  place  without  a  cause,  and  action  necessarily  involves 
change,  so  that  spontaneity  in  matter  is  an  absurdity.*     It 
is  not  one  of  those   physical    theories   which,  as  Tyndall 
says,  lies  beyond  experience,  but  is  yet  derived  by  a  process 
of  abstraction  from  experience.     No  process  of  abstraction 
can  derive  from  experience  a  thing  which  is  contrary  to 
experience.     Take  as  an  illustration  of  the  impossibility  of 
conceiving   mere   matter   capable   of   evolving   an    object 
familiar  to  us  all,  the  structure  of  the  eye  ;  and  I  here  bor- 
row the  words  of  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  living 

*  See  H.  Spencer,  "  First  Principles,"  p.  32. 


12  SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION. 

naturalists,  Professor  Pritchard  : — "  From  what  I  know, 
through  my  own  speciaHty,  both  from  geometry  and  ex- 
periment, of  the  structure  of  the  lenses  of  the  human  eye, 
I  do  not  believe  that  any  amount  of  evolution  extending 
through  any  amount  of  time,  could  have  issued  in  the  pro- 
duction of  that  most  beautiful  and  complicated  instrument, 
the  human  eye.  The  most  perfect,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  most  difficult,  optical  contrivance  known  is  the  power- 
ful achromatic  object-glass  of  a  microscope  ;  its  structure  is 
the  long  unhoped-for  result  of  the  ingenuity  of  many 
powerful  minds,  yet  in  complexity  and  in  perfection  it  falls 
infinitely  below  the  structure  of  the  eye.  Disarrange  any 
one  of  the  curvatures  of  the  many  surfaces,  or  distances,  or 
densities  of  the  latter  ;  or,  worse,  disarrange  its  incompre- 
hensible self-adaptive  powers,  the  like  of  which  is  possessed 
by  the  handiwork  of  nothing  human,  and  all  the  opticians 
in  the  world  could  not  tell  you  what  is  the  correlative  alter- 
ation necessary  to  repair  it,  and,  still  less,  to  improve  it,  as 
a  natural  selection  is  presimied  to  imply T* 

Tyndall  himself  is,  in  the  end,  forced  to  admit  that  the 
structure  of  the  universe  around  us  is  an  "  insoluble  mys- 
tery" ;"-|-  and  Huxley,  after  placing  the  dogma  of  atheistic 
materialism  in  its  strongest  light,  says,  "  The  materialistic 
position  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  world  but  matter,  force, 
and  necessity,  is  as  utterly  devoid  of  justification  as  the 
most  baseless  of  theological  dogmas."  ;|;  This  with  him  is, 
of  course,  the  acme  of  incredibility  and  absurdity.  So  I  am 
content  to  leave  the  theory  of  atomic  materialism  in  the 
position  thus  assigned  to  it. 

Here  again  we  see  that  the  solution  of  the  grand  pro- 
blem of  the  orisjin  of  the  universe  is  bevond  the  rangre  of 
science.  And,  besides,  the  inferential  teaching  of  science  is 
not  exhausted  in  this  negative  result.  It  reveals  in  nature 
everywhere  the  existence  of  force.  However  far  its  obser- 
vations extend  back,  that  force  cannot  be  eliminated.     It 

♦  Paper  read  at  Brighton,  Oct.  8th,  1874. 

t  "  Address,"  p.  58. 

X  "  Lay  Sermons,"  p.  144. 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  13 

is  involved  in  the  movement  of  a  grain  of  sand  as  fully  as 
in  the  circling  of  the  spheres  ;  and  if  science  here  attempt 
to  pass  beyond  the  range  of  sense,  and  to  theorise  about 
force  existing  in  atoms,  we  follow  it  and  say — You  are  but 
shifting  the  mystery ;  and  we  press  the  natural  question — 
What  put  the  force  in  the  atoms  ?  Whence  came  it  ?  Thus 
we  drive  the  scientist  back  and  back  through  every  pro- 
vince of  his  own  legitimate  domain  ;  we  drive  him  back,  too, 
through  those  regions  of  hazy  theory  and  dim  speculation, 
in  which  he  loves  to  expatiate,  until  at  last,  by  an  inex- 
orable logic,  we  compel  him  to  admit  an  author  of  force — 
the  Great  First  Cause.  Tyndall  has  virtually  admitted  this 
in  a  lecture  delivered  at  Manchester  only  a  few  days  ago. 
I  ask  special  attention  to  his  words,  which  conclude  a  long 
argument  on  force  : — "  In  my  ignorance  of  it  all,  I  have 
asked  myself  whether  there  is  no  power,  being,  or  thing,  in 
the  universe  whose  knowledge  of  that  of  which  I  am  so 
ignorant  is  greater  than  mine.  I  have  asked  myself,  can  it 
be  possible  that  man's  knowledge  is  the  greatest  knowledge 
— that  man's  life  is  the  highest  life.'*  My  friends,  the /r^- 
fession  of  that  atheism  with  which  I  am  sometimes  so  lightly 
charged  would,  in  my  case,  be  an  impossible  anszuer  to  the 
questionr* 

II. — The  Origin  of  Life. 

The  origin  of  life  is  a  still  deeper  problem  than  the  pre- 
ceding, and  it  is  at  present  occupying  the  thoughts  of  the 
first  scientists  of  the  age.  Huxley,  Owen,  and  Darwin  may 
be  regarded  as  the  leading  men,  at  least  in  England,  in 
physiological  observation.  Tyndall  follows  in  their  wake  ; 
and  Herbert  Spencer  is  the  philosopher  who,  systematising 
their  observations  and  deducing  from  them  general  prin- 
ciples, endeavours,  by  a  recondite  biology,  to  trace  life  to 
its  source  and  to  reveal  its  cause.  I  shall  try  to  show  you 
the  line  of  argument,  and  to  test  its  scientific  accuracy. 
And  here  again  let  me  remind  you  that  I  do  not  profess  to 

*  "  Crystalline  and  Molecular  Forces,"  p.  12. 


1-4  SCIE^'CE   AXD   REVELATION. 

enter  the  laboratory  or  the  dissecting-room ;  nor  do  I  care 
to  follow  Professor  Huxley  in  his  curious  and  cruel  experi- 
ments on  animal  organisms  ;  I  accept  his  own  established 
facts,  and  my  only  duty  is  to  put  to  the  test  of  a  rigorous 
logic  the  conclusions  drawn  from  them. 

In  attempting  to  discover  the  origin  of  life,  the  eye  of  the 
professional  physiologist  is  naturally  turned  to  the  germ  in 
which  the  life-power,  if  I  may  so  speak,  lies,  and  in  which 
it  begins  to  develop  ;  the  ultimate  object  being  to  ascertain 
how  it  springs  into  operation,  and  what  is  its  cause. 
Huxley's  description  is  very  graphic,  and  I  must  give  it  in 
full : — "  Examine  the  recently-laid  egg  of  some  common 
animal,  such  as  a  salamander  or  a  newt.  It  is  a  minute 
spheroid  in  which  the  best  microscope  will  reveal  nothing 
but  a  structureless  sac,  enclosing  a  gl3.iry  fluid,  holding 
granules  in  suspension.  But  strange  possibilities  lie  dor- 
mant in  that  semi-fluid  globule.  Let  a  moderate  supply  of 
warmth  reach  its  water}'  cradle,  and  the  plastic  matter  un- 
dergoes changes  so  rapid  and  yet  so  steady  and  purpose-like 
in  their  succession,  that  one  can  only  compare  them  to  those 
operated  by  a  skilled  modeller  upon  a  formless  lump  of  clay. 
As  with  an  invisible  trowel,  the  mass  is  divided  and  sub- 
divided into  smaller  and  smaller  portions,  until  it  is  reduced 
to  an  aggregation  of  granules  not  too  large  to  build  withal 
the  finest  fabrics  of  the  nascent  organism.  And  then,  it  is 
as  if  a  delicate  finger  traced  out  the  line  to  be  occupied  by 
the  spinal  column,  and  moulded  the  contour  of  the  body ; 
pinching  up  the  head  at  one  end,  and  the  tail  at  the  other, 
and  fashioning  flank  and  limb  into  due  salamandrine  pro- 
portions, in  so  artistic  a  way,  that,  after  watching  the  pro- 
cess hour  by  hour,  one  is  almost  involuntarily  possessed  by 
the  notion,  that  some  more  subtle  aid  to  vision  than  an 
achromatic  would  show  the  hidden  artist,  with  his  plan 
before  him,  striving  with  skilful  manipulation  to  perfect  his 
work."  And  then,  to  sum  up  the  entire  results  of  his  scien- 
tific observations,  he  adds  : — "  WTiat  is  true  of  the  newt  is 
true  of  every  animal  and  of  every  plant ;  the  acorn  tends 
to  build  itself  up  again  into  a  woodland  giant  such  as  that 


SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION.  15 

from  whose  twig  it  fell ;  the  spore  of  the  humblest  lichen 
reproduces  the  green  or  brown  incrustation  which  gave  it 
birth  ;  and  at  the  other  end  of  the  scale  of  life,  the  child  that 
resembled  neither  the  paternal  nor  the  maternal  side  of  the 

house  would  be  regarded  as  a  kind  of  monster 

It  is  the  first  great  law  of  reproduction,  that  the  offspring, 
tends  to  resemble  its  parent  or  parents."* 

But  what  light  does  all  this  throw  upon  the  origin  of  life  ? 
None.     Quite  true,  Huxley  adds,  "  Science  will  some  day 
show  us  how  this  law  is   a  necessary  consequence  of  the 
more  general  laws  which  govern  matter."    But  this  is  just  a 
gratuitous   theory,  a  prophecy,  in  fact,  springing  from  Mr. 
Huxley's  foregone  opinion,  and  having  no  logical  connection 
with  his  scientific   observations.     The  fact  is,  his  observa- 
tions tend  to  a  widely  different  conclusion.     They  show  us 
the  guiding  power  which  that  mysterious  entity  we  call  life 
exercises  upon  matter,   moulding  it  at  will  into   forms  of 
exquisite  beauty  and  wide  diversity  ;  they  show  us  that  life 
cannot  be  a  unit,  that  is,  a  thing  of  one  essence  and  type, 
emanating  from  matter  ;  for,  were  it  so,  then  its  operations 
upon  matter  would  be  uniform,  and  there  would  be  but  one 
class  of  organisms  in  the  universe.     Or,  suppose  we  admit, 
with  Herbert  Spencer,  that  the  life-principle  is  modified  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  its  environments,  then  the  nature 
of  the  full-grown  animal   could  never  be   predicted,  as  that 
would  depend  on   the  environments,  which  accident  might 
entirely   change.     On   the   contrary,    Huxley's   researches 
prove  that  there  are  essentially  distinct  types  of  life,  though 
they  all  seem  to  have  the  same  elementary  material  basis ; 
and  that  each  type  operates  upon  matter — the  very  same 
matter — with  such  irresistible  guiding  potency  as  to  build 
it  up  into  forms  exactly  corresponding  to  the  parent  stock. 
Science  cannot  in  this  respect  control  it,  it  can  only  observe 
it.     Matter — all  life's  visible  environment — can  do  nothing 
except  supply  what  may  be  called  the  raw  material.     Life 
guides  the  moulding  and  building  in  entire  independence 
alike  of  man  and  of  matter ;  and  all  scientific  observation 

*  "Lay  Sermons,"  pp.  261,  262. 


16 


SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION. 


proves  that  life — pre-existing  life — is   absolutely  necessary 
to  the  building  up  of  animal  organisms. 

But   scientists   have  tried   to  go   deeper,    and   we    must 
follow  them.     The  material   germ   or  protoplasm^  as    it   is 
now   technically  termed,    has   been   subjected  to  the  keen 
scrutiny  of  the  microscope,  and   the  searching  analysis  of 
the  chemist.    Its  constituent  elements  have  been  discovered 
and  described.     Huxley  says,  "  All  the  forms  of  protoplasm 
which  have  yet  been  examined  contain  the  four  elements, 
carbon,  hydrogen,  oxygen,  and  nitrogen,  in  very  complex 
union."*     In  whatever  form  it  appears,  "  whether  fungus  or 
oak,  worm  or  man,"  its  elements  are  the  same  ;  and  when 
life  in  it  becomes  extinct,  it  "  is  resolved  into  its  mineral  and 
lifeless  constituents." *(•     It  is  admitted  that   carbon,  hydro- 
gen, oxygen,  and  nitrogen  are  lifeless  bodies  ;  and  that  they 
all   exist   previous    to   their   union ;  "  but   when   they  are 
brought  together,"  says  Huxley,  "  under  certain  conditions 
they  give  rise  to   protoplasm,  and  this  protoplasm  exhibits 
the  phenomena   of  life."j      Would    it    not,   at  first   sight, 
appear  from  these  words  as  if  science  had  at  length  succeeded 
in  solving  the  grand  mystery  of  the  origin  of  life.     It  knows 
all  the  elements  of  protoplasm  ;  and  there  is  no  lack  of  them 
in  nature.     They  exist  everywhere  around  us.     "  With  my 
own  hands,"  writes  Professor  Pritchard,  "  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury ago,  I  obtained  all  the  elements  which  I  found  in  an 
^^<g  and  in  grains  of  wheat  out  of  a  piece  of  granite  and 
from  the  air  which  surrounded  it,  element  for  element.     It 
has  been  one  of  the  most  astonishing  and  unexpected  results 
of  modern  science  that  we  can  unmistakably  trace  these 
very  elements  also  in  the  stars."  §     So,  then,  the  elements 
are  known,  and  are  at  hand  ;    science  can   put  them  to- 
gether ;   and  Professor   Huxley  says,   "  I   can  find  no  in- 
telligible ground  for  refusing  to  say  that  the  properties  of 
protoplasm" — that  is,  of  course,  life — "  result  from  the  nature 
and  disposition  of  its  molecules."  ||     Yet  he  cannot  produce 
life  from  those  materials.      Science  here  utterly  fails.      Its 

*  "Lay  Sermons,"  p.  130.  f  Ibid,  p.  131.  X  Ibid,  p.  135. 

§  Paper  read  at  Brighton.  ||  "Lay  Sermons,"  p.  138. 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  17 

field,  alike  of  potency  and  of  knowledge,  is  at  this  point 
shut  in  by  an  impassable  barrier.  Huxley  confesses  that 
pre-existing  living  matter  is  absolutely  requisite  to  the 
development  of  the  phenomena  of  life,  and  he  admits  that 
its  influence  "is  something  quite  unintelligible;"  while 
Pritchard  affirms  that  "  no  chemist,  with  all  his  wonderful 
art,  has  ever  yet  witnessed  the  evolution  of  a  living  thing 
from  those  lifeless  molecules  of  matter  and  force."* 

So  far,  then,  as  science  is  concerned,  we  are  as  remote  as 
ever  from  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  origin  of  life. 
Scientists    have   tried   to    produce   life    from   its    so-called 
physical   basis,  but   every  trial  has   been   a   failure.     They 
have  tried  also  to  trace  it  to  its  origin  ;  but  they  have  only 
been  able  to  observe  its  phenomena — they  cannot  reach  its 
source,  nor  can  they  reveal  its  nature.     They  see  motion 
and  development  in   the  living  protoplasm  ;  but  these  are 
the  effects  of  a  life  already  existing,  not  the  essence  or  prin- 
ciple of  life  itself     Herbert   Spencer  describes  life  as  "  a 
continuous    adjustment    of  internal    relations    to   external 
relations ;"    but   this    Delphian   utterance,   if  it    have    any 
meaning  at  all,  can  only  refer  to  the  phenomena  of  life  ;  it 
does  not  touch  its  essence,  nor  does  it  throw  one  ray  of  light 
upon  its  origin.     That  the  life  is  inherent  in,  or  evolved  by, 
matter  is  inconceivable,  for  the  living  protoplasm  often  dies, 
and  then,  though  all  the  material  elements  are  still  there, 
development  ceases  at  once ;  the  power  which  moulds  and 
builds  has  gone   mysteriously  as  it  came,  and   no  human 
agency  can  again  vitalise  the  dead   mass,  which  now  obeys 
the  ordinary  laws  of  matter,  and  is  resolved  into  its  mineral 
constituents.      "  The    living    body    resists    the    chemical 
agencies  that  are  ready  to  attack  it  ;  the  dead  body  at  once 
succumbs  to  these    agencies."      Life   is   the  power  which 
moulds  and  builds  up  organisms,  and  preserves  the  matter 
of  which  they  are  composed  from  the  dissolving  force  of  the 
ordinary  laws  to  which  mere  matter  is  subject.    The  teach- 
ing of  science,  therefore,  is,  that  life  is  something  apart  from 
matter ;  but  what   it  is — whence  it   comes   and  whither  it 

*  Paper  read  at  Brighton. 
B 


18  SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION. 

goes — science  cannot  tell.  Its  operation  on  matter  is' 
wonderful.  It  guides  the  chemical  forces  already  existing, 
so  as  to  arrange  inert  matter  into  shapes  of  the  most  ex- 
quisite proportions,  and  organisms  of  the  most  delicate  and 
complicated  mechanism — all  of  which  are  entirely  distinct 
from  those  normal  forms  which  the  constituent  elements 
would  assume,  if  uncontrolled  by  the  life-principle.  And 
then  again,  when  the  life  departs,  the  very  matter  in  which 
it  existed,  and  which  it  moulded  with  such  mystic  power 
into  bodies  of  matchless  grace  and  beauty,  speedily  becomes 
a  mass  of  loathsome  rottenness,  and  dissolves  into  its  ori- 
ginal elements.  Professor  Huxley  is,  in  the  end,  forced  to 
admit  all  this,  when  he  speaks  of  the  "  living  protoplasm" 
which  preserves  and  builds  up  organic  forms,  and  the 
"dead  protoplasm"  which  is  resolved  into  its  mineral  con- 
stituents ;  but  he  tries  to  save  his  favourite  theory  by 
affirming — not  in  accordance  with,  but  in  spite  of  logical 
sequence — that  the  phenomena  presented  by  protoplasm, 
living  or  dead,  are  its  properties  ;*  and  that  all  vital  action 
may  be  said  to  be  the  result  of  the  molecular  forces  of  the 
protoplasm  which  displays  it.  How,  I  ask,  can  vital  action 
be  the  result  of  molecular  forces  alone,  when,  according  to 
the  Professor's  own  admission,  the  influence  of  pre-existing 
living  matter  is  shown  by  scientific  observation  to  be 
necessary  to  vital  action  .'*  The  vital  action  is  clearly  the 
result,  not  of  molecular  forces,  but  of  the  life-principle  ope- 
rating on  the  protoplasm.  In  denying  this,  Huxley  sacri- 
fices his  logic  to  his  theory  ;  and  he  would  do  well  thought- 
fully to  read  Tyndall's  striking  words  : — "  There  is  in  the 
true  man  of  science  a  wish  stronger  than  the  wish  to  have 
his  beliefs  upheld — namely,  the  wish  to  have  them  true. 
And  the  stronger  wish  causes  him  to  reject  the  most 
plausible  support,  if  he  has  reason  to  suspect  that  it  is  viti- 
ated by  error.  Those  to  whom  I  refer  as  having  studied 
this  question,  believing  the  evidence  off"ered  in  favour  of 
spontaneous  generation  to  be  thus  vitiated,  cannot  accept 
it.     They  know  full  well   that  the  chemist  now  prepares 

*  "  Lay  Sermons,"  p.  1 37. 


SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION.  19 

from  inorganic  matter  a  vast  array  of  substances  which 
were  some  time  ago  regarded  as  the  sole  products  of 
vitality.  They  are  intimately  acquainted  with  the  structural 
power  of  matter  as  evidenced  in  the  phenomena  of  crystal- 
lisation ;  they  can  justify,  scientifically,  their  belief  in  its 
potency,  under  the  proper  conditions,  to  produce  organisms  ; 
but  in  reply  to  your  ques^-ion  they  will  frankly  admit  their 
inability  to  point  to  any  satisfactory  experimental  proof  that 
life  can  be  developed  save  from  demonstrable  antecedent 
life."*  Tyndall's  final  conclusion  is  contained  in  these 
words  : — "  In  fact,  the  whole  process  of  evolution  is  the 
manifestation  of  a  Power  absolutely  inscrutable  to  the  in- 
tellect of  man.  As  little  in  our  days  as  in  the  days  of  Job 
can  man  by  searching  find  this  Power  out.  Considered 
fundamentally,  then,  it  is  by  the  operation  of  an  insoluble 
mystery  that  life  on  earth  is  evolved. "-[- 

This  is  enough  for  my  purpose.  The  limits  of  the  pro- 
vince of  science  are  here  drawn  definitely  by  the  President 
of  the  British  Association.  Science  shows  that  life  is  an 
entity,  a  power,  apart  from  and  above  matter,  but  that  in  its 
essence  it  eludes  the  keen  eye  of  the  philosopher  ;  that  it 
cannot  be  discovered  by  the  researches  of  the  physiologist ; 
that  it  will  not  emanate  from  the  retort  of  the  chemist, 
however  skilfully  he  arrange  and  manipulate  the  elements  of 
its  physical  basis  ;  that,  in  fact,  it  lies  hid  among  those  sub- 
lime mysteries  of  nature  which  human  wisdom  utterly  fails 
to  penetrate,  and  which  the  Infinite  Wisdom  of  the  Great 
Creator  can  alone  reveal  to  the  yearning  spirit  of  His  faith- 
ful creatures.  The  whole  teachings  of  science  are,  so  far  as 
they  can  go,  in  harmony  with  that  simple  but  sublime 
record — "  And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of 
the  ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of 
life  ;  and  man  became  a  living  soul."| 

*  "  Address,"  &c.,  p.  56. 
t  "  Address,"  p.  57. 
X  Gen.  ii.  7. 


20  SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION. 


III. — The  Origin  of  Species. 

Darwin  is  the  apostle  of  the  doctrine  of  development, 
though  the  idea  was  broached  long  before  his  day.     To  the 
naturalist,  Darwin's  book  on  "  The  Origin  of  Species"  is  one 
of  the  most  important  contributions  to  modern  science  ;  to 
the  logician,  it  is  an  utter  failure.     As  a  scientific  observer, 
an   acute,   laborious,   skilful,   profound   student   of   nature, 
Darwin  has  perhaps  no  equal ;  but  his  reasoning  faculty- 
seems  to  have  been  completely  overwhelmed  by  the  force 
of  one  preconceived  idea.     The  range  of  his  research  has 
been  wonderful ;  he  has  roamed  over  the  world  to  sift  and 
amass  materials  ;  he  has  recorded  the  results  with  a  lucidity 
that  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired  ;  and  yet  one    can,  with 
perfect  logical  consistency,  admit  the  whole  of  his  observed 
facts,  and  reject  the  whole  of  his  theories.     He  has  a  strange 
way  of  overlooking  what  logicians  call  the  middle  term  ; 
that  is,  the  connecting  link  between  the  fact  established  by 
scientific  observation,  and  the  conclusion  which  he  professes 
to  deduce  from  it.     Professor  Huxley — whom  Tyndall  cha- 
racterised, and  rightly  too,  as  Darwin's  ablest  interpreter — 
virtually  acknowledges  this  when  he  says,  "that  notwith- 
standing the  clearness  of  the  style,  those  who  attempt  fairly 
to  digest  the  book  find  much  of  it  a  sort  of  intellectual 
pemmican — a  mass  of  facts  crushed  and  pounded  into  shape, 
rather  than  held  together  by  the  ordinary  medium  of  an 
obvious  logical  bond."     Yet  he  attempts,  in  his  own  pecu- 
liar way,  to  account  for  this,  and  in  some  measure  to  re- 
move its  damaging  force.     "  From  sheer  want  of  room," 
he  suggests,  "  much  has  to  be  taken  for  granted  which  might 
readily  enough  be  proved  ;  and  hence,  while  the  adept,  who 
can  supply  the  missing  links  in  the  evidence  from  his  own 
knowledge,  discovers  fresh  proof  of  the  singular  thorough- 
ness with  which  all  difficulties  have  been  considered  and  all 
unjustifiable  supposition  avoided,  at  every  re-perusal  of  Mr. 
Darwin's  pregnant  paragraphs,  the  novice  in  biology  is  apt 


SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION.  21 

to  complain  of  the  frequency  of  what  he  fancies  is  gratuitous 
assumption."  * 

Well,  I  presume  Professor  Huxley  himself  is  not  a  novice 
in  biology.  I  have  no  doubt  he  would  lay  claim — and,  in 
fact,  he  does  lay  claim — to  be  an  adept  of  sufficient  skill  to 
supply  any  missing  link,  when  possible  ;  yet  even  he  does 
not  hesitate,  in  the  end,  to  admit  that  Darwin's  theory  of 
the  origin  of  species  is  only  "a  hypothesis."-)-  It  has 
not,  therefore,  in  Huxley's  estimation,  any  real  scientific 
basis. 

My  limits  forbid  an  attempt  to  analyse  Darwin's  whole 
theory ;  I  can  only  glance  at  one  or  two  leading  points. 
The  essence  of  his  theory  is,  that  all  forms  of  life,  from  the 
humblest  zoophyte  up  to  man,  have  evolved  from  one 
primordial  germ.  His  theory,  while  it  may  admit  a  primal 
act  of  creation,  yet  sets  aside  the  Bible  narrative,  and  assigns 
to  man  a  common  parentage  with  the  monkey  and  the 
worm.  The  line  of  proof  is,  that  species  may  be  originated 
by  selection;  that  natural  causes  are  competent  to  exert 
selection  ;  and  that  the  most  remarkable  phenomena  ex- 
hibited by  the  distribution,  development,  and  mutual  rela- 
tions of  species,  can  be  shown  to  be  deducible  from  the 
general  doctrine  of  their  origin,  combined  with  the  known 
facts  of  geological  change  ;  "  and  that,  even  if  all  these 
phenomena  are  not  at  present  explicable  by  it,  none  are 
necessarily  inconsistent  with  it."J 

It  will  be  easily  seen  that  the  crucial  point  is  the  first. 
We  naturally  ask — What  are  the  proofs  of  this  startling 
assertion  that  species  may  be  originated  by  selection  ? 
Does  it  rest  on  any  sound  scientific  basis  ?  Have  we  evi- 
dence that  any  distinct  species  has  been  originated  ?  I  have 
not  space  to  examine  Darwin's  observed  facts.  I  admit 
their  accuracy  ;  but  I  deny  that  any  or  all  of  them  satisfy 
the  requirements  of  logic,  as  proofs  of  the  truth  of  his 
theory.  No  man  has  ever  seen  a  species  originated.  The 
impossibility  of  submitting  the  theory  to  a  scientific  test  is 
admitted,  for  the  process  is  relegated  away  into  the  infinite 
*  "  Lay  Sermons,"  p.  257.         f  /did,  p.  295.         X  Ibid^  p.  293. 


22 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION. 


past.  Thus  Darwin  writes,  "  Nature  grants  vast  periods  of 
time  for  the  work  of  natural  selection."  Again,  "The  chief 
cause  of  our  natural  unwillingness  to  admit  that  one  species 
has  given  birth  to  another  and  distinct  species  is,  that  we 
are  always  slow  in  admitting  any  great  change  of  which  we 
have  not  seen  the  intermediate  steps.  The  mind  cannot 
possibly  grasp  the  full  meaning  of  a  hundred  million  of 
years.  It  cannot  add  up  and  perceive  the  full  effects  of 
many  slight  variations  accumulated  during  almost  an  in- 
finite series  of  generations."  All  this,  and  there  is  much 
in  the  book  of  a  like  character,  is  very  striking  and  very 
original ;  but  any  one  can  see  that  it  is  not  scientific. 
Science  has  its  basis  in  observation  ;  and  the  things  here 
mentioned  are  all  outside  the  field  of  observation.  The 
facts  which  Darwin's  own  observations  establish  are  in- 
significant modifications  of  race,  most  of  them  under  man's 
guiding  skill,  and  which  confessedly  tend  to  disappear  again 
when  man  withdraws  and  nature  resumes  its  sway.  In  fact, 
it  appears  to  me  that  the  fundamental  error  in  Darwin's  rea- 
soning is,  his  accepting  slight  variations  of  race  as  a  proof 
of  transmutation  of  species. 

Darwin  draws  largely  upon  an  infinite  past.  Countless 
ages  form  the  basis  of  his  theory.  Without  these,  develop- 
ment could  not  have  reached  its  present  stage.  But  Sir 
Wm.  Thompson,  one  of  the  greatest  of  our  natural  philo- 
sophers, "has  dissipated  all  speculation  regarding  an  infinite 
series  of  life-forms,  by  proving  that  they  could  not  extend 
over  millions  of  millions  of  years  ;  because,  assuming  that 
the  heat  has  been  uniformly  conducted  out  of  the  earth, 
as  it  is  now,  it  must  have  been  so  intense  within  a  com- 
paratively limited  period,  as  to  be  capable  of  miclting  a 
mass  of  rock  equal  to  the  bulk  of  the  whole  earth."*  What 
would  have  become  of  Darwin's  half-developed  animals 
under  such  circumstances  ? 

It  may  possibly  be  said  that  I  am  no  scientist,  and  that, 
therefore,  my  opinion  on  this  point  is  worthless.   I  should  not 
wonder  if  some  person  with  a  great  name,  or  with  no  name 
^  Frazer,  "  Blending  Lights,"  p.  4. 


SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION. 


23 


at  all,  would  charge  me  with  presumption,  in  attempting  to 
criticise  such  a  book  as  "  The  Origin  of  Species."  Now, 
while  maintaining  that  I  am  just  as  competent  to  test  the 
character  and  soundness  of  a  logical  sequence  as  any  scien- 
tist— and  that  is  the  sole  point  here  at  issue — I  am,  at  the 
same  time,  in  order  to  avoid  the  possibility  of  cavil,  content 
to  adopt  the  conclusion  of  one  whose  scientific  eminence 
will  not  be  questioned.  Professor  Huxley  says  : — "  After 
much  consideration,  and  with  assuredly  no  bias  against  Mr. 
Darwin's  views,  it  is  our  clear  conviction  that,  as  the  evi- 
dence stands,  it  is  not  absolutely  proven  that  a  group  of 
animals,  having  all  the  characteristics  exhibited  by  species  in 
nature,  has  ever  been  originated  by  selection,  whether  arti- 
ficial or  natural."*  This  is  clear,  and  ought  to  be  conclu- 
sive. I  could  say  nothing  more  damaging  to  Mr.  Darwin's 
theory.  Another  distinguished  scientist,  M.  Flourens, 
strikes  at  the  very  root  of  the  theory  in  a  single  sentence — 
"  Natural    selection    is    only   nature   under    another    name 

.  .  it  is  nature  personified  ;  that  is,  nature  endowed 
with  the  attributes  of  God."-|-  I  conclude,  therefore,  that 
Darwin  totally  fails  in  his  attempt,  by  science,  "  to  banish 
the  belief  in  the  continued  creation  of  new  species." 

One  other  point  in  Darwin's  theory  I  must  notice.  In 
answer  to  the  question,  How  do  groups  of  species  arise  ? 
he  says  — "  From  the  struggle  for  life.  Owing  to  this 
struggle  for  life,  any  variation,  however  slight  and  from 
whatever  cause  proceeding,  if  it  be  in  any  degree  profitable 
to  an  individual  of  any  species,  in  its  infinitely  complex 
relations  to  other  organic  beings  and  to  external  nature, 
will  tend  to  the  preservation  of  that  individual,  and  will 
generally  be  inherited  by  its  offspring.  The  offspring,  also, 
will  thus  have  a  better  chance  of  surviving  ;  for,  of  the  many 
individuals  of  any  species  which  are  periodically  born,  but 
a  small  number  can  survive.  I  have  called  this  principle, 
by  which  each  slight  variation,  if  useful,  is  preserved,  by 
the  term  Natural  Selection,  in  order  to  mark  its  relation  to 

*  "  Lay  Sermons,"  p.  295. 

t  Sec  "The  Darwinian  Theory  Examined,"  p.  135. 


-^  SCIEN'CE   AXD   RE\T:LATI0X. 

man's  power  of  selection."*     The  essence  of  this  theor>'  is, 
that  all  the  wonderful  adaptations  which  we  find  in  the 
physical  structure  of  the  various  species  of  animals,  to  the 
conditions  in  which  they  are  placed,  to  the  work  they  have 
to  do,  to  the  wants  they  have  to  supply,  have  sprung  from 
a  long  and  fortuitous  sequence  of  natural  events,  to  which 
2\Ir.  Darwin  gives  the  scientific  name,  Natural  Selection.     If 
this  be  true,  then  the  most  beautiful  and  complex  organs 
of  animals — the  heart  and  veins,  the  nervous  system,  the 
human  hand,  the  eye,  the  mind  itself,  with  all  its  wondrous 
faculties — have  been  constructed,  not  by  the  infinite  wisdom 
of   an   Almighty  Creator,  adapting  every  part  and  organ 
and  faculty,  with  requisite  skill,  to  the  oflfice  it  was  designed 
to    fill ;    but    from    a    medley    of  blind    chance,    countless 
blunders,  and  innumerable  minute  accidental  modifications, 
which  occurred  in  the  strua"£[le  for  existence  duringr  mvriads 
of  past  ages.     The  fish  was  not  designed  for  the  water  ;  the 
bird  was  not  designed  to  fly ;  the  ear  was  not  designed  for 
hearing  ;   the  e}'e  was  not  designed  for  seeing  ;  all  these, 
says  Darwin,  are  just  the  fortuitous  products  of  organised 
matter  pushing  its  way  at  ra.ndom,  and  after  incalculable 
instances  of  trial  and  failure,  during  incalculable  ages,  at 
last  hitting  on  what  was  best.-f 

And  what  is  the  evidence  on  which  he  bases  this  theorj', 
which  to  ever\'  tiioughful  man  must,  at  first  sight,  appear 
incredible  ?  Nothing  short  of  actual  observation  of  the 
whole  alleged  process  could,  in  such  a  case,  satisfy  the  re- 
quirements of  science,  or  make  the  theor)-  even  credible. 
There  has  been  no  such  obserx-ation,  and  no  such  obser\-a- 
tion  is  possible,  because  the  process  of  development  is  sup- 
posed to  have  extended  over  an  "  almost  infinite  series  of 
generations."  It  thus  lies  outside  the  province  of  science, 
and  has  therefore  no  claim  upon  the  belief  of  scientific  men. 
Darwin  himself  only  advances  it  as  a  theor}-.  "  By  the 
theory  of  natural  selection,"  he  says,  "  all  living  species  have 
been   connected  with  the  parent  species  of  each  genus,  by 

*  "  Origin  of  Species."  p.  6i. 

t  See  "  The  Darwinian  Theor)-  Examined,"  p.  286. 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  25 

differences  not  greater  than  we  see  between  the  varieties  of 
the  same  species  in  the  present  day."*  And  here,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  is  the  fundamental  logical  fallacy  which  takes 
away  its  basis  even  as  a  theory.  He  argues  from  the 
existence  of  slight  varieties  in  the  same  species  to  the 
entire  transmutation  of  species.  The  former  is  admitted  on 
all  hands  ;  the  latter  has  no  logical  connection  with  it,  and 
is,  besides,  opposed  to  scientific  observation.  Yet  Professor 
Huxley  records  his  conviction  that  Darwin's  theory  has 
given  a  "  death-blow"  to  teleology ;  that  is,  to  the  grand 
doctrine  of  design  in  nature.  Huxley's  critique  on  this 
point  is  inimitable.  I  do  not  believe  there  is  anything  com- 
parable to  it  in  the  whole  range  of  literature.  To  do  it 
justice,  I  must  give  it  in  full  and  in  his  own  words  : — '*  The 
teleological  argument  runs  thus  :  an  organ  or  organism  is 
precisely  fitted  to  perform  a  function  or  purpose ;  there- 
fore it  was  specially  constructed  to  perform  that  function. 
In  Paley's  famous  illustration,  the  adaptation  of  all  the  parts 
of  the  watch  to  the  function  or  purpose  of  showing  the 
time,  is  held  to  be  evidence  that  the  watch  was  specially 
contrived  to  that  end  ;  on  the  ground,  that  the  only  cause 
we  know  of,  competent  to  produce  such  an  effect  as  a 
watch  which  shall  keep  time,  is  a  contriving  intelligence 
adapting  the  means  directly  to  that  end. 

"  Suppose,  however,  that  anyone  had  been  able  to  show 
that  the  watch  had  not  been  made  directly  by  any  person, 
but  that  it  was  the  result  of  the  modification  of  another 
watch  which  kept  time  but  poorly ;  and  that  this  again 
had  proceeded  from  a  structure  which  could  hardly  be 
called  a  watch  at  all,  seeing  that  it  had  no  figures  on  the 
dial,  and  the  hands  were  rudimentary  ;  and  that,  going  back 
and  back  in  time,  we  came  at  last  to  a  revolving  barrel 
as  the  earliest  traceable  rudim.ent  of  the  whole  fabric. 
And  imagine  that  it  had  been  possible  to  show  that  all 
these  changes  had  resulted,  first,  from  a  tendency  of  the 
structure  to  vary  indefinitely  ;  and,  secondly,  from  some- 
thing in  the  surrounding  world  which  helped  all  variations 

*  *'  Origin  of  Species,"  p.  2S1. 


26 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION. 


in  the  direction  of  an  accurate  time-keeper,  and  checked  all 
those  in  other  directions  ;  then  it  is  obvious  that  the  force  of 
Paley's  argument  would  be  gone.  For  it  would  be  demon- 
strated that  an  apparatus  thoroughly  well  adapted  to  a  par- 
ticular purpose  might  be  the  result  of  a  method  of  trial 
and  error  worked  by  unintelligent  agents,  as  well  as  of  the 
direct  application  of  the  means  appropriate  to  that  end,  by 
an  intelligent  agent. 

"Now,  it  appears  to  us  that  what  we  have  here,  for 
illustration's  sake,  supposed  be  done  with  the  watch,  is 
exactly  what  the  establishment  of  Darwin's  theory  will  do 
for  the  organic  world."* 

Well,  if  Paley's  argument  remain  in  force  until  we  are 
able  to  produce  "  a  developed  watch,"  my  impression  is  it 
will  last  a  long  time  ;  and  if  Darwin's  theory  must  wait  for 
support  until  that  watch  be  discovered,  then  the  process  of 
proof  will  reach  at  least  as  far  into  the  future  as  the  process  of 
the  evolution  of  species  reaches  into  the  past.  True,  Pro- 
fessor Huxley  puts  his  evolved  watch  forward  as  a  supposi- 
tion ;  but  is  it  not  monstrous  to  propound  such  a  supposi- 
tion in  the  name  of  science  ?  It  reads  more  like  a  broad 
joke  from  a  corner  in  ''  Punch"  than  an  extract  from  a 
scientific  lecture.  Professor  Huxley  is  an  unsparing  an- 
tagonist. He  uses  every  weapon  which  irony  and  ridicule 
and  vituperation  can  furnish  to  overwhelm  his  opponents. 
He  exposes  with  unmitigated  contempt  every  weak  point, 
real  or  fancied,  in  their  reasoning.  He  does  not  hesitate 
to  question  the  motives,  especially  of  Christian  men,  and 
to  charge  them  with  downright  dishonesty.  I  recommend 
him  in  future  to  store  up  all  these  special  gifts  of  his  for 
home  use,  because  I  feel  convinced  that  no  writer,  lay  or 
clerical,  ancient  or  modern,  so  richly  deserved  their  full  and 
concentrated  force,  as  the  author  of  the  theory  of  a  de- 
loped  watch. 

Teleology  remains  in  its  high  seat,  absolutely  unmoved  by 
theories  which  one  can  only  rightly  describe,  in  the  graphic 
words  of  Carlyle,  as  "  diluted  insanity."     We  have  heard 

*  "Lay  Sermons,"  pp.  301-2. 


SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION.  27 

Huxley's  opinion ;  but  how  very  differently  men  of  the 
highest  scientific  attainments  interpret  the  observations  of 
Darwin  may  be  seen  from  the  following  eloquent  words 
recently  uttered  by  Professor  Pritchard  : — "  I  know  of  no 
greater  intellectual  treat — I  might  even  call  it  moral — 
than  to  take  Mr.  Darwin's  most  charming  work  on  the 
'  Fertilisation  of  Orchids,'  and  his  equally  charming  and 
acute  monograph  on  the  Lythrums,  and  repeat,  as  I  have 
repeated,  many  of  the  experiments  and  observations  therein 
detailed.  The  effect  on  my  mind  was  an  irresistible  im- 
pulse to  uncover  and  bow  my  head,  as  being  in  the  too 
immediate  presence  of  the  wonderful  prescience  and  bene- 
volent contrivance  of  the  UNIVERSAL  FATHER.  And  I 
think  such,  also,  would  be  the  result  on  the  convictions  and 
the  emotions  of  the  vast  majority  of  average  men.  I  think 
the  verdict  would  be  that  no  plainer  marks  of  contriving 
will  exist  in  a  steam-engine,  or  a  printing-press,  or  a  tele- 
scope." Design  in  nature  can  be  seen  by  every  unpreju- 
diced man  who  observes  nature,  or  who  thoughtfully  studies 
the  recorded  observations  of  others.  Every  fresh  discovery 
in  physiology  ;  every  searching  glance  of  the  scientist  into 
the  wonderful  mechanism  of  the  animal  frame  ;  every 
minute  inspection  of  the  marvellous  adaptation  of  insect 
organisms  to  the  complicated  structure  of  flowers  ;  in  a 
word,  every  new  achievement  of  the  scientific  mind  in  ex- 
ploring the  vast  domain  of  nature,  reveals  more  clearly,  and 
establishes  more  firmly,  the  presence  everywhere,  and  in 
everything,  of  an  infinitely  powerful  and  infinitely  wise 
designing  Mind.  Unseen  by  human  eye,  undiscoverable  by 
scientific  observation  in  the  mystery  of  its  working,  we  yet 
discern  the  impress  and  recognise  the  beneficent  control  of 
that  Infinite  Mind  in  earth  and  sea  and  sky. 

IV.— The   Origin   of   Mind,  and  the   Conceptions 

FORMED   BY   IT   OF   GOD   AND   OF   A    FUTURE    STATE. 

This    is    the    highest    problem    with   which   science    has 
ventured  to  grapple  ;  and  even  the  most  daring  of  scientists 


28  SCIENCE   AND  REVELATION. 

approach  it  with  feelings  akin  to  awe.  Democritus,  as  we 
have  seen,  held  that  the  soul  consists  of  fine,  smooth,  round 
atoms,  like  those  of  fire.  Huxley  says,  "Even  those  manifes- 
tations of  intellect,  of  feeling,  and  of  will,  which  we  rightly 
name  the  higher  faculties,  are  not  excluded  from  this 
classification,  inasmuch  as  to  everj'one  but  the  subject  of 
them,  they  are  known  only  as  transitor}'  changes  in  the 
relative  positions  of  parts  of  the  body."*  In  another  place 
he  says  somewhat  more  clearly,  "  And  what  do  we  know  of 
that  'spirit'  over  whose  threatened  extinction  by  matter  a 
great  lamentation  is  arising,  except  that  it  is  also  a  name 
for  an  unknown  and  hypothetical  cause,  or  condition,  of 
states  of  consciousness  ?  In  other  words,  matter  and  spirit 
are  but  names  for  the  imaginary  substrata  of  groups  of 
natural  phenomena." -f  Tyndall  is  a  little  more  explicit 
when  he  thus  writes  : — "  Xot  alone  the  mechanism  of  the 
human  body,  but  that  of  the  human  mind  itself — emotion, 
intellect,  will,  and  all  their  phenomena — were  once  latent  in 
a  fier\'  cloud."  All  this  reads  like  "  Material  Atheism."  I 
ami  not  alone  in  this  opinion.  But  as  the  language  is  some- 
what hazy,  and  as  Tyndall  and  Huxley  seem  indignant  that 
they  should  be  charged  with  holding  such  a  dogma,  I  leave 
them  to  explain  their  meaning,  and  to  give  to  the  world 
their  scientific  creed  in  intelligible  language.  One  thing, 
however,  is  clear  :  whatever  view  of  the  origin  and  nature  of 
the  human  mind  the  words  of  each  are  intended  to  give, 
they  do  not  attempt  to  establish  it  by  scientific  evidence. 
It  is  confessedly  outside  the  legitimate  province  of  science. 
Xo  observation  has  ever  yet  reached,  or  can  ever  reach,  the 
development  of  a  fiery  cloud  into  emotion,  intellect,  will, 
and  all  the  phenomena  of  the  human  mind.  It  is  a  daring 
theory,  and  nothing  more.  Tyndall  himself  seems  to  shrink 
from  it  in  moments  of  thoughtfulness,  when  fancy  is  re- 
strained by  judgment — "  What  baftles  and  bewilders  me,  is 
the  notion  that  from  those  physical  tremors  things  so  utterly 
incongruous  with  them  as  sensation,  thought,  and  emotion 
can  be  derived  ;"  and  then  he  puts  the  problem  in  its  true 

*    'Lay  Sennons,''  p.  122.  f  IdiW,  p.  143. 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  29 

light  in  a  single  sentence  :  "  You  cannot  satisfy  the  human 
understanding  in  its  demand  for  logical  continuity  between 
molecular  processes  and  the  phenomena  of  consciousness. 
This  is  the  rock  on  which  materialism  must  inevitably 
split  whenever  it  pretends  to  be  a  complete  philosophy  of 
life."*  Herbert  Spencer  is  right  in  asserting  that  of  the 
substance  of  mind  nothing  is  known,  or  can  be  known,  by 
science.  Even  the  faculties  of  the  mind  are  outside  the 
field  of  science ;  for  we  get  our  knowledge  of  them,  not 
through  the  senses,  but  by  introspection  or  consciousness. 
Science  looks  outward  for  its  proofs,  psychology  inward. 
It  is  quite  true  that  the  phenomena  of  mind  are  exhibited 
to  all,  except  the  individual  himself,  in  one  way  or  another 
through  a  material  medium,  and  are  apprehended  by  the 
senses ;  yet,  in  the  case  of  the  individual  himself,  they  are 
apprehended  in  a  dififerent  way.  Consciousness  alone, 
therefore,  has  direct  access  to  the  mind  ;  and  it  is  the  ulti- 
mate source  of  all  mental  knowledge.  So,  then,  science 
can  throw  no  light  on  the  great  problem  now  before  us. 

But,  besides,  it  is  by  mind  the  scientist  obtains  his  know- 
ledge of  nature.  The  senses  are  only  the  material  avenues 
through  which  the  mind  apprehends  physical  phenomena. 
The  senses  observe,  but  to  the  observations  thus  made  must 
be  added  primary  beliefs  or  intuitions,  ere  any  intelligible 
interpretation,  even  of  the  simplest  phenomena,  can  be 
given.  It  is  from  intuition  we  derive  our  knowledge  of  the 
reality  of  the  external  world  and  everything  in  it ;  for  sen- 
sation is  only  the  apprehension  by  the  mind  of  an  impression 
made  on  the  sensorium,  and  it  is  the  mind  itself  which 
intuitively  forms  the  conception  of  the  reality  of  the  object 
that  made  the  impression.  So,  in  like  manner,  from  intuition 
we  get  our  knowledge  of  the  properties  of  matter,  such  as 
weight,  extension,  and  force  ;  it  is  by  intuition  we  form 
comparisons  ;  and  it  is  from  intuition  we  obtain  our  ideas 
of  cause  and  effect.  The  senses,  on  whatever  object  exer- 
cised, and  though  aided  by  the  utmost  experience  of  tlic 
physicist,  and  the  utmost  precision  of  instruments,  merely 

*  "Address,"  p.  33. 


30  SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION. 

make  certain  impressions  on  the  mind  ;  and  those  impres- 
sions must  be  interpreted  by  our  intuitions  ere  they  can  be 
of  use  in  science.  So  then,  af£er  all,  our  primary  beliefs, 
or  the  intuitions  of  our  mind,  form  the  foundation  of  all 
scientific  reasoning.  Dr.  Carpenter,  in  his  address  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  British  Association  in  1872,  set  this  matter  in 
its  true  light.  "  Even  in  astronomy,  the  most  exact  of  the 
sciences,  we  cannot  proceed  a  step  without  translating  the 
actual  phenomena  of  nature  into  intellectual  representations 
of  those  phenomena."*  It  is  this  great  fact  which  lies  at 
the  foundation  of  all  those  differences  which  exist  among 
scientists  themselves.*!'  The  minds  of  some  are  warped  by 
theories  ;  others  entertain  strange  views  regarding  primary 
beliefs  ;  and  consequently  their  interpretation  of  the  very 
same  natural  phenomena  differ  as  widely  as  the  poles. 
Darwin,  for  instance,  interprets  certain  observed  phenomena 
so  as  to  support  his  theory,  that  all  the  species  of  animals 
are  derived  from  one  primordial  germ  ;  while  Professor 
Kolliker,  a  German  naturalist  of  equal  eminence,  interprets 
the  same  phenomena  in  a  way  totally  different.;  A  more 
remarkable  illustration  is  the  following : — Rude  flint  im- 
plements have  been  found  in  gravel-beds  in  France.  It  has 
been  argued  with  great  force  that,  because  they  exhibit 
evidence  of  design,  they  must  have  been  formed  by  hum^an 
hands,  though  their  age  is  believed  to  extend  thousands  of 
years  beyond  the  Mosaic  period.  But  some  members  of 
the  very  same  school  of  science,  who  point  to  these  flints  as 
triumphant  refutations  of  the  Bible,  refuse  to  recognise  any 
evidence  of  design  in  the  structure  of  plants  and  animals, 
because  thereby  they  would  be  compelled  to  acknowledge 
the  existence  of  a  God.  I  have  not  time  to  dwell  upon  this 
instructive  phase  alike  of  scientific  scepticism  and  credulity  ; 
but  there  can  be  no  doubt  we  have  here,  in  the  fact  that  the 
individual  mind  is  the  interpreter  of  all  natural  phenomena, 
the  fruitful  source  of  many  of  those  errors  which  have  ap- 

*  "Report,"  p.  73- 

t  See  Tyndall,  "  Cr^^stalline  and  Molecular  Forces,"  p.  7. 

X  Huxley,  "  Lay  Sermons,"  p.  300. 


SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION.  31 

peared  under  the  name  of  science,  as  well  as  of  those  wild 
theories  which  have  not  even  a  shadow  of  logical  connection 
with  scientific  observations. 

There  is  one  point  to  which  I  must  ask  attention  ere  I 
close  this  part  of  my  subject.  Among  our  primary  beliefs 
is  that  of  "  cause  and  effect,"  and,  what  is  embodied  in  it, 
"  force."  Believing  in  these,  we  must  carry  them  back  and 
back,  until  at  length,  compelled  by  an  inexorable  logic,  we 
believe  in  a  First  Cause,  the  primal  origin  of  force.  Herbert 
Spencer  enunciates  the  same  truth  with  much  clearness  : — 
"  We  cannot  think  at  all  about  the  impressions  which  the 
external  world  produces  on  us,  without  thinking  of  them  as 
caused  ;  and  we  cannot  carry  out  an  inquiry  concerning 
their  causation,  without  inevitably  committing  ourselves  to 
the  hypothesis  of  a  First  Cause."*  Science,  of  itself,  does 
not  reveal,  because  it  cannot  reach,  that  First  Cause  ;  but 
science  reveals  phenomena  which,  being  rightly  interpreted, 
lead  by  sound  logical  sequence  to  a  belief  in  that  First  Cause. 
Here,  then,  is  borderland  between  Science  and  Revelation. 

And  farther,  the  mind  which,  as  we  have  seen,  embodies 
those  primary  beliefs  that  constitute  the  foundation  of  all 
scientific  reasoning,  has  other  beliefs,  equally  definite,  con- 
nected intimately  with  the  doctrine  of  a  Great  First  Cause, 
or,  to  speak  plainly,  of  God.  There  is  in  the  mind  of  every 
man,  from  the  rudest  savage  to  the  most  gifted  philosopher, 
the  belief  that  he  is  dependent  on  some  superior  Being ; 
that  he  owes  allegiance  to  Him  ;  that  there  is  a  moral  law  ; 
that  we  are  responsible  for  obedience  or  disobedience  to  it ; 
and  that  there  is  a  future  state.  This  latter  especially  we 
cannot  quench.  Do  what  we  will,  reason  as  we  will,  our 
higher  nature  looks  away  onward  with  earnest,  irrepressible, 
unceasing  yearning,  to  immortality  in  another  sphere.  The 
belief  is  brought  out  dimly,  but  beautifully,  by  Tennyson  : — 

"  Thou  wilt  not  leave  us  in  the  dust  : 

Thou  madest  man,  he  knows  not  why  ; 
He  thuiks  he  was  not  made  to  die  ; 
And  thou  hast  made  him  ;  thou  art  just. 

*  *'  First  Principles,"  p.  37. 


• 


i52  SCIENCE   AND   RE\'ELATIOX. 

**  We  have  but  faith  ;  we  cannot  know  ; 
For  knowledge  is  of  things  we  see  ; 
And  yet  we  trust  it  comes  from  Thee, 
A  beam  in  darkness  :  let  it  grow.'' 

Science  opens  no  field  to  which  these  beliefs  belong,  or  in 
which  they  can  find  a  resting-place.  Science  cannot  satisfy 
them.  It  leaves  us  in  the  dark,  helpless  and  hopeless,  on 
those  ver}-  points  which,  constituted  as  we  are,  with 
yearning  affections  and  boundless  aspirations,  are  of  supre- 
mest  importance.  That  ver>'  theor}'  of  "  the  survival  of  the 
rrrrft,"  propounded  with  so  much  learning  and  ingenuity 
b\-  Darwin,  is  here  completely  at  fault ;  for  it  would  repre- 
sent a  series  of  beliefs  to  have  been  developed  in  the  mind 
which  are  yet  useless  and  deceptive.  No  power  of  genius, 
no  per\'erie  skill  of  sophistr\-,  can  ever,  even  seemingly, 
reconcile  these  beliefs  with  any  theory  of  evolution  ;  for  if 
this  be  the  ultimate  result  of  the  latest  combinations  of 
atoms,  if  this  be  all  nature  has  done  or  can  do  for  us, 
then  this  ultimate  result  is  human  life  without  adequate 
motive,  "  affections  with  no  object  suflScient  to  fill  them, 
hopes  of  immortality  never  to  be  realised,  aspirations  aftei 
God  and  godliness  never  to  be  attained ;  and  thus,  too, 
myriads  of  myriads  of  other  nebulae  may  still  be  the  poten- 
tials of  delusions,  and  their  outcomes  the  kingdom  of 
despair."* 

But  a  sounder  and  a  higher  philosophy  gives  far  other 
teaching.  It  tells  man  that  those  grand  intuitions  were  not 
implanted  in  vain.  It  leads  him  to  look  beyond  the  mate- 
rial universe  for  the  satisfaction  of  his  profoundest  thoughts 
and  the  realisation  of  his  most  earnest  longings.  It  sees, 
exhibited  in  one  form  or  another,  by  ever}-  nation,  tribe, 
and  family  of  mankind,  a  feeling  of  dependence  on  some 
One  greater  than  man,  and  of  moral  obligation  to  some 
One  holier  than  man.  This  feeling  appears  with  the 
earliest  development  of  consciousness,  and  it  grows  and 
strengthens  with  our  mental  \-igour.  We  cannot  repress  it ; 
and  the  mind  which  is  forced  to  interpret  the  impressions 

*  Pritchard,  ''  Address  at  Brighton." 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  33 

received  through  the  senses,  as  proofs  of  the  reality  of  a 
material  world,  is  in  like  manner  forced  to  interpret  the 
intuitions  of  dependence  and  moral  obligation,  as  proofs  of 
the  reality  of  a  spiritual  world.  And  thus  ''  in  the  universal 
consciousness  of  innocence  and  guilt,  of  duty  and  disobe- 
dience, of  an  appeased  and  offended  God,  there  is  exhibited 
the  instinctive  confession  of  all  mankind,  that  the  moral 
nature  of  man,  as  subject  to  a  law  of  obligation,  reflects  and 
represents  the  moral  nature  of  a  Deity  by  whom  that  obli- 
gation is  imposed."* 

We  now  see  the  legitimate  province  of  science,  in  which 
it  reigns  supreme,  and  beyond  which  it  cannot  pass. 
Science  observes,  compares,  and  classifies  natural  phe- 
nomena. It  lays  the  whole  material  universe  open  to  the 
mind.  It  reveals  the  constituent  elements  of  rude  matter, 
and  the  plan  in  which  its  multitudinous  combinations  are 
effected.  It  shows  the  wondrous  structure  of  vegetable  and 
animal  organisms,  and  the  evidences  of  design  in  them  all. 
It  unfolds  the  mechanism  of  the  heavens,  and  the  sublime 
simplicity  of  those  laws  which  guide  the  stars  in  their 
spheres.  It  indicates,  besides,  a  harmony  and  a  unity  per- 
vading nature,  adapting  each  particle  of  matter — each  insect, 
plant,  and  animal — each  planet,  star,  and  constellation — to 
its  own  place,  and  making  it  fulfil  its  own  mission  in  the 
grand  scheme  of  the  Universe.  It  shows  that  nothing  is 
defective,  nothing  redundant.  Scientific  investigation  tends 
to  establish  the  fact  of  oneness  of  design  and  plan  in 
everything.  And  thus,  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  living 
naturalists  tells  us,  we  are  led  to  the  culminating  point  of 
man's  intellectual  interpretation  of  nature — his  recognition 
of  the  unity  of  the  Power  of  which  her  phenomena  are  the 
diversified  manifestations.*!* 

All  nature's  phenomena,  wherever  and  however  observed, 
direct  towards  a  Supreme  Designer  and  Lawgiver,  whose 
existence  is  also  recognised,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  primi- 
tive  instincts    of    universal    humanity.     We   hail  Science, 

*  Mansell,  "  Bampton  Lectures,"  p.  113. 
t  Carpenter,  "  Presidential  Address." 
C 


34 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION. 


therefore,  as  a  most  powerful  ally  ;  we  bid  her  God-speed  in 
her  vast  field  of  research.  But  we  see  at  the  same  time  that 
it  is  not  within  the  province  of  science  to  solve  any  of  those 
great  problems  which  I  have  mentioned.  They  lie  beyond 
her  ken.  The  dogma  of  materialism  which,  it  has  been 
supposed,  science  confirms,  utterly  fails  to  answer  the 
questions  put  by  the  philosophic  mind,  or  to  satisfy  the 
longings  of  the  human  heart.  Tyndall  himself  has  been 
obliged  to  confess  the  fact.  With  touching  pathos  he  says; 
in  the  preface  to  the  expurgated  edition  of  his  now  famous 
"  Address"  : — "  I  have  noticed,  during  years  of  self-observa- 
tion, that  it  is  not  in  hours  of  clearness  and  vigour  that  this 
doctrine  (of  material  atheism)  commends  itself  to  my  mind  ; 
that  in  the  presence  of  stronger  and  healthier  thought  it 
ever  dissolves  and  disappears,  as  offering  no  solution  of  the 
mystery  in  which  we  dwell,  and  of  which  we  form  a  part." 
These  remarkable  words,  the  results  evidently  of  much  and 
even  painful  reflection,  convey  a  solemn  warning  to  all 
students  and  teachers  of  science.  They  show  the  folly  of 
reckless  speculation,  the  futility  of  dogmatic  assertion,  and 
the  danger  of  attempting  to  prolong  the  vision  backward 
beyond  the  well-defined  line  of  rigid  observation.  They 
show,  too,  the  absolute  necessity  of  calm,  thoughtful,  ex- 
haustive investigation,  ere  we  venture  to  suggest  a  doubt, 
or  propound  a  theory,  which  would  have  the  tendency  to 
unsettle  earnest  minds,  or  overthrow  cherished  beliefs. 


V. — The  Province  of  Revelation. 

Little  time  now  remains  to  me  for  considering  the  Province 
of  Revelation.  Fortunately,  lengthened  discussion  is  here 
unnecessary,  for  the  Bible  is  its  own  best  exponent.  The 
one  grand  purpose  of  Revelation  is  to  communicate  to  man 
those  truths,  a  knowledge  of  which  prepares  him  for  a  full 
discharge  of  his  duties  in  life,  and  for  an  entrance  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  Scientific  teaching  does  not  come 
within  the  province  of  revelation.  It  is  true,  however — and 
the  fact  should  not  be  lost  sight  of — that  revealed    truth 


SCIENCE  AND    REVELATION.  35 

touches  on  scientific  truth  at  many  points  ;  and  in  all  such 
cases,  while  we  are  not  to  expect  from  Revelation  pure 
scientific  treatment,  we  are  warranted  in  looking  for  strict 
accuracy.  God's  truth,  as  revealed,  can  never  be  at  variance 
with  the  phenomena  of  God's  world.  So,  then,  the  theo- 
logian must  not  attempt  to  intrude  his  dogmas  into  the 
field  of  science,  so  as  to  stifle  free  thought,  or  limit  indepen- 
dent and  legitimate  research.  Free  as  the  air  we  breathe, 
free  as  the  light  of  heaven,  must  the  scientist  be  left  to  pro- 
secute his  noble  studies  in  the  vast  realms  of  nature. 

Revelation  does  not  give  a  scientific  cosmology.  That 
lies  outside  its  province.  But  then,  just  where  science  stops 
short,  unable  to  solve  one  of  the  grandest  problems  of 
nature — the  origin  of  matter  and  of  the  material  universe — 
Revelation  steps  in  to  supplement  its  teaching.  Science,  as 
we  have  seen,  points  to  the  great  truth  that  there  must  be 
a  Creator,  though  it  cannot  of  itself  reach  to  it  ;  Revelation 
confirms  and  crowns  that  truth  with  the  simple  and  sublime 
declaration,  "In  the  beginning  GOD  created  the  heaven  and 
the  earth." 

Revelation  does  not  treat  systematically  or  philosophically 
of  "force"  and  "motion;"  but  it  indicates  that  solution  of 
their  ultimate  origin,  in  a  living  omnipotent  Being,  which 
the  highest  philosophy  points  to.  We  read  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis,  "  The  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face 
of  the  waters" — representing,  as  it  seems  to  me,  that 
Almighty  Being  as  the  quickening  principle  of  the  Uni- 
verse. 

Revelation  does  not  touch  on  geology  ;  but  it  leaves  room 
for  the  fullest  development  of  the  successive  strata  of  the 
earth's  crust,  even  though  it  could  be  proven  that  millions 
of  years  had  been  occupied  in  their  formation.  "  ///  tJie 
beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth."  No  date 
is  given.  The  simple  fact  oi  creation  is  affirmed,  in  opposi- 
tion to  any  idea  of  development  or  material  atheism  ;  but 
myriads  of  ages  may  have  intervened  between  that  "  be- 
ginning" and  the  creation  of  man.  Then,  again,  the  his- 
torical record  of  creation  which  follows   seems  to  lia\'c  a 


36  SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION. 

scientific  basis,  as  if  the  writer,  by  a  Divine  prescience,  had 
anticipated  the  results  of  modern  research.  He  tells  us 
how  the  lowest  forms  of  life  were  first  made,  and  how  there 
was  a  gradual  progression  up  to  man,  the  last  and  lord 
of  all 

Revelation  does  not  enter  into  the  mysteries  of  molecular 
physics,  or  the  development  of  the  life-germ,  or  the  way  in 
which  it  operates  on  material  organisms.  All  these  it  rele- 
gates to  science,  whose  function  it  is  to  investigate  them. 
There  is,  however,  one  mystery  which  science  cannot  reach 
— the  origin  of  life  ;  and  here  again  Revelation  makes  a 
clear  and  full  discovery.  That  brief  account  of  the  creation 
of  Adam,  given  in  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis,  assumes 
a  new  significancy  when  read  in  the  light  of  the  most  recent 
discoveries  of  science.  Chemistry  has  demonstrated,  as  we 
have  seen,  that  the  whole  constituent  elements  of  our  bodies 
— in  fact,  of  all  organised  bodies — are  identical  with  those 
in  the  material  world  around  us  ;  and  science,  as  we  have 
also  seen,  indicates  that  the  life-principle  must  be  something 
entirely  different  from  those  material  elements.  The  record 
contained  in  Genesis  is  here  in  complete  accord  with  science, 
so  far  as  science  can  go  : — "And  the  Lord  God  formed  man 
of  the  dust  of  the  growid!'  Had  the  writer  of  these  remark- 
able words  heard  the  recent  statements  of  those  eminent 
scientists.  Professors  Pritchard  and  Huxley,  he  could  not 
have  been  more  scientifically  accurate.  Huxley  says  of  the 
matter  of  our  bodies,  that  it  is  "  the  clay  of  the  potter ; 
which,  bake  it  and  paint  it  as  he  will,  remains  clay,  separated 
by  artifice,  and  not  by  nature,  from  the  commonest  brick 
or  sun-dried  clod."*  Again,  the  sacred  writer  records  man's 
inevitable  doom — "  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat 
bread,  ////  thou  return  unto  the  ground :  for  dust  thou  art, 
and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return;^'  and  Professor  Huxley, 
all  unconsciously  no  doubt,  re-echoes  the  words  of  the 
inspired  scientist — "  Under  whatever  disguise  it  takes 
refuge — whether  fungus  or  oak,  worm  or  man — the  living 
protoplasm   ultimately   dies  and  is  resolved  to  its  viineral 

*  "  Lay  Sermons,"  p-  129 


SCIENCE   AND   REVELATION.  37 

and  lifeless  constituents T''^  And  the  sacred  writer  does 
not  stop  here.  He  goes  on  to  add  what  science  might 
infer,  but  could  not  reach,  as  to  the  origin  and  implanting 
of  life  itself — "  The  Lord  God  ....  breathed  into 
his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life  :  and  man  became  a  living 
soul."t 

Revelation  gives  no  detailed  or  systematised  account  of 
the  various  species  of  animals  that  exist  on  the  earth,  nor 
does  it  profess  to  enter  into  questions  of  structure,  descent, 
or  development.  All  this  is  outside  its  province  ;  and  it 
never  interferes  with  the  researches  of  the  naturalist.  It 
authoritatively  declares  a  great  general  truth,  however, 
which  all  the  recondite  theories  of  Darwin  cannot  over- 
throw, and  which  the  profoundest  studies  of  the  physiologist 
tend  to  indicate  and  confirm — that  each  species  was  brought 
into  existence  by  the  distinct  fiat  of  the  Almighty  Creator. 

In  approaching  the  highest  problems  which  occupy 
human  thought — the  origin,  duty,  and  destiny  of  man,  and 
the  existence  and  nature  of  God — Revelation  becomes  fuller 
and  clearer.  Where  science  utterly  fails  to  satisfy  our 
wants  and  aspirations,  where  philosophy  sheds  but  a  faint 
and  flickering  ray.  Revelation  shines  with  a  greater  than 
noon-day  splendour.  The  origin  of  intellect  and  conscience, 
with  all  their  mysterious  conceptions  of  law,  obligation,  a 
future  state,  and  a  holy  God,  is  embodied  in  one  pregnant 
sentence — "  So  God  created  man  in  His  oivn  imaged  %  Here 
are  revealed  the  essential  personality  and  omnipotence  of 
God  ;  and,  as  flowing  from  them,  the  personality,  knowledge, 
self-consciousness,  moral  feeling,  and  immortality  of  man, 
who  was  made  "  in  the  image  of  God."  Of  these  sublime 
truths,  in  all  their  wondrous  development.  Revelation  be- 
comes the  complete  and  sole  exponent ;  and  eveiy  new 
phase  of  truth  set  forth  by  it — whether  of  law,  or  morals,  or 
worship,  or  faith,  or  love, — finds  such  a  responsive  echo  in 
our  own  deepest  feelings  and  loftiest  aspirations,  that  w  c 
instinctively  bow  before  it  as  a  message  replete  with  the 
infinite  wisdom   of   God.     While   science  disappoints   our 

■'^  "  Lay  Sermons,"  p.  131.  +  Ccu.  ii.  7.  +  Cicn.  i.  27. 


38  SCIENCE  AND   REVELATION. 

most  momentous  inquiries,  while  philosophy  leaves  an 
aching  void  in  the  human  heart,  Revelation  fulfils  all  our 
wishes,  and  satisfies  all  our  hopes. 

By  the  testimony  of  some  of  the  greatest  men  who 
have  shed  the  lustre  of  genius  upon  the  walks  of  science 
— Newton  and  Herschel,  Guizot  and  Pritchard,  Brew- 
ster and  Chalmers — the  Bible  has  been  shoAvn  to  be 
in  full  harmony  with  the  facts  of  science.  But  it  has 
a  far  higher  claim  upon  our  faith  than  even  scientific 
testimony  can  give  it.  It  develops  an  ethical  code,  purer 
and  nobler  than  ever  emanated  from  the  schools  of  the 
world.  It  inspires  man  with  a  holy  ardour,  a  self-denying, 
self-sacrificing  love,  such  as  philosophers  never  dreamt 
of.  It  reveals  to  the  eye  of  faith  that  other  world  after 
which  our  higher  nature  longs.  It  shows  us  that  the 
consciousness  of  immortality,  which  haunts  us  here  like 
a  dream,  is  not  a  delusion,  but  a  glorious  reality.  It 
enables  us  to  look  through  the  gloomy  vista  of  this 
earth's  labours  and  sorrows,  to  another,  where  labour 
shall  have  its  full  reward,  and  sorrow  shall  be  unknown. 
It  shows,  away  beyond  the  tomb,  a  life,  peaceful, 
happy,  glorious,  for  which  the  life  on  earth,  with  its  limi- 
tations and  disappointments,  its  ceaseless  struggles  and 
unfulfilled  desires,  is  only  the  school  of  preparation.  It 
opens  before  us  a  sphere  where  the  perfect  knowledge  after 
which  we  here  vainly  toil,  and  the  perfect  happiness  after 
which  we  here  as  vainly  strive,  shall  be  fully  and  for  ever 
realised.  There  is  nothing  in  science  or  philosophy  like 
this.  There  is  no  power  in  them  to  make  man  so  wise,  so 
useful,  so  holy.  There  is  no  discovery  of  science  which  can 
bring  life  and  immortality  to  light.  There  is  no  scientific 
agency  which  can  conquer  death,  and  throw  wide  the  gates 
of  Paradise  to  the  disembodied  spirit.  In  breadth  of  true 
knowledge,  in  sublimity  of  discovery,  in  ennobling,  quicken- 
ing power,  philosophy  and  science  sink  into  complete  in- 
significance before  this  grand  Revelation  of  God. 


'•^Jh,  7^  . 


4  Mmi%, 


Dr.  MOORE,  Glasnevin. 


THE  STRUCTURE,  &c.,  OF  PLANTS 


•  •  •^^^-  t  • 


I.— INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS. 

DURING  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  John 
Ray,  an  English  divine,  wrote  a  discourse,  as  he  calls 
it,  in  Latin,  on  "  the  wisdom  of  God  manifested  in  the  works 
of  the  creation  ;"  and  for  his  text  he  took  the  well-known 
24th  verse  of  the  104th  Psalm — "  O  Lord,  how  manifold 
are  Thy  works !  in  wisdom  hast  Thou  made  them  all."  If 
I  could  to-night  cull  and  translate  freely  from  this  book  the 
arguments  and  observations  which  he  so  ably  brings  to  bear 
on  his  subject,  they  would  prove  much  more  effectual  and 
convincing  than  anything  I  can  offer  of  my  own  accord. 
In  the  preface  to  the  work,  the  author,  in  stating  his  reasons 
for  writing  it,  mentions,  first,  that  the  belief  in  a  Deity  is 
the  foundation  of  all  religion  ;  for  he  that  cometh  to  God 
must  believe  that  He  is  God.  It  is,  therefore,  a  matter  of  the 
highest  concernment  to  be  firmly  settled  and  established  in 
a  full  persuasion  of  this  main  point.  Now  this  must  be 
demonstrated  by  arguments  drawn  from  the  light  of  nature 
and  works  of  creation  ;  for  divinity,  like  all  other  sciences, 
proves  not,  but  supposes  its  subjects,  taking  it  for  granted 
that,  by  natural  light,  men  are  sufficiently  convinced  of  the 
being  of  a  Deity.  Secondly,  not  only  to  demonstrate  the 
being  of  a  Deity,  but  also  to  illustrate  some  of  His  principal 
attributes,  as,  namely.  His  infinite  power  and  wisdom.  The 
vast  multitude  of  creatures — and  those  not  only  small,  but 
immensely  great — the  sun,  moon,  and  all  the  heavenly  hosts, 
are  effects  and  proofs  of  His  almighty  power.  "  The  heavens 
declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  shcweth  forth 
His  handiwork."  The  admirable  contrivance  of  all  and 
each  of  them  ;  the  adapting  all  the  parts  of  animals  to  their 


4  THE   STRUCTURE,   ETC.,  OF   PLANTS. 

several  uses  ;  the  provision  that  is  made  for  their  sustenance, 
which  is  often  taken  notice  of  in  Scripture — ''  The  eyes  ot 
all  wait  upon  Thee  ;  Thou  givest  them  their  meat  in  due 
season  ;  Thou  openest  Thy  hand,  and  satisfieth  the  desire 
of  every  living  thing  ; " — their  mutual  subserviency  to  each 
other,  and  unanimous  conspiring  to  promote  and  carry  on 
the  public  good,  are  evident  demonstrations  of  His  sovereign 
wisdom.  Such  are  some  of  the  reasons  given  by  this 
good  man  for  undertaking  the  work  I  have  mentioned, 
and  wherein  he  so  ably  demonstrates  the  power,  wisdom, 
and  goodness  of  the  Almighty.  He  also  grapples  with  and 
condemns  the  Aristotelian  hypothesis,  which  seems  to  have 
been  to  some  extent  prevalent  in  his  time — namely,  that 
the  world  was  co-eternal  with  God  ;  also,  the  Epicurean 
hypothesis,  that  the  world  was  made  by  a  casual  concurrence 
and  cohesion  of  atoms  ;  and  Descartes'  assertion,  in  his 
''  Principles  of  Philosophy,"  that  the  ends  of  God  in  any  of 
His  works  are  equally  undiscovered  by  us. 


II.— DESIGN  AND  ADAPTATION  IN  SEEDS,  ROOTS, 
STEMS,  AND  LEAVES  OF  PLANTS. 

As  I  am  unable  to  illustrate  the  arguments  of  Ray  on  all 
the  various  topics  mentioned,  I  think  it  will  be  more  prudent 
for  me  to  confine  myself  chiefly  to  the  subject  I  am  best 
acquainted  with,  and  endeavour  to  show  preconcerted 
design  and  infinite  wisdom  in  the  vegetable  kingdom.  In 
the  outset,  we  must  see  and  acknowledge  the  wisdom  and 
power  of  God,  in  clothing  the  earth  with  such  kinds  of 
plants  as  are  best  adapted  for  the  use  of  man  and  other 
animals  which  inhabit  the  difterent  parts  of  the  globe  where 
these  particular  kinds  are  most  required,  and  also  in  the 
power  they  possess  of  purifying  the  pestilential  air  breathed 
forth  by  animals,  and  produced  by  combustion  into  an 
atmosphere  of  life.  Even  in  the  almost  universal  colouring 
of  plants,  infinite  wisdom  is  evinced,  green  being  that 
colour  on  which  the  eye  can  longest  look  without  tiring. 
We  find  a  chemical  substance  diffused  through  the  sap  of 


1 


SEEDS,   ROOTS,   STEMS,  AND   LEAVES.  5 

nearly  all   plants — namely,  chlorophyll,  which,   on    being 
exposed  to  light,  turns  green. 

In  farther  considering  this  matter,  it  may  probably 
suit  our  purpose  to  take  a  brief  review  of  the  various 
organs  of  plants  and  their  uses  in  the  life  of  the  indi- 
vidual, which  will  enable  us  to  make  remarks  suitable 
to  our  subject  on  each.  In  following  this  plan,  we  shall 
commence  with  the  seed,  which  contains  the  germ  of  the 


Kidney  Bean  Germinating, 
a  Radicle.  b  Plumule.  c  Fleshy  Cotyledons. 

future  plant.  In  this  we  may  readily  observe  order  and 
regulation,  the  work  of  some  intelligent  being,  in  furnishing 
sustenance  for  the  young  germ  which  is  contained  within  the 
seed,  either  in  the  substance  called  albumen  (but  properly 
perisperm),  or,  when  that  is  wanting,  by  large  fleshy  cotyle- 
donary  leaves.  These  support  the  young  embryo  until  it 
germinates  and  extends  its  roots  in  the  earth  to  draw 
nourishment  therefrom.  It  has,  however,  been  remarked 
that  it  is  not  when  the  seed  bursts  its  coats,  or  the  egg- 
shell is  broken  by  the  young  chick,  or  the  animal  is  born, 
that  life  begins  ;  for  the  seed,  the  embryo  or  foetus,  had  a 
previous  existence  more  or  less  independent  of,  or  con- 
nected with  the  parent,  according  to  species.  We  are  un- 
able, by  the  aid  of  the  most  powerful  instruments,  to  per- 
ceive the  moment  when  the  first  embryo  cell  receives  that 
impress  which  has  irrevocably  determined  the  form  which 
the  perfect  being  is  to  assume  within  these  narrow  limits, 
and  which  neither  impregnation  nor  any  other  physical  in- 
fluence can  make  it  exceed.  And  if  life  is  once  stopped,  no 
force  that  is  yet  known  can  set  it  in  motion  again.  In  the 
case  of  seeds,  it  may  remain  dormant  for  a  long  succession 
of  years,  its  action  may  be  limited  or   imperceptible,  until 


THE   STRUCTURE,   ETC.,   OF   PLANTS. 


recalled  into  operation  by  the  necessary'  amount  of  certain 
elements  —  namely,  heat,  moisture,  and  air,  which  are 
requisite  for  germination.  We  thus  see  how  wisely  the 
embr}-o  of  the  plant  is  provided  for,  until  germination  takes 
place,  when  the  root  invariably  strikes  doAvn wards  to  the 
earth  and  seeks  darkness,  while  the  stem  is  elevated  and 
points  towards  the  light,   so    that    each  may  be  in  their 

proper  spheres  ;  and, 
as  Dr.  Lindley  re- 
marks, no  known 
power  has  yet  been 
found  to  overcome 
these  tendencies.  In 
the  root  we  see  evi- 
dent design  for  the 
nourishment  and  sup- 
port of  the  plant.  In 
the  first  place  it  de- 
rives nourishment 
from  the  seed-leaves 
until  it  enters  its  pro- 
per element,  where  it 
is  soon  enabled  to  pro- 
vide for  itself,  and  sup- 
port the  individual  de- 
pending on  it.  Thou- 
sands of  mouths  are 
soon  opened  to  absorb 
the  food  from  the 
earth,  bv  the  minute  cellular  hairs  with  which  the  roots  of  all 
plants  are  more  or  less  covered  ;  though  they  are  invisible  to 
the  naked  eye,  they  are  easily  discovered  by  the  aid  of  a  simple 
lens  or  microscope.  The  young  points  of  the  rootlets  are  con- 
stantly receiving  additions  of  new  cellular  matter  to  their 
extremities,  which  enables  them  to  extend  in  every  direction 
in  search  of  food,  and  fix  the  individual  to  which  they 
belonor  steadfastlv  to  the  earth.  In  countries  which  are 
subject   to    long  droughts,   the  roots  of  plants  frequently 


Plant  Germinating. 

o  Plumule,  vrith  Cotyledon. 

6  Collet,  line  of  junction  between  Stem  and  Root. 

c  Root. 


SEEDS,   ROOTS,   STEMS,   AND   LEAVES. 


acquire  a  thick  fleshy  form,  and  assume  various  shapes, 
which  enables  them  to  withstand  dryness  for  long  periods, 
where  plants  with  only  fibrous  roots  would  perish.  These 
fleshy  underground  stems  or  roots,  as  they  are  som.etimes 
called,  often  contain  the  nutritious  substances  which  we 
feed  on  ;  for  example,  the  potato,  arrow-root,  yam,  sweet 
potato,  Tarro,  &c.  They  sometimes  contain  fluids  which 
quench  the  most  burning 
thirst.  In  the  natural 
progress  of  their  growth, 
roots  are  constantly 
pushing  forward,  either 
vertically  or  horizontally, 
arriving  gradually  at 
fresh  portions  of  soil 
from  which  the  nutritive 
matters  have  not  been 
absorbed  ;  and  as  a  con- 
stant relation  is  preserved 
between  the  spreading  of 
the  branches  and  the 
spreading  of  the  roots  in 
various  kinds  of  trees, 
the  rain  which  falls  on 
the  tree  drops  from  the 
leaves  at  the  exact  dis- 
tances where  the  young 
spongioles  of  the  rootlets 

are  in  greatest  abundance  ready  to  absorb  it.  We  have 
here,  as  Dr.  Roget  observes,  a  striking  instance  of 
that  beautiful  correspondence  which  has  been  established 
between  processes  belonging  to  different  departments 
of  nature,  and  which  are  made  to  concur  in  the  produc- 
tion of  remote  effects,  that  could  never  have  been  ac- 
complished without  these  preconcerted  and  harmonious 
adjustments.  Our  admiration  cannot  fail  to  be  excited 
when  we  contemplate  the  manner  in  which  a  large  tree  is 
chained  to  the  earth  by  its  powerful  and  widcly-sprcach'ng 


Tubercular  Root  of  Dahlia. 


8  THE   STRUCTURE,   ETC.,   OF   PLANTS. 

roots.  By  the  firm  hold  which  they  take  of  the  ground, 
they  produce  the  most  ettectual  resistance  to  the  force  of 
the  wind,  which,  acting  on  so  large  a  surface  as  that  pre- 
sented by  the  branches  covered  with  dense  foliage,  must 
possess  an  immense  mechanical  power.  As  the  roots 
penetrate  downwards  into  the  earth  to  different  distances,  in 
order  to  procure  the  requisite  nourishment,  so  the  stem 
grows  upwards  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  for  the  leaves 
and  flowers  an  ample  supply  of  air  and  the  influence  of  a 
brighter  light,  both  of  which  are  of  the  highest  importance 
to  vegetable  life.  We  shall  therefore  pass  from  the  roots 
to  the  stem,  and  briefly  consider  the  latter  in  its  anatomical 
and  physiological  characters.  Here  we  find  the  gradual 
lengthening  of  the  cellular  structure  into  long  tough  tubes, 
called  vascular  tissue,  as  channels  for  the  conv^eyance  of  the 
sap  from  the  roots  to  its  destination ;  and  in  the  physical 
process  of  endosmotic  action,  by  which  the  circulation  of 
the  sap  is  propelled  through  these  capillar}'-  tubes,  which 
also  contain  the  necessary  amount  of  air  required  for  the 
process  of  vegetable  life — all  proving  design  and  not  chance. 
The  lowly  herb  and  the  lofty  tree  grow  in  the  same  way, 
the  diflerence  being  only  in  size  and  duration.  The  stems 
of  the  plants  of  a  ver>-  large  section  of  the  vegetable  king- 
dom are  covered  with  a  bark  to  protect  them  from  outward 
injuries,  and  also  to  enable  the  physiological  functions  of 
life  to  be  carried  on.  The  very  structure  of  this  bark  being 
composed  of  three  distinct  layers,  each  having  its  proper 
use,  is  suggestive  of  wisdom,  by  adaptation  to  an  end  or 
purpose.  The  form  of  the  stem  may  also  be  taken  into 
consideration  In  nearly  all  plants  this  form  is  cylindrical, 
angular-stemmed  plants  being  of  rare  occurrence. 

We  may  ask,  Is  there  no  design  in  this  ?  Here  we  have 
the  form  known  to  engineers  which  has  the  greatest  strength 
with  the  least  resisting  surface.  On  this  account,  it  is  said, 
the  idea  of  the  Eddystone  lighthouse  was  suggested  by  the 
form  of  the  stem  of  a  palm  tree.  If  the  stems  of  trees  had 
been  square,  in  place  of  round,  they  could  not  have  \\ith- 
stood  the  violent  hurricanes  they  are  often   exposed  to. 


SEEDS,   ROOTS,   STEMS,   AND   LEAVES.  9 

without  being  blown  down  by  the  wind.  The  many  aesthetic 
uses  of  the  stems  of  plants  I  shall  be  obliged  here  to  pass 
over,  and  next  consider  the  leaves,  which  are  the  most 
important  organs,  both  physiologically  and  morphologically. 
In  no  other  part  of  the  plant  is  design  so  strongly  manifested 
as  in  the  leaves.  Were  it  only  for  the  refreshing  shade  they 
afford,  particularly  in  warm  countries,  we  see  how  essential 
they  are  for  our  comfort  and  delight,  circumstances  which 
have  been  noticed  from  the  remotest  periods  that  any 
mention  is  made  of  trees.  Hence  that  expression  so  often 
repeated  from  Scripture,  "  Every  man  sitting  under  his  own 
vine  and  under  his  own  fig  tree."  It  would  also  seem  that 
the  ancients  were  in  the  habit  of  eating  under  trees,  as 
appears  from  Abraham's  entertaining  the  angels  under  a 
tree,  and  standing  by  them  while  they  did  eat.  Gen.  xviii.  8. 
It  is,  however,  when  we  examine  their  wonderful  mechanism 
that  we  can  form  a  just  appreciation  of  their  adaptations 
to  the  functions  they  have  to  perform.  To  the  naked  eye, 
a  leaf  of  a  tree  appears  a  solid  body,  contained  within  a 
skin  or  cuticle  ;  but  to  the  vegetable  anatomist  it  is  known 
to  consist  of  two  distinct  layers,  soldered  firmly  together  in 
life,  but  after  death  separable  into  two  halves.  Were  this 
not  the  case,  the  functions  of  the  elaboration  of  the  sap 
which  circulates  through  the  stems  to  the  leaves  could  not 
be  carried  on. 

I  cannot  here  enter  into  the  physiology  of  these  func- 
tions, but  I  shall  briefly  mention  the  apparatus  by  which 
they  are  principally  effected.  By  looking  at  the  leaf  of 
a  tree,  it  is  seen  to  be  traversed  from  the  stalk  to  the 
apex,  and  from  one  margin  to  the  other,  by  a  wonderful 
contrivance  of  veins,  which  botanists  designate  as  vascular 
tissue,  appearing  to  the  naked  eye  like  the  meshes  of  a  net, 
the  meshes  being  filled  up  with  a  softer  substance  called 
cellular  tissue.  It  is  these  cords  of  vascular  veins  which 
give  form  to  leaves,  according  as  they  spread  from  the 
strong  central  vein  or  midrib  to  the  sides.  If  a  small  portion 
of  the  leaf  be  laid  on  the  table  of  a  microscope,  and  viewed 
through  a  half  or  quarter-inch  lens,  the  marvellousl}-  beau- 


10 


THE   STRUCTURE,   ETC.,   OF   PLANTS. 


Section  of  Leaf,  with  Stomatesi 
a  Stomates. 


tiful  structure  will  command  our  admiration.  Hundreds 
of  small  openings  leading  from  the  exterior  to  the  interior 
of  the  leaf  will  be  revealed,  through  which  the  vital  functions 

of  respiration  and  transpira- 
tion are  carried  on,  in  a  man- 
ner somewhat  analogous  to 
similar  functions  as  they  are 
effected  through  the  lungs  of 
animals.  These  stomates,  as 
they  are  called,  enable  the 
plant,  when  acted  on  by 
solar  light,  to  decompose  the 
carbonic  acid  in  the  sap, 
and  secrete  solid  carbon, 
w^hich  latter  constitutes  so 
large  a  portion  of  the  vege- 
table structure.  It  is  by  this  action  also  that  the  vital 
air  which  supports  animal  life  is  chiefly  purified.  One  of 
the  most  beautiful  provisions  known  in  nature  is,  that  the 
deleterious  air  breathed  forth  by  animals  is  purified  and  ren- 
dered salubrious  by  plants  ;  if  it  were  otherwise,  the  globe 
would  become  uninhabitable.  But,  as  Dr.  Lindley  observes, 
every  leaf,  every  blade  of  grass — nay,  the  finest  of  those 
green  silken  confervoid  threads  which  we  see  so  abundantly 
floating  in  streams  and  pools  of  water — is  incessantly  occu- 
pied during  daylight  in  effecting  this  most  important  change 
of  pestilential  air  into  an  atmosphere  of  life.  In  the  greater 
number  of  plants  these  vital  cells  or  stomates  are  mostly  con- 
fined to  the  under  surfaces  of  leaves,  but  in  water-plants  they 
are  mostly  on  the  upper  surface  ;  were  it  otherwise,  they 
could  not  perform  the  functions  for  which  they  are  destined. 
Their  numbers  and  size  vary  greatly  in  different  kinds  of 
plants,  being  sometimes  as  many  as  70,000  to  one  square 
inch  of  the  leaf 

Such  being  a  brief  statement  of  the  apparatus  in  leaves  for 
carrying  on  the  life  of  the  plant,  he  must  indeed  be  a  stolid 
individual  who  cannot  perceive  wisdom  and  design  of  the 
highest  order  in  all  this  cohesion  of  atoms.     Again,  how 


THE   MORPHOLOGY   OF   LEAVES. 


11 


exquisitely  beautiful  and  how  manifold  are  the  forms  of 
leaves.  In  the  whole  vegetable  kingdom,  no  two  different 
species  of  plants  have  their  leaves  similar  ;  even  in  the  same 
individual,  scarcely  two  leaves  are  exactly  alike — some 
larger,  some  smaller,  and  so  on.  It  is  not  too  much  to 
suppose  that  all  this  wonderful  change  of  form  and  of 
colouring  was  intended  by  the  Creator  to  gratify  and 
please  the  senses  of  His  creatures.  Had  there  been  only 
one  form  of  leaf,  however  beautiful  that  may  have  been,  the 
eye  would  have  soon  become  wearied  with  beholding  it. 


IIL— DESIGN  AND  ADAPTATION  IN  THE  MORPHOLOGY 

OF  LEAVES. 

In  considering  the  forms  of  leaves,  we  are  led  to  one  of 
the  principal  topics  of  our  subject — viz.,  what  is  termed  the 
morphology  of  leaves — which  enables  us  to  account  for  the 
peculiar  forms  that  these  remarkable  plants  assume,  which 
have  lately  been  designated  carnivorous  plants,  and  which 
have  caused  so  much  amazement  among  the  readers  of  the 
"  Graphic,"  arising  from  the  curious  representations  of  them 
in  that  popular  periodical.  It  is  not  only  in  this  country 
they  have  received  marked  attention,  but  also  in  America, 
where  admirably  written  articles  have  appeared  in  the 
New  York  "  Nation,"  and  other  newspapers  published  by 
our  transatlantic  cousins,  on  insect-devouring  plants,  during 
the  early  part  of  the  present  year,  written  chiefly  by  Pro- 
fessor Asa  Gray,  of  Boston,  U.S.  Dr.  Hooker,  as  you  are  all 
aware,  made  this  the  subject  of  the  opening  address  which  he 
delivered  in  this  town  last  August  to  the  biological  section 
of  the  British  Association;  and  so  admirably  did  he  delineate 
the  peculiarities  of  these  plants,  that  he  kept  one  of  the 
most  crowded  audiences  I  ever  was  present  in,  almost  spell- 
bound during  the  whole  course  of  his  address.  The  two 
gentlemen  I  have  named  have  thrashed  the  subject  pretty 
well  out,  and  consequently  I  shall  not  have  much  that  is 
novel  to  communicate  to  you  this  evening  on  it.  Although 
these  plants  have  long  been  known  to   capture  insects  in 


12 


THE   STRUCTURE,   ETC.,   OF   PLANTS. 


their  morphologised  leaves,  it  is  to  the  researches  of  Mr. 
Darwin  that  we  principally  owe  our  knowledge  of  their  carni- 
vorous propensities,  though  that  was  pretty  well  ascertained 
by  the  Americans  many  years  ago. 

Regarding  that  most  expert  of  fly-catchers,  DioncBa  mus- 
ciptda,  about  which  so  much  has  been  written  and  so  little 
known    until    lately,    Ellis,    in    his    correspondence    with 

Linnseus,  describes  the  structure  and 
action  of  its  living  trap.  He  notices 
that  the  power  of  irritability  which 
caused  the  movement,  making  the  trap 
to  close,  resided  in  the  few  bristles  which 
are  on  the  upper  face  of  the  leaves 
among  the  glands,  which  latter  produce 
the  bait  for  the  unhappy  insect  that 
becomes  its  prey.  From  these  exudes 
a  sweetish  liquid,  which  the  animal  is 
tempted  to  taste,  and  in  doing  so,  touches 
those  springs  or  bristles  on  the  surface. 
The  trap  then  instantly  closes,  and  the 
spines  either  transfix  the  insect  or  fold  it  in 
their  fatal  embrace,  as  firmly  as  ever  the 
legs  of  a  rat  were  held  in  a  trap,  the  ordi- 
nary kinds  of  which  that  are  now  used 
so  nearly  resemble  the  halves  of  the 
leaf  of  this  plant.  It  has,  however, 
been  lately  ascertained  that  the  liquid 
glands  on  the  leaf  does  not  appear 
until  the  trap  has  been  closed  on  some  unhappy  insect, 
and  has  held  it  there  for  several  hours.  It  is  rather  con- 
sidered that  insects  are  attracted  to  the  trap  by  some  peculiar 
odour  emitted.  Within  one  or  two  days  after  the  capture 
has  taken  place,  this  liquid  becomes  abundant,  macerat- 
ing the  body  of  the  perished  insect.  Its  analogy  is  not  with 
water,  but  rather  gastric  juice,  which,  like  the  latter,  has  an 
acid  reaction.  I  have  long  known  those  plants  in  a  culti- 
vated state,  and  have  had  many  opportunities  of  observing 
them  ;   but  it  is  only  when  the  plant  is  vigorous  and  the 


Leaf  and  Trap  of 

Dioncea. 

a  Leaf. 

b  Trap  Appendage. 

secreted    by   the 


THE   MORPHOLOGY   OF   LExVVES.  13 

atmosphere  warm  that  their  trap  movements  are  quick.  When 
the  leaves  are  weak  or  the  conservatory  cold  where  they  are 
grown,  the  traps  close  very  gradually  ;  but  when  the  leaves 
are  strong,  and  supplied  with  sufficient  heat,  the  movement  is 
instantaneous.     According  to  the  articles  in  the  American 
newspapers  which  I  have  already  alluded  to,  the  nature  of 
this  liquid  was  first  ascertained  by  Dr.  Curtis,  who  had 
opportunities  of  making  observations  on  the  Dioncea  in  its 
native  habitats.     At  times  he  found  the  entrapped  insects 
enveloped  in  a  mucilaginous  consistence,  which  seemed  to 
act  as  a  solvent,  the  insect  being  more  or  less  consumed  by 
it.     The  observations  made  by  Dr.  Curtis  were  followed  up 
by  a  Mr.  Canby,  who  discovered  that  the  fluid  is  always 
poured  out  around  the  captive  insects  in  due  time,  if  the 
leaf  be  in  good  condition  and  the  prey  suitable  ;  also,  that 
it  comes  from  the  leaf  itself,  and  not  from  the  decompos- 
ing insect.     He  laid   on  the  leaves  bits  of  raw  beef,  and 
these,   though    sometimes    rejected,    were   generally  acted 
on  like   insects — the   traps    closed    down    tightly   on    the 
crumbs,  which  became  covered  over  with  the  liquid,  dis- 
solved mainly  and  absorbed  by  the  leaves.      He,  however, 
gave  the  plant  a  fatal  dyspepsia  by  feeding  it  with  cheese. 
Most  of  the  foregoing  observations  have  been  confirmed  by 
that  excellent  observer,   Mr.   Darwin,  who  has   for  some 
years  had  the  subject  under  his  investigation,  and  who  has 
found   that    the   leaves   of  Dioncea   absorbed   particles  of 
muscle  and  other  animal  matter,  but  were  insensible  to  par- 
ticles of  inorganic  matter.    In  this  we  have  indeed  a  subject 
for  contemplation,  and  we  may  well  be  reverently  led  to  ask 
ourselves,  who  gave  this  plant  these  remarkable  peculiarities 
and  propensities  1    It  will  be  found  rather  difficult  to  explain 
them  on  the  evolution  principle.    It  is,  however,  to  be  clearly 
understood  that  this  digestive  matter  in  the  plant,  dissolving 
the  insects  which  it  captures,  is  in  no  way  identical  with  the 
action  of  the  stomachs  of  animals  in  digesting  their  food  ; 
it  is  only  in  some  way  analogous  to  that  operation. 

The  American  plant  is  not  the  only  one  which  the  Author 
of  nature  has  endowed  with  the  power  of  entrapping  insects 


14  THE   STRUCTURE,   ETC.,   OF   PLANTS. 

in  a  similar  manner  by  the  leaves.  We  have,  in  our  bogs 
all  over  Ireland,  plants  belonging  to  the  same  natural  family 
as  the  DioncEa,  which  catch  insects  also,  though  not  so 
expertly.  They  are  called  "  Sundews,"  in  English,  which 
name  is  derived  from  the  beautiful  glistening  appearance  the 
numerous  glandular  hairs  on  their  leaves  have  when  the 
sun  shines  brightly  on  them.  Our  bogs  furnish  three 
species,  all  of  which  capture  various  kinds  of  insects. 
They  spread  out  from  their  base  a  circle  of  small  leaves,  the 
upper  faces  of  which  are  beset  with  glands,  and  their  margins 
are  fringed  with  long  stiff  hairs,  each  tipped  by  a  secreting 
gland,  which  produces,  while  in  a  vigorous  state,  a  globule 
of  clear  liquid,  like  a  drop  of  dew.  A  touch  shows  that  the 
glistening  drops  are  glutinous,  as  flies  become  aware  to  their 
cost,  when  they  are  tempted  to  alight  and  sip  the  liquid.  A 
fly  once  entangled  among  those  tenacious  hairs  begins  a 
struggle  to  get  free,  but  the  more  he  struggles  the  more  he 
becomes  enwrapped  among  them.  This  was  known  to  be 
the  case  by  Roth,  a  German  botanist  of  the  last  century,  who 
states  the  telling  fact,  that  not  only  the  bristles  with  which 
the  unfortunate  insect  has  come  flrst  in  contact,  but  also  the 
surrounding  ones,  which  had  been  at  first  widely-spreading, 
curved  inward  one  by  one,  although  they  had  not  been  touched, 
so  as  within  a  few  hours  to  press  their  gelatinous  tips  likewise 
against  the  body  of  the  captive  insect.  It  is  now  supposed 
that  it  is  through  these  surfaces  some  part  of  the  animal 
matter  is  imbibed  by  the  plant.  Roth  at  that  early  period 
surmised  that  they  were  predaceous,  having  observed  that 
the  disc  of  the  Drosera  leaf  often  became  concave  and 
enveloped  the  prey.  These  circumstances,  although  men- 
tioned so  long  ago,  were  either  ignored  or  mostly  forgotten, 
until  they  have  again  been  verified  and  more  light  thrown 
on  them  by  Mr.  Darwin,  who  not  only  confirmed  all  Roth's 
observations,  but  also  found  that  the  bristly  leaves  responded 
equally  to  a  bit  of  muscle  or  animal  substance.  Other  in- 
dependent observers  have  been  working  at  the  same  class  of 
phenomena  in  different  parts  of  the  world.  In  the  American 
*' Journal  of  Science,"  for  November,  1871,  some  of  the  ex- 


.     THE   MORPHOLOGY   OF   LEAVES.  15 

periments  of  Mrs.  Treat  of  New  Jersey  with  these  plants  are 
noticed.  These  experiments  were  afterwards  pubhshed  in  the 
December  number   of    the  American  "  NaturaHst,"    from 
which  we  shall  here   transcribe.      Mrs.    Treat    selected  a 
particular  day  in  July,  when  the  leaves  of  the  Sundew  were 
unusually  active ;  for,  like  those  of  Dioncea,  they  vary  much 
by  the  state  of  the  weather  in  the  way  of  appetising.     She 
writes  as  follows  : — "At  10.15  a-^i-  of  the  same  day,  I  placed 
bits  of  raw  beef  on  some  of  the  most  vigorous  leaves   of 
Drosera  longifolia.     At  12.10,  ten  of  the  leaves  had    folded 
around  the  beef,  hiding  it   from  sight.     At  11.30  on   same 
day,  I  placed  living  flies  on  the  leaves  of  Drosera  longifolia. 
At  12.48,  one   of  the   leaves   had    folded  entirely  round  its 
victim  ;    the  other  leaves  had  partially  folded,  and    the  flies 
had    ceased  to   struggle.      At   2.30,  four   leaves   had    each 
folded  round  a  fly.     I  tried  mineral  substances,  bits  of  dry 
chalk,  magnesia,  and  pebbles.    In  twenty-four  hours  neither 
the  leaves  nor  the  bristles  had  made  any  move  like  clasping 
these  articles.     I  then  wet  a  piece  of  chalk  in  water,  and  in 
less  than  an  hour  the  bristles  were  curving   around  it ;  but 
they  soon  unfolded   again,  leaving  the  chalk   free   on   the 
blade  of  the  leaf"    Parallel  experiments  made  on  the  round- 
leaved  Sundew  (Drosera  rotundifolia)  gave  similar  results  ; 
but    when    Mrs.    Treat    tried    raw    apple    on    the    leaves, 
she  found  that  although  the  bristles  curved  towards  it,  it 
took  eleven  hours  before  they  touched  it  ;  and  they  did  not 
adhere  to  the  apple  so  firmly  as  they  did  to  the  beef   More 
recent  experiments  have  been  made  at  the  suggestion  of 
Mr.  Darwin,  and  it  has  been  found  that  when  a  fly  alights 
upon  a  leaf  a  little  below  its  apex,  or  when  a  bit  of  crushed 
fly  is  there  affixed,  within  a  few  hours  the  tip  of  the  leaf 
bends  at  the  point,  and  contracts  and  curves  over  or  around 
the  body  in  question  ;  and  Mrs.  Treat  even  found  that  when 
living  flies  were  pinned  at  the  distance  of  half-an-inch  from 
the  leaves,  these  in  forty  minutes  had  bent  their  tips  per- 
ceptibly towards  the  flies,  and  in  less  than  two  hours  reached 
them  !     We  may  here  remark  that  if  these  observations  be 
really  confirmed  by  future  investigation,  the  leaves  of  these 


16 


THE   STRUCTURE,   ETC.,    OF   PLANTS. 


plants  would  seem  to  indicate  purpose  nearly  as  manifest 
as  that  of  the  spider's  web.  They,  however,  require  to  be 
carefully  repeated.  There  are  many  other  kinds  of  Sundews, 
which  grow  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  but  chiefly  in 
New  Holland  and  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  all  of  which 
are  armed  with  apparatus  for  catching  insects,  which  they 
invariably  do.  One  very  remarkable  and  beautiful  plant, 
which  grows  in  Portugal,  and  belongs  to  the,  family  of 
Drosera,  though  not  a  species  of  that  genus,  affords  a  fine 
example  of  its  power  for  attracting  and  capturing  small 
flies,  &c.  It  is  called  Drosophylhim  lusitainacm,  and  has 
long  linear  leaves,  which  are  so  closely  beset  with  glandular 
hairs  as  to  render  them  objects  of  great  beauty,  especially 
when  viewed  towards  bright  light.  The  number  of  insects 
this  plant  captures  is  so  great  as  to  render  the  leaves  nearly 
black  at  times  ;  these  insects  do  not  consist  of  small  flies  only, 
but  I  have  occasionally  seen  rather  large  moths  sticking  on 
them.  Like  the  Droserce,  the  glands  adjacent  to  those 
on  which  the  insect  is  caught  bend  towards  the  strug- 
gling creature,  and  entangle  it  the  more. 

The  next  group  of  curious  plants  which  show  design  in 
their  morphologised  leaves  are  the  Sarracenice,  or  "  side- 
saddle plants,"  as  they  are  sometimes  called  in  this  country. 
In  America  they  are  better  known  under  the  name  of 
"  huntsman's  caps."  In  these  there  is  no  contractile  action 
similar  to  that  in  the  former  group,  but  the  construction  of 
the  trap  is  such  as  to  make  the  capture  of  insects  more  cer- 
tain. They  Avere  well  explained  by  Dr.  Hooker  in  his  late 
lecture  in  Belfast,  but  some  new  facts  have  since  been  ascer- 
tained which  warrant  me  in  again  referring  to  the  matter. 

The  leaves  of  the  Sarracenics  are  hollow,  and  form 
pitchers  or  trumpet-shaped  tubes,  containing  liquid  in  which 
flies  and  other  insects  are  trapped  and  drowned.  They  are 
all  natives  of  America,  and  grow  in  bogs  or  low  ground,  so 
that  they  cannot  be  supposed  to  stand  in  need  of  water. 
In  some  of  the  kinds,  the  apex  of  the  leaf  is  open,  so  that 
water  and  insects  may  drop  in  at  once ;  but  in  others  the 
point  of  the  leaf  curves  over  the  opening  like  a  hood,  and 


THE   MORPHOLOGY  OF   LEAVES. 


17 


prevents  the  free  access  of  water.  The  interior  of  the 
tubular  leaves  is  closely  beset  with  bristly  hairs,  which  point 
in  a  downward  direction  to  the  base  of  the  tube.  This  is 
particularly  the  case  near  the  mouth ;  but  farther  down,  near 
the  base,  they  are  either 
short  or  disappear  alto- 
gether. The  effect  of 
this  will  be  rendered 
apparent  as  we  proceed 
in  describing  the  manner 
insects  are  entrapped. 

Like  the  Dionecs  and 
DrosercB,  natural  history 
facts  connected  with  the 
SarracenicE  were  report- 
ed about  the  end  of  the 
last  century,  but  they 
appeared  so  incredible, 
that  they  were  either 
overlooked  or  forgotten, 
until  the  matter  has 
been  renewed  lately.  Dr. 
James  Macbrideof  South 
Carolina,  the  early  asso- 
ciate of  Elliot,  whom  I 
have  already  mentioned 
as  having  been  an  active 
and  voluminous  correspondent  of  Linnaeus,  sent  to  Sir  James 
Smith  an  account  of  his  observations  made  on  this  subject 
in  1 8 10,  which  was  read  to  the  Linnaean  Society,  London, 
in  1815,  and  published,  in  Vol.  XH.  of  their  "Transactions." 
The  observations  relate  chiefly  to  Sarracenia  adiinca,  which 
is  said  to  be  the  most  efficient  fly-catcher  among  them  in  its 
natural  habitat,  though  certainly  not  so  in  cultivation,  so 
far  as  my  experience  extends.  The  pitchers  of  the  two 
large  kinds,  S.  Jlava  and  5.  purpurea,  contain  quadruple 
the  quantity  of  dead  flies  and  other  insects  that  those  of 

Sarracenia  variolaris  (aduuca)  contain.     Dr.   IVIacbridc   in 
B 


Sarracenia  flava. 


18  THE   STRUCTURE,   ETC.,   OF   PLANTS. 

this  communication  states,  that  "  in  the  month  of  May,  June, 
or  July,  when  the  leaves  of  these  plants  perform  their 
extraordinary  functions  in  the  greatest  perfection,  if  some 
of  them  be  removed  to  a  house  and  fixed  in  an  erect  posi- 
tion, it  will  soon  be  perceived  that  flies  are  attracted  by 
them.  These  insects  immediately  approach  the  hollow 
tubes  of  the  leaves,  and,  leaning  over  their  edges,  appear  to 
sip  with  eagerness  something  from  their  internal  surfaces. 
In  this  position  they  linger,  but  at  length,  allured,  as  it 
would  seem,  by  the  pleasure  of  taste,  they  enter  the  tubes. 
The  fly,  which  has  thus  changed  its  situation,  will  be  seen  to 
stand  unsteadily  ;  it  totters  for  a  few  seconds,  and  falls  to 
the  bottom  of  the  tube,  when  it  is  either  drowned  or 
attempts  in  vain  to  ascend  against  the  points  of  the  hairs 
in  the  tube.  In  a  house  much  infested  with  flies,  the  en- 
trapment goes  on  so  rapidly,  that  a  leaf  is  filled  in  a  few 
hours,  and  it  becomes  necessary  to  add  water,  the  natural 
quantity  being  insuflicient  to  drown  the  imprisoned  in- 
sects." The  cause  which  attracts  flies  is  evidently  a 
sweet  viscid  substance  resembling  honey,  secreted  by,  or 
exuding  from  the  internal  surface  of  the  tube.  From  the 
margin,  where  it  commences,  it  does  not  extend  lower  than 
one-fourth  of  an  inch.  The  falling  of  the  insect  is  wholly 
attributable  to  the  downward  or  inverted  pointing  of  the  hairs 
lining  the  inner  surface  of  the  leaf,  till,  at  or  quite  near  the 
surface  covered  by  the  bait,  they  are  no  longer  perceptible 
to  the  naked  eye,  or  to  the  most  delicate  touch.  It  is  here 
that  the  fly  cannot  take  a  hold  sufficiently  strong  to  support 
itself,  but  falls. 

Farther  evidence  on  this  curious  and  interesting  subject 
has  lately  been  afforded  by  Dr.  i\Iellichamp,  who.  Dr. 
Hooker  remarked,  is  now  resident  in  the  district  where 
Dr.  Macbride  made  his  observations.  He  has  investigated 
the  fluid  which  is  found  at  the  bottom  of  the  tubes,  and 
satisfied  himself  that  it  was  really  secreted.  It  is  described 
as  being  mucilaginous,  but  leaving  in  the  mouth  a  peculiar 
astringency.  Although  he  does  not  attribute  any  true 
digestive  power  to  this  fluid,  he  found  it  had  a  remarkable 


THE   MORPHOLOGY   OF    LEAVES.  19 

anaesthetic  effect  upon  flies  immersed  in  it.  He  states  that 
a  fly  when  thrown  into  water  is  very  apt  to  escape,  as  the 
fluid  seems  to  run  from  its  wings,  but  it  never  escapes  from 
the  Sarracenia  secretion.  Ants  seem  to  fall  victims  oftener 
than  flies,  as  their  decomposing  bodies,  according  to  Dr. 
Mellichamp's  observation,  form  the  principal  bulk  of  the 
mass  found  in  these  pitchers.  One  remarkable  fact  is 
mentioned  by  that  gentleman — namely,  that  he  never 
found  the  honey  bee  or  other  melliferce  about  these  plants. 
So  far  as  I  can  recollect,  my  observations  on  those  under 
cultivation  would  lead  me  to  corroborate  Dr.  Mellichamp. 
I  never  observed  our  honey-making  bee  approach  the 
SarracenicB  or  Nepenthes  in  our  conservatories  ;  nor  did  I 
ever  find  their  dead  bodies  in  the  pitchers,  though  I  have 
often  found  the  bodies  of  wasps  in  great  abundance  in  them, 
and  have  seen  these  insects  enter.  More  recent  observations 
might  lead  us  to  suppose  that  all  this  beautiful  arrangement 
and  adaptation  may  be  necessary,  and  wisely  designed,  for 
keeping  up  certain  links  in  the  chain  of  insect  life.  Although 
fatal  to  nearly  all  of  that  tribe  which  approach  the  lure 
held  out  for  them,  there  are  yet  some  species  which  are 
proof  against  its  siren  influences,  and  oblige  these  plants, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  to  support  them.  One,  a  little 
glossy  moth,  which  has  at  present  received  from  the  Ameri- 
cans the  trivial  name  of  the  Sarracenia  moth,  is  stated  to 
live  and  breed  in  the  pitchers.  It  is  said  to  walk  with 
perfect  impunity  over  their  inner  surface,  which  proves 
treacherous  to  many  other  insects.  It  is  often  found  in 
pairs  within  these  pitchers  soon  after  they  open  in  the  early 
part  of  the  season,  or  about  the  end  of  April.  The  female 
lays  her  eggs  singly  near  the  mouth  of  the  pitchers,  and  the 
young  larva,  from  the  moment  of  hatching,  spins  for  itself  a 
carpet  of  silk,  and  very  soon  closes  up  the  mouth  of  the 
pitcher,  by  drawing  the  rims  together,  and  covering  them 
with  a  delicate  gossamer-like  web,  which  effectually  debars 
all  outside  intruders.  It  then  frets  the  leaf  within,  com- 
mencing under  the  hood,  and  feeding  downwards  on  the 
cellular  tissue,  leaving  only  the  epidermis.     As  it  proceeds, 


20        THE  STRUCTURE,  ETC.,  OF  PLANTS. 

the  lower  part  of  the  pitcher,  above  the  putrescent  insect 
collection,  becomes  packed  with  ochreous  excrementitious 
droppings  ;  and  by  the  time  the  worm  has  attained  its  full 
size,  the  portion  of  the  pitcher  above  these  droppings  gene- 
rally collapses.  A  small  woodcut  of  this  insect  and  its  larva 
may  be  seen  in  the  number  of  "  Nature"  for  October  8,  with 
the  article  in  question  copied  from  the  New  York  "  Tribune." 

The  second  species  is  a  more  invariable  living  accom- 
paniment to  the  Sarracenice  mentioned.  It  is  a  legless 
grub,  about  the  size  of  the  base  of  a  goose  quill,  which  riots 
among  the  putrid  insect  remains,  and  when  fed  to  repletion, 
bores  through  the  leaf  just  above  the  petiole,  and  burrows 
in  the  ground.  Here  it  contracts  to  the  pupa  state,  and  in 
a  few  days  issues  as  a  large  two-winged  fly.  These  two 
species  are  stated  to  be  the  only  insects  of  any  size  yet 
known  to  invade  these  death-dealing  traps.  The  only  other 
species  which  seems  at  home  in  the  leaf  is  a  small  mite. 

Along  with  the  SarracenicB,  I  have  yet  to  notice,  in 
this  part  of  our  subject,  another  very  remarkable  plant, 
which  has  also  morphologised  leaves  adapted  for  capturing 
insects.  It  is  the  Californian  "  side-saddle  plant,"  Darling- 
tonia  Californica,  named  in  honour  of  Dr.  Darlington  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  belonging  to  the  same  natural  family 
of  plants  as  the  Sarracenics.  In  it  the  leaves  all  rise 
from  the  base,  the  adult  ones  varying  from  a  foot  to  i8 
inches  long  in  strong  plants.  They  are  tubular,  the  tube 
gradually  tapering  downwards,  and  singularly  twisted  on 
the  axis ;  arched  and  vaulted  at  the  summit  into  a  sac, 
about  the  size  of  a  hen's  ^gg,  on  the  under  side  of  which  is 
an  orifice  opening  into  the  hollow  tubular  cavity  of  the 
pitcher.  Over  this  cavity  are  two  long  highly-coloured 
lobes,  which  Dr.  Torrey,  in  describing  this  plant,  very 
aptly  compares  to  the  lop  ears  of  some  varieties  of 
rabbit.  This  attractive  flag,  which  is  no  doubt  suspended 
and  designed  for  attracting  insects,  is  smeared  with  a 
honied  sweet  exudation  on  the  inner  surface  (as  may  be 
seen  from  the  specimen  on  the  table),  and  was  first  noticed 
by  Professor  Asa  Gray ;  thus  a  farther  lure  is  provided  for 


THE   MORPHOLOGY  OF   LEAVES.  21 

effecting   the   end   for  which    these   peculiar   pitchers   are 
formed. 

Dr.  Hooker,  in  the  observations  he  made  on  this  plant, 
stated  that,  "  on  looking  at  the  flowering  plant,  he  was 
struck  with  a  remarkable  analogy  between  the  arrangement 
and  colouring  parts  of  the  leaf  and  of  the  flower,  the 
petals  of  the  flower  being  nearly  of  the  same  colour  as  the 
flap  of  the  pitcher,  and  between  each  pair  of  petals  is  a 
hole  formed  by  a  notch  on  the  side  of  the  two  opposite  petals, 
leading  to  the  stamens  and  pistil."  This  we  also  observed 
in  the  flower  of  a  plant  which  blossomed  in  the  Glasnevin 
gardens  last  May.  The  hypothesis  that  the  coloured  parts 
of  flowers  are  designed  for  attracting  insects  to  assist  in 
fertilisation,  while  feeding  themselves  on  the  pollen  and 
nectar,  is  well  exemplified  in  this  instance.  The  petals 
remain  fixed  round  the  stigma,  while  in  the  meantime,  dur- 
ing three  or  four  days,  the  anthers  burst  within,  and  are 
liable  to  lose  their  effect  unless  assisted  by  insects.  "  It 
is  here  conceivable,"  Dr.  Hooker  observes,  "  that  this  mar- 
vellous plant  lures  insects  to  its  flowers  for  one  object,  and 
feeds  them  while  it  uses  them  to  fertilise  itself;  but  when 
that  is  accomplished,  some  of  its  benefactors  are  lured  to 
its  pitchers  for  feeding  it."  If  such  be  the  case,  surely  no 
man  with  ordinary  reasoning  powers,  whatever  his  belief 
may  be,  can  deny  design  of  the  highest  order  in  this  instance. 

We  have  still  another  group  of  beautiful  and  highly  inter- 
esting plants,  whose  leaves  are  marvellously  morphologised 
for  capturing  insects  and  holding  water— the  Nepenthes. 
Some  of  the  pitchers  belonging  to  species  in  this  group  are 
among  the  most  beautiful  and  curiously  formed  organs  in  the 
whole  vegetable  kingdom,  though  considered  by  botanists 
less  complicated  than  those  of  Sarraceiiice,  Difference  of 
opinion  still  exists  among  those  who  are  best  informed  on 
the  subject,  regarding  the  parts  of  the  leaf  thus  changed 
into  the  pitcher  form,  which  we  cannot  further  allude  to 
here.  We  shall  only  remark  respecting  them,  that  although 
great  variety  of  form  may  be  observed  in  the  pitchers  of 
the  different  species,  it  is  always  the  same  parts  of  the  leaf 


22 


THE   STRUCTURE,   ETC.,   OF   PLANTS. 


that  are  changed.  These  pitchers  are  tubular,  with  a  lid  at 
their  apex,  which  more  or  less  covers  the  mouth  of  most 
kinds  ;  but  in  some,  the  mouth  is  quite  open,  and  the  lid,  in 
place  of  bending  over  the  mouth,  bends  backward.  The 
pitcher  is  furnished  with  a  thickened  corrugated  rim,  which. 
Dr.  Hooker  observes,  serves  three  purposes  :  it  strengthens 


Nefeiithes  distillatoria. 

the  mouth  and  keeps  it  distended  ;  it  secretes  honey  for 
attracting  insects  into  the  funnel-shaped  tube  in  which  it 
terminates  ;  and  is,  in  some  kinds,  beset  with  a  row  of 
incurved  hooks,  that  are  occasionally  strong  enough  to  pre- 
vent even  a  small  bird  from  escaping,  if  it  has  the  temerity 
to  enter  these  large  pitchers  in  search  of  water  or  insects. 
The  under  side  of  the  lid  and  rim  of  the  pitchers  is  pro- 
vided with  honey-secreting  glands  in  great  abundance. 
These  parts  are  more  highly  coloured  than  the  other  parts 
of  the  pitchers,  which  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  is  a  design 
for  attracting  insects  to  them.  The  interior  of  the  pitchers, 
though  not  beset  with  stiff  retrorse  bristles  like  the  interior 
of  the  tubes  of  Sarracenice,  nevertheless  proves  as  fatal  a  trap 
to  the  unwary  insect  which  is  lured  into  them  as  that 
of  the  latter.  The  interior  of  the  pitcher  affords  no  foot- 
hold for  insects,  which  drop  to  the  bottom  and  are  drowned 


THE   MORPHOLOGY   OF   LEAVES.  23 

in  the  fluid,  or  become  stupefied,  so  as  to  be  unable  to 
escape.  One  of  the  curious  phases  of  these  pitchers  is,  that 
fluid  is  secreted  in  them  before  the  Hd  opens,  and  when  it 
is  as  closely  sealed  over  as  it  is  possible  to  be.  In  this 
state  the  pitchers  can  be  turned  upside-down,  without  a 
drop  of  the  fluid  escaping.*  To  test  the  digestive  powers 
of  Nepenthes,  Mr.  Darwin  and  Dr.  Hooker  put  white  of 
^%g,  raw  meat,  fibrine,  and  cartilage  in  the  pitchers,  which, 
they  state,  had  a  surprising  and  evident  action  on  them. 
After  twenty-four  hours'  immersion,  the  edges  of  the  cubes 
of  white  of  tg^  are  eaten  away,  and  the  surface  gelatinised. 
Fragments  of  meat  are  rapidly  reduced,  and  pieces  of 
fibrine  weighing  several  grains  dissolve  and  disappear  in 
two  or  three  days.  I  have  often  been  amazed  at  the  large 
quantities  of  dead  bodies  of  insects,  in  a  half-decomposed 
state,  some  of  those  pitchers  occasionally  contain.  In  one 
instance  I  emptied  a  pitcher,  and  counted  in  it  the  remains 
of  ninety-one  ants,  sixteen  wasps,  four  large  blue  flies,  one 
cockroach,  five  earwigs,  and  seven  wood-lice,  besides  a 
putrid  mass  of  the  dead  bodies  of  these  creatures  which 
could  not  be  distinctly  recognised. 

The  Nepenthes  are  all  natives  of  the  warmer  parts  of  the 
Old  World,  and  chiefly  inhabit  the  islands  in  the  Indian 
archipelago,  though  some  extend  to  New  Holland.  One 
of  the  New  Holland  pitcher-leaved  plants,  Cephalotiis  folli- 
cularis,  afl*ords  another  instance  of  those  singularly-formed 
organs  for  holding  water.  It  is  smaller  than  any  of  the 
NepentJies  ;  but  for  beauty  of  form  and  elegance  of  construc- 
tion, it  is  not  surpassed  by  any  of  the  other  pitcher-leaved 
plants.  Its  pitchers  are  hollow,  and  have  their  covering-lids 
exactly  similar  to  some  of  those  of  the  Nepenthes,  though 

*  Dr.  Voeleker's  experiments  prove  that  the  water  is  a  true  secretion 
of  the  plant,  and  not  obtained  from  without.  When  he  dipped  litmus 
paper  in  the  water  taken  from  an  unopened  pitcher,  the  paper  turned 
red,  thus  proving  the  presence  of  an  acid  or  an  acid  salt.  When 
heated,  it  gave  out  a  slight  smell  of  boiled  apples,  and  on  being 
analysed,  it  was  found  to  contain  small  quantities  of  malic  and  citric 
acids. — Vocleker  "  On  the  Chemical  Composition  of  the  Fluid  of  the 
Acidia  of  Nepenthes^'  Trans,  of  Bot.  Soc\  of  EtUnburgh,  Vol.  in.,  j).  233. 


24  THE   STRUCTURE,   ETC.,   OF   PLANTS. 

they  are  not  otherwise  botanically  related  to  them.  This 
plant  is  only  found  in  one  quarter  of  the  globe,  near  King 
George's  Sound,  Western  Australia.  I  might  add  many 
more  examples  which  evidently  show  design  in  the  form 
of  their  leaves ;  but  having  already  dwelt  on  this  topic  at 
too  great  a  length,  I  shall  now  speak  of  the  flower  itself. 


IV.— DESIGN  AND  ADAPTATION  IN  THE  MORPHOLOGY 

OF  THE  FLOWERS. 

The  flower,  in  all  its  beauty  and  captivating  loveliness,  con- 
sists only  of  leaves,  changed  or  morphologised  so  as  to  effect 
most  important  purposes  in  the  economy  of  the  plant — 
namely,  the  production  of  seed  and  the  continuation  of  its 
kind  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  In  stating  a  fact  which  is  now 
an  axiom  in  vegetable  physiology,  I  do  not  mean  that  the 
parts  which  form  the  flower  were  ever  real  leaves  and  became 
changed,  but  they  are  the  true  analogues  of  leaves,  and 
frequently  change  back  to  leaf-like  organs.  "  This  doctrine, 
which  was  dimly  apprehended  by  the  great  Linnseus, 
was  initiated  by  a  German  botanist,  Caspar  Frederic  Wolf; 
and  again  independently,  in  successive  generations,  by  the 
poet  Goethe  and  by  the  elder  De  Candolle ;  but  it  was  not, 
until  lately,  well  understood.  The  botanists  of  Goethe's  day 
could  not  see  any  sense  or  practical  application  to  be  made 
of  the  proposition  that  the  parts  of  a  blossom  answer  to 
leaves  ;  and  so  the  study  of  homologies  had  long  to  wait." 
— Garden.  Even  now  it  is  somewhat  repulsive  to  our 
senses  to  be  told,  when  we  eat  an  apple,  pear,  or  orange,  that 
we  are  eating  altered  leaves ;  yet  such  is  true.  Every  step  we 
take  in  considering  this  matter  shows  infinite  wisdom  and 
design.  After  the  proper  organs  of  nutrition  of  the  plant 
have  been  perfected,  it  puts  on  a  different  aspect,  and  begins 
to  prepare  for  reproduction.  The  large  leaves  become 
smaller,  and  somew^iat  altered  in  appearance  ;  the  part  on 
which  the  flowers  are  produced,  shows  itself,  and  elongates  ; 
the  individual  flower-buds  follow ;  these,  in  the  greater 
number  of  plants,  are  placed  in  the  axil  of  a  bract  or  small 


MORPHOLOGY   OF   THE  FLOWERS. 


25 


a  Calyx, 
b  Corolla. 


c  Stamens. 
d  Pistils. 


altered  leaf,  which  covers  and  protects  them  when  young. 
As  they  advance  and  begin  to  swell  out,  a  further  protecting 
covering  is  observable  in  the  outer  whorl  of  changed  leaves — 
the  calyx,  which  in  turn  pro- 
tects the  more  tender  parts  -*-^  .^^T-^- 
while  they  are  immature  ; 
next,  the  second  whorl  of  pro- 
tecting covering — the  corolla, 
which  is  generally  considered 
by  those  unacquainted  with 
botanical  science  to  be  the 
flower /^7^  excellence  ;  but  it  is 
only  a  portion  of  it,  and  has 
its  duties  to  fulfil  in  the  economy  of  reproduction.  We  have 
already  noticed  that  the  highly-coloured  parts  of  leaves  of 
plants,  and  also  the  blossoms,  are  supposed  to  be  principally 
designed  for  attracting  insects  to  them.  Now  these  crea- 
tures are  very  sensitive  to  perfumes,  which  in  most  instances 
lead  them  to  their  prey ;  and  it  is  from  the  corolla  and 
nectariferous  glands,  situated  on  it,  or  near  it,  that  the 
perfumes  of  flowers  are 
chiefly  emitted.  We  here 
see  that  the  corolla  has 
two  offices  assigned  to 
it — the  protecting  of  the 
more  essential  orcjans  of 
reproduction,  the  sta- 
mens and  pistils,  while 
they  are  in  a  young  state, 
and  the  displaying  gay 
colours  for  attracting  in- 
sects ;  as  well,  no  doubt, 
as  to  please  and  gratify 
mankind,  and  to  adorn 
and  beautify  the  external 
world — thus  leading  us 
to  look  with  thankful- 
ness   and    adoration    to 


Pistil. 

Stamens. 

a  Ovarium. 

d  Filament. 

h  Stylo. 

t    Antlier.   . 

c  Stigma. 

/  Pollen. 

26        THE  STRUCTURE,  ETC.,  OF  PLANTS. 

the  great  God  of  the  Universe  through  His  manifold 
works.  These  two  important  coverings,  calyx  and  corolla, 
are  not,  however,  essential  to  all  plants  for  reproduction, 
as  there  are  a  considerable  number  which  bear  seeds 
abundantly  with  the  aid  of  only  one  of  them,  the  calyx — 
some  without  this  aid  altogether.  The  parts  which  are 
truly  essential  are  the  two  inner  rows  of  altered  leaves,  the 
stamens  and  pistils  ;  and  the  manner  which  they  operate 
for  the  production  of  seeds  is  often  very  wonderful,  and 
surely  beyond  the  realm  of  chance. 


v.— DESIGN  AND  ADAPTATION  IN  THE  FERTILISATION 

OF  PLANTS. 

At  the  late  meeting  of  the  British  Association  in  Belfast, 
I  doubt  not  that  many  of  you  will  remember  the  interest- 
ing lecture  given  by  Sir  John  Lubbock  on  "  Common  wild 
flowers  considered  in  relation  to  insects,"  when  he  showed 
the  many  beautiful  and  mechanical  contrivances  which  they 
possess  for  their  fertilisation.  This  curious  subject  has  been 
well  attended  to  by  our  painstaking  and  thoughtful  friends 
the  Germans.  In  a  book  published  last  year  at  Leipzig,  by 
Dr.  Herman  MuUer,  under  the  title  of  "  Die  Refruchtung 
der  Blumen  durch  Lisecten,"  it  is  well  and  cleverly  handled. 
Numerous  and  excellent  woodcuts  of  the  parts  of  the  flowers 
noticed  are  given,  and  their  construction  explained  ;  also 
the  parts  of  insects  are  figured,  which  together  show  the 
immense  field  of  observation  the  author  has  travelled  over. 

We  shall  only  be  able  to  make  a  few  brief  observations  on 
this  extensive  subject,  in  order  to  show  design  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  stamens  and  pistils  for  fertilisation.  This  matter, 
like  that  which  we  have  been  discussing  on  insect-catching 
plants,  was  known  and  written  on  with  considerable  ability 
at  the  end  of  the  last  century  ;  but  in  a  similar  manner  was 
allowed  to  remain  in  oblivion,  until  disentombed  by  Mr. 
Darwin.  Sprengel,  in  an  early  work  on  the  subject,  had 
observed  how  necessary  it  was  that  insects  should  visit  plants. 


THE   FERTILISATION    OF   PLANTS.  27 

in  order  to  transfer  the  pollen  of  the  stamens  of  one  flower 
to  that  of  another  ;  but  he  did  not  fully  comprehend  its 
great  importance.  It  frequently  happens  that  the  pistils  in 
flowers  ripen  before  the  stamens,  and  become  incapable  of 
fertilisation  when  the  pollen  is  ripe  ;  but  insects  visiting  the 
plant,  and  feeding  from  one  flower  to  another,  carry  the 
pollen  on  their  head  or  shoulders  to  other  flowers,  by  which 
means  they  are  fertilised.  This  we  noticed  during  the 
present  summer  in  one  of  the  conservatories  of  Glasnevin, 
in  a  very  beautiful  plant  belonging  to  the  family  of  Gen- 
tians— Lisianthits  Russelianus,  which  has  protandrous 
stamens.  The  pollen  grew  in  large  masses  on  the  anthers, 
and  was  visited  by  flies  and  humble  bees,  which  constantly 
became  more  or  less  besmeared  with  it  when  feeding,  and 
carried  it  to  the  pistils  prepared  to  receive  it,  after  their 
own  stamens  had  become  eff"ete.  By  the  aid  of  insects, 
nearly  every  flower  became  fertilised,  and  produced  seeds. 

With  regard  to  the  corolla,  the  supposition  is  that 
one  of  its  uses  is  to  attract  insects  to  the  flower.  As 
an  exemplification  of  this,  I  may  mention  the  singular 
fact  that  those  plants  which  flower  at  night,  and  remain 
open  only  one  night,  have  principally  white  flowers,  which 
we  may  conjecture  is  designed  for  attracting  night 
moths  and  other  night-feeding  insects  to  them.  The 
splendid  night-blooming  Cactus,  Cereus grafidifloriis,  afl'ords 
a  good  example.  The  flowers  of  this  plant  begin  to  ex- 
pand about  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  by  ten  o'clock 
are  fully  opened.  They  are  of  a  creamy  white  colour,  with 
hundreds  of  stamens  in  each  flower,  and  the  delicious  per- 
fume emitted  fills  the  whole  conservatory  in  which  they 
are  cultivated  with  a  spicy  kind  of  odour.  By  the  first 
dawn  of  morning,  they  are  partially  or  nearly  closed,  and 
they  never  open  again.  If  they  are  fertilised  artificially, 
or  perchance  by  insects,  they  close  up  quickly  ;  but  if  not 
fertilised,  they  remain  partially  open  during  a  portion  of 
the  following  morning.  This  species  was,  for  many  years, 
supposed  to  be  the  only  night-flowering  kind  of  Cactus  ; 
but    amongst    the    numerous    plants    introduced   into    our 


28 


THE   STRUCTURE,   ETC.,   OF   PLANTS. 


gardens  and   conservatories  within   the  last   quarter  of  a 
century,  there  has  been   a  fair  proportion   of  the  Cactus 
tribe,     including     a     number     of     night -flowering    kinds, 
the  flowers  of  which 
are  all  white.     I  do 
not  know  a  single  in- 
stance   of  a  purple, 
red,  or  yellow  Cactus 
which  is  night-flower- 


ing, 


though 


m  no 
other  genus  of  plants 
are  those  brilliant 
colours  more  con- 
spicuous than  in  the 
day-floweringspecies 
of  it.  The  perfume 
in  most  of  the  night- 
flowering  kinds  is 
alsostrongand  agree- 
able. In  these  in- 
stances we  have,  no 
doubt,  design  dis- 
played, both  in  the 
colouring  of  the 
flowers  and  per- 
fume emitted  from 
them,  for  the  attrac- 
tion  of  insects. 
Again,  we  have  a 
number  of  flowers 
which  smell  sweetly 
and  powerfully  by 
night,  but  have  little  or  no  perfume  during  the  day ;  and 
these  for  the  most  part  have  dull,  greyish-coloured  flowers. 
This  occurs  among  a  considerable  number  of  orchids, 
but  a  more  famihar  example  may  be  found  in  the  old- 
fashioned  "  night-smelling  Stock,"  CheirantJms  tristis,  with 
which    many   of    us    have  long   been    familiar,  though   it 


a  Ovarium. 


&  Pistils. 


c  Stamens. 


THE   FERTILISATION   OF   PLANTS.  29 

is  not  now  so  frequently  met  with  in  gardens  as  it 
formerly  was.  I  may  mention  another  plant,  at  one 
time  rather  a  favourite  in  our  conservatories,  which 
only  opens  its  flowers  and  emits  its  perfume  at  night — 
namely,  the  Nycterinia  lychnidea :  its  habit  is  denoted 
by  its  generic  name.  During  the  day  the  sepals  and 
petals  incurve  so  as  nearly  to  meet  and  close  up  the  flower; 
but  at  sundown  they  expand  widely,  and  show  the  pretty 
white  blossoms,  which  are  very  agreeably  perfumed. 

There  are  many  instances  that  might  be  adduced,  showing 
design  for  fertilisation  among  plants  which  have  the  stamens 
in  one  individual  and  the  pistils  in  another,  and  which  are 
called  by  botanists  dioecious  or  diclinous.  I  shall  mention  one 
very  remarkable  case — viz.,  Valisneria  spiralis,  a  plant  which 
grows  in  fresh-water  rivers,  and  is  not  uncommon  in  many 
parts  of  Southern  Europe.  The  flowers  in  the  male  or 
staminiferous  plant  are  extremely  minute,  white,  and  of  a 
globular  form,  and  are  sessile  on  a  conical-formed  rachis, 
the  whole  being  enclosed,  while  young,  in  a  spathe  or  sheath, 
which  latter  splits  open  into  two  or  three  pieces  when 
mature,  thus  allowing  the  little  flowers  to  detach  them- 
selves from  the  rachis  on  which  they  were  seated,  and  rise 
by  their  natural  buoyancy  to  the  surface  of  the  water,  where 
the  three-parted  calyx  expands,  and  permits  the  pollen  to 
escape  from  the  anthers  of  the  stamens.  The  female  or 
pistiliferous  flowers  are  quite  different  from  those  of  the 
staminiferous.  Each  of  the  former  is  enclosed  in  a  tubular 
spathe,  attached  simply  to  the  end  of  a  very  long,  slender, 
spirally-twisted  stalk,  which  uncoils  more  or  less  according 
to  the  depth  of  the  water,  so  as  to  allow  the  flower  to  float 
on  the  surface,  where  it  expands  and  is  fertilised  by  the  float- 
ing pollen  of  the  numerous  male  flowers  coming  in  contact 
with  its  stigmas. 

We  have  yet  to  notice  design  in  the  structure  of  flowers, 
connected  with  their  fertilisation  by  the  aid  of  insects.  The 
large  family  of  the  orchidaceous  plants  has  been  made  a 
special  study  by  Mr.  Darwin,  who  considers  that  none  of 
the  flowers   in   this   numerous  section   is   fertilised   by   its 


o 


0  THE   STRUCTURE,   ETC.,    OF   PLANTS. 


own  stamens,  but  rather  by  the  pollen  of  other  flowers, 
aided  by  insects.  The  arguments  and  reasons  he  brings 
forward  to  support  his  views  are  certainly  ingenious  and 
original.  No  doubt  his  theory  is  correct  in  the  main,  but 
we  have  seen  the  flowers  of  orchids  produce  seed  in  our 
conservatories  during  the  winter  months,  when  flying 
insects  were  not  visible.  The  peculiar  structure  and 
forms  of  the  flowers  of  this  remarkable  genus,  along  with 
the  beautiful  colours  which  adorn  them,  give  them  an  in- 
terest which  is  not  attached  to  any  other  family  of  plants 
at  the  present  time.  Many  of  them  are  fac-similes  of  bees, 
flies,  spiders,  moths,  locusts,  and  even  small  birds.  In  many 
of  them  their  flowers  are  so  grotesque  in  form,  that  it  is 
no  longer  with  the  vegetable  kingdom  they  can  be  com- 
pared, but  their  resemblance  must  be  sought  in  the  animal 
world.  For  the  most  part  they  do  not  grow  in  the  earth 
like  other  plants,  but  attach  themselves  to  the  bark  of 
trees,  taking  their  support  from  the  bodies  they  adhere  to, 
yet  they  are  not  nourished  by  them  ;  hence  they  are  called 
epiphytes,  not  parasites.  In  the  flowers  of  all  this  tribe  the 
stamens  are  seated  on  the  pistillum,  and  their  pollen — or 
pollinia,  as  it  is  called — is  different  in  consistence  from  that 
of  nearly  all  other  flowers,  being  viscid,  soft,  and  col- 
lected together  in  little  masses  attached  to  short  stalks  or 
caudicles.  These  pollinia  are  enclosed  in  a  slender  envelope, 
or  cap,  which  ruptures  transversely  on  being  touched,  thus 
exposing  the  viscid  masses.  When  the  enveloping  cap, 
which  often  resembles  the  head  of  an  insect  or  bird,  is  re- 
moved, the  pollinia  are  often  irritable  and  spring  forward, 
attaching  themselves  by  their  viscid  surface  to  the  body 
which  causes  the  irritation  to  take  place.  The  nectar-gland 
is  within  the  flower,  and  cannot  be  reached  by  an  insect 
until  it  pushes  its  head  inward,  and  thrusts  forth  its  proboscis 
towards  the  gland.  By  this  action,  the  head  of  the  creature 
and  its  proboscis  come  in  contact  with  the  pollen  masses, 
which  adhere  to  them,  owing  to  their  viscid  nature,  and 
are  carried  to  the  next  flower  the  insect  visits  ;  being  thus 
brought  in  contact  with  its  pistillum,  the  latter  is  fertilised 


I 


THE   FERTILISATION    OF   PLANTS.        C  31 


by  the  pollen  of  a  different  flower.  I  have  frequently  seen 
bees  flying  about  from  flower  to  flower  with  a  number 
of  those  pollen  bodies  attached  to  their  head,  shoulders, 
and  proboscis.  In  none  of  the  kinds  is  this  wonderful 
design  and  contrivance  more  conspicuous  than  in  the 
"lady-slipper"  plants,  the  genus  Cypripediinn,  the  species  of 
which  have  the  pollen  masses  rather  differently  fixed  from 
those  of  most  of  the  other  kinds  of  OrchidacecB.  They  are  in 
two  separate  sets,  so  that  in  the  Linnaean  system  this  genus 
was  placed  in  a  different  order  of  the  class  Gyiiandria — • 
namely,  the  second  order  Diandria  ;  the  others  being  in  the 
first  order,  Monandria.  In  some  of  the  species  of  this  genus 
the  top  of  the  rostellum,  which  in  many  of  the  other  kinds 
forms  an  appearance  like  a  little  head,  is  here  flattened  out  and 
coloured,  so  that  insects  may  readily  alight  on  it ;  near  the 
base  of  it  are  two  apertures,  one  on  each  side,  in  which  the 
pollen  masses  are  placed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  it 
nearly  impossible  for  an  insect  to  enter  without  carrying 
them  away  on  its  head  or  shoulders  ;  and  there  is  no  other 
way  it  can  reach  the  honey,  except  through  one  or  other  of 
those  two  apertures.  The  honey-gland  in  some  species  is 
surrounded  with  viscid  hairs  which  entangle  small  insects  that 
enter,  and  hold  them  fast  until  they  perish.  I  have  counted 
from  twelve  to  fifteen  of  their  dead  bodies  lying  among  the 
hairs  of  one  flower  of  C.  ScJilimii.  In  the  irritability  of  the 
stamens,  design  might  be  shown  in  many  cases,  a  few  of 
which  may  suffice  for  our  present  purpose.  In  one  genus 
of  plants — namely,  Stylidiiini — the  column  of  fructification 
is  curiously  placed.  The  stigma  is  at  the  apex  of  a  long 
ovary-like  body,  which  is  articulate  or  jointed  at  its  base  ; 
the  two  anthers  are  sessile,  close  to  the  stigma,  and  placed 
one  on  each  side  of  it.  This  long  ovary  body  is  reflexed, 
and  hangs  almost  directly  head-downwards  ;  but  the  in- 
stant it  is  touched  by  any  insect,  or  designedly,  it  throws 
a  somersault  by  the  aid  of  the  articulation  at  its  base,  and 
in  so  doing,  hits  against  the  body  which  caused  it  to  jerk 
forward,  and  thus  scatters  the  pollen  and  fertilises  the  stigma. 
Our  common  barberry  affords  another  instance   of  this 


"^0 


6-1  THE   STRUCTURE,   ETC.,   OF   PLANTS. 

phenomenon.  The  stamens  in  the  barberry  flowers  lie 
back  in  the  cavities  of  the  petals  of  the  corolla,  away  from 
the  pistillum,  so  that  the  pollen  would  be  lost  if  discharged 
while  they  are  in  that  state  ;  but  their  irritable  filaments, 
on  being  touched  on  their  inner  faces  by  insects  in  search 
of  honey,  move  forward  one  after  the  other  in  regular  suc- 
cession, and  discharge  their  pollen  on  the  pistillum,  or  on 
any  insect  that  may  be  near  at  the  time,  thus  giving  the 
flowers  a  double  chance  of  being  fertilised  naturally  and 
by  the  aid  of  insects.  The  stamens  in  the  North  American 
Kabnias  act  similarly,  and  are  highly  irritable.  I  might 
farther  show  design  in  the  formation  of  flowers,  as  well  as 
in  the  behaviour  of  plants  after  fertilisation  had  been  eflected 
and  the  seeds  ripening ;  but  having  already  observed 
on  all  the  parts  of  the  plant  seriatim,  I  shall  only  re- 
mark, in  conclusion,  how  unerringly  the  pollen  tubes  pene- 
trate the  stigma,  and,  overcoming  all  obstacles,  direct  their 
course  to  the  small  opening  in  the  ovule,  through  which 
alone  they  can  enter  to  effect  the  fertilisation  of  the  embr^'o 
cells.  In  this  one  might  be  led  to  suppose  it  nearly  an  act 
of  consciousness.  We  thus  see  in  the  important  pheno- 
mena of  reproduction,  not  only  unmistakable  instances  of 
design  manifested,  but  indications  of  vitality,  especially 
when  the  reproduction  of  some  of  the  lower  tribes  of  cellular 
plants  is  taken  into  consideration.  In  all  nature,  the  sim- 
plicity of  her  works  is  not  less  remarkable  than  their 
perfection,  and  their  acting  harmoniously  to  accomplish 
whatever  end  they  are  destined  for  in  the  boundless  con- 
ceptions of  the  Creator.  We  shall  therefore  conclude  by 
again  quoting  from  the  sweet  Psalmist  of  Israel,  "  O  Lord, 
how  manifold  are  Thy  works !  in  wisdom  hast  Thou  made 
them  all :  the  earth  is  full  of  Thv  riches." 


cA~a-3  , 


gin  teminatiirn  ^f  J^ijlr^rt  ^^n.tt\% 

^ — / 

REV.  PROFESSOR  WATTS. 


SPENCER'S  BIOLOGICAL  HYPOTHESIS. 


♦  '•■♦ 


AS  stated  by  himself,  Mr.  Spencer's  aim  in  his  elaborate 
treatise  on  biology,  "is  to  set  forth  the  general  truths  of 
biology,  as  illustrative  of,  and  as  interpreted  by,  the  laws  of 
evolution  :  the  special  truths  being  introduced  only  so  far  as 
is  needful  for  elucidation  of  the  general  truths."  For  aid  in 
the  execution  of  this  task,  Mr.  Spencer  acknowledges  his 
indebtedness  to  Professor  Huxley  and  Dr.  Hooker,  who 
not  only  supplied  him  with  information  where  his  own  was 
deficient,  but  also  looked  through  the  proof-sheets,  pointing 
out  errors  of  detail  into  which  he  had  fallen  ;  or,  as  he 
expresses  it  in  the  preface  to  his  second  volume,  furnished 
him  with  valuable  criticisms,  and  took  the  trouble  of  check- 
ing the  numerous  statements  of  fact  on  which  the  argu- 
ments proceed.    • 

The  candour  of  Mr.  Spencer  in  this  acknowledgment  of 
his  dependence  upon  others  for  information,  and  of  his 
indebtedness  for  correction  and  criticism,  is  only  equalled 
by  his  polemic  chivalry  in  his  review  of  Professor  Owen's 
theory  of  the  vertebrate  skeleton.  He  prefaces  his  strictures 
by  the  following  confession  : — "  We  confess  that  nearly  all 
we  know  of  this  department  of  biology"  (the  bony  structure 
of  the  vertebrata),  "  has  been  learnt  from  his  lectures  and 
writings.  We  pretend  to  no  independent  investigations,  but 
merely  to  such  knowledge  of  the  phenomena  as  he  has 
furnished  us  with.  Our  position,  then,  is  such  that,  had 
Professor  Owen  simply  enunciated  his  generalisations,  we 
should  have  accepted  them  on  his  authority.  But  he  has 
brought  forward  evidence  to  prove  them.  By  so  doing,  he  has 
tacitly  appealed  to  the  judgment  of  his  readers  and  hearers 
— has  practically  said,  *  Here  are  the  facts  ;  do  they  not 
warrant  these  conclusions  .-**     And  all  we  propose  to  do,  is 


4  SPENCER  S  BIOLOGICAL   HYPOTHESIS. 

to  consider  whether  the  conclusions  are  warranted  by  the 
facts  brought  forward." 

The  position  here  assumed  is  not  only  just,  but  generous. 
It  is  just,  in  that  the  reviewer  judges  of  Professor  Owen's 
conclusions  from  the  facts  adduced  in  their  support ;  it  is 
generous,  in  that  he  holds  himself  in  readiness  to  accept 
Professor  Owen's  generalisations  on  his  own  authority, 
without  any  proof  whatever.  It  is,  of  course,  to  be  pre- 
sumed that  this  profession  of  generosity  is  to  be  accepted 
with  all  the  abatements  demanded  by  the  interests  of 
science.  Science  cannot  afford  to  be  generous,  and  it  is 
peculiarly  unscientific,  as  it  is  unphilosophical  and  unwise,  to 
accept  generalisations  on  the  mere  authority  of  any  man. 

The  chief  object  of  these  references  to  Mr.  Spencer's 
relation  to  the  facts  with  which  he  deals  in  his  work  on 
biology,  is  to  vindicate  the  class  to  which  he  belongs  from 
the  charge  of  presumption,  in  undertaking  to  judge  of  the 
warrantableness  of  the  conclusions  which  scientists  have 
deduced  from  the  phenomena  of  nature.  Mr.  Spencer  con- 
fesses that  he  is  not  a  scientist  in  the  ordinary  acceptation 
of  the  term.  He  is  not  a  chemist ;  he  is  not  an  astronomer  ; 
he  is  not  a  physiologist ;  he  is  not  a  molecular  or  atomic 
physicist ;  he  does  not  profess  to  be  a  geologist  or  a  botanist ; 
but  he,  nevertheless,  claims  the  right  of  judging  of  the  con- 
clusions arrived  at  by  the  foremost  of  the  practical  investi- 
gators in  these  departments  of  the  wondrous  phenomena  of 
nature.  If  a  man  come  forth  out  of  any  of  these  departments 
with  his  conclusions,  and  refer,  in  proof  of  their  validity,  to 
facts,  Mr.  Spencer  will  meet  him  with  all  the  courtesy  and 
grace  of  a  knight-errant ;  but  he  will  give  him  to  understand 
that  he  must  face  him  in  a  logical  tournament  before  he  has 
earned  his  scientific  spurs.  He  will  trust  him  as  a  witness 
of  what  he  has  seen  with  the  telescope  or  miscroscope,  or 
of  what  has  been  revealed  to  him  under  the  torture  of  the 
crucible,  or  the  stroke  of  the  hammer,  or  the  all  but  atom- 
disclosing  radiance  of  the  electric  beam  ;  but  as  soon  as  he 
passes  from  testimony  to  inference,  he  will  apply  to  his 
conclusions  tests  furnished,  not  by  the  laws  of  matter,  but 


THE   TERM   EVOLUTION    EQUIVOCAL.  5 

by  the  laws   of  mind,  to  which,   by  the  very  fact  of  his 
attempt  at  inference,  he  has  appealed. 

What  Mr.  Spencer  has  done  in  his  review  of  Professor 
Owen,  theologians  claim  the  right  to  do  in  his  own  case. 
"  All  they  propose  to  do  is  to  consider  whether  his  con- 
clusions are  warranted  by  the  facts  brought  forward  " — 
facts,  be  it  observed,  which  he,  like  themselves,  has  merely 
at  second-hand.  In  estimating  his  work  on  biology,  they 
raise  no  other  questions  than  he  himself  has  raised  in  his 
treatment  of  the  works  of  others.  They  simply  ask  what 
are  his  conclusions,  and  what  are  the  facts  to  which  he 
appeals  in  support  of  them  ? 

In  general  terms,  his  conclusions  may  be  characterised 
by  the  one  word  evolution.  The  term  biology  means  simply 
the  science  of  life,  and  Mr.  Spencer's  hypothesis,  on  which 
he  has  built  up  this  system  of  biology  developed  in  these 
two  volumes,  is  evolutionary.  The  term  evolutionary  is 
here  employed  advisedly,  because  of  the  equivocalness  of  the 
term  evolution.  As  evolution  simply  signifies  the  process 
of  evoking,  or  rolling  out,  something  already  existing,  at 
least  in  its  elements  (which  is  more  than  Mr.  Spencer 
admits),  it  has  been  employed  by  parties  differing  widely 
both  in  regard  to  the  agencies  and  instruments  by  which 
the  process  of  evolvement  or  evocation,  has  been  effected,  or 
conducted.  A  man  who  holds  that  the  present  order  of 
things — embracing  the  orderly  arrangements  of  the  universe, 
and  the  fauna  and  flora  of  our  earth — has  been  evoked  or 
evolved  from  previously  created,  or  previously  existing, 
suitable  material,  by  the  skill  and  power  of  an  infinitely 
wise  and  an  infinitely  powerful  Architect,  may,  nevertheless, 
be  called  an  evolutionist.  Or  a  man  may  entertain  the 
crude  notions  of  a  Democritus  or  a  Lucretius,  recently 
eulogised  before  the  British  Association,  and  regard  the 
existing  order  as  evolved  from  atoms  equipped  with  hooks 
and  claws,  and  be  none  the  less  entitled  to  rank  as  an 
evolutionist ;  or  he  may  differ  from  Lucretius  as  much  as  a 
modern  worker  in  the  domain  of  molecular  physics  differs 
from  a  man  absolutely  destitute  of  the  rudest  appliance  oi^ 


6  SPE^XER'S   BIOLOGICAL   HYPOTHESIS. 

the  laboratory,  and  yet  belong  to  this  wide-reaching 
category.  Democritus  and  Lucretius,  Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin 
and  Lamarck,  Mr.  Charles  Darwin  and  Professor  Huxley, 
Dr.  Tyndall  and  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  theist  and  atheist, 
believers  in  a  personal  God,  and  those  who,  stripping  God 
of  the  attribute  of  personality,  would  identify  Him  with 
nature,  and  deny  that  He  possesses  any  independent  ante- 
mundane  or  extramundane  life — may  all,  so  far  as  the  signi- 
fication of  the  term  is  concerned,  be  designated  evolutionists. 
In  a  word,  the  term  is  equivocal,  and  therefore  misleading, 
until  it  is  defined.  It  may  be  used  to  designate  a  general 
class,  but  only  where  the  design  is  to  express  the  very 
general  notion,  that  those  embraced  under  the  class  agree 
in  holding  that  the  present  order  of  things  is  the  outcome, 
whether  by  natural  or  supernatural  agency,  of  previously 
existing  states  of  matter.  As  soon  as  it  is  proposed  to  treat 
of  an  evolutionary  hypothesis,  it  is  demanded  alike  by  per- 
spicuity and  honesty,  that  it  be  differentiated  from  others 
bearing  the  same  general  class-name. 

Mr.  Spencer's  hypothesis  differs  from  all  the  evolutionary 
hypotheses  which,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  have  hitherto  been 
broached.  He  is  not,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say,  a 
Lucretian,  and  he  is  not  a  Darwinian  of  the  type  of  Dr. 
Erasmus  Darwin,  or  Lamarck,  or  even  of  Mr.  Charles 
Darwin.  He  rejects  every  theory  which  might  militate  in 
any  way  against  the  assumption  that  mind  has  nothing  to 
do,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  with  the  evolutionary 
process  ;  and  therefore  he  will  not  admit  that  there  exists 
in  organisms  even  a  primordial  impulse  impelling  them  to 
unfold  into  more  heterogeneous  forms.  Had  he  been  in  the 
vicinity  of  Professor  Tyndall  on  the  occasion  of  his  recent 
Manchester  recantation,  when  he  admitted  that  "every- 
where throughout  our  planet  we  notice  this  tendency  of  the 
ultimate  particles  of  matter  to  run  into  symmetric  forms," 
and  affirmed  that  "  the  very  molecules  seem  instinct  with  a 
desire  for  union  and  growth,"  he  would  have  warned  him 
that  he  was  treading  on  the  margin  of  very  dangerous  con- 
cessions, and  would  have  informed  him  that,  not  "tendency 


spencer's  hypothesis  purely  mechanical.        7 

to  unfold,"  but  "liability  to  be  unfolded,"*  is  the  present 
position  of  the  advanced  thinkers  of  the  evolutionary 
school.  Nor  is  he  satisfied  even  with  this  safeguard 
against  the  intrusion  of  mind.  He  is  careful  to  add,  as  a 
qualifying  clause,  that  even  this  "liabiHty  to  be  unfolded" 
arises  from  the  actions  and  reactions  of  organisms  and 
their  fluctuating  environments."  His  hypothesis  may  be 
termed  the  mechanical-genesis  hypothesis.  Adaptation 
becomes,  in  his  hands,  "direct  equilibration;"  and  Mr. • 
Darwin's  "natural  selection"  is  translated  into  "indirect 
equilibration."  But  whilst  he  criticises,  or  rejects,  or  modifies, 
all  previous  scientific  hypotheses,  the  chief  design  of  his 
work  is  to  overthrow  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  special 
creations.  Singling  out  this  doctrine,  which  he  entitles  a 
hypothesis,  he  says — "  Either  the  multitudinous  kinds  of 
organisms  that  now  exist,  and  the  still  more  multitudinous 
kinds  that  have  existed  during  past  geologic  eras,  have  been 
from  time  to  time  separately  made  ;  or  they  have  arisen  by 
insensible  steps,  through  actions  such  as  we  see  habitually 
going  on.  Both  hypotheses,"  he  adds,  "  imply  a  cause.  The 
last,  certainly  as  much  as  the  first,  recognises  this  cause 
as  inscrutable.  The  point  at  issue,"  he  alleges,  "  is  how  this 
inscrutable  cause  has  worked  in  the  production  of  living 
forms.  This  point,  if  it  is  to  be  decided  at  all,  is  to  be 
decided  only  by  the  examination  of  evidence.  Let  us 
inquire  which  of  these  antagonistic  hypotheses  is  most  con- 
gruous with  established  facts." ■[* 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  statement  that  Mr.  Spencer 
admits  a  cause,  but  holds  this  cause  to  be  inscrutable.  In 
this  he  claims  agreement  with  what  he  is  pleased  to  designate 
the  creation  hypothesis,  which  he  rejects.  Now  this  is  not 
a  fair  account  of  the  views  of  his  opponents  in  regard  to  the 
ultimate  cause.  Creationists  do  not  regard  the  ultimate 
cause  as  inscrutable.  They  do  hold  that  the  ultimate  cause 
cannot  be  known  to  perfection  ;  but  this  is  a  very  different 
thing  from  holding  that  they  know  nothing  whatever  about 
that  cause. 
*  "  Principles  of  Biology,"  Vol.  i.,  pp.  430-1.       t  Ibidy  Vol.  I.,  pp.  331-2. 


8  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

The  point  here  raised  is  in  fact  the  chief  point  at  issue. 
Mr.  Spencer  alleges  that  the  ultimate  cause  is  inscrutable  ; 
and  here  the  issue  is  ioined.  We  do  not  admit  the  ricrht  of 
any  man  to  refer  phenomena  to  a  cause  which  is  inscrutable  ; 
for  the  very  obvious  reason,  that  before  the  reference  is 
thought  of,  he  must  observe  something  in  the  phenomena 
warranting  and  suggesting  the  reference.  No  such  reference 
is  ever  made  by  any  intelligent  being,  except  on  the  obser- 
vance of  qualities  or  actions  in  the  phenomena  which  can, 
in  his  estimation,  be  accounted  for  only  on  the  assumption 
that  a  cause  possessing  certain  attributes  has  produced 
them.  This  is,  of  course,  all  one  with  saying  that  before 
he  makes  the  reference  he  has  some  conception  of  the  cause 
to  which  he  makes  it.  Mr.  Spencer  regards  the  unthink- 
ableness  of  the  creation  hypothesis  a  sufficient  reason  for 
rejecting  it.  This  hypothesis,  he  remarks,  "implies  the 
establishment  of  a  relation  in  thought  between  nothing 
and  something — a  relation  of  which  one  term  is  absent 
— an  impossible  relation."*  Now  if  it  be  impossible  to  esta- 
blish a  relation  in  thought  between  nothing  and  some- 
thing, or  to  establish  a  relation  where  one  term  of  the 
relation  is  wanting,  how  are  we  to  establish  a  relation 
between  the  phenomena  of  the  universe  and  an  alleged 
inscrutable  cause  .-*  An  inscrutable  cause  is  an  unknown 
cause,  and  with  an  unknown  thing  no  relation  can  be 
imagined.  The  term  of  the  relation  represented  by  the 
unknown  cause,  is  a  term  which  cannot  be  present  to 
thought,  and  must,  therefore,  be  regarded  as  not  furnishing 
the  additional  element  of  the  relation,  which,  according  to 
Mr.  Spencer,  is  indispensable  "  to  the  framing  of  coherent 
thought."  Judged,  therefore,  by  his  own  crucial  test  of  all 
truth,  and  his  own  postulated  condition  of  all  thinking,  this 
position  is  indefensible.  It  is  not  only  unphilosophical  to 
ascribe  phenomena  to  an  inscrutable  cause,  but  the  ascrip- 
tion is  absolutely  unthinkable.  Let  any  man  make  the 
experiment,  and  he  will  soon  be  convinced  that  the  thing 
adventured  is  impossible  even  in  imagination.  Of  an  inscrut- 
■^  "  Principles  of  Biology,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  336. 


HIS  ULTIMATE  UNKNOWABLE,  YET  MANIFESTED!  9 

able  thing,  nothing  can  be  affirmed  save  that  it  is  inscrut- 
able, and  to  it  nothing  implying  knowledge  of  it  can  be 
ascribed  or  referred  ;  and  of  all  the  imaginable  predicates, 
the  predicate  proposed  by  the  evolutionists  is  at  the  farthest 
remove  from  admissibility.  The  predicate  embraces  the 
entire  phenomena  of  the  entire  universe,  including  the 
evolutionist  himself;  whilst  the  something  of  which  all 
these  are  predicated  is,  in  his  own  view  of  it  (if  view  of  the 
inscrutable  be  possible),  absolutely  unknowable  and  un- 
known ! 

It  is  well  that  the  laws  of  thought  will  not  permit  even 
the  ablest  philosopher  to  conduct  with  impunity  a  process 
of  thinking  involving  an  absolute  absurdity.  Of  the  truth 
of  this  maxim,  Mr.  Spencer's  writings  furnish  abundant 
illustrations  ;  and  of  these,  one  of  the  most  notable  is  his 
account  of  the  manifestation  of  this  same  inscrutable  cause. 
In  his  "First  Principles,"*  he  informs  us  that  "matter  and 
motion,  as  we  know  them,  are  differently  conditioned 
manifestations  of  force;"  and,  in  the  very  same  breath,  he 
affirms  that  this  same  force,  of  which  matter  and  motion 
are  the  manifestations,  "must  for  ever  remain  unknown"! 
It  would  seem  impossible  to  write  down  two  sentences  more 
palpably  at  variance  than  these.  First,  we  are  told  that 
force  manifests  itself  under  the  conditions  furnished  by 
matter  and  motion ;  and  then  we  are  told  that  these 
"differently  conditioned  manifestations"  of  it  give  us  no 
information  whatever  of  what  force  is !  That  is,  force 
manifests  itself,  and  yet  does  not  make  itself  manifest ! 
When  a  man  can  believe  that  a  thing  can  be,  and  at  the 
same  time  not  be,  he  may  be  able  to  believe  that  a  thing 
can  manifest  itself,  and  yet  impart  no  information  respecting 
itself. 

On  the  relation  of  matter  to  force,  Mr.  Spencer  is 
exceedingly  unphilosophical.  He  regards  matter  as  simply 
a  condition  of  the  manifestation  of  force.  This  is  exactly 
the  reverse  of  the  actual  relation,  and  involves  the  subordi- 
nation of  a  substance  to  its  own  qualities.     Matter  sustains 

*  "First  Principles,"  p.  169. 


10 


spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 


to  force  no  such  relationship.  Of  the  force  referred  to, 
matter  is  the  source  ;  and  were  there  no  matter  in  existence, 
there  would  not  only  be  no  manifestation  of  this  force,  but 
there  would  be  no  such  force  to  be  manifested.  The  force 
in  question  is  not  an  entity  existing  outside  and  independent 
of  matter,  availing  itself  of  matter  as  a  medium  of  manifesta- 
tion ;  it  is  itself  the  offspring  of  the  qualities  of  matter,  and 
through  it  matter  reveals  itself  The  fact  is,  Mr.  Spencer's 
notion  of  the  relation  in  question  would  reduce  matter  to 
the  rank  of  an  occasional  cause,  and,  stripping  it  of  all 
claim  to  causal  efficiency,  would  make  the  elements  of  which 
it  consists  a  source  of  perpetual  delusion.  It  is  not  only 
the  common  conviction  of  mankind,  but  it  is  the  conviction 
of  those  who  have  investigated  most  thoroughly  the 
domain  of  molecular  physics,  that  matter  is  the  possessor, 
and  not  the  mere  revealer  of  force. 

It  is  unnecessary  formally  to  establish  this  position.  The 
physical  sciences  are  founded  upon  it.  The  astronomer, 
and  the  molecular  physicist,  alike  proceed  upon  the  assump- 
tion that  the  forces  with  which  they  are  dealing,  are  not 
extra-material  entities,  but  qualities  or  attributes  inherent 
in  matter  itself  This  fact  is  fatal  to  the  claims  put  forth 
in  behalf  of  Mr.  Spencer's  "ultimate  of  ultimates,"  as  it 
reduces  it  to  the  category  of  a  mere  quality  of  matter. 
A  mere  quality  can  never  take  the  rank  of  an  ultimate 
cause.  An  ultimate  cause,  and  especially  the  ultimate  of 
ultimates,  must  exist  prior  to,  and  independent  of,  all  things 
except  itself,  and  must  account  for  their  existence.  This  a 
mere  quality  cannot  do.  As  it  implies,  from  its  very 
nature,  the  existence  of  a  substance  in  which  it  inheres,  and 
without  which  it  can  have  no  being,  it  is  manifest  that  it 
cannot  be  regarded  as  antecedent  to  that  substance,  or 
independent  of  it.  As  all  this  is  true  of  force  in  its  relations 
to  matter,  it  follows,  of  necessity,  that  force  cannot  be 
regarded  as  the  ultimate  cause  from  which  this  stupendous 
universe,  with  its  fauna  and  flora,  has  come  forth. 

But  even  though  it  were  conceded  that  there  is  outside 
and  independent  of  matter,  a  distinct  entity  called  force, 


HIS  ULTIMATE  REDUCED  TO  "PUSH"  AND  "PULL."        11 

it  is  difficult  to  see  how  this  concession  would  aid  the 
cause  of  the  Spencerian  evolutionist ;  for  either  this 
entity  is  possessed  of  intelligence,  or  it  is  not.  If  it  be 
intelligent,  and  display  that  intelligence  in  the  determi- 
nation of  ends  to  be  wrought  out,  and  the  adaptation 
of  means  for  working  out  the  ends  determined,  it  must  be 
possessed  of  all  the  essendal  attributes  of  personality — 
must  be  capable  of  purpose  and  contrivance — must,  in  fact, 
possess  reason  and  will,  as  well  as  power.  In  a  word,  it 
must  be  the  very  entity  for  whose  existence  theologians 
contend — it  must  be  God.  If,  however,  it  do  not  possess 
intelligence  and  will,  it  is,  ipso  facto,  disqualified  for  the 
exercise  of  the  imperial  prerogatives  assigned  to  it  by  the 
evolutionists.  Stripped  of  all  ambiguity,  what  is  this  entity  } 
As  described  by  men  of  science,  its  functions  are  expressed 
by  the  two  terms,  attraction  and  repulsion,  or,  to  use  the 
popular  language  of  Dr.  Tyndall,  by  the  terms  "push"  and 
"pull."  Will  any  man,  who  has  any  regard  for  his  reputa- 
tion, venture  to  say  that  all  the  phenomena  of  the  universe 
are  the  offspring  of  "push"  and  "pull".-*  Does  anyone 
imagine  that  any  amount  of  pushing  and  pulling  would 
ever  originate  matter }  Does  any  evolutionist  believe  that, 
by  pushing  and  pulling,  matter  absolutely  neutral,  if  there 
could  be  such  a  substance,  could  be  invested  with  diverse 
attributes  ;  or  that  one  kind  of  matter  could  be  differentiated 
into  the  distinct  elements  which  actually  exist  .-*  Or,  to  go 
farther  back,  can  any  intelligent  being  believe  that,  prior  to 
the  existence  of  any  substance,  whether  material  or  spiritual, 
there  could  be  any  such  actions  as  are  expressed  by  "push" 
and  "pull".'*  He  who  speaks  of  "push"  and  "pull"  as 
ultimate,  simply  uses  language  without  import.  The  idea 
attempted  defies  thought.  Let  Mr.  Spencer  test  it  by  his 
own  crucial  test  of  all  truth — let  him  try  a  mental  presen- 
tation of  "  push"  and  "  pull"  where  there  is  nothing  to  push 
or  pull,  and  nothing  to  be  pushed  or  pulled,  and  he  will 
find  that  the  elements  necessary  to  coherent  thought  arc 
wanting. 

Common   sense   repudiates   the   Spencerian   ultimate   as 


12  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

absolutely  unthinkable.  If,  as  all  admit,  out  of  nothing 
nothing  comes,  there  can  be  no  "push"  or  "pull"  apart 
from  an  antecedent  pusher  or  puller.  Nor  is  this  all ;  for 
this  same  principle  of  causality  demands  the  existence  of 
suitable  materials  to  be  pushed  and  pulled.  To  take  an 
example  from  magnetic  pushing  and  puUing ;  "push"  and 
"pull,"  intelligently  regulated,  will  account  for  the  syste- 
matic grouping  of  iron  filings  around  the  poles  of  a  magnet ; 
but  if  one  substitute  for  the  magnet,  a  piece  of  lead,  or  for 
the  iron  filings,  a  number  of  marbles,  he  will  find  that  there 
will  be  neither  pushing  nor  pulling,  and  that  the  systematic 
grouping  which  elicited  his  admiration  in  the  former  case 
is  altogether  wanting  in  the  latter.  And  as  it  is  with 
proximate,  so  it  is  with  more  remote  effects.  The  "push" 
and  "pull"  incident  to  gravitation  will  account  for  the 
movement  of  our  earth  around  the  sun,  and  for  the  modifi- 
cations of  its  orbit,  which  extend  over  cycles  embracing, 
perhaps,  more  than  a  million  of  years  ;  but  let  there  be  a 
globe  of  iron,  or  even  of  carbon,  or  of  any  other  single 
element  of  matter,  hung  in  the  place  of  our  wondrously  con- 
stituted orb,  and  "push"  and  "pull"  may  put  forth  upon  it 
all  their  might  through  all  the  aeons  of  the  coming  eternity, 
without  originating  a  single  form  of  animal  or  vegetable 
life,  much  less  an  organism  possessing  conscious  intellect 
and  will. 

In  a  word,  the  evolution  hypothesis  advocated  by  Mr. 
Spencer  breaks  down  at  the  very  outset.  It  is  only  by 
veiling  itself  in  a  haze  of  so-called  first  principles,  which 
seem  plausible  in  the  abstract,  that  it  can  for  a  moment 
impose  upon  any  intelligent  being.  Its  ultimate  cause, 
which  it  dignifies  with  the  superb  title  of  "  the  ultimate 
of  ultimates,"  on  which  it  hangs  the  mighty  burden 
of  the  entire  universe,  is  absolutely  unthinkable,  except 
as  a  quality  or  attribute  of  those  substances  for  whose 
existence  and  phenomena  it  undertakes  to  account.  In 
other  words,  the  only  conditions  under  which  force  is 
thinkable  as  having  existence  at  all,  are  such  as  to  render 
it   simply   preposterous    to    assign    to    it   the   position    of 


A   QUALITY   CANNOT   BE   ULTIMATE.  13 

the  ultimate  cause.  If  there  can  be  no  force  apart  from  a 
substance,  material  or  immaterial ;  and  if  the  qualities  or 
attributes  of  a  substance  cannot  be  the  cause  of  the  sub- 
stance in  which  they  inhere,  it  must  follow  that  force,  which 
is  itself  but  a  quality,  cannot  be  the  ultimate  cause  of  all 
substances  and  of  all  phenomena.  However  limited  our 
knowledge  of  the  ultimate  cause  may  be,  we  know  of  a 
certainty  that  it  cannot  be  the  mere  quality  of  something 
else.  That  which  is  subordinate  and  dependent  cannot  be 
ultimate. 

Wrong  in  his  conception  of  the  ultimate  cause,  Mr. 
Spencer  is  also  in  error  as  to  the  ultimate  question  at  issue 
respecting  its  operation.  The  question  is  not,  as  stated  by 
him,  "  how  has  it  worked  ?"  but  the  far  easier  one,  "  has  it 
worked  with  design  .'*"  These  are  very  different  questions, 
presenting  widely  different  problems.  It  is  one  thing  to  en- 
quire/2^2X/  the  operations  of  nature  are  carried  on,  and  another 
to  enquire  whether  they  are  so  carried  on  as  to  indicate  a 
design.  So  diverse  are  these  enquiries,  that  the  one  may 
be  successfully  prosecuted  where  the  other  transcends  finite 
capacity.  A  passage  which  I  take  the  liberty  of  quoting 
from  a  sermon  by  Professor  Huxley,  on  "  The  Origin  of 
Species,"  will  enable  us  to  judge  of  the  warrantableness  of 
the  distinction  referred  to,  and  of  the  comparative  feasibility 
of  the  two  lines  of  investigation.  "  The  student  of  nature," 
says  this  eminent  physiologist,  "  wonders  the  more,  and  is 
astonished  the  less,  the  more  conversant  he  becomes  with 
her  operations  ;  but  of  all  the  perennial  miracles  she  offers 
to  his  inspection,  perhaps  the  most  worthy  of  admiration  is 
the  development  of  a  plant  or  of  an  animal  from  its  embryo. 
Examine  the  recently-laid  egg  of  some  common  animal, 
such  as  a  salamander  or  a  newt.  It  is  a  minute  spheroid, 
in  which  the  best  microscope  will  reveal  nothing  but  a 
structureless  sac,  enclosing  a  glairy  fluid,  holding  granules 
in  suspension.  But  strange  possibilities  lie  dormant  in  that 
semi-fluid  globule.  Let  a  moderate  supply  of  warmth  reach 
its  watery  cradle,  and  the  plastic  matter  undergoes  changes 
so  rapid,  and  yet  so  steady  and  purpose-like  in  their  sue- 


14  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

cession,  that  one  can  only  compare  them  to  those  operated 
by  a  skilled  modeller  upon  a  formless  lump  of  clay.  As 
with  an  invisible  trowel,  the  mass  is  divided  and  sub-divided 
into  smaller  and  smaller  portions,  until  it  is  reduced  to  an 
aggregation  of  granules  not  too  large  to  build  withal  the 
finest  fabrics  of  the  nascent  organism.  And  then,  it  is  as  if 
a  delicate  finger  traced  out  the  line  to  be  occupied  by  the 
spinal  column,  and  moulded  the  contour  of  the  body  ; 
pinching  up  the  head  at  the  one  end  and  the  tail  at  the 
other,  and  fashioning  flank  and  limb  into  due  salamandrine 
proportions  in  so  artistic  a  way,  that,  after  watching  the 
process  hour  by  hour,  one  is  almost  involuntarily  possessed 
by  the  notion  that  some  more  subtle  aid  to  vision  than  an 
achromatic  would  show  the  hidden  artist,  with  his  plan 
before  him,  striving  with  skilful  manipulation  to  perfect  his 
work."  * 

Now  if  we  are  to  trust  the  testimony  of  Professor  Huxley, 
who  has  watched  with  an  achromatic  the  very  process 
about  which  the  enquiry  is  raised,  our  verdict  must  be  given 
against  Mr.  Spencer's  statement  of  the  question  at  issue  in 
this  controversy.  According  to  Professor  Huxley,  the 
question  raised  by  Mr.  Spencer  cannot  be  answered.  The 
how  of  the  operation  by  which  that  semi-fluid  globule  is 
transformed  into  the  resultant  organism,  is  the  very  point 
on  which  physiological  research  has  thus  far  shed  no  light. 
But  whilst  science  cannot  answer  Mr.  Spencer's  question, 
it  can  answer  the  one  raised  by  creationists.  While  it 
cannot  detect  the  artist  in  the  act  of  moulding  the  plastic 
material  into  the  nascent  organism,  it  declares  that  the 
■changes  which  take  place  are  "so  steady  and  purpose-like 
in  their  succession,"  that  "  one  is  involuntarily  possessed  by 
the  notion"  that  if  he  had  keener  vision  he  would  see  the 
artist  at  work.  In  a  word,  the  facts  of  embryology,  as 
testified  to  by  Professor  Huxley,  on  whose  testimony  Mr. 
Spencer  acknowledges  he  has  to  depend,  reveal  a  process  of 
modelling  in  harmony  with  a  plan.  The  Iww  of  the  process 
is  not  revealed — the  trowel,  and  the  hand  that  wields  it  so 
*  "  Lay  Sermons,"  &c.,  pp.  260,  261. 


THE   ULTIMATE   CAUSE   WORKS   WITH   DESIGN.  15 

dexterously,  elude  all  scrutiny — but  voluntarily,  or  involun- 
tarily, the  observer  becomes  possessed  of  the  notion  or  the 
conviction  that  the  mystic  process  is  carried  forward  under 
the  guidance  of  a  designing  mind. 

Whether,  then,  we  enquire  into  Mr.  Spencer's  doctrine  of 
the  unknowableness  of  the  ultimate  cause,  or  into  his  posi- 
tion in  regard  to  the  question  respecting  its  operation,  we 
find  his  views  to  be  indefensible.  In  the  one  case  he  is  at 
war  with  philosophy,  and  in  the  other,  with  the  inevitable 
convictions  generated  by  a  careful  observation  of  the  chief 
phenomena  in  question.  Science  proves  that,  behind 
matter  and  its  qualities,  there  is  a  cause  which  works  with 
design. 

Reserving  for  a  future  lecture  the  specific  arguments  by 
which  Mr.  Spencer  endeavours  to  sustain  his  hypothesis,  it 
is  proposed,  at  present,  simply  to  examine  his  reasons  for 
rejecting  the  doctrine  of  special  creation. 

His  first  reason  is  that  there  is  a  presumption  against  it 
because  of  its  association  with  primitive  beliefs.  "  The  pri- 
mitive beliefs  of  the  race  respecting  the  structure  of  the 
heavens  were  wrong ;  and  the  notions  which  replaced  them 
were  successively  less  wrong.  The  original  belief  respect- 
ing the  form  of  the  earth  was  wrong  ;  and  this  wrong  belief 
survived  the  first  civilisations.  The  earliest  ideas  that  have 
come  down  to  us  concerning  the  natures  of  the  elements  were 
wrong ;  and  only  in  quite  recent  times  has  the  composition 
of  matter  in  its  various  forms  been  better  understood.  The 
interpretations  of  mechanical  facts,  of  meteorological  facts, 
of  physiological  facts,  were  at  first  wrong.  In  all  these 
cases  men  set  out  with  beliefs  which,  if  not  absolutely  false, 
contained  but  small  amounts  of  truth  disguised  by  immense 
amounts  of  error.  Hence,"  Mr.  Spencer  concludes,  "  the 
hypothesis  that  living  beings  resulted  from  special  creations, 
being  a  primitive  hypothesis,  is  probably  an  untrue  hypo- 
thesis. If  the  interpretations  of  nature  given  by  aboriginal 
men  were  erroneous  in  other  directions,  they  were  most 
likely  erroneous  in  this  direction.  It  would  be  strange  if, 
while  these  aboriginal  men  failed  to  roach  the  truth  in  so 


IG  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

many  cases  where  it  is  comparatively  conspicuous,  they  yet 
reached  it  where  it  is  comparatively  hidden." 

Mr.  Spencer  tries  to  strengthen  this  argitmenti^n  ad 
hividiam  by  classing  this  primitive  belief  with  the 
abandoned  conceptions  of  fetichism  and  polytheism,  and  the 
various  anthropomorphic  conceptions  of  the  unknown  cause, 
which  he  alleges  are  "  everywhere  fading  away."  If  all  the 
other  parts  of  the  story  put  into  our  minds  in  childhood 
have  long  since  been  rejected,  this  remaining  part  of  it,  he 
expects,  will  ere  long  be  relinquished  also.* 

On  this  argument,  or  rather  attempt  to  create  prejudice 
against  the  doctrine  attacked,  it  may  be  remarked — 

I.  The  principle  on  which  this  objection  to  the  doctrine 
of  creation  is  founded,  is  strangely  out  of  harmony  with 
the  position  assumed  by  Mr.  Spencer,  in  his  "  First  Princi- 
ples," in  regard  to  ancient  and  widely-prevalent  beliefs.  In 
his  "  Principles  of  Biology,"  he  assumes  that  the  proba- 
bility is  against  the  truth  of  a  primitive  hypothesis,  whilst 
in  his  "  First  Principles"  he  takes  the  ground,  that  the  pro- 
babilities are  always  in  favour  of  "  beliefs  which  have  long 
existed  and  are  widely  diffused."  "}•  Now,  if  there  be,  in  the 
wide  range  of  human  beliefs,  one  of  which  it  can  be  said 
that  it  has  existed  long,  and  is  widely  diffused,  it  is  that 
belief  against  which  Mr.  Spencer  here  urges  the  invidious 
argument  of  an  a  priori  improbability.  The  belief  in 
question  is  as  old,  and  as  widely  spread,  as  the  human  race. 
There  is  no  well-authenticated  instance  of  any  section  or 
tribe  of  our  species,  which  has  not  possessed  the  conviction 
that  the  universe,  together  with  its  living  organisms,  is  the 
workmanship  of  an  Almighty  Creator.  If  this  be  an  un- 
questionable fact,  does  it  not  follow,  on  Mr.  Spencer's  own 
showing,  in  his  "  First  Principles,"  that  there  exists  a  very 
strong  probability  in  favour  of  the  truth  of  the  new  belief 
which  he  here  antagonises  on  the  assumption  that  the  prob- 
abilities are  against  it }  If  his  own  principles  are  to  be 
carried  out  in  estimating  this  ancient,  universal  belief,  there 
will  be  found,  as  the  residuum,  the  primary,  ineffaceable 
*  "  Principles  of  Biology,"  Vol.  I., pp.  333-6.     f  "  First  Principles,"  pp.  3,4. 


BEGS   THE   QUESTION.  17 

truth,  that  whatever  exhibits  marks  of  design  must  have  had 
ait  intelligent  author.  When  all  the  superstitions  and  crude 
notions  wherewith  the  belief  in  creation  has  been  associated, 
have  been  dissipated,  this  conviction  abides.  Constituted 
as  the  human  mind  is,  it  cannot  ignore  the  evidence  of  the 
operation  of  mind  presented  in  the  universe,  and  must 
reject,  as  unphilosophical,  any  system  of  biology  which 
dispenses  with  intelligence  in  the  structure  of  earth's  fauna 
and  flora. 

2.  That  it  assumes  that  man's  primitive  estate  was  that  of  a 
savage.  As  this  assumption  is  contrary  to  historical  facts, 
and  has  nothing  to  rest  upon  save  a  few  remains  of  pre- 
historic man,  which  admit  of  interpretations  differing 
widely  from  that  put  upon  them  by  scientists  of  the  school 
of  Mr.  Spencer,  he  need  not  be  surprised  if  this,  his  primary 
assumption,  be  rejected  as  a  mere  begging  of  the  question. 

3.  That  it  assumes  that  all  the  tribes  of  the  human  race, 
existing  throughout  the  earth  at  the  time  the  remains  in 
question  were  deposited,  were  in  the  estate  indicated  by  the 
remains.  Granting  that  the  remains  prove  the  savage  estate 
of  the  individual  and  of  the  tribe  to  which  he  belonged., 
does  it  follow  that  other  tribes,  inhabiting  other  and  more 
congenial  regions  of  the  earth,  were  in  the  same  estate  ? 
Men  of  science  have  need  to  be  reminded  of  what  the  doctrine 
of  Scripture  on  this  point  is.  Scripture  does  not  teach  that 
the  human  race  retained  its  moral  integrity,  or  that  each  of 
the  families  into  which  it  was  divided  retained  the  know- 
ledge possessed  by  the  common  ancestor.  On  the  contrary, 
it  tells  a  sad  story  of  apostasy,  dispersion,  and  degradation 
— a  degradation  retarded  by  special  Divine  interposition  in 
the  case  of  some,  but  allowed  to  go  on  in  the  case  of  others. 
If  the  morally  degraded  wandered  away  from  the  primitive 
seat  of  the  race,  and  descended  lower  and  lower  in  the 
scale  the  farther  they  receded  from  the  parent  stock  and 
penetrated  into  uncongenial  environments,  might  it  not  be 
expected  that  their  remains  would  testify,  as  the  remains  in 
question  do,  to  a  low  estate  of  civilisation  }  But  what  is 
there  in   all   this   to  warrant  the  sweeping   generalisation 


18  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

assumed  by  Mr.  Spencer  as  a  premiss  from  which  to  argue  ? 
Do  these  instances,  exhumed  from  European  caves,  warrant 
the  conclusion,  that  the  tribes  resident  in  the  Asiatic  fontal 
centre,  were,  at  the  time  indicated,  in  the  same  estate  of 
social  degradation  ?  Never  was  there  a  more  unwarrant- 
able inference  ;  and  yet  it  is  assumed  by  some  of  the  most 
eminent  scientists  of  the  day  as  absolutely  unchallengeable  ! 

4.  In  the  next  place  it  may  be  remarked,  that  the  belief 
in  the  doctrine  of  a  special  creation  can  be  proved,  and  has 
been  proved  historically,  as  well  as  by  internal  evidence,  to 
have  been  handed  down  to  us,  not  by  savages,  but  by  men 
whose  writings  demonstrate  that  they  have  no  mental  or 
moral  superiors  in  the  school  of  Mr.  Spencer.  On  the  score 
of  its  credibility,  as  well  as  of  its  harmony  with  scientific 
facts,  we  can  afford  to  compare  the  cosmogony  of  Moses,  or 
David,  or  Isaiah,  or  Paul,  or  Peter,  with  the  biology  of 
Herbert  Spencer  any  day,  notwithstanding  all  the  advan- 
tage he  has  derived  from  the  writings  of  Tyndall  and 
Huxley,  or  the  prelections  of  Professor  Owen. 

5.  However  little  store  Mr.  Spencer  may  set  by  primitive 
beliefs,  if  primitive  man  had  not  been  possessed  of  some,  he 
would  never  have  ascribed  the  phenomena  of  his  environ- 
ment to  any  cause  whatever.  And  if  we  are  to  speak  of  the 
necessity  of  some  of  these  beliefs  as  compared  with  others, 
we  would  specify  one  which  is  subversive  of  that  form  of 
the  evolution  hypothesis  which  he  has  set  forth  in  his 
biology.  The  belief  referred  to  is  the  intuitive,  innate  con- 
viction, that  a  phenomenon  implies  the  existence  and 
operation  of  a  cause.  This  primary  belief  is  universal,  and 
involves  the  principle  that  the  phenomenon  reveals  the 
attributes  of  the  cause  concerned  in  its  production.  It  is, 
therefore,  irreconcilable  with  the  position,  which  is  really 
the  ultimate  one  of  Mr.  Spencer's  biology — viz.,  that  the 
ultimate  cause  is  inscrutable.  Either  the  principle  which 
ascribes  inscrutability  to  a  cause  is  universal,  or  it  is  not. 
If  it  be  universal,  it  must  apply  to  immediate  and  proximate 
causes  as  well  as  to  ultimate  ;  and  if  so,  the  immediate 
qause,  to  which  we  instinctively  refer  the  phenomenon,  is  to 


BELONGS   TO  AN   EXTINCT  FAMILY  OF  BELIEFS.       19 

US,  at  the  time  of  the  reference,  inscrutable  and  therefore 
unknown  ;  in  which  case  the  reference  is  as  uninteUigent  as 
it  is  unwarrantable.  If  it  be  alleged  that  it  is  not  universal, 
but  true  only  of  the  ultimate  cause,  the  question  arises,  on 
what  authority  is  this  limitation  of  the  dark  attribute  of 
inscrutability  to  the  case  of  the  ultimate  cause  made  ?  As 
already  shown,  there  can  be  no  reason  for  regarding  the 
thing  pronounced  inscrutable  a  cause  at  all,  which  is  not 
equally  valid  for  denying  its  inscrutability.  This  belief  is 
as  old  as  humanity,  and  as  wide  as  the  human  race;  and  it 
is  fatal,  not  only  to  the  specific  argument  which  Mr. 
Spencer  has  tried  to  draw  from  the  other  alleged  primitive 
beliefs  with  which  the  belief  in  the  doctrine  of  a  special 
creation  is  found  to  be  associated,  but  fatal  to  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  his  whole  system,  which  postulates  the 
inscrutability  of  the  ultimate  cause. 

6.  Moreover,  it  were  very  easy  for  the  advocates  of  the 
doctrine  of  special  creation  to  retort  this  argumentiun  ad 
invidiam.  Evolutionists  should  be  the  last  to  reproach 
their  opponents  with  holding  opinions  "  belonging  to  an 
almost  extinct  family  of  beliefs."  It  is  not  so  long  ago 
since  we  were  told,  on  the  high  authority  of  the  president 
of  the  British  Association,  that  the  evolution  hypothesis 
was  as  old  as  the  Greek  philosophy.  Now,  however,  if  we 
are  to  credit  Mr.  Spencer,  "  it  is  a  conception  born  in  times 
of  comparative  enlightenment."  We  are  quite  ready  to 
compare  the  enlightenment  of  the  age  of  Moses  with  that 
of  the  age  of  Democritus,  or  to  compare  the  prophets  of 
Israel  with  the  sages  of  Greece.  And  if  we  were  to  pass  in 
review  the  various  evolution  hypotheses  from  the  time  of 
the  Greek  evolutionists  to  Mr.  Spencer,  we  might  be  able 
to  show  that  the  one  advocated  by  him  belon^^s  to  a  very 
large  family  of  not  only  almost,  but  altogether,  extinct 
hypotheses.  Where  now  is  the  hypothesis  of  Thales,  who 
held  that  water  is  the  original  of  all  things,  and  that  God 
is  the  intelligence  who  from  water  formed  all  beius^s }  or 
the  hypothesis  of  Anaximander,  who  substituted  an  abso- 
lutely indeterminate  thing  called  infinity  for  the  elementary 


20  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

water  of  Thales  ?  or  the  hypothesis  of  Anaximines,  who 
traced  all  things  to  air  ?  or  that  of  Anaxagoras,  who  referred 
all  things  to  a  number  of  primitive  elements  called  by  him 
homoeomeriae  ?  Where  now  is  the  hypothesis  of  Pytha- 
goras, who  deduced  all  things  from  a  monad,  embracing  in 
its  constitution  both  matter  and  spirit  fused  together  into 
an  absolute  unity  of  substance  ?  or  the  same  hypothesis  as 
more  fully  developed  into  hylozoism  by  his  followers  ? 
What  scientist  would  now  accept,  unmodified,  the  atomic 
theory  of  Democritus,  who  represented  all  things  as  pro- 
ceeding from  eternal  atoms  possessing  the  same  qualities 
and  specific  gravity,  and  differing  only  in  size ;  and  that 
their  general  compounds,  such  as  lead  and  iron,  diff"er  from 
each  other  merely  in  the  arrangement  of  their  atoms  ?  It 
is  questionable  whether  even  Professor  Tyndall  or  Mr. 
Spencer  would  embark  in  the  business  of  world-building 
with  a  stock  of  such  atoms,  however  diverse  in  size,  or  how- 
ever unlimited  in  number.  With  atoms  whose  qualities  are 
generated  by  their  own  movements,  and  whose  movements 
are  not  the  offspring  of  their  previously  existing  qualities, 
it  is  more  than  probable  that  even  our  modern  atomic  chiefs 
might  fail  to  construct  even  our  inorganic  world.  And  as 
to  their  entering  upon  the  task  with  such  material  as  water, 
or  air,  or  the  primitive  elements  of  Anaximines,  or  the 
monad  of  Pythagoras,  of  course  this  were  out  of  the  question 
altogether. 

This  brief  review  of  some  of  the  evolutionary  hypotheses 
is  sufficient  to  prove  that,  however  it  may  be  with  others, 
evolutionists  should  be  the  last  to  speak  of  the  presumption 
which  exists  against  an  opinion  found  associated  with  "an 
almost  extinct  family  of  beliefs."  If  Mr.  Spencer's  hypo- 
thesis is  to  be  judged  upon  this  principle,  it  must  be  con- 
demned ;  for  it  is  associated  with  a  class  of  speculations 
which  no  scientist,  except  for  the  purpose  of  producing  a 
temporary  sensation,  would  entertain  or  endorse  for  a 
moment. 

Equally  liable  to  retort  is  our  author's  next  reason  for 
rejecting  the  doctrine  of  a  special  creation.      He  alleges 


OPPOSED   TO   FACTS.  21 

that  it  is  not  countenanced  by  a  single  fact.  "  No  one,"  he 
says,  "  ever  saw  a  special  creation."  "  No  one,"  he  adds, 
"ever  found  proof,  of  an  indirect  kind,  that  a  special  creation 
had  taken  place."  Quoting  a  remark  of  Dr.  Hooker's,  he 
continues,  "  Naturalists  who  suppose  new  species  to  be 
miraculously  originated,  habitually  suppose  the  origination 
to  occur  in  some  region  remote  from  human  observation. 
Wherever  the  order  of  organic  nature  is  exposed  to  the 
view  of  zoologists  and  botanists,  it  expels  this  conception  ; 
and  the  conception  survives  only  in  connection  with  ima- 
gined places,  where  the  order  of  organic  phenomena  is 
unknown."* 

Here  is  an  appeal  to  facts,  and  we  accept  the  authority 
invoked.  It  is  a  fact  that  no  one  ever  saw  a  new  species  of 
organism  created  ;  but  it  is  also  a  fact  that  no  one  ever  saw 
one  brought  into  existence  by  a  process  of  evolution  ;  and 
it  is  a  fact  that  no  one  ever  found  proof,  of  an  indirect 
kind,  that  such  an  evolution  of  new  species  had  taken  place. 
Wherever  the  order  of  organic  nature  is  exposed  to  the 
view  of  zoologists  and  botanists,  as  in  the  case  already 
quoted  from  Professor  Huxley's  sermon  on  the  origin  of 
species,  it  expels  the  Spencerian  conception  of  evolution 
without  the  intervention  of  intelligence,  and  supplants  it  by 
the  irresistible  conviction  that  the  process  of  organisation 
is  under  the  guidance  of  a  skilful  artist ;  and  the  conception 
for  which  the  authority  of  facts  is  claimed  by  Mr.  Spencer 
survives  only  in  connection  with  flights  of  the  so-called 
scientific  imagination,  by  which  the  vision  is  prolonged 
backwards  beyond  the  boundary  of  experimental  evidence. 
There  is  not  a  single  fact  presented  in  these  two  volumes 
which  gives  the  slightest  countenance  to  the  hypothesis 
which  its  author  advocates ;  nor  is  there  one  which, 
when  fully  analysed,  does  not  add  strength  to  the  argu- 
ment in  support  of  a  presiding  intelligence  and  a  special 
creation. 

After  the  author  had  reached  the  351st  page  of  his  first 
volume,  he  felt  constrained   to  make  the  following  confes- 

♦  "  Principles  of  Biology,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  336. 


22  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

sion : — "  Though  the  facts  at  present  assignable  in  direct 
proof  that,  by  progressive  nmodifications,  races  of  organisms 
that  are  apparently  distinct  may  result  from  antecedent 
races  are  not  sufficient,  yet  there  are  numerous  facts  of  the 
order  required."  Is  this  not  a  distinct  and  explicit  acknow- 
ledgment that  no  one  has  ever  seen  the  evolution  of  a  new 
species  }  If  he  regards  this  fact  as  furnishing  an  argument 
against  special  creation,  how  can  he  refuse  to  admit  its 
force  as  against  his  own  evolution  hypothesis  ? 

But  if  he  has  not  direct  proof  sufficient  for  the  establishing 
of  this  hypothesis,  he  has,  he  informs  us,  "  numerous  facts 
of  the  order  required."  What  are  these  facts }  Here  they 
are  : — "  It  has  been  shown  beyond  all  question,  that  unlike- 
nesses  of  structure  gradually  arise  among  descendants  from 
the  same  stock.  We  find  that  there  is  going  on  a  modi- 
fying process  of  the  kind  alleged  as  the  source  of  specific 
differences — a  process  which,  though  slow  in  its  action,  does, 
in  time,  produce  conspicuous  changes — a  process  which,  to 
all  appearance,  would  produce  in  millions  of  years,  and 
under  the  great  varieties  of  conditions  which  geological 
records  imply,  any  amount  of  change."*  And  yet  he  con- 
fesses that  the  palaeontolog}'  of  these  records  cannot 
be  held  to  prove  evolution,  and  that  only  some  few  of  them 
yield  it  support !  "f" 

Such,  then,  are  the  facts  ;  what  is  their  value  in 
this  argument  ?  It  will  be  observed  that  while  IMr. 
Spencer  speaks  of  the  gradual  rise  of  unlikenesses  of 
structure  among  descend  :nts  from  the  same  stock,  he  has 
not  ventured  to  say  that  these  have,  in  any  instance, 
amounted  to  the  origination  of  a  new  species,  and  that  he 
confesses  that  palseontolog}'  does  not  furnish  a  single 
instance.  All  he  says  is,  that  this  fact  is  of  the  order 
required!  His  hypothesis  requires  structural  change,  and 
here  is  a  fact  of  this  class.  It  is  true  the  change  to  which 
it  testifies  is  not  great  enough  lor  his  purpose  ;  but  it 
"bears  as  great  a  ratio  to  the  brief  period  in  which  it  has 
been  produced,"  as  the  whole  change  required  "  bears  to 
♦  "  Principles  of  Biolog>-,"  Vol  I.,  p.  351.  +  Ibia,  p.  399. 


CHANGES  REQUIRED   DO   NOT  EXIST.  23 

that  vast  period  during  which  Hving  forms  have  existed  on 
the   earth."      This   is   very   Uke   a   confession   which    Mr. 
Darwin  makes  at  the  close  of  his  remarks  on  the  effects  of 
increased  or  decreased  use  of  parts.     "  Although  man,"  he 
concludes,  "may  not  have  been  much  modified  during  the 
latter   stages  of  his   existence    through    the  increased   or 
decreased  use  of  parts,  the  facts  now  given  show  that  his 
liability  in  this  respect  has  not  been  lost ;  and  we  positively 
know  that  the  same  law  holds  good  with  the  lower  animals." 
Such  is  his  confession  ;  what  is  his  conclusion .?     With  an 
inferential   boldness  that   brooks   no   barrier,  he   adds : — 
"Consequently  (!)  we  may  infer,  that  when,  at  a  remote 
epoch,   the    progenitors    of    man    were    in   a   transitional 
state,  and  were   changing   from  quadrupeds   into  bipeds, 
natural    selection    would     probably    have    been     greatly 
aided  by  the  inherited    effects   of  the  increased    or  dim- 
inished use  of  the   different  parts   of  the  body"!*     It  is 
truly  painful  to  observe  in   the  writings    of  these    really 
able  men,  so  persistent  an  endeavour   to   establish    their 
favourite  hypotheses  by  facts  which  they  are  compelled  to 
admit  do  not  furnish  the  evidence  required.     Frustrated  by 
the  facts,  not  only  of  historic  and  prehistoric  times,  but  of 
palaeontology  also,  they  overleap  the  boundary  of  experi- 
mental  evidence,   and   assume   transitions    and   structural 
changes  which  they  have  failed  to  prove.     When  the  facts 
adduced,  even  as  estimated  by  themselves,  do  not  give  the 
slightest  indication  of  a  specific  change,  they  comfort  them- 
selves with  the  reflection  that  changes  of  the  class  observed 
must,  if  continued  long  enough,  effect  the  change  required ! 
Of  course,  a  change  of  the  right  kind,  however  small  in 
amount,  if  increased  by  however  small  an  increment,  must, 
if  unchecked,  at  some  future  epoch  of  duration,  amount  to 
the  quantum  required  ;  but  only  if  unchecked.     Ay,  there's 
the  rub — only  on  the  assumption  that  the  change  shall  be 
unchecked !     What  warrant  is  there  for  this  assumption  .■* 
Certainly  there  is  none  in  the  phenomena  of  the  observed 
changes  of  the  cosmos. 

*  "  Descent  of  Man,"  Vol.  i.,  p.  121. 


24  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

Speaking  of  the  external  factors  of  evolution,  Mr.  Spencer 
refers  to  the  fact,  that  our  earth,  in  its  annual  motion  round 
the  sun,  does  not  move  constantly  along  a  rigid,  unvarying 
curve,  but  along  a  curve  constant  in  its  inconstancy — now 
approaching  a  circle,  and  anon  an  ellipse.  This  change  is  a 
very  slow  one,  and  the  cycle  which  embraces  its  extremes  has 
the  astounding  range  of  one  or  two  millions  of  years.  Now 
suppose  that  an  astronomer,  who  was  not  aware  of  the 
demonstrations  of  La  Place,  were  watching  the  movements 
of  our  globe  referred  to,  and  observed  that,  in  a  given 
period,  the  divergence  towards  a  more  eccentric  curve 
amounted  to  several  miles,  might  he  not,  if  he  reasoned 
with  Mr.  Spencer  and  the  evolutionists,  begin  to  apprehend 
an  elongation  of  the  major  axis  of  its  orbit,  and  a  shortening 
of  the  minor,  which  must  eventually  evolve  extremes  of 
heat  and  cold  absolutely  destructive  of  organic  life  in  our 
world  .<*  As  an  evolutionist,  he  might  thus  reason  ;  but  the 
scientific  astronomer  would  inform  him  that  his  fears  were 
groundless,  and  had  their  origin  in  a  too  narrow  induction. 
He  would  allay  his  alarm  by  assuring  him  that  this  variation 
in  the  orbit  of  the  earth  has  its  limits,  and  that  when  these 
were  reached,  the  apparently  errant  orb  would  swing  gra- 
dually back  to  the  less  hazardous  curve. 

Now  we  charge  upon  the  evolutionists  the  perpetration 
of  a  like  error,  in  their  argument  from  the  observed 
structural  changes  which  have  been  induced,  or  developed, 
in  vegetable  and  animal  organisms.  The  organic  variation 
has  been  shown,  again  and  again,  to  have  bounds  set  to  it 
which  it  cannot  pass.  Even  Mr.  Darwin,  as  quoted  by 
Mr.  Spencer,  remarks  that  "'sports'  are  extremely  rare 
under  nature,  but  far  from  rare  under  cultivation."  And 
Mr.  Spencer  himself  admits*  that  competent  judges  do 
not  doubt  that  our  extremely  variable  domestic  animals 
have  become  variable  under  the  changed  conditions  im- 
plied in  domestication,  and  holds  that  these  animals  were 
constant  prior  to  their  subjection  to  man.  Is  this  not  a 
palpable  surrender  of  the  very  citadel  of  evolution  ?  It 
*  "  Principles  of  Biology,"  Vol.  i.,  p.  262. 


VARIATION   ESSENTIAL   TO   SPECIFIC   LIFE.  25 

is  neither  more  nor  less  than  an  acknowledgment  that 
constancy  is  the  rule,  whilst  variation  is  the  exception  ; 
or,  as  Mr.  Spencer  puts  it,  "  the  wild  race  maintains  its 
type  with  great  persistence,"  whilst  "  the  domestic  race 
frequently  produces  individuals  more  unlike  the  average 
type  than  the  parents  are."  *  "  The  life  of  a  species,  like 
that  of  an  individual,"  he  says,  "is  maintained  by  the 
unequal  and  ever-varying  actions  of  incident  forces  on  its 
different  parts." -[- 

This  is  conclusive,  but  it  is  conclusive  against  the  evolu- 
tion hypothesis.  If,  as  Mr.  Spencer  has  shown,  variation  is 
essential  to  specific  life,  what  becomes  of  the  notion,  that 
by  the  operation  of  this  same  law  of  variation,  new  species 
can  be  originated  }  Can  the  causes  which  are  held  to  be 
capable  of  transmuting  one  species  into  another,  be  held 
capable  of  rendering  such  transmutation  impossible  1  If  uni- 
formity, as  "  inter-breeding"  demonstrates,  produces  specific 
deterioration,  whilst  variation,  as  those  skilled  in  cattle- 
breeding  inform  us,  promotes  the  well-being,  and  tends  to 
the  perfection  of  the  species,  surely  it  is  most  unwarrantable 
to  infer,  that  variation  may  eventually  result  in  specific 
destruction  by  improving  one  species  into  another.  It  is 
no  wonder,  then,  that  these  two  classes  of  related  facts  led 
Mr.  Spencer  to  enunciate  the  foregoing  remarkable  law  of 
specific  life.  The  law,  as  we  have  seen,  is  universal,  extend- 
ing to  the  very  orbs  of  heaven.  The  stability  of  the 
universe,  as  well  as  the  stability  of  the  species  of  earth's 
fauna  and  flora,  is  maintained  by  variations  which  are 
limited  and  bounded  by  an  unseen  power  which  ever  acts 
in  reference  to  the  original  type,  and  maintains  its  image, 
substantially,  in  every  individual  movement  or  organism, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  very  forces  which  evolu- 
tionists regard  as  all-potent  to  effect  its  destruction. 

The  case  of  a  particular  family,  in  which  digital 
variation  occurred,  adduced  in  support  of  the  evolution 
hypothesis,  I  will  serve  to  illustrate  this  point.     The  case  is 

*  "  Principles  of  Biology,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  261.         f  Ibid,  p.  286. 

X  Ibidy  pp.  258-60. 


26  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

cited  from  an  essay  by  Dr.  Struthers,  and  the  conclusion 
drawn  is  quoted  with  approval  by  ]\Ir.  Spencer.  After 
stating  the  history  of  the  variation  through  four  genera- 
tions, Dr.  Struthers,  referring  to  a  daughter  who  was  born 
with  six  fingers  on  each  hand  and  six  toes  on  each  foot, 
says,  "  In  this,  the  most  interesting  sub-branch  of  the 
descent,  we  see  digital  increase,  which  appeared  in  the  first 
generation  on  one  limb,  appearing  in  the  second  on  two 
limbs,  the  hands  ;  in  the  third  on  three  limbs,  the  hands  and 
one  foot  ;  in  the  fourth  on  all  the  four  limbs.  There  is  as 
yet  no  fifth  generation  in  uninterrupted  transmission  of  the 
variety.  The  variety  does  not  yet  occur  in  any  number  of 
the  fifth  generation  of  Esther's  descendants"  (the  female 
ancestor  to  whom  the  variety  is  traced  back),  "  which  con- 
sists as  yet  only  of  three  boys  and  one  girl,  whose  parents 
were  normal,  and  of  two  boys  and  two  girls,  whose  grand- 
parents were   normal.      It  is   not  known  whether,  in  the 

case  of  the  great-grandmother,  Esther  P ,  the  variety 

was  original  or  inherited." 

Such  is  the  case  ;  what  conclusion  does  it  warrant.'*  Does 
it  prove  that  variation  may  go  on  indefinitely  ?  or  does 
it  prove  that  it  is  held  in  check  by  a  specific  law  restraining 
it,  like  the  motions  of  the  planets,  within  unalterable  limits  ? 
The  case  proves  that  the  normal  type  rules  ;  for  in  the 
generations  specified,  only  six  instances  of  variation  occur, 
whilst  there  are  one  hundred  and  two  of  the  normal  type  .-' 
If  ]\Ir.  Spencer  can  adduce  nothing  in  favour  of  his  hypo- 
thesis better  than  a  woman  who  has  acquired,  through  the 
mystic  process  of  evolution,  three  digits  more  than  her 
great-grandmother,  he  had  better  be  a  little  more  modest  in 
his  averments  about  the  absence  of  evidence  in  support  of 
the  doctrine  of  a  special  creation.  It  would,  indeed,  seem 
as  if  he  felt  the  weakness  and  unprofitableness  of  this  argu- 
ment ;  for  he  immediately  tries  to  buttress  it  with  an  a  priori 
borrowed  from  his  "  First  Principles,"  to  the  effect,  that 
an  idea  which  cannot  be  presented  to  the  mind  in  a  definite 
shape  or  form,  is  a  false  idea,  and  is  to  be  rejected.  In 
addition  to  what  has  been  said  on  the  point  here  raised, 


SPENCER   ABANDONS    HIS   CRUCIAL   TEST.  27 

when  speaking  of  the  impossibility  of  regarding  an  inscrut- 
able thing  as  a  cause,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  cite  a  passage 
from  Mr.  Spencer's  "  Principles  of  Psychology,"  from  which 
it  appears  that  he  does  not  always  regard  the  unimaginable- 
ness  of  a  thing  as  a  sufficient  reason  for  rejecting  it. 
Avowing  "  the  belief  that  mind  and  nervous  action  are  the 
subjective  and  objective  faces  of  the  same  thing,"  he  con- 
fesses that  "  we  remain  utterly  incapable  of  seeing,  and 
even  of  imagining,  how  the  two  are  related.  Mind,"  he 
adds,  "  still  continues  to  us  a  something  without  any  kin- 
ship to  the  other  things ;  and  from  the  science  which 
discovers  by  introspection  the  laws  of  this  something,  there 
is  no  passage  by  transitional  steps  to  the  sciences  which 
discover  the  laws  of  these  other  things."  * 

Here,  then,  is  a  belief  which  cannot  abide  the  crucial  test 
of  one  of  Mr.  Spencer's  first  principles,  and  yet  he  holds  it ! 
If  he  can  hold  this  belief  despite  its  inconceivableness,  with 
what  show  of  consistency  can  he  reject,  on  the  ground  of 
its  inconceivableness,  the  belief  in  the  doctrine  of  a  special 
creation  ?  To  quote  his  own  words,  at  the  close  of  this 
argument  against  the  Scripture  doctrine,  if  "  belief,  properly 
so-called,  implies  a  mental  representation  of  the  thing 
believed  ;  and,"  as  he  confesses,  "  no  such  mental  repre- 
sentation is  here  possible."  how  can  he  believe  that  there  is 
any  relation  between  "  those  thoughts  and  feelings  which 
constitute  consciousness,"  and  the  action  of  the  nervous 
system  ?  In  a  word,  then,  even  though  the  doctrine 
objected  to  were  that  of  the  creation  of  an  organism,  ex 
nihilo,  Mr.  Spencer  could  not  consistently  reject  it  on  the 
ground  specified.  As  the  common  and  Scriptural  doctrine, 
so  far  as  organisms  is  concerned,  is  not  that  of  a  direct 
creation  ex  niJiilo,  but  a  mediate  creation  out  of  previously 
existing  matter,  Mr.  Spencer  is  constrained  to  frame  his 
objection  so  as  to  meet  this  aspect  of  the  question.  This 
hypothesis,  he  alleges,  involves,  ultimately,  "  the  creation  of 
force  ;  and  the  creation  of  force  is  just  as  inconceivable  as 
the   creation   of  matter."      He   asks,  **  The   myriad   atoms 

*  "  Principles  of  Psychology,"  Vol.  I.,  pp.  140-56. 


28  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

going  to  the  composition  of  the  new  organism,  all  of  them 
previously  dispersed  through  the  neighbouring  air  and 
earth,  does  each,  suddenly  disengaging  itself  from  its  com- 
binations, rush  to  meet  the  rest,  unite  with  them  into  the 
appropriate  chemical  compounds,  and  then  fall  with  certain 
others  into  its  appointed  place  in  the  aggregate  of  complex 
tissues  and  organs  ?"  This,  he  says,  is  "  to  assume  a  myriad 
of  supernatural  impulses,  differing  in  their  directions  and 
amounts,  given  to  as  many  different  atoms,"  and  is,  there- 
fore, "  a  multiplication  of  mysteries  rather  than  a  solution 
of  a  mystery.  Every  one  of  these  impulses,  not  being  the 
result  of  a  force  locally  existing  in  some  other  form,  implies 
the  creation  of  force  ;  and  the  creation  of  force  is  just  as 
inconceivable  as  the  creation  of  matter." 

Now,  it  will  be  observed  that  Mr,  Spencer  has  some 
difficulty  in  bringing  his  mental-representation  principle 
into  conflict  with  the  doctrine  of  the  creation  of  organisms 
out  of  existing  matter.  Not  only  is  the  doctrine,  on  his 
own  showing,  capable  of  mental  presentation,  but  he 
has  himself  given  us  a  sketch  of  the  process.  He  has 
figured  the  atoms  disengaging  themselves  and  entering 
into  new  combinations,  and  taking,  as  if  by  magic,  their 
places  in  the  aggregate  of  complex  tissues  and  organs. 
He  has  put  before  us  a  process  not  unlike  the  process 
of  crystallisation,  so  beautifully  described  by  Professor 
Tyndall  in  his  "  Fragments  of  Science,"  and  in  his  late 
Manchester  lecture  on  "  Crystalline  and  Molecular  Forces," 
and  one  which  is  actually  realised  in  the  evolution  of  the 
animal  from  the  embryo,  as  described  by  Professor 
Huxley.  In  the  following  passage,  Dr.  Tyndall  gives  a  very 
graphic  sketch  of  the  process  by  which,  materialists  allege, 
the  thing  pronounced  by  Mr.  Spencer  to  be  inconceivable, 
may  be  done. 

"  And  now  let  us  pass  from  what  we  are  accustomed  to 
regard  as  a  dead  mineral  to  a  living  grain  of  corn.  When 
it  is  examined  by  polarised  light,  chromatic  phenomena 
similar  to  those  noticed  in  crystals  are  observed.  And 
why  }     Because  the  architecture  of  the  grain  resembles  the 


CONTRADICTS   TYNDALL'S   HYPOTHESIS.  29 

architecture  of  the  crystal.  In  the  grain  also  the  molecules 
are  set  in  definite  positions,  and  in  accordance  with  their 
arrangement  they  act  upon  the  light.  But  what  has  built 
together  the  molecules  of  the  corn  ?  I  have  already  said, 
regarding  crystalline  architecture,  that  you  may,  if  you 
please,  consider  the  atoms  and  molecules  to  be  placed  in 
position  by  a  power  external  to  themselves.  The  same 
hypothesis  is  open  to  you  now.  But  if  in  the  case  of 
crystals  you  have  rejected  this  notion  of  an  external 
architect,  I  think  you  are  bound  to  reject  it  now,  and  to 
conclude  that  the  molecules  of  the  corn  are  self-posited  by 
the  forces  with  which  they  act  upon  each  other.  It  would 
be  poor  philosophy  to  invoke  an  external  agent  in  the  one 
case,  and  to  reject  it  in  the  other. 

"  Instead  of  cutting  our  grain  of  corn  into  slices,  and 
subjecting  it  to  the  action  of  polarised  light,  let  us  place 
it  in  the  earth,  and  subject  it  to  a  certain  degree  of  warmth. 
In  other  words,  let  the  molecules,  both  of  the  corn  and 
of  the  surrounding  earth,  be  kept  in  that  state  of  agitation 
which  we  call  warmth.  Under  these  circumstances,  the 
grain,  and  the  substances  which  surround  it,  interact,  and 
a  definite  molecular  architecture  is  the  result.  A  bud  is 
formed  ;  this  bud  reaches  the  surface,  where  it  is  exposed 
to  the  sun's  rays,  which  are  also  to  be  regarded  as  a  kind 
of  vibratory  motion.  And  as  the  motion  of  common  heat 
with  which  the  grain  and  the  substances  surrounding  it 
were  first  endowed,  enabled  the  grain  and  these  substances 
to  exercise  their  attractions  and  repulsions,  and  thus  to 
coalesce  in  definite  forms,  so  the  specific  motion  of  the 
sun's  rays  now  enables  the  green  bud  to  feed  upon  the 
carbonic  acid  and  the  aqueous  vapour  of  the  air.  The  bud 
appropriates  those  constituents  of  both  for  which  it  has  an 
elective  attraction,  and  permits  the  other  constituent  to 
resume  its  place  in  the  air.  Thus  the  architecture  is 
carried  on.  Forces  are  active  at  the  root,  forces  are  active 
in  the  blade,  the  matter  of  the  earth  and  the  matter  of  the 
atmosphere  are  drawn  towards  the  root  and  blade,  and  the 
plant  augments  in  size.     We  have  in  succession  the  buel, 


30  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

the  stalk,  the  ear,  the  full  corn  in  the  ear ;  the  cycle  of 
molecular  action  being  completed  by  the  production  of 
grains  similar  to  that  with  which  the  process  began. 

"Now  there  is  nothing  in  this  process  which  necessarily 
eludes  the  conceptive  or  imagining  power  of  the  purely 
human  mind.  An  intellect  the  same  in  kind  as  our  own 
would,  if  only  sufficiently  expanded,  be  able  to  follow  the 
whole  process  from  beginning  to  end.  It  would  see  every 
molecule  placed  in  its  position  by  the  specific  attractions 
and  repulsions  exerted  between  it  and  other  molecules, 
the  whole  process  and  its  consummation  being  an  instance 
of  the  play  of  molecular  force.  Given  the  grain  and  its 
environment,  the  purely  human  intellect  might,  if  suffi- 
ciently expanded,  trace  out  a  priori  every  step  of  the 
process  of  growth,  and  by  the  application  of  purely 
mechanical  principles  demonstrate  that  the  cycle  must  end, 
as  it  is  seen  to  end,  in  the  production  of  forms  like  that 
with  which  it  began.  A  similar  necessity  rules  here  to 
that  which  rules  the  planets  in  their  circuits  round  the 
sun. 

"  You  will  notice  that  I  am  stating  my  truth  strongly,  as 
at  the  beginning  we  agreed  it  should  be  stated.  But  I 
must  go  still  further,  and  affirm  that  in  the  eye  of  science 
the  ariirnal  body  is  just  as  much  the  product  of  molecular 
force  as  the  stalk  and  ear  of  corn,  or  as  the  crystal  of  salt 
or  sugar.  Many  of  the  parts  of  the  body  are  obviously 
mechanical.  Take  the  human  heart,  for  example,  with  its 
system  of  valves,  or  take  the  exquisite  mechanism  of  the 
eye  or  hand.  Animal  heat,  moreover,  is  the  same  in  kind 
as  the  heat  of  a  fire,  being  produced  by  the  same  chemical 
process.  Animal  motion,  too,  is  as  directly  derived  from 
the  food  of  the  animal,  as  the  motion  of  Trevethyck's 
walking-engine  from  the  fuel  in  its  furnace.  As  regards 
matter,  the  animal  body  creates  nothing ;  as  regards  force, 
it  creates  nothing.  '  Which  of  you  by  taking  thought  can 
add  one  cubit  to  his  stature  .'''  All  that  has  been  said,  then, 
regarding  the  plant  may  be  re-stated  with  regard  to  the 
animal.     Every  particle  that  enters  into  the  composition  of 


SPENCER  FAILS  IN  APPLYING  HIS  CRUCIAL  TEST.  31 

a  muscle,  a  nerve,  or  a  bone,  has  been  placed  in  its  position 
by  molecular  force.  And  unless  the  existence  of  law  in 
these  matters  be  denied,  and  the  element  of  caprice  intro- 
duced, we  must  conclude  that,  given  the  relation  of  any 
molecule  of  the  body  to  its  environment,  its  position  in  the 
body  might  be  determined  mathematically.  Our  difficulty 
is  not  with  the  quality  of  the  problem,  but  with  its  com- 
plexity;  and  this  difficulty  might  be  met  by  the  simple 
expansion  of  the  faculties  which  we  now  possess.  Given 
this  expansion,  with  the  necessary  molecular  data,  and  the 
chick  might  be  deduced  as  rigorously  and  as  logically  from 
the  Qgg  as  the  existence  of  Neptune  from  the  disturbances 
of  Uranus,  or  as  conical  refraction  from  the  undulatory 
theory  of  light."* 

So  far,  therefore,  as  Mr.  Spencer's  own  crucial  test  is 
concerned,  Dr.  Tyndall  has  shown  that  the  doctrine  of 
creation  out  of  existing  matter  can  abide  the  ordeal.  It 
may  be  said,  and  is  said,  that  the  hypothesis  postulates  "  the 
necessary  molecular  data,"  or,  as  Mr.  Spencer  says,  organic 
matter,  to  begin  with;  but  if  vital,  and  chemical,  and  me- 
chanical forces  be,  as  the  school  of  Mr.  Spencer  would  have 
us  believe,  both  quantitative  and  qualitative  equivalents, 
surely  one  who  is  master  of  the  laws  of  chemical  and 
mechanical  forces  ought  to  be  able  to  construct  living  organ- 
isms, without  creating  a  new  force.  If  vital  forces  be  the 
same  both  in  quality  and  quantity  with  chemical  and 
mechanical  forces,  there  can  be  no  difficulty  about  producing 
vegetable  or  animal  embryos. 

It  was  doubtless  this  fact  which  led  him  to  fall  back,  by 
way  of  supplement,  on  the  creation  ex  ftihilo  hypothesis, 
which  he  had,  in  his  own  opinion,  already  demolished.  The 
doctrine  of  a  creation  out  of  existing  matter,  involves, 
ultimately,  the  doctrine  of  "  the  creation  of  force  ;  and  the 
creation  of  force  is  just  as  inconceivable  as  the  creation  of 
matter."  This  is  the  fable  of  the  wolf  and  the  lamb  over 
again.  If  you  did  not  do  it,  your  father  or  grandfather 
did,  and  you  must  pay  the  forfeit. 

*  "  Fragments  of  Science,"  pp.  1 16-1 19. 


32  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

Here,  then,  is  a  plain  issue  raised  by  Mr.  Spencer,  and 
we  accept  it.  The  question  at  issue  is  simply  this — Does 
the  disintegration  and  reintegration  of  matter  imply  the  crea- 
tion of  force.''  The  mere  statement  of  the  question  is  sufficient 
for  any  man  competent  to  form  an  opinion  on  the  subject 
in  dispute.  If  the  process  referred  to  involves  the  creation 
of  a  force  not  "  locally  existing  in  some  other  form,"  how 
is  it  that  processes  of  disintegration  and  integration  can  be 
carried  on  by  chemists,  who  have  confessedly  no  power  of 
creating  new  forces  ?  The  disengagement  of  atoms,  and 
the  recombination  of  them  into  new  compounds,  pronounced 
impossible  except  on  the  assumption  of  the  creation  of  a 
new  force  not  locally  existing  in  some  other  form,  take 
place  in  every  instance  of  chemical  analysis  and  synthesis, 
without  any  such  adventitious  aid.  All  that  is  needed  in 
either  case  is  an  operator  possessing  the  requisite  know- 
ledge of  the  elements  concerned.  If  the  chemist  can  perform 
such  wonders  in  his  laboratory  without  the  help  of  a  new 
force,  is  it  incredible  that  the  author  of  the  elements  should 
be  able  to  employ  them  in  the  construction  of  living 
organisms }  There  is  no  escape  here  possible  to  an  evolu- 
tionist of  the  school  of  Spencer.  If  vital  force  be  the 
correlate  of  chemical  and  mechanical,  the  origination  of 
life  cannot,  as  Mr.  Spencer  alleges,  imply  the  creation  of  a 
force  not  previously  existing.  It  is,  therefore,  only  on  the 
assumption  that  vital  force  is  not  the  correlate  of  mere 
material  forces,  that  Mr  Spencer's  objection  can  have  any 
meaning.  The  thing  assumed,  however,  is  fatal  to  his 
biological  hypothesis,  which  rests,  ultimately,  on  the  con- 
vertibility of  material  forces  into  vital. 

Assuming  that  those  who  hold  the^  doctrine  of  special 
creation  regard  the  demonstration  of  divine  power  made 
in  the  origination  of  species  as  designed  solely  for  the 
benefit  of  mankind,  Mr.  Spencer  asks,  to  whom  was  the 
demonstration  made  ?  As  "  the  great  majority  of  these 
supposed  special  creations  took  place  before  mankind 
existed,  to  what  purpose,"  he  asks,  "were  the  millions  of 
these  demonstrations  which  took  place  on  the  earth  when 


MANIFESTS  IGNORANCE  OF  DOCTRINE  OF  CREATION.      33 

there  were  no  intelligent  beings  to  contemplate  them  ? 
Did  the  Unknowable  thus  demonstrate  His  own  power  to 
Himself?  Few,"  he  remarks,  "will  have  the  hardihood  to 
say  that  any  such  demonstration  was  needful.  There  is  no 
choice  but  to  regard  them  either  as  superfluous  exercises  of 
power,  which  is  a  derogatory  supposition  ;  or  as  exercises 
of  power  that  were  necessary  because  species  could  not 
be  otherwise  produced,  which  is  also  a  derogatory  sup- 
position." * 

Now,  in  the  first  place,  no  person  properly  instructed  in 
the  Scriptures  would,  for  a  moment,  think  of  representing 
the  entire  series  of  creative  acts  as  having  for  their  sole  end 
the  demonstration  of  the  power  of  God  to  man.  Other 
ends  by  no  means  derogatory  to  the  Creator  may  be 
assumed,  such  as  delight  in  the  exercise  of  His  wisdom,  and 
power,  and  bounty,,  and  sovereignty.  Mr.  Spencer  assumes 
that  if  His  acts  had  not  reference  to  man  alone,  they  must 
have  been  designed  to  demonstrate  His  power  to  Himself, 
or  were  necessary  because  species  could  not  be  otherwise 
produced — both  of  which  suppositions,  he  alleges,  are 
derogatory.  As  we  have  seen,  the  alternative  assumed  is 
not  the  only  one  open  to  the  advocates  of  special  creations. 
Besides  the  one  mentioned  above,  the  student  of  the  Bible 
can  specify  many  others.  It  were  not  a  derogatory  sup- 
position that  God,  in  those  remote  creations,  was  demon- 
strating His  attributes  to  other  orders  of  intelligences 
of  which  the  Scriptures  speak,  and  against  whose  existence 
science  has  no  facts  to  urge.  Or  it  might  be  said  in  reply, 
that  as  the  Author  of  the  earth,  with  its  successive  orders 
of  vegetable  and  animal  organisms,  knew  that  in  the  latter 
days  scoffers  would  arise,  who  would  call  in  question  His 
existence,  and  endeavour  to  prove  that  all  organic  forms 
were  evolved  from  uncreated  matter,  by  an  impersonal 
power  resident  in  matter  itself,  or  conditioned  by  it,  He 
so  ordered  the  manifestations  of  life  on  our  globe,  as  to 
show  that  the  links  of  the  great  biological  chain  have  been 
separately  created,  and  not  consecutively  evolved. 
*  "  Principles  of  Biology,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  339. 


34  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

-And  lastly,  it  may  be  observed,  that  if  this  earth  were  to 
furnish  a  text-book  for  geologists,  it  was  necessary  that  it 
should  be  printed  before  it  was  published  or  read.  If  our 
earth  was  to  instruct  men,  and  serve  as  a  school  for  their 
mental  and  moral  discipline,  it  was  essential  that,  prior  to 
their  matriculation,  it  should  be  properly  furnished.  That 
admirable  scholastic  arrangements  have  been  made,  is 
attested  by  the  earnest  competition  and  enthusiasm  dis- 
played by  the  ever-increasing  band  of  scientists  who  crowd 
its  halls  ;  and  few  who  have  thoroughly  investigated  the 
problems  prepared  for  them,  have  ever  imagined  that  they 
were  propounded  by  a  blind,  unintelligent,  unconscious  force. 

Mr.  Spencer  regards  it  as  an  objection  to  the  doctrine  of 
special  creation,  that  beings  endowed  with  capacities  for 
wide  thought  and  high  feeling  did  not  exist  on  our  globe 
millions  of  years  before  man  appeared.  The  answer  has 
been  given  already,  and  is  obvious.  It  is  simply  this — Our 
globe  was  not  fit  at  an  earlier  stage  to  receive  such  beings. 
Special  creation  does  not  set  aside  order  and  adaptation  ; 
and  is  perfectly  consistent  with  an  original  incandescent 
state  of  our  globe  watched  over  by  the  Creator,  who,  at  the 
proper  stages  in  its  history,  introduced  such  organisms  as 
were  suited  to  its  condition,  and  fitted  to  prepare  it  as  a 
dwelling-place  for  man. 

Equally  unhappy  is  the  argument  against  design  drawn 
from  the  structure  of  animals  of  prey,  exhibiting,  as  such 
structures  do,  countless  pain-inflicting  appliances — appli- 
ances which  have  been  doing  their  deadly  work  all  through 
the  geological  eras.  "  How  happens  it,"  our  author  asks, 
"  that  animals  were  so  designed  as  to  render  this  bloodshed 
necessary  ?"*  For  the  advocate  of  design,  he  alleges,  there 
is  but  the  one  alternative — viz.,  that  the  Creator  was  either 
unable  or  unwilling  to  make  animals  so  as  to  avoid  the 
infliction  of  such  misery.  Still  greater,  he  thinks,  is  the 
difficulty  when  we  consider  that  branch  of  the  arrangement 
in  which  provision  is  made  for  the  support  of  the  inferior 
by  the  sacrifice  of  the  superior,  as  in  the  case  of  parasites. 

*  "  Principles  of  Biology,"  Vol.  i.,  p.  341. 


ASSUMES  BENEFICENCE  AS  ESSENTIAL  TO  DESIGN.       35 

To  these  objections  we  reply,  that  they  assume  several 
things  which  are  not  conceded.  I.  They  assume  that  the 
design  of  creation,  as  held  by  teleologists,  is  the  production 
of  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  happiness  throughout 
the  entire  orders  of  organic,  sentient  life.  For  this 
assumption,  there  is  no  warrant  to  be  found  either  in  tele- 
ology, or  in  nature.  There  is  a  manifest  subordination 
running  throughout  the  whole  chain  of  sentient  existence, 
from  the  moUusk  to  the  man.  No  inferior  order  lives  for 
itself  or  simply  for  its  own  enjoyment.  It  is  a  link  in  a 
series  constituting  one  great  whole,  from  which  no  member 
can  be  removed  without  causing  universal  detriment,  and 
the  final  link  of  which  lives,  not  for  himself,  but  for  Him 
to  whom  he  owes  his  being.  The  theology  of  the  whole 
maybe  expressed  in  one  sentence :  each  inferior  order  not  for 
itself,  but  for  a  higher  ;  all  the  inferior  for  man,  and  man  for 
God.  Such  is  the  testimony  of  the  organic  worlds,  and 
such  is  the  doctrine  of  man's  moral  nature  and  of  the  Word 
of  God.  In  this  system  there  is  suffering,  but  it  is  none  the 
less  in  harmony  with  the  facts. 

2.  Mr.  Spencer's  objections  assume  that  if  we  cannot 
point  out  a  beneficent  design,  there  is  no  proof  of  design 
at  all.  Such  an  objection  may  possibly  have  force  with 
one  under  the  fascination  of  an  hypothesis  which  he  would 
fondly  sustain  against  all  comers  ;  but  no  man,  whose  mind 
is  not  warped  by  prejudice,  can  for  a  moment  believe  that 
benevolence  is  a  necessary  element  in  design.  Any  arrange- 
ment embracing  means  for  the  attainment  of  a  definite  end 
carries  with  it  evidence  of  design,  and  is  so  regarded  by  all 
men  as  soon  as  the  arrangement  and  the  end  are  appre- 
hended. It  matters  not  whether  the  end  be  benevolent  or 
malign,  whether  the  arrangement  be  ingenious  or  clumsy, 
the  moment  the  connexion  between  the  means  employed 
and  the  end  aimed  at,  is  discovered,  the  mind  instinctively 
infers  a  design  and  a  designer.  The  horn  of  the  sword-fish, 
the  teeth  of  the  lion,  the  talons  of  the  eagle,  are  regarded 
by  all  men,  whether  evolutionists  or  creationists,  as  instru- 
ments of  design  ;  and  the  philosopher  who  challenges  the 


36  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

e  ifence  does  but  proclaim  his  folly,  and  reveal  his  pie- 

5.  It  is  ob^-u?  th^t  Mr.  Spencer's  objectioiis  to  the 
doctrine  of  r  _  .r  irs-vm.  not  from  the  facts  under 
in^'estigatic:.,  lu:  :  ;~  :r  .1  :  :  :-:r  ces  in  rer^rd  to  the 
r:T"e::5  of  this  doctrine  upon  our  views  of  thr  :  .racter  of 
'--'--  -  ri::r.  He  finds  organisms  not  construe:-  ^  :  as  to 
z:z  -t : . :  ; .:  iTering,  and  immediately  concludes  tha:  :  j ;  5  rr*.  s 
have  not  been  designed.  Why?  Because  tl;  .  _  : 
"-5:  hive  e::..-.  ;een  unable  or  unwilling  to  design  :  :. 
5 :  : :  prevent  suffering.  This  alternative  he  thinks  ':::.. 
~:  :.-  i  :  ::rine  of  dti_  :  li  it  either  c?.i:s  ir.  imputation  on 
:   e  Divine  character  or  involves  a  lir:   :   :  :*  the  Divine 

Now.  as  we  h?..e  ./:t?-i      ftt:      :.::  re:        ::ion  of  the 
~ir   5  ifdesi^  ::     t  upon  :vr  ivracter  of  the 

r:  e  },  7:.ti  at  in  the  : :  r.z:/  iriz    ;    :  f  :-ie  adap- 

tation of  the  means  ::  :   e  1::.  :     .r.:  ::   :.  t  z::  itever 

the  erf  "ay  be.  T  :_:  :  :ei  as  we  are,  it  is  acr  .:ely 
i . : . :    5  i  3ie  to  disco\  e  r  5  _ :  .  -  :      :  ition  without  imrr.  e  e   . :  r 

:    7        ;   .  design  and  a  designer.     This  is  a  first  p  r     : 
which  the  human  mind  cann::   rev"  zuish  without  doing 

:  :'ence  to  its  own  constitution.  It  is,  in  fact,  but  another 
lord  of  the  principle,  th  =  :  e  e  e~e::  must  have  a  cause. 
Tv  view  of  this  fi::.  it  is  n.:vv  --:  :  .:  :'.e  onlj' course  op>en 
::  :.  r  irripugner  of  the  c:  ::r  ;  3i  design,  is  to  meet  the 
:  -  -  ^  V :  on  the  question  01  laci,  and  to  prove  that  animal 
ir  e  z_v::  .r'r  organisms  bear  in  their  structure  no  traces 
::  ee  ^vi,  if  he  cannot  do  this  (and  Mr.  Spencer'?  ""-': 
I  r;-.  by  leaving  it  not  only  undone  but  ur.?-::ev 
v^  :  -^roof  that  he  cannot),  he  must  sjrr  .ie-  : 
^    V  :  V  .    -tead  of  facing  the  facts  and  dive  ^ 

o;   L^^--  f  design  which  the  human  m;e.-   ...^:...^- 

tively  re^-^-  r-ur    author    carefiilly  evades   the   real 

question  -'r  '--  .  :i  raises  an  entirely  distinct  one  respect- 
ing the  :  -  -'Dctrine  of  design  upon  our  \-iews  of 
the  Div:    ,           icter.     This  procedure  is  as  unmanly  as  it 

♦  "  Principles  of  Biology,'  VoL  L,  p.  341. 


spencer's  dilemmas  examined.  37 

is  unphilosophical  and  unscientific.  It  is  unmanly  not  to 
face  the  facts  presented  in  the  structures  of  the  fauna  and 
flora  of  our  world  ;  and  it  is  unphilosophical  and  unscientific 
not  to  follow  out,  to  their  legitimate  conclusions,  irrespec- 
tive of  imaginary  ulterior  consequences,  the  principles 
revealed  by  a  fair  analysis  of  the  phenomena  they  present. 
With  a  philosopher,  the  question  is  not,  "  What  effect  will  a 
fair  interpretation  of  these  facts  have  upon  some  other 
doctrine  ?"  but  simply,  "  What  do  the  facts,  fairly  interpreted, 
teach  .'*"  To  borrow  a  manly  and  truly  philosophical 
sentiment,  uttered  by  Professor  Huxley  in  his  address 
before  the  late  meeting  of  the  British  Association, 
"  Logical  consequences  are  the  scarecrows  of  fools  and  the 
beacons  of  wise  men."*  Theologians  are  not  afraid  of  the 
logical  consequences  of  the  doctrine  of  design  upon  their 
views  of  the  Divine  character  ;  nor  will  Mr.  Spencer  be  able 
to  turn  them  aside  from  the  question  at  issue,  by  hanging 
up,  for  the  thousandth  time,  the  old  weather-beaten  scare- 
crow of  optimism,  fashioned,  to  suit  his  own  purpose,  out  of 
the  straw  of  a  false  speculative  theology. 

Of  course,  if  the  God  of  the  Bible  be  the  God  assumed  in 
Mr.  Spencer's  critique  on  His  works,  and  the  end  aimed  at 
by  Him  be  the  end  ascribed  to  Him  by  His  reviewer,  it 
might  be  difficult  to  reconcile  the  actual  phenomena  of  the 
organic  world  with  the  character  of  such  a  Being.  If  the 
Creator  possess  but  two  attributes — benevolence  and  power 
— and  if  His  design  in  creation  be  the  production  of  the 
greatest  possible  amount  of  happiness,  it  might  puzzle  the 
ablest  of  optimists  to  reconcile  those  pain-inflicting  con- 
trivances which  abound  in  the  actual  organic  arrangement, 
with  the  character,  and  aim,  and  capacities  of  this  optimistic 
Deity.  But  as  the  God  of  the  Bible  possesses  more  attributes 
than  the  two  specified,  and  sets  before  Him  higher  ends 
than  the  mere  happiness  of  His  creatures — as  He  is  holy 
and  just,  as  well  as  almighty  and  benevolent,  and  regards 
the  interests  of  His  moral  creatures  as  superior  to  those  of 
the  mere  sentient  orders  of  animal  organisms,  and  considers 
*  "Fortnightly  Review,"  Nov.,  1874,  p.  577. 


38  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

their  moral  culture  a  higher  end  than  their  happiness,  yea, 
has  linked  their  happiness  to  their  moral  and  spiritual 
character,  and  set  His  own  glory  before  them  as  their 
highest  end,  and  the  source  of  their  highest  enjoyment — as 
this  is  the  character,  and  these  the  aims,  of  the  God  of  the 
Bible,  Mr.  Spencer's  objections  are  as  irrelevant  as  the 
premises  on  which  they  are  based  are  false.  As  our  critic 
cannot  take  in  the  whole  issues  of  the  mighty  cycle  em- 
braced in  that  plan  of  which  these  phenomena  strewn  on 
the  shores  of  time  are  but  the  initial  movements,  it  is 
nothing  short  of  arrogance  to  pronounce,  as  he  has  ventured 
to  do,  upon  the  moral  character  of  the  Author  of  the  system. 

4.  Mr,  Spencer's  objections  proceed  upon  the  assumption, 
that  a  theory  which  does  not  account  for  every  class  of 
phenomena,  however  remotely  connected  with  the  subject 
under  investigation,  is,  ipso  facto ^  discredited.  For  example, 
as  in  the  present  instance,  if  the  advocate  of  design  cannot 
solve  the  problem  of  the  ultimate  design  of  the  various 
orders  of  animal  and  vegetable  organisms,  he  is  not  to  be 
permitted  to  speak  of  the  immediate  and  proximate  design 
of  these  closely  correlated  kingdoms  of  nature.  If  he  cannot 
tell  why,  or  for  what  ultimate  end,  God  made  great  whales, 
and  then  constructed  sword-fish  equipped  with  a  weapon 
for  their  destruction,  he  must  be  told  that  he  has  failed  to 
prove  that  either  whales  or  sword-fish  are  the  offspring  of 
design  !  If  a  teleologist  cannot  tell  why  God  created  acari 
to  burrow  in  the  skin  and  torture  man,  he  has  failed  to 
prove  that  either  man  or  his  tormentors  exhibit  marks  of 
intelligent  purpose !  If  he  cannot  take  in  the  vast  range 
of  organic  relations  (embracing,  as  multitudinous  orders  do, 
organisms  which  nothing  but  the  most  powerful  microscope 
can  reveal),  and  grasp  the  scheme  of  creation  in  its  entirety, 
he  is  not  entitled  to  speak  of  any  class  of  relations  as 
evincing  contrivance  ! 

In  a  word,  so  long  as  anything  remains  unexplained, 
nothing  is  explained.  Will  any  scientist  accept  this  prin- 
ciple }  Will  any  astronomer  venture  to  affirm  that  Kepler 
had   explained   nothing,  when  he  enunciated  the  law  that 


INCONSISTENT  IN  BELIEVING  THE  INCONCEIVABLE.       39 

"  planets  revolve  In  elliptic  orbits  about  the  sun,  which 
occupies  the  common  focus  of  all  these  orbits,"  because  he 
had  not  then  discovered  the  second  great  law,  that  "  if  a 
line  be  drawn  from  the  centre  of  the  sun  to  any  planet,  this 
line,  as  it  is  carried  forward  by  the  planet,  will  sweep  over 
equal  areas  in  equal  portions  of  time"?  Or,  is  it  to  be  held 
that  the  foregoing  laws  explain  nothing,  because  Kepler 
had  yet  to  ponder  the  relations  of  the  members  of  the  solar 
system  for  seventeen  years  before  he  discovered  the  third 
law,  that  the  squares  of  the  periodic  times  of  the  planets  are 
to  each  other  as  the  cubes  of  their  mean  distances  from  the 
sun  ?  Are  all  these  laws  to  be  repudiated,  because  their 
discoverer  was  not  able  to  tell  why  the  orbits  of  the  planets 
and  satellites  should  be  ellipses  rather  than  any  other  curve, 
or  to  tell,  as  Newton  has  done,  what  power  holds  these 
mighty  masses  "  steady  in  their  swift  career,  producing  the 
most  exquisite  harmony  of  motion,  and  a  uniformity  of 
result  as  steady  as  the  march  of  time."*  W.ll  Mr.  Spencer 
abandon  the  evolution  hypothesis,  because,  as  confessed  by 
himself,  it  does  not  explain  the  connexion  of  consciousness 
with  nervous  action  }  Will  he  give  up  his  hypothesis  because 
of  its  failure  to  explain  this  mysterious  relationship.-*  Tele- 
ologists  are  entitled  to  press  this  question  with  all  the  con- 
fidence of  an  a  fortiori^  for  they  are  asking  evolutionists  to 
give  up  a  hypothesis  for  which  there  is  no  positive  proof, 
and  which  fails,  absolutely  and  confessedly,  at  the  most 
important  point  in  the  evolutionary  sequence  ;  whilst,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  doctrine  of  design  is  engraven  on 
every  organism  within  the  realm  of  organic  nature,  and 
engraven  so  manifestly,  that  the  ablest  advocate  of 
the  evolution  hypothesis — the  philosopher  of  the  school — 
has  nothing  to  advance  against  it,  save  certain  consequences 
which  he  alleges  flow  from  it — consequences  which,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  lie  only  against  a  speculative,  theological 
optimism,  which  has  no  basis  in  the  word  of  God. 

In  a  word,  then,  it  is  only  by  petty  criticisms,  based  on 
the  assumption  that  the  theology  of  the  Bible  is  optimistic, 
*  Mitchell's  "Orbs  of  Heaven,"  p.  71. 


40  spencer's  biological  hypothesis. 

that  this  prince  of  evolutionists  can  make  even  a  show  of 
argument  against  the  doctrine  of  design  in  creation.  His 
assumption  is  false,  and  his  critique  pointless  and  worthless. 
To  use  his  own  language  in  his  estimate  of  the  doctrine  he 
assails,  his  hypothesis  must  be  pronounced  worthless — 
"worthless  by  its  derivation,"  from  Democritus  and  Lu- 
cretius ;  "  worthless  in  its  intrinsic  incoherence,"  as  de- 
manding continuity,  and  yet  admitting  the  existence  of 
impassable  gulfs  between  the  most  important  elements  in 
the  series;  "worthless  as  absolutely  without  evidence,"  no 
evolutionist  having  as  yet  been  able  to  point  to  the  evolution 
of  a  single  new  fertile  species  from  any  other ;  "  worthless 
as  not  supplying  an  intellectual  need,"  failing,  as  it  does, 
to  conform  to  the  primary  belief  that  evidence  of  design 
implies  the  existence  of  a  designer ;  "  worthless  as  not 
satisfying  a  moral  want,"  repudiating,  as  it  does,  the  very 
idea  of  the  existence  of  a  personal,  moral  intelligence,  who 
sustains  to  us  the  relations  of  Creator,  Governor,  and  Judge. 
"We  must,  therefore,  consider  it  as  counting  for  nothing,  in 
opposition  to"  that  Scripture  doctrine  of  Creation  which 
fulfils  all  these  conditions,  and  meets  all  the  intellectual  and 
moral  requirements  of  our  nature.  Constituted  as  man  is, 
he  cannot  rest  in  any  theory  of  this  wondrous  universe, 
which  does  not  place  an  omnipotent  moral  Intelligence 
first  in  the  absolute  order  of  existence,  as  the  efficient  cause 
of  all  forces,  whether  chemical,  mechanical,  vital,  or  mental. 


1 


fiJl^O.  ^  . 


Wi\t  g^^tijin^  jjf  ait  3m^i^i|f3jJital  dxrd. 


REV.  W.  TODD  MARTIN,  M.A. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST. 


-♦^♦♦4- 


THE  evidences  of  the  truth  of  Christianity  are  manifold 
and  varied,  addressing  themselves  not  only  to  different 
types  of  mind,  but  also  to  different  parts  of  our  mental  and 
moral  nature.  One  of  the  strongest  and  most  convincing 
of  these  is  to  be  found  in  the  life  and  character  of  Christ  as 
portrayed  in  the  gospels.  To  set  forth  the  nature  and  value 
of  this  evidence  is  the  object  of  the  present  lecture.  In  the 
time  at  our  disposal  it  will  not  be  possible  to  do  more  than 
give  an  outline  of  the  argument  derivable  from  this  source. 

We  have  in  our  hands  four  writings  or  compositions, 
generally  known  as  "The  Gospels;"  and  according  to  the 
present  results  of  criticism,  the  first  of  these  was  in  existence 
before  A.D.  70,  the  second  and  third  some  few  years  later, 
and  the  fourth  about  the  close  of  the  first  century.*  We  do 
not  assume  the  truth  of  these  writings,  for  that  would  be  to 
take  for  granted  the  matter  in  dispute,  but  simply  that  they 
now  exist,  and  that  they  can  be  traced  back  to  the  dates 
that  have  been  mentioned. 

When  we  examine  these  compositions,  we  find  that  they 
are  memoirs  or  biographies  of  a  remarkable  person  called 
Jesus  Christ,  and  that  they  represent  him  as  possessing  a 
character  transcendently  excellent  and  beautiful,  faultlessly 
pure  and  perfect,  unique  and  unparalleled  in  history.  They 
do  this,  not  by  any  formal  description  or  delineation  of  his 
character — nothing  of  that  kind  is  attempted — but  by  the 
simple  record  of  what  he  said  and  did.  Our  limits  forbid 
anything  but  a  mere  sketch  of  the  character  thus  set 
before  us  ;  and  no  such  sketch  can  do  it  anything  like 
justice.  Indeed,  no  delineation  or  description  can — nothing 
but  the  gospel  narratives  themselves. 

These  memoirs  introduce  us  to  this  remarkable  })crson 

*  Christlicb's  "  Modern  Doubt  and  Christian  Belief,"  p.  395. 


4:  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

in  his  infancy.  After  intimation,  by  an  angel,  to  his 
mother  of  his  birth  and  of  the  name  by  which  he  should 
be  called,  he  is  miraculously  conceived  through  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  (such  is  the  representation),  and  is  born 
a  "  Holy  Thing."  He  is  born  in  a  stable  and  laid  in  a  man- 
ger, yet  an  angel  from  heaven  announces  his  birth  to  men, 
and  a  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host  praise  God  for  his 
appearance  in  our  world.  And  thus  we  meet  at  the  very 
commencement  of  his  earthly  life  that  combination  of  great- 
ness and  lowliness,  dignity  and  abasement,  which  marks  it 
throughout  and  distinguishes  it  from  every  other  life. 

The  child  Jesus  is  not  a  prodigy,  displaying  superhuman 
wisdom  and  doing  wonderful  things  from  his  very  infancy. 
He  is  a  perfectly  natural  and  truly  human  child,  but  pure 
and  holy,  without  any  taint  of  evil  or  any  stain  of  sin.  He 
grows  like  other  children,  both  physically  and  mentally,  in 
stature  and  in  intelligence.  He  attracts  the  affection  of  all 
who  come  in  contact  with  him,  and  has  favour  with  God, 
whose  grace  is  upon  him. 

This  is  the  picture  given  us  of  his  infancy.  Of  his  boy- 
hood we  have  but  a  glimpse — one  recorded  incident,  but 
it  is  in  harmony  with  the  childhood  that  has  preceded. 
When  twelve  years  of  age,  he  goes  up  to  Jerusalem  with 
his  parents,  and  is  left  behind  there  at  their  departure. 
When  they  return  to  seek  him,  they  find  him  "in  the 
temple,  sitting  in  the  midst  of  the  doctors,  both  hearing 
them  and  asking  them  questions  " — the  impression  made 
upon  all  who  hear  him  being  one  of  amazement  "  at 
his  understanding  and  answers."  There  is  nothing  in  his 
conduct  or  bearing  to  offend — no  pertness  nor  forwardness, 
no  want  of  modesty  or  humility  ;  yet  he  shows  a  measure  of 
intelligence  and  an  interest  in  Divine  things  so  far  beyond 
those  of  an  ordinary  and  merely  human  youth,  that  those  who 
hear  him  are  "  astonished."  His  mother  gently  reproaches 
him  for  having  remained  behind  his  father  and  herself  with- 
out their  knowledge,  and  thereby  caused  them  anxiety  on 
his  account :  and  then  we  have  that  first  recorded  word  of 
his — "Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  busi- 


HIS   SPOTLESS   CHILDHOOD.  '  5 

ness?" — the  "solitary  floweret  plucked  out  of  the  enclosed 
garden  of  the  thirty  years,"  which  shows  us  that  he  had 
come  to  know  himself  and  his  relation  to  the  Father — a 
knowledge  which  surprised  his  mother,  and  which,  not  under- 
standing, she  carried  away  to  meditate  on  and  ponder. 

Now  it  has  been  well  shown  by  Bushnell  that,  whether 
fact  or  fiction,  we  have  here  the  sketch  of  a  perfect  and 
sacred  childhood — that,  in  this  respect,  the  early  character 
of  Jesus  is  a  picture  that  stands  by  itself — that  in  no  other 
case  has  a  biographer,  in  drawing  a  character,  represented 
it  as  beginning  with  a  spotless  childhood.  He  adds — "  If 
any  writer,  of  almost  any  age,  will  undertake  to  describe 
not  merely  a  spotless  but  a  superhuman  or  celestial  child- 
hood, not  having  the  reality  before  him,  he  must  be  some- 
what more  than  human  himself,  if  he  does  not  pile  together 
a  mass  of  clumsy  exaggerations,  and  draw  and  overdraw, 
till  neither  heaven  nor  earth  can  find  any  verisimilitude  in 
the  picture."*  This  is  strikingly  exhibited  by  the  apocry- 
phal gospels  in  their  portraiture  of  Christ's  childhood. 
While  the  writers  of  the  gospels  we  are  considering  say  so 
little  of  the  infancy  and  youth  of  Jesus,  and  expressly  tell 
us  that  he  did  his  first  miracle  at  Cana  of  Galilee  when 
entering  upon  his  public  ministry,  the  apocryphal  gospels 
fill  his  childhood  and  youth  with  all  manner  of  grotesque 
and  absurd  miracles  and  prodigies,  showing  us  what  it  was 
in  the  power  of  that  age  to  invent,  and  in  what  a  contrast  it 
stands  to  the  naturalness  and  reserve  of  the  canonical  gospels. 

When  we  pass  from  Christ's  childhood  to  his  manhood, 
and  consider  his  character  as  it  is  then  presented  to  us,  we 
find  that  it  is  just  the  development  of  his  pure  and  spotless 
youth,  to  which  it  stands  in  the  same  relation  as  the  flower 
does  to  the  bud  from  which  it  has  expanded. 

As  we  survey  this  character,  the  first  thing  that  strikes  us 
is  its  perfect  innocence  and  sinlessness.  According  to  the 
representation  given  of  him  in  the  gospels,  Jesus  Christ  is  a 
perfectly  innocent  and  sinless  being.  During  his  whole  life, 
he  neither  does  wrong,  nor  gives  just  cause  of  offence  to 
*  "  Nature  and  the  Supernatural,"  p.  280. 


6  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

any  one.  He  never  injures  any  one,  by  word  or  deed. 
Many,  no  doubt,  are  offended  with  him,  but  it  is  with  what 
is  good  in  him  that  they  are  offended — with  his  faithfulness 
and  truth,  his  purity  and  holiness,  his  compassion  and 
benevolence.  The  Scribes  and  Pharisees  are  offended  with 
his  humility  because  it  rebukes  their  pride,  with  his  bene- 
volence because  it  reproves  their  selfishness,  with  his  holi- 
ness because  it  contrasts  so  strongly  with  their  moral  turpi- 
tude and  vileness.  But  this  is  their  blame  ;  he  is  blameless. 
The  idea  of  Christ,  in  this  respect,  conveyed  by  the  gospel 
narrative,  is  that  of  a  perfectly  innocent  and  harmless  being, 
one  whose  life  is  altogether  inoffensive,  and  to  whose  heart 
every  feeling  of  hatred  and  unkindness  is  a  stranger. 
And,  while  thus  innocent  and  harmless,  he  is  so  without 
sustaining  any  loss  of  dignity — without  giving  any  idea  of 
feebleness  or  weakness,  such  as  we  often  associate  with 
mere  innocence — nay,  while  conveying  the  strongest  im- 
pression of  greatness  and  power. 

Nor  is  Christ  innocent  and  harmless  merely;  he  is  sinless. 
This,  we  are  aware,  is  denied  by  some  ;  but  we  contend  that 
it  is  the  representation  of  the  gospel  naj-rative.  There  is 
no  act  attributed  to  him  that  can,  with  any  show  of  justice, 
be  regarded  as  a  sinful  act.  His  driving  of  the  traffickers 
out  of  the  temple,  especially  when  taken  in  connection  with 
his  claim  as  Son  to  rule  in  his  Father's  house,  is  an  act 
not  only  compatible  with  sinlessness,  but  positively  holy 
and  even  godlike  in  its  character.  And  the  fact  that  so 
many  retire  without  resistance  before  a  single  man,  implies 
a  consciousness  of  wrong-doing  upon  their  part,  and  shows 
the  majesty  of  reproving  holiness.  As  to  the  charge  of 
injustice  and  unreasonable  resentment,  founded  on  his 
smiting  a  fig-tree  with  barrenness,  it  is  almost  unworthy  of 
serious  refutation.  There  was  no  injustice  and  no  resent- 
ment in  the  case.  It  was  a  warning  expressed  in  symbol, 
an  admonition  given  by  an  act.  It  was  Christ's  taking  an 
inanimate  object — and,  therefore,  one  that  was  incapable  of 
suffering — and  using  it  to  reprove  the  people  of  Israel  for 
their  unfruitfulness,  and  warn  them  of  impending  doom. 


HIS   SINLESSNESS.  V 

Then  we  have  most  important  testimony  on  this  point 
borne  by  Christ's  enemies.  Pilate  washes  his  hands  before 
the  multitude,  in  token  of  his  freedom  from  all  participation 
in  the  crime  of  putting  an  innocent  man  to  death  ;  and  says, 
"  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood  of  this  just  person."  Judas, 
who  knew  what  Christ  was,  not  only  in  public  but  in  private, 
so  far  from  having  anything  to  allege  against  him  that 
might  have  excused  him  to  himself  and  others  for  what  he 
had  done,  testifies  to  his  innocence,  and  says, "  I  have  sinned 
in  that  I  have  betrayed  the  innocent  blood." 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  Christ's  own  declarations 
respecting  himself  ?  That  he  claims  to  be  a  perfectly  sin- 
less being  is  undeniable.  His  challenge  to  his  enemies  is, 
"Which  of  you  convinceth  me  of  sin  .''"  Of  his  invulner- 
ability to  the  assaults  of  Satan,  he  declares,  "  The  prince  of 
this  world  cometh  and  hath  nothing  in  me;"  and  of  his 
obedience  to  the  Father,  he  says,  "  I  do  always  the  things 
that  please  him."  And  not  only  does  he  make  this  claim  ; 
he  carries  it  through  without  faltering  in  its  assertion,  or 
abating  it  for  a  single  moment.  During  his  whole  life 
he  never  makes  a  confession  of  sin,  drops  a  tear  of  peni- 
tence, nor  offers  a  prayer  for  forgiveness.  He  has  no 
remorse,  no  regrets,  no  sense  of  having  failed  in  any  duty — 
no  feeling  that  he  should  have  done  anything  different,  or 
in  a  different  manner,  from  what  he  has  done.  "  It  is  clear," 
as  Dorner  says,  "  in  the  most  decided  moments  of  his  life, 
that  he  is  conscious  of  no  sin.  That  his  self-consciousness 
was  really  of  such  a  sort  that  his  conscience  never  accused 
him  of  any  fault  or  error,  is  the  firmest  and  most  indis- 
putable historical  fact,  explain  it  as  we  may.  That  he 
imposed  upon  himself  as  his  life-task  the  salvation  and 
reconciliation  of  the  world  ;  that  he  was  conscious,  too,  of 
being  occupied  with  the  solution  of  this  problem,  in  suffer- 
ing even  to  the  cross  ;  and  that  he  died  in  the  full 
consciousness  of  having  solved  the  problem,  as  well  as  of 
unbroken  communion  with  God,  is  just  as  undeniable  as 
that  it  would  have  been  an  insane  and  absurd  thought  to 
wish  to  redeem  and  reconcile  others,  if  he  had  been  con- 


8  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

scious  of  needing  redemption  himself.  How,  then,  can  the 
phenomenon  be  explained,  that  he,  to  whom  even  sceptics  do 
not  deny  the  rarest  measure  of  purity  and  clearness  of  mind, 
stands  before  us  without  being  conscious  of  a  single  sin,  or 
of  the  necessity  of  conversion  and  amendment,  which  he 
requires  of  all  others  ;  if  not  in  this  way,  that  he  was 
conscio2Ls  of  no  sin  because  he  was  not  a  sinner."  This  is 
the  only  adequate  explanation  of  it :  for  as  Bushnell  has 
well  said,  "  If  Jesus  was  a  sinner,  he  was  conscious  of  sin, 
as  all  sinners  are,  and  therefore  was  a  hypocrite  in  the 
whole  fabric  of  his  character  ;  realising  so  much  of  Divine 
beauty  in  it,  maintaining  the  show  of  such  unfaltering 
harmony  and  celestial  grace,  and  doing  all  this  with  a  mind 
confused  and  fouled  by  the  ajfectatio7is  acted  for  true 
virtues  !  Such  an  example  of  successful  hypocrisy  would  be 
itself  the  greatest  miracle  ever  heard  of  in  the  world." 

No  ;  Christ  lived  in  a  world  where  he  was  exposed  and 
tempted  to  evil,  but  the  purity  of  his  nature  constantly 
repelled  it.  As  he  touched  the  leper,  and  no  uncleanness 
followed,  so  he  mingled  with  sinners  and  received  no  con- 
tamination from  them.  He  had  evil  suggested  to  his  mind 
by  Satan,  but  his  holy  soul  did  not  admit  it.  "  He  did  no 
sin,  neither  was  guile  found  in  his  mouth."  He  was  "  holy, 
harmless,  undefiled,  and  separate  from  sinners."  And  in  this 
sinlessness  of  Jesus,  in  the  midst  of  a  sinful  world,  we  have 
something  that  separates  him  from  all  other  men,  in  which 
he  stands  solitary  and  alone,  the  one  sublime  exception  to 
a  universal  sinfulness. 

But  not  only  is  Christ  free  from  all  stain  of  sin  ;  he  is 
distinguished  by  the  highest  positive  moral  excellence,  even 
perfect  love  to  God,  and  pure,  disinterested,  self-sacrificing 
love  to  man.  This  love  is  the  groundwork  of  his  character, 
its  grand  distinguishing  peculiarity.  He  shows  his  love  to 
God  by  a  regard  to  His  will  in  all  things — a  constant,  cheer- 
ful, devoted  obedience.  At  twelve  years  of  age,  as  a  matter 
not  more  of  duty  than  of  delight,  he  must  be  about  his 
Father's  business.  As  he  fulfils  his  ministry,  it  is  his  meat, 
the  joy  and  invigoration  of  his  soul,  to  do  the  will  of  Him 


HIS   LOVE   TO   MAN.  9 

that  sent  him,  and  to  finish  His  work.  And  when  his  earthly 
life  is  closing,  he  contemplates  it  with  satisfaction,  because  he 
can  say  to  the  Father — "  I  have  glorified  Thee  on  the  earth  ; 
I  have  finished  the  work  which  Thou  gavest  me  to  do." 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  his  love  to  man,  but  that  the 
world  has  never  witnessed  anything  like  it  before  or  since. 
His  whole  life  on  earth  was  just  the  expression  of  that  love 
• — the  shedding  of  its  light  on  the  world's  darkness,  the 
pouring  of  its  life-giving  and  healing  waters  on  the  world's 
barrenness  and  drought.  This  love  showed  itself  in  his 
tender  sympathy  with  all  human  woe — with  the  deprivations 
of  the  blind,  the  heart-sorrows  of  the  bereaved,  the  infatuation 
of  the  erring.  How  he  pitied  the  widowed  mother  of  Nain 
in  her  bereavement,  the  sisters  of  Bethany  in  their  grief, 
his  disciples  when  they  sorrowed  in  the  prospect  of  his 
departure,  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  in  their  sinful  and 
infatuated  rejection  of  himself! 

Nor  was  his  an  empty  and  barren  sympathy,  but  one 
accompanied  and  made  efficacious  by  an  active  benevolence. 
"  He  went  about  continually  doing  good,  healing  all  man- 
ner of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  disease  among  the  people." 
He  declared  that  he  "  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but 
to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many."  And 
he  fulfilled  this,  his  own  high  ideal,  at  once  of  his  mission 
and  of  true  greatness.  His  whole  life  was  one  constant  minis- 
try of  self-sacrificing  love.  He  ministered  to  man  in  his  physi- 
cal and  earthly  wants,  healing  the  sick,  cleansing  the  lepers, 
opening  the  eyes  of  the  blind,  comforting  the  sorrowing, 
restoring  the  dead  to  life.  And  he  ministered  to  man  in 
spiritual  wants.  He  did  so  by  the  gracious  words  that  pro- 
ceeded out  of  his  mouth,  his  words  of  compassion  and 
tenderness  and  absolving  love.  He  ministered  thus  to  the 
paralytic,  when  he  said,  "  Son,  be  of  good  cheer,  thy  sins  are 
forgiven  thee ;"  to  the  woman  who  was  a  sinner,  when  he  said, 
"Thy  faith  hath  saved  thee,  go  in  peace;"  and  to  the  woman 
of  Samaria,  when  he  revealed  himself  to  her  as  the  Mes- 
siah, and  gave  her  the  true  water  of  life.  And  the  crowning 
act,    the   climax    of   this   ministry  of  love,  was   when  he 


10  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

ascended  to  Calvary,  and  there,  by  a  voluntary  death  of 
agony  and  shame,  gave  his  life  a  ransom  for  many.  "  Here- 
in, indeed,  was  love" — greater  than  ever  man  has  shown. 

To  the  highest  active  benevolence  Christ  united  the 
passive  virtues.  It  has  been  justly  remarked  that,  by 
his  life  and  teaching,  Christ  has  revolutionised  the  world's 
estimate  of  these  as  an  element  of  greatness.  Before 
his  time,  men  associated  greatness  almost  entirely  with  the 
heroic  virtues,  and  regarded  meekness  under  injury,  patient 
endurance  of  wrong,  forgiveness  of  enemies,  as  little  more 
than  weaknesses.  But  Christ,  by  his  example,  has  taught 
the  world  not  merely  that  true  greatness  is  compatible 
with  the  passive  virtues,  but  that  they  form  an  important 
element  of  it.  He  exhibited  these  not  only  in  the 
greater  trials  of  life,  but  also  in  what  are  said  to  be  their 
severest  test,  its  commoner  and  minor  trials.  During  his 
life  he  was  a  man  of  sorrow^s  and  acquainted  with  grief 
He  was  so  poor  that  he  had  no  dwelling  he  could  call 
his  own.  He  knew  what  it  was  to  hunger,  to  thirst,  and  to 
be  weary.  He  was  misunderstood  by  his  friends,  and  mis- 
represented and  maligned  by  his  enemies.  His  good  was 
evil  spoken  of,  and  his  works  attributed  to  Satan.  His  disci- 
ples clung  tenaciously  to  their  mistaken  views  of  the  Messiah, 
and  were  slow  to  believe  all  that  the  prophets  had  spoken, 
and  all  that  he  taught  respecting  his  sufferings  and  death. 
His  words  were  often  w^atched  for  ground  of  accusation 
against  him,  and  plots  were  formed  against  his  life.  But 
amid  all  this  privation,  misconception,  and  opposition,  so 
fitted  to  discourage  and  provoke,  he  is  never  ruffled  or 
chafed  in  spirit,  never  manifests  fretfulness  or  impatience, 
displeasure  or  discontent,  never  complains  or  murmurs,  but 
holds  on  his  way  with  an  unclouded  serenity  and  a  sublime 
and  undisturbed  composure.  He  is  not  insensible  either  to 
physical  or  mental  ills.  Exquisitely  sensitive  both  in  soul 
and  body,  he  feels  these  acutely ;  but  in  virtue  of  his  per- 
fect unselfishness,  his  devotion  to  the  Father,  and  his  love 
to  man,  he  rises  above  them  and  possesses  his  soul  in  a 
celestial  patience. 


HIS   MEEKNESS  AND   PATIENCE.  11 

When  we  view  him  in  the  closing  scenes  of  his  earthly 
life,  in  what  is  specially  called  his  passion,  he  presents  a 
spectacle  of  meek  endurance  of  wrong,  and  of  undeserved, 
yet  patient  and  uncomplaining  suffering,  such  as  the  world 
has  never  seen.  None  ever  suffered  as  he  did  ;  but,  although 
innocent,  he  is  an  uncomplaining  sufferer.  He  is  silent  in 
the  hall  of  judgment  when  the  mockery  of  a  trial  is  con- 
ducted for  his  condemnation — silent  when  he  is  blindfolded 
and  buffeted,  spit  on  and  scourged,  ridiculed  and  crowned 
with  thorns — silent  when  he  toils  with  his  cross  along  the 
road  to  Calvary,  the  only  word  that  he  utters  being  one 
not  of  self-lamentation,  but  of  pitying  regard  for  others, 
"  Daughters  of  Jerusalem,  weep  not  for  me,  but  weep  for 
yourselves,  and  for  your  children."  Well  might  it  be  said 
of  him,  "  He  is  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  as 
a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb,  so  he  openeth  not  his 
mouth."  If,  therefore,  to  suffer  even  to  death  uncomplain- 
ingly, being  innocent,  manifest  greatness  of  soul,  none  ever 
exhibited  such  greatness  as  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

Then  think  of  his  forgiveness  of  injury  !  When  Peter 
came  to  him  on  one  occasion,  and  asked,  "  Lord,  how  oft 
shall  my  brother  sin  against  me,  and  I  forgive  him .''  till  seven 
times  ? "  his  reply  was — "  I  say  not  unto  thee  until  seven 
times,  but  until  seventy  times  seven."  And  what  he  thus 
preached  he  practised.  He  forgave  Peter  for  denying 
him,  Thomas  for  doubting  him,  all  the  disciples  for  forsaking 
him  at  his  apprehension.  Nay,  he  forgave  those  who  cruci- 
fied him.  As  they  drive  the  nails  into  his  hands,  he  raises 
his  meek  eyes  to  heaven  and  prays,  "  Father,  forgive  them  ; 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  No  wonder  that  even 
Rousseau  felt  constrained  to  say  that  if  Socrates  suffered 
and  died  like  a  sage,  Christ  suffered  and  died  like  a  god. 

And  not  only  did  Christ  combine  the  different  classes  of 
virtues  in  his  character  ;  he  united  in  himself  all  the 
virtues.  Unlike  any  other  great  man  of  whom  we  read — of 
whom  the  most  that  could  be  said  was  that  he  possessed 
one  or  more  virtues  in  a  high  degree — Christ  possessed  every 
virtue  in  its  perfection,  so  that  it  is  not  possible  to  name  any 


12  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  OF   CHRIST. 

moral  excellence  that  did  not  belong  to  him.  He  possessed 
these  virtues,  moreover,  in  such  just  proportion,  that  his 
character  was  not  only  complete  and  full,  but  in  perfect 
equipoise  and  balance,  exquisitely  s\Tnmetrical  and  har- 
monious. His  love  to  God  was  in  beautiful  accord  with  his 
love  to  man.  The  one  of  these  \'irtues  did  not  outrun  the 
other,  or  develop  itself  at  its  expense,  but  wrought  har- 
moniouslv  with  it  And  what  was  true  of  these  fundamental 
elements  of  character  was  true  of  the  various  virtues  into 
which  they  resolved  themselves.  In  him,  love  for  the  race 
co-existed  with  love  for  the  indi\-idual.  Shepherd  of 
the  whole  family  of  man,  he  could  leave  the  ninetj^-and- 
nine  in  the  wilderness,  and  go  after  the  one  that  was  lost. 
With  a  world  upon  his  hands,  he  could  stand  and  call  one 
bhnd  man  to  him  for  heahng,  converse  with  and  lead  to 
faith  and  repentance  one  erring  woman  by  the  well  of 
Jacob,  receive  one  anxious  inquirer  who  comes  to  him  by 
night,  and  make  kno^\-n  to  him  the  way  of  eternal  Ufe. 

The  heroic  and  the  gentle  virtues  met  in  him.  To  the 
highest  manly  virtue,  the  courage  that  could  stand  un- 
dauntedly against  an  opposing  world,  he  joined  "  the 
highest  characteristics  of  womanly  \-irtue — infinite  devotion 
and  singleness  of  purpose,  the  unruffled  serenity  of  a  calm 
and  gentle  spirit,  pure  and  modest  feeling  in  the  main- 
tenance of  the  finest  moral  distinctions,  and  the  power 
peculiar  to  women  of  passive  obedience — ^power  to  bear,  to 
suffer,  to  forego  in  unspeakab'e  loyalt}'."* 

Xever  were  contrasts  so  >  .  cd,  and  apparent  contradic- 
tions so  reconciled,  as  in  him.  He  is  grave  without  being 
gloomy,  unworldly  without  being  unsociable,  self-denied  with- 
out being  austere,  spiritual  without  being  ascetic,  intolerant  of 
sin,  while  gentle  and  tenderly  compassionate  to  the  sinner. 
His  dignity  is  wedded  to  humiUt>*,  his  zeal  guided  by  \\'is- 
dom,  his  enthusiasm  joined  with  calmness  and  self- 
possession.  He  is  in  harmony  with  himself,  \\*ith  nature, 
with  dut}-,  with  ever\-thing  but  sin  ;  and  he  is  so  because 
he  is  in  harmony  with  God — because  the  law  of  God  is 
*  Martensen's  "  Christian  Ethics,"  p.  252. 


HARMONY   OF   HIS   CHARACTER.  13 

within  his  heart,  and  he  is  filled  and  pervaded  by  love  to 
him.  And  in  virtue  of  this  inner  harmony  he  does  all 
things  well.  He  is  never  taken  by  surprise,  nor  at  a  loss 
what  to  do.  He  is  never  unprepared  for  the  occasion,  or 
unequal  to  the  emergency,  but  always  does  the  right  thing, 
at  the  right  time,  and  in  the  right  manner. 

He  is  truly  a  perfect  character,  "fairer  than  the  children 
of  men."  Whatever  he  may  have  been  in  bodily  person,  he  is 
altogether  matchless  in  the  beauty  of  his  character.  His  life 
is  a  picture,  not  only  without  a  blot,  but  without  a  defective 
line.  It  is  a  majestic  anthem,  running  through  the  whole 
scale  of  love  and  service,  sounding  every  chord  of  thought 
and  feeling,  and  rising  to  heaven  without  a  discordant  note. 

If  we  view  Christ  as  a  teacher,  all  admit  that  none  ever 
taught  as  he  does.  He  has  not  learned  in  the  schools  of  the 
Rabbis,  and  yet  he  speaks  with  a  wisdom  which  amazes  those 
who  hear  him,  and  leads  them  to  ask  in  wonder,  "  Whence 
knoweth  this  man  letters,  having  never  learned  ?  Whence 
hath  this  man  this  wisdom  and  these  mighty  works.-*"  He 
has  had  no  training  as  an  orator,  and  yet  from  the  first 
moment  he  opens  his  lips  to  teach,  he  shews  himself  to 
be  a  perfect  master  of  human  speech. 

His  teaching  is  not  after  human  methods,  but  after  a 
manner  of  his  own.  He  does  not  speculate,  nor  make 
guesses  at  truth.  He  does  not  reason  and  infer,  build  up 
and  prove  by  elaborate  process  of  argumentation  or  induc- 
tion. He  announces  rather,  and  reveals.  He  speaks  that 
which  he  knows,  and  testifies  that  which  he  has  seen.  The 
truth  lies  before  him — is  within  his  mind  and  heart — and 
he  simply  utters  it ;  and  it  is  seen  and  felt  to  be  the  truth 
by  those  who  hear. 

His  instructions  are  not  imparted  in  an  artificial  and 
formal  system,  but  in  precepts  and  statements  of  truth, 
each  of  which  has  often  a  kind  of  completeness  in  itself,  and 
which,  as  they  fall  from  his  lips,  might  be  likened  to  the 
stars  as  they  drop  one  after  another  into  the  evening  sky 
and  light  up  the  heaven  with  glory.  He  teaches,  moreover, 
not  in  the  language  of  the  schools,  but  in  that  of  the  com- 


14  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF    CHRIST. 

mon  people,  so  that  all  can  understand  ;  and  often  in  para- 
bles which  are  pictures  of  Divine  truth,  drawn  from  nature 
and  ever}--day  life,  and  which  come  home  to  all  hearts,  and 
hve  in  the  memory  for  ever. 

When  we  consider  the  matter  of  his  teachincr — confining: 
ourselves  at  present  to  his  ethical  system — we  find  it  to  be 
the  highest  and  purest  morality — a  morality  which  even 
sceptics  and  unbelievers  acknowledge  to  be  the  noblest  and 
most  perfect  that  has  ever  been  propounded,  and  before 
which  the  world  has  bowed  down  for  the  last  eighteen 
hundred  years.  It  is  to  this  effect — *'  \\Tiatsoever  ye  would 
that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them  ;"  ''Love 
your  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse  you,  do  good  to  them 
that  hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  which  despitefully  use  you 
and  persecute  you  ;  that  ye  may  be  the  children  of  your 
Father  which  is  in  heaven  :  for  he  maketh  His  sun  to  rise  on 
the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  on 
the  unjust.  ...  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your 
Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect." 

And  this  teaching  is  with  authority.  He  speaks  not  as 
if  there  was  any  doubt  of  the  truth  of  what  he  says,  but 
with  the  manner  of  one  who  is  assured  and  certain,  w^ho 
speaks  what  he  knows,  and  who  has  a  right  to  declare  the 
laws  of  the  kingdom.  His  teaching  is  after  this  manner — 
*'  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven;"  ''Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said,  An  eye  for 
an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth  :  but  I  say  unto  you,  That  ye 
resist  not  evil ; "  "  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but 
my  word  shall  not  pass  away;"  "The  word  that  I  have 
spoken,  the  same  shall  judge  him  in  the  last  day."  Well 
might  it  be  said,  "  Xever  man  spake  like  this  man."  And 
well  might  we  ask,  and  leave  the  sceptic  to  reply — "  \Mience 
hath  this  man  this  wisdom.'" 

Closely  connected  with  Christ's  teaching  are  his  claims. 
When  we  examine  these,  we  find  them  to  be  such  as  have 
never  been  advanced  by  any  human  being  before  or  since. 
Time  will  permit  us  to  do  little  more  than  mention  some 
of  these. 


HIS  CLAIMS.  15 

First  of  all,  then,  he  declares  his  humanity,  and  again 
and  again  calls  himself  "  the  Son  of  man."  But  by  this 
designation,  as  applied  to  himself,  he  intimates  not  merely 
that  he  is  a  possessor  of  our  nature,  a  member  of  the 
human  family;  but  that  he  is  something  more  than  this — 
that  he  stands  in  a  peculiar  relation  to  the  race — that  he  is 
the  Son  of  man  as  no  other  is — the  ideal,  the  representative 
man — the  second  man,  the  head  of  a  new  humanity — the 
*'  Son  of  man"  spoken  of  by  Daniel,  the  destined  possessor  of 
universal  kingdom  and  dominion. 

But  while  thus  calling  Himself  the  Son  of  man,  he  claims 
no  less  emphatically  to  be  the  Son  of  God.  He  calls  God 
his  Father.  "All  things  are  delivered  unto  me  of  my 
Father."  "My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work." 
When  the  High  Priest  adjures  him,  by  the  living  God,  to 
tell  whether  he  be  "  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,"  his  un- 
hesitating and  unequivocal  reply  is,  "Thou  hast  said."  And 
when  he  claims  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  he  claims  to  be  so  in 
a  high  and  peculiar  sense,  a  sense  in  which  no  mere  creature 
can  aspire  to  the  title,  and  which  implies  the  possession  of 
the  same  nature  with  God.  This  is  clear  from  the  distinc- 
tion which  he  always  makes,  in  speaking  to  the  disciples, 
between  t/ieir  relation  to  God  and  /as.  He  never  places 
Himself  on  a  level  with  them  in  this  respect — never  says  of 
God  02ir  Father,  but  mj/  Father  and  yot^r  Father.  The 
opening  words  of  the  Lord's  prayer  are  no  exception  to 
this  ;  for  he  is  there  teaching  the  disciples  to  pray,  and 
does  not  include  himself  His  language  is,  "After  this 
manner  pray  ye." 

In  accordance  with  this  lofty  claim  he  speaks  of  himself 
as  being  "  from  above,"  having  "  come  from  God,"  having 
"come  out  from  the  Father."  He  places  himself  on  a  level 
with  the  Father,  as  when  he  says  of  the  Jews,  "  They  have 
both  seen  and  hated  both  me  and  my  Father,"  when  he  com- 
missions the  disciples  to  baptize  in  the  name  of  the  Father 
and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Ploly  Ghost ;  and  when  speaking 
of  the  Father  and  himself,  he  says,  "We  will  come  unto 
him  and  make  our  abode  with  him."     He  claims  co-ordi- 


16  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

• 

nate  authority  with  the  Father — '^  My  Father  worketh 
hitherto,  and  I  work."  And  when  the  Jews  take  up  stones 
to  stone  him  because  he  called  God  his  Father,  and 
thereby,  in  their  view,  made  himself  equal  with  God,  he 
says  nothing  to  intimate  that  they  were  wrong  in  the  in- 
ference they  had  drawn  from  the  claim  which  he  advanced. 
He  declares  himself  "Lord  of  the  Sabbath;"  asserts  his 
power  to  forgive  sins  and  to  enact  the  laws  of  the  kingdom  ; 
claims  to  be  honoured  equally  with  the  Father ;  declares 
that  the  dead  shall  hear  his  voice  and  come  forth  to  life — 
that,  as  the  appointed  judge  of  all,  he  will  come  in  glory 
and  judge  all  nations — and  that  men  will  be  accepted  or 
rejected  according  as  they  have  shown  love  and  attachment 
to  him  as  represented  by  his  people,  or  have  disregarded 
and  neglected  him.  He  proclaims  himself  to  be  "  the  light 
of  the  world,"  "  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life,"  by  whom 
alone  any  one  can  come  to  the  Father — the  only  one  who 
knows  the  Father,  and  can  make  him  known  to  men.  He 
invites  all  who  labour  and  are  heav}^-laden  to  come  to  him 
that  he  may  giwQ  them  rest — bids  all  men  follow  him,  and 
forsake  everything  that  they  may  do  so — declares  that  he 
will  draw  all  men  to  him.  He  demands  the  highest  affec- 
tion of  the  human  heart,  and  avers  that  whosever  loveth 
father  or  mother  more  than  him  is  not  worthy  of  him,  and 
cannot  be  his  disciple. 

Such  are  some  of  the  claims  of  Christ.  Every  one  will 
admit  that  they  are  the  most  wonderful  ever  made  by  any 
being.  If  any  man,  any  merely  human  teacher,  even  though 
he  were  a  prophet  or  an  apostle,  were  to  make  such  claims, 
would  he  not  cover  himself  with  ridicule,  and  excite  either 
the  world's  pity  of  his  fanaticism,  or  its  indignant  scorn  of  his 
unfounded  and  arrogant  imposture  .'*  Imagine  any  man,  even 
one  "  charged  with  a  special,  express,  and  unique  commis- 
sion from  God  to  lead  mankind  to  faith  and  virtue,"*  stand- 
ing forth,  and  saying,  "  All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven 
and  in  earth,"  "  I  and  the  Father  are  one,"  "  He  that  hath 
seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father" — holding  out  hands  to  a 
■^  J.  S.  Mill's  "  Essays  on  Religion,"  p.  255. 


CHRISTIANITY   GUARDS   LIFE  AS   SACRED.  17 

unprofitable  members  ;  and  they  therefore  concluded  that 
the  painless  destruction  of  infant  life,  and  especially  of  those 
infants  who  were  so  deformed  or  diseased  that  their  lives,  if 
prolonged,  would  probably  have  been  a  burden  to  them- 
selves, was  on  the  whole  a  benefit.  .  .  Minute  and 
scrupulous  care  for  human  life  and  human  virtue 
in  the  humblest  forms,  in  the  slave,  the  gladiator,  the 
savage,  or  the  infant,  was,  indeed,  wholly  foreign  to  the 
genius  of  Paganism.  It  was  produced  by  the  Christian 
doctrine  of  the  inestimable  value  of  each  immortal  soul. 
It  is  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  every  society  into 
which  the  spirit  of  Christianity  has  passed."* 

Suicide  cannot  on  the  ethical  principles  of  sensationalism 
be  condemned  as  a  crime.  When  life  becomes  a  weariness, 
when  it  is  felt  that  the  pain  outweighs  the  pleasure  of 
living,  shall  we  condemn  the  act  of  the  man  who  seeks 
quietude  in  death  ?  The  teaching  of  the  elder  Mill  was 
sadly  carried  to  its  legitimate  conclusion  by  one  of  his  sons, 
who,  learning  from  his  physician  that  his  disease  was  mortal, 
shot  himself  to  avoid  a  lingering  death.t 

The  doctrine  of  the  dependence  of  sociology  on  biology,  j 
in  other  words,  the  dependence  of  a  right  theory  of  social 
life  on  correct  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  organic  life,  affords 
ample  field  for  conjecture  as  to  the  ways  in  which  utilit- 
arianism might  apply  Darwin's  law  of  the  "  nidefinite  modi- 
fiability"§  of  the  human  species  by  natural  selection.  A 
State  free  from  the  "  theological  bias,"  and  in  the  hands  of 
philosophic  legislators,  would  offer  a  tempting  field  for 
experiment  in  the  direction  of  a  higher  development  of 
organism  and  intelligence,  by  careful  scientific  oversight 
of  the  question  of  population.  Utilitarian  ethics  would 
facilitate  this  great  enterprise  by  abolishing  the  Christian 
sentiment  which   protects   the   purity   of  the  family  and 

*  "  History  of  European  Morals,"  Vol.  ii.,  p.  27. 
t  M'Cosh's  "  Scottish  Philosophy,"  p.  378 ;  c/.  also  Leck/s  "  European 
Morals,"  pp.  40-63. 
X  Spencer's  "  Sociology,"  chap.  xiv. 
§  Spencer's  "  Sociology,"  p.  329. 
li 


18  DOCTRINE   OF  AN   IMPERSONAL   GOD. 

guards  the  sanctity  of  home.  Plato,  the  most  elevated 
of  all  non-Christian  thinkers,  gives  in  his  "  Republic"  a 
curious  example  of  speculation  on  this  subject*  James 
Mill  suggests,  rather  than  avows,  very  peculiar  views  in  his 
^'Political  Economy." -|-  John  Stuart  Mill,  who  has  done 
more  than  any  other  man  of  this  century  to  lead  edu- 
cated young  men  into  senationalism  in  philosophy  and 
utilitarianism  in  morals,  has  with  great  candour  professed 
opinions  which  cannot  be  other  than  shocking  to  every 
Christian.  In  referring  to  this  matter,  I  must  crave  the 
indulgence  of  my  audience,  if  it  be  such  as  I  should  rather 
bury  in  oblivion  than  expose  to  your  scorn  ;  but  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  sort  indicates  to  Christian  parents  better  than 
argument  the  direction  in  which  atheistic  morals  would  guide 
their  sons  and  daughters.  Mill  tells  us  that  for  twenty 
years  he  was  the  devoted  friend  of  a  talented  lady,  whose 
affections  he  won,  though  her  husband,  whom  he  describes 
as  "  a  most  upright,  brave,  and  honourable  man,"  was  still 
living.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  visiting  her  and  travelling 
with  her  in  the  absence  of  her  husband.  He  takes  care  to 
inform  us,  however,  that  they  gave  not  the  slightest  ground 
for  any  other  supposition  than  the  true  one,  that  their  rela- 
tion to  each  other  at  that  time  was  one  of  "  strong  affec- 
tion and  confidential  intimacy  only."  For,  he  adds, 
"  though  we  did  not  consider  the  ordinances  of  society  binding 
on  a  siLbject  so  ejitirely  personal^  we  did  feel  bound  that  our 
conduct  should  be  such  as  in  no  degree  to  bring  discredit 
on  her  husband,  nor,  therefore,  on  herself"  |  The  words 
of  Jesus  Christ  plainly  and  emphatically  exhibit  the 
character  of  such  a  relationship.  I  would  have  you  note, 
especially,  the  tone  of  morality  suggested  in  Mill's  quietly 
avowed  belief  in  the  lawfulness  of  conduct  which  the  rudest 
and  least  informed  member  of  a  Christian  community  will 
instinctively  condemn.  Yet  the  leader  of  the  school  of  so- 
called  progress  in  morals  was  carrying  out  consistently  the 

*  See  Grote's  "  Plato,"  Vol.  III.,  p.  202. 
t  "  Political  Economy,"  chap,  i.,  §  2. 
X  "  Autobiography,"  p.  229. 


CHRIST  THE  ALONE   PERFECT   EXAMPLE.  19 

principles  of  his  ethical  creed.  It  was  not  his  moral  code, 
but  the  healthy  instincts  of  Christian  society,  that  saved 
him  from  abominable  crime. 

6.  If  society  should  cast  oft  belief  in  God,  and  remove 
from  contemplation  the  example  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  would 
be  impossible  to  discover  any  moral  type  towards  which 
life  might  be  ever  approximating,  by  which  the  conflict- 
ing motives  and  emotions  might  be  justly  regulated,  and 
after  which  the  whole  man  might  be  formed  in  "  the  beauty 
of  holiness."  The  golden,  the  heroic  age  has  ever  been 
placed  in  a  far  distant  past ;  while  philosophic  dreams  of 
perfection  have  been  localised  in  cloud-land. 

It  may  indeed  be  argued,  as  Mill  has  argued,  that  the 
"  benefit,  whatever  it  amounts  to,"  of  the  precepts  of  Christ 
"  has  been  gained.  Mankind  have  entered  into  the  posses- 
sion of  it.  It  has  become  the  property  of  humanity,  and 
cannot  now  be  lost  by  anything  short  of  a  return  to 
primeval  barbarism."*  The  doctrine  of  Christ  may  be 
rejected,  His  Divine  mission  denied.  His  obedience  of  the 
Father  accounted  a  delusion.  His  sacrifice  denounced  as 
a  theological  fiction.  His  resurrection  derided  as  a  fanatical 
dream  ;  but  the  "  benefit,  whatever  it  amounts  to,"  of  His 
morality,  remains  a  part  of  the  inheritance  of  mankind. 
Let  us  suppose  the  Gospels  read  by  one  who  is  fully  con- 
vinced that  Jesus  Christ  was  not  a  Divine  Saviour,  but  a 
sell-deceived  enthusiast,  at  first  simple-minded  and  sincere, 
then  gradually  deteriorating  into  a  fanatic,  deceiving  as  well 
as  deceived — how  much  of  influence,  think  you,  would  His 
precepts,  however  beautiful,  retain  ?  Take  away  from  the 
life  of  the  Son  of  man  the  power  that  is  derived  from  our 
belief  in  him  as  the  Son  of  God,  let  there  be  removed  from 
our  thoughts  all  sense  of  the  world  unseen,  from  which  He 
came  and  to  which  He  returned,  and  the  Perfect  Man  will 
have  little  power  to  fix  our  hearts  upon  His  example,  and 
mould  us  into  His  likeness.  The  Christ  of  the  atheist 
cannot  be  the  Healer  and  Guide  of  mankind. 

The  example  of  Jesus   Christ  would   be  wholly  out  of 
*  "  Essays  on  Relijjion,"  p.  98. 


20  DOCTRINE   OF  AN   IMPERSONAL   GOD. 

place  in  the  morality  of  evolution.  The  evolutionist  must 
reject  Him  as  but  ill-suited  to  illustrate  a  wise  adaptation  of 
the  sensitive  organism  to  its  environment.  His  life  does 
not  furnish  a  good  type  of  skilful  adjustment  of  "  constitu- 
tion to  conditions."  "  He  was  a  man  of  sorrows,  and 
acquainted  with  grief;"  by  no  means  the  pattern  of  a 
morality  whose  foundation-principle  is  pleasure. 

Utilitarianism  of  the  older  sensational  school  is  equally  at 
fault,  when  it  passes  outside  the  Church  of  Christ,  and 
searches  among  men  uninfluenced  by  religious  motives  for  a 
life  which  youth  might  regard  with  admiration  and  follow 
with  enthusiasm.  It  searches  in  vain.*  It  is  throw^n  back 
from  example  to  doctrine,  and  its  doctrine,  mechanical  and 
not  vital,  is  without  reforming  and  renovating  power.  The 
scorpions  of  legislative  enactment,  following  the  whips  of 
an  education  resolutely  directed  to  the  formation  in  each 
person's  mind  of  "  an  indissoluble  association  between  his 
own  happiness  and  the  good  of  the  whole,"  "f"  might  do  much 
to  make  members  of  the  community  submit  to  the  utilitarian 
yoke,  in  so  far  as  concerns  property  and  the  administration 
of  justice ;  but  Benthamism  has  no  power  to  subdue  the 
anarchic  passions  of  the  soul,  to  eradicate  vice  out  of  the 
heart,  to  clothe  society  "  with  the  garments  of  salvation," 
and  cover  it  with  the  "  robe  of  righteousness." 

Mill  himself  acknowledges  that,  "  although  educated  in- 
tellect enlightening  the  selfish  feelings  is  prodigiously  im- 
portant as  a  means  of  improvement  in  the  hands  of  those 
who  are  themselves  impelled  by  nobler  principles  of  action," 
not  one  of  the  "  survivors  of  the  Benthamites  or  utilitarians 
of  that  day  now  relies  mainly  upon  it  for  the  general 
amendment  of  conduct."  J  In  old  age  he  reached  on  this 
point  a  well-founded  mistrust  of  the  favourite  opinions  of 
his  youth.     For  a  morality  framed  out  of  materials  derived 

■^  Cy!  on  "  Our  Lord's  Character,"  "  Some  Elements  of  Religion," 
by  Canon  Liddon.  The  testimony  quoted  by  him  from  Goldwin 
Smith  is  especially  worthy  of  attention. 

t  Mill's  "  Utilitarianism,"  p.  25. 

:j:  "  Autobiography,"  p.  in. 


PANTHEISM   THE   NEGATION   OF   SIN.  21 

wholly  from  the  senses — which  has  no  reward  but  this  life's 
pleasure,  and  no  dread  but  earthly  pain — which  is  enclosed 
wholly  within  the  organism  and  its  affections  (whether  the 
individual  organism  or  the  collective  organism,  called 
society),  can  have  no  power  to  regenerate  or  elevate  man- 
kind. It  cannot,  even  when  supported  by  the  powerful  aid 
of  education,  renovate  the  heart  within.  Clough,  who  drifted 
from  his  early  faith  into  cheerless  naturalism,  gives  us  the 
sum  of  this  new  revelation  when  he  says  : — 

"  It  seems  His  newer  will 
We  should  not  think  of  Him  at  all,  but  turn, 
And  of  that  world  which  He  hath  given  us,  make 
What  best  we  may." 

But  we  can  make  nothing  of  it  if  we  cease  to  "  think  of 
Him  at  all,"  if  we  turn  from  the  True  Light,  and  with 
the  shadow  on  our  faces  look  only  towards  this,  in  the 
judgment  of  Mill,  immoral  and  cruel  world.*  Know 
God  is  the  first  maxim  in  moral  progress  ;  Know  thyself,  the 
second.  But  neither  is  possible,  save  in  that  mediation  in 
which  God  is  revealed  to  man,  and  man  is  made  known  to 
himself  In  the  life  and  death  of  Jesus  Christ  the  complete 
ethical  ideal  is  realised.  Here  is  perfectly  exemplified 
righteousness  without  defect,  holiness  without  taint ;  mercy 
clasping  the  hand  of  vileness,  yet  receiving  no  stain  ;  love, 
which  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  whole  law  ;  calm  assertion  of 
authority  in  the  face  of  power,  the  supremacy  of  the  eternal 
life,  the  marvellous  spiritual  alchemy  by  which  the  very 
pangs  of  the  earthly  lot  are  transmuted  into  pleasures  of 
the  soul.  Nor,  truly,  has  this  holy  Redeemer  lived  and  died 
in  vain.  His  Gospel  has  been  gradually  revealing  its  power, 
awaking  humanity  from  the  bestial  sleep  of  sin  to  a  sense 
of  the  nobler  aim  of  goodness.  This  work  of  healing  will, 
by  God's  grace,  go  on  till  the  ethical  idea  shall  be  a  second 
time  realised  in  "  the  new  man,  which  after  God  is  created 
in  righteousness  and  true  holiness."  -|- 

7.    The  negation  of  a  personal   God,   the  Creator  and 

*  Essay  on  Nature,  in  "  Essays  on  Religion." 
t  Ephcsians  iv.  24. 


22  DOCTRINE  OF  AN   IMPERSONAL   GOD. 

Ruler  of  all  things,  annuls  the  doctrine  of  sin,  and  breaks 
down  all  distinction  between  moral  good  and  evil. 

Pantheism  identifies  the  soul  with  the  One  as  a  pheno- 
menal manifestation  of  it ;  the  pantheist  cannot,  then, 
condemn  any  act  as  essentially  evil.  The  One  is  as  truly 
revealed  in  the  murderer  as  in  the  philanthropist.  There 
can  be  no  wrong  in  wrong-doing,  if  right  and  wrong  are 
alike  the  unfolding  of  the  same  existence,  if  they  rise  out  of 
and  sink  again  into  that  One  Mysterious  Life. 

Nor  is  our  argument  on  this  point  less  effective  when  it  is 
directed  against  the  evolution  hypothesis.  For  if  the  whole 
man  be  a  product  of  evolution,  the  evil  in  him  is  as  really  a 
product  as  the  good.  His  temper  and  disposition  are  the 
necessary  outgrowth  of  his  inheritance  and  his  surroundings. 
Sin  is  no  longer  sin.  Immorality  is  an  essential  factor  in  the 
evolution  of  humanity,  and  is  no  more  worthy  to  be  con- 
demned as  involving  guilt  or  responsibility  than  is  the  for- 
mation of  the  lips  or  the  colour  of  the  hair.  Nature  evolves 
the  serpent  as  well  as  the  dove.  That  the  serpent  has  a 
poisonous  fang  is  not  a  fault,  but  a  virtue.  Its  destructive 
venom  has  aided  the  cobra  in  the  struggle  for  existence. 
The  brutal  Nero  and  the  benevolent  Howard  have  been 
alike  evolved  by  the  necessary  laws  of  nature.  It  is  un- 
reasonable, then,  to  praise  or  blame.  No  man  can  be  called 
a  sinner.  Each  person  is  what  he  is  as  a  part  of  the 
irresistible  movement  of  the  cosmos.  The  molecular 
activities  which  constitute  thought  and  emotion  and  con- 
science and  will  are  the  physically  certain  outgrowth  of  the 
primeval  nebula.* 

*  Professor  Huxley,  in  his  address  at  the  recent  meeting  of  the 
British  Association,  cited  the  gi-eat  masters  in  Calvinistic  theology  as 
witnesses  on  behalf  of  his  doctrine  that  sensation  and  intellection  are 
automatic.  But  the  certainty  which  is  involved  in  Calvinism  is  Uto 
caelo  different  from  the  necessity  of  physical  development.  Calvinism 
deals  with  the  acts  of  rational  moral  beings  having  the  causes  of  their 
voluntary  acts  in  se,  in  their  own  intellectual  and  moral  nature  ;  evolu- 
tion makes  all  voluntary  action  to  be  the  necessary  result  of  physical 
causes  operating  as  a  part  of  the  material  cosmos.  How  far  the 
exercises  of  reason  and  conscience  may  be  fore-ordained  is  a  question 


NATURE  AS  A   GUIDE   OF  CONDUCT.  2 


o 


The  scepticism  of  John  Stuart  Mill  on  the  question  of  reli- 
gion will  not  provide  a  door  of  escape  out  of  this  difficulty. 
In  his  posthumous  "Essays,"  we  have  a  most  repulsive  picture 
of  the  cosmos.  He  finds  in  its  constitution  and  operations 
all  manner  of  vice  and  crime  ;  to  follow  nature,  he  maintains, 
would  be  to  arrive  at  the  consummation  of  villany.  But  if 
there  be  no  God,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  if  there  be  no 
proof  which  makes  it  reasonable  to  believe  that  there  is  a 
God,  and  if  there  be  no  hereafter,  whence  comes  the  light 
to  show  us  that  crime  is  crime,  and  to  commit  crime  is 
criminal  ?  The  murderer  or  the  thief  may  defend  himself 
on  the  ground  that  nature,  his  only  guide,  sets  him  a  wicked 
example,  if  his  deeds  be  wicked,  and  encourages  him  in  his 
evil  course,  if  it  be  evil.  Nature  as  it  is  constituted,  he  may, 
on  the  authority  of  Mill,  allege,  lies  and  cheats,  violates 
every  principle  of  honest  dealing,  subjects  its  victims  to 
torture,  commits  wholesale  murder,  prompts  to  every 
manner  of  wickedness  by  internal  motives  and  external 
enticements.*  Above  nature,  he  may  add,  there  is  no  God, 
and  beyond  the' present,  no  immortality;  what  right,  then, 
has  the  moralist  to  set  up  an  artificial  rule  of  conduct, 
and  enforce  what  nature  has  not  enjoined  ?  It  may  be 
easy  for  a  philosopher,  who  has  been  under  intellectual  drill 
from  infancy,  and  who  has  found  his  world  not  in  real 
life,  but  in  thought,  to  control  himself  and  conform  to 
a  non-natural  standard  of  morals  ;  but  the  great  majority 
of  people  are  not  philosophers.  They  are  certain  that  they 
have  bodies,  and  are  furnished  with  many  reasons  to  make 
them  look  upon  it  as  very  doubtful  whether  they  have  souls. 
Morality  is,  then,  altogether  a  question  of  taste  ;  and  the 
classical  canon  has  never  been  repealed :  de  giistibiis  non  dis- 
putandiLin.     As  nature  has  distributed  to  every  man,  so  let 

insoluble  by  philosophy,  and  belonging  properly  to  revelation.  Such 
fore-ordination,  however,  stands  related  only  by  way  of  contrast  to  the 
fatalistic  predestination  of  physical  necessity.  The  necessity  of  mate- 
rialism renders  moral  action  impossible.  If  all  volition  be  the  necessary 
result  of  physical  causes,  then  clearly  whatever  is  is  right.  Stains  on 
the  character  are  no  more  blameworthy  than  spots  on  the  sun. 
*  Mill's  "  Essays  on  Religion,"  pp.  28-36. 


24  DOCTRINE   OF  AN   IMPERSONAL  GOD. 

him  enjoy  its  bounties.  He  presumes  too  far  who  demands 
a  pretence  of  virtue  beyond  the  rule  of  nature.  The  indi- 
vidual may  well  rest  self-satisfied  if  his  morals  reach  the 
standard  of  the  universe. 

8.  To  remove  from  human  thought  belief  in  a  personal 
God,  and  to  fix  before  consciousness  a  kingdom  of  natural 
law  in  His  stead,  tends  to  weaken  and  impair  our  moral 
faculty.  The  effect  of  this — which  I  may  call  the  distinctively 
scientific — habit  of  mind  is  to  repress  the  higher  indivi- 
dual energies — the  energies  dependent  on  the  will,  and  to 
produce  a  quietism  favourable  to  the  supremacy  of  the 
passions  in  the  individual,  and  to  the  domination  of  evil  in 
society.  The  ceaseless  consciousness  of  law,  and  that  not 
as  the  ordinance  of  a  higher  intelligence  addressed  to  man 
for  his  direction,  but  as  the  fatalistic  order  of  a  universe 
without  a  God,  must  weaken  our  sense  of  power,  making  us 
less  inclined  to  "  envisage  circumstance,"  and  assert  the 
supremacy  of  mind.  Now  one  of  the  most  valuable 
elements  in  a  high  moral  nature  is  that  consciousness  of 
inner  strength.  It  may  sometimes  run  into  stoic  pride,  or 
be  soured  into  cynic  contempt,  or  be  perverted  into 
impudent  self-assertion,  but  without  it  there  is  no  high  and 
noble  spirit.  Christianity  on  this  point,  as  on  many  others, 
mediates  between  two  contraries :  it  at  once  bows  the  soul 
to  the  lowest  depths  in  self-abasement,  and  lifts  it  to  the 
highest  pitch  of  conscious  strength.  Such  sense  of  power 
has  always  shown  itself  in  what  we  might  call  the  heroic 
periods  of  Christian  struggle.  We  have  a  notable  instance 
in  English  Puritanism,  whose  masculine  faith  crushed  with 
strong  hand  and  resolute  will  the  proud  nobility  of 
England. 

9.  A  godless  morality  can  supply  no  motive  power  within 
the  breast  adequate  to  sustain  man's  ardour  in  the  pursuit 
of  goodness. 

"  No  heart  is  pure  that  is  not  passionate ;  no  virtue  safe 
that  is  not  enthusiastic."*  But  how  can  utility  or  pleasure- 
seeking  kindle  this  purifying  flame  of  holy  ardour,  or  feed 

*  "  Ecce  Homo,"  p.  8. 


CHRIST  THE   IMPULSE  TO  VIRTUE.  25 

this  glowing  enthusiasm  ?  It  can  furnish  no  such  "  impulse 
to  virtue."  It  may  theorise  about  devotion  to  humanity  ; 
it  cannot  create  such  an  emotion,  much  less  nourish  it  with 
life-long  sustenance.  It  has,  indeed,  been  argued*  that,  as 
among  the  Greeks  and  Romans  a  passionate  love  of  country 
inspired  the  most  heroic  deeds,  so  the  love  of  mankind 
might  become  the  source  of  ennobling  inspiration.  But  it 
is  forgotten  that  patriotism  has  only  produced  one  kind  of 
virtue — the  virtue  of  soldierly  fidelity  and  fortitude.  The 
Spartan  died  for  Sparta,  the  Roman  died  for  Rome ;  for  to 
each  his  country  was  a  camp,  and  the  citizen  a  soldier. 
But  love  of  country  did  not  impart  to  Spartan  or  to  Roman 
the  power  needful  to  wrestle  against  sin  and  conquer  the 
enemy  within  himself  Expand  the  idea  of  citizenship  so 
as  to  embrace  mankind,  and  what  hope  is  there  that  this 
dim  generality  will  enkindle  warmth  enough  to  maintain 
the  motive  force  needed  to  carry  the  soul  through  all  the 
impediments  it  must  encounter  in  an  incessant  effort  after 
goodness  .-*  How  different  is  the  persuasive  power  of 
Christ !  How  far-reaching  and  penetrating  are  His  words, 
how  effectual  His  ethical  lessons  !  His  Gospel  addresses 
itself  to  every  right  motive  principle  by  which  man  is  ani- 
mated, and  fills  each  with  Divine  vigour.  It  appeals  to  our 
filial  affection,  "  Be  ye  followers  of  God  as  dear  children  ;" 
it  wields  over  us  the  mighty  power  of  love,  "  As  Christ  also 
hath  loved  us  ;"  it  binds  us  by  the  strong  cords  of  gratitude, 
"And  hath  given  Himself  for  us  ;"  it  inspires  by  the  example 
of  self-sacrifice,  "  An  offering  and  a  sacrifice  to  God  for  a 
sweet-smelling  savour."  By  such  powerful  influences  it 
removes  out  of  the  heart  the  two  cardinal  lusts — im- 
purity and  greed.  "  But  fornication,  and  all  uncleanness,  or 
covetousness,  let  it  not  be  once  named  among  you,  as  be- 
cometh  saints."*!*  That  these  springs  of  moral  vigour  may 
flow  perennially,  it  identifies  our  life  with  the  sacrificial 
death  of  the  Redeemer  in  every  exercise  of  the  faith  in 
which   we   find  salvation  ;    "  I   am   crucified   with   Christ : 

*  Mill's  "  Essays  on  Religion,"  p.  107. 
t  Ephcsians  v.  1-3. 


26  DOCTRINE   OF  AX   IMPERSONAL  GOD. 

nevertheless  I  live ;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me  :  and 
the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live  by  the  faith  of 
the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  Himself  for  me."* 

Here  is  the  inexhaustible  source  of  passionate  personal 
devotedness,  which  can  do  and  bear  all  things. 

10.  The  philosophy  of  ev^olution  is  equally  impotent  to 
set  before  the  mind  an  end  or  final  motive  adequate  to  sus- 
tain an  elevated  moral  purpose.  Indeed,  one  of  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  this  philosophy  is  to  discard  altogether 
the  doctrine  of  final  causes.  But  let  us  for  the  moment 
suppose  it  to  be  sufficiently  inconsequent  to  cast  about 
among  the  conceptions  proper  to  it  for  a  final  end  in  life, 
what  aim  will  it  set  before  us  ?  the  individual  perfection  ? 
The  growth  of  knowledge  makes  this  end  more  and  more 
evidently  unattainable  ;  and  even  though  it  were,  we 
have  the  dismal  prospect  that  when  the  mind  shall  have 
perfected  itself  in  knowledge  and  in  skill,  the  cunning 
instrument  must  be  broken,  the  wondrous  rythmic  corre- 
lations of  molecular  change  must  be  resolved,  and  the  brain, 
with  its  priceless  treasures,  perish.  Shall  we  aim  at  the 
perfection  of  the  race  ?  What  part  can  any  of  us  have  in 
that  far-off  future  ?  Why  toil  in  pain  after  results  which 
may  or  may  not  be  achieved,  and  which,  if  such  blessedness 
be  in  store  for  man,  cannot  be  enjoyed  by  him  for  ages  after 
we  shall  have  become  part  of  the  earth's  dust  ? 

Evolution  throws  no  gleam  of  sunshine  on  the  future  ; 
the  sweet  rose  of  hope  will  not  bloom  when  budded  on  that 
stock.  Atheistic  philosophy  has  had  always  gnawing  at  its 
heart  the  secret  consciousness  that  the  world  can  never  on 
its  principles  be  made  the  home  of  a  blessed  race.  If 
atheism  ever  enjoyed  an  hour  of  hopefulness,  it  was  that 
brief  day  of  its  triumph  in  France  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
Revolution — a  day  which  had  scarce  dawned  when  it  was 
overcast  with  blood-tinted  clouds  and  closed  in  fearful 
darkness. 

Pessimism,  half-muttered  or  openly  avowed,  has  ever 
been  the  creed  of  scepticism  and  infidelity.     David  Hume 

*  Gal.  ii.  20. 


.     ATHEISM   LEADS   TO   PESSIMISM.  27 

has  left  on  record  a  curious  picture  of  his  mental  unrest,  in 
which  one  may  trace  how  the  new  wine  of  his  youthful  en- 
thusiasm became  acidified  into  scepticism.*  John  Stuart 
Mill  has  given  an  elaborate  account  of  a  very  similar 
experience.  "  It  occurred  to  me,"  he  writes,  "  to  put  the 
question  directly  to  myself :  '  Suppose  that  all  your  objects 
in  life  were  realised  ;  that  all  the  changes  in  institutions 
and  opinions  which  you  are  looking  forward  to  could  be 
completely  effected  at  this  very  instant  :  would  this  be  a 
great  joy  and  happiness  to  you  r  And  an  irrepressible 
self-consciousness  distinctly  answered,  *  No.'  At  this  my 
heart  sank  within  me  :  the  whole  foundation  on  which  my 
life  was  constructed  fell  down.  All  my  happiness  was  to 
have  been  found  in  the  continual  pursuit  of  this  end.  The 
end  had  ceased  to  charm,  and  how  could  there  ever  again 
be  any  interest  in  the  means  ?  I  seemed  to  have  nothing 
left  to  live  for."-|-  The  state  of  feeling  in  which  he  con- 
tinued for  a  considerable  time,  he  afterwards  saw  exactly 
pourtrayed  in  the  lines  of  Coleridge — 

"  A  grief  without  a  pang,  void,  dark,  and  drear — 
A  drowsy,  stifled,  unimpassioned  grief. 
Which  finds  no  natural  outlet  or  relief 
In  word,  or  sigh,  or  tear." 

In  his  posthumous  "  Essay  on  Nature,"  he  gives  a  dismal 
picture  of  this  world  as  it  left  the  hands  of  its  Creator — if, 
indeed,  it  had  a  Creator.  Herbert  Spencer  argues  out  the 
conclusion  that  the  sidereal  system — including,  of  course,  all 
life  and  thought — must  in  time  be  reduced  again  to  the 
nebulous  form  out  of  which  it  has  been  evolved  ;  and  he 
predicts  for  it  successive  integrations  and  disintegrations 
running  on  through  an  endless  series. |  Germany,  formerly 
the  nurse  of  transcendental  idealism,  has  adopted  pessimism 
as  her  favourite  philosophy.  The  cynic  Schopenhauer  has 
become  the  master  of  German  speculative  thought  through 
the  popular  exposition  of  his  gloomy  creed  by  his  disciple 

*  Dr.  M'Cosh's  "Scottish  Philosophy,"  p.  115. 
t  "  Autobiography,"  pp.  132-149. 
X  "  First  Principles,"  p.  480. 


28 


DOCTRINE   OF  AN   IMPERSONAL  GOD. 


Hartmann.  M.  Albert  Reville,  a  competent  authority, 
affirms  pessimism  to  be  the  only  philosophy  now  accepted 
by  German  opinion.  To  exhibit  the  depressing  gloom  of 
this  final  word  of  atheistic  speculation,  I  shall  quote  a  few 
sentences  from  M.  Reville's  article.* 

"  There  is  nothing  real  and  constant  but  pain.  All 
pleasure  is  negative,  a  diminution  or  temporary  cessation 
of  pain,  but  never  a  positive  condition  of  happiness.  All 
life  is  essentially  suffering ;  and  as  human  life  exhibits  the 
most  intense  degree  of  willingness  to  live,  it  is  natural  that  it 
should  be  the  richest  in  sufferings.  Our  world  is  of 
necessity  the  worst  of  possible  worlds." 

"  The  world  is  bad  ;  life  is  an  evil ;  the  only  salvation  is  to 
be  found  in  nothingness." 

Hartmann  treats  with  not  unmerited  scorn  the  shallow 
hope  that  humanity  may  be  made  more  blessed  through 
the  progress  of  science,  and  the  application  of  its  discoveries 
to  convenience  and  comfort. 

"  The  world  moves  on,  in  spite  of — or  rather  by  virtue  of 
— its  progress  in  knowledge  and  in  power,  towards  a  future 
sadder  than  its  past.  The  working  classes  are  better 
educated,  better  housed,  better  fed,  and  more  unhappy 
than  before.  Immorality  may  become  more  refined  ;  it  is 
always  the  same,  and  bears  the  same  poisonous  fruits.  Genius 
in  science,  as  in  art,  will  become  more  rare.  A  dead-level 
will  become  fixed  in  this  domain,  as  in  others  ;  and  the  toil 
will  exceed  the  pleasure  of  knowledge.  Earth  is  already  in 
the  afternoon  of  its  planetary  day ;  it  moves  sorrowfully 
towards  the  twilight  of  the  evening.  Aged  humanity  will 
have  no  successors  ;  it  will  finally  relinquish  the  vain  pursuit 
of  happiness,  and  will  only  sigh  for  insensibility,  nothingness, 
the  7iirvdna.  If  the  reader  find  this  result  distressing,  he 
must  learn  that  he  has  been  mistaken  if  he  has  believed 
that  he  could  find  in  philosophy  consolations  and  hopes. 
There  is  but  one  hope  that  is  not  forbidden  him — if,  at 
least,  he  arrive  at  making  the  aim  of  the  unconscious  a 

*  "Un  Nouveau  Syst^me  de  Philosophic  Allemande;"  "Revue  des 
Deux  Mondes,"  i^"^  Octobre,  1874. 


THE   HOPEFULNESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  29 

conscious  aim  for  himself — that  is  to  say,  if  he  abandon 
fully  his  personality  to  the  logical  development  of  the  world. 
He  will  rejoice  himself  by  anticipation  in  the  vision  of  that 
end  which  will  be  the  suppression  of  all  individual  and 
collective  life,  and  which  will  accomplish,  by  the  return  to 
not-being,  the  grand  redemption,  the  universal  and  final 
emancipation  into  the  bosom  of  the  eternal  silence." 

The  materialist  may  say.  This  is  a  disordered  dream  ;  it  is 
not  our  teaching  ;  we  repudiate  such  conclusions.  But,  I 
reply,  it  is  demonstrable  that  if  you  eliminate  from  your 
creed  the  doctrine  of  a  personal  God,  the  just  and  good 
Governor  of  all  things,  this  pessimism  is  a  more  consistent 
conclusion  than  your  talk  of  progress  and  improvement. 
Your  great  master  himself,  Herbert  Spencer,  carries  evolu- 
tion, as  we  have  seen,  to  its  necessary  issue  in  the  annihilation 
of  all  collective  and  individual  life.  Hartmann,  whatever 
the  historical  succession  of  his  philosophy,  is  undoubtedly 
a  materialist.  He  holds  firmly  by  the  doctrine  of  philo- 
sophic unitarianism,  or  monisme ;  he  resolves  matter  into 
force ;  he  builds  up  his  physical  system  on  the  atomic 
theory ;  he  makes  the  brain  the  sine  qua  non  of  thought. 
The  materialist  school  has  no  right  to  disown  him.  He 
holds  the  fundamental  principles  of  their  creed  ;  but,  with 
the  profound  and  fearless  logic  of  Germany,  he  drives  the 
materialistic  doctrine  to  its  necessary  ethical  conclusions. 
Having  rid  the  universe  of  God,  he  finds  it  to  be,  instead  of 
a  paradise,  a  hell ;  and  he  can  discover  no  hope  of  happiness 
or  rest  but  in  the  annihilation  of  conscious  being. 

Need  I  remind  you  who  have  been  preserved  in  the  faith 
of  Jesus  Christ,  how  different  is  the  light  which  Christianity 
sheds  around  us  on  this  world  t  Earth  is  not,  indeed,  a 
paradise  ;  deep  are  the  shadows  resting  on  it ;  dark  the 
stains  on  the  conscience  of  man  ;  keen  the  pangs  which 
pierce  his  heart  in  the  necessary  discipline  of  suffering  ; 
"  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together 
until  now  ;"*  but  enclosing,  embracing  all  are  the  heavens 
filled  with  divine  glory,  ever  bright  with  the  clear  light  of 

■^  Romans  viii.  22. 


30  DOCTRINE   OF   AX    IMPERSONAL   GOD 

righteousness,  and  shedding  in  upon  our  cold  hearts  the 
kindly  warmth  of  a  Father's  love.  The  Gospel  is  a  message 
of  hope  to  man — of  hope  to  the  individual  and  to  the  race. 
It  is  not  for  finite  intelligence  to  unravel  the  mystery  of 
God's  giving  or  withholding  ;  but  we  have  abundant  proof 
that  the  redemption  of  Christ  is  powerful  to  regenerate  the 
most  degraded,  and  quicken  into  moral  health  the  vilest 
life.     A\'e  are 

"  Emboldened  to  prefer 

"^'ocal  thanksgivings  to  the  eternal  King, 

\Mi05e  love,  whose  counsel,  whose  commands  have  made 

Your  ver\-  poorest  rich  in  peace  of  thought 

And  in  good  works  ;  and  him  who  is  endowed 

With  scantiest  knowledge,  master  of  all  truth. 

Which  the  salvation  of  his  soul  requires." 

Xo  dungeon  of  despair  can  imprison  the  soul  that 
hearkens  to  the  Redeemer's  voice.  It  is  a  fact  of  human  ex- 
perience, authenticated  by  an  induction  based  on  countless 
instances,  that  the  Great  High  Priest  is  "  able  to  save  them 
to  the  uttermost  that  come  unto  God  by  Him  ;"*  and  that 
in  a  salvation  which  waits  not  to  bear  fruit  in  the  eternal 
world,  but  is  evidenced  to  be  a  real  and  vital  healing  by 
the  most  convincing  proofs  in  this.  The  disciples  of  Jesus 
Christ  are  warranted  in  preaching  the  Gospel  of  the  king- 
dom, and  in  offering  up  the  petition,  "  Thy  kingdom  come," 
with  unfaltering  faith. 

But  even  though  the  future  of  humanit}'  should  prove 
darker  than  we  believe ;  though  the  mysterious  hand  that 
governs  all  the  ages  should  permit  the  sin  of  human  souls 
to  rise  like  a  thick  cloud  and  cast  a  shadow  over  the  last 
days  ;  still,  for  each  Christian  there  is  a  final  aim,  on  which 
if  he  fix  his  heart,  he  will  find  it  lift  him  into  a  constant 
hopefulness,  and  sustain  him  under  all  the  burdens  he  may 
have  to  bear.  The  siivnmnn  bomim  of  the  believer  is  God 
Himself ;  it  is,  as  we  have  been  taught  in  childhood,  "  to 
glorify  God,  and  to  enjoy  Him  for  ever."  In  this  "  chief 
end"  the  lines  of  faith  and  of  philosophy  converge  and  are 
lost  in  the  light  ineffable  :  for  here  is  the  supreme  of  self- 

*  Hebrews  vii.  25. 


DESTRUCTIVE   OF   RELIGION.  31 

annihilation,  and  therefore,  the  annihilation  of  all  pain  ; 
here  at  the  same  time  is  the  perfecting  of  individual  and 
self-conscious  being,  and,  therefore,  the  perfection  of  enjoy- 
ment. 

Materialism,  weaned  with  its  doubts,  its  toils,  its  suffer- 
ings, its  despair,  turns  sadly  away  from  this  world's 
wretchedness,  and  wrapping  itself  in  the  cerements  of  the 
grave,  sighs  for  death  :  Christianity,  her  face  wet  with  tears 
shed  over  the  sin  and  misery  of  man,  yet  trustful,  ardent, 
enthusiastic,  stretches  in  hope  towards  an  unbounded  future, 
with  the  exultant  exclamation  on  her  lips — Life,  life, 
eternal  life ! 

The  effects  on  religion  of  the  doctrine  against  which  my 
argument  has  been  directed,  need  not  long  detain  us.  To 
remove  from  our  minds  the  idea  of  a  Divine  Personality  is 
to  destroy  religion.  For  if  God  be  an  impersonal  Some- 
thing, separated  from  us  by  the  vast  aeons  of  evolution, 
faith  is  impossible.  We  might  believe  that  Infinite  Power 
exists  ;  we  could  not  in  any  real  sense  trust  in  it.  Love  is 
extinguished  ;  we  have  no  capacity  for  loving  an  inscrut- 
able and  unknowable  It.  Hope  must  die  ;  we  have  nothing 
either  to  expect  or  dread,  since  the  decay  of  the  cerebrum 
brings  everlasting  unconsciousness.  Prayer  is  an  absurdity  ; 
to  address  petitions  to  an  unknown  Something  would  be 
ridiculous  :  can  this  Something  hear  ?  and  if  it  can,  the  law 
of  evolution  sweeping  on  in  pitiless  night  would  render  it 
impotent  to  aid  us.  The  voice  of  praise  is  silenced  :  our 
psalms  are  but  silly  rhapsody — the  music  of  foolish  words, 
such  as  a  moon-struck  poet  might  address  to  the  unheeding 
stars.  Bereft  of  faith,  and  love,  and  hope,  and  prayer,  and 
praise,  what  is  left  of  religion  ?  Who  would  care  to  keep 
the  earthen  vessel  from  which  the  precious  ointment  has 
been  poured  out,  and  which  has  been  so  effectually  cleansed 
by  the  acids  of  philosophy,  that  there  clings  to  it  not  a 
trace  of  the  old  perfume  to  recall  the  ineffable  sweetness 
that  has  perished  .'* 


MIRACLES   AND    PROPHECY: 


/ 

REV.  A.  C.  MURPHY,  M.A. 


MIRACLES  AND  PROPHECY. 


♦•» 


THE  Bible  is  a  grand  fact,  and  a  prime  factor  in  the 
moulding  of  the  modern  world.  It  claims  to  be  a 
revelation  from  God,  and  an  account  of  the  way  of  man's 
salvation.  It  contains  a  record  of  miracles  performed  and 
prophecies  accomplished  in  attestation  of  that  claim.  The 
historical  structure  of  the  book  permits  of  the  easy  authen- 
tication of  these  two  forms  of  evidence.  Our  object  is  to 
show  that  the  performance  of  miracle  and  the  accomplish- 
ment of  prophecy  afford  a  full  and  sufficient  vindication  of 
the  claim  of  the  Bible  to  be  the  Word  of  God  and  the 
Gospel  of  salvation. 

I. — The  Miracle. 

What,  let  us  first  inquire,  is  a  miracle  ?  There  is  an 
orderly  course  of  nature  going  on  around  us,  resulting  from 
the  action  of  countless  forces  which  work  according  to  their 
own  established  laws.  Let  an  event  occur,  then,  which 
cannot  be  accounted  for  by  the  forthputting  of  any  force 
or  group  of  forces  in  the  existing  system  of  things,  and 
which  requires  for  itself  the  supposition  of  some  power 
superior  to  every  force  or  group  of  forces  in  the  existing 
system,  and  we  call  that  event  a  miracle.  And  as  God 
alone  can  put  forth  a  power  superior  to  every  force  in  the 
existing  system,  so  every  miracle  is  the  immediate  work  of 
God. 

So  much  for  the  nature  of  the  miracle ;  but  what  about 
the  fact  ?  Is  there  any  such  thing  as  a  miracle  at  all  ?  Is 
it  not,  after  all,  but  the  phantom  of  an  inflamed  imagination  .•* 
Must  it  not  be  held  that  nothing  can  happen  which  is  not 
in  accordance  with  the  established  laws  of  nature  ?     There 


4  MIRACLES   AND   PROPHECY. 

are  those  who  strenuously  maintain  this  doctrine,  and  who 
appeal  to  the  universal  experience  of  men  in  evidence  of 
its  truth.  Wliere  is  the  man,  they  ask,  who  has  ever  seen 
a  miracle  ?  They  make  bold  to  say  that  no  amount  of 
evidence  in  favour  of  a  miracle  could  counterbalance  the 
antecedent  unlikelihood  of  the  thingr  itself — that  it  is  easier 
to  believe  in  the  untrustworthiness  of  the  most  intelligent, 
honest,  and  unanimous  testimony,  than  in  the  actual  occur- 
rence of  that  supernatural  event  on  behalf  of  which  the 
testimony  is  brought  forward. 

Now,  in  opposition  to  this  doctrine,  let  me  lay  down  the 
three  following  propositions  : — (i.)  That  the  existence  of 
God  implies  the  possibility  of  the  miracle  ;  (2.)  That  God's 
moral  government  of  the  world  implies  the  probability  of 
the  miracle ;  (3.)  That  God's  redemptive  interference  on 
behalf  of  the  world  implies  the  necessit}-  of  the  miracle. 

1. — TJie  existence  of  a  personal  God  implies  the  possibility 
of  the  miracle.  God  can  do  according  to  His  will  with  the 
world  which  He  has  made.  If  the  countless  forces  which 
are  at  work  in  the  world  have  been  forged  upon  the  anvil 
of  the  Divine  purpose,  and  if,  by  their  manifold  play  and 
counterplay,  they  produce  the  existing  constitution  of 
nature,  it  is  obvious  that  the  Creator  of  these  forces  can 
supplement  them  or  arrest  them  in  whatever  way  may  be 
pleasing  in  His  sight. 

Let  me  seek  to  illustrate  the  point  before  us  by  a  sort  of 
slidinsr  scale  of  instances. 

Suppose  a  world  in  which  gravitation  is  the  only  force  at 
work — a  world  the  separate  particles  of  which  exert  no 
more  complex  influence  upon  each  other  than  the  heavenly 
bodies  do  in  their  widely-divided  revolutions  through  the 
sky — a  world  for  which  a  rough  resemblance  may  be  found 
in  the  aspect  of  some  desolate  sea  beach,  or  some  huge 
heap  of  debris  lying  at  the  mouth  of  a  mine.  Introduce 
now  into  this  world  of  atoms,  loosely  thrown  together,  the 
force  of  cJiemical  attraction.  A  remarkable  agitation  imme- 
diately ensues.  The  old  places  and  relations  of  things  are 
thoroughly   disturbed    by    the   play   of   the   new   powers. 


THE   MIRACLE.  5 

Whatever  is  peculiar  to  chemical  force  stamps  its  distinctive 
character  on  the  whole  system.  The  old  solitude  and 
desolation  is  broken  up  into  wild  insurrection  and  revolt. 
A  great  natural  leaven  works  within  the  mighty  mass,  and 
the  dark  and  formless  void  cakes  into  solid  land  and 
cleaves  into  seas,  ferments  into  mountains  and  steams  into 
atmosphere,  breaks  into  light  and  bursts  into  thunder. 

Introduce,  again,  into  the  world  we  are  supposing,  the 
fresh  element  of  vital  force.  Let  the  organific  principle 
lay  hold  upon  the  gravitating  and  chemically-propertied 
elements,  and  dissolve  and  blend  and  compact  them 
according  to  its  own  distinctive  forms.  The  world  forth- 
with receives  a  new  character  and  aspect  Forests  clothe 
the  hills  ;  grasses  grow  along  the  brooks  ;  ferns  creep  out 
into  the  air  in  moist  and  shady  places  ;  mosses  wrap  them- 
selves round  the  stones  ;  seaweeds  flap  to  and  fro  with 
the  swaying  waves  against  the  bases  of  the  headlands  ;  not 
the  coming  and  going  oi  the  white  snow  only,  but  the 
coming  and  going  oi  the  green  foliage  also,  serves  now  for 
a  distinction  between  the  wintry  and  the  summery  world. 
And  these  organific  forces  tell  mechanically,  as  well  as 
chemically,  upon  earth  and  water  and  atmosphere.  They 
act  in  the  capacity  of  natural  ploughshares  and  aqueducts 
and  ventilators.  Results  follow,  therefore,  in  the  realm  of 
organic  life,  which  could  not  have  been  possible  under  the 
reign  of  naked  chemistry,  just  as  results  followed  in  the 
chemical  sphere  which  could  not  have  been  possible  under 
the  reign  of  naked  gravitation. 

Introduce,  in  the  next  place,  into  the  world  we  are 
imagining  the  element  of  anhnal  instinct  Let  beings 
endowed  with  sense  and  impulse,  and  the  power  of  move- 
ment from  place  to  place  in  response  to  some  instigation 
from  within,  be  set  at  large  upon  its  surface.  Thereupon 
nature  is  invested  with  a  new  character  and  aspect.  As 
gravitating  force  was  grappled  with  and  moulded  to  ends 
outside  of  itself  by  chemical  force,  and  as  these  two  forces 
in  turn  were  grappled  with  and  moulded  to  ends  outside 
of  themselves  by  organic  force,  so  all  these  successive  forms 


6  MIRACLES  AND   PROPHECY. 

of  force  are  grappled  with  and  moulded  to  fresh  ends  by 
the  force  of  sentient  and  self-impelling  life. 

Introduce  once  more  into  the  world  before  our  thought 
the  element  of  human  reason.  Let  beings  endowed  with 
intelligence  and  conscience  and  freewill  make  a  place  for 
themselves  in  the  pre-existing  system  of  things.  Straight- 
way the  world  assumes  a  new  character  and  aspect,  in 
correspondence  with  the  new  infusion  of  force.  Perception, 
foresight,  self-restraint,  calculation  of  the  use  and  value  of 
existing  forces,  employment  of  these  for  the  production 
of  fresh  effects,  the  pictorial  power  and  constructive  power 
of  the  imagination,  the  faculty  of  distinguishing  between 
true  and  false,  right  and  wrong,  beautiful  and  ugly,  bene- 
ficial and  harmful,  transient  and  permanent — a  group  of 
powers  such  as  these,  placed  under  the  control  of  a  single 
will,  must  necessarily  effect  a  marvellous  transformation 
upon  the  face  of  nature.  The  existing  life,  whether  sentient 
or  non-sentient,  becomes  but  the  handmaid  of  this  higher 
life  that  has  broken  into  the  midst  of  it.  Forests  are  cleared  ; 
mountains  are  mapped  off  into  sheep-walks  or  shooting- 
grounds;  valleys  are  cultivated;  oceans  are  navigated;  rivers 
are  spanned  with  bridges,  swept  with  dredging-machines, 
strained  through  fishing-nets;  lands  are  honeycombed  with 
mines  and  tunnels,  and  scored  witli  roads  and  railways 
and  telegraphic  systems.  The  new  force  of  free  intellectual 
and  moral  life,  playing  in  among  the  pre-existing  system 
of  forces,  checks  or  extends,  neutralises  or  amplifies  the 
action  of  these  in  ways  that  were  otherwise  unprovided  for 
and  impossible. 

Let  me  then  make  one  more  supposition.  Introduce  into 
the  world  under  view  the  play  of  some  superior  power,  pro- 
ducing results  which  transcend  the  operation  of  the  whole 
catalogue  of  forces  already  enumerated,  from  that  of  gravi- 
tation up  to  that  of  the  human  will,  and  those  results  are 
what  we  call  miraculous.  He  who  called  into  existence, 
whether  successively  or  in  one  grand  moment  of  originating 
power,  the  gravitating  force,  the  chemical  force,  the  vital 
force  of  the  vegetable,  the  sentient  and  instinctive  force  of 


1 


THE   MIRACLE.  7 

the  animal,  the  intellect,  conscience,  and  will  of  the  man, 
can  carry  on  His  interfering  agency  to  any  extent,  either 
by  the  introduction  of  still  higher  intelligences  and  energies, 
or  by  the  forthputting  of  His  own  undelegated  might  among 
the  complicated  system  of  existing  things.  There  is  no 
region  within  the  range  of  the  universe  at  which  it  could 
be  reasonably  said  to  the  advancing  tide  of  the  Divine 
omnipotence,  "  Hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  but  no  further ; 
and  here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be  stayed."  There  can  be 
no  partition  wall  between  the  power  of  God  and  any 
imaginable  amount  of  Divine  intervention,  except  the  saving 
clause  of  some  Divine  promise  of  non-intervention.  But 
who  can  quote  any  such  saving  clause  ?  Who  can  point  to 
any  charter  in  which  the  King  of  kings  renounces  His  pre- 
rogative of  playing  in  among  the  powers  of  nature  in 
whatever  ways  and  for  whatever  purposes  may  please  Him  ? 
The  very  existence  of  a  personal  God  implies  the  possi- 
bility of  the  miracle. 

The  dogma  of  the  absolute  immutability  of  the  laws  of 
nature,  with  its  two  corollaries  of  the  correlation  of  forces 
and  the  conservation  of  energy,  is  the  favourite  watchword 
of  the  physical  science  of  the  day.  It  is  true  that  the  laws 
of  nature,  when  left  to  their  characteristic  play,  as  they 
virtually  are,  by  Him  who  has  established  them,  are  im- 
mutable. And  it  is  true  that  the  men  of  science  have 
shown  the  validity  of  the  doctrines  of  the  correlation  of 
forces  and  the  conservation  of  energy  in  certain  important 
spheres  of  physical  research.  But  the  allegation  that  the 
laws  of  nature  are  not  subject  to  the  government  of  God, 
or  that  their  action  cannot  be  to  any  extent  interrupted 
or  added  to  by  Him,  is  an  unscientific  assumption.  What 
God  begins  He  can  equally  augment,  or  interrupt,  or  end. 
What  God  establishes  He  can  disestablish,,  whether  with 
or  without  compensation  for  the  loss  sustained  by  the 
surviving  system  of  things.  To  affirm  the  absolute  im- 
mutability of  any  laws  except  those  moral  and  spiritual 
laws  which  are  the  very  transcript  and  exposition  of  the 
character  of  God,  and  for  the  unchangeablcness  of  wliich 


8  MIRACLES  AND   PROPHECY. 

we  have  at  once  His  own  pledged  word  and  the  deepest 
intuitions  of  our  nature,  is  to  rob  Him  of  His  royal  pre- 
rogative, and  depose  Him  from  the  throne  of  the  universe. 
God  has  not  made  the  laws  of  nature  independent  of  Him- 
self. He  does  not  abrogate  His  eternal  power  and  Godhead 
on  their  behalf  Only  on  the  ground  that  God  is  nature 
and  nature  God — that  is,  on  the  ground  that  there  is  no 
God  at  all — can  we  affirm  the  absolute  immutability  of  the 
laws  of  nature,  and  deny  the  possibility  of  a  miracle. 

II. — God's  moral  government  of  the  world  implies  the 
probability  of  the  miracle.  It  may  be  urged  that,  though  a 
miracle  is  not  beyond  the  sweep  of  the  Divine  omnipotence, 
it  is  inconsistent  with  the  idea  of  the  Divine  wisdom. 
While  the  possibility  of  it  is  not  challenged,  its  propriety, 
its  conformity  to  any  good  purpose,  its  compatibility  with 
a  system  of  things  emanating  from  a  Being  of  perfect 
prescience  and  perfect  might,  is  called  in  question.  The 
laws  of  nature,  if  not  absolutely  immutable,  it  is  urged, 
must  be  morally  immutable,  as  being  the  expression  of  the 
will  of  Him  who  is  without  variableness  or  shadow  of 
turning. 

This  criticism  may  be  most  effectually  dealt  with  by 
being  counter-criticised. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  then,  there  is  a  fallacy  involved  in 
the  statement  that  the  laws  of  nature  are  the  expression 
of  the  will  of  God.  The  laws  of  nature,  as  we  employ  the 
phrase,  are  not  the  expression  of  the  will  of  God  ;  they  are 
only  our  own  account  of  the  way  in  which  the  will  of  God 
expresses  itself  They  are,  in  the  last  resort,  but  human 
generalisations.  They  are  the  ex  cathedra  utterances  of  a 
mind  that  at  its  best  is  not  infallible.  They  are  the  ultimate 
deliverances  of  a  never-exhaustive  analysis  of  natural  pheno- 
mena. There  is  a  chasm,  which  can  never  be  crossed  from 
the  human  side,  between  the  counsel  of  the  Creator  and  the 
works  and  workings  of  His  hands. 

2.  In  the  next  place,  it  is  illegitimate  to  argue  from  the 
unchangeableness  of  the  Divine  mind  to  the  unchangeable- 
ness  of  the  attitude  and  action  of  that  mind.     Unchange- 


THE   MIRACLE.  9 

ableness  of  mind  is  one  thing ;  unchangeableness  of 
attitude  and  action  is  altogether  another  thing.  It  may  be 
the  very  unchangeableness  of  a  man's  mind  which  is  the 
cause  of  the  incessant  variation  of  the  modes  in  which  he 
gives  expression  to  his  mind.  A  general  enters  the  field  of 
battle  with  the  unchangeable  purpose  of  gaining  the  victory. 
Yet  on  that  very  ground  he  changes  his  tactics  with  every 
new  vicissitude  in  the  events  of  the  day ;  and  it  is  by  the 
promptitude,  variety,  and  soundness  of  his  successive  evolu- 
tions that  he  drives  back  the  enemy,  and  bears  away  the 
palm  of  triumph.  A  shipmaster  puts  to  sea  with  the 
unchangeable  purpose  of  weathering  the  storm  and  gaining 
the  haven.  Yet  on  the  very  ground  of  the  fixity  of  his 
purpose  he  flings  forth  orders,  hot  and  frequent,  to  the 
mariners  with  every  fresh  change  in  the  relations  of  ship 
and  atmosphere  and  ocean  ;  and  it  is  by  the  variety  and 
promptitude  and  timeliness  of  these  particular  forthflashings 
of  his  will  that  he  snatches  his  craft  out  of  the  white  teeth 
of  the  tumbling  billows,  and  carves  for  himself  an  avenue 
through  the  tangled  wilderness  of  wind  and  wave,  and 
reaches  the  port  in  peace. 

Now  what  holds  good  of  man  holds  good  of  God,  if  we 
superadd  these  three  considerations — (i.)  That  God  foresees 
and  pre-arranges  from  the  beginning  every  change  of 
attitude  and  action  to  which  He  may  see  good  to  resort  in 
the  course  of  the  world's  history ;  (2.)  That  whenever  the 
power  of  God  is  put  forth  afresh  among  the  forces  of  nature, 
it  is  not  to  supplement  the  imperfection,  but  to  secure  the 
perfection  of  His  work;  and  (3.)  That  God  infallibly  accom- 
plishes everything  at  which  He  aims. 

And  the  combined  force  of  these  three  considerations  is 
amply  sufficient  to  establish  the  probability  of  the  miracle 
as  an  engine  in  the  moral  government  of  the  world.  For 
consider  the  motive  of  the  miracle.  The  miracle  is  for 
man,  and  for  man  alone.  There  must  be  a  man  to 
behold,  as  well  as  a  God  to  do,  in  order  that  there  may 
be  a  miracle.  Now  it  is  obvious  that  moral  impressions 
could  be  produced  upon  the  mind  of  man  by  direct  inter- 


10 


MIRACLES  AND   PROPHECY. 


ventions  of  Divine  power,  which  could  not  be  produced  by 
an  everlastingly  unbroken  routine  of  natural  laws  and 
processes.  These  interventions,  for  one  thing,  would  tend 
to  withdraw  man  from  the  danger  of  offering  that  homage 
to  nature  which  is  due  to  God.  A  world  so  constructed 
that  the  example  and  expectation  of  supernatural  power 
were  totally  excluded  could  scarcely  escape  becoming 
hopelessly  godless  and  immoral.  The  miracle,  rightly 
interpreted,  is  like  the  tender  tone  of  the  voice  and  touch 
of  the  finger  by  which  friend  endears  himself  to  friend.  It 
tells  us  God  is  near.  It  teaches  us,  by  rare  and  transient 
glimpses  of  His  glory,  that  His  glory  is  always  hovering 
around.  It  is  the  flash  of  His  eye  bent  full  upon  us  for  one 
brief  moment  to  bespeak  the  perpetual  remembrance  of  His 
presence  and  His  sympathy. 

We  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  moral  government  of 
the  world  by  God  establishes  the  antecedent  likelihood  of 
the  miracle.  Granted  that  God  retains  any  connection  with 
and  superintendence  over  the  world  He  has  created — 
granted  that  God  has  left  Himself  as  free  to  deal  with  the 
forces  of  nature  as  He  has  left  man  free  to  deal  with  these 
— granted  that  God  is  disposed  in  any  measure  to  control 
and  educate  the  intellectual  and  moral  nature  of  the 
crowning  work  of  His  hands — granted  that  He  is  in  anywise 
sympathetic  with  the  need  and  responsive  to  the  faith  of 
His  creature — granted  that  man  is  to  have  any  assurance 
or  aspiration  beyond  the  barrier  lines  of  time  and  sense — 
granted  that  there  is  an  unseen  and  eternal  world  casting 
its  great  shadow  athwart  the  world  that  is  seen  and 
temporal,  and  that  across  the  chasm  dividing  those  two 
worlds  there  is  to  be  any  interchange  whatever  of  thought 
or  influence,  and  the  probability  of  miraculous  intervention 
is  established. 

III. — God's  redemptive  interference  on  behalf  of  a  fallen 
world  implies  the  necessity  of  the  miracle.  The  circum- 
stance that  the  human  family  has  involved  itself  in  the  coils 
of  sin  beyond  all  power  of  self-extrication  opens  up  the 
solemn  question — Will  God  interfere  or  not  to  provide  for 


THE  MIRACLE.  11 

man  that  way  of  escape  from  ruin  and  doom  which  the 
laws  of  his  own  being  and  the  laws  of  surrounding  nature 
alike  refuse  to  provide  ?  To  answer  that  question  in  the 
affirmative  is  to  assert  the  necessity  of  the  miracle.  For 
any  such  interference  must  be,  by  the  very  nature  of  the 
case,  miraculous.  It- must  include  superhuman  appeals  to 
the  human  understanding,  and  superhuman  appliances  to 
the  human  heart.  For  salvation,  according  to  the  only 
religious  system  that  declares  the  necessity  and  unfolds  the 
method  of  a  redemptive  interference — I  mean  that  ex- 
pounded in  the  Bible — involves  two  principal  results,  a 
change  of  state  and  a  change  of  nature — a  change  of  state, 
consisting  in  the  forgiveness  of  sin  and  reconciliation  with 
God  ;  and  a  change  of  nature,  consisting  in  the  sanctifica- 
tion  of  the  soul,  and  its  assimilation  to  the  image  of  God. 
God  therefore  must  manifest  Himself  in  some  supernatural 
way  to  the  soul  which  He  would  save  by  a  plan  of  forgive- 
ness and  reconciliation,  and  by  a  method  of  sanctification 
and  moral  ennoblement.  Jesus  Christ  is  this  supernatural 
manifestation  of  God.  We  pass  over  the  long  series  of 
Divine  manifestations  by  which  God  maintained  faith  and 
hope  and  piety  in  the  family  of  man  in  the  interval  between 
the  fall  and  the  Advent ;  and  we  fix  our  eyes  upon  the 
Birth,  Life,  Death,  and  Resurrection  of  the  Son  of  God  as  the 
grand  miraculous  epoch  in  the  spiritual  history  of  the 
world.  To  this  all  that  went  before  points  forward,  and  to 
this  all  that  came  after  points  back.  Mark  what  takes 
place.  A  man  miraculously  born  appears  upon  the  scene. 
He  is  immaculate  by  the  miracle  of  His  birth.  In  Him  is 
Divine  everlasting  life,  derived  from  the  Divine  everlasting 
Fountainhead.  He  invites  all  who  will  to  join  and  follow 
Him,  and  promises  them  deliverance.  Those  who  accept 
His  invitation  are  by  their  faith  made  mystically  one  with 
Him.  As  it  fares  with  Him,  therefore,  so  shall  it  fare  with 
them.  And  how,  then,  does  it  fare  with  Him  and  them.? 
This  man  of  God's  right  hand,  though  "  holy,  harmless,  un- 
defiled,  and  separate  from  sinners,"  lays  down  His  life,  as  if 
He  were  a  sinner,  paying  the  penalty  of  his  sin  ;  and  all  who 


12 


MIRACLES  AND   PROPHECY. 


are  mystically  one  with  Him  lay  down  their  lives  along  with 
Him,  This  man  of  God's  right  hand  takes  up  his  life  again, 
because  it  is  Divine  everlasting  life ;  and  all  who  are 
mystically  one  with  Him  take  up  their  lives  along  with 
Him.  The  Divine  expedient,  then,  is  briefly  this — that  the 
transgressor  pays  his  penalty  in  the  death  of  the  Divine 
man,  and  in  the  resurrection  of  the  Divine  man  receives 
everlasting  life. 

The  Advent  of  the  Son  of  God  in  the  form  and  nature  of 
man  is,  therefore,  the  grand  miracle  of  all  time.  And  in  the 
Advent  in  turn  there  are  two  miraculous  occurrences  which 
infold  in  themselves  all  that  go  before  or  follow  after — 
His  Incarnation,  or  the  act  by  which  He  entered  into  our 
earthly  life  ;  and  His  Resurrection,  or  the  act  by  which  He 
passed  away  from  it.  I  do  not  say  that  the  supernatural 
does  not  run  along  the  whole  course  of  His  life,  from  the 
cradle  to  the  cross.  I  do  not  say  that  the  mysterious 
moment  in  which  each  penitent  and  contrite  heart  is  joined 
to  Jesus  Christ,  by  faith  in  His  person  and  w^ork,  is  not  the 
occasion  of  a  direct  interposition  of  Divine  power.  What  I 
do  say  is  that  the  two  conspicuous  forthputtings  of  Divine 
power,  round  which  the  whole  supernatural  system  involved 
in  redemption  circulates,  are  the  Incarnation  and  Resurrec- 
tion of  the  Redeemer. 

As  to  the  chain  of  minor  miracles  which  signalised  the 
life  of  Christ  and  His  apostles,  all  that  has  been  already 
said  as  to  the  bearing  of  the  miracles  upon  the  moral 
government  of  the  world  comes  into  play.  No  one  was 
witness  of  the  Incarnation.  No  one  was  witness  of  the 
Resurrection.  Only  a  few  hundreds  were  permitted  to 
behold  the  form  of  the  risen  Lord.  But  it  was  necessary 
that  a  whole  world  should  sooner  or  later  become  con- 
vinced that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
the  living  God.  Herein  we  find  an  ample  justification  of 
the  chain  of  minor  miracles  recorded  in  the  Gospels  and 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  The  evidential  force  of  a  con- 
secutive series  of  supernatural  works,  countless  in  number, 
infinitely  varied  in   character,  situation,  and  surrounding 


THE   MIRACLE.  13 

> 
circumstance,  performed  not  only  by  the  Master  in  His  own 

person,  but  also  in  His  name  by  those  to  whom    He  had 

entrusted  the  splendid  prerogative,  was   irresistible  in  the 

minds  of  the  first  followers  of  the  cross,  and  sufficient  to 

inspire  them  with  an  enthusiasm  of  personal  conviction  and 

missionary  zeal,  such  as  should  render  the  employment  of 

the  miracle  largely,  if  not  entirely,  unnecessary  in  all  the 

subsequent  campaigns  of  the  Christian  Church. 

As  to  the  character  of  the  minor  miracles,  they  are  in 
strict  accordance  with  the  remedial  system  of  which  they 
are  the  proofs.  Otherwise,  indeed,  they  would  be  disproofs 
instead  of  proofs.  They  are  all,  virtually  without  exception, 
in  the  form  of  rescues,  reliefs,  restorations.  They  furnish 
a  standing  symbol  and  exposition  in  the  material  sphere  of 
what  the  Saviour  was  prepared  to  do  in  the  spiritual  sphere. 
Their  office  was  subsidiary,  not  principal.  They  were  but 
physical  means  pointing  towards  spiritual  ends.  They 
were  thrown  down  into  the  field  of  sense  as  the  humble, 
though  wonderful,  endorsement  of  that  Divine  truth  by 
which  the  world  was  to  be  redeemed.  They  were  the  grand 
Amen  of  the  God  of  nature  to  the  glorious  proposals  of  the 
God  of  grace.  They  pointed  with  patient  and  undeviating 
finger  to  the  doctrine  of  the  cross.  They  were  flashing 
chains  flung  round  the  neck  of  the  new  truth,  compelling 
men  to  examine  and  admire  the  figure  that  bore  so  fair  an 
ornament ;  but  let  the  new  truth  once  take  its  proper  place, 
and  make  its  proper  mark,  in  the  mind  of  the  world,  and  all 
that  brilliant  jewellery  may  be  laid  aside  as  needless  and 
embarrassing. 

Let  me  endeavour  to  illustrate  the  principles  laid  down 
in  a  somewhat  abstract  form  in  the  course  of  the  preceding 
discussion,  by  a  brief  analysis  of  two  memorable  incidents 
in  the  life  of  Christ — the  miracle  of  the  marriage  feast,  and 
the  three  water  miracles  on  the  lake  of  Gennesaret. 

Of  the  miracle  of  the  inariHage  feast  it  is  recorded  by 
the  Evangelist : — "  This  beginning  of  miracles  did  Jesus  in 
Cana  of  Galilee,  and  manifested  forth  His  glory ;  and 
His  disciples  believed  on  Him."     We  learn  from  this  signifi- 


14  MIRACLES  AND   PROPHECY. 

cant  statement  that  there  is  a  twofold  effect  of  the  miracle 
in  the  Christian  system,  a  personal  and  a  propagandist : 
it  shows  forth  the  glory  of  the  worker,  and  it  calls  forth 
the  faith  of  the  beholder. 

The  first  effect  is  to  show  forth  the  glory  of  the  worker. 
And  the  worker  is  always  God.  He  who  does  a  miracle  in 
His  own  name  proves  that  He  is  Divine.  He  who  does  a 
miracle  in  the  name  of  Christ  proves  that  Christ  is  Divine. 
He  who  does  a  miracle  in  the  name  of  God  proves  that  he  is 
a  messenger  and  representative  of  God.  The  disciples  did 
every  deed  of  superhuman  might  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  If,  again,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  did  deeds  of 
superhuman  might  indifferently  in  His  own  or  in  His 
Father's  name,  it  was  because  He  and  His  Father  were 
one.  A  miracle  is  always  a  w^ork  of  God  ;  it  is  a  fresh 
forthputting  of  Divine  power,  through  whatever  agency  it 
may  be  wrought ;  it  is  therefore  a  manifestation  of  the 
glory  of  the  Most  High.  The  statement  that  Christ,  by 
the  miracle  of  Cana,  manifested  forth  His  glory,  implies 
that  the  Divine  might  which  already  resided  in  Him  now 
for  the  first  time  burst  into  view.  His  glory  He  had  with 
the  Father  before  the  world  was ;  but  from  this  point 
forward,  coruscations  of  the  glory  were  to  be  flashed  forth 
incessantly  in  the  Divine  deeds  He  was  about  to  perform  in 
the  field  of  sense  in  attestation  of  His  mission.  Before 
this  "beginning  of  miracles"  the  assembled  guests  regarded 
Him  as  no  more  than  an  ordinary  man.  There  was  nothing 
in  His  conversation  or  deportment  that  materially  dis- 
tinguished Him  from  the  vast  miscellaneous  human  family 
to  which  He  belonged.  He  spoke  wise  words,  no  doubt, 
with  soft  and  winning  voice;  and  the  kindly  deeds  which 
it  was  His  custom  to  do  found  a  faithful  reflex  in  His 
benignant  countenance.  But  any  other  man  might  have 
been  all  that  He  appeared  to  be,  so  far  as  the  bridal  com- 
pany could  judge.  The  glory  was  for  so  far  hidden  from 
their  view.  It  had  found  as  yet  no  exit  in  speech  or  deed, 
in  glance  of  the  eye  or  gesture  of  the  body.  But  now  His 
hour  is  come.     He  bids  the  firkins  be  filled  with  water. 


THE   MIRACLE.  15 

That  done,  He  bids  the  fluid  be  drawn  forth  and  borne  to 
the  governor  of  the  feast  And  lo !  the  fluid  that  went  in 
water — colourless,  odourless,  tasteless  water — comes  out 
wine.  How  the  transformation  was  effected,  it  is  bootless 
to  inquire.  Numberless  incursions  may  be  made  into  the 
outskirts  of  the  mystery  ;  but  the  heart  of  the  mystery,  like 
the  heart  of  the  mystery  of  matter,  or  the  heart  of  the 
mystery  of  life,  or  the  heart  of  the  mystery  of  the  human 
spirit,  remains  a  sacred  shrine,  unviolated  by  footfall  or  voice 
of  man,  possessed  by  the  lone  and  awful  glory  of  God. 
How  the  transubstantiation  was  brought  about,  the  wedding 
guests  could  not  imagine ;  of  one  thing  only  they  were 
assured  that  a  Divine  power  had  been  put  forth  to  effect 
the  astonishing  result,  and  put  forth  by  Him  who  bade  the 
waterpots  be  filled.  Through  the  tones  and  gestures  of 
that  wonderful  man,  as  through  windows  in  the  walls  of  an 
illuminated  temple,  streamed  forth  upon  every  eye  the  un- 
speakable glory  of  God. 

Accordingly,  the  second  effect  of  the  miracle  is  to  call 
forth  the  faith  of  the  beholden  "  His  disciples  believed  on 
Him."  He  was  invested  with  an  entirely  new  character  in 
their  eyes.  Although  the  moment  after  the  miracle  He  was 
the  same  in  appearance  and  speech  as  the  moment 
before,  yet  by  that  intervening  event  a  dividing  line  has 
been  withdrawn,  enabling  them  to  gaze  into  inexhaustible 
depths  of  excellency  in  the  person  of  the  Man  of  Nazareth. 
He  that  has  done  this  single  supernatural  thing,  they  reflect, 
must  be  equally  able  to  do  a  thousand  supernatural  things. 
Supreme  wisdom  and  power  and  goodness  must  be  His 
native  prerogative.     In  a  word.  He  must  be  Divine. 

Thus  the  miracle  has  performed  its  twofold  function  : 
it  has  opened  the  eyes  of  the  pious-minded  to  the  personal 
glory  of  Emmanuel ;  it  has  demonstrated  His  Divineness 
by  a  momentary  work  of  wonder,  that  His  disciples  might 
evermore  remember  Him  to  be  Divine,  although  in  the 
prosecution  of  His  vicarious  work  He  should  need  to  submit 
to  all  the  wearinesses  of  our  frail  flesh,  wound  up  by  the 
crowning  ignominy  of  death.     "  He  must  be  one,"  they  will 


16  MIRACLES  AND   PROPHECY. 

ever  afterwards  be  able  to  say,  "  who  has  entered  the  world 
by  some  grand  portal  of  His  own — one  who,  in  some  mys- 
terious region  of  His  nature,  is  a  stranger  to  human  gene- 
alogies and  inheritances — one  who  is  allied  by  some  ineffable 
bond  to  the  eternal  King — one  who,  in  ail  that  is  deepest  in 
His  being,  is  to  be  classified  with  God,  and  not  with  man." 
Such  must  have  been  the  spontaneous  testimony  of  any  spec- 
tator of  the  miracles  which  Christ  did,  whose  intelligence  and 
conscience  had  not  been  hopelessly  distorted  by  the  power 
of  sin-born  prejudice.  The  exclamation  of  Nicodemus  puts 
in  the  most  moderate  and  cautious  form  the  conviction 
which  all  proper  apprehension  of  Christ's  mighty  w^orks  was 
fitted  to  create  : — "  Rabbi,  w^e  know  that  Thou  art  a  teacher 
come  from  God  :  for  no  man  can  do  these  miracles  that 
Thou  doest,  except  God  be  w^ith  him." 

The  other  incident  in  the  life  of  our  Lord  to  which  I 
desire  to  allude  is  the  triple  water  miracle  on  the  sea  of 
Galilee.  I  choose  this  illustration  as  suggesting  an  analysis 
of  the  physics  as  well  as  the  ethics  of  the  miracle.  "  In  the 
fourth  watch  of  the  night,"  when  the  disciples  had  battled 
long  with  wind  and  wave,  "Jesus  went  unto  them,  walking 
on  the  sea."  To  Peter  He  gave  power,  in  proportion  to  his 
faith,  to  use  the  waves  in  the  same  lordly  way  as  He  Him- 
self was  doing.  As  to  the  crew  in  general.  He  made  the 
moment  of  His  entrance  into  the  ship  the  moment  also  of 
the  stilling  of  the  storm. 

A  word  or  two  on  each  of  these  miraculous  results. 

Christ  works  the  first  miracle  upon  His  own  person.  The 
swift -running  waves  are  framed  into  a  firm  causeway 
beneath  His  feet;  and  he  stands  erect  upon  the  tide  as  upon 
an  undulating  pavement.  There  are  only  two  other  analo- 
gous miracles  wrought  by  Christ  upon  His  own  person — 
the  Transfiguration,  and  the  Ascension,  including  that  chain 
of  mysterious  visits  and  vanishings  which  led  up  to  the  final 
act  of  the  Ascension.  The  miracle  before  us  may  be  said 
to  be  a  stepping-stone  to  that  of  the  Transfiguration,  as  that 
of  the  Transfiguration  is  to  that  of  the  Ascension.  In  the 
first  case  His  body  treads  the  water,  in  the  next  the  air,  and 


THE   MIRACLE.  17 

in   the   last  the   infinitely   attenuated  ether  that   fills  all 
space. 

Was  the  miraculous  result  then  due,  in  the  present 
instance,  to  an  etherealisation  of  the  body  of  our  Lord,  by 
means  of  which  it  pressed  upon  the  water  with  no  more 
weight  than  a  column  of  superincumbent  air.'*  Or  was  it 
due  to  a  consolidation  of  the  water  underneath,  by  which 
the  pavemented  wave  presented  a  firm  resistance  to  His 
feeti*  It  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  any  change  in  the  sub- 
stance or  in  the  properties  either  of  the  body  above  or  of 
the  water  beneath.  The  force  of  gravitation  acts  as  reso- 
lutely as  ever.  The  inherent  tendency  of  that  material 
frame  to  sink  through  the  bruised  billows  is  as  strong  as 
ever.  And  why  then  does  not  the  sinking  follow  ?  Is  it  not 
enough  to  suppose  that  a  force,  sufficient  to  neutralise  the 
downward  force  of  gravitation  in  the  body  of  our  Lord, 
was  exerted  in  the  upward  and  opposite  direction  by  the 
immediate  power  of  God  ?  Whether  nature  was  paid  back 
in  some  other  quarter  for  the  fresh  infusion  of  force  in  this 
quarter,  is  a  question  which  is  most  wisely  left  in  the  hands 
of  the  Most  Wise.  Scientists,  in  the  dreadful  picture  they 
are  prone  to  draw  of  the  consequences  of  a  single  hitch  in 
the  machinery,  or  lurch  in  the  movement,  of  the  physical 
system  of  things,  make  no  proper  allowance  for  the  elasticity 
and  self-adjusting  power  of  nature.  It  is  not  likely  that 
God's  will,  playing  in  among  the  physical  forces  of  the 
world,  will  work  more  mischief  or  confusion  than  man's  will 
would.  Yet  nature  is  not  put  out  of  countenance  by  man's 
ingenuity  and  energy,  even  when  these  are  directed  to  the 
most  perverse  ends.  There  is  nothing  difficult,  then,  in  the 
idea  that  a  drawing  up  by  invisible  hands  above,  or  a 
holding  up  by  invisible  hands  below,  whether  attended  or 
unattended  by  some  equivalent  compensation  to  nature  for 
the  local  and  temporary  check  upon  her  processes,  may 
sufficiently  account  for  the  miracle  of  walking  on  the  waves. 

Pass  now  to  the  next  miracle.  Our  Lord  put  forth  on 
Peter's  body  in  the  second  instance  the  power  which  in  the 
first  instance  He  had  put  forth  upon  His  own.     But  here  a 


18  MIRACLES  AND   PROPHECY. 

new  element  comes  into  play.  The  power  put  forth  upon 
His  own  person  infallibly  secured  the  end  in  view,  but  that 
put  forth  on  Peter's  was  expressly  made  contingent  on  the 
faith  of  Peter.  Peter  had  said,  "  Lord,  if  it  be  Thou,  bid 
me  come  unto  Thee  on  the  water."  And  He  said,  "  Come." 
That  "come"  carried  with  it  the  necessary  support,  on 
condition  of  the  necessary  faith.  Let  Peter  but  believe 
that  this  is  the  very  Lord  Himself,  and  that  He  is  prepared 
to  sustain  him  upon  the  sapphire  pavement  of  the  wave, 
and  the  disciple  will  walk  as  well  as  his  Master  on  the  sea. 
But  let  Peter  lose  faith  in  that  mysterious  Being  that  stands 
upon  the  lake  in  his  near  neighbourhood,  and  the  nexus 
between  his  spirit  and  the  spirit  of  Christ  is  so  far  sundered, 
and  the  sustaining  strength  withdrawn,  and  the  unem- 
barrassed powers  of  nature  return  to  their  inexorable  work. 
Christ  could  have,  kept  the  man  from  sinking,  apart  from 
his  own  Avill,  if  He  had  chosen.  But  He  did  not  choose  to 
do  so.  He  meant  that  the  hazardous  experiment  should 
be  a  trial  of  his  faith.  Jesus  never  idly  played  with  the 
laws  of  nature.  He  never  interfered  with  the  action  of  any 
physical  force  except  for  some  spiritual  end.  He  meant 
that  Peter  and  all  the  crew  should  gain  a  lesson  in  faith 
which  they  should  never  lose.  Peter  then  adventured  into 
the  deep,  relying  on  the  word  of  the  Lord  ;  but,  distracted 
by  the  terror  of  the  storm,  he  lost  sight  of  his  Refuge  and 
Strength  ;  and,  losing  sight  of  his  Refuge  and  Strength,  he 
began  to  sink,  and  sinking,  he  was  forced  violently  back- 
ward into  his  fast-vanishing  faith  in  Christ,  and  cried, 
"  Lord,  save  me  ;  I  perish  ; "  and  so  crying,  he  was  caught 
up  by  that  watchful  hand,  and  lifted  into  the  ship. 

Let  us  glance  next  at  the  third  miracle  in  the  group. 
"When  they  were  come  into  the  ship,  the  wind  ceased." 
There  is  no  violation  of  the  laws  of  nature  in  this,  any  more 
than  in  the  other  instances.  Every  force  acts  in  its  accus- 
tomed way.  When  a  storm  rages,  certain  natural  causes 
are  at  work  producing  the  result.  When  those  causes  are 
withdrawn  from  the  field,  nature  returns  to  its  more 
tranquil  and  equable  course,  and  the  storm  becomes  a  calm. 


THE   MIRACLE.  19 

The  causes  do  not  cease  to  be  causes  ;  they  do  not  cease  to  be 
operating  causes  ;  they  have  only  disappeared  from  the  field. 
They  may  have  resolved  themselves  into  other  forms  of 
force,  or  they  may  have  been  transferred  in  their  original 
form  to  some  new  geographical  area.  But  is  there  not  a 
third  event  that  might  befall  them,  besides  being  resolved 
into  other  forms,  or  transferred  to  other  regions .''  May 
they  not  be  more  or  less  suddenly  met  in  mid-career  by 
other  forces  equal  and  opposite  to  them,  freshly  launched 
from  the  hand  of  God  ?  In  that  case,  the  very  same  effect 
will  be  produced  in  the  world  of  sense  as  if  they  were  trans- 
formed in  quality  or  transferred  in  situation.  The  Divine 
Hand  does  not  by  such  a  course  infringe  in  the  least  degree 
upon  the  laws  of  nature,  but  only  substitutes  a  supernatural 
counteractive  force,  at  the  time  required,  for  the  natural 
counteractive  force  that  would  otherwise  follow  at  some 
later  time.  Determine  the  point  at  which,  and  the  manner 
in  which,  and  the  extent  to  which  one  force  works  upon 
another  ;  and,  I  ask,  cannot  the  Divine  finger,  by  a  sublime 
substitution,  be  applied  at  the  point  in  question  in  the  very 
same  manner  and  degree  ?  A  group  of  forces  are  at  work 
in  the  atmosphere  above  Gennesaret,  producing  the  bois- 
terous wind.  God  meets  those  forces  with  counter-forces 
that  interrupt  their  action,  and  there  is  a  calm  in  the 
atmosphere.  But  the  sea  still  rocks  and  surges  underneath. 
God  meets  the  forces  that  are  at  work  in  the  water  with 
counter-forces  that  arrest  their  action,  and  there  is  calm 
upon  the  deep. 

But  mark  here  also  the  spiritual  end  which  our  Saviour 
had  in  view.  It  is  unfolded  in  the  conduct  of  the  crew. 
They  that  were  in  the  ship  came  and  worshipped  Him, 
saying,  "  Of  a  truth,  Thou  art  the  Son  of  God."  They  had 
seen  Christ  walking  on  the  wave,  and  that  had  so  power- 
fully affected  them  that  they  exclaimed  in  terror,  "  It  is  a 
spirit."  They  had  seen  Peter  stumblingly  imitating  Christ, 
and  that  must  have  added  to  their  wonder  and  awe.  But 
when  the  roaring  hurricane  is  hushed,  and  summer  wavelets 
gently  lap  the  sides  of  the  weather-beaten  craft,  and  the 


20 


MIRACLES  AND   PROPHECY. 


smooth  pebbles  and  brown  bands  of  seaweed  are  seen 
through  the  crystal  waters  of  the  lake,  they  are  filled  with 
conviction,  and  say  enthusiastically,  "  Of  a  truth,  Thou  art 
the  Son  of  God  !  "  In  order  to  draw  that  acknowledgment 
forth — in  order  to  burn  the  belief  that  lay  behind  it  deep 
into  the  hearts  of  the  disciples — Christ  completed  the 
splendid  chain  of  miracles  of  that  night  upon  the  waters, 
by  the  lulling  of  wind  and  wave  to  rest. 

The  miracles  of  the  Gospels,  then,  viewed  in  the  light  of 
incidents  such  as  these,  are  seen  to  be  at  once  benefits, 
symbols,  and  evidences.  First,  and  most  simply,  they  are 
be7tefits,  or  fruits  of  the  Divine  compassion.  In  the  next 
place,  they  are  symbols,  accomplishing  in  the  material 
sphere,  and  on  the  mortal  bodies  of  men,  what  Christ  was 
prepared  to  accomplish  in  the  spiritual  sphere,  and  on  their 
immortal  souls.  Finally,  they  are  evidences,  proving,  by 
irresistible  inference,  first,  the  claim  of  the  miracle-worker 
to  be  "a  teacher  come  from  God  ;"  and  second,  the  truth 
of  what  He  teaches.  To  those  who  complain  that  the 
miracle  is  not  continued  still  in  the  Christian  Church  for 
the  fixing  and  strengthening  of  human  faith,  it  is  enough 
to  answer  that  we  have  all  that  made  the  miracle  valuable 
and  efficacious.  We  have  the  Bible,  the  miraculous  heir- 
loom of  the  old  inspiration.  We  have  the  Sabbath-day,  the 
standing  record  of  the  miracle  of  the  Resurrection.  We 
have  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  sacred  projections 
along  the  centuries  of  the  Christian  era  of  two  grand 
epochs  in  the  miraculous  life  of  Christ.  But,  above  all,  we 
have  Jesus  Christ  Himself  Christ,  in  His  person  and 
character,  is  indeed  the  great  world-miracle,  about  which 
all  the  minor  miracles  play  Hke  scintillations  round  a 
central  fire,  associated  with  which  their  reasonableness  is 
morally  demonstrated,  divorced  from  which  they  melt  into 
unmeaningness.  With  Jesus  Christ,  born  and  risen,  they 
stand  and  fall,  even  as  with  Him  stand  and  fall  also  all 
human  faith  and  hope  and  piety  and  peace. 


THE   PROPHECY.  21 


11. — The  Prophecy. 


"  The  Lord  thy  God  will  raise  up  unto  thee  a  Prophet 
from  the  midst  of  thee,  of  thy  brethren,  like  unto  me  ;  unto 
Him  ye  shall  hearken."  Such  are  the  words  with  which 
Moses,  in  the  midst  of  his  great  farewell  discourse,  en- 
courages the  children  of  Israel.  And  the  children  of  Israel, 
all  along  the  line  of  their  subsequent  history,  regarded  these 
words  as  an  authoritative  promise  of  Messiah ;  and  to  the 
hope  which  that  promise  inspired  they  clung  with  a  terrible 
tenacity  through  their  darkest  days  of  corruption  and 
captivity.  It  was  a  sort  of  spiritual  star,  leading  them  on 
by  many  winding  ways  to  the  manger  of  Bethlehem.  In 
the  light  of  that  high  hope  the  mother-love  of  Israel  went 
forth  in  deep,  mysterious  yearnings  towards  the  cradle  of 
Emmanuel. 

Long  before  Moses  had  given  a  characteristic  shape  to 
the  great  world-hope,  indeed,  it  had  exercised  its  fascinating 
sway  over  the  minds  of  men.  Adam  himself  had  caught 
hold  of  it  in  the  form  of  the  "  seed  of  the  woman,"  bruised, 
but  victorious.  Noah  had  caught  hold  of  it  when  God 
made  with  him  and  with  his  seed  "  an  everlasting-  covenant." 
Abraham  had  caught  hold  of  it,  when  God  guaranteed  to 
the  childless  old  man  that  in  him  and  in  his  seed,  neverthe- 
less, should  "all  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed."  And 
Abraham  passed  on  the  hope  to  Isaac,  and  Isaac  to  Jacob, 
and  Jacob  to  the  fathers  of  the  twelve  tribes.  And  now, 
in  turn,  Moses  comes  forward  to  record  that  hope ;  and 
with  all  the  mingled  authority  and  pathos  with  which  last 
words  are  invested,  he  speaks  of  a  Prophet,  like  unto  him- 
self, unto  whom  the  people  should  be  constrained  to 
hearken. 

And  when  Christ  came  at  last,  we  find  all  classes  of  His 
contemporaries  coming  forward  to  endorse  the  truth  of 
that  interpretation  which  the  piety  and  hope  of  so  many 
centuries  had  put  upon  the  words  of  Moses.  "  Philip 
findcth  Nathanael,"  in  the  exciting  days  of  our  Lord's  first 
public  introduction  to  the  world,  "  and  saith  unto  him.  We 


22  MIRACLES  AND  PROPHECY. 

have  found  Him,  of  whom  Moses  in  the  law,  and  the  prophets, 
did  write."  On  the  occasion  of  the  banquetting  of  the  five 
thousand  on  the  green-sward  of  Grennesaret,  the  people 
cried  out,  under  the  stimulus  of  that  stupendous  miracle, 
"  This  is  of  a  truth  that  Prophet  that  should  come  into  the 
world."  After  the  Master  had  passed  away,  Peter  stood 
forth  in  Solomon's  porch,  and  preached  of  Jesus  Christ, 
"  Moses  truly  said  unto  the  fathers,  A  prophet  shall  the 
Lord  your  God  raise  up  unto  you  of  your  brethren,  like 
unto  me ;  Him  shall  ye  hear  in  all  things  whatsoever  He 
shall  say  unto  you."  Stephen,  uplifting  upon  his  murderers 
a  face  like  the  face  of  an  angel,  made  application  of  IMoses* 
words  to  the  man  of  Nazareth,  "  This  is  that  Moses,  which 
said  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  A  prophet  shall  the  Lord 
your  God  raise  up  unto  you  of  your  brethren,  like  unto 
me ;  Him  shall  ye  hear."  Nay,  before  either  of  these 
had  learned  the  language  of  the  cross,  Moses  himself 
had  come  mysteriously  forward  in  company  with  Elias, 
in  that  Transfiguration  scene  for  the  account  of  which 
we  are  probably  indebted  to  Peter  himself,  and  spoken 
of  His  "decease,  wiiich  He  should  accomplish  at  Jeru- 
salem." 

It  is  unquestionable,  then,  that  the  Prophet,  whose  advent 
was  announced  by  Moses,  was  understood  to  be  none  other 
than  IMessiah  Himself  It  will  be  of  importance,  therefore, 
to  show  that  the  words,  "a  prophet  like  unto  me,"  were  appro- 
priate in  the  mouth  of  IMoses  in  a  way  in  which  they  could 
not  have  been  appropriate  in  the  mouth  of  any  other  man. 
It  is  recorded  in  the  concluding  chapter  of  the  book  of 
Deuteronomy,  by  way  of  epitaph  upon  the  mighty  dead,  that 
<'  there  arose  not  a  prophet  since  in  Israel  like  unto  Moses, 
whom  the  Lord  knew  face  to  face."  Moses,  in  his  standing 
in  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  most  probably  in  his  personal 
character  too,  is  the  sublimest  figure  on  the  stage  of  human 
history,  He  alone  being  excepted  whose  shoe-latchet  the 
great  lawgiver,  in  common  with  the  humblest  child  of  God, 
was  unworthy  to  unloose.  Let  me  proceed  briefly  to  show- 
that  he  was  not  only  a  prophet,  but  the  prophet  of  prophets; 


THE   PROPHECY.  23 

that  there  was  no  prophet  like  him  among  men  ;  and  that, 
in  a  deep  and  real  sense,  he  alone  among  men  was  like  that 
greater  Prophet  who  was  to  come.  , 

What,  then,  is  a  prophet  .'*  A  pro-phet  is  one  who  bears  a 
message  from  God  to  man.  It  matters  not  whether  the 
message  refers  to  the  past,  the  present,  or  the  future ;  if  it  be 
a  burden  brought  down  from  the  Most  High,  the  bearer  of 
the  burden  is  a  prophet  It  is  not  the  nature  of  the 
announcement,  but  the  source  of  the  announcement,  that 
brackets  it  under  the  head  of  prophecy. 

All  revelation  then,  it  appears,  is  of  the  nature  of  pro- 
phecy ;  and  all  men  who  have  taken  part  in  revelation  belong 
to  the  class  of  prophets.     We  cannot  attempt  to  enumerate 
the  men  whom  God  has  raised  up  from  the  beginning  of 
time,  to  be  the  depositarians  and  expounders  of  His  mes- 
sages to  men.     If  the  "goodly  fellowship  of  the  prophets" 
could  be  gathered  together  out  of  all  lands  and  ages,  many 
a  strange  figure  would  rise  up  by  the  side  of  Moses  and 
Isaiah   and  John  the  Baptist ;    many  a  new  name  would 
become  familiar  in  men's  mouths ;  many  a  fresh  character 
would  be  furnished  for  the  reverent  or  ruthless  analysis  of 
our  modern  criticism.      God  has  doubtless  spoken  to  the 
fathers,  by  the  prophets,, "at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  man- 
ners," of  which  no  record  has  come  down  to  these  lower 
generations.     Only  those  members  of  the  august  fraternity, 
whose  messages  marked  some  epoch  in  the  history  of  the 
Church  or  of  the  world,  still  live  in    the    memories    and 
mouths  of  men.     The  rest  have  been  swept  into  the  circle 
of  some  subsequent  revelation,  and  vanished  from  our  view. 
How  many  of  these  old  fragments  of  prophecy  may  have 
fallen  under  the  eye  of  Moses,  as  he  penned  the  book  of 
Genesis,  we  cannot  surmise,      God  could,  no  doubt,  have 
given  him  the  whole  story  fresh  from  His  own  lips,  if  He 
had  chosen  ;  but  the  mode  in  which  the  story  is  told  irre- 
sistibly suggests  the  conclusion  that  the  writer  has  embodied, 
and  embalmed  in  his  narrative  old  messages  from  the  ante- 
diluvian and   patriarchal   ages,  and  has  worked  them  up, 
under  fresh  breathings  of  the  Spirit,  into  that  wonderful 


24  MIRACLES   AND   PROPHECY. 

book  of  the  beginnings  of  things,  which  stands  as  vestibule 
to  the  entire  temple  of  revelation. 

But  however  the  first  book  of  the  Bible  may  have  risen 
into  form  in  the  mind  of  ]\Ioses,  the  narrative  from  the 
beginning  of  Exodus  to  the  end  of  Deuteronomy,  with  the 
exception  of  a  chapter  or  so  at  either  extremity,  is  the 
record  of  the  personal  exploits  and  experiences  of  the  great 
deliverer  himself  The  Pentateuch,  therefore,  is  virtually 
the  prophecy  of  Moses.  And  what  a  message  from  the 
Most  High  do  these  five  books  contain  !  It  is  true  that 
history,  psalmody,  proverbial  philosophy,  prediction,  are  to 
follow,  filling  up  the  inter^-al  between  Moses  and  Christ ; 
but  the  total  mas^  of  revelation  em.bodied  in  these  is  little 
more  than  the  elucidation  and  enforcement  of  the  ordinances 
of  the  Pentateuch.  In  that  intermediate  chasm  no  pinnacle 
springs  up  into  the  air  to  the  level  of  the  summit  either  of 
Sinai  or  of  Calvan.'.  Take  vour  station  in  the  crc«-ore 
between  these  two  mystic  mountain  heights,  and  you  will 
find  many  secondar}^  ranges,  running  parallel,  or  thrown 
down  athwart ;  but  take  your  station  on  the  top  of  Sinai, 
and  towering  over  all  you  see  the  top  of  Calvar}^ ;  or  take 
your  station  on  the  top  of  Calvar}^,  and  towering  over  all 
you  see  the  top  of  Sinai. 

Let  me  seek  to  substantiate  these  statements.  What 
then,  in  brief,  is  the  burden  of  the  revelation  made  to  man 
through  Closes  }  It  is  based  upon  three  great  facts,  each 
one  of  which  is  stationed  in  the  ver}^  forefront  of  the  pro- 
phecy— the  fact  that  man  was  originally  upright ;  the  fact 
that  he  is  now  fallen  ;  and  the  fact  that  he  is  still  salvable. 
The  garden  of  Eden,  the  flaming  sword  of  the  angel,  the 
promise  that  the  seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  ser- 
pent's head — these  are  the  three  foundation-stones  on  which 
the  whole  structure  of  revelation  rests.  Thus  on  the  very 
first  cloud  that  stained  the  horizon  of  human  history  is 
planted  the  rainbow  of  promise  and  hope. 

The  salvation  thus  shadowed  forth,  however,  is  still  in  the 
far  future.  And  what,  meanwhile,  is  man  to  do  t  Is  he  to 
dream  away  the  long  millennial  day  between  the  promise 


THE   PROPHECY.  25 

and  accomplishment  in  wistful  wonderings  and  longings  ? 
Or  is  he  to  defile  it  with  foul  continuations  of  the  original 
offence  ?  No  :  he  has  a  work  to  do,  and  to  do  as  diligently 
as  though  upon  the  doing  of  that  work  depended  his  entire 
salvation.  That  work  consisted  of  two  departments — 
obedience  to  the  moral  law,  and  the  offering  np  of  sacrifice 
for  sin.  Both  these  departments  of  the  work  of  God 
date  from  the  very  spring  of  human  history.  The  first-born 
son  oi  Adam,  neglecting  the  one  part,  and  thereby  vitiating 
the  other  part,  rose  up  in  a  fit  of  ungovernable  spleen,  and 
slew  the  second-born,  who,  though  perform.ing  both  parts 
rightly,  had  brought  upon  himself  the  blessing  of  God. 
Noah  obeyed  and  offered  sacrifice  in  his  own  earnest  yet 
imperfect  way,  amidst  an  utterly  demoralised  society — a 
society  which,  even  after  it  had  been  swept  away  by  the 
flood,  left  the  traces  of  its  baleful  influence  in  the  old  patri- 
arch's deed  of  intemperance,  and  in  the  mockery  of  Ham 
and  curse  of  Canaan.  Abraham  was  called  out  of  the 
freshly  accumulating  gloom  to  begin  anew  the  work  of  God ; 
and  he  obeyed  and  offered  sacrifice  with  a  trust  so  simple 
and  unswerving,  that  he  was  dignified  with  the  title  of  the 
"  friend  of  God."  And  so  the  double  work  of  obedience  and 
oblation  was  handed  down  as  an  heirloom  from  father  to 
son,  till  the  day  when  Moses  asked  leave  from  Pharaoh  to 
take  Israel  out  a  three  days'  journey  into  the  wilderness,  to 
sacrifice  to  the  Lord  their  God. 

But  now  that  Moses  appears  upon  the  scene  the  work  is 
to  be  put  upon  a  more  definite  and  settled  basis  than  before. 
The  law  regulating  conduct  is  given  in  the  form  of  the  ten 
commandments,  and  the  law  regulating  sacrifice  is  given 
in  the  form  of  the  tabernacle  service.  The  moral  code  and 
the  propitiatory  system  of  Moses  lift  up  into  themselves  all 
the  rules  of  conduct  and  sacrificial  customs  that  had  hitherto 
found  place  among  the  people  of  God,  and  fill  them  with 
fresh  significance.  And  these  remained  precisely  as  Moses 
left  them,  till  they  were  gathered  up  in  turn  into  that  gj-eater 
dispensation,  to  which,  like  finger-posts,  they  pointed  fai'ward 
along  the  labouring  cenluries. 


26  MIRACLES   AND    PROPHECY. 

For  through  these  very  two  things  of  which  I  have  been 
speaking,  obedience  and  oblation,  the  salvation  of  man  was 
to  be  achieved.  A  perfect  obedience  was  the  Divine  event 
to  which  all  these  isolated  acts  of  imperfect  obedience  were 
tending.  An  efficacious  sacrifice  was  the  Divine  event  of 
which  all  these  ineffectual  slaughterings  of  bulls  and  goats 
were  the  foreshadowings.  Although  the  obedience  which 
men  were  able  to  render,  and  the  oblation  which  they  were 
able  to  make,  could  not  bring  salvation,  they  were  in  the 
providential  line  of  that  which  was  to  bring  salvation.  After 
the  innumerable  failures  there  was  to  be  a  grand  success, 
both  of  obedience  rendered,  and  of  propitiation  made. 
Jesus  Christ  was  to  do  perfectly  that  double  work  of  God 
which  all  men  of  God  had  been  more  or  less  successfully 
striving  to  do  from  the  beginning  of  time.  He  was  to  render 
the  great  obedience,  and  make  the  great  oblation,  that 
should  bring  salvation  into  the  world.. 

Now  Moses  had  already  sketched  the  scheme  of  salvation, 
in  all  its  leading  elements,  in  the  ordinances  which  he  brought 
down  with  him  from  Sinai.  The  tabernacle — its  various  com- 
partments and  articles  of  furniture — the  ark  of  the  covenant, 
containing  the  tables  of  stone,,  and  covered  by  the  mercy- 
seat  with  its  shadowing  cherubim — the  table  of  shew-bread, 
and  the  branching  candlestick — the  brazea  altar,  smoking 
with  slaughtered  victims  ;  and  the  golden  altar,  sending  up 
columns  of  white  incense  towards  heaven — the  unapproach- 
able glory,  and  the  dividing  veil — the  series  of  feasts,  and 
the  series  of  offerings — the  lustrations,  the  unctions,  the 
consecrations  by  sprinkling  of  sacrificial  blood — all  these 
told  forth  more  and  more  of  their  mystic  meaning  as  the 
ages  passed,  till  at  last  they  flashed  out  into  full  realisation 
in  the  substitutionary  life  and  death  of  our  Lord,  and  found 
their  exegesis  for  all  coming  time  in  the  graphic  and  beau- 
tiful epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  plan  of  salvation  which 
God  devised  from  the  beginning  was  fully  formulated  by 
Moses,  and  fully  accomplished  fifteen  hundred  years  after- 
wards by  Christ.    Enough  has  been  said  to  substantiate  the 


THE   PROPHECY.  27 

twofold  affirmation  that  none  of  all  the  prophets  was  like 
Moses,  and  that  Moses  alone  of  all  the  prophets  was  like 
Messiah.  Moses  wrought  out  a  national  emancipation, 
which  was  itself  a  striking  type  of  the  spiritual  deliverance 
wrought  out  by  Emmanuel.  Moses  founded  a  dispensation 
in  the  kingdom  of  God,  which  was  the  preparation  for  the 
dispensation  founded  by  Emmanuel.  Moses  uttered  the 
most  stupendous  and  adventurous  prophecy  of  Christ  the 
world  has  ever  listened  to — that  involved  in  the  ceremonial 
system  of  the  wilderness.  Moses  brought  down  from 
heaven  in  the  form  of  perfect  precept  that  which  Christ 
sent  up  to  heaven  in  the  form  of  perfect  obedience.  Moses 
beheld  "the  similitude  of  God."  God  spoke  with  him, 
"mouth  to  mouth,  even  apparently,  and  not  in  dark 
speeches."  He  was  the  standing  representative  of  God 
from  the  day  when  he  met  with  Him  at  the  burning  bush 
to  the  day  when  he  passed  back  to  Him  from  the  peak  of 
Nebo.  His  prophecy  formed  the  text  of  which  all  other 
prophecies  were  but  so  many  fragmentary  expositions. 
Not  only  Micah  and  Malachi,  but  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  were 
minor  prophets  in  this  grand  comparison.  They  did  little 
more  than  catch  up  the  detached  parts  of  his  great  prophecy, 
and  give  them  forth  in  novel  forms  to  the  new  generations. 
They  succeeded  at  the  best  in  scattering  somewhat  of  the 
haze  that  hung  about  the  figure  of  the  Prophet  towards 
whom  the  sin-laden  centuries  were  hastening,  and  in 
clothing  Him  beforehand  in  some  of  His  most  significant 
attributes  and  fortunes.  Isaiah's  imagination  of  the  man 
who  was  "  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  and  bruised  for 
our  iniquities,"  or  Daniel's  divination  of  the  day  when  Messiah 
should  be  "cut  off,  but  not  for  Himself,"  and  should  "cause 
the  sacrifice  and  the  oblation  to  cease,"  and  "  finish  the  trans- 
gression, and  "  make  an  end  of  sins,"  and  "  make  reconcilia- 
tion for  iniquity,"  and  "bring  in  everlasting  righteousness," 
and  "seal  up  the  vision  and  prophecy" — what  were  these,  or 
whatever  other  delineations  like  these  may  be  gathered 
out  of  the  songs  of  the  prophets,  but  the  piecing  together 
of  the  various  parts  of  the   sacrificial   system    instituted 


28  MIRACLES  AND   PROPHECY. 

under  the  shadow  of  Mount  Sinai,  and  their  application  to 
the  person  of  that  Prophet  whom  God  was  to  "  raise  up  like 
unto"  Moses. 

At  the  same  time,  there  was  a  more  or  less  continuous 
chain  of  prophets  connecting  the  testimony  of  Moses  with 
the  Advent  of  Messiah.  It  was  the  business  of  these  to 
explain  the  spirit  of  the  ceremonial  system,  to  show  the 
subordination  of  all  ritual  observance  to  spirituality  of  mind 
and  morality  of  life,  and  to  bring  out  into  more  and  more 
vivid  relief  the  lineaments  of  that  all-glorious  Person,  in 
whom  a  perfect  obedience  was  rendered,  and  a  perfect 
propitiation  made. 

Before  individualising  the  prophets,  however,  it  may  be 
well  to  refer  to  some  of  their  common  characteristics. 

1.  The  first  characteristic  of  the  Old  Testament  prophecy  is, 
that  it  points  away  onward  to  a  larger  and  Jiappier  day  than 
any  that  had  yet  dawned  npon  the  world.  This  pathos  of  pro- 
phecy can  perhaps  nowhere  be  more  fittingly  illustrated 
than  by  the  language  of  Moses  himself,  "  Unto  Him  shall 
ye  hearken."  "  Against  me  ye  have  been  murmuring  my 
whole  life  through  :  but  in  that  kindlier  time  when  the 
Prophet  like  unto  me  shall  arise,  ye  shall  be  moved  to  awe 
and  to  obedience."  But  passing  Moses,  all  the  prophetic 
messages,  however  dark  and  terrible  in  their  import,  are 
illuminated  by  glorious  plays  of  light  flung  down  upon  them 
from  some  distant  dawn,  to  which,  with  unfaltering  finger, 
they  point  forward  through  the  gloom. 

2.  Another  characteristic  of  tJie  Old  Testament  prophecy  is, 
that  it  continually  clashes  with  the  spirit  of  the  age  in  which  it 
is  uttered.  The  catholicity  of  the  prophets  contrasts  with  the 
narrow-mindedness  of  the  nation.  The  Israelites  believed 
themselves  not  only  to  have  a  first  charge  upon  the  grace 
of  heaven  and  covenant  promises  of  God,  but  to  be  also 
the  residuary  legatees  of  these.  The  prophets,  on  the  other 
hand,  uniformly  spoke  of  a  world-wide  Gospel  of  salvation, 
and  a  universal  gathering  of  the  nations  within  the  bonds 
of  the  everlasting  covenant.  Again,  the  spirituality  of  the 
prophets  contrasts  with  the  carnal-mindedness  of  the  nation. 


THE   PROPHECY.  29 

Israel  was  evermore  going  forth  after  fresh  idolatries  and 
immoralities.  Doubtless,  there  was  always  among  them  a 
residue  of  godly-minded  and  right-living  men.  We  are 
aware,  however,  that  even  the  best  specimens  of  any  given 
generation  of  men  will  not  rise  strikingly  high  above  the 
general  level  of  religion  and  morality.  Men  mount  up  into 
pinnacles  of  good,  or  sink  back  into  abysses  of  evil,  in 
masses,  and  not  by  isolated  efforts  of  the  individual.  Yet 
even  in  the  darkest  days  of  Israel's  apostasy  arose  the 
prophets,  sometimes  in  sublime  solitariness,  sometimes  in 
groups  of  two  or  three,  addressing  the  degenerate  mass  of 
men  in  burning  words  of  rebuke  or  admonition,  and  proving 
their  sincerity  by  lives  in  the  main  in  harmony  with  their 
message,  and  at  all  points  at  variance  with  the  thought  and 
feeling  of  the  time. 

3.  The  prophets  invariably  approach  their  task  with  a  deep 
sense  of  responsibility^  amounting  often  to  relnctance,  or  even 
to  anguish  of  spirit.  The  message  they  had  to  deliver 
sometimes  crossed  their  own  prejudices  as  much  as  those 
of  the  people  they  addressed.  Moses  shrinks  from  his 
mission,  and  can  scarcely  be  persuaded  to  assume  the 
leadership  of  the  Israelitish  host.  Jonah  writhes  and 
strains  like  a  dog  upon  the  leash  to  escape  from  Nineveh. 
But  even  when  the  will  of  the  prophet  was  entirely  subdued 
to  the  will  of  God,  the  character  of  his  message  was  such 
as  to  fill  him  with  painful  misgivings.  It  must  have  been 
trying  in  the  highest  degree  to  Nathan  to  announce  to 
David,  "  Thou  art  the  man !"  and  to  Gad  to  give  the  king 
the  ghastly  choice  between  famine,  war,  and  pestilence. 
Right  well  did  Michaiah,  the  son  of  Imlah,  know  that  bread 
of  affliction,  and  water  of  affliction,  would  be  the  reward  of 
his  unwelcome  disclosure  to  a  monarch  who  had  already 
said,  "  I  hate  him  ;  for  he  doth  not  prophecy  good  con- 
cerning me,  but  evil."  Isaiah  begins  his  great  prophecy, 
"  Hear,  O  heavens,  and  give  ear,  O  earth  :  for  the  Lord  hath 
spoken,  I  have  nourished  and  brought  up  children,  and  they 
have  rebelled  against  me."  Jeremiah  testifies,  "As  for  me, 
I  have  not  hastened  from  being  a  pastor  to   follow  Thee  ; 


30  MIRACLES  AND   PROPHECY. 

neither  have  I  desired  the  woeful  day,  Thou  knowest." 
A  roll  of  a  book  is  spread  out  before  Ezekiel ;  "  and  it  was 
written  within  and  without  ;  and  there  was  written  therein 
lamentations  and  mourning  and  woe." 

4.  The  treatment  which  the  prophets  received  at  the  hands 
of  the  people,  besides,  tended  to  inteitsify  the  gloom  which 
brooded  over  their  spirits.  Not  for  nothing  did  they  set 
before  Israel  the  story  of  her  spiritual  sorceries.  Moses 
himself  was  more  than  once  on  the  brink  of  being  mur- 
dered. Elijah  was  hounded  out  of  the  land  by  the  emis- 
saries of  Ahab.  Jeremiah  was  flung  into  a  miry  pit,  and 
finally  put  to  death.  To  sum  up,  "  they  were  sawn  asunder,' 
were  tempted,  were  slain  with  the  sword  :  they  wandered 
about  in  sheepskins  and  goatskins  ;  being  destitute,  afflicted, 
tormented  ;  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy ;  they 
wandered  in  deserts,  and  in  mountains,  and  in  dens  and 
caves  of  the  earth." 

5.  But  irrespective  of  the  treatment  which  they  received, 
it  added  to  the  embarrassment  of  the  prophets,  that  the  import 
of  the  burden  which  they  bore  was  to  a  large  extent  unknown 
to  themselves.  The  accomplishment  of  prophecy  is  the  only 
real  interpretation  of  prophecy  ;  and  the  accomplishment  of 
all  that,  was  greatest  in  prophecy  did  not  take  place  till  four 
centuries  after  the  last  of  the  prophets  had  ceased  to  speak. 
Yet  who  could  be  so  absorbingly  concerned  in  the  import  of 
each  particular  prediction  as  the  man  who  uttered  it } 
Hence  those  wistful  scrutinies  of  which  the  apostle  Peter 
speaks  : — "  Of  which  salvation  the  prophets  have  inquired 
and  searched  diligently,  who  prophesied  of  the  grace  that 
should  come  unto  you,  searching  what  or  what  manner  of 
time  the  Spirit  of  Christ  which  was  in  them  did  signify, 
when  it  testified  beforehand  the  sufferings  of  Christ  and  the 
glory  that  should  follow." 

From  the  forward  glance  into  futurity,  then,  which  is  the 
common  characteristic  of  the  prophets ;  from  the  catholicity 
and  spirituality  of  the  kingdom  which  they  announced ;  from 
the  shock  which  these  announcements  gave  to  the  popular 
prejudice;  from  the  gloom  with  which  the  prophetic  function 


THE   PROPHECY.  31 

was  invested ;  from  the  reluctance  with  which  it  was  assumed ; 
from  the  painful  consequences  by  which  the  testimonies  of 
the  prophets  were  attended  ;  and  from  the  sore  perplexities 
begotten  within  their  own  minds  by  the  burdens  which  they 
bore,  we  are  driven  irresistibly  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
Old  Testament  prophecy  cannot  be  accounted  for  on  natural 
grounds,  and  that  those  who  uttered  it  must  have  been  men 
who  "spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 

But  let  me  now  proceed  to  particularise.  There  is  a  growth 
observable  in  the  fulness  and  clearness  of  the  prophetic 
revelations  as  we  pass  from  the  time  of  Moses  to  the  time  of 
Christ.  I  purposely  pass  over  the  great  prophet-preachers, 
such  as  Samuel,  and  Elijah,  and  Elisha,  because  their  influ- 
ence was  mainly  personal,  their  mission  was  to  deal  with  a 
present  emergency  rather  than  point  forward  to  a  future 
object  of  hope,  and  they  have  left  no  written  record  of 
their  words  behind  them.  Written  prophecy  is  comprised 
within  a  period  stretching  from  the  middle  of  the  ninth  to 
the  end  of  the  fourth  century  before  Christ. 

The  first  author  of  written  prophecy  is  Jonah.  His  mis- 
sion was  to  Nineveh,  and  it  was  purely  local  and  temporary 
in  its  nature.  He  brings  out  the  great  truth,  however,  that 
there  is  forgiveness  with  God  where  there  is  repentance  with 
man;  that  "God  has  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the 
wicked,"  whatever  be  his  nationality ;  "  but  that  the  wicked 
turn  from  his  way  and  live" — a  doctrine  most  unpalatable 
to  the  prophet  himself,  no  less  than  to  his  fellow-country- 
men. 

Next  follows  Joel.  Joel,  coming  less  than  half-a-century 
later,  exhibits  a  very  appreciable  spiritual  advance  on 
Jonah.  Jonah  had  said  upbraidingly,  "I  know  that  Thou  art 
a  gracious  God,  and  merciful,  slow  to  anger,  and  of  great 
kindness,  and  repentest  Thee  of  the  evil."  Joel  says  ap- 
provingly, "  Rend  your  heart  and  not  your  garments,  and 
turn  unto  the  Lord  your  God  ;  for  He  is  gracious  and 
merciful,  slow  to  anger,  and  of  great  kindness,  and  repenteth 
Him  of  the  evil."  The  phrase  is  the  same  in  the  two  pas- 
sages; but  the  spirit  is  strongly  contrasted.    Moreover,  Joel 


32 


MIRACLES  AND   PROPHECY. 


shows  that  repentance  is  but  the  preparation  for  the  pleni- 
tude of  spiritual  life,  a  spiritual  life  which  is  imported  into 
the  soul  by  the  power  of  God — "It  shall  come  to  pass 
afterward  that  I  will  pour  out  my  Spirit  upon  all  flesh." 
And  this  promise,  fulfilling  itself  at  all  times  among  the 
people  of  God,  meets  with  its  grandest  illustration  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost. 

Next  follow  Hosea  and  Amos.  Widely  diverse  in  style 
as  these  two  prophets  are,  they  are  filled  with  the  same  high 
impulse.  The  lament  of  Hosea  and  the  philippic  of  Amos 
are  alike  called  forth  by  the  heartless  formalities  of  the  age. 
(Compare  Hosea  vi.  6;  and  Amos  v.  21-24.)  Each,  more- 
over, makes  a  remarkable  statement  regarding  the  future 
state  of  Israel,  in  which  its  returning  fortunes  are  mys- 
teriously connected  with  the  name  of  David  (Hosea  iii.  4. 
5 ;  Amos  ix.  1 1).  The  sharp  sword  of  a  spiritual  religion, 
leaping  out  of  the  sheath  of  a  ceremonial  that  serves  but  a 
temporary  end,  and  may  soon  be  flung  aside  for  ever,  such  is 
the  common  thought  which,  under  varied  imagery,  these 
two  prophets  present  to  view. 

Next  follow  Micah  and  Isaiah.  Micah  brings  out  more 
eloquently  than  either  Hosea  or  Amos  the  paramount 
superiority  of  the  moral  over  the  ritual  (Micah  vi.  6-8). 
He  furnishes  us  with  the  most  definite  note  yet  given  of  the 
Advent  of  Messiah,  announcing  in  one  sentence  His  earthly 
birth-place,  and  the  fact  of  His  eternal  pre-existence,  "  But 
thou,  Bethlehem-Ephratah,"  &c.  (Micah  v.  2.)  In  describ- 
ing the  diffusive  and  assimilative  power  of  the  kingdom 
that  is  to  come,  he  uses  language  which  his  greater  con- 
temporary, Isaiah,  thinks  it  worth  while  to  quote  in  the 
beginning  of  his  prophecy,  "  In  the  last  days  it  shall  come 
to  pass  that  the  mountain  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,"  &c. 
(Micah  iv.  i,  2.) 

It  is  Isaiah,  however,  that  gives  us  the  first  vivid  delinea- 
tions of  the  Person  and  Work  of  Messiah.  He  tells  how 
"  a  virgin  shall  conceive,  and  bear  a  son,  and  shall  call  His 
name  Immanuel"  (Isaiah  vii.  14) — how  "unto  us  a  Child 
is  born,  unto  us  a  Son  is  given :  and  the  government  shall 


THE   PROPHECY.  33 

be  upon  His  shoulder :  and  His  name  shall  be  called 
Father,  The  Prince  of  Peace  "  (Isaiah  ix.  6,  7) — how  "  there 
shall  come  forth  a  Rod  out  of  the  stem  of  Jesse,  and  a 
Branch  shall  grow  out  of  his  roots  :  and  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  shall  rest  upon  Him,  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  under- 
standing, the  spirit  of  counsel  and  might,  the  spirit  of 
knowledge  and  of  the  fear  of  the  Lord  "  (Isaiah  xi.  i,  2) — 
how  "  He  is  despised  and  rejected  of  men;  a  man  of  sorrows 
and  acquainted  with  grief  .  .  .  But  He  was  wounded  for 
our  transgressions.  He  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities  :  the 
chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  Him  ;  and  with  His 
stripes  we  are  healed"  (Isaiah  liii.  3,  5) — how  "it  shall  come 
to  pass,  that  from  one  new  moon  to  another,  and  from  one 
sabbath  to  another,  shall  all  flesh  come  to  worship  before 
me,  saith  the  Lord"  (Isaiah  Ixvi.  23). 

Nahums  prophecy,  like  Jonah's,  is  exclusively  concerned 
about  Nineveh.  Yet  it  contains  that  evangelical  echo  of 
Isaiah,  "  Behold  upon  the  mountains  the  feet  of  him  that 
bringeth  good  tidings,  that  pubHsheth  peace  "  (Nah.  i.  1 5). 

The  prophecy  of  Zephaniah  is  a  strain  of  denunciation 
against  the  evil  of  the  age,  leaving  room,  however,  for  the 
recuperative  power  of  repentance — "  Seek  righteousness,  seek 
meekness  :  it  may  be  ye  shall  be  hid  in  the  day  of  the  Lord's 
anger" — and  wound  up  by  an  allusion  to  the  happy  time, 
when  "  it  shall  be  said  to  Jerusalem,  fear  not ;  and  to  Zion, 
let  not  thine  hands  be  slack." 

Next  follows  Jeremiah,  the  most  hated  of  the  prophets 
while  he  lived  ;  the  most  highly  honoured  after  his  death. 
He  describes  in  one  memorable  passage  the  Davidic  descent, 
the  Divine  character,  and  the  substitutionary  work  of  Mes- 
siah : — "  Behold,  the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will 
raise  unto  David  a  righteous  Branch,  and  a  King  shall  reign 
and  prosper,  and  shall  execute  judgment  and  justice  in  the 
earth.  In  His  days  Judah  shall  be  saved,  and  Israel  shall 
dwell  safely  :  and  this  is  His  name  whereby  He  shall  be 
called,  The  Lord  our  Righteousness  "  (Jcr.  xxiii.  5,  6). 

Contemporary  with  Zephaniah  and  Jeremiah  is  Habakkiik. 
Habakkuk  foretells  the  Chaldean  invasion  of  Judah.  His 
C 


34  MIRACLES  AND   PROPHECY. 

prophecy  forms  a  curious  mosaic  of  holy  psalms  and 
musings,  inlaid  in  broad  margins  of  denunciation  and 
derision.  In  the  middle  of  it  occurs  that  graphic  forecast 
of  the  universal  kingdom,  copied  from  Isaiah,  "  The  earth 
shall  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord, 
as  the  waters  cover  the  sea." 

Next  follow  Ezekiel  and  Daniel,  prophets  of  the  captivity 
— Ezekiel,  the  prophet  of  obscure  allusion  ;  Daniel,  the 
prophet  of  categorical  assertion.  In  his  celebrated  shepherd 
song,  however,  Ezekiel  says  as  explicitly  as  any  of  the 
prophets,  "  I  will  set  up  one  shepherd  over  them,  and  he 
shall  feed  them,  even  my  servant  David ;  he  shall  feed 
them,  and  he  shall  be  their  shepherd.  And  I  the  Lord 
will  be  their  God,  and  my  servant  David  a  prince  among 
them"  (Ezek.  xxxiv.  23,  24).  In  another  place  he  catches 
up  the  thought  of  Joel  concerning  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  puts  it  in  a  more  emphatic  form  (Ezek.  xxxvi. 
25-28).  His  famous  valley  vision  also  contains  a  vivid 
description  of  the  revival  of  spiritual  life  under  the  figure 
of  a  physical  resurrection  (Ezek.  xxxvii.  1-14). 

Daniel  alone  of  all  the  prophets  gives  us  a  definite  note 
of  the  time  of  the  Advent — "After  threescore  and  two 
weeks  shall  Messiah  be  cut  off"  (Dan.  ix.  26).  He  sketches 
in  bold  pictorial  strokes  the  successive  rise  of  the  great 
world-monarchies,  and  the  introduction  of  the  kingdom  that 
shall  never  be  destroyed.  The  temporary  nature  of  the 
Mosaic  economy,  and  the  final  and  permanent  nature  of 
that  dispensation  in  which  it  is  to  be  absorbed — this  grand 
prophetic  truth,  impregnating  the  teachings  of  all  the 
prophets,  and  presented  under  various  metaphors  and 
analogies,  is  announced  by  Daniel  with  startling  plainness 
of  speech  (Dan.  ix.  24-27  ;  xii.  1 1).  Equally  startling  is 
the  emphasis  with  which  the  prophet  propounds  the 
doctrine  of  the  Resurrection  (Dan.  xii.  2,  3). 

In  ObadiaJis  brief  prophecy  against  Edom  occurs  the 
evangelical  forecast,  "  But  upon  Mount  Zion  shall  be  de- 
liverance, and  there  shall  be  holiness"  (i.  17). 

Next  follow  Haggai  and  Zechariah,  the  prophets  of  the 


THE   PROPHECY.  35 

second  temple.  With  these  sublime  anticipations,  Haggai 
encourages  Zerubbabel  and  the  builders,  "  I  will  shake  all 
nations,  and  the  desire  of  all  nations  shall  come  :  and  I  will 
fill  this  house  with  glory,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts.  The 
silver  is  mine,  and  the  gold  is  mine,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts. 
The  glory  of  this  latter  house  shall  be  greater  than  of  the 
former,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts  :  and  in  this  place  will  I 
give  peace,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts"  (Hag.  ii.  7-9). 

Zechariah  twice  repeats  Isaiah's  and  Jeremiah's  promise 
of  the  Branch  (iii.  8  ;  vi.  12,  13).  He  foretells  the  Hosanna 
procession  (ix.  9),  the  purchase  of  the  potter's  field  with  the 
thirty  pieces  of  silver  (xi.  12,  13),  the  outpouring  of  the 
spirit  of  grace  and  of  supplications  (xii.  10),  the  opening  of 
the  fountain  for  sin  and  for  uncleanness  (xiii.  i),  the 
wounding  and  death  of  the  man  who  is  God's  fellow  (xiii. 

6,7)- 

Next,    after   a   century's    lapse,    arises    the   last    of   the 

prophets,  Malachi.  Malachi  announces  with  fresh  impres- 
siveness  the  catholicity  of  the  coming  kingdom  of  God 
(i.  11),  and  what  was  involved  in  that,  the  withdrawal  of. 
the  prerogative  from  Israel.  He  tells  of  the  Advent  of  the 
Forerunner,  followed  by  the  Advent  of  the  Christ  (iii.  1-3). 
Then  at  the  very  close  of  his  prophecy  occur  these  three 
significant  announcements,  "  Unto  you  that  fear  my  name 
shall  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arise  with  healing  in  His 
wings" — "Remember  ye  the  law  of  Moses  my  servant, 
which  I  commanded  unto  him  in  Horeb" — "Behold,  I  will 
send  you  Elijah  the  prophet  before  the  coming  of  the  great 
and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord."  Thus  vv^ith  Moses,  Elias, 
and  the  Sun  of  Righteousness — the  three  great  figures  of 
the  Transfiguration  scene — the  curtain  falls  for  ever  on  the 
Old  Testament  prophecy. 

Now  the  first  thing  that  strikes  us,  from  a  review  of  the 
teachings  of  the  prophets,  is  the  essential  concord  of  senti- 
ment and  testimony  by  which  they  are  marked.  A  series 
of  compositions,  extending  over  several  hundreds  of  years, 
and  produced  under  every  variety  of  circumstance,  political, 
social,  and  moral,  arc  found  to  sound  in  absolute  unison  with 


36  MIRACLES  AND   PROPHECY. 

one  another ;  while  at  the  same  time  they  invariably  clash 
with  the  tone  of  the  popular  sentiment,  and  portray  a 
futurity  which  involves,  among  other  things,  the  overthrow 
of  the  national  life,  and  the  extension  to  all  nations  indis- 
criminately of  blessings  which  were  supposed  to  be  the 
peculiar  privilege  of  the  Jew.  The  prophets  resemble  a  row 
of  lights,  planted  at  intervals  along  a  road  leading  through 
a  dark  night  towards  a  distant  dayspring.  In  one  form  or 
other  that  line  of  illumination  stretches  from  the  time  of 
Moses  down  to  the  time  of  Malachi ;  whether  as  soldier- 
prophets,  like  Joshua  and  Gideon  ;  or  as  orator-prophets, 
like  Samuel  and  Elijah;  or  as  those  whose  memorial  remains 
in  what  they  have  written.  Between  the  last  of  the  series, 
however,  and  the  rising  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  four 
centuries  must  elapse  without  one  murmur  from  a  pro- 
phet's lip.  But  in  whatever  form  it  appears,  or  through 
whatever  interval  it  disappears,  the  Old  Testament  pro- 
phecy speaks  one  uniform  word  of  hope  and  promise. 

And  when  in  the  fulness  of  time  Christ  came,  and  the 
Christian  system  burst  upon  the  world,  the  result  abundantly 
justified  the  promise.  Christianity  more  than  accomplishes 
all  the  conditions  laid  down  in  the  sacrificial  system,  and  the 
continuous  chain  of  prophetic  testimony.  The  unapproach- 
able perfection  of  the  person  and  work  of  our  Lord  was 
brought  out  in  living  words  and  deeds  as  it  could  never  have 
been  brought  out  in  prophetic  song  or  symbol.  The  New 
Testament  contains  a  tremendous  surprise.  Its  introductory 
angel-songs  and  salutations  of  holy  men  and  women  but 
faintly  shadow  forth,  indeed,  the  priceless  benefit  conferred 
upon  the  world  by  the  appearance  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  in 
Bethlehem.  Society  was  not  to  know  for  some  years  yet 
what  a  Plant  of  Renown  had  struck  root  in  its  unwholesome 
soil.  Even  to  the  end  of  His  earthly  days,  none  but  Christ's 
closest  followers  were  furnished  with  a  key  to  unlock  the 
mystery  of  that  immaculate  life,  nor  even  they  till  the 
Resurrection  and  the  Outpouring  of  the  Spirit  had  followed 
the  Death  and  Burial.  Christ's  contemporaries  could  not  be 
judges,  in  the  way  in  which  their  successors  could  be  judges, 


THE    PROPHECY.  37 

of  the  perfect  correspondence  which  exists  between  the 
preparation  and  the  accompHshment.  GHmpses  have  been 
granted  to  us,  such  as  were  not  granted  even  to  Paul  and 
Peter,  into  the  character  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  They 
saw  the  machinery  beginning  its  grand  world-movement  ; 
we  have  seen  something  of  the  splendid  spiritual  effects  of 
the  movement.  There  is  not  a  nation  in  the  world  where 
the  glad  sound  has  not  been  heard  in  its  initial  tones  at  least. 
Christianity  came  into  the  world,  disappointing  the  hope 
alike  of  the  godly  and  ungodly.  While  that  disappointment 
deepened  into  hostility  in  the  ungodly,  it  rose  into  an 
irresistible  enthusiasm  in  the  godly.  Christianity  has  ele- 
vated and  sweetened  society,  as  a  whole,  beyond  anything 
known  in  the  preparatory  dispensation  ;  and  in  the  precise 
proportion  in  which  its  precepts  are  carried  out  is  man  lifted 
up  to  the  level  of  his  own  ideal  of  perfection  in  purity, 
charity,  reverence,  self-denial,  and  all  that  gives  savour  and 
dignity  to  life. 

It  is  one  of  the  paradoxes  of  prophecy  that  it  announces 
almost  in  the  same  breath  ruin  and  universal  empire,  doom 
and  everlasting  salvation.  Israel  is  to  be  scattered  and 
peeled ;  yet  she  is  to  gather  all  nations  into  her  holy  fold. 
The  Christian  Church  is  the  only  possible  solution  of  the 
problem.  The  political  Israel  has  passed  away.  The 
social  Israel  lives  a  life  of  painful  and  ignoble  dismember- 
ment— a  life,  nevertheless,  that  strikingly  illustrates  the 
forecastings  of  the  prophets  concerning  her.  The  spiritual 
Israel,  framed  as  she  was  in  the  beginning  out  of  the 
materials  of  the  social  Israel,  both  in  the  founders  and  in 
the  first  professors  of  the  Christian  faith,  is  daily  drawing 
the  nations  under  her  high  influence. 

It  is  another  of  the  paradoxes  of  prophecy  that  the 
Messiah  was  to  sink  and  perish,  and  yet  to  ascend  an  ever- 
lasting throne.  So  perplexing  was  the  play  of  cross-lights 
here,  that  many  students  of  prophecy  resorted  to  the  theory 
of  two  Messiahs,  a  suffering  and  a  triumphing.  It  seemed 
incredible  that  the  "Plant  of  Renown"  should  be  "a  Root 
out  of  a  dry  ground" — that  the  "  Wonderful,  the  Counsellor, 


38  MIRACLES  AND   PROPHECY. 

the  mighty  God"  should  be  one  who  "was  wounded  for  our 
transgressions,  and  bruised  for  our  iniquities."  We  are 
aware  how  exactly  the  Divine  and  human  nature  of  our 
Lord,  taken  in  connection  with  His  substitutionary  work 
and  mediatorial  reign,  has  solved  the  problem. 

The  several  books  of  the  Old  Testament  prophecy  then 
speak,  as  we  have  seen,  in  broken  tones  the  same  unbroken 
story.  The  story  finds  no  adequate  interpretation  in  the 
musings  of  a  whole  millennium  of  pious  minds,  ranging  from 
the  time  of  Moses  till  the  time  of  Malachi.  The  story  finds 
a  full  interpretation  in  the  person  and  work  of  Christ.  It 
would  have  been  impossible  that  a  series  of  separate 
treatises,  spread  over  so  many  centuries,  should  have  told 
the  same  story  with  an  almost  monotonous  reiteration, 
amidst  every  variety  of  surrounding  circumstance,  and  in 
the  teeth  of  perpetual  antagonisms,  except  upon  the  suppo- 
sition that  the  impress  of  one  mind  was  stamped  upon  them 
all.  And  whose  mind  could  stretch  over  the  intellectual 
vicissitudes  of  a  thousand  years,  and  preserve  itself  un- 
changed amidst  the  infinite  flux  of  circumstance,  save  His, 
"  with  whom  is  no  variableness,  neither  shadow  of  turning," 
and  in  whose  sight  "  a  thousand  years  are  but  as  yesterday 
when  it  is  past,  and  as  a  watch  in  the  night"  ?  Prophecy 
finds  at  length  the  full  vindication  of  its  claims,  as,  narrowing 
down  through  the  advancing  centuries,  it  peacefully  alights, 
like  a  dove,  upon  the  head  of  Christ. 

Hence  it  is  that  the  New  Testament,  or  the  account  of 
the  Advent,  Sacrifice,  and  Triumph  of' Christ,  based  as  it  is 
upon  the  foundation  of  "  Moses  and  the  prophets,"  is  the 
fortress  of  all  truth  and  purity  and  hope  to  the  end  of  time. 
The  New  Testament  lies  concealed  in  the  Old  :  the  Old 
stands  revealed  in  the  New.  Each,  therefore,  at  once  proves 
and  is  proved  by  the  other.  The  doctrine  of  the  Cross  can 
never  be  surmounted  by  anything  higher  than  itself;  for  it 
teaches  us  to  aspire  after  that  which  is  highest  both  for 
ourselves  and  others  ;  and  the  extent  to  which  the  ideals  it 
holds  forth  are  realised  is  precisely  the  measure  of  the 
extent  to  which  either  the  man  or  the  nation  advances  in 


THE   PROPHECY.  39 

whatsoever  things  are  true,  and  honest,  and  just,  and  pure, 
and  lovely,  and  of  good  report. 

The  Bible  is  grandly  catholic  too,  alike  in  its  spirit  and 
applications.  It  speaks  to  all  the  lands  and  all  the  ages. 
The  most  widely-divided  nations  and  centuries  find  a 
common  home  of  pious  thought  and  purpose  in  its  pages. 
In  whatever  is  merely  scientific,  or  artistic,  or  industrial,  it 
no  more  speaks  to  the  nineteenth  century  before  Christ  in 
the  language  of  the  nineteenth  century  after,  than  it  speaks 
to  the  nineteenth  century  after  Christ  in  the  language  of 
the  nineteenth  century  before.  A  phraseology  in  harmony 
with  the  scientific  attainments  of  the  present  age  would 
have  been  infinitely  more  embarrassing  to  the  patriarchs 
and  prophets  than  a  phraseology  in  harmony  with  the 
opinions  of  those  early  ages  could  possibly  be  to  us.  But 
while  using  the  popular  speech  of  the  time  in  things  natural, 
in  things  spiritual  the  Scripture  speaks  like  an  everlasting 
oracle.  Each  age  finds  in  it  what  suits  its  own  distinctive 
needs,  and  thereby  brings  out  by  fresh  experiment  the 
prophetic  power  of  the  book.  It  is  one  wide-sweeping 
prophecy,  responding  evermore  to  the  rising  and  falling 
cries  of  the  coming  and  going  generations  of  men.  It  is 
never  obsolete,  never  out  of  place.  There  is  a  life  in  it  that 
never  dies,  a  light  that  never  is  eclipsed.  It  breathes.  It 
moves.  It  has  hands  and  feet.  It  has  peering  eyes  and 
listening  ears.  It  has  a  thrilling  brain  and  a  throbbing 
heart.  It  is  "  quick  and  powerful,  sharper  than  any  two- 
edged  sword,  piercing  even  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul 
and  spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow,  and  is  a  discerner 
of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart."  The  difference 
between  the  Bible  and  every  other  book  is  the  difference 
between  the  coarse  effects  of  a  painting  and  the  infinite 
finish  of  a  piece  of  natural  landscape.  Apply  the  micro- 
scope to  the  most  delicate  and  perfect  work  of  art,  and  its 
comeliness  is  changed  into  ungainliness.  Apply  it  to  a 
blade  of  grass  or  the  petal  of  a  lily,  and  the  grace  of  the 
fashion  of  flower  or  leaf  is  only  enhanced  by  that  narrower 
inspection.     There  are  effects  in  art,  but  there  arc  depths 


40  MIRACLES   AND   PROPHECY. 

in  nature  ;  there  are  effects  in  human  hterature,  but  there  are 
depths  in  the  Word  of  God.  There  is  wear  and  tear  in  art. 
but  in  nature  there  is  a  prerogative  of  perpetual  youth. 
There  is  wear  and  tear  in  human  Hterature,  "  but  the  Word 
of  God  abideth  for  ever."  It  discloses  more  and  more  of  its 
meaning,  moreover,  alike  to  the  advancing  man  and  to  the 
advancing  race.  The  youth  sees  what  the  child  has  failed 
to  see ;  the  old  man  sees  what  the  youth  has  failed  to  see. 
Augustine  saw  something  which  Ignatius  had  not  seen  ; 
Anselm  saw  something  which  Augustine  had  not  seen; 
Luther  saw  something  which  Anselm  had  not  seen;  we 
are  seeing  something  now  which  Luther  did  not  see.  But 
all  that  all  have  seen,  and  much  that  may  still  remain  in- 
visible to  us,  is  wrapped  up  in  the  living  words  of  James 
and  Peter,  John  and  Paul.  Till  the  day  of  realisation 
comes,  the  words  of  the  Book  of  books  may  be  little  different 
from  other  words  ;  for  the  minds  of  men  are  blinded  by  sin. 
But  when  the  day  of  realisation  comes,  they  clothe  them- 
selves with  terrible  power  and  glory ;  they  fall  from  men's 
mouths,  carrying  vital  fragments  of  men's  hearts  along  with 
them ;  they  form  the  core  of  all  spiritual  life,  the  spring  of 
all  missionary  enterprise. 

To  such  as  sigh  over  the  cessation  of  those  supernatural 
signs  that  bound  together,  by  physical  links,  the  heaven  and 
earth  of  an  older  age,  let  it  suffice  to  say  that  it  is  not  the 
outward  prodigy,  but  the  inward  grace,  that  brings  salvation 
to  the  soul ;  and  that,  in  the  existence  of  the  Word  of  God 
among  us,  in  the  perpetuation  of  its  holy  ordinances,  in 
the  immortality  of  its  story  of  love,  and  in  the  victories  it 
is  hourly  achieving  in  the  world,  we  have  a  miracle  perpetu- 
ally performed,  a  prophecy  perpetually  accomplished. 


o^/ ^  •    O  ' 


iragq  tit  |l^latt0tt  io  Jattttjal  3^atti. 


REV.  PROFESSOR  WALLACE. 


PRAYER  IN  RELATION  TO  NATURAL  LAW. 


(X  AN   God  answer  prayer  ?     One   can    fancy  a   slmple- 
^  minded,  true-hearted  Christian,  Httle  acquainted  with 
modern  speculation,  on  hearing  such  a  question,  exclaiming 
with   genuine  dismay,   "Did   ever  anybody  doubt  it?     It 
is    a   profanation    to    ask    it."      Yet    the    question    is    by 
many   in   our    day   answered    in    the    negative.      We   are 
obliged  to  deal  with   it  as   a  debatable    question,  and    to 
try  to  show  that  in  the  course  and  constitution  of  nature 
there  is  place  for  prayer,  and  for  answer  to  prayer.     The 
question  of  the  efficacy  of  prayer  is  one  of  more  than  specu- 
lative interest     It  is  one  which  involves  issues  altogether 
vital  to  the  Christian,  vital  to  the  human  race.     If  prayer 
were  displaced  from  the  position  of  influence  which  it  has 
occupied  from  the  beginning  in  the  religious  life,  who  could 
estimate   the  change  in  nature  and  extent  which  religious 
thought  and  religious  experience  must  undergo  .-*     Accus- 
tomed as  we  have  been  to  regard  prayer  as  a  vital  element 
in  the  Christian  life,  necessary  to  its  strength,  to  its  peace, 
to   its   confidence,  to  its  practical  activity,  we  cannot  but 
feel  that  a  cessation  of  its  action  would  be  the  privation  of 
life.     Let  any  Christian  remember,  when  at  any  time  his 
prayer-faith  has  been  low  and  languid,  what  the  effect  has 
been  upon  his  experience,  upon   his  peace,  upon  his  joy, 
upon  the  spirit  with  which  he  fulfilled  his  usual  round  of 
duty,  and  it  may  help  him  to  realise  in  some  measure  what 
the  effect  would  be  of  losing  all  faith  in  its  efficacy,  and  of 
abandoning  it  altogether.     By  the  universal  consent  of  all 
Christians,  prayer  is  the  exercise  of  all  others  in  which  the 
soul  cultivates  and  maintains  most  intimately  its  intercourse 
with   God,   in   which   filial  confidence  and   love  find   their 
sweetest  and  most  earnest  expression,   and   in  which  the 


CAN   GOD   ANSWER   PRAYER? 


sense  of  dependence  glows  into  a  fervour  of  joyful  trust. 
There  is  not  a  living  Christian  who  does  not  feel  that  if  the 
conviction  were  forced  upon  him  that  prayer  could  not  be 
answered,  he  would  have  no  life  left.     And  what  would  be 
his  thought  of  God,  and   his  feeling  towards  Him  ?     He   is 
told  that  God   has  bound  Himself  by  laws  of  procedure  so 
rigid  and  inflexible,  that  He  has  not  left  Himself  at  liberty 
to  answer  the  petition  of  any  suppliant,  plead  how  he  may. 
He  sits  apart,  unmoved  by  his  straits,  his  dangers,  his  sor- 
rows, his  cries  for  help.     If  this  be  true,  trust  is  as  unwarran- 
ted and  vain  as  prayer.     Faith  has  no  resting-place  for  the 
sole  of  her  foot,  unless  she  takes  fixed  and  immutable  laws  for 
her  God  ;  for  upon  such  a  theory,  it  is  with  law,  and  not 
with  a  living  God,  that  man  has  to  do.     All  filial  feeling 
towards  God  must  cease.    If  He  has  no  power  to  help,  why 
should  we  trust  Him  ?     If  He  manifests  no  care  for  us  by 
answering  our  petitions,  how  can  we  believe  Him  to  be  a 
God  of  love  .''    And  how,  then,  can  ^^e  love  Him  .'*     We  lose 
our  trust.     We  lose  our  love.    Religion  cannot  exist  without 
faith  and  love.     If  prayer  cannot  be  answered,  there  can  be 
no  religion.    This  is  the  inevitable,  the  appalling  conclusion. 
And  with  the  loss  of  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  faith 
in  the  truth  of  Revelation  becomes  impossible.    The  efficacy 
of  prayer  and  the  credibility  of  Revelation  must  stand  or 
fall  together.    Revelation  everywhere  affirms  the  efficacy  of 
prayer.     It  represents  God  as  the  hearer  of  prayer,  com- 
manding and  encouraging  men  to  pray  to  Him,  promising 
to  bestow   every   form    of   good,   temporal   and    spiritual, 
in    answer  to   prayer,   and  threatening  to   withhold    good 
when    prayer   is    restrained.     He   is    represented    as    pos- 
sessing  such    full  and  entire  control    over    the    laws    and 
ordinances  of  nature,  animate  and  inanimate,  as  ever  to  be 
free  at  His  own  will  to  bestow  out  of  the  fulness  of  nature's 
treasures  whatsoever  His  suppliants  may  need  and  desire. 
In  regard  to  everything  which  affects  human  interests  for 
mind  or  body,  over  the  elements  and  processes  of  nature, 
over  all  that  ministers  to  the  fertility  of  the  earth — the  rain, 
the  dew,  the  sunshine — over  health  and  disease,  over  all  the 


CAN   GOD   ANSWER   PRAYER?  5 

laws  of  life,  over  death  itself,  there  is  ascribed  to  God  a 
complete  and  sovereign  control.  No  less  there  is  ascribed 
to  Him  power  over  mind — to  determine  its  judgments,  to 
rule  its  experiences,  to  cause  men  to  walk  in  His  statutes, 
to  keep  His  judgments  and  to  do  them.  Kings'  hearts,  the 
life  and  interests  of  nations,  peace  and  war,  defeat  and 
victory,  the  honour  or  disgrace  of  dynasties,  their  preserva- 
tion or  extinction — all  are  in  His  hands,  at  His  free  and 
sovereign  disposal  Laws  of  matter,  laws  of  life,  laws  of 
mind,  laws  of  social  order,  are  represented  as  His  servants, 
serving,  and  not  limiting.  His  freedom  of  will  and  of  action 
— servants  of  His  power,  servants  of  His  wisdom,  servants  of 
His  free  and  generous  beneficence  to  the  children  of  men. 

If  this  whole  representation  be  false — if  there  be  a  proved 
impossibility  in  the  nature  of  things,  that  God  could  answer 
prayer  without  deranging  the  order  of  nature  and  reducing 
it  to  chaos,  with  the  effect  of  the  destruction  of  all  life — 
then  the  Bible  is  a  fable,  its  whole  internal  evidence  is 
discredited,  and  no  other  form  of  evidence  could  prove  it 
divine.  The  efficacy  of  prayer,  therefore,  is  just  as  decisive 
a  battle-ground  as  any  other  for  testing  the  claims  and 
credibihty  of  Revelation. 

There  are  some  who  are  willing  to  acknowledge  that, 
although  prayer  can  have  no  effect  in  changing  the  course 
of  nature,  yet  that  God  in  answer  to  prayer  may  influence 
the  human  mind  for  good.  But  the  laws  of  mind  are  as 
fixed  and  steadfast  as  the  laws  of  matter ;  and  it  would  be 
as  much  an  interference  with  natural  law  to  change  the 
succession  of  thought  as  to  dispel  clouds  or  send  a  shower 
to  water  the  earth. 

Others  say  that  although  the  answer  to  prayer  is  im- 
possible, yet  that  men  ought  to  pray,  because  the  reflex 
influence  is  good — the  mind  is  benefited  by  the  exercise. 
This  is  altogether  contrary  to  reason  and  common  sense, 
and  I  think  it  very  doubtful  whether  the  experiment  has 
ever  been  tried  on  any  considerable  scale,  or  with  much 
perseverance.  A  reflex  benefit  implies  a  direct  benefit  as 
its    proper   antecedent — ^just   as    there    must    be   a   direct 


6  WHAT   IS   PRAYER  ? 

incidence  of  a  ray  of  light  before  there  can  be  a  reflection 
of  it.  Prayer  would  be  universally  abandoned  as  purpose- 
less and  vain  if  no  answer  were  ever  to  be  expected.  The 
answer  to  prayer  is  necessary  to  prayer.  Could  it  be  felt  to 
be  a  healthy  and  helpful  exercise  of  mind  to  repair  to  some 
great  man's  door,  morning  by  morning,  or  as  often  as  I  felt 
the  pressure  of  want  and  the  need  of  help,  to  present  my 
petition  with  a  reverence  due  to  his  greatness,  and  with  an 
earnestness  and  importunity  inspired  by  my  need,  while  I 
know  that  he  has  bound  himself  by  inflexible  rules  never  to 
grant  a  petition  ?  God  ever  treats  us  as  rational  beings, 
and  never  so  outrages  the  gift  of  reason  which  He  has 
bestowed  upon  us  as  to  require  life-long  prayer,  knowing 
beforehand  that  all  our  asking  is  vain. 

I  am  restricted  by  the  terms  of  the  subject  before  me  to 
treat  of  prayer  in  its  relation  to  natural  law ;  and  I  shall 
first  seek  for  an  answer  to  the  question — 

I. — What  is  Prayer  ? 

And  here  let  us  regard  it  strictly  in  its  own  proper  nature, 
with  whatever  diversity  its  proper  nature  admits,  without  at 
present  including  such  collateral  ideas  as  may  attach  them- 
selves to  it,  or  be  attendant  upon  it.  Thus  regarding  it,  we 
have  a  statement  of  the  nature  and  end  of  prayer,  which,  even 
apart  from  the  source  whence  it  springs,  commends  itself  to 
every  mind  by  its  truth,  by  its  simplicity,  and  by  its  ex- 
haustiveness — "Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you  ;  seek,  and 
ye  shall  find  ;  knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you."  * 
Observe  that  asking  and  receiving  are  correlative  ideas  ;  as 
are  also  seeking  and  finding,  knocking  and  opening.  The 
aim  of  the  first  term  in  each  of  these  pairs  is  to  secure  the 
second.  In  other  words,  the  very  nature  of  prayer  consists 
in  its  direct  influence,  and  not  in  its  reflex.  Its  reflex 
influence  is  not  noticed,  because  not  entering  into  its  proper 
nature.  Receiving  proves  the  direct  influence  of  asking, 
finding  of  seeking,  opening  of  knocking.     Our  Lord  gives 

*  Luke  xi.  9. 


WHAT    IS   PRAYER?  7 

two  illustrative  examples  of  prayer  in  the  social  relations  of 
human  life.  One  is  the  case  of  a  man  who  wakes  up  his 
neighbour  at  night,  to  ask  him  to  lend  him  three  loaves 
to  set  before  a  friend  who  has  come  to  him  unexpectedly. 
By  dint  of  importunity  he  overcomes  the  drowsy  reluctance 
of  his  neighbour,  and  he  receives  what  he  asks.  The  other 
instance  is  stated  thus — "  If  a  son  shall  ask  bread  of  any  of 
you  that  is  a  father,  will  he  give  him  a  stone }  or  if  he  ask  a 
fish,  will  he  for  a  fish  give  him  a  serpent  ?  or  if  he  shall  ask  an 
egg,  will  he  offer  him  a  scorpion  .'*"  In  each  case  an  answer  is 
expected  ;  and  hence  our  reason  teaches  us  that  the  desire 
and  expectation  of  an  answer  enters  into  the  very  nature  of 
prayer.  When  a  man  asks  bread,  it  is  bread  he  desires  to 
receive,  and  not  a  change  of  the  state  of  his  mind.  If 
prayer  were  only  beneficial  in  its  reflex  effect,  then,  whether 
a  son  gets  bread  or  a  stone  or  nothing  for  his  asking,  the 
reflex  benefit  ought  to  be  experienced  all  the  same.  The 
answering  must  correspond  to  the  asking ;  and  then  the 
reflex  benefit  may  often  be  more  precious  than  the  direct. 
When  you  have  received  the  gift  you  ask,  there  may  be  a 
very  welcome  feeling  of  relief  from  some  strait  or  embar- 
rassment— there  is  peace,  there  is  a  grateful  sense  of  the 
kindly  response,  an  impulse  to  requite  it,  and,  it  may  be,  an 
expansion  of  your  own  generous  feeling  towards  others.  All 
this  is  a  very  agreeable  reflex  experience.  But  if  no  answer 
had  been  vouchsafed  to  your  petition,  or  if  you  had  received 
a  stone  when  you  asked  bread,  would  you  have  enjoyed  an 
experience  of  this  precious  and  happy  character  ?  We  may 
well  be  disposed  to  ask,  whether  there  be  men  who  set 
themselves  deliberately  to  test  practically  the  value  of  a 
theory  so  adverse  to  human  reason  .'* 

We  learn  also  from  these  illustrations,  that  prayer  or 
petition  from  man  to  man  is  the  same  in  nature  as  from 
man  to  God,  and  that  prayer  belongs  to  the  natural  life  of 
man  as  necessarily  as  to  the  spiritual.  And  we  learn  the 
function  of  prayer  in  the  natural  life,  and  prove  its  efficacy 
directly  and  reflexly  before  we  have  any  experience  of  the 
.spiritual    life.      We   are    natural    men    before    we   become 


8  WHAT   IS   PRAYER? 

spiritual.  We  are  conscious  of  our  natural  relations  before 
we  become  conscious  of  the  spiritual.  We  are  conscious  of 
natural  wants  and  desires  before  we  are  conscious  of 
those  which  are  spiritual.  "  That  was  not  first  which  is 
spiritual,  but  that  which  is  natural,  and  afterwards  that 
which  is  spiritual."  It  is  within  the  natural  relations  we  test 
our  powers  and  become  acquainted  with  their  action,  and  in 
Avhich  we  observe  their  phenomena  and  deduce  their  laws. 
And  when  their  action  is  transferred  to  the  spiritual  sphere, 
we  find  their  laws  unchanged,  and  all  their  phenomena 
similar.  That  which  is  changed  consists  in  the  deposing  of 
the  former  objects  from  their  place  of  influence,  and  in 
yielding  to  God  the  supreme  rule  and  authority.  It  is  He 
who  now  engages  their  action,  not  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
natural,  but  to  their  subordination.  Our  relation  with  God 
we  call  a  spiritual  relation  ;  and  the  action  of  our  powers 
within  that  relation  we  call  spiritual.  Our  experience  is 
then  a  spiritual  experience  ;  and  every  term  which  denotes 
it  has  first  served  to  denote  a  natural  experience,  so  that 
the  natural  and  the  spiritual  have  a  common  language. 
Love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith, 
meekness,  temperance,  are  natural  experiences  of  the  human 
soul  before  they  become  graces  of  the  Spirit.  In  like  man- 
ner the  principles  and  acts  of  worship  have  their  basis  in 
nature,  and  their  natural  action  in  our  human  relations. 
We  reverence  parents  and  magistrates,  and  others  whose 
superiority  we  acknowledge ;  and  we  express  that  reverence 
by  speech,  and  by  various  forms  and  symbols  of  homage. 
We  praise  men  for  their  gifts  and  excellences  ;  for  their 
wisdom,  their  benevolence  ;  for  their  fidelity  and  fortitude. 
We  supplicate  men  to  help  us  ;  we  entreat  them  to  bestow 
favours  upon  us,  to  guide  and  counsel  us,  to  have  mercy 
upon  us,  and  to  forgive  us.  All  worship,  reverence,  homage, 
praise,  prayer,  has  its  place  in  nature,  and  finds  its  earliest 
expression  in  our  natural  relations. 


PRAYER  A   LAW   OF   NATURE. 


II. — Prayer  a  Law  of  Nature. 

Our  position,   then,  is   this,   that  prayer  is    an   original 
element  in  the  constitution  of  nature,  a  law  of  nature,  co- 
ordinate with  every  other  law,  and  of  co-ordinate  necessity 
to  the  order  of  nature.     It  belongs  to  the  sphere  of  life, 
to  living  organisms  and  their  relations,  and  is  necessary  to 
the  maintenance  and  government  of  those  relations.     The 
laws  of  life  are  wholly  different  from  those  of  matter.     Life 
does  not  submit  itself  to  sense-perception  ;  it  is  invisible, 
intangible.     It  cannot  be  weighed  nor  measured.     It  is  the 
great  mystery  of  science,  to  the  elucidation  of  which  no 
approach  has  yet  been  made.     It  occupies  a  place  in  nature 
single  and  alone.  It  is  a  class  by  itself  It  cannot  be  compared 
with  anything  known.     It  proves  its  superiority  to  matter 
and  to   its  laws,  by  framing  and  building  up  the  particles 
of  matter  into  the  infinitely  diversified  organic  structures 
which  it  inhabits,  and  by  the  marvellous  and   mysterious 
instincts  by  which  it  rules  the  organisms  which  it  constructs, 
controlling   their   action,  their   growth    and    reproduction. 
The  relations  among  living  organisms,  also,  are  altogether 
different  from  the  relations  of  particles  or  masses  of  matter 
amongst    each    other.      Amongst    organisms    so    low   and 
diminutive  as   to   be   readily   overlooked,   polypes,    "when 
3.ggrQgsited  into  groups,  severally  catch  food  for  the  com- 
mon weal."     This  implies  a  power  of  communication,  and 
of  entertaining  a  common  end.     There  is  nothing  similar  to 
this  in  the  relations  of  matter.     Even  amongst  merely  sen- 
tient beings,  the  laws    which  rule  man's  sentient  life    are 
found   in   action  ;   and   asking  and  receiving,   seeking  and 
finding,  belong  to  this  class  of  laws.     Something  like  this 
must  take  place  by  natural  instinct,  in  such  a  class  of  beings 
as  has  just  been  referred  to,  in  order  to  their  carrying  out 
a  common  end.     But,  passing  by  the  lower  organisms,  the 
natural  instinct  to  ask  manifests  itself,  in  those  species  of 
animals   with  which   we  are   most  familiar,  in  a   perfectly 
conspicuous  way.    The  fundamental  condition,  out  of  which 


10  PRAYER   A   LAW   OF    NATURE. 

the  necessity  for  asking  and  receiving  arises,  is  a  state  of 
dependence.  Living  beings  are  dependent  upon  one  another 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  for  food,  for  care,  for  combined 
action,  for  mutual  help  and  defence.  For  such  ends  the 
several  species  have  their  necessary  associations,  from  pairs 
up  to  numerous  individuals  in  herds  and  flocks.  To  a  state 
of  dependence  there  necessarily  attaches  the  incidence  of 
want.  A  being  which  has  not  the  resources  of  its  continued 
existence  and  well-being  within  itself,  is  exposed  to  want. 
As  a  general  rule,  the  young  of  all  the  higher  classes  of  animals 
are  dependent  upon  the  female  parent  in  their  early  days  for 
their  necessary  nutriment.  The  ever-recurring  feeling  of 
hunger  awakens  the  desire  for  satisfaction  ;  and  the  desire  is 
ever  supplied  with  a  suitable  means  of  expressing  itself,  by 
which  the  want  is  made  known  to  the  being  possessing  the 
supply.  That  being  infallibly  interprets  the  suppliant  sign, 
infallibly  knows  herself  to  possess  the  needed  supply,  or 
where  to  find  it ;  and  by  an  infallible  instinct  hastens  to 
yield  it,  and  the  desire  is  satisfied.  Here  are  all  the 
elements  of  effectual  prayer,  asking  and  receiving,  seeking 
and  finding.  And  this  ever-recurring  order  is  necessary  to 
the  preservation  at  least  of  the  highest  species  of  sentient 
beings  known  to  man.  When  the  want  is  thus  satisfied  in 
response  to  the  expression  of  desire,  we  have  an  example  of 
the  efficacy  of  prayer  as  a  law  of  sentient  nature,  necessary 
to  the  order  of  nature.  And  nothing  farther  than  this  can 
be  said  for  any  other  natural  law  whatever. 

This  law  acts  upon  the  sentient  nature  of  man  with  the 
same  force  and  to  the  same  effect  as  in  the  case  of  other 
sentient  beings.  The  human  infant  is  dependent  upon  the 
mother  like  the  young  of  other  animals.  It  is  necessary, 
therefore,  that  he  should  be  able  to  express  his  sense  of 
want,  and  his  feeling  of  desire  ;  and  that  the  expression 
shall  reach  with  influential  force  the  source  of  supply,  and 
unlock  it.  The  little  murmur,  the  sharper  cry,  the  motion 
of  the  lips,  are  suppliant  signs  which  the  mother  reads 
and  interprets  without  a  teacher ;  and  which  summon  up, 
by   night   or  by    day,   in   sickness   or  health,   the  prompt 


PRAYER   A   LAW   OF   NATURE.  11 

response  from  the  depths  of  her  nature.  And  this  act  of 
suppHcation  is  of  constant  repetition  and  recurrence,  and  for 
a  longer  period  than  in  the  case  of  the  young  of  any  other 
animal.  The  law  of  prayer  begins  to  act  upon  man  simul- 
taneously with  the  feeling  of  infant  want  and  desire  ;  and 
he  proves  its  efficacy  from  the  very  beginning ;  for  God 
has  made  the  mother  to  be,  like  Himself,  a  willing  hearer  of 
prayer.  Within  the  department  of  sentient  existence,  there- 
fore, we  perceive  prayer  to  be  an  original  instinct,  a  law  of 
nature ;  and  that  the  answer  to  prayer  is  provided  for  in 
the  same  infallible  way.  And  the  bearing  of  this  line  of 
observation  upon  our  main  question  is  this,  that  prayer  by 
the  constitution  of  nature  is  inseparably  connected  with  the 
relation  of  dependence  amongst  living  beings.  And  that 
dependence,  which  is  a  law  of  the  existence  of  all  living 
beings,  must  ultimately  rest  upon  one  point  of  support — 
the  will  of  Him  "  by  whom  all  things  consist."  And  to 
Him,  therefore,  with  poetic  beauty,  the  Scriptures  represent 
the  beasts  and  the  birds  as  crying  for  their  food — "  Who 
provideth  for  the  raven  his  food  ?  \\  hen  his  young  ones 
cry  unto  God,  they  wander  for  lack  of  meat."*  "  The  young 
lions  roar  after  their  prey,  and  seek  their  meat  from  God."  -|* 
"  He  giveth  to  the  beast  his  food,  and  to  the  young  ravens 
which  cry."  I  But  our  main  concern  is  with  man  ;  and  let 
it  be  observed  that  there  is  a  foundation  laid  in  his  sentient 
nature,  which  makes  him,  by  the  resistless  necessity  of 
instinct,  a  praying  being. 

Consider  man  when  he  has  passed  the  stage  of  infancy, 
when  his  nascent  curiosity  manifests  the  dawn  of  intelli- 
gence. He  is  now  as  dependent  upon  others  for  knowledge 
and  wisdom  as  for  food  and  care.  So  soon  as  he  attains 
the  first  stages  of  the  power  of  articulate  speech,  his  prattle 
is  a  running  stream  of  request  and  inquiry,  ever  asking  and 
seeking.  As  he  grows,  his  wants  grow  in  number  and 
variety,  and  his  desires  and  inquiries  are  importunately 
addressed  to  all  around  him.  This  is  not  now  merely  the 
means  of  keeping  his  bodily  wants  before  those  who  might 
*  Job  xxxviii.  41.  f  Ps.  civ.  21.  X  I's.  cxlvii.  9. 


12  PRAYER   A    LAW   OF    NATURE. 

not  always  anticipate  them  ;  it  is  also  the  means  of  his 
earliest  lessons  in  knowledge.  What  is  this  ?  v/hat  is  that  ? 
Why  is  this  ?  why  is  that  ?  How  is  this  ?  how  is  that  ? 
His  inquiries  determine  the  order  in  which  his  first  lessons 
come  ;  and  the  more  clear  and  satisfactory  and  prompt  he 
finds  the  answers  to  be,  with  all  the  more  rapid  succession 
will  the  inquiries  come.  And  alas  for  the  child  whose 
ignorant  parents  cannot,  or  those  who  in  their  selfish  im- 
patience will  not,  satisfy  the  ihirst  of  his  natural  curiosity 
at  this  early  period  !  When  the  more  systematic  course  of 
his  education  has  fairly  commenced,  it  is  the  aim  of  the 
intelligent  teacher  to  take  advantage  of  this  law  to  train 
it  to  his  purpose,  to  direct  it,  and  to  make  it  the  most  active 
instrument  of  all  the  youth's  acquisitions  in  wisdom  and 
knowledge.  Teaching  would  be  a  hopeless  drudgery 
without  this  spirit  of  inquiry,  and  the  development  of  the 
human  intellect  would  be  impossible.  If  a  mother  observed, 
when  her  child  had  come  to  a  suitable  age,  that  it  never 
asked  questions,  never  inquired  the  names  or  uses  of  objects, 
never  asked  for  information,  would  not  her  sad  heart  tell 
her  that  her  child  was  an  imbecile .''  When  you  ask  for 
information,  when  you  open  a  book,  you  are  seeking  for 
the  thoughts  and  judgments  of  others  to  help  in  the 
guidance  of  your  own.  The  nutriment  of  the  mind  is 
secreted  in  the  works  of  creation  and  providence,  discovered 
and  gathered  thence  by  the  skill  and  toil  of  many  labourers, 
and  deposited  in  the  great  reservoir  of  human  literature 
from  age  to  age,  that  every  new  generation  may  seek  and 
search  and  learn,  and  add  its  own  contribution  to  the  ever- 
enlarging  store.  It  is  not  now  the  mere  instinct  of  sentient 
life  which  impels  to  ask.  Prayer  has  now  assumed  its 
intelligent  form,  and  manifests  itself  to  be  a  law  of  our 
rational  nature  ;  and  the  order  of  our  rational  nature  is  as 
dependent  upon  it  as  is  the  order  of  our  sentient  nature. 
To  suspend  its  action  would  be  to  arrest  the  development 
of  the  human  mind,  and  speedily  to  lose  the  gain  of  all  the 
aees.  The  other  laws  which  rule  our  mental  nature  would 
be  inoperative  without  this  law,  so  essential  is  its  action  as 


PRAYER   A   LAW   OF   NATURE.  13 

a  constituent  element  in  the  life  and  government  of  thought. 
It  exercises  a  controlling  influence  over  the  acquirement  of 
knowledge,  over  its  distribution  and  conservation.  Prayer, 
then,  belongs  constitutionally  to  our  nature,  and  the  condi- 
tion of  intellectual  dependence  of  man  upon  man  renders 
its  action  constant  and  imperative  as  any  law  of  thought. 
It  is  a  necessary  constituent  in  all  intellectual  fellowship, 
necessary  to  the  life  of  intellect.  As  an  intelligent  being, 
man  is  a  praying  being. 

Let  us  now  consider  man  in  society,  man  as  a  subject  of 
moral  order,  and  we  shall  find  prayer  holding  a  place  of 
commanding  influence  in  his  social  life  and  relations.     Man 
is  a  social  being,  a  being  w^th  a  constitutional  capacity  for 
union  with  his  fellows,  and  with  a  tendency  to  union  strong 
with  the  resistless  force  of  necessity.    The  individual  cannot 
live  alone  ;  he  is  not  sufficient  for  himself     Fellowship  is  a 
necessity  of  his  nature.     But  this  is  to  say  that  he  is  de- 
pendent upon  society,  and  that  this  dependence  is  constant. 
He  possesses  a  constitution,  physical   and   mental,  which 
renders  personal  independence,  in  any  absolute  sense,  im- 
possible.   His  constitutional  endowments  are  not  self-acting. 
The   co-factors   which    are   necessary   conditions   of  their 
action  are  supplied  by  their  external  relations.    This  is  true 
both  as  regards  body  and  mind.     He  is  dependent  upon  his 
social  relations  for  life  and  well-being.     But  those  relations 
necessitate  asking  and  receiving.     Even  in  respect  of  those 
things  which  are  necessary  to  bodily  sustenance  and  support, 
they  are  so  distributed  in  kind  and  measure  that  no  indi- 
vidual possesses  them  at  all  times.     When  he  rises  in  the 
morning,  the  things  which  he  shall  require  throughout  the 
day  are  in  the  hands  of  many  persons  as  their  own  proper 
possession.     How  are  they  to  become  his  ?     There  may  be 
the  condition  of  utter  poverty,  when  no  equivalent  can  be 
offered  or  given.     In  this  case  the  only  course,  consistently 
with  the  order  of  society,  is  to  appeal  to  the  benevolence  of 
the  possessor — that  is,  to  ask  or  beg  for  gratuitous  relief; 
in  other  words,  to  pray.     And  this  is  the  natural  impulse. 
Suppose  this  natural  law  of  prayer  did  not  come  into  action, 


14 


PRAYER   A   LAW  OF   NATURE. 


or  that  it  was  without  efficacy,  the  destitute  must  perish,  or 
take  by  force  or  fraud,  to  the  grievous  disturbance  of  social 
order.     But  it  is  not  to  the  condition  of  destitution  alone 
that  prayer  is  necessary  to  preserve  the  order  of  society. 
Even  though  you  have  an  equivalent  to  give  for  what  you 
want,  that  fact  does  not  entitle  you  to  seize  upon  the  pro- 
perty of  another,  and  to  deposit  your  equivalent  in  its  place. 
You  must  ask  before  you  are  entitled  to  receive  in  exchange. 
The  transactions  of  human  society  could  not  be  conducted 
without  this  process,  nor  its  order  maintained.     The  condi- 
tion of  mutual  dependence  necessitates  the  observance  of 
fixed   and   recognised   laws  and    regulations   for   its    right 
adjustment.     There  must  not  only  be  recognised  rights  of 
property,  there  must  also  be  recognised  modes  and  terms 
of  transfer  from  one  to  another.    Now  whatever  other  terms 
and  conditions  may  enter  into  the  necessary  transactions  of 
exchange,  there  is  ever  present  one  indispensable  condition 
— asking  with  a  view  to  receive.     No  negociation  could  be 
conducted   among   men  without  this   condition.     Suppose 
this  practice  of  asking  suspended,  as  we  have  just  supposed, 
in  the  case  of  sheer  destitution  ;  men's  wants  are  imperative  ; 
the  supplies  they  need  are  in  the  possession  of  many  persons 
as  their  proper  rights  ;  you  may  not  ask,  you  cannot  want, 
for  that  would  violate  the  natural  law  of  self-preservation. 
What,  then,  would  be  the  alternative,  to  rich  and  poor  alike, 
but  to  seize  by  violence  or  stealth  whatever  they  needed, 
wherever  it  could  be  found.    That  violent  aggression  would 
provoke  violent   resistance ;   and  what   becomes  of  social 
order  ?     What  existing  law  of  our  social  life  could  supply 
the  necessary  cohesive  and  flexible  force  of  the  repudiated 
law  of  prayer  ?     This  law  of  social  life  is  necessary  to  the 
exercise  of  benevolence.     You  cannot  know  or  anticipate 
the  special  and  pressing  wants  and  troubles  of  others.     To 
obtrude  your  benefactions  might  often  be  felt  to  be  offensive, 
or  your  tenders  of  assistance  insulting  or  mortifying.    Your 
nearest  neighbour  may  be  in  deep  distress   for  help,  which 
you  would  gladly  relieve  if  he  would  make  his  want  known ; 
and  the  simple  statement  of  his  case  would  imply  supplica- 


PRAYER  A   LAW   OF   NATURE.  15 

tion.  Not  material  wants  only  prompt  men  to  request 
favours  from  each  other ;  we  want  counsel  and  consolation, 
and  mental  and  moral  support ;  and  we  ask  these  favours 
from  one  another,  and  readily  yield  them  to  entreaty. 
Benevolence,  not  less  than  justice,  is  necessary  to  the  order 
of  society,  and  prayer  is  necessary  to  benevolence.  And 
when  we  consider  the  place  which  it  holds  in  those  minor 
forms  of  benevolence  which'  pervade  the  intercourse  of 
society  in  its  fairest  and  happiest  conditions,  its  amenities 
and  courtesies,  it  is  impossible  to  withhold  our  admiration 
of  its  wondrous  influence.  It  is  hke  a  fragrant  oil  that 
perfumes  while  it  lubricates  the  hinges  of  social  life.  We 
entreat  as  a  favour  where  we  have  a  right  to  demand.  We 
substitute  the  language  of  request  for  that  of  command,  the 
optative  for  the  imperative  mood,  greatly  to  the  advantage 
of  our  social  placidity.  We  are  constantly  asking  gratuitous 
services  from  others,  the  most  trifling  assistance  from  their 
courtesy  and  good-will,  in  our  own  households,  from  equals, 
from  inferiors,  from  strangers  casually  met — services  ren- 
dered because  they  are  asked  for,  and  rendered  in  the  same 
courteous  spirit  in  which  they  are  asked.  All  this  is  of 
constant  recurrence.  And  prayer  proves  itself,  in  those 
forms  of  it,  to  be  the  ever-ready  minister  of  kindness  and 
good-will.  Let  anyone  observe  the  efl"ect  produced  in  a 
company  of  persons  of  fairly  cultivated  habits,  when  one,  in 
some  unsatisfied  mood  or  momentary  thoughtlessness, 
snatches  what  courtesy  required  him  to  request  of  another, 
or  disregards  a  request  made  to  him,  and  he  will  see  how  it 
jars  upon  the  sensibilities  of  all,  disturbing  the  social 
harmony.  And  let  anyone  observe  the  state  of  society 
where  the  absence  of  these  forms  is  the  rule,  and  not  the 
exception,  and  he  will  hear  harsh  and  imperious  commands 
met  with  cowed  or  surly  compliance,  or  defiant  resistance. 
Whether,  therefore,  it  be  in  great  things  or  little,  this  natural 
law  is  essential  to  the  harmonious  action  of  social  life.  The 
numerous  synonyms,  with  equivalent  phrases,  in  constant 
use  in  human  intercourse,  and  which  occur  to  everyone's 
mind,  show  how   indispensable  it  is  to  the  cultivation  of 


16      PRAYER  IN  RELATION  TO  OTHER  NATURAL  LAWS. 


a 


human  fellowship.  Every  form  of  interrogation,  of  question 
and  answer,  of  invitation  or  inquiry,  by  word  or  letter,  all 
come  under  the  same  category.  Social  intercourse  could 
not  be  maintained  without  it. 

Thus  far,  I  think,  within  the  natural  relations  of  human 
life,  we  are  entitled  to  say  that  prayer  is  necessary  to  human 
welfare,  physically,  intellectually,  morally — nay,  that  it  is 
necessary  to  the  continuance  of  man's  existence.  It  is  an 
instinct  of  his  sentient  nature,  inseparable  from  his  intellec- 
tual and  moral  nature,  as  necessary  to  him  as  food  and 
thought  and  conscience.  It  is  deeply  and  permanently 
seated  in  the  constitution  of  his  nature  ;  and  the  laws  of  all 
nature  around  him  are  in  such  correspondence  with  it,  as  to 
contribute  their  action  as  a  necessary  element  in  securing 
its  efficacy.  To  render  prayer  ineffectual  would  be  a  viola- 
tion of  man's  nature,  and  of  the  order  of  his  correspondence 
with  his  environments.  I  believe  I  am  warranted,  from 
what  has  been  said,  in  affirming  that  prayer  is  a  law  of 
nature,  and  that  prayer,  within  the  relations  we  have 
reviewed,  does  not  disturb  the  order  of  nature,  but  is  an 
element  of  its  stability.  But  in  order  to  all  these  beneficent 
issues,  this  prayer-force  must  possess  objective  efficacy. 
The  value  of  the  subjective  influence  depends  upon  the  con- 
fidence entertained  in  the  reality  of  the  objective  efficacy. 
And  this  confidence  is  a  natural  instinct  of  the  human  mind, 
as  firm  as  that  entertained  in  kindness,  or  justice,  or  any 
other  bond  of  social  life.  It  is  an  element  inseparable  from 
man's  relation  to  man,  kept  in  constant  action  by  the  neces- 
sities of  his  condition,  and  exercising  a  controlling  influence 
in  his  schemes  of  life  and  conduct.  In  his  intellectual  life, 
in  his  moral  and  social  life  and  relations,  man  is,  by  his 
mental  and  moral  constitution,  a  praying  being. 

III. — Prayer  in  Relation  to  other  Natural  Laws. 

Still  confining  ourselves  to  the  sphere  of  the  natural 
relations,  we  have  next  to  inquire  whether  prayer  exercises 
any  modifying  or  controlling  influence  over  the  actio7t  of  other 
natural  laws.      The  order  of  nature,  it  is  well   known,  is 


PRAYER  IN  RELATION  TO  OTHER  NATURAL  LAWS.       17 

maintained,  not  by  each  law  acting  out  its   own  proper 
tendency  to  its  own  proper  results,  by  its  own  inexorable 
and  inflexible  force,  but  by  having  its  own  proper  action 
modified  by  the  action  of  other  laws  ruling  within  the  same 
sphere.     No  one   of  them  possesses   despotic   sway.     We 
have  the  most  conspicuous  and  grandest  instance  of  the 
reciprocal  control  of  natural  laws  in  those  of  gravitation 
and  motion.     These  laws  meet  on  the  great  arena  of  the 
planetary  and  stellar  worlds,  like  gigantic  athletes,  contend- 
ing, amongst  other  prizes,  for  mastery  over  this  fair  earth 
of  ours.     Should  the  law  of  gravitation  prove  the  victor, 
our  world  would  be  precipitated  upon  the  surface  of  the 
sun,  to  the  great  disturbance  of  the  present  order  of  nature. 
Should  the  first  law  of  motion  prevail,  our  earth  must  rush 
from  her  orbit,  and  be  eventually  dashed  against  some  other 
world,  equally  to  the  disturbance  of  the  order  of  nature. 
But  the  well-matched  force  of  these  great  wrestlers  compels 
a  compromise ;  and  because  neither  is  inflexible,  but  each 
controlled  by  the  other,  our  planet  is  borne  in  stately  equi- 
poise in   her   magnificent  orbit,  to  the  well-being  of  her 
teeming  population,  and  to  the  conservation  of  the  order  of 
nature.     If,  then,  prayer  may  be  found  to  exercise,  in  any 
measure,  a  modifying  influence  upon  the  action  of  other 
laws,  and  be  in  turn  modified  or  limited  in  its  action  by 
them,  it  would  be  in  accordance  with  the  order  of  nature, 
and  not  a  violation  of  it.     Let  us  instance  the  physiological 
laws.     The  cry  of  the  hungry  infant,  inarticulate  though  it 
be,  is   rightly  interpreted    by   the   maternal    instinct  as   a 
prayer  for  the  bland  nutriment  secreted  in  her  frame.     The 
natural  force  of  that  natural  prayer  stirs   into  activity  a 
whole  cycle  of  physiological  function  in  the  bosom  of  the 
mother,  and  immediately  after,  as  by  a  reflex  action,  in  the 
frame  of  the  infant.    Suppose  no  direct  efTect  followed  from 
the  infantile  prayer,  what  would  be  the  effect  upon  the 
nutrition  of  childhood  ?     But  not  in  infancy  only,  and  in 
maternity,  are  such  effects  produced  by  the  natural  power 
of  prayer.     Very  strong  emotions  may  be  excited  by  re- 
quests, by  urgent  and  importunate  solicitations,  painfully 
B 


18       PRAYER  IN  RELATION  TO  OTHER  NATURAL  LAWS. 

unwelcome.  And  the  emotions  thus  excited  will  stimulate 
physiological  action.  Professor  Bain  says,  "  It  may  be 
doubted  if  any  considerable  emotion  passes  over  us  without 
telling  upon  the  processes  of  digestion,  either  to  quicken  or 
depress  them.  All  the  depressing  and  perturbing  passions 
are  known  to  take  away  appetite,  to  arrest  the  healthy 
action  of  the  stomach,  liver,  bowels,  &c.  A  hilarious  excite- 
ment stimulates  those  functions."  All  these  effects  may  be 
produced  by  asking  questions.  It  will  stir  passion,  love  or 
resentment,  desire  or  indignation;  and  the  responsive  emo- 
tion proves  the  force  of  prayer. 

Prayer  in  the  natural    relations   is  necessary  to  man's 
control  over  matter,  and  to  his  dominion  over  the  earth. 
Mind  rules  over  matter  through  the  organism  of  the  human 
body.     The  body  is  the  only  portion  of  matter  over  which 
the  mind's  executive  power,  the  will,  acts  with  direct  and 
immediate  effect.     The  mind,  in  ruling  the  body  and  con- 
trolling its  motions,  is  ruling  over  matter,  and  modifying 
the  action  of  its  laws.     There  are  two  forces  in  existence 
which  successfully  assert  their  superiority  to  matter,  by  their 
power  of  resisting  and  controlling  the  force  of  its  laws — 
life  and  mind.     The  living  vegetable   organism    possesses 
the  power    of  assimilating   mineral   substances,   changing 
their  forms,  imparting  new  qualities,  and  employing  them 
in  new  functions,  wholly  alien  to  their  nature  and  laws, 
under  their  original  forms.     The  tiny  sporule  of  the  moss, 
a  microscopic  speck,  is  endowed  with  this  potency.     The 
grass,  the  flowers,  the  stately  trees,  are  the  mineral  sub- 
stances of  the  earth,  wrested    from  the  grasp  of  material 
laws,  transformed  and  organised  by  the  power  of  life.    The 
meanest  thing  that  crawls,  by  that  very  motion  proves  its 
superiority   to    the    law   of  gravity.     The  stone  offers  no 
resistance,  but  lies  immovable,  passive  in  the  power  of  that 
mighty  law.    It  cannot  exercise  the  same  absolute  force  over 
the  insect ;  the  insect  has  life.  A  living  man  disputes  the  force 
of  gravitation  by  his  power  of  free,  voluntary  locomotion. 
In  the  morning,  in  fresh  vigour,  with  elastic  step,  he  spurns 
the  heath  and  breasts  the  hill,  knowing  that  he  has  entered 


PRAYER  IN  RELATION  TO  OTHER  NATURAL  LAWS.       19 

into  conflict  with  this  mighty  force.  As  the  sun  declines, 
he  is  conscious  that  the  material  law  is  gaining  upon  him. 
By  the  evening  he  drags  his  limbs  wearily.  As  the  vital 
force  abates,  the  physical  force  gains,  and  by  night  he  yields 
the  struggle,  laid  passive  on  his  couch.  But  he  is  not  con- 
quered. He  has  been  visited  by  "  tired  nature's  sweet 
restorer,  balmy  sleep,"  and  he  renews  the  contest  with  the 
morning  light ;  and  he  wages  this  war  from  day  to  day, 
from  year  to  year,  until  life's  tired  servants,  worn  out  with 
the  weary  conflict,  crumble  amongst  the  clods  of  the  valley, 
and  gravitation  is  the  conqueror.  No ;  not  the  conqueror 
of  life !  Life  has  defied  it  ever.  And  its  seeming  conquest 
is  not  final.  Another  morn  shall  come ;  and  the  body 
which  has  obeyed  the  Divine  law  of  gravitation,  and  has 
been  rested  in  obeying,  shall  rise,  unimpeded  by  its  force, 
"  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air."     Life  is  superior  to  matter. 

And  mind  is  superior  to  mere  sentient  life,  and  therefore 
superior  to  mere  physical  force.  Man  is  able  to  interfere 
with  the  order  of  nature  within  certain  limits,  and  is  obliged 
to  do  so  for  his  own  well-being,  even  for  the  preservation  of 
his  life.  This  is  a  very  obvious  fact  in  respect  of  the  food 
by  which  he  is  nourished.  The  plants  upon  which  he  so 
much  depends  are  not  provided,  in  the  order  of  nature,  in 
the  form  adapted  to  his  natural  constitution.  By  our  pro- 
cesses of  cultivation  we  interfere  with  the  natural  order  of 
their  production,  and  change  their  qualities,  replacing  those 
which,  in  their  natural  state,  are  injurious,  by  qualities  which 
are  nutritious  and  healthful.  It  is  an  interference  with  the 
order  of  physical  nature  to  disturb  the  surface  of  the  earth  by 
spade  or  plough.  It  is  the  order  of  nature  that  plants  shall 
bud  and  grow  and  decline  and  die.  It  is  not  in  the  order 
of  their  nature  to  have  their  processes  violently  arrested, 
and  destruction  to  visit  them  in  the  freshness  of  their  young 
beauty,  or  in  the  maturity  of  their  prolific  fertility.  Yet 
wherever  man  rules,  he  disturbs  the  order  of  vegetable  life 
to  promote  the  order  of  his  own.  In  a  similar  manner  does 
he  deal  with  animal  life.  Animals  are  not  provided  in  the 
order  of  nature  in  a  condition  to  satisfy  his  appetite  or 


20       PRAYER  IN  RELATION  TO  OTHER  NATURAL  LAWS. 

nourish  his  life.  Man  cannot  be  nourished  otherwise  than 
by  organic  matter ;  yet  not  while  it  lives,  but  after  it  has 
been  put  to  death.  What  more  firmly  established  order  in 
nature  is  there  than  the  law  of  animal  as  well  as  of  vegetable 
life — that  it  develop  from  the  germ,  grow  and  mature,  re- 
produce its  kind,  and  decline  and  die  .''  And  what  more  sig- 
nal instance  of  interference  with  the  order  of  nature  can  be 
imagined  than  to  lay  violent  and  instant  arrest  upon  any 
given  life,  at  any  stage  of  its  development,  by  a  single  voli- 
tion of  man,  human  life  itself  not  excepted  ?  And  this  takes 
place  in  the  highest  department  of  natural  order  and  of 
natural  law.  And  this  interference  with  the  order  of  life  is 
practised  on  a  still  larger  scale  amongst  the  lower  animals, 
in  one  kind  preying  upon  another,  one  class  in  conflict  with 
another ;  the  order  of  nature  in  one  class  interfering  with 
the  order  of  nature  w^hich  obtains  in  another,  that  the 
general  order  of  nature  may  be  preseved.  Every  death  by 
violence,  every  premature  death,  is  a  violation  of  the  order 
of  nature.  That  children  die  before  their  parents  is  a  vio- 
lation of  the  order  of  nature.  Man,  by  his  mental  power, 
is  able  to  subject  the  order  of  nature  to  his  own  purposes, 
within  the  limits  of  his  own  interests.  But  as  the  only 
portion  of  matter  subject  to  the  direct  volition  of  his  own 
mind  is  his  own  body,  with  a  very  limited  portion  in  contact 
with  his  body,  the  power  of  the  individual  over  matter  is  too 
limited  to  serve  fully  his  own  interests.  I  may  want  a  book 
which  is  now  in  London  or  New  York,  but  it  will  not  obey 
my  volition  ;  but  a  request,  addressed  to  a  person  in  either 
place  by  letter  or  by  the  electric  telegraph,  will  place  it  in 
my  possession.  Prayer,  as  a  natural  law,  is  essential  to  the 
formation  and  maintenance  of  such  combinations  of  men  as 
are  necessary  to  man's  dominion  over  the  earth.  Prayer 
has  power  to  prevail  with  other  minds,  to  bring  their  bodies 
to  act  upon  matter  beyond  my  reach,  and  to  transport  it 
for  my  service  wherever  I  desire.  I  have  acted  upon  it  by 
prayer,  and  so  moved  other  wills  and  other  hands  to  accom- 
plish my  desire.  Whatever  other  influences  may  be  brought 
into  action,  asking  is  ever  a  necessary  element  to  secure  co- 


LIMITATION   OF   THE   EFFICACY   OF   PRAYER.  21 

operative  labour.  It  is  thus  the  busy  work  of  human  life 
goes  on.  Streams  of  urgent  petitions  are  flowing  in  from 
man  to  his  fellows,  streams  of  ready  answers  ever  flowing 
back  ;  mutual  help  and  support  maintain  social  order  and 
action,  and  man  makes  good  his  dominion  over  the  earth. 

It  is  surely  a  significant  fact  that  God,  in  His  government 
of  the  inter-relations  of  mankind,  and  in  His  government 
of  man's  relations  with  the  material  world,  has  made  prayer 
to  be  a  law  of  His  government,  of  necessary  and  constant 
action,  indispensable  as  a  vital,  mental,  and  moral  force,  to 
the  stability  of  this  economy,  and  to  the  facile  and  har- 
monious adjustment  and  action  of  its  parts,  Man  is  by 
nature  a  praying  being. 

IV. — Limitation  of  the  Efficacy  of  Prayer. 

Within  those  limits,  then,  within  which  prayer  acts,  is  it 
of  invariable  efficacy?  Does  the  desired  answer  follow  so 
necessarily  upon  the  petition,  and  in  terms  of  the  petition, 
that  it  may  be  counted  upon  with  entire  certainty  .'*  No, 
Both  the  asking  and  the  answering  are  subject  to  limitation 
by  the  action  of  other  laws.  It  is  like  all  other  natural 
laws  in  this  respect  In  our  human  relations,  if  prayer  were 
of  invariable  efficacy,  it  would  be  destructive  of  social  order. 
If  a  man  were  compelled,  by  the  inexorable  efficacy  of 
prayer,  to  give  to  every  petitioner  whatever  he  chose  to 
ask — his  property,  his  labour,  his  time — he  would  speedily 
be  despoiled  of  his  liberty  and  means  of  life,  and  be  driven, 
in  his  turn,  to  despoil  others  by  his  importunate  entreaties. 
For  the  safety  of  society,  there  are  certain  natural  as  well 
as  moral  and  conventional  restraints  placed  upon  asking  in 
the  intercourse  of  human  life.  Our  deliberate  reason  and 
our  common  sense  impose  a  limit  upon  the  expectations  we 
form  from  others,  and  upon  the  desires  which  we  address  to 
them.  And  there  is  a  corresponding  limit  to  granting 
petitions  on  the  same  grounds  of  reason  and  common  sense. 
The  law  of  conscience,  the  sense  of  propriety,  our  self- 
respect,  forbid  our  seeking  favours  from  others,  or  benefits 
and   advantages,  which   our  own  efforts   may  achieve  for 


22  LIMITATION    OF   THE   EFFICACY   OF   PRAYER. 

ourselves.  And  a  man's  prudence  and  sense  of  right  may 
constrain  him  to  refuse  a  petition,  having  a  better  know- 
ledge of  his  means  and  resource,  and  of  the  prior  obligations 
resting  upon  him,  than  the  petitioner.  And  petitions  may- 
be refused  on  public  grounds  by  those  who  dispense  the 
patronage  of  empires.  And  very  many  petitions  are  rejected 
by  the  very  categoric  and  decisive  conclusion,  "  I  will  not." 
Your  pleadings  may  address  a  man's  reason,  his  benevo- 
lence, or  his  conscience  ;  you  may  use  all  importunity,  and 
bring  all  influences  to  bear  upon  him,  to  move  him  to  will 
as  you  desire;  but  his  will  is  the  court  of  last  resort,  and  is 
entitled  to  determine  the  issue  of  your  request.  It  is 
obvious  that  if  will  did  not  impose  a  restraining  force  upon 
the  efficacy  of  prayer,  no  man's  liberty  of  action  would  be 
secure.  That  prayer  possess  efficacy  is  essential  to  its 
proper  nature,  but  unlimited  efficacy  would  be  destructive. 
It  is  equally  essential  to  the  order  of  nature  that  prayer  be 
efficacious,  and  that  its  efficacy  be  limited.  And  this  is  a 
characteristic  of  all  natural  laws. 

We  have  now  seen,  by  a  sufficient  induction,  that  prayer 
is  natural  to  man,  an  original  element  in  his  constitution  ; 
that  he  is  placed  under  conditions  of  life  which  necessitate 
its  habitual  exercise,  and  that  he  is  thus  trained  from  his 
infancy  to  be  a  praying  being.  We  have  seen  that  its 
exercise  is  necessary  to  the  existence  and  well-being  of 
human  society  ;  and  therefore  it  is  a  constituent  element  of 
the  Divine  moral  government  over  the  human  race.  In 
truth,  it  is  quite  evident  that  no  moral  government  would 
be  suited  to  man,  or  could  take  effect  upon  his  social  rela- 
tions, which  did  not  make  account  of  this  principle  and 
recognise  its  action.  It  is  inseparable  from  his  intelligent 
and  moral  nature  ;  and  he  is  incapable  of  sustaining  rela- 
tions with  any  intelligent  being  from  which  prayer,  as  an 
element  of  fellowship,  were  necessarily  excluded. 


PRAYER   IN   THE   SPIRITUAL   RELATION.  23 

V. — Prayer  in  the  Spiritual  Relation. 

I  have  considered  it  necessary,  by  all  this  line  of  observa- 
tion, to  show  that  there  is  a  foundation  in  nature  to  render 
it  Jfrima  facie  proh3.hlQ  th.a.t  God  recognises  the  efficacy  of 
prayer  in  man's  relation  with  Himself;  that  as  surely  as  He 
has  designed  him  for  a  life  of  dependence  upon  Himself,  so 
surely  has  He  designed  him  for  a  life  of  prayer,  and  has 
provided  that  the  conditions  of  its  exercise  shall  never  be 
wanting.  And  we  are  now  sufficiently  familiar  with  the 
natural  operation  and  efficacy  of  prayer  to  be  prepared,  in 
some  measure,  to  illustrate  its  place  and  power  in  the 
spiritual  sphere.  "  That  was  not  first  which  is  spiritual,  but 
that  which  is  natural,  and  afterward  that  which  is  spiritual."  • 
In  point  of  fact,  we  have  no  new  principle  to  deal  with  when 
we  come  to  consider  our  relation  with  God.  We  carry  with 
us  into  the  spiritual  relation  the  same  powers  of  mind,  the 
same  constitutional  tendencies,  the  same  moral  faculty,  the 
same  affections,  which  are  in  constant  action  in  the  natural 
sphere.  And  the  spiritual  relation  is  maintained  concur- 
rently with  the  natural,  and  without  confusion  to  either ; 
because  the  same  natural  powers  consciously  act  in  the 
same  natural  way  when  the  spiritual  is  superadded  to  the 
natural.  And  our  relation  with  God  is  conducted,  both  on 
His  part  and  ours,  on  the  same  moral  principles  which  rule 
the  inter-relations  of  mankind.  No  other  classes  of  such 
principles  are  known  to  us,  or  could  be  known  by  us,  unless 
there  were  imparted  to  our  nature  corresponding  faculties. 
Justice,  goodness,  and  truth  are  determining  principles  of 
God's  conduct  towards  man.  These  same  principles  He 
has  implanted  in  the  constitution  of  man,  and  they  are  the 
principles  which  of  necessity  rule  all  his  moral  relations, 
human  and  Divine.  Our  relation  with  God  is  a  personal 
relation,  involving  the  reciprocation  of  personal  feeling,  the 
interchange  of  thought,  intelligent  fellowship,  benefaction 
on  the  one  side,  veneration,  trust,  gratitude  on  the  other. 
Justice,  goodness,  and  truth  are  sufficient  for  all  moral 
relations.     Our  relation  with  God  involves  the  condition  of 


24  PRAYER   IN   THE   SPIRITUAL  RELATION. 

dependence  on  our  part,  with  every  experience  incident  to 
dependence.  Every  dependent  being  is  subject  to  want. 
The  feeling  of  want  excites  the  desire  for  reHef,  and  the 
desire  is  naturally  directed  to  the  known  source  of  supply. 
All  this  applies  to  our  relation  with  God,  and  with  similar 
effect,  as  in  the  analogous  case  of  our  relations  with  man. 
We  must,  therefore,  have  respect  to  the  laws  of  giving  and 
receiving.  Now  the  law  implanted  in  our  nature,  and 
coming  into  thought  whenever  the  sense  of  dependence  and 
the  feeling  of  want  arise,  is,  "Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you," 
And  the  impulse  of  suffering  nature  is  to  pray.  I  know 
there  is  to  be  found  in  many  such  an  insensibility  to  God's 
right  to  His  own,  that  they  violate  all  righteousness  in  their 
treatment  of  what  is  His,  laying  hands  upon  it,  appro- 
priating it  without  leave  asked,  and  withholding  it  from  the 
Divine  service;  just  as  there  are  many  who  have  lost  all 
sensibility  to  the  distinction  between  mine  and  thine,  and 
freely  appropriate  their  neighbour's  goods.  Every  one  who 
believes  in  God  the  Creator  of  all  things,  believes  also  that 
He  is  the  Sovereign  Proprietor  of  all,  and  that  all  is  at  His 
sovereign  disposal,  to  give  or  to  withhold.  Now  we  know 
that  "ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you"  is  a  law  of  His  moral 
government,  as  authoritative  as  any  other  moral  law  im- 
planted in  our  nature.  We  are  dependent  beings,  and  our 
nature  is  constitutionally  adapted  to  a  condition  of  depen- 
dence-; and  nothing  in  our  nature  can  suggest  to  us  the 
possibility  of  becoming  independent — that  is,  of  possessing 
within  ourselves  all  the  sources  of  our  life  and  well-being 
and  perfection.  That  prayer  shall  for  ever  constitute  an 
essential  element  in  conducting  our  relation  of  dependence 
upon  God,  is  a  conclusion  absolutely  necessary  from  the 
nature  of  the  case.  But  prayer  implies  answer  as  its 
necessary  correlative.  The  natural  disposition  to  ask  is 
inseparable  from  our  dependent  nature,  and  is  itself  a  proof 
of  the  existence  of  a  corresponding  disposition  to  answer ; 
otherwise  our  nature  would  deceive  us,  prompting  us  to 
fruitless  effort.  Every  thoughtful  man  contemplates  with 
admiration  the  correspondences  between  the  nature  of  man. 


- 


PRAYER   IN   THE   SPIRITUAL   RELATION.  25 

mental  and  physical,  and  the  nature  that  surrounds  him. 
There  are  suitable  objects  for  the  perception  of  all  the 
senses.  For  every  desire  of  our  nature  there  are  appro- 
priate objects  ;  for  every  affection,  and  for  every  faculty  of 
the  mind,  the  necessary  conditions  of  their  action  are  freely 
provided.  Now  prayer  engages  in  its  exercise  our  intel- 
lectual and  moral  powers,  our  will  and  emotions,  prompted 
by  our  want  and  desire;  and  it  is  unphilosophical  to  suppose 
that  no  response  is  possible.  It  would  be  contrary  to 
the  whole  course  of  nature.  Dependence  implies  support. 
A  dependent  being  implies  a  supporting  Being.  Want  implies 
fulness ;  human  want,  Divine  fulness  ;  huinan  dependence,  a 
Divine  supporter ;  human  prayer.  Divine  response.  The 
native  intuitions  of  man  apprehend  these  pairs  of  relations 
simultaneously.  Besides,  it  is  rational  to  believe  that  the 
exercise  of  our  powers  in  our  human  relations  is  designed 
to  fit  them  for  the  cultivation  of  our  relations  with  God. 
"  That  was  not  first  which  is  spiritual,  but  that  which  is 
natural,  and  afterward  that  which  is  spiritual."  Every 
mental  and  moral  exercise  which  is  necessary  to  the  social 
order  of  human  life  is  necessary  to  the  cultivation  of  our 
fellowship  with  God.  Every  affection  which  binds  us  to 
man  is  designed  to  rest  upon  God  as  its  supreme  object. 
We  are  dependent  upon  our  relation  to  Him  for  the 
highest,  for  the  only  satisfying  object  of  every  mental 
and  moral  power  we  possess,  and  for  every  affection 
of  our  heart.  Our  dependence  upon  man  is  partial  only, 
and  it  is  only  in  a  partial  measure  he  can  yield  us 
support  and  satisfaction.  Our  dependence  upon  God  is 
total,  and  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,  and 
all  the  fulness  of  the  earth,  are  His,  and  His  dominion  ex- 
tendeth  over  all.  He  can  support  us,  and  satisfy  every  want 
and  every  desire  to  the  uttermost.  We  ask  of  man  for  the 
measure  of  help  he  can  render,  and  he  responds  to  our 
asking ;  and  our  asking  and  his  response  are  alike  natural 
tendencies,  inseparable  from  the  nature  of  our  relations  with 
each  other.  I  ask.  Is  it  rational  to  believe  that  while  God 
has   made  it  obligatory,  by  the  very   constitution   of  our 


26  PRAYER   IN   THE   SPIRITUAL   RELATION. 

nature,  that  we  should  respond  to  one  another's  petitions 
yet  that  He  Himself,  by  a  rigid  system  of  ordinances,  which 
we  denominate  "the  course  and  constitution  of  nature,"  has 
rendered  prayer  to  Him  wholly  without  efficacy?  This  would 
be  to  destroy  the  correspondences  between  external  nature 
and  the  nature  within  us.  In  our  felt  dependence  and  want, 
the  law  of  our  nature  prompts  us  to  pray  to  Him  upon  whom 
we  depend  ;  but  it  is  alleged  that  the  laws  of  material  nature 
oppose  all  response.  Even  Mr.  Spencer  regards  external 
nature  as  a  manifestation  of  his  First  Cause  ;  but  the  hypo- 
thesis of  fruitless  prayer  would  interpose  the  order  of  nature 
to  hide  God  from  our  view,  and,  indeed,  to  make  it  of  no 
consequence  to  us  whatever,  whether  there  be  a  God  or  no. 
In  truth,  the  hypothesis  is  altogether  atheistical.  A  being 
that  could  not  answer  prayer,  from  whatever  cause,  could  be 
no  object  of  trust,  nor  of  love,  nor  of  reverence.  We  could 
have  no  ennobling  intercourse  with  him,  no  loving,  holy 
fellowship.  We  would  be  confined  to  the  low  level  of  our 
fallen  humanity  for  our  fellowships,  and  men  in  their  best 
state  are  too  nearly  on  a  level  with  each  other  for  one  to 
bear  his  fellows  upward  to  the  perfection  prophesied  by  the 
possibilities  of  our  nature.  We  need  for  this  habitual  fel- 
lowship with  a  perfection  above  us — to  help,  to  allure,  to 
guide  us  onward.  It  is  the  belief  of  the  supernatural  which 
has  been  the  basis  and  spring,  and  which  continues  to  be 
the  living  support  of  our  civilisation,  and  that  because  of 
being  the  root  and  support  of  our  moral  life.  But  this 
belief  is  not  in  the  supernatural  as  an  abstraction,  but  as  a 
personal  God.  And  even  this  would  be  ineffectual  to  elevate 
man's  life,  without  the  belief  that  personal  intercourse  with 
Him  was  a  possible  privilege,  open  to  the  enjoyment  of 
every  one  who  will.  And  in  conducting  this  intercourse 
with  God,  there  is  a  special  suitableness  in  prayer,  because 
it  is  the  expression  of  our  dependence.  It  is  therefore,  at 
the  same  time,  an  expression  of  our  homage  to  God  as 
Sovereign  Lord  and  Proprietor  of  all  things,  the  only  source 
of  all  power  and  wisdom  and  goodness.  It  is  an  expression 
of  our  trust  and  confidence  in  Him.     But  then  the  question 


PRAYER   IN   THE   SPIRITUAL   RELATION.  27 

may  arise — All  this  is  natural  on  the  human  side,  but  what 
of  the    Divine  ?     Has    God    given  any  intimation  of   His 
willingness  to  communicate  with  man,  in  such  form  that 
man  can  certainly  interpret  it  ?     Is  there  any  medium  of 
communication  ?     Yes,  in  nature ;  for  our  argument  does 
not,  at  this  stage,  admit  of  reference  to  the  inspired  Word. 
Nature,  as  the  work  of  God,  is  a  communication  from  God 
to  man,  a  vast  system  of  significant  symbols,  symbols  of 
Divine  thought  addressed  to  the  human  senses,  and  intel- 
ligible to  the  human  understanding.     It  is  here  that  man 
finds  the  treasury  from  which  he  stores  his  own  mind  with 
all  the  opulence   of  thought.     What   are   these    terms  so 
familiar  to  our  minds — law^  order,  proportion,  fitness,  design, 
adaptation,  means  and  ends,  equality  and  inequality,  force, 
equilibrium,  cause  and  effect,  beauty,  sublimity  ?    They  are 
thoughts,  conclusions  of  mind.    Whence  do  we  derive  them  ? 
They  are  not  original  creations  of  man.     He  finds  them 
in  nature.     They  obtrude  themselves  upon  him  ;  he  learns 
them  and  appropriates  them.     Let  him  treat  them  rever- 
ently, they  are  Divine  thoughts  ;  they  have  their  source  in 
the  mind  of  God.    Then  man  himself  belongs  to  nature,  and 
he  finds  in  himself  another  class  of  Divine  thoughts,  richer 
and  more  precious  still — ^justice,  goodness*  truth,  holiness, 
love ;  and  these,  he  rightly  infers,  pre-existed  in  God  Him- 
self, attributes  of  His  nature  ;  and  man  exults  in  the  con- 
sciousness, that  as  he  can  read  Divine  thoughts   in   their 
symbols  and  make  them  his  own,  his  mind  bears  affinity  to 
the  Divine,  and  is  capable  of  fellowship  with  God.     Realis- 
ing this  relation  to  God,  and  "  God's  conversibleness  with 
man,"  prayer  becomes   as  natural  and   as  necessary  as  to 
breathe.     And  it  is  not  until  sin  has  made  man  ti7matural, 
that  any  controversy  could  have  arisen  upon  the  subject. 
That  God  cares  for  man  is  abundantly  evident  in  the  pro- 
vision made  for  the  continuance  and  well-being  of  the  race, 
and  in  the  way  in  which  He  has  subordinated  nature  to  Hi^ 
will  and  use.     And  let  it  be  kept  in  mind  that  I  address 
myself  only  to  those  who  believe  that  there  is  a  God  who  is 
the  Creator  and  Lord  of  all ;  for  only  on  that  assumption  is 


28  PRAYER   IN   THE   SPIRITUAL   RELATION. 

there  any  ground  for  discussing  the  subject  of  prayer  at  all. 
By  the  very  fact  that  He  has  brought  us  into  existence,  He 
has  brought  us  into  relation  with  Himself;  and  thereby 
also  intimates  His  will  that  we  shall  have  intercourse  with 
Him.  And  by  making  us  dependent  upon  Himself,  He 
has  made  it  a  necessity  of  our  condition  that  we  should 
"feel  after  Him,  if  haply  we  may  find  Him,  though  He  be 
not  far  from  every  one  of  us."  God  thus  manifests,  in  the 
symbols  of  nature,  the  power  and  the  will  to  hold  converse 
with  man.  But  that  converse  can  only  be  conducted  on  the 
part  of  man  by  the  use  of  his  natural  powers.  His  desires 
are  inseparable  from  his  nature,  and  the  expression  of  his 
desires  is  as  natural  as  the  desires  themselves.  The  sources 
and  means  of  their  satisfaction  are  external  to  themselves. 
No  desire  contains  the  object  of  its  satisfaction  within  itself. 
It  must  seek  for  it  outside  of  self;  and  it  seeks  that  it  may 
find,  it  asks  that  it  may  receive.  Prayer  is  attached  to 
desire  by  necessity  of  nature  as  surely  as  desire  springs 
from  want.  If  man  recognises  his  dependence  upon  God, 
he  will  be  conscious  of  wants  in  his  life's  experiences  which 
neither  man  nor  nature  can  supply.  Intense  desire  will  be 
born  of  urgent  need,  and  will  prompt  importunate  entreaty. 
This  is  the  order  of  human  nature.  Has  God  made  the 
order  of  external  nature  to  be  antagonistic  to  the  order  of 
human  ?  Is  the  constitutional  tendency  to  prayer,  of  which 
man  is  conscious,  made  to  be  abortive  when  the  urgencies 
of  human  need  are  the  sorest  ?  Is  prayer  a  bond  of  union 
between  man  and  man,  and  a  necessary  means  of  mental 
and  moral  advancement  .'*  And  can  it  serve  no  similar  pur- 
pose to  man  in  his  relation  with  God  ?  The  elevation  and 
refinement  of  his  mental  and  moral  nature  depends  upon 
intercourse  with  God;  and  he  has  been  trained  to  prayer, 
that  he  may  instinctively  feel  that  the  end  of  that  training 
is  prayer  to  God. 


THE  LAWS  OF  MATTER  AND  OF  PRAYER.      29 

VI. — Are  the  Laws  of  Matter  Antagonistic  to 
THE  Law  of  Prayer  ? 

I  believe  the  considerations  thus  adduced  are  quite  suffi- 
cient to  prove  that  prayer  is  a  necessity  of  our  nature  in 
conducting  our  relations  with  God  ;  that  God  is  Himself 
the  Author  of  that  necessity ;  that  it  is  a  law  of  our  nature 
and  of  our  relation  to  Him.  Are  the  laws  of  matter,  then, 
antagonistic  to  this  law }  and  is  their  power  sufficient  to 
nullify  its  action  ?  This  is  the  averment  of  modern  science. 
There  are  surely  strong  presumptions  against  this  conclu- 
sion. He  that  ordained  all  these  laws  must  have  designed 
them  all  to  be  effectual  for  their  end  ;  and  His  power  and 
wisdom  are  sufficient  guarantee  that  they  should  not  be 
mutually  destructive,  neither  that  one  should  be  destroyed 
and  the  other  survive.  And  surely,  least  of  all,  the  presump- 
tion is,  that  the  law  which  affects  the  highest  interests  of 
man  should  give  place  to  the  laws  which  maintain  the  order 
of  the  material  world.  In  point  of  fact,  we  see  and  expe- 
rience that  the  interests  of  man  are  the  superior  interests  in 
the  world ;  that  all  animal  life,  if  it  endangers  his  interests, 
may  be  destroyed.  Now  animal  life  is  more  valuable  than 
dead  matter,  as  it  serves  a  higher  purpose  in  the  economy 
of  God.  We  may,  I  think,  conclude  that,  a  fortiori^  if 
matter  and  its  forces  were  found  in  the  way,  impeding  the 
mental  and  moral  progress  of  man,  there  would  be  found  in 
the  infinite  resources  of  the  Sovereign  Ruler  the  means  of 
effectual  counteraction.  But  as  the  laws  of  matter  and  the 
law  of  prayer  meet  on  the  plane  of  human  life  and  of  human 
interests,  I  believe  the  rational  conclusion  to  be,  that  they 
all,  under  Divine  control,  work  together  for  good.  It  is 
surely  possible  to  believe  that  prayer  and  the  physical  laws 
were  pre-ordained,  with  their  mutual  adjustment,  in  the 
original  design  of  the  great  economy ;  so  that,  when  they 
met  on  the  same  plane,  they  would,  like  the  physical  laws 
amongst  themselves,  act  and  re-act  upon  each  other,  to  the 
stability  and  harmony  of  the  order  of  all  departments  of 
nature.    And  it  is  surely  manifest  that  in  the  adjustment  of 


30      THE  LAWS  OF  MATTER  AND  OF  PRAYER. 

the  economy  of  the  world  every  element  must  be  taken  into 
account.  Human  wants,  human  desires,  human  affections, 
and  the  human  will,  would  find  a  place  and  occasion  for 
their  action.  Now  we  know  and  feel  that  these  experiences 
of  mankind  are  indefinite  in  their  variations — varying  in 
their  objects,  varying  in  their  intensity,  varying  in  the  con- 
ditions of  their  actions.  Does  the  economy  not  provide  for 
these  variations  ?  Are  these  variations  less  to  be  considered 
than  the  variations  of  the  atmosphere .''  Are  the  ever- 
shifting  forms  of  its  clouds,  the  flashes  of  its  lightning,  the 
roll  of  its  thunder — the  changes  of  temperature,  from  that  of 
the  frozen  north  to  that  of  the  torrid  zone — the  changes, 
through  all  degrees  of  its  motion,  from  the  gentlest  zephyr 
that  fans  the  cheek  to  the  tornado  that  roots  up  forests, 
that  overthrows  cities,  and  wrecks  proud  navies — of  more 
account  than  all  the  diversified  experiences  of  human  souls  ? 
Our  experience  teaches  us  that  there  is  a  place  for  the  play 
of  the  human  will  in  the  order  of  nature.  Mr.  Huxley  says 
that  "our  volition  counts  for  something  in  the  course  of 
events."  It  is  necessary  to  our  life  and  mental  progress 
that  within  the  limits  of  our  interests  the  course  of  nature 
shall  obey  the  control  of  our  wills.  The  course  of  nature 
does  not  supply  food  in  a  condition  fit  for  human  nourish- 
ment. It  does  not  provide  clothing  ready  for  use.  It  does 
not  hew  blocks  from  the  mountain,  nor  transport  them  to 
the  site  you  have  chosen  for  a  house,  nor  will  it  by  its 
natural  action  construct  it  and  prepare  it  for  your  habita- 
tion. You  might  perish  in  the  midst  of  the  opulence  of 
nature  if  your  own  volitions  did  not  count  for  something  in 
the  course  of  events.  Nature  produces  the  materials,  but 
you  must  transform  them  by  the  agency  of  your  own  hands, 
under  the  direction  of  your  own  designing  mind,  and  im- 
pelled and  controlled  by  the  determinations  of  your  will. 
But  in  order  to  the  desired  results,  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
that  the  forces  of  nature  shall,  within  the  limits  required  by 
human  well-being,  obey  the  human  will.  It  is  by  directing 
the  forces  of  nature  man  stores  up  light  in  the  form  of  gas  ; 
imprisons  the  mighty  force  of  steam,  graduates  its  action. 


THE  LAWS  OF  MATTER  AND  OF  PRAYER.      31 

and  compels  it  to  perform  his  will  and  do  his  work ;  and 
by  the  control  of  his  will  he  guides  the  force  of  electricity 
through  thousands  of  miles  to  any  spot  on  the  earth,  and 
there  compels  it  to  utter  his  mind  and  express  his  desires. 
By  this  control  he  is  transforming  the  face  of  the  earth,  and 
subjecting  it  to  his  dominion.  The  superiority  of  man  over 
all  else  that  belongs  to  earth,  the  importance  of  his  interests 
above  all  other  earthly  interests,  his  mind,  his  will,  his 
conscience — all  proclaim  his  superiority  to  all  materialism, 
that  it  is  not  his  master,  and  that  its  order  is  subordinated 
to  him  and  his  interests.  Truly,  "  his  volition  counts  for 
something  in  the  course  of  events." 

But  it  would  seem  rational  to  suppose  that  there  is  also 
some  place  for  the  volitions  of  the  Divine  will,  and  that  they 
too  would  tell  for  something  in  the  course  of  events.  This, 
however,  is  denied  by  some  who  believe  that  God,  having 
set  the  mechanism  of  the  material  universe  in  motion,  leaves 
it  to  the  automatic  action  of  the  laws  impressed  upon  it ; 
and  that  these  laws  are  so  fixed  and  invariable  that  no 
interference  is  possible,  and  that  the  Divine  will  no  longer 
acts  within  the  sphere  of  matter  so  as  to  interfere  with  its 
action  ;  and  that,  therefore,  God  cannot  answer  prayer  for 
physical  changes.  Now  this  might  be  granted  on  one 
assumption — namely,  that  the  physical  universe  was  to  be 
regarded  simply  in  itself  But  this  is  not  the  view  in  which 
alone  it  is  to  be  regarded.  It  is  the  abode  of  intelligent 
beings,  with  free  wills,  capable  of  being  influenced  by  the 
materialism,  because  partaking  of  its  nature  and  qualities  ; 
and  therefore  also  capable  of  re-acting  upon  it.  The  element 
of  will  is  thus  introduced  into  the  materialism,  acting  upon 
it,  and  yet  not  a  law  of  it  ;  influencing  its  order,  and  yet 
not  of  its  order.  In  man's  connection  with  it,  it  is  a  neces- 
sary means  of  his  mental  discipline  and  training.  It  contains 
stores  of  knowledge,  courting  his  research  and  investigation, 
affording  constant  exercise  for  the  powers  of  his  mind,  and 
therefore  for  their  continual  improvement.  Besides,  the 
human  body  exercises  a  very  important  influence  in  the 
moral  training  of  mankind.    Its  susceptibility  of  pleasure  or 


32     THE  LAWS  OF  MATTER  AND  OF  PRAYER. 

pain  forms  a  test  of  moral  power  and  of  moral  principle. 
The  bodily  wants,  deriving  their  supplies  from  the  organic 
and  inorganic  matter  of  the  earth, — property,  that  is,  the 
means  of  bodily  sustenance  and  support  as  a  rights  becomes 
a  necessity  of  the  individual.  And  the  acquisition  and  use 
of  property  become  very  important  elements  in  the  moral 
training  and  discipline  of  the  race.  When  the  material 
world  is  regarded  thus,  as  acted  upon  by  free  wills  through 
a  material  organism,  and  that  it  is  thus  brought  into  relation 
with -life  and  mind  and  morals,  and  as  having  an  influence 
through  its  laws  upon  man's  life  and  character  and  expe- 
rience, physical,  mental,  and  moral, — I  think  there  is  good 
reason  to  believe  that  a  God  showing  so  much  interest  in 
man's  welfare  will  not  abandon  His  immediate  control  of  a 
world  and  its  laws  freighted  with  such  interests  ;  but  when- 
ever the  occasion  arises  in  the  lives  of  His  worshippers 
needing  His  interposition,  His  will  shall  prove  a  power  to 
determine  controversies  between  man  and  matter.  We 
cannot  but  believe  that  in  all  His  works  God  had  moral 
ends  supremely  in  view.  His  greatest,  His  noblest  work 
is  a  race  of  mortal  beings.  They  are  created  in  His  image, 
and  are  His  special  care  ;  and  we  may  very  well  believe  that 
when  they  specially  need  physical  help  which  the  order  of 
nature  does  not  supply,  He  will  modify  that  order  for  their 
relief,  and  yet  the  universe  shall  never  feel  a  shock.  May 
not  God  act  upon  matter  in  ways  unknown  to  us }  Men  of 
science  do  not  claim  to  have  discovered  all  the  properties 
of  matter.  Dr.  Tyndall  says  he  has  not  even  a  theory  of 
magnetism.  Do  they  not  often  observe  phenomena  to 
which  they  cannot  assign  a  cause .''  The  laws  of  nature 
obey  the  human  will,  within  circumscribed  limits  indeed, 
yet  sufficiently  for  man's  need.  They  are  surely  as  pliant  to 
the  will  of  God.  And  because  of  the  ineradicable  tendency 
to  pray,  under  a  sense  of  dependence  and  of  obligation, 
whenever  God  is  recognised,  we  may  undoubtingly  infer 
that  this  law  of  our  nature  shall  be  as  effectual,  within  the 
conditions  of  its  action,  in  attaining  its  end  as  any  law  of 
matter.     Not  only  so,  but  as  mind  is  superior  to  matter, 


HOW  DOES  GOD  ANSWER  PRAYER?        33 

and  the  interests  of  mind  of  more  value  than  the  order  of 
material  nature,  we  may  rationally  infer  that  if  conflicting 
claims  shall  arise  between  them,  the  order  of  nature  shall 
not  prevail  against  the  interests  of  man.  Those  who  believe 
miracles  to  be  historical  facts,  have  satisfying  proof  that 
no  order  of  material  nature  shall  be  allowed  to  stand  in  the 
way  when  moral  interests  are  to  be  advanced.  And  one 
end  served  by  miracles  undoubtedly  is,  that  it  may  be 
demonstrated  to  man  that  God  is  present  in  nature,  and 
exercises  power  over  all  its  laws,  whether  in  the  line  of 
their  natural  order  or  against  them  ;  that  from  this  also 
man  may  be  assured  that  the  order  of  nature  presents  no 
obstacle  to  the  efficacy  of  prayer. 

VII. — How  DOES  God  Answer  Prayer  ? 

Still  the  question  is  pressed.  How  does  God  answer 
prayer  ?  Is  it  by  interfering  with  the  order  of  nature,  by 
suspending  the  action  of  its  laws,  or  by  compelling  them  to 
a  course  of  action  contrary  to  their  nature  ?  That  prayer 
is  not  answered  by  disturbance  of  the  order  of  nature,  the 
continuance  of  the  order  of  nature  through  the  historical 
period,  and  its  continuance  by  the  testimony  of  all  men's 
senses  to-day,  is  sufficient  to  prove  ;  men  have  been  praying 
through  all  that  period,  and  from  generation  to  generation 
have  believed  that  their  prayers  were  answered  in  the  forms 
of  material  good  as  well  as  spiritual ;  and  yet  the  ordinances 
of  nature  bear  no  trace  of  change.  And  in  this  present 
generation,  and  at  this  day,  multitudes  assemble,  not  only 
from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath,  but  also  from  day  to  day,  besides 
in  secret  and  in  the  family,  with  earnest  and  importunate 
petitions  for  every  form  of  temporal  and  spiritual  blessings 
for  themselves  and  others;  still  the  order  of  nature  proceeds 
in  grand  procession  undisturbed.  The  praying  people,  there- 
fore, are  not  looking  for  disturbance  in  the  order  of  nature. 
The  presumption,  then,  is  that  the  answer  comes  in  the 
order  of  nature,  and  by  the  silent  ministry  of  its  laws. 
When  I  ask  for  my  daily  bread,  I  expect  it  to  come,  and  I 

find  it  docs  come,  through  the  ever-recurring  ordinances  of 
C 


34  HOW   DOES   GOD  ANSWER  PRAYER? 

seed-time  and  harvest,  as  the  fruit  of  forethought  and  skill 
and  toil  of  man.  For  it  is  manifest  that  God,  in  making 
prayer  to  be  a  law  of  man's  nature,  designed  it  to  act  with 
the  constancy  of  a  law,  neither  fitfully  nor  at  stated  seasons, 
nor  on  special  occasions  only,  but  that  it  shall  be  habitual 
and  persistent  as  our  dependent  condition  is  ;  and  that  we 
shall  have  the  confidence  in  its  efficacy  of  operation  and 
fruitfulness  of  result,  according  to  its  proper  nature,  which 
we  entertain  in  every  ordinance  of  nature. 

But  if  it  is  thus  the  answer  comes,  how  can  it  be  distin- 
guished from  the  action  of  natural  law  ?  If  the  two  things 
are  strictly  coincident  in  their  course  of  action  and  result, 
is  there  any  test  by  which  the  share  of  the  result  contributed 
by  prayer  may  be  marked  off  from  that  produced  by  human 
labour,  by  rain  and  sunshine.  This  is  the  demand  of  the 
men  of  science.  They  say  every  physical  effect  is  suscep- 
tible of  scientific  verification.  But  it  is  quite  evident  that,  if 
the  physical  answer  to  prayer  were  observable,  it  would 
require  no  scientific  process  to  verify  it.  All  men's  obser- 
vation would  verify  it,  and  neither  doubt  nor  controversy 
could  arise  upon  the  subject.  But  as  it  does  not,  as  a  rule, 
submit  itself  to  common  observation,  I  think  good  reason 
can  be  shown  why  it  cannot  be  detected  by  any  scientific 
process.  Dr.  Tyndall  represents  prayer  as  an  appeal  to  a 
Power,  "under  pressing  circumstances,"  which  "produces  the 
precise  effects  caused  by  physical  energy  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  things."  "  Forced,"  he  says,  "  upon  his  attention 
as  a  form  of  physical  energy,  or  as  the  equivalent  of  such 
energy,  he  claims  the  right  of  subjecting  it  to  those  methods 
of  examination  from  which  all  our  present  knowledge  of  the 
physical  universe  is  derived."  It  may  be  observed  respect- 
ing these  statements,  first,  that  prayer  is  not  confined  to 
"pressing  circumstances,"  for  Christians  not  only  pray  for 
their  daily  bread,  which  they  expect  to  come  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  but  when  it  is  on  their  table,  they  pray  that 
the  Divine  Giver  may  bless  it — that  is,  that  by  some  energy 
competent  to  Himself  alone.  He  may  give  the  full  designed 
and  desired  effect  to  the  conditions  of  nutrition  which  He 


^ 


HOW  DOES  GOD  ANSWER  PRAYER?        35 

Himself  has  ordained.  Our  dependence  knows  no  intervals 
and  no  exceptions ;  and  we  seek  that  our  prayers  shall 
cover  the  whole  extent  of  our  dependence.  When,  therefore, 
we  ask  our  food  to  be  blessed  to  us,  we  do  not  know  in 
what  manner  the  Divine  energy  may  influence  the  "physical 
energy"  to  the  desired  result.  Even  "pressing  circum- 
stances" may  be  met  and  adjusted  according  to  our  desire, 
by  means  whose  natural  adaptation  we  shall  recognise  in 
the  welcome  result ;  yet  not  the  less  shall  we  ascribe  the 
issue  to  the  interposition  of  Divine  energy.  But,  again, 
observe  the  remarkable  expression  in  the  sentence  I  have 
quoted  from  Dr.  Tyndall — "A  form  of  physical  energy,  or 
the  equivalent  of  such  energy."  What  does  Dr.  Tyndall 
mean  by  "an  equivalent  of  physical  energy".-^  It  can  only 
mean  an  energy  not  physical,  yet  capable  of  producing 
physical  effects.  But  such  an  energy  would  not  submit 
itself  to  his  "  methods  of  examination."  We  would  regard 
a  Divine  volition  to  be  such  an  energy ;  nay,  more  than  an 
equivalent  for  physical  energy,  as  being  the  cause  of  physical 
energy,  its  efficient  cause.  And,  strange  as  it  may  seem, 
Dr.  Tyndall  appears  to  acknowledge  the  reasonableness  of 
supposing  such  a  non-physical  energy  acting  upon  physical 
phenomena.  After  saying  that  "  he  contends  only  for  the 
displacement  of  prayer,  not  for  its  extinction,"  and  that 
''physical  nature  is  not  its  legitimate  domain,"  he  adds  the 
following  beautiful  passage  : — "  The  theory  that  the  system 
of  nature  is  under  the  control  of  a  Being  who  changes 
phenomena  in  compliance  with  the  prayers  of  men,  is,  in  my 
opinion,  a  perfectly  legitimate  one.  It  may  of  course  be 
rendered  futile  by  being  associated  with  conceptions  which 
contradict  it ;  but  such  conceptions  form  no  necessary  part 
of  the  theory.  It  is  a  matter  of  experience  that  an  earthly 
father,  who  is  at  the  same  time  wise  and  tender,  listens  to 
the  requests  of  his  children,  and,  if  they  do  not  ask  amiss, 
takes  pleasure  in  granting  their  requests.  We  know,  also, 
that  this  compliance  extends  to  the  alteration,  within  cer- 
tain limits,  of  the  current  of  events  on  earth.  With  this 
suggestion  offered  by  our  experience,  it   is  no  departure 


36        HOW  DOES  GOD  ANSWER  PRAYER? 

from  scientific  method  to  place  behind  natural  phenomena 
a  universal  Father,  who,  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of  His 
children,   alters   the  currents  of  those  phenomena."*     Dr. 
Tyndall  has  here  conceded  the  legitimacy  of  our  position — a 
universal  Father  altering  the  currents  of  natural  phenomena 
in   answer  to   the  prayers   of  His   children.      It   may  be 
legitimately  asked  how  he  would  discover,  by  his  scientific 
method  of  examination,  the  action  of  the  universal  Father 
in  the  altered  phenomena,  and  show  the  share  contributed 
by  His  agency  as  distinct  from    that   contributed  by  the 
physical  forces  ^     The  alteration  of  phenomena  is  a  physical 
effect ;   will    analysis   of  it  disclose  the   distinction  ^     One 
observes  with  pain   that  Dr.  Tyndall  does  not  adopt  the 
theory  which  he  states   with  some  nice   feeling ;    but   he 
acknowledges   its  scientific  legitimacy.     By  this    acknow- 
ledgment Dr.  Tyndall  bars  the  claim  he  had  just  advanced 
to   "the  right   of  subjecting  prayer  to   those  methods   of 
examination  from  which  all  of  our  present  knowledge  of 
the  physical  universe  is  derived  ;"  or  he  must  confess  that 
he  is  bound  by  his  hypothesis  to  take  his  place  by  the  side 
of  the  believers  in  prayer ;  for  that  hypothesis,  which  he 
affirms  to  be  legitimate,  is  the  Theist's  theory  of  prayer.    It 
is  wholly  inconsistent  with  his  views  of  prayer  as  its  most 
conspicuous  opponent.     But  the  claim  he  makes  to  subject 
the  alleged  physical  effects  of  prayer  to  the  test  of  physical 
analysis  is  not  merely  unreasonable ;  it  is  irrational.     Dr 
Tyndall,  with  his  unsurpassed  skill  in  physical  analysis,  is 
not  able,  in  every  experiment,  to  appropriate  to  each  phy- 
sical force  its  own  proper  share  in  every  physical  effect.     I 
present  for  his  analysis  a  grain  of  wheat.      I  ask  him  to 
separate  by  actual  experiment,  with  scientific  accuracy,  and 
to  label  the  several  parts  of  that  physical  effect  respectively 
due  to  the  several   ingredients  in  the  soil,  to  the  several 
elements  of  the  atmosphere — to  light,  to  heat,  to  electricity, 
and  other  forces  exhaustively.     And  as  the  grain  of  wheat 
is    a   cultivated    product,   he  is    required   to  show   in   the 
analysis  the  exact  portion  due  to  the  human  will. 

*  "  Contemporar)'  Review,''  Oct.,  1872. 


HOW  DOES   GOD   ANSWER   PRAYER?  37 

This  demand  is  the  parallel  to  that  of  Dr.  Tyndall  him- 
self. He  claims  that  if  there  be  real  efficacy  in  prayer,  it 
should  discover  itself  in  a  physical  analysis  of  its  effect,  as 
distinct  from  the  forces  of  nature.  The  answer  to  prayer 
is  from  the  will  of  God.  The  will  of  man  combines  with 
the  order  of  nature  in  the  production  of  the  grain  of  wheat. 
Let  him  show  the  effect  of  human  volition  as  a  distinctly 
recognisable  element.  He  will  then  have  a  more  plausible 
claim  to  demand  that  the  will  of  God,  in  answer  to  prayer, 
shall  discover  itself  in  the  crucible  of  physical  analysis. 
Now  we  hold  that  the  prayer-force  is  an  efficient  agent  in 
the  production  of  the  grain  of  wheat,  acting  with  and  by 
every  other  force ;  not  because  we  can  separate  its  effect 
from  that  of  the  other  forces,  but  because,  on  the  theory  of 
prayer,  its  influence  is  present  everywhere,  wherever  human 
interests  extend.  Its  range  of  action  is  co-extensive  with 
the  human  race  ;  it  pervades  all  human  interests  of  every 
kind,  and  connects  itself  with  everything  by  which  human 
interests  may  be  effected.  When  we  pray  for  the  success 
of  our  sowing,  there  is  comprehended  under  that  prayer  the 
full  natural  efficiency  of  every  force  which  contributes  to 
the  germination  of  the  seed,  to  its  growth,  to  its  maturity 
and  its  ingathering,  together  with  the  skill  and  labour  of 
man.  Prayer  is  persistent  as  any  other  law  ;  it  never  ceases. 
There  never  has  been  wanting  a  praying  people  on  the 
earth ;  and  their  prayers  are  for  all  men.  And  because  the 
order  of  nature  affects  man's  condition — his  health,  his  com- 
fort, his  prosperity — prayer  acts  upon  the  processes  of  nature 
by  its  efficacy  with  God.  And  Dr.  Tyndall  assures  us  that 
"  it  is  no  departure  from  scientific  method  to  place  behind 
natural  phenomena  a  universal  Father,  who,  in  answer  to 
the  prayers  of  His  children,  alters  the  currents  of  those 
phenomena."  And  he  adds,  "Thus  far  theology  and 
science  go  hand  in  hand."  It  may  be  asked,  Why,  then, 
do  they  part  company  ?  According  to  Dr.  Tyndall,  it  is 
on  the  question  of  verification  by  experiment.  And  he 
instances  how  decisive  experiment  is  as  a  test  of  the  truth 
of  theory — the   test   applied    to    Newton's    theory  of  the 


/ 


38        HOW  DOES  GOD  ANSWER  PRAYER  ? 

emission  of  light.  But  the  cases  are  not  parallel.  In  the 
experiment  upon  light  there  were  physical  elements  only 
to  deal  with.  In  the  case  of  prayer,  the  element  of  will 
enters,  and  will  acting  with  the  physical  forces  to  the  desired 
result.  And  Dr.  Tyndall's  theory  of  experiment  must 
embrace  all  the  facts.  In  every  instance  in  which  human 
will  acts  concurrently  with  the  physical  forces  in  producing 
physical  effects,  as  in  the  cultivation  of  plants,  if  Dr. 
Tyndall's  theory  be  right,  the  portion  due  to  natural  forces, 
and  the  portion  due  to  will,  ought  in  every  case  to  emerge 
from  the  experiment  with  the  distinction  plainly  marked. 
No  one  will  pretend  to  effect  such  a  separation  as  this. 
Our  theory  is  that  prayer  does  not  produce  a  distinct  and 
separable  portion  of  these  effects,  but  that  by  its  own  efficacy 
it  secures  the  efficacy  of  the  physical  forces,  according  to 
the  good  pleasure  of  God.  It  is  impossible,  therefore,  in 
the  nature  of  things,  to  separate  by  any  analysis  known  to 
science  the  effect  of  prayer  in  changing  the  currents  of 
natural  phenomena  from  that  of  the  natural  forces.  And 
the  demand  is  unscientific. 

Then  prayer  acts  at  all  distances  ;  it  embraces  the  whole 
sphere  of  human  life.  And  no  man  could  insulate  himself, 
by  any  non-conducting  medium,  from  partaking  of  some  of 
the  forms  of  its  influence.  Prayer  rests  upon  the  field  of 
the  prayerless,  when  the  supplication  of  his  praying  neigh- 
bour for  a  bountiful  harvest  ascends  to  God.  Not  even  Dr. 
Tyndall  could  devise  a  non-conductor  that  would  ward  off 
its  influence.  Thousands  of  prayers  are  being  offered  every 
day  for  the  increase  and  wide  diffusion  of  all  useful  know- 
ledge— for  seats  of  learning,  for  colleges  and  schools,  for 
professors  and  teachers.  Prayer-influence  enters  the  lecture- 
rooms  and  laboratories  and  observatories,  where  the  princes 
of  science  are  exploring  the  wonderful  works  of  God,  and 
revealing  the  boundless  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge 
which  they  conceal,  unconsciously  to  the  operators.  And 
what  indeed  would  the  great  body  of  the  Christian  people 
know  of  the  works  of  God  but  for  the  researches  and  dis- 
coveries of  such  men  }     And  let  us  thank  God  they  are  not 


HOW  DOES  GOD  ANSWER   PRAYER?  39 

all  prayerless  and  unbelieving.  Well  may  Christians  pray  for 
the  success  of  their  labours,  for  they  are  illustrating  the  power 
and  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  in  away  incompetent  to  any 
who  do  not  spend  their  lives  in  observation  and  experiment. 
The  most  sceptical  amongst  them  are  doing  service  to  reli- 
gion, helping  the  faith  of  the  intelligent  Christian,  supplying 
ever-fresh  grounds  for  adoration  and  praise  to  the  glorious 
Creator.  They  are  daily  bringing  to  light  facts  sufficient 
to  discredit  their  unbelieving  theories.  They  are  "  hewers 
of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  the  house  of  our  God." 

When,  therefore,  we  ask  for  changes  in  our  relations  with 
nature,  beneficial  to  health  or  safety  or  prosperity,  for 
ourselves  or  others,  it  is  in  the  faith  that  God  is  able  so  to 
control  the  agencies  of  nature  that  they  shall  simply  satisfy 
the  desire  expressed  by  the  prayer,  and  that  then  their 
intensity  shall  exhaust  itself;  or  when  the  desired  effect  has 
been  produced,  the  forces  may  generate  other  sequences 
which  shall  find  their  place  in  the  current  of  events  without 
disturbance  to  the  order  of  nature.  We  know  that  by 
methods  known  to  science  it  is  possible  to  localise,  in 
increased  or  diminished  amount,  some  of  the  great  forces  of 
nature ;  and  when  the  desired  effect  has  been  produced, 
they  are  liberated  to  follow  the  law  of  their  dispersion.  To 
to  this  fact  we  owe  not  only  interesting  scientific  experi- 
ments on  electricity  and  magnetism,  but  also  most  important 
economic  results,  as  in  telegraphy  and  other  instances. 
And  it  is  conceivable  that  God  may,  by  means  in  His  own 
power,  or  by  His  mere  volition,  locally  control  the  intensity 
of  any  physical  force  within  hmits  sufficient  for  the  special 
end,  without  any  appreciable  change  in  the  surrounding 
phenomena.  And  the  effect  might  appear  in  connection 
with  the  prayer  in  a  manner  so  marked  to  the  immediate 
suppliant,  that  it  would  be  thankfully  recognised  as  due  to 
the  efficacy  of  prayer,  while  that  element  would  still  elude 
all  methods  of  scientific  verification.  On  Dr.  Tyndall's  own 
interpretation  of  prayer  as  "  a  form  of  physical  energy,  or 
as  the  equivalent  of  such  energy,"  what  is  to  be  expected 
but  physical  effects! 


I 


40         HOW  DOES  GOD  ANSWER  PRAYER? 

Man  is  comprehended  in  the  order  of  nature.  He  is  a 
being  with  wants  and  desires,  with  mind  and  will.  The 
course  of  nature  does  not  supply,  as  has  been  already 
noticed,  his  wants  in  the  forms  required  by  his  constitution. 
What  would  be  the  value  of  his  will  in  his  connection  with 
the  system  of  nature,  if  it  can  do  nothing  in  changing 
natural  phenomena,  either  through  the  agency  of  man's  own 
body  or  through  his  supplications  to  a  higher  power,  when 
even  his  own  life  is  concerned  ?  His  wants  arise  out  of  the 
course  of  nature ;  his  volition  must  affect  the  course  of 
nature,  and  transform  its  products  to  satisfy  them.  And 
nature  is  found  pliant  to  his  will  within  the  limits  necessary 
to  his  life  and  well-being.  It  is  no  extravagance  of  faith  to 
believe  that  nature  is  pliant  in  the  hand  of  its  Creator,  and 
that  He  can  employ  its  ordinances  in  answering  prayer. 
Those  ordinances  are  the  vehicles  of  His  will  in  conducting 
His  relations  with  man.  They  are  the  agents  of  His  bene- 
volence. Is  it  not  conceivable  that  He  may,  under  condi- 
tions of  special  need  to  His  children,  increase  or  diminish 
the  intensity  of  the  action  of  natural  law,  and  affect  the 
productiveness  of  a  harvest  or  the  course  of  a  disease, 
without  disturbing  the  equipoise  of  nature  ?  A  tornado  in 
China  produces  no  sensible  effect  upon  the  atmospheric 
phenomena  of  our  own  country.  A  thunder-storm  in  the 
next  county  shall  have  spent  itself,  but  no  atmospheric  dis- 
turbance intimates  the  fact  to  us.  If  rain  shall  fall  over  a 
limited  area,  it  does  not  disturb  the  order  of  nature.  If 
that  rain  fell  in  answer  to  prayer,  by  a  special  volition  of 
God,  would  the  effect  upon  the  order  of  nature  be  different  ? 
We  do  not  ask  for  miraculous  interpositions  ;  but  we  believe 
that  there  are  possibilities  within  the  order  of  nature  which 
lie  beyond  the  discoveries  of  science,  which  God  holds  in 
His  own  power,  from  the  resources  of  which  He  can  supply 
healing  and  help  as  His  children  require.  But  it  is  sufficient 
for  us  to  know  that  as  man  is  able  to  "alter"  the  pheno- 
mena of  nature  within  certain  limits,  but  which  are  daily 
expanding,  and  without  disturbing  the  order  of  nature,  we 
are  amply  warranted  in  believing  that  nature  is  plastic  in 


PRAYER   NOT   OF   INVARIABLE   EFFICACY.  41 

the  hand  of  Omnipotence,  that  God  may  rule  the  relations 
between  man  and  nature  for  man's  good.  And  in  settling 
the  stability  of  nature,  it  is  evident  that  He  reserved  a 
margin  with  sufficient  mobility  to  allow  of  the  play  of  free 
wills,  and  for  the  efficacy  of  prayer. 

VIII. — Prayer  not  of  Invariable  Efficacy. 

Another  reason  why  it  is  not  possible,  by  any  scientific 
process,  to  detect  the  physical  effect  of  prayer  as  distin- 
guished from  the  effects  of  the  physical  forces,  is  this — 
namely,  it  is  not  of  uniform  and  invariable  efficacy. 

In  the  former  part  of  this  lecture  I  showed  that  prayer, 
as  a  law  of  our  social  relations,  is  limited  in  its  efficacy  ; 
and  this  limitation  is  necessary  to  the  order  of  society. 
And  it  is  a  proof  of  the  identity  of  the  law  in  the  natural 
relations  with  that  in  the  spiritual,  that  in  both  it  is  of 
limited  efficacy.  Of  course  there  are  lim.its  to  our  asking. 
We  cannot  ask  what  we  know  to  be  morally  wrong.  We 
cannot  ask  what  our  natural  reason  teaches  us  would  be 
unreasonable,  and  what  our  observation  of  the  course  and 
constitution  of  nature  shows  us  to  be  fixed  and  unalterable. 
We  cannot  ask  that  past  time  be  recalled,  that  accom- 
plished facts  should  cease  to  be  facts.  Even  within  the  limits 
of  possibility  there  are  many  things  which  we  feel  we  could 
not  ask  without  feeling  ourselves  chargeable  with  folly. 

But  apart  from  such  classes  of  things  as  these,  it  is  necessary 
for  our  own  good,  and  for  the  general  good,  that  there  should 
be  a  limit  placed  upon  the  efficacy  of  our  prayers,  even  when 
we  ask  for  things  lawful  in  themselves.  Nature  teaches  us, 
not  less  than  Scripture,  that  we  know  not  what  to  pray  for 
as  we  ought,  in  relation  to  the  things  of  this  life.  We  might 
ask  for  some  temporal  advantage  to  our  condition  which 
might  seem  to  us  perfectly  right  to  ask  ;  but  things  are  so 
linked  together  in  the  course  of  nature  that  this  good  thing 
could  not  come  alone,  but  would,  by  some  natural  necessity, 
bring  other  things  in  its  train  which  might  become  the  dead 
fly  in  the  box  of  ointment.    Considering:  that  chanijcs  run  in 


42  PRAYER   NOT   OF   INVARIABLE   EFFICACY. 

series,  and  that  series  cross  series  at  all  angles,  we  are  alto- 
gether incompetent  to  calculate  or  to  imagine  how  many 
changes,  nor  of  what  character,  may,  by  necessary  physical 
action,  follow  upon  the  one  which  we  desire.  The  whole 
interests  of  man  and  of  the  universe  are  under  the  govern- 
ment of  God,  and  it  is  necessary  that  He  should,  both  for 
the  good  of  the  individual  and  for  the  general  good,  impose 
a  limitation  upon  the  efficacy  of  prayer.  Our  narrow  vision 
fixes  itself  upon  some  purely  personal  interest,  the  whole 
form  and  colour  of  which  may  be  changed  to  us  in  a  day. 
and  it  shall  have  lost  all  value  in  our  eyes ;  but  the  conse- 
quences of  our  change  of  mind  begin  a  new  series  of  pheno- 
mena, running  on  we  know  not  whither,  nor  to  what  issues, 
Were  there  no  limits  to  the  efficacy  of  prayer  for  physical 
effects,  physical  phenomena  would  be  undergoing  ceaseless 
abnormal  changes.  The  invariable  efficacy  of  prayer  would 
be  absolutely  destructive.  Even  the  interests  of  praying  men 
are  often  antagonistic,  therefore  in  their  prayers  asking  for 
opposite  and  contradictory  physical  effects.  The  sequences 
of  some  desired  change  disappoint  us ;  we  ask  for  its  rever- 
sal, and  so  on  from  day  to  day ;  and  the  destruction  of  the 
course  of  nature  would  result  from  the  prayers  of  men. 
And  this  would  be  the  end  of  a  system  of  prayer  whose 
physical  effects  were  capable  of  scientific  verification.  But 
the  will  of  God  counts  for  much  in  controlling  the  current 
of  events,  by  controlling  the  efficacy  of  prayer. 

These  necessary  limits  imposed  upon  the  efficacy  of 
prayer  render  its  uniformity  impossible,  and  therefore  ren- 
ders it  impossible  for  science  to  discover  its  law,  so  as  to 
bring  it  within  the  reach  of  scientific  verification.  The 
reasons  of  the  volitions  of  a  Being  infinitely  free  are  beyond 
the  scrutiny  of  man,  and  will  not  subject  themselves  to  his 
methods  of  examination.  But  from  the  fact  that  tlie  Divine 
will  is  free  to  determine  when  any  given  prayer  shall  be 
effectual,  all  Christians  learn  never  to  ask  for  any  physical 
effects  unconditionally.  They  know  that  the  relation  be- 
tween prayer  and  the  answer  is  not  the  relation  of  cause 
and  effect ;  the  sequences  are  not  invariable.     The  will  of 


THE  TRUE  TEST   OF   THE   EFFICACY   OF   PRAYER.       43 

God  is  supreme  in  the  matter  ;  and  they  know  that  to  ask  a 
favour  is  not  to  assert  a  right.  Therefore,  with  every  peti- 
tion for  temporal  good  they  present  an  alternative  prayer, 
"  Thy  will  be  done."  They  are  prepared,  at  whatever  cost, 
to  forego  any  form  of  physical  good,  that  the  Divine  will 
may  be  done.  Their  great  aim  is  to  have  their  wills  con- 
formed to  the  will  of  God  ;  then  if  His  will  is  done,  so  is 
theirs.  Temporal  good  is  not  the  main  end  of  their  prayers. 
No  method  of  verification  known  to  science  is  applicable 
to  the  efficacy  of  prayer.  Although  involving  physical 
effects,  it  cannot  be  tried  by  physical  tests.  Nothing  less 
than  the  subversion  of  the  present  economy  of  the  world 
would  supply  facts  sufficient  to  satisfy  Dr.  Tyndall,  and 
men  like-minded,  of  the  reality  of  the  efficacy  of  prayer  ; 
and  then  the  proof  would  be  destroyed  in  the  method.  It 
would  be  impossible,  by  any  scientific  method,  to  test  the 
reality  of  the  prayer  of  any  individual.  No  human  mind  is 
naked  and  open  before  any  other.  No  man,  therefore, 
could  with  any  certainty  connect  any  event  with  any  other 
man's  prayer.  Even  the  occurence  of  the  event  sought  for 
would  not  always  be  certain  evidence  that  it  came  in  answer 
to  the  prayer.  It  might  be  a  mere  coincidence.  How  could 
any  man  prove  to  another  that  it  was  not  ?  If,  then,  the 
efficacy  of  prayer  eludes  the  test  of  science,  and  if  even 
uncertainty  may  rest  upon  the  connection  between  an  event 
asked  in  prayer,  and  the  prayer  that  sought  it,  is  there  any 
evidence  by  which  the  efficacy  of  prayer  may  be  tested  and 
known  ? 

IX. — The  True  Test  of  the  Efficacy  of  Prayer. 

I  by  no  means  deny  that  in  special  cases,  of  a  public  kind, 
the  event  may  be  so  marked  that  believers  in  the  efficacy 
of  prayer  will  be  fully  persuaded  that  it  has  occurred  in 
answer  to  prayer.  But  if  the  answer  came  unmarked  by 
startling  phenomena,  it  would  not  satisfy  sceptical  men  ; 
nor  even  then,  for  they  would  still  believe  that  the  pheno- 
mena, although  unusual,  were  still  the  effect  of  natural 
causes.     And  if  the  desired  event  occurred  in  the  course  of 


44       THE   TRUE   TEST   OF   THE   EFFICACY   OF   PRAYER. 

nature,  it  would  be  ascribed  to  natural  causes  alone.  And 
as  prayer  for  physical  effects  is  accompanied,  as  a  rule,  by 
physical  effort,  it  is  always  open  to  men  to  ascribe  the  effect 
to  the  observed  effort  alone.  And  even  those  who  have  no 
speculative  doubts  about  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  may  show 
less  confidence  in  it  practically  than  in  the  efficacy  of  their 
own  effort.  The  evidence  is  not  overwhelming  of  the  effi- 
cacy of  prayer,  or  there  could  be  no  scepticism  on  the 
subject.  If  proof  of  the  existence  of  God  and  religious 
truth  possessed  all  the  force  of  demonstration,  no  man 
could  be  an  unbeliever ;  but  then  his  faith  would  have  no 
moral  value.  It  would  not  be  moral  at  all.  Then,  again,  in 
the  case  of  individuals  ;  they  may  have  the  highest  moral 
evidence  that  their  prayers  have  been  answered,  but  they 
cannot  make  others  partake  of  their  conviction  by  any 
evidence  they  can  impart.  Those  who  have  similar  ex- 
perience will  believe  their  statement,  knowing  it  to  be  alto- 
gether credible.  But  it  is  wise  and  right  to  acknowledge 
that  no  evidence  of  the  efficacy  of  prayer  for  physical  effects, 
sufficient  to  compel  the  credence  of  sceptics,  is  forthcoming. 
But  I  believe  there  is  a  form  of  evidence  sufficient  for  the 
Christian,  which,  though  it  will  not  bear  a  physical  test,  will 
bear  the  test  of  reason.  Let  it  be  kept  in  mind  that  all 
along  we  have  been  speaking  of  prayer  for  physical  effects. 
But  then  all  Christians  know  that  they  do  not  pray  for  such 
effects  to  come  alone.  They  pray  that  spiritual  benefits  may 
accompany  them.  If  they  ask  for  restored  health,  they  ask 
at  the  same  time  that  it  may  be  sanctified  to  themselves  and 
others.  The  prayer  itself  is  a  spiritual  action  ;  they  ask  for 
a  physical  good.  The  spiritual  and  the  physical  are  com- 
bined in  the  prayer,  and  they  desire  that  they  shall  be 
combined  in  the  answer ;  and  the  answer  would  not  be 
according  to  the  prayer  if  it  did  not  convey  both.  The 
test  of  the  efficacy  of  the  Christian's  prayer  would  not  be 
the  physical  benefit,  if  it  actually  came  to  him  in  the  form 
desired,  if  it  came  alone.  With  what  feeling  and  with  what 
state  of  mind  is  it  received  .-*  This  is  the  test.  Is  it  received 
merely  with    the  natural  satisfaction  of  a  desire  accom- 


THE   TRUE   TEST   OF   THE   EFFICACY   OF   PRAYER.       45 

plished,  and  with  self-gratulation  in  the  enjoyment  of  a 
valuable  possession  ?  This  is  a  natural  state  of  mind,  and 
not  a  spiritual.  On  the  other  hand,  is  it  received  with 
solemn,  cheerful  thankfulness — with  more  joy  in  it  as  a  token 
of  the  favour  of  the  Giver  than  in  the  gift  itself.-^  Then 
the  prayed-for  gift  has  not  come  alone,  presenting  only  its 
own  proper  value.  It  has  brought  something  better  than 
itself — a  happy  sense  of  God's  regard  penetrating  the  whole 
soul,  until  it  is  bright  with  the  radiance  of  gratitude. 
What,  then,  can  follow  but  a  revived  faith,  a  warmer  love, 
and  a  renewed  dedication  ?  Then  arises  the  sense  of  obli- 
gation to  use  the  gift  according  to  the  clearly  indicated 
design  of  the  Giver.  Now  these  feelings  and  states  of  mind 
are  spiritual,  but  they  are  not  less  natural  and  rational,  con- 
sidering the  relations  between  the  Giver  and  the  receiver  ; 
and  they  are  in  entire  accordance  with  the  nature  of  the 
human  mind.  Such  an  experience  as  this,  coming  with  the 
material  gift  asked  in  prayer,  would  be  a  proof  to  every 
believer  of  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  strong  enough  to  turn 
aside  any  sceptical  argument.  And  this  experience  is 
repeating  itself  daily  with  the  prayed-for  gift  of  our  daily 
bread,  sustaining  the  strength  of  the  Christian  life. 

But  there  are  other  physical  effects  of  a  painful  kind 
which  also  issue  in  spiritual  benefit  to  the  children  of  God. 
There  are  bodily  sufferings,  and  adversity  of  circumstances, 
and  trying  bereavements.  But  do  we  pray  for  these  ?  Not 
specially.  But  we  present  petitions  which  we  know  will 
involve  these  afflictions  in  the  answer.  The  Christian  prays, 
"  Father,  glorify  Thy  name,"  in  me,  in  my  heart  and  life  ; 
and  that  may  imply  fiery  trial.  And  there  is  a  second 
petition  like  unto  the  first,  "Sanctify  me  wholly;"  and 
according  to  the  law  of  the  Father's  house,  this  necessitates 
chastisement  by  various  forms  of  calamity,  for  "what  son 
is  he  whom  the  Father  chasteneth  not.^"  We  pray  for 
physical  good,  and  spiritual  good  comes  in  the  answer.  We 
pray  for  spiritual  good,  and  physical  suffering  is  combined 
with  it  in  the  answer.  And  the  soul  learns  to  say,  "  Good 
is  the  will  of  the  Lord."     The  will  of  the  Lord  is  the  rule 


46  THE   MAIN   END   OF   PRAYER. 

and  measure  of  the  Christian's  prayer.    He  gives  it  the  first 
place,  therefore. 

The  test  here  named  offers  itself  to  the  judgment  of 
mental  science  ;  and  a  thoughtful  examination  of  conscious- 
ness would,  I  think,  show  to  even  a  sceptic  that,  grant  there 
is  a  God,  and  that  He  holds  converse  with  men,  and  the 
experience  we  have  noted  would  seem  not  only  possible  to 
the  mind,  but  also  to  be  the  logical  consequence  of  the 
relation. 

X. — The  Main  End  of  Prayer. 

Asking  and  receiving  even  amongst  men  are  not  the 
main  ends  of  prayer.     The  bestowal  of  material  help,  the 
transfer  of  material  good  from  one  to  another  in  response 
to  asking,  are  not  the  main  ends  of  prayer.    These  are  signs 
and  symbols  of  states  of  feeling,  the  cultivation  of  which  is 
the  grand  end  of  our   mutual   dependences.     And  these 
mutual  dependences  are  the  conditions  out  of  which  our 
desire  of  association   springs,  and   which  make   society  a 
permanent  necessity.     And  we  are  dependent  upon  society 
for  the  exercise  and  cultivation  of  those  sentiments  and 
affections  upon  which  our  moral  perfection  and  happiness 
depend,  more  than  upon  any  amount  of  adjustment  between 
our  nature  and  its  material  environments.     When  asking 
and  receiving  are  the  symbolic  language  of  kindness  and 
good-will,  the  whole  intercourse  of  mutually  dependent  life 
moves  on  with  tranquil  and  harmonious  action.     And  the 
main  end  of  prayer  in  our  relation  with  God  is  not  the 
receiving   the   bountiful   supplies   of  His   providence,   nor 
restoration  from  sickness,  nor  protection  from  calamities, 
nor  length  of  days ;  but  the  cultivation  of  a  right  state  of 
mind  toward  God — love,  trust,  reverence — and  thus  to  enjoy 
His  fellowship.    But  if  He  never  answers  our  prayers — never 
extends  His  help  in  weakness  or  danger — never  consoles  a 
sorrow,  what  could  we  believe  but  that  He  was  indifferent 
to  our  happiness  ?     And  would  it  reconcile  us  to  all  this 
disregard  to  be  told  that  He  had  bound  Himself  by  inflex- 
ible laws  never  to  answer  a  prayer — never  to  respond  to  the 


THE   MAIN    END   OF   PRAYER.  47 

cry  of  beings,  the  prime  law  of  whose  existence  is  depend- 
ence upon  Himself?  What  state  of  mind  would  this  beget 
but  estrangement  and  aversion?  But  the  impulse  to  pray  is 
so  natural  to  man,  and  in  such  constant  exercise  in  all  our 
social  relations,  that  in  spite  of  the  sophistry  of  unbelief,  our 
nature  teaches  us  that  He  who  has  made  us  dependent  and 
praying  beings  is  Himself  the  hearer  of  prayer.  And  as 
prayer  belongs  to  our  mental  and  moral  nature,  the  infer- 
ence is  irresistible  that  it  has  a  higher  end  to  serve  than  is 
required  in  the  inter-relations  of  mankind — that  it  is  neces- 
sary to  maintain  our  relations  with  God.  And  this  is  its 
pre-eminent  distinction — that  it  keeps  the  spirit  of  man  in 
contact  with  the  mind  of  God,  in  the  consciousness  of 
dependence,  in  the  faith  of  His  kindness,  in  the  happy  con- 
fidence of  His  never-failing  and  ever-present  lielp.  It 
secures  a  constant  enquiry  after  His  will,  a  watchful  obser- 
vation of  His  providences,  and  a  jealous  guarding  of  our 
desires,  that  we  cherish  none  which  may  not  be  formed  into 
prayers,  and  be  presented  with  confidence  to  God.  Then 
there  is  a  constant  alternating  between  prayer  and  thank- 
fulness for  prayer  answered,  ever  ministering  to  the  health, 
the  vigour,  and  the  cheerful  content  of  the  spiritual  life. 
And  the  crowning  result  of  this  nearness  to  God  by  prayer 
is  the  accordance  of  our  wills  with  the  will  of  God,  and  the 
consequent  assimilation  to  the  Divine  character.  In  this 
is  fulfilled  the  perfection  of  man.  This  is  the  main  end  of 
prayer. 

I  Concurrently  with  this  highest  end,  there  is  the  cultivation 
of  the  unity  and  fellowship  of  the  praying  brotherhood 
throughout  the  world.  They  are  ever  praying  for  one 
another.  It  is  most  pleasant  and  grateful  to  think  of  being 
comprehended  in  the  prayers  of  all  believers.  Millions  are 
praying  for  you.  Their  prayers  compass  you  about  in  your 
daily  life,  failing  upon  your  fields  and  homes  and  hearts  as 
imperceptibly,  yet  as  really  and  beneficently,  as  the  dew  at 
eventide.  And  you  are  reciprocating  their  prayers,  bearing 
the  interests  of  all  the  brethren  on  your  heart  before  the 
Lord  ;   and   the  whole  household  of  faith,  in   spite   of  all 


48  THE   MAIN   END   OF   PRAYER. 

dividing  influences,  realise  their  common  relation  to  the 
Father.  But  this  is  not  all.  The  whole  body  of  the  faithful 
unite  in  supplication  for  all  men,  in  relation  to  all  interests 
which  are  common  to  man — bursting  the  narrow  bounds  of 
self-interest,  expanding  our  human  sympathies,  and  testi- 
fying to  the  brotherhood  of  man.  Every  thoughtful  believer 
in  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  therefore,  realises  the  fact  that 
prayer  is  a  power  in  the  world,  an  established  law  of  its 
order,  indispensable  to  order,  co-operating  with  every  other 
law  in  the  production  even  of  physical  effects.  And  there 
is  no  more  reason  to  believe  that  health  will  be  restored 
without  prayer  than  without  medicine  ;  nor  that  the  harvests 
of  the  world  shall  be  less  indebted  to  prayer  than  to  sun- 
shine for  their  ripeness.  Prayer  is  as  widely  diffused  over 
the  earth  as  the  sunshine,  and  is  as  much  an  ordinance  of 
God  as  the  sunshine,  or  as  man's  labour,  in  promoting  the 
fertility  of  the  earth.  It  is  a  power  over  the  human  mind, 
a  power  in  social  life,  a  power  in  the  world's  politics,  in 
science  and  philosophy,  and,  above  all,  in  the  spiritual  life 
of  man.  But  its  power  is  not  being  fully  proved,  through 
the  want  of  the  strong  faith  to  which  the  greatest  effects 
are  promised.  And  we  often  ask  amiss,  and  are  therefore 
not  heard  ;  and  at  the  best  our  prayers  are  imperfect.  ■] 
And  we  need  the  Spirit  of  grace  and  of  supplications  to 
purify  our  desires,  that  we  may  ask  in  faith,  nothing 
doubting. 

But  prayer  has  its  perfection,  under  perfect  conditions, 
conditions  so  pure,  so  perfect,  that  whatsoever  is  asked  is 
given  in  terms  of  the  asking  ;  and  in  this  case  there  is  no 
limit  to  its  efficacy.  It  is  the  intercession  of  the  Divine 
Redeemer — "  Him  the  Father  heareth  alway."  And  He 
Himself  has  told  us  what  the  law  of  effectual  prayer  is — 
''Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  of  the  Father  in  my  name,  He 
will  s^ive  it  you." 


Jh.y 


(Si 


m%  J^spnsiMlitg  fq  Ms  %^\t% 


7 


REV.  JOHN  MACNAUGHTAN. 


1 


A  ^ 


MAN'S  RESPONSIBILITY  FOR  HIS  BELIEF. 


♦•» 


!N  entering  upon  the  discussion  of  this  theme,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  define  the  terms  of  it — Man^  Respojtsibility,  and 
Belief,  By  man,  we  understand  every  human  being  pos- 
sessed of  those  faculties  and  feehngs  that  are  proper  to 
humanity — not  man  as  a  mere  sentient  creature,  nor  man  as 
a  higher  animal  endowed  with  intellect,  and  enabled  thereby 
to  observe,  to  reason,  and  to  judge  ;  but  man  as  an  intel- 
lectual and  moral  being,  with  mind  and  conscience,  with 
affections  and  emotions,  combined  with  a  will  whose  volitions 
enable  him  to  determine  and  decide — in  short,  man  as  we 
find  him  in  the  everyday  walks  of  life. 

Responsibility  is  a  term  imported  into  the  English 
language  from  the  Latin  tongue — its  root  is  the  verb 
(respondeo)  "  to  answer" — and  describes  an  existing  relation- 
ship to  some  Superior,  who  has  a  right  to  question,  and  to 
require  a  reply.  Terms  of  similar  import  and  significance 
are  found  in  all  known  languages,  and  seem  to  indicate,  from 
their  use,  an  almost  universal  belief  that  the  transactions  of 
human  life  will  one  day  be  reviewed  and  inquired  into  by 
the  Governor  and  Lord  of  all.  The  prominent  idea  involved 
in  "  answerableness,"  or  responsibility,  is  that  of  a  judgment 
throne — a  future  great  assize — presided  over  by  some  One 
who  has  the  power  and  the  right  to  supervise  the  life  of 
man,  to  sift  his  every  motive,  to  analyse  his  most  complex 
actions,  and  adjudge  such  penalty  or  reward  as  justice  may 
demand — in  short,  the  very  existence  of  the  term,  implies 
the  belief  that  man  is  not  independent,  that  he  is  the  subject 
of  moral  government,  and  must  give  an  account  of  himself 
to  God. 

It   is   interesting  to  find   such   terms    in   all   languages; 
for  if  language  is  the  reflection  of  the  facts  and  feelings  of 


4  USE   OF   LANGUAGE   IMPLIES  RESPONSIBILITY. 

human  nature,  the  image  of  existing  ideas,  the  use  of  such 
terms  originates  the  inquiry,  How  came  they  to  find  a  place 
in  the  vocabularies  of  earth  ?  Not  certainly  as  the  result  of 
education,  or  of  domestic  training,  though  these  expand 
and  enforce  the  ideas  which  such  terms  convey ;  they  seem 
to  be  inwrought  with  the  feelings  and  the  instincts  of 
humanity,  and  to  crop  up  with  the  earliest  manifestations 
of  our  reflective  powers.  The  use  of  such  phrases  as — / 
otight,  yoii  ought  not,  you  sJwidd  have  done,  it  was  your  duty 
to  act  differently,  seems  to  be  the  natural  outcome  of  the 
innate  or  underlying  thought,  that  responsibility  to  the 
Creator  and  Moral  Governor  of  the  universe  is  a  very  part 
of  the  nature  He  hath  bestowed  upon  us. 

There  is  a  beautiful  passage  on  this  subject  in  Taylor's 
"  Natural  History  of  Enthusiasm."  When  arguing  that  the 
terms  found  in  language  must  have  their  archetypes  in 
nature,  and  applying  this  argument  to  the  subject  of  man's 
responsibility,  he  says  : — "If  man  is  not  a  moral  agent,  and 
if  his  sphere  in  this  respect  does  not  immeasurably  tran- 
scend that  of  the  sentient  orders  around  him,  how  came  he 
to  talk  as  if  he  were  a  moral  agent }  If,  in  regard  to  a  moral 
system,  he  is  only  a  brute  of  finer  form,  born  of  the  earth, 
and  returning  to  it  again,  whence  is  it  that  in  respect  of 
virtue  and  vice,  of  good  and  evil,  the  dialect  of  heaven  rolls 
over  his  lips  .''  whence  was  it,  and  how,  that  he  stole  the 
vocabulary  of  the  skies  .'' "  We  need  not  go  far  for  an  answer 
to  the  general  question — Am  I  a  responsible  being  1  Our 
own  consciousness  furnishes  the  reply ;  and  such  acknow- 
ledgments as — /  ought  not  to  commit  sin,  /  ought  to  love  my 
neighbour,  /  ought  to  love  and  fear  God,  are  echoes  from  the 
depths  of  man's  constitution,  proclaiming  that  his  freedom 
to  think  and  act  and  will  has  its  limits.  For,  as  the  apostle 
saith  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  "  Every  one  of  us  shall 
give  account  of  himself  to  God." 

Belief  includes  all  opinions,  thoughts,  and  sentiments, 
whatever  the  subject  of  these  may  be — social,  political,  scien- 
tific, or  religious  ;  all  the  various  conclusions  to  which  the 
human  mind  may  come  on  facts,  on  questions,  on  doctrines, 


WHAT   BELIEF   INCLUDES.  5 

rlvhen  it  has  sources  of  information  and  capacity  for  weighing 
the  evidences  by  which  such  sentiments  seem  to  be  sustained. 
But  when  beHef  is  associated  with  responsibility,  there  are 
many  hmits  to  be  observed  which  greatly  narrow  the 
question.  There  are  entire  classes  of  beliefs  to  which  no 
moral  character  can  be  attached  ;  and  these,  of  course,  are 
excluded  from  the  discussion.  I  believe  that  a  stone  is 
hard,  that  a  ball  is  round,  that  a  box  is  square,  and  so  forth ; 
but  there  is  nothing  moral  in  such  opinions.  I  believe  the 
axioms  that  form  the  bases  of  all  mathematical  conclusions, 
and  I  hold  the  accuracy  and  correctness  of  the  solutions 
they  enable  me  to  arrive  at  \  but  there  is  nothing  in  the 
results  of  exact  science  that  involves  merit  or  demerit.  The 
process  followed  out  is  a  purely  intellectual  one  ;  and  there 
is  neither  moral  excellence  nor  guilt  in  the  reception  or  in 
the  refusal  of  the  conclusions. 

Again,  while  man  is  responsible  to  society  for  his  actions, 
and  is  under  the  control  of  its  governments  and  subject  to 
its  laws,  he  is  not  responsible  to  his  fellow-man,  nor  to 
the  powers  and  dominions  of  this  world,  for  his  thoughts 
and  opinions,  so  long  as  he  keeps;  them  to  himself  His 
sentiments  may  be  of  the  most  treasonable  character,  utterly 
subversive  of  the  integrity  and  good  order  of  the  State  ;  but 
if  he  keeps  these  hidden  in  the  secret  chambers  of  his  own 
mind,  no  earthly  power  has  a  right  to  demand  that  they 
shall  be  dragged  to  the  light,,  be  adjudicated  on  by  any 
earthly  tribunal,  and  be  dealt  with  as  if  they  had  been 
published  openly  to  the  injury  and  detriment  of  the  nation. 

The  soul  of  man  is  a  little  world  of  its  own,  and  within 
that  sacred  domain  man  is  as  free  to  think  as  he  is  to 
breathj.  God  alone  is  Lord  of  the  conscience  ;  He  is  the 
Lawgiver  and  the  Judge  in  and  over  the  heart. 

This  truth  is  the  foundation  of  all  enlightened  toleration 
— of  all  true  liberty.  No  doubt  tyranny  and  bigotry  have 
often  attempted  to  invade  this  citadel,  and  by  the  force  of 
agonising  tortures  have  extracted  from  quivering  lips  the 
secrets  of  thought ;  men  maddened  by  pain  may  sometimes 
have  disclosed  their  hidden  belief,  to  the  eternal  infamy  of 


6  ALL   MEN    NOT   EQUALLY   RESPONSIBLE. 

their  inquisitors.  But  all  such  processes  are  ineffectual  to 
suppress  that  freedom  of  thinking  which  is  man's  birthright. 
Coercion  in  the  region  of  opinion  may  make  men  hypo- 
crites ;  it  never  can  be  consistent  with  the  duties  of  rulers 
of  Churches  or  of  States. 

It  is  altogether,  however,  a  different  question — Will  God, 
as  the  Moral  Governor  of  the  universe,  judge  of  our  most 
secret  thoughts,  and  take  account  of  all  our  opinions  and 
beliefs  ?  If  it  be  true  that  not  a  ripple  passes  over  the  wave, 
nor  an  insect  hovers  in  the  sky,  nor  a  leaf  trembles  in  the 
forest,  that  is  not  observed  by  the  Divine  All-seeing  Eye, 
will  not  this  exquisite  minuteness  of  inspection  penetrate 
the  soul,  range  over  all  the  thoughts,  and  witness  the  form- 
ation of  opinions.'^  And,  in  the  day  when  God  judges  the 
world,  will  not  our  thoughts  and  beliefs  be  found  graven  on 
the  imperishable  tablets  of  eternity,  and  rise  from  the 
grave  of  our  memories  to  be  arraigned  and  judged  of  in 
the  day  of  final  account  ? 

Again,  when  discussing  the  question  of  man's  responsi- 
bility to  God  for  his  belief,  we  do  not  mean  that  all  men  are 
equally  responsible  for  the  opinions  they  hold ;  the  degree 
of  accountability  must  be  regulated  by  circumstances,  as  of 
position,  of  privilege,  of  opportunity.  Some  men  are,  un- 
questionably, without  any  fault  of  their  own,  at  far  greater 
disadvantage  than  others,  as  regards  their  means  and  oppor- 
tunities for  hearing  and  receiving  truth ;  their  responsibilities 
must  be  proportionately  less.  Men,  for  example,  who  never 
could  have  heard  of  the  gospel  doctrine  of  salvation  by 
grace,  cannot  be  chargeable  with  'unbelief,  nor  with  the 
rejection  of  a  redemption  that  was  never  offered  to  them. 
On  this  point  the  Scripture  testimony  is  clear  and  explicit — 
a  man  is  accepted  of  God  according  to  what  he  hath,  and 
not  according  to  what  he  hath  not ;  or  more  expressly  still, 
in  Romans  ii.  I2,i6 — "  For  as  many  as  have  sinned  without 
law  shall  also  perish  without  law  :  and  as  many  as  have 
sinned  in  the  law  shall  be  judged  by  the  law  ;  in  the  day 
when  God  shall  judge  the  secrets  of  men  by  Jesus  Christ." 

Again,  when  afhrming  that  a  moral  character  attaches  to 


fl 

I 


LIMITS   OF   RESPONSIBILITY.  7 

opinion  or  belief,  we  do  not  restrict  our  thoughts  to  the  act 
of  the  mind  dealing  with   a  certain   amount  of  evidence 
presented  to  it  at  the  time  when  it  forms  its  opinion  ;  but 
include  all  that  influences  the  judgment,  all  those  self-pro- 
duced inclinations,  that  bias  the  understanding  and  colour 
its  conclusions  ;  in  short,  whatever  in  nature,  in  research,  in 
habit,  or  in  neglected  means  of  information,  hinders  the  mind 
from  appreciating  evidence,  and  prevents  it  from  giving  due 
weight  to  its  value.    Very  possibly  the  persecuting  Jews  and 
Pagans  in  the  first  age  of  Christianity  were  sincere  enough 
in  the  belief  that  they  did  right  in  putting  Christians  to 
torture  and  to  death.     It  was  the  time  predicted  by  Jesus, 
when  every  one  that  killed  His  disciples  thought,  they  did 
God   service ;    they  pleaded   conscience  in  justification  of 
their  wicked  deeds  :  but  their   minds  were  ill   informed ; 
their  hearts  were  inflamed  by  passion  ;  they  should  have 
known  better,  and  have  felt  more  kindly.     And  if  we  could 
absolve  them  from  all  criminality  in  believing  that  to  imbrue 
their  hands  in  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  was  serving  God, 
what  moral  guilt  could  attach  to   the  acts  that  were  the 
necessary  consequences  of  such  a  faith  as  that  ? 

The  main  point  in  this  controversy  is  whether  or  not 
belief  is  moral  in  its  nature,  or  is  a  necessary  and  unavoid- 
able result  of  evidence  presented  to  the  intellect  ;  is  man  in 
believing  absolutely  passive,  so  that  it  is  physically  im- 
possible for  him  to  do  otherwise  than  he  does,  whether  he 
receives  or  rejects  any  specific  dogma  or  doctrine.-*  It  is 
chiefly  in  connexion  with  theological  truths  or  religious 
beliefs  that  these  issues  are  raised  ;  and  therefore  we  shall 
consider,  first,  what  are  the  teachings  of  the  Scriptures  on 
the  point ;  and  then  inquire  whether  the  lessons  of  the 
Bible  are  in  harmony  with  the  conclusions  of  philosophy, 
and  the  ascertained  results  of  human  experience. 

If  man  is  not  responsible  for  his  belief,  then  unbelief  can- 
not be  a  sin  ;  for  if  it  is  not  a  voluntary  act,  no  fault  can  be 
attached  to  the  man  who  rejects  the  truth  which  God,  in 
His  word,  has  proposed  for  acceptance.  It  may  be  a 
loss  to  the  man  not  to  have  believed,  but  he  cannot  be  con- 


8  SCRIPTURE   DOCTRINE   OF   RESPONSIBILITY. 

sured  nor  condemned  for  that  mental  process  over  which  he 
had  no  control ;  his  believing  could  not  have  raised  him  in 
moral  excellence,  and  his  non-believing  cannot  involve  the 
disapprobation  of  God,  nor  the  forfeiture  of  any  benefit  or 
blessing  which  His  gracious  hand  would  otherwise  have 
bestowed. 

Assuredly  this  is  not  the  light  in  which  belief  and  unbelief 
are  set  forth  in  the  inspired  record.  Faith  is  therein 
described  as  the  highest  and  noblest  virtue,  and  unbelief  as 
a  deadly  and  ruinous  sin — a  sin  peculiarly  dishonouring  to 
God  and  destructive  to  the  soul,  to  be  followed  by  the 
direst  penalties,  and  admitting  neither  of  palliation  nor  of 
apology.  All  through  the  Bible,  belief  and  unbelief  are  held 
to  be  works  or  acts  of  man — ^the  subjects  of  praise  or  of 
censure,  of  promise  or  of  threatening ;  in  short,  they  have 
attached  to  them  all  the  responsibilities  that  can  cleave  to 
the  actions  of  any  free,  moral  agent  in  the  universe  of  God. 

It  is  not  unworthy  of  notice,  in  passing,  that  in  the  New 
Testament  the  same  word  is  sometimes  translated  ^mbeliefy 
and  sometimes  disobedience ;'^  and  as  disobedience  always 
implies  the  existence  of  a  command  (for  where  there  is  no 
law  there  can  be  no  transgression),  so  a  commandment, 
issued  by  a  great  and  gracious  ruler,  always  implies  the 
existence  of  a  will,  in  the  subject  of  that  order,  either  to 
obey  or  to  despise  the  injunction.  The  whole  language  of  the 
Bible  is  constructed  on  the  recognition  of  this  principle — as 
when  we  are  commanded  to  search  the  Scriptures,  to  receive 
the  truth,  to  seek  for  wisdom,  to  know  God,  to  believe  on 
Jesus,  and  to  accept  the  message  of  reconciliation. 

Let  us  examine  this  point  a  little  more  minutely.  Faith 
or  belief  is  described  as  a  duty.  God  requires  us  to  believe; 
our  believing  is  an  act  of  obedience  to  His  will ;  for  God  is 
obeyed  when  His  testimony  is  believed — '*  They  have  not  all 
obeyed  the  gospel.  For  Esaias  saith,  Lord,  who  hath  believed 
our  report.'*" — "A  great  company  of  the  priests  were  obedient 
■^  ttTret^eta.  Compare  Rom.  xi.  32  with  Ephes.  ii.  2  ;  and  again,  as 
identifying  unbelief  with  disobedience,  John  iii.  36,  *0  Se  a.-Kf.iQdv  is 
contrasted  with  6  tticttcvwv. 


SCRIPTURE   DOCTRINE   THAT   FAITH    IS   A   DUTY.         9 

to  the  faith."  "  Ye  have  obeyed  from  the  heart  that  form  of 
doctrine  which  was  deHvered  you."  "  This  is  His  command- 
ment, That  we  should  believe  on  the  name  of  His  Son  Jesus 
Christ."  Now,  whatever  be  the  nature  of  faith  or  belief 
(and  we  shall  advert  to  that  by-and-by),  it  is  the  object  of  a 
command  that  issues  from  the  throne  of  the  Eternal,  an  act 
of  obedience  demanded  by  the  Sovereign  Lord  of  all  from 
His  intelligent  creatures — an  obedience  that  can  only  be 
yielded  when  the  will  consents  to  believe  what  His  precept 
requires. 

Again,  the  commandment  to  believe  is  enforced  by  the 
very  highest  sanctions  that  can  be  attached  to  any  law  of 
God.  The  rewards  conditioned  on  belief,  and  the  penalties 
affixed  to  unbelief,  are  the  grandest  and  the  most  awful  to 
which  our  conceptions  can  reach — EVERLASTING  LIFE,  AND 
ETERNAL  DEATH.  "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
thou  shalt  be  saved."  "  He  that  believeth  shall  be  saved  ; 
he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned."  "  He  that  believeth 
not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth 
on  him."  "  He  that  believeth  not  God  hath  made  Him  a 
liar."  "  The  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven,  .  .  . 
taking  vengeance  on  them  that  know  not  God,  and  that 
OBEY  not  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ:  who  shall  be 
punished  with  everlasting  destruction  from  the  presence  of 
the  Lord,  and  from  the  glory  of  His  power;  when  He  shall 
come  to  be  glorified  in  His  saints,  and  to  be  admired  in  all 
them  that  believe!'  "  This  is  the  condemnation,  that  light  is 
come  into  the  world,  and  men  have  loved  darkness  rather 
than  light,  because  their  deeds  were  evil."  In  all  these 
passages  unbelief  is  described  as  a  sin,  a  moral  evil,  which 
not  only  leaves  man  an  unforgiven  transgressor,  with  all  his 
guilt  crushing  him  into  ruin,  but  as  being  itself  2.  heinous 
transgression,  involving  an  indescribable  amount  of  guilt, 
and  therefore  followed  by  certain  judgment;  so  that  on 
account  d?/"  unbelief,  men  are  as  certainly  guilty  before  God, 
as  they  are  if  chargeable  with  murder  or  any  other  crime. 
Hence  it  is  that,  in  the  catalogue  given  us  in  the  Book  of 
Revelation  of  those  who  are  finally  and  for  ever  outcasts 


10  MAN   CONDEMNED   FOR   UNBELIEF. 

from  God,  the  tmbelieviiig  occupy  a  conspicuous  place. 
"  The  fearful,  and  UNBELIEVING,  and  the  abominable,  and 
murderers,  and  whoremongers,  and  sorcerers,  and  idolaters, 
and  all  liars,  shall  have  their  part  in  the  lake  which  burneth 
with  fire  and  brimstone  :  which  is  the  second  death." 

What  sanctions  grander  than  these  :  hfe,  eternal  life — 
bliss,  endless  bliss,  in  fellowship  with  God— happiness  in 
common  and  in  communion  with  all  the  pure  and  the  holy 
of  the  moral  creation  of  Jehovah !  And  woe,  unutterable 
woe,  the  punishment  of  unbelief!  Can  it  be  that  no  moral 
character  attaches  to  belief  or  to  unbelief?  Can  it  be 
that,  where  there  is  no  moral  delinquency,  the  Holy  and  the 
Just  One  will  overwhelm  with  terrific  judgment.-*  "Shall 
not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right.?" 

The  truths  of  the  Gospel  are  presented  to  the  human 
mind  very  much  as  other  truths  are — that  is,  accompanied 
with  evidence  suited  to  man's  capacity  for  understanding 
them,  and  sufficient  in  amount  to  induce  and  warrant  his 
cordial  reception  and  belief  of  them.  But  the  evidence, 
however  varied  and  multiform,  is  not  the  only  element  that 
determines  the  belief — it  is  the  discernment  of  that  evidence 
that  brings  about  the  faith. 

In  the  evening  sky,  millions  of  stars  sparkle  in  gorgeous 
splendour,  lighting  up  the  depths  of  night,  and  revealing 
the  wondrous  glories  of  the  works  of  God  ;  but  no  amount 
of  intellectual  capacity  would  enable  the  mind  to  take  in 
the  idea  of  that  immeasurable  expanse,  or  picture  to  the 
soul  the  panorama  of  the  skies,  unless  there  was  an  eye  to 
look  upon  it — that  is,  an  actual  power  of  discerning  what 
the  visible  universe  displayed.  There  is  another  heaven — 
the  sky  of  Revelation  ;  every  truth  of  God  studs  that 
sphere  like  a  very  sun,  and  each  truth  that  sparkles  in 
that  firmament  carries  with  it  the  evidence  of  its  Divine 
origin  ;  but  if  the  eye  of  the  soul  be  closed,  or  if  the  moral 
vision  be  diseased  or  distorted,  the  evidence  will  fail  to 
convince,  for  it  will  not  be  discerned.  Just  as  light, 
though  self-demonstrative,  cannot  be  known  without  the 
eye;   so  Divine  truth,  flashing  first  from  the  heart  of  God, 


BELIEF  DEPENDENT  ON  DISCERNMENT  OF  EVIDENCE.     11 

cannot  be  comprehended  except  by  the  heart — that  is 
to  say,  if  we  merely  exercise  our  reason  about  the  truths 
of  the  Gospel,  they  may  remain  to  us  a  dead  letter,  or  a 
mass  of  tangled  dogmas,  and  of  strange  conceptions  ;  and 
we  may  turn  over  page  after  page  of  the  written  record, 
and  never  come  into  contact  with  its  grand  central  truth, 
the  key  to  the  comprehension  of  all  the  rest. 

We  have  said  that  belief  depends  on  the  discernment  of 
evidence,  and  we  must  here  add  that  the  power  to  discern 
depends  largely  on  the  inquirer  himself;  and  hence  one 
source  of  his  accountability.  It  is  his  work  to  collect  and 
examine  evidence,  to  weigh  and  consider  arguments,  to 
watch  against  prejudice,  to  inform  himself  of  the  facts  that 
bear  upon  the  thoughts  presented  to  his  mind  ;  and  surely 
it  is  easy  to  conceive  of  this  being  done  carelessly,  indo- 
lently, and  partially,  or  not  done  at  all,  so  that  the  con- 
clusions will  be  as  defective  as  the  examinations  were 
imperfect.  In  such  a  case,  culpability  must  attach  to  error 
in  opinion,  when  closer  scrutiny  would  have  led  to  a  very 
different  judgment.  For  example,  my  understanding  cannot 
assent  to  the  proposition  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God 
till  I  have  apprehended  what  the  terms  of  the  statement 
mean  ;  but  this  cannot  be  done  if  my  will  is  so  slothful,  so 
worldly,  or  so  disposed  towards  the  lusts  and  pleasures  of 
the  world,  as  never  to  suffer  me  to  think  of  them  seriously ; 
and  in  that  sense  the  understanding  is  at  the  disposal  of 
the  will. 

Nor  is  it  to  be  forgotten  how  much  a  man's  habits  in- 
fluence his  opinions.  Let  him  blunt  his  moral  feelings  by 
indulgence — let  pride,  or  lust,  or  passion,  or  avarice,  or 
vanity,  establish  themselves  on  the  throne  of  the  affections, 
and  they  will  bend  and  bias  the  intellect ;  inclination  will 
overbear  judgment,  a  depraved  taste  will  prevent  the  soul 
from  approaching  truth  with  an  ingenuous  desire  to  know 
it,  and  to  follow  it,  the  light  will  be  refused  because  the 
deeds  are  evil.  This  is  the  explanation  of  the  fact  that  the 
force  of  argument  and  the  power  of  evidence  tell  very 
differently  on  different  minds.      In  the  case  of  some  honest 


12  man's  moral  relationship  to  god. 

inquirers,  they  sweep  like  an  avalanche  all  doubt  and  diffi- 
culty from  the  field  of  belief ;  while  in  other  cases  argument 
and  evidence  come  like  the  mists  of  the  morning,  and  hide 
for  a  little  moment  the  rocks  of  error  and  ravines  of  doubt ; 
but  these  mists  speedily  pass  away,  and  leave  the  whole 
panorama  as  wild  and  desolate  as  before.  In  all  such  cases 
the  want  of  belief  does  not  arise  from  lack  of  evidence,  but 
from  the  perverted  state  of  the  heart,  and  the  moral 
influences  that  are  allowed  to  overbear  the  judgment. 

This  is  admitted  by  all  who  adopt  the  Scriptural  account 
of  belief,  and  who  hold  that  whosoever  believeth  on  the 
Lord  Jesus  shall  be  saved ;  nor  can  any  objection  be 
reasonably  taken  to  a  reference  to  the  history  and  operation 
of  gospel  faith  or  belief,  inasmuch  as  this  involves  the 
highest  interests  of  man,  deals  with  the  grandest  and  most 
momentous  of  all  opinions,  brings  into  view  our  moral 
relationship  to  God,  and  enables  us  to  analyse  minutely  the 
operation  of  heart  and  mind  and  conscience  in  the  formation 
of  the  noblest  species  of  belief. 

The  grand  difficulty  that  stands  in  the  way  of  a  sinner's 
forming  a  right  opinion  of  his  moral  relationship  to  God, 
and  of  giving  a  place  in  his  heart  to  the  message  of  salva- 
tion, does  not  arise  from  any  want  of  evidence  to  prove  the 
grand  truth  that  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave 
his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life  ;"  nor  from  any 
difficulty  about  the  fact  that  "  God  sent  not  His  Son  into  the 
world  to  condemn  the  world,  but  that  the  world  through 
Him  might  be  saved  ;"  the  difficulty  lies  in  the  state  of  the 
heart  and  will  of  the  sinner.  He  cannot  help  feeling  that 
the  gospel  truths  stand  on  a  different  basis  from  all  others — 
that  their  admission  involves  a  change  in  the  life,  and  an 
admission  of  responsibilities,  that  do  not  attach  to  any  other 
beliefs.  If  received,  he  must  submit  his  soul  to  God,  in 
contrition,  in  fear,  in  gratitude  :  and  by  personal  consecra- 
tion to  duties  that  his  likings,  his  tastes,  his  will,  are  opposed 
to  ;  hence,  in  the  face  of  evidence,  he  will  not  come  unto 
Christ  (that  is,  he  uill  not  believe)  that  he  may  have  life. 


BELIEF   A   DUTY.  13 

These  words  were  originally  spoken   to  the  Jews,  and 
were  true  of  the  great  majority  of  that  unhappy  people. 
They  had  the  testimony  of  John,  whom  they  acknowledged 
to  be  a  prophet ;   they  had  the  evidence  of  miracles,  the 
very  signs  and  wonders  they  asked  for  ;  they  had  the  voice 
from  heaven,  attesting  the  character  of  Jesus  ;   and  they 
had   the  testimony   of   their    Scriptures,   to    which  Christ 
appealed,  saying,  "  They   are   they  which   testify  of  me." 
And  yet  they  rejected  the  Messias  as  obstinately  as  if  His 
claims  had  been  supported  by  no  evidence,  or  as  if  their 
duty  and  their  interest  justified  their  unbelief;  it  was  want 
of  will,   and   not  lack  of  evidence,  that  kept  them   from 
believing.     Will  is  not  a  mere  principle  ;   it  is  under  the 
direction  of  reason  ;  and  yet  there  is  a  certain  influence  it 
wields  over  the  mind.     By  a  volition,  it  makes  one  thought 
take  precedence   of  another,   and   one   emotion   command 
another  ;  and  in  this  it  is  free,  active,  voluntary.     If  belief 
is  the  link  between  a  soul  and  salvation,  it  is  easy  to  under- 
stand that  a  man's  responsibility  depends  largely  on  whether 
he  has   anything  to   do,  personally  and  actively,  with   its 
existence  and  operation.     Is  it  the  result  of  a  persuasion 
produced  by  evidence  addressed  to  the  understanding  1  or 
are  there  in  the  state  of  the  heart  moral  barriers  that  resist 
the  light,  and  act  like  fastenings  on  the  closed  windows  of 
the  intellect }     And  must  man  be  a  consenting  party  to 
their  removal — in  other  words,  is  gospel  faith  or  belief  a 
result  usually  attained,  or  in  its  nature  possible,  without  the 
will  and  heart  of  the  man  being  cognisant  and  consenting 
parties  t     Assuredly  it  is  not.     The  heart,  the  conscience, 
and  the  will  must  acknowledge  the  power  of  the  truth,  and 
the  grand  proof  of  belief  be  given,  when  the  sinner  yields 
himself  to  God. 

"  In  the  work  of  believing,"  says  Dr.  South,*  "  the  under- 
standing is  chiefly  at  the  disposal  of  the  will ;  for  though  it 
is  not  in  the  power  of  the  will  dh'cctly  either  to  cause  or  to 
hinder  the  assent  of  the  understanding,  yet  it  is  antecedently 
in  the  power  of  the  will  to  apply  the  mind  to,  or  to  take  it 
*  South's  "  Sermons,"  Vol.  i.,  page  96. 


14  GOSPEL   BELIEF. 

off  from,  the  consideration  of  those  objects  to  which,  with- 
out such  a  previous  consideration,  it  cannot  yield  its  assent, 
for  all  assent  pre-supposes  a  simple  apprehension  of  the 
terms  of  the  proposition.  But  unless  the  understanding 
employ  and  exercise  its  cognitive  power  about  these  terms, 
there  can  be  no  apprehension  of  them;  and  the  understand- 
ing, as  to  the  exercise  of  this  power,  is  subject  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  will."  And  hence  it  is  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
stakes  the  whole  character  of  His  mission  on  the  issue,  that 
the  evidence  by  which  His  doctrines  were  sustained  was 
adequate  and  sufficient,  and  that  the  withholding  of  assent 
did  not  arise  from  want  of  light  in  the  understanding,  but 
from  the  perverseness  of  the  will,  and  the  corruptness  of  the 
heart.  Now,  just  as  certainly  as  the  power  to  consent  implies 
ability  to  refuse  the  consent,  accountability  for  giving  or 
withholding  that  assent  is  chargeable  on  man,  and  comes 
within  the  range  of  those  acts  for  which,  as  a  moral  being, 
he  is  responsible  to  God,  the  Lord  of  all. 

When  we  examine  the  features  of  "gospel  belief,"  or  the 
reception  of  the  grand  truths  about  the  way  of  life,  which  the 
revelation  of  God  discloses,  we  find  that  the  sinner  has  pre- 
sented to  him  a  picture  of  himself  as  a  lost,  helpless,  guilty 
transgressor.  How  is  this  to  be  believed  by  him  ?  Not  by 
the  force  of  testimony  alone,  apart  from  the  acting  of  his 
own  consciousness,  the  declaration  of  his  own  conscience,  and 
the  comparison  of  himself,  as  a  moral  agent,  with  the  law  of 
God.  This  sentiment,  opinion,  or  belief,  is  not  the  mere 
result  of  external  evidence  presented  to  reason.  Like  a 
large  part  of  our  knowledge,  it  does  not  flow  from  reason  ; 
for,  just  as  in  the  sentient  world,  our  belief  in  the  properties 
of  sensible  objects  is  derived  from  the  senses,  and  not  from 
the  reason  ;  for  it  is  not  reason  that  tells  us  that  the  odour  of 
the  rose  is  fragrant,  or  that  musical  sounds  are  harmonious. 
So  in  the  moral  world.  We  judge  and  form  opinions 
largely  by  the  power  and  operation  of  our  moral  sense  ;  and 
though  the  heart  does  not  reason,  yet  within  the  limits  of 
sentiment  it  comprehends  as  well,  if  not  better,  than  reason 
does.     Hence  it  has  been  well  said — "All  the  effects  of  the 


I 


ELEMENTS   OF   GOSPEL   BELIEF.  15 

most  active  intellect  cannot  give  us  a  conception  of  the 
taste  of  a  fruit  we  have  never  tasted,  nor  of  the  perfume  of 
a  flower  we  have  never  smelt,  much  less  of  an  affection  we 
have  never  felt." 

Now,  as  lowly  views  of  one's  self,  profound  personal  humi- 
liation, the  abasement  of  natural  pride,  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  sin  and  transgression  before  God,  are  acts  that  enter 
into  the  belief  of  gospel  truth,  acts  that  may  be  neglected 
or  performed  largely  according  to  the  will  and  liking  of  the 
man,  they  obviously  come  within  the  range  of  the  opinions 
for  which  man  is  accountable. 

Again,  if  belief  in  an  offered  Saviour  depends  on  the 
knowledge  of  His  character.  His  person  and  work — such  a 
knowledge  as  takes  possession  of  the  soul,  and  leads  it  to 
trust,  to  connde,  to  cling,  with  all  the  intenseness  of  ardent 
affection,  to  Him  and  to  His  cross — does  it  not  imply  care- 
ful examination  of  the  truth,  and  personal,  patient  investi- 
gation of  the  grounds  on  which  the  Redeemer  claims  our 
reliance .?  Are  we  not  bound  to  test  the  strength  and 
validity  of  the  argument  for  believing  on  His  name,  so  that 
we  may  be  able  to  give  a  reason  for  the  hope  that  is  in  us, 
whether  we  rely  on  His  atonement,  or  depend  on  a  righteous- 
ness of  our  own  ?  Here,  surely,  there  is  a  field  for  voluntary 
action  ;  for  while  it  is  acknowledged  that  conviction  must 
ultimately  depend  on  evidence  discerned,  man,  in  the 
investigation  of  it,  is  plainly  accountable  for  research, 
for  honesty  of  inquiry,  for  diligence  and  attention,  and 
for  the  honest  endeavour  to  keep  his  mind  free  from  all 
prejudice. 

Can  we  hold  that  the  Jewish  priests  and  scribes  were  not 
chargeable  with  guilt  in  rejecting  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  when 
they  did  not  go  even  as  far  as  Bethlehem  to  ascertain  the 
facts  about  His  birth .-'  They  were  apparently  expecting  the 
appearance  of  the  promised  Saviour.  They  were  able  to 
give  directions  to  the  wise  men  from  the  East  as  to  the 
locality  in  which  He  might  be  sought,  and  to  verify  their 
information  from  the  sure  word  of  prophecy.  And  yet, 
though  they  heard  of  His  star  in  the  East,  they  did  not 


16      MAN,  NOT  MIND  MERELY,  THE  SUBJECT  OF  BELIEF. 

make  the  least  effort  to  convince  themselves   whether  or 
not  the  King  of  the  Jews  was  born. 

In  the  field  of  belief,  are  there  no  powers  at  work  but 
reason  and  evidence,  intellect  and  argument,  nothing  but 
the  powers  of  the  human  understanding,  busied  with 
logical  deductions,  joining  together  its  cords  of  ideas, 
till  it  finds  itself  immeshed  in  a  web  of  inevitable  con- 
clusions, and  all  this  without  allowing  an  inch  of  space 
for  the  influence  of  feeling  or  emotion  ?  Have  we  not, 
on  this  field,  man — the  whole  man — acting  as  a  free, 
voluntary  agent }  Do  we  not  see  him  pausing  over  f/its 
proof,  and  scanning  it  very  minutely — carelessly  or  wantonly 
passing  by  t/ia^  evidence  as  if  it  did  not  deserve  his  notice — 
his  whole  emotional  nature  now  at  work  ;  and  now,  again, 
his  preconceptions  inducing  him  to  turn  with  scorn  from 
the  offered  argument,  his  moral  feeling,  his  will,  his  affec- 
tion, his  intellect,  all  conspicuous  throughout  the  entire 
process — not  mind  alone,  but  the  man  ?  The  /is  prominent. 
The  man  sues  for  mercy,  looks  towards  the  Saviour,  humbles 
himself  before  God,  and  expresses  his  new-found  faith, 
when  he  exclaims,  "  Lord,  I  believe  ;  help  Thou  mine  un- 
belief" It  is  the  /who  is  the  subject  of  the  belief;  not  that 
any  man  saves  himself,  but  that  he  is  not  saved  without  his 
own  consent ;  and  hence  the  responsibility. 

This  is  illustrated  by  the  figure  of  looking,  which,  in  the 
Bible,  is  often  used  as  the  synonyme  for  believing — "  Look 
unto  me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth,  for  I  am 
God,  and  there  is  none  else" — "Looking  unto  Jesus,  the 
author  and  finisher  of  our  faith" — implying  that,  just  as  we 
have  the  command  of  our  eyes,  and  can  turn  them  towards 
or  away  from  any  visible  object  at  will,  so,  in  a  certain  sense, 
have  we  the  command  and  control  of  our  moral  vision,  and 
can  direct  it  towards  the  great  object  of  faith.  This  is, 
indeed,  the  history  of  the  act  of  belief  "We  all  with  open 
face  behold,  as  in  a  glass,  the  glory  of  the  Lord,"  &c. — 
"Every  one  which  seeth  the  Son,  and  believeth  on  Him" — 
that  is,  every  one  who,  having  seen  the  Son,  hath  believed 
on  Him — "hath  everlasting  life."    A  single  glance,  unaffected 


MAN  NOT  PASSIVE  IN  THE  FORMATION  OF  FAITH.       17 

and  earnest — one  child-like  look,  into  which  the  affections 
of  the  soul  are  thrown — perceives  in  Jesus  an  infinitude  of 
love  and  grace ;  and  that  vision  necessarily  results  in  true 
belief 

Man  is  not  passive  in  all,  this ;  the  discernment  of  the 
glory  of  Christ  is  not  forced  on  him ;  it  is  with  an  open 
face  he  beholds  the  glory — dimly,  it  may  be,  at  first,  but 
becoming  brighter  and  clearer  as  the  result  of  thought  and 
contemplation — till  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross  he  lifts  up  his 
eyes  from  the  dust  to  the  crucified  Redeemer,  and  in  the 
earnestness  of  a  true  belief  exclaims, "  My  Lord  and  my  God ! " 
In  fine,  on  this  part  of  the  subject,  if  we  receive  the  Bible 
as  a  revelation  from  God,  there  must  be  an  onerous  respon- 
sibility dependent  on  the  use  we  make  of  its  promises  and 
exhortations,  and  on  the  degree  of  attention  with  which  we 
listen  to  its  commandments  and  warnings,  arising  from  the 
authority  of  Him  whose  word  it  professes  to  be.  If,  instead 
of  the  voice  of  God  in  the  written  word,  we  were  startled 
from  our  security  by  that  voice  speaking  to  us,  as  it  did 
to  Israel,  out  of  the  fire,  and  awing  us  into  silence  by 
blackness  and  darkness  and  tempest — would  not  our  whole 
being  be  brought  under  the  influence  of  that  Speaker,  and 
a  deep  sense  of  responsibility  for  believing  or  rejecting  His 
message  take  possession  of  our  souls.'*  Or  if,  instead  of  quietly 
reading  in  the  Scriptures  the  exhortation,  "I  pray  you,  in 
Christ's  stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God,"  Christ  were  to  leave 
His  eternal  throne,  leave  the  heavens,  and  come  down  into 
the  midst  of  us,  in  all  the  glories  of  His  Mount  Tabor  state, 
and  ask  us  to  believe  in  His  atonement,  and  be  reconciled  to 
God  by  His  blood — would  we  feel  that  we  could  treat  this 
as  an  ordinary  subject  of  inquiry,  that  our  minds  must  of 
themselves  inevitably  act  on  the  evidence  presented,  and 
that  we  would  incur  no  special  guilt  if  we  concluded  to 
disbelieve  the  proclamation,  and  reject  the  remedy  offered 
for  our  guiltiness  and  sin  ^  Nay,  rather  would  we  not  feel 
that  it  would  be  impossible  for  us  to  escape  personal 
accountability  if  we  refused  that  offer  of  grace  .'*  And  where 
is  the  radical  difference  between  that  imagined  condition  of 

I 


18       CAN  MAN  CONTROL  THE  ACTS  OF  HIS  INTELLECT  ? 

things  and  our  present  position  ?  Can  we,  if  we  receive  the 
Bible  as  from  God,  separate  altogether  the  voice  of  authority 
from  its  requirements,  or  place  its  truths  on  the  ordinary 
level  of  statements  in  books  of  philosophy  and  science? 
Are  not  the  truths  the  same,  when  enshrined  in  revelation 
and  attested  by  sufficient  evidence,  as  when  spoken  by 
the  lips  of  the  Lord  ?  And  is  not  this  Scriptural  con- 
clusion regarding  the  testimony  of  God  sufficient  to  estab- 
lish our  responsibility  on  the  matter  ?  "  See  that  ye  refuse 
not  Him  that  speaketh  ;  for  if  they  escaped  not  who 
refused  Him  that  spake  on  earth,  much  more  shall  not  we 
escape  if  we  turn  away  from  Him  that  speaketh  from 
heaven." 

We  must  now  advance  a  step  farther,  and  inquire  whether 
the  teaching  of  Scripture  is  in  harmony  with  the  conclu- 
sions of  philosophy  and  the  ascertained  results  of  human 
experience.  Is  man  in  the  matter  of  belief  a  mere  automa- 
ton, possessed  of  no  control  over  the  actings  of  his  intelli- 
gence, actuated  in  the  formation  of  his  judgment  solely  by 
pure  intellect,  and  not  liable  to  be  influenced  by  a  thousand 
varying  feelings,  nor  to  be  swayed  by  strong  prejudices — 
never  subject  to  fitful  passions,  nor  to  powerful  inclinations 
that  influence  all  the  processes  of  his  intellectual  life  ?  Is 
there  no  element  at  work,  when  he  forms  his  opinions,  but 
facts  and  evidences  .''  and  do  these,  by  hard  and  fast  lines, 
shut  him  up  to  inevitable  and  unavoidable  conclusions,  so 
that  he  can  no  more  be  held  accountable  for  his  opinions, 
than  a  watch  is  accountable  for  the  figures  on  the  dial  at 
which  the  pointers  stand  ? 

It  is  granted  that  facts  and  evidences  must  be  the  bases 
of  all  belief — that  they  are  essential  elements  in  the  forma- 
tion of  all  opinions.  No  man  believes  anything  as  a  mere 
act  of  his  will,  in  the  absence  of  all  real  or  supposed 
evidence.  The  wish  may  be  father  to  the  thought,  but 
there  will  always  be  the  interposition  of  a  something  besides 
the  wish,  that  is  made  the  warrant  for  the  conviction,  or  for 
the  alleged  belief  Hence  it  may  be  conceded  that,  if  man 
was  nothincc  more  than  an  intellectual  being,  if  he  had  not  a 


AFFECTIONS    INFLUENCE  BELIEF.  19 

moral  as  well  as  a  mental  nature,  it  might  be  difficult  to 
prove  him  responsible  for  his  opinions.  If  an  arithmetical 
proposition  be  presented  to  us,  so  that  we  understand  it,  we 
viitst  acccept  it ;  that  two  and  eight  make  ten  is  a  truth 
not  in  the  least  dependent  on  our  being  willing  to  receive  it 
— the  belief  is  imperative  ;  and  so,  if  pure  intellect  was  sup- 
posed to  be  dealing  with  perfect  evidence,  it  must  always 
arrive  at  one  conclusion,  and  there  would  be  no  responsibility. 
But  this  is  not  the  constitution  of  man,  else  there  never 
would  occur  an  instance  in  which  error  would  be  espoused,  in 
the  face  of  abundant  evidence  to  establish  the  rejected  truth  ; 
nor  would  there  ever  be  occasion  to  say  of  any  man's  belief, 
it  is  his  heart,  rather  than  his  head,  that  misleads  him ; 
meaning  thereby  that  a  man's  latent  feelings,  and  hidden 
inclinations,  or  wayward  habits,  had  more  to  do  with  his 
sentiments  and  opinions  than  he  himself  was  aware  of,  or 
would  allow.  "  Is  there,"  says  Dr.  Wardlaw,  "  no  recipro- 
cally influential  connection  between  the  understanding  and 
the  affections  .'*  and,  more  especially,  has  the  state  of  the 
latter  no  influence  on  the  exercise  of  the  former }  Who 
that  knows  anything  of  even  the  most  ordinary  phenomena 
of  human  nature — phenomena  which,  so  far  from  being 
recondite,  are  open  to  everyone's  observation — is  not  aware 
how  weighty  is  the  power  of  the  desires  and  inclinations 
over  the  operations  of  intellect ;  to  what  a  vast  extent, 
both  in  the  number  of  instances  and  in  the  degree  of  force, 
opinion  and  belief  are  affected  by  predisposition  by  the 
previous  bent  of  the  will!"  If  this  be  accurate — and  all 
experience  confirms  it — then,  in  so  far  as  any  opinions  are 
influenced  by  disposition,  by  the  affections,  by  the  inclina- 
tions, they  are  the  subjects  of  responsibility. 

The  whole  question  might  be  discussed  from  this  point — 
Does  man  exercise  any  power  in  the  formation  of  his  belief.^ 
and,  if  so,  what  is  that  power,  and  how  is  it  put  forth  1  To 
such  questions  we  answer,  man  largely  chooses  and  selects 
the  subjects  of  his  thought,  and  acts  with  perfect  freedom 
in  collecting  the  evidence,  for  and  against  the  question  on 
which  his  opinion  is  to  be  formed.    He  may  shun  all  inquiry 


20      FORMATION   OF   OPINION   LARGELY  VOLUNTARY. 

on  any  subject  of  which  he  is  ignorant,  or  on  which  he  is 
ill-informed  ;  and,  if  so,  this  is  an  act  of  his  will.  True,  his 
volition  could  not  create  satisfactory  evidence,  but  it  could 
lead  him  to  investigate  the  nature  and  amount  of  the 
evidence  that  is  available,  and  give  it  all  due  attention.  If 
that  is  not  done,  is  it  not  his  act  that  keeps  the  windows 
closed,  and  thus  excludes  the  glorious  light  of  attainable 
knowledge  ?  On  this  subject.  Dr.  Abercrombie  has  well 
said — "  There  are  laws  of  evidence  as  absolute  and  im- 
mutable in  their  nature,  as  the  laws  of  physical  relations. 
But  for  the  operation  of  them  a  state  of  mind  is  required, 
and  without  this,  even  the  best  evidence  may  be  deprived 
of  its  power  to  produce  conviction ;  for  the  result  of 
evidence  on  the  mind  depends  on  close  and  continued 
attention  ;  and  ^/iis  is  a  voltmtaiy  process,  which  every  one 
may  be  able  to  perform.  It  is  on  this  ground,"  he  adds, 
"  that  we  hold  a  man  to  be  responsible  for  his  belief,  and 
contend  that  he  may  incur  deep  moral  guilt  by  his  disbelief 
of  moral  truths,  which  he  has  examined  in  a  frivolous  or 
prejudiced  manner ;  or  which  perhaps  he  indulges  in  the 
miserable  affectation  of  disbelieving,  without  having  exa- 
mined them  at  all."  In  fact,  it  is  well  known  that,  as  regards 
every  opinion  to  which  there  are  two  sides,  there  will  be 
arguments,  more  or  less  cogent,  for  and  against  it.  These 
should  be  sought  out  by  a  candid  inquirer — be  examined  and 
weighed  by  him.  Man's  action  in  this  is  wholly  voluntary, 
and  therefore  it  can  be  the  subject  either  of  praise  or  of 
blame.  He  can  neglect  this  duty  entirely,  or  he  can 
perform  it  partially,  or  he  can  do  it  candidly  and  earnestly. 
He  may  lean  to  the  one  side,  so  as  not  to  see  the  argu- 
ment on  the  other,  striving  to  find  out  everything  which 
strengthens  his  preconceived  notions,  and  through  negli- 
gence or  design  overlooking  or  refusing  to  consider  all  that 
favours  a  different  sentiment.  Surely,  in  this  most  common 
procedure,  there  is  a  moral  wrong  done,  and  culpability 
incurred. 

Who  does  not  know  that  the  influence  of  argument  or 
evidence,  in  creating  belief,  does  not  depend  altogether  on 


FEELINGS   INFLUENCE   OUR  JUDGMENTS.  21 

its  own  force  or  weight,  but  largely  on  the  degree  of  atten- 
tion that  is  given  to  it ;  so  that,  if  calm  and  deliberate 
reflection  is  paid  to  one  statement,  while  little  attention  is 
given  to  the  other,  the  inevitable  consequence  will  be  this — 
the  mind  will  lean  to  the  side  to  which  the  attention  has 
been  given,  and  a  very  erroneous  judgment  may  be  the 
result. 

All  who  are  acquainted  with  the  laws  that  regulate  the 
human  mind,  are  aware  that  a  man's  self-interests  and  pre- 
judices, his  appetites  and  passions,  his  pride  of  consistency, 
or  his  repugnance  to  acknowledge  former  error,  will  often 
drive  him  pertinaciously  to  cling  to  opinions  in  the  face  of 
evidence  to  the  contrary,  which  everyone  sees  but  himself 
In  such  cases,  the  beliefs  are  warped  to  that  side  where 
inclination  points,  and  swayed  as  humour,  or  pleasure,  or 
passion  direct,  so  that  the  belief  seems  true  that  is  pleasant 
and  grateful.  Would  it  not,  then,  be  plainly  absurd  to 
assert  that  the  man  has  no  control  over  his  opinions,  or 
that  he  was  wholly  passive  as  to  the  impressions  made  on 
his  understanding  ?  * 

The  error  on  this  subject  arises  largely  from  overlooking 
the  structure  of  the  human  mind,  and  from  forgetting  that 
conscience  and  moral  feelings  are  integral  parts  of  the  con- 
stitution of  man.  It  is  in  virtue  of  this  constitution  that 
moral  feelings  alter  and  modify,  direct  and  control,  the 
actings  of  the  intellect,  and  thereby  attach  to  them  their 
responsibility.  All  through  the  processes  of  thought  and 
the  attainment  of  belief,  it  is  t/ie  vian  who  acts — never 
ceasing  to  be  a  moral  agent,  and,  as  such,  ever  accountable 
to  a  higher  power — not  in  one  department  of  life  or  action 
only,  but  in  all.     It  would  be  a  hard,  I  believe  an  impossible 

*  "  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  belief  or  unbehef,  it  can  never  be 
questioned  that  there  may  be  a  contracting  of  guilt  by  the  refusal  or 
the  neglect  to  attend  to  evidence.  The  degree  of  this  guilt  must  be 
in  proportion  to  the  intrinsic  magnitude  of  the  subject,  the  authority 
under  which  it  presents  itself,  and  the  importance  of  the  consequences 
depending  on  the  determination  of  the  question  at  issue.  Now  there 
is  a  host  of  unthinking  sceptics,  or  uninquiring  infidels,  who  have  never 
considered,  never  examined.     They  are  without  excuse." — Wardlaw. 


99 


FEELINGS  AFFECT   OUR  JUDGMENTS. 


task,  to  separate,  by  any  process  of  analysis,  what  is  purely 
mental  from  what  is  purely  moral,  in  any  jndgment  or  con- 
clusion on  moral  questions  ;  for  the  workings  of  our  mental 
and  moral  nature  are  so  interleaved  and  interwoven,  that  we 
cannot  extricate  the  one  completely  from  the  other,  nor 
absolutely  prevent  our  feelings  from  entering  into  the 
chamber  of  our  thoughts.  Take,  for  example,  the  case  of  a 
man  who  is  either  judge  or  juror  in  a  case  of  trial :  his  ear- 
nest desire  is  to  decide  and  determine  according  to  evi- 
dence, and  to  keep  his  mind  free  and  uninfluenced  by  any 
prejudice,  either  for  or  against  the  prisoner.  Can  he  be  as 
impassive  as  the  bench  on  which  he  sits — as  calm  and  cool, 
and  as  free  from  the  influence  of  all  environments,  as  if 
he  were  reading  in  his  study,  the  history  of  a  trial  that  had 
occurred  a  hundred  years  ago  t  Will  the  appearance  of 
the  prisoner,  the  knowledge  of  his  previous  life,  the  very 
character  of  the  crime  with  which  he  is  charged,  the  great- 
ness of  the  issue  as  concerns  the  accused,  and  the  impas- 
sioned appeals  of  the  counsel  to  his  heart  and  conscience, 
import  no  feeling  into  the  case.'*  and  will  he  retire  to  form 
and  frame  his  verdict  with  as  little  concern,  and  with  as 
little  emotion,  as  he  would  sit  down  to  a  question  in 
arithmetic,  or  to  solve  a  problem  in  Euclid  }  The  thing  is 
impossible.  The  fact  is,  that  the  union  of  heart  and 
conscience,  of  will  and  mind  in  man,  carries  into  all  mental 
transactions  a  moral  character,  and  thereby  involves  the 
element  of  responsibility. 

Nor  would  this  statement  be  complete  if  we  did  not  add 
that  the  conscience  takes  cognisance  of  opinion  and  belief; 
and  wherever  conscience  judges,  there  must  necessarily  be 
accountableness.  What  more  common,  in  the  intercourse  of 
human  life,  than  the  expressions — I  am  conscientiously  of 
opinion;  or,  I  hold  this  opinion  conscientiously;  my  belief  is 
a  matter  of  conscience,  I  am  bound  by  it,  I  cannot  change 
it.  And  if  this  language  be  correct,  it  admits  all  that  is  con- 
tended for  ;  for  conscience  deals  with  voluntary  actings, 
and  is  indissolubly  associated  with  them  exclusively.  "  It 
has  never,  perhaps,  been  observed,"  says  Sir  Jas.  M'Intosh, 


CONSCIENCE   TAKES   COGNISANCE  OF  BELIEFS.        23 

in  his  treatise  on  Ethics,  "that  an  operation  of  conscience 
precedes  all  acts  deliberate  enough  to  be,  in  the  highest 
sense,  voluntary,  and  does  so  as  much  when  it  is  defeated 
as  when  it  prevails.  Conscience  has  no  object  but  a  state 
of  the  will ;  and,  as  as  an  act  of  will,  is  the  sole  means  of 
gratifying  any  passion.  Conscience  is  co-extensive  with 
the  whole  man  ;  and,  without  encroachment,  curbs  or  aids 
every  feeling,  even  within  the  peculiar  province  of  that 
feeling  itself.  It  seems,  therefore,  clear  that  conscience 
takes  cognisance  of  all  voluntary  acts,  and  must  be  univer- 
sal and  independent."  It  is  not  at  all  necessary,  here,  to 
discuss  the  question — Are  reason  and  conscience  separate 
faculties  of  man  ;  or  are  they  different  names  for  one  attri- 
bute of  mind,  acting  on  distinct  objects,  and  under  different 
circumstances  ?  As  a  part  of  our  moral  nature,  the  mind 
recognises  a  distinction  between  good  and  evil,  between 
right  and  wrong ;  it  pronounces  as  certainly  on  these  two 
qualities  as  it  does  on  two  quantities,  where  the  question- is 
one  of  number  or  of  magnitude.  It  may  be  that  we  cannot 
explain  the  ground  of  the  conclusion  thus  arrived  at — that 
it  belongs  to  the  intuitions  of  the  heart,  and  must  be  traced 
back  to  the  moral  nature  of  God,  the  impress  of  which  was 
originally  enstamped  on  man's  being.  It  might,  therefore,  be 
said,  without  entering  on  the  metaphysics  of  the  subject,  that 
conscience  is  the  capacity  to  perceive  the  right,  and  to  be 
affected  by  the  moral  emotion  which  accompanies  that  per- 
ception. Now  the  state  and  condition  of  a  man's  conscience 
depends  largely  on  himself  He  can  render  it  frigid,  inac- 
tive, perverse,  or  tender,  acute,  and  sensitive;  and,  according 
to  its  state,  so  will  be  its  influence  over  the  mental  and 
emotional  state  of  man.  A  right  state  of  the  conscience 
admits  of  the  understanding  being  free  and  unfettered, 
and  therefore  allows  it  to  form  its  opinions  more  correctly. 
This  mutual  influence  of  the  moral  sense  on  the  mental 
economy  is  part  of  our  constitution  ;  for  as  far  as  observa- 
tion extends,  every  rational  creature  has  a  conscience  ;*  and 

*  Each  animal  has  its  instincts  implanted  by  nature  to  direct  him  to 
his  greatest  good.     Man  has  his — an  instinctive  approbation  of  right 


24  CONSCIENCE  JUDGES  OPINIONS. 

every  creature  endowed  with  conscience  is  a  rational  being  ; 
the  conscience  in  all  men  intuitively  recognises  some  law 
superior  to  itself,  the  force  and  authority  of  which  it  can 
neither  evade  nor  modify.  Under  the  influence  of  that  law, 
conscience  takes  note  of  all  the  free  actings  of  man  in  the 
world  of  thought,  in  the  world  of  motive,  in  the  world  ot 
desire,  as  in  the  world  of  overt  acts,  and  of  fulfilled  purposes. 
At  the  same  time,  it  must  be  remembered  that  reason  and 
conscience  act  together ;  that  there  is  not  within  man  one 
thmkiiig  engine  that  works  by  itself,  and  another  moral 
engine  that  takes  up  the  products  of  the  thinking,  and  weaves 
them  into  new  forms  and  fashions  ;  the  conscience  always 
acts  with  the  reason,  and  gives  the  moral  colouring  to  its 
fabrics. 

Now,  while  it  is  true  that  the  conscience  is  not  an 
unerring  guide,  and  is  not  invariable,  nor  infallible,  in  its 
judgments,  any  more  than  reason  is  in  its  conclusions,  it  is, 
nevertheless,  true  that  in  society,  where  the  members  have 
different  degrees  of  mental  culture,  and  are  endowed  with 
different  sensibilities,  and  hold  different  opinions,  we  do 
conscientiously  judge  of  the  sentiments  and  beliefs  of  each 
other,  and,  without  any  hesitation,  pronounce  this  to  be 
right,  and  that  to  be  wrong  ;  we  must  do  so,  standing  on  our 
own  moral  convictions,  and  maintaining  the  honour  and 
authority  of  our  consciences.  And  if  we  can  deal  thus  with 
the  sentiments  and  beliefs  of  other  men,  have  we  not  greater 
facilities,  and  much  more  reason,  for  dealing  thus  with  our 
own  }  and,  in  approving  or  disapproving  of  them,  do  we  not 
recognise  our  responsibility  1  If  we  can  meditate  on  the 
errors  in  opinion  of  other  men,  and  conclude  that,  if  we 
had  been  in  their  position,  we  would  have  judged  differently, 
why  may  we  not  sit  in  judgment  on  our  own  beliefs,  and 

and  abhorrence  of  wrong,  prior  to  all  reflection  on  their  nature  or  their 
consequences. —  Warbiirtoii. 

Every  bias,  instinct,  propension  within,  is  a  real  part  of  our  nature, 
but  not  the  whole  ;  add  to  them  the  superior  faculty,  whose  office  it  is 
to  adjust,  manage,  and  preside  over  them  ;  and  take  in  this,  its  natural 
superiority,  and  you  complete  the  idea  of  human  nature. — Butler. 


ALL  CONSCIENCES   DO   NOT  JUDGE  ALIKE.  25 

acknowledge  that  we  have  often  neglected  evidence,  have 
often  avoided  the  perception  of  truth,  because  we  did  not 
wish  to  see  it ;  or,  if  we  did  look  at  it,  interposed  the  coloured 
glasses  of  strong  prejudice,  and  therefore  could  not  be 
convinced,  because  we  would  not?  This  propensity  has 
embodied  itself  in  the  well-known  proverb — "  None  are  so 
blind  as  those  who  won't  see." 

It  does  not  follow  from  this  that  all  men  must  think  alike 
or  judge  aright — that  the  consciences  of  all  men  will  arrive 
at  one  and  the  same  conclusion  on  all  subjects.  As  it  is  in 
nature,  so  it  is  in  life.  All  flowers  do  not  grow  alike — all  do 
not  assume  the  same  forms,  nor  exhibit  the  same  shades  of 
colour,  nor  do  they  all  make  the  same  impression  on  the 
beholders  ;  the  varieties  are  infinite,  but  that  adds  to  the 
general  beauty  of  the  landscape.  So,  in  the  human  soul, 
you  will  scarcely  ever  find  two  judgments  absolutely  the 
same  ;  the  minds  are  not  of  the  same  calibre,  nor  the  moral 
senses  equally  tender  and  delicate  ;  and,  therefore,  while  it 
is  the  duty  of  every  man  to  cultivate  an  enlightened  con- 
science, and  to  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind,  he 
should  make  allowance  for  the  conscientious  convictions  of 
others.  But  that  whole  process  involves  the  idea  of  respon- 
sibility for  opinion,  though,  of  course,  it  is  a  responsibility 
to  God,  and  not  to  man.  "Through  the  conscience,"  says 
Dr.  Lee,  "  we  behold  that  which  is  the  most  august  aspect 
of  the  Divine  nature,  and  the  noblest  attribute  of  our  own. 
Resistance  to  that  law  which  speaks  through  the  conscience, 
is,  therefore,  as  much  rebellion  against  human  nature  as  against 
the  Divine  government;  and  where  there  is  rebellion,  there  is 
assuredly  responsibility."  Very  likely  it  will  be  replied  to 
all  this — There  is  nothing  in  this  argument ;  for  the  utter- 
ances of  conscience  are  very  different  in  different  men, 
and  among  different  nations,  and  therefore  the  distinctions 
between  right  and  wrong  are  altogether  arbitrary.  But 
surely  the  fact  that  the  moral  sense  may  be  corrupted  and 
vitiated  by  sin,  till  a  man,  imbruted  by  vice,  feels  no  more 
the  pangs  of  remorse  over  his  brutality,  than  the  lion  or  the 
bear  do  when  gloating  over  the  mangled  remains  of  their 


26      ARGUMENT  FROM  PHILOSOPHY  AND  EXPERIENCE. 


victim,  is  no  proof  that  conscience  does  not  exist ;  it  would 
be  just  as  wise  and  correct  to  say  that  man  is  not  a  rational 
being,  because  cases  can  be  produced  in  which  the  lower 
and  more  debasing  appetites  have  so  broken  up  the  reason- 
ing faculty,  that  it  is  hard  to  dig  out  the  fragments  of  it 
from  the  debris  and  desolation  with  which  vice  has  overlaid 
it.  The  machine  is  all  in  ruins;  but  the  broken  wheels 
and  dislocated  connecting-rods  are  sufficient  to  prove  the 
original  purpose  of  the  great  Architect ;  in  short,  there  is 
enough,  even  in  the  ruins  of  man's  moral  nature,  to  show 
that  conscience  is  a  part  of  his  constitution,  that  it  judges 
his  opinions,  informs  him  that  he  is  a  free  agent,  and  there- 
fore responsible  to  God  for  what  he  thinks  and  believes. 

Finally,  philosophy  and  experience  attest  that  there  is  a 
necessary  and  uniform  connection  between  belief  and  prac- 
tice, and  that  to  absolve  a  man  from  all  responsibility  for 
his  belief  would  render  him  to  a  large  extent  unaccountable 
for  what  he  did  or  said.  The  entire  life  of  man  is  composed 
of  these  three  things — thought,  feeling,  action.  Knowledge 
supplies  the  food  for  thought,  and  feeling  provides  the  motive 
for  action.  Belief  is  consequently  an  active  principle  that 
displays  its  power  in  all  the  walks  of  life ;  and  more 
especially  in  the  highest  walks,  wherein  deeds  of  moral 
heroism  have  mantled  with  dignity  the  memories  of  the 
illustrious.  Take  the  case  of  two  nations.  In  the  one  there 
is  a  general  belief  in  the  existence  and  perfection  of  Jehovah, 
in  the  rectitude  of  His  laws  and  in  the  benevolence  of  His 
government,  in  the  duty  of  obeying  His  statutes  and  of 
glorifying  His  name  ;  in  the  other  there  is  a  general  belief  in 
false  gods — in  Jupiter,  or  Juno,  or  Venus,  or  Shiva,  or  Vishnu. 
These  are  to  be  worshipped  and  served  with  sacrifices  and 
offerings  agreeable  to  their  nature.  Are  these  beliefs  harm- 
less }  Will  they  remain  dead  and  stagnant  in  the  intellect  .-^ 
or  will  they,  must  they  be  operative  in  and  over  the  life  }  Let 
history  and  experience  tell.  ]  n  the  one  nation  they  produce  a 
certain  amount  of  holy  fear,  of  virtue  and  morality ;  the 
worship  that  is  practised  and  the  lives  that  are  led  are  some- 
what in  harmony  with  the  ideas  that  have  been  formed ;  they 


OPINIONS   INFLUENCE   PRACTICE.  27 

run  out  in  the  same  plane  with  their  thoughts  of  Jehovah,  and, 
in  proportion  as  they  accord  therewith,  we  call  them  virtuous 
or  good,  for  the  opinion  and  the  practice  are  inseparable 
in  their  character.  In  the  other  case,  the  belief  in  false 
divinities  leads,  and  always  has  led,  to  demoralised  actions, 
which  we  term  sinful  and  evil.  The  Hindoo  drowns  his 
aged  parent  in  the  Gunga  ;  the  Moabite  makes  his  child  to 
pass  through  the  fire  to  Moloch  ;  the  worshippers  of  Venus 
indulge  in  unmentionable  licentiousness  ;  the  Indian  leaves 
the  aged  and  infirm  to  starve  to  death  in  the  woods  ;  the 
altars  are  stained  with  human  blood;  infanticide  becomes 
a  duty,  and  is  elevated  into  the  rank  of  a  virtue.  Now  if 
man  has  no  control  over  his  opinions  and  beliefs,  he  can 
have  none  over  the  actions  that  necessarily  result  from 
them  ;  and  we  are  not  warranted  in  pronouncing  any  con- 
demnation on  those  who  commit  such  or  similar  crimes. 
The  world  is  not  old  enough  yet  to  have  forgotten  the 
triumphs  of  infidelity  in  France  in  the  end  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, and  the  actions  resulting  therefrom  in  the  terrific 
scenes  of  the  revolutionary  period ;  nor  is  it  so  courteous  as  to 
allow  that  there  is  no  moral  evil  in  holding  communistic  and 
socialistic  opinions,  and  no  risk  that  society  would  be  con- 
vulsed to  its  centre  if  such  opinions  were  entertained  by 
the  masses  of  the  people. 

If  the  principle  that  man  has  no  control  over  his  opinions 
in  morals  and  religion  be  true,  it  is  equally  true  that  he  has 
no  control  over  his  opinions  in  the  common  affairs  of  life  ; 
and  if  opinion  be  the  basis,  the  guide,  the  spirit  of  action, 
irresponsibility  would  become  the  law  of  human  life  ;  the 
distinction  between  virtue  and  vice  would  soon  be  lost  sight 
of,  and  disorganised  society  become  the  curse  of  the  earth. 
It  was  not  a  forced  nor  a  necessary  conviction,  but  one  to 
which  the  free  consent  of  a  man's  whole  soul  was  given,  that 
inspired  and  led  to  the  noble  deeds  that  stand  emblazoned 
in  records  human  and  Divine.  The  men  who  have  done 
honour  to  their  race  have  been  the  first  and  foremost  to 
recognise  the  connection  between  their  belief  and  their 
actions.     The  belief  led  to  the  action,  and  carried  them  to 


28  OPINION   AND   PRACTICE   INSEPARABLE. 

the  triumphant  issue  of  their  conflicts,  in  the  face  of  a 
thousand  perils,  and  of  all  but  insurmountable  difficulties. 

Look  at  that  intrepid  man  who,  year  after  year,  besieged 
the  courts  and  crowned  heads  of  Europe,  beseeching  them 
to  send  him  forth  on  a  voyage  of  discovery.  He  believed 
in  the  existence  of  an  unknown  country;  he  had  formed  the 
strong  opinion  that  it  could  be  reached,  and  it  became  his 
life-work  to  reach  that  land  ;  and  not  the  dangers  of 
unknown  seas,  not  the  mutinies  of  his  sailors,  not  the  thought 
of  starvation  and  death,  could  deter  his  noble  spirit.  His 
belief  was  a  power  within  him ;  it  made  him  victor  in  the 
end  ;  and  the  name  of  Columbus  will  never  be  forgotten  till 
the  time  has  come  when  there  shall  be  no  more  sea. 

But  why  speak  of  deeds  like  his  when  we  have  illustra- 
tions nobler  far.  In  that  record  of  heroes  in  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  we  have  the  story  of 
the  men  Avho  subdued  kingdoms,  wrought  righteousness, 
obtained  promises,  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions — the  men  of 
whom  the  world  was  not  worthy,  the  grand  pioneers  in  the 
noble  army  of  martyrs.  There,  see  belief  in  action.  The  faith 
within  is  clothed  upon  with  visibility — heroic  wills,  power- 
ful to  endure  all  the  world's  malice ;  for  the  men  knew  in 
whom  they  believed  ;  and  that  faith,  with  its  acknowledged 
responsibilities,  led  them  to  their  sacrifices,  and  animated 
their  hearts  to  dare  and  endure  all  things  for  their  Lord. 
And  what  do  their  lives  and  lessons  teach  us  but  this,  that 
belief  is  an  energetic  principle  of  action,  and  Christian  belief 
the  most  powerful  and  energetic  of  all  ? 

But  when  we  say  that  opinions  necessarily  develope  into 
actions,  as  seed  developes  into  a  plant,  and  that  accountable- 
ness  must  follow  the  process  all  through ;  that  if  a  man  does 
not  believe  in  a  world  to  come,  in  a  state  of  future  and  final 
retribution,  his  life  will  be  very  different  from  that  of  a 
Christian,  who  thinks  and  walks,  as  seeing  God  who  is  in- 
visible ;  we  are  met  by  the  reply — We  can  produce  men  who 
deny  all  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  Christianity ;  yea,  who 
dispute  the  very  existence  of  God  and  of  a  hereafter ;  who 
are  as  amiable  and  gentle,  as  loving  and  upright,  as  the  best 


CONCLUSION.  29 

among  those  who  speak  most  freely  of  having  believed  in 
God,  and  of  loving  Him  with  all  their  hearts.  It  may  be  so, 
but  where  are  they  found  ? — in  the  midst  of  Christian  society, 
surrounded  with  all  the  indirect  benefits  of  Christian  nurture 
and  education,  largely  fashioned  and  moulded  by  the  very 
beliefs  they  now  reject  or  vilify. 

Look  at  the  atheist,  when  he  is  separate  from  the  indirect 
influences  of  Christianity,  in  his  native  dress,  with  all  the 
surroundings  that  his  own  opinions  have  called  into  being, 
or  have  failed  to  control.  See  him  in  Ancient  Rome  in  the 
days  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  and  in  the  history  and  character 
of  the  vices  and  crimes  that  disgraced  the  imperial  city,  as 
recorded  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  ; 
see  the  spawn  which  that  philosophy  spread  over  the  waters 
of  life,  and  the  pollutions  which,  if  it  did  not  produce,  it  at 
all  events  failed  to  remedy  or  remove.  See  him  in  Ancient 
Greece,  in  Ephesus,  and  Corinth ;  and  learn  that  Epicurus 
and  his  Stoics  could  not  bear  to  be  placed  on  the  same 
platform  with  the  humblest  followers  of  Jesus,  and  have 
their  moralities  compared  and  contrasted  even  by  the 
philosophic  atheists  of  modern  days.  The  practice  in  both 
cases  would  be  at  once  the  result  and  the  exponent  of  the 
faiths. 

No  responsibility  for  opinion  !  Call  up  the  spirits  of 
the  persecutors  of  the  Church  of  God — the  men  who  slew 
the  saints  for  the  testimony  they  held,  and  against  whom 
the  souls  of  the  martyred  cried  from  under  the  altar,  "  How 
long,  O  Lord,  holy  and  true,  dost  Thou  not  judge  and 
avenge  our  blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  .^"  and 
tell  those  spirits  that  society,  which  now  execrates  their 
opinions  and  their  crimes,  has  done  them  great  injustice ; 
that  in  believing  that  it  was  for  the  honour  of  God  that 
heretics  should  be  tortured,  hunted  like  wild  beasts  from 
the  earth,  and  put  to  the  crudest  deaths,  their  opinion  was 
wrong,  but  as  they  held  it  honestly  and  sincerely,  they 
are  not  condemnable  for  having  entertained  it,  and  that  the 
practical  carrying  it  out  was  as  inevitable  as  the  opinion 
itself;  and  if  they  could  believe  you,  it  would  mitigate  the 


30  CONCLUSION. 

anguish  of  their  remorse,  and  help  to  quiet  a  little  their 
terrible  forebodings  of  the  coming  judgment. 

Not  responsible  for  belief!  Will  the  British  Government 
teach  that  doctrine  to  the  Thugs  of  India,  who  believe  that 
in  murdering  the  unwary  traveller  they  are  guilty  of  no 
crime  ?  Not  responsible  for  belief!  Will  humanity  permit 
the  young  widow  to  mount  the  funeral  pile,  and  be  consumed 
with  the  body  of  her  deceased  husband,  because  she  believes 
such  sacrifice  is  required,  and  is  her  passport  for  heaven  ^ 
Not  responsible  for  belief!  Will  a  parent  preach  that 
doctrine  to  a  prodigal  son,  who  has  wasted  his  substance 
with  riotous  living  ?  Will  he  address  him  thus — I  think 
you  have  acted  sinfully  and  shamelessly,  bringing  disgrace 
on  yourself  and  on  your  father's  house  ;  but  knowing  that 
you  believe  that  the  course  you  are  pursuing  is  the  most 
pleasurable — that  you  do  not  see  the  evdl  of  it  as  I  do — that 
you  believe  that  there  is  more  happiness  to  be  had  in  the 
companionships  you  have  chosen  than  in  the  peace  and 
quietude  of  home,  I  pity  you,  but  I  cannot  condemn  you, 
because  you  have  no  power  over  the  belief  in  which  you  act .'' 

Not  responsible  for  belief!  Will  a  judge  teach  that 
to  a  convicted  thief  at  his  tribunal  ^  Will  he  say — The 
evidence  against  you  is  full,  clear,  and  undeniable ;  I  must 
pronounce  you  guilty ;  but  I  cannot  blame  you  ;  you  don't 
believe  in  the  rights  of  property  ;  you  cannot  see  any  reason 
why  some  men  should  possess  wealth  and  comfort  in  abun- 
dance, and  you  should  want  both  ;  and  you  see  no  harm 
in  filching  a  part  of  their  superfluous  store,  if  you  can  do  it 
without  detection — that  is  your  belief;  it  is  a  very  erroneous 
one,  but  you  cannot  help  it ;  and  it  is  very  sad  that  law, 
with  its  austerity,  compels  me  to  pass  a  sentence  upon  you 
for  an  act  which  was  the  necessary  and  the  natural  result 
of  opinion  and  belief  you  could  not  control .''  Would 
common  sense,  would  the  interests  of  society  tolerate  such  J 
jargon  ?  Reason  and  philosophy  might  not  be  able  to  i 
solve  the  connection  between  opinion  and  practice,  and  % 
yet  both  would  maintain,  at  least  in  all  the  ordinary  afTairs 
of  human  life,  that  man  is  responsible  for  his  deeds.     Any    ' 


i 


CONCLUSION.  31 

other  sentiment  would  arrest  all  social  improvement,  sap 
the  foundations  of  all  morality,  and  enable  the  wicked  to 
find  a  justification  for  every  crime ;  for  if  a  man's  opinion 
is  to  be  his  standard  of  honesty  and  his  test  of  virtue, 
religion  might  at  once  spread  out  her  snow-white  wings,  and, 
soaring  off  to  a  world  of  purity  and  love,  leave  the  earth  a 
prey  to  darkness  and  to  death. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  said  that,  in  all  cases  where  the  opinions 
result  in  criminal  practices,  the  beliefs  formed  were  not  war- 
ranted by  evidence.  But  if  the  man  is  not  responsible,  who 
is  to  judge  ?  The  question  is  not  how  the  evidence  would 
affect  j^//r  mind,  but  how  it  has  affected  /as,  and  determined 
his  procedure  ;  for  the  power  of  evidence  varies  immensely 
according  to  the  men  and  the  minds  it  is  presented  to. 
Argument,  cogent  and  apparently  irresistible,  is  no  evidence 
to  a  man  whose  soul  is  vitiated  by  sin,  or  whose  under- 
standing is  clouded  by  superstition.  Even  facts  are  not 
evidence  to  a  man  who  does  not  perceive  them,  and  whose 
non-perception  is  due  to  the  state  of  his  own  heart  and  will. 
The  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  is  this — What  we 
believe  determines  what  we  do,  and  thus  the  responsibility 
covers  the  whole  area  of  opinion  and  of  practice. 

These  are  not  the  times  in  which  there  is  occasion  to 
lessen  man's  sense  of  accountability  to  God.  Men's  wits 
are  sharp  enough  to  frame  excuses  for  their  sins,  and  to  fancy 
that  they  cannot  avoid  thinking  and  doing  what  they  wish 
to  think  and  delight  to  practise.  What  is  needed  in  these 
eventful  days  is  the  plain  and  forcible  teaching  of  the  fact 
that  man  has  a  conscience,  which  will  one  day  awake,  and 
from  its  tribunal  in  the  soul  judge  of  thoughts  and  deeds,  and 
prove  in  the  bitter  experience  of  the  condemned  that  that 
silent  monitor,  like  a  bird  of  prey,  has  followed  him  in  all 
the  walks  of  life,  with  its  terrible  retributions  and  indescrib- 
able forebodings  of  wrath.  Vain,  vain  will  ever  be  the 
task  of  trying  to  divest  man's  mind  of  the  thought  of  a 
coming  day  of  retribution ;  for  the  idea  of  that  future 
judgment,  which  is  to  vindicate  the  moral  government  of 
God,  and  explain  all  that  seems  anomalous  in  the  workings 


32  CONCLUSION. 

of  His  providence,  flashes  upon  us  every  hour  of  our 
existence.  The  lessons  of  history,  the  aspects  of  society, 
the  prevalence  of  evil,  the  depression  of  the  godly,  the  long- 
continued  and  God-dishonouring  sentiments  that  have 
prevailed  in  the  world,  demand  a  day  of  trial — a  day  in 
which  the  claims  of  truth  will  be  vindicated  as  certainly  as 
the  claims  of  righteousness,  and  a  judgment  be  passed  that 
will  include  all  error,  as  well  as  all  criminality.  Oh,  blessed 
thought !  before  that  hour  arrives,  knowledge  will  have 
spread  over  the  earth  as  the  light  of  day  spreads  over  the 
world,  false  opinion  will  have  lost  its  foothold  in  time, 
human  thought  will  have  achieved  its  noblest  triumphs, 
right  beliefs,  in  union  with  piety  and  charity  and  love,  will 
be  commanding  influences  in  all  climes  and  kingdoms,  and 
all  the  ends  of  the  earth  be  found  rejoicing  in  the  faith 
that  saves,  and  in  the  truth  that  sanctifies. 


>' 


i 


r>K  'f 


Wfi^  Sfr  mA  ^\\mmk\  4  0{lti[ist. 


REV.  JOHN  MORAN. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST. 


-♦♦•♦♦- 


THE  evidences  of  the  truth  of  Christianity  are  manifold 
and  varied,  addressing  themselves  not  only  to  different 
types  of  mind,  but  also  to  different  parts  of  our  mental  and 
moral  nature.  One  of  the  strongest  and  most  convincing 
of  these  is  to  be  found  in  the  life  and  character  of  Christ  as 
portrayed  in  the  gospels.  To  set  forth  the  nature  and  value 
of  this  evidence  is  the  object  of  the  present  lecture.  In  the 
time  at  our  disposal  it  will  not  be  possible  to  do  more  than 
give  an  outline  of  the  argument  derivable  from  this  source. 

We  have  in  our  hands  four  writings  or  compositions, 
generally  known  as  "The  Gospels;"  and  according  to  the 
present  results  of  criticism,  the  first  of  these  was  in  existence 
before  A.D.  70,  the  second  and  third  some  few  years  later, 
and  the  fourth  about  the  close  of  the  first  century.*  We  do 
not  assume  the  truth  of  these  writings,  for  that  would  be  to 
take  for  granted  the  matter  in  dispute,  but  simply  that  they 
now  exist,  and  that  they  can  be  traced  back  to  the  dates 
that  have  been  mentioned. 

When  we  examine  these  compositions,  we  find  that  they 
are  memoirs  or  biographies  of  a  remarkable  person  called 
Jesus  Christ,  and  that  they  represent  him  as  possessing  a 
character  transcendently  excellent  and  beautiful,  faultlessly 
pure  and  perfect,  unique  and  unparalleled  in  history.  They 
do  this,  not  by  any  formal  description  or  delineation  of  his 
character — nothing  of  that  kind  is  attempted — but  by  the 
simple  record  of  what  he  said  and  did.  Our  limits  forbid 
anything  but  a  mere  sketch  of  the  character  thus  set 
before  us  ;  and  no  such  sketch  can  do  it  anything  like 
justice.  Indeed,  no  delineation  or  description  can — nothing 
but  the  gospel  narratives  themselves. 

These  memoirs  introduce  us  to  this  remarkable  person 

*  Christlieb's  "  Modern  Doubt  and  Christian  Belief,"  p.  395. 


4  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

in  his  infancy.  After  intimation,  by  an  angel,  to  his 
mother  of  his  birth  and  of  the  name  by  which  he  should 
be  called,  he  is  miraculously  conceived  through  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  (such  is  the  representation),  and  is  born 
a  "  Holy  Thing."  He  is  born  in  a  stable  and  laid  in  a  man- 
ger, yet  an  angel  from  heaven  announces  his  birth  to  men, 
and  a  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host  praise  God  for  his 
appearance  in  our  world.  And  thus  we  meet  at  the  very 
commencement  of  his  earthly  life  that  combination  of  great- 
ness and  lowliness,  dignity  and  abasement,  which  marks  it 
throughout  and  distinguishes  it  from  every  other  life. 

The  child  Jesus  is  not  a  prodigy,  displaying  superhuman 
wisdom  and  doing  wonderful  things  from  his  very  infancy. 
He  is  a  perfectly  natural  and  truly  human  child,  but  pure 
and  holy,  without  any  taint  of  evil  or  any  stain  of  sin.  He 
grows  like  other  children,  both  physically  and  mentally,  in 
stature  and  in  inteUigence.  He  attracts  the  affection  of  all 
who  come  in  contact  with  him,  and  has  favour  with  God, 
whose  grace  is  upon  him. 

This  is  the  picture  given  us  of  his  infancy.  Of  his  boy- 
hood we  have  but  a  glimpse — one  recorded  incident,  but 
it  is  in  harmony  with  the  childhood  that  has  preceded. 
When  twelve  years  of  age,  he  goes  up  to  Jerusalem  with 
his  parents,  and  is  left  behind  there  at  their  departure. 
When  they  return  to  seek  him,  they  find  him  "  in  the 
temple,  sitting  in  the  midst  of  the  doctors,  both  hearing 
them  and  asking  them  questions  " — the  impression  made 
upon  all  Avho  hear  him  being  one  of  amazement  "  at 
his  understanding  and  answers."  There  is  nothing  in  his 
conduct  or  bearing  to  offend — no  pertness  nor  forwardness, 
no  want  of  modesty  or  humility  ;  yet  he  shows  a  measure  of 
inteUigence  and  an  interest  in  Divine  things  so  far  beyond 
those  of  an  ordinary  and  merely  human  youth,  that  those  who 
hear  him  are  "  astonished."  His  mother  gently  reproaches 
him  for  having  remained  behind  his  father  and  herself  with- 
out their  knowledge,  and  thereby  caused  them  anxiety  on 
his  account :  and  then  we  have  that  first  recorded  word  of 
his — "Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  busi- 


HIS   SPOTLESS   CHILDHOOD.  5 

ness?" — the  "solitary  floweret  plucked  out  of  the  enclosed 
garden  of  the  thirty  years,"  which  shows  us  that  he  had 
come  to  know  himself  and  his  relation  to  the  Father — a 
knowledge  which  surprised  his  mother,  and  which,  not  under- 
standing, she  carried  away  to  meditate  on  and  ponder. 

Now  it  has  been  well  shown  by  Bushnell  that,  whether 
fact  or  fiction,  we  have  here  the  sketch  of  a  perfect  and 
sacred  childhood — that,  in  this  respect,  the  early  character 
of  Jesus  is  a  picture  that  stands  by  itself — that  in  no  other 
case  has  a  biographer,  in  drawing  a  character,  represented 
it  as  beginning  with  a  spotless  childhood.  He  adds — "  If 
any  writer,  of  almost  any  age,  will  undertake  to  describe 
not  merely  a  spotless  but  a  superhuman  or  celestial  child- 
hood, not  having  the  reality  before  him,  he  must  be  some- 
what more  than  human  himself,  if  he  does  not  pile  together 
a  mass  of  clumsy  exaggerations,  and  draw  and  overdraw, 
till  neither  heaven  nor  earth  can  find  any  verisimilitude  in 
the  picture."*  This  is  strikingly  exhibited  by  the  apocry- 
phal gospels  in  their  portraiture  of  Christ's  childhood. 
While  the  writers  of  the  gospels  we  are  considering  say  so 
little  of  the  infancy  and  youth  of  Jesus,  and  expressly  tell 
us  that  he  did  his  first  miracle  at  Cana  of  Galilee  when 
entering  upon  his  public  ministry,  the  apocryphal  gospels 
fill  his  childhood  and  youth  with  all  manner  of  grotesque 
and  absurd  miracles  and  prodigies,  showing  us  what  it  was 
in  the  power  of  that  age  to  invent,  and  in  what  a  contrast  it 
stands  to  the  naturalness  and  reserve  of  the  canonical  gospels. 

When  we  pass  from  Christ's  childhood  to  his  manhood, 
and  consider  his  character  as  it  is  then  presented  to  us,  we 
find  that  it  is  just  the  development  of  his  pure  and  spotless 
youth,  to  which  it  stands  in  the  same  relation  as  the  flower 
does  to  the  bud  from  which  it  has  expanded. 

As  we  survey  this  character,  the  first  thing  that  strikes  us 
is  its  perfect  innocence  and  sinlessness.  According  to  the 
representation  given  of  him  in  the  gospels,  Jesus  Christ  is  a 
perfectly  innocent  and  sinless  being.  During  his  whole  life, 
he  neither  does  wrong,  nor  gives  just  cause  of  offence  to 
*  "  Nature  and  the  Supernatural,"  p.  280. 


6  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

any  one.  He  never  injures  any  one,  by  word  or  deed. 
Many,  no  doubt,  are  offended  with  him,  but  it  is  with  what 
is  good  in  him  that  they  are  offended — with  his  faithfulness 
and  truth,  his  purity  and  holiness,  his  compassion  and 
benevolence.  The  Scribes  and  Pharisees  are  offended  with 
his  humility  because  it  rebukes  their  pride,  with  his  bene- 
volence because  it  reproves  their  selfishness,  with  his  holi- 
ness because  it  contrasts  so  strongly  with  their  moral  turpi- 
tude and  vileness.  But  this  is  their  blame  ;  he  is  blameless. 
The  idea  of  Christ,  in  this  respect,  conveyed  by  the  gospel 
narrative,  is  that  of  a  perfectly  innocent  and  harmless  being, 
one  whose  life  is  altogether  inoffensive,  and  to  whose  heart 
every  feeling  of  hatred  and  unkindness  is  a  stranger. 
And,  while  thus  innocent  and  harmless,  he  is  so  without 
sustaining  any  loss  of  dignity — without  giving  any  idea  of 
feebleness  or  weakness,  such  as  we  often  associate  with 
mere  innocence — nay,  while  conveying  the  strongest  im- 
pression of  greatness  and  power. 

Nor  is  Christ  innocent  and  harmless  merely;  he  is  sinless. 
This,  we  are  aware,  is  denied  by  some  ;  but  we  contend  that 
it  is  the  representation  of  the  gospel  narrative.     There  is 
no  act  attributed  to  him  that  can,  with  any  show  of  justice, 
be  regarded  as  a  sinful  act.     His  driving  of  the  traffickers 
out  of  the  temple,  especially  when  taken  in  connection  with 
his  claim  as  Son  to  rule  in  his  Father's  house,  is  an  act 
not  only  compatible  with  sinlessness,  but  positively  holy 
and  even  godlike  in  its  character.     And  the  fact  that  so 
many  retire  without  resistance  before  a  single  man,  implies 
a  consciousness  of  wrong-doing  upon  their  part,  and  shows     > 
the  majesty  of  reproving  holiness.     As  to  the  charge  of     ' 
injustice   and    unreasonable   resentment,  founded    on    his     v 
smiting  a  fig-tree  with  barrenness,  it  is  almost  unworthy  of     '!■ 
serious  refutation.     There  was  no  injustice  and  no  resent-     j 
ment  in  the  case.     It  was  a  warning  expressed  in  symbol,     j 
an  admonition  given  by  an  act.     It  was  Christ's  taking  an     * 
inanimate  object — and,  therefore,  one  that  was  incapable  of 
suffering — and  using  it  to  reprove  the  people  of  Israel  for     ■ 
their  unfruitfulness,  and  warn  them  of  impending  doom. 


HIS   SINLESSNESS.  7 

Then  we  have  most  important  testimony  on  this  point 
borne  by  Christ's  enemies.  Pilate  washes  his  hands  before 
the  multitude,  in  token  of  his  freedom  from  all  participation 
in  the  crime  of  putting  an  innocent  man  to  death  ;  and  says, 
"  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood  of  this  just  person."  Judas, 
who  knew  what  Christ  was,  not  only  in  public  but  in  private,. 
so  far  from  having  anything  to  allege  against  him  that 
might  have  excused  him  to  himself  and  others  for  what  he 
had  done,  testifies  to  his  innocence,  and  says, "  I  have  sinned 
in  that  I  have  betrayed  the  innocent  blood." 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  Christ's  own  declarations 
respecting  himself  ?  That  he  claims  to  be  a  perfectly  sin- 
less being  is  undeniable.  His  challenge  to  his  enemies  is, 
"Which  of  you  convinceth  me  of  sin  .''"  Of  his  invulner- 
ability to  the  assaults  of  Satan,  he  declares,  "  The  prince  of 
this  world  cometh  and  hath  nothing  in  me;"  and  of  his 
obedience  to  the  Father,  he  says,  "  I  do  always  the  things 
that  please  him."  And  not  only  does  he  make  this  claim  ; 
he  carries  it  through  without  faltering  in  its  assertion,  or 
abating  it  for  a  single  moment.  During  his  whole  life 
he  never  makes  a  confession  of  sin,  drops  a  tear  of  peni- 
tence, nor  offers  a  prayer  for  forgiveness.  He  has  no 
remorse,  no  regrets,  no  sense  of  having  failed  in  any  duty — 
no  feeling  that  he  should  have  done  anything  different,  or 
in  a  different  manner,  from  what  he  has  done.  "  It  is  clear," 
as  Dorner  says,  "  in  the  most  decided  moments  of  his  life, 
that  he  is  conscious  of  no  sin.  That  his  self-consciousness 
was  really  of  such  a  sort  that  his  conscience  never  accused 
him  of  any  fault  or  error,  is  the  firmest  and  most  indis- 
putable historical  fact,  explain  it  as  we  may.  That  he 
imposed  upon  himself  as  his  life-task  the  salvation  and 
reconciliation  of  the  world  ;  that  he  was  conscious,  too,  of 
being  occupied  with  the  solution  of  this  problem,  in  suffer- 
ing even  to  the  cross  ;  and  that  he  died  in  the  full 
consciousness  of  having  solved  the  problem,  as  well  as  of 
unbroken  communion  with  God,  is  just  as  undeniable  as 
that  it  would  have  been  an  insane  and  absurd  thought  to 
wish  to  redeem  and  reconcile  others,  if  he  had  been  con- 


8  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST. 

scious  of  needing  redemption  himself.  How,  then,  can  the 
phenomenon  be  explained,  that  he,  to  whom  even  sceptics  do 
not  deny  the  rarest  measure  of  purity  and  clearness  of  mind, 
stands  before  us  without  being  conscious  of  a  single  sin,  or 
of  the  necessity  of  conversion  and  amendment,  which  he 
requires  of  all  others  ;  if  not  in  this  way,  that  he  was 
conscious  of  no  sin  because  he  was  not  a  sinner."  This  is 
the  only  adequate  explanation  of  it :  for  as  Bushnell  has 
well  said,  "  If  Jesus  was  a  sinner,  he  was  conscious  of  sin, 
as  all  sinners  are,  and  therefore  was  a  hypocrite  in  the 
whole  fabric  of  his  character  ;  realising  so  much  of  Divine 
beauty  in  it,  maintaining  the  show  of  such  unfaltering 
harmony  and  celestial  grace,  and  doing  all  this  with  a  mind 
confused  and  fouled  by  the  affectations  acted  for  true 
virtues  !  Such  an  example  of  successful  hypocrisy  would  be 
itself  the  greatest  miracle  ever  heard  of  in  the  world." 

No  ;  Christ  lived  in  a  world  where  he  was  exposed  and 
tempted  to  evil,  but  the  purity  of  his  nature  constantly 
repelled  it.  As  he  touched  the  leper,  and  no  uncleanness 
followed,  so  he  mingled  with  sinners  and  received  no  con- 
tamination from  them.  He  had  evil  suggested  to  his  mind 
by  Satan,  but  his  holy  soul  did  not  admit  it.  "  He  did  no 
sin,  neither  was  guile  found  in  his  mouth."  He  was  "  holy, 
harmless,  undefiled,  and  separate  from  sinners."  And  in  this 
sinlessness  of  Jesus,  in  the  midst  of  a  sinful  world,  we  have 
something  that  separates  him  from  all  other  men,  in  which 
he  stands  solitary  and  alone,  the  one  sublime  exception  to 
a  universal  sinfulness. 

But  not  only  is  Christ  free  from  all  stain  of  sin ;  he  is 
distinguished  by  the  highest  positive  moral  excellence,  even 
perfect  love  to  God,  and  pure,  disinterested,  self-sacrificing 
love  to  man.  This  love  is  the  groundwork  of  his  character, 
its  grand  distinguishing  peculiarity.  He  shows  his  love  to 
God  by  a  regard  to  His  will  in  all  things — a  constant,  cheer- 
ful, devoted  obedience.  At  twelve  years  of  age,  as  a  matter 
not  more  of  duty  than  of  delight,  he  must  be  about  his 
Father's  business.  As  he  fulfils  his  ministry,  it  is  his  meat, 
the  joy  and  invigoration  of  his  soul,  to  do  the  will  of  Him 


HIS   LOVE  TO   MAN.  9 

that  sent  him,  and  to  finish  His  work.  And  when  his  earthly 
life  is  closing,  he  contemplates  it  with  satisfaction,  because  he 
can  say  to  the  Father — "  I  have  glorified  Thee  on  the  earth  ; 
I  have  finished  the  work  which  Thou  gavest  me  to  do." 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  his  love  to  man,  but  that  the 
world  has  never  witnessed  anything  like  it  before  or  since. 
His  whole  life  on  earth  was  just  the  expression  of  that  love 
— the  shedding  of  its  light  on  the  world's  darkness,  the 
pouring  of  its  life-giving  and  healing  waters  on  the  world's 
barrenness  and  drought.  This  love  showed  itself  in  his 
tender  sympathy  with  all  human  woe — with  the  deprivations 
of  the  blind,  the  heart-sorrows  of  the  bereaved,  the  infatuation 
of  the  erring.  How  he  pitied  the  widowed  mother  of  Nain 
in  her  bereavement,  the  sisters  of  Bethany  in  their  grief, 
his  disciples  when  they  sorrowed  in  the  prospect  of  his 
departure,  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  in  their  sinful  and 
infatuated  rejection  of  himself! 

Nor  was  his  an  empty  and  barren  sympathy,  but  one 
accompanied  and  made  efficacious  by  an  active  benevolence. 
""  He  went  about  continually  doing  good,  healing  all  man- 
ner of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  disease  among  the  people." 
He  declared  that  he  "  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but 
to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many."  And 
he  fulfilled  this,  his  own  high  ideal,  at  once  of  his  mission 
and  of  true  greatness.  His  whole  life  was  one  constant  minis- 
try of  self-sacrificing  love.  He  ministered  to  man  in  his  physi- 
cal and  earthly  wants,  healing  the  sick,  cleansing  the  lepers, 
opening  the  eyes  of  the  blind,  comforting  the  sorrowing, 
restoring  the  dead  to  life.  And  he  ministered  to  man  in 
spiritual  wants.  He  did  so  by  the  gracious  words  that  pro- 
ceeded out  of  his  mouth,  his  words  of  compassion  and 
tenderness  and  absolving  love.  He  ministered  thus  to  the 
paralytic,  when  he  said,  "  Son,  be  of  good  cheer,  thy  sins  are 
forgiven  thee ;"  to  the  woman  who  was  a  sinner,  when  he  said, 
^'Thy  faith  hath  saved  thee,  go  in  peace;"  and  to  the  woman 
of  Samaria,  when  he  revealed  himself  to  her  as  the  Mes- 
siah, and  gave  her  the  true  water  of  life.  And  the  crowning 
act,    the   climax    of   this    ministry  of  love,  was   when  he 


10  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

ascended  to  Calvary,  and  there,  by  a  voluntary  death  of 
agony  and  shame,  gave  his  life  a  ransom  for  many.  "  Here- 
in, indeed,  was  love" — greater  than  ever  man  has  shown. 

To  the  highest  active  benevolence  Christ  united  the 
passive  virtues.  It  has  been  justly  remarked  that,  by 
his  life  and  teaching,  Christ  has  revolutionised  the  world's 
estimate  of  these  as  an  element  of  greatness.  Before 
his  time,  men  associated  greatness  almost  entirely  with  the 
heroic  virtues,  and  regarded  meekness  under  injury,  patient 
endurance  of  wrong,  forgiveness  of  enemies,  as  little  more 
than  weaknesses.  But  Christ,  by  his  example,  has  taught 
the  world  not  merely  that  true  greatness  is  compatible 
wath  the  passive  virtues,  but  that  they  form  an  important 
element  of  it.  He  exhibited  these  not  only  in  the 
greater  trials  of  life,  but  also  in  what  are  said  to  be  their 
severest  test,  its  commoner  and  minor  trials.  During  his 
life  he  was  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief. 
He  was  so  poor  that  he  had  no  dwelling  he  could  call 
his  own.  He  knew  what  it  was  to  hunger,  to  thirst,  and  to 
be  weary.  He  was  misunderstood  by  his  friends,  and  mis- 
represented and  maligned  by  his  enemies.  His  good  was 
evil  spoken  of,  and  his  works  attributed  to  Satan.  His  disci- 
ples clung  tenaciously  to  their  mistaken  views  of  the  Messiah,, 
and  were  slow  to  believe  all  that  the  prophets  had  spoken, 
and  all  that  he  taught  respecting  his  sufferings  and  death. 
His  words  were  often  watched  for  ground  of  accusation 
against  him,  and  plots  were  formed  against  his  life.  But 
amid  all  this  privation,  misconception,  and  opposition,  so 
fitted  to  discourage  and  provoke,  he  is  never  ruffled  or 
chafed  in  spirit,  never  manifests  fretfulness  or  impatience, 
displeasure  or  discontent,  never  complains  or  murmurs,  but 
holds  on  his  way  with  an  unclouded  serenity  and  a  sublime 
and  undisturbed  composure.  He  is  not  insensible  either  to 
physical  or  mental  ills.  Exquisitely  sensitive  both  in  soul 
and  body,  he  feels  these  acutely ;  but  in  virtue  of  his  per- 
fect unselfishness,  his  devotion  to  the  Father,  and  his  love 
to  man,  he  rises  above  them  and  possesses  his  soul  in  a 
celestial  patience. 


I 


HIS  MEEKNESS  AND   PATIENCE.  11 

When  we  view  him  in  the  closing  scenes  of  his  earthly 
life,  in  what  is  specially  called  his  passion,  he  presents  a 
spectacle  of  meek  endurance  of  wrong,  and  of  undeserved, 
yet  patient  and  uncomplaining  suffering,  such  as  the  world 
has  never  seen.  None  ever  suffered  as  he  did  ;  but,  although 
innocent,  he  is  an  uncomplaining  sufferer.  He  is  silent  in 
the  hall  of  judgment  when  the  mockery  of  a  trial  is  con- 
ducted for  his  condemnation — silent  when  he  is  blindfolded 
and  buffeted,  spit  on  and  scourged,  ridiculed  and  crowned 
with  thorns — silent  when  he  toils  with  his  cross  along  the 
road  to  Calvary,  the  only  word  that  he  utters  being  one 
not  of  self-lamentation,  but  of  pitying  regard  for  others, 
"  Daughters  of  Jerusalem,  weep  not  for  me,  but  weep  for 
yourselves,  and  for  your  children."  Well  might  it  be  said 
of  him,  "  He  is  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  as 
a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb,  so  he  openeth  not  his 
mouth."  If,  therefore,  to  suffer  even  to  death  uncomplain- 
ingly, being  innocent,  manifest  greatness  of  soul,  none  ever 
exhibited  such  greatness  as  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

Then  think  of  his  forgiveness  of  injury  !  When  Peter 
came  to  him  on  one  occasion,  and  asked,  "  Lord,  how  oft 
shall  my  brother  sin  against  me,  and  I  forgive  him  ?  till  seven 
times  ? "  his  reply  was — "  I  say  not  unto  thee  until  seven 
times,  but  until  seventy  times  seven."  And  what  he  thus 
preached  he  practised.  He  forgave  Peter  for  denying 
him,  Thomas  for  doubting  him,  all  the  disciples  for  forsaking 
him  at  his  apprehension.  Nay,  he  forgave  those  who  cruci- 
fied him.  As  they  drive  the  nails  into  his  hands,  he  raises 
his  meek  eyes  to  heaven  and  prays,  "  Father,  forgive  them  ; 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  No  wonder  that  even 
Rousseau  felt  constrained  to  say  that  if  Socrates  suffered 
and  died  like  a  sage,  Christ  suffered  and  died  like  a  god. 

And  not  only  did  Christ  combine  the  different  c/assrs  of 
virtues  in  his  character  ;  he  united  in  himself  a//  the 
virtues.  Unlike  any  other  great  man  of  whom  we  read — of 
whom  the  most  that  could  be  said  was  that  he  possessed 
one  or  more  virtues  in  a  high  degree — Christ  possessed  every 
virtue  in  its  perfection,  so  that  it  is  not  possible  to  name  any 


12  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

moral  excellence  that  did  not  belong  to  him.  He  possessed 
these  virtues,  moreover,  in  such  just  proportion,  that  his 
character  was  not  only  complete  and  full,  but  in  perfect 
equipoise  and  balance,  exquisitely  symmetrical  and  har- 
monious. His  love  to  God  was  in  beautiful  accord  with  his 
love  to  man.  The  one  of  these  virtues  did  not  outrun  the 
other,  or  develop  itself  at  its  expense,  but  wrought  har- 
moniously with  it.  And  what  was  true  of  these  fundamental 
elements  of  character  was  true  of  the  various  virtues  into 
which  they  resolved  themselves.  In  him,  love  for  the  race 
co-existed  with  love  for  the  individual.  Shepherd  of 
the  whole  family  of  man,  he  could  leave  the  ninety-and- 
nine  in  the  wilderness,  and  go  after  the  one  that  was  lost. 
With  a  world  upon  his  hands,  he  could  stand  and  call  one 
blind  man  to  him  for  healing,  converse  with  and  lead  to 
faith  and  repentance  one  erring  woman  by  the  well  of 
Jacob,  receive  one  anxious  inquirer  who  comes  to  him  by 
night,  and  make  known  to  him  the  way  of  eternal  life. 

The  heroic  and  the  gentle  virtues  met  in  him.  To  the 
highest*  manly  virtue,  the  courage  that  could  stand  un- 
dauntedly against  an  opposing  world,  he  joined  "  the 
highest  characteristics  of  womanly  virtue — infinite  devotion 
and  singleness  of  purpose,  the  unruffled  serenity  of  a  calm 
and  gentle  spirit,  pure  and  modest  feeling  in  the  main- 
tenance of  the  finest  moral  distinctions,  and  the  power 
peculiar  to  women  of  passive  obedience — power  to  bear,  to 
suffer,  to  forego  in  unspeakable  loyalty."  * 

Never  were  contrasts  so  blended,  and  apparent  contradic- 
tions so  reconciled,  as  in  him.  He  is  grave  without  being 
gloomy,  unworldly  without  being  unsociable,  self-denied  with- 
out being  austere,  spiritual  without  being  ascetic,  intolerant  of 
sin,  while  gentle  and  tenderly  compassionate  to  the  sinner. 
His  dignity  is  wedded  to  humility,  his  zeal  guided  by  wis- 
dom, his  enthusiasm  joined  with  calmness  and  self- 
possession.  He  is  in  harmony  with  himself,  with  nature, 
with  duty,  with  everything  but  sin  ;  and  he  is  so  because 
he  is  in  harmony  with  God — because  the  law  of  God  is 
*  Martensen's  "  Christian  Ethics,"  p.  252. 


HARMONY   OF   HIS   CHARACTER.  13 

within  his  heart,  and  he  is  filled  and  pervaded  by  love  to 
him.  And  in  virtue  of  this  inner  harmony  he  does  all 
things  well.  He  is  never  taken  by  surprise,  nor  at  a  loss 
what  to  do.  He  is  never  unprepared  for  the  occasion,  or 
unequal  to  the  emergency,  but  always  does  the  right  thing, 
at  the  right  time,  and  in  the  right  manner. 

He  is  truly  a  perfect  character,  "fairer  than  the  children 
of  men."  Whatever  he  may  have  been  in  bodily  person,  he  is 
altogether  matchless  in  the  beauty  of  his  character.  His  life 
is  a  picture,  not  only  without  a  blot,  but  without  a  defective 
line.  It  is  a  majestic  anthem,  running  through  the  whole 
scale  of  love  and  service,  sounding  every  chord  of  thought 
and  feeling,  and  rising  to  heaven  without  a  discordant  note. 

If  we  view  Christ  as  a  teacher,  all  admit  that  none  ever 
taught  as  he  does.  He  has  not  learned  in  the  schools  of  the 
Rabbis,  and  yet  he  speaks  with  a  wisdom  which  amazes  those 
who  hear  him,  and  leads  them  to  ask  in  wonder,  "  Whence 
knoweth  this  man  letters,  having  never  learned  ?  Whence 
hath  this  man  this  wisdom  and  these  mighty  works  ?"  He 
has  had  no  training  as  an  orator,  and  yet  from  the  first 
moment  he  opens  his  lips  to  teach,  he  shews  himself  to 
be  a  perfect  master  of  human  speech. 

His  teaching  is  not  after  human  methods,  but  after  a 
manner  of  his  own.  He  does  not  speculate,  nor  make 
guesses  at  truth.  He  does  not  reason  and  infer,  build  up 
and  prove  by  elaborate  process  of  argumentation  or  induc- 
tion. He  announces  rather,  and  reveals.  He  speaks  that 
which  he  knows,  and  testifies  that  which  he  has  seen.  The 
truth  lies  before  him — is  within  his  mind  and  heart — and 
he  simply  utters  it ;  and  it  is  seen  and  felt  to  be  the  truth 
by  those  who  hear. 

His  instructions  are  not  imparted  in  an  artificial  and 
formal  system,  but  in  precepts  and  statements  of  truth, 
each  of  which  has  often  a  kind  of  completeness  in  itself,  and 
which,  as  they  fall  from  his  lips,  might  be  likened  to  the 
stars  as  they  drop  one  after  another  into  the  evening  sky 
and  light  up  the  heaven  with  glory.  He  teaches,  moreover, 
not  in  the  language  of  the  schools,  but  in  that  of  the  com- 


14  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

mon  people,  so  that  all  can  understand  ;  and  often  in  para- 
bles which  are  pictures  of  Divine  truth,  drawn  from  nature 
and  every-day  life,  and  which  come  home  to  all  hearts,  and 
live  in  the  memory  for  ever. 

When  we  consider  the  matter  of  his  teaching — confining 
ourselves  at  present  to  his  ethical  system — we  find  it  to  be 
the  highest  and  purest  morality — a  morality  which  even 
sceptics  and  unbelievers  acknowledge  to  be  the  noblest  and 
most  perfect  that  has  ever  been  propounded,  and  before 
which  the  world  has  bowed  down  for  the  last  eighteen 
hundred  years.  It  is  to  this  effect — "  Whatsoever  ye  would 
that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them  ;"  "Love 
your  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse  you,  do  good  to  them 
that  hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  which  despitefuUy  use  you 
and  persecute  you  ;  that  ye  may  be  the  children  of  your 
Father  which  is  in  heaven  :  for  he  maketh  His  sun  to  rise  on 
the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  on 
the  unjust.  .  .  .  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your 
Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect." 

And  this  teaching  is  with  authority.  He  speaks  not  as 
if  there  was  any  doubt  of  the  truth  of  what  he  says,  but 
with  the  manner  of  one  who  is  assured  and  certain,  who 
speaks  what  he  knows,  and  who  has  a  right  to  declare  the 
laws  of  the  kingdom.  His  teaching  is  after  this  manner — 
"  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for  their's  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven;"  "Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said.  An  eye  for 
an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth  :  but  I  say  unto  you.  That  ye 
resist  not  evil ; "  "  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but 
my  word  shall  not  pass  away ; "  "  The  word  that  I  have 
spoken,  the  same  shall  judge  him  in  the  last  day."  Well 
might  it  be  said,  "  Never  man  spake  like  this  man."  And 
well  might  we  ask,  and  leave  the  sceptic  to  reply — "  Whence 
hath  this  man  this  wisdom.-*" 

Closely  connected  with  Christ's  teaching  are  his  claims. 
When  we  examine  these,  we  find  them  to  be  such  as  have 
never  been  advanced  by  any  human  being  before  or  since. 
Time  will  permit  us  to  do  little  more  than  mention  some 
of  these. 


1 


HIS  CLAIMS.  15 

First  of  all,  then,  he  declares  his  humanity,  and  again 
and  again  calls  himself  "  the  Son  of  man."  But  by  this 
designation,  as  applied  to  himself,  he  intimates  not  merely 
that  he  is  a  possessor  of  our  nature,  a  member  of  the 
human  family;  but  that  he  is  something  more  than  this — 
that  he  stands  in  a  peculiar  relation  to  the  race — that  he  is 
the  Son  of  man  as  no  other  is — the  ideal,  the  representative 
man — the  second  man,  the  head  of  a  new  humanity — the 
"  Son  of  man"  spoken  of  by  Daniel,  the  destined  possessor  of 
universal  kingdom  and  dominion. 

But  while  thus  calling  Himself  the  Son  of  man,  he  claims 
no  less  emphatically  to  be  the  Son  of  God.  He  calls  God 
his  Father.  "All  things  are  delivered  unto  me  of  my 
Father."  "  My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work." 
When  the  High  Priest  adjures  him,  by  the  living  God,  to 
tell  whether  he  be  "  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,"  his  un- 
hesitating and  unequivocal  reply  is,  "Thou  hast  said."  And 
when  he  claims  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  he  claims  to  be  so  in 
a  high  and  peculiar  sense,  a  sense  in  which  no  mere  creature 
can  aspire  to  the  title,  and  which  implies  the  possession  of 
the  same  nature  with  God.  This  is  clear  from  the  distinc- 
tion which  he  always  makes,  in  speaking  to  the  disciples, 
between  their  relation  to  God  and  Ids.  He  never  places 
Himself  on  a  level  with  them  in  this  respect — never  says  of 
God  oitr  Father,  but  my  Father  and  yoicr  Father.  The 
opening  words  of  the  Lord's  prayer  are  no  exception  to 
this  ;  for  he  is  there  teaching  the  disciples  to  pray,  and 
does  not  include  himself  His  language  is,  "  After  this 
manner  pray  jj^^." 

In  accordance  with  this  lofty  claim  he  speaks  of  himself 
as  being  "  from  above,"  having  "  come  from  God,"  having 
"come  out  from  the  Father."  He  places  himself  on  a  level 
with  the  Father,  as  when  he  says  of  the  Jews,  "  They  have 
both  seen  and  hated  both  me  and  my  Father,"  when  he  com- 
missions the  disciples  to  baptize  in  the  name  of  the  Father 
and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  when  speaking 
of  the  Father  and  himself,  he  says,  "We  will  come  unto 
him  and  make  our  abode  with  him."     He  claims  co-ordi- 


16  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

nate  authority  with  the  Father — "  My  Father  worketh 
hitherto,  and  I  work."  And  when  the  Jews  take  up  stones 
to  stone  him  because  he  called  God  his  Father,  and 
thereby,  in  their  view,  made  himself  equal  with  God,  he 
says  nothing  to  intimate  that  they  were  wrong  in  the  in- 
ference they  had  drawn  from  the  claim  which  he  advanced. 
He  declares  himself  "Lord  of  the  Sabbath;"  asserts  his 
power  to  forgive  sins  and  to  enact  the  laws  of  the  kingdom  ; 
claims  to  be  honoured  equally  with  the  Father ;  declares 
that  the  dead  shall  hear  his  voice  and  come  forth  to  life — 
that,  as  the  appointed  judge  of  all,  he  will  come  in  glory 
and  judge  all  nations — and  that  men  will  be  accepted  or 
rejected  according  as  they  have  shown  love  and  attachment 
to  him  as  represented  by  his  people,  or  have  disregarded 
and  neglected  him.  He  proclaims  himself  to  be  "  the  light 
of  the  world,"  "  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life,"  by  whom 
alone  any  one  can  come  to  the  Father — the  only  one  who 
knows  the  Father,  and  can  make  him  known  to  men.  He 
invites  all  who  labour  and  are  heavy-laden  to  come  to  him 
that  he  may  give  them  rest — bids  all  men  follow  him,  and 
forsake  everything  that  they  may  do  so — declares  that  he 
will  draw  all  men  to  him.  He  demands  the  highest  affec- 
tion of  the  human  heart,  and  avers  that  whosever  loveth 
father  or  mother  more  than  him  is  not  worthy  of  him,  and 
cannot  be  his  disciple. 

Such  are  some  of  the  claims  of  Christ.  Every  one  will 
admit  that  they  are  the  most  wonderful  ever  made  by  any 
being.  If  any  man,  any  merely  human  teacher,  even  though 
he  were  a  prophet  or  an  apostle,  were  to  make  such  claims, 
would  he  not  cover  himself  with  ridicule,  and  excite  either 
the  world's  pity  of  his  fanaticism,  or  its  indignant  scorn  of  his 
unfounded  and  arrogant  imposture }  Imagine  any  man,  even 
one  "charged  with  a  special,  express,  and  unique  commis- 
sion from  God  to  lead  mankind  to  faith  and  virtue,"*  stand- 
ing forth,  and  saying,  "  All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven 
and  in  earth,"  "  I  and  the  Father  are  one,"  "  He  that  hath 
seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father" — holding  out  hands  to  a 
■^  J.  S.  Mill's  "  Essays  on  Religion,"  p.  255. 


HIS   UNDERTAKING.  17 

world  of  sinners,  and  saying,  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that 
labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest." 
Imagine,  I  say,  any  man  doing  this,  and  what  would  be 
thought  of  him  and  his  pretensions  ?  Well,  Christ,  the  meek 
and  lowly  in  heart,  makes  these  pretensions.  He  makes 
them  again  and  again  ;  not  more,  distinctly  when  "  the 
world  is  going  after  him,"  or  when  he  rides  in  triumph  into 
Jerusalem,  than  when  he  stands  at  the  bar  of  Pilate,  and 
when  he  hangs  in  agony  on  the  accursed  tree.  He  makes 
them  not  ostentatiously  nor  in  high  swelling  words,  but 
modestly  and  calmly,  yet  with  the  most  assured  confidence,, 
and  without  faltering  in  their  assertion  for  a  moment.  And 
he  not  only  makes  these  claims  ;  he  supports  them,  so  that 
they  excite  neither  pity  nor  ridicule,  neither  scorn  nor  in- 
dignation, in  the  readers  of  the  gospel  narratives.  On  the 
contrary,  his  pretensions  sit  gracefully  upon  him,  are  felt 
to  be  in  keeping  with  his  wonderful  life  and  works,  and  in 
no  wise  incongruous  even  with  his  lowliness  and  humility. 
We  may  add  that  these  claims  have  been  acknowledged  by 
men  of  every  country,  of  all  classes  and  conditions,  of  the 
highest  culture  and  of  the  lowest,  and  that  in  ever-increasing 
numbers  for  the  last  eighteen  hundred  years.  Here,  surely, 
is  something  wonderful. 

In  keeping  with  Christ's  claims  is  his  undertaking.  This 
is  to  establish  a  kingdom  that  shall  embrace  the  world,  and, 
by  redemption  and  new  creation,  to  make  all  men  members 
of  it.  He  announces  it  to  be  the  object  of  his  being  sent 
into  the  world — "  that  the  world  through  him  might  be 
saved."  He  declares  that  if  he  "  be  lifted  up  from  the 
earth,  he  will  draw  all  ^men  unto  him."  And  when  he 
sends  forth  his  disciples,  it  is  with  the  commission — "  Go 
ye,  therefore,  and  make  disciples  of  all  nations." 

Such  is  the  colossal  work  which   he  sets   before  him — 

even  to  found  a  universal  spiritual  kingdom — to  reign  in 

the  hearts  of  all  men — to  draw  all  men  to  him,  and  through 

him  to  the  Father;  and  so  to  knit  anew  the  broken  friendship 

between  heaven  and  earth,  and  replace  our  apostate  race  in 

its  original  sphere  of  loving  allegiance  to  its  God  and  Kin 
1? 


(V 

to- 


18  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  OF   CHRIST. 

In  the  grandeur  of  this  his  undertaking,  Christ  is  indeed 
*'  the  unparalleled  in  history."  None  of  the  great  men  that 
we  read  of,  no  founder  of  any  state  or  of  any  religion,  ever 
attempted  or  even  conceived  such  a  thing.  None  of  these 
ever  attempted  to  found  a  religion  or  an  empire  that  would 
embrace  the  world.  Every  one  of  them,  however  liberal 
his  education,  and  however  enlarged  his  views,  was  more  or 
less  limited  in  his  aim  and  influence  to  his  own  age  or  nation. 
But  Christ  proposes  to  set  up  a  kingdom  that  shall  extend 
to  all  nations  and  all  ages,  that  shall  not  merely  be  one 
among  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  but  shall  embrace  them  all, 
and  unite  them  in  one  loving  brotherhood.  He  proposes  to 
enter  into  relation  as  Redeemer  and  Restorer,  Teacher  and 
Example,  King  and  Head — not  with  a  portion  of  humanity, 
but  with  the  whole  of  it — not  with  one  nation  or  people,  but 
with  the  race,  that  he  may  give  it  a  new  form  and  course 
of  development — may  form  it  into  a  new  community  or 
kingdom — a  kingdom  of  redeemed  and  sanctified  men — a 
kingdom  of  God  upon  the  earth.  He,  the  humble  car- 
penter of  Nazareth,  brought  up  in  the  rudest  village  of 
the  rudest  and  most  obscure  province  of  Palestine — who  has 
never  been  out  of  his  own  country,  except  when  he  was 
carried  as  an  infant  into  Egypt — who  has  had  no  learned 
education — who  is  without  wealth  or  power,  without  friends 
or  followers,  save  a  few  fishermen  and  tax-gatherers — he 
conceives  this  mighty  project,  and  addresses  himself  to  its 
execution  with  a  calm  and  assured  confidence  of  success. 

And  if  this  scheme  of  Christ  is  so  grand  and  wondrous 
even  in  idea,  what  shall  we  say  of  the  plan  by  which  he 
proposes  to  accomplish  it,  save  that  it  is  grander  and  more 
wondrous  still!  he  does  not  expect  to  see  his  undertaking 
carried  to  completion,  and  his  kingdom  fully  established, 
during  his  earthly  life.  He  knows  what  is  in  his  people,  and 
what  is  in  man,  too  well  for  that.  He  foresees  and  lays 
his  account  with  opposition  and  rejection  on  the  part  of 
those  whom  he  would  redeem  and  save  ;  and  he  forms  his 
plan  so  that  these,  instead  of  hindering  his  work,  shall  help 
it  forward — instead  of  thwarting  and  defeating  it,  shall  con- 


HIS  WONDROUS   PLAN.  19 

tribute  to  its  success.  Though  his  miracles,  his  teaching, 
and  his  example  should  all  fail  to  impress  and  win  men's 
hearts,  as  he  knows  they  will,  he  has  still  another  and  a 
mightier  power  in  reserve — the  power  of  his  self-sacrificing 
love — the  power  of  a  death  voluntarily  endured  out  of  love 
for  those  whom  he  came  to  save,  and  at  their  hands.  And 
such  is  the  grandeur  at  once  of  his  conception  and  of  his 
self-sacrificing  love,  that  he  contemplates  making  his  death 
at  the  hands  of  men  the  great  instrument  of  their  conquest. 
He  says  to  himself  in  effect,  "  I  will  reveal  a  love  of  such 
greatness,  self-forgetfulness,  and  self-sacrifice,  that  men  shall 
not  be  able  to  resist  it — that  it  shall  overcome  their  enmity, 
awaken  their  contrition,  and  take  captive  their  hearts."  Such 
is  the  wonderful  and  loving  thought  of  Christ.  And  thus 
out  of  apparent  failure  he  will  bring  success,  and  out  of 
men's  very  hatred  and  rejection  of  him  he  will  extract  the 
means  of  overcoming  them,  and  subduing  them  to  himself. 
Surely  we  may  say,  alike  of  the  sublime  project  and  of  the 
plan  for  its  accomplishment,  "  This  is  not  the  manner  of 
men — is  not  human,  but  Divine."  "  For  scarcely  for  a 
righteous  man  will  one  die  ;  yet  peradventure  for  a  good 
man  some  would  even  dare  to  die.  But  God  commendeth 
his  love  toward  us,  in  that,  while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ 
died  for  us." 

Such,  though  in  meagre  outline  and  most  inadequate 
delineation,  is  the  Christ  of  the  gospels.  May  we  not  say 
with  truth  that  there  never  was  such  a  character  ?  There 
is  no  parallel  to  it  either  in  history  or  in  fiction.  In  stain- 
less purity  and  holiness,  in  perfect  unselfishness  and  disin- 
terestedness, in  grandeur  of  aim  and  greatness  of  self-denial, 
in  sublime  devotion  to  God  and  self-sacrificing  love  to  man, 
it  stands  solitary  and  alone,  without  anything  equal  or  even 
like  to  it. 

This  is  admitted  even  by  those  from  whom  the  admission 
could  scarcely  have  been  expected.  "  It  was  reserved  for 
Christianity,"  says  Lecky,  in  his  "  History  of  Morals,"  "  to 
present  to  the  world  an  ideal  character,  which,  throughout 
all  the  changes  of  eighteen  centuries,  has  inspired  the  hearts 


20  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

of  men  with  an  impassioned  love  ;  has  shown  itself  capable 
of  acting-  on  all  ages,  nations,  temperaments,  and  condi- 
tions ;  has  not  only  been  the  highest  pattern  of  virtue,  but 
the  strongest  incentive  to  its  practice  ;  and  has  exercised  so 
deep  an  influence,  that  it  may  be  truly  said  that  the  simple 
record  of  three  short  years  of  active  life  has  done  more  to 
regenerate  and  soften  mankind  than  all  the  disquisitions  of 
philosophers,  and  all  the  exhortations  of  moralists.  This 
has,  indeed,  been  the  spring  of  whatever  is  best  and  purest 
in  the  Christian  life.  Amid  all  the  sins  and  failings,  amid 
all  the  priestcraft  and  persecution  and  fanaticism  that  has 
defaced  the  Church,  it  has  preserved  in  the  example  and 
character  of  its  Founder  an  enduring  principle  of  regener- 
ation." 

Now  the  question  comes.  How  or  whence  have  we  this 
remarkable  portraiture  of  character.''  And  to  this  we  at  once 
reply,  We  have  it,  because  Jesus  Christ,  the  person  spoken 
of,  lived  and  acted  as  here  described.  We  have  his  life  in 
the  gospels,  because  that  life  was  lived ;  his  portrait,  because 
he  sat  for  it. 

No  doubt  there  are  other  supposable  Avays  of  accounting 
for  the  character,  some  of  which  have  been  actually  tried. 
It  is  supposable,  for  example,  that  the  character  of 
Christ  has  been  invented — that  it  is  a  fiction,  pure  and 
simple,  as  much  so  as  any  of  the  characters  in  a  novel  or  a 
drama — that  he  never  really  lived,  and  that  his  disciples  or 
other  authors  of  the  gospels  drew  his  character  from  their 
own  imaginations.  Now  it  would  be  easy  to  show  the 
insuperable  difficulties  of  such  a  view — the  moral  impos- 
sibility, in  fact,  of  the  disciples  or  other  writers  of  that  age 
conceiving  such  a  character  as  that  of  Christ,  and  not  only 
conceiving  but  portraying  it,  and  keeping  it  consistent  and 
cong-ruous  with  itself  over  such  a  wide  field  of  action  as  that 

o 

described  in  the  gospel  history.  But  it  is  needless  to  do 
this.  No  one  now  holds  this  view.  No  sceptic  of  any  name 
maintains  that  the  Christ  of  the  gospels  is  a  purely  fictitious 
character.  Another  way  of  accounting  for  the  existence  of 
this   character  is  what   is    called   the   rationalistic  theory- 


HIS   CHARACTER   NOT   FICTITIOUS.  21 

According  to  this  view,  Christ  lived  as  the  gospels  state. 
He  was  a  very  remarkable  man,  and  did  wonderful  things, 
chiefly  cures  wrought  on  the  sick  and  the  diseased.  He 
performed  these  cures  partly  by  his  medical  skill,  and 
partly,  according  to  some,  by  a  magnetic  influence  put 
forth  on  the  bodies  of  his  patients  ;  according  to  others, 
by  a  psycological  influence  exerted  on  their  minds  in  in- 
spiring them  with  hope  and  confidence.  His  disciples, 
viewing  these  acts  of  his  through  the  magnifying  glass  of 
an  intense  admiration  and  an  excited  fancy,  honestly  mis- 
took them  for  miracles,  and  so  described  them  ;  hence  the 
account  of  him  that  we  have  in  the  gospels.  The  gospel 
narrative  is  real  history,  but  history  so  coloured  by  the 
imagination  of  the  narrators  that  natural  events  are  trans- 
formed into  miracles.  What  we  need  to  do  is  to  sever 
between  the  mistaken  views  and  colouring  fancies  of  the 
narrators  and  the  underlying  facts.  The  way  to  do  this  is 
to  remove  everything  that  is  miraculous,  because  nothing 
such  can  be  true.  The  great  propounder  and  champion  of 
this  theory  was  the  late  Dr.  Paulus  of  Heidelberg.  And 
here  is  a  specimen  of  his  so-called  rational  interpretation — 
"  The  glory  of  the  Lord  that  shone  round  about  the  shep- 
herds on  the  night  of  the  Saviour's  birth  was  probably  a 
meteor,  or  perhaps  the  rays  of  a  lantern  that  happened  to 
pass  by.  The  tempter  in  the  wilderness  was  a  clever  and 
cunning  Pharisee,  mistaken  by  the  disciples  for  the  devil. 
The  changing  of  the  water  into  wine  at  Cana  was  a  harm- 
less wedding  joke ;  the  disciples  had  provided  the  wine 
beforehand,  and  the  twilight  helped  to  deceive  the  guests. 
Christ's  walking  on  the  sea  was  a  misapprehension  on  the 
part  of  the  spectators ;  he  only  walked  along  the  shore.  He 
stilled  the  storm  on  the  lake  merely  in  the  sense  that  by  his 
calmness  he  quieted  the  frightened  disciples,  and  by  a  happy 
coincidence  the  winds  and  the  waves  ceased  from  their  rag- 
ing at  the  same  time.  He  healed  the  blind  by  means  of  an 
efficacious  eye-salve,  whose  application  escaped  the  notice 
of  the  disciples.  The  daughter  of  Jairus,  the  young  man 
of  Nain,  and  Lazarus  were  raised,  not  from  real  death,  but 


22  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

from  a  deathlike  trance  or  swoon.  The  agony  in  the  garden 
was  a  sudden  indisposition  caused  by  the  damp  night-air  of 
the  valley.  The  resurrection  of  Christ  was  the  return  to  life  of 
one  who  had  been  in  the  grave,  swooning  from  the  effects  of 
crucifixion,  and  who  was  only  apparently  and  not  really  dead. 
The  angels  at  the  head  and  foot  of  the  tomb  were  the  linen 
clothes,  mistaken  by  the  excited  women  for  celestial  beings. 
The  ascension  of  Christ  to  heaven  was  only  his  disap- 
pearance behind  a  cloud  which  came  between  him  and  his 
disciples." 

It  will  appear,  I  think,  from  these  specimens,  that  the  so- 
called   natural   and    rational   interpretation  becomes   very 
unnatural  and  irrational  indeed;  and  that,  while  we  are  denied 
true  miracles,  we  are  furnished  with  something  like  miracles 
of  another  kind,  even  miraculous  feats  of  exposition.    This 
theory,  supposing  it  accepted,  only  accounts,  even  after  its 
own    manner,    for   some  of  Christ's   miracles.     It  fails  to 
account  for  the  cures  wrought  by  him  while  he  was  at  a 
distance,  and  it  gives  no  explanation  of  all  his  other  mighty 
works,  save  the  stupidity  and  mistakes  of  his  disciples.     It 
does  not  explain  how  even  the  Pharisees,  who  certainly  did 
not  view  Christ's  works  through  any  medium  calculated  to 
give  them  an  unduly  favourable  colouring,  were  constrained 
to  admit  his  miraculous  power,  which,  unwilling  to  acknow- 
ledge as  Divine,  they  attributed  to  Satan.     It  proceeds  on 
the  unfounded  and  arbitrary  assumption,  that  in  the  gospels 
we  have  the  facts  magnified  and  coloured  by  the  excited 
imagination  of  the  writers — the  truth  being  that  the  narra- 
tives are  of  the  calmest  and  most  sober  character,  altogether 
unlike  the  products  of  heated  fancy  or  fanaticism  ;  and  that 
there  never  were  historians  who  gave  less  of  their  own  judg- 
ments and  opinions,  and  so  contented  themselves  with  a 
simple  record  of  occurrences.     It  requires  us  to  believe  that 
these  men — who,  according  to  the  theory,  were  so  stupid  that 
they  could  not  report  accurately  what  they  saw,  but  made 
the  greatest  blunders  in  doing  so,  and  so  fanatic  that  they 
mistook  natural  events  for  miracles — have  yet  drawn  the 
finest  character  that  ever  was  depicted,  and  written  the 


THE   RATIONALISTIC   THEORY.  23 

most  simple,  the  most  sober,  and  the  most  beautiful  of  all 
histories.  Verily  the  faith  of  miracles  were  easy  compared 
with  this.  The  character  of  Christ  cannot  be  thus  accounted 
for.  The  miraculous  is  part  and  parcel  of  the  gospel  history, 
and  cannot  be  eliminated  without  its  destruction.  It  is 
interwoven  with  the  character  of  Christ,  and  cannot  be 
removed  from  it  without  rending  the  character  in  pieces. 
Hence  even  Strauss  admits  that,  if  we  accept  the  gospels 
as  historical,  miracles  cannot  be  banished  from  the  life  of 
Christ ;  and  boldly  maintains  that  they  are  not  historical,  but 
legendary. 

This  leads  us  to  consider  yet  one  other  way  of  account- 
ing for  the  character  of  Christ  presented  in  the  gospels. 
This  is  what  is  called  the  mythical  theory  of  the  life 
of  Christ.  According  to  it,  the  character  of  Christ  is  the 
result  of  imaginative  invention  and  legendary  embellish- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  early  Christian  disciples,  whereby 
a  wise  and  holy  Jew  was  gradually  transformed  into  the 
Divine  Christ. 

In  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Tiberias,  according  to  this 
theory,  an  austere  teacher  and  reformer,  called  John  the 
Baptist,  made  his  appearance  in  Judea.  He  preached  re- 
pentance, and  baptized  those  who  professed  it  and  confessed 
their  sins.  Among  those  who  were  baptized  by  him  was 
one  Jesus,  from  Galilee.  When  John  was  cast  into  prison, 
he  carried  on  the  work  in  which  his  master  had  been 
engaged.  He  sought  to  reform  the  people  by  means  of  his 
wise  and  holy  teaching  ;  hoping  for  a  Divine  interposition 
by  which  the  kingdom  of  David  would  be  restored.  This 
was  so  much  in  accordance  with  the  Messianic  expectations 
of  his  countrymen,  that  they  began  to  think  and  hint  to 
him  that  he  was  the  Messiah.  He  was  hardly  able  to 
believe  this  at  first,  but  gradually  brought  himself  to  do  so. 
Going  up  to  Jerusalem,  he  opposed  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities  there,  the  chief  priests  and  scribes,  and  through 
their  hatred  and  machinations  was  put  to  death  by  cruci- 
fixion. This  was  a  great  shock  to  the  faith  of  his  disciples. 
How  were  they  to  reconcile  this  ignominious  death  with 


24  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

his  being  the  Messiah  ?  They  called  to  mind  passages  in 
the  Old  Testament,  in  which  servants  of  God  were  spoken  of 
as  suffering  even  to  death ;  and  applying  these  to  the  Messiah, 
they  brought  themselves  to  believe  that  he  was  to  suffer 
and  die,  that  thus  the  death  of  Jesus  was  in  accordance  with 
prophecy,  and  that,  therefore,  he  was  not  lost  to  them,  but 
must  have  risen  from  the  dead  and  ascended  to  heaven. 
This  belief  once  entertained,  it  would  have  been  strange  if 
some  enthusiastic  members  of  the  community  had  not  per- 
suaded themselves  that  they  had  seen  him.  Mary  Magda- 
lene, seeing  him  with  the  mind's  eye,  or  mistaking  the 
gardener  for  him,  converted  this  into  a  bodily  appearance; 
and  hence  the  fable  of  the  resurrection.  As  the  disciples  pro- 
claimed that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah,  and  that  he  had  risen 
from  the  dead,  the  question  would  inevitably  arise  whether 
he  had  done  miracles  such  as  Messiah  was  to  do.  This 
led  them  to  persuade  themselves  that  he  had.  As  he  was 
the  Messiah,  and  the  Messiah  was  to  work  miracles,  he 
must  have  wrought  miracles,  though  they  had  failed  to 
observe  and  estimate  his  acts  aright.  And  thus,  not  intend- 
ing to  deceive,  but  resolved  on  keeping  Jesus  as  the  Messiah, 
they  invented  the  necessary  miracles  for  him,  and  so  viade 
him  what  they  believed  and  wisJied  him  to  be.  Words  and 
sayings  of  his,  in  which  they  had  seen  no  miracle  before, 
were  now  regarded  as  miraculous.  His  promise  to  certain 
disciples  that  he  would  make  them  fishers  of  men  became 
the  miraculous  draught  of  fishes  ;  and  his  declaration  that 
every  tree  that  did  not  bear  good  fruit  would  be  cut  down 
became  the  withering  of  the  fruitless  fig-tree.  All  that, 
according  to  their  views,  the  Messiah  was  to  do  is  attributed 
to  him  as  actually  done  by  him.  As  he  was  the  prophet 
like  unto  Moses,  he  must  have  done  works  like  those  of 
Moses ;  and  therefore  all  acts  of  his  that  bore  any  resem- 
blance to  the  miracles  wrought  by  the  great  Hebrew  leader 
were  converted  by  them  into  similar  miracles.  As  Moses 
fed  the  Israelites  with  manna  in  the  desert,  Christ  must 
have  miraculously  fed  the  five  thousand  in  the  wilderness. 
Thus  by  successive  inventions  and  imaginative  fictions,  in 


THEORY   OF   STRAUSS.  25 

which  they  bring  themselves  to  believe,  as  the  only  way  of 
keeping  up  their  faith  in  the  Messiahship  of  a  crucified 
Jesus,  and  of  sustaining  the  Christian  cause,  they  transform 
3.  Galilean  Jew  into  the  Christ,  a  wise  teacher  into  a  worker 
of  miracles,  and  a  good  and  holy  man  into  the  God-man. 
In  the  second  century,  four  unknown  and  nameless  men 
wrought  up  these  myths  and  legends  into  the  four  narratives 
of  Christ's  life  that  we  have  in  the  gospels. 

This  is  the  theory  which  is  at  present  chiefly  relied  on 
by  the  opponents  of  Christianity,  and  which,  with  the 
kindred  one  of  Baur,  constitutes  their  great  weapon  of 
attack  on  the  Christian  faith.  But,  like  the  rationalistic 
theory  which  it  displaced,  it  is  liable  to  insuperable  objec- 
tions. We  can  only  mention  a  few  of  these.  In  the  first 
place,  it  has  been  shown  by  the  opponents  of  Strauss  that 
myths  or  legends  belong  to  the  childhood  of  nations,  and 
not  to  an  historic  age;  and  that  the  formation  of  such  a 
system  of  myths  as  is  here  supposed  in  the  age  of  the 
gospels — the  age  of  Josephus  and  other  historians — is  in- 
credible. It  has  been  shown,  in  the  second  place,  that 
myths  are  of  slow  growth,  and  take  long  time  for  their 
formation;  and  that  there  is  not  sufficient  time  for  the 
myths  supposed  in  this  case  between  the  death  of  Christ 
and  the  appearance  of  the  gospels,  even  if  we  take  the  dates 
assigned  to  these  by  the  advocates  of  this  theory,  still  less 
when  we  take  the  dates  as  given  by  the  highest  critical 
authorities.  It  has  been  pointed  out,  still  farther,  that  the 
miracles  ascribed  to  Christ  in  the  gospels  are  not  of  the 
kind  that  are  invented,  having  no  marks  of  myth  or  legend  ; 
and  that  there  are  innumerable  undesigned  coincidences 
in  the  gospel  narratives  which  are  altogether  incompatible 
with  the  supposition  of  their  being  fabulous  inventions. 

Then  it  might  well  be  asked.  If  the  Messiah  was  to  do 
miracles,  and  Christ  did  none,  how,  at  the  first,  and  while 
as  yet  no  miracles  had  been  invented  to  accredit  him,  did 
he  come  to  be  accepted  and  believed  on  as  the  Messiah  ? 
and  how,  if  his  life  was  so  little  above  what  is  ordinary, 
did  it  draw  such  a  halo  of  mythical  glory  round  it  ?     "  As 


26  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF  CHRIST. 

regards  the  hypothesis,"  says  Schelling',  "  that  the  Hfe  of 
Christ  was  adorned  by  myths,  I  suppose  everyone  will 
admit  that  only  such  a  life  is  glorified  by  myths  or  legends 
as  has  been  already  in  some  manner  distinguished  and 
moved  into  a  higher  region.  Now  the  question  is,  How 
did  this  Jewish  country  rabbi,  Jesus,  become  the  object  of 
such  glorification  .''  ....  Only  if  we  grant  that  Christ 
passed  for  tvhat  we  have  recognised  Him  to  be,  is  it  con- 
ceivable that,  in  consequence  of  this  opinion,  certain  'myths' 
may  have  arisen.  But  if  we  grant  this,  we  must  presuppose 
the  dignity  of  Christ,  quite  independently  of  the  gospels. 
It  is  not  the  gospels  which  are  necessary  in  order  that  we 
may  recognise  the  majesty  of  Christ,  but  it  is  the  dignity  of 
Christ  which  is  necessary  in  order  that  we  may  be  able  to 
comprehend  these  gospel  narratives."  Yet  further,  if  the 
early  Christian  disciples  invented  Christ's  miracles  and 
palmed  them  upon  the  world,  how  is  it  that  they  were  able 
to  do  this  without  protest  or  denial  on  the  part  of  the 
opponents  of  Christianity  in  that  age  1  These  did  not  deny 
the  miracles  of  the  gospels,  but  endeavoured  to  account  for 
them  by  ascribing  them  to  magical  or  Satanic  influence. 

But  the  great  objection  to  this  theory  is  the  moral  im- 
possibility of  the  character  of  Christ  being  produced  in  the 
way  alleged.  That  a  character  of  such  transcendent  excel- 
lence and  beauty,  such  superhuman  dignity  and  majesty, 
such  unity  and  consistency,  was  fabricated  piece  by  piece 
by  a  succession  of  myths  and  fables  invented  by  credulous 
enthusiasts,  and  put  together  by  four  men  of  like  spirit, 
who  believed  and  retailed  these  fictions,  is  incredible.  We 
could  sooner  believe  that  a  number  of  ordinary  painters, 
acting  without  concert,  each  putting  in  the  touch  he  con- 
sidered necessary,  had  converted  the  likeness  of  some  ordi- 
nary man  into  the  Christ  of  Guido  or  Murillo,  than  that  the 
common  features  of  a  Jewish  rabbi  were  transformed  by 
successive  touches  of  myth  and  fable  into  the  inimitable 
and  glorious  Christ  of  the  gospels. 

Such  embellishment  would  be  equivalent  to  invention, 
and  even  sceptics  are  to  be  found  who  regard  such  invention 


1 

i 


ADMISSIONS   OF   SCEPTICS.  27 

as  impossible.  "  My  friend,"  says  Rousseau,  speaking  cf 
Christ's  portrait  in  the  gospels,  "  such  things  cannot  be  in- 
vented. .  .  .  The  gospel  contains  so  great,  so  astonish- 
ing and  perfectly  inimitable  traits  of  truth,  that  its  inventor 
would  be  even  more  wonderful  than  its  hero."  John  Stuart 
Mill,  while  he  holds  that  the  miracles  of  the  gospels  might 
have  been  invented  by  Christ's  followers,  contends  that  his 
life  and  character  could  not  have  been  so  invented.  "  Who," 
he  asks,  "  among  his  disciples,  or  among  their  proselytes, 
was  capable  of  inventing  the  sayings  ascribed  to  Jesus,  or  of 
imagining  the  life  and  character  revealed  in  the  gospels  ? 
Certainly  not  the  fishermen  of  Galilee  ;  as  certainly  not  St. 
Paul,  whose  character  and  idiosyncrasies  were  of  a  totally 
different  sort  ;  still  less  the  early  Christian  writers,  in  whom 
nothing  is  more  evident  than  that  the  good  which  was  in 
them  was  all  derived — as  they  always  professed  that  it  was 
derived — from  the  higher  source."  * 

This  theory  is  at  variance  with  other  portions  of  the  New 
Testament  which  are  admitted  to  be  genuine.  It  is  admitted 
by  the  advocates  of  this  theory  that  several  of  Paul's 
epistles  are  genuine — among  them  the  epistles  to  the  Romans 
and  the  Corinthians — and  that  these  were  written  within 
thirty  years  after  the  resurrection.  It  is  admitted  that  the 
Book  of  Revelation  is  the  genuine  production  of  the  apostle 
John.  Well,  what  do  these  apostolic  writings  say  respecting 
the  historic  truthfulness  of  the  portrait  of  Christ  given  in 
the  gospels  .<*  In  the  epistles  mentioned,  Paul  speaks  of 
Christ  in  a  way  which  takes  for  granted  that  the  por- 
traiture of  him  in  the  gospels  was  well  known  to  his 
readers.  He  speaks  of  miraculous  powers  in  the  Church, 
which  imply  the  miraculous  power  of  the  Church's  Founder 
as  their  source.  Nay,  he  expressly  attributes  to  Christ  the 
same  dignity  which  is  attributed  to  him  in  the  gospels, 
designating  him,  among  other  appellations,  "  The  Lord 
from  heaven,"  and  "The  Lord  of  glory."  In  the  Book  of 
Revelation,  John  represents  Christ  as  calling  himself 
"  The  Alpha  and  Omega;"  and  speaks  of  him  as  "The 
"^  "  Essays  on  Religion,"  p.  254. 


28  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

Lord  which  is,  and  which  was,  and  which  is  to  come  ;  the 
Almighty."  These  apostles,  therefore,  held  the  views  of 
Christ's  Divine  dignity  and  power,  whose  origin  Strauss 
ascribes  to  the  credulous  and  enthusiastic  Christians  of  a 
later  period,  and  which,  he  alleges,  found  their  way  into  the 
gospels  only  through  their  fancies  and  inventions. 

Nay  more,  Strauss  is  obliged  to  admit,  in  opposition  to 
his  own  theory,  that  Christ  himself  claimed  superhuman 
dignity  and  power.  He  admits  that  Matt.  xxv.  is  his- 
torical, and  that  Christ  really  said  what  he  is  there  repre- 
sented as  saying.  Well,  Christ  there  declared  that  he 
would  come  again  in  his  glory,  and  all  the  holy  angels  with 
him — that  he  would  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory — that 
all  nations  would  be  gathered  before  him  for  judgment,  and 
that  he  would  separate  them  into  two  great  classes,  mete 
out  to  them  righteous  awards,  and  so  bring  about  the  con- 
summation of  all  things.  Strauss  cannot  deny  that  Christ 
said  these  things,  and  in  doing  so  raised  himself  above 
humanity,  and  therefore  he  charges  him  with  being  a 
visionary,  and  "  guilty  of  undue  self-exaltation."  In  other 
Avords,  he  admits  that  Christ  himself  claimed  that  super- 
human dignity  and  power,  the  ascription  of  which  to  him 
originated,  according  to  his  theory,  with  the  early  Christian 
community.  His  theory  utterly  fails  him  at  this  point.  It 
is  admitted  that  Christ  said  what  is  attributed  to  him,  and, 
on  this  admission,  Christlieb  well  argues — "Either  Christ 
7Utered  these  sentiments  wrongly,  in  extravagance  and  self- 
exaltation — and  then  let  any  man  reconcile  them  with  His 
otherwise  perfect  moral  majesty  ;  let  him  explain  how,  from 
this  haughty  enthusiast,  from  this  religious  leader,  who 
himself  was  subject  to  sin  or  error,  there  could  proceed  the 
religion  of  humility  and  love,  and  the  kingdom  of  truth 
with  its  world-regenerating  effects  ;  or,  on  the  other  hand, 
Christ  was  rigJit  in  speaking  these  words,  and  did  so  with 
full  clearness  and  truth  ;  hit  then  He  was  more  than  a  mere 
man.  From  this  we  see  that  tJiongh  all  the  works  of  Christ 
should  vanish  into  myths,  yet  His  words  7'emain  as  an  irrefu- 
table proof  of  His  Messiahship  and  Godhead ;  and  so  does 


MYTHICAL  THEORY  UNTENABLE.         29 

His  consciousness,  with  the  views  resulting  therefrom  of 
His  person  and  dignity  as  something  incompatible  with  all 
mere  human  standards.  This  firm  rock  is  to  Strauss  a  '  stone 
of  stumbling  which  shatters  his  whole  theory  to  pieces!  "  He 
adds,  in  words  so  beautiful  and  convincing  that  we  cannot 
withhold  them,  "  The  optical  illusion  of  mythicism  lies  in 
the  train  of  argument,  that  because  in  the  Church  herself 
the  higher  knowledge  of  Christ  was  gradually  attained, 
therefore  this  higher  knowledge  was  invented  from  the 
imagination  of  these  primitive  Christians,  though,  at  the 
same  time,  we  cannot  understand  how  this  idea  should  have 
occurred  to  them.  From  the  angels'  song  in  the  first  Christ- 
mas night,  down  to  the  words,  '  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest 
thou  me.-^'  coming  from  the  lips  of  the  risen  one,  the  gospel 
history  contains  a  series  of  pictures  so  beautiful  and  grand, 
so  perfumed  with  heavenly  grace,  that  innumerable  features 
in  it  must  be  recognised  as  uninventible.  Doubtless  there  is  a 
poetry  in  them  ;  but  it  is  not  that  of  arbitrary  fiction,  it  is 
the  result  of  holy  and  divinely  ordered  facts.  Why  should 
legends  only  invent  what  is  beautiful }  Why  should  not 
the  finger  of  God  in  history  trace  out  an  objective  beauty  of 
facts  which  exceeds  all  that  human  fancy  can  invent  .'* 
Instead  of  saying  that  it  is  too  beautiful  to  be  true,  each 
man  who  believes  in  something  more  than  our  common 
every-day  life  should  say,  when  looking  at  this  page  of  his- 
tory, ^ It  is  too  beautiful  to  be  mere  fiction^  so  beautiful  that 
it  must  be  true.  There  is  an  ideal  perfection  of  beauty 
which  is  itself  the  highest  reality  ;  or,  to  use  the  words  of 
Goethe — 

'  The  unattainable 
Is  here  accomplished  ;' 

and  this  beauty  it  is  which  shines  in  the  gospels — above 
all,  in  the  delineation  which  they  give  us  of  Christ.  Only 
if  Ch7'ist  really  was  what  He  zuas  taken  for,  can  zve  solve  the 
enigma  of  primitive  Christian  faith — of  the  foundation ,  the 
spread,  and  the  zvorld-renewing  power  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Christ  could  only  live  as  God-7nan  in  the  hearts  of  His  fol- 
lozverSy   if  He  really  was  so Wc   look    at  the 


30  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

enormous  revolution  in  the  zvorld  accomplished  through 
Christianity  ;  we  look  at  \h^  joyful  heroism  of  its  co?ifessors, 
braving  death  ;  and  at  thQ  purity  of  the  primitive  Christian 
Church,  which  is  born,  grows,  spreads,  and  finally  conquers 
the  world,  though  placed  between  a  thoroughly  corrupted 
Judaism  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  no  less  thoroughly  vitiated 
heathenism  on  the  other;  and  having  done  so,  we  consider 
the  attempt  to  explain  all  this  from  the  fact  that  a  certaiii 
Jezu  became  convinced  that  He  was  the  Messiah,  zuhereupon 
His  disciples,  after  His  death,  attributed  to  Him  all  sorts  of 
miracles,  which  they  drezv  from  their  imagination  ;  and  our 
final  conclusion  is,  that  this  explanation  involves  such  a7i 
utter  disproportioji  betzueeji  cause  and  effect,  that  it  is  in  itself 
the  most  inconceivable  miracle,  apiwe  Jdstorical  impossibility T* 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that  this  theory,  not  less  than  the 
rationalistic  one,  fails  to  give  an  adequate  explanation  of 
the  life  and  character  of  Christ  as  we  have  it  in  the  New 
Testament.  We  fall  back,  therefore,  on  what  alone  furnishes 
an  adequate  explanation,  even  the  faith  of  Christendom,  that 
Christ  lived  as  described  in  the  gospels,  and  that  hence  we 
have  this  portraiture  of  him.  This  is  the  conviction 
wrought  in  us  by  a  perusal  of  the  gospel  narratives.  As  we 
read  them  we  are  constrained  to  say,  "  This  is  not  fiction 
or  fable,  but  reality  and  truth."  And  this  conviction  is 
strengthened  by  the  fact  that  we  have  four  portraits  of 
Christ,  one  in  each  of  the  gospels,  each  agreeing  with  itself 
and,  in  all  its  important  lines  and  features,  with  the  others. 
It  is  the  same  Christ  that  we  have  portrayed  in  each  of  the 
gospels.  The  attitude  may  be  different,  we  may  get  a  dif- 
ferent profile,  but  it  is  the  same  countenance  that  is  depicted, 
the  same  face  that  looks  out  on  us  from  the  sacred  page. 
This  is  not  denied  in  the  case  of  the  first  three  gospels,  and 
neither  can  it  be  denied  with  truth  in  the  case  of  the  fourth 
gospel.  It  is  the  same  Christ  that  is  there  portrayed,  only 
in  a  different  attitude,  and  from  a  different  standpoint. 
The  diversities  and  apparent  discrepancies  in  the  narratives 
prove  that  there  was  no  collusion  among  the  authors,  but  | 
"  Modern  Doubt  and  Christian  Belief,"  p.  422. 


4 


HIS   CHARACTER   HISTORICAL.  31 

that  they  wrote  independently  of  one  another;  and  the  fact 
that,  notwithstanding  this,  they  give  us  each  the  same  por- 
trait of  Christ,  proves  that  they  drew  from  the  same  original 
— not  from  fancy  or  imagination,  but  from  a  real  historic 
Christ  who  had  lived  and  laboured,  spoken  and  acted, 
among  them. 

And  if  Christ  spake  and  acted  as  described  in  the  gospels, 
then  he  must  have  been  what  he  is  there  represented,  and 
what  he  there  claims  to  be.  The  very  perfection  of  his 
humanity  constrains  us  to  believe  that  he  was  more  than 
human.  His  sinlessness  in  a  world  of  sin  compels  the  con- 
viction that  he  was  no  mere  shoot  out  of  the  stock  of  a 
sinful  humanity,  but  a  Divine  graft  inserted  into  it  from 
heaven.  And  his  claims — claims  made  by  one  who  was 
confessedly  of  the  highest  moral  excellence — leave  us  no 
alternative  but  to  acknowledge  him  as  the  Son  of  God, 
one  with  the  Father — the  object  of  our  supreme  love  and 
reverence. 

Thus  in  a  historic  Christ,  who  is  at  once  the  Son  of  man 
and  the  Son  of  God,  and  who  lived  and  died  as  described  in 
the  gospels,  we  get  the  truth  of  our  Christianity  and  a 
Divine  Lord  and  Saviour.  Nay  (for  our  argument  may  be 
pushed  one  step  farther),  we  get  what  some  of  the  scientists 
of  our  day  say  cannot  be  found,  a  personal  and  living  God. 
The  portraiture  of  the  gospels  leads  us  to  a  historic  Christ 
as  its  only  adequate  explanation.  In  a  historic  Christ  we 
find  the  Son  of  God,  for  He  was  the  Christ  that  should 
come  into  the  world.  And  the  Son  of  God  conducts  us  to 
One  who  is  His  God  and  Father,  who  knows  Him  and  whom 
He  knows,  and  therefore  to  a  God  who  is  not  impersonal  or 
unintelligent,  who  is  not  force  or  matter  merely,  but  who  is 
a  personal  and  intelligent  Being — One  who  knows  and  can 
be  known,  loves  and  can  be  loved — the  object  of  trust  and 
supplication,  reverence  and  affection. 

This  view  of  Christ  explains  everything.  It  explains  the 
portraiture  of  Him  which  we  have  in  the  gospels.  He  lived 
the  Divine-human  life  there  pictured,  and  the  sacred  writers 
have  described  it  accordingly.     It  explains  the  miracles  oi 


32  '     LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   CHRIST. 

the  gospels.  They  were  only  what  might  be  expected  from 
a  superhuman  Being  such  as  Christ.  When  He  wrought  a 
miracle,  it  was  the  falling  back  for  a  moment  of  the  mantle 
of  humanity  from  His  shoulders,  and  a  disclosure  of  the 
higher  nature  which  it  covered.  It  explains  the  existence 
and  stability  of  the  Christian  Church,  showing  that  it  has 
for  its  foundation,  not  the  sand  of  a  mythical  and  fabulous, 
but  the  rock  of  a  historical  and  Divine  Christ.  It  explains 
how  Christianity  has  triumphed  over  all  the  assaults  that 
have  been  made  upon  it.  Just  as  the  armed  men  that  came 
out  to  apprehend  our  Lord,  dismayed  by  His  simple  but 
majestic  utterance,  "  I  am  He,"  went  staggering  backwards 
and  fell  to  the  ground,  so  all  the  assailants  of  Christianity 
have  gone  down  before  the  simple  majesty  of  the  Christ  of 
the  gospels.  As  the  ark,  when  brought  into  the  house  of 
Dagon,  cast  down  the  idol  and  brake  it  into  pieces,  so  the 
Jesus  of  the  gospel  history  has  discomfited  and  cast  down 
all  the  opponents  of  His  claims.  They  have  fallen  on  this 
stone  and  been  broken. 

This  Christ  meets  our  wants  and  satisfies  the  yearnings 
of  our  souls.  Our  hearts  ask  for  another  God  than  the  god 
of  the  materialist,  even  the  materialists  themselves  being 
judges.  They  ask  for  a  God  who  can  know  and  pity,  hear 
and  help,  forgive  and  bless — who  can  be  an  object  of  rever- 
ence and  veneration,  of  confidence  and  love.  And  the 
Christianity  which  in  this  lecture  we  have  sought  to  vindi- 
cate gives  such  a  God.  It  gives  us  the  God  who  was  revealed 
in  Jesus  of  Nazareth — a  God  who  has  an  eye  to  see  and  an 
ear  to  hear,  a  heart  to  pity  and  a  hand  to  save — a  God  who 
is  the  rest  of  the  sin-laden,  the  Saviour  of  the  soul,  the 
Redeemer  from  sin  and  death,  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life. 
This  God  meets  our  wants — our  souls  can  rest  in  Him.  We 
say,  therefore,  with  Peter — "  Lord,  to  whom  shall  v/e  go  ? 
TJioii  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life.  And  we  believe  and  are 
sure  that  Thou  art  that  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God." 


I 


— f- 

REV.  WILLIAM  MAGILL. 


M 


ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


♦  •♦ 


ALL  natural  objects  are  engaged  in  tracing  a  map  of  their 
■  movements,  and  in  affixing  their  signatures.  Meteors 
leave  their  track  of  light ;  leaves  cast  their  shadows  as  they 
fall.  The  earth  is  furrowed  by  streams ;  the  track  of 
animals  that  roamed  long,  long  ago  over  chaos  is  cut  in 
stone  ;  and  even  raindrops  have  written  their  history  in  the 
solid  rock.  What  has  the  Bible  done  for  men,  and  on  man's 
world  ?  Its  annals — are  they  replete  with  records  of  good 
done,  wrongs  redressed,  men  saved,  and  God  glorified  .-* 
What  are  the  facts  ? 

I.  The  book  itself  commands  attention.  The  Vedas,  the 
writings  of  Confucius,  and  the  Koran  are  modern  com- 
pared with  it.  When  it  was  laid  in  complete  form  on  the 
table  of  the  world,  it  was  found  that  forty  centuries  had 
made  contributions  of  their  best  things  to  it.  Its  author- 
ship is  spread  over  sixteen  hundred  years.  It  has  been 
copied  during  thirty  centuries  ;  and  survived  the  wreck  of 
empires,  of  mythologies,  and  philosophies — ministering  to 
the  true  needs  and  deepest  challenges  of  humanity.  It  has 
been  assailed  by  all  evil  things  ;  yet,  in  its  turn,  it  has  borne 
down  on  them  with  a  power  that  destroys  them.  In  har- 
mony in  itself  with  all  the  laws  of  God's  kingdoms,  it  moves 
with  an  energy  derived  from  the  Spirit.  On  opening  its 
pages,  we  feel  as  if  all  around  were  unearthly  and  sublime, 
as  if  we  approached  the  throne  of  its  eternal  Author ; 
"  while,"  in  the  language  of  Claude,  "  an  unknown  heaven 
appears  opening  on  our  meditations,  in  which  we  behold,  as 
it  were,  a  thousand  burning  luminaries,  whose  rays,  gushing 
from  every  side,  bewilder  the  eyes,  and  dazzle  while  they 
flood  them  with  intolerable  glory." 


4  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

In  the  very  constitution  of  the  Bible  there  is  evidence  of 
one  Divine  mind,  acting  through  and  above  all  human  agents 
for  the  production  of  one  grand  result — the  eternal  purpose 
of  redemption  in  Christ  Jesus.  As  the  sun  mirrors  himself 
only  in  a  calm  ocean,  so  the  living  personal  Jehovah  mirrors 
Himself  in  the  Bible  as  the  God  of  providence  and  redemp- 
tion, making  the  one  uniform  claim  of  faith  on  all  men — faith 
in  the  Lord  Jesus  and  in  His  kingdom.  As  the  revelation 
of  salvation,  it  is  the  book  of  life,  of  unsearchable  wealth, 
of  Divine  fulness  —  a  copy  or  manifestation  of  the  living 
Saviour ;  trying  and  judging  all  other  sacred  books  in  the 
world  ;  the  arbiter  in  history,  in  literature,  and  in  morals. 
The  vigour,  beauty,  and  purity  of  the  ethical  parts  of  the 
Bible  ;  the  matchless  simplicity  and  charm  of  its  histories  ; 
the  sun  of  prophecy  which  has  never  set,  but  has  rolled 
down  a  flood  of  light  to  our  day ;  the  poetry  which,  in 
"flow  and  fire,  in  crushing  force,  in  majesty  that  still  seems 
to  echo  the  awful  sounds  of  Sinai,  is  the  most  superb  within 
the  breast  of  man" — all  these  have  made  the  Bible  a  mighty 
power  in  the  world,  through  its  influence  on  the  human 
mind.  The  God  whom  it  teaches  us  to  worship  is  the  only 
absolutely  perfect  One  in  holiness  and  love  that  man  has 
ever  known  ;  nor  heaven,  nor  earth,  nor  hell  has  known 
another  Saviour  besides  the  Lord  Jesus  whom  it  reveals ; 
and  the  religion  which  it  brings  is  the  only  one  on  the 
earth  that  does  not  degrade  man  and  insult  God. 

2.  The  Bible  has  encountered  prejudice,  storm,  and  un- 
dying hate.  The  Veda  had  no  foes,  the  Zend-Avesta  no 
enemies  ;  and  the  Greeks  accepted  with  acclamation  the 
poems  of  Homer.  Why  is  not  the  Bible,  with  its  power  to 
inspire  the  loftiest  intelligences  with  love  and  veneration, 
with  its  matchless  morals  and  its  sublime  spirituality,  the 
book  of  every  class  of  men,  and  of  all  men  ?  Why  do  men 
of  thought  often  look  coldly  on  it.?  How  comes  it  that 
in  this  scientific  age  there  is  a  spirit  abroad  of  alienation 
from  it  ?  The  ancient  classic  literature,  which  has  charmed 
the  intellectual  world  for  twenty  centuries,  is  pagan  in 
ethics  and  mythology,  and,  therefore,  antagonistic  to  the 


i 


THE   BATTLES   OF   THE  BIBLE.  5 

Bible.  Modern  letters,  conformed  in  a  great  degree  to 
ancient  models,  and  derived  from  those  fountain-heads, 
follow  frequently  the  same  course  in  depicting  moral  great- 
ness ;  in  ignoring  those  moral  principles  and  sentiments 
peculiar  to  revealed  religion  ;  in  propounding  theories  of 
life,  happiness,  and  immortality  that  are  not  distinctively 
Christian  ;  in  overlooking  wholly,  or  partially  palliating,  the 
depraved  moral  condition  of  man,  and  in  neglecting  redemp- 
tion by  Jesus  Christ. 

In  looking  into  the  schools  of  ancient  philosophy,  we 
see  a  faithful  picture  of  heathen  thought — of  the  inability 
of  the  loftiest  intellect  to  arrive  at  truth,  and  of  the 
dimness  of  their  light  even  at  the  best.  These  sages, 
debauched  by  false  science,  spoke  in  the  language  of  gods, 
and  in  reference  to  morality  and  religion  sank  lower  than 
brutes.  The  intelligent  belief  in  a  future  state,  and  the 
knowledge  of  moral  obligation,  were  alike  wanting  in  them. 
Some  introduce  us  into  the  dark  cave  of  materialism  ; 
others,  like  the  modern  sceptics,  founded  their  freedom  on  the 
denial  of  every  duty,  and  the  obedience  of  every  impulse — 
reason  their  only  guide,  "  at  one  time  the  moderator,  at 
another  the  menial  of  passion  ;"  while  others,  like  the  Stoics, 
gave  the  world  "a  virtue  without  affections,  a  religion  without 
a  God,  and  a  soul  without  a  future."  The  struggle  between 
the  theories  and  spirit  of  paganism  and  the  principles  of  the 
Bible  is  not  yet  over.  The  infamous  doctrines  which  pre- 
vailed in  the  France  of  the  eighteenth  century,  notwith- 
standing the  bloody  commentary  furnished  on  them  by  the 
Revolution,  are  rising  again  in  formidable  array  even  in  our 
own  country  ;  and,  culminating  in  the  atheism  of  Comte, 
they  seem  to  aim  at  the  uprooting  of  all  faith  in  the  Bible. 
If  for  twenty  centuries  Holy  Scripture  has  withstood  every 
attempt  to  corrupt  it,  every  cruel  effort  to  wrench  the  signet- 
ring  of  God  from  its  finger,  and  every  insidious  war  against 
the  religious  instincts  of  this  million-peopled  world — do  not 
the  hates  that  have  pursued  it,  the  fires  that  have  been 
kindled  to  burn  it,  and  the  rude  assaults  of  successions  of 
infidels  on  it,  prove  it   Divine  and  unconquerable.     Thus 


6 


ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 


they  treated  the  Just  One,  and  thus  they  treated  His 
book. 

3.  The  knowledge  communicated  by  the  Bible  is  unique, 
saving,  and  of  infinite  value.  No  other  book  of  any  age  or 
nation  gives  the  same  view  of  sin — as  the  violation  of  moral 
law,  as  an  evil  of  infinite  magnitude,  as  involving  everlasting 
punishment,  and  as  mirrored  only  in  the  sufferings  and 
death  of  the  Son  of  God.  This  is  one  of  the  discoveries 
that  stamp  the  book  with  transcendent  power  and  utility. 
Alone  in  the  literature  of  all  time,  it  presents  to  men  the 
true  idea  of  God — in  essence,  self-existent ;  in  holiness  and 
majesty  and  all  moral  attributes,  infinite  ;  in  wisdom  and 
sovereignty,  absolute — and  this  God  seen  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ,  crowned  with  a  love  which  fills,  and  shall  for 
ever  fill,  the  virtuous  universe  with  the  lights  and  splendours 
of  Godhead.  And  to  this  book  alone,  of  all  books,  we  are 
indebted  for  the  idea  of  that  redemptive  system,  of  which 
the  central  figure  is  Immanuel — a  personality  so  strange, 
new,  peculiar,  so  suited  to  man  in  his  indigence  and  guilt, 
and  so  suited  to  God  for  the  manifestation  of  Himself  as 
Rector  and  Father  of  the  universe,  that  the  mind  of  man  or 
angel  never  could  have  suggested  or  conceived  it.  The 
speculations  of  Vedas,  Korans,  and  heathen  sages  on  theo- 
logy fall  infinitely  short.  They  are  rushlights  held  up  to  the 
sun.  The  religions  founded  on  them  are  without  morals  and 
without  evidences. 

The  religion  of  the  Bible  is  not  poetry,  a  code  of 
morals,  or  a  series  of  rhapsodies — it  is  a  salvation  from 
sin  and  death.  The  negations  of  Islam  repudiate  the 
divinity  and  propitiation  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  substitute 
fabulous  creeds.  The  gods  of  the  heathen  were  and  are 
unholy ;  and  their  worshippers,  coloured  and  transformed 
by  their  homage,  resemble  them  in  immorality,  cruelty,  and 
misery.  The  sacred  literature  of  Paganism  possesses  small 
claim  to  attention.  It  gives  no  reliable  information.  It 
has  involved  the  great  majority  of  the  human  race  in  dark- 
ness, and  subjected  them  to  a  sure  process  of  deterioration, 
which  became  greater  as  age  succeeded  age ;  and  history 


ITS   PRECIOUSNESS   FOR   SAVING   KNOWLEDGE.  T 

proves  the  inability  of  men  to  redeem  themselves  from 
idolatry,  or  restore  humanity  to  its  primeval  purity  and 
happiness.  Let  the  contributions  made  by  the  Bible  to 
human  knowledge  be  fairly  considered — let  them  be  weighed, 
estimated,  and  compared,  and  they  will  be  found  to  involve 
the  recovery  of  man,  his  enlightenment  by  truth  along  the 
whole  line  of  his  immortality,  and  the  germination  within 
him  of  a  new  life,  which  has  no  superior  in  the  universe  but 
the  life  of  God.  The  quality  of  this  knowledge  has  been 
tested  by  time — by  the  fires  of  persecution,  the  scalpel  of 
genius  and  erudition — by  men  in  every  condition,  and  by 
death-beds  innumerable  as  the  buds  of  spring — by  the  ridi- 
cule and  sneer  of  the  sceptic,  and  by  the  more  perilous 
weapons  of  unscientific  disbelief ;  and  the  result  has  proved 
it  to  be  saving,  Divine,  infinite — possessing  in  itself  the 
potency  of  all  greatness  and  of  all  good. 

4.  The  Bible  is  the  mainspring  of  civilisation.  Like 
the  straight  line  of  which  Leibnitz  speaks,  which  is  con- 
stantly approaching  the  curve  but  can  never  meet  it,  man 
possesses  the  capacity  of  indefinite  improvement  and  pro- 
gress towards  God.  Pascal  teaches  that,  in  respect  of 
his  essence,  man  is  thought ;  and  he  argues  his  greatness 
from  his  misery.  Howe  depicts  the  ruins  of  a  stately 
palace,  where  God  once  dwelt,  in  terms  of  matchless  force 
and  beauty — leaving  it  to  be  inferred  that  the  glory  of 
humanity  lay  in  its  being  the  temple  of  Deity.  Hall  founds 
human  dignity  on  its  present  probationary  state  and  on 
immortality.  But  the  real  greatness  of  man  is  mirrored 
only  in  the  seas  of  Divine  love,  of  the  blood  of  Jesus,  and  of 
the  glory  of  human  nature  in  the  person  of  the  Mediator. 
This  fact,  peculiar  to  the  Bible,  and  unknown  to  all  the 
sacred  books  of  the  world's  religions,  is  the  essential  prin- 
ciple from  which  springs  all  true  civilisation.  Of  all  books, 
the  Bible  alone  sets  forth  man  in  his  sin  and  misery,  and  in 
the  massive  and  transcendent  capacities  of  his  immortal 
essence. 

Now   experience    proves    that    since   the    world    began 
no  tribe  of  savages  from  within  itself  civilised  itself     The 


b  ACHIEVEMENTS    OF    THE   BIBLE. 

growth  of  the  natural  sciences  and  of  architecture  among 
the  Eg}-ptians,  the  progress  of  philosophy  and  the  fine  arts 
among  the  Greeks,  and  the  development  of  law  among  the 
Romans,  are  historical  results  of  supernatural  truths  regard- 
ing God  and  man,  and  remission  of  sin  by  bloodshedding 
only  ;  which,  floating  down  from  the  origin  of  society  on  the 
\\-ings  of  tradition,  crj-stallised  themselves  in  the  earliest 
centres  of  population,  and,  through  the  communion  of 
nations,  overspread  and  in  part  moulded  these  great 
peoples  into  those  wondrous  forms  of  national  life  which 
their  annals  disclose.  From  Babylon,  through  Ethiopia, 
the  Eg)'ptians  derived  their  enterprise  and  their  civilisation. 
The  early  Greeks,  characterised  by  extreme  simplicit}'  and 
grandeur,  were  indebted  to  the  Phoenicians  and  Eg}*ptians; 
and  the  Romans  formed  their  magnificent  national  life  out 
of  elements  furnished  by  Umbrians,  Trojans,  Greeks,  and 
Hebrews.  The  civilisation  of  India  and  China  has  been 
fossilised  for  twenty  centuries,  in  the  course  of  which  there 
has  been  a  gradual  deterioration  of  morals  ;  and  Islam  has 
stereot>'ped  societ}'  in  the  lust,  and  pride,  and  ferocit}-,  and 
despotism,  and  barbaric  pomp  of  the  seventh  centur}*.  If 
these  empires,  which  contain  or  command  eight  hundred 
millions  of  our  race,  are  modifying  their  tj'rannies  and  ap- 
proaching the  verge  of  modern  civilisation,  they  owe  it  to 
the  pressure  of  nations  where  the  Bible  is  the  unseen  power 
that  rules. 

As  to  law,  more  than  a  thousand  years  before  Justinian 
reformed  Roman  jurisprudence,  the  statutes  of  the  Hebrew 
people  were  published.  If,  like  Grecian  art,  the  efiect  of 
Roman  law  is  extensive  and  permanent — excelling  the 
conquest  of  the  world  by  arms — how  much  mightier  in  the 
construction  and  regeneration  of  kingdoms  and  peoples 
must  have  been  the  Divine  law  given  in  the  Pentateuch  ? 

As  to  freedom,  more  than  tvvo  thousand  years  before 
^lagna  Charta  the  rights  of  peoples  and  the  powers 
of  princes  were  chartered  in  the  Word.  The  immortal 
principle  embodied  in  the  Bible,  that  God  alone  is  Lord  of 
the  conscience,  has  done  more  for  the  emancipation  of  man, 


THE   BIBLE   THE   SOURCE   OF   TRUE  FREEDOM.  9 

for  moral  freedom  and  civil  liberty,  than  all  the  efforts, 
sufferings,  and  literature  of  Mohammedan  and  pagan  nations 
put  together.  How  comes  it  that  true  freedomi,  good 
government,  constitutional  law  for  the  protection  of  life, 
property,  and  liberty,  hatred  to  despotism  and  political 
virtue,  are  unknown  among  peoples  ignorant  of  the  Bible.'' 
The  Word  is  the  author  of  all  the  heroic  contendings  which 
have  won  modern  freedom,  and  erected  it  on  an  imperishable 
basis.  Poets  have  sung,  and  martyrs  have  died,  and  patriots 
have  fought,  and  tyrants  have  trampled  out  the  fires  of 
liberty ;  but  while  the  world  stands,  the  Bible  will  breathe 
it  into  the  soul  of  man. 

As  to  marriage,  let  men  of  moral  idea  compare  the 
institute  of  marriage — founded,  hallowed,  and  encompassed 
by  Divine  laws  and  sanctions — with  the  polygamy,  the 
ineffable  impurity  and  misery,  of  family  life  in  Mohamme- 
dan and  Pagan  nations,  and  they  will  see  something  of 
what  the  Bible  has  done  for  man.  Where  else  is  home 
found  ;  or  woman  enthroned  in  the  sanctities  of  freedom, 
love,  and  purity  ;  or  society  sweetened  by  tenderness  and 
moral  feeling ;  or  culture  in  the  arts  that  embellish  life  and 
multiply  its  enjoyments  ;  or  the  relations  of  life  pervaded 
and  regulated  by  a  sense  of  moral  obligation  ;  or  truth  made 
the  basis  of  all  life,  of  all  law  and  commerce  and  institutions; 
or  the  majesty  of  law  blended  and  shaded,  for  the  public 
weal,  with  the  rays  of  mercy — unless  where  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures dictate  the  faith  and  morals  of  men. 

And  as  to  education — the  birthright  of  every  man  and 
the  greatest  power  on  earth  for  good — who  could  tell 
what  the  Bible  has  done  in  the  world  !  If  it  has  not  done 
all,  it  is  because  its  voice  has  been  unheard  amid  the  din 
of  worldly  interests,  and  its  authority  repelled  by  the 
depravities  of  men.  Beyond  the  sphere  of  its  beams, 
the  culture  of  the  disciples  of  Brahma,  Confucius,  and 
Mohammed  is  poor,  unworthy  of  the  moral  and  intellectual 
nature  of  man,  and  utterly  unable  to  confer  the  peerage 
of  true  manhood.  If  education  should  reach  the  body, 
soul,  and  spirit  of  man,  transforming  all  alike,  and  shed- 


10  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF  THE  BIBLE. 

ding-  on  all  the  radiance  of  highest  excellence  for  citizen- 
ship, for  virtue  and  happiness,  it  must  be  conformed  to 
the  rule  and  breathe  the  spirit  of  the  Bible.  For  nations 
like  the  Roman,  who  burned  out  the  Bible — placing  laws, 
force,  and  hierarchies  in  its  stead — have  corrupted  in  their 
own  superstitions,  and  their  remains  lie  entombed  in  history. 
And  nations  like  Spain  and  France,  who,  in  their  battle  with 
the  Bible  to  expel  it  from  their  coasts,  have  shed  blood 
enough  to  make  a  lake,  are  hung  up  before  the  eyes  of  the 
world,  to  teach,  by  their  crimes,  their  degradation,  their  judg- 
ments, and  their  sufferings,  that  the  Scriptures  are  the  pillars 
of  kingdoms,  "  the  parents  of  social  order,  which  alone 
have  power  to  curb  the  passions  of  men  and  to  secure  to  all 
their  rights,  to  nobles  their  honours,  to  the  rich  the  rewards 
of  their  industry,  and  to  princes  the  stability  of  their  thrones." 
5.  The  Bible  influences  and  regenerates  literature.  Early 
in  the  history  of  the  world,  the  mind  of  India  embodied 
itself  in  a  literature  which,  beginning  in  theology,  embraced 
some  science  and  art,  and  ramified  into  poetry,  metaphysics, 
and  mythology.  The  Chinese  literature,  rich  in  prose  and 
verse — in  history,  geography,  romance,  moral  philosophy, 
and  mechanical  arts — is  of  vast  extent,  and  not  unworthy 
of  the  attention  of  scholars.  The  literature  of  Greece, 
in  point  of  classic  form,  is  a  model,  and  has  told  power- 
fully on  the  culture  and  education  of  the  world.  And  not 
unlike  these,  in  some  respects,  is  the  learning  of  the  Dark 
Ages,  when  the  Bible  was  imprisoned  in  a  cell — when 
Aristotle  ruled  the  schools  of  thought,  and  the  monk  pre- 
sided over  the  mind,  morals,  and  politics  of  Europe.  These 
literatures  are  continents  of  rubbish,  into  which,  if  the  form, 
which  is  often  of  exquisite  beauty,  could  be  separated  from 
the  putrid  substance  which  it  enshrines,  no  scholar  should 
refuse  to  descend  in  search  of  the  golden  mine,  from  disgust 
at  the  base  alloy  which  mingles  itself  with  the  ore.  Com- 
pared with  the  literature  of  which  the  English  language  is 
now  the  vehicle,  all  these  are  as  night  to  the  moon.  If 
you  compare,  in  its  transcendent  greatness,  English  litera- 
ture to  a  globe,  then,  undoubtedly,  if  the  Bible  is  not  its 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  BIBLE   ON   LITERATURE. 


11 


creator,  it  fashioned,  moulded,  inter-penetrated,  and  gave 
to  it  its  substance.  The  Holy  Scriptures  furnish  specimens 
of  consummate  art  in  history,  poetry,  parable,  law,  and 
morals  ;  and  in  their  matter  they  are  inspired  by  God. 
The  writers  are  kings  among  men  ;  and  their  words  are 
models  for  the  orator,  the  spring  of  all  progress,  the  bloom 
of  all  beauty,  the  charter  of  eternal  life — having  in  them 
the  seed  of  statesmanship,  of  jurisprudence,  of  the  light 
and  wealth  of  nations.  From  these  models  history  has 
learned  to  criticise,  to  delve  and  hew  for  hid  treasures,  to 
search  for  the  roots  of  things  ;  and  even  the  splendid 
historical  monuments  of  the  genius  of  Mill,  Hume,  and 
Gibbon,  in  their  relations  to  the  Bible,  remind  one  of  the 
eagle  whose  blood  is  drawn  by  the  arrow  which  its  own 
wing  has  feathered.  In  poetry,  too,  the  Bible  has  exerted 
pre-eminently  its  power.  Here  there  is  reason  to  believe 
Shakespeare  learned  to  play  on  the  human  heart  as  on  a 
harp  ;  Milton  conceived  his  matchless  epic  ;  the  great 
masters  of  modern  song  got  their  imagery,  their  themes, 
their  sweetness,  their  simplicity  ;  and  even  Byron,  Shelley, 
and  Burns,  like  Dante,  are  orbs  belted  all  around,  and 
streaked  with  light,  and  fire,  and  beauty,  borrowed  uncon- 
sciously from  the  lively  oracles  of  God. 

The  highest  meed  of  earthly  honour,  according  to  Bacon, 
belongs  to  the  founders  of  empires  ;  does  it  not  belong  to 
himself,  as  the  founder  or  restorer  of  modern  philosophy,  in 
a  greater  degree  ?  Yet  the  leading  ideas  of  his  system — 
that  men  ought  to  observe  and  study  the  works  of  God,  and 
that  wisdom  is  strength — are  clearly  biblical.  Here  Newton 
learned  his  love  of  truth,  and  his  genius  for  generalisation 
gathered  patience  to  stand  peering  through  tlie  lattice,  till 
he  wrested  from  nature  her  secrets,  and  made  light  paint 
his  immortal  portrait.  Here  Herschel  and  Murchison  and 
Faraday  lighted  their  lamps  to  travel  over  the  physical 
universe,  and  lead  the  march  of  mind  where  the  forces  of 
matter  hold  their  secret  conclave,  to  the  stone-chambers  in 
the  crust  of  the  earth,  where  the  mundane  archives  are 
stowed  away,  and  to  the  throne  of  blue,  where  the  centre 


12  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

of  creation — the  Eternal — sees,  rules,  and  wields  the  suns 
and  systems  of  the  universe,  which  are  but  the  drops  of 
His  fulness,  and  the  shadows  of  His  glory.  And  if,  begin- 
ning at  the  brilliant  era  of  Elizabeth,  science  has  been 
building  her  pyramid  for  three  centuries,  and  Christian 
civilisation  collecting  her  wonderful  treasures  of  human 
good,  and  poetry  embellishing  it  with  garlands  more  varied 
and  beautiful  than  earth  ever  saw  before;  if  the  sun  of 
freedom  is  shining  for  man  with  a  ray  almost  bright,  and  in 
an  area  almost  as  broad  as  the  sky  ;  and  if  theolog}^,  with 
its  pure  truth  and  perfect  morals,  its  power  to  bless  time 
and  light  up  eternity  with  the  splendours  of  day,  has  come 
to  crown  the  edifice  which  three  centuries  have  been  rearing 
with  that  wealth  of  supernatural  life  and  glory  which  is  the 
tide-mark  now  of  human  improvement,  and  the  prophecy  of 
yet  grander  things  for  men  in  God's  world — all  is  owing  to 
the  force,  and  control,  and  life,  and  spirit  of  the  Bible. 
True  science,  sound  learning,  ethical  philosophy,  modern 
civilisation,  sit  down  in  the  dust  uncrowned  before  the 
lively  oracles  of  God,  and  lay  their  spoils  on  the  altar  of 
Revelation. 

6.  All  the  powers  and  fruits  of  the  Bible  already  men- 
tioned are  small  compared  with  its  achievements  in  morals. 
It  is  Dictator  here,  and  reigns  without  a  rival.  It  alone 
reveals  a  perfect  code  in  the  form  of  moral  law  ;  it  alone 
exhibits  a  perfect  pattern  in  the  life  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  As 
a  fallen  intelligence,  man  is  placed  under  sovereignty  of 
law,  to  which,  in  his  will  and  conscience,  he  is  to  be  subject. 
And  the  training  of  a  moral  being  belongs  to  God.  An 
ethical  education  makes  a  man  true  and  good,  pure  and 
graceful,  faultless  and  benificent,  the  object  of  reverence  and 
love.  In  consequence,  morality  without  God  is  impossible, 
for  it  must  have  an  absolute  law  founded  in  the  nature  of 
Deity.  Nor  is  this  all.  There  must  be  reconciliation 
through  the  Son  of  God,  and  regeneration  of  heart  by  the 
Spirit — enabling  the  soul  of  man  to  snap  the  chains  of  its 
depravity,  and  walk  the  path  of  ethical  obedience.  Without 
these,  men  are  dreaming  enthusiasts,  or  creatures  of  ascetic 


ITS   STANDARD   OF    MORALS.  13 

sentiment.  Man  has  never  discovered,  never  could  discover, 
a  perfect  rule  of  duty.  The  Bible  not  only  does  that,  but 
adds  sanctions,  asserts  human  responsibility,  and  aims  at 
ruling  the  will  by  motives  in  reference  to  all  the  moral  dis- 
tinctions of  right  and  wrong,  which  necessarily  associate 
themselves  with  God.  The  materialistic  philosophy  makes 
morality  impossible — resolving  itself  into  the  pagan  scep- 
ticism which  made  truth  falsehood,  right  wrong,  and  good 
evil. 

In  Hume's  speculations  the  possibility  of  a  science  of 
morals  is  denied,  and,  proceeding  from  the  Creator  of  the 
world  by  inevitable  necessity,  he  says  that  "  human  actions 
can  have  no  turpitude  at  all."  In  Rousseau  and  Voltaire, 
morality  culminates  in  libertinism  ;  with  Comte,  in  fatalism. 
And  experience  shows  that  atheism,  morality,  and  govern- 
ment by  moral  law  are  incompatible.  Of  all  heathen 
systems  of  morals  it  may  be  affirmed  that  they  are  fragments, 
broken  and  imperfect,  handed  down  from  hoar  antiquity. 
The  Brahmin  resolves  the  highest  virtue  into  asceticism, 
and  the  loss  of  conscious  personality  ;  the  Boodhist,  into 
universal  grief  and  annihilation  ;  the  Chinese,  into  natural- 
ism and  politics  ;  while  among  the  most  enlightened  of  the 
Greeks,  morality  was  based  in  knowledge,  and  virtue  made 
wholly  a  matter  of  intelligence,  a  thing  exclusively  of  time. 
We  have  before  shown  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  alone  reveal 
the  real  nature  of  sin  in  the  light  of  that  eternal  redemption 
which,  glorious  and  stupendous  beyond  all  thought,  sets 
this  world  of  our  life  before  us  as  a  mystic  arena,  in  which 
a  conflict  is  waged  for  deliverance  from  everlasting  punish- 
ment and  the  enjoyment  of  life  eternal.  For  the  true 
morality  for  which,  during  forty  centuries,  God  was  pre- 
paring men,  has  its  majestic  principle  in  holy  love — a  love 
which  is  through  faith  ;  and  has  introduced  into  the  world 
for  all  time,  and  for  eternal  expansion,  right  views  of  truth, 
duty,  justice,  purity,  humility,  man,  and  God — germs  of  all 
the  good  that  can  confer  distinction,  and  of  which  humanity 
is  capable,  and  which  even  infidelity  has  admired  for  its 
great  and  transcendent  excellence.     Let  it  be  remembered, 


14  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

as  a  moral  axiom,  that  sound  morals  can  only  grow  out  of 
sound  principles.  The  immorality  of  men  and  nations  who 
are  and  were  destitute  of  the  Bible  is  such  that  no  true 
picture  could  be  presented  of  it ;  and  their  indescribable 
depravation  is  the  logical  result  of  their  pagan  principles. 
In  that  morality — over  every  part  of  which,  as  a  system,  the 
Bible,  which  is  sublimely  ethical,  sheds  beauty,  and  to  every 
rule  of  which  it  communicates  power — every  man,  every 
household,  every  nation  in  existence  has  an  infinite  interest. 
Strike  down  the  Bible,  and  you  will  have  the  universal 
debauchery  of  heathenism.  Exchange  the  Bible  for  the 
dictate  of  unaided  reason,  and  for  a  time  you  may  dwell  in 
the  shade  of  art,  and  play  at  the  gymnastics  of  eloquence  ; 
but  come  at  length  it  will,  and  the  glory  of  modern  society 
shall  go  up  in  rottenness — introducing  the  reign  of  ignorance, 
cruelty,  sensuality,  and  despair.  For  Deism,  pure  theism, 
natural  religion,  materialism,  scepticism,  infidelity,  atheism, 
are  the  successive  stages  of  that  historical  rationalism, 
which  for  the  last  three  centuries  has  been  at  work  in 
Europe,  and  reddened  its  annals  with  atrocities  of  crime  and 
blood  "  which,  for  the  safety  of  their  performers,  had  to  be 
enveloped  in  everlasting  night."  The  Bible  is  the  book  for 
humanity,  not  only  because  it  contains  all  necessary  truth 
and  a  perfect  moral  code  — things  of  which  all  other  reli- 
gions are  destitute — but  because  there  is  a  resistless  energy 
in  it  to  renew  and  purify  the  moral  nature  of  our  species, 
an  energy  which  it  has  proved  on  a  thousand  fields  of 
fame,  over  thirty  centuries  of  time,  in  every  variety  of 
human  condition,  and  in  open  conflict  with  all  the  powers 
of  earth  and  hell.  It  has  wrestled  with  an  apostate  Judaism  ; 
with  heathenism,  encamped  amid  the  pomps  and  grandeur 
of  imperial  Rome  ;  with  the  philosophies  of  the  Greek 
schools,  buttressed  by  all  the  charms  of  human  learning 
and  exalted  genius  ;  with  the  traditional  superstition  of  the 
*'  man  of  sin,"  whose  hostility  to  the  written  Word  kept 
Christendom  for  ten  centuries  a  prison-cell  for  saints,  for 
freedom  of  conscience,  for  freemen,  and  for  saving  truth  ; 
and  now,  in  the  end  of  the  world,  when  systems  of  specula- 


THE  BIBLE  THE   FOUNTAIN   OF   TRUE   RELIGION.       15 

tion  are  rising  on  our  horizon,  varied  and  unsubstantial  as 
November  meteors — now  linking  themselves  to  the  orb  of 
science,  now  to  metaphysics,  now  to  the  spawn  of  an  over- 
weening egotism,  now  to  the  importations  of  German  or 
Indian  exuvise,  and  often  to  an  intellectual  sky-rocket,  to 
attract  notice  and  alarm  the  vulgar — the  Bible  stands  forth 
in  its  integrity,  the  palladium  of  moral  freedom,  the  only 
true  spring  of  individual  and  rational  excellence,  the  con- 
servatory of  all  the  roots  and  fruits  of  Divine  virtue,  which 
alone  has  power  to  cleanse  the  earth  of  paganism,  and  to 
restore  man  to  himself  and  to  God  by  the  science  of  right 
and  of  truth. 

7.  But  the  main  use  of  the  Bible  has  been  to  originate 
and  sustain  true  religion  in  the  world.    The  facts  of  human 
consciousness  prove,  in  opposition  to  the  materialist,  that 
there  is  a   spiritual   as  well   as  sentient   and    intellectual 
nature  in  man.     As  light  suits  the  eye,  or  water  the  thirsty 
one,  so  is  the  Bible  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  humanity.    An 
impulse  to  worship  is  an  essential  ingredient  in  the  human 
soul.     And  it  is  a  fixed  law  of  mind  that  the  character  of 
the  object  worshipped  moulds  the  votary  into  its  form  and 
likeness.     If  the  social  system  of  pagan  lands,  in  every 
epoch  of  history,  has  dissolved  in  moral  corruption,  idolatry 
is  the  cause.    And  not  only  so,  but,  left  to  itself,  the  volume 
of  corruption  becomes  deeper  and  more  wide-spread  in  pro- 
portion as  the  fine  arts,  power,  and  wealth  increase — as  in 
the  age  of  Pericles  in  Greece,  and  of  Augustus  at  Rome. 
The  evidence  of  all  time  and  of  all  the  facts  is  that  the 
spiritual  nature  in  man  is  supreme  over  the  intellectual  and 
moral — that  every  effort,  stimulated  by  human  religions,  to 
promote  happiness  without  heart-purity,  is  vain — that  there 
are  desires  and  capacities  in  the  soul  which  the  wisdom  of  all 
the  ages  cannot  satiate — that  the  sense  of  guilt  has  such  a 
mastery  over  the  soul  of  humanity  that  no  form  of  man- 
made  worship  has  power  to  exorcise  it — and  that  intellectual 
greatness,  apart  from  holiness,  has  never  saved  individuals 
or  converted  states. 

Wc   hold    it    proved    that    the    best    forms   of    religion 


16  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF   THE   BIBLE. 

which  the  reason  of  man  has  discovered  have  failed  in 
producing,  in  a  single  instance,  spiritual  character.  The 
Bible  has  done  this  in  millions  of  cases.  Employing  as 
its  only  weapon,  truth,  it  repudiates  the  force  and  des- 
potism of  other  religions.  It  presents  God  in  all  the 
radiancy  of  an  infinitely  holy  love  ;  and  this  suits  the  heart 
of  man.  It  sheds  light  on  morals,  on  men,  on  salvation,  on 
the  life  to  come — a  clear  and  certain  lip;ht ;  and  this  fits  in 

to  his   reason.     It  reveals   an   absolution  from  sin  which,         ? 

i 
founded  on  the  loving  self-sacrifice  of  a  Divine  substitute,         * 

does  not  compromise  perfect  rectitude  or  blot  the  Divine 
character  and  law,  and  that  suits  all  the  requirements  of 
conscience.  It  imparts  from  its  Divine  author  a  new  life 
which,  consisting  in  love,  lifts  its  possessor  into  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  Absolute  One  ;  and,  embracing  eternity  in  its 
provisions,  runs  up  the  road  of  perfection,  scattering  every 
gift  that  can  make  existence  a  blessing — thus  fitting  divinely 
in  to  the  needs  of  his  immortal  essence.  For  forty  centuries 
and  more  this  tree  of  life  has  been  wafting  holiness,  life,  and 
happiness  through  this  sinful  world  ;  and  its  saving  odour 
is  still  exhaustless.  It  has  taught  men  all  that  time  how  to 
live  ;  it  has  enabled  them  to  die.  It  has  brought  real  hap- 
piness into  the  world  ;  and,  wherever  it  has  been  received,  it 
has  drained  the  fountains  of  human  misery.  It  has  saved 
the  felon  in  his  cell,  the  savage  in  his  war-paint,  Paul  in 
his  harness  of  hate,  and  Augustine  in  his  vice.  It  has  been 
the  pillow  of  the  martyr's  peace — the  parent  of  humility, 
self-sacrifice,  and  hope.  It  has  beautified  whatever  it  touched, 
quickened  souls  innumerable,  and  imparted  consummate 
finish  to  ideas,  to  taste,  and  to  genius.  The  purest  comfort 
of  earth  drops  from  its  word  into  hearts  broken  by  bereave- 
ment or  indigence.  It  is  the  key  of  knowledge.  It  has  con- 
ducted pilgrims  innumerable  to  the  celestial  mansions  ;  for 
it  alone  possesses  the  secret  of  salvation. 

Look  over  the  dreary  centuries  of  the  past,  and  as  you  see 
the  lights  of  religions  and  civilisations  and  philosophies  and 
empires,  one  after  another,  sinking  below  the  horizon,  and 
perceive  the  holy  light  of  the  Bible  flashing  its  rays  with  ever- 


ITS  TRUE   RELIGION.  17 

increasing  brilliance  over  the  seas  of  human  sin  and  sufifering-, 
the  blessing  and  majesty  of  the  book  will  surely  grow  on  you. 
Three  centuries  ago  it  held  up  a  torch  among  the  Alps,  in 
the  centre  of  Germany,  in  France,  and  in  the  United  King- 
dom ;  and  to  recount  its  fruits  would  be  to  write  the  annals 
of  spiritual  Protestantism  in  the  regeneration  of  individuals 
and  of  nations.  Its  creations  are  peerless.  Compare  in 
moral  and  spiritual  excellence  Demosthenes  with  Chalmers 
— the  death  of  Cicero  with  that  of  Robert  Hall.  The  whole 
history  of  human  religions  cannot  produce  a  Wilberforce, 
or  furnish  a  Howard.  There  is  not  a  death-bed  like  Hali- 
burton's  in  the  whole  history  of  the  world  outside  the  Bible. 
Compare  the  last  end  of  Hume,  Voltaire,  Mirabeau,  and 
even  Mill,  with  the  death-beds  of  Payson  and  Rutherford 
and  Knox.  The  heathen  and  Mohammedan  religions  never 
produced  a  Henry  Martin.  Among  Reformers,  compare 
Mohammed,  in  point  of  spiritual  character,  with  Knox  ; 
among  churchmen,  Hildebrand  with  Calvin  ;  among  bene- 
factors of  their  race,  Boodha  or  Confucius  with  Luther. 

Glorious  book  !  myriads  of  men  have  died  for  it ;  churches 
live  in  its  shadow  ;  commonwealths  grow  up  under  its  aegis  ; 
and  the  ages  take  their  main  characteristics  from  its  sove- 
reign spirit.  It  has  added  to  the  dominions  of  saving  truth 
several  hundred  islands  in  the  South  Seas.  In  the  might 
of  a  conqueror  it  has  invaded  Madagascar.  It  has  planted 
a  tree  in  India  which  shall  yet  cover  all  the  land.  It  has 
belted  Africa  with  light,  and  lit  fires  in  China  that  shall 
never  go  out.  It  has  robed  itself  in  the  dress  of  two 
hundred  and  ten  forms  of  speech,  languages,  or  dialects. 
Since  the  beginning  of  this  century  more  than  eleven  mil- 
lions of  money  have  been  spent  by  societies  in  its  circula- 
tion ;  and  above  one  hundred  and  twenty  millions  of  copies 
have  gone  out  with  their  cargo  of  light  and  life  among  the 
nations.  The  wild  cry — "What  must  I  do  to  be  saved.-*" — 
rings  out  in  our  ears  as  two-thirds  of  the  human  race 
kneel  before  their  idols  and  shriek  out  their  lament ;  and 
the    Bible  alone  can   answer   it.     Another  age  or  two  of 

active  hostility  against  the  Bible  on  the  part  of  scientists 
B 


18  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE  BIBLE. 

and  infidels,  and  there  will  not  be  a  homestead  on  earth 
without  its  copy  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  This  is  our  shout 
of  defiance — let  the  whole  corps  of  sceptics  show,  if  they 
can,  a  man  who  has  been  made  a  liar,  or  obscene,  or  a  thief, 
or  a  tyrant,  or  proud,  by  the  Bible.  Nay,  if  they  will 
not  have  this  book  to  rule  them,  let  them  make  a  better. 

Suppose — and  they  claim  the  highest  mind  of  the  age  on 
their  side — that  they  were  assembled  to  provide  a  substitute 
for  the  Bible.  The  philosopher,  the  atomic  scientist,  the 
critic,  and  the  theoretic  atheist,  are  all  there.  The  Comtist 
furnishes  the  history  without  a  miracle  or  a  special  provi- 
dence ;  the  scientist  narrates  the  work  of  creation  out  of  an 
atom — or  by  development,  or  natural  selection,  or  proto- 
plasms— by  fortuitous  concourses,  or  by  nothing;  the  philo- 
sopher, who  has  resolved  all  the  realities  and  possibilities  of 
existence  into  matter,  dictates  a  code  of  ethics  and  law 
which  eliminates  from  human  consciousness  moral  obliga- 
tion and  free  agency ;  the  critic  proudly  boasts  that  his  con- 
tributions contain  a  higher  rule  of  duty  than  the  moral  law — 
a  more  perfect  model  of  excellence  than  the  sinless  Jesus  ; 
and  the  sceptical  theorist  insists  that  no  mention  or  refer- 
ence shall  be  made  to  God,  on  the  ground  that  there  is  no 
sufficient  evidence  of  His  existence.  Would  the  book,  thus 
formed — the  magnificent  product  of  the  "  illuminati,"  "  the 
highest  mind  of  the  age" — convert  the  world  and  supplant 
our  Bible  ?  Let  the  papal,  the  material,  the  intellectual  ] 
forces  dash  themselves  against  the  Book  of  God ;  we  cling 
to  it  because  it  is  guarded  by  the  holiness  and  omnipotence 
of  its  Author,  throws  the  shield  of  its  inspiration  over  our 
beliefs  and  our  prospects  of  eternal  life,  has  uprooted  a  long 
series  of  evils  in  Protestant  Christendom  ;  and  because,  in 
the  institution  of  the  Sabbath  alone,  the  Bible  has  done 
more  for  man — for  his  rest,  culture,  and  prosperity,  in  all 
his  relations — and  for  God,  in  reference  to  the  spread  of  f 
saving  knowledge  and  the  maintenance  of  true  religion, 
than  all  other  religions,  backed  by  the  infidel  mind  of 
all  the  ages,  from  the  time  of  Moses  to  our  own. 

The  Bible,  which  holds  in  custody  truth  so  precious,  has 


THE   sceptic's   BIBLE.  19 

entered  on  a  new  era  of  triumph,  in  which  the  mighty 
achievements  of  the  past  shall  be  eclipsed  by  movements 
deep  as  human  thought  or  earth's  misery,  and  high  as  the 
mind  of  the  future.  In  virtue  of  its  sovereign  authority,  it 
will  yet  settle  all  the  questions  that  have  arisen  between  the 
Church  and  the  age.  Flaming  in  the  centre  of  the  world, 
its  beams  will  put  to  flight  priestcraft,  multiply  education, 
dissipate  error,  and  lift  man  into  an  erect  posture  in  hope 
of  immortality. 

The  infidel  comes  to  rob  us  of  our  peace  and  our  pros- 
pects, and  to  throw  the  shade  of  negation  over  the  glory 
that  awaits  us.  And  for  the  Bible  and  Christ  and  joy 
and  the  resurrection,  of  which  he  would  rob  us,  what  does 
he  offer  ^  A  little  science,  some  poetry,  strong  negations, 
a  sigh,  and  perhaps  a  sneer.  Infidelity  is  poor,  for  it  has  no 
Divine  revelation  :  it  is  narrow;  for,  the  creature  of  sense,  it 
makes  the  present  time  all :  it  is  deaf;  for  it  hears  not  the 
voice  of  God  in  His  word :  it  is  foolish;  for  it  wars  against  the 
greatest,  strongest,  best  things  in  the  universe  of  God.  What- 
ever great  men  may  arise  to  reform  physical  science,  like 
Newton  and  Pascal ;  or,  like  Clarkson  and  Wilberforce,  to 
break  the  fetters  of  the  slave  ;  or,  like  the  Reformers,  to 
bring  men  from,  darkness  to  the  light  of  life  ;  whoever  they 
may  be  that  shall  open  the  mines  of  grace  and  truth  to  a 
perishing  world,  the  Bible  will  be  their  armoury,  their  in- 
spiration, their  joy.  Can  it  be  that  because  God  has  not 
shut  up  every  avenue  by  which  His  testimony  can  be 
evaded,  that  men,  in  their  pride,  "will  not  deign  to  accept 
His  mercy  ?"  The  alternative  is  not  the  Bible  or  man-made 
religions,  the  Bible  or  materialism.  No :  the  awful  alternative 
for  every  living  man  that  has  ears  to  hear  is,  obey  the  Scrip- 
tures or  you  perish. 

There  is  a  spirit  abroad  which  ranges  over  the  world 
of  thought,  peers  into  the  rocky  strata  of  the  earth,  tra- 
verses space  to  the  confines  of  the  star-dust  land — which 
questions  light,  and  heat,  and  electricity,  and  force,  and 
the  structure  of  plants  and  animals,  and  self-evident  truth, 
such   as   the  argument   from   design — and  when  a  fact  is 


20 


ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 


discovered,  which  may  be  twisted  into  apparent  hostility  to 
the  testimony  of  the  Bible,  it  is  lifted  up  like  Milton's  star 
that  "  flamed  in  the  forehead  of  the  sky,"  and  is  compelled 
to  do  duty  against  the  Majesty  of  Revelation  ;  the  burden 
of  which  is  that  God  hath  given  to  us  eternal  life,  and  this 
life  is  in  His  Son.  Can  human  sin  go  further  in  unreason- 
ableness than  this  ?  One  would  think  that  such  good  news, 
authenticated  by  myriads  of  witnesses,  by  miracle,  and 
prophecy,  and  adaptation  to  the  condition  of  the  race  and 
its  own  essential  luminousness,  would  be  welcomed  by  every 
man  ;  that  the  great  masters  of  mind  would  be  the  first  to 
greet  the  majestic  dawn  of  inspiration,  and  that  from  their 
ranks  armies  of  explorers  would  be  ever  issuing  to  gather 
from  the  universe  confirmatory  evidence  for  the  Divine 
testimony — evidence  assuming  the  form  of  a  new  ''Analogy" 
by  a  new  Butler  ;  now  of  a  new  book  of  thoughts  by  another 
Pascal ;  and  now  of  a  series  of  astronomical  sermons  by 
another  Chalmers.  If  the  sun  were  plucked  from  the  centre 
of  the  system,  leaving  behind  him  death  and  darkness,  it 
would  be  a  small  thing  compared  with  the  destruction  of 
the  Bible.  But  what — borrowing  the  language  of  an  eloquent 
writer — if  it  be  lawful  to  indulge  such  a  thought,  would  be 
the  funeral  obsequies  of  a  lost  Bible  ?  "  Where  shall  we 
find  the  tears  fit  to  be  wept  at  such  a  spectacle  ?  or  could 
we  realise  the  calamity  in  all  its  extent,  what  tokens  of 
commiseration  and  concern  would  be  deemed  equal  to  the 
occasion  }  Would  it  suffice  for  the  sun  to  veil  his  light,  and 
the  moon  her  brightness  ;  to  cover  the  ocean  with  mourn- 
ing, and  the  heavens  with  sackcloth  ?  or  were  the  whole 
fabric  of  nature  to  become  animated  and  vocal,  would  it 
be  possible  for  her  to  utter  a  groan  too  deep,  or  a  cry  too 
piercing,  to  express  the  magnitude  and  extent  of  such  a 
catastrophe  .?"  For  all  the  light  that  ever  chased  the  gloom 
of  doubt,  roused  dejection,  or  cheered  the  bosom  of 
despondency ;  for  whatever  gives  confidence  to  faith, 
brightness  to  hope,  and  fervour  to  devotion  ;  for  all  the 
knowledge  the  world  ever  had  of  life  and  immortality; 
for  whatever  can  tranquillise  the  mind  in  life,  and  min- 


I 


THE   GREAT   WORK  AND   TEST   OF   THE  BIBLE.  21 

ister  consolation  at  the  last  hour,  we  are  indebted  to  the 
Bible. 

In  primitive  times  theology  was  the^chosen  field  of  conflict ; 
in  the  Dark  Ages  it  was  the  philosophy  of  mind,  and  now  it 
is  physical  science.  Look  forward  a  little,  and  in  the  temple 
of  truth  you  will  see  all  nations  assembled,  making  offerings 
to  the  God  of  the  Bible.  Here  is  freedom  with  her  charter, 
and  barbarism  with  her  rudeness,  and  civilisation  with  her 
inconceivable  grandeur,  and  science  with  her  glorious  dis- 
coveries, and  the  slave  with  his  fetters,  and  art  with  her 
achievements,  and  mind  with  the  cream  of  its  thought, 
and  music  with  its  melody,  and  all  earth  with  its  gold,  to 
put  honour  on  Him  whose  Word  has  become  the  light  of 
the  world — a  Word  which,  to  be  loved,  has  only  to  be  known. 
And  as  for  scepticism,  what  has  it  done  ?  What  immoral 
man  has  it  reformed  ?  What  savage  has  it  reclaimed.-* 
What  barbarous  tribe  has  it  civilised  ?  What  wilderness 
has  it  turned  into  a  smiling  Eden  ?  Over  what  continent 
has  it  poured  out  its  philanthropies,  to  ameliorate  the  mass 
of  the  people  .?  On  what  death-bed  has  it  shed  the  light  of 
a  blessed  hope  ?  What  has  its  questionings,  its  gloom,  and 
its  despair  accomplished  for  the  deliverance  of  the  human 
race  from  sin  and  misery  .-* 

Of  all  the  facts  of  science,  none  is  better  established 
than  that  the  mind  of  the  natural  man  is  enmity  against 
God.  Let  the  pantheist  bring  his  abstractions,  the  atheist 
his  black  cup  of  despair,  the  infidel  the  chemistry  of  his 
philosophical  conceit,  and  the  new  school  of  materialists 
the  atom  of  matter  which  possesses  all  the  potentialities 
of  life  and  mind,  to  dissolve  that  enmity,  and  replace  it 
by  the  love  of  God.  "  Jesus  I  know,  and  Paul  I  know  ; 
but  who  are  ye  ?"  will  be  the  scornful  defiance.  The 
Bible  alone,  as  has  been  proved  in  millions  of  instances, 
possesses  the  true  solvent — is  able  to  make  wise,  and  is  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth. 

Some  one  has  said  that  a  deep  mathematic  brings  us  nearer 
the  source  of  all  number — the  Infinite  One;  a  deep  astro- 
nomy, a  profound  geology,  carries  us  closer  to  the  Lord  of 


22 


ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE  BIBLE. 


heaven  and  earth  ;  and  I  say  that  a  deep  philosophy  draws 
us  near  that  great  God,  around  whom  the  Bible  throws  the 
majestic  robes  of  light,  love,  and  grace.  When  the  history 
of  scepticism,  in  all  its  Protean  forms,  comes  to  be  written, 
it  will  be  found  that  it  is  based  in  and  built  up  of  credulity  ; 
and  when  the  annals  of  Bible-work  shall  be  completed,  it 
will  be  seen  that  faith  in  the  Divine  testimony  of  the  Bible, 
which  is  the  seed  of  the  world's  life,  and  the  lamp  of  the 
world's  light — that  God  hath  given  us  eternal  life,  and  this 
life  is  in  His  Son — is  a  reasonable  service. 

8.  The  Bible  has  opened  up  to  mankind  the  true  springs 
of  happiness.  Every  one  knows  that  there  is  nothing  on 
earth  to  reward  the  pursuit  or  satisfy  the  yearnings  of  man. 
The  richest  treasures  of  time  are  the  glitter  of  the  stars  upon 
the  water ;  and  poor  is  that  felicity  which  is  gathered  out- 
side the  gates  of  paradise.  Man  is  born  to  sorrow  ;  and  all 
the  evidence  charges  his  suffering  on  his  sin.  The  plague 
of  misery  invades  the  palaces  of  princes  as  well  as  the 
criminal's  cell.  No  country  or  generation  or  order  of  men 
is  exempt.  The  air  is  burdened  with  wailing  for  departed 
kindred.  And  the  deepest  sufferings  of  the  soul  are  within 
— arising  from  the  consciousness  of  guilt  and  the  dread  of 
retribution.  Death,  in  very  deed  the  king  of  terrors,  pro- 
jects his  shadow  over  all  the  gay  glories  of  time ;  and  the  calm 
with  which  it  is  met  is  the  torrent's  smoothness  ere  it  dash 
over  the  precipice.  Now  where  is  the  fountain  of  comfort.'* 
Is  it  found  in  the  face  of  nature;  or  in  the  popular  religions 
to  which  the  intellect,  the  imagination,  and  the  conscience 
of  men  have  given  birth  ?  Does  the  sacred  water  of  life, 
which  alone  has  the  potency  to  assuage  human  sorrow,  flow 
from  the  lips  of  the  infidel,  as  in  his  cave  of  gloom  he  spins 
out  the  threads  for  that  net  of  despair  which  he  would  fain 
throw  over  creation  }  Oh  no  ;  the  spring  of  all  consolation 
is  in  that  religion  which  has  in  it  an  expiation,  a  pardon  as 
full  as  it  is  sweet,  a  life  realising  the  ideal  of  perfection,  a 
harmony  between  justice  and  grace,  a  paradise  of  love  in 
light,  a  God  in  whom  infinite  good  and  right  reside,  an 
eternity  made  of  joy.    How  grandly  did  the  Divine  Author 


THE  BIBLE  THE  MAINSPRING  OF  HAPPINESS.  23 

of  Christianity  begin  His  ministry  by  the  announcement  of 
the  eight  beatitudes  !  "  If  there  be  joy  in  the  world,"  says 
Kempis,  "it  belongs  to  the  man  of  a  pure  heart."  The 
whole  revelation  of  God — promise,  prophecy,  invitation, 
precept — rains  joy.  Great  peace,  deepening  into  something 
that  passes  all  understanding,  and  swelling  up  into  a  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory,  is  the  blessed  experience  of 
the  believer  in  the  Bible.  Seeing  outwardly  only  tears  and 
a  cross  in  the  Christian,  natural  men  have  stigmatised  the 
religion  of  the  Bible  as  gloom.  Could  they  pierce  the 
breast  of  the  believer,  they  would  find  the  God  of  all  consol- 
ation enshrined  in  the  heart.  Power,  wealth,  love,  pleasure, 
are  the  equipage  of  happiness  ;  but  they  are  not  happiness. 
Whether  in  the  abode  of  indigence  or  the  palace  of  royalty, 
amid  the  sons  of  toil  or  the  favourites  of  fortune,  in  solitude 
or  society — wherever  the  broken  heart  clothes  itself  in 
humility  and  feeds  on  Holy  Scripture,  it  finds  delight  in 
God,  a  delight  which  elevates  and  satisfies  by  stretching 
away  into  eternity.  The  Bible  blesses  the  cradle  ;  it  kindles 
a  torch  in  the  long  home  where  the  pious  dead  are  laid.  It 
sanctifies  and  diminishes  every  misfortune.  It  made  Roches- 
ter say  that  he  would  not  commit  the  least  sin  to  gain  a 
kingdom.  It  enabled  Robert  Hall  to  exclaim  in  death, 
"  Very  comfortable,  very  comfortable,"  while  he  described 
his  body  as  an  "apparatus  of  torture;"  and,  pillowed  on  the 
Holy  Book,  Payson  could  say,  as  he  was  departing,  "  The 
sun  of  righteousness  has  been  gradually  drawing  nearer 
and  nearer,  appearing  larger  and  brighter  as  he  approached ; 
and  now  he  fills  the  whole  hemisphere,  pouring  forth  a  flood 
of  glory,  in  which  I  seem  to  float  like  an  insect  in  the  beams 
of  the  sun  ;  exulting,  yet  almost  trembling  while  I  gaze  on 
this  excessive  brightness,  and  wondering  with  unutterable 
wonder  why  God  should  deign  thus  to  shine  upon  a  sinful 
worm." 

What  gladness  is  brought  in  the  tidings  of  a  finished 
redemption  and  the  resurrection-life !  And  the  world  to 
come,  is  it  not  sinless — the  abode  of  a  joy  at  once  full  and 
eternal  ?    For  the  sum  of  all  saving  knowledge,  the  marrow 


24  ACHrEATlMZXTS  OF   THE  BIBLE. 

of  the  Bible,  is  this,  that  man  was  made  to  glorify  God  and 
enjoy  Him  for  ever.  Take  from  the  righteous  man  whatever 
he  holds  dear ;  subject  him  to  the  frowns  of  fortune  and 
the  blasts  of  penury  ;  let  him  rot  in  a  dungeon  or  pine 
away  in  agony  ;■  it  is  the  lesson  taught  by  the  annals  of  the 
world  that  his  Bible  and  his  Bible  alone  inspires  him  with 
fortitude,  and  in  the  hope  of  infinite  riches  and  joy  through 
immortal  duration,  banquets  his  soul  on  the  happiness  of  God. 

We  challenge  the  whole  army  of  infidels  to  produce  a 
single  authenticated  instance  of  an  intelligent  man  who  on 
sceptical  principles  enjoyed  happine??  in  Ufe  and  |>eace  in 
death.  On  the  other  hand,  no  fact  in  histor\'  is  better 
attested  than  that  individuals  more  numerous  than  the  stars 
of  heaven,  of  ever\"  nation  and  people — of  every  age,  rank,  and 
sex — of  ever}-  grade  of  intelligence  and  intellect — of  every 
age  since  the  year  of  grace — of  everj-  variet}'  of  circumstance, 
from  indigence  to  roj-altj^,  from  the  bloom  of  youth  to  the 
fires  of  martjTdoTTi — ^have,  through  the  faith  of  the  Bible, 
enjoyed  a  happiness  which  the  world  could  not  give  or  take 
away,  and  met  death  with  a  triumphant  joy,  like  the  home- 
life  of  the  better  land  to  which  they  were  going. 

Let  the  present  infidel  crusade  against  Holy  Scripture  suc- 
ceed, and  what  then  ?  We  lose  our  ci\-il  and  religious  liberties 
— lapsing  into  the  despotism  of  heathen  cruel t\-.  We  lose  the 
splendid  trophies  of  Christian  ci\-ilisation,  and  sink  into 
barbarism.  We  lose  the  blessings  of  marriage,  and  exchange 
our  happy  home  for  the  lust  and  life  of  the  sensual  savage. 
We  lose  the  holy,  just,  good  code  of  moral  law,  and  drift  on 
the  swollen  stream  of  depravity'  at  the  bidding  of  the  windy 
speculations  of  the  philosophers.  We  lose  the  Sabbath, 
which  is  our  rest  and  the  gospel  of  our  salvation,  and  the 
river  of  life  from  which  we  drink  comfort,  and  sink  into  the 
Dead  Sea  of  a  putrid  atheism  ;  and  upon  the  graves  of  the 
dead  we  shall  see  written  the  gospel  of  desj>air — death  is  an 
eternal  sleep. 

Of  all  the  questions  that  agitate  the  human  mind  this 
is  the  greatest — Is  the  Bible  an  authentic  and  genuine  reve- 
lation from  God.'     If  the  twelve  hundred  millions  of  our 


WHAT  WOULD  BE  LOST  BY  LOSING  THE  BIBLE.  25 

race  were  met  to  consider  what  they  would  do  in  case  the 
sun  set  to  rise  no  more,  the  matter  would  be  unimportant 
in  comparison.  If  some  great  foe  of  our  race  poisoned  the 
fountains  of  the  globe,  and  dried  up  its  waters  with  the  sole 
of  his  foot,  it  would  be  nothing  when  compared  with  the 
sealing  up  of  the  three  Bible  fountains — the  mercy  of  God, 
the  blood  of  Jesus,  the  grace  of  the  Spirit — from  which,  for 
sixty  centuries,  have  issued  the  plentiful  streams  of  grace 
and  salvation.  Suppose  that  the  solar  system  were  turned 
into  a  gem  of  purest  ray  serene,  and  made  over  to  a  man,  it 
would  be  a  trifle  compared  with  the  Bible. 

This  holy  book  is  the  manna  of  the  world.  It  is  the  map  of 
a  river,  in  which  whosoever  washes  is  healed  of  the  leprosy  of 
sin ;  and  in  the  radiant  bloom  of  health  he  comes  forth  to  a  life 
which  soars  above  the  highest  seraph,  and  is  ever  stretching 
towards  God.  Milton  grandly  described  the  Archangel 
Uriel  as  descending  to  the  earth  in  a  sunbeam.  The  reve- 
lation of  the  Bible  is  a  beam  on  which  the  Father  of  lights 
descends  into  men  to  dwell  with  them.  Sweeter  than  the 
dews  of  six  thousand  summers  is  the  living  bread  which  the 
Bible  brings  to  a  perishing  world.  What  though  it  rained 
gold  and  pearls  and  kings'  crowns  on  our  guilty  race,  it 
were  better  to  give  them  the  Bible.  Salvation  !  Weigh  it 
against  all  created  things.  Measure  it  by  eternity.  Lay 
the  plummet  of  infinity  to  its  blessings.  Appeal  to  Him 
who  weighs  the  mountains  in  scales  and  the  hills  in  a 
balance  to  teach  you  its  worth.  Climb  to  the  throne  of  the 
Eternal,  where  the  universe  collects  her  glories  to  decorate 
the  palace  of  our  King,  and  thence  survey  all  things  that  are 
made.  Salvation  excels  all  you  know  and  see  ;  for  it  makes 
God  Himself  your  everlasting  portion. 

And  if  the  time  should  ever  come  when  it  will  rain 
infidels,  there  is  a  truth  which  no  science  can  impeach,  no 
learning  undermine,  no  hate  can  annihilate  ;  and  that  truth 
is — oh  that  I  could  carry  it  round  the  world  ! — that  they 
are  a  happy  people  who  know  the  joyful  sound,  and  whose 
God  Jehovah  is.  Give  the  revelation  of  the  Bible  in  its 
simpHcity,  holiness,  and    majesty — the    inspired    Word  of 


9f  /  p3ox( 

26  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE  BIBLE.         vO^ 

God — to  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  human  race,  till  they 
taste  and  see  its  grace  and  truth,  its  light  and  life  ;  and  soon 
the  red  dawn  of  that  day  of  applied  redemption  for  the 
whole  world,  to  which  seers  and  saints  looked  forward, 
will  be  seen  on  the  mountains  ;  for  very  joy  the  wilderness 
shall  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose  ;  the  sigh  for  renewal, 
which  this  groaning  creation  has  emitted,  shall  find  its 
response  in  the  bloom  of  a  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth, 
in  which,  as  in  a  mountain-lake,  heaven  will  n^irror  itself; 
man  shall  replace  on  his  brow  the  crown  of  fine  gold, 
undimmed,  that  had  long  since  fallen  from  his  head  ;  this 
perturbed  world  shall  become  a  Beulah  of  beauty,  the  calm 
home  of  peace,  a  Goshen  of  abundance,  the  worthy  avenue 
of  an  immortal  Paradise  ;  and  from  the  throne  of  His 
triumphant  Mediatorship,  He  who  has  the  keys  of  hell  and 
of  death  shall  look  down  in  complacency,  and  the  light  of 
His  countenance  beam  full  upon  it. 


'MARCUS   WARD   AND   CO.,    PRINTERS,    ROYAL    ULSTER   WORKS,    BELFAST. 


I 


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Neutralizing  agent:  Magnesium  Oxide 
Treatment  Date:  Dec.  2004 

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