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1
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rt'j»->!*»«raW«' .*.' ' '1^ ■}*i%i- - ',<^
ii
ESSAYS AND REVIEWS"
CONSIDERED,
BY
A CANADIAN LAYMAN.
TORONTO:
PRINTED BY W. C. CIIEWETT & CO.,
17 k 19 KINO STREET EAST.
1862.
-anmuamximmmmmmmmtmai
^
W. C. CIIEWETT it CO., PUINTERS, 17 A 10 KIN'G STREET EAST, TOKONTO.
I
A'
■2 Hi
, /•. 7
*-!
"ESSAYS AND KEVIEWS" CONSIDERED,
BY A CANADIAN LAYMAN.
ONTO.
The consternation caused by the fulling of a shell in a populoiis city
could not possibly exceed that arising from the first appearance of "Essays
and Reviews" in the civilized world. Not only among the religious of man-
kind did the tempest rage, but society itself seemed about to be riven asun-
dcr by the violence of this moral hurricane. Bishops and Deacons alike
looked aghast in thunder-stricken silence at the monster which had sud-
denly revealed itself in their very midst ; venerable Presbyters shook their
hoary lieads and carefully perused the pages of the Apocalyps, if perchance
they might find this new terror foreshadowed or explained in its mysterious
pages ; local preachers smiled complacently, and honestly thanked their
God for the fliith which screened them from its scorching influence; the
lowest class of unthinking Atheists threw up their caps in exuberant de-
light at what they considered the triumph of their cause, and even intelli-
gent and dignified men of all classes and creeds, forgetting for the moment
their composure and self-respect, added their voices to the Babel confusion
of censure, praise and terror, already deafening the ear and confounding
the understanding.
The excitement was contagious :— as well expect any cur to maintain its
equanimity in the presence of an exciting hunt as ask any mortal, subject
to the infirmities of lunuan nature, to look on this universal commotion
unmoved. Neither was it possible for any man to take a clear, calm view
of the matter while the fever still raged in his own blood ; several indeed
were rash enough to attempt it, but on either side, as miglit naturally have
been expected, each appeal shewed far too much of the blind and cruel
furor yet undiminished within the Hearts of the respective writers. For-
tunately, however, derangements in the moral atmosphere, like those of tho
outer world, cannot last for ever. Even now the storm has expended its
giant strength, the waves are subsiding, and but for a low grumbling and
occasional splash here and there we might actually begin to look upon the
past as a dream of the night, and smile upon the shadows which had stricken
such terror to our souls.
^o'lC
4
I
A celebrated historian has stated that "the best time to write the history
of an event is when the actors in it are about to quit the scene ;" and, in a
moral sense, it appears that the attitude of the actors in the scene before
us is such, according to the above conclusion, as to justify one in the at-
tempt at taking an unprejudiced review of the path of that comet whose
unexpected appearance has so deranged the equilibrium of the religious
world. Not that we should have tho arrogance to attempt, for one moment,
to cope with the varied learning and undeniable depth of intellect displayed,
not only by the authors of this celebrated work, but also by many of those
who, since its appearance, have endeavoured, by the weighty influence of their
learned dissertations, to uphold or trample down the jjcculiar views which
it has been the object of the book to convey. Neither should we have
been tempted by any means to raise our feeble voice among the intellectual
giants who occupy the arena, but for a very trifling circumstance which
caught our attention no later than yesterday.
We were quietly enjoying the fresh air among the primeval trees in the
rear of our forest home when we observed a small pen rudely constructed
of heavy logs, in all about three feet in height ; there was no roof or cover-
ing of any kind, and a small opening cut in one side, the bottom level with
the ground and not more than a foot high, answered all the purposes of a
door to the roofles.s tenement. Misery could not ask a more wretched
dwelling or crime a less secure prison. Some half-threshed oats had been
thrown in, apparently intended as bedding for some of those wandering
animals which another wandering tribe so reli'2,iously abhor ; and in carry-
ing this straw to its destination, much of the grain, so carelessly neglected
in the threshing, lay scattered upon the ground up to the very door of this
humble but tenantless abode. As wc stood gazing thereon and rvuninating
over the various styles of dwellings in which humanity finds a quantum of
happiness on earth, from the royal palace to the lonely squatter's hut, wc
noticed two noble, fullfledged geese, whom a rare good fortune had directed
to this lucky path, following, with curved and snowy necks and red bills
close upon the ground, the track so richly strewn with the delicious grain.
Lost to the world around them, and totally wrapt in the enjoyment of their
luxurious repast, they followed on, leaving little for the gleaners, until un-
wittingly they passed in at the small door of the pen, and then for the first
time the thougnt appeared to strike them that they had wandered far from
home, and that it was high time to return to their feathered brotherhood —
alas for goosely ingenuity ! — in a fit of aljsence they had entered, but how
to get out seemed strangely to puzzle their reawakened faculties. In vain
they raised their lordly licads above the level of the lowly walls and cackled
forth their wonder and despair ; tho clipped wings refused to carry them
over, and as for stooping to go out as they came in — in fact the thought
mm
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le history
and, in a
ne before
n the at-
let whose
rehgious
moment,
iisplaycd,
7 of those
ce of their
tvs which
we have
itellcctual
ice which
ees in the
nstructed
or cover-
level with
)oscs of a
wretched
had been
i^andering
in carry-
neglected
or of this
iminating
lantum of
I hut, we
i directed
red bills
5US grain,
it of their
vmtil un-
r the f>rst
1 far from
lerhood —
but how
In vain
id cackled
u'ry them
e thought
never struck thorn ! They saw the clear blue sky above their heads, which
were full of thoughts of liberty and lofty aspirations after freedom, but as
for extricating themselves they seemed to have relinquished the idea in
silent sorrow.
At this juncture we observed a little wretched gleaner in the shape of a
half-fledged, miserable-locking chicken, of unhealthy .-rppearance, following
on the kte coiu'se of the noble prisoners, picking up a grain here and a
grain there, until it found itself at their very feet within the little enclosure.
There, among the rich straw, the little bird was amply repaid for its pains,
and giving a little chirp of hearty contentment— which might, indeed, have
been its mode of thanking God for its plentiful repast— it turned quietly
out and pursued its homeward course unobserved ! And is it possible, we
thought, that this little bird can, without apparent reflection of any kind,
naturally hit upon a way which these superior birds have vainly been cud-
gelling their brains to discover. Truly, then, the veriest child may make
itself useful, and to the humblest among us is there a duty assigned; and
totally unequal as we arc in education and other respects to those who have
all their lives revelled in advantages denied to us, may we not, like this little
bird, happen perchance to see, what those, to whose infinite superiority wo
most devoutly and willingly bow, have failed to recognize !
It has been remarked by Zimmerman that " humility is the first lesson
we learn from reflection, and self-distrust the first proof we give of having
obtained a knowledge of ourselves." ^Yc earnestly trust and partly believe
that oiu- reflective faculties, such as they are, have been sufficiently exer-
cised towards the attainment of the first lesson that they teach ; and we
certainly feel that want of confidence which would lead us to believe that
we are not altogetht deficient in self-knowledge ; so that we can fully ap-
preciate the extent to which we render ourselves liable to bo classed with
that numerous crowd who gain a most unenviable notoriety by their teme-
rity in " rushing in where angels fear to tread," when we presume to take
any position, beyond that of silent listener, in the present momentous discus-
sions. There are two ad^^antages, however, which our isolated position may
possibly command. In the first place, being removed far from the throng
of theological debaters, wheio the ideas of each are so apt to take more or
less the pervading hue of the whole, the probable abseni c of this tinge
may, haply, lend an apparent freshness to our views ; and in the second
place, our total ignorance of the main characters on the stage, while it de-
tracts from the thoroughness of our remarks, may enable us to bring to
bear upon the subject a more unprejudiced mind than those, whom an inti-
mate personal acquaintance with the principals liuist have placed, to a cer-
tain degree, in the position of party men. And after all, it is not the
gigantic forest trees alone, with their branching grecnheads and luxuriant
s
fbliage, that lend cnchantmDnt to the beauty of the scene ; do not the meek-
eyed violets beneath our feet fill up, in their own place, the exquisite har-
mony of nature, and add a note, the want of which, however feeble, would
be both felt and rc<rretted.
The effect of "Essays and Reviews" upon the great world without wo
can only judge from second-hand knowledge, derived from newspaper
articles and fragmentary scraps of various kinds; that produced within the
limited sphere of our own observation wc have carefully and, we trust, not
unprofitably studied.
Among the supporters and admirers of the work, comprising the vast
range from simple acquiescence to enthusiastic worship, wc have met with
two distinct classes, and we believe in the existence of a thiixi. The first
comprises a small number of intelligent men, generally well to do in the
world, men who read much and think a little too, deficient in the poetic
vitality of Religion, too intellectual to be sensual, yet too worldly to be
holy, possessing the penetration to detect an error somewhere, yet lacking
both the courage and ability to track the error home, a selfish class after
all, who, mostly ignorant of any broad principles of philarithroi)y, live for
themselves alone, mendicants for public admiration or even wonder, per-
fectly satisfied with the verdict of their little world that they are ''■different
from the connnon herd."
In the scTond class, unforcnnatclj^ a large one in the present day, we
include the lowest type of humanity ; to call them infidels would be to
honour them, for that word seems to imply that they have, at least, wished
or endeavoured to believe something. These men never have. Scoffer ir,
the true designation of tlie class, composed principally of men of dissolute
habits, full of bodily health and animal spirits, void of hear:, though some-
times among their friends styled "good-hearted fellows" — earthly, sensual
— men who have perhaps heard of Voltaire, and read Jack Sheppard as the
noblest production of literary genius— men of no intellect, who talce the
same frantic pleasure in destroying or caricaturing the noblest aspirations
of humanit}^, that chattering monkeys would experience in tearing a flower
or defacing a piece of exquisite workmanship, arising, in either case, from a
total inability to comprehend or appreciate the object of their senseless
rage.
In the existence of the third class, a specimen of which, as we said
before, we have never met, and therefrom infer its scarcity — wo are led to
believe, from the general idea presented to our own mind of the authors of
the book in question ; an idea derived and moulded altogether from the
character of their writings now before us. To include them in either of
the classes above specified would be to exhibit an obtuseness of mind, an
obliquity of vision melancholy to contemplate, if not quite unusual to meet.
I
RMMi
...S^i^,,..,^.,
the meek-
lisitc har-
•Ic, would
thout wc
ewspapcr
I'ithin the
trust, not
the vast
met with
The first
lo in the
;he poetic
lly to be
?t lacking
lass after
', live for
ider, per-
different
t day, Ave
lid be to
t, wished
scoffer is
dissolute
gh somc-
, sensual
rd as the
take the
pirations
a (lower
e, from a
senseless
we said
xe led to
ithors of
from the
cither of
mind, an
to meet.
But Eair play is a jewel so firmly enshrined in the Briton's heart that we
would warn those who recklessly vilify the names of these men, that they
are fighting against themselves ; for so sure as, in this great nation, any
individual is unjustly debased, so sure will the reaction sooner or later set
in when he shall be, to a precisely similar degree, unduly exalted. That
they are men, we speak of them as a whole, of great intellectual power
and superior attainments no one can doubt ; and while we consider our-
selves fully entitled to give an opinion or venture a suggestion as to the
moral points at issue ; yet to t?^c task of criticising their various renderings
or new translations proposed, we are free to confess ourselves thoroughly
unequal. But the unprejudico<i reader will find, in some of these men at
least, something vastly superior to either intellectual power or literary
attainment of any kind whatever. There is something very wonderful in
the manner in which the temper of a writer will appear to breathe, as it
were, from his pages ; it is the spirit which appears thoroughly distinct
from, and independent of the letter. Let a man, under irritating circum-
stances, write a letter to his friend, couched in the calmest terms and most
carefully balanced words, and the chances are ten to one that his friend, if
an acute observer, will detect therein his state of mind, notwithstanding his
endeavours to conceal it : it is the impress of its individuality which mind
must invariably leave on every material medium of expression, and which
Clan neither be hidden nor repressed. There are, it may be, so manv mil-
lions of voices in the worid, yet the voice of an intimate fii ' le
recognised ifter many years of absence ; and your daily cod • '
detect your anonymous production almost as readily as ho w:
photograph from a frame containing a thousand. You may c
body, but a low mind cannot conceal its vulgarity, neither a noble
inherent beauty ; and where christian charity, that highest excellence c.
human nature, exists, it can not be concealed, but will bloom in every word,
adorning the aifectionate lines of the simple domestic letter— while soften-
ing the harshness and rounding the asperities of the coldest philosophical
enquiry. It is this spirit breathing from these pages, more than all other
natural and acquired superiority, v/hich draws the unequivocal line of dis-
tinction between this and the two other classes. It must, however, be
carefully borne in mind that to acknowledge the presence of this spirit
among them, even in its fullest development, is by no means to commit
ourselves to the support of their opinions. A right noble soul will not
necessarily save its possessor from the committal of the gravest errors in
judgment, and a good intention can never justify, though ic must materially
palliate, a fault.
Such, then, in a few words, are the distinctive characteristics of the three
classes by whom the sentiments of this book are more or less thoroughly
mmmmn'm
applauded, aflTording a peculiar cxompHfication of iho discordant elements
that will unexpectedly mingle in every question of universal interest, where
th } ideal predominates over the material ; for beyond all doubt the bitterest
enemies of the book are incalculably nearer akin in spirit, if they only knew
it, to the authors, than the staunchest friends they can point out m the first
or second class enumerated : in fact, the questionable support of the second
class must hr 3 been as little anticipated before, as it was thoroughly
despised after it was accorded ; a support clearly negative o" worse than
negative in all its practical results, arising from no community of feeling or
principles between the authors and themselves, but sim^^ly from a natural
antipathy to the class who, in all sincerity found it their duty, not only to
anathematize the work, but even in some cases, exceptional we hope, to
traduce and vilify the character of the writers.
The opponents, as implied above, are embraced in one class, or appa-
rently so; for in reality a careful analysis would here detect elements united,
naturally even more antagonistic than those c ^iposing the whole three
classes just described. This class, which far o'ltnuinbers all the others put
together, consists of what will be understood by the church-going of all
sects, a class comprising every degree of moral status imaginable, ranging
from the very best and holiest of orthodox christians, in the highest accepta-
tion of the terms, to those whom early educational habit, the force of cus-
tom or interested, and even base motives, have induced to adopt the same
uniform and march under the same binner,
Thus, so far as our observation has gone, stand the Essayists, in the
anomalous position of men enthusiastically cheered by their natural ene-
mies, and as heartily anathematized by those who should at least have been
their apologists if not their friends; either side exliibiting the not altogether
unusual phenomenon of men fighting in the dark, for the interesting feature
o*" the most violent on both sides is the fact, that very few of them have
seen either the book itself or even the smallest extracts from it ; but having
heard of a doctrine, a doubt or a theory as emanating therefrom, have filled
up the great blank with the suggestions of their own over-lively imagina-
tions, and thus, having found an enemy in a windmill, attack it with genu-
ine Quixotic valour.
Having now endeavoured to delineate the position and analyse the com-
ponent elements of the combatants, we trust we may be permitted, before
touching upon the essays, to make a few obserrations to christian men,
upon the attitude of the christian church in the p sent day— what it is
and what it should bf. By christian churcli we intend to denote the party
classed above as the avowed opponents of the Essayists ; but the words
christian men, designating thereby those to whom we would now address
ourselves, we use in a far more comprehensive sense ; embracing all those
mmmmnim
^•"^#<» '
j%i«*f»<K(?
it elements
!rest, where
he bitterest
■ only knew
in the first
the second
thoroughly
worse than
f feeling or
n a natural
not only to
re hope, to
if?, or appa-
nts united,
hole three
others put
oing of all
le, ranging
st accepta-
rce of cus-
the same
ts, in the
itural ene-
have been
altogether
ng feature
them have
)ut having
have filled
imagina-
rith genu-
3 the cnm-
ed, before
stian men
ivhat it is
the party
;he words
w address
all those
9
who love the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Son of God and the ex'^ross image
of His person, in sincerity and truth : all those who, unable, from any
reason, to accept the mii'aoulous identity of Father and Son, nevertheless
love and honour the character of Christ as portrayed in the holy Scriptures :
all those who, whether they have accepted Christ or not, whether they have
heard of Christ or not, yet love the human family, and liiereby, knowingly
or unknowingly, honour Chiist by exacting that which was the chief orna-
ment of His nature : all those who feel within their hearts, however dim
the ray, however obscured by lengthened years of ignorance, sin or crime,
the feeblest yearning alter good, thereby honouring Him who came upon
earth to call not the Righteous, but Sinners to repentance : all, in fact, upon
the face of the whole earth, except, if ^uch there be, theJiaters of mankind,
the hopelessly abandoned, the irretrievably depraved.
"VYe are fallen upon wondrous days ! The human intellect, flushed with
the triumphs of the last half century, is running riot in the earth. Ex-
pectation mul». fills every countenance, and " what wonder next?" hangs
upon the threshold of every lip. While the christian church alone, like a
woman benightei in the wilderness, starts at the sound of her own voice,
trembling at tho harmless winds as they whistle through the branches
above her head, fearing to advance lest she may stumble into the pit, and
dreading to retreat lest some greater evil may befall her, she draws her
torn garments more closel}'' around her and, shivering through the long
hours of the night, seems, denuded of her Faith and shorn 'if her strength,
to have lost • 11 likeuess to her former self, but her indefinite longing after
morning light. Alas for her dignity, it is gone ! alas for her honour, it is
levelled in the dust ! Where is the spirit which animated her youth ? the
Faith which cried of old, " Thy word is a lantern unto my feet and a light
unto my path." " Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of Death I Avill fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they
comfort me."
Is it not high time to shake off this lethargy ? " Awake, awake, put on
thy strength, shake thyself from the dust, arise and sit down ;" " Loose
thyself from the bands of thy neck, oh raptive daughter of Zion — put on
thy beautiful garments," and shew thyself once more the light and the
glory of the earth and not its Tyrant or its slave !
It would appear that the causes of disunion among men, whom a simi-
larity, if not identity, of principles should have drawn together, are two-
fold : first, the utter impossibility of expressing ideas, so exquisitely fine
as all spiritual Truths must necessarily be, in words which shall present
them with precisely the same s.ense to every ear ; second, the universal
clearness with which words oan be applied to all material forms or tangible
ceremonies ; from which it happens that it is a similarity of outward form.
10
altogether unaffected by the possible total dissimilarity of inward spirit,
that draws men into brotherhoods as friends and unites the most discord-
ant spirits in bands of apparent harmony and love.
Take party spirit, for ins* ncc, especially such as builds itself upon the
foundation of religious belief, and compare the coarse violence of its prac-
tical development with the meekness of the faith, and the loving nature of
the spirit, by which it believes itself to be inspired, and there you ^ill
have one of the most common and clearly evident examples of this pheno-
menon of invisible antagonistic spirits, unnaturally, and to all appearance
inseparably, bound together by the iron bands of outward form, the worth-
less shibboleth of a party creed. They repeat together, in all sincerity, the
articles of the same Faith, but alas day and night are not more dissimilar
than the ideas conveyed to the mind of each by these useless vehicles.
The horrible amazement of Zelica, as the prophet unveiled to her his
hideous lineaments, was not mora real or sincere than would be that of
these friends so fondly linked together, could they, but for one moment,
look into the hearts of one another, and, unveiling ttic idol enshrined within
the inner temple of each, sec clearly the moral features of that Deity they
have so long considered the counterpart of their own. AVhut unheard of
wonders would such a revelation occasion ! Iron bands would snap asun-
der and creeds lose their significance; sworn friends would find tliemselves
unable longer to walk in the same path together ; deadly enemies would
discover in each other the dearest friends, and what an accession of strength
would accrue to the worshippers of (Jod when, the Ijonds of outwju'd form
cast to the four winds, they could stand together a phalanx indivisible —
indissoluble — united by the same inner Faith, the sane living hope, the
universal spirit of Charity ind Love. And is it altogether vain to antici-
pate a consummation so desirable? What other words than these- Charity
and Love — so clearly, so unmistakably indicate the spirit which, in time,
can draw all men in one ? The dying criminal still believes in them. The
multitude of the heathen dimly behold and obscurely M'orship tliem. The
infidel host, despising the outward form, unwittingly adore them. And
who of the christian church, who has sincerely studied the life, the words,
and above all, the spirit of liis Divine Master, will dare to deny that Hia
mission upon earth was to declare these words, to expound this doctrine,
to man. Hell is shadowed forth, the atonement hinted at, the Sacraments
spoken of, by the great Example, but His whole life, from Jlis first appear-
ance to His final ascension, was a ceaseless, unremitting exposition, by word
and deed, of tlic Heaven-born, Eternal doctrine of Charity and Love.
"Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge, but thou shalt love thy
neighl)our as thyself," were the first da-, ning words of li^'at which, in the
world's infancy, boro witness to the promised day. " Peace on earth, good
i
•mmmm
MN
'■'4':m^^s^^m
I
will to man," was the angelic song which heralded in the rising of the Sun
of Ilighteousnesg, " Love your enemies," and again, " Thou shalt lovo
the Lord thy God with .all thy heart and with all thy strength and with
all thy soul and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself; on these
liM comrmmhnent9 hang all the law mid the proj)Tiet^r Such were the
astounding announcements that, in the noontide splendour of that glorious
day, dazzled the eyes of the astonished ejirth. And when that beautiful
and ncvcr-to-be-forgottc-i Sun had set at last, what were the voices of the
night, speaking from the multitudinous host of stars that defied the threat-
ening darkness ! " Continue ye in my love," " Let Love be without dissimu-
lation," " By Love servo one another," " The fruit of the spirit is Love,''
"Let Brotherly love continue," " Love is of God," "God is love," "We
ought to love one another," " He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and
God in him," " There is no fear in love, perfect love casteth out fear," " Who
loveth God lovcth his brother," "Love the brotherhood," "Love is the ful-
Pilment of the law." And do not these words strike a respondent chord in
every heart? do they not recommend themselves to the conscience of every
man ? Does not the inmost heart of the great Earth rejoice at the sound
acknowledging them as the Truth, and that great Truth which yet shall
make her free ?
We arc not of those who expect or wish for immediate changes in this
respect. Changes, the result of long reflection and cool conviction, are
more steady and permanent than such as arise from a sudden impulse,
however generous. Years must necessarily elapse before men begin in
earnest to disregard the outer, in favour of the inner similarity; but we
believe that a tendency in this dii-ection is becoming apparent, and more-
over, that such a change must not only commence, but materially advance
before the christian church can recover her strength and take that position
in the worid which is not only her privilege, but her right. Let the pre
eminence of the inner lifc over the outward form be once generally com-
prehended and universally admitted, and soon old things shall pass' away,
all things shall become new— for it is the inability of the church to reco.--
nlze this truth that has cost her the loss of many of her noblest sons and
rnost generous supporters. Take, for instance, the poet Shelley, whom the
christian church has stigmatized as an infidel and an Atheist. Had he
looked to the inner life of the church and the church to the inner life of
the poet, each would have seen his own likeness refU«cted in the features of
the other. It is reported of him that he hated tlirist, whereas in truth he
hated only the ridiculous caricature, the grinning mockery of the reality,
which, cither from his own obtuseness or from a flaw existing somewherei
the ^yord Christ presented to his mental vision. But is it either the Intters
forming that word wc worshii>, or even the sound pertaining to tfiose let-
12
ters ? Or is it not rather the incarnation of Truth and Holiness anr* Love
which that group of letters is intended to represent ? That Holiness, Truth
and Love Shelley worshipped more sincerely than the generality of profess-
ing christians. The Falsehood and the Vengeance and the Hate which,
from perhaps mental obliquity of vision, the same group presented to his
mind, the church, with him, deprecates and abhors. They love the same,
they hate the same, the conditions required for eternal friendship; and
yet they y..rt as enemies the most irreconcilable, simply because they
speak in different tongues and do not comprehend one another !
llow quickly would all men be drawn together in one were all controver-
sial doctrines dispensed with and the main truth and living Arc of Scripture
alone referred to. And why should doctrinal points, which Christ himself
invariably kept in the background, if He did not ignore them altogether,
be insisted upon and pressed into the service of a church they tend to shat-
ter and destroy '? The very fact itself of two sincere and good men finding
it necessary to dispute concerning a given doctrine, is, to our mind, the
most incontestible evidence that the doctrine is of httle or no consequence •
otherwise we directly accuse our God of laying a trap for our souls by giv-
ing us the 'Word of Life in riddles, an alternative too dreadful to think of
for a moment.
Let men write or talk for ever about the nature or definition of Inspira-
tion, it is but spilt ink and wasted time — far better give it up for ever. Xo
two -sv" anglers have the same idea presented to their minds by the word,
and the controversy is doomed invariably to end in nothing but mutual dis-
trust and jealousy between the combatants. We all know that Inspiration
exists. There is a stream of communication between us and the Eternal
carried on, probably, by what is called the conscience. And there are liv-
ing ideas of universal application, though wo cannot embody them in words
of a meaning as universal. The words, " Love is the fulfilment of the law,"
arc to us words of living fire, because our conscience, which, within us as
within every man, if not the very spirit of (iod, is at least the medi\un of
communion with Him, m.-knowledges them as genuine ; and if any man tell
us he cannot receive them as such, wo believe that it is not because his
conscience, which is identical with our own, docs not recognize the truth
which ours discerned embodied therein, 1)ut becaiise the words have failed
to con\ey the same idea to his mind. (Mu- duty, then, remains, to discover
what other words may become the vehicles of our ideas to him ; and then,
though literally wc subscribe flissimilar creeds, wc spiritually adore the
same God.
Under this view of conscivnco every man is, to a certain extent, inspired.
Wo can receive a spiritual Truth by Inspiration alone— llesh and lilood can
not reveal it to us. IJy our consciences we are internally connected with
yglWW^Miff' -»WWWW»«»»teyi
13
the Eternal, and these, if fairly treated, are the supreme arbitrators which
shall stand beforo us in the end, and under whose accusings or excusings
we shall Justify the Great Judge in our final acquittal or condemnation,
A universal appreciation of the preeminence of spiritual similarity above
the formal once established, what, then, would be the attitude of the chris-
tian church which we left trembling in the desert at the sound of the
rustling leaves ? Quickly she would arise and put on her beautiful gar-
ments, and shake herself from the dust, and loose the bands of her neck,
and, straining through the Egyptian darkness for a ray of light, once
more we should hear her gentle voice of Faith— "Yea though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no evil for thou
art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." The discoveries
of astronomy or the revelations of geology would then no longer terrify
her ; nay she would not only willingly endure, but heartily invite inquiry.
"Search me and try me," she would cry, "our God is Love and Truth,
and all your revelations will redound to His honour and His praise.
Search, search out the Scripture, explode its chronology and condemn its
history if you may. Upon no such sandy foundation have I planted my feet.
Behold I am rooted m Love and Charity, and all your delving will but
fructify the soil. You could not, if you would, destroy me, for I know
in whom I have trusted. Look on my bridal robe and know the Bride-
groom is at hand. Henceforth I am beyond all mortal power, and for
the powers of darkness, resting in the Love of Christ, in His name I pity
and defy them ! "
In Dr. Temple's essay, entitled " The Education of the Worid," there
appears to be but little to excite the fears of the most strictly orthodox,
except it be the companionship in which it appenrs. Undoubtedly as it at
j)resent stands it seems to occupy the position of a prefatory chapter to the
succeeding essays, and, by this introductory character alone, to implicate
its author in those views and theories afterwards propounded, but which
nothing in his own essay c-v,ld lead us to believe he wished to favour
or advocate in any way.
Taken alone, it is an ingenious and successful attem])t to save the Holy
Scriptures from the alarming charge, so often preferred against them by
inlidol writers, of revealing, in its two great divisions of the old and lew
Testament, the Eternal God, who is the same yesterday, to-day anvi for
ever, in a twofold and even contradictory character. Orthodox chrifi-
tianity owes a debt of gratitude to the man who could effectively ward
oil' so serious a homethrust, and the learned doctor, in his admirable
J
^■•^•ti'r.i^iUMnir ■
m
essay, has liandled the subject ably and well. He has j^hown that a
wise and earnest earthly parent, having, during a range of many years
the same unchangeable purposes in view, regarding his duty in. the edu-
cation of his child, Mill, nevertheless, in carrying these purposes into prac-
tice, change his order or method of procedure so as to adapt them, as his
wisdom may dictate, to the capacity and mental condition of the child as
he passes through the various stages of infancy, youth and manhood. This
training as it is maintained in a paragraph which contains the pith of the
whole argument, "has three stages. In childhood we are subject to posi-
tive rules which we cannot understand but are bound implicitly to obey
In youth we are subject to the influence of example, and soon break loose
from all rules, unless illustrated and enforced by the higher teaching which
example imparts. In manhood we are comparatively free from external
restraints, and, if we are to learn, must be our own instructors. Fir.st
come rules, then example, then principles. First comes the Law, then the
Son of Man, then the gift of the Spirit. The World was once a child under
tutors and governors until the Time appointed by the Father. Thon when
the fit season had arrived, the Example to which all ages should turn
was sent to teach men what they ought to be. Then the human race
was left to itself to be guided by the teachings of the spirit within "
This idea throws a clearer light upon the narratives contained in the
earlier part of the old Testament history ; and accounts, in no inconsi-
derable degree, for the impression often left upon the mind when studying
the characters portrayed in them, that we have been reading of the acts and
sayings of full-grown children rather than those of actual men. Anions
the many narratives which partake of this childish character we might
especially note the temptation of Eve and her subsequent concealment and
cxcuses-the building of Babel to tscrpe from God-the conduct of Jacob
and Esau-the trickery of Laban-Joseph's many-coloured coat and the
jealousy it excited among his brethren-their manner of revenge-the cup
m the .sack's mouth, and numerous others of the same kind ; not to detract
by any means, from the beauty and simplicity of the narratives, but merely
to draw the attention to the growth of the human mind since that time and
to point out the fact that similar accounts given, respecting our i.resent'race
of men, would appear both preposterous and absurd. It is hard if not
impossible, to divest our minds of the effect of their earliest impressions •
and these narratives which have been placed before us from our infancy'
and whuh, by their innate beauty, delighted and charmed our childhood'
even to our mature judgment appear natural, because wo connect then
with a generation and time long gone by. Jhit t.) picture the idea of the
1 rime Minister of England hitting upon the notion of putting a silver spoon
into the pocket of a foreign ambassador, in order to frame an excuse for
t:^?^;ifji*s»*-'fc^^j:gai^ir^-;fin,f'i»)«l5HT?^^i*ii5i«'
15
illegally detaining him at his house, is quite impossible to the understand-
ing of the present day, in civilized countries at least. Nevertheless, many
of these stories, literally so irroconcilable with the present state of society,
seem to have a shadowy and spiritual application throughout all ages ; for
although no set of grown men, outside the walls of a lunatic asylum, will
now attempt to bring together bricks and mortar to build a tower whose
top shall reach into the Heavens, yet in every generation there arc spiritual
Babels, commenced by men who, as prodigal sons, would live independent
of their Father ; and the unfinished condition of these towers is often owin"-
to a spiritual confusion of ideas not unlike the material confounding of
tongues which scattered the builders on the plains of Shinar. And this
will be the system of interprctatiou left to those who reject the theory of
Dr. Temple ; for if the notion of the world's growth is discarded the early
Scriptures become unmeaning, unless they be supposed to carry a deep and
hidden spiritual truth beyond all that is obvious upon the surface, or all
that the words, in a literal sense, are able to convey. But it is evident that
by those, to whom they were oi-iginally addressed, the earliest of the old
Testament writings were taken in their literal sense alone ; and it is the
existence of this double life, above all else, that indehbly stamps their
moral teachings with the evidence of their divine origin, written not for
time but for eternity, not for an age but for a succession of ages, addressed
to the infant world as the clearest rule of its guidance yet carrying within
a power of development capable of adapting itself to that of the growing
man ; so that in every stage of existence the same words revealed a new
meaning precisely adapted to, and essentially required by the wants of the
time. There is scarcely a narrative or conmiand in the old Testament to
which this spiritual application to the present age cannot be clearly traced,
though thoroughly unsuspected at the time of their first delivery to the
world.
AVhilo Dr. Temple hokli the revelations of God for the education of the
World to have been given directly through the medium of the Jewish
people, he still professes to believe that " other nations, meanwhile, had a
training parallel to and coteniporaneous with theirs. The natural Keligions
—shadows [)rojected by the spiritual light within shining on the dark prob-
lems without— were all, in reality, systems of law given also Ijy Ciod,
though not given by revelation but by the working of nature, and, conse-
quently, so distorted and adulterated that, in lapse of time, the divine
element in them had almost perished.''
It is the appearance of passages of this kind, wherein a steady faith in
the peculiar inspiration of the oracles of the Jewish literature, -in contra-
distinction to the simple sug;.>:estions of nature, emanating from the same
etvrnal si)irit, which threw a feeble ligl^^ into the darkness of the gentile
world -IS directly implied ; it is the appearance of such passages and the
portraiture they afford of the mental condition and spiritual faith of the
author, that renders the position which he holds with regard to his brother
essayists particularly unaccountable indeed. He, as the others individually
claims to be judged on the merits of his own work alone and disavows all
' concert or comparison with" the rest ; but to believe that he entered the
same vessel with them and took the prominent place at the figure-head in
which we find him, without knowing or caring for the aims or objects of his
associates would imply an imputation of bad taste and want of judgment
that the perusal of his writings would never warrant; whereas to suppose
that this place was allotted to him as forming the connecting link between
the old orthodoxy and the new interpretations about to be ushered in
would be either to imply that, while he admitted the necessity of change
in the fo.mer his conscience refused to go the whole lengths demanded by
the latter, and therefore he had no business there at all, or worse still, that
adopting, in their fullest sense, the extreme views of his associates, he wil-
lully refrained from giving utterance to opinions of a startling nature so as
gradually to initiate the incautious reader by slow gradations into the inner
mysteries of this new development of the christian faith-a reading of the
riddle which would certainly throw a severer accusation upon his sincerity
and truth than the spirit displayed in his excellent essay would appear at
all to justify. In fact, holding the belief that he confessedly does with
regard to inspiration and revelation, the question, what induced him to
take the position in which he stands, is one that can be answered only
by himself, and one that lies altogether between his conscience and his
God.
In attempting to illustrate the light "given by God but not by inspira-
tion, and especially where, in the following words, he endeavours to point
out a truth revealed by that light which the rays of the christian sun have
ailed to Illuminate, he is signally led astray by that inability, before alluded
to, of such words as " courage" and " patriotism" to designate a universal
Idea. But except through such general appeals to natural feeling it would
be difficult to prove from the new Testament that cowardice was not only
disgraceful but sinful and that love of our country was an exalted duty of
humanity. Thac lesson our consciences have learnt from the teachings of
ancient Rome." *=
AVc question very much if ancient Rome had any notion at all of either
the nature or beauty of true courage or of the extreme foulness of its op-
posite, cowardice-the wonls then, as now, meant all things and every-
thing. AU. maintain that the only quality deserving the name of courage
must be derived from a lifelong application of and subjection to, the Scrip-
tural laws of universal Love, which implios self-renunciation-which s
alike to
■.■^■.■-Tj»."'-r iT'^^ff^^?.,;*^? .jf ^- -- ■.~f<^-V-^:',^ff/_-
17
I
courage and the only true courage in existence. As for the every day hero
courage that is lauded to the skies, though most useful, it is nothing but an
arrant imposter, a contemptible counterfeit of the truth, no more to be com-
pared to the great reality than a rushlight to the sun of heaven. Look on
the hero of a thousand battles, him, who has sought the " bubble reputa-
tion in the cannon's mouth" and never knew what the sensation of fear
was, when the balls were whistling by his ears and his comrades falling in
hundreds on his right hand and on his left. See how boldly he rides" on
defying Death to his very face or trampling him beneath his charger's feet.
Here is courage to satisfy the most sceptical, here is undoubtedly the ring
of the true metal. Let him come down from his snorting steed— he who
has resolutely faced o thousand deaths will not surely shrink from facing one !
See yonder single ray proceeding from the window of that solitary'' hut j
within, upon a couch of straw, in the delirium of agonising fever, that
wretched, attenuated figure throws his restless arms aloft and asks for
*' Death as for a boon." Will not the warrior sympathise with this brother-
scorner of the dreaded one ? Over his couch hangs the palefaced Minister
whose eyes have not known sleep nor his body rest for two long days and
weary nights, how lovingly he soothes the sufferer and holds, with trembling
hands, the cup of cold water to the poor, parched lips. Go, mighty con-
queror, change places for one hour. His quiet duties vill nerve and rest
your weary arm for further triumph ; and your exhilirating charge in the fresh
field will renovate his jaded faculties. Both are afraid ! His is the God of the
battlefield and there sustains him, and his the God of the sick chamber with-
out its walls forsaking him ! ! Unrobe, then, this miserable phantom of true
courage and what do we find ? if not an actual Vice arrayed in Virtue's
garments, at best an ignorant callousness, a stupid inability to recognise or
appreciate danger, counterfeiting the righteous man's true estimate of it.
Self-renunciation— the lesson inculcated by the spirit of the whole Scripture
writings, the lesson that Christ was sent into the earth to exemplify, the
lesson that every man is born into the world to learn, is courage, true
courage and the only courage, nu.stom will reconcile a man to the appear-
ance of any particular danger. Few men on earth have shewn a high
degree of courage, none has displayed it in perfection save onc-~thc great
Example— Christ, the Son of God !
And what is patriotism,' this other great lesson that we are sent to ancient
Rome to learn ? In its very best and purest sense it is but the third or
fourth step in that great ladder whose summit, like that in Jacob's dream,
rest^ in the Heavens, on the one great Scriptural truth of universal Love.'
And in its conmionplace sense, like courage, a mockery, a delusion and a
snare— a phantom conjured up at the beck of politicians and statesmen, fit
alike to be used to the establishment of a nation, or abused to its destruc
IS
tion ; a creature of the imagination produced alilvc by the noblest and by
the lowest instincts of our nature.
Nevertheless, as the Hebrew lamb, without spot and blemish, prefigured
the Holiness to be revealed ; so may the " courage" of Rome, the "beauty
worship " of Greece and the " poetic aspirations " of Asia have prefigured
alike the self-denial, the intense spiritual loveliness and the essential poetry
belonging to that Holiness, and of which they were the material symbols
shadowing forth the spiritual realities about to be revealed in Christ. Be-
fore Christ appeared no man knew what Clod is ; and from Him alone have
we received the spirit, by the teachings of which the human creature is
transformed into the noblest work of God, not only an honest man, for the
word honest has become earth-tainted in its meaning, but a christian gen-
tleman, in whom we find true holiness, true courage, true meekness, true
gentleness, and often true poetry combined— in one word, perfect self-
renunciation or Love.
Throughout the essay the resemblance between the successive ages of
the world and those of the individual man, is carefully and accurately
traced ; and the difficulty of reconciling the tone of the early, with that of
the later Scriptural writings thereby obviated. No man will rise from the
perusal of this essay without an inward feeling of pleasurable satisfaction,
the intellectual as well as the spiritual life has received fresh impetus ; in
every line the devotion of the christian spirit is apparent. Such passages
as this are well worthy the attention of all : "Among all the vices which it
is necessary to subdue in order to build up the human character, there is
none to be compared, in strength or in virulence, with that cf Impurity.
It can outlive and kill a thousand virtues ; it can corrupt the most generous
heart; it can madden the soberest intellect; it can debase the loftiest ima-
gination. But besides being so poisonous in character, it is, above all
others, most difficult to conquer; and the people whose extraordinary
• toughness of nature has enabled it to outlive Egyptian Pharaohs, and As-
syrian Kings, and Roman Csesars, and Mussulman Caliphs, was well
matched against a power of evil, which has battled with the human spirit
ever since the creation and has inflicted, and may yet inflict, more deadly
blows than any other power we know of"
The following is another of the passages which leads us to believe that
the author must surely have regretted the accident which threw him into
connection with some of his fellow-essayists; "But He (Christ) came in
the fulness of time for which all history had been preparing, and to which
all history since has been looking back. Hence the first and the largest
place in the new Testament is assigned to His life four times told. This
life we emphatically call the Gospel. Tf there is little herein to be tech-
nically called doctrine, yet here is the fountain of all inspiration. There is
l'lti2I-'''^3H^S5^i_
■'*-!''^^^:-"''mmmmmimmwmm»j.i
it and by
irofigurcd
" beauty
)refignred
ial poetry
[ symbols
rist. Be-
lone have
'cature is
n, for the
5tian gen-
less, true
•feet self-
'e ages of
ccuratelj*
h that of
from tlic
isfaction,
letus ; in
passages
which it
there is
mpurity.
generous
iest ima-
ibove all
ordinary
and As-
ras well
an spirit
i deadly
eve that
liini into
came in
which
! largest
1. This
l)c tech-
rherc is
19
no christian who would not rather part with all the rest of the Bible than
with these four books. There is no part of God's Word which the relidous
man more instinctively remembers. The Sermon on the Mount, the Pa-
rables, the Miracles, the Last Supper, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of
Gethsemane the Cross of Calvary-these are the companions alike of in-
fancy and old age ; simple enough to be read with awe and wonder by the
one; profound enough to open new depths of wisdom to the fullest exne
nonce of the other." And again, when he says that "we read the new
lestament, not to find there forms of devotion for there are few to be found
nor laws of church government for there are hardly any, nor creeds for
there are none, nor doctrines logically stated," &c., &c., he seems to recog-
nise fully the preeminence and grandeur of the spiritual principle of Cha-
nty, before whose majestic presence forms, creeds and doctrines sink into
comparative insignificance or contempt. Would that the-multitude of the
sects could be brought to look upon their contentions in the light of these
Ideas ; not to attempt uniformity of creed or church government which
would be useless, even if attainable, but to assign to them their legitimate
positions, as the outward trappings and ornamental decorations of the inner
spuit of Charity. It is the formal christian, ignorant of the true essence of
his nxith, and not the outspoken enemy, who has exhibited to the world
that material caricature of Christianity, which popular novelists justly ridi-
cule and infidel writers sarcastically deride.
There are but two passages in this essay which could have been seized
upon, with any shew of justice, by those whose object it has been to dis-
cover an infidel tendency concealed within it; and these, taken in the
author's sense, simply propose theories, the truth of which has Ion- been
acknowledged by the vanguard of the christian church. In the first of
these it is stated that "we can acknowledge the great value of the forms
in which the first ages of the church defined the truth and yet refuse to be
bound by them ; we can use them and yet endeavour to go beyond them
just as they also went beyond the legacy which was left them by the
Apostles." ''
Truth, indeed, is one indivisible and unchangeable for ever; but the form
by which that truth is to be carried into the system of the church must
depend upon the assimilating powers of the patient at the time; even so
the elementary nutritious atoms of food are one and the same, yet they are
.administered to the babe in the form of milk and to the grown man as meat,
custom, too, and habit making a certain form of diet most suitable; pnd of
such importance is this form that food may become even poisonous if ad-
ministered in any but that adapted to the age and habits of the individual:
yet the form can never rank with the essential truth in importance. There
are certain nrticles of diet peculiarly suited to the means of various classes
I
■
20
of men, and these, at length, custom renders necessary, so that each class
has its arbitrary rules which may not be infringed upon with innnmity.
The same rules obtain respecting spiritual food — there are certain forms
adapted to certain classes, and while it is ))arely possible for a highly culti-
vated intellect to present truth in a garb acceptable to the vulgar mind, it
is utterly impossible for a downright vulgar mind to present even the
noblest truths in a form suited to the tastes of the refined. The learned
man, the publican and the fisherman, were chosen by our Lord as His
Apostles, that Ilis truth might be properly presented to every class of
mind ; and the church which ignores this principle is shorn of half its
strength. "What the power of our national church might be with such a
system as the Wesleyan acting as an auxiliary, as it should have been, no
man can calculate. Custom, too, is as stern and unrelenting here as in the
case of bodily nourishment. Men die in the church in which they are born.
A catholic begets a catholic, an episcopalian an episcopalian, a presbyterian
a presbyterian, as naturally as a Negro begets a black child ; and he who
would convert a man to his own sect from another acts about as rashly as
would a hardy Highlander who would insist upon oatmeal porridge as the
only wholesome ( '"-^t for the Lord Mayor of London.
How many there are who recognise the majestic beauty of the Scriptures!
How few, alas, who duly apppreciate their exquisite simplicity ! When will
men be brought to see that there is one great, simple and sublime truth
revealed in the whole Bible. Like the pillar of cloud and fire it stands
above the hill of Calvary casting its shadows backward and its intense light
forward, by light and shadow challenging the attention of the earlier, and
the worship of the latter ages. The Law foreshadowed it ; the prophets,
themselves stumbling in the dark, pointed to it, the Son of God revealed it ;
the one, tho everlasting truth permeating every page of Holy Writ with its
life-dispensing power, the simple Law of Love, eternal, universal, infinite!
Love, ill its highest sense, is the state of the soul in perfect moral and spi-
ritual health, in which alone it is fiiUy reconciled to its Father ; and this
is the great leading and essential truth which the Bible reveals in its thou-
sand pages. And does the Bible contain no more than this ? Certainly,
much every way. A book which defined the conditions of bodily health
and revelled in descriptions of its happy state, but went no further, would
furnish but poor consolation to the sick and sullering. But this in a cer-
tain sense stands preeminent as the essential truth revealed, all the rest is
but a system of medical forms adapted to man's various constitutions,
divinely given, to bring every soul into this state of bliss. Now mark the
difference. Tho first truth is essential as it is universal; the second, that
is the system of forms and minor truth., though we have the fullest faiih
in, and it is ahvaays our duty to offer, we ha <-■ no right to insist upon,
mmmumm^mmmmm
m m
21
; each class
. innninity.
"tain forms
ighly culti-
ar mind, it
; even the
he learned
)rd as His
y class of
of half its
ith such a
e been, no
c as in the
' are born,
esbyterian
[id he who
I rashly as
dge as the
Icripturcs !
When will
lime truth
I it stands
;ense light
irlier, and
prophets,
svealed it ;
it with its
!, infinite !
' and S2)i-
• and this
its thou-
[^crtainly,
ly health
er, would
s in a cer-
he rest is
ititutions,
mark the
ond, that
'lest faiih
ist upon,
neither is truth in them indispensable, they are but means to an end, and
a baseless parable may lead to the greatest truth. The soul once seeing
the true natare of health may, in some cases, be the best judge of its
own cure. The wise physician in appointing the diet of his patient will,
though an exceptional case, alter the regimen if any particular article
named seem nauseous to the irritated stomach. There are instincts in
every man's soul which must be respected. Among the wandering Indian
tribes we find mighty cures thnt the legal physician knows nothing of.
" Lord, we saw one casting out devils in thy name and we forbade him
Iccnuse he folloiced not with vs.'- "Forbid him not." Can anything be
more plain ? " He casts out Sin, that is my work and the work of my
servants ; I have given you a way, but and if he chooses another way and
yet he casts it out, forbid him not : The health is all the means of ob-
taining it comparatively nothing."
Let us take care then lest we take the cause .for the effect. Spiritual
like physical health, is a state of being, and the system of formula so
often confounded with it is but a way to obtain it ; aud while we have the
fullest fiiith in those legal means devised, nevertheless we ackxiowledge the
existence of morbid and abnormal conditions ; and if our individual expe-
rience should declare to us that we could arrive at that state by casting
pebbles into the sea rather than by prayer and fasting, then would such
pebble-casting become our creed and duty as well as our privilege and
delight. .
The true office, then, of a minister of God is, firstly, to declare to a blind
world the nature and bca,uty of health ; secondly, to insist upon its abso-
lute necessity as the only alternative to spiritual death ; and, thirdly, to
point out and approve, but never to insist upon, the orthodox means of
cure. One man's medicine is another man's poison, and those who insist
upon certain Scriptural means as a specific for the cure of every form of
disease, are but ignorant impostors who often turn the ridicule of the world
upon the genuine practitioner as well as upon themselves.
Tn the second passage before referred to, it is stated that "the prin-
ciple of private judgment puts conscience between us and the Bible, making
conscience the supreme interpreter, whom it may be a duty to enlighten
but never can be a duty to disobey."
This theory, which has caused some wonder as proceeding from the
mouth of a Church-of-FJngland clergyman, is as old as the Reformation at
least ; it is nothing but the old bone of contention between the Catholic
and Protestant sections of the christian church ; the former of whom, hold-
ing the same clear views of the great first Truth as the latter, nevertheless
not only maintains the forms prescribed in Scripture as the absolute and
only available means of cure, but, further, insists upon the necessity of
1
22
their being wrapped in the same tinsel and tinged with the same colouring
which recommended them to the admiring gaze of the infant world The
latter section ignore the tinsel and colouring as only fit for children and
pretend, moreover, as the words quoted imply, to have discovered, by an
mner light, a higher application of the forms themselves more suited to the
advancing years of the world. Both Physicians of excellent reputation,
though personally, we regret to say it, not the best of friends.
Let us conclude our remarks upon this essay by endorsing this noble
sentiment which it contains: "lie is guilty of high treason against the
taith who fears the result of any investigation, whether philosophical or
scientific or historical." Prove the world's years to be counted by millions
and man to have existed from everlasting, uproot old theories and establish
new— all Truth, clearly demonstrated, we are ready to accept. But it can
not alter our position ; we need no Revclatiui. from above to tell us these
things; in a spiritual sense they are of no importance. Let science settle
then, as she will, her decision cannot affect the one gi-and Truth revealed
m Holy Writ, that it is the duty of our lives and the highest aim of our
existence such as God is so to be, and t'.iat God is Love.
If we have found n difficulty in accounting for Dr. Temple's place amon-
the Essayists, a similar difficulty meets us again in accounting for the po°
sition which some of the others occupy, not only within the pale of the
Church of England, but amongst the foremost ranks of her doctors and
teachers.
A national christian church, as we understand the institution, implies a
certain and fixed interpretation of christian truths, embodied in a g.ven
code of forms which those, to whom the task has been assigned by the
btate, consider to be the best adapted to convey to the congregation the
doctrmes they are intended to declare. It is very possible to conceive a
national church established upon a broader basis in which the one essential
truth of Revelation alone being named, the ministers might have full liberty
leftthem to expound and interpret the doctrinal matter of Scripture as
their inclination or learni.ng mi^^bt dictate, although such a church would
be altogether impracticable ii>. th- present 'hy because men are not pre-
pared for It. But the naliunai church of England is no such church as
this.. She has not separated the fundamental Truth of Christianity from
the doctrines which direct the soul to its attainment ; but, on the ^trary
has carefully embodied these doctrines in precise and unmistakable forms'
and thus embodied has exalted them to the first rank among revelations'
demanding from her priests, before admitting them into her sanctuarv, a
hearty and solemn subscription to each and all of them. In sincerity the
church could not have act. 1 otherwise. Having the fulle.. fnith in the
divine inspirations of her own doctrines and an inborn horror of everytliing
^'mm
titm'
e colouring
orld. T!ie
ildren, and
red, by an
litcd to the
reputation,
this noble
igainst the
iophical or
jy millions
d establish
But it can
>11 us these
encc settle
h revealed
tim of our
ace among
"or the po-
•alc of the
Jctors and
, implies a
n a given
ed by the
gation the
conceive a
e essential
iiU liberty
ripture as
'ch would
e not pre-
church as
nity from
t'ontrary,
blc forms,
svelations,
ictuary, a
cerity the
th in the
verything
2»
in the shape of heresy and innovation, these means alone were left her to
fortify her position and dufend herself alike against unwarrantable intr; sion
or inimical attack. Thus secure from her enemies without, and most jealous
in the admission of her priesthood, she never dreamt of the possi^iility of
any hostile demonstration from within ; and considering her checks and
guards, such an occurrence should have been, indeed, impossible.
Beyond all contradiction the doctrinal views of the majority of the essay-
ists are not those of the church of England. To what degree they have
rendered themselves amenable to the laws of that church is beside the
question. In the eyes of the world they stand inexcusable, morally con-
victed of fraudulently rctauiing a position in that church to whu tl they
have forfeited the right. The alleged advance in the spiritualify and ration-
ality of their ideas has nothing to do with the matter. They may be here-
tically false or they may be supernaturally true, but they distinctly arc
not those of the church of England. We charitably trust that, at the time
of their ordination, they fliithfuUy held the doctrines of th.f church. Let
us concede that since that time their views have materially changed, as by
their own shewing they must, that their souls grasped what they considered
broader truths than were dreamt of in the philosophy of the mother church,
and full of their spirit they burned to disclose them to the Mwld. In such
a case one course, and only one, remained open to honest men, that adopted
by Luther when labouring under somewhat similar impressions. He boldly
renounced the church he could no longer faithfully serve, and then delivered
his fiimous theses to the world, that it might be the judge between them. It
is vain to assert that their theories are but the more mature development
of the formularies of their church, for there is no dissenting church in the
land whose doctrines do not agree more closely with the faith of the Eng-
lish church than do those of the Essayists given to the M'orld in these
remarkable pages. Leaving these gentlemen to settle this matter, each
with his own conscience, we will glance at the essay of Dr. \\ illiams pur-
porting to be a review of the Biblical researches of Baron Bunsen.
That this essay is intended as a defence of Christianity, in its widest
sense, none but the most prejudiced can doubt. Unfortunately, however,
the prejudiced form a very large portion of the community ; and it is al-
most impossible for one whose mind " the cold shades of unbelief have
never for an instant darkened," to understand the spirit which animates
those who have carried on a spiritual warfare w ith Doubt and Despair from
the earliest dawn of their intellects. To him they appear, indeed, to be
fighting in earnest and striking their deathblows most vigorously, but the
enemy is invisible. To him they appear as madmen beating the air ; yet
charity demands that the possible existence of the invisible enemies be' con-
ceded ; to those who behold them they possess a fearful reality, and if in
»»»»«-»«a.af«lia».'»Mtiai»»a««il«ajJ,»..»»«.„....— ^ . ... „.,_, .,
» im Miniimi^ifiiHBMIi
24
th(
(loai
to
ihilato thorn they recklessly wound some of the most
cherished arlides of our Faith, ]et us at least remen.])cr that this struggle
is one of Life or Death, and fought with the instinctive consciousness that
one of the combatants must flill, and fall for ever.
Wo can fully sympathise with the writer of the second essay when he
states that "if we had dreamed of our nearest kindred in irreconcilable
combat, and felt anguish at the thought of opposing either, it could be no
greater relief to awake, and find them at concord, than it would be to some
minds to find the antagonism between Nature and Revelation vanishing in a
wider grasp anc^ deeper perception of the one or in a better-balanced state-
ment of the other." To save Christianity by the destruction of this anta-
gonism, real or apparent, is his object, and the means to that end adopted
by mm is the eradication of the prophefic and miraculous clement, as gene-
rally understood, from the body of the Scriptures.
Innumerable scientific minds of the first class" have found it impossible
to reconcile a belief in miraculous intervention of any kind with their i.icas
of the Eternal God ; and it has been, sometimes attempted to establish a« a
corollary the position, that a belief in miracle is the especial indication
01 a weak or at least an unscientific mind. Whether this be so or not we
have no hesitation in stating that, while we heartily sympathise with those
to whom this difficulty has appeared insurmountable, we have never mot
with that difficulty ourselves ; doubts we have ha<l, and many too, but this
has never been among thorn. This particular diHioultv would often appear
to arise ..-om a secret tendency within the soul to Pantheism; a tendency
to invest the created with the dignity and glory of the CVoaK.r, cnnsidorino.
the laws of nature as coexistent with the Eternal spirit of the universe To
a mmd thus ordered an infringement, or alteration, or su..^pens=on of .uoh
laws woul.I j.resent an object insurmountable, would, in (■.,■(, appear a pal-
pable absurdity ; and therefore to such a mind a beli.f in min-clo or the
popular notion of proplavy, might be inadniis.sibk'
To our mind the Eternal has always appoar.d as the gr.ut first cause vet
as much an individual spirit as that which we .vognise within us as sdf
>Vith Inn nothing is coexistent except His own attiibufes which f..rm His
.mhv.duality-Love, holiness, truth, justiro, wisdn,,.,, ...oivv, power, .U-
Aic. In il.s wis.I<Mn and j.owor Ho civated the mnivvuA world and gave to
created matter such a compli,.,,t,.d, y,t oxquisitolv-balapcod, co<le of laws
that the wonderful and beautiful workings of ,...,turo. s.vniing as it wa^ a
true reflection of the divine spirit and being a s(,.p nearer to our hu.nanit'v
were by It mistaken for the great original of wIh,^. person they were the
express material, as Christ was the express <imitual inago.
The laws of nature, then, are not nooossary to. nor inherent in matter
We can fancy matter first created in thoui,!. undod void, d. ad to all animat-
of the most
lis struggle
asncss that
f when he
econcilable
)ul(l be no
ho to some
ishing in a
need state-
' this anta-
(I adopted
t, as gene-
impossible
their i'lcas
iblish as a
indication
)r not we
ivith those
lever met
>, but this
en ajtpcar
tendency
)nsidering
■oi'se. To
1 if such
'car a pal-
le, or the
•ause, 3'ct
IS as self,
fonn His
wtr, ih'.,
I gave to
I' of laws
it was, a
uniauity,
uore the
I matter.
I aniiiiat-
i
ing law. For this the eternal prepared a system of laws intimately depend-
ing the one upon the other, in such exquisite harmony that the study of
them has delighted the intellect of the world for thousands of years, and
may, probably, furnish fresh materials of delight and adoration to millions
more, if not to all eternity. But a solitary law, the attraction of atoms for
instance, is no more necessary to matter than the cog cut in the wheel of a
watch is necessary to brass ; neither is there any more wisdom displayed,
but power only, in the selection of this law in an isolated sense, than there
is in the cutting of the cog alluded to, taken apart from the place assigned
to it in the mechanism of the watch. Repulsion, or some law we are
ignorant of, might have taken the place of attraction, to accommodate
themselves to which all other laws must have been so altered as it is im-
possible for the human understanding to conceive. Each isolated law then
displays the power of God ; the perfection and beauty of their adaptation
to one another and to the whole universe, Ilis wisdom, and His mercy, and
His love. So that in the finished and perfect piece of mechanism called
nature we have the handiwork of the Eternal, conceived, created, and con-
tinually animated by Him. And considering that it is by the perpetual
present will of the Creator, actLig through these laws, that the balance of
nature is maintained, a miracle becomes not so much an active interference
with, as a passive and momentary relaxation of an existent law. Rest and
not action is convoyed in the idea ; and the greatest proof of the presence
of Him who animates the law is, to the majority of men, the suspension at
will of tlio power of that law, or in other words, a so-called miracle.
Let us take the son of any carpenter of our aociuaintanco, or in our
neighbourhood, and ask our own minds what amount of evidence they would
require to satisfy thorn that he Avas correct in stating himself to be the
incarnation of the Deity. "We shouhi demand in that man the recognition
and display, in their fullest perfection, of all the attributes of God— Love,
Holiness, Truth, Justice, Wisdom, Mercy, and also Power.
Convict him of one envious act, one impure thought, one solitary false-
hood, however justified, one unjust demand, one foolish expectation, ono
unmerciful judgment, or the least inability to perform anything not contrary
to the essential attributes of his nature ; any one of these, independent of
the rest, would stamp him as an impostor for ever. All but the last of
these must be discovered in the daily life, and must there appear before
faith ill him can be demanded as a riglit; the last can be displayed by mir-
acle alone, by his suspending at will the laws which he professes hini?olf to
have conceived and still to continue in active operation ; for, althoi. i his
power is more fully shewn in the springing up of the grass beneath our
feet than in the raising of the dead, yet it is recognized rather in the sus-
pension than iji the continuance, just as, to use an Hiberniunism, ono living
■^"J*
besides the Falls of Niagara for years will never hear them till thoy cease.
The eye and the ear are so satiated with the wonderful in nature that it is
the suspension of the wondrous that is most wonderful.
Seeing then all the first in their perfection, many intellectual men, per-
haps, would bo satisfied to concede the possession of the last without
requiring its display, but the majority would not be satisfied. To the
ignorant mind the evidence of the last, as material, would supercede that of
all the rest put together which are spiritual, and therefore to such minds
less tangible. And for this reason a display of miracles appears to us as
necessary to God's justice before he could call upon the multitude to believe
in Christ as himself In fact, every attribute must bo made evident before
every class of mind can be convinced.
In the miracles then of Christ we hold the fullest faith, which no argu-
ments as to their improbability can ever shako, because they appear to us an
actual necessity to the majority; and in the reality of those contained in
the Old Testament we tacitly acquiesce, seeing no reason for taking them in
other than their plainest sense. But to insist upon the reception of either
in their material sense, by minds which candidly confess their utter inabil-
ity to bear them, would stamp us as infidels to the animating spirit of our
whole religion — Charity.
For such minds is the work of Dr. Williams intended, and for such it
may yield a healing balm and fill an aching void, that imiltitudcs of the most
sincere men have not the remotest conception of They have never
experienced the one and therefore never thirsted for the other.
To men of tliat class for Vv'hom it is intended, the perusal of these pages
could result in nothing but good ; and to men grounded in the faith of the
doctrines of the church as popularly received, it can do no harm, for they
will turn from its statements in sorrow, contempt, or actual abhorrence, as
the temi)orament and education of the individual may suggest. Ikit there
is still remaining a very large class whose minds, we fear, this work will
tend to strengthen in evil. Tliere are, unfortunately, many nien who would
truly rejoice in the removnl of all moral restraint ; and their minds, con-
taminated by this desire of false freedom, naturally absorb the sentiments
which seem to advance the consvunmalion of their wishes and reject all else.
These men wilfully blinding then;selves to the fact, that tht' utmost purity
of life and morals is insisted upon in those writings, the absence of which
should condeum any work at once, satiate themselves with such words as
seem to strike at the ordinary forms of (ku^trine ; for unfit to appreciate the
spirit of religion, they look upon the nuttilation of matured forms as the
annliiilatioa of moral constraint, and hope therefrom to reap the long
desired freedem from exterior law.
i
/
27
^H
The si)irit of prophecy Dr. "WilUams has attempt- ■". to treat iu the same
manner as the miracles ; but though his mind altogether rejects the idea of
the prophetic eye looking forward into the unborn future and there behold-
ing in shadowy array the things which must yet come to pass in the world,
he is able to see, " pervading the prophets, those deep truths which lie at
the heart of Christianity, and to trace the growth of such ideas — the belief
in a righteous God and the nearness of man to God ; The j^ower of ijrayer^
and the victory of self-sacrificing patience, ever expanding in men's hearts —
until the fulness of time came and the ideal of the Divine thought was ful-
filled in the Son of Man." He is unable to shut his eyes to the undeniable
ihadowing forth of the coming Mesisah which pervades the pages of the
Jewish history in symbol, psalm and vision for thousands of years before its
full development in the person of Christ ; and it is amusing to observe the
ingenuity with which he attempts to eS'ect a reconciliation between his
rational belief and his moral convictions, thus, "If any sincere Christian
now asks, 'is not then our Saviour spoken of in Isaiah,' let him open his
New Testament and ask therewith John the Baptist, whether he was Elias.
If he finds the Baptist answering ' I am not,' yet our Lord testifies that in
spirit and power this was Elias, a little reflection will show how the histor-
ical representation in Isaiah liii,, is of some suffering prophet or remnant ;
yet the truth and patience, the grief and triumph, have their liiglieM fulfil-
ment in him who said, ' Father, not my will but thine.' " That is to say,
Isaiah knew nothing of the future, but stated simply historical facts as any
other sincere and holy man would have stated them ; nevertheless, it pleased
the Almighty in a future age, to bring to pass such things as Isaiah would
have foretold in the same words if he had foreknown them. AVe cannot
think that this view, though it may lower the individual position of the
prophet, can in any way affect the popular notion of Scripture inspiration
in its results, and if by such an immaterial concession Scripture truth can
be made paluUible to the scientific temperament, let us by all means rejoice
in the fact, and let not the recollection, that men hostile to the faith have
advanced similar interpretations, jaundice our eyes in considering then\, for
in his own words, " the accident of such having been alleged by men more
critical than devout, should not make Christians shrink from them."
In many passages we are forcibly struck with the faith in the miraculous
incarnation of the Deity still existing, notwithstanding the sweeping attemjjts
to destroy the miraculous element altogether. Truly wo ha\e fallen upon
matter-of-fact days ; yet not so much to this as to the undue prominence
given to miracles by a certain class of theologians must the odium, which
they have latterly excited, be attributed. To make them the foundation of
our faith is to insult it l»y placing it upon a level with systems of idolatory
which abound iu more wondoil'ul miracles than are dreamt of in the Chris-
rf
28
tian's rhilosophy, and to the fall as well attested perhaps ; for after all,
reported miracles are no miracles. They are principally intended for the
generation that behold them, and can, in the same manner, serve no other.
We believe in the Scripture miracles on account of our faith in the spirit of
the Bible, and not in the spirit of the Bible on account of the miracles ; for
there is no evidence, excei)t actual sight, that can even pretend of itself to
substantiate the performance of a miracle. Let any of those who will be
most opposed to such views fancy the effect which would be produced upon
his own mind, by his most intelligent friend informing him that he had just
been witnessing the phenomenon of a pine log constructing a watch ; he
may believe his friend deranged, that much learning has made him mad ;
but not even the most credulous will so far believe him as to follow him
with the hope of seeing a repetition of the miracle.
It is the spirit of Christianity and not the miracles that must evangelize
the world ; to rest this spirit only on the miracles is to rest a man's moral
principles upon the texture of his coat. We have been, in our lifetime,
requested by a Christian missionary to wound, by shooting, a few Indians,
who had, in a drunken frolic, disturbed his rest on the previous nioht, on
the ground that he, as a Christian minister, 'would not like to do It him-
self,' though he would have ' no olyection to provide the necessary ammu-
nition.' We have heard the same man before a thronged assembly expatiate
upon the wonders of the Christian faith, and wc thought at the time that
the I cconciliation of this man's words with his deeds would be a greater
miracle than any he had described, and we left his church fully coininced
that one man living among these Indians a sincere christian life, though he
were dumb, would do more, tenfold, to convert them to his faith than the
preaching of this man all his lifetime could effect.
The learned doctor having thus remodeled or reinterpreted the prophetic
nnd miraculous element in Holy writ, so as to render them palatable to
himself and the class he typifies, cannot feci at ease without detormining
pome surer method by means of which truth may be distinguished from
error, nnd for this purpose discovers within the intelligent mind an ever
present power of discriminating between good and evil. This 'verifying
fandty,' which has been the fruitf.d source of so much vain dispiite/and
which, perhaps, is the only valuable portion of our inheritan.-e fi-om Adam.
is merely the interpreting right of conscience, alluded io hv Dr. Tonplei
under another name, and, deny it who will, its acknowledgment is the
only main .iillercnco between the Catholic and Protestant sections of the
church.
Every mnn instinctively feels that Hod hnsnot revealed the truth without
also imp.Mrting to man son.o means of recognizing it ; these TJienns (he Pro-
testant finds in his own conscience, the Catholic in the infalible woid of his
I
I
fm:i iw^'^T'^'i?^^^'^/-'
29
Church. Deny the rijilit to conscience and you must cither restore it to
the churcli, or, by repudiating it altogether, leave us benighted, without a
solitary ray toh illumine the darkness of our path ; with an ignorant people
and an enlightened priesthood it is evidently only safe in the sanctuary of
the church ; with the reverse condition it is better in the individual con-
science. But among enlightened minds the question reduces itself to this :
Is a man hound to believe the Bible true Iccuxise he is so informed ? If so, a
man otherwise informed is equally bound to believe it false. But this is
not so, the verifying faculty, or the gift of the spirit, whether it finds its
sanctioning in the heart of an honest and enlightened church or in that of
the individual conscience, is the rightful interpreter, and will, to those well
instructed in the simple moral law, prove a wonderful discerner of spiritual
truth and error. The Conscience within us reveals the truth of Revelation,
and the idea of a Revelation finished renders it practically null and void
without a continual revelation of its truth by accredited church or private
Conscience to the mind of every individual. To this it has been objected,
that " by such reasoning, instead of subjecting man, as to his faith and
duty, to an external revelation, the revelation itself is subiected to man's
internal consciousness." And so it ever must ue when the conscience is so
far awakened as to demand it, otherwise man becomes the crouching slave
and not the willing subject of a revelation on which he has failed to recog-
nise the signature and seal of the Eternal. Jfan is obliged to accept God's
Vv'ord as he is also obliged to accept the coin of the realm in liquidation of a
debt, l)ut ill either case Conscience reserves the right of satisfying herself
with the ring of the metid.
It is a hard thing to believe that the culture of the intellect should make
the attainment of the spirits health more difficult, as though the pride
thereby engendered must necessarily crush out the spirit of Christian
humility from the heart ; yet the assertion that "not many wise after this
world arc called," seems frequently rudely thrust before us when we see
the evident ditliculty with which the most gifted men arrive at holiness of
life, for this, after all, is the only true criterion. Certainly the ignorant of this
world would ajjpear to have a shorter road to this blessedness we all desire.
"Nv'e have known men altogether innocent of science brought up in the moral
teachings of the Bil)le, believing it, as Mr. Burgon exinvsscs it, "the very
utterance of (he Eternal, as much (Jod's word as if high heaven were opened
and we heard (iod speaking to us with a human voice," that "from the
alpha to the omega of it it is full to overflowing with the Holy Spirit of God.
The books of it, and the sentences of it, and the syllables of it, aye, and the
very letters of it." Men who would tlismiss the first shadow of a doubt of
the above from their minds as readily as they would the visit of Satan him-
self in person ; looking upon the idea of barely questioning the truth of the
if
80
received revelations as a sm of the very blackest dye, as a temptation too
evidently satanic to be listened to for one moment. We have intimately
knmyn such men filled with the spirit of truth and love, filled also with
.spiritual happiness and content, growing each day in holiness, and sheddin-^
peace and light around them. One such living man, and not a generation
but produces hur.dreds of them, is a standing monument of the true life to
^ntnTl^: ^^""''' '"t^^P^^t'^t''^^- «f the Scriptures. What then is
to be the fate of those men who long for the Faith but cannot receive it un-
rbZeth: b^^'-,T'^' rnust they with the evidence of that spirl: 1
life before them by will power, crush out the reason from their souls and
extingn..sh its light for ever, because spiritual peace is better than intellec-
tual grandeur darkened by the hopeless gloom of doubt Alas ' such an
outrage committed upon the soul could bring no peace with it. The lamp
of reason once ht they must be satisfied to abide by its decisions • anS
safely they may do so can they but preserve the confiding trust that th
san^ God, from whom is derived that light by which they now beho d
ob«acles and terrors that others have passed unseen, wHl, with it rev
^U.em another way by which they may escape them,' or else en^lXm
^ th hat spiritual power which may enable them to surmount them or
trample them beneath their feet. They may in justice also, be allowed to
hope, that as the difficulty in reaching heaven is to the learned greater so
when once attained its peace and glory will be greater also ; otherwise
w;im";::;iy ' '"'' ^ '''"^^''^' ^^^-^^ '^^"«^''^"- ^^ ^'- --^
The third c^say by Mr. Baden Powel, since deceased, is avowedly a pro-
test against the position given to the Scripture miracles .. evidences of
tb.r r?^' ^on^'^eHng them entitled to a much lower place in the s.^le
than that usually assigned to them by orthodox theologians when ofi^eredto
the intellectual cultivation of the present day
He .Iraws a very distinct line between what he calls the "essential doc-
trines of Christianity," which, however, he fails to define, or has to to
"verifying acul^v" of each individual to determine, and the "exern
accessories," .-hi.h, ho believes, "constitute a subject which of nee ssUv i
pcrpetualy taking somewhat, at least, of a new Ln with tie ^^^i
phases (if opinion an.l knonlwljro." smciibn o
It appears to „, (hat the position ,i„e to „,i,-a,.Ios in tl,e scale or Christian
X ;r 7'" '? ""r '""" "' ""'■"-■"«-■". """ ™n.">t therefore "
ally defined exeept within a given range ; a faet ,vhieh Mr. Powel appear,
r mnphs n the ael<no,vle,l,.,„e„(. that the strength of Christianity lies in
.v,„,,,„f ,s evidenees, snited to all varieties of apprehensi , ; „ ^
that, a„„d „„ „.e ,,(,,,,1,1,, „f „_^_^^ I^P
i
31
cmptation too
ive intimately
lied also with
and sheddins:
t a generation
lie true life to
What then is
receive it un-
that spiritual
leir souls and
than intellcc-
las ! such an
t. The lamp
icisions ; and
rust that the
V behold the
ith it, reveal
endue thorn
unt them or
e allowed to
i greater, so
; otherwise
is bliss and
W'cdly a pro-
evidences of
in the scale
en oflered to
-sential doc-
s left to the
3 "external
necessity is
! successive
r)f Christian
are be actu-
vel appears
an evidence
nily lies in
nsioii ; nn(l
appreciate
f
some one class of proofs will always find some other satisfoctorj', is itself
the crowning evidence." So that while to one miracles may be the founda-
tion upon which his faith in Christianity rests, to another they are not only
without evidential power but without actual existence of any kind what-
ever. To the latter class it is very evident the writer of this essay belongs,
who looks iy)on the miracles as the " main difficulties and hindrances to the
acceptance of Christianity." Unaccountably he endows the exquisite
mechanism of nature with the majesty and immutability belonging only to
the attributes of God. The idea of the immutability of these attributes is
quite intelligible ; and were nature, as the Pantheists assume, a Pervading
Omnipotence instead of the Creator's handiwork, in which, no doubt, we see
a material reflection of his spiritual essence, then this mechanism elevated
from the position of arbitrary laws to that of inherent attributes, would
naturally become immutable also ; but creation acknowledged, to deny the
attributes which devised the laws of nature the power of altering or sus-
pending them, on any terms, appears illogical and unnecessary.
That the miracles were net intended in all cases as the foundation of faith,
is evident from the words of Christ himself, when he attributes the faith of
Peter not to "flesh and blood," that is exterior evidence, but to the " Father
in Heaven," that is interior revelation. And again, upbraiding the nobleman
and the listening multitude at Capernaum, "Except ye see signs and won-
ders ye will not believe," evidently pointing to a higher and purer source of
faith; and indeed in all the healing miracles a pre-existcnt faith was
necessary to the working of the miracle, thereby for ever denying to them
any claim to be considered a ground of faith except to the most obdurate
and ignorant.
But there are a few who deny sotne of the miracles only, not from any
preconceived immutability of the laws of nature, but from the absence of
collateral historical evidence in cases where the result of the miracle must,
as they suppose, have been universally felt, as, for instance, in the standing
still of the sun, which they rightly contend must mean, in the astronomical
light of the present age, a cessation of the rotary motion of the earth upon
Its own axis, which, to say nothing of other natural consecjuenccs, would,
even in its addition to the length of the day or night, as the case might be,
have made itse' ^ felt over the length and breadth of the globe, and surely
would have been chronicled in profane as well as in sacred records. But it
must be borne in mind that in every case of miracle there are two olyects to
work upon, the spiritual and the material; the material subject of the
mn-ade and the spiritual essence of those for whose benefit the miracle is
wrought ; upon one of which alone it is necessary to bear. That is in the
present instance, either the motion of the earth may have been actually
stopped or the minds alone of the Jews may have been so affected that to
m
their eyes the sun appeared to stand still and the length of the day to be
increased. In the former case it certainly would have been a miracle patent
to the whole earth, unless additional miraculous power was exerted to coun-
teract its annihilating effect ; in the latter only real to those actually
concerned.
Mr. Wilson commences his essay by sounding the warning note that we
are upon the eve of mighty changes, that the development of Truth handed
down to us from past ages has not kept pace with the march of intellect,
that it is now high time that " old things should pass away" and " all
things become new ;" and to justify his opinions, by the occurrences of past
history, he refers to the reformation effected by Christ in the Jewish ideas
of Truth, and that effected by Wycliffe and his associates in the ideas of
their own times ; although the latter appears to us to have been less of an
advance movement than a general retrogression towards the lost simplicity
of the Catholic church. If these expected changes are to consist in the
adaptation of old forms to the advance of knowledge, when they are required
by all means let us welcome them ; but is there nothing but worn out forms
condemned when he affirms that " many evils are seen in various ages, if
not to have issued directly, to have been intimately linked with the Christ-
ian profession ; such as religious wars, persecutions, delusions, imporitions,
spiritual tyrannies. May good of civilization in our own day, when men
have run to and fro, and knowledge has })een increased, have apparently not
the remotest connection with the gospel." Christianity, or the earnest
endeavour to walk in the spiritual footprints of the Redeemer has never
produced evil or crime of any kind whatsoever, though it may possibly have
made the existence of such apparent. Crimes or actual evils are not sin
but the visible indices of it, by which its inner strength may be detected.
Sin is a disease of the soul, which may rage within a man so fettered
physically or otherwise that ho cannot commit crime. So that the thorough
suppression of all evil, even by inner moral restraints, may be coexistent
with the most hopeless virulence of the disease. Total fettering by law to
the suppression of crime is the highest end of political state-craft; it
attemj ts no more, and we can con.^eive, in a well governed and secularly
well educated community, a complete ab.-^once of crime, empty prisons,
tenantlcss penitentiaries, while at the heart of every individual rankled
envy, hatred, malice, and all ui, charitableness; this is precisely the end to
which all simple political government tends, it has to do with the requlr -
ments of time ; Christian government with the requirements of eternity ; by
the eradication of sin which is the root not the suppression of crime which
is the exterior result. In effecting this i/iany crin.es may be brouglit to the
surface, as a good medicine will dislodge a deadly disease in the system by
first bringing it to the skin before disposizig of it If with this life our
J
Mlej^
mmmm^imtt^
33
existence terminated then Christianity might, perhaps, be considered by
some as a bad policy, as filling our whole span of life with confusion in pre-
paring for a future we could not live to see. But as the avowed work of
Christianity is to prepare men for eternity, it cannot be justly charged with
confusions wrought in time ; if these are necessarily attached to its mission
t IS the duty of pohtiQal government to repress them. Let these two walk
hand in hand, as the temporal and spiritual guides of the human family
should walk and we shall have all that the soul could demand both for the
present and for the future. We are body as well as spirit, and the require!
ments of each must be discovered and supplied. But most worldly dis-
urbances have resulted not from the spirit of Christianity but from ^he
human misapprehension of it. *
In the same spirit must we regard these " goods of civilization " so hi-hlv
extolled It IS most probable that such " goods of civilization " as the steam
engme, the printing press, th^ telegraphic cable, and numerous others, might
have been brought to their present perfection even though the voice of the
Gospel had remained silent for ever. The Gospel has another and a totally
di.tmct mission. Had it been otherwise Christ's work would have consisted
ui an anticipation of the discoveries of Gallileo, Newton, Watt and others-
and the Bible would truly be what some foolish men have, in all ages'
averred it to be, a revelation of undiscovered scientific aLd historical ffcts
eitaining to the physical universe. The loss of these "goods of civiliza-
tion, having ei.oyed them once, we should feel very much no doubt; but
IS the human race now happier than when it was ignorant of them ? Study
honestly the care-worn features of the multitudes who throng our railway
carnages, and say have they ^he appearance of men exulting in the triumph
is e I rV : '^^ ^'^'^- ^'' '^''' '^' "S««d^" th« heart of man
is ever thirsting after, or are they but the playthings with which it would
beguile the time and fain forget its thirst completely ? Oh the mockery of
eading man to the springs of science to quench his thirst with the intoxi-
"rZ? ;^"Sht which lulls but for a moment to increase tenfold the raging
them betTer 1 T-'"'' '' ^ ^'''''' '' '^ "'^^« ^^^ ^^PP- ^^V mating
F t^e nd\/ T^'l^^r'"'''' ''"'' ^^^^ the long-distorted image of thei?
K^hcr, and the 'goods of civilization," when made subservient to the Gos-
ZVJ ^'^T"i '""'^""^ ' '^ *h«^^««l^^« they arc but butterflies which
whTcaught ' ^^''" ^'°"'' '" ^''''"^"^' ^"' ^^^ ^" P^^^^"^«
Fron^ this subject the essayist turns to deplore the fact th.t "the ordi-
nances of public worship and religious instruction provided for the people
Lngland are not used by them to the extent we should expect," ItLg
that according to the statistical returns of 1851 nearly one half of those
•^la-.- «>;'-■*«, ■!^*-Jim
34
able, and with opportunities of attending divine service that year had al)'
sentod themselves, and attributing this spiritual coldness to "a distrust of
the arguments for, or proof of miraculous revelation." We certainly can-
not believe that the "arguments" or "proofs" will acquire any new
strength from a perusal of "Essays and Reviews;" but far more ignorant
men than Mr. Wilson might have arrived at a shorter and truer solution of
the difficulty. We admit that many beneficial changes might be made in
the wording of the "book of common prayer," but cannot think that by
any enlargement of the limits of the ecclesiastical law the .national church
would gain increased vitality of action ; it would no doubt derive incalcu-
lable advantage from the destruction of "the strong tendency in England
to turn every interest into a right of so-called private property " by which
*• the nomination to the benefices of the national church have come, by an
abuse, to be regarded as part of the estates of patrons, instead of trusts, as
they really are." But none of these, alone, appears sufficient to account
for the almost universal coldness, so much complained of, which seems to
have paralyzed the whole action, lay and clerical, of the established church.
It is a long-acknowledged fact that a dearth of spiritual Kfe among the
priesthood will inevitably cast its shadow in double darkness upon the con-
gregation. By the students of the Roman Catholic church there is a train-
ing to be endured, and to its priests there are privileges denied, sufficient,
in a great measure, to deter men, altogether woHdly-minded, from volun-
teering into its service ; and although no peculiar privations are necessarily
attached to the office of the ministry among dissenting sects, neither, on
the other hand, does the occupation of the office confer much woridly
honour upon the ministry. In the national church alone do the strongest
motives exist for inducing men into its ranks altogether independent of, and
opposed to the only motive which should lead honourable and conscien-
tious men to enter the priesthood of any church. To the influential, within
its pale, many roads are open to preferment, and even the position held by
the lowest in rank is still honourable in the eyes of the world ; so that, in
a purely secular sense, it is a good profession. That these truths are prac-
tically acted upon is well known to all those who have mixed much with the
divinity students of our British colleges. As a class they are not the most
sincere or religious cf the national youth ; as far as outward signs can tes-
tify there is not one in five who appears to have any proper conception at
all of the momentous responsibility of the position he is preparing himself
t*^ occupy. No man acquainted with college life will deny these facts ; and
the wonder remains not that vcq have so many cold and worldly-minded
ministers, but that we still have so many spiritual and sincere men adorn-
ing the church, a fact truly inexplicable if we consider the materials wc
have had to work upon. Oui- national army would run to hopeless ruin if
m^d^^^^^^^f^
car had ai)-
(listrust of
rtainly can-
•e any new
»re i{i;norant
solution of
be made in
nk that by
)nal church
ivc incalcu-
in England
* by which
ime, by an
f trust?, as
to account
h seems to
led church,
among the
on the con-
? is a train-
, sufficient,
om vol un-
necessarily
neither, on
;h worldly
3 strongest
ent of, and
[ conscien-
tial, within
3n held by
so that, in
s are prac-
h with the
t the most
IS can tes-
iception at
ng himself
racts ; and
ly-mindcd
len adorn-
terials wc
ess ruin if
35
subjected to the control of foreic^ or ho«f Mp nfR.
reason for expecting a better ;: e f our naU^^^^^^^^^^^ 7 7 "^^'"^*
of sinu'lar conditions. '""-"^ ""*^"* t^^« Po^ver
The first problem to be solved for the restoration nf fi u u.
health and vigour consists in discovering iTm^^^^^^
sha.x be induced to send forth ^ hn.^ 5 ^ ^^'^^ ^^*^ "^^ion
the Sanctuary. T.^lntt ; ^ rnerT^r"' '" fV'" """"^ °'
There are young men in everv .renerVtl ' '"' °™™te<l-
her unalienable right should no» ™ 'tH m T'"""' *""'> ^'^
mains, hy what n.elhod the l,fehes „ffll ' • Z u '"''"''• "" "^'^ «"
the holiest an., „,ost diseree n nisTers a ::L*V'':"'' T '" """' ">-
tively easy hy the solution of the St WhaTt '":"'""•''<' "■"P"''''-
who, having solved these problem, could hn! k"" P"'*' """U he be
operation. Then, indeed, we sho"w behold "hf natlo^rb^' '? ""■""''»'
her limits and surely fuim,i„. her dest nybv Ih *"* ""'"B'^S
her wings as a hen ga.hereth her eh kens Tf?*' I", '""'°" ""^'^
from inherent weakness, for the errors ^f the ' , T "■""''' ""' *° P'^"^
seets, and the ehurch w uld ! dcklv beeom! r.*;T "" "'""S* "f""^
glory and the beauty of the\™rid "' " """"^ "'"y^ ""=. "«■
^ no™k:'r:;:;:;r:rt;:r:tS^.?;^"?rr"^ "-
add an inch to his stature and ifTe t , "«"''™ "*'"' <"■ •"»*■ ■>°■•
tempt that which is greates The Hid , ^ "■'"'"='' ''^ '"■■"=' ^"j- "'■
indulge in /,„„«, the realign owtlTf "'""' """ ""■'' '■"^''"P^'
should never be permitted to grow so substan, , T ?"''™'°''' ''"'"'«^«
rules and teaehinVs With thIT,. '*/*?"''"' "^ '» '"torfere with plain
towards the OentH wo I Ift churchr, ^^ '"""'' "' """'^ "ealiigs "
its reach ; that they have ^^^Z TCT' """"" '^ '"^™^
own, by which they shall be flnaUv i 1 , *° 'Counterpart of our
where Cluist is designated as the ^^5 "' ° V ? "^ "*'''""'=">' '»W. ""d
that beheve,.. sure,y^h™ ^^ et ughlinTedt u"™; ^ff" "' "'^^
the equitable dealings of the AhniMUv Tt, , 'Tr' "■" '""""' '™s' i"
est possible instruc ions espe f! t ° 'T' ^'^ "™'"='' '"'» P'™-
worry itself with vain and futlessenn, ™"":''f °,<""'«^ i " '^ "ot told to
i..gs with the flentilcs to " Go ve ,b^ ' ' ." "'° °1"'*>' "^ ««"•" ''eal-
«>om in the name o ' e Fattefand o "m"^ '"* "" ""°"^ ''"P'-"8
teaching then, to observe ,a^ tlLs that rT "' "'" "°'^ «'>°>"^
"oJ, lo, I am with -ou .,!„. ° whatsoever I have commands you •
cau'rec'oncile o ex t ^e^V?™ ""'».">'' -'' °f «>o »orId." When we
animal with abstraerWe "o irg:Ss7 7' '" *"" ■^™"'^* ^^'^
let us expect a solution of tie diS,?, ""'"'Po'^ee of God, then
the dilhcultios connected with the doctrines of
36
eternal punishment. These are questions beyond our reach to be met only
by an abiding Faith in God wtiich need not shut out the humble hope,
though it were against hope, that universal good shall yet prevail when sin
shall cease, and perhaps Hell itself repentant, loving the most because the
most forgiven, shall worship with humanity, and that in the great end,
whether sin bo thoroughly eradicated from Cod's universe or not, each indi-
vidual attribute of the Almighty shall stand clear and justified even before
so weak a worm as man !
In the relative values assigned to "christian moral life" and "christian
doctrine " we fully concur ; the former from its nature unchangeable, the
latter fitting and adapting itself to every human soul ; and it is this very
adapting power itself that renders such sudden reformations, as the cfi«ay-
ists dream of, alw.ays unnecessary unless they arc produced, like political
revolutions, by reactionary pressure from without, caused by a too stringent
enforcing of the authority of the form above the spirit from within. It is
the glory of the British Constitution that by the free development of this
adapting power it has accommodated itself to the growth of the nation as
the shell of a nut to that of the kernel contained, and so has escaped the
rude revolutions which the absence of this regulating faculty had engen-
dered in other less favoured nations. Let us hope that our ecclesiastical
rulers are not less wise than our great statesmen, that they will calndy and
gladly behold the gradual and natural changes taking place which alone can
obviate the necessity of these sudden and radical reformations which are
always dangerous because, from their reactionary violence, they are carried
too flir. It is by ^lo moans likely, that any two men on earth think pre-
cisely alike on the doctrine of the Trinity ; each has his own idea according
to the spiritual and intellectual development within him . and to the more
advanced idea the other will gradually and naturally tend : we can well
fancy, too, when in the vaulted cathedral we hear in loud-swelling tones
those beautiful words of the Te Deum, " The noble arixiy of martyrs praise
thee," the very different ideas presented to the worshippers by the one
simp'? word martyr ; to the more simple mind is immediately pictured the
burning agony of the stake, to another an innumerable host, discovered, it
may be, among the lanes and byways of life, of whom the world was not
worthy and perhaps has never heard. But it cannot be expected that any
ai'bitrary code of laws could reduce these various minds to unanimity in
the interpretation of the word.
The most melancholy portion of this essay is that in which we behold
the author descending froii his fearless rt>'Sonings and lofty independence
of spirit, to a petty and contemptible quibbling unworthy of him. Disagree-
ment in sentiment, more or less, can not blind us to real merit, and we think
that the stamp of honesty of purpose is clearly evident upon the general
yr
j^Uk
■"■-i^^W^- '''^^^''*^ '■ ^''''■^r^:v''f'W9i^is^T^i'^^'WFT " ^' ^r^^^-miPiF^w^-
37
be met only
umble hope,
ail when sin
because the
) great end,
it, each indi-
even before
I "christian
ngeablc, the
is this very
ls the es say-
like political
;oo stringent
ithin. It is
iient of this
lie nation as
escaped the
' had engcn-
;cclcsiastical
calndy and
jh alone can
; which are
'■ arc carried
h think pre-
ja according
to the more
we can well
'elling tones
rtyrs praise
by the one
pictured the
iscovered, it
'Id was not
ed that any
nanimity in
1 we behold
idcpcndcnce
Disagree-
nd we think
the general
face of the writings before us. It is, tlicrcforc, with heartfelt regret we find
a man like Mr. Wilson stating first that the "strictly legal obligation'' im-
posed by the subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles is "the measure of
the moral one," and then exercising his ingenuity in pointing out how the
words of these, or any other laws or rcj^ulations, may be tortured out of
their original sense to mean anything or nothing, thereby exonerating the
subscriber from the bonds of his obligation. With all honourable men the
moral obligation is higher than the legal, and to measure the higher by the
standard of the lower is to cut of!" all hope or probability of progress ; for
it is only by keeping a perfection altogether superhuman in view that hu-
manity can make any worthy advance towards perfection at all. There is
something very inconsistent, too, in discovering in the articles " restraints
which require to be removed," and immediately pointing out that these
restraints are only moral and therefore nugatory ; and again, the definition
of the moral position of the essayist is, in the following words, given in a
supposed parallel so utterly unjust that its fallacies must be patent to the
most unsoi)histi''ated : " And to lay down as an alternative to striving for
more liberty of thought and expression within the church of the nation,
that those who are dissatisfied may sever themselves and join a sect, would
be paralleled by declaring to political reformers that they are welcome to
expatriate themselves if they desire any change in the existing forms of the
constitution." They would not be the first reformers, though the name is
scarcely sufficiently strong, whose expatriation had been not only " wel-
comed," but materially assisted by the constitutional government of the
country.
The object of the fifth essay, by llr. Goodwin, is to prove untenable the
position assumed by many theologians that " the Mosaic narrative, however
apparently at varience with our knowledge, is essentially and in fact true ;"
and to demonstrate on the other hand, " that the Mosaic narrative docs not
represent correctly the history of the universe up to th • aie of man."
Respecting the first he remarks, with some truth, that " the spectacle of
able and, we doubt not, conscientious writers engaged in attempting the
impossible, is painful and humiliating." But to many the contemplation of
his own task may be equally painful, considering, as they will, how much
more profitably time may be employed in eradicating moral evil from the
universe than in criticising the astronomical acquirements of Moses. A\'ith
such conceits we neglect the grand lesson of our great school-room, the
world, and waste our time in play. Rather concentrate our whole energies
upon the main task now, and perhaps in a perfect world hereafter such
questions may present an agreeable pastime. Little indeed is to be gained
by such discussions now. The learned have their own refiectlve faculties
4
ami will use them ; but prove to the ignorant, and renicni])or they form the
vast majority, that the Mosaic account of the creation is false, and with it
the whole moral law will loose its power over them.
By the most ignorant the power, not the beauty, of the moral law is
discerned, and it is only after long and careful biu'lding that the acquisition
of the key-stone of perfect love estabhshes the self supporting strength of
the arch and the centering may be removed without danger to the structure ;
and what consolation would it he after the sudden destruction of millions
of such structures by the too hasty removal of this centering, to find that
the few which had received the keystone were altogether self-sustaining and
towered proud and strong amidst the universal desolation and ruin ! The
exterior support, altliough to them useless, was at least harmless, whereas
to the many it was the sole source of their very existence.
The history of the Jewish nation is the history of the Church, and its
morals are invariably drawn from and pointed by its historical incidents, so
that even were the whole history shewn to consist of anecdote, parable, or
poetic imagery, nevertheless its stories are so inwoven with the moral teach-
ing of the whole Bible ';hat it would be impossible to separate them without
the most fatal results to children in knowledge as well as children in years.
Rather let them remain fettering some with wholesome restraints even from
the cradle to the grave ; to others gradually loosening and finally falling
away, when the more spiritual life and essence of the book has rendered
the material fettci s unnecessary ; when perfect love has completely cast out
all fear. But let us shrink in horror from the thought of ruining a world
that the spiritual grani'. >ur of a few individuals may be disi»layed.
The essay of Mr. Pattison, from the nature of the subject considered,
cannot appear in that attitude of hostility to the orthodox creed supi)oscd
to be assumed by some of the others. It is not unlikely that the author's
ideas are to a certain degree similar to those of his fellow essayists, but if
so the fact is not apparent on the face of the composition Vieforc us, which
is a well considered history of the development of religion, or as the work is
entitled, "The tendencies of religious thought in Kngland, 1(18^-1750."
Endorsing J)r. Teniple's parallel, he considers thought in every nge to bo
the natur.d result and development of itself in the preceding age ; that
"l)oth the (Muirch and the world of to-duy are what they are as the result
of the whole of their antecedents." The three great agencies, themselves
the result of their own antecedents, which weie developed in the beginning
of the eighteenth century, and are tlu' preceding cause oi the present
development of religious thought in our day. aiv. the Spirit of Toleration,
the Kvangelical Spirit, and the Spirit of Rationalism. The IKth century
was especially an age of Rationalism, that is, an age in wliich the reason
ableness of Christianity was continually n>rer;\>d to a< its ] ri icipal claim to
39
' form tlie
id with it
ral law is
cquisition
trcngth of
;tracture ;
f millions
find that
.ining and
in ! The
, whereas
1, and its
idents, so
arable, or
ral teach-
n without
in years.
;ven from
lly falling
rendered
y cast out
2: a world
nsidcred,
supposed
I author's
5ts, but if
IS, which
e work is
750."
ngo to bo
igc ; that
ho result
em selves
)eginiiing
! [iresent
>k'r;ition,
• •(■titury
e reason
claim to
?'^
acceptance. *' Christianity appeared made for nothing else but to be
proved: what use to make of it when it was proved was not much thought
about. Reason was at first offered as the basis of Faith, but gradually
became its substitute. The mind never advanced as far as the stage of
belief; for it was unceasingly engaged in reasoning upon it. Tlie only
quality in Scripture which was dwelt upon was its credibility." In the first-^
part of the century the reasonableness of the doctrines of revelation as an
internal testimony was insisted upon, in the latter part the question was
narrowed to the proof of the external or historical evidences of Christianity ;
and so Christianity became crystalized, as it were, into a cold and lifeless
moral law, which our self-interest induced us to honour and obey. On this
state of religion Mr. Pattison, with a true appreciation of the value of the
spiritual life above all systems of forms or moral laws, however excellent,
remarks, " Yet the experience of the last age nas shewn us unmistakably
that where this is our best ideal of life, whether with the Deists, we estab-
lish tliL' obligation of morality on independent grounds ; or with the Ortho-
dox add the religious sanction, it argues a sleek and sordid epicurism, in
which religion and a good conscience have their place among the means ly
irhirh life is to he made eomfortahle.'' By such a phase of religion the
order of things was completely reversed, the conduct was regulated by
intellectual perception and calculation, instead of being excellent as the
" spontaneous efflux of our character." Like a dead tree liung with arti-
ficial instead of natural fruit, good conduct was ;)?/« <*«, because the intellect
pronoimced it good and beautiful, it was no longer the luxuriant evidence
and result of the spirits vitality. Faith, no longer "the devout condition of
the entire inner man," resolved itself into the " intellectual perception of
regulative Truth."
But fortunately, as before stated. Rationalism was not the only force in
action ; the spirit of Toleration was also playing its part, and thirdly that
"great rekindling of the religious consciousness of the people, which,
without the established churcli, became Methodism, and within its pale has
obtained the name of the evangelical movejiient." The resultant of these
three forces is our present conception of tlieology, which, in its twofold
character, is beautifully defined in this essay as " first and primarily, the
contemplative speculative habit, by mean.s of which the mind i)laces itself
already in another world than this, a habit begun hero to be raised to per-
fvct vision hereafter. Secondly, and in an inferior degree, it is ethical and
regulative of our conduct as men in those relations which are temporal and
transitory "'
Notwithstanding the neutral position of this essay and its purely histor-
ical chanirter, it has come in for a share of the general condemnation
accorded to the whole book by those who arc always ready to take a party
J
>~s4iuiaB
view of such matters, and generally, either totally ignorant of the question
or possessing a knowledge derived from a few maimed quotations, rashly
judge and condem;. what they have never fairly or calmly considered.
The last of these famous essays, by Mr. Benjamin Jowett, has taken for
Its subject a topic which should be approached with fear and trembling and
m such a spirit it is evidently considered by its devout and learned aut'hor •
not that he owns the least distrust in the strength of his own arguments'
but that his soul is full to overflowing of the good man's dread of dispens-
ing that which, though most necessary to some, he knows to be highly
dangerous to the many. Plain discussions on the beauty of holiness and
truth are universally good a- id can do harm to none ; but questions of this
kmd, called into existence rather by the morbid than the healthy develop-
ment of the age, are only not fatally dangerous because incomprehensible
to that particular class they would otherNnse tend to ruin. To the intelli
gent and healthy Christian such matters arc a pleasant and profitable
exercise ; to certain, and but too numerous morbid natures, a necessary
aliment ; to the crowd hom God, by a self-preserving instinct, has rendered
deaf to their appeals, a most deadly poison ; and this owing to the several
mental conditions of the three. We have noticed young birds, but lately
hatched, run for some time with the shells which had formed the walls of
their embryo state still hanging; on their backs, and we could fancy the
self-complacent pleasure with which the older birds would discuss amonj,
themselves, the absurdity of carrying about incumbrances now become
useless, and the joy of the first freedom and activity gained by these youn-^
isteners when, obedient to the voice of their superiors, thev had shaken off
the broken and low worthless fragments. But what if tiie word spoken
couM strike upon the c.r of the embryo yet containe.1 within tiie perfect
shell and ,t had strength and will to cast it off also! The parallel may
seem ludicrous but is not the less illustrative of the three mental conditions
just referred to.
It is trul3- refreshing to see the fear lest the tender plants should sufler
with which he great an<l good man approaches his difT^ult task, candidly
discussing the qn stion of the interpretation of the .Scriptures, which he
considers mvo been in many cases misinterpreted; owing, firstly, to the
poetical spirit in man tending to allegorical interpretations; secondly to the
rigMl «ppli,.ation of logic " to the principles of interpretation ; thirdly
to the too "minute examination of words, often withdrawing the mind from
morennportant matters;" and, fourthly, to the " tendency to exagerate or
amplify the meaning of S.-vipturc words for the sake of edification " until
one is apt to become persuaded of the "divine truth of his own reprtitions "
For these causes he considers that, in the i»resent day, Christian scholars
iiiUKiiWIiiaiiS
)f the question
itations, rashly
nsidered.
has taken for
trembling, and
earned author ;
vn arguments,
:ad of dispens-
3 to be highly
f holiness and
estions of this
althy develop-
3mprehensiblo
To the intelli-
md profitable
^, a necessary
, has rendered
to the several
ds, but lately
J the walls of
'uld fancy the
liscuss among
now become
r' these young
ad shaken off
word spoken
n the perfect
parallel may
tal conditions
should suffer
!isk, candidly
cs, which ho
irstly, to the
ondly, to (he
on ; thirdly,
ic mind from
exageratc or
ation,"' until
ropcdtions."
tian scholars
find themselves unknowingly pledged to the support of many opinions ready
formed to their hands which, nevertheless, learned and unprejudiced men
have long since found to be fallacious or absurd; that "the use made of
Scripture by Fathers of the Church, as well as by Luther and Calvin,
affects our idea of its moaning at the prt,-ient hour," and that thereby the
powers of intelligent men are diverted into a comparatively useless channel,
for the resources of knowledge arc turned into a means, " not of discovering
the true rendering of Scripture but of upholding a received one ;" but for-
tunately the "book itself remains as at the first, unchanged amidst the
changing interpretations of it."
But while it is highly desirable that we should be furnished with the most
correct translation of every passage of the Bible, yet controversies respect-
ing the spiritual interpretation of these passages are generally profitless,
and are often due to no higher principle than party spirit, however unaware
of this fact the controversialists may be. In the first place the well-known,
though too often forgotten fact that they lead to nothing, but the confirma-
tion of each party in his own views, should put an end to them in future.
When Casaubon was being shown over the Sorbonnc in Paris his guide
said, "in this hall have the doctors disputed for three hundred years,"
" Aye ; and what have they settled ?" was his shrewd remark ; but the
lesson has hardly been received by the a orld yet.
In considering the " prior questions which lie in the way of a reasonable
criticism" of the Scriptures, Mr, Jowett turns his attention first to the
much-vexed question of inspiration, a word, than which, there is none in
the language more capable of a variety of interpretations; but these infinite
renderings are but the adaptation of the one original idea to the infinite
varieties of the human mind. The unsophisticated man, wh 5 has never
exercised his thinking faculties, considers the Eternal as the actual dictator,
word for word, of the whole Bible, as it now stands, from the first chapter
of (Genesis to the last of Revelations ; that God commenced each chapter
saying " write," and then one l)y one gave utterance to the words which
form the Holy Scriptures ; and this belief is to him the very })ond of life,
the shell which is necessary to the preservation of his embryo faith, the
destruction of which, before that faith is quickened into n'gber life, must
result in the inevitable death of the germ ; and from this simple faith to
that received by the highest intelligence there are innumerable gradations,
each adapted, by a )»enilicont Creator, to the condition of life it is intended
to preserve, yet performing the same functions in every degree of develop-
ment; in every case still conveying in some form the reverence which all
beings feel for the word and will of fiod.
But the truly spiritual man, let his intellectual status bo what it will,
cannot suffer his faith to bo shaken or disturbed l)y questions or considcra-
r~
.0
mtuaHam
42
lis existence and its strenetli "Ttj ,•<■ +^ i ,,„ -- 't uni.^
essayist "tl,,f .l,.r ^. ■ " '"""S'". ™'»As this able
nine I'f «„ f '"'^"•""y 8»in>^ ■•■nything from the deciphering of the
rearaneeof acontradetTan-a^We f tr;,:at'-'\°" ^"; "-'^ "P"
Egy|.tia„ temple of the year B C 1500 Tl!^ '" *'""''" "^ "
w ve,, „„haM,hut ft is ^^'ZJ!: j^-:^t: z:^
of «,?aI'',?° T" ''.''° "'" ''"'«'"S™"y --ead together the two volume,
"heBiM f V '""■""" ''■°"'""" «'« """=™' creHUon-„„t,"r Tn d
event, a ti, "'^'""""f"" "•'"' "'" »">-• «>^ '» »»ke their contents
Ta I h n t''''™""^' •■■■■econcilahle. Thus read and carefullv com-
pac,! they wdl become to hin, the source of his most intense delist tie
In't.^ nZr"' "'°' '"' '"^ ''"'"' «'->■ °f "- -"'-^ »Ses befo^'h- :
worM ftrn'of Z" H '°'T ■'" '^ "" "•'"'" '"•'»''=■' S-iP"- - that of a
Ta In o '.""""'.''"'' ^'S"'"-. keenly alive to all sensations, whether of
da.ure„rpa,„,rejo,cn,gi„ its life and independence, wrapt up in itTelf
nth ,ts back dean turne.I upon holiness, in f„Il pursuit of the evanescenl
tliey be to he feeble ray of spiritual life expiring day by day within it
n^w Shan , be delivered ? Proclain, tl.o beau.y'of lIolinLrB s is
spn.tnally discerned and the world cannot receive it. Advance the ce
ich lead. It still further and further from all hope of health. There i^
there are three d.stmct steps, namely. Terror, the Moral Law, the Inner
F.uth. Arnved upon the last the other two, like those in 11,; f„i,-v t.Ie
mt.nor, of h,s own e.xper,en,.e, ought well and fully to sv,npan,is ■ with
every want and feeling of the lowei-. mpaihisc « ,tl.
m
Jilt upon a
world, and
vision but
independ"
)Iogy may
it is born
ne it owes
this able
iig of the
!S, chiefly,
n the ap-
iber of an
may not
question,
ch can be
' volumes
xture and
never so
contents
illy corn-
light, the
.'fore him
that of a
K'ther of
in itself,
anescent
3 though
ithin it.
it this is
e noces-
known,
rhcre is
int road
ic Inner
iry tale,
all thr
elow to
'1', from
so with
Take an individual example ; our friend is no criminal, but a man of the
world, wrapt up in its business and its pleasures ; he has injured no man
and has done his neighbour no harm, and perfectly satisfied with this nega-
tive pole of religion, he follows the bent of his own inclinations on the
great road of the world where he is undistinguisbable from the positive
christian. For the first time in his life he is ill ; he is brought to the very
gates of Death, and a fearful, indefinite dread arising, whence he cannot
tell, covers his soul as with a pall, and fills his spirit with an agony of awe
unknown before. Life is flickering, and the jaws of Death and Hell are
open wide before him. Never before had he suspected the existence of an
evil thought within him, but the vail is, by an invisible hand, removed from
his heart, and his soul shrinks shuddering back from the contemplation of
the foul corruption there. God's first agent. Terror, has done its work ; he
has seen the vanity of life and felt the shadow of th j judgment to come
darken the threshold of his heart : he stands upon the first step, a trem-
bling slave crouching beneath the cruel lash of his own awakening con-
science, the contempt of the world below the object of compassion to those
above, as fiir from God as ever, but with his face turned fearfully towards
Him. He recovers fully ; and feels with his returning strength the force of
old habits also growing strong within him ; he would laugh away these
phantoms of Dread, and return whence he came, but the awful agony of
that hour is vividly before him still ; absolute Terror holds him as a power
of hell pressed into the service of God. Then comes the necessity of outer
law, and with much difficulty, yet constrained by this Terror, he puts 071
temperance, truth, purity, and all the christian virtues, like fruit artificially
fixed upon the dry branches of an unhealthy tree. These are of full value
by themselves as what they are, but are no index of life within ; the small-
est incipient bud derived from an inner vitality would be worth ten thousand
times the whole to this suffering man ; he is indeed upon the second step,
but this is not life. But his eyes are constantly fixed upon the beautiful,
though borrowed fiuit ho wears; he feels more and more the real excel-
lence of \'irlue, and almost unknown to himself an instinctive effort after
life is awakened within his soul, and lo ! a bud appears, another and another,
and the leaves thicken and the fruit forms, fruit, it may be remarked, no
better, perhaps not so good indeed as the former, but of infinitely greater
value as the sure sign of the great desideratum— Life. He stands upon the
tlurd step, with much to learn, much to suffer perhaps, on the long road
before him, yet now, in the fullest sense of the words, actually born again,
a new creature, who may smile at that phantom Terror which nevertheless
has performed the important office of leading liim to the station ho now
occupies.
Some passages in the essay would seem to imply that the christian dis-
|;«^^!*f
MiMiaaH
Ml!<;::
44
pensation had lived out its time ; in such case we should faithfully expect
a new and higher Revelation adapted to the development of the age. But
such, in our opinion, is not the aspect of the times. Christian truth has
indeed been clogged with many earthy doctrines, frozen, as it were, into a
cold and lifeless statue, but the truth as it is ui Christ still remains ; and
neither has the present, nor any other age, attained so near to that perfec-
tion as to render a higher revelation of the will of God requisite. Imme-
diately upon the ascension of Christ the Apostles began to mould the
truth tf .1 nir own conceptions, and handing it thus moulded down to
posterity ■ » after age has so impressed it with the changing character of
its own likeness, that at times the gold has been almost hidden by the con-
fusion of images and superscriptions, and the beauty of divine truth con-
cealed by the deformity of human error. It is truly by Scripture light
alone that we can discover the bright original ; but universal similarity of
interpretation, far from being necessary to the successful search, would
present an insurmountable barrier to it unless, indeed, all minds were cast
in the same mould. To those who cannot find fasting and confession in
the Roman Catholic sense commanded in the Bible, their appearance might
constitute a rock upon which their souls might suffer shipwreck; yet
Roman Catholics of the most undeniable Holiness and Faith have solemnly
declared that the practice of both has been, through Christ, the source of
their highest spiritual blessings. Who shall dare to snatch the staff from
the hand of one brother and cast it as a stumbling block before the feet of
another, thereby causing the fall of both ? If our blessing be your curse
why wish to rob us of that which is worse than unprofitable to you and
more than very life to ourselves ?
The most objectionable part of Mr. Jowctt's philosophy is his treatment
of miracle and prophecy. With his associates he seems afraid to face Science
before he has propitiated her by this sacrifice. The notion is becoming very
prevalent among a certain class of men that to acknowledge miracle is to
ignore science, and is guarded by the assertion that " all scientific men
agree upon this point," a notion which is based upon a falsehood and there-
fore cannot be too strongly condemned. The popular acceptation of miracle
thus he scientifically rejects and fills up the void with something, which
something is too undefined and too intangible for the most delicate sensi-
bility to grasp. To most men the reconciliation of the acknowledged looking
fonvard of the Jewish nation to Christ, and of the incarnation of the divine
Essence, with the ignoring of prophecy and miracle, is incomprelicnsihle ;
but between their definition of the miraculous and the author's there may
be, and probably there is, a world of difference.
No one who studies the pages of this essay, liowevcr repugnant to his
preconception some of the ideas may appear, can fail to be struck with the
J
45
■ullj expect
3 age. But
. truth has
vere, into a
nains ; and
that perfec-
te. Imino-
mould the
d down to
:haracter of
by the con-
truth con-
pture light
imilarity of
rch, would
J were cast
nfession in
ance might
reck ; yet
e solemnly
e source of
staff from
the feet of
your curse
you and
treatment
ice Science
)mingvery
iracle is to
ntilic men
and there-
of miracle
ng, which
cate scnsi-
0(1 looking
the divine
ilicnsihle ;
there may
mt to his
L with the
spirit of true love and hopefulness which leavens the whole work ; the
broad Christian charity which sufFereth all things, endureth all things,
hopeth all things ; the immoveable firmness of the faith in the goodness of
Cod, and the intensity of the hope which illumines with confiding trust the
gloomiest recesses of the future. It is such sentiments which draw us in
heart insensibly towards the writer, and force us to recognize in his charac-
ter the love of a father as well as the wisdo'm of a teacher.
Whether Form-worship was the besetting sin of past ages or is only
peculiar to the present it might be difiicult to determine. There has cer-
tainly been a tendency at all times, more or less, to degrade spiritual truths
into material forms ; but it is questionable whether this tendency was ever
before universal as now ^it is in the Christian world. Truth has indeed
come into the world, but men have first materialized it, and then from the
mass images have been carved to suit the tastes of every church and sect,
each one glorying in the image itself has made, and calling to all the world
to ftill down and worship it. So that it has become at last a matter of doubt
to some whether they should look for the worshippers of the real Christ
within or without the pale of the visible church ; for if this image worship
be Christianity then to be false to it may be to be true to Christ. The Son of
God came into the world full of grace and truth to shew light to them that
sate in darkness, and to be an example to all future time. Are his graces
the graces that adorn the whole Christian Church at the present day ? Tho
two great branches of that church — the Catholic and the Protestant, — pro-
fessing to worship the same God, to follow the same Master, and seek the
same Heaven, do they not eye one another with mistrust and jealousy, with
envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness ? Is not the prayer of tho
one when in the presence of the other, " Lord I thank thee that thou hast
not made me as other m«n, or even as that sinner ?" How readily do they
both forget that the words of their common Lord were spirit and truth not
form and doctrine Look at yon Protestant humbly praying to God through
Christ, and thdt Catholic as humbly approaching Christ his Saviour through
the Virgin. Whother is knowledge or Faith the main condition of efioctual
prayer ? Tell me which of the two possesses the most contrite spirit and
the most loving heart towards his Father, and I will tell you which of the
oflerings he will most willingly receive.
It is high til J for idolatry, whether it consist in worshipping blocks of
wood and stone or modern forms and doctrines, to cease altogether. Thei'o
J
amr
'■i
46
are political societies organized in the present day styling the .nselves relig-
ious brotherhoods, and laying claim to Christ's word as their foundation,
whose practical life, however useful in a political sense, would disgrace
the ignorance of the darkest heathenism, invoking the God of love," and
living a life of hate, worshiping their creed and not their Christ; and' even
their very best men seem carrying the truth as it were, in r seive through
. which the essential spirit passes, leaving nothing but the dregs and refuse
behind.
The effect of essays and reviews at such a time, clearing away the
accumulated rubbish of ages, and bringing man as it were face to face with
his God, ought to have been good, and would have been had it not gone
too far. It is very true that miracle and prophecy form the main feature
ofmany heathenish religions, audit is equally true that in the christian
faith they hold a more subordinate position ; but if the first are false it is
no argument that these are false also, in fact their existence only shews
more plainly the universal tendency of the human mind to look for a
revelation from on high.
Thp^ ^moring of miracle and prophecy is the great blemish of the book,
but iutant science, the capricious babe, its tender eyes even get imfit to
bear the blazing light of the advancing day, had demanded the sacrifice,
and sober men have not hesitateu to yield it rather than hear their darling
cry.
What is the visible universe but, in all nrobabilit}^, a spec in the crea-
tions of the Eternal ; and what the solar-system, but an insignificant part
of this same visible universe ; and what the earth, but a small star in the
solar system ; and man, but a poor worm, crawling upon the surface of
that little star, more feeble, more wretched, more debased in his own mind
than the verriest worm, yet with inner yearnings and aspirations that can
trample the universe beneath its feet, and soar to a communion with the
eternal spirit of God. Is it credible that such a being should be left for
ages with no other revelation, no other source of comfort than that con-
tained within the book of nature ? True he has seen God there most
visibly portrayed, and read his grandeur, and his wisdom, and his power,
in the still starry heavens and the magnificent beauty of the blushing earth -
but the knowledge made him miserable ; "the tree of knowledge was not
that of life." He knew within his inmost soul longings which the book of
nature could never satiate, and bleeding wounds which no balm on earth
could heal. What folly to believe the Father should implant such yearn-
ings in the hearts of his children, and yet supply no spring to quench the
thirst ! His first witness was his Work, the material world from whose
prolific bosom springs every variety of good to satisfy the wants of every
appetite. Shall God pamper the body and neglect the soul V His next
'..'i!'-' :'l'^-i?^|>*^r'^' ,; ll^^^^ST?:*;"^ ■i^^ifig^'f^/j^i^^
nselves roli'ff-
' foundation,
aild disgrace
of love, and
^t; and even
eive through
5 and refuse
ig away the
to face with
it not gone
nain feature
he cliristian
™e false it is
only shews
• look for a
of the book,
get unfit to
he sacrifice,
;heir darling
in the crea-
lifican* part
star in the
! surface of
5 own mind
IS that can
n with the
be left for
1 that con-
there most
his power,
ihing earth -
ge was not
he book of
n on earth
uch yearn-
:]uench the
from whose
;s of every
His next
47
witness was his "Word, the spiritual life which like its shadow, the material
world, supplied from its own living fountain the spiritual wants of every
soul At this clear fountain are all tiic longings of the heart explained
and satisfied ; there man beholds the revelation of the two great truths,
that the God whom he has already adored in nature is his own Father, and
that from that Father's love he has been alienated by sin. So self-witness-
ing are these truths to the conscience, that if only the soul is once brought
from ^-'le earth to listen to them, they are no sooner uttered than believed.
By tii..se a world of mystery is cleared away; the lifelong contention
between the "low wants and lofty will" is now made plain. To sin he
owes these hated grovelling desires, while his highest aspirations are but
his natural birth-right, the proper heritage of the son of God. But this 'S
sad intelligence indeed— better— for better to have concealed from him for
ever his glorious lineage, when with it comes the chilling truth that his
inheritance is lost and he an exile from his Father's house.
Turning then to the volume of nature he beholds his Father's hand
stretched out to him for good ; the wild flowers carpeting the earth beneath
his feet, rejoice his eyes with their frail delicate beauty; the purple
mountains mingle their summits in the azure heavens and fill his soul with
exultant gladness ; he sees the bright canopy above enfolding the green
earth in its loving arms, and turn where he will he finds convincing
evidence that exiled though he be, he is not wholly lost. Where love is
there hope. He turns more confidently to the other book, and what a
glorious revelation meets his eye. His Elder Brother is with his Father
still, and loves him with an everlasting love ! He has been to visit him, He
has suffered for him. He has not only brought down terms of reconcilia'tion
with his Father, but He has also shewn how these terms mr be accepted,
and the alienating power of sin eradicated from the soul for ever. He looks
upon the life his Brother lead and thinks what his own should have been.
His heart is penetrated with his Father's love ; renouncing self, and fixing
his gaze above, he steadily proceeds to imitate the great Example, his
attention becoming gradually so absorbed in heavenly things that he is
borne day by day further from the earth, and the likeness of Christ
formnig gradually within him reveals itself in every act and word and
thought.
These are the all-important revelations of scripture, and to neglect those
for the sake of controversies on creed and doctrine, is as though two men
should stand disputing in a cave as to the manner in which their lamps
should be held to afford the greatest light ; the danger being, that in the
excitement of discussion, time may be forgotten, the lamps extinguished,
and the men lost. And to these great revelations man should come with
an unprejudiced mind, prepared to accept the truth in whatever form
-ffllt'"- --'-l-— "
iffiir
48
it may present itself; for there is nothing toe absurd to believe if we first
ransack our brains for speculations, and then bring them to the light of
revelation avowedly to enquire whether they bo true, but in reality to
hunt out the passages that may in any way bo wrested to their support, as
though we should carry vessels of muddy water to the spring, not to draw
from that spring and quench our thirst, but to see whether'^we could not
discover within it. floating impurities, sufficient to justify us in drinking
the foul water we had brought with us in our vessels. Without this
revelation man's highest religion would have been a cold and lifeless
pantheism. He would have walked from his cradle to his grave a sorrowing
orphan, feeling himself infinitely below the visible creation as to his inner
consciousnQss of sin ; infinitely above it as to his indefinite longings after
good. The unutterable blessings of prayer would for ever have been
denied him, until overcome with the infirmities of age he would sink at last
into the earth, a riddle to himself, and a slur upon the character of the God
that 'brmed him.
Nothing is more true than that God is a real, present, individual God ;
that the whole object of our life here is to prepare ourselves to glorify him
and enjoy his presence ; that this preparation is not the work of a day nor a
month, nor a year, but of the life, and is accomplished graduall}^, bringing
every thought into subjection to Christ, by inducing a childlike confiding
faith in God as our Father, and a charitable, hearty and unfeigned love to
all the world as a brotherhood, which are inevitable and unerring signs of
the birth of that new life which can be reached only by earnest, never-
ceasing, watchful prayer. Charity and love may indeed be put on as
ornaments at first, but ere long the spirit will do its work; the quickening
power will increase within, and what were put on with difficulty will now
appear naturally as the rightful efflux of the new-born character. Then is
the great work finished, and the soul, of every creed, may look cahnly into
the future, awaiting in hopeful joy the call of its Father and its God.
The essayists bring us fece to face with ' ^ruths stripped of all outer
trappings, and if we are shocked at the ma.. . a which the popular belief
in miracles is treated, we must bear in mind that there are some who have
thrown aside the bible on account of their repugnance to those miracles,
just as a hungry child will hastily reject a piece of bread in the crumb of
which he sees, or fancies he sees, imbedded some small unsightly object ;
it is wiser to pick it out and return the bread than that the child should
perish of hunger. The miracles may be laid aside by some without fatal
consequences, but the great truth- referred to cannot ; in fact, the solo
object of the miracles was to make the others acceptable, as we offer a child
sugar to sweeten his medicine ; but if older children do not require the
sugar, must wo then refuse them the medicine also ?
^PWHUttHitfti
r we first
e light of
reality to
upport, as
t to draw
could not
drinking
hout this
id lifeless
sorrowing
his inner
ings after
lave been
nk at last
f the God
ual God ;
orify him
day nor a
bringing
confiding
1 love to
signs of
;t, never-
lit on as
aickening
will now
Then is
hnly into
d.
all outer
ur belief
?ho have
miracles,
rumb of
object;
I should
)ut fatal
the solo
r a child
uire the
■f*
49
«
iJut aUhough those arc the gi-eat truths of our religion, vet a national
church cannot be sufficiently safe from the fact of her being foiuulod upon
this substantial basis ; the natural rock no doubt is strong,' Ijut she must
also have her artificial bulwarks. The imagigatlon of man is an habitual
wanderer and will find, as it were, the full length of its tether, fix the
centre whore you will. This centre-post mus^ be fixed in the very heart of
Truth, and even riveted there by the strongest artificial means, else it will
be torn up by the struggles of the Imagination, which, once free, wUi inevit-
ably lose itself in the intricate labyrinths of Error. If within the Holy of
Holies of the national church these Essayists have tried the elasticity of
their tether until it is now even ready to snap, where would they have wan-
dered had the centripetal force of its laws been loss powerful than they are '
and wbile we are partly persuaded that they, as men, arc acting conscien-
tiously in holding their present positions as pastors and teachers to the
church of England, we cannot conceive in what manner some of them have
succeeded in reconciling their teachings with their vows. Vftor studying
these pages carefully and calmly, casting away prejudice and puttino- the
question of abstract truth and error aside, the verdict appears plain and
me>;itable : " The teaching of these men is not the teaching of the church
of England, and the very fact of their being able satisfoctorily to them-
selves to reconcile their teachings with the ecclesiastical laws is the strong-
est possil)le evidence those laws cannot be too rigid. "
Upon some of those doctrines of the church which have split her into
many sects these writers have been wisely silent, for the Bible does not
prcten<l to be a revelation of all the mysteries of God, but simply such as
are absolutely necessary to individual salvation, and even these are so dimly
revealed as .. -^nder them acceptable less to intellect than Faith : were all
things clearly evident to Reason Faith would be swallowed up in sight, and
the truest teacher of our pilgrimage would be lost to us for ever for Faith
above all is eftective in transforming the soul ; it is this necessary confidence
.n God, when our vis.on fails us, that, bec^oming a habit, radically changes
the whole mncr-man, making God the father of his spirit and the great
centre of all his hopes.
Of the eternal punishment of the lost little should be said-to call It
iri-econcilable wit), tl.e attributes of God is simply to confess that man's
l.tte knowledge cannot measure it. Rut we know that Pain does exist,
and there is no argument against the eternal punishment of man that does
'lot equally hold against the sufferings of a sparrow robbed of its little one<
i Hat God lias permitted sin and pain to desolate and blight this world is a
^act as incomprehensible as it is undeniable, the wherefore, it is equally
van. and wrong to ask because it has not been revealed. Enough that to
each individual son the Eternal Father calls and waits with open arm. to
50
fold him in His embrace if he will only come ; the longing of God for man's
restoration- and -^et the absolute incflBcac)^ of that God-like longing without
the willing cooperation of man is touchingly revealed in the words of our
Saviour : " How often would I have gathered you, but 3'ou wovdd not,"
which puts Hell in the light of a hated but inevitable necessity in the face
of God; and in the great End wc doubt not, thf- j^h pain exist, the wisdom
and goodness of God will yet stand justified Ijefore His children.
" Essays and Reviews" is in fact a reaction against the extreme Tractarian
movement, and therefore in itself extreme ; it is the legitimate fruit of the
Reformation and the natural result of the transfer of the power of interpre-
tation from the church to the individual. Let not those who have planted
the tree be the first to refuse the fruit. Wc have no fear of its whole etfect
upon tin world ; many good men, who have or have not read it, will con-
demn it from thf^ pulpit and the chair ; wliile many, who have approached
more boldly to its words, will hear the spirit that terrified them nnswer,
" It is T, be not afraid," and will find themselves with a counsellor and a
friend. But never were men more blindly or fanati<'ally mistaken than
those Atheists and Scoffers who deem they recognise the voice of an ally
in its sentiments. Light and Darkness, Truth and Error, Heaven and Hell,
arc not more diametrically opposed than the mind of this book and the
spirit of a godless world !
Let the church not fear; confiding in her i^'ather as a God not far from
any one of us, by v,-hom literally and truly her every motion is watched and
her every want supplied, she may rest sccuro.
Let infant Science, like a truant child, perform its gambols, tearing ami
scattering to the winds what it shall yet more sedulously gather ; the great
invisible church may rest assured ; she is in the presence of her God, who
grasps her Truths in Ilis everlasting hands, and nothing shall be lost. Yet
a little while and Science, her childhood past, shall become her dearest com-
panion, her most inseparable friend. They shall hold sweet council together
and kneel tc t'lier, in solemn adoration, before the throne of their common
Father. And if, at such a time, it shall appear that the creeds and doc-
trines of the numerous sects have been the scaffoldings wherewith the
spiritual teu'.ple of the inner man has been erected ; then, their v;ork fin-
ished, let the scaffoldings perish. The Building remaineth for ever !
W. «". rUKWETi' A CO., I'HINTKUrt, KIN(i STUKKT I^A.SI', TOKONTO.