UC-NRLF 
 
-LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 GIRTT O] 
 
Catholic 
 
 *** For Prospectus indicating the character and purposes of the Catholic 
 Series, and for List of Books already published, see Catalogue at the 
 end of this work. 
 
POPULAR CHRISTIANITY 
 
 ITS 
 
 TRANSITION STATE, 
 AND PROBABLE DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 NIVERSITY 
 
 FREDERICK J. FOXTON, A.B., 
 
 FORMERLY OF PEMBROKK COLLEGE, OXFORD, 
 
 AND PERPETUAL CURATE OF STOKE PRIOR, AND DOCKLOW, 
 
 HEREFORDSHIRE. 
 
 Non Decs vulgi negare profanum : sed vulgi opiniones Diis applicare 
 profanum." EPICURUS. 
 
 LONDON : 
 JOHN CHAPMAN, 142, STRAND. 
 
 M.DCCC.XLIX. 
 
LONDON I 
 GEORGE WOODFALL AND SON, 
 
 ANGEL COURT, SKINNER STREET. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I AM anxious to anticipate a probable misappre- 
 hension of the object of these pages, by declaring 
 that I am far from wishing to establish Christianity 
 on a basis merely rationalistic. I by no means 
 assert the rightful authority of simple reason over 
 the higher instincts of the soul (for this would be 
 to subordinate the conscience, which is the inter- 
 preter of the inner life, to the understanding, which is 
 a co-ordinate power), but I am anxious to establish 
 the actual identity of the highest results of reason 
 and conscience. A Christianity truly Catholic 
 must offend neither the reason nor the conscience, 
 but, whilst acknowledging the "Divinity that dwells 
 within us," do no violence to that natural reason 
 which forms the essential law of our outward life. 
 It is true, indeed (though in a sense far different 
 from that in which the dogma is generally received), 
 that the Christian must " walk by faith and not by 
 sight ; " but it is true, also, that no faculty bestowed 
 upon us is to be superseded by the exaggerated 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 pretensions of any other; and the aid of natural 
 reason is required to check the wanderings of the 
 imagination.- The harmony of the Divine law is 
 as evident in the moral as in the material world, 
 and every faculty that has been given us has its 
 proper place in the economy of our moral life. 
 Eeason, however, has, in reality, no power over the 
 true inspiration of conscience, and the pure faith of 
 the soul, like a polished mirror, reflects without 
 receiving the light of the understanding. 
 
 The characteristic tendency of the last few 
 centuries has been towards a cold and faithless 
 utilitarianism, and Religion herself has been tainted 
 with the moral leprosy of the times. This deadly 
 heresy has been met by the opposite extreme, of 
 an exaggerated and superstitious pretension to 
 spirituality. On the one hand we have the open 
 neglect of the inner life, and on the other a near 
 approach to the consecration of relics, and a 
 belief in the "real presence," in miracles still 
 performed, and prophecies still in the course of 
 fulfilment*. 
 
 The world has, I believe, at the present time, a 
 painful secret at its heart, which it is in vain en- 
 deavouring to utter. When the true word is spoken, 
 men will once more "leave all and follow." All 
 true and sincere men well know that Christianity is 
 not realised in the religion of the multitude. Every 
 
 * Witness Allies's " Journal in France/' and " Fleming's Pro- 
 phecies." 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 sect, indeed, has its pure and heroic spirits, but they 
 are so, not in consequence hut in spite of their 
 dogmatic creeds, whilst the feehle and faithless of 
 every communion are overwhelmed by the influence 
 of the " written word." " The kingdom of Christ " 
 is within us, and Christianity will not have per- 
 formed its proper office in the world until professing 
 believers have learnt to recognise the rights and 
 privileges of conscience by a toleration without 
 limits, and a faith without contention. 
 
 The image of religion presented to the popular 
 mind, through the distorted media of articled 
 Churches, is not loved and reverenced by the body 
 of the people. Professing a common creed, men 
 hate, revile, and persecute each other, and the spirit 
 of Christianity is entirely forgotten by those who 
 have its doctrines, as they are called, for ever on 
 their lips. The admitted characteristic of the 
 religion of Christ is its universal applicability to 
 human life, but in the present age it has become 
 
 " From man's life a thing apart." 
 
 Our Protestant Keformers, in proscribing the abuse 
 of religious festivals and holidays, entirely over- 
 looked their uses, as connecting religion with 
 common life ; and even the sanctifying influence of 
 daily devotion was superseded, because the priest- 
 hood had become corrupt, and their creed incredible. 
 We now hear it commonly confessed, without com- 
 punction, by men actively engaged in the traffic of 
 the world, that " they are not religious men," a 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 confession that would have deeply scandalised an 
 age of greater religious sincerity, though it becomes 
 almost venial when the popular creed is found at 
 variance with the exercise of the understanding. 
 Religion thus appears to want the reality it 
 possessed, even in the darkest ages of the Church. 
 The only cure, I repeat, for these anomalies in the 
 religious life, is to bring the principles of our creed 
 into unison at once with the revelations of the 
 conscience, and the light of natural reason, by 
 showing that the freest exercise of the latter is 
 consistent with a perfect obedience to the dictates of 
 the former. 
 
 I have strongly protested against the finality so 
 generally conceded to the Reformation of the six- 
 teenth century, and the shallow (so called) " evan- 
 gelical " Christianity that has been founded upon it. 
 It seems to be supposed that to protest against 
 Popery was to establish God's truth in the world. 
 The awakened intelligence of the age, however, 
 now expects something more from that great his- 
 torical event than the barren triumph of one sect 
 over another, and regards the Protestantism of the 
 Reformation as no more final than the rival decrees 
 of the Council of Trent. A religion founded on 
 protests is, at best, but a negative one ; and, if the 
 attempt be continued to establish the finality of the 
 Reformed religion, the world will soon be in protest 
 against Protestantism itself. 
 
 Men are still disputing with all the unchastened 
 violence of party passions about the spirit and 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 object of the Reformation, and how many colours 
 does it present to the diseased vision of heated 
 controversialists! We are told by Mr. Palmer, 
 in his recent Church History, that the Reformers 
 were called Protestants not for protesting against 
 Popery, but against the edict of Spires; and the 
 Augsburg Confession declares " that Protestants 
 differ in no article of Faith from the Catholic 
 Church ; that there is nothing in it which differs 
 from Scripture or the Church of Rome." If this 
 view of the matter be the true one, the modern 
 Dissenter is farther in advance of the existing Estab- 
 lishment, in spiritual intelligence, than the Protestant 
 of the Reformation was in advance of the Church of 
 Rome. But is Protestant Dissent more likely to be 
 final than Protestant Churchmanship ? and, if so, 
 to which of its Protean forms do we owe our 
 allegiance ? 
 
 The state of religious anarchy so visible around 
 us is acknowledged by the convulsive struggles 
 both of Churchmen and Dissenters for the attain- 
 ment of some definite principle of permanence and 
 repose; and, after the vain experience of eighteen 
 centuries, men still dream of establishing Christianity 
 on the basis of a dogmatic theology. Everything 
 is being done for the Church except giving her a 
 Catholic spirit. When she has no audible voice 
 for the people, a vain cry is raised for the increase 
 of her churches and the augmentation of .her 
 ministers, that she may extend the circle of her 
 acknowledged inefficiency. Men ask for religion 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 and are answered by churches they ask for bread 
 and receive a stone. 
 
 The material interests of the Church, alone, oc- 
 cupy the minds of statesmen, who appear to imagine 
 that a false and lifeless theology will gain purity by 
 diffusion. The world is yearning for a higher 
 spiritual civilization, and her recognised priesthood 
 is endeavouring either to restore the faith of the 
 middle ages, or, at most, to merge the divine philo- 
 sophy of Christ in the Reformation of Luther. 
 When the spiritual wants and desires of the age are 
 thus at variance with the inspirations of its anointed 
 teachers, a vital and organic change in the national 
 creed appears necessary and inevitable. " There is 
 no legitimate escape," says an able anonymous 
 critic*, "from the effects of such teaching, except 
 by throwing aside authority, or submitting implicitly 
 to its guidance. But such guidance is not ac- 
 knowledged in the Reformed Church. If the under- 
 standing and the judgment are driven out of that 
 
 Church she loses at once 
 
 all that has hitherto constituted her character and 
 strength. Nay, more, she will be doomed to see a 
 speedy desertion from her ranks, so large as to 
 compel a fresh distribution of her money and lands, 
 and she will be left as poor as she pretends to be 
 apostolical. Her authority is derived from the 
 Bible, and her payments from the state. If the one 
 
 * See a Review of Allies' s " Journal in France" in the "Ex- 
 aminer," April 21, 1849. 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 continue to be openly violated, let her beware that 
 the other is not suddenly withdrawn. The English 
 people are as little disposed now as they were a 
 couple of hundred years since, to find their religious 
 nutriment in a warmed-up hash of stale super- 
 stitions." 
 
 I embrace this opportunity of stating that, during 
 the progress of these pages through the press, I 
 have been assured by a friend of Dr. Hampden's 
 that the date of his (Dr. H.'s) acquaintance with 
 the late Blanco White precludes the possibility of his 
 having borrowed his notions of the scholastic theo- 
 logy from that writer. It appears that Dr. Hamp- 
 den had contributed his "Life of Aquinas" (which 
 contains the germ of these opinions) to the Encyclo- 
 pedia Metropolitana previous to his acquaintance 
 with Blanco White. I regret that I have received 
 this information too late to enable me to erase from 
 my book the passage in which I have repeated this 
 impeachment of the originality of the Bampton 
 Lectures, which originally appeared in a leading 
 article of the " Times" newspaper. 
 
 BWLCH-GWYN. 
 
 JUNE 7iH, 1849. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 
 CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 INSPIRATION OP THE SCRIPTURES 42 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 MIRACLES AND PROPHECY 80 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 131 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES . .... 162 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION . . 196 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 
 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 ITS 
 
 TRANSITION STATE, AND PROBABLE 
 DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 
 
 THE time has, I believe, arrived, when the popular 
 religion throughout the Christian world is about to 
 undergo a purification similar to that effected for 
 natural science by the genius of Bacon*. The 
 dogmas of religion and those of unreformed philo- 
 sophy had, alike, their origin in the scholastic per- 
 versions of dialectical science ; and when such an 
 
 * It is distinctly stated by Bacon, Aphorism 127, "Novum Or- 
 ganum," that he contemplated the application of his philosophical 
 system to ethics. We learn from Schlegel that not only were the 
 doctrines of the Church worked out by the logic of Aristotle, but that 
 the version of his writings in use in the Church was disfigured by 
 coming through the medium of an Arabic translation! See "Philo- 
 sophy of History," page 376. 
 
 B 
 
2 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 admission is candidly made by a Protestant bishop *, 
 we may fairly expect, at least, a considerable re- 
 laxation of the doctrinal system of the Church. The 
 precise and dogmatical Christianity, that now avails 
 only to embitter the controversies of the learned, and 
 to mystify and puzzle the laity, will be superseded, 
 and the vital elements of Christian philosophy will 
 be presented to the people, in a rational and intel- 
 ligible form. The " Church of the future " will be 
 the reflection of the spiritual condition of the world 
 of to-day, and not the lifeless image of a bygone age. 
 Christians will not, much longer, dispute whether 
 they shall adopt the language of the Nicene age, or 
 of that of the Protestant Reformation of the Tract- 
 arian or Tridentine theology, in their confessions or 
 liturgies. The mind of the 19th century has a 
 growing tendency to a reliance rather upon "in- 
 sight " than upon " tradition" and the memories 
 of the past, and will have its own appropriate ex- 
 pression in religious faith, as well as in philosophy 
 and science. It is as little disposed to borrow its 
 theology from Athanasius, or from Cranmer, as it is 
 to adopt the philosophy of Aristotle, or the science 
 of Archimedes, in exclusion of the higher insight of 
 Bacon or of Locke of Newton of Humboldt of 
 Leverrier, or of Berzelius. The revelations of God 
 to man will not be looked for, alone, in the plains 
 of Palestine in the valley of the Jordan, or in the 
 land of Goshen; nor will they, any longer, be consi- 
 
 * Dr. Hampden. 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 
 
 "Jtf 
 
 dered as exclusively confined to the 
 Jewish prophets, or Christian evangelists. It has 
 been said, that to seek our divinity in books is " to 
 seek the living amongst the dead," and to confine the 
 spiritual bounty of God to primitive and barbarous 
 ages, is virtually to deny those attributes of perpetual 
 and omnipresent justice and mercy with which every 
 rational creed has hitherto invested Him. 
 
 It is beginning to be felt, that a vital and fruitful 
 faith cannot repose on a merely dogmatic founda- 
 tion. It is, after all, the will (as Schlegel* has 
 observed) which here generally decides ; and the 
 creed has yet to be invented that shall define, in 
 words, the spiritual wants and desires of mankind. 
 The most discordant controversialists have agreed in 
 repudiating the dogmatic pretensions of the Church ; 
 and Dr. Priestley and the Bishop of Hereford, 
 Blanco White f and Isaac Taylor (disagreeing about 
 everything else), are unanimous in protesting against 
 the arrogant assumptions of scholasticism. 
 
 The utmost that has, hitherto, been achieved by 
 churches, has been to erect barriers, more or less 
 effectual, to check the wanderings of the imagination, 
 and to expound, in loose and general terms, the 
 spiritual instincts of mankind. These instincts 
 have, of course, been found to vary with the chang- 
 ing forms of civilization. The secular arm has 
 
 * See " Philosophy of History," sect. 2. 
 
 f See Letter to Martineau in the Appendix to the " Rationale of 
 Religious Enquiry." 
 
 B 2 
 
4. POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 supported the external defences of orthodoxy, in the 
 darker ages of the world the connection of the civil 
 and religious powers has preserved them, in compa- 
 rative integrity, down to our own times : and, at 
 present, the union of church and state is the means 
 by which the doctrines of the church are imposed, 
 nominally, upon the laity. 
 
 After all, however, the tests of orthodoxy adopted 
 by all " articled " churches are purely imaginary. 
 The difference between those whose test of orthodoxy 
 is a belief in the scriptures themselves, and those 
 who insist on the interpretations of the Church, is 
 one of degree of faith, rather than of principle. 
 Human language (and such I presume is the lan- 
 guage of the scriptures), whether it express the 
 sentiments of the apostles, or of our Protestant 
 reformers, is equally liable to a variety of interpreta- 
 tions. Believers may be united by a general com- 
 munity of feeling and religious sentiment, but never 
 by an adherence to a dogmatical creed. A definition 
 of the faith of a church is, in any but the darkest 
 age, a challenge to the rebellious reason and spiritual 
 freedom of the people. The authority of the scrip- 
 tures, therefore, must depend on some secret spiritual 
 charm that they possess, when regarded as a whole, 
 and not on any "private interpretation" of their 
 meaning ; and the only real bond of union amongst 
 believers must be a common understanding of the 
 spirit of these writings. The true test of Christian 
 discipleship is the possession of the "spirit of 
 Christ." Amidst the strife of religious parties, the 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 5 
 
 simplest principles for which they are contending 
 are entirely forgotten, or it would be unnecessary to 
 enunciate these self-evident and familiar propositions. 
 The high and low churchman alike appeal, I repeat, 
 to a purely imaginary test of orthodoxy, and the 
 actual result is a creed, within the Church, as un- 
 settled as human opinion. The paid servants, 
 indeed, of every sect, preserve an outward uniformity, 
 as the condition of preserving their characters and 
 their salaries; hut from the layman, the nominal 
 creed of his church receives little more than an in- 
 dolent assent; and his private opinions are either 
 those of the minister by whom he chances to be in- 
 structed, or of an enlightened common sense, brought 
 to bear in a rational interpretation of the scriptures. 
 Can it be said, then, that a visible church actually 
 exists in the present age ? or, if existing, that it has 
 any real authority ? 
 
 But, let it not be supposed that the protest of an 
 intelligent age will be confined to the arbitrary 
 definitions of a pedantic theology. A vast amount 
 of corruption, even of the spirit of the Christian 
 philosophy, has been generated by, and is reflected 
 in, the popular creed : and, to restore the teaching of 
 Christ to its original purity, it will be necessary, not 
 only to repudiate the interpretations of the Church, 
 but to overthrow the vast and complicated edifice 
 of superstition that has been erected on that 
 shifting foundation. With the general diffusion of 
 knowledge amongst the people, a Christianity with- 
 out superstition- the only basis of a really catholic 
 
6 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY I 
 
 creed may become possible. The elements of such 
 a creed may, even now, be lying scattered about the 
 intellectual world ; but to insure its acceptance the 
 Gospel must be regarded not as " dropped from the 
 clouds like a meteoric stone " (to use the language 
 of Sterling*), but " as rising into view the purest 
 portion of a vein coeval with the creation." The 
 '* essence of Christianity " is assumed by Ullman to 
 be the " union of the divine and human nature in 
 the person of Christ ; " f and a liberal interpretation 
 of the doctrine which is here asserted, and which I 
 shall elsewhere discuss, will furnish a common 
 ground upon which a great variety of contending 
 sects may meet together in Christian fellowship; 
 provided only that the doctrine be left to its simple 
 scriptural expression, untrammelled by the rigid 
 terminology of the schools. And if this golden rule 
 should be freely applied to every other doctrine in the 
 popular creed which is offensive to the natural 
 reason of mankind, though this might occasionally 
 ruffle the complacency of the formalist, it would in 
 no way affect the true and spiritual believer. For 
 it is, after all, by abandoning the instruction of the 
 conscience, and rejecting the first principles of right 
 reason by regarding the letter rather than the 
 spirit of the scriptures the outward rather than the 
 inner life that we lose that " union with God " the 
 realization of which is the end and purpose of the 
 
 * See Letter to Archdeacon Hare. 
 
 | See Ullman's " Essence of Christianity," page 70. 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 7 
 
 religion of Christ, and of which he was himself the 
 bright example. 
 
 And now let us seek, in the present anomalous 
 condition of the Christian world, for those elements 
 out of which we may venture to hope that a purer 
 and more comprehensive creed may hereafter be 
 constructed. In the present age, the popular Chris- 
 tianity, including almost every form in which the 
 idea of a written revelation has been hitherto embo- 
 died, is undergoing an " experimentum crucis " 
 under the hands of philosophy ; and its most secret 
 diseases are being daily exposed on the dissecting 
 table to the searching eye of science. The dry 
 bones of all churches are beginning to stir; and, 
 (like dead bodies under the stroke of a galvanic 
 battery,) even the most obsolete and superannuated 
 superstitions receive a momentary and spasmodic 
 vitality from the shock of controversial excitement. 
 From the ancient heart of Christendom, from Borne 
 herself, a faint pulsation is still felt through the 
 decaying members, and a lingering hope seems to 
 be entertained that " new wine " may be put into 
 " old bottles." But, alas ! there is treason in the 
 very citadel of orthodoxy; and the republicans of 
 New York have been actually voting an address to 
 the Holy Father of the Church*, for his exertions in 
 the cause of human liberty ! The English Church, 
 however, is, perhaps, the most afflicted member of 
 this band of martyrs, as she is assailed, at once, by 
 
 * See " Times " newspaper, 1848. 
 
8 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 secret treason and by open violence. It was long 
 ago said by Gibbon, that " the pillars of revelation 
 are shaken by those who preserve the name without 
 the substance of religion who indulge the licence 
 without the temper of philosophy." The " candid 
 friends " and liberal critics of the English Church 
 have assumed precisely the attitude described by the 
 acute and learned historian they are endeavouring 
 to reconcile the humility of faith with the arrogance 
 of philosophy. The author of "Ancient Chris- 
 tianity," who writes himself Church of Englandman 
 and Episcopalian, and who fights under the banners 
 of the evangelical clergy, has systematically endea- 
 voured to undermine the foundations of Episcopacy, 
 and shake the pillars of the Church. The grossest 
 superstition, he tells us, prevailed in the Church 
 even from the Apostolic age *, and its earliest litera- 
 ture was tainted with Platonism, with Gnosticism, 
 and even with Buddhism. The clever, but most in- 
 consequential writer of this dashing performance, 
 whilst thus describing the primitive condition of the 
 Church, receives, nevertheless, with the humble 
 obedience of faith, the most tremendous doctrines 
 of the Nicene Council ! This is, surely, to write 
 too adventurously for a Churchman, and too timidly 
 for a philosopher. 
 
 The section of the Church, distinguished as the 
 
 * And yet upon this credulous, corrupt, and superstitious testi- 
 mony we must mainly rely for establishing the genuineness, the 
 authenticity, and the canonicity of the Scriptures. Surely Dr. "Wise- 
 man is being avenged. 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 9 
 
 " Evangelical," have been gradually undermining, 
 for centuries, its original foundations ; and the ill- 
 success of their high-Church opponents, in their 
 attempt to make a stand on the old system of teach- 
 ing, is a significant event in the modern history 
 of the Church. In the hands of these spiritual 
 reformers the two Sacraments appear in danger of 
 sharing the fate of the five others repudiated at 
 the Reformation. Baptism, by a kind of religious 
 rationalism, is nearly deprived of its mysterious 
 character, and the Eucharist is almost reduced to 
 a merely commemorative rite. In reference to the 
 external government of the Church, the modern 
 Puritan, like his forefathers, is found to unite the 
 despotism of religious exclusiveness with a gro- 
 velling spirit of democracy. They who anticipate 
 any accession of strength to the Church from the 
 zeal of the Evangelical clergy, are little aware of 
 the real character of that fatal ally. The labours of 
 Wesley and of Whitfield, whilst they exposed the 
 doctrinal errors of the Church, did but little damage 
 to the principle upon which it is established ; but 
 their modern imitators, both within and without her 
 pale, are undermining at once her constitution and 
 her creed. They are at once rationalistic and fana- 
 tical, and a vague latitudinarianism is thinly con- 
 cealed by a religious phraseology. 
 
 The recent struggle for supremacy, between high 
 and low Churchmen, has exposed to the philosophic 
 eye their common weakness, and displayed the 
 doubtful temper of their weapons. On the one hand, 
 
 B 3 
 
10 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY I 
 
 it has raised up a host of adventurous explorers of 
 those tender portions of ecclesiastical history over 
 which the piety or policy of the Church has heen 
 anxious to cast a veil of religious mystery ; whilst, 
 on the other, the defenders of orthodoxy have heen 
 driven to seek for weapons in the armoury of the 
 Vatican, and the dusty archives of the middle ages. 
 In the hattle of the " Oxford Tracts," the evange- 
 lical party, hut little distinguished hy talents or 
 learning, have signally triumphed over adversaries 
 deficient in neither ; and high character and sound 
 erudition have given way "before the more popular 
 liberality of their opponents. The historical founda- 
 tions of the Church have heen found unable to bear 
 the superstructure, and her nakedness has been 
 ungratefully uncovered by those who still continue 
 to minister at her altars, and to eat her bread ! 
 
 The attempt, not yet I believe abandoned, to 
 establish an " Evangelical alliance," which received 
 the qualified approbation of Dr. Chalmers and of a 
 considerable portion of the established clergy, affords 
 a striking proof of the increasing laxity of religious 
 bonds, and of the disturbing elements at work 
 within the Church. It is easy to discover, indeed, 
 in the proposed heterogeneous assemblage, those 
 conflicting and irreconcileable elements of opinion 
 which will insure its speedy dissolution ; and the 
 reports of its proceedings display such a melancholy 
 picture of intolerance, of quackery, and fanaticism, 
 that it is hardly deserving of a passing notice, 
 except as illustrating the prevailing tendencies of the 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 11 
 
 time. A rationalizing spirit has penetrated into 
 the very sanctuary of fanaticism, and bigotry itself 
 is seeking for the practical and essential in religion, 
 regardless of external forms, and the strictness of a 
 doctrinal terminology. A great many instances of 
 this rationalizing tendency have been exhibited in 
 "Evangelical Christendom." Not long ago, the 
 appointment of Dr. Strauss, the author of the " Life 
 of Jesus," and the great apostle of the rational 
 theology in Germany, to (I believe) an ecclesiasti- 
 cal office, was made, without alarming the evan- 
 gelical piety of Geneva; and it was only on the 
 appointment having excited the wonder of Europe, 
 and the sneers of the press, that the step was 
 retraced. Alas ! where is the fierce and rugged 
 orthodoxy of our forefathers, who put their foot 
 upon heresy as soon as it was born, and trod the 
 life out of it, as men destroy a viper in their path ! 
 
 But the evidences of religious anarchy, or refor- 
 mation, (whichever we may deem it,) are not to be 
 sought for within the pale of the Establishment 
 alone. In stating the grand and simple doctrines, 
 as they are called, of revealed religion, every religious 
 teacher, of every denomination, is obliged to modify 
 them, more or less, as the age advances in intelligence 
 by philosophical refinements. Indeed, the history 
 of religion in England since the Eeformation is a 
 record of progressive adaptations of its dogmatical 
 teaching to the increasing intelligence of the laity. 
 The mind of Newton, trained to the exercise of 
 calm, accurate, and passionless thought, appears 
 
12 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 naturally to have inclined to the more simple and 
 rational theology of the Unitarians* ; and the 
 thoughtful and profound intellect of Locke (the 
 tutor of Shaftesbury,) is found struggling for the 
 "reasonableness of Christianity." In a primitive 
 and ignorant age, the doctrine of original sin may 
 be taught in its dogmatical simplicity, and the sins 
 and sorrows of mankind explained by the literal 
 offence of our first parents. The most fantastic 
 fables of an Eastern imagination may be literally 
 embodied in the popular creed, and oriental exag- 
 gerations and hyperboles be made the basis of 
 articles of faith. As education is diffused, this mode 
 of teaching becomes daily more impracticable, and, 
 as a consequence, refinements, explanations, and 
 compromises are the order of the day amongst 
 religious parties. From the most opposite sides 
 of the arena of controversy, we have beheld 
 Dr. Carpenter, the Coryphaeus of Unitarianism, and 
 Mr. Penrose, the B amp ton lecturer of Oxford, 
 stepping forth to compromise their differences on 
 the great doctrine of the atonement ! the principal 
 characteristic of the two writers being, as noticed 
 by their reviewer, " the predominance of an ethical 
 and practical tendency in the reasonings of the 
 Churchman, and a very strong expression of a 
 devotional spirit in the views of the Unitarian. 
 
 * There can be no doubt of the Unitarian tendencies of Newton, 
 both from the testimony of Mr. Hopton Haynes, his intimate friend, 
 and from his own writings. 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 13 
 
 To the conclusions of both writers," continues the 
 reviewer, " to their conception of the Divine 
 character and government to their estimate of 
 the terms of man's final acceptance with God, and 
 of the great design and practical effect of the 
 Christian dispensation, we yield our entire and 
 most cordial assent!" So great, indeed, is the 
 latitude demanded for a free religious expression, 
 at the present time, that even the liberal theology 
 of the Unitarians themselves is found to he too 
 dogmatical for the spirit of the age*. 
 
 The questions that have been raised by the 
 writings of Dr. Hampden, more especially in the 
 " Bampton lectures," are far more important than 
 is generally supposed, in their bearing, both on the 
 doctrinal system and external government of the 
 Church. Though, perhaps, there is little novelty 
 in the leading idea of these writings, for a distinction 
 was assumed by Athanasius between " scriptural" 
 and " scholastic " theology, as early as the fourth 
 century, and Calvin, as Dr. Chalmersf tells us, was 
 even anxious that the word " Trinity " itself should 
 be expunged (as being merely " scholastic ") from 
 the formularies of the Church ; yet it cannot be 
 denied, that to repudiate altogether, or sensibly to 
 disparage, the scholastic terms in which the doctrines 
 of the Church have been hitherto embodied, is 
 virtually to annul its authoritative teaching. A 
 
 * See an account of a late schism amongst the Unitarians in the 
 third number of the " Prospective Review." 
 f* See pamphlet on "Evangelical Alliance." 
 
14 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 Church without articles, or with articles without 
 authority, is no Church in the popular acceptation 
 of the word ; and a general appeal to the Bible would 
 but re-create the scholastic refinements it may be 
 supposed to supersede. It has been asserted by 
 Emerson* that the popular Christianity is founded 
 rather on the oriental tropes and hyperboles than 
 on the actual meaning of the scriptures, and this 
 bold assertion may possibly find favour with an 
 inquiring laity, abandoned by their spiritual guides 
 to a free criticism of the language of the Gospels. 
 If the Church has not yet found synonyms for the 
 dogmas of the scriptures, she has signally failed in 
 her didactic character ; and if she has really achieved 
 this delicate task, how ungracious is the discussion 
 raised by the Bampton lecturer! 
 
 The philosophy of the question at issue between 
 those who contend for the authority of the Church 
 in matters of faith, and those who assert the right 
 of private judgment, is simple and obvious. The 
 advocates of authority assume, and justly, that the 
 mass of mankind are in a state of pupilage that 
 the faith of the multitude depends upon instruction 
 that the history and evidences of their religion are 
 taken upon trust that they believe, and must long 
 continue to believe, in the Church^ and freely 
 admit their own inability to judge either of the 
 facts or the doctrines of the scriptures. Such, the 
 advocates of authority believe, must be for ages the 
 
 * See " Orations," &c. 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 
 
 condition of the vulgar, and thus will Popery 
 continue, with unimportant modifications, and under 
 various designations, to be the religion of the 
 ignorant in all times. The asserters of the right of 
 private judgment, on the other hand, contend, that 
 the nonage of mankind is fast drawing to an end, 
 that men are rapidly becoming more thoughtful and 
 inquisitive about their spiritual concerns, and that 
 their aspirations should be fostered and encouraged, 
 as the best means of elevating them in the religious 
 scale, and as one step towards converting the world 
 into one spiritual and Christian republic. The 
 dispute between the two parties is, in fact, founded 
 on their different estimate of the actual and neces- 
 sary condition of the mass of mankind the one 
 believing in their indefinite, and even perpetual, 
 inferiority, and their consequent mental subjection 
 to the authority of their teachers, as a part of the 
 Divine economy ; the other recognising the law of 
 progress the moral and intellectual equality of all 
 men, and their equal rights to all the privileges of 
 the Christian commonwealth. The politics of the 
 world the strife of classes the Whiggery and 
 Toryism of all times, are, in short, exactly represented 
 by these contests of religious sects. These are the 
 two simple ideas at issue in the contest, though 
 often confused by the want of clearness, or of 
 honesty, in their clerical advocates. 
 
 The points of resemblance between the Churches 
 of England and of Home, so invidiously insisted on 
 by Dissenters, and so treacherously conceded by 
 
16 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 " evangelical " Churchmen, are found or imagined, 
 both in the doctrine and discipline of the two 
 Churches. It cannot be denied, that authority in 
 matters of faith is assumed by both, to an extent 
 inconsistent with the full exercise of the right of 
 private judgment ; the distinguishing feature of the 
 English Church being the feebleness with which 
 she now vindicates, in practice, her daily more un- 
 popular theory. As long as the English Church- 
 man continues to derive his theology from the mis- 
 cellaneous and conflicting religious literature of the 
 Reformation, he will be open to the charge of giving 
 an "uncertain sound" in his articles and confessions 
 of faith. There is absolutely no variety of modern 
 religious opinion, in any degree worthy of notice, 
 that may not claim the patronage, of some one or 
 other of the Fathers of the Reformation. The 
 religious radicalism of Wicliffe * furnishes the 
 plausible ground for every form and variety of 
 dissent, and the martyred Hooper "stumbling at 
 the surplice" is a glorious testimony against the 
 heterodox linen-drapery of the Tractarians. 
 
 Whether the worthies of the Reformation deserved 
 the character of " time-serving and halting prelates " 
 so sternly bestowed upon them by Milton, or not, it 
 is impossible to deny that they left both the doctrine 
 and discipline of the Church in a state of the utmost 
 confusion. Not long ago, the Dean and Chapter of 
 Hereford were placed on the horns of a dilemma, 
 
 * See Blunt's " Sketch of the Reformation," page 87. 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 17 
 
 which sprang directly from this " halting" policy of 
 the Eeformation, and were constrained either to ac- 
 cept, on the nomination of the Crown, of an heretical 
 bishop, or incur the penalties of a prsemunire. 
 
 In doctrinal matters the " uncertain sound " of 
 the Reformation is still more fatal to the peace of 
 the Church. We smile at the pious credulity of our 
 forefathers, when we read in the preamble to the 
 articles of religion, that they were drawn up to 
 prevent the diversities of religious opinion. From 
 the period of their publication dissent has rapidly 
 increased, and they have been actually appealed to 
 as supporting almost every variety of conflicting 
 opinion ; and after the revolution of three centuries 
 we have an Established Church, in which nothing 
 is really established its relations to the state being 
 entirely undefined, and its doctrinal teaching still 
 the subject of endless controversy within the pale 
 of her communion. The divisions of Protestants, in 
 fact, furnish the only remaining source of power, or 
 influence, to the Eomish Church, who may fondly 
 hope to gather into her fold the dispersed flock of 
 the Reformation, which has been hitherto left " to 
 stumble on dark mountains," untended and un- 
 reclaimed. 
 
 It must, indeed, be confessed, that by admitting 
 the right of private judgment our reformers removed 
 the keystone of the visible Church, and by sub- 
 mitting the Bible to the unauthorized investigation 
 of reason, destroyed the only remaining source of 
 so-called religious unity and spiritual dominion. To 
 
18 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 present believers, with a body of theology as a test 
 of orthodoxy, and still to allow dissentients a place 
 in her communion, betrays in the Church of Eng- 
 land, at once, the arrogance of Popery and the 
 liberalism of Dissent, and such, undoubtedly, may 
 be said of a Church that shelters in her bosom, at 
 the same time, a Pusey and a Hampden, a S to well 
 and a Hare. 
 
 The history of the well-known " Oriel school" of 
 theology is a pregnant instance of the fatal facility 
 with which men pass, from even the lawful exercise 
 of their reason, into the paths of heresy ; and explains, 
 if it does not justify, the assertion of the Romanist 
 that Protestantism is the parent of infidelity. A 
 few years ago, the common room at Oriel was the 
 constant scene of those gladiatorial displays of 
 intellect which the liberal Protestantism of the age 
 has introduced into the arena of theological discus- 
 sion. Amongst the most distinguished of the com- 
 batants were Blanco White, Newman, Arnold, 
 Whateley, and Hampden, men admitted even by 
 their adversaries to have possessed considerable 
 learning, unblemished character, and religious sin- 
 cerity. The dust of the amphitheatre has now 
 cleared away, and after the lapse of a few years let 
 us again observe the position of the combatants. 
 The simple-minded, sensitive, and honest Blanco 
 White, after having successively attached himself, 
 after his secession from Romanism, to the liberal 
 Church party, to the Evangelicals, and to the Unita- 
 rians, at length died in the profession of what the world 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 19 
 
 calls Deism. The devout and reverential Newman, 
 after a long and painful struggle, being unable to find 
 a resting-place for the sole of his feet, within the pale 
 of his Church, in primitive simplicity of heart com- 
 mences, staff in hand, a pilgrimage to Eome ! Such 
 are the extremes to which a liberal Protestantism has 
 conducted two of its most accomplished and earnest 
 disciples. The intervening ground is filled up with 
 other varieties of religious opinion, emanating from 
 the same school of liberal theology. The latitudina- 
 rian opinions of Arnold are well known. Whateley, 
 though an archbishop, has been called a Sabellian. 
 Hampden is a condemned heretic, though an 
 English bishop. The archbishop of Dublin enter- 
 tained in his household the Deist White, as the 
 tutor of his children ; and after White had retired 
 uncensured from his office, allowed him a pension 
 up to the time of his death. It may be said, 
 perhaps, that the archbishop might be ignorant of 
 the religious character of the mind to which he 
 entrusted the education of his children, but this is a 
 poor compliment to the penetration of that clear- 
 minded and long-sighted prelate. The transparent 
 sincerity of White furnished a thread of " psycholo- 
 gical identity," throughout the whole of his career, 
 that could not possibly have escaped the observation 
 of so careful an analyst of character as the logical 
 reformer of Oriel who must have seen, from the 
 first, that the truth-seeking seceder from Eomanism 
 was not likely to repose quietly on the authoritative 
 teaching of the English Church. The probability 
 
20 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 of the archbishop's having heen early acquainted 
 with the general tendency of the opinions of White, 
 is greatly increased by the observation in the last 
 letter written by White to Dr. Channing, in which 
 he says, in speaking of his doubts of revelation, 
 " That subject was the occasion ofmyjlrst anxiety 
 and disappointment on joining the Church of 
 England ! " 
 
 With regard to Dr. Hampden, it has been openly 
 to \**> asserted, and but very feebly denied, that Blanco 
 White was the Gamaliel at whose feet he imbibed 
 the opinions, in reference to the scholastic theology, 
 which were condemned by the university of Oxford. 
 Such, then, was the " Oriel school " of liberal 
 theology, which has furnished, from amongst its 
 most distinguished members, representatives of 
 almost every possible shade of religious opinion, 
 from naked Popery to pure Deism; and whose 
 history and fortunes will suggest to reflecting minds 
 the constantly-evaded question, whether it be possible 
 to reconcile the rights of reason with any form of 
 Church authority ; or to establish any peculiar form 
 of Christianity without assuming the Divine and 
 infallible authority of its teachers? The liberal 
 Protestant perpetually evades or mystifies the ques- 
 tion. The Church of Eome, by sound and formal 
 logic, but from vicious premises, supports a spiritual 
 despotism and a corrupt creed ; whilst the English 
 Church, by asserting the right of private judgment, 
 whilst she restrains its expression by articles of 
 faith and ecclesiastical censures, is vainly endeavour- 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 21 
 
 ing to reconcile, by false reasoning and illiberal 
 sophistry, the tyranny of Eome with the freedom of 
 the conventicle. 
 
 The appearance of the author of "Ancient Chris- 
 tianity" (to whom I have before briefly alluded), 
 in the character of a Protestant advocate, deserves 
 more than a passing notice, whilst we are discussing 
 the existing condition of the Church. I am afraid 
 this ingenious writer has not counted the cost of 
 turning the eyes of profane learning and philoso- 
 phical inquiry upon the consecrated records of his 
 Church. The party to which he belongs, (and of 
 whose views he is one of the ablest advocates,) 
 whilst they do not reject the aid of philosophy and 
 learning, in expounding the mysteries and investi- 
 gating the history of their religion, are little pre- 
 pared for the legitimate consequences; and they 
 vainly imagine, that whilst men are taught to reason 
 like philosophers, they will still continue to believe 
 like Churchmen. The Papist, who believes that a 
 wafer is changed into a God, and the Protestant, 
 who contends that a God is "verily and indeed" 
 present in a wafer, will receive much the same treat- 
 ment at the hands of the philosopher, who will 
 smile with equal incredulity at the "inspiration" 
 claimed for the scriptures, and the " authority" 
 assumed by the Church. The philosopher will be 
 apt to regard as an equal idolatry the worship of the 
 " Son" and the "Mother of God." 
 
 In attacking the doctrinal system of the Church, 
 and exposing the well-known Platonism of the 
 
22 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 Christian Fathers, he seems entirely to forget that 
 the same criticism may be, and in fact has been, 
 freely applied to the Gospel of John and the 
 Epistles of Paul : nay, some " wild thinkers " may 
 possibly be found to assert the probability that 
 Christ himself may have been educated (whilst 
 "obedient to his parents") in the Platonic philo- 
 sophy, which extensively leavened the age in which 
 he lived. In the writings and practices of the 
 Nicene Fathers*, against which he principally pro- 
 tests, there is no doubt a strong leaven of asceticism; 
 but the most delicate criticism is not always suc- 
 cessful in distinguishing it from the self-denying 
 precepts of the Gospel. The learned Le Clerc, it 
 is well known, after a long life of critical inquiry, 
 was strongly disposed to concede the identity of 
 Platonism and Christianity; and a learned French- 
 man (M. Dacier, himself a believer in the Christian 
 revelation) has freely confessed, that every ethical 
 precept and vital doctrine of the scriptures (except- 
 ing the atonement,) are to be found in the "Divine 
 Dialogues." 
 
 The single-hearted Gilbert Wakefield, of whom it 
 was truly said, that he united " to the profound 
 genius of a philosopher the simplicity of a child," 
 indulging in the free criticism of the patristic 
 
 * Mr. Isaac Taylor is certainly mistaken, in supposing that the 
 Protestant Reformation was based on a return to the scriptures ex- 
 clusively, and not to the patristic theology. Erasmus, speaking gene- 
 rally of the work of Luther, says, " he has set men upon studying 
 the Fatfors." See Middleton's Life of Luther, page 32. 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 23 
 
 writings, to which we are invited by the author of 
 the " Ancient Christianity," has pronounced the 
 Trinitarian doctrine " a preposterous accommodation 
 of evangelical truth to the mysteries of Gentile 
 philosophy."* Liberal critics, it appears, arrive at 
 very different conclusions from the premises so 
 frankly presented by the evangelical champion, and 
 it has cost them but little labour to trace even the 
 great doctrine of the Trinity to the philosophy of 
 Plato. 
 
 I believe, indeed, generally, that the Platonism, 
 the Gnosticism, the Buddhism, the Soofeeism of all 
 history, may be, in fact, considered as one system 
 modified at different times by external circum- 
 stances. The Protean heresy, our author confesses, 
 was " scarcely less ancient than the patriarchal piety," 
 and is not less modern than the Oxford divinity. It 
 appears, then, to have been a necessary element in 
 the spiritual history of the species, at all periods and 
 in all countries. In the abstract Gnosticism of 
 Philo, he allows " the brighter and purer element 
 appeared on the surface," as contrasted with the 
 darker heresy of Manes; and he asserts its uncon- 
 fessed but extensive and permanent influence on 
 " Ancient Christianity." No doubt this Gnosticism 
 had a great variety of sects, (Gibbon says there were 
 50,) the fruit of the wide rationalism it encouraged. 
 In some of its phases it was little more than the 
 protest of reason against the carnal and impossible 
 
 * See " Wakefield on Matthew," page 7 (quarto edit.). 
 
24 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY I 
 
 attributes with which vulgar superstition had in- 
 vested the Divine Nature; whilst in others it may 
 have assumed a more tangible and corrupt form, as 
 a system of religious philosophy. It is, however, 
 worthy of remark, that Gibbon has accused the 
 Christian Fathers of calumniating the Gnostics, whose 
 doctrines they are thus said to have embraced. 
 
 On the whole, it should excite but little surprise, 
 that the Christian Fathers (skilled as they were in 
 the learning of their age) should present in their 
 writings the common impress of the cognate 
 systems of Christ and Plato ; and that three of 
 them, at least*, unable to distinguish, where there 
 was apparently no difference, should fall into the 
 very natural error of asserting the " inspiration " 
 of the Greek philosopher. St. Augustin has frankly 
 declared, that it was by the light of the Platonic 
 philosophy that he was enabled to penetrate the 
 mysteries of the Trinity ; and the modern Trinitarian 
 can hardly complain of the means adopted by the 
 learned Father to achieve so difficult and so delicate 
 a task. 
 
 It may, perhaps, a little startle the credulous and 
 superficial laity that crowd the churches of " evan- 
 gelical " preachers, to assert that a strong taint of 
 rationalism is discoverable, as I before observed, in 
 the religious philosophy they inculcate. There is 
 something vague, and indefinite, and somewhat dan- 
 
 * Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and Athenagoras. See 
 M. Dacier's Introduction to the " Divine Dialogues." 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES- 25 
 
 gerous, in regard to establishments, in the Protestant- 
 ism of a liberal Churchman. Our author declares, that 
 up to the present time " our English Protestantism 
 is weak, and vulnerable on every side," and then he 
 somewhat paradoxically asserts that this is pecu- 
 liarly the time for submitting it to a terrible opera- 
 tion the excision of a cancer which has deeply 
 tainted its blood. 
 
 In reference to the external government of the 
 Church, it is easy to discover, in " Ancient Chris- 
 tianity," the same halting inconsistency, that leaves 
 the writer for ever suspended between the humble 
 obedience of Faith and the free assumptions of 
 Philosophy. In the estimate which is formed of the 
 spirit of the Protestant Reformation, there is the 
 same logical inconsistency and confusion. If the 
 Reformers really asserted (as it is contended for) 
 the absolute right of private judgment, they must 
 entirely have overlooked the legitimate consequences 
 of their concession. From the first outbreak of the 
 Reformation to the present time, our history is 
 illustrated by a series of struggles for the extension 
 of this principle to its legitimate length. The 
 stream has been occasionally dammed up, indeed, 
 by a feeble, and daily decreasing, party, but nothing 
 has been able, hitherto, permanently to arrest its 
 progress. An archbishop in the person of Laud, 
 and a king in that of Charles the First, were over- 
 whelmed by the torrent, which spared neither the 
 mitre nor the crown. The writings of Bacon and 
 Locke, and others of their school, were constantly 
 
 c 
 
26 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 cast like seeds upon the subsiding waters, destined 
 to bring forth their fruit " after many days;" and 
 these still continue to germinate from day to day. 
 But what was the real intention of our Protestant 
 Reformers ? Was the Reformation merely a crude 
 attempt to reform the Christian Church on the prin- 
 ciples of Philosophy, and did the Reformers intend 
 absolutely to free us from the restraints of eccle- 
 siastical authority ? I admit that it is difficult to 
 answer the question I am proposing. The no-prin- 
 ciple -principle of the Reformation is evident from 
 the various and conflicting opinions attributed to 
 the Reformers, on almost every subject on which 
 they attempted to dogmatize, and which have left as 
 wide a field for controversy as the most profound 
 mysteries of religion itself. A reformation, based 
 on the system of Wickliffe, would have been a pure 
 religious democracy; but there is some hope for 
 establishments in the courtly accommodations of 
 Cranmer. In the present age, the polished and 
 sophistical learning of Chalmers affords but a feeble 
 resistance to the strong common sense, and nervous 
 eloquence, of Wardlaw; and, as the discussion be- 
 comes more popular, (the philosopher will tell us,) 
 it will become more rational. Professional mystery, 
 and a technical phraseology, will no longer conceal 
 from the people a plain and simple question, and 
 our author, and the halting party to which he be- 
 longs, must honestly choose between contending 
 principles. 
 
 I repeat, there are but two parties in the religious 
 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 27 
 
 world, in reference to the external government of 
 the Church the advocates of reason and of 
 authority. And I ask, to which of these parties 
 does the liberal evangelical Churchman profess to 
 helong * ? It is a question of degree, rather than of 
 principle, whether he subscribes to the Thirty-nine 
 Articles of the Church of England, or to the dogmas 
 of the Nicene or Eomish theology. 
 
 In tracing, as he professes to do, the discipline 
 and economy of the Church to their purest and 
 earliest sources, our author must have made, one 
 would suppose, some discoveries (as a philosopher,) 
 calculated to shake his faith as a Church-of-England 
 Episcopalian. Whilst eschewing, in words, the 
 democratic spirit in religion, he must surely be 
 aware that, at the period to which he refers us for 
 his ideal establishment, the Church was essentially 
 a democracy, and that this was probably one cause 
 of its early persecution. 
 
 Episcopacy, in any sense analogous to the mo- 
 dern, did not exist, and, long after its introduction 
 into the Church, the episcopal office was the subject 
 of popular election f. If, therefore, he is disposed 
 
 * Dr. Hampden, whose cause has been warmly advocated by the 
 evangelical clergy, teaches us that the terms " mediator," " advocate," 
 "intercessor," "justification," "remission," "pardon," &c., &c., were 
 borrowed by the schoolmen from the courts of law. But from 
 whom did the inspired writers borrow them 1 And what will be- 
 come of the evangelical orator, if he is no longer to round his periods 
 with these consecrated phrases ? See Bampton Lectures, Lect. V. 
 p. 242. 
 
 f See King's " Primitive Church." Cyprian is said, by his deacon 
 
 c 2 
 
28 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY I 
 
 to fall back upon these simple times for his ideal 
 establishment, he was far better off in the camp of 
 the Dissenters, from which he is a deserter, than 
 within the pale of the National Church. 
 
 In his definition of a Christian Church*, though 
 he conceals his speculations under the specious ap- 
 pearance of expounding a prophetical parable, it is 
 easy to discover the lurking spirit of liberalism. He 
 denies that God's help is, in any special manner, 
 vouchsafed to associated bodies of believers, (as such,) 
 and thus leaves a Church teaching vital truth, and 
 one inculcating vital error, in the same unauthorized 
 position. He acknowledges, at one moment, the 
 doctrine of a particular providence, and, the next, 
 denies its application to the most interesting of 
 human concerns. His mind, in fact, appears alter- 
 nately to expand under the principles of philosophy, 
 and to contract under the influence of religious 
 partizanship. 
 
 It may amuse a vacant hour, for the learned and 
 accomplished believer to deduce, from the critical 
 examination of an obscure parable, the fortunes, 
 past, present, and future, of the Christian Church, 
 and ingeniously to twist its mysterious language 
 into conformity with his peculiar views of the 
 Divine economy. An endless amount of unhallowed 
 criticism on the providence of God has thus been 
 produced; but such a learned religion as this was 
 
 Pontius, to have been elected to the Bishopric of Carthage " by the 
 grace of Gtod and the favour of the people" See Cyprian, Epistle 28. 
 * See " Ancient Christianity," vol. i. page 431. 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 29 
 
 never intended for the mass of mankind. The un- 
 lettered laity, even of the 19th century, require a 
 Church more visible, or a Philosophy more intel- 
 ligible, than this. We are taught, by ecclesiastical 
 history, that, as soon as the Church assumed the 
 character of an organized hody, the " loose wander- 
 ings of the imagination were gradually confined by 
 creeds and confessions ;" * and it has been the na- 
 tural policy of the Church, in all subsequent times, 
 to establish an authority in the corporate body, that 
 should control, in matters of faith, the individual 
 member. It is, as I have before observed, a most 
 miserable sophistry, to attempt to reconcile the right 
 of private judgment with the existence of these 
 restraints; and the liberal Churchman, who strives 
 to unite these conflicting dogmas, is at once a bad 
 logician and a bad Churchman. Arguments, com- 
 pounded of the antagonist principles of Dr. Ward- 
 law, the honest and open enemy of establishments, 
 on the one hand, and of Dr. Wiseman on the other, 
 will not long continue to deceive even the frequenters 
 of our fashionable chapels. 
 
 Whether (as some men think) the days of 
 establishments are already numbered, or whether 
 there be in the human mind (as all history, at least, 
 seems to teach,) a natural bias towards the principle 
 they embody whether mankind is to remain, for an 
 indefinite period longer, in a state of religious 
 pupilage, or is even now verging towards its man- 
 
 * See Gibbon's " Decline and Fall," &c., chap. xxi. 
 
30 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY I 
 
 hood a great change, of some sort, is undoubtedly 
 hanging over our heads. The great moral power 
 given to the people, by the invention of printing, 
 and the diffusion of knowledge, seems now, for the 
 first time since the Reformation, to be universally 
 felt in its influence on the fortunes of the Church. 
 Millions who, scarce a century ago, were superstiti- 
 ous, ignorant, and obedient, are now become curious, 
 enlightened, and disputatious. In the trading 
 districts of the country the scene of Athenaeums, 
 Mechanics' Institutes, and Debating Clubs a po- 
 pulation, once an inert mass, has become a living 
 soul. Noble lords, and learned professors, delight 
 in expatiating before toil-worn listeners*, on the 
 glories, the powers, and the privileges of knowledge ; 
 and, however crudely these younger children of 
 science may occasionally develope their thoughts, 
 they are still learning to think, and by doing so 
 they change and modify, if they do not altogether 
 destroy, their ancient relations with the Church. 
 
 Now, I am not about to impeach the soundness 
 of the reasoning of liberal Churchmen, but their 
 consistency as members of the Established Church. 
 I have said that the earliest form of Christianity 
 was essentially democratic, and that this was one 
 cause both of its rapid success and of much of the 
 persecution it encountered. The condition of women 
 and slaves, in the Roman empire, will account for 
 the easy conversion of a large proportion of the 
 
 * See Annual Reports of the proceedings of the Manchester 
 Athenaeum. 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 31 
 
 heathen world, as these social pariahs were invited, 
 by the mild and equalizing spirit of the new Faith, 
 to take their proper and natural place in the human 
 family. In our own times, the emancipation of 
 slaves, and the elevation of women in the social 
 scale, is considered as the peculiar triumph of 
 Christian philanthropy. If we may believe Gibbon*, 
 the early Christian preachers had a strong leaven 
 of democracy, and the eloquence of the Fathers 
 was essentially popular many of them having been 
 expressly educated for forensic display. The elo- 
 quence of the tribune, he tells us, which had been 
 suppressed under the empire, was revived in the 
 pulpits of the Christian Churches. 
 
 The Christian religion, then, first dogmatically 
 taught the universal equality of mankind in the sight 
 of God, and, though it appended to the doctrine the 
 precept of obedience to constituted authority, it is 
 natural to suppose that, amongst a barbarous and 
 oppressed multitude, the first would be well remem- 
 bered, whilst the last was often forgotten. The 
 Christian religion was, in fact, a charter of free- 
 dom to the human race, and, though it did not 
 immediately announce the civil equality of man- 
 kind, it was easy to perceive that this, though the 
 remote, must be the certain effect of its general 
 diffusionf. 
 
 * " Decline and Fall," chap. xx. 
 
 J- The illustrious Luther had but little respect for the civil power, 
 and not only assailed with the most virulent language the most 
 powerful monarch in Europe, but had generally, in the language of 
 
32 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 In modern times, indeed, the political oppressor 
 is commonly assailed with weapons taken from the 
 Christian armoury, and the civil rights of mankind 
 are, usually, weighed in the "balance of the sanc- 
 tuary." In the revolutions of almost every country, 
 we find the doctrines of religious equality the 
 moving principle of every struggle for political 
 freedom. The English puritans, who murdered 
 Charles the First, undoubtedly founded their justifi- 
 cation as much on the precepts of the Gospel as 
 upon the dogmas of political expediency ; nay, some 
 of the wildest anarchists of the revolution, still going 
 on in Trance, have appealed to the equalizing and 
 democratic spirit of the Gospel * ; and Eousseau in 
 the last century, when desirous of assailing the civil 
 institutions of his country, took his stand upon the 
 elementary principles of Christianityf. 
 
 The " signs of the times," at the present moment, 
 sufficiently prove that the democratic spirit is still a 
 powerful element in the popular Christianity, in 
 reference to the external government of the Church, 
 and this is the time selected by the " liberal" portion 
 
 his biographer, " a very unfavourable opinion of sovereign princes." 
 See Middleton's Life, page 23. 
 
 * See Louis Blanc's " Organization of Labour," page 1 (Introduc- 
 tion). 
 
 *f- Rambaldi, a distinguished Roman Radical, speaking from the 
 pedestal of the statue of Marcus Aurelius, thus addressed the popu- 
 lace of Rome : " I am a priest of Christ, and it is with the deepest 
 conviction I call you from the top of the Capitol to liberty and inde- 
 pendence, because the principle of your right lives eternally in the 
 Gospel." See " Times" newspaper, Jan. 15, 1849. 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 33 
 
 of her defenders for tampering with the vital princi- 
 ples on which she is founded. Professing themselves 
 entirely satisfied with the figure, they have become 
 most curiously critical about the drapery. A great 
 principle is at issue between the Church and the 
 people, and Churchmen are engaged in a petty 
 squabble about albs and surplices ! An overwhelm- 
 ing enemy is thundering at the gate, and the garrison 
 are discussing the colour of their uniform ! The 
 Church is loudly called upon, by the appearances 
 around her, to gird up her loins, strengthen her 
 bulwarks, and review her forces : and this is the 
 time chosen by one of her " soi-disant" liberal 
 defenders to enlighten the laity on the horrors of 
 " priestcraft."* At this moment the "Penny Pul- 
 pit" is teeming with the joint labours of Dissenters 
 and Evangelical clergymen, who meet on the same 
 platforms, and support the same religious societies ; 
 the one believing (or at \Qastprofessing to believe) 
 the Church of England to be " par excellence " the 
 Church of Christ, whilst the other openly brands it 
 as a " rag of Popery ! " 
 
 Thus is the Church assailed by a religious rabble, 
 composed of every section of almost every religious 
 party. In this motley gathering Mr. Francis Close 
 and Dr. Wardlaw are "met together," and Mr. Baptist 
 Noelf and the Scotch philosophers have "kissed each 
 
 * Mr. Close, of Cheltenham, not long ago published a sermon on 
 this popular subject. 
 
 t Since the above was written, this gentleman has had the honesty 
 to secede from the Church. 
 
 c 3 
 
34 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 other." " Ancient Christianity" is folded in the 
 embraces of the " Edinburgh Reviewers," who, for 
 the nonce, have formed a " Holy Alliance " with 
 Exeter Hall. The word "laity" has taken place 
 of the word " people " in the rounded periods of the 
 popular newspapers. A white surplice has become 
 a more fearful object to the multitude than the 
 "san benito" of the Inquisition. For wearing the 
 hated vestment in his pulpit, a clergyman of Exeter 
 was, not long ago, hooted from his pulpit, by a mob 
 of reformers, applauded, if not backed, by a reporter 
 of the "first journal in Europe." 
 
 Bishops have been bullied by churchwardens in 
 bad grammar, and an honest London clergyman 
 accused of purloining the sacramental alms of the 
 people. Sunday journals discourse theology, and 
 penny-a-liners pour contempt on the pastoral letters 
 of archbishops of Canterbury*. Indignant vestries, 
 adjourning to alehouses, threaten to cut off the 
 supplies, by refusing the rates; and the organ is 
 becoming mute, and the lights are being extinguished 
 in our metropolitan churches, for the lack of funds. 
 The ladies of Helston, not long ago, remained 
 unmarried, rather than receive the Eucharist " upon 
 compulsion," and those of Exeter " unchurched," 
 rather than brave the indelicate publicity of the 
 appointed office, which supposes the presence of a 
 
 * The Bishop of Exeter, on making official inquiries into the 
 practices of some professedly Protestant " Sisters of Mercy " at Ply- 
 mouth, was saluted, in the midst of his clergy, by " hisses and 
 laughter." See " Times " newspaper, Feb. 17, 1849. 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 35 
 
 congregation. Stone altars have raised as much 
 horror as the revival of the Inquisition ; and the 
 " Camden Society" is suspected of a deadly design 
 of undermining the Protestant Church, hy reviving 
 a taste for ecclesiastical architecture. The "mark 
 of the beast" is discovered in the red lines and 
 illuminated borders of our prayer books ; and, in 
 short, the arts of printing, of painting, and archi- 
 tecture have conspired for the overthrow of Christian 
 simplicity, and Protestant liberty*. " Little Bethel " 
 is up in arms, and Great Britain frighted from its 
 propriety. Oxford, the citadel of orthodoxy, has 
 been torn by internal divisions, and the Evangelical 
 party, to prevent Mr. Ward from becoming a cardi- 
 nal, seemed strongly disposed to make him a martyr. 
 The momentary lull, since the triumph of Dr. Hamp- 
 den over the combined forces of bigots and fanatics, 
 is in hourly danger of being broken, by the disor- 
 ganized condition of the routed army, who are 
 scarcely kept from turning their arms upon each 
 other, by a secret conviction of their common danger. 
 The attempts that have been made to restore the 
 vitality of the Church have been conceived in a 
 spirit little suited to support its authoritative cha- 
 
 * These polemical contests between High and Low Churchmen 
 are no more respectable than those of the Eastern and Western 
 Churches in the ninth century. The questions as to the use of 
 leavened or unleavened bread in the celebration of the Eucharist, or 
 as to the greater orthodoxy of " vegetable oil " over " animal grease " 
 in the keeping of Lent, are not more frivolous than the modern dis- 
 putes about vestments and altars. 
 
36 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY I 
 
 racter. The transfusion of voluntaryism into her 
 system, in various secret forms, has been adopted 
 by her liberal friends. Churches have been built 
 without endowments, or with endowments totally 
 insufficient ; and the clergyman is thus reduced to 
 the condition of a popular actor deriving his stipend 
 from the sale of tickets at the door of his church. 
 Churches have been built also by the novel expe- 
 dient of ' ' penny " subscriptions. A " Penny Pulpit " 
 records the eloquence of the clerical orator, and the 
 galleries of Christian churches are become the gal- 
 leries of reporters. 
 
 From the present condition of the Church, which 
 I have attempted to describe, we may, I think, fairly 
 infer that a vital and organic change in her system, 
 and not merely a superficial adaptation of her teach- 
 ing to the spirit of the age, is imminent and certain, 
 and that a reformation, far more extensive than has 
 hitherto embellished her history, inevitably awaits 
 her. Her " whole head is sick," her " whole heart 
 is faint." Even in the " multitude of her counsel- 
 lors " there is no " strength," but rather confusion, 
 vacillation, and dismay. Neither the orthodox 
 practitioners of Oxford, nor the empyrics of Exeter 
 Hall (the last hope of her despairing friends), seem 
 able to arrest the progress of her malady. In spite 
 of a few spasmodic and convulsive throes, the effect 
 of the transfusion of a spurious liberalism into her 
 constitution, her days are, most assuredly, already 
 numbered. Her precarious connection with the 
 state, by securing her material interests, alone pre- 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 37 
 
 veDts her swift destruction; and already the question 
 of the confiscation of her property, or, at least, of 
 the redistribution of her revenues, is temperately 
 discussed in the councils of the nation. The mon- 
 arch is no longer, as even in the last century, her 
 " nursing mother," the ablest of her political sup- 
 porters are become lax and lukewarm, whilst her 
 enemies, both temporal and spiritual, are " come in 
 like a flood." From motives the most various and 
 conflicting, the most earnest of her ancient defenders 
 are seceding from her communion ; and, whilst she 
 is too strait for the evangelical liberality of Mr. 
 Baptist Noel, she is too lax for the orthodoxy of 
 Newman, of Oakley, and of Ward. It is impossible 
 to deny, moreover, that the Church is, in many re- 
 spects, in direct antagonism to the spirit of our 
 civil and political institutions. In the " Homily on 
 Rebellion," for instance, she utterly repudiates the 
 principle of the Eevolution. According to the 
 homily, the Christian is equally bound to obey a 
 good and a bad prince, (the latter being imposed 
 upon us for the punishment of our sins,) and 
 rebellion against God's anointed, and resistance to 
 any oppression, however intolerable, are regarded as 
 deadly sins. Thus, by a fanatical perversion of a 
 Gospel precept, the timid tactics, and cautious wis- 
 dom, of a nascent sect are still retained in a Divine 
 philosophy that has already civilized a vast pro- 
 portion of the human race. The " right divine of 
 kings," however, has now become a piece of ridi- 
 culous bombast, though they still continue nomi- 
 
38 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY I 
 
 nally to reign over us by the " grace of God." In 
 the early spring-time of the world the king and 
 priest were alike regarded as " God's anointed," and 
 were probably distinguished for their spiritual pre- 
 eminence, if not for any superhuman endowments. 
 The " kings of the earth " are already fallen or 
 falling from their high estate, and everywhere under 
 different names assuming the character of political 
 forms. The priest must soon follow in the wake of 
 the king ; for, both having lost their original rela- 
 tions to the people over whom they exercised their 
 spiritual authority, the king is degraded to the 
 president, and the priest into the schoolmaster. 
 
 It cannot, however, be denied, that the decline 
 both of the kingly and priestly office, historically 
 regarded, has not been altogether a regular and pro- 
 gressive one. A real king, or priest, occurring here 
 and there, in the waste of centuries, has occasionally 
 sustained the dignity, and arrested the downfal, of 
 his office. France has had her St. Louis, and Eng- 
 land her Alfred, and even the chair of St. Peter has, 
 at times, been filled by a true prophet. Nay, in 
 modern times, the sceptre is not always wielded by 
 a feeble hand, nor do the priestly robes always cover 
 either the hypocrite, the fanatic, or the formalist. 
 It may be fairly argued, that these manifestations of 
 the Divine power, bestowed upon the master-minds 
 of different ages, enabling them to raise and bless 
 mankind, are proofs that our political and religious 
 forms were originally in conformity with the laws 
 of nature ; and that these forms may still be made 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 39 
 
 capable, by a searching reformation, of carrying on 
 the spiritual affairs of the world. Equality, indeed, 
 intellectual, moral, or political, (any further than that 
 the last supposes equality in the eye of the laws by 
 which men have agreed to be governed,) is one of 
 the wildest dreams of a morbid enthusiasm ; but the 
 law of God, still, sanctions only the spiritual autho- 
 rity of man over man. There is no principle in 
 human nature more evident than its acknowledg- 
 ment of this spiritual pre-eminence *. It is the 
 foundation of discipleship, in every political party, 
 in every philosophical school, and in every religious 
 sect. It is this, alone, that really crowds the lecture- 
 room and the chapel, and inspires with loyalty and 
 love the subjects of virtuous and able princes. The 
 meanness of envy, and even the pangs of poverty, are 
 rendered nugatory, with the multitude, by the splen- 
 dour of talent, and the charm of virtue, in those that 
 govern them. 
 
 Out of such elements as these it is surely possi- 
 ble to reconstruct (though not to save) the falling 
 fabrics of monarchies, of aristocracies, and of priest- 
 hoods ; but bigotry still continues to contend against 
 the principle, and timidity to distrust the means, of 
 regeneration. But let it not be supposed that great 
 and vital changes, in the religious and civil institu- 
 tions of nations, can only be effected by revolution- 
 ary violence. The mere moral force of opinion, in 
 
 * The most primitive idea of a king was the " union of intellect 
 and physical force," typified in the form of the Egyptian Sphinx. 
 See " The Crescent and the Cross," vol. ii. page 7. 
 
40 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 modern times, is daily achieving triumphs of prin- 
 ciple, for which our forefathers died on the scaffold, 
 and at the stake, and often died in vain. The 
 attitude of the modern reformer should be one of 
 perpetual protest against all that is false, unreal, 
 and corrupt looking to the secret influences of 
 time and knowledge for the triumph of the right. 
 
 To bring the spiritual government of the world 
 into sounder and more consistent relations with the 
 existing intelligence of the age, it will be necessary, 
 at least, to modify so much of the doctrinal teaching 
 and external government of all Christian Churches 
 as is involved in the assertion of the following 
 dogmas of the popular theology, viz. : 
 
 1. Of the vague and indefinite doctrine of the 
 
 " inspiration of the Scriptures" 
 
 2. Of the doctrine of Miracles and Prophecy. 
 
 3. Of the really Pagan doctrine of the Divinity 
 
 of Christ, as now taught. 
 
 4. Of the futile and fallacious idea of teaching 
 
 Christianity by dogmatical Creeds and Arti- 
 cles. 
 
 Such must be the basis of any really spiritual 
 Keformation, and the foundation of any truly Catho- 
 lic Christianity. The time for such a purification 
 of our temples may not yet have actually arrived, 
 but the tendencies of the age are clear and explicit, 
 though veiled in the disguise of a mock-religious 
 phraseology. These subjects I propose to discuss 
 in the following pages, and I shall endeavour to 
 
CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES. 
 
 demonstrate their connection with the co 
 and degradation of Christianity. I have purpose 
 abstained from any notice of the doctrine of the 
 Trinity, because, in the present temper of the world, 
 I believe it would be impossible to excite the feeblest 
 interest in such a discussion, beyond the cloisters of 
 our Universities, and because I am unwilling to 
 rekindle the ashes of an expiring superstition. The 
 creed of Athanasius is gradually disappearing, even 
 from its last hold, in the formularies of the Church, 
 and we may venture to predict that the doctrine will 
 not long survive the destruction of its foundations* 1 . 
 
 * The latest religious philosophy on the subject of the Trinity 
 will be found in Dr. Hampden's Bampton Lectures, Lect. III., which 
 shows how little is to be done, by learning, talent, and sincerity, for 
 this most intractable subject. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 " Our inspiration lies in the impulse of a good conscience, and the 
 light of a sound understanding. We do not pretend to bring you a 
 new revelation, but confine ourselves to that which hath been given 
 you, and which you no longer understand." Rousseau's "Letters 
 written from the Mountains," page 59. 
 
 IN examining the relations of revelation with the 
 philosophy and science of the nineteenth century, it 
 is necessary to inquire into, and compare, the popular 
 and philosophical ideas of the inspiration of the 
 Scriptures. In doing this, the first difficulty we 
 encounter arises from the looseness of the terms in 
 which the former is commonly defined. The doc- 
 trine of " plenary inspiration " in its widest sense, is, 
 I presume, nominally abandoned by all rational and 
 educated believers, and yet even a " verbal and 
 literal" inspiration appears still, in some sense, to 
 be insisted on by the great mass of the orthodox 
 learned*; in spite of the admitted difficulty of 
 
 * Heinfetter actually contends that all the supposed discrepancies 
 to be found in the Christian Scriptures arise from our " ignorance of 
 the Greek language !" See Introduction to " 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 43 
 
 ascertaining, in many cases, the actual meaning of 
 the writings themselves, and of settling the question 
 of authority between contending versions *. 
 
 A literal acceptation of the language of Scripture 
 would, in many cases, involve the most palpable 
 contradictions on points of vital importance. " I 
 and the Father are one," and " the Father is greater 
 than I," cannot be literally interpreted without a 
 contradiction in terms. " Peace I leave with you," 
 and " I come not to send peace but a sword," are 
 texts that must be qualified before they can be re- 
 conciled with each other. A still more startling 
 contradiction exists between those passages of the 
 Gospels which appear to assert that the miracles 
 were wrought for the conversion of unbelievers, and 
 those which distinctly state that the miracles were 
 not performed " because of their unbelief." 
 
 We can only attribute to this logical inconsis- 
 tency the perverse determination exhibited by be- 
 lievers in written revelations, in opposing the purifi- 
 cation of the sacred text, even from grammatical 
 errors and involved constructions. It is somewhat 
 singular, also, to find that party in the Church, 
 who are most jealous of the slightest interference 
 
 * I am bound to exonerate Dr. Hampden from this charge, for, 
 after quoting the words of an Apostle, he remarks, " they were pro- 
 bably borrowed from the Platonic philosophy." See Bampton Lec- 
 tures, Lect. III., page 111. Dr. Chalmers, on the other hand, 
 boldly asserts, that "the Scriptures contain God's own truth in 
 God's own language" See pamphlet on ' Evangelical Alliance," J^^, * 
 page 11. 
 
 u-^f 
 
 
44 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 with the letter of the Scriptures, distinguished, at 
 the same time, hy a somewhat lax adherence to the 
 authority of the Church, by which, alone, they had 
 been preserved to them in their present form. 
 
 I presume the popular notion of inspiration is 
 founded on the assumption, that God was pleased, 
 at various times and in different ages, through the 
 instrumentality of seers and prophets, and, lastly, by 
 the manifestation of himself in the flesh, to give to 
 all mankind a revelation of his Will, conveyed in 
 the Hebrew and Greek tongues; and, though eighteen 
 centuries of criticism and persecution have been 
 insufficient either to explain the meaning of the 
 writings, or to extinguish heresy, that the sacred 
 volume, as a whole, still retains its mystical authority 
 over the human race ; as much as if, in its present 
 form and language, it had fallen down from heaven. 
 
 Instead, however, of speculating on the popular 
 idea of inspiration, we will assume as orthodox the 
 definition afforded us by an able Biblical critic, 
 whose writings are used as a text book in our 
 learned universities. The Rev. Hartwell Home, in 
 his " Introduction to a critical study of the Scrip- 
 tures," (alas ! that a revelation from God to man 
 should require a "critical study,") affords us the 
 following definition of inspiration. He defines it to 
 be, " the imparting of such a degree of Divine 
 influence, assistance, or guidance, as enabled the 
 authors of the several books of Scripture to com- 
 municate religious knowledge to others without 
 error or mistake." We will proceed to examine this 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 45 
 
 definition by the common rules of criticism, and see 
 how far it will support the popular notion of inspira- 
 tion, or satisfy the religious sentiment of believers 
 in revelation. 
 
 In the above definition, it is asserted that the 
 writers of the sacred volume were preserved by a 
 Divine influence from "error or mistake;" but 
 whether the learned writer would confine the meaning 
 of these words to ethical and moral error, and to 
 mistakes in matters of fact, the looseness of the terms 
 leaves us no means of discovering. At any rate, 
 but two suppositions can be possibly entertained as 
 to the meaning of the definition either it excludes 
 "error and mistake" of every description, philo- 
 sophical and ethical " errors " in opinion and 
 " mistakes" in matters of fact, or it is confined to 
 errors and mistakes merely ethical. 
 
 We will examine separately these two hypotheses, 
 beginning with that which assumes the exemption 
 of the sacred record from all error, philosophical, 
 scientific, and moral. To assent to this definition, 
 I am afraid, would require a larger concession of the 
 freedom of thought, and the rights of reason, than 
 would accord with the liberal Christianity of the 
 present age. Such a concession involves the neces- 
 sity of defending the physical philosophy of the 
 Bible against the discoveries of modern science, 
 and drives us at once to the ground assumed by the 
 monks of the sixteenth century, in their persecuting 
 crusade against the philosophy of Galileo ; or the 
 
46 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 still less tenable position of the Hutchinsonians* of 
 the last century, who confined all human knowledge 
 to the five books of Moses, and condemned Newton 
 as an "ignorant pretender." If this view of the 
 definition should be taken as that of the orthodox 
 Protestant, he is, assuredly, less "rational" than 
 the Eoman Catholic, who denies the " sufficiency," 
 and, therefore, in reality, the absolute inspiration of 
 the Scriptures f. The concessions recently made to 
 the requisitions of geological science forbid us to 
 suppose that any considerable number of educated 
 Christians, of any denomination, would subscribe to 
 so fanatical a view of the doctrine of inspiration. 
 
 Before, however, we proceed to consider the defi- 
 nition, as asserting the merely ethical inspiration of 
 the Scriptures, we will notice, in passing, another 
 view of inspiration which appears to occupy a kind 
 of debateable land between the two hypotheses we 
 are discussing. There is a class of Christians, 
 who consider the Scriptures, not as being in them- 
 selves an actual revelation, but as containing, in 
 some mysterious and apparently ineffable manner, 
 a Divine communication from God to man. The 
 minds of the sacred writers were sup ernatur ally en- 
 dowed with Divine wisdom, but they were left to 
 communicate it by the imperfect organ of human 
 
 * See Smollett's " History of England," vol. vi., page 408. 
 
 t Tetzel maintained against Luther that there are many Catholic 
 truths not to be found in the Scriptures. See Middleton's " Life of 
 Luther," page 21. 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 47 
 
 language. Of this theory of inspiration, it may be 
 observed, that it opens a vast field of vague and 
 endless criticism, and presents a very disparaging 
 idea of a Divine law, intended for the comfort, in- 
 struction, and guidance of mankind. A merely 
 human law, given under such conditions, would be 
 absolutely inoperative, or infinitely worse would 
 furnish a ready instrument of legal tyranny and 
 forensic perversion. We find, therefore, (as might 
 have been anticipated,) the defenders of this theory 
 constantly involved in the mazes of a speculative 
 theology, and attacking or defending, inch by inch, 
 the barren field of Biblical criticism. By the as- 
 sumption of " oriental peculiarities " of thought and 
 language, in the sacred writers, the literal meaning 
 of the Scriptures is left vague and uncertain. An 
 apostle is assumed to be inspired at one moment, 
 and not at another, (and it must be confessed that 
 the words of St. Paul * give a very colourable ex- 
 cuse for the assumption,) and inspiration is denied, 
 where the matter recorded may be proved to be 
 erroneous as philosophy or fact. It is contended, 
 however, that, with all these concessions, the sacred 
 volume still contains, after the freest criticism, a 
 residuum sufficient to establish its claim to be con- 
 sidered a miraculous revelation of instruction and 
 promise. The theory before us evidently supposes 
 that human reason is the proper test of what shall 
 be human faith, and I believe that a considerable 
 
 * See 1 Corinthians, chap. vii. verse 6. 
 
48 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 number of professedly orthodox Christians (their 
 number daily increasing) acknowledge this mode of 
 interpretation, which is openly professed by the 
 Unitarians alone. 
 
 I cannot help noticing, in passing, the very original 
 theory of Heinfetter, who assumes that our " ignorance 
 of Greek" is the cause of all our perplexities as to 
 the meaning of scripture. " The difficulty," naively 
 observes Heinfetter*, "in ascertaining, in the present 
 day, what it has pleased Almighty God to reveal in 
 Holy Scripture on this subject, (that is, the subject 
 of the Spirit,) arises principally, if not altogether, 
 from man's having lost the sense conveyed by the 
 expression, and omission of the Greek article /"f 
 If this be true, the loss of the sense of the " Greek 
 article" must be the greatest ever sustained by the 
 human race, and a preliminary step to all vital 
 Christianity must be a profound study of the Greek 
 tongue. Dr. Parr ought assuredly to have been 
 elevated to the see of Canterbury, in the last cen- 
 tury, and our present rulers cannot do better than 
 persist in their somewhat unpopular custom, of 
 raising to the highest offices in the Church the 
 editors of Greek plays and the laborious " diggers 
 of Greek roots." Our grammar-schools should be 
 immediately restored to their ancient footing, and, 
 instead of being secularized into vehicles of " useful 
 
 * See " llvtoftet" its usage and sense in Holy Scripture. 
 
 + Heinfetter, however, is not quite original, for Granville Sharp 
 attempted to establish the divinity of Christ by the distinctive force 
 of the Greek article / 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 49 
 
 knowledge," should be exclusively devoted to the 
 study of Greek. The " Greek article," in the theory 
 of Heinfetter, has acquired an importance far 
 greater than belonged to the "homoousion" or 
 "homoiousion" in the fourth century, and the "mar- 
 tyrs of the diphthong" must have shed their blood 
 about a matter comparatively insignificant. 
 
 I now proceed to inquire into the most rational 
 supposition as to the meaning of the definition be- 
 fore us the supposition that the sacred writers were 
 merely protected by Divine influence from the in- 
 culcation of ethical or moral error. 
 
 I would first observe, that a distinction is some- 
 times made between intellectual and moral error, in 
 discussing this question, which presents a somewhat 
 degrading idea of Divine agency. The highest con- 
 ception of God is that of simple and absolute truth, 
 without any admixture of imperfection or error, and 
 it is almost as shocking to imagine the Divine Spirit 
 misleading the understanding, as corrupting the 
 heart as teaching what is false in philosophy, as 
 what is false in morals. An intelligent apprehension 
 of the laws of the material universe is certainly a 
 means of elevating the soul to the contemplation of 
 the Divine nature ; and He who has made the visible 
 world that surrounds us to minister " beauty to the 
 sight and music to the ear," and who has implanted 
 in our souls the desire of knowledge and the love of 
 truth, must surely have intended us to combine the 
 progress of the intellect with the development of the 
 soul. On any other supposition, a knowledge of 
 
 D 
 
50 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 natural science is indifferent or useless to us, and 
 they who, like the ingenious author of the " Natural 
 Theology,"* have attempted to lead us to God 
 through a knowledge of his works, have been em- 
 ployed on a vain and unprofitable work. In fact, 
 we must at once throw aside as worthless, the most 
 rational as well as the most profound portion of 
 religious literature. But natural religion is said to 
 be the proper basis of revealed, as the former in no 
 ivay contradicts or interferes with the latter. And 
 yet Natural religion is founded on an intelligent 
 knowledge of Nature, whilst " Evangelical " Chris- 
 tianity has ever regarded the progress of science 
 with suspicion and dislike. Here is an equal mix- 
 ture of inconsistency and fanaticism. If we are told 
 that men passed through a fiery furnace unharmed, 
 and that the sun stood still to enable Joshua to ac- 
 complish the destruction of his enemies, an almost 
 equal shock is given to our belief in physics, and our 
 ordinary ideas of the Divine government and benevo- 
 lence, and our faith can only repose on the ruins of 
 our philosophy. Modern science teaches us that the 
 last-mentioned miracle (the staying of the sun) 
 would have involved the destruction of the universe, 
 and many of our orthodox commentators have been 
 driven to the convenient expedient of resolving it 
 
 * It seems that this popular work must no longer be attributed to 
 Paley, who appears to have been guilty of a gross literary fraud in 
 appropriating, without acknowledgment, both its idea and most of its 
 details from Dr. Nieuentyt's " Christian Philosopher." See Athenaeum, 
 No. 1085. 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 51 
 
 into a " metaphor ; " but still, by the almost 
 universal consent of the clergy, the laity are per- 
 mitted to remain in their superstitious belief. If 
 such immoral (because untrue] religious philosophy 
 is not, in fact, dogmatically taught from our pulpits, 
 it is not because the clergy are, in general, prepared 
 to abandon it, but because they distrust the 
 awakened intelligence of the age. In glancing over 
 the received commentaries on the Bible, we observe 
 a constant attempt to balance between the rational 
 and philosophical interpretation of these assumed 
 miraculous events and the popular impression. 
 But what is this but a system of deception, as gross 
 as any that disgraced the darkest ages of the Church, 
 or as that " esoteric " and " exoteric " mode of 
 instruction that distinguished the theology of 
 Paganism involving in fact the systematic incul- 
 cation of admitted error ? 
 
 But the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, accord- 
 ing to our definition, are free from the inculcation 
 of moral error. We will consider the sacred volume, 
 then, simply in reference to its moral teaching, and 
 its revelations on the subject of our highest spiritual 
 concerns. A revelation of morals must, assuredly, 
 be considered as one for perpetual observance and 
 of universal application; and the general moral 
 law embodied in the Bible, must, on the popular 
 supposition of inspiration, be intended to define the 
 duties and morals of mankind for all time. Now, 
 in the present age, the great mass of the civilized 
 world, including every religious denomination, are 
 
 D 2 
 
( ?r 
 
 52 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 vehemently protesting against the horrors of slavery, 
 and branding it as a violation of the Divine law. 
 But, on the supposition of the absolute sufficiency of 
 the Scriptures, as an inspired, perpetual, and perfect 
 moral law, this noblest enthusiasm of the age must 
 be regarded by the believer as a spurious addition 
 to the Divine canon. Neither the Jewish nor Chris- 
 tian Scriptures contain, even by implication, the 
 slightest condemnation of the system of slavery, and 
 in fact both the Jewish and Christian lawgiver 
 appear to have recognised it as the normal condition 
 of human society. In the British House of Com- 
 mons, one of its most respected members, dis- 
 tinguished for his rigid adherence to the doctrines 
 of his Church*, has frankly admitted that the Bible 
 contains no precept against slavery; and it was, 
 somewhat singularly, left for an unlearned layman 
 to attempt a blundering apology for the sacred 
 volume. 
 
 Except, indeed, in the acknowledgment of the 
 Divine authority of the Decalogue, with a more 
 liberal interpretation of its precepts in the adoption, 
 that is, of the moral law of his nation, with a rebuke 
 of the narrow and literal spirit in which it was 
 received, it can hardly be said, that in the recorded 
 words of Christ there is any evidence of an intention 
 to give the world a new system of Ethicsf. The 
 
 * Sir Robert H. Inglis (1848). The sect of the Essenes were in 
 this matter far more advanced than the Christians, for they strongly 
 protested against slavery. 
 
 f " I come not to destroy the Law " but to fulfil. 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 53 
 
 * f new commandment" to love one another was 
 " new " only to the exclusive spirit of Judaism. At 
 least it must he confessed that the system which, 
 in modern times, has heen considered as purely 
 Christian, is as old as history itself. Passing over 
 the pure and elevated morality taught in the " Ionic" 
 school philosophy, of which we possess hut a few 
 traditional fragments, it appears that the Grecian 
 sages anticipated, hy at least nearly five hundred 
 years, all the moral precepts of the Gospels. The 
 Ethics of Socrates and Plato (the latter constantly 
 appealing in his writings to the opinions of the 
 ancients) are precisely identical with those of 
 Christ*, though it has long heen received as a 
 stereotyped and consecrated assertion, that the " for- 
 giveness of injuries" and the " love of our enemies" 
 are principles peculiar to Christian ethicsf. 
 
 The learned M. Dacier (a devout Catholic), in 
 his Introduction to the Divine Dialogues of Plato, 
 affords us the following hrief summary of the theo- 
 logy of the Academy, and I think it is impossible to 
 deny that it sufficiently establishes the absolute 
 identity of the Platonic and Christian ethics, as 
 well as a most striking doctrinal and theological 
 resemblance between the two systems. 
 
 * The learned Le Clerc was clearly of this opinion. 
 
 t See Paley's " Evidences." This most sophistical writer speaks 
 of the originality of Christian ethics, in the face of the clearest proof 
 of their being precisely identical with those of Plato. Christ was 
 the restorer, rather than the inventor, of the Divine ethics which bear 
 his name. 
 
54 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 " That there is hut one God ; that we ought to 
 love and serve Him, and endeavour to resemhle 
 Him in holiness and righteousness ; that this God 
 rewards humility and punishes pride" 
 
 " That the true happiness of man consists in 
 being united to God, and his only misery in "being 
 separated from Him" 
 
 " That the soul is mere darkness unless it he 
 illuminated by God ; that men are incapable even 
 of praying well, unless God teaches them that 
 prayer which alone can be useful to them." 
 
 " That there is nothing solid and substantial but 
 piety ; that this is the source of virtues, and that it 
 is the gift of God" 
 
 " That it is better to die than to sin." 
 
 " That we ought to be continually learning to 
 die, and yet to endure life, in obedience to God." 
 
 " That it is a crime to hurt our enemies, and to 
 revenge ourselves for the injuries we have received." 
 
 " That it is better to suffer wrong than to do 
 it." 
 
 " That God is the sole cause of good, and cannot 
 be the cause of evil, which always proceeds only 
 from our disobedience, and the ill use we make of 
 our liberty." 
 
 " That self-love produces that discord and divi- 
 sion which reign among men, and is the cause of 
 their sins ; that the love of our neighbours, which 
 proceeds from the love of God, as its principle, 
 produces that sacred union which makes families, 
 republics, and kingdoms happy." 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 55 
 
 " That the world is nothing but corruption ; 
 that we ought to fly from it, and to join ourselves 
 to God, who alone is our health and life ; and that 
 while we live in this world we are surrounded hy 
 enemies, and have a continual combat to endure, 
 which requires, on our part, resistance without in- 
 termission ; and that we cannot conquer unless God 
 or angels come to our help." 
 
 " That the (Word) Aoyo$ formed the world, and 
 rendered it visible ; that the knowledge of the Word 
 makes us live very happily here below, and that 
 thereby we obtain felicity after death." 
 
 "That the soul is immortal; that the dead shall 
 rise again ; that there shall be a final judgment, 
 both of the righteous and of the wicked, where 
 men shall appear only with their virtues or vices, 
 which shall be the occasion of their eternal hap- 
 piness or misery" 
 
 Now, I repeat, that it is impossible to read the 
 above fragments, gathered from writings at least 
 four centuries anterior to the birth of Christ, and 
 which are proved to have had a pervading influence 
 on Christian theology for many centuries after that 
 event*, without feeling more than a doubt of the 
 originality of Christian ethics, and even of Christian 
 doctrine. The plain assertion by Plato of the great 
 dogma of the " immortality of the soul," of a final 
 judgment of the just and unjust the recognition of 
 
 * See Isaac Taylor's " Ancient Christianity ; " Gibbon's " Decline 
 and Fall;" art. " Platonism," Rees' Cyclopaedia. 
 
 
56 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY I 
 
 God as the only source of good the view he takes 
 of the world as " nothing but corruption," and of 
 life as the scene of a constant preparation for death 
 of the being " united to God" by the elevation of 
 our spiritual nature, and our dependence on God's 
 help for every good gift all these dogmas, in fact, 
 of the Grecian sage, form the very essence of the 
 Christian theology ; and, combined with the precepts, 
 "not to hurt our enemies" or to revenge our 
 wrongs, the theology of the Academy, contrasts very 
 favourably, at least, with the narrow and national 
 inspirations of the Jewish lawgiver. 
 
 What then can it be said have the Christian 
 Scriptures revealed to us, in reference to those 
 general principles of morality and holiness which 
 form the moral and religious code of civilized 
 nations ; and what peculiar " inspiration " was re- 
 quired to enunciate it, greater than the Divine spirit 
 that filled the soul of Plato ? It will perhaps be 
 objected that the doctrine of the atonement is not 
 found in this summary of the theology of the 
 Academy, and that it forms a distinguishing feature 
 in that of the Gospel. Without, however, entering 
 into the various and conflicting views of this doctrine 
 entertained by believers, and the shades and shadows 
 of shades by which they have been distinguished 
 by metaphysicians or fanatics, from Calvin to 
 Dr. Priestley, it is enough to observe that the leading 
 idea of them all, that of a vicarious and expiatory 
 sacrifice for sin, is as old as the history of Keligion 
 in the world. 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 57 
 
 Dr. Priestley* denies, however, altogether that 
 the doctrine is to be found either in the Jewish or 
 Christian Scriptures, and, consequently, we must 
 suppose that it is comparatively a modern doctrine 
 of the Church. The Jews of the Gospel era had 
 clearly no notion of a suffering hut of a triumphant 
 Messiah, and in the teaching of Christ himself there 
 is not the slightest allusion to the modern evange- 
 lical notion of an atonement. Dr. Priestley has 
 been followed by a modern writer f (though with a 
 very different intention), in the assertion that the early 
 Christian Fathers, and even those of the Apostolic 
 age, had a very vague and imperfect, if indeed any, 
 idea of the doctrine of atonement, which, it is asserted, 
 is not enumerated as an article of Christian faith, in 
 any ancient summary of the doctrines of the Church. 
 The learning of Grotius was unable to discover any ^_ 
 clear traces of this doctrine, earlier than the ninth 
 century in the Greek Church ; and in the Latin, it 
 was not fairly established before the eleventh^. 
 
 The learned and devout Bishop Butler has frankly 
 confessed that the Scriptures have not explained 
 the mystery of the atonement, but that " it is our 
 wisdom thankfully to accept the benefit, without 
 
 AU^^ L 
 ^iM^^^VcTS^ 
 
 * See " History of the Corruptions of Christianity," vol. ii., page 
 152. 
 
 t Isaac- Taylor, in his " Ancient Christianity." The mutual agree- 
 ment of these two adverse writers as to the absence of the doctrine 
 of atonement from the Patristic theology is very remarkable. 
 
 J See Grotii Opera, vol. iv., page 347. 
 
 D 3 
 
58 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 disputing how it was procured."* Dr. Hampden is 
 no doubt right in attributing the rigid definitions of 
 the doctrine of the atonement to the spirit of 
 scholasticismf. 
 
 To assert, then, that the writers of the New Testa- 
 ment were by Divine aid preserved from the incul- 
 cation of moral error is merely to place them on 
 the same footing as the Platonic philosophers. 
 Such in fact appears to have been the opinion of 
 several of the Christian Fathers, more particularly 
 of Justin Martyr, of Athenagoras, and of Clement of 
 Alexandria. "All virtuous thoughts," says Clement, 
 " are imparted by Divine inspiration ; " and he pro- 
 ceeds in the form of a syllogism to argue that 
 "therefore the Greek philosophy is from God."J 
 A degree of inspiration, perfectly undefined, is 
 generally conceded by these Fathers to the Greek 
 philosophy, and they appear to have had no idea 
 whatever of that peculiar and superstitious venera- 
 tion for the Scriptures which Coleridge has happily 
 distinguished as the "Bibliolatry" of modern times. 
 
 If, indeed, there was in reality no Bible, properly 
 so called, until the council of Laodicea, in the year 
 364, at which time the present New Testament was 
 first received as canonical, and if, as is asserted, at 
 
 * See "Analogy," Part II., c. 5. 
 
 f See " Bampton Lectures," Lect. V., pages 245 to 257. 
 J See M. Dacier's Introduction to the " Divine Dialogues." 
 See Blanco White's Letter to Martineau, in the Appendix to the 
 " Rationale of Religious Enquiry," page 114. 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 59 
 
 the council of Nice, in the year 325, there existed 
 two hundred varied versions of the adopted Evan- 
 gelists, and fifty -four Gospels, it is easy to pardon 
 the heterodoxy of the more primitive Fathers, on 
 the subject of "inspiration." To find the writer of 
 a hook of the Old Testament, assumed to he inspired, 
 appealing to another inspired hook for confirmation 
 of a fact the latter (the hook of Jasher) heing no 
 longer to be found must surely induce the rational 
 believer of modern times to modify his idea of the 
 doctrine of inspiration. The zeal of Ezra was 
 unable to recover not only this "Book of Jasher," 
 but the " Annals of the Kings," the " Book of the 
 Wars of the Lord/' a large proportion of the " Pro- 
 verbs of Solomon," his " Natural History," and a 
 thousand of his " Songs," all of which, consistently 
 with the popular notion of inspiration, have an 
 equal claim on our acceptance, at least, with the 
 Canticles of the Son of David ; in expounding which 
 it is admitted, by an orthodox commentator, that the 
 Fathers have often " excited ridicule or kindled the 
 blush of shame when they intended to teach and 
 explain the words of Divine truth."* 
 
 The spiritual power of Christianity, as contrasted 
 with Platonism, appears in some measure to have 
 consisted in realizing, under a more popular phrase- 
 ology, the high philosophical idea of the " ineffable 
 essence" of the Platonists. Christ calls God em- 
 phatically, " My Father;" and human sympathies 
 
 * See Introduction to the "Song of Solomon" (Hewlett's Bible), 
 
Ay? 
 
 
 60 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 AWJCrv- TT^f ^i^CT 
 
 have a more tangible resting-place, in this familiar 
 and domestic idea, than in the mere metaphysical 
 abstractions of philosophy. Christianity reveals no 
 more of the nature and essence of God than the 
 theology of Plato'./** No man hath seen God at any 
 time," say the Christian Scriptures a dogma appa- 
 rently intended rather to instruct gross popular 
 ignorance, than to announce a philosophical novelty. 
 "God is a Spirit," is a "revelation" of the same 
 kind. He is " without body, parts, or passions." 
 He is " One," " everlasting," " of infinite power, 
 wisdom, and goodness," is the language of the 
 Church; but all this is the common teaching of 
 Plato and of Christ. Christianity leaves unsolved 
 the difficulty of realizing the idea of a personal 
 God, without associating with it the limitations of 
 matter. Moreover, is it not possible that the 
 Platonic notion of " cause, operation, and effect," 
 may have been the basis of the doctrine of the 
 Christian Trinity more particularly when we re- 
 member how intimately versed in the Platonic phi- 
 losophy were the founders of the Patristic theology, 
 and how many of them came direct from the 
 Platonic schools into the bosom of the Christian 
 Church*? A dangerous " speculative and logical" 
 theology survives at the present day, we are toldf, 
 the fruit of the philosophical tendencies of the 
 Fathers. The speculations on the subject of the 
 
 * See " Ancient Christianity," by Isaac Taylor, vol. i., page 147, 
 and elsewhere. 
 . f See Hampden's " Barapton Lectures/' Lect. II. 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 61 
 
 Trinity commenced, probably, in the second century, 
 when the Platonism of Alexandria was the ascendant 
 system; and, if we are to believe Dr. Hampden, it 
 was " dialectical science that furnished the expe- 
 dients and established that peculiar phraseology 
 which we now use Three Persons and One God."* 
 On the same authority we may perhaps conclude, 
 without irreverence, that both Paul and Christ were, 
 even in the Gospel age, in some degree accomplished 
 in the popular logic; which is inferred from St. 
 Paul " disputing and persuading the things con- 
 cerning the kingdom of God," and the dexterous 
 use of the " dilemma" by Christ, in discussing the 
 " baptism of John." f 
 
 The writings of Dr. Hampden may tend to the 
 introduction of a more rational and philosophical 
 Christianity, but this can only be effected by the 
 total destruction of the present doctrinal system of 
 the Church. If, " strictly to speak, in the Scripture 
 itself there are no doctrines,"! and if (as I think 
 has been proved, and indeed is generally admitted) 
 there is no special revelation of a system of ethics, 
 it is really difficult to conceive the grounds upon 
 which they are assumed to be inspired in any 
 miraculous sense ; but whether we are to attribute it 
 to a natural timidity of temper, or to the wisdom of 
 an expectant Churchman, the Oxford Professor, 
 from very liberal and enlightened premises, has 
 
 * See " Bampton Lectures," by Hampden, Lect. III. 
 + Ibid., Lect. II. 
 J Ibid., Lect. VIII. 
 
62 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 come to a very " lame and impotent conclusion." * 
 A few of such " candid friends," however, as Dr. 
 Hampden and Isaac Taylor would suffice for the 
 total destruction of the Church of England. 
 
 I think, then, that it is sufficiently demonstrated, 
 that the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, excepting 
 so far as they are distinguished by the attestation of 
 miracles, (a question elsewhere discussed,) must be 
 regarded precisely in the same light as the highest 
 spiritual philosophy of every age inspired by the 
 same Divine Spirit, which appears never to have 
 been without its witnesses, more or less informed, 
 amongst mankind. No one can deny that " God's 
 truth" is to be found in the sublime teaching of 
 Christ no one denies that so long as the writers of 
 the Old and New Testaments followed the sugges- 
 tions of God's Spirit, working in their hearts, they 
 were preserved from the inculcation of moral error 
 we may concede thus much to the Grecian sages 
 to Plato, to Fenelon, to Thomas a Kempis, or 
 Wesley. Taking a large view of the spiritual history 
 of the world, we find the same eternal principles of 
 virtue and holiness, (allowing something for the 
 variations of manners,) transmitted from age to 
 age, by those pure and heroic souls, who have never 
 been wanting, to carry on the golden chain that 
 links us to heaven. We find it in the hands of 
 Moses, and a long line of Jewish prophets in those 
 of Zoroaster, Confucius, and Plato of Christ and 
 
 : ; "2 
 
 !*>>-, ( v* See " Bampton Lectures," Lect. VIII., page 379. 
 
 ~? -7 <-v3fc-#. / #+. 
 
 x/r 
 
 *^- '' -^ee^. 
 
 4, 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 63 
 
 Paul, and of many of the Christian Fathers we 
 find it sustained (though somewhat loosely indeed) 
 by Mahomet*, in Arabia by St. Bernard, and a 
 host of others, in France, Spain, and Italy, during 
 the middle ages. Wickliffe and Luther sustained it 
 in England and Germany, clearing it partially from 
 the many stains it had contracted during the dark 
 ages; and when the present age shall have suf- 
 ficiently corrupted the truth, God will again give us 
 his witness, restoring us to a faith in his everlasting 
 presence in the world a faith not derived from 
 " tradition," but from " insight" f a faith not in 
 dead histories, but living realities, a revelation to our 
 innermost nature, that " God is the same yesterday, 
 to-day, and for ever !" 
 
 These, then, are the "inspired" of the world 
 they who, in dark ages, were deified after death for 
 the blessings they conferred on mankind ; and the 
 greatest of these was Christ, the holiest, the wisest, 
 the most enduring, the most " inspired." 
 
 It is precisely when nations have sunk into the 
 lowest depths of moral degradation, that the Divine 
 and inspired Man has ever appeared. It was so with 
 Moses and the Jewish prophets, with Socrates in 
 Greece, with Confucius in China, with Christ in 
 Palestine, with Mahomet, with Knox, with Luther, 
 and with Wickliffe. Thus is God never without a 
 
 * See Thomas Carlyle's " Heroes and Hero Worship " for a pro- 
 found insight into the spiritual character of Mahomet, 
 f See Emerson's " Nature/' Introduction, page 1. 
 
64 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 witness in the world*. The Spirit of God, like the 
 vestal fire, is never extinguished in the human soul; 
 now burning in the bosom of Jeremiah, now kindling 
 a holy and genial warmth in the heart of Jesus, 
 glowing fiercely in the stern nature of Knox, or 
 gently animating the mild and melancholy Me- 
 lancthon. These are the " inspired of God," who, 
 amidst the crimes, follies, and corruptions of the 
 world, are moved by the spirit of truth, faith, wis- 
 dom and love, to call back the faithless world to the 
 first principles of virtue and holiness. The recorded 
 words and deeds of these "higher natures" are 
 consecrated by their posterity, and they become, 
 themselves, the objects of devout admiration or 
 actual worship, according to the enlightenment of 
 the age in which they lived. The Jewish peasant 
 knelt at the feet of Christ, and even of Paul, (who 
 rebuked his idolatry,) and the modern ultra-Pro- 
 testant all but idolizes the Fathers of the Eeforma- 
 tion. 
 
 There are men of learning and historical research, 
 who, like Ullman, as I have said, believe that men 
 of genius appear in the world, in conformity with a 
 law of which the regular manifestation may be 
 traced in the spiritual history of the world. Nor 
 does this idea conflict (as may appear at first sight) 
 
 * Ullman, whose learning (and even orthodoxy) will not be dis- 
 puted, contends for the periodical appearance of men of genius in 
 conformity to established law. See " Worship of Genius," Supple- 
 mentary Remarks in answer to Schwab. 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 65 
 
 with the established belief in God's intelligent 
 government of the universe, but rather tends to the 
 support of that cherished hypothesis. The Christian 
 Scriptures, indeed, assure us, that the appearance 
 of Christ was preordained before the foundation of 
 the world, and they tell us also that the particular 
 period of his manifestation was also preordained. 
 "The fulness of time" was precisely that period 
 in the world's history when the Divine Man was 
 required by its moral necessities, and which had 
 been " heralded amongst the Jews by the law and the 
 prophets, and amongst heathen nations by myths 
 and symbols, by philosophy and poetry." The 
 orthodoxy of Ullman will, I hope, protect his 
 theory of law from the fate of that pointed out in 
 the "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation," 
 whose author has been so fiercely assailed by the 
 shallow pedantry of orthodoxy, and the cant of 
 fanaticism. 
 
 " God was," indeed, " in Christ, reconciling the 
 world unto himself." And but little deduction need 
 be made from the rapturous language of Paul, who 
 tells us that in Him " dwelt all the fulness of the 
 Godhead bodily."* In him was realized the ideal 
 of Faith and Love, that has been the burden of 
 spiritual desire to the true prophets of every age ; 
 and thus for eighteen hundred years has the Gali- 
 laean peasant ruled the nations from his urn. A 
 
 * The Christian JEsthetician would have little difficulty in agree- 
 ing with the Apostle in the spirit of his language. 
 
66 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 true faith and a pure love are the choicest gifts of 
 God to the human soul, and they who have pos- 
 sessed these " heavenly gifts" have ever heen the 
 " lights of the world." The greatest hoon that man 
 thus endowed can confer on man is to restore his 
 lost faith in the dignity and worthiness of human 
 life to show him an honourable and useful place 
 in the universe to give him an intelligent trust in 
 a wise and beneficent Providence, instead of a 
 despairing Atheism, scantily covered by the dead 
 forms of popular superstitions, and to make the 
 heart's desire something more than a " rhapsody of 
 words." This was the glorious achievement of Christ 
 for his age and nation, dimly seen through the mist 
 of centuries, obscured by the exaggerations of his 
 ^ oriental disciples, and the corruptions of a dogmatic 
 theology. 
 
 I have thus far been considering a single defi- 
 nition of the word inspiration, as it is applied 
 to the sacred writings. To enter into a complete 
 examination of the various views entertained by 
 different writers of the meaning of this mysterious 
 word, would be to plunge into a maze of inextricable 
 confusion, contradiction, and absurdity. There is 
 not in the English language a word which has 
 suffered so many perversions from the sophistry of 
 logicians, and the pedantry of the learned. In 
 Hewlett's Bible, the notes on the 2nd Epistle to 
 Timothy, ch. iii. v. 16, present us, in juxtaposition, 
 with the several opinions of Horsley, of Watson, 
 of St. Austin, and Seeker. The first appears 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. GT 
 
 to advocate the doctrine of "plenary inspiration" 
 in its widest sense, whilst the others, with various 
 modifications, seem generally to consider, that 
 the superintendence of the Holy Ghost over the 
 minds of the sacred writers was confined to occa- 
 sional and providential interference, leaving them 
 liahle to the ordinary imperfections of profane writers, 
 hoth in the recording of facts, and in the exercise of 
 their reason. A very slight acquaintance with con- 
 troversial divinity would enable the reader to 
 multiply these varieties of opinion in the modern 
 Church. 
 
 Neither do the Scriptures themselves give us any 
 intelligible solution of the meaning of "inspiration." 
 The passage before us, " All Scripture is given by 
 the inspiration of God," (if the assertion is not con- 
 fined, as seems probable, to the Old Testament,) 
 can clearly have no reference to any writings not 
 then in existence. St. Paul, in discussing the nature 
 of " spiritual gifts," furnishes us with no solution 
 of this difficult matter. The " diversities of gifts," 
 to which he alludes*, are nothing more than those 
 different " gifts," which, in common parlance, we 
 attribute to the various tempers and talents of men, 
 and the spirit of God, by which they are imparted to 
 us, is here clearly a natural, and not a miraculous 
 revelation. The " difference of administration" is 
 a mere distinction of the common duties of life 
 "diversities of operation" are various degrees of 
 mental energy the "word of wisdom" is a Hebraism 
 for eloquence "prophecy" a synonym for preach- 
 * See 1 Cor. ch. xii. 
 
68 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 ing and the " discerning of spirits" a wise intuition 
 by which we distinguish between the true and false. 
 In reference, however, to the former passage*, from 
 the 2nd Epistle to Timothy, it seems to be admitted 
 that the common translation is vicious, as the words 
 " is given" are not found in the original Greek, and 
 thus the whole force of the passage is reduced to a 
 vague generality, which would suit almost any 
 conceivable idea ever attached to the doctrine of 
 inspiration. 
 
 I have elsewhere noticed the laxity of Patristic 
 opinion on the same subject, the Fathers having 
 readily conceded a degree of inspiration to the Greek 
 philosophy; and, in short, there appears never to 
 have existed, in the Church, any more definite idea 
 on the subject than at the present moment. Both 
 amongst the ancient and modern champions of the 
 faith the word "inspiration" will be found often in the 
 same book, vaguely used in different senses at one 
 moment narrowed to the requisitions of the Church, 
 at another stretched to the interpretation of philoso- 
 phy. " Everything," says Goethe, " can be main- 
 tained when one permits oneself to use words alto- 
 gether vaguely, to employ them in a sense now wider 
 and now narrower, now closer and now more 
 remotest 
 
 The appearance of almost every new work of 
 science has involved some modification of the po- 
 pular idea. A recent writer J, distinguished for his 
 
 * See 1 Cor. ch. xii. 
 
 t See " Autobiography," page 325. 
 
 $ Dr. Pritchard. See " Physical History of Mankind." 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 69 
 
 learning, his talents, and, I believe, for his ortho- 
 doxy, has utterly abandoned the received chronology 
 of the Bible, from the birth of Adam to the call of 
 Abraham, giving up at once, as inconsistent with 
 each other, and with all natural probability, scientific 
 and moral, the accounts of the ages of the patriarchs, 
 recorded in the Hebrew, Samaritan, and Septuagint 
 versions*. The sciences of geology and ethnology 
 seem to be both verging towards the same point, and 
 demanding the same concessions. The geologist 
 requires an almost indefinite period of time for the 
 formation of his rocks; and Dr. Pritchard is almost 
 equally exorbitant in his demands for the establish- 
 ment of his ethnological theories. The notion, that 
 the whole family of man was collected together in the 
 neighbourhood of Mount Ararat, about 2000 years 
 only before the Christian era, is irreconcileable with 
 any rational account of the endless varieties of the 
 American races, of those of Australia, Polynesia, 
 and the interior of Africa. " However high," says 
 Niebuhr, "we may rise towards the epoch of the 
 beginning of the human race, still the annals of the 
 Egyptians and Babylonians would fill up but a 
 small part of the inscrutable period during which 
 nations must have been in no less active collision 
 than in after-times." In short, it is absolutely come 
 
 * I have not in this essay mooted the question of the genuineness 
 or authenticity of any of the books of the Old Testament ; though it 
 is well known that Hobbes asserted that the Pentateuch was written 
 by Ezra, and the learned Le Clerc that it was certainly not written 
 by Moses. 
 
70 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 to this, that we must altogether abandon science, or 
 modify our ideas of the inspiration of the Mosaic 
 records. The hollow truce that has been patched 
 up between the clerical geologist of Oxford* and 
 believers in the popular theology will hardly survive 
 another lustre of scientific inquiry. 
 
 After conceding the sufficiency of Dr. Pritchard's 
 hypothesis (the supposed fabulousness of the Scrip- 
 ture chronology from Adam to Abraham,) for his 
 scientific purposes, an anonymous critic f very ably 
 observes, "It is true the same result might be 
 attained by a much simpler and, as it seems to us, 
 more obvious and philosophical method by sup- 
 posing that the Jews, like every other nation of 
 antiquity, have framed for themselves a mythical 
 history, which, with the lapse of time, has been 
 received for fact. This at once releases us from the 
 necessity of any elaborate contrivances for recon- 
 ciling their belief with probability and the laws of 
 nature; and exhibits a phenomenon so universal and 
 so natural, that it would have been a miracle if the 
 Jewish literature had been an exception to it. But 
 the transition, from regarding the first chapters of 
 Genesis as an inspired record, to treating them as 
 only a picture of the popular notions of the age in 
 which they were produced, is too violent to be made 
 at once by any large portion of the public. We are 
 not sorry, therefore, that from time to time hypo- 
 
 * Dr. Buckland. 
 
 f See " Prospective Review," No. XL, page 366. 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 71 
 
 theses are proposed which smooth the descent from 
 one of these opinions to the other, and make the 
 gradients safer. The clerical geologists would have 
 been suspended by their diocesans, or hooted from 
 their pulpits, if they had not been able, at first, to 
 profess that their discoveries confirmed the Mosaic 
 account of the Deluge, and did not contravene that 
 of the Creation. Time has familiarized men with 
 the idea that they are not to look into Scripture for 
 geology; and we hope that its professors will soon 
 come openly to avow this, and cease to torture the 
 words of Genesis into a conformity with their 
 science. Public opinion is so tyrannically intolerant, 
 and its penal power so fearful, that we cannot ex- 
 pect the whole truth to be told, or even to be seen, 
 at once. But while we admit the temporary value 
 of such intermediate stages of opinion, we are bound 
 to declare our judgment, that they are merely tem- 
 porary, and have no solid basis." 
 
 It is to be observed, moreover, that the clerical 
 opposition to the progress of ethnological science 
 is to be traced to another and a deeper cause. The 
 whole doctrinal system of the Church reposes on 
 the frail foundation of the literal truth of the 
 Mosaic account of the fall of man, and the origin 
 of mankind from a single pair; and if a merely 
 mythical character be given to the book of Genesis, 
 the whole fabric of the popular theology must fall 
 to the ground. 
 
 In conclusion, then, the Scriptures can only be 
 said to be "inspired" in a sense far more restricted 
 
72 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 than what is required to sustain the authority which 
 is given to them by the popular theology. Many 
 believers carry to the account of "inspiration" the 
 dogmatical wisdom of Solomon, and the poetical 
 beauties of Isaiah ; but this is the same " inspira- 
 tion " which is popularly attributed to the sublimities 
 of Milton or Shakespeare, or even to the homely 
 wisdom of Benjamin Franklin; for " Poor Kichard's 
 Almanack " abounds in the peculiar wisdom at least 
 of the book of Proverbs. The daily prayers of the 
 Church implore for every individual soul the gifts 
 of God's spirit, and shall this Divine guide be 
 denied to the benevolent Howard or Elizabeth Fry, 
 whilst it is supposed to have blessed in an especial 
 manner the backsliding Peter, or the incredulous 
 Thomas ! The power and influence of the modern 
 saint on his age and nation cannot be compared 
 with ancient examples, for the rapturous enthusiasm 
 of the East is unknown in our northern climate and 
 advanced civilization. It seems extremely probable, 
 after all, that the words " inspired," " Holy Spirit," 
 " Holy Ghost," and many other synonyms, were 
 actually used in the Scriptures much in the same 
 vague sense* as in modern literature, where we 
 speak of the "Divine Dante," the "inspired 
 Shakespeare," the " inspirations of genius," or the 
 " spirit of love ; " and surely we cannot deny to the 
 florid writers of the East a latitude so freely in- 
 
 * See the learned Gilbert Wakefteld's Notes to his translation of 
 St. Matthew's Gospel, section II., page 7 (quarto edition). 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 73 
 
 dulged in by those of the cold and passionless 
 north. 
 
 In examining the sacred writings, (for which 
 there is claimed a supernatural exemption from all 
 the imperfections that distinguish other religious 
 writings,) we find, in the Old Testament, the most 
 foolish fahles of a dark age superstitiously recorded, 
 occasionally, even, false morals inculcated, and 
 the lowest motives to virtuous action suggested; (for 
 Warhurton* long ago admitted that temporal 
 rewards and punishments were the highest; and 
 it is clear that Moses had a very imperfect, if any, 
 idea at all of the immortality of the soul) we find 
 witchcraft and magic spoken of in the same terms 
 as by our forefathers in England three centuries 
 ago. We find, as has often been observed, a code 
 of barbarous and ferocious laws, of which God is 
 assumed to be the direct author, and the unrelenting 
 administrator. In the New Testament records 
 (waiving all critical objections to their authenticity 
 and genuineness) we find errors in fact, errors in 
 reasoning, doubtful meanings, and unintelligible 
 allusions to forgotten events the same Jewish 
 fables devils going bodily into swine and con- 
 versing in human language miracles, in spite of 
 the orthodox explanations and glosses, precisely 
 similar to those of the middle ages we find 
 recorded the belief of these " inspired " persons in 
 the approaching end of the world, which was not 
 
 * See " Divine Legation." 
 
74 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 accomplished we find also recorded, the squabbles 
 of these persons about the circumcision, very much 
 the same as those going on about "baptismal 
 regeneration," or anything else, amongst angry 
 Churchmen at the present time. We find, in short, 
 every evidence of human infirmity, both in the 
 writers and in the record, that can possibly be con- 
 ceived, and yet we are to believe, on their authority, 
 facts the most repulsive to common sense, that 
 the order of nature was changed, and the law of 
 gravitation suspended in the valleys of Palestine, 
 and that God himself specially inspired them with 
 false philosophy, vicious logic, and bad grammar. 
 This is, certainly, the popular notion of the in- 
 spiration of the Scriptures, and the great mass of 
 the Christian world are at this moment, instead of 
 worshipping God, worshipping the Bible putting 
 the assumed record of God's will before the 
 " inward witness " of his spirit ! * 
 
 But can such a belief as this long survive in an 
 age of intelligent inquiry ? A juster and more 
 rational idea of God's dealings with us is fast 
 spreading through the Christian world. The sublime 
 philosophy of the Gospel teaches us that the Spirit 
 of God is poured upon all flesh. The " inspired" 
 followers of Christ, being blessed with Eastern 
 
 * See Barclay's "Apology for the Quakers," Prop. II., sect. IV. 
 It is curious to find the learned Quaker and J. J. Rousseau, in " La 
 Nouvelle Heloise," using the same language : " Quelque respect que 
 je doive au texte sacre," says Rousseau, " j'en dois plus encore a son 
 Auteur." 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 75 
 
 imaginations, could easily discover the Divine Mes- 
 senger in the form (or, more strictly speaking, 
 descending after the manner) of a dove, or as 
 "cloven tongues of fire ;" but modern wisdom teaches 
 us to look for it in a less palpable form. The hu- 
 man soul has sympathy and comprehension for the 
 God dwelling within us, but the spiritual idea is 
 degraded and lost by association with a material 
 substance. When the bosom swells with virtuous 
 emotion, or the eyes fill with tears of tenderness, we 
 feel the presence of a higher nature, and need no 
 other revelation* of the present God. Even in the 
 mixed and motley crowd of a theatre, gathered to- 
 gether for the mere indulgence of the senses, the 
 heroic sentiment, the tender word, the simple trait 
 of fidelity or of honesty, will often touch some 
 chord of sympathy lying deep in the common 
 heart, producing a virtuous harmony far more sin- 
 cere, more profound, and more universal, than is 
 elicited by the most gorgeous display of a reli- 
 gious ceremonial, or the highest exhibition of pulpit 
 eloquence. If we look, in our best moments, into 
 the deep of our hearts, we find, amidst much 
 confusion, the indestructible elements of the Divine 
 nature. And what is the origin of this everlasting 
 instinct ? Is it an old revelation handed down to 
 us by religious systems, (for all religious systems 
 have actually embodied it,) from age to age from 
 the earliest time ? Is morality a tradition, the 
 source of which is hidden from us in the mist of 
 time, or is it the natural growth of the human; 
 
 E 2 
 
70 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 heart, a part of the nature a holy God has im : 
 parted to his creatures? The last is by far the 
 most rational hypothesis. The instinct of con- 
 science is absolutely universal the man is yet to 
 be born who has never blushed in the lowest 
 , depths of human degradation " the still small voice" 
 is sometimes heard. 
 
 May not this be the spirit that " God giveth to 
 all men liberally," and in the highest degree to those 
 pure and holy natures, who have, in different ages, 
 most gladly entertained it ? May not this be the 
 Divine guide, that preserved from moral error the 
 writers of the sacred volume ? Assuredly, this alone, 
 is God's revelation to man. Whether, with the 
 orthodox Churchman, we call it the " Holy Ghost," 
 with the Socinian, " Conscience," or, with the 
 Quaker, confuse the two ideas it is utterly indif- 
 ferent, as long as the thing the fact, remains the 
 same. 
 
 The watchful education, then, of the conscience 
 is the proper end of religious teaching. False 
 teaching may mystify, a sensual life may deaden, 
 various passions and affections may impair or pervert 
 its sensibility, but the Divine instinct is never alto- 
 gether extinguished in the human soul. It is by 
 looking inward, in perfect sincerity, that we " meet 
 God face to face." Under this guidance, if we seek 
 truth, in the absolute love of it, loving it better than 
 life, better than station, better than fame, than all 
 success, intellectual or worldly better even than the 
 " friends of our bosom" if we seek truth in this 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 77 
 
 spirit, and with this guidance, we are sure to find it. 
 Then are we " inspired," for God has hreathed into 
 our souls the hreath of spiritual life. Then are we 
 " seers" and " prophets of the most High God;" and 
 whilst we are "obedient to the heavenly vision," 
 though we may carry our light in a vessel of clay, 
 we are true reflectors of the Divine Nature. God 
 incarnates himself in man, and Christ is the highest 
 ideal yet presented to mankind of the mystical union 
 of the two natures, the human and divine, the 
 highest model for devout imitation. The " true 
 shepherds" of the fold of Christ are they who, in 
 every age, have most powerfully influenced for good 
 the human soul, by enlarging the field of spiritual 
 desire. The pens of Plato, of Paul, and of Dante, 
 the pencils of Kaphael and of Claude, the chisels of 
 Canova and of Chantrey, no less than the voices of 
 Knox, of Wickliffe, and of Luther, are ministering 
 instruments, in different degrees, of the Divine 
 Spirit. The true ideal of the priest, the poet, and 
 the prophet, is beautifully embodied in the following 
 " charmed words" of one of the most original, the 
 most profound, and the most sincere of modern 
 philosophers*. "It is very certain, that it is the 
 effect of conversation with the beauty of the soul 
 to beget a desire and need, to impart to others the 
 same knowledge and love. If utterance is denied, 
 the thought lies like a burden on the man. Always 
 
 * See Emerson's " Orations," in the " Address to the Divinity 
 Class/'' at Cambridge, U. S. 
 
78 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 the seer is a sayer. Somehow his dream is told. 
 Somehow he publishes it with solemn joy. Some- 
 times with pencil on canvas; sometimes with chisel 
 on stone ; sometimes in towers and aisles of granite, 
 his soul's worship is builded ; sometimes in anthems 
 of indefinite music ; but clearest and most permanent 
 in words. 
 
 "The man enamoured of this excellency becomes 
 its priest or poet. The office is coeval with the 
 world. But observe the condition, the spiritual 
 limitation of the office. The Spirit only can 
 teach. Not any profane man, not any sensual, 
 not any liar, not any slave can teach, but only he 
 can give who has ; he can only create who is. 
 The man on whom the soul descends, through 
 whom the soul speaks, alone can teach. Courage, 
 piety, love, wisdom, can teach ; and every man can 
 open his door to these angels, and they shall bring 
 him the gift of tongues. But the man who aims 
 to speak as books enable, as synods use, as the 
 fashion guides, and as interest commands babbles. 
 Let him hush." 
 
 In conclusion, there is not a shadow of reason 
 for believing that Christ ever intended his religion 
 to be specially expounded by four Gospels, by 
 the Acts, and by the Epistles. Nothing appears 
 in his recorded history and teaching to lead us 
 to suppose that he contemplated any written ac- 
 count of himself or his religion. He appears 
 (like all others in similar circumstances, as oral 
 public teachers,) to have relied mainly on his per- 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 79 
 
 sonal influence on those who heard him, for the 
 extension of his principles by ordinary and natural 
 means. Our modern " Bibliolatry " is founded 
 solely on the teaching of the Church the authority 
 of the Church alone has supported the authority 
 of the Scriptures. 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 
 
 " Grod never wrought miracles to convince Atheism, because his 
 ordinary works convince it." BACON. 
 
 A BRIEF inquiry into the philosophy and history of 
 belief in miraculous agency, and its connection with 
 ancient and modern Christianity, will form the sub- 
 ject of the present Chapter. I believe that, previous 
 to the publication of Dr. Middleton's "Free In- 
 quiry," all miracles recorded by the Church, up to 
 the conversion of Constantine, were considered 
 as orthodox as those of the Gospels ; and such is 
 still, probably, the opinion of the largest portion of 
 the Christian world. Amongst Protestants, this 
 belief is now generally confined (though not perhaps 
 entirely*) to the apostolic age. As 'civilization has 
 advanced and knowledge has been diffused, the 
 credulity of mankind has gradually diminished ; and 
 whilst, in an ignorant age, the miracles were con- 
 
 * Palmer, in his " Church History," appears neither to affirm nor 
 deny the modern miracles of the Church. 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 81 
 
 stantly appealed to as direct proofs of the truth of 
 revelation, they are now generally kept in the hack- 
 ground hy the more rational part of our spiritual 
 guides. 
 
 The various and conflicting views of the miracles 
 of the Old and New Testaments, entertained even 
 by orthodox writers of almost every age, furnish a 
 striking proof of the tenderness of the ground on 
 which they repose. The miraculous staying of the 
 sun^ at the command of Joshua the history of 
 Jonah, and a variety of other supernatural events, 
 have heen referred hy learned Christians to the con- 
 venient class of allegory, or resolved into "hold 
 metaphors." The temptation of Christ is thus 
 quietly disposed of hy Bishop Porteus, and the 
 whole account of demoniacal possession in the New 
 Testament is still an open question "between fact 
 and fable. One writer asserts that demoniacal pos- 
 session was epilepsy another that it was madness; 
 and a third, a disease peculiar to the age. The 
 rationalist Christians of Germany have gone still 
 further in the same path, and, by giving a mythical 
 character to the whole Gospel history, endeavoured 
 to bring it into harmony with reason and with 
 nature*. These are the struggles of awakened in- 
 telligence endeavouring to shake off the nightmare 
 of superstition by which it has been encumbered in 
 the long night of the dark ages. 
 
 So late, indeed, as the reign of our " good Queen 
 
 * See Strauss's " Leben Jesu," 
 
 E 3 
 
82 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 Anne/' the miraculous power of the royal touch in 
 the cure of scrofula was generally believed, and, 
 according to Whiston, " a form of touching for the 
 evil" was actually printed in the liturgies of the 
 period*. A sermon of Bishop Bull's, who died in 
 1709, is still extant, in which that learned prelate 
 distinctly asserts the miraculous power of the royal 
 touch, in the lineal descendants of St. Edward the 
 Confessor. Dr. Johnson in his childhood was, as 
 is well known, submitted by his parents to this 
 ridiculous ceremony, in the efficacy of which they, 
 no doubt, devoutly believed. 
 
 That a belief in miraculous agency should thus 
 exist in the 18th century, or even at the present 
 moment, is simply to be referred to the authoritative 
 teaching of the Church; for there is in reality no 
 sufficient reason for denying the same miraculous 
 powers to the Bishops of Exeter or of London, 
 which were once freely conceded to Justin Martyr 
 or Irenaeus. It is certain that the ignorant vulgar 
 believe the miracles of the Church solely on her 
 own authority they humbly receive this as they do 
 every other doctrine of their faith, on that authority 
 alone, without exercising or attempting to exercise 
 that right of private judgment so boastingly assumed 
 to be the badge of the Protestant. The assumed 
 universality of the belief in miracles amongst all 
 classes of Christians must not be considered, there- 
 fore, as any evidence of their reasonableness or of 
 
 * See Miss Strickland's " Queens of England/' vol. xii. page 109. 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 83 
 
 their truth. When we consider that the vulgar of 
 all denominations, and an immense mass even of 
 the educated classes, are utterly unacquainted with 
 the peculiar religious literature hy which the teaching 
 of the Church is supported* that they know and 
 care nothing ahout subtle questions of moral evi- 
 dence, minute criticisms of philology and grammar, 
 or even the disputed facts of religious history, we 
 may fairly conclude that they give nothing more 
 than an "otiose" assent to the teaching of the 
 Church. This is the simple Popery of all " articled " 
 Churches the Church of Rome heing only dis- 
 tinguished from the rest by the logical consistency 
 with which she endeavours to carry out the principle 
 on which she is founded. 
 
 To the poor and illiterate man of the present age, 
 the Bible, with all its mysteries and miracles, is 
 simply an object of idolatrous reverence. The 
 mysterious doctrines the religious metaphysics 
 the profound criticism and subtle learning by which 
 it is overlaid for the educated reader, are entirely 
 lost upon the illiterate believer. The vulgar idea 
 I conceive to be, that God has twice and only twice 
 actually spoken to mankind, once in the Hebrew 
 and once in the Greek language these being the 
 chosen tongues of the Divine Lawgiver. The 
 various records that compose the sacred volume are 
 
 * The almost incredible corruption the fraudulent miracles and 
 demonolatry sanctioned by the Nicene Church of the fourth century, 
 (the model Church of the " Oxford Tracts/') is ably exposed in " An- 
 cient Christianity." 
 
84 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 looked upon as objects of devout adoration, as much 
 as if they had actually fallen down from heaven 
 a childlike reliance on priestly authority extending 
 even to translations of translations the same sacred 
 character that attached to the original records. All 
 truth and all wisdom scientific and moral a the 
 whole counsel of God/' are literally assumed to he 
 comprehended " in the words of a hook ; " and, 
 though it is true that a moral sense of right and 
 wrong is generally admitted to be an original 
 element in human nature, yet the concession is so 
 qualified by a pious mysticism, and so obscured by 
 theological disputation, that the believer is left but 
 little reliance on the inspirations of conscience. 
 The doctrines of original sin and human infirmity 
 are so taught as to neutralize all practical depend- 
 ence on the " inward witness." When such is the 
 condition of the religious mind, not only of the 
 illiterate vulgar, but of the half-instructed laity of 
 all classes, it is easy to account for the still existing 
 credulity on the subject of miracles. 
 
 I have thus far spoken of the Church herself, and 
 the sincere and orthodox members of her com- 
 munion, and I now turn to that large and increasing 
 class of reflecting minds who see in religion nothing 
 but an instrument of moral regeneration, and in the 
 Christian Scriptures a simple history of its highest 
 development. How will the popular doctrine of 
 miracles be entertained in an age of free thought 
 and bold inquiry how will it fare with " the mind 
 amongst the spindles" with the free literature of 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 85 
 
 America, of France, and of Germany, pouring daily 
 from the press ? A few centuries ago, when Keligion 
 and Philosophy were found in collision, (as in the 
 case of Galileo,) Philosophy was accommodated to 
 the popular creed. In modern instances of the 
 same collision, (as in the case of Dr. Buckland and 
 his geological heresies,) Religion has been accom- 
 modated to the requisitions of Philosophy, and 
 advanced to the level of the intelligence of the age. 
 The pretensions of Revelation, indeed, were, in this 
 last case, nominally upheld, but the idea of an infal- 
 lible and literal inspiration was frittered away in 
 liberal concessions. Philosophy, sometimes con- 
 sidered the handmaid of Revelation, has assumed 
 the character of a rival sister. 
 
 If, indeed, we examine the miraculous accounts 
 contained in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures by 
 the light of modern science, and seek for illustra- 
 tions and explanations in the reports of modern 
 travellers in the East, familiarizing ourselves with 
 the habits of thought, the manners and customs of 
 eastern nations, there is hardly a single miracle 
 recorded in these writings that may not receive the 
 most simple and natural solution. A general belief in 
 the powers of magic * is known to have existed in 
 the apostolic age, and long afterwards. The "magical 
 arts" daily practised in the streets of modern Cairo f 
 excite almost as much wonder amongst our own 
 
 , * Both Celsus and Porphyry refer the Christian miracles to magic. 
 + See Lane's " Modern Egyptians," vol. ii. page 85. 
 
86 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 countrymen as they did amongst the less civilized 
 subjects of the early Pharaohs, and the exploits of 
 the serpent-charmer are not less curious and startling 
 than the recorded command of St. Paul over the 
 serpent at Malta. In the latter instance, moreover, 
 the credulity of the witnesses, who believed the 
 Apostle to have been a god, for this doubtful mani- 
 festation of his power, is not very favourable to the 
 character of the transaction. In modern Egypt, the 
 ' ' power of raising the dead " * is generally believed, 
 even by the educated classes, to be possessed by the 
 most eminent " welees." A considerable knowledge 
 of chemistry and other cognate sciences is said to 
 be sometimes acquired by the professors of magic, 
 and drugs and perfumes are amongst the agents 
 employed in the work of deception f. Should the 
 powers of chloroform or of the vapour of ether be 
 known to the pharmacopoeia of magic, (a supposition 
 not absolutely improbable,) it is impossible to over- 
 rate the influence of such agents in the illiterate 
 and credulous East. One thing, however, is fully 
 established a general belief in miracles daily per- 
 formed in the public streets. " Even the more sober 
 and learned of the people " are devout believers in 
 these supernatural powers, and the most incredulous 
 
 * See Lane's " Modern Egyptians," vol. ii. page 86. 
 
 + Magnetism appears to have been well understood by the 
 Egyptian hierarchy. " We find that epilepsy, derangement, and 
 many other disorders dependent on the nervous system, were cured 
 by the Egyptian priests" See " The Crescent and the Cross," vol. i. 
 pages 149-155. 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 87 
 
 Europeans are unable to account for the singular 
 exhibitions they have witnessed an inquiry into 
 which has not been considered beneath the notice of 
 a Quarterly Reviewer*. Without following the 
 Reviewer in his critical inquiries, or attempting to 
 account for or deny the reality of these magical 
 powers, it is fair to conclude that illusions which 
 still continue to awe or to puzzle, according to his 
 temperament, the modern spectator, must have had 
 an equal, at least, if not a far greater effect on the 
 contemporaries of the Apostles. 
 
 But for the general teaching of history, we might 
 be led to suppose that the primitive Christian mira- 
 cles were essentially different in their character from 
 those said to have been performed by the Fathers 
 by St. Bernard and a host of others and a constant 
 endeavour to distinguish between them has occupied 
 the ingenuity of the modern Protestant clergy. It 
 may be generally admitted, indeed, that the miracles 
 of the New Testament had a far higher object than 
 the popular magic ; and it is extremely probable 
 that the earnest and zealous propagators of the new 
 faith availed themselves freely and perhaps credu- 
 lously of the temper of their age, to inculcate by any 
 and every means in their power the Divine phi- 
 losophy that inspired them. One thing at least is 
 certain, in regard to the whole question under 
 discussion, that faith in miraculous agency has 
 
 * See "Quarterly Review," No. 117, page 202. In the last 
 edition of Mr. Lane's book the discovery of the trick is announced. 
 
88 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 gradually and steadily declined before the advance 
 of civilization, and the spread of intelligence ; and 
 thus it often happens that an event assumed, in one 
 age, to he a miraculous deviation from the law of 
 Nature, is explained as being in exact conformity 
 with it, by the riper science of the next*. 
 
 Modern writers, who have openly impugned the 
 doctrine of miracles, have generally endeavoured to 
 explain them on some single hypothesis, which 
 often proves to be insufficient to meet the great 
 variety of conditions and circumstances, with which 
 the miracles have been handed down to us. In 
 Germany, where every literary man has his own 
 peculiar crotchet, and each religiously abstains from 
 the least appropriation of thoughts of Ins neighbour, 
 the insufficiency of this mode of disposing of the 
 question is more particularly manifest. We find one 
 German writer f endeavouring to explain away the 
 miracles on the "mystical theory," and another riding 
 into the arena of controversy on the miserable 
 hobby-horse of " clairvoyance/' and "mesmerism;" 
 each of these, and a host of others of the same class, 
 rejecting whatever light is thrown on the question 
 by all other " theories " whatsoever. The coarse 
 and undiscriminating criticism of most of the French 
 and English Deists explains the whole theory of 
 
 * Lord Bacon and Rousseau had evidently common ideas on the 
 subject of belief in miracles, each attributing it to the popular igno- 
 rance of natural philosophy. The age of Bacon, of course, made him 
 more cautious in the expression of his opinions. Compare " Aphorisms" 
 y ^ J^ of Bacon with " Letters from the Mountains," Letters I. and II. 
 
 t Strauss. 
 
& 
 
 MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 
 
 miracles on the supposition of the grossest fraud, 
 acting on the grossest credulity, and makes no 
 distinction between the miracles of the middle ages, 
 evidently got up to sustain a corrupt and tyrannical 
 Church, and those assumed to have happened 
 amongst the simple, unlettered, and earnest propa- 
 gators of a new and pure faith. Now, it is clear 
 that such methods of disposing of the Christian 
 miracles will have hut little success, as long as there 
 exists in the world any love of argumentative 
 honesty any sentiment of religious veneration. 
 The helievers in miracles will always secure some 
 partial triumph over these one-sided and pedantic 
 and these unscrupulous and dishonest assailants of 
 their time-honoured superstition. A great accession 
 to the ranks of reason and common sense would he 
 gained, hy disproving the reality of the miracles 
 without damaging the veracity or honesty of the 
 simple, earnest, and enthusiastic writers hy whom 
 they are recorded by showing that the Christian 
 religion may he substantially true, though the 
 miracles be false. This has been supposed (rashly, 
 I think) an impossible achievement, by those who 
 have never fairly considered the anomalies and 
 varieties of impression to which the human mind is 
 liable, in circumstances of excitement, and the many 
 mysterious mental conditions revealed by psycho- 
 logical history*. I presume that Emanuel Sweden- 
 
 * The amiable William Law, the author of the " Serious Call," 
 the most rational of religious books, devoutly believed in the inspi- 
 ration of Jacob Behmen. 
 
90 .POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 borg is not generally considered either a hypocrite 
 or a lunatic. The general soundness of his mind is 
 fully established by his philosophical writings ; no 
 one has ventured to impeach the moral purity of his 
 life, or to doubt his earnest and abiding desire, for a 
 quarter of a century, to advance the spiritual con- 
 dition of his species. Men of science, of learning, 
 and piety, have associated to disseminate his 
 theology, which has even been taught unrebuked, 
 I am told, by some of the clergy of the English 
 Church. 
 
 Now, if any man will compare the supposed re- 
 velations of Swedenborg with the accounts of the 
 temptation of Christ given by the most rational 
 commentators, ancient and modern, (which generally 
 resolve the affair into a mental abstraction,) I think 
 it is impossible not to observe precisely the same 
 visionary elements. The ancient prophets, more- 
 over, almost universally " dreamed dreams and saw 
 visions," (as in the case of Ezekiel,) much in the 
 same manner as the modern Swede. This condition 
 of mind, common to prophets and seers, priests and 
 poets, (more especially in the early ages of the 
 world,) will be readily recognised by the curious in 
 psychological history. The religious writings, then, 
 of Swedenborg, are the fruit of an ecstatic state of 
 mind, of which the spiritual history of the world 
 affords us many celebrated examples. It can hardly 
 be called an abnormal condition of the mind, though 
 it may assume that character in the estimation of 
 the vulgar, the sensual, and the thoughtless. Both 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 9 1 
 
 the early and later Platonists*, (whose philosophy 
 coloured so many centuries of the classical world, 
 and so extensively leavened Christianity itself,) were 
 for ever wandering heyond the regions of sense into 
 the mysterious confines of the spiritual world. St. 
 Paul, no doubt, describes this condition of the soul, 
 when he says, " Whether in the body or out of the 
 body I cannot tell," it is illustrated by the " vision 
 of Ezekiel" by the " Demon of Socrates" by the 
 visions of seers and prophets of all ages by that of 
 Peter, recorded in the Acts, and of St. John in the 
 Eevelations. In more recent times we may trace it, 
 in feebler colours, in the mysticism of Malebranche, 
 the "quietism" and "pietism" of the French Catholics 
 of the seventeenth century, in the revelations of 
 Behmen in Germany, of Swedenborg in Sweden, and, 
 perhaps, even of James Naylor in England. It will 
 be seen, by the list I have given of the instruments it 
 has inspired, that the "heavenly vision" consists 
 with very unequal developments of mental power, 
 and different degrees of genius, but that it still may 
 be regarded as consistent with, and, indeed, often 
 the plainest evidence of, the deepest spiritual insight. 
 The visions of St. Peter are as material as those of 
 Swedenborg, but they who may turn with incredulity 
 from the literal interpretation of these " memorable 
 
 * The slightest acquaintance with the writings of Plato himself, 
 and with those of the later Platonists, of Proclus, of Porphyry, and 
 of Plotinus, is sufficient to show that an ecstatic and visionary state 
 of mind is perfectly reconcileable with sincerity, with genius, and 
 with virtue. 
 
92 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 relations," will be attracted by the deep thought and 
 almost supernatural insight they severally display 
 in expounding the philosophy of the human mind. 
 It is probable that the vision of the seer may become 
 less clear as the world advances in science and 
 exact intelligence, and that in modern times, and 
 northern climates, a smaller class may be subject to 
 these ecstatic conditions than amongst the primitive 
 nations of the East. 
 
 Now, in discussing the credibility of the Christian 
 miracles, it is absolutely necessary to regard the 
 character of the age in which they are said to have 
 been performed, and of those who witnessed and 
 recorded them. The simple narratives of the Evan- 
 gelists afford abundant proof of the superstitious 
 and credulous temper of their age. The miraculous 
 power of healing, ascribed to the pool of Bethesda 
 by the Jewish populace, who believed that an angel 
 descended at certain seasons to trouble the water, 
 (for this, no doubt, was the popular belief, despite 
 the learned glosses of commentators*,) is a proof 
 that the common faith in miraculous agency was not 
 confined to the pretensions of Christ. It is probable 
 that the people of Jerusalem, like those of Cairo 
 and other eastern cities at the present time, devoutly 
 believed in the reality of the miracles daily per- 
 formed before their eyes. Throughout the middle 
 ages, and down to our own times, in Catholic coun- 
 
 * I make this assertion, fully aware of the learned ingenuity of 
 Calmet, Rosenmuller, and others, who have endeavoured to torture 
 the word " angel " from its popular meaning. 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 93 
 
 tries, and amongst the ignorant peasantry of our 
 own, the medicinal virtues of wells have been com- 
 monly attributed to miraculous causes, and their 
 still surviving names betray the original patronage 
 of the saints, virgins, and martyrs of the Church, of 
 the " Son" and of the " Mother of God." The 
 easy credulity of Nathaniel*, as recorded by St. 
 John, and which appears to have excited the won- 
 der of Christ himself, may be considered as a fair 
 sample of the superstitious temper of his country- 
 men. The forced inference of commentators, that 
 Christ must have read the thoughts of Nathaniel, 
 and thus excited this extraordinary manifestation of 
 faith, is entirely negatived by the words of Christ 
 himself, so naturally expressive of his wonder at the 
 conversion. The extreme credulity of the populace 
 may also be inferred from the simple account given 
 in the Acts* of the successful sorceries of Simon 
 Magus, " to whom, it is said," " they all gave heed, 
 from the least to the greatest, saying, This man 
 is the great power of God." 
 
 The author of " Ancient Christianity," who has 
 so cleverly exposed the demonolatry and miracle- 
 mongering of the Nicene Church of the fourth 
 century, seems little aware how easily his argument 
 may be brought to bear on the miracles of the 
 Gospels. He rejects the Nicene miracles because, 
 amongst other reasons, they conflict with what he 
 
 * See John's Gospel, i. 49. 
 f See Acts, viii. 9. 
 
94 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 calls the "first truths of religion."* He speaks, 
 philosophically enough, of the " comfort and calm 
 assurance which we derive from beholding the 
 beauty, harmony, and constancy of Nature," and 
 requires that true miracles should comport with 
 what he calls (somewhat vaguely) the " moral style 
 of the universe." But surely the miracles recorded 
 in the New Testament, as well as those of the 
 Nicene age, are at variance with the teachings of 
 natural religion, which are to be considered amongst 
 the " first truths" of religious belief, as both alike 
 disturb " the beauty, harmony, and constancy of 
 Nature." It is difficult, moreover, to understand 
 the " moral style " of the Christian miracles which 
 distinguishes them from those of the fourth century, 
 when we find that the very same miracles the casting 
 out of devils and the raising of the dead were for the 
 very same purpose (that is, for the establishment of 
 the faith of the Church,) actually performed by Christ 
 and by the Nicene Fathers. The author, indeed, 
 assumes that the Nicene miracles were wrought for 
 corrupt purposes, which is nothing less than a 
 " petitio principii" very creditable to his liberal 
 Protestantism, but reflecting little credit on his 
 logical fairness or his critical acumen. In discussing 
 this subject, he plainly denies that the "preter- 
 natural" is necessarily " divine" " that the purely 
 natural course of physical causes is never disturbed 
 but by the finger of God." Now, it is extremely 
 
 * See " Ancient Christianity/' vol. ii. 360. 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 95 
 
 difficult to imagine by what means the order of 
 Nature can be disturbed excepting by the will of its 
 Divine Author ; but the difficulty is afterwards re- 
 moved by the assumption of the agency of the " in- 
 visible apostate orders !" This is precisely the way 
 that Macneil* has cut the Gordian knot of the 
 Mesmeric philosophy, by simply attributing it to 
 " Satanic agency ! " 
 
 On the whole, it is extremely probable that the 
 populace who beheld the Gospel miracles were equally 
 credulous with that which was imposed upon by the 
 Nicene doctors ; and without assuming the " in- 
 spired" character of the testimony to the Gospel 
 miracles, (a question elsewhere discussed, and to 
 assume which is, in fact, to assume the whole 
 question at issue,) we may suppose that the writers 
 of the New Testament merely recorded the popular 
 belief in the miracles performed their own belief 
 being in general accordance with that of the people. 
 
 This supposition does not impeach the honesty of 
 the^JEvangelistSj nor (considering their age and 
 country) is it any great reflection on their under- H^^^T 
 standingsf. The religious history of the world has J*^-*^* 
 always presented this mixture of rational faith and &* **z 
 superstitious credulity; and, indeed, the best argu- 
 ment for dealing tenderly with popular superstitions 
 has ever been founded on the danger there exists, 
 that in touching the superstitions of the people you 
 
 * See a Sermon of Macneil's on this subject. 
 + Not two centuries ago the Scotch judges delivered elaborate 
 and learned judgments on the crime of witchcraft ! 
 
96 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 may altogether destroy their faith in the spiritual 
 and the unseen. Such was even, I believe, the 
 opinion of Eousseau. 
 
 In all popular religions, the profoundest truths of 
 ethics and of natural religion are enshrined amidst 
 the most childish superstitions. Every religious 
 system the world has ever known embodies more or 
 less perfectly (according to the degree of civilization 
 that produced it) these eternal principles of morality ; 
 and the "lying wonders" and supernatural preten- 
 sions with which these are often overlaid are the 
 accidents of ecclesiastical or political corruption 
 of ignorance and harharism. In every age we find 
 men of character, of talent, and of piety, conforming 
 and perhaps often assenting to the popular belief, 
 from motives the most confused and various from 
 the prejudices of party feeling from the accident of 
 birth in a particular communion from the influence 
 of stronger minds from that tenderness of tempera- 
 ment, and susceptibility of impression, which eagerly 
 desires and too credulously imbibes the flattering 
 mysticism of the spiritual life. The eloquent Bos- 
 suet, and the profound and rational Fenelon, were 
 content to administer the corrupt and degraded 
 religion of their age, and, if their faith in it was 
 sometimes impaired, they sought for escape from 
 j A~J3 the seductions of heresy in the dreams of a mystic 
 ' theology. The learned and liberal Winston believed 
 
 i ^$^T in the efficacy of " extreme unction ; " and some of 
 \ZtJi *&**- our illustrious Eeformers, after having shocked the 
 faith of Christendom by declaring that a wafer was 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 97 
 
 not a God, were ready to confess that God may, in 
 some mysterious manner, be present in a wafer ! 
 When we contemplate, in the spiritual history of the 
 world, this endless variety of religious expression, com- 
 bined with every degree and quality of faith, when 
 we find the learned and the ignorant alike subject to 
 the universal law, which appears to mock the efforts of 
 mankind to realize and define the faith of the soul, by 
 connecting infirmity and error with its highest aspira- 
 tions, we cannot surely hesitate in allowing some 
 human indulgence to the Evangelical writers, and ac- 
 cording the same measure to Matthew the publican, 
 and Paul the philosopher, that we freely concede to 
 the learned Whiston or the unlearned Behmen. 
 
 A considerable class of supposed miraculous events 
 recorded in the Scriptures may be referred to a 
 very common kind of credulity, which appears to 
 depend upon a morbid influence of the mind upon 
 the senses. The appearance of the cross in the 
 heavens for the conversion of Constantino (once 
 considered the last of the orthodox miracles, though 
 now abandoned) was, no doubt, of this character. 
 The vision of Jacob's ladder the conversion of St. 
 Paul* the ascension of Elijah the various ap- 
 pearances of Christ to his disciples after his cruci- 
 fixion his transfiguration the descent of the Holy 
 Ghost in the form of " cloven tongues of fire," and a 
 great variety of supposed miraculous manifestations 
 
 * St. Paul, no doubt, heard, at his conversion, one of those 
 
 " Airy tongues that syllable men's names," 
 so delicately imagined by Milton. 
 
 F 
 
98 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 / of the same kind, must be referred to the ardent 
 < and visionary characters of the reporters*. Erasmus 
 has recorded a curious instance of this kind of self- 
 delusion, which actually occurred in England at the 
 period at which he wrote. For the purpose of 
 testing the credulity of his companions, a person, 
 suddenly looking into a clear and serene sky, com- 
 mences crossing himself with religious fervour, and 
 exclaims that he beholds overhead " a huge dragon 
 with golden horns." His companions at first looked 
 in vain for the monstrous omen ; but at length, 
 by looking long and steadily into the sky, one of the 
 party is made to behold it, and the rest successively 
 follow his example and declare their conviction of 
 the reality of the appearance. Erasmus goes on to 
 say, " that in three days all England had heard the 
 rumour of the mystery, nor were there wanting those 
 who prepared grave commentaries on its meaning ! " f 
 Another "modern instance" of a similar "super- 
 stition of the sight" is recorded of Shelley J, whose 
 
 * It is impossible to distinguish between the account given by St. 
 Augustine, in his " Confessions," of the circumstances of his Conver- 
 sion, and that given by St. Paul ; and no doubt Lord Herbert, of 
 Cherburg, as devoutly believed in his " voice from heaven " as either 
 the Christian Father or the Apostle of the Gentiles. 
 
 Irenaeus resists the explanation of miracles on the hypothesis of 
 
 an " illusory appearance " (QuvretiriuSus), which proves how early 
 
 this idea occurred to the common sense of mankind. See Irenaeus, 
 
 lib. ii. c. 57. Lactantius thinks that the miracles might be doubtful, 
 
 \ but for the support of prophecy. See Lact. v. 3. 
 
 t See " Colloquiorum Erasmi Opus Aureum," quoted by Mar- 
 tineau in the Notes to the " Rationale of Religious Inquiry." 
 
 J See Med win's " Life of Shelley." 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 99 
 
 belief in a purely imaginary attempt to assassinate 
 him was embodied in a deposition actually made 
 before a magistrate. We may adduce also the 
 well-known case of Colonel Gardiner, reported by 
 Dr. Doddridge, at the close of the last century*. In 
 this instance, by "a visible representation, as it 
 were suspended in the air, of the Lord Jesus Christ 
 upon the cross," a profligate soldier is suddenly 
 converted into a Christian penitent : the whole event 
 thus supplying not only the miraculous element 
 required to establish the Divine inteference, but 
 also (what is often wanting in these " amazing 
 phenomena," as they are called by the pious 
 reporter,) the moral result in the permanent con- 
 version of the sinner f. 
 
 It is only proper, however, to add that Dr. Hib- 
 bert confesses, in noticing the event, that Colonel 
 Gardinerhad, a short time previous to its occur- 
 rence, met with a fall from his horse, which may 
 possibly have produced some slight concussion of 
 the brain. 
 
 Before I quit the subject of miracles, I would 
 briefly advert to two considerations which properly 
 
 * See Hibbert's " Philosophy of Apparitions," page 190. 
 
 f* When Milton, on the eve of composing his " Second Defence," 
 was warned by his physicians that total blindness would be the cer- 
 tain consequence of the study it would require, he tells us that, 
 "undeterred by the warning, I seemed to hear a voice, not of a 
 physician, but of some internal and more divine monitor," &c., &c. 
 This was, no doubt, the same voice that Paul heard at his conversion, 
 and the Apostles at the Transfiguration. See " Life of Milton," by 
 Dr. Symmons. 
 
 F 2 
 
100 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 belong to the discussion the general question of 
 the evidence proper to the support of them, and the 
 moral effect produced on the mind by a belief in 
 them. The question as to the quantity and quality 
 of the evidence necessary to establish a belief in 
 miraculous agency is put fairly in issue in the well- 
 known controversy between Hume and Paley in the 
 first part of the "Evidences of Christianity." 
 
 It is assumed by Paley that we are bound to 
 believe the testimony of twelve men of good character, 
 who could not possibly be deceived (though this by 
 the way is a plain petitio principii), to any super- 
 natural event, if they changed their lives in conse- 
 quence of their belief, and suffered, or were content 
 to suffer torture and death in attestation of their 
 sincerity. I would first of all observe, that the 
 credibility of the Gospel miracles does not depend, 
 however, on the issue of this discussion, inasmuch 
 as no such testimony as what is here supposed can 
 be fairly produced in favour of them. Without 
 impeaching the general character of the Evangelical 
 writers for honesty and sincerity, we have neverthe- 
 less but a very slight acquaintance with their personal 
 characteristics, intellectual or moral ; and this too 
 supplied to us by a record eighteen centuries old, 
 and which itself contains innumerable proofs of the 
 fallibility of its authors, both in the interpretation of 
 doctrines and in the recording of facts. Again, the 
 history of the world affords abundant examples of 
 men being content to suffer death and torture in at- 
 testation of their belief of the wildest superstitions. 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 101 
 
 But I am prepared to meet the orthodox champion 
 on the ground he has himself chosen, and even, 
 whilst admitting his premises, (excepting always the 
 assumption that the witnesses to the miracles could 
 not be deceived, which is in fact the question at 
 issue,) I am prepared to protest against his con- 
 clusion. 
 
 To test fairly the soundness of the orthodox 
 argument, I will simply apply the terms of the 
 proposition to actual circumstances in real life. I 
 will imagine that a report that a man was raised 
 from the dead yesterday, at Hampstead or at High- 
 gate, was circulated to-day in the city of London. I 
 will suppose the exact testimony assumed by Paley 
 (though such I believe never was produced in at- 
 testation of a miracle) was really at hand in verifi- 
 cation of the event, i. e. twelve honest witnesses 
 who changed their lives from the moment they 
 witnessed it, and who, rather than confess themselves 
 deceived, were content to suffer torture and death. 
 I will suppose this testimony and these witnesses 
 fairly produced to twenty indifferent persons of 
 sound minds taken indiscriminately from the streets 
 of London, between Hyde Park corner and White- 
 chapel, and I contend that not one of them would 
 believe the miracle on the evidence produced, or on 
 any other evidence whatsoever^ and this simply for 
 the reason assigned by Hume, that every one of 
 
 these persons would at once conclude that, as &j*~' 
 question of probability, it was more likely that the 
 witnesses should be deceivers or deceived, than the 
 
102 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 the miracle should be true ; and this natural con- 
 clusion would be founded on the general principle 
 laid down by the philosopher that, whilst miracles 
 are contrary to experience, the falsehood or the 
 perversion of testimony are matters of almost daily 
 occurrence*. A frivolous attempt to fasten upon 
 Hume a logical inaccuracy in the use of the word 
 "experience" will not succeed in mystifying the 
 common sense of mankind. 
 
 I shall, lastly, allude briefly to the practical effect 
 produced by a belief in miraculous agency on the 
 moral character and the understanding, in reference 
 to the development of those spiritual ethics which 
 are, at least, the end and purpose of religious in- 
 struction. Have those who believed most of the 
 outward and sensible miracles of the Scriptures 
 been those best versed in the divine philosophy of 
 Christ, or most deeply impressed with his spirit ? 
 Credulity and ignorance, persecution and corrup- 
 tion, are found to be the peculiar vices of the Church 
 in those ages when God is thus assumed to have 
 been in an especial manner present to it, and the 
 amount of miracles in the Christian Church will 
 ever be found in an inverse ratio to its spiritual 
 
 * The quality of human testimony to miraculous events may be 
 estimated by the fact that thousands of persons of all ranks still 
 believe in the wonder-working powers of the Holy Coat of Treves, 
 and of the " Ecce Homo " in the Petrus-Kirche, in the capital city 
 of Munich ; and, surely, it is natural to suppose that the people of 
 Palestine, in the days of Moses or of Christ, were not less credulous 
 than the people of Europe in the nineteenth century. 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 103 
 
 purity*. The object of religion is to "bring us 
 nearer to God," by realizing the divine presence in 
 the soul, and that incarnation of God in our flesh, 
 of which Christ has furnished to mankind the 
 brightest example in the history of the world. The 
 miracles, by which the revelation of Christ is as- 
 sumed to be illustrated, are supposed to have been, 
 
 ttet*4 
 
 tU~, 
 
 in darker ages, a means of converting a barbarous 
 
 people; but to confound the faith in these supposed ^/f^c^r 
 
 miracles with that higher faith in the teaching of 
 
 ChrisyEb which they are said to have subserved, is, jjfc^ 
 to say the least of it, to confound the means with / Xfi-ACS 
 the end. fcjj^ 
 
 A living faith in the ethics of Christianity, it will '%,"' 
 surely be conceded, is more important than a belief ' 
 
 in the raising of Lazarus, or the possession of the 
 
 swine ; and if, by a not improbable change in re- <C*^ , 
 
 ligious opinion, these two miracles should be aban- 
 doned, as so many others have been by the advocates 
 of the popular creed, how little would it affect the 
 spiritual objects of our faith. The grand dogmas 
 of the immortality of the soul the progressive and 
 heavenly tendency of the human spirit and its rela- 
 tion to God the incarnation of God in Christ, our 
 bright example (considered by Ullman as the very 
 essence of Christianity) the beauty of holiness and 
 virtue the proper happiness of mankind all these 
 heavenly lessons would remain self-sufficing and 
 
 * Even the Gospel accounts of the miracles (which were no doubt / 
 generally collected from current reports) did not appear until a con- 
 siderable time after the death of Christ. 0v~3?5C-~^ 
 
104 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 indestructible, though every recorded miracle in the 
 Gospels, and half the doctrines extorted from them 
 by the Church, should be proved to be the offspring 
 of oriental credulity and ecclesiastical corruption. 
 Nay, more, how many thousands of human beings, 
 in whose hearts the love of Christ, and reverence for 
 his teaching, are warmly cherished, but who receive 
 with sullen and stunned apprehension the miraculous 
 history with which it is involved, would rejoice in 
 the emancipation of their understandings and the 
 liberty of reason*. 
 
 It is, however, after all, absurd to suppose that 
 the miracles of the Scriptures are subjects of actual 
 belief, either to the vulgar or the learned, and the 
 very gravest of Christians are found occasionally to 
 smile at the ass of Balaam and the voyage of Jonah ; 
 and even devout and learned bishops have had their 
 joke at the grotesque superstitions they continue to 
 inculcate. These things surely betray the absence 
 of any honest, sincere, and earnest belief in the 
 popular creed ; and, beyond all question, the scep- 
 ticism of the world is greatly on the increase. I 
 repeat, that, even amongst the vulgar, the miracles 
 of the Scriptures are not matters of devout belief in 
 the nineteenth century, and that, long before another 
 has passed over our heads, they will hold no higher 
 place in the public mind than the spurious miracles 
 of the Romish Church. It is not, and cannot be 
 
 * " But for the miracles," says Rousseau, " all the world would 
 become Christians." 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 105 
 
 supposed, that converts to Christianity are nowa- 
 days made by appeals to the miracles or, indeed, to 
 any other merely external testimony of its truth ; 
 and, therefore, a helief in miraculous agency must he 
 preserved in the Church for the vindication of the 
 historical accuracy of its documents. But, if its 
 spiritual pretensions can be sustained by appealing to 
 the Christian civilization of the world nowin progress, 
 and derived from the Divine power of its doctrines 
 rationally interpreted, and the purity of its ethics, 
 it is impossible to conceive the advantage of incul- 
 cating a belief in miracles as a condition of salvation. 
 The external evidence, in short, of miracles, such as 
 those of the Scriptures, is entirely useless for the 
 support of what I shall venture to call the religious 
 philosophy of Christ. The miracle of miracles in 
 the Christian system is the existence of a divine 
 spirit in man the revelation of man as " the image 
 of God." By this spirit we perceive all nature 
 (before an impenetrable mystery) to be the mira- 
 culous evidence of the truth of God and the divine 
 reality of life. True miracles, as distinguished from 
 false, are those embodied in the " natural theologies" 
 and " natural philosophies " of all ages. The vulgar 
 of every period have eagerly asked for the outward 
 " sign" in attestation of the inner reality. The true 
 seer has "the witness in himself." The Syrian 
 peasant and the idolatrous Arab were alike clamo- 
 rous for these visible and abnormal manifestations 
 of the Divine power ; and, if the sacred story of their 
 several creeds could be freed from the exaggerations 
 
 F 3 
 

 106 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 of oriental superstition, we should, no doubt, find 
 that the Divine Founder of our Faith, and the 
 , Arabian prophet, alike repudiated the miraculous 
 
 powers that were imputed to them. " If ye believe 
 not Moses and the prophets, neither will ye believe 
 -i~tty //a3 though one were risen from the dead," are the re- 
 jfr- 4*L. #ix*K.corded words of Christ ; and, if they be literally true, 
 . . they are utterly inconsistent with the truth of the 
 j^J* recorded instances in the Gospels of the performance 
 iw? of this very miracle, for the very purpose (for which 
 j^ ^ * s su PP ose d to ^ ave keen performed). The genius 
 of Carlyle has rescued the fame of Mahomet from 
 the charge of imposture, and it is clear that the 
 prophet of Mecca made no pretensions whatever to 
 miraculous powers ; and yet, without the aid of 
 \ + fa^ these supernatural pretensions, the creed of Islam, 
 ^.4 **-3 by the force of a few vital truths, dimly discoverable 
 through a vast mass of confusion, absurdity, and 
 
 . >U*~ impurity, still continues the divine law for two 
 
 X ^Y iundred millions of human souls. 
 
 One word more, and I have done with the ques- 
 tion of miracles. In discussing this matter, it has 
 been my intention rather to review the state of the 
 question, and to restate, with slight emendations, 
 those commonplace arguments against miracles, 
 which have been furnished, at different times, by 
 the common sense of mankind, than to attempt to 
 throw any new light on an exhausted subject. I 
 
 * See " Heroes and Hero Worship," Lect. II. Mahomet expressly 
 disclaimed the power of working miracles. 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 107 
 
 have little doubt, however, that arguments against 
 miracles, that had little weight with the laity of the 
 last century, will wear a new aspect to the more 
 enlightened mind of the present; and, though it is 
 certain (as may be well supposed) that these argu- 
 ments have been in all ages essentially the same, 
 they may nevertheless assume a fresh importance 
 under new conditions of human thought*. 
 
 The doctrine of prophecy may be properly dis- 
 cussed in connection with that of miracles, as both 
 prophecy and miracle are assumed variations of the 
 laws of nature, and involve a belief in what are 
 called " particular providences." So vast a fabric 
 of superstition has been erected on this latter 
 foundation, that an examination of this portion of 
 the existing religious philosophy forms a necessary 
 part of a discussion of the popular creed. In 
 glancing over the pages of ecclesiastical history, 
 its darkest crimes and wildest fanaticism may be 
 traced to this fruitful source of cruelty and per- 
 secution. The French Catholics of the 13th century 
 devoutly believed themselves to be the specially 
 appointed instruments of Heaven for stifling in blood 
 the heresy of the Albigenses. We read of a solemn 
 
 * It will be seen that I do not admit the validity of the distinction 
 made by Mr. Martineau between " philosophical and historical anti- 
 supernaturalism " in reference to miracles (see the Preface to his 
 " Rationale of Religious Inquiry"). I regard miracles as "per se j // 
 
 incredible," in the sense in which they are received by the Church. / ' 
 
 A *~~^L ^~ *- -/ . fi ' j^. . . ~J ~~ S* *\ 
 
108 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 thanksgiving being offered up at Home for the 
 success of the massacre of St. Bartholomew. It 
 was assumed that the infamous Charles IX. was 
 the chosen instrument of the vengeance of God on 
 Ms heretical subjects, as much as the Israelites of 
 the Old Testament for the extermination of the 
 Oanaanitish nations. A century ago, the bloodiest 
 wars that desolated Europe were frequently under- 
 taken to gratify the ambition of a minister, or the 
 caprices of a mistress. The wars of Louis XIV. 
 (in whose character were united at once the ambition 
 of the soldier and the saint) were alternately sug- 
 gested by a barbarous love of conquest, and a 
 hypocritical profession of " zeal for the honour of 
 God;" and many of the wars of England have 
 arisen from no purer motives. And yet the aisles 
 of Notre-Dame and St. Paul's have resounded with 
 thanksgiving for success in these detestable contests, 
 and God has been impiously addressed as the ''Lord 
 of Hosts " and the captain of our armies. 
 
 The bowels of Wicliffe, according to the Komish 
 historians, by a particular providence, "fell out" 
 like those of Arius ; the monks of the middle ages, 
 by a singular poverty of invention, having assigned 
 the same form of the manifestation of Divine 
 vengeance on the founder of Arianism and our first 
 Keformer. In the same spirit, the famine produced 
 by political arrangements, (for the world is assuredly 
 large and fruitful enough for us all,) and the 
 pestilence caused by the neglect of cleanliness, are 
 looked upon as special visitations of God. The 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 109 
 
 advance of civilization, and the improvement of our 
 social condition and habits, have removed from the 
 catalogue of human diseases in this country the 
 sweating-sickness and the plague * which punished 
 the filthiness of our forefathers; but superstition 
 still clings even to the form of words which 
 deprecated them as special punishments of God. 
 In the reign of Elizabeth, the nobles of England 
 were distinguished by domestic habits as disgusting 
 and abominable as those of the most miserable and 
 degraded of our present peasantry, and they are 
 represented as moving from seat to seat to avoid the 
 filth that rotted on their rush- covered floors. In 
 our own times, the regular visitation of typhoid 
 disease in particular localities has been clearly 
 traced to the dirty habits of their inhabitants, and 
 the neglect of drainage. Cleanliness has been in- 
 troduced, and the disease has disappeared ; and 
 surely disease which can be traced to these simple 
 and natural causes can only be referred by the 
 grossest superstition to the special interference of 
 divine Providence. It is true, indeed, that God 
 punishes us by the infliction of diseases for the 
 neglect of those general laws which He has ordained 
 for the government of the universe. The drunkard 
 
 * " To all natural evils" says Dr. Rush, in the able " Report of 
 the Board of Health," just published, "the Author of Nature has 
 kindly prepared an antidote. Pestilential fevers furnish no exception 
 to the remark. The means of preventing them are as much under 
 the power of human reason and industry as the means of preventing 
 the evils of lightning and common fire." 
 
110 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 who dies of a diseased liver is in no other sense, I 
 suppose, the object of a particular providence, than 
 as being destroyed by the violation of those moral 
 and organic laws which the providence of God has 
 established as the conditions of life and health. It 
 would be as rational to ascribe to a particular 
 providence the headache that follows an act of 
 gluttony or of drunkenness as to assume any other 
 supposition. 
 
 And yet, if we apply the principle I have laid 
 down to every other case in which these special 
 providences are supposed, we shall find it as truly, 
 though not always so palpably, applicable. I 
 assert the truism, that God governs the world by 
 universal laws. He has established the physical 
 law, which renders the use of certain foods and 
 drinks (and of all in excess) destructive of human 
 health, and tending to destroy the human frame. 
 This is a simple matter of natural chemistry (if I 
 may so speak), every substance in nature having 
 an action favourable or unfavourable on every other 
 with which it is combined. Now it does not cer- 
 tainly follow that every individual shall actually die 
 in consequence of his own excess ; (for it is possible, 
 and perhaps I ought to say it is natural, that some 
 should die of old age,) but it does follow that life is 
 prolonged or shortened in exact proportion to our 
 observance of those organic laws which regulate our 
 health. Many men, it may be said, come into the 
 world with ready-made diseases, or with tendencies 
 to disease inherited from unhealthy parents, or even 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. Ill 
 
 from remote ancestors ; but still the unhealthiness, 
 whether it be traced to this generation or to a 
 remote one, was originally produced by a non- 
 observance of physical laws, and it was by a violation 
 of a general and not by the introduction of any 
 particular law that it was originally produced. It 
 is thus, and thus only, that the sins of the father 
 are visited upon his children. 
 
 The believers in particular providences must, and 
 in fact do, constitute themselves the only judges of 
 whatever imaginary anomalies they may discover in 
 the order of the world. All great events in history 
 are, in their eyes, so many wondrous deviations 
 from the laws of nature. The remark of Dugald 
 Stewart, in his " Philosophy of the Human Mind," 
 as to the cause of the invention of printing, may be 
 more reasonably applied to these apparent abnor- 
 mities in the history of the world. The invention 
 of printing, he says, must be rather considered " as 
 the result of those general causes on which the 
 progress of society seems to depend, than the mere 
 effect of a fortunate accident." To the profound and 
 inquiring mind of Carlyle it is rather a matter of 
 surprise that so simple a mechanical contrivance 
 should not have been earlier supplied to the press- 
 ing need of mankind. 
 
 The connection of cause and effect is as clearly 
 traceable in the moral as in the material world, and 
 is equally evident in the production of illustrious 
 men and great revolutions in human affairs. The 
 fanatic may assume that Napoleon was a scourge 
 
POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 in the hands of God for the punishment of revolu- 
 tionary and infidel France, hut the philosophical 
 historian will discover, in the fortunes of the illus- 
 ^ <+^s trious Corsican, the necessary and inevitable conse- 
 
 quence of the events which preceded his careers 
 
 There are (to speak strictly) no accidents or 
 
 anomalies in the economy either of the material or 
 
 of the moral world, and the triumphs of the hero 
 
 and the sage are as much the consequence of pre- 
 
 ceding causes as the chemical changes of natural 
 
 hodies are the results of the laws of matter. Luther 
 
 was not specially raised up hy God for the reforma- 
 
 tion of Christendom, hut was stung into heroism 
 
 hy the corruption hy which he was surrounded, and 
 
 ^ the persecution which he endured? The immediate 
 
 ,.' cause of the reformation in Germany was the sale 
 
 of indulgences a more remote one, the ambition 
 
 of Leo X. a still more remote one, the general 
 
 ''" corruption of the Church; and thus we may go 
 
 JJLcj-^. hack to the Nicene, or even to the Apostolic age 
 
 hut where are we specially to recognise the finger 
 
 of God in a Eeformation as yet confessedly incom- 
 
 plete ? 
 
 In the report of the dehates of the House of 
 Lords (January 29, 1847), Lord Brougham quoted 
 a letter (written to Lord Robert Grosvenor by Mr. 
 H. Hoare) in which the famine in Ireland is de- 
 clared to have been a manifestation of the Divine 
 wrath upon the nation for endowing the College of 
 Maynooth ! But it seems entirely to have been 
 forgotten that the judgment of God, if such it was, 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 
 
 had actually fallen, not on the guilty English wl 
 had conceded the grant, but upon the innocent 
 Irish who had received it ! And Lord Clarendon, 
 in the same dehate, somewhat drily observed, that 
 the Highlanders of Scotland, who had most vigo- 
 rously protested against the grant, were involved in 
 the common calamity. It is to he presumed that the 
 Bench of Bishops, who remained mute on the occa- 
 sion, were not prepared to answer this simple refu- 
 tation of the popular doctrine. 
 
 It must, indeed, be acknowledged, that the ad- 
 vancing intelligence of the age is gradually pushing 
 into the background those supplications for par- 
 ticular blessings (for rain for instance, or for fine 
 weather), and those deprecations of special visita- 
 tions, which are still retained in our popular manuals 
 of devotion. The common sense of the most illiterate 
 is naturally revolted at the idea of asking a special 
 blessing for himself, from a just and merciful God, 
 which may be a special evil to a large portion of 
 his fellow- creatures. The cultivator of a wet farm 
 may be as anxious for dry weather as the cultivator 
 of a dry one for rain; but his sense of natural justice 
 must recoil at the idea of asking for the special 
 interference of God under such circumstances. A 
 juster conception of the divine benevolence will 
 teach us that nothing can be good for the individual 
 which is not good for the species, and a reverential 
 belief in the Divine wisdom would lead us rather 
 to bend in awful submission to its decrees than 
 querulously to supplicate its amendment in our 
 
114 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 behalf. We smile, in derision, at the superstition 
 of the Chinese, who sacrifice on the altar of the 
 "Black Dragon" to obtain the blessing of fair 
 weather, and yet a similar superstition is, at the 
 present moment, current in England. 
 
 It may alarm the false religious sentiment of the 
 age thus to lay down the natural and rational prin- 
 ciple, upon which alone it is lawful to interpret the 
 economy of Divine Providence. The popular no- 
 tion is directly at variance with every instinct of 
 right reason and natural justice, and the whole Faith 
 of Christendom is based on the assumption of 
 continual variations in the order of the Divine 
 Government, in accommodation to human wants 
 and desires. Though order and regularity are 
 clearly discernible in the general economy of the 
 universe, an exception is always assumed in favour 
 of man and his concerns. A clearer apprehension 
 of the teaching of Christ will lead to a sounder 
 philosophy. Though " the hairs of our head are all 
 numbered," and though " a sparrow does not fall 
 to the ground" without the knowledge of God, it 
 by no means follows that the Divine Power is 
 specially manifested in these humble events. It is 
 rather to be concluded that the Divine Govern- 
 ment, being perfect in all its parts, and absolute in 
 all its decrees, should be founded on an unbroken 
 chain of causes and effects. 
 
 But, by attacking the received notion of " par- 
 ticular providences," it has been said that we over- 
 throw the whole doctrine of prayer, and tin's requires 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 115 
 
 a passing explanation. Let us look at the rational 
 purpose and object of prayer. Is it to induce God 
 to reconsider his providence, in obedience to our 
 ignorant desires and petty wants, and to alter his 
 laws in conformity to our paltry affairs? This 
 must be a delusion ; for millions of prayers are daily 
 offered up, in this spirit, for the most impossible 
 and conflicting objects. The English at St. Paul's, 
 and the French at Notre Dame, may, at the same 
 moment, during a bloody war, be supplicating the 
 same God for the success of their armies*; but 
 both prayers could not be answered, as both could 
 not triumph. And this is no extreme case. Our 
 general prayers, though not so bloody and detest- 
 able as these, are often as foolish, as impious, and 
 as unjust. They are foolish, as contradicting them- 
 selves, for (prayer-book in hand) we pray at one 
 moment for triumph over our enemies, and the 
 next lisp the sentiments of the purest benevolence. 
 
 The model prayer of Christ has been adduced as 
 proving the lawfulness and necessity of particular 
 prayers, but a rational examination of that beautiful 
 prayer will tend directly to a different conclusion. 
 The petitions contained in the " Lord's Prayer" are 
 rather for those common and natural blessings that 
 flow from the established order of Divine law than 
 for any signal and irregular manifestations of his 
 benevolence, commencing, as it does, with the 
 
 * How much the gentle and holy spirit of Law was revolted at 
 such prayers as these may be seen in the " Collection of his Letters," 
 Letter No. 3. 
 
116 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 sublime recognition of the paternal relation of God 
 to all his creatures. Such a prayer must be regarded 
 rather as a general recognition of the power, wis- 
 dom, and goodness of God, and an exercise of faith 
 in his eternal decrees, than as a supplication for 
 particular blessings. Any other construction of it 
 is utterly inconsistent with those feelings of humility 
 and resignation which are the leading principles of 
 the Christian philosophy. 
 
 Now the doctrine of prophecy, like that of 
 miracles, is directly at variance with the theory of 
 Providence I have endeavoured to establish; and, 
 moreover, from the vagueness of its pretensions, 
 and the frequent impossibili ty of submitting it to the 
 tests of reason and experience, it has a still firmer 
 hold on the credulity of mankind. Some remarkable 
 fulfilments of predictions contained in the Old 
 Testament, and some ingenious adaptations of the 
 mysterious language of the Jewish prophets to sub- 
 sequent events, have been sufficient to establish the 
 faith of the Church in the gift of prophecy. The 
 predictions in the Old Testament of the dispersion 
 and sufferings of the Jewish nation are said, in- 
 deed, to have produced the conversion of a cele- 
 brated French infidel in the last century. But 
 ,^ fa. surely the religious, political, and social institutions 
 
 t^L ] of the Jews sufficiently account for their isolation 
 ) t**+-\ amongst the nations, the preservation of their na- 
 i tional characteristics, and their continual persecu- 
 ' ' - 
 
 '. tion in barbarous ages.' When their prophets ac- 
 companied them into captivity, and first beheld the 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 117 
 
 different institutions of the mighty nations that were 
 contending for the mastery of the world, they might 
 foretel, without any miraculous foresight, what must 
 he the future fortunes of their unsocial and unbend- 
 ing countrymen. That the national character of the 
 Jewish people is the real cause of the reception they 
 have met with in the world is sufficiently proved hy 
 the charge of an unsocial and contemptuous dislike 
 of other nations, which has been brought against 
 them both in ancient and modern times. And we 
 find that, as these national characteristics gradually 
 disappear under the influence of civilization, the 
 Jews of every nation in Europe are being admitted 
 into the full rights of citizenship ; and probably, 
 before these pages have passed through the press, 
 they may have even become legislators in Christian 
 England. 
 
 In discussing tin's question of prophecy, it is 
 necessary to distinguish between the far-seeing in- 
 sight of genius, and the supernatural pretensions of 
 empyricism. What, in the first sense, was the 
 "Novum Organum" of Bacon but a prophecy the 
 most distinct, and which has been partially fulfilled 
 in the present condition of science, and will no 
 doubt be still farther verified in its future fortunes ? 
 The deep political insight of Bonaparte enabled 
 him to prophesy at St. Helena the destruction of 
 the old Bourbon dynasty, the succession of the 
 Orleans branch, and the final establishment of a 
 Republic events which have literally been accom- 
 plished before our eyes. Entirely original minds 
 
118 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 are so rare in the world, occurring only here and 
 there in the lapse of centuries, that the frivolous 
 and unthinking portion of mankind is apt to regard 
 all true insight into nature as a miraculous gift. 
 Each succeeding age has beheld the fulfilment of 
 the "prophecies" of Bacon "man gradually esta- 
 blishing his reign in the interpretation of nature." 
 There cannot be a doubt that the wonders of modern 
 mechanics all appeared "in vision" to the soul of 
 Verulam, and, for many ages yet to come, the world 
 will be employed in translating his thought into 
 life. He who revealed to us " the power and empire 
 of mankind over the universe" the triumph of man 
 over nature is surely, in some sense, to be regarded 
 in the light of a Prophet and a Seer. 
 
 Every department of human knowledge and enter- 
 prise has had its Seers and its Prophets. To the 
 dim vision of the ancient world the Earth was a 
 plain, and all beyond the " Pillars of Hercules," or 
 at most the "ultima Thule," a dream of romance*. 
 A Genoese sailor, in a dark age, is suddenly inspired 
 !^. Jt *1.^ - with a clear faith in the existence of another world, 
 beyond these stormy barriers, that had, hitherto, 
 
 IHtA-L... / 
 
 * " Seneca, the tragedian," says Lord Bacon, " hath these verses :" 
 
 " ' Venient annis 
 
 Saecula seris, quibus Oceanus 
 Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens 
 Pateat tellus, Tiphysque novos 
 Detegat orbes; nee sit terris 
 ' Ultima Thule.' " 
 
 This is called by Bacon " a prophecy of the discovery of America." 
 See " Essays," chapter " Of Prophecies." 
 
 tt?.> * 
 
 / A- 4^^-fcrm 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 119 
 
 checked the progress of man. He carries his " paiii- 
 ful secret" from Court to Court, to solicit the aid of 
 the rulers of the Earth, to enlarge its boundary, 
 and is everywhere met with coldness and neglect. 
 " Paper books " and political economists were every- 
 where at hand to prove his geographical ignorance, 
 and the unprofitableness of the adventure. At 
 length the necessary means are wrung from the 
 Spanish Court, and then neither stormy seas nor 
 angry skies, nor mutinous crews, for a moment 
 daunted the " prophetic soul" of the joyous naviga- 
 tor. Like the Israelites in the desert, he is heaven- 
 led to the "land of promise," and is not "disobedient 
 to the heavenly vision." Neither opposing nature, 
 nor the faithlessness of man, were able for a moment 
 to obscure his faith in his invisible world, until the 
 sudden and joyful cry of " Land ! Land ! " refuted 
 the wisdom of the world, and vindicated the inspira- 
 tion of the prophet. The soul of Columbus was 
 burdened with a material vision, whose vastness and 
 reality may be estimated by considering the exulting 
 fortunes of America. Higher natures will prophesy 
 a yet undiscovered futurity in the moral fortunes of 
 mankind. 
 
 Was not Puritanism and all its fortunes foretold 
 to the soul of Wicliffe ? What else sustained him 
 in his struggle against " principalities and powers, 
 against the rulers of the darkness of the world," 
 and enabled a poor and despised, but true-hearted 
 and single-minded monk, to triumph over the learned, 
 the polished, the wealthy, and the powerful ? Of 
 
120 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 all our Keformers, this man had the clearest appre- 
 hension of his great work, and saw its true Catho- 
 licity, as the harbinger at once of political and 
 religious regeneration. The Lollards were, beyond 
 doubt, the spiritual ancestors of those " Pilgrim 
 Fathers" who fled in after- ages from the persecu- 
 tions of the Church and of the state, and founded in 
 the American forests a free commonwealth under 
 the shadow of the Cross. Again, did not Knox and 
 Luther see clearly, though afar off, in prophetic 
 vision, the great futurity of Protestantism that was 
 to shake the foundations of human faith throughout 
 the civilized world ? A true Faith in the righteous- 
 ness of God, a devout reliance on His providence, a 
 belief in the inspiration of conscience, and the 
 "truth of principles," was the real "armour of God" 
 that enabled these men to walk unharmed amidst 
 the fierce broils and savage persecutions of their 
 age, and to " persevere unto the end." It is thus 
 that the true-hearted and sincere man so often 
 passes through the flames of human passions which 
 consume the timid and the faithless, and comes out 
 of the fire like the diamond from the white heat, 
 uninjured and unstained. It is thus, and thus only, 
 that men may be said " to walk by faith, and not by 
 sight." 
 
 The "prophecy" of Christ of the destruction of 
 Jerusalem, recorded by St. Matthew, may be inter- 
 preted as a simple instance of political foresight into 
 an event extremely probable in the existing con- 
 dition of his country ; and the same may be said 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 121 
 
 generally of the predictions of the earlier Jewish 
 prophets respecting the prohable fortunes of their 
 nation. The prophecies of the advent of Christ at 
 a particular period, when stripped of the ingenious 
 explanations, forced constructions, and suhtle spirit 
 of adaptation displayed hy critics and commentators, 
 are nothing more than instances of speculative 
 expectation of those reformations of society which 
 the periodical appearance of men of genius, after 
 long periods of corruption, always render prohahle 
 in the history of nations. It must not be for- 
 gotten, moreover, that thp failures of prophetical 
 predictions, like those of empyrical remedies, are 
 entirely forgotten and disregarded, whilst the co- 
 incidences of fulfilment and cure are superstitiously 
 remembered*. 
 
 The predictions of the Jewish prophets are ge- 
 nerally conveyed in the figurative language of 
 allegory and poetry, and thus ,a wide field is left for 
 the ingenuity of " accommodation." The vast 
 amount of fallacious exposition that has, in the 
 course of ages, illustrated the " Revelations of St. 
 John " (a writer whose spiritual character appears 
 strongly to have resembled that of Swedenborg) 
 furnishes abundant evidence of the facility of ac- 
 commodation _and the credulity of believers ; and I 
 
 * For a vindication of this mode of interpreting general prophecies 
 see Bacon's " Essays " under that head. That Bacon should dis- 
 claim the application of his theory to what he calls " divine pro- 
 phecies," was a very natural concession to the superstitious character 
 of his age. 
 
 G 
 
122 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 verily believe that the poems of Ossian, if sub- 
 mitted to a similar treatment at the hands of the 
 learned, might be made to describe, in prophetic 
 prediction, the future condition of the Church to the 
 end of time. There have been found writers, in 
 every age, predicting from these writings, with 
 minute accuracy, the exact period of the reign of the 
 saints and the termination of the world; and a 
 thousand failures have not yet damped the ardour 
 of fanaticism. In Germany, and, I believe, in some 
 other countries, it was found necessary to pass 
 severe laws to check the progress of these false 
 prophecies, which had produced a serious disorga- 
 nization of society, and greatly impaired the value 
 of property. 
 
 The common rules, adopted by the Church in the 
 interpretation of prophecy, render it extremely easy 
 to give the necessary colour to any historical pre- 
 diction, and to torture it into conformity with the 
 events it is supposed to foretell. The following 
 " canons" for the interpretation of prophecy, con- 
 tained in the popular work of Home*, will suffi- 
 ciently explain my meaning: "The words and 
 phrases of a prophecy must be explained where they 
 are obscure ; if they be very intricate, every single 
 word should be expounded." (It will naturally be 
 asked, by whom, and by what authority ; for Mr. 
 Home, I fancy, does not believe in "Apostolical 
 
 * See Home's "Introduction to the Study of the Scriptures," 
 chap. iv. 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 123 
 
 succession.") Again, " By images borrowed from 
 the natural world, the prophets often understand 
 something in the world politic. Thus the sun, 
 moon, stars, and heavenly bodies denote kings, 
 queens, rulers, and persons in great power ; and the 
 increase of splendour in those luminaries denotes 
 increase of prosperity. On the other hand, their 
 darkening, setting or falling, signifies a reverse of 
 fortune, or the entire destruction of the potentate 
 or kingdom to which they refer." 
 
 Now, though I am not disposed to deny that the 
 Eastern poets and prophets may have thus symbol- 
 ized their rulers (for such is still the custom in the 
 East), it is easy to perceive the latitude of inter- 
 pretation that must arise from conceding the prin- 
 ciple to the extent assumed by the Church. It 
 would be absurd to suppose that every Eastern 
 prophet and poet (for the terms are really synony- 
 mous), who apostrophized the rising or setting sun, 
 was prophesying the rise and fall of empires ; and 
 yet it must be extremely difficult to discriminate 
 between what are now called by the popular names 
 of poetry and prophecy. 
 
 " The Prophets," says another canon, " often 
 change both persons and tenses ; sometimes speaking 
 in their own persons, at other times representing 
 God, his people or their enemies, as respectively 
 speaking, and without noticing the change of per- 
 sons." This may be critically true; but the ex- 
 pounders of prophecy are rarely critics, and the 
 difficulties of grammar have often been found 
 
 G 2 
 
124 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 extremely perplexing, even to those who contend 
 for a literal and verbal inspiration of the Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 " The same prophecies have frequently a double 
 meaning," we are told, " and refer to different 
 events the one near, the other remote the one 
 temporal, the other spiritual or perhaps eternal. 
 The prophets thus having several events in view, 
 their expressions may be partly applicable to one 
 and partly to another," &c., &c. It is impossible to 
 conceive a principle of interpretation more vague 
 than is suggested by this curious passage. It 
 simply amounts to this, that, if the fulfilment of the 
 prophecy is not verified by one event, it must be 
 applied to another if it is not realized in the 
 occurrence of any temporal event, we must look for 
 its accomplishment in some " spiritual perhaps 
 eternal" consummation. Again, "Predictions de- 
 nouncing judgments to come do not in themselves 
 speak the ab solute futurity of the event, but only 
 declare what is to be expected by the persons to 
 whom they are made, and what will certainly come 
 to pass, unless God in his mercy interpose between 
 the threatening and the event." Surely we need no 
 prophet to tell us this ! As far as it is possible to 
 make sense of this jumble of words, it announces 
 the truism (as being the occasional burden of 
 prophecy) that God will punish us for our sins if 
 he does not pardon us ! 
 
 It is directly assumed by this writer, that "where 
 the prophets describe a golden age of felicity they 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 
 
 125 
 
 clearly foretell the Gospel times;" and yet, unless 
 all history is entirely false, the gospel times were 
 times of national misery, degradation, and persecu- 
 tion to the Jewish people ! 
 
 The great difference of opinion amongst men of 
 equal learning and sincerity as to the fulfilment 
 even of the most remarkable Prophecies is a clear 
 proof of the insecurity of the ground on which it 
 rests. Even admitting, for instance, the authenticity 
 of the two first Chapters of Matthew, in which he 
 records the conception of the Virgin, and the birth 
 of Christ, as the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah, 
 the application has been considered doubtful by 
 many orthodox modern commentators; Grotius, 
 Hammond, Le Clerc, and a host of others, con- 
 tending that this prophecy was fulfilled in the days 
 of Ahab. Other commentators have referred the 
 fulfilment of the prophecy of Daniel (the "seventy 
 weeks") to the time of AntiochusEpiphanes. Gro- 
 tius and Stillingfleet assume the prophecy in the 
 Pentateuch (" a Prophet will the Lord God raise up 
 unto thee like unto me ") to be nothing more than a 
 general promise of a line of prophets to the Jewish 
 nation. 
 
 We have, confessedly, lost the rules which guided 
 the Apostles in applying the prophecies of the Old 
 Testament, and perhaps, considering the grievous 
 errors into which they fell, we have little to regret. 
 The difficulty of reconciling the often intractable 
 materials of prophecy with the doctrines of the 
 Church drove many of the Fathers, more especially 
 
126 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 Origen, into an allegorical and mystical interpreta- 
 tion of the Old Testament. We have already heard 
 of the " twofold sense" Origen and Jerome boldly 
 assumed the " threefold," and Augustin, not to be 
 outdone, actually asserted the " fourfold sense " Of 
 the Jewish prophecies ! Learned men are doubtful 
 whether this mode of allegorizing Scripture had its 
 origin from the Jews or from the heathen, but all 
 are agreed in admitting the fact. It is true, indeed, 
 that the earliest of the Fathers, and Winston and 
 some other modern writers, have repudiated all but 
 the literal interpretation of prophecy in its primary 
 sense. But Whiston, to establish his position, is 
 obliged to assume the extensive corruption of the 
 text of the Old Testament, which he admits, in its 
 present condition, is only susceptible of an allegori- 
 cal interpretation. A vast deal of curious and 
 useless learning has been exhausted on this subject. 
 Mystics and Enthusiasts, Jews and Papists, still 
 rejoice in the "manifold interpretation" of prophecy, 
 as being at once agreeable to the imagination, and 
 as enabling them to pour the vials of Divine wrath 
 on their religious adversaries ; but the modern be- 
 liever is gradually but surely emancipating himself 
 from the trammels of this outrageous superstition. 
 
 The common definition of prophecy " a predic- 
 tion made by Divine inspiration" (if the idea of 
 " inspiration" be confined within the limits I have 
 elsewhere assigned it) is by no means at variance 
 with its philosophical acceptation. That God should 
 foreshadow in the souls of the leading spirits of the 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 
 
 world that connectign._between causes and their 
 remote effects, which the vulgar suppose to be the 
 result of direct and immediate agency of God, has 
 a strong natural probability. Indeed, this account 
 of prophecy is perhaps more rational than a refer- 
 ence of its fulfilment in many remarkable instances 
 to mere coincidence*; though, no doubt, mere coin- 
 cidences are often assumed to be evidence of special 
 manifestations of Divine power. When a prophet 
 is said to be " raised up " (in the language of the 
 Bible), it by no means follows that he is super- 
 naturally produced, or that we are to conclude for 
 the special agency of God. Thus, the "trees which 
 the Lord hath planted" is a Hebraism to express 
 those of natural growth, uncultivated by man ; and 
 in this sense alone is it said that the " Lord planted 
 the cedars of Libanus," or "raised up a prophet" 
 amongst His people. 
 
 He is undoubtedly a prophet who, by the force 
 of direct and true insight into Nature, and the un- 
 written law of God in the heart, is able to rescue 
 any portion of Divine truth from the neglect or 
 proscription of a corrupt age. In this sense we 
 cannot deny to Mahomet the rank assigned him by 
 the greatest of modern seers f. He found his 
 
 * A most singular example of coincidence occurred a few years 
 ago. An almanack-maker (Murphy, I believe,) foretold, in the 
 autumn of one year, the very hottest day of the following summer. 
 Thousands bought his almanacks, and some few possibly considered 
 him a prophet. 
 
 t Thomas Carlyle. 
 
128 
 
 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 nation idolaters, and left them the worshippers of 
 
 One God ; acknowledging, moreover, to a greater 
 
 degree than any people the world has yet seen, the 
 
 / sublime and truly Christian doctrine of EESIGNA- 
 
 I * TH>N *, which was, in fact, the corner-stone of TEe 
 
 forced of Mecca. The gross corruptions of Maho- 
 
 
 I 
 
 medanism cannot ohscure the light of Divine truth 
 that shines through them. These corruptions be- 
 long to the national character of the Arabs, which 
 was shared by their prophet, and no creed has yet 
 been promulgated in the world which has been 
 altogether free from a similar perversion though 
 ONE appears almost to approach the ideal of Catho- 
 licity. The "wild justice" of the Bedouin is, 
 however, in some degree compensated for by his 
 generous hospitality, and his sensuality is balanced 
 by his veneration for old age, and the inviolability 
 of his plighted word. In Christian England, in the 
 nineteenth century, the worship of wealth is a baser 
 passion as fatal to all true faith, and as deadly in 
 its influence on the spiritual life, as the impurity of 
 the harem, or the brigandage of the Desert. 
 
 Mahometanism was thus founded on two of the 
 most profound convictions of the human soul the 
 doctrine of the Divine unity, and that of entire 
 resignation to the Divine Will. By the first it is 
 favourably contrasted with the idolatrous Tritheism 
 of the fourth and fifth centuries, against which it 
 specially protested. The grand simplicity of the 
 
 * " El Islam" is simply " RESIGNATION.' 
 
MIRACLES AND PROPHECY. 129 
 
 creed of Islam is far preferable to the sophistical 
 refinements of the schools in those degenerate 
 times, when all the realities of religion were lost 
 in a haze of religious metaphysics. By asserting 
 the second principle, of resignation, it is merely an 
 echo of Christianity itself. It is the custom of 
 Christian writers to represent the religion of Maho- 
 met as a gross accommodation to the instincts of 
 the senses, hut in no age have Christians submitted 
 to a ceremonial law more oppressive or to ordi- 
 nances more self-denying than those observed by 
 the disciples of Islam. The Moslem under a burn- 
 ing sun abstains from wine, and seven times a day 
 the business and pleasure of life are interrupted by 
 the duties of ablution and prayer. Even in the 
 latitude allowed by Mahomet to the intercourse of 
 the sexes, he reformed rather than corrupted the 
 manners of his country, by reducing the number of 
 wives and protecting the weaker sex. The sensuality 
 of the Mahomedan paradise may be traced to the , 
 antiphysical doctrine of the resurrection of the body 
 (for which he was not responsible) ; for the restor- 
 ation of the body would be useless, without the 
 exercise of its natural functions. Such appeals to 
 the senses of the vulgar are common to all creeds, 
 and Mahomet, so far from limiting his idea of 
 Paradise to the enjoyments of the senses, expressly 
 teaches that all sensual happiness will be despised 
 and forgotten by those pure spirits who are admitted 
 to the beatitude of the Divine Presence*. 
 
 * See Koran, cap. 2, 56 and 78. 
 
 G 3 
 
130 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 The difference between those master-spirits, whom 
 the world has, in all ages, delighted to honour as 
 prophets of God, is a difference, simply, of degree. 
 One, however, stands alone, and occupies a solitary 
 pedestal in the centre of the world. The intelligence 
 of modern times has agreed to recognise as the 
 holiest and mightiest of its spiritual guides Him 
 who, for eighteen centuries, has been the interpreter 
 of the highest relations hitherto discovered between 
 man and his Maker ; who has opened a boundless 
 futurity to the soul, disarmed the grave of its terrors, 
 and given to a struggling world joy and peace in 
 believing " the everlasting righteousness of God," 
 " whose mercy is over all His works." Of all that 
 has been hitherto taught in his name, a vast pro- 
 portion, the offspring of ignorance and credulity, 
 has been already abandoned ; and the time is pro- 
 bably not far distant when we may expect a still 
 further purification of our corrupted creed. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 
 
 " Notions of materialism were mixed up with these theories. 
 . . . . Such texts as ' I came forth from the Father ' ' I pro- 
 ceeded from the Father/ were argued from as proofs that the Son 
 was of the same substance with the Father." Hampden's " Bampton 
 Lectures," Lect. III. 
 
 I HAVE elsewhere noticed (in discussing the 
 question of the inspiration of the Scriptures) the 
 vagueness of the terms in which the leading 
 doctrines of Christianity are embodied. The doc- 
 trine of the Divinity of Christ, simple as it appears, 
 is enveloped in an almost equal degree of obscurity 
 with the doctrine of inspiration. In a strictly phi- 
 losophical sense, the worship of Christ as God is 
 the worship of moral beauty, of which he furnished 
 the highest ideal. The Divine spirit of Christianity 
 furnishes a constant protest against that utilitarian 
 and stoical spirit by which (with the exception of 
 Platonism) all other ancient moral philosophies are 
 distinguished. We find Christ everywhere asserting 
 the claims of the beautiful and transcendental in 
 
132 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 morals, in opposition to the cold letter of positive 
 law. We find him violating the sabbath, plucking 
 the ears of corn, and eating the shew-bread, ex- 
 pressly, as it were, to teach us the distinction be- 
 tween the spirit and the letter of his law, and to 
 show us that " man doth not live by bread alone." 
 And how profound and sublime is this legislation, 
 for man, who is by nature both a lover and a wor- 
 sliipper ! 
 
 In a primitive, barbarous, and credulous age, 
 such as that of the Old Testament, it might 
 naturally be said (in the figurative language of 
 the East) of the inspired, heroic, and divine man 
 (as it was said of Enoch), that he "walked with 
 God;" or of Moses, that he " talked with God face 
 to face ; " or that he alone of all men had " looked 
 upon God and lived." The same Divine privileges 
 are asserted also for the Jewish prophets generally, 
 by their rude and superstitious countrymen. The 
 Jews in fact, and perhaps most other ancient 
 nations, always entertained this idea of the heroes 
 of their race, and, but for the fanatical and exag- 
 gerated expectations of the simple followers of 
 Christ, would have, no doubt, allowed him also the 
 rank of a true prophet. But the populace of the 
 Gospel era appears to have entirely perverted the 
 national and natural conception of the prophetical 
 character and office, and, not content with assuming 
 the communication of the Divine spirit to man, to 
 have supposed that God himself, in a human form, 
 had descended upon earth. They believed that 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 133 
 
 God was with them, not in a metaphorical, but in a 
 literal sense, and that the human nature of Christ 
 was changed into the Divine, not by the communi- 
 cation of heavenly gifts, but by a miraculous mani- 
 festation of God himself, in the form of a man. 
 Perhaps this idea may be traced to the influence of 
 the Paganism by which they were surrounded, and 
 hence they gave to Christ the same kind of Divine 
 and human personality that Homer had conferred 
 on the deities of Olympus. Such an estimate of 
 the character and office of Christ would naturally 
 find favour with the Platonizing Fathers, who 
 were deeply skilled in heathen learning*, and 
 strongly tainted with the Pagan philosophy, as well 
 as with the credulous populace of Judea. And thus 
 it came to pass that, instead of the " essence of 
 Christianity" being considered as "the union of the 
 Divine and human nature in the person of Christ " 
 (a rational and intelligible creed), it was assumed 
 to be the transformation of Christ into God. The 
 more philosophical Arians, who contended timidly 
 against this fanatical corruption, were of course 
 fiercely persecuted by the holders of the popular 
 and established belief; and yet the heresy of Arius, 
 variously interpreted, after the lapse of more than a 
 thousand years, is still, openly or secretly, the 
 creed of the great mass of philosophical Christians 
 
 * " That all souls were consubstantial with the Deity was an 
 ancient Pythagorean notion which survived in the Church." Hamp- 
 den's " Bampton Lectures/' Lect. III. 
 
134 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 throughout the world, and has, in modern times, 
 been openly professed by some of the brightest 
 ornaments of our literature, commencing with the 
 illustrious Newton. The " taking of the man- 
 hood into God " is at once antiphysical and unphi- 
 losophical ; but the taking of the Godhead into 
 man realizes a spiritual idea, which appears to per- 
 vade all religious history, more especially that of 
 the Hebrews. The communication of Himself to 
 his chosen servants is the burden of the history of 
 God's dealings with the Jewish prophets ; but our 
 popular idea of the Divinity of Christ is a semi- 
 pagan superstition, at variance, moreover, with the 
 general doctrine of spiritual influence as taught by 
 all Christian Churches. 
 
 That God incarnates Himself in man is, in some 
 sense, the common belief of Christians as well as 
 of philosophers, and the charge of anthropo- 
 morphism, which has been brought against the 
 Stoics, and against several of the Christian Fathers 
 (more especially against Lactantius and Tertullian) 
 in ancient times, and against Hobbes and Newton, 
 and many others, amongst the moderns, is by no 
 means opposed to the doctrine in Genesis, that 
 " God created man in His own image," and in the 
 case of the Christians was undoubtedly founded 
 upon it. 
 
 They who have indolently received from tradition, 
 and upon authority, the popular doctrine on this 
 subject are little aware how much of the gracious 
 influence of the holy philosophy of Christ, on the 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 135 
 
 heart and life, depends on a proper apprehension 
 of his simple humanity. If we remove from our 
 creed the merely human model presented for our 
 imitation, there remains little but a metaphysical 
 abstraction, too subtle to be applied to the common 
 business of life, and entirely out of the pale of 
 human sympathies. A weeping, a suffering, and a 
 sympathizing God is not, and cannot, in strictness, 
 be an object of faith. We sympathize with the 
 tears shed over Jerusalem, because they were 
 human tears. We sympathize with the agony of 
 Gethsemane the mockery of the judgment-hall, 
 and the tortures of the cross, out of the depths of 
 our own humanity. Our idea of God is purely 
 metaphysical and transcendental ; but we can con- 
 ceive a being of our own race, richly endowed with 
 the spirit of God, fulfilling the idea of "Emanuel" 
 by the abundance of Divine grace, of which he is 
 the great exemplar to mankind the living proof of 
 the ever-present Deity in the human soul. Such a 
 being is at once comprehended by human reason, 
 and adopted by human sympathy. 
 
 These are not merely speculative notions, but 
 simple facts, to be observed in the common and 
 every- day manifestations of religious feeling. The 
 most fervent and zealous believers they who trust 
 most entirely to their religious emotions, and who 
 are most removed from the influence of formal and 
 regular devotion are precisely those who most in- 
 dulge in their orisons in the language of human 
 affection. I am not here alluding merely to the 
 
136 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 amatory hymns of the Moravians, or the semi- 
 sexual and voluptuous raptures of the vulgar fanatic, 
 but to the common language of devotion to be found 
 in the offices of all Churches, and in the literature 
 of every sect. 
 
 In asserting, then, the simple humanity of Christ, 
 we by no means weaken his hold on human affection, 
 but rather increase and confirm it. We do not dis- 
 place him from the pedestal on which the devout 
 love of civilised ages, or the adoration of barbarous 
 ones, have combined to place him. We merely 
 draw him within the pale of human sympathies 
 find him an intelligible place in the natural world, 
 and present to the veneration of mankind a living 
 reality, instead of an abstract idea. It excites no 
 surprise to the philosophic mind to find that the 
 ancient inhabitants of Palestine elevated the holy 
 Jesus to the rank of a God, because the nations of 
 the East have constantly deified the purest of their 
 spiritual guides. A veneration for what is above 
 us the foundation of all " hero worship " is, 
 indeed, illustrated by all history, and acknowledged 
 by all sound philosophy, as an element in human 
 nature ; but we may be allowed to suppose that the 
 form of its manifestation will necessarily vary with 
 the progress of civilisation, and that, whilst a bar- 
 barous age is found to worship and adore, a higher 
 civilisation will be content to venerate and to love. 
 
 The profoundest thinkers of modern times such 
 as Novalis in Germany, Carlyle in England, Emer- 
 son in America, and others in different parts of the 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 137 
 
 world the very flower of existing literature men 
 too, be it remembered, distinguished as much by 
 the moral beauty of their lives as by the depth of 
 their spiritual insight are agreed in recognising 
 the communication of the Divine spirit to the world, 
 through the souls of its heroic men. " There is 
 but one temple in the universe," says Novalis, " and 
 that is the body of Man. Nothing is holier than 
 that high form. Bending before men is a reverence 
 done to this revelation in the flesh." " No nobler 
 feeling," says Carlyle, " than this, of admiration for 
 one higher than himself, dwells in the breast of 
 man. It is to this hour, and at all hours, the vivi- 
 fying influence in man's life. Keligion, I find, stands 
 upon it not Paganism only, but far higher and 
 truer religions all religion hitherto known. Hero 
 worship, heartfelt, prostrate admiration, submission, 
 burning, boundless, for a noblest Godlike form of 
 Man is not this the germ of Christianity itself ? 
 The greatest of all heroes is one whom we do not 
 name here. Let sacred silence meditate that sacred 
 matter." * The sublime " Address " of Emerson 
 to the divinity students at Boston, published with 
 his " Orations," is an eloquent and profound vindi- 
 cation of the sacred priesthood of genius, of the 
 office it has discharged, and must ever continue to 
 discharge in the spiritual history of our race. 
 
 The " office of the priest," it is well written, is 
 " coeval with the world." The only rational idea of 
 
 * See Carlyle's " Heroes and Hero Worship/' Lect. I., page 17. 
 
138 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY I 
 
 the office is that of a spiritual guide, distinguished 
 above others for the divine power and beauty of his 
 life * ; and in this sense alone is Christ to be re- 
 garded as the " great High Priest of our profession." 
 This was the gift that was said, in the glowing 
 language of the East, to have " burnt like fire" in 
 the bosom of Jeremiah, and which has sustained in 
 every age the " glorious army of martyrs." The 
 peculiar office of the priest is to inculcate a faith in 
 the unseen and invisible world, and to teach the 
 sacred mystery of the Divine life. It has been the 
 fate of the priestly office to be constantly suspected 
 and degraded, as all history bears witness. To the 
 purest and holiest of priests it was said in bitter 
 derision, " Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil," 
 and to the most eloquent of his followers, "Too 
 much learning doth make thee mad." 
 
 In the heathen Temple, as in the Komish Church 
 of the middle ages, we find the priest degraded to 
 the conjuror ; and the authority originally conceded 
 to the higher intellect, and purer vision, gradually 
 transferred by the ignorant vulgar to the miracle- 
 monger or the political Churchman ; and, even 
 amongst ourselves, the " imposition of hands " is 
 assumed to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost. An 
 office originally purely honorary has been degraded 
 to a venal trade. In the Jewish temple, the " holy 
 
 * The word Priest in the primitive dialect of the East, according 
 to Schlegel, denotes a man possessing that deep internal equanimity 
 which is indispensably requisite to a perfect union with the Godhead. 
 See " Philosophy of History," Lect. IV. 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 139 
 
 j)f holies " in that of the heathen, the " innermost 
 recesses," and, in the Christian Church, the place of 
 the altar, have ever been sacred to the mummeries 
 of superstition^ The distinction between the 
 " esoteric " and " exoteric " modes of instruction is 
 at least as old as the days of Pythagoras, and pro- 
 bably as old as history itself. The ignorant vulgar 
 of all times, given up to the life of the senses, have 
 been deemed unworthy of direct instruction in 
 spiritual things, and truth has only been conveyed 
 to them in an allegorical,, or symbolical, form. 
 There was, probably, even in the teaching of Christ, 
 a modified compliance with this universal principle ; 
 of ancient instruction, for we find him teaching in 
 parables to the multitude, what he afterwards ex- 
 plained privately to his disciples. The vulgar, 
 however, of modern times are by no means in the 
 same moral, social, or intellectual condition as the 
 helots of Greece, the peasantry of Palestine, or the 
 populace of Home. 
 
 The brilliant imagination and profound learning 
 of Gibbon, and the philosophical acumen of Hume, 
 of Bolingbroke, and of Straus, have, I think, alike 
 failed to account for the singular personal power of 
 Christ as a moral teacher. The man of learning 
 and the utilitarian philosopher have overlooked the 
 simple element of Divine faith and love, which 
 approves itself to the secret instincts of the human 
 heart. The secret lies too low in the scale of intel- 
 lectual power to be apprehended by those who 
 persist in seeking for spiritual dominion only in the 
 
140 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 high places of philosophy. It was not hy the 
 power of reason, but hy the charm of a transparent 
 sincerity an unfaltering Faith in the Divine word 
 and a true and tender love, that Elizabeth Fry 
 was enabled to still the storm of blasphemy, riot, 
 and obscenity that caused even the turnkeys of 
 Newgate to stop their ears. No merely intellectual 
 gifts, exhibited in her life and writings, will account 
 for the command she exercised over the minds and 
 hearts of men. The power was in herself a part 
 of her spiritual nature, and outwardly expressed in 
 tones of tenderness, of earnestness, and of sincerity. 
 In a few hours after her admission into the cells of 
 Newgate, at that time the scenes of unutterable 
 horrors, we find the half-naked and shameless 
 outcasts of either sex transformed into sad and 
 thoughtful listeners sitting around their simple 
 teacher " clothed and in their right mind " the 
 demons of lust, of violence, and of unbelief " cast 
 out " by no mightier power than " words of truth 
 and soberness," uttered in the accents of faith and 
 love. 
 
 All this was done by the force of character^ 
 rather than by the agency of the intellect. 
 " Character," says Emerson, in one of those pro- 
 found passages with which his writings abound, 
 " is a natural power, like light, and heat, and all 
 nature co-operates with it. The reason why we 
 feel one man's presence and not another's is as 
 simple as gravity. Truth is the summit of being. 
 All individual natures stand in a scale, according to 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 141 
 
 the purity of this element in them. The will of the 
 pure runs down from them into other natures, as 
 water runs down from a higher into a lower vessel. 
 This natural force is not to be withstood, any more 
 than any other natural force." And again, he says, 
 "The history of those gods and saints which the 
 world has written, and then worshipped, are docu- 
 ments of character." Surely it is possible, without 
 overstepping the boundaries of natural laws, to 
 account for the overwhelming power that the 
 strong, sincere and pure mind always exercises 
 over the weak, the faithless, and the impure, and 
 to discover the secret of those magical words, which, 
 in a simpler age, caused men " to leave all and to 
 follow." We greatly underrate the influence of 
 these " unspeakable gifts " on the human heart ; 
 owing, no doubt, to their extreme rarity, and to the 
 facility with which they are imitated by the hypo- 
 crite and the formalist. 
 
 The charm of a perfect sincerity is so rare in the 
 world the spiritual teacher is so generally tainted, 
 more or less, with vanity, with worldliness, or with 
 selfishness the " spirit of the world " is so intole- 
 rant of all enthusiasm, and so suspicious of all zeal 
 that men have come to doubt of the reality of 
 that Divine power which has so often changed the 
 face of the world, and which, in all history, vindi- 
 cates the presence of God in the human soul. But, 
 after all, there is a deep -lying instinct within us, 
 that enables us to " try the spirits " of our prophets, 
 and man has not yet lost the faculty of recognising 
 
142 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY I 
 
 the voice of God in his dealings with mankind. 
 The partial success that often attends the conven- 
 tional oratory of the pulpit, inspired hy no true 
 genius, warmed by no pure love, and sustained by 
 no clear faith, may teach us the mighty possibilities 
 of the real and divine. When the true Teacher 
 appears, then it is that men's hearts converse to- 
 gether with a " most miraculous organ," even when 
 the tongue stammers, and appears to the unbe- 
 lieving of an " uncertain sound." The appearance 
 of the true seer in the world is so rare, that (as in 
 the present generation) men have come, for a time, 
 to forget the model. Not once in a hundred years 
 often not once in many hundred years, does the 
 human aloe put forth its gorgeous blossoms. 
 
 The Divinity of Christ is supported mainly by 
 supposing him to have been endowed with two 
 supernatural gifts: first, the power of working 
 outward miracles ; and, secondly, with the faculty 
 of " speaking as man never spake " before. The 
 first of these suppositions I have elsewhere con- 
 sidered, and I have only to add that this super- 
 natural gift is not, even on the testimony of the 
 Church, peculiar to Christ, but shared with him by 
 a considerable number of Prophets and Apostles. 
 I have also discussed, incidentally, the second sup- 
 position, in tracing the connection of Christianity 
 with Platonism 5 *; and I have denied the originality 
 of Christian ethics. What, then, remains to be con- 
 
 * See Chapter on " The Inspiration of the Scriptures." 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 143 
 
 sidered ? I concede to Christ the highest inspira- 
 tion hitherto granted to the prophets of God. 
 
 Inspiration, as applied to persons, is a somewhat 
 more definite idea than as applied to writings, 
 though, even here, the philosophical and popular 
 notions are to a great degree at variance. The 
 materials out of which the " inspired of the world" 
 have ever been formed are a clear Faith, a pure 
 sincerity, and a soul above fear. The Earl of 
 Morton, when standing on the. grave of Knox, pro- 
 nounced his noblest epitaph, "Here lies one who 
 never feared the face of man!" 
 
 But not only the body, but the soul of the 
 prophet, must be above fear. His ear must despise 
 the voice, as his flesh triumphs over the violence of 
 man. Neither the powers of the world, nor the 
 powers of darkness, were able to daunt the spirit of 
 Luther. He believed in the personality of the 
 devil he saw him before his eyes, and he spat at 
 him and defied him ! Cromwell, inspired with the 
 sublime idea of theocracy*, feared neither to face a 
 king in the field, nor to condemn him on the 
 judgment-seat. 
 
 The inspired man is one whose outward life 
 derives all its radiance from the light within him. 
 He walks through stony places by the light of his 
 own soul, and stumbles not. As long as he appears 
 like the sun above the horizon, he is the " observed 
 of all observers " (though all lookers on are by no 
 
 * See Carlyle's " Heroes and Hero Worship," Lect. VI. 
 
144 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY I 
 
 means observers), and, long after he is set, lie leaves 
 behind him a flood of glory that " fills the wide 
 vessel of the universe." No human motive is 
 present to such a mind in its highest exultation 
 no love of praise no desire of fame no affection, 
 no passion mingles with the divine afflatus, which 
 passes over without ruffling the soul. A man thus 
 breathed upon by the Holy Spirit becomes the 
 passive instrument of an overwhelming power. 
 " The unwise doth not well consider this, and the 
 fool doth not understand it." 
 
 If I am reminded that thousands of fanatics in 
 all ages have assumed inspiration from their own 
 deceitful emotions, who have been neither virtuous 
 nor wise, I answer simply, that the absence of 
 wisdom and virtue, and enduring power, was a 
 sufficient proof of their delusion or the evidence of 
 their hypocrisy. The existence of false prophets is 
 not a presumption against the reality of the true, 
 or Christians might argue against the probability of 
 a Messiah from the delusions of Joanna Southcote. 
 It would be far more just to argue, from the 
 abundance of false prophets in the world, that it is 
 the everlasting purpose of God to instruct and to 
 regenerate it by analogous means. 
 
 The " philosophy of history" clearly indicates 
 that the world is really governed by its prophets 
 alone, and that the priests of virtue, of science, and 
 of power, are the true arbiters of its destinies. 
 
 Statesmen are but the puppets of the true priest- 
 hood in every age. The essence of all history is 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIS 
 
 purely spiritual, and the politics of the 
 but the reflection of its inner life. In exact pro- 
 portion as the representative system of modern 
 nations is developed by the progress of knowledge, 
 in the same degree will the spiritual power of man 
 be able to realize its office and destiny. The " vil- 
 lage Hampdens and mute inglorious Miltons" of 
 every nation will then become the visible, as they 
 are now the real moving-springs of human life ; and 
 the laggard movements of cabinets will derive fresh 
 vigour from a transfusion of the true life's blood of 
 humanity. All this has clearly a tendency towards 
 the establishment of a virtual theocracy ; and in the 
 dim future, and at a vast distance, the eye of the 
 Seer may behold the realization of the dream of 
 Cromwell a nation " fearing God and loving one 
 another." 
 
 The present incipient agitation to secure the 
 peaceful commerce of nations, and mitigate the 
 warlike propensities of mankind, is, at least, a con- 
 cession to the pure spirit of Christian Ethics ; and, 
 however contemptuously the movement may be 
 treated by those who confine the moral progress of 
 mankind within the limits of political experience, we 
 cannot forget that the abolition of slavery was once 
 regarded by the same authorities as a crotchet of 
 mistaken philanthropy. A gradual extension of 
 Christian Ethics will doubtless follow the abandon- 
 ment of the doctrinal corruptions with which they 
 have been so long overlaid, and much of the evil 
 now considered as the natural inheritance of man- 
 
 H 
 
146 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 kind will disappear before a more enlightened 
 apprehension of the Christian philosophy. 
 
 If we reflect on the wonderful difference between 
 the highest and lowest, between the most pure and 
 spiritual, and the most gross and sensual of human 
 beings, even in a high state of civilization (and this 
 was probably far greater in a state of barbarism), 
 we shall not be at a loss to understand that 
 " worship of genius" which pervades the history of 
 mankind. It is the difference between the bright 
 intuition of the soul looking deep into the realities 
 of things, and the mere animal instinct of the 
 senses. The true Seer, looking deep into causes, 
 carries in his heart the simple wisdom of God. 
 The secret harmonies of nature vibrate on his ear, 
 and her fair proportions reveal themselves to his 
 eye. He has a deep faith in the truth of God, and 
 believes in ever buoyant hope, that " all things will 
 work together for good to those that love Him." 
 But this love of God is not " a rhapsody of words." 
 He lives in it and has it in his heart. Many heroic 
 souls are distinguished in history for the possession 
 of some one or many of these gifts of the mind and 
 graces of the heart, but none ever possessed so 
 many, and in such a high degree, as the inspired 
 teacher of Nazareth. It is said of him, that " he 
 knew what was in man" that he read the spiritual 
 fortunes of our race that he had penetrated that 
 great mystery of nature, the human soul. 
 
 Ordinary minds either altogether distrust, or 
 superstitiously exaggerate, the " fruits of the spirit." 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 147 
 
 We most of us come into the world and find the 
 circuit of our thoughts already traced out for us 
 by routine and authority. The preacher for ever 
 complains that the world, in general, abandoned to 
 the dominion of the senses, has little love and little 
 desire for spiritual things that men use the lan- 
 guage and adopt the forms of devotion by habit and 
 from tradition, and do not endeavour to sound the 
 depths of their souls, to know " what manner of 
 spirit they are of." But " truth," says Lord Bacon *, 
 " is rightly called the daughter of time, and not of 
 authority ; and is it not wonderful," he asks, " that 
 the bonds of antiquity, authority, and unanimity 
 have so enchained the power of man, that he is 
 unable (as if bewitched) to become familiar with 
 things themselves," that is, to distinguish between 
 what he elsewhere calls the "idols" of the human 
 from the "ideas of the Divine mind ?" 
 
 No wonder that the profound wisdom of Christ, 
 drawn from the depths of his pure and heaven- 
 taught spirit, should have entranced the simple and 
 fascinated the learned, and that the world should 
 have " hung enamoured " on his accents for eighteen > 
 
 hundred years. Philosophy itself must pardon the 
 exaggerated rapture of his Eastern followers, who 
 saw in him " all the fulness of the Godhead." 
 When we read the simple story of his life (no doubt 
 substantially authentic), so full of the power and 
 beauty of truth when we read of men occupied in 
 
 * See " Novum Organum," Aphorism 124. 
 
 H 2 
 
148 . POPULAR CHRISTIANITY I 
 
 the ordinary occupations of life "leaving all and 
 following" him, moved only by a few "gracious 
 words" when we reflect on the Galilsean peasant 
 overthrowing gradually, as has been said by Paley, 
 all the altars in the civilized world, and furnishing, 
 down to our own times, a truly Catholic creed for 
 all nations, we can scarcely wonder that the majority 
 of mankind should still continue to kneel before 
 the Cross. It is in fact true, that all civilized men, 
 not utterly debased by ignorance, or corrupted by 
 vice, are really Christians, so far as the kind of 
 Christianity offered them is consistent with the un- 
 written law of God in the heart with such evidence 
 as this of the Divine power and heavenly wisdom of 
 Christ before our eyes, there is no need to vindicate 
 his claim to the character of a prophet by the sup- 
 position of any outward miracles. 
 
 The character, then, in which Christ must and 
 will be regarded, sooner or later, by the future 
 intelligence of mankind, is simply that of the 
 "foremost man in all the world" soaring far 
 above all "principalities and powers" above all 
 philosophies hitherto known above all creeds 
 hitherto propagated in his name." He saw with 
 
 /mx/Ar> -L J. O 
 
 / - the eye of Faith far deeper into the Divine law of 
 
 jryCTrfrul the world than the eye of man had yet seen in 
 
 ivd*~ - ' his a g e > than the ear of man had yet heard, or 
 
 his heart conceived ; and man is even yet far from 
 
 apprehending the expansive power of his religion*. 
 
 * See Archbishop Whately's "Kingdom of Christ," Essay II., p. 157. 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 149 
 
 He stood between the world of sense, and the " life 
 of God," and thus was he the "Mediator between 
 God and Man." And yet he must be strictly 
 regarded as the restorer and not the creator of 
 God's law. He came " not to destroy but to fulfil." 
 He came to restore the down-trodden faith of man 
 in the boundless possibilities of the human soul 
 to present in his life an enduring example of the 
 " beauty of holiness," and to set his seal on the 
 still struggling doctrine of immortality. There is 
 not a sect of Christians in the world which does 
 not recognise in these simple principles the vital 
 elements of their creed. The minor differences 
 (and these are what commonly produce the fierce 
 wrangling of sectarianism) are to be sought for 
 in the fine-drawn distinctions of speculative be- 
 lievers, and in the arrogant dogmatising of churches. 
 A glance at the present condition of religious 
 philosophy amongst our German neighbours is 
 sufficient to convince us of the utter futility of 
 the attempt to bind the faith of mankind by dog- 
 matical articles, by creeds and confessions. In 
 seeking for the essential characteristics of Chris- 
 tianity, the generality of these writers assume that 
 the " union of the Divine and human nature in the 
 person of Christ" is its true foundation ; and their 
 differences are merely of degree, in the acceptation 
 of the doctrine. Theoretically, there is really little 
 difference between the orthodoxy of Ullman and 
 the more philosophical liberality of Hegel. Ull- 
 man admits that, " in the whole circle of religious 
 
150 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 thought, there is nothing more sublime than the 
 consciousness in man of entire union with the 
 Deity." * This leading idea, he admits, distinguishes 
 Christianity from all other creeds; hut he refines 
 needlessly on the mode of its communication to 
 man ; i. e., whether it he a matter of consciousness, 
 or a revealed fact. Hegel regarded Christianity 
 as the true, absolute, and self-evident religion, 
 became it declares the union of God with man; 
 and he attempted on this ground to reconcile 
 religion and philosophy, and to show that, in 
 their highest results, they were actually identical. 
 
 The distinction between a revealed fact, and one 
 which enters the mind through the medium of the 
 conscience, is too fine to be of any practical value. 
 As Christ addressed mankind (by the admission of 
 all sects) in the character of man ("perfect man" 
 it may be), we may suppose that he would expe- 
 rience in himself, and appeal to in others, that 
 consciousness which is the universal attribute of 
 the species. If by a " revealed fact" is meant only 
 one which is announced by audible voices from 
 Heaven, or conferred by the descent of "cloven 
 tongues of fire," the distinction is plain enough; 
 but we can hardly conclude that this is the mean- 
 ing of the learned German. The simple question 
 after all is this: whether Christ instructed man- 
 kind by natural or by supernatural means, the 
 former being confessedly sufficient. Hegel asserts 
 
 * See " Essence of Christianity," page 89 (Catholic Series). 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 151 
 
 that Man, originally, enjoyed a participation of 
 the Divine nature (and surely this is consistent 
 with the doctrine of Genesis), and that, at a certain 
 stage of his development, he will again arrive at 
 a knowledge of his true being. Christ was an ex- 
 ample of this perfection of humanity ; hut his less- 
 gifted followers in all ages have stood still to won- 
 der at, and adore, this solitary example, without 
 considering that tin's great "revelation of God in 
 the flesh" was intended to announce the universal 
 powers and privileges of the race. 
 
 There is one objection commonly urged against 
 the humanity of Christ, founded on the assumption 
 that, having himself declared his divinity, we can- 
 not reconcile the contrary supposition with the 
 acknowledged truth and holiness of his character. 
 I am surprised that Ullman should have fallen 
 into this common mistake. " Our only choice," 
 he says, " is between the supposition of a visionary 
 self-idolatry, in which case Christ can no longer 
 remain to us a great pure-minded man, or a belief 
 in the truth of the consciousness he expressed." 
 To the first hypothesis the answer is that the 
 highest and purest minds are not only not gene- 
 rally free from, but are ordinarily distinguished 
 by, a transcendental and visionary character in 
 the best sense of these much perverted words. To 
 the second hypothesis Ullman himself has fur- 
 nished a sufficient answer in the undisputed ad- 
 mission that Christ had a "consciousness" (how- 
 
152 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 ever derived, by natural or by supernatural means) 
 " of what he expressed." 
 
 By the side of the assertion of Christ, "I and 
 the Father are One" (which may be fairly inter- 
 preted as a general vindication of the Divine origin 
 of man the doctrine of Genesis), we should place 
 those other texts which clearly declare his desire 
 to impart his divinity to all his true followers. 
 " That they all may be One, as thou, Father, art in 
 me ; " and again, " I in them, and thou in' me, that 
 they may be made perfect in One ; " or again, " All 
 is yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." 
 Surely, these texts sufficiently indicate that the " di- 
 vinity" of Christ was not an abnormal, but a natu- 
 ral gift, communicable to the whole race of man, 
 and discovered in the pure depths of that heaven- 
 instructed soul whose commission it was " to seek 
 and to save that which was lost" It was, in fact, 
 a revival of the half-forgotten faith of mankind in 
 its immortal destinies. It is assumed, in the popu- 
 lar belief, that Christ actually realised in his person 
 the perfection, both of the Divine and human na- 
 tures ; but the evidence of this is merely historical, 
 and liable to the uncertainty that must always 
 attach to human testimony. Of that which formed 
 the corner-stone of his sublime creed, we have " the 
 witness in ourselves," in the recognition by the 
 conscience of " the divinity that stirs within us." 
 
 Dr. Whately has attempted* to distinguish be- 
 * See " Kingdom of Christ," Essay I., page 9. 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 153 
 
 tween the character assumed by Christ, and that 
 currently given by the Jews to their national 
 prophets ; and the sophistical nature of his argu- 
 ment is a tolerable proof how little can be said, 
 even by the most dexterous champions of ortho- 
 doxy, in favour of the popular notion of the divinity 
 of Christ. First it is argued that Jesus is the " Son 
 of God" in a different sense from all other prophets, 
 because he is distinguished by the title of " only 
 begotten," which, according to St. John, he conferred 
 on himself. 
 
 We are told, however, by Dr. Hampden* that 
 the epithet "only begotten" (povoyevvs the " uni- 
 genitus " of the Latin Fathers) is, more than once, 
 applied to the universe (the secondary Divine being 
 in the Platonic system) in the " Timseus " of Plato. 
 A great variety of writers have noticed the Platonic 
 character of St. John's gospel, as well as Dr. Hamp- 
 den, who tells us, also, that so little were the school- 
 men agreed about the nature of Christ that he was 
 variously assumed to be " the Son of God " " by 
 nature," by " necessity," " by will," " by predestina- 
 tion," and "by adoption." 
 
 But, supposing that St. John recorded, with the 
 accuracy of a short-hand writer, the exact words of 
 Christ more than half a century after they were 
 uttered, surely this is but a very slight foundation 
 for assuming the actual identity of God and Christ. 
 Dr. Whately admits (what it is no longer possible 
 
 * See " Bampton Lectures," Lect. III. 
 
 H 3 
 
154 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 to dispute) that the angel had promised to Mary 
 that her son should he "a son of God," and not 
 "the son of God" according to the common version, 
 and that so far it was natural to expect in Jesus an 
 ordinary prophet inspired hy a holy spirit, not 
 the Holy Spirit, as we read in the received trans- 
 lation *. 
 
 But it is most singularly argued, that, from the 
 circumstances attending the transfiguration, we 
 are to assume a difference hetween Christ, and 
 Moses, and Elias; "because, on that occasion, the 
 former was surrounded by a supernatural light; 
 though, if we are to believe the history of the Old 
 Testament, manifestations equally "supernatural" 
 were actually vouchsafed to the other two ! The 
 only really distinctive feature in the transaction is 
 the voice from Heaven (if this was not similar to 
 that which had been heard by Moses) conferring on 
 Jesus the title of " beloved," and requesting the 
 witnesses especially to listen to him. Now, surely 
 there is nothing in all this to distinguish Jesus from 
 the other prophets of his nation, excepting, at most, 
 that he was more favoured, more "beloved" of 
 God, and more worthy of the attention of mankind. 
 The difference, if any, is clearly one of degree, and 
 not of quality. 
 
 Again, we find Dr. Whately assuming that, in 
 whatever sense the populace of Judea understood 
 the words of Christ, declaring his divinity, such 
 
 * See " Wakefield on Matthew," page 7 (quarto edition). 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 155 
 
 must have been the true meaning of his words, 
 if he did not formally correct their mistake. But 
 he seems to forget that the writings, recording these 
 mistakes (if such they were), did not appear until 
 long after the death of Christ, who had no oppor- 
 tunity of correcting the written errors of the Evan- 
 gelists; and that, prohahly, these errors were the 
 result of impressions that arose in their minds long 
 after the death of their master. The enthusiasm of 
 sorrow, and the tender recollection of the beloved 
 teacher, would naturally raise, in Eastern imagina- 
 tions, the feeling of affectionate reverence to that 
 of actual adoration. But, on the supposition that 
 the Evangelists misunderstood in this case, as they 
 did in others, the oral instruction of Christ, it by no 
 means follows that he could have corrected every 
 mistake that had occurred to an enthusiastic multi- 
 tude. I admit, however, that, as long as the world 
 continues to believe in a verbal inspiration of the 
 sacred Scriptures, it is impossible to answer this, or 
 any other sophism, that may be urged by the critical 
 ingenuity of Churchmen. There can be no end to 
 controversy, whilst mere words are made the flexible 
 instruments of dialectical display. We are indebted 
 to Luther and his brother Reformers for thus 
 making philology a vital element in the Christian 
 Faith, and introducing an idolatrous worship of our 
 sacred books*. 
 
 * See Novalis's "Christianity in Europe," page 15 (Catholic 
 Series). 
 
156 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 Again, it is argued, by the learned Archbishop^ 
 that, because Christ was accused on his trial before 
 the council of making himself equal to God, he 
 must have therefore publicly announced himself in 
 that character to the people. This is literally to 
 assume that the Jewish rabble that persecuted him 
 were honest witnesses against him. Jesus, indeed, 
 affirms his claim to be considered " the Son of God," 
 no doubt, in the common acceptation of the words, 
 and his persecutors might very naturally exaggerate 
 this assumption into "making himself equal with 
 God." The tendency of these witnesses to pervert 
 his words is sufficiently manifest from their attempt 
 to twist the words " Destroy this temple," &c., into 
 "Jam able to destroy this temple," which is noticed 
 by Dr. Whately himself. The claim here made by 
 Jesus, even admitting the literal accuracy of the 
 Gospel accounts, is at most a very feeble and nega- 
 tive foundation for the inference it is sought to 
 establish. The controversies, however, that for 
 eighteen hundred years have divided the world, on 
 the subject of the divinity of Christ, even amongst 
 those who receive the same Scriptures, are a suf- 
 ficient evidence of the many shades of difference 
 that exist in the interpretation of the phrases of the 
 Gospels. 
 
 Dr. Whately is obliged to admit that the Evan- 
 gelists did frequently mistake the language of Christ, 
 and that he sometimes permitted them to remain in 
 their error, and yet (forgetting, I suppose, the import 
 of his concession) he afterwards contends that this 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 157 
 
 would be inconsistent with the character of " an 
 honest man." If the utmost that Dr. Whately 
 assumes was sufficiently proved, viz., that the Jewish 
 populace helieved that Jesus had claimed to be "the 
 Son of God " in a higher sense than the rest of their 
 prophets, and that he himself admitted the charge, 
 there still remains the difficulty of explaining the 
 exact force of the language used, and the sense in 
 which it was acknowledged; and yet, upon this 
 doubtful issue, Dr. Whately declares, "that the 
 truth of Christianity depends." In other words, the 
 substantial truth of the divinest philosophy, and the 
 most Catholic religion yet revealed to mankind, 
 depends on the issue of a philological dispute ! 
 
 It is insisted * that the divinity of Christ is to be 
 assumed from his declaration . that he came into the 
 world to " bear witness to the truth ;" but this has 
 been the professed object of all true prophets from 
 the beginning of the world. It is somewhat sin- 
 gular to find the orthodox champion (one of the 
 most sophistical writers of the age) perpetually 
 complaining of the " special pleading" of his op- 
 ponents, who attempt to give a natural, instead 
 of a supernatural, account of matters perfectly sus- 
 ceptible of such an interpretation. Arguments 
 derived from plain human experience and com- 
 mon sense must, in the nature of things, be in- 
 sufficient to prove the supernatural pretensions of 
 Christ; and, therefore, if there be any "special 
 
 * " Kingdom of Christ," page 30. 
 
158 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 pleading," it must be adopted by those who have 
 to sustain the specialty of God and Christ being 
 one Being, instead of Christ being a man divinely 
 inspired by the spirit of God. 
 
 But, after all, is it not possible to conceive that 
 Christ may really have thought himself "divine," 
 without being liable to the charge of a " visionary 
 self -idolatry," as urged by Ullman, or of conduct 
 inconsistent with the character of an " honest man," 
 as supposed by Dr. Whately? The wild sub- 
 limity of human emotion, when the rapt spirit first 
 feels the throbbings of the divine afflatus when 
 the first dawn of Divine truth, and the first ray of 
 Divine love, pour into the open soul, will at once 
 explain and excuse the exulting language of the 
 heaven- taught Galilean. Man, "created in the 
 image of God," and only " a little lower than the 
 angels," may lawfully exult in the assured pre- 
 sence of that Divine spirit, which, according to 
 the doctrine of Christ, is the lawful inheritance 
 of "the pure in heart," and the communication 
 of which his true disciples hope and pray for in 
 their daily prayers. "A great soul, any sincere 
 soul, knows not what he is," says the true-hearted 
 Carlyle*. They whose religion is founded on 
 forms and phrases are no fit judges of the reali- 
 
 * Men inspired with new thought are like men filled " with new 
 wine," and they who prophesy under its new-born influence have 
 ever been liable to the " mockery " of the multitude, and have some- 
 times, perhaps, exaggerated their own inspiration. See Acts, chap, 
 ii. verse 13. 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 159 
 
 ties of the spiritual life, and the sensual world 
 has ever protested against or mistaken even the 
 most natural of the higher impulses of the soul, 
 and has either condemned as enthusiasts, or wor- 
 shipped as gods, the most inspired of their race. 
 
 No doubt the actual union of the Divine with 
 the human nature was realised in the conscious- 
 ness of Christ. "The distinctive peculiarity of 
 Christianity," says Ullman, "is this that it re- 
 minds man of the divinity which dwells within 
 him." 
 
 They who assume the divinity of Christ from the 
 universal and abiding influence of his precepts 
 may find a more natural solution of the phenome- 
 non than in the supposition that God once, in the 
 history of the world, descended upon earth, and 
 perished as a malefactor hy the hands of those he 
 came to instruct. 
 
 In discussing the influences shed by the genius 
 of Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare, on their seve- 
 ral eras, the eloquent Chateaubriand has truly ob- 
 served that "Homer impregnated all antiquity;" 
 that "Dante was the parent of modern Italy;" and 
 that " England is now all Shakespeare." In esti- 
 mating the effects on society of these " supreme 
 masters," the accomplished Frenchman does full 
 justice to the sacred ministry of genius. "Every- 
 thing," he says, " springs from them their im- 
 press is everywhere to be seen they invent words 
 and names that go to swell the general vocabulary 
 of the people their expressions become proverbs 
 
160 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 their fictitious persons are formed into real ones 
 who have heirs and a lineage. They open up 
 horizons from whence issue forth pencils of light 
 they sow ideas which are the germs of thousands 
 of others they furnish conceptions, subjects, and 
 styles for all the arts their works are the mines, 
 the exhaustless treasures of the human mind. 
 Such geniuses occupy the first rank their im- 
 mensity their variety their fertility their origi- 
 nality cause them from the first to be regarded as 
 LAWS, examples, moulds, types of different intelli- 
 gences." * 
 
 How much more truly may all this he applied 
 to the life and doctrine of the inspired Galilsean 
 than to any other prophet that has yet appeared 
 in the world, as the " Mediator" between God and 
 the human soul ! How have his words passed 
 into the sacred proverbs of nations? How have 
 the minutest and least significant passages in his 
 shadowy history been magnified into deep and 
 mysterious realities ? How prolific have been the 
 " ideas sown" by the imperfect records of his brief 
 career ? and how has that charmed and picturesque 
 story "furnished conceptions, subjects, and styles 
 for all the arts?" The whole civilised earth has 
 groaned under the weight of a gorgeous Christian 
 Architecture, and the walls of Christian temples 
 have been covered thick with the masterpieces of 
 the sister arts of sculpture and of painting. And 
 
 * See Chateaubriand's " Memoirs," vol. ii. part 3. 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 161 
 
 how has the simple and holy life of the Jewish 
 peasant heen regarded as the " law, the example, 
 the mould, and the type for the highest intelli- 
 gences" of all subsequent ages? In the same 
 sense as Homer is said to have "impregnated all 
 antiquity/' and "England" to he "all Shake- 
 speare/' may Christ he said to have impregnated 
 all ages, and the civilised world to he " all Christ." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 
 
 " He who studies religion only intellectually loses sight of its vital 
 principle. Its essentials are love and veneration a deep pervading 
 sense of dependence upon G-od, of communion with Him. Were 
 religion only doctrine, it would be susceptible, like logic or mathe- 
 matics, of exact demonstration." ULLMAN. 
 
 WE are but following the footsteps of an accom- 
 plished Evangelical layman*, and of a learned 
 English Bishop, in entering freely into a discussion 
 of the doctrinal system of the Church. " The doc- 
 trinal statements of religious truth," says Dr. Hamp- 
 den, "have their origin in the human intellect;" 
 and in another place he observes that, " strictly to 
 speak, in the Scripture itself there are no doc- 
 trines f." The author of "Ancient Christianity" 
 naively complains of the absence of many of what 
 are now considered the vital doctrines of Christianity 
 from the patristic theology. There is probably no 
 reason for disputing the accuracy of the liberal 
 
 * Isaac Taylor. See " Ancient Christianity." 
 t Dr. Hampden's " Bampton Lectures." 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 163 
 
 Churchman, or defending the orthodoxy of the 
 ancient Church, at the expense of the modern. 
 There is no doubt that the Christian theology was 
 for many centuries interwoven with the Platonic 
 philosophy. A union of the Platonic with the 
 Christian system was openly attempted in the second 
 century by Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, and 
 Clement of Alexandria. Platonic notions were 
 disseminated as Christian verities, and even the 
 technical language of Platonism was employed by 
 the Fathers in expounding the mysteries of the 
 Christian faith*. It was not until the sixth century, 
 according to Mosheim, that the influence of the 
 modern or later Platonists declined in the Eastern 
 Church, and in that of the West their doctrines are 
 still to be traced as late as the seventeenth^ . 
 
 The Christian Church appears for many centuries 
 to have been the battle-field upon which the learned 
 chivalry of the Aristotelian and Platonic schools 
 contended with the weapons of philosophy for their 
 conflicting views of Divine truth. This sort of 
 connection between philosophy and religion is, in 
 fact, found to pervade the whole course of ecclesias- 
 tical history. It has been well observed by a 
 modern writerj, " that changes and revolutions in 
 the Church, if they are wide spread and lasting, are 
 
 * Since the publication of Gfrorer's " Origin of Christianity," the /\j> ' J 
 most bigoted must confess the influence of Alexandrian Platonism 
 on the minds of the Evangelical writers. 
 
 f See article " Platonism," Ree's " Cyclopaedia." 
 
 J See Hare's " Sermons on the Victory of Faith." 
 
164 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 ever coincident with analogous revolutions in the 
 history of the human mind ; " and the fact is clearly 
 proved hy religious history, that the doctrines of 
 Christianity have in every age heen modified hy the 
 influence of the prevailing philosophy ; and that the 
 Christian faith has heen enlightened and rational, 
 or superstitious and fanatical, with the fluctuating 
 fortunes of philosophical systems. The degradation 
 of Christianity kept pace with the corruptions of 
 the later Platonists, and the captious logic of 
 Aristotle was the parent of a numerous offspring of 
 doctrinal errors in the Christian Church*. The 
 revival of learning was in some degree the revival 
 of Christianity ; but the regeneration of both was 
 merely initiative, and the Christianity of the Refor- 
 mation is in no degree in advance of the philosophy 
 which then prevailed. The conflicting religious 
 elements to be found in the faith of that period are 
 to be attributed to the transition state of philosophy 
 itself. In the " dark and middle ages," we find 
 Christianity adapting itself to the motley spirit of 
 the time, inspiring the fierce and bloody devotion of 
 the Crusades, and leading the soldier of Christ 
 through a pilgrimage of carnage, of plunder and 
 debauchery, to the Holy Sepulchre. 
 
 * The works of Philo (which are proved by Gfrbrer to have been 
 written before the year 40) appear to have strongly influenced the 
 minds and coloured the language of the Evangelical writers, if not of 
 Christ himself. The whole idea of the Logos is evidently borrowed 
 from Philo. See an able criticism on Gfrorer's *' Origin of Christianity " 
 in the sixteenth number of the " Prospective Review." 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 165 
 
 This evident connection of Christianity with the 
 progress of human thought sufficiently proves that it 
 is destined to "grow with our growth, and strengthen 
 with our strength;" and that so far is the Divine 
 philosophy from heing all comprehended " in the 
 words of a book," that it is scattered broad- cast on 
 the vast field of the intellectual universe. 
 
 At a very early period in Church history, we 
 discover a philosophic liberality in the treatment of 
 some of its main doctrines, even by professed 
 believers, that would shock the orthodoxy of the 
 nineteenth century. So early, indeed, had a profane 
 philosophy corrupted the fountains of Divine truth, 
 that it must be conceded that the earliest patristic 
 opinion was in favour of the corporeality of the 
 soul. Such was undoubtedly the opinion of Ter- 
 tullian. Lactantius, the most eloquent of the Latin 
 Fathers, is found early in the fourth century deny- 
 ing the "personality of the Holy Ghost," and the 
 ^propitiatory sacrifice of Christ." In short, al- 
 most every form of philosophical heresy that ever 
 distracted the Christian Church may be found in 
 the writings of the Fathers. It was the opinion of 
 Sir James Macintosh, expressed in his " Progress 
 of Ethical Philosophy," that the great doctrines of 
 Christianity, those of grace, predestination, and 
 original sin, were not older than the age of Au- 
 gustin of Hippo ! Dr. Priestley denies, as I have 
 elsewhere observed, that the popular doctrine of the 
 atonement is to be found either in the Jewish, 
 Christian, or patristic writings, or in any ancient 
 
166 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 summary of the faith of the Church. Surely, then, 
 it is time to endeavour, with Dr. Hampden, to dis- 
 tinguish between the dogmatic theology of the 
 Church, and the holy philosophy of Christ. 
 
 The doctrines of Christianity must he tested (and 
 such assuredly will he their fate in the present age) 
 by an application of them to the philosophy of our 
 moral life; and those which conduce neither to our 
 spiritual development nor moral progress must be 
 rejected as the offspring of fanaticism or corruption. 
 The trust of mankind in written revelations, and a 
 dogmatic theology, arises from the universal desire 
 of spiritual knowledge, combined with the want of 
 courageous and sustained exertion in the pursuit of 
 it from our indolence, our sensuality our want of 
 faith in the powers and privileges of the soul. A 
 written revelation is a " royal road" to the deepest 
 mysteries of the spiritual life, it "tells our fortune" 
 in the dim and visionary future saves us the toil of 
 thought, and enables us to depute to others the painful 
 privileges of the intellect, which we want the courage 
 and virtue to vindicate for ourselves. The in- 
 dolent, the ignorant, and the sensual are ever 
 distinguished for the extent of their formal, and the 
 narrowness of their real belief. It is far easier, to 
 those who have been systematically taught that 
 there is both danger and difficulty in the exercise of 
 the intellect, to believe in the teaching of the 
 Church than in the direct inspiration of God. 
 
 But let us hope that the intellectual character of 
 the present age will enable it to burst the bonds of 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 167 
 
 its spiritual slavery. Modern believers, I fancy, 
 are but little disposed to emulate the pious zeal 
 which once made men the " martyrs of a diphthong," 
 and to sacrifice a rational and intelligible creed, 
 sensibly affecting the conduct of life, for a philo- 
 sophical abstraction. The days are gone by when 
 fanatics, like D'Alva and Astorga, could find readers 
 for forty-eight volumes on the mystery of the Im- 
 maculate Conception! It is, no doubt, beginning 
 to be felt that many of those doctrinal distinctions 
 that excite the strife and inspire the mutual hatred 
 of contending sects are really non-essential to the 
 vital character of the religion of Christ, even though 
 they may have been the controversial battle-field of 
 his immediate followers ; and he who first exclaimed, 
 "Not Paul, but Jesus," struck upon a chord whose 
 vibrations will hereafter be felt by every rational 
 Christian throughout the world. 
 
 With the exception, perhaps, of the Germans, the 
 nations of Europe have little disposition to revive 
 the metaphysical Christianity of the early Church. 
 The " science of words," as the speculative theology 
 of the East has been aptly defined, has but few 
 charms for the utilitarian intellect of modern times. 
 The progress and development of the inductive 
 sciences have had an indirect and unsuspected but 
 powerful influence in the formation of human opinion 
 in every branch of mental philosophy. The specu- 
 lative subtleties and doctrinal crotchets that once 
 distracted the Church on the subject of the nature of 
 
168 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 Christ *, or the personality of the Holy Ghost, are 
 become matters rather of antiquarian curiosity than 
 of serious interest to reflecting Christians ; and they 
 turn to these barren pages of ecclesiastical history 
 rather to indulge a literary sentiment than to satisfy 
 a religious doubt. A few minds, indeed, may still be 
 found secluded in colleges, and professionally en- 
 gaged in theological education, that make it a matter 
 of conscience still to appeal to the ancient standards 
 of orthodoxy; but the darkness, even of these 
 modern cloisters, is occasionally illuminated by a ray 
 of reason and common sense from the world without. 
 The fierce intolerance of a Laud, or even of a War- 
 burton, is no longer to be found amongst the most 
 bigoted of churchmen, and the gentle and pious 
 Law would now run no risk of being branded as an 
 Atheist by a Protestant Bishop f. The practical 
 believer in the present age is satisfied with spiritual 
 realities. He is indifferent to the metaphysical dis- 
 tinctions that have amused the learned and puzzled 
 the laity in the matter of spiritual gifts, and the 
 teaching of conscience; whilst he finds the Eomanist 
 and the Quaker, the Calvinist and the Lutheran, 
 the Wesleyan and the Socinian, all agreeing as to 
 the spiritual fact, and asserting, under different 
 
 * The heresy of Nestorius, according to Gibbon, consisted in 
 asserting that the manhood of Christ was " the robe, the instrument, 
 and the tabernacle of his Godhead ! " 
 
 f- The charge of Atheism was actually brought by Warburton 
 against the author of " The Spirit of Love ! " 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 169 
 
 names, the existence of a Divine influence in the 
 human soul. He feels that it is God alone that 
 gives the spiritual desire that forms the essence 
 of all rational religion that theology is simply 
 human. He is satisfied with the great dogma of 
 his creed, that " God giveth to all men liberally of 
 His Spirit/' and turns with weariness and disgust 
 from the learned limitations and scholastic refine- 
 ments by which it is mystified and impaired. 
 
 The dogmas of the popular Christianity are, in 
 general, a sophistical or a fanatical perversion of 
 the universal moral instincts of mankind, and, in 
 discussing them, we must endeavour to discover the 
 philosophical roots from which they have sprung, 
 removing the weeds with which they have been 
 overgrown during their development in the hotbeds 
 of ecclesiastical corruption. Every doctrine of the 
 Church, in short, presents a twofold aspect in its 
 natural and non-natural in its rational and eccle- 
 siastical interpretation. 
 
 The doctrine of original sin may be considered 
 as the corner-stone of the modern system of Chris- 
 tianity, as, with slight modifications and with the 
 exception of a single sect, it is received by every 
 denomination of Christians. Upon this dogma the 
 whole existing theology of Christendom is based, 
 and the doctrines of the atonement and vicarious 
 sacrifice are inseparably interwoven with it wherever 
 it is received. In its more rigid interpretation it 
 assumes the utter depravity and moral helplessness 
 of human nature, and in its most lax construction, 
 
 i 
 
1 70 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 it concludes its inherent imperfection. It would 
 be impossible, within any moderate limits, to ex- 
 amine the various interpretations that have been 
 given at different times, and by different writers, 
 of this perplexing doctrine, and I shall, therefore, 
 only notice a few of the more prominent of these 
 learned lucubrations. 
 
 Original sin is supposed generally to be either 
 "inherent" or "imputed;" the former assuming 
 that the corruption of mankind is propagated ly 
 generation from Adam, and precedes any actual trans- 
 gression of the individual. Consistently with this 
 theory, we find Malebranche discoursing learnedly 
 on the theory of generation the physiology of the 
 brain, and the transmission of hereditary qualities 
 from parents to children. Had he lived in modern 
 times, he would have illustrated his physiological 
 studies, no doubt, from the rich resources of phren- 
 ology, and, perhaps, assuming a " criminal brain" 
 in the Old Adam as the consequence of the fall, 
 have argued its natural transmission to his latest 
 posterity*. The evident error that pervades the 
 reasoning of the Church on this subject is founded 
 on the assumption that our passions are simply 
 evil, and not a necessary part of the machinery of 
 our moral life, when reduced to obedience to our 
 reason. 
 
 * The diseases of the father descend to his children in conformity 
 with a physical law, and the diseases of the mind are evidently con- 
 nected with those of the body. Thus the terms " choleric," " bilious," 
 " sanguine," &c., &c., are used indifferently in physics and in morals. 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 171 
 
 It may be observed, however, that Malebranche in 
 these curious speculations is but echoing the mate- 
 rialistic language of the Fathers on the same subject. 
 Dr. Hampden tells us that Augustine maintained 
 the transmission of the material element of cor- 
 ruption from Adam, and adds that the heresy of 
 Pelagius was probably nothing more than an op- 
 position to the materialistic theory that pervaded 
 the scholastic theology, and which has been adopted 
 by the modern Church. We are again and again 
 assured that the Christian Fathers founded their 
 whole doctrinal system on the principles of mate- 
 rialism*. The very notion of Faith itself is that of 
 an " infused principle," and the Apostle is described 
 as " speaking in the terms of a logical philosophy," 
 where he defines it as "the substance of tilings 
 hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." 
 
 "Imputed original sin" simply imputes to the 
 innocent posterity of Adam the consequences of his 
 transgression, and, to cover the shocking injustice 
 of this monstrous assumption, the Church has in- 
 vented an imaginary covenant (the " covenant of 
 works " ) made by God with Adam, and binding on 
 his posterity yet unborn. The grossness and clum- 
 siness of such an expedient to explain the dealings 
 of a just and merciful God with a yet innocent 
 world is worthy of the darkest ages of the Church ; 
 and yet this doctrine has been entertained by 
 
 * See " Bampton Lectures," Lect. V., and elsewhere. 
 
 I 2 
 
172 
 
 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 Dr. Watts and a considerable number of learned 
 Christians in modern times. 
 
 I But let us turn from these barren speculations of 
 1 ecclesiastics, to the simple teaching of reason and 
 philosophy. The essence of the doctrine of human 
 imperfection is recognised by every religious system 
 the world has ever known, and is probably as old 
 as philosophy itself. The ecclesiastical variety of 
 it, we are now discussing, is a crude and imperfect 
 apprehension of a great philosophical truth. The 
 " aesthetic " view of the doctrine of human depravity 
 is probably the revival of the most ancient philosophy 
 on the subject, and is exactly in unison with every 
 rational view of the teaching of Plato and of Paul. 
 " To the honour of human nature," says Schiller*, 
 " be it admitted that no man can sink so low as to 
 prefer the bad only because it is bad ; but every one 
 without distinction would prefer the good because 
 it is good, if it did not contingently exclude the 
 agreeable and include the disagreeable. All im- 
 morality in actual life appears then to result from 
 the collision of the good with the agreeable, or, 
 what is the same thing, of the desires with 
 the reason. * * * * The natural foe of mo- 
 rality is the sensuous impulse, or, in the words of 
 
 * See " Philosophical and ^Esthetic Letters of Schiller," page 203 
 (Catholic Series). " Ce n'est point," says Rousseau, " parce que 
 nous sommes foibles, niais parce que nous sommes laches, que nos 
 sens nous subjuguent toujours." How fatal, then, to morals must 
 be all tampering with our faith in the power of the Will. 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 173 
 
 Paul, the 'flesh wars against the spirit, and the 
 spirit against the flesh/ so that we cannot do the 
 things that we would." 
 
 In what sense, then, may we rationally assume 
 the natural imperfection of the species ? Man is 
 in an imperfect and rudimentary condition in refer- 
 ence to the whole of his destinies ; hut absolutely 
 perfect, like every other work of God, in regard to 
 his present and immediate condition, as occupying 
 a place in a system of moral progress. The bud is 
 thus imperfect in reference to the flower, and the 
 flower in reference to the fruit j but still the bud, 
 the flower, and the fruit, are absolutely perfect 
 in themselves, and fully satisfy the conditions of 
 their being. The same law of development may 
 be fairly applied to the intellectual and moral nature 
 of man, and can be clearly traced in his spiritual 
 history. The various stages through which the 
 mind progresses, from the lowest animalism to 
 the highest spirituality from the grovellings of 
 selfishness and impurity to the purest ideal of 
 faith and love, represent the ordinary and natural 
 developments of the moral nature. In the divine 
 philosophy and holy life of Christ were presented 
 to the world a model so sublime, that for nearly 
 two thousand years it has paused to wonder and 
 adore. 
 
 The apparently incurable depravity, then, of large 
 masses of human beings arises from the absence of 
 spiritual desire and the too powerful influence of the 
 
174 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 senses *. Every form and variety of depravity is 
 simply to be referred to these causes; and the 
 master idea of Platonism, of Christianity, and of all 
 other religious philosophy, has been to establish the 
 dominion of the soul over the body, and to confirm 
 the faith of mankind in the spiritual and unseen. 
 A degree of corruption, or, more properly speaking, 
 of perversion, has always been assumed by religious 
 philosophy; and the object of asceticism and 
 meditative devotion (however abused) has been to 
 restore the balance of the moral and physical 
 attributes of our nature. This is the simple theory 
 of all religious systems, exhibited in the writings of 
 the earlier and later Platonists, in the whole theo- 
 sophy of the East, in the Christian, Pauline, and 
 Patristic, theology presenting every shade of 
 purity and corruption from the highest abstractions 
 of philosophy, to the lowest depths of superstition, 
 from the pure and holy teaching of the " sermon 
 on the mount," to the madness of the Egyptian 
 monks, and the "torrents" of Madame de Guyonf. 
 Religious systems only differ from each other in the 
 statement of the doctrine, and the remedial mea- 
 sures by which it is sought to restore the sesthetic 
 condition of the soul. 
 
 In spite, however, of the ecclesiastical perversions 
 
 * Schleiermacher defines our liberation from sin as the removal 
 of that which disturbs the unity between the material and spiritual 
 life. 
 
 + See Michelet's " Priests, Women, and Families." 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 175 
 
 of the doctrine before us, the philosophical idea 
 upon which it is founded supplies the most 
 important moral evidence of the immortality of the 
 soul. The most perfect of mankind on looking 
 back on the best-spent life is unable to discover a 
 finished work. Life, in whatever light we regard it, 
 is clearly a part, and not the whole, of our being. 
 The soul has not slaked her thirst for knowledge, 
 nor have the affections gratified their purest desires 
 in the present life. Imaginary forms of more per- 
 fect being are familiar to the secret aspirations of 
 the soul, whose hopes and desires are imperfectly 
 satisfied by the formal dogmatizing of creeds. 
 Thus do the very imperfections of our nature, as 
 they are called, our halting obedience, our sor- 
 rows, and our infirmities, tend to purify and exalt 
 the soul, and raise it to the contemplation of its 
 higher destiny. And who shall say that this was 
 not the eternal purpose of God ? It is, surely, 
 more reasonable to suppose that the imperfections 
 we discover in our moral being should be intended 
 to stimulate our faith, and enliven our hope, of a 
 happy immortality, than that our infirmities should 
 be entailed upon us as a hereditary curse for the sin 
 
 The scholastic doctrine of " original si 
 clearly at variance both with the spirit and the 
 letter of the teaching of Christ himself; even 
 should we succeed in torturing it out of the philo- y* 
 sophical writings of St. Paul. He who exhorts us 
 to strive for a perfection equal to the Divine Nature JH 
 
176 
 
 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 itself, and proposes the innocence of childhood as 
 the model for our imitation, cannot he supposed to 
 have inculcated the despairing doctrine either of 
 "imputed" or "inherent" depravity. The grand 
 dogma of Christ " Be ye perfect even as your 
 Father which is in heaven is perfect " is a sublime 
 philosophy for all time. And, surely, it is more 
 consistent with every natural and rational notion 
 of the nature of man, and the idea of spiritual pro- 
 gress, to teach the possible perfection, rather than 
 the necessary imperfection, of human nature. Is 
 the sincere love of the truth, and simple and un- 
 wavering faith, in the high purposes of the moral 
 life, never to he rewarded with spiritual assurance ? 
 
 But let us regard the influence of the popular 
 doctrine of "original sin" on the development of 
 
 e moral life in our various relations, civil and 
 
 E t : social. In every sense it is a " Gospel of despair," 
 jtA .-weakening the springs of all moral exertion, and 
 checking the progress of human improvement. It 
 ~ I destroys the faith of mankind in the power of 
 principles, and tends to a hase and cowardly con- 
 formity to the corruptions of the world. The sins, 
 the sorrows, and the oppressions of mankind, are 
 Regarded as a necessary part of the Divine economy. 
 It corrupts, at once, the public and the private 
 / conscience. It assumes, that the moral and social 
 , evils which are, in fact, gradually disappearing he- 
 / fore the march of civilization, constitute the normal 
 I condition of the human race. If the political phi- 
 losopher complains that, in the richest country in 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 177 
 
 the world, two millions of human heings are pining ^y 
 in workhouses, or living on puhlic charity that, in 
 some shape or other, one-half the world have be- 
 come the almoners of God's bounty for the other 
 that the luxurious and indolent classes are actually 
 being destroyed by sensuality and abundance, as 
 effectually as the poor are being decimated and 
 degraded by the sufferings of poverty and the 
 crimes of ignorance he is reminded of the Divine 
 revelation, that " the poor shall never cease out of 
 the land," and that sorrow, sin, and shame, are the 
 appointed inheritance of the sons of Adam. That 
 the noblest institutions of public charity, antici- 
 pating almost every form of human suffering, 
 abound and increase daily amongst us, concur- 
 rently with the increase of national distress that 
 the building of churches and the diffusion of (what 
 is called) religious knowledge appear only to 
 aggravate the pauperism and degradation of the 
 people, ought, surely, to convince us that we are 
 supplying neither to the body nor the soul the means 
 of regeneration. If from ten thousand pulpits a 
 body of educated men, whose proper business it is 
 (for incomes varying from 30 to '30,000 a year) 
 to extort from the Scriptures the doctrines of the 
 Church, shall continue to teach us that we are 
 " unable of ourselves to help ourselves," there is 
 little doubt that they will " make the food they 
 feed on." 
 
 But the private conscience is not less corrupted 
 than the public one by the doctrine before us. If 
 
 I 3 
 
178 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 we teach the drunkard or the liar that his vices 
 belong to his nature that they are " vices of the 
 blood" that his forefathers from the fall of Adam 
 have been drunkards and liars, and that his sue-, 
 cessors will for ever inherit the undying curse, 
 is not such instruction more likely to sink the 
 soul into an indolent acquiescence with an un- 
 avoidable fate, than to gird it up for sustained 
 and vigorous exertion? That such is the actual 
 result on the religious temper of the age can hardly 
 be denied. 
 
 The primary instincts of the heart, and the 
 original powers of the intellect, are constantly 
 denied by the teachers of this debasing doctrine. 
 The possibility of an abstract love of truth is de- 
 nied or suspected ; and even the natural affections 
 are treated as objects of challenge and distrust. 
 (< The love of truth in fallen man," says Mr. 
 Moseley, the late able editor of the " British 
 Critic," "is a corrupted affection, just as natu- 
 ral love is; it betrays the selfish element; his 
 mind annexes truth to itself, and not itself to 
 truth ; it considers truth as a kind of property 
 it wants the pride of making it its own ; it treats 
 it as an article of mental success." But is not 
 this to confound the honesty of zeal and love 
 with the miserable ambition of successful author- 
 ship; and must it not be the produce of a mind 
 incapable of distinguishing between two utterly 
 distinct and conflicting principles in the human 
 heart? It will not surely be denied that a pure 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 179 
 
 love of truth may have animated even the " fallen" 
 natures of many of that " nohle army of martyrs" 
 who, in different ages, have renounced and despised 
 the common amhition of life, and triumphed even 
 at the stake over the world and over the flesh. 
 
 Everywhere around us we hear from believers 
 the mixed language of humility and arrogance, 
 of presumption and despair; and they who most 
 exult in the perfect soundness of their doctrinal 
 faith are most ready, in whispering humbleness, 
 to confess the feebleness of their religious obe- 
 dience. It is true, indeed, that the knowledge and 
 confession of error is the first step in the spiritual 
 life, but it must still be regarded as a means and 
 not as an end. The true confession of infirmity must 
 not be magnified into merit, and strength and fee- 
 bleness become convertible terms. Not only are 
 the sincere and earnest misled by the subtle dog- 
 matizing of the Church, but the vicious are made 
 easy in their vices, and the feeble confirmed in 
 their despair. The vicious man is easily recon- 
 ciled to the burden of sins which he shares with all 
 mankind, and the feeble sinks under the weight of 
 infirmities he cannot avoid, and which he is taught 
 to believe will cling to him like the deadly vest of 
 Nessus. 
 
 Of course I shall be here reminded by the 
 modern fanatic of the simple scripture, "Believe 
 in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved " 
 as the great panacea by which all moral obli- 
 quities are cured, and which reconciles an irnper- 
 
180 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 feet obedience with religious assurance. But what 
 is this but to substitute a faith partly historical 
 and partly metaphysical (and which the mass of 
 mankind must humbly receive on the authority of 
 their teachers) for that faith in the soul itself, 
 which is the incentive to all that is true and holy 
 in the conduct of men, and which was, in fact, 
 the very corner stone of the system of Christ? 
 This faith in the boundless possibilities of the 
 moral life has been the burden of all true prophets 
 since the world began inspiring alike the wisdom 
 of Solomon and the spiritual raptures of Isaiah, of 
 Christ, of John, and of Paul. In the prophetic 
 vision of Isaiah, the future earth was to be " full 
 of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover 
 the sea ; " nations were not to learn war any more ; 
 "the wolf was to dwell with the lamb, and the 
 leopard to lie down with the kid;" and walking 
 in " the light of the Lord," the emancipated world 
 was to "become as a field which the Lord had 
 blessed." In the sermon on the mount is sha- 
 dowed forth the same moral ideal as the object of 
 desire, of faith, and of hope. The purest (and 
 to all but the apprehension of faith), the most im- 
 possible ethics are commanded, and the erring 
 world is called back to the first principles of truth 
 and love. The dead forms of ancient piety are 
 condemned as having lost their significance by 
 the lapse of time; and the formalist, the hypo- 
 crite, and the worldly-minded are rebuked for 
 their indifference, their insincerity, and their want 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 181 
 
 of faith. Throughout the Evangelical writings, 
 the same prospective ideal of moral perfection, as 
 the object of life, is clearly to be traced, though 
 often obscured by the influence of other philoso- 
 phies which were prevalent in the age*. Indeed, 
 the fanatical idea of an ever- appro aching millen- 
 nium, which appears never at any period to have 
 been out of the contemplation of the Church, 
 from the days of the fathers to the present mo- 
 ment, is the strongest possible proof that the de- 
 sire and hope of this glorious consummation is 
 inextricably interwoven with our spiritual history. 
 
 The faith, then, that "justifies" is not faith in 
 human events long passed away, but in Divine in- 
 stincts still throbbing in the human breast faith 
 in that fair idea of perfection that the Spirit of God 
 reveals to us in our highest and purest moments. 
 Unhappily, however, it has become almost impos- 
 sible to define the office of this divine conscience in 
 the modern systems of theology; for at one moment 
 it is regarded as the voice of God speaking within 
 us, and at another as the secret suggestion of the 
 spirit of evil. And thus that " unspeakable gift" 
 which has kindled every altar in the world has 
 been made the theme of unhallowed criticism, and 
 the sport of ecclesiastical systems. 
 
 We readily overlook the short- comings of the 
 illustrious Luther, in expounding the doctrine of 
 
 * We are often obliged, with Dr. Hampden, to " appeal from Paul 
 philosophizing to Paul preaching." 
 
POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 "justification by faith" for the sake of the eternal 
 truths which are really brought to light in the 
 " Commentary on the Galatians." In estimating 
 the labours of the German Eeformer, we must 
 neither forget the temper of the man nor of the age 
 in which he lived his fierce enthusiasm or the 
 spiritual corruption by which he was surrounded. 
 All faith, either in the teaching of the conscience, 
 or in the sublime philosophy of the Scriptures, had 
 merged in a general belief in the infallibility of a 
 Church, at once tyrannical, ignorant, and corrupt. 
 It was natural, however, that the mind of Luther, 
 trained in the school of religious obedience, and 
 acknowledging the authority of" Catholic antiquity," 
 should rather endeavour to accommodate truth to 
 the Church, than to bring the Church into con- 
 formity with truth. The indignant protest of the 
 man and the scholar did not and could not alto- 
 gether suppress the natural instincts of a monk of 
 the middle ages ; and it is only to say that Luther 
 was human, to assert that he was amenable to the 
 religious and intellectual tendencies of his age. 
 Erasmus has declared that Luther was anxious to 
 restore the Church to the model reflected in the 
 writings of the Fathers, and we have already suf- 
 ficiently exposed the unsound character of the 
 Patristic theology*. 
 
 * " Luther," says Novalis, " treated Christianity in an arbitrary 
 manner; he mistook its spirit, and introduced another character and 
 another religion ; the holy all-availableness of the Bible, and thereby, 
 alas ! another foreign earthly science was mixed up with religious 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 183 
 
 The twofold aspect of the dogmas of the Church, 
 their popular and philosophic meaning, is strongly 
 exhibited in the history of the doctrine of predesti- 
 nation. It is extremely doubtful whether the true 
 Calvinistic notion of predestination was ever really 
 believed beyond the confines of ecclesiastical 
 schools, or ever attained the rank of a settled 
 doctrine with any important sect still more doubt- 
 ful whether it ever sensibly affected the lives of any 
 considerable number of Christians. A few sophisti- 
 cal priests, a few simple fanatics, and a few volup- 
 tuous hypocrites may have held it, indeed, as a 
 means for the exhibition of their ingenuity, or for 
 the indulgence of their passions, but the common 
 sense of mankind has always rejected it, as incon- 
 sistent with all rational ideas of a moral government 
 of the world. The transition from the true to the 
 false doctrine is easy to be understood, though the 
 Church has been wrangling about it for at least 
 fourteen centuries. 
 
 The Jansenists and the Jesuits, each claimed the 
 authority of Augustin for their conflicting views of 
 the doctrine of predestination. Now, Augustin 
 appears simply to have taught that God had pre- 
 ordained, in the order of His providence, that the 
 wicked should be punished in consequence of their 
 sins against the divine law; a doctrine perfectly 
 consistent with rational religion and sound philo- 
 
 matters philology whose destructive influence from that time has 
 been but too manifest." See " Christianity or Europe," page 15 
 (Catholic Series). 
 
18.4 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 sophy. But, for this, the fanatic has substituted the 
 horrible notion, not only that the punishment but 
 that the guilt was preordained that, in short, the 
 good and bad actions of men " are determined from 
 all eternity by a Divine decree, and fixed by 
 inevitable necessity." That many of the texts of 
 Scripture relied on to prove this detestable doctrine 
 are clearly to be interpreted as being (at least) 
 relative to nations, and not to individuals, is now 
 generally admitted ; but the mysterious and obscure 
 language of St. Paul leaves room for renewing the 
 contest from age to age; and the author of the 
 celebrated treatise on " Free Will " * has exhibited 
 great powers of thought, a vigorous intellect, and 
 much learning, in expounding this ecclesiastical 
 crotchet. Of course the only cure for this elaborate 
 trifling with the moral and spiritual concerns of 
 mankind is a rational view of the inspiration of 
 the Scriptures ; for, as long as the popular notion 
 is allowed to prevail, they furnish argumentative 
 armour for all sects, and supply an unbounded field 
 for the sophistries of schoolmen, and the senti- 
 mentalities of fanatics. Well may Dr. Hampden 
 assert that the doctrines of the Church are simply 
 matters of opinion ; but he ought, surely, to have 
 added, that it is unjust and tyrannical to enforce 
 subscription not only by penalties, but by the 
 slightest disabilities, religious or civil. 
 
 It is really humiliating to trace the painful 
 
 * Edwards " On the Freedom of the Will." 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 185 
 
 stages by which the minds of men have been freed 
 (if they are even now free) from the sacramental 
 superstitions. At this moment it is at least doubt- 
 ful whether Luther (our great religious hero in the 
 nineteenth century) did not believe, to the hour of his 
 death, in the doctrine of the " real presence ; " his 
 brief conversation with Melancthon being the only 
 circumstance that can excite any doubt about the 
 matter; for, in his controversy with Zuinglius, 
 Luther is found the violent and dogmatic assertor 
 of this monstrous superstition. 
 
 Zuinglius, indeed, appears far to have exceeded 
 the German Keformer in liberality of sentiment, 
 and his belief in the final salvation of virtuous 
 heathen, and of all those who were strictly obedient 
 to the law of conscience, puts him on a level with 
 the most tolerant of modern believers. In his con- 
 troversy with Luther he was accused of entertaining 
 heretical notions of " original sin," of the " efficacy 
 of the divine word," and even of the " divinity of 
 Christ" a striking proof of the insecure and in- 
 definite foundation upon which the Eeformation was 
 founded. It is probable that, in all I have written 
 in these pages, I have done no more than feebly 
 express the secret convictions of Zuinglius on these 
 important subjects ; and of which the terrors of the 
 stake alone prevented the open profession. In 
 reference to the doctrine of the Eucharist, the En- 
 glish Church is neither Lutheran nor Calvinistic, 
 but I presume Zuinglian. The " spiritual presence" 
 of Christ in the elements, which communicate a 
 
186 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 divine virtue to the faithful recipient, appears to 
 be the doctrine of her accredited expositions; 
 but in this, as in all other cases of dogmatic asser- 
 tion, the voice of the Church gives an "uncertain 
 sound." 
 
 The doctrine of "justification by faith" was 
 naturally considered by Luther as the vital principle 
 of Christianity, as a belief in the efficacy of any 
 system of teaching is the only rational ground upon 
 which we can expect compliance with its precepts. 
 The faith that justifies is that which actually pro- 
 duces a compliance with the pure dictates of con- 
 science. This is the rational meaning of justifica- 
 tion by faith, when translated from the language of 
 scholasticism into the dialect of common sense. 
 The philosophical idea of faith is that degree of 
 certainty in the truth of principles that effectually 
 influences the conduct of life, and even Luther, in 
 his wildest enthusiasm, never altogether lost sight 
 of this simple principle of belief; though it is oc- 
 casionally obscured by the theological verbiage of 
 his age. Fanaticism, using the language and the 
 logic of the schools, even whilst protesting against 
 them, has surrounded the doctrine of justification 
 with the clouds of religious metaphysics. 
 
 The abhorrence of Luther for the modern school- 
 men (for he was singularly tolerant of the ancient) 
 appears to have disdained the decencies, and even 
 the grammatical proprieties, of language ; and we 
 find him protesting against them in the com- 
 bined dialects of Mrs. Malaprop and of Swift, as 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 187 
 
 " sophistical locusts, caterpillars, frogs, and lice."* 
 The world is now far wiser than the Church, and 
 the vital spirit of scholasticism is fast disappearing 
 before the growing intelligence of the times. The 
 triumph of Dr. Hampden is something more than a 
 party triumph. The extreme antiquity of many 
 doctrines supposed to be purely Christian is 
 established by the researches of historians and 
 philosophers. The modern believer will probably 
 be startled to find the doctrine of the " new birth " 
 amongst the leading tenets of Brahminical theo- 
 logy, side by side with that of transmigration, which 
 itself may have been the foundation of the popish 
 doctrine of purgatory. "The most honourable 
 appellation of a Brahmin," says the learned and 
 orthodox Schlegel, "is Ivija, that is to say, regene- 
 rated, or a second time born" " This appella- 
 tion," he adds, " refers to that spiritual renovation, 
 or second birth, of a life of purity, consecrated to 
 God, in which consists the true calling of a Brah- 
 min." f 
 
 On the subject of Divine grace, the schoolmen 
 refined in all the exuberance of the scholastic 
 terminology. " We hear," says Dr. Hampden, " of 
 grace ' operating ' and ' co-operating ; ' of grace 
 ' preventing ' and ' following ; ' of grace of ' con- 
 gruity' and 'condignity;'" and he adds, "that the 
 conception produced in the mind by these modes of 
 speaking is erroneous;" and proceeds to trace them 
 
 * See Middleton's " Life of Luther." 
 
 -f- See " Philosophy of History," Lect. IV., page 156. 
 
188 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 to the physical philosophy of " transmutation," and 
 the " refined materialism of the ancient theological 
 philosophy of nature," which " trembled on the 
 verge of Pantheism ! " * 
 
 The translation of this mystery of words into the 
 language of common sense presents a tangible and 
 intelligible idea to the mind. God has endowed us, 
 "out of the riches of his grace," with faculties 
 exactly appropriate to the work he requires from us. 
 He has given us reason to distinguish the right, 
 and a conscience to love it, together with absolute 
 freedom of the will, to give significance to our 
 choice. This sentiment of freedom alone is a suf- 
 ficient answer to every theory by which the Divine 
 justice has been impeached, by the wild fanaticism 
 of predestinarians. 
 
 It is thus that theologians have invented a 
 system of doctrines, and dignified, by the name of 
 Faith, the acceptance of them by the mystified and 
 superstitious laity. But what is, after all, the true 
 Faith of a Christian ? Both the doctrines and 
 ethics of Christ are founded on the eternal basis of 
 natural laws, when interpreted by the higher in- 
 stincts of the conscience. Unless, for instance, a 
 man is able to look upon death as the discharge of 
 a natural function, he has not the faith insisted on 
 by Christ ; for that faith assures us of the victory 
 over death and the grave. Unless a man believes 
 that the providence of God is truly over all his 
 
 * See " Bampton Lectures," Lect. IV., 187, 191-2, 194. 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 189 
 
 works, that all things work together for Divine 
 ends and purposes, that human life is a Divine 
 thing despite its apparent perplexities and com- 
 plications, and capable of a realization in beauty 
 and holiness, he has no faith in the doctrine of 
 Christ. The true believer is he who believes the 
 inner revelations of the spirit, as surely as the out- 
 ward evidence of the senses, and has in himself the 
 " evidence of things not seen." The triumph of 
 Faith is the triumph of the soul over the body, 
 of spirit over matter, a doctrine common to 
 Christianity and Platonism. The later Platonists, 
 however, perverted the doctrine by a too great 
 degradation of the body, which is nowhere charge- 
 able on the philosophy of Christ, which nobly 
 describes it as the " Temple of the Holy Ghost." 
 The mortification of the body, so frequently in- 
 sisted on in the Christian writings, and so grossly 
 perverted by the immediate followers of Christ, 
 was a corruption of enthusiastic disciples, who 
 engrafted on the Christian doctrine the asceticism of 
 Paganism. The miserable fanatics, and " pillar 
 saints" of the Thebaid, were the natural offspring 
 of this perverted teaching, and the regulation of the \ 
 passions, and the laws of temperance, were con- 
 founded with the unnatural and demoralizing 
 habits of celibacy and solitude. 
 
 It is thus that, in every age, the appointed 
 guardians of the faith have been the instruments 
 of its corruption, whenever they have attempted to 
 legislate for the spiritual interests of mankind. A 
 
190 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 dogmatic theology will ever be found either per- 
 nicious or inoperative, pernicious, as tampering 
 with the rights of conscience and the freedom of 
 the will, or inoperative in its influence on the 
 sincere and spiritual. The supreme power of 
 Divine grace was equally insisted on by Robert 
 Barclay and Thomas Aquinas. The " angelic 
 doctor" and the unbaptized quaker literally agree 
 on a vital question of Christian doctrine. It would 
 be easy to multiply the instances of agreement 
 between sincere and honest minds, professing 
 nominally the most discordant creeds. The writings 
 of Law are equally attractive to the sincere 
 Unitarian and the orthodox Churchman. Such is 
 the magical power of true and Catholic doctrine 
 such the charm of religious sincerity, which breaks 
 down the flimsy barriers of creeds and confessions ! 
 
 Have I not sufficiently proved that the voice of 
 the Church, even when dogmatizing on her most 
 vital doctrines, is hesitating and uncertain; and 
 that she is often in contradiction with herself? 
 Is she in a condition to define and control the 
 faith of the world ? But it may be said that the 
 creeds and articles of Churches have a reference 
 only to unity and peace ; but let history teach us 
 how far they have answered these important ob- 
 jects. Have they not brought the " sword" instead 
 of "peace" into the Church of God? Have they 
 produced religious unity or Christian fellowship? 
 , So far from it in these kingdoms, where the minds 
 of men grow more vigorously than elsewhere, the 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 
 
 people have entirely outgrown their religious 
 stitutions, and are fluctuating between infidelity 
 and dissent. The apparent excitement in our 
 churches, so triumphantly appealed to as evi- 
 dence of the revival of the popular creed, is the 
 first rising of the tempest that is destined to 
 overwhelm it. The zeal of the age is for know- 
 ledge and for truth ; and, though it may for a mo- 
 ment pass into the dead forms of the old super- 
 stition, it will soon outgrow its narrow tenement. 
 The world is ahout to complete the triumph of 
 toleration by declaring that man shall no longer 
 legislate for man in the concerns of his soul. 
 The corruption of Keligion arises, in a great de- 
 gree, from the confusion of the provinces of faith 
 and intellect. To attempt to build up our faith by 
 facts or reasoning, is to subordinate the higher 
 to the lower faculties of the soul. Let any man, 
 deeply impressed with any spiritual truth, endea- 
 vour to embody his faith in words, or define it 
 by a creed, and he will at once perceive the vanity 
 and hopelessness of the task. But how much 
 more vain and hopeless is it for one man, or set 
 of men, to attempt to expound the faith of others. 
 This was the error of Luther and the other re- 
 formers of his age. As Novalis has well said, 
 Luther treated Christianity in " an arbitrary man- 
 ner," and narrowed its spirit by minute definitions 
 and philological subtleties. He condemned the 
 schoolmen of his age, but he, nevertheless, followed 
 in their footsteps ; the only distinction between him 
 
192 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 and them being, that he applied to the Scriptures 
 the same arbitrary rules that they had applied to 
 theology of the Church. How utterly at variance 
 such a system of interpretation is with the spirit of 
 Christianity, may be inferred from the absence of 
 all creeds and articles of faith from the Christian 
 Scriptures themselves. The vast idea of an uni- 
 versal faith is, evidently, the burden of these 
 writings, but how little has it been realized in the 
 history of any Church that has hitherto existed in 
 the world. The foundation of our faith is in our 
 consciousness* this is the true basis of a Catholic 
 creed, for to this alone will the awakened souls of 
 men at last appeal. The truth of Christianity to 
 every individual mind depends on its being the true 
 interpreter of this inner conviction. " This," says 
 Fichte, "is no verbal distinction, but a true and 
 deep one,- pregnant with the most important con- 
 sequences to my character. Let me for ever hold 
 fast by it. All my conviction is but faith, and it 
 proceeds from the heart, and not from the under- 
 standing. Knowing this, I will enter into no 
 dispute, for I perceive that in this way nothing can 
 be gained. I will not suffer my conviction to be 
 disturbed by it, for its source lies higher than all 
 disputation. I will not attempt by reasoning to 
 press my conviction upon others." If any one 
 should consider the philosophy of Fichte vague or 
 latitudinarian, let him remember where it is written, 
 
 * See Fichte's " Destination of Man," chap. x. 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 193 
 
 that faith is the " gift of God " that we " cannot 
 believe unless God open our hearts," and that the 
 " spirit of God, like the wind, hloweth where it 
 listeth" that it is this holy spirit this divine con- 
 science, that alone gives life to the " dead letter " of 
 Scripture itself. 
 
 I cannot quit the subject of the dogmatic system 
 of the Church, without a brief allusion to the case 
 of " Gorham v. the Bishop of Exeter," which, at the 
 moment I am writing, is in the course of being 
 argued in the ecclesiastical courts. There is hardly a 
 single name illustrious in the annals of the Reform- 
 ation, whose authority is not quoted on one side or 
 the other, and many on both, by the contending 
 advocates. Cranmer, Peter Martyr, Bucer, Jewel, 
 Hooper, and a host of foreign names, together with 
 the more modern authorities of Bancroft, Burnet, 
 Hall, Stillingfleet, and Whitgift, are ingeniously 
 made to support by their writings the most con- 
 flicting ideas of baptismal regeneration. The lan- 
 guage of synod is quoted against synod, and 
 conference against conference, on the same interest- 
 ing subject. Now, however edifying this case may 
 be from various causes to the " learned pundits " 
 of the " Court of Arches," or to a few critical 
 readers amongst the higher clergy, but one opinion 
 can possibly exist amongst the unlearned laity, and 
 a very large proportion of the clergy themselves, viz., 
 that the Church has pronounced no intelligible 
 opinion on the subject under discussion, and that 
 
 K 
 
194 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 from the apostolic age down to the present times, 
 the doctrine has been entirely afloat in the minds 
 of believers. And yet, from the absurdity of the 
 present laws of the Church, a polemical Bishop has 
 the power of harassing and persecuting his clergy 
 about a matter in which the Church has actually 
 withheld her judgment. St. Augustin has mentioned 
 somewhere in his " Confessions," the case of a 
 young man being converted by being baptized 
 in a swoon, a circumstance which leaves little 
 doubt of the extreme orthodoxy on this point 
 of that popular Father. I strongly recommend 
 this story of the Bishop of Hippo to the notice 
 of the Bishop of Exeter, who entertains so pro- 
 found a veneration for "Catholic antiquity" and 
 patristic wisdom. 
 
 The high Churchman in the nineteenth century 
 appears to have the same notion of the efficacy of 
 baptism, as the rude Christian soldiers of the age of 
 Charlemagne, who baptized the vanquished bar- 
 barians at the point of the sword, or as the Jesuit 
 missionaries of Spanish America, who, according to 
 the historian*, converted by baptism five thousand 
 Mexicans in a single day, thus more than rivalling 
 the preaching of St. Peter. 
 
 How often must the beautiful language of 
 A N Kempis occur to every sincere and spiritual mind, 
 when harassed with these vain j anglings of theology, 
 
 * See Robertson's America, vol. iii. page 295. 
 
DOCTRINES AND ARTICLES. 195 
 
 " Oh God ! who art the truth, make me one with 
 Thee in everlasting love ! I am weary of reading, 
 I am weary of hearing in Thee alone is the sum 
 of my desires. Let all teachers he silent, let the 
 whole creation he dumh "before thee, and do thou 
 ONLY speak to my soul."* 
 
 * See ' Imitation of Christ," chap. III. 
 
 K 2 
 
CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 
 
 " In this age, which appears to us so much advanced, Christianity 
 is still far from having received the full application it is capable of 
 to the conscience and life of man from having uttered its crowning 
 
 word, or expressed its whole burden of thought The 
 
 world will not cease till Christianity has delivered its whole mes- 
 sage." ANONYMOUS (quoted by Ullman in his Preface to the 
 " Essence of Christianity"). 
 
 THE great majority of Protestants regard the 
 Keformation as a final settlement of the essential 
 doctrines of the Christian religion ; and, though it 
 will be found on inquiry that no two sects agree in 
 the interpretation of these doctrines, they all agree 
 in appealing to some common, and apparently yet 
 undiscovered, standard of orthodoxy. The fact is, 
 that the Reformation, instead of being the settle- 
 ment, was the unsettlement of religion, and the 
 settlement is reserved for generations yet unborn. 
 To take a single example, the doctrine of the 
 Eucharist; we find the three most illustrious of 
 the Keformers entertaining the most conflicting 
 opinions ; Luther holding the " corporeal," Calvin 
 
PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 197 
 
 the ' e real," and Zuinglius the " spiritual," presence 
 of Christ in the elements. These venerable crotchets 
 still retain a feeble and lingering vitality in the nine- 
 teenth . century, being kept in remembrance by the 
 still unreformed and semi-monastic studies of our 
 universities. Oxford still continues to teach the 
 logic of Aristotle, the subtle instrument of scholas- 
 ticism, and to neglect the philosophy of Bacon. It 
 would be easy to multiply examples of Protestant 
 discordancy, both as regards the doctrines and dis- 
 cipline of the reformed Church. 
 
 The philosophical historian will regard as the 
 keystone of the Reformation the assertion of the 
 right of private judgment* ; but, in the hands of the 
 Churchmen of the sixteenth century, it became little 
 more than a protest against the corruptions and 
 absurdities which had become an intolerable scandal 
 to the Christian Church ; and they contemplated, 
 probably, no higher object than restoring the eccle- 
 siastical system to a condition of possible existence. 
 It was the simple example of the triumph of a sect, 
 of which ecclesiastical history affords so many in- 
 
 * *' If," says Rousseau, " we infringe ever so little on the prin- 
 ciple of private judgment, Protestantism instantly falls to the ground. 
 If I am convinced to-day that I ought to submit to the decisions of 
 others, I should to-morrow become a Catholic, and eVery honest and 
 consistent man would do the same." Mr. Baptist Noel, in his 
 philippic against the Church, and Dr. Whately in its defence, have, 
 I find, quietly appropriated some of the once-considered infidel argu- 
 ments of Rousseau. If this does not prove the inconsistency of 
 Churchmen, it, at least, proves the progress of religious enlighten- 
 ment. 
 
198 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 stances, as well as of the abuses of the triumph. 
 The Keformers of the sixteenth century had no greater 
 zeal against idolatry and corruption, than the Icono- 
 clasts of the eighth, or the Alhigenses of the twelfth, 
 and far less than their illustrious forerunners, Wick- 
 liffe in England, and Huss in Bohemia. They laid, 
 indeed, the foundation for a far greater reformation 
 than they effected, or probably intended, and whilst 
 fondly clinging to the language of the schools, and 
 the spirit of scholasticism, they asserted a principle 
 (the right of private judgment) by which the doc- 
 trines of the Church are destined, in the progress of 
 time, to be restored within the limits of reason and 
 philosophy. Perhaps we may assume, with Gibbon, 
 that " the patriot Keformers were ambitious of 
 succeeding the tyrants they dethroned ; " at any 
 rate, they so far followed their example, that they 
 left unrepealed the punishment of death for the 
 crime of heresy, and Cranmer himself was burnt in 
 the fire he had previously kindled for the Ana- 
 baptists. 
 
 Though the general spirit of modern Protest- 
 antism is still tainted with the vices of its origin, its 
 purification is, in the present age, being gradually 
 but steadily accomplished. The dangerous word 
 " development " occasionally falls from the lips of 
 the religious orator, and has even dropped incau- 
 tiously from the pen of an Archbishop *. These 
 are significant and hopeful omens, because the 
 
 * See Whately's "Kingdom of Christ," Essay II., page 157. 
 
PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 199 
 
 development of Christianity involves the abandon- 
 ment of our idolatrous worship of the sacred 
 writings. 
 
 In philosophical strictness, the abhorrence of 
 idolatry which has distinguished the true prophets 
 of all ages, is nothing more than a strong detesta- 
 tion of whatever is unreal and untrue*. Idolatry 
 is the substitution of the symbol for the thing 
 signified. Thus a written creed is substituted for 
 the Divine law of conscience, and ceremonial wor- 
 ship for practical religion. The worship of the 
 Bible is as gross idolatry as the worship of the 
 "black stone" of the Caabah, which (if a meteoric 
 stone) really fell from heaven, and was probably 
 seen by its first worshippers. The idolatry of 
 the present age is the veneration entertained for 
 forms no longer significant, and doctrines that 
 have ceased to represent its spiritual character. 
 The illiterate laity of Protestantism have passed 
 from counting a string of beads, or kneeling before 
 a picture, to the no less insignificant utterance of 
 a form of words f. 
 
 The Reformation of religion, then, which com- 
 menced on the revival of learning, must be regarded 
 rather as the first feeble struggle against a vast 
 accumulation of superstition and corruption, than 
 as the actual achievement of our religious liberty. 
 From the days of Wickliffe to the present moment 
 
 * In this sense Bacon speaks of the " idols of the human mind." 
 + See Carlyle's " Heroes and Hero Worship," Lect. IV. 
 
200 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 from the first protest of reason against the mum- 
 meries of the middle ages to the last effort of the 
 modern Unitarian, the eye of philosophy discovers 
 nothing but a sustained contest between the antago- 
 nist forces of reason and superstition. The spiritual 
 history of mankind is a standing commentary on 
 the merits of the question at issue. The tendency 
 of the human soul to rise to the adoration of the 
 God of the universe is constantly checked by the 
 imperfection of our knowledge, and the errors of 
 education. Unable to worship in the great temple 
 of the universe, and, by a familiarity with nature, to 
 realize the idea of harmony and unity that pervades 
 it, and therefore requiring a material object of 
 worship, man, in the earliest ages, has been found 
 to worship the most perfect of his own species *. He 
 turns in despair from the open volume of nature as 
 too profound for investigation, has no faith in the 
 " divine significance of life," and readily conceives 
 that God may have shut up all wisdom and all 
 knowledge in the bosom of a priest, or "in the 
 words of a book." The superstition that pervades 
 even the most advanced condition of society is 
 preserved by being interwoven with the holiest 
 revelations of God to the human heart. The 
 cultus of every nation and every sect, as I have 
 
 * The first form of human worship, according to Carlyle, is the 
 worship of the brute powers of nature ; but I am speaking of what 
 may be properly called the commencement of civilization, when the 
 intellect is first emancipated from the dominion of terror and wonder. 
 See " Heroes and Hero Worship," Lect. I. 
 
PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 201 
 
 elsewhere said, enshrines in its unmeaning cere- 
 monies, and consecrates in its dogmatical absurdities, 
 the purest elements of natural piety. Superstition 
 is to religion what the ivy is to the oak an ever- 
 green and clinging parasite, fettering its branches 
 and impeding its growth, and yet not altogether 
 destitute of beauty and of grace. The transition 
 from barbarism to civilization is slow and painful, 
 and centuries are but moments in the age of nations. 
 The highest minds of every period invariably retain 
 some leaven of the superstitions against which they 
 protest. The follies of the learned of past ages 
 furnish a melancholy proof of the tenacity with 
 which even the strongest minds cling to the 
 traditions of superstition. We find Luther at one 
 moment vigorously asserting the rights of con- 
 science, and the next actually stumbling at the 
 doctrine of transubstantiation. The man, however, 
 who can read the picturesque religious history of 
 the middle ages, and see nothing but the worst forms 
 of monkery and credulity, may walk " from Dan to 
 Beersheba," and say " all is barren." The coarse 
 and undiscriminating assailants of Popery, the 
 Stowells, the Macneils, the Closes, and Noels of 
 modern polemics, are totally blind to the philosophy 
 of religious history. The religious system of every 
 age is interwoven with its social and political con- 
 dition ; and whilst in modern times a large pro- 
 portion of the people of every country remain in the 
 darkness of ignorance, some form of superstition 
 will continue to be a necessary element in the 
 
 K 3 
 
202 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY I 
 
 popular creed. A general education is the only 
 path to a spiritual faith. 
 
 The encyclical letter of the present Pope (who is 
 said to he so much more enlightened than his 
 predecessors in the pontifical chair) may appear, 
 indeed, a curious specimen of \hQfossilized intellect 
 of an age long passed away, and, in the nineteenth 
 century, we may be startled to hear from the spiritual 
 guide of a large portion of the Christian world 
 language fitted to the genius of the dark ages. 
 But when we consider that the mass of mankind 
 throughout Europe, though perhaps less illiterate, 
 are not much better educated than in the days of 
 Leo the Tenth, we can hardly wonder that the doc- 
 trines repudiated by the Keformers of the sixteenth 
 century still find favour in the minds of the people. 
 The existence of Popery in such an age as the 
 present is a proof of the tenacity with which the 
 minds of men cling to the realities of religion. 
 Popery exists on the memories of the past, for the 
 religion of the middle ages was a far more real and 
 consoling creed than the protesting and disputa- 
 tious system of modern times*. The Church of the 
 middle ages was far more Catholic than that of the 
 Keformation. The spiritual desires and objects of 
 the people, indeed, were few and feeble, but, such as 
 
 * The " Truce of God," so religiously observed by the fierce and 
 warlike people of the eleventh century, is a striking instance of the 
 reality of religious influences, and of their power of controlling the 
 violence of human passions. See Schlegel's " Philosophy of His- 
 tory," Lect. XIV. 
 
PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 203 
 
 they were, the Church was able, to a great degree, 
 to satisfy them ; and the Catholicity of her ministra- 
 tions was rewarded hy a dutiful and unreserved 
 obedience. The world has now passed into a new 
 phase in her progress, and the Church has lost her 
 ancient unity without acquiring any new principle 
 of outward communion. The laity, perhaps, once, 
 for a brief period, really reposed in peace under the 
 shadow of the Church. Ever since the Keformation, 
 the minds of men have been waiting for a new form 
 to arise out of the spiritual chaos, and hitherto they 
 have waited in vain. It is the sense of this want 
 that is turning the minds of many sincere and 
 thoughtful men with a sentiment of superstitious 
 reverence towards " Catholic antiquity." They have 
 begun to fear that the sentiment of veneration is 
 dying out of the world. This is the only source of 
 that influence which Popery still exercises over the 
 educated portion of mankind. She is the despotism 
 that is preferred to anarchy ; and men fly to her 
 for safety amidst the convulsions of revolution, 
 from motives analagous to those which have just 
 induced thirty millions of Frenchmen to sacrifice 
 their liberties for the shadow of a government, and 
 the name of a Buonaparte. 
 
 Disorder is equally repulsive to the social and 
 spiritual instincts of mankind, and once more the 
 world is beginning to seek for a true Catholicity. 
 The Church of the middle ages reflected, if it did 
 not raise, the spiritual character of the people. 
 The Church of to-day is the very Babel of discord, 
 
204 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 in which we hear the confused utterances of philo- 
 sophy and superstition, and the conflicting language 
 of reason and authority. An age of infidelity, it is 
 well known, succeeded the Reformation of religion, 
 as well as the entire corruption of its ministers. 
 The secularized priest became a venal trader in the 
 temporalities of the Church, and the sacred office 
 of the preacher and prophet was shamelessly as- 
 sumed as a worldly " profession." 
 
 This degradation of the first principles of reli- 
 gion was met by the fierce and fanatical protest of 
 the Puritans, who, in their burning zeal for the 
 revival of the faith, restored to life, with the purer 
 element, a large proportion of the ancient super- 
 stitions. The modern Puritans are still carrying 
 on the war bequeathed to them by their forefathers, 
 against the formalism of orthodoxy; but, as they 
 have succeeded to a large share of the temporalities 
 of the Church, and are free from the stimulus of 
 persecution, they have neither the zeal nor the 
 honesty of their illustrious ancestors. A bastard 
 liberalism, half religious and half political, has been 
 substituted for the earnest desire for the revival of 
 Christian ethics, and the dream of a theocracy. 
 
 The horror of Popery that haunts the imagin- 
 ation of the modern Puritan is, however, nothing 
 more than an exquisite sensibility of the possible 
 success of a rival sect. If the character of the 
 Romish Church is really reflected in her creeds 
 and confessions, and her genius displayed in her 
 dogmatical teaching, it is hard to conceive, in 
 
PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 205 
 
 times like the present, the source of those pious 
 terrors that distract the minds of " Evangelical " 
 Christians, and wake the echoes of Exeter Hall. 
 If, in the language of Dr. Chalmers*, we may 
 expect, without our strenuous exertions, that the 
 progress of Popery "will hury Protestantism, in 
 all its varieties, in one common ruin," it is hardly 
 consistent in the same writer to describe, as a 
 merely " debasing superstition," the supposed parent 
 of this great spiritual apostacy. Surely the Pro- 
 testantism of the present age is not of so deli- 
 cate a structure as to fear collision with a super- 
 annuated superstition, and, if it he, it must have 
 inherited some original defect in its constitution 
 from the ancient Church. This amiahle writer 
 appears to have laboured under religious terrors, as 
 unfounded as those so humorously ascribed to 
 u Peter Plymley " by the late facetious prebendary 
 of St. Paul's. The fact is, that sectarians are so 
 engrossed with their contests with each other 
 Evangelical against Puseyite, Wesleyan against 
 Socinian, and all combined against Popery that 
 they overlook the real danger of their position 
 the silent growth of philosophy, or, as they would 
 consider it, of infidelity. 
 
 But what is the present condition, and what are 
 the future prospects, of the Eomish Church amongst 
 the nations of Europe ? Does the " debasing 
 superstition " she inculcates increase in those coun- 
 tries where she enjoys the political advantage of 
 
 * See Pamphlet on " Evangelical Alliance." 
 
206 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 being connected with the state in France, in Italy, 
 in Spain, or in Belgium ? Are the people in these 
 countries more debased by superstition than they 
 were a century ago ? The evidence of every tra- 
 veller of every class will at once negative the sup- 
 position. The Church of Eome, like every other 
 religious body, is growing gradually into conformity 
 with the spirit of the time. The " Holy Coat of 
 Treves," after having excited a commotion that has 
 been dignified by the name of a " New Reformation," 
 has, no doubt, been exhibited for the last time to 
 the adoration of the faithful. The Jesuits, after 
 having been hunted through Europe for the last 
 century, are at last expelled even from the mountain 
 fastnesses of Switzerland, and from Rome itself. 
 
 Without subscribing to the heroics of Gioberti, 
 or assuming that the Italian peninsula is destined 
 to be the central and flowery land from which the 
 tide of civilization is destined to flow to all the 
 nations of the earth, we may still recognise in the 
 course of passing events (in spite of the continued 
 fluctuation of political passions) the commence- 
 ment of the regeneration of Italy. No better evi- 
 dence can be given of the advancing liberality of 
 the Romish Church, than the fate and fortunes of 
 Gioberti's book the " Primato." During the pon- 
 tificate of Gregory XVI. this book was actually 
 proscribed; in the course of time it was quietly 
 countenanced by the Court of Sardinia ; by degrees 
 the lay clergy timidly adopted it, and now (in the 
 pontificate of Pius IX.) it has become the text 
 
PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 207 
 
 book even of the monastic orders ; and its distin- 
 guished author, instead of being an expatriated 
 liberal, is Prime Minister to the King of Sardinia*. 
 On the continent of Catholic Europe it is still 
 possible that the priest, as in the dark ages, should 
 be the spiritual leader of the people, as is evident 
 from the histories of Konge and Gioberti. In this 
 country a similar leadership is impossible, as the 
 people are advanced far beyond the spirit of their 
 religious institutions, and the enlightenment of the 
 priesthood. A race of true prophets, inspired by 
 the new, and yet unuttered, spirituality of the age, 
 can alone re-establish amongst us the natural rela- 
 tions of the priesthood and the laity. 
 
 It cannot be denied, however, that the fabric of 
 superstition is in every country being now gradually 
 shaken by the progress of knowledge ; and the best 
 friends -of a spiritual religion will probably con- 
 sider that the rate of progress is even sufficiently 
 fast for the real happiness of mankind. " Kevolu- 
 tions," religious or political, " are not made with 
 rose-water," and though we need not fear in the 
 present state of the world a recurrence of the social 
 convulsions of ruder times, it is far safer to await 
 a slow and steady amelioration of our institutions, 
 political and religious, by the gradual elevation of 
 the masses, than to elicit a crude and prurient 
 development of their latent but terrible power. 
 The great revolution that assuredly awaits the 
 
 * The abdication of the King of Sardinia has occurred since the 
 above was written. 
 
208 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 religious world will, I believe, be nothing more 
 than a quiet revolution of human opinion ; and such 
 a revolution has in fact already commenced. The 
 sudden and violent convulsions that heralded the 
 Keformations of a darker age, and which shook 
 society to its foundations, lighted the fires of per- 
 secution, and caused the scaffold to flow with the 
 blood of martyrs, is not to be expected from the 
 mild and tolerant spirit of modern times. If a 
 Reformer should now arise on whom had fallen the 
 mantle of Wickliffe or of Luther, it is difficult 
 to imagine against what he would specially pro- 
 test as the prevailing superstition so numerous, 
 so shifting, and so many-coloured are the phases of 
 religious opinion. It would be absolutely impossi- 
 ble to discover, in this spiritual chaos, the principles 
 out of which martyrs are made, or sensible revolu- 
 tions compounded. 
 
 One great principle, however, appears to mark 
 the character of the age, the principle of free and 
 fearless inquiry into matters hitherto veiled from 
 the gaze of the vulgar ; and the esoteric teaching of 
 every Church and every sect is openly challenged 
 by a curious and critical laity. The world is begin- 
 ning to seek with solemn earnestness for the sources, 
 not only of ecclesiastical authority, but of spiritual 
 dominion. A time is rapidly approaching (if we 
 
 j are not even now in the midst of it) when the 
 attitude of revelation itself, in its relations to human 
 
 | thought, must be considerably modified or totally 
 changed. The awakened intellect of the world will 
 
PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 209 
 
 no longer consent to live on the " sere remains" of 
 the past. 
 
 A great degradation of the principles from which 
 the world derived its present spiritual philosophy 
 has occurred during the lapse of ages, and the 
 tendency of the minds of men is to recur to the 
 fountain for a purer inspiration. This degradation 
 of principles is the common fortune of all religions 
 and all philosophies. No sooner does some great and 
 original thinker, in science, religion or philosophy, 
 discover a new fact or a new principle that chal- 
 lenges the assent of mankind, than he is surrounded 
 by a host of servile copyists, or fanatical followers, 
 who, being uninspired by the original revelation, 
 and taking the idea feebly and at second-hand, com- 
 mence the work of perversion and degradation. In 
 a single generation the master idea is commonly 
 lost amidst the wrangling of unworthy disciples ; 
 and the very means adopted to insure its diffusion 
 the principle of association is the ordinary cause of 
 its perversion. The great mass of mankind neither 
 think their own thoughts, nor even speak their own 
 language. They adopt the dead forms, and speak 
 the dead phrases of by- gone generations. 
 
 Thus we find the religionist of the nineteenth 
 century clothing his theology in the phraseology of 
 the middle ages, and uttering his listless prayers in 
 a fashionable chapel, in the burning words of the 
 old martyrs, whose whispered and trembling orisons 
 were breathed amidst the fires of persecution. 
 " The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the 
 
210 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 hands of Esau." Thus is all connection absolutely 
 lost between the form and the spirit of religious 
 establishments, and sects, that sprung originally 
 from the ashes of martyrs, preserve in the easy and 
 tolerant circumstances of modern times the glowing 
 language of their birth. Thus, like the lover of 
 Portia, the modern saint borrows, as it were, his 
 clothing from every country, and wears at once the 
 cowl of St. Bernard, the cloak of Wittenberg, and 
 the cap of Geneva, and in this motley garb exults 
 in the Catholic unity of his religious costume ! 
 
 Thus, too, it comes to pass, that the popular 
 creed has really no hold on the affections of the 
 people, whose feelings are not educated in religious 
 history, and romance, and who desire rather the 
 actual revelations and living Faith of the present 
 hour, than the recorded raptures of dead saints, or 
 the spiritual picture of distant ages. The faith of 
 the educated Christian is founded on the whole 
 history of his religion. It is absurd to say that he 
 takes his creed solely from the Scriptures, when, 
 from his earliest years, his mind is nurtured on the 
 accumulated learning of scholastic theology and 
 ecclesiastical history. But all this is a sealed book 
 to the unlearned laity. To them, it is of more im- 
 portance to know how God is now dealing with his 
 people, than to speculate on his early manifestation 
 to Jews and Gentiles, or his later and more doubtful 
 presence in the providential history of His Church. 
 The faith that depends on historical knowledge 
 belongs, exclusively, to those whose business or 
 
PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 211 
 
 pleasure may lead them to this literary banquet a 
 coarser and homelier, and, perhaps, a healthier diet, 
 must he found for those who have neither the taste, 
 the leisure, nor the learning, to leaven their spiritual 
 concerns with the luxuries of an elegant literature. 
 It is quite certain that " the million " amongst 
 formal believers are in one or other of these two 
 conditions they are either vaguely or imperfectly 
 trusting to the simplest principles of natural reli- 
 gion, or they are receiving on human authority a 
 human explanation of the " inspired " writings. A 
 more Catholic creed for the sincere and spiritual 
 may surely be found, than either that which consists 
 in a feeble and doubting recognition of reason and 
 conscience, or in the total abnegation of all privi- 
 leges of a moral being. 
 
 If we examine the Christian Scriptures, with a 
 mind free from the prejudices induced by what is 
 called a "religious education," we shall find that 
 Christianity is there revealed to us as a religion 
 without priests * (in the pagan sense of the word, 
 iffff) without a temple, and without sacrifices. 
 The " sacrifices of God " are the " contrite spirit," 
 and the work of mercy and of charity the " temple 
 of the Holy Ghost" is the heart of the believer, and 
 its single priest, " the great High Priest of our pro- 
 fession." This is not a matter of inference, but is 
 directly taught in the Christian writings, and is, in 
 fact, strictly in unison with the whole system of 
 
 * See Whately's " Kingdom of Christ," page 133. 
 
212 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 Christianity, which was, in this respect, diametri- 
 cally opposed to all existing religions, the Jewish 
 amongst the rest. Again, it must he admitted that 
 the religion of Christ is capable of indefinite de- 
 velopment ; at least within the limits of its defined 
 and indisputable principles. " We may advance 
 we may lead others to advance indefinitely in the 
 full development of Gospel truth," are the words of 
 one of its ablest and most enlightened expounders, 
 who occupies, moreover, the highest rank in the 
 Christian Church *. The Christian writings con- 
 tain no creeds or confessions of Faith, such as those 
 invented by the Church at a later period, and which 
 have had the uniform effect, at all times, of narrow- 
 ing the basis of Christian communion, and filling 
 the world with heresy and persecution. It is really 
 difficult to imagine upon what grounds any Pro- 
 testant sect can defend the use of articles of Faith, 
 without conceding a more than human authority to 
 those who compile them, as the consecrated deposi- 
 taries of " that faith that was once delivered to the 
 saints," and thus allowing the most arrogant 
 assumptions of Popery. That men, associated for 
 a common purpose, such as the inculcation of 
 Christian ethics (leaving the doctrines from which 
 they may be supposed to spring to approve them- 
 selves to the hearts and understandings of the asso- 
 ciated body), should protect themselves with rules 
 to insure the order of their proceedings, and to 
 
 * Dr. Whately, Archbishop of Dublin. See " Kingdom of Christ," 
 page 157. 
 
PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 213 
 
 enable them to expel unworthy members, is the 
 utmost authority that may be conceded to them. 
 To define the faith of its members is to assume a 
 power over the invisible and secret instincts of con- 
 science, which belongs to God alone. 
 
 Our Protestant Reformers had assuredly no in- 
 tention of restoring the Christian Church to its 
 primitive model. They protested against the idola- 
 try of image and saint-worship and the adoration 
 of the host, but they established in their place the 
 worship of the Bible. What is, at most, the record 
 of God's word was exalted to the rank of the 
 Divine word itself; and those sacred records, which 
 have since furnished arguments to a thousand sects, 
 and for ten thousand shades of human opinion, 
 were allowed an authority above that great un- 
 written law which speaks a common language to 
 every human heart. Instead of allowing that Di- 
 vine spirit (which the writings themselves declare 
 to be their own proper interpreter) to expound their 
 meaning, the writings were supposed to confine and 
 expound the operation of the spirit ; and the Church 
 still continued to usurp the character of an infal- 
 lible teacher, by dogmatically and arbitrarily set- 
 tling the sense of scripture. In fact, in no single 
 respect do the reformers appear to have entirely 
 emancipated themselves from the thraldom of the 
 ancient superstitions. They protested, for instance, 
 against " Orders " as a Christian sacrament, but 
 they still retained a superstitious notion of the 
 ordination of ministers and the spiritual efficacy of 
 
214 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 the imposition of hands. The word ordination 
 still remained a consecrated word. If they had 
 read in the Scripture that the Apostles appointed 
 lecturers instead of " ordained elders in every city," 
 though this would probably have equally well ex- 
 pressed the historical fact, it would not have con- 
 veyed the same impression to their minds. The 
 same halting policy was exhibited in retaining, in a 
 mutilated form, the power of absolution. 
 
 The most liberal section of modern Christians 
 are professedly those who derive their theology from 
 this tainted source, and the nineteenth century is 
 not ashamed to confess that she, even feebly, ex- 
 presses the deep spiritual insight of the age of 
 judicial astrology, of witch-burning, and the alche- 
 -x mists ! The Evangelical orator of the present age 
 considers that his Protestantism is sufficiently vin- 
 dicated by a violent and indiscriminating protest 
 against Popery; but, in reality, he should be re- 
 garded rather as the jealous rival, than as the 
 honest opponent of the ancient Church. He is 
 anxious to change the form, rather than to abolish 
 the principle, of spiritual despotism. He invites 
 the aid of the laity, indeed, against what he calls 
 the Eomanizing spirit of the orthodox Church, and 
 would popularize the Establishment to the very 
 verge of voluntaryism ; but this is simply to insure 
 the aid of a powerful ally against a dangerous rival. 
 If the Tractarian party had been more successful in 
 their chivalrous attempt to rebuild the ancient cita- 
 del of the faith, the low Churchman would have 
 
PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 215 
 
 gladly sacrificed all the external defences of a 
 " visible Church " to have averted their triumph ; 
 and, like a desperate pirate, would have fired the 
 magazine and destroyed his crew and his craft, 
 rather than suhmit to the insolence of the con- 
 queror. I have no doubt that the laity, who are 
 thus invited to fight the battles of conscience, will, 
 like the Praetorian guards, seize upon the empire 
 they are invoked to defend ; and that they will have 
 sufficient penetration to discover that they will gain 
 little or nothing by a mere change of spiritual 
 dynasties. 
 
 From this popular element, now so freely ad- 
 mitted into the Christian Church, I anticipate the 
 purification of the popular creed. Everything I 
 have noticed in these pages as peculiarly character- 
 izing the present condition of the Church indicates 
 the transition state of our religious philosophy. 
 In days of ignorance and barbarism the world has, 
 no doubt, been often indebted for its progress in 
 civilization to the " courageous enlightenment of 
 priests," * but mankind has now become far wiser 
 than their creeds, far more enlightened than their 
 religious teachers. The true priesthood of every 
 age is composed of those who have the deepest 
 insight into the realities of the spiritual life those 
 who have faith themselves and can give faith to 
 others in the endless possibilities of the soul the 
 faith by which mountains are removed. In the 
 
 * See Appendix to Bulwer's " England and the English." 
 
216 ' POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 preaching of this faith, the lecture-room is now far 
 in advance of the pulpit. Listen to the words of a 
 true seer, calling hack a faithless age to the " know- 
 ledge of God," and the immortal destinies of man. 
 " All true work is religion, and whatsoever religion 
 is not work may go and dwell among the Brahmins, 
 Antinomians, Spinning Dervishes, or where it will 
 with me it shall have no harbour. Admirable 
 was that saying of the old monks, f Laborare est 
 orare.' Older than all preached gospels was this 
 unpreached, inarticulate, but ineradicable, for- ever- 
 enduring gospel. Work, and therein have well- 
 being. Man, son of earth and of heaven, lies 
 there not in the innermost heart of thee a spirit of 
 active method, a force for work, which burns like a 
 painfully smouldering fire, giving thee no rest until 
 thou unfold it till thou write it down in beneficent 
 facts around thee ? What is imraethodic waste, thou 
 shalt make methodic, regulated, arable, obedient, 
 and productive to thee. Wherever thou findest 
 disorder, there is thy eternal enemy attack him 
 swiftly, subdue him, make order of him the sub- 
 ject, not of Chaos, but of Intelligence, Divinity, 
 and Thee ! The thistle that grows in thy path, dig 
 it out, that a blade of useful grass, a drop of 
 nourishing milk, may grow there instead. . 
 But, above all, where thou findest ignorance, stupidity, 
 brute-mindedness, . . . . smite, smite in the 
 name of God ! The highest God does audibly so 
 command thee : still audibly if thou have ears to 
 hear. He, even He, with His unspoken voice, 
 
PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 217 
 
 awfuller than any Sinai thunders or syllahled speech 
 of whirlwinds." * And again to cheer the drooping 
 spirits, and raise the despairing and unbelieving 
 soul to its heaven-appointed task " Every noble 
 work is at first impossible. In very truth, for every 
 noble work the possibilities will lie diffused through 
 immensity, inarticulate, undiscoverable, except to 
 faith. Like Gideon, thou shalt spread out thy 
 fleece at the door of thy tent, and see whether under 
 the wide arch of heaven there be any bounteous 
 moisture or none. Thy heart and life purpose shall 
 be as a miraculous Gideon's fleece, spread out in 
 silent appeal to heaven." f These are true words 
 coming fresh from the depths of the human soul, 
 and spreading their divine contagion amongst all 
 who hear them the voice of a prophet speaking to 
 his nation, and reproving the backsliding of his 
 age. The peculiarity of the present time is the 
 increasing number and influence of these un- 
 anointed prophets, who are imperceptibly leavening 
 the moral character of the age. 
 
 The gradual intrusion of laymen into some of the 
 most important functions of the priestly office, even 
 in the humble characters of "lay-assistants" and 
 " Scripture-readers," and, still more, as lecturers on 
 ecclesiastical history, is significant of its insecure 
 and unsatisfactory condition. 
 
 I am now about to approach the most delicate 
 and difficult part of the work I have undertaken in 
 
 * See Carlyle's " Past and Present," page 270. 
 t Ibid, page 268. 
 
 L 
 
218 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 these pages. I shall, undoubtedly, be told that the 
 concessions I require from the popular creed in- 
 volve the total abandonment of the established cul- 
 tus ; and that the religious forms of the vulgar, at 
 least, are the essential basis of their morality. I 
 shall probably be required to supply a new cultus 
 to expound my new theology, and to impress it on 
 the minds of the people. I am fully aware that 
 forms of worship are necessary to impress the 
 truths of religion on the bulk of mankind, but I am 
 equally certain that all real and significant forms 
 are the result and not the cause of a vital religion. 
 A religious cultus, like a political constitution, is 
 the growth and offspring' of public opinion, and a 
 constitution composed in Downing Street, or a 
 cultus at Lambeth, will express little more than the 
 minds of their authors, and be totally inadequate to 
 represent the religious or political sentiment of a 
 nation. At present, we are acting on totally dif- 
 ferent principles in our religious and political 
 affairs. We despise the politics of the Tudors, 
 whilst we accept, without complaint, their rule of 
 faith and their forms of devotion ; and we force the 
 spirit of the nineteenth century into the narrow limits 
 of the Protestant Reformation. We live in a religion 
 of outward signs and symbols. All is written in 
 books, preached in pulpits, or expounded on plat- 
 forms. The inner and individual life of man receives 
 no development from our religious philosophy. 
 " There is abroad, everywhere," as an eloquent 
 writer complains, " a spirit of cowardly compromise 
 
PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 219 
 
 and seeming which intimates a frightful scepticism, 
 a life without love, an activity without an aim." 
 We appear to have lost all faith in the Divine 
 beauty of life, and the true inspiration of genius. 
 The want of invention and originality is betrayed by 
 the condition of the fine arts, as well as of religion. 
 The most successful of our artists are the closest 
 copyists of the great originals of antiquity ; and the 
 highest compliment we can pay to West or Wilson 
 is to compare them to Kafaelle or to Claude. It is 
 not to be wondered at, that we are content to borrow 
 our religion from the Jews, whilst we are indebted 
 to the dark and middle ages for the models of our 
 architecture, and to the Greeks for the exemplars of 
 our sculpture. The word " Gothic " is used indif- 
 ferently, to describe what is barbarous in morals, 
 and refined in taste, and is at once a term of vene- 
 ration and contempt. We conclude, in the same 
 spirit, that the art of sculpture expired with the 
 Greeks, and that the Jewish and Christian Scrip- 
 tures contain the last communication from God to 
 man. 
 
 Our present forms of worship, and articles of 
 Faith, were the imperfect expression of that great 
 rise in the waters of religious opinion that produced 
 the Reformation. I say "imperfect," because we 
 find the Puritans, the most earnest of believers, 
 almost immediately after that great event, in protest 
 against the work of their own hands ; and time has 
 only strengthened the inveteracy of their dislike to 
 the established forms. At no time since their 
 
 L 2 
 
220 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 establishment have these forms or articles been a 
 fair expression of the religious sentiment of the 
 nation, whose opposition to them was, during the 
 Rebellion, stronger than the power of the Crown, 
 and the prestige of the Church ; and it was, no 
 doubt, the political, rather than the religious short- 
 comings of the Puritans, that caused the subsequent 
 reaction against them. Using even the test of 
 numbers (if we exclude the non-religious portion of 
 the people, all of whom are reckoned as Church- 
 men), it is probable that the Puritan section was, 
 and still is, the most important body of believers. 
 All ' e false and weak brethren " are naturally drawn 
 into the pale of the establishment by worldly mo- 
 tives, or a faithless timidity. Ambition, no doubt, 
 may have inspired some leaders of the popular 
 party, but purer and more habitual instincts must 
 have influenced the mass of the people. If, there- 
 fore, we should abolish the whole cultus of the 
 Church (though this is by no means necessary or 
 desirable), such a step might be regarded as the 
 triumph of a religious party, rather than as a second 
 Reformation. 
 
 As I have no belief, however, in the possibility of 
 devising a cultus which shall express the religious 
 sentiment of the age, I am content to leave un- 
 touched the established forms of public worship, 
 until they are gradually amended by the diffusion 
 of a sounder theology. Of the ministering clergy 
 I require, alone, that they suffer, as far as possible, 
 that "judgment should go by default" where they 
 
PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 221 
 
 have no rational plea for the defence of an insigni- 
 ficant rite or obsolete form. If the Church will 
 not speak the truth, let her at least be silent. If 
 she will not inform if she fears to enlighten the 
 consciences of her hearers, let her, at least, cease 
 to mystify and deceive them. The concession I 
 require is far less than her bigoted supporters are 
 willing to believe ; for her authority is hourly 
 decreasing, and every attempt to restore it but 
 hastens its decline. I demand nothing more than 
 the silence of ecclesiastical authority, where it has 
 no jurisdiction, that it cease to dogmatise where 
 it has no longer the power to coerce. I would not 
 destroy the corrupt religious system under which 
 we are living, but, by removing extraneous support, 
 allow it to die a natural death ; thus making way 
 for the free expression of those spiritual instincts 
 which produce the real and significant cultus of 
 every nation. The language of our forms no 
 longer describes the actual feelings and wants of 
 the worshippers, except in the expression of those 
 general sentiments of natural religion which are 
 common to all times, and its hold on the affections 
 of the people (if hold it has) is founded on a sickly 
 sentiment for antiquity alone. It is thus, by for 
 ever looking back, that the Church neglects her 
 office as the leader of Christian civilization, and 
 allows the world to outgrow her ordinances, and 
 neglect her instructions. To the best and purest 
 of her ministers, her cumbrous and antiquated 
 machinery is daily becoming more and more an 
 
 L 3 
 
222 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY : 
 
 incumbrance and a snare, and the brightest orna- 
 ments of her communion are those who virtually 
 renounce their allegiance to her laws. 
 
 The honest defenders of the spirituality of the 
 Church amongst her clergy are simply called upon 
 openly to profess what so many of them secretly 
 believe. Let no honest preacher any longer con- 
 tinue to teach what he believes to be unreal and 
 untrue, even though it may be consecrated by the 
 formularies of the Church. Let the people, at 
 least, be freed from the burden of rites and cere- 
 monies no longer significant, or which have a 
 positive tendency to divert their minds from the 
 spiritual objects of their faith. Let them no longer 
 be taught that the imposition of hands can convey 
 the gift of the Holy Ghost that the water in 
 Baptism can wash away our sins, or that the 
 Eucharist is more than a commemorative rite. 
 The abrogation of rites and ceremonies, con- 
 fessedly obsolete or actually pernicious, would be 
 at least a step towards a more earnest and genuine 
 belief. 
 
 The clergy who shall thus vindicate their princi- 
 ples have really little to fear from the severity of 
 episcopal authority. In every sense is the cor- 
 rupted Church divided against itself. Rural deans 
 are petitioning the legislature for security for the 
 faith of their Bishops*, and whole parishes for 
 
 * See Debates in House of Lords, March 1st, 1849, on a Petition 
 presented by Lord Lyttelton. 
 
PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 223 
 
 staying the episcopal crusade against seceding 
 clergymen. 
 
 The great object in the Reformation of the ex- 
 ternal government of the Church is the restoration 
 of the legitimate relations of the priesthood and the 
 people : that is, to insure the highest offices in her 
 administration to those who have the deepest 
 spiritual insight, and utterly to exclude from the 
 sacred hand all faithless, feehle, and insincere in- 
 structors. Only so far as this object is realized 
 will the Church be able in these times to lead the 
 civilization of the world. Every sect of Christians, 
 almost every school of philosophers, acknowledge, in 
 some sense, the doctrine of spiritual influences, of 
 our allegiance to a power beyond the visible world, 
 and the immortality of the soul. These are Catholic 
 truths, and, except in the wantonness of wickedness, 
 mankind has never abandoned them. Even the 
 dregs of the expiring " Convention," in the lowest 
 degradation of the Revolution in France, were 
 obliged, by the violated instincts of the people, to 
 respect the majesty of God and the destiny of man. 
 The whole theory of Faith, in fact, as distinguished 
 from knowledge, is founded on the acknowledge- 
 ment of invisible powers ; and they who, in every 
 age, have been distinguished by their faithful ap- 
 prehension of this great mystery, and who by words 
 of power have been able to present it as a spiritual 
 reality to the souls of men, are the natural priest- 
 hood of the world. These primary revelations will 
 never die out of the world, but they may be and 
 
224: POPULAR CHRISTIANITY I 
 
 have been obscured by the dogmas of churches, 
 which have " taught, for doctrines, the command- 
 ments of men." Neither Christ nor his Apostles 
 left any cultus for the expression of these im- 
 perishable truths, though a cultus appears imme- 
 diately to have followed the diffusion of the new 
 faith, and to have been the harbinger of its 
 corruption. From the Christian writings themselves, 
 we learn that the foundation of churches was the 
 commencement of heresy, and the extinction of the 
 true catholicity of the doctrine of Christ. The 
 experience of eighteen centuries sufficiently proves 
 that this catholicity is obstructed rather than ad- 
 vanced by the dogmatism that would define it, and 
 the authority that would enforce its acceptance. 
 There is not the slightest analogy, as has been 
 sometimes supposed, between political and spiritual 
 coercion. We readily abandon a portion of our 
 natural freedom to insure the enjoyment of the rest, 
 and we acknowledge the authority of laws which 
 secure us the blessings of security and order. " The 
 obedience of a free people," it has been said, " is 
 nothing more than assent to laws which they them- 
 selves have enacted." * But, in the concerns of the 
 soul, all but the brutalized and degraded reject all 
 authority but that of God, that made of His spirit, 
 which enlightens them. This great spiritual fact is 
 written in letters of flame on the character of the 
 present times, to the terror of the timid and to the 
 joy of the hopeful. The long night of darkness 
 * See " Letters of Junius," Letter I. 
 
PKOSPECTS AND CONCLUSION. 225 
 
 of practical unbelief, and of formalism, that suc- 
 ceeded the Keformation, and has almost ever since 
 covered the land will pass away before the rising 
 light of a deeper religious philosophy, and religion 
 will once more become a reality. 
 
 Alluding to the revival of Christianity (though 
 writing in the midst of the horrors of revolution), 
 the " prophetic soul " of Novalis foreshadowed the 
 history of the present century. " That the time of 
 her resurrection hath come no historical mind can 
 deny, for even the very events that seemed directed 
 against her existence that threatened her downfall 
 have become the most favourable symptoms of her 
 regeneration. From the destruction of every posi- 
 tive institution she raises aloft her glorious head, 
 
 as a new foundress of the iv or Id The 
 
 spirit of God moveth over the waters, and a heavenly 
 island is visible on the receding waves, to become 
 the abode of renovated humanity the well-spring 
 of eternal life." * Well does the same gifted writer 
 compare to the labours of Sisyphus the attempts 
 of statesmen to keep up the ancient establishments 
 of Christianity, without communicating to them 
 some purer elements than they now possess to 
 attract them towards heaven. This is, indeed, the 
 " palpitation of a new period, and whoever has felt 
 
 it cannot doubt its coming These are 
 
 its first throes let each one be in readiness for the 
 birth!" 
 
 By suggesting, however, what I consider a more 
 
 * " Christianity, or Europe," page 24 (Catholic Series). 
 
226 POPULAR CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 true and Catholic theology, and by exposing some 
 actual superstitions in the popular creed, I have no 
 hope of producing any immediate or sensible effect 
 on the Church herself. The most I can hope for 
 or desire is to influence a few earnest minds, who 
 may help to diffuse the leaven which is already at 
 work from without. 
 
 The transition from a belief in Christ as God, to 
 a belief in him as (in the simple language of Scrip- 
 ture) "his only begotten son," his "well-beloved" 
 the most inspired of our race the most sacred 
 vehicle of that " Holy Spirit " that " God giveth to 
 all men liberally," is not so violent as may at first 
 sight appear to those whose minds have been emas- 
 culated by the refinements of scholasticism. The 
 " inspiration of the Scriptures" in the popular 
 sense of the words, is even now a declining doctrine 
 in the Church herself, mystified by various and 
 conflicting opinion, and giving "an uncertain sound" 
 to the popular ear. A belief in miracle and pro- 
 phecy is becoming daily less and less necessary as 
 the means of inculcating a faith in the invisible 
 things of God, in proportion as the inner miracles 
 of the human heart and intellect are being made 
 known by the diffusion of spiritual knowledge. 
 Creeds and confessions are almost imperceptibly, 
 but surely, losing their authority over the minds of 
 men under the expanding influence of intelligence 
 and toleration. 
 
 G. Woodfall and Son, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London. 
 
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 "' The Vocation of a Scholar' . . . 
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 man, and is nothing lost in Mr. Smith's 
 clear, unembarrassed, and thoroughly 
 English translation." Douglas Jerrold's 
 Newspaper. 
 
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 neat form. . . No class needs an earnest 
 and sincere spirit more than the literary 
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 Scholar,' the Guide of the Human Race,' 
 written in Fichte's most earnest, most 
 commanding temper, will be welcomed 
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 and be beneficial to the cause of truth." 
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 honest and heroic man. 
 
 thoroughly 
 The appear- 
 
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SPECULATIVE, MORAL, AND SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
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 but that the clearness I have now attained 
 on this subject shall also take possession of 
 my heart." Fichte's Correspondence. 
 
 " ' The Vocation of Man ' is, as Fichte 
 truly says, intelligible to all readers who 
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 this stamp is sure to teach you much, he- 
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 As a majestic and most stirring utter- 
 
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 to the literature of England." Douglas 
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 that we bestow on them our most em- 
 phatic praise. 
 
 ance from the lips of the greatest German 
 prophet, we trust that the book will find 
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 ciety." The Critic. 
 
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 " Mr. Mackay brings forward in support 
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 rials The account of the theosophy 
 
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 " ' The Progress of the Intellect' is in- 
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 " Over the vast area of cloud-land, 
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 " All the views are justified by authori- 
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 practical. Scattered through its more 
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 and history of the theory of mediation, 
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 reader to resort himself to this treasury of 
 mingled thought and learning." West- 
 minster Review, Jan. 1, 1851. 
 
 Intellectual Religion ; Being the Introductory 
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 Religious Development of the Greeks and Hebrews." By R 
 MACKAY, M.A. 8vo, paper cover, Is. Qd. 
 
D 
 
 SPECULATIVE, MORAL, AND SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY 
 
 Money and Morals : A Book for the Times. Con- 
 taining an attempt to explain the nature of Money Capital, and the 
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 CONTENTS: Part I. DANGERS. 1. The Problem 2. Money 
 
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 Problem. Part II. PRECAUTIONS. 1. Political Economy and its 
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 4. Agricultural Loans 5. Loans for Colonization and Emigration 
 6. Loans for the Improvement of Towns 7. Working Partnerships 
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 PATH TO THE REMEDY. 1. Theories of Social Progress 2. National 
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 of the Churches. 
 
 " Both in matter and style it is alike 
 excellent ; and it is difficult to determine 
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 with which he has investigated several of 
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 political economists by the felicitous and 
 forcible language in which his meaning is 
 uniformly conveyed or by the high moral 
 tone which pervades every part of his 
 volume. Rarely has philosophy assumed 
 so attractive a garb, or appeared in a cos- 
 tume illuminated by so many of the 
 spangles of a lively but chastened fancy ; 
 and seldom has the intimate relation which 
 most persons feel to exist between the ma- 
 terial and moral conditions of society been 
 so clearly and thoroughly expounded." 
 Morning Chronicle. 
 
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 of style and of matter. They are written 
 with address and persuasion, and are not 
 less remarkable for profound philosophic 
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 mind is strengthened and enriched, al- 
 lures, surprises, and beguiles the imagina- 
 tion of the reader. It is, in a word, an 
 attractive and quickening work, in which 
 the practical precepts of a benign and 
 elevated philosophy are united in the 
 happiest combination with the graces of 
 elegant and harmonious composition." 
 Morning Post. 
 
 '" Neither a party nor a superficial pro- 
 duction. Mr. Lalor is well versed in all 
 
 j the writings of the economists, and not 
 | only in them, but in much other litera- 
 ture ; and he pours out his stores with 
 great facility, and in a very graceful man- 
 ner. Essentially, the book is politico- 
 economical, but it is also social, moral, 
 and literary, treating many of the topics 
 of the day, but treating them on scientific 
 j principle. If a temporary circumstance 
 have given birth to the book, the materials 
 for it have been gathered through years of 
 study, by much reading and reflection." 
 Economist. 
 
 " A very able and luminous treatise on 
 the important questions of capital, cur- 
 rency, credit, and the monetary system 
 generally. The author is singularly clear 
 and accurate in his definitions of the 
 various branches of what is commonly 
 called money, or, as he more precisely de- 
 fines it, 'purchasing power;' and places 
 before the reader, in as simple terms as 
 the subject will permit, a picture of the 
 mode in which income and capital reci- 
 procally create and augment each other. 
 A person with a very elementary notion 
 of the principles of political economy and 
 monetary science may readily follow and 
 comprehend his arguments, and as he goes 
 on, will be enabled to appreciate the 
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 subject is one of deep interest, and, though 
 not concurring in all the views it contains, 
 we can fairly pronounce the work to be a 
 valuable contribution to the study of the 
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 world is awful to him truth is sacred. 
 However wildly he has wandered in search 
 of it, truth is all for which he cares to live. 
 If he is dogmatic, he is not vain ; if he is 
 drying up the fountain of life, jet to him 
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 perusal in extenso by all those who reflect 
 on so solemn and important a theme as 
 the future destiny of their native country." 
 Morning Chronicle. 
 
 " A work of whose merits we can hardly 
 speak too highly." Literary Gazette. 
 
 " This book has awakened in us many 
 painful thoughts and intense feelings. It 
 is fearfully true passionate in its up- 
 
 braidings, unsparing in its exposures 
 yet full of wisdom, and pervaded by an 
 earnest, loving spirit. The author sees 
 things as they are too sad and too real 
 for silence and courageously tells of 
 them with stern and honest truth. 
 
 We receive with pleasure 
 
 a work so free from polite lispings, 
 pretty theorizings, and canting progres- 
 sionisms; speaking, as it does, earnest 
 truth, fearlessly but in love." Noncon- 
 formist. 
 
 Social Statics , or, the Conditions Essential to Human 
 Happiness Specified, and the first of them Developed. By HER- 
 BERT SPENCER. 8vo, cloth. Original price, 12s.; reduced to 
 10s. P. 6d. 
 
 " It is the most eloquent, the most in- 
 teresting, the most clearly expressed and 
 logically reasoned work, with views the 
 most original, that has appeared in the 
 science of social polity." Literary Ga- 
 zette. 
 
 " The author of the present work is no 
 ordinary thinker, and no ordinary writer ; 
 and he gives, in language that sparkles 
 with beauties and reasoning, at once novel 
 and elaborate, precise and logical, a very 
 comprehensive and complete exposition of 
 
 the rights of men in society. The book 
 will mark an epoch in the literature of 
 scientific morality." Economist. 
 
 "We remember no work on ethics, 
 since that of Spinoza, to be compared with 
 it in the simplicity of its premises, and the 
 logical rigour with which a complete sys- 
 tem of scientific ethics is evolved from 
 them. This is high praise, but we give it 
 deliberately. ' ' Leader. 
 
 "A very interesting and beautifully 
 logical work." Nonconformist. 
 
 A Theory Of Population,, deduced from the general 
 law of Animal Fertility. By HERBERT SPENCER, Author of 
 " Social Statics." Republished from the WESTMINSTER REVIEW, for 
 April, 1852. 8vo, paper cover, price Is. 
 
 General Principles of the Philosophy of 
 
 Nature : with an Outline of some of its recent Developments 
 among the Germans. By J. B. STALLO, A.M. Post 8vo, 
 P. Is. 
 
 c 
 
 n 
 
MR. CHAPMAN'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 Historical Sketches of the Old Painters. 
 
 By the Author of " The Log Cabin." Post 8vo, cloth, 3s. P. 6d. 
 
 Italy: Past and Present. Or, General Views of its 
 
 History, Religion, Politics, Literature, and Art. By L. MARIOTTI. 
 
 2 vols. post 8vo, cloth, 10s. P. Is. 6d. 
 
 " This is a useful book, informed with j does not merely possess an interest simi- 
 lively feeling and sound judgment. It | lar to that of contemporary works ; it sup- 
 contains an exhibition of Italian views of ; plies a desideratum, and is well adapted to 
 matters, social and political, by an Italian ; aid the English reader in forming a just 
 who has learned to speak through English estimate of the great events now in pro- 
 thoughts as well as English words. Parti- j gress in Italy. Not the least wonderful 
 cularly valuable are the sketches of recent part of the book is the entire mastery the 
 Italian history; for the prominent, charac- ' author has acquired of our language." 
 ters are delineated in a cordial and sym- Examiner, April. 
 
 pathetic spirit, yet free from enthusiastic "Our author has an earnest, nay, en- 
 ideas, and with unsparing discrimination, thusiastic, love and admiration of his 
 . . . The criticisms on ' The Past' will j native country ; with the ability and elo- 
 richly repay perusal ; it is, however, in I quence to render his subject very inte- 
 ' The Present ' of Italy that the main in- | resting and attractive." Morning Adver- 
 terest of the book resides. This volume j User . 
 
 The following notices refer to the first volume of the work : 
 The work is admirable, useful, in- j us is altogether extraordinary, as that of 
 
 structive. I am delighted to find an Ita- 
 lian coming forward with so much noble 
 enthusiasm, to vindicate his country, and 
 obtain for it its proper interest in the 
 eyes of Europe. The English is wonder- 
 ful I never saw any approach to 
 
 such a style in a foreigner before as full 
 of beauty in diction as in thought." Sir 
 E. Buhver Lytton, Bart. 
 
 " I recognise the rare chraacteristics of 
 genius a large conception of the topic, a 
 picturesque diction founded on profound 
 thought, and that passionate sensibility 
 which becomes the subject a subject 
 beautiful as its climate, and inexhaustible 
 as its soil." B. Disraeli, Esq., M.P. 
 
 " A very rapid and summary resumg of 
 the fortunes of Italy from the fall of the 
 Roman Empire to the present moment. 
 A work of industry and labour, written 
 with a good purpose. A bird's-eye view 
 of the subject that will revive the recol- 
 lections of the scholar, and seduce the 
 tyro into a longer course of reading." 
 Atheneeum. 
 
 " This work contains more information 
 on the subject, and more references to 
 the present position of Italy, than we 
 have seen in any recent production." 
 
 Foreign Quarterly Review 
 " In reference to style, the work before 
 
 a foreigner, and in the higher quality of 
 thought we may commend the author for 
 his acute, and often original, criticism, 
 and his quick perception of the grand and 
 beautiful in his native literature." Pres- 
 cott, in the North American Review. 
 
 " The work before us consists of a con- 
 tinuous parallel of the political and lite- 
 rary history of Italy from the earliest 
 period of the middle ages to the present 
 time. The author not only penetrates 
 the inner relations of those dual appear- 
 ances of national life, but possesses the 
 power of displaying them to the reader 
 with great clearness and effect. We re- 
 member no other work in which the civil 
 conditions and literary achievements of a 
 people have been blended in such a series 
 of living pictures, representing successive 
 periods of history." Algemeine Zeitung. 
 
 "An earnest and eloquent work." 
 Examiner. 
 
 "A work ranking distinctly in the class 
 of belles-lettres, and well deserving of a 
 librai'y place in England." Literary 
 Gazette. 
 
 "A work warmly admired by excellent 
 judges." Taifs Magazine. 
 
 'An admirable work, written with great 
 
 power and beauty." Prqf. Longfellow. 
 Poets and Poetry of Europe. 
 
HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The Life of Jean Paul Fr, Richter. Compiled 
 
 from various sources. Together with his Autobiography, translated 
 from the German. Second Edition. Illustrated with a Portrait 
 engraved on Steel. Post 8vo, cloth, 7*. Qd. P. Is. 
 
 " The autobiography of Richter, 
 extends only to his twelfth year, is 
 
 r, which 
 is one of 
 
 the most interesting studies of a true poet's 
 childhood ever given to the woiid." 
 Lowe's Edinburgh Magazine. 
 
 " Richtei has an intellect vehement, 
 rugged, irresistible, crushing in pieces the 
 hardest problems ; piercing into the most 
 hidden combinations of things, and grasp- 
 ing the most distant; an imagination 
 vague, sombre, splendid, or appalling, 
 brooding over the abysses of being, wan- 
 dering through infinitude, and summoning 
 before us, in its dim religious light, shapes 
 of brilliancy, solemnity, or terror ; a fancy 
 of exuberance literally unexampled, for it 
 pours its treasures with a lavishness which 
 knows no limit, hanging, like the sun, a 
 jewel on every grass-blade, and sowing the 
 earth at large with orient pearls. But 
 deeper than all these lies humour, the 
 ruling quality of Kichter as it were the 
 central fire that pervades and vivifies his 
 whole being. He is a humorist from his 
 inmost soul ; he thinks as a humorist ; 
 he imagines, acts, feels as a humorist ; 
 sport is the element in which his nature 
 lives and works." Thomas Carlyle. 
 
 " With such a writer it is no common 
 treat to be intimately acquainted. In the 
 proximity of great and virtuous minds we 
 imbibe a portion of their nature, feel, as 
 mesmerists say, a healthful contagion, are 
 braced with the same spirit of faith, hope, 
 and patient endurance are furnished 
 with data for clearing up and working out 
 the intricate problem of life, and are in- 
 spired, like them, with the prospect of 
 immortality. No reader of sensibility can 
 rise from the perusal of these volumes 
 without becoming both wiser and better." 
 Atlas. 
 
 " Apart from the interest of the work, as 
 the life of Jean Paul, the reader learns 
 something of German life and German 
 thought, and is introduced to Weimar 
 during its most distinguished period 
 when Goethe, Schiller, Herder, and Wie- 
 land, the great fixed stars of Germany, in 
 conjunction with Jean Paul, were there, 
 surrounded by beautiful and admiring 
 
 women, of the most refined and exalted 
 natures, and of princely rank. It is full 
 of passages so attractive and valuable, that 
 it is difficult to make a selection as ex- 
 amples of its character." Inquirer. 
 
 " The work is a useful exhibition of a 
 great and amiable man, who, possessed of 
 the kindliest feelings, and the most bril- 
 liant fantasy, turned to a high purpose 
 that humour of which Rabelais is the great 
 grandfather, and Sterne one of the line of 
 ancestors, and contrasted it with an ex- 
 altation of feeling and a rhapsodical poetry 
 which are entirely his own. Let us hope 
 that it will complete the work begun by 
 Mr. Carlyle's Essays, and cause Jean Paul 
 to be really read in this country." Ex- 
 aminer. 
 
 " Richter is exhibited in a most ami- 
 able light in this biography industrious, 
 frugal, benevolent, with a child-like sim- 
 plicity of character and a heart overflow- 
 ing with the purest love. His letters to 
 his wife are beautiful memorials of true 
 affection, and the way in which he perpe- 
 tually speaks of his children shows that 
 he was the most attached and indulgent 
 of fathers. Whoever came within the 
 sphere of his companionship appears to 
 have contracted an affection for him that 
 death only dissolved : and while his name 
 was resounding through Germany, he re- 
 mained as meek and humble as if he had 
 still been an unknown adventurer on Par- 
 nassus." The Apprentice. 
 
 " The ' Life of Jean Paul ' is a charming 
 piece of biography which draws and rivets 
 the attention. The affections of the reader 
 are fixed on the hero with an intensity 
 rarely bestowed on an historical charac- 
 ter. It is impossible to read this bio- 
 graphy without a conviction of its inte- 
 grity and truth ; and though Richter's 
 style is more difficult of translation than 
 that of any other German, yet we feel 
 that his golden thoughts have reached 
 us pure from the mine, to which he has 
 given that impress of genius which makes 
 them current in all countries." Christian 
 Reformer. 
 
 Histoire des Crimes du Deux Decembre, 
 
 Par VICTOR SCHCELCHER, Representant du Peuple. Post 8vo, 
 
 cloth, Is. 6d. 
 

 MR. CHAPMAN'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 The Iiife of the Rev. Joseph Blanco "White. 
 
 Written by Himself. With Portions of his Correspondence. Edited 
 by JOHN HAMILTON THOM. 3 vols. post 8vo, cloth. Original 
 price, 1 4s. ; reduced to 15s. P. 2s. 
 
 " This is a book which rivets the atten- 
 tion, and makes the heart bleed. It has, 
 indeed, with regard to himself, in its sub- 
 stance, though not in its arrangement, an 
 almost dramatic character ; so clearly and 
 strongly is the living, thinking, active 
 man projected from-the face of the re- 
 cords which he has left. 
 
 " His spirit was a battle-field, upon 
 which, with fluctuating fortune and sin- 
 gular intensity, the powers of belief and 
 scepticism waged, from first to last, their 
 unceasing war; and within the compass of 
 his experience are presented to our view 
 most of the great moral and spiritual pro- 
 blems that attach to the condition of our 
 race." Quarterly Review. 
 
 " This book will improve his (Blanco 
 White's) reputation. There is much in 
 
 the peculiar construction of his mind, in 
 its close union of the moral with the intel- 
 lectual faculties, and in its restless desire 
 for truth, which may remind the reader 
 of Dr. Arnold." Examiner. 
 
 " There is a depth and force in this book 
 which tells." Christian Remembrancer. 
 
 " These volumes have an interest be- 
 yond the character of Blanco White. And 
 beside the intrinsic interest of his self-por- 
 traiture, whose character is indicated in 
 some of our extracts, the correspondence, 
 in the letters of Lord Holland, Southey, 
 Coleridge, Channing, Norton, Mill, Pro- 
 fessor Powell, Dr. Hawkins, and other 
 names of celebrity, has considerable at- 
 tractions in itself, without any relation to 
 the biographical purpose with which it 
 was published." Spectator. 
 
 Historical Analysis of Christian Civiliza- 
 tion. By Professor DE VERICOUR. Post 8vo, cloth. Original 
 price, 
 
 10s. Qd. ; reduced to 6s. P. Is. 
 
 The History of Ancient Art among the 
 
 Greeks. By JOHN WINCKELMANN. From the German, by 
 G. H. LODGE. Beautifully illustrated. 8vo, cloth. Original price, 
 12s. ; reduced to 6s. P. Is. 
 
 " That Winckelmann was well fitted for 
 the task of writing a History of Ancient 
 Art, no one can deny who is acquainted 
 with his profound learning and genius. 
 
 He undoubtedly possessed in the 
 
 highest degree the power of appreciating 
 artistic skill wherever it was met with, but 
 never more so than when seen in the garb 
 
 of antiquity The work is of ' no 
 
 common order,' and a careful study of the 
 great principles embodied in it must ne- 
 cessarily tend to form a pure, correct, and 
 elevated taste." Eclectic Review. 
 
 " The work is throughout lucid, and free 
 from the pedantry of technicality. Its 
 clearness constitutes its great charm. It 
 does not discuss any one subject at great 
 length, but aims at a general view of Art, 
 with attention to its minute developments. 
 It is, if we may use the phrase, a Grammar 
 of Greek Art, a sine qua non to all who 
 would thoroughly investigate its language 
 of form." Literary World. 
 
 "Winckelman is a standard writer, to 
 whom most students of art have been more 
 
 or less indebted. He possessed extensive 
 information, a refined taste, and great zeal. 
 His style is plain, direct, and specific, so 
 that you are never at a loss for his mean- 
 ing. Some very good outlines, representing 
 fine types of Ancient Greek Art, illustrate 
 the text, and the volume is got up in a 
 style worthy of its subject." Spectator. 
 
 " To all lovera of art, this volume will 
 furnish the most necessary and safe guide 
 in studying the pure principles of nature 
 
 and beauty in creative art We 
 
 cannot wish better to English art than 
 for a wide circulation of this invaluable 
 work." Standard of Freedom. 
 
 " The mixture of the philosopher and 
 artist in Winckelman's mind gave it at 
 once an elegance, penetration, and know- 
 ledge, which fitted him to a marvel for 
 
 the task he undertook Such 
 
 a work ought to be in the library of every 
 artist and man of taste, and even the 
 most general reader will find in it much 
 to instruct, and much to interest him." 
 Atlas. 
 
POETRY AND FICTION. 
 
 Life and Letters of Judge Story, the eminent 
 
 American Jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, and Dane Professor of Law at Harvard University. 
 Edited by his Son, WILLIAM W. STORY. With a Portrait. 
 2 vols. 8vo, cloth. Original price, 1 10s. ; reduced to 1. P. 3s. 
 
 "Greater than any Law Writer of which 
 England can boast since the days of Black- 
 
 stone." Lord Campbell, in the House of 
 Lords, April!, 1843. 
 
 mtir fuim. 
 
 The Village Pearl: A Domestic Poem; with Mis- 
 cellaneous Pieces. By JOHN CRAWFORD WILSON. Fcap. 
 
 8vo, cloth, Bs. 6d. 
 
 The Nemesis of Faith. 
 
 Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. 
 
 By J. A. FROUDE, M.A., late 
 Post 8vo, cloth, 6s. P. 6d. 
 
 "' The Nemesis of Faith' possesses the 
 first requisites of a book. It has power, 
 matter, and mastery of subject, with that 
 largeness which must arise from the 
 writer's mind, and that individual cha- 
 racter those truths of detail which 
 spring from experience or observation. 
 The pictures of an English home in child- 
 hood, youth, and early manhood, as well 
 as the thoughts and feel ings of the student 
 at Oxford, are painted with feeling per- 
 vaded by a current of thought: the re- 
 marks on the humbug of the three learned 
 professions, more especially on the world- 
 liness of the church, are not mere decla- 
 mation, but the outpouring of an earnest 
 conviction: the Picture of Anglican Pro- 
 testantism, dead to faith, to love, and to 
 almost everything but wealth-worship, 
 with the statement of the objects that 
 Newman first proposed to himself, form 
 the best defence of Tractarianism that has 
 appeared, though defence does not seem to 
 
 be the object of the author As the 
 
 main literary object is to display the 
 struggles of a mind with the growth and 
 grounds of opinion, incidents are subordi- 
 nate to the intellectual results that spring 
 from them: but there is no paucity of in- 
 cident if the work be judged by its own 
 standard." Spectator. 
 
 " The most striking quality in Mr. 
 Froude's writings is his descriptive elo- 
 quence. His characters are all living 
 before us, and have no sameness. His 
 quickness of eye is manifest equally in his 
 
 insight into human minds, and in his per- 
 ceptions of natural beauty The 
 
 style of the letters is everywhere charm- 
 ing. The confessions of a Sceptic are often 
 brilliant, and always touching. The clos- 
 ing narrative is fluent, graphic, and only 
 too highly wrought in painful beauty." 
 Prospective Review, May, 1849. 
 
 " The book becomes in its soul-burning 
 truthfulness, a quite invaluable record of 
 the fiery struggles and temptations through 
 which the youth of this nineteenth century 
 has to force its way in religious matters. 
 
 Especially is it a great warning 
 
 and protest against three great falsehoods. 
 Against self-deluded word orthodoxy and 
 bibliolatry, setting up the Bible for a mere 
 dead idol instead of a living witness to 
 Christ. Against frothy philosophic Infi- 
 delity, merely changing the chaff of old 
 systems for the chaff of new, addressing 
 men's intellects and ignoring their spirits. 
 Against Tractarianism, trying to make 
 men all belief, as Strasburgers make 
 geese all liver, by darkness and cram- 
 ming; manufacturing state folly as the 
 infidel state wisdom : deliberately giving 
 the lie to God, who has made man in 
 his own image, body, soul, and spirit, by 
 making the two first decrepit for the 
 
 sake of pampering the last 
 
 Against these three falsehoods, we say, 
 does the book before us protest : after its 
 own mournful fashion, most strongly when 
 most unconsciously." Fr user's Mag., 
 May, 1849. 
 
 
9_ 
 
 Essays^ Poems,, Allegories^ and Fables, By 
 
 JANUARY SEARLE. 8vo, 4s. 
 
 Poems by R, W. Emerson= Post 8vo, cloth, 4s. 
 
 STorica; or, Tales of Niirnberg from the Olden Time. 
 
 Translated from the German of August Hagen. Fcp. 8vo, orna- 
 mental binding, suitable for presentation, uniform with " The 
 Artist's Married Life." Original price, 7s. Qd. : reduced to 5s. 
 P. 6d. 
 
 MR. CHAPMAN S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 " This pleasant volume is got up in that 
 style of imitation of the books of a cen- 
 tury ago, which has of late become so 
 much the vogue. The typographical and 
 mechanical departments of the volume 
 speak loudly for the taste and enterprise 
 employed upon it. Simple in its style, 
 quaint, pithy, reasonably pungent the 
 book smacks strongly of the picturesque 
 old days of which it treats. A long study 
 of the art-antiquities of Niirnberg, and a 
 
 profound acquaintance with the records, ! deeper concentration of thought, the secret 
 letters, and memoirs, still preserved, of of their success." Weekly Dispatch. 
 
 " A volume full of interest for the lover 
 of old times ; while the form in which it 
 
 household and artistic German life of the 
 times of Maximilian, Albert Diirer, and 
 Hans Sachs, the celebrated cobbler and 
 ' master singer,' as well as most of the 
 artist celebrities of Nurnberg in the 16th 
 century. Art is the chief end and aim of 
 this little history. It is lauded and praised 
 with a sort of unostentatious devotion, 
 which explains the religious passion of the 
 early moulders of the ideal and the beau- 
 tiful ; and, perhaps, through a consequent 
 
 the times of Albert Durer and his great 
 brother artists, have enabled the author 
 to lay before us a forcibly-drawn and 
 highly-finished picture of art and house- 
 
 hold life in that wonderfully art-practising 
 and art-reverencing old city of Germany." 
 
 is presented to us may incite many to 
 think of art, and look into its many won- 
 
 Atlas. 
 
 drous influences with a curious earnest- 
 ness unknown to them before. It points 
 ! a moral also, in the knowledge that a 
 " A delicious little book. It is full of a ' people may be brought to take interest in 
 quaint garrulity, and characterized by an \ what is chaste and beautiful as in what 
 earnest simplicity of thought and diction, | is coarse and degrading." Manchester 
 which admirably conveys to the reader the I Examiner. 
 
 Hearts in Mortmain^ and Cornelia, A Novel, 
 
 in 1 vol. Post 8vo, cloth. Original price, 10s. 6d. ; reduced to 
 5s. P. 6d. 
 
 " To come to such writings as ' Hearts 
 in Mortmain, and Cornelia' after the 
 anxieties and roughness of our worldly 
 struggle, is like bathing in fresh waters 
 after the dust and heat of bodily exertion. 
 .,... To a peculiar and attractive grace 
 they join considerable dramatic power, 
 and one or two of the characters are con- 
 ceived and executed with real genius." 
 Prospective Review. 
 
 " Both stories contain matter of thought 
 and reflection which would set up a dozen 
 common-place circulating-library produc- 
 tions.' ' Examiner. 
 
 "It is not often now-a-days that two 
 works of such a rare degree of excellence 
 in their class are to be found in one 
 
 volume; it is rarer still to find two works, 
 each of which contains matter for two 
 volumes, bound up in these times in one 
 cover." Observer. 
 
 " The above is an extremely pleasing 1 
 book. The first story is written in the an- 
 tiquated form of letters, but its simplicity 
 and good taste redeem it from the tedi- 
 ousness and appearance of egotism which 
 generally attend that style of composi- 
 tion." Economist. 
 
 " Well written and interesting." Daily 
 News. 
 
 " Two very pleasing and elegant novels. 
 Some passages display descriptive powers 
 of a high order." Britannia. 
 
 
POETRY AND FICTION. 
 
 The Siege Of Damascus J An Historical Romance. 
 By JAMES NISBET. In 3 vols. post 8vo, cloth. Original price, 
 1 11s. 6d. ; reduced to 10s. P. Is. Gd. 
 
 "A romance of very unusual power, 
 such as must arrest attention by its quali- 
 ties as a work of fiction, and help the good 
 cause of liberty of thought." Leader. 
 
 " There is an occasional inequality of 
 style in the writing, but, on the whole, it 
 
 may be pronounced beyond the average of 
 modern novelists .... whilst descriptive 
 passages might be selected that betray a 
 very high order of merit." Manchester 
 Examiner. 
 
 Peter Jones \ or, Onward Bound. An Autobiography. 
 12mo, price 3s. P. 6d. 
 
 Reverberations. Part I, is. Part II., 2s. 
 
 Fcp. 
 
 8vo, paper cover. 
 "In this little verse -pamphlet of some 
 sixty or seventy pages, we think we see 
 evidences of a true poet ; of a fresh and 
 natural fount of genuine song ; and of a 
 purpose and sympathy admirably suited to 
 
 the times The purchaser of it will 
 
 find himself richer in possessing it by 
 many wise and charitable thoughts, many 
 generous emotions, and much calm and 
 quiet, yet deep reflection." Examiner. 
 
 " Remarkable for earnestness of thought 
 and strength of diction." Morning Her aid. 
 
 " The author of these rhymed brochures 
 has much of the true poetic spirit. He is 
 always in earnest. He writes from the full 
 heart. There is a manliness, too, in all his 
 utterances that especially recommends 
 
 them to us As long as we have such 
 
 ' Eeverberations' as these, we shall never 
 grow weary of them." Weekly News. 
 
 The Artist's Married Life j Being that of Albert 
 
 Diirer. Translated from the German of Leopold Schefer, by Mrs. 
 J. R. STODART. 1 vol. fcp. 8vo, ornamental binding, 6s. P. Qd. 
 
 " It is the worthy aim of the novelist to 
 show that even the trials of genius are part 
 of its education that its very wounds are 
 
 furrows for its harvest No one, 
 
 indeed, would have a right to expect from 
 the author of the ' Laienbrevier ' (see 
 Atheneeum, No. 437) such a stern and for- 
 cible picture of old times and trials as a 
 Meinhold can give still less the wire- 
 drawn sentimentalities of a Hahn-Hahn ; 
 but pure thoughts high morals tender 
 
 feelings might be looked for The 
 
 merits of this story consist in its fine pur- 
 pose, and its thoughtful, and for the most 
 part just, exposition of man's inner life. 
 To those who, chiefly appreciating such 
 qualities, can dispense with the stimulants 
 of incident and passion, the book before us 
 will not be unacceptable." Athenaeum. 
 
 The work reminds us of the happiest 
 
 efforts of Tieck. 
 
 . The design is to 
 
 show how, in spite of every obstacle, 
 genius will manifest itself to the world, 
 and give shape and substance to its beau- 
 tiful dreams and fancies It is 
 
 a very pure and delightful composition, is 
 tastefully produced in an antique style, 
 and retains in the translation all the pe- 
 culiarities (without which the book would 
 lose half its merit) of German thought 
 and idiom." Britannia. 
 
 " Simply then we assure our readers 
 that we have been much pleased with this 
 work. The narrative portion is well con- 
 ceived, and completely illustrates the 
 author's moral; while it is interspersed 
 with many passages which are full of 
 beauty and pathos." Inquirer. 
 
 The Bishop's "Wife : A Tale of the Papacy. Trans- 
 lated from the German of Schefer, by Mrs. J. R. STODART. Fcp. 
 8vo, cloth gilt. Original price, 4s. ; reduced to 2s. P. 6d. 
 
 Three Experiments of Living: Within the 
 
 Means. Up to the Means. Beyond the Means. Fcp. 8vo, orna- 
 mental cover and gilt edges, Is. P. Qd. 
 
 ^O 5 
 
MR. CHAPMAN'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 An Analytical Catalogue of Mr. Chapman's 
 
 Publications. Price Is. P. 6d. 
 
 %* To enable the reader to judge for himself of the merits of Mr. 
 CHAPMAN'S publications, irrespective of the opinions of the press 
 whether laudatory or otherwise an Analytical Catalogue has been 
 prepared, which contains an abstract of each work, or, at least, such 
 an amount of information regarding it as will furnish him with a 
 clear conception of its general aim and scope. At the same time, 
 from the way in which the Catalogue is drawn up, it comprises a 
 condensed body of Ideas and Facts, in themselves of substantive 
 interest and importance, and is therefore, intrinsically, well worthy 
 the attention of the Student. 
 
 Cheap Books; and how to get them, Being 
 
 a Reprint, from the WESTMINSTER REVIEW for April, 1852, of the 
 article on ' ' The Commerce of Literature ;" together with a Brief 
 Account of the Origin and Progress of the Recent Agitation for Free 
 Trade in Books. By JOHN CHAPMAN. To which is added, the 
 judgment pronounced by Lord Campbell. Second Edition. Price Is. 
 P. Gd. 
 
 A Report of the Proceedings of a Meeting 
 
 (consisting chiefly of Authors) held May 4th, at the House of Mr. 
 John Chapman, 142, Strand, for the purpose of hastening the re- 
 moval of the Trade Restrictions on the Commerce of Literature. 
 Third Edition. Price 2d. 
 
 Two Orations against taking away Human 
 
 Life, under any Circumstances ; and in Explanation and Defence of 
 the Misrepresented Doctrine of Non-Resistance. By THOMAS 
 COOPER, Author of "The Purgatory of Suicides." Post 8vo, in 
 paper cover, Is. P. Qd. 
 
 " Mr. Cooper possesses undeniable abili- | the highest degree manly, plain, and vigor- 
 ties of no mean order, and moral courage ous." Morning Advertiser. 
 
 beyond many The manliness with " These two orations are thoroughly im- 
 
 which he avows, and the boldness and zeal bued with the peace doctrines which have 
 with which he urges, the doctrinesof peace lately been making rapid progress in many 
 and love, respect for human rights, and unexpected quarters. To all who take an 
 moral power, in these lectures, are worthy interest in that great movement, we would 
 of all honour." Nonconformist. recommend this book, on account of the 
 
 " Mr. Cooper's style is intensely clear fervid eloquence and earnest truthfulness 
 and forcible, and displays great earnest- which pervade every line of it." Man- 
 ness and fine human sympathy ; it is in Chester Examiner. 
 
 CL 
 
MISCELLANEA. 
 
 Stories for Sunday Afternoons. By Mrs. 
 
 DAWSON. Square ISmo, cloth, Is. 6d. P. 6d. 
 
 " This is a very pleasing little volume, 
 which we can confidently recommend. It 
 is designed and admirably adapted for the 
 use of children from five to eleven years of 
 age. It purposes to infuse into that tender 
 age some acquaintance with the facts, and 
 taste for the study of the Old Testament. 
 The style is simple, easy, and for the most 
 
 part correct. The stories are told in a 
 spirited and graphic manner. 
 
 " Those who are engaged in teaching the 
 young, and in laying the foundation of 
 good character by early religious and 
 moral impressions, will be thankful for 
 additional resources of a kind so judicious 
 as this volume." Inquirer. 
 
 Essays by Emerson. Second Series, with Preface, 
 by THOS. CARLYLE. Post 8vo, cloth, 3s. Qd. P. 6d. 
 
 " The difficulty we find in giving a pro- I and new images, and those who have not 
 per notice of this volume arises from the 
 
 pervadingness of its excellence, and the 
 compression of its matter. With more 
 learning than Hazlitt, more perspicuity 
 than Carlyle, more vigour and depth of 
 thought than Addison, and with as much 
 originality and fascination as any of them, 
 this volume is a brilliant addition to the 
 Table Talk of intellectual men, be they 
 who or where they may." Prospective 
 Review. 
 
 " Mr. Emerson is not a common man, 
 and everything he writes contains sugges- 
 tive matter of much thought and earnest- 
 ness." Examiner. 
 
 " That Emerson is, in a high degree, 
 possessed of the faculty and vision of the 
 seer, none can doubt who will earnestly 
 and with a kind and reverential spirit 
 peruse these nine Essays. He deals only 
 with the true and the eternal. His pierc- 
 ing gaze at once shoots swiftly, surely, 
 through the outward and the superficial, 
 to the inmost causes and workings. Any 
 one can tell the time who looks on the 
 face of the clock, but he loves to lay bare ! 
 the machinery and show its moving prin- 
 ciple. His words and his thoughts are a 
 fresh spring, that invigorates the soul that 
 is steeped therein. His mind is ever 
 dealing with the eternal ; and those who 
 only live to exercise their lower intellec- 
 
 tual faculties, and desire only new facts | Inquirer. 
 
 a feeling or an interest in the great ques- 
 tion of mind and matter, eternity and 
 nature, will disregard him as unintelligi- 
 ble and uninteresting, as they do Bacon 
 and Plato, and, indeed, philosophy itself." 
 Douglas Jerrold's Magazine. 
 
 " Beyond social science, because beyond 
 and outside social existence, there lies the 
 science of self, the development of man in 
 his individual existence, within himself 
 and for himself. Of this latter science, 
 which may perhaps be called the philo- 
 sophy of individuality, Mr. Emerson is an 
 able apostle and interpreter." League. 
 
 "As regards the particular volume of 
 EMERSON before us, we think it an im- 
 provement upon the first series of essays. 
 The subjects are better chosen. They 
 come home more to the experience of the 
 mass of mankind, and are consequently 
 more interesting. Their treatment also 
 indicates an artistic, improvement in the 
 composition." Spectator, 
 
 " All lovers of literature will read Mr. 
 Emerson's new volume, as the most of 
 them have read his former one; and if 
 correct taste, and sober views of life, and 
 such ideas on the higher subjects of 
 thought as we have been accustomed to 
 account as truths, are sometimes outraged, 
 we at least meet at every step with origi- 
 nality, imagination, and eloquence." 
 
 The Beauties of Charming. With an Introductory 
 
 Essay. By WILLIAM MOUNTFORD. 12mo, cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 P. 6d. 
 
 " This is really a book of beauties. It is 
 no collection of shreds and patches, but a 
 faithful representative of a mind which 
 deserves to have its image reproduced in 
 a thousand forms. It is such a selection 
 from Channing as Channing himself might 
 have made. It is as though we had the 
 choicest passages of those divine discourses 
 
 
 read to us by a kindred spirit 
 
 Those who have read Martyria will feel 
 that no man can be better qualified than 
 its author, to bring together those passages 
 which are at once most characteristic, and 
 most rich in matter tending to the moral 
 and religious elevation of human beings." 
 Inquirer. 
 

 MR. CHAPMAN S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 1 
 
 William von Humboldt's Letters to a 
 
 Female Friend. A Complete Edition. Translated from the Second 
 German Edition. By CATHERINE M. A. COUPER, Author of 
 "Visits to Beechwood Farm," "Lucy's Half-Crown," &c. 2 vols. 
 post 8vo, cloth, 10s. P. Is. 
 "We cordially recommendthese volumes I sess not only high intrinsic interest, but 
 
 to trie attention of our readers 
 The work is in every way worthy of the 
 character and experience of its distin- 
 guished author." Daily News. 
 
 " These admirable letters were, we 
 believe, first introduced to notice in 
 England by the ' Athenaeum ;' and per- 
 haps no greater boon was ever conferred 
 upon the English reader than in the pub- 
 lication of the two volumes which contain 
 this excellent translation of William Hum- 
 boldt's portion of a lengthened corre- 
 spondence with his female friend." 
 Westminster and Foreign Quarterly Re- 
 view. 
 
 " The beautiful series of W. von Hum- 
 boldt's letters, now for the first time 
 
 an interest arising from the very striking 
 circumstances in which they originated. 
 
 We wish we had space to verify 
 our remarks. But we should not know 
 where to begin, or where to end ; we 
 have therefore no alternative but to re- 
 commend the entire book to careful pe- 
 rusal, and to promise a continuance of 
 occasional extracts into our columns from 
 the beauties of thought and feeling with 
 which it abounds." Manchester Exa- 
 miner and Times. 
 
 " It is the only complete collection of 
 these remarkable letters, which has yet 
 been published in English, and the transla- 
 tion is singularly perfect; we have seldom 
 read such a rendering of German thoughts 
 
 translated and published complete, pos- into the English tongue." Critic. 
 
 Ziocal Self- Government and Centralization : 
 
 The Characteristics of each, and its Practical Tendencies as affecting 
 Social, Moral, and Political Welfare and Progress : including com- 
 prehensive Outlines of the English Constitution. By J. TOULMIN 
 SMITH. Post 8vo, cloth. Original price, 8s. 6d. ; reduced to 5s. 
 P. Is. 
 
 " This is a valuable, because a thought- 
 ful, treatise upon one of the general sub- 
 jects of theoretical and practical politics. 
 No one in all probability will give an ab- 
 solute assent to all its conclusions, but the 
 reader of Mr. Smith's volume will in any 
 case be induced to give more weight to 
 the important principle insisted on." 
 Tail's Magazine. 
 
 " Embracing, with a vast range of con- 
 stitutional learning, used in a singularly 
 attractive form, an elaborate review of all 
 the leading questions of our day." Eclec- 
 tic Review. 
 
 ' This is a book, therefore, of imme- 
 
 chapters of the soundest practical philo- 
 sophy; every page bearing the marks of 
 profound and practical thought." 
 
 " The chapters on the crown, and on 
 common law, and statute law, display a 
 thorough knowledge of constitutional law 
 and history, and a vast body of learn- 
 ing is brought forward for popular infor- 
 mation without the least parade or pe- 
 dantry." 
 
 " Mr. Toulmin Smith has made a most 
 valuable contribution to English litera- 
 ture ; for he has given the people a true 
 account of their once glorious constitu- 
 tion ; more than that, he has given them 
 
 diate interest, and one well worthy of the I a book replete with the soundest and most 
 most studious consideration of every re- 1 practical views of political philosophy." 
 
 former ; but it is also the only complete 
 and correct exposition we have of our po- 
 litical system; and we mistake much if 
 it does not take its place in literature as 
 our standard text-book of the consti- 
 tution.' 
 
 Weekly News. 
 
 " There is much research, sound prin- 
 ciple, and good logic in this book ; and we 
 can recommend it to the perusal of all 
 who wish to attain a competent knowledge 
 of the broad and lasting basis of English 
 
 . 
 
 ' The special chapters on local self-go- ! constitutional law and practice." Morn* 
 vernment and centralization will be found ing Advertiser. 
 
 Bible Stories. 
 
 P. 6d. 
 
 By SAMUEL WOOD. 2 vols. 12mo, cloth, 3s. 
 
MISCELLANEA. 
 
 The Duty of England : A Protestant Layman's Reply 
 
 to Cardinal Wiseman's "Appeal." 8vo, Is. P. 6d. 
 
 " The ' Protestant Layman ' argues the I logical argument, free inquiry, and free 
 question in the right spirit. He would thought, unbiassed by authority." Man~ 
 meet the 'Papal aggression' solely by I Chester Spectator. 
 
 The Critical and Miscellaneous Works of 
 
 THEODORE PARKER. Post 8vo, cloth, 65. P. Is. 
 
 "It will be seen from these extracts His language is almost entirely figurative: 
 that Theodore Parker is a writer of con- the glories of nature are pressed into his 
 siderable power and freshness, if not origi- j service, and convey his most careless 
 nality. Of the school of Carlyle, or rather i thought. This is the principal charm of 
 taking the same German originals for his ' his writings ; his eloquence is altogether 
 models, Parker has a more sober style and unlike that of the English orator or es- 
 
 a less theatric taste. His composition 
 wants the grotesque animation and rich- 
 ness of Carlyle, but it is vivid, strong, and 
 frequently picturesque, with a tenderness 
 that the great Scotchman does not pos- 
 sess." Spectator. 
 
 " Viewing him as a most useful, as well 
 as highly-gifted man, we cordially wel- 
 
 sayist ; it partakes of the grandeur of the 
 forests in his native land ; and we seem, 
 when listening to his speech, to hear the 
 music of the woods, the rustling of the 
 pine-trees, and the ringing of the wood- 
 man's axe. In this respect he resembles 
 Emerson; but, unlike that celebrated 
 man, he never discourses audibly with 
 
 come the appearance of an English reprint ! himself, in a language unknown to the 
 of some of his best productions. The world he is never obscure ; the stream, 
 
 ' Miscellaneous ' pieces are characterized 
 by the peculiar eloquence which is without 
 a parallel in the works of English writers. 
 
 though deep, reveals the glittering gems 
 which cluster so thickly on its bed." 
 Inquirer. 
 
 Para Bellum, War and Invasion. 8vo, Is. 6d. 
 
 Counsels and Consolations. By JONATHAN FARE. 
 
 18mo, cloth, 2s. 
 
 Commercial and Banking Tables; embracing 
 
 Time Simple Interest Unexpired Time and Interest Interest. 
 Account Current, Time, and Averaging Compound Interest 
 Scientific Discount, both Simple and Compound Annual Income 
 and Annuity Tables, equally adapted to the Currencies of all Com- 
 mercial Nations. The True or Intrinsic Value of the Gold and 
 Silver Coins, and the Standard Weights and Measures of all Com- 
 mercial Countries. Also American, English, French, and German 
 Exchange. Together with the Exchange of Brazil, and the Impor- 
 tation of Rio Coffee. Arranged with reference to the harmonizing 
 of the Accounts and Exchanges of the "World, the whole upon an 
 Original Plan. By R. MONTGOMERY BARTLETT, Principal of 
 Bartlett's Commercial College, Cin., 0. One Volume Royal Quarto, 
 handsomely bound in russia, 5. 
 
 V This Work is Copyright. 
 
MR. CHAPMAN S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 Calico Printing as an Art Manufacture. 
 
 A Lecture read before the Society of Arts by Edmund Potter. 8vo, 
 sewed, 1*. 
 
 The Cotton and Commerce of India, Con- 
 sidered in Relation to the Interests of Great Britain ; with Remarks 
 on Railway Communication in the Bombay Presidency. By JOHN 
 CHAPMAN, Founder and late Manager of the Great Indian Penin- 
 sular Railway Company. 8vo, cloth. Original price, 12s. ; reduced 
 to 6s. P. Is. 
 
 " Promises to be one of the most useful 
 treatises that have been furnished on this 
 important subject It is distin- 
 guished by a close and logical style, cor pled 
 with an accuracy of detail which will, in a 
 great measure, render it a text-book." 
 Times, Jan. 22, 1851. 
 
 " Marked by sound good sense, akin to 
 the highest wisdom of the statesman. The 
 author has given to the public the most 
 complete book we have for some time met 
 with on any subject." Economist. 
 
 " Mr. Chapman's great practical know- 
 ledge and experience of the subjects upon 
 which he treats have enabled him to col- 
 lect an amount of information, founded 
 upon facts, such as we believe has never 
 before been laid before the public. The 
 all-important questions of supply, produc- 
 tion, and prices of cotton in India, as well 
 as the commercial and financial questions 
 connected with it, are most ably treated." 
 Morning Chronicle. 
 
 " Written by an intelligent, painstaking, 
 and well-informed gentleman 
 
 Nothing can be more correct than his 
 views, so far as they extend, his survey 
 and character of districts, his conclusions 
 as to the supply the earth can yield, and 
 his assertion that the cost of transit is 
 with Indian cotton the first and ruling 
 element of price." Daily News. 
 
 " Mr. Chapman's work is only appre- 
 ciated in the fulness of its value and merits 
 by those who are interested in one or other 
 branch of his subject. Full of data for 
 reasoning, replete with facts, to which the 
 most implicit credit may be attached, and 
 free from any political bias, the volume is 
 that rara, if not incognita avis, a truth- 
 ful blue book, a volume of statistics not 
 cooked up to meet a theory or defend a 
 practice." Britannia. 
 
 "The arrangement is clear, and the 
 treatment of the subject in all cases mas- 
 terly." Indian News. 
 
 " This is a comprehensive, practical, 
 careful, and temperate investigation," &c. 
 Indian Mail. 
 
 The Temporalities of the Established 
 
 Church, as they are and as they might be ; Collected from authentic 
 Public Records. By WILLIAM BEESTON, an Old Churchman. 
 8vo, paper cover, Is. P. 45. 
 
<K 
 
 ^9 
 
 CHAPMAN'S 
 
 f0r 
 
 Uniform, Post 8vo, ornamented paper cover. 
 I. 
 
 Sketches of European Capitals, By WILLIAM 
 
 WARE, Author of "Zenobia; or, Letters from Palmyra," "Aure- 
 lian," &c. Is. P. 6d. 
 
 II. 
 
 Literature and Life. Lectures by E. p. WHIPPLE, 
 
 Author of " Essays and Reviews." Is. P. 6d. 
 ni. 
 
 Representative Men. Lectures by R. w. EMERSON. 
 
 Is. 6d. P. 6d. 
 
 " Mr. Emerson's book is for us rather and many thoughts, which seem invoked 
 strange than pleasing. Like Mr. Carlyle, by a stern philosophy from the depths of 
 he strains after effect by quaint phrase- the heart." Weekly News. 
 
 ology the novelty will gain him admirers 
 and readers. At the same time there is 
 good sterling stuff in him ; already pos- 
 sessing a great name in his own country, 
 and being well known to the reading world 
 
 There is more practical sense and 
 wisdom to be found in it (this Book) than 
 in any of the Books he has given to the 
 world, since his first When Emer- 
 son keeps within hia depth, he scatters 
 
 of Europe, his present work, speaking of about him a great deal of true wisdom, 
 men and things with which we are fami- mingled with much genuine poetry. There 
 liar, will extend his fame. It is more real is also a merit in him which it would be 
 and material than his former volumes; i ungrateful not to acknowledge; he has 
 more pointedly written, more terse and made others think; he has directed the 
 pithy, contains many new views, and is ! minds of thousands to loftier exercises than 
 
 on the whole both a good and a readable 
 book." Economist. 
 
 " There are many sentences that glitter 
 and sparkle like crystals in the sunlight ; 
 
 they had known before; he has stimu- 
 lated the reflective faculties of multitudes, 
 and thus led to inquiry, and inquiry cer- 
 tainly will conduct to truth." Critic, 
 
 IV. 
 The Fourth Edition of 
 
 The Soulj Her Sorrows and Her Aspira- 
 tions. An Essay towards the Natural History of the Soul as the 
 true Basis of Theology. By FRANCIS WILLIAM NEWMAN, 
 formerly Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. 2s. P. 6d. 
 
 v. 
 
 Christian Theism. By c. c. HENNELL, Author of "An 
 
 Inquiry into the Origin of Christianity." Is. P. Qd. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Historical Sketches of the Old Painters. 
 
 By the Author of " Three Experiments of Living," &c. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The First Series of Essays By R. w. EMERSON. 
 
MR. CHAPMAN S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 THE 
 
 WESTMINSTER REVIEW. 
 
 flefo 
 
 Price Six Shillings per Number. 
 
 Annual Subscription, when paid to the Publisher in Advance, 1 ; or if 
 the work be delivered by post, 1 4s. 
 
 Contents of No. IV. October, 1852. 
 
 I. The Oxford Commission. 
 II. Whewell's Moral Philosophy. 
 
 III. Plants and Botanists. 
 
 IV. Our Colonial Empire. 
 V. The Philosophy of Style. 
 
 VI. The Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin. 
 VII. Goethe as a Man of Science. 
 VIII The Profession of Literature. 
 IX. The Duke of Wellington. 
 
 X. Contemporary Literature of 
 
 England. 
 XI. Contemporary Literature of 
 
 America. 
 XII. Contemporary Literature of 
 
 Germany. 
 
 XIII. Contemporary Literature of 
 France. 
 
 IX. Sir Robert Peel and his Policy. 
 X. Contemporary Literature of 
 
 England. 
 XI. Contemporary Literature of 
 
 America. 
 XII. Contemporary Literature of 
 
 Germany. 
 
 XIII. Contemporary Literature of 
 France. 
 
 Contents of No. III. July, 1852. 
 
 I. Secular Education. 
 II. England's Forgotten Worthies. 
 
 III. The Future of Geology. 
 
 IV. Lord Jeffrey and the Edinburgh 
 
 Review. 
 
 V. The Tendencies of England. 
 VI. The Lady Novelists. 
 VII. The Political Life and Senti- 
 ments of Niebuhr. 
 VIII. The Restoration of Belief. 
 
 " The Westminster Review, which has failed under so many managements, 
 under its new management promises to be no failure at all. Good healthy 
 blood stirs in it, and we have little doubt that it will not only win its way to as 
 high a point in public estimation as it held in its best days, but that more prac- 
 tical results will follow, and it will be found to sell. With equal ability, we 
 observe a larger and more catholic spirit. In the present number there are 
 several good subjects soundly and admirably treated, and there is a delightful 
 article on England's Forgotten Worthies,' especially to be named with plea- 
 sure. The notion of treating quarterly in four final articles the general con- 
 temporary literature of England, America, Germany and France, is very good ; 
 the articles are well done, and they place the reader of the review in possession 
 of a kind of information which he wants about the literature of the day. Let 
 us hope, then, that our old friend the Westminster, brought as it now is into com- 
 plete harmony with the spirit of the time, and having its pages furnished by 
 thinking men as well as able writers, will take gradually a sure hold of the 
 public, and will be bought by tho.-e who heretofore have been satisfied to read it 
 as it came to them borrowed from the circulating library. We wish its new 
 conductors all success. They are in the right way to obtain it." Examiner, 
 July 24th. 
 
THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW. 
 
 " The new Westminster Review is a brilliant and thoughtful one." Leader, 
 July I Oth. 
 
 " In general, the Review is characterized by great novelty and great vigour." 
 Economist, July 10th. 
 
 " This number, like its predecessors, is characterized by' enlarged thought, 
 loftiness of purpose, and a style of great freshness, brilliance, and vigour." 
 Sheffield Free Press. 
 
 " The reader who looks to the successive issues of the Westminster for a well- 
 stored field of matter whence he may derive intellectual improvement and grati- 
 fication, will find his expectations fully answered in the current number, which 
 is quite equal to its predecessors of the new series." British Mercury. 
 
 " This organ of free inquiry and liberal politics proceeds vigorously in the 
 hands of Mr. Chapman. The entire contents of the number are rich and 
 varied." Bradford Observer. 
 
 " This new number is as attractive for the variety of its articles, and the force 
 and brilliancy which generally characterize them, as for the value of the solid 
 thoughts and pregnant suggestions which they contain. Fine writing too often 
 of itself sustains the reputation of our quarterlies; fine and deep thinking is less 
 cared for; but in the union of these two seldom united qualities the Westminster 
 may be fairly said to be at present pre-eminent." Coventry Herald. 
 
 " We have no hesitation in saying that the Westminster Review, in point of 
 talent, is not surpassed by any of its numerous contemporaries." Cambridge 
 Independent. 
 
 " The present number well maintains that high and independent position 
 which the first did and promised to continue." Plymouth Journal. 
 
 " The contributions are of a very high order." Western Times. 
 
 " The present number contains no fewer than thirteen articles, all written 
 with consummate ability, and all treating of popular and interesting subjects." 
 ^Nottingham Mercury. 
 
 Contents of No. II April, 1852. 
 
 I. The Government of India. 
 II. Physical Puritanism. 
 
 III. Europe: its Condition and Pro- 
 
 spects. 
 
 IV. A Theory of Population, de- 
 
 duced from the General Law 
 of Animal Fertility. 
 V. Shelley and the Letters of Poets. 
 VI. The Commerce of Literature. 
 VII. Lord Palmerston and his Policy. 
 
 VIII. Early Quakers and Quakerism. 
 IX. Contemporary Literature of 
 
 England. 
 X. Contemporary Literature of 
 
 America. 
 XI. Contemporary Literature of 
 
 Germany. 
 
 XII. Contemporary Literature of 
 France. 
 
 " "We had occasion to speak of the promise of the Westminster under its new 
 management, and the second number entirely confirms our favourable judgment. 
 It would be difficult to find anywhere, now-a-days, so much originality, ability, 
 and sincerity, in the same number of pages." Daily News. 
 
 " The Westminster Review, under its new editorship, seems destined to achieve 
 a very distinguished position as a critical Titan, and to become a powerful agent 
 in the mental and moral progress of the age." Weekly Dispatch. 
 
 " The current number of this periodical is one of unusual merit. ***** 
 Must be ranked among the very best that have been given to the world since 
 the first publication of the Westminster and Foreign Quarterly." Observer. 
 
 The present is altogether an excellent number of the Westminster." Leeds 
 Times. 
 
 -e 
 
 B2 
 
MR. CHAPMAN S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 " Without enumerating the articles, we are safe in giving them credit for 
 solidity and ability." The Scotsman. 
 
 " The number presents a more than usually rich and varied programme." 
 Glasgow Citizen. 
 
 " The present number of this able organ of progress is, upon the whole, 
 superior to the last." Glasgow Sentinel. 
 
 " The Westminster holds on bravely in the career started under its new edi- 
 torial regime, grappling in an intrepid and uncompromising spirit of inquiry 
 with what may be called the organic, social, political, literary, and philosophical 
 questions of the age." Liverpool Mercury. 
 
 " The articles exhibit a well-selected variety of topics, and their treatment is 
 characterized by largeness of view, independence of thought, and marked 
 ability." Bristol Mercury. 
 
 " The manifest improvement and infusion of new life and spirit into this 
 Quarterly, which marked the first number of the new series, are well kept up." 
 Stamford Mercury. 
 
 " These wide fields for discussion are treated in a masterly manner by the 
 writers now engaged upon this important serial." Beading Mercury. 
 
 " Our previous opinion of the Westminster Review, under the new management, 
 is fully borne out by the present number, which contains evidence of unques- 
 tionable originality, great ability, and unaffected heartiness in the cause of pro- 
 gress." Sheffield Free Press. 
 
 " It is almost impossible to select a paper, and say that it bears the palm. 
 * * * One is unable to say which most recommends itself to his notice by its 
 philosophy, its clearness, the knowledge which it communicates, or the language 
 with which it is adorned." Sherborne Journal. 
 
 " The second number of the Westminster, under its new management, evidences 
 all the freshness and force which characterized the first number, with a full 
 measure of that comprehensiveness which especially characterizes the most 
 original and far-seeing and philosophic of the Quarterlies." Coventry Herald. 
 
 Contents of No. 
 
 L. Representative Reform. 
 II. Shell Fish: their Ways and 
 Works. 
 
 III. The Relation between Em- 
 
 ployers and Employed. 
 
 IV. Mary Stuart. 
 
 V. The Latest Continental Theory 
 
 of Legislation. 
 
 VI. Julia von Kriidener as Co- 
 quette and Mystic. 
 VII. The Ethics of Christendom. 
 
 I. January, 1852. 
 
 VIII. Political Questions and Parties 
 
 in France. 
 IX. Contemporary Literature of 
 
 England. 
 
 X. Retrospective Survey of Ame- 
 rican Literature. 
 XI. Contemporary Literature of 
 
 America. 
 XII. Contemporary Literature of 
 
 Germany. 
 
 XIII. Contemporary Literature of 
 France. 
 
 " This number is perfectly satisfactory." Daily News. 
 
 " Exhibits a very effective coalition of independent minds." Globe. 
 
 " When we compare the two Reviews, (Quarterly and Westminster,) and point 
 out the greater merits of the Westminster, we try it by a very high standard, and 
 pass on it a very high eulogium. The new life it has received is all vigorous and 
 healthy." Economist. 
 
 " Contains some of the best and most interesting articles which have ever 
 graced a ' Quarterly.'" Weekly Dispatch. 
 
 " Its principles remain the same as of yore, though enforced with far more 
 Vigour." Observer. 
 
 " Distinguished by high literary ability, and a tone of fearless and truthful 
 discussion which is full of promise for the future." Weekly News. 
 
THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW. 
 
 " The variety and ability of the articles are great, and the general tone of 
 the Review is unequivocally the expression of matured thought, and earnest and 
 elevated convictions." Inquirer, 
 
 " We congratulate Mr. Chapman on the high tone anu spirit of superior 
 enterprise manifest in the Review." Court Journal. 
 
 The "WESTMINSTER REVIEW" is designed as an instrument for the 
 development and guidance of earnest thought on Politics, Social Philo- 
 sophy, Religion, and General Literature ; and is the organ of the most 
 able and independent minds of the day. 
 
 The fundamental principle of the work is the recognition of the Law 
 of Progress. In conformity with this principle, and with the consequent 
 conviction that attempts at reform though modified by the experience 
 of the past and the conditions of the present should be directed and 
 animated by an advancing ideal, the Editors seek to maintain a steady 
 comparison of the actual with the possible, as the most powerful stimulus 
 to improvement. Nevertheless, in the deliberate advocacy of organic 
 changes, it will not be forgotten, that the institutions of man, no less 
 than the products of nature, are strong and durable in proportion as 
 they are the results of a gradual development, and that the most salutary 
 and permanent reforms are those, which, while embodying the wisdom 
 of the time, yet sustain such a relation to the moral and intellectual con- 
 dition of the people as to ensure their support. 
 
 In contradistinction to the practical infidelity and essentially destruc- 
 tive policy which would ignore the existence of wide-spread doubts in 
 relation to established creeds and systems, and would stifle all inquiry 
 dangerous to prescriptive claims, the Review exhibits that untemporizing 
 expression of opinion, and that fearlessness of investigation and criticism, 
 which are the results of a consistent faith in the ultimate prevalence 
 of truth. 
 
 Aware that the same fundamental truths are apprehended under a 
 variety of forms, and that, therefore, opposing systems may in the end 
 prove complements of each other, the Editors endeavour to institute such 
 a radical and comprehensive treatment of those controverted questions 
 which are practically momentous, as may aid in the conciliation of diver- 
 gent views. In furtherance of this object, a limited portion of the work, 
 under the head of " Independent Contributions," is set apart for the 
 reception of articles ably setting forth opinions which, though not dis- 
 crepant with the general spirit of the Review, may be at variance with 
 the particular ideas or measures it will advocate. The primary object of 
 this department is to facilitate the expression of opinion by men of high 
 mental power and culture, who, while they are zealous friends of free- 
 c) dom and progress, yet differ widely on special points of great practical 
 concern, both from the Editors and from each other. 
 
THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW. 
 
 d> 
 
 The Review gives especial attention to that wide range of topics which 
 may be included under the term Social Philosophy. It endeavours to 
 form a dispassionate estimate of the diverse theories on these subjects, 
 to give a definite and intelligible form to the chaotic mass of thought 
 now prevalent concerning them, and to ascertain both in what degree 
 the popular efforts after a more perfect social state are countenanced by 
 the teachings of politico-economical science, and how far they may be 
 sustained and promoted by the actual character and culture of the 
 people. 
 
 In the department of politics careful consideration is given to all the 
 most vital questions, without regard to the distinctions of party ; the 
 only standard of consistency to which the Editors adhere being the real, 
 and not the accidental, relations of measures their bearing, not on a 
 ministry or a class, but on the public good. 
 
 In the treatment of Religious Questions the Review unites a spirit of 
 reverential sympathy for the cherished associations of pure and elevated 
 minds with an uncompromising pursuit of truth. The elements of eccle- 
 siastical authority and of dogma are fearlessly examined, and the results 
 of the most advanced Biblical criticism are discussed without reservation, 
 under the conviction that religion has its foundation in man's nature, and 
 will only discard an old form to assume and vitalize one more expressive 
 of its essence. While, however, the Editors do not shrink from the 
 expression of what they believe to be sound negative views, they equally 
 bear in mind the pre-eminent importance of a constructive religious 
 philosophy, as connected with the development and activity of the moral 
 nature, and of those poetic and emotional elements, out of which pro- 
 ceed our noblest aspirations and the essential beauty of life. 
 
 In the department of General Literature the criticism is animated by 
 the desire to elevate the standard of the public taste, in relation both to 
 artistic perfection and moral purity ; larger space is afforded for articles 
 intrinsically valuable, by the omission of those minor and miscellaneous 
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MR. CHAPMAN'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
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 Contents of No. XXXI. August, 1852, 
 
 I. Regal Rome. 
 II. The Gift of Tongues. 
 III. Memoirs of Chalmers. 
 
 IV. Heresies about Inspiration. 
 V. Oxford. 
 VI. The Eclipse of Faith. 
 
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY, 
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