Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
Variations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained
except in obvious cases of typographical error.
In this book the transcriber has made the changes listed in the
corrections list.
* * * * *
_THE WAVE OF SCEPTICISM
AND
THE ROCK OF TRUTH._
THE WAVE OF SCEPTICISM
THE ROCK OF TRUTH:
_A REPLY TO_
"SUPERNATURAL RELIGION: AN INQUIRY INTO THE
REALITY OF DIVINE REVELATION."
MATTHEW HENRY HABERSHON.
"_Animus ad amplitudinem mysteriorum pro modulo suo dilatetur, non
mysteria ad angustias animi constringantur._"--LORD BACON.
London:
HODDER AND STOUGHTON,
27 & 31, PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCLXXV.
CORRECTIONS.
Title-page. _For_ anima, _read_ animi.
Page iv. _For_ Wann Warden, _read_ Wann Wurden.
xii. _For_ one allowed, _read_ one version allowed.
28 line 3. _For_ and that Paul, _read_ and that as for Paul.
52 line 3. _For_ first century, _read_ second century.
77 _For_ He suffered martyrdom on, _read_ He suffered martyrdom,
it is said, on.
77 _For_ in the amphitheatre at Antioch, _read_ in the
amphitheatre, not at Rome, but at Antioch.
78 line 4. _For_ letters, _read_ versions.
109 line 8 from bottom. _For_ whoever, _read_ whomsoever.
123 line 7. _For_ dead, _read_ read.
177 line 7. _For_ at the name of Jesus, _read_ in the name of
Jesus.
"_Every wave which beats against the rock of eternal truth seems to
rise out of the trough caused by some receding wave, and raises its
threatening crest as if it would wash away the rock._
"_It is of the nature of truth, that the more it is tested the more
sure it becomes under the trial. These attacks of opponents are among
the means whereby fresh evidences of the certitude of the Gospels are
called out._"
Translator of Tischendorf's
Wann Wurden Unsere Evangelien Verfasst.
PREFACE.
This volume is an amplified and expanded essay read before the members
of the Young Men's Society in connection with Park Church, Highbury,
on the evening of the 2nd of November, 1874. The original purpose of
the author was to indicate to the associates of that Christian
institution how the influence of German anti-Christian literature,
made plain to English readers by such books as the one under review,
might be withstood and neutralised, and to supply an antidote to the
poisonous insinuations respecting Christianity which many of the
periodicals of the day disseminate in noticing works of this
character. Those that are not professedly hostile to religion have a
way of treating Truth and Error as if nothing had been proved, and as
if the question were quite an open one whether Divine Revelation is,
or is not, a reality. The present design of the author has a wider
range than he first intended. He desires to induce, not only young
men, but those nearer his own age, and placed, much as himself, in the
great centres of business, who have not much time for research into
such matters, to bring their intelligence fairly alongside the bold
pretensions of the cavillers and quibblers who presume to _know_ that
there is no God, or that He has not spoken. He desires to remind those
who are doubting that "there is a knowledge that creates doubts which
nothing but a larger knowledge can satisfy," and that he who stops in
the difficulty "will be perplexed and uncomfortable for life." Having
investigated for himself, the author indicates the result, and would
like, if he can, to facilitate the inquiry which it is,
unquestionably, the duty and interest of every one to make. If to rest
on a foregone conclusion on a matter of such momentous importance is
not altogether justifiable on the Christian side of the question, how
much less so on the other! For it should be remembered that, on the
one side, looking at the question from a _primâ facie_ point of view,
we have a faith which has the endorsement of the highest civilisation,
the best morality, the truest culture, the noblest aspirations, and
the greatest happiness which humanity has ever experienced; in
contrast with a negation which has nothing to offer as a substitute,
taking away the light that illumines the path of life, and leaving it
in utter darkness.
As to the book under review, the anonymous author seems to regard the
evidences of Supernatural Religion as a region of swamp or sand, in
which solid rock is nowhere to be found upon which faith may obtain a
firm footing. He takes us in his survey here and there, and says that
what seems to be solid stone is only slightly congealed sand, which,
at the touch of his criticism, dissolves and falls away. We fix our
attention on one of these masses, and the result is, that it is not
what he alleges, but, verily, granite. If the reader who is not
prejudiced against Christianity will attentively peruse this volume to
the end, he will probably incline to this opinion. If any whose views
in regard to Christianity are hostile should be at the trouble to read
it, it is the hope of the author that the result will be to stimulate
inquiry and research, for "that which is true in religion cannot be
shaken, and that which is false, no one can desire to preserve." In so
far as the writer of "Supernatural Religion" and others have, by their
reference to early Patristic literature, shown how certain it is that
Jesus lived and taught, they have done service to the cause of
Christianity; for the writings, the traditions, and the history of
the Church are too closely identified with the Sermon on the Mount to
admit of the probability that He who could thus teach was less than
"He believed Himself to be." On such a foundation the superstructure
is so appropriate, that the "possibility" which John Stuart Mill
conceived is near to _probability_, and _probability_ to a _full
assurance of faith_.
82, ST. MARK'S SQUARE,
WEST HACKNEY, LONDON.
_11th December, 1874._
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER I.
_MIRACLES._
Miracles the vital point in the investigation--Their modification to
suit scientific theologians--Antecedent credibility--Miracles not
super-Satanic--Profane oaths--Counterfeits--Christianity
misrepresented--J. S. Mill--Appeal to reason--The Fourth Gospel
ignored--Intellectual condition of the age when miracles
occurred--Royal College of Physicians--French Academy--Priests
ordained to forgive sins--Paul the only educated man of his
generation--Perfection and invariability of the order of Nature in
contrast with the wickedness of mankind--Abstract question as to the
credibility of miracles--Matthew Arnold and J. S. Mill reject Hume's
argument--Recent German criticisms in favour of Christianity--Dr.
Christlieb's "Modern Doubt and Christian Belief"--Baur and the
Tübingen School 11