Leibnitz says: "'Tis also a supernatural thing that bodies should _attract_
one another at a distance without any intermediate means." And Clarke, on
behalf of Newton, caps this as follows: "That one body should attract
another without any intermediate _means_ is, indeed, not a _miracle_, but a
contradiction; for 'tis supposing something to act where it is not."
[62] I may cite in support of this obvious conclusion of sound reasoning,
two authorities who will certainly not be regarded lightly by Mr. Lilly.
These are Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. The former declares that "Fate" is
only an ill-chosen name for Providence.
"Prorsus divina providentia regna constituuntur humana. Quae si propterea
quisquam fato tribuit, quia ipsam Dei voluntatem vel potestatem fati nomine
appellat, _sententiam teneat, linguam corrigat_" (Augustinus _De Civitate
Dei_, V. c. i.)
The other great doctor of the Catholic Church, "Divus Thomas," as Suarez
calls him, whose marvellous grasp and subtlety of intellect seem to me to
be almost without a parallel, puts the whole case into a nutshell, when he
says that the ground for doing a thing in the mind of the doer is as it
were the pre-existence of the thing done:
"Ratio autem alicujus fiendi in mente actoris existens est quaedam
prae-existentia rei fiendae in eo" (_Summa_, Qu. xxiii. Art. i.)
If this is not enough, I may further ask what "Materialist" has ever given
a better statement of the case for determinism, on theistic grounds, than
is to be found in the following passage of the _Summa_, Qu. xiv. Art. xiii.
"Omnia quae sunt in tempore, sunt Deo ab aeterno praesentia, non solum ea ex
ratione qua habet rationes rerum apud se presentes, ut quidam dicunt, sed
quia ejus intuitus fertur ab aeterno supra omnia, prout sunt in sua
praesentialitate. _Unde manifestum est quod contingentia infallibiliter a
Deo cognoscuntur_, in quantum subduntur divino conspectui secundum suam
praesentialitatem; et tamen sunt futura contingentia, suis causis proximis
comparata."
[As I have not said that Thomas Aquinas is professedly a determinist, I do
not see the bearing of citations from him which may be more or less
inconsistent with the foregoing.]
[63] There is no exaggeration in this brief and summary view of the
Catholic cosmos. But it would be unfair to leave it to be supposed that the
Reformation made any essential alteration, except perhaps for the worse, in
that cosmology which called itself "Christian." The protagonist of the
Reformation, from whom the whole of the Evangelical sects are lineally
descended, states the case with that plainness of speech, not to say
brutality, which characterised him. Luther says that man is a beast of
burden who only moves as his rider orders; sometimes God rides him, and
sometimes Satan. "Sic voluntas humana in medio posita est, ceu jumentum; si
insederit Deus, vult et vadit, quo vult Deus.... Si insederit Satan, vult
et vadit, quo vult Satan; nec est in ejus arbitrio ad utrum sessorem
currere, aut eum quaerere, sed ipsi sessores certant ob ipsum obtinendum et
possidendum" (_De Servo Arbitrio_, M. Lutheri Opera, ed. 1546, t. ii. p.
468). One may hear substantially the same doctrine preached in the parks
and at street-corners by zealous volunteer missionaries of Evangelicism,
any Sunday, in modern London. Why these doctrines, which are conspicuous by
their absence in the four Gospels, should arrogate to themselves the title
of Evangelical, in contradistinction to Catholic, Christianity, may well
perplex the impartial inquirer, who, if he were obliged to choose between
the two, might naturally prefer that which leaves the poor beast of burden
a little freedom of choice.
[64] I say "so-called" not by way of offence, but as a protest against the
monstrous assumption that Catholic Christianity is explicitly or implicitly
contained in any trustworthy record of the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth.
[65] It may be desirable to observe that, in modern times, the term
"Realism" has acquired a signification wholly different from that which
attached to it in the middle ages. We commonly use it as the contrary of
Idealism. The Idealist holds that the phenomenal world has only a
subjective existence, the Realist that it has an objective existence. I am
not aware that any mediaeval philosopher was an Idealist in the sense in
which we apply the term to Berkeley. In fact, the cardinal defect of their
speculations lies in their oversight of the considerations which lead to
Idealism. If many of them regarded the material world as a negation, it was
an active negation; not zero, but a minus quantity.
[66] At any rate a catastrophe greater than the flood, which, as I observe
with interest, is as calmly assumed by the preacher to be an historical
event as if science had never had a word to say on that subject!
[67] "Les formes des anciens ou Entelechies ne sont autre chose que les
forces" (Leibnitz, _Lettre au Pere Bouvet_, 1697).
[68] _Nineteenth Century_, March 1887.
[69] The Duke of Argyll speaks of the recent date of the demonstration of
the fallacy of the doctrine in question. "Recent" is a relative term, but I
may mention that the question is fully discussed in my book on "Hume";
which, if I may believe my publishers, has been read by a good many people
since it appeared in 1879. Moreover, I observe, from a note at page 89 of
_The Reign of Law_, a work to which I shall have occasion to advert by and
by, that the Duke of Argyll draws attention to the circumstance that, so
long ago as 1866, the views which I hold on this subject were well known.
The Duke, in fact, writing about this time, says, after quoting a phrase of
mine: "The question of miracles seems now to be admitted on all hands to be
simply a question of evidence." In science we think that a teacher who
ignores views which have been discussed _coram populo_ for twenty years, is
hardly up to the mark.
[70] See also vol. i. p. 460. In the ninth edition (1853), published
twenty-three years after the first, Lyell deprives even the most careless
reader of any excuse for misunderstanding him: "So in regard to
subterranean movements, the theory of the perpetual uniformity of the force
which they exert on the earth-crust is quite consistent with the admission
of their alternate development and suspension for indefinite periods within
limited geographical areas" (p. 187).
[71] A great many years ago (Presidential Address to the Geological
Society, 1869) I ventured to indicate that which seemed to me to be the
weak point, not in the fundamental principles of uniformitarianism, but in
uniformitarianism as taught by Lyell. It lay, to my mind, in the refusal by
Hutton, and in a less degree by Lyell, to look beyond the limits of the
time recorded by the stratified rocks. I said: "This attempt to limit, at a
particular point, the progress of inductive and deductive reasoning from
the things which are to the things which were--this faithlessness to its
own logic, seems to me to have cost uniformitarianism the place as the
permanent form of geological speculation which it might otherwise have
held" (_Lay Sermons_, p. 260). The context shows that "uniformitarianism"
here means that doctrine, as limited in application by Hutton and Lyell,
and that what I mean by "evolutionism" is consistent and thoroughgoing
uniformitarianism.
[72] _Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences_, vol. i. p. 670. New edition,
1847.
[73] At Glasgow in 1856.
[74] _Optics_, query 31.
[75] The author recognises this in his _Explanations_.
[76] "The Advance of Science." Three sermons preached in Manchester
Cathedral on Sunday, September 4, 1887, during the meeting of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science, by the Bishop of Carlisle, the
Bishop of Bedford, and the Bishop of Manchester.
[77] _American Journal of Science_, 1885, p. 190.
[78] Professor Geikie, however, though a strong, is a fair and candid
advocate. He says of Darwin's theory, "That it may be possibly true, in
some instances, may be readily granted." For Professor Geikie, then, it is
not yet overthrown--still less a dream.
[79] I find, moreover, that I specially warned my readers against hasty
judgment. After stating the facts of observation, I add, "I have, hitherto,
said nothing about their meaning, as, in an inquiry so difficult and
fraught with interest as this, it seems to me to be in the highest degree
important to keep the questions of fact and the questions of interpretation
well apart" (p. 210).
[80] See the _Official Report of the Church Congress held at Manchester_,
October 1888, pp. 253, 254.
[81] [In this place and in the eleventh essay, there are references to the
late Archbishop of York which are of no importance to my main argument, and
which I have expunged because I desire to obliterate the traces of a
temporary misunderstanding with a man of rare ability, candour, and wit,
for whom I entertained a great liking and no less respect. I rejoice to
think now of the (then) Bishop's cordial hail the first time we met after
our little skirmish, "Well, is it to be peace or war?" I replied, "A little
of both." But there was only peace when we parted, and ever after.]
[82] Dr. Wace tells us, "It may be asked how far we can rely on the
accounts we possess of our Lord's teaching on these subjects." And he seems
to think the question appropriately answered by the assertion that it
"ought to be regarded as settled by M. Renan's practical surrender of the
adverse case." I thought I knew M. Renan's works pretty well, but I have
contrived to miss this "practical" (I wish Dr. Wace had defined the scope
of that useful adjective) surrender. However, as Dr. Wace can find no
difficulty in pointing out the passage of M. Renan's writings, by which he
feels justified in making his statement, I shall wait for further
enlightenment, contenting myself, for the present, with remarking that if
M. Renan were to retract and do penance in Notre-Dame to-morrow for any
contributions to Biblical criticism that may be specially his property, the
main results of that criticism, as they are set forth in the works of
Strauss, Baur, Reuss, and Volkmar, for example, would not be sensibly
affected.
[83] [See De Gobineau, _Les Religions et les Philosophies dans l'Asie
Centrale_; and the recently published work of Mr. E. G. Browne, _The
Episode of the Bab_.]
[84] Here, as always, the revised version is cited.
[85] Does any one really mean to say that there is any internal or external
criterion by which the reader of a biblical statement, in which scientific
matter is contained, is enabled to judge whether it is to be taken _au
serieux_ or not? Is the account of the Deluge, accepted as true in the New
Testament, less precise and specific than that of the call of Abraham, also
accepted as true therein? By what mark does the story of the feeding with
manna in the wilderness, which involves some very curious scientific
problems, show that it is meant merely for edification, while the story of
the inscription of the Law on stone by the hand of Jahveh is literally
true? If the story of the Fall is not the true record of an historical
occurrence, what becomes of Pauline theology? Yet the story of the Fall as
directly conflicts with probability, and is as devoid of trustworthy
evidence, as that of the Creation or that of the Deluge, with which it
forms an harmoniously legendary series.
[86] See, for an admirable discussion of the whole subject, Dr. Abbott's
article on the Gospels in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_; and the remarkable
monograph by Professor Volkmar, _Jesus Nazarenus und die erste christliche
Zeit_ (1882). Whether we agree with the conclusions of these writers or
not, the method of critical investigation which they adopt is
unimpeachable.
[87] Notwithstanding the hard words shot at me from behind the hedge of
anonymity by a writer in a recent number of the _Quarterly Review_, I
repeat, without the slightest fear of refutation, that the four Gospels, as
they have come to us, are the work of unknown writers.
[88] Their arguments, in the long run, are always reducible to one form.
Otherwise trustworthy witnesses affirm that such and such events took
place. These events are inexplicable, except the agency of "spirits" is
admitted. Therefore "spirits" were the cause of the phenomena.
And the heads of the reply are always the same. Remember Goethe's aphorism:
"Alles factische ist schon Theorie." Trustworthy witnesses are constantly
deceived, or deceive themselves, in their interpretation of sensible
phenomena. No one can prove that the sensible phenomena, in these cases,
could be caused only by the agency of spirits: and there is abundant ground
for believing that they may be produced in other ways. Therefore, the
utmost that can be reasonably asked for, on the evidence as it stands, is
suspension of judgment. And, on the necessity for even that suspension,
reasonable men may differ, according to their views of probability.
[89] Yet I must somehow have laid hold of the pith of the matter, for, many
years afterwards, when Dean Mansell's Bampton lectures were published, it
seemed to me I already knew all that this eminently agnostic thinker had to
tell me.
[90] _Kritik der reinen Vernunft_. Edit. Hartenstein, p. 256.
[91] _Report of the Church Congress_, Manchester, 1888, p. 252.
[92] _Fortnightly Review_, Jan. 1889.
[93] My citations are made from Teulet's _Einhardi omnia quae extant opera_,
Paris, 1840-1843, which contains a biography of the author, a history of
the text, with translations into French, and many valuable annotations.
[94] At present included in the Duchies of Hesse-Darmstadt and Baden.
[95] This took place in the year 826 A.D. The relics were brought from Rome
and deposited in the Church of St. Medardus at Soissons.
[96] Now included in Western Switzerland.
[97] Probably, according to Teulet, the present Sandhofer-fahrt, a little
below the embouchure of the Neckar.
[98] The present Michilstadt, thirty miles N.E. of Heidelberg.
[99] In the Middle Ages one of the most favourite accusations against
witches was that they committed just these enormities.
[100] It is pretty clear that Eginhard had his doubts about the deacon,
whose pledges he qualifies as _sponsiones incertae_. But, to be sure, he
wrote after events which fully justified scepticism.
[101] The words are _scrinia sine clave_, which seems to mean "having no
key." But the circumstances forbid the idea of breaking open.
[102] Eginhard speaks with lofty contempt of the "vana ac superstitiosa
praesumptio" of the poor woman's companions in trying to alleviate her
sufferings with "herbs and frivolous incantations." Vain enough, no doubt,
but the "mulierculae" might have returned the epithet "superstitious" with
interest.
[103] Of course there is nothing new in this argument; but it does not grow
weaker by age. And the case of Eginhard is far more instructive than that
of Augustine, because the former has so very frankly, though incidentally,
revealed to us not only his own mental and moral habits, but those of the
people about him.
[104] See 1 Cor. xii. 10-28; 2 Cor. vi. 12; Rom. xv. 19.
[105] _A Journal or Historical Account of the Life, Travels, Sufferings,
and Christian Experiences, &c., of George Fox_. Ed. 1694, pp. 27, 28.
[106] I may perhaps return to the question of the authorship of the
Gospels. For the present I must content myself with warning my readers
against any reliance upon Dr. Wace's statements as to the results arrived
at by modern criticism. They are as gravely as surprisingly erroneous.
[107] The United States ought, perhaps, to be added, but I am not sure.
[108] Imagine that all our chairs of Astronomy had been founded in the
fourteenth century, and that their incumbents were bound to sign Ptolemaic
articles. In that case, with every respect for the efforts of persons thus
hampered to attain and expound the truth, I think men of common sense would
go elsewhere to learn astronomy. Zeller's _Vortraege und Abhandlungen_ were
published and came into my hands a quarter of a century ago. The writer's
rank, as a theologian to begin with, and subsequently as a historian of
Greek philosophy, is of the highest. Among these essays are two--_Das
Urchristenthum_ and _Die Tuebinger historische Schule_--which are likely to
be of more use to those who wish to know the real state of the case than
all that the official "apologists," with their one eye on truth and the
other on the tenets of their sect, have written. For the opinion of a
scientific theologian about theologians of this stamp see pp. 225 and 227
of the _Vortraege_.
[109] I suppose this is what Dr. Wace is thinking about when he says that I
allege that there "is no visible escape" from the supposition of an
_Ur-Marcus_ (p. 367). That a "theologian of repute" should confound an
indisputable fact with one of the modes of explaining that fact is not so
singular as those who are unaccustomed to the ways of theologians might
imagine.
[110] Any examiner whose duty it has been to examine into a case of
"copying" will be particularly well prepared to appreciate the force of the
case stated in that most excellent little book, _The Common Tradition of
the Synoptic Gospels_, by Dr. Abbott and Mr. Rushbrooke (Macmillan, 1884).
To those who have not passed through such painful experiences I may
recommend the brief discussion of the genuineness of the "Casket Letters"
in my friend Mr. Skelton's interesting book, _Maitland of Lethington_. The
second edition of Holtzmann's _Lehrbuch_, published in 1886, gives a
remarkably fair and full account of the present results of criticism. At p.
366 he writes that the present burning question is whether the "relatively
primitive narrative and the root of the other synoptic texts is contained
in Matthew or in Mark. It is only on this point that properly-informed
(_sachkundige_) critics differ," and he decides in favour of Mark.
[111] Holtzmann (_Die synoptischen Evangelien_, 1863, p. 75), following
Ewald, argues that the "Source A" ( = the threefold tradition, more or
less) contained something that answered to the "Sermon on the Plain"
immediately after the words of our present Mark, "And he cometh into a
house" (iii. 19). But what conceivable motive could "Mark" have for
omitting it? Holtzmann has no doubt, however, that the "Sermon on the
Mount" is a compilation, or, as he calls it in his recently-published
_Lehrbuch_ (p. 372), "an artificial mosaic work."
[112] See Schuerer, _Geschichte des juedischen Volkes_, Zweiter Theil, p.
384.
[113] Spacious, because a young man could sit in it "on the right side"
(xv. 5), and therefore with plenty of room to spare.
[114] King Herod had not the least difficulty in supposing the resurrection
of John the Baptist--"John, whom I beheaded, he is risen" (Mark vi. 16).
[115] I am very sorry for the interpolated "in," because citation ought to
be accurate in small things as in great. But what difference it makes
whether one "believes Jesus" or "believes in Jesus" much thought has not
enabled me to discover. If you "believe him" you must believe him to be
what he professed to be--that is, "believe in him;" and if you "believe in
him" you must necessarily "believe him."
[116] True for Justin: but there is a school of theological critics, who
more or less question the historical reality of Paul and the genuineness of
even the four cardinal epistles.
[117] See _Dial. cum Tryphone_, Sec. 47 and Sec. 35. It is to be understood that
Justin does not arrange these categories in order, as I have done.
[118] I guard myself against being supposed to affirm that even the four
cardinal epistles of Paul may not have been seriously tampered with. See
note 116, p. 429 above.
[119] [Paul, in fact, is required to commit in Jerusalem, an act of the
same character as that which he brands as "dissimulation" on the part of
Peter in Antioch.]
[120] All this was quite clearly pointed out by Ritschl nearly forty years
ago. See _Die Entstehung der alt-katholischen Kirche_ (1850), p. 108.
[121] "If every one was baptized as soon as he acknowledged Jesus to be the
Messiah, the first Christians can have been aware of no other essential
differences from the Jews."--Zeller, _Vortraege_ (1865), p. 26.
[122] Dr. Harnack, in the lately-published second edition of his
_Dogmengeschichte_, says (p. 39), "Jesus Christ brought forward no new
doctrine;" and again (p. 65), "It is not difficult to set against every
portion of the utterances of Jesus an observation which deprives him of
originality." See also Zusatz 4, on the same page.
[123] The substance of a paragraph which precedes this has been transferred
to the Prologue.
[124] "Let us maintain, before we have proved. This seeming paradox is the
secret of happiness" (Dr. Newman: Tract 85, p. 85).
[125] Dr. Newman, _Essay on Development_, p. 357.
[126] It is by no means to be assumed that "spiritual" and "corporeal" are
exact equivalents of "immaterial" and "material" in the minds of ancient
speculators on these topics. The "spiritual body" of the risen dead (1 Cor.
xv.) is not the "natural" "flesh and blood" body. Paul does not teach the
resurrection of the body in the ordinary sense of the word "body"; a fact,
often overlooked, but pregnant with many consequences.
[127] Tertullian (_Apolog. adv. Gentes_, cap. xxiii.) thus challenges the
Roman authorities: let them bring a possessed person into the presence of a
Christian before their tribunal; and, if the demon does not confess himself
to be such, on the order of the Christian, let the Christian be executed
out of hand.
[128] See the expression of orthodox opinion upon the "accommodation"
subterfuge already cited above, p. 336.
[129] I quote the first edition (1843). A second edition appeared in 1870.
Tract 85 of the _Tracts for the Times_ should be read with this _Essay_. If
I were called upon to compile a Primer of "Infidelity," I think I should
save myself trouble by making a selection from these works, and from the
_Essay on Development_ by the same author.
[130] Yet, when it suits his purpose, as in the Introduction to the _Essay
on Development_, Dr. Newman can demand strict evidence in religious
questions as sharply as any "infidel author"; and he can even profess to
yield to its force (_Essay on Miracles_, 1870, note, p. 391).
[131] Compare Tract 85, p. 110: "I am persuaded that were men but
consistent who oppose the Church doctrines as being unscriptural, they
would vindicate the Jews for rejecting the Gospel."
[132] According to Dr. Newman, "This prayer [that of Bishop Alexander, who
begged God to 'take Arius away'] is said to have been offered about 3 P.M.
on the Saturday; that same evening Arius was in the great square of
Constantine, when he was suddenly seized with indisposition" (p. clxx). The
"infidel" Gibbon seems to have dared to suggest that "an option between
poison and miracle" is presented by this case; and, it must be admitted,
that, if the Bishop had been within the reach of a modern police
magistrate, things might have gone hardly with him. Modern "Infidels,"
possessed of a slight knowledge of chemistry, are not unlikely, with no
less audacity, to suggest an "option between fire-damp and miracle" in
seeking for the cause of the fiery outburst at Jerusalem.
[133] A writer in a spiritualist journal takes me roundly to task for
venturing to doubt the historical and literal truth of the Gadarene story.
The following passage in his letter is worth quotation: "Now to the
materialistic and scientific mind, to the uninitiated in spiritual
verities, certainly this story of the Gadarene or Gergesene swine presents
insurmountable difficulties; it seems grotesque and nonsensical. To the
experienced, trained, and cultivated Spiritualist this miracle is, as I am
prepared to show, one of the most instructive, the most profoundly useful,
and the most beneficent which Jesus ever wrought in the whole course of His
pilgrimage of redemption on earth." Just so. And the first page of this
same journal presents the following advertisement, among others of the same
kidney:--