with an elderly gentleman who would be willing to give her a comfortable
home and maintenance in Exchange for her Spiritualistic services, as her
guides consider her health is too delicate for public sittings: London
preferred.--Address "Mary," Office of _Light_."
Are we going back to the days of the Judges, when wealthy Micah set up his
private ephod, teraphim, and Levite?
[134] Consider Tertullian's "sister" ("hodie apud nos"), who conversed with
angels, saw and heard mysteries, knew men's thoughts, and prescribed
medicine for their bodies (_De Anima_, cap. 9). Tertullian tells us that
this woman saw the soul as corporeal, and described its colour and shape.
The "infidel" will probably be unable to refrain from insulting the memory
of the ecstatic saint by the remark, that Tertullian's known views about
the corporeality of the soul may have had something to do with the
remarkable perceptive powers of the Montanist medium, in whose revelations
of the spiritual world he took such profound interest.
[135] See the New York _World_ for Sunday, 21st October 1888; and the
_Report of the Seybert Commission_, Philadelphia, 1887.
[136] Dr. Newman's observation that the miraculous multiplication of the
pieces of the true cross (with which "the whole world is filled," according
to Cyril of Jerusalem; and of which some say there are enough extant to
build a man-of-war) is no more wonderful than that of the loaves and fishes
is one that I do not see my way to contradict. See _Essay on Miracles_, 2d
ed. p. 163.
[137] _An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine_, by J. H. Newman,
D.D., pp. 7 and 8. (1878.)
[138] Dr. Newman faces this question with his customary ability. "Now, I
own, I am not at all solicitous to deny that this doctrine of an apostate
Angel and his hosts was gained from Babylon: it might still be Divine
nevertheless. God who made the prophet's ass speak, and thereby instructed
the prophet, might instruct His Church by means of heathen Babylon" (Tract
85, p. 83). There seems to be no end to the apologetic burden that Balaam's
ass can carry.
[139] _Nineteenth Century_, May 1889 (p. 701).
[140] I trust it may not be supposed that I undervalue M. Renan's labours,
or intended to speak slightingly of them.
[141] To-day's _Times_ contains a report of a remarkable speech by Prince
Bismarck, in which he tells the Reichstag that he has long given up
investing in foreign stock, lest so doing should mislead his judgment in
his transactions with foreign states. Does this declaration prove that the
Chancellor accuses himself of being "sordid" and "selfish," or does it not
rather show that, even in dealing with himself, he remains the man of
realities?
[142] _Bampton Lectures_ (1859), on "The Historical Evidences of the Truth
of the Scripture Records stated anew, with Special Reference to the Doubts
and Discoveries of Modern Times," by the Rev. G. Rawlinson, M.A., pp. 5-6.
[143] _The Worth of the Old Testament_, a Sermon preached in St. Paul's
Cathedral on the Second Sunday in Advent, 8th Dec. 1889, by H. P. Liddon,
D.D., D.C.L., Canon and Chancellor of St. Paul's. Second edition, revised
and with a new preface, 1890.
[144] St. Luke xvii. 32.
[145] _Ibid._ 27.
[146] St. Matt. xii. 40.
[147] _Bampton Lectures_, 1859, pp. 50-51.
[148] _Commentary on Genesis_, by the Bishop of Ely, p. 77.
[149] _Die Sintflut_, 1876.
[150] _Theologie und Naturwissenschaft_, ii. 784-791 (1877).
[151] It is very doubtful if this means the region of the Armenian Ararat.
More probably it designates some part either of the Kurdish range or of its
south-eastern continuation.
[152] So Reclus (_Nouvelle Geographie Universelle_, ix. 386), but I find
the statement doubted by an authority of the first rank.
[153] So far as I know, the narrative of the Creation is not now held to be
true, in the sense in which I have defined historical truth, by any of the
reconcilers. As for the attempts to stretch the Pentateuchal days into
periods of thousands or millions of years, the verdict of the eminent
biblical scholar, Dr. Riehm (_Der biblische Schoepfungsbericht_, 1881, pp.
15, 16), on such pranks of "Auslegungskunst" should be final. Why do the
reconcilers take Goethe's advice seriously?--
"Im Auslegen seyd frisch und munter!
Legt ihr's nicht aus, so legt was unter."
[154] Thus Josephus (lib. ix.) says that his rival, Justus, persuaded the
citizens of Tiberias to "set the villages that belonged to Gadara and
Hippos on fire; which villages were situated on the borders of Tiberias and
of the region of Scythopolis."
[155] It is said to have been destroyed by its captors.
[156] "But as to the Grecian cities Gaza and Gadara and Hippos, he cut them
off from the kingdom and added them to Syria."--Josephus, _Wars_, II. vi.
3. See also _Antiquities_, XVII. xi. 4.
[157] _Geschichte des juedischen Volkes im Zeitalter Christi_, 1886-90.
[158] If William the Conqueror, after fighting the battle of Hastings had
marched to capture Chichester and then returned to assault Rye, being all
the while anxious to reach London, his proceedings would not have been more
eccentric than Mr. Gladstone must imagine those of Vespasian were.
[159] See Reland, _Palestina_ (1714), t. ii. p. 771. Also Robinson, _Later
Biblical Researches_ (1856), p. 87 _note_.
[160] _Nineteenth Century_, February 1891, pp. 339-40.
[161] Neither is it of any consequence whether the locality of the supposed
miracle was Gadara, or Gerasa, or Gergesa. But I may say that I was well
acquainted with Origen's opinion respecting Gergesa. It is fully discussed
and rejected in Riehm's _Handwoerterbuch_. In Kitto's _Biblical Cyclopaedia_
(ii. p. 51) Professor Porter remarks that Origen merely "_conjectures_"
that Gergesa was indicated; and he adds, "Now, in a question of this kind,
conjectures cannot be admitted. We must implicitly follow the most ancient
and creditable testimony, which clearly pronounces in favour of [Greek:
Gadarenon]. This reading is adopted by Tischendorf, Alford, and Tregelles."
[162] I may call attention, in passing, to the fact that this authority, at
any rate, has no sort of doubt of the fact that Jewish Law did not rule in
Gadara (indeed, under the head of "Gadara," in the same work, it is
expressly stated that the population of the place consisted "predominantly
of heathens"), and that he scouts the notion that the Gadarene swineherds
were Jews.
[163] The evidence adduced, so far as post-exile times are concerned,
appears to me insufficient to prove this assertion.
[164] Even Leviticus xi. 26, cited without reference to the context, will
not serve the purpose; because the swine _is_ "cloven footed" (Lev. xi. 7).
[165] 1st Gospel: "And the devils _besought him_, saying, If Thou cast us
out send us away _into_ the herd of swine." 2d Gospel: "They _besought
him_, saying, Send us _into_ the swine." 3d Gospel: "They _intreated him_
that he would give them leave to enter _into_ them."
[166] See Marquardt, _Roemische Staatsverwaltung_, Bd. III. p. 408.
[167] _Nineteenth Century_, March 1889 (p. 362).
[168] "The Value of Witness to the Miraculous." _Nineteenth Century_, March
1889.
[169] I cannot ask the Editor of this Review to reprint pages of an old
article,--but the following passages sufficiently illustrate the extent and
the character of the discrepancy between the facts of the case and Mr.
Gladstone's account of them:--
"Now, in the Gadarene affair, I do not think I am unreasonably sceptical if
I say that the existence of demons who can be transferred from a man to a
pig does thus contravene probability. Let me be perfectly candid. I admit I
have no _a priori_ objection to offer.... I declare, as plainly as I can,
that I am unable to show cause why these transferable devils should not
exist."... ("Agnosticism," _Nineteenth Century_, 1889, p. 177).
"What then do we know about the originator, or originators, of this
groundwork--of that threefold tradition which all three witnesses (in
Paley's phrase) agree upon--that we should allow their mere statements to
outweigh the counter arguments of humanity, of common sense, of exact
science, and to imperil the respect which all would be glad to be able to
render to their Master?" (_ibid._ p. 175).
I then go on through a couple of pages to discuss the value of the evidence
of the synoptics on critical and historical grounds. Mr. Gladstone cites
the essay from which these passages are taken, whence I suppose he has read
it; though it may be that he shares the impatience of Cardinal Manning
where my writings are concerned. Such impatience will account for, though
it will not excuse, his sixth proposition.
[170] The wicked, before being annihilated, returned to the world to
disturb men; they entered into the body of unclean animals, "often that of
a pig, as on the Sarcophagus of Seti I. in the Soane Museum."--Lenormant,
_Chaldean Magic_, p. 88, Editorial Note.
[171] In May 1849 the Tigris at Bagdad rose 221/2 feet--5 feet above its
usual rise--and nearly swept away the town. In 1831 a similarly exceptional
flood did immense damage, destroying 7000 houses. See Loftus, _Chaldea and
Susiana_, p. 7.
[172] See the instructive chapter on Hasisadra's flood in Suess, _Das
Antlitz der Erde_, Abth. I. Only fifteen years ago a cyclone in the Bay of
Bengal gave rise to a flood which covered 3000 square miles of the delta of
the Ganges, 3 to 45 feet deep, destroying 100,000 people, innumerable
cattle, houses, and trees. It broke inland, on the rising ground of
Tipperah, and may have swept a vessel from the sea that far, though I do
not know that it did.
[173] See Cernik's maps in _Petermanns Mittheilungen_, Ergaenzungshefte 44
and 45, 1875-76.
[174] I have not cited the dimensions given to the ship in most
translations of the story, because there appears to be a doubt about them.
Haupt (_Keilinschriftliche Sindfluth-Bericht_, p. 13) says that the figures
are illegible.
[175] It is probable that a slow movement of elevation of the land at one
time contributed to the result--perhaps does so still.
[176] At a comparatively recent period, the littoral margin of the Persian
Gulf extended certainly 250 miles farther to the north-west than the
present embouchure of the Shatt-el Arab. (Loftus, _Quarterly Journal of the
Geological Society_, 1853, p. 251.) The actual extent of the marine deposit
inland cannot be defined, as it is covered by later fluviatile deposits.
[177] Tiele (_Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschichte_, pp. 572-3) has some very
just remarks on this aspect of the epos.
[178] In the second volume of the _History of the Euphrates Expedition_, p.
637, Col. Chesney gives a very interesting account of the simple and rapid
manner in which the people about Tekrit and in the marshes of Lemlum
construct large barges, and make them watertight with bitumen. Doubtless
the practice is extremely ancient; and as Colonel Chesney suggests, may
possibly have furnished the conception of Noah's ark. But it is one thing
to build a barge 44 ft. long by 11 ft. wide and 4 ft. deep in the way
described; and another to get a vessel of ten times the dimensions, so
constructed, to hold together.
[179] "Es ist nichts schrecklicher als eine thaetige Unwissenheit." _Maximen
und Reflexionen_, iii.
[180] The well-known difficulties connected with this case have recently
been carefully discussed by Mr. Bell in the _Transactions_ of the
Geological Society of Glasgow.
[181] An instructive parallel is exhibited by the "Great Basin" of North
America. See the remarkable memoir on "Lake Bonneville" by Mr. G. K.
Gilbert, of the United States Geological Survey, just published.
[182] It is true that earthquakes are common enough, but they are
incompetent to produce such changes as those which have taken place.
[183] See Teller, _Geologische Beschreibung des sud-oestlichen Thessalien_:
Denkschriften d. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien, Bd. xl. p. 199.
[184] Dr. Langenbeck, _Die Theorien ueber die Entstehung der Korallen-Inseln
und Korallen-Riffe_ (p. 13), 1890.
* * * * *
Changes made against printed original.
Page 6. "deserving an ensuing punishment of infinite severity": 'deserving
and ensuing' in original.
Page 78. "I cannot bring myself to imagine": 'cannnot' in original.
Page 230. "which has been causally associated": 'casually' in original.
Page 364. "but what will become of it": duplicated 'what' across line break
in original.
Page 540. "will accuse me of 'contradicting the Lord and his Apostles'":
'me' omitted in original.
Page 600. "by familiar experience": 'familar' in original.