remarks are applicable mainly, if not wholly, to his earlier works;
on which there is a criticism, similar to that cited in reference to
Carlyle, in the _Westminster Review_, March 1840.
915 “I am nothing—I see all—the currents of the universal being
circulate through me—I am part or particle of God.”—_Nature_, p. 13.
These were the words which this author formerly used. The same
tendency can probably be traced in the characters of Plato and
Goethe in his _Representative Men_. See also the _Oration on the
Christian Teacher_.
916 R. W. Mackay, whose two works are, _The Progress of the Intellect as
exemplified in the Religious Development of the Greeks and Hebrews_,
2 vols. 1850, and _The Rise and Progress of Christianity_, 1854.
(No. 7 of _Chapman’s Quarterly Series_.)
_ 917 Progress of Intellect_, vol. i. ch. ii. on “Mythical Geography and
Cosmogony.”
918 Ch. iii.
919 Ch. iv.
920 Vol. ii. ch. v. § 3 and 9. He illustrates from natural processes;
such as the decay of nature.
921 Ch. vi.
922 Ch. vii.
923 Ch. viii. The types of thought which he traces in it are, the
conception of prophet as taught by Moses; the idea of a supernatural
incarnation; the Davidic conception of a temporal sovereign; and the
suffering Messiah of the book of Daniel.
924 Ch. ix. and x.
_ 925 Rise of Christianity_, parts i. and ii.
926 Part iii.
927 Part iv.
928 Parts v. and vii.
_ 929 The Creed of Christendom, its Foundation and Superstructure_, by W.
Rathbone Greg. 1851. A review of it by Mr. Martineau may be seen in
_Studies on Christianity_ (reprinted from the _Westminster Review_),
and by Remusat in _Revue des Deux Mondes_, Jan. 1859.
930 Ch. i. and ii.
931 Ch. iii.
932 Ch. iv.
933 Ch. v.
934 Ch. vi.
935 Ch. vii.
936 Ch. viii-xii. He adopts the view of the new Tübingen school, in
exaggerating the contrast between the description of the character
and teaching of Christ in the “Synoptical” evangelists, and in the
fourth Gospel.
937 Ch. xiii.
938 Ch. xiv.
939 Ch. xv.
940 Ch. xvi.
941 Ch. xvii. He quotes the beautiful lines of Wordsworth, (_Ode on
Intimations of Immortality_, § 5,) “Heaven lies about us in our
infancy,” &c. as illustrative of the instinctive feeling of man in
reference to immortality.
942 Page 303.
943 Miss S. Hennell, whose chief writings are, _Christianity and
Infidelity_, a prize essay, an exposition of the arguments on both
sides, 1857; _The Sceptical Tendency of Butler’s Analogy_, 1859;
_The Early Christian Anticipation of the End of the World_, 1860;
_Thoughts in Aid of Faith, gathered chiefly from recent works in
Theology and Philosophy_, 1860. Her views originally were the same
as those of her brother, a deceased unitarian minister, author of a
work on Theism (1852), in which the use of miracles as an evidence
was depreciated. It is hoped that it will not be considered improper
to have named a writer, whose sex might be expected to shelter her
from remark; but her writings are too able to be unproductive of
influence.
_ 944 Thoughts in Aid of Faith_, ch. i. This work was reviewed in the
_Westminster Review_, July 1860, and the _North British Review_ for
Nov. 1860.
945 Ch. ii.
946 E.g. ch. v.
947 Ch. vi. and vii. It is a result not unlike that of positivism, but
reached from the ontological instead of the physical side.
948 Mr. Theodore Parker of Boston.
949 Mr. F. Newman. The wide spread of the works of these two writers,
especially of the latter, is the reason why it is thought desirable
to exhibit their views at some length. The pathos and eloquence
which belong to their writings impart to them a fascination which
makes it the more necessary that readers should be on their guard,
by understanding the position which these authors hold in relation
to faith and to unbelief.
950 The particulars are obtained from the account of Mr. Parker’s
ministry, prefixed to his _Sermons on Theism_. He was at first a
unitarian minister; but, changing from unitarianism into deism, he
left that body, and became a preacher in Boston, until he was
compelled to visit Europe on account of enfeebled health. He died at
Florence, 1860. His doctrinal views may be learned from the
_Discourse on Matters pertaining to Religion_, written in 1846, and
the _Sermons on Theism, Atheism, and the Popular Theology_, 1853;
and his critical and literary views, from the _Introduction to the
Old Testament_, based on De Wette; and from his _Miscellaneous
Writings_, 1848. A comparison of him with Strauss, which has been
here used, was given in the _Westm. Rev._ for April 1847. His
character and life have also been sketched in the _Nat. Rev._ Jan.
1860, and especially by A. Reville in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_,
Oct. 1861.
951 E. Renan. See p. 303.
952 In the _Discourse pertaining to Matters of Religion_, books ii, iii,
iv. The writer is unable to put the exact references to this work in
the remarks which follow; having omitted to note them down when he
had the book at hand.
_ 953 Discourse_, book i.
954 The steps through which he considers that the idea of God is
developed into a conception are, Fetishism, Polytheism, and
Monotheism; Dualism and Pantheism being errors which lead astray
from Monotheism.
_ 955 Sermons on Theism_, sermons i. and ii.
956 Id. sermons ix. and x.
_ 957 Discourse on Religion_, books ii. and iv.
958 E.g. in _Discourse_, book iii. and several passages in the
_Introduction to the Old Testament_.
959 Mr. F. W. Newman.
_ 960 The Phases of Faith_, 1850.
961 Ch. i.
962 Ch. ii.
963 Ch. iii.
964 Ch. iv.
965 Ch. v. and vi.
966 To complete this account it is necessary to add, that Mr. Newman has
developed some portion of the critical investigations of his studies
of Jewish history in the _History of the Hebrew Monarchy_, 1847. It
is a treatment of the Old Testament analogous to that to which we
are accustomed in classical history; the answer to which would be by
denying that the records of the Hebrew history are amenable to
criticism, inasmuch as they do not partake of the ordinary
conditions which appertain to human literature.
_ 967 The Soul, her Sorrows and her Aspirations_, 1849. In the date of
publication this preceded the _Phases_. Mr. Newman has subsequently
published, _Theism, Doctrinal, Practical, or Didactic_, 1858. The
most complete view of his scheme, but of course wholly favourable to
him, is in the _Westminster Review_, Oct. 1858.
968 Ch. i.
969 Ch. ii.
970 Ch. iii. and iv.
971 Ch. i. The scheme much resembles that of Schleiermacher.
972 Deism and Unitarianism are both monotheistic; but the latter allows
the existence of a revelation, the former denies it. The modern
school of Unitarians, however, nearly approach to the position of
Mr. Newman. See end of Note 6, at the close of this book.
973 In many respects it resembles the “Mediation school” of Germany,
described in Lectures VI and VII, and the modern school of the
French protestant church, described in p. 304, and in Note 46, p.
448.
974 It would be more delicate perhaps to leave to the reader the
application of these tendencies, and to omit the mention of names;
but as the practice in this work has been to give the names even in
contemporary history, fairness requires the enumeration. The
tendencies in the text however are rather a combination from the
views of different modern authors, and cannot be definitely referred
as a whole to any one single writer. Probably the reader will
himself conjecture that the first tendency is meant in the main to
describe the teaching of Mr. Maurice and Mr. Kingsley; the second,
of Professor Jowett; the third, of some of the writers in _Essays
and Reviews_. But if this be approximately true, it must not be
supposed that every specific statement in the following account is
intended to be charged upon these respective authors. The
description is meant to indicate certain tendencies of free thought,
of which their writings among others seem to exhibit instances. It
is always hard to judge of a movement which is in progress, and of
which we are ourselves spectators. The view here taken is the result
of the attempt which the writer of these lectures has made in his
own studies, to adjust the existing forms of free thought into their
true position in the history of speculation. If injustice is done,
it is at least not intended.
975 It may be useful to draw attention to a book on the relation of
Coleridge to recent theological thought, _Modern Anglican Theology,
by the Rev. J. H. Rigg_, 1857. The book is by a Wesleyan minister,
and is written from that point of view. The tone of censure on the
writers criticised is in some parts severe, and has, it is
understood, caused pain to some of them. Apart from its tone,
objection may perhaps be taken to it, as discovering in their works
as positive teaching, doctrines which probably only exist as
incipient tendencies. Nevertheless it contains material suggestive
of serious thought; and certainly gives the clue to the
interpretation of many points which are usually felt to be obscure
in the systems of several of the writers described. The author does
not however appear to have distinguished sufficiently between the
two forms of modern historical inquiry (see Note 9 of these
lectures, at the end of the book). He consequently makes the last of
the list of writers whom he criticises (ch. xiii.) to be a disciple
of Coleridge; whereas he rather belongs to the other form of the
historico-philosophical school.
976 Page 310.
977 The reference to Mr. J. S. Mill’s dissertation on Coleridge has been
already given (p. 310.) See also the Essay by Mr. Hort in the
_Cambridge Essays_, 1856; the _British Quarterly Review_, Jan. 1854;
Morell’s _History of Philosophy_, ii. 343 seq.; and Remusat in
_Revue des Deux Mondes_, Oct. 1856. Coleridge’s philosophy of
religion is especially to be found in his _Aids to Reflection_; and
his critical views of inspiration in the _Confessions of an
Inquiring Spirit_.
978 The distinctness of the “reason” (νοῦς) from the “understanding”
(λόγος or διάνοια) has been allowed in these lectures; but only as
guaranteeing the reality of the objects of intuition, not as
allowing the mind to create a religion _à priori_. The objection in
the text is accordingly not so much directed against the
psychological theory as its theological application.
979 The sources for studying Neo-Platonism have been given in Note 10
(p. 399). Among writers influenced by Coleridge, the element of
thought which is derived from Neo-Platonism is stronger in the
writings of Mr. Kingsley than in those of Mr. Maurice; but it is
sufficiently observable in both to form a separation, by marked
philosophical features, between their teaching and the system of
Schleiermacher.
980 The Λόγος of Philo and of the Neo-Platonists is not to be contrasted
with the faculty called _reason_ by Coleridge, and νοῦς by other
authors, but to be identified with it. For Philo’s views, see
Gfrörer, _Philo_, and Dähne’s article _Philo_ in Ersch and Grueber’s
_Encyclopædia_: see also Jowett’s _Commentary on St Paul’s
Epistles_, vol. i. (_Essay on Philo_, § 1).
981 The existence of a divine teacher in the human mind in the faculty
of conscience would be generally allowed; especially by those who
adopt the theory of the distinctness of the faculty of _reason_ from
that of _understanding_; but the idea implied in the hypothesis
referred to in the text is the existence of a faculty which is
supreme over revelation.
982 Cfr. _Biogr. Lit._ p. 321, and _Aids to Reflection_, vol. i. 204
seq.
983 On the school of the Alexandrian fathers, see note on p. 59.
984 Cfr. the note on p. 29, where we have conceded the probability that
inspiration is, if analysed psychologically, a form of the “reason;”
but considered it, if viewed theologically, to be an elevated state
of this faculty, brought about by the miraculous and direct
operation of God’s Spirit: so that in this view it differs in kind,
and not merely in degree, from human genius.
985 Lect. VI. pp. 245-48.
986 Cfr. note (80) on p. 329.
987 Cfr. Note 9, at the end of the book, and the remarks in the Preface
on the historic method of study.
988 It is a truth indeed to which all will assent, that we must learn
from scripture what is meant by inspiration: but the difference
between the view here described and the view of the church of Christ
is this: the Church discovers in scripture the statements of the
writers concerning the reality and nature and authority of their own
inspiration; and considers henceforth that the character of the
revelation is in its substance removed beyond the limits of critical
investigation; and can only admit that an empirical inquiry can be
useful in settling the limits to which inspiration extends, and
determining the question as to the writings to be accounted the
subject of it.
989 Pages 330 and 334.
990 The existence of this movement in foreign churches is stated in
Lect. VII, and also in Notes 43 and 46, pp. 444, 448. In America,
besides those instances which have occurred in this lecture, the
writings of Mr. Bushnell are thought to exhibit a free spirit. They
however deviate very slightly from traditional dogmas, and may be
compared with the writings of the late archdeacon Hare. In England,
in the established church, there have been several works, besides
those referred to in p. 330. They chiefly belong to the first and
third classes of the three named in the text. The sermons of the
late F. W. Robertson of Brighton, matchless in freshness, but most
unsound in questions of vital doctrine; the sermons, &c. of the Rev.
J. L. Davies; bishop Colenso’s Commentary on the Epistle to the
Romans (1861); and the _Tracts for Priests and People_ (1861, 62),
may be considered to be examples of the first type of thought; but,
if breathing the same spirit as Coleridge, they express his thoughts
with a clearness which was wanting in him. The doubts of Blanco
White and Sterling; and of Mr. Macnaught, in his work on Inspiration
(1856); Mr. Foxton’s _Popular Christianity_ (1849); bishop Colenso’s
work on the Pentateuch (1862); and the _Christian Orthodoxy_ (1857)
of Dr. Donaldson, a name honoured by the philological student; are
instances of the third tendency named in the text. A tribute of
acknowledgment is nevertheless due to many of these writers, for the
earnest and truth-seeking tone which pervades their works. The
movement of free thought exists also outside the national church.
The recent work of Dr. S. Davidson, _Introduction to the Old
Testament_ (second edition) is an instance. The views however of
this eminent biblical scholar met with so little sympathy in his own
denomination, that he was made to suffer for an earlier edition
(1856) of the same work, which deviated in a much slighter degree
from received opinions. In the Unitarian body also free thought has
wrought a change. (See Note 7, at the end of this book.) The
influence of Cousin has expelled the old utilitarianism. Mr.
Martineau and Mr. W. J. Fox (see his _Religious Ideas_, 1849,) are
illustrations of the new spirit.
991 Cfr. p. 312, and the note to it. Positivism only differs from
Naturalism (see Note 21, at the end of this book), in that it
expresses a particular theory concerning the limits and method of
science, as well as the disbelief in the supernatural implied by the
latter term.
992 Cfr. p. 317.
993 An instructive sketch of the tendencies of modern thought was given
by principal Tullock, in his Inaugural Lecture at St. Andrew’s,
1845.
994 See p. 10. This crisis has occupied our attention since the middle
of Lecture III, p. 105.
995 Lect. I. page 1.
996 Page 7.
997 Page 7.
998 This was treated in Lecture II.
999 Lecture III, page 76 seq.
1000 Lecture III. page 92 seq.
1001 Lectures IV. to VIII.
1002 Page 2.
1003 Page 13.
1004 Pages 16, 17.
1005 Pages 14-17.
1006 Page 20.
1007 Page 21.
1008 Cfr. remarks in Note 9, at the end of this volume.
1009 This remark does not apply to the principal writers (named in Note
49), nor to the literature called out by the “Essays and Reviews”
controversy; but it applies to many of the popular manuals which are
directed against old deist literature, and are not adapted to modern
critical doubts.
1010 See note on p. 22.
1011 Van Mildert so exclusively adopted this latter view in his Boyle
Lectures, that his opponents charged him with Manichæism. See
remarks on him in the Preface to this volume.
1012 Cfr. the notes on pp. 26 and 32.
1013 Pages 14, 71, &c.
1014 Page 3.
1015 This is seen in their scrupulous care against heresy, and is
attested by the very complaint of their opponent Celsus. (Orig.
_Contr. Cels._ i. 9, iii. 44.)
1016 H. T. Buckle, the news of whose death, at the end of May 1862, had
just reached England when this lecture was delivered.
_ 1017 History of Civilisation_, vol. i. ch. iv.
_ 1018 History of Civilisation_, ch. xii and xiii.
1019 An article by a distinguished scientific writer appeared in the
_North British Review_ for Nov. 1860; in which the question of
Galileo’s trial was discussed in reference to the recent
re-examination of the subject.
1020 Cfr. Grote’s _History of Greece_, vol. viii. ch. lxvii; Lewes,
_History of Philosophy_ (chapter on Sophists); Grant, _Aristotle’s
Ethics_, vol. i; essay ii.
1021 See above, Lecture IV. p. 159.
1022 Cfr. Mill’s _Logic_, vol. i. book iii. ch. xiii. § 7.
1023 The allusion is to the discoveries, such as that of Kirchoff, of the
existence of some of the material elements in the solar atmosphere,
which exist in our own; also of the connexion between the periodic
recurrence of the solar spots, and terrestrial magnetism; and
especially to the discussion on “the correlation of physical
forces,” contained in Mr. Grove’s work, and in Sir H. Holland’s
_Essays_ (essays i. and ii.), reprinted from the _Edinburgh Review_,
July 1858 and Jan. 1859.
1024 The discoveries of the distinction between the sensational and motor
nerves, by Sir C. Bell; of the phenomena of reflex action, by Dr. M.
Hall; of the connexion of the same phenomena with those of
sensation, by Dr. Carpenter; and the identification of the centres
of conscious activity with separate departments of the cerebral
organism, by Dr. Laycock; are instances of hints toward the solution
of this problem. Many continental physiologists, such as Müller,
Carus, Wagner, and Brown-Séquard, have worked toward the same end.
J. F. Herbart in Germany, and Mr. H. Spencer in England, are writers
who have approached the psychological problem from the physiological
side.
1025 Bayn’s _Senses and Intellect_, 1855; _Emotions and Will_, 1859; and
Spencer’s _Principles of Psychology_, 1855, are works in which
analysis of this character is carried farther than in former works.
A popular view of past attempts of this kind is given in an article
on _Mental Association_, in the _Edinburgh Review_ for Oct. 1859.
1026 An example is seen in Strauss. No one can be more inimical to the
dogmatic and historical Christianity of the church than he; yet he
asserts firmly that Christ and Christianity is the highest moral
ideal to which the world can ever expect to attain. (_Soliloquies_,
E. T. 1845, part ii. § 27-30.)
1027 E. de Pressensé. _Histoire_ 2e Série, ii. 524.
1028 Pressensé has devoted attention to this point. (vol. iv. book iv.)
1029 Cfr. Pressensé, vol. iv. book iv. 161, 521.
1030 This is the view at which Guizot arrives; _Hist. de la Civil._ leçon
v, vi, x.
1031 E.g. in Kant, Jacobi, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. See Lectures VI.
and VII.
1032 References for the study of Neander’s life are given in a note on
page 250.
1033 See Acts xvii. 22-31.
1034 Cfr. Pressensé on Clement and Origen, _Hist._ iv. pp. 203, 360, and
the references there given.
1035 Page 73.
1036 E.g. Justin Martyr, who gives the account of his own conversion to
Christianity in the introduction to the Dialogue with Trypho; and
Clement of Alexandria.
1037 Cfr. Lect. I. p. 28. Suggestions on this point are given in Miller’s
_Bampton Lectures_, 1817. “The Divine Authority of Holy Scripture
asserted from its adaptation to Human Nature.”
1038 See above, p. 277.
1039 The question of the attacks made on the historic character of the
Acts was not noticed in Lecture VII. The statement of the
difficulties which have given rise to them may be seen in Baur’s
_Paulus, der Apostel Jesu Christi_, 1845, and in an article in the
_National Review_, No. 20, for April 1860; and a refutation of them
in Dr. S. Davidson’s _Introduction to the New Testament_, vol. ii.
_ 1040 Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul_, by
Lord Lyttleton, 1747. Cfr. also the note above, on p. 209.
1041 The history of the doctrine of the atonement is given in Bp.
Thomson’s _Bampton Lectures_, 1853 (lectures vi. and vii.), and in
the essay on the Atonement in _Aids to Faith_, 1862; also in
Hagenbach’s _Doqmengeschichte_, § 68, 134, 180, 268, and 300. The
two chief works on the subject are, Chr. Baur’s _Lehre von der
Versöhnung_, 1838, and Dorner’s _Lehre von der Person Christi_. The
fair conclusion in respect to the doctrine of the early church on
the subject seems to be the one stated in the text. The doctrine of
the atonement was believed and taught; but for the reason here named
it was not drawn out into such explicit statement as in modern
times. Anselm developed it by eliciting what was already contained
in it, not by superadding any human elements which did not exist
there before. It is Baur, to whom allusion is made in the text, who
implies the contrary; and some English writers have followed him.
1042 The work of the late Professor Blunt on the right use of the Fathers
may be consulted for a true and right view of their value.
1043 We _apprehend_ a fact when we recognise its existence; we
_comprehend_ it when we can refer it to the cause which produces it.
1044 Cfr. the remarks in Dr. Whewell’s preface to his edition of Butler’s
first three sermons for some suggestions on the nature of
conscience. His object is to show that Butler taught only its
psychological supremacy, not its moral infallibility. Cfr. also his
_Lecture on Moral Philosophy in England_, p. 129 seq.
1045 Page 84. Cfr. also bishop Thomson’s _Bampton Lectures_ (lect. v. p.
125).
1046 Page 245 seq.
1047 Similarly, an innate law of thought is _logically_ prior as a
condition in attaining knowledge; but experience is
_chronologically_ prior.
1048 It has been shown above (p. 310) that this very reaction is itself
indirectly a result of the subjective tendency.
1049 E.g. in R. E. H. Greyson (H. Rogers) _Correspondence_. Cfr. the
remarks on it in the _National Review_ for Oct. 1857.
1050 Matt. xxviii. 20.
1051 E.g. Augustin, Anselm, and in modern times such men as Bengel and
Neander.
1052 Rev. xii. 11.
1053 1 Cor. iii. 12.
1054 In the able work on _Tite Live_ by H. Taine, (Couronné, 1856,) will
be found a study of Livy as a critic and as a philosopher; which
illustrates not only the scientific aspect of history, but the
influence of science in the special determination of the facts,
which has frequently been attributed to art.
_ 1055 Voyage dans l’Inde par C. Fakian, traduit par A. Remusat_, 1837.
and _Hist. de la Vie de Hiouen Thsang_, being vol. i. of _Mémoires
sur les Contrées Occidentales_, 1858. by Stan. Julien. The former
travelled about A.D. 400: the latter in the seventh century.
1056 The abbé Migne is publishing in French, _Livres Sacrés de toutes les
Religions sauf la Religion Chrétienne_.