FOOTNOTES:

In reference, however, to the moral difficulties connected with recorded human actions, we may venture to go farther, and to take into consideration the fact already referred to of the gradual nature of God's revelation, and all the modifying thoughts which such a fact brings with it.

It is thus not only right, but necessary, to accept as our guide in all such investigations or discussions this sober spiritual principle,—that the Old Testament must be interpreted from the stand-point of the New Testament, and under the fuller light which is afforded by the later dispensation. If we cling to these two great truths—first, that the history of the past, as we find it in the Old Testament, ever involves a reference to final purposes; and, secondly, that every attempt to realize the deeper significance of that history must use Christianity as its basis—we shall probably find our way in this difficult domain of speculation as far and as safely as the finite powers of man can be deemed capable of advancing; we shall see as clearly as we can be permitted to see, when poor human reason is endeavouring to survey the adorable mysteries that surround the recorded workings of the manifold wisdom of God.

The second portion of this third group is more especially devoted to difficulties connected with the New Testament, the first place being naturally reserved for the questions relating to the life of our Lord and the Gospel narrative. The first lecture is thus directed to a consideration of the Mythical Theories of Christianity; the second to the Evidential Value of St. Paul's Epistles. As has already been mentioned, the lecture on St. John's Gospel, which would have occupied a position between the two just specified, owing to the request of the writer, has not been published, and the series in this part of it has in consequence suffered.

The two remaining lectures, viz., that on Christ's Teaching and Influence on the World, and that which follows it, on the Completeness and Adequacy of the Evidences of Christianity, form the last group, and worthily conclude the interesting series. A third lecture on the additional strength which is brought to the evidences of Christianity by the convergence of various lines of independent testimony, was intended to have been added to this group, but for this important and comprehensive subject, as in the case of another subject recently mentioned, the Committee were not able to procure a lecturer.

The series, as above described, is now commended to the thoughtful reader. It will be found to be markedthroughout with learning, candour, and we believe also with gentleness and sympathy. On this last characteristic we ourselves lay great stress. If we would reclaim the wandering, or confirm the wavering, it is not by hard words and unkindly imputations, but by the expression of that love and gentleness which an apostle reminds us are numbered among the fruits of the Spirit. We must regard ourselves as far as possible in their places, endeavour to see as they see, and feel as they feel, and then it may be permitted to us to return from our charitable quest, bringing back the friendly wanderers with us, and ourselves sharing some portion of that holy joy which is felt in heaven and in earth when the doubter is led back to belief, and the lost is found. This rightful characteristic of all true Christian controversy is not, we believe, anywhere wanting in this volume, and we thus, with fullest confidence, commend it to the consideration of all who love the truth, and humbly seek it in history, science, and theology.

Lastly, we may call attention to the encouraging fact, that in this great work good men have agreed to forget minor differences. Among the distinguished men whose independent lectures are now, for convenience, gathered together in a common volume, are members of the Church of England and members of other religious communities. It is long that this co-operation has existed in the circulationof the Holy Scriptures; it is recently that it has again appeared in the effort to present those Scriptures in their most accurate form to the English reader; it is now again happily exemplified in the present attempt to defend and maintain the truth as it is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

These things are of good augury. Though there may be dissensions, sad and pitiful, within the Church, and assaults made upon it from without, often sadly characterized with the marks of political strife, yet we may thank God that in efforts such as the present, and in the calm and serenity of studies such as those which this volume commends, a true union has been felt and acted on. Yes, it is a cause for thankfulness and rejoicing that the love of Christ is more and more binding us together in companionships of high duty and gentle sympathy, and that reverence for His Holy Word, His Word of Life and Truth, is making us feel that our work is a common one, and that as we have in common freely received, so it is a blessed thing in common freely to give.

We may humbly pray then that God's gracious favour may rest on this Course of Lectures, and may be permitted to bear a blessing to those that read it. May they feel anew convinced in heart and spirit that we have not "followed cunningly devised fables," but that in the Holy Scriptures ofthe Old and New Testament there is light and truth, even because they bring us nearer to Him who is the Truth, as He is the Way and the Life, for evermore.

C. J. GLOUCESTER AND BRISTOL.

July 19, 1871.

FOOTNOTES:1"Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences."2Mr. Wallace, in the "Anthropological Journal," 1864; see also Lubbock's "Prehistoric Times," last chapter.3Moleschott, "Circulation of Life:" Letter XVIII., with Liebig's opinion there quoted.4Kant, "Metaphysics of Ethics."5See, for example, Renouvier, "Science de la Morale," 1869.6"Limits of Philosophical Enquiry." 1868.7Nehem. ix. 6.8See Duke of Argyll's "Reign of Law."9Job xxvi. 14.10Plutarch, "De Justitia."11Buchner.12See Mill on Comte, p. 62,seq.13Paroles de Philosophic Positive, p. 54.14Janet refers to Nysten's Dictionnaire de Médecine, etc., by Littré and Robin.15Paroles de Philosophie Positive, p. 53.16Harris's Highlands of Œthiopia, vol. iii. p. 63.17While these sheets were passing through the press, I read in thePall Mall Gazettefor April 24th, as follows: One of the Communist papers, theMontagne, writes: "Education has made sceptics of us; the Revolution of 1871 is atheistic; our Republic wears a bouquet of immortelles in her bosom. We take our dead to their homes, and our wives to our hearts without a prayer. Priests! throw aside your frocks, turn up your sleeves, lay your hands upon the plough, for a song to the lark in the morning air is better than a mumbling of psalms, and an ode to sparkling wine is preferable to a chanting of hymns. Our dogs that used only to growl when a bishop passed will bite him now, and not a voice will be raised to curse the day which dawns for the sacrifice of the Archbishop of Paris. We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to the world. The Commune has promised us an eye for an eye, and has given us Monseigneur Darboy as a hostage. The justice of the tribunals shall commence, said Danton, when the wrath of the people is appeased; and he was right. Darboy! tremble in your cell, for your day is past, your end is close at hand."18I use this word because if the value of faith and virtue consists in their being a discipline, while this implies the existence of difficulty, it also limits the degree of the difficulty.19"Rudiments," so far from disproving, prove this. A rudiment shows that nature might have given more, but has not done so. Why? Because the further gift would have been useless, for instance, man would not have been benefited by being able to feel with his eye-brows. (See Darwin, "Descent of Man," i. 25.)20Professor Huxley's words are, "In these groups there is abundant evidence of variation—none of what is ordinarily understood as progression; and if the known geological record is to be regarded as even any considerable fragment of the whole, it is inconceivable that any theory of a necessarily progressive development can stand, for the numerous orders and families cited afford no trace of such a process." (p. 245.)21Darwin, "Descent of Man," i.205.17522It is a curious fact that these Ascidians possess a heart and a circulation, but that after the heart has beaten a certain number of times it stops, and then beats the opposite way, so as to reverse the circulation. (Lay Sermons, p. 95.) In what stage of its progress did it so degenerate as to lose this remarkable power?23Darwin, "Descent of Man," i.22.17624There is something of this in animals just as, on the other hand, man is not altogether devoid of instincts. I should have expected this from the teaching of the first chapter of Genesis, which represents men not as a distinct creation but as the last act of creation.25Physically the monkey is man's superior. Anatomists assure us that they can find no very great difference between his brain and ours. His larynx also is as well fitted as ours to produce articulate sounds. So far we are equal. But he has four hands, and we have but two. Read Sir C. Bell's "Bridgewater Treatise upon the Hand," and you will see at once that a vast superiority is implied in this. I can never believe that when, by natural and sexual selection, a creature had been attained possessed of four hands, nature could so degradate in her work as to fall back upon two. No well-bred monkey would have mated with one sodeformed.17826Lartet, quoted by Darwin, "Descent," i. 51.27The body politic is in fact very much like the natural body. There is a constant waste and a constant repair. The waste may be greater than the repair—and in that case the body dwindles—but the repair may be greater than the waste, in which case there is growth, progress. In both alike real growth can only be by assimilation. The new must be taken up into the old, and become part with it. That which is losing vitality must be put away; but that which is to take its place must become one with the old. After a certain time, however, natural bodies lose their powers of assimilation, and old age and death are the result: I cannot enter into the question how far this is also the case with politicalbodies.17928Animals brought into contact with man attain some small share in this power. The influence of man over domesticated animals is most remarkable. I should doubt whether a wild animal was at all capable of making such a distinction.29I have taken these words from the "Vedanta Philosophy." It teaches that the apparent reality of this world ismāyā, i.e., deceit, illusion, jugglery: "naught besidesthe Oneexists:" the world was made out of nothing and is nothing. "All that is real in this visible, is the God who is invisible." See Ballantyne's "Christianity compared with Hindu Philosophy," pp. xxxi-xxxvii, 43–50.30It is the examination of these moral and spiritual faculties which makes it so probable that man possesses something more than a highly organised body and mental powers, which, though superior in degree, are still of the same kind as those possessed by the animals. And it should be remembered that the proof that man possesses a soul, and that the soul is immortal, is entirely independent of revelation. It is based upon the intelligent study of the facts of psychology. If, however, it is said that man does not really possess, but only seems to possess these faculties, I answer that then nature is a mere deceiver, and its works a sham: and that, consequently, all physical science would be the study of the illusive.31Though we draw a distinction between the natural and the supernatural, this distinction is tenable only when we look at things from below, and not when we look at them from above. We call those processes natural of which we know or might know the secondary causes.32It is no argument against revelation that it does not make us all holy and devout. It is not the law of this present state of things that all men attain to the highest possible physical and mental excellence. All that we can say is, that they ought to aim at nothing less. So neither do all men attain to moral and religious excellence. Equally it ought to be their aim; but why they so often fail in attaining to it is more than any one can answer. The failure of individuals to attain to the highest good possible for the species is one of nature's universal laws. Why this present state of things is so constituted is a mystery, which cannot be solved here; but which will certainly be solved when we have the perfect knowledge promised us in 1 Cor. xiii. 12.33Professor Huxley considers that man is a bungle. At all events he would be glad to be "turned into a sort of clock, and wound up every morning before he got out of bed," on condition that he should always "think what is true, and do what is right." (Lay Sermons, p. 373.) I suppose this means that we should like to be governed by very perfect instincts, but I question whether he would not find his new kind of life dull. At present both right thinking and right doing require of him an effort, which, from the spirit of his writings, I should think he enjoys. But, after all, what he says has a true foundation. Sin is not a necessary part of man's lot. It cleaves to him because he is fallen; and this world apparently offers us a state of moral and religious discipline, by the aid of which, in a future state, we shall be free from sin. But those who do not wish to retrograde would prefer to have this freedom by the force of perfected habits than by the force of instinct.34"Essays and Reviews" (Baden Powell), p. 133. The italics are mine, simply to call attention to the point of the quotation.35De Gen. An. II. iii. 10. See article by Sir Alexander Grant in theContemporary, May, 1871, p. 277.36Since writing the above, I have lighted on the following passage in an able university sermon by one of the lecturers in the present course. I am glad to confirm what had struck my own mind, by quoting the words of so careful a reasoner. In reference to philosophic doubts directed against the idea of design, and the analogy between human and natural productions, he remarks: "This is evidently a very hard question, and if it properly belonged to the province of physical inquiry I should shrink from hazarding any investigation of its merits. But the question has overstepped the boundary of such sciences, and become a branch of philosophy. I may seem obscure in making this assertion, but you will see its truth if you consider for a moment the limit which divides science from philosophy. Sciences are often content to accept their principles, the lower from the higher (as Aristotle puts the case) in an ascending scale up to metaphysic, which, if it is anything at all, is the philosophy of first grounds so far as they are discoverable. While the various kinds of inquiry assume their several grounds as postulates, each keeps its separate and subordinate place. But one prime impulse of the human mind is unification, and thus, in every science, there springs up a tendency to ground itself. The moment this attempt is made, a science becomes a philosophy, and must be tested by the ordinary criteria of philosophic procedure."—Right and Wrong, by the Rev. W. Jackson, M.A.37Westminster Review, Oct., 1860. Art. on New Christianity.38Mill's "System of Logic," ii., 160.39"The argument in Hume's celebrated Essay on Miracles was very far from being a new one. It had, as Mr. Coleridge has pointed out, been distinctly indicated by South in his sermon on the incredulity of St. Thomas; and there is a remarkable statement of much the same argument put into the mouth of Woolston's Advocate, in Sherlock's Trial of the Witnesses."—Art. on Miracles in Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible."40See Martensen's "Christian Dogmatics," 222.41I must here refer to Dorner's "Doctrine of the Person of Christ," where evidence is afforded of what I say.42See again Martensen's "Christian Dogmatics," 220.43I would also mention "The Divine Origin of Christianity," by John Sheppard. A work less known than it deserves to be.44Wagenseil's Confutation of the Toldoth Jeschu: Sheppard's "Divine Origin of Christianity," ii. 205,et seq.45Lessons on Christian Evidence, 33.46Celsus in Orig., L. i., § 28.47Hieron, T. ii. 334.48Cyril contra Jul., L. vi., p. 191. See, respecting these and similar passages, Lardner's Credibility, vii. 225, 442, 627.49"Essays and Reviews" (Baden Powell), 107.50That Rénan should treat the Resurrection of Lazarus as a pious fraud, and the one moral blot in the story of Christ, is the greatest literary, as well as moral, blot in his "Vie de Jésus." See Hutton's Essays, i., 297.51See Art. on Miracles in Smith's Dic.52Niebuhr's "Lebensnachrichten," quoted in Luthardt's "Apologetic Lectures," 200.53Mozley's "Lectures on Miracles," 120.54"Lectures on Miracles," 5.55Coleridge's "Friend," iii., 104–6.56Dr. Vaughan's "Christ the Light of the World," 172.57Ad. Gen. 1. i. c. 42,et seq.58Inst. L. iv. c. 25.59Dorner, in hisPerson of Christ(Clark's Trans.), ii. 254, dwells upon this subject as unfolded by Athanasius. See also Athanasius' third discourse against the Arians, § 32.60In Johan. Evan. Tract, 16, 24, 49.61See Brachet's "Dictionnaire Etymologique," sub voc:Developper.62"Essay on Development," page 35.63I will here quote the words of a great man, who has for many years been one of the chief scientific ornaments of this country, and whose departure from this life, at the ripe age of seventy-nine years, I see, with much sorrow, recorded in theTimesof this day.Speaking of the manner in which the universe has come into its present condition, and is preserved in that condition, and of the possibility of collision amongst the constituent bodies, Sir John Herschel says: "Ages, which to us may well appear indefinite, may easily be conceived to pass without a single instance of collision, in the nature of a catastrophe. Such may have gradually become rarer as the system has emerged from what must be considered as its chaotic state, till at length, in the fulness of time, and under the pre-arranging guidance of thatDesignwhich pervades universal nature, each individual may have taken up such a course as to annul the possibility of further destructive interference."—Outlines of Astronomy, p. 600.I quote these words for the sake of the phrase which they contain, and the importance of which it is impossible to exaggerate, "The pre-arranging guidance of thatDesignwhich pervades universal nature."64"Le Genie du Christianisme," Bk. iv., chap. v.65"Descent of Man," p. 208.66Report of Evidence, 1870:—Q. 376. I thought you said Bishop Butler had been excluded?—It is not excluded, but being an optional subject it is one that has been discouraged.Q. 377. Why?—He is gone out of fashion; I do not know why.Q. 378. Who makes the fashion?—I suppose the particular set of examiners at one time.Q. 379. What are the works of Bishop Butler which have so gone out of fashion?—The Analogy and the Sermons were the books which we used to take up.67The subject of this Lecture is touched upon, but not expanded, in the following pregnant passage of Butler'sAnalogy: "The thing objected against this scheme of the Gospel is, that it seems to suppose God was reduced to the necessity of a long series of intricate means in order to accomplish His ends, the recovery and salvation of the world: in like sort as men, for want of understanding or power, not being able to come to their ends readily, are forced to go roundabout ways, and make use of many perplexed contrivances to arrive at them. Now, everything which we see shows the folly of this, considered as an objection against the truth of Christianity. For, according to our manner of conception, God makes use of a variety of means, what we often think tedious ones, in the natural course of providence, for the accomplishment of all His ends. Indeed, it is certain there is somewhat in this matter quite beyond our comprehension: but the mystery is as great in nature as in Christianity."—Analogy, Part II., chap. iv.68Philos. of Univ. Hist. i. p. 191.69Manuel d'Histoire, tom. ii. p. 16.70Zeitschrift f. Œgypt. Sp. Nov. 1868.71Colenso. "The Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua."72Gen. xlvi. 27; compare Ex. i. 5.73Gen. xlvi. 7.74Gen. xlvi. 5. The wordtaph(טף) here, translated "little ones" means "households." The Septuagint translate it by οἰκία [Greek: oikia] or συγγένεια [Greek: sungeneia].75Payne Smith, "Bampton Lectures." p. 89.76History of Old Covenant, vol. ii. p. 149. E. T.77Ex. xii. 40, 41.78Essay on Population, vol. i. p. 8; Encycl. Brit. vol. xviii. p. 340.79It was on the 5th of January, 1771, thedayappointed by the high priests, that Oubacha began his march,with seventy thousand families. Most of the hordes were then assembled in the steppes, on the left bank of the Volga, andthe whole multitude followed him."—Hommaire de Hell, Travels, p. 227, E. T.80Num. xxxi. 32, 33.81F. Newman's "Hebrew Monarchy," pp. 160, 161.82"Dictionary of the Bible," ad voc.Shishak.83"Geographische Inschriften," vol. ii., p. 32,et seq.842 Kings xv. 19.852 Kings xxiii. 29; Ezra vi. 22.86Isaiah xx. 1.872 Kings xvii. 6; xviii. 7, 11.88Von Lengerke, "Das Buch Daniel; Einleitung," § 13; p. lxiii. "De Wette, Einleitung in d. Abte Testament," p. 225, a; Davison, "Introduction to the Old Testament," vol. iii. pp. 174–192.892 Kings xxv. 23.90Dan. iii. 2. אתשדרפניא translated in our version, "princes," but really the Hebrew equivalent of the Persiankhshatrapa, "satraps."91Dan. v. 31.92Dan. ix. 1.93See Pusey's "Lectures on Daniel," pp. 124, 125. 3rd edition.94H. N. vi. 27.95Dan. v. 11.96Herod. iii. 31.97De Wette, "Einleitung," p. 267.98Ibid. loc. cit.99Gen. xli. 42, 43.100Dan. v. 29.101Strauss, "Leben Jesu," § 32.102Strauss, "Leben Jesu," § 44.103See Krafft, "Topografie Jerusalems," Inscr. 29.104Strauss, L. J. § 32.105Ibid. § 34.106Those who wish to see the cumulative force of the entire argument will find it in "the Jesus of the Evangelists." It is impossible to compress its reasonings.107See Appendix to "St. John's Testimony to Christ," in Professor Leathes' Boyle Lectures. No one who has not read this can form an idea of the extent of similarity of thought and expression to the fourth Gospel which underlies the Synoptics.108To give precision to the argument, it is necessary to determine its definite character. But it is impossible to do so within the limits of a single lecture.109"Jesus of the Evangelists," chap. x.110See "Jesus of the Evangelists," chap. v.111"Jesus of the Evangelists," p. 381. The entire collection of apocryphal Gospels has been translated by Mr. Cowper. I am sure that their perusal will greatly confirm our faith in the historical character of the true. The order of mind which invented the one could not have invented the other.112"Jesus of the Evangelists," chap. xvii.113Acts xxiv. 27.1141 Cor. xv. 6.1151 Cor. xv. 12.1162 Cor. v. 17.117For evidence as to the authenticity of this Gospel see the Boyle Lectures for 1870, "The witness of St. John to Christ."1181 Cor. xv. 4.1191 Cor. xi. 27.1201 Cor. xv. 4.1211 Cor. xv. 5–8.1221 Cor. xv. 9.1232 Cor. xii. 2.1241 Gal. ii. 1, and i. 18.125Gal. ii. 20.126Rom. vi. 10.127Rom. vi. 23; i. 3, 4.128Rom. xv. 23.129Rom. i. 8.130Rom. i. 4; vi. 6–9; viii. 34.131Rom. viii. 14, 16, 17.132Rom. v. 1.133Rom. i. 3, 4.134Rom. vi. 3; 1 Cor. i. 13; Gal. iii. 27; cf. 2 Cor. i. 22.1351 Cor. xi. 23.1361 Cor. xi. 26.1371 Cor. i. 17.138Gal. i. 13.139St. Matt. xxviii. 15.140Gal. i. 15, 16.141Acts xxviii. 24.142Acts xxvi. 8.143It must always be remembered that Mohammed learned the best of his morals and his theology from Jews or Christians.144In answer to this theory of development or afterthought it may be said that all the early records, the writings of the Apostles and Evangelists, the writings of the Apostolic fathers, are clear about the Godhead of Christ. It was comparatively late that doubters arose, heretics like Cerinthus and Theodotus, and philosophic Christians like Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen, accepting the gospel indeed, but diluting it by their reasonings upon it.145The arguments here considered are those propounded in Lecky's "History of European Morals."146The terrible scenes just enacted, and even now enacting, in Paris, almost seem to contradict my words concerning mercy in war, words written and even printed before Paris was burned and wasted. But let us remember that eighty years ago France threw away its Christianity, and took Atheism for its creed; that in the last fifty years it has been slowly and painfully recovering its faith; that Paris has been the centre of the unbelief of Europe; that so, a large portion of its inhabitants have grown up utterly without religion; that, according to a friendly witness, "the people of Paris believe not in any God, nor in anyman;"147or, according to another statement, "the Communists acknowledge no God, no man, no faith, no hope, nothing but better wages and morepleasure;"148that the chief perpetrators of the horrors of the past week not only abhorred Christianity, but murdered priests, only because they were ministers of Christ, and proclaimed Atheism and Materialism to be the very basis of their theory, both in politics and in life. There is nothing to surprise us when we find that those who deliberately cast off religion and humanity, faith in God, and faith in man, fall lower than those who are simply ignorant of the true principles of either. Atheists in the midst of faith are very likely to be much worse than heathens.147Fortnightly Review, quoted inTimes, May 31, 1871.148Times, May 31, 1871.149Maclear's "History of the Christian Missions in the Middle Ages," p. 417. Macmillan, 1863.150"Ecce Homo," p. 71. Second edition, 1866.151Platon. Symposium. Steph. iii., 220.152Midway stands Anselm, the father of modern metaphysics, with the scientific demonstration of the two fundamental truths of all religion, the existence of God and the Incarnation.153Pascal, "Fragmens d'une Apologie du Christianisme," in the 2nd vol. of "Pensées du Blaise Pascal." Paris, 1814.154Luthardt (Apologetische Vorträge, in two parts), presents in a form peculiarly adapted for general readers, a very complete survey both of the internal and external evidences. Steinmeyer, Apologetische Vorträge, in three parts, discusses the historical evidence for the miracles, the death and the resurrection of our Lord, with special reference to the latest criticisms. Delitzsch's System der Christlichen Apologetik is of a more exclusively philosophical and dogmatic character. It has been reviewed in the Studien u. Kritiken, by Dr. Sack, of Bonn, whose own work, Christliche Apologetik, 1841, is one of the best on the whole subject of evidences.155It is well known that both Jews and Gentiles admitted that the works were wrought, though they denied that the power came from God. Superstition, then as ever, opposed the faith of which it is the counterfeit.156The most interesting and accessible accounts of this man are given by M. Barthélemi S. Hilaire, "Le Bonddha et sa Religion;" and by M. Ampère, in "La Science et les Lettres en Orient." Siddartha lived about the end of the seventh century,B.C.The name "Sakya Monni" is an appellative, meaning the monk or hermit of the Sakyas, the royal race to which he belonged. The true end of all philosophy and religion in his system is to enter into Nirvana,i.e.(according to M. Eugène Burnouf, the highest authority on this subject), the complete annihilation, not only of the material elements of existence, but also, and more specially, of the thinking principle. In this view the majority of Oriental scholars agree; the few who differ, as Colebrook does, identify Nirvana with an endless and dreamless sleep. See M. S. Hilaire, l.c., p. 133. M. Ampère (p. 215) thus characterizes the system, "La fin suprème de l'homme â été de perdre le sentiment de son moi, de renoncer à sa liberté, de s'élever au dessus des affections les plus pures, d'arriver à un état, où il ne restât plus que levide."157The four books of Khung-fu-tseu were written in the second half of the sixth century,B.C.They contain the religions and philosophy of China in a dogmatic form. The second book, called "Tchung yung," represents most fully his moral code, of which the principle is obedience to natural reason, and the rule is observance of thevia media, with due regard to times and circumstances. In one passage, ccxi., iv., Confucius says a man of strong virtue goes beyond thisvia mediawhich prescribes indifference and exact conformity to natural law. For a just appreciation of the Confucian system, the reader may consult M. Ampère, "La Science et les Lettres en Orient," p. 98 ff.158For a very remarkable echo of this passage, showing the depth and permanence of such feelings, see the words of Mr. Hutton, quoted further on.159Dante, Inferno, c. iv.160Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians, accepted by all the Tübingen School. (See Mr. Leathes' lecture.)161In addition to the well-known work of Tischendorf, and German, French, and English commentaries, attention may be called to a valuable treatise by P. H. de Groot, of Groningen, "Basilides als erster Zeuge des Johannesevangeliums." Leipzig, 1868. The internal evidence has already been discussed by Dr. Lightfoot, who promises a complete treatise on the subject, with which no one can deal more effectively. Some good points are made by Mr. Hutton in Essays, vol. i.162Essays Theological and Literary, by R. H. Hutton; vol. i., p. 282.163Notice the faint condemnation, if it be a condemnation at all, of the peculiar shame of Athens, as "greatly at variance with modern and Christiannotions, but in accordance with Hellenic sentiment" (vol. i., p. 482, and compare p. 555).164See the preface to the Republic, in vol. ii. Compare also the words of Socrates on his trial (p. 40 in the Greek, vol. i., p. 354, Jowett); they probably represent his views more truly than the brilliant speculations in the Phædo. One alternative which he seems disposed to accept, viz., that death may be "a sleep like the sleep of him who is undisturbed by dreams," resembles very nearly the Nirvana of Buddhism.165Ritschl shows very conclusively that the Essenian principle was even more exclusive than the Rabbinical, and more antagonistic in principle to Christianity. See Altkatholische Kirche, pp. 179–203.166Within the few last months, Steinmeyer has published a treatise on the history of the resurrection, with reference to the latest criticisms, which I would commend to readers of German. Serious attempts have been made in England to disjoin this cardinal truth from the doctrinal system of St. Paul, attempts which seem passing strange on the part of critics who accept him as a thoroughly truthful man, nay, as an inspired apostle, and who must know that he makes the resurrection the very centre or foundation of his teaching. Even Hegel, the very Corypheus of idealism, declares "Die Auferstehung gehört wesentlich dem Glauben an;"i.e., the resurrection belongs essentially to the faith. See "Die Philosophie der Religion," p. 300. In a note on the same page, Hegel shows that he takes it as a real objective event: "wie alles Bisherige in der Weise der Wirklichkeit für das unmittelbare Bewusstsein zur Erscheinung gekommen, so auch diese Erhebung."167Christian Dogmatics, § 63. (Clark.)

1"Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences."

2Mr. Wallace, in the "Anthropological Journal," 1864; see also Lubbock's "Prehistoric Times," last chapter.

3Moleschott, "Circulation of Life:" Letter XVIII., with Liebig's opinion there quoted.

4Kant, "Metaphysics of Ethics."

5See, for example, Renouvier, "Science de la Morale," 1869.

6"Limits of Philosophical Enquiry." 1868.

7Nehem. ix. 6.

8See Duke of Argyll's "Reign of Law."

9Job xxvi. 14.

10Plutarch, "De Justitia."

11Buchner.

12See Mill on Comte, p. 62,seq.

13Paroles de Philosophic Positive, p. 54.

14Janet refers to Nysten's Dictionnaire de Médecine, etc., by Littré and Robin.

15Paroles de Philosophie Positive, p. 53.

16Harris's Highlands of Œthiopia, vol. iii. p. 63.

17While these sheets were passing through the press, I read in thePall Mall Gazettefor April 24th, as follows: One of the Communist papers, theMontagne, writes: "Education has made sceptics of us; the Revolution of 1871 is atheistic; our Republic wears a bouquet of immortelles in her bosom. We take our dead to their homes, and our wives to our hearts without a prayer. Priests! throw aside your frocks, turn up your sleeves, lay your hands upon the plough, for a song to the lark in the morning air is better than a mumbling of psalms, and an ode to sparkling wine is preferable to a chanting of hymns. Our dogs that used only to growl when a bishop passed will bite him now, and not a voice will be raised to curse the day which dawns for the sacrifice of the Archbishop of Paris. We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to the world. The Commune has promised us an eye for an eye, and has given us Monseigneur Darboy as a hostage. The justice of the tribunals shall commence, said Danton, when the wrath of the people is appeased; and he was right. Darboy! tremble in your cell, for your day is past, your end is close at hand."

18I use this word because if the value of faith and virtue consists in their being a discipline, while this implies the existence of difficulty, it also limits the degree of the difficulty.

19"Rudiments," so far from disproving, prove this. A rudiment shows that nature might have given more, but has not done so. Why? Because the further gift would have been useless, for instance, man would not have been benefited by being able to feel with his eye-brows. (See Darwin, "Descent of Man," i. 25.)

20Professor Huxley's words are, "In these groups there is abundant evidence of variation—none of what is ordinarily understood as progression; and if the known geological record is to be regarded as even any considerable fragment of the whole, it is inconceivable that any theory of a necessarily progressive development can stand, for the numerous orders and families cited afford no trace of such a process." (p. 245.)

21Darwin, "Descent of Man," i.205.175

22It is a curious fact that these Ascidians possess a heart and a circulation, but that after the heart has beaten a certain number of times it stops, and then beats the opposite way, so as to reverse the circulation. (Lay Sermons, p. 95.) In what stage of its progress did it so degenerate as to lose this remarkable power?

23Darwin, "Descent of Man," i.22.176

24There is something of this in animals just as, on the other hand, man is not altogether devoid of instincts. I should have expected this from the teaching of the first chapter of Genesis, which represents men not as a distinct creation but as the last act of creation.

25Physically the monkey is man's superior. Anatomists assure us that they can find no very great difference between his brain and ours. His larynx also is as well fitted as ours to produce articulate sounds. So far we are equal. But he has four hands, and we have but two. Read Sir C. Bell's "Bridgewater Treatise upon the Hand," and you will see at once that a vast superiority is implied in this. I can never believe that when, by natural and sexual selection, a creature had been attained possessed of four hands, nature could so degradate in her work as to fall back upon two. No well-bred monkey would have mated with one sodeformed.178

26Lartet, quoted by Darwin, "Descent," i. 51.

27The body politic is in fact very much like the natural body. There is a constant waste and a constant repair. The waste may be greater than the repair—and in that case the body dwindles—but the repair may be greater than the waste, in which case there is growth, progress. In both alike real growth can only be by assimilation. The new must be taken up into the old, and become part with it. That which is losing vitality must be put away; but that which is to take its place must become one with the old. After a certain time, however, natural bodies lose their powers of assimilation, and old age and death are the result: I cannot enter into the question how far this is also the case with politicalbodies.179

28Animals brought into contact with man attain some small share in this power. The influence of man over domesticated animals is most remarkable. I should doubt whether a wild animal was at all capable of making such a distinction.

29I have taken these words from the "Vedanta Philosophy." It teaches that the apparent reality of this world ismāyā, i.e., deceit, illusion, jugglery: "naught besidesthe Oneexists:" the world was made out of nothing and is nothing. "All that is real in this visible, is the God who is invisible." See Ballantyne's "Christianity compared with Hindu Philosophy," pp. xxxi-xxxvii, 43–50.

30It is the examination of these moral and spiritual faculties which makes it so probable that man possesses something more than a highly organised body and mental powers, which, though superior in degree, are still of the same kind as those possessed by the animals. And it should be remembered that the proof that man possesses a soul, and that the soul is immortal, is entirely independent of revelation. It is based upon the intelligent study of the facts of psychology. If, however, it is said that man does not really possess, but only seems to possess these faculties, I answer that then nature is a mere deceiver, and its works a sham: and that, consequently, all physical science would be the study of the illusive.

31Though we draw a distinction between the natural and the supernatural, this distinction is tenable only when we look at things from below, and not when we look at them from above. We call those processes natural of which we know or might know the secondary causes.

32It is no argument against revelation that it does not make us all holy and devout. It is not the law of this present state of things that all men attain to the highest possible physical and mental excellence. All that we can say is, that they ought to aim at nothing less. So neither do all men attain to moral and religious excellence. Equally it ought to be their aim; but why they so often fail in attaining to it is more than any one can answer. The failure of individuals to attain to the highest good possible for the species is one of nature's universal laws. Why this present state of things is so constituted is a mystery, which cannot be solved here; but which will certainly be solved when we have the perfect knowledge promised us in 1 Cor. xiii. 12.

33Professor Huxley considers that man is a bungle. At all events he would be glad to be "turned into a sort of clock, and wound up every morning before he got out of bed," on condition that he should always "think what is true, and do what is right." (Lay Sermons, p. 373.) I suppose this means that we should like to be governed by very perfect instincts, but I question whether he would not find his new kind of life dull. At present both right thinking and right doing require of him an effort, which, from the spirit of his writings, I should think he enjoys. But, after all, what he says has a true foundation. Sin is not a necessary part of man's lot. It cleaves to him because he is fallen; and this world apparently offers us a state of moral and religious discipline, by the aid of which, in a future state, we shall be free from sin. But those who do not wish to retrograde would prefer to have this freedom by the force of perfected habits than by the force of instinct.

34"Essays and Reviews" (Baden Powell), p. 133. The italics are mine, simply to call attention to the point of the quotation.

35De Gen. An. II. iii. 10. See article by Sir Alexander Grant in theContemporary, May, 1871, p. 277.

36Since writing the above, I have lighted on the following passage in an able university sermon by one of the lecturers in the present course. I am glad to confirm what had struck my own mind, by quoting the words of so careful a reasoner. In reference to philosophic doubts directed against the idea of design, and the analogy between human and natural productions, he remarks: "This is evidently a very hard question, and if it properly belonged to the province of physical inquiry I should shrink from hazarding any investigation of its merits. But the question has overstepped the boundary of such sciences, and become a branch of philosophy. I may seem obscure in making this assertion, but you will see its truth if you consider for a moment the limit which divides science from philosophy. Sciences are often content to accept their principles, the lower from the higher (as Aristotle puts the case) in an ascending scale up to metaphysic, which, if it is anything at all, is the philosophy of first grounds so far as they are discoverable. While the various kinds of inquiry assume their several grounds as postulates, each keeps its separate and subordinate place. But one prime impulse of the human mind is unification, and thus, in every science, there springs up a tendency to ground itself. The moment this attempt is made, a science becomes a philosophy, and must be tested by the ordinary criteria of philosophic procedure."—Right and Wrong, by the Rev. W. Jackson, M.A.

37Westminster Review, Oct., 1860. Art. on New Christianity.

38Mill's "System of Logic," ii., 160.

39"The argument in Hume's celebrated Essay on Miracles was very far from being a new one. It had, as Mr. Coleridge has pointed out, been distinctly indicated by South in his sermon on the incredulity of St. Thomas; and there is a remarkable statement of much the same argument put into the mouth of Woolston's Advocate, in Sherlock's Trial of the Witnesses."—Art. on Miracles in Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible."

40See Martensen's "Christian Dogmatics," 222.

41I must here refer to Dorner's "Doctrine of the Person of Christ," where evidence is afforded of what I say.

42See again Martensen's "Christian Dogmatics," 220.

43I would also mention "The Divine Origin of Christianity," by John Sheppard. A work less known than it deserves to be.

44Wagenseil's Confutation of the Toldoth Jeschu: Sheppard's "Divine Origin of Christianity," ii. 205,et seq.

45Lessons on Christian Evidence, 33.

46Celsus in Orig., L. i., § 28.

47Hieron, T. ii. 334.

48Cyril contra Jul., L. vi., p. 191. See, respecting these and similar passages, Lardner's Credibility, vii. 225, 442, 627.

49"Essays and Reviews" (Baden Powell), 107.

50That Rénan should treat the Resurrection of Lazarus as a pious fraud, and the one moral blot in the story of Christ, is the greatest literary, as well as moral, blot in his "Vie de Jésus." See Hutton's Essays, i., 297.

51See Art. on Miracles in Smith's Dic.

52Niebuhr's "Lebensnachrichten," quoted in Luthardt's "Apologetic Lectures," 200.

53Mozley's "Lectures on Miracles," 120.

54"Lectures on Miracles," 5.

55Coleridge's "Friend," iii., 104–6.

56Dr. Vaughan's "Christ the Light of the World," 172.

57Ad. Gen. 1. i. c. 42,et seq.

58Inst. L. iv. c. 25.

59Dorner, in hisPerson of Christ(Clark's Trans.), ii. 254, dwells upon this subject as unfolded by Athanasius. See also Athanasius' third discourse against the Arians, § 32.

60In Johan. Evan. Tract, 16, 24, 49.

61See Brachet's "Dictionnaire Etymologique," sub voc:Developper.

62"Essay on Development," page 35.

63I will here quote the words of a great man, who has for many years been one of the chief scientific ornaments of this country, and whose departure from this life, at the ripe age of seventy-nine years, I see, with much sorrow, recorded in theTimesof this day.Speaking of the manner in which the universe has come into its present condition, and is preserved in that condition, and of the possibility of collision amongst the constituent bodies, Sir John Herschel says: "Ages, which to us may well appear indefinite, may easily be conceived to pass without a single instance of collision, in the nature of a catastrophe. Such may have gradually become rarer as the system has emerged from what must be considered as its chaotic state, till at length, in the fulness of time, and under the pre-arranging guidance of thatDesignwhich pervades universal nature, each individual may have taken up such a course as to annul the possibility of further destructive interference."—Outlines of Astronomy, p. 600.I quote these words for the sake of the phrase which they contain, and the importance of which it is impossible to exaggerate, "The pre-arranging guidance of thatDesignwhich pervades universal nature."

Speaking of the manner in which the universe has come into its present condition, and is preserved in that condition, and of the possibility of collision amongst the constituent bodies, Sir John Herschel says: "Ages, which to us may well appear indefinite, may easily be conceived to pass without a single instance of collision, in the nature of a catastrophe. Such may have gradually become rarer as the system has emerged from what must be considered as its chaotic state, till at length, in the fulness of time, and under the pre-arranging guidance of thatDesignwhich pervades universal nature, each individual may have taken up such a course as to annul the possibility of further destructive interference."—Outlines of Astronomy, p. 600.

I quote these words for the sake of the phrase which they contain, and the importance of which it is impossible to exaggerate, "The pre-arranging guidance of thatDesignwhich pervades universal nature."

64"Le Genie du Christianisme," Bk. iv., chap. v.

65"Descent of Man," p. 208.

66Report of Evidence, 1870:—Q. 376. I thought you said Bishop Butler had been excluded?—It is not excluded, but being an optional subject it is one that has been discouraged.Q. 377. Why?—He is gone out of fashion; I do not know why.Q. 378. Who makes the fashion?—I suppose the particular set of examiners at one time.Q. 379. What are the works of Bishop Butler which have so gone out of fashion?—The Analogy and the Sermons were the books which we used to take up.

66Report of Evidence, 1870:—

Q. 376. I thought you said Bishop Butler had been excluded?—It is not excluded, but being an optional subject it is one that has been discouraged.

Q. 377. Why?—He is gone out of fashion; I do not know why.

Q. 378. Who makes the fashion?—I suppose the particular set of examiners at one time.

Q. 379. What are the works of Bishop Butler which have so gone out of fashion?—The Analogy and the Sermons were the books which we used to take up.

67The subject of this Lecture is touched upon, but not expanded, in the following pregnant passage of Butler'sAnalogy: "The thing objected against this scheme of the Gospel is, that it seems to suppose God was reduced to the necessity of a long series of intricate means in order to accomplish His ends, the recovery and salvation of the world: in like sort as men, for want of understanding or power, not being able to come to their ends readily, are forced to go roundabout ways, and make use of many perplexed contrivances to arrive at them. Now, everything which we see shows the folly of this, considered as an objection against the truth of Christianity. For, according to our manner of conception, God makes use of a variety of means, what we often think tedious ones, in the natural course of providence, for the accomplishment of all His ends. Indeed, it is certain there is somewhat in this matter quite beyond our comprehension: but the mystery is as great in nature as in Christianity."—Analogy, Part II., chap. iv.

68Philos. of Univ. Hist. i. p. 191.

69Manuel d'Histoire, tom. ii. p. 16.

70Zeitschrift f. Œgypt. Sp. Nov. 1868.

71Colenso. "The Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua."

72Gen. xlvi. 27; compare Ex. i. 5.

73Gen. xlvi. 7.

74Gen. xlvi. 5. The wordtaph(טף) here, translated "little ones" means "households." The Septuagint translate it by οἰκία [Greek: oikia] or συγγένεια [Greek: sungeneia].

75Payne Smith, "Bampton Lectures." p. 89.

76History of Old Covenant, vol. ii. p. 149. E. T.

77Ex. xii. 40, 41.

78Essay on Population, vol. i. p. 8; Encycl. Brit. vol. xviii. p. 340.

79It was on the 5th of January, 1771, thedayappointed by the high priests, that Oubacha began his march,with seventy thousand families. Most of the hordes were then assembled in the steppes, on the left bank of the Volga, andthe whole multitude followed him."—Hommaire de Hell, Travels, p. 227, E. T.

80Num. xxxi. 32, 33.

81F. Newman's "Hebrew Monarchy," pp. 160, 161.

82"Dictionary of the Bible," ad voc.Shishak.

83"Geographische Inschriften," vol. ii., p. 32,et seq.

842 Kings xv. 19.

852 Kings xxiii. 29; Ezra vi. 22.

86Isaiah xx. 1.

872 Kings xvii. 6; xviii. 7, 11.

88Von Lengerke, "Das Buch Daniel; Einleitung," § 13; p. lxiii. "De Wette, Einleitung in d. Abte Testament," p. 225, a; Davison, "Introduction to the Old Testament," vol. iii. pp. 174–192.

892 Kings xxv. 23.

90Dan. iii. 2. אתשדרפניא translated in our version, "princes," but really the Hebrew equivalent of the Persiankhshatrapa, "satraps."

91Dan. v. 31.

92Dan. ix. 1.

93See Pusey's "Lectures on Daniel," pp. 124, 125. 3rd edition.

94H. N. vi. 27.

95Dan. v. 11.

96Herod. iii. 31.

97De Wette, "Einleitung," p. 267.

98Ibid. loc. cit.

99Gen. xli. 42, 43.

100Dan. v. 29.

101Strauss, "Leben Jesu," § 32.

102Strauss, "Leben Jesu," § 44.

103See Krafft, "Topografie Jerusalems," Inscr. 29.

104Strauss, L. J. § 32.

105Ibid. § 34.

106Those who wish to see the cumulative force of the entire argument will find it in "the Jesus of the Evangelists." It is impossible to compress its reasonings.

107See Appendix to "St. John's Testimony to Christ," in Professor Leathes' Boyle Lectures. No one who has not read this can form an idea of the extent of similarity of thought and expression to the fourth Gospel which underlies the Synoptics.

108To give precision to the argument, it is necessary to determine its definite character. But it is impossible to do so within the limits of a single lecture.

109"Jesus of the Evangelists," chap. x.

110See "Jesus of the Evangelists," chap. v.

111"Jesus of the Evangelists," p. 381. The entire collection of apocryphal Gospels has been translated by Mr. Cowper. I am sure that their perusal will greatly confirm our faith in the historical character of the true. The order of mind which invented the one could not have invented the other.

112"Jesus of the Evangelists," chap. xvii.

113Acts xxiv. 27.

1141 Cor. xv. 6.

1151 Cor. xv. 12.

1162 Cor. v. 17.

117For evidence as to the authenticity of this Gospel see the Boyle Lectures for 1870, "The witness of St. John to Christ."

1181 Cor. xv. 4.

1191 Cor. xi. 27.

1201 Cor. xv. 4.

1211 Cor. xv. 5–8.

1221 Cor. xv. 9.

1232 Cor. xii. 2.

1241 Gal. ii. 1, and i. 18.

125Gal. ii. 20.

126Rom. vi. 10.

127Rom. vi. 23; i. 3, 4.

128Rom. xv. 23.

129Rom. i. 8.

130Rom. i. 4; vi. 6–9; viii. 34.

131Rom. viii. 14, 16, 17.

132Rom. v. 1.

133Rom. i. 3, 4.

134Rom. vi. 3; 1 Cor. i. 13; Gal. iii. 27; cf. 2 Cor. i. 22.

1351 Cor. xi. 23.

1361 Cor. xi. 26.

1371 Cor. i. 17.

138Gal. i. 13.

139St. Matt. xxviii. 15.

140Gal. i. 15, 16.

141Acts xxviii. 24.

142Acts xxvi. 8.

143It must always be remembered that Mohammed learned the best of his morals and his theology from Jews or Christians.

144In answer to this theory of development or afterthought it may be said that all the early records, the writings of the Apostles and Evangelists, the writings of the Apostolic fathers, are clear about the Godhead of Christ. It was comparatively late that doubters arose, heretics like Cerinthus and Theodotus, and philosophic Christians like Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen, accepting the gospel indeed, but diluting it by their reasonings upon it.

145The arguments here considered are those propounded in Lecky's "History of European Morals."

146The terrible scenes just enacted, and even now enacting, in Paris, almost seem to contradict my words concerning mercy in war, words written and even printed before Paris was burned and wasted. But let us remember that eighty years ago France threw away its Christianity, and took Atheism for its creed; that in the last fifty years it has been slowly and painfully recovering its faith; that Paris has been the centre of the unbelief of Europe; that so, a large portion of its inhabitants have grown up utterly without religion; that, according to a friendly witness, "the people of Paris believe not in any God, nor in anyman;"147or, according to another statement, "the Communists acknowledge no God, no man, no faith, no hope, nothing but better wages and morepleasure;"148that the chief perpetrators of the horrors of the past week not only abhorred Christianity, but murdered priests, only because they were ministers of Christ, and proclaimed Atheism and Materialism to be the very basis of their theory, both in politics and in life. There is nothing to surprise us when we find that those who deliberately cast off religion and humanity, faith in God, and faith in man, fall lower than those who are simply ignorant of the true principles of either. Atheists in the midst of faith are very likely to be much worse than heathens.

147Fortnightly Review, quoted inTimes, May 31, 1871.

148Times, May 31, 1871.

149Maclear's "History of the Christian Missions in the Middle Ages," p. 417. Macmillan, 1863.

150"Ecce Homo," p. 71. Second edition, 1866.

151Platon. Symposium. Steph. iii., 220.

152Midway stands Anselm, the father of modern metaphysics, with the scientific demonstration of the two fundamental truths of all religion, the existence of God and the Incarnation.

153Pascal, "Fragmens d'une Apologie du Christianisme," in the 2nd vol. of "Pensées du Blaise Pascal." Paris, 1814.

154Luthardt (Apologetische Vorträge, in two parts), presents in a form peculiarly adapted for general readers, a very complete survey both of the internal and external evidences. Steinmeyer, Apologetische Vorträge, in three parts, discusses the historical evidence for the miracles, the death and the resurrection of our Lord, with special reference to the latest criticisms. Delitzsch's System der Christlichen Apologetik is of a more exclusively philosophical and dogmatic character. It has been reviewed in the Studien u. Kritiken, by Dr. Sack, of Bonn, whose own work, Christliche Apologetik, 1841, is one of the best on the whole subject of evidences.

155It is well known that both Jews and Gentiles admitted that the works were wrought, though they denied that the power came from God. Superstition, then as ever, opposed the faith of which it is the counterfeit.

156The most interesting and accessible accounts of this man are given by M. Barthélemi S. Hilaire, "Le Bonddha et sa Religion;" and by M. Ampère, in "La Science et les Lettres en Orient." Siddartha lived about the end of the seventh century,B.C.The name "Sakya Monni" is an appellative, meaning the monk or hermit of the Sakyas, the royal race to which he belonged. The true end of all philosophy and religion in his system is to enter into Nirvana,i.e.(according to M. Eugène Burnouf, the highest authority on this subject), the complete annihilation, not only of the material elements of existence, but also, and more specially, of the thinking principle. In this view the majority of Oriental scholars agree; the few who differ, as Colebrook does, identify Nirvana with an endless and dreamless sleep. See M. S. Hilaire, l.c., p. 133. M. Ampère (p. 215) thus characterizes the system, "La fin suprème de l'homme â été de perdre le sentiment de son moi, de renoncer à sa liberté, de s'élever au dessus des affections les plus pures, d'arriver à un état, où il ne restât plus que levide."

157The four books of Khung-fu-tseu were written in the second half of the sixth century,B.C.They contain the religions and philosophy of China in a dogmatic form. The second book, called "Tchung yung," represents most fully his moral code, of which the principle is obedience to natural reason, and the rule is observance of thevia media, with due regard to times and circumstances. In one passage, ccxi., iv., Confucius says a man of strong virtue goes beyond thisvia mediawhich prescribes indifference and exact conformity to natural law. For a just appreciation of the Confucian system, the reader may consult M. Ampère, "La Science et les Lettres en Orient," p. 98 ff.

158For a very remarkable echo of this passage, showing the depth and permanence of such feelings, see the words of Mr. Hutton, quoted further on.

159Dante, Inferno, c. iv.

160Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians, accepted by all the Tübingen School. (See Mr. Leathes' lecture.)

161In addition to the well-known work of Tischendorf, and German, French, and English commentaries, attention may be called to a valuable treatise by P. H. de Groot, of Groningen, "Basilides als erster Zeuge des Johannesevangeliums." Leipzig, 1868. The internal evidence has already been discussed by Dr. Lightfoot, who promises a complete treatise on the subject, with which no one can deal more effectively. Some good points are made by Mr. Hutton in Essays, vol. i.

162Essays Theological and Literary, by R. H. Hutton; vol. i., p. 282.

163Notice the faint condemnation, if it be a condemnation at all, of the peculiar shame of Athens, as "greatly at variance with modern and Christiannotions, but in accordance with Hellenic sentiment" (vol. i., p. 482, and compare p. 555).

164See the preface to the Republic, in vol. ii. Compare also the words of Socrates on his trial (p. 40 in the Greek, vol. i., p. 354, Jowett); they probably represent his views more truly than the brilliant speculations in the Phædo. One alternative which he seems disposed to accept, viz., that death may be "a sleep like the sleep of him who is undisturbed by dreams," resembles very nearly the Nirvana of Buddhism.

165Ritschl shows very conclusively that the Essenian principle was even more exclusive than the Rabbinical, and more antagonistic in principle to Christianity. See Altkatholische Kirche, pp. 179–203.

166Within the few last months, Steinmeyer has published a treatise on the history of the resurrection, with reference to the latest criticisms, which I would commend to readers of German. Serious attempts have been made in England to disjoin this cardinal truth from the doctrinal system of St. Paul, attempts which seem passing strange on the part of critics who accept him as a thoroughly truthful man, nay, as an inspired apostle, and who must know that he makes the resurrection the very centre or foundation of his teaching. Even Hegel, the very Corypheus of idealism, declares "Die Auferstehung gehört wesentlich dem Glauben an;"i.e., the resurrection belongs essentially to the faith. See "Die Philosophie der Religion," p. 300. In a note on the same page, Hegel shows that he takes it as a real objective event: "wie alles Bisherige in der Weise der Wirklichkeit für das unmittelbare Bewusstsein zur Erscheinung gekommen, so auch diese Erhebung."

167Christian Dogmatics, § 63. (Clark.)

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