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att& «toa!U& bti Dtesusi Christ

EIGHT LECTURES
DELIVEEED BEFORE
THE UNIVEESITY OF OXFOED,
IJST THE YEAR 1881,
ON THE FOUNDATION OF
JOHN BAMPTON, M.A.
CANON OP SALISBURY.

BY

JOHN WORDSWORTH, M.A.
TUTOR OF BRASENOSE COLLEGE ;
PREBENDARY OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. MARY OF LINCOLK,
AND EXAMINING CHAPLAIN TO THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN.

$kto ffcrk:
E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY,
713, BEOADWAY.

0 God, who hast made of one blood all nations of men for to
dwell on all the face of the earth, and didst send Thy blessed Son
to preach peace to them that are far off and to them that are nigh ;
grant that all Thy people everywhere may seek after Thee and find
Thee ; and hasten, 0 Lord, the fulfilment of Thy promise to pour
out Thy Spirit upon all flesh: through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen. *
* A prayer of Bishop Cotton's, slightly altered by substituting the words
in italics for all the people of India.

TO THE MEMORY OF
MY FRIEND AND TEACHER,
JAMES BOWLING MOZLEY,
WHO HAS BEEN CONSTANTLY IN MY THOUGHTS
IN WRITING THESE LECTURES,
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK.

0 God, who hast made of one blood all nations of men for to
dwell on all the face of the earth, and didst send Thy blessed Son
to preach peace to them that are far off and to them that are nigh ;
grant that all Thy people everywhere may seek after Thee and find
Thee ; and hasten, 0 Lord, the fulfilment of Thy promise to pour
out Thy Spirit upon all flesh: through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen. *
* A prayer of Bishop Cotton's, slightly altered by substituting the words
in italics for all the people of India.

EXTRACT
FROM THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
OP THE LATE
EEV. JOHN BAMPTON,
CANON OF SALISBURY.
 " I give and bequeath my Lands and Estates to the
" Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of
" Oxford for ever, to have and to hold all and singular the
" said Lands or Estates upon trust, and to the intents and
" purposes hereinafter mentioned ; that is to say, I will and
" appoint that the Yice-Chancellor of the University of
" Oxford for the time being shall take and receive all the
" rents, issues, and profits thereof, and (after all taxes,
" reparations, and necessary deductions made) that he pay
" all the remainder to the endowment of eight Divinity
" Lecture Sermons, to be established for ever in the said
" University, and to be performed in the manner following :
" I direct and appoint, that, upon the first Tuesday in
" Easter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by the Heads
" of Colleges only, and by no others, in the room adjoining
" to the Printing-House, between the hours of ten in the
" morning and two in the afternoon, to preach eight Di-
" vinity Lecture Sermons, the year following, at S. Mary's
" in Oxford, between the commencement of the last month
" in Lent Term, and the end of the third week in Act
" Term. " Also I direct and appoint, that the eight Divinity
" Lecture Sermons shall be preached on either of the follow-
" ing Subjects — to confirm and establish the Christian Faith,
" and to confute all heretics and schismatics — upon the

vi Extract from Canon Bampton's Will.
" divine authority of the holy Scriptures — upon the autho-
" rity of the writings of the primitive Fathers, as to the
" faith and practice of the primitive Church — upon the
" Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ — upon
" the Divinity of the Holy Ghost — upon the Articles of the
" Christian Faith, as comprehended in the Apostles' and
" Nicene Creeds.
" Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight Divinity
" Lecture Sermons shall be always printed, within two
" months after they are preached ; and one copy shall be
" given to the Chancellor of the University, and one copy
" to the Head of every College, and one copy to the Mayor
" of the city of Oxford, and one copy to be put into the
" Bodleian Library ; and the expense of printing them
" shall be paid out of the revenue of the Land or Estates
" given for establishing the Divinity Lecture Sermons ;
" and the Preacher shall not be paid, nor be entitled to
" the revenue, before they are printed.
" Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be quali-
" fied to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons, unless be
" hath taken the degree of Master of Art3 at least, in
" one of the two Universities of Oxford or Cambridge;
" and that the same person shall never preach the Divinity
" Lecture Sermons twice."

Vll

PREFACE.

fPHE following Lectures are a contribution to
the comparative study of religion from a
Christian point of view. It is a subject that
has been ably treated by Mr. E. D. Maurice a,
Archdeacon Hardwick, and others. But it has
long been evident that some fresh discussion of
it was needed, owing to the new light which has
fallen upon it from so many quarters ; and Chris
tians have of late been constantly reminded of
the misconceptions to which a partial study of
the history of religion is liable.
I had for some time, like others, been con
scious of the want, bat it was not till a few years
ago that I felt myself called upon to do the little
that I could to supply it. "When I was appointed
by Dr. Mozley to lecture for him to candidates
for ordination in the year 1877, I was anxious
to give a systematic and somewhat extended
course of theology. The necessary prolegomena
to such a scheme seemed to be twofold: first,
a series of Lectures on the Evidences for the
a In his Boyle Lectures on the Religions of the World,
and their Relations to Christianity, first published in 1846.

viii PEEP ACE.
Being and Nature of God and the Euture Life
of Man (delivered in Michaelmas Term, 1877) ;
and, secondly, a course which covered much the
same ground as the present volume. Dr. Mozley's
lamented death in January, 1878, cut short my
plan at this point ; but those who attended the
course delivered in the Latin Chapel at Christ
Church, in Lent Term, 1878, if any of them
should see this book, will recognize a good deal
of the same material, as well as a general simi
larity in the argument. That course has, in
fact, been the basis of the present Lectures ;
but they have, I need hardly say, been wholly
re-written, so that both in style and substance
they are practically new.
My readers will, I hope, excuse this expla
nation, which it seemed a duty to make. I
have written this book especially for candidates
for ordination, and for those recently ordained,
some of whom it may help to realize not only
that their message is superior to that of other
religious teachers, but how and why it is unique
and universal. I offer it also more particularly
to those who have an interest or a share in
foreign missions, from association with whom
I have derived constant help and encouragement,
for which I should wish in some degree to make
a return. It is not too much to say, that without
the Oxford Missionary Association of Graduates,

PREFACE. IX
of which Dr. Mozley was the first President b,
and without the free use of its library and the
stimulus of the frequent intercourse with foreign
missionaries, of which it has been the centre, this
book would never have been written. I should
wish, at any rate, to take this opportunity of
thanking most warmly those who have spoken
to us there with great frankness and wisdom
of their difficulties as well as their encourage
ments, and who have filled us with a sense
of the unity of all Christian work throughout
the world.
The book may, I trust, be useful to some
who have not access to libraries, though it is
far from resting on so broad a basis of study
as I could wish. My obligations to many pre
vious writers will, I hope, be pretty evident from
the notes and index. If any of them, or of
other workers in the same field, at home or
abroad, will favour me with corrections or fresh
illustrations, I shall be most grateful. Dr. Oscar
Erankfurter, who is already favourably known
in England as an independent Pali scholar, has
been good enough to supplement my imperfect
b Among the first promoters of the association, which
was founded in the year 1874, were the late Mr. E. C.
Woollcombe, of Balliol College, — whose Christian example
was a blessing to all who knew him, — and the present
x5isbops of Bombay and Colombo. The latter was, I be
lieve, the first who actually suggested such an association.

X PEEP ACE.
knowledge of Buddhism with a sketch of its
tenets as they appear in the Pi^akas, which
seems to me as fair and accurate an account
of this great system, in its original conception,
as it was possible to write in so small a com
pass °. The short paper On the Notion of Con
science among the Zulus, with which Bishop
Callaway has favoured me, will also be read
with great interest d. My obligations to pri
vate friends are numerous, and not least to
those whose help has been given almost un
consciously in the unreserve of conversation,
and to those whose intimate relation to myself
seems to make a formal and public acknowledg
ment less appropriate. I am, however, parti
cularly obliged to two friends, Dr. Liddon and
Mr.Wace, who have helped me in the correction
of the proof-sheets, the former in part, and the
latter throughout. This would at any time have
been of the greatest value in attaining clearness
of thought and precision of style, but it has
been an especial benefit to me owing to the
circumstances which impeded the delivery of
the Lectures, and delayed their passage through
the press. A severe accident which happened
to me in the Easter vacation, followed by a pro
tracted illness, interrupted the course after three
c See below, Appendix I., pp. 337 foil.
d Appendix IL, p. 354.

PEEPACE. XI

only had been given. The series was continued
for me, as far as it was complete, during the
Summer Term, by the great kindness of the
Warden of Keble College, who delivered Lec
tures IV., Y., VI., in my place in the University
Pulpit, besides giving me advice on many small
points. The last two were unavoidably post
poned, but by the goodness of the Vice-Chan
cellor and Mr. "Wace (who yielded me a turn
which fell to him as Select Preacher), were
delivered informally in the present Michaelmas
Term. It is, therefore, with deep thankfulness to
God, the giver of life and strength and love,
that I send this book into the world, though
not without a natural regret. This year, 1881,
will long be remembered in Oxford as a year
of changes and losses, and there are eyes which
would have looked upon these pages with af
fectionate interest which are now closed on
earth. We that remain, by God's mercy, must
strive more earnestly to do the daily tasks to
which He calls us.
1 Keble Terrace, Oxford,
Nov. 7, 1881.

xin

NOTE ON THE TRANSLITERATION
OF ORIENTAL WORDS.

TN transliterating oriental words, I have generally
adopted the missionary alphabet introduced by
Prof. F. Max Miiller into his collection of Sacred
Books of the Hast, chiefly because I had occasion
to quote from it frequently. It has the two ad
vantages of being printed with ordinary type, with
few dots or diacritical marks, and of being based
on a principle of phonetics. English readers have
to remember that italic k stands for ch, and g
for j, and that s is to be pronounced like s in
sure. Most of us will be sorry to part with ch
(or c) and j, but if custom at length decrees that
we shall do so, the sounds of k and g will be easily
learnt. I need hardly say that the accented vowels
are to be pronounced long, with the Italian or Ger
man, not the English, sounds, and that whether we
write a, a or a is absolutely indifferent. It is also
to be remarked that short a is very short in Sanskrit,
more like English ii. I am afraid that I have been
careless from time to time, especially in translite
rating common words (as Asoka for Asoka, Vishnu
for Vishrau, Pitaka for Pi&ika, &c), and have used
different accents rather loosely. I hope the reader
will forgive this fault, and not be much the worse.
I append a copy of the missionary alphabet, as

xiv On the Transliteration of Oriental Words.

applied to Sanskrit, in tbe dictionary order of the
letters. Cp. Sacred Books, vol. i. p. Iv. Other lan
guages, such as Zend, Hebrew, Arabic, and Chinese,
require of course some additional symbols. Strictly
speaking, according to the rules of this alphabet,
the vowels e, ai, o, au, ought to have accents, e,
ai, 6, au, but they are omitted in practice.
Vowels — a, a,"

1, i

u, uJ

e, ai.
o, au.

Gutturals .
Palatals .
Cerebrals .
Dentals .
Labials Semivowels
Sibilants .
Aspirate .
Anusvara .

n, ri.
II, IL
• k, kh, g, gh, n.
• K tih, g, gh, ii.
. t, th, d, dh, n.
. t, th, d, dh, n.
. p, ph, b, bh, m.
¦ y, r, b v.
. s, sh, s.
. h.
m. Visarga . . h.

(Slight nasal.) (Slight sibilant.)

I add here a few Corrigenda.
On p. 27, the line of Terence should be printed according to
Pleckeisen's text, Heauton Timor umenos, 25, —
" Homo sum : humani nil a me alienum puto."
Oa p. 57, note 21, for The Religions of China read Religion in
China, the title of Dr. Edkins' hook.
On p. 96, last line, Eagnarok should rather be rendered " doom
of the gods," or " world-judgment." The last part of the word
has nothing to do with " twilight," as used to be supposed, but
means judgment. See Dr. Vigfusson's Lexicon, pp. 488 and 507.
On p. 165 read, " Chiron willingly giving up his immortality
to free Prometheus from the Scythian rock of torture."
On p. 1 73, note 72, for Scotland read Shetland.

XV

CONTENTS.

LECTURE I.
Tnteodttction. Present Peeplexities. The Unity op Eeligion.
The present unsettlement in Eeligion, p. 1. — Its relation to the
movement of civilization, 3.— Sense of injustice often felt in
a time of transition. — Book of Job, 5. — Christ, however, con
nects unbelief and sin, 6. — Moral causes of unbelief, 8, (1) Pre
judice, 9, (2) Severe claims of religion, 12, (3) Intellectual faults,
esp. Indolence, coldness, recklessness, pride and avarice, 14. —
General position of the believer.- — Paith belongs to a state of
probation, 24.
The present Lectures a contribution to internal evidence, 25. —
The call upon us to consider the unity of our race and of re
ligion, 27. — "Wonderful advance in knowledge of human nature,
28.' — Method of these Lectures. — Superiority of the Biblical idea
of God (Lect. II.).— God a God of Truth (Lect. III., IV.),
Holiness (V., VI.), and Peace (VII., VIII.), and as such sought
by the nations (III., V., VII.), but only found in Christ (IV.,
VI., VIII.), 31.
LECTURE II.
Biblical Theism conteasted with othee Conceptions of the
Nature of God.
The Unity of God witnessed by instinct and reason, but only ex
plicitly and publicly taught by those who acknowledge the
Bible, p. 33. — God revealed to Moses as both Infinite and Per
sonal, 38. — "Why this unity of attributes is credible, 40. — De
partures from this belief on either side, 42.
Pantheism a one-sided exaggeration of His Infinity, 43. — Its
danger, 47. — Dualism a step nearer the truth, 49. — Sabellian
and Eutychian types of heresy, 51.
Anthropomorphic Deism the antithesis to Pantheism, 55. — Exag
geration of God's personality and of Man's independence. — State
religion of China, 57. — Deistic tendencies in Graeco-Eoman phi
losophy, and in Judaism, 60. — In later times, outside and in-

XVI CONTENTS.
side the Church. — Islam, 63. — Pelagian and Nestorian here
sies, and similar movements, 63. — Tubingen School, 65. — Con
clusion, 66.
Table shewing the chief contrasted types of heresy and false doc
trine, 68.
LECTURE III.
The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth, and the Confes
sion of Human Incapacity of attaining to it.
Innate Passion for Truth, p. 69. — Non-Christian religious systems
to be approached with sympathy and reverence, 73. (1.) God
speaking in the voices of nature, 74. — Thunder, 74. — Wind. —
The Sea, &c, 75. — Light, 76. — Profound character of Vedic
Gods, 77. — Apollo and Delphi, 78. — Socrates, 81. (2.) God
revealed in human forms, 83. — Heroes. — Kingly Incarnations.—
Greece. — Mexico, 83. — Scandinavia. — Egypt, 84. — China. —
Eome, 85. — Avatars, 86. — Krishna. — Buddha, 87. (3.) Sacred
books, 92 : Avesta. — Vedas, 94. — High idea of Inspiration, 95.
Shortcomings of these revelations confessed by the heathen them
selves, 96: Plato, 97. — Cicero, 100. — Seneca. — Porphyry, 101.
— The poets, 103. — God, who gave much, withheld His best gift
of rest, 105.
LECTURE IV.
The Cheistian Eevelation considered as Teuth both Ideax
and Practical.
"The world by (its) wisdom knew not God," p. 107. — Eevelation
the just harmony of the spiritual and external, 109.
Ideal Truth (1) Comprehensive, 110: the One and the Many, 112.
— The Trinity. — Union of the Finite and Infinite in the In
carnation and Atonement, 112. — Christian doctrine of Human
Nature: its fearlessness, 113. — (2) Mysterious: Mysteries in
nature and thought, lead us to accept those of Christian doc
trine, 115. — (3) Inexhaustible : The Bible compared with other
religious books, 118.
Practical Truth (1) Authoritative, 122 : Our Saviour's claims com
pared with those of Buddha and Mahomet, 123. — The Prophets.
— Miracles, 126. — Instinct for authority in human nature: how
it avenges itself if suppressed, 127. — Justin Martyr: freedom
in submission to the Truth, 130.— (2) Definite and intelligible:
Doctrine of the Trinity compared with other religious formulas,

CONTENTS. XVII
132. — (3) Permanent and concrete: combination of flexibility
with firmness, 133. — Contrast with other religions, 134. — Union
of Fact and Symbol the type of truth, 136. — Biblical history,
137. — St. Paul and St. Ignatius, 139. — Modern Gnosticism, 140.
Additional note to p. 121, 141 ; to p. 125, 142.
LECTURE V.
The Natural Sense of Separation feom God, and of the
Need of Atonement.
The altar to the unknown God a true type of heathen worship,
p. 143.
1. The separation from Ood considered as connected with Sin and
Death : Myths of a golden age, and contrast with later times,
146. — Departure of the gods, 148. — Popular sense of the misery
of man, 148. — Sense of sin, especially in classical writers, 149.
— Sin a breaking away from God, and leading to death, 153. —
Sense of the impurity of death, and of murder, 154.
2. Attempts at atonement, especially confession of sin and sacri
fice, 156. — Confession implied in approach to a priest, 157. —
In Assyria, Persia, Mexico, 157. — Extraordinary mixture of
ideas in the latter, 159. — Sacrifice for sin: ideas implied in it,
(1) the most precious thing, (2) a substitution for ourselves,
162. — Bloody sacrifice, why chosen, 162. — Willingness to die,
&c, 164. — Climax in human sacrifice : union of best and worst
in it, 165. — Eeaction against it almost universal, 169. — Mystical
theories of sacrifice, miraculous power especially of austerities,
and attribution of it to God, 170. — In India and Odin's Eune-
Song, 171. — Mexican sacrifices, 174. — Osiris, Adonis, &c, 174.
— Not merely pantheistic, but allied to a first principle of Chris
tian theology, 175.
3. Failure of these attempts : acknowledged by the best minds of
antiquity, 177. — Difficulty of the forgiveness of sin insoluble
to the natural conscience, 178.
LECTURE VI.
The Incaenation and Atonement a Eevelation of Holiness,
woethy of God, and meet for the Needs of Man.
Isaiah's prophecy : God leading man along the way of Holiness,
p. 181.
Conflict between Hope and Reason, 183. — (1) Grandeur and breadth
b

XV1U CONTENTS,

of the Doctrine, worthy of God who reveals it, 186. — Majestic
power of the Creed, 187. — Objections on the side of Love and
of Justice. — Other ways of reconciliation suggested, 189. — (2)
The Atonement and God's Love, 191. — Inadequate idea of Love
ia objectors to the Atonement. — Its fiery quality, 192. — "Work
of sin in the world, 193. — Not to he lightly dealt with, 194. —
(3) The Atonement and God's Justice, 197. — The innocent suf
fering for the guilty, 197. — Principle of Mediation, 199. — "Will
ing Sacrifice, 199. — Mystical appropriation of it, 199.
Practical value of the doctrine (1) Revelation of the guilt and danger
of Sin, 200. — Necessity of this thought, 201. — Horror of separa
tion from God, 202. — (2) Christ the representative of the race,
203. — Idea of Representation, 205. — Messianic prophecy, 207.
— Fragments of the Idea in heathenism, 208. — Their inade
quacy, 210.. — Holiness and Humility overlooked, 211. — Testi
monies of non-Christian teachers to Christ, 212. — Union of Chris
tians with His work, 215. — (3) Direct moral example of the
Eedeemer ; its value to individuals, 215.
LECTURE VII.
The Natural Desire for Peace, and the Inadequacy
of Human Efforts to attain it.
I. Social tendency of mankind, p. 218. — The family the basis of
society, 219. — Obligations to (1) the ideal of paternal govern
ment, 220. — High conception of kingship, 221. — Chinese book
of history, 222.— The " Great Plan," 224.— (2) The assertion
of individual liberty, 226.— Socrates, &c, 227.— (3) The sense
of social duty, 227.— Plato's Republic— Education of children,
228. — Higher position of women, 228.
Nevertheless, the State cannot make men really happy, 230. 
Impossibility even of preventing war, 231. — Limit to the power
of rewarding virtue, 232.— The wants of the soul untouched,
233.
II. Natural alliance between EeKgion and Politics, 234.  Three
theories of their relation, (1) Popular Religion treated as a pre
servative of Order apart from Truth, 237.— Ancient philoso
phers, 238. — Polybius on Roman Religion, 238. — Euhemerism.
— Varro, 240.— Italian tendency to subordinate Truth to Expe
diency, 241.— (2) Religious Reformation imposed upon all citi
zens, 241.— Plato's Laws, book x. : his Religious Discipline,
242.— Mahomet, 244.— Formal character of Islam, 245.— De- '

CONTENTS.

fective theology and morality. — "Want of Love, 246. — Character
of Mahomet, 247.— His lapse, 249. — Why not a "true pro
phet," 250. — How;far sincere, 252. — Islam, 1. has steieotyped
a low form of social life, 254 ; 2. has opposed religious and in
tellectual liberty, 256; 3. is a barrier to the Gospel, 257.—
(3) Religion a voluntary society, not necessarily co-extensive
with the State, 259. — Polynesian Areoi, 260. — Pythagorean
clubs. — The Mysteries, 261. — Private guilds, 263. — Buddhism,
265. — Reasons for its success, 266. — Assertion of free-will and
the moral Law, 267. — Not really a religion, 267. — Selfishness
and apathy, 273 —Failure, 275.

LECTURE VIII.
The Peace of the Church as worthy of God who gives it
and as satisfying the needs of man.
Recapitulation, p. 278. — I. Notes of the Church as representing the
Divine Nature; (1) Unity, (2) Holiness, (3) Catholicity, 279.
(1.) Unity, its double sense, singleness and concord, 280. — Other
systems based on human concord. — The Church rests on the
Unity of the Blessed Trinity, 281. — Difficulty of present dis
union. — Reference to the invisible Church not a sufficient reply,
282. — Answer, 1. the early Church was visibly one, 283. —
Tubingen theory not borne out by facts, 284. — 2. Unity, on
points of faith still very profound. — The schismatic temper,
a sort of check on heresy, 285. — 3. Prospects of future unity,
much advanced by the loss of secular power, 287. — A new period
of history began in 1870, 288. — Position of the Church of Rome.
— Of our own Church. — The Royal Supremacy, 289. — Future
conflict on fundamental truths, 290. — Possible mediation by
Church of England, 291.
(2.) Soilness, not self-culture or outward law, but the assimilation
of divine life, 292. — Coincidence of obedience and freedom in
Christ, 293. — Approach to it in Christians, especially near
death, 294. — Gradual sanctification of nations. — Christianity
and national character, 296. — Christian legislation. — Constan-
tine, 297. — Self-corrective power. — Repentance for negro sla
very, 298. — Other social reforms, 299.
(3.) Catholicity, an image of God's omnipotence and omnipresence,
300. — Definition of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, 301. — Slowness of
the work. — 1. Influence of the Church on action in social and

XX CONTENTS.
civil life, 302. — 2. Influence on thought in doctrine of the Logos,
305. — Necessary overthrow of Scholasticism, 306. — Successive
tendencies to Deism, Pantheism, and Positivism, 306. — Present
demand for a Christian philosophy, 309. — 3. Education oi feeling.
— Art and literature, 310. — Call to repentance : work of religious
orders, 312. — Place of the charismata, 314.
II. The Church as satisfying Human wants, 314. — Contrast of the
Jewish Ark and heathen mysteries, 315. — Dionysiac enthu
siasm, 316.
(1.) Doctrine. — Faith and scepticism, 318. — Theology recognizes
all classes of fact, 320. — Peace given to the Intellect, 321.
(2.) Sacraments. — Analogies in heathenism, 322. — Christian Sacra
ments " an extension of the Incarnation," 324. — Practical value,
325. — St. Cyprian on Baptism, 326. — The Eucharist, 327. —
Other sacramental rites, 328.
(3.) Discipline. — Apostolicity. — The Gospels " the Institution of
a Christian Ministry," 329. — Realization of Christ's presence,
331. — Practical influence, 333. — Conclusion, 835.
Additional note to p. 320, 336.
APPENDIX I.— On Buddhism, by Dr. Oscar Frankfurter 337
APPENDIX II. — On the Notion of Conscience among the
Zulus, by Bp. Callaway, of St. John's, Kaffraria . . 354
APPENDIX III —The Purusha-Sukta, from Dr. J. Mute's
Sanskrit Texts  356
INDEX  359

LECTURE I.

PSALM lxxxvi. 9.
All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship
before Thee, 0 Lord; and shall glorify Thy Name.

INTRODUCTION. PRESENT PERPLEXITIES. THE
UNITY OP RELIGION.
The present unsettlement in Eeligion. — Its relation to the move
ment of civilization. — Sense of injustice often felt in a time of
transition. — Book of Job. — Christ, however, connects unbelief
and sin. — Moral causes of unbelief, (1) Prejudice, (2) Severe
claims of religion, (3) Intellectual faults, esp. Indolence, cold
ness, recklessness, pride and avarice. — General position of the
believer. — Faith belongs to a state of probation. — The present
Lectures a contribution to internal evidence. — The call upon us
to consider the unity of our race and of religion. — "Wonderful
advance in knowledge of human nature. — Method of these Lec
tures. — Superiority of the Biblical idea of God (Lect. II.). — God
a God of Truth (Lect. III., IV.), Holiness (V., VI.), and Peace
(VII., VIII.), and as such sought by the nations (III., V.,
VII.), but only found in Christ (IV., VI., VIII.)
TF ever we attempt to forecast in detail the future
of our race, or of any important section or society
within it, we find ourselves very soon in a state of
uncertainty and confusion. Darkness and light seem
to our imaginations to struggle without any definite
issue; broad and brilliant hopes clash with gloomy
prognostications ; and the only certainty which we
attain is that of our own inability to form a picture
of what will really happen.

2 Introduction. [Lect.
Such a feeling as this may well be specially strong
at present in the sphere of politics. Who, for in
stance, that has witnessed the wonderful changes of
the last thirty years, and has noticed what a number
of new or long-dormant and untried forces are stirring
within the world of nations, can doubt that by the
side of more joyous surprises even bitterer disap
pointments are in store for the generation that is
to come after us ?
But this feeling is in no degree confined to one
region only of the future. The changes which have
passed, and are passing, upon us in religious temper
and religious belief are no less striking, and are no
less unsettling to the minds of those who strive to
pierce the mystery of that which is to come. A pain
ful feeling of uncertainty and unrest prevails on
many sides, and when it is found too irksome, is
often merely exchanged for a strange and criminal
indifference. Men are, no doubt, very prone to ex
aggerate the evils under which they live; and the
historical enquirer who looks beneath the surface
will frequently find, under the seeming solidity of
the so-called " ages of faith," a coarse infidelity or
a subtle scepticism, not unlike that of which he is
apt to complain as the peculiar disease of his own
time. But many witnesses concur to mark out the
present age as specially unsettled in religion, and
disinclined to look forward with confidence to the
fulfilment of such prophecies as that which I have
cited from the prayer of David.
There is much in this to create anxiety ; and we
naturally ask ourselves the cause, in order that we

I.] Character of a period of transition. 3
may provide a remedy that will attack the sickness
at its root. In such an enquiry we shall perhaps
meet with more matter to reassure and console us,
than we at first expect. The present age, like
many that have gone before it, is a time of tran
sition. We are in many respects passing through
a period like that which separates boyhood from
manhood. We are exchanging an intuitive instinct
and an unquestioning obedience to authority, for
a conviction which is the result of reason, and a sub
mission which is based upon experience.
This is part of the great civilizing movement in
which, under all perversions and distortions, we
clearly recognize the hand of God. It were at once
profane and foolish to separate this movement from
Him, and to ascribe it to man's unassisted energy.
No : it is essentially His work, and is designed to
raise the general tone and temper of nations, as that
of single men is raised by education and experience
af life. Without civilization, there can be no as
sured level of morality. An isolated act of heroism
n a barbarous age may be as lofty as any that we
low admire, but the general level is incomparably
.ower. AEoman "imperator" may sometimes rise to
the ideal dignity of the " happy warrior," but at
)ther moments he falls to the standard of an ordi-
lary brigand. The civilizing process is intended,
ioubtless, to render such a lapse impossible. We
nust not, then, quarrel with civilization if there
ollow with it certain mental and moral changes,
vhich at first cause us trouble. For it seems a ne-
sessary result of such advances, that some special
b2

4 Introduction. [Lect.
individual powers should fall into the background,
and be exchanged for others. Just as the savage,
when raised a few steps above wildness, loses his
hunter's instincts and his power of finding his way
through tangled forests and over unknown seas, so
in more progressive societies the feeling of mental
security and prophetic certainty is apt to vanish.
But just as a road and a chart and compass are bet
ter guides than the instincts of a savage, so rea
son and experience are more solid supports than
mere intuitive certainty and mechanical obedience
to law; for when thoroughly established, their ac
tion is at once more general and more unfailing.
The period of transition is, however, dangerous
and critical, as we see too plainly all around us.
Sin lies ever at the door to catch men off their guard.
Many lives designed by God to do His work, and
endowed with the fairest treasures for its perform
ance, seem to be thrown away, and eome almost to
nothing. Men, solemnly dedicated to God, relin
quish the task to which they have put their hands,
or commit moral suicide by submission to ultramon
tane tyranny, and call it an act of faith to give up
faith. Now, as ever, mankind are prone to rebel
against the Providence of God under which they live.
In their self-will, they prescribe the terms upon
which they will believe, and the conditions which
must be fulfilled to secure their obedience. They
affirm, almost in so many words, " We will be forced
into belief, or we will not believe at all." They
call upon God to be a despot ; they clamour against
Him because He is not a tyrant.

I.] Sense of injustice to be treated with sympathy. 5
There is, indeed, a sort of childish petulance and
passion in many of these complaints, but the issues
involved in them are so solemn, that it is sinful to
treat them lightly. At the bottom of our hearts we
may think, with Bp. Berkeley, that it is as unreason
able for such men to complain of the defect of evidence
for revelation, as it would be for a man to deny the
brightness of the sun because it only shone upon the
surface of things, and sometimes seemed to shine
dimly or not. at all1. But we know that there is
much sincere perplexity even under a certain impa
tience and vehemence of manner, and that from the
time of Job a sense of revolt against the dispensations
of God has been felt in certain moments by many
a true heart that loved righteousness. And here it
may be remarked, in passing, that the fact that this
feeling has been admitted, as it were, into the centre
and core of Holy Scripture, and has there received full
justice, is no slight evidence that the Bible is inspired
to be the manual of religious truth for all the world.
Men are thereby taught that a sense of injustice is
a trial which they will have to meet and conquer;
that to feel it is no proof that God has deserted them,
or that they are unfit to serve Him. Nay, to use
the old illustration, by which the Abp. of Paris com
forted the sceptical master of theology in the days
of St. Louis of France 2, the king is more pleased
With him that keeps a frontier castle, assaulted and
beleaguered by the enemy, than with him who merely
rules a fortress in the midst of the settled land of
1 Berkeley's Alciphron, Dial. vi. § 8. a Joinville, Saint
Louis, near the beginning.

6 Introduction. [Lect.
peace. And, consequently, those who do not suffer
from a sense of injustice and uncertainty, are warned
to be tender and compassionate to those who do so,
not judging harshly the irritability or weakness which
vexes them and stirs their indignation, but hoping
against hope that God will soften even the wayward
and the stubborn, and call them gently to work
again, even when they seem to have declined His
service. Nevertheless, our most merciful Saviour has so
definitely linked together the ideas of sin and un
belief, that we must in very justice to those around
us explain to them how and why they are so con
nected. In those hours when, with the shadow of
death upon Him, He opened His heart with such
loving unreserve to His disciples, Christ prophesied
that the first office of the coming Spirit of Truth
would be to establish this connection between sin
and unbelief : " When He is come, He will reprove
(or convict) the world of sin . . . because they be
lieve not on Me" (John xvi. 8, 9). Now, before
any of you shrink back from the supposed harshness
of these words of Christ, consider the value, the ad
mitted value, of the principle on which they rest ;
and consider also that its establishment is due to
Christianity. You will all agree that neglect of truth
that it is in your power to obtain is sinful, and sinful
in proportion to the value of the subject-matter. This
extension of the field of duty so as to include the
field of knowledge, is one of the triumphs of Chris
tian moral philosophy, to which modern scientific ad
vance owes more than it is likely to confess. Aris-

I.] Voluntary ignorance of truth is sinful. 7
totle said, "All men naturally desire to know;" our
Lord said, in fact, "It is the duty of all men to
know," and especially to know the highest of all
truths, that of religion. If it is culpable for a young
man to be ignorant of some book which he offers for
examination; if it is more sinful for us who teach
here to be ignorant of the subjects which we profess ;
if it is wrong to be ignorant of the laws of health;
and, worse still, to be ignorant of the moral laws
which bind man to man : how much more sinful than
all is it to be ignorant of our relations to God ! Sup
posing that truth respecting religion is within our
reach, and as long as the least hope of obtaining
it glimmers before us, we are committing a very
grievous sin indeed in resting contented in igno
rance. For by so doing we neglect the highest
perfection of which we are capable ; we distinctly
determine to be worse than we have the power of
being, less vigorous in our motives, less definite in
our hopes of the future, less noble in our aspirations
for ourselves and our fellow-men. For we determine
to know less and think less of God, from whom all
goodness flows, and in whom all hope of joy
centres. It is needless, I suppose, to urge this point further.
But here we are met by a difficulty, which presses,
as I am well aware, upon many people, especially in
societies where the respect for intellect is strong.
How is it, we are asked, that such-and-such intelli
gent and high-minded persons, who profess to give
themselves entirely to the search after Truth, whose
lives are one continual pursuit of Truth, — how is it
that they do not believe in Christ ? Can we be right

8 Introduction. [Lect.
and honest in thinking them sinners? Such men
seem to say, "We would willingly believe if we
could; we suffer pain from our unbelief, we feel
that it separates us from our friends, and renders our
lives less free and powerful, and in many ways di
minishes our usefulness and success; but it is the
very love of Truth which stops our believing."
This is a very serious difficulty, and when it is
raised in reference to individuals, I do not think
we can give a definite answer to it without pre
tending to an impossible insight into the secrets of
other hearts. Nevertheless, a quiet observation of
what goes on about us, and especially a study of the
undercurrents which influence our own conduct when
we are not thinking of public opinion, but acting as
inclination moves us, may suggest at least some rea
sonable explanation of the moral causes of unbelief.
I say the moral causes of unbelief, because I be
lieve these to be the true causes of permanent alien
ation. I am speaking not of those who really
fight with doubt, but of those who acquiesce in
unbelief. It is not so much an observation of the
uniformity of nature, or a belief in evolution, that
makes them first deny miracles, and then deny
God. It is the spirit with which they observe
this uniformity and this evolution. Christianity has
done as much as science, if not more, to enforce the
truths that God is a God of order, and that He makes
step follow step in delicate progression. But carry
ing with it a spirit of love and humility, it recognizes
in this order and progress a will to which they are
subject, and finds nothing strange, nothing disor
derly, in the clearer revelation of this will from time

I.] Moral causes of Unbelief. Prejudice. 9
to time in events which we call miraculous. To
the eye of faith, both nature and miracle are equally
natural and equally miraculous, being the expression
of the same divine love and power. But this is not
the case with those whose moral sense has been in
jured or darkened by shocks in the conflicts of the
world, or by selfishness and fear of the claims of re
ligion, or by narrow limitation of its field of view.
Let us, then, enumerate a few of the ordinary
causes which lead men first to doubt, and then to
deny, the truth of revelation.
1. In the first place, it is evident that belief is
much weakened by prejudice against the excesses
and errors, the vices and crimes, committed from
time to time in the name of religion. How often
do we hear Lucretius quoted, and not always with
out justice, to emphasise the greatness of the evil
to which superstitious zeal has carried even heroic
souls ! In some cases, e.g., it is notorious that in
fidelity is a reaction from an over-rigid or erroneous
presentation of the truth. A severe Calvinism, or
even a hard Anglicanism, has been thrown aside,
and with it Christianity itself has seemed to perish 3.
Sometimes the confusion between sins and legal of
fences, especially sins of unbelief, which was com
mon to the legislation of many countries, has grown
so intolerable to minds in love with freedom, that
3 The evidence of Mr. J. E. Symes, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and
Mr. Stewart D. Headlam, in their speeches on ' Secularism ' before
the Leicester Church Congress, Sept., 1880, is well worth con
sidering. They emphasise especially the hard views of some Chris
tians on Inspiration, the Atonement, and Future Punishment, as
leading the working-classes to reject belief. {Report, pp. 353, 650.)

10 Introduction. [Lect.
religion has been identified with a persecuting spirit,
and so cast aside as almost absolutely evil. It is
difficult to over-estimate the influence, let us say,
of the Spanish Inquisition and the Massacre of St.
Bartholomew, in turning men with loathing from
a profession of religion 4. When Voltaire calculated
that some ten millions of men had been slaughtered
under the pretext of the Christian religion, and said,
" Eeligion chretienne, voila tes effets ! " he was using
a very plausible, though a very irrational argument 5.
So again some of our own old penal laws, though
laws of State not specially loved or sanctioned by the
Church, have had in their own sphere a most disas
trous influence. Sometimes (though happily for Eng
land the danger is now rare among ourselves) reli
gion has been shunned as tainted with coarse impos
ture and brutal superstition ; sometimes it has been
degraded by the character of its ministers. An Alex
ander VI. and a Cardinal Dubois have done more
injury to the Church than Attila or Napoleon; and
even in more recent times worldly and selfish eccle
siastics, grasping for place and power, have thrown
suspicion upon the morality of their whole order.
One detected hypocrite may make a hundred infidels.
4 Eobert Browning has given a concentrated expression of this
feeling in his vivid ' dramatic lyric,' The Confessional [Spain],
(Poetical "Works, vol. iii. p. 98, Lond. 1870,) beginning, —
" It is a lie — their priests, their pope,
Their saints, their ... all they fear or hope
Are lies," &c.
6 Quoted by Luthardt, Fundamental Truths of Christianity,
Lect. ix. note 21, E. T. p. 419, 3rd ed., Edinb. 1873. Cp. on the
reply to such cavils, H. Wace, Bampton Lectures, pp. 25, 26.

L] Religious prejudice. Position of the clergy. 11
The supposed dulness and ignorance of the clergy
is another excuse sometimes urged for infidelity.
They are reproached for an unscientific habit of
mind, and for bringing everything round to prove
a foregone conclusion. There may at times be jus
tice in these aspersions, but a calm review of past
centuries will hardly bear out the conclusion that the
defenders of Christian truth have been inferior in abi
lity to those who attack it. If, however, the clergy are
somewhat slow to embrace new theories, and cling
with tenacity to the traditions they have received, is
not this far better in them than a rash love of change ?
If there is one thing you can say with certainty of
the books and theories of those whom it is the cus
tom to call "advanced" thinkers, it is that th j will
soon be superseded. As long as there is ai thing
to be learnt from the past ; as long as truth is la
boriously built up by the slow and settled results
of experience ; as long as history is the mistress of
life, and custom and positive law the guardians of
morality, so long will the best teachers of religion
be those who understand, sympathize with, and re
verence the past. No doubt a mere dead conserva
tism turns away the eager and the fervent from re
ligion ; but such will not be the temper of the English
clergy as long as they retain their connexion with
the Universities. To uphold this connexion is simple
common sense ; and they are no true friends of re
ligion who one moment declaim against the stupidity
of the clergy, and the next moment vote the abolition
of those endowments which secure them their present
measure of enlightenment. Drive them into semi-

12 Introduction. [Lect.
naries, and limit them to a mere professional learning,
and you increase tenfold the dangers of infidelity.
2. I have spoken of some common prejudipes which
foster unbelief. A second sort of difficulty is not to
be passed over, though it is not easy to speak of
it without offence. I mean a revolt from the se
vere claims of religion, and a secret inclination to
sin which dwells in many hearts. Such an expla
nation of unbelief is one from which charity and
courtesy alike would shrink, and it often seems ob
viously inapplicable ; but a serious testing of what
religion is, and of the very heavy strain which it
puts upon the believer, must convince us that this
difficulty is no imaginary one.
For experience shews us that no amount of in
tellect, or high culture, or noble ambition, can save
a man from grave moral faults; and that even ap
parently sincere conviction sometimes breaks down,
in cases of men who seem entirely raised above temp
tation. No one, I believe, can really know his own
heart, without knowing also that he is by nature ca
pable of almost any sin, and that there is within him
a constant pressure, sometimes gentle, sometimes ve
hement, tending to make light of the responsibility
for sin, and to weaken belief in the justice and love
of God. This pressure, if once we yield to it, tends
directly to unbelief in revelation ; for the morbid
conscience longs above all things to slumber, and
in the full brightness of revelation it cannot rest.
If we are once convinced that God has spoken, all
hope of peaceful repose in sin is lost ; and therefore
he whose heart inclines to sin, instinctively veils him-

I.] Secret inclination to sin. 13
self from the knowledge of revelation, just as the
sick man tosses uneasily until the stream of sunlight
is curtained from his pillow.
This is the interior state ; outside, for a time, there
is perhaps no apparent change. The force of sinful
inclination appears to have spent itself in producing
unbelief. The force of habit still remains to bal
ance it. An equilibrium seems to be produced in the
man, and no striking and glaring evil marks the mo
ment of lapse into infidelity. It seems almost as
if the state of unbelief were not such a bad one after
all, and death may intervene before the strife of
powers has been decided within the soul. But often,
even to our eyes, there comes a sudden collapse, and
the apparent peace which preceded it is found to
have been merely a quiet rottenness 6.
3. I have spoken of such moral failures as all must
8 Some rather striking evidence on the moral results of infi
delity may be found in The Life of Joseph BarTcer, written by him
self (London : Hodder and Stoughton, 1880), who was a Methodist,
Quaker, Unitarian, and all but an atheist in turn, and finally re
turned to Christianity. Of America he says (p. 336) : — " Often
when I came to be acquainted with the men who invited me to
lecture [in America], I was ashamed to be seen standing with them
in the streets ; and I shrank from the touch of their hand as from
pollution  In England, where I expected on my return home
to find unbelievers better, I found them worse. I supposed that
the Secularists thought as I did with regard to virtue  And
when at length I was convinced past doubt of my mistake, the
effect was terribly painful. But it was salutary." He was him
self an instance of an infidel who preserved his love of right con
duct and domestic purity, and this in the end restored him to
Christ, but several incidents in his account of himself shew clearly
enough that in many of the more delicate virtues his character
degenerated ai he became sceptical.

14 Introduction. [Lect.
acknowledge when they occur ; and, if one case only
of infidelity from such a cause is known to us,
surely we have a warning from God, which it were
in the highest degree foolish and criminal to dis
regard. But, besides these so-called "moral" fail
ures, there are sins attaching to the intellect, which
are as essentially and really acts and states of " im
morality" as the grossest outbreaks of vice. Will
you pardon me if I point out one which seems the
special canker of societies like our own ? Many are
the faults which disguise themselves as a love of
truth, but perhaps none is more frequent than a self
ish intellectual indolence. We live amongst men
devoted to study, whether for their own sake or as
teachers of others, many of whom pass their lives in
a somewhat narrow round of philosophy or history,
or law or language, or natural science or mathema
tics, or a mixture of some of these. This is the es
sence of a University, that it should contain experts
and students specially devoted to these subjects, who
can be referred to as authorities in their particular
spheres: and no one who has imagination or expe
rience enough to give him any sense of the value of
such stores of knowledge, lying close together as in
a vast treasure - house, can do anything but thank
God for the blessings we enjoy in this place, and
pray that He may increase them tenfold to our pos
terity. But this grand artificial society has its pecu
liar temptations, as all artificial societies have ; and
one of the strongest, I venture to repeat, is a refined
and selfish indolence, disguising itself as a love of
truth, or at least of knowledge. For, without doubt,

I.] Intellectual indolence. Neglect of prayer. 15
one of the first conditions to success in study is the
power of abstraction and attention, the concentration
of the intellect on a given area, and the pursuit of
the action of certain isolated principles belonging to
the science or art which is being studied. By this
we see that a direct premium is offered to one-sided-
ness, if a man will content himself with a temporary
success. Clearness, method, systematic power, the
ability to strike the imagination and impress the
memory of one's pupils, all these things are gained
by the adoption of a few simple principles, and the
excision of all reference to debateable or inconsistent
facts. To men consciously or unconsciously under
the influence of these motives, revelation is felt as
an awkward disturbing force, rather than as the
most helpful energy of their lives .
It appears to them as coming in from outside to
dissipate and distract their intellectual vigour, which
might otherwise be spent on perfecting themselves
and others in some definite line of enquiry. It is seen
to involve those who accept it in so many troubles
and disputes; it places life so much more at the
mercy of alien intruders, it encumbers it with so
many engagements. Even the time spent in public
or private prayer is grudged. " Why," it is urged,
" should I go to college chapel, when I do not really
believe more than half that I hear and say there ?
I had better make up some prayers of my own, such
as exactly suit my religious position." But where
are these prayers, after half-a-year's absence from col
lege chapel ? Gone with the other half of the belief,
I fear, in too many cases ; or perhaps suspended till

16 Introduction. [Lect.
God in His mercy send sickness or sorrow to touch
the heart and lift the veil of customary indifference.
In the meantime, the stall in chapel and the lowly pos
ture of devotion is exchanged for the seclusion of the
study, or self-directed meditation at the fireside. The
intellectual exercise of thinking about God takes the
place of the humble attitude of listening to His word,
and pouring out the soul in prayer, and worshipping
before the altar. The sweet charities and sympathies,
the mysterious inspirations which flow from the ga
therings of the faithful in the presence of God, the
tenderness and confidence of sons, are exchanged for
selfish isolation. The burning love of souls, the zeal
which once glowed for spreading the cause of Christ
and of goodness throughout the world, gradually sink
to a cold and ashy cynicism. Instead of a duty to
God and men, church-going is reduced, by the men
of whom we speak, to a rare compliment paid to a
preacher whom they wish to study, in the faint hope
that he will kindle some sense of languid admiration.
Who can wonder that such perverse conduct bears
its fruit in a withered, discontented heart, and a
stunted and one-sided intellect? As time goes on
the exercise of thinking about God becomes on their
part an act of grace and patronage, and then a dry
and spiritless formality. At last, too often, His very
existence as a personal Being comes to be regarded
as a speculation, the decision of which has but little
interest for the scientific or literary mind, occupied
steadily in such matters as are fairly within its grasp
and measure.
Very nearly akin to this intellectual indolence

I.] Sin of intellectual coldness. 17
is the cool, dispassionate candour on which some
sceptics plume themselves, as if it were the best
method of attaining religious truth. They seem to
forget that revelation comes to them, if it comes at
all, from above, not from below, and from a Power
in whose presence fear is a duty. If it exist at all,
which is the question before them, it is a gift for
which they ought to be thankful, not a suppliant
upon their charity 7. They tell us that it is their
first duty to preserve their minds from prejudice in
favour of revelation ; that they are responsible for the
legal purity and judicial impartiality of their reason,
which is to them the sole arbiter of truth. And so
they exclude all hope of finding revelation, lest it
should delude them into credulity, and all fear of
losing it, lest they should be frightened into super
stition. The fact is, that in so jealously guarding
the supremacy of reason, they are really wronging
what they profess to honour, they unduly limit the
field of which it ought to take eognizance, and the
position it ought to occupy. True, as all wise apo
logists of all ages remind us, "Eeason is a divine
reality: and God who purposed, disposed and or
dered nothing without Eeason, wills that all things
should be treated and considered with Eeason8."
' Cp. some excellent remarks on this topic in Newman's Gram
mar of Assent (pp. 420, 421, London, 1870), criticizing Paley's
method. See also Pascal, Fenstes, part 2, article 6, § 5 (p. 188,
Didot, 1863), on the low idea of conversion which is entertained
by many sceptics.
8 Tertullian, de pcenitentia, § 1, which thus begins :— " Paeni-
tentiam hoc genus hominum, quod et ipsi retro fuimus, caeci sine
domini lumine, natura tenus noiunt passionem animi quandam.
C

18 Introduction. [Lect.
"Eeason is the only faculty we have wherewith to
judge concerning anything, even Eevelation itself9."
This is true, however, just because, and so far as,
our reason is a guide of our life ever present with
us, not a judge deciding in a court outside us. If
it is to decide aright, it must take into account all
the elements of our complex life, it must measure
and balance all the forces that tend to preserve and
extend our powers of will and feeling, as well as
those which form our purely intellectual conclusions.
Eight reason cannot be guardian only of the interests
of one faculty or portion of the human soul, but is
the director of the whole, and it must take cog
nizance likewise of the whole evidence offered by
human nature. Thus the warm personal love felt by
the soul to its Saviour is evidence offered not by the
intelligence, but by the heart. The impression of
a divine voice speaking in a way which commands
obedience in the pages of Holy Scripture, is evidence
again offered, not so much by the intelligence as by
the will and the conscience. But reason cannot, dare
not, reject a consideration of either. Eight reason on
esse quse veniat de offensa sententiee peioris. Ceterum a ratione
eius tantum absunt, quantum ab ipso rationis auctore. Quippe
res Dei ratio ; quia Deus omnium conditor, nihil non ratione pro-
vidit, disposuit, ordinavit, nihil non ratione tractari intellegique
voluit." 9 Butler, Analogy, part ii. chap. 3. Cp. Isaac Barrow, Ser
mon 2, Of Faith (vol. ii. pp. 21—23, ed. 1683), and Sermon 13,
Of the Christian Religion (p. 189), and my father's Letters to
M. Gondon, ed. 2, pp. 49 following. Origen has sometimes been
misrepresented as if he admitted Celsus' taunt that Christians be
lieve on mere faith, without examination. He really treats it as
a calumny (c. Celsum, L 9, 13; iii. 50).

L] True position of Reason. 19
the contrary says, If there is a revelation it will touch
the heart, it will speak to the conscience in just such
a way as the Gospel does; and, so far, I have the
evidence I am bound to expect. Unless revelation
did produce these effects, it would be irrational to
accept it.
If reason, however, restricts itself to merely intel
lectual evidence, the case of a man like the late John
Stuart Mill, according to his own witness, shews how
inevitable is the collapse 10. Other faculties will have
their rights somehow or other, or the man will perish.
And even in the interests of pure intelligence, who
can say that hope and fear, love and joy, are foes to
be excluded ? Did not hope enable Columbus to find
America ? Do not affection and inclination, as well
as the expectation of success, play a real part in all
scientific discovery ? Do not feeling and taste give
insight into character and argument ? Does not ex
perience shew us daily that only he who loves can
understand the language of love " ? Am I then to
10 See his Autobiography, chap, v., " A crisis in my mental his
tory." He quotes two lines of Coleridge (p. 140) as a true de-,
scription of what he felt in his intense dejection : —
" "Work without hope draws nectar in a sieve,
And hope without an object cannot live."
Unfortunately, the religion to which he turned as an object
was not the highest — a mere human affection, however tender.
See p. 251, written shortly after the death of his wife: — "Her
memory is to me a religion, and her approbation the standard by
which, summing up as it does all worthiness, I endeavour to regu
late my life."
11 St. Bernard. Cp. Pascal, Pensees, part 1, art. 3 (pp. 30, 31,
Didot, 1863), " qu'il faut aimer (les choses divines) pour les con-
naltre," and art. 6, § 13 (p. 64) on the will as an organ of belief.
See also the last pages of Mozley's Bampton Lectures.
c2

20 Introduction. [Lect.
drive away all my best thoughts, all the quickening
impulses of spiritual life, all my fears of losing man's
highest good, and even turn against them and hate
them as misleading falsities, because they do not
happen to be arguments of a peculiar type, reducible
to a certain form of syllogism? Am I to call this
a reasonable state of mind ? No, rather I should be
utterly unreasonable if I did so. Surely it is much
wiser to hold with the most profound of living
poets n, — ,
" I say, the acknowledgment of God in Christ
Accepted by thy reason, solves for thee
All questions in the earth and out of it,
And has so far advanced thee to be wise.
"Wouldst thou unprove this to re-prove the proved ?
In life's mere minute, with power to use that proof,
Leave knowledge and revert to how it sprung ?
Thou hast it ; use it, and forthwith, or die.
For this I say is death, and the sole death,
When a man's loss comes to him from his gain,
Darkness from light, from knowledge ignoranee,
And lack of love from love made manifest."
This intellectual coldness seems, in fact, to be as
sinful as intellectual indolence. Yet some people
tacitly make the assumption that the intellect is out
side morality ; that you have but to follow your own
bias and instinct in its sphere, and to disregard the
consequences. This is, indeed, a very narrow system
of ethics. Let us suppose a man to receive a letter
12 E. Browning, A Death in the Desert ; a wonderful ideal de
scription of the last hours of St. John, in which he is supposed
to review his life, and to meet possible future objections to his
Gospel: Poetical Works, vol. vL p. 127 (Lond., 1870), or Selec
tions, Second Series, pp.316, 317, (Lond., 1880).

I.] " Lack of love from love made manifest." 21
purporting to come from his father, and containing
a promise of something which he much desired,
which would be a great comfort to him to have,
and which the father was specially able to bestow.
What should we say of such a man, if he submitted
this letter to a purely intellectual test, and decided
that the very suitability of the promise to his wants
and wishes was a reason for doubting, if not reject
ing it ? We should call him unfilial and brutal, as
well as stupid 13. And yet this is what these coldly-
intellectual persons say with regard to what we tell
them of their heavenly Father's message. In them
" lack of love " comes " from love made manifest."
There are other sins besides these, to which the
intellect is liable, such as recklessness, pride, and
avarice, all of which may be disguised as love of
truth. Thus there is a mere taste for adventure in
the pursuit of knowledge, which is akin to the com
mon passion for hunting and mountaineering, where
the object is not the result obtained, but the lively
agitation of spirits which is created by the act itself.
13 Pascal says on this point, with righteous indignation (Pensees,
part 2, art. 2, (p. 152) : — "Cette negligence en une affaire ou
il s'agit d'eux-memes, de leur eternite, de leur tout, m'irrite plus
qu'elle ne m'attendrit; elle m'etonne et m'epouvante ; c'est un
monstre pour moi." And further on (p. 158) : — " Eien ne marque
davantage une extreme bassesse de cceur que de ne pas souhaiter
la verite des promesses eternelles ; rien n'est plus lacbe que de
fair le brave contre Dieu," &c. It is probable that in all ages
of the world a certain connection between infidelity and this " bas
sesse de coeur," of which Pascal speaks, has been observable. On
the duty of hope and of noble wishes, cp. the fine passages of
Mozley's University Sermons on Fternal Life (pp. 75 foil.) and
The Strength of Wishes (pp. 250 foil., first ed., 1876).

22 Introduction. [Lect.
The end is in the means, and nothing beyond. This
love of adventure lends a certain air of grace and no
bility to a man ; it makes him brave weariness, phy
sical pain and danger, with a light heart, because he
sets them against the power of excitement which fills
and masters him, and carries him outside himself. So
it is in those who value the search after truth, more
than truth itself. They point, perhaps, to the pains
they undergo as a justification of their integrity, and
ask us, it may be, to sympathize with them in their
failures. But we are tempted to reply, " You have
obtained all that you desired. You do not really
care for truth. You do not believe in the power of
attaining it. All that you have aimed at was a re
fined form of intellectual excitement and amusement.
In so doing you are doubly guilty, both in cheat
ing yourself of success, which might have been yours
if you had sought the truth, not its shadow ; and in
deluding your neighbours, who have judged you
really in earnest, when you were only aiming at
a vain and selfish pleasure."
Again, that the intellect is liable to pride is, of
course, notorious ; and was, I suppose, a fact as much
recognized by the better heathens as by ourselves.
In the search after truth, that is to say, the pride
of intelligence invests what it obtains with a kind
of halo of interest as its own property ; just as men,
proud in this world, get to respect what lies about
them, because of its nearness to the glories that flow
from their own persons. The proud man seems to
himself a sort of centre of light and dignity, from
which an effluence pours forth upon all which he

I.] Intellectual recklessness, pride and avarice. 23
touches, or at least gathers to himself; and this senti
ment is hardly less common in the intellectual than
in the secular sphere of life. This fault, in another
type of character, becomes rather a species of avarice.
Truth is looked upon as a kind of property, of which
so much may be obtained by diligent and acquisitive
habits 14, and as a property which lends glory to its
possessor, just as acquired capital does honour to the
successful merchant. But in either case truth is re
garded as valuable, chiefly because of its relation to
the man, not because of its objective worth and dig
nity. And this is the great difference between the
selfish and the Christian pursuit of truth. We do
not look for a mere discovery, an ornament, a trea
sure, but an objective personality outside us and above
us, to which we bow in reverent adoration ; a light
which is both liberty and law ; a power which finds
and chooses us, and is not found and chosen by us ;
a moulding and informing presence, which is none
other than the might of Christ our Lord.
In some such way, then, as this we may point out
11 These topics are treated with great force by Dr. Mozley, in his
interesting review oi Blanco White's Autobiography ; Essays, vol. ii.
cp. especially p. 146 : — " Here is the point. The fact is, that the
love of truth, especially in fallen man, is a corrupted affection, just
as natural love is. It betrays the selfish element. His mind annexes
truth to itself, and not itself to truth. It considers truth as a kind
of property ; it wants the pride of making it its own ; it treats it
as an article of mental success ; it does not reverence truth as an
object, but appropriates it as a thing ; it loves it as its own crea
tion, and as the reflection of itself and its labours. The merchant
sees himself in his capital, the parent in his child ; every one has
the image of himself in the shape of some issue from himself; and
there is a philosophy which sees such an issue in truth, and makes
it, in its sphere, the very embodiment of that of which truth di
vine is the extinction — the principle of self."

24 Introduction. [Lect.
whereabouts may probably be found the answer to
the question, " How can the unbelief of really in
telligent men be sinful ? "
This may be of some help to the wavering. But
they require also a positive support, and it has usually
been held to be the function of Lectures such as these
to give that help in the form demanded by the neces
sities of the day. To a specific portion of that task
I desire, with God's blessing, to address myself; but
first I would remind you, in few words, of that gene
ral and familiar truth which is the foundation of all
such undertakings.
We cannot look on human life as anything else
than a state of probation, that is to say, a state in
which we are tried and strengthened by use and ex
ercise of the less, before we are put in possession of
the more 15. Faith, not compulsion, is the true means
of development suitable to a moral being. In this
way, and in no other that we can conceive possible,
are the powers of our nature brought to their full
est maturity. In this way, both the more passive
qualities of trustfulness and trustworthiness, and
the more active energies of the will, are educated
in the service of God. In our relations with God,
as well as in our relations to one another, we are
men, not machines ; and as long as faith and hope,
and a reliance upon the unseen and unknown, have
their place in social intercourse, so long must they
have a place, and a foremost place, in religion 16.
15 Cp. Butler's Analogy, part i. chaps, iv. and v., on "A State of
Probation," and " Moral Discipline."
16 For a fuller statement of this topic, nothing can be better than
Mr. Wace's very forcible paper in reply to Prof. Clifford's Ethics

I.] Faith belongs to a state of probation. 25
You will pardon me for stating a truth, I had
almost said a truism, which has so often been urged
from this place, and which so many able apologists have
handled elsewhere, age after age. But simple as it
is, it is daily in danger of being forgotten. It is one
of those first principles which the indolence and
negligence of mankind are ever ready to let drop
out of sight. It is so much easier to be querulous
because you have not received off-hand a complete
and absolute demonstration, than to pursue a long
course of arguments, in which a number of differ-.
ent lines converge upon a given point, and in which
the careful judgment of a variety of moral questions
is involved. To recall this primary fact to mind is the first duty
of the Christian apologist. Let him force it clearly
into the understanding of the opponent or doubter
with whom he is arguing, and then he will have some
chance of making an impression by means of the par
ticular arguments which ought to follow. These, as
we are all aware, are of two kinds, external and in
ternal; the first appealing to the authority of wit
nesses to facts outside us, the second shewing the
intrinsic or inward reasonableness of the Christian
revelation. Both of these methods of argument are
necessary, and Oxford perhaps needs the first quite
as much as the second, But on the present occasion
of Belief, read before the Victoria Institute, and reprinted as
note 6 to his Bampton Lectures, pp. 242 — 258. The germ of
this argument is in Origen contra Celsum, i. 11. Cp. also S. Ire-
nseus adv. hareses, ii. 28, § 3, who extends the offices of faith and
hope (as well as love) to another world, that God may be always
our teacher, and we may be always waiting upon His bounty.

26 Introduction. [Lect.
I shall beg your attention to a portion rather of the
internal evidence, which I propose to treat from a
special point of view. I need scarcely say to those
about me at this moment what motives induce this
choice of subject. There are times of life to some men
(with which most of -us here are very familiar) when
the intellect is in a state of passionate activity, when
it throws itself upon the world with instinctive self-
assertion, and desires to create, out of the mass of
fragments which seem to lie about it, an ideal truth
which shall be all its own. In times like these, the
voice of authority has a distant, unmeaning sound ;
its light for the time is eclipsed, its assertions merely
irritate. The most conclusive external proofs are
powerless ; and the whole fabric of past experience
seems on the point of crumbling into dust.
What are we Christian teachers to do in these cri
tical moments? Are we simply to stand apart, till
weariness or disappointment suggest a return to the
old paths ? May we not do more, by placing our
selves side by side with these eager strivings ? We
shall at least gain the influence which is the prero
gative of sympathy, and the respect which is given
to those who are thorough believers in the validity
of their message. Our attempt to construct a Chris
tian philosophy of religion may not be, in any sense,
a final one ; yet, by God's grace, it may be a bridge,
for some at least, over that dangerous gulf in which
so many barks have gone down, which set forth in
the morning with sunlit sails, a passage over those
dark waters in which so many strong swimmers have
lost their lives.

I.] Unity of human nature and of religion. 27
I desire, then, to be permitted to hold up to such
seekers after God the beautiful form of Christianity
as the one normal or standard religion of the human
race. I assume, with them, that religion is not only
possible, but is the great end for which mankind
were created; that it is reasonable to believe with
David, that all nations whom God has made will be
brought to worship Him together and to glorify His
name. I cannot suppose that any of us, at least in
our better moments, will be behind the Platonist and
the Stoic in their aspirations after one law and one
doctrine ". I address myself, therefore, to those who
feel the need of religion, and who believe in the es
sential unity of religion, but who desire to be Chris
tians by conviction, and with a reasonable grasp of
the intrinsic pre - eminence of the Church's faith.
Further, and more particularly, I address those who
feel with myself that they are now called upon
to consider their faith in the new light which is
thrown upon it by the simultaneous researches into
all the faiths, new and old, that claim the alle
giance of mankind. I speak to those who feel that
the old adage,—
" Homo sum : nihil humani a me alienum puto,"
" On the heathen sentiment as to the unity of belief, see Maxi-
mus Tyrius, dissert. 17, ch. 4 and 5, where he imagines a sort of
congress of nations voting unanimously on religion ; Plutarch, de
fortuna Alexandri, 6, on the Stoic polity (Wytt., vol. 2, p. 349),
de Iside et Osiride, 67 (vol. 2, p. 546); Numenius ap. Euseb.,
prcep. Fkang., ix. 7; Celsus ap. Origen., c. Celsum, i. 14, vi. 80.
All these writers, however, lived after the Gospel had spread
belief in the unity of the human race and of religion. Cp. Th.
Keim, Celsus Wahres Wort, p. 213 (Zurich, 1873).

28 Introduction. [Lect.
acquires daily fresh force from the multitudinous
facts which pour in on every side to witness that
man is everywhere the brother and like of man.
Consider for a moment what a marvellous know
ledge we now possess in this department. In the
first place, there is now no race upon the globe of
anything like even third-rate importance which is
unvisited and undescribed; there is none whatever,
we may feel perfectly sure, which, when visited, will
be very dissimilar to those already within our view.
Everywhere, within certain limits, the same religious
and moral nature appears, even when it is overlaid
and degraded, and all but obliterated. Even in mi
nute details of mythology and custom, we find an
extraordinary unanimity of ideas between the re
motest tribes. The dwellers in distant corners, hunted
and trodden down by stronger races, the very by
words of humanity — the Bushmen, the Andamans,
the Veddahs, the Australians, the Fuegians, the Bo-
tocudes, the Eskimo 18, and if there be any lower than
these — when approached with sympathy and insight,
18 E.g. the Bushmen and the Eskimo are said to be the races
which have the greatest natural capacity of forming mental im
ages of things they have seen, and therefore of making drawings,
maps, &c. The Christianisation of the Fuegians is one of the
greatest triumphs of modern missions in an apparently hopeless
field. Mr. Darwin, it is said, thought it impossible, but afterwards
became a contributor to the funds of the mission. The Queen re
cently sent a token of her approval to those natives who were
formerly wreckers, but on a late occasion humanely succoured
some English sailors cast upon their inhospitable shore, and took
care of their property after their death. (Speech of Eev. E. J.
Simpson before Oxford Missionary Association of Graduates,
Jan. 30, 1880).

I.] Manifold advance of the study of Human Nature. 29
shew themselves truly human types, with some qua
lities defective or imperfect, but with others more
than usually vigorous, and all, at any rate, with a
personality and a creative power which proves them
all equally formed in the image of God 19.
19 On this topic it is sufficient to cite three well-known wit
nesses, Dr. Theodor Waitz, Dr. James Cowles Prichard, and Pro
fessor A. de Quatrefages of Paris. The former thus sums up
the discussion which is the principal subject of the first volume
of his very valuable Anthropologic der NaturvoTker (Eng. tr.,
p. 327, Lond., 1863) : — "On casting a retrospective glance at the
numerous facts and the various points of view from which we have
endeavoured to elucidate the main question, we are irresistibly led
to the conclusion that there are no specific differences among man
kind with regard to their psychical life. The great difference in
civilization amongst peoples of the same stock, testifies that the
degree of civilization does not chiefly depend on organization or
mental endowment."
Dr. Prichard thus concludes his Natural History of Man (vol. ii.
pp. 713, 714, ed. Norris, Lond., 1855) : — " "We contemplate among
all the diversified tribes who are endowed with reason and speech,
the same internal feelings, appetences, aversions ; the same inward
convictions, the same sentiments of subjection to invisible powers,
and, more or less fully developed, of accountableness or responsi
bility to unseen avengers of wrong and agents of retributive jus
tice, from whose tribunal men cannot even by death escape. "We
find everywhere the same susceptibility, though not always in the
same degree of forwardness or ripeness of improvement, of admit
ting the cultivation of these universal endowments, of opening the
eyes of the mind to the more clear and luminous views which
Christianity unfolds, of becoming moulded to the institutions of
religion and of civilized life : in a word, the same inward and
mental nature is to be recognized in all races of men. "When we
compare this fact with the observations which have been hereto
fore fully established as to the specific instincts and separate psy
chical endowments of all the distinct tribes of sentient beings in
the universe, we are enabled to draw confidently the conclusion
that all human races are of one species and one family."
M. de Quatrefages says (at the end of book i. of his treatise on

30 Introduction. [Lect.
And while we have this flood of light thrown upon
the present state of the human family, we have yet
more marvellous discoveries in the ancient histories
of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, and other great na
tions, carrying us back two or even three thousand
years before the birth of Christ 20. And just at the
same moment we have unbiassed and authentic ac
counts of the great religions of the East, long im-
fectly known to us, of Persia, India, and China ; en
abling us to reach deep into the heart of the patient
millions of Eastern Asia, and to know their springs
of motive and action better even, it may be, than
they know themselves 81.
The Human Species, pp. 87, 88, London, 1879) : — "In every case
crossings between human groups exhibit the phenomena charac
teristic of mongrels, and never those of hybrids.
" Therefore these human groups, however different they may
be, or appear to be, are only races of one and the same species, and
not distinct species.
" Therefore, there is but one human species, taking this term
species in the acceptation employed when speaking of animals
and plants."
He also says, speaking generally, that " what science may affirm
is that from all appearances each species has had, as point of de
parture, a single primitive pair," (p. 84). He naturally concludes,
therefore, for one centre of appearance in the case of man, which
he inclines to place in Northern Asia (p. ] 78).
20 According to Mr. Eenouf's estimate (Hibbert Lectures, 1879,
pp.49, 50, Lond., 1880), our knowledge of Egypt goes back to
beyond 3000 B.C. Dr. Legge places the invention of the Chinese
primitive characters at about the same date ; Religions of China,
pp. 8, and 59, 60. (London, 1880.)
81 It is scarcely necessary to mention the series of Sacred Boohs
of the East, edited by Prof. Max Miiller, and the unpretentious but
very useful manuals published by the Society for Promoting Chris
tian Knowledge, on Non- Christian Religious Systems, besides the

I.] Method of the present Lectures. 31
Lastly, a re-reading of the old classical mythologies
seems to bring the whole mass into focus, and to
present us with a lively picture of the unity, of the
religious instincts and aims of the great family of
mankind. This generation, whatever its losses in
respect to traditional reverence, has at least this
enormous gain, that, for the first time in the history
of the world, it can survey the whole field of natural
theology, with a fair certainty that it is not being
deceived. Such, then, is the matter before us. The method
I shall pursue in dealing with it is a simple one, and
will, I hope, commend itself to your judgment.
In my next Lecture I shall lay the foundation for
the whole argument, by comparing and contrasting
the Christian and Biblical idea of God with the chief
non-Christian and heretical conceptions which claim
to take its place. In those that follow, I shall con
sider in turn the three great positions which seem
to be assumed as fundamental in all religions.
The first of these is, that God wills to make Him
self known to man ; that He is a God of Truth, and
a giver of revelations (Lectures III. IV.).
The second, that sin separates man from God, and
that atonement for it must be made by sacrifice
(V. VI.).
The third, that men may find peace and favour
with God in this life, and a better life with Him
after death (VII. VIII.).
These three propositions, if summed up in one sen
tence for the sake of clearness, amount to this, viz.
mass of separate publications, many of which will be referred to
in the notes to the following Lectures.

32 Introduction. [Lect. I.
that God is the God of Truth, of Holiness, and of
Peace, and as such wills to unite man to Himself in
truth, holiness, and peace. As the God of Truth, He
deigns to satisfy the cravings of the soaring intellect,
which He has created to look upwards to Himself,
and to find rest in no lower sphere. As the God of
Holiness, He wills that the heart and affections,
which have been turned away from Him by sin,
should be brought back and reconciled to His Fa
therly love. As the God of Peace, He desires that
the will of man should be ordered and disciplined for
ever in His ways; that death should be no bar to
our advancement, but that we should be carried on
ward into the freedom and blessedness of eternal life ;
that the Church on earth should lead upward to the
Church in heaven.
Taking these propositions as the groundwork of
my Lectures, I shall endeavour to prove under each
of these three heads in turn : —
Firstly, that non-Christian religious systems assume
or bear specific witness to these general convictions ;
while they fail, often by their own admission, to sa
tisfy the yearnings to which they give utterance
(Lectures III. V. and VII.).
Secondly, that the Christian revelation, in each of
these respects, does represent the nature of God in
a manner befitting His glory, and does give the true
and blessed answer to the needs and hopes of man
(Lectures IV. VI. and VIII.).

33

LECTURE II.

EXODUS iii. 13, 14.
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the
children of Israel, and shall say unto them, " The God
of your fathers hath sent me unto you ; " and they shall
say to me, "What is His Name?" what shall I say unto
them ?
And God said unto Moses, "I AM THAT I AM:" and
He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel,
" I AM hath sent me unto you."

BIBLICAL THEISM CONTRASTED WITH OTHEB CONCEPTIONS
OP THE NATUEE OE GOD.
The Unity of God witnessed by instinct and reason, but only ex
plicitly and publicly taught by those who acknowledge the
Bible. — God revealed to Moses as both Infinite and Personal. —
"Why this unity of attributes is credible. — Departures from this
belief on either side.
Pantheism a one-sided exaggeration of His Infinity. — Its danger.
— Dualism a step nearer the truth. — Sabellian and Eutychian
types of heresy.
Anthropomorphic Deism the antithesis to Pantheism. — Exaggera
tion of God's personality and of Man's independence. — State
religion of China. — Deistic tendencies in Grseco-Boman phi
losophy, and in Judaism. — In later times, outside and inside
the Church. — Islam. — Pelagian and Nestorian heresies, and simi
lar movements. — Tubingen School. — Conclusion.
TNSTINCT, reason, and revelation all combine to
speak to us of one God. The soul of man, at
least in this regard, (as Tertullian1 well teaches
us,) is "naturally Christian." Monotheism, though
it is the public creed only of those races who pos-
1 Apologeticum, chap. 17, a passage enlarged in his interesting
treatise, De Testimonio anima. D

34 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect.
sess (or, like the Mahometans, at least acknowledge)
the Scriptures2, is, nevertheless, clearly the normal
religion of mankind. It is assumed, or implied, in
the ordinary religious language of every nation;
it is everywhere a sort of quiet background of be
lief, waiting to be called into actuality at the ap
proach of light ; it is that to which the best thought
of the best minds in every age is everywhere dis
tinctly tending. To this truth bear witness the
general names for God existing in so many lan
guages, and the appeals to His universal power and
justice, His omniscience and His mercy, His will
and goodness, which burst from the heart of man
whenever he is deeply stirred, and caught (as it
were) off his guard 3.
2 Islam is, of course, no exception, even if the Moslem idea of
God was less faulty than it is. For Mahomet acknowledged both
the Jewish and the Christian Scriptures, and considers that the
Koran is confirmatory of them. See Sura, v. 50—52 (Eodwell,
ed. 2, p. 545), a passage ending, " To thee we have sent down the
Book of the Koran, with truth confirmatory of previous Scripture
and its safeguard." Cp. Sura, ii. 130 (p. 383); iii. 79 (p. 432):
" Say : We believe in God, and in what hath been sent down to
us, and what hath been sent down to Abraham, and Ismael, and
Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes : and in what was given to Moses,
and to Jesus, and to the Prophets, from their Lord. We make no
difference between them. And to Him are we resigned (Mus
lims)." Cp. Max Miiller on Semitic Monotheism, which he traces
to the faith of Abraham, and ascribes to a ' special revelation : '
Selected Essays, vol. ii. pp. 433 foil, (reprinted in 1881). The
modern Parsis may seem to be an exception, but they have come too
much in contact with Christian and Mahometan theists to be cited.
See below, p. 50.
3 Cp. Minucius Felix Octavius, c. 18, "Audio vulgus, cum ad
caelum manus tendunt, nihil aliud quam deum dicunt, et ' deus
magnus est' et 'deus verus est,' et ' si deus dederit.' Vulgi iste
naturalis sermo est, an Christiani confitentis oratio ? " Similarly,
Tertullian, de testimonio animce, c. 2, and Apol., c. 17.

II.] Natural Monotheism. 35
Hear on this point a Kaffir, — one of that race
which has often been calumniated as atheistic, —
who thus adds his contribution to the great tes
timony of the " consensus gentium i : " —
" We had this word [the name of God] long before the
missionaries came : we had God (Utikxo) long ago : for
a man, when dying, would utter his last words, saying,
' I am going home, I am going up on high.' For there
is a word in a song which says : —
' Guide me, 0 Hawk !
That I may go heavenward,
To seek the one-hearted man,
Away from the double-hearted men
"Who deal in blessing and cursing.'
# * * #
" So we say there is no God who has just come to us.
Let no man say, ' The God which is, is the Grod of the
English.' There are not many Gods : there is but one
God. We err when we say, ' He is the God of the English.'
He is not the God of certain nations; just as man is not
English and Kosa ; he is not Fingo and Hottentot ; he is
one man, who came forth from one God."
It would be difficult to put this great truth more
powerfully and succinctly than it is stated by this
Kaffir theologian, the first-fruits of a race just
brought. to Christ. We cannot fail to recognize in
these simple words the real instinctive voice of
natural piety which has already thrilled us in so
many other languages. And the persistent tes-
4 Translated by Bp. Callaway, in the South African Folk-Lore
Journal, vol. ii. p. 56, foil. (Capetown and London, Nutt, 1880.)
Cp. also his lecture On the Religious Sentiment among the Tribes of
South Africa, recently published in the Cape Magazine, of which
he has kindly sent me a copy.

36 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect.
timony of instinct is reinforced by that , of reason.
The well-known arguments from nature and human
nature can never be effete. On the one hand, a view
of nature teaches us, first, that all things have.
a Cause, which is itself uncaused, Eternal, and In
finite, and is the efficient and adequate cause of
all that is, whether intelligent or unintelligent;
and secondly, that all things have an End, or (as
it is often called) a final Cause, and that end a ful
filment of the will of God. On the other hand,
a survey of human nature, quite apart from our
own instincts or conclusions, and regarding it as
a field of scientific enquiry, teaches us other lessons
of the same kind. We see that man, considered
as a reasoning animal, and, therefore, certainly not
made in vain and to no purpose, exhibits two great
tendencies. The first is Dependence upon the un
seen, leading him to prayer and humble reverence
to the author of his life ; the second is the pursuit
of an Ideal of moral goodness, leading him to sacri
fice and its correlative rites, and to an enunciation
of the dictates of his conscience as a Divine law.
These four methods of argument, viz. from Causation
and Design in Nature, and from the sense of De
pendence and of the Moral Law in Man, when com
bined together, carry us nearly to that belief in
God, which we learn from Holy Scripture. They
teach us that there is one Supreme Being, at once
Infinite and Personal, who is perfect in power and
perfect in moral nature.
Yet it needs little or no imagination to under
stand that this great truth gains a much more

IL] Necessity of the Scriptural Revelation. 37
powerful and decisive hold upon the minds of men
when explicitly declared as a truth of revelation.
" Though the works of nature (says Locke 5) in
every part of them sufficiently evidence a Deity,
yet the world made so little use of their reason,
that they saw Him not, where, even by the impres
sion of Himself, He was easy to be found." "Native
and original truth is not so easily wrought out of the
mine as we, who have it delivered ready into our
hands, are apt to imagine 6."
Accordingly, as we have already said, as a matter
of historic fact, only those peoples who acknowledge
the Scriptures have made public profession of Mo
notheism. Even in the case of this most simple and
fundamental principle of religion, a revelation was
necessary to formulate and establish what all nature
and all experience was tending to teach. This must
strike us, even at first sight, as a great point in
favour of the Scriptures considered as a body of doc
trine. We cannot imagine this superiority to be an
accident, or to be confined to one division only of the
massive and coherent structure of Scriptural theology.
There is, as we very soon recognize, a vital connec
tion between belief in one God, as taught in the
Bible, and all the other articles of our faith. He who
accepts the first is naturally led on to accept those
that follow. Nor shall we err in thinking, that if
we grasp aright the doctrine of one God as taught
in the Bible, we shall be able also to understand the
6 Reasonableness of Christianity, % 167. 6 Ibid., § 170,
speaking of moral truths.

38 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect.
unique superiority of our creed, and to distinguish
it from all false and defective systems.
To make clear this distinction is the task which
we have before us this morning. Let us first ask
what is the essence, or inner principle, of the Biblical
conception of God. To discover this, we naturally
look to the great revelation of the Divine name
made to Moses on Mount Sinai. " What shall I say
unto the people when they ask the name of their
fathers' God?" is the prophet's question. The
answer is, "I am that I am." . ..." I am hath
sent me unto you."
It can hardly escape any one here that this Divine
name, when analysed, presents us with a twofold
mysterious idea, that of Infinity and Personality in
combination. In this name, " I am that I am,"
or, as we should say in modern English, "I am
that which I am," we are first taught that God
is absolute, independent, self-existent, eternal. His
nature can be expressed adequately in no other terms
than those of a comparison with Himself. All other
things have a limit outside them; they are finite,
that is to say, bounded and conditioned, produced
by, or tending to, or supported by something else.
But it is not so with God, who alone is Infinite,
who depends on nothing, while all other things
depend upon Him ; who alone is that which He is,
and not what others are.
Other things are defined in terms of something
higher and more generic. But God can only be
defined as being that which He is, — the First,
the Midst, and the Last, of whom, and through

IL] God at once Infinite and Personal. 39
whom, and to whom are all things (Isa. xliv. 6;
xlviii. 12 ; Eev. i. 8 ; Eom. xi. 36).
This is one thought suggested by reflection on the
revelation made to Moses. The other, and the com
plementary thought to it, is that of the Personality
of God. There is, as we have said, nothing, how
ever awful and mysterious, with which God can
be compared except Himself ; and further, that
self is, as far as language can assert or imply
anything, asserted or implied to be a Personal one.
The " I " which appears both in the subject and
the predicate of the sentence, i.e. both in the first
and second clauses, can bear no other meaning.
It assures us that the God of Israel desires to be
known as one who is conscious of His own Being,
and who distinguishes His will from that of His
creatures. This is the meaning of the first utterance. The
second carries it on, and enlarges it. "Thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath
sent me unto you." Here we have the assertion
of God's will in action, of His regard for His
creatures, and desire to make Himself known for
their good. And this emphatic assertion of per
sonal interest and loving care pervades the whole
Bible; and is fundamental to the whole Hebrew
and Christian conception of the Divinity.
Let us, then, this morning start with the doc
trine of Biblical Theism, and consider its central
position and value as the foundation -truth of re
ligion. But first we must dispose of an obvious
objection which is constantly made to it. God,

40 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect.
as revealing Himself to Moses, speaks as both In
finite and Personal. Is there, or is there not, an
inconsistency between these attributes ?
Infinity (as we have seen) asserts the absence of
limit : nothing exists outside it ; and, in the words
of St. Paul, the infinite God is He in whom we all
live, and move, and have our being (Acts xvii. 28).
Personality, on the other hand, is unknown to
us by experience, except in connection with limit.
One person, or "I," is limited by another; and
consciousness, as far as we understand it, suggests
definitely an acknowledgment of such limitation, an
apprehension of the difference between self and some
thing outside self, or, as philosophers say, between
the I and the not I. Thus, while the truth of the
Infinity of God teaches us, for example, that all
things do His will, the truth of His Personality
teaches us to distinguish His will from the wills
of His creatures.
There is absolutely no way, as yet known to us,
out of this difficulty. If we seek to explain this
apparent inconsistency, we are brought face to face
with a problem, insoluble to our present reason
ing powers. That is to say, we are not capable,
being men, of understanding the " how " and the
" why " of what is so much above us. Yet, none
the less, we are capable of believing in the fact
of this union of apparent opposites in the Divine
nature. And thus much we can say in explanation —
and this goes a long way in pointing to the direc
tion where the solution of the problem lies. Divine
Personality differs ineffably from that of those created

II.] Credibility of the Mystery. 41
beings whose experience we use in forming our idea
of what is personal. The limits of the Divine Being,
in His relation to other dependent beings, are only
such as He chooses to impose upon Himself, while
all other beings rest within the limits He fashions
for them and outside them. It is- His infinite will
that certain finite wills should subsist in time, dis
tinguishable from His own.
And surely even our own experience supplies some
faint analogy, some degree of likeness, to this tran
scendent marvel of the unity of the Infinite and
the Personal. The higher and nobler the nature
of a human being, the broader and deeper is its sym
pathy. We have an expansive power by which we
can enter into the thoughts and feelings of others,
and as we approach to God, we experience at once
a deeper feeling of our own personality, and a greater
facility in passing outside it. The character of finite
being is intensified, while its limits are extended,
indefinitely if not infinitely, by Love.
This mystery, then, is a perfectly credible one,
though completely inexplicable; and it is credible,
not only because it has the stamp of the highest
authority, and is established by a concordance and
intimate coherence of those rational arguments to
which I have alluded, but also because it is to us
inexplicable. The old sayings, Credo quia absurdum,
Credo quia impossibile, which have been often ridi
culed, and often (it must be confessed) misused,
have, like almost all sayings current in the Church,
a great deal of the soberest common sense at the
bottom of them. The object of thought in this case

42 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect.
is the nature of God, and the persons engaged in
contemplating it are men, that is to say, beings of
short life and very limited intelligence, and puny
faculties of all kinds ; creatures who can hardly think
for a few hours in succession without a head-ache,
utterly powerless to make the merest insect, and
a mystery to themselves and to one another.
These men, it is confessed, come from God, live
in dependence upon Him, and can look forward
to no higher immortality than that of daily grow
ing nearer to Him, and knowing and loving Him
more profoundly. Such men cannot believe in a
merely obvious and trivial account of God. Where
would be the disparity of powers, if the creature
at once understood the nature of the Creator ? Where
would be the mysterious fulness of the idea of
God, of which the fulness of His world seems to
be so natural an image ? Where would be the
inexhaustible depth and riches of His nature, an
swering to the illimitable periods of eternal life
that lie before our view ?
We believe, then, in the union of Infinity and
Personality in God, for this, among other good
reasons, that it absolutely removes God from any
comparison with ourselves. It puts Him upon a
level of being utterly above and beyond us, it ex
alts Him to a throne which is worthy of the Lord
of heaven and earth.
But it is not strange that other religious systems
have failed to grasp the fulness of this mysterious
truth. Mankind is prone to be one-sided; and
in this especially, as in other things, error has

IL] Pantheism and Deism contrasted. 43
come from exaggeration of a part, while truth is
only to be found in the comprehension of the whole.
Of this error, the two extreme and most clearly
antithetical forms are Pantheism and anthropomor
phic Deism7; each of them in its way a logical
and natural system, but each perfectly irrational
as a religion. Eepresenting, as they do, the two
opposite tendencies of the human mind, they may
be said to stand on the extreme left and right of
the central truth. They are opposed, that is to
say, in religion, as synthesis is to analysis, as
the combinative is to the separative process in phi
losophy. Pantheism generalises, or is synthetic ;
while Deism particularises and discriminates, or, in
other words, is analytic. Pantheism seizes on the
idea of Universality and Infinity, and exaggerates
it out of all sense and measure ; while Deism grasps
that of separate Personality, and developes it with
equal onesidedness and unreason. Pantheism, that
is to say, represents God as Infinite, without being
Personal, as the one substance of which all things
that exist are modifications; while Deism sets Him
before us as Personal, but limited and separated
from His creatures, — in other words, denies His
Infinity, and treats Him as one who is to be
7 For a clear statement of this antithesis, compare H. L. Mansel,
Second Letter to Prof. Goldwin Smith, p. 2, (Oxford, 1862) ; a letter
directed against the tendency which he calls " Anthropomorphism,"
and defending himself against the criticism upon his Bampton
Lectures. See also Th. Christlieb, Modern Doubt and Christian
Belief, Lecture III., on Modern non-Biblical Conceptions of God,
especially the latter half (pp. 161—209, E. T., Edinburgh, 1874),
which traverses much the same ground as the present Lecture.

44 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect.
judged as one of ourselves. Between the two come
various phases of belief, approaching the truth more
or less on either side, but all tinged with one or
other of these two colours.
I need not occupy your time with long descriptions
of all these types of erroneous doctrine. A scheme
or table may be presented 8, from which it is easy to
see at a glance the general connection of the prin
ciples of the different schools of thought both within
and without the Church. It will now suffice to
give a rapid sketch of the most prominent opinions.
Those to whom the subject is new, will find it
helpful to remember, that the pantheistic tendency
inside the Church is due mainly to the adoption
of pagan modes of thought, and to the reception
of many half - converts from heathenism within her
fold. Deistie leanings, on the other hand, were
closely connected with the Jewish elements in Chris
tendom, especially in those early believers (the
Ebionites), who accepted Jesus as the Messiah,
but did not recognize in Him the eternal Son
of God.
To begin with the extreme left, or Pantheism.
This may be said to be the natural result of un
checked meditation on the unity and continuity
of nature, and upon the interaction of natural forces,
without adequate regard to the culture of the will
and the heart. Pantheism, in its baldest form, as
serts that the universe and God are convertible
terms; that God is everything, and everything is
God. More philosophically stated, it teaches that
8 See the table at the end of this Lecture.

II.] Various forms of Pantheism. 45
there is only one eternal and infinite substance9,
of which all things that exist are modifications,
with no permanent individual existence. It matters
little in what form this belief is held, or how the
relation of the One to its subordinate and consti
tutive many is conceived10. It may be under the
comparatively childish hypothesis of emanations,
which is that of some of the Hindu TJpanishads,
which suppose the visible universe to grow out of
the unseen Divine substance, as the web is drawn
out of the spider, as plants spring out of the ground,
or as hairs grow upon a living being u. It may be
the fashionable sentiment of the age of Nero : —
"Jupiter est quodcumque vides quodcumque moveris 12."
9 Spinoza, Ethics, i. prop. xiv. : " Prseter Deum nulla dari
neque concipi potest substantia."
10 ev kcu wav is the motto of Greek pantheism, attributed to
Xenophanes of Elea. See Zeller, Pre-Socratic Philosophy (tr. by
Alleyne, vol. i. pp. 562, 563, Lond,, 1881), who thinks this was
said in a pantheistic sense, notwithstanding some striking theistic
expressions of Xenophanes, e.g. those quoted by Clemens Alex.,
Strom., v. p. 601 C.
11 Mundalca Upanishad, i. 1.7, quoted by Dr. Kay in his ex
cellent papers in the Missionary, p. 35, (Calcutta, 1853.) Cp.Monier
"Williams, Indian Wisdom, p. 39 ; and Max Miiller's Upanishads,
p. 205 (Sacred Boohs, vol. i. 1879). " The seed of Pra^apati are
the Devas (gods). The seed of the Devas is rain. The seed of
rain are herbs. The seed of herbs is food. The seed of food is ¦
seed. The seed of seed are creatures. The seed of creatures is the
heart. The seed of the heart is the mind. The seed of the mind
is speech (Veda). The seed of speech is action (sacrifice). The
action done (in a former state) is this man, the abode of Brahman."
(Aitareya-Aranyaka, ii. 1. 3.)
12 Lucan, Pharsalia, ix. 579 : from Cato's speech to Labienus
against consulting the oracle of Hammon, a speech which the poet
considers equal to any revelation.

46 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect.
It may be the literary commonplace of the eigh
teenth century : —
" All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
"Whose body nature is, and God the soul13."
It may be the vague idealism, dear to the hearts
of some modern poets, which supposes spirit to be
everything and matter nothing, and explains our
perception of things to be merely an illusion of
the senses and the understanding, and that the
world is a place
""Where nothing is, and all things seem,
And we the shadows of the dream14."
It may be the Tao or immaterial potentiality of
the Chinese Laotse, which, coming from non-exist
ence into existence, returns again to nothing15.
It may be the theory of the Vedantist that God
willingly and intentionally, for amusement, loses
Himself in nature, imposing ignorance upon Him
self, and, as we may say, ignoring Himself in His
manifestations16; or, it may be the converse theory
of the Hegelian, that God is the pure idea realizing
13 Pope, Essay on Man, Epistle 1, near the end.
14 Shelley, The Sensitive Plant; Poems, p. 497, (Lond. 1853).
The likeness of this thought to the Hindu Maya, or illusion is
very noticeable.
15 See Confucianism and Taouism, by E. K. Douglas, p. 214.
16 The two great maxims of this sect are, " One only Essence
(or Being) without a second," — the famous " Ekam evadvitlyam,"
—and " Brahma is true, the world is false, the soul is only Brahma
and no other," (M. "Williams, Indian Wisdom, p. 113). On the
principle of Avidya, which represents God as ignoring Himself
in developing the phenomenal world, see ibid., p. 118.

IL] Pantheism : its disastrous Results. 47
itself in the progress of human consciousness, and
so finding His true self in mankind n.
But in every case the God of Pantheism is a prin
ciple, not a person, however reverent language may,
from time to time, be used concerning Him.
It is not difficult to see the disastrous results of
this exaggeration. This eternal substance, or Spirit,
has no true choice of will, no desire for good, no
providence, no moral attributes of any kind.
This philosophy thus cuts away the whole basis
of morality, the distinction between right and wrong,
and between good and evil. For if these differences
do not exist for the whole, which is the highest, why
should they exist in the parts ? In the same way,
it destroys the whole idea of Free-will, and of Be-
sponsibility. For if we are but parts of a vast ma
chine, or rather of a general process of being or
becoming, we cannot have a freedom greater than
is possessed by the whole ; and so, again, we can
not be responsible for our actions to a being which
has no personal existence.
Thus, for the Pantheist, if he be really con
sistent and logical, the whole of Life and Nature
is but a meaningless vision, from which all will
and purpose are removed. He has nothing final
17 Hegel himself (Religions philosop hie, section headed der specu
lative Begriff der Religion, "Works, vol. xi. p. 200, Berlin, 1840),
speculatively defines religion as "the self- consciousness of the ab
solute Spirit," and as " the self-knowledge of the divine Spirit
through the medium of the finite Spirit." Hegel frequently de
fends himself from the charge of Spinozism, and he certainly feels
after a more living God than Spinoza ; but the general tendency
of his teaching seems to be pantheistic. Cp. J. A. Dorner, System
of Chr. Doct., E. T., vol. i. p. 400 (Edinb., 1880).

48 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect.
before him, either to hope or to fear. If he be
a man of higher type of mind, the best that he
can do is to sit down in ecstatic contemplation
and adoration of something — he knows not what.
If he belongs to a lower order, he plunges into
every form of enjoyment or worldly pursuit, into
mere materialism and secularity. He is like a sailor
without a definite port to steer to, sometimes eagerly
pursuing this or that, sometimes idly drifting with
the current; sometimes wildly sensual, sometimes fan
tastically refined ; sometimes eager for knowledge,
sometimes curious in asceticism ; but in every case,
without principle and without determination.
The two great historical examples of the working
out of this tendency are to be found in India and
ancient Egypt, which are the two chief types of really
intelligent and powerful heathenism, running their
full course in the world. In both, a comparatively
simple worship of the forces of nature has been de
veloped among the people into a great system and
world of gods, and an elaborate and pedantic ritual.
But side by side with this has grown up an esoteric
doctrine or philosophy of religion, with a general
pantheistic colouring, but having all varieties of
shades down to pure sensuality and hopeless athe
ism 18. And what has taken place in these countries
18 On the Hindu philosophy, see J. C. Thompson, introduction
to translation of the Bhagavad-Gita (Hertford, 1855); K. M. Ba-
nerjea, Dialogues on the Hindu Philosophy (Williams and Norgate,
1861), and M.Williams' Indian Wisdom and Hinduism. On the
tendency to Atheism in India, cp. Max Miiller, Hibbert Lectures,
1878, pp. 298 foil. On similar tendencies in Egypt, see Eenouf's
last lecture in the same series. It has sometimes been said that
the esoteric doctrine of Egypt was pure monotheism, and the

IL] Pantheism and Dualism. 49
is found more or less constantly in all heathen na
tions at all advanced in civilization. There is an
inner doctrine for the wise, which does not rise above
a conception of the Infinity of God, and often falls
below it.
But everywhere, when men have recoiled from
the vulgar worship of many gods, or from the
pride and self-assertion of their fellows, or from a
crude state -religion, Pantheism has been the fan
cied harbour of refuge, which has proved a fatal
gulf to many thoughtful minds. It is found amongst
Jews, Mahometans, and Christians, under various
names, but everywhere with the same deadening
and disastrous results. It sheds an evanescent rain
bow light over certain schools of poetry and art;
it creeps into the ritual of the Church, and into
the discipline of the convent ; it takes shelter alike
in the epicurean rose-garden, and in the cell of the
mystic ; but it withers (thank God !) when the
heart is stirred by the call of duty, and when
active, self-sacrificing love to man is recognized as
the true expression of love to God.
Nearer to the Truth than Pantheism, but obviously
on the same side, comes Dualism ; that is to say,
a separation of the Divine Being into two elements,
or principles, variously contrasted as good and evil,
as procreation and destruction, as light and darkness,
phrase, "nuk pu nuk," often put into the mouth of the gods,
has been translated, " I am that I am." It is accepted, for in
stance, by Bp. Ellicott, The Being of God, p. 39 (S.P.C.K., 1880).
Mr. Eenouf, however, tells us it simply means, " I even I " (Hib
bert Lectures, 1879, p. 244, compared with his letter in the Aca
demy for June 26, 1880, p. 475). E

50 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect.
or as spirit and matter. Here we see the moral
sense rejecting the miserable helplessness and con
fusion of Pantheism; but, through its inability to
rise to the idea of a Creator of perfect power (though
it ascribes to Him the perfection of goodness), it has
assumed that good and evil are co- eternal, and
that there is a perpetual warfare between them.
The result of this belief has been, while setting
the human will in some measure free, to leave it
still in doubt as to its power or its responsibility.
For sin is treated by the thorough-going Dualist as
an involuntary pollution or uncleanness from contact
with the realm of darkness, as something, therefore,
external and physical, rather than as a voluntary
act of the soul: and, further, a sharp line is drawn
between those creatures who belong naturally to the
one kingdom and to the other, a line which limits
the sympathies and the hopes of men to the inner
circle of the servants of light. The chief historical
manifestation of Dualism has been in the old Persian
or Zoroastrian religion 19, which under Darius (if not
so certainly under Cyrus) appeared to be verging to
wards monotheism, and which still exists, with much
of its early dogmatism purged away under persecution
19 On Ormazd and Ahriman see James Darmesteter, translation
of the Zend-Avesta (Sacred Books of the East, vol. iv.), Introduction,
pp. lxx. foil., and a separate essay on the same subject, Ormazd
et Ahriman (Paris, 1877). Cp. Monier "Williams, The Religion of
Zoroaster, in the Nineteenth Century for Jan., 1881, vol. 9, pp. 155
— 176, whose conclusions are somewhat different.
On Cyrus and Darius, with reference to the inscriptions, see
Mr. T. K. Cheyne's Essay in his Prophecies of Isaiah, vol. ii.
pp. 264—270 (Lond., 1881).

II.] Sabellian and Eutychian types of Heresy. 51
and exile, so that it has become chiefly a supersti
tious theism20. But the real influence of Dualism
has been rather in the form of an under-current
of heresy, just on the verge or within the pale of
the Christian Church, sometimes in the glaringly
repulsive speculations of Gnostics and Manichseans 21,
sometimes in the more insidious forms of antinomian
assertions of sinlessness in the elect and reprobation
of the lost, or in a belief in the efficacy of sacraments
and charms, apart from holiness of life.
Nearer yet to Christianity, but still on the same
Pantheistic side, come the philosophical heresies,
which we may call by the quasi-generic names of
Sabellian when they relate to the Trinity, and
Eutychian when they concern the person of Christ.
They are remnants, that is to say, of the Pantheistic
love of oneness, of identification, of confusion dis
guised under Christian formulas. It is worth while
to see this clearly, for a great many persons covertly
hold these doctrines, without understanding why
they are in the wrong.
20 See Max M tiller's Chips, vol. i., article on The Modern Par sis.
On p. 173 he quotes a catechism, distinctly teaching belief in one
God the creator of all things, and repudiating belief in any other.
Cp. Haug's Essays, ed. 2, p. 53 ; Darmesteter, Zend-Avesta, pp.
lxxxiii. foil. ; M. "Williams, The Par sis, in Nineteenth Cent.,
March, 1881, p. 506 foil.
21 The Alexandrian Gnostics were more theoretically Pantheistic,
and thought that evil arose from the last link of a series of emana
tions, — growing enfeebled by distance from the primal souroe, — and
dropping into the chaos of matter. The Syrian Gnostics, and spe
cially the Manichffians, were more decidedly Dualist. See the
interesting passage in Neander's Church History, vol. ii. pp. 11 —
17, E. T., ed. Bohn, 1851 ; and Dr. Mansel's Lectures.
E 2

52 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect.
According to the Sabellian theory, the Holy Trinity
is thus reduced to three phases or manifestations
of one substance. In the Eutychian class of heresies,
the continued existence of the human nature of Christ
is denied, or considered as swallowed up and ab
sorbed by the divine, " like a drop of honey cast into
the sea23." It needs some little stretch of thought
to see the real bearing of these heresies, which at
first sight have an appearance of being tolerable
speculations on obscure subjects. But a short re
flection will shew that they have really a definite
connection with false principles of a far-reaching
and practically evil tendency.
Consider first how Pantheism is encouraged by the
Sabellian theory, which makes God only one abso
lutely in Himself, and threefold merely in His tem
poral manifestations. It takes away that power of
conceiving the existence of God apart from the world,
and from His revelations in the world, which the true
Trinitarian doctrine affords, and which is essential
to a real belief in His personality. For, by the
help of the doctrine of the Trinity, as explained
by the Church, we are able to conceive of God
as perfect and complete in Himself from eternity,
and as wanting nothing for His display or de-
22 This comparison is attributed to the Eutychian speaker in
Theodoret's Eranistes, dial. 2 (ed. Schulze, iv. p. 114). Cp. Dor-
ner, Person of Christ, E. T., div. ii. vol. i. p. 84, who says that,
although Eutyches himself may not have used this simile, " yet
no comparison of the view as set forth by him, can be more relevant
than that to such a chemical permeation of the human nature by
the divine, as allowed the former still continuing in some sense
to exist."

II.] Sabellian and Eutychian types of Heresy. 53
velopment. God is not presented to us as exist
ing in cold and barren isolation, but as hav
ing a fulness and blessedness of loving relations
within His own nature. The Father is ever truly
Father, because He sees Himself ever reflected in
His express image and likeness in the Divine Son,
and there never was a time when the Father and
the Son were not bound together by the co-operation
of the Holy Spirit, " searching the deep things of
God " (1 Cor. ii. 10). God, then, lay under no ne
cessity to create the world : creation added nothing
to His glory or His blessedness. But to the Sa
bellian all this is otherwise. To him, God without
the world is an undeveloped monad, to whom crea
tion is a necessary act of self-unfolding, and to whom
the universe supplies a theatre for His complete
expansion and manifestation S3. The world is to the
Sabellian, not indeed precisely an emanation from
God in the Pantheistic sense, but at least a ne
cessary condition of His development ; and God is,
therefore, brought under the dominion of an im
personal principle, or fate, superior to Himself. The
transition from this to Pantheism is very easy, as
we see in Schleiermacher 2i and some who follow him.
23 On the pantheistic tendencies of Sabellius, cp. Dorner, Doctrine
of the Person of Christ, E. T. vol. ii. p. 157 foil., and pp. 288, 473.
St. Athanasius, contra Arianos, iv. 11 — 14, tries to fix on him the
doctrine that creation is a self-evolution of the Monas, which he
compares to the Stoic ' expansion.'
24 On the Sabellian leanings of Schleiermacher, see TJeberweg,
Hist, of Philosophy, vol. i. p. 311, E. T. On his anticipation of
Strauss, and admiration of Spinoza, lb., ii. pp. 248, 249, e.g. :
"Offer reverentially with me a lock to the manes of the holy,
rejected Spinoza ! He was filled with the lofty world-spirit, the

54 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect.'
To the Sabellian, therefore, God is not so much a
creator as a generator, or producer; and the world
is His son rather than His creature, brought into
being because, otherwise, the Divine nature would
be sterile and incomplete. To the Christian, on the
other hand, creation is an act of pure love, and the
first of those external acts of love which make God's
other acts of revelation to His creatures so credible
and so reasonable.
The Eutychian or Monophysite class of heresies
are in Christology what Sabellianism is in theology
proper, they confound the human and divine natures
of the Saviour, just as that confounds the persons of
the blessed Trinity. It is easy to perceive the result
of this insidious mistake. With the loss of the hu
man nature, the life of Christ readily becomes an
idea instead of a fact, a myth or poem, the details of
which may be as unreal as those of the romantic life
of Buddha. The connection of this heresy with the
Pantheistic school is self-evident, and the example
of Strauss may shew that men, who begin by pro
fessing reverence for religion, and who claim to be
merely seeking to discover its central Idea freed from
illusions and strained from foreign matters, may end
in blank atheism.
Such is in outline the character of the pantheistic
infinite was his beginning and his end ; the universe his only and
eternal love," &c. Cp. Pfleiderer, Religions philosophic, pp. 115,
foil. (Berlin, 1878); Dorner, System of Chr. Doct., i. p. 401. It
may be remarked that the Scotist theory of the Incarnation may
possibly be connected with Sabellian tendencies. But the drift
of Scotus' philosophy seems rather to be Deistic, as far as it is
exposed to criticism. See below, p. 63.

IL] Anthropomorphic Deism. Secularism. 55"
side of heresy. We must now turn to its opposite,
anthropomorphic Deism, and to the allied and neigh
bouring forms of error. While Pantheism practically
ignores the will, either in God or man, and confuses
all things together, Deism gives man an exaggerated
independence, and discriminates with excessive sharp
ness in the interests of human Pride. To the narrow,
selfish mind of the Deist, God appears chiefly as an
enlarged man, and as a being to be kept jealously at
a distance. He is regarded not only as distinct from
the world, but as outside it. He is not only supra-
mundane, but extra-mundane. He is the Creator
of the universe, which He leaves to itself without
further interference on His part, to act according to
the Laws of Nature, which He has imposed. Hence,
to the Deist, miracles, though not theoretically im
possible, are not to be expected ; and whatever re
demption is necessary, is left to man to work out for
himself. The idea of the Christian revelation is ab
horrent to him ; all that man requires, in his opinion,
is to use his natural reason, and to follow the teach
ing of the inward light.
Historically speaking, Deism has not had such
a definite, systematic existence as Pantheism. It
has been rather a hard rust or canker, hindering
the action of other religions, than a religion in it
self. Wherever men are found of strong powers and
nervous energies, especially when joined to a cold
temperament, Deism has come in to intensify and
deepen the gulf between God and man, and to re
present His relation to us as that of an external Law-

56 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God: [Lect.
giver, rather than one of ever-present and ubiquitous
contact. In cases like this, the feeling of God's
grace has disappeared, and a scheme of moral duty
has been erected in its place, which man is declared
capable of fulfilling in his own strength. In the
higher schools of Deism this law of conduct is re
garded as divine, though communicated to man only
through his conscience, or by the agency of great
human teachers, of whom our Saviour is indeed con
sidered the best and greatest. Hence we get the
various attempts which have been made to establish
religions of morality without a creed, and Churches
ruled by a merely human order and discipline. In
the lower schools of Deism, both religion and reli
gious discipline are given up, and morality is based
simply on expediency, with considerable deference
to the will of the stronger and of the majority, and
little or none to the will of God. The descent from
this to the democratic secularism, which is the ideal
of so many of our working-men, is easy enough ; and
this is perhaps the most imminent danger of our
own age and country.
Let us now, in pursuance of our method, refer to
some of the manifestations of this tendency in earlier
times, and to the forms of it which gradually ap
proach Christian truth. As a general rule, . pre-
Christian religions tended to polytheism, pantheism,
or dualism. There is one, however, which is an ex
ception, and which presents us almost with pure
Deism, namely, the State religion of China, which
we sometimes rather inexactly call Confucianism.

II-] State Religion of China. 57
This creed recognizes God (Ti or Shang Ti)25 or
Heaven (Tien) as one and supreme, but removes
Him far from ordinary life. He is worshipped pub
licly by the Emperor alone on behalf of the State,
and only at the great sacrifices at the solstices and
the beginning of spring26. The language of some
of the prayers, composed for this service about the
time of our own Eeformation, has recently been
quoted by a well-known authority, and is too remark
able to be passed over. Though comparatively re
cent, there is no reason to suppose them other than
a fair representation of this worship at a much ear
lier date. I venture to repeat a few of the most
striking sentences 27 : —
"Thou hast vouchsafed, 0 Ti, to hear us, for thou re-
gardest us as our Father . . . ."
"When Ti, the Lord, had so decreed, He called into ex
istence the three powers (heaven, earth, and men). Be
tween heaven and earth He separately disposed men and
25 The name of God in Chinese has been a fertile subject of dis
pute among missionaries. But the practical question what word
should be used in modern translations of the Scripture is one thing,
and that of the meaning to be attached to Tl or Shang- Tl in the
Chinese Classics is another. Supposing Shang-Tl to be now the
name of an idol, that does not prove that it was not originally the
name of God. I think it therefore quite safe to follow Professors
Legge and Max Miiller in regard to the old religion, without en
tering upon the practical question. See the introduction to the
Sacred Books of China, (Oxford, 1879).
26 A detailed description of these services is given by Dr. Ed-
kins, The Religions of China, chap. ii. entitled ' Imperial "Worship '
(ed. 2, Lond., 1878). There are at present separate altars for the
Spirits of Heaven and Earth, but this was not the original inten
tion : ibid., p. 29.
27 Dr. J. Legge, Religions of China, pp. 47 foil. (London, 1880).

58 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect,
things, all overspread by the heavens. I, His small ser
vant, beg His (favouring) decree to enlighten me His vassal ;
so may I for ever appear before Him in the empyrean."
And again : —
" The service of song is completed, but our poor sincerity
cannot be fully expressed. Thy sovereign goodness is in
finite. As a potter hast Thou made all living things. Great
and small are curtained round (by Thee from heaven). As
engraven on the heart of Thy poor servant is the sense of
Thy goodness, but my feeling cannot be fully displayed.
With great kindness Thou dost bear with us, and notwith
standing our demerits, dost grant us life and prosperity 2S."
There is a grave and manly tone about these
prayers, which seems the expression of sincere feel
ing, though even in its highest utterances we may
detect a want of enthusiasm. But the great defect
is the . rarity of the service of the God who is so
highly honoured, and the absence of anything like
a continuous impulse to communion with Him. The
people know nothing of Him, except in the vague
references to heaven in their life and conversation 29.
Confucius himself avoided using the personal name
of God 30, and the ordinary worship of this religion
is that of a multitude of celestial and terrestrial
spirits and departed ancestors, including Confu
cius himself. These beings are arranged in de-
28 J. Legge, Religions of China, pp. 49, 50. 29 Ibid.,
pp. 251, 252.
30 Ibid., p. 139. In his Life and Teaching of Confucius, p. 100,
ed. 3, 1872, Dr. Legge says : — " I would say that he was unreligious
rather than irreligious : yet by the coldness of his temperament
and intellect in this matter, his influence is unfavourable to the
development of true religious feeling among the Chinese people

II.] State Religion of China. 59
partments and offices like Ministers of State, and
stand between the people and the sovereign God,
very much as local officials do between the provin
cials and the unseen Emperor. Further, the Chi
nese sacred books are not supposed to be inspired,
or to contain the record of a revelation, in the way
that those of other nations are said to be and to
do 31. Nor is there anything like the usual feeling
of the guilt of sin or of the need of sacrifice and
atonement, expressed in them, though these ideas are
not absolutely wanting. And hence follows that self-
satisfaction and want of sensibility to supernatural
life, to break down which is found so hard a task
by Christian missionaries. Tet the character of the
Chinese is by no means so wanting in mobility as
we are sometimes prone to believe. The rational
State-religion shares its claims upon their allegiance
in common with Taoist and Buddhist superstition,
both of which in great measure owe their success
to the revolt of human nature against the coldness
of the older creed. We cannot doubt, then, that
China will one day become Christian. May God
grant that some of ourselves may be instrumental
to her conversion !
This great people, as we have said, forms the ex
ception to the general character of heathenism. But
if China is the only pre-Christian nation with a really
generally, and he prepared the way for the speculations of the
literati of medieval and modern times, which have exposed them
to the charge of atheism."
31 J. Legge, The Sacred Books of China, part i. p. xv. (Oxford,
1879).

60 Biblieal Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect.
deistic religion, all stronger and more progressive
nations have shewn a large infusion of deistic feel
ings. This is the case, for instance, in the philo
sophy of Aristotle, and the Stoics in Greece and in
the Eoman empire. With all their differences of
detail, they agree in assuming the law of duty, and
the ability of man to fulfil it in his own strength.
No one can read the description of Aristotle's cha
racters, or those of the ideal Stoic and Cynic in Se
neca and Epictetus, without feeling that we are in
a very different atmosphere from that of Hindu pan
theism. The conceptions of a law of nature and of
nations, of a hero, of the typical good man, of the
typical wise man, of virtue as a habit of moral choice,
the doctrine of the mean, of the limitation of know
ledge to what is in our power to know, in fact, all
the furniture of the Aristotelian and the Stoic moral
philosophy, is deistic, though it is grafted on a re
ligious theory which is technically of another kind.
This tendency of the philosophy of the great Euro
pean nations aided, it would seem, in bringing about
a partial fusion of deistic principles with Jewish and
Christian monotheism, especially in certain schools.
The connection of Judaism with Stoicism 32 is obscure,
and its exact bearings can perhaps never be fully
known. There is not sufficient material to define pre
cisely which was the borrower and which the lender.
32 Josephus, Life, § 2, compares the Pharisees to the Stoics.
[Bp.j Lightfoot in his essay on St. Paul and Seneca (Philippians,
p. 297), calls attention to the Eastern and Semitic origin of Sto
icism, and believes that some of the coincidences of language be
tween Seneca and the New Testament " can hardly be considered
accidental."

II.] Religion of China. Aristotle and the Stoics. 61
It is, however, I believe, indubitable that the later
Stoics were influenced by Jewish and even Chris
tian ideas, if not by direct contact, at any rate by
that subtle infiltration of thought which makes con
temporaries sympathetic without conscious communi
cation. More obvious, however, is the Deistic in
fluence of certain Jewish schools in the Christian
Church. Amongst the Pharisees the Mosaic law,
which was intended to break the neck of Pride, was
perverted into an instrument of Pride. The com
mand, " This do, and thou shalt live," was twisted
into an assumption that man was able in his own
strength to work out his own salvation. The Phari
sees looked upon God as a Being whose only relation
to themselves was a formal one, who could be treated
as fully known and accounted for, who could be
cheated with subterfuges like that of Korban, and
so be practically left out of consideration. They
could reckon up their duty to Him as to a man,
and so eliminate all mystery from religion. Hence
they shrank from any further revelation, and pre
ferred to treat our Saviour as an impostor and de
ceiver of the people ; or, if they were to some ex
tent attracted by His presence, they wished to lay
down the terms of miraculous evidence on which
they would consent to believe. The Pharisees asked
for a sign, somewhat in the spirit which now requires
that a miracle should be performed in London or
Paris, such as would satisfy the tests of a commission
of scientific men 33. Their opponents, the Sadducees,
33 Cp. Eenan, Les Apotres, p. xliv. ed. 1, 1866; " Tin miracle
a Paris, devant des savants competents, mettrait fin a tant de

62 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect.
to whose sect the chief-priests belonged, went even
farther in their contempt34; and having made up
their minds that a miracle was out of the question,
openly mocked the Crucified, and called upon Him
to come down from the Cross. In them, Deism led
to mere brutality.
Such was the wretched condition of those who
professed themselves heirs of the faith of Abraham
and Moses. Such, too, is the influence of Deism
in other places. If we trace the working of this
spirit through the centuries behind us, we shall find
it everywhere shewing an abhorrence of mystery,
deifying common sense, and rationalizing away every
thing that can wound human self-satisfaction. Out
side the Church, it has had immense power in form
ing the eclectic religion of Mahomet, which is above
all things a religion of Pride and of formal works,
though its doctrine, of divine decrees, when interpret
ed in a fatalistic and necessarian sense, gives it a Pan
theistic impulse which has been developed in Sufiism35.
doutes ! Mais, helas ! voila ce qui n'arrive jamais." In censur
ing such a sentiment, we must not forget the provocation given
by the pious frauds and credulities of some modern popular
shrines in France.
34 It is a mistake to confuse the attitude of the Pharisees and the
Sadducees to our Lord and to miracles, though this is often uncon
sciously done. The contrast between them appears, e.g., in the
case of Nicodemus, and in the different conduct of the two parties
in the Sanhedrim. (Cp.Westcott on John xi. 46 — 49, xii. 19.)
35 On the Divine decrees (Taqdi'r), see T. P. Hughes, Notes on
Muhammadanism, p. 98, ed. 2, Lond. 1877. On Sufiism, or Mysti
cism, which teaches that God "is in all things, and all things in
Him, and all created beings visible and invisible are an emanation
from God, and not really distinct from Him," see ibid. pp. 227 foil.
The doctrine of Divine decrees has, however, a deistic side (when

IL] The Jewish Sects. Islam. 63
But in the Koran, the character of God is chiefly an
extension of that of man, and, as has been well ob
served36, it has "raised a notion of the Supreme
Being which is rather an extension of the large-
minded and sagacious man of the world, than an
extension of man's virtue and holiness  Such
a man is indulgent as a simple consequence of his
knowledge, because nothing surprises him. So the
God of Mahomet forgives by reason of his vast
knowledge." Inside the Church, this deistic spirit is found domi
nating many heresies. We find it in the Arian and
Macedonian conceptions of the Blessed Trinity, in
the ruder Ebionite Christology and the more plausible
speculations of Nestorius, and in their revival in
Spanish Adoptionism. We find it germinant in
the Antiochene school of biblical interpretation, and
bursting out again and again in Pelagian self-suffici
ency in morals. It meets us in Abelard, and, to some
extent, in Duns Scotus 37 amongst the schoolmen, and
in Socinus, Zwinglius, and perhaps Arminius amongst
the reformers. It startles us in. the strangely ex
aggerated cultus of the Blessed Virgin 38 in the Church
they are interpreted as arbitrary motions of God's will), as we see
in the theology of Duns Scotus. Cp. Dorner, System of Chr. Doct.,
i. pp. 428— 431.
36 Mozley, Bampton Lectures on Miracles, Lect. VII., p. 142,
ed. 3, 1872.
37 TJeberweg, Hist, of Philosophy, i. p. 456 bottom, E. T., (Lond.,
1872). Cp. Dorner, Person of Christ, div. 2. vol. i. pp. 342 — 346,
for the Adoptionist leanings of Scotus, and their connection with
Mariolatry ; and ibid., vol. ii. p. 260 foil., for his position as a pre
cursor of Socinianism.
38 Dr. Newman, in his Essay on the Development of Christian

64 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect.
of Eome, in the erection of the pope into an idol, and
in the whole formal system of morals which has weak
ened that Church so much in the eyes of thought
ful men. It lays a heavy grasp upon English thought,
first in Lord Herbert of Cherbury and in Thomas
Hobbes, and then in the band of eighteenth-century
writers, who are generally, but somewhat loosely,
called the Deists. It hardens the theology of the
orthodox, and drives popular religion into a fanatic
and pietistic reaction. It becomes popular and prac
tically powerful in Voltaire, and in the revolution
ists that followed him, and professorial in the Ger
man school of rationalists. It confronts us in our
own day in that destructive criticism of the New
Testament, which is specially the creation of Baur
and his associates in the school of Tubingen — criti
cism which is sometimes acute and vigorous, but
more often captious and unhistorical ; and it insin
uates itself, with yet more intolerable self-confidence,
in the highly-varnished romances of the French aca
demician, who, with the false courage of the study,
dares to patronize our Lord and His Apostles 39.
Doctrine (p. 405, ed. 1), made a strong point of the cultus of the
Blessed Virgin taking the place of Arianism. The fact is probable ;
but it is surely to be interpreted in a sense very widely different
from that in which he took it. Indeed, to an ordinary mind, this
part of the Essay seems to tell astonishingly against the general
argument of the author, and to shew the great danger of a corrupt
development, when theology follows a mere popular instinct. Cp.
Dr. Mozley's criticism in his article on The Theory of Develop
ment (pp. 53—73, reprinted in 1878 from the Christian Remem
brancer of Jan., 1847, vol. xiii. p. 154 foil.).
39 M. Eenan might, perhaps, seem to some to belong rather to
the pantheistic side. He talks of the " Pere celeste" in the same

JL] Deistic types of Heresy. 65
Time would fail us to speak in any detail of these
various movements of thought ; but I would venture
to impress upon you the great value of a connected
study of such things. When, for example, we treat
Nestorianism and Pelagianism side by side, then we
understand why the condemnation of Nestorius was
necessary, at once as a dogmatist who did not rightly
apprehend the Creed, and as a moralist, who gave
countenance and support to those who exaggerated
human independence, and depreciated the marvels
of Divine grace 40. Or again, when we find deistical
writers, like Hobbes, making a strong point of prov
ing the late date and unauthentic character of the
books of the Bible, we learn the animus and ten
dency of much modern criticism in the same direc
tion, and have some reason to suspect it of preju-
breath as he says, "la terre est une bonne mere" (Les Apotres,
p. Ixi. ed. 1, 1866). In him the influence of Strauss and the
Hegelian "left" coalesces with that of Baur; but his attempt to
reduce our Lord to a position purely within the lines of human
history, leads me to rank him in this place with the Deists. "We
find the same combination of different heretical positions, as early
as the time of Cerinthus; and there is, I believe, nowadays an
increasing tendency to unite an Ebionitic, or purely humanitarian
conception of " the life of Jesus," with a Docetic or ideal Chris
tology. Cp. Dorner, System of Chr. Doctrine, i. p. 415, note.
40 The relation of these heresies is put very powerfully in an
article on Theodore of Mopsuestia and Modem Thought, in the first
volume of the Church Quarterly Eeview. This valuable paper [by
my friend, Dr. L. G. Mylne, Bp. of Bombay, then a Tutor of Keble
College] was one of the fruits of Dr. Mozley's work as Professor
with a class of Graduates, who used to meet on Monday afternoons
at his lodgings in Christ Church. Those who formed this class
read papers of their own in the Summer Term. In the other
Terms, he gave us lectures of his own on Old Testament History
(since published), and on St. Augustine. P

66 Biblical Theism and other Ideas of God. [Lect.
dice, even though the prejudice may be unconscious.
Members of that school, at least, which makes so
much use of the argument of dogmatic preposses
sion in order to throw doubt upon the character and
truthfulness of what we hold to be the inspired
Scriptures, cannot wonder if we apply the same test
to themselves, and learn to doubt the absolute scien
tific impartiality of their methods, when we find them
deeply imbued with the deistic dislike of revelation.
These are merely instances of the manner in which
a connected historical review of doctrines may help
to confirm faith. For any one who has once tho
roughly perceived the intellectual obliquity, the one-
sidedness, and the deterioration of character, to which
both Deism and Pantheism lead, will not hesitate to
turn away from anything which can be seen to tend,
even remotely, to either of them. If a man will but
make up his mind not to drift in questions of re
ligion, but to make his belief a matter of deliberate
moral choice, founded on a comparison both of prin
ciples and results, he will certainly choose that re
ligion which gives the fullest satisfaction and exer
cise to all his powers. He will determine not to be
one-sided, not to yield to the pressure of inclination
or mental habit, but with the help of God's grace to
form of himself a full-grown, complete, and, in the
Biblical phrase, a perfect man. And, without doubt,
the foundation of this completeness is to be found
in the truth revealed to Moses. For that truth makes
known to us a God who is omnipresent and universal
in His activity, whose grace touches and sustains us
at every point, who is at once by His power in the

IL] Religion, a matter of Moral Choice. 67
grain of dust at our feet and in the immeasurable
grandeur and distance of the stars, in the stillness
of the everlasting hills and in our own beating hearts.
It teaches us also of One who is the Author of law
and order, who imposes a limit even upon Himself
in His revelations, who does nothing arbitrarily, ac
cidentally, or unreasonably, and who wills that His
creatures should feel themselves free even in His
awful presence.

p2

PANTHEISTIC TENDENCY.

Infinity without Per
sonality.
The one without the
MANY.
God and nature con-
substantial.
History a course of
necessity and evo
lution.
Development without
morality.
Cheist a myth.
The Gospels legend
ary impostures.

The Church an idea,
not a fact.

God, perfect good
ness, but not per
fect power.
Spirit and matter,
good and evil, co-
eternal.
Strong sense of un
cleanness without
sense of sin as vo
luntary.
Cheist a Eedeemer,
but only of those
born in the spiri
tual class.

The Church the so
ciety only of the
spiritual.

Gnostic, or Hea-
thenTypeof He
resy. 3

The Trinity a triple
manifestation of
one person.
Noetians, Sabellians,
Patripassians, &c.
Christ not perfect
man.
Docetse (His body a
phantom).
ApoHinarians (no
human reason in
Christ).
Eutychians (human
nature absorbed).
Monothelites (human
will absorbed).
Antinomians, the
elect above Law.

Faith in excess lead
ing to pretended
knowledge.

THE ONE
RELIGION.
Christian Truth.

DEISTIC TENDENCY.

God Infinite and Per
sonal.
The One in Theee.
God above all things,
yet all things have
their being in Him.
The kingdom of God
in the world, but
not of the world.
Faith and works uni
ted by Love.
Cheist, the Truth,
the Word and Wis
dom of God, the
one Mediator, unit
ing the two Natures
in One Person.
The Church both an
idea and a fact.

Pelagian, or Jew
ish Type of He
resy. (3)

The Trinity a union
of diverse and sub
ordinated natures.
Arians, Macedonians
(The Word and the
Holy Spirit not
perfectly one with
God).
Ebionites. Photinians (Christ a
mere man).
Nestorians (two per
sons).
Adoptionists (Christ,
in His humanity,
the adopted Son
of God).
Pelagians (man self-
redeemed).
Hope in excess lead
ing to pretended
assurance.

Islam. (2)

God, perfect power,
but not perfect
goodness.
An arbitrary line
drawn between
good and evil.
Sense of sin very
slight. God forgives
' as a sagacious
man of the world
Cheist a prophet, but
no mediation is re
quired between God
and man.

Deism. (1)

Personality without
Infinity.
The many without
the one.
God and Nature
sharply divided.
History a conflict of
free-will and self-
acting law.
Morality without re
ligion.
Cheist a good man.
The Gospels of lata
date, and unau
thentic.

The Church the so
ciety of those who
do certain acts and
profess certain doc
trines.

The Church a human
society.

X0te.  The columns marked 1 (1), 2 (2), 3 (3), should be more particularly compared as antithetical to one another.

69

LECTURE III.

ACTS xvii. 24, 26, 27.
God that made the world and all things therein, .... hath
made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all
the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before
appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they
should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him,
and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us.

THE NATUEAL EXPECTATION OF DIVINE TRUTH, AND
THE CONFESSION OF HUMAN INCAPACITY
OF ATTAINING TO IT.
Innate Passion for Truth. — Non -Cirri stian religious systems to be
approached with sympathy and reverence. (1.) God speaking
in the voices of nature. — Thunder. — "Wind. — The Sea, &c. —
Light. — Profound character of Vedic Gods. — Apollo and Delphi.
— Socrates. (2.) God revealed in human forms. — Heroes. —
Kingly Incarnations. — Greece. — Mexico. — Scandinavia — Egypt.
— China. — Eome. — Avatars. — Krishna. — Buddha. (3.) Sacred
books : Avesta. — Vedas. — High idea of Inspiration.
Shortcomings of these revelations confessed by the heathen them
selves : Plato. — Cicero. — Seneca. — Porphyry. — The poets. —
God, who gave much, withheld His best gift of rest.
rjIHE one blood of all nations, the unity of the
human race, of which St. Paul spoke so stir
ringly before the Athenian people, is no abstraction
of philosophy or theology. It is a fact, which
meets us wherever we turn ; and not least in
that universal eagerness for knowledge, to which
the great heathen teacher testifies : " All men "

70 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect-
(it is confessed) "by nature desire knowledge1."
This desire may aim high or low; it may be a
generous ardour, or a mere curiosity ; but all men
have it in some form. To possess the truth gives
us something to build upon; we reach down to
the solid substance of things ; (to speak reverently)
we touch and find the eternal God.
This thought explains why there is so much of
passion aroused by disputes respecting truth and
falsehood. We are like people battling for stand
ing-ground on a rock in the midst of the waters ;
and if our neighbours deceive us, they push us
back, as it were, into the ocean of uncertainty.
And so, from childhood onwards, we ask with eager
anxiety, "Is it true?"; we vehemently denounce
a supposed liar as one who defrauds us of our rights ;
and we are feverishly desirous of knowing anything
that is purposely concealed from us, even when it
is probably of small importance.
Much more are we roused if the mystery is one
which specially affects our profession, or our pros
pects in life. Such enquiries produce a stir in the
blood, and a sleepless excitement, quite unique in
the scale of human feelings ; and disappointment
in the pursuit is allowed to be, of all others, per
haps the most bitter. But nowhere is this feeling
of desire for truth so universally active as in what
we more definitely call religion. For nothing ob
viously so much concerns us (when once we are
roused to perceive it) as religious truth ; and our
1 Aristotle, Metaphysics, opening sentence.

III.] Men drawn towards God. 71
desire to know it is always stimulated by a sense
of mystery and concealment. For religion does
not, like philosophy, display to us an abstract rela
tion of the finite to the infinite, but a personal
relation of man to God, of finite man to the In
finite and Personal God. No relation, it is clear,
can be so important, or so wonderful as this. Even
in human relationships there is a strange indefinable
mystery, a natural drawing and passing of soul to
wards soul, wondrous as the way of a bird through
the air, or of a serpent on the rock ; how much
more when we are pressing forward to know our
Maker and our Judge, and our own eternal con
dition in regard to Him !
The object, then, of the present Lecture is, in the
first place, to put before our eyes a faithful picture
of the way in which the nations of the world — whose
times God has allotted, and whose bounds He has
set — have experienced this mysterious drawing to
wards Him, and have felt, as it were, with their
hands, after Him, and not all in vain have sought
to find Him. Yet if we listen attentively, we
shall hear a sad epilogue to all these strivings,
a confession wrung with tears from many noble
souls, that what they found did not satisfy the
tests which truth should satisfy, that the living rock
was not reached, that God was not clearly known.
Such will be the argument before us this morning.
In the next Lecture, we shall endeavour, with God's
grace, to shew that the truth which the heathen
looked for with such ill -success has been found
in the creed of Christendom; at any rate, that it

72 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
bears upon it the marks which, to a reasonable
mind, religious truth would and should bear.
Our first thesis, that man naturally considers
God as his teacher and guide, is capable of almost
endless illustration. We see it most simply, per
haps, in the revelations which men have drawn
from external nature, from signs and omens and
sacrifices, from oracles and divinations ; we find it
taking another shape in the belief in incarnations
of the deity, and the help afforded by Gods and
sons of Gods come down in the likeness of men ;
and lastly, we perceive it in its most powerful and
permanent form, in the inspiration attributed to
particular books and writings. On all these topics
you may naturally expect some details.
But, before entering upon them, I would call
your attention to one necessary caution. Let us,
when considering these phenomena, remember that
the study of their so-called origin is one thing,
and a right estimate of their religious value an
other. It is at present far too common a habit
of mind to be satisfied with tracing out the con
ditions and circumstances under which a belief or
a religious custom arises in the world. Some men
exhaust themselves in classifying the phenomena of
religion under this or that heading of myth or
symbol. They are careful, for instance, to assign
their due influence to fetishism on the one hand, and
to animism on the other ; they distinguish the va
rious phases of belief in God, and the growing per
ceptions with which it is accompanied; they have
carefully framed theories of prayer and sacrifice ;

III.] -Heathen Beliefs to be treated reverently. 73
they trace the steps by which the self-regarding
morality of the family or tribe rises to a feeling of
universal duty. But, when they have done all this
useful work — and very useful and necessary it is
— they are in danger, and leave their readers in
danger, of tacitly assuming that the subject is closed,
and that religion is a natural development, out of
which the positive action of God, as a real existing
Being, is excluded. Their mouths are full of the
various ways in which other men have thought of
God, but He Himself is far from their own thoughts.
His Name is constantly on their lips, but some of
them would know more of Him in reality, if they
were " pagans suckled in a creed outworn."
Let us, at any rate, as Christians (which should
be, amongst other things, equal to saying 'as rea
sonable men'), let us, I say, avoid this folly. We
cannot be content with a mere museum of religious
beliefs, however scientifically arranged, and grateful
as we must be to those who have toiled so patiently
to fill it. To us Christians the religion of hea
thenism is rather a mysterious, half-ruined temple ;
and one in which it is more meet to fall down and
worship, than to wander unawed and unabashed,
noting each column and capital, each change of style
and variation of artistic finish, without thinking of
Him for whose glory it was reared.
1. Such a caution as this may enable us rightly
and reverently to pass on to a study of those his
torical facts, which otherwise might seem a mass
of even ridiculous superstitions. First of all then, let
us say a few words on the consciousness of God's pre-

74 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
sence, which has been roused in men by the voices
of nature. Who does not feel instinctively with
David, when he cries out: "It is the Lord that
commandeth the waters : it is the glorious God that
maketk the thunder. It is the Lord that ruleth
the sea; the voice of the Lord is mighty in oper
ation, the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice" ?
(Ps. xxix. 3, 4, P.-B. V.)
So, also, our ancient Aryan forefathers seemed
to hear the heavy rolling of the chariot-wheels of
Indra2, of Zeus, or of Thor3, and were solemnized
at his presence, as he drew near to visit or to
judge them. And the Hindus especially connected
this feeling of awe with faith. The old Yedic poet
exclaims, "Men have faith in the fiery Indra, when
he hurls again and again his destroying thunder
bolt;" and once more, as he pours his solemn liba
tion, the worshipper cries, "Poured out with holy
words, with truth, with faith, with austere fervour,
0 Soma, flow for Indra 4."
It was but a step further to read in these thunder-
ings and lightnings a voice intended to guide and
reprove, and to construct something of that theory
of auspices with which we are familiar in classical
writers. The oldest oracle of Greece, that of Dodona,
was perhaps originally a thunder- oracle, though in
timations of the Divine will were sought in histori
cal times in the whispering oak-leaves, and in other
2 Muir's Sanskrit Texts, v. p. 84 foil.
3 Grimm, Teutonic [Mythology, tr. by Stallybrass (Lond., 1880),
i. p. 166, foil.
1 Muir, v., pp. 103, 104; Rig-Veda, i. 55, 5; ix. 113, 2.

III.] God speaking in the Voices of Nature. 75
ways5. But above all was regard paid to such things
in Italy, and the most practical people of antiquity
dissolved their public assemblies when Jove thun
dered and lightened.
All the elemental forces, in fact, seemed to man
kind to be instruments of Divine speech. To the
Chaldeans, on their broad and featureless alluvial
plain, the orbs of heaven — with their intricate mo
tions and varied brilliancy, ruling hours, days and
months in their course — seemed palpably and above
all other powers to proclaim the will of Heaven.
To our Aryan forefathers, the ruder and less for
mal elements of nature seemed more vocal to the
wise than the single points of light.
Thus the wind is addressed in the Yedas as the
"Breath of the Gods and germ of the universe,
the God who moves as he lists, whose voices we
hear, though his form is not seen6." The roar
ing mysterious sea was the home of many oracu
lar deities, Nereus, Proteus, Glaucus, and the like.
In India the Eiver Goddess is also the Goddess
of Speech ; and in the great Epic (Mahabharata)
she is called " the mother of the Vedas," and is
invoked as a muse7. In Greece, too, the water-
nymphs are supposed to seize men and inspire them
with a sort of frenzied gift of prophecy. Fire, again,
5 F. "W. Myers, on Greek Oracles, in Hellenica, p. 440, (Eiving-
tons, 1880). They are more fully described by C. Carapanos,
Dodone et ses Ruines, pp. 164 foil. (Paris, 1878).
6 Prom the Yedic hymn to Yata the Blest, Rig-Veda, x. 168.
Cp. Max Miiller, Hibbert Lectures, p. 210 ; Muir, vol. v. p. 146.
* Muir 1. c. p. 342. Sarasvati was identified with Vach in
the later mythology.

76 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
was conceived as the messenger of the Gods, and its
motions, especially in sacrifice, were held to be of the
highest value in the ancient arts of divination 8. The
Hindu personification of fire — Agni — is specially
striking, and is in many respects like the Greek
Prometheus 9, only at an earlier stage of mythology.
He is the sage, the divinest among sages, who recti
fies all mistakes and teaches men the rules of worship.
He conveys to the Gods the hymns and sacrifices,
and summons them to meet their worshippers ; and
yet he lives as a kinsman and friend in the midst
of every family10. But most of all, to our Aryan
ancestors, the more ample personifications of the sky
and of light were conceived to be the givers of truth
to men.
Even to the present day the Brahman, as he re
cites his morning devotions, utters as his most
sacred text the following prayer to the Sun-God :
- — " Let us meditate on that excellent glory of the
Diviue vivifier (Savitn). May he enlighten [or
stimulate) our understandings11."
But it is characteristic of India, that the Gods
8 Soph. Antigone, 1005 ML, &c.
9 Cf. JEsch. Prom., 484 foil. The name Prometheus appears
in Sanskrit as pramanthas, ' a fire-stick,' derived from a root sig
nifying 'to churn,' 'to agitate,' ' to rub violently.' We may com
pare the personification of Soma, the lado-Iranian libation, who
becomes a powerful God. 10 Muir, vol. v. pp. 202 foil.
11 This is called the Gayatri, and is taken from the Eig-Veda,
III. 62. 10. Cp. Monier "Williams, Indian Wisdom, p. 20 ; and
Muir, Sanskrit Texts, iii. p. 263, who gives rather a different
translation. The Sun-Gods, Surya, Savitn, and Pushan, are in
the Vedas, however, comparatively subordinate Gods: see the
passages collected by Muir, vol. v., under these heads.

III.] Depth of Vedic Ideas. 77
most invoked, even in the earliest times, have a
philosophical cast. Thus, in the Vedas, the highest
and truest conception of God is apparently that of
Varuwa, — etymologically the same as the Greek
ovpavos, — the God of the over-arching all-embracing
sky, and therefore not so much the God of garish
day, as of the deep mysterious night, when the
myriad stars lead our thoughts back and back into
the abysses of space. He is the God of deep thought
and wisdom, who reveals himself to the pondering
sage, while Mitra, the God of day, calls men to ac
tivity and joy ia. Varurea is everywhere, and knows
everything. Where two men are devising some
thing in secret, there he is as the third. " His mes
sengers descending from heaven traverse this world ;
thousand-eyed they look across the whole earth13."
But to the man who looks up to him with faith,
he reveals himself in the most intimate and loving
communion u.
It is certainly very astonishing to observe the
growth which solemn and mysterious ideas have at
tained in the better parts of these Vedic hymns.
We can hardly find elsewhere anything so striking
12 Muir, vol. v , esp. the quotation from 'Professor Eoth on p 70.
13 Ibid., p. 64.
14 See especially the hymns of the rishi or sage Vasishiha, quoted
by Muir, vol. v. pp. 66, 67. His words make us think, partly
by way of contrast, of Abraham, the ' friend ' of God. Cp. esp.
Rig- Veda, vii. 88: — ""Where are those friendships of us two?
Let us seek the harmony which (we enjoyed) of old. I have
gone, 0 self-sustaining Varuwa, to thy vast and spacious house
with a thousand gates. He who was thy friend, intimate, thine
own and beloved, has committed offences against thee," &c.

78 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
as the prominence given to Aditi, the mother of the
Gods, the "womb of the morning," who becomes the
personification of Infinity ; and Rita. 15, at first the
sun's allotted path through the sky, and then a gene
ral name for order and rightness, almost an antici
pation of that ideal Duty, of whom it is said, —
" Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong,
And the most ancient Heavens through thee are fresh
and strong."
We trace, even here, the dangerous tendency to
abstractions which has in the end, by a one-sided
development, entangled a most religious people in
the net of pantheism ; and yet they are abstractions
of wonderful beauty, telling us of the richness and
ripeness of the Hindu intellect, and filling us with
brilliant hopes for the future of that race, when it has
received the proper balance of Christian doctrine.
If we turn from India to Greece, we perceive at
once the difference in the prominence of the Sun-God
Apollo, as the mediator and revealer, conceived as
a figure of youthful human beauty, born amongst
men, working for them and with them, and dwelling
in their midst in his oracular shrines 16. Delphi be
comes the religious centre of Greece, and, we may
15 Max Miiller, Hibbert Lectures, No. 5 ; Muir, vol. v. sect. 3.
16 The Ion of Euripides gives a bright picture of the life of
Delphi, and of the kind of affectionate sentiment with which the
"common tripod of Hellas" was regarded. In the hands of this
poet the religious feeling is, however, much alloyed with those
" modern " elements, — the romantic, the sceptical, and the pic
turesque, which are so natural to him. It is much to be regretted
that we do not possess a play of -3<!schylu3 or Sophocles on a like
subject.

III.] The Delphic Oracle. 79
almost say, of the Mediterranean nations n. It is
appealed to on the highest State questions, of war
and peace, of building cities, sending out colonies,
and the like ; and also in private difficulties of every
kind. The method of consulting this oracle may be
described, as it is the best example of the ideas of
oracular inspiration generally prevalent in heathen
ism, shewing its weakness even in its stronghold.
The ceremony began by sacrificing a victim, which
was required not only to bow its head, as in other
sacrifices, but to tremble all over as the libation was
poured upon it. This was considered a sign that the
God was about to give a response 18. The Pythia, or
prophetess, prepared herself for executing her office,
by chewing laurel-leaves (the tree specially sacred to
the God), and drinking from the Castalian spring.
Being thus, as it were, in communion with him, she
took her seat upon the tripod, which was set over
a chasm, from which a certain intoxicating vapour
or gas was known to issue 19. The reception of this
was supposed actually to fill her with the divine
afflatus ; she fell into an ecstasy, and uttered strange
words with foaming mouth, an excitement which
sometimes even resulted in death80. These words

" The best summary of facts on the subject of Greek Oracles,
with which I am acquainted, is Mr. F. "W. H. Myers' Essay in
Hellenica, (Eivingtons, 1880) ; Cp. Dr. Mozley's Prize Essay, The
Influence of Ancient Oracles in Public and Private Life (Oxford,
printed by Baxter, 1835).
18 Plutarch, de defectu oraculorum, § 46, p. 435 C ; § 49, p. 437 A.
19 Oiigen, c. Celsum, vii. 3; Diodorus Siculus, pp.523, 524.
Cp. Virgil's " plena deo."
20 Longinus, c. 13. Plutarch, de defectu orac, § 51, p. 438 A.
Cp. Dollinger, Heidenthum, p. 188.

80 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
were taken down, and turned into metre by a pro
phet or poet, who stood by to listen to her ut
terances. The whole scene is repulsive, and it is easy to
imagine the few downward steps which lead from
the sanctuary of Apollo to the caves of witches and
necromancers, that peep and mutter in the corners
of the earth. Nor were priestess and prophet free
from all suspicion of bribery and undue influence in
their answers. Here, as elsewhere, the enemy of
mankind stepped in, to mar man's approach to the
kingdom of God.
Nevertheless, Delphi, on the whole, plays a noble
part in Greek history. It concentrates the rival
states, as it were, round one hearth and home ; it is
a spiritual, vivifying influence; it witnesses to the
deep ineradicable belief that God wills to teach and
guide men in their difficulties. Even the sceptical
Heraclitus confessed its power when he said : —
" The King, whose oracle is in Delphi, neither speaks
nor conceals, but signifies."
.And again : —
"The Sibyl, with raving mouth, while she utters un
lovely, unadorned, and inelegant words, yet, by the power
of the God, reaches with her voice to the distance of a
thousand years a."
But the highest testimony is that given by Socrates,
who, above all his countrymen, combined faith and
common sense in due proportion. The famous text
written up in the shrine at Delphi, " know thyself,"
was often referred to by him as the foundation of his
21 Heracliti Ephesii reliquics, ed. By water, pp. 11, 12.

III.] Socrates' relation to the Oracles. 81
philosophy22; and the answer given to his friend,
" that no one was wiser than Socrates," was wisely
interpreted by himself in no boastful spirit, and de
termined the direction of his whole career23. Hence
we are not surprised at finding him refer to ora
cles and portents, in dealing with a sceptic, as
some of the best proofs of the existence of a Di
vine Providenee 2i.
" What will convince you (says Socrates) that the Gods
really have a care for you ? "
" When they send, as you say they send, counsellors to
teach us what to do and what to avoid."
"But (rejoins Socrates) when the Athenians ask them
some question, and they reply by means of the art of divi
nation, do you not think that they really speak to you also ?
Or when they send portents to warn tbe Greeks, or it may
be all mankind, of something which is coming, do they
except you alone, and neglect you ? Or do you think that
the Gods would have given mankind an innate opinion
that they were able to do them good and evil, if they had
not tbe power, and that men would have been deceived
continually, and never have found out their mistake, if it
were not so26?"
The whole passage from which this is an extract
is well worth reading; and our confidence in So
crates is heightened, when we find that he made a
wise distinction between questions which should and
should not be referred to the God, refusing to ask
for revelation, where the exercise of good sense and
22 Xenophon, Mem. iv. 2. 24 ; Plato, Phmdrus, p. 229 E, &c.
28 Plato, Apol., p. 20 E. u Xen., Mem. i. 4. 15.
25 The Stoics argued the converse proposition. The Gods love
men, therefore they give man a knowledge of the future, which is
so advantageous to him. Cicero de Divinatione, i. 38.
G

82 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
judgment would suffice26. But, over and above
this good sense and judgment, he believed himself
to possess a certain Divine monitor, which is best
described as a supernatural voice, generally taking
the form of a restraint from some dangerous course
of action 27 ; and answering nearly to the Christian's
trust in the direoting grace of the Holy Spirit.
This faith on the part of Socrates had, no doubt,
great weight with his chief disciple, the most bril
liant representative of Greek religious thought.
Plato had the natural contempt of a thinker for
what seems irrational and ecstatic, and puts the
inspired seer low down in the scale of those who
have had any vision of Truth28. But he, never
theless, acknowledged the art of divination to be
a channel of truth, and declared it to be the office
of the intellect and reason to collect and criticise
the revelations made in these states of troubled
fancy29. And further, in his mature treatise on
the Laws, he prescribed resort to Delphi for the
whole body of the sacred ordinances of a state 30.
Facts like these, chosen from a multitude, may
serve to illustrate the trust in oracles entertained
by some of the highest minds of antiquity .
2. Something of this kind forms, perhaps, the first
26 Xen. Mem. i. 1. 6—9. *» Plato, Phcedrus, p. 242 B ;
Rep. iv. p. 496 C ; Euthyd., p. 272 E ; Apol., p. 40. Plato limits
the baifi.6vi.ov to restraint, while Xenophon, Mem. i. 4, iv. 3. 12,
extends its action to command also.
28 Phcedrus, p. 248 D ; Timceus, p. 71 D, E. Cp. John Smith's
Select Discourses, p. 187, 2nd ed. (Camb., 1673) ; Westcott, Study
of the Gospels, p. 6. » Cp. Charmides, p. 173 C. 30 Laws,
v. p. 428; vi. pp..759, 914.

III.] Gods living and travelling amongst Men. 83
step in the aspiration after religious certainty in
almost every race. For it is an old observation,
that most men rely upon themselves when things
go smoothly, and all turn to God in difficulties.
Less absolutely universal, but not less striking, is
that anthropomorphic instinct which grasps at a
vision of God in concrete and even tangible forms ;
an instinct to which we owe alike what is most
beautiful, and what is basest in heathenism. On
the one side, you have the radiant vision of Gods
of light and song; on the other, hideous and gro
tesque idols, and the worship of beasts and bestial
nature, and the deification of cruelty and lust. The
whole Grseco-Eoman mythology, with its world of
Gods and heroes, travelling about to teach men
arts and letters, like Demeter and Hermes and
Apollo, to build their walls and roads, and to help,
like Herakles, in the destruction of monsters, and
to join with them in the contests of love and war,
shews us this feeling working itself out with a pe
culiar simplicity, sometimes delightful, but often
frivolously and childishly immoral.
Very curious, too, are the parallels to all this in
far-off Mexico, where the travels of the Gods, and
their residence amongst men, sometimes as teachers,
sometimes as cruel and destructive magicians, form,
perhaps, the staple of the Aztec mythology. Nay,
so simple and quaint was this belief, that stone
seats were fixed at the corners of the streets for the
highest of their Gods 31 to rest upon ; seats canopied
31 Tezcatlipoca : see the authorities in H. Bancroft, Native Races
of the Pacific States, vol. iii. p. 239 (New York, 1875). The same
Q 2

84 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
over with green boughs, constantly renewed, and
rigorously kept from human occupation.
The same easy commerce between earth and hea
ven, with a somewhat grayer and ruder colouring,
appears in the old Norse legends of Thor, Odin,
and Loki32 walking the earth, or Heimdall beget
ting the three races of men 33. This latter idea, that
all men are in general, and some men specially,
the children and representatives of the Gods, is an
other and a very widespread issue of this instinct.
The deified monarchs of Egypt, China, and Rome ;
the "Jove-born kings" of Homer; the standing title,
"Father of Gods and men;" and the myth of the
origin of the four Hindu castes from different parts
of the body of Brahma34, are cases which occur to
every one.
The divinity ascribed to Egyptian kings is, indeed ,
marvellous in its audacity, and dates from the ear
liest times of which we have monumental evidence,
some 3,000 years, it is said, before the Christian
Era 35. The sovereign of Egypt is usually styled the
son of Ea, and "great God." He is seated upon
the throne of Horus, and claims authority over all
nations of the world. He is the " emanation " of
chapter contains the myths of other gods, esp. the gentle Quetzal -
coatl, who forbade human sacrifice. See below, Lecture V. Cp.
C. Hardwick's Christ and other Masters, pp. 372 foil. ed. 3, 1874.
32 Cp. Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, vol. i. p. 337, E. T.
33 See the Rigsmdl in Ssemund's Edda (Thorpe's translation, pp.
85—90, Trubner, 1866).
34 See the passages collected in Muir's Sanskrit Texts, vol. i.
chap. i. ed. 2, 1872.
3S See Eenouf, Hibbert Lectures, p. 161 foil. 1880.

III.] Deified Kings in Egypt, Rome, and China. 85
the Sun -God, and his living image upon earth.
" All lands, all nations, the entire compass of the
great circuit [of the sun], come to me as my sub
jects ; " such is the language of an Egyptian king 36.
And this language, strange and awful as it may
seem, does not appear to be merely official gran
diloquence, or courtier-like adulation, it reads like
a genuine expression of belief that the king is a
true impersonation of the deity, whose goodness
penetrates everywhere, whose eyes see everything,
and whose ears hear every secret 37.
The other country to which we should turn, ex
pecting to find similar expressions, is China, where,
at the present day, " Son of Heaven," and " august
or mighty God " (Hwang Ti), are common titles
of the Emperor.
The phenomenon here and at Eome is, indeed,
different from that in Egypt. It arose rather in
policy of state than in simple impulse, when a
comparatively late dynasty wished to establish its
position by claiming equal prerogatives with an old
and deified race of heroes 38. Yet, even in this de
graded and artificial form, it could not have taken
root without some foundation in natural feeling.
In both countries, this divinity ascribed to the
36 Amenophis II. ; Eenouf, 1. c. p. 163.
37 Cp. Mr. Goodwin's remarks, quoted by Eenouf, 1. c. p. 165 ;
and the ode to Pharaoh, in Records of the Past, vol. vi. p. 101.
38 Cp. Legge, Religions of China, p. 10, 1880; and especially In
troduction to the Shd-King, pp. xxv. foil., in Sacred Books of the
East, vol. iii. 1879. The title Hwang Tl, was taken, b.c 221, " by
the founder of the short-lived dynasty of Ehim, avowedly that he
might appear equal to Fu-hsi, and other ancient sovereigns."

86 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
Emperor, bears witness to the deep sense of the
people that sovereign power is a reflection of the Di
vine nature, that God is a God of order, and speaks
to man by and through man, and that He cares
for and watches over the regular political life of
His creatures. When, indeed, we consider the mar
vellous fact, absolutely unparalleled, I suppose, in
history, that China has been a settled state, in
which dynasties have followed dynasties for the whole
known period of perhaps 5,000 years, during which
we have details and records of human society ; that
it began to be thus settled as early as Egypt, and
has outlasted the Eomano-German empire ; we can
not wonder that men should form even this terribly
exaggerated estimate of the divinity of government.
Much less can we doubt that from that country
will issue, in God's good time, some new and glo
rious type of the Christian polity, when Christ shall
be recognised as the mighty God and Son of Heaven,
whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His
kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
But even more remarkable than this sort of king-
worship is the doctrine of Incarnation which has
prevailed in the later periods of Hinduism. Every
one has heard of the avatars, or descents of Vishnu,
by which he has appeared from time to time at
great crises, to shew his love for men, and his con
descension to their wants, sometimes in human form,
sometimes in that of animals39. In the majority of
39 The ten avatars are enumerated by Hardwick, Christ and other
Masters, p. 196, ed. 1874; and Monier "Williams, Indian Wisdom,
p. 329 foil. 1875, &c.

III.] Krishna and Gotama Buddha. 87
these, he is thought to have exhibited only a por
tion of his essence; but in that of Krishna, the
supreme God actually becomes man. There is some
thing attractive and Apollo -like in this figure of
the " dark God," which has made him the most
popular deity of great part of the peninsula; but
in his manifestations he does not rise above the
ordinary heathen level. His legend is full of strange
exaggerations, and freaks of licentious passion. He
dies by a chance shot from a hunter's hand, and
leaves the world to the desolation of the last, or
Kali age 40.
The other great quasi-Incarnation of the eastern
world, that of Sakyamuni, or Gotama Buddha, be
longs to a different, and certainly to a higher order
of things. Gotama was, we can hardly doubt, a real
man — the son, as is supposed, of a king in north
ern India, contemporary with Pythagoras in Greece,
and Confucius in China. He died after a long life
of some eighty years 41, the greater part of which had
been spent in philosophic teaching, about the year
40 The legend of Krishna, is comparatively modern. See H. H.
Wilson, Essays on the Religion of the Hindus, vol. ii. pp. 66 foil.,
ed. 2, 1862. He believes the Purawas to be none of them older
than the eighth or ninth century a.d. Cp. Banerjea, On the Hindu
Philosophy, pp. 517 foil.
41 Mahd-Parinibbdna-Sutta (Book of the Great Decease), ed. T.
~W. Ehys Davids, chap. v. § 62; Sacred Books, vol. xi. p. 106: —
"But twenty-nine was I when I renounced
The world, Subhadda, seeking after good.
For fifty years and one year more, Subhadda,
Since I went out, a pilgrim have I been
Through the wide realms of virtue and of truth,
And outside these no really ' saint ' can be."

88 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth, [Lect.
480 B.C. 42, almost at the same time as Confucius.
He was, in many respects, like the philosophers of
his age and country, and under the dominion of the
same prepossessions, especially that of a belief in
transmigration. But his sympathy with human life
was much deeper and wider, and his moral sense
much keener. He longed to deliver his countrymen
from a double slavery — at once religious and social.
Imagining himself to be possessed of perfect know
ledge, acquired by meditation and self-conquest, he
proclaimed that he could free men from the necessity
of repeated births, with their attendant misery, and
at the same time break down the bondage of caste,
by preaching a universal brotherhood. His words
are thus recorded : —
" It is through not understanding and grasping four
Noble Truths, 0 brethren, that we have had to run so
long, to wander so long in this weary path of transmigra
tion, both you and I.
" And what are these four ?
"The noble truth about sorrow; the noble truth about
the cause of sorrow; the noble truth about the cessation
12 On this date, see the evidence in Max Miiller's Dhammapada,
Sacred Books, vol. x. p. xxxvi. foil. (Oxf., 1881), a volume to
which (with part of vol. xi.) he has most kindly given me access
before its publication. He dates the death in 477 B.C., which nearly
agrees with Dr. 0. Frankfurter's date, b.c. 483. Mr. Ehys Davids
puts it, however, about 412. Cp. the Appendix on Buddhism at the
end of this volume. The date of Pythagoras' death is put at 497 B.C.
in Eusebius' Chronicle, but it may have been earlier or later : see
the discussion in Zeller, Pre-Socratic Philosophy, i. pp. 32^. foil.,
E. T., 1881. Confucius was born B.C. 551, and died b.c. 478 : see
J"- Legge, Life and Teachings of Confucius, pp. 57 and 87. Hard-
wick, in bis Christ and other Masters, called attention generally to
this synchronism of great teachers and great religious movements
in different countries.

III.] Gotama Buddha. 89
of sorrow ; and the noble truth about the path that leads
to that cessation. But when these noble truths are grasped
and known, the craving for existence is rooted out, that
which^ leads to renewed existence is destroyed, and then
there is no more birth43."
Hence he taught that if any man put implicit faith
in him as supremely Blessed, Holy and Enlightened,
and believed that he has proclaimed a universal Truth,
. ' of advantage in this world, passing not away, wel
coming all, leading to salvation,' and has set up a
Church which is the c supreme sowing-ground of merit
for the world,' such a man need not fear the misery
of re-birth.
Any one, of whatever race or position, who be
lieves in Buddha, his Law and his Church, can
triumphantly say, —
" Hell is destroyed for me ; and re-birth as an animal or
a ghost or in any place of woe. I am converted ; I am no
longer liable to be re-born in a state of suffering, and am
assured of final salvation 44."
What strikes us, first of all, in looking at this
pretended revelation, is the awful audacity and self-
reliance of this great teacher, the absence of any
thing like gratitude to God, or dependence upon Him
— which is a redeeming feature in Mahomet, and is
not absolutely wanting in Confucius. Gotama either
denied or ignored the two great motive and enno
bling truths of the existence of God and of the hu-
, i3 Mahd-Parinibbdna-Sutta (Book of the Great Decease), ed.
T. "W". Bhys Davids, chap. ii. § 1 ; Sacred Books, vol. xi. p. 23.
Cp. the same editor's Buddhism (S.P.C.K., p. 48).
u Mahd-Parinibbdna-Sutta, ut supra, ch. ii. § 8, p. 27.

90 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
man soul45, — truths which were doubtless terribly
obscured by the Brahmanism of his day, but were
certainly not unknown to many of his Hindu coun
trymen. He offered a refuge from misery by turning
away from the positive to the negative side of life.
He was a thorough-going pessimist, believing, as his
Hindu education inclined him to conclude, that the
supreme force in the world was that of action (karma)46,
not of love ; and having had burnt into him the misery
and sorrow which follows action, he taught that a
state of apathy, of death in life, the extinction of
passion and delusion (or, as he called it, Nirvawa)
was the highest goal of existence, and the true escape
from repeated births. Believing also that he, as
man, had reached, by his own strength, a summit
which placed him above all other beings, whether
Gods or men, he turned the attention of his disci
ples entirely on the attainment of merit and wisdom,
' each one for himself.' Buddhism, in one main as
pect, is Pelagianism run mad, tempered with this
proviso, that directly a man reflects on his own
merit, he entirely loses the benefit which it was earn
ing for him. On the other hand, Buddha himself
was possessed by so elevating and self-sacrificing an
45 Metaphysical Buddhism denies the existence of the soul : see
the quotations in Ehys Davids' Buddhism, pp. 93 foil. But there
are verses in the Dhammapada (160, 165, and 323) which speak of
' self in a way rather inconsistent with this. Cp. Max Miiller,
Selected Essays, ii. p. 303.
46 Sutta-Nipdta, ed. Fausboll, verse 653 (Sacred Books, x. 2,
p. 116): "By work the world exists, by work mankind exists,
beings are bound by work as the linch-pin of the rolling cart
(keeps the wheel on)."

III.] Religious Doctrines of Buddha. 91
impulse, and by so mystical and even spiritual a cha
racter, that his precepts are superior to those of most
heathen teachers, and have attracted many who have
no turn for his philosophical doctrines.
The fact that he felt himself bound to resort to
these terrible and cruel extremes, enables us, to
some extent, to measure the corruption of the doc
trines from which he fled. He seems to have felt
that destruction was the only possible process of deal
ing with the current notions of Brahmanism.
His followers have, to some extent, filled the
gap thus created within them, either by deifying
their master, as some of the Northern Buddhists
do47, or at least by exalting him above all things
in heaven and earth, by worshipping his supposed
relics, and inventing a vast amount of romantic le
gends about him, from which the earlier records
of his life are comparatively free48. But the ma-
47 The Aisvarikas of Nepal, who worship an Adi-Buddha : see
B. H. Hodgson, Illustrations of the Literature and Religion of the
Buddhists (Serampore, 1841), and later works. Cp. Max Miiller,
Selected Essays, ii. p. 222, and the quotations from Clement of
Alexandria (Strom, i. 15, § 71, p. 131 Sylb.), and Megasthenes
(ed. Schwanbeck, p. 139), who, after mentioning the Brahmans
and the Samanas, say that " there are also some of the Indians
who are followers of the commands of Butta, whom through exces
sive veneration they have honoured as a god." See also Buys
Davids' Buddhism (S.P.C.K.), chap. 8, and Hardwick, Christ and
other Masters, p. 162 foil., ed. 3.
48 The Dhammapada, a collection of ethical sayings, contains
none. The Sutta-Nipdta has, I believe, only an instance of levi-
tation, a common Hindu belief at the present day. The Mahd-
Parinibbdna-Sutta has more, but they are trifling compared with
those of the later Lalita- Vistara, which is the ordinary source of

92 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
jority of them seem to have kept but too faith
fully to his negative doctrines, and where Budd
hism is really prevalent, there life, if less actively
vicious than elsewhere, is generally weak and child
ish. We shall have occasion to return to this subject
again ; but so much must now be said to introduce
to your notice the founder of the system which claims
the largest number of adherents of any one religion
on this earth, that strange figure of selfish unselfish
ness, and austere gentleness which is, alas ! to per
haps five hundred 49 millions of mankind the pattern
ideal man, the light of the world, the way, the truth,
and the life, the supreme wisdom, the teacher and
deliverer of the human race.
3. What has already been said under the two pre
vious heads, with regard to elemental voices and
Incarnations, will enable you to grasp more readily
the third point, viz. the doctrine of Inspiration which
has prevailed in non- Christian lands. The sacred
books of the world are the third and final expression
the romance. Those of the M. P. S. are described in Buddhism
(S.P.C.K.), p. 188, perhaps with too great a tendency to assimi
late them to the supposed Gospel parallels. The Mahd-Parinib
bdna-Sutta or Great Decease, the earliest biographical treatise of
Buddhism, is allowed to be certainly not older in its present form
than tbe age of Sandracottus, circa B.C. 300, on account of the
title, iTakravarti, or "King of Kings," there frequently men
tioned : see the note, ch. v. § 25 ; Sacred Books, vol. xi. p. 92.
But no Buddhist books at all can be traced beyond the Council of
Asoka, about B.C. 250. See Buddhism, p. 86, and the Babra in
scription, which refers to certain Buddhist treatises at present dif
ficult to identify, ibid., p. 224 foil.
49 See the calculation in Max Miiller' s Selected Essays, vol. ii.
pp. 224 foil., 1881.

III.] Natural Idea of Inspiration. 93
of the feeling that God has spoken to man. Whether
in the form of mythical History or of sacred Law,
of Hymns or collections of Prophecy and Oracles,
they all bear witness to the same sentiment. They
represent to us not the direct and special interference
of the Divine voice at scattered moments, nor the
temporary appearance of the Divinity in human form
at certain crises of the world's history, but the in-
terpenetration of the human spirit by the Divine,
so as to produce a general and systematic form of
religious temper and religious thought and policy.
Pragments of this kind of literature meet us (it
may be said) in all countries ; and it is often little
more than an accident that we possess the Scriptures
of one nation and not those of another.
Men from the beginning have seen something
Divine in the use of language, especially of im
passioned or disciplinary language. They see cer
tain of their fellows rising above the seen and the
actual, carried by faith to the near presence of God,
grasping human life in its great issues, gathering
up its past in myths, reading with keen eye the
lessons of its present history, summing up the re
lations of class to class and of person to person,
in laws which will satisfy the mass of individual
instincts of right and wrong, foreseeing the glories
and catastrophes of the future in the germs of ex
isting tendencies. Observations of this sort have
led everywhere to a belief in inspiration. Thus
almost all early poetry and early law is ascribed to
the assistance of a Divine, indwelling Spirit, a breath
of God swaying and directing human breath.

94 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
This is true, even in those nations whose thoughts
of God were somewhat wanting in awe. When
Homer and Hesiod invoke the muse, when Numa
consults Egeria for his laws, or when the old Norse
tale-teller 50 relates his journey to Asgard, the home
of the Gods, there is more in it than literary com
monplace or fanciful ornament. Under somewhat
different circumstances, any of these books might
have formed part of a regular collection of sacred
texts. But the feeling that meets us in Persia
and India, in the Avesta, and especially in the Vedas,
(not to speak of the Koran,) is certainly much deeper,
and is connected with a more permanent hold of
the forms of religion upon the mind. The dialogues
of the old Persian lawgiver, Zoroaster, with the
supreme Being, have, in the midst of much that
is trivial and exaggerated, something of the simple
grandeur of Moses and the Prophets. But of all
pre-Christian religions, that of India has had the
completest and most unchecked history, and par
ticularly in regard to its sacred books.
The word Veda means " knowledge," and is etymo
logically connected, as you know, with the common
Greek and Latin words for knowing and seeing, and
with our own 'wit' and 'wisdom' ; and in the Vedas,
the Hindus suppose themselves to possess a perfect
system of truth. These books are so sacred, that for
many centuries they were handed down by word of
mouth without manuscripts, yet in a form which even
western criticism supposes to be very little changed
60 Snorri, the collector of the Prose Edda. Cp. Thorpe, Northern
Mythology, vol. i. p. 133.

III.] Idea of an Eternal Word in the Vedas. 95
by tradition. Thus they embody the idea of reverence
for the Word of God rather than for Scripture, for
speech rather than writing. So far is this thought car
ried, that Hindus generally believe them to be an ac
tual articulate sound,, emanating from the Divinity S1.
Some suppose this sound to be itself eternal, others
that it is a spirit, or breath, issuing from a personal
God ; others that it was produced from the ele
ments ; while others derive it from the mystical
victim (Purusha), begotten in the beginning52, to
whom we shall have occasion to refer hereafter.
But with all these varieties of opinion, the recog
nition of the Divine authority and infallibility of the
Vedas was, till quite lately, characteristic of all
Hindu sects, and was thought to be so self-evident
as to require no more proof than that the sun shines 53,
i.e. it was one of those things that proved itself.
Even now the Vedas, little as they are known to
the mass of the people, form probably the chief spi
ritual link which binds the various forms of Hin
duism together. Hence follows clearly the immense
importance of a knowledge of their contents to any
61 For the different theories of inspiration, reference should be
made to Muir's Sanskrit Texts, vol. iii., which is entirely occupied
with this subject. Cp. Monier Williams, Indian Wisdom, pp. 7, 8.
52 Rig- Veda, x. 90 ; the Purusha Sukta : see Appendix to this
volume. Cp. Muir, vol. iii. p. 3, and Banerjea, Arian Witness,
p. 204.63 See the quotation from Sankara Acharyya (8th or 9th cent, a.d.)
and from Sayana's Introduction to his Commentary, (14th cent. a.d.
ace. to Muir), Sanskrit Texts, vol. iii. p. 62, &c. Cp. S. John viii.
12, 14 : "lam the Light of the world . . . Even if I bear witness
of Myself, My witness is true," — perhaps as the Light which
proves itself by its mere shining.

96 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
who would preach Christ, the true Word, in India.
We have the people with us (thank God !) in their
deep conception of an eternal Word ; we have them
with us in the thought that all things in heaven
and earth are filled by its sound and speak of it,
that its shining presence is more than any logical
proof; and surely, on the basis of this real agree
ment, we can bring them to acknowledge that, while
their own sages have heard from time to time echoes
of the Divine voice mixed with more earthly tones,
we have the true and full harmony in the Bible
and in the Church of Christ.
Up to this point we have been tracing the belief
of mankind outside the Church in its main outlines.
We have indicated the chief forms in which men
have supposed that God has made Himself known,
and with Himself has brought them truth. At the
same time, we have pointed out the kind of errors
which have interfered with their grasp of truth, the
evil forms of superstition and delusion, of diabolic
lust and cruelty, of passion and policy, which rise
up like so many spectres to mock the enquirer.
Nor must we imagine that the insufficiency of their
supposed revelations was unperceived by the wiser
among the heathens themselves54. They, too, have
54 This feeling shews itself in a common belief in the death and
passing away of the older gods : see an interesting passage in Max
Miiller's Essay on Buddhist Pilgrims, Selected Essays, ii. p. 241
foil. The scepticism of the Peruvian Inca, who 'threw doubts
upon the divine nature of such an unquiet thing ' as the sun ap
peared to him to be, is paralleled by the familiar facts of Greek
mythology, the succession of Kronos, Zeus, &c, and by the Eag-
narok, or so-called " twilight of the Gods," in the Teutonic my-

III.] Heathen Criticism of their own Revelations. 97
criticised and censured their own shortcomings ;
they have passed through all forms of disappoint
ment, sorrow, doubt, and scepticism, often ending in
philosophic atheism and blank materialism. I will
conclude by some examples of this despondency from
the great writers of Greece and Eome, not because
the feeling did not exist elsewhere, but because their
ability and high character stamp their sayings with
a value for the whole human race.
Look first, then, at the testimony of Plato, whom
we may fairly name the most religious mind of clas
sical antiquity. If you read his writings, you will
perceive how saturated he is with the old poets, how
much weight he attaches to their writings, how much
wisdom he finds in the myths they relate, quoting
them almost as we quote from the Bible55.
Yet Plato, when he is devising a perfect scheme
of education, is constrained to forbid the admis
sion of the poets. And why is this ? Because of
the laxity of their moral teaching with regard to
the Gods, and the low idea of Truth which they
thology, by the tendency to atheism in India and Egypt (see
above, Lect. II., note 17), and by the spontaneous destruction of
their idols on the part of the Sandwich Islanders. On Indian The-
istie Reformers, and their criticism of the traditional doctrines of
their country, see Monier Williams in Journal of Royal Asiatic
Society for Jan., 1881, which contains some account of Rammo-
hun Eoy and the development of the Brahma Saniaj. This uni
tarian sect has worked out the principles of the Vaishwava re
formers of the twelfth, thirteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth cen
turies (Eamanuja, Madhva, Vallabha and Chaitanya), by the help
of intercourse with Christians.
55 On this point cp. C. Ackermann, The Christian Element in
Plato, Eng. Tr., p. 53. (Clark, Edinburgh, 1861.)
H

98 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
embody. He professes himself shocked at the myths
which represent the Gods as doing acts of fraud and
violence and cruelty. Eor God cannot be the author
of evil, but of good only. He cannot be like a ma
gician, appearing insidiously, now in one form and
now in another. He cannot be willing to lie or to
deceive. Eor he says —
"God is perfectly simple and true, both in deed and
word ; he changes not ; he deceives not, either by dream
or waking vision, by sign or word56."
We know the charges which infidels sometimes
bring against the Bible, but imagine a sincere Chris
tian solemnly forbidding the use of the Bible in edu
cation, and you have a parallel to what Plato actually
does, and not without very good and practical rea
son 57. And lest we should think that he was more
certain about his own possession of truth, of which
he has so magnificent an ideal, turn to that most
pathetic story of the trial of the greatest and best
man he knew, the trial of Socrates. How does he
represent his master? As willing certainly to die,
as happy in suffering death in the cause of duty,
as reasoning calmly about a future state, but really
uncertain whether it would be better than the pre
sent life. Socrates goes through all the reasons
which make him die peacefully, but his alternative
is between annihilation and Elysium.
66 Plato, Republic, ii. at the end, pp. 377 — 383. Cp. Laws,
book xii. at the beginning; teller's Plato, Eng. Tr., by Alleyne
and Goodwin, p. 497.
67 For other instances of this feeling of the danger of the myths,
Bee Dollinger, Heidenthum, p. 255.

III.] Plato's Dissatisfaction and Uncertainty. 99
He comforts himself with the thought that his
inward monitor had not restrained him from the
course which led to his condemnation, and that a
good man can never suffer evil in life or death, or
be neglected by God ; yet, after all, his last words
are : —
"It is now time for us to depart, for me to go to death,
for you to remain in life, but whether of us goes to a better
fortune, none can tell but God 5&."
Plato, then, was one of those who, with all his
respect for the early poets and for the oracles, could
not rest his faith upon them. He felt that it was
his own duty (to use the words which he puts into
the mouth of Simmias in the Phcedo) " to take the
best and most irrefragable of human words," namely,
philosophy, " and to make the hazardous voyage of
life upon it." But still, before his eyes there floated
the vision of a safer vessel, a Divine word as yet
unrevealed to the sons of men 59.
In other philosophers this dissatisfaction meets
us still more strongly. We find them agreeing
in little else except in confessions of their impo
tence to give any religious knowledge worthy of
the name. We find them sometimes making a
dogma of scepticism with the Pyrrhonists, some
times taking refuge in probabilities with the Aca
demics, sometimes denying or doubting immortality
and particular providence with the Stoics, some
times denying a future life and a providence alto-
68 Plato, Apology, pp. 40—42.
69 See the famous passage in the Phcedo (Simmias' Speech), p. 85.
H2

100 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
gether with the Epicureans. In this conflict of opi
nions, no wonder that probability should seem the
best form of truth attainable. It is surely not by
accident that Cicero, living in the maturity of Eoman
thought, leaves the summing-up of his dialogue on
the nature of the Gods, which is a discussion between
an Epicurean, a Stoic, and an Academic, to Cotta, the
representative of the latter school. It is worth while
to listen to the words in which he takes for granted
that wisdom or certain truth does not exist in phi
losophy, for this may be held to be the practical
judgment of unprejudiced men just before the Chris
tian era.
" If folly (says Cotta) is allowed by all philosophers to be
a greater evil than all other evils of fortune or body to
gether, while yet as a fact no one attains to wisdom, it
follows that all we, whom you (Stoics) say are so well looked
after by the Gods, are after all in the most evil case. For
just as it makes no real difference whether as a fact no one
is in health, or whether it is abstractedly impossible to be
in health, so I can see no difference whether we assert that
no one actually is wise, or that no one can be wise 60."
This uncertainty about providence was naturally
accompanied, as we have seen, with an uncertainty
about personal immortality. The Stoics, who asserted
the noble truth, " that no great man ever existed who
was not to some extent inspired61," and who were
more dogmatic in their definitions of religious truth
than many of the ancients, wavered weakly on this
subject. Yet what is inspiration worth, if it can tell
60 Cicero De Nat. Deorum, iii. 32. 79.
61 "Nemo vir magnus sine aliquo afflatu divino umquam fuit."
Cic. De Nat. Deor., ii. 66. 167.

III.] Doubts of Cicero, Seneca and Porphyry. 101
nothing on a topic so important to every man?
Seneca, you will remember, paints his own state of
mind on this subject in memorable language : —
"I was delighting in the discussion about the eternity
of souls, or rather in the belief of it. For I gave ready
credence to the opinion of great men, who promise, rather
than demonstrate, a thing which it is very agreeable to
believe. I gave myself up to this magnificent hope. I
already began to despise my present self, and to look down
upon the poor remains of my weak life, as I thought of
the passage to immeasurable time, and the possession of
eternity; when suddenly I was roused by the receipt of
your letter, and lost so fine a dream."
He goes on, indeed, to attempt to restore his
dream j and dwells specially on the thought of death
being a birth into another existence in almost apo
stolic language ("dies iste quem tamquam extremum
reformidas seterni natalis est"), but his proofs are
rather aspirations than arguments ; it is a dream,
and a ' perhaps ' ; and elsewhere in his writings
doubts are thicker than beliefs 62.
We have given instances of dissatisfaction and
even despondency, from two great periods in which
the strength of the human mind was at its height.
I will add a third, which discloses the state of the
heathen heart just before the triumph of Chris
tianity throughout the Eoman empire — the case
of Porphyry. This man lived at the end of the
third century of our era, and was the pupil and
62 Seneca, Ep. 102; cp. Cicero, Tusc. i. 11. 24, a criticism on
Plato's Phcedo. For further references see DSllinger, Eeidenthum,
p. 589 foil.

102 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
literary heir of Plotinus, who, coming as the suc
cessor of a long series of religious thinkers, had
made prodigious and even gigantic efforts to estab
lish heathenism on a rational basis. But Porphyry
longed for something more than Plotinus could give
him. He saw, like Justin Martyr, that the revela
tion of prophecy was the real satisfaction needed by
mankind. But, unfortunately, the principles of his
school, which was founded on the doctrine of the
transcendence of the Deity 63, forbade him to accept
the Incarnation and the Gospel message ; nay, they
converted him into a bitter enemy of the faith. So
he turned for a substitute to the heathen oracles.
His confident expectations, in so doing, may be seen
in the preface to the collection which he made.
" The man is secure and firm," says Porphyry, " who
starts from this ground, as one who draws bis hopes of
being saved from the only secure source  And bow
useful such a collection may be, those will know best who,
with painful longings after truth, have prayed that some
special vision of the Gods might be vouchsafed them, in
order that by the sure instruction of such teachers they
might obtain rest from their doubts 64."
63 Cp. Ueberweg, Hist, of Philosophy, i. p. 245, lower part, on
the doctrine of Plotinus.
Porphyry's books against the Christians were written 267 —
270 a.d., in Sicily.
64 Euseb., Prcep. Evany., iv. 7. The fragments of his book,
n-epi rrjs i< Xoyicov (j>i\oo-o(j)ias, de philosophia ex oraculis haurienda,
have been edited by Gustav "Wolff (Berlin, 1856). Cp. an in
teresting passage of Celsus on the blessings which have resulted
from oracles, ap. Origen, c. Cels., viii. 45 ; see also Plutarch, de
defectu oraculorum, § 46, p. 435 D. The last writer, however,
clearly recognizes the diabolical element in popular religion, ib.,
§ 14, p. 417 C.

III.] Ignorance of Poets and Philosophers. 103
Yet, after all these attempts to assure himself and
to touch the rock of truth, Porphyry was constrained
to confess that the way of salvation, the liberation
of the soul, on which he prided himself so much, was
not to be discovered in the doctrines of any one sect
or religion ; that no single philosophy or mode of
life, neither the asceticism of India nor the learning
of Chaldea, nor any other way of thinking, was uni
versal in its scope, and that he knew of none, either
in fact or theory, which was adequate to human
needs 65.
This sad confession of the most religious among
philosophers is re-echoed by the voices of the poets,
from the beginning to the end of classical litera
ture '.; —
" There is no prophet of mortal men," cries Hesiod, " who
can know the mind of segis-bearing Zeus 66."
Solon, again, simply asserts, —
" The mind of immortals is altogether concealed from
men «."
And Pindar, after his fashion, moralises upon the
same theme : —
"Why do you imagine that to be wisdom in which one
man a little excels another ? For the counsels of the Gods
cannot be scrutinized by the understanding of a man, the
offspring of a mortal mother m."
It would be easy to add to these assertions of igno-
66 Quoted by St. Augustine, de Civitate Dei, x. 32.
66 Hesiod ap. Clem. Alex., Strom., v. 14, § 130, p. 727, Potter.
67 Solon ap. Clem. 1. c. 68 Pind. fr. 39 [33] ap. Stob.,
Eel. Phys. et Eth., ii. 1, § 8, a chapter containing much similar
matter.

104 The Natural Expectation of Divine Truth. [Lect.
ranee on the part of the poets 69. The ways of God
were dark to them ; they owned it with sadness ;
a tinge of melancholy clouds their songs, and often
" medio de fonte leporum
Surgit amari aliquid quod in ipsis fioribus angat."
" The world by its wisdom knew not God," — this
is confessed by the wise men themselves. The world
knew not whether there was one God or many,
whether He cared for men at all, or whether He
cared for great things and neglected little ones.
They knew not whether they should die at once in
soul as well as in body, or whether they should live
for a time disembodied, and be burnt up in a great
world-conflagration, or after numberless transmigra
tions be absorbed into the great Being from which
they sprang. They had no certainty in these things.
And what the heathen world knew not, our modern
non-Christian philosophers are equally ignorant of 70.
69 A good collection of these sayings may be found in Tholuck's
useful little book, Guido and Julius, translated by J. E. Eyland,
and published by Wm. Ball (London, 1836).
70 See their statements about the future life, as quoted by the
late [Dean] Mansel, Letter to Goldwin Smith, 1861, p. 30 : — "When
even in this nineteenth century, I see one disciple of an advanced
school of progress arguing that the human soul, as having a begin
ning and a development, must necessarily also have an end [Blasche,
Philosophische Unsterblichkeitslehre, § 16] ; when I find another as
suring me that the belief in the remedy of wrongs in a future life
is a great hindrance to repentance and amendment in this life
[F. Eichter, Lehre von den letzten Dingen, i. p. 107] ; when a third
asserts that the belief in a true death, which completely ends the
life of the individual, can alone render men capable of true religion
and self-denial [Feuerbach, Ueber Tod und Unsterblichkeit, p. 11];
when a fourth proclaims that the last enemy that shall be de
stroyed by Criticism iB the belief in a future existence [Strauss,
Glaubenslehre, ii. p. 739] ; when a fifth teaches that individual ex-

III.] God withheld His Gift of Rest. 105
It is only since the Incarnation, and for those
who believe in it, that light and immortality have
been brought to light through the Gospel. It is
this only which enables men of all nations to
tread firmly among things unseen, and to rest
in the knowledge of God, as seen in the face of
Jesus Christ. And so God poured out His riches of
strength and beauty, of wisdom, honour and plea
sure, upon the nations of the world, but did not give
them the last best gift of rest : and men tried one
after another of the avenues to divine truth, and
turned back from them disappointed and discouraged.
Thus God in His wisdom had decreed, as our poet
words it so well, —
" For if I should (said He)
Bestow this jewel also on My creature,
He would adore My gifts instead of Me,
And rest in nature, not the God of nature :
So both should losers be.
Tet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness :
Let him be rich and weary that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to My breast n."
istence is the error from which it should be the aim of life to
extricate ourselves [Schopenhauer, Die Welt als Wille, ii. p. 494] ;
and a sixth boasts of the moral superiority of a subjective immor
tality in the minds of others, over the old objective immortality
which is radically selfish [Comte, Catichisme Positiviste, Preface,
p. xxxvi.] ; — I am thankful that God has not left men, even in this
enlightened age, to grope after their future destiny by the feeble
rays of their unassisted reason, whether speculative or moral."
" George Herbert, The Pulley.

107

LECTURE IV.

PSALM cxix. 129, 130.
Thy testimonies are wonderful : therefore doth my soul keep
them.
The entrance of thy word giveth light : it giveth understanding
unto the simple.

THE CHEISTIAN EEVELATION CONSIDEKED AS TRUTH
BOTH IDEAL AND PRACTICAL.
" The world by (its) wisdom knew not God." Eevelation the just
harmony of the spiritual and external.
Ideal Truth (1) Comprehensive: the One and the Many. — The
Trinity. — Union of the Finite and Infinite in the Incarnation
and Atonement. — Christian doctrine of Human Nature : its
fearlessness. — (2) Mysterious : Mysteries in nature and thought,
lead us to accept those of Christian doctrine. — (3) Inexhaustible :
The Bible compared with other religious books.
Practical Truth (1) Authoritative : Our Saviour's claims compared
with those of Buddha and Mahomet. — The Prophets. — Miracles.
— Instinct for authority in human nature : how it avenges itself
if suppressed. — Justin Martyr : freedom in submission to the
Truth. — (2) Definite and intelligible: Doctrine of the Trinity
compared with other religious formulas. — (3) Permanent and
concrete : combination of flexibility with firmness. — Contrast
with other religions. — Union of Fact and Symbol the type of
truth. — Biblical history. — St. Paul and St. Ignatius. — Modern
Gnosticism.
rPHE substance of our former Lecture may be
summed up in two well-known sentences of St.
Paul. In the first, as you will remember, he speaks
of the nations of the world as moved by the Lord
to seek Him, if haply they might feel after Him

108 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
and find Him (Acts xvii. 24 foil.). In the second
He declares that " in the wisdom of God, the world
by (its) wisdom knew not God" (1 Cor. i. 21). It
was God's will that the heathen should seek Him,
and seek Him hopefully, in oracles and portents, in
the forms of kings and heroes and helpful deities,
and in the supposed inspirations of lawgivers and
prophets. It was His will also that they should not
find Him by efforts which they might call and fancy
to be their own. Hence all the long periods of hea -
thenism, both past and present, may be considered
by the Christian student as periods of probation,
in which the Divine Logos, or Eeason, is drawing
out and establishing the character of each race and
nation ; teaching sometimes by hope and sometimes
by disappointment, till the time of His revelation
should be full, and the race be ready to accept the
Incarnation of the Son of God in Jesus Christ. Then
comes the harvest of souls, and the known or un
known labourers, who have worked for a " Saviour
of the world" whose name they never heard, have
their work at last crowned and blessed (John iv. 38,
42). Then God-fearing men leap forward to the
Light and embrace the Truth, because they find
in it such marks of heavenly beauty as they longed
to find, and found not, in the phantoms they were
pursuing. Some of these marks I propose, if God gives me
strength, to set before you to-day. No one can pro
fess to enumerate them all, and therefore I must beg
your indulgence if I pass over many a subtle and
delicate element, many a delightful and lovely fea-

IV.] Union of Wondrousness and Simplicity. 109
ture of Divine Truth, which your hearts individually-
prize and cherish. But I trust that those chosen
will at any rate be distinctive and significant. Nor
do I suppose that there will be any dispute as to
the fundamental principle, which indeed involves
all the rest, that the one true revelation must be
at once Ideal and Practical, both the highest phi
losophy and the most salutary discipline. This is
the point, as all doubtless have perceived, on which
the poet of Holy Scripture, the writer of the 119th
Psalm, has rested for the moment in the verses of
my text. He is filled in the inner man with the
mystery, depth and richness of the revelation, which
is the mirror of the incomprehensible and inexhaust
ible fulness of God the giver of Truth. " Thy testi
monies are wonderful : therefore doth my soul keep
them." Then he turns round and looks outside him,
and observes that character of direct utility, of power
in the regulation of life, which adapts God's Law to
the every-day needs of human kind. " The entrance
of Thy word giveth light : it giveth understanding
unto the simple." Eevelation, as he saw it, and
as we see it, is fitted both for gentle and simple, for
the wise and the unwise, the philosopher and the
peasant. It is the right and well-proportioned mix
ture of the internal and external, lifting the people
to that which is inward and spiritual, and bringing
down the proud to the practical and positive, and
is only complete because it unites both *.
1 Cp. Pascal, Pensees, part 2, art. 4, § 3, p. 167: — "Les autres
religions, comme les pa'iennes, sont plus populaires ; car elles con
sistent toutes en exterieur : mais elles ne sont pas pour les gens
habiles. Une religion purement intellectuelle serait plus propor-

110 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
I.
Under these two great heads, then, of Ideal and
Practical Truth, I shall offer to your notice some of
the most striking characteristics of Christian doc
trine. And first, out of the marks which Ideal Truth
should bear, I have chosen three, which a very slight
reflection will prove to be necessary to any system
which should claim our allegiance. Ideal truth,
I say, must be comprehensive, must be mysterious,
must be inexhaustible, and Christian doctrine has
all these qualities far above any other religious sys
tem of which the world has ever even dreamed.
1. It must be comprehensive.
No one, I presume, will throw doubt on this in
an age when to be "one-sided" is generally recog
nized as an obvious defect : and in speaking of Pan
theism and Deism, we have already pointed out the
dangers of " one-sidedness " in religion. Some men
see only one substance in the universe, and reduce
everything to a vague indifference, a featureless one
ness, from which will and morality are absent.
Others, in their cold and proud deism, see in the
world many parallel wills and powers, of which God's
is the first and greatest, but the most distant and
the least practically important. Now it is clear that
Pantheism and Deism, the assertion of the one with-
tionee aux habiles ; mais elle ne servirait pas au peuple. La seule
religion chretienne est proportionee a tous, etant melee d'exterieur
et d'interieur. Elle eleve le peuple a l'interieur, et abaisse les
superbes a l'exterieur ; et n'est pas parfaite sans les deux : car
il faut que le peuple entende l'esprit de la lettre, et que les ha
biles soumettent leur esprit a la lettre, en pratiquant ce qu'il y
a d'exterieur."

IV.] Pantheism and Deism mutually exclusive. Ill
out the many, and the assertion of the many without
the one, being mutually exclusive opposites, cannot
both be true. Yet, if mere simplicity were to
be considered a mark of truth, either of these rival
theories might be thought superior to Christian doc
trine. But so far from being true, each of these sys
tems, as we have seen, contradicts or overlooks fun
damental facts of reason and experience, and leads
directly to moral consequences of the most obviously
evil kind. We have seen also that Pantheism and
Deism are the underlying principles of the various
religious systems or heretical doctrines which lie to
the right and left of Christian doctrine. It is clear,
then, that mere simplicity, that is to say, the adop
tion of a single principle to explain all that exists,
is no sure test of ideal truth.
Yet I am far from supposing that the natural ten
dencies of human belief, whether philosophical or
theological, which Christians are called upon to
controvert, are necessarily devoid of truth. On the
contrary, it seems a certain axiom, that whatever
large bodies of men are prone to believe, has in it
an element of truth. Even of individuals we feel
bound to say that none is so depraved as not to be,
to some extent, a mirror of Divine truth. Only Ideal
Truth will combine all these varied and partial rays
and reflections into a white and steadfast light, such
as seems truly to be an effluence from the throne of
.God. Por consider this, that God has fashioned all the
minds of men created in His image, so that all their
thoughts are in some true sense His thoughts. He

112 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
it is alone who has given them the power with which
they grasp this or that side of His glory and His
beauty. We could think nothing without His will.
Must not, then, ideal truth unite all these different
points of view, and combine all that can be shewn
to be natural for man to think or believe about
Him? It is not difficult to shew that such ideal compre
hensiveness is a distinctive mark of the Christian
creed, which being equally opposed to Pantheism
and Deism, combines the two opposite apprehensions
of the One and the Many.
Take, for instance, the cardinal Christian doctrine
of the Trinity in Unity. Does not this involve the as
sertion, that in the most profound object of faith there
is found co-existing Unity and Multiplicity, the One
and the Many ? Or take the other great doctrines
of the Incarnation and Atonement. The most as
tonishing thing about them is their conciliation of
what seems most opposite. In the Incarnation we
have offered to our belief the absolute Union of the
Infinite with the Finite, of the Divine Nature with
the Human, in one Christ. In the Atonement, we have
the single perfect mystical sacrifice " slain from the
foundation of the world" (Eev. xiii. 8), and offered
eternally in heaven, yet complete in the short mo
ments of the historical and exemplary death of Jesus
on Calvary. So, again, we have the one Christ
dying once3 for all in perfect obedience, yet sum
ming up and representing the successive death to
2 Romans vi. 10 (etpdwag) ; Hebrews ix. 28 (&ra£), x. 10 (tydna£) ;
1 Peter iii. 18 (&ra£).

IV.] Comprehensiveness of Christian Doctrine. 113
sin of each individual of the human race3, and ex
tending the power of His reconciling blood even to
angels, principalities, and powers, and the whole
created universe, seen and unseen 4.
Look, again, at the Christian doctrine of human
nature, how fearless it is, how unlike the temporizing,
tentative expedients of human systems. What other
religion has anything like the same breadth of view
on this mysterious subject ? None can speak in
stronger terms of the constraining power of Divine
grace, of the absolute necessity of the Father's
" drawing " before a soul can come to Christ (John
vi. 44), of the inability of man to do any good ac
tion without God's help (Eph. ii. 8, &c.) ; yet none
is so jealous in asserting human free-will, and so in
tolerant of a depressing philosophy of fatalism. But
lest it should be said that the doctrine of grace is
held by one sect of believers and the doctrine of free
will by another, look at Jeremiah, who has no sooner
told us of the potter's vessels, made and marred at
pleasure, than he asserts the universal power of re
pentance (Jeremiah xviii. 1 — 10). Or recollect St.
Paul's striking aphorism to the Philippians, in which
he co-ordinates grace and free-will : " Work out your
own salvation with fear and trembling : for it is God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of His
3 2 Cor. v. 14: "For the love of Christ constraineth us: be
cause we thus judge, that if one died for all, therefore all died "
(Eev. v.) Rom. vi. 6 : " Our old man is crucified with Him," &c.
4 In Col. i. 20 St. Paul speaks of the blood of the cross recon
ciling all things to God, " whether they be things in earth or
things in heaven." Cp. Rom. viii. 19, " the earnest expectation
of the creature," i.e. of creation, with Mark xvi. 15.
I

114 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
good pleasure" (Phil. ii. 12, 13). Had but Buddha
been able to say this, how different might have been
the condition of the Eastern world5 !
Nay, even in those Christians who have a stronger
tendency to one side of this conception than to the
other, the balance of the Biblical idea has not been
without its effects in steadying them. It must never
be forgotten that St. Augustine, who was the cham
pion of grace against the Pelagians, was equally the
champion of free-will against the Manichseans.
It would be easy to multiply illustrations of this
topic, but enough has been said by way of example 6.
The outsider may come to these doctrines with a pre
judice against them. He may naturally incline to
one or other form of heresy respecting them. His
sympathies may be Sabellian or Arian in regard to
6 His principles were : — " Well-makers lead the water (where-
ever they like) ; fletchers bend the arrow ; carpenters bend a log
of wood ; good people fashion themselves." — Dhammapada, verses
80 and 145. " By oneself the evil is done, by oneself one suffers ;
by oneself evil is left undone, by oneself one is purified. Purity
and impurity belong to one self; no one can purify another."—
Ibid., 165. Cp. Mahd-Parinibbdna-Sutta, ii. 9, p. 27, where he
defines faith as " believing the truth to have been proclaimed by
the Blessed One, of advantage in this world, passing not away,
welcoming all, leading to salvation, and to be attained to by the
wise, each one for himself." It is also one of the principles of
Buddhism that any one can become a Buddha, as good as Gotama.
6 The reader may be referred particularly to [Abp.] Trench's
Hulsean Lectures for 1845, especially Lectures 2 and 3 on the
" Unity of Scripture" and " the Manifoldness of Scripture," for
many beautiful thoughts bearing on this topic ; and to Dr. Lid-
don's University Sermons, 2nd series, pp. 83 foil. (1879), on the
Bible as it is, with its exhaustless variety and living, spiritual
unity, contrasted with the Bible such as man would probably have
made it on an a priori system.

IV.] Element of Mystery in all Truth. 115
the Trinity ; Eutychian or Nestorian in respect to
the Incarnation ; Calvinistie or Pelagian on the
question of human freedom. But even if he can
not readily accept the fulness of the Catholic doc
trines, he cannot deny the immensity of their grasp,
the wonderful sweep of vision with which they com
bine all elements of thought which can be brought be
fore the mind. He cannot hesitate to admit that some
such breadth of doctrine is at least more like Divine
truth than any that can be put in comparison with it.
2. Ideal Truth must be mysterious.
Truth of any kind, that is really comprehensive,
cannot fail to contain an element of mystery. This
second attribute follows naturally and inevitably from
the first, and is no speciality of theology as distinct
from other sciences. Even the simplest and most
abstract study, that of pure number, which seems
to make no assumptions, has its marvels and its sur
prises : and as we advance in the scale of sciences,
taking into account time and space and organisation,
and life and thought, the mysteries thicken about us.
Thus most schoolboys are familiar with the lines in
conic sections which are always approaching and
never meeting 7, two properties which naturally seem
quite inconsistent. Or, to use another illustration
which recent speculation has well-nigh established,
you take up a crystal, and perhaps view it poetically
as a type of coldness and hardness, of stillness and
repose. But we are now told 8 that the molecules
7 The hyperbola and its asymptote.
8 See The Atomic Theory, by Prof. Ad. Wurtz, in the Inter
national Scientific Series, pp. 310—314.
i2

116 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
or aggregates of atoms which compose it are in per
petual vibration and rotation, and that the very con
stancy and regularity of their agitation is the cause
of the apparent solidity of the substance.
And when from inanimate things we pass to life
and thought, we find mysteries increase. The sim
plest instance of the union of the one and the many
is inexplicable. Philosophers have never settled the
much-vexed question of what is the import, what the
idea, underlying the common names given to a class
or genus. Men are in turns Eealists, Conceptualists,
Nominalists, or what you will, but the battle be
tween them is still undecided ; and in point of fact
it makes very little difference to the mystery what
theory you hold. Take a number of persons, and ask
yourself what is meant by the common name " Man,"
what, in fact, is human nature? The Nominalist
will tell you that it is a mere abstraction ; but it is
just as astonishing a thing, whether you call it an
abstraction, or prefer to describe it, with Plato, as
an eternal idea. The fact that given a man, of what
ever race, you can talk to and have sympathy with
him, because he is a man, not a beast or a stone, is
a mystery attaching to human nature, however we
may describe it. Yet individuality is more cha
racteristic of human beings than of any others of
which we have immediate experience. No two men
are alike, and the better we know them, the greater
differences we perceive between them. The student,
then, of human nature is daily becoming more con
scious of this mystery that the human race is one
with an extraordinary oneness, while the individuals

IV.] Examples of Christian Mysteries. 117
who compose it are many and diverse from one an
other with a marvellous diversity.
It is therefore mere common sense to believe that
in the highest of all regions of Truth, that which
concerns the nature of God Himself, there should
be such mysteries as the Christian creed proclaims.
The fact that revelation speaks to us of what is so
infinitely above our scope and measure, makes it
absolutely certain that mystery is to be expected in
the message. Hence the trained and balanced mind
finds no shock in the doctrines of the Union of Three
Persons in One God, or in the co-ordination of per
fect Justice and perfect Love in the Deity, or in the
entrance of man into covenant with God, or in the
Union of the Divine and Human natures in the one
Christ, or in His mysterious presence in the Eucha
rist as taught by the Church of England, or in the
dispensation of the Holy Ghost by the agency of
His Church.
The mystery (I say) is no shock to a reasonable
man. Nay, it is rather one of the signs or marks
which he naturally expects ; and the contraries of
all the positions which I have just enumerated, would
be discredited by the very fact of their supposed
greater transparency to the human understanding.
Who would not at once doubt, for instance, if we
taught that God was Love without Justice, or
Justice without Love? Who does not see that, as
our reformers say, " Transubstantiation destroys the
nature of a Sacrament," that is, removes it from
mystery to one-sided marvel, or at least tends to do
so? While the coldly transparent idea of a mere

118 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
commemoration is unfitting, on the other hand, to
the highest act of communion with God. So it is
also with regard to the other doctrines which I have
mentioned. Of course, all these articles of faith are supported
by other evidence, internal and external, and could
not be received without it9. All that I am here
arguing is, that their mysteriousness is pro tanto in
their favour, and not, as some superficial thinkers
hold, adverse to their credibility.
3. Ideal Truth must be inexhaustible.
Here we take another step onward, as by a na
tural ascent, from what has just been admitted;
and this attribute is as clear a reflection of the na
ture of the Deity as either of the foregoing. As
God comprehends everything, and is in a region high
above our understandings, so also He is the ever-
fresh and living fountain of life and grace. We ex
pect, therefore, that ideal Truth should have the same
freshness, that it should never be effete, that it
should adapt itself to all ages and characters and
nations and climes, with new and unexpected vigour.
This is true, undoubtedly, with respect to the
Gospel message.
We see it, perhaps, most clearly and astonishingly
in the Holy Scriptures, which, though they have been
9 The defect of evidence, or rather the strong contrary evidence,
at once separates the true mysteries of the Christian creed from
false ones, like the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin
and Papal Infallibility. But apart from other evidence, they have
a one-sided artificial character which ought to strike the trained
theologian, just as in the case of the doctrine of Transubstantiation.

IV.] Inexhaustibility of Holy Scripture. 119
read and commented on with such close, eager, and
intelligent criticism by the men of almost every race,
and with such immense and wonderful patience, as
no other books in the world have ever had expended
on them, yet after two and three thousand years of
experience, are continually yielding fresh treasures
to those who study them patiently, and enter into
them with humility and love. This is a matter of
simple observation, which is daily being tested. The
inexhaustible riches of the Law struck the imagina
tion of the writer of the 119th Psalm, who has re
corded his impression in terms which are themselves
an example of the eternal force and power of Biblical
language. But how much clearer is this richness to
us who have the key to the Law in the Gospel, and
who have the substance of the Gospel itself. Ask
those who really try and test it, ask any devout sick
person, any reverent and learned student, any pains
taking preacher, and they will tell you that they
daily find a new beauty and a new use, a new music
and a new instruction, in their reading.
It is true that other religious bodies speak even
more highly of their sacred books, and treat them
with a superstitious and exaggerated reverence. The
Vedas, as we have seen, are thought to be the eter
nal voice of the Divine Being. The Koran is simi
larly regarded as the uncreated word of God10;
while the Granth of the Sikhs, which no Western
can read with patience11, is actually worshipped.
10 Tiele, Outlines of Hist, of Religion, § 63, p. 100, E. T. 1877;
cp. T. P. Hughes, Notes on Muhammadanism, ed. 2, pp. 14 foil.
11 See Dr. E. Trumpp's Preface to his translation of the Adi
Granth, p. vii. (Lond., 1877) : — "It is for us occidentals a most
painful task to read only a single Bag ; and I doubt if any ordi-

120 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
But how formal, how unreal, is the use of these
books to the worshippers themselves, compared, for
instance, with our own use of the Psalter 12 ! Most
of them are actually in a dead language to those
who hear or recite them, and no more suit even
the formalities of the present day than so much
jargon. But were they never more living? No
doubt they were, but only with a very meagre and
impotent life. For us at least it is impossible to read
a few pages merely of these writings without feeling
wearied and critical. This is confessed by all who
have taken the greatest pains to make them known,
and to popularize them among us. This is the verdict
of the editor of the Sacred Books of the East, whose
fairness and peculiar competency as a witness on
such a point no one is likely to call in question13 : —
" No doubt (he says) there is much in these old books
that is startling by its very simplicity and truth, much that
is elevated and elevating, much that is beautiful and sub
lime ; but people who have vague ideas of primeval wisdom,
and the splendour of Eastern poetry, will soon find them
selves grievously disappointed. It cannot be too strongly
stated, that the chief, in many cases the only, interest of the
Sacred Books of the East is historical ; that much in them is
extremely childish, tedious, if not repulsive; and that no
one but the historian will be able to understand the im
portant lessons which they teach."
That this criticism could be applied to the Bible
even by its worst enemies seems impossible. But
nary reader will have the patience to proceed to the second Bag,
after he shall have perused the first."
12 See Dean Church's two Lectures on The Sacred Poetry of
Early Religions (Lond., 1874), esp. pp. 37 foil, and 77.
13 Prof. F: Max Miiller, in his Preface to Sacred Books of the
East: Programme of translation, vol. i. p. xliii. Oxf. 1879.

IV.] The Bible and other Sacred Books. 121
here you have the best friend amongst Europeans of
the sacred books of the East, including the Vedas
and the Koran, warning their readers not to expect
much from them, except a few scattered beauties, and
a certain amount of hardly- won historical informa
tion. Infidels may scoff at portions of the Bible :
they may attack detached pieces of its morality, or
laugh at details of its history, or bring out with
triumph the supposed incongruity of some of its doc
trines — all this and more they have done and will
continue to do, but if they have any remains of fair
ness, they will at the same time admit the marvel
lous literary supremacy of the Bible, even in trans
lations, its unique power to soothe and to alarm the
conscience, its extraordinary unity of tone from Gen
esis to Eevelation, its adaptation to the genius of
every nation into whose language it has been ren
dered, its authority at every stage of civilisation u. To
win this concession is to win perhaps as much as we
have any right to expect. For in argument, we can
never absolutely and beyond self-willed contradiction
prove the occurrence of any long-past events, or the
morality of past actions, nor can we give men, who
may have vitiated their perception of truth by scoffing
and self-assertion, the clearness of vision which is
11 The only conceivable parallel to the literary supremacy of the
Bible is to be found in the Homeric [poems. But these fall at once
into the background when considered as religious books, and as
such were condemned by the higher moral sense of the Greek
nation itself, or allegorized into fancies far removed from the poet's
own intention. The Bible has sometimes suffered from excessive
allegorizing, but the primary sense is always fruitful in moral
lessons. See additionalnote, p. 141 foil.

122 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
necessary for the acceptance of Christian mysteries.
What we can do is to observe, and make others ob
serve, the power of facts present before our eyes;
and these do exhibit to us a virtue and potency in
the Bible which is Divine, if there be such a thing
as divinity anywhere in operation in the world.
II.
Such, then, is the character of wondrous fulness
and inexhaustible profundity which we naturally
ascribe to ideal Truth, and which we find really in
the Christian revelation. There is also a light-giving
simplicity, expected by the reason as the complement
to these qualities, the presence of which is equally
marked. Let us consider this under the three heads
of 1. authority ; 2. definiteness ; 3. permanence: which
are, as you will perceive, the proper practical coun
terparts to the three qualities we have just been con
sidering in the first part of this Lecture. They are
such as fit the message, which we have shewn to
be worthy of the Infinite God, to the needs and
capacities of finite man.
1. That the Christian revelation is authoritative in
a distinct and superior manner no one, I presume,
will be likely to dispute. Other religious systems
may indeed claim and receive as great or greater ex
ternal reverence. The flesh may be kept in perpetual
bondage to false gods, or false and imperfect creeds.
But the soul does not receive that support and motive-
power from them which it is the true function of
authority to give. Authority is not tyranny, but
transmitted power, which we accept and incorporate

IV.] Our Lord's claims to Authority. 123
with our own powers. And this power is certainly
possessed by our Master in a degree to which none
other can approach.
The reason of this is clear. Christ alone, of all
teachers who have made any serious claim to be the
instructors of the souls of men, has proclaimed Him
self the Son of God, one with the Father 15. Setting
aside the purely legendary creations of mythology,
and the hollow pretences of kings and emperors, and
the vulgar fanaticism of false prophets like Simon
Magus, what do we find to be the case with those
teachers who have made an abiding impression as
founders of religions? There are but two, namely
Buddha and Mahomet, who have any right even to
be discussed, and they most distinctly limit their
claims to the narrow circle of human powers. Buddha
is reverenced just because his death was a more com
plete annihilation of his personality than that of any
man before or since. In his triumph-song he glories
in destroying the principle of individual life so en
tirely, that he can never rise again in any form.
" Many a house of life
Hath held me — seeking ever him who wrought
These prisons of the senses, sorrow-fraught ;
Sore was my ceaseless strife !
But now,
Thou builder of this Tabernacle — Thou !
I know Thee ! never shalt thou build again
These walls of pain,
Nor raise the roof-tree of deceits, nor lay
Fresh rafters on the clay ;
16 Cp. the interesting short passages of Origen c. Celsum, vi. 11 ;
and Lactantius, Divin. Instit. v. 13; and the full statement of Dr.
Liddon's Bampton Lectures, Lect. iv. pp. 163 — 190, 2nd ed. 1868.

124 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
Broken thy house is, and the ridge-pole split ;
Delusion fashioned it !
Safe pass I hence— deliverance to obtain !6. "
And though Buddha (if we may trust the Pitakas)
makes absurd pretensions to knowledge and virtue,
and on the day of his death outbrags a rival teacher
as to his successful attainment of a useless and selfish
apathy ", and calls on all men who wish to attain the
like state to put faith in him — yet he did not ima
gine himself to be by any means an unique person.
It is one of the doctrines of the Buddhists that any
one can become a Buddha 18, as powerful as Gotama,
by the suppression of desires, just as the humanita
rian Ebionites held that any Christian could become
a Christ by keeping the Law 19.
Mahomet, for his part, though apparently a vainer
16 From Edwin Arnold's poem, The Light of Asia, fourth ed.,
1880, p. 178. The words, of which this passage is a pretty close
poetical version, occur in the Dhammapada, verses 153, 154, and
are supposed to have been uttered by Gotama on attaining Buddha-
hood under the Bo-tree forty- five years before his death. Cp. Spence
Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, p. 180 ; Buddhist Birth Stories, i.
p. 103, ed. Ehys Davids (1880). According to the Lalita- Vis-
tara, however, the words then uttered were : — " The vices are dried
up; they will not flow again;" Max Miiller, Dhammapada, p. 13,
note. The "house-builder" is probably the spirit of desire (tamba),
perhaps here identified with Mara, the Tempter. Craving, Dis
content and Lust (Tawha, Aratl and Eaga) are sometimes called
daughters of Mara (Buddhist Birth Stories, p. 107).
17 Mahd-Parinibbdna-Sutta, ch. iv. §§ 35 foil. pp. 76 — 79. The
A
comparison is between A/ara-Kalama, who was not aware when
500 carts passed by, and himself, who was unconscious of a great
storm of rain, lightning and thunder, which killed two peasants
and four oxen close to him.
18 See Dhammapada, ch. xiv., called The Buddha.
19 S. Hippolytus, Refutatio omnium hceresium, vii. § 34, p. 406.

IV.] Inferior claims of Buddha and Mahomet. 125
man and actuated by more selfish motives, never pro
fessed to work a miracle, while he admitted the mi
racles of Christ and of the Old Testament20. He
does not attempt to rise above the position of a pro
phet. Such, too, he remains in the traditions of
his followers outside the Koran, even though marvels
have been added to ornament and illustrate his story.
Yet it is striking that this same tradition, which
tacitly but clearly allows sinlessness to Christ, who
is called the Servant, the Apostle, the Spirit and the
Word of God, should speak of Mahomet himself merely
as " a servant whose sins God has forgiven 21."
There is little need to remind you how different
from these are the claims of our Blessed Saviour. He
declares Himself the only source of light and life
and love and joy and peace to men; He is their
Lawgiver, Eedeemer, King, and future Judge. He
20 He frequently finds fault with those who pressed him for
signs, declaring the Koran itself to be quite a sufficient attestation
of his mission : see Sura, vii. 156, xxvi. 1 — 5, and cp. J. W. H. Sto-
bart, Islam and its Founder, S.P.C.K., pp. Ill foil. For his ac
ceptance of the miracles of Christ, including some of those of the
Apocryphal Gospels, see Sura, iii. 41, v. 110 — 114. Cp. Hughes'
Notes on Muhammadanism, pp. 256 foil. Eeferences to the Old
Testament miracles are frequent. See additional note on p. 142.
21 This remarkable Hadis, or tradition, is given by T. P. Hughes,
/. e. p. 258 foil. At the resurrection Musalmans will not be able
to move, and will go from one prophet to another to intercede for
them. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, in turn will remember their
sins, and send them on to another. Moses, remembering the slaugh
ter of the Egyptian, " will say ' Go to Jesus, He is the servant of
God, the Apostle of God, the Spirit of God, and the Word of God.'
Then they will go to Jesus, and He will say, ' Go to Muhammad ;
who is a servant, whose sins God has forgiven both first and last.'-
Then the Musalmans will come to me, and I will ask permission to
go into God's presence and intercede for them." Thus Mahomet
ascribes sin to all the prophets and to himself, but not to Jesus.

126 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
commands unquestioning obedience to Himself as
having all power given to Him in heaven and earth,
and as knowing and being known by the Father
with a fulness of reciprocal knowledge which none
can attain, except as He wills to reveal it (Matt. xi.
27 foil. ; Luke x. 22 ; Matt, xxviii. 18). The souls
that are given to Him are taken as His royal pos
session, and none can pluck them out of His hand.
His they are now, and His they will be at the
judgment-day. And these tremendous claims and promises come
not alone, but as the climax of a long series of mira
culous manifestations of power, and of prophetic ut
terances in the Church of Israel. Here had been,
for many generations, the home and seat of religious
authority, expressing itself in divers modes, sounding
differently in the Patriarchs and in Moses, in Samuel,
in David, in Elijah, in Isaiah, in the other prophets,
but intensely authoritative in all. Each of these
witnesses confirms those that have gone before him,
yet each points onward to a mightier that is to
follow, till all are summed up in Christ. And He,
speaking as never man spake, and confirming His
word with signs that exactly harmonised with the
truths He taught, and which are in themselves para
bles, prophecies, and instructions, as well as miracles,
has never ceased by the voices of His ministers to
claim the same absolute authority over the souls of
men, and to promise them the same certainty of rest
upon His word as perfect Truth.
So much is commonly acknowledged, whatever
gloss or interpretation sceptics may put upon it;
and few, if any, will doubt that claims like theser

IV.] Instinct for Authority in Human Nature. 127
supported by the guarantees of prophecy and mira
cles, are exactly fitted to carry home truth to ex
pectant human hearts. Experience shews that men
have an indomitable instinct, which assures them
that if God speaks to them at all, He will speak so
as to make Himself felt, and will not leave them in
uncertainty 22.
But those who suppress this instinct in one di
rection, find themselves suffering its vengeance in
another. The man who shuts up all revelation
within the limits of scientific or metaphysical dis
covery, is in dire danger of becoming practically
22 This position is assumed or asserted by the generality of
writers on evidences. See, for a full statement, Dr. Mozley's first
Lecture, Miracles necessary for a Revelation, and the passages quoted
in the notes, esp. note 1. I will add two from writers earlier than
those he refers to, John Locke and Samuel Clarke. The passages
of Locke are in his Reasonableness of Christianity, §§ 165 and 169,
and Discourse on Miracles, pp.59, 60. (London: W. Smith,
1839.) In the last he speaks of miracles as "the basis on which
Divine mission is always established, and consequently that foun
dation on which the believers of any Divine revelation must ulti
mately bottom their faith." Locke, though apparently inclined to
Arianism, and a strong opponent of "priestcraft," was a serious
believer in a miraculous revelation.
Much the same argument is used by Dr. Samuel Clarke in his
Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion, prop. ix. p. 320, 7th
ed., 1728. " [A revelation] must, moreover, be positively and
directly proved to come from God by such certain signs and mat
ters of fact, as may be undeniable evidences of its author's having
actually a Divine commission. For otherwise, as no evidence can
prove a doctrine to come from God, if it be either impossible or
wicked in itself; so, on the other hand, neither can any degree
of goodness or excellency in the doctrine itself, make it certain,
but only highly probable, to have come from God ; unless it has,
moreover, some positive and direct evidence of its being actually
revealed."

128 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
an atheist, of imagining that everything has a his
tory, and that belief in God and morality, like other
things, is a simple matter of spontaneous develop
ment. He is apt, at least, to lose all the freshness
of his interest in the masses of his fellow-men 23. Or
his instinct for external authority, missing its right
ful satisfaction in the historic Christ of the Gospels,
forces him into the deification of the human race, or
of some conspicuous part of it. He worships the
Idea of Law and Order, as the heathen world, in the
first centuries after Christ, worshipped the Eoman
Emperor and the genius of the city of Eome, which
spread material peace and prosperity. Or like the
modern Positivists, with their "ghost" of a re
ligion, he worships the so - called great being of
humanity 2i.
Or, it may be, finding no rest in merely human
characters and institutions, however careful he may
be to select the best and noblest for his calendar of
saints, he entirely loses his judgment, and sinks into
gross credulity and superstition. He collects trum
pery oracles with Porphyry ; he descends into caves,
and receives monstrous rites of initiation with Julian ;
he asks for a sign from heaven, to sanction the publi-
23 Cp. Origen contra Celsum, vi. 1.
24 Positivism is a remarkable product of the heathen sentiment,
which has lingered long after the supposed Christianisation of
Europe. In its religious aspect it is essentially an extreme form
of idolatry or creature-worship. The curious sympathy which
A. Comte felt for the Eoman Catholic system, is perhaps due to
some extent to the common element in both, derived from the
extinct Eoman empire. The expression "ghost" I borrow from
T. Carlyle's Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 338 (1881).

IV.] The Instinct for Authority taking Vengeance. 129
cation of a deistic book with Lord Herbert 25 ; or he
is the dupe of mediums and necromancers, with some
of the would-be enlightened men and women of our
own day.
Or if he is a man of a different and higher temper,
he takes refuge in an ideal Christology; and with
one hand on Kant and Schleiermacher, and the other
on St. Paul, accepts what he believes to be the Chris
tian life and spirit, and some part of Christian wor
ship, without the Christian creed, — destined to the sad
disappointment of being unable to transmit to others
that subjective faith which he prizes so highly as his
own. History has not a few examples of philoso
phic theologians of this class who have started aside
from the historic Christianity in which they were
25 In his Autobiography (p. 242, London, J.Warwick, 1824) he
tells us that he was in doubt whether to publish his book, de
Veritate, criticizing the ordinary theories of revelation, and stating
his own modicum of supposed Truth ; and that he prayed to God,
kneeling down with the book in his hand, his "casement being
opened towards the south, and the sun shining clear, and no wind
stirring." In his prayer he declared that he was not satisfied whe
ther to publish his book or not, ending : — " If it be for Thy glory,
I beseech Thee to give me some sign from heaven ; if not, I shall
suppress it.
" I had no sooner spoken these words, but a loud, though yet
gentle, noise came from the heavens (for it was like nothing on
earth), which did so comfort and cheer me, that I took my petition
as granted, and that I had the sign I demanded, whereupon also
I resolved to print my book: this (how strange soever it may
seem) I protest before the eternal God is true, neither am I in
any way superstitiously deceived herein, since I did not only clearly
hear the noise, but in the serenest sky I ever saw, being without
a cloud, did to my thinking see the place from whence it came."
Lord Herbert was brother of George Herbert, but was a man of
conceited, self-willed temper. X

130 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical, [Lect.
nurtured, and to which they owed their strength;
who have, for a time, roused and warmed the society
in which they lived with a generous passion for
ideals, but have been unable to build up a working
moral system, not to speak of a religion, without the
foundations of belief in objective fact which they
disdained. Or, lastly, (and God has cheered us, no doubt,
with some instances of this kind even in our own
experience), many a man having tried these systems
and discovered their inevitable failure, after having
suffered and struggled, at last escapes all snares,
and submits to the simplicity of the Gospel. In
stances of this are familiar to readers of early Church
history, to some extent in the author of the Clemen
tines, and more strikingly still in Justin Martyr.
We all know how the latter went through every
form of belief that heathen philosophy could offer,
unable to find rest and certainty in any. His long
ing was never stilled, till one day he met an old man
upon the sea-shore, who told him of the prophets, the
truth of their predictions, the wonders they wrought,
and their testimony to God and Christ. " Imme
diately," he writes26, "a fire was kindled in my
soul, and a love possessed me for the prophets and
those men who are the friends of Christ : and re
volving with myself what he had told me, I con
cluded that this alone was a safe and serviceable
philosophy." Happy are they who are enabled thus
to accept as reasonable that sweet and gentle autho
rity of the Son of God and Son of Man, which is
26 Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 8, p. 225 B.

IV.] Freedom in the Truth. 131
harmonious in all its parts, which has nothing lurid
or artificial in its light, nothing strained or one-sided
in its burden, but is the peace and rest for every
believing soul.
"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall^
make you free" (John viii. 32). The authority of
Christ (imperious as it is in its demands) is, as I
have said, no tyranny, but it is a gift of power to
our souls, enabling them to work with freedom. It
is a burden which, unlike other burdens, gives rest,
a supernatural source of strength, which when once
thoroughly accepted, can only be lost by our own
wilfulness. Surely this power is a characteristic of
ideal truth, which none other than the religion of
Christ can shew 27.
2. The characteristic of authority which we have
just been discussing is the natural complement of
the quality of comprehensiveness. The quality of
mystery, of which we spoke in the former part of this
Lecture, has as its practical correlative definiteness
and intelligibility, of which we must now proceed
to speak.
This attribute of truth is clearly connected with
the foregoing, and flows from it. For if God deigns
to speak to men with authority, so as to relieve their
souls from uncertainty in the discovery of truth, it
is reasonable to suppose that He will also speak in
a manner that they can understand. While we as
sert that the truths of revelation, whether spiritual
or moral, are mysteries which men were incapable
of finding out for themselves, we assert also that,
27 Cp. Mozley, Miracles, Lect. VII. pp. 143 foil.
K.2

132 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
when made known, they have innumerable points
of contact with human life and reason, and are con
sonant with all the facts of our experience 28.
Compare, for instance, and it is the supreme in
stance, the Christian creed as comprised in the for
mula, " I baptize thee in the Name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," with the
creeds of Pantheism and of Islam. "There is one
only being without a second," or, "No substance
can be supposed or conceived besides God29," says
the Pantheist. He wraps you in a cloud of mys
tery. What natural knowledge can we have of an
universal substance ? For all practical purposes, the
Pantheist might as well bid you step from a balloon
upon the vapours which surround you, as be baptized
into this faith. The disciple of Islam, again, bids
you accept the utterance, " There is but one God,
and Mahomet is His prophet ;" and for any response
that the latter part of this utterance rouses in your
soul, he might as well pierce you with the sword
with which he enforces his argument.
The words which he uses are indeed intelligible
enough, but they do not come home to the natural
reason. What do we know of Mahomet except from
books? But the Christian creed finds natural ac-
28 Cp. Dr. S. Clarke, 1. c. prop. ix. p. 319. He enumerates, among
the necessary marks or proofs of a religion coming from God, "that
the Doctrines it teaches be all such ; as though not indeed discover
able by the bare Light of Nature, yet when discovered by Eevela
tion, may be consistent with and agreeable to sound and unpre
judiced Eeason. For otherwise no Evidence whatsoever can prove
that any Doctrine is true."
Spinoza, Ethics, part i. prop. 14, vol. i. p. 197 (Lipsia?, 1843).

29

IV.] Doctrine of the Trinity naturally Intelligible. 133
ceptance in the intelligence of the meanest. The
merest child knows what it is to have or to want
a father, and to feel as a son, and to know itself as
a being or spirit distinct from other spirits. Human
nature supplies the elements of the notion of the
Trinity. Without requiring any knowledge of his
tory, without any metaphysical conceptions of the
nature of being or substance, without travelling be
yond the simplest relations of life, we can teach an
infant that God is at once our Father, our Brother,
our Better-self, our Creator, Eedeemer, and Sanctifier.
As soon as any thoughts at all can enter the mind,
and concurrently and sympathetically with those that
first enter, this supreme doctrine of the Trinity, which
has sometimes been censured as a metaphysical ab
surdity, can be imparted to the youngest and the
feeblest, and yet it is a mystery which archangels can-,
not fathom. The simplicity of other creeds, such as
it is, is due to their intangibility or their shallowness.
It is the prerogative of the Christian creed to incul
cate such ideas as can be taught wherever there are
the rudiments of human instincts, wherever the ele
ments of reverence, love, and desire for holiness are
found ; while yet they afford food for lifelong and
progressive meditation to the saint and the scholar.
Its truth is apprehended by the Melanesian or Swa-
hili boy, as really as by Origen or Aquinas. It is
plain to both ; it can never cease to be an eternal
mystery to either.
3. Lastly in this series of attributes comes that
of permanence. God is eternal, but the human race
is like a flowing stream, no one drop of which is ever

134 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
exactly the same as another. A revelation of truth
for man must somehow counteract this flux of human
life, which tends to render all his ideas unstable and
unbalanced. Truth, while it accompanies him in
his changes and his progress, and offers an inex
haustible supply of Divine riches, must also establish
itself permanently in history. There must be some
thing monumental, something outwardly impressive
in its form, if it is to arrest the attention of all men,
and to be sustained in their midst. We cannot, in
deed, determine a priori how this sustenance of truth
must be secured : but we can readily see that other
religions than the Christian have flexibility without
permanence, or stability without adaptation to chang
ing needs ; while it alone has both.
If we take the case of religion in India (which is
of so much interest to many here), we shall find an
unbounded flexibility, joined to an almost entire ab
sence of historic fact. Childish myths, gross symbols,
vulgar charms, tedious and effete rituals, absurd
claims of a sacerdotal caste, dispute the ground with
an exalted and vague philosophy and a highly -
strained idealism. There is something to suit every
sort of character. Vet things highest and lowest,
virtue and vice, self-discipline and self-indulgence,
are all confused together under the common name
of religion. The grasp of truth and of fact, as dis
tinct from falsehood and fiction, is thus very seriously
weakened, since everything may have its place in the
world of ideas. There is no criterion by which to
distinguish a true religious instinct from the corrupt
motions of the human heart. Even secular history,

IV.] Opposite Defects of Hinduism and Islam. 135
including biography, has no existence in India be
fore the Mahometan invasions, except to some extent
in connection with Buddhism, or as it may be gleaned
from the accounts of foreign visitors. India itself has
no native annals. Yet it is clear that there are few
countries in which thought has been more active, or
the minds of men more alive to religious impressions.
But speculation has unfortunately been dominated
by the false idea that nature is everything, and the
individual man nothing ; that the present life is only
a vague episode in an endless series of changes ; that
God and Providence are only names for the imper
sonal processes of being.
Hence India has sects and monasteries of ascetics,
but no Church ; it has sacraments and symbols, but
no historical festivals. It has a priestly caste, but
no -High Priestly Eedeemer, no apostolic succession,
or popular confirmation of its ministers. It has atone
ments, but no Mediator ; it has prophets, but no
Holy Spirit ; it has, in fact, a religion of nature, but
no worship of the living God and Father of men.
It would be easy to shew, on the other hand, how
the Chinese State religion, with its intensely his
torical character, is almost entirely wanting in the
ideal elements which should fit it to go along with
the growing needs of the people. We have seen
already how this want has thrown the populace into
the arms of Taoists and Buddhists. Similarly, in
Islam, you have a striking contrast to the flexibility
of Hindu Pantheism. Here you have history from
the Hegira to the present day, the annals of con
quest, the self-assertion of conquerors, a Prophet

136 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
claiming a direct commission from God, whose life
is as well-known as that of Augustus or Julian, a
Law everywhere received and read, an established
Church, a list of saints and confessors, memorial
festivals, and many other elements of permanence.
But the result is a fatal stiffness and inflexibility.
There is no proper progress, no growth in spiritual
knowledge, no belief in grace, hardly any sacramental
or sacrificial system. Hence comes the absence of a
true development of religious life within the bounds
of Islam itself, and a spirit of unyielding pride, which
makes conversion to a higher religion little short of
a miracle, wherever Mahometans are, or have long
been, the dominant race.
It is, on the contrary, the union of historical reality,
and those conditions of permanence, to which re
ference has been made, with the fullest spiritual
progressiveness, that is the special privilege of the
Church of Christ. And by the "Church" I mean
(of course) not only that which has existed since the
Incarnation, but that which in idea and in fact has
been the place of the covenant, or meeting-ground
of God with men, since the promise that the seed of
the woman should bruise the serpent's head. Its
distinctive character throughout has been the com
bination of profoundest symbolism with plainest fact.
As far as the history of this Church is contained in
the Bible, from the first chapter of Genesis to the
last chapter of the Apocalypse, there is everywhere
a correspondence of outward things, visible and tan
gible, with the mystery by them signified.
A continuous thread of historic fact runs through

IV.] Union of Symbol and Fact in Bible History. 137
the whole. It may, indeed, possibly be the case that
the beginnings of things are, by some law of God's
ordinance, almost as obscure to us as their endings,
and that the representations of the Fall and of the
early history of man, up to the time of Abraham,
with whom detailed history begins, are more like
to the descriptions of the Apocalypse and other pro
phecies of the judgment, than they are to exact pho
tographs or annals of what we call historic times.
But making whatever allowance may fairly be made
for differences of method in the Biblical narrative,
it is clear that what is related in the first part of
Genesis is not, like the early history of other reli
gious books, a confused medley of myths about the
sun and the dawn and the constellations and the
other forces and phenomena of nature, mixed up
with grotesque observations of human life. No doubt
Genesis contains a record of some of the facts which,
in the memory of other nations, have been allied
to natural phenomena ; thus the first murder is con
nected by many mythologies with the constellation
of the Twins30. But this is not so in Genesis,
except in the opinion of some who may almost be
called mythological fanatics31. Here we have no-
50 M. Fr. Lenormant has made a very valuable collection of this
kind of material in his recent book, Les Origines de V Histoire
d'apres la Bible. (Paris, 1880.) It is by no means a complete
book, but is interesting and valuable as the attempt of a be
liever to shew that perfect scientific freedom is compatible with
Christian faith.
31 Lenormant, on the whole, takes the view in the text, making
some exceptions in detail, e.g. he agrees with the mythologists in
seeing the day and night in the names of Lamech's wives, Adah

138 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
thing but the mere facts of human life observed as
working under the simplest conditions, and so ex
hibiting a picture which is also a prophecy of the
whole course of man's after existence. The elements
of all sin are in the Fall : the first murder gives the
secret of Christ's rejection for envy ; the elements of
all history are in the parallel between the city of God
and the city of this world in the times of Seth and
Cain ; the final judgment of all men is foreshadowed
by the Flood; the final triumph of the Church is
prefigured by the ark riding upon the waves, and
settling on Ararat. It is difficult, if not impossible, to
determine how far the facts here recorded happened
literally as they are described; for my own part, I
venture to hold that the literal acceptance of them
is nearer the truth than any other interpretation
as yet propounded. But what is of the greatest im
portance, is to understand that facts of human life,
not ideas of natural phenomena, are represented by
these narratives, whatever varieties of method may
at length be discovered in them by a profounder and
more learned exegesis.
But if this is the case in the first chapters of
Genesis, much more clearly is it so in the narratives
that follow. The patriarchs are as real men to us as
those who lived yesterday; Abraham, Moses, David,
are indeed in some ways much more living men to
(beauty) and Zillah (shadow). (Origines de I' Histoire, p. 183.)
Is it not much more probable that the first polygamist is described
as attracted by contrasted types of female loveliness ? Lenormant
agrees that "sauf ces appellations elles n'ont plus absolument
rien d'un semblable caractere (i.e. caractere mythique) dans le
livre sacre."

IV.] Witness of St. Paul and St. Ignatius. 139
most of us than Pericles or Cicero. The facts of
their lives fit into the facts of ours as closely as
two portions of a broken stick, notwithstanding all
the social differences of the times that lie between
us. In the same way, the whole of the Jewish and
Christian religious system of festivals, rites, and
ceremonies, is (as I shall shew more in detail here
after) a linking together of definite concrete material
facts with the most profound thoughts. Lastly
and chiefly, the reality of the facts of the life of
Christ is the true safeguard of the doctrines which
rest upon them, as all Christian teachers, from the
days of St. Paul and St. Ignatius, have asserted.
Thus St. Paul insists on the historical fact of Christ's
resurrection against an incipient Gnosticism. " If
Christ be not raised ; your faith is vain, ye are yet
in your sins32." And St. Ignatius, in a later stage
of the same conflict, writes to the Smyrneans33, in
words which cannot be too often repeated, asserting
the literal truth of the passion and resurrection : —
" All these things He suffered for our sakes, that we
might be saved. And He suffered truly, as He also truly
raised Himself, not as some faithless men say, that He
suffered only in seeming, themselves being but a seeming.
. . . For I know and believe His existence in flesh even
after His resurrection. And when He came to Peter, and
those with him, He said 'Take, handle Me, and see that
I am not a spirit without a body ;' and immediately they
touched Him and believed, being united both to His flesh
and to His Spirit. "Wherefore also they despised death, and
were found superior to death. And after His resurrection
He ate with them and drank with them as fleshly, though
being spiritually made one with the Father."
32 1 Cor. xv. 17. zz d-d Smymaeos, ch. 2 — 4.

140 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical. [Lect.
" And these things I warn you brethren, knowing indeed
that you too hold as I do. But I forearm you against those
wild beasts in human form, whom you must not only not
receive, but if possible not even meet, but only pray for
them, if it may be that they will repent, which is hard.
But over this Jesus Christ has power, who is our true Life.
But if these things were done by our Lord in seeming, then
these bonds of mine are also seeming. And why have I
given myself up to death, to fire, to sword, to wild beasts ?
But near the sword, near to God; with the wild beasts
about me, Grod about me. Only in the name of Jesus Christ
I will bear everything that I may suffer with Him, while
He gives me strength who was made perfect Man."
Such Gnosticism as this, which the earliest age
had to combat, is not extinct, alas ! among us, nor
can we afford to lay aside St. Ignatius' warning as
out of date. We still hear the assertion paraded as
the secret of the universe, that thoughts are the only
realities, and things are unreal. Yet we may ask the
simple question of such would-be philosophers, " How
can those who talk like this believe in the immor
tality of the soul?" for the soul, though it be not
material, is a thing quite as much as it is a thought. ,
And so we know where we should be led by the
supposed philosophy of religion, which talks of God's
teaching only by means of a series of "illusions34,"
34 Dr. Abbott, in his book, Through Nature to Christ. The germ
of this book appears (if I mistake not) in a sermon of the late
F. W. Eobertson's, Third Series, No. 6, entitled The Illusiveness
of Life (London, 1878, pp. 77 — 89). But Mr. Eobertson's view
of the subject seems to me much sounder than Dr. Abbott's,
e.g. in his remarks on what the Israelites found in Canaan, bottom
of p. 86, compared with Dr. Abbott, p. 77. The latter seems to
overlook the real satisfaction which God gave to the desires of
His people, partial as it no doubt was, and very far from final.

IV.] Modern Gnosticism. 141
and of a " spiritual," as distinct from a " material,"
incarnation 35 of Christ.
Such a philosophy as this may have its vogue for
a season, but it will soon pass to the same gulf as the
speculations of Valentinus and Basilides. The faith
which the Apostles preached, for which the mar
tyrs suffered, and in which we bury our dead, is
a faith resting on historical facts ; and it alone will
continue, it alone will move the world. The Psalmist's
.words can never be obsolete, and Christians of every
age will sing, as their fathers have sung before
them : —
"Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul
keep them.
The entrance of Thy word giveth light : it giveth under
standing unto the simple."

The Bible reconciles the two, when it tells us that the Lord gave
the people rest under Joshua (Joshua i. 13, 14; xxi. 44; xxii. 4;
xxiii. 1), and that Joshua did not give them rest (Heb. iv. 8).
Dr. Abbott overlooks also the reason why God did not fulfil
many of His promises, viz., the rebellion and unfaithfulness of
His people.
35 Through Nature to Christ, pp. 459, 460.
Additional note to page 121, note 14.
In Christian Evidence Lectures, Series 2, pp. 291 — 340 (London,
1879), there is an interesting Lecture by Sir Bartle Frere on
Christianity suited to all Forms of Civilization, which may be re
ferred to in illustration of the text.
Instances of the power of the Bible to effect conversion could
very readily be multiplied. The case of the profligate John Wil-
mot Earl of Eochester (ob. 1680), has often been quoted. He said
to Burnet that as he heard the 53rd chapter of Isaiah read " he
felt an inward force upon him, which did so enlighten his mind
and convince him, that he could resist it no longer : For the words

142 Christian Truth both Ideal and Practical.
had an authority which did shoot like Bays or Beams in his Mind ;
so that he was not only convinced by the Eeasonings he had about
it, which satisfied his understanding, but by a power which did
so effectually constrain him, that he did ever after as firmly believe
in his Saviour, as if he had seen Him in the Clouds." (Some Passages
of the Life and Death of John, Earl of Rochester, by Gilbert Burnet,
pp. 141, 142, 5th edition, London, 1700).
The following is from Miss Bird's Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,
vol. ii. p. 301, (London, 1880). Some books of the New Testament,
and other Christian books, found their way, almost accidentally,
into the hands of a prisoner at Otsu, a scholar, incarcerated for
manslaughter. "A few months ago, a fire broke out, and 100
incarcerated persons, instead of trying to escape, helped to put out
the flames, and to a man remained to undergo the rest of their
sentences." It turned out that the possessor of the books had
used them to teach his fellow-captives, "and Christian principles,
combined with his personal influence, restrained them from de
frauding justice. The scholar was afterwards pardoned, but re
mained in Otsu to teach more of the 'new way' to the prisoners."
Additional note to page 125, note 20.
The comparison between Christianity and Islam in respect to
miracles, to the disadvantage of the latter, seems to me very
forcible. It has been argued, however (by Professor Tyndall),
that Mahometanism has spread without miracles, and therefore
Christianity may have done the same. But the cases are not
parallel. If Christianity had appealed to the sword, and had
enforced a mere outward obedience to a law, and had made the
concessions to human selfishness that Islam has done, in respect
e.g. to polygamy, the argument might be, to some extent, admis
sible. But Christian morality triumphing over the flesh, and yet
nurturing a sense of perfect freedom, could not have succeeded
(humanly speaking) without miraculous assistance. Cp. Mr. Ben
jamin Shaw's argument, Christian Evidence Lectures, Series 2,
pp. 427 foil.
Further, at least three stupendous miracles, the Incarnation,
Eesurrection, and Ascension, are essential parts of Christianity,
regarded merely as a moral system. Those who do not believe
in those lesser o-rnxeia of Christ, which are commonly called "mira
cles," generally end by disbelief in the truth of these essentials.

143

LECTURE V.

ACTS xvii. 22, 23.
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said,
" Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too
superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions,
I found an altar with this inscription, to tbe unknown
ood."

THE NATTJEAL SENSE OP SEPAEATION FKOM GOD, AND OP
THE NEED OP ATONEMENT.
The altar to the unknown God a true type of heathen worship.
1. The separation from God considered as connected with Sin and
Death : Myths of a golden age, and contrast with later times. —
Departure of the gods. — Popular sense of the misery of man. —
Sense of sin, especially in classical writers. — Sin a breaking away
from God, and leading to death. — Sense of the impurity of death,
and of murder.
2. Attempts at atonement, especially confession of sin and sacrifice. — ¦
Confession implied in approach to a priest. — In Assyria, Persia,
Mexico. — Extraordinary mixture of ideas in the latter. — Sacri
fice for sin: ideas implied in it, (1) the most precious thing,
(2) a substitution for ourselves. — Bloody sacrifice, why chosen.
— Willingness to die, &c. — Climax in human sacrifice : union of
best and worst in it. — Eeaction against it almost universal. —
Mystical theories of sacrifice, miraculous power especially of auste
rities, and attribution of it to God. — In India and Odin's Eune-
Song. — Mexican sacrifices. — Osiris, Adonis, &c. — Not merely
pantheistic, but allied to a first principle of Christian theology.
3. Failure of these attempts : acknowledged by the best minds of
antiquity. — Difficulty of the forgiveness of sin insoluble to the
natural conscience.
rpHE sermon which St. Paul preached on this text
had, we know, at first very little success. Yet
few utterances have been more powerful or more

144 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
blessed in the eventual issue. Let this thought com
fort us defenders of the faith in this age, as it and
others like it has comforted our fathers in the past.
The secret of St. Paul's final success lies in this,
that under the common phenomena of heathen life he
read the true inner feeling. He shewed to men the
real character of their worship. " I perceive (he said
to the Athenians) that in all things ye are too super
stitious (8ei(Ti8cu[ioi>e<TTepovs)." Many critics are in
deed inclined to see a mistranslation of our Author
ized Version here x, as if he rather praised than blamed
them for their religious temper. It may possibly be
so : but I venture on the whole to think that our
translators were right, and that he is blaming the
Athenians for superstition and ignorance, when they
might really, if they had followed their better guides
and truer lights, have had confidence and knowledge.
St. Paul, we know, thought highly of the natural
evidences of religion open to men as men2. He
thought that the being and nature of God was clearly
enough revealed to human kind, and that creature-wor
ship was inexcusable. Hence he seems to censure
rather than praise the altar on which he had cast his
eye as he passed, it may be from the port where he
landed, or through the Agora, or up the slope of the
Areopagus. This censure, moreover (generous as it
essentially was) to a great degree explains his tem
porary ill success, as its intrinsic truthfulness ac
counts for his eventual triumph.
1 The new revision has "somewhat superstitious" with "re
ligious " as an alternative in the margin. Cp. p. 177, note 75.
2 Eom. i. 18—21.

V.] The Altar to the Unknown God. 145
The altar which he saw was probably no very im
portant monument in itself. None exactly like it has
come down to us, though altars to "the unknown
gods3," and to a being addressed as "whether god or
goddess 4," are well known from other sources. The
feeling which gave rise to the erection of such an
altar is common indeed in heathenism, and is in
volved in its whole conception of practical religion.
The heathen world feels itself estranged from God. It
knows that God is angry with sin ; it feels itself pun
ished, or likely to be punished, by a power which has
retired into a mysterious and awful cloud of reserve ;
it stretches out its arms into the darkness, vainly
trying to propitiate the offended majesty. Surely it
is with perfect truth to nature that Isaiah, in de
scribing the coming over of the nations to the Mes
sianic kingdom, represents them as exclaiming, "Ve
rily Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, 0 God of
Israel the Saviour 5."
This deep feeling of the heathen world is the sub
ject of my lecture to-day. It may be conveniently
considered under three heads : —
3 They are mentioned by Pausanias, i. 1, as at the Piraeus, and
v. 14, at Olympia ; by Philostratus, Vita Apollonii, vi. 3 (p. 232,
ed. Lips., 1709), as at Athens; and by S.Jerome, on Titus i. 12, as
at Athens.
Diogenes Laertius, in his Life of Epimenides, chap. 3, mentions
altars erected by his orders on the Areopagus, to, irpoo-rjKovn 8ew,
' to expiate a pestilence.' Pseudo-Lucian, Philopatris, 9 and 29
(vi) tov ayvaxrrov ev 'Adyvdis), probably refers to this passage of the
Acts, and may be fairly said to confirm it.
4 Wilmanns Inscr. Lot., 48, 2884, 2885. Compare my Early
Latin, p. 410.
5 Isaiah xiv. 14, 15. L

146 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
1. The separation from God considered as con
nected with sin and death.
2. The attempts to obtain reconciliation by sacrifice,
and other methods of purification.
3. The manifest failure of these methods.
1. Heathen sense of Separation from God.
Myths of a golden age, long since passed away, in
which gods and men lived in closer union, and hap
piness and justice prevailed on earth, form the back
ground of most, if not all, heathen religious systems.
Such a background is apparent in the theory of a pri
meval revelation, which, as a competent authority6
has told us, is found "both among the lowest and
amongst the most highly civilised races. It is a con
stant saying among African tribes, 'that formerly
heaven was nearer to men than it is now, that the
highest God, the Creator Himself, gave formerly les
sons of wisdom to human beings ; but that afterwards
He withdrew from them, and dwells now far from
them in heaven7.' The Hindus8 say the same, and
they as well as the Greeks 9 appeal to their ancestors,
who had lived in closer community with the gods, as
their authority on what they believe about the gods."
6 Max Miiller, Hibbert Lectures, p. 170, 2d ed. (Lond., 1878).
7 Waitz, Anthropologic der Naturv'olker, ii. p. 171.
8 Rig-Veda, i. 179, 2; vii. 76, 4. Muir's Sanskrit Texts, iii.
p. 245.
9 Nagelsbach, Homerische Theologie, p. 151. [Cp. Plato, Philebus,
p. 16. Socrates speaks of "a gift of heaven which, as I conceive,
the gods tossed among men by the hands of a new Prometheus, and
therewith a blaze of light; and the ancients who were our betters,
and nearer the gods than we, handed down the tradition to us,'*
&c.J

V.] Primitive Revelation and a Golden Age. 147
The description of the golden age amongst the
Greeks is only a reflection of a common belief. In
the first days, according to these legends, God Him
self was the shepherd of men, and ruled over them 10.
Life was a happy time, free from care and pain ; old
age did not hinder the free exercise of the limbs in
games and dances ; the seasons were temperate, earth
brought forth of itself for man's delight, and what
work was needed was a pleasure and not a toil. Death
was for men a lying down to sleep, a happy passing
away, followed by their glorified existence as benefi
cent spirits, the watchers over right and justice on
earth n. Other traits of this picture are the ascription
of great intellectual power to the men of early ages,
who were able without let or hindrance to turn their
minds in every direction, and to see into the inner
truth of things, and to acquire in a lifetime know
ledge that ten or twenty lives now go to furnish.
They lived in perfect peace and harmony with one
another, and with the wildest and fiercest animals,
and sacrifice and the eating of animal food was
unknown 12.
Those who give us these pictures contrast with
10 Plato, Politicus, pp. 271, 272.
11 Hesiod, Works and Days, 109 foil. Cp. Preller, Griechische
Mythologie, i. p. 69. The phrase Bv^o-kov 8' as xmva SeS/iij^erat and
the lines that follow it, are a striking illustration of the meaning of
the promise to Abraham, "thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace,"
and other things of the kind in the Old Testament, where we are
to see a clear belief in a future life.
12 Empedocles ap. Mullach, Frag. Philosophorum Grcecorum, i.
p. 13. Cp. Dicsearchus in Porphyrius, de Abstinentia, iv. 2, ed.
Nauck, (Lips., 1860). The picture of happy life under Quetzalcoatl
among the Toltecs is very similar; Bancroft, iii. pp. 250 foil.
l2

148 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
them the miserable state in which themselves are
living. The well-known lines of Hesiod upon the
iron age remind us strongly of the prophecies of the
latter days in the New Testament, The sense of sepa
ration from God, and consequent alienation between
man and man, is strong upon him. The gods have all
but left the earth, and last of all the twins Eeverence
and Justice, covering their faces with their robes, will
quit our dark abodes for a better society, and leave
us to a misery with which we cannot cope 13.
This belief in a total severance of God and man is
remarkable as occurring in Greek mythology, where
the sense of sin is on the whole superficial. But with
all the lightness of temperament which this great
people exhibit14, there is in their best writers an
under-current of melancholy, bearing witness that man
is in a state which is very different indeed from his
ideal, and has lost his happiness.
Side by side with the assertion that nothing is
more wonderful than man, we find the counter state
ment, that nothing is more miserable. Even joyous,
straightforward Homer makes Zeus exclaim —
" Than man more wretched nought, I ween, is found
Of all that breathes the air and walks the ground 16 : "
and the astonishing sentiment that "not to be born
is the best fate of all, but next best is to die as soon
13 Hesiod, 1. c. 172—199. Cp. Theognis, 1135—1150, who teUs
us that Hope is the only god remaining : see below, p. 184, note 4 ;
Ovid, Met, i. 150; Juv. vi. 19.
14 This lightness is well shewn by Mr. Percy Gardner, in an
article on the Greek mind in the presence of death, Contemp. Eev.,
Dec, 1877, vol. xxxi. p. 144 foil.
16 Horn., IL, xvii. 446.

V.] Popular sense of Sorrow and Sin. 149
as may be," is almost a commonplace of Greek poetry,
and was considered as an oracular utterance16. A
similar note of sadness runs, it may be noticed,
through much of popular music, pitched in its weird
minor keys, and through the ballad literature of
many countries, with its images of death and terror.
But it is not only poets who speak thus : —
" What is man ?" (asks the most reserved of philosophers
— Aristotle) " A pattern of impotency, a prey of accident,
a plaything of fortune, an image of mutability, a mark for
envy and misery to aim at, and for the rest phlegm and
gall17." This assertion of the universality of sorrow is
matched by hardly less striking language on the
universality of sin. It would be but a shallow sup
position that Christianity had invented the idea of
sin in order to commend the remedy for it offered by
our Saviour. It has indeed profoundly deepened and
widely enlarged the consciousness of sin, but the re
cognition of the fact of human wrong-doing is per
fectly independent of Christian teaching 18. To quote
16 "We learn that it was considered an oracle from Cicero, Tusc,
i. 48, 115, and Plutarch, Consol. ad Apoll., c. 27. It is found sub
stantially in the following poets, Bacchylides ap. Stob., Flor., 98,
27 ; Theognis, 425 ; Soph., Old. Colon., 1226 ; Eurip., Cresphontes,
frag. 10. Cp. Plin., N. H., vii. 1, where the old naturalist waxes
eloquent on the miseries of human nature, and xxviii. 2, where he
treats suicide as the most blessed remedy discovered by mankind.
17 Ap. Stob., Florilegium, 98, 60 — a remarkable chapter.
18 Cp. Liddon, Elements of Religion, Lect. iv. p. 129 foil. ; Lut-
hardt, Saving Truths of Christianity, Lect. 2, Moral Truths, Lect.
8, and notes ; F. A. 0. Tholuck, Guido and Julius, ch. 2 (already
referred to, p. 104), a valuable little book (first pub. in 1823, in
reply to one of De Wette's), the fuller title of which is The Doctrine
of Sin and the Propitiator, or the True Consecration of the Doubter.
It may be read in a translation by J. E. Kyland, (Lond., 1836).

150 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
only a few familiar instances. You remember the
speech of Diodotus, as reported by Thucydides (iii.
45)— " All men both as individuals and public bodies are prone
to sin, nor is there any law that can restrain this tendency ;
since men have gone through all forms of punishment, con
tinually augmenting them, with the hope of being less in
jured by evil-doers. ... In short, it is an impossibility and
a mark of great simplicity to suppose that any one can keep
back human nature, when it is vehemently set upon a thing,
either by force of law or any other menace."
And Crates puts epigrammatically the presence of
corruption everywhere : —
" It is impossible to find a man without blemish ; but just
as is the case with the pomegranate, every man has in him
one rotten grain 19."
"Let no man think lightly of evil" (says Buddha from
the other side of the world), " saying in his heart, It will not
come nigh unto me. Even by the falling of water-drops
a water-pot is filled : the fool becomes full of evil, even if he
gather it little by little20."
!Nbr are there wanting striking descriptions of the
struggle between the knowledge of good and the pas
sionate desire for evil, which is, as it were, the central
fact of Christian psychology, as traced by the master-
hand of St. Paul.
The two horses of the soul of Plato's Phcedrus21,
the " cords and strings which pull us different and
opposite ways and to opposite actions, .... making
a man superior or inferior to himself," of which we
read in his Laws22, the "two souls" of Xenophon's

19 Ap. Diog. Laert., vit. philosoph. vi. § 89.
20 Dhammapada, verse 121 ; Sacred Books, x. p. 34.
21 Phcedrus, p. 253 D. 22 Laws, i. pp. 644, 645.

V.] Sense of a struggle with Sin. 151
Araspes 23, which make a man wish and not wish the
same things at the same moment, will occur to many
of us. So it is also among the Eomans. Even worldly
and sensual poets have written with a deep sense of
this truth. Ovid's lines have become proverbial, — '
" Nitimur in vetitum semper cupimusque negata,"
and the still more often quoted, —
" Video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor24."
Cicero, too, tells us mournfully of the poor little
sparks of light which nature has given us, and which
we hasten to extinguish by immoralities and false
notions 25.
And while this is the judgment of the most en
lightened ancients, it coincides with the simple reflec
tions of the heathen of South Africa. The Kaffirs
have just the same thought of a good heart and a bad
heart in every man ; the good heart having a small
and gentle voice, very easily overpowered ; while the
bad heart, like Plato's dark-coloured horse, is bluster
ing and passionate 26.
Especially was this feeling of human sinfulness
strong in Eome in the latter half of the first century
of our era, when history was written more as a bitter
record of vices and crimes than as the chronicle of
glory and progress. Not only satirical poets like
23 Xen., Cyrop. vi. 1. 41. M Ovid, Amores, iii. 4. 15 ;
Metam., vii. 20, 21. Cp. Hor., i. Od. 3, 25 foil.
25 Cic, Tusc. iii. 1. 2.
26 This I learn from Bp. Callaway (March, 1881), who tells me
that he was long in discovering how to speak of conscience to his
native hearers, but when he spoke of these two hearts the heathen
immediately understood him. See Appendix II. to this volume.

152 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
Persius and Juvenal, but standard prose writers like
Paterculus, Seneca, and Tacitus, are full of the
wickedness of the age. A Christian apologist with
great point says of one of these : —
" If any one wishes to know all that can be said [against
heathenism] let him take up the books of Seneca, who was
both the truest describer of public morals and vices, and
their most stern accuser 27."
An example of this description may be taken from
Seneca's book on Anger 2% : —
" All things are full of crimes and vices ; more wrongs are
committed than can be righted by any penalties. Men vie
with one another in a monstrous contest of wickedness;
every day the love of sin grows greater, and shame grows
less. The respect for what is good and just is repudiated,
and desire fastens eagerly on every fancy. Nor are crimes
now done in stealth ; they brave our sight. And so public
is wickedness, such a strong bold of all hearts has it ac
quired, that innocence is not only rare, but has ceased to
exist ('ut innocentia non rara sed nulla sit'). Shall I say
that individuals or some few men have broken through the
law ? on every side, as if at a given signal, they have united
to confuse the principles of good and evil."
It would be easy to add to these dark pictures of
human life, in many of which it is clear that the un
easy conscience of the writer tries to relieve its own
sense of guilt by painting all round it as black and
vicious. Nor was the better mind of heathenism unaware
that sin is so bitter because it is a transgression of
27 Lactantius, Div. Inst. v. 9: "Qui volent scire omnia, Senecae
libros in manum sumant ; qui morum vitiorumque publicorum et
descriptor verissimus et accusator acerrimus fuit."
28 De ira, ii. 8.

V.] Sin a breaking away from God. 153
the law of God. God (says Plato, in a famous pas
sage) holds in His hand the beginning, middle, and
end of all that is : —
" Justice always follows Him, and is the punisher of those
who fall short of the divine law. To that law he who would
be happy holds fast, and follows it in all humility30 and
order; but he who is lifted up with pride, or money, or
honour, or beauty, who has a soul hot with folly, and youth,
and insolence, and thinks that he has no need of a guide or
ruler, but is able himself to be the guide of others, he, I say,
is deserted of God, and being thus deserted, he takes to
himself others who are like himself, and dances about,
throwing all things into confusion; and many think that
he is a great man, but in a short time he pays the penalty
which justice cannot but approve, and is utterly destroyed,
and his family and city with him 29."
And he goes on to argue that " he who would be
dear to God must be like Him, and such as He is 30."
In a similar spirit the Stoic Cleanthes, the suc
cessor of Zeno and author of the famous hymn to
Zeus, declares " that every sin is an impiety, and as
such displeasing to the gods 31."
29 Laws, pp. 715, 716 (Prof. Jowett's translation). The use of
Taireivos in a good sense in the second sentence is remarkable. Plu
tarch has imitated it, de profeetibus in virtute, § 10, p. 81 E. Celsus
quoted this passage of Plato as the origin of the Christian doctrine
of humility, Origen c. Celsum, vi. 15. It would be difficult to find
a similar thought elsewhere in the classics. Lao-tse, the Chinese
Plato, has, however, some striking parallels. See below, Lecture
VI., p. 209, and the passages there referred to.
30 Cp. Rep. ix. p. 589, " Is not the noble that which subjects the
beast to the man, or rather to the god in man ; and the ignoble
that which subjects the man to the beast?" Cp. the description
of the injustice of the multitude, Rep. ii. p. 365 ; and of desire
seizing upon an empty soul, ib. viii. p. 560.
31 Cleanthes in Stobseus, Eclogce Physicce et Ethicce, ii. 6, § 6,
p. 217, ed. Heeren.

154 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
These men, and others with them, were thus on
the track of the principle of revelation that sin leads
on to death, and that death is the punishment of sin.
This principle indeed lies deep in the heart of man,
who turns instinctively to God as the author of life,
and feels that he was made to hold communion with
Him 32. But men know that they have started away
from this communion, they have broken the chain
that binds them to heaven, and so they regard death
naturally as an avenger, not as a friend.
In the golden age death is a natural passage to
a better life —
" They died as men o'erpowered by sleep lie down;"
but in later ages he comes as an executioner33, as
a punisher of irreverence, following on a state of
mutual warfare and distrust, and removing his vic
tims to a dark and terrible Hades, over which is cast
a veil of impenetrable gloom.
This thought of death as a punishment of sin and
the mark of separation from God, explains the con
stant popular feeling of the impurity of the unburied
corpse. All contact with it is to be kept far from
the worship of God, and from His priests and minis
ters. You remember how Euripides has given a fine
expression to this thought in the Alcestis and Hippo-
lytus3i. In the first, Apollo leaves the house" of

32

Cp. Delitzsch, ' Christliche Apologetik, pp. 132 foil. (Leipz,
1869). 33 Cp. Horace, Odes, i. 3. 25 foil.: " Audax omnia perpeti Gens
humana ruit per vetitum nefas," &c.
34 Cp. the picturesque legend of the death of Philemon, the comic
poet, and many others.

V] The connection of Sin and Death. ' 155
Admetus, where he has sojourned so long, when he
sees Death approaching to claim its mistress as his
victim : — " I, lest uncleanness touch me in this house,
Must leave the roof of these beloved halls.
For yonder close I see the approach of Death,
The dead man's priest, who comes to carry her
Far down to Hades." — (Alcestis, 22 foU.)
And at the close of the Hippolytus, Artemis takes
leave of her favoured servant, who is dying from
the misadventure brought on him by his father's
mistaken curse : —
" Farewell ! I must not look upon corruption,
Nor soil mine eyes with thine expiring breath.
And thou, I see, art not far off this evil."
(Hippolytus, 1437—1439.)
Even ordinary men and families were defiled by
contact with a dead body, and required to be purified,
much as we read in the books of Moses 35. I need
not multiply instances of this familiar sentiment,
which in some religions, like that of the Parsis, is
carried to a great height of extravagance 36, though
35 Cp. DSllinger, Heidenthum, p. 198, quoting Eur., Iph. Taur.
380 ; and Pollux, Onomasticon, 8. 7. Similar instances maybe found
in Thuc. iii. 104 (purification of Delos) ; Festus, s. v. Aqua et igni;
Virg., JEn, vi. 149, 150 (Misenus) ; Liv. ii. 8 (Horatius interrupted
while dedicating the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus).
36 See esp. Vendiddd, Fargard, iii. 14 foil. p. 26, ed. Darmesteter,
and almost the whole of Fargards v. — xii. Cp. Darmesteter's In
troduction, v. 20, esp. p. xcviii. : "No one should wonder at the un
qualified cleanser being put to death who reads Demosthenes'
Nemra; the Persians who defiled the ground by burying a corpse
were not more severely punished than the Greeks were for defiling
¦with corpses the holy ground of Delos [Diodorus, xii. 58], or than

156 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
having parallels even in its extravagances in other
details of Aryan legislation. Nor will it be neces
sary to remind you of the special horror attaching to
homicide, particularly to malicious and premeditated
murder. You know how in many nations the man-
slayer becomes an outlaw and a fugitive, and is de
barred from hearth and altar, and is ordered to be
slain by the next of kin as a sacred duty. The man
who of his own will causes death is thus confessed to
be a chief, if not always the chief, of sinners, because
he not only takes a step towards death, as all sinners
do, but audaciously introduces it into God's world of
life and freedom. 2. Attempts at Atonement.
Such being the heathen conscience of sin and
of separation from God, we must next proceed to
enquire what means were resorted to in the hope of
healing the breach. Pour of these stand out with
great clearness in almost all nations, viz. (1) Con
fession of sin ; (2) lustral washings and purifications ;
(3) bodily penances, such as fasting; (4) sacrifice.
To give an account of all these would be almost to
write the history of non-Christian rituals. I can at
present merely indicate some of the more prominent
instances, and the thoughts that seem to underlie
the conquerors at Arginousse ; nor would the Athenians, who put
to death Atarbes [iElianus, Hist. Var. v. 17], have much stared at
the awful revenge taken for the murder of the sacred dog. There
is hardly any prescription in the Vendldad, however odd and absurd
it may seem, but has its counterpart or its explanation in other
Aryan legislations ; if we had a Latin or a Greek Vendldad, I doubt
whether it would look more rational."

V.] Attempts at Atonement. Confession. 157
them, especially the first and fourth, which are the
most important.
With regard, first, to confession of sin, we must
recollect that it is presumed as the foundation of all
rites of atonement, even when not expressly men
tioned. When a man fled to the priest of Apollo (let
us say) to be purified of a murder, he went in forma
pcenitentis. His very presence was a confession of
impurity. When we see him touched by the sacred
laurel bough, we are instinctively reminded of the
first murderer, Cain, under sentence of banishment,
crying to God, " My guilt is greater than I can bear,"
and receiving from Him a mark or sign, lest any
finding him should kill him37. The Greeks and
Eomans have, however, a very slight sense of the im
portance of confession of sin compared with many
other nations.
Amongst the Assyrians, for instance, we find lita
nies of deprecation, which for depth and force of
feeling come perhaps nearest to the Psalms of any
heathen utterances. The following passages of the
lamentation of a sinner cannot have been written
except by one who had a genuine idea of the relation
between God and man : —
" I lay on the ground, and no man seized me by the hand.
I wept, and my palms none took.,
I cried aloud : there was none that would hear me.
I am in darkness (and) trouble : I lifted not myself up.
To my God my (distress) I referred : my prayer I addressed.
37 The word ('avon) which we translate "punishment" seems
more probably taken to mean " guilt." Cp. Lenormant's parallels
in his book above cited, Les Origines de l' Histoire, pp. 172 foil.

158 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
The feet of my goddess I embraced.
To (my) God who knew, (though) I knew not, (my prayer)
I addressed.
To (my) goddess, who knew (though I knew not, my prayer)
I addressed."
And after a little, —
" 0 Lord, Thy servant Thou dost not restore.
In the waters of the raging flood seize his hand.
The sin (that) he has sinned to blessedness bring back.
The transgression he has committed let the wind carry away.
My manifold affliction like a garment destroy.
0 my God, seven times seven (are my) transgressions, my
transgressions are before (me).
[(To be repeated) 10 times.]
0 my goddess, seven times seven (are my) transgressions S9."
Next to them, and little if at all inferior to them,
appear to be the confessions of sin amongst the Old
Persians and Mexicans. The former attached great
spiritual efficacy to repentance, as appears in the
Avesta, where the following words are ordered to
be spoken over the corpse of one declared by their
law to be a great criminal, and as such just bar
barously executed : —
" The man here has repented of all his evil thoughts,
words and deeds. If he has committed any other evil deed,
it is remitted by his repentance : if he has committed no
other evil deed, he is absolved by his repentance for ever
and ever39."
38 Portions of an Accadian Penitential Psalm, tr. by Prof. A. H.
Sayce in Records of the Past, vol. vii. pp. 154, 155. Cp. vol. iii.
p. 136, where a quotation nearly to the same effect is given by
Mr. H. Fox Talbot. Fr. Lenormant has some striking short quo
tations, Origines de I'Histoire, pp. 173 — 175.
39 Vendiddd, Fargard iii. 21, pp. 27, 28, ed. Darmesteter; cp.
Far gar d v. 26, p. 57, and Introduction, v. 22.

V.] Assyrian, Persian, and Mexican Confessions. 159
The more modern Patets, or confessions, are ex
tremely full, and specially concerned with sins of
thought as well as word and deed, and are more
directly connected with the Creed of Parsism than
is the case with other religions ; for there the con
fession of faith leads up, as in our Liturgy, to the
confession of sin40, a fact which stamps the prac
tical theology of the people as of a very high kind.
The Mexican confessions, collected by the Fran
ciscan Bernardino de Sahagun, are, if genuine, some
of the most remarkable religious documents in the
world 41. They are, I think, probably none the less
real from the extraordinary mixture of refined spi
rituality with abominable superstition which they
exhibit — a combination which is characteristic of
the nation in which they appear. One remarkable
point about the act of confession was that it could
never be repeated : it could only be performed once
in a lifetime, and set free from civil and temporal
as well as spiritual penalties — not, as among the
Parsis, from future punishment only in another
world. The ceremony consisted in long addresses
on the part of the confessor, first interceding with
the god for the penitent, and then turning to him
to emphasize the blackness and self-will of his crimes.
" Of thine own will and volition thou hast defiled and
stained thyself, and rolled in filth, and in the uncleanness
of the sins and evil deeds that thou hast committed and
40 These Patets may be found in Spiegel's Avesta, tr. by A. H.
Bleeck, vol. iii. pp. 153, 171 (Hertford, 1864).
41 They may be found in H. H. Bancroft's Native Races of the
Pacific States, vol. iii. pp. 220 foil., 280 foil. (New York, 1875),
a wonderful digest of information.

160 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
now confessed. . . . Verily, thou bast come to the fountain
of mercy, which is like very clear water, with which filthi-
nesses of the soul are washed away by our Lord God, the
protector and favourer of all that turn to him. . . . Thou
bast snatched thyself from Hades, and hast returned again
to come to life in this world as one that comes from another.
Now thou hast been born anew, thou hast begun to live
anew, and our Lord God gives thee light and a new sun"
(p. 223).
He then goes on to caution him against pride,
and to bid him beware of the invisible tortures of
another world : —
"Therefore I intreat tbee to stand up and strengthen
thyself, and be no more as tbou hast been in the past. Take
to thyself a new heart and a new manner of living, and take
good care not to turn again to thine old sins."
He is then directed to sweep and cleanse his house,
that it may be pleasing to the invisible God, who is
ever walking amongst men ; and further, he is en
joined to offer a human sacrifice : " Seek out also
a slave to immolate him before God ; make a feast
to the principal men," — no doubt on the flesh of the
victim, — " and let them sing the praises of our Lord."
The man himself is further advised to do penance in
the temple, wounding himself, and pricking himself
with thorns, and passing osier twigs through holes
which he has made in his tongue and his ears. He
is lastly ordered to give alms to the hungry and
to clothe the naked: — "Look to it: for their flesh
is like thy flesh, and they are men as thou. Care
most of all for the sick, they are the image of God "
(p. 225).

V.] Confession, Lustration, and Penance. 161
In other cases fasting was enjoined as a penance,
and certain smaller offerings to the god or goddess
supposed to be interested in the special class of sins
confessed (pp. 233, 234).
I must not attempt to cite other formulae of con
fession, such as those of the Vedic hymns43 (with
which many here are familiar), or the curious nega
tive confession of the Egyptian ritual of the dead,
which is so remarkable a mirror of the self-satis
faction of that haughty people, even while testify
ing to the fact that sin separates from God 43.
I must also pass over the very interesting subject
of lustrations and penances, which by their similarity
everywhere testify so strikingly to the unity of the
human race, and to the common sentiment of a taint
of sin clinging to our nature in birth, in its passage
through this world, and in its transit by death to
another44. For, interesting as these things are, the
12 They are quoted by Prof. Max Miiller, Chips, vol. i. pp. 39 — ¦
41 (London, 1868) ; Selected Essays, ii. 148 foil., and elsewhere.
Cp. Dean Church, The Sacred Poetry of Early Religions, p. 30 foil.
The following prayer is at present used after the Gayatri [see
above, p. 76, note 11] by many religious persons among the Hindus
(ace. to Prof. Monier Williams, Indian Wisdom, p. 146, note 1) : —
" I am sinful, I commit sin, my nature is sinful, I am conceived in
sin. Save me, 0 thou lotus-eyed Hari [Vish«u], the remover of sin."
43 Contained in the Book of the Dead, ch. 125 (tr. by Birch in
the last vol. of Bunsen's Egypt), and in the later Book of Respi
rations, tr. in Records of the Past, vol. iv. p. 127. Cp. Renouf,
Hibbert Lectures, p. 195 foil.; Dollinger, Heidenthum, p. 430;
Duncker, Hist, of Antiquity, tr. by E. Abbott, vol. i. p. 179.
44 E.g. Mr. H. H. Bancroft (a perfectly unbiassed witness)
writes i — " The fact that infants were baptized [among the Mexi
cans] immediately after birth, proves that these people believed
with the Christians and Jews that sin is inherited." — (Native
Races of the Pacific, vol. iii. p. 439.) M

162 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
culminating point of these efforts of natural peni
tence is found with even greater unanimity in sacri
fice, and that of a peculiar kind. All sacrifice, in
deed, is founded upon the same moral motive of self-
denial. This appears in the thank-offering for the
harvest, and in the homage-sacrifice, by which man
dedicates himself to a particular protecting, deity,
quite as certainly as in the sin-offering or expiation ;
and it is a very feeble theory of natural religion
which sees only a gross materialism in the lower
forms of sacrifice. But it is with sin-offerings that
we are mostly concerned to-day, as embodying the
deepest feelings of the human conscience 45.
Two ideas specially underlie this class of sacri
fices : —
(1.) That the most efficacious sacrifice is the most
precious, the best, purest, nearest, dearest, most like
ourselves, or what we should wish to be, that in which
our heart and will is most bound up.
(2.) That the sin or guilt is laid upon the victim,
and carried by it, and so passes away from him who
offers to that which he consecrates and presents in
his stead ; in other words, the idea of vicarious atone
ment or substitution.
These two ideas explain the general resort to blood-
shedding in sin-offerings. The blood is identified
with the life. It is at once the seat of the passions
which have caused the sin, and of the soul, which,
as the most valuable and irrevocable gift we know,
is poured out to atone for the wrong committed. The
45 On this subject in general cp. Delitzsch, Christliche Apolo-
getik, pp. 167—177 (Leipz., 1869).

V.] Ideas underlying Sin-offerings. 163
heart, again, for a like reason, is especially chosen
as the portion to be presented to the god, it is most
scrupulously examined for omens, and a victim with
out a heart is supposed to be a particularly bad sign,
as if it could be no proper representative of the feel
ing of the penitent. The offering of the blood, the
pouring of it on the altar, the sprinkling of it upon
the penitent, the actual washing in it in some cases 46,
are further symbolic of the attempt of the man who
has done the wrong to identify himself with the vic
tim that suffers the penalty. Another symbolic ac
tion of the same sort is the imposition of hands upon
the head of the victim, which Herodotus (ii. 39) tells
us was practised by the Egyptians, no doubt to imply
transmission of guilt. The Hindus in the same way
teach with great clearness the ideal identity of the
sinner with the sacrifice he offers. "The sacrificer
himself is the victim," we are told in one of the
Brahmawas ; "it takes the very sacrificer himself to
heaven 47 : " and again : " Whoever is initiated in
divine service, virtually devotes his soul to all the
Gods48." And, without this philosophic idealism,
the same sentiment appears amongst the Eomans
in the well-known lines of Ovid : —
46 See the quotations in Miiller' s Eumenides, p. 124, E. T., and
Dollinger's Heidenthum, pp. 203, 626 foil. The Taurobolia and
Criobolia were actual baths of blood, in which the penitent or
receiver of a supposed new birth stood in a hole in the ground. They
are described by Preller, Rom. Myth., p. 738 foil. Similar things
are common elsewhere.
47 Taittiriya Brdhmana, p. 202, quoted by Banerjea, Arian
Witness, p. 206.
48 Banerjea, I.e., p. 211.
M 2

164 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
" This heart for ours ; this flesh for flesh receive :
This, for a better life, to you we give49."
So the Eabbinical Jews at the present time, on the
day of atonement, sacrifice. a cock, and say, "Let this
be my substitute, this my expiation 50."
In consequence of this feeling great pains were
taken, wherever religious awe was strong, to , secure
the most beautiful and unblemished, or the most ap
propriate victim, varying with the sin to be expiated
and the attributes of the deity requiring to be pro
pitiated. The white bull and the ram, emblems of
light, beauty, and strength, are perhaps especially
prominent ; and amongst the old Hindus and North
men the horse 51 was a favourite sacrifice for the same
reason. In most sacrifices, too, a great point is made
of willingness to die. It was a bad omen when the
victim struggled in going to the altar, and amongst
the Greeks it was not slaughtered till, by an inclina
tion of the head (generally obtained by a trick of the
attendant), it seemed to give its consent to the stroke
of death 52.
This attempt to find atonement in the surrender of
49 Ovid, Fasti, vi. 161, 162: —
" Cor pro corde precor : pro fibris sumite fibras.
Hanc animam vobis pro meliore damus."
60 Delitzsch, Christliche Apologetik, p. 354 (Leipz., 1869). On
the Moslem feast of sacrifice, see Hughes' Notes, p. 173 foil.
61 On the a«va-medha, see Monier "Williams, Indian Wisdom,
pp. 31, 343, &c. On horse sacrifices amongst the old Germans, &c,
J. Grimm's Teutonic Mythology, tr. by Stally brass, i. p. 47 foil.
(Lond., 1880). On the curious sacrifice of the "October horse"
at Rome, see Preller, Rbmische Mythologie, p. 323.
52 Dollinger, Heidenthum, p. 209, quoting Plutarch, qucest. symp.,
8. 8. 3; Scholia in Apollonii Argonautica, i. 415. A little water
was thrown into the ear.

V.] Self-devotion. 165
life for life reaches its climax in the offering of man
as the true and best substitute for man, in which the
superstition of most nations has for a time culmi
nated. Human sacrifice is an extraordinary mixture
of what is highest and lowest, most glorious and most
detestable. As a voluntary act of self-surrender it
stirs our deepest feelings. Even legends like that of
Chiron willingly taking the place of Prometheus upon
the Scythian rock of torture 53, and Alcestis dying for
her husband, Admetus, move every one who hears them
to sympathy. Much more do we feel this when we
read in history of a king like Codrus offering himself
to die for his people, or a general like Decius for his
army, or the Chinese Emperor Thang84 devoting
63 Cp.JEsch., Prom., 1026 foil.; Preller, Griech. Mythol, i. p. 79.
Two lines of Sophocles, (Ed. Colon., 498 foil., have also been well
quoted in this connection (by Luthardt, Saving Truths, Lect. v.
note 8, p. 322, E. T.), where Gildipus requests one of his daughters
to worship the Eumenides in his place, as he is old and blind :¦ — ¦
" For e'en for myriads, I suppose, one soul
Might do this service if its will were true."
54 See for this interesting story Prof. James Legge, Sacred Books
of China, pp. 90, 91 (Oxford, 1879), and Religions of China, pp. 54,
55 (Lond., 1880).
When he had taken possession of the throne (b.c 1766), from
which he had driven the previous dynasty, he made a remarkable
announcement, in which the following sentences occur : —
" It is given to me the one man to secure the harmony and tran
quillity of your states and clans ; and now I know not whether
I may not offend against (the powers) above and below. I am
fearful and trembling, as if I were in danger of falling into a deep
abyss  When guilt is found anywhere in you who occupy the
myriad regions let it rest on me, the one man," &c.
For seven years after his accession (b.c 1766 — 1760), says
Dr. Legge, there was a great drought and famine. It was sug
gested at last by some one that a human victim should be offered
in sacrifice to Heaven, and prayer made for rain. T'ang (or Thang)

166 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
himself as a victim for his famine-stricken subjects.
Such things are true types, in their measure and
degree, of the self-surrender of the Son of Man for
His brethren. These, or others like them, were those
exceptions to human selfishness of whom St. Paul
thought when he was extolling the magnificence of
the love of God, in that while we were yet sinners
Christ died for us (Eomans v. 7). But human sacri
fice, as a ritual institution, in which unwilling vic
tims are slaughtered, like sheep and oxen, is to the
reflective mind the most abominable and even dia
bolic crime. It is further not unfrequently connected
with cannibalism. It has nevertheless (as we have
said) prevailed at some time or other in almost all
nations55. In Mexico alone it was calculated that
said, " If a man must be the victim I will be he." He fasted, cut
off his hair and nails, and in a plain carriage drawn by white horses,
clad in rushes, in the guise of a sacrificial victim, he proceeded to
a forest of mulberry trees, and there prayed, asking to what error or
crime of his life the calamity was owing. He had not done speak
ing when a copious rain fell. The ideas of substitution and con
secration are thus to be found in the history of China, but they
have not found their way into its religious ceremonies. Delitzsch,
Chr. Apol., p. 171, mentions the smearing of temples and temple
vessels with blood of a sacrifice, as the relic of a deeper feeling
about sin-offerings; and alludes (without quoting his authority)
to the brother of an Emperor "Wu-wang, as devoting himself to save
some sick people : ibid., p. 183.
55 On human sacrifices generally amongst the " native races,"
see Georg Gerland's excellent Essay, Ueber das Aussterben der
Naturvolker, pp. 73 — 78 (Leipzig, 1868), and many passages of
Waitz's Anthropologic ; cp. Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. ii.
pp.271, 385, 389, 398 (children), 403 (do.). For India, see H.
H. "Wilson, Essays, vol. ii. Wo. v., Human Sacrifices in the An
cient Religion of India. On such sacrifices amongst the Mediterra
nean nations, see the collections from Porphyry, Clement, Diony-

¦ V.] Human Sacrifice. 167
some 20,000 persons were sacrificed annually, in the
years which preceded the Spanish conquest, and
seventy or eighty thousand were butchered at the
dedication of a single temple 56.
And these were not only men who might pre
sumably be slaves or captives or criminals, but
women and infants — the latter in large numbers.
The ceremonies at some of these grim festivals cannot
be read without an indescribable loathing57. Yet
it is possible to trace the steps between the two
poles of best and worst, and to imagine how the too
superstitious penitent, standing before the altar of
the unknown God, might even come to think the
sacrifice to Moloch a service pleasing to an offended
sius, Diodorus, &c, in Eusebius, prcep. Evang., iv. 16 ; Lasaulx, Die
Siihnopfer der Griechen und RSmer, pp.8 — 13(Wiirzburg, 1841);
DSllinger and Preller, passim. Human sacrifice was forbidden
at Borne in B.C. 97 (see note 64), but Cassius Dio tells us (xliii.
24) that two mutinous soldiers were sacrificed publicly in the
Campus Martins by the Pontifices and Flamen of Mars, after the
triumph of Julius Csesar, b.c 46. The story that Augustus immo
lated 300 prisoners at the "Perusinae arse" to Divus Julius is less
probable. It is mentioned however by Suetonius, Octav., 15 ; and
Dio, xlviii. 14; and taken for granted by Seneca, de dementia, i.
11. See the remarks in Merivale, Romans, ch. 27, vol. 3, p. 244,
ed. 1865. The sacrifice of a condemned criminal (bestiarius) to
Jupiter Latiaris went on still in the time of Porphyry (de Absti-
nentia, ii. 56), See the Christian authorities in Marquardt, R'6-
mische Staatsverwaltung , iii. p. 285 note ; cp. Preller, Rom. Myth.,
pp. 104, 191. Heliogabalus reintroduced the sacrifice of children
into Italy from Syria (Lampridius, Heliogabalus, ch. 8), and such
things, though illegal, continued long as a matter of private magic.
For the practice of the northern nations, see J. Grimm, Teutonic
Mythology, tr. by Stallybrass, vol. i. pp.44 — 46, (Lond., 1880).
56 Bancroft, 1. c, iii. pp. 442 foil., &c. ; cp. Mozley's University
Sermon, on the Atonement, p. 186 foil., ed. 1, 1876.
57 See the details, Bancroft, l.c.,»pp.330— 334, 354 foil., 387, &c.

168 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
deity58. The primitive and uncultured man is apt
to regard children and slaves so little as independent
beings, so much as appendages and attributes of
their father or master, that he has scarcely any feel
ing of injustice in disposing of their lives 59. When
the king of Moab offered up his eldest son on the
city wall in the sight of the invading host60, and
when Manco Ccapac in Peru 61, or Thoro the Dane 62,
did a similar act, we have no right to suppose that
they were, or appeared, simply cruel and heartless.
The innocence of children makes them seem, like the
unblemished and snow-white animal, a peculiarly
fitting sacrifice for sin. The very point which makes
us shudder so much, the guiltless suffering of these
poor babes, was the attraction of the rite to super
stitious minds. Men saw that a pure and holy thing
was a better substitute for sinners than an unclean
one. So it is also that superstition assigns great
weight to the rank or status of the victim. A guest
has sometimes been sacrificed simply because of the
peculiar sanctity attaching to hospitality, and a king
because his office is so highly honoured. When
the Swedes in a grievous famine sacrificed their king,
Domaldi 62, they felt perhaps not so very differently
68 Cp. Porphyrius, de Abstin., ii. 56 ; S. Augustine, de Civ. Dei,
vii. 19 ; Diodorus Sic, xx. 14, &c. " The image was of brass, with
its hands outstretched towards the ground, in such a manner that
the child when placed upon them fell into a pit full of fire."
Smith's Bible Diet., s. v. Moloch, p. 404.
59 See on this topic Dr. Mozley's Old Testament Lectures (The
Sacrifice of Isaac), pp. 37 — 48, (Lond., 1877).
60 2 Kings iii. 27.
61 Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii. 385.
62 These two instances are given by Grimm, 1. c, p. 48.

V.] Human Sacrifice. Reaction against it. 169
from the Chinese, when they looked on Thang dis
appearing in the forest, or the Eoman soldiers who
suffered Decius to throw himself upon the Samnite
spears, and Curtius to leap into the gulf. Nor are
there wanting cases in which merely religious fervour
has led people to sacrifice themselves, without any
special motive of good to be gained by the action for
themselves or others63. Such, then, is the fatal
strength of this practice, and the deep seat which it
has obtained in the human conscience. Yet the better
feeling of men has happily prevailed in many in
stances to stop or mitigate such practices. An echo
of the angel's voice which bade Abraham withdraw
his hand from slaying Isaac, was heard in India, and
Greece, and Italy, and Egypt, and even in Mexico
and Polynesia, telling men that such sacrifices were
contrary to nature 64. They had been tried and found
wanting. Human sacrifice, then, is the climax of superstition.
It is an awful, a miserable thing, and men have re-
63 E.g. those mentioned by Bancroft, Pacific Nations, ii. p. 336,
and those who are popularly supposed to throw themselves beneath
the car of Jagannath. (See however Hunter's Orissa, vol. i. ch. 3,
p. 133 foil., 1872.) For other cases, cp. Delitzsch, 1. c, p. 174.
64 On the cessation of human sacrifice in India, see the Aitareya-
brdhmana, as quoted by Monier Williams, 1. c, p. 31. In Egypt
it was stopped by Amosis ace. to Manetho, and in Cyprus by
Diiphilus, in the time of Seleucus (Porph., de Abstin., ii. 55). It
was forbidden by a decree of the Eoman Senate, b.c 97, Plin.,
N. H., xxx. 1. The puppets thrown into the Tiber, the 'maense'
and the ' ver sacrum,' are familiar instances of the same feeling.
In Mexico, the gentle god or hero-king, Quetzalcoatl, dissuaded men
from such rites and other cruelties ; Bancroft, vol. iii. pp. 250, 269,
282, &c. Gerland notices a re-action against it amongst the Fijians,
Aussterben der N. V., p. 76.

170 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
volted from it with almost the same unanimity of
feeling as they have resorted to it. With this revolt
we may perhaps connect some remarkable mystical
theories of sacrifice, in which, as it would seem, the
higher minds of paganism have sought to find that
better theology of atonement, the image of which was
for ever floating before them.
Of these conceptions we receive hints from many
quarters, especially from India, in which so many
truths and half-truths are found overgrown with
a luxuriant mass of error. In the first place, sacri
fice, especially in the form of austere self-denial
(' tapas'), is looked upon by the Hindus as an instru
ment of mysterious and even immeasurable power.
It is by sacrifices (they say) that the gods have at
tained to heaven, and have overpowered the spirits of
evil. This idea is indeed, by itself, the parent of many
dangerous consequences. What can be used for a
good end can be used for a bad one also, and Hindu
mythology tells us of the demon Eavaraa65, who by
his austerities obtained a selfish control over the
world, and even over the gods ; and Hindu practice
issues too often in the senseless devotion of the Yogis,
or ascetics. Nevertheless there is also a truth in the
idea, which must be laid hold of by all who wish to
raise their fellow-men. " It is more blessed to give
than to receive." Self-denial, which is the moral part
of sacrifice, does strengthen the will and enlarge the
powers of being, doing, and suffering in such a mar
vellous way, as not remotely to suggest the idea of
magic. The practice of giving (for instance), as many
65 M. Williams, Indian Wisdom, pp, 344, 345.

V.] Mythical theory of Sacrifice in India. 171
persons have experienced, may be extended almost
indefinitely, and is by no means inconsistent with
economical saving, and becomes a sort of self-acting
habit. So it is also with other acts of sacrifice and
self- surrender, which may be practised to a degree
quite undreamed of by the slothful and the careless.
We cannot wonder, then, that the Hindus, with
their tendency to push principles to extremes, should
impute miraculous properties to the act of sacrifice,
even apart from the motive. But they have gone
further still, and with a wonderful theological au
dacity have ascribed the highest act of self-denial
and self-sacrifice to the Supreme Being Himself.
This point has been brought out in a remarkable
book by Mr. Banerjea, of Calcutta, called the Arian
Witness66, — a book which (whatever be the value of its
ethnological theories) contains theological material of
no slight importance. Thus we read in the Brah-
maraas (as cited by him) : —
" The Lord of creatures offered himself a sacrifice for the
gods." — (Tdndya Maha Brdhmana, vol. i. p. 410.)
And again : —
"To these (i.e. the gods) the Lord of creatures gave
himself. He became their sacrifice ; sacrifice is food for
the gods. He having given himself to them, made a re
flection of himself, which is sacrifice. Therefore they say,
the Lord of creatures is a sacrifice, for he made it a re
s' The Arian Witness, or The Testimony of Arian Scriptures in
corroboration of Biblical History and the rudiments of Christian
Doctrine including dissertations on the original Home and early
Adventures of the Indo-Arians, by the Eev. K. M. Banerjea, (Cal
cutta and London, Trubner, 1875). See esp. pp. 203—206.

172 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
flection of himself; by means of this sacrifice he redeemed
himself from them." — (S'atapatha Brdhmana, p. 836.)
The Praja-pati, or Lord of Creatures, according
to the same writer, is called atmada, or "giver of
self," even in the Eig-Veda, " whose shadow, whose
death is immortality (to us)," (x. 121, 2)67.
Elsewhere, in a more complicated form, we read of
the sacrifice of Purusha, that is "person," the ideal
man or soul of the world, " begotten in the be
ginning68." "When the gods celebrated a sacrifice with Purusha as
their oblation, the spring was its butter, summer its fuel,
and autumn its (supplementary) oblation. When the gods,
celebrating the sacrifice, bound Purusha as the victim, they
immolated him, the sacrifice, on the grass — even him, the
Purusha, who was begotten in the beginning. With him
as their offering, the gods, the Sadhyas 69, and the Bishis 7°,
also sacrificed." — (Big - Veda, x. 90, 6 and 7 ; Taittirlya
Aranyaka, pp. 331 — 333.)
These striking texts, and others like them, shew
a deeper view of this rite and its correlatives than
67 Banerjea, 1. c, p. 213. On Prajapati, see Muir, Sanskrit
Texts, vols. iii. p. 4 foil., iv. 15—30, 45 foil., v. 390 foil. Muir,
however, translates (iv. p. 16) : "He who gives breath, who gives
strength, whose command all, [even] the Gods, reverence, whose
shadow is immortality, whose shadow is death." Atmada may
mean " giver of life " or " giver of self." The former meaning is
the only one recognized in Monier Williams' dictionary, but the
cognate word dtmaddna is translated " gift of self," " self-sacrifice."
68 Rig - Veda, x. 90, the Purusha - Sukta : see Muir, i. pp. 8
foil., and Appendix III. to this volume.
69 Sometimes translated "regents of the sky." For a discussion
of the original meaning, see Muir, 1. c, vol. v. p. 17, note 26.
70 The Rishis are the inspired seers or prophets of the Vedas.
For the supernatural character attributed to them, see Muir,
vol. iii. pp. 245 foil.

V.] ' Sacrifice of the Lord of Creatures. 173
even the self-devotion of a Decius or a Eegulus.
The idea seems to be that sacrifice on earth is the
representation of some divine process which goes on,
or has gone on in heaven ; and that the deity is
virtually and sacramentally present in or with the
victim. " In some sense (says a modern writer) God
was offered up to God " 71. And in the later mytho
logy, Vishrau, the second member of the Brahmanical
triad, "is repeatedly spoken of as being present in,
and offered up with the victim ; he is also said,
through virtue of his sacrifice, to have obtained pre
eminence among the gods."
And this conception, though perhaps most clearly
expressed in India, is by no means confined to it.
One of the most striking parallels to the self-sacrifice
of the Lord of creatures, meets us in the strange
Eune-song of Odin in the Edda ("the High One's
Lesson"). Many readers will be inclined to suspect
a Christian influence in the poem ; but reflection
will, I think, convince them that this influence,
though it may colour, yet does not originate the
myth, and that we have here a foretaste of that phi
losophic view of religion which has been so strongly
developed amongst the modern Teutons. It may be
translated as follows 72 : —
" 1. I mind that I hung on the gallows-tree,
Nine whole nights,
Wounded with the spear, and to Odin offered
71 Vaughan, The Trident, the Crescent, and the Cross, p. 70 and
note ; cp. Muir, vol. iv. p. 125, for sacrifice of Vishmi.
12 I have to thank Dr. G. Vigfiisson for his kind help in this
translation. The poem has lately been discussed by Karl Blind,
Discovery of Odinic Songs in Scotland (Nineteenth Century, No. 28,

174 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
Myself to myself —
On that tree of which none knows
From what roots it sprang.
2. They gave me no loaf, they held no horn to me.
I peered down, I caught up the runes (mysteries)
With a cry; then I fell back [i.e. descended].
3. I learnt nine songs of might from the son
Of Balethorn Bestla's father,
And I got the draught of the precious mead
Blent with inspiration (Odreari).
4. Then I became fruitful and wise,
And waxed great and flourished :
Word followed fast on word with me ;
And work followed fast on work with me."
Here Odin is represented as hanging on the tree
with unknown roots, that is, Yggdrasil, the great ash,
which symbolises the world, and offering himself to
himself ; the result being the production of thoughts
and deeds, i.e. revelation of the divinity in nature
and concrete fact, especially in the form of the
mystic runes. The same conception of a suffering
God meets us in another form in the myths of Osiris
and of Adonis, in the self-immolation of Herakles,
and to some extent in the myth of Prometheus, and
in a number of other stories — generally connected
with the changing phenomena of the seasons, and
similar natural facts. It comes to us again in the
strange world of Mexican mythology, where we find
a stated festival called "killing the god Huitzilo-
pochtli, so that his body might be eaten73" — in
which an image made of dough was pierced with
June, 1879, vol. v. p. 1093), but apparently without sufficient
knowledge or judgment.
73 Bancroft, vol. iii. p. 299. Cp. p. 315 for his comments; and
vol. ii. pp. 329, 330.

V.] Myths of Odin, Osiris, fyc. 175
a dart or spear, and afterwards parted as a sacrament
amongst the king and people.
It meets us yet more wondrously in a similar
festival, in which such an image of the God of fire
was raised upon a cross-shaped tree, and then broken
in pieces, and thrown upon the ground — a most
curious illustration of the myth of Odin 74. Lastly,
it is not out of place to recall the custom of adorning
human victims with the emblems and insignia of the
God to whom they are dedicated ; and thus making
them, as far as possible, his living images and repre
sentatives. What is to be said of all this ?
No doubt (as we shall be told by comparative my-
thologists) there is a pantheistic element in these
myths. They have many of them a directly natural
istic tendency, and some are vitiated by those unholy
associations which cling to most forms of nature-
worship. They might at first sight seem little more
than parables of the supposed process by which in
finite being or substance contracts itself, and by an
act which may be described as self - surrender, ex
presses itself in concrete forms. Yet it is surely
74 Bancroft, vol. iii. pp. 508, 509 : " The feast of the maturity
of fruit was dedicated to Xiuhtecutli, God of fire, and therefore of
fertility or fecundity. The principal feature of the feast was a tall,
straight tree ; which was stripped of all its branches except those
close to the top, and set up in the court of the temple. Within
a few feet of its top a cross-yard, thirty feet long, was fastened ;
thus a perfect cross was formed. Above all, a dough image of the
God of fire, curiously dressed, was fixed. After certain horrible
sacrifices had been made to the deity of the day, the people assem
bled about the pole, and the youth scrambled up for the image,
which they broke in pieces, and scattered upon the ground."

176 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
unreasonable for us to consider this a full account
of the matter. What is the case, then ? The philo
sophical pantheist speaks of God losing Himself or
finding Himself in the natural universe, and so out
rages the fundamental truth that God is eternally
Personal as well as eternally Infinite. But he is,
nevertheless, feeling after a truth which is latent also
in these myths, and is the foundation of all Chris
tian theology. It is this, namely, that God, being
Infinite, has stooped by creation to enter into inti
mate relations with the Finite. And further, that
the condescension of God in creation is akin to the
act of sacrifice, or self-surrender, as practised by His
creatures, and is a natural prelude to the whole eco
nomy of His revealed covenants with man, and spe
cially to the. Incarnation and Atonement of the Son
of God. This fundamental mystery of the union of
the Infinite with the Finite is travestied and mis
applied by Pantheism, and appropriated unfairly, as
if it were the property of a particular philosophic
school. But it is the basis of all Christian theology
and philosophy. Without it we are in hopeless con
fusion ; with it we can see something of the reasons
of God's patience, and more of the astonishing love
which is expressed by His eternal counsel to redeem
the world, and of the manner in which it is carried
out in time.
We perceive, then, even in these distorted myths,
a vague groping after some higher form of atone
ment, than that which was offered by bloody sacri
fices heaped one upon another with all the energy
of conscience-stricken superstition.

V.] Condescension of the Infinite to the Finite. 177
The true explanation of them is not a mere hope
less, helpless reference to an impersonal process of
nature, which does not at all harmonise with the
feelings which drive men to sacrifice. Their real
meaning is found in the evangelic proclamation of
the eternal love of God, the Creator, Eedeemer, and
Sanctifier. Let those who go forth from hence tell
the Hindus (as they will "tell them) that God, who
has stooped to make the world, has stooped also to
die for it ; that in His eternal counsel the Lamb of
God, the Lord of creatures, the giver of self, was
slain before the world was ; and that He died in fact
and deed on Calvary, that He might raise all created
things in heaven and earth a pure sacrifice to God
the Father.
3. This thought naturally leads us to the con
elusion, which requires very few words to demon
strate, namely, the obvious failure of these efforts,
by themselves, to obtain reconciliation with God.
The natural conscience cannot, in fact, conceive of
the remission of sin.
We have seen something of the terrible course
which superstition has run in this world, and of the
revolt of a better feeling against its extravagances.
The evils of overstrained religion were apparent not
only to earnest Epicureans like Lucretius, or self-con
tained Moralists like Confucius, but to the most re
ligious minds of antiquity, as Plato and Plutarch.
The latter has written a striking treatise on
Superstition, which he compares with Atheism 75.
75 De Super •stitione, vol. i. p. 651 foil., ed. Wyttenbach (Oxon.,
1795). Cp. Theophrastus' character of the Superstitious Man.
N

178 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect.
The former, as I need scarcely remind you, puts
into the mouth of one of his characters an eloquent
protest against the popular misuse of religious rites
in the interests of injustice. He expresses something
like prophetical indignation at those who think that
the gods can be bought over by sacrifices and atone
ments, and who say that injustice is better than jus
tice, for " if we are unjust we shall keep the gains,
and by our sinning and praying, and praying and
sinning, the gods will be propitiated, and we shall
be forgiven76." This and like passages will occur
to many of you. In his latest scheme of a polity,
he sums up the matter in the same strain of dignified
common-sense, which practically rejects sacrifice as
useless, and leaves us with the impression that par
don for sin is all but impossible : —
" You should first attempt to teach and persuade us that
there are gods by reasonable evidences, and also that they
are too good to be unrighteous, or to be propitiated, or to be
turned from their course by gifts. For when we hear these
and like things said of them by those who are esteemed to
be the best of poets, and orators, and prophets, and priests,
and innumerable others, the thoughts of most of us are not
set upon abstaining from unrighteous acts, but upon doing
them and making atonement for them77."
The tendency, then, of heathen feeling was, if not
altogether to give up the practice of sacrifice, yet to
restrain it, and especially to drop those bloody sin-
offerings 78 which had been entered upon with so
76 Rep., ii. p. 366, a speech put into the mouth of Adeimantus,
brother of Glaucon. 77 Laws, x. p. 885.
78 Cp. Dean Merivale in Chr. Evidence Lectures, ser. 2, pp.
364 foil., and Porphyrius, de Abstin., ii. chaps. 11, 12, 33, 43.

V.] Confessions of the usekssness of Sacrifice. 179
much zest and hopefulness. They had been tried,
and found wanting. They did not give man, what
his conscience told him was the real thing necessary,
a sense of righteousness and holiness, which could
make him stand cheerfully before an offended God.
The superstitious man, with his eternal anxiety to
have every little detail of the sacrificial act correct,
and his fear lest some point might be omitted, some
name or word unuttered, some god not invoked, was
a perpetual evidence of their uselessness. St. Paul,
when he criticized the altar to the unknown God,
was only saying what the stronger, saner-minded
heathens were saying all about Him, But these
men could not but feel that they were involved in
an insoluble difficulty. Man is confessed to be sin
ful, and all the ritual of atonement is pronounced
useless or immoral. What, then, is to become of the
On the uselessness of sacrifice and means of purification as held
by the Buddhists, see Dhammapada, ch. viii. ; Sacred Books, x.
p. 32 ; — " Whatever a man sacrifice in this world as an offer
ing or as an oblation for a whole year in order to gain merit,
the whole of it is not worth a quarter (a farthing) ; reverence
shewn to the righteous is better." Also v. 127, p. 35: "Not
in the sky, not in the midst of the sea, not if we enter into the
clefts of the mountains, is there known a spot in the whole world
where a man might be freed from an evil deed." Their theory of
the origin of sacrifice in Brabmanical covetousnes3 is given in the
Brdhmana-dhammika-sutta of the Sutta-Nipata, ib., part 2, p. 50.
Slaughter of animals was entirely prohibited by the Girnar edicts
of Priyadarsl, or Asoka, tablet i. : see Archcsological Survey of
Western India, p. 98 foil., ed. Jas. Burgess (India Office, 1876);
or Wheeler's History of India, vol. iii. p. 458, 1874. In India,
bloody sacrifices are at present abolished, except at the altars of
the hideous goddess Kali or Durga, and are repugnant to the feel
ings of the better classes of Hindus : Monier Williams, Hinduism
(8.V.C.K.), p. 42.
n2

180 The natural sense of Separation from God. [Lect. V.
guilty, that is, of all men ? How are sinners to ob
tain remission of sins ? It is very well for an accom
plished poet to sing, —
" The sprinkled salt, the votive meal,
As soon [God's] favour will regain,
Let but the hand be pure and leal,
As .all the pomp of heifers slain79; "
but what of those myriad hands which are not
pure or leal, amongst which the poet in his graver
moments must assuredly have numbered his own ?
The human conscience, then, without the Christian
revelation, has before it these two great facts, that
God is holy and man is sinful ; but it is incapable
of reconciling them. Man, therefore, alternates be
tween presumption and despair, between incredulity
and superstition. His conscience speaks to him of
punishment and death, and yet he feels that he was
not meant by God to die, but to live. He tries all
means of self-torture and asceticism in vain ; he con
fesses sin, and purifies himself in vain ; he frequents
secret mysteries, and plunges into fanatic orgies,
and heaps rites on rites in vain ; he forms mystic
theories of sacrifice in vain ; nothing will give him
the holiness he so eagerly and rightly desires, but
union by faith with the self-sacrifice of the Son
of God.
78 Horace, Odes, iii. 23, last stanza, Conington's translation.
I have substituted " God's " for " their," referring in the original
to the Penates, in order to make the sentiment more generally
intelligible.

181

LECTURE VI.

ISAIAH xxxv. 7, 8.
The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land
springs of water : in the habitation of dragons, where each
lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called
The way of holiness ; the unclean shall not pass over it ;
but it shall be for those : the wayfaring men, though fools,
shall not err therein.

THE INCARNATION AND ATONEMENT A EEVELATION OP
HOLINESS, WOETHY OF GOD, AND MEET FOB
THE NEEDS OP MAN.
Isaiah's prophecy : God leading man along the way of Holiness.
Conflict between Hope and Eeason. — (1) Grandeur and breadth of
the Doctrine, worthy of God who reveals it. — Majestic power
of the Creed. — Objections on the side of Love and of Justice. —
Other ways of reconciliation suggested. — (2) The Atonement and
God's Love. — Inadequate idea of Love in objectors to the Atone
ment. — Its fiery quality. — Work of sin in the world. — Not to be
lightly dealt with. — (3) The Atonement and God's Justice. — -The
innocent suffering for the guilty. — Principle of Mediation. —
Willing Sacrifice. — Mystical appropriation of it.
Practical value of the doctrine (1) Revelation of the guilt and
danger of Sin. — Necessity of this thought. — Horror of separation
from God. — (2) Christ the representative of the race. — Idea of
Eepresentation. — Messianic prophecy. — Pragments of the Idea in
heathenism. — Their inadequacy. — Holiness and Humility over
looked. — Testimonies of non-Christian teachers to Christ. —
Union of Christians with His work. — (3) Direct moral example
of the Kedeemer; its value to individuals.
TN this delightful prophecy, Isaiah describes the
condition of the redeemed in the Messianic age.

182 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
It is a restoration of Paradise. The creative, reno
vating power of God shall again be visible in nature
and in man. All diseases shall pass away. Nature
shall no longer deceive us, or the beasts be at war
with us. The mirage shall become a lake, and the
desert shall no longer cause us to go astray. A clear
road of holiness shall lead up to the Temple. God
shall be upon it, walking in the way to guide the
infirm and the simple (so the Hebrew seems to be
most clearly and truly interpreted) l. " And the
ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion,
with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and
sighing shall flee away."
This morning I wish specially to call your atten
tion to the fulfilment of this prophecy in the work
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In Him the
mirage has become a lake ; in Him we see God walk
ing with weak and erring man, and guiding him
along the way of holiness.
In our last Lecture we saw man wandering in the
burning sands of the desert, alienated from God, and
1 v. 8 is literally rendered, " And a raised way shall be there,
and it shall be called The holy way ; that which is unclean shall
not pass' over it, and he for them (shall be) walking [sing.] in the way,
and even fools shall not go astray." Mr. Cheyne sees a probable
corruption in the words which I have italicised; but I venture
to doubt this judgment. My own opinion is worth little on such
a point, but I have the support of Dr. Neubauer in so translating,
regardless of the Masoretic punctuation, and in referring the words
"for them" to the blind, deaf, lame, and dumb mentioned above,
verses 5 and 6. God, that is to say, shall be their guide, walking
for them in the way, — a very beautiful and natural sense to give
to the words, " v'hu lamo holek derek."

VI.] Christ walking for us in the Way. 183
constantly deceived by the mirage of superstition.
The hazy glamour of beautiful pools, in which he
hoped to wash and be clean, and slake his thirst for
God, drew him on step after step, only to lead to
disappointment. But Christ promises us living waters.
He bids all the weary come to Him. He is Himself
our guide upon the way of holiness. He goes before
us to the heavenly city, and there offers Himself
a sacrifice for all, and bids all men share in it and
unite themselves to it. We have before us to-day
the great mystery of His Incarnation and Atone
ment: may God give us grace to look upon it as
He would wish, who has given so wondrous, so in
effable a gift to the sons of men !
At the close of the last Lecture we saw that the
natural conscience is left with an insoluble problem
before it. God is holy and man is sinful, but all
known ways of atonement are incapable of recon
ciling him to his maker. Nevertheless, man feels
that he was made to be at one with God; he de
serves death, but he was intended for life. In other
words, God is both just and loving ; yet how can He
exhibit His justice towards sinners without disap
pointing the expectation He has given them of His
love, and how can He proclaim His love without
prejudice to His justice? The heart revolts from
the idea of humanity left simply to itself, adding
sin to sin, and so going further and further, deeper
and more deep, upon the horrible road to death. Tra
dition tells us, instinct tells us, that we were made
in God's image, that we are "His offspring," and
that our truly natural state is to be in union with

184 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
Him. Life is no true life without Him. Nay, with
all our misery we have, under His providence, dis
covered many palliations and even cures for natural
evil3. As Sophocles well reminds us in his noble
choric song on the wondrousness of man : —
" In all things provident, in none
Without provision, he doth rise
To meet the future, and alone
'Gainst Death he shall bring in no remedies ;
Tet of diseases dire escapes he doth devise 3."
God has helped us already, and at the bottom of
all our troubles, as in Pandora's box, hope still re
mains4 that He will help us further. But then
Conscience turns round and reminds us that even
if we repent and amend, we can but touch the fu
ture. The past still remains as it was. The ter
rible form of the act done, which cannot be undone,
the spectral image of what the Buddhists call karma 5
(literally "doing"), with its eternal consequences,
starts up against us. "Whatsoever a man soweth
that shall he also reap," seems like a law of nature
from which there is no escape. Eepentance may,
indeed, help to check the tendency to future crimes,
2 Cp. Butler's Analogy, part 2, chap. 5, § 3.
3 Soph. Antigone, 360 foil.
4 Hesiod, Works and Days, 94. Preller treats this as a mere
false, empty hope ; comparing JEschylus, Prometheus, 252, &c. But
he refers also to the interesting poem of Theognis, 1135 — 1150,
in which Hope is described as the only God left amongst men.
Cp. esp. 1143, sq. —
AXX o(f>pa tis fc&et Km opa <pdos ijeXio«o,
evo-efitav ncpi Beoiis, 'EXnlda irpoo-p,ev£Ta>.
5 On Karma, see T. W. Rhys Davids' Buddhism (S.P.C.K.),
pp. 101 — 103; and above, Lecture iii. p. 90.

VI.] Conflict between Hope and Reason. 185
but it cannot have a retrospective action to destroy
the past. Humanly speaking, it is a mere cessation
from sinning ; for to repent and reform is an obvious
duty, and not to repent is to add another sin to those
we have already committed6. An old proverb, in
deed, tells us, in words which our hearts echo, though
we cannot rigidly justify them : —
" Quern pcenitet peccasse pasne est innocens."
But penitence is at best only an approach to inno
cence. There always remains the almost to discrimi
nate it. And how rare, how nearly unknown, is
perfect, genuine repentance !
At this point of suspense comes in the Christian
doctrine of the Atonement effected by Jesus Christ,
who, being both God and man, of His own free-will
offered a perfect and sufficient sacrifice acceptable
to the Father, to reconcile the creature with the
Creator. It declares that He is able to save all to
the uttermost that come unto God by Him, and that
him that cometh unto Him He will in no wise cast
out. The heart leaps to embrace this hope. Is it also
a doctrine which it is a duty for the reason to ac
cept ? This is the question before us this morning.
In treating this high argument, I shall follow the
8 I have here paraphrased some sentences of [Bp.] Edward Steere
On the Attributes of God, p. 199, a valuable book, which I venture
to hope he will some day find time to re-issue, enriched with that
deep knowledge of the natural heart of man, and of its growth
under divine grace, which his almost unique experiences in Cen
tral Africa would furnish. We are both here following St. An-
selm, Cur Deus Homo, i. 20, and Butler, Analogy, pt. 2, ch. 5, § 4.

186 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
method of the corresponding Lecture on the gift of
Truth, and shew, first, that the doctrine is worthy
of the glory and majesty of Him who gives it ; and
secondly, that it satisfies the needs of man who re
ceives it. I.
The Atonement considered as a Gift of Holiness,
worthy of God who gives it.
1. In the first place, we cannot fail to be struck
with the grandeur and breadth of the doctrine. We
have already to some extent anticipated this topic
in speaking of the glorious comprehensiveness of
Christian Truth7. Whatever objections may be
made to the doctrine on other grounds, none surely
can lie against the magnificent fulness and richness
of result which the New Testament ascribes to the
work of Christ, as the prophets had foreshadowed it.
It takes into its view the whole human race, from
first to last (Eomans v. 18, 19 ; 1 Tim. iv. 10). And
not only does it extend to all the sons of Adam, but
it has a gracious influence upon the highest angels,
nay, upon the inanimate creation also. It is, to use
St. Paul's glorious language, the recapitulation, the
re-union of all things, both that are in heaven and
are on earth (Eph. i. 10 ; Col. i. 20). It is a revela
tion of love made to the powers on high, as well as
to ourselves. It is one of the things which "angels
desire to look into" (1 Pet. i. 12). It is the mys
tery hidden from the ages which the Church is now
commissioned to reveal, and by it is manifested to
all powers and authorities of heaven the manifold
7 See above, Lecture iv. pp. 112, 113.

VI.] Majestic power of the Creed. 187
wisdom of God (Eph. iii. 10). It brings together
past, present, and future in such a marvellous com
pleteness, that all the energies of human language
are exhausted in describing it "I am Alpha and
Omega, the First and the Last ; " " I am He that
liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive for ever
more" (Eev. i. 11, 18). It is the "love of Christ
which passeth knowledge," which fills us " with all
the fulness of God" (Eph. iii. 19).
Would to God that it were possible to rouse ordi
nary Christian people — who too often say the Creed
as if it were an old and common-place form, to be
hurried over and got rid of — to a sense of the in
effable, the infinite greatness of this mystery ! The
saying of the Creed is, in some respects, the most
important part of the public service, and should form
a portion of our private devotions far more often than
it usually does. It seems to bring us into the pre
sence of God even more than prayer, because prayer
is narrow, and often selfish ; prayer, though it ought
to be the voice of the Eternal Spirit, is too often an
echo of our own worldly temper; but the Creed is
God's voice speaking in us. It is something above
us and beyond us, holding us up with a supremely
powerful grasp. If we are true Christians, we feel
that in the Creed "Mercy and Truth are met to
gether, Eighteousness and Peace have kissed each
other." God has done for us great things of which
we can never weary, whose riches we can never
fathom. This sustaining, satisfying power of the
Creed belongs, indeed, in a measure to all confes
sions of faith and hope which have been distinctly

188 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
conceived. We have seen how, in his confession of
sin, the old Persian leant upon his Creed : " I con
fess myself a Mazdayacnian," he says, "a Zarathus-
trian, an opponent of the Dsevas, devoted to belief
in Ahura, for praise, adoration, satisfaction, and
laud ; " and then he goes on to acknowledge his
sins 8. We may learn even from the atheistic Budd
hist, who so constantly throws himself outside him
self for protection: "I take refuge in the Buddha;
I take refuge in the Law ; I take refuge in the Con
gregation 9."
No doubt these things are apt to become formal
in the repetition, but they were not formal at first ;
and we who look at them from the outside have the
privilege of seeing them in their original freshness.
They may help to refresh us, just as the face of a
chance-met stranger may revive the recollection of
a beloved friend. They may fill us with a sense of
our immeasurable blessing in not having to create
for ourselves a theory of redemption, but in having
so grand, so noble, so infinitely worthy a revelation
set before us in the triumphant record of Him " who
for us men and for our salvation came down from
heaven, and was incarnate, and was made man;"
who for us was crucified, rose again, and ascended,
8 Khordah- Avesta ; Patet Aderbat, Bleeck's Avesta, vol. iii.
p. 153 (Hertford, 1864).
9 See Ehys Davids' Buddhism, p. 160 ; and above, Lect. iii. p. 89.
The three refuges (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) are called Tri-
sarawa. They are referred to in the Dhammapada, verse 1 90 ;
Sutta-Nipdta, pp. 37, 38, &c. As the Triratna, or Trinity, they
are worshipped by northern Buddhists: EitePs Three Lectures,
pp. 91 foil.

VI.] Objections made to the Atonement. 189
and whom we look to see coming again to claim us
as His own in glory.
Such is the majestic breadth of this doctrine of the
Incarnation and Atonement. There are, however,
two well-known objections to it as a revelation of
God's nature, which attack it from very opposite
sides. The first puts forward as its pretext the
beautiful attribute of Love, and asks, Why was there
this need of a great sacrifice for sin ? Cannot God
reconcile us to Himself by some other means more
purely benevolent, such, for example, as a procla
mation of His pardon, an illumination of the con
science, and the like ?
The other objection takes the converse side, and
attacks the Atonement as not satisfying the idea of
justice. How can God, it is asked, accept the suf
fering of Christ in our place ? Is it not unjust for
the innocent to suffer for the guilty ? Would not
some other way be preferable ? Ought not all men
to suffer for their own sins ?
Both of these, you see, suggest some other way,
as if we were sufficient judges of all that goes on
in earth and heaven10. But if the Atonement is,
10 Cp. Butler's Analogy, part 2, ch. 5, § 5, note, p. 247, ed. Bohn,
where he mentions such questions as this, " which have been, I
fear, rashly determined, and perhaps, with equal rashness, contrary
ways. Por instance, whether God could have saved the world
by other means than the death of Christ, consistently with the
general laws of His government." And he rejects it as one which
cannot " properly be answered without going upon that infinitely
absurd supposition that we know the whole of the case. And
perhaps the very enquiry, what would have followed if God had
not done as He has, may have in it some very great impropriety,
and ought not to be carried on any further than is necessary to
help our partial and inadequate conceptions of things."

190 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
what we have seen that it is proclaimed to be, an
act influencing the whole creation, it touches a very
large region of which we have only the faintest con
ception. We cannot be judges at all of its propriety,
except in so far as it directly influences ourselves ;
and even here we have no power of judging how
other untried means would have succeeded. But,
as far as Scripture is concerned, the path seems closed
against considering whether other means would, or
would not, have been worthy of God.
When we read of the " Lamb slain from the foun
dation of the world11," of the "eternal counsel13,"
of the "it must be13," several times repeated by
our Saviour in reference to His sufferings, we can
not doubt that such questions of other possible
ways are altogether beyond the scope of Christian
theology. But, whilst we deny that any other way of atone
ment is knowable to ourselves, and must decline to
discuss so idle a question, we are bound to reply to
any specific objections made to the one which we
assert God to have revealed. In the present case
there are, as we have seen, two in particular before
us, one which finds fault with Biblical Eedemption
as too hard and unloving ; the other, which cavils
at it for not being just enough. They are, there
fore, in some sense mutually exclusive ; and this is
one of those many cases where the remark long
11 Rev. xiii. 8 ; cp. xvii. 8, " Whose names were not written
in the book of life from the foundation of the world."
12 irpoBea-is rmv almvwv, Eph. iii. 11.
13 Matt. xxvi. 54; Mark viii. 31; Luke ix. 22, xvii. 25, xxiv.
7, 26, 44, 46, in all of which del is used.

VI.] The Atonement and God's Love. 191
ago made holds good, that Truth takes a middle
course between two different and opposing errors.
2. The Atonement and God's Love.
What shall we say, then, to those who think the
Atonement a hard and unloving doctrine, and desire
rather a proclamation of pure benevolence as cha
racteristic of our heavenly Father ?
This difficulty seems to arise from an inadequate
idea of the nature of love u. It is confused with
a mere dispassionate benevolence, with a general
wish to make everything comfortable, with a state
of mind and feeling not very far removed from the
quiet restfulness of the gods of ancient Greece, as
conceived by the philosophers. The God of Plato
in this differed not so very widely from the God of
Aristotle15. The latter, Kivei as ipco/xevov, moves
others, as the thing loved moves by the force of
the desire it excites, but He for His own part has
no personal action or movement towards them. The
God of Plato is more active, but is too self-contained,
to force himself in any way upon the love of men.
But the true God is very different from these. He
not only wills that we should know Him, but that
we should love Him. " We love Him because He
first loved us," and willed to make a conquest of
us by His love. It is this expansive, penetrating,
fiery love of God that is the hope of the Christian,
14 Cp. on this topic Martensen, Christian Dogmatics, § 157,
p. 303 foil., E. T., and p. 280 foil, of the German ed. (Berlin,
1870). 16 See his Metaphysics, book xi. chap. 7, containing the famous
thesis about God as the prime mover.

192 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
and supplies the explanation of his attitude towards
the mystery of the Incarnation and Atonement.
True love is not benevolence : it is a burning fire,
a passionate eagerness to possess the souls of those
whom it loves, a grasping after love in return.
It is, therefore, closely allied, in God to anger.
For He who loves us for our entire good, cannot
but be indignant at any hindrances which we create
to baulk Him. He is wroth with those who love
Him not, with those whose sins interpose a thick
cloud, so that His grace cannot shine through. Such
love is akin also to grief: it chafes at the barriers set
up by self-will ; it is distressed by the meanness, the
impurity, the deadness of those objects on which we
set so much affection, on which we waste so much
of that power of loving, which was created to return
to Him who gave it. It is this fuller and riper idea
of love that enables Prophets and Psalmists to speak
in such glowing terms both of God's love and God's
anger, without seeing any contradiction between the
two. Thus, in the great proclamation made to Moses,
we have the attributes, " merciful and gracious, long-
suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keep
ing mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and
transgression, and sin," followed without a break by
the other side, "and that will by no means clear
(the guilty) ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children, and upon the children's children, unto
the third and to the fourth generation " (Exod. xxxiv.
6, 7). The same lips which asserted the solemn
truth, "our God is a jealous God," and "our God
is a consuming fire," found nothing in this belief to

VI.] Fiery quality of true Love. 193
prevent them ascribing the tenderest mercy and com
passion to the Lord. "Yea, like as a Father pitieth
his own children, even so is the Lord merciful unto
them that fear Him. For He knoweth whereof we
are made ; He remembereth that we are but dust "
(Psalm ciii. 13, 14).
When once we have risen to the height of this
conception of fiery love, we have less difficulty in
understanding the condescension and self-sacrifice of
the Son of God. Sin had erected a huge barrier
between God and man ; day after day it was grow
ing in bulk ; all the assaults made on it by punish
ment were unavailing. Man had nothing of his own
to offer. His very obedience was tainted with sin,
and certainly could not take away the guilt of pre
vious disobedience. And then think of this condi
tion as contrasted with God's glorious design. Man
was made to be a reflection of God, to shine back
upon Him as an image of all His imitable excellen
cies. Each human being might have been, as it were,
a separate, flawless crystal, distinct, and yet perfect
in its kind. The whole race might have been one in
its service, one in its historical progress. When
viewed from eternity, it might have been a perfect
and compact body, a living organism, in which every
joint and member, every race, and tribe, and family,
contributed to the fulness and warmth of life. How
deep a gulf is there between this divine ideal and
the reality ! How many flaws and rents in each
individual ! How many retrogressions in the his
tory of progress ! How many terrible breaks in the
unity and love which ought to bind man to man!
o

194 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
We see also how the Fall of man, which some thinkers
have almost divinised as the first giant step of pro
gress16, so far from contributing to our civilization,
deadens and weakens the whole after-life of the race.
Who has not felt the depressing, devilish influence
of an atmosphere of sin ; the taint contracted from
a bad man, or a bad book ; the unspeakable, hideous
fascination of a wicked thought ? Contrast this
broken, ruined condition of single persons, and of
the race, with the design of God's love for its per
fection, and then, if you can, associate it with
progress. Yet of all this perfection which lay, and still in
great part lies before him, man has deprived His
Creator by his sin and disobedience. As St.Anselm
well says: " Abstulit Deo quidquid de humana na-
tura facere proposuerat" (Cur Deus Homo, i. 23).
Sin thus acquires an ideal character : it ceases to
be a collection of single acts of offence ; it becomes
a malignant spiritual force, fighting everywhere
against God. The reconciliation of this sin, then,
is no slight and simple problem. It is a great
occasion. It is not merely a matter of passing over
a slip here, and a fault there ; but the whole relation
of God to man is involved in it. Is the reconciliation
to be one in which His nature shall appear in its
16 E.gi Schiller and Hegel, quoted with approbation by Pflei
derer, Religions Philosophic, p. 505, (Berlin, 1878). The mistake
seems to arise from the confusion of that external knowledge of
evil, as a foe to be combated, which man was obviously intended
to have, with the interior, sinful, sympathetic knowledge of it,
which was the consequence of the Fall. The former is necessary
to progress ; the latter hinders it.

VI.] Sin not to be lightly dealt with. 195
fulness and its strength, in the plenitude of its mys
terious energy ; or is it to be displayed as a weak
and barren proclamation of forgiveness ? The whole
idea we are to form of God is involved in the answer
to this question. And we may make bold to reply,
that a simple proclamation of release would have
been at least as inadequate a satisfaction of our
thought of Him as the highest excellence, as would
be the release of prisoners at the beginning of a
reign, or a general remission of taxes to an empire,
if put forward as an act of the highest political wis
dom in an earthly sovereign.
For the vague benevolence remitting to man the
punishment of sin, because, through his own fault,
he was unable to pay his debt of love to God ; and
the gift to him of happiness, from which he had
broken away, without the fulfilment of any of the
previous conditions on man's part, would be a kind of
mercy unworthy of God. Here, again, listen to
St. Anselm 17 : "If God remits what man ought, of
his own accord, to pay, merely because man is in
capable of payment, what is this, except to say that
God remits what He is unable to recover?" that He
acts like a man, who yields to the inevitable, and
gives up a debt which He finds it impossible to make
good. " It is ridiculous," says St. Anselm, " to attri
bute mercy of such a kind to God." And again : " If
God remits the punishment which He was going to
17 "Si dimittit quod sponte reddere debet homo, ideo quia red-
dere non potest, quid est aliud quam dimittit Deus quod habere
non potest ? Sed derisio est ut talis misericordia Deo attribuatur."
(L.c. i. 24.)
0 2

196 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
inflict, namely, the deprivation of happiness, and
remits it on account of man's inability to pay his
debt, this is really to act unjustly, and to make man
happy on account of sin, that is, because he has an
incapacity, which is his own fault 18."
Both the remission of sin and the gift of happiness,
on these terms, would appear to be the acts of a God
who confessed ' Himself worsted by His creature ;
who began with a great design, but was not able to
accomplish it ; who wished for innocence and justice,
but was compelled by force of circumstances to be
content with guilt and injustice ; who wished to
bless a creature and a race of beings made after His
own image, but was forced, in default of them, to
crown with eternal happiness a corrupt and crooked
mass of half-dead and deformed creatures 19.
19 "At si dimittit quod invito erat ablaturus [sc. beatitudinem]
propter, impotentiam reddendi quod sponte reddtre debet, relaxat
Deus poenam et facit beatum hominem propter peccatum, quia
habet quod debet non habere " . . . " verum huiusmodi misericordia
Dei nimis est contraria justitise illius, qua? non nisi poenam per-
mittit reddi propter peccatum." (L.c. i. 24.)
19 Cp. Mr. T. T. Carter, Instructions on the Divine Revelation,
pp. 151, 152. " The conception both of the holiness and the truth
of God would suffer, if sin could pass unpunished, and be forgiven,
without the exaction of any penalties, and by a simple exertion of
remedial power. There could, in such case, be no security for law,
no trust in eternal righteousness, no consistency between the cha
racter of God and the government of His creatures. But in sur
rendering His only Son to the death of the Cross, Almighty God
shewed, by an irrefragable testimony, that the judgments which
guard the laws of His kingdom cannot be withdrawn, notwith
standing His decrees of mercy to free the sinner from the con
sequences of the Pall."

VI.] The Innocent suffering for the Guilty . 197
3. The Atonement and God's Justice.
We now pass to the opposite objection, viz. that
it is unjust to accept the punishment of the innocent
Saviour for the guilty race ; that man does not really
pay the debt, if it is paid for him. I need not dwell
long upon this point in the presence of those who
are familiar with what has been so well said upon
it by Bp. Butler and Dr. Mozley. The former, as you
will remember, calls attention to the fact that in
the course of nature the innocent frequently suffer
for the guilty; and therefore, if there is any force
in the objection, it applies equally to the whole
method of Divine Providence so.
It constantly happens that men bear, and have to
bear, labour, and injury, and loss for others with
whom they are connected by family or social ties.
The loss of one is the gain of another in a thousand
ways. Yet we are not shocked by this. It is part
of what we are accustomed to see and speak of as
natural. Even when it takes the extreme form of
a dread calamity falling upon one generation of a
people, as the result of a great war, we regret the
misery that occurs, but we do not accuse Providence
of injustice; unless, perhaps, we happen to be among
the immediate sufferers. The surrender of precious
lives, tearing the very heart out of a thousand homes,
may be the only possible way, in a sinful world like
ours, of fusing the sympathies and bracing the energies
of the whole nation, and of bringing it to a conscious-
20 Analogy, part 2, chap. v. p. 254, ed. Bohn. Cp. Dr. Mozley's
Sermon on the Atonement, in his University Sermons.

198 . The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
ness of its destiny. Such a sacrifice may be the
turning-point in its history, for which age after age
has waited; and now that it has come, the whole
after-life will have a vigour till then unknown. Yet
those who profit by the sacrifice will not have paid
it in person ; they will only unite with it in sym
pathy. Thus the self-denying struggles of the Athe
nians in the great Persian war were the necessary
prelude to the age of Pericles. So, again, we at
this day benefit wonderfully by the sacrifices made
by our fathers in their resistance to Napoleon, and
in the abolition of slavery, and the like. But few
ever think it unjust in the Creator to have so or
dered it.
Yet if we compare such human cases with the
Atonement, we shall see that the plea of injustice
is really more plausible with regard to the ordinary
suffering of man for man. Human suffering is rarely
quite voluntary. When a father or mother is made
miserable by the extravagance or dissipation of their
son, or a physician dies from a disease he has caught
in attending the sick, or half an army perishes while
the other half enjoys the victory, — we know that the
sufferers would in most cases have chosen, if pos
sible, not to suffer. But the sacrifice of Christ was
self- chosen and voluntary, contemplated from the
beginning of His ministry, though His complete
humanity was shewn in the agony and heart-broken
bitterness through which He passed in completing
the great act of love. Such vicarious offerings as
these have always been held not only perfectly legi
timate, but most satisfactory to the natural conscience

VI.] Christ's willing Sacrifice and Mediation. 199
of right and wrong. Even in the mythical or semi-
mythical shape of a Chiron, an Alcestis, or a Codrus,
a Quintus Curtius, a Eegulus, or a Decius, they have
a strong hold upon our feelings. We should revolt
and feel injustice done if they were not successful.
We can even understand the anxious superstition
of the heathen, which required a semblance of wil
lingness in the animals they sacrificed, and thought
a victim without a heart a disastrous portent. We
assume it to be a law of God's ordinance that media
tion and intercession have a value, that faithful ef
fort and self-denial for others must meet with its
reward. Hence, when we think that He who suf
fered for us upon the cross was the Son of God,
" the first-born of every , creature," and our future
Judge, we feel that the purchase of remission of sins
and potential happiness for all mankind is but a just
return and reward. That such an act should not
gain its end would surely fill us with a sense of
injustice, terror, and despair21.
If the doctrine, indeed, ended here, it would be
incomplete. If Christ suffered, and we merely reaped
the benefit, as some Christians are too lightly and
lazily inclined to think is the case, the enemy-
might indeed find something to censure. But I need
not remind any here, that though a certain degree
of present benefit is felt by all men, whether they
have heard the name of Christ or not, owing to the
greater diffused happiness which Christianity has
21 Cp. some eloquent pages of Mr. B. W. Dale's Lectures on
The Atonement, at the end of Lect. ix., in reply to Mr. Martineau,
Studies of Christianity, p. 188.

200 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
brought into the world, yet the mystical death to
sin with Christ, and the rising agaia to righteous
ness, is the only revealed condition of our final sal
vation. We are saved by faith ; we are judged
according to our works. The redemption effected
by Christ does not dispense with a change of mind
in the sinners who are redeemed. It alters the re
gard with which God looks at men; and now He
accepts our repentance, and all the blessed fruits
of a holy and peaceful life that follow it.
This is the Gospel message. How God will deal
with those who do not hear it or understand it in
this world, we know not; but that Christ died for
all men, and that those who are saved will be saved
by faith in Christ, here or hereafter, of this we
are sure.
This thought of the practical correlations to the
idea of the Divine mercy, naturally leads us on to
the second part of our argument. II.
We now turn to the blessed effects which this doc
trine has, as a revelation meet for human needs.
1. Consider the great value of the doctrine of the
Incarnation and Atonement, as a revelation of the
guilt and danger of sin.
An age like the present, which dislikes the name
of sin, which is conscious of many good impulses,
and rests leisurely upon an external and conven
tional morality, is not likely, perhaps, to view this
proposition with favour. Yet, even if we take the
men of our time at their own valuation, and ap-

VI.] The Guilt and Danger of Sin. 201
proach them upon their own principles of historic
candour, they cannot fail to see at least something
in our statement. " Your excellent impulses are not
your own, but are inherited from the past," so we
may reason with them ; " and the sweet social quiet
ness on which you repose, could not have existed
without that idea of a death to sin and a new birth
to righteousness, which we can shew historically to
have come into the world with belief in the Incarna
tion, Death, and Eesurrection of the Saviour." Even
now, when by a natural reaction from puritanism,
sad and painful thoughts are being driven by many
first from daily life and then from religion, it ought
not to be difficult for any, even of the most frivolous,
to see the enormous practical gain of the reinforce
ment of the law of duty by the Life and Passion of
Christ. "What the Law could not do," writes St.
Paul, " in that it was weak through the flesh, God,
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh : that the
righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit "
(Romans viii. 3, 4). The clear condemnation of sin
in actual visible fact in the flesh of Christ, is a lever
of enormous power, possessed by no other religion,
and one which has been wielded with vast success
by Christian moralists.
But if this will be confessed by those who stand
apart from positive belief, how much more is it felt
by us Christians, who realize something of what the
Saviour meant when He said, " The Son of Man is
come to seek and to save that which was lost"

202 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
(Luke xix. 10). We know that the first step in
deliverance, both for ourselves and for those whom,
after our Saviour's example, we l6ve and fain would
save, is only found by genuine personal acknowledg
ment of sin and of the horrors which attend a sepa
ration from God. "The incarnation shews to man
the greatness of his misery, by the greatness of the
remedy which was required to heal it 33." It is like
a light let down into a dismal and narrow pit, re
vealing its hideousness, and so stirring those who
dwell there to desire their escape. It shews also
how impossible escape is by our own unaided efforts.
When our eyes are opened by Christ, we see that
heaven is so far away. We may climb laboriously
upwards from rock to rock, and from ledge to ledge,
along the sides of our prison-house, but we shall not
be appreciably nearer the stars above us, where we
know that our true home lies 83. Only by the coming
down of Christ among us, and taking us by the
hand, can we be truly lifted up.
The horror of separation from God is certainly not
the highest motive, but it is practically inseparable,
in almost all cases, from the love of God. The two
are brought to our knowledge at once by Christ, and
he must be but a lukewarm Christian who does not
thank Him for this help to holiness. The place of
punishment, the outer darkness and eternal night,
were not indeed made for man, but for spiritual
beings of a darker and deadlier criminality than
ours24; but they will be the destiny of impenitent
22 Pascal, Pensees, part 2, art. 5, § 8, p. 184. M Cp. Tholuck,
Guido and Julius, E. T., p. 172. u St. Matthew xxv. 41.

VI.] Horror of Separation from God. 203
sinners25. Men knew not this, or only knew it in
myths and legends, which they were too ready to
disbelieve and discredit as children's fables, that
they might sin with greater freedom. It was natu
ral, indeed, that God should not reveal the full ter
rors of His wrath, and the severity of His judgment,
till He could reveal them by one who was the Sa
viour as well as the Judge. But when the fulness
of the time came, He sent forth Him who was " ac
quainted with grief," as none of created beings could
be ; Him who knew the secrets and depths of sin, and
the origin of the place of torment, to call men to
repentance. He knew the perfection of love in the
bosom of the Father, and He knew the other side
too, the tremendous fall of the angels, the ruin of
men which followed, the grief of eternal regret, eter
nal remorse, eternal despair, eternal self-will and
rebellion. He knew the feeling of madness, rage,
confusion and shame, which make the bitter cup
mixed for the ungodly. Hence it is that Jesus Christ
our Saviour, who is the Divine Love incarnate and
the one offering for sin, is also for our salvation the
sternest, because the calmest and most clear-sighted,
prophet of the wrath of God.
2. Consider the blessing which we possess in
Christ as the true representative of the race.
The subject of redemption is the whole race, not
single individuals. The one religion must certainly
proclaim this. We instinctively reject the ideas of
25 On our Lord as the revealer of future punishment, see Bp.
Milman's Love of the Atonement, chap, xii., headed "A Man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief."

204 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
Gnostic or other Dualists, who speak of a special
creation of spiritual men, in whom alone God is in
terested; and the separate selfishness of Buddhist
and other ascetics, who are bidden to wander alone
in search of salvation, each for themselves 26. The
one religion takes the two great facts of the unity
of the race and of the universality of sin, and deals
with them in a unique and consistent manner, un
known in any other of the attempts to find re
demption. The problem presented by these two facts is this :
How can the whole race make a reparation to God,
and be presented to Him ? It cannot obviously, as
the world is now constituted, be all collected in one
place, and be presented at one moment, and by a so
lemn act of penitence offer to God the homage of
a contrite heart. There is, indeed, a marvellous force
and power in such common acts, as when so many
thousand turbaned heads are bowed to the ground
at one instant in the courtyard of the mosque at
Delhi, or the Pope blesses the bending multitude
from the balcony of St. Peter's Church at Eome.
But even if such an act were possible for all the
world, the momentary enthusiasm of a crowd is not
the highest type of a great religious action. Chris
tianity has, indeed, this enthusiasm amongst its
powers, but it has something better and more last
ing, above and beyond it. This is found in the prin
ciple of Eepresentation, which is a principle specially
Cp. Sutta-Nipdta, Sacred Books, vol. x. part 2, esp. the
Ehaggavisdnasutta, p. 6 foil., the verses of which end, "let him
wander alone like a rhinoceros, " and the Munisutta, p. 33 foil.

VI.] Christ the Representative of the Race. 205
bound up and connected with the two greatest of
human powers, reason and faith. Christ Jesus is
our representative, who being one stands for us all,
and in our place offers to God that reparation which
we could not otherwise find a means of paying.
But in what manner is He our representative ?
It is necessary to ask this question, for representa
tion is obviously of two kinds : firstly, natural and
of inherent right ; and secondly, positive, and resting
generally upon some kind of compact.
A representative of the first kind is, for instance,
a father acting for his children, a king for his people,
a priest for his congregation. The second is the of
fice of a deputy or delegate, elected under certain
conditions by the votes of his constituents. This
latter sort of delegation is very familiar to us in
this country ; but even in our political life we readily
perceive that it is not a complete form of representa
tion. A mere delegate, who simply acts as a mouth
piece, and re-echoes the sentiments of those who send
him, is not considered a political success. Every
good representative of the second class must have
some of those moral and spiritual qualities which
ought to dignify one who belongs to the first class.
This is specially the case when the matter in which
we are to be represented lies near our heart, and
concerns our deepest interests. Then we feel that
only he who is truly worthy can really act for us.
But when he does appear to act for us, then we are
satisfied. We transfer to him our own impulses, and
feel that they add force to his actions. We cannot
account for the feeling, or understand the method of

206 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
the transfer. But we know that the world is God's
world. And just as we offer our prayers to Him in
faith, without the least understanding how they can
prevail, so we give our secret suffrages to that man
who defends the cause we approve, and are assured
that God will reckon our sympathies amongst the
moral forces that He permits to co-operate with His
Providence. It has been well said, that " the disposition to look
for such a type or pattern,, in which may be properly
expressed what each man's consciousness imperfectly
witnesses, lies deep in human nature 27." It ex
presses itself in our admiration for national heroes,
or for leaders in any department of thought or feel
ing. Such men" have fought for us, pleaded for us,
reasoned for us, hoped and loved for us, fixed the
hues of the sunset, or the tones of unutterable pas
sion, — all without any delegation of ours, — by their
inherent natural right as princes and prelates of God's
world. In them myriads, who for themselves could
never have found a tongue, have made themselves
heard and listened to. Yet these representative he
roes took the office upon themselves, as God gave
them a work to do and a power to do it. They
acted most probably under the pressure of uncon
scious impulse, without thinking of the far-reaching
effect of what they were doing; but in them we
recognize fathers and brothers, who have vindicated
for us a position which for ourselves we could never
have attained.
27 Bobert Isaac Wilberforce, Doctrine of the Incarnation, p. 7,
new edition (London, 1875).

VI.] Natural desire for a Representative. 207
Eeflections like these on the ideal of representation
current in the world, give certain faint indications
of what we might naturally look for in the person
of an universal Eedeemer. We should look for one
of common nature, joined to us by all the sympathies
of human kinship and human suffering, and there
fore not an angel or spirit, but a man like ourselves.
Yet, inasmuch as He is a Eedeemer from sin, He
must differ from us in this one point, — He must in
His sinlessness represent, not the actual depravity
of mankind, but the ideal purity which we feel is
the design and original state of man. He comes
to restore the community and freedom of inter
course betwixt God and man, which has been broken
by sin, and to do this He must, as it were, make
a fresh departure. He must be man, we feel, but
a new man.
It follows also, from what has been already said,
that He will be, in some true sense of the term,
a Father, a King, a Priest, blessed and blessing
others, summing up in Himself all the most gracious
relations of humanity. Yet His unique relation to
sin cannot but cast a gloom over His life, and all
experience shews that He will not be happy, as men
usually count happiness.
Such, in fact, is the forecast of Messianic prophecy,
of which our text is an example, which alone has
built up the fabric of a true portraiture of the Sa
viour of the world. But fragments of it appear here
and there in different ages and countries. Myths
of the return of a golden age are not unfrequent,
though difficult in many cases to disentangle from

208 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
the hopes diffused by Jewish prophecy or Christian
fulfilment. Thus the Parsis have a considerably de
tailed prophecy of the restoration of true religion
under a priest called Peshyotanu, and others 28. The
Mexicans expected the return of their gentle king,
who had forbidden human sacrifices 29. The old Ger
mans believed that after the destruction of the gods,
Vidar, son of Odin, would arise to avenge his father ;
while Balder would return from the dead, and all
things bright would revive30. Again, all here will
think instinctively of Virgil's Pollio, and of the child
who was to be born as a blessing to the world, with
whom Justice and Peace were to come back, and in
whom a new creation, as it were, was to take its
rise : —
" A mighty line of ages springs anew ;
The Maid returns and Saturn's golden prime ;
Prom heaven on high a new-born race descends 31."
We know, indeed, that the oracles of the Cu-
msean sibyl, from which Virgil professes to draw his
29 Bahman Tast, chap. iii. 24 foil. Sacred Books, vol. v. (Pahlavi
Texts), pp. 224—235.
29 Quetzalcoatl : see H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific
States, vol. iii. 260, 444. Cortes was at first taken for him, and
a human sacrifice was offered to him, notwithstanding the tradi
tional character of the God, ibid., p. 276.
30 Vafthrddnismdl, 51, 53; Grimnismdl, 17; Voluspa, 57 foil.
I do not quote the myth of the Hindu avatar Kalki, which is
probably to some extent traceable to a Christian source. See
Hardwick, p. 231.
31 " Magnus ab integro sfficlorum nascitur ordo :
Jam redit et Yirgo, redeunt Saturnia regna ;
Jam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto." — Eel. iv.
The " Virgo " is Astrsea, or Justice : see above, Lect. v. p. 148.

VI.] Fragments of the. Messianic Idea. 209
inspiration, were very possibly indebted for their besl
thoughts to a Jewish hand, yet we can hardly doubt
that he here represents a genuine expectation of hea
thenism, however arrived at.
This is one side of the picture, that of the blessed
King and Conqueror ; on the other, we have much
fainter and rarer indications of Him who was " de
spised and rejected of men." In the Grseco-Eoman
world Plato stands, perhaps, alone with his vision
of the perfectly just man, who is and does not seem
to be so ; who is the best, and is esteemed the worst ;
and at the end is put to death with all kinds of tor
tures32. This wonderful gleam of truth is matched
only, as far as I know, by that of the Chinese Lao-tse,
the elder contemporary and critic of Confucius ; ex
pressed, however, in the obscure and artificial lan
guage of his school : — ¦
" He who knows the light, and at the same time keeps
the shade, will be the whole world's model. Being the
whole world's model, eternal virtue will not miss him, and
he will return home to the Absolute. He who knows the
glory, and at the same time keeps to shame, will be the
whole world's valley. Being the whole world's valley,
eternal virtue will fill him, and he will return home to
Taou33." But such beautiful thoughts, whether of poets or
philosophers, whether sung by the people or debated
32 Plato, Republic, book ii. p. 361. Cp. Luthardt, Fundamental
Truths of Christianity, E. T., ed. 3, p. 243 and note.
33 Taou-tih-Eing, chap. 28 ; quoted by B. K. Douglas, Confu
cianism and Taouism,]). 195. Cp. Dr. Legge' 's Religions of China,
pp. 220 foil., on his teaching about humility; and Hardwick,
p. 316. P

210 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
in the schools, have not power by themselves to sa
tisfy the race of mankind, or to give it any true sense
of unity before God. Those who hold them for a few
moments seem to lose them again almost at once, and
vainly snatch at them like a mocking web of gossa
mer thrown across their path some dewy morning.
The same Virgil who sang so wondrously of the
blessed Child, joined in the idolatrous adulation paid
to the selfish and politic Augustus. A few years
later the master of the Eoman world, the crazy Em
peror Gaius or Caligula, decreed universal worship
to himself ; and some generations afterwards, Hadrian
ordered his subjects to worship his dead favourite,
Antinous. Into such miserable profanity did hea
then worship plunge in its most enlightened ages ;
while, if we turn to other countries, we find, if pos
sible, even lower developments of the belief in in
carnations, from which so much might have been
hoped. " One of the worst things in modern India (writes Bishop
Caldwell) is the sensual worship of Krishna, as practised by
some of the more enthusiastic sects ; and this seems to run in
parallel lines with one of the highest developments of Chris
tian piety — the personal love of the devout soul to the Di
vine Saviour of men. That which appeared to be most
truly divine in its original shape has become earthly, sen
sual, if not altogether devilish, by contact with impure
minds. Corruptions of the best things are the worst 3i."
But even if we take human ideals at their best,
not at their worst, we may be thankful that we are
u Bp. Caldwell, Christianity and Hinduism: a Lecture ad
dressed to educated Hindus (S.P.C.E.), pp. 7, 8 — a very valuable
paper.

VI.] Defect of Human Ideals. 211
not left to ourselves to frame the pattern of the God-
man. Observing what virtues are chiefly valued
by mankind, apart from the exceptional and transient
thoughts of one or two philosophers, we can easily
picture the Christ who would have been created by
human imagination. In the first place, He would have
been many, and not one. To the Oriental mind
generally, He would have been the embodiment of
gigantic force ; to the Persian, perhaps, of truthfulness
and labour: to the Chinese, of regularity and duti-
fulness ; to the Greek, of beauty and intelligence ;
to the Eoman, of imperial majesty ; to the Teuton,
of calmness and thoughtfulness. Other races would
have had other noble thoughts of like sort. Each
nation would have endowed Him with the best quali
ties of its own character, omitting the rest. But the
supreme virtues of holiness and humility would have
been, to all appearances, omitted by all.
It needed the actual appearance of Christ' in the
flesh to give unity and reality to these ideals, and to
give them those qualities which they all lacked. It
needed the manger of Bethlehem, and the village
seclusion of Nazareth, and the little success of His
ministry in Judsea and Galilee, and the rejection by
His own people, and the mocking of Pilate's judgment-
hall, and the marring of His visage upon the cross,
and the whole life, in its outer seeming, capable
of despite and disregard. All this was needed to
fulfil God's design in turning men forcibly back from
belief in power, and glory, and might, and even duty,
and labour, and truthfulness, to belief in simple good
ness as the ideal of man's offering to God. Holiness
p2

212 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
and humility are the foundation of the Christian cha
racter, and of all that is best in modern life. Holiness
and humility shine out from every page of the New
Testament ; but the world would have never known
and loved them, had they not been visibly set forth
in Christ. It is something that the world, to some
extent, does love them, and has acknowledged itself
conquered by the cross.
There are many, alas ! who do not recognize Christ
as their representative ; and yet how striking are the
testimonies to Him which have been uttered by men
who could not accept the Church's creed ! We have
already mentioned the witness of Mahomet. The
witness of Spinoza is no less remarkable : — •
" I believe (he writes) that no other attained to such per
fection (as Moses did) above the rest of mankind, except
Christ, to whom the decrees of God, which lead men to sal
vation, were revealed not by words and visions, but imme
diately ; so that God manifested Himself to the Apostles by
the mind of Christ, as He did of old to Moses by the media
tion of an aerial voice. And so the voice of Christ, like
that which Moses used to hear, may be called the voice of
God. And in this sense we may even say, that the wisdom
of God, that is, the wisdom which is above human wisdom,
assumed human nature in Christ, and that Christ was the
way of salvation35."
35 Spinoza, Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, cap. i. § 23: — " Quare
non credo ullum alium ad tantam perfectionem supra alios perve-
nisse prater Christum, cui Dei placita, quse homines ad salutem
ducunt, sine verbis aut visionibas sed immediate revelata sunt ;
adeo ut Deus per mentem Christi sese Apostolis manifestaverit, ut
olim Mosi mediante voce aerea. Et ideo vox Christi, sicuti ilia,
quam Moses audiebat, vox Dei voeari potest. Et hoc sensu etiam
dicere possumus, sapientiam Dei, hoc est sapientiam quse supra
humanam est, naturam humanam in Christo assumpsisse et Chris
tum viam salutis fuisse."

VI.] Testimonies of non- Christian Teachers. 213
Eousseau's sayings concerning Christ and Socrates
have often been quoted : —
"What prejudices, what blindness must not a man have
to dare to compare the son of Sophroniscus with the son of
Mary ? What a distance is there between them !"..." If
the life and the death of Socrates are those of a sage, the life
and the death of Jesus are those of a God 36."
It is not, perhaps, so well-known that the founder
of the so-called Positivist religion of humanity used
daily to read a chapter of Thomas a, Kempis, "On
the Imitation of Christ," and strongly recommended
the practice to his followers, who still pursue it,
though in a different spirit to that of Christian de
votion 37.
Lately, too, we have been startled by a voice from
India, declaring in the name of the Theists of the
36 J. J. Bousseau, Emile, book iv. (CEuvres complites, vol. 4,
pp.240, 241, Paris, 1824): "Quels prejuges quel aveuglement
ne faut il point avoir pour oser comparer le fils de Sophronisque
au fils de Marie? Quelle distance de l'un a l'autre!" ..." Oui, si
la vie et la mort de Socrate sont d'un sage, la vie et la mort de
Jesus sont d'un dieu." These words are attributed to the "Vi-
caire Savoyard."
37 A. Comte, System of Positive Polity, tr. by Congreve, vol. iv.
p. 352 (London, 1877): — "The conclusive test of experience in
duces me to recommend above all the daily reading of the sublime,
if incomplete, effort of a Eempis and the incomparable epic of
Dante. More than seven years have passed [1854], since I have
read each morning a chapter of the one, each evening a canto of
the other, never ceasing to find beauties previously unseen, never
ceasing to reap new fruits intellectual or moral."
Por the method and sense in which Positivists read the Imita
tion, see B. Congreve, The Religion of Humanity, Annual Address,
p. 5 (C. Kegan Paul, Lond., 1879).
The absence of the name of Christ from the Positivist Calendar
may, perhaps, be taken as an unconscious tribute of reverence.

214 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect.
Brahma- Samaj, that England, which has done much
for India, has given nothing so valuable as the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus :—
" It is Christ who rules British India, and not the British
government. England has sent out a tremendous moral
force in the life and character of that mighty prophet, to
conquer and hold this vast empire. None but Jesus, none
but Jesus, none but Jesus, ever deserved this bright, this
precious diadem, India, and Jesus shall have it38."
Such are a few of the external testimonies to our
Saviour as the ideal man. They reinforce our own
heartfelt conviction that His willing self- sacrifice
makes Him our true representative, the founder of
a new humanity. Mahomet, Spinoza, Eousseau, Comte,
even Chandar Sen, are all in their way founders, men
who have set large movements in progress, men who
have had great ideals, different from the ideal of the
Church. But all of them have recognized a higher
ideal in the person of Christ. The good, the beautiful
Shepherd39, who gives His life for the sheep, has
attracted to Himself others besides professing Chris
tians, and we thank them for their honesty in speak
ing as they have spoken of Him, even though there
is a something wanting, a false note, even in their
loudest praise.
But to us He is more than an object of admiration.
38 Prom Keshab Chandar Sen's Lecture, India asks, Who is
Christ? delivered in the Town Hall, Calcutta, April 9, 1879.
This and other passages are quoted by Prof. M. Williams, Indian
Theistic Reformers, (Boyal Asiatic Soc, Jan. 1881).
39 6 ¦noip.rjv 6 koXos, S. John x. 11. See Dr. Westcott's note on
this passage (in the Speaker's Commentary), bringing out the force
of ideal beauty and attractiveness implied by Ka\6s.

VI.] The Imitation of Christ. 215
His act is ours by faith. His death upon the cross
is our death to sin : His resurrection our new birth
to repentance. In Him we are brought near to God
in a way which is indeed mysterious, but which is
consonant with the deepest and most serious reflec
tion that we can make upon the problems of human
life. "I am crucified together with Christ," cries
St. Paul (Gal. ii. 20). " But it is no longer I that
live, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that
I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself
for me." 3. Christ the Example for every Man.
Lastly, I would direct your attention to the great
mercy of God in giving each of us, singly and sepa
rately, a pattern of holiness in the person of our Ee
deemer. As we began this Lecture with the thought
of God in Christ, walking along the way of holiness,
to guide the infirm and simple, so let us end it. He
is to us not only the great sin-offering in whose sacri
fice we realize the true proportions and the misery
of that sin which separates us from God, and the
second Adam, the sinless representative, in whom
our race is presented anew to its Creator, but He
is also the perfect example for each individual.
There is certainly a fitness in this union of offices
in Christ which we cannot but acknowledge with
adoring gratitude. It is meet that He who repre
sents us all, should be the pattern for each to imitate.
But it is a wonderful thing that it is so. A repre
sentative such as men could have imagined for them-

216 The Christian Revelation of Holiness. [Lect. VI.
selves, even if he had been supremely worthy' of imi
tation (which is more than doubtful), must, in all
probability, have been quite beyond the ordinary
reach. The marvellous love of God is shewn by
His gift of a Eedeemer, whose perfection starts from
the level of the most ordinary members of our race ;
while yet, by stooping so low, He undergoes no real
degradation. The pattern of life offered from the
manger of Bethlehem to the Cross has points of con
tact for men, women, and children of all classes.
It attracts, by its perfect humility, frankness, and
gentleness; so that the meanest of mankind feels
in the Gospels a sympathy far removed from the
coldness of awful condescension. Yet the same life
elevates the highest by its perfect holiness and un
selfishness, rebuking pride and luxury with a silent
protest, that cannot be unfelt by the most exalted and
successful of kings or conquerors.
In the very words, " the Imitation of Christ,"
there is a freshness and a fragrance that belongs to
no other words. We all know something of it. If
it is our privilege to be bruised in any degree like
Him, as I trust we all may be (let us not shrink
from it!), we shall feel this fragrance with tenfold
delight and gratitude.

217

LECTURE VII.

JEBEMIAH viii. 11.
They have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly,
saying, Peace, peace ; when there is no peace.

THE NATURAL DESIRE FOE PEACE, AND THE INADEQUACY
OP HUMAN EFPOETS TO ATTAIN IT.
I. Social tendency of mankind. — The family the basis of society. —
Obligations to (1) the ideal of paternal government. — High con
ception of kingship. — Chinese book of history. — The " Great
Plan."— (2)i The assertion of individual liberty. — Socrates, &c. —
(3) The sense of social duty. — Plato's Republic. — Education of
children. — Higher position of women.
Nevertheless, the State cannot make men really happy. — Impos
sibility even of preventing war. — Limit to the power of re
warding virtue. — The wants of the soul untouched.
II. Natural alliance between Eeligion and Politics. — Three theo
ries of their relation, (1) Popular Eeligion treated as a preser
vative of Order apart from Truth. — Ancient philosophers. —
Polybius on Eoman Eeligion. — Euhemerism. — Varro. — Italian
tendency to subordinate Truth to Expediency. — (2) Eeligious
Eeformation imposed upon all citizens. — Plato's Laws, book x. :
his Eeligious Discipline. — Mahomet. — Pormal character of Islam.
— Defective theology and morality. — Want of Love. — Character
of Mahomet. — His lapse. — Why not a "true prophet." — How
far sincere. — Islam, 1. has stereotyped a low form of social life ;
2. has opposed religious and intellectual liberty ; 3. is a barrier
to the Gospel. — (3) Eeligion a voluntary society, not necessarily
co-extensive with the State. — Polynesian Areoi. — Pythagorean
clubs. — The Mysteries. — Private guilds. — Buddhism. — Beasons
for its success. — Assertion of free-will and the moral Law. —
Not really a religion. — Selfishness and apathy. — Pailure.

218 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.

rPHAT man is formed for social life, not for solitude,
is a truth which will hardly be questioned \ The
hermit life, when it is not a mere singularity or freak
of temper, is valuable mainly for its influence on
society. It may at times be an important protest
against popular corruption. It may be a necessary
part of the education of a great teacher. But in
both cases men only go into the wilderness with ad
vantage when they come back to regenerate their
fellows, like John the Baptist and St. Paul 8, not when
they are merely thinking of themselves. Further,
it is generally allowed that all society worthy of the
name is based on the family. Only in the circle of
1 The social instinct is a commonplace with Aristotle, avBpmros
cpio-ei irdKiTiKov £mov, Politics, i. 2, 9 ; Ethic. Nic, i. 7, 6 ; ix. 9, 3
(the statement in Eth. N., viii. 12, 7, avdpamos rjj <pia-ei a-wSvaa-riKov
paKXov rj tto\itikov, is not really inconsistent). Cicero de Officiis,
i. 4, has a pleasant chapter on the subject. Hobbes is probably
the only writer of name who has maintained the paradox that
the state of nature is a state of war. Cp. Mr. Eaton's note
on the passage of the Politics.
2 It is not necessary here to discuss the value of monasticism,
which is, in its origin, a re-assertion of tbe social instinct in those
who have had a common impulse to retire from the world. But
I suppose that most English Churchmen would agree in condemn
ing that monasticism which had as its object the salvation only of
the brethren of the order, and in admiring that which (under pro
per restrictions) had the salvation of the souls of others as its prin
cipal aim. This is the principle laid down, for instance, by a
writer in the Chr. Remembrancer, vol. 55, p. 35, Jan., 1868, re
viewing Montalembert's Monks of the West, who traces the failure
of the great monastic system to "the abandonment of the Evan
gelization of Society, in order to the pursuit of individual per
fection."

VII.] The Family the basis of Society. 219
the home, founded by a single pair, do we find that
warmth of mutual love and cherishing protection
which are necessary to develope human character at
its best : and, as a matter of fact, all civilized commu
nities have been formed by a sort of imitation and en
largement of the family, through the ties of kinship
and dependence3. The elements of all politics are
present in every household. The father is the natu
ral type of the chieftain of a clan or tribe, and the
ruler of a nation. The members of a family, the wife,
the children, the dependents, with their several offices
and positions, are analogous to the citizens of a state,
falling naturally into orders and classes. The com
mon life of the household, pursued for common ends,
and occupied with common property, is an image of
that of larger social communities with their united
rights and duties.
The morality of civil life is also little more than
an extension of that which gives dignity and glad
ness to the home. Obedience to authority, right
3 Plato traces the development of the state from the family with
some picturesqueness (Laws, book iii. pp. 680 foil.), taking as his
text the description of the Cyclopes in the Odyssey (ix. 114),
amongst whom " everyone is the judge of his wife and children."
Aristotle quotes the same passage, and goes over much the same
ground, of course with natural difference of manner, in his Politics,
book i. 2, 7, &c. The modern reader will consult Sir H. Maine's
Early History of Institutions (Lond., 1875), and other similar
books. It is unnecessary to discuss the question whether man
kind, or any large part of it, has ever lived promiscuously in a
state inferior to that of many beasts and birds. Even if such
a form of life could be proved to have existed, it has never directly
produced, and never could produce, true civilized humanity. The
family is a necessary pre-supposition of any society worthy of the
name. The Oneida Creek experiment is, I believe, found too
artificial and painful to continue.

220 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
conduct of self, and the performance of social duty,
are the three special virtues of the citizen, as they
are of the member of a family. Whatever happiness
and peace man can find in common life, are found
where these are practised. Let us consider in a very
summary manner the blessings which we owe to each
of them. (1.) Obedience to authority, though never out of
date, is more essential in the early stages of society
than in any others, because it is the foundation on
which all corporate union rests. A sovereign authority
is no result of compact, but is the natural acknowledg
ment of a superior, and is as necessarily pre-supposed
in the state as the headship of a father in the family.
The lessons, too, which are learnt in both cases are
similar. The father is the natural instrument by
whose means children acquire an exalted idea of the
godlike qualities of strength, wisdom, will and power,
of justice and tenderness combined. Through the
father they are taught to repose on a superior guid
ance in the affairs of life, a watchful providence
working for their benefit, even though the. means
may be painful or unintelligible. The transference
of this idea to a wider area, and the observation of
these qualities in the head of a large patriarchal clan,
the chief of a tribe, or the ruler of a nation, has
constantly been the first means of lifting masses of
men above themselves and their petty or grinding
cares. Men naturally gather round him and beg him
to help them, as their Father and their Shepherd.
In certain conditions of life repose upon a strong arm
is the one thing felt to be needful. Men perceive
themselves too weak to stand alone ; they want some

VII.] The Paternal relation in Government. 221
personal object to which they may cling, and on
which they may rely. He who gives such support
is often. madly and foolishly idolized: but devotion
to a sovereign, even when not too worthy, has fos
tered trustfulness and trustworthiness, fidelity, loyalty
and chivalry, humility and patience, in a way that
no other motive in our experience could have done.
We have already seen in former lectures4 how this
high idea of kingship has been in past times asso
ciated with a revelation of divinity, often, it must
be allowed, to the great detriment of true worship.
Yet even the divinised monarchs of those huge and
overbearing empires, which Scripture likens so for
cibly to wild beasts and birds of prey5, may be
thought of as instruments in God's hand to prepare
the way for the kingdom of Him. who comes "as
a Son of Man6," the true father and ruler of the
human race. " Nebuchadrezzar my servant," " Cyrus
my shepherd," are titles of holy writ for sovereigns
of two of these fierce imperial powers, while to St.
Paul the Eoman emperor is " the minister of God
for good 7." Nor can we be wrong in believing that
the marvellous continuance of the Chinese Empire, to
which we have already called attention 8, is a fulfil
ment of the promise of length of days and permanence
of dwelling given to those who obey the Fifth Com-
* Lect. III., pp. 84 foil. ; cp. Lect. VI., p. 210.
6 Daniel vii. 3 foil. ; Etekiel xvii. 3, 7 ; Isaiah xlvi. 11.
* Daniel vii. 13, ' k'bar enosh* "as a Son of man" (not "the
Son"), in contrast with the " great beasts" previously described.
7 Jeremiah xxv. 9 ; xxvii. 6; xliii. 10: cp. Ezekiel xxix. 18 —
20 (Nebuchadrezzar's service against Tyrus) : Isaiah xliv. 28:
Romans xiii. 4. 8 Lect. III., p. 86.

222 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
mandment. In that country filial duty is the highest
law of morality, both in the family and the state ;
and those classics, which to some extent fill the
place of sacred books in China, shew that this
feeling of the paternal and divine character of
government has taken deep root amongst the ru
lers as amongst the ruled9. "From heaven," says
their ancient book of history, — the Shu King, in one
of its earliest chapters, — " From heaven are the
(social) relationships, with their several duties10."
These are the five relations between husband and
wife, father and son, ruler and subject, elder brother
and younger, friend and friend, — a list in which we
notice that the political relation takes (no doubt in
tentionally) the central position amongst those of
private and domestic life. "When (sovereign and
ministers shew) a common reverence and united re
spect for these, lo ! the moral nature (of the people)
is made harmonious." . . . "The business of govern
ment ! — ought we not to be earnest in it ? ought we
not to be earnest in it11 ?"
This earnestness in government is the prevailing
tone throughout the whole of this very remarkable
book. In it we have the Instructions and Announce-
9 So much is this the case, that the precept, " Therefore shall
a man leave his father and his mother, and shaU cleave unto his
wife" (Gen. ii. 24; Matt. xix. 5, &c), seems to be a serious
obstacle to some Chinese enquirers after Christianity. The posi
tion of women in China is, on the other hand, far from satisfactory.
The wife is too often a drudge in her husband's family.
10 Sacred Books, vol. iii. p. 55. The documents in this book
relate to the early period, b.c 2357 — 627, yet Dr. Legge argues
strongly for its general credibility. See his Introduction, pp. 12,
15, &c. » Ibid., p. 56.

VII.] The Chinese Ideal of Kingship. 223
ments of one sovereign and statesman after another,
the earliest of them more than two thousand years
before our era, sometimes harshly reflecting on their
predecessors or opponents, but all breathing a like
spirit of devotion to the good of the people. The
" one man," as the king is frequently called, is seen
realizing his commission from Heaven in no light or
arrogant manner. His position towards the men of
the "myriad regions" under his rule fills him with
awe, and even with terror13. He not unfrequently
describes himself as " the little child ;" he calls upon
the people to sympathise with his anxieties, and to
imagine his solicitude on their behalf; he is struck
with the worth of the relationship between himself
and his subjects. It is useless unless it produces
mutual respect and reverence ; and so misrule is
treated as a great opportunity for virtue thrown
away by the sovereign, as well as an actual offence
moving the indignation of heaven.
Expressions like the following occur again and
again, and with a force and variety which convinces
us that they are not merely conventional : —
" The virtue of the ruler is seen in his good government,
and that government in the nourishment of the people,"
" I wish to help and support my people." (p. 58).
" It was the lesson of our great ancestor : — ' The people
should be cherished, and not looked down upon. . . .
" The ruler of men —
" How should he be but reverent of his duties ? " (p. 79 ).
12 See, for example, the striking language of the Emperor Thang,
quoted above, p. 165, note 54. Cp. Shd King, pp. 108, 110, for
the " anxieties " of a king.

224 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
"The sovereign without the people has none whom be
can employ; and the people without the sovereign have
none whom they can serve. Do not think yourself so large
as to deem others small. If ordinary men and women do
not find the opportunity to give full development to their
ability, the people's lord will be without the proper aids to
complete his merit," (p. 103).
" Heaven and earth is the parent of all creatures ; and of
all creatures man is the most highly endowed. The sincerely
intelligent (among men) becomes the great sovereign; and
the great sovereign is the parent of the people," (p. 125).
The ideal state of China is naturally nothing else
than the sovereignty of an ideal king. This state
is sketched in the short treatise called The Great
Plan13, which makes more claims to the character
of a Divine revelation than most of the documents
in the " classics." The central point of this strange
little book, which contains a sort of philosophy of
the Universe, is called " Of Eoyal Perfection," which
is thus described : —
" The Sovereign having established (in himself) the high
est degree and pattern of excellence, concentrates in his own
person the five (sources of) happiness, and proceeds to diffuse
them, and give them to the multitudes of the people. Then
13 It forms Book iv. of the Shu King, and is ascribed to Tii, the
semi-mythical king. " To him Heaven gave the Great Plan, with
its nine divisions ; and the unvarying principles of its method were
set forth in their due order." — Sacred Books, vol. iii. p. 140. As
Dr. Legge says, there is only a " shadowy resemblance " between
this book and the Pythagorean treatise, On the Universe, which
bears the name of Ocellus Lucanus (written probably in the first
century b.c), to which it has been compared. The latter contains
no speculations on government, which are the main subject of
the Great Plan.

VII.] " The Great Plan." ' 225
they, on their part, embodying your perfection, will give it
(back) to you, and secure the preservation of it. Among all
the multitudes of the people, there will be no unlawful con
federacies, and among men (in office) there will be no
bad and selfish combinations; — let the sovereign establish
in himself the highest degree and pattern of excellence,"
(p. 142).
The Great Plan then goes on to direct how men
of different degrees of virtue are to be treated, so
as to bring out a reflection of the king's own cha
racter : —
"This amplification of the royal perfection," we read,
"contains the unchanging (rule), and is the (great) lesson;
yea, it is the lesson of God. All the multitudes of the
people, instructed in this amplification of the perfect ex
cellence, and carrying it into practice, will thereby approxi
mate to the glory of the Son of Heaven, and say, ' The Son
of Heaven is the parent of the people, and so becomes the
sovereign of all under the sky,' " (p. 144).
These words would be striking anywhere, but they
are specially striking when we meet with them in
a practical book of history like this. We admire
a brilliant exception like Marcus Aurelius, the philo
sopher upon the throne, seeking to make himself all
that a man should be, and to fulfil his duties as
a citizen of Eome and of the world u. But I think
14 In Marcus Aurelius' twelve books of meditations there is
a curious absence of any detailed reflection upon his duties as
a sovereign to his subjects. The question hardly seems to interest
him. In the following passage he comes near it for a moment;
but he is generally (if we may say so) too much occupied with the
perfection of his private or inner life. In Book vi. chap. 30, he
says, "Beware of turning into a Cassar, of putting on false colours ;
for such things are (opa pr) airoKaiaapadris, pr) Pacprjs- ylverai yap),
Q

226 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
we ought to admire more these long, anxious, and
continued efforts of Chinese sovereigns and statesmen,
to bring out the divine and fatherly ideal of royal
power. Such efforts must have stored in that people
a reserve of force, which will one day tell in direc
tions of which we can now scarcely dream.
(2.) Second to this in logical sequence, as well as
in historical succession, comes the assertion of indi
vidual liberty, or the right and duty of self-direction.
It needs but few words to recall the debt of grati
tude which we owe to those who have vindicated the
personal rights of citizens, especially in the old re
publics of Greece and Eome. The culture of powers
entrusted immediately to ourselves, and only in a
secondary degree to anyone else, the training of the
will and of the sense of separate responsibility, the
conception of duty as at times obliging us to place
ourselves singly in defiance of our surroundings, are
as important in a religious, as they are in a social
point of view. The men of old days, who felt it
imperative upon them to think and act for themselves,
who would not bow to tyranny, or sink under the
Keep thyself therefore simple, good, uncorrupt, grave, unaffected,
a friend of justice, reverent to the gods, benevolent, affectionate,
strenuous to perform thy proper works. Strive to remain such as
philosophy designed to make thee. Venerate the gods, save men.
Life is short : there is one fruit of existence upon earth, a holy
disposition and actions useful to society (diadems oo-ia ko\ npageis
KotvaviKai)." Cp. the same book, chap. 44 : " Everything is helped
by that which is agreeable to its constitution and nature. Now
my nature is rational and social (iroXmq). My city and father
land, as Antoninus, is Eome, and, as a man, is the world. It is
therefore only those things which benefit these cities that I can
reckon good."

VII.] Individual Liberty and Social Duty. 227
pressure of caste and custom, stand out before us, and
call to us, nay, seem to grasp our hands as brothers
from the dim and unimaginable past.
When Socrates, as president of the Athenian as
sembly, refused to put a vote which his conscience
told him was unjust, he elevated the whole conception
of personal liberty15. No one could hereafter yield
on any like occasion without a feeling of shame and
wrong-doing. Such conduct has, directly or in
directly, helped many who have faced the anger of
a turbulent multitude in a still holier cause. Nay,
even the proud plea, " Civis Eomanus sum," has
been a stimulus to those who, standing before the
bar of judgment, have asserted that their citizen
ship was in heaven, and their highest title that
of Christian.
(3.) Thirdly, the conception of a state as «being
a moral entity, with duties as well as rights, though
of slower and more secret growth than either of the
foregoing, and hardly yet recognized in its fulness, has
been no less real, and no less valuable. It has been
obscured by kings and rulers, who, as leaders in war,
have almost of necessity grasped the control of fo
reign politics. It has been obscured in home politics
by the conflicts and shifting alliances of class with
class, and of one estate with another. But century
after century, the thought has grown, that the rights
of individuals, whether kings or subjects, the strife
15 The proposal was to condemn [to death by a single vote the
nine generals who fought at Arginusse. All the other prytanes
yielded to the popular clamour. See Xenophon, Hist. Grceca, i.
7, 15; Memorabilia, i. 1, 18.
Q 2

228 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
of classes, the enlargement of boundaries, were not
everything, but that the state as a body had an exist
ence, a conscience, a moral life. We have gradually
learnt that the State has a duty to all its citizens, not
to attempt the chimerical project of making them all
equal, but to give them a fair chance of development
in the sphere to which their nature adapts them ; to
abolish private war and slavery, to protect men im
partially from one another, and to protect them no
less from themselves. We have learnt, too, from this
idea, that the foreign policy of a nation is a matter of
conscience, not simply of the instinct of self-preserva
tion, or of aggrandizement; and of conscience which
concerns the whole body, not merely the sovereign,
the executive government, or the fighting class.
It is , the presence of this idea, in a sort of pro
phetic form, which gives the charm to such a book
as Plato's Republic. It is not only a noble work of
imagination, but it has the practical value of pointing
out two great social needs, the elevation of woman
to be the companion and helpmeet of man 16, and the
education of all children17, a duty which has never
been thoroughly recognized till the present century.
That Plato treated the former of these subjects in
16 The equality of women with men, except in bodily strength,
is treated in Rep., v. pp. 454 — 457.
17 The subject of education occupies really the largest space in
the treatise. In Rep., vii. 736, we are told that knowledge is not
to be required under compulsion, but the whole tendency of the
book is to make it universal. According to the Laws, vii. 804,
education is to be made compulsory, and the same for girls as
boys. In Laws, vi. 765, 766, a minister of education is to be
appointed, and to be accounted the most important officer of state.

VII.] Plato's u Republic" a sort of Prophecy. 229
a hard and grotesque manner, is not to be denied 18 ;
and similar extravagance seems too often the fate of
those who approach it without the sobering refine
ment of Christian morality 19. But no one who looks
at social prospects at home and abroad, who sees, for
instance, the heroic work of salvation and reforma
tion undertaken by women, sometimes almost single-
handed, amongst ourselves, or who sees the Sisterhoods
of France almost the only thoroughly effective and
popular religious agencies in that country, can doubt
that there is a public work for women in the present
and in the future, which has only just begun to dawn.
The remarks we have hitherto been making may
serve, in some sort, to remind you of the methods
and directions in which improvements in politics
may conduce to human happiness. The question
which immediately arises, and which more directly
concerns us, is this : — Can political life, can the
State, make men really happy ?
18 Plato pushes the equality of the sexes too far, and enacts
a community of wives and children amongst the "guardians:" Rep.,
v. 457, 462 foil. This is tacitly given up in the Laws, in which
a higher feeling on this and kindred subjects is observable. Aris
totle criticizes the supposed equality, Politics, i. 13, § 9, and the
community, ii. 2 — 4.
19 This appears particularly in A. Comte's theory of an ideal
state, though he takes a different line from that of Plato. See his
System of Positive Polity (tr. by Congreve), vol. iv. p. 96, on the
adoration of women, and pp.59 — 61, 279, etc., on the so-called
Utopia. It is easy to trace here the influence of the exaggerated
cultus of the Blessed Virgin, to which he frequently refers as
a sort of uncons.cious prophecy of his own system. The ascription
to Mahomet of a high ideal of women is a paradox, not absolutely
without foundation, but not borne out by the general tendency
of his life and his utterances on the subject. See below, p. 255.

230 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
The answer clearly is: — They cannot.
They can, indeed, to a great extent, assure the
conditions necessary to outward peace ; they can
remove some of the graver obstacles to happiness;
they can strengthen the feeling of personal inde
pendence, and even set before men great ideals ; but
they can do little, and probably increasingly little,
for the life of the soul.
Even the primary condition of outward peace can
only be assured to a very limited degree. The poli
tician has to do with states and nations, and rightly
enough makes a virtue of patriotism. But the ideal
of peace for man, as the Stoics and others have seen,
must include the whole race as one family. This
antithesis between the practical and the ideal seems
not merely accidental or transitory ; for there is no
apparent tendency of nations to coalesce or form one
state. Eather, one of the most striking phenomena
of the present century, is the development and re
vival of nationalities, the accentuating of racial dif
ferences, and the tendency to redistribute large con
glomerate states according to kinship and other simi
lar affinities. Again, the configuration of the globe
and other physical causes make it, in the highest
degree, improbable that the present earth will ever
be occupied by a single political body. Neither the
North American confederacy, nor the growth of the
unwieldy empire of Eussia, are sufficient instances
of a contrary tendency. It is easy, in fact, to see
elements of disintegration, and even of collapse, in
both. This being the case, we must always face the

VII.] Impossibility of preventing War. 231.
danger of the collision of the material interests of
separate states, and the occurrence of war, whether
for political principle, or in simple defence of such
interests, the importance which men feel that foreign
ers cannot or will not understand. It is possible,
indeed, to imagine a federation of nations: but.no
federation can be a stronger bond than the individual
will of each; and as long as there is evil in the
world, so long is it possible that selfish passion may
take hold of a large body, as well as a small one.
Even within the limits of a state it is not so easy to
abolish brigandage and private war. The outbreak
of serious quarrels between man and man is, to a
great extent, only repressed by fear; but it is im
possible to bring home the feeling of fear with suf
ficient force upon a nation under a different govern
ment. To put the matter in a simple light. Either
the states of the future will be pretty nearly equal
in power, in which case nobody will be deterred from
war by the absolute hopelessness of success ; or they
will be unequal, and then the selfishness of the larger
state will be under a strong temptation to forcible
aggression. Much, indeed, may be expected from the spread
of humane feeling, the closeness of commercial rela
tions between industrial communities, and the healthy
experience of a few cases of satisfactory arbitration.
It is to be expected that war will become more and
more distasteful to the bulk of the people in civilized
European states, and that they will be increasingly
successful in making their voices heard. But as long
as human nature is what it is, as long as a great

232 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
number of men can only be controlled by the influ
ence of fear, war will always be a possibility, and to
engage in it will sometimes be a duty. Politics, at
any rate, as distinct from religious influences, have
no sufficient motives to enforce its cessation 20.
Again, in the interior working of the State we
have to be content with very inadequate results, with
the removal of the more serious hindrances to happi
ness, rather than with the positive production of it 21.
The State is, in fact, more and more forced to occupy
a negative position. It can make certain kinds of
vice unpleasant or unprofitable ; it can absolutely for
bid certain crimes, and punish them with a terrible
vengeance ; it can enforce a certain amount of moral
training and discipline upon children, and upon the
servants in its own employment ; but it can do little
to make virtue directly pleasant or profitable to the
mass of its citizens.
There is a place, indeed, for public rewards of
heroism, sometimes it may be for large spontaneous

20 The reader will find this question discussed in Dr. Mozley's
remarkable sermon on War in his University Sermons, the argu
ment of which I have used in the foregoing paragraphs. Ab
stractedly speaking, war cannot be prevented, but it would never
theless be a great misfortune if statesmen should acquiesce in this
conclusion, as they are too much inclined to do. It ought (I ven
ture to think) to be as much the general aim of their foreign policy
to make war impossible, as it is the object of domestic policy to
prevent riot and quarrel among their own citizens, and to change
the forcible repression of crime into a healthy control of public
opinion. 21 Delitzsch has a good section on this topic headed, Beweis
aus der Unzureichenheit des Staates, in his Christliche Apologetik,
pp. 192—200.

VII.] The State cannot give Happiness. 233
tributes of a nation's generosity, especially in re
cognition of acts done in the public service, and in
the more external and practical branches of it. But
even these have to be jealously guarded, lest they
have a degrading effect upon the recipients ; and the
good sense of most nations has shrunk from making
such rewards in ordinary cases, more intrinsically
valuable than the laurel or parsley crown, the title,
the ribbon, and the medal.
The prizes which are sometimes given for acts or
states of virtue in private life are generally ridi
culous, not because they are given to bad people,
but because the best always escape them. The army
and the public service form a sort of school, admit
ting of special discipline, and special rewards. But it
is impossible seriously to imagine the world as an
academy in which good conduct should be regularly
marked, and the results added up at the end of the
year, and places changed in consequence.
The reason of course is, not so much the absolute
impossibility of imagining such a state, as its in
adequacy to meet men's deepest wants. The best
would not care for it ; and those who seemed satisfied
would be degraded by their satisfaction. What our
hearts really long for is inward peace, spiritual peace,
peace with God ; we want to know how to meet the
pressure of personal trials and temptations, and to
help others to meet them ; we want a comfort that
no external rewards can give, and a hope of social
blessedness that transcends all the dreams of material
prosperity. We have to face the hard facts of sick
ness, accident, trouble, death, which would make just
as severe demands upon our nature in a Utopia, as

234 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
in the present condition of things; and over and
above all these we experience the sense of sin and
fear of judgment, which immersion in worldly com
fort may deaden, but cannot destroy.

II.
A feeling of the insufficiency of social life by
itself has led both theorists and practical politicians
to look to religion to come to the assistance of
politics. It is easy to see how, even to a heathen,,
the virtues of civil life may take a religious colour,
and so become much more powerful and helpful in
their action. Thus obedience to authority obviously
allies itself with a trust in divine providence ; vindi
cation of liberty is closely akin to the sense of moral
responsibility to our creator and judge ; and the ac
knowledgment of social duty may lead us to perceive
a spiritual power working in the hearts of all our fel
low-men. Such an alliance between civil and religious
life is, indeed, so natural, that men in early ages have
generally assumed it without conscious reasoning.
The patriarchal principle that the head of the family
should act as its priest is, for instance, instinctively
extended to the State. The king, or chief magistrate,
sacrifices for his people ; the city and nation are pu
rified at stated intervals by ceremonial lustrations ;
the popular assembly is sprinkled with the blood of
a victim before its business commences ; the anger
of the gods, shewn in great plagues or calamities, is
propitiated by special ritual, and great public suc
cesses are the occasion of sacred triumphs and thanks
givings. All these circumstances of popular religion

VII.] The relation of Religion and Politics. 235
answer a deep want in our nature, and that nation is
miserable which does not retain them in some shape
or other at every stage of its progress. But as time
goes on men begin to change and to doubt. The
meaning of some ceremonies is lost, and that of others
has become gross, or is infected with selfishness. The
patriarchal feeling decays, and men recognize more
and more clearly that they are responsible for their
own souls, and have their own individual peace to
make with God. Yet, at the same time, they cannot
but feel that religion belongs to society, and ought to
leaven it, and that human nature is not at its best
without the union and co-operation of soul with soul.
The great problem then is, how to adapt religion
to social needs. This has been answered in three
very distinct ways.
The first answer which presents itself is to per
mit the divergence which has grown up between
the belief of the enlightened and the religion of
the multitude to continue unchecked. This is the
method of those who see clearly the difficulty and
danger of changes of belief, and who value the
power of custom and popular usage as a guarantee
of order. Such men will be found ready (like Hobbes
and Shaftesbury amongst ourselves) to support a re
ligion in which they have but scant belief, and even
to enforce its outward profession on others, if their
private speculations are unchecked 23. This was prac
tically the answer of the greater number of ancient
23 On this principle, adopted both by the pessimist Hobbes and
the optimist Shaftesbury, see Leland's View of the Deistical Writers,
vol. i. pp. 42 foil., 81 foil. (Lond., 1754).

236 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
philosophers, and has been tacitly assumed by not
a few modern statesmen, who despair of attaining
Truth on any large scale, and who think Order a
synonym for Peace.
The second answer is that of more earnest and
thorough-going persons, who cannot acquiesce in the
indolence, cowardice and insincerity of the policy
which has just been described. These men do not
shrink from the trouble and danger of overturning
a popular cult. Their method is one of religious
reform, but of reform carried out by political machi
nery. They would make a religion as near as pos
sible representing abstract truth, and then impose it
upon all citizens. This was the method advocated
by Plato in his last great scheme of an ideal polity
(the Laws), and was, of course, actually put in practice
on a grand scale by Mahomet. These men know
more of Peace, and recognize that it involves Truth,
but wrongly think the alliance of the two can be
produced by Force.
Thirdly, and lastly, we have the truer view, that
though order may seem to gain something by leaving
religion unreformed, and though truth may seem to
be propagated by a compulsory profession of faith,
yet in both cases the loss is greater than the gain.
In the interests of human happiness and true morality
religious association must be voluntary, and need not
necessarily be co-extensive with the State. To this
principle we owe a number of minor religious ex
periments, and the greatest movement of all outside
Christianity, namely, Buddhism. This answer is true
in itself, but those who give it are apt to be one-

VII.] Threefold treatment of Religion. 237
sided and unpractical in their idea of Truth, and to
sacrifice social order to their private fancies.
Christianity itself, as a social power, will be the
subject of the next Lecture. As far as it can be
compared with other religions, it belongs of course
to the third division, though its supporters have,
from time to time, treated it as if it could be as
signed to one or other of the former.
, Let us now give a few illustrations of the prin
ciples and consequences of these different methods
of treating religion in its relation to society.
(1.) The first answer will commend itself to few
persons at the present day, or, at least, few amongst
ourselves will have the courage to own it : yet it is
strange how much support it has met with. In aris
tocratic communities, nurtured under strong conser
vative instincts and prejudices, it is natural that men
should shrink from the danger of attempting a change
of popular belief. The civilization of Greece and
Eome was of this kind, based upon slavery, which
was assumed as a natural institution 33 ; and that of
23 Both Plato and Aristotle treat slavery as natural. Plato
takes it for granted, Laws, iii. 690 ; cp. ib., vi. 777, on the treat
ment of slaves, — the general principle of which is fine, but the
details harsh. In ix. 868, it is laid down that a master who kills
his slave in anger shall undergo a purification (only) : cp. ib. 865.
In case the slave has done no wrong, it is, however, considered as
murder : ib., 872. Plato sees the danger of the institution, Rep.,
ix. 578 foil. Aristotle argues at some length that certain men are
born for slavery (cpio-ei SoOXot — Politics, i. 5 and 6), but his argu
ment is decidedly weak. He defends the institution in general,
while he acknowledges that in many cases it produces injustice.
Eousseau well replies: — " S'il y a des esclaves par nature, c'est
parce qu'il y a eu des esclaves contre nature" (Contrat Social, i. 2.)
On the other hand, Aristotle differs from Plato in recommending

238 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
India is, in some respects, very similar. In all three
we have philosophers airily speculating about truth,
and the people left in superstition, to which the en
lightened are apt, in moments of weakness or com
promise, to return. As long as contempt of the
masses, and a rigid system of caste prevails, so long
men will be ready to tolerate a life vitiated by this
hopeless divorce between belief and worship, the de
structive and immoral character of which needs hardly
to be insisted upon. The antithesis between what is
true and what is expedient, hovers about the lips of
these philosophers, and penetrates from the lips into
the heart, where it justifies all kinds of subterfuge,
inconsistency, and cruelty. Educated men begin to
think that they have invented religion and invented
God, and when they speak of truth, mean only opinion
apart from practice. All genuine sympathy is lost,
and selfish comfort becomes the chief aim of existence.
This view of religion is strikingly put by the
rationalistic Greek historian, Polybius, in whose time
it was probably almost a common-place among edu
cated men. He was living in the second century
before Christ, and witnessed the social and moral
decay of his own people, . and of other nations, and
the rise of the great power of Eome. He naturally
asked what was the reason of this success, and gave
the following curious answer 24 : —
"Besides the other advantages possessed by the Roman
constitution, the greatest of all appears to me to be their
admonition of slaves rather than punishment (Pol., i. 13, § 14, cri
ticizing Laws, vi. 777).
24 Polybius, Book vi. 56, §§ 6—15.

VII.] Order set above Truth. Polybius. 239
conception about the gods. It is my opinion that super
stition 25, which is considered a reproach amongst the rest of
mankind, keeps the Roman state together. For this has
been invested with such pomp, and has been carried to such
a pitch of ceremony, both in their private lives, and in the
conduct of public business, that it is impossible for it to be
exceeded. Many persons might, indeed, think this a strange
proceeding; but I suppose they have done it for the sake of
the multitude. For if it were possible to form a state by
gathering together wise men, such a method would, perhaps,
be unnecessary. But, inasmuch as every multitude is fickle,
and full of lawless desires, irrational anger, and violent
temper, it is proper to keep such! people in order with un
seen fears, and such-like tragic display. Wherefore men of
old seem to have introduced and popularized conceptions
about the gods, and ideas of what goes on in Hades, not
irrationally and accidentally ; but rather, men of the present
day are rash and irrational in getting rid of them. Hence,
not to speak of others, those who manage public money
amongst the Greeks, if they are entrusted with a single
talent, being checked by ten clerks, and as many seals, an 1
twice the number of witnesses, are incapable of being honest ;
but amongst the Romans, men who act as magistrates or
ambassadors, and are entrusted with a great sum of money,
are kept to their duty merely by the sanctity of their oath.
And in other nations it is rare to find a man who abstains
from peculation, and is pure in such matters ; but amongst
the Romans it is rare for any one to be discovered in such
malversation." This theory of Polybius and other Greeks, though
doubtless untrue as an account of the origin of Eomau
religion, unfortunately found favour with many in
25 heio-idaipovla. The earliest extant use of this word in a re
proachful sense is probably in Theophrastus' 16th character of the
Superstitious Man, if that is genuine, as I see no sufficient reason
to doubt. It is there defined as beCkia trphs to datpoviov, "cowardice
towards the spiritual world." Cp. pp. 144, 177.

240 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
a people much more devoted to practical life and
government, than to a love of truth 26. Even in the
first Punic war (b.c. 249), a consul made an open jest
of his duty in consulting the auspices before a battle.
Men read with eagerness the rationalistic analysis
of religion which was given by Euhemerus, and
statesmen began to ask how one priest could meet
another without laughing 27.
So prevalent was this low view of popular religion,
that the most learned and honest of Eoman writers,
Marcus Varro, made an analysis of theology as the
basis of his encyclopaedia of religious antiquities, in
which he formally recognized this principle. He spe
cifies three kinds of theology : first, the mythical or
poetic ; secondly, the physical, or philosophic ; thirdly,
the civil, or popular. The first was full of dangerous
or unworthy fables ; the second contained the truth ;
the third, or civil theology, though not true, was
expedient for common people, and ought to be kept
up by the State28. We cannot wonder, then, that
Eoman religion issued in a mere political worship
of dead emperors, and of the genius of the existing
monarch, and of the fortune of Eome, — the deification

26 On the decay of Eoman national religion, see Mommsen's
History of Rome, book iii. ch. 13 (vol. ii. pp. 400 foil., E. T.). His
apparent condemnation of theology in the abstract is much to be
regretted, especially for the author's own sake, to whom all scholars
owe so much.
21 Cicero, de Divinatione, ii. 24, 51 : " Vetus autem illud Catonis
admodum scitum est, qui mirari se aiebat, quod non rideret, harus-
pex, haruspieem cum vidisset."
28 Varro was here following Sca3vola : see St. Augustine de
Civitate Dei, iv. 27 ; vi, 5, &c. ; and cp. my Early Latin, p. 646.

VII.] Religion of expediency at Rome. 241
of force and power and outward peace, with scarce
a spark of love or moral enthusiasm.
How far this spirit has been propagated to the
present day, in the men of Latin races, it is not now
the place to enquire at any length. But probably
a good deal of the feeling which first prompted, and
afterwards justified, the new dogma of Papal In
fallibility can be traced, in great measure, to the same
sources as that which assisted the deification of the
ancient Imperial power. It seemed, perhaps, a ne
cessary centralisation of authority, destined to crown
the slowly-built edifice of the Curia ; but it was none
the less a survival of the wretched old Italian system
of subordinating truth to expediency 29.
(2.) The second answer is (as we have seen) pro
pounded by more zealous persons, and is, at first
sight, more attractive. They say in effect: — "Find
out the truth as carefully and exactly as you can,
" Out of 921 bishops who had received summons to attend the
Council, 767 were present, and of these 276 were from Italian
dioceses, representing only some 27 millions. The German and
Hungarian bishops were only 67 in number, representing 46 mil
lions of Catholics. See the interesting account of the Council in
The New Reformation, by Theodorus [J. Bass Mullinger], p. 64, &c.
Lond., 1875. "In church matters (said Priedrich) twenty Ger
mans count for less than one Italian." Mr. J. C. Clay, who was
in Eome during the Council, puts the number of Italian bishops at
600 ; but this can hardly be correct, though many Italians might
be bishops outside Italy (Foreign Church Chronicle, vol. v. p. 137,
Sep., 1881). In the 88 who voted non-placet on the famous fourth
clause were "beyond all question three-fourths of the most emi
nent members of the Council, — Schwarzenberg, Mathieu, Darboy,
Rauscher, Simor, Ginoulhiac, Mac Hale, Dupanloup, Ketteler,
Strossmayer, Clifford, Kenrick, Maret, and Hefele." (New Refi,
p. 88.) R

242 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
and then impose it upon everyone. If it is true, it
will be good for them, whether they like it or not,
just as the laws which make men peaceable do them
good, however reluctantly they may be obeyed." In
this way they seek really to propagate truth, and to
ensure peace with God, but by means which are in
the end subversive of what they desire to establish.
Amongst the ancients, Plato, stands, perhaps, alone
in advocating this procedure, a proof amongst many
of his originality. In his Republic, he had trusted to
philosophy to cure the ills of humankind, but he had
little hope of ever seeing his ideal brought into being.
He is obliged to be content with supposing a pattern
of it somewhere laid up in heaven 30.
But in his later portraiture of a model city in the
Laws, he is more hopeful, because more religious.
He felt in his old age that a community founded on

30 Republic, book ix. thus concludes (Prof. Jowett's transla
tion) : — " Then if that is his motive, he [i.e. the just man] will not
be a politician.
" By the dog of Egypt he will ! in the city which is his own,
though in the land of his birth perhaps not, unless by some provi
dential accident.
" I understand : you mean in that city of which we are founders,
and which exists in idea only ; for I do not believe that there is
such an one anywhere on earth.
" In heaven, I replied, there is laid up a pattern of it methinks,
which he who desires may behold, and beholding, may set his own
house in order. But whether such an one exists, or ever will exist
in fact, is no matter ; for he will live after the manner of that city,
having nothing to do with any other.
" True, he said."
According to Rep., v. p. 473, the realization of the ideal state is
not to be expected "until philosophers are kings, or the kings and
princes of the world have the spirit and power of philosophy."

VII.] Compulsory Reformation, — Plato's Laws. 243
a basis of united faith in the unseen world was the
true type of society. He, therefore, formed a creed
by abstraction from those simple elements of belief,
which seemed to him to be most capable of proof,
and most conducive to morality. His credenda are
three: 1. That the gods exist; 2. That they take
care of men ; 3. That no prayers or sacrifices will
prevail on them to sanction injustice. These he
supports by arguments, which are no slight con
tribution to the armoury of what, for convenience,
may be called " natural religion." He speaks, in
really eloquent and persuasive terms, of the sad con.
dition of atheists, and of the immorality of super
stition ; and, having proved his creed to his own
satisfaction, goes on to enact that its articles shall be
enforced on all citizens of his ideal polity 31. Impiety
is to be punished by imprisonment ; in milder cases,
with a hope of reformation ; in more extreme ones,
as a lifelong confinement. Private sacrifices, divina
tions, and the like, which are a fruitful source of
irreligion, are to be strictly forbidden, and all such
31 The whole of the tenth book of the Laws is occupied with this
subject. See pp. 885 — 907 for the proofs of these credenda, and
pp. 907 — 909 for the laws against impiety and on religion. On
the third article of Plato's creed, see above, p. 178. J. J. Bousseau,
at the end of his Contrat Social (book iv. ch. 6), similarly pro
pounds a "civil religion," without which he thinks it impossible
for a man to be either a good citizen or a loyal subject. The
sovereign should banish from the State whoever does not believe
the existence of God and Providence, future rewards and punish
ments, and the sanctity of the social contract and the laws. He
further forbids intolerance (except on these points). Whoever says
" There is no salvation outside the Church," should be driven from
the State. All this is very like Tindal's principle, in his Rights of
the Christian Church. Cp. Leslie Stephen, English TJwught in the
Eighteenth Century, vol. ii. p. 151 (Lond., 1876).
b2

244 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
acts are to be public, and performed by a public
priesthood 32.
It is a strange leap from Plato to Mahomet, though
there can be no doubt that at bottom their principle
is the same, with the great difference that there is
between the speculative and practical intellect. Both
were jealous for the honour of God, though Plato
speaks vaguely as a polytheist ; both were stern
enemies of superstition, and desirous of stamping it
out by force. Both of them reduced their religious
creed to a minimum, eliminating from it the elements
of mystery, in the hope of gaining acceptance from
the multitude. It is fortunate probably for the repu
tation of Plato, that he never had the power to put
his dream in practice, pure comparatively, and quite
unselfish as his creed may have been. The success of
Mahomet, while it has made him an idol to his fol
lowers, cannot be viewed as an enviable success by
those who look on Islam from the outside.
We have already said something of this religion,
but it is worth while to recall in this place some
of the more prominent defects under which it la
bours. In the first place, its conception of the
Deity is very faulty, being chiefly an enlargement of
an imperfect human character. God is represented
as perfect power, but not as perfect goodness; as
arbitrary will, to whose action we must be resigned
(Muslim), but not as holy love 33. Consequently, the
32 No very important duties are assigned to this priesthood,
either here or in Book VI. p. 759, where there is another mention
of them.
33 E.g. cunning is ascribed to God, Sura viii. 30, "They (the
unbelievers) plotted, but God plotted, and of plotters, God is the

VII.] Theology of Islam. 245
worship of God is almost entirely of an external
character, consisting of ceremonies, formal repetitions
and recitations, washings, pilgrimages, fastings, alms
givings, and the like 34. These have a tendency, even
more than in other religions, to become mere me
chanical acts. The sense of sin in Islam is very
slight; the Law is not difficult to keep; God is
lenient, because man is weak 35 ; He knows what we
are, and does not expect much from us ; and so the
doctrine of a Mediator and Eedeemer is banished, as
far as may be, from the heart of man 36. The fall of
Adam is to Mahomet little more than the record
of a sin, as it was to the more extreme Pelagians,
part of Old Testament history, and having no par
ticular influence on his descendants37.
best." Cp. above, pp. 62 foil., 68, 135 foil. There are some good
remarks in Meander's Church History, vol. v. p. 117, E. T., ed.
Bohn, on the theology of Islam ; and a striking passage in
Dr. Mozley's Lectures on Miracles, pp. 140 — 143, ed. 3, 1872, al
ready referred to, p. 63. Cp. Abp. Trench, Mediaeval Church His
tory, Lect. iv. (Lond., 1877).
34 The five foundations of practical religion are, 1. The recital of
the Creed ; 2. Observance of the five stated periods of prayer, said
without variation every day ; 3. The thirty days' fast of Eamazan ;
4. The legal alms ; 5. The pilgrimage to Mecca. See T. P. Hughes,
Notes, p. 101, and the details which follow ; and Prof. E. H. Palmer,
the Qur'dn, pp. lxxi. foil.
35 "God desireth to make your burden light to you; for man
hath been created weak." Sura iv. (on women), verse 32, &c.
36 The atonement is specificaUy rejected, Sura ii. 44, 45. The
popular worship at the tombs of saints and Marabouts is a sort of
protest against this doctrine of the Koran, and some Moslem theo
logians have attempted to make Mahomet into a mediator. See
J. W. H. Stobart, Islam, p. 233, note, and A Mohammedan brought
to Christ, the Autobiography oi the Eev. Imad-ud-deen, ed. 2, p. 12
(C. M. S. House, London, 1870). Cp. the tradition given on p. 125.
37 It is related in the Eioran, Sura vii. 18 foil. ; cp. ii. 34 foil.

246 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
Further, in its ethical character Islam is a gloomy
religion. It has no true heartfelt love of God38,
whom the Moslem is taught to believe and to fear,
but not to approach. The feeling of this want has
driven many Moslems into a pantheistic mysticism
(Sufiism)39, which is, however, entirely alien from
the formal and practical spirit of the Koran. Nor
has it any real love for man as man. The general,
and what we may call the orthodox, belief is that
salvation is secured by good works, and that a work
specially pleasing to God, is the extermination of
idolaters by the sword, and the subjugation of infi
dels40 (including, of course, Jews and Christians),
38 This is allowed by Mr. E. B. Smith, Mohammed and Moham
medanism, p. 199, ed. 2, 1876: "Mohammed believed in God,
feared, reverenced, and obeyed Him according to his light, as
few Jews or Christians ever did ; but he could hardly be said in
the Christian or even the Jewish sense of the word to love God."
39 On Sufiism see above, p. 62, note. Imad-ud-deen gives an
interesting account of his passage through it, and of the ascetic
practices by which he sought to obtain peace, 1. c, pp. 10 — 14.
40 See on this subject in general, which is of considerable im
portance in its political aspect, the section on Jihad, or religious
war, in T. P. Hughes, Notes, pp. 206 foil., W. W. Hunter's Indian
Musalmans, J. W. H. Stobart, Islam, S. P. C. K., pp. 191 foil.
The quotations from the Koran, with some modern illustrations,
are given in the Bishop of Lincoln's sermon, The Mohammedan Woe,
and its passing away, in his Miscellanies, vol. iii. pp. 92 foil. The most
important chapter in the Koran relating to it, is the harsh and even
ferocious Sura ix., delivered shortly before Mahomet's death, which,
by what may be called a fortunate accident, wants the opening
Bismillah, which is elsewhere regularly prefixed, i.e. " In the
Name of God the compassionate, the merciful." (On the circum
stances of the delivery of this Sura, see Sir W. Muir's Life, iv.
pp. 208 foil., 1861.) It orders all idolaters to be killed, unless they
embrace the faith of Islam ; and proclaims war against "those who
have received the Scriptures," i.e. Jews and Christians, till they

VII.] Ethics of Islam. 247
ideas which no doubt have, from time to time, been
current among Christians, but are contrary to the
letter, as well as the spirit, of the Gospel. This de
structive and oppressive character is of the essence
of the Koran, certain chapters of which may truly
be said to be written in blood.
As a system of ethics, besides these inherent de
fects, Islam has weighted itself with the necessity
of upholding the character of its founder as a perfect
model. Mahomet was, indeed, honest enough to
confess his own sinfulness on various occasions, and
died with a petition for pardon upon his lips 41. But
pay tribute, and are humbled (verse 29, the clause, " Those to
whom the Scriptures have been given," seems wrongly placed by
Eodwell; see the quotation in Muir, p. 211, and E. H. Palmer's
translation). In his earlier teaching at Medina (a.d. 623), Mahomet declared
that Jews, Christians, and Sabeites (i.e. Mendeans, or " Christians
of St. John"), whoever believed in God and the last day, and do
what is right, would be saved (Sura, ii. 59) ; but this seems to
be abrogated by Sura, iii. 79, a few years later: "Whosoever de-
sireth any other religion than Islam, it shall not be accepted of
him, and in the next world he shall be among the lost." In his
last iUness — perhaps in delirium — Mahomet cried out, " The Lord
destroy the Jews and Christians " (Muir's Life, iv. p. 270. Some
authorities omit "and Christians;" but cp. Sura, ix. 30, where
just the same sentiment occurs). It is easy to make a catena on
toleration from the Koran, as Mons. J. B. St. Hilaire has done,
Mahomet, pp. 329 — 333 ; but it is ludicrously unfair to represent
such passages as the substance of Mahomet's teaching on the sub
ject. In this and other respects his character got worse as he
grew older. Eodwell's translation, which gives the (probable)
chronological order of the chapters, is of great value in exhibiting
this change. I have generally quoted from it.
41 Cp. the tradition given above, p. 125, note 21. In Sura,
xlviii. 2, one of the latest period, we read : " Verily, we have
won for thee an undoubted victory, in token that God forgiveth

248 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
he evidently thought very highly of himself; and
many of his followers, while admitting that his na
ture was not impeccable, assert (in the teeth of his
own words) that he was preserved from actual sin,
and treat his example as binding upon themselves,
just in the same degree and manner as Christians
apply that of Christ 42.
Now the character of Mahomet is simply a human
one, of the earth earthy, disfigured by great faults
and crimes in the midst of great virtues, as even his
admirers confess43, by inconsistencies and surprises,
thy earlier and later faults." In Sura, liii. 19, he first made
a compromise with idolatry, admitting the three female divinities
of the Arabs to the position of intercessors with God; but in
a few days he disowned the words as a suggestion of Satan, and
described the idols as mere empty names of human invention.
In Sura, lxxx. ("He frowned"), he refers to his own harshness
to a blind enquirer. His last fragmentary words are thus given
by Muir (Life, iv. p. 279) : " Lord, grant me pardon, and join
me to the companionship on high" (I suppose that of the angel
Gabriel)  " Eternity in Paradise." . . . . " Pardon ! yes, the
blessed companionship on high." See also the conversation with
Ayesha, quoted in Mr. E. B. Smith's Mohammed, p. 153, ed. 2.
42 Pfleiderer, Religions Philosophic, pp. 641, 642, quoting Kremer,
Geschichte der herrschenden Ideen des Islam, p. 156 ; T. P. Hughes,
Notes, p. 13, ed. 2. Individual Moslems no doubt would be glad
to free themselves from this burden : see the letter of Mir Aulad
Ali, quoted by E. Bosworth Smith, Mohammed, p. 144, note.
43 The most prominent admirer of Mahomet in this country (since
Carlyle) has been Mr. R. Bosworth Smith, whose interesting lec
tures are in everyone's hands. He has discussed the faults of his
character, and the nature of his pretensions (as it seems to me) in
much too lenient a spirit in his Mohammed and Mohammedanism, pp.
142 MI., &c, ed. 2, 1876. (Cp. the review of the first edition by
Dr. G. P. Badger, Cont. Review, for June, 1875, vol.26, pp. 87—
102.) Dr. Th. Noldeke may be considered an apologist of Ma
homet, but is less sympathetic than Mr. Smith ; see his article s.v.

VII.] Character of Mahomet. 249
by sudden collapses and passionate outbreaks. After
living with comparative strictness up to the age of
fifty-four, for the last seven years of his life he gave
free indulgence to his passions 44. Throughout his life
he was guilty of occasional acts of terrible cruelty and
treachery45: and, over and above this, his character
is darkened by a still more awful suspicion of im
posture, when we find him justifying his sins by the
pretence of a revelation from God 46.
Muhammed in Herzog's Encyclopedia, vol. xviii. pp. 797 foil, (at end
of letter Z)., and cp. his Geschichte des Qorans. Mons. J. B. St.
Hilaire may also, to a great extent, be classed among his admirers.
Dr. Sprenger is in some points a very severe judge (cp. Tiele's
judgment, Outlines of the Hist, of Ancient Religions, §§ 59 foil.).
Sir Wm. Muir holds the balance, but censures strongly the latter
part of his life. See iv. pp. 318 foil, for a summary of his moral
declension at Medina, which has been denied, but without sufficient
ground. Part of it is quoted in note 46.
44 Mahomet (b. circa 570 a.d., d. May, 632) was fifty when he lost
Khadtja, with whom he had lived happily and faithfully for twenty-
five years. After a month he married another wife (Sawda) ; and
three or four years later, at the age of fifty-four, he added a second,
Ayesha, a child of ten years of age. In less than five years follow
ing this marriage with Ayesha, he brought together a harem, con
sisting of nine wives and two concubines. Ayesha used to say,
" The prophet loved three things, — women, scents, and food ; he had
his heart's desire of the two first, but not of the last." Muir, Life,
iv. p. 328. Cp. the saying of Ibn Abbas, " Verily, the chiefest
among the Moslems was the foremost of them in his passion for
women," lb., p. 310, where the facts are summarized, and St.
Hilaire, pp. 170— 176, &c.
45 These were specially directed against the Jews. See e.g. the
assassinations in a.d. 624, after the battle of Badr (Muir, ch. xiii.
vol. iii. pp. 130 foil.), and the massacre of the Beni Coreitza in
627 (ibid., iii. pp. 275 foil.). Other acts of cruelty, perfidy, and
malice are mentioned by Muir, iv. pp. 307 foil. ; cp. Stobart, Islam,
pp. 158, 165, &c.
46 Muir says, vol. iv. p. 318, speaking of his moral declension at

250 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
Now in the face of these facts it is impossible to
admit, as some Christians even are inclined to do,
that Mahomet was a "true prophet47." This is a
high title to which no one outside the range of the
sacred writers of our revelation has as yet made good
his claim. We deny it to Mahomet on very simple
grounds. Not because he was a sinner, for that is
common to men ; but because being a sinner, he used
his position, as a messenger of God, to cloak and
even commend his sin, and so made God the author
of immorality. The reasonableness of this criticism
is obvious. When a man puts forward so grand a
pretension as that of being the mouthpiece of the
Deity, it is our manifest duty to apply a moral test
to his claims. In the case, indeed, of a predictive
prophecy, the natural criterion is the fulfilment or
not of what is foretold : but even here we are bound
to require agreement with the first principles of re
ligion and morality48- But in the case of didactic
prophecy, which was that which Mahomet claimed
Medina : " Messages from heaven were freely brought forward to
justify his political conduct equally with his religious precepts.
Battles were fought, wholesale executions inflicted, and territories
annexed, under pretext of the Almighty's sanction. Nay, even
baser actions were not only excused, but encouraged, by the pre
tended divine approval or command ; a special licence was produced
allowing Mahomet a double number of wives (Sura xxxiii. 49) ;
the discreditable affair with Mary, the Coptic slave, was justified
in a separate Sura (lxvi.); and the passion for the wife of his own
adopted son and bosom friend was the subject of an inspired message,
in which the Prophet's scruples were rebuked by God, a divorce
permitted, and marriage with the object of his unhallowed desires
enjoined (Zeinab, wife of Zaid, see Sura xxxiii. 36)."
47 See E. B. Smith, Mohammed, ed. 2, pp. 344, 345, and index.
48 Cp. Deuteronomy xiii. 1 — 3.

VII.] Moral lapse of Mahomet. 251
to utter, there can be no other test than this last ;
and nowhere is it so necessary as in the delicate and
crucial point of unselfishness in respect to the posi
tion of the prophet himself. A single lapse in this
matter is enough to discredit the whole message, so
far as it goes beyond the elements of truth already
current in the world. These, of course, will remain
true in any case, but a mere enunciation of old truths,
in however emphatic language, does not constitute
a prophet. A lapse of this kind, below the supposed prophet's
own moral standard and the standard of his day, is
quite a different thing from the incompleteness of a
confessedly preparatory system, like that of Judaism.
It is reasonable, for instance, to defend the permission
of acts of imperfect morality (such as the Mosaic Law
of divorce), or the utterance of commands which are
suitable to, and possible in, one age, but could not be
enjoined in another (such as the extermination of the
Canaanites, Elijah's calling down fire on the captains,
and the like) 49. What we are bound to insist upon
from every one who claims to be a prophet is this^-
that, while he definitely advances religion and mo
rality in general, he should never fall behind the
standard of his own age in particular. Some parts
of his message or legislation may become obsolete;
some actions of his may not bear repetition in a later
49 See on this topic in general, Dr. Mozley's Old Testament
Lectures. The principle of St. Augustine, \* hich he adopts, requires
careful handling, but seems essentially contained in our Lord's
judgment on Moses and Elijah, Matt. v. 31, xix. 8 foil. ; Luke ix.
54 foil, (where the thought appears to be the same whatever
reading is accepted.)

252 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
stage of progress, but his teaching will never be ab
solutely immoral or retrogressive, as some Suras of
the Koran confessedly are 50.
The appearance of such elements in a man's teach
ing are like the symptoms of a secret plague or fever.
The rest of the body may be fair to outward view,
but when we see these few signs of a decidedly
morbid character, we know that there is a want of
healthiness in the whole. Mahomet's selfish misuse
of God's name proves that he was not a true pro
phet: and having these marks to guide us, we can
go on to trace the falseness which runs through
the whole of his system.
How far he was himself deceived is a much more
difficult question, though it need not detain us long
in this place. He had certainly a strong belief in
his own mission, and spoke proudly of his truth
fulness; but Arab morality was lax on this point,
60 Any attempt that might be made to defend the action of
Mahomet, by a parallel with the vindication of Moses for his
marriage with the Ethiopian woman (in Numbers xii.), breaks
down at once, since there is no proof that Moses did anything at
all worthy of censure, though he offended his brother's and sister's
jealousy or prejudice. The vindication, it may be also observed,
did not at first proceed from the mouth of Moses. Mr. Bosworth
Smith suggests that it was a justification which Mahomet may
have made to himself, but does not quote it as a positive apology
for him (p. 134). His half-parallel with our Saviour's breaking
the Pharisaic law of the Sabbath (p. 144), seems to me to have
a more dangerous tendency. To alter a ceremonial law, or to
elevate and strengthen a law of conduct, is a recognized function
of a Prophet, not to make the law bend to his own pleasure or
advantage. If our Lord had done the latter, no pious Jew could
have accepted Him. The Pharisees might perhaps have done so
more willingly.

VII.] Mahomet not a true Prophet. 253
and included a serious admiration for cunning, espe
cially in a good cause, and Mahomet was above all
things a genuine Arab. In his later days he was
the victim, probably, of his own reputation, and of
that power over the minds of his followers which is
so hard a strain upon the morality of even the most
pious enthusiasts. Even in his best days he had
probably been working for himself quite as much
as for God. As long as he was moving upward he
could practise self-restraint : but success demoralized
him, as it has demoralized his followers ever since.
He thought (as we have seen) that God is lenient and
forgiving, like a large-minded and sagacious man who
knows the world, and so he forgave himself in the
name of God for faults which all the time he knew
to be faults. The whole matter is of a piece with
his defective theology, his unworthy conception of
the Deity, and his defective idea of sin. Hence it
came about that he who, in his earlier years, had
cancelled a revelation which his conscience told him
was a sinful compromise with idolatry 51, could in his
later age give himself selfish privileges, and justify
immoral acts with unmoved and serene composure.
That Mahomet, in great measure52 extirpated
idolatry, and introduced certain reforms into the wild
and lawless social life of Arabia, is doubtless true.
That he and his followers have been a scourge per
mitted by God upon a corrupted Christianity, is also
61 Sura liii. 19. See above, note 41.
B Some of the ceremonies of the pilgrimage to Mecca, kissing
the Kaaba, &c, are a clear survival and incorporation of a partial
idolatry, notwithstanding all his protestations.

254 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
probable. But here our gratitude to him, such as it
is, must cease. Wherever Islam has prevailed for
any length of time, it has had the following threefold
ill effects: 1. It has stereotyped a low and unpro-
gressive form of social life ; 2. it has paralyzed the
intellectual, and especially the religious, development
of mankind; 3. it has been a barrier against the
Gospel 53.
1. Had Mahomet been contented with the position
of a legislator, or tribal chief, he would have left the
way open for further improvement; he would have
made a beginning which others might have carried
on; and so mankind would have been the gainers,
though his own success might have been less rapid.
Had he been sufficiently humble to use the sources
open to him in the Bible, even in the Old Testament,
and much more in the New, his reforms might have
been of permanent value. But he would follow nei
ther of these courses. He chose to be a prophet, and
above all things the last of the prophets, possessed
of a final revelation. Though acknowledging himself
a sinner, he set himself practically above the sinless
Jesus. He shut his eyes to the real contents of the
Bible, and (it is said) would not permit his followers
to read it M ; and consequently he condemned a great
part of mankind to live in a permanently unpro-
gressive, or rather retrogressive, social state. It
was worthy of a legislator to prevent the barbarous
63 This is Sir W. Muir's judgment, Life, vol. iv. pp. 321 foil.
Cp. Mr. T. P. Hughes, Notes, preface, ed. 2, pp. xi., xii.
64 This is stated by the Eev. Imad-ud-deen, pp. 10, 11, of his
Autobiography, already quoted.

VII.] Retrogressive social Legislation. 255
murder of female infants, to forbid certain gross
crimes55, to set limits to polygamy56, to make di
vorce less frequent by requiring the restitution of
the dowry57, and to ameliorate in other ways the
legal condition of women and slaves. All this Ma
homet did, or tried to do ; though after all it is pro
bable that women " possessed more freedom, and
exercised a healthier and more legitimate influence
under the pre-existing institutions of Arabia 58." But
to incorporate and establish polygamy, concubinage,
and slavery, and a general low treatment and estimate
of women in a revelation professing to be final, the
last, best, and most merciful utterance of God to man,
is to inflict a terrible curse upon society. If Mahomet
did not listen to the revelations of Genesis or the
Gospel, he could hardly be unaware of what was
known to the heathen, and what his own earlier life
might have taught him, that a divided household
cannot be the home of moral worth and of mutual
respect and support, in the same way that the union
of a single pair should and may be. Sallust, for in
stance, writes as justly as a Christian on the evils
55 Such as the inheritance by the son of his father's wives ; see
Sura iv. 26. He allowed it, however, in cases already existing.
66 Sura iv. 3. No restriction, however, is put on the number of
slave concubines (Suralxx. 30, iv. 28); and divorce or exchange
is so easy, that the legal value of the restriction is very slight.
6' But a man is, as it were, invited to put pressure on his wife
to remit her rights in this respect; Sura iv. 3 and 28. Cp.
Dr. Mozley's remarks on this ignoble feature of the legislation,
Miracles, Lect. vii. note 1. p. 283.
68 Sir ¥m. Muir, Life, vol. iii. p. 305, where are some important
remarks on the Moslem idea of marriage, which he thinks less
sound, in a very marked degree, than the Hindu.

256 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
of Moorish polygamy :— " Animus multitudine dis-
trahitur: nullam pro socia obtinet: pariter omnes
viles sunt 59." In such unions all the harem become
equally contemptible, or if one is specially favoured,
obvious injury is done to the rest ; and it is doubtful
whether man or woman loses the most terribly by
the degradation which follows. Social life is poi
soned at its roots.
2. The paralysing influence of Islam upon the re
ligious and intellectual development of mankind is
sufficiently obvious in the present state of countries
under Mahometan government. It has not, indeed,
always been so. In the stir of conquest, or first con
version, and the years which immediately succeed it,
there has been also a movement of mind and heart.
But whenever the sword has been long laid down,
when the novelty of the change to monotheism has
passed a^ay,'then comes the dreary record of decay,
of shutting up the intellect, of hardening the heart.
When Mahomet closed the Bible, he closed the
source of intellectual, as well as of moral light. He
put a crude, dull, rambling, inconsistent, often coarse
and selfish rhapsody, with no ideas at all upon some
of the deepest questions that interest and agitate the
conscience, with no depth of insight into the working
of the soul, into the place of the divine Book; and
he put his own sinful and narrow character into the
place of the inexhaustible riches of Christ's example.
Let anyone try to read the Koran through, making
68 Sallust, de bello Jugurthino [chap. 80], quoted by J. W. H.
Stobart, Islam, p. 229, where are some other good remarks on this
subject.

VII.] Islam opposed to Liberty and the Gospel. 257
allowances for the greater beauty of the original, and
let him think of the effect upon himself of taking it
as an unsurpassable model, the great treasure-house
of wisdom. Let him then read the life of Mahomet,
and the laws and customs which have grown up,
partly from the Koran, partly from tradition, and
he will understand the deadening effects of Islam
upon the soul, and its utter antagonism to liberty
of any kind 60.
3. The opposition of Islam to the Gospel follows
directly from the precepts and practice of Mahomet,
and by implication from its retrogressive morality
and unspiritual narrowness. It is much indeed that
we have certain fundamental points in common with
Moslems, their monotheism, ignorant and unloving
as it is, their deep belief in the reality of revela
tion, though it has armed their hands against man
kind, and their reverence for the Lord Jesus 61, super
ficial and unpractical as it has always been. But as
long as they believe the Koran, they are bound to
hold that Christ is not the Son of God (Sura xix.
31 — 36), that He was never crucified, but was re
presented by one in His likeness {Sura iv. 156), and
that He is no other than a servant whom God fa
voured with the gift of prophecy [Sura xliii. 59),
60 Carlyle's condemnation of the "insupportable stupidity" of
the Koran is remarkable in one who chose Mahomet as his type
of the "hero as Prophet:" see his Heroes, &c, pp. 76, 77, in
vol. xii. of his collected works. Eor the traditions, we may refer
to Major E. D. Osborn, Muhammedan Law, its Growth and Charac
ter, in Contemp. Review, vols. 29 and 30, May and June, 1877.
61 "Devout Musalmans never mention the name of Seyyedna
Eesa, or our Lord Jesus, without adding the words, ' on whom be
peace.' "— E. B. Smith, 1. c, p. 267. S

258 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
and is not to be associated in that worship which
is due to God only {Sura ix. 31) 62.
It seems hopeless, then, to expect (as Neander
and others incline to do) that Islam will be to many
"a theistic medium of transition from idolatry, at
its very lowest stages, to the only genuine theism
of Christianity63." On the contrary, one of the
greatest dangers to the spread of the Gospel is the
rapid conversion of some of the lower races to Islam,
which attracts them by its one broad view of mono
theism, by its external discipline, and the alliance
which it offers with something like a world-wide
power ; while it makes few demands upon the heart,
legalises and justifies a low social morality, and
actually destroys the sense of sin which before
existed64. It offers a simple theory of the universe
which enables a man to make the easiest possible
compromise between religion and selfishness, and to
suppose that there is nothing higher to be found.
Pride of self, satisfaction in having attained the
truth, and being able to look down on others, is
a strong feeling, I suppose, with most Moslems ; and
next to this is a worship of success, "a belief that
all the enjoyments of sense are the rightful heritage
of the faithful, who dare to seize them 65," and there
with a strong hold on the things of this world, and
62 The passages of the Koran relating to our Saviour, are col
lected in Stobart's Islam, pp, 142 — 146.
63 Neander, Church History, vol. v. pp. 120 foil., ed. Bohn, 1851.
64 This is, I have reason to think, the opinion of Bp. Steere,
and the result of his experience of negro conversion to Islam.
6S See Sir Bartle Frere's Lecture, Christianity suited to all Forms
of Civilization, in Chr. Evidence Lectures, series 2, p. 336.

VII.J Hopelessness of Islam. 25&
bitter hostility to all who oppose their rule, or weaken
it by desertion. Wherever Moslems are the domi
nant race, their conversion seems all but hopeless ;
only when pride has been broken, when success is
turned into failure, and the need of toleration is ex
perienced in their own case, then there may be some
hope that the kingdom which is not of this world
may appear to them in a fairer and more attrac
tive form. The failure of Islam to benefit mankind is,
as we have seen, specially traceable to its assumption
of finality and to its imposition of a harsh, one-sided
legislation, under colour of a new Gospel. As an
attempt to give happiness .to society against its will
by means of religion, it is simply pernicious. Ma
homet is essentially one of those false prophets de
nounced in Scripture, who heal the trouble of the
human heart " slightly," and who cry " Peace, peace,"
when there is no peace.
(3.) We now turn to a third answer to the grave
question, "How can religion best influence society?"
The true principle is no doubt, "Let speculative
truth and religious order unite in one community;
let entrance into it be voluntary, and let its influ
ence upon politics be that of persuasion, not of
force." The success of those who give this answer
must, of course, depend on the truth or falsehood
of their doctrine ; but outside Christianity, they have
a dangerous tendency to become anti-social. We
have not opportunity to do more than touch very
lightly on the minor experiments which have been
made in this direction, especially as many of them
are really insignificant, while others are shrouded
s 2

260 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
in an intentional obscurity. Secrecy has been the
besetting and ruinous fault of the great number of
these voluntary religious bodies. Nothing is more
certain than the value of the Christian maxim,
adopted as fundamental by the Positivists, that it
is right to " live openly 66." Secret societies, for
the most part, have been viewed by outsiders either
with exaggerated prejudice or with exaggerated re
spect ; while their members have been too apt to
consider themselves above or outside the laws of
open life. Secrecy produces a sort of delicious in
toxication, a greedy delight in the sweetness of
" stolen waters," which is one of the most dangerous
of human passions ; and these associations are apt to
be distorted from their legitimate ends into centres
of conspiracy or refuges of immorality. Thus the
Areoi of Polynesia, the depositaries of sacred lore
and literary culture, the members of which are in
vested with a sort of divinity in this life, and with
a claim to happiness after death, have become ab
solutely immoral 67. The Pythagorean confraterni-
66 Matt. v. 14 foil. : " Ye are the light of the world," &c.
John xviii. 20: "I spake openly to the world," &c. 1 Thess. v.
22 : "Abstain from all appearance of evil." (Eev. vers., " every
form" with "appearance" in margin.) 2 Cor. viii. 21 : "Pro
viding for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord but
also in the sight of men." 1 John i. 7 : " If we walk in the
light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another."
Cp. Rom. xii. 17; xiii. 13; 1 Pet. ii. 12, &c. Comte especially
applies it to political life, Positive Polity, E. T., vol. iv. p. 400.
67 The Areoi of Tahiti and other islands were clubs of men aDd
women, living licentiously together, and bound by the rule of kill
ing all their children. They went about giving dramatic repre
sentations of dance and song, and in this way have preserved

VII.] Character of Secret Societies. 261
ties of Magna Grsecia, on the other hand, though we
hear nothing but what is favourable of their moral
aims, were suspected, perhaps with some reason, of
political agitation, and were crushed by violence 68.
Their most enduring effects may probably be found
in the influence which they exercised upon the mind
of Plato, whose ideal of a state is made up in great
measure of elements drawn from the two chief at
tempts to mould human life on Dorian principles,
the constitution of Lycurgus and the life of these
Pythagorean brotherhoods69. Of the Orphic and
other societies connected with the mysteries, we
know comparatively little. The idea that they were
centres of high dogmatic instruction has long been
given up by scholars, but what they actually were
is less easy to estimate 70. At their best they repre-
much of the old mythology. Por a collection of what is known
about them from Cook, Ellis, Wilson, Moerenhout, &c, see Waitz,
Anthropologic der Naturvolker, vol. vi. pp. 363 — 369, ed. Gerland
(Leipzig, 1872). He finds the origin of the association in devo
tion to Oro, the ruler of souls after death, and in the hope of fu
ture happiness, p. 368. Cp. Gerland, Aussterbung der N. V, p. 47
(Leipz., 1868).
68 What is known about the Pythagorean societies has been put
together by Zeller, Pre-Socratic Philosophy, vol. i. pp. 342 foil., tr.
by S. P. Alleyne (Lond., 1881). The fullest collection of Pytha
gorean fragments is given by Mullach, Fragmenta Philosophorum
Grcccorum, vol. i. (Paris).
69 See on this point Prof. Jowett's Plato, vol. iii. pp. 153 foil.,
ed. 2, 1875. The actual legislation of Lycurgus is described by
Grote, Hist, of Greece, vol. ii. pp. 145 — 156, ed. of 1862. For
its influence, both on Plato and Aristotle, see p. 154.
70 Lobeck's Aglaophamus (in three books, 1. Eleusinia; 2. Or-
phica; 3. Samothracia) has done great service in criticizing and
exposing the pretensions which many modern writers had made
in behalf of the mysteries, but it hardly enables us to understand

262 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
sent the vague theology of music, that spirit which
reaches forward into the darkness, and draws a won
dering crowd along with it, solaced now with rap
turous gleams of light, and now oppressed with
melancholy and unintelligible sadness. The myth
of Orpheus tells us of one who has actually been
into the land of Hades, and has nearly, but not quite,
succeeded in bringing back his darling. It lifts the
veil only to drop it again. The mysteries were in
like manner occupied principally with dramatic pic
tures, representing two tales of the lower world : one
of Demeter looking for her daughter Proserpine, who
has been snatched from her by Pluto ; the other,
that of Dionysus-Zagreus, the infant son of Zeus,
who has been torn to pieces and buried, and whose
limbs are again brought together on the breast of
Demeter, — a myth closely akin to that of Osiris71.
That these mysteries were moral in any real degree
is very improbable, their ascetic prescriptions were
external, and often unmeaning or fantastic72, but
the real character of these celebrated rites. A more constructive
account of the Eleusinia will be found in Preller' s Grieehische My-
thologie, i. pp. 645 — 655, cp. ii. 487 foil, on the Orphica (Berlin,
1872). The same subjects are treated at length by Db'llinger,
Heidenthum, book iii., die Mysterien und die Orphische Religions-
lehre. See also Grote's Greece, vol. i. pp. 15 — 37. In these books
the reader will find all necessary references.
71 Crete was probably the medium through which Egyptian
theology first passed into Greece : see Db'llinger, p. 129. Epi-
menides, the Cretan Orphic priest, was invited to Athens as early
as b.c 612 (others say 596), to cleanse the city from the stain of
Kylon's murder. See ib., p. 132. The identification of Dionysus-
Zagreus with a bull also naturally reminds us of Osiris-Apis.
n Por the prescriptions of the " Orphic life," we may compare
the chorus of Euripides' Minos, quoted by Porphyrius de Abstinen-

VII.] The Mysteries. 263
they served to keep up an aspiration after a future
life, and sometimes comforted mourners. Yet even
this comfort was degraded by the contempt expressed
for the uninitiated, who, without any fault of their
own, were doomed to a lower place in another
world 73.
Besides these better-known societies, there were
a number of smaller guilds, founded usually on some
foreign cult, or fanciful and almost accidental enthu
siasm, which had great vogue among the lower classes
in Greece74, and would have developed at least as
tia, iv. 19. The bull representing Zagreus was torn in pieces, and
his flesh eaten raw, a sort of act of communion with the deity, by
which rebirth was assured. But after this, abstinence from animal
food was enjoined, — an idea probably connected with a doctrine of
transmigration. The Pythagorean prohibition of eating beans was
also Egyptian in character (Herod., ii. 37).
73 Like the Areoi, those devoted to the gods of Hades in this
life were supposed to be their special favourites after death. See
the passages in Lobeck, pp.69 foU., and Db'llinger, pp. 175 foil.
The following is one of the most important, Horn. Hymn, in Cere-
rem, 480 foil. :—
ohfiios os rab' onairev imx^oviav av6pima>V
os 8' are\r)s lepav Ss r appopos, oihroff opoicos
atcrav ?;(« (pSipcvos irep imb fo'0<» evpaevn.
Plutarch De audiendis Poetis, 4 (torn. ii. p. 21= vol. i. p. 81,
Wytt.), quotes a story of Diogenes ridiculing the distinction of
initiated and uninitiated ; but he refers to the hope given by the
mysteries in his letter of Consolation to his wife on the death of
their daughter Timoxena, ch. 10 (torn. ii. p. 611 = vol. 3, p. 464,
Wytt.). 74 The best authority on this subject is P. Eoucart (now Presi
dent of the Prench Archaeological School at Athens), Des Associa
tions Religieuses chez les Grecs (Paris, 1873). The most important
existing document on these societies is the inscription of Andania
in Messenia, B.C. 93, which may be found in P. Cauer's Delectus
Inscr. Grctcarum, pp. 19—27 (Leipzig, 1877), and elsewhere.

264 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
largely in Italy but for the jealousy of Eoman law
yers and statesmen, who perhaps tried to reduce
them to the position of mere burial - clubs 75. All
had the great merit of being free associations for
a religious end, and as such they admitted women,
slaves, and foreigners to participate in their benefits ;
and most of them had a special tendency to give
a more distinct hope of a future life, a hope which
was closely connected with their provisions for de
cent and careful funeral rites. They had besides,
something of a sacramental system, joining rich and
poor in common worship and in a common festal
meal; while some of them assisted their members
by loans of money without interest, and in this way
took, in some slight degree, the place of our modern
benevolent institutions.
On the other hand, their importance and charitable
influence have been often exaggerated76, sometimes
with a polemical intention of depreciating the Chris
tian Church. It is also clear that too many of them,
if not immoral in principle, put no real check on
immorality, but rather gave scope for it in their
nightly meetings and promiscuous assemblages, and
that they were fruitful sources of superstition, satis-

75 On the Eoman guilds see Th. Mommsen de Collegiis et Sodal-
(Kilise, 1843). The attempt to check their growth is clear,
but it is conjectured, rather than demonstrated, that only burial-
clubs were permitted : see Mommsen, 1. c, pp. 88 foil. Eenan
assumes this too absolutely as proved, les Apotres, pp. 355, 356,
ed. 1, 1866.
76 As by Eenan, les Apotres, pp.351 foil., following "Wescher.
These exaggerations are well criticized by Foucart, 1. c, ch. xv.
pp. 139 foil.

VII.] Private Guilds and Burial-clubs. 265
fying their members by formal purifications and in
cantations, without any evidence of change of heart.
Every little accident of domestic life sent the super
stitious man or woman to the Orphic or Oriental
mystery-monger, who was frequently the centre of
such a confraternity. Eor two obols they could get
a prediction on any future event, large or small, se
rious or ridiculous. A philtre or a conjuration of
evil came with equal readiness. The wills of gods
and men were supposed to be subject to the meanest
class of magicians, and we know (sometimes by ac
tual experience in our own country) the miserable
degradation that follows.
All these societies, however interesting to the
student of antiquity, are but insignificant and ephe
meral when compared with the great movement of
Eastern Asia, which still numbers as its adherents
perhaps 500 millions of mankind77. Buddhism is
the only voluntary association, or church of believers,
which can be at all compared with Christianity as
to the purity and loftiness of its moral teaching,
at least in details, or as to its power of expansion.
It no longer exists indeed in India, the country of
its birth, where it was extinguished after many
centuries, partly by internal decay, partly (it is
thought) by persecution 78. But as early as the third
77 See above, p. 92.
78 This extinction took place gradually, between the 7th and
12th centuries a.d., when the last blow was given by Moslem con
quest. What little is known of these events is told in Bhjs
Davids' Buddhism, pp. 242 foil. The later history of Buddhism
in India is extracted almost entirely from the travels of three
Chinese pilgrims, Pan Hian, a.d. 400; Sung Yun, a.d. 518; and

266 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
century B.C. it had spread to Ceylon, whence it was
propagated to Burma and Siam, the three countries
which retain it in its most original form, and where
it is still the national belief. Its introduction into
China was not much later, and in the fourth century
of our era it became the State religion, and is now
professed in some form or other by a very large
proportion of the people. From China it made its
way to Corea and Japan, and other islands, losing
no doubt many of its original features, but still re
taining much that is characteristic.
Northern Buddhism in Tibet is of later growth,
and has suffered much greater alteration, taking the
form of the worship of a living Buddha, — the Dalai
Lama, and being mixed up with much eclectic su
perstition, while in Nepal it has formed a sort of
fusion with the worship of $iva.
In view of this immense outward success, we natu
rally ask the reasons of such a wide expansion ? We
shall find them perhaps equally in the truth and the
falsehood of Buddhist principles. On the one side
there are the two great verities, that religious asso
ciation should be voluntary and open to all men, and
that moral conduct conduces to happiness or misery
more absolutely than anything else. The dignity of
human nature is, in fact, the basis of all that is good
in Buddhism. Caste is abolished, women are ad-
Hiouen Thsang, a.d. 629 — 648, translated by Eemusat, Beal, Sta
nislas Julien, and others. Mors. A. Barth, in his remarkable article
on Indian religions (in Lichtenberger's Encyclop. des Sciences Reli-
gieuses, vol. vi. pp. 571 foil., Paris, 1879), traces the decay of Bud
dhism to its own ' senility ' rather than to persecution. Proofs of
the latter certainly appear slight.

VII.] Success of Buddhism. 267
mitted to the society, a mass of superstition is lifted
from the mind, and the moral law (especially that
which answers to the second half of the Ten Com
mandments) is re-asserted with a force and persuasive
ness that no other system, except the Christian, can
shew. Man's free-will to do right or to do wrong, not
any external fate, not any performance or non-per
formance of ceremonial acts, is that which decides
his destiny, for happiness or misery. We can easily
imagine the healthy and refreshing effects of such
a proclamation in Eastern society, which tends so
readily to fixity of life, which is wont passively to
let unreal barriers grow up between class and class,
to grow torpid under the delusions of pantheistic fa
talism, and to acquiesce in a lazy formality of reli
gious action as a substitute for energetic moral sym
pathy with goodness. No wonder that Gotama
seems a godlike teacher, stooping down with infi
nite gentleness and compassion to make men once
more brethren, and to bring them back to simple
rules of life, to help them again to respect them
selves and all living creatures, and to take their pro
per place in this bewildering and ever - changing
world. This is the good side of Buddhism79. Its great
defect is that it is a philosophy, not a religion, while
it claims to supply the place of religion. The Buddha
means " the enlightened one ", he who knows ; and
escape from ignorance, not from sin against God
79 Mons. J. B. Saint-Hilaire has an interesting chapter on the
merits and defects of Buddhism, pp. 141 — 182 of his Le Bouddha
et sa Religion, ed. 3 (Paris, 1866).

268 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
or injury to man, is the great object set before his
followers. The practical denial of God the creator,
and the narrowing down of human interest to the
field of conduct within one's own control, has flat
tered the so-called common-sense of mankind, and
made them content with a very feeble and futile ideal
of peace and happiness. Buddhism is a kind of
Positivism, without the motto, "Live for others,"
which the latter has borrowed from Christianity.
The Buddha, indeed, had great sympathy for man
kind, and many Buddhists, like him, have been ar
dent self-denying missionaries80, and have doubtless
reaped the reward of their devotion. But his doc
trine sets up the purely individual object of per
fection of self as the end of life, without any refer
ence to God, or to the good of other souls. The
Positivist equally omits the glory of God as a moral
motive, but lays great stress on our absolute duty to
humanity, a belief which is indeed illogical and in-
80 The following words are attributed to Gotama just before his
famous sermon at Isipatana, near Benares : —
" I now desire to turn the wheel of the excellent Law.
Por this purpose I am going to that city of Benares
To give light to those enshrouded in darkness,
And to open the gate of immortality to men."
See Ehys Davids' Buddhism, p. 43 ; and cp. Sacred Books, Buddhist
Suttas, vol. xi. pp. 146 foil. The same energetic missionary spirit ap
peared in the purer school of Buddhism, the Hinayana, the system
of the " small conveyance." The Mahayana, or school of the
" great conveyance," produced a very different type, that of meta
physical subtlety. See E. J. Eitel's Buddhism: Three Lectures,
pp.37 foil., 2nd ed. (Honkong, 1873). King Asoka established
a board for foreign missions, which he supported with his political
influence, and his own son, Mahendra, went as a missionary to
Ceylon: ibid., p. 19.

VII.] Selfishness of Buddhist Doctrine of Merit. 269
effective without belief in God, but certainly renders
the Positivist scheme of morals superior to that of
the Buddhist. It is true that the latter is bound
to respect and help other men, but (theoretically)
this is only a means to increase his own merit ; and
therefore gratitude for generous acts is not neces
sary, since the merit of the act — which is in his
eyes the only thing worth considering — rests en
tirely with him who does the kindness.
Hence Sin is viewed as a misfortune, which hap
pens to you and delays your perfection, rather than
as an offence against God or man, and it is even pos
sible to keep a daily profit and loss account of merit
and demerit, as is done by some Chinese Buddhists 81.
In consequence of this theory of sin and merit,
based on the absence of a Creator, there are no pri
mary motives to good conduct except fear or self-
love. It rests with a man's self whether he will save
himself now, or in some future rebirth; whether he
will barter a limited period of punishment in hell for
so much present indulgence. The moral Law, indeed,
exists outside him, and the unseen world and its
terrors is very real to him ; but the execution of the
Law depends entirely on his own determination. No
one suffers except himself by his non-fulfilment of it,
or, at least, the suffering of others makes no differ
ence to him, except as it interferes with his acqui
sition of merit. There is no real solidarity of in-
81 E. Spence Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, p. 507 (Lond., 1853) ;
Eitel, Lectures, p. 63. On merit-making in Siam see the interesting
observations of a modern Buddhist in H. Alabaster's Wheel of the
Law, pp. 53 foU. (Lond., 1871).

270 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
terests between man and man here or hereafter. How
attractive such a theory may be to human selfishness
is obvious to any one who will think of what he him
self is like in his meaner moments.
Another reason for the spread of Buddhism in the
Eastern world is to be found in the tedium of life
and the enjoyment of simple inactivity, which a West
ern can hardly understand as a motive prevailing
over great masses of men. This can only have been
felt where the idea of endless transmigration has
taken a firm hold of the imagination, and been long
believed without an effort. In countries where this
is the case, — as in India after the Vedic period, — •
the merely negative rest of Nirvawa, and the absence
of all activity and sense of want, comes as a great
relief. According to the most probable theory of
original Buddhism, entrance into Nirvawa was to be
found in this life in the cessation of all ignorance
and desire 82, to be followed after death by extinction
of name and form, differing little, if at 'all, from ab
solute annihilation83. Human nature has naturally
82 See Appendix I.
83 Professor Max Miiller calls attention to the more positive
meaning of Nirvawa as a state of life in this world, and supposes
that Buddha himself held a view somewhat more like the one now
popular in Buddhist countries of the state after death, which was
subsequently given up by his more metaphysical followers. " It re
presented the entrance of the soul into rest, a subduing of all wishes
and desires, indifference to joy and pain, to good and evil, an ab
sorption of the soul in itself, and a freedom from the circle of
existences from birth to death, and from death to a new birth." —
See Buddhist Nihilism, in Selected Essays, vol. ii. p. 305, and other
Essays in that volume. Buddha's own view must at present re
main uncertain. According to the Sutta-Nipdta, however, when

VII.] Doctrine of Nirvana. 271
revolted from this prospect, and perhaps the majority
of Buddhists have either ceased to desire Nirvana as
a practical object (as in Siam) 84, or they have turned
it into a positive state of happiness, something like
the Moslem paradise, as in Tibet and China 85.
But whether Nirvawa be considered as absolutely
negative or not, the whole tendency of the Buddhist
system is to set the highest moral value on an anti
social state of indolence and inactivity — to stamp de
spair of the world with the whole force of its approval.
Gotama's original idea was apparently that of a house
less hermit-life of absolute apathy 86, which soon passed
asked " if consciousness would exist," he replied that "as a flame,
blown about by the violence of the wind, goes out, and cannot be
reckoned as existing, even so a Muni, delivered from name and
body, disappears, and cannot be reckoned (as existing)." . . . "Por
him who has disappeared there is no form ; that by which they say
he is, exists for him no longer." (Sacred Books, vol. x. pt. 2,
pp. 198, 199.)
84 Alabaster, I. c. p. xxxviii., says : " The ordinary Siamese
never troubles himself about Nirwana, he does not even mention
it. He believes virtue will be rewarded by going to heaven
(Sawan), and he talks of heaven, and not of Nirwana. Buddha,
he will tell you, has entered Mrwana, but, for his part, he does
not look beyond Sawan."
85 The Paradise of the Western Heaven, believed in by the
worshippers of Amitabha Buddha, is well described in Eitel's
Lectures, pp. 97 Ml. He thinks it may have had its origin "in
Gnostic or Persian ideas, influencing the Buddhism of Cashmere
and Nepaul," ib., p. 102. Cp. Edkins, Religion in China, p. 99;
Chinese Buddhism, pp. 233 foil., &c.
86 According to the Sutta-Nipdta (see Fausbbll's Introduction,
p. xv.), the highest life is that of the Muni, "one who forsakes
the world and lives in a houseless state, because from house-life
arises defilement  He is not pleased nor displeased with
anything. He is indifferent to learning. He does not cling to
good or evil. He has cut off all passion and all desire. He is

272 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
into a Sangha, or brotherhood of mendicants (bhik-
shus). Of course laymen had also to be tolerated, but
only as an afterthought, and in a secondary degree
of virtue. Women also were admitted after a time
to take the vows, but (it is said) that they cannot
attain Nirvawa without being first reborn as men 87.
Buddhism thus differs from all other religious sys
tems, which have become popular, in being founded
on monasticism and developed out of it. In other
religions it is an accretion, not a necessary part of
the life. They can do just as well without it as
with it. But should men decline any longer to take
the yellow robe, or should the world cease to provide
the monks with the daily bread, on which they live
without working for themselves, the whole system
must collapse88. Buddhism is thus, even more than
other voluntary societies which we have mentioned,
profoundly anti-social. The human race exists that
there may be monks ; and the object of the monastic
life is to annihilate the race. This is indeed to make
a solitude and call it peace.
Of course the system is not fully carried out. The
monastic life may be laid down at pleasure, and is
not a lifelong yoke on those who find they have no
vocation for it. In some countries the robe is as
sumed for a short period of life by the greater part
of the population. The Buddhist re -assertion of
free from marks and possessionless." He is without consciousness
or sensation, and without breathing, i.e. lives in a state of absolute
apathy. 87 Eitel's Lectures, p. 63 : cp. p. Ill of the same book.
68 See the remarks of a "modern Buddhist" in Alabaster's
Wheel of the Law, p. 54.

VIL] Character of Buddhism. 273
human freedom has also, in the earlier centuries of its
propagation, led to great and often beneficent activity.
To it is due the building of stone temples of striking
architecture, the erection of monuments of very re
markable sculpture, the building of valuable tanks,
the foundation of hospitals, the writing of chronicles
and inscriptions, — not to speak of the more religious
movements of councils and missions. Buddhist litera
ture, though full of tedious repetitions, and wanting
in higher poetical elements, is comparatively natural
and popular; its teaching is suited to the ears of
common men, and consists largely of fables or para
bles and illustrations from life 89.
This activity has now, to a great extent, ceased.
The Law is little understood by those who read it,
much less by those who listen, and missionary energy
is all but extinct. The teaching in Buddhist schools
is very elementary and trifling, and little is written
of any value 90. Superstition has settled down again
89 It is now matter of general knowledge that much of the
collection of Planudes (in the fourteenth century), known to us
as _33sop's Pables, is Buddhist in origin, being founded on the
6?atakas, in which the Buddha in some previous birth is the hero
of every tale. See Ehys Davids' Buddhist Birth Stories, pp. xxix.
foil. ; and cp. Max Miiller on the Migration of Fables, in Selected
Essays, vol. i. pp. 500 — 547. The 6?ataka stories themselves may
be earlier or later than Gotama. Dr. Frankfurter has seen a MS.
in which the moral verses exist apart from the fables. See Ap
pendix I.
90 Mr. Alabaster replies very inaptly to M. St. Hilaire's criti
cism of the literary incapacity of Buddhist nations (Le Buddha et
sa Religion, p. 180, Paris, 1866, referred to in Wheel of the Law,
pp. liii., liv.), by instancing the literature of China and Japan,
countries which are only Buddhist in a very partial manner. He
refutes his own statement as far as Siam is concerned, on p. 4 of
T

274 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect.
upon the common people wherever Buddhism prevails,
often (as in Ceylon) in the gross form of the worship
of evil spirits; and the degradation and ignorance
of Northern Buddhism is almost proverbial91. The
impressions we receive of Buddhist countries differ,
no doubt, somewhat according to the character and po
sition of the reporters, but on the whole we cannot be
wrong in charging Buddhism with terrible mental
apathy, and practical unfruitfulness. It has been
said that this is due to climate. But Buddhism, as
we have seen, could once be active ; and native criti-
his own book, both from his own observation, and that of the
Siamese statesman whose work he is translating. The latter says :
"The course of teaching at present followed in the temples is un
profitable." "Our Siamese literature is not only scanty, but
nonsensical," &c.
Mr. Alabaster does not deny the second charge, that Buddhism
is incapable of organising equitable and intelligent societies, but
only retorts with some remarks upon French politics, and the
want of happiness in European states.
81 Sir James Emerson Tennant wrote in 1850, in his Christianity
in Ceylon: "Both socially and in its effect upon individuals, the
result of the system in Ceylon has been apathy, almost approaching
to infidelity. Even as regards the tenets of their creed, the mass
of the population exhibit the profbundest ignorance, and manifest
the most irreverent indifference. In their daily intercourse and
acts, morality and virtue, so far from being apparent in practice,
are barely discernible as the exception, &c. (p. 228)." " The
Buddhist priests connive at demon worship, because their efforts
are ineffectual to suppress it ; and the most orthodox Singhalese,
whilst they confess its impropriety, are still driven to resort to it
in all their fears and afflictions (pp. 231, 232)." The expression
of the priests or monks in Ceylon and elsewhere, is described by
several writers as one of mental inertness, approaching idiotcy.
(E. Spence Hardy, Eastern Monachism, pp. 311, 312. Lond.,
1860.) Northern Buddhism is picturesquely described in Eitel's Three
Lectures, pp. 84 foil.

VII.] Failure of Buddhism. 275
cism of its effects in China shews how much it may
alter character irrespective of external conditions. To
the Confucianist, as well as to the Christian, it ap
pears as foolishly destructive of what is natural and
useful, through fear of the misuse, and as fatal to
a performance of social and domestic duty 9S.
Buddhism has been extirpated in the country of
its birth, and we are inclined to think that this fate
has not been undeserved. Better even the degraded
theism of the Brahmans than the elevation of man
above God, — of this religion without a basis and
without a hope. Hopeless as it is for the individual,
so also it foresees its own extinction. Gotama (it is
said) prophesied that in five thousand years his relics
would be burnt up, and all knowledge of his doc
trines would disappear from off the earth. It is also
a belief that as long as the system flourishes in the
sacred land of Ceylon, it will flourish everywhere;
but when it falls there it will fall throughout the
world 93. God has given us this sacred land, the key,
as it were, to the religion of five hundred millions.
If we have faith in God and in the worth of our
own lives, as His instruments and subjects; if we
will use the means of Buddha, the pure persuasion
of holy words, and the example of a self-denying
and compassionate life, we may win back to belief
92 On this Confucianist criticism, see Edkin's Chinese Buddhism,
pp. 200, 201. Dr. Legge has kindly pointed out to me an interest-
in<» Chinese comment on this subject, which he has quoted in the
notes to The Announcement about Drunkenness in the Shu" King
(Chinese Classics, vol. iii. pt. 2, p. 402, Honkong, 1865).
83 For these traditions, see E. Spence Hardy, Eastern Monachism,
pp. 430, 431.
T2

276 The Natural Desire for Peace. [Lect. VII.
in their Creator, not the men of this land only, but
an almost innumerable multitude of immortal souls.
Such, then, is the failure of these great human
efforts to attain peace by bringing religion to bear
upon society. Men have tried to secure order with
out regard to Truth, and have ended in simple idola
try of outward Tranquillity. They have attempted to
impose a minimum of Truth by force, and have bound
society in chains. They have withdrawn from the
world, and cultivated what they held for Truth in
anti-social secrecy or selfish retirement. They have
tried all these methods, with grand opportunities and
on a broad scale. The religion of Eome, Islam, and
Buddhism represent enormous forces and vast ex
ternal successes; but the Peace which they have
preached is no Peace proceeding from God, no Peace
for man.

277

LECTURE VIII.

ST. JOHN xiv. 27.
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you : not as the
world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be trou
bled, neither let it be afraid.

THE PEACE OE THE CHUECH AS WORTHY 0E GOD WHO
GIVES IT AND AS SATISFYING THE NEEDS OF MAN,
Eecapitulation. — I. Notes of the Church as representing the Divine
Nature: (1) Unity, (2) Holiness, (3) Catholicity.
(1.) Unity, its double sense, singleness and concord. — Other systems
based on human concord. — The Church rests on the Unity of the
Blessed Trinity. — Difficulty of present disunion. — Eeference to
the invisible Church not a sufficient reply. — Answer, 1. the
early Church was visibly one. — Tubingen theory not borne out
by facts. — 2. Unity, on points of faith still very profound. —
The schismatic temper, a sort of check on heresy. — 3. Prospects
of future unity, much advanced by the loss of secular power. —
A new period of history began in 1870. — Position of the Church
of Eome. — Of our own Church. — The Eoyal Supremacy. — Fu
ture conflict on fundamental truths. — Possible mediation by
Church of England.
(2.) Holiness, not self-culture or outward law, but the assimilation
of divine life. — Coincidence of obedience and freedom in Christ.
— Approach to it in Christians, especially near death. — Gra
dual sanctification of nations. — Christianity and national cha
racter. — Christian legislation. — Constantine. — Self-corrective
power. — Eepentance for negro slavery. — Other social reforms.
(3.) Catholicity, an image of God's omnipotence and omnipresence.
— Definition of St. Cyril of Jerusalem. — 1. Influence of the
Church on action in social and civil life. — The Crusades. —
2. Influence on thought in doctrine of the Logos. — Necessary
overthrow of Scholasticism. — Successive tendencies to Deism,

278 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
Pantheism, and Positivism. — Demand for a Christian philosophy.
— 3. Education oi feeling. — Art and Literature. — Call to repent
ance : work of religious orders. — Place of the charismata.
II. The Church as satisfying Human wants. — Symbolism of the
Ark and its contents. — Contrast with Dionysiac enthusiasm.
(1.) Doctrine. — Faith and scepticism. — Theology recognizes all
classes of fact. — Peace given to the Intellect.
(2.) Sacraments. — Analogies in heathenism. — Christian Sacraments
" an extension of the Incarnation." — Practical value. — St. Cy
prian on Baptism. — The Eucharist. — Other sacramental rites.
(3.) Discipline. — The Church called Apostolic. — The Gospels "the
Institution of a Christian Ministry." — Eealization of Christ's
presence. — Practical influence. — Conclusion.
TN our last Lecture we sketched some of the most
striking and characteristic attempts which have
been made to secure the Peace and Happiness of
mankind, first by means of social and political in
struments, and then by the aid and influence of re
ligion outside Christianity. Both, we saw, had
failed; the first necessarily, because they confined
their scheme of blessedness to this earth, " ad fruc-
tum pacis terrense in terrena civitate;" and even
in this sphere they were found confessedly incom
petent, either to prevent war, or to make life really
happy. The failure of those who attempted to secure Peace
by means of religion was traced to different causes.
Some, like many in ancient Greece and Eome, were
found subordinating Faith and Truth to Expedi
ency, and treating Eeligion as an instrument of
police. Others, like Mahomet, limited themselves by
a one-sided and retrogressive formula, and did vio
lence to the conscience by persecution. Lastly, those
who recognized the truth, that Eeligion, to have

VIII.] Worthy of the Nature of God. 279
any moral worth, must be accepted by a voluntary
act of Faith, were observed in practice to have an
anti-social character. This is the case both with the
smaller secret societies, and with the great monastic
system of philosophy, which has been so strangely
destined to occupy the larger part of Eastern Asia.
The cynical worshipper of Imperial Eome, the bitter
Moslem, who narrows down his belief in God to the
proud and selfish utterances of a false prophet, and
the hopeless, vacuous recluse of Buddhism, are strik
ing and manifest types of the failure of human en
deavours to build up a system of peace without the
Spirit of God. "We now turn to the brighter pic
ture of the Peace which is given by the Church on
earth, leading upward to the Church in heaven.
In treating this subject, we shall continue to fol
low the method previously adopted, and endeavour
to display the gift of Peace, first, as worthy of Him
who offers it as His own, saying, "Peace I leave
with you, My peace I give unto you;" and, se
condly, as the true satisfaction of the wants of man
who receives it. I.
The Gift of Peace as worthy of the Nature of God.
"What are the attributes of the Divine Nature
which are most clearly represented in the Church ?
They can, I think, best be described in the words
of one of the oldest creeds1, I believe " in One Holy
1 The Creed of Jerusalem : see St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis
xviii. at the beginning. The Creed of Constantinople runs: —

280 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
Catholic Church." Let us take the three attributes
in the order in which they stand.
(1.) Unity, as a divine attribute, and as applied to
the Church, is obviously capable of two senses. On
the one hand, there is what we may call the primary
sense of singleness in comparison with multiplicity,
the one true God as opposed to the many false
ones, the unique Church as contrasted with the va
riety of defective religious systems. On the other
hand, it may mean oneness, in the secondary sense
of harmony as opposed to discord, the internal con
cord of the divine nature as opposed to the vacilla
tion of created wills, the Peace of the Church as
contrasted with the strife of human societies. The
first implies an external contrast, the second de
scribes an internal state.
In both senses, unity is a mark or note of the
Church, and the two naturally run into one another ;
as, for instance, in the great passage where St. Paul
urges the Ephesians to "keep the unity (that is,
concord) of the Spirit in the bond of peace : " and
then adds the reason, " There is one (and only one)
body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one
hope of your calling ; one Lord, one faith, one bap
tism, one God and Father of all, who is above all,
and through all, and in you all" (Eph. iv. 3—6).
It is important to remember this double sense of
" And in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church." The omis
sion of "Holy" in the English "Nicene Creed" has been sup
posed accidental, but see Church Quarterly Review, viii. 378 foil.,
where it is ascribed to a critical use of the books on Councils open
to the Eeformers.

VIII.] Double Sense of Unity. 281
unity in thinking of the Church, because in the
necessary connection of the two lies one of the radi
cal differences between the Christian and other ideals
of Peace. They approach the subject chiefly from
the secondary sense of unity, namely, concord, and
view it chiefly as the result of a co-operation of
human wills. This is an obvious criticism on the
merely state ideals, whose object is the fruit of
earthly peace. It is true also of the polytheist or
heathen, who regards religion as a national pecu
liarity, securing a certain earthly blessing to its fol
lowers. The Moslem scheme sounds grander from
its proclamation of " one God," and yet it is bound
fast to earth by its requirement of adhesion to Ma
homet as the exponent of divine truth, and by its
use of force to produce belief; while Buddhism is,
as we have seen, more absolutely Pelagian and in
dividual in its aims, more reckless of God and of
a future life than any other religious system. The
Church alone rests not upon man's ordinance or com
pact, but upon the divine unity. In every act and
thought it takes us up to God. Its root is in the
unity of the Blessed Trinity, into whose name every
Christian is baptized, one in singleness of nature far
above all creation, and one in the divine concord of
love, which knows no will and no good outside the
will and the blessedness of the common nature. It
is unique, because there is but one God who has said
to His people, " Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all
the ends of the earth : for I am God, and there is
none else " (Isaiah xiv. 22) ; and again, " I will dwell
in them, and walk in them ; and I will be their God,

282 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
and they shall be My people" (2 Cor. vi. 16, &c).
It is united in love, because " God is love, and he
that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in
him" (1 Johniv. 16). 2
It will be said, indeed, by an objector, that "this
attribute of unity is beautiful and God-like, and just
such as we should expect in the body of Christ, but
it is not possessed as a fact by the Church. Look
at the divisions of Christendom; look at the secu
larly of some Churches, and the intrusion of the
State into others, where Peace is only maintained
by the Civil Power."
To this obvious difficulty the reply has been often
made that visible unity is not to be expected in this
world; that the Church never professes to be com
plete at any given moment of time, but lives as an
heir of eternity ; and that unity is an attribute rather
of the invisible, than of the visible, body. Our atten-
2 There is no doubt some very definite reason why the cube
was chosen as the type of the dwelling of God, both in the Old
Testament and the New. This was the form of the Holy of Holies,
both in the Tabernacle and the Temple, and probably in the tem
ple of Ezekiel (see the commentators on Exod. xxvi. compared
with Josephus, Ant., iii. 6, § 3, 4 ; 1 Kings vi. 20 ; Ezek. xii. 2
and 4, and Fergusson's interesting article, Temple, in Smith's Bible
Dictionary). This, too, was the appearance of the heavenly city,
the new Jerusalem, as described in Rev. xxi. 16. We may sup
pose that it was chosen (1) as a type of external strength, even
ness, solidity, and compactness, somewhat as "four-square with
out a flaw" (rerpayavos avev yjfoyov) was to the Greeks the descrip
tion of a perfect man (see the poem of Simonides in Plato's Pro
tagoras, p. 339, alluded to by Aristotle, Eth. Me., i. 10, 11 ; Rhet.,
iii. II, 2). It is also (2) the simplest solid of three dimensions,
length, breadth, and height ; a type, therefore, of internal unity
and co-equality. Cp. Eph. iii. 18.

VIII.] Difficulty of present Disunion. 283
tion is called off from earth to the unseen Communion
of the Saints of all lands and all ages, whom God is
gathering into his treasure-house of Paradise, and
will one day exhibit in its perfect sum, when Christ
returns to gather His own around Him, and to judge
the world. But, easy as this explanation is, and com
forting as the doctrine of the Communion of Saints,
and of Christ's second coming must especially be in
times of disunion, it is hardly satisfactory and com
plete. It is true, but not the whole truth. Eather
we should reply to an objector, 1. that the visible
Church for many centuries shewed a power of union
which was a new thing in the world, and that this
union lies at the basis of all Church-life ; 2. that
even in the present there is a deeper union of belief
among Christians of all persuasions, than the appear
ance of discord produced by the different government
of sects and churches would lead outsiders to believe ;
3. that in the future the prospects of union are real
and rational, however obscured at the present mo
ment. Our Lord, indeed, prophesied that tares would
be sown amid the wheat of His sacred field, and that
both would grow together till the harvest. We can
not therefore expect a perfectly united Church, but
we may expect and labour for a much greater mea
sure of concord than we see at present.
1. The union of the early Christian Church is
a fact which is specially remarkable when we con
sider the discordant social and religious elements
out of which it was compacted. The chasms between
Jew and Gentile, between freeman and slave, were
greater than any with which most of us are fami-

284 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
liar. Yet in the first half of the second century of
our era, within about a hundred years of the As
cension, the Catholic Church was established all
round the Mediterranean sea, under the same form
of episcopal government, and with a doctrine sub
stantially the same as that now held among ourselves.
The theory of the Tubingen school, of the long con
tinuance of the strife between a so-called Petrine or
Ebionite, and a Pauline or Gentile Christianity, will
not bear serious examination, though it has served
a useful purpose in drawing minute attention to the
early records of Church History3. This detailed
investigation has brought out most clearly the sub
stantial unity of the early Church, and the readiness
with which Catholic doctrine was accepted. He who
is " our peace," made both Jew and Gentile one,
broke down the middle wall of partition, and slew
the enmity which divided them, even in the life
time of the first Apostles (Eph. ii. 14 foil.). This is
a topic upon which we cannot now enlarge ; but what
has once been under such difficult circumstances can
be again. All sects and churches look to the early
period of Church History as common ground. The
more closely they study it, the greater will be their
agreement : the more clearly they will see that visi
ble unity, without absolute uniformity, is a natural
and possible attribute of the Church.
2. Even at this moment the union of belief
3 The English reader, who may possibly be unfamiliar with this
theory, will find it explained and satisfactorily refuted in [Bp.]
J. B. Lightfoot's St. Paul and the Three, an Essay attached to his
Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians.

VIII.] Unity on points of Faith. 285
among Christians is very deep, far deeper than that
of the superficial creeds which bind other men to
gether. No sect has clearly established its right to
the name of Christian which does not accept the most
profound doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the
Atonement, the Eesurrection, Ascension, and Second
Coming of Christ, the Inspiration and Authority of
Holy Scripture, and the indwelling in some form or
other of the Holy Spirit in the Church. As a sign
of this faith the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy
Communion are acknowledged as a bond of union by
all except the Society of Friends, who are daily be
coming a less important exception, while they still
maintain a hold on central truths, and have done not
a little for the cause of Christian peace and holiness.
The Socinians and Unitarians, who cling to the skirts
of Christianity, shew evident traces of their inability
to hold their ground between supernatural religion
and Deism, shifting readily from one into the other.
It is true that there is much individual doubt and
even heresy, probably, in all Christian communions,
but there is no powerful Church which is here
tical on the fundamental doctrines of the faith.
The great schisms are largely due to differences on
points of doctrine such as the Filioque, which touch
regions of theology of extreme difficulty, and do not
bear very obviously on practical conduct; or they
have turned in a great measure upon questions
of Church government and discipline. And where
more practical differences of doctrine have been the
main cause, reunion has been seriously hindered by
the intrusion of the secular spirit on the one side,

286 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
and the resentment against it on the other. But
even these deplorable and humiliating divisions bear
witness to the intense reality of belief in the Chris
tian body ; its desire for the primary, if not the se
condary kind of unity ; its wish to hold fast even in
minor points to the Faith once for all delivered to
the Saints. Nor can it be denied that the schismatic
temper, ungrateful and captious though it is, has
often acted as a critical check upon heresy. No
Church feels itself absolutely free to follow its own
developments. It has to meet opposition and censure,
and to defend itself in the open court of Christian
controversy. It has to fall back upon the common
ground of Scripture, and even in the midst of its
aberrations it must confess that there is a general
unity above that of its own portion of the field. It
is hardly possible for professing Christians to fall be
hind and below the level of those great doctrines
which we have mentioned. The Church can never
wake up, as it did after the Council of Eimini (a.d.
359), and find itself groaning under the shame of an
Arian creed. There is, indeed, a real danger of novel
falsities in another direction. But even if one por
tion of the Church invents new dogmas, it cannot
claim the consent of the Christian world without
a glaring and obvious untruthfulness, which in the
end must tell upon its own members. We may
hope that a sense of this unreality may, in some day
of grace, be a reason for the withdrawal and recon
sideration of the doctrines in question.
The operation of this check is visible already to
some extent It will, no doubt, be felt more de-

VIII.] Prospects of future Unity. 287
cidedly in the future, when superstition passes away
before a wider diffusion of intelligence and civil
liberty, and when what are now comparatively small
bodies (like some of those which make up the An
glican communion) have attained their full growth
and power.
3. This thought leads us on to a forecast of the
future. Here, as we have said, we have real and
rational, though not brilliant, prospects of closer
unity. The main causes of schism are two, and
those intimately connected: — 1. The intrusion of the
secular spirit into the Church ; and 2. its correlative
opposite, the Pelagian or individual tendency, which
dislikes the whole principle of human mediation.
The Church of Eome has been the great offender
under the first head, by turning her own spiritual
power into a secular one: while the Eastern and
Anglican Churches, with the Lutherans of the Con
tinent, have been more in danger of treating secular
and royal power as if it were spiritual. The Pro
testant sects, on the other hand, have resented this
intrusion of secularity, in whatever form, by their
tendency to the contrary error of denying the spi
rituality of the body, and localizing it in the indi
vidual. But the cloud of misconception which has
made such different errors so common seems slowly
lifting with altered circumstances.
In the first place secular rule, which has been so
closely associated with the Church since the time
of Cpnstantine, has all but entirely departed from it.
The temporal power of the papacy, which was the
most distinct embodiment of this union, passed away

288 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
about eleven years ago as quietly and quickly as
a dream 4 ; but the abortion of the scattered rem
nants of spiritual jurisdiction in temporal affairs had
been long in process throughout the world. "With
the Vatican Council, the last effort of Papal aggran
disement, and the entrance of the Italian troops into
Eome, which followed it so closely, an entirely new
period of Church History has begun 5. In that Coun
cil the Court of Eome decreed her own destruction,
by shewing the natural outcome of her tendency to
spiritual pride in an act of flagrant self-assertion.
Eome has done a grand work in the past as a centre
of social power, keeping mankind together, and giv
ing them a lift above the divisions of nationality 6.
For this work, we may presume, God has spared
her for three centuries after the Council of Trent,
when danger was so thick about her. He may spare
her yet again. But as surely as Nebuchadnezzar
pronounced his own degradation when he said, " Is
* The dogma of Infallibility was proclaimed at Eome, July 18,
1870, the same day that the declaration of war on the part of
France was made known at Berlin. This opened Eome to the
Italians by the withdrawal of French support; the troops en
tered the Porta Pia in September, and in October the city was
annexed to the Italian kingdom. If the war was the result of
Jesuitical or other Eoman influence on French politics (as Bis
marck asserted in 1874), the connection of the two events is even
more striking. See his speech in the Prussian chamber, quoted
in the New Reformation, p. 91.
6 "Future historians," says Quirinus, " will begin a new period
of Church history with July 18, 1870, as with October 31, 1517 :"
1. c, p. 90.
6 Cp. the striking passage of Guizot, Lecture xii. p. 230, quoted
by Dean Church, Influences of Christianity on National Character,
p. 105 ; and Abp. Trench, Mediaeval Church History, p. 154.

VIII.] The Churches of Rome and England. 289
not this great Babylon which I have built?" as
surely as Herod Agrippa incurred the doom of those
who suffer idolatrous adulation of themselves, so
surely did the Pope's proclamation of his own In
fallibility condemn him to the fate of those who
ignore their own human frailty when exalted to the
highest position as ministers of God. It may be
long ere the full effect of this capital error is visible ;
but of this we are certain, that the sword of perse
cution, whoever henceforth may wield it, has for
ever passed away from the grasp of the Eoman
Pontiff. This revolution which has taken place with regard
to the Church of Rome extends more or less to all
other Churches having a connection with secular
power. "We cannot tell exactly how far the change
will go, but it is morally certain that toleration for
all opinions not absolutely anti-social must be granted,
sooner or later, in every civilized country. How far
a national profession of religion will be given up as
a result of this toleration, is a problem likely to be
decided differently by different nations, according
to their greater or less common-sense. Where it
still happily continues, it will probably be rather
in the form of a distinctly realized compact between
two separate powers, than the confusion of offices
which at present to some extent exists. The Eoyal
Supremacy, for instance, would be less dangerous to
the peace of mind both of Churchmen and Dissenters,
if it could be realized as the fatherly authority of
the highest lay dignitary of the Church, a nursing
fatherhood like that of Hezekiah or Josiah, not the
TJ

290 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
prerogative of the Sovereign as a representative of
merely secular power, who, like Nero, "bears the
sword" to enforce civil obedience upon all his sub
jects. Such a power as the last must indeed exist
and control the Church, as far as it possesses tem
poralities ; not, however, as a result of the Eoyal
Supremacy, but as a necessary part of all sovereignty,
belonging to the office of a ruler, whatever his re
ligion. But the Eoyal Supremacy belongs only to
the Sovereign as a Christian, as the member of a
spiritual, not a secular body; and if exercised as
such, — for example, by providing that spiritual
causes should only be tried by Christian judges,
fully and freely approved by the Church and fami
liar with her laws, — the strongest objections which
are made to it would vanish.
However this may be, it is clear that in any case
one great barrier to union will be removed by the
loss of any power of persecution on the part of the
Church. The transference of power to her enemies,
and to the enemies also of all dogmatic belief, which
has in some cases taken place, ought also to strengthen
internal union. It is clear that the great conflict of
the immediate future will be one on the most funda
mental doctrines of religion and morals, on the ex
istence of God, on the truth of a future life of re
wards and punishments, and on the supremacy of
an external law of conduct. A feeling of agreement
on these points, joined to a clearer consciousness of
the reason of this agreement, ought to drive all
Christians closer together in the face of a common
enemy. The value of unity, and of the blessings

VIII.] Duly of English Churchmen. 291
which we receive through the Church, must needs
grow plainer in the midst of this conflict. Men will
learn that without revelation they could not even
be certain of these primary truths, and that without
the grace which comes through the body of Christ,
the highest discipline of society cannot be long main
tained7. They will cease to cling to their mere in
dividualism, and will no longer think it strange that
God should have ordained a continuous ministry from
above, when they perceive its value as a guarantee
of purity of doctrine and independence of moral
teaching. When the great obstacle of individualism
is removed, it is probable that an independent body
like the Anglican Church will grow enormously in
strength, and will be able to influence the future
of Christendom as a mediating power in a way as
yet scarcely conceived.
Such an expectation does not want striking ana
logies in its favour. When we think how widely
the English Constitution has served as a political
model for other countries ; when we remember how
the material inventions of our engineers have as
sisted the friendly intercourse of all nations, and
the commerce of wealth and knowledge by land and
' Eenan, for instance, admits the danger — though too much in
the spirit of Polybius and Varro — in the following striking words: —
"Jouissons de la liberie des fils de Dieu; mais prenons garde d'etre
complices de la diminution de vertu qui menaQerait nos societes,
si le christianisme venait a s'affaiblir. Que serions nous sans lui ?
Qui remplacera ces grandes ecoles de serieux et de respect telles
que Saint - Sulpice, ce ministere de devouement des Filles de la
Charite? Comment n'etre pas effraye de la secheresse de cceur
et de la petitesse qui envahissent le monde ? " — Les Apotres,
p. lxiii. ed. 1, 1866. TJ2

292 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
sea, — why should we fear to imagine that our Church
may have a like influence on Christian unity ? It
is, and must remain in some details, the Church of
a single nation, but it may nevertheless be a source
of light and hope to other nations ; a shining proof
that order and liberty, faith and reason, can be united
in a bond of Christian love.
In the meantime it is ours to cultivate a spirit of
unity, to recognize God's work wherever it appears,
to look upon those that are separated from us with
eyes of affection, to admit that they sometimes have
gifts and energies that we have not, and that they
realize fragments of truth of which we have lost
sight. The time has not yet come for a fusion, except
in some small degree. We have a precious deposit
of primitive truth which we have no right to sur
render, a heritage of catholicity and order which
we , must not part with for an artificially-compacted
unity. But in God's good time will come the draw
ing together of all who really labour for peace.
(2.) The attribute of Holiness, like that of Unity,
does not take its rise from human nature, but from
divine grace. The moral beauty of Christian life is
not a development of our ordinary powers, such as
the Utopian and the Socialist dream of, whereby all
goodness shall be brought out by culture and civili
zation, as graceful varieties and delicate blossoms are
raised by careful gardening from a eoarse and com
mon flower. Mere human goodness of this kind is
little to be relied upon. It makes a fair outside,
but it is liable to sudden collapse, and to be de
stroyed by a violent burst of wildness and intemper-

VIII.] The Life of Christ in Christians. 293
ance from within. At its best, this orderly, social
sort of goodness is closely akin to selfishness, to a
love of comfort, to a wrong view of pain and suffer
ing, and is ignorant or intolerant of the fact of sin.
Hence those who make morality spring from below,
not from above, generally avoid the term holiness
altogether, or travesty and misapply it as the Posi-
tivists do in speaking of the " holy city of Paris."
Nor is the holiness of the Church, on the other
hand, a result of law and discipline, imposed from
the outside by a legislator. Discipline is indeed
a necessary part of Church -life, but the object of
the kingdom of God is not outward but inward ful
filment of the Law, by assimilation of a Divine life.
Holiness to the Christian means union with Christ,
justification by faith in Him, forgiveness of sins, fol
lowed by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
The Church does not look upon Christ so much as
a Lawgiver or Founder of a religion, but rather as
being the religion in His own person. The Church
is not only His kingdom, but His body, in which His
heart beats and His divine life circulates. To be
holy is to partake of this life, in which there is an
absolute coincidence of free-will and obedience, an
acceptance of sacrifice as the natural work of a hu
man being.
For just as in the Unity of the divine nature there
is no before and after, no priority of will to goodness,
or of goodness to will, but a perfect eternal coinci
dence of the two, so it is also in the life of Christ.
In it there is no strife of motives ; but He obeys, and
yet at the same moment acts with perfect freedom.

294 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
Thus He tells us, "My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent Me, and to finish His work " (John
iv. 34), that is to say, it is a perfect satisfaction of
His own desires; and of His atoning sacrifice, of
laying down His life, He says: "No man taketh it
from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power
to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of My Father "
(John x. 18).
The Church, then, is a society of the redeemed, of
those who look to Christ for forgiveness of sin, and
who strive to become like unto Christ, and to be one
with Him. "Being justified by faith we have peace
with God." This is the ideal of holiness, which is
very far from being attained by the majority of
Christians. But the reality is reached by some, the
glory of it rests in their better moments on a much
larger number, and the germ is present, we believe,
in all. The hidden life, in the stir and bustle of the
world, cannot, perhaps, be displayed very frequently ;
but it is attractive even when it is covert, and often
when we mourn in the chamber of a dying friend
do we first learn that the secret of his winning,
magnetic power was a constant remembrance of the
presence of God, a robe of holiness worn beneath
the outer garb. Often, too, as death draws near,
do Christian men and women really seem to touch
upon that perfection for which their lives have been
but a preparation, losing all their former reluctance
to mould their wills entirely by God's will. How
many have expired with "Thy will be done" on their
lips and in their hearts ! How many martyrs have

VIII.] Christians sanctified by Death. 295
received their sentence of death, like St. Cyprian, with
a simple " Deo gratias," more eloquent than the most
fervent exhortation which they may have longed to
utter 8 ! How many, like Monica, the mother of St.
Augustine, have died in a foreign land, giving up
the cherished thought of burial among their dearest
kindred, and saying, "Nothing is far from God9!"
How many have left their fondest plans unfinished,
resigning them contentedly into the hands of Him
who gave the power to begin them — "Qui ccepit
opus iste perficiet10!" How many strong and am
bitious men have gently met the hard fate that came
suddenly to cut short a grand career ! We may per
haps recollect Lord Strafford's speech upon the scaf
fold : " I come here to submit to the judgment that
is passed against me : I do it with a very quiet and
contented mind : I do freely forgive all the world ;
a forgiveness, not from the teeth outward, but from
my heart. I speak it in the presence of Almighty
God, before whom I stand, that there is not a dis-
8 Ccecilii Cypriani Acta Proconsularia, cap. 4. The proconsul
read the sentence, " Thascium Cyprianum gladio animadverti pla
cet." Cyprianus episcopus dixit : " Deo gratias." He had hoped,
it seems, to be inspired to prophecy, writing in his last letter
(Ep. 81), "quodcumque enim sub ipso confessionis momento con
fessor episcopus loquitur, aspirante Deo, ore omnium loquitur;"
but no such gift of prophecy was vouchsafed to him. Cp. Bp.
E. W. Benson's article, Cyprianus, in Smith and Wace's Diet, of
Chr. Biograyhy, vol. i. p. 754.
9 St. Augustine, Confessions, ix. 11.
10 " Confidens hoc ipsum, quia qui ccepit in vobis opus bonum,
perficiet usque in diem Christi Jesu." Philip, i. 6, Vulg. The
words in the text were used by S. Francis de Sales on his death
bed. See his Life, by Mrs. Lear, p. 264.

296 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
pleasing thought that ariseth in me against any
man11." This was surely a triumph of Christian
holiness ; and hardly less striking are the words of
Joseph Scaliger, whom perhaps we think of merely
as a scholar of enormous learning and overbearing
temper: "I begin to feel and perceive the joys of
eternal life. I shall soon behold Him who was sa
crificed for men; I long for the blessed sight. All
else to me is dross: there is nothing that could
make me wish to live one hour longer 12."
These are visible proofs of the peace of God ruling
in single hearts. Nor are they wanting in larger
bodies of men. The precepts to " honour all men "
(1 Pet. ii. 17), to see in every human being, how
ever weak, a " brother for whom Christ died" (1 Cor.
viii. 11), an immortal soul capable of serving God
in heavenly glory, have slowly made themselves felt
in general politics as well as in private life. There
is something like a gradual sanctification of nations,
however incomplete it appears when measured by an
ideal standard. Christianity gave to the Greek races,
for instance,— as the many centuries of Byzantine his
tory go to prove, — a seriousness and earnestness of
character, a sense of equality and brotherhood, a
permanence of resolute hope, which philosophy had
quite failed to impart to them. It has stirred the
powerful, sluggish souls of the Latin races, and given
11 Quoted more at length by Dr. Mozley, Lord Strafford in
British Critic, vol. xxxiii. p. 534, 1843 = Essays, vol. ii. p. 101,
1878. 12 See Dr. W. Kay, Promises of Christianity, in the Calcutta Mis
sionary, vol. iv. p. 261 ; since reprinted (Parkers, 1855), and con
taining much material bearing on the subject of this lecture.

VIII.] Christian Legislation. Slavery. 297
them a new capacity of the affections, of feeling,
loving and imagining. It has developed in the
Teutons of the north that respect for truthfulness,
manliness, and hard work, that reverence for law and
liberty, that delight in the pure and tender charities
of home, of which the germs were discerned by
Tacitus13. Such — as has been well remarked — are
its prominent moral effects upon the three greatest
of western peoples, and a similar influence may be
observed in all others. It is true that much remains
still undone, that there are survivals of brutal and
ferocious instincts in all Christian nations, and that
some of the greatest crimes, and the most fatal blun
ders, have followed a misuse of what were taken to
be Christian principles. Yet we can most surely
trace in history not only a direct carrying out of
Gospel precepts in legislation, but also an ever ger-
minant sense of right, lying dormant perhaps for
centuries, but ready to spring up, to suggest im
provement, and to correct mistake and crime, so that
no Christian nation is without hope from within.
If we look to direct effects, it is certain that the
legislation of the Eoman empire after Constantine
bears witness to a sense of the honour of humanity
and of the holiness of human life, very different from
that which was before perceptible. We observe at
once the prohibition of infanticide, a better treat
ment of prisoners, an abolition of certain atrocities
13 I have here summed up the thesis of Dean Church's three
Lectures, On some Influences of Christianity upon National Cha
racter, (Lond., 1873,) to which the reader is referred for many
beautiful illustrations.

298 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
of punishment, an attempt to stop the gladiatorial
spectacles, the suppression or alleviation of the most
degrading kinds of slavery and the facilitation of en
franchisement, the weakening of the despotic power
of the father of a family, the elevation of the law of
marriage, the check put upon divorce and the like u.
Slavery was not, indeed, prohibited directly by
any precept of the Gospel. It was a greater triumph,
a wiser and nobler policy, to effect this momentous
revolution in peace, to draw out the good side of the
relation, and make the master gentle and the slave
hopeful and courageous, than to proclaim a servile
war. But the abolition of slavery has been the ne
cessary, though gradual, result of any real assimila
tion of Christian principles 15.
It is true that a new kind of servitude is an in
vention of Christian Europe, of English and Spanish
adventurers; and that negro slavery in the West
Indies was even promoted, by Las Casas and others,
on distinct grounds of a mistaken Christian philan
thropy. But the conscience of Christendom, though
it seemed to sleep, at last awoke, and the general
14 I have put together some details of this legislation in my
article on Constantine, in Smith and Wace's Diet, of Chr. Bio
graphy, vol. i. pp. 635 — 637.
16 On the relation of Christianity to slavery the reader should
specially consult H. Wallon, Histoire de I'esclavage dans I'Antiquite,
torn. iii. chaps, i. and viii. — x., New. Ed. (Paris, 1879.) Cp. also
Prof. Goldwin Smith's powerful pamphlet, Does the Bible Sanction
American Slavery? (Oxford, 1863.) The Ellerton Essay for 1869,
Slavery as affected by Christianity, by E. S. Talbot (now Warden of
Keble College), contains a judicious summary of the whole subject
of ancient and modern slavery. It is, unfortunately, only pri
vately printed.

VIII.] Self-corrective power of Christianity. 299
abolition of slavery and the repression of the slave-
trade is the work mainly of this century. The ger-
minant self-corrective .power of our religion asserted
itself, and the terrible reproach has been rolled away.
The great crime and the great blunder has been re
pented of, and the sacrifice, we trust, accepted.
It would be easy to point to other cases of Chris
tian principle gradually asserting itself to sanctify
society. We see it, for instance, in the different
treatment of the lower races, where Christian per
ceptions are strong, and where they are weak. Ex
termination, depression and contempt on the one
side, preservation, sympathy and elevation on the
other, mark the two opposite modes of treatment.
Professing Christians have, alas ! often been guilty
of the one, but scarcely any but Christians have
attained to the other 16.
Much yet remains to be done to roll away other
reproaches, as, for instance, with regard to national
16 On this subject see Sir Bartle Frere's Lecture, referred to
above, pp. 311 — 316.
The fair treatment of the Ainos by the Japanese government, is
described by Miss Bird, Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, vol. ii. ; but
they are left, nevertheless, in a state of hopeless ignorance.
The evil influence of Europeans on the native races, is well
described by Gerland, Das Aussterben der Naturvolker, which should
be read by all missionaries. He lays e.g. great stress on the de
pressing, melancholy effect of an overbearing civilization suddenly
transplanted into the midst of an uncultured race. It is now
fairly understood that a very gradual alteration in the mode of
social life is necessary, if religion is to take a firm hold of a people.
We hear from all quarters— India, Japan, New Zealand, Melanesia,
Zanzibar, &c.,— of the difficulty of this problem. The history of
the conversion of Saxon England is one of the most hopeful ex-
amples of what may be done to meet it.

300 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
intemperance, the opium traffic ", and the protection
of women 18. Great blunders are made still, and great
crimes committed and palliated for a time. But the
conscience is not absolutely dormant. Self-interest
and selfishness will be driven to take refuge in corner
after corner, and in the end holiness and justice will
prevail. Or at least, if they do not, history teaches
in the largest letters, that punishment and destruc
tion must fall on the guilty nation. Christ came to
bring peace, but He also came to bring a sword.
Holiness He will have ; and the sacrifice, if not salted
with salt, will be salted at least with fire.
(3.) Catholicity is the third of those great attributes
of the Church, which reflect the image, and testify to
the indwelling, of the Divine Nature. As the Church
17 For an eloquent and well-grounded statement of the national
guilt of this traffic, the reader may be referred to an article on
The Opium Trade with China in the Church Quarterly Review for
Oct., 1876, vol. iii. pp. 1 — 33 [an expansion of a paper read before
the Oxford Missionary Association of Graduates by Mr. H. S. Hol
land], and, for suggestions as to what may be done to clear our
selves from it, to Sir Bartle Frere's paper read at the Newcastle
Church Congress, Oct. 5, 1881, and a letter of Dr. Kay's in the
London Guardian, Oct. 26, 1881. Sir B. Frere advises, as a first
step, giving up the Calcutta monopoly, and assimilating the prac
tice in Eastern India to that in Bombay and elsewhere. Dr. Kay,
Dr. Legge, and Cardinal Manning advocate the retention of the
monopoly, and a gradual reduction of opium cultivation on our
side, under treaty with China permitting her to prohibit the im
port entirely within a given number of years.
18 For a summary of what has been done by legislation for the
protection of women, and for suggestions of further measures, see
the " (confidential) statements prepared for the Committee of the
Lower House of the Convocation of Canterbury " by Admiral A.
P. Eyder, forming Appendices A. and B. to the Chronicle of Con
vocation, session May 17, &c, 1881, published by Eivingtoms.

VIII.] Catholicity. St. Cyril. 301
is one, because the Blessed Trinity is one, in single
ness and concord, and as it is Holy by the assimila
tion of the Divine Life, so it is Catholic because God
is omnipotent, omnipresent, and eternal, and because
Christ has been exalted in His human nature to the
right hand of God, and has thence sent forth the Holy
Spirit into all our hearts. Catholicity is the working
of that mighty uplifting power, that transcendant
energy which raised our Lord from the dead, after
that He had descended into the lower parts of the
earth, and exalted Him far above all heavens, that
He might fill all things from highest to lowest. It
is the power of the Eesurrection, that power of God,
which " hath put all things under His feet, and gave
Him to be head over all things to the Church, which
is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in
all" (Eph. i. 22, 23; iv. 9, 10, &c).
" The Church is called Catholic," says St. Cyril of Jeru
salem (in his Catechetical, Lectures, xviii. 23), "because it ex
tends through all the world, from one end of the earth unto
the other ; and because it teaches catholically, and without
defect, all doctrines which ought to come to the knowledge
of all men, both about things visible and invisible, in heaven
and on earth ; and because it subjects every race of men to
true religion, both rulers and ruled, learned and unlearned ;
and because it universally treats and heals every species of
sins that are committed by soul and body ; and because it
has in possession every kind of virtue that is named in deeds
and words, and every sort of spiritual gifts."
To the notion of extent with which St. Cyril begins
this summary, we should, I suppose, add universality
of time, and so enlarge the idea of place as to
include the invisible world; and then his fivefold

302 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
description will be no imperfect picture of the ideal
comprehensiveness of the Church. It embraces the
whole world, visible and invisible, past, present, and
future, the dead, as well as the living ; it teaches and
harmonises all truth ; it disciplines all mankind, with
out distinction of race or class ; it heals all sin ; it
consecrates every virtue and faculty of the soul.
Merely to aim at this ideal is a Divine work; so
broad in its scope and measure, that the name Ca
tholic has often been chosen as the most distinctive
epithet of the Church, as the one emphatic term
which most fills the imagination, and stimulates
the moral life.
Actual fulfilment falls no doubt very short of the
ideal. Life, as we see it, is fragmentary, inchoate,
and confused. God (as we are learning from all
sides) does no work suddenly, but patiently, and,
as we are apt to say, naturally. The simplest civi
lization is a work of long time, how long we can
perhaps only guess. Much more does the work of
the Church, a higher, holier, harder, less intelligible
work, require many generations for its full issue.
What the Church has done is only a foretaste, a pro
phecy of what it is to do. But think of what it has
done, what it is clearly called to do in the great
provinces of action, thought, and feeling, which em
brace, in some sense, the whole of human life.
1. In the first place, the Church is the chief, though
not the only, organ by which the human race has felt
its common nature, and has been roused to common
action. The Church has proclaimed the Fatherhood
of God, of which men knew somewhat by nature,

VIII.] Influence on Common Action. 303
with a fresh emphasis, and in a new sense. It has
taught men of different castes and orders that they
were all members of one family. It has penetrated
into all the relations of life, and vivified them by
a sense that they depend upon kinship through the
eternal Father. It has specially given new strength
to family ties, abolishing polygamy, and making each
home a centre of purity. It has enforced the dig
nity and the absolute duty of labour, according to
St. Paul's maxim, that " if any would not work,
neither should he eat " (2 Thess. iii. 10 ; cp. 1 Thess.
iv. 11). It has set its seal, not only on the more
conspicuous and brilliant virtues, but on the social
qualities of courtesy, cheerfulness, and contentment.
It has led men to take an interest in society, and
in the business of government, since we are " all
members one of another." By its Councils, it de
monstrated to the world the value of the system of
representation; by its internal discipline, it has led
the way to a more rational legislation; by its hos-
pitals, its leper-houses, its penitentiaries, by its so
cieties for the redemption of captives 19, by its homes
and refuges for the distressed, the Church has pro
claimed the worth of weak or degraded human lives,
and that in centuries when it was not a little corrupt
and darkened; by its schools and colleges it saved
the culture of the old world from the destructive
flood of barbarism ; it has, for the most part, stood
in the forefront of learning, and has never been con
tent to fall entirely into the background; by its
19 On such Societies during the Middle Ages, cp. Abp. Trench,
Mediaeval Church History, pp. 411 — 413.

304 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
missions, destined to make disciples of every people,
it has broken down the barriers of nationality, bind
ing all its members by subjection to one Lord, and
by rules of conduct far higher than the laws or cus
toms of earthly kingdoms.
That the organization thus created has been in
many respects weak, and in many quarters maimed
and broken, that the action has not always been an
unmixed good, we know only too well. Sometimes
the working of the deepest and most sacred emotion
upon large bodies of men has been disfigured, as in
the Crusades, by much that is selfish, and has ended
in apparent failure. But the Crusades (which we
may take as an example of these mixed effects of
Christianity) were, nevertheless, a great common
religious enterprise, full of happy consequence. To
them is due a consciousness of unity among the
nations of the West, like that which the tribes of
Greece are said to have gained by combining in
the Trojan war, a consciousness which all subse
quent wars and jealousies have not destroyed 20. It
was surely a great, we may even say, an incalculable,
gain, that Moslem arms, then threatening Western
civilization, were driven back for two centuries from
the walls of Constantinople. It would also be mere
affectation and insensibility to what is noble to de
spise the religious consecration then given to the
profession of arms, and the virtues of chivalry, which
have done so much to make modern warfare better
than it was of old. In spite of all mistakes, there
*° Thucydides, i. 3. Cp. Abp. Trench, Medieval Church History,
pp. 142— 144.

VIII.] The Church and Philosophy. 305
has been a healthy motion and a stir in all quarters
of the Christian world, restlessly seeking for peace,
the only temper that can give hope for the future.
2. In the world of thought, again, the Church has
had an equally important mission, giving a wholly
new coherence to knowledge and history by its doc
trine of the Word made Flesh, the Divine Logos, who
is manifested in the whole order of the Universe, and
by whom we are invested with a glorious freedom, so
that all things are ours in Him. We have not, in
deed, by any means experienced the full light that
issues from this doctrine. We can point, no doubt,
with gratitude to the works of the early fathers,
especially to the broad and generous grasp of this
doctrine by the Church of Alexandria, and to the
immense systematic labours of the mediaeval school
men, as evidences of what has been done to found
a universal Christian philosophy. But it is also true
that, since the rise of the modern spirit in philo
sophy and the prominence given to the inductive
method of investigation, the doctrine of the Logos
has been too much thrown into the background, and
the cold shadow of Deism has spread over great part
of the intellect of Europe 21.
This seems at first sight most disheartening — a
21 Bacon himself was not a Deist, but rather a man to whom the
Biblical revelation was very real, and Mr. Wace goes so far as to
state his opinion, "that the doctrine of the Logos is at the very
root of Baconian thought." Nevertheless he was clearly and per
haps necessarily anxious to separate the provinces of religion and
science, and it is worthy of remark, that his friend and secretary,
Thomas Hobbes, was the father of Deism in England. The ten
dency of English natural philosophers to Arianism, when not dis
tinctly to Deism, is also very marked. X

306 The Peace of the Church. [Lid
withdrawal of Christ from the world of thought.
Yet, even in this obscuration, faith must recognize
the Divine agency of the Logos, preparing the way
for a fuller and riper system. The scholastic phi
losophy, confusing the heterogeneous mass of medi
aeval doctrines with entire Catholic truth, and ham
pered with an excessive reverence for antiquity,
had become a tyranny, a burden upon thought.
Men were taught, a priori, how things ought to
be, and must- be ; primary Christian truths, and
secondary and one-sided developments were thrust
upon students, with an equal assurance of certainty ;
notwithstanding some brilliant exceptions, the study
of nature was neglected ; and it was necessary to
overthrow, or at least to veil, the dominant system,
that men might see with their own eyes how things
really were.
If sunlight for a time seemed withdrawn from the
field of science, if men have since confined themselves
too much to special studies, yet their merit is to
have really worked, really to have interrogated na
ture, and to have laboured calmly and without fear
or distraction 22. The history of their work is also full
of instruction and encouragement. Since the fall of
the scholastic philosophy, to which Bacon so much
contributed, the generalisations, commonly called the
Laws of Nature, have been slowly and gradually
built up. At first they struggled hard for tolera-
22 On the absolute duty of work upon what is close about us,
as set forth by Bacon, with reference to the commands to Adam in
the early chapters of Genesis, see the excellent remarks of Mr.
Wace, Note 7a, pp. 268—275, of his Bampton Lectures.

VIII.] Deism, Pantheism, Positivism. 307
tion; then they won a difficult but complete vic
tory ; and again, when accepted, seemed likely to
exercise as harsh and as stiff a tyranny as the
a priori systems which they supplanted. But a
corrective has gradually been supplied in the his
torical and comparative methods, — the observation
of succession and analogy, — which have, in recent
times, so largely supplemented the purely inductive
method. The idea of Law, conceived as a formula capable
of enunciation once for all in set terms, and having
an eternal, changeless validity, has gradually given
way before that of Process in almost all departments
of scientific observation. The most solid facts are
found to undergo a change ; the realm of life, or of
growth analogous to life, is seen expanding marvel
lously before our eyes, till every thing appears to
be involved in it. Many minds have in consequence
swung back from Deism to Pantheism, and Evolution
has, to some men, taken the place of God. But Deism
and Pantheism are both so irrational, so utterly in
adequate to explain the simplest facts of our moral
and spiritual life, that neither of them can long hold
mankind together. Positivism, which has made a
systematic and memorable attempt to fill the gap,
itself bears witness to the craving of human nature
for some stronger bond than such systems can sup
ply; while its appreciation of the necessity of reli
gion, gives it an importance not possessed by mere
Agnosticism. Yet it is impossible to look at an encyclopaedic
attempt to grasp all knowledge and all history, such
x 2

308 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
as that made by the founder of Positivism, without
a deep, oppressive sadness. That all this effort, so
powerful and so penetrating in many of its parts,
however grotesque and open to criticism in some
of its details, should end in so puerile a result as the
deification of humanity, seems to strike one with
despair, as to the benefits to be expected from thought
and knowledge apart from faith.
Can men heap fact upon fact, and connect science
with science in a splendid hierarchy, and find no
better end than this ? Is such a review to come
to this, that we must worship either actual humanity,
with all its meanness and wickedness, or ideal hu
manity, which does not yet exist, and if this world
is all in all may never come into being ? Are we to
worship either vice and ' wickedness, side by side
with goodness, or a mere hope of something which
on the Positivist hypothesis must always remain
weak and ignorant ?
For ideal humanity, however moral and enlight
ened, if unaided by God, as the Positivist holds,
is still earth-bound and sense-bound. It clearly can
never understand the simplest of the laws or pro
cesses of nature on this earth; much less can it
understand the nature of the Universe, which is
nightly displayed to our contemplation, when earth
is shadowed in darkness, as if to draw our eyes
by force from fixing ourselves on what we have too
close about us. Science, while it opens many things
to us, discloses also, pari passu, the narrow limits
of our powers of knowledge. We are told that it is
common sense to recognize that much is beyond us.

VIII.] Positivism needs the Incarnaiion. 309
Perfectly true. But it is not common sense to wor
ship an ignorant and weak humanity, which certainly
made nothing, and has in itself no assurance of con
tinuance in the future, nay, rather, a very clear pro
bability of destruction, if simply left to itself.
What Positivism surely needs to give it hope and
consistency is the doctrine of the Logos, of the
eternal Word and Eeason, the Creator, Orderer, and
Sustainer of all things, who has taken a stainless
human nature that He might make men capable of
all knowledge. This divine humanity of the Logos,
drawing mankind into Himself, is, indeed, worthy
of all worship. In loving Him, we learn really what
it is to "live for others." In looking to Him, we
cease from selfishness and pride. Such a worship of
humanity is not a mere baseless hope, but a reality
appearing in the very midst of history, a reality ap
prehended by Faith indeed, but by a Faith always
proving itself to those, and by those, who hold it
fast in Love 23.
There is room then, ample room, and a loud de
mand for the re-establishment of a Christian philo
sophy, based upon the Incarnation. It must clearly
accept all known facts, but must be very careful
to remember that the hypotheses of science are always
in process of correction. It must not confound truth
with transitional inferences from facts of Nature,
any more than with secondary and one-sided de
velopments of Theology. But even with this cau-
23 On the relations of Positivism to Christianity, the reader
should consult Dr. Westcott's Essays in the Contemporary Review,
vols. vi. and viii. in the numbers for Dec. 1867, and July, 1868.

310 The Peace of the Church. "[Lect.
tion such a philosophy will by no means be a sub
stitute for the Bible and the Creeds. The form it
takes, like that of scholasticism, may pass away. It
may reign for a time, and do good work, and then
be found wanting. But it is clearly demanded of the
Catholic Church that it should now provide such a
step towards the stronger and riper knowledge, which,
in the fulness of time, the Son of God will reveal to
those that love Him ; that, when that time comes,
we may have minds exercised and prepared to re
ceive the glorious message. The form of knowledge
will vanish away ; but the capacity for it, and the
temper suitable to its reception, must be fully edu
cated, if the Church on earth is to be the seed-plot
of the Church in Heaven.
3. We have spoken of the Catholic Church as an
organizer of active life, and as a teacher of philoso
phic truth. But little need be said of its obvious
functions as an educator of feeling. Whether we
consider feeling as an objective sense of beauty,
or as an inward personal emotion, the Church has
confessedly had command of both regions of the
heart. Beauty has been recognized and loved with
a new and unselfish love, as a divine gift, and the
power of art has been venerated as an operation of
the Holy Ghost, who gives a new spirit to the wise-
hearted and cunning craftsman. Some arts have,
indeed, been shunned or practised with less success
in Christendom, partly through fear of their misuse,
partly because they were less capable of giving ex
pression to any deep movement or varied tone of
feeling. Thus the Eastern Church has been left

VIII.] Christian Art and Literature. 311
in a low stage of artistic culture, chiefly, we may
suppose, through a fear of the heathen associations
which clung to many forms of art ; while the stage
has never wholly cleared itself in any country from
the atmosphere of degradation into which ancient
Eome had plunged it. Sculpture, again, has suffered
both from puritanical prejudice and from its apparent
incapacity to express many of the more subtle and
intimate emotions which Christianity has been par
ticularly destined to propagate.
Hence music, painting, and architecture have be
come specially Christian arts, and have flourished
nowhere so thoroughly as when they have been
handmaids of religion. Side by side with these
arts, poetry and imaginative literature have imbibed
a wholly new spirit and a new sense of pathos, dis
tinguished specially by a reverence for weakness as
well as strength, a perception of joy springing out
of sorrow, a hope of resurrection, an acceptance of
the life of Christ as the acme of beauty as well as
the law of conduct. This spirit is visible not only
in the hymns of the Church, which ring in the ears
of the sick and dying, when all other sounds are
stilled; not only in such distinctly Christian poets
as Dante and Milton, — one the greatest, the other
among the greatest minds, of their respective na
tions, — but also in the tone of refinement and of true
human brightness spread over the greater part of
modern literature. It is this which is the secret
of the undying power of writers like Shakespeare
and Scott, who do not make a special show of re
ligion, and of the comparative failure of others of

312 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
scarcely less genius, who are disfigured by hopeless
ness, coarseness, or an affected paganism. The im
portance of the hold which the Church has upon
society through such means as these can scarcely be
over-estimated ; but we cannot be satisfied with what
has been already done. It is a truly noble ambition
to sanctify all arts, to bring all that is beautiful into
the service of Christ, to infuse into all that attracts
the eye or charms the ear or delights the mind the
joy and peace of the Holy Ghost.
The cultivation of interior feeling or sentiment is
equally the work of the Church. All the keys of the
human heart, from the tumultuous passion of repent
ance to the refinement and grace of a placid and un
ruffled life, are given by our Lord to His Body.
But specially the call upon the sinner to save his
soul and join himself to Christ, and to receive the
Holy Ghost into his heart, as into a temple, with
all the intense emotion and searching of spirit that
follows this appeal, is ever sounding throughout the
Church. It is a call to resurrection, necessary not
only at the first conversion of a nation, but as a con
stant regenerating power. If the regular ministry
of the Church fails in its duty to make this appeal,
then an irregular agency springs up to do it, — some
times, as in the Middle Ages, in an order of monks
or preachers, sometimes in a more sectarian body.
Such agencies are indeed very uncertain in their
work, and are exposed to great temptations. The
Benedictines, after several centuries of wonderful
success, lost their missionary ardour, and confined
themselves to their wide domains and cloistered

VIII.] Work of Religious Orders. 313
studies. The Mendicant orders who arose to do their
work, after a period of extraordinary brilliancy, fell
into comparative disrepute. The Dominicans, with
misguided zeal, threw themselves into the terrible
fallacy of the Inquisition, the " compelle intrare,"
towards which even St. Augustine had led the way 24 ;
while the Franciscans, having brought religion back
to the homes of the people25, became all too soon a
proverb for greediness and superstition. The Wal-
denses, on the other hand, were forced against their
will into schism, and into a sort of partnership with
heresy. It was a sense of this failure that very
largely contributed to the Eeformation, a sense that
no Church can be doing its work unless it has its
hold continually upon the hearts of the people.
Since the Eeformation the Jesuits, and other
preaching and teaching orders in the Church of
Eome, — the Moravians in Germany, the sects, and
especially the Wesleyan Methodists in England,
— have attempted to take up the work that fell
from the hands of the monks and friars of earlier
days. It is easy enough to point out the grave faults,
and the one-sidedness of temper of these very dif
ferent attempts. But they are manifestations of
24 St. Augustine at first had opposed the compulsion of the Do-
natists by the civil power, but he afterwards changed his opinion,
as he tells us in his Retractations, ii. 5. He gives his reasons in
two of his Epistles, 93, ad Vincentium, and 185, ad Bonifatium, —
a very disastrous misuse of his great power of argument, the sub
stance of which has been repeated again and again in succeeding
centuries. We must not, however, forget the protests of St. Ber
nard against the persecution both of Jews and Waldenses.
25 See especially the late Mr. J. S. Brewer's preface to the Mo-
numenta Franciscana, in the Master of the Bolls' Series.

314 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
spiritual life which deserve deep attention. Some
instruments of the kind the Church must have if
it is to be truly Catholic ; something answering
to those manifold gifts of the Holy Ghost, the
charismata, the possessors of which in the early
days worked side by side with the regular min
istry of the Church. The warning, "Quench not
the Spirit: despise not prophesyings" (1 Thess. v.
19, 20), is constantly needed. Thank God, we in
the Church of England are becoming daily more
alive to the danger of this neglect.
II.
The Gift of Peace as satisfying the Wants of Man.
We have been speaking hitherto of the more gene
ral and comprehensive attributes of the Church which
reflect the fulness of the Divine nature. We now
turn naturally to the second part of our subject, —
its specific adaptation to human wants. What are
the great instruments by which the Peace of the
Church is secured, the outward forms by which it
fulfils its mission to the world ? They are acknow
ledged all but universally to be three, namely (in
the words of our Ordinal) the Doctrine and Sacra
ments and Discipline of Christ.
It is easy to see the obvious necessity of such a
triple adaptation to our nature. Man wants peace
for his intellect and reason, and finds it in a creed
delivered with authority as revealed Truth. He
wants peace for his heart and affections, and finds
it in union with the divine life' implanted by Bap
tism and renewed by Holy Communion. He wants

VIII.] Symbolism of the Ark and its Contents. 315
peace for his will, and finds it in submission to the
rule and discipline of the Good Shepherd, exercised
by the Apostolic ministry in His name. He wants
these things, not only in idea and invisibly, but
through a visible medium, the counterpart of Christ's
life on earth. He wants them historically and per
manently enshrined in facts, and such as he wants
them God in His condescending mercy has given
them. An evident type and symbol of this threefold gift
was set before the ancient people of God in the con
tents of the ark, or rather, was hidden from their
eyes behind the veil, waiting till Christ should open
the way to their meaning. Like all the symbolism
of the ancient Church of Israel, the ark, with its
contents, has a striking relation both to the forms
of Heathenism about it, and to the Christianity which
was to succeed it. To the first it has a superficial
outward likeness and an inward contrast, while to
the second it stands in a relation of transition and
prophecy. The two tables of the covenant therein
preserved, with the pot of manna and Aaron's rod
that budded, were at once direct historical memorials
of things past, and pregnant and forcible emblems
of what was to come. There was the monument of
the fiery lawgiving of Sinai in the tables of stone ;
there was the pot of manna, the bread from heaven
that sustained their weary desert pilgrimage; there
was the marvellous rod that blossomed amongst the
dry staves of the other tribes, with its reminiscences
of the gainsaying, of Korah, and the establishment
of the authority of one priestly household. What

316 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
a world of history and prophecy was enclosed in that
little space ! How solemn, too, and forcible, were
these plain memorials, compared with the gross and
dubious symbols of the sacred chests of the Egyptian
or Greek deities, to which an outsider might have
compared them 26. Let us, for the sake of impress
ing the contrast, try to throw ourselves into the
position of a heathen who wished to make the best
of his religion, a Plutarch or a Porphyry. Setting
aside the coarser symbols, which play such a hor
rible part in the earth-bound fancies of polytheism,
what was the best that we could have learnt from
the higher emblems, — the thyrsus, the pomegranate,
the ears of corn, the balls of wool, and the rest ?
What was the essence of this religion as a gift of
God to man ? We see Dionysus, the joyous reveller,
waving his wand and taking possession of his vota
ries, and intoxicating them with a sense of the beauty
and the charm of nature. As we look at the trains
of graceful figures, with their light and easy motion,
upon some precious vase or richly-carved sarcopha
gus ; as we read the wild choruses of Euripides, and
the sweet and stirring poems of Catullus or Keats ;
as we gaze upon the moving canvases of Titian and
Tintoret, we feel what an attraction there is, not
merely for the artistic temperament, in this Dio-
nysiac enthusiasm. We perceive that it touches that
inborn passion for wildness and freedom, for triumph
ing with nature, for being at one with the spirit of
26 On the contents of the mystic chests, see Clement of Alex
andria, Protrepticus, 2, §§ 21, 22 ; and cp. Dollinger, Heidenthum,
p. 168, § 107.

.VIII-] Contrast with Dionysiac Enthusiasm. 317
the world, both physical and animal, which is akin
to something noble, something really beautiful in
man. Yet look at it a little closer, a little more
coldly, — what was it really in its effects ? We see
crowds of fanatics leaving their homes, women de
serting their husbands and children, tearing some
poor animal limb from limb to make a cruel sacra
ment, and dancing by the glare of torchlight upon
the mountains till faintness and exhaustion over
powered their sinking bodies. The thyrsus is thus
a sort of enchanter's wand, a Circean magic, turning
human beings into an artificial state of savagery,
scarcely even picturesque in its reality, and any
thing but a rod of divine discipline. In the pome
granate, again, with its many seeds, we seem to see
little more than an emblem of physical fruitfulness,
with perhaps a faint outlook towards the hope of
a future life. We catch some more distinct intima
tions of the dignity and usefulness of labour in the
ears of corn and the balls of wool that Demeter
taught mankind to produce in the field and by the
fireside, and this is certainly the best side of the
mysteries. But all is obscure and hazy, where it
is not strange and dangerous. In these rites the
idea of prophecy and inspiration, of discipline and
instruction, is travestied by bacchantic frenzy; sa
craments are misrepresented by sensual or savage
ordinances ; and a law of moral duty is only dimly
inferred as a labouring for the meat that perisheth,
instead of being clearly written on the stones of
Sinai. But what the heathen in vain felt for, what the

318 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
Jew had only in part, or in type and prophecy, that
Christ has given us, opening the way within the
veil, and disclosing the fulness of His treasures.
(1.) It needs but few words to point out the great
value of the Christian ordinances as instruments of
Peace. As regards the first of the three, namely,
Doctrine, we have already spoken in former Lectures
of the marvellous power of the Bible over the human
heart 27, of the repose and strength that follows an
acceptance of Christ's authority :8, and of the sustain
ing, satisfying power of the Creed29, and it is un
necessary to repeat it here. We have also remarked
upon the striking agreement as to the great mysteries
of the Creed, which unites the divided portions of
Christendom. The power of Christian doctrine is
an eloquent fact which no one can gainsay, though
only those who have tasted the peace and joy of be
lieving can really understand its fulness.
It has, however, been sometimes said or implied
that the restful, believing temper of the Church is
less sympathetic, less practically useful than the
sceptical and restless spirit. All advance in philo
sophy, we are reminded, begins in doubt, and science
is constantly revising its hypotheses, and ever on the
watch for indications of omitted phenomena, which
may help it to define more accurately what it only
knows in part. But even those who are caught by
the attractive side of scepticism, are obliged to make
a stand somewhere; as, for instance, those in the
very lowest stage of belief are forced to assume that
27 Lect. iv. p. 121. ™ Lect. iv. pp. 130 foil.
29 Lect. vi. p. 187 foil.

VIII.] The Creed and Scepticism. 319
knowledge is possible, and that there will be some
continuity between the future and the past. They
are obliged, that is to say, to admit that the theo
logical virtues of hope and faith are practically neces
sary to knowledge ; and most of them will not wish
to exclude love, though they may differ from us as
to its object. Many of them also will be ready to
agree with Bacon " that there is hardly any other
approach to the kingdom of man, which is founded
on the sciences, than that which leads to the king
dom of Heaven, into which entrance is not granted
except under the likeness of a little child" (Nov.
Org., aph. 68). Science, in her serious moods,
agrees with faith in thinking that to be " ever
learning and never coming to the knowledge of
the truth " is misery and failure. We, on our part,
are also perfectly ready to admit that an enquir
ing temper, which you may, if you choose, de
scribe as sceptical, is useful up to a certain point.
If it is necessary to science, it is necessary also to
theology, to remind us of the fragmentariness of our
knowledge, and to correct the tendency to carry
single principles to extremes. It requires, for in
stance, a sort of healthy scepticism to perceive the
danger of such developments as Papal Infallibility
or Bibliolatry, as Calvinism or modern Universalism.
The only difference, then, between us and those who
are not Christians, if we view the matter entirely
from the intellectual side, is as to range and oc
cupations of faith and doubt respectively. We
say that their faith is not broad enough to give
peace, and is exposed to the great temptation of

320 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
indolence. If a man believes that knowledge is
possible at all, he cannot, without stunting and
maiming his intelligence, leave out of his view the
obvious facts that the world cannot be self-created, that
evolution is a process, which is described, not a cause
of anything, and that human free-will has a potential
energy outside all the limits of experience and obser
vation. When these primary truths have been taken
into account, let him consider further the witness of
the conscience with regard to sin, the unique position
of Israel in history, the character of Jesus Christ, the
witness to the Eesurrection, the existence of the
Church, and all the other facts which lie so close
together in this connection. We may then ask,
which really gives truer peace to the intellect, a doc
trine that harmonises all these very important facts,
or a scepticism to which they are so many knots and
insoluble problems — nay, it may be, even a list of
subjects, the discussion of which must be tabooed and
evaded ? We ask, for instance, again and again,
"What think ye of Christ?" and sceptics again
and again shirk a full enquiry. They have no
theory that will the least bear criticism in detail 30 ;
and they take refuge in vague generalities about
possible processes of self-deception and illusion, loose
probabilities of weakness or even wickedness and
imposture, in the Evangelists and other writers of
the New Testament. What would be said of such
conduct as this in any other region of thought ? Is
not wilful neglect of Biblical and theological study
rightly described as immoral, when we think of the
30 See additional note, page 336.

VIII.] Practical Power of the Creed. 321
great issues which underlie acceptance or rejection
of the Creed ?
It is true that the Church is content to leave much
unexplained, and so far (as we have said) has a seem
ing point of contact with scepticism. But then it has
a rationale of this contentment to offer. It is a scep
ticism of faith, not of doubt ; or rather, it is an ac
ceptance of a position which is itself part of the
Creed, namely, that God is our teacher, and we
always learners from Him. We believe that " when
that which is perfect is come, then that which is
in part shall be done away " (1 Cor. xiii. 10). This
position should certainly make us] sympathetic with
all those doubters who have so far advanced as
heartily to accept this principle that they are learners
from God.. They are not, indeed, good Christians,
but they are inchoate Christians. They begin to
feel with us "the peace of God that passeth all
understanding," a weight taken off the spirit, a hope
fulness as to the triumph of good over evil, which
will lead them onwards and upwards. But it is
only a full possession of the Creed enabling believers
to feel that they are workers together with God,
which gives them an absolutely untiring energy
in work, and a readiness to take up any labour,
however humble, because they know that He will
mould everything into His plan, and that the task
of the least is essential to the glory of the greatest.
There is indeed, we admit, such a thing as a selfish,
lazy faith, and the comfort of which it boasts is no real
example of the peace given by Christian doctrine.
It is true also that there are some religious-minded
T

322 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
men, who look with earnestness for peace, and yet
never seem to reach it in this world. Such ex
ceptions of both kinds are a trial and an enigma,
which, we doubt not, will be solved and set straight
in another state of being. But, for the present, we
must look, here as elsewhere, at the general result.
Acceptance of Christian doctrine does give a reason
able and harmonious peace to the mind ; it enables us
to comprehend, as far as our imperfect thought can,
all classes of facts, it sets us free from a perpetual
irritation about first principles, which often impedes
decisive action at critical moments, and it leaves
quite a sufficient sense of incompleteness in our
knowledge to give a healthy activity and humility
to the intellect.
(2.) The peace given by the Sacraments of Christ
is equally adapted to the wants of the heart and affec
tions. Almost all nations testify to the instincts
which underlie the two universal Sacraments of Bap
tism and the Holy Eucharist, and there are not a few
widespread analogies to the other Sacramental rites
of the Church 31. Forms of initiation, purification, and
dedication, often by water 32, festivals of communion
31 The inauguration of Numa, in which the augur laid his right
hand upon the king's head and prayed to Jupiter for a sign, is
described at length by Livy, i. 18, and Plutarch, Numa, 7, p. 64 b.
Mommsen doubts whether this ceremony was really used at the
accession of a king, but as it appears to me without sufficient rea
son, in his R6misches Staatsrecht, vol. ii. p. 8. Inauguration was
in use without doubt for the rex sacrificulus and the flamines : see
Labeo in Gellius, Nodes Atticce, xv. 27, 1, and Livy, xxvii. 8 •
xl. 42.
32 E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii. pp. 430 foil., cites numerous
cases of the lustration of children, often in connection with the

VIII.] Heathen Sacramental Rites. 323
with the deity, by partaking of a sacrifice just of
fered 33, are known wherever religion has attained or
retained any hold over mankind. They have given
a constant sense of brotherhood and companionship,
of dependence on the Divine love, often strong enough
to raise men above the divisions of national life.
Thus all distinctions of caste are abolished amongst
those who meet in the temple of Jagannath in Orissa,
and the sacred food of his offerings passes without
reserve from hand to hand, even among men of hostile
nationalities and differing faiths 34.
To many of the heathen every meal is in some sort
a sacrament, since a small portion or libation is of
fered to the deity generally before men set their
hands to it35. Amongst the Eomans, a silence was
observed between the two courses of their principal
meal, whilst this little sacrifice was being performed,
ceremony of naming, generally at some fixed time after birth. Cp.
also above, p. 161, and note 44.
On the " dies lustricus " of the Bomans see J. Marquardt, Privat-
leben der Romer, pp. 81 foil. (Leipzig, 1879).
33 Cp. Tylor, 1. c. pp. 394—396 ; Dollinger, Heidenthum, pp. 209
foil., 373, 535 foil., &c. St. Paul, 1 Cor. x. 16—21, grounds his
prohibition of eating things offered to idols on the sense of commu
nion with the supposed deity. It is striking that sin-offerings
(hostice piaculares) among the Bomans, were only eaten by the
priests, just as amongst the Jews. See J. Marquardt, Rom. Staats-
verwaltung, iii. pp. 179 foil., and Leviticus vi. 26, 29, x. 17.
84 The sacred food is called Mahaprasad (lit. great favour). See
W. W. Hunter's Orissa, vol. i. pp. 85 foil. At present, some low
castes are excluded, contrary to the original institution. Ibid. pp.
135 foil. The worship of Jagannath is part of the Vaishwava re
forms already referred to, p. 97, note 54. Mr. Hunter's two chap
ters on this subject should be read by every one. The misery
endured by the crowds of pilgrims is described with great force.
35 Tylor, 1. c, &c.
Y2

324 ¦ The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
to do honour to the presence of the Gods 36 ; and
surely Christians cannot suffer themselves to be be
hind the heathen in thus consecrating the gift by
remembrance of the giver 37.
There is a real beauty, nay, sometimes a potent
charm, about some of these rites, though too often
they have the hideous spectres of lust or cruelty
lurking in their shadow; and even when they are
purest, they wholly lack the force of the Christian
sacraments. Heathen sacraments are at best arbi
trary and fanciful; they are the result of a vague
groping after God in myth and symbol. But the two
great Christian Sacraments rest on the express com
mands of Christ, and are intimately connected with
the historical facts of His manifestation to men, and
a backward reference to much in the religious life of
Israel. They have often and rightly been called an
" extension of the Incarnation 38," that is to say, they
are natural means by which the power of Christ is
present to us, just as His visible body was the in
strument of divine grace to the first disciples. As
36 See the quotations in J. Marquardt, R'6m. Staatsverwaltung,
iii. p. 124, esp. Servius ad JEneid. i. 730 : — " Apud Eomanos etiam
cena edita sublatisque mensis primis silentium fieri solebat, quoad
ea quse de cena libata fuerant, ad focum ferrentur et igni darentur,
ac puer deos propitios nunciasset, ut diis honor haberetur tacendo.
Qua5 res cum intercessit inter cenandum Grseci quoque 6eav napov-
criav dicunt."
87 The Christians of Papinenipalli in Southern India have the
beautiful custom of putting a small portion of maize into the offer
tory pot, suspended from the roof, every time that any is ground
for cooking. The contents are presented every Sunday.
38 Bp. Jeremy Taylor's Worthy Communicant, i. 2, an idea clearly
in the mind of Hooker, Eccl. Polity, v. ch. 51 foil. Cp. B. I.
Wilberforce, On the Incarnation, ch. xiii.

VIII.] Practical Value of the Sacraments . 325
He has united the Finite to the Infinite by His birth
in human flesh, so in these simple physical elements
He has taken up and consecrated nature and daily
life, and has given us a foretaste of the divinised
realm of nature, the new heavens and the new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness, which are in God's
good time to rise from the ashes of the old. Those
who accept Christ as the Mediator, will also thank
fully accept the rites which He has instituted as
channels of His mediatorial grace.
This is not the place for a full discussion of the
practical blessings of the Sacraments. Their value
as a bond of union between man and man is obvious,
so obvious, that others besides Christians are drawn
to adopt something of the kind. We have lately
seen in France a miserable parody of Baptism in an
assembly of democratic atheists ; and the Theists of
the Brahma-Samaj have now instituted a communion
service, the elements of which are rice and water.
That the Christian Sacraments have, over and
above this, an educational value peculiar to them,
is also acknowledged by many who are slow to ac
cept the creeds39. The careful preparation which
they exact, or ought to exact ; the solemnity of their
celebration ; the awe and hush that falls upon the
worshippers ; the tenderness of the emotion which
they excite, even among those who take the low
views of a mere charitable expectation in Baptism,
or a historical commemoration of the death of Christ
in the Eucharist, — all this gives comfort to the soul
of many wearied with intellectual strife, or incapable
39 Cp. Hooker, Eccl. Polity, v. 57. 2.

326 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
of understanding controversy. But deeper far is the
peace of those who can accept the language of the
Prayer-Book, thanking God from their hearts that
the newly-baptized "is regenerate and grafted into
the body of Christ's Church;" and that in Holy
Communion He doth " assure us " of His " favour
and goodness towards us, and that we are very mem
bers incorporate in the mystical body " of His Son.
We feel that necessary as faith and the preparation
of the heart certainly is, delightful as is the com
munion of prayer and the response of the Spirit's
inward motion, yet in the Sacraments there is an
outward gift, an act, a motion of the divine love to
wards us, which it is impossible for us to have in
vented or controlled, which is ready to lay hold
of us and transform us, if we will only let it do its
holy work. We understand the feeling with which
St. Cyprian wrote, directly after his baptism, de
scribing his former and his present state. He tells
us first, you may remember, how he thought the doc
trine of new birth " a hard saying," how impossible
it seemed to him to get rid of the obstinate defile
ment of nature and the ingrained habits of vice ; and
then he continues as follows : —
" Such were my frequent musings : for whereas I was
encumbered with the many sins of my past life, which it
seemed impossible to be rid of, so I had used myself to give
way to my clinging infirmities, and, from despair of better
things, to humour the evils of my heart, as slaves born
in my house, and my proper offspring. But after that
life-giving water succoured me, washing away the stain of
former years, and pouring into my cleansed and hallowed
breast the light which comes from Heaven, after that I

VIII.] Baptism and Holy Communion. 327
drank in the Heavenly Spirit, and was created into a new
man by a second birth, — then marvellously what before was
doubtful became plain to me, — what was hidden was re
vealed, — what was dark began to shine, — what was before
difficult, now had a way and means, — what had seemed im
possible now could be achieved, — what was in me of the
guilty flesh, now confessed that it was earthy, — what was
quickened in me by the Holy Ghost, now had a growth
according to God 40."
Not less is the peace of mind which follows a de
vout reception of the Holy Eucharist. Through it
we join the society of the holy angels, and enter into
the repose of the blessed dead. All good influences of
the communion of saints surround us. The offertory
united to the oblation of the elements is a symbol of
the dedication of our natural life and substance to
God, and to the purposes of His kingdom of Peace and
charity towards all men. The consecration, shewing
forth the Lord's death, and pleading it as a sacrifice
for sin, implies a parallel oblation of the worshipper
as a member of the crucified body of Christ, ready
in all things to submit his will to his Father's will.
The act of communion crowns these acts by an as
surance given to us that the strength and solidity
of the Eedeemer's glorified life, the purifying and
vivifying power of His love, is ready to pass into
ours if we will but receive it. Christ is present
to us, with us, and in us, as really as when He
walked the earth in human flesh. In touching Him
we find health, and rest, and joy. Men may not
understand these feelings, or be able to enter into
*° St. Cyprian ad Donatum, 3 (Library of the Fathers, vol. iii.
p. 3).

328 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
this experience, but they cannot doubt their reality
or their energy.
There is a like power also in the other sacramental
ordinances through which the Church acts as a chan
nel of divine grace. The gift of individual strength
in Confirmation, and of authority in Ordination, are
manifest aids to those who receive them41. How
much of our social purity and happiness is due to
the grace to keep the marriage vow given by God
to those who ask the Church's blessing, is evident
by the laxity which follows its rejection. Nor can
the misuse of the grace of absolution, and the degra
dation of the ancient system of penance, excuse us
in shutting our eyes to the crying want of the human
heart, especially in its weakness and disease, which
is met by an external assurance of God's pardon for
sin confessed 42.
(3.) The acceptance of the discipline of Christ by
the will of man completes the work of Peace, which
is begun in his nature by the tranquillizing effect of
the Creed upon the intelligence, and carried on by
the influence of sacramental grace upon the heart.
It is the exercise of discipline which specially gives
the Church the name and title Apostolic, inasmuch as
our Lord committed the government of His Church
41 Cp. Dr. Liddon's Sermon at Oxford, Dec. 22, 1867, The Moral
Value of a Mission from Christ (Bivingtons, 1868).
42 There is an interesting sermon on Absolution in P. W. Eobert
son's Sermons, Third Series, pp. 61 — 76, ed. 1878, which may
.help some persons to understand this truth who are inclined to
shrink from it. Cp. P. D. Maurice, Kingdom of Christ (ed. 2,
vol. 2, pp. 191 foil., Lond., 1842), section headed, " Objections
to an Absolving power in Ministers."

VIII.] Discipline. Training of the Apostles. 329
to the Apostles. Without, therefore, going into de
tails of law and custom, it is necessary to say a few
words on that ministry, which is confessedly the
chief instrument and organ of Discipline. So clear
is it that our Lord desired to establish a body of
officers in His Church, that (as has been well said),
" if we called the Four Gospels ' the Institution of
a Christian Ministry,' we might not go very far
wrong, or lose sight of many of their essential quali
ties43." The careful and even elaborate education
given step by step to the Apostles — as a body in
the Galilean ministry recorded by the first three
Evangelists, as individuals in that which is the spe
cial subject of St. John — :is inexplicable, unless our
Lord was training them for an office, that is, for
a permanent function in His Church. For Christ
speaks of His Church over and over again as a king
dom, working in the world though not of the world,
and a kingdom implies an abiding constitution. Order
is everywhere His delight, as we see, not only in His
words in support of the Jewish functionaries, the
priests and scribes **, but also in the pleasure which
He shewed when the principle was recognized by
others, as by the Centurion of Capernaum 45. To have
spoken, therefore, and acted as He did would have
been indeed misleading, unless, as all Christendom
43 P. D. Maurice, The Kingdom of Christ, vol. ii. p. 148, ed. 2.
The whole section is striking and effective.
u "Go shew yourselves unto the priests," Luke xvii. 14; "The
Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat," &c, Matt, xxiii. 2,
and elsewhere.
15 Matt. viii. 10; Luke vii. 9.

330 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
for many centuries agreed, He was making pro
vision for a government that was to last for all
time. It was clearly our Blessed Lord's " plan " (if we
may use the term with reverence) to employ the
Apostles rather than Himself as visible instruments
of salvation. He might have made a multitude of
converts all on the same level of equal relations to
Himself, but He did not do so. His method was
to lay down general principles of doctrine and mo
rality, and to commit the application of them to the
Apostolate, not to impose a minutely-defined and
all-sufficient rule of life like Mahomet, or to create
a crowd of individual saints like Gotama. He re
fuses to be made a king by the crowd, that is to say,
He discards all ambition to make His name widely
known by His visible presence, and resigns the work
of proclaiming it to a limited number of persons — the
Twelve and the Seventy — trained by lengthened con
tact with Himself, from which other men are in great
measure debarred. To the Apostles especially He
gave the assurance, "As My Father hath sent Me,
even so send I you," ,and the promise as to remis
sion and retention of sins that follows (John xx.
21 foil.)46; and He speaks of their ministry as last
ing till His second coming : " Who then is that faith
ful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make
ruler over his household, to give them their portion
of meat in due season ? Blessed is that servant
whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing "
46 This assurance is implied in many places, e.g. Matt. x. 40;
Luke x. 16; John xiii. 20 ; xvii. 18.

VIII.] The Apostolic Ministry. 331
(Luke xii. 42, 43). I need not remind you how
these words are re-echoed by St. Paul, who describes
the ministry as a special gift of Pentecost to edu
cate the body of Christ, " till we all come in the
unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fulness of Christ 47."
There were dangers no doubt in this unique me
thod, and those clearly foreseen by our Divine Mas
ter; dangers lest His ministers should strive to
become lords over God's heritage, or that the truths
they preached might be set at naught with the
obscurity of their persons. But the method has
surely been justified by the event. Christ's per
petual presence with His Church has been brought
home to age after age by the Apostolic ministry
with a force that no diffused impression committed
to a multitude could ever have attained. Our
Lord desires us to think of Him as an ever-pre
sent ruler, absent temporarily from sight, but with
us invisibly, and at any moment about to return
again in visible majesty. Is not the sense of this
kept up most powerfully by the ministry, which
is taught and teaches that it holds office directly
from His hands? Had the ministry been left to
grow up as a human afterthought, developed merely
by social necessities, and receiving its commission
from below, it is probable that Christ's perpetual
presence in His Church would soon have been dis
paraged or denied. The Sacraments might have
remained as outward signs, but they would have
47 Ephes. iv. 11 foU.

332 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
surely been reduced, as the sects too much tend to
reduce them, to tesserce of mutual fellowship between
man and man.
Christianity might have become a powerful re
ligious society of either of the three types mentioned
in our last lecture, but it would hardly have been
the kingdom of the living Christ. At best it would
have been dependent for its sense of His presence
upon the uncertain activity of the inward motions
of the Spirit, like those on which the Society of
Friends has relied, or upon sudden outbursts of the
charismata. We have already observed how untrust
worthy these outbursts are, and to what dangers they
are exposed (p. 311), though controlled, as they have
been, directly and indirectly, by the regular ministry.
Even in the last generation we have seen a bold at
tempt to revive a separate and temporary Apostolate,
in a society closely similar to that of the Montanists
of earlier days, and we have also seen the institution
pass away, and leave the world very nearly where
it was before.
Let those, then, who are inclined to think lightly
of Apostolical succession, and who misconceive the
ministry as interfering with the priesthood of Christ,
consider rather how little they would have known
of that priesthood as a present reality, without the
representation of it which is constantly before their
eyes in those ministers who have a true sense of
their mission.
There is a false sacerdotalism, but there is also
a true one48. The false gives those who imbibe it
48 Cp. P. D. Maurice, I.e., pp. 135 — 138.

VIII.] Representation of Christ. 333
an overbearing sense of their own importance, an
idea that, like the Brahmans of India, they are to
lord it over their brethren in spiritual and often in
secular things. The true sacerdotalism claims the
right to be in all things like unto Christ, who came
not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to
give His life a ransom for many. The false theory
again strives to keep the conscience of others in
bondage, to make them slaves or weaklings, daring
not to stir a finger except under direction of the
priest: the true realizes that almost its first duty
is to absolve, that is, to free the conscience, to put
forward the ministry of reconciliation, to give a sense
of joy and liberty to the soul, a joy as in the presence
of the Eedeemer of all men.
The office of the ministry, as our Lord designed
it, may then be summed up in one word as bringing
home to man the presence of Christ. It would take
too long to exhibit this in detail ; but consider for
a moment the action of the Episcopate in binding
men together with a sense of unity, as all subjects
of Christ our king. If it were only an instrument
linking province to province and country to country,
it would be simply indispensable as an organ of
Christian feeling.
To use the words of a writer already quoted : —
"The overseers or Bishops of the Christian Church have
felt themselves to be emphatically the bonds of communica
tion between different parts of the earth. The jurisdiction
of each has been confined within a certain district ; but by
the very nature of their office they have held fellowship, and

334 The Peace of the Church. [Lect.
been obliged to hold fellowship, with those who lived in
other districts, who spoke different languages, who were
bound together by different notions or customs is."
Think of it again as a careful steward and dis
penser of doctrine, and an independent witness to
morality; as a mouthpiece of the Church in work
ing upon public opinion; as a guarantee for the
constant and reverent performance of the services
of public prayer and praise and the due administra
tion of the Sacraments. Without the Apostolic mi
nistry, doctrine is apt to become a matter of private
interpretation, to bend to the heretical bias of the
moment, and to cease to be proclaimed in its ful
ness ; and morality tends all too surely to be reduced
to the level of social custom50. Ministers who re
ceive their commission only from the people are no
toriously under a temptation not to teach or to con
demn, except in agreement with the popular voice.
They are tempted to shrink from boldly represent
ing Christ either to their flocks or to the civil rulers :
and as to the gathering together to meet the Lord
in public worship, it is certain that where the com
mission from Him is disregarded, there anything like
49 F. D. Maurice, I.e., p. 138.
60 The extraordinary prevalence of divorce in the puritan states
of New England is a terrible proof of this danger. See the Church
Quarterly Review for April, 1881, on Christian Marriage, vol. 12,
pp. 20 foil. Deducting Eoman Catholics,— who, to their honour,
do not contribute to these statistics, — the ratio of divorces to mar
riages is said by Dr. Allen to stand thus :— " In Massachusetts,
1 to 15 ; in Bhode Island, 1 to 9 ; in Connecticut, 1 to 8; in Ver
mont, 1 to 13." (North American Review, June, 1880, p. 557.)

VIII.] Conclusion. 335
frequency of public prayer and Holy Communion is
also generally dropped51.
Such, then, are the outward means by which our
Lord has deigned to apply His kingdom of Peace to
our crying human wants. With a statement of these
means, we have arrived at the conclusion of our long
argument. I have striven to shew to those who seek
to find rest in religion that there is one and one only,
as far as we know, that fulfils the conditions natu
rally demanded by the reason, and that that religion is
the Christian. I have attempted to demonstrate that
it alone presents a doctrine of the Divine Nature,
which is capable of standing against the assaults of
Pantheism on the one side, and of Deism on the other.
I have shewn also that in its contents it fulfils the
general expectation of mankind. All religions have
for their aim and object Truth, Holiness, and Peace.
The Christian Eevelation alone exhibits them in a
manner which is worthy of God who gives it, and
satisfactory to the nature of man who receives it.
The Bible and the Creeds, the Person and Work
of Christ, and His Kingdom of Peace, are manifesta
tions of the Divine glory and mercy of the Creator
and Father of all men, who wills to draw His err
ing children to Himself with cords of love. These
precious gifts are ours in Christ : we may hold fast
61 The reader will find the question of the results of Episcopacy
versus Presbyterianism as it appears in Scotland, forcibly stated by
Bishop Charles Wordsworth of St. Andrews, Outlines of the Chris
tian Ministry, Lect. III., Argument ex consequenti (Longmans,
1872). The divine origin of the ministry is defended in the for
mer Lectures, and in his Remarks on Dr. Lightfoot's Essay on the
Christian Ministry (Parkers, 1879).

336 The Peace of the Church. [Lect. VIII.
to them and hand them on to others, or we may
loosen our hold of them and make the faith of others
weak. May God grant that none who hear these
Lectures may have the misery of parting from their
Saviour, or of detaching other souls from Him. May
He give His blessing and His presence to those truths
which have been learned from His Word and the
teaching of His Church, however imperfectly and
weakly expressed, and bring all who hear or read
these words to " follow peace with all men, and ho
liness, without which no man shall see the Lord"
(Heb. xii. 14).

Additional note to p. 320.
Por the most recent sceptical criticism of the Gospels, see an
article entitled Etudes d' Histoire religieuse : critique des recits sur
la vie de Jesus, par M. Ernest Havet, de l'Institut de Prance
(Revue des deux Mondes, Avril, 1881, tome 152, pp. 582 — 622).
M. Havet attacks the credibility of the most received facts of
the life of our Lord, and reduces His intellectual character to the
lowest possible level, leaving the Church without any intelligible
origin. For a specimen of the reply to which this criticism is
open, directed to a single point, see Mr. E. H. Hutton's able
article, Christ's Prophecies of His own Death, in the Expositor for
July, 1881, second series, vol. i. pp. 457 — 472.

337

APPENDIX I.
Buddhism, by Oscar Frankfurter.
To understand the success which the teaching of Gotama the
Buddha had among the people of India, we must go back to the
earliest history of this country. We cannot, indeed, give any ac
count of India in these old times but such as we can extract from
the literary monuments, and as they are only of a religious cha
racter, and touch very slightly on history, much must, of course,
remain hypothetical. The sources of our information as to the ear
liest ages lie in the sacred hymns which the ancient Hindus used
to chant at their festivals. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the
hymns of the Rig Veda do not all belong to one period. Whilst
we must date the main substance of some of them as early as the
sixteenth century b.c, the composition of others approaches very
nearly to the age of Gotama himself, who was destined to over
throw a system which bore in its later stages the germs of
its own decay and destruction '.
The first glimpses afforded us by the hymns of the Rig Veda
shew us the Indian people, after the separation from their other
Aryan brethren, settled in the northern part of India, and not divided
into castes. Their language was what is now called Vedic Sanskrit,
which was then a spoken dialect. They were an agricultural people,
enjoying life, and sacrificing to the gods, who were expected, in
return for these sacrifices, to grant the prayers which the faithful
addressed to them. The father of the family was also the priest,
who prayed to the gods for a long life and a numerous progeny.
This primitive state, however, did not last long. In their migra
tion farther south, they met with aboriginal peoples, perhaps
possessed of comparatively greater civilization. These, so far as
we can infer from the hymns, they subjugated after hard struggles.
The next result of the intercourse with these aboriginal races, for
such we must consider the Dasyus, was that the language in which
1 Brahmanism, which followed Buddhism, after the latter was expelled
from India, cannot and must not be regarded as the continuation of the
Vedic religion. It was simply Buddhism, adapted to Brahmanical prejudices,
with all the superstition which had crept up when Buddhism ceased to be in
India the grand spiritual movement. Z

338 Appendix I.
the earliest hymns were addressed to the gods became unintelli
gible to the people. In a few families, the old mode of reciting
the hymns was maintained ; on the other hand, through the con
stant wars, a warrior caste (the Kshattriyas) sprung up, whilst the
bulk of the people still kept to agricultural pursuits (Vaisyas).
To these hymns, which were handed down intact from father to
son, a certain sacredness was attached, and it was believed that the
gods would not understand them, if only a single word was altered.
New hymns were, however, added to the stock, which reveal, from
more than one aspect, their comparative lateness. To one of these
belongs the famous Purusha-sukta (B.V. x. 90), which gives the
earliest account of the origin of castes (see Appendix III., p. 356).
It was composed when the Indians were settled in the heart of
India. The only seasons mentioned in it are spring, summer, and
autumn, and no mention is made of the winter, which is counted
as one of the seasons by writers of the earliest age. Its late
ness is moreover shewn by the fact that the Dasyus, under the
name of #udras, must have been fully recognised by the Hindus,
as they also are considered to have originated from Purusha. A
century later, the hymns were not even understood wholly by the
Brahmans (the priests), and it is to that time that we must as
cribe the final redaction of the Yedic hymns, with their com
mentaries (about 600 b.c).
A characteristic of the Indian mind, in the age of which we are
speaking, is its deep religiosity. It was, certainly, not always so ;
but, doubtless, as soon as the conquest of India was accomplished,
as soon as the condition of the people was settled again, the Indian
mind concentrated all its powers on the development of religion.
Together with this religious feeling we notice a deep reverence for
antiquity. The hymns of the Rig Veda, after having been once
recognised as the one source from which all information had to
come, were made the starting-point of all kinds of speculation.
It was still in the main the same Veda in the seventh century,
as it was in the fifteenth or sixteenth century b.c, but the in
terpretation of it had become a different one.
The science of the Vedas (if this tautology be allowed) was for
the people at large a book with seven seals. Within the Brahmanio
caste, however, on the other hand, every philosophy was based on
the Veda ; and every one of these philosophies, based on the Veda
and its earliest commentaries, the so-called Brahmawas, and more
especially the Upanishads, which form the philosophical part of
the Aranyakas, was considered orthodox. The latter may best be

Buddhism. 339
described as a sort of super-commentary to the Veda. A wide
range was left for individual speculation; and from the highest
spiritualism down to the grossest materialism, systems were
founded on the authority of the Veda as a revealed book.
The religious wants of the people remained, however, unsatisfied.
The Brahmans usurped an intolerable tyranny over the masses of
the people, which they defended by the theory of the migration
of souls — a doctrine of which no traces can be found in the
Vedic hymns, while allusions to it are frequently met with in
the TJpanishads '.
We can, therefore, scarcely wonder that out of the caste which
for a long time struggled with the Brahmans for supremacy, the
Kshattriyas, reformers should arise, who, setting aside caste, as
cribed to the Vedas, as means of religious knowledge, only a
limited authority.
This brief sketch has brought us down to the middle of the
fifth century, when, through the appearance of Gotama, the old
Brahmanism received its death-blow.
We purpose in the following pages to give a short account of
the history and doctrines of this eminent reformer.
The reformers of the Kshattriya caste were called Sramawas. To
address the people, they used the vernacular languages of India,
commonly, or without adequate reason, called by the native gram
marians, Prakn'ta, as derived from Sanskrit. None of these systems
but that of Gotama (if we except that of Nigantha, Nafaputta, the
founder of the Jain religion, the sacred books of which have
scarcely begun to be published) can have had any very brilliant
success. We scarcely know more of these systems than the oc
casional allusions made in the Buddhist scriptures to some of their
doctrines. But we gather that they must have been very nume
rous ; and that their followers were generaUy mendicants, who
were convinced of the vanity and futility of life, and tried to make
the best of things by withdrawal from the world.
Benewed researches might possibly lead to the discovery of
manuscripts, from which we could learn more about these early
sects. We must, however, remember that literary property was
not much respected in India. When a sect succeeded in stamping
out the doctrines of another, it also tried to destroy the books in
which these doctrines were propounded : while, on the other hand,
if a certain reputation was once attached to a name, additions were
2 [Was not this doctrine of transmigration perhaps borrowed from the
lower creed of the aboriginal tribes ?— J. W.]
z2

340 Appendix I.
made to conform the doctrine to the standard of the day. These
additions were always made in a dead language, by men who
belong to a nation who are grammarians nar igox-qv, and so it
is most difficult to fix the date of any Indian book, sometimes
within several centuries ; and much must be left to internal evi
dence and subjective reasoning. The best example of this compo
site work is, perhaps, the grammatical literature which goes under
the name of Pawini ; or, to speak of Buddhist literature, the Com-
mpntaries which are known under the name of Buddhaghosa.
We are in a better position as regards Buddhism itself, and
though we cannot attempt to give the exact date of the time when
its sacred writings were compiled, we can within a few years fix
the period in which Gotama lived. This is certainly due to the
fact that Buddhism was a popular religion, which, as we shall see
later on, did not give much, if any, scope to the gods to form men's
destiny, and considered the conduct of life of higher value than any
other Indian religion did. Through the famous edicts of Asoka,
about the middle of the third century b.c, taken together with the
information contained in the sacred books themselves, we are able
to fix the death of Gotama within six years, viz. between 483 —
477 b.c, and his attaining to the highest wisdom in 543 b.c, the
beginning of the Sinhalese era. If the account given in different
books is right, and we have no reason to doubt it, Gotama attained
to this wisdom when he was twenty-nine years of age, and this
would therefore fix his birth to the year 572. We further learn
from the Buddhavamsa, one of the sacred books of the Khuddaka
Nikaya,— the statements of which, though evidently of a later
date, and already intermixed with some myths, are confirmed
by the other sacred writings,— that Gotama was the son of Sud-
dhodana, the King of Kapilavatthu, and his wife Mayadevi, that
he was married to SaddakaMana, from whom he had a son Eahula.
His two chief disciples were Kolita and Upatissa; his personal
attendant, Ananda ; whilst Khema, and PJppalavanna are given as
the names of his female disciples 3. We learn further, that he was
brought up in the house of his father with great splendour, but
that, tired of a life of idleness, he forsook the world. His deter
mination is poetically illustrated by four sights he had, shewing
^ 3 The admission of female disciples, though belonging to Buddha's own
time, is considerably later than the institution of the order of mendicants.
The A'ullavagga relates that Gotama could not be persuaded to institute
an order of female mendicants till after the repeated requests of Mahapa-
japati Gotaml, his aunt and foster-mother.

Buddhism. 341
the misery of man's life, — a decrepit old man, a leper, a dead
body, and a recluse ; most likely, however, political combinations
were the principal cause for his resolution to become a mendicant.
Wassiliew, Buddhism, p. 12, refers to a legend, according to which,
whilst Gotama was preaching the law, the whole tribe of the Sakya
was extirpated by the Virudhakas. He asks whether this event
did not, perhaps, take place before Gotama left his home.
After he attained Buddhahood4, he preached his first sermon
(he inaugurated the dominion of the law, or in Buddhist phrase
ology, he turned the wheel of the law) at a place near Benares,
called Isipatana. This sermon is still to be found in the sacred
writings. It has lately been translated by Mr. Bhys Davids in the
series of Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi. p. 146, and is called the
Dhamma-Aakkappavattana-sutta. Before we attempt to give the outlines of Gotama's doctrines, it
will, I think, not be out of place to state briefly the opinion
Gotama held of himself as a religious teacher. Por these we are
dependent solely on the sacred writings, or Pifokas. A few words
upon the date and character of these writings are also necessary
in this connection.
It is a well-known fact that the Sacred Books of the Buddhists,
as they are now extant, embrace three great collections, which are
respectively called the Vinaya-pifeka, treating on the outward disci
pline of the order of mendicants, and the Sutta and Abhidhamma
pitfakas, treating of the doctrine. Tradition would have us believe
that two of these great collections were already in the shape in
which we now have them, a few months after the master's death,
when a rehearsal took place. The concluding chapter of the
Abulia Vagga tells us that this was performed at an assembly
convened in consequence of the heretical tendencies of Subhadda.
Now the ifulla Vagga is the only book which gives such an ac
count, whilst the Maha-parinibbana- sutta, which relates the death
and obsequies, and the distribution of the relics of the Buddha,
keeps silence on this fact. It has been very well pointed out
by Professor Max Miiller, in opposition to Dr. Oldenberg, that
the not mentioning of this Council does not neeessarily imply
that it did not take place, as an account of the Council would
be somewhat out of place in such a connection. Most likely,
therefore, it did take place, but scarcely to rehearse the whole
4 The period which elapsed from the time of his determination to for
sake the world until his attainment of the highest wisdom, is given differ
ently in various books, varying from a few hours to six years.

342 Appendix I.
of the Scriptures, but to fix some rules for the guidance of the
mendicant order, and to lay the foundation of the Dhamma. This
was highly necessary, as the Buddhist Church soon became a pro
selytizing body. There was no time in Buddha's lifetime to fix
the text of the Scriptures, as he was wandering about until the
very last moment, preaching his law, and trying to gain converts
to the new doctrine. We find evidence of this in the Scriptures
themselves. The Sutta and Vinaya- pitaka both introduce his
teaching frequently, the former always with the words : " Thus
it was heard by me." " Once upon a time the Blessed One lived,"
or " Once upon a time when the Blessed was wandering about
with his alms-bowl."
It therefore remains to be seen if we can discover among the
extant Scriptures such as would be likely to form the foundation
on which the others were based. In the case of the Vinaya, we
are (thanks to the acumen of Dr. Oldenberg) in a position to point
to such a book. It is the Patimokkha, the Office of the Confession
of male and female mendicants, which forms the basis of the
Vibhanga. A book which forms the foundation of the other two
books, the Maha, Vagga and the iTulla Vagga, was certainly once
extant. At present, we can only suppose that it was a treatise
similar in contents to the Kammavaia, which contains ecclesiasti
cal rites and formulas, such as are treated in greater length in
the Maha Vagga.
Our knowledge of Buddhism is not yet far enough advanced to
say with equal certainty which books form the foundation of the
Dhamma. We must keep in mind, leaving it for future investiga
tion, that at the first so-called Council mention is made only of
the Dhamma and the Vinaya. Now the title of Abhidhamma for
the last of the three collections is of a later date ; and if it is quite
true that in the Abhidhamma several very late works were in
cluded, (such as the Kathavatthu, of which it is expressly stated
that it was added to the collection by Moggaliputta at the third
Council, about 247 b.c), we find in it, nevertheless, some very
simple books which contain a resume of Gotama's doctrine, pro
pounded in a most unattractive and matter-of-fact form, which
might be earlier than the Sutta Pifeka, and form its foundation.
To get a clear idea of what the original doctrines of Buddhism
consisted, we are therefore, as far as the Dhamma is concerned,
dependent on internal evidence. This internal evidence can even
now be brought to a very high degree of probability, for the simple
reason that those doctrines which may be considered as really and

Buddhism. 343
thoroughly Gotama's own teaching, will occur over and over again
in different parts of the sacred books ; whilst those which were
added later appear only once in the books.
Between the first Council at Bajagaha, if Council it can be
called, to the second Council, which took place at Vesali about
383 b.c, and for which we have historical evidence, the great bulk
of the Buddhist Scriptures were composed. This Council was con
vened for the purpose of settling ten questions, on which a dispute
had arisen among the priesthood. Only one of these questions is
mentioned in the Vinaya as it is now before us. We must,
therefore, infer that the Vinaya, as we have it now, is older than
the Council at Vesali. We shall, therefore, be right if, in accord
ance with Dr. Oldenberg, we place the main substance of the Sutta
and Vinaya literature about 400 b.c. When the text was finally
completed, as we now have it, is much more difficult to determine.
"We have already alluded to the fact that the Indian philosophers
liked to make additions to the writings of their great men, in
order to impart a certain sacredness to their own opinions.
Of course, allusions to Gotama's opinion of himself will but
rarely occur. Happily, however, we find some few instances from
which we can not only gather what others thought of him, but
what he thought of himself. The discourses (suttas) almost al
ways represent an unbeliever who belongs to the Brahmanical
caste as coming to Gotama, whom he addresses simply and dis-
respectfuUy as Bho Gotama, in 6rder to get up a dispute with
him, which he commences by putting a knotty question; as a mat
ter of course also, the unbeliever is converted. The Brahmans,
it may also be inferred, felt a painful awe of this new teacher,
who did not belong to their own caste, and who tried successfully
to destroy the privilege of caste by addressing himself to the
people. They did all in their power to blemish his character,
and their false accusations of incontinence and other vices are
frequently the subject of Buddhist books. It is needless to say
that aU these are triumphantly refuted.
It is on such occasions that he speaks of his own character; and
he does so likewise, if, as in the case of the King of Magadha,
A^atasattu Vedehiputta, he is asked for advice, or for the outlines
of his doctrine. Purthermore, when Mara, the evil spirit, appears
to tempt him, he is ready to speak of his own abilities. We have, of
course, in this last instance, only the outcome of the popular belief
in his powers entertained by the members of his own sect. All
the three instances, however, go far to shew that he did not attri-

344 Appendix I.
bute his doctrine to any supernatural revelation. It was a firmly
established fact with him, as with his followers, that the doctrine
which he propounded was the outcome of faculties acquired in dif
ferent characters in previous births. For the wisdom he had at
tained he had only to thank himself. What he speaks most of ig
nis kindness and charity towards all living creatures; and con
fronting his doctrines with those of other sectarian?, he maintains
that theirs are based on tradition, and thus liable to be perverted,
whilst the effects of his own are immediate, unlimited by time,
conducive to salvation, attractive to all comers, a fitting object of
contemplation. He has freed himself from all sensual desires, and
is thus able to free all living creatures from them, in shewing them
tbe path which leads to their highest bliss.
We have, however, now to ask what made the doctrine of Go
tama spread so rapidly. We have already spoken shortly of the
state of Indian affairs in Gotama's time, and of the religious wants
of the people. High-minded philosophers were eager to minis
ter to these wants, and the names of several such reformers are
given in the Buddhist scriptures. We shall best be able to judge
of the success of Gotama's doctrine when we compare the answer
he gave to the question, What were the fruits of a religious life ?
to that given by others.
Some of these reformers maintained that a holy or unholy life
has no reward or punishment, and that as the greatest crime
may be committed without any result, so also a religious life and
works of charity are of no avail. Or they preached a law of fa
tality, to which every being is subject : he has to run through the
course of migration, and the wise and the fool will arrive at the
same goal after they have completed these migrations. Or again,
as man is made of the four elements, earth, water, fire, air, so after
his death the constituent parts of the body will become those four
elements again, but for good or bad deeds he will not have any
rewards or punishments. The answer Tfiigantha Nafeputta gave,
also avoiding the question, was, that the Niganthas are well de
fended in four directions. They restrain sinful propensities by
general abstinence from evil ; they weaken the evil by controll
ing it ; they spare the evil ; they are under self-control.
No one of all these philosophers grappled with the difficulties
of a reward for good deeds in the present life. Gotama, when asked •
the question about the fruits of a religious life, shewed the advan
tage of that conduct, which makes even the man in a humble
condition respected. He shews, furthermore, that a religious life

.'Buddhisnt. . 345
Jeads to the keeping of the laws, which bear in themselves the"
germ of self-satisfaction, as they lead to the destruction of pas
sions. Not only the mendicant who keeps the precepts, but also
the layman, is happy and rewarded. In what, then, consists the
happiness of a religious life ? We find the answer most poetically
given in the following quotation from the Gatakatthavarmand : —
"By what can every heart attain to lasting happiness and
peace ? To him whose heart was estranged from sin the answer
came : When the fire of lust is gone out, then peace is gained ;
when the fire of hatred and delusion are gone out, then peace is
gained ; when the troubles of mind arising from pride, credulity,
and all other sins have ceased, then peace is gained."
The peculiarity of this answer is self-evident ; it is, however,
quite in accordance with the other tenets of Buddhism. A Bud
dhist, not knowing of any supreme external power by which salva
tion could be attained, had necessarily to look for salvation to an
internal power. This power is found in the subjugation of pas
sions, which is considered by Buddhists as amounting to the high
est state of blessedness (beatitude).
In order to understand fully this doctrine, we have to turn our
attention first to one of the earliest tenets of Buddhism, the so-
called Chain of Causation. This doctrine is said to have been
taught by succeeding Buddhas °.
Before commenting on this Chain of Causation, it will perhaps
be better to give a literal translation of the passage in which
it is described. It is always difficult to translate philosophical
terms. The expressions used may suggest associations with others
already known from another philosophy, and impart thus an en
tirely wrong idea. It is more difficult still in the Buddhist phi
losophy. A native Hindu has naturally different ideas on this
subject from one whose early training and surroundings have been
entirely different.
"Prom ignorance spring the conditions of existence; from the
conditions of existence spring consciousness; from consciousness
the individual, consisting of mind and body ; from the individual,
6 It is well known that the orthodox Buddhist belief is that Gotama was
not the only Buddha, but that other Buddhas preceded him ; and that when
the world is relapsing into wickedness, other Buddhas will follow to save it.
We have thus in the Buddhavamsa, one of the sacred books, the history of
twenty- four Buddhas, besides that of Gotama himself. Also a twenty- sixth
Buddha is said to reside in the so-called Tusita heaven. Allusions are like
wise made in various other parts of the Pitakas.

346 Appendix I.
the six organs of sense ; from the six organs of sense, contact ;
from contact, sensation; from sensation, craving; from craving,
attachment; from attachment, continued existence; from exist
ence, birth; from birth, decay and death, sorrow, lamentation,
pain, grief, and despair."
Ignorance, which, as the main cause of existence, is put at the
head of the list, is explained to mean the ignorance of the four
great truths on which the whole Buddhist philosophy is based, —
the nature of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suf
fering, the path leading to the cessation of suffering. Without
knowing these four truths, no beatitude can be brought about.
In ignorance, then, the conditions of existence have their origin.
The term which I have translated "conditions of existence" has
been rendered in different ways. Its meaning, however, appears
clear : it is meant to signify that which causes a living being to
be born in one of the Buddhist worlds, in a position determined
by his previous thoughts, words, and actions.
The next link in the chain is consciousness, consisting of the
consciousness of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, touch, and mind. This
consciousness unites with the embryo in the mother's womb, and
produces the individual, consisting of mind and body. These two
links are thus united to each other ; the existence of either of
them is dependent on the other. "Without consciousness, the in
dividual cannot be produced ; without the individual, no con
sciousness. In the individual, the six organs of sense have their origin,
which consist of the abstracts, — form, sound, odour, taste, contact,
and ideas. These abstracts give rise to contact, -which consists.
equally of six divisions corresponding to the above, viz. eye, ear,
nose, tongue, body, and mind. It will be seen that for the five
senses of our philosophy Buddhism has six, adding mind to them.
From contact springs sensation. We learn that this sensation
is threefold, — pleasant, unpleasant, neither pleasant nor unplea
sant. It gives rise to craving. Though later works enumerate
a great number of cravings, all may be fairly divided into three
groups, — craving for sensual pleasure, for continued existence,
and for non-existence.
Craving is the cause of attachment, which is fourfold. Its divi
sions are sensual pleasure, wrong doctrines, ritualism, and self-
consciousness. This attachment is the immediate cause of con
tinued existence in one of the Sattalokas, the abode of living
beings, of which there are thirty-one. A new birth arises from

Buddhism. 347
this continued existence, out of which follow decay, death, sorrow,
lamentation, pain, grief, and despair.
It has been well said that this way of accounting for the con
tinuance of existence is a somewhat arbitrary one. It is quite
true that one thing does not necessarily follow out of the other,
that the chain extends practically over three births, the first be
ginning with ignorance, the second with consciousness, and the
last with attachment, as the cause of continued existence. But
we should certainly considerably underrate the great reasoning-
power of Buddhists, were we to suppose that they believed the
links of the chain to foBow strictly one out of the other. They
are simply twelve reasons for continued existence which is set on
fire through the passions of lust, hatred, and delusion.
An opportunity to free himself from this chain (which, for the
world as a whole, is practically eternal, for birth follows birth)
is given to the individual.
Questioned in what Beatitude (Nirvawa) consists, Gotama returns
the answer, " In the extinction of the three fires of lust, hatred,
and delusion;" and further questioned how the individual could
attain to this beatitude, he returns the answer, " Through the noble
eightfold path" of which he thus enumerates the single divisions:
right views, right aims, right speech, right conduct, right liveli
hood, right exertion, right-mindedness, and right meditation.
These terms are wide and general, and they would, without any
explanation, embrace the substance of a holy life. However we
find, though evidently in later parts of the Piiakas, an explana
tion of the path, which mostly substitutes technical expressions
for the wide and general terms.
We learn thus that Buddhists considered right views as the
knowledge of the four great truths, the ignorance of which, as
-we have shewn above, is the immediate cause of existence. Bight
aims are explained to be such as are free from malice and cruelty,
and such as tend to a renouncing of the world.
The foUowing three divisions, right speech, right conduct, and
right livelihood, refer more to the practical part of the Buddhist
life. Bight speech and right conduct contain in themselves the
essence of those of the Ten Commandments which treat of the
duties towards our neighbours. Eight speech is explained as to
abstain from lying and slander, and from the use of harsh and
frivolous language; right conduct, as to abstain from destroying
life, from theft, and from unchastity. The third, right livelihood,
takes a still more practical turn, as it enforces the gaining of

348' Appendix I.
a livelihood, which will not in any way harm a fellow- creature, -
or one's own mind or body. To gain a livelihood as a butcher
would certainly be against this law. Other modes of gaining
a living are open to objection, and the commentator enumerates,
in the first instance, the livelihood which a dancing-girl gains
by her occupation.
The explanation of the last three divisions occurs in the same
way in the Abhidhamma-pitfaka ; we may consider those three,
therefore, as the earliest attempt to explain the terms which in
the course of time had become unintelligible. As to the other
explanations of the Abhidhamma-pitfaka, we must at present re
frain from giving an opinion of them, as very little is known of
the books in which they are contained.
The explanation of the last three divisions breathes again more
of the philosophy of later Buddhism. We are told that right ex
ertion means an occupation that shall so interest the mind, as
to prevent any possibility of an evil condition of mind irom arising,
and also will dispel any sinful state or thought already in exist
ence, thus producing a healthy condition both of mind and body.
Bight-mindedness is explained to mean the continual recollec
tion of the natural weakness and impurity of the body, the evils
of sensation, the evanescence of thought, and the conditions of
existence. Bight meditation, finally, is said to mean those profound medi
tations by which the believer's mind is purged from all earthly
emotions, but no thought of any higher being is ever suggested.
We have purposely refrained from every polemic. Our state
ments have been taken from the earliest sacred writings of the
Buddhists themselves, and we hope that they will tend to clear
the way to a more correct understanding of Nirvawa than is per
haps general 6.
The question has often been asked, whether Buddhist philosophy
acknowledges the existence of a God who, as a supreme ruler,
6 The common notion that Nirvana is annihilation, is certainly due to the
fact that it is difficult for a European mind to imagine a state of blissful
existence in life. Nothing in the Buddhist scriptures, as far as they are at
present known, tends to confirm the idea that annihilation is the desired
end of life. Another notion of Nirvana, where it is said to mean a blissful
existence after death, is mostly propounded by writers on modern Burmese
Buddhism. This we have reason to ascribe to the fact that one of the ex
istences in heaven, as reward for a pious hfe, was mistaken for the final
goal to which every Buddhist aspired as the summum bonwm.

Buddhism. 349
governs mankind and all sentient beings, and who is the framer
of man's destiny? We have already drawn attention to the
influence which the Vedic mythology exercised on the popular
belief of the Indian people ; how, in return for the sacrifices, the
Hindu expected the granting of those wishes for which he asked.
The popular Indian belief never raised itself to such a height of
speculation as to acknowledge the simple notion of a single Creator.
The notion always remained behind that only in return for sacri
fices one could expect the fulfilment of wishes. In his pity for
all living beings, Gotama disallowed sacrifices, and the next conse
quence was that man was not made dependent for the fulfil
ment of his wishes on the free-will of the gods. However, the
belief in these gods was deeply rooted in the Indian mind, and
was transferred to Buddhism, just as the belief in Thor, Wodan,
Balder, and the rest prevailed among the Teutonic nations even
after their conversion to Christianity. In our own fairy tales
and epic poems we have a case exactly analogous. It is well
known that Beowulf, Sigfrid, Eriemhild and Brunhild of the
Nibelungenlied, are representatives of the gods of the old Norse
mythology. They have become good Christians in the course
of time, just as the Vedic gods became good Buddhists. Many
a characteristic of their old power nevertheless still remained,
and many a true and beautiful word and deed are related of them,
not unworthy of their previous dignity. On the other hand,
'just as the Teutonic nations pitied the water-spiites because they
could not be saved, the Buddhist would feel pity for some of
the old Vedic gods because they could or would not listen to the
teachings of the Buddha. The gods, however, seldom act from their
own initiative, but nevertheless such a case is related in the later
legend, when, after the attainment of Buddhahood, Gotama hesitates
for a while to communicate to mankind the truths he has dis
covered, Maha Brahma quitted the Brahma world and appeared
before him, and loosing his robe from one shoulder in token of
respect, and falling upon one knee, implored the sage not to keep
back from man the knowledge of the way of beatitude. A god
has only a temporal existence, and he ranks of course below the
Buddhas. The existence as a god is a reward for a pious life, but
according to his kamma he will be born in a lower or higher sta
tion ; he may, once upon a time, become a Buddha, and be thus
able to release mankind and gods from all bonds of suffering.
Thus the legends relate that Gotama himself was born four times
as the god Indra (Sakka Inda devanam).

350 Appendix I.
One can, in my opinion, neither blame Buddhism for its atheism
or agnosticism, nor, on the other hand, pretend that Buddhism
was a monotheistic religion. The reproach of atheism would only
be justified if it could be proved that Buddhism received from an
other religion the notion and strict proof of the existence of a su
preme being, which it wilfully ignored. Such is, however, not
the case ; no more is the notion of monotheism in accordance with
the tenets of Buddhism. The Brahman, which the later Hindus
raised to the dignity of an abstract supreme being, to whom they
wished to be united, was in Buddhism still only one deity amongst
many. As such, he had a temporary existence, as every other
god of the Vedic Pantheon, and was subject to birth and decay.
Moreover, the Buddhist did not recognise a soul in man, without
which the idea of monotheism is not conceivable. It substitutes
for soul the kamma of man (the outcome of his words, deeds, and
thoughts), much in accordance with the Latin proverb, "Fortunes
suae quisque faber est," and the well-known maxim of modern
philosophy, that every being is only the outcome of the accu
mulated deeds of his ancestors 7.
The existence of living beings was not restricted to the earth,
as the Buddhist world-system embraces innumerable abodes for
living beings, in which they are born according to their kamma.
The older theory of the migration of the soul maintained that the
soul remained the same, and migrated as such to different cor
poreal forms. Buddhism, denying the soul, but admitting the
kamma, the individual outcome of words, deeds, and thoughts,
had the strange theory, in conformity with the older one of soul,
that the kamma was accumulated in a new being.
It has often been asked how this theory of kamma, and the
denial of the existence of a soul, can be brought into agreement
with the fact that Gotama knew in what particular characters he
had previously appeared among living beings, and how he could
preserve consciousness, such as is related of him in the Qdtakat-
thavannand. This book contains, as is weU known, fables and
fairy tales, which are put in the mouth of the teacher with the
purpose of enforcing a doctrine in a humorous way. Their ori-
7 Cp. also Goethe's Iphigenie auf Tauris, Act I. Scene 3 : —
" . . . Es erzeugt nioht gleich
Ein Haus den Halbgott noch das Ungeheuer ;
Erst eine Beihe Boser oder Guter
Bringt endlich das Entsetzen, bringt die Freude
Der Welt hervor."

Buddhism. 351
gin is doubtless due, " for the most part, to the religious faith
of the Indian Buddhist of the third or fourth century B.C., who
not only repeated a number of fables, parables, and stories, as
cribed to the Buddha, but gave them a peculiar sacredness and
a special religious significance, by identifying the best character
in each with the Buddha himself in some previous birth" (Davids'
Buddhist Birth Stories, vol. i. p. lxxxii.).
It has until lately been assumed that the 67ataka without the
commentary is no longer extant ; but I have seen a MS. of the
67ataka simply containing the verses, which gave the commentator
an opportunity to relate the stories which he puts in the mouth
of Gotama, and in which he makes him play a prominent part.
It is, therefore, the commentator who is responsible for the per
version of the original doctrine. All vague assertions about the
non-agreement of the denial of the soul with the fact of Gotama's
knowledge of his previous existences are worthless. It is to be
inferred, therefore, that through taking the C?ataka with the com
mentary as the original, the opinion arose that what the Buddha
knew of his previous existences was due to the knowledge he
had of the future, present, and past, which was one of the attri
butes of Buddhahood.
We have in the preceding paragraphs collected together such
facts as can be considered firmly established about the life of the
Buddha, and the law he preached. It remains now for us to de
scribe the character of the community (Sangha) to which Gotama,
iri the first instance, directed his teachings. It has already been
briefly noticed that orders of mendicants (bhikkhus) were not
unknown at the time when Gotama commenced his teaching,
and to such mendicants he addressed himself. The source of our
knowledge of the discipline of the Buddhist community, lies in
the Vinaya Pifaka, which contains a collection of rules regulating
the outward conduct of the Sangha and bhikkhus. It has been
shewn on page 342, that the Patimokkha, and a collection of rites
form the main substance of the Vinaya, on which, in the course
of time, in the form of a Commentary, the Vibhanga and Maha-
Vagga, have been enlarged. To obtain, therefore, a notion of
earlier Buddhism, apart from historical researches, it will only
be necessary to consult these two books.
We may take it for granted that Gotama, in the first instance,
was the founder of a sect of mendicants, to whom he propounded

352 Appendix I.
his doctrine. He wandered about with them from place to place
begging for alms, and caring little for the wants of the morrow.
In the beginning of his teaching no fixed rules for the admission
to the order of mendicants were laid down : but the ever-growing
influx of his followers made it necessary to supply this want. Ad
mission to the order was only granted to those who were free from
all bodily ailments, and free from debt ; who had received the
permission of their parents, and were of the full age of twenty.
These different laws shew that an abuse must have prevailed for
some time, and in the Vinaya some stories are related which make
it apparent that the laying down of these rules was highly ne
cessary. Food was collected daily for the day in an alms-bowl, one of the
necessary requisites of a Buddhist monk, and no other food was
allowed to be eaten. But of course, as time advanced, exceptions
were granted, which made the rules valueless. It was then al
lowed to partake of meals which were offered to the whole order,
or to a certain portion of it. Further, if a mendicant received
a special invitation, he was allowed to go, and he received also
permission to partake of the meals offered on certain days, as on
the full-moon days, and the days following full-moon. His robes
were to be taken from rags found on a dust-heap, or in a cemetery ;
but also here we find many exceptions to the rule. Bobes made
of linen, of cotton, of silk, of wool, of hemp, and of flax, were
allowed to be worn, especially when offered as a gift of honour to
a mendicant. He had to lodge at the foot of a tree. This rule,
in its simplicity, shews us clearly that at the beginning the com
munity was a wandering one, whilst the exceptions make it evi
dent that Buddhism soon became a missionary body, anxious to
make converts, and to obtain a permanent footing in the country.
It was allowed to mendicants to dwell in monasteries, large houses,
houses of more than one storey, houses surrounded by walls and
rock-caves. For his ailments he was only allowed to use cow's urine ; doubt
less a relic of Brahmanical superstition, where, as it is well known,
the cow was considered a sacred animal. But in this case also later
exceptions made the rule irrelevant; and if a modern physician
might perhaps smile at the remedies, they could, at any rate, do
little harm. They were clarified butter, butter, rape-oil, honey,
and sugar-juice. Nay, legends even seem to prove that the art
of medicine must have been greatly advanced. Thus a story is told

Buddhism. 353
of 67ivaka, in the G'atakas, who, after he had been instructed by
his teacher, was sent out by him to collect, in a circuit of several
yo^ranas around the town, such herbs as were utterly useless in
medicine. The pupil returned saying that there was not a single
herb which was useless.
No sexual intercourse was allowed to the monk, and the slightest
breach of this commandment was followed by exclusion from the
community. "Just as a man whose head has been cut off is un
able to live, so does a monk who has indulged in sexual inter
course cease to be one, or to be a son of Sakya." Theft was
rigorously forbidden : not a blade of grass was the monk to take ;
and a later addition enforces that if he should take a piece of
silver of the worth of two shillings, he ceases to be a monk, or
a son of Sakya.
The destruction of life was likewise forbidden ; not even an ant
must be killed. Abortion was considered, in a later addition of
the law as amounting to the murder of a human being, and on
this latter crime expulsion from the order followed.
To put a check to bragging about perfection, it was enforced
that no mendicant should lay claim to more than human perfec
tion ; not even by saying that he delighted in solitude. Hereto
were addedj in the course of time, other regulations, which en
forced that a monk, who for sake of gain untruly and falsely
lays claim to these perfections, should be expelled from the
community. An institution belonging to the earliest Buddhism, is the as
sembly of the disciples twice a month, at full and new moon, to
confess the sins which they had committed. According to their
gravity, exclusion from the order, or temporary separation, fol
lowed the confession, or the offender had to give up the object
with which he sinned. Thus, to give an instance, it would be an
offence to wear a spare robe longer than ten days after a set of
robes is finished; or, on the other hand, it is considered an offence
if a monk accepts a robe from a nun, who is not related to him.
Other offences, again, require confession and absolution, or con
fession alone.
In speaking of offences, it is, perhaps, worth noticing that those
laws which a monk is required to observe when he first enters
the order, are given under different headings. Unchastity is enu
merated both as a deadly sin and as a fault, including temporary
exclusion from the order; and in the same way theft is con
sidered as a deadly sin, except in petty cases where it may be
A a

354 Appendix II.
only a fault requiring confession and absolution. Only the de
stroying of life in a human body is considered a deadly sin,
whilst taking of life falls under different general headings.

APPENDIX II.
The Notion of Conscience amongst the Zulus,
By Bishop Callaway.
The early missionaries found no word in the Zulu language for
"conscience." Clearly the working of conscience was found
amongst them ; but we had no word to express what we mean
by conscience. We could not tell a man, for example, to obey
"the dictates of his conscience :" nor that he was misled by a de
based conscience. If we used Inhlizingo (heart), we should be at
once struck with the impropriety of telling him to do what, per
haps, we were continually warning him not to do, to listen to the
dictates of his own heart ; which he was always perfectly disposed
to do, and claim the dictate of his heart as a sufficient reason and
justification for any kind of evil. "My own heart told me to do
it," was with the native a sufficient valid reason for doing any
thing. We were obliged to use cumbersome circumlocutions. I
observed that they would use a saying, in speaking of a thoroughly
bad, wilful evil-doer, as a reason for his abiding evil-doing, Udhliwe
Ugovana, "He has been devoured (eaten up) by TJgovana," that
is, all the good in him has been as utterly eaten up, as the cattle,
&c, of one smelt out by the witch-doctor, have been eaten up by
a party of Zulus, sent against him by Ketchwayo, for the purpose.
' ' TJgovana ? " I enquired, ' ' who is h e ? "
"Oh!" it was answered, "Ugovana is the bad man in us, and
Unembeza is the good man in us."
This not very lucid answer might have led one in a hurry to
conclude that the Zulu was speaking of a good and evil spirit,
of whose working within him he was conscious. But on further
enquiry, I found that Ugovana was the personification of an evil
heart, and Unembeza of a good heart; "for," said my informant,
" every man has two hearts in him, one urging him to do evil, and
to leave off good, that is Ugovana ; the other, not to do evil, but
to do good, that is Unembeza. Ugovana comes to us with a big,
blustering, but lying voice. He almost frightens us into doing

The Notion of Conscience amongst the Zulus. 355
evil ; and caUs us fools for not doing what we wish to do, and our
hearts tell us to do ; and asks us why we have wishes and feelings
given us, if not to gratify them ? But just as we are about to do
the evil, Unembeza comes with a little tiny voice, so little, that
we scarcely hear him amid the noise Ugovana is making, and says,
' No, no ! do not that wicked thing. Tou know it is wicked ! Do
it not.' But we usuaUy listen to the more noisy importunity of
Ugovana." Having mastered the two words, in order to test my proficiency,
and see if I could speak a little more impressively on the subject
of conscience than hitherto, I determined to use the words in
a sermon. On a Sunday morning, at our usual congregation, when
I introduced the words, every eye was at once turned to me, and,
as I proceeded, I had the command of every one present ; every
face was raised to mine, aud every mouth slightly opened in
rapt attention and interest. I knew they all understood me.
On leaving church, I said nothing to the Christian natives.
I thought I would rather speak on the subject to a heathen-man
who had been present, and proceeded to walk up the village ; when
I met the man, an old soldier of Dingan, I asked, " Jabisana, did
you understand my sermon to-day ?"
He replied, his face all beaming with a smile, "Yes, indeed
I did, and here is a proof of it," turning aside his blanket, and
exposing a four-pronged fork.
"But," 6aid I, perplexed, "what has that fork to do with my
sermon?" " Oh," he said, " a great deal, as I will shew you ; I was walk
ing along by these houses, and saw this fork lying on the ground,
and picked it up. Ugovana said, ' Vou are lucky to-day, Jabisana,
you have found a fork. No one saw you pick it up. Hide it
under your blanket, and take it home ! ' But Unembeza said, ' No,
Jabisana, that would not be right. It is not your fork ; it has an
owner. Find him, and give him back the fork ! '" And he added
laughing, "I intend to obey Unembeza."

Aa 2

356 Appendix III.
APPENDIX III.
The Pukusha-Sukta (Rig- Veda Sanhita, Bookx., Hymn 90;
from Muir's Sanskrit Texts, vol. i. p. 9 foil.)
[This hymn is generally allowed to be comparatively modern,
i.e. later than the main part of the Rig-Veda, both on account of
its diction and grammatical structure, the philosophical terms em
ployed, the mention of the three seasons in the order, spring,
summer, autumn (R.-V., x. 161. 4, has autumn, winter, spring),
the description of the origin of the four castes, which are not
mentioned elsewhere in the Rig- Veda, and similar reasons. It is,
however, an interesting monument of early Hindu philosophy and
cosmogony, before the rise of Buddhism.]
1. Purusha had a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand
feet: on every side enveloping the earth, he overpassed (it) by
a space of ten fingers.
2. Purusha himself is this whole (universe), whatever has been,
and whatever shall be. He is also the lord of immortality, since
(or when) by food he expands.
8. Such is his greatness, and Purusha is superior to this. All
existences are a quarter of him ; and three-fourths of him are that
which is immortal in the sky.
4. With three-quarters Purusha mounted upwards. A quarter
of him was again produced here : he was then diffused here every
where, over things which eat and things which do not eat.
5. From him was born Vira^r, and from Yirag, Purusha. When
born, he extended beyond the earth, both behind and before.
6. When the gods performed a sacrifice with Purusha as the
oblation, the spring was its butter, the summer its fuel, and
autumn its (accompanying) offering.
7. This victim, Purusha, born in the beginning, they immolated
on the sacrificial grass. With him the gods, the Sadhyas and the
ifo'shis, sacrificed.
8. From that universal sacrifice were provided curds and
butter. It formed those aerial (creatures), and animals both wild
and tame.
9. From that universal sacrifice sprang the Rik and Saman
verses, the metres and the ya^ush.
10. From it sprang horses and all animals with two rows of
teeth; kine sprang from it; from it goats and sheep.

The Purusha- Siikta. 357
11. When (the gods) divided Purusha, into how many parts
did they cut him up ? what was his mouth ? what arms (had he) ?
what (two objects) are said to have been his thighs and feet?
12. The Brahman was his mouth; the Bayanya was made his
arms ; the being (called) the Vaisya, he was his thighs ; the /Svidra
sprang from his feet.
13. The moon sprang from his soul (manas), the sun from his
eye, Indra and Agni from his mouth, and Vayu from his breath.
14. From his navel arose the air, from his head the sky, from
his feet the earth, from his ear the (four) quarters ; in this manner
(the gods) formed the worlds.
15. When the gods, performing sacrifice, bound Purusha as
a victim, there were seven sticks (stuck up) for it (around the fire),
and thrice seven pieces of fuel were made.
16. With sacrifice the gods performed the sacrifice. These were
the earliest rites ; these great powers have sought the sky, where
are the former Sadhyas, gods.

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359

INDEX.

A few Corrigenda will befoimd on p. xiv.

Aaeon's rod, 315 foil.
Abbott,Dr., ThroughNature to Christ,
140 foil.
Abraham, faith of, 34 a. ; promise
to, "thou shalt go to thy fathers
in peace," 147 n.
Absolution, value of, 328.
Academics, only admit probability,
100.
Ackermann, C, The Christian Ele
ment in Plato, 97 n.
Adam, ordered to work, 306 n.
Aditi, personification of Infinity, 78.
Agni, Hindu fire-god, 76.
Agnosticism inferior to Positivism,
307.
Ainos, position of the, 299.
Aisvarikas of Nepal, 91.
Alabaster, H., Wheel of the Law, on
merit-making in Siam, 269 n. ; on
Buddhist literature, 273 foil. n. ;
Buddhist social incapacity, 274 n.
Alcestis and Admetus, 165.
Alcestis, idea of Death in the, 155.
Alexandria, doctrine of the Church
of, 305.
Altar to the "Unknown God," 144
foil.
Amenophis II. , remarkable language
of, 85.
Amitabha Buddha, 271 n.
Andania, inscription of, 263 n.
Anghcan Church, future of the, 287
foil., 291 foil. ; possible mediation
by, 291.
Anselm, St., Cur Deus Homo, 185 n.,
194, 195, 196.
Apollo, 78 ; purification by, 157.
Apostles, training of the, 329 foil. ;
assurances given to, 330.
" Apostolic," a title of the Church,
328.
Apostolic ministry, 315, 328foll., 332.
Apostolic Succession, 333.
Areoi of Polynesia, 260 and re.
Aristotle, deistic tendency of his mo
ral philosophy, 60 ; on desire of
knowledge, 70 ; on human misery,
149 ; his idea of God, 191 ; on the
social instinct, 218 re. ; on the
growth of Society, 219 re. ; criti
cism of Plato's Republic, 229 re. ;
on slavery, 237 foil. n.

Ark, contents of the, 315 foil.
Arnold, Edwin, The Light of Asia,
123 foil.
Art-culture in the Church, 310 foil.
Asoka, king, council of, 92 re. ; mis
sions of, 268 n. ; inscriptions of
at Babra, 92 n. ; elsewhere, 179 re.
Assyrian lamentation of a sinner,
157 foil.
Asva-medha, 164 re.
Athanasius, St., on Sabellianism,
53 re.
" Atmada," meaning of, 172 re.
Atonement, heathen efforts after,
156—177.
Atonement, The, of Jesus Christ, at
tractiveness of, 185 ; its grandeur
and breadth, 186 foil. ; and God's
Love, 191 foil. ; and God's Justice,
197 foil. ; its willingness, 198, 294 ;
a revelation of the guilt and dan
ger of sin, 200 foil. ; a representa
tion of all men, 204 foil. ; union
with, 215, 327.
Augustine, St., on Porphyry, 103 ;
attacks both Pelagians and Mani-
chaaans, 114 ; on Varro and Scee-
vola, 240 re. ; on Old Testament
morality, 251 re. ; on death of Mo
nica, 295 ; justifies persecution,
313 and re.
Aurelius, Marcus, his idea of duty,
225 and re.
Authority, nature of, 122 ; instinct
for, 127 foil. ; gives strength, 131.
Authority, tendency to disregard, 26.
Avatars of Vishnu, 86.
Avesta, character of the, 94 ; Spiegel's,
159 n. See Parsis, Vendldad.
Avidya, principle of, 46 re.
Bacon, Erancis, and the Logos doc
trine, 305 re. ; on the duty of work,
306 re. ; on the need of humility,
319.
Balder, revival of, 208.
Bancroft, H., Native Races of the
Pacific States, refs. in notes, 83,
147, 159, 161, 167, 169, 174, 175,
208.
Banerjea, Eev. K. M., The Arian
Witness, 171 foil. ; cp. 163 n.
Baptism, 322 ; heathen rites of, 161 re.,

360

INDEX.

322 n. ; parody of, 325 ; emotion
excited by, 325 ; S. Cyprian on,
326.
Barker, Joseph, on character of
atheists, 13 re.
Barth, A., on extinction of Budd
hism, 266 n.
Beauty, sense of, 310.
Benson, E. W., Bp. of Truro, on
St. Cyprian, 295 re.
Berkeley, Bishop, on the supposed
defect of evidence for revelation, 5.
Bernard, St., on love, 19 re. ; against
persecution, 313 re.
Bible, admits the thought of injus
tice, 5; superiority of its idea of
God, 37, &c. ; comprehensiveness
of, 113, 114 re. ; and other rehgious
books, 119 foU. ; union of fact
and symbol in, 137.
Bird, Miss, Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,
conversion at Otsu, 142 ; treatment
of the Ainos, 299 re.
Bishops instruments of Christian
feUowship, 333. See Episcopal.
Blasche quoted by H. L. Mansel,
104 re.
Blood, offering of, 162 foil. ; washing
in, 163.
Brahma, myth of, 84.
Brahma-Samaj, the, 97 re., 214, 325.
Brewer, J. S., Monumenta Francis-
cana, 313 re.
Browning, E., The Confessional,10n. ;
A Death in the Desert, 20.
Buddha, Amitabha, 271 re.
Buddha, Gotama, life of, 87 ; date of
his death, &c, 88 re. ; sympathy
with humanity, 88, 267, 268 ; doc
trines of, 88 foil., 266—272 ; auda
city of, 89 ; pessimism of, 90, 271 ;
Pelagianism, 90, 114, 281 ; his doc
trine of Nirvana, 270 re. ; worship
of, and romantic legend, 91 and re. ;
his triumph-song, 123; pretensions
to apathy, 124 ; on evil in the hu
man heart, 150 ; godlike condescen
sion of, 267 ; meaning of Buddha,
ib. ; his missionary spirit, 268 ;
words at Isipatana, 268 re. ; sup
posed prophecy of the extinction
of his religion, 275 ; his means
recommended to Christian mis
sionaries, 275 f oil. ; contrasted with
our Lord, 124, 330.
Buddhahood, how attainable, 124 ;
Buddha's words on attaining, ib. re.
Buddhism, and the non-existence of
the soul, 90 re. ; three refuges of,
188 ; selfishness of, 204 ; ' the great
est voluntary association outside
Christendom, 265 ; extinguished in
India, 265 ; its wonderful expan

sion, 266; northern, 266, 271, 274;
its two great verities, ib. ; its moral
power, 265, 267 ; its great defect,
267 foil. ; compared with Positiv
ism, 268 foil. ; two schools of,
ib. re. ; missionary spirit of, ib. ;
doctrine of sin and merit, 269 foil. ;
indulges tedium of hfe, 270 ; highly
anti-social, 271 foil. ; developed out
of monasticism, 272 ; early activity
of, 273 ; literature of, ib. ; modern
apathy of, 273 foU. ; Chinese, cri
ticised by Confucianists, 274 foil. ;
in Ceylon, 274 ; tradition and pro
phecy about, 275.
Buddhism, Sacred Books of, see Dham
mapada, Gatakas, Lalita-Vistara,
Maha-parinibbana- Sutta, Sutta-
nipata ; writers on, see Alabaster,
Davids, Edkins, Eitel, Frankfurter,
Hardy, Legge, Muller, Saint-Hi-
laire.
Buddhist Sacred Books, their date,
92 re., 341 f.|; theory of the origin
of sacrifice, 179 re. ; pilgrims, 265
foil. re. ; Nirvana, 90, 270 foil., 347.
Buddhists, number of, 92, and re., 265.
Burial-clubs at Eome, 264.
Burnet [Bp.], Life of Rochester, 141
foil. re.
Bushmen, 28 re.
Butler, Bp., Analogy, on reason, 18 ;
on a state of probation, 24 ; on
natural cures of evil, 184 ; on re
pentance, 185 ; on rash judgment,
189 ; on innocent suffering for
the guilty, 197.
Byzantine Greek character, 296.
Cain, the sign given to, 157.
Caldwell, Bp., on worship of Krishna,
210.
Callaway, Bp., on religious ideas of
the Kaffirs, 35 re. ; on Kaffir idea
of conscience, 151 re., and App. II.
Calvinism, sometimes an occasion of
unbelief, 9.
Carlyle, T., on Positivism, 128 re. ; on
the Koran, 257 re. ; cp. 248 re.
Carter, Eev. T. T., Ore the Divine
Revelation, 196 n.
Caste, influence of, 238 ; cp. 338 ; abo
lished by Buddhism, 266; super
seded in temple of Jagannath, 323.
Catholicity, attribute of, 300 foil.;
connected with the resurrection,
301 ; St. Cyril on, ib. ; in action,
302 foil. ; in thought and philoso
phy, 305 foil. ; in art, 310 ; in lite
rature, 311 ; in sentiment, 312 foil.
Cato's saying about the haruspices,
240 and n.
Centurion, the, of Capernaum, 329.

INDEX.

361

Cerinthus, unites Ebionism and Do-
cetism, 65 n.
Ceylon, 266, 268 n., 274 foil.
Chaldean astrology, 75.
Chandar Sen, Keshab, his testimony
to Christ, 214.
Charismata, the, 314 ; cp. 332.
Cheyne, T. K., on Cyrus and Darius,
50 ; on Isa. xxxv. 8, 182 n.
Children, sacrifice of, its reason,
168.
China, state religion of, 57 foil. ; its
great defect, 58 ; wanting in ideal
elements, 135. See Confucius,
Edkins, Legge.
Chinese Buddhism, 266, 269, 271,
274 foil.
Chinese empire, unique position of,
86, 221 ; deification of emperors,
85 ; ideal of government, 222—226 ;
Emperor Thang offers himself, 165.
Chinese primitives, date of, 30.
Chiron and Prometheus, see corri
genda, xiv., 165, 199.
Christ, our Lord, His claims, 125
foil. ; contrast with Buddha and
Mahomet, 124 foil., 330; the Atone
ment of, 185 foil. ; willing sacrifice
of, 198, 294 ; the revealer of judg
ment, 202 foU. ; our representative,
203 f oil. ; our example, 215 foil. ; coin
cidence of freedom and obedience
in, 293 ; His presence in the Eu
charist, 117, 327; His "plan" as
to the ministry, 330 foil. See
Atonement, Incarnation, Logos.
Christ, Jesus, the character of in
literature, 311 ; evidence given by,
320 ; sceptics shirk enquiry into,
320 ; cp. 336 re.
Christ, Mahomet's testimony to, 125 ;
Moslem reverence for, 257 and re. ;
but cp. 256, 257 foil. ; Spinoza's
testimony to, 212; Eousseau's,213;
Chandar Sen's, 214 ; the, of imagi
nation and the real, 211 ; the Imi
tation of Christ, how read by Posi-
tivists, 213 and re.
Christheb, Th., Modern Doubt and
Christian Belief, 43 re.
Christology, Eutychian, 54; Ebionite,
63, 124 ; Nestorian, 65 ; cp. 211.
Christology, ideal, without the creed,
129, 141.
Church, notes of the, in the Creed,
279 foil. See Lecture VHI.^assim;
and cp. Peace.
Church, Dean, on Sacred Poetry, 120
re., 161 re. ; Influences of Christianity
on National Character, 288 n., esp.
297 re.
Church Quarterly Eeview, Theodore
of Mopsuestia, 65 ; Nicene Creed,

280 re. ; Opium Trade, 300re. ; Chris
tian Marriage, 334 n.
Cicero, de Natura Deorum quoted,
100 ; Tusculans, on wilful immo
rality, 151 ; de Officiis, on the so
cial instinct, 218 n. ; de Divina-
tione, Cato on the haruspex, 240.
Civilization, its work under God, and
its connection with mental and mo
ral changes, 3 ; ancient, based on
slavery, 237 ; does not produce Ho
liness, 292 ; its depressing effect
on native races, 299 n.
" Civis Eomanus sum," 227.
Clarke, Dr. Samuel, on necessity of
Miracles, 127 n. ; Eevelation agree
able to Eeason, 132 n.
Clay, J. C, on the Vatican Council,
241 n.
Cleanthes, sin an impiety, 153.
Clement of Alexandria on Buddha,
91 n. ; on the mystic chests, 316 n.
Clementines, author of the, 130.
Clergy, reproaches against, 11 ; con
nexion with the Universities, ib.
Clifford, Prof., Ethics of Belief , 24 n.
Codrus, dying for his people, 165.
Coleridge, quoted by J. S. Mill, 19 re.
Communion of Saints, 283.
Communion, Holy, 322 foil., 325, and
esp. 327 foil. ; heathen and other
parallels, 322 foU. ; cp. 264.
Comprehensiveness of Christian Doc
trine, 110, 112 foil.
Comte, Auguste, quoted by H. L. Man-
sel, 105 n. ; sympathy with Boman-
ism, 128 ; recommends the Imita
tion of Christ, 213 ; and Dante,
ib. re. ; on adoration of women,
&c, 229 re.; on living openly,
260 re. See Positivism.
Confession, 157—161, 328.
Confirmation, 328.
Confucius, coldness of his character,
58 ; date of, 88 n.
Congreve, E., on reading the Imita
tion, 213 n.
Constantine, legislation of, 297 foil.
Contemporary Eeview, Greek Mind
and Death, 148 n. ; Muhammedan
Law, 257 n. ; Positivism and Chris
tianity, 309 n.
Copleston, E. S. [Bp. of Colombo],
preface, ix.
Corn-ears, in the mysteries, 316 foil.
Cotton, Bp. of Calcutta, his prayer, iv.
Councils, Church, influence of, 303 ;
Buddhist, 273.
Crates, some evil in every man, 150.
Creed, sustaining power of the, 187
foil. ; cp. 318 foil. ; of the Church
of Jerusalem, 280 and n. ; of Con
stantinople, ib. ; ' Nicene,' ib.

362

Crete, medium between Egypt and
Greece, 262 n.
Cross in Mexican sacrifice, 175.
Crusades, the, their results, 304.
Cube, symbolism of the, 282 re.
Cyprian, St., his martyrdom, 295 ;
on baptism, 326.
Cyril, St., of Jerusalem, on the Creed,
280 re. ; on Catholicity, 301.
Cyrus and Darius, 50; called "my
shepherd," 221.
Dale, B. W., On the Atonement, 199 re.
Darmesteter, James, 50 foil., 155.
Darwin, Mr., and the Fuegians,
28 re.
Davids, T. W. Ehys, on Buddhism,
quoted in the notes, 87 — 92 passim;
on its extinction in India, 265 re. ;
on Buddha's sermon, 268 re. ; on
Buddhist Birth Stories, 273 re.
Death, » friend in the golden age,
147 ; an avenger, 154 ; impurity
of, 154 foil.
Deism, Anthropomorphic, puts God
outside the world, 55 ; its connec
tion with Judaic, or Ebionite ele
ments, 44, 61 foil. ; in modern' phi
losophy, 305 and re.
Delhi, rehgious function at, 204.
Dehtzsch, F., Christliche Apologetik,
on the idea of death, 154 re. ; on
sacrifice, 162 n. ; on Eabbinical
Jewish sacrifice, 164 re. ; on Chinese
sin-offerings, 166 re. ; on self-sacri
fice, 169 n. ; on the incompetence
of the State, 232 re.
Delphi, oracle of, 78, 79.
Demeter, myths of, 262 ; her em
blems, 317.
Developments, one-sided, 319.
Dhammapada quoted, on ' self,' 90 n.;
has no reference to marvels, 91 n. ;
preface to, on Buddha's date, 88 re. ;
on power of men over themselves,
114 re. ; on evil in the heart, 150 ;
on uselessness of sacrifice, 179 n. ;
on the three refuges, 188 n.
Diodotus, speech in Thucydides, 150.
Dionysus-Zagreus, 262 foil.
Dionysiac Enthusiasm, 316 foil.
Disunion of Christendom, 282 foU.
Divorce, Moslem, 255 and n. ; in
America, 334 n.
Doctrine, Christian, union with re
spect to, 285 ; an instrument of
peace, 318 foil. ; cp. 121, 130, 187.
Dodona, oracle of, 74.
Dblhnger, Dr., Heidenthum, referred
to in notes, on the Delphic oracle,
79 ; danger of myths, 98 ; slight
hope of immortality, 101 ; im
purity of death, 155; Egyptian

confession, 161 ; sacrifice, 163, 164,
167 ; on the mysteries, 262 ; on
mystic chests, 316 ; heathen sa
craments, 323.
Dominicans, 313.
Dorian principles, 261.
Dorner, J. A., System of Chr. Doct.
on Hegel, 47 re. ; Schleiermacher,
53 re.; Scotus, 63 re. ; modern heresy,
65 re. ; Person of Christ, on Sabel-
lius, 53 re. ; Scotus, 63 re.
Douglas, E. K., 46 re., 209 re.
Dualism, characterized, 49 foil.
Dubois, Cardinal, 10.
Eaton, J. E. T., Politics, 218 re.
Ebionite Christology, 63, 124 ; cp.
284.
Edda,Saemund's,84n., 208 ; Snorri's,
94 and n. ; cp. Grimm, Odin.
Edkins, Dr., on Imperial worship in
China, 57 n. ; worship of Ami-
tabha Buddha, 271 re. ; Confu
cianist criticism of Buddhists,
275 re.
Egypt, knowledge of, goes back to
B.C. 3000, ace. to Mr.Eenouf, 30 re.,
84 ; esoteric doctrine pantheistic,
48 and re. ; negative confession of
sin, in the Book of the Dead, 161.
Egyptian Kings deified, 84 foil. ¦
Eitel, Dr. , ref s. in notes to his Bud
dhism, on the Hinayana, 268 ; pa
radise of western heaven, 271 ; po
sition of women, 272 ; Northern
Buddhism, 274.
Eleusinia, accounts of the, 262.
Elhcott, Bp., the Being of God, 49 re.
Emperor, Eoman, worship of, 85, 128,
¦ 210, 240 foU. See China, King.
England, influence of its constitu
tion and inventions, 291. See
Anghcan Church, New England.
Epimenides, altar erected by, at
Athens, 145 n. ; introduces Orphic
mysteries from Crete, 262 n.
Episcopal government, early spread
of, 284 ; necessary to the Church,
333 ; results of, contrasted with
Presbyterianism, 334 n.
Eskimo, 28 n.
Eucharist, see Communion, Holy,
322, 327.
Euhemerism, 240.
Euripides, Ion, 78 re. ; Cresphontes,
149 ; Alcestis and Hippolytus on
impurity of Death, 154 foil. ; Mi
nos on Orphic life, 262 re. ; cp. 316.
Eutychian heresies tend to pan
theism, 52, 54 foil.
Evolution, influence of the theory
of, 307 ; a process not a cause,
320.

INDEX.

363

Faith suitable to a moral being, 24 ;
connected with awe by Hindus,
74; Christian, see Lect. IV. passim;
its contact with scepticism, 321 ;
sometimes selfish, ib. See Creed,
Doctrine, Truth.
Fall, the, its effects, 194.
Fan-Hian, 265 re.
Fatherhood, influence of the idea on
society, 220 foil.
Fergusson on the Temple, 282 re.
Feuerbach quoted by H. L. Mansel,
104 re.
Filioque controversy, 285.
Fire-gods, 76.
Forgiveness, Divine, not a mere re
lease, 195.
Foucart, P., Des Associations Reli-
gieuses, 263.
Francis, St., de Sales, words of, 295.
Franciscans, 313.
Frankfurter, Dr. 0., on the date of
Buddha, 88 re.; on the Gatakas,
273 re. See pref . ix., and App. I.
Free-will and grace conciliated, 113.
Frere, Sir Bartle, Christianity suited
to all forms of Civilization, 141 re. ;
on Moslem character, 258 ; on
treatment of lower races, 299 n. ;
Paper at Newcastle on Opium
Trade, 300 n.
Friends, Society of, and Christian
Unity, 285 ; and spiritual life, 332.
Fuegians, conversion of the, 28 re.
Gardner, Percy, the Greek mind in
the presence of death, 148 re.
Gatakas, or Buddhist Birth-stories,
273 re.
Gfiyatri, Hindu prayer, 76 re., 161 re.
Genesis, early chapters of, 137 foil. ;
on marriage, 255 ; on the duty of
work, 306 re.
Gerland, G., das Aussterben der Na
turvolker, on human sacrifice, 166 ;
on the Areoi, 250 re. ; on melan
choly of native races, 299 re.
" Great Plan" of the Shu King, 225.
Gnosticism, 51 and ». ; early and
modern, 139—141.
God, idea of, as arrived at by the
reason, 36 ; wonderful relation of
men towards, 71 ; His action often
excluded from history of religion,
72 ; always our teacher, 25 n., 321 ;
our power as fellow-workers with,
321 ; condescension of, in creation
a key to other mysteries, 176 ; His
love, 191 foil. ; His mercy, 195;
His justice, 197; Fatherhood of,
and Christian action, 302 foil. ; cp.
321. See Monotheism, Theism,
"I am that I am."

God, name of in Chinese, 57 n. ;
mean idea of in the Koran, 63,
244 foil., 253 ; Plato's idea of, 98,
191 ; Aristotle's, 191 ; " unknown"
to the heathen, 145 foil. ; sense of
separation from, Lect. V. passim. ;
the Creator overlooked by Budd
hism, 89, 268, 348 foil.
Gods, living and travelling amongst
men, 83 ; passing away of the,
96 re.
Golden age, myths of, 146 foU.
Gospels, criticism of the, 320, 336 re. ;
" the Institution of a Christian
Ministry," 329.
Gotama, the Buddha, 87 foil.; his
godlike condescension, 267 ; facts
of his life, 340. See Buddha.
Grace and Free-will equally asserted
in the Bible, 113.
Granth of the Sikhs, 119 n.
Greek myths of golden age, 146 foil.
Greek religion, superficial sense of
sin in, 148 ; melancholy idea of
life, 148 foU.
Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, Tin.,
84 n. ; horse sacrifice, 164 re. ; hu
man sacrifice, 167 re., 168 re.
Guilds, private rehgious, in Greece,
263 ; in Italy, 264.
Guizot on the mediaeval Church, 288 re.
Hades, legends of, 203, 262 ; Gods of,
protect their favourites, 263 re.
Hardwick, Archd., Christ and other
Masters, pref., vii., 84, 86, 91, 209.
Hardy, E. Spence, Manual of Budd
hism, 124 n. ; on merit - making,
269 re. ; Eastern Monachismon men
tal inertness of Buddhists, 274 n. ;
prophecy of the extinction of Budd
hism, 275 re.
Havet, Ernest, on the Gospels, 336 re.
Hegel, his definition of Eeligion,
47 n. ; on the Fall, 194 re.
Hegelianism, its pantheistic ten
dency, 46 foil. ; cp. 65 re.
Heimdall, 84.
Heliogabalus reintroduces human
sacrifice, 167.
Heraclitus, on oracles, 80.
Herbert, George, The Pulley quoted,
105.
Herbert, Lord, of Cherbury, 64 ; his
book, de Veritate, and Autobio
graphy, 129.
Heresy, various types of, see Lec
ture H., and the Table, 68 ; on
fundamental doctrines, how far
limited, 285.
Hermit life, 218.
Hesiod, on ignorance of prophets,
103 ; on the golden age, 147 foil.

364

INDEX.

Hindu philosophy, pantheistic cha
racter, 48, 267 ; cp. 238 ; religion
characterized, 134 foil., 238 ; con
fession of sin, 161 n. ; identifica
tion of victim and sacrificer, 163 ;
sacrifice and austerity ascribed to
the gods, 170 foil. ; human sacri
fice, 166 re., 169 re. See Banerjea,
Jagannath, Muir, Miiller, Vedas,
Vishnu, Wilson, Williams.
Hiouen Thsang, 266 n.
Hippolytus, St., on Ebionites, 124.
Historical character of the Christian
Creed, 136 foil.
History, Biblical, compared with
popular mythology, 137.
Hobbes, Thomas, and the Canon of
Scripture, 65 ; on the origin of so
ciety, 218 re. ; supports State reli
gion, 235 ; the father of Deism,
305 n.
Holiness, desire for, see Lect. V., VI.
Holiness, of the Church, rests on
divine grace, 292 foil. ; in indivi
duals, 294 foil. ; in nations, 296
foU. ; required by Christ, 300.
"Holiness" misapplied by Posi-
tivists, 293.
[Holland, H. S.], ore Opium Trade with
China, 300 re.
" Holy," a title of the Church, 280 re. ;
292 foil.
Holy Sphit, the, His work in art,
310 foil. ; in the call to repent
ance, 312 ; the charismata of,
314.
Homer, on human misery, 148.
Homeric poems and the Bible, 121 re. ;
hymn to Demeter quoted, 263 re.
Hooker, E., on the Sacraments,
324 re., 325 n.
Hope remaining after the other Gods,
148 n., 184.
Horace, on wilfulness, 154 re. ; on
sacrifice, 180.
Horse sacrifice, 164.
Hughes, Eev. T. P., Notes on Mu-
hammadanism, on Divine decrees
and Sufiism, 62 re. ; on the Koran,
119 n. ; on Mahomet's acceptance
of miracles, 125 n. ; on his sinful
ness, ib. ; on practical religion of
Islam, 245 n. ; on Jihad, 246 re. ;
on character of Mahomet as bind
ing Moslems, 248 re. ; Hi-effects of
Islam, 254 re.
Humility, appreciated by Plato and
Plutarch, 153 re. ; Celsus on Chris
tian, ib. ; by Lao-tse, 153 «., 209 ;
Christ's, 211 foil.
Hunter, Dr. W. W., Orissa, on Ja
gannath, 169, 323 n. ; Indian
Musalmans, 246 re.

Hutton, E. H., Christ's prophecies ef
His own death, 336 re.
Hwang-Ti, imperial title in China,
85.
lam that I am, the words commented
on, 38, 49 re.
Idolatry extirpated by Mahomet,
253 ; partial survival in Islam,
ib. re. See Emperor, Positivism.
Idol-meats, why forbidden, 323 re.
Ignatius St., to the Smy means, on
the fact of our Lord's death and re
surrection, 139.
Ignorance, especially of rehgious
truth, sinful, 7 ; of philosophers
and poets, their confessions of,
99 — 104 ; escape from, the object
of Buddhism, 267.
Imad-ud-deen, Bev., Autobiography
of, 245 »., 246 re.
Imitation of Christ read by Positi-
vists, 213 ; cp. 216.
Imposition of hands in sacrifice, 163 ;
in the inauguration of Kings and
Priests at Borne, 322 re.
Incarnation, The, of Christ, 176,
and Lect. VI. passim; philosophy
founded on the, 309 ; connection
with the Sacraments, 324.
Indian rehgion, flexible and unhis-
torical, 134 foil. ; contrasted with
Islam, 135. See Hindu.
Indra, faith in, 74.
Inexhaustibility of Holy Scripture,
118 foli
Infallibility, Papal, artificial cha
racter of, 118 vi. ; how justified,
241 ; its proclamation condemns
the Papacy, 288 foil. ; remarkable
coincidence in dates, 288 re.
Infinity and Personality of God com
bined, 38 foil. ; how this truth
may be received, 40 foil.
Inspiration, natural belief in, 92 foil.
Intellectual avarice, 23.
InteUectual coldness, 17.
Intellectual indolence, 14 foil.
Intellectual pride, 22.
Intellectual recklessness, 21.
Intelligibility, characteristic of truth,
131.
Invisible Church, 282 foil.
Irenseus, St., on the continuance of
faith and hope, 25 re.
Isaiah xxxv. verses 7, 8, "the way
of holiness," 181 foil.
Islam, acknowledges the Scriptures,
34 re. ; its doctrine of divine de
crees (Taqdi'r), 62 re. ; its deistic
temper, 62 foil. ; creed of, does
not come home to natural reason,
132 ; contrast with Indian Pan-

365

theism, 135 foil. ; unprogressive,
136 ; absence of miracles in, 125 re.,
and 142 re. ; defective theology of,
244 foil. ; formal character, 245 ;
banishes doctrine of Eedemption,
245 ; gloomy ethics, 246 ; good
works, ib. ; harshness, 246 foil. ;
weighted with character of Ma
homet, 247 foil. ; ai effects of, on
society, 254 foil. ; paralyses intel
lectual and religious development,
256 ; opposes the Gospel, 257. See
Hughes, Koran, Mahomet, Sir W.
Muir, E. B. Smith, &o.
Israel, history of, 138 foil.; what
they found in Canaan, 140 n. ;
unique position of, 320. See Jews.
Italian sphit in religion, 241.
Jagannfith, car of, 169 ; worship of,
in Orissa, 323.
Japan, 142, 266, 299 re.
Jeremiah, on God's power and man's
free-will, 113.
Jesuits, their supposed influence on
Franco-German war, 288 re. ; their
work, 313.
Jews, Babbinieal, sacrifice of, 164 ;
St. Bernard and, 313 re. See Ark,
Israel, Moses.
Jihad, rehgious war, 246 re.
Job, book of, admits a sense of in
justice into the Bible, 5.
Joinville, on the sceptical master of
theology, 5.
Jowett, Prof., his translation of
Plato quoted, 153, 242 ; on Dorian
influences on Plato, 261 re.
Judgment, revealed by the Saviour,
203.
Justin Martyr, conversion of, 130.
Kaffir death-song, 35 ; a, on idea of
God, ib. ; idea of conscience, 151,
and Appendix H. , 354.
Ifakravarti, title of, 92.
Kalki, avatar of Vishreu, 208 re.
Karma, Buddhist doctrine of, 90,
184, 350.
Kay, Dr. W., The Missionary, on
Pantheism, 45 re. ; Promises of
Christianity, 296 re. ; policy as to
opium trade, 300 re.
Kings, deification of, 84 — 86. See
Emperor.
Kingship, idea of, 220 foil.
Knowledge, a duty as well as a na
tural desire, 6, 7 ; cp. 310 ; limits
of, 308.
Koran, respect for the, 119 ; put
forward by Mahomet as a miracle,
125 re. ; cunning ascribed to God
in, 244 re. ; character of God in,
245 ; atonement rejected in, ib.
n. ; the Fall, ib. ; ferocious Sura

ix. and other passages on religious
war, 246 n., 247 ; how far tolerant,
247 n. ; a witness to Mahomet's
sinfulness, 247 foil. re. ; cp. 253 ;
Suras giving licence to Mahomet,
250 re. ; against certain crimes,
255 ; on polygamy, &a., ib. ; its
character, esp. as taking the place
of the Bible, 256 foil. ; denies our
Lord, 257 foil.
Krishma, 87 ; sensual worship of,
210.
Labour, duty of, 303 ; cp. 306.
Lactantius, on Seneca as a witness
against heathenism, 152.
Lalita- Vistara, legend of Buddha,
96 foil. ¦».
Lamech's wives, not a solar myth,
137 foil. re.
Lao-tse, on humility, 209 ; cp. 153 n.
Las Casas and slavery, 298.
Lasaulx, die Siihnopfer, 167 re.
Latin character influenced by Chris
tianity, 296. See Eoman.
Laws of nature, 306 foil.
Legge, Prof. James, on date of Chi
nese primitives, 30 re. ; on name of
God in Chinese, 57 re. ; quotation
from Chinese prayers, 57 foil. ; on
Confucius, 58 ; on idea of inspi
ration in China, 59 n. ; on title
Hwang-Ti, 85 re. ; on Emperor
Thang, 165 n. ; on Lao-tse, 209 re. ;
Chinese criticism of Buddhism,
275 re. ; on opium-trade, 300 re.
Leland ore the Deists, 235 n.
Lenormant, Francois, Origines de
VHistoire d'apres la Bible, 137 re. ;
on Cain's confession, 157 re.
Liberty, vindication of, 226 foil.
Liddon, H. P., preface, x; on the
Bible, 114 re. ; on our Lord's claims,
123 n. ; on the sense of sin, 149 re. ;
on mission from Christ, 328.
Lightfoot, J. B. [Bp. of Durham],
St. Paul and Seneca, 60 re. ; on
the Tubingen theory, 284 re.
" Live openly," a Christian motto,
260.
Lobeck, Aglaophamus, its value and
defects, 261 n.
Locke, John, on human ignorance
of God, 37 ; on miracles, 127.
Logos, The, working in History,
108; doctrine of the, 305 foil.,
309 ; and Lord Bacon, 305 re.
Loki, 84.
Love, necessary to understand the
language of Love, 19 ; its power
in extending and intensifying per
sonality, 41 ; true character of,
192 foil.
Lucan, Cato's speech in, quoted, 45.

366

Lucian, Pseudo-, Philopatris, on the
" unknown God," 145.
Lustration of a city, 234.
Lustrations, imply taint of sin, 161.
See Baptism.
" Lustricus, dies," 323 re.
Luthardt, Fundamental Truths, 10 re.,
209 n. ; Saving Truths, 149 re.,
165 re. ; Moral Truths, 149 re.
Lycurgus, legislation of, 261.

Maha-parinibbana-Sutta quoted, on
the Buddha's age, 87 re. ; on the
noble truths, 88 foil. ; on the three
refuges, 89 ; date of, 92 n. ; salva
tion attained by each for himself,
114 re.
Mahomet, did not claim miracles,
125 re., and 142 re. ; contrasted
with our Lord, 125, 330 ; admitted
the sinlessness of Christ, 125 re. ;
cp. 247 ; his principle of enforcing
religion, 236, 244 foil. ; low idea of
the Fall, 245 ; a mediator to some
of his followers, 245 re. ; did not
love God, 246 re. ; his attitude to
idolaters, Jews and Christians,
246 foil. re. ; confesses his own
sinfulness, 247 and re. ; his mixed
character, 248 ; his moral lapse,
249—251 ; his harem, 249 n. ; acts
of cruelty, ib. ; why not a true
prophet, 250 foil. ; relations to
Mary and Zeinab, 250 re. ; how far
sincere, 252 foU. ; his reforms, 253,
255 ; not content with his proper
position, 254 ; establishes a low
social state, 255 ; closed the Bible,
256 ; puts his own character in
the place of Christ's, 256 ; false
teaching about Christ, 257 ; false
prophecy of Peace, 259, 276, 278.
Mahomet, writers on, referred to in
the notes :— T. Carlyle, 248, 257 ;
T. P. Hughes (q.v.), 125, 248;
J. B. Mozley (q.v.), 63, 245 ; Sir
W. Muir (q.v.), 249, 250; Th.
Nbldeke, 248 ; J. B. Saint-Hilaire
(q.v.), 247, 249 ; B. B. Smith (q.v.),
246, 248, 250, 252; Sprenger, 249 ;
Stobart, 245, 246, 249, 258 ; Tiele,
249.
Mahometans acknowledge the Scrip
tures, 34. See Islam, Moslems.
Maine, Sir H., Early History of In
stitutions, 219 re.
Manco Ccapac sacrifices his child,
168.
Manna, the, as a type, 315.
Manning, Cardinal, on opium, 300 n.
Mansel, H. L. [Dean], on Anthro
pomorphism, 43 n. ; on Gnostics,

51 re. ; on ignorance of Modern
Philosophers, 104 re.
Mara, the Buddhist Tempter, 124 re.
Marquardt, J., Privatleben der Romer,
323 re. ; Staatsverwaltung, 323 re.,
324 re.
Marriage, Moslem idea of, inferior
to Hindu, 255 re. ; Christian, 303,
328, 334 ; cp. 219. See Polygamy,
Divorce.
Martensen, Christian Dogmatics,
191 re.
Maurice, P. D., Religions of the
World, preface, vii. ; Kingdom of
Christ, on absolution, 328 re. ; on
the Ministry, 329 ; sacerdotalism,
332 re. ; Episcopacy, 333.
Megasthenes on Buddha, 91 n.
Merit, Buddhist doctrine of, 269 foil.
Merivale, Dean, on the Perusinse
arae, 167 re. ; on the cessation of
sacrifice, 178 re.
Messianic prophecy, 207 foil.
Mexican mythology, 83 ; confessions
of sin, 159 foil. ; baptism of in
fants, 161 re. ; human sacrifice,
166 foil. ; cp. 160, 169 re. ; reaction
against, 169 re. ; sacrifice of gods
Huitzilopochtli and Xiuhtecutli,
174, 175 re. See also Quetzalcoatl.
Mill, John Stuart, his dejection and
coUapse, 19.
Milman, Bp. of Calcutta, Love of the
Atonement, 203 re.
Ministry, Christian, its value, 291,
315, 331 foil.; institution of in
the Gospels, 329 foil. ; brings
home Christ's presence, 331 —
333 ; influence on doctrine and
morals, 334. See Ordination.
Minucius Felix, on natural mono
theism, 34 re.
Miracles, asked for by Pharisees and
Sadducees, 61 foil. ; necessary for
aBevelation, 127 re., 142 n. ; Christ's
admitted by Mahomet, 125 ; ab
sence of, in Islam, 125 re., and
142 re.
Missionary alphabet, xiii.
Missions, Church, 304 ; cp. preface,
viii. foil. See Oxford.
Mitra, God of day, 77.
Moab, King of, sacrifices his son,
168.
Moloch, sacrifice to, 167, 168 re.
Mommsen, Th., on decay of Boman
religion, 240 ; de Collegiis, 264 re. ;
R. Staatsrecht on inauguration,
322 re.
Monasticism, value of, 218 re., 313
foil.
Monica, death of, 295.
Monotheism, natural, 33 foil. ; only

INDEX.

367

publicly held by those who possess
the Scriptures, 33 foil., 37.
Moravians, 313.
Moses and the Ethiopian woman,
252 re.
Moslems, character of, 258 ; their re
gard for Mahomet, 248 re. ; Muslim,
meaning of, 244. See Islam, Ma
homet, Koran.
Mozley, J. B., preface, vii. — ix. ; his
classes for graduates, 65 re.
Mozley, J. B., on the duty of hope
and noble wishes, 21 re. ; on sel
fish love of Truth, 23 re. ; on Ma
homet's idea of God, 63, 245 re. ;
Essay on Oracles, 79 re. ; on the
necessity of Miracles, 127 ; on the
Sacrifice of Isaac, 168 n. ; on the
Atonement, 197 ; on War, 232 re. ;
on the morality of the Old Tes
tament, 251 re. ; Lord Strafford,
295 n.
Muir, Dr. John, Sanskrit Texts, refs.
in notes, 74, 75, 76, 77, 84 ; theories
of inspiration, 95 ; cp. 146 ; Purusha-
Sukta, Appendix III. , 356.
Muir, Sir W., his judgment of Ma
homet, 249 foil. re. ; quotations
from his Life, 246 foil. ; on hi
effects of Islam, 254 re. ; puts Hindu
above Moslem marriage, 255 n.
Muller, Prof. F. Max, his missionary
alphabet, xiii. foil. ; refs. in notes,
his series of Sacred Books, 30 ; his
judgment on them, 120 (text) ; on
faith of Abraham, 34 ; on Parsi
monotheism, 51 ; name of God in
Chinese, 57 ; Hibbert Lectures quo
ted, 75, 78 ; on date of Buddha's
death, 88 ; Buddhist doctrine of
the soul, 90 ; worship of Buddha,
91 ; number of Buddhists, 92 ; pass
ing away of the gods, 96 ; on sup
posed primeval revelation, 146
(text) ; Vedic confessions of sin,
161; on Buddhist Nihilism, &c. ,
270 ; Migration of Fables, 273.
[Mulhnger, J. B.,] the New Reforma
tion quoted, 241 «., 287 re., 288 re.
Muni, life of a, 271 re.
Murder, guilt of, 156.
Music, theology of, 262 ; in the
Church, 311.
Myers, F. W. H., Essay on Oracles,
75 re., 79 re.
Mylne, L. G. [Bp. of Bombay], Ore
Theodore of Mopsuestia, 65 re. ; pre
face, ix. it,.
Mystery to be expected in our view
of the Divine Nature, 41 foil. ; of
scientific truths, 115 ; of human
nature, 116 ; of Christian truth,
117 ; false of the Immaculate Con

ception and Papal Infallibility,
118 re.
Myths, confession of the danger of,
98 and re.
Nature, Voices of, 74 ; Laws of, 306
foil.
Neander, Church History, on Gnosti
cism, 51 re. ; on theology of Islam,
245 re. ; hopes for Islam, 258 re.
" Nebuchadrezzar my servant," 221 ;
pronounced his own degradation,
288.
Nestorianism and Pelagianism, 65.
Neubauer, Dr., on Isa. xxxv. 8, 182 re.
New England, divorce in, 334 re.
Newman, J. H., Grammar of Assent,
on false candour of sceptics, 17 re. ;
strange connection of the cultus
of the B.V.M. with Arianism,
63 foil.
"Nicene Creed," 280 re.
Nineteenth century, Religion of Zoro
aster, 50 re. ; Modern Parsis, 51 n. ;
Odinic songs in Shetland, [not Scot
land], 173 re.
Nirvana, Buddhist, 90, 270 foil. ; pro
bable theory of, 270, and 347 foil. ;
Max Muller upon, 270 n. ; Sutta-
Nipdta on, ib. ; neglected by many
modern Buddhists, 271 ; women,
incapable of, directly, 272.
" Nuk pu nuk " in Egyptian, what
it really means, 49 n.
Obedience, virtue of, 220.
Ocellus Lucanus, 224 re.
Odin, the High one's Lesson, 173 foil.
Offertory, the, 327.
One-sidedness in religion, 110.
Opium trade with China, 300 and re.
Order, our Lord's delight in, 329.
Ordination, 328. See Ministry.
Origen on "mere faith," 18 re. ; on
the office of faith in human hfe,
25 re. ; on moral danger of unbelief,
128 n.
Ormazd and Ahriman, 50 re.
Orpheus, myth of, 262.
Orphic societies, 261 ; hfe, 262 re. ;
mystery-mongers, 265.
Osborn, Major E. D., Muhammedan
Law, 257 re.
Osiris, myth of, 174 ; and Dionysus-
Zagreus, 262.
Ovid, on the propensity to evil, 151 ;
on identity of victim and sacri
ficer, 164.
Oxford Missionary Association of
Graduates, pref. viii., 28 re., 300 re.
Pantheism in the Church connected
with heathen elements, 44 ; its de
structive character, 47 foil.

368

INDEX.

Pantheism and Deism contrasted, 43
to end of Lecture ; cp. 307 ; mutu
ally exclusive, ill ; modern ten
dency to, 307.
Pantheistic interpretation of myths
of suffering gods, 175 foil.
Papacy, self - condemned, 288 foil.
See Infallibility, Eomanism.
Papinenipalli, Christians of, 324 re.
Parsis, modern monotheistic, 34 re.,
50 foil, and re. ; on impurity of
death, 155 ; confession of sin, 158
foil. ; confession of faith, 188 ; ex
pect a deliverer, 208.
Pascal, " qu'il faut aimer les choses
divines pour les connaitre," 19 re. ;
on the negligence and "bassesse
de eceur " of infidels, 21 re ; Chris
tianity a, combination of the in
ternal and external, 109 re. ; on the
Incarnation, 202.
Patets, Parsi confessions, 159.
Patriarchal principle, 234 ; cp. 220
foil.
Paul, St., his speech at Athens, 69,
107, 143 foil. ; co-ordinates grace
and free-will, 113 ; rests on his
torical fact of the Besurrection,
139 ; blames Athenian supersti
tion, 144 ; thought highly of the
natural evidences of religion, ib. ;
enforces labour, 303 ; on the min
istry, 330.
Peace, natural desire for, see Lect.
VH. passim ; cannot be assured
by civil society, 230 ; failure of
threefold attempt to secure, 236
foil., 276, 278 foil.
Peace of the Church, see Lect. VIII.
passim, 277 foil. ; unity, 280 foil. ;
Holiness, 292 foil. ; Catholicity,
300 foil., —in action, 302 foil. ;
thought, 305 foil. ; art, 310 ; feel
ing, 312 ; Doctrine, 318 foil. ; Sa
craments, 322 foil. ; Discipline, 328.
Pelagianism, its connection with
Nestorianism, 65 ; Pelagian cha
racter of Buddhism, 90, 114, 281 ;
Pelagian tendency of modern
schism, 287 foil.
Penitentiaries, etc., 303 ; cp. 300.
Permanence, an attribute of Truth,
133 foil.
Persecution, loss of the power of,
289, 290; fallacy of , 313.
Persian Dualism, 50.
" Perusinas arse," 167 re.
Peshyotanu, expectation of, 208.
Pfleiderer Religions philosophic on
Schleiermacher, 54 n. ; on the Fall,
194 re. ; on Mahomet, 248 re.
Pharisaism deistic, 61 ; cp. 252 re.
Philosophers confess ignorance, 104.

Philosophy, Christian, 305 foil.;
demand for, 309 foil.
Pindar, on the counsels of the Gods,
103.
Plato, on the art of divination, 82 ;
forbids admission of the Poets, 97 ;
on the Idea of Truth, 98; his
hope of a Divine Word, 99 ; idea
of a golden age, 146 foil. ; on the
strife of good and evil in the soul,
150 ; on divine justice and like
ness to God, 153 ; respect for hu
mility in, 153 re. ; against super
stition and immoral theology of
sacrifice, 178, 243 ; his idea of
God, 191 ; the ideal just man, 209 ;
on the growth of society, 219 re. ;
his Republic on education, 228 ;
on position of women, 229 ; on
slavery, 237 re. ; on the pattern of
the Ideal State, 242 ; his creed in
the Laws, 243 ; to be made com
pulsory, 243 foil. ; inadequate idea
of a priesthood, 244.
Plutarch, on the Stoic polity, 27 re. ;
on oracles, 79 re. ; on birth and
death, 149 re. ; on superstition and
atheism, 177 ; on the mysteries,
263 re. ; cp. 316.
Poetry, Christian, 311.
Polybius, his rationalistic view of
Eoman religion, 238 foil.
Polygamy, Mahomet's, 249 ; Moslem,
255 ; evils of, 255 foil. ; Sallust on
Moorish, 256 ; abolished by Chris
tianity, 303. See Marriage.
Pomegranate, 316 foil.
Pope, Alex., pantheistic lines of, 46.
Positivism, its worship of Humanity,
128, 308; its mottoes, 260, 268;
its morality compared with Budd
hism, 268 foil. ; superior to Agnos
ticism, 307 ; its failure, 308 ; what
it wants, 309 ; Dr. Westcott on,
309 re. See Comte.
Porphyry, his collection of oracles,
102, 128 ; his confession of uncer
tainty, 103 ; de abstinentia, 147 «.,
168 re., 262 re.
Praja-pati called atmadS, 172.
Prayer, neglect of, 15 foil.
Preller. Griech. Myth., 147, 165, 167,
262 ; Rom., 163, 164, 167.
Prichard, J. C, on unity of human
race, 29 re.
Probation, life a state of, 24.
Prometheus, see corrigenda, xiv., 76
and re., 165.
Psalter, use of the, 120.
Punishment, future, 202 foil.
Puramas, date of the, 87 re.
Purusha-Sukta, 95 and re. See Ap
pendix HI., 356.

INDEX.

369

Pythagoras, date of, 88 re.
Pythagorean societies, character of,
260 foil. ; influence on Plato, 261
Pythia, the, at Delphi, 79.
Quatrefages, A. de, on unity of hu
man species, 29 foil. re.
Quetzalcoatl, the gentle god of Mex
ico, 84 n. ; happy life under, 147 re. ;
forbade human sacrifices, 169 re. ;
his return expected, 208 ; Cortes
mistaken for, ib. re.
Quirinus, on Vatican Council, 288 re.
Bivarea, power of, 170.
Bagnarok, xiv. and 96.
Beason, true place of, 17 foil.
Eedeemer, character expected in a,
207. See Christ.
Eeligion, unity of, 27 ; a matter of
moral choice, 66 ; history of, mis
take often made in tracing, 72 ; as
an influence on society in non-
Christian States, 234 foil. ; three
methods of applying, 235 foil.
Religions, three fundamental ideas
of all, 31, 335.
Eenan, E., his demand for a miracle
at Paris, 61 re. ; his pecuhar po
sition, 64 foU. re. ; exaggerates im
portance of Eoman collegia, 264 re. ;
on the necessity of religion to so
ciety, 291 n.
Eenouf, P. le P. , on our knowledge of
Egypt, 30 re. ; on " nuk pu nuk,"
49 n. ; on divinity of Egyptian
kings, 84 foil.
Eepentance, Umited power of, 184 foil.
Eepresentation, principle of, 204 foil. ;
of two kinds, 205 ; natural, 206.
Eesurrection, the, its connection with
Catholicity, 301 foil. ; influence on
literature, 311 ; call to in the
Church, 312.
Eevelation, natural expectation of,
72 foil. ; both ideal and practical,
109 foil. ; needed to enforce pri
mary truths, 33, 37, 291 ; Moslem
regard for, 257.
Eewards for virtue, how limited, 232
foil.
Bichter, F., quoted by H. L. Mansel,
104 re.
Eimini, Council of, 286.
"Eishi," Vedic seer, 172 re.
.Rita, ideal Duty, 78.
Eobertson, F. W., the Illusiveness of
Life, 140 re. ; Absolution, 328 re.
Eochester, Earl of, his conversion,
141.
BodweU's Koran, 247 re.
Eoman Emperor, deification of, 85,
128,210, 240 foil.

Eoman history, later, a record of
crime, 151 foil.
Eoman religion, common sense of,
169 re. ; described by Polybius, 238
foil. ; decay of, 240 ; Varro on,
240 ; inauguration of a king, 322
re. ; sin-offerings in, 323 re. ; conse
cration of daily food, 324 n.
Eomanism, its deistic side, 63 foil. ;
artificial mysteries of, 118 ; and
Positivism, 128 ; subordinates truth
to expediency, 241 ; secularity of,
287 fall. ; work of mediawal, 288.
See Infalhbihty.
Eousseau, J. J., Emile, on Christ and
Socrates, 213 ; Contrat Social, on
"Natural Slavery," 237 re.; on
" Civil Eeligion," 243 re.
Eyder, Admiral A. P., on the protec
tion of women, 300 n.

Sabellian and Eutychian heresies,
51 foil.
Sabelhanism, its pantheistic ten
dency, 52 foil.
Sacerdotalism, false and true, 332 f.
Sacraments of the Church, 322 foil. ;
an extension of the Incarnation,
324; the ministry necessary to,
331 heathen, 322 f., 324 ; cp. 264,
317. See Baptism, Communion.
Sacred Books of the East, 30 re. ; criti
cism of, 120.
Sacrifice, element of self-denial in
all, 162 ; for sin, ideas underlying
it, ib. ; offering of blood, 163 ; im
position of hands, ib. ; identified
with the sacrificer, 163 foil. ; of
white bull, ram, horse, 164 and re. ;
willingness to die required in, 164 ;
human, 165 — 169 ; as voluntary
self-surrender, 165 foil. ; as ritual
institution, 166 foil. ; feelings that
lead to, 168 ; reaction against, 169
foil. ; forbidden at Eome, 167 n.,
169 re. ; to Jupiter Latiaris, &c. ,
167 re. ; of children, 168 ; of a king
and of a guest, ib. ; ascribed to
the gods in India, 170 ; of self of
the " Lord of Creatures," 171 ; of
Purusha, 172; of Odin, 173; of
Mexican gods, 174 foil. ; of Osiris
and others, 174 ; principle involved
in these myths, 176 ; tendency to
give up as useless, 178 foil. ; Budd
hist opinion of, 179 n. ; Horace,
Odes, hi. 23, on, 180 ; at Boman
meal, 323 ; Christ's, pleaded in
the Eucharist, 327 (see Atonement) ;
union with, 215, 327.
Saint - Hilaire, J. Barthelemy, ad
mires Mahomet, 249 n. ; on his

Bb

370

INDEX.

toleration, 247 re.; on Buddhism,
267 re.
Sakyamuni, 87. See Buddha, Go
tama.
SaUust, on Moorish polygamy, 255
foil.
Sarasvati, river goddess, 75.
Savitri, prayer to, 76.
Sayce, A. H., Accadian Psalm, 158 re.
Scaliger, Joseph, his dying words,
296.
Scepticism, its attraction, 318 foil. ;
connection with faith, 319 foil.
Schism, some chief causes of, 285
foil. ; schismatic temper a check
on heresy, 286.
Schleiermacher, his pantheistic and
Sabellian leanings, 53 and n.
Scholasticism, its great efforts, 305 ;
why it failed, 306.
Schopenhauer, quoted by H. L. Man-
sel, 104 re.
Scotland, religion in, 334 re.
Scott, Sir W., his power, 311.
Scotus, Duns, his theory of the In
carnation, 54 re. ; Deistic tenden
cies of, 63 and re.
Sculpture, neglect of, 311.
Sea-Gods, oracular, 75.
Secrecy, natural passion for, 260 ;
cp. 70 foU.
Secret societies, their danger, 260.
Secularism, a result of Deism, 56.
Secularity in the Church, 287 foil.
Seneca, on Immortality, 101 ; on the
wickedness of his times, 152.
Servius, on silence at Boman meals,
324 re.
Seventy, the, 330.
Shaftesbury, Lord, (the philosopher)
supports state religion, 235.
Shakespeare, his power, 311.
Shang-Ti, in Chinese, 57.
Shelley's idea of illusion, 46.
Shepherd, the good, 214; cp. 147,
220.
Shu-King, The, character of, 222 foil.
Siam, Buddhism in, 269, 271 re.,
273 re.
Sibyl, the, 208 foil.
Simonides, on the perfect man, 282 n.
Simplicity, not a necessary mark of
truth, 111.
Sin and unbelief connected by our
Lord, 6; of voluntary ignorance,
6, 7.
Sin, secret inclination to, 12 foil. ;
heathen sense of, 149 — 154 ; con
nected with death, 154 foU. ; con
fession of, 156—161, 328; its work
in the world, 193 foil. ; revelation
of its guilt and danger, 200 foil. ;
slight sense of in Islam, 245, 253 ;

Buddhists view it as a misfor
tune, 269.
Sinlessness of the Eedeemer, 207 ;
falsely ascribed to Mahomet, 248.
Sin-offerings, 162 foil. ; Eoman and
Jewish, 323 re.
Sins of the intellect, 14—23.
Slavery, abolition of, 198, 298 ;
Greek and Eoman civilization
based upon, 237 ; Plato's and Aris
totle's views of, 237 foil. re. ; Eous-
seau on, ib. ; Mahomet legalizes,
255 ; influence of the Gospel on,
297 and re. ; negro, institution of,
298 ; repentance for, ib.
Smith, Goldwin, Mansel's Letter to,
43 re. ; Does the Bible sanction
American Slavery ? 298 re.
Smith, John, Select Discourses, 82 re.
Smith, E. Bosworth, Mohammed and
Mohammedanism, Mahomet did not
love God, 246 re. ; admires M. ,
243 re. ; thinks him a "true pro
phet," 250 ; letter from Mir Aulad
Ah, 248 n. ; tendency to justify M.,
252 re. ; on Moslem reverence for
our Lord, 257 re.
Society, natural to man, 218 ; an ex
tension of the family, 219 ; influ
ence of religion on, 234 foil.
Socinians, 285.
Socrates, his relation to the oracles,
80 foil. ; his inward monitor, 82 ;
trial and death of, 98 ; compared
with Christ, 213 ; his independence
as a citizen, 227.
Solon, on concealment of the mind
of the gods, 103.
Soma, Hindu god, 76 re.
" Son of Man " in Daniel, 221.
Sophocles, Antigone on wondrousness
of man, 184 ; (Ed. Colon, on birth
and death, 149 re. ; on intercession,
165 re. ; Antigone on man's power
of conquering evil, 184.
Spinoza, his one substance, 45 ; He
gel on, 47 re. ; Schleiermacher on,
53 re. ; his testimony to Christ,
212.
State, origin of, 219 ; conception of,
227 foil. ; cannot give happiness,
230 foil. ; its negative position,
232.
Steere, Bp. , Attributes of God, 185 re. ;
on conversion to Islam, 258 re.
Stephen, Leslie, English Thought in
18th century, 243 re.
Stoics, their deistic side and connec
tion with Judaism, 60 and re. ; on
oracles, 81 re. ; polity and ideal of
Peace, 27 re., 230.
Strafford, Lord, his speech on the
scaffold, 295.

INDEX,

371

Strauss, D. F., his connection with
the Eutychian school, 54 ; quoted
by H. L. Mansel, 104 re.
Sufiism, 62 re., 246.
Sun-gods, Vedic, 76 and re.
Superstition, blamed by St. Paul,
144 ; compared to Atheism by Plu
tarch, 177 ; praised by Polybius as
a political instrument, 238 foil.;
use of the term in Greek, 239 re.
Supremacy, Eoyal, suggestion about,
289 foil.
Sutta-Nipata, quoted, on "Karma,"
90 re. ; levitation in, 91 re. ; on ori
gin of sacrifice, 179 re. ; on the
three refuges, 188 re. ; on her
mit-life, 204 re., 271 re. ; on Nirv&-
rea, 270 foil. re.
Table, comparing different religious
systems, 68.
Tables of the Law, 315 foil.
Talbot, E. S. [Warden of Keble Coll.],
preface, xi. ; on Slavery, 298.
Tao, its pantheistic character, 46 ;
cp. Lao-Tse.
Taoism in China, 59.
" Tapas," austerities, power ascribed
to, 170.
Taurobolia and Criobolia, 163.
Taylor, Jeremy, on the Sacraments,
324 re.
Temple, form of the Jewish, 282 n.
Tennant, Sir J. E., on Buddhism in
Ceylon, 274 re.
Terence, " Homo sum," etc., xiv., 27.
Tertullian, the place of Eeason, 17 re. ;
the soul naturally Christian, 33.
Testament, Old, points to Christ,
126 ; morality of, 251 and re. ;
Mahomet's neglect of, 254. See
Bible, Genesis.
Testament, New, criticism of the, 66,
320. See Gospels. Eevised ver
sion quoted, 144 re., 260 re.
Teutonic mythology, see Grimm,
Edda, Odin ; national character
and Christianity, 297.
Tezcathpoca, in Mexico, seats left
for, 83.
Thang, Chinese Emperor, ready to
die for his subjects, 165 ; cp. 223 re.
Theism, Biblical. See Lect. H.
Theodore of Mopsuestia and Modern
Thought, 65 re.
Theognis, on Hope, 148 re., 184 re. ;
on birth and death, 149 re.
Tholuck's Guido and Julius, 104 re.,
149 n., 202 re.
Thompson, J. C, 48 n.
Thor, 74, 84.
Thoro the Dane sacrifices his child,
168.

Thuoydides on the Trojan war, 304.
Thunder, gods of, 74 ; oracles from,
75.
Thyrsus, the, of Dionysus, 316 foil.
Ti, or Shang-Ti, 57.
Tiele, Outlines of Rel., 119 re., 249 re.
1md£\,RightsoftheChristianChurch, on civil religion, 243 re.
Transliteration of Oriental words,
xiii. foil.
Transmigration, 270 ; cp. 339.
Transubstantiation, artificial, 117.
Trench, B. C. [Abp.] , Hulsean Lec
tures, 114 re. ; Mediceval Ch. Hist. ,
on influence of Eome, 288 re. ; on
works of mercy, 303 re. ; on the
Crusades, 304 re.
Trinity, doctrine of, a bulwark of the
divine Personality, 52 foil. ; mys
tery of, 112 ; intelligibility of, 132
foU. ; unity of the, its relation to
the Church. 281.
Trinity of the Buddhists, 188 n.
Trumpp, Dr.E., on the Adi Granth,
119 re.
Truth, Christian pursuit of, 23 ; na
tural passion for, 70 ; an element
in all widespread belief, 111 ;
Christian, comprehensive, 110
foil. ; mysterious, 115 foil. ; inex
haustible, 118 foil. ; authoritative,
122 foil. ; intelligible, 131 foil.;
permanent, 133 foil. ; a source of
freedom, 131 ; subordinated to ex
pediency, 236 — 241 ; imposed by
force, 236, 241 foil. ; sought in
voluntary societies, 236, 259 foU. ;
failure of these three attempts, 276,
278 foil.
Truths, the four Noble, of Bud
dhism, 88.
Tubingen School of criticism, 64,
65 ; on the early Church, 284.
Tylor, E. B., Primitive Culture, on
human sacrifice, 166 re. ; lustration
of children, 322 re. ; heathen sacra
ments, 323 re.
Ueberweg, Hist, of Philosophy, on
Schleiermacher, 53 re. ; Scotus,
63 re. ; Plotinus, 102 re.
Unbelief and Sin, 6.
Unbehef, its moral causes, 8 — 23.
Unitarians, 285.
Unity of the Church, its double
sense, 280 foil. ; rests on the Unity
of the Blessed Trinity, 281 ; of the
early Church, 283 ; present, on
points of doctrine, 284 foU. ; pro
spects of, 287 ; office of the Church
of England towards, 291 foil.
Unity of the Godhead the basis of
Christian Unity, 280 foil. ; coinci-

372

INDEX.

dence of will and goodness in,
293.
Unity of the human race, 28 — 30.
Unity of religion, 27 ; heathen view
of, 27 n.
"Unknown God" at Athens, &c,
145.
Upanishads, Pantheism of the, 45.
and re.
Utopias, inadequacy of, 233 foil.
Vaishnava reforms, 97.re., 323 re.
Varro, Marcus, on religion and the
ology, 240.
Varuna, 77.
Vasishtfta, 77.
Vata, hymn to, 75.
Vatican Council, composition of the,
241 re. ; striking synchronism re
specting, 287 re. ; new period be
gins with, 288.
Vaughan, The Trident, &a., 173
and re.
Vedantism, the converse of Hege-
lianism, 46.
Vedas, The, 94 foil. ; theories of
their inspiration, 95 ; importance
of knowing, 96.
Vedic gods, 74—78.
Vedic hymns, depth of mysterious
ideas in the, 77 foil. ; formula? of
confession in, 161.
Vendldad, on purification, 155 foil. re. ;
on confession, 158.
Vigfusson, Dr. G., on Odin's song,
173 re. ; on Bagnarok, xiv.
Vidar, son of Odin, 208.
Virgil, 79 re., 155 re. ; Pollio, 208.
Virgin, the Blessed, cultus of, 63 ;
connection with Arianism, 64 re. ;
influence on Positivism, 229 re.
Vishnu, avatars of, 86 ; sacrifice of,
173. See Vaishnava.
Voltaire on the Christian religion,
10 ; his deism, 64.
Wace, H., preface, x. ; on cavils
against Christianity, 10 re. ; on
Prof. Clifford's Ethics of Belief,
24 n. ; on Bacon, 305 re., 306 re.
Waitz, Theodor, on unity of human
species, 29 re. ; cp. 166.
Waldenses, 313 ; cp. note.
Wallon, H., Histoire de VEsclavage,
298 re.
War, impossibility of preventing,
230—232.
Water-gods, oracular, 75.
Wesleyans, 313.
Westcott, B. P., on the Pharisees and
Sadducees, 62 re. ; on the " good

shepherd," 214 n. ; on Positiv
ism, 309 re.
White, Blanco, Autobiography, 23 re.
Wilberforce, E. I., ore the Incarnation,
quoted, 206 ; on the sacraments,
324 re.
Wilmanns, Jrescr. Lat., 145 re.
Wilhams, Prof. Monier, on the Hin
du Philosophy, 48 ; on Zoroaster,
50 ; the Parsis, 51 ; Hindu
Theistic Beformers, 97, 214 ; Hin
du confession, 161 ; asva-medha,
164 ; human sacrifice, 169 ; Bava-
na, 170.
Wilson, Prof. H. H., quoted, 87 re. ;
on human sacrifice, 166 re.
Wind, " The Breath of the Gods,"
75.
Women, low position of, in China,
222 re. ; ideas about in Plato's Re
public, 228 foU. ; Comte's theories
about, 229 n. ; work of, in modern
society, 229 ; Mahomet's passion
for, 249 re. ; degraded by Islam,
255 ; Buddhism on, 272 ; protec
tion of, 300. See Polygamy.
Wool, balls of, in the mysteries,
316 foil.
Wordsworth, Charles, Bp. of St. An
drews, on the Christian ministry,
334 re.
Wordsworth, Chr., [Bp. of Lincoln],
Letters to Gondon, 18 re. ; the Mo
hammedan Woe, 246 re.
Wordsworth, Wm., Ode to Duty, 78.
Work, duty of, 303, 306; vaguely
recognized by heathens, 317 ; power
of, among Christians, 321.
Worship, public, neglect of, 15 ; the
ministry guarantees, 334; heathen,
234.
Wurtz, Prof. Ad., On the Atomic The
ory, 115 re.
Xenophanes, Pantheism of, 45.
Xenophon, on Socrates and the ora
cles, 81 foil. ; on the " two souls "
in men, 150 foil. ; on the noble in
dependence of Socrates, 227.
Xiuhtecutli, Mexican god of fire, 175.
Yggdrasil, symbol of the world, 174.
Yogis, asceticism of, 170.
Zeller, on Xenophanes, 45 n. ; on date
of Pythagoras, 88 re. ; on Plato,
98 re. ; on Pythagorean societies,
261 re.
Zoroastrian confession of faith, 188.
See Avesta, Parsi, Persian, Ven
dldad.
Zulus. See Kaffirs.

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