tion, practically undistinguishable from a declared Atheism.1 cal stand belief in this argument. § 9. In commencing the argument of these Lec- A practitures (which, it will be remembered, is the proof of ard of the truth of Christianity arising from its past con- assumed tinuity and tenacity, and from its indications of ultimate permanence), I assume the existence, from the earliest days of the Church, of a nucleus of belief sufficient to produce practical effects. On the other hand, no consensus or standing uniformity of doctrinal opinion is demanded, such as would be in small accordance with the laws of mental progress in other subjects under the varying stages of early and advanced civilization, and national differences of climate and race. While the original of Christianity can only be accepted as divine, it is no part of Christian philosophy to except the historical development of the faith from such movements of the human mind as are natural to its exercise on any subject-matter whatsoever. Be- How far guaranteed lievers in the truths of the Christian religion have in the exsometimes been described in terms of disparage- the Holy 1 See Tylor, Prim. Culture, II. 69, and compare Dr. Mozley, Bampton Lect., pp. 187, 368: "The Brahman doctrine of the final state professes some difference from the Buddhist; but both schools maintain in common the characteristic of impersonality as attaching to the final state." See also Fairbairn on Belief in Immortality, pp. 50, 51, 53. Sir H. Maine, Ancient Law, p. 17, observes that "the physical conformation of Asiatic countries had the effect of making individual communities larger and more numerous than in the West; and it is a known social law that the larger the space over which a particular set of institutions is diffused, the greater is its tenacity and vitality." istence of Scriptures, ment as Bibliolaters,' the worshippers of a book and of a stereotyped revelation. It is not necessary to consider to what portions of the Church, or to what theory of Christian belief this criticism is most applicable. But it is by no means true that the religion of Christ is contained in the New Testament, only in the same manner as the Mosaic system depended on the Pentateuch, or as Mahommedanism is found in the Koran, or the faith of Vishnu or Buddha in the Vedas or the Sûtras. The very power of Christianity lies in this: that preaching the purest morality under the highest sanctions, with the force of a Divine Exemplar, and on the foundation of historic facts, it never sacrifices it to ceremonialism, and is thus superior to the decline of positive forms. In written codes 1 "Bibliolatry has been, and is long likely to be, the bane of Protestant Christianity."-Hutton, Essays, I. 142. As with all exaggerations, this contains an element of truth. That "the Bible only is the religion of Protestants," was the dictum of Chillingworth.—(C. iv.) "Protestantism," writes Dr. Dorner (Hist. Prot. Theol., I. 2), “seeks, indeed, its ultimate foundation in the nature of Christianity, as it is handed down to us in a documentary form in the Holy Scriptures." See some good remarks on this subject in Rogers' Essays, II. 334, and Dean Merivale's Lectures on Conversion of the Empire, pp. 140, 141. Christians are known to Mahometans as "the people of the Book." But the vivid language of Napoleon at St. Helena (Bertrand's Memoirs ap. Luthardt Apol., p. 355, E. T.) is here applicable, "The Gospel is no mere book, but a living creature with an agency; a power that conquers all that opposes it." 2 This is the real answer to objections such as those of Mr. Buckle, Hist. Civil., II. 51: “The actions of men are governed not by dogmas, and text-books, and rubrics, but by the opinions and habits of their contemporaries, by the general spirit of their age, and by the character of those classes who are in the ascendant. This seems to be the origin 1 of ceremonial worship and practice, it is difficult to distinguish between principles and details, so overlaid is the spirit by the letter of the particular ordinance. There is a constant tendency to crystallize into formalism. In these it is almost impossible to see how tradition could long supply the place of an authorized formula. But the faith of Jesus Christ makes, as it requires, no such claim. "The Gospel," it has been truly said, "is not a system of theology, nor a syntagma of theoretical propositions and conclusions for the enlargement of speculative knowledge, ethical or metaphysical, but it is a history, a series of facts or events related or announced. These do indeed involve, or rather they at the same time are, most important doctrinal truths, but still facts and declarations of facts." of that difference between religious theory and religious practice of which theologians greatly complain as a stumbling-block and an evil."-- See Tylor, Hist. Prim. Cult., II. 337. Mr. Mackay, Progress of Intellect, I. 17, remarks: "Forms (i. e. creeds and ceremonies) are in their nature transitory; for, being destitute of flexibility and power of selfaccommodation to altered circumstances, they become in time unconformable to realities, and stand only as idle landmarks of the past, or like deserted channels requiring to be filled up." On the growth of sacerdotalism in the Vedic religion and in Buddhism, see Mr. Fairbairn's able and learned essay, Cont. Rev., XX. pp. 36-55. 1 1 S. T. Coleridge, Aids to Reflection, p. 153. "Religions," says Prof. Max Müller, “have sometimes been divided into national or traditional, as distinguished from individual or statutable religions. The former are like languages, home-grown, autochthonic, without an historical beginning, generally without any recognized founder, or even an authorized code: the latter have been founded by historical persons, generally in antagonism to traditional systems, and they always rest on the authority of a written code." This division Professor Müller with justice thinks too sharply drawn.-C. R., XIX. 102. D and in their special characteristics. The New Testament (if with one exception) may 1 "Let us look to the great characteristic of our holy faith; that unlike all other assumed religions it is not a collection of mystic writings presenting to the view of man the scenes and the events of the invisible world in minute description, such as admits no test from experience and the course of the world; but consists in those very events which it narrates, and out of which it is evolved, and may be tracked continuously through more than three thousand years in the successive periods of its delivery to mankind; thus occupying a large field in the history of God's providence; and that we have just the same ground for believing its truth as we have for believing any other matter of history equally authenticated by events."-Bp. Hampden, Memorials, p. 221. 2 My our says Africanus finely (ap. Routh, Rell. Sacr., II. 229) κατίωμεν εἰς τοσαύτην Θεοσεβείας σμικρολογίαν, ἵνα τῇ ἐναλλαγῇ τῶν ὀνομάτων τὴν Χρίστου Βασιλείαν καὶ ἱερωσύνην συνιστώμεν. influence ample of and His see the man himself dealing with men whom we can see likewise. It is the difference between a portrait that we recognize and a face which we have never seen, or, as a map of places familiar to us by the side of a chart of countries yet unknown. Such is our gain in holding in our hands the letters of the living man, and not cold abstract articles of religious profession. And if this be so with the Nature of Epistles, how much more with the life of Him, of the ex"Who spake as never man spake;" in whose acts Christ and words is centred still the faith of Christendom.' Apostles. Those words, "the primal, indefeasible truths of Christianity," we have the promise, “shall never pass away.' In the imitation of His life and spirit lie perennial springs of endless improvement and advance. "All true moral progress," it has been well said, "is made through admiration, and it is characteristic of our religion that it makes a greater use of example than any other system.” "It cannot be too steadily borne in memory," says 2 It is strange that M. Comte, constantly ignoring Jesus Christ, recognizes Paul as the meeting-point of Jew, Greek, and Roman. See Pol. Pos., III. 409. For some good remarks on the office of the Bible in prolonging the solidarity of the life of Christ, see Mr. Picton, New Theories, &c., pp. 161–5. 2 See Milman, Latin Christianity, VI. 447. Hence perhaps (with all its shortcomings) the boundless popularity and influence of the 'Imitatio Christi.' No book has been so often reprinted, so often translated, or into so many languages.—1b., VI. 303. It is a remarkable fact that this volume was a favourite one with A. Comte towards the close of his life.-Littré, p. 586. 3 By Professor Seeley, Lectures and Essays, p. 262. See also Hutton's Essays, I. 140. |