Lecture I.
Note 1. p. [3]. Subdivisions Of Historical Inquiry.
A few words may explain the distinctions intended in the text.
History has been properly distinguished by Macaulay into two branches, the artistic or descriptive, and the scientific or analytic. (Essays, vol. i. 2, on Hallam.) If viewed in the former aspect, history aims as far as possible to reproduce what has been, to recover a picture of the past. Hence it is obedient to the two conditions which rule all art,—precise outline in details, and preservation of perspective in the combination. In the latter, theory in some slight degree steps in, but theory dictated by the instinct of taste rather than by reflection. It is in this branch, in which the historian is the critic, that the border line lies between art and science. For it is hard to measure the precise amount which is due in the appreciation of facts respectively to artistic intuition and to reflective analysis.[1054]
Supposing the facts to be thus given, it is the province of the science of history to ascertain their causes. Two living writers, Mr. Mill (System of Logic), and Dr. Whewell (Philosophy of Inductive Sciences), have given an account of the logic of science. That of the latter is more suitable to the conception which we are here forming of history; for history is exactly one of the class of sciences which he calls “Palætiological.” (vol. i. b. x.) It requires first, that we recover the record of the successive stages of facts, the narrative of the past, before searching for the causes. The causes are then to be sought by transferring backward for the explanation of the past those which are at present operating. The search will probably exhibit three successive stages in the process [pg 380] of examination. First, causes will be found which are the mere antecedents of the events, the mere links which connect the phenomena. Next, a cyclical law of the recurrence of the facts is perceived, such e.g. as Vico's well-known law concerning the development of political society. Such a law as this, supposing it to hold good without exception within the limits of experience, is what Mr. Mill calls an “empirical law.” (Logic, vol. ii. b. iii. ch. xvi.) Next, this law must be analysed into its causes. Mr. Mill gives three forms which this third stage of analysis may assume in science. (Id. vol. i. b. iii. ch. xii.) Probably in history it will generally assume the one of the three in which the complex result is analysed into its simpler component elements. (Id. § 2.)
This inquiry would complete the study of history as a science. But when we deal with moral as distinct from material relations, we feel that there is a question of philosophy as well as science, one of ethics and metaphysics, which rises above all lower ones. We instinctively wish to measure the responsibility of the moral agents who have contributed to work out the results which have been studied. We turn to the personal and biographical question for the purpose of the ethical lesson. The theist also asks another question. Believing that nature and man are the work, direct or indirect, of a personal Creator and Governor, of infinite power and goodness, he strives to search out the purposes of Providence, hoping to find in the drama of universal history the solution of the plot which he could not expect to attain by the study of a portion of it.
Such are the ideas which are intended in the text.
Note 2. p. [4]. The Comparative Study Of Religions.
The comparison of Christianity with other religions was necessarily forced upon the Christian church by contact with the heathen world.
We meet in the early fathers with two distinct opinions; the one held in the Alexandrian school, that the heathen religions were imperfect but had a germ of truth, and that philosophy was a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ; the other chiefly in the African school, that they were entire errors, and an obstacle to the conversion of mankind.
In the middle ages, contact with Mahometan life (see Lect. [III]. p. [88]) created a sceptical mode of comparing Christianity with other creeds; circumstances compelling toleration, and toleration passing into indifference. A similar spirit is also seen in the hasty attempt of the French philosophers of the last century to resolve all religion into priestcraft.
It is only in still more recent times that the first scientific conception of a comparative study of religion arose. Even in Herder [pg 381] the comparison is æsthetical more than scientific, and relates to the comparison of literatures more than of religious ideas. Benjamin Constant (De la Religion Considérée dans sa source, ses formes et ses développements, 1824) seems to have been the first who really suggested a serious psychological examination; and hence there soon arose the idea of comparative theology analogous to comparative anatomy. His spirit has pervaded French literature subsequently. The religious speculations of the eclectic school give expression to it; e.g. Quinet (Le Génie des Religions, vol. i.); and the mode of contemplating religion in Renan (Etudes de l'Histoire Religieuse) is based upon it. Caution in using the method is necessary on the part of those who believe in the unique and miraculous character of the Jewish and Christian revelations. In Lect. [III]. (p. [87]) we have given an enumeration of three modes; the one true, the others false; in which Christianity may be put into comparison with other creeds.
Mr. Maurice's Boyle Lectures on the Religions of the World refer to this subject; and some useful remarks exist in Morell's Philosophy of Religion,(c. iii. and iv.) But the book most full of information is the interesting Christian Advocate's Publication, of the late archdeacon Hardwick, Christ and other Masters; a work full of learning and piety, unfortunately left unfinished by the tragedy of his premature death in August 1859. In the parts published he has compared Christianity with the Egyptian and Persian religions (part iv.), with the Hindoo (part ii.), and the Chinese (part iii.); and he was preparing materials for its comparison with the Teutonic, and with those of the classic nations.
Note 3. p. [4]. Zend And Sanskrit Literature.
The purpose of this note is to indicate the sources of information in reference to (1) the Zend and (2) the Sanskrit literature, for illustrating the comparative history of religion.
1. It was about the middle of the last century (1762) that Anquetil du Perron brought manuscripts to Europe from Guzerat, written in the Zend or ancient Persian tongue. For some time the relation of the language to the Sanskrit was not understood. The great scholar to whom are due both the study of the tongue and the editing of the Yaçna, was Eugene Burnouf. The work just named is the first of the three works which make up the Vendidad Sadé; parts of which possibly go back to a period almost coeval with Zoroaster, i.e. perhaps the sixth century B.C. Two other works exist for the study of the Persian theology, though much more modern in date,—the Desatir of the ninth century A.D., and the Dabistan of the seventeenth,—which both contain fragments of ancient traditions embedded in their texts. The [pg 382] Avesta, of which the Vendidad is one of the oldest parts, has been edited by Spiegel. References to the older literature concerning it may be found in Heeren's History of the Asiatic Nations, vol. i. ch. ii.
An account of the present results of comparative philology in reference to Persian is given by professor Max Müller in Bunsen's Philosophy of History, vol. i. p. 110. E. T. The Persian theology brought to light by these investigations is discussed by A. Franck, in a paper, Les Doctrines Religieuses et Philosophiques de la Perse, in his Etudes Orientales, 1861; also in Dr. John Wilson's Parsi Religion, 1843; Martin Haug's Essays on the Parsis, 1861, founded on Burnouf's researches; and in archdeacon Hardwick's Christ and other Masters, part iv. ch. iii. (Hyde's Hist. Relig. Vet. Pers. 1700, is obsolete.)
2. The Sanskrit literature has been the subject of still more careful study by a series of learned men. See Donaldson's Cratylus, b. i. ch. ii. § 36. 3d ed. Nearly the whole of the literature indirectly offers materials for a history of the alteration and deterioration of religious and ethical ideas, and of the relation of schools of philosophy to a national creed preserved by the priesthood and deposited in books esteemed sacred. The literary works can be placed in their relative order, though the absence of all chronological dates from the time of the contact of the Indians with the Greeks (third century B.C.), down to the visits of the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims in the fourth and seventh centuries A.D., whose works have been translated into French by A. Remusat and Stanislas Julien,[1055] and the Mahometan histories, renders the determination of absolute dates impossible. The following are the dates approximately given for the chief works of Sanskrit literature. The Vedas, especially the oldest, date from B.C. 1200 to 600. The Epic Poems, the Rámáyana and Mahábhárata, are perhaps of the third century B.C.; the laws of Manu, or more truly of the family which claimed descent from the mythical Manu, contain materials dating from several centuries B.C., but were put into their present form probably several centuries A.D.; the Bhagavat Gitá, an episode in the Mahábhárata bearing traces of a Christian influence, dates some centuries A.D. The Hindu drama is perhaps subsequent to 500 A.D. The Puránas carry on the literature to mediæval times. Several of the systems of philosophy were probably constructed anterior to the Christian era; but the date at which they were put into their present form is undetermined.
The earlier literature is regarded as the most valuable for the study of the growth of religious ideas and institutions. The development or deterioration may be traced from the simple nature-worship of the Vedas, to the accumulation of legends which disgrace [pg 383] the modern creed. The causes which gave birth to mythology are no longer a matter of conjecture; the study of the Sanskrit language and literature having exhibited an historical instance of it. In this way the early Sanskrit literature becomes one of the most precious treasures to the mental philosopher who approaches his subject from the historical side.
The earliest Veda is in course of publication by professor Max Müller. It has been partly translated by the late professor H. H. Wilson, and wholly by Langlois. Mr. M. Müller has given the results of his studies of this early literature in his admirable work, the History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, 1859; which is full of instruction for the philosopher who is inquiring concerning intellectual and religious history. Most of the other works named above have also been translated into European languages, viz. the Epic Poems,—the Rámáyana, in Italian by Gorresio, and in French by H. Fauche, 1854; and Episodes from the Mahábhárata by P. E. Foucaux, 1862;—also the Laws of Manu,[1056] in English by Sir W. Jones, and in French by A. Loiseleur Des-Lonchamps; the Bhagavat Gitá by Wilkins, 1809, the text of which was edited by Schlegel, 1823; the 2d ed. by C. Lassen, 1846. One of the Puránas (the Vishnu) has been translated by Wilson; and part of the Bhagavat by Burnouf, who has also edited the text.
Concerning the systems of Hindu philosophy; see Ritter's History of Philosophy, E. T. vol. iv. b. xii. ch. v; Archer Butler's Lectures on Philosophy, vol. i. p. 243 seq.; Colebrooke's Essays on the Philosophy of the Hindus, 1837; Aphorisms of Hindu Philosophy, printed under the care of Dr. Ballantyne for the Benares government college; and Dr. R. Williams's Christianity and Hinduism, 1856. The work of the late archdeacon Hardwick, Christ and other Masters, also contains a brief account of three of the systems of philosophy, the Vedánta, founded on the sacred books, the Sánkhya or atheistic, and the Yoga or mystic, together with a comparison of them with Christianity (part ii.). An explanation of a part of the Nyáya or Logical Philosophy, is given by Max Müller in the Appendix to Dr. Thomson's Outlines of the Laws of Thought, 3d ed.
On the system of thought in Buddhism, on which the study of the Páli has thrown light, consult E. Burnouf's Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme Indien; and Spence Hardy's Manual of Budhism, 1853. Also archdeacon Hardwick's work above named. The Hindu history, exhibiting its double movement, of philosophy on the one hand and of the Buddhist reformation on the other, has been thought to offer a distant analogy to the mental history of Europe in the double movement of the scholastic philosophy and the reformation.
The celebrated works of C. Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde, 1844-47, and A. Weber, Indische Studien, 1850, are well known [pg 384] as sources of information in reference to the general subject. Also Dr. J. Muir has lately published (1858) Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and Progress of the Religion and Institutions of India. Several articles in reviews have appeared which contain much popular information; e.g. in the North British Review, Nov. 1858; Westminster Review, April 1860; Edinburgh Review, Oct. 1860. On the general subject of this note compare also Quinet, Œuvres, t. i. 1. 2, 3.
Note 4. p. [12]. The Controversy Between Christians And Jews.
The history of the controversy of Christianity with Judaism is so connected in the writings of the early apologists with the contemporaneous one directed against Paganism, and in recent times so related in one of its aspects to rationalism, that these reasons seem sufficient, independently of the literary interest, to justify the insertion of a brief notice of it, and of the sources of information with respect to it.
The controversy with the Jew varies in different ages. We can distinguish three separate phases; (1) that which is seen in the early centuries, (2) in the middle ages, and early modern times, (3) the position which is taken up by the educated Jew at the present day. The sources for understanding the contest are, partly the Jewish writings, and partly those of Christians who have written against them.
1. In the early ages the controversy merely turned upon the question whether Jesus was the Christ. The Jews did not deny the fact of the Christian miracles, but explained them away; and the controversy accordingly turned on the interpretation of Jewish prophecy. This phase of the contest is seen in the New Testament, in the Apology of Justin Martyr against Trypho, to which a new kind of objection expressive of prejudice is added in the discourse which Celsus, as preserved in Origen (Contr. Cels. b. i. and ii.), puts into the mouth of the Jew whom he introduces. In reference to it, the commentators on these fathers, and especially Semisch's work on Justin Martyr (translated), and the works on the Jewish Talmudic literature and philosophy, may be consulted. The contest is continued at intervals in treatises by inferior writers; an account of which may be found in the sources of information hereafter given, and in Hagenbach's Dogmengesch. § 144.
2. The second phase of the contest is seen in the middle ages, and in modern times till about 1700 A.D. It is marked by two lines of thought on the part of the Jewish writers; a system of defence of their own tenets by a method of scriptural interpretation; and the attack of calumny or of argument against Christianity. The former existed especially in Moorish Spain about the twelfth century, the golden age of Jewish literature. For a brief account of [pg 385] the theological literature of the Jewish nation at that time, and in the period which had intervened since the early ages, the writer may be permitted to refer to one of his own Sermons, and the references there given (Science in Theology, 1859, Sermon IV.); to which references add Beugnot's Les Juifs d'Occident, 1820, and the new work of De Los Rios on Spanish Literature. The movement included both a philosophical side in Maimonides, and a critical in Jarchi, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, &c.
The other movement, which was hostile to Christianity, was marked by a series of works, written by Jews for their own nation, and carefully hidden from the sight of Christians, probably for fear of persecution and suffering; which were given to the world by the learning of the foreign Hebrew scholars of the seventeenth century. The chief of these works are, the Nizzachon Vetus of the twelfth century, first published in Wagenseil's Tela Ignea Satanæ, 1681. In the thirteenth, the Disputatio Jechielis cum Nicholao, Disputatio Nachmanidis cum fratre Paolo, and the celebrated Toldos Jeschu or Jewish view of Christ's life. About 1399 the Rabbin Lipmann wrote the second book Nizzachon, which was published by Hackspan, 1644; and also the Carmen Memoriale; and about 1580[1057] the Rabbin Isaac wrote the noted Chissuk Emuna, or Munimen Fidei. All these (with the exception of the second Nizzachon) are contained in Wagenseil. During the period one important defence of Christianity against the Jews appeared, the Pugio Fidei by Raymund Martin, in Arragon, about 1278, which has been edited with an introduction by De Voisin 1651, and by Carpzov. Another defence was by Alphonso de Spina. Fortalitium Fidei contra Judæos, Saracenos, 1487. In Eichhorn's Geschichte [pg 386] der Literatur, vol. vi. 26, another treatise is named by a writer called Hieronymus, 1552.
During the period just considered the contest with the Jews was carried on chiefly in Spain, or the few Jewish settlements of Lithuania. Henceforth it is chiefly seen in Germany and Holland, where the learned Dutch and German theologians of the seventeenth century were brought into contact with them, or were attracted to the study of the controversy by an interest in the newly awakened taste for Hebrew learning. This age supplies works of great value in gaining a knowledge of Jewish literature, some of which will be named below, and a few treatises, such as, one by Micrælius (De Messiâ, 1647); a brief notice by Hoornbeek, Summa Controv. 1653 (p. 65); an unfinished treatise by Hulsius, Theologia Judaica, 1653; and one by Cocceius, Jud. Respons. Consid. 1662. The activity of the Jews is seen in the fact that an unfair attack by Bentz, 1614, was answered in the Theriaca Judaica of the Jew Salomo Zebi, Hanover 1615, which again met with a Christian respondent in Wulferus, 1681. Also Limborch had a dispute with a Jew in his Amica Collatio cum Erudito Judæo (Dr. Orobius), 1687. The controversy continued through the eighteenth century, probably outlasting its cause; for defences on the side of the Jews ceased. We meet with two works by Difenbach, Judæus Convertendus, 1696, and Judæus Conversus, 1709; Calvoer's Gloria Christi, 1710; Mornæus' De Verit. Relig. Christianæ, 1707; and, in England, Bp. Kidder's and Dr. Stanhope's Boyle Lectures, the former of which was the basis of the treatise, The Demonstration of the Messias, 1700; and C. Leslie's Short Method with the Jews. Catalogues of the writings, of which the above are the best known, may be found in J. A. Fabricius's Biblioth. Græc. (ed. 1715), vii. 125; and De Verit. Relig. Christianæ, 1725, ch. xxxi; and Blasphemia Judæorum, Id. ch. xxxvii; Walch's Biblioth. Theol. Selecta, vol. i. c. v. sect. 8. (1757); also in Bartollocci's Dictionary of Jewish Authors, 1678, and Imbonati's Dictionary of Christian Writers concerning the Jews, 1694; and especially in Wolff's Biblioth. Hebr., 1715, and De Rossi's Dizionario degli Autori Ebrei, 1802. For information concerning sources of Jewish theology and literature, it is enough to cite Hottinger's Historia Orientalis, Carpzov's Introductio, and Owen's Prelim. Exercitationes.
3. In the third phase of the controversy, viz. that which exists with the modern Jew, the controversy is a little changed. The old prejudices against Christianity are in a great degree made obsolete by the freedom of commercial intercourse, and the enjoyment of protection and civil liberty; and hence the contest takes two forms; either the continuation of the argument concerning the meaning of Jewish prophecy, or a discussion on the function of the Jewish religion in history. Sources for the former are found in the older books of evidence. A digest of the arguments concerning it is given in J. Fabricius (not the celebrated Fabricius), [pg 387] Consideratio Variarum Controversiarum, 1704, p. 41, and in Stapfer's Institut. Theolog. Polemic, vol. iii. 1-288, 1752; or in the modern works, Greville Ewing's Essays addressed to the Jews, and Dr. McCaul's Old Paths, 1837, and his Warburton Lectures, 1846. The condition of Jewish life and thought may he seen in Allen's Modern Judaism. The system of interpretation on which the controversy is conducted is either the ancient Messianic and allegorical of the Targums and Talmud, or the literal and grammatical introduced by the Spanish mediæval commentators.[1058]
The other form of Jewish argument which Christians have to encounter is more novel, and, being confined to educated Jews, its influence is less wide, and does not actuate the stratum of Jewish life with which missionaries generally come into contact. It is based on modern rationalist speculations, and is seen in a work of Dr. Philippsohn, late rabbin at Magdeburg, Development of the Religious Idea in Judaism, Christianity, and Mahometanism, (translated both into English 1855, and also into French,) and in the writings of Salvador. Dr. Philippsohn regards the mission of Judaism to be, from first to last, to teach to the world the lesson of monotheism. He traces the struggle in the Jewish church between priestism and prophetism; and regards Christianity as an abnormal form of the latter, which has led the world away to Tritheism: and, so far from regarding the office of Judaism to be extinct, he considers that its mission is still to restore monotheism to the world. A comparison with the statement of the views of the Tübingen school in Lect. [VII]. or the speculations of Mr. Mackay in Lect. [VIII]. will show how completely this argument is borrowed from the later forms of German historical criticism.
The views of Salvador in France (see p. [299]) are too original to be regarded as typical of the views of a party. They reproduce the critical difficulties of Maimonides and Spinoza, which seem never to have found favour with the Jews; but the general similarity of the doctrinal part of Salvador's system to that just described is very observable.
Note 5. p. [12]. The Contest Of Christianity With Mahometanism.
The contest of Christianity with Mahometanism, so far as it has been a struggle of argument and not of the sword, offers few remarkable points. In the first sweep of the Mahometan conquest, when the Christian nations succumbed both in the east and west, there was no field for a question of truth. It was only in Christian [pg 388] nations which were removed from peril, and yet sufficiently in contact to entertain the question of the claims of the Mahometan religion, that a consideration of its nature, regarded as a system of doctrine, could arise. Accordingly it is in Constantinople, or in Spain and the other parts of western Europe which came into connexion with the Moors, that works of this character appear.
The history may be conveniently arranged in three periods, each of which is marked by works of defence, some called forth by danger, a real demand, but subsiding into or connected with inquiries prompted only by literary tastes. The first is from the twelfth to the middle of the sixteenth century; the second during the seventeenth and eighteenth; the third during the present century.
1. A notice of the Mahometan religion exists in a work of J. Damascenus, in the eighth century; and Euthymius Zigabenus, a Byzantine writer of the twelfth: but the first important treatise written directly against it was in 1210, Richardi Confutatio, edited in 1543 by Bibliander from a Greek copy. The refutation of Averroes by Aquinas, about 1250, can hardly be quoted as an instance of a work against the Mahometan religion, being rather against its philosophy. A treatise exists by John Cantacuzene, written a little after 1350; which is to be explained probably by the circumstance that the danger from Mahometan powers in the east directed the attention of a literary man to the religion and institutions which they professed. Thus far the works were called forth by a real demand.
A series of treatises however commences about the time of the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, the cause of the existence of which is not so easy of explanation. Such are those in Spain by Alphonso de Spina, 1487, and by Turrecremata (see Eichhorn's Gesch. der Lit. vi.); by Nicholas de Cuza, published in 1543; in Italy about 1500 by Ludovicus Vives, and Volterranus; one by Philip Melancthon in reference to the reading of the Koran; and a collection of treatises, including those of Richardus, Cantacuzene, Vives, and Melancthon, published by Bibliander in 1543. Probably the first two of this list may have been the relic of the crusade of Christianity against the Moorish religion; the next two possibly were called forth by the interest excited in reference to Mahometans by reason of their conquests, or less probably by the influence of their philosophy at Padua (see Lect. [III]. p. [100] seq.). The two last are hardly to be explained, except by supposing them to be an offshoot of the Renaissance, and called forth by the largeness of literary taste and inquiry excited by that event.
2. When we pass into the seventeenth century, we find a series of treatises on the same subject, which must be explained by the cause just named, the newly acquired interest in Arabic and other eastern tongues. We meet however with others, called forth by the missionary exertions which had brought the Christians into contact with Mahometans in the east.
The treatise by Bleda, Defensio Fidei Christianæ, 1610, stands alone, unconnected with any cause. It was partly a defence of the conduct of Christians towards the Mahometans. A real interest however belongs to the work of Guadagnoli in 1631. A catholic missionary, Hieronymo Xavier, had composed in 1596 a treatise in Persian against Mahometanism, in which the general principle of theism was laid down as opposed to the Mahometan doctrine of absorption; next the peculiar doctrines of Christianity stated; and lastly, a contrast drawn between the two religions. See Lee's Tracts on Christianity and Mahometanism (below, pref. p. 5 seq.).
This work was answered in 1621 by a Persian nobleman named Ahmed Ibn Zain Elébidín. The line adopted by him was, (1) to show that the coming of Mahomet was predicted in the Old Testament (Hab. iii. 3); (2) to argue that Mahomet's teaching was not more opposed to Christ's than his was to that of Moses, and that therefore both ought to be admitted, or both rejected; (3) to point out critically the discrepancies in the Gospels; (4) to attack the doctrines of the Trinity and Christ's deity. (Lee, pref. 41 seq.)
This work was answered (1631) by a treatise in Latin by P. Guadagnoli, dedicated to Pope Urban VIII. It is divided into four parts; (1) respecting the objections about the Trinity; (2) the Incarnation; (3) the authority of Scripture; (4) the claims of the Koran and of Mahomet. (Lee, pref. 108 seq. who also gives references (p. 113) to a few other writers, chiefly in the seventeenth century.)
The further works of defence produced in this century arose as it were accidentally. The lengthy summary of the Mahometan controversy in Hoornbeek's Summa Controversiarum, 1653, p. 75 seq. was either introduced merely to give completeness to the work as a treatise on polemic, or was called forth by considerations connected with missions, as is made probable by his work De Conversione Gentilium et Indorum. Le Moyne's publication on the subject in the Varia Sacra, vol. i. 1685, arose from the accidental discovery of an old treatise, Bartholomæi Edess. Confutatio Hagareni. A third work of this kind, Maracci's Criticism on the Koran, 1698, arose from the circumstance that the pope would not allow the publication of an edition of the Koran, without an accompanying refutation of each part of it. The work of Hottinger (Hist. Orient. b. i.), Pfeiffer's Theol. Judaica et Mahom. and Kortholt's De Relig. Mahom. 1663, form the transition into an independent literary investigation; which is seen in the literary inquiries concerning the life of Mahomet, as well as his doctrine, in Pocock, Prideaux 1697, Reland 1707, Boulainvilliers 1730, and the translation of the Koran by Sale 1734. A slightly controversial tone pervades some of them. The materials collected by them were occasionally used by deist and infidel writers (e.g. by Chubb), for instituting an unfavourable comparison between Christ and Mahomet.
The great literary historians of that period give lists of the previous writers connected with the investigation. See J. A. Fabricius, Biblioth. Græc. ed. 1715, vol. vii. p. 136; Walch, Biblioth. Theol. Sel. vol. i. chap. v. sect. 9. A summary of the arguments used in the controversy is given in J. Fabricius, Delectus Argumentorum, p. 41, &c. and Stapfer's Inst. Theol. Polem. iii. p. 289, &c.
3. In the present century the literature in reference to Mahometanism is, as in the former instances, twofold in kind. Part of it has been called forth by missionary contests in the east; part by literary or historic tastes, and the modern love of carrying the comparative method of study into every branch of history.
The first class is illustrated by the discussions at Shiraz in 1811, between the saintly Henry Martyn and some Persian Moollas. The controversy was opened by a tract, sophistical but acute, written by Mirza Ibrahim; (Lee, pp. 1-39); the object of which was to show the superiority of the standing miracle seen in the excellence of the Koran, over the ancient miracles of Christianity. Martyn replied to this in a series of tracts (Lee, p. 80 seq.), and was again met by Mohammed Ruza of Hamadan, in a much more elaborate work, in which, among other arguments, the writer attempts to show predictions of Mahomet in the Old Testament, and in the New applying to him the promise of the Paraclete (Lee, pp. 161-450). These tracts were translated in 1824, with an elaborate preface containing an account of the preceding controversy of Guadagnoli, by Professor S. Lee of Cambridge, Controversial Tracts on Christianity and Mahometanism, which is the work so frequently cited above. To complete the history it is necessary to add, that a discussion was held a few years ago between an accomplished Mahometan and Mr. French, a learned missionary at Agra.
The literary aspect of the subject, not however wholly free from controversy, was opened by White, in the Bampton Lectures for 1784; and abundant sources have lately been furnished. Among them are, Sprenger's Life of Mahomet, 1851, and Muir's, 1858. Also a new translation of the Koran by the Rev. J. M. Rodwell, where the Suras are arranged chronologically. The following ought also to be added, Dr. Macbride's Mahometan Religion Explained, 1857; Arnold on Mahometanism, 1859; Tholuck's Vermischte Schriften, i. (1-27); Die Wunder Mohammed's und der Character des Religionstifters; Dr. Stanley's Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church, lect. viii. and the references there given; Maurice's Religions of the World; and Renan's Etudes d'Histoire Religieuse. (Ess. iv.) The modern study has been directed more especially to attain a greater knowledge of Mahomet's life, character, and writings; the antecedent religious condition of Arabia;[1059] and the characteristics of Mahometanism, [pg 391] when put into comparison with other creeds, and when viewed psychologically in relation to the human mind.
The materials also for a study of the Mahometan form of philosophy, both in itself and in its relation to the religion, have been furnished by Aug. Schmoelders, Essai sur les Ecoles Philosophiques chez les Arabes, 1842. See also Ritter's Chr. Phil. iii. 665 seq.; iv. 1-181.
Note 6. p. [12]. Unitarianism.
It may be useful to indicate the chief stages of the history of Unitarianism, and the sources of information with regard to it, as it bears a close analogy to some forms of free thought, such as deism,[1060] and connects itself more or less nearly with forms of rationalism which occur in the course of the history.
The first instance of it is in the early ages, either as a Jewish Gnostic sect, Ebionitism, or in some of the other forms of Gnosticism; passing in the east into Arianism, which lowered God, and in the west into Pelagianism, which elevated man. For this period see F. Lange, Geschichte und Lehrbegriff d. Unitarier vor d. Nicaenischen Synode, 1831; Hagenbach's Dogmengeschichte, § 23; and the church histories which treat of this period.
In the middle ages the tendency may be considered to be mainly represented by Mahometanism, and hardly exists at all in the Christian church.
Its modern form arises at the time of the Reformation.
1. Originating in Italy, it exists as a doctrine in Switzerland and Germany from 1525-1560. See F. Trechsel's Die Protest. Antitrinitarier vor Faustus Socinus, 1844. The best known names are Servetus, Lelio Sozini, and Ochino.
2. It exists as a church at Racow in Poland, where the exiles found a refuge. Here Faustus Sozinus (1539-1603), nephew of Lelio, and J. Crellius, are the best known names. In 1609 Schmelz drew up the Socinian Formula, the Racovian Catechism. It was also here that the collection of Socinian writers, the Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum, 1626, was published. The history of the sect up to this point may be found in the Introduction to Rees's Translation of the Racovian Catechism, 1818. Also see Hallam's History of Literature, i. 554. ii. 335; Mosheim's Church History, sixteenth century, §2. P. ii. ch. iv; Hase's Church History (Engl. Transl.), § 371, 2. The Socinians were driven out of Poland in 1658, by the influence of the Jesuits; and, passing into Holland, became absorbed in the church of the Remonstrants or Arminians.
3. The next stage of Socinianism is, as a doctrine, in England in the seventeenth century. In 1611 two persons, Hammont and Lewis, suffered martyrdom for it; and it spread widely during the [pg 392] Long Parliament. (See Dr. Owen's Vind. Evangel. pref.) The chief teacher was J. Biddle (1615-1662). The interest of it arises from its supposed parallelism to the Arminianism of Hales in the time of Charles I, and to the latitudinarian party of Whichcote and More in that of Charles II. But the parallel is not quite correct. The study of Arminius's writings (see J. Nicholls's translation, 1825,) shows that he was not a Pelagian,[1061] if even his successors were. But even Episcopius and Limborch hardly reached this point. Hales resembled Episcopius. Nor is the parallel much nearer with “the latitude men;” for Socinianism lacked their Platonizing tendency. The Arian tendency, which commenced at the end of the century, both in the church, in such writers as Whiston and Clarke, and among the presbyterians, offers a nearer parallel, in being, like Socinianism, Unitarian in tendency. On this period see Hagenbach's Dogmengesch. (Notes to § 234.)
4. Its next form, was as a set of congregations in England in the eighteenth century, chiefly arising out of the presbyterians; marked by great names, such as Lardner, Lowman, Priestley.[1062] Shortly before the close of the century, it was introduced into America.
5. Its last form is a modification of the old Socinian view, formed under the pressure of evangelical religion on the one side and rationalist criticism on the other. The accomplished writers, Channing in America and Mr. J. Martineau in England, are the best types of this form. Priestley, Channing, and Martineau, are the examples of the successive phases of modern Unitarianism: Priestley, of the old Socinianism building itself upon a sensational philosophy; Channing, of the attempt to gain a larger development of the spiritual element; Martineau, of the elevation of view induced by the philosophy of Cousin, and the introduction of the idea of historical progress in religious ideas. In reference to this part of the history see E. Renan's Essay on Channing, Etudes de l'Hist. Relig. p. 357; E. Ellis's Half Century of Unitarian Controversy (in America), 1858; J. J. Taylor's Retrospect of Religious Life in England, 1845; Dr. Beard's Unitarianism in its Actual State; and other references given in the notes to H. B. Smith's translation of Hagenbach's Dogmengesch. New York, 1862. ii. p. 441.
In addition to the above references, materials for the history will be found in Sandius, Biblioth. Antitrin. 1684; Bock's Hist. Antitrin. 1774; Otto Foch's Der Socinianismus, &c. 1847; and an article in the North British Review, No. 60, for May 1859. The history of the controversial literature on the subject is given in Pfaff's Introd. in Hist. Theol. Lit. vol. ii. p. 320 seq.; and more fully in Walch's Biblioth. Theol. Select. vol. i. p. 902 seq. For a [pg 393] digest of the arguments used in the controversy, see Hoornbeek's Summa Controv. 1653, p. 440; J. Fabricius, Consid. Var. Controv. pp. 99-208; and Stapfer's Inst. Theol. Polem. vol. iii. c. 12.
Note 7. p. [24]. Classification Of Metaphysical Inquiries.
(a) This first subdivision of Metaphysics into Psychology and Ontology is very neatly stated by Professor Mansel (art. Metaphysics in Encycl. Britann. 8th ed. p. 555, and p. 23 in the reprint of the article, 1860); Cfr. also Archer Butler's Lect. on Phil. vol. i. lect. i-iii.
(b) It must be understood, that when we pass here from a division of the inquiries concerning the mind to a supposed division of the mind itself, we imply only a division of states of consciousness or mental functions, not an absolute and real division of the mind itself. Distinctness of structure is only the inference; distinctness of function is a fact, given in the act of consciousness.
(c) The distinctness of the Will, as a faculty, from the emotions will be disputed by many. It is maintained by Maine de Biran, and the Eclectic school of France. Mr. Mill, Logic, vol. ii. b. vi. ch. ii, implies the contrary, and regards Will to be a particular state of feeling.
(d) The difference of the presentative from the representative consciousness is now generally understood, since the arguments of Sir W. Hamilton have been commonly known. See his edition of Reid, note B. p. 804; Discussions, Ess. ii. and Lect. on Metaphysics; Mansel's work above cited, p. 560, 584; Morell's Phil. of Relig. ch. ii.
(e) The separation of Intuition from Perception is a point much disputed. It is maintained by Schelling and by Cousin, and made familiar by Coleridge, Aids to Reflection, i. p. 168 seq. See also Morell's Philos. of Relig. ch. ii; Hist. of Phil. ii. p. 487 seq. Among English psychologists however, intuition is identified with perception; or if slightly distinguished, as by Mr. Mansel, it is made synonymous with every “presentative” [pg 395] act of consciousness, and thus includes the consciousness of our own minds, as well as the sensational consciousness usually denoted by the word “perception.” With reference to the view intended on this subject in these lectures, see a note on p. [28].
(f) With reference to these schools, see Morell's Hist. of Philosophy (vol. i. Introduction); and Cousin's Cours de la Philosophie du 18me Siècle.
(g) This subdivision of the subject matter of Ontology is well stated by Mansel in the Encyc. Britann. above cited, 603, 613 seq. This work of Mr. Mansel is on the whole the clearest exposition of Psychology, studied from the side of consciousness, which has appeared. Mr. Morell's recent work on Psychology presents a view different from his former ones, and unites the physiological treatment of the inquiry; being borrowed partly from the recent speculations which the teaching of Herbert has induced in Germany. See Note [41].
Note 8. p. [28]. Quotation From Guizot On Prayer.
The following eloquent remarks seem worth quoting, as illustrative of the instinct in the soul of man to perform the act of prayer; the natural outgoing of the human soul after the infinite Being. They are taken from Guizot, L'Eglise et la Société Chrétienne, 1861.
“Seul entre tous les étres ici-bas l'homme prie. Parmi ses instincts moraux, il n'y en a point de plus naturel, de plus universel, de plus invincible que la prière. L'enfant s'y porte avec une docilité empressée. Le vieillard s'y replie comme dans un refuge contre la décadence et l'isolement. La prière monte d'elle-même sur les jeunes lèvres qui balbutient à peine le nom de Dieu et sur les lèvres mourantes qui n'ont plus la force de le prononcer. Chez tous les peuples, célèbres ou obscurs, civilisés ou barbares, on rencontre à chaque pas des actes et des formules d'invocation. Partout où vivent des hommes, dans certaines circonstances, à certaines heures, sous l'empire de certaines impressions de l'âme, les yeux s'élèvent, les mains se joignent, les genoux fléchissent, pour implorer ou pour rendre grâces, pour adorer ou pour apaiser. Avec transport ou avec tremblement, publiquement ou dans le secret de son cœur, c'est à la prière que l'homme s'adresse, en dernier recours, pour combler les vides de son âme ou porter les fardeaux de sa destinée; c'est dans la prière qu'il cherche, quand tout lui manque, de l'appui pour sa faiblesse, de la consolation dans ses douleurs, de l'espérance pour sa vertu.” (p. 22.)
“Il y a, dans l'acte naturel et universel de la prière, une foi [pg 396] naturelle et universelle dans cette action permanente, et toujours libre, de Dieu sur l'homme et sur sa destinée.” (p. 24.)
“ ‘Les voies de Dieu ne sont pas nos voies:’ nous y marchons sans les connaître; croire sans voir et prier sans prévoir, c'est la condition que Dieu a faite à l'homme en ce monde, pour tout ce qui en dépasse les limites.” (p. 25.)
Note 9. p. [31]. On The Modern View Of The Historical Method In Philosophy.
It has been implied in the text, at this place, and also in the preface, that the “historic method of study” is the great feature of this century. The term is ambiguous. The meaning of it however is, that each problem ought to be approached from the historic side. Whether the problem be a fact of society, or of thought, or of morals, in each case the questions are asked—What are its antecedents? how did it happen? How came it that men accepted it?—This is a method exactly the reverse of that which was common in the last century. The question then was, Is a thing true? The question now is a preliminary one, How came it that it was thought to be true? It is probable that in many minds there is a slight tendency to pantheism in this method of study. The universe is looked at as ever in course of development; evil as “good in the making;” no fact as wholly bad; no thought as wholly false. But, without involving such a tendency, whatever is true in the method may be appropriated. It starts only with the assumption that the human race is in a state of movement; and that Providence has lessons to teach us if we watch this movement. It is the method of learning by experience of the past, a lesson for conduct in the future.
The method thus explained, however, is used for two different purposes. Either it is intended to be the preliminary process preparatory to discovery, or it is designed to take the place of discovery. In the former case, we ask why men have thought a thing true, for the purpose of afterwards discovering, by the use of other methods, what is true; in the latter we rest content with the historical investigation, and consider the attempt to discover absolute truth to be impossible; and regard the problem of philosophy to be, to gather up the elements of truth in the past. In the former case truth is absolute, though particular ages may have blindly groped after it; in the latter it is relative. In the former, the history of philosophy is the preliminary to philosophy; in the latter it is philosophy. In the former, philosophy is a science; in the latter it is a form of criticism. The former view is held by the school of Schelling and Cousin; the latter is an offshoot of that of Hegel. The former marked French literature until recent years; the latter is expressed in it at the present time; and is stated by [pg 397] no one so clearly as by Renan and Soberer. Most English writers will justly prefer the former view; but the explanation of the latter, given in the two passages which follow, is expressed with such clearness, and will be of so much use in explaining subsequent allusions in these lectures (especially Lect. [VII]. and [VIII].), that it is desirable to print it here.
“Le trait caractéristique du 19e siècle est d'avoir substitué la méthode historique à la méthode dogmatique, dans toutes les études relatives à l'esprit humain. La critique littéraire n'est plus que l'exposé des formes diverses de la beauté, c'est à dire des manières dont les différentes familles et les différentes âges de l'humanité ont résolu le problème esthétique. La philosophie n'est que le tableau des solutions proposées pour résoudre le problème philosophique. La théologie ne doit plus être que l'histoire des efforts spontanés tentés pour résoudre le problème divin. L'histoire, en effet, est la forme nécessaire de la science de tout ce qui est soumis aux lois de la vie changeante et successive. La science des langues, c'est l'histoire des langues; la science des littératures et des philosophies, c'est l'histoire des littératures et des philosophies; la science de l'esprit humain c'est, de même, l'histoire de l'esprit humain, et non pas seulement l'analyse des rouages de l'âme individuelle. La psychologie n'envisage que l'individu, et elle l'envisage d'une manière abstraite, absolue, comme un sujet permanent et toujours identique à lui-même; aux yeux de la critique la conscience se fait dans l'humanité comme l'individu; elle a son histoire. Le grand progrès de la critique a été de substituer la catégorie du devenir â la catégorie de l'être, la conception du relatif à la conception de l'absolu, le mouvement à l'immobilité. Autrefois, tout était considéré comme étant; on parlait de philosophie, de droit, de politique, d'art, de poésie, d'une manière absolue; maintenant tout est considéré comme en voie de se faire....... A ce point de vue de la science critique, ce qu'on recherche dans l'histoire de la philosophie, c'est beaucoup moins de la philosophie proprement dite que de l'histoire.”—(E. Renan, Pref. to Averroes, p. vi.)
“Tout n'est que relatif, disions-nous tout à l'heure; il faut ajouter maintenant: tout n'est que relation. Vérité importune pour l'homme qui, dans le fatal courant où il est plongé, voudrait trouver un point fixé s'arrêter un instant, se faire illusion sur la vanité des choses! Vérité féconde pour la science qui lui doit une intelligence nouvelle de la réalité, une intuition infiniment plus pénétrante du jeu des forces qui composent le monde. C'est ce principe qui a fait de l'histoire une science et de toutes les sciences une histoire. C'est en vertu de ce principe qu'il n'y a plus de philosophie mais des philosophies qui se succèdent, qui se complétent en se succèdant, et dont chacune représenté avec un élément du vrai, une phase du développement de la pensée universelle. Ainsi la science s'organise elle-même et porte en soi sa critique. La classification rationnelle des systèmes est leur succession, et le seul jugement [pg 398] équitable et utile qu'on puisse passer sur eux est celui qu'ils passent sur eux-mêmes en se transformant. Le vrai n'est plus vrai en soi. Ce n'est plus une quantité fixe qu'il s'agit de dégager, un objet rond ou carré qu'on puisse tenir dans la main. Le vrai, le beau, le juste même se font perpétuellement; ils sont à jamais en train de se constituer, parce qu'ils ne sont autre chose que l'esprit humain, qui, en se déployant, se retrouve et se reconnait.”—E. Scherer, (article on Hegel in Revue des Deux Mondes, Feb. 15, 1861.)