FOOTNOTES:
[19] I abstain from enumerating Dr. Temple's mistakes,—for such things do not belong to the essence of a composition. And yet I must remark that it is hardly creditable in a Doctor of Divinity to write as he does. "In all (!) the doctrinal disputes of the fourth and fifth centuries, the decisive voice came from Rome. Every controversy was finally settled by her opinion, because she alone possessed the art of framing formulas," &c. (p. 16.) Would the learned writer favour us with a single warrant for this assertion?... At p. 9, Dr. Temple mistakes for Micah's, words spoken 700 years before by Balaam. At p. 10, he says that "Prayer, as a regular and necessary part of worship, first appears in the later books of the Old Testament."—His account of the papacy is contained in the following words:—"Law was the lesson which Rome was intended to teach the world. Hence (?) the Bishop of Rome soon became the Head of the Church. Rome was in fact the centre of the traditions which had once governed the world; and their spirit still remained; and the Roman Church developed into the papacy simply because a head was wanted (!), and no better one could be found."—p. 16. At p. 10 we have a truly puerile misconception of the meaning of 1 Cor. xv. 56, &c., &c.
[20] Deut. vi. 4.
[21] 1 Sam. xv. 22, where see the places in the margin.
[22] Hos. vi. 6, quoted by our Lord, St. Matth. ix. 13: xii. 7.
[23] Consider Ps. xxvi. 6: l. 13, 14: li. 16, 17: cxvi. 15: cxix. 108: cxli. 2, &c.
[24] St. Matth. xvi. 4: xii. 39. Compare St. Mark viii. 38.
[25] St. James iv. 4.
[26] St. Matth. xxiii. 33.
[27] Ezek. xvi. 47-52.
[28] Is. i. 4, 6, 15.
[29] St. John viii. 9. "I cannot but speak my mind," (says Josephus, after taking a survey of the extreme wickedness of his countrymen, in connexion with the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem,) "and it is this: I suppose that if the Romans had delayed to come against these sinners, either the earth would have swallowed them up; or the city would have been swept away by another Flood; or it would have been consumed, like a second Sodom, by fire from Heaven."
[30] S. John xii. 38-40. "They have blinded their eyes," &c. (See the place in the LXX.:) sc. ὁ λαὸς οὗτος.
[31] "Had the revelation of Christ been delayed till now, assuredly it would have been hard for us to recognize His Divinity.... We, of course, have in our turn counterbalancing advantages. (!) If we have lost that freshness of faith which would be the first (sic) to say to a poor carpenter,—Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,—yet we possess in the greater cultivation of our religious understanding, that which perhaps we ought not to be willing to give in exchange (!) ... They had not the same clearness of understanding as we; the same recognition that it is God and not the Devil who rules the World; the same power of discrimination between different kinds of truth.... Had our Lord come later, He would have come to mankind already beginning to stiffen into the fixedness of maturity.... The truth of His Divine Nature would not have been recognized." (pp. 24-5.)—Is this meant for bitter satire on the age we live in; or for disparagement of the Incarnate Word?... But in the face of such anticipations, the keenest satire of all is contained in the author's claim to a "religious understanding, cultivated" to a degree unknown to the best ages of the Church; as well as to surpassing "clearness of understanding," and "powers of discrimination." Lamentable in any quarter, how deplorable is such conceit in one who shews himself unacquainted with the first principles of Theological Science; and who puts forth an Essay on the Education of the World, which would have been discreditable to an advanced school-boy!
[32] Quite ineffectual, at the very close of this unhappy composition, as a set off to the compacted and often repeated asseverations of his earlier pages, is the amiable author's plaintive plea for "even the perverted use of the Bible;" adding,—"And meanwhile, how utterly impossible it would be in the manhood of the world to imagine any other instructor of mankind!" (p. 47.) It is one of the favourite devices of these seven writers, side by side with their most objectionable statements, to insert isolated passages of admitted truth,—and occasionally even of considerable beauty: which however are utterly meaningless and out of place where they stand; and (like the sentence above written,) powerless to undo the circumstantial wickedness of what went before. I repeat, that the words above-written are meaningless where they stand: for if Dr. Temple really means that it is "utterly impossible in the manhood of the world to imagine any other instructor of mankind" than the Bible,—what becomes of his Essay?
[33]παρατηρεῖσθε: i.e. "ye misobserve," "keep in a wrong way."
[34] Gal. iv. 1-10.
[35] Gal. iii. 24, 25.
[36] Gal. v. 1.
[37] 2 St. John v. 10, 11.
[38] Rom. viii. 21.
[39] It is presumed that the article in the Dict. of Antiquities will be held unexceptionable authority as to the office of the παιδαγωγός.—"Rex filio pædagogum constituit, et singulis diebus ad eum invisit, interrogans eum: Num comedit filius meus? num in scholam abiit? num ex scholâ rediit?"—Wetstein, in loc.—So Plato Lysis, p. 118.
[40] 1 St. Peter ii. 21. Comp. St. James v. 10.
[41] 1 Cor. xi. 1: iv. 16. Phil. iii. 17. 2 Thess. iii. 9. Heb. xiii. 7, &c.
[42] 1 St. Pet. i. 11.
[43] 1 Tim. i. 10: iv. 6. Tit. i. 9: ii. 1. Comp. 2 St. John v. 10.
[44] 2 Tim. i. 13.
[45] 2 Tim. i. 13, 14: ii. 2. Also 1 Tim. vi. 20. On both places, Dr. Wordsworth's Notes may be consulted with advantage.
[46] 2 Tim. iv. 3.
[47] 2 Thess. ii. 7, 8, &c.
[48] Art. XX.
[49] Art. VIII.
[50] I allude especially to the terrible castigation he has individually received at the hands of the Bishop of Exeter. See the Times, of March 4th, 1861.
[51] "And when the Angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord ... said to the Angel that destroyed the people," &c. "And the Angel of the Lord was by the threshing-place of Araunah the Jebusite."—2 Sam. xxiv. 16.
"The Angel of the Lord stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the Angel of the Lord stand between the Earth and the Heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem."—1 Chron. xxi. 15, 16.
[52] Acts i. 20.
[53] On the Creed, Art. iv. p. 244, notes (u) and (x).
[54] "It would take no great space," (says Dr. Pusey,) "to shew that the rendering 'as a lion,' is unmeaning, without authority, against authority; while the rendering 'they pierced' is borne out alike by authority and language."
[55] Ver. 1,—St. John xii. 38. Rom. x. 16. Ver. 4,—St. Matth. viii. 17. Ver. 4 to 11,—1 St. Pet. ii. 24, 25. Ver. 7 and 8,—Acts viii. 32. Ver. 12,—St. Mark xv. 28. St. Luke xxii. 37.
[56] Mal. iv. 5.
[57] St. Luke i. 17.
[58] As the Fathers generally teach. See Brown's Ordo Sæclorum, pp. 702-3, &c., &c.
[59] And yet,—"I go to prepare a place for you!"—St. John xiv. 2.
[60] See, for example, p. 60, (lower half,) p. 62, (middle,) &c.
[61] Comp. p. 45.
[62] Col. ii. 11, 12. Rom. ii. 29. Phil. iii. 3, &c.
[63] Edinburgh Review, (Ap. 1861,) p. 429.
[64] Analogy, P. ii. ch. ii., ad fin.
[65] Analogy, P. ii. ch. iii., ad init.
[66] Van Mildert's Historical View of the Rise and Progress of Infidelity, &c. Serm. xxi., (ed. 1806,) vol. ii. pp. 313-17.
[67] "Columbus' prediction of the eclipse to the native islanders, was as true an argument to them as if the event had really been supernatural." p. 115.
[68] St. Mark viii. 19, 20.
[69] St. John ix.
[70] St. John xi. 44.
[71] Consider St. John iii. 2, (referring to ii. 23 and iv. 45.) So ix. 16: x. 21 and 38: xiv. 10, 11. Also xv. 24; and consider St Luke vii. 16: also 21, 22: St. Matth. xii. 22, 23: St. John vii. 31: xii. 17-19.
[72] St. John v. 44. Comp. vii. 17: viii. 12. St. Matth. v. 8. Ps. xix. 8: cxix. 100. Also, Ecclus. i. 26: xxi. 11.—"There is," (says an excellent living writer,) "scarcely any doctrine or precept of our Saviour more distinctly and strongly stated, than that the capacity for judging of, and for believing the Truths of Christianity, depends upon Moral Goodness, and the practice of Virtue."—Let us hear our own Hooker on this subject:—"We find by experience that although Faith be an intellectual habit of the mind, and have her seat in the understanding, yet an evil moral disposition obstinately wedded to the love of darkness dampeth the very light of heavenly illumination, and permitted not the Mind to see what doth shine before it."—Eccl. Pol., B. v.c. lxiii. § 2.
[73] St. John xi. 44.
[74] P. 113. The italics are in the original.
[75] See the Quarterly Review, (on Prof. Baden Powell's "Order of Nature,")—for Oct. 1859, (No. 212,) pp. 420-3.
[76] p. 169.—"Priests have neither been, as some would represent, a set of deliberate conspirators against the free thoughts of mankind; nor, on the other hand," &c. Ibid.—How partial becomes the judgment, when we have to discuss the merits of our own order!
[77] Ans. Clearly in the relation of a blessing which has by all means to be communicated to them.
[78] Ans. Certainly there is. Those which most obviously present themselves are such as the following:—St. Matth. ix. 37, 38: xxviii. 19, 20. St. Luke xxiv. 47. Acts ii. 38, 39, &c.
[79] Analogy, P. ii. c. vi.
[80] Rom. v. 12.
[81] 1 Cor. xv. 22.
[82] Eph. ii. 3.
[83] Analogy, P. ii. c. v. note (d).
[84] Col. i. 23.—p. 155.
[85] See Nelson's Life of Bp. Bull, p. 245.
[86] See Nelson's Life of Bp. Bull, p. 242.
[87] "The horizon which his view embraced was much narrower than St. Paul's,"—who had enlarged his mind by foreign travel, (p. 168.)
In a note, we are informed that "at any rate his Gospel cannot, by external evidence, be attached to the person (!) of St. John as its author." "Many persons," (it is added,) "shrink from a bonâ fide examination of the 'Gospel question,' because they imagine, that unless the four Gospels are received as ... entirely the composition of the persons whose names they bear, and without any admixture of legendary matter or embellishment in their narratives, the only alternative is to suppose a fraudulent design in those who did compose them." (p. 161.) ... May one who has not shrunk from 'the Gospel question' be permitted to regret that the Reverend writer has not specified the charges which he thus vaguely brings against the Gospels? What, pray, is the legendary matter; and which are the embellishments?
In the same page we read of "the first, or genuine, epistle of St. Peter." Is not his second epistle genuine, then?
[88] See above, [p. lviii.]
[89] "Pleas for 'liberty of conscience' and 'freedom of opinion,'" (as on excellent writer has recently pointed out,) "can have neither place nor pretext, while there is liberty, for all who choose, to decline joining the Church of England; and freedom, for all who choose, to leave her."—Rev. C. Forster's 'Spinoza Redivivus,' (1861,) p. 6.
[90] In what part of the Bible, (one begs respectfully to inquire,) is one called upon to "accept the story of an arresting of the Earth's motion, or of a reversal of its motion?" ... Would it not be as well to be truthful in one's references to the Bible?
[92] See Butler's Analogy, P. ii. c. iii.
[93] Quarterly Review, Jan. 1861, p. 275.
[94] Take a few as a specimen:—"A great restraint is supposed to be imposed upon the Clergy by reason of their subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles. Yet it is more difficult than might be expected, to define what is the extent of the legal obligation of those who sign them; and in this case, the strictly legal obligation is the measure of the moral one. Subscription may be thought even to be inoperative upon the conscience by reason of its vagueness. For the act of subscription is enjoined, but its effect or meaning nowhere plainly laid down; and it does not seem to amount to more than an acceptance of the Articles of the Church as the formal law to which the subscriber is in some sense subject. What that subjection amounts to, must be gathered elsewhere; for it does not appear on the face of the subscription itself."—(p. 181. See down to page 185.) Can equivocation such as this be read without a sense of humiliation and shame, as well as of disgust and abhorrence?
[95] p. 180 to p. 190.
[96] Heading of the XXXIX Articles.
[97] The reader is referred to some remarks on Ideology towards the close of Sermon VII., p. 243 to p. 251.
[98] "Unhappily, together with his inauguration of Multitudinism, Constantine also inaugurated a principle essentially at variance with it, the principle of doctrinal limitation." (p. 166.) ... "The opportunity of reverting to the freedom of the Apostolic, and immediately succeeding periods, was finally lost for many ages by the sanction given by Constantine to the decisions of Nicæa." (Ibid.) "At all events, a principle at variance with a true Multitudinism was then recognised." (Ibid.)
How does it happen, by the way, that one writing B.D. after his name, however bitter his animosity against the Nicene Creed may be, is not aware that Creeds are co-eval with Christianity? Thus we find the Creed of Carthage in the works of Cyprian, (a.d. 225,) and Tertullian, (a.d 210, 203): that of Lyons in the works of Irenæus, (a.d. 180.) [see Heurtley's Harmonia Symbolica, pp. 7-20.] We recognize fragments of the Creed in Ignatius, (a.d. 90.) We hear St. Paul himself saying—ὑποτύπωσιν ἔχε ὑγιαινόντων λόγων, ὧν (i.e. the words themselves!) παρ' ἐμοῦ ἤκουσας ... τὴν καλὴν παρακαταθήκην φύλαξον—2 Tim. i. 13, 14. A few more words on this subject will be found in the notice of Mr. Jowett's Essay.
[99] It is really impossible to argue with a man who informs us that "previous to the time of the divided Kingdom, the Jewish History presents little which is thoroughly reliable:" (p. 170:)—that "the greater probability seems on the side of the supposition, that the Priesthood, with its distinct offices and charge, was constituted by Royalty, and that the higher pretensions of the priests were not advanced till the reign of Josiah:" (Ibid.:)—that, "The negative Theologian" demands "some positive elements in Christianity, on grounds more sure to him than the assumption of an objective 'faith once delivered to the saints,' which he cannot identify with the Creed of any Church as yet known to him:" (pp. 174-5:)—a man who can remark concerning the Bible, that,—"Those who are able to do so, ought to lead the less educated to distinguish between the different kinds of words which it contains, between the dark patches of human passion and error which form a partial crust upon it, and the bright centre of spiritual truth within." (p. 177.)
[100] Quarterly Review, (Jan. 1851,) No. 217, p. 259.
[101] A writer in the Saturday Review, (April 6, 1861,) in an admirable Article on the importance of retaining the office of 'Dean' in its integrity, (instead of suicidally merging it in the office of 'Bishop,') speaks of there being "no English Commentary on the New Testament brought up to the level of modern Theological Science." [As if "the level" had been rising of late!] "Butler and Paley are still our text-books on the Evidences; and we are defending old beliefs behind wooden walls against the rifled cannon and iron broadsides of modern Philosophy."—p. 337. What a strange misapprehension of the entire question,—of the relation of Theological to Physical Science,—does such a sentence betray!
[103] As the excellent Townson observed long since,—"The brightness of countenance and raiment which dazzled and overcame the sight of His Apostles when He was Transfigured on the Mount, was to Him but a ray of that glory in which He dwelt before the Worlds were made."—Sermon on "The manner of our Saviour's Teaching,"—Works, vol. i. p. 282.
[104] St. Matth. xvii. 2.
[105] St. Mark ix. 3.
[106] 1 Tim. vi. 15, 16.—If it be more philosophical to suppose that the Light which shone upon the earth during the first three days proceeded from the Sun, (the orb of which remained invisible,) and not from any extraneous independent source,—I have no objection whatever to such a supposition,—or indeed to any other which suffers the inspired record to remain intact. I am by no means clear however that Philosophy (begging her pardon,) does not entirely mistake her office, when she pretends to explain the first chapter of Genesis. Hence, her constrained language, and unnatural manner, when she desires to be respectful,—her inconsequential remarks and perpetual blunders when she rather prefers to be irreligious. She is simply out of her element, and is discoursing of what she does not understand.—Theology, dealing with a physical problem by the method of Theological Science; and Philosophy, applying to a chapter in the Bible the physical method,—are alike at fault, and alike ridiculous. This truth, however obvious, does not seem to be generally understood.
But, (to return to the first three days of Creation,)—since the Author of Revelation seems to design that I should understand that Sun, Moon, and Stars not only did not come to view until the fourth day,—but also that they were not re-invested with their immemorial function and office until then,—I find no difficulty, remembering with whom I have to do, even with Him who sowed the vault of Heaven so thick with stars, each one of which may be not a sun but a system[107];—when, I say, I attend to the emphatic nature of the inspired record, on the one hand, and to God's Omnipotence on the other,—I have no difficulty in supposing that He embraced the Sun in a veil, for just so long a period as it seemed Him good, and when He willed that it should re-appear, that He withdrew the veil again. The name for the operation just now alluded to belongs to the province of Philosophy. Divinity is all the while thinking about something infinitely better and higher.
[107] Herschel.
[108] Gen. i. 6.
[109] Ibid. 20.
[110] Job xxxvii. 18.
[111] Ps. civ. 2.
[112] Is. xl. 22.
[113] Job xxvi. 8.
[114] Prov. xxx. 4.
[115] See also Job ix. 8. Even in Job xxxvii. 18, the sky is said to be "spread out." So Is. xlv. 12, &c.
[116] Job xxvi. 11.
[117] 2 Sam. xxii. 8.
[118] Ps. lxxviii. 23.
[119] Gen. vii. 11.
[120] Job ix. 6. Ps. lxxv. 3. See Blomfield's Glossary to Prom. Vinct. v. 357.
[121] Comp. Is. xxiv. 18.
[122] See Is. xxiv. 18 and Mal. iii. 10.
[123] ἐκλείπειν τὴν ἕδραν. (Herod.) See Copleston's Remains, p. 107.
[124] Eccl. Pol. 1. iii. § 2.
[125] Gen. i. 26.
[126] "The difficulty," he says, (alluding to Gen. i. 1,) "lies in this, that the heaven is distinctly said to have been formed ... on the second day." (p. 226.) But this is the language of a man determined that there shall be a difficulty. "The Heavens and the Earth" clearly denote, (in the simple phraseology of a primitive age,) the sum of all created things; the great transaction which Nehemiah has so strikingly expounded:—"Heaven, the Heaven of Heavens, with all their host,—the Earth and all things that are therein;" including "the sea, with all that is therein." (Neh. ix. 6.) Whereas "the firmament" of ver. 6, (which God called "Heaven" in ver. 8,) can only indicate the blue vault immediately overhead, wherein fowls fly. (ver. 20.) If this be not the meaning of Gen. i. 1, one half of the phrase is "proleptical,"—the other half not: for the creation of Earth is nowhere recorded, if not in ver. 1.... But surely it is a waste of words to discuss such "difficulties" as these.
[127] Consider especially Heb. iv. 9 and 10; and consider, (besides Exod. xx. 11,) Deut. v. 15. See also Col. ii. 17.
[128] "There have been found within the area of these islands upwards of 15,000 species of once living things, every one differing specifically from those of the present Creation. Agassiz states that, with the exception of one small fossil fish, (discovered in the clay-stones of Greenland,) he has not found any creature of this class, in all the Geological strata, identical with any fish now living." (Pattison's The Earth and the World, p. 27.)
[129] I allude to such passages as the following,—all of which are to be found in Mr. Goodwin's Essay:—
"We are asked to believe that a vision of creation was presented to him (Moses) by Divine power, for the purpose of enabling him to inform the world of what he had seen; which vision inevitably led him to give a description which has misled the world for centuries, and in which the truth can now only with difficulty be recognized." (p. 247.) "The theories [of Hugh Miller and of Dr. Buckland] assume that appearances only, not facts, are described; and that, in riddles which would never have been suspected to be such, had we not arrived at the truth from other sources." (p. 249.) "For ages, this simple view of Creation satisfied the wants of man, and formed a sufficient basis of theological teaching:" but "modern research now shews it to be physically untenable." (p. 253.)
"The writer asserts solemnly and unhesitatingly that for which he must have known that he had no authority." But this was only because "the early speculator was harassed by no such scruples" as "arise from our modern habits of thought, and from the modesty of assertion (!) which the spirit of true science has taught us." He therefore "asserted as facts what he knew in reality only as probabilities.... He had seized one great truth.... With regard to details, observation failed him."—(pp. 252-3.)
[130] p. 329.
[131] pp. 307-309.
[132] Notice prefixed to Essays and Reviews.
[133] p. 255.
[134] Nos. 74, 76, 78, 81.
[135] I allude particularly to the late Hugh James Rose, B.D.
[136] Neh. iv. 17, 18.
[137] St. Luke xviii. 8.
[138] See Nelson's Life of Bull, p. 329, &c.
[139] See his admirable Preface.
[140] Newman's dedication of his 'Lectures on Romanism and popular Protestantism.'
[141] See the 'Monitum' prefixed to Dr. Routh's Testimonia De Auctoritate S. Scripturæ Ante-Nicæna.—Reliqq. Sacræ, vol. v. p. 335.
[142] "In 1781, the first Sunday School was established in England by Robert Raikes, a publisher and bookseller in Gloucester."—National Society's Circular.
[143] Primary Charge, at the end of his Sermons.
[144] Rev. M. Pattison, in Essays and Reviews, p. 307.
[145] pp. 338, 375, 420 top line, 428, &c.
[146] See all this very ably and interestingly explained in an article reprinted from the 'Christian Remembrancer' (Jan. 1861,) On certain Characteristics of Holy Scripture, by the Rev. J. G. Cazenove, p. 11, &c.
[147] Nor is this a mere slip of Mr. Jowett's pen. At p. 372, he states that "a majority of the Clergy throughout the world,"—(with whom he associates the "instincts of many laymen, perhaps also individual interest,")—are in favour of "withholding the Truth." But, he adds, (with the indignant emphasis of Virtue when she is reproaching Vice,)—"a higher expediency pleads that 'honesty is the best policy,' and that truth alone 'makes free!'"—How would such insolence be treated in the common intercourse of daily life?—(I will not pause to remark on Mr. Jowett's wanton abuse of the Divine saying recorded in St. John viii. 32,—repeated at p. 351.)
[148] I suppose that there may have been many inspired Psalmists; and that perhaps the book of Judges was not all by one hand. With reference to the two books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, see 1 Chron. xxix. 29, 30. 2 Chron. ix. 29: xi. 2: xii. 15, 5, 7: xiii. 22.
[149] By the Jews themselves they were reckoned as 22.
[150] "It is remarkable that the word Γραφή, which means simply Writing, is reserved and appropriated in the New Testament (where it occurs fifty times) to the Sacred writings, i.e. to the Holy Scriptures; and marks the separation of the Scriptures from all "common books," indeed from all other writings in the world."—Wordsworth 'On Inspiration,'—p. 85.
[151] St. Luke xvi. 17.
[152] οὐ δύναται λυθῆναι ἡ γραφή,—St. John x. 35.
[153] e.g. (i) Long passages:—
Judges i. 11-15 quotes Joshua xv. 15-19.—2 Sam. xxii. quotes Ps. xviii.—1 Chron. xvi. quotes Ps. xcvi., and Ps. cv.—2 Kings xix. quotes Is. xxxvii.—2 Kings xx. quotes Is. xxxviii., xxxix.
(ii) One or two sentences:—
Numb. xiv. 18 quotes Exod. xxxvi. 6, 7.—Ps. lxviii. 1 quotes Numb. x. 35.—Ps. lxviii. 7, 8 quotes Judges v. 4, 5.—Ps. cxviii. 14 quotes Exod. xv. 2.—Prov. xxx. 5 quotes Ps. xviii. 30.—Joel ii. 13 quotes Jonah iv. 2.—Isaiah xii. 2 quotes Exod. xv. 2.—Isaiah xiii. 6 quotes Joel i. 15.—Isaiah li. 6 quotes Ps. cii. 25-7.—Isaiah lii. 10 quotes Ps. xcviii. 2, 3.—Micah iv. 1, 2, 3 quotes Isaiah ii. 2, 3, 4.—Nahum i. 15 quotes Isaiah lii. 7.—Zeph. iii. 19 quotes Micah iv. 6.—Habakkuk ii. 14 quotes Isaiah xi. 9.—Jeremiah x. 13: li. 16 quotes Ps. cxxxv. 7.—Jeremiah xlviii. quotes Isaiah xv. 16.—Jeremiah xxvi. 18 quotes Micah iii. 12.—1 Chron. xxix. 15 quotes Ps. xxxix. 12.
(iii) Allusive references.—(This would involve a prolonged reference to the Hebrew Scriptures, which would be even out of place here.)
[154] See [pp. 234-5.]
[155] Rev. Ralph Churton's Sermon "On the Quotations in the Old Testament," (1807,) published in Townson's Works, vol. i. p. cxxxiv.,—where see the interesting note.
[156] Rev. Ralph Churton's Sermon, quoted in [note (t, [our 155])], pp. cxliv-v.
[157] E.g. Gen. xxviii. 11, 12: xxxii. 1-3. Exod. xxiv. 10.—St. Luke xxii. 43-45. St. Matth. xxvii. 52, 53. St. Jude ver. 9.
[158] E.g. Jacob, Joseph, David.—St. Paul, St. Peter, St. John.
[159] E.g. Gen. viii. 9: xxxvii. 15-17: xlviii. 17, 18. Exod. ii. 6.—St. Luke viii. 55. St. John xiii. 4, 5: xxi.
[160] E.g. in Heb. viii. 8-12, where Jer. xxxi. 31-36 is quoted. See Acts ii. 17-21, where Joel ii. 28-32 is quoted.
[161] It is supposed that the three well-known references to profane writers, (Acts xvii. 28. 1 Cor. xv. 33. Tit. i. 12, [concerning which see Jerome, Opp. i. 424: vii. 471,])—the place in St. Matthew, (xxvii. 9,)—and St. James iv. 5,—are scarcely exceptions to the statement in the text.
[163] Only given by St. Matthew and St. Luke.
[164] Only found in St. Luke iii. 36.
[165] Only found in St. Matth. i. 5.
[166] Only found in Acts vii. 16.
[167] Only found in Acts vii. 23.
[168] St. James v. 17,—mentioned also by our Lord, St. Luke iv. 25; who informs us that Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites. This is only revealed in St. Luke xi. 30.
[169] 2 Cor. xi. 3.
[170] St. Jude ver. 9.
[171] 2 Tim. iii. 8.
[172] See Heb. xi. 19. Consider Rom. iv. 19.
[173] Acts vii. 16.
[174] Compare Exod. ii. 2, 3 with Acts vii. 20. Consider Rev. ii. 14: also Heb. xii. 21: also Heb. ix. 19, &c.
[175] Sermons, by the Rev. C. P. Eden, p. 185.
[176] Τί γάρ ἐστιν ὁ Νόμος; Εὐαγγέλιον προκατηγγελμένον· τί δὲ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον; Νόμος πεπληρώμενος. Justin: Quæst. ci. p. 456.
[177] Eadem sunt in Vetere et Novo: ibi obumbrata, hic revelata; ibi præfigurata, hic manifesta. (Augustine: Quæst. xxxiii., in Num. § 1. m. iii. p. 541.)—In Veteri Testamento est occultatio Novi: in Novo Testamento est manifestatio Veteris. (Id. De Catechiz. Rudibus, § 8.—See also Quæst. lxxiii. in Exod.)
[178] See below, from the foot of [p. 174] to the beginning of p. 176.
[179] Below, [p. 108]. The reader is requested to refer to the place.
[180] E.g. Gen. xi. 5-8: xviii. 17-21.
[181] E.g. Gen. vi. 6. 2 Sam. xi. 27.
[182] E.g. 2 Kings xix. 35. St. Matth. xxviii. 2, 3.
[183] Rev. i. 10, 11.
[184] Analogy, P. II. ch. vii.
[185] Butler's Analogy, P. ii. ch. vii.
[186] Heb. viii. 1.
[187] St. Luke iv. 21.
[188] St. John v. 46.
[189] St. Luke xxiv. 27.
[190] St. Luke xxiv. 44.
[191] Dr. Wordsworth (Occasional Sermon 54,) On the Inspiration of the Old Testament, (1859.)—p. 70.
[192] 2 Tim. ii. 2.
[193] See the middle of [p. cxcvii].
[194] Photius, p. 195, ed. Bekker.—"Eos simul jungendos censui,—Polycarpum, Irenæum, Hippolytum; cum Hippolytus discipulus Irenæi fuisset, Irenæusque Polycarpum, Joannis Apostoli discipulum, audivisset."—Routh, Preface to Opuscula, p. x.
[195] St. Luke xxiv. 27.
[196] St. John xiv. 26. The fulfilment of this promise repeatedly occurs: as in St. John ii. 17, 22: xii. 16: xiii. 7: St. Luke xxiv. 8. Consider St. John xx. 9.
[197] 1 Cor. xii., xiii., xiv., &c.
[198] St. Luke xxiv. 45.
[199] Acts ii. 4-21.
[200] See Mr. Jowett's Essay, p. 354.
[201] Ps. xcii. 5.
[202] Acts viii. 30, 31.—"'Revela,' inquit David, 'oculos meos, et considerabo mirabilia de Lege Tuâ.' Si tantus Propheta tenebras ignorantiæ confitetur, quâ nos putas parvulos, et pene lactantes, inscitiæ nocte circumdari? Hoc autem velamen non solum in facie Moysi, sed et in Evangelistis et in Apostolis positum est."—Hieronymus, Ep. lviii. vol. i. p. 323.
[203] Dr. Moberly, as before, [pp. liii.-iv.]
[204] Minor Works, vol. ii. p. 10.
[205] Ibid. p. 6.
[206] See Serm. I. [pp. 10-11], 13, &c.
[208] From a Sermon by the Rev. F. Woodward, quoted below, at p. 249.—In illustration of the learned writer's concluding remark, take this from the Creed of Lyons, contained in Irenæus (a.d. 180),—Καὶ εἰς Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον, τὸ διὰ τῶν Προφητῶν κεκηρυχὸς τὰς οἰκονομίας, καὶ τὰς ἐλεύσεις. In the Creed of Constantinople, we read, Τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον ... τὸ λαλῆσαν διὰ τῶν Προφητῶν.
[209] The Creed of Lyons begins by describing itself as that which ἡ μὲν Ἐκκλησία, καίπερ καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἕως περάτων τῆς γῆς διεσπαρμένη, παρὰ δὲ τῶν Ἀποστόλων καὶ τῶν ἐκείνων μαθητῶν παραλαβοῦσα, κ.τ.λ. Most refreshing of all, however, are the concluding words of that Creed: so comfortable are they that I cannot deny myself the consolation of transcribing them here, where indeed they are very much ad rem:—
Τοῦτο τὸ κήρυγμα παρειληφυῖα, καὶ ταύτην τὴν πίστιν, ὡς προέφαμεν, ἡ ἐκκλησία, καίπερ ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ διεσπαρμένη, ἐπιμελῶς φυλάσσει, ὡς ἕνα οἶκον οἰκοῦσα· καὶ ὁμοίως πιστεύει τούτοις, ὡς μίαν ψυχὴν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχουσα καρδίαν· καὶ συμφώνως ταῦτα κηρύσσει, καὶ διδάσκει, καὶ παραδίδωσιν, ὡς ἓν στόμα κεκτημένη. Καὶ γὰρ αἱ κατὰ τὸν κόσμον διάλεκτοι ἀνόμοιαι, ἀλλ' ἡ δύναμις τῆς παραδόσεως μία καὶ ἡ αὐτή. Καὶ οὔτε αἱ ἐν Γερμανίαις ἱδρυμέναι ἐκκλησίαι ἄλλως πεπιστεύκασιν, ἢ ἄλλως παραδιδόασιν, οὔτε ἐν ταῖς Ἰβηρίαις, οὔτε ἐν Κελτοῖς, οὔτε κατὰ τὰς ἀνατολὰς, οὔτε ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, οὔτε ἐν Λιβύῃ, οὔτε αἱ κατὰ μέσα τοῦ κόσμου ἱδρυμέναι. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ὁ ἥλιος, τὸ κτίσμα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ εἷς καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς, οὕτω καὶ τὸ κήρυγμα τῆς ἀληθείας πανταχῇ φαίνει, καὶ φωτίζει πάντας ἀνθρώπους τοὺς βουλομένους εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν. Καὶ οὔτε ὁ πάνυ δυνατὸς ἐν λόγῳ τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις προεστώτων ἕτερα τούτων ἐρεῖ, (οὐδεὶς γὰρ ὑπὲρ τὸν διδάσκαλον,) οὔτε ὁ ἀσθενὴς ἐν τῷ λόγῳ ἐλαττώσει τὴν παράδοσιν. Μιᾶς γὰρ καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς πίστεως οὔσης, οὔτε ὁ πολὺ περὶ αὐτῆς δυνάμενος εἰπεῖν ἐπλεόνασεν, οὔτε ὁ τὸ ὀλίγον ἠλαττόνησε.—See Heurtley's Harmonia Symbolica, p. 9.
[210] Abridged from Dr. Moberly, as before, [pp. lii.-v.]
[211] Καὶ ὅνπερ τρόπον ὁ τοῦ σινάπεως σπόρος, ἐν μικρῷ κόκκῳ, πολλοὺς περιέχει τοὺς κλάδους, οὕτω καὶ ἡ Πίστις αὕτη, ἐν ὀλίγοις ῥήμασι, πᾶσαν τὴν ἐν τῇ Παλαιᾷ καὶ Καινῇ τῆς εὐσεβείας γνῶσιν ἐγκεκόλπισται. —Cyril. Hieros. Cat. v. § 12,—quoted by Heurtley.
[212] Answer. He certainly does not employ the identical language of the Nicene Council, or of the (so called) Athanasian Creed. But what then?
[213] Ans. Passages of the Epistles "distributed in alternate clauses between our Lord's Humanity and Divinity," begging Mr. Jowett's pardon, is nonsense. But no passage in St. Paul's Epistles which relates to the Humanity, or to the Divinity of Christ, could be said to "lose its meaning" by being unlocked by its own proper clue: or, if the statement be complex, by being distributed under two heads.
[214] Ans. But not, I suppose, to reconcile them? Why use inaccurate language on so solemn a subject?
[215] Ans. Doubtless we have to suppose this!
[216] Ans. Not so. For "there is one Person of the Father, and another of the Son."
[217] Ans. Doubtless we have to suppose this!
[218] Ans. But He did not doubt!
[219] 1 St. John iv. 2, 3.—2 St. John ver. 7.
[220] Dr. Moberly, as before, p. xlvii.
[221] E.g. "We should observe how the popular explanations of Prophecy, as in heathen (Thucyd. ii. 54,) so also in Christian times, had adapted themselves to the circumstances of mankind." (The Reverend writer can never for a moment divest himself of his theory that Thucydides and the Bible stand on the same footing!) "We might remark that in our own country, and in the present generation especially, the interpretation of Scripture had assumed an apologetic character, as though making an effort to defend itself against some supposed inroad of Science and Criticism." (p. 340.) ... Just as if any other attitude was possible when one has to do with 'Essayists and Reviewers!'
[222] One would imagine that the Essayist and his critic were entirely agreed. See below, p. 74,—"I refuse to accept any theory whatsoever." And p. 115,—"Theory I have none."
[223] Had the following passage occurred sooner to my recollection, it should have been sooner inserted:—"Are we to conduct the Interpretation of Holy Scripture as we would that of any other writing? We are and we are not. So far as the words are concerned, the mere words of Scripture have the same office with those of all language written or spoken in sincerity." They must be studied "by the same means and the same rules which would guide us to the meaning of any other work; by a knowledge of the languages in which the books were written, the Hebrew, the Chaldee, the Greek, and of those other languages, as the Syriac and Arabic, which may illustrate them; and of all the ordinary rules of Grammar and Criticism, and the peculiar information respecting times and circumstances, history and customs,—all the resources, in a word, of the Interpretation of any work of any kind. The Grammatical and Historical interpretation of profane or sacred writings is the same.... "All Scripture," meanwhile, "is given by Inspiration of God:" and this at once introduces several important differences; which whoever neglects may yet, with whatsoever advantages of learning and talent, fail to discover the real meaning of the Word of God."—From Dr. Hawkins (Provost of Oriel)'s Inaugural Lecture as Dean Ireland's Professor, delivered in 1847,—pp. 29-30.
It is but fair to Mr. Jowett to add that, in terms, he has very nearly (not quite) said the self-same thing himself, at p. 337, (upper half the page.) But it is the peculiar method of this most slippery writer, or most illogical thinker, occasionally to grant almost all that heart can desire, as far as words go; but straightway to deny, or evacuate, or explain away, the thing which those words ought to signify.—Thus, at p. 337, he volunteers the remark that "No one who has a Christian feeling would place Classical on a level with Sacred Literature;" and at p. 377, he observes that, "There are many respects in which Scripture is unlike any other book." And yet, (as I have shown, p. cxliii. to p. cl.,) Mr. Jowett puts the Bible on a level with Sophocles and Plato; and argues throughout as if Scripture were in no essential respect unlike any other book!
[224] "Had this writer reminded us that the New Testament Greek is a Greek of different age from that of the classical writers; had he simply warned us that we must not press our Attic Greek scholarship too far, but study the Alexandrian Greek of the Septuagint, Philo, &c. in order to ascertain the exact meaning of the words and phrases of the writers of the New Testament;—still more, if, as the result of such study on his own part, he had offered us some well-digested observations on the use of tenses, articles, or particles in the sacred writings;—he would have done some service. But this talk about 'excessive attention to the article,' and 'particles being often mere excrescences of style,' is of no effect except to expose the writer to ridicule. It sounds as if he had been accustomed to lay down the law to an admiring audience of 'clever young men,' and had forgotten that there were still 'men in Denmark' who understood Greek."—Some Remarks on Essays and Reviews, prefixed to Dr. Moberly's 'Sermons on the Beatitudes.' (1861.) pp. lxii.-iii.
[225] Quarterly Review, No. 217, p. 298.
[226] Quarterly Review, No. 217, pp. 265-6.
[227] St. Matth. ii .1, 22.
[228] St. Luke ii. 41.
[229] See Sermon VII., [pp. 222-232.]
[230] Essays and Reviews, p. 109.
[231] See Dr. Moberly, (as before,) p. lv.-lx.
[232] Edinburgh Review, (April, 1861,) p. 476.
[233] The Rev. H. B. Wilson says,—"If those who distinguish themselves in Science and Literature cannot, in a scientific and literary age, be effectually and cordially attached to the Church of their nation, they must sooner or later be driven into a position of hostility to it." (p. 198.) This is one of the many notes, if not of "concert and comparison," at least of intense sympathy between the Essayists and Reviewers.
[234] Quarterly Review, No. 217, p. 266.
[235] See at pp. 351, 352, 357, 358, 361, 365, 367, 413, &c.
[236] Quarterly Review, as before, p. 282.
[237] Take a few instances:—Mr. Wilson and Mr. Jowett speak of the Gospels as more or less accurately embodying a common tradition, pp. 161 and 346.—Dr. Temple and Mr. Jowett propose the heart and conscience, as the overruling principle, pp. 42-5, and 410:—and insist that the Bible is "a Spirit, not a Letter," pp. 36 and 357, 375, 425.—Dr. Temple and Dr. Williams regard the Bible as the voice of conscience, pp. 45 and 78:—look for a verifying faculty in the individual, pp. 45 and 83:—dwell on the "interpolations" in Scripture, pp. 47 and 78.—Mr. Wilson and Mr. Jowett insist on the meaning which Scripture had to those who first heard it, as its true meaning, pp. 219, 223, 230, 232, and 338, 378:—on the necessity of reconciling Intellectual men to Scripture, pp. 198 and 374.—Professor Powell and Mr. Jowett are of one mind as to Miracles, pp. 109 and 349.—Dr. Temple and Mr. Jowett delight in the same image of the Colossal Man, pp. 1-49 and 331, 387, 422.—Dr. Williams and Mr. Jowett coincide in their estimate of the German Commentators, pp. 67 and 340.—Dr. Temple and Dr. Williams are of one mind as to the past training of our Race, pp. 1-49, and 51. They are generally agreed as to the untrustworthiness of Genesis, and of the Scripture generally, the hopeless contradictions between the Evangelists, &c., &c. They hold the same language about our having outlived the Faith, ('Traditional Christianity,' as it is called;) the impossibility of freedom of thought; the necessity of providing some new Religious system; the effete nature of Creeds and formularies of Belief; the advance in Natural Science as likely to prove fatal to Theology, &c., &c.
[238] See St. John iii. 2: v. 36: x. 25, 37-8: xiv. 11: xv. 24: St. Luke vii. 20-22, &c., &c.
[239] Creed of Lyons, a.d. 180; see above, p. clxxx., note.
[240] pp. cxciv.-v.
[242] Some Remarks, &c., pp. xxiii.-xxv.
Seven Sermons.
SUBJECTS OF THE SERMONS.
(For a detailed account of the Contents of these Sermons, the Reader is referred to the beginning of the Volume.)
| I.—the study of the bible recommended; and a method of studying it described | [p. 1] | |
| II.—natural science and theological science | [p. 23] | |
| III.—inspiration of scripture.—gospel difficulties.—the word of god infallible.—other sciences subordinate to theological science | [p. 53] | |
| IV.—the plenary inspiration of every part of the bible, vindicated and explained.—nature of inspiration.—the text of scripture | [p. 91] | |
| V.—interpretation of holy scripture.—inspired interpretation.—the bible is not to be interpreted like any other book.—god, (not man,) the real author of the bible | [p. 139] | |
| VI.—the doctrine of arbitrary scriptural accommodation considered | [p. 183] | |
| VII.—the marvels of holy scripture, moral and physical.—jael's deed defended.—miracles vindicated | [p. 221] |
PRÆVENERUNT OCULI MEI AD TE DILUCULO, UT MEDITARER ELOQUIA TUA.
QUAM DULCIA FAUCIBUS MEIS ELOQUIA TUA: SUPER MEL ORI MEO.
LUCERNA PEDIBUS MEIS VERBUM TUUM, ET LUMEN SEMITIS MEIS.
ῼ ΚΑΛΩΣ ΠΟΙΕΙΤΕ ΠΡΟΣΕΧΟΝΤΕΣ, ΩΣ ΛΥΧΝῼ ΦΑΙΝΟΝΤΙ ΕΝ ΑΥΧΜΗΡῼ ΤΟΠῼ, ΕΩΣ ΟΥ ΗΜΕΡΑ ΔΙΑΥΓΑΣῌ, ΚΑΙ ΦΩΣΦΟΡΟΣ ΑΝΑΤΕΙΛῌ ΕΝ ΤΑΙΣ ΚΑΡΔΙΑΙΣ ΥΜΩΝ.
Domine Deus meus, ... sint castæ deliciæ meæ Scripturæ Tuæ. Nec fallar in eis, nec fallam ex eis.—Augustinus, Confessiones, lib. xi. c. ii. § 3.
The Book of this Law we are neither able nor worthy to look into. That little thereof which we darkly apprehend we admire: the rest with religious ignorance we humbly and meekly adore.—Hooker, Eccl. Pol., B. i. ch. ii. § 5.
SERMON I.[243]
THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE RECOMMENDED; AND A METHOD OF STUDYING IT DESCRIBED.
St. John vi. 68.
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of Eternal Life.
It was probably in that synagogue which the faithful Centurion built at Capernaum[244] that our Saviour had been discoursing. At the end of His discourse, it is related that "many of His Disciples went back, and walked no more with Him." Thereupon, He asked the Twelve, "Will ye also go away?" the very form of His inquiry (Μὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς) implying the answer which the Divine Speaker expected and desired. And to this challenge of Love to Faith, St. Peter replied, not only on behalf of his fellow-Apostles, but on behalf of all faithful men to the end of time:—"Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of Eternal Life!"
You perceive that St. Peter's confession takes a peculiar form,—resting the impossibility of unfaithfulness in the Apostles on the gracious discourse of Him to whom they had been listening. "A hard saying," and unpalatable, it had proved to many; but to his own taste it had seemed "sweeter than honey and the honeycomb." So that while, to those others, it had been an occasion of going back, and walking with Christ no more,—to himself it had been a reason why he could never, as he felt, be persuaded to forsake Christ. Nay, it was to himself, (and, as he boldly assumed, to his fellow-Apostles,) a sufficient evidence that the Speaker was none other than the Son of God. "And we believe, and are sure, that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!"
Here then, surely, a very solemn picture is set before us. The same message proves, in the case of some, the savour of death unto death: in the case of others, of life unto life. It is an image of what is still taking place in the world. The Gospel, whether veiled in the Old Testament, or unveiled in the New, is confessedly "a hard saying:"—to some, their very crown and joy; to others, only an occasion of distress and downfall. It was so, when proclaimed not by the tongue of men and of angels, but by the lips "full of grace and truth" of the Incarnate Word Himself: and it is so still. The temper of mankind is still the same as it was of old, and the instrument of man's trial is still the same.
Of the written Gospel, many of the self-same things are said in Scripture which are said of Him by whom that Gospel was preached. Thus, it is proclaimed to be "the power of God to salvation[245]." It is described as "a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart[246]." It is declared to be eternal,—a thing which "shall never pass away[247]." "In the last day," it is prophesied that the words which Christ has spoken "shall judge" men[248]. The very Name by which St. John designates the Eternal Son, in the forefront of his Gospel[249], is the appellation by which the Gospel is emphatically known.—But even more remarkable are the analogies which subsist between the written record of our Lord's Life and Teaching, and the actual person of our Lord. And proposing, as I now do, to say a few earnest words to the younger men in recommendation of a more punctual, methodical, as well as attentive study of the Bible, than, I am persuaded, is practised by one young man in a thousand,—it may not prove unavailing in awakening attention, if I advert, in passing, to some of the circumstances whereby an even balance, (so to speak,) is established between the opportunities of the men of this generation, and of those who were blessed with the oral teaching of the Son of Man.
1. Thus, if the record has its difficulties, and its seeming contradictions, so had He. It did not appear that "Jesus of Nazareth" was born, (according to the prophet Micah's prediction,) at Bethlehem[250]. His title perplexed even Nathanael[251].—He was called the son of Joseph, even by the Blessed Virgin[252]. How then could He be the Son of God? And how was the famous prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled in Him[253]?—He grew up in a lowly estate. Once He is called "the carpenter[254]." How then could He be of the Royal House of David? And so, in many other respects, did He, in His own person, present the self-same class of difficulties to the world's eye which His Gospel presents to ours:—"the sixteenth of Tiberius,"—the two genealogies,—"Cyrenius,"—"the days of Abiathar,"—"Jeremy the prophet,"—and so on.
2. Somewhat less obvious, but not less true, is the unattractive aspect, at first sight, of the Gospel. Verily there is, until we become intimately acquainted with it, "no beauty that we should desire" it.—The style, (full of interest, to those who have tried to understand it a little,) is not, I suppose, what critics would call altogether a good style.—The Greek is not what learned men call pure.—Many a word, (brimfull of meaning to those who will give to the words of the Gospel their best care,) reminds one, that neither did He speak what, in the capital of Jewry, was accounted a classical idiom. He employed the accent of the despised Galilee.—The very reasoning, (until you give it your heart's homage and best attention,) often seems to be either inconsequential, or to contain a fallacy. Certain words of our Lord have been even cited as fallacious by a celebrated Divine whose writings we are all familiar with[255]. Now, His words were disregarded, cavilled at, made light of, in just the same manner.
3. Most surprising of all is the analogy observable between the union of the Divine and the human element in the Gospels,—and the strictly parallel union, as it seems, of the two natures, the Divine and the Human, in the person of our Lord.—As He was perfect and faultless, so do we deem it infallible also, without spot or blemish of any kind. We reject as monstrous any 'theory of Inspiration,' (as it is called,) which imputes blunders to the work of the Holy Ghost.—As, further, we claim for our Lord's recorded human actions mysterious significancy, so do we seem warranted in looking for a mysterious purpose, a divine meaning, in every expression of the written Word.—Lastly, although we may, nay we must, admit such a Divine and such a human element, we must altogether deny the possibility of separating the one from the other. We cannot separate Scripture into human and Divine. Like the Incarnate Word, the Gospel is at once both human and Divine, yet one and indivisible. And the method of its inspiration is as great a difficulty in its way, and as much beyond our ken, as the nature of the union of the Godhead and the Manhood in the one person of Christ.
For whatever reason, and whether you please to accept the foregoing remarks or not, it is a plain fact that the Gospel is now in the world, fulfilling the same office towards mankind, which our Saviour Christ Himself fulfilled, and experiencing the same treatment at the hands of men in return. It is leavening society indeed, and remodelling the world, even while it is practically overlooked by politicians or experiencing evil treatment from them. It wins its way silently and secretly, yet surely; and it works miracles here and there. Moreover, it divides opinion; separating, as it will for ever separate, the light from the darkness[256]. It is slighted, and overlooked, and neglected by some; even while, by others, it is embraced with joy unspeakable. 'The humble and meek' adore it; even while, by the proud and rebellious, it is after a most strange fashion cavilled at, called in question, and denied. We specify the Gospel, instinctively, as that part of the Inspired Word which chiefly concerns ourselves, as Christian men; but the entire deposit shares the same fate. I do not think I am delivering a paradox when I say that the Bible is generally very little read. That the amount of study commonly bestowed upon it bears no proportion whatever to its transcendent importance and paramount value, shall not be any paradox at all; but a mere truism.
For I entreat you to consider, (trite and obvious as it may sound,) What have we, in the whole wide world, which may be put in competition with that Book which contains God's revelation of Himself to man? In its early portions, how does it go back to the very birthday of Time, and discourse of things which were done in the grey of that early morning! How mysterious is the record,—so methodical, so particular, so unique; preserving the very words which were syllabled in Paradise, and describing transactions which no one but the Holy Ghost is competent to declare! Come lower down, and where will you find more beautiful narratives,—still fresh at the end of three and four thousand years,—than those stories of Patriarchs, Judges, Kings, which wrap up divinest teaching in all their ordinary details: where every word is weighed in a heavenly balance, fraught with a divine purpose, and intended for some glorious issue: where the very characters are adumbrations of personages far greater than themselves; and where the course of events is made to preach to us, at this distant day, of the things which concern our peace! Is it a light thing again to know in what terms Isaiah, and the rest of "the goodly fellowship," when they opened their lips to speak in that remote age, foretold of the coming of the Son of Man?... But all seems to grow pale before the Everlasting Gospel, and the other writings of the New Testament. Surely we have become too familiar with the providence which has preserved to us the very words of the four Evangelists, if we can bend our thoughts in the direction of the Gospel without a throb of joy and wonder not to be described, at having so great a treasure placed within our easy reach. Can it indeed be, that I may listen while the disciple whom Jesus loved is discoursing of the miracles, and recalling the sayings of his Lord? May I hear St. Peter himself address the early Church,—or know the precise words of the message which St. Jude sent to the first believers,—or be shown the Epistle which the Lord's cousin addressed "to the Twelve Tribes scattered abroad"? How does it happen that the Book is not for ever in our hands which comes to us with such claims to our undivided homage?
But, on the contrary, it has become the fashion in certain quarters, on every imaginable pretext, to call in question the credibility of the Bible. It seems to be the taste of the age to invent hazy difficulties and dim objections to its statements. Inspiration, under a miserable attempt to explain it, is openly explained away. And the theory, however crude and preposterous, is tolerated: at least it escapes castigation. It cannot fail but that the unlearned and thoughtless ones of this generation will be growing up in a notion that these are open questions after all, and that "Truth" is but a name,—not a thing worth contending, aye dying for, if need be! The reason is but too obvious. It must be, partly, because we do not in reality prize the deposit nearly so much as we suppose. Partly, because of the indifferentism which is everywhere so prevalent. Partly too because, notwithstanding our intellectual activity, we are not a really learned body. And partly, it must be confessed, the reason is, because Theology has become so nearly a prostrate study with us, and because men really able to do battle for the Truth are somewhat hard to find. Nor is there any reasonable prospect of improvement either; for those who go forth from this place into the Ministry, go with such slender preparation, that it would be truer to say that they go with none at all.
Now, it would be a mere waste of time, to inveigh for half an hour against the indifferentism, or the spurious liberality, of the age: and it would be a most unbecoming proceeding, (not to say a highly distasteful one,) from this place to be suggesting remedies for an evil which already lies very near the heart of every serious man among us; and which, if discussed at all, must be discussed elsewhere. To say the truth, while the neglect of Theology, and the low ebb of Theological attainments in our Clergy, is generally recognized, the remedy for the evil is by no means so clear. From this subject, then, I pass at once: and I shall content myself with the far humbler task, of urging upon the younger men present,—those especially who are destined for the Ministry,—one act of preparation, one duty, about which, at all events, there cannot be any difference of opinion: I mean the duty of applying themselves, now, to the patient study of the Bible.
The thing is soon said; but the hint requires expanding a little, in order that it may become of any practical use.—By the "study of the Bible," I do not mean a chapter occasionally read with care: nor even a chapter regularly conned over at night; when a convivial meeting has blunted the edge of observation, or severe study has exhausted the powers of the brain. The devotional use of a portion of Holy Scripture is quite a distinct affair. Still less would the practice satisfy me of following the lessons in the College Chapel: and this for reasons so obvious that I will not stop to point them out. Nor even is the reading of the Bible in College Lecture, the thing I mean; for reasons also which any acute person will readily ascertain for himself. None of these methods of acquainting yourselves with the contents of the Bible come up to the thing I contemplate, although each is good in its way; and of course I am not speaking in disparagement of any.
No. The thing I would so strenuously urge upon you, is,—that, during your undergraduate period, you should read the whole Bible consecutively through, from one end to the other, by yourself and for yourself, with consummate method, care, and attention. The fundamental conditions of such a study of the Bible, in order to make it of any real use, are these:—
1. First, that you should deliberately apportion to this solemn duty the best and freshest and quietest half-hour in the whole day; and then, that you should determine, let what will go undone, never to abridge that half-hour. You may sometimes be enabled to afford a little more time to the chapter: but you will find it quite fatal ever to devote a shorter period to it. And half an hour, if you employ it in right good earnest, at present, must be thought enough.
2. Next, (except on Sundays and in Vacation, when you may safely double your daily task and your daily time,) be persuaded to read each day exactly one chapter. On no account attempt to go reading on; but rather spend the moments which remain over, (they cannot be many!) in reviewing that day's portion; or referring to some of the places indicated in the margin; or glancing over yesterday's chapter.
The effect of building up your Bible knowledge in this manner, bit by bit, is what you would not anticipate. The whole acquires a solidity and compactness not to be attained by any other method. You will find at the end of many days, not only that the structure has attained to symmetry and beauty,—but that the disposition of its several parts, in some respects, has become intelligible also: while, (what is not of least importance,) the foundation on which all the superstructure rests, proves wondrous secure and strong.
3. Then, while you read,—safe from the risk of interruption, (as I began by supposing,) and with every faculty intent on your task,—try, as much as possible, to go over the words as if they were new to you; and watch them, one by one, so that nothing may by any possibility escape your notice. Do not slumber over a single word. Nothing can be unimportant when it is the Holy Ghost who speaketh. It is an excellent practice to mark the expressions which strike you; for it is a method of preserving the memory of what is sure else soon to pass away.
4. And next, be persuaded to read without extraneous helps of any kind; except, of course, such help as a map, or the margin of your Bible, supplies. Pray avoid Commentaries and notes. First, you cannot afford time for them: and secondly, if you could, they would be as likely to mislead you as not. But the real reason why you are so strenuously advised to avoid them, is, because they will do more to nullify your reading, than anything which could be imagined. Your object is to obtain an insight into Holy Scripture, by acquiring the habit of reading it with intelligence and care: not to be saved trouble, and to be shown what other persons have thought about it.
5. But then, though you are entreated not to have recourse to the notes of others, you are as strongly advised to make brief memoranda of your own: and the briefer the better. Construct your own table of the Patriarchs,—your own analysis of the Law,—your own descent of the Kings,—your own enumeration of the Miracles. A pedigree full of faults, made by yourself, will do you more good than the most accurate table drawn up by another: but if you are at all attentive and clever, it will not be full of faults.—You will perhaps make the parables 56 instead of 30: you will have gained 26 by your honest industry. Nay, keep a record of your difficulties, if you please; or of anything which strikes you, and which you would be sorry to forget. But, as a rule, it is well to write little, and to give your time and thought to the record before you.
6. Above all, is it indispensable that your reading of the Bible should be strictly consecutive; and on no account may any one pretend to begin such a study of that book as I am here recommending, except at the first Chapter of Genesis. It is a great mistake, (though one of the commonest of all,) for a man to imagine that he knows the beginning of the Bible pretty well. I say it advisedly, that it would be easy to write down twelve interesting questions on that first chapter, of which none of the younger men present would be able to answer three,—and yet, they should all be questions of such a sort that a labouring man's child with an open Bible would be able infallibly to answer them every one.
7. It will follow from what has been offered, that you are invited to read every book in the Bible in the order in which it actually stands,—never, of course, skipping a chapter; much less a Book. In every mere catalogue of names, be resolved to find edification. Feel persuaded that details, seemingly the driest, are full of God. Remember that the difference between every syllable of Scripture and all other books in the world is, not a difference of degree, but of kind. All books but one, are human: that one book is Divine!
Now, you will perceive that the kind of study of the Bible here recommended, is somewhat different from what is commonly pursued. I contemplate the continued exercise of a most curious and prying, as well as a most vigilant and observing eye. No difficulty is to be neglected; no peculiarity of expression is to be disregarded; no minute detail is to be overlooked. The hint let fall in an earlier chapter is to be compared with a hint let fall in the later place. Do they tally or not? and what follows? The chronological details spontaneously evolved by the narrative, are to be unerringly discovered by the student for himself. The course of every journey is to be attentively noted. Things omitted are to be spied out as carefully as things set down; and whatever can possibly be gathered in the way of necessary inference, is to be industriously ascertained. The imagination is not to slumber either, because no pains are taken by the sacred writer to move the feelings or melt the heart.
How soon will any one who takes the trouble to read the Bible after this fashion, be struck with a hundred things which he never knew before,—indeed, which are not commonly known! How will he be for ever eliciting unsuspected facts,—detecting undreamed of coincidences, but which are as important as they are true,—accumulating materials of value quite inestimable for future study in Divine things! However unpromising a certain collection of references may be, he is careful to extend it,—convinced, like a wise householder, that there will come an use for it after many days. His whole aim is to master thoroughly the record which he has undertaken to study.
Let me not be misunderstood if it is added that the Bible should be read,—I do not say in the same manner,—that is, in the same temper and spirit,—but at least with the same attention, as is bestowed upon a merely human work. In truth, it should be read with much more attention. But that diligence which a student commonly bestows on a difficult moral treatise, or an obscure drama, or a perplexed history,—analyzing it, comparing passage with passage, and learning a great deal of it by heart,—I am quite at a loss to understand why a student of the Bible should be a stranger to.—"I do much condemn," (says Lord Bacon), "I do much condemn that Interpretation of the Scripture which is only after the manner as men use to interpret a profane book." So do I. Scripture is to be approached and handled in quite a different spirit from a common history. The mind, the heart rather, must bow down before its revelations, in the most suppliant fashion imaginable. The book should ever be approached with prayer:—"Lord, open Thou mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of Thy Law!" The very printed pages should be handled with reverence, in consideration of the message they contain. But what I am saying is, that none of the methods which diligence and zeal have ever invented to secure a complete mastery of the contents of any merely human performance, may be overlooked by a student of the Bible.
To what has gone before I will add one caution, and will trouble you with one only. It would be easy to multiply cautions: but I am talking to highly intelligent men; and there is only one rock which I am really fearful of your running against.
It was the advice of a great and good man, (to his clergy, I suspect,) that they should read the Bible with a special object: and an excellent recent writer has repeated the same advice; namely that men should "read with a view to some particular inquiry, with purpose to clear up some peculiar question of interest, which," (says he,) "you may create for yourselves[257]." I entreat you to do nothing of the kind. Whatever advantages may result to an advanced student from adopting this practice, to you it must be fraught with unmingled evil. You will be tempted to overrate the importance of everything you discover which suits your present purpose: you will disregard all that looks in a different direction: you will be disappointed if you meet with nothing ad rem: you will get a habit of slurring over many chapters, many whole books of the Bible. A very little reflection will convince you that it must be as I say. Who, for example, could be expected to find delight and edification in the calendar of the Deluge, who had determined to read Genesis with a view to discovering what knowledge existed in the patriarchal age of a future life? No. Your wisdom will be to divest your minds, as much as possible, of any preconceived notion as to what the Bible contains, or was intended to teach you. You should wish to find there nothing so much as the authentic evidence of what Divine Wisdom hath seen fit to communicate to man. Read it therefore, if you are wise, with unaffected curiosity: settling down upon every flower, in order to find out, if you can, where the honey is: clinging to it rather, until you have found the honey. Say to yourself,—"It cannot be that all these details of months and days should be given in vain[258]. I must find out the reason of it." And, at last, you will find,—what you will find.—"Very strange," (you will learn to say to yourself,) "that the history of nearly 1600 years should be curdled into one short chapter[259]; and yet that three verses of the Bible should be devoted to the history of a man's losing his way in a field, and then finding it again[260]!" The subject may be worth thinking about. You are perhaps naturally disposed to take what you are pleased to call "a common sense view" of the meaning of Holy Scripture; and to interpret it after a very dry unlovely fashion of your own: to evacuate its deeper sayings, and to doubt the mysterious significancy of its historical details. You will speedily perceive, however, that the Apostles and Evangelists of Christ,—as many as were moved by the Holy Spirit of God, and spoke not their own words but His,—that all these are against you: and the effect of this discovery on an honest and good heart, reading not in order to be confirmed in some preconceived opinion, but with a sincere desire of enlightenment in Divine things,—may be anticipated. Bishop Horsley relates that by a yet simpler process he became disabused of a favourite fancy with which he set out,—namely, that prophecy must of necessity carry a single meaning[261].—The attitude of mind which I so strongly recommend you to assume, (and it depends on an act of the Will, whether you assume it or not,) is very exactly represented by the cry of the child Samuel,—"Speak Lord, for Thy servant heareth!"
It seems right, in the fewest words, to state what we do,—and what we do not,—expect to result from such a study of the Bible as this; in other words, to assign the office of unassisted Biblical study. I would not willingly have my meaning mistaken here.
It is not implied then, for a moment, that a man is either at liberty, or able, to gather his own Religion for himself out of the Bible. The very thought were monstrous. But it is a widely different thing for one of yourselves to read his Bible patiently, and humbly, and laboriously, through,—without prejudice or theory,—unmolested by critical notes, undistracted by human comments, uninfluenced by party views:—all this, I say, is a widely different thing from a man's inventing his own system of Divinity. Members of the Catholic Church,—born in a Christian country,—educated amid the choicest influences for good,—you are by no means so left to yourselves. The Book of Common Prayer is your sufficient safeguard. The framework of the Faith,—the conditions under which you may lawfully speculate about Divine mysteries,—are all prescribed for you: and within those limits you cannot well go wrong.
On the other hand, the outlines of Moral Theology, (as it may be called), you are fully competent to detect for yourselves. God's strictness in punishing sin, as in the case of Moses[262];—the efficacy of repentance, as in the case of Ahab[263];—the sure answer to prayer, (to forgotten prayer, it may be!) as in the case of Zacharias[264];—the seemingly roundabout methods of God's providence, (as in the case of Abraham,) yet conducting inevitably to a blessed issue at the last;—the rewards of obedience[265];—the faithfulness of the Divine promises;—the boundless wealth of the Divine contrivance, which, on man's repentance, is able to convert even a curse into a blessing, as in the case of Levi[266];—the peace and joy surely in reserve for those who fear God, as in the case of Joseph;—the extent to which things seemingly trivial are noticed by the Ancient of Days, as every page of the Bible shows;—these, and a hundred points like these, not only a man can gather for himself out of the Book of God's Law, but no one else can do the work for him. He must discover all such matters for himself.
And need I point out, for a minute, the immense advantage with which a mind so stored with Divine knowledge will approach the Ministry; and finally take in hand the actual oversight of the flock? It is really not to be expressed. The Bishop's examination for Orders will become nothing but an agreeable exercise, instead of an object of dread. You are quite sure of a few approving words in that quarter. But, (what is a thousand times more important,) you yourself feel safe and strong. You begin to read some treatise on Divinity; and you find yourself in some degree competent to test the writer's statements, to endorse or to suspect his conclusions, because you are familiar with the Rule of Faith which he himself employed. It becomes your turn at last to instruct others,—from the pulpit for example; and instead of timid truisms, and vague generalities, you are able to draw a bold clear outline round almost any department of Christian doctrine. You can explain with authority.—You are not afraid to catechize before the congregation: for although your Theological attainments are but slender after all, yet, you know your Bible well; and even if an absurdly wrong answer is given you, you know how to single out from the hank the golden thread of Truth, and to display it before the eyes of men and Angels. And let me tell you, by way of ending the subject, we should hear less about dull sermons, and inattentive congregations, and badly filled churches,—as well as about the astounding ignorance of many among the upper classes, in Divine things,—if our younger Clergy knew the Bible a great deal better than they do.—Aye, and we should not have so many unsound remarks about Holy Scripture either,—so many mistaken views of doctrine,—so many crude remarks about Inspiration,—made by persons who ought to know better.
You will perceive that I am saying all this, (except the last few words,) at you, (the younger men present;) because in you I see many of the future Clergy of England. And I say it, because, (for the last time,) I do entreat you, one and all, to follow the advice I have been giving you; and to set about such a careful study of the Bible, at once. Do not put it off for a single day. Begin it tomorrow morning. You will then have mastered Genesis this term, finishing the last chapter on Sunday the 10th of December; and on Monday, the 11th, you will have to read the first chapter of Exodus. I am confident that you will remember this day and hour with gratitude to the end of your lives, if you will but make the experiment and persevere.
And just one word to those who aspire, (and all should aspire,) to University honours. You will not find what I have been recommending any hindrance to you at all. But even supposing you do, now and then, find the inexorable daily half-hour stand in the way of something else,—shall not the very thought of Him whose Voice you have deliberately resolved to hear daily at that fixed time, make you full amends? Shall you resolve to pluck so freely of the Tree of Knowledge, and yet begrudge the approach once a day to the Tree of Life, which grows in the midst of the Paradise of God? Shall ample time be found for works of fiction,—for the Review, and the Magazine, and the newspaper,—yet half an hour a day be deemed too much to be given to the Word of God? What? room for everything and everybody; yet still "no room in the Inn" for Christ!... I have, (I speak honestly,) I have far too high an opinion of your instincts for good, to think it possible. You have plenty of faults,—(God knoweth!),—but I am very much deceived indeed if there be not a spirit stirring among the young men of this place, overflowing with promise; a real inclination, (obscured at times, but still very energetic,) for whatever things are pure, and lovely, and of good report.
Of course, it is implied by what goes before, that you will read no work of Divinity just at present. Be counselled, on no account, to read any. Above all, shun the partial, ill-digested pamphlet,—and the one-sided review,—and the controversial letter,—and the Essay which seems to have been written in order to prove nothing. Be content, for the next three years, to study no book of Divinity but the Bible.
And the study of that Book, I repeat, you will find no hindrance, no impediment, no burthen to you at all. On the contrary. It will render you a very singular service,—let your classical and logical studies be as severe as they will; (and they cannot well be too severe, too engrossing,—for this is your golden opportunity which never will, never can, come back again!) The undersong of "Siloa's brook that flows, fast by the oracle of God," will many a time soothe and refresh your else dry and weary spirit. What was begun as a task will soon come to be regarded as a privilege. That jealously-guarded half-hour will be found to be the one green spot in the whole day,—like Gideon's fleece, fresh with the dew of the early morning, when it is "dry upon all the earth beside." Your secret study of that Book of Books, I say, will render you a very singular service. The contrast between the Divine and Human method will strike you with ever-recurring power. Unlike every other History, the Bible removes the veil, and discovers the causes of things,—including the First Great Cause of all, who dwelleth in Light unapproachable, but who yet humbleth Himself to behold, and to controul, and to overrule for good, the things which are done in Heaven and on Earth. And thus, it is not too much to say that the Bible, to one who reads its pages aright, is a certain clue to every other History,—as well as a perpetual commentary on every other Book. It informs the judgment, and cleanses the eye, throughout the whole department of Morals: and as for History, what is it all, but the evidence of God in the world,—"traces of His iron rod, or of His Shepherd's staff[267]?"
Profoundly sensible am I, that these have been very unintellectual, and somewhat common-place remarks: but I would rather, a hundred times, be of use to the younger men present; I would rather, a hundred times, succeed in persuading one of them, to adopt that method of reading the Bible which I have been recommending;—than try to say something which might be thought fine and clever.... Let me only, in conclusion, faithfully remind them, that the true office of the study of Divine things is not, by any means, that which, for obvious reasons, I have been rather dwelling and enlarging upon. It is not merely to inform the understanding, that Holy Scripture is to be read with such consummate attention, and studied with such exceeding care. It is not for the illustration of History, or in order that it may be made a test of the value of other systems of Morals. Not, by any means, in order to facilitate admission into Holy Orders, (for which only some of you are destined;)—or to render a man's pulpit-addresses attractive and agreeable;—or even to enable a parish priest to teach with confidence and authority;—is he entreated now to "prevent the night watches," if need be, that he may be occupied (like one of old time[268],) with God's Word. O no! It is,—in order that his inner life may be made conformable to that outer Law[269]: that his aims may be ennobled, and his motives purified, and his earthly hopes made consistent with the winning of an imperishable crown! It is in order that when he wavers between Right and Wrong, the unutterable Canon of God's Law may suggest itself to him as a constraining motive. Its aim, and purpose, and real function, is, that the fiery hour of temptation may find the Christian soldier armed with "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God[270]:"—that the dark season of Adversity may find his soul anchored on the Rock of Ages,—which alone can prove his soul's sufficient strength and stay.... Of a truth, as Life goes on, Men will find the blessedness of their Hope; if they have not found it out already. Under every form of trial,—and under every strange vicissitude;—in sickness,—and in perplexity,—and in bereavement,—and in the hour of death;—"Lord,—to whom shall we go? Thou,—Thou hast the words of Eternal Life!"