(1) "The failure of a prophecy is never admitted, in spite of Scripture and of history, (Jer. xxxvi. 30. Isaiah xxiii. Amos vii. 10-17.)" (p. 343.)

Now this can only mean two things: viz. first, that a Divine Prophecy is not an infallible utterance: and secondly, that the three places quoted from the Old Testament are proofs of the fallibility of Prophecy; proofs which ought to overcome prejudice, and persuade men to renounce their "previous supposition" that Prophecy is infallible.

Certainly the charge is a grave one. For if Prophecy is untrue, then what becomes of Inspiration?

And yet, how stands the case? The writer seems to have expected "that no one would refer to the passages that he has bracketed, or that all would be too ignorant to know the utter groundlessness of his assumption. If there are, in the whole Scripture, two past prophecies which were signally and remarkably fulfilled, they are the first two which he has selected as instances to be dropped down, without a remark, of the failure of Scripture prophecies! And as to the third passage, surely it implies an 'incuria' which might be deemed 'crassa' to have asserted that it contained an instance of the non-fulfilment of Prophecy: for it implies that Mr. Jowett has read the verses to which he refers with so little attention as not to have discovered that the prediction which failed of its fulfilment was no utterance of Amos, but was the message of Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, in which he falsely attributes to Amos words he had not spoken!... Surely such slips as these are as discreditable to a scholar as a Divine[225]!"

And this, from a gentleman who has the impertinence to remind us oracularly, that "he who would understand the nature of Prophecy in the Old Testament, should have the courage to examine how far its details were minutely fulfilled!" (p. 347.) Are we then to infer that Mr. Jowett's courage failed him when he came to Amos vii. 10-17?

(2) "The mention of a name later than the supposed age of the prophet is not allowed, as in other writings, to be taken in evidence of the date. (Isaiah xlv. 1.)" (p. 343.)

But what is the meaning of this complaint when applied to Isaiah's well known prophecy concerning Cyrus? In the words of the excellent critic last quoted,—"We know not that we could point to such an instance as this in the writings of any other author of credit. Of course, Mr. Jowett knows as well as we do the distinction between History and Prophecy; and that the mention in any document of the name of one who was unborn at the time fixed as the date of the writing, would be at once a complete disproof of its accuracy as a history of the past, and a proof of its accuracy as a prediction of the future. Of course he also remembers that the point he has to prove is that this passage is History and not Prediction; and his mode of proving is this; he assumes that it is a history of the past,—advancing as a charge against the believers of Revelation, that they do not, (as they would in any other History,) reject the genuineness of the passage because it embalms a future name in a past history!... This audacious, (for we cannot use a weaker word,) assumption of what he has to prove, pervades his Essay[226]."

And thus, into whatever department of speculation we follow this writer, the tortuous path is still found to conduct us back to the same underlying fallacious assumption,—viz. that the Bible is like any other Book; in other words, is not inspired.

(3) Persons in Mr. Jowett's position, "find themselves met by a sort of presupposition that 'GOD speaks not as Man speaks.'"—(p. 343.)

"A sort of presupposition," indeed!... Does the Reverend gentleman really expect that we will stoop so low as argue this point also with him? It shall suffice to have branded him with his own words.

"The suspicion of Deism, or perhaps of Atheism, awaits inquiry. By such fears, a good man (!) refuses to be influenced: a philosophical mind (!) is apt to cast them aside with too much bitterness. It is better to close the book, than to read it under conditions of thought which are imposed from without." (p. 343.)

Well surely, the proximity to Balliol College of the scene of Cranmer and Ridley's martyrdom, must have turned the brain of the Regius Professor of Greek!—Let him be well assured however that not rational "Inquiry," but irrational assumption; not the modest cogitations of "a philosophical mind," but the arrogant dreams of a weak and confused intellect, are what have excited such general indignation of late, among "good men," from one end of the Kingdom to the other. Nor could anything probably of equal pretensions be readily appealed to, which is nevertheless more truly unphilosophical, fallacious, and foolish, than the Essay now under consideration.

(iv) Subsequently, (p. 344,) Mr. Jowett professes to grapple with the phenomenon of Inspiration. His method is instructive. He begins by inadvertently advancing a direct untruth: for he asserts that for none "of the higher or supernatural views of Inspiration is there any foundation in the Gospels or Epistles." (p. 345.)—Had he then forgotten St. Paul's statements in Gal. i. 1, 11-17: ii. 2, 7-9. 1 Cor. xv. 3. Ephes. iii. 3, &c., &c.? But I have established the contradictory of the Professor's position in the ensuing Sermons, p. 53 to p. 57, to which the reader must be referred.—This done, he proceeds to assert that,

(1) Inspiration does not preserve a writer from inaccuracy. And the charge is substantiated by the following ridiculous enumeration:—"One [Evangelist] supposes the original dwelling-place of our LORD'S Parents to have been Bethlehem[227], another Nazareth[228]." (This from a Lecturer on Divinity! Does Mr. Jowett then suppose that his readers have never opened the Gospels, and do not know better? Why, both his statements are simply false!)—"They trace His genealogy in different ways." (Yes. In two. And why not in twenty? Is Mr. Jowett not aware that a genealogy may be differently traced through different ancestors?)—"One mentions the thieves blaspheming: another has preserved to after ages the record of the penitent thief:" (And why should he not?)—"They appear to differ about the day and hour of the Crucifixion." (Yes, they appear to differ: but they do not differ!)—"The narrative of the woman who anointed our LORD'S feet with ointment is told in all four, each narrative having more or less considerable variations." (There is no conceivable reason why this should not have been as Mr. Jowett relates; but, as a matter of fact, we have here another of this Gentleman's private blunders,—shewing what an uncritical reader he must be, of that book concerning which he presumes to dogmatize so freely.)—"These are a few instances of the differences which arose in the traditions of the earliest ages respecting the history of our LORD." (Nay, but this is to beg the whole question!)—"He who wishes to investigate the character of the sacred writings should not be afraid to make a catalogue of them all, with the view of estimating their cumulative weight." (p. 346.) (Truly, it would be well for Mr. Jowett if he had as little to fear from such "investigations" as the Evangelists!)

"In the same way, he who would understand the nature of Prophecy in the Old Testament, should have the courage to examine how far its details were minutely fulfilled. The absence of such a fulfilment may further lead him to discover that he took the letter for the spirit in expecting it." (p. 347.) But really this is again simply to beg the whole question. Unbecoming in any writer, how absurd also is such a sentence from the pen of one who, (as we have lately seen,) no sooner descends to particulars than he makes himself ridiculous by betraying his own excessive ignorance.... "The letter for the spirit," also! which is one of the 'cant' expressions of Mr. Jowett and his accomplices in 'free handling,'—based evidently on a misconception of the meaning of 2 Cor. iii. 6. The contrast recurs at pp. 36, 357, 375, 425, &c., &c.

(2) Still bent on shewing that Inspiration does not secure Scripture from blots and blemishes, Mr. Jowett proceeds as follows. (I must present him to the reader, for a short space, in extenso; since by no other expedient can the complicated fallacies of his very intricate and perverse method be exposed.)

"Inspiration is a fact which we infer from the study of Scripture,—not of one portion only, but of the whole." (p. 347.) (Now even this is not a correct way of stating the case. Still, because the words may bear an honourable sense, we pass on.)—"Obviously then, it embraces writings of very different kinds,—the book of Esther, for example, or the Song of Solomon, as well as the Gospel of St. John." (That the volume of Inspiration is of this complex character, and that it embraces writings so diverse, is beyond dispute.)—"It is reconcileable with the mixed good and evil of the characters of the Old Testament, which nevertheless does not exclude them from the favour of GOD." (Why the Inspiration of a writer should not be 'reconcileable' with any amount of wickedness in the persons about whom he writes,—I am quite at a loss to perceive. Neither do I see why "the mixed good and evil" of certain "characters of the Old Testament," (or of the New either,) should "exclude them from the favour of GOD." What else becomes of your hope, and mine, of Eternal Life?)—"Inspiration is also reconcileable," (he proceeds,)—"with the attribution to the Divine Being of actions at variance with that higher revelation which He has given of Himself in the Gospel." (Is this meant as an insult to "the Divine Being?" or simply as a slur on Revelation? Either way, we reject the charge with indignation[229].)—"It is not inconsistent with imperfect or opposite aspects of the Truth, as in the Book of Job or Ecclesiastes:" (Nothing which comes from GOD should be called "imperfect:" but why different aspects of the Truth should not be brought out, by different writers, as by St. Paul and by James,—it is hard to see.)—"With variations of fact in the Gospels, or the Books of Kings and Chronicles:" (We do not admit that Inspiration is consistent with "variations of fact;" but with different versions of the same incident, it is confessedly compatible.)—"With inaccuracies of language in the Epistles of St. Paul." (With grammatical inelegancies, no doubt; but not with logical inaccuracies.)—"For these are all found in Scripture:" (This statement, by the way, should have been substantiated by at least as many references as there are heads in the indictment,)—"neither is there any reason why they should not be; except a general impression that Scripture ought to have been written in a way different from what it has." (Just as if Mankind for 1800 years had been the victims of an priori conception as to how Holy Scripture ought to have been written!)—"A principle of progressive revelation admits them all; and this is already contained in the words of our SAVIOUR, 'Moses because of the hardness of your hearts;' or even in the Old Testament, 'Henceforth there shall be no more this proverb in the house of Israel?'" (O if Catholic writers were to expound Holy Scripture with the license of these gentlemen!... That the scheme of Revelation has been progressive, is a Theological truism. What that has to do with the question in hand, I see not.)—"For what is progressive is necessarily imperfect in its earlier stages:" ("Imperfect" in what sense?)—"and even erring to those who come after." (No, not in that sense imperfect, certainly!) ... "There is no more reason why imperfect narratives should be excluded from Scripture than imperfect grammar; no more ground for expecting that the New Testament would be logical or Aristotelian in form, than that it would be written in Attic Greek." (Now why this cloudy shuffling about "imperfect narratives,"—instead of saying what you mean, like a man! Further,—Is Mr. Jowett so weak as not to perceive that there is no force whatever in his supposed parallel? The Discourses of the Incarnate SON, for instance, are certainly anything but "Aristotelian in form." His dialect,—(Angels bowed to catch it, I nothing doubt!)—was that of the despised Galilee. But need the teaching it conveyed have therefore been "imperfect?" Why may not the least perfect Greek be the vehicle for the more perfect Doctrine? What connexion is there between the casket and the jewel which it encloses?)

(3) The Reverend writer promises us help, from "another consideration which has been neglected by writers on this subject." (The announcement makes us attentive.)—"It is this,—that any true Doctrine of Inspiration must conform to all well-ascertained facts of History or of Science." (We scarcely see the drift of this ill-worded proposition; but are disposed to assent.)—"The same fact cannot be true and untrue," (Who ever supposed that it could?)—"any more than the same words can have two opposite meanings." (But why glide at once into a gross falsity? Are there not plenty of words and speeches, of the kind called 'equivocal' or 'ambiguous,' which are of this nature? I am content to refer this writer to his own pages, for the abundant refutation of his own assertion. No man in the world knows better than Mr. Jowett that "the same words can have two opposite meanings.") "The same fact cannot be true in Religion, when seen by the light of Faith; and untrue in Science, when looked at through the medium of evidence or experiment." (Why not? For example,—'He maketh His Sun to rise.' 'If GOD so clothe the grass of the field.' 'GOD said, Let there be light.' Who sees not that the view which Faith and which Physical Science respectively take of the same phenomenon, may essentially differ?)—"It is ridiculous to suppose that the Sun goes round the Earth in the same sense in which the Earth goes round the Sun;" (Very ridiculous.)—"or that the world appears to have existed, but has not existed, during the vast epochs of which Geology speaks to us." (Leave out the words, "appears to have," and this also is undeniable.)—"But if so, there is no need of elaborate reconcilements of Revelation and Science." (How does that follow? If what is thought to be Divinely revealed, and what is thought to be scientifically ascertained, seem to be conflicting truths,—why should not an effort be made to reconcile them?) "They reconcile themselves the moment any scientific truth is distinctly ascertained." (Yes: by the Human simply trying to thrust the Divine out of doors!)—"As the idea of Nature enlarges, the idea of Revelation also enlarges:" (I deny that there is any such intimate connexion as this author supposes between Physical Science and Divinity,)—"it was a temporary misunderstanding which severed them." (But when were Nature and Revelation ever for an instant "severed?")—"And as the knowledge of Nature which is possessed by the few is communicated in its leading features at least, to the many, they will receive it with a higher conception of the ways of GOD to Man. It may hereafter appear as natural to the majority of Mankind to see the Providence of GOD in the order of the world, as it once was to appeal to interruptions of it." (p. 349.) (As if an increased knowledge of Nature were the condition of Theological enlightenment!... I presume that the latter clause,—so hazy and the reverse of obvious in its meaning!—is intended to convey the sentiment which Mr. Baden Powell expresses as follows:—"The inevitable progress of research must, within a longer or shorter period, unravel all that seems most marvellous; and what is at present least understood will become as familiarly known to the Science of the future, as those points which a few centuries ago were involved in equal obscurity, but now are thoroughly understood[230].")

(4) We are next informed "that there are a class of scientific facts with which popular opinions on Theology often conflict.... Such especially are the facts relating to the formation of the Earth and the beginnings of the Human Race." (p. 349.) (And pray, what "facts" are these, relative to the "beginnings of the Human Race," which conflict with Scripture?) ... "Almost all intelligent persons are agreed that the earth has existed for myriads of ages:" (Which is perfectly true.)—"The best informed are of opinion that the history of nations extends back some thousand years before the Mosaic Chronology." (Which is decidedly false.)—"Recent discoveries in Geology may perhaps open a further vista of existence for the human species; while it is possible, and may one day be known, that Mankind spread not from one but from many centres over the globe; or, (as others say,) that the supply of links which are at present wanting in the chain of animal life may lead to new conclusions respecting the origin of Man." (A cool way, this, of anticipating that something which 'may'—(or may not!)—be discovered hereafter, will demonstrate that the beginning of the Bible is all a fable!)—"Now," (proceeds our author,) "let it be granted that" "the proof of some of these facts, especially of those last-mentioned, is wanting; still it is a false policy to set up Inspiration or Revelation in opposition to them, a principle which can have no influence on them, and should be kept rather out of their way." (Considerate man!) "The Sciences of Geology and comparative Philology are steadily gaining ground. Many of the guesses of twenty years ago have been certainties; and the guesses of to-day may hereafter become so. Shall we peril Religion (!) on the possibility of their untruth? on such a cast to stake the life of Man, implies not only a recklessness of facts (!), but a misunderstanding of the nature of the Gospel. If it is fortunate for Science, it is perhaps more fortunate for Christian Truth, that the admission of Galileo's discovery has for ever settled the principle of the relations between them."—(pp. 349-50.) ...

Now, what a curious picture of a perverse and crooked mind does such a sentence exhibit! Divine Revelation can "have no influence" of course, on facts of any kind, (including facts in Physical Science,) when once those facts have been well ascertained. But, in the entire absence of such facts, why should we refuse to listen to the well ascertained Revelation of GOD? Nothing is more emphatic, for example, than the Divine declaration that the whole Human family is derived from a single pair; and the origin of Man is plainly set down in Genesis. Why then oppose to this, the confessedly undiscovered fact that "mankind spread from many centres;" and the purely speculative possibility that, hereafter, a certain theory "may lead to new conclusions respecting the origin of Man?"—As for "Religion" being "perilled on the possibility" of the truth or untruth of the Sciences of Geology and comparative Philology;—we really would submit that GOD may be safely left to take care of His own; and that "peril," there is,—there can be,—none!

And then, the maudlin tenderness of an "Essayist and Reviewer" (of all persons in the world!) for "the life of Man,"—meaning thereby his Christian hope, and Faith in the REDEEMER!... As if, (first,) Man's "Life" were in any sense endangered, by our upholding the honour and authority of the Bible! And (secondly,) as if the age had shewn itself in the least degree impatient of scientific investigation! And (thirdly,) as if Religion depended, or could be made to depend, on Physical phenomena, or on the progress of Natural Science, at all! ... I scruple not to say that arguments like these impress me with the meanest opinion of Mr. Jowett's intellectual powers: while they prove to demonstration that he does not in the least understand the subject on which he yet writes with such feeble vehemence.

But I may not proceed any further, or my pages will equal in extent those of the gentleman already named. Indeed, to follow that most confused of thinkers, and crooked of disputants, through all his perverse pages; to expose his habitual paltry evasive dodging,—his shifting equivocations,—his misapplications of Scripture,—his unworthy insinuations,—his plaintive puerilities of thought and sentiment;—would require a thick volume.—If Mr. Jowett does not deny the Personality of the HOLY GHOST, he ought to be thoroughly ashamed of himself for penning sentences which can lead to no other inference. For he ought to know that when men talk of words "receiving a more exact meaning than they will truly bear;" and of what "is spoken in a figure being construed with the severity of a logical statement, while passages of an opposite tenour are overlooked or set aside:"—(p. 360.) men mean to repudiate the doctrine which those words are thought to convey; not to imply their acceptance of it.—So again, if Mr. Jowett holds the doctrine of Original Sin, he ought to be heartily ashamed of himself for having insinuated that it depends "on two figurative expressions of St. Paul to which there is no parallel in any other part of Scripture." (p. 361.)—Nor, however moderate his attainments as a teacher of Divinity, ought he to be capable of putting forth such a notorious misstatement as that the doctrine of Infant Baptism rests upon a verse in the Acts (xvi. 33,)—which verse has really nothing whatever to do with the question[231]. (p. 360.)

Professor Jowett shuts up his Essay with a passage which, for a certain amount of tender pathos in the sentiment, has been often quoted, and sometimes admired, He says:—

"The suspicion or difficulty which attends critical inquiries is no reason for doubting their value. The Scripture nowhere leads us to suppose that the circumstance of all men speaking well of us is any ground for supposing that we are acceptable in the sight of God. And there is no reason why the condemnation of others should be witnessed to by our own conscience. Perhaps it may be true that, owing to the jealousy or fear of some, the reticence of others, the terrorism of a few, we may not always find it easy to regard these subjects with calmness and judgment. But, on the other hand, these accidental circumstances have nothing to do with the question at issue; they cannot have the slightest influence on the meaning of words, or on the truth of facts....

"Lastly, there is some nobler idea of truth than is supplied by the opinion of mankind in general, or the voice of parties in a Church. Every one, whether a student of Theology or not, has need to make war against his prejudices no less than against his passions; and, in the religious teacher, the first is even more necessary than the last.... He who takes the prevailing opinions of Christians and decks them out in their gayest colours,—who reflects the better mind of the world to itself—is likely to be its favourite teacher. In that ministry of the Gospel, even when assuming forms repulsive to persons of education (!), no doubt the good is far greater than the error or harm. But there is also a deeper work which is not dependent on the opinions of men, in which many elements combine, some alien to Religion, or accidentally at variance with it. That work can hardly expect to win much popular favour, so far as it runs counter to the feelings of religious parties. But he who bears a part in it may feel a confidence, which no popular caresses or religious sympathy could inspire, that he has by a Divine help been enabled to plant his foot somewhere beyond the waves of Time. He may depart hence before the natural term, worn out with intellectual toil; regarded with suspicion by many of his contemporaries; yet not without a sure hope that the love of Truth, which men of saintly lives often seem to slight, is, nevertheless, accepted before GOD."—(pp. 432-3.)

My respect for a fellow-man induces me to offer a few remarks on all this.

Let me be permitted then to declare that I am as incapable as any one who ever breathed the air of this lower world, of making light of the sentiments of true genius. I can respond with my whole heart to the passion-stricken cry of one who, when "regarded with suspicion by many of his contemporaries," is observed to hail his fellows with confidence, across the gulph of Time; and as it were implore them, after many days, to do him right. Nay, were I to behold a man of splendid, but misguided powers, elaborating from GOD'S Word a plausible system of his own, whereby to bring back the Golden Age to suffering Humanity; and insisting that he beheld in the common revelations of the SPIRIT, the unsuspected outlines of such a form of polity as Man never dreamed of,—(nor, it may be, Angels either;)—I should experience a kind of generous sympathy with this bright-eyed enthusiast; even while I proceeded to test his wild dream by what I believed to be the standard of right Reason. Then, as the specious fabric was seen suddenly to collapse and melt away, should I not, with affectionate sorrow, secretly mourn that such brilliant parts had not been enlisted on the side of Truth? and feel as if I could have been content to go about for life maimed in body, or hopelessly impoverished in estate, if so great a disaster could but have been prevented as the loss of one who ought to have been a standard-bearer in Israel?

Once more. Although the cold shade of unbelief has never for an instant, (thank GOD!) darkened my spirit; so that one may not be very apt to sympathize with men who walk about hampered with a doubt; yet, were one to know, (as one has often known,—too often, alas!) that the arrow was rankling in a friend's heart,—who by consequence shunned the society of his fellows, and walked in moody abstraction,—looking as if life had lost its charm, and as if nothing on the earth's surface were any longer to him a joy;—would one not be the first to go after such a sufferer; and seek whether a firm hand and steady eye might not avail to extract the poisoned shaft? If that might not be, at least by daily acts of unaltered kindness, and the ways which brotherly sympathy suggests, who would not strive to recover such an one? If all other arts proved unavailing, it would remain for a man with the ordinary instincts of humanity, in silence and sorrow at least, to look on, while the solitary doubter was paying the bitter penalty,—doubtless, of his sin.

But how widely different,—rather, how utterly dissimilar,—is the phenomenon before us! Here is a singularly confused and shallow thinker oppressed with the vastness of his discovery, that the Bible—has nothing in it! Here is a Clergyman of the Church of England, and a Lecturer in Divinity, whose difficulty is how he shall convince the world that the Bible is—like any other book! Here is the sceptical fellow of a College, conspiring with six others, to produce a volume of which Germany itself, (having changed its mind,) would already be ashamed!... Mr. Jowett is enthusiastic for a negation! Without belief himself, he cannot rest because Christendom has, on the whole, a good deal of belief remaining! If he may but unsettle somebody's mind,—his Essay will have achieved its purpose, and its author will not have lived in vain!... Sublime privilege for "the only man in the University of Oxford who" is said to "exercise a moral and spiritual influence at all corresponding to that which was once wielded by John Henry Newman[232]!"

I shall be thought a very profane person, I dare say, by the friends and apologists of Mr. Jowett, if I avow that the passage with which he concludes his Essay, instead of sounding in my ears like the plaintive death-song of departing Genius, sounds to me like nothing so much as the piteous whine of a schoolboy who knows that he deserves chastisement, and perceives that he is about to experience his deserts. System, or Theory, the Reverend Gentleman has none to propose. Views, except negative ones, Mr. Jowett is altogether guiltless of. Can anybody in his senses suppose that a man "has, by a Divine help (!), been enabled to plant his foot somewhere beyond the waves of Time," (p. 433,) who doubts everything, and believes nothing? Can any one of sane mind dream that posterity will come to the rescue of a man who, when he is asked for his story, rejoins, (with a well-known needy mechanic,) that he has "none to tell, Sir?" What then is posterity to vindicate? What has the Regius Professor of Greek written so many weak pages to prove? Just nothing! If Mr. Jowett's Essay could enforce the message it carries, the result would simply be that the world would become disbelievers in the Inspiration of the Bible: they would disbelieve that Scripture has any sense but that which lies on the surface: they would therefore disbelieve the Prophets and Evangelists and Apostles of CHRIST: they would disbelieve the words of our LORD JESUS CHRIST Himself!... Has Mr. Jowett, then, grown grey under the laborious process of arriving at this series of negations? When he anticipates "departing hence before the natural term," does he mean that he is "worn out with the intellectual toil" of propounding nothing! and that he expects the sympathy and gratitude of posterity for what he has propounded?

But this is not all. Instead of coming abroad, (if come abroad he must,) in that garb of humility which befits doubt,—that self-distrust which becomes one whose fault, or whose misfortune it is, that he simply cannot believe,—Mr. Jowett assumes throughout, the insolent air of intellectual superiority; the tone of one at whose bidding Theology must absolutely 'keep moving.' A truncheon and a number on his collar, alone seem wanting. The menacing voice, and authoritative air, are certainly not away,—as I proceed to shew.

"It may be observed that a change in some of the prevailing modes of Interpretation, is not so much a matter of expediency as of necessity. The original meaning of Scripture is beginning to be understood." (p. 418.)

"Criticism has far more power than it formerly had. It has spread itself over ancient, and even modern history.... Whether Scripture can be made an exception to other ancient writings, now that the nature of both is more understood; whether ... the views of the last century will hold out,—these are questions respecting which" (p. 420.) it is hard to judge.

"It has to be considered whether the intellectual forms under which Christianity has been described, may not also be in a state of transition." (p. 420.)

"Now, as the Interpretation of Scripture is receiving another character, it seems that distinctions of Theology which were in great measure based on old Interpretations, are beginning to fade away." ... "There are other signs that times are changing, and we are changing too." (p. 421.)

"These reflections bring us back to the question with which we began,—What effect will the critical Interpretation of Scripture have on Theology?" (p. 422.)

Again:—"As the time has come when it is no longer possible to ignore the results of criticism, it is of importance that Christianity should be seen to be in harmony with them." (p. 374.) (The sentences which immediately follow shall be exhibited in distinct paragraphs, in order that they may separately enjoy admiration. Each is a gem or a curiosity in its way.)

"That objections to some received views should be valid, and yet that they should be always held up as the objections of Infidels,—is a mischief to the Christian cause."

"It is a mischief that critical observations which any intelligent man can make for himself (!), should be ascribed to Atheism or Unbelief."

"It would be a strange and almost incredible thing that the Gospel, which at first made war only on the vices of mankind, should now be opposed to one of the highest and rarest of human virtues,—the love of Truth."

"And that in the present day the great object of Christianity should be, not to change the lives of men, but to prevent them from changing their opinions; that would be a singular inversion of the purposes for which CHRIST came into the world."

We are really constrained to pause for a moment, and to inquire what this last sentence means. Are not "the lives of men" mainly dependent on "their opinions?" Why then contrast the two? And which of our "opinions" does Mr. Jowett desire to see changed? Would he have us resign our belief in the Atonement? reject the Divinity of CHRIST? deny the Personality of the HOLY GHOST? put the Bible on a level with Sophocles and Plato? ridicule the idea of Inspiration?... How would it be a "singular inversion of the purposes of CHRIST'S Coming," that Christianity should "prevent" mankind from "changing" such "opinions" as these?

"The Christian religion is in a false position when all the tendencies of knowledge are opposed to it." (All the tendencies of knowledge, then, are opposed to the Christian Religion!)

"Such a position cannot be long maintained, or can only end in the withdrawal of the educated classes from the influences of Religion." (So we are to look for "the withdrawal of the educated classes from the influences of Religion[233]!") After anticipating "religious dissolution," because of "the progress of ideas, (!) with which Christian teachers seem to be ill at ease," (!) Mr. Jowett, (who we presume is speaking of himself,) says, "Time was when the Gospel was before the Age:" (The Gospel is therefore now behind the age!)—"when the difficulties of Christianity were difficulties of the heart only:" (When was that?)—"and the highest minds found in its truths not only the rule of their lives, but a well-spring of intellectual delight." (All this then has ceased to be the case! "The highest minds" being of course represented by—Mr. Jowett!)

"Is it to be held a thing impossible that the Christian Religion, instead of shrinking into itself, (!) may again embrace the thoughts of men upon the earth?" (that is to say, "embrace the thoughts" of—Mr. Jowett!)—"Or is it true that since the Reformation 'all intellect has gone the other way?'"

"But for the faith that the Gospel might win again the minds of intellectual men," (such men as Mr. Jowett?)—"it would be better to leave Religion to itself, instead of attempting to draw them together." (p. 376.)

Now this kind of language, in daily life, would be called sheer impertinence; and the person who could talk so before educated gentlemen would probably receive an intimation that he was making himself offensive. He would certainly be looked upon as a weak and conceited person. I really am unable to see why things should be written and printed which no one would presume to say! ... Encircled by a little atmosphere of fog of his own creating, Mr. Jowett is evidently under the delusion that his own confused vision and misty language are the result of the giddy eminence to which, (leaving his fellow-mortals far behind him,) he has contrived, all alone, to soar. He anticipates the complaint of some unhappy disciple, that he "experiences a sort of shrinking or dizziness at the prospect which is opening before him:" whereupon Mr. Jowett invites the "highly educated young man," (p. 373,) to consider "that he may possibly not be the person who is called upon to pursue such inquiries." Who are they for, then? "No man should busy himself with them who has not clearness of mind enough to see things as they are." (p. 430.) The clearness of mind, for example, which belongs to Mr. Jowett!

True enough it is that had such airs been assumed by such an one as Richard Hooker, who achieved the first four books of his 'Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity' before he was 40; and dying in his 46th year, proved himself to be the greatest genius of his age:—had language like Mr. Jowett's been found on the lips of Joseph Butler, who when he was 44 produced his immortal 'Analagy,' and at the age of 26 delivered his famous Rolls 'Sermons:'—had Bishop Bull been betrayed into the language of self-complacency when, at the age of 35, he made himself famous by his 'Harmonia Apostolica:'—the proceeding would have been intelligible, however much one might have lamented such an exhibition of weakness.... But when the speaker proves to be one of the very shallowest of thinkers, and most confused of reasoners;—a man who, although grey-headed, has done nothing whatever for Literature, sacred or profane;—nor indeed is known out of Oxford except for having been thought to deny the Doctrine of the Atonement;—a man who dogmatizes in a Science of which he clearly does not know so much as the very alphabet; and presumes to dispute about a Bible which he has evidently not read with the attention which is due even to a first-rate uninspired book;—then, one's displeasure and impatience assume the form of indignation and disgust. The Divine who, purposing to prove that Holy Scripture is in kind like any other book, does so by inveighing against those who treat it differently; and indeed, on every occasion, assumes as proved the thing he has to prove[234]:—is obviously the very man to vaunt the privileges of the intellect. The student of the Bible who mistakes the utterance of a lying prophet for the language of Amos, and then boldly charges the lie upon the inspired author of a book of Canonical Scripture;—is of course a proper person to discuss the Prophetic Canon. The gentleman who flatters himself that he has been sweeping the house to find the pearl of great price, (p. 414,) is a very pretty person, truly, to lecture about the Gospel!... I forbear reproaching Mr. Jowett with his invariable misapplications or misapprehensions of the meaning of Scripture: his false glosses, and truly preposterous specimens of exegesis[235]. I am content to take leave of him, while he is flattering himself that he has "found the pearl of great price, after sweeping the house:" (p. 414:) and under that melancholy delusion, I fear he must be left,—holding the broom in his hands.

* * * * *

On a review of these Seven Essays, few things strike one more forcibly than the utterly untenable ground occupied by their authors. They are "in a position in which it is impossible to remain. The theory of Mr. Jowett and his fellows is as false to philosophy as to the Church of England. More may be true, or less; but to attempt to halt where they would stop is a simple absurdity[236]."

To exactness of method or System, their work can hardly pretend; and yet they have a system,—which has only not been rounded into symmetry, by the singular circumstance that these seven writers "have written in entire independence of one another, and without concert or comparison." They avow a common purpose, however; for they "hope" that their joint labours "will be received as an attempt to illustrate," (whatever that may mean,) "the advantage derivable to the cause of Religion and Moral Truth" from what they have here attempted; and which they justly characterize as "free handling." Putting oneself in their position, it is easy to imagine the sorrow and concern,—the horror rather,—with which a good man, when the first edition of 'Essays and Reviews' made its appearance, would have discovered the kind of complicity into which he had been inadvertently betrayed; and how eagerly he would have withdrawn from a literary partnership which had resulted so disastrously. At the end of nine large editions, however, the corporate responsibility of each individual author has become fully established; and besides the many proofs of sympathy between the several authors which these pages contain[237], it is no longer doubtful that the sentiments of the work are to be quoted without reference to the individual writers. It would be unfair to assume that not one of these seven men has had the manliness to avow that his own individual convictions are opposed to those of his fellows. We are compelled to regard their joint labours as one production. It is the corporate efficacy of the several contributions which constitutes the chief criminality of the volume. It is to the respectability and weight of the conjoined names of its authors, and to their combined efforts, that 'Essays and Reviews' are indebted for all their power.

What then is the system, or theory, or view, advocated by these seven Authors?—They are all agreed that we are "placed evidently at an epoch when Humanity finds itself under new conditions, to form some definite conception to ourselves of the way in which Christianity is henceforward to act upon the world which is our own." (p. 158.) To do this, we must emerge from our "narrow chamber of Doctrinal and Ecclesiastical prepossessions." (Ibid.) Accordingly, we find insinuated "a very wide-spread alienation, both in educated and uneducated persons, from the Christianity which is ordinarily presented in our Churches and Chapels." (p. 150.) There has been "a spontaneous recoil." (p. 151.) We cannot "resist the tide of civilization on which we are borne." (p. 412.) "The time has come when it is no longer possible to ignore the results of criticism." It is therefore "of importance that Christianity should be seen to be in harmony with them." (p. 374.) "The arguments of our genuine critics, with the convictions of our most learned clergy" (p. 66) are all opposed to the actual teaching of the Church. Meantime, "the Christian Religion is in a false position when all the tendencies of knowledge are opposed to it." (p. 374.) "Time was when the Gospel was before the age: ... when the highest minds found in its truths not only the rule of their lives, but a well-spring of intellectual delight. Is it to be held a thing impossible that the Christian Religion may again embrace the thoughts of men upon the earth?" (pp. 374-5.)

In the mean time, THE BIBLE is a stubborn fact in the way of the new Religion. Nay, the English Book of Common Prayer is a great hindrance; for those "formul of past thinkings, have long lost all sense of any kind;" (p. 297;) so that the Prayer-book "is on the way to become a useless encumbrance, the rubbish of the past, blocking the road." (Ibid.) But the Prayer-book confessedly stands on a different footing from the Bible. The Bible erects itself hopelessly in the way of "the negative religion." (p. 151.) O those many prophecies, which for 4000 long years sustained the faith of GOD'S chosen people, and at last found fulfilment in the person of CHRIST, or in the circumstances which attended the establishment of His Kingdom! O that glorious retinue of types and shadows which heralded MESSIAH'S approach!... And then,—O the miraculous evidence which attested to the reality of His Divinity[238]! O the confirmation, (to those who needed it,) when He walked the water, and stilled the storm, and cast out devils by His word, and by one strong cry broke the gates of Death, and caused Lazarus to "Come forth!" ... O the solemn independent testimony borne by Creeds, from the very birthday of Christianity,—(whether planted in Syria or in Asia Minor, in Africa or in Italy, in Greece or in Gaul; "in Germany or in Spain, among the Celts or in the far East, in Egypt or in Libya, or in the middle regions of the globe[239].") Lastly,—O the adoring voice of the whole Church Catholic throughout the world, for many a succeeding century,—translating, expounding, defining, explaining, defending to the death!... How shall all this formidable mass of evidence possibly be set aside?

It is plain that Prophecy must be evacuated of its meaning; or rather, must be denied entirely: and to do this, falls to the share of the vulgar and violent Vice-Principal of Lampeter College. Disprove he cannot; so he sneers and rails and blusters instead. Prophecy, he calls "omniscience;" "a notion of foresight by vision of particulars;" (p.70;) "a kind of clairvoyance," (p. 70,) and "literal prognostication." (p. 65.) Mr. Jowett (as we have lately seen[240],) lends plaintive help: but indeed Dr. Williams does not lack supporters.

To deny the truth of Miracles falls to the lot of the Savilian Professor of Astronomy. His method has the merit of extreme simplicity: for it is based on the ground that, in the writer's opinion, Miracles are impossible,—which of course must be held to be decisive of the question.

The battle against the Inspiration of the Word of GOD is reserved for the Regius Professor of Greek; who requires for his purpose twice the space of any of his fellows. His method is also of the simplest kind, when divested of its many encumbrances. He simply assumes it as proved that the Bible is a book not essentially different from Sophocles and Plato. In other words he assumes that the Bible is not inspired; and reproaches, pities, or sneers at every one who is not of his opinion.

In the meantime, What is Prophecy? What are Miracles? Of what sort is that Bible which has imposed upon mankind so grossly, and so long? They are facts, and must be explained. What are they? Prophecy, then, is "only the power of seeing the ideal in the actual, or of tracing the Divine Government in the movements of men." (p. 70.) As for Miracles, "their evidential force is wholly relative to the apprehensions of the parties addressed ... Columbus' prediction of the Eclipse to the native islanders," (p. 115,) is advanced as an illustration of the nature of the argument from Miracles. By whatever method the Bible has attained its present footing in the world, it is a book which has been hitherto misunderstood; and it must plainly be dealt with after a new fashion. Our Lord's Incarnation, Temptation, Death and Burial, Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven,—all His Miracles, in short, will be best interpreted Ideologically; in other words, by a principle "which resolves into an ideal the whole of the historical and doctrinal person of JESUS." (p. 200.) So interpreted, "the Gospel may win again the minds of intellectual men;" (p. 376;) but it will find it no easy matter. There is in fact "a higher wisdom" than the Gospel, "which is known to those who are perfect,"—"that reconcilement," namely, "of Faith and Knowledge which may be termed Christian Philosophy." (p. 413.)

The great object, in short, is to bring about "a reconciliation" (p. 375,) between "the minds of intellectual men" (p. 376,) and Christianity. Such a reconciliation is to be regarded as a "restoration of belief." (p. 375.) And it is to be effected by "taking away some of the external supports, because they are not needed and do harm: also because they interfere with the meaning." (p. 375.)—Those "external supports" are (1) a belief in the Inspiration of the Bible;—(2) the writings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church;—(3) Creeds and the decisions of Councils;—(4) the works of Anglican Divines;—(5) Learning; (p. 337;)—(6) a profound acquaintance with the Greek language; (p. 393;)—(7) a minute knowledge of Greek Grammar; (p. 391;)—(8) the Doctrine of the Greek Article;—(9) the free use of the parallel passages.... The Bible, when interpreted by any self-relying young man who knows a little Greek, and attends to the meaning of words,—will be seen in all the freshness of its early beauty, like an old picture which has been recently cleaned. "A new interest" will be excited by this new Bible, which will "make for itself a new kind of authority." By being thus literally interpreted, it will be transformed into "a spirit." Then, (but not before) the Bible will enjoy the sublime satisfaction of keeping pace with the Age. It may so, even yet, "embrace the thoughts of men upon the earth."

But what kind of thing will this Bible be? The beginning of Genesis, (pp. 207-253,) is to be rejected because it "is not an authentic utterance of Divine knowledge, but a human utterance, which it has pleased Providence to use in a special way for the education of mankind." (p. 253.) We are invited to "a frank recognition of the erroneous views of Nature which the Bible contains." (p. 211.) Thus, all miraculous transactions will have to be explained away. The volume of Prophecy will have to be regarded as a volume of History. The very History will have to be read with distrust. Like other records, it is subject to the conditions of "knowledge which existed in an early stage of the world." (p. 411.) It does not even begin to be authentic, until B.C. 1900; or rather, until B.C. 900[241]. What remains is to be looked upon as "the continuous witness in all ages of the higher things in the heart of man," (p. 375,)—(whatever that may happen to mean.) The Gospel is to be looked upon as "a life of CHRIST in the soul, instead of a theory of CHRIST which is in a book, or written down," (p. 423.) "The lessons of Scripture, when disengaged from theological formulas, have a nearer way to the hearts of the poor." (p. 424.) Even "in Missions to the heathen, Scripture is to be treated as the expression of universal truths, rather than of the tenets of particular men and Churches." (p.423.) It is anticipated that this "would remove many obstacles to the reception of Christianity." (Ibid.) "It is not the Book of Scripture which we should seek to give the heathen;" "but the truth of the Book; the mind of CHRIST and His Apostles, in which all lesser details and differences should be lost and absorbed;" "the purer light or element of Religion, of which Christianity is the expression." (p. 427.) ... Such is the ghostly phantom, by the aid of which the Heathen are to become evangelized!

But this historical Bible is not to be regarded as the rule of a man's life, or indeed as an external Law at all. (pp. 36, 45.) "We walk now by Reason and Conscience alone." (p. 21.) The Bible is to be identified "with the voice of Conscience," (p. 45,)—which it has "to evoke, not to override." (p. 44.) "The principle of private judgment ... makes Conscience the supreme interpreter." (p. 45.) Ours is "a law which is not imposed upon us by another power, but by our own enlightened will:" (p. 35:) for the "Spirit, or Conscience" "legislates" henceforth "without appeal except to himself." (p. 31.)

Having thus disposed of "Traditional Christianity," (p. 156,) it is not obscurely hinted that something quite different is to be substituted in its place. And first, next to "a frank appeal to Reason, and a frank criticism of Scripture," (p. 174,) the nature and "office of the Church is to be properly understood." (p. 194.)

The Church then is a spontaneous development of the State, as "part of its own organization," (p. 195,)—a purely secular Institution. The State will "develop itself into a Church" by "throwing its elements, or the best of them, into another mould; and constituting out of them a Society, which is in it, though in some sense not of it (?),—which is another (?), yet the same." (p. 194.) The nation must provide, from time to time, that the teaching of one age does "not traditionally harden, so as to become an exclusive barrier in a subsequent one; and so the moral growth of those who are committed to the hands of the Church be checked." (Ibid.) The Church is founded, therefore, not upon "the possession of a supernaturally communicated speculation (!) concerning GOD," but "upon the manifestation of a Divine Life in Man." "Speculative doctrines should be left to philosophical schools. A national Church must be concerned with the ethical development of its members." (p. 195.) It should be "free from dogmatic tests, and similar intellectual bondage;" (p. 168;) hampered by no Doctrines, pledged to no Creeds. These may be retained indeed; but "we refuse to be bound by them." (p. 44.) The Subscription of the Clergy to the Articles should also be abolished: for "no promise can reach fluctuations of opinion, and personal conviction." (!!!) Open heretical teaching may, to be sure, be dealt with by the Law; but the Law "should not require any act which appears to signify 'I think.'" (p. 189.) Witness "the reluctance of the stronger minds to enter an Order in which their intellects may not have free play." (p. 190.) ... Such then is the Negative Religion! Such is the new faith which Doctors Temple and Williams, Professors Powell and Jowett, Messieurs Wilson, Goodwin, and Pattison, have deliberately combined to offer to the acceptance of the World!

It is high time to conclude. I cannot lay down my pen however until I have re-echoed the sentiments of one with whom I heartily agree. I allude to Dr. Moberly; who professes that he is "struck almost more with what seems to him the hardheartedness, and exceeding unkindness of this book, than with its unsoundness. Have the writers," (he asks,) "considered how far the suggesting of innumerable doubts,—doubts unargued and unproved,—will check honest devotion, and embolden timid sin? For whom do they intend this book? Is it written for the mass of general readers? Is it designed for students at the Universities? Do they suppose that this multitude of random suggestions will be carefully wrought out by these readers, and be rejected if unsound; so as to leave their faith and devotion untarnished?... Have they reflected how many souls for whom CHRIST died may be slain in their weakness by their self-styled strength?"

"Suppose, for a moment, that the Holy Scriptures are (p. 177,) the Word of the Spirit of GOD,—that the Miracles, (cf. p. 109,) including the Resurrection of CHRIST, are actual objective facts, which have really happened,—that the Doctrines of the Church are true, (p. 195,) and the Creeds (p. 355,) the authoritative expositions of them,—and that men are to reach Salvation through faith in CHRIST, Virgin-born, according to the Scriptures, and making atonement (cf. p. 87,) for their sins upon the Cross. ON THIS SUPPOSITION,—Is not the publication of this book an act of real hostility to GOD'S Truth; and one which endangers the Faith and Salvation of Men? And is this hostility less real, or the danger diminished, because the writers are, all but one, Clergymen, some of them Tutors and Schoolmasters; because they wear the dress, and use the language of friends, and threaten us with bitter opposition if we do not regard them as such[242]?"

* * * * *

With this I lay down my pen. My last words shall be simple and affectionate, addressed solely to yourselves.

I trace these concluding lines,—(of a work which, but for you, would never have been undertaken,)—in a quite empty College; and in the room where we have so often and so happily met on Sunday evenings. Can you wonder if, at the conclusion of what has proved rather a heavy task, (so hateful to me is controversy,) my thoughts revert with affectionate solicitude to yourselves, already scattered in all directions; and to those evenings which more, I think, than any other thing, have gilded my College life?... In thus sending you a written farewell, and praying from my soul that GOD may bless and keep you all, I cannot suppress the earnest entreaty that you would remember the best words of counsel which may have at any time fallen from my lips: that you would persevere in the daily study of the pure Book of Life; and that you would read it, not as feeling yourselves called upon to sit in judgment on its adorable contents; but rather, as men who are permitted to draw near; and invited to listen, and to learn, and to live. And so farewell!... "Watch ye, stand fast in the Faith,"—nay, take it in the original, which is far better:—Grgoreite, stkete en t pistei andrizesthe, krataiousthe. panta hymn en agap ginesth. H charis tou Kyriou Isou Christou meth' hymn. h agap mou meta pantn hymn.

Your friend, J. W. B.

ORIEL, June 22nd, 1861.

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. ho laos houtos.

[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] paratreisthe: 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 paidaggos.—"Rex filio pdagogum constituit, et singulis diebus ad eum invisit, interrogans eum: Num comedit filius meus? num in scholam abiit? num ex schol 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 Sclorum, 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 bon 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?

[91] See below, p. 68.

[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 Nica." (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 Irenus, (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—hypotypsin eche hygiainontn logn, hn (i.e. the words themselves!) par' emou kousas ... tn kaln parakatathkn phylaxon—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!

[102] See below, p. 235.

[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] ekleipein tn hedran. (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. Scriptur Ante-Nicna.—Reliqq. Sacr, 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 Graph, 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] ou dynatai lythnai h graph,—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.

[162] See above,—(4).

[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] Ti gar estin ho Nomos? Euangelion prokatngelmenon ti de to Euangelion? Nomos peplrmenos. Justin: Qust. ci. p. 456.

[177] Eadem sunt in Vetere et Novo: ibi obumbrata, hic revelata; ibi prfigurata, hic manifesta. (Augustine: Qust. 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 Qust. 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, Irenum, Hippolytum; cum Hippolytus discipulus Ireni fuisset, Irenusque 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 Tu.' Si tantus Propheta tenebras ignoranti confitetur, qu nos putas parvulos, et pene lactantes, insciti 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.

[207] See below, p. 142.

[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 Irenus (A.D. 180),—Kai eis Pneuma HAgion, to dia tn Prophtn kekrychos tas oikonomias, kai tas eleuseis. In the Creed of Constantinople, we read, To Pneuma to HAgion ... to lalsan dia tn Prophtn.

[209] The Creed of Lyons begins by describing itself as that which h men Ekklsia, kaiper kath' hols ts oikoumens hes peratn ts gs diesparmen, para de tn Apostoln kai tn ekeinn mathtn paralabousa, k.t.l. 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:—