Part 15

It is sometimes affirmed, however, that those who proclaim such conclusions not only wantonly destroy the dearest hopes of humanity, but remove the only solid basis of morality; and it is alleged that, before existing belief is disturbed, the iconoclast is bound to provide a substitute for the shattered idol. To this we may reply that speech or silence does not alter the reality of things. The recognition of Truth cannot be made dependent on consequences, or be trammelled by considerations of spurious expediency. Its declaration in a serious and suitable manner to those who are capable of judging can never be premature. Its suppression cannot be effectual, and is only a humiliating compromise with conscious imposture. In so far as morality is concerned, belief in a system of future rewards and punishments, although of an intensely degraded character, may, to a certain extent, have promoted observance of the letter of the law in darker ages and even in our own; but it may, we think, be shown that education and civilisation have done infinitely more to enforce its spirit. How far Christianity has promoted education and civilisation, we shall not here venture adequately to discuss. We may emphatically assert, however, that whatever beneficial effect Christianity has produced has been due, not to its supernatural dogmas, but to its simple morality. Dogmatic Theology, on the contrary, has retarded education and impeded science. Wherever it has been dominant, civilisation has stood still. Science has been judged and suppressed by the light of a text or a chapter of Genesis. Almost every great advance which has been made towards enlightenment has been achieved in spite of the protest or the anathema of the Church. Submissive ignorance, absolute or comparative, has been tacitly fostered as the most desirable condition of the popular mind. "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven," has been the favourite text of Doctors of Divinity with a stock of incredible dogmas difficult of assimilation by the virile mind. Even now, the friction of theological resistance is a constant waste of intellectual power. The early enunciation of so pure a system of morality, and one so intelligible to the simple as well as profound to the wise, was of great value to the world; but, experience being once systematised and codified, if higher principles do not constrain us, society may safely be left to see morals sufficiently observed. It is true that, notwithstanding its fluctuating rules, morality has hitherto assumed the character of a Divine institution, but its sway has not, in consequence, been more real than it must be as the simple result of human wisdom and the outcome of social experience. The choice of a noble life is no longer a theological question, and ecclesiastical patents of truth and uprightness have finally expired. Morality, which has ever changed its complexion and modified its injunctions according to social requirements, will necessarily be enforced as part of human evolution, and is not dependent on religious terrorism or superstitious persuasion. If we are disposed to say: _Cui bono?_ and only practise morality, or be ruled by right principles, to gain a heaven or escape a hell, there is nothing lost, for such grudging and calculated morality is merely a spurious imitation which can as well be produced by social compulsion. But if we have ever been really penetrated by the pure spirit of morality, if we have in any degree attained that elevation of mind which instinctively turns to the true and noble and shrinks from the baser level of thought and action, we shall feel no need of the stimulus of a system of rewards and punishments in a future state which has for so long been represented as essential to Christianity.

As to the other reproach, let us ask what has actually been destroyed by such an enquiry pressed to its logical conclusion. Can Truth by any means be made less true? Can reality be melted into thin air? The Revelation not being a reality, that which has been destroyed is only an illusion, and that which is left is the Truth. Losing belief in it and its contents, we have lost absolutely nothing but that which the traveller loses when the mirage, which has displayed cool waters and green shades before him, melts swiftly away. There were no cool fountains really there to allay his thirst, no flowery meadows for his wearied limbs; his pleasure was delusion, and the wilderness is blank. Rather the mirage with its pleasant illusion, is the human cry, than the desert with its barrenness. Not so, is the friendly warning; seek not vainly in the desert that which is not there, but turn rather to other horizons and to surer hopes. Do not waste life clinging to ecclesiastical dogmas which represent no eternal verities, but search elsewhere for truth which may haply be found. What should we think of the man who persistently repulsed the persuasion that two and two make four from the ardent desire to believe that two and two make five? Whose fault is it that two and two do make four and not five? Whose folly is it that it should be more agreeable to think that two and two make five than to know that they only make four? This folly is theirs who represent the value of life as dependent on the reality of special illusions, which they have religiously adopted. To discover that a former belief is unfounded is to change nothing of the realities of existence. The sun will descend as it passes the meridian whether we believe it to be noon or not. It is idle and foolish, if human, to repine because the truth is not precisely what we thought it, and at least we shall not change reality by childishly clinging to a dream.

The argument so often employed by theologians that Divine Revelation is necessary for man, and that certain views contained in that Revelation are required by our moral consciousness, is purely imaginary and derived from the Revelation which it seeks to maintain. The only thing absolutely necessary for man is Truth; and to that, and that alone, must our moral consciousness adapt itself. Reason and experience forbid the expectation that we can acquire any knowledge otherwise than through natural channels. We might as well expect to be supernaturally nourished as supernaturally informed. To complain that we do not know all that we desire to know is foolish and unreasonable. It is tantamount to complaining that the mind of man is not differently constituted. To attain the full altitude of the Knowable, whatever that may be, should be our earnest aim, and more than this is not for humanity. We may be certain that information which is beyond the ultimate reach of Reason is as unnecessary as it is inaccessible. Man may know all that man requires to know.

We gain more than we lose by awaking to find that our Theology is human invention and our eschatology an unhealthy dream. We are freed from the incubus of base Hebrew mythology, and from doctrines of Divine government which outrage morality and set cruelty and injustice in the place of holiness. If we have to abandon cherished anthropomorphic visions of future Blessedness, the details of which are either of unseizable dimness or of questionable joy, we are at least delivered from quibbling discussions of the meaning of [Greek: aiônios], and our eternal hope is unclouded by the doubt whether mankind is to be tortured in hell for ever and a day, or for a day without the ever. At the end of life there may be no definite vista of a Heaven glowing with the light of apocalyptic imagination, but neither will there be the unutterable horror of a Purgatory or a Hell lurid with flames for the helpless victims of an unjust but omnipotent Creator. To entertain such libellous representations at all as part of the contents of "Divine Revelation," it was necessary to assert that man was incompetent to judge of the ways of the God of Revelation, and must not suppose him endowed with the perfection of human conceptions of justice and mercy, but submit to call wrong right and right wrong at the foot of an almighty Despot. But now the reproach of such reasoning is shaken from our shoulders, and returns to the Jewish superstition from which it sprang.

As myths lose their might and their influence when discovered to be baseless, the power of supernatural Christianity will doubtless pass away, but the effect of the revolution must not be exaggerated, although it cannot here be fully discussed. If the pictures which have filled for so long the horizon of the Future must vanish, no hideous blank can rightly be maintained in their place. We should clearly distinguish between what we know and know not, but as carefully abstain from characterising that which we know not as if it were really known to us. That mysterious Unknown or Unknowable is no cruel darkness, but simply an impenetrable distance into which we are impotent to glance, but which excludes no legitimate speculation and forbids no reasonable hope.

[ENDNOTES]

[1:1] Originally published in the _Fortnightly Review_, January 1, 1875.

[4:1] _On the Canon_, p. 65.

[4:2] _Ibid._ p. 61, note 2.

[4:3] At the end of this note Dr. Westcott adds, "Indeed, from the similar mode of introducing the story of the vine, which is afterwards referred to Papias, it is reasonable to conjecture that this interpretation is one from Papias' _Exposition_."

[4:4] _Reliq. Sacrae_, i. p. 10 f.

[4:5] _Lehre Pers. Christ_, i. p. 217 f., Anm. 56, p. 218, Anm, 62.

[5:1] _Theol. Jahrb. _1845, p. 593, Anm. 2; cf. 1847, p. 160, Anm. 1.

[5:2] _Synops. Evang._, Proleg. xxxi.

[5:3] _Komm. Ev. des Johannes_, p. 6 f.

[5:4] _Die Zeugn. Ev. Joh._ p. 116 f.

[5:5] _Basilides_, p. 110 f.

[5:6] _Zeitschr. für wiss. Theol._ 1867, p. 186, Anm. 1, 1868, p. 219, Anm. 4; cf. 1865, p. 334 f., "Die Evangelien," p. 339, Anm. 4.

[6:1] _Der Johann. Ursprung des viert. Evang._ 1874, p. 72.

[6:2] _Th. Stud. u. Krit._ 1866, p. 674.

[6:3] _Intro. N.T._ ii. p. 424 f.

[6:4] _Ibid._ ii. p. 372.

[8:1] The work was all printed, and I could only reprint the sheet with such alterations as could be made by omissions and changes at the part itself.

[8:2] Dr. Lightfoot makes use of my second edition.

[9:1] _Contemporary Review_, December, p. 4, n. 1; _Essays on S.R._ p. 4, n. 4.

[9:2] Professor Hofstede de Groot, in advancing this passage after the example of Tischendorf, carefully distinguishes the words which he introduces, referring it to the presbyters, by placing them within brackets.

[10:1] _S.R._ ii. p. 231 f.

[10:2] _Contemporary Review_, December, p. 5 f.; _Essays on S.R._ p. 7.

[10:3] _S.R._ ii. 228 ff.

[11:1] _Wann wurden_, u.s.w., p. 73 f.

[11:2] The translation in Scholten's work is substantially the same as Tischendorf's, except that he has "promises" for "has promised," which is of no importance. Upon this, however, Scholten argues that Celsus is treated as a contemporary.

[12:1] _S.R._ ii. p. 229 ff.

[13:1] I may here briefly refer to one or two instances of translation attacked by Dr. Lightfoot. He sneers at such a rendering as [Greek: ho logos edêlou], "Scripture declares," introducing an isolated phrase from Justin Martyr (ii. 296). The slight liberty taken with the tense is surely excusable in such a case, and for the rest I may point out that Prudentius Maranus renders the words "... scripturam declarare," and Otto "... effatum declarare." They occur in reference to passages from the Old Testament quoted in controversy with a Jew. The next passage is [Greek: kata korrhês propêlakizein], which Dr. Lightfoot says is rendered "to inflict a blow on one side," but this is not the case. The phrase occurs in contrasting the words of Matt. v. 39, [Greek: all' hostis se rhapisei epi tên dexian sou siagona, strepson autô kai tên allên], with a passage in Athenagoras, [Greek: alla tois men kan kata korrhês prospêlakizosi, kai to eteron paiein parechein tês kephalês meros]. In endeavouring to convey to the English reader some idea of the linguistic difference, I rendered the latter (ii. 193), "but to those who inflict a blow on the one side, also to present the other side, _of the head_," &c., inserting the three Greek words after "side," to explain the suspension of sense, and the merging, for the sake of brevity, the double expression in the words I have italicised. Dr. Lightfoot represents the phrase as ending at "side." The passage from Tertullian was quoted almost solely for the purpose of showing the uncertainty, in so bold a writer, of the expression "videtur," for which reason, although the Latin is given below, the word was introduced into the text. It was impossible for anyone to _mistake_ the tense and meaning of "quem caederet," but I ventured to paraphrase the words and their context, instead of translating them. In this sentence, I may say, the "mutilation hypothesis" is introduced, and thereafter Tertullian proceeds to press against Marcion his charge of mutilating the Gospel of Luke, and I desired to contrast the doubt of the "videtur" with the assurance of the subsequent charge. I had imagined that no one could have doubted that Luke is represented as one of the "Commentatores."

[14:1] I altered "certainly" to "probably" in the second edition, as Dr. Lightfoot points out, in order to avoid the possibility of exaggeration; but my mind was so impressed with the certainty that I had clearly shown I was merely, for the sake of fairness, reporting the critical judgment of others, that I did not perceive the absence of the words given above.

[15:1] Dr. Lightfoot is mistaken in his ingenious conjecture of my having been misled by the "nur" of Credner; but so scrupulous a critic might have mentioned that I not only refer to Credner for this argument, but also to _De Wette_, who has "... dass er _nie_ Joh. dem Taüfer wie der Synoptiker den Beinamen [Greek: ho Baptistês] giebt" (_Einl. N.T._ p. 230), and to _Bleek_, who says, "nicht ein einziges Mal" (_Beiträge_, p. 178, and _Einl. N.T._ p. 150), which could not be misread.

[16:1] _Contemporary Review_, December, p. 15; _Essays on S.R._ p. 21 f.

[16:2] Clem. Alex. _Strom._ vii. 17-106. Dr. Westcott gives the above reference, but does not quote the passage.

[16:3] Dr. Westcott quotes the passage relative to Matthias.

[17:1] _Canon_, p. 255 f.

[17:2] The same remarks apply to the two passages, pointed out by Tischendorf, from Clement of Alexandria and Epiphanius.

[18:1] Luthardt, _Der Johann. Ursprung des viert. Evang._ 1874, p. 85 f.

[19:1] _Strom._ vii. 17, § 106.

[19:2] _Canon_, p. 255.

[19:3] _Contemporary Review_, December, p. 16 [_Essays_, p. 22].

[20:1] _Contemporary Review_, December, p. 8 [_ibid._ p. 11].

[21:1] _Contemporary Review_, p. 8 [_ibid._ p. 11].

[21:2] _A Crit. History of Chr. Lit. and Doctrine_, i. 184 f. I do not refer to the numerous authors who enforce this view.

[22:1] _Contemporary Review_, p. 8 [_ibid._ p. 11 f.]

[23:1] _Contemporary Review_, p. 8 f. [_ibid._ p. 11].

[23:2] _S.R._ i. p. 441.

[24:1] _Contemporary Review_, p. 8 f. [_ibid._ p. 12 f.]

[24:2] _S.R._ i. p. 387 ff.

[24:3] _Canon_, p. 112 f.

[24:4] _Contemporary Review_, p. 9, note [_ibid._ p. 12, n. 4].

[24:5] _S.R._ i. p. 360, note 1. Dr. Lightfoot, of course, "can hardly suppose" that "I had read the passage to which I refer."

[25:1] _Contemporary Review_, p. 9 [_ibid._ p. 13].

[26:1] _Contemporary Review_, p. 9 [_ibid._ p. 13].

[26:2] I cannot go through every instance, but I may briefly say that such a passage as "Ye are of your father the devil" and the passage Matt. xi. 27 _seq_. are no refutation whatever of my statement of the contrast between the fourth Gospel and the Synoptics; and that the allusion to Paul's teaching in the Apocalypse is in no way excluded even by his death. Regarding the relations between Paul and the "pillar" Apostles, I hope to speak hereafter. I must maintain that my argument regarding the identification of an eye-witness (ii. p. 444 ff.) sufficiently meets the reasoning to which Dr. Lightfoot refers.

[27:1] _Contemporary Review_, p. 11 f. [_ibid._ p. 16].

[27:2] _Ibid._ p. 10 [_ibid._ p. 14].

[28:1] _S.R._ ii. p. 402.

[28:2] _Ibid._ ii. p. 406.

[28:3] See Acts iv. 13.

[28:4] _S.R._ ii. p. 410.

[28:5] _Ibid._ ii, p. 413.

[29:1] _Der Johann. Ursp. des viert. Evang._ 1874, pp. 204-7.

[29:2] _Einl. N.T._ p. 625.

[30:1] In regard to one other point, I may say that, so far from being silent about the presence of a form of the Logos doctrine in the Apocalypse with which Dr. Lightfoot reproaches me, I repeatedly point out its existence, as, for instance, _S.R._ ii. pp. 255, 273, 278, &c., and I also show its presence elsewhere, my argument being that the doctrine not only was not originated by the fourth Gospel, but that it had already been applied to Christianity in N.T. writings before the composition of that work.

[30:2] _S.R._ ii. 421.

[30:3] _Contemporary Review_, 12 f. [_ibid._ p. 17 f.]

[31:1] Dr. Lightfoot will find the passage to which I refer, more especially p. 241, line 4, commencing with the words, "Nur zwei neuere Ausleger ahnen die einfache Wahrheit."

[31:2] _S.R._ 421 f.

[32:1] _Works_, ed. Pitman, x. 339 f.; _Horae et Talm._ p. 938.

[32:2] _Chron. Synopse d. vier. Evv._ p. 256, Anm. 1.

[32:3] _Bibl. Comm., Das. Ev. n. Joh._, umgearb. Ebrard ii. 1, p. 122 f.

[32:4] _Kurzgef. ex. Handbuch N.T._ i. 3, p. 84.

[32:5] _Einl. N.T._ ii. 194 f. Hug more strictly applies the name to the sepulchre where the bones of Joseph were laid (Josh. xxiv. 32).

[32:6] _Bibelwerk_, iv. 219.

[32:7] _Die Zeugnisse_, p. 21.

[32:8] _Comm. sur l'Ev. de St. Jean_, i. p. 475 f.

[32:9] _Einl. N.T._ p. 211.

[32:10] _Zeitschr. gesammt. Luth. Theol. u. Kirche_, 1856, p. 240 ff.

[32:11] _Die Joh. Schriften_, i. p. 181, Anm. 1; _Jahrb. bibl. Wiss._ viii. p. 255 f.; cf. _Gesch. v. Isr._ v. p. 348, Anm. 1.

[32:12] _Das Ev. Joh._ p. 107.

[32:13] _Comm. Ev. n. Joh._ p. 188 f.

[33:1] _Comm. Ev. des Joh._ i. p. 577 f.

[33:2] _Jahrb. bibl. Wiss._ viii. p. 255 f.

[33:3] _Die Joh. Schr._ i. p. 181, Anm. 1.

[33:4] _Authorship and Hist. Char. of Fourth Gospel_, 1872, p. 92.

[33:5] Mr. Sanday adds in a note here: "This may perhaps be called the current explanation of the name. It is accepted as well by those who deny the genuineness of the Gospel as by those who maintain it. Cf. Keim, i. 133. But there is much to be said for the identification with El Askar, &c." _Authorship and Hist. Char. of Fourth Gospel_, p. 93, note 1.

[34:1] _Life of Christ_, i. p. 206, note 1.

[34:2] _La Géographie du Tulmud_, p. 170.

[34:3] Smith's _Dictionary of the Bible_, iii. p. 1395 f.

[36:1] _Bampton Lect._ 1865, 2nd edit. p. 4.

[36:2] _S.R._ i. p. 61 ff.

[37:1] _Contemporary Review_, p. 19 [_ibid._ p. 26 f.]

[37:2] _Three Essays on Religion_, p. 216 f.

[38:1] _Three Essays on Religion_, p. 234.

[38:2] _Ibid._ p. 219.

[39:1] _S.R._ ii. p. 477.

[40:1] This appeared as the Preface to the 6th edition.

[45:1] _Contemporary Review_, January 1875, p. 1 ff. (_Ibid._ p. 32 ff.)

[45:2] _S.R._ i. p. 212.

[46:1] _Contemporary Review_, January 1875, p. 172 [_ibid._ p. 36].

[46:2] _Ibid._ p. 183 [_ibid._ p. 51].

[48:1] _Contemporary Review_, January 1875, p. 173 [_ibid._ p. 38].

[49:1] I regret very much that some ambiguity in my language (_S.R._ i. p. 483) should have misled, and given Dr. Lightfoot much trouble. I used the word "quotation" in the sense of a use of the Epistle of Peter, and not in reference to any one sentence in Polycarp. I trust that in this edition I have made my meaning clear.

[50:1] Cf. _H.E._ iii. 3, 4, 18, 24, 25, &c. &c.

[50:2] _Ibid._ ii. 15, vi. 14.

[50:3] _Ibid._ v. 8.

[50:4] _Ibid._ vi. 25.

[51:1] _Contemporary Review_, January 1875, p. 181 [_ibid._ p. 48].

[51:2] By a slip of the pen Dr. Lightfoot refers to Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._ iii. 3, 4. It should be ii. 22, 5.

[51:3] _Ibid._ p. 181.

[51:4] _H.E._ iii, 24.

[52:1] _H.E._ ii. 23.

[52:2] _Ibid._ iii. 11.

[52:3] _Ibid._ 16.

[52:4] _Ibid._ 19, 20.

[52:5] _Ibid._ 32.

[52:6] _Ibid._ iv. 8.

[52:7] _Ibid._ 11.

[52:8] _Ibid._ iv. 22.

[53:1] _H.E._ ii. 15.

[53:2] _Ibid._ vii. 25.

[54:1] _H.E._ iii. 18.

[54:2] _Ibid._ 19, 20.

[54:3] _Ibid._ 20.

[54:4] _Ibid._ 20.

[54:5] _Ibid._ 23.

[54:6] _Ibid._ 24.

[55:1] I am much obliged to Dr. Lightfoot for calling my attention to the accidental insertion of the words "and the Apocalypse" (_S.R._ i. p. 433). This was a mere slip of the pen, of which no use is made, and the error is effectually corrected by my own distinct statements.

[55:2] _H.E._ iii. 39.

[56:1] _Contemporary Review_, January 1875, p. 183 [_ibid._ p. 51].

[57:1] _Contemporary Review_, February 1875, p. 337 ff. [_ibid._ p. 59 ff.]

[58:1] _Contemporary Review_, February 1875, p. 339 [_ibid._ p. 62].

[59:1] _Contemporary Review_, February 1875, p. 340 [_ibid._ p. 63].

[59:2] _S.R._ i. p. 263 f. I have introduced numbers for facility of reference.

[60:1] Dr. Lightfoot says in this volume: "The reading 'most' is explained in the preface to that edition as a misprint" (p. 63, n. 2). Not so at all. "A slip of the pen" is a very different thing.

[60:2] _Contemporary Review_, February 1875, p. 341 [_ibid._ p. 64].

[61:1] _Ueber d. Urspr. u.s.w. des Christennamens_, p. 7, Anm. 1.

[61:2] _Zeitschr. wiss. Theol._ 1874, p. 211, Anm. 1. I should have added that the priority which Lipsius still maintains is that of the text, as Dr. Lightfoot points out in his _Apostolic Fathers_ (part ii. vol. i. 1885, p. 273, n. 1), and not of absolute origin; but this appears clearly enough in the quotations I have made.

[61:3] _Contemporary Review_, February 1875, p. 841 [_ibid._ p. 65].

[62:1] _S.R._ i. p. 259 f.

[62:2] _Contemporary Review_, February 1875, p. 342 [_ibid._ p, 65 f.]

[62:3] _S.R._ i. p. 259.

[63:1] _Contemporary Review_, February 1875, p. 342. In a note Dr. Lightfoot states that my references to Lipsius are to his earlier works, where he still maintains the priority and genuineness of the Curetonian Epistles. Certainly they are so: but in the right place, two pages further on, I refer to the writings in which he rejects the authenticity, whilst still maintaining his previous view of the priority of these letters [_ibid._ p. 66].

[64:1] Calvin's expressions are: "Nihil naeniis illis, quae sub Ignatii nomine editae sunt, putidius. Quo minus tolerabilis est eorum impudentia, qui talibus larvis ad fallendum se instruunt" (_Inst. Chr. Rel._ i. 13, § 39).

[64:2] _Contemporary Review_, February 1875, p. 342.

[64:3] _Op. Theolog._ 1652, 11, p. 1085.

[64:4] _Contemporary Review_, February 1875, p. 342 [_ibid._ p. 66]. Dr. Lightfoot refers to Pearson's _Vindiciae Ignat._ p. 28 (ed. Churton).

[65:1] _Exam. Concilii Tridentim_, 1614, i. p. 85 (misprinted 89).

[65:2] _Contemporary Review_, February 1875, p. 343 [_ibid._ p. 67].

[67:1] _Critici Sacri_, lib. ii cap. 1; _Op. Theolog._ 1652, ii. p. 1086.

[67:2] _Vind. Ignat._ 1672, p. 14 f.; Jacobson, _Patr. Apost._ i. p. xxxviii.

[67:3] _Op de Theolog. Dogmat., De Eccles. Hierarch._ v. 8 § 1, edit. Venetiis, 1757, vol. vii.

[68:1] _Contemporary Review_, February 1875, p. 343 f. [_ibid._ p. 67 f.]

[70:1] _Die Kirche im ap. Zeit._ p. 322.

[70:2] _Contemporary Review_, February 1875, p. 344 f. [_ibid._ p. 69.]

[72:1] _K.G._ 1842, 1. p. 327, Anm. 1.

[73:1] _Contemporary Review_, February 1875, p. 345 [_ibid._ p. 69].

[75:1] _Einl. N.T._ pp. 144 f., 233.

[78:1] _Contemporary Review_, January 1875, p. 183 [_ibid._ p. 51].

[78:2] _Ibid._, February 1875, p. 346 [_ibid._ p. 71].

[79:1] _Theolog. Quartalschrift_, 1851, p. 389 ff.

[79:2] _Hippolytus and his Age_, 1852, i. p. 60, note, iv. p. vi ff.

[79:3] _Gesch. d. V. Isr._ vii. p. 321, Anm. 1.

[80:1] _Patr. Apost. Proleg._ 1863, p. xxx.