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Thomas Henry Huxley - Lectures and Essays

T >> Thomas Henry Huxley >> Lectures and Essays




I say these facts are obvious, and, that it is wholesome and needful
that they should be stated. It is in the interests of theology, if it be
a science, and it is in the interests of those teachers of theology who
desire to be something better than counsel for creeds, that it should be
taken to heart. The seeker after theological truth and that only, will
no more suppose that I have insulted him, than the prisoner who works in
fetters will try to pick a quarrel with me, if I suggest that he would
get on better if the fetters were knocked off; unless indeed, as it is
said does happen in the course of long captivities, that the victim at
length ceases to feel the weight of his chains, or even takes to hugging
them, as if they were honourable ornaments.


R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BREAD ST. HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.

* * * * *

[Footnote 1: The absence of any keel on the breast-bone and some other
osteological peculiarities, observed by Professor Marsh, however,
suggest that _Hesperornis_ may be a modification of a less specialised
group of birds than that to which these existing aquatic birds belong.]

[Footnote 2: A second specimen, discovered in 1877, and at present in
the Berlin museum, shows an excellently preserved skull with teeth: and
three digits, all terminated by claws, in the fore-limb. 1893.]

[Footnote 3: I use the word "type" because it is highly probable that
many forms of _Anchitherium_-like and _Hipparion_-like animals existed
in the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, just as many species of the horse
tribe exist now; and it is highly improbable that the particular species
of _Anchitherium_ or _Hipparion_, which happen to have been discovered,
should be precisely those which have formed part of the direct line of
the horse's pedigree.]

[Footnote 4: Since this lecture was delivered, Professor Marsh has
discovered a new genus of equine mammals (_Eohippus_) from the lowest
Eocene deposits of the West, which corresponds very nearly to this
description.--_American Journal of Science_, November, 1876.]

[Footnote 5: _The Limits of Philosophical Inquiry_, pp. 4 and 5.]

[Footnote 6: Hume's Essay, "Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy,"
in the _Inquiry concerning the Human Understanding_.--[Many critics of
this passage seem to forget that the subject-matter of Ethics and
AEsthetics consists of, matters of fact and existence.--1892.]]

[Footnote 7: Or, to speak more accurately, the physical state of which
volition is the expression.--[1892.]]

[Footnote 8: _Declaration on the Truth of Holy Scripture_, _The Times_,
18th December, 1891.]

[Footnote 9: _Declaration_, Article 10.]

[Footnote 10: Ego vero evangelio non crederem, nisi ecclesiae Catholicae
me commoveret auctoritas.--_Contra Epistolam Manichaei_ cap. v.]

[Footnote 11: _Hasisadra's Adventure._]

[Footnote 12: _The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters of
Nature_ and _Mr. Gladstone and Genesis._]

[Footnote 13: _Agnosticism; The Value of Witness to the Miraculous;
Agnosticism: a Rejoinder; Agnosticism and Christianity; The Keepers of
the Herd of Swine_; and _Illustrations of Mr. Gladstone's Controversial
Methods_.]

[Footnote 14: I employ the words "Supernature" and "Supernatural" in
their popular senses. For myself, I am bound to say that the term
"Nature" covers the totality of that which is. The world of psychical
phenomena appears to me to be as much part of "Nature" as the world of
physical phenomena; and I am unable to perceive any justification for
cutting the Universe into two halves, one natural and one supernatural.]

[Footnote 15: My citations are made from Teulet's _Einhardi omnia quae
extant opera_, Paris, 1840-1843, which contains a biography of the
author, a history of the text, with translations into French, and many
valuable annotations.]

[Footnote 16: At present included in the Duchies of Hesse-Darmstadt and
Baden.]

[Footnote 17: This took place in the year 826 A.D. The relics were
brought from Rome and deposited in the Church of St. Medardus at
Soissons.]

[Footnote 18: Now included in Western Switzerland.]

[Footnote 19: Probably, according to Teulet, the present
Sandhofer-fahrt, a little below the embouchure of the Neckar.]

[Footnote 20: The present Michilstadt, thirty miles N.E. of Heidelberg.]

[Footnote 21: In the Middle Ages one of the most favourite accusations
against witches was that they committed just these enormities.]

[Footnote 22: It is pretty clear that Eginhard had his doubts about the
deacon, whose pledges he qualifies as _sponsiones incertae_. But, to be
sure, he wrote after events which fully justified scepticism.]

[Footnote 23: The words are _scrinia sine clave_, which seems to mean
"having no key." But the circumstances forbid the idea of breaking
open.]

[Footnote 24: Eginhard speaks with lofty contempt of the "vana ac
superstitiosa praesumptio" of the poor woman's companions in trying to
alleviate her sufferings with "herbs and frivolous incantations." Vain
enough, no doubt, but the "mulierculae" might have returned the epithet
"superstitious" with interest.]

[Footnote 25: Of course there is nothing new in this argument; but it
does not grow weaker by age. And the case of Eginhard is far more
instructive than that of Augustine, because the former has so very
frankly, though incidentally, revealed to us not only his own mental and
moral habits, but those of the people about him.]

[Footnote 26: See 1 Cor. xii. 10-28; 2 Cor. vi. 12 Rom. xv, 19.]

[Footnote 27: _A Journal or Historical Account of the Life, Travels,
Sufferings, and Christian Experiences, &c., of George Fox._ Ed. 1694,
pp. 27, 28.]

[Footnote 28: See the _Official Report of the Church Congress held at
Manchester_, October 1888, pp. 253, 254.]

[Footnote 29: In this place and in _Illustrations of Mr. Gladstone's
Controversial Methods_, there are references to the late Archbishop of
York which are of no importance to my main argument, and which I have
expunged because I desire to obliterate the traces of a temporary
misunderstanding with a man of rare ability, candour, and wit, for whom
I entertained a great liking and no less respect. I rejoice to think now
of the (then) Bishop's cordial hail the first time we met after our
little skirmish, "Well, is it to be peace or war?" I replied, "A little
of both." But there was only peace when we parted, and ever after.]

[Footnote 30: Dr. Wace tells us, "It may be asked how far we can rely on
the accounts we possess of our Lord's teaching on these subjects." And
he seems to think the question appropriately answered by the assertion
that it "ought to be regarded as settled by M. Renan's practical
surrender of the adverse case." I thought I knew M. Renan's works pretty
well, but I have contrived to miss this "practical" (I wish Dr. Wace had
defined the scope of that useful adjective) surrender. However, as Dr.
Wace can find no difficulty in pointing out the passage of M. Renan's
writings, by which he feels justified in making his statement, I shall
wait for further enlightenment, contenting myself, for the present, with
remarking that if M. Renan were to retract and do penance in Notre-Dame
to-morrow for any contributions to Biblical criticism that may be
specially his property, the main results of that criticism, as they are
set forth in the works of Strauss, Baur, Reuss, and Volkmar, for
example, could not be sensibly affected.]

[Footnote 31: See De Gobineau, _Les Religions et les Philosophies dans
l'Asie Centrale_; and the recently published work of Mr. E.G. Browne,
_The Episode of the Bab_.]

[Footnote 32: Here, as always, the revised version is cited.]

[Footnote 33: Does any one really mean to say that there is any internal
or external criterion by which the reader of a biblical statement, in
which scientific matter is contained, is enabled to judge whether it is
to be taken _au serieux_ or not? Is the account of the Deluge, accepted
as true in the New Testament, less precise and specific than that of the
call of Abraham, also accepted as true therein? By what mark does the
story of the feeding with manna in the wilderness, which involves some
very curious scientific problems, show that it is meant merely for
edification, while the story of the inscription of the Law on stone by
the hand of Jahveh is literally true? If the story of the Fall is not
the true record or an historical occurrence, what becomes of Pauline
theology? Yet the story of the Fall as directly conflicts with
probability, and is as devoid of trustworthy evidence, as that of the
Creation or that of the Deluge, with which it forms an harmoniously
legendary series.]

[Footnote 34: See, for an admirable discussion of the whole subject, Dr.
Abbott's article on the Gospels in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_; and
the remarkable monograph by Professor Volkmar, _Jesus Nazarenus und die
erste christliche Zeit_ (1882). Whether we agree with the conclusions of
these writers or not, the method of critical investigation which they
adopt is unimpeachable.]

[Footnote 35: Notwithstanding the hard words shot at me from behind the
hedge of anonymity by a writer in a recent number of the _Quarterly
Review_, I repeat, without the slightest fear of refutation, that the
four Gospels, as they have come to us, are the work of unknown writers.]

[Footnote 36: Their arguments, in the long run, are always reducible to
one form. Otherwise trustworthy witnesses affirm that such and such
events took place. These events are inexplicable, except the agency of
"spirits" is admitted. Therefore "spirits" were the cause of the
phenomena.

And the heads of the reply are always the same. Remember Goethe's
aphorism: "Alles factische ist schon Theorie." Trustworthy witnesses
are constantly deceived, or deceive themselves, in their interpretation
of sensible phenomena. No one can prove that the sensible phenomena, in
these cases, could be caused only by the agency of spirits: and there is
abundant ground for believing that they may be produced in other ways.
Therefore, the utmost that can be reasonably asked for, on the evidence
as it stands, is suspension of judgment. And, on the necessity for even
that suspension, reasonable men may differ, according to their views of
probability.]

[Footnote 37: Yet I must somehow have laid hold of the pith of the
matter, for, many years afterwards, when Dean Mansel's Bampton Lectures
were published, it seemed to me I already knew all that this eminently
agnostic thinker had to tell me.]

[Footnote 38: _Kritik der reinen Vernunft._ Edit. Hartenstein p. 256.]

[Footnote 39: _Report of the Church Congress_, Manchester, 1888, p.
252.]

[Footnote 40: I suppose this is what Dr. Wace is thinking about when he
says that I allege that there "is no visible escape" from the
supposition of an _Ur-Marcus_ (p. 367). That a "theologian of repute
should confound an indisputable fact with one of the modes of explaining
that fact is not so singular as those who are unaccustomed to the ways
of theologians might imagine.]

[Footnote 41: Any examiner whose duty it has been to examine into a case
of "copying" will be particularly well prepared to appreciate the force
of the case stated in that most excellent little book, _The Common
Tradition of the Synoptic Gospels,_ by Dr. Abbott and Mr. Rushbrooke
(Macmillan, 1884). To those who have not passed through such painful
experiences I may recommend the brief discussion of the genuineness of
the "Casket Letters" in my friend Mr. Skelton's interesting book,
_Maitland of Lethington_. The second edition of Holtzmann's _Lehrbuch_,
published in 1886, gives a remarkably fair and full account of the
present results of criticism. At p. 366 he writes that the present
burning question is whether the "relatively primitive narrative and the
root of the other synoptic texts is contained in Matthew or in Mark. It
is only on this point that properly-informed (_sachkundige_) critics
differ," and he decides in favour of Mark.]

[Footnote 42: Holtzmann (_Die synoptischen Evangelien_ 1863, p. 75),
following Ewald, argues that the "Source A" (= the threefold tradition,
more or less) contained something that answered to the "Sermon on the
Plain" immediately after the words of our present "Mark," "And he cometh
into a house" (iii 19). But what conceivable motive could "Mark" have
for omitting it? Holtzmann has no doubt, however, that the "Sermon on
the Mount" is a compilation, or as he calls it in his recently-published
_Lehrbuch_ (p. 372), "an artificial mosaic work."]

[Footnote 43: See Schuerer, _Geschichte des juedischen Volkes_, Zweiter
Theil, p. 384.]

[Footnote 44: Spacious, because a young man could sit in it "on the
right side" (xv. 5), and therefore with plenty of room to spare.]

[Footnote 45: King Herod had not the least difficulty in supposing the
resurrection of John the Baptist--"John, whom I beheaded, he is risen"
(Mark vi. 16).]

[Footnote 46: I am very sorry for the interpolated "in," because
citation ought to be accurate in small things as in great. But what
difference it makes whether one "believes Jesus" or "believes in Jesus"
much thought has not enabled me to discover. If you "believe him" you
must believe him to be what he professed to be--that is "believe in
him;" and if you "believe in him" you must necessarily "believe him."]

[Footnote 47: True for Justin: but there is a school of theological
critics, who more or less question the historical reality of Paul, and
the genuineness of even the four cardinal epistles.]

[Footnote 48: See _Dial. cum Tryphone_, Sec. 47 and Sec. 35. It is to be
understood that Justin does not arrange these categories in order, as I
have done.]

[Footnote 49: I guard myself against being supposed to affirm that even
the four cardinal epistles of Paul may not have been seriously tampered
with. See note 47 above.]

[Footnote 50: Paul, in fact, is required to commit in Jerusalem, an act
of the same character as that which he brands as "dissimulation" on the
part of Peter in Antioch.]

[Footnote 51: All this was quite clearly pointed out by Ritschl nearly
forty years ago. See _Die Entstehung der alt-katholischen Kirche_
(1850), p. 108.]

[Footnote 52: "If every one was baptized as soon as he acknowledged
Jesus to be the Messiah, the first Christians can have been aware of no
other essential differences from the Jews."--Zeller, _Vortraege_ (1865),
p. 26.]

[Footnote 53: Dr. Harnack, in the lately-published second edition of His
_Dogmengeschichte_, says (p. 39), "Jesus Christ brought forward no new
doctrine"; and again, (p. 65), "It is not difficult to set against every
portion of the utterances of Jesus an observation which deprives him of
originality." See also Zusatz 4, on the same page.]

[Footnote 54: I confess that, long ago, I once or twice made this
mistake; even to the waste of a capital 'U.' 1893.]

[Footnote 55: "Let us maintain, before we have proved. This seeming
paradox is the secret of happiness" (Dr. Newman: Tract 85, p. 85).]

[Footnote 56: Dr, Newman, _Essay on Development_, p. 357.]

[Footnote 57: It is by no means to be assumed that "spiritual" and
"corporeal" are exact equivalents of "immaterial" and "material" in the
minds of ancient speculators on these topics. The "spiritual body" of
the risen dead (1 Cor. xv.) is not the "natural" "flesh and blood" body.
Paul does not teach the resurrection of the body in the ordinary sense
of the word "body"; a fact, often overlooked, but pregnant with many
consequences.]

[Footnote 58: Tertullian (_Apolog. adv. Gentes_, cap. xxiii.) thus
challenges the Roman authorities: let them bring a possessed person into
the presence of a Christian before their tribunal; and if the demon does
not confess himself to be such, on the order of the Christian, let the
Christian be executed out of hand.]

[Footnote 59: See the expression of orthodox opinion upon the
"accommodation" subterfuge already cited above, pp. 85 and 86.]

[Footnote 60: I quote the first edition (1843). A second edition
appeared in 1870. Tract 85 of the _Tracts for the Times_ should be read
with this _Essay_. If I were called upon to compile a Primer of
"Infidelity," I think I should save myself trouble by making a selection
from these works, and from the _Essay on Development_ by the same
author.]

[Footnote 61: Yet, when it suits his purpose, as in the Introduction to
the _Essay on Development_, Dr. Newman can demand strict evidence in
religious questions as sharply as any "infidel author"; and he can even
profess to yield to its force (_Essay on Miracles_, 1870; note, p.
391).]

[Footnote 62: According to Dr. Newman, "This prayer [that of Bishop
Alexander, who begged God to 'take Arius away'] is said to have been
offered about 3 P.M. on the Saturday; that same evening Arius was in the
great square of Constantine, when he was suddenly seized with
indisposition" (p. clxx). The "infidel" Gibbon seems to have dared to
suggest that "an option between poison and miracle" is presented by this
case; and, it must be admitted, that, if the Bishop had been within the
reach of a modern police magistrate, things might have gone hardly with
him. Modern "Infidels," possessed of a slight knowledge of chemistry,
are not unlikely, with no less audacity, to suggest an "option between
fire-damp and miracle" in seeking for the cause of the fiery outburst at
Jerusalem.]

[Footnote 63: Compare Tract 85, p. 110; "I am persuaded that were men
but consistent who oppose the Church doctrines as being unscriptural,
they would vindicate the Jews for rejecting the Gospel."]

[Footnote 64: A writer in a spiritualist journal takes me soundly to
task for venturing to doubt the historical and literal truth of the
Gadarene story. The following passage in his letter is worth quotation:
"Now to the materialistic and scientific mind, to the uninitiated in
spiritual verities, certainly this story of the Gadarene or Gergesene
swine, presents insurmountable difficulties; it seems grotesque and
nonsensical. To the experienced, trained, and cultivated Spiritualist
this miracle is, as I am prepared to show, one of the most instructive,
the most profoundly useful, and the most beneficent which Jesus ever
wrought in the whole course of His pilgrimage of redemption on earth."
Just so. And the first page of this same journal presents the following
advertisement, among others of the same kidney:--

"TO WEALTHY SPIRITUALISTS.--A Lady Medium of tried power wishes to meet
with an elderly gentleman who would be willing to give her a comfortable
home and maintenance in Exchange for her Spiritualistic services, as her
guides consider her health is too delicate for public sittings: London
preferred.--Address 'Mary,' Office of _Light_."

Are we going back to the days of the Judges, when wealthy Micah set up
his private ephod, teraphim, and Levite?]

[Footnote 65: Consider Tertullian's "sister" ("hodie apud nos"), who
conversed with angels, saw and heard mysteries, knew men's thoughts, and
prescribed medicine for their bodies (_De Anima._ cap. 9). Tertullian
tells us that this woman saw the soul as corporeal, and described its
colour and shape. The "infidel" will probably be unable to refrain from
insulting the memory of the ecstatic saint by the remark, that
Tertullian's known views about the corporeality of the soul may have had
something to do with the remarkable perceptive powers of the Montanist
medium, in whose revelations of the spiritual world he took such
profound interest.]

[Footnote 66: See the New York _World_ for Sunday, 21st October, 1888;
and the _Report of the Stybert Commission_ Philadelphia, 1887.]

[Footnote 67: Dr. Newman's observation that the miraculous
multiplication of the pieces of the true cross (with which "the whole
world is filled," according to Cyril of Jerusalem; and of which some say
there are enough extant to build a man-of-war) is no more wonderful than
that of the loaves and fishes, is one that I do not see my way to
contradict. See _Essay on Miracles_, 2d ed. p. 163.]

[Footnote 68: _An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine_, by
J.H. Newman, D.D., pp. 7 and 8. (1878.)]

[Footnote 69: Dr. Newman faces this question with his customary ability.
"Now, I own, I am not at all solicitous to deny that this doctrine of an
apostate Angel and his hosts was gained from Babylon: it might still be
Divine nevertheless. God who made the prophet's ass speak, and thereby
instructed the prophet, might instruct His Church by means of heathen
Babylon" (Tract 85, p. 83). There seems to be no end to the apologetic
burden that Balaam's ass can carry.]

[Footnote 70: _Nineteenth Century_, May 1889 (p. 701).]

[Footnote 71: I trust it may not be supposed that I undervalue M.
Renan's labours, or intended to speak slightingly of them.]

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