The history of English rationalism in the nineteenth century

Front matter

Cornell University Library

The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library.

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Preface

In a letter addressed to Archbishop Benson on his acceptance of the Primacy, more than twenty-three years ago, Dr. Fenton Hort mentions as the most formidable perils then in prospect for the English Church, ' the danger of its calm and unobtrusive alienation in thought and spirit from the great silent multitude of Englishmen, and again of alienation from fact and love of fact ; — mutual alienations both/

In my opinion this ' alienation from fact and love of fact ' is an evil already afflicting not only the English Church, but all the religious communities in England ; and in writing the history of modern English Eationalism I have tried to trace the process by which it has been brought about. For the alienation, as Hort observes, is mutual ; and to set fact at odds with faith is to rationalise.

Owing to the singular intellectual decline of England, as distinguished from Scotland and Ireland, during the period immediately preceding the French Kevolution, criticism of religious beliefs by English writers in the nineteenth century seems to begin almost de novo, like the contemporary revival of literature and science, under the influence of extraneous excitements. Thus the period treated of in this work is marked off from previous periods not merely by our artificial system of chronology, but by what may be called a true scientific frontier in time.

Nevertheless, the roots of modern English rationalism, as of all other historical products, stretch far back into the past ; and in order to make it intelligible, I have been obliged

vii viii PREFACE

to preface my account of its phases with a few introductory chapters, summarising the results reached by criticism up to the beginning of the last century, with some reference to the sort of apologetics by which they were met. It seemed the more necessary to furnish this information as there is no work known to me in which it can be found. Various contributions to the history of religious opinion, both English and foreign, have proved most helpful, and my obligations have, I trust, been sufficiently acknowledged in the notes ; but no one work gave all the facts needed for my purpose ; nor did any work I consulted put what seemed to me the right interpretation on the facts it supplied.

From the point of view here adopted, religious belief is identified with theological dogma. In the present state of thought, rationalism means the hostile criticism of such belief ; and I have not affected to conceal the direction in which my personal sympathies lie. They are frankly given to the rationalistic side. It is hardly to be expected that any one who is interested in the subject to the extent of writing a good-sized book about it should not have made up his mind as to the rights and wrongs of the controversy; nor can I see what useful purpose would have been served by trying to keep my preferences a secret. Even the most rigidly impartial of political historians does not attempt to create an impression that every battle was drawn, or that every division resulted in a tie. In the history of opinion success is, after all, determined to some extent by force of argument ; and that would be a strange interpretation of duty which forbade me to state at their full strength the arguments on what I consider to be the winning side, or to point out the weakness of the arguments they have overcome. Belief is, of course, determined by other causes besides good reasoning ; and I have tried in each instance to show what these were, and for how much they counted in the final result. But my business being primarily with rationalism as an application of reason to

PREFACE ix

religious belief, I had to test the value of belief by its agreement with the ordinary laws of logic rather than by its agreement with prejudice or passion, just as the historian of astronomy or of chemistry would have to do in discussing the claims of astrology or of alchemy on our respect. After all, the only question of real importance must be whether the facts have been correctly reported, with the proviso that in this instance the leading facts are beliefs and the psychological motives by which beliefs have been determined.

At the same time, although myself a rationalist, I wish to guard against the notion that this work is intended as a contribution to the controversial literature of rationalism. It would neither surprise nor annoy me to hear that the religious convictions of no single reader had been changed by its perusal. But I own that it would be disappointing to hear that I had thrown no fresh light on the evolution of opinion as such. And if I am not liable to that charge, if I have made the courses of thought a little more intelligible, then my book ought to interest serious students of history, whatever their opinions may happen to be. However dogmatic their beliefs, I trust that they will not be deterred from reading it merely because they find the opposite view stated with unequivocal decision in its pages.

It will be seen that much space has been given to the exposition of various philosophical systems in their relation to religious belief. But considerable as is the place made, I fear that the exposition of these philosophies has been to some extent hampered by the necessarily narrow limits within which it has had to be confined ; and some readers may rather resent the apparent assumption that religious belief depends in any way on the intelligence of speculations which cannot be made clear in a few sentences. Such impatience is natural, and would be justifiable if rationalism were responsible for the complications and difficulties introduced by the appeal to some ' higher reason ' against conclusions resting on the logic

X PREFACE

of common life, of the law-courts, and of positive science. But in fact this appeal to transcendental considerations is often the last refuge of an authoritative tradition dodgmg behind the idols of the theatre, when the idols of the market-place and of the cave have been overthrown. Or else it is the refuge of certain cowardly eqiuvocators, who, having for their own part rejected the popular faith, try to keep on good terms with its confessors by accepting its creeds in what they call an esoteric sense, that is to say, in a sense diametrically opposed to the original meaning of their words. And I am bound to add that some of the very greatest philosophers, being by their mental constitution the most comprehensive and conciliatory of mankind, the readiest to see good in evil or truth in error, the bom mediators between old and new points of view, are thoroughly sincere in their reconstructive efforts, thoroughly unconscious that their systems have the value and function of wooden pontoons rather than the value and function of iron bridges. Accordingly my object has been to give such an analysis of the systems in question as should suffice to show their merely provisional office, their fatal incoherence under the strain of opposite forces ever tending to pidl them to pieces. At the same time, those who find the sections of such ideal engineering too difficult or too tedious to follow, may safely pass over as much of the book as is concerned with pure philosophy, reserving their attention for the more concrete or more personal interests dealt with elsewhere.

I have not attempted to furnish anything like a complete bibliography of modern English rationalistic literature. Only such works are mentioned as may be supposed to have exercised a real influence on religious belief in the negative sense. And during the last twenty years of the century these have multiplied to such an extent that only on very stringent principles of selection could the documentary material be brought within manageable dimensions. Still less can the reader look for a full account of the forces opposed to rationalism, whether under the

PREFACE xi

form of religious movements or of apologetic literature. To some extent these have been concerned as factors in the evolution of rationalism itseK; and whenever this seemed to be the case, I have tried to describe them — from the outside — in sufficient detail. It had been my original purpose to saysomething from this point of view about the most celebrated recent work written in defence of religious faith against reason, Mr. Arthur Balfour's ' Foundations of Belief.' But I cannot find that Mr. Balfour's book, with all its literary brilliancy and controversial ability, has exercised any perceptible influence on contemporary opinion. ISTor indeed is its failure very surprising. For any sort of belief, or of no-belief, might with equal plausibility be built upon such foundations as the late Prime Minister has laid. In principle his method amounts to assuming that, nothing being certain, what agrees with our wishes ought to receive our assent. In practice it means so disposing the lights and colours on the system of belief most endeared to us by early associations as to make it seem the most agreeable of all. Such a method may be good enough for theology, because there it can be applied to the further use of passing off defeats as victories. But if the same method were applied to commercial enterprise, it would soon lead to bankruptcy ; applied to partygovernment, it would break up the strongest political organisation in a few years ; applied to international politics, it would sooner or later bring about the industrial or military ruin of any country blind enough to entrust the philosophic doubter with the conduct of its affairs.

As to other omissions and deficiencies, they will, I hope, be criticised with due regard to the circumstance that the present enquiry relates to a subject which has never been treated before as a whole, and the materials for which have been systematically ignored by nearly every historian of modern English life and thought.

Xhth February, 1906.

Chapter I Page

Rationalism distinguished from

rationality 1

(i.) As purely theoretical . . 2 (ii.) As concerned only with religious belief 3

(iii.) As partly or wholly destructive 4

Objections answered .... 4 Unjust prejudice against negative criticism 6

Religious reactions and their

causes 6

Insufficiency of the historic

method 8

To explain is not to refute . . 9 Rationalism distinguished (i .)

from materialism .... V2

(ii.) From freethought ... 13

(iii.) From scepticism ... 13

And (iv.) from agnosticism . . 13

Agnosticism and infidelity . . 15

Faith as opposed to reason , . 16

Authority as a method of faith . 16

Its origin and justification . . 16 Confusion of trust and obedience

with true belief .... 19

Will and belief 19

Logic as the ethics of belief . 20

The conflict of authorities . . 20

Illustration from Plato ... 21 And from the career of Lamen-

nais 22

Belief reinforced by transmission 23

Appropriateness of tradition to

religious belief 23

Dissolution of traditional faith . 24 The relations between authority

and reason 24

XUl

PAGE

Transition to mysticism ... 27 Mystical protest against authority 27

Doctrine of the All-One ... 29 Mystical character of corporate

authority 30

Mysticism and Scripture . . 32 Mystical interpretations of experience 33

Disagreement among the mystics 34 Disappearance of truth in the

All-One 35

Scepticism as a method of faith 36

Butler and Mansel .... 37 Ophelism or the appeal to

results 38

Intellectual ophelism ... 39 Biblical and Papal Infallibility . 40 Practical ophelism .... 41 Theory of practical postulates , 43 The constancy of nature a speculative truth 43

Morality independent of religion 44 And logically inconsistent with

a transcendental theology . 45 Still the two may be associated

in practice 48

Relation of ethical ophelism to

authority 49

Emotional ophelism .... 49 Contradictory valuations of religious belief 61

Aesthetic ophelism .... 53 Mystical hostility to decorative

religion 54

Ruinous economic consequences 55 Practical working of the methods

of faith 56

Reason independent of success . 58

b

CONTENTS OF VOL. T

Chapter II

HISTORY OP THE EELATIONB BETWEEN EATIONAXIBM AND CHRISTIANITY TO THE END OP THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Western rationalism begins in

ancient Greece 59

The idea of Natural Religion . 60 Early Jewish rationalism . . 61 Influence of Greek thought on

Judaism 61

Evolution of Christianity . . 62 Use of reason by the Apologists 63 Greek science and magic . . 64 Judaism as a criticism of Christianity 66

Intellectual opposition of Mohammedanism 67

Pantheistic tendencies ... 68 Scholastic controversies ... 69 Revival of Greek science and

philosophy 70

Decomposing action of mysticism 71

Political anarchy and individualism 72

Transfer of religious authority

to the State 73

Political causes of the Reformation 74

Judaism and Hellenism against

the Church 75

The Reformation and religious

liberty 76

Erasmus and More .... 79 Agnosticism of the ' Utopia ' . 80

The Copernican astronomy . . 80 Aquinas and the geocentric

system 82

Galileo and the Bible ... 83 The plurality of worlds and

Christianity 83

Present state of the controversy Philosophy of Giordano Bruno .

Revival of Natural Religion Lord Herbert of Cherbury .

Reticence of the French sceptics Religious feeling stimulated by

division

Illogical theology of Descartes .

Position of Hobbes ....

Spinoza combines Hobbes with

Descartes

God as impersonal Power .

Miracles, freewill, and final

causes excluded ....

Individualistic character of Spi-

nozism

Spinoza as a Biblical critic .

His relation to modern thought

And to Descartes 102

Rise and spread of Socinianism 103 Return to Renaissance principles 106

Bayle's criticism 108

Leibniz and Voltaire .... 109 Natural Religion once more . 110

91 92 94

95 96

99 101 101

CHAPTER III Importance of Locke's Essay on

Human Understanding . . Ill It subordinates faith to reason . 112 And discredits mysticism . . 113 Difference between Hobbes and

Locke 114

Opportuneness of the new philosophy 115

The religious equilibrium . . 115 Toland and the religion of pure

reason 116

Collins and the reaction under

Anne 118

His arguments for freethinking 119 The replies of Swift and Bentley 119 Hostile attitude of the Whig journalists 121

Collins on Prophecy .... 122 The Old Testament against the

New 123

Addison upholds Christianity as a popularised Greek philosophy 124

Enthusiasm in the eighteenth

century 125

The Hellenism of Shaftesbury . 126 The mediaeval tradition . . . 127 Good taste and morality . . . 128 English insularity .... 129 Woolston on miracles . . . 130 Invariability of the laws of evidence 134

Tindal and Natural Religion . 135

Moral criticism of Christianity 136

PAGE

Tindal and Herbert .... 137 The replies to Tindal ; William

Law 138

Great reputation of Bishop

Butler 138

But it is limited to England . 139 Legal character of Butler's intellect 139

His argument for a future life . 140

No analogy for hell .... 141 Extent of Butler's agreement

with the deists 141

Pervading fallacy of the 'Analogy' 142

Late origin of the 'moral difficulty ' 144

Anecdote of Woolston . . . 145 The conflict of probabilities . 145 Butler's philosophical incompetence 146

His defence of miracles proves

too much 148

Rome and the chances of salvation 150

No safe side 151

Thomas Chubb . . ! ! ! 152

PAGE

Conyers Middleton .... 153 His concessions to Tindal . . 153 Attack on Roman Catholicism . 154 The patristic miracles . . . 155 Criticisms on the New Testament 166

Macaulay on the ' Life of Cicero * 156 Freedom of thought in the earlier

Georgian period .... 157 Surviving influence of the seventeenth century 157

English deists and French liher-

tins 168

Alleged failure of the deistic

movement 159

Services of the deists (i.) in securing toleration for the Dissenters 160

(ii.) In checking Romeward tendencies 160

(iii.) In facilitating the conquest

of India 161

(iv.) In liberating Scotland, France, and Germany from superstition 161

Chapter IV Rationalism In The Second Half Of The Eighteenth Century

Place of Voltaire and Hume in

the history of rationalism . 163

Voltaire's controversial strategy 164

An instance of his originality . 165

Historic spirit of his criticism . 165

And of Hume's 165

Hume's ' Essay on Miracles ' . 166 His * Dialogues concerning Natural Religion ' 169

His 'Natural History of Religion' 172

Materialism of the Continental

rationalists ..*... 172 It was a revival of Greek thought 173 But was aided by Locke's psychology 173

Hume and the Revolution . . 174 Gibbon on early Christianity . 174 Religious reaction in the eighteenth century . ... . . 175

Due to the increasing influence

of the uneducated classes . . 176

And of women 176

Represented in literature by

Rousseau 177

His non-miraculous Christianity 178 Mediating position of Germany 178 Beginnings of German rationalism 179

Its conciliatory tendencies illustrated by Lessing .... 180

And by Kant 182

Kant's object was to reconcile freewill with the law of causation 182

The * Critique of Pure Reason ' . 183 Restoration of freewill . . , 188 And of natural religion . , , 190 Kant's destructive criticism of

supernatural religion . . . 192 Further advance made by Fichte 193 Schieiermacher eliminates belief

from religion 196

German Biblical criticism in the

eighteenth century . . . 197 Subordinate position of physical science in the history of

rationalism 198

Its importance as verification . 201

XVI

CONTENTS OF VOL, T

Chapter V English Rationalism Befoeb And After The Revolution

Complexity of Englisli life and character 202

Indistinctness and fluctuation of party-divisions 204

Tendency to compromise . . 205

Good temper and forbearance . 206

Exceptional treatment of religious unbelief 206

Parallel with the Athenian people 207

An exception that proves the rule 208

Continued spread of unbelief in England through the later eighteenth century . . . 209

Modtis Vivendi between the Church and rationalism . . 210

The Unitarian and Quaker compromises 212

Religious animosities revived by the Revolution 214

Association of rationalism with democracy 214

And with physical science . . 216

Representative character of Paine 216

Watson's * Apology ' and Paley's

' Evidences '

Wilberforce and the Evangelical

movement . . ... 219

Dogma substituted for moral

teaching 220

And interest in the next life for

interest in the present life Growth of Sabbatarianism .

Infidelity of the Whig statesmen Piety of the Tories ....

Parallel contrast in literature .

Public opinion against infidelity Religious and political radicalism

of Wordsworth down to 1814 Both political parties fight for

freedom

Spread of enlightenment Miss Edgeworth's novels Reaction after the Peace Obscurantist movement .

Its effect on Wordsworth's genius Transition to Coleridge . . .

222 224 224 225 226 226

Chapter VI Coleeidge

Sources of information . . . 237 Coleridge's early life and education 238

His connexion with the Unitarians 238

Professed belief in original sin . 239

Opium-eating 239

Emotional cravings .... 240

Philosophic studies .... 241

Disbelief in a personal God . . 241

Godwin's evidence .... 241 Pantheistic interpretation of

Christianity . . ... 242

The neo-Platonic Trinity . . 244

The Word is the only Person . 246

Selflessness of the eternal Mind 247 Attempted reconciliation with

orthodoxy 248

Pantheistic interpretation of sin 249

Criticism of the Atonement . 251 Mysteries both affirmed and

denied 253

Distinction between Reason and

Understanding 254

Carlyle's misconception . . . 254

Views of Plato and Aristotle . 255

Kant's theory 256

Schelling's new direction . . 257 Extent of Coleridge's agreement

with it 258

Reason and Understanding in

'The Friend' 258

Reason identifled with God . . 260

Union of contradictories . . 261 God as the identity of subject

and object 262

Difficulties of the idea of creation 263

The Fall as a> separation from

the All-One 264

The higher mysticism and the

Atonement 265

Morality as a return to the All-

One 266

Faith distinguished from belief 267 Neo-Platonist interpretation of

Christian dogma .... 268

Meaning and value of the Church 269

PAGK

Newman on Coleridge's theology 270 Limits of Biblical inspiration . 271 The Prophets and the Pentateuch 272

Old Testament morality . . . 273

The Virgin-birth 274

The personality of Satan . . 275

The Greeds 276

Coleridge and Paine ....

Coleridge and Paley .

Coleridge and the Evangelicals Coleridge's relations to the Oxford Movement ....

And to the Broad Church , Comprehension and compromise

PAGE

277 278 278

279 281 283

Chapter VII 287 288

Coleridge and the Benthamites

Bentham not primarily a political economist, nor a democrat, but a law-reformer .

The economists and Natural Law

Locke and Quesnay ....

Quesnay, Adam Smith, and laissez-faire 289

Bentham stands for increased State-regulation .... 290

He opposes the revolutionists . 291

Influence of James Mill on his opinions 292

James Mill's enthusiasm for the Greeks 293

Which he transmits to J. S.

Mill and Grote 294

Utilitarian hostility to religion . 295

James Mill's position . . , 296

Compulsory reticence of the school 297

Difierence between the Evangelical standard of morals and theirs

Bell and Lancaster ....

Bentham's scheme of secular education defeated by the clergy

His attack on the Catechism .

On St. Paul

And on Natural Religion

The argmnent proves too much

Permanent hostility of the school to religious education .

Their irreligion makes them unpopular 306 favours

300 301 302 303 305

Romanticism at first supernatural belief

But ultimately fosters a sceptical spirit 308

Scott not an enthusiast for the Middle Ages 309

Nor for the mediaeval Church . 310

Superiority of his non-Christian characters 310

The supernatural explained away 311

Homeric view of life .... 312

Fusion of the romantic with the classic spirit in Byron, Shelley, and Keats 313

Also in the movement for the liberation of Greece

Romantic element in the criticism of Wolf and Niebuhr

Macaulay and the ballad-theory of early Roman history .

Wolf and Niebuhr on the Old Testament 318

Attack on Niebuhr in the ' Quarterly Review ' 319

Marsh's Gospel-criticism . . 319

Thirlwall on the Synoptic problem

Milman's * History of the Jews '

Its sceptical suggestions . . .

The * History of Latin Christianity' 323

Dr. Arnold's opinions . . 324

Combined rationalism and religiosity of his pupils , . 325

320 321 322

CHAPTER VIII Connexion of the religious reaction with the democratic

movement 326

And with the return of peace . 327 Influence of Evangelicalism . 327

Conversion of the intellectual

classes 328

Nature of religious movements . 330 Their tendency towards social organisation 331 xvin

Eenewed hostility between

Catholics and Protestants . 331 Ultramontanism as the ghost of

Bonapartism 332

Religious arrogance of the English people 333

Antichrist must be either Napoleon or the Pope .... 334 Popularity of Edward Irving . 334 Movement towards High Church

principles 336

Meaning of Keble's ' Christian

Year ' 335

The Tractarian movement and

Evangelicalism 336

J. H. Newman's earlier sermons 337 His fundamental mysticism . 339 Pietism of Keble and Pusey . 339 Anti-rationalistic character of

the movement . ... 340

Danger from German theology . 340 Rose's attack on the German

critics 341

Controversy between Rose and

Pusey 343

Doubt as a moral perversion . 345 Bishop Marsh and Calvinism . 347 Effect of the abolition of religious disabilities on the relations between Chm'ch and State . 348 Lord Grey and the Irish Episcopate .... ... 349

PAGE

Keble's Assize Sermon . . . 350 Religious toleration as ' national

apostasy' 351

The ' Tracts for the Times ' . . 352 Prom Apostolic Succession to

the theology of Rome . . . 353 Laud answered by Locke . . 354 A house divided against itself , 355 Preponderance of ability on the

liberal side 356

Biblical infallibility abandoned

by Newman's successors . . 357 And by many Roman Catholics 357 Church authority not restored . 358 Gladstone's policy and the Assize

Sermon 358

Decorative services do not make

dogmatic belief 359

The Movement was not a creation but a diversion of religious

sentiment 362

Its failure left Evangelicalism

more powerful and more

bigoted than before . . . 363 Reactionary intolerance of the

thirties 364

Shared by Dr. Arnold ... 365 And, to a less extent, by

Whately 366

Intellectual paralysis of religious

belief 366

Note on Keble's position . . 367

CHAPTER IX English literature during the religious movement . . . 368

Rising interest in physical science 369

And more especially in geology 370

Which is pressed into the service of religion 371

Secret dissent of Lyell . , . 373

The uniformitarian theory . . 374

Emancipation first begins at Oxford ....... 375

Insufficient explanations of the new movement 376

Romanticism allied with reaction in Germany 377

And represented in philosophy byScheUing 378

Hegel as a Hellenist .... 378

Purely intellectual character of his system 379

While professing to support it really supersedes Christianity 380

Hegel stands for reason against tradition 381

His influence on Strauss . , 381

The ' Life of Jesus ' and the mythic theory of miracles . 382

Critical value of the work . , 383

Advantage of its philosophical framework 384

Late entry of Hegel into English thought 385

Attention first drawn to his philosophy by Strauss . . . 385

Life and religious opinions of John Sterling 387

Decisive influence of Strauss . 388

Through whom he becomes interested in Hegel .... 389

Lesson of Sterling's life . . . 390

Incipient revolt of the industrial middle classes 392

Religious experiences of Charles Bray .... ... 392

XIX

PAGE

Hennell's * Inquiry ' .... 393

Sincerity and independence of the Coventry group . , . 395

Their superiority to the academic thinkers explained .... 396

Milman's * History of Christianity' 398

Partial elimination of miracles and dogma 398

J. H. Newman's criticism . . 399

Eeligion as a supernatural evolution 400

The end of conservation by surrender 401

Flaws in Newman's theory . . 402 Evolution and authority . . 403 Trial and imprisonment of Holycake for blasphemy . . . 404 Transition from Hegel to Comte 407