History of the rise and influence of the spirit of rationalism in Europe

Front matter

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3 1924 095 896 464

Cornell University Library

Chapter I. The Declining Sense Of The Miraculous

ON MAGIO AND "WITOHCEAFT.

'he Belief ia Satanic Miracles, haying heen nnivorsal among Protestants and Eoman Catholics, passed, away by a silent and nnreasoning process under the influence of Civilisation — ^Witchcraft arose from a viTid Realisation of Satanic Presence acting on the Imagination — and irfterwards on the Reason — Its Existence and Importance among Savages — The Christians attributed to Magic the Pagan Miracles — Constantine and Constantius attempted to subvert Pi^anism by persecuting Magio— -Magical Character soon attributed to Christian Rites — Miracle of St. Hilarion — ^Persecution suspended under Julian and Jovian, but afterwards renewed — Not entirely due to Ecclesiastical Influence — Compromise between Christianity and Paganism — Prohibited Pagan Rites continue to be practised as Magic— From the Sixth to the Twelfth Century, extreme Superstition with little Terrorism, and, consequently, little Sorcery —Effects of Eclipses, Comets, and Pestilence on the Superstition — The Cabalists — Psellus — The Revival of Literature in the Twelfth Century produced a Spirit of Rebellion which was encountered by Terrorism— which, acting on the Popular Creed, produced a bias towards Witchcraft — The Black Death — Influence of the Reformation in stimulating Witchcraft — ^Luther — The Inquisitors — The Theology of Witchcraft — First Evidence of a Rationalistic Spirit in Europe — Wier— answered bv

22 C0J!?TENT8 OF

Bodin — Eationalistic Spirit fally manifested in Montai^e — Charron — Ka])id and silent Decadence of the Belief in Witches — Opinions and Influence of La Bruydre^ Bayle, Descartes, Malebranche, and Voltaire— Gradual Cessation of the Persecution in Prance — In England, the First Law against Witchcraft was made under Henry YIII. — Repealed in the following Eeign, but renewed under Elizabeth— Cranmer and Jewel — Reginald Scott pronounced Witchcraft a delusion- The Law of James I. — Opinions of Coke, Bacon, Shakespeare, Browne, and Selden— English Witchcraft reached its climax in the Commonwealth— Declined immediately after the Restoration—The Three Causes were, the Reaction against Puritanism, the Influence of Hobbes, and the Baconian Philosophy as represented by the Royal Society — Charge of Sir Matthew Hale — Glanvil undertakes the Defence of the Belief— Supported by Henry More, Cudworth, Casaubon, &c. — Opposed by Webster and Wagstaafe— Baxter vainly tries to revive the Belief by Accounts of Witch Trials in America — Rapid Progress of the Scepticism — Trial of Jane Wenham — Repeal of the Laws against Witchcraft — Wesley's Summary of the History of the Movement — Great Moderation of the English Church as compared with Puritanism — Extreme Atrocity of the Witch Persecution in Scotland, and its Causes — Slow Decline of the Belief in Scotland—Conclusion ........ Page 27

Chapter II. The Declining Sense Of The Miraculous

THE MIRACLES OF THE CHURCH.

Miracles related by the Fathers and Mediaeval Writers as ordinary and undoubted Occurrences — Rapid Growth of Scepticism on the Subject since the Reformation — The Sceptical Habit of Mind acts more powerfully on Contemporary than on Historical Narrations — Among the early Protestants, the Cessation of Miracles supposed to have'taken place when the Fathers passed away — Persecution regarded by some English Divines as a Substitute for Miracles — Opinions of Locke and Newton on the Subject— Tendencies of the Eighteenth Century adverse to the Miraculous— Middleton— Discussion of his Principles by Church, Dodwell, Gibbon, Home, Farmer, Warburton, and Douglas — General Abandonment of the Patristic Miracles — Rise of Tractarianism— Small Place Catholic Miracles occupied in the Discussion it evoked— Weakness of the common Arguments against the continuance of Miracles — ^Devfilopment of Continental Protestantian into Rationalism— Rationalistic Tendencies in Roman Catholic Countries— Origin and Decline of the Evidential School in England — ^Modification of the Conception of Miracles — Reasonableness of the Doctrine of Interference — Summary of the Stages of Rationalism in its relation to the Miraculous—Its Causes— Its Influence on Christianity .... 155

THE FIRST VOLUME. 23

CHAPTER m.

ESTHETIC, SCIENTIFIC. AND MORAL DEVELOPMENTS OP RATIONALISM.

The Expectation of Miracles grows out of the Religious Conceptions of an early Stage of CiTilisation, and its Decline implies a general Modification of Religions Opinions— Fetishism probably the First Stage of Religious Belief— Examples of Fetish Notions in the Early Church — Patristic Opinions concerning the Cross and the Water of Baptism — Anthropomoriihism the next Stage— Men then ascribe the Government of the Universe to Beings like themselves ; but, being unable to concentrate their Attention on the Invisible, they fall into Idolatry — Idolatry a Sign sometimes of Progress, and sometimes of Retrogression— During its continuance, Ai*t is the most faithful Expression of Religious Realisation — Influence of the National Religions on the Art of Per- Bia, Egypt, India, and Greece — The Art of the Catacombs altogether removed from Idolatry — Its Freedom from Terrorism — Its Symbolism — Progress of Anthropomorphism — Position of the Fii-s. Person of the Trinity in Ai-t— Growing Worship of the Virgin — Strengthened by Gnosticism — by Dogmatic Definitions— by Painting, Celibacy, and the Crusades — Its Moral Consequences — Growth of Idolatrous Conceptions — Stages of the Veneiation of Relics— Tendency towards the Miraculous invests Images with peculiar Sanctity — The Portrait of Edessa — The Image at Paneas— Conversion of the Barbarians makes Idolatry general — Decree of lUiberis— The Iconoclasts — The Second Council of Nice— St. Agobard — Mahometanism the sole Example of a great Religion restraining Semi-barbarians from Idolatry — Three Causes of its Success — Low Condition of Art during the Period of MediiEval Idolatry — Difference between tbe Religious and ^Esthetic Sentiment — Aversion to Innovation — Contrast between the Pagan and Christian Estimate of the Body — Greek Idolatry faded into Art — Its Four Stages— A corresponding Transition takes place in Christendom — Greek Influence on Art — Iconoclatm — Tradition of the Deformity of Christ — The Byzantine Style — Broken by a Study of Ancient Sculpture renewed by Nicolas of Pisa— Christian School of Giotto and Fra Angelico — Corresponded with the Intellectual Character of the Time — Influence of Dante — Apocalyptic Subjects— Progress of Teirorism In Art — Increase of Scepticism — Religious Paintings regarded simply as Studies of the Beautiful — Influence of Venetian Sensuality— Sensuality favourable to Art — Parallel of Titian and Praxiteles — Influence of the Pagan Sculpture — History of Greek Statues after the rise of Chi-iatianity — Reaction in favour of Spiiitualism led by Savonarola — Complete Secularisation of Art by Michael Angelo — Cycle of Painting completed — ^A corresponding Transition took place in Architecture — Fluctuations in the Estimate in which it has been held represent Fluctuations of Religious Sentiments — Decline of Gothic Architecture — Brunelleschi— St.

Peter's— Intellectual Importance of the History of Art— The Euthanasia of Opinions— Continued Revolt against Anthropomorphism — Results from the Totality of the Influences of Civilisation, but especially from thi Encroachments of Physical Science on the old Conceptions of the Government of the Universe — In the Early Church, Science was subordinated tc

24 CONTENTS OF

Systems of Scriptural Interpretation — Allegorical School of Ori^en — St. Augustine Ve (renesi — Literal School — Conti'ovcrsy ahout the Antipodes— Cosmas — Virgilius — Else of the Coperniean System — Condemnation of Foscarini and of Galileo — Influence of Theology on the Progress of Science — Opinion of Bacon — Astronomy displaces the Ancient Notion of Man''s Position in the Universe — Philosophical Importance of Astrology — Ecfntation by Geology of the Doctrine of the Penal Nature of Death — Increasing Sense of Law — Reasons why apparently Capricious Phenomena were especially associated with Religious Ideas — On Lots — Irreligious Character attributed to Scientific Explanations— Difference between the Conception of the Divinity in a Scientific and Unscientific Age — Growth of Astronomy — Comets — Influence of Paracelsus, Bayle, and Halley— Rise of Scientific Academies — Ascendency of the Belief in Law — Ilarsher Features of Theology thereby corrected — The Morphological Theory of the Universe — Its Influence on History — Illegitimate Effects of Science — Influence on Biblical Interpretation — La Peyrere — Spinoza — Kant — Lessing — Moral Development accompanies the Intellectual Movement — Illustrations of its Nature — Moral Genius — Relations of Theology to Morals — Complete Separation in Antiquity — Originality of the Moral Type of Christianity — Coneeptions of the Divinity — Evanescencr of Duties unconnected with our Moral Nature — History of Religious Terrorism- Patristic Conception of Hell — Origen and Gregory of Nyesa — Faint Notions of the Jews and Heathens on the Subject— Doctrine of Purgatory — Scotus Erigena — Extreme Terrorism of the Fourteenth Century — ^Destruction of Natural Religion hj the Conception of Hell — Its Effect in habituating Men to contemplate the kSafferings of others with complacency — Illustration of this from Tertullian — and from the History of Persecution — Mid from that of Torture — Abolition of Torture in France, Spain, Prussia, Italy, and Russia — Relations between the prevailing Sense of the Enormity of Sin and the Severity of the Penal Code — Decline of the Mediaeval Notions of Hell due partly to the Progress of Moral Philosophy, and partly to that of Psychology — Apparitions and the Belief in Hell the Comer-stones of the Psychology of the Fathers — Repudiation of Platonism— Two Schools of Materialism— Materialism of the Middle Ages — Impulse given to Psychology by Averroes — and by the Mystics of the Fourteenth Century — Descartes — Swinden, "WTiiston, Horbery — Change in the Ecclesiastical Typo of Character— Part taken by Theologians in ameliorating the English Penal Code— First Impulse due to Voltaire and Beccaria — Bentham — Elimination of the Doctrine of Future Torture from Eeligious Realisations . Page 203

CHAPTER lY.

ON PERSECUTION.