Internal evidences of Christianity, deduced from phrenology

Front matter

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Preface

General Perversion of the Gifts of God — The Christian's Duty — Butler's, Erskine's, Chalmers's, Dick's, and Douglas's Labors — The Train of Thought giving rise to this Dissertation — Difficulties in the way — Two Objections considered : first, Phrenology opposed to Religion; secondly, Phrenology not advocated by great men — Phrenology asserted to be true — Objection against this and other applications of this Science — Conclusion by an extract from Balguy — Thanks expressed to Mr. Sleigh and Mr. Combe.

Doubts overcome — Necessity of pointing out the Nature and Deficiencies of other arguments, in order to show the Novelty of the present — Most of the arguments reducible into three classes — Their insufficiency — Two other arguments — The misapplication of Butler's — The defects of Erskine's — Phrenology supplies these Deficiencies — Objection, that experience is equally good as Phrenological demonstration, considered — Three points in which all Religions agree —

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Christianity considered with respect to these may be ranged into two grand divisions, forming the foundations of two separate arguments.

Part I

Argument 1st — General Character of God proved to be conformable and approved of by our Faculties — Propo3. I. That max is so constituted as to be coxstrained TO WORSHIP SOME BEING Tbis, tO

some persons, self-evident — Opinions of mankind — Cicero, Seneca, the Greeks — Two objections urged by skeptics against this proposition — First, No cause to believe in a Superior Existence — Paley's Natural Theology — Deficiency in this argument according to the Infidel — Man, no Reason — Difficulties in proving he has — Phrenology demonstrates the Point — Second objection, That, allowing a Superior Power to exist, no reason for worshipping Him — Difficulty to convince the Infidel that his explanation of facts is wrong — Phrenology sets aside the objection — Nature of Veneration — Necessity of Directing faculties — Propos. II. That man is endowed with certain faculties ENABLING HIM TO DECIDE UPON THE OB- JECT TO BE WORSHIPPED.

Propos. III. That this must be such as the

FACULTIES, UNBIASSED, APPROVE OF.

Propos. IV. That'the God of Christianity is the only such being — Faculties demonstrated

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by Phrenology — Their language unvarying — Polytheism condemned by them — Also the Grecian and Roman Gods — Also the Gods of the Philosophers — Also the Gods of the Deists — The God of Christianity approved of — Conclusion — That this is the God of our Nature.

Part II

Fact, that Men have never Chosen the God of Christianity, explained in reference to the Particular Character of God, as exhibited in the Means to obtain and Preserve His Favor.

Propos. V. That man can do nothing good in

THE SIGHT OF GOD, AND THAT CHRISTIANITY

recognises this inability — Some general Obliquity of sentiment — Alienation of the Mind from God — The nature of this Alienation Recognised by Christianity — The nature of Virtue as made known by Phrenology — Illustrated by Scripture — The Striking Nature of the Coincidence — Can do nothing Acceptable or Good on account of this Alienation of Mind — The Doctrine of Necessity — Term Explained — Doctrine established by Phrenology — The bearings of this Doctrine on the Question.

Propos. VI. That the means to be employed to obtain and preserve God's favor are in conformity to the character of man as necessarily evil — What needed bv Man — The

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Christian Method of Reconciliation — Belief of a Testimony; The Effect of this Belief — The Preserving of God's Favor ; Motives thereto — Enemies Opposing ; The Means for Resistance; Threefold — Himself his own Enemy: Enemies Without — 1st, The World — Why so — Nature of the Enmity; 2d, The Devil; His Character — Means of Resistance threefold — 1st, Precepts — Love to Christians — Adhesiveness, its Effects — A Christian Church — The Strength gained by Communion — Individual Precepts Directing Individual Faculties — Remarks on the Nature of the Precepts and the Way of Reception — Difficulty, that Men have Different Judgments, considered — 2d, Example, its influence; The Faculties it appeals to — 3d, Rewards and Punishments — Difference between Divine and Human Governments — Faculties appealed to; the Power of the Combined Means; Contrasted with that of Philosophy — Some Examples of their Efficaciousness — Conclusion — Some Concluding Remarks on the Necessity of Worshipping with the Intellect — On the Importance and Necessity of the Christian exhibiting the Effects of Belief — The Objection that Professing Christians are oftentimes very Bad Men — Finally, The Privileges of the Christian in Life but particularly in Death.

PREFACE

Wisdom, that will be proved in the course of the following argument to be divine, has asserted, that God made man upright, but he has sought out many inventions. These, from the corruption of his nature, have, in general, been such as to increase the many and oppressive evils connected with the fall ; and even those which were good in themselves, have, from the sad perversity, been turned to evil by their misdirection. The gifts of Providence, matters quite independent of man, have been grossly abused ; the means of sustenance to his body he has rendered the destroyers of his frame; and those intended for the nourishment of his mind have been so used as to produce, not a veneration 1 for the Author of his understanding, but an impious disbelief of that Being's existence ; or, if not of that, a disregard for His testimony, verifying the truth of another assertion of wisdom, " knowledge puffeth up." In fine, intellectual and bodily strength have been, are, and, it is likely, will be, exerted in ways contrary to that relationship in which every man stands to God, as the moral Governor of the universe. So that the same Being had said with truth, " Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me." Hosea vii. 15.

In the midst of this general perversion of what is good, and of defection from God, the Author of good, the Christian is bound to come forward, and manfully endeavour, in humble dependence upon his Creator, to direct the gifts of Providence, and the many useful inventions and discoveries of man, into proper channels; thereby bringing back all matters to their source, and making every gift, every invention, to show forth God's glory.

Within the last century, as well as in the present, many are the powerful intellectual energies which have been exercised in delivering science from the thraldom of infidelity. Many have come forward as champions in this good cause ; and many a gauntlet has been thrown down by the heroes of truth, which, as yet, no skeptic warrior has succeeded in triumphantly raising. Need I instance a Butler, a Watson, a Paley, a Sherlock, a Littleton, a Wardlaw, a Haldane ; men who have made history, natural philosophy, and every branch of metaphysical science, so far as consistent with truth, speak to the honor and glory of the God of nature and of grace ? And, among the many laborers in the vineyard of late years, in which it may truly be said, " the harvest is plenteous," Dick and Douglas hold preeminent places ; the former having shown how all true science leads to its Author ; the latter, how every species of knowledge may be made to bear upon the diffusion of the true knowledge of God.

Many of the names mentioned will be recognised as those of men who have exercised their faculties in one of the most important directions, namely, in demonstrating the evidences of Christianity. Butler has shown the folly of disbelieving facts and doctrines, stated in Scripture, on the account that we cannot understand them, by proving that many of the commonest things in nature, perpetually presented to our view, and others constantly recognised by consciousness, are not known, and imperfectly, if at all, understood, even by the wisest. Chalmers has given us a view of the stable foundations on which Christianity, as it regards its external evidences, rests ; and, amongst the others, Erskine has opened up a new field of investigation, in the attempt to demonstrate the truth of Christianity by its internal evidences. He has, in his own words, " analyzed the component parts of the Christian scheme of doctrine with reference to its bearings, both on the character of God, and on the character of man ; " and this, in order to demonstrate, " that its facts not only present an expressive exhibition of all the moral qualities which can be conceived to reside in the divine mind, but also contain all those objects which have a natural tendency to excite and suggest in the human mind that combination of moral feelings, called moral perfection ; and that, as this object is one suited to the character of God, the system having this tendency must be of divine origin."

When reading Erskine, the author of the following argument was induced to conclude, that another illustrative view of the internal evidences of Christianity might be founded upon the constitution of the human mind. The train of thought, leading to this conclusion, was the following : It is with man that religion has to do. All the rest of animals, as well as all the other parts of creation, show forth, by a kind of necessity, the glory of God ; their uses, wonderful contrivances, grandeur, variety, changes, the peculiar adaptations in their constitution to their particular habits, speak a silent language of praise to the Creator. But man is endowed with a principle, concerning the abstract nature of which there has been much useless dispute, but which, instead of going downwards like that of a beast, rises upwards, and finds, as its resting-place, no other than the Lord God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Man has a mind, and this has been so constituted, that God requires its willing and joyful exercise in offering to Him a rational worship. We find, that when man was first created, this was the case. Adam's happiness in Eden consisted in the enjoyment of God'f 1* presence, and his pleasure was found in showing forth his Creator's glory. But this happy scene of things soon changed ; man fell — his mind became enmity against God: and, instead of being directed into the channel of showing forth his Maker's glory, ran in the polluted stream of evil imaginations, and that only, and that continually. But God took pity upon his miserable subject, and in the midst of wrath at the violation of his covenant by his creature, the Creator remembered mercy, and taught the rebel man the way of obtaining favor. This was gradually unveiled, until the fulness of time came, when God sent his Son, made of a woman, who delivered to his disciples precepts durable for ever, and dictated to his apostles those doctrines, exhortations, and admonitions, all of which are collected in the New Testament, and all the preceding circumstances in the Old ; both being comprised in the book called, by way of eminence, " The Bible." The Bible, then, it appears, contains the way by which man can show forth the glory of God, by performing with acceptance those duties which he owes to his Maker; and provides means by which his mind, from the corruption of his nature, continually misdirected, may be made to run in the channel of obedience to God's will, its legitimate direction. To effect this grand purpose (for the former is comprised within the latter), it is evident that the Bible must contain certain motives, having such a powerful influence as to lead the mind from one track into another, in which they will keep it, and, in pursuing which, they cause the renewed man to find pleasure. This, we shall discover, is the case. Religion, then, is a system of

MOTIVES, AND THESE ARE, AND MUST BE, SUCH AS WILL AFFECT THE HUMAN MIND. If, then,

we possess a correct knowledge of this mind ; if we know its principles, its constituent parts, on which the motives act, we shall be enabled to deduce thence a series of tests probatory of the position, that the Bible is the word of God. How we are enabled to do this, depends upon the following indisputable conclusion. If the Bible comes from God, the Author of our being, and if religion is a collection of motives acting in a certain way upon the mind, connected with this being, it is evident that these motives must be suited thereto. If we find that they, and no others, are suited to produce s the effects which Christianity recognises, we have a right, indeed it is our imperative duty, to infer, that the system containing these is from the Author of our being. If not suited thereto, the contrary inference must be the one arrived at. These conclusions admit of no dispute, for we may reasonably inquire, " He that planteth the ear, shall he not hear ? He that formed the eye, shall he not see ? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall he not know ? " Psalm xciv. 9.

But here a difficulty presents itself — where are we to meet with a correct system of the human mind ? Till within these last few years, a search for a true system of the human mind among the ponderous volumes written upon the subject, was as vain as that of the alchymists to find out the philosopher's stone. Indeed, all the systems of the mind, which have appeared, are the results of the endeavours of some men of mighty genius to bend the facts, discovered by observation, to their peculiar pre-conceived notions ; and, having taken these results for principles, these individuals have endeavoured to reduce all the varied manifestations of the mind to them, as their first sources. They have seated themselves in the judgment-hall of their own consciousness, and have adopted its decisions as the laws which regulate mental phenomena; forgetting that other minds are not constituted as their own, and trying to blot from the page of memory, that one well-established opposing fact overturns the validity of any supposed universal law. Of late years, however, a system of the human mind has been brought to light, the principles of which are dependent upon observations, whence, by the Baconian system of induction, they have been patiently deduced. Such is the phrenological, at least to those who believe in it, and to such principally these pages are addressed. However, to satisfy the scruples of some who have not studied the evidences on which Phrenology rests, (which indeed, if studied, are sufficient to convince a candid mind,) a few remarks will be made in reply to some objections which are frequently brought forward by good-meaning people ; both by those who have a great respect for religion, but who have, in some points, a zeal without knowledge ; and those who care little about things which are not recognised by any whom they have been taught to consider " great men."

An objection frequently made by the former class is, that Phrenology is opposed to religion. To this, the argument contained in the following pages is a sufficient reply ; and it may, with truth, and the kindest feeling, be affirmed, that the birth-place of this objection is ignorance. But strange to say, some, when told of this application of the science, cried out against it with unbecoming vehemence. These people seem offended when any thing except the Bible testifies to Bible truths. To object to Phrenology, on this account, is equally absurd as to object to the works of God, because on the page of nature, as well as on that of revelation, the attribute of goodness is imprinted.

Another objection, made by the latter class, is, " How is it that so many great men oppose Phrenology ? " To this it might be replied, that this is no argument against the science ; since every man of strong common sense (a possession, however, by Juvenal said to be very rare) must be aware, that the question necessary to be first decided in every inquiry is, Is this truth or untruth? It may be remarked, in addition, that a respect for authority is one of the greatest obstacles to the obtaining of truth. The " ipse dixit " of an ancient sage closed the eyes of observation for ages. This foolish reverence forbids any originality of thought ; indeed, few are fond of thinking, and are very happy that others are willing to take the trouble out of their hands. These people take all things upon trust; they obey the dicta of a man great respecting literary honors, with as much deference as the subjects of the Ottoman empire the commands issued by the Caliphate. If they who urge this objection be such, and it is to be feared they are, it is begged of them to deliver themselves from this mental bondage, and be free Britons, not only in respect to their bodies, but also in relation to their minds. The inveteracy of habit must be allowed to have an influence on great as well as on littleminded men. These persons have been long used to one train of thinking. They consequently find it difficult to adopt another ; and as the acquisition of the system of mental metaphysics has, it is likely, cost thern much labor, their interest and self-esteem, and a number of other motives, are roused to refuse any aggressor entrance at the gate of their mental territory, inveterate habit being the door-keeper. No wonder, then, that Phrenology, which threatens to overturn the ancient building, reared at first by Aristotle, remodelled by Reid, partially altered again by another, daubed over by another, embellished by Dugald Stewart, and his admiring followers, should be refused admission. In fine, it may be inquired of the scientific men, what did Galileo and other worthies suffer ? and, to the Christian, the question may be applied, what was the treatment that the holy and unblamable life, and equally holy and unblamable opinions of the Saviour met with from the enthusiastically zealous Scribes and Pharisees, and from the philosophic Sadducees ?

In the following pages, therefore, Phrenology is assumed to be a true system of the human mind ; a postulate, which it is believed every candid mind, upon a fair investigation of the evidence, will be ready to allow. Let it be remembered, however, that this is not considered by Phrenologists as a postulate, but a truth, demonstrable by facts numerous as those on which the principles of any other scientific system are built. For the Phrenologist will find no difficulty in proving that chemistry, botany, natural history, or civil sciences, generally belived in, have not evidences equally numerous and indisputable, as grounds on which they are established, or considered by their adherents to be so.

These remarks may anticipate an objection, which has frequently been made by persons ignorant of these evidences, against the application of Phrenology to matters of history, of government, of literature, and of mind. They think it wrong, that a science, according to them not yet established, should be applied to these subjects. In order to obviate this objection, and to remove the apprehensions of some at the following employment of this science in relation to Christianity, the truth must be stated, that its principles rest upon no other foundation than the solid rock of observation. These have been accumulating for years, and will continue to accumulate, till the human mind has for ever ceased its functions ; a period when neither Phrenology nor any other human science will any longer be applicable. If, then, we were to delay the application of the principles of Phrenology till the mighty structure be 2 completely reared, we should delay till the end of time; for, till that period, the science will be receiving accessions. Indeed, the applications serve to build the fabric quicker by enabling its architects to bring supplies from every quarry out of which the human mind has worked materials ; and the readiness and the neatness, with which the matters collected help to form the fabric, show that the principles of the science agree with those of nature, and its professors to be skilful master builders. Yet some people would have the Phrenologists delay. These persons, however, do not argue thus with respect to other sciences. Chemistry, the present system is referred to, has been established but a few years, and yet who refrains from applying it? and who objects to the application ? No one ; indeed, the man would be reckoned a fool who should say to a chemist, " Your science, Sir, is not established ; you must not apply it to the illustration of chemical phenomena." The objection, that Phrenology is applied too far, and in too many ways, is often made in a very angry spirit. People might as well be angry, that out of twenty-six alphabetical letters, many thousand words are made ; or that, from seven notes of the gamut, such a countless number of sounds should be worked.

Phrenology, as a true system of the human mind, will apply to every exhibition of its antitype, and will be useful in every relation in which the mind is called into exercise. Consider its possessor as a child, Phrenology will lead to the proper means to be made use of in cherishing some, and restraining others, of the dispositions and faculties. If we view man as a member of a community, this scienee teaches what talents he has, and how he can best employ them for the common good. And, finally, if we behold man as a creature of God, a knowledge of Phrenology will enable him to examine that historical code which boasts a divine origin ; to try whether it deserves this high dignity, by investigating whether its doctrines and precepts are accordant with our nature. This last and most important application is the one taken advantage of, in the following pages.

To show the justness of this application, it is worthy of reiteration, that religion is addresed to the mind.* It is evident, then, that if we are in possession of a correct mental system, we have data, or grounds, from which we can deduce tests. 'witnessing to the Bible being the word of God, by showing that its doctrines are conformable to the constitution of that mind with which it has to do. This species of analogical proof rests on the possibility of inferring the truth of one proposition, from its consistency with another, which we know to be true ; and the evidence derived from this source, is second only to that of direct facts.

By some it may be thought, that, in this demonstration, too much is given to Phrenology: they may say, you would never have found out this application of the science, without the mind having been illuminated by Scripture truth. The author most readily allows this; and, in so doing is olad to acknowledge, that the word of God is the best purifier of the mental vision.

* This word is used in the broad phrenological view, as comprehending the desires commonly called the flesh ; the sentiments mimed, in the Bible, the soul ; and the intellectual {'acuities represented in the same book by the word spirit. In this threefold division of the mental faculties, Phrenology agrees with Scripture.

But it does not follow, because this application would not have been seen without the aid of the light of Scripture, that therefore the application did not exist ; any more than that the imperfection of our natural sight does not at all argue against the existence of things which we do not see; for I do not suppose, that many are so ignorantly blind, as to refuse to believe in any thing but what is evident to their own senses. We should, rather than impugn this application, rejoice in it, and value and study, constantly, the word of God, which alone is capable of enabling us to direct our knowledge to proper objects.

This introduction may be concluded by an extract from a work published in the eighteenth century : — " The two volumes of nature and grace are so divinely perfect ; contain so much true beauty and solid worth, that, in order to be thoroughly admired, they can want nothing more than to be well understood. And, moreover, they correspond so strictly, and tally so exactly in numberless respects, and are so peculiarly fitted to illustrate, unfold, and enforce each other, that nothing can redound more to the credit and esteem of either, than a nearer 2* contemplation of both. Doubtless the more intimately men are acquainted with them, the greater excellencies they will discover ; and the severest search, if honestly made, must end in deriving both from the same original." *

The author cannot let this opportunity pass without testifying his gratitude to an anatomical lecturer, Mr. Sleigh, of London, for having directed his attention to the discoveries of Gall and Spurzheim ; and also to Mr. Combe, whose labors, in the cause of Phrenology, will ever entitle him to respect, and will obtain him, in future days, a place, and that no mean one, among the benefactors of mankind.

Edinburgh, 1827.

* Balguy's Tracts, Moral and Theological, page xxix. Preface.

Introduction

When my thoughts were first turned to the subject discussed in these pages, so many and so powerful seemed the obstacles against their successful prosecution, that, had not an ardent desire to direct any additional knowledge to the developement of the most important truths, given its potent assistance, the following attempt would never have been made. Indeed many, and they men of sound sense, and extensive reading, asserted that every thing that could be said upon the evidences of Christianity had already been offered to the world, and enumerated a train of so many illustrious spirits, who had directed the powerful energies of their minds to this momentous question, that it seemed almost presumption to persevere. Still, however, the conviction of being in possession of a fountain of knowledge, which has been, till of late years, undiscovered ; and the certainty, that from it flows a purer stream than that which has formed the mighty, but Stygian, river of mental metaphysics ; and the hope that by seizing the stream in its course, it might be directed into the fields of truth, encouraged me to proceed.

It is hoped, from the observations contained in the Preface, that the nature of the argument will be perceived. But as it is, naturally enough, a common case, that an author, like a painter, observes peculiarities, and sees farther and more in his productions, than the reader or the spectator beholds, it may be proper to make some additional remarks, proving, that the argument herein brought forward, has something new in it, and is not, as some may be apt to imagine, a substitution of new expressions for new ideas. In order to exhibit its novelty, it will be necessary to undertake the unpleasant, though useful, duty of showing the nature — and, in doing so, the defects — of former arguments (for they all seem more or less defective), and then to point out the nature of the following. The ungracious nature of the task of dwelling upon the misconceptions of great men, must be evident to all : its performance, however, is a duty rendered imperative by their very celebrity.

The arguments of those who have written upon the internal evidences of Christianity : may be reduced under three classes. The first consists of those who have argued upon the reasonableness of the doctrines, or the accordance between the nature of the Christian religion, and the character of the Supreme. The divine character, it will be seen, is the touchstone in this species of argument. But to make this serve such a purpose is illogical, and consequentl , unsound. We have no knowledge of the char cter of God, but from his works and his word.

Our information upon this head, from his works, is very limited ; indeed, so much so, that we cannot be justified in making our experience thereupon a standard of truth. Chalmers's reasoning on this subject is conclusive : " To assign," says he, " the character of the divine administration from the little that offers itself to the notice of our own personal observation, would be far more absurd than to infer the history and character of the kingdom, from the history and character of our own family." Any reasoning, therefore, as to the truth of Christianity, from the accordance between its doctrines and the character of God, as made known by his works, is * inconclusive. Our knowledge from the word of God is far more extensive. Indeed, therein we are taught the real character of the Deity ; therein he who fills all is made known ; a view of his immeasurable attributes, under the veil of some interesting and important facts, is presented. This knowledge, thus obtained, is the proper standard to use in examining the divine character. But this is that which Christianity makes to appear; and, in proving that the general doctrines of the Christian system correspond with those that relate to the Being held forth therein, as the object of adoration, all that is demonstrated

* It is not said, that it was inconclusive, but that it is. To Adam, whose vision was not biassed by the preponderance of his lower feelings, the creation was a continual preacher of the Creator ; and now that the light of Revelation has dawned, it has become again an instructer.