Revelation and science...with an examination of certain statements put forth by the remaining authors of Essays and reviews

Front matter

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EEVELATION AND SCIENCE.

Preface

THE object of the present work is to show the connexion which exists between the statements in the book containing the Revelation of the Divine will to man, and modern discoveries in the various departments of Science, in contradistinction to the views and opinions put forth hi the well-known " Essays and Eeviews."

The most prominent subjects which it has been thought advisable to consider separately are — Bunserts Biblical Researches, in respect to the chronology of Scripture and the duration of man upon earth ; the Evidences of Christianity, with special reference to the " Origin of Species," as determined by Holy Scripture ; and the Mosaic Cosmogony, as being in perfect harmony with all that Science has brought to light by means of geological research. Hence we have selected the three Essays bearing those titles for separate and careful examination.

But, inasmuch as the four remaining Essays contain a variety of subjects which require much consideration, we have attempted to examine them under the separate heads of — 1. Holy Scripture, in its integrity, inspiration, and interpretation. 2. Judaism, as regards the vi

PREFACE.

present position of the Jews and their future prospects.

3. Romanism, viewed in its relation to real Catholicism.

4. On the distinction between the Ancient and Modern Creeds. 5. Buddhism, as having no claim to being termed " the Gospel of India." And, 6. Rationalism, in its negative aspect, as compared with the true theology which Scripture teaches.

These are the chief matters which have been handled in the following work. Our object has been to show, not only the all-perfect and instructive harmony which necessarily exists between Revelation and Science, — between God's Word and God's Works, — but how susceptible of confutation are the errors and mistakes of the several authors of " Essays and Keviews " in their denial of the same. »

In thus exposing the failings of our clerical brethren, we have endeavoured, with what success our readers must judge, to avoid that rock on which theological controversialists are too often apt to split, as it has given rise to a well-known and unhappy proverb amongst us ; and the way by which some, especially platform orators, have sought the condemnation of the authors of " Essays and Eeviews " is a melancholy illustration thereof. We sincerely deprecate such a mode of crushing all freedom of inquiry as unwise, impolitic, and as a serious infraction of that boundless and fathomless law of love, which is both the mainspring and the foundation of the Gospel of Christ. For, as one honoured name amongst us, whose writings bear the stamp of primitive catholicity more than perhaps any other writer of the present day, has most justly observed : — " L6ve is the sign of life, ' our safety in sacraments,' as St. Augustine writes; the mark of 'Christ's

PEEFACE.

Vll disciples, the beginning and ending, the mother and foundation of all virtues, the earnest of the Spirit inviting and waiting for its fulness. Martyrdom, without love, were death to the soul ; faith, the confession of devils ; sacraments were received to our hurt ; miracles, a testimony against us ; the tongues of angels, a tinkling cymbal ; the knowledge of mysteries, a swelling vanity ; but love, as it cannot be without faith, so it gives or replaces knowledge, or wisdom, or speech, or (if they be not unlovingly laid aside) even sacraments themselves, for God is love."

It is in this spirit, and with such an effective weapon of controversy, that we may best hope to succeed in confating those with whom we, as consistent Churchmen, are necessarily at issue, according to the admirable advice so happily expressed by George Herbert : - —

" Be calm in arguing, for fierceness makes Error a fault, and truth discourtesy.

Why should I feel another man's mistakes More than his sickness or his poverty ? In love I should ; but anger is not love, Nor wisdom neither ; therefore, gently move."

If it be possible, without any infraction of that heavenborn principle, which, as St. Paul teaches, " covereth (a-Tsysi) all things," to assign a reason for this tendency to " Negative Theology " on the part of those whose N education and profession should alike forbid such ambiguous and defective teaching of the great Christian verities as the authors of " Essays and Ee views " have too clearly displayed, it is to be traced, we venture to think, to a deficiency of study of the letter of Scripture, on the one hand, and to a want of that true faith which inflames vm

PREFACE.

the heart, and invigorates the understanding, and inclines it to a right reception of the spirit of Scripture on the other. " The study of God's word," taught the great St. Bernard, " and the mere reading of it, differ as much as the friendship of such who every day converse lovingly together doth from the acquaintance with a stranger at an inn or a casual acquaintance whom he salutes in the street." What the saintly Augustine remarked concerning a spiritual understanding of the 119th Psalm is equally applicable to the whole of the Old and the New Testament. " The more open it seemeth, the deeper it seemeth to me ; so that I cannot even show how deep it is."

So faith, which the inspired writer, as we must continue to call him, notwithstanding the denial of " Essays and Ee views," terms " the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," and which alone is genuine, fruitful, and salvific, establishes the soul on Him who is the Eock of Ages, purines the heart, empties it of the love of sin, and then fills it with the consolation of Christ and hope of eternal glory. It draws the heart as well as the head to a firm acquiescence in the truth of Scripture above all natural methods, and is, as St. Basil calls it, " the effect, not of geometrical conclusions, but the result of the energy of the Spirit." Well, therefore, would it be if every one with a leaning to the " Negative Theology " could sufficiently humble himself to receive and adopt the confession made by Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, during the period commonly known as " the dark ages :" — " I do not seek, Lord, to penetrate thy depths ; I by no means think my intellect equal to them ; but I long to understand in some degree thy truth, which

PREFACE.

ix my heart believes and loves. For I do not seek to understand that I may believe ; but I believe that I may understand." For while humility on the one hand ranks right nobly and highly in the scale of Christian graces, on the other, faith, which is the grace of care and the antidote to scepticism, in its genuineness and power may be compared to the "bird, which rejoices in contending with wild, adverse winds, or balances itself on the bosom of the inimitable sky. Thus, even the difficulties that oppose it, faith meets unbaffled with a cheerful confidence ; while on the incomprehensible nature of God it reposes as on a vast deep or a boundless heaven ; awed with that vastness which is without limit, and at rest on that centre which hath no circumference." *

B. W. S.

* The beginning of the Book of Genesis, by Isaac Williams.

Tattingstone Rectory, Christmas, 1861.

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Contents

CHAP. PAGE

I — Bunsen's Biblical Researches 3

II. — Bunsen's Biblical Researches — continued . . .53

Chapter I

These is a story on record of a certain author, who, after long hesitation, declined publishing his intended work, because he was unable to decide whether it should be commenced by a " Prefatory Introduction " or an 44 Introductory Preface." Had Dr. Temple so far followed this example, as to refuse to allow his Essay to be used as a suitable introduction or preface to that which subsequently follows, it would have been better for his fame as a minister of the Church of Christ. For if language, whether oral or written, is still to be accepted in its plain and unmystical meaning, and not used as a vehicle for concealing the thought, as the witty Italian 1 defined it, very wide is the difference between the theological bearings of the Essayist, whose work stands first, and those of the Reviewer of 44 Bunsen's Biblical Researches." For .notwithstanding the disclaimer with which the 44 Essays and Reviews " are introduced 44 To the Reader " of there being any connexion between the respective authors, and which the continued republication of the work in its

1 This bon mot, commonly attributed to Talleyrand, was originally from Aretino, an Italian of tlie 1 4th century.

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original form makes it somewhat difficult to understand, it is, to say the least, unfortunate for Dr. Temple, that his Essay is the selected porch for the subsequent superstructure. Indeed, so objectionable do some of the statements appear in Dr. Williams's Essay, that we are afraid of breaking that precious and boundless law of Charity, which the Gospel so highly exalts, if we gave utterance to the feelings which spontaneously arise in the mind when reflecting on the lengths in scepticism which a professing Christian, much more an English clergyman, can permit himself to go antagonistic to that faith, and that revealed Word of God, which he is bound by every tie to defend. We, therefore, confine ourselves to calling attention to the notice bestowed upon this Essay by a friendly reviewer, who has with justice remarked that, " anything more 6 unbecoming' than some of Dr. Wilhams's remarks we never have read in writings professing to be written seriously." 1

It is necessary, however, to distinguish at the commencement between the statements of the Essayist himself, and those of the distinguished German, whose " Biblical Eesearches " have formed the ground-work of his own review.

Let us then consider what the Essayist says in propria persona, and subsequently the Eesearches into Bible History of that great name under whose shadow he now presents himself to the world.

§ 1. Dr. Williams says, " Criticism reduces the strangeness of the past into harmony with the present. The truth itself may have been apprehended in various degrees by servants of God, of old, as now. Instead of, with Tertullian, what is first is truest, what comes of God is true " (p. 50). It is, we think, unfair criticism to make any distinction between Tertullian's golden canon and the

1 Edinburgh Review, No. ccxxx. p. 479.

WHAT IS TRUTH?

deduction of the Essayist. For the exact words of that father, in a work composed after his lapse, " Whatsoever was first, that is truth ; whatsoever is later, that is adulterated," 1 only affirm that He, who is revealed to us as " the Way, the Truth, and the Life," the God-man, Christ Jesus, promised the perpetual presence of the Holy Ghost to guide the Church into all truth, and to abide with her for ever, and that those who introduced novelties, which had not been taught 44 from the beginning," adulterated the truth, and were departing from Him who is the source of all truth. It would have been well had the Essayist remembered and applied the saying of St. Augustine to himself, when most unphilosophically writing about the strangeness of the past harmonising with the present. "What is truth?" exclaimed that great theologian, " Who can teach it me, save He that enlighteneth my heart, and discovereth its dark corners ? " 2

§ 2. " We cannot encourage a remorseless criticism of Gentile histories," argues Dr. Williams, " and escape its contagion when we approach Hebrew annals ; nor acknowledge a Providence in Jewry without owning that it may have comprehended sanctities elsewhere. But the moment we examine fairly the religions of India and of Arabia, or even those of primeval Hellas and Latium, we find they appealed to the better side of our nature, and their essential strength lay in the elements of good which they contained, rather than in any satanic corruption " (p. 51). Those who, discarding Dr. Temple's theory of " occasional . inaccuracy," or Mr. Wilson's of " the human element " of the Bible, believe that " the Hebrew annals," as forming a portion of God's word, have been as much inspired by Him, as the doctrinal or prophetic parts of Scripture, so that the sacred writers could not and did not record un-

1 Adv. Praxeam, § 11. 2 St. Aug. Confess., lib. xi. § 16.

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truths, do not fear criticism, however " remorseless" so long as it is fair, when applied to any portion of the oracles of God. Nay, with unhesitating confidence we challenge it, being fully persuaded that every fresh discovery in the paths of Science can only tend to show its perfect harmony with Kevelation, as we shall have little difficulty in proving when we come to examine the numerous charges which Bunsen brings against the genuineness of the historic statements of the Bible. Natural religion, independent of revelation, teaches us that an overruling Providence hath been recognised, external to "Jewry," during the first four millennaries of man's existence upon earth ; but to say that criticism has discovered " sanctities elsewhere " during the period that God in His inscrutable wisdom confined the revelation of Himself to one favoured and chosen race, is alike contrary to Bible history and to fact. And we confidently appeal to any one who will " examine fairly " the religions either of India, Greece, or Borne, with the only true one, revealed whether in the Old or the New Testament, to say if such did really " appeal to the better side of our nature," or that they betrayed any signs of a divine origin. The anecdote of an Indian Brahmin, on returning a lent Bible to an English missionary, affords an admirable commentary of what Bevelation declared respecting the religion of heathen Borne, as well as of testifying to its similarity with that of India. " You tell me, Padre," said the Brahmin, " that this book was written many hundreds of years ago, and you pretend that it is inspired by the unseen God, and that every part of it contains truth and nothing but the truth. Now, I will prove to you the falseness of this in one instance, at least. For I find in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Bomans such a true and exact picture of the religion of my countrymen, that I am convinced it must have been written since you became acquainted with the people of India."

RATIONALISTIC COWAEDICE.

§ 3. " If," Dr. Williams declares, " we are to retain the old Anglican foundations of research and fair statement, we must revise some of the decisions provisionally given upon imperfect evidence ; or if we shrink from doing so, we must abdicate our ancient claim to build upon the truth ; and our retreat will be either to Eome, as some of our lost ones have consistently seen, or to some form, equally evil, of darkness voluntary. The attitude of too many English scholars before the last monster out of the deep is that of the degenerate senators before Tiberius. They stand, balancing terror against mutual shame. Even with those in our universities, who no longer repeat fully the required Shibboleths, the explicitness of truth is rare. He who assents most, committing himself least to baseness, is reckoned wisest " (pp. 52, 53). Passing over the accusations of cowardice which the Essayist thinks it becoming his position to bring against his rationalistic friends, and remembering the illustration afforded of the necessary results of shrinking from " research and fair statement " in the case of the brothers Newman, one of whom "retreated to Eome," and the other, after lingering for a time amongst the Plymouth Brethren, was eventually landed in the extreme regions of scepticism, a form doubtless of " equal evil," we would earnestly entreat him to consider whether he himself, and the leaders of this modern school of theology to which he is so firmly attached, desires to " retain the old Anglical foundations," or whether he is not seeking to introduce something „ modern and novel, and, therefore, untrue. " Some of the decisions provisionally given upon imperfect evidence" will, doubtless, require reconsideration and revision, but we may rest assured that every real discovery which the skill and wisdom of man has made, has tended, and ever will tend to show the perfect accord between Eevelation and Science. We shall have frequent opportunities of

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proving this in our examination of other equally strange statements which have been put forth by the Essayists, being convinced that all research and all investigation carried out to its legitimate conclusion can only tend to show that —

" Every science, power, and art Which tends to foster in the heart

Knowledge of Nature's laws, Must, sanctified by grace divine, Precept on precept, line on line,

Exalt the First Great Cause."

§ 4. In support of his view of the propriety of " research and fair statement," in order to keep members of the Church of England satisfied with resting upon "the old Anglican foundations," Dr. Williams writes, " that there was a Bible before our Bible, and that some of our present books, as certainly Genesis and Joshua, and, perhaps, Job, Jonah, Daniel, are expanded from simpler elements, is indicated in the book before us {Bunseiis Gott in der Geschichte) rather than proved as it might be " (p. 62). It would be well if the Essayist would apply this just remark on the work he is reviewing to the many strong statements which he and his Co-Essayists have put forth with the usual dogmatism of the school to which they belong, but which are often as devoid of proof as Bunsen's theory regarding the non-inspiration of Genesis and J oshua for certain, with the assumed possibility of other books of Scripture being so likewise. Dr. Williams cannot suppose that any one who has really made " Biblical Eesearches " into the genuineness and authenticity of the sacred writings, and with the spirit of a humble-minded believer in the existence of God, and the fact of His having made a Eevelation of His will to man, will be satisfied with his criticism upon the hypothesis of his more daring and speculative brother.

§ 5. As a specimen of his qualifications for the office he so confidently assumes in- defence of " the old Anglican

THE SHILOH.

foundations of research and fair statement," Dr. Williams continues his commendation of Bunsen by saying, " the famous Shiloh (Gen. xlix. 10) is taken in its local sense, as the sanctuary where the young Samuel was trained ; which, if doctrinal perversions did not interfere, hardly any one would doubt to be the true sense " (p. 62). Believing that this is one of the many prophecies in the Old Testament, which may well be described as "directly Messianic," notwithstanding the effort of Dr. Williams, which we shall presently notice, to limit such to " two doubtful passages in Zechariah and Isaiah," we offer the following proof that, so far from it being a " doctrinal perversion " of the Christian Church to apply it, as she has invariably done from the days of the Apostles, by pointing its fulfilment to our Saviour, it was interpreted by the Jews of the expected Messiah before Christ appeared in the world ; and it betrays a limited acquaintance with the subject on the part of the Essayist to assert, that no one ought to " doubt the true sense " of the prophecy to mean " the sanctuary where the young Samuel was trained." Let us hear the exact words of the dying Jacob, who was inspired to utter this* prediction as an intimation to his descendants concerning future judgments and blessings. " The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come." The word " Shiloh " signifies the Sent-one, or Apostle, and was evidently indicative of Christ's Apostleship, as the sacred writer expressly styles Him, f O ' Airoa-ToXog (Heb. hi. 1). It was probably alluded to by Moses, when declining at first the mission which God ordered him to undertake at the Court of Pharaoh, " my Lord, send I pray Thee by the hand of Him whom Thou wilt send" i.e. the promised Shiloh (Exod. iv. 13) ; in which we have the true meaning of the word as it is rendered in the Vulgate, qui mittendus est, "who is about to be sent," So a Eabbinical comment on Deut. xxii. 7, says, " If you keep this precept

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you hasten the coming of the Messiah, who is called Sent" All the three Targums, the Talmud, and many Jewish writers 1 , both ancient and modern, agree in this, that, by the title " Shiloh,'' the Messiah is to be understood. E. Bechai expressly owns that 44 it is right to understand this verse of the Messiah, the last Eedeemer, which is meant when it saith, till Shiloh come, i.e. his son proceeding from his seed. And the reason why the word beno is not used in this prophecy, but Shiloh, is because he (Jacob) would emphatically express a son, who should be brought forth of his mother's womb, after the manner of all those that are born of a woman." The true interpretation of this prophecy is so convincing, that, in order to evade the argument, the Jews have invented a great many tales of the power which they are said to possess in some remote parts of the world. They have written a book, entitled " The Voice of Glad Tidings," with that object in view. Their forefathers, however, who lived at the time when the prophecy was being fulfilled, and when the kingdom did in reality depart from them, by Herod the Idumean forcibly seizing the crown with the assistance of the Romans, are said to have shaved their heads, put on sackcloth, and cried, 44 Woe to us, because the sceptre is departed from Judah, and a lawgiver from between his feet." It remained for a German scholar, and an English presbyter of the nineteenth century, to discover that the ancient Jewish understanding of this famous prophecy was a 44 doctrinal perversion " of the Christian Church, and that so far from having any reference to the Saviour of the world, it should be understood of 44 the sanctuary where the young Samuel was trained," which no one ought to doubt is 44 the true sense " of Jacob's words !

1 Zohar in Gen. fol. 32, 4. Bereshit Babba, fol. 98, § 85. Jarchi and Baal Hatturim in loco. Abarbinel, Mashmiah Jeshuah, fol. 10, 1. 11. Abraham Seba, Tzeror Hammor, fol. 36, 4.

THE ANALOGY OF KELIGION.

§ 6. Dr. Williams, in his attempt to depreciate the genuineness and reality of Scripture prophecies, has thought it becoming to speak in the following manner of the author of the "Analogy of Eeligion," one of the profoundest theological works in the English language. " Even Butler foresaw the possibility that every prophecy in the Old Testament might have its elucidation in contemporaneous history ; but literature was not his strong point, and he turned aside, endeavouring to limit it, from an unwelcome idea" (p. 65). It would have been well for the character of the Essayist if he had given some reasons, instead of his own inference respecting Bishop Butler's understanding of the prophecies, as after the specimens in the Essay of the author's qualifications, few will be disposed to pay much attention to his expressed opinion on such a subject. It would have been still better if he had avoided speaking of Bishop Butler in the contemptuous manner he has done, as it has only brought discredit upon himself, and exposed his own incapacity to handle the matter on which he writes. And it will be sufficient to our purpose if we adduce the testimony of one infinitely greater in intellectual power, as well as in theological worth than the Vice-Principal of Lampeter College, respecting the character of the traduced Bishop of Durham. " Butler," says Dr. Chalmers, "is in theology what Bacon is in science. The reigning principle of the latter is, that it is not for man to theorise on the works of God ; and of the former, that it is not for man to theorize on the ways of God. Both deferred alike to the certainty of experience, as being paramount to all the plausibilities of hypothesis ; and he who attentively studies the writings of these great men will find a marvellous concurrence of principle between a sound philosophy and a sound faith."

§ 7. Dr. Williams remarks on the subject of prophecy

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generally, that " the declamatory assertions so easy in pulpits or on platforms, and aided sometimes by powers which produce silence rather than conviction, have not only kept alive, but magnified with uncritical exaggeration, whatever the fathers had dreamt or modern rhetoric could add, tending to make prophecy miraculous. Keith's edition of Newton need not here be discussed " (p. 66). We agree with the Essayist in thinking that the subject of prophecy is better suited for the calm of the study than the excitement of the platform. We can overlook the contemptuous way in which he speaks of one of the most distinguished of living authors on the subject of fulfilled prophecy, as the expression, " Keith's edition of Newton," betrays either a perverted mind or reprehensible ignorance on the part of a reviewer, who dogmatises on a subject which he is evidently incompetent to judge. And we invite attention to the patent infidelity of the writer in the lamentable expression which he, as a clergyman, thinks it becoming to use, " tending to make prophecy miraculous." The very word " prophecy," as used alike in its conventional sense and according to its etymology, shows that it can be nothing but " miraculous ; " for what human being ever possessed in himself power to foretell things to come? If the axiom of Lord Bolingbroke be true, that the history of the past " is philosophy teaching us by example," with no less truth may it be said that that prophecy, which Bacon termed " a kind of histriography," is the history of the future recorded by the authority of God. It is the essence of scepticism, to which the rationalistic school of the present generation is so zealously allied, to deny the genuineness and the authenticity of the prophetic portions of the Bible, especially those of Daniel, to which we shall presently call attention. The believer in a Eevelation from God, however, is too well assured that in prophecy he has before him the thoughts

THE FIFTY-THIKD CHAPTER OF ISAIAH. 13

of an Omniscient Being regarding the future, which it is his duty and his privilege to study and not to dispute. And deep must be the guilt, as well as incalculable the loss, of those who, in place of owning their ignorance and of seeking humbly by prayer and faith to know the mind of God, question, dispute, deny, and cavil at every clearly fulfilled prophecy which is displeasing to their vanity, but which has been accepted in all ages by the concurrent testimony of the Christian Church.

§ 8. Hence, Dr. Williams, after contending with deplorable pertinacity against the authenticity and genuineness of certain portions of those books which bear the names amongst the prophets of Isaiah and Zechariah (p. 68), gives us a specimen of his rationalistic conclusions concerning the former, in respect to the interpretation of the famous 53rd Chapter, that " the weight of arguments (in the master's hand) is so great, that if any single person should be selected, they prove Jeremiah should be the one " (p. 7 3). Adding immediately, " nor are they a slight illustration of the historical sense of that famous chapter, which in the original is a history ;" and supporting his opinion in a foot note that " the tenses from verse 2 onward are rather historical than predictive ; and in verse 8, " for he ivas stricken" the Hebrew is VX% the stroke was upon them ; i. e. on the generation of the faithful, which was cut off, when the blood of the Prophets was shed on every side of Jerusalem." Although it is true that this strange interpretation of Isaiah 53rd, was anciently propounded by one Jewish Eabbi, Saadiah Gaon, who selects Jeremiah, just as other Eabbies had variously selected Abraham, Moses, King Josiah, Zorobabel, or the people of Israel in general for the fulfilment of the prophecy, Dr. Williams ought in common fairness to have stated that the Jewish Targum \ to which he

1 Dr. Williams declares that Bishop Pearson's " citations from Jonathan and from Jarchi are most unfair." (Foot note, p. 72.) Did he

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alludes in a foot note, distinctly refers it to the Mes siah ; " Behold, my servant the Messiah shall prosper ; " and that the mere fact of its being compiled "in the fourth century of our era," or the Jewish compiler speaking of the Messiah 44 in the character of a Judaic deliverer," in place of 44 a Saviour," is only what we should have expected, and sufficiently contradicts his strange theory of the Spirit of God intending it for the Prophet Jeremiah. The Essayist, with lamentable taste, sneers at Bishop Pearson's understanding of the way in which the Eabbies dealt with this prophecy, yet the following extracts will prove that the Bishop was right. One of them says that 44 the section, which begins with these words, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high, is concerning the Messiah." 1 Another on the same passage, that 44 Messiah is exalted above Abraham, extolled above Moses, and made higher than the ministering angels." 2 A third remarks, 44 The kingdom of Israel shall be exalted in the days of the Messiah, as it is written, He shall be exalted and extolled." 3 The fact of the Jews omitting to read this prophecy in their public services, and the Pabbinical 4 denunciations against its being read in private, are sufficient to convince all persons, save those whose minds are warped by a morbid and unhealthy scepticism, that the interpretation of the Catholic Church since the day of forget the " beam in his own eye " ? or did he trust to Porson's eulogy upon that great theologian, that " he would have been a first-rate critic in Greek, equal even to Bentley, if he had not muddled his brains with divinity ? " — Baker's Lit. Aneccl. vol. ii. p. 24.