The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-16 00:00:00

THE REV. ROBERT AIN,S•LIE ON TILE
"ESSAYS AND REVIEWS."

(From the Brighton Observer.)
The following is the seventh of a series of Dis-
courses, delivered at Christ Church, New-road, by
the Rev. R. Ainslie, on Sunday last :-,-
ON THE INTERPRETATION 01' SCRIPTURE.
John sviii., part of 37th v.—" To Wit; end was I born, and
for this cause came I into the world that I should bear
witness unto the truth. Eve:ey one that is of the truth
heareth my voice."

We have now come to the last and longest Essay in the celebrated volume which has recently occu-
pied our attention, Both as it respects the Essay,
and my own opinions upon the subject'of it, I find
it necessary to deliver two discourses. The present
one will be • oceupied chiefly with the contents of
the Essay, and a vindication of the Rev. B. Jowett
from some of the slanders which have given great
pleasure lately to large assemblies of religious per-
sons. Let us be thankful that—while slander is
bad enough, while reckless charges apparently fix
a stigma upon innocent men, while ignorance and
prejudice, clothed in uncharitable words, may ex-
cite bad passions and the applause of thoughtless
sectarians of every class—the day has gone by for
public prosecutions and penal sufferings on account
of religious opinions. The Bishop of Salisbury yet
hopes there is a probability of a.legal process; but
I do not think that anything so unfortunate for the
bishops or the hierarchy is in prospect. It is a
strange anomaly that a meeting has recently been
held in London to obtain for some poor people in
Spain the right of freely reading the Scriptures ;
and meetings are being held in which the conduct
of men who write what they deem to be truth and
fact about the Bible, are being condemned in every
form of phraseology and every measure of bitter-
ness. If we are to read, may we not think? If
we think, may we not utter our thoughts, espe-
cially if those thoughts are expressed in proper lan-
guage ? If they are not supported by valid argu-
ments they are worthless ; if they are, if they con-
tain truth, although that truth may be against
se colfe sciaassetsi ebaelfearreee, ,ult
nat ma
tuesl ty,
ap
so pi
tu lhasar prejudicesdone
ia
prevail. hunatde

- The moral tone of what is called the religious public
is very deeply to be deplored. If Christianitycan teach
us anything, it ought surely to teach us j astice, ordi-
nary candour, and ordinary charity. Certain per-
sons claim for themselves the right of free reading,
free thinking, and of private judgment, as against
Roman Catholics, and if they are Nonconformists,
they claim it as against the Established Church.
Now, what they thus claim, or exercise, they ought
surely to grant to others. When the Protestant
refuses to acknowledge the Pope as Christ's Vicar
on earth,—when he refuses to worship the Virgin
Mary,—when he will not consent that the Church
should interpret for him Holy Scripture,—when he
resists the claim of the priest, and will not be ab-
solved by him, nor have masses offered for his
father and mother,—when he refuses to believe in
purgatory,—the good Catholic is quite shocked at
him, considers he is a heretic, and shakes his head,
and shrugs his shoulders as to the chance of his sal-
vation. Let me candidly put it to you : as a Pro-
testant, do you care anything about what the
Catholic priest thinks of you ? Do you fear his
anathema? Are you apprehensive of the truth of
his malediction ? Have you any other feeling than
pity for his ignorance, regret for his bigotry, indif-
ference for his censure, and sorrow for his injustice
and uncharitableness ? Be assured that it is the
same on the part of educated men, who have read
the Scriptures attentively, either in Hebrew or
Greek "or in English,—who have given days and
nights to their consideration,—who are thoroughly
versed in Biblical criticism,—who know something
of MSS., translations, and sacred hermeneutics,—
and who, in a spirit of deep religious reverence for
God, for the Scriptures, and for Christianity,—utter
what they believe to be the truth respecting the
Old and New Testament. They are among the
best and most judicious friends of the Bible, and
the warmest advocates for Christianity as taught
by Jesus Christ. Popular prejudice cannot frighten
them. Bishops, priests, and deacons may attempt
to frown upon them, and threaten to deprive them
of their ecclesiastical position, and put a black mark
upon them before the public eye; but is it not un-
just in itself ? Is it not unjust to charge a man with
what he repudiates ? Is it not unjust to condemn a man
before he is heard ? Is it not wicked to excite the
clamour of a mass of thoughtless persons on a sub-
ject of which they are ignorant, and against a book
which, in hundreds of cases, the exciters and ex-
cited have not read? Is it not unjust to make
garbled and partial extracts, and to leave out and
pass by all the great and noble thoughts and para-
graphs that give a juster complexion to the real
facts of the case, and vindicate the accused from the
unjust accusations brought against them ? Before
many years, the exceptionable parts of the volume
of Essays and Reviews will either be received as
facts, or tolerated as open questions for the discus-
sion of all persons competent to the task, or refuted
by just, candid, and conclusive arguments. And
of one thing I am assured, that the men who, with-
out reading the Essays, or mastering their argu-
ments, have rushed thoughtlessly into the battle,
will be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. Tens,
if not hundreds of cases in the progress of truth and
freedom have terminated in this way, and their
opponents have been covered with blushes, and for-
given; though of the amount of injury they in-
flicted they will for ever be ashamed.

In science there have been the familiar cases,—
of Harvey and the circulation of the blood—of
Jenner and vaccination—of Galileo and the solar
system. In social life, education for the humbler
classes—religious liberty for all ; Jew as well as
Christian—the repeal of the Test and Corporation
Acts, which the clergy opposed with a vehemence
which, could they have embodied it in phy-
sical force, they would have grasped the pillars of
the firmament and brought down upon those who
advocated such wickedness, sun, moon, and stars,
concluding that " the wreck of matter and the
crush of worlds" would be preferable to their not
qualifying an exciseman for his office by giving
him the Lord's supper.
Other instances will occur to many of you ; I
need not mention any more. As I have said, in this
discourse I shall be obliged to confine myself to the
Essay; to the objections brought against it, and to
two or three quotations from it—thus presenting to
you some of the noblest sentiments that the mind
can conceive, the heart feel, and the pen commit to
paper. In the next discourse, in connection with
the same Essay, we shall go honestly into the sub-
ject of Inspiration—give you the opinions of some
of the most distinguished theologians who have
lived and influenced the Church—and endeavour
to answer the question—whether or not it can be
said the Bible is an infallible authority on all that
it contains • and if not, in what light it shall be
received and heartily welcomed by us.

It is not an easy work in the short space of time
before me to give you an intelligible analysis of the
long, but deeply interesting Essay which closes the
volume. There are in the vol. 433 pages, and this
Essay occupies 104 of them, or nearly one quarter
of the volume. it opens by an allusion to the
differences of opinion that exist on the inter-
pretation of Scripture. The book is un-
changed ; the changes are in its commentators.
Some think that the Bible is to be explained by
the prayer-book ; others by the traditions of the
Reformation. "There has always, in all ages, been
an endeavour to pull the authority of Revelation in
different directions." The progress of the mind
creates a multitude of interpretations. There is an
obvious meaning in the Scripture which will sur-
vive all others. Certain passages of Scripture are
not fairly dealt with. The writers of the New Tes-
tament did not write for creeds • the extreme
variety of interpretation of the Bible exists in no
other book. The Essayist refers to the externals of
interpretation to obtain and recover the original
meaning : and to what the interpreter is trying to
do. He adverts to the history of interpretation, and
to the awakening of the critical faculty. Biblical
criticism, he says, has been truer to the Church
than to Christ. He refers to the number of explana-
tions which exist as to the two witnesses—the little

hors—the man of sin—the number of the licast,
&c., and says that Joseph Mede, the greatest autho-
rity on this subject, twice fixed the end of the world
in the last century, and once during his own life-
time. He refers to the interpretation of types—to
party efforts, and to different theories as to the
origin of the gospels. He alludes to the language
of the creeds, and to the conditions of thought im-
posed from without. He alludes to the matter of
inspiration and its varieties, to the source of know-
ledge and inspiration, and to progressive revelation
aria imperfect narratives. He alludes to the effect of
Galileo.% discovery on the interpretation of Scrip-
ture, to the :fact that the fathers of the Church de-
termined nothing on the subject of inspiratiootn, and
true.a
to the difficulty of getL7Z rid of what
He adverts to the adapiatioii of the pre-
; to the
creeds and to the thoughts and moaf Scrip
its
sent age, and also to the difficulties of identity
the gospels with the creeds. He alludes to the
ecclesiastical and social state of the world, and
kills hew certain aspects ut. Scripture truth are