The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-14

duced highly skeptical work, The Nem-
esis of Faith" which entailed his resig-
nation of clerical fellowship in an OK
ford college. Then he exemplified the
| strange variations of the age by coming
out as a historian in the colors of Car
| lyle.
Carlyle himself is not to be left out of
sight in an account of the progress of re-
igious thought; for his Scotch Calvinism,
transmitted into hero worship. has taken
| strong hold, II not on the distinct con-
victions, on the sentiment and temper of
the nation. 1.-The has administered whole
| some rebuke to the se'f-complscency of
| democracy with its ballot box. he has also
set up worship of force and kindIed a
spirit OF violence totally subversive of the
| Sermon on the Mount
! Matthew Arnold. with his silver shafts
was rather connoisseur in all lines than
| a serious philosopher or theologian; but
lie also with his conversion of God into
the mot ourselves which makes for right
eousness." and with his comparison OF the
trinity to a triad of Lord shaftesburys
did something in his light but insinuating
way to forward disintegration
But In 1SI4-7 appeared Supernatural
| Religion" a searching and uncompromis
, ing enquiry into the historical evidences
of supernatural Christianity The book,
though attacked on secondary points with
perhaps superior learning by Bishop
Lightfoot, Bishop Westcott, and others,
cannot be said to have met with any gen.
eral answer. Supplemented in some re-
spects by DIR. Martineau's Seat of Au-
thority in Religion and other works on
the same side. it sets forth the whole case
against the supernatural.
Miracles belong to an age OF ignorance
and superstition. With the dawn of knowI-
edge they diminish. In it's meridian light
they disappear. The Jews We're eminentIy
addicted to belief in miracles. There were
Satanic miracles as well as divine; nor
can any distinction be drawn as a mat
ter of evidence between the two. As little
can any distinction be drawn in point of
evidence between the Gospel miracles and
the ecclesiastical miracles, which never
theless Protestants reject. The miracles
of one sort. the Demoniac, are bound up
with the Jewish belief in possession by
personal devils. from which all efforts to
disentangie them so as to resolve them
into cures of lunacy by moral influence
are vain. The four Gospels and the Acts,
which comprise the historic evidences are
all anonymous, all OF uncertain author
ship. The first three Gospels are evident
incrustations upon an older document
which Is lost and about which nothing Is
known. In not one of the five cases can
the existence of the book be traced to
the time of the events or a time so near
the events as to preclude the growth OF
fable in highly superstitious and totally
uncritlcal age. The presentation of
Christ's character and teaching in the
fourth Gospel. which is Aiexandrian. is
far from identical with the presentation
in the first three Gospels. which are Jew
ish. There are irreconcilable discrepan-
oies between the Gospels as to matters
of fact. notably in regard to the geneaio-
gy of Christ. the length of his mission,
the Last Supper. the day OF the Cruel
fxion, the details of the Resurrection,
and the Ascension. Such miracles as the
miraculous darkness, the earthquake, the |
rending of the veil of the Temple, the |
opening of the tombs. and the apparition |
of the dead in the streets of Jerusalem, |
being totally unconfirmed by history or |
by any recorded effect, stagger belief. |
Such testimony as st. Paul bears to the |
Resurrection is second hand is that of a |
convert in the ecstasy of conversion, and |
is manifestly uncritical. His own enthu- |
siasm is Ineligible on merely human |
grounds. We may be sure that had God |
become fncarnate to save man, absolute |
ly conclusive proof of that fact would |
have been vouchsafed. But the proof Is /
not sufficient to establish anything not |
otherwise perfectly credible, far less to |
establish the miraculous birth, the res
and the incarnation. Such in |
broad outline is the case OF RationaIism
against Supernatural Religion presented |
by the work just mentioned and its allies. |
The effects are visible even in High |
Church writings. In the writings of lib
erals, of course, they are still more visi-
BILE. Jowett had come to the conclusion |
that our sources of knowledge about
Christ had been reduced to single docu-
ment. no longer in existence. which form
ed the basis of the first three Gospels.
The desire to minimize the supernatural
and throw 1t into the background, bring
ing the personal character of Christ and
his ethical teaching into the foreground.
Is now manifest in English, as IL has |
long been in German, divines. 1t Is con-
;picuous in the very popular and colorably |
orthodox works of DIR. Farrar In his |
Life of Christ the supernatural has lit
lie place. There is an evident tendency |
throughout to disentangle from 1t the
character and moral teaching. RESPONSE
1ility for belief in the God-head of Christ
seems to rest on the Council OF Nicaea.
In the Life of Christ an effort. which