'-^'c ?^^^Y1^
^ PRINCETON, N. J. ^'
Shelf
BL 245 .B66 1891
Bonney, T. G. 1833-1923.
Old truths in modern lights
OLD TRUTHS
IN MODERN LIGHTS
OLD TRUTHS
IN
MODERN LIGHTS
THE BOYLE LECTURES FOR 1890
WITH OTHER SERMONS
T. G. 'BONNEY, D.Sc.
LL.D., F.R.S., F.S.A., F.G.S.
FELLOW OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, HONORARY CANON OF MANCHESTER
AND EXAMINING CHAPLAIN TO THE LORD BISHOP OF MANCHESTER
Hontion
PERCIVAL AND CO.
1S91
TO MY MOTHER,
WHO, BY HER UNFAILING LOVE,
HAS ENCOURAGED ME TO LABOUR,
BY HER PATIENCE IN SUFFERING HAS BEEN A LIVING LESSON
IN THE WAY OF THE CROSS,
I DEDICATE THIS LITTLE BOOK.
preface
Notwithstanding the well-known proverb about
making excuses, I must venture to apologize for an
obvious defect in the present book. The discourses
contained in it were written at different times, with-
out any idea that they would emerge from the stage
of manuscript. On being requested to publish a
volume of sermons, I selected for this purpose those
which appeared to me to have more relation than
others to questions which at the present day often
exercise, and sometimes disturb, the minds of thought-
ful Christians. Thus, occasionally, I have had to
choose between repeating myself, and destroying the
coherence of a sermon by making excisions ; and, on
the whole, I have preferred the former course. In one
case, indeed, the repetition has been deliberate ; for
the final discourse in this volume deals with a subject
viii PREFACE.
which has been more than glanced at in one of the
Boyle Lectures. But as I think the matter one of
considerable interest, and do not remember to have
read anj^ discussion of it from quite the same point of
view, I have ventured to hope that a more full treat-
ment than was permitted by the limits of those
lectures might be of interest to some readers.
I wish also to state that if any resemblances be
observed between passages in this book and the well-
known work entitled LvbX Mundi, they are for-
tuitous. As the dates appended will show, most of
these sermons, except the Boyle Lectures, were
written before that work was published.^ As it
happened, when I was asked, unavoidably at rather
short notice, to undertake to give those lectures, I had
been so much engaged as to be unable to find time
to read Lux Mundi. Hence, as I was even then
greatly pressed by my ordinary duties, I thought it
best to follow my usual plan in like circumstances,
^ Six of them were preached at St. Peter's, Vere Street, in 1889,
when the Rev. W. Page Roberts was absent for three months owing
to a serious illness.
Three of the sermons in this volume have been published in the
Church of England Pulpit, and I am indebted to the courtesy of the
E'litor for permission to reprint them.
PREFACE. ix
namely^ to confine my reading to books which would
be more likely to impugn than to maintain my own
views.
Lux Mundi marks, in my opinion, an important
epoch in the history of religious thought in the
present century. It is, in a certain sense, a prognostic
of a coming reformation, and can hardly fail to
produce effects more far-reaching than perhaps its
authors either foresaw or have even yet foreseen.
Common report reckons them in the ranks of what
is usually called the High Church party. In their
book the necessity of applying scientific principles
to the treatment of theological questions is virtually
admitted. This concession will be found, I think,
either to place them in an extremely unstable posi-
tion between the conflicting claims of reason and
authority, or to force them irresistibly to abandon
much which has hitherto been regarded by their own
party as of primary importance. They have given
up, so to say, a position which was the key of their
defence, and its abandonment will render untenable
a rather imposing line of outworks. This probably
has been perceived by some of the more keen-
b
X PREFACE.
sighted among the High Church party, and has been
the real cause of the vehement indignation which
the book has aroused in certain quarters.
It is quite true — and on this matter we should be
agreed — that no small part of the faith held in
common by Christians of various denominations
cannot be assailed by methods strictly scientific, and
is perfectly compatible with scientific progress. The
spiritual order is one thing, the physical order is
another ; though there may be occasionally common
ground between them, and special difficulties may
result as a consequence.
But there are also certain doctrines which, generally
speaking, are characteristic only of particular branches
of the Church, or of particular aggregates of Christians,
with which Science can make no truce, and to which
she will show no quarter.
Some of these have become exceptionally promi-
nent of late years. During the present century two
great religious movements have been witnessed, and
we are now feeling more than the premonitory
tremors of a third. The first of these, indeed, began
in the eighteenth century, but its effects were more
PREFACE. xi
generally conspicuous early in the present one. I
refer, of course, to the great '' Evangelical " move-
ment, which produced a stirring in the " dry bones "
of Hanoverian Churchmanship, the blessings of which
can hardly be overrated. It brought into strong
relief the principle of " individualism " in religion ; but,
as is the case in politics, this had its own dangers
and defects. Its system of theology was narrow and
inexpansive ; it sometimes came dangerously near
to beinof tainted with Manichean error : it insisted
upon regarding nature and the world from a single
standpoint, and thus, as a rule, dissociated itself from
learning, culture, and many healthful influences. It
also overlooked the importance of historic continuity
and the value of corporate action, sentiment, and
influences.
These defects brought in a speedy decadence among
its leaders ; these, of late years, have caused its many
excellences to be overlooked and forgotten. Then
came the great " Catholic " reaction, which was called
at first the Oxford movement. Its upholders were
strong exactly where their predecessors were weak.
Men found there was a place in religion for learning,
xii PREFACE.
for art, and for poetry ; that the Church of the nine-
teenth century claimed to be in organic connection with
that not only of the first, but also of all succeeding
centuries, and was in possession of a literature which
was a rich mine of noble thoughts and devout aspira-
tions. The learning, the ability, and the personal
holiness of some of its earliest leaders contributed
much to the success of this movement, which stood
in some respects in the same relation to the former
(though obviously the comparison cannot be pressed
far) as does socialism to individualism. Doubtless,
also, some of its success is due to the attractions
which it offers to sundry obvious weaknesses in
human nature. What wonder if a young man recently
ordained should feel the fascination of " high views "
as to sacerdotal authority, when he is fully conscious
that only a few months since no one cared much
about his opinion on any question of importance !
What wonder if those Christians — a rather numerous
group — who are afraid, like some young children, to
walk without the supporting hand of a nurse, should
surrender themselves willingly to the guidance of a
" spiritual director " ! So this movement has had its
PREFACE. xiii
day of triumph, which has surprised those who had
confidence in the sturdy independence and strong
common sense of the Englishman. But now a habit
is growing up, hitherto not so much within as with-
out the clerical order, a habit induced by the vast
progress which has been made in scientific investiga-
tion and by the consequent methods of thought and
reasoning, of looking at every question from the stand-
point of an unfettered inquirer. The dominant school
is content with authorities, the new one requires facts ;
the one is literary, the other scientific in its methods ;
the one, like a lawyer, seeks for precedents and for
decrees; the other, for reasons and for principles.
Tell the former that a certain good man, who died a
thousand years ago, held such and such an opinion,
and as a rule he is satisfied; tell the same to the
latter, and he remarks that the fact is interesting in
its bearing on the history of thought, but inquires
whether the people of that age had better means of
coming to a decision, or indeed so good, as are pos-
sessed by those of the present.
This new spirit, before long, cannot fail to come into
sharp conflict with that which at the present day
xiv PREFACE.
commands a large number, possibly, at any rate
among the clergy of the Church of England, even a
majority, of adherents, who are eagerly contending for
and insisting on tlie primary importance of those
doctrines and those methods of worship which arro-
gate to themselves the title of Catholic. In regard to
those doctrines and practices, especially the latter,
many zealous advocates appear to have no clear
idea as to their own position. This may be due
to the influences to which they have been exposed.
But if they fall into scientific habits of thought, the
question will be presented to them somewhat in this
way : " We are fighting for vestments, candles, and a
certain ritual as keenly as if they were almost neces-
sary for salvation. What do we mean by our earnest
contention ? Do we want these appendages simply
to gratify an antiquarian sentiment, or are they really
symbolical of doctrine ? If the former only, let us
disarm opposition by proclaiming their unimportance ;
and if even then they give serious offence, let us do
without them. Surely we are not worse men than our
forefathers because we wear a different (and less
picturesque) dress ! Besides that, there is some reason
PREFACE. XV
in the opposition, for these practices in the past un-
doubtedly proved liable to abuse, and were perverted
into superstition. If, however, they are significant of
doctrine, at what date did they become important ?
How far are these things, these ideas, part of the
charter of Christianity^ as it may be called, or only
some of its bye-laws enacted at a time when, as
history shows, Christendom was not in a very healthy
condition ? " For instance, in regard to " eucharistic "
and other " vestments," for which some fight strenu-
ously as being symbolical of doctrine ; if these vest-
ments prove to be only survivals of the ordinary
dress, or of the Sunday clothes (to use a homely
phrase), of an epoch three centuries at least after the
foundation of Christianity, this symbolism must have
been imported into them by a still later age, so that
they are only artificially, not really, expressive of
doctrine.-^ Again, when we find that some of these
* The fact stated above is commonly ignored, and sometimes even
denied, by the writers of a certain school, but its truth cannot be dis-
puted by any jiersou who studies antiquities and reads history in a
scientific spirit. Of such an investigation the general results will be
found in the chapter on " Kcclesiastical Vestments " in the late Dean
Stanley's Christian Institutions. A more full discussion, with ample
materials for study, will be found in the late W. B. Marriott's Vesti-
arium Christianum. He brings forward a mass of evidence, positive
xvi PREFACE.
beliefs and claims for perpetual thaumaturgic powers
on the part either of individuals or of an order not
and negative, which, as it seems to me, places his conclusions beyond
doubt, viz. " that in the Apostolic age there was no essential differ-
ence between the dress worn by Christians in ordinary life and that
worn by bishops, priests, or other clerics, when engaged in oflBces of
holy ministration ; but that, after the lapse of three or four centuries,
the dress of ordinary life became changed, while that worn in ecclesi-
astical offices remained in form unchanged, though ever more and
more richly decorated ; that from these causes a marked distinction
was gradually brought about between the dress of the clergy and that
of the laity (to say nothing of the monastic orders, who were dis-
tinguished from both) ; that as time went on the ordinary dress of the
clergy themselves came to be distinguished, in form, in colour, and in
name, from that in which they ministered, while at length a yet
further distinction was introduced between the dress of the more
ordinary ministrations and the more splendid vestments reserved for
the highest offices of all, and for occasions of especial solemnity "
(Introduction, p. ii.)-
The remarks above are not intended to refer, even obliquely, to the
recent judgment of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the case Bead
and Others v. the Lord Bhhop of Lincoln (Nav. 21, 1890). The ques-
tion before His Grace was one strictly legal — to decide, not whether
certain practices were conducive to edification or the reverse, but
whether they were contrary to the law of the land. Of that judgment,
if I may be permitted to express an opinion, I can only speak in terms
of respectful admiration. Personally, I should have been glad if it
had been found that more of the practices of which complaint was
made were illegal, because they are liable to be perverted to supersti-
tion ; but after reading the judgment, in which a very intricate question
is handled with great learning, with a powerful grasp, and in a spirit
truly scientific, it seems clear to me that it will be very difficult to
dispute His Grace's decision. The Church, at any rate, gains when it
is shown, as in regard to the famous question of the Eastward position,
that the practice in dispute has no doctrinal significance at all (pp.
42-45). I could wish the judgment in the case had been accepted. It
would have practically extinguished many controversies. One party
PREFACE. xvii
only cannot be discovered in the charter and title-
deeds of the Church, if we read them in a scientific
though reverent spirit, but also appear to be repu-
diated by the writers of these documents, and can
be traced back to ages long anterior to Christianity,
when we find them to involve ideas and practices
common to many ancient religions, to the priest of
the polytheist and to the Shaman of the nature-
worshipper, are we not obliged to confess that the
like are excrescences on Christianity, parasitic growths
of which it had better be rid ? ^
would have been gratified by permission to indulge a taste for symbol-
ism and a love of archaisms — and the more they had read the judg-
ment, the less their real gain would have appeared ; the other would
have been able to quote the authority of the chief representative of
the Church of England in insisting that the ceremonies in dispute
were unimportant, and without doctrinal significance. So long as it
is understood that this ritual means no more than the expression of
a desire that all things should be done decently and in order, that it
only gratifies sentiment, and does not inculcate doctrine other than that
of the Church of England, then I wish not to interfere with the
liberty of my neighbour, provided I am not compelled to take part in
what only distracts my mind and hinders my prayers.
' These concluding remarks are not intended to apply to tlie
Church of England as a body, though some of its members, if their
assertions and practices are to be taken seriously, cannot be excepted
from them. That all things should be done decently and in order is
an Apostolic precept which commends itself to all men of religious
instinct; but the elaborate and histrionic functions now held in so
much favour by a section of the clergy seem to me much more likely
xviii PREFACE.
This is the conclusion to which, I think, many
besides myself will be led before long, if they be-
lieve that the God of .nature and of man is one and
the same, and that methods generally identical are
to be employed in the search for truth, whether in
science or in theology, allowance being made for cer-
tain inherent differences ; for in the latter, induction
must be founded on indirect experiment or on general
observation, while in the former the one may be
direct and the other particular.
But by these scientific methods, as it seems to me,
neither the leading historic facts nor the true spiritual
element in Christianity will be altered. Science
cannot forbid me to prostrate myself before that
Almighty Personal Power which underlies all pheno-
mena ; it cannot reason me out of m}^ consciousness
of the need of a Spiritual Helper, and of the possi-
to foster superstition than to encourage devotion. For instance, in the
Directorium Anglicanum (which, as it has reached a fourth edition,
must be regarded with considerable favour among the clergy), we find
included among the directions for the celebration of the Eucharist the
" Cautels of the Mass,'' and stress is laid upon their value. Some of
the directions in the said "cautels" seem to me much more like
extracts from a book of magic than directions for due order in the
worship of Him Who is revealed to us in the words of Christ and of
His Apostle.-i.
PREFACE. XIX
bility of some kind of communion with Him. No
doubt it brings before my mind more distinctly the
difficulties in accepting certain facts which are in-
separable from the Christian creed; but, notwith-
standing these difficulties, when I contemplate the
whole subject and remember the imperfection of our
knowledge even of that order of which our senses
can take cognizance, I can accept as literally true
the history of the Incarnation and the Resurrection
of the Lord Jesus, and can believe in the efficacy of
prayer and in the action of forces in the spiritual
order, which I can neither define nor comprehend.
We are, then, I think, witnessing the opening of
another epoch of change, which will rid the Reformed
Church of sundry narrow ideas and some superstitions,
the heritage of older days, which, after a long
slumber, have recently awakened to a strangely and
lamentably vigorous life. But their hours are num-
bered. Touched by the Ithuriel spear of truth,
viewed in the clear, if somewhat cold, light of science,
their real nature will be revealed. Many a fair
form will disclose the ugly visage of latent paganism,
and the bright robe of symbolism will be changed into
XX PREFACE.
the rags of idolatry and the talismans of the Shaman.
The generation to come will set more store upon
the Master's words than upon the interpretation given
to them some centuries afterwards, and will possess a
creed which is both simpler and more truly Catholic ;
for it will think less of legal and ceremonial observ-
ances, and more of loving the Lord Jesus Christ, and
of seeking, be it never so imperfectly, to tread the
path which He has pointed out by His Life and His
Death,
T. G. BONNET.
Contents
THE PEESENT CONFLICT OF SCIENCE
AND THEOLOGY (Boyle Lectures, No. I.).
Preached in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall.
PAGE
"But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of under-
standing f" — Job xxviii. 12, 1
THE PRESENT CONFLICT OF SCIENCE
AND THEOLOGY (Boyle Lectures, No. II.).
Preached in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall.
"I found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God." — Acts
XVII. 23, 14
THE PEESENT CONFLICT OF SCIENCE
AND THEOLOGY (Boyle Lectures, No. III.),
Preached in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall.
" God, Who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son."
— Heb. I. 1 29
THE PEESENT CONFLICT OF SCIENCE
AND THEOLOGY (Boyle Lectures, No. IV.).
Preached in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall.
" I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world ; again I leave
the world, and go to the Father."—ST. John xvr. 28, 4-t
CONTENTS.
THE PRESENT CONFLICT OF SCIENCE
AND THEOLOGY (Boyle Lectures, No. V.).
Preached in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall.
PAGE
" I delight in the Law of God after the inward man : but I see another law
in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." — Rom. vii. 22, 23, . . 59
THE PRESENT CONFLICT OF SCIENCE
AND THEOLOGY (Boyle Lectures, No. VI.).
Preached in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall.
" The Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God,
merciful, and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
and that will by no means clear the guilty ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children, and upon the children's children." — Exod. xxxiv, 6, 7, . 74
THE PRESENT CONFLICT OF SCIENCE
AND THEOLOGY (Boyle Lectures, No. VII.).
Preached in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall.
"Be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness."— 2 Pet. in. 8, 9, . . 86
THE PRESENT CONFLICT OF SCIENCE
AND THEOLOGY (Boyle Lectures, No. VIII.).
Preached in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall.
" Remember how short my time is : wherefore hast Thou made all men in
vain?" — Ps. Lxxxix. 47, 98
THE THREEFOLD NATURE OF MAN.
Preached before the University of Cambridge.
" May your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame, at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." — 1 Thess. v. 23 (R.V.), . . . .114
CONTENTS.
THE INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE (No. I.).
Preached at St. Peter's, Vere Street.
PAGE
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."— 2. Tim. hi. 16, . 135
THE INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE (No. II.).
Preached at St. Peter's, Vere Street.
" Tour fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah,
the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor : and they s^ervd other gods."
—Josh. xxiv. 2 148
THE GROWTH OF JESUS (No. I.).
Preached at St. Peter's, Vere Street.
"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour loith God ani
lan." — St. Luke ii. 52, 162
THE GROWTH OF JESUS (No. II.).
Preached at St. Peter's, Vere Street.
" And Jesus increased in xoisdom and stature, and in favour with God and
»>ian."— St. Luke ii. 52, 175
THE GOSPEL OF ST. PAUL.
Preached in Westminster Abbey.
"If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most
pitiable."— I Cor. xv. 19 (R.V.),
187
THE DEMONIACS OF GADARA.
Preached at St. Peter's, Vere Street.
''So the devils besought Him, saying. If Thou cast lis out, suffer us to go
aivayintotheherdof swine."— St. Matt. \iu. 31 203
CONTENTS.
THE MIRACLES OF APOSTOLIC
AND MEDIEVAL TIMES.
Preached for the Christian Evidence Society.
PAGE
*' There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great
.^igns and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the
wry eZeci."— St. Matt. XXIV. 24 218
THE KAISING OF THE WIDOW'S SON.
Preached at St. Peter's, Vere Street.
" Jesus said. Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat
itp, and began to speak." — St. Luke vii. 14, 15, 231
PATIENCE IN WORK.
Preached at the Ordination in Manchester Cathedral.
" Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the
husbandman waitethfor the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience
for it, until he receive the early and latter rain." — St. James v. 7, . . . 243
THE LILIES OF THE FIELD.
Preached in Shoreditch Church.
" Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they
spin : and yet I say unto you, ITiat even Solomon in all his glory was not
arrayed likeoneof these."— St. Matt. VI. 28, 22 256
THE ORIGIN OF EVIL .... 269
Lecture at St. Philip's, Regent Street, founded on a paper read at Sion College.
THE PRESENT CONFLICT OF SCIENCE
AND THEOLOGY (Boyle Lectures, No. 1.).^
" But where shall wisdom be found ? and where is the place
of uiideristanding?" — Job xxviii. 12.
We are living in anxious times, and who will venture
to predict what event the next quarter of a century
will bring forth ? Is our nation, is the civilized part
of the world, approaching an epoch of convulsion, the
birth-throes of a new order, like that which, about
a century since, shattered the ancient regime and