PREFACE.

THE lectures, essays, and reviews, in this volume, have been published at different times, during the last seventeen years, and for the most part in the order in which they are here arranged. The principal reason for publishing them, in their present form, is that they may stand in their chronological order, and that a unity of purpose, which guided their preparation, may more clearly appear.

That purpose has been to show the bearing of certain literary, social, scientific, and religious questions, which, from time to time, have interested the public mind, upon great principles which underlie all history and life, and find their fullest expression and embodiment in Christianity. In the review of Mr. Gladstone's "Homer and the Homeric Age," it was my purpose to show, from the facts which Mr. Gladstone has, with such wonderful industry and learning, accumulated, that the civilization, which has been most potent in the world's history, at the earliest period at which we can catch its development, was linked in with a religious system which rested upon a primitive revelation, and formed one of the main

lines upon which the preparations for Christianity proceed. In the essay on the "Suspense and Restoration of Faith," I designed, as far as possible, to refute the idea that Christianity, which is thus rooted in the world's history, is destined to pass away; to show that the permanent elements in it are the evangelical faith and the apostolic order, and that the faith stands related to the Church as a visible and perpetual institution in society. In the review of the "Oxford Essays," it was my purpose to present Christianity as necessarily a supernatural religion, and to vindicate its miraculous element from assaults made upon it by some of those who are nominally its adherents. The essay on the "United States a Nation" is a plea for the national character and integrity of the Union. The importance of this, in this connection, will be apparent, since Christianity is very largely dependent upon the national life and historical continuity of the State. In the lecture on "Evolution and a Personal Creator," I have endeavored to show the relations of Christianity to scientific inquiry and discovery, especially in regard to the origin and development of life. In the lecture on "Dante," the main purpose is to consider some of the principles of Christian reform, of which Dante was so wonderful an cxponent.

In reviewing the positions which have been taken, and the arguments used in these papers, there are a few things which I would like to say by way of explanation. In the "Suspense and Restoration of Faith," I have spoken of the philosophy of Sir William Hamilton in its relation to the religious tendencies of the age. I should be sorry to have it inferred from what I have said that I am a disciple of that philosophy. My object was simply to show that a suspense of faith, for any protracted period, is not probable, since the Hamiltonian philosophy, which is the most influential, in the present age, compels us to choose either faith or universal scepticism.

In the "Oxford Essays and Reviews," I expressed certain opinions in regard to the attitude of science at that period. I still think that those opinions were correct; but they are undoubtedly untenable in regard to the attitude of science at the present day. Prof. Powell, in urging his views in regard to miracles, had referred to Mr. Darwin's work on the "Origin of Species" as substantiating "on undeniable grounds the origination of new species by natural causes." In the condition of scientific inquiry, at that period, I preferred meeting this statement of Prof. Powell by the assertion that it was untrue in the sense of implying that Mr. Darwin's theory had obtained the general recognition of scientific men.

At the same

time, I said: "Whether Mr. Darwin's theory, supposing it to be true, confirms Prof. Powell's views, we do not feel called upon to decide. We can understand that it might be consistent with an enlightened Theism." Within the last few years, however, the attitude of science in this respect has decidedly changed, and in the lecture on "Evolution and a Personal Creator," delivered in March, 1874, I have endeavored to show that the theory of evolution is not necessarily inconsistent with any essential principle of natural religion or of Christianity.

In the same paper, the "Oxford Essays and Reviews," I have, in a note, made use of the theory of probability, in considering the subject of the resurrection of Christ. I am now satisfied that such a calculation of probabilities can not be judiciously applied to this question. It is properly applied to the calculation of chances, where out of a vast number of results, one is just as probable as another; although the chances against any one particular result are immensely great. I am unwilling to avail myself of an argument which, while it is peculiarly calculated to impress the imagination, may be fallacious. The probabilities as to the fact of the resurrection of Christ are of a different order, and are not readily subjected to mathematical calculation.

Two of the papers in this volume-that upon Mr.