ANTI-ESSAYS: THE "ESSAYS AND REVIEWS" OF 1860 FALLACIOUS AND FUTILE, "AT VARIANCE WITH EACH OTHER AND MUTUALLY DESTRUCTIVE. BY THE REV. C. H. DAVIS, M. A., OF WADHAM COLLEGE, OXFORD; CHAPLAIN OF STROUD UNION. "Some men, ....... show their want of intellectual self-control SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO.: AND WERTHEIM, MACINTOSH, AND HUNT. PREFACE. THE Author of the following remarks had made up his mind to waste neither time nor money upon the ESSAYS AND REVIEWS of 1860, which were creating some sensation even in that year. Indeed, such formidable reports of the character and ability of the volume had been made to him that he almost dreaded possible perversion if he ventured to peruse it!* A visit to Oxford on the occasion of the election of a Sanscrit Professor on 7th December 1860, and a rather pressing offer of the loan of the Essays on 15th December by an Oxford friend, morally compelled him (for several sufficient reasons) to give the Work an attentive perusal. The result was a feeling in his mind of utter amazement that a production so fallacious and futile should have endangered the faith of any person moderately acquainted with Biblical literature ! He at once proceeded to expose the puerile character of the volume in two letters which appeared in the RECORD newspaper of the 4th and the 11th of January, 1861, (the latter being published just one week before the QUARTERLY REVIEW for January, with its able article on the seven Essays,) and he would have thoroughly criticised its contents, had not a press of matter precluded the allowance by the Editor of sufficient room to enable him to do justice to the subject, especially as the three very valuable letters of the Rev. Dr. M' Caul on Modern Deism,† and the admirable letter of the Rev. T. R. Birks on Baron Bunsen's Works, were occupying considerable space about the same time. The illness and decease of a near relative on the 17th January also tended to divert the Author's thoughts to other matters. And had it not been for the occurrence of the Episcopal censure of the Essays on the 12th February, (causing a rapid sale of the volume,) followed by repeated challenges for a refutation in the columns of the TIMES newspaper, and the non-appearance of any direct reply, (so far as the Author knows,) it is probable that he would have entirely abandoned the subject. As matters now stand, however, he has been induced, at some personal inconvenience, to comply with the wishes of a friend, and to put into a permanent shape an exposure of the true character of the contents of the *It is not always wise to try how much poison we can venture to take with impunity. These letters have been since re-printed as a pamphlet entitled, Rationalism and Deistical Infidelity. By Rev. Dr. M'Caul. (Wertheim, Macintosh, & Co., 1861.) Price 18. In the Record of 16th January, 1861. ii singular volume of Essays and Reviews. His aim will be to show by the glaring mistakes of the Essayists, (notwithstanding their self-confident appeals,) how unsafe they are as guides to others, in the hope that when a discerning public shall have once made this discovery it will the less readily trust these and such like plausible writers another time. He will also endeavour to call attention to divers useful Theological treatises which may supply an antidote to the various attacks on the Bible by the seven Essayists. And let it be remembered that until they shall have refuted these Theological treatises, of which they are either ignorant or which they choose to ignore, their Essays must be regarded and treated by the Christian Public as neither unanswerable nor unanswered. It is easy to raise objections in a single page, the replies to which would fill a volume. May the Lord bless this feeble effort for the promotion of His own glory, and for the advancement of His truth! Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, 26th February, 1861.* C. H. D. THE circumstance of the following work having been originally issued in Nos. of 16 pages each (at first designed for the limits of six Nos., but subsequently extended to seven,) will explain the occasional allusions to "prescribed limits" and deficient space, &c. To considerably enlarge the replies to the Essays would have been easy. But the Author felt it right to adhere as closely as possible to the promised limits, and to restrict himself chiefly to an exposure of the gross errors and mistakes of the Essayists themselves, and to those refutations which may be derived from the statements and admissions in their own Volume. He would gladly have said much more upon the Essays of Mr. Powell and Mr. Jowett, and especially upon the subject of Miracles, had space permitted. In the Volume of Essays may be seen some of the best sceptical arguments which seven clever men are able to adduce against the Bible and against Christ's religion. If they could have raised better arguments, they would doubtless have done so. The puerile character of the attempt of even such men to subvert the authority of the Bible may, therefore, be regarded as one not unimportant, though indirect, testimony to the strength of its position. † 20th June, 1861. The Preface and Introduction were in the Printer's hands before the Author saw the Report of the Debate in Convocation on 26th February, 1861. +The question raised, and left unanswered, by Mr. Pattison at p. 329, (see ch. vi., p. 103 of the present work,) is satisfactorily answered in Infidelity, its Cause and Cure, by David Nelson, M.D., a converted American Infidel. (Routledge and Co., 1s.) Indeed, Mr. Powell partly answers it in his Essay, No. iii., 143: see chaapter iii., pp. 52-53 of the present work. Upon the general character and tendency of the Essays, there are some good remarks at pp. 3-10 of the Rev. C. Girdlestone's Negative Theology, an Argument for Liturgical Revision. (Longman & Co., 1861, Price 6d.) THE ESSAYS AND REVIEWS" OF 1860 FALLACIOUS AND FUTILE, &c. INTRODUCTION. REVIEWS of 1860, THE notorious volume of the ESSAYS AND published about May in that year by J. W. created a considerable sensation, resulting in a censure unanimously signed by the Prelates of the English branch of the United Church of England and Ireland, and dated 12th February 1861. In December, 1860, it had reached a second edition; and shortly afterwards it reached a third. In February 1861, we find a fourth and a fifth edition to have been issued by Messrs. Longman & Co. Respecting the history and editorship of the volume in question, there is, indeed, a degree of mystery. Its Preface tells us in mild and gentle accents, that the seven Essays were written by their respective Authors "in entire independence of each other, and without concert or comparison," and that they "are responsible for their respective articles only." It also assumes the volume to exhibit "a free handling, in a becoming spirit," (!) of the subjects discussed therein. But may not this statement be of a mythical" character, as some of these Essays tell us the Bible is, and therefore not to be interpreted too literally or accepted as exactly expressing what it seems to imply? Who wrote this Preface? Who edited the Volume, and put the seven Essays into their present form and order? Who paid their authors for writing them? What interest has each of them in the volume's sale? Who sent to these various parties their respective topics? For to suppose that these seven Essays came together by a fortuitous concurrence of literary atoms, |