SIR ROBERT ANDERSON
Secret Service
Theologian
A
DOUBTER'S DOUBTS
about science and religion
PREFACE
SOME of the following chapters we printed in a volume a few
years ago. It may be thought perhaps that the criticisms they contain are out
of date, now that Spencer-ism is dead and Darwinism discredited. But though
biological theories which reigned supreme a few years ago have been abandoned
or modified by "men of light and leading," their influence still prevails with
the general public; and in response to appeals from several quarters I have
reproduced the chapters in question.
The fact that A Doubter's Doubts was
published anonymously may indicate how little its author thought of it. But
among many signal proofs that it was appreciated by others, the most important
was Mr. Gladstone's notice of it. And the circumstances in which the following
letter was written lend to it a peculiar interest. The extracts from his diary,
given in Mr. Morley's Life of Mr. Gladstone, record that December 18, 1889, was
the occasion of Parnell's historic visit to Hawarden, and that the day was
devoted to reviewing and reconsidering the whole Irish question, and discussing
it with the Irish leader. And yet on that very day Mr. Gladstone found leisure
to read my book, and to write to me about it. I should add that I had not sent
it to him, nor was I aware that he possessed it.
HAWARDEN,
December
r8, 1889.
DEAR SIR,
I do not know whom I have the honour of addressing,
but I wish to thank you for your Doubter's Doubts, and to say that I have read
it with a great deal of sympathy and concurrence in the main argument.
It
implies no abatement of this declaration if I take upon me to offer a
particular criticism. You strongly censure sacerdotalism, and so do I, in the
sense in which I understand it; for it takes the reins of government out of the
hands of those whom God has made free and responsible for their freedom, and
gives them to another, under the system which is called direction. But I
question whether you have stated with your usual precision the constituent
portions of it which you select for special condemnation. I apprehend that the
best Roman Catholic Divines would not place the consecration of the elements in
the Holy Eucharist within the category of miracles; and neither Roman nor
Anglican doctrine claims for the clergy the exclusive power of valid Baptism.
That power was more restricted in the views of the Puritans, and of foreign
Protestants, than of their opponents.
I presume to hope that you will
follow up the subjects of your volume with the same care, force, and exactitude
which in it you have bestowed especially upon the treatment of the main
argument, and
I remain, dear Sir,
Your faithful and obedient,
W. E.
GLADSTONE.
The Author of A Doubter's Doubts.
In my reply I
acknowledged my error respecting baptism- an error which has now been
corrected; but I urged that for the purpose of my argument I was entitled to
insist that the change of the elements in transubstantiation was in the
strictest sense a miracle. This brought me a further letter from Hawarden, from
which the following is an extract -
"I agree with you about dilapidation in
some quarters, and danger in more. I think that to counterwork the process, and
try to build up his fellow- creatures in the faith, is the highest way a man
has of serving them. I opine that you are not very far from this sentiment ;
and I heartily hope your book may be useful, and that you will pursue the paths
of knowledge congenial to it."
So much for the earlier chapters of this
volume. As a whole it is addressed to men of the world, and from the standpoint
of scepticism- the true scepticism which tests every-thing, not the sham sort
which credulously accepts anything that tends to discredit the Bible. In an age
that has seen not only a revival of some venerable superstitions but the rise
of many new fangled superstitions of various kinds, genuine scepticism is an
ally to faith. And, writing from this standpoint, destructive criticism is in
the main my method. To some the book will seem unsatisfactory on this account,
and yet they must recognize the importance of thus refuting the claims which
infidelity makes to superior enlightenment. Others may think that in these
pages the difficulties which perplex the Bible student are dismissed too
lightly. Here I must either accept the criticism, or risk a charge of egotism
if I appeal to my other books in proof that I neither ignore difficulties nor
attempt to minimize them.
LIST OF | CONTENTS |
Chapter One | How Did Life Begin? |
Chapter Two | The Darwinian Theory |
Chapter Three | Herbert Spencer's Scheme |
Chapter Four | Have We A Revelation? |
Chapter Five | Is Christianity Divine? |
Chapter Six | Mr. A.J. Balfour's Scheme |
Chapter Seven | The Cosmogeny of Genesis |
Chapter Eight | "An Agnostic's Apology" |
Chapter Nine | The Irrationalism of Infidelity. |
Chapter Ten | A Sceptic's Plea For Faith. |
Chapter Eleven | How To Read The Bible |
Chapter Twelve | The "Higher Criticism" |
APPENDIX |
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