MR. MOZLEY'S LECTURES.* Da. MOZLEY'S literary remains would have been

well worth publishing, if it were only for the sake of giving to the world his very remarkable essay—the third in the volume—on "The Jewish and Heathen Conceptions of a Future State." The interest of this paper is not by any means confined to the author's treatment of the immediate question it deals with, but consists as much or more in his exposition of principles of religious knowledge never, perhaps, of more practical import- ance than at the present crisis in the history of the world. In days like these, when religion is watered-down to mere senti- ment, and a belief in the supernatural is readily ascribed to the force of habit or inclination, or to the credulousness of a dis- ordered fancy—parallel to a child's fear, when left alone in a dark room, that there may be a ghost in it—it becomes of the highest importance to draw a sharp, a well-defined line between mere feeling and imagination, which, as such, are purely sub- jective, and tell of no truth beyond themselves, and those deep instincts of our moral nature—the sense of sin and reverence for virtue, the yearning after what is noble and outside the range of our sensual needs—which point to something beyond themselves ; which are, as it were, the shadow of the Divinity, and the first indications to our minds of His presence in the world. Dr. Mosley was, we think, singularly happy in the suggestions he made on this anbject, and his essay has the advantage of treating of it in connection with concrete historical facts. Whether or no his principles fully and truly explain these facts, we shall not inquire. They undoubtedly do so to some extent, but the importance of his remarks goes, as we have said, far beyond the theme which he is

• Lectures, and Other TleoLvical rapers. By .1. B. Mozley.D.D., late Canon of Clint eine eb, and lleginv Prefeseot- of Divinity in the University of Oxford. London : Itivingtona. 1E83.

anediately engaged in discussing. This theme is stated broadly in the following passage :—

"It has been remarked, by those who have wished to derogate from the value and rank of the Jewish dispensation, that the Jews were worse-off than the Pagans in one important point,—namely, that they were without a doctrine of a future state, whereas Paganism taught that doctrine. This is a question, then, not only of specula- tive interest, but of great moment, considering that the estimate of -a divine dispensation is affected by it. But in order to decide it, we must first have before us with some accuracy what the Pagan doctrine was, and what the Jewish absence of doctrine was ; for we must know both of these conditions of thought, in order to compare them together, and judge whether the positive conception of the Pagan was, being compared with the absence of definite conception in -Judaism, a ground of superiority to him. Again, we cannot estimate the Jewish attitude towards a Future State without a reference to the Christian conception of a Future State, for which the condition -of the Jew was a preparation."

In this passage, Dr. Mozley lays down the lines on which he

is to proceed. He goes on to show how different were the various forms of the Pagan doctrine—whether in its popular .shape, or as taught in the philosophical schools—from the 'Christian idea of eternal life. The continuance of personal identity is at the root of the Christian conception, and this dis- appears entirely in metempsychosis, and in the doctrine, so common among ancient philosophers, of the absorption of the soul in God after death; while it is attenuated to -an unreal shadow of self, in the poetical accounts of the state of the dead. "It has been remarked, indeed," he

-adds, "by an acute writer [Archbishop Whately] that the shadowy character which the ancients attributed to existence after death was a mode of betraying their own want of true -belief in that existence." And here we have the first indication of the line of argument which the author works out afterwards in detail. The notion of immortality prevalent among the

Pagans was not a real belief, he holds, but the offspring of an impatient curiosity. They longed to penetrate behind the veil, and to solve the awful mystery suggested by the phenomenon of death, which was so constantly before their eyes. They were mot, Dr. Mozley holds, in a state in which reason could tell them -anything on the subject, and consequently, to obtain relief, to free themselves from the pain of suspended judgment, they filled their minds with theories of their own construction, not seri- ously believed, but dwelt upon for the sake of the immediate satisfaction they afforded to the imaginative mind. But why, we ask, could they not see by the light of reason a truth which Dr. Mozley holds to be within the grasp of the intellect of a -Christian P This leads us to his treatment of the Jewish absence of conception of ariy future state. The doctrine of eternal life, Dr. Mozley argues in effect, is far above and beyond the requirements of human nature in its prima facie aspect.

Both heaven and hell appear to be beyond the deserts of mortal man. Most of our acquaintance seem, at first-sight, "o'er glide for banning, and o'er bad for blessing." It is only after the spiritual element in man's nature has been fostered and de- veloped, and his dependence on God and awful responsibilities in this world fully realised, that he is able to know his own greatness, and to see the fitness, nay, the necessity, of an eternal

life, to complete the divine scheme in his creation. And this raising of human nature, this development of its noblest

instincts, was, Dr. Mozley contends, the work of the Jewish Jaw :-

"To build up, then, the Christian doctrine of everlasting life, so incredible to human nature, a new foundation was necessary, and that foundation was a moral one. And it was this moral foundation which was laid in the Jewish law. It is as a moral being that man feels his value ; that he feels himself not a creature made for this life only, but for another ; that he feels even everlasting life, sublime and transcendent thought as it is, not unsuitable or unfit for him. The law was a schoolmaster that gave man a knowledge of himself, that awakened his conscience, enlightened his perceptions, and re- vealed him to himself; acquainted him with the moral purpose of his creation, and with his own moral nature and capabilities. The law was thus a preparation, an education, and a discipline for the revela- tion of this truth, and introduced man to the designs of God for him."

But, Dr. Mozley pertinently asks, if the law raised his con- ception of his own nature, and pointed to the fitness of a great and eternal destiny for him, how came it that the Jew never

rose to a clear and explicit belief, such as the Gospel enjoins, in life everlasting P The answer is that, although occasionally, as

in the Book of Job, the truth may have flashed more or less distinctly across individual minds, yet, on the whole, it was a part of the temper of mind enjoined on the Jews by their law- -givers to refrain from speculation, and to be content with a calm and patient trust in God, conscious that all would be well with them, so long as they remaiu,ed faithful to Him. "The whole religion was in its very nature expectant, acknowledging in itself its own want of finality." Attention to duty and obedience to the law being the very key-note of the life of a pions Jew, he refrained, as he was bid, from carrying his know- ledge of his own lofty destiny to its legitimate outcome, being content with that general confidence that God would be with him to the end which is implied in such texts as, "Let me die the death of the righteous," or, "The end of that man is in peace."

"It was his trial to restrain curiosity and fancy, and submit quietly to a midway position. It was a trial to the imagination analogous to that which Butler lays upon the intellect in a particular case. The impulse of a sceptical mind is to total disbelief as the decision of, and relief from, doubt. The impulse of the imagination is to the very contrary, not to illegitimate demolition, but to illegiti- mate construction ; but the motive is the same, namely, that of ob- taining decision and relief. The false repose of the arbitrary settle- ment of a question, and having done with it without regard to the evidence, is the same in either case ; and the discipline of resisting either impulse, namely, the restraining of impatience, is the same."

The contrast between the two pictures is, to our mind, very striking, and places in most prominent relief the wide difference between two states of mind which religions sceptics love to identify. On the one side, there is the curiosity of an imagina- tive mind, credulous but flippant in its beliefs, unchecked by the sense of duty or responsibility, little impressed by the sacredness of the claims of truth ; and, doubtless, such a temper of mind will readily lead to the wildest and grossest supersti- tion. On the other side, there is the sense of law, the percep- tion of the great possibilities of human nature, consciousness of dependence on God and of dirties towards Him, and, at the same time, great fear of error, and caution in speculation ; while, nevertheless, the sense that there is a truth to be known in connection with the mysterious and deep aspirations to which so much attention has been given becomes ever stronger, and must lead in the long-run to its attainment.