Matthew Arnold

Name: Matthew Arnold
Author: Russell, George William Erskine

Russell, George William Erskine

Arnold, Matthew, 1822-1888; Critics -- Great Britain -- Biography; Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography

Others had established
the Historical and Prophetical grounds
     of the Christian Religion,
 and that sure testimony of its truth
which is found in its perfect adaptation
        to the heart of man.
 It was reserved for him to develop
     its analogy to the Constitution
        and Course of Nature;
 and, laying his strong foundations
in the depth of that great argument,
         there to construct
  another and irrefragable proof:
     thus rendering Philosophy
        subservient to Faith,
and finding in outward and visible things
       the type and evidence
      of those within the veil.

In his lectures on Butler, Arnold set out to prove that the Philosophy
was as unsound as the Faith to which it was subservient; and that it
could not hold its own against Atheism or Agnosticism, but only against
a system which conceded a Personal Governor of the Universe. This is the
argument against the Deists which he puts into Butler's mouth: "You all
concede a Supreme Personal First Cause, the almighty and intelligent
Governor of the Universe; this, you and I both agree, is the system and
order of nature. But you are offended at certain things in
revelation.... Well, I will show you that in your and my admitted system
of nature there are just as many difficulties as in the system of
revelation." And on this, says Arnold, he does show it, "and by
adversaries such as his, who grant what the Deist or Socinian grants, he
never has been answered, he never will be answered. The spear of
Butler's reasoning will even follow and transfix the Duke of
Somerset,[53] who finds so much to condemn in the Bible, but 'retires
into one unassailable fortress--faith in God.'"[54] Butler's method,
then, is allowed to be potent enough to crush all such half-believers as
still clung to the idea of a Personal God and Intelligent Ruler; but it
had no force or cogency against such as, following Arnold, attenuated
the idea of God into a Stream of Tendency. This theme he elaborated with
great ingenuity and characteristic dogmatism in his _Bishop Butler and
the Zeitgeist_; and, inasmuch as no task can be more distasteful than to
attack the teaching of a man whose genius and character one recognizes
among the formative influences of one's life, I will leave the upshot
of this ill-starred endeavour to be summarized by Butler's great
champion, Mr. Gladstone--

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Matthew ArnoldRussell, George William Erskine

General

Matthew Arnold

Russell, George William Erskine

Arnold, Matthew, 1822-1888; Critics -- Great Britain -- Biography; Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography

Others had established
the Historical and Prophetical grounds
     of the Christian Religion,
 and that sure testimony of its truth
which is found in its perfect adaptation
        to the heart of man.
 It was reserved for him to develop
     its analogy to the Constitution
        and Course of Nature;
 and, laying his strong foundations
in the depth of that great argument,
         there to construct
  another and irrefragable proof:
     thus rendering Philosophy
        subservient to Faith,
and finding in outward and visible things
       the type and evidence
      of those within the veil.

In his lectures on Butler, Arnold set out to prove that the Philosophy
was as unsound as the Faith to which it was subservient; and that it
could not hold its own against Atheism or Agnosticism, but only against
a system which conceded a Personal Governor of the Universe. This is the
argument against the Deists which he puts into Butler's mouth: "You all
concede a Supreme Personal First Cause, the almighty and intelligent
Governor of the Universe; this, you and I both agree, is the system and
order of nature. But you are offended at certain things in
revelation.... Well, I will show you that in your and my admitted system
of nature there are just as many difficulties as in the system of
revelation." And on this, says Arnold, he does show it, "and by
adversaries such as his, who grant what the Deist or Socinian grants, he
never has been answered, he never will be answered. The spear of
Butler's reasoning will even follow and transfix the Duke of
Somerset,[53] who finds so much to condemn in the Bible, but 'retires
into one unassailable fortress--faith in God.'"[54] Butler's method,
then, is allowed to be potent enough to crush all such half-believers as
still clung to the idea of a Personal God and Intelligent Ruler; but it
had no force or cogency against such as, following Arnold, attenuated
the idea of God into a Stream of Tendency. This theme he elaborated with
great ingenuity and characteristic dogmatism in his _Bishop Butler and
the Zeitgeist_; and, inasmuch as no task can be more distasteful than to
attack the teaching of a man whose genius and character one recognizes
among the formative influences of one's life, I will leave the upshot
of this ill-starred endeavour to be summarized by Butler's great
champion, Mr. Gladstone--

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold

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