LONDON:

G. NORMAN AND SON, PRINTERS, MAIDEN LANE,

COVENT GARDEN.

EXTRACT

FROM THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT

OF THE LATE

REV JOHN BAMPTON,

CANON OF SALISBURY.

"I give and bequeath my Lands and Estates to "the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars, of the University "of Oxford for ever, to have and to hold all and singular "the said Lands or Estates upon trust, and to the intents "and purposes hereinafter mentioned; that is to say, I "will and appoint that the Vice-Chancellor of the Univer

sity of Oxford for the time being shall take and receive "all the rents, issues, and profits thereof, and (after all "taxes, reparations, and necessary deductions made) that "he pay all the remainder to the endowment of eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, to be established for ever "in the said University, and to be performed in the manner following:

"I direct and appoint, that upon the First Tuesday "in Easter Term, a Lecturer may be yearly chosen by the

Heads of Colleges only, and by no others, in the room "adjoining to the Printing-House, between the hours of "ten in the morning and two in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, the year following, at "St. Mary's in Oxford, between the commencement of the

(RECAP),

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1877

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"last month in Lent Term, and the end of the third week "in Act Term.

66

"Also I direct and appoint, that the eight Divinity "Lecture Sermons shall be preached upon either of the following subjects-to confirm and establish the Chris"tian faith, and to confute all heretics and schismatics— upon the divine authority of the holy Scriptures-upon "the authority of the writings of the primitive Fathers, "as to the faith and practice of the primitive Churchupon the Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ -upon the Divinity of the Holy Ghost-upon the "Articles of the Christian Faith, as comprehended in the Apostles' and Nicene Creed.

"Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight Divinity "Lecture Sermons shall be always printed, within two "months after they are preached; and one copy shall be "given to the Chancellor of the University, and one copy "to the Head of every College, and one copy to the "Mayor of the city of Oxford, and one copy to be put "into the Bodleian Library; and the expense of printing "them shall be paid out of the revenue of the Land or "Estates given for establishing the Divinity Lecture Ser"mons; and the Preacher shall not be paid, nor be "entitled to the revenue, before they are printed.

"Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be qualified to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons unless " he hath taken the degree of Master of Arts at least, in "one of the two Universities of Oxford or Cambridge; "and that the same person shall never preach the Divinity "Lecture Sermons twice."

CONTENTS.

THE ORDER OF THE

LECTURE I.

CHRISTIAN ARGUMENT, ITS NATURE
AND EXTENT.

Introduction, 1. The Christian revelation progressive according to the

analogy of the divine working in nature, 3. Necessity of accommodating our

evidential position to our increasing light, 6. The question-What constitutes

the inner life of Christianity, as distinct from the vehicle through which it has

been communicated, considered, 7. The essence of the Christian revelation

consists not in a body of formulated dogmatic truth, but in a personal history,

12. The bearing of this on the limits of the Christian argument, 14. The

relation in which theology stands to revelation, 16. Various points which are

eagerly discussed among theologians extraneous to the Christian argument, 20.

The moral miracles of Christianity constitute the most important attestation to

its divine character, 25. Facts capable of verification ought to be placed in

the forefront of the Christian argument, 29. Reasons for assigning a primary

place to the argument from the moral aspects of Christianity, and a secondary

one to that from miracles, 30.

SUPPLEMENT I.

THE

EVIDENCE AFFORDED BY THE WRITINGS OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT THAT THE ESSENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN REVELA-
TION CONSISTS IN THE OBJECTIVE FACT OF THE INCARNATION.

Those in his Gospel,

Further proof from

The affirmations of St. John in his first epistle, 39.

41. Our Lord's direct assertions on the same subject, 42.

the numerous incidental references made to it by St. Paul, 44. St. Paul's

direct assertions on the same subject, 45. Christianity not an afterthought for

the purpose of repairing the failure of God's creative plan, 47. The effects

of the incarnation not limited to the human race, 49. The views propounded

on this subject in the epistle to the Hebrews, and in the Apocalypse, 50. The

testimony of the epistle of St. Peter, and of the Acts of the Apostles, 51.

The views of the writers of the Synoptic Gospels in strict harmony with

those of the other writers of the New Testament, 53.

SUPPLEMENT II.

THE CONCEPTION OF A MIRACLE INVOLVES NEITHER A SUSPEN-

SION OF THE FORCES, NOR A VIOLATION OF THE LAWS OF

NATURE.

The confusion which has been introduced into the controversy about miracles

by the use of ambiguous terms, 54. The distinction between the laws and the

forces of nature, 57. The modus operandi of God in the performance of a

miracle ought not to form a portion of its definition, 59. The question,

whether, under the term nature, man and his free agency are meant to be

included, all-important in this controversy, 61. Man capable of modifying the

order of nature by imparting a new direction to its forces, 63. The laws of

nature not violated, nor its forces suspended by the performance of a miracle,

65. The distinction between God's modus operandi in his ordinary provi-

dence and in performing miracles, unknown in the Old Testament, 68. The

New Testament does not represent the forces of nature as suspended during

the performance of miracles, 69. The theism of the Bible represents God not

only as standing external to the universe, but as immanent in its forces, 71.

LECTURE II.

THE SUPERHUMAN ACTION OF JESUS CHRIST VERIFIABLE IN THE

HISTORY OF THE PAST AND THE FACTS OF THE PRESENT.

The principles on which the argument is based, 73. The self-evidencing

character of Our Lord's person the highest evidence of his divine mission, 75.

Our Lord's direct affirmations on this subject as reported in the fourth Gospel,

76. Similar principles underlie his teaching in the Synoptics, 80. Large

numbers of his miracles not performed for purposes directly evidential, 81.

The views propounded in the epistles of St. John and St. Paul as to the self-

evidencing character of Our Lord's divine person, 82. The evidential value

assigned to miracles in the Acts of the Apostles, and in the epistle to the

Hebrews, 83. Certain classes of miracles wrought rather for providential

than for evidential purposes, 85. The supernatural gifts, how far evidential,

86.

General summary of results, 88. The superhuman action of Jesus

Christ in history a fact capable of verification, 89. The argument concisely

stated, 90. Christianity based on a personal history-the unique character of

this fact, 92. The mighty influence which this history has exerted on man-

kind, 93. The source of this influence, 95. The testimony of history to the

solitary grandeur of Jesus Christ-Mr. Lecky's admissions, 96. Jesus Christ

the solitary character in history who for eighteen centuries has inspired the

hearts of men with an impassioned love, 98. He is the one Catholic man

capable of acting on every condition of human nature, 99. He alone is the

embodiment of holiness in his human life, and its perfect example, 101. Not

only so, but he alone of men is capable of exerting a moral and spiritual