THE T ii E I S Li 0 JAMES M A It T I 1, E A U A Thesis submitted, to the Faculty of .Divinity of the University of Edinburgh in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Ph. D. degree. Gerald Otho LloJulloh, II.A., S.T.B Hay, 1933, -1- This study is an exposition and evaluation of the Theism of James Liartineau, shewing also the manner in which Martineau influenced and was influenced by tiie various trends of thought in the nineteenth century. Special attention has been devoted to that phase of his theism which deals y/ith his doctrine of God. The task of presenting a clear picture of Martineau's viev,r has been rendered difficult at some points by his practice of criticizing opposing views without giving a systematic presentation of his own. In such cases it has been found necessary to deal directly with his treatment of the relation between his own position and that to which he is opposed. Although his exposition of these opposing views is not always accurate, no criticism has been attempted of these inaccuracies. It will be seen that such questions are not of major importance for the understanding of Llartineau's own position. In making citations in l^ootnotes the books have been indicated by the author's name, the initials of the title of the book to which reference is made, and the volume and page numbers. it'or example, a reference to Martineau's Study of fteligion. volume one, page thirteen, will appear thus: Martineau, SCii, I, 13. The initials by which each book is designated will be found in the Bibliography along with the other necessary bibliographical data. Direct.quotations which are short have been set off by ^notation marks in the body of the text, "out, where a quotation exceeds four -ii- lines in length, it has been single-spaced and set in z~ paragraph, in \vhich case the ^uottition marks have been omitted. Liy thanks o,re aue to the itev. rrofessor John Baillie, D. Litt., li.D., who has been my chief advisor in the preparation of this study, for his very helpful suggestions as to the manner of its treatment and the assembling of the necessary material, ana to the iiev. rrofessor G. T. Thomson, ii.J. 1 wish t^lso to eicpress my sincere appreciation to the Dean and Principal of ^ew College, the itev. _rofessor ,1. A. Jurtis, D. Litt., ii.D., the Very iiev. Professor Daniel Lament, D.D., and the rtev. A. Liitchell Hunter, D. Litt., F.H.S.E., all of vmorn have read portions of the manuscript and have given me the benefit of their extremely valuable criticism. Finally, I wish to thank Llr. Ronald G-. Smith, 11.A., for reading the entire manuscript, and for the suggestions vvhich he has made in regard to its style and structure. G. C. ::Q. -111- TABLE CV CCETEJT3 Table of Contents ........... iii Introduction. ............ 1 Ilartineau's Definition of Theism ... 9 General .rurpose of this Study .... 10 Characteristics of Martineau's Thougnt aria ',Writing ..... 15 Chapter One: The Life and .<ork of James Llartineau 2,4 iarly Education. ........ 27 College Years, 18^3-1327 ..... jj'irst Ministry. ........ j^arly Liverpool Ministry ..... 36 The Year in Germany ....... 45 Later Liverpool Ministry ..... 48 Teaching and Preaching Ministry in London 52 Literary Activity after designation ^t Eighty Years ... 59 Chapter Two: Martineau's Theory of :riio-»7leage. 63 The Presuppositions of Knowledge. 64 The Method of Cognition. ..... 70 Intuition. .......... 75 Types of Intuition ....... 79 Causal Intuition ..... 8C Moral Intuition ..... 81 Religious Intuition .... 86 Chapter Three: God as -Cause. ....... 91 The Self-Conscious Ego as Cause ... 96 The Causal »vill . 98 The Attributes of God as Cause . 112 -IV- Page Chapter Pour: God as Perfection ..... 122 The Seat of the Moral Judgments. 126 The tform of the I Coral Judgments. '136 The Authority of the Horal Judgments 144 problem of Evil and Siri .... 158 The Attributes of God as Perfection 166 Chapter i^ive : God as Soul of All Souls . 173 The Beliious Sense ..... 180 I mediate Personal Communion. 184 Loss of Individuality ..... 185 Union v/ith God ....... 187 The Living God ....... 195 Chapter Six: Some i'\irther Theistic Problems . 199 Free .'fill ......... 199 Immortality ........ 208 Space and Time ....... 218 Chapter Seven: The Influence of IPartineau . 230 His Progressive Influence on the Century. 232 IPart i ne au ' s Influence Today . 848 Conclusion: ............ 252 Bibliography ............ 2S5 INTRODUCTION. The nineteenth century witnessed rapid changes in British philosophical thought, as the various philosophical systems followed each other in quick succession to the centre of the stage in popular interest and acclaim. The problems over which division arose were chiefly epistemological and metaphysical. Such a statement may seem strange v/hen one considers the great number of works on moral philosophy which were published during the century, and the wide variety of opinions to be found in the ethical thought of the various philosophical groups. However, the ethical differences were largely contests concerning the authority of ethics rather than its content, and as such were concerned with the »metaphysics of ethics. 1 Professor G. G. J. Vi'ebb f s statement in regard to the last half of the century could be made to apply to the entire century with almost equal accuracy. He writes: Of the most prominent of the British thinkers of the period which we are now considering there was not one but was profoundly convinced not only of the momentous importance of that distinction (the distinction between right and wrong) but even of the general correctness of the traditional rules of conduct which were prescribed by the Christian Church. Throughout the century the task of theism was to combat the various opposing philosophies by affirming that God, as the Supreme Spirit, 1. v/ebb, RTIE, 39. -2- was the origin and ground of all existence, thut a knowledge of Him was possible through the exercise of the human cognitive and moral faculties, and that the moral obligation which man felt had its possibility in man's free will and its authority in the absolute requirements of God. At the beginning of the century the Utilitarianism of the Benthamites was the generally accepted philosophy. This group of thinkers, in banding themselves together in support of a given set. of principles, became what may be called a f school of thought, f a phenomenon new to English philosophy, though quite common on the continent. The chief philosophical principle of this group of thinkers, following the leadership of Bentham, was one which resulted in a kind of 'ethical hedonism. 1 The ideal was, 'The greatest happiness of the greatest number.' The test and measure of all virtue was utility, and the obligation paramount to every other was the obligation to minister to general happiness. £ 2 Mill's statement of the primary principle of Utilitarianism reads: The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure. The problem for theism as opposed to Utilitarianism was to maintain the absolute authority of ethical principles, independent of the desires and pleasures of men. For the theist the authority of the moral lav/ lay in the absolute demands made by JU Sorley, HOEP, 211 f; "The utilitarian group presents an appearance unknown before in English philosophy, a simple set of doctrines held in common, with various fields assigned for their application, and a band of zealous workers, labouring for the same end and united in reverence for their master." 2. Ibid., 219 f. 3. Mill, UTIL, 6. -3- God on the moral "beings who are his creatures. llo fabrication of the human desires into a law could be invested with the sense of authority which attended the awareness of absolute moral demands. The theist held that God was the source of the authority and the absolute demand of moral principles. The next philosophical system which received, popular acclaim was the scientific materialism of Herbert Spencer. He held that the one ultimate reality was matter which was capable of being in motion and of exerting force. In the closing pages of First Principles, he wrote: "The interpretation of all phenomena in terms of Matter, Motion, and Force is nothing more than the reduction of our complex symbols of thought to the simplest 1 symbols. ff .Professor Tennant gives this excellent statement of the position of materialism in the Encyclopedia of Religion and 2 ethics: According to the doctrine of materialism, extended, impenetrable, eternally self-existent matter, susceptible of motion, is the one fundamental constituent of the universe; mind or consciousness is but a mode or property of such matter, and psychical processes are reducible to physical. Such a philosophy has no place for spiritual reality, and on this point it was attacked by theism. Theism holds that the one supreme reality is the Infinite Spirit, and that all existence finds its origin and ground in Him. The materialistic philosophy has no adequate answer to the problems of the emergence 1. Spencer, FP, 558. £. Tennant, "Materialism," IiiEE, YI1I, 438 b. -4- of living organisms from inanimate matter, and of the appearance of mind as distinct from the non-mental existence of some of the organisms. The theistic doctrine of creation by God, who is the Divine Mind, shows its superiority in this respect at least over the materialism of Spencer's philosophy.