^ofPmcsTo^ '^Ot.OQiCM St>ft^^ BR 45 .B35 1899 Bampton lectures CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM THE BAMPTON LECTURES, 1899 CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM CONSIDERED IN EIGHT LECTURES DELIVERED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD WILLIAM RALPH INGE, M.A. FELLOW AND TUTOR OF HERTFORD COLLEGE, OXFORD ; FORMERLY FF.LLOW OF KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, AND ASSISTANT MASTER AT ETON COLLEGE NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 153, 15s. AND 157 FIFTH AVENUE LONDON: METHUEN & CO. 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 and Estates upon trust, and to the intents and purposes here- inafter mentioned ; that is to say, I will and appoint that the Vice-Chancellor of the University 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 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 com- mencement of the last month in Lent Term, and the end of the third week in Act Term. — VI EXTRACT " 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 Christian 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 Church —upon 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 Creeds. "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 Sermons ; and the Preacher shall not be paid, nor 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 Uni- versities of Oxford or Cambridge ; and that tlTe same person shall never preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons twice." PREFACE The first of the subjects which, according to the will of Canon Bampton, are prescribed for the Lecturers upon his foundation, is the confirmation and establishment of the Christian faith. This is the aim which I have kept in view in preparing this volume ; and I should wish my book to be judged as a contribution to apolo- getics, rather than as a historical sketch of Christian Mysticism. I say this' because I decided, after some hesitation, to adopt a historical framework for the Lectures, and this arrangement may cause my object to be misunderstood. It seemed to me that the instructiveness of tracing the development and opera- tion of mystical ideas, in the forms which they have assumed as active forces in history, outweighed the disadvantage of appearing to waver between apology and narrative. A series of historical essays would, of course, have been quite unsuitable in the University pulpit, and, moreover, I did not approach the subject from that side. Until I began to prepare the Lectures, about a year and a half before they were delivered, my study of the mystical writers had been directed solely by my own intellectual and spiritual needs. I was attracted to them in the hope of finding in their writings a philosophy and a rule of life which would ; viii PREFACE satisfy my mind and conscience. In this I was not disappointed ; and thinking that others might perhaps profit by following the same path, I wished to put together and publish the results of my thought and reading. In such a scheme historical details are either out of place or of secondary value ; and I hope this will be remembered by any historians who may take the trouble to read my book. The philosophical side of the subject is from my point of view of much greater importance. I have done my best to acquire an adequate knowledge of those philosophies, both ancient and modern, which are most akin to speculative Mysticism, and also to think out my own position. I hope that I have succeeded in indicating my general standpoint, and that what I have written may prove fairly consistent and intelligible ; but I have felt keenly the disad- vantage of having missed the systematic training in metaphysics given by the Oxford school of LitercB Huinaniores, and also the difficulty (perhaps I should say the presumption) of addressing metaphysical arguments to an audience which included several eminent philosophers. I wish also that I had had time for a more thorough study of Fechner's works ; for his system, so far as I understand it, seems to me to have a great interest and value as a scheme of philosophical Mysticism which does not clash with modern science. I have spoken with a plainness which will probably give offence of the debased supernaturalism which usurps the name of Mysticism in Roman Catholic countries. I desire to insult no man's convictions " PREFACE ix and it is for this reason that I have decided not to print my analysis of Ribet's work {^La Mystique Divine, distinguh des Contrefa<^ons diaboliques. Nouvelle Edition, Paris, 1895, 3 vols.), which I intended to form an Appendix. It would have opened the eyes of some of my readers to the irreconcilable antagon- ism between the Roman Church and science ; but though I translated and summarised my author faith- fully, the result had all the appearance of a malicious travesty. I therefore suppressed this Appendix have ; but with regard to Roman Catholic " Mysticism there is no use in mincing matters. Those who find edification in signs and wonders of this kind, and think that such " supernatural phenomena," even if they were well authenticated instead of being ridiculous fables, could possibly establish spiritual truths, will find little or nothing to please or interest them in these pages. But those who reverence Nature and Reason, and have no wish to hear of either of them being " overruled " or " suspended," will, I hope, agree with me in valuing highly the later developments of mystical thought in Northern Europe. " There is another class of " mystics with whom I have but little sympathy— the dabblers in occultism. " " Psychical research is, no doubt, a perfectly legitimate science ; but when its professors invite us to watch the breaking down of the middle wall of partition between matter and spirit, they have, in my opinion, ceased to be scientific, and are in reality hankering after the beggarly elements of the later Neoplatonism. The charge of " pantheistic tendency " will not, I hope, be brought against me without due considera- ; X PREFACE tion. I have tried to show how the Johannine Logos- doctrine, which is the basis of Christian Mysticism, differs from Asiatic Pantheism, from Acosmism, and from (one kind of) evolutionary IdeaHsm. Of course, speculative Mysticism is nearer to Pantheism than to Deism ; but I think it is possible heartily to eschew Deism without falling into the opposite error. I have received much help from many kind friends ; and though some of them would not wish to be as- sociated with all of my opinions, I cannot deny myself the pleasure of thanking them by name. From my mother and other members of my family, and relations, especially Mr. W. W. How, Fellow of Merton, I have received many useful suggestions. Three past or present colleagues have read and criticised parts of my work—the Rev. H. Rashdall, now Fellow of New College ; Mr. H. A. Prichard, now Fellow of Trinity and Mr. H. H. Williams, Fellow of Hertford. Mr. G. L. Dickinson, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, lent me an unpublished dissertation on Plotinus. The Rev. C. Bigg, D.D., whose Bampton Lectures on the Christian Platonists are known all over Europe, did me the kindness to read the whole of the eight Lectures, and so added to the great debt which I owe to him for his books. The Rev. J. M. Heald, formerly Scholar of Trinity, Cambridge, lent me many books from his fine library, and by inquiring for me at Louvain enabled me to procure the books on Mysti- cism which are now studied in Roman Catholic Universities. The Rev. Dr. Lindsay, who has made a special study of the German mystics, read my Lectures on that period, and wrote me a very useful — - PREFACE xi letter upon them.