PREFACE. THE work which I venture to present to the public is the development of the Philosophical Aphorisms, which formed part of the First Edition of "Hippolytus and his Age." Its object is to trace the Outlines of a Philosophy of Universal History, especially with a view to discover and define the principle of progress, and to apply these general principles to Language and Religion as the two universal and primitive manifestations of the human mind, upon which all subsequent social and national development is based. Such an inquiry necessarily contains two elements, the historical and the speculative. Now as to the history of Religion, and that of Christianity in particular, it has been treated of in many works ancient and modern, and I have had an opportunity of discussing the philosophical and constitutional portion of the history of the Primitive Christian Church in the new edition of "Hippolytus and his Age." It was, therefore, possible to allude simply to the leading facts of that history of our religion, and to confine the inquiry almost exclusively to the philosophical principles, and their bearing upon the present state of the world. The only exception I have made regards the Author of our religion himself. This exception was indispens able. All the controversies and misunderstandings respecting Christianity, and especially those relating to the metaphysical points, must in the last instance be reduced to the question what Christ thought and said of his own person and of the object of his teaching, of his relation to God and to mankind. All inquiries into the history of the Church presuppose this basis, and so especially does "Hippolytus and his Age." The most authentic representation of this sublime object seemed to me to be the one which might be most easily brought within the compass and limits of these volumes, and rendered most accessible to all my Christian readers. The whole is compressed into two short chapters. The first presents a sketch of Christ's teaching, considered from the point of view of universal history: the second contains the outline of Christ's own theological teaching in particular, and the comments upon it by St. Paul and St. John. This chapter illustrates the principal passages relating to the metaphysics of religion, by a juxtaposition of the Semitic text and the Japhetic exponent - I mean by a translation from metaphorical into philosophical language. As introductory to these translations I have prefixed to them the specimen of a dictionary of the principal metaphorical expressions in the New Testament for spiritual (intellectual) notions with their ethical and metaphysical exponents in the philosophical language of Japhet, that is to say, in those terms with which we reason since the days of Thales and Pythagoras, and since those of Plato and Aristotle. The Philosophy of Language demanded a very different treatment. There exists no work which gives the leading facts of the languages of Asia and Europe, inclusive of those of Egypt and Abyssinia, on the principles of comparative philology, as they are now understood. Besides, since the publication of Adelung's Mithridates, and even since Pritchard's meritorious and conscientious work, important discoveries have been made as to the very facts of the grammatical and lexicographical construction of the languages of Asia, to say nothing of that of ancient Egypt, then entirely unknown. Some of the most interesting fields of philological research, were thus to be opened here for the first time, in order even to establish the facts. This is the reason why the historical, and especially the philological portion of the Philosophy of Language has, in a certain sense, assumed the character of a forerunner of a new Mithridates for Asia, Europe, and a part of Africa. I say, in a certain sense: for the analysis presented here gives in some respects less, in some more, than such a Mithridates should contain. The sketches offered in these volumes convey simply the positive linguistic facts, and mention only cursorily what is generally acknowledged as having been sufficiently ascertained. They enter into details only in such portions as are either entirely new, or at least have not been considered under the point of view of universal comparative philology. The method employed throughout has, I believe, the merits of simplicity and clearness. In the whole arrangement I have endeavoured above all to make one of the most important objects of universal interest accessible and attractive to all readers of cultivated mind, by presenting in the most succinct manner the essential facts, in order to enable the public to deduce for themselves the surprising results which flow from a combined historical and philosophical treatment of this youngest, and perhaps most promising branch of scientific inquiry. I have endeavoured in a similar manner to divest religious philosophy both of antiquarian pedantry, and of theological conventionalism. Above all, it has been my anxious wish to excite my readers to serious, and therefore free reflection on Religion. The religious sense of the European mind is undoubtedly more universal now than it has been for at least two centuries. The noblest individuals and nations manifest a thirst for religious knowledge, and a longing after evangelical truth, as the only sure basis of liberal and peaceable development. I must confess, however, that I see no hope of that feeling taking the right course, and that longing being satisfied, unless the great mass of the thinking and serious public make it, more than hitherto has been done, the object both of research and of thought; not in order to build up new theological systems, or find a fresh stimulus for intellectual excitement, but in order to strengthen and restore inward truth, and thence proceed to the reform of social and public life. Such an earnestness alone, flowing alike from the head and from the heart, can restore the religious element of European society, and make Christianity in truth the means of general social reconstruction. Carlton Terrace, 20th April, 1854. |