IX AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY 345 



of Dr. Newman, while he still remained within 

 the Anglican fold, are a vast store of the best 

 and the most authoritative information. His 

 doctrines on Ecclesiastical miracles and on 

 Development are the corner-stones of the Tract- 

 arian fabric. He believed that his arguments led 

 either Homeward, or to what ecclesiastics call 

 " Infidelity," and I call Agnosticism. I believe 

 that he was quite right in this conviction ; but 

 while he chooses the one alternative, I choose the 

 other ; as he rejects Protestantism on the ground 

 of its incompatibility with history, so, a fortiori, 

 I conceive that Romanism ought to be rejected ; 

 and that an impartial consideration of the evi- 

 dence must refuse the authority of Jesus to 

 anything more than the Nazarenism of James 

 and Peter and John. And let it not be supposed 

 that this is a mere "infidel" perversion of the facts. 

 No one has more openly and clearly admitted the 

 possibility that they may be fairly interpreted in 

 this way than Dr. Newman. If, he says, there 

 are texts which seem to show that Jesus contem- 

 plated the evangelisation of the heathen : 



. . . Did not the Apostles hear our Lord ? and what was their 

 impression from what they heard ? Is it not certain that the 

 Apostles did not gather this truth from His teaching? (Tract 

 85, p. 63). 



He said, ' * Preach the Gospel to every creature. " These words 

 need have only meant "Bring all men to Christianity through 

 Judaism." Make them Jews, that they may enjoy Christ's 

 privileges, which are lodged in Judaism ; teach them those 



