Part 2 (1/2)

Those who reject the Bible ignore the spirit that pervades it, the atmosphere that envelopes it, the harmony of its testimonies and the unity of its structure, despite the fact that it is the product of many writers during many centuries. Its parts were not arranged by man, but prearranged by the Almighty.

Those who reject the Bible also ignore the prophecies and their fulfillment--”History written in advance”--proof that appeals irresistibly to the open mind.

Those who reject the Bible even disparage the testimony which the Saviour bore to the inspiration of the Old Testament, and yet what could be more explicit than His words? ”And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

As Canon Liddon says:

”For Christians, it will be enough to know that our Lord, Jesus Christ, set the seal of His infallible sanction on the whole of the Old Testament. He found the Hebrew canon as we have it in our hands to-day, and He treated it as an authority which was above discussion. Nay, more; He went out of His way--if we may reverently speak thus,--to sanction not a few portions of it which modern scepticism rejects.”

Besides open enemies, the Bible has enemies who are less frank--enemies who, while claiming to be friends of Christianity, spend their time undermining faith in G.o.d, faith in the Bible, and faith in Christ. These professed friends call themselves higher critics--a t.i.tle which--though explained by them as purely technical--smacks of an insufferable egotism. They a.s.sume an air of superior intelligence and look down with mingled pity and contempt upon what they regard as poor, credulous humanity. The higher critic is more dangerous than the open enemy. The atheist approaches you boldly and tries to blow out your light, but, as you know who he is, what he is trying to do and why, you can protect yourself. The higher critic, however, comes to you in the guise of a friend and politely inquires: ”Isn't the light too near your eyes? I fear it will injure your sight.” Then he moves the light away, a little at a time, until it is only a speck and then--invisible.

Some who have used the t.i.tle ”higher critic” have approached their subject in a reverent spirit and laboured earnestly in the vain hope of satisfying intellectual doubts, when the real trouble has been with the hearts of objectors rather than with their heads. Religion is a matter of the heart, and the impulses of the heart often seem foolish to the mind. Faith is different from, and superior to, reason. Faith is a spiritual extension of the vision--a moral sense that reaches out toward the throne of G.o.d and takes hold of verities that the mind cannot grasp.

It is like ”the blind leading the blind” for a higher critic, however honest, to rely on purely intellectual methods to convey truths that are ”spiritually discerned.”

As a rule, however, the so-called higher critic is a man without spiritual vision, without zeal for souls and without any deep interest in the coming of G.o.d's Kingdom. He toils not in the Master's vineyard and yet ”Solomon in all his glory” never laid claim to such wisdom as he boasts. He does not accept the Bible nor defend it; he mutilates it. He puts the Bible on the operating table and cuts out the parts that he thinks are ”diseased.” When he has finished his work the Bible is no longer the Book of books: it is simply ”a sc.r.a.p of paper.”

The higher critic (I speak now of the rule and not of the exceptions) begins his investigations with his opinion already formed. After he has discarded the Bible because he cannot harmonize it with the doctrine of evolution, he labours to find evidence to support his preconceived notions. In matters of religion the higher critic is usually a ”dyspeptic.” The Bible does not agree with him; he has not the spiritual fluids in sufficient quant.i.ty to enable him to digest the miracle and the supernatural. He is a doubter and spreads doubts.

Dr. Franklin Johnson, in Volume 2, of ”Fundamentals” says (pages 55, 56, 57): ”A third fallacy of the higher critics is the doctrine concerning the Scriptures which they teach. If a consistent hypothesis of evolution is made the basis of our religious thinking, the Bible will be regarded as only a product of human nature working in the field of religious literature. It will be merely a natural book.”...

Again: ”Yet another fallacy of the higher critics is found in their teachings concerning the Biblical miracles. If the hypothesis of evolution is applied to the Scriptures consistently, it will lead us to deny all the miracles which they record.”...

And: ”Among the higher critics who accept some of the miracles there is a notable desire to discredit the virgin birth of our Lord, and their treatment of this event presents a good example of the fallacies of reasoning by means of which they would abolish many of the other miracles.”

Professor Reeve, in a strong article in Volume 3 of ”Fundamentals”

(pages 98, 99) tells us of his own excursion into the fields of higher criticism, of his disappointment and of his glad return to the interpretations of the Bible that are generally accepted. Speaking of his first impressions, he says:

”The critics seemed to have the logical things on their side. The results at which they had arrived seemed inevitable. But upon closer thinking, I saw that the whole movement, with its conclusion, was the result of the adoption of the hypothesis of evolution.”...

”It became more and more obvious to me that the great movement was entirely intellectual, an attempt in reality to intellectualize all religious phenomena. I saw also that it was a partial and one-sided intellectualism, with a strong bias against the fundamental tenets of Biblical Christianity. Such a movement does not produce that intellectual humility which belongs to the Christian mind. On the contrary, it is responsible for a vast amount of intellectual pride, an aristocracy of intellect with all the sn.o.bbery which usually accompanies that term. Do they not exactly correspond to Paul's word, 'vainly puffed up in his fleshly mind and not holding fast the head, etc.' They have a splendid scorn for all opinions which do not agree with theirs. Under the spell of this sublime contempt they think they can ignore anything that does not square with their evolutionary hypothesis. The center of gravity of their thinking is in the theoretical, not in the religious; in reason, not in faith.

Supremely satisfied with its self-const.i.tuted authority, the mind thinks itself competent to criticize the Bible, the thinking of all the centuries, and even Jesus Christ Himself. The followers of this cult have their full share of the frailties of human nature. Rarely, if ever, can a thoroughgoing critic be an evangelist or even evangelistic; he is educational. How is it possible for a preacher to be a power of G.o.d, whose source of authority is his own reason and convictions? The Bible can scarcely contain more than good advice for such a man.”

In Volume 2 of ”Fundamentals” (page 84), Sir Robert Anderson has this to say:

”The effect of this 'Higher Criticism' is extremely grave. For it has dethroned the Bible in the home, and the good old practice of 'family wors.h.i.+p' is rapidly dying out. And great national interests also are involved. For who can doubt that the prosperity and power of the nations of the world are due to the influence of the Bible upon the character and conduct? Races of men who for generations have been taught to think for themselves in matters of the highest moment will naturally excel in every sphere of effort or of enterprise. And more than this, no one who is trained in the fear of G.o.d will fail in his duty to his neighbour, but will prove himself a good citizen. But the dethronement of the Bible leads practically to the dethronement of G.o.d; and in Germany and America, and now in England, the effects of this are declaring themselves in ways, and to an extent, well fitted to cause anxiety for the future.”

The experience of Rev. Paul Kanamori, known as the ”j.a.panese Billy Sunday” furnishes an excellent ill.u.s.tration of the chilling effect of higher criticism. He was converted when a student and, after a period of preaching, became a professor in a theological seminary in j.a.pan. Dr.

Robert E. Speer, in a preface to a published sermon of Mr. Kanamori, thus describes the great evangelist's temporary retirement from the ministry and its cause:

”He began to read upon the most recent German theology, with the result that he was completely swept off his feet by the rationalistic New Theology, Higher Criticism, etc. Not long after that he published his new views under the t.i.tle, 'The present and future of Christianity in j.a.pan,' and retired from the ministry....

He remained in this state of spiritual darkness for twenty years, until the death of his wife brought him and his children into great trouble, but after pa.s.sing through these deep waters he came out again with a clear and firm belief in the old-fas.h.i.+oned gospel”

(”The Three-Hour Sermon,” page 8).

Since Mr. Kanamori's return to the ministry he has been the means of leading nearly fifty thousand j.a.panese to Christ--probably more than the total number of souls brought into the Church by all the higher critics combined.

Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, one of the great preachers of the last generation, thus speaks of the higher critics: