the fundamentals: volume 4, chapter 3: the bible and modern criticism
TRANSCRIPT
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C~IAPTE ,R III
THE , BIBL E AND MODERN CRITICISM
--
BY F. BE~fTEX, D. D.,
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PROFESSOR EMERITU
1
S, STUTTGART, GERMANY
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINA .L GERMAN
:BY DAVID HEAGLE} D. D.
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It is
undeniable
·that tl1e univ,ers
1
e, .including ourselves,
exists.
Whence comes it
all? For
any clear-thi ·nking,
,mind
th
1
ere are
only
three possibilities. Either th ,e univ
1
e·rs
1
e
has
existed alway .,
it
produced
it,self,
or
it
was created
by
a
Divii:ie a S,t1preme Being.
•
THE UNIVER :SE NOT ETERNAL
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The eternity o,f the universe is
1nost
clearly disproved by
its
evol.ution ..
F,rom a scientific
point
1
0£
view
that h.ypothesis
is no
1
w
discredite ,d and virtua lly abandoned.
Astronomers,
physicists, biologists,
phi losoph ,ers,
are beginning to r
1
ecogniz,e
tno,re
an
1
d mo
1
re, an.d men like Secchi,
D·ubois-
Reymond,
Lo rd
l
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the
heaven of heaven .s? In like manner, reasons
that
great
astronomer, William H erschel, with regard to the Milky-Way,
that ju st
as
its
breaki11g
up
1
into
different
parts shows that
it
cannot
alwa,y,s,
endure, so we hav,e,, in this siame fact,
proof tl1at
· it has not
eternally
existed.
G0
1
D THE AUTHOR ,QF ALL THINGS
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The1·e rem.a1ns,
therefore,
o·nly
this alternative: either the
world produced itself,
or
it was created. That all thing s came
•
i,nto
existence
spontane .ously, and
therefore th a t
we 1nust
uppose an origination of
immeasurably
great
effects . with ...
out any cause, or believe that at some: tim,e.a ·nothing, . wi·thout
either willing or knowing it, and without the use of , means,
became a something this is the mo,st unreaso ,nable assumption
that could possibly be attributed to a
l1uman
being. How
could
anything
ac·t bef
1
ore ·
it
existed? or a thi ·ng not
ye·t
cr·eated
produce something
?
Th~re is nothing more unreas
1
onable
than
the creed
of
the
unb,eliever,
notwithstanding all
his
prat~
ing
about the excellence
0
1
f
rea son. ·
B.ut if this wo1·lddid· no,t
produce itself,
then
it-
must have
•
. been created by some
I-Iighe1·
Power, some Ca,use of all causes,
•
such as
was that First P rinciple upon whicl1
the
dying Cicero
called. Or, to use the
word s
of
Dr. Klein,
that originating
cause m,ust have · been a Suprem
1
e I11telligence th a·t has at its
command unlimited
creative
power Kosmologische Briefe,
p. 27)
1
;
Hence
w·hat
that
Inte ,Jligence
does is
both illimitable
and
unfathomable,
and
it
can
at·
any time either change this
world or n1ake a new one. It is
there£
ore prima facie silly
for
us,
with
our
prodigiously
narrow
experience, to
set
any
kind of ·
bounds
to
the
Supreme Being;
and
a God who works
no miracles and is the slave of his own laws implanted ~D
· nature, such a God as the New Theology p
1
reaches, is as
much
lacking in being a true Divinity as is the unconsc~ous, but
all-wise cosmic ether of Spiller, or the ·eternal stuff of
ether
1naterialis.ts . · · .
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C We concli1de, then, that the universe was created,. or that
God is the a11thor of all tl1,ings. .
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REVELATI0
N IN NATURE
•
But
now
the question
ari ses whetl1er
God,
who
is both. the
Creator of all things and the Father of spirits, has revealed
li imself
to his
creatures, or to
I..Jis
own children, the
wor.k
of His l1ands. Such a question
might
surely
provoke
one s
laughter.
For what
is the ent: :-e
universe?
what
is
this created
na:ture of which we form a part? what is air? and water?
and fire?
what
are all organized beings,
tny
body with
its
ltlany parts put together in such a highly artistic and inscruta
ble fashion; my soul with its infinite capabilities so little
llnderstood
by myself ? Wl1at
are ·all these matters but a
Progressive revelation of God, given to us, as it were, in a
series of concentric circ]es rising one above another
toward
thei1oSource? Fo,r this purpose it was that God created the ·
visible,so,
that through it
we might perceive the invisible,
and
~or
tl1is
purpose
the whole creation was
made,
so
that
through
it might be tnanif
ested the
invisible things of
God,
even .
his
ttemal
power
and godhead (Rom.
1 :20).
Creation
is
orily
the
language
of
the
Word that was in the beginning, and
Was with God, and was God, and by Whom all things wer
tnade (John 1 :1-3). What does this
Word
declare? at
,Ise
but
the
great infinite name of God
the
Father, the
primal
source of all things, the name that must be hallowed ? There
Wasa time, however, even before the world was, w·hea ther e
t,cisted nothing but God
and
l1is name.
All the
different
works ·
of
creation are only
letters
in
tl1is
great
name. .
REVELATION IN THE BIBLE
•
But
there is
another revelation which
God
has given
of
liimself to men a more definite and persollal
one. · Thus,
t.
g.,
he cleclared Himse lf to Adam, and
through
Enoch
and
Noah
to
the antediluvians,
and
again after
the
flood to other
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The Fundarnentals
ge:nerations , thro ,ugh Noah and his ,sons. But becau,se at the
building of
the
tower of Babel men turned stubbornly away
f1·01n
God, He
gave
them
up to
the
th ,oughts
o,f
their
owD
heart, and selected ,one man, Ab,raham, t,o go out from h'iS
f ri,ends and kind1·ed, so that in his seed all the nations of the
,vor]d might be blessed. Then, first, out of Abr ,aham cam,e the
p
1
eople of Israel, 'to, Who,m w
1
ere ·committe ,d the oracl 1es of
God; and from tl1is period began the history of
the
written
Word. Moses narrates the beginning of things, also
records
the laW, and
holy
men of God speak and write
as .
they
are
moved by the Holy Spirit. That is inspiration-a ,divine
in breathing. ·
But her
1
e a distinctio11
n1,ust
be mad ,e. Th ,e
Bi'ble, reports
matters of history,
and
in doing,
so
includes many genealogies
vl1ich ,vere composed, first ,of
all,
not for
us, but ior
those
•
1nost
immediately concerne ,d,
an,d
for
the angels
1
(
1 C'o,r. 4 :9),,
Also
it
reports
many
sins and shameful deeds;
for
just
as
th,e su:ri
fi.r,s,t
illuminates
h,imself
,and
then
sheds
his
radiance
u,pon the ocean and 'tl1e p·uddl
1
e,, the eagle , and the worm, s,o
the Bible undertakes to represent to us
not
only God, but
also ·man just
a,s l1e
is. In
giving
us these narratives
it may
be
said, moreover, ·that
God,
wl10
numbers
the
v,ery, hairs of
our hea ·d, exercised
a
providential
control, so that
what was
reported
by
His cho~en
men should be the
real
facts,
and
nothing else. T ·o what extent He in ,spired those , men with
the very W0
1
rds used by
them,
it is not for US
to
know, but
.
p1·obably more fully than we
suspect.
But
when God, , after
having communicated the law · to
Moses
o,n
Mount
Sinai and in the Tabernacle, communes
with
· him as a friend with friend, ,and Moses : writes , ''all 'the \\ ord9
of this law in a book'' (Deut. 28 :58; ·31 :24), then
Moses
really becomes the pen of God. When God speaks to
tl1e
,pnophets, ''Behold, I put my wo,rds in thy mouth,,' ,and ''aJl
•
the words that, 'hou heare ,st thou shalt say to
this pe,op'le,'t tl~erl
these
prophets
become the
very
mo
1
uth of God.
When Christ
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The ible a id Modern Criticism
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appears to John on P 'atmos, and says, ''To the angel o,f
the
church w·rite these · ·things,',
this
is an instanc
1
e of
verbal
dictat·ion. · ·
But
just
here we are
amused at those
weak-minded critic s
•
Who, with
hackneyed phrases, talk so
glibly about ''mecl1a11
. -
teal
ins.truments''
and
''mere verbal dictation.'' Does then a
Self-revelatio11
o,f
th
1
e Almighty
and a m.akin.g known of
His
counsels,
a
gracious
act
which
exalts the
human
agent
t,)
be a c
1
0-worker
with .Jehovah,
annihilate personal
freedom?
Or
does it
not
rather
enlarge that freedom,
and 1ift it
up to
a
higher and more joyous
activity
? Am I
then
a ''mechanical
instrument'' whert
with deep devotion
and .
with
enthus .iasm
l repeat after Christ, word for word, the prayer Which He
taught his disciples? The Bible is, con sequently, a book which
originated
according to the
will and
with the
co-operation of
God; and as such
it
is
our
guide to
eternity,
conducting
man ,
seemingly
without
a plan
and
yet
with
absolute ·certainty,
all
the way
from
the first
creation
and f roin Paradise ·
on
tO
the .
second
or
higher
creation
and
to
the New Jerusalem
(Comp.
Gen.
2 :8-10 with Rev.
21 :
1,
2). · · ·
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•
How does th.e Bible prove
itself
to be a
divinely
inspi1·ed,
heaven-given book, a communication from a Fatl1er to I-IiS
childre ·n, and thus a revela.ti
1
on ?
First, by
the
fact that,
as
does no other
sacred book ii~
the
world, it
condem ·ns
ma·n and all his, w
1
orks~ It doe.s not
pra ·ise eitl1er
his ,
wisdo1n,
his
reas .on,
his art,
or
any progres s
tha.t he has made;
b,ut
i·t
represents him as being
in the
sight
of
God,
a miserable sinner,
incapable
of doing anything good,
and
deserving
onJy death
and
endless
perditio11.
Truly,
a
boo'k which is able thus to ·speak,
and
in con.sequenc.e causes
llli)lions of men,
troubled
in conscience, to prostrate
them-
]
. h d ..
1
"'God b .f l . "'
e
ves
1n t .
e ust ·, crying, ·
I
e
merct
u
t
1
0 n1e a s1nnc1.
·must
contait1 more
than
n1ere
ordinary
trt1th .
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Babylon,, Ni ,neveh and Men1phis. Who in these times woul ,d
believe a like prophecy res,pecting London, Paris, or
New
Yorl
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The undanientals
MODERN
C,RITICI .SM
AND ITS RATIONA .LISTiI€
METH:UD
•
In
these
times there
has
appeared a criticism
which,
c
1
on-
•
stantly ,growing bolder in its
attacks
upon this sacred
book,
•
n.ow decrees, w,i'th all
S
elf-as ,suran .c
1
e
a11d
confidenc,e, th,at
it
is. simply a
human production.
Beside~ other
faults
found,
with
it,
it is declared to
be full
of errors,
many
of
its
books
to be spurious, writt .en ·by unknown 1nen at late·r· dates tl1aP
tho se assigned, etc.,. etc. But we asl{, upon what fundamental
principl
1
e,
what
axiom, is this verdict of
the critics
based?
It is ·upon the id
1
ea that, as Renan exp,r·essed it, reason is
capable of judging all things, but is. itself judged by notl1ing
That is
surely
.a proud dictum, but an empty one if its char-
a,cter is really· n
1
otice ·d. T
1
0
be su·re,
G
1
od has given r
1
easoh
·to
man, so that ·, in l1is
cu,sto1nary way
of
planting .a·nd
building,
buying
and
selling,
l1e
may
make a
pra .ctical
use of
created
•
nature by which he,
is, su·r1-0
unded. But is reason,
even
as
respect ls matters
of
this life,, in accord with
itself?
By no
means. For,
if
that were so, whence comes, all the strife and
contention of men at home and ·
abroad,
in
their places
of
business and , their pu.blic asse1nblies, in .art and science, in
legislation, religion and philosophy
? Does
it not a'll proceed
from
th
1
e
co
nflicts
of
reason
?
The
e11tire history oi'
ou,,
ra.ce
is the history of
milli
1
ons
of
n1en gifted with reason
who hav~
been in perpetual conflict one wi·th another. Is it with such
reason,
th
1
en, ·that
senten ,ce·
is t·o b
1
e pr
1
onou
1
nced
upon a divin,ely
given book? A pure1y rational revelation would certainly be
a contradiction of terms; besides, it would be
wholly
super ...
fluou.s.
But
-Whe11
reaso
1
n
undertakes to speak
of.
th·i·ngs
entirely supe1·naturaJ, invisible and ete1·nal, it talks as a bli,nd
man does about colors,
discoursing
of matters concerning
which it neithe ·r knows , nor , can l
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The
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81
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INCOMP
1
ETENCY OF REASON F
1
0R SPIRITUAL TRUTH
•
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Reason
aJone
has
never inspired
men
with
great
sublime
conceptions
of spiritual truth, whether
in
the
way
of
discovery
or
invention;
but usually
it
has at first
rejected and
ridiculed
such matters. And
just
so it is with these. rationaJistic critics,
they have no appreciation or understanding of the high and
sttblime
in God s Word.
They understand
neither
the maj
esty of Isaiah,
the pathos
of
David .s repentance, the
aud.acity
of Moses prayers, the philosophic depth of Ecclesiastes, nor
the wisdom of Solomon which uttereth her voice jn the
stre
1
ets. According to them ambitious priests, at a later date
than is commonly assigned,
compi1ed all those books
fro which
we l1ave al luded; also the·y wrote the Sinai ·tic law, and in- ·
vented tl1e whol .e story o·f Moses life. ( A magnificent fic
tion
·SO
1
one of·
the critics
calls,
that
s·to·ry.)
But
if
all
this
is so, then we must believe that cunning falsifiers, who were,
however,
so
the
critics
say,
devo1,1t
men, genuine products of
tl1eir
1
day (,alt.h,ough
it calls
for
notice th.at
the age in which
those devout men Jived, should, as was
done
to Christ, have
•
persecuted and killed them, when usually an ·,age loves its
own children); that
is
to say,
we must
believe
not
only
that
•
shallo ,w-minded m.en have· uncovered for us
eterna l
·truths
and th~ most
distant
future, but a1so that
vulgar,
interested
•
liars, ]1ave declared to us the inexorable righteousness 0£ a
holy
God Of course, all
that
is nonsense ;
no
one can
be-
liev1 it.. ·
But if
these critics disco11rse,
as
sometimes they do, with
great self-assurance upon topics such as the history of Israel,
the peculiar work of the prophets, revelation, inspiration,
the es,sence
1
of Christianity, the difference betw
1
een the teach
ings of Christ and those of Paul, anyone who intelligently
reads
what they say
is
impressed with the idea
that,
although
they display much ingenuity in
their
efforts,
after
all
they do
not
really
ur.tderstand the
matters concerning
whicn
th
1
E y
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The undamentals
speak. In like manner they talk with much ingenuity and
show of learning about men with whom they have only a
far-off acquaintance; and they discuss events in the realm of
the Spirit where they have had no per sonal experience. Thus
. hey both illustrate and prove the truth of the Scripture
teaching that "the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God." . These critics say that God, not being a man,
cannot speak; consequently there is no word of God Also,
God cannot manifest Himself in visible form; therefore all
the accounts of such epiphanies are mythical tales Inspira
tion, they tell us, is unthinkable ; hence all representations of
such acts are diseased imagination t Of ·prophecy there is
none; what purports to be such ·was w~itten after the events
Miracles are impossible; there£ ore all the reports of them, as
given in the Bible, are mere fictions Men always seek, thus
it is explained, their own advantage and personal glory, an
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The Bible and lvlodern Criticis1n
83 ·
heretics, such as Arius (317 A. D.), who ·denied the .divinity
of Christ, and Pelagius in the fifth century, who reje cted
the doctrine of original sin. Indeed this exceedin gly new
theology adopts even the unbelief of those old Sadducees ·who
said "ther e is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit" (Act s
23 :8), and whom Christ reproved with the words, "Ye do ·
err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God" (Matt.
22 :29). It cert~inly does not argue for the spiritual progre ss
of our race, that such a threadbare and outworµ unbelieving
kind of science. should again, in these days, deceive and even
stultify thousands of people.
NO
AGREEMENT
AMONG
THE
CRITICS
Do these critic s then, to ask the least of them, agree with
o~e another? Far from it. To be sure, they unanimously
deny the inspiration of the Bible, the divinity of Chris~ and
of the Holy Spirit, the fall of man and the forgiven~ of ·
sins through Christ; ·also prophecy and miracles, the resurrec
tion of the dead, the final judg1nent, heaven and hell.. But ·
when it com~s to their pretendedly sure results, not any two
of them affirm the same things ; and their numerous publica
tions create a flood of disputable, self-contradictory and
mutually destructive hypothe ses. For example, the Jehovah of
the Old Testament is made to be some heathen god, either a
non1adic or steppe god, the weather -god Jahu, or the god of
West-Semitism. It was David who first introduced this divin
ity; and according to some authors the peculiar worship of
thi s god was, with its human sacrifices ( ),only a continuation
of the Baal-Moloch worship Of Abraham it is sometimes
affirmed that he never existed, but at other times that he
was a Canaanite chief, dwelling at Hebron. Nol he is .the ·
lllyth of the Aurora; and Sarah, or Scharrat~, is the wife
of the moon-god Sin, and so on. The twelve sons of Jacob
are very probably the twelve months of the year. As to
Moses, some teach there never was such a man, also that
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The undanientals
the ten commandments were composed in the time of Manas-
eh. No I the more moderate writers say that Moses is a
historical character.
It
was in Midian that he learned about
Jah, the tribal god of the Kenites; and he determin~d with
this divinity to liberate his people. Elijah is simply a myth;
or he was some unfortunate prophet who had perhaps been
struck by lightning. And so, too, this modern criticism knows
for sure that it was not Solomon, but a wholly unknown king,
living after the time
of
Ezra, who wrote Ecclesiastes; also
that there never was a Daniel, but that again some unknown
author wrote the book bearing that name. Moreover, Kautsch
tells us that this book first made its appearance in January,
164 B. C., while other critics are positive that it was in 165.
Query: Why could not that unknown author have been named
Daniel? ·
So also Wellhausen knows of twenty-two different au
thors-alJ of them, to be sure, unknown-£ or the books of
Moses, while Kuenen is satisfied with sixteen. The noted
English critic, Canon Cheyne, is said to have taken great
pains to
tear
the book of Isaiah's prophecies into one hundred
and sixty pieces, all by unknown writers ; which pieces were
scattered through ten different epochs including four and a
half centuries ( Modern Puritan, 1907, p. 400). Likewise
this critic knows that the fjrst chapter of Samuel originated
with an unknown writer living some five hundred years after
the time of that prophet; also that Hannah's glory-song, as
found in 2 Kings, was written by some other ''unknown.
That Eli ruled over Israel for forty years is, in all likeli
hood, the unauthentic statement of a later day (Hastings'
Bible Dictionary). Why so? we may ask.-The
book
of
Deuteronomy was written, we are told,
in 561 B. C., and
Ecclesiastes in 264
:a.
.; and a German critic, Budde, is
certain that the book of Job has somehow lost its last chapter,
and that fifty-nine verses of this book should be wholly ex
punged.
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The Bib
,le and Modern Criticism
Such are a, f'ew illu ,strations of the way in w·hich
lfol y
Scripture is treated
by
the criticism we a.re considering.
But, surely,
it would
not require much
Sagacity and intel
ligence for one, by applying such peculiar
methods,
say, to
Goethe's
works, to demonstrate
,critic ,ally that a. good sha1-e
•
of those productions, such as Erlkonig, Iphigenia,
GOtz
van
Berlichingen,
the
Wahlverwandschaften, Faust
(Parts
I.
and
II.), belong, if judged of by their style of composition and
their 'historical
and p
1
hilosophi ,cal views,
to
wholly different
epochs, and that
they
originated
with many different author s.
Mo1·eover, it
co~d
easily
be
sl1own
that
no,ne ·Of tl1ose
author s
. Jived in the times wl1en N apoleo11 Bon .aparte revolutioniz ·ed
Europ ·e, since his name is not mentioned in any o,f the produ c-
tions specified.
CRITICISM AS,
APP LIED T0
1
THE
NEW
TEST
AMENT
Of ,course this , modern Critici sm doe s not stop short of ·
the New Testament. Thi s part 0£ the Bible, H arnack say s,
•
narrat
1
es f or us incredible stori,es re specti ,ng tl1e
bi,rth
1
and
•
childhood of Christ.
''Nevermore, .'
he goes ,on
to
as,sert .,
''sh .all we believe that he walked upon the s
1
ea and com1nanded
the storm.''
It
st,and,s to reason that He did
not
rise fr 'om
t·h,e dead. The Fourth Gos,pel is spurious, an ,d so also is
according to late critical authority) the Epi stle
to
tl1e
Roma11s.
The Book of
Revelation is only · the occasion·
for
derisive laughter on the part of the se skeptical critics : and
because
it
is so, the cur se mentioned in its last · chapter is
made applicable to them (vs. 18, 19). Nev ertheless, these men
sin
most
; erio ,usly again st Cl1rist.
In ·
their
view
the
very
Son o,f God,
the Word
that
was in the
beginning
with
.God,
and that w,as God, and without Who1n nothing exi sts, is only
a fanatical young rabbi; entangled in the peculiar views and
superstition s of his people; and he died upon the cross only
because he. misconceived of the cl1aracter of l1is own missio n
a11d
the
natur ·e of
his
times. Je sus '''is not
indispe11sable
to
the Gosp
1
el," so writes Harnack .
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·Now all this is what is denominated Biblical criticism.
It
is a jumble ·of ·mere hypotheses, imaginings and ass·ertions,
brought forward often without even the shadow of proof,
and
with no
real certainty. Still, in the se times it r~presents
itself to thousands of nominal Christians and to hundreds
of
·miserably deceived theological students who are to become
preachers of God's word , as being the assured results of
the late st
scientific
research. May God have mercy,
if
such
is .the case
WHAT ARE THE FRUITS OF THIS CRITICISM?
Now, if the se people were of the 'truth, and
if
they would
only believe Him who says, I am the way, the truth and the
life, they would not be under the necessity of · ediou sly .
working their way through the numerous publications ( statis
tics show that there appear in Europe and America annually
some eight hundred of these works)
;
but they would find in
I-Iis teaching a simple and sure means for testing the character
of these critical doctrines. Ye shall know them by thei(
fruits, is what Christ says of the false teachers who came
in His name. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of
thistles? (Matt.
:16).
Are the fruits of modern criticism
good? Where are the grapes or figs that grow ·on this thorn
bush? Has · not this critici sm already robbed, and perhaps
forever, thousands of people of their first love, their un
doubting faith, .and their joyou s hope? Has it not sowed
dissension, fostered pride and self-conce it, and injured before
all . the world the authority of both the church and its minis
ters? Has
it
not offended Christ's little ones? (Matt.
18 :6,
7).
And does it not every day
f
urnis.h the enemie s of
God with opportunities for deriding and scorning the truth?
Where are the souls that it has led to God- · com£orting,
strengthening , purifying and sanctifying them? Where are
the individuals who even in the hour of death have continued
to rejoice in the benefits of this criticism?
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87
In the
Study-room
it ensnares, in
l,ectur
1
e-h~lls
it make ,s
great
pretenses ,,
for
n1ere
popular lectures it is still service
able; : but when
tl1e
tl1under~ ,of God's power break in upon
the soul, wh,en despair at the loss of al1 one has loved takes
possession of the mind, when remembrance of a
miserable
lost
life , or ,of past ,misdeeds is felt and realized,
wl1en
one is on a
'
sick-bed and ,death approaches, ,and the soul, appi:eciating
that it
is
now on the brink of eternity, calls , for a Savior~ .
just
at
this
thne
when
its
help
is most
needed,
tllis modern ·
religion
utterly
fails. In the year 1864, in Geneva, one
of
those modern theo
1
logians was summoned
to prepare
f'or exe
cution a young man who had committed murder and robbery.
· But he candidly
exclaimed, ''Call
some one else, I have noth
ing to say to him.'' This incompetent criticism did not know
of any consolation for
the sin-burdened soul ;
therefore
an
orthodox
clergyman
was
obtained, and the wretched man,
murderer though he was, died
reconciled
to God thr~ugh the
•
blood of
Christ. . ~·
But supl),o~e that all the teachings of this criticism were
true, wl1at would it avail us? It would put us in a sad eon
di 'tion indeed.
For ·
then,
sitting besid.e
ruined temples
a~nd
broken-d ,own . altars, with no joy as respects . the hereafter,
no
hope of
ever]asting life, no
God
to
help
us, no
forgiveness
of
sins, feeling miserable, all desolate
in our hearts
and
chaotic in our minds, we should be utterly una,b]e either to
know or be.lieve anything more. Can sucl1 a view of the
world, such a religion, which, . as was
said of
Professor .
Harnack' ,s,
lectur 'e,s
in
America,
,o.nly destro ,ys,,
removes
and
tears downt be true? Not If this modem
criticism
is ti-ue,
tl1en away with all
so-called
Christianity,
which
only deceives ·
us 'With idle tales t A way with a religion · whi
1
ch ha.s nothing
to offe ,r· us but the commonplace teachit1gs of morality I Away
\\r,ith
faith
Away with h
1
ope t Let us e·at and drink, for
tomorrow we die
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THESE TEACHINGS IN THE LIGHT OF SCRIPTURE
But let us hear
what
God' s word
has
to say regarding
this topic:
2 Pet. 1 :21.-· For no prophecy ever came by the ·will of
man ; but holy men of God spake as they were moved
by
the
Holy Ghost.
2
Tim.
3 :16, 17.- All
Scriptu re given by inspiration of
God is profitable for doctrin e, for reproof, for correction ,
for
instruction in righteou sness ; that the man of God may
be perfect, thoroughly furni shed unto all good works.
Gal. 1 :11, 12.- I certi fy you, brethren, that the Gospel
which was preached by me is not after man, neither was I
taught it, but
by
the revelation of Je sus Christ.
Rom. 1 :16.- I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Chri st;
for
it is the power of God unto salvation
to
every one
that
believeth.
Acts 20 :30.-But of your own selves shall men
ari se,
speaki ng perverse thing s, to draw away disciples after them.
2 Pet. 2 :1.- There were false prophets also among the
people, who privily shall bring in damnable her e
sies, even denying the Lord that bought them.
1 Cor. 1 :20, 21.- Where is the wise ? where
fa
the scribe?
where is the disputer of
this
world? Hath not
God
made
foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that
in the
wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it plea sed
God by the foolishne ss of preaching to save them that
believe.''
Col.
2 :4-8.- This I
say,
lest
any man should beguile y
u
with enticing word s, or spoil you through philosophy and
vain deceit, after the rudiment s of the world, and not after
Christ.''
1 Cor. 3 :19.- '' For the wisdom of this wprld is foolish
ness with God.
1 Cor. 2 :5.- That your faith should not stand in the
wisdom of n1en, but in the power of God.
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Th.e Bi.ble
and
JII
odern Cri ti c-ism
1 Cor. 2 :4. '' And my speech and rn.y P,reaching was not
with enti .cing words of man's
wisdom,
but in
demonstration
of the Spirit and of
power.'' . -
1 Cor. 2
:12,
13.
''Now w
1
e hav
1
e rec
1
eive,d, not
the .
spi.r.it
of the
world,
but the spirit
which
is
of
God, that we might
know
the things that
ar ·e
freely
.given
to
us
of
God.
Whjch
things also we speak, not in the words which man~s wisdo·m
teacbe ·th,
b·ut ,
which
the
Holy
1
Gh.ost ·teachet h ;
ic.omparing
spiri .tual
t.hings with spiritual. ~'
Col,. 1 :21 and 2 Cor. 10 :5. Therefo ,re
''you
tha 't were
sometime
al·i,enated
and
e·nemies
in your
minds by
wicked
wor ·ks,' ' now ''bring into captivity every thought to the obedi-
e,nce o,f·Chri ,st.'' .
Ga·I, 1 :9'. ''As we said bef,01·e, so say I no·w again, , I ·£
any
man p,reach _any
other gos,pel
un ·to
you
than that
ye
have received, let him be a,c,cur .sed.'' . ,
1
C,or. 15 .:17.
''Whosoev ,er
says that Chrjst is ~ot risen, ·
'his
faith
i.s vain,
he
is
yet
in his sins. . ·
. 2
John,
vs.
7,
9, 10, 11.
''Fo r
many deceivers
are
entered
into, the world, who confess n ot that Jesus Christ is come in
th,e flesh. T'his is a deceiver and an
antichris ·t. * * *
Who
soever
tr ,ansgresseth
and abideth
no·t in
the doctrine
of
Christ,
hath
no·t
God. He
that
abideth
in
the
doc.trine .of ·Christ, he
hath bo·th th,e Fa .ther and the Son. If . the:re come, any unt .o
you, and bring not
this doctrine,
receive him
not
into your
house, neither bid him
1
God speed ; for he that bidde,th 'him
God speed ·is partaker of his evil deeds.''
Luke 11 :52. ''Woe unt ,o, you lawyers
f
fo
1
r ye
have taken
away the key of knowled.ge ; ye entered not in yourselves,
and
them .·hat
were entering in
ye l1inde1·ed.''
•
•
,CONCLUSION
Let us then, by
r,epudiating this modern criticism, show
1
our condemnation .of
it.
at
does
·it off
er us? '
Nothing.
What
does
it
take
away? Everything.
Do we have any
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use for it? No It neither -helps us in life nor comforts us in
death; it will not judge us in the world to come. For our
Biblical faith we do not need either the encomiums of men,
nor the approbation of a few poor sinners. We ~ill
not
attempt to improve the Scriptures and adapt them to our
liking, but we will believe them. We will not criticize them,
but we will ourselves be directed by them. We will not exer
cise authority over them, but we will obey them. We will
trust Him who is the way, the truth, and the life. His word
shall
make
us
free.
Respice
fineni
"consider the end"-that is what even the
old .Romans said. True rationalism adjudges all things from
the standpoint of eternity; and it asks of every religion,
What can you do for me with regard to the great beyond?
What does this Biblical criticism offer us here? Only fog
and ·mist, or, at best, an endless state of indecision, soxpe
thing impersonal and inactive, just like its god, whose very
nature is inconceivable. "Eternal life," writes one of these
modernists, "is only the infinitely weak vestige of the present
life." ( ) Here also the maxim proves itself true, "By
their fruits ye shall know them." Just as for our present
life this criticism offers us no consolation, no forgiveness of
sins, no deliverance from "the fear of death, through which
we are all our iifetime subject to bondage," so also it knows
nothing respecting the great beyond-nothing with regard to
that new heaven and new earth wherein righteousness shall
dwell, nothing with regard to that golden city which shines
with eternal light, nothing with regard to a God who wipes
away all tears from our -eyes. It is utterly ignorant of the
glory of God, and on that account it stands condemned.
"Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of
eternal life. And we believe and are sure that Thou art that
Christ, the Son of the living God" (John
6 :68,
69). And
He answered, "Behold, I eome quickly: hold that fast which
thou hast; that no man take thy crown" ( Rev. 3 : 11).