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2 (406) T H4
The Bible and
key. j. w. M
In all cases oi' jurisprudence, in civilized
countries, ll;e accused party is allowed to testily
in his own behall'. We suppose this rule of law
is founded upon the eternal principle of justice.
Consequently we enter this distinguished court
of Higher Criticism with the assurance of having
a patient aud impartial hearing.
Without being prolix, let as plunge at once
tn mcdias res and ask the question, what does
the Bible claim for itself? We answer by saying
it is a system oJ eternal truth given by the
inspiration of God and 011 which the eternal
destiny and weliare o! man hangs.
Luke tells us the people were pressing upon
Christ to see his miracles and "To hear the
Word of God." When Feter and John were
praying with the disciples the place was divinely
shaken and "They were tilled with the Holy
Ghost and spake the Word of God with bolduess."
The legitimate inference from this testimony
is that the Apostles were enabled to be
"bold" in the midst of bitter persecution and to
speak God's Word of truth because they were
filled with the Divine power of the Spirit. About
fifteen hundred years before Christ Moses represents
God as saying: "I will raise them up a
prophet from among their brethren like unto
thee (Moses), and will put my words in his
mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I
command him."
Phillip and the rest of the disciples believed
that Jesus was the fulfillment of this Mosaic prophecy
for going to \athanacl they said we have
found him of whom Moses and the prophets
did write, Jesus of Nazareth. Th jugh Nathanael
did not believe, in a moment Christ
made him appreciate the truths and he exclaimed,
"Rabbi, thou art the Son of God! Thou art
li inr? rwf Turonl HPViic nloim tho RiHlfi hVPrV
where sets up aud exalts Christ not only as the
possessor of power and wisdom, but as the very
embodiment of truth. lie makes this claim himself
and taught his apostles and disciples to
proclaim it in all cities and countries and before
princes and monarchs. "I am the true
bread." 1 am the true vine. 1 am the light of
the world. I am the way, the Life and the
Truth. The law came by Moses, but grace and
truth by Jesus Christ. In the honorable court
tt:_i 4.1.. ...i* a??
ui rugiier tiie nimcaa iwiuico uxiwicx
oath to these things.
2nd. With its fullness of power and prophetic
wisdom the Bible anticipates the violent and
prodigious attacks of Higher Criticism.
(a) Moses said in his day, "When a prophet
speaks in the Name of Jehovah a word which I
have not commanded him to speak in the name
of other gods even that prophet shall die." No
one doubts many Higher Critics are sitting in
theological seats and presume to speak in the
name of their God, for certainly it is not in
the name of Christ or an infallible Bible; and
the condemnation promised must come sooner or
later, (b) This teaching is characteristic of
rhe whole Bible. About 650 years after Moses,
Hosea takes up the subject: The days of visitation
have come, the days of recompense, Israel
shall know. The prophet is a fool and the spiritual
man mad." Again: "The prophet is a
-j? * ?i. ^11 J h.i j
i-'ijare 01 i.ne iowier ili an iu? vvavs aiiu naireu
against the house of his God." (Hosea 9:7 etc.)
Fifty or an hundred years after Micah is very
emphatic and personal. "They build up Zion
with blood, and Jerusalem with sin." "The heads
thereof judge for reward, the priests teach for
hire, and the prophets thereof divine for
money." Zophaniah, speaking of the wickedness
and rebellion of the Jews, declares: "Her
S PBXBBYT BRIAN OF THE 8 0
I Higher Critics
OSELEY, SR.
prophets are light and treacherous: her priests
iiave polluted the sanctuary, they have done
violence to the law."
Above where it is said, "They build up with
blood," it is meant the loss of poor souls de
eeived and betrayed by such men as Kuen and
Wellshausen Wernle and Hoffman. The priests
leaching for money and prophets for hire fitly
represents those men who sit in theological
chairs or those seeking orthodox pulpits, where
"the law is violated," and contempt poured
upon Jesus Christ and the words of divinely inspired
teachers. If the denial of miracles and
scoffing at the infallibility of the Iloly Scriptures
are not "polluting the sanctuary" we can
hardly see how it could be accomplished.
(c) The New Testament with the same prophetic
vision and warning to which the Church
would be exposed expresses itself boldly and
om nliaf ioolUr roifK *?n Pn r?nn 4a i nir\ .
vuij/uunv/Ujy nuu luutucc iv annvi^attu uv
partures from Moses and from God.
Christ represents Abraham as saying to the
lieh man in hell: "If they hear not Moses and
the prophets they would not be persuaded
though one rose from the dead." (Luke .16:31.)
Christ again and again expresses himself thus:
"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees ,which
is hypocrisy." Dr. Stalker in his "Life of
Christ," in speaking of the condition of the
Jewish people in his time declares they were:
"A nation enslaved, the upper classes devoting
themselves to selfishness, courtiership and skept;?:<?..
4-V.? .1 _v.:.c r?-? ?? ?
itiam y tiic icatiicra itnu enlei pruressurs ui religion
lost in mere shows of ceremonialism,
boasting themselves the favorites of God while
their souls were honeycombed with self-deception
and vice."
Again Jesus answered and said: 1 iTake heed
rhat no man deceive you." "Many shall come
in my name saying I am Christ, and deceive
many." When Paul and Barnabas were preaching
in the island of Cyprus they found Ely mas,
a Jew, seeking to prevent men hearing the Word
of God. Paul is represented as filled with the
Holy Ghost turning his eyes upon and rebuking
him. ' Full of all subtlety and mischief, thou
child of the Devil, enemy of all righteousness
win tnou not cease to pervert tne ngnt ways ot
the Lord ?" and justly pronounces a malediction
upon him.
Paul found some of theRe mischief makers and
workers of unrighteousness among the learned
and philosophic Greeks at Corinth, and thus
treats their case: 'Such false apostles are deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into
the Apcstles of Christ." And be not astonished,
"For Satan "himself is transformed into an
angel of light." "It is no great thing, if his
ministers be transformed into the ministers of
righteousness." (2 Cor. 11:13 etc.)
Timothy, in that splendid and erudite city of
Ephesus, met with the same old difficulty and
eonsrtant (antagonism land Paul thus put his
young preacher on his guard: "This know also
in the last days perilous times shall.come. There
shall be those, "Ever learning, but never able
to come to the knowledge of the truth." "Now
as Jannes and Jatubres withstood Moses, so
these also rctxst the truth. Men of corrupt
minds reprobate concerning the faith. "But
their folly shall be manifest to all, as theirs also
was." (2 Tiro. 3: 8, etc.). John in his first epistle
warns us of what had happened and what was
still to eoroe. "Believe not every spirit; but
try tjhe spirits whether they are from God; many
false prophets have frone out into the world."
"He that knoweth God heareth us; he that is
not of God, heareth us not."
U T H [ May 21, 1213
There is such marked resemblance between
the Higher Criticism of the age und the Gnosticism
of Saint John and Ircnaeus that it will
bring out the teachings and doctrines of the
two.
1st. The Gnostics in the beginning did not
oppose the Messiah and the Bible, but claimed
they had found something better. The Gospel
was very good as far as it went, but they
understood it better than the Apostles themselves.
This is fllmnat. tho lnnmiooo r?f
one of the distinguished Higher Critics Julicher
who suys: "Where the first Apostles have
totally misunderstood Jesus, we must try to
understand Him better." And this is the posiiion
of liarnack Bossuet, Weinel, Wernle
llartraan et omne genus. 2. The Gnostic
taught that it was a great mistake to imagine
the Bible contained all that was essential to
salvation. There was a higher knowledge a
more profound gnosis able to save to the uttermost.
This "profound gnosis" is in the
hands of the liberal theologians and often they
show that scornful disregard of those who differ
from til em ? tllincr fihorantoi-iotin nf
Greek gnostic. Werale Says; "Jesus knew
nothing of that which to Paul is everything,
that he ascribed any meritorious atonement to
His death is altogether improbable." Professor
Jensen tells us the Jesus of the gospels
never existed at all, he is only a Babylonian'
deity, a Gilgamesh. "We the children of a
much lauded time of progress, and achievement,
look down upon the superstitions of the
past with a forbearing smile." i 3. As the
Supreme God in His infinite purity and goodness
could not possibly come in contact with
the evils and impurities of matter consequently
the Incarnation was an impossibility, and
righteousness and the atonement of no value
in comparison with intellectual illumination
and attainments. Professor Bossuet claims
"Jesus has nowhere over-stepped the limits of
the purely human. We do not start with the
thought that He was from above and we from
below; consequently we do not longer speak
of the Divinity of Christ." Harnack, Bossuet,
Wernle and others, do not hesitate to teach
that in the Synoptic gospels there is nothing
of redemption, atonement or regeneration by
the spirit. Another system of theology is exhibited
by John and Paul. In conclusion let us
say as Moses, Jesus and Paul crushed Gnostics,
so will they crush and expel the silly vaticination
of the Higher Critics. Moses, Jesus and
Paul invaded and conquered Greece; they invaded
and conquered Rome; they conquered
Europe and America. Now their triumphal
car is sweeping India, China and Japan and
the island of the sea. The sentiments of these
1.? ?" * i *
uiuucai unuruciers are puDiisnea Dy tne millions
of copies and Rent over the world. Nearly
every language known witnesses a translation.
One man in New York gave $500,000 to the Biblo
Society, a woman gave the same on condition
that like amount be subscribed by others.
Who is publishing the works of Jensen, Harnack,
Hollzman, etc. They are going down
in the rubbish and debris of the age never to
be resurrected except in "Shame and everlasting
contempt." Paul warned the Colos
sians thus, "Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit after the
tradition of men and not after ChYist." John
in his second epistle gives us this?"If there
come to you any one and bring not this doc
trine (or Christ) receive him not into your
house nor bid him God speed. He that bid- .
deth him God speed is partaker of his evil
deeds."
He who is disposed to listen and determined to
obey can always hear the divine voice.
K
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