The Bible in the Critic’s Den -2By Earle Albert Rowell (1917)
The ocean storms and waves have been beating about the rock for ages, and dashing their thundering volumes upon its invulnerable strength. But the rock still stands, a foundation for the beneficent lighthouse, which sends its guiding waves over the stormy deep. The Bible is God's rock of truth. Sometimes men fail in furnishing the light, but the Rock of the Word stands fast forever!
THE most bitterly hated book in all the world is the Bible. Men have written thousands of volumes, and spent millions of dollars, to disprove it. Fifteen hundred years ago, the emperor Julian brought to bear the vast wealth and powerful army of Rome to reestablish the Jewish temple and religion, in order to disprove the prophecies of the Bible. A few years ago, Sir William Ramsay journeyed over Asia Minor to demonstrate that the New Testament could not be true, and ended by writing books proving its truth. In their furious endeavor to annihilate the Bible, men have turned the key, lifted the headsman's ax, pulled the rope, applied the fagot, betrayed son and daughter, father and mother, to horrible fates, soaked the soil of Europe and written the pages of history with the blood of the world's noblest and best. Why this strange obsession? Why this animosity, as fresh and acrimonious to-day as when the Word Himself hung upon the accursed tree, the victim of the murderous rage of a whole people He had come to benefit? Why this virulent passion of 1,900 years of cyclonic vindictiveness towards a religion whose basic principle is love to God and love to man? This is an enigma that has saddened the hearts of those who feel, and puzzled the intellects of those who think. The Bible is the most expensive possession of the human race. It has cost the blood of millions of martyrs. The earth's greatest and wisest have gladly given their lives that it might live. The Son of God shed His precious lifeblood that "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people" might read it. Around the Bible have raged, in varying fury, the storms of the ages. All the moral and intellectual forces of the centuries have mustered their strength in attack and defense of this one Book, and its product, Christianity. The attack, and therefore the defense, have altered in form only to increase in intensity as the centuries have passed. Never for a moment has the battle ceased. There have been lulls, invariably followed by a fiercer attack upon some other point. No other book could have withstood a thousandth part of the fiendish, seductive, deceptive, insidious, infuriate assault that has been directed for so many centuries against the Bible. How, then, it may be asked, can the Bible endure it? The Bible is more than a book, though it is the greatest of all books. It is more than a compendium of ethics, though it has revolutionized ethics. It is more than a system of morals, though it is the basis of morals. It is more than a philosophy of life, though it has transformed life. It is more than a religion, though it is the source of Christianity, the world's only true religion. The Bible is all of this and infinitely more. It is the life of God expressed in words and exemplified in the life of His Son; and this life it is which flows into the soul of the believer, making him the heir of eternity. Man is not saved by theology, new or old, nor by creeds, good or bad, but by Christ. What we need is not a new theology, but a new heart; not a change of legislation, but a change of character. The recent attempt to tinker the Ten Commandments and the Bible to suit man's disposition, so as to save man the trouble of suiting his disposition to the Ten Commandments and the Bible, is not the way to save man, but to damn him; is but the age-old battle raging within the gospel fort. While the Bible is the result of God's seeking man, all human philosophies and isms are the fruit of man's seeking God. While "destiny without God is a riddle, and history without God is a tragedy," salvation without Christ is suicide, and Christianity without the Bible is the doom of nations, the end of the world. Infidelity takes many forms. When to be a Christian is to court death, there are few infidels within the pale of the church; but when Christianity lowers the standard to include the world, inevitably the skeptics come in. Paul, ages ago, said that wolves would enter the flock and not spare it. Christ foretold as much, more than once. It should not surprise us, then, to find this a fact. Sad as it will be, it is our duty to defend the Bible against the skepticism of its professed defenders when these professors adopt the infidelity of the past and exalt it in the church as new light. Many churches are yet stanch and true, and are trying to keep the insidious unbelief of some ministers out of their pulpits and church literature. What neither the ignorance of the bigot nor the hatred of the armed oppressor, the narrowness of the pedant nor the scoffing malice of the infidel, could accomplish, the defection of some of the trusted religious leaders has done. While for centuries the combined might of the Bible's enemies beat vauntingly, fiercely, but in vain, against the bulwarks of Christianity, ecclesiastical hands, pledged to the defense of the heavenly country, have torn the banner of Christ from the tower staff, and opened the gates of the fort to the enemies of the Bible, so that now the battle over the Bible rages, for the first time since the Master's death, within the church and around the pulpit. As we look at present-day events, we are compelled to ask: "Are the convulsions of society the harbingers of a better era? Are the throes through which humanity is passing the birth pangs that are to give us a grander civilization, or are they the death agonies of the human race? Are the doubts of the doctors of divinity the germs of a higher belief, or the final and most audacious entrenchment of infidelity within the church? Is the skepticism of the church's leaders a nobler spirituality, or has every doubt a sin sticking to its roots? Are the pulverized Bible and a fallible human Jesus the foundation of a diviner religion, a surer salvation, or the certain evidence of religious decay and dissolution?" The church, it has been said, has done everything with the Scriptures except obey them. They have been read aloud in homes, enshrined in magnificent edifices of worship, honored in gorgeous ceremonies, commented on, trimmed, and glossed, till now many ministers and their flocks regard them as a sort of Arabian tales, and Jesus as merely a purer Buddha or a wiser Socrates. The man who proclaims a belief in the infallibility of the Bible and in the deity of Christ is in many religious circles a religious curiosity, a survival of an antique superstition. "They shall put you out of the synagogues," said Jesus; "yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God. And these things will they do, because they have not known the Father, nor Me." John 16:2,3. The history of hundreds of years, and the torturous death of many martyrs, are a horrible but practical commentary upon these words of Jesus. Theism alone, a mere belief in God, is so far from being sufficient, that Christ's own death was consummated by men of fervent theistic faith. The Mohammedans are the most rigid and enthusiastic monotheists in the world, but their history also shows them to exercise in behalf of their religion, cruelty, immense and unsparing. Herein lies much of the danger of the present-day destructive criticism that is indulged by all too many ministers, many of them ignorant of the threatening dangers of their teachings. The faith of the critical ministers is not based on nor derived from the Bible. They are drifting, without knowing it, towards theism, pure and simple, like Unitarianism. However numerous the eddies of the present current of destructive criticism, and no matter whether found in or out of the church, the whole stream has been in one direction - to demolish Christ as our Saviour, the Decalogue as the standard of moral law, and the Bible as the infallible will of God, leaving us evolution in place of a Saviour, human conceptions of right in place of the Decalogue, and philosophy in place of the Bible. If the little Rome of Marius could hurl back the hordes of invading Cimbri and Teutons, says Charles Jefferson, who would have dreamed that the mighty Rome of Augustus would fall a prey to the weak descendants of the invaders? If the few believers of the apostolic days were victorious against the hatred of the Jew, the subtlety of the Greek, and the iron might of Rome, combined, who would have dreamed that scores of millions of Christians in the twentieth century would surrender their faith to the ridicule of the modern critics? Still the battle goes on, with the Bible as the battle center in every charge. It has survived the hatred of the infidel, the blind, unreasoning zeal of the fanatic, and the contemptuous indifference of the self-seeker. Will it survive the combined attacks of avowed infidels without, and baptized, secret infidels within? Never before in all the long and tempestuous history of war against the Bible, have its open enemies and its professed friends combined to discredit it. How will it fare under this Ingersoll-Judas onslaught? In every church are many who are aroused to ask this question, and who seek to unite with the friends of the Bible in concerted defense against its enemies wherever found. It is the purpose of this little book to aid in this defense. God's word spoke light to
the primitive earth; that Word is light still There is but one effective preparation -- panoplied in "the whole armor of God."
II- IS THE CHURCH PREPARED?PREPAREDNESS" is the great word of the hour, the word to conjure with. It has even supplanted so mighty and so popular a word as "efficient." Preparedness is efficiency for the future - is being efficient for an event which we believe or know to be inevitable. Preparedness, then, is the foresight of efficiency, is efficiency carried to the highest point of service. Preparedness postulates the ability not only to arm for an emergency, but also to foresee what the emergency will be. Obviously, to prepare for something that never could happen, would be folly. The only reason a nation prepares for war is because it believes war to be either possible or inevitable. Likewise, if a nation, in preparing, could, by some fortunate eventuality, know just what kind of fighting engines would be most effective in the future, that nation would concentrate on their manufacture. To prepare for war, then, presumes the possibility of war, coupled with a belief that certain armaments will afford efficient protection. How relieved and delighted would our statesmen be if a true prophet should arise and tell them not only the how and the when of future national trouble, but also detail to them how to be prepared for it all! While nations do not expect and will not receive such coveted guidance, the church of God has had detailed information on all points of controversy and trial that ever would harass it, together with a complete set of instructions, which, if followed, infallibly insure victory for her in every conflict. Preparedness has been a fundamental teaching of the prophets for ages. Amos, 2,700 years ago, issued the startling warning to the church, "Prepare to meet thy God, 0 Israel." Amos 4:12. Isaiah, the great prophet of the Messiah's coming, understood the necessity of preparing for that event hundreds of years in advance. Realizing that a comprehension; on the part of Israel, of the significance of Christ's coming would purify their religious life, he sent forth the flaming message, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." Isa. 40:3. Malachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament, bore, as we would expect, a warning and a prophecy of preparedness for Jesus' coming. "Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me." Mal. 3: 1. Jesus said of John the Baptist that "this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee." Matt. 11:10. See also Luke 1:76. John the Baptist's message of preparedness emphasized two things: First, the certainty of the Messiah's soon coming. "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Second, the only way to prepare for that great and long-looked-for event. "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matt. 3:2. John's work is expressly stated to have been "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Luke 1:17. This preparation was to be accomplished, not by the erection of expensive temples, not by higher education, not by science, but by the simple though effective method of repentance. Just before Jesus left this earth, He told of the campaign of preparedness He would carry on in heaven: "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye I may be also." John 14:2, 3. Thus we see that the whole activity of Christ's preparedness campaign looked toward His second advent. That this is true Jesus makes clear in a parable: "If that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming, . . . that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes." Luke 12: 45, 47. While the nations are saying, "Proclaim ye this among the gentiles; Prepare war" (Joel 3:9), Christ has sent His servants to sound another preparedness message: "Prepare to meet thy God." While the nations are preparing for Armageddon, are the churches preparing for Christ's return? Are the churches taking advantage of the supernatural revelation of the future as outlined in the Bible, and preparing to meet the awful events it foretells? The nations, not knowing infallibly what the future holds, may be excused for being taken unawares by circumstances. But what excuse can the church give? She has multiplied millions of Bibles in her ranks, each Bible telling clearly what to prepare for and how to prepare. Since the church has no excuse to offer for lack of preparation should she be found in that sad state, it may be pertinent to inquire, Is the church prepared for the emergencies of the present and the horrors of the future? Let us see what her own leaders say. Dr. Washington Gladden, who is usually an enthusiastic optimist, says : "The failure of modern evangelism is not conjectural; the yearbooks show it. . . . It is idle to blink these conditions; we must face them and find out what they mean."-"The Church and Modern Life," pages 179, 180. Many other leading divines concur with Dr. Gladden in this stricture of the results of modern evangelism. If the present methods are a failure, what are the prospects for the future? The future of the church depends largely, as all will admit, upon the number and quality of its leaders. Here, too, we find conditions serious. "The decline in the number of young men in training for the ministry is notorious," says G. B. Thompson, in "Churches and Wage Earners," page 192. Even this, serious as it is, is by no means the worst. Dr. George L. Raymond says, "For years, while occupying a professorship necessarily bringing me into close relation with students proficient in oratory, I have noticed a gradual decrease in the proportionate number and quality of those entering the Christian ministry." "Psychology of Inspiration," page 4. Dr. Joseph Henry Crooker says that between 1898 and 1908, there was a relative decrease in the number of students in the American divinity schools, of thirty per cent. ("The Church of To-Day," page 50.) Modern evangelism a failure, an alarming decrease in both number and quality of those entering the ministry! Is this the preparedness Christ has a right to expect? No wonder that Dr. Mott is greatly exercised over these facts. "What calamity," cries he, "next to the withdrawal of Christ's presence, would be more dreaded than to have young men of genius and large equipment withdraw themselves from responding to the call of the Christian ministry?"-"The Future Leadership of the Church," page 4. He admits that the new theologians are responsible for this. "Their views are unsettled as to the nature and authority of the Bible. One finds not only questioning as to the nature of Old Testament revelation, but a serious recrudescence of skepticism about the New Testament. This sense of uncertainty about the character and scope of divine revelation is deepened in the minds of these young men by their observation of ministers who themselves are unsettled and who give public expression to their doubts." Id., page 73. Desperate efforts are put forth to increase the quota of ministerial students, just as is done to increase church membership in too many cases. As some churches lower the standard to increase their popularity, so, in order to increase the number of clerical candidates, those who are practically infidels are not only accepted, but encouraged to enter the ministry. Dr. Mott tries to put as good a face as possible on this ugly fact. Concerning it, he says: "Such difficulties [skepticism as to the fundamentals of Christianity] operate less now than formerly, because Christian leaders have come to feel that a wise tolerance as to formal belief at this period best facilitates the leading of such young men into settled convictions regarding substantial religious truths. They concede that a certain latitude in such matters may be permitted."- Id., page 75. Dr. Mott is known the world over as a great Christian leader, as a man of fervent personal faith. When he gives voice to such discouraging statements as the above, it is only because the facts themselves must force him to admissions that pain him. It is indeed painful to contemplate putting into the ministry, because of a growing decrease of the more desirable, men who are avowed doubters. How can a doubting ministry be expected to make a believing church? The fruit of faith does not grow on the tree of doubt. But we are amazed when we consider the kind of instruction given to the decreasing number and poorer quality who do finally attend the theological colleges. "A theological student," says Dr. Charles Jefferson, "at the end of the first year of his seminary course, is the most demoralized individual to be found on this earth. His early conception of the Bible has been torn down all the way to the cellar, and he is obliged to build up a new conception from the foundations."- "Things Fundamental," pages 120, 121. The "new conception" is the new theology, or higher criticism, which is so popular today. To prepare a church for the strenuous present and the still more strenuous future, with leaders who are "the most demoralized individuals to be found on this earth," will certainly be a tremendous task. Is this preparing for Christ's coming? Is this the way for the church to prepare for any religious work? What teaching is this that so demoralizes the students? Let a leader of the religious thought of this country and of the world answer. Dr. Charles Augustus Briggs, for many years instructor in the Union Theological Seminary, and author of various books used in the theological colleges of the world, teaches that "we are obliged to admit that there are scientific errors in the Bible, errors of astronomy, of geology, of zoology, of botany, and of anthropology. . . . There are chronological, geographical, and other circumstantial inconsistencies and errors. . . . In all matters which constitute the framework of divine instruction, errors may be found."-"Study of Holy Scripture," pages 627, 634. From the above, it would seem impossible for the world to contain a more erroneous book than the Bible. When we realize that such instruction as this is a commonplace in scores of theological schools, we no longer wonder that the students become "the most demoralized individuals to be found on this earth." That these numerous "errors" are never shown does not matter; for the young theological student naturally supposes that his instructors, sworn to the defense of the gospel, would never admit such errors unless they had to do so. Hence he assumes that the learned professors have ample proof for such sweeping statements; and instead of investigating to learn the truth, he too often allows his faith to be blasted by such falsehoods. Need we any longer wonder, in view of the foregoing facts, that the many churches fed with this kind of spiritual poison are fast dying, instead of growing strong and active in preparation for Christ's second coming? The awful calamities thrust upon us by the world war, and the consequent unsettled condition of society, make the demands on the church heavier than ever before in history. At a time when men's faith is being shattered by terrible events, the world turns to the church for aid, and for a robust faith to carry it through its time of dire distress. And what does it find? - The church too often unprepared, without faith in the Book which foretold the terrible events of the present, and foretells those still future, and also warns and instructs how to prepare to meet them. Church leaders everywhere recognize the fact that the church is at the parting of the ways; that while, in ages past, she has been called to face many a crisis, the most critical of her history presses at the gates. Dr. Crocker says: "The increasing paganism of America is no mere fear or fancy of a timorous pessimist. The thunderheads of a coming storm are on our civic and social horizons. He who will not see them and do what he can to avert the impending storm is either unfortunately blind or criminally indifferent."-"The Church of Today," page 143. What is the present-day tendency within the church in many places? Is it towards greater faith in the Bible as God's infallible Word, or increasing doubt concerning much of it? Let Canon Cheyne, one of the leaders of English Biblical scholarship, answer: "Every competent scholar knows that the ‘sober' criticism of to-day was considered ‘extravagant' yesterday."-"Bible Problems," page 54. May we infer that the extravagant criticism of today will be considered sober to-morrow? Concerning the term "liberal orthodox," the Rev. M. J. Savage says, "It means, when you interpret it and put it in straight English, that they have given up the old-time belief in almost every one of the points that used to be regarded as absolutely essential."-"Religion for To-Day," page 11. Professor Jordon, of Kingston, puts it "in straight English" also "It is no use attempting to minimize the difference between the traditional view and the critical treatment of the Old Testament. The difference is immense; they involve different views as to the course of Israel's history, progress of revelation, and the nature of inspiration."-"American Journal of Theology," January, 1902, page 114. Dr. Hazzard claims that the two views "are nothing short of mutually destructive."-"Reasons for the Higher Criticism of the Hexateuch," page 17. The Rev. Isaac Gibson affirms that "the traditional and critical views are face to face in open antagonism."-Id., page 100. The Rev. Dr. McFadyen sums up the whole situation clearly "Almost every representative of both parties . . . stands within the church; and that is what constitutes the real pathos of the whole situation. If the critics were all without the church, careless of her interests and indifferent to her Lord, while their opponents were all within the church, alone in their devotion to the service of Christ, the situation might be easily and plausibly explained. But it is not so."-"Old Testament Criticism and the Christian Church," page 313. Shortly after the crucifixion, the banner of faith and practice was held high by the church in spotless purity. Soon some of the leaders reasoned that the pure religion of Christ would be more successful and popular if its demands were not so stringent. Sad was the day for humanity when such a diabolical idea was advocated, and sadder yet the day when it was carried into practice. In the black records of the Dark Ages is written the account of that fatal defection from the high standard of Christ. Terrible was the delusion, blind the reasoning, that led to such a course, and awful was the penalty. The results of that course are much more evident today than they were when it was inaugurated. Criminals at heart now seek the respectability of church membership, the better to carry on their nefarious operations. Two things peculiar to this age conspire to make this possible: the popularity of Christianity as compared with the apostolic age, and the gradual lowering of the standard in many places. That famous divine and author, the late Dr. Josiah Strong, than whom no one had the good of the church more at heart, observed with alarm this tendency. Said he: "Immorality and crime are increasing much more rapidly than church membership. That is, the dangerous and destructive elements are making decidedly greater progress than the conservative. Our churches are growing, our missionary operations extending, our benefactions swelling, and we congratulate ourselves upon our progress; but we have only to continue making the same kind of progress long enough, and our destruction is sure."-"Our Country," page 216. This is a tremendously startling statement. It comes from one of the most acute observers of modern times, and one who was never sensational for effect; yet it is one of the most sensational statements made in this generation. While we see the many activities of the church growing, and congratulate ourselves upon our progress, if we keep on as we are going, our destruction is inevitable. Then we are simply progressing downward. It is a thought of awful import; and Dr. Strong, who was an incurable optimist, would never have given voice to it if he had not been forced to do so by the ugly facts. Dr. Crooker observes the danger, and raises his voice in warning: "The cheapening of the church is one of the alarming signs of the times. . . . Piety has never been made plentiful by being made easy. Sensationalism is not the way to spirituality. . . . Trying to make the church attractive by making it worldly will never enable it to conquer the world."-"The Church of To-Day," pages 55, 56. In order to hold the people who are pleasure-bent, many churches have formed literary clubs, established gymnasiums, swimming clubs, photographic clubs, rambling clubs, tennis and croquet clubs, added billiard rooms, smoking rooms, restaurants, even dance halls and theaters. A "religious" saloon was opened by Bishop Potter, of New York, to keep the drinking class in touch with the church. But do these efforts avail to bring people to church? In 1840, Boston had one Protestant church to every 1,228 souls; in 1900, one to every 2,234. In New York City, in 1840, there was one to every 955; in 1900, one to every 4,736. There are only one half as many churches to-day, in proportion to the population, as fifty years ago. (Dr. Strong, "Challenge of the City," page 54.) How can we expect other than failure, asks Dr. Strong, when the church dallies with God, and coquets with Satan? During twenty years in New York, a population of 200,000 moved in below Fourteenth Street, and eighty-seven Protestant churches moved out. In Philadelphia, in one section, while the population increased fourfold, twenty-five Protestant churches died or moved out. This is more than a retreat; it is a rout - a stampede. ("Challenge of the City," pages 121, 122.) (Temcat’s note- Remember the urgency with which Ellen White was urging the evangelism of the great cities at that time!) When, as Dr. Strong estimated, church members spend $200,000,000 a year for cigars, and $7,000,000 a year for missions, one can hardly expect to find overcrowded churches. "Investigation made by the writer," says the Rev. G. B. Thompson, "in New England, and by a friend in a large part of Boston, would not warrant an estimate of even fifteen per cent of the population as regular attendants."-"The Churches and Wage Earners," page 6. "Within recent years," says Stelzle, "forty Protestant churches moved out of the district below Twentieth Street in New York City, while 300,000 people moved in."-"Christianity's Storm Center," page 17. On Sunday, March 19, 1911, the New York Church Association took the census of church attendance of all Christians, Protestants and Catholics, of Manhattan Island, and found that ten per cent of the people were in church. Where were the ninety per cent? It is evident, from the facts presented, that an exceedingly serious condition confronts us in the general condition of the church. The godly men of all denominations recognize the danger, and are seeking to know its meaning, and how to overcome it. It is always wiser to diagnose before prescribing. In the next few chapters, we will inquire into the nature of the trouble, the effects of which are all about us. In the final chapters, we will seek the remedy. Shall we destroy the bridge which has borne millions to hope and salvation? |
