CHAPTER VII.
CONCLUSION.
At the close of his work our author attempts to console his readers for having demolished their evangelical belief in the following eloquent language:—
"In surrendering its miraculous element and its claims to supernatural origin, therefore, the religion of Jesus does not lose its virtue, or the qualities which have made it a blessing to humanity. It sacrifices none of that elevated character which has distinguished and raised it above all human systems; it merely relinquishes a claim which it has shared with all antecedent religions, and severs its connection with ignorant superstition. It is too divine in its morality to require the aid of miraculous attributes. No supernatural halo can heighten its spiritual beauty, and no mysticism deepen its holiness. In its perfect simplicity it is sublime, and in its profound wisdom it is eternal" (p. 489).
This may be eloquently expressed, but it will not bear analysis. If "the religion of Jesus" has an "elevated character," which has "distinguished and raised it above all human systems," it must have a superhuman "elevated character," and, if so, a supernatural character, and, therefore, the religion of Jesus is a supernatural religion. To take from the Bible all that is miraculous, and pretend it would "not lose its virtue," or "the qualities which have made it a blessing to humanity," is simply absurd. The teachings of Christ, apart from His recognition of Abraham's faith in God having spoken to him; of Moses, as divinely commissioned to give the law of Sinai; and of David, to prophesy of Himself as the Messiah, is inconceivable. It is not possible to strike out of the Bible all that is supernatural and leave it intelligible. What would be left, far from being "perfect simplicity and profound and eternal wisdom," would be, for religious instruction, indeed, a blank.
Knowing what human nature is and has been in all ages, where, we may ask, could such perfect and sublime morality have come from apart from Divine interference? As Henry Rogers says in his recent work, "The Superhuman Origin of the Bible inferred from itself," "The Bible is not such a book as man would have made if he could, or could have made if he would."
Even John Stuart Mill, in his book just published, describes Christ as the "pattern of perfection for humanity;" and "a unique figure, not more unlike all His precursors than all His followers, even those who had the direct benefit of His personal teaching."
The late Dr. Priestley, the eminent Unitarian, said that the actual resurrection of Jesus Christ is more authentically attested than any other fact in history.[70]
The fact is, in short, just this: the whole Scripture testimony to the work of man's redemption is, to the believer, explicit and harmonious, while the emasculated and perverted creed of the moralist who rejects the miraculous is sheer confusion and absurdity.
We appreciate the admonition of the apostle Paul, where he says: "Oh, Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science, so called, which, some professing, have erred concerning the faith."
It is of importance to note that the writings which record the deaths of some of the principal persons, such as John the Baptist, James the Apostle, and Stephen, would, probably, have mentioned the decease of others if they had died before the books were composed. Supposing they originated at a later date, the writers would have had no motive for omitting any such particulars. Surely, the Acts of the Apostles would have told us of the death of Paul and Peter, Matthew and Barnabas, and the other men whose doings it records. If we imagine the book a fiction, then, we ask, where are the stories which apocryphal books contain, such as the crucifixion of Peter, which would, certainly, have been included? This must be accounted for before we set aside the book as not history, but fiction.
This anonymous sceptical work has to encounter the damaging objection that it enters a verdict before the case is complete. The judge, that is, impartial criticism holding the balance evenly, may justly say, How can the verdict be pronounced in the absence of witnesses of such importance as the Acts of the Apostles and the epistles of Paul? The final reflections at the conclusion of the second volume are premature. Instead of it being "right not to delay a clear statement of what the author believes to be the truth and its consequences," it is the opposite; and we venture to predict that, when he has done his worst, when he has made the most of the silence of primitive writers whose works time has reduced to fragments; when he has fully exposed the irrelevancy of many of the assertions of over-sanguine apologists (such as Tischendorf and Canon Westcott); when he has magnified to the utmost the difficulties inseparable from the investigation of matters eighteen centuries distant, between which period in history and the present time there have intervened revolutions in nations, invasions of barbarians, cities burned, libraries destroyed, and all that is conceivable of obliteration, falsification, fraud, and superstition, in what are called the dark ages—his ability, learning, research, and logic will not have convinced the majority of his readers that Christianity is to be placed in the category of the world's religious delusions and impostures. His complete work will be fully replied to by critics of his own calibre and acumen, and the highest honour it will ultimately attain will be to be relegated to the unenviable position in literature in which are placed Spinoza, Hume, Baur, Strauss, Rénan, Mill, and all those able doubters who have boldly but unsuccessfully assailed the truth as it is in Jesus.
I close with the remark that the Bible is regarded by the Evangelical Protestant Nonconformists from an independent point of view. The authority of the councils of the Popish Church is nothing to them. The decision of the Council of Laodicea, A.D. 364, furnishes evidence of the Holy Scriptures being, in the main, what we esteem them to be; but we do not recognise its authority.
We are in a position to welcome any light which any critic can throw upon the records of Divine revelation, and can be grateful for any laborious research which separates the gold from the dross, and selects the real coin from the counterfeit. But it is undoubtedly true that, as the religion of the Bible is a spiritual matter, it is best discerned by those whose hearts are open to receive it.
"If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God."[71] "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself."[72] "Filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding."[73]
On the assumption that man is not a spiritual being, the investigation of what the Bible teaches is not likely to be successful. The most prominent statements will be foolishness. The primary fact that God is a Spirit will not be apprehended, and all analogous doctrines deemed the outgrowth of superstition. It is the vainest of all inquiries from such a foregone conclusion. Man is not placed at such a point of observation in the universe as to be competent to conduct a theological investigation, based on a negative hypothesis, regarding the essential proposition of all religious truth. Among the indispensable requisites in the pursuit of such knowledge, are, the receptive disposition, the listening attitude, the becoming humility, the consciousness of a tendency to go wrong, and of dependence on the Divine illumination of the Holy Spirit. "Blind unbelief is sure to err." The inquirer who does not lay aside pride and self-sufficiency is not in a condition to take the first step. If intellectual power, acuteness of perception, and the logical faculty, could ensure the successful pursuit of spiritual truth, we may suppose that Satan's knowledge would convince him of the folly of his opposition to the Divine authority. That which intervenes betwixt the Almighty Creator and the fallen angel intercepts the vision of the depraved human soul. Only "the pure in heart can see God." The blindness is not removable until, as in the case of Saul of Tarsus, those conditions are complied with which are implied in the statement, "Behold he prayeth." His soul is humbled, his eyes are opened, and he gets nearer to the truth. "The Lord is nigh unto them who call upon him."[74]
The summary of what I have endeavoured to make plain to you respecting the book is briefly this:—
1. That it chiefly consists of German scepticism made plain to English readers; of a recast of the exploded fallacies of Hume; and an unsuccessful attempt to eliminate the miraculous from the Gospels.
2. That the assumption that there are in the Bible Satanic miracles, thus putting Jewish superstition on a level with revealed truth, is reasoning on false premises.
3. That the miracles of the Bible do not admit of their being accommodated to the laws of nature, to satisfy the scientific and philosophical theologians.
4. That the objection to the testimony of the first disciples, on the ground of their not being learned, scientific, and critical, has no weight, especially as applied to Paul, whose education would enable him to weigh the evidence of the eye-witnesses, which he would compare with the revelation to himself; and thus he was in a position to know the exact truth.
5. That the abstract argument against miracles not having sufficient force to merit Mr. Arnold's endorsement, its further discussion was not necessary, the first part of the book being sufficiently neutralised.
6. That the argument from the silence of early Church writers is not conclusive, because we have only fragments of their writings, and that there was not the same need to refer to written records while tradition was fresh.
7. That the objection to a quotation because it is not verbatim is frivolous.
8. That the hypothesis that the original records of Christ's life, which are not our Gospels, and are lost, did not contain any miracles, is a German conjecture, which is totally unsupported and absolutely incredible.
9. That the assumption of uniform and verbal inspiration is not an essential of orthodox views, and that Christianity has been more damaged by its friends than its enemies.
10. That the author's mode of presenting his facts is not to be relied upon, any more than his conclusions.
11. That offensive epithets and unwarrantable boldness of assertion do not strengthen his arguments; nor is eloquent language always sense.
12. That the question is not whether the Gospels establish the reality of miracles, so that Christianity is false if they do not sufficiently do so; but is the general evidence, resting on a great variety of proofs, sufficient to prove it true?
13. That special pleading is found throughout the book.
14. That whatever information is wanting, as to the exact manner in which the four Gospels were compiled—whatever probability there may be that Matthew's is made up of materials from several other sources, such as the lost "Gospel of the Hebrews," as well as from that apostle's own record of what he heard and was eye-witness of—whatever probability there may be that the Fourth Gospel is only the Apostle John's to the extent of his having furnished the materials, which Grecian, rather than Jewish, pens put into elegant language and artistic form—it is undeniable that if John the son of Zebedee, the apostle, wrote the Apocalypse, as our author proves he did, the fact furnishes the strongest evidence, "clear, direct, and irrefragable," that he knew, being an eye-witness of the events of the Gospel records, the Resurrection of Christ to be no "cunningly devised fable," but the fact of facts, the truth of truths, the miracle of miracles.
15. That the religion of the Bible being spiritual, its truths are best discerned by those whose hearts are open to receive them.
The vast expanse of evangelical Christian evidence, shining around us like the sky on a clear night, has its nebulæ which only faith's telescope can reach; but there are stars and constellations which are so conspicuous that no inquirer after truth can fail to see them. John to the seven Churches, whose angels are seven stars, is as obvious as the Pleiades; Paul and Barnabas, as of old, are Mercurius and Jupiter; Abraham's descendants, still distinct from all other races, in all lands, are prominent as Sirius; Pliny's letter to Trajan is radiant as Arcturus; the martyr-story of the Catacombs and of history is as demonstrative as Mars; while the institution to show forth the Lord's death, by the breaking of bread on the Lord's day, glows like Venus. These, requiring no telescope,
"Confirm the tidings as they roll, And spread the truth from pole to pole."
UNWIN BROTHERS, THE GRESHAM PRESS, CHILWORTH AND LONDON.