A recent writer, who has ably advocated the principles of modern scepticism, the author of “Supernatural Religion,” has in the opening passage of his work clearly placed before us the real point at issue. He states the case as follows:
“On the very threshold of inquiry into the origin and true character of Christianity we are brought face to face with the supernatural. It is impossible, without totally setting aside its peculiar and indispensable claim to be a direct external revelation from God of truths which otherwise human reason could not have discovered, to treat Ecclesiastical Christianity as a form of religion developed by the wisdom of man. Not only in form does it profess to be the result of divine communication, but in its very essence, in its principal dogmas it is either superhuman or untenable. There is no question here of mere accessories, which are comparatively unimportant, and do not necessarily affect the essential matter, but we have to do with a scheme of religion claiming to be miraculous in all points, in form, in essence, and in evidence. This religion cannot be accepted without an emphatic belief in supernatural interposition, and it is absurd to imagine that its [pg 004] dogmas can be held, whilst the miraculous is rejected. Those who profess to hold the religion, whilst they discredit the supernatural element, and they are many at the present day, have widely receded from Ecclesiastical Christianity. It is most important that the inseparable connection of the miraculous with the origin, doctrines, and the evidence of Christianity should be clearly understood, in order that inquiry may pursue a logical and consistent course.”—Supernatural Religion, page 1.[1]
I fully accept all the chief positions laid down in this passage as an adequate statement of the points at issue between those who affirm and those who deny that Christianity is a divine revelation. A few minor points require a slight modification, as incurring the danger of confusing ideas that ought to be carefully distinguished.
The writer before me also raises no minor issue. Although the work is entitled “Supernatural Religion, or an inquiry into the reality of divine revelation,” its object, which is consistently carried out throughout it, is to impugn the historical character of the Gospels, and to prove that the supernatural occurrences which are recorded in them are fictitious. The title of the work might have justified the writer in assailing other portions of the Bible; but he clearly sees that to adopt this course is only to attack the outworks of Christianity, and to leave the key of the entire position unassailed. In doing so he has pursued a far nobler course than that which has been adopted by many of the opponents of the Christian faith. He has directed his attack against the very centre of the Christian position, the historical [pg 005] credibility of the supernatural actions attributed to Jesus Christ in the Gospels, being well aware that a successful assault on this position will involve the capture of all the outworks by which it is supposed to be protected; while it by no means follows that a successful assault on any of the latter involves the capture of the citadel itself. This writer does not take up a bye question, but he goes direct to the foundation on which Christianity rests. In doing so, it must be acknowledged that he has taken a straightforward course, and one which must bring the question of the truth or falsehood of Christianity to a direct issue.
I fully agree with the chief position taken in the quotation before us, that Christianity involves the presence of the supernatural and the superhuman, what in fact is generally designated as the miraculous, or it is nothing. To remove these elements out of the pages of the New Testament, is not to retain the same religion, but to manufacture another quite different and distinct from it. In the first place, we have the great central figure in the Gospels, the divine person of Jesus Christ our Lord, and the entire body of his actions and his teaching. He, although depicted as human, is at the same time depicted as superhuman and supernatural, not merely in his miraculous works, but in his entire character. To remove the divine lineaments of Jesus Christ out of the Gospels is simply to destroy them. Besides this, we have a large number of miraculous actions attributed to him. These are inextricably interwoven with the entire narrative, which, when they are taken away, loses all cohesion. Lives of Jesus which have been set forth, deprived of their supernatural and superhuman elements, are in fact nothing better than a new Gospel composed out of the subjective consciousness of the [pg 006] writers. Various attempts have been made to pare down the supernatural and superhuman elements in the Gospels to the smallest possible dimensions. Still they obstinately persist in remaining. If everything else is struck out of the Gospels, except their moral teaching, we are left in the presence of teaching which is raised at an immense elevation above the thoughts and conceptions of the age that produced it; and of a teacher, who while distinguished by the marks of pre-eminent holiness and greatness of mind, is also distinguished by a degree of self-assertion in his utterances of moral truth, which is without parallel, even among the most presumptuous of men. Deal with the Gospels as we will, while we allow any portions of them to remain as historical, we are still in the presence of the superhuman.
As the narrative now stands it is at least harmonious. The lofty pretensions of the teacher bear the most intimate correlation to the supernatural and superhuman facts that are reported of him. The one are the complement of the other. If the facts are true, the lofty self-assertion of the teacher is justified; if they are not true, his pretensions conflict with the entire conception of his holiness and elevation of mind. The use which a wide spread school of modern criticism so freely makes of the critical dissecting knife, for the purpose of amputating the supernatural from the Gospels, can only be attended by the fatal termination of destroying the entire Gospels as of the smallest historical value. It is marvellous that persons who retain any respect for Christianity as a system of religious and moral teaching, should have attempted to throw discredit on this element in the Gospels with a view of saving the remainder.
Nor is the case different with the other portions of [pg 007] the New Testament. Christianity, as enunciated by its writers, does not profess merely to teach a new and improved system of morality. If this was its only pretension, it would certainly have but little claim to be viewed as a divine revelation. In morals its teaching is both unsystematic and fragmentary; though it is an unquestionable fact, that a great system of moral teaching may be deduced from the principles it unfolds. But if one thing is plainer than another on the face of the New Testament, it is that the great purpose sought to be effected by Christianity is to impart a new moral and spiritual power to mankind. It professes to be, not a body of moral rules, but a mighty moral force, which is concentrated in the person of its Founder. The acceptance of it had generated a new power or energy, a moral and spiritual life, which raised those who had embraced it above their former selves; and which it professes to be able to impart to all time. This supernatural element, concentrated as I have said that it is in the person of its founder, runs through the entire epistles, and constitutes their most distinguishing feature. If the supernatural elements in the person of Jesus Christ be removed from their teaching nothing remains but a number of moral precepts robbed of all their vitality. In one word, the whole system of teaching simply collapses.
In a similar manner, if we eliminate every thing supernatural out of the New Testament, with a view of arriving at a residuum of truth, we are brought into immediate contact with the most unique fact in the history of man, the creation of the Church of Jesus Christ, the greatest institution which has ever affected the destinies of our race, and which has for eighteen centuries exerted a most commanding influence on human happiness and civilization. [pg 008] This is professedly based on a miraculous fact, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. If, therefore, we remove the supernatural elements out of Christianity, this institution, mighty for good in its influence on the progress of our race, has been based on an unreality and a delusion. Here again we encounter something which has very much the appearance of the supernatural.
On these accounts, therefore, I cordially accept the position which is laid down by the author of “Supernatural Religion” as a correct statement of the case, that Christianity involves the presence of the Supernatural, or it is nothing. We must either defend the chief supernatural elements of the New Testament or abandon it as worthless.
But there is an expression which occurs in this quotation, and which is frequently made use of in subsequent parts of the work, which requires consideration, “Ecclesiastical Christianity.” What is intended by it? The meaning is nowhere defined, and unless we come to a clear understanding with respect to it, we shall be in danger of complicating the entire question. The expression is ambiguous. If by it is meant any other form of thought, than that which is contained in the pages of the New Testament; if, in fact, by it is intended a systematic arrangement of doctrinal truth, which has been elaborated at a subsequent period, I emphatically assert that those who are called upon to defend the divine character of the Christian Revelation have nothing to do with it. The only thing which those who maintain that the New Testament contains a divine revelation can be called on to defend, is the express statements of the book itself, and not a system of thought which subsequent writers may have attempted to deduce from it.