The Wave of Scepticism and the Rock of Truth

by M. H. Habershon

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.