My Experience with Higher Criticism 103 the intellectual life of man. It is a thirst for the real and the true, that will be satisfied with nothing else. But, noble as is this scientific spirit, and invaluable as is the historical meth od, there are subtle dangers in connection with them. Every thing depends upon the presuppositions with which we use the method. A certain mental attitude there must be. What shall it be ? A materialistic evolution such as Kuenen and his con freres, or a theistic evolution which admits the supernatural? Investigating in the mental attitude of the first of these, the scholar will inevitably arrive at or accept the results of the critics. Another, working at the same problem with Chris tian presuppositions, will arrive at very different conclusions. Which shall we have, the point of view of the Christian or the critic ? I found that the critics’ claim to possess the only really scientific method was slightly true but largely false. His results were scientific because they fitted his hypothesis. The Christan scholar with his broader presuppositions was peremptorily ruled out of court. Anything savoring of the miraculous, etc., could not be scientific to the critic, and hence it could not be true, therefore, it must be discarded or branded as Myth, Legend, Poesy, Saga, etc. Such narrowness of view is scarcely credible on the part of scholars who claim to be so broad and liberal. Another question confronted me. How can so many Chris tian scholars and preachers accept the views of the critics and still adhere to evangelical Christianity with intense devotion? As we have seen, to accept the results of Criticism is to accept the methods and presuppositions which produced these results. To accept their assumptions is to accept a naturalistic evolu tion which is fundamentally contradictory to the Biblical and Christian point of view. It is therefore essentially contradic tory to Christianity, for what is the latter if it is not a super- naturally revealed knowledge of the plan of salvation, with supernatural power to effectuate that salvation ? All who have experienced the power of Christianity will in the main assent
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