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Christ and Criticism.
yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were writ ten in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me.” ■ , . . , , , , And the record adds: “Then opened He their mind that they might understand the Scriptures.” And the rest of the New Testament is the fruit of that ministry, enlarged and un folded by the Holy Spirit given to lead them into all truth. And in every part of the New Testament the Divine authority of the Hebrew Scriptures, and especially of the Books of Moses, is either taught or assumed. THE VITAL ISSUE. Certain it is, then, that the vital issue in this controversy is not the value of the Pentateuch, but the Deity of Christ. And yet the present article does not pretend to deal with the truth of the Deity. Its humble aim is not even to establish the authority of the Scriptures, but merely to discredit the critical attack upon them by exposing its real character and its utter feebleness. The writer’s method, therefore, has been mainly destructive criticism, the critics’ favorite weapon being thus turned against themselves. A DEMAND FOR CORRECT STATEMENT. One cannot but feel distress at having to accord such treat ment to certain distinguished men whose reverence for divine things is beyond reproach. A like distress is felt at times by those who have experience in dealing with sedition, or in sup pressing riots. But when men who are entitled to .considera tion and respect thrust themselves into “the line of SB must take the consequences. These distinguished men will not fail to receive to the full the deference to which they are en titled, if only they will dissociate themselves from the dishon est ciaptrap of this crusade (“the assured results of modern criticism” ; “all scholars are with us” ; and so on—bluster a falsehood by which the weak and ignorant are browbeaten or
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