R e v . K@fe@rt W i l l i a m D a l e
Noted Preacher of Birmingham, England, 1829-1895
NOTE—Concerning his extemporaneous preaching, for which he was noted, he once said: “There is no reason why, when you have at your service the noblest language for the orator th at was ever spoken by the human race, you should be satisfied with the threadbare phrases, the tawdry, tarnished finery, the patched and ragged g ar m ents, with the smell like th at of the stock of a second-hand clothes shop, with which half-educated and ambitious declaimers are content to cover the nakedness of their thought.
HERE are large numbers of people who suppose that modern science and modern criticism have destroyed the foundations of faith, and
Scriptures are the foundation of the Chris tian faith, that we must believe in the genuinehess and historical trustworthiness of these ancient books, and even in their inspiration, before we can believe in Christ, they argue that, until these discussions are finally closed in favor of the traditional opinions, faith in Christ is impossible. The controversies have not, in any large num ber of cases, destroyed faith where faith already existed ; but' where faith does not exist, they appear to very many persons to create an insuperable obstacle to faith. PERSISTENT FAITH To such persons, if they are serious and well informed, there is something perplex ing in the persistency of the faith of the great majority of Christian believers. Among those who remain Christian there are men whose intellectual vigor, patience, and keenness are equal to theif own; men who are their equals in general intellectual culture, and who know as much as they know about the currents of modern thought; candid men; men who are incor-
who can not understand how it is possible, in these days, for intelligent, open-minded,- educated men to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many persons who are con vinced that the ascertained conclusions of modern science and of modern criticism are destructive of the authority which has been attributed both to the Jewish and the Christian Scriptures, that the traditional opinions concerning the authorship and the dates of many of the books of the Old Testament are false; and that most of the writings contained in the New Testament are spurious. Or, if some of the extreme conclusions of the destructive criticism are not regarded as finally established, it is known that great names can be quoted for, as well as against,, them. And as it is assumed that the Jewish and the Christian
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