The Higher Critics and the Moslems
THERE is no middle ground between Christianity and heathenism. When a man departs from the true Christian platform, he must of necessity take his place upon the platform of heathenism, even though he does not make an open profession of heathenism. And the heathen themselves have insight enough to recognize this fact. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Mohammedans of the East begin to welcome the Higher Critics as fellow workers in their opposition to the progress of Christianity. The following extract from an editorial in the Missionary Review of the World for November deals with an instance of this kind, and makes some suggestive comments upon the real nature of the Higher Criticism:— A correspondent in D’Arjeeling, India, sends a marked copy of The Review of Religions—June issue—as edited by a blaspheming Moslem in the Punjaub, in which he claims the Higher Critics as allies; and this fact raises with our respected correspondent, who is himself a medical missionary, some grave questionings as to the tendency of the extreme critical attitude of some Biblical teachers to hinder, if not to destroy, the work of missions. There is an irreverent tampering with the inspiration and authority of the written Word which leads inevitably to the rejection of the true Deity of the living Word. . . .5 But what disturbs us even more is the tendency of extreme critical views to rob the missionary of his message to Moslems and Hindus. A mutilated Bible and a fallible Christ leave little authority in the missionary’s message, and little enthusiasm in his proclamation of the gospel. The Bible sinks to the level of the Vedas and the Koran, and the Lord Jesus Christ is scarcely more than another Zoroaster, Confucius, or Buddha. . . . We fear that much fallacy and some sophistry hide behind the veil of so-called scholarly criticism. This torrent, whose current is so rapid and reckless in sweeping away the old landmarks, is, we fear, not a river of God, and floats much that is plausible but really delusive and deceptive. Assumption often takes the place of argument, and emphasis does duty for originality and accuracy. Fancies are made to rank with facts, and there is sometimes a perverse determination to eliminate the supernatural from the Word of God. It is plain from the Scripture that in the closing years of the great controversy between Christ and Satan a supreme effort will be made to deceive if possible the very elect. The agents through whom this work of deception will be carried forward will not be the declared enemies of the truth, as they could not easily deceive the professed followers of Christ. Professed friends are the most successful deceivers. They are the wolves in sheep’s clothing, and they exhibit their true nature when they feel assured that they have the flock within their power. All this shows us the danger of receiving any teaching merely upon the personal authority of the teacher. There is one rule which must be impartially and fearlessly applied, and most rigidly to that which vaunts itself as new light: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” And the ability to apply the rule and to arrive at safe conclusions depends much more upon the fellowship of the Holy Spirit than upon the acuteness of the intellect. The human intellect, however well trained, is no match for the devious devisings of Satan, that prince of sophists, but the promise is that ‘when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth.’ There is light for us in these last days, but the true light will not bring to us a new God or a new Bible. There is light for us, but it will separate us from the heathen rather than identify us with them. There is light for us, but it will not set aside the old landmarks of the truth which called out this people. Let us advance, but let us advance into a deeper knowledge of the old truths of the gospel, rather than into the fields of speculation and a merely human philosophy. No true soldier of the cross will be mistaken for an ally of heathenism. The principles of Christianity and the principles of heathenism have nothing in common with each other.