HUMAN WISDOM VERSUS DIVINE REVELATION.
By J. S. Miller
IN all cases where a question has to be decided there must be some standard to which appeal can be made before a decision can be reached. It is at this point that the Christian and the unbeliever find themselves at variance. The Christian accepts the Bible as a divinely inspired Book, and whatever he finds therein is not to be disputed. With the unbeliever, human wisdom is the standard, and before he accepts a statement of the Bible he appeals to his intellect. Hence between these two classes there always has been and always will be a war of ideas. The skeptic’s chief objection to the Bible is that it must be taken at second hand. He reasons that if God had anything to reveal to any one on earth He would communicate with each individual, thus shutting off all imposters, and leaving no room for doubt. When we take into account the fact that there are several books extant, differing widely from each other, and yet all claiming to be divinely inspired, there is certainly some ground for such a position. But what can be done to help the skeptic? It can easily be seen that it is useless to attempt to argue with him, for he will not accept the Bible as a standard, neither can the Christian accept human wisdom as the standard, for to do so would be to deny the necessity of a revelation. What, then, can the Christian do?—Simply let him rest until he gets just what he asks for, viz., a divine revelation to himself personally. But will he get it?—He certainly will receive a revelation from God just as soon as he is prepared to receive it. This Christ has promised shall be given him. “When He [the Holy Spirit] is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they believe not on Me.” John 16:8, 9. This convicting of the sin of unbelief is nothing less than a personal revelation from the Spirit of God. And God can use the Christian as the medium through whom He will send such a revelation, and thus throw a responsibility upon the Christian. But how?—The apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 1:21 tells us: “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” But what is preaching?—It is not necessarily standing up in the desk and delivering an oration. This may be preaching, and it may not. Preaching is to tell to the world what Christ has done for us. And this may be done as effectually by the humblest Christian as by the most talented preacher. The person who announces to the world that he is a follower of Christ has to that extent become a preacher. The man who works at his secular employment six days in the week, and on the Sabbath goes to his place of worship, is by all these acts preaching the truth to the world. The person whose every act is molded by the influence of God’s Spirit is continually preaching to all with whom he comes in contact. The man who in all his dealings with his fellow-men manifests a desire to do exactly right at all times, is a living epistle, “known and read of all men.” And it is through this channel that God has chosen to send conviction to the hearts of unbelievers. The one called of God to labor in word and doctrine will see his labor blessed if that labor is performed in God’s appointed way; and the same is true of every layman. The trouble with the skeptic is that he wishes to dictate in what way God shall reveal Himself to him. But God has His own way, and in that way the revelation will come. This will probably humble the pride of the skeptic, but that is just what is needed. So Paul’s charge to Timothy to “preach the Word,” applies to every true follower of Christ. And wherever this charge is carried out in the life of the Christian, God will reveal Himself to the unbeliever. One more thought about dealing with unbelievers, and I am done. I fear that much harm has been done by would-be reformers by their hostile attitude. We all know how believers in the truth have often been misrepresented by those claiming to be preachers of the Gospel. This has sometimes been done through ignorance and sometimes through wilful misrepresentation. Skeptics have to some extent been treated in the same way. A single instance will illustrate what I mean. I have many times heard it asserted that Thomas Paine denied the existence of a Supreme Being. The first sentence in his “Age of Reason” shows the charge to be false. It reads: “I believe in one God, and no more, and I hope for happiness beyond this life.” I do not propose to champion Thomas Paine or any other of his class, but I do insist that those who criticize them should first read what they have written, or leave the criticizing to some one who has. Better still to leave them alone altogether, and obey the commission to preach the Gospel. J. S. MILLER.