The Book of God : In the Light of the Higher Criticism: With Special Reference to Dean Farrar's New ApologyFoote, G. W. (George William)
Religion
The Book of God : In the Light of the Higher Criticism: With Special Reference to Dean Farrar's New Apology
Foote, G. W. (George William)
Bible -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Farrar, F. W. (Frederic William), 1831-1903. New apology
Dr. Farrar is entirely wrong in declaring that the Bible created the
prose literature of England. Even if he only means that English prose
was vastly profited by the religious literature which followed upon the
heels of the Reformation, it is easy to reply that this literature was
mainly controversial and never remarkable for the higher graces and
dexterities. For those virtues, prior to the time of Taylor and South,
we must turn to secular and even to "profane" compositions; a fact which
is well known to every real student of English literature.
The next device of Dr. Farrar's advocacy would be astounding if one
did not know the muddle-headed public for whom he writes. He devotes a
monstrous number of pages to the citing of a "cloud of witnesses to the
glory and supremacy of the Holy Scriptures," beginning with the
great John Henry Newman and winding up with the notorious Hall Caine.
Sandwiched between these dissimilar "witnesses" are Heine, Goethe,
Rousseau, Wesley, Emerson, Carlyle, Huxley, Arnold, Ruskin, and a host
of others. Most of them were Christians, and afford a partisan testimony
which is not very valuable. In any case, there is no real argument in
a list of names. When a man is being tried on a definite charge, it is
idle to recite a catalogue of his distinguished friends. Witnesses to
character are only heard in mitigation of sentence after the jury has
returned a verdict of Guilty. Perhaps this fact had its influence on Dr.
Farrar's mind; at any rate, he calls his "cloud of witnesses" when he
has ended all he had to say in the form of argument.
These witnesses, moreover, are jumbled together without the slightest
discrimination. Let us take a few illustrations to show the futility of
Dr. Farrar's method.
John Wesley cried "Give me the book of God! Here is knowledge enough
for me. Let me be a man of one book." Yes, and John Wesley believed in
witchcraft, and honestly declared that to throw over witchcraft was to
throw over the Bible. He had, also, his own way of proving "the divine
inspiration of the Holy Scriptures." He wrote a "Clear and Concise
Demonstration," from which we take the following extract:--
"I beg leave to propose a short, clear, and strong argument to prove the
divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.
"The Bible must be the invention either of good men or angels, bad men
or devils, or of God.
"(1) It could not be the invention of good men or angels; for they
neither would nor could make a book, and tell lies all the time they
were writing it, saying, 'Thus saith the Lord,' when it was their own
invention.
"(2) It could not be the invention of bad men or devils; for they would
not make a book which commands all duty, forbids all sin, and condemns
their souls to hell to all eternity.
"(3) Therefore, I draw this conclusion, that the Bible must be given by
divine inspiration."*
* John Wesley's Works (1865), vol. xi., pp. 464-465.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account