The Wave of Scepticism and the Rock of Truth — John Shaqi
The Wave of Scepticism and the Rock of TruthHabershon, M. H. (Matthew Henry)
Religion
The Wave of Scepticism and the Rock of Truth
Habershon, M. H. (Matthew Henry)
Bible. New Testament -- Evidences, authority, etc.; Cassels, Walter Richard, 1826-1907. Supernatural religion
Let me further premise that the Christian is occupying an exceptional
position when he descends to the neutral level of the sceptic to
discuss the internal evidences of Evangelical truth. His usual
privileged abode is more favourable for the survey than the lower
ground, for the light is brighter and the air clearer on the mountain
heights where he is wont to contemplate religious matters, than on the
plain where faith has no temple, and reason, ignoring Divine
influence, operates with the carnal instruments of a negative creed.
To appeal to the spiritual discernment of a disbeliever in Divine
illumination would be like expecting a man who is not of the mystical
craft of the Masonic brotherhood to use the signs (if such there be)
of a Freemason. Yet the argument in defence of the reality of Divine
revelation is not complete without a reference to that "Spirit of
Truth" which Jesus Christ promised to send "to testify of him," and to
"bring all things to the remembrance" of those disciples who were to
"bear witness, because they had been with him from the beginning."[1]
[1] John xv. 26, 27.
A good cause may be injured by injudicious and feeble advocacy, but I
trust I am not presumptuously meddling with a theme which only an
erudite scholar and theologian should deal with. I beg you to bear in
mind, however, that if I or others fail in the contest for truth,
there still will remain the indubitable proofs of Divine revelation in
all their variety and superabundance.
Although the ability, scholarship, and research displayed in this
anti-Christian work are considerable, I doubt if it has really much in
it that is original. The author has only cleverly reproduced and
rearranged the anti-Christian arguments, chiefly German,[2] which are
to be found in the library of the British Museum.
[2] "The works of Strauss, Baur, Schenkel, and Rénan are the great
authorities for the negative criticism of the present day."--_Dr.
Christlieb._
The "Examiner" says, in regard to three-fourths of the work, "It is
neither more nor less than a digest of recent German speculation on
the date and authorship of the Gospels; devoid of originality, and
infected with the verbosity and repetition of the authorities on which
it is based."
In the other notices of the work which have appeared so far, it has, I
think, been somewhat over-estimated.
The "Fortnightly Review" writes of it: "It is not too much to say of
the two volumes before us that they are by far the most decisive,
trenchant, and far-reaching of the direct contributions to theological
controversy that have been made in this generation."
The "Athenæum" says: "The book proceeds from a man of ability, a
scholar, and reasoner, who writes like an earnest seeker after truth,
and knows well all the German and Dutch books relating to the
criticism of the New Testament, as well as the English ones."
The "Westminster Review" asserts that "no more formidable assailant of
orthodoxy could well be imagined."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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