友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!
the lights of the church and the light of science-第2部分
快捷操作: 按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页 按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页 按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部! 如果本书没有阅读完,想下次继续接着阅读,可使用上方 "收藏到我的浏览器" 功能 和 "加入书签" 功能!
true。 We should rather hope that some beneficent influence may
create among the erudite a like healthy suspicion of manuscripts
and inscriptions; however ancient; for a bulletin may lie; even
though it be written in cuneiform characters。
Hotspur's starling; that was to be taught to speak nothing but
〃Mortimer〃 into the ears of King Henry the Fourth; might be a
useful inmate of every historian's library; if 〃Fiction〃 were
substituted for the name of Harry Percy's friend。
But it was the chief object of the lecturer to the congregation
gathered in St。 Mary's; Oxford; thirty…one years ago; to prove
to them; by evidence gathered with no little labour and
marshalled with much skill; that one group of historical works
was exempt from the general rule; and that the narratives
contained in the canonical Scriptures are free from any
admixture of error。 With justice and candour; the lecturer
impresses upon his hearers that the special distinction of
Christianity; among the religions of the world; lies in its
claim to be historical; to be surely founded upon events which
have happened; exactly as they are declared to have happened in
its sacred books; which are true; that is; in the sense that the
statement about the execution of Charles the First is true。
Further; it is affirmed that the New Testament presupposes the
historical exactness of the Old Testament; that the points of
contact of 〃sacred〃 and 〃profane〃 history are innumerable;
and that the demonstration of the falsity of the Hebrew records;
especially in regard to those narratives which are assumed to be
true in the New Testament; would be fatal to Christian theology。
My utmost ingenuity does not enable me to discover a flaw in the
argument thus briefly summarised。 I am fairly at a loss to
comprehend how any one; for a moment; can doubt that Christian
theology must stand or fall with the historical trustworthiness
of the Jewish Scriptures。 The very conception of the Messiah; or
Christ; is inextricably interwoven with Jewish history; the
identification of Jesus of Nazareth with that Messiah rests upon
the interpretation of passages of the Hebrew Scriptures which
have no evidential value unless they possess the historical
character assigned to them。 If the covenant with Abraham was not
made; if circumcision and sacrifices were not ordained by
Jahveh; if the 〃ten words〃 were not written by God's hand on the
stone tables; if Abraham is more or less a mythical hero; such
as Theseus; the story of the Deluge a fiction; that of the Fall
a legend; and that of the creation the dream of a seer; if all
these definite and detailed narratives of apparently real events
have no more value as history than have the stories of the regal
period of Romewhat is to be said about the Messianic doctrine;
which is so much less clearly enunciated? And what about the
authority of the writers of the books of the New Testament; who;
on this theory; have not merely accepted flimsy fictions for
solid truths; but have built the very foundations of Christian
dogma upon legendary quicksands?
But these may be said to be merely the carpings of that carnal
reason which the profane call common sense; I hasten; therefore;
to bring up the forces of unimpeachable ecclesiastical authority
in support of my position。 In a sermon preached last December;
in St。 Paul's Cathedral; Canon Liddon declares:
For Christians it will be enough to know that our Lord Jesus
Christ set the seal of His infallible sanction on the whole of
the Old Testament。 He found the Hebrew canon as we have it in
our hands to…day; and He treated it as an authority which was
above discussion。 Nay more: He went out of His wayif we may
reverently speak thusto sanction not a few portions of it
which modern scepticism rejects。 When He would warn His hearers
against the dangers of spiritual relapse; He bids them remember
〃Lot's wife。〃 When He would point out how worldly engagements
may blind the soul to a coming judgment; He reminds them how men
ate; and drank; and married; and were given in marriage; until
the day that Noah entered into the ark; and the Flood came and
destroyed them all。 If He would put His finger on a fact in
past Jewish history which; by its admitted reality; would
warrant belief in His own coming Resurrection; He points to
Jonah's being three days and three nights in the whale's belly
(p。 23)。〃
The preacher proceeds to brush aside the commonI had almost
said vulgarapologetic pretext that Jesus was using ad
hominem arguments; or 〃accommodating〃 his better knowledge
to popular ignorance; as well as to point out the
inadmissibility of the other alternative; that he shared the
popular ignorance。 And to those who hold the latter view sarcasm
is dealt out with no niggard hand。
But they will find it difficult to persuade mankind that; if He
could be mistaken on a matter of such strictly religious
importance as the value of the sacred literature of His
countrymen; He can be safely trusted about anything else。 The
trustworthiness of the Old Testament is; in fact; inseparable
from the trustworthiness of our Lord Jesus Christ; and if we
believe that He is the true Light of the world; we shall close
our ears against suggestions impairing the credit of those
Jewish Scriptures which have received the stamp of His Divine
authority〃 (p。 25)。
Moreover; I learn from the public journals that a brilliant and
sharply…cut view of orthodoxy; of like hue and pattern; was only
the other day exhibited in that great theological kaleidoscope;
the pulpit of St。 Mary's; recalling the time so long passed by;
when a Bampton lecturer; in the same place; performed the
unusual feat of leaving the faith of old…fashioned
Christians undisturbed。
Yet many things have happened in the intervening thirty…one
years。 The Bampton lecturer of 1859 had to grapple only with the
infant Hercules of historical criticism; and he is now a full…
grown athlete; bearing on his shoulders the spoils of all the
lions that have stood in his path。 Surely a martyr's courage; as
well as a martyr's faith; is needed by any one who; at this
time; is prepared to stand by the following plea for the
veracity of the Pentateuch:
Adam; according to the Hebrew original; was for 243 years
contemporary with Methuselah; who conversed for a hundred years
with Shem。 Shem was for fifty years contemporary with Jacob; who
probably saw Jochebed; Moses's mother。 Thus; Moses might by oral
tradition have obtained the history of Abraham; and even of the
Deluge; at third hand; and that of the Temptation and the Fall
at fifth hand。 。。。
If it be grantedas it seems to bethat the great and stirring
events in a nation's life will; under ordinary circumstances; be
remembered (apart from all written memorials) for the space of
150 years; being handed down through five generation
快捷操作: 按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页 按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页 按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!