Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 43:171 (Jul 1886)
Article: The By-Ways Of Infidelity
Author: John B. Perry

BSac 43:171 (July 1886) p. 442

The By-Ways Of Infidelity

John T. Perry

As the manifestations of certain bodily diseases vary with the constitution and surroundings of the patient, so the symptoms of the great spiritual malady of indwelling sin are perplexing in their diversity. We read in the Gospel of Mark that many bore false witness against Christ and that “their witness agreed not together.” Yet every one of these slanderers and perjurers was actuated by the same malignant disposition. He was bound to secure a conviction at all hazards.

An interesting volume might be written on the variations of unbelievers, and, if properly arranged, would be far more effective than Bossuet’s arraignment of the diversities of Protestants. We should find atheism defended both as the foundation and the logical outcome of a rejection of the Scriptures, and again theism maintained as an intuition of the human intellect, thus making revelation superfluous. We should be urged to believe that our Lord,

BSac 43:171 (July 1886) p. 443

while not divine, was the noblest of philanthropists and philosophers; that he was an impostor and a fanatic; and finally that he never existed,—the whole story of his life being an astronomical myth, or a new version of an Oriental fable. These theories and numberless blendings of them have all had their supporters. Yet the advocates of each show that none of the others will account for all the facts in the case, and real scholarship, saying nothing of man’s spiritual needs, finds them all defective.

Men are strangely credulous when their interest, real or fancied, inclines them toward any special line of belief. They are peculiarly so when seeking an opiate for the conscience. Charles II said of Isaac Vossius, the erudite but sceptical Canon of Windsor, “This learned divine is a strange man; he believes everything but the Bible.” The students of our theological seminaries must often pass a like judgment when considering the wild hypotheses to which German and other radical critics resort. Starting with the postulate that the miraculous and supernatural must be fabulous, no theory is deemed extravagant if it will only support a naturalistic interpretation. Yet these elaborated fallacies, and the objections dealt with in our standard defences of the faith, are not the main arguments which the pastor may have to encounter. If his labors are among the mechanics of our manufacturing cities and towns; if he runs across one of those studious but opinionated farmers or professional men in the country who are known to their neighbors as infidels or spiritualists—he will find him crammed with assertions and arguments that will astound him. He may easily recognize their falsity, but if not thoroughly well read, or the possessor of ...