unangttiral      llna, 1873.
Harper & Brothers will publish innmediately
ESSAYS AND ORATIONS,
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OF TIIE
EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE,
IHeld in the City of NTew York, October, 1873.
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TIE REV. S. IRENIEUS PRIME, D.D.,
AND
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2          EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE, 1873.
trated thought and labor arc embodied in the volume
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J~uu^^nr ^iyijtiu~r.,7k-ev4 nr




THE BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
MODERN INFIDELITY.
A PAPER READ BEFORE TIIE GENERAL CONFERENCE
OF TIE
EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE,
NEw YORK, October 6, 1873.
BY
THEODOR CIRISTLIEB, PI.D., D.D.,
PROFESSOR OF TIEOLOGY AND UNIVERSITY PRE.AOIIER AT ABONN, PRUSSIA.
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1  7 4.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.




BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.
THEODOR CHRISTLIEB Was born at Ludwigsburg, in
the kingdom of Wuirtemberg, on the 7th of March, 1833.
He is a fellow - townsman of Dr. David Frederick
Strauss, the author of the infidel "Life of Jesus."  His
father is still living, as dean in Ludwigsburg; his grandfather and great-grandfather held the same position in
the State Church of Wiirtemberg.
Christlieb received his classical education at Maulbroni and Tubingen; in the former place he was a
pupil of the famous Greek scholar, Dr. Baumlein. He
entered, in 1851, the University of Tuibingen, to which
Germany is indebted for a large number of profound
theologians.
His teachers at the University were Oelbler,.Landerer,
Beck, and Baur. He learned fiom all of them, but followed none exclusively. They needed not to bring
him to Christ, as he came to the University, true to
his name (Christlieb), a lover of Christ. After having
honorably passed his theological examination, he re



8             BIOGRIAPHICAL NOTICE.
turned hlome to Ludwigsburg, where lie began to write
his book on Scotus Erigena.
In 1857 he took the degree of Ph.D. at the University of Tubingen, and went for a year as private tutor
to Montpellier, in France. Travels in France and Spain
added to his excellent classical and profbssional education the broader view and the keener conception of
the world and of man which are peculiar to the cosmopolitan gentleman. Nevertheless, he was ready to return to the narrow sphere of a country parson. His
first official appointment was in tlme little village near
Stuttgart. But as early as 1858 he received a call to
Islington, London, to gather the Germans of that place
into ai} evangelical congregation.
His labors in Islington bore good and timely fiuit.
When, after a stay of seven years, he left, the congregation was well organized, a beautiful church built, and a
faithful successor secured in thie pelson of the eldest
son of the late Dr. Fliedner, of Kaiserswerth. While
in Islington, Christlieb was married to an accomplished
English ladv of German descent, the daughter of the
late missionary Weitbrecht, of India.
In 1860 his book on Scotus Erigena appeared. It
won for its author the name of a thoroughly learned
theologian and a strong thinker. Ile consequently received a very honorable call to St. Petersburg as coun



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.              9
cilor of the Lutheran consistory of the Baltic provinces,
which he, however, declined; but when, in 1865, the
pastorate of Frieclrichshafen, on the Lake of Constance,
was offered to him, he accepted. He used to see there,
among the worshipers in his church, the King of Wfirtemberg, who is accustomed to spend the summer
months in the quiet retreat of Friedr ichshaflen. From
this place he was repeatedly invited to Switzerland,
to deliver, in behalf of the Evangelical Society of St.
Gallen, apologetical lectures in different Swiss cities,
to counteract the destructive influence of the State
Church theologians of Switzerland, who are, with a
few exceptions, rationalists and pantheists. These lectures were afterward published in a volume under the
title "'Kfoderne Zweifel," and are counted among tlle
ablest contributions to modern apologetic literature in
Germany. An English edition of the book will soon
appear in Edinburgh and in tllis city under the title
"Modern Doubt and Christian Belief."
In 1868 Christlieb was appointed Professor of Theology in the Evangelical Faculty of the University of
Bonn, Prussia. His lectures comprehend Pastoral Theology, Church Polity, History of Christian Missions,
Apologetics, and Philosophy of Religion. Besides, he
is chaplain of the university. His predecessors were
men of the highest reputation in the Evangelical
1'




10            BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.
Church of Germany —such as Nitzsch, Rothe, Steinmeyer; but he is considered to have taken not only
their chair, but also to have filled their place.
In America Professor Christlieb was scarcely known
before the General Conference of the Evangelical Alliance; but his appearance among us has made a deep
and lasting impression, and he will be ranked hereafter
among the leading evangelical divines of the age.




THE BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
MODERN INFIDELITY.








ON THE
BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
MODERN INFIDELITY.
THE question as to the best methods of counteracting modern infidelity is so wide a one-whether
we consider it in a scientific, a historical, or a practical and moral light-that it is imperatively necessary
for us to confine ourselves in its treatment to two
points of view. First, then, we would indicate the
chief scientific positions in which attack and defense
can be most successfully maintained-especially (rawing attention to those points in the great struggle
which have hitherto been overlooked; and second,
we shall endeavor to sketch out the practical tasks
imposed upon us as members or teachers of a Christian community, as well as on the Church of Christ
at large, in the great battle against the unbelief of
our day. All questions of detail we will leave to
free discussion.
We Germans are notorious for making long introductions, but to-day-notwithstanding all that might




14      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
with advantage be said —I prefer to omit preliminaries altogether. I will not, therefore, stop to give
an exact limitation or definition of the term "modern
infidelity," although this notion has not everywhere
quite the same extent, as e. g., in England, some opinions are called rationalistic, which in Germany would
hardly be so designated.  I hope, however, to express the view common to us all, when I say that
we comprise under the name of "infidel" all those
tendencies and systems which militate against the
Biblical and Christian view of God and of the universe, which do not consider Holy Scripture as an
authentic record of Divine Revelation, and which in
theory or in practice refuse to acknowledge the central doctrine of our faith, viz., the salvation that has
appeared in Christ. The term modern infidelity, then,
would designate the same tendencies and schools of
thought as they appear at the present day, i. e., armed with weapons furnished them by the philosophy,
the historical criticism, and the natural science of our
times.
Finally, we pass by the various schools of unbelief with their specific principles, such as Pantheism,
Rationalism, etc., since the more important of them
will be separately treated of to-day; and we merely
glance at the different forms practically assumed by
modern unbelief. Among these forms we see every




MODERN INFIDELITY.            15
possible gradation of departure from Christian truth,
ranging from the indifferentism which still admits of
a nominal connection with the Church, to a fanatical
and aggressive hatred of all that belongs to it; from
a Pilate's tone of haughty despite, to blasphemous
mockery; or from the learned investigator and critic,
who with immense diligence and acuteness endeavors to reduce all the Divine elements in Scripture to
mere natural phenomena produced by human historical agencies, down to the shallow journalist, who is
fain to widen his circle of readers by piquant mockery of all " orthodoxy " and "methodism." Essentially the same tendency of thought is represented by
that critic who, as the result of the long conflict,
would have us substitute the iew faith (by Messrs.
Lessing and Darwin) for the old faith, but who, forsooth, ardently desires to see the old order of society
preserved at least until his eyes are closed, as well
as by those fanatical enemies of the present social
order, who already anticipate the logical results of
the "new belief," i. e., a chaos formed by the destruction of society's present frame-work, of all the ideal
elements of life, even of the worship of art-heroes
still left to us by Strauss, and the proclamation of a
gospel of the flesh which shall teach man to cultivate
naught but the palpable and sensuous.
If, in view of these increasingly radical and threat



16     3BEST 3METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
ening attacks, we. inquire after the best methods of
repulse, we thereby indicate that there are various
methods of differing value. The defense must, of
course, vary in its method, on the one hand, according
to the nature and extent of the unbelief, the causes
of its origin, and the manner in which it conducts its
assaults against our faith; on the other hand, according to the position which we desire to defend. But
wje may safely say that there are, and always have
been, certain recognized and well-defined lines and
maxims of defense, though differing much from one
another in value.
A thoroughly wrong method-one which is diametrically opposed to the spirit of the Gospel, and
has not, sad to say, always been used by the Roman
Church only-is the suppression of opposition against
certain dogmas by physical force, or by merely appealing to the outward authority of the Church. In
the same way we reject-and I think you will agree
with me in this-as unevangelical, unfiruitful, and
productive of confusion, the cognate tendency shown
by the extreme ecclesiastical party in the Protestant
Church to oppose the unbridled independence and
subjective arbitrariness of the criticism of our dny by
an overstrained assertion of the rights of the priestly office, and who would endeavor to raise a barrier
against the prevalence of free investigation and spon



MODERN INFIDELITY.             17
tancous appropriation of truth by laying an exaggerated stress upon the sacramental actions of the Church,
which the most advanced of them are already beginning to make into sacrificial rites. These theories and
tendencies we reject; for a knowledge or appropriation of saving grace communicated otherwise than
by moral (not magical) means is opposed no less to
Scripture than to the spirit of our age!
The trust that sustains us in this tremendous struggle, waged not with men alone, but with all the powers of darkness, must not be founded on ourselves,
nor on other weak men, not on any outward assistance from the state, nor on forms and ceremonies (for
"cursed is the man that maketh flesh his arm," Jer.
xvii., 5), but on the Lord himself, who sits exalted at
his Father's right hand, as Ruler over all, even the
raging of his enemies. His presence is not bound to
outward forms or traditions. Ile is the Spirit (2 Cor.
iii., 17), and from him proceeds tle Spirit of truth.
To this his Spirit we must in the last resort leave the
work of convincingC men's hearts and minds of the
truth of Christian Revelation, without sparing them the
trouble of free investigation or of a conscientious decision and self-resolve. In accordance with these principles, our human task in the battle against unbelief
can be no other than to orercofme the op2ponent by moral
and spiritual means. First of all, that is, by an earnest,




18      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
spiritually vigorous testimony for Christ, next by a truly
scientific delineation of Christian belief as a view of the
world and of God, which is strictly coherent and corroborated by history and conscience, while at the same
time openly acknowledging all its difficulties and obscurities; and last, by a practical demonstration of its
truth in Christian living and suffering.
Keeping this fundamental rule in view, we, on the
other hand, see unbelief present itself to us socially
in different shapes, either isolated in individuals, or
systematically formulated in scientfic schools, or practically carried out by the press, clubs, unions, etc., and
forming a threatening power in our social life. Thus
our subject naturally divides into three heads: How
may we best counteract InfidelityI. In individuals?
II. In scientific systems?
III. As a socialpower, practically extending its influence throughout wide circles?
I.
Ifidelity in Isolated Individuals.
Under this head we will only give a few suggestions, in order to have more room for the other
parts.
The following treatment seems to me the wisest:
First, we must endeavor to obtain for ourselves (and




MODERN INFIDELITY.              19
mostly for the individuals in question too) a clear
idea of the special causes from  which their unbelief
has originated. These may be of very varied character. They may consist in received tradition, in discoveries of modern science, in political or social phenorena. Often unbelief results almost as a natural
necessity from the whole spiritual and moral atmosphere of a man's surroundings. Let us put ourselves
in the place of such individuals, and not forget (as is,
alas, too often done) the share of blame zuhich frequently
attaches to the Church herself; by reason of her neglect
to care for souls, her inward nakedness, her fruitless
bickerings about trifles, ler narrow-minded partyspirit, all of which constantly do an infinity of mischief by alienating fiom her the hearts of thousands.
Such thoughts will produce in us true humility and
hearty sympathy with the inward misery of those
who are far from God-feelings without wlhich we
shall never be able to gain their confidence, nor to
lead them to see the innermost causes of their unbelief in certain moral failings.
It is not for nothing that our Lord classes unbelief
with hardness of heart (" He upbraided them with their
unbelief and hardness of heart," Mark xvi., 14; cf.
Luke xxiv., 25). In the first and last resort, all unbelief springs, not from the hardness and incomprehensibility which the faith possesses for the understanding,




20      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
but from the hardness and perverseness of the nalural
heart of man, which will not bow to the mighty and solemn truth of Divine Revelation. This perverseness is a
strange mixture-on the one hand, of cowardice, when
a man has not the courage to let his inward failings be
uncovered in all their nakedness, nor dares to enlarge
his own narrow views according to the great ways
and deeds of God, but would fain make these fit to the
measure of his own small ideas;* and thus, on the
other hand, of overweening self-confidence, when the
same man thinks far too highly of human knowledge
and accomplishments, and far too little of God's mighty
and holy government; when he would attain to every
thing by means of his own knowledge and power-in
a word, when man would far rather hellp himse7f than
let himself be helped by God, and thankfully accept
the redemption brought by Jesus Christ. In truth,
this is the material principle which divides all unbelief and false belief toto colo fiom true belief: on the
one hand, there is self-Jielp; on the other, God's help.
The pride of the philosophical critic, just as much as
that of the natural scientist, is always striving to substitute human activity and spontaneity for human re* "Animus ad amplitudinem mysteriorum pro modulo suo dilatetur, non mysteria ad angustias animi constringantur."-FRANCIS BACON, De Augment. Scient., x., 1.




MODERN INFIDELITY.              21
ceptiveness before God. Instead of soli Deo, its motto
is soli homini gloria!
Last, but not least, among these general inward
causes of unbelief come the positively earthy inclinations of the human heart, its proneness to satisfaction
in this world, a tendency which is seductively encouraged by the present materialistic denial of another life; or, to put it plainly in a word, the power
of the dollar. This is a far greater hinderance to true
belief than all the writings of philosophers and critics put together: this worship of Mammon it is that
causes a deep and wide-spread disaffection against
all ethical and spiritual truth, and a perversion of the
moral judgment, against which all mere logical reasoning is of no avail. The causes of unbelief really
lie in the heart and will. However strong outward
influences may be, in divine things. no one errs entirely without his own fault.
If such be the case, then the most effectual method
of opposing unbelief in individuals is that whicl we
may term the cthico-psychological or isagogic method;
that is, the method which leads inward to the heart
and conscience of those addressed. Let me explain
myself.
First of all, we should endeavor to lead our brother to a clear and sober recogfnition of the inward causes
and the effects of his unbelief on his own moral devel



22      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
opment; this, however, not as inquisitors, but with
hearty and humble sympathy. "Reflect," let us say
to him, "on the first beginning of your doubts.
From what region did they come? Is not, perhaps,
your present creed merely the theology of the natural
heart? And can you say that this unbelief has been
a real blessing for your inner life? Does its increase
denote a true moral progress, moderation in happiness, comfort and support in misfortune? Oh, give
a true and upright account of all this, not to me, but
to yourself and God!"
Later on we should show in how false a manner the
doubter usually examines the Divine origin and the truth
of the Christian faith. As a rule, he makes the convenient demand first to be convinced by scientifically
exact arguments of the truth of Christian revelation
before he will accept it. He will first know, and then
believe. But this way can not bring him to his goal.
We must show the fundamental error of this demand,
which consists in a confusion between the region of
morals and religion and that of mathematical science.
Spiritual truths should not and can not be mathematically demonstrated. First they must be apprehended by the heart and conscience, and they will then
prove themselves to the understanding as divinely
true and necessary. Were faith a mere matter of
demonstration it would cease to be faith, i. e., a moral




MODERN INFIDELITY.              23
act consisting in a trustful yielding up of self to that
which as yet we see not (Ileb. xi., 1).
Further, we should go on to show that faith and
knowledge, far fiom being opposed, naturally supplement
each other, and that truefaith -is the source of the deepest
and highest knowledge. All learning is necessarily preceded by a submission to the authority of the teacher; and this preliminary submission of the intellectual and critical faculties to the truth of Revelation
brings light into the soul, and lays the foundation for
healthy, sober, and clear views as to God, our own being and condition, sin and its cure, and our final destiny. Thus faith, i. e., the intrusting ourselves to the
light of Divine Revelation, leads to the knowledge of
the most exalted truth; indeed, it is the beginning
of it.
If this way to knowledge seem hard to you, ask
yourself wuhether tle Christian faith does not correspond
to and supply the deepest needs of the human heart.
And this is another important point in the treatment
of unbelievers. The question turns upon the recognition of evil in ourselves. For the whole struggle
between belief and unbelief, as has truly been said,*
is but the conflict between those who treat sin as a
* Cf. A. Peip, " Das Credo der Kirche und die Intelligenz des Zeitgeistes," 1872.




24      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
light matter and those who are heavily oppressed by
it until they come to Him who takes their burden
away and lays His light yoke upon them. Do you
glory in your upright moral life? Have you, then,
ever turned the whole energy of your moral consciousness inward in a strict self-examination? Even
a great thinker like Kant once thoughtfully paused
before the universal and unquestionable fact of a
"r.adical evil" within us. And no upright man can
help doing the same. But the depth of this conviction depends upon the standard which a man applies
to himself, upon the idea which he has formed of his
aim and destiny. Are you not, perchance, in the
habit of comparing yourselves with other men, who
are at best but imperfect? In so doing, you degrade
your own dignity as one created in the image of
God! Your destiny is the highest imaginable-higher than ever philosopher or poet placed it. "Be ye
holy, for I also am holy."  "Be ye perfect, even as
your Father in heaven is perfect." Does not a presentiment of this immeasurable destiny live in your
soul too? and have you not the irrepressible feeling,
that to be truly free, happy, acceptable to God and
like him, you must be free from all sin?
Now we have seen that the strictest moralists, such
as Kant, confess that no natural power can suffice for
this; that even with the greatest moral energy in




MODERN INFIDELITY.            25
wrestling with evil your morality remains full of defects, and therefore your own exertions can not satisfy the wants of your heart. And, on the other hand,
in the person of Christ you see a moral grandeur, in
which healthy eyes, at least, have been able to discover no blemish; an ideal of perfection respecting
which even rationalistic critics have confessed that all
human standards vanish before it. What, in view of
this, is more reasonable than to conclude that you,
poor, fettered, but struggling spirit- unable to free
yourself, yet destined to the highest Good-must, to
attain your destiny, enter into a personal and living
communion with the only perfect One who has appeared in the history of our race-with Jesus Christ,
the Son of God and Man, the Sin-destroyer and Redeemer of the world? And this is the sum and substance of our Christian faith and Christian life! We
believe that the free grace and mercy of God has come
to the help of poor man, vainly struggling to free
himself from sin and evil; and this great and all-sufficient Divine Help is Christ Jesus.
If you still wish to be your own savior, beware
lest you fall into a delusion as to the fatal power of
the evil which is in you and its conquest. Such delusions may flatter our human pride, but are belied
by the actual experience of all straightforward men.
But the hand of the Divine Redeemer has long been
2




26      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
knocking at the door of your heart, in answer to all
its anxious questionings and complaints, and if you
now grasp this hand and intrust yourself to the guidance of the highest and purest Light that ever shone in
this world, to the God of holiness and his saving grace
in Christ, then this act offaith will be your greatest moral
achievement: it will be in you a root of all the goodness
and greatness attainable by man; you will receive
with this act the Christian assurance of the Divine
truth and immutability of your faith, because it substantially approves itself to your conscience in the
"demonstration of the Spirit and of power."
These, in short, are the chief features of the "isagogic " method of treating unbelief in individuals. I
consider it to be the best and most effective, because
the most trenchant and impressive. Of course, however, it must be varied according to the measure of
education which the individual has enjoyed, and especially according to his moral condition. The surest
way to awaken a response in the other's breast is the
personal testimony of grace received, which can throw
itself and its spiritual experience into the scale, and
stand surety for the truth of Christ's salvation. Another very important point, especially with scientifically directed minds, is to show them that, with their
transposition of the relation between faith and knowledge, they will never escape riddles, and must, nolens




MODERN INFIDELITY.            27
volens, accept many things which are utterly without
proof, or even absolutely inexplicable. Ay, we may
go so far as to say, that without the facts of Biblical
revelation, the enigmas of our existence, the world,
the Church, and history, are increased tenfold. This
indicates to us the weak point of
II.
The Scientific Systems of Unbelief
These, nowadays, conduct themselves more than
ever as if they represented science par excellence.
They will hear of none but scientific arguments, and
so against them none but a strictly scientific procedure can avail. From the very beginning the Church
did not shrink from this struggle, and by means of it
she constantly attained a clearer consciousness of the
substantial elements of her own belief. Apology was
the mother of dogmatical science. However great
the harm may be which is done to whole generations
by the systems of unbelief, yet it should be borne in
mind that every earnest and honorable contest with
scientific opponents has, in the end, always enriched
the Church's store of truth, brought to light new weapons from her inexhaustible arsenal, and demonstrated
anew the steadfastness of the foundations of our faith.
"Forward!" then, must be our motto, as against mod



28      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
ern unbelieving science too. The hotter the battle,
the more gainful its issue!
In answer to the question as to the best scientific
methods of defense, I pass by all matters of detail
(which will be separately treated of in our conferences), and will now endeavor to delineate the fundamental positions which we must take up, in order successfully to defend our faith, and at the same time to
expose clearly the scientific and practical weakness
of the opposing systems.
The first question is: How far does the ground extend
which must under all circumstances be defezded? Which
are the absolutely indispensable articles of our Protestant Christian faith? This brings us to a point that
is most important for our subject, and which it should
be the chief business of our dogmatic theology to settle: I mean, the clear definition and limitation of the essential and fundamental articles of our faith, in contradistinction to those which are less important and may
be left to the free judgment of each individual Christian. In order to carry out its task, our science of
defense must learn to treat minor points as such. He
who defends too much, and represents doubtful things
as absolutely necessary to be believed, will no more
succeed than he who defends too little, i. e., mere rational truths, instead of the heart of Christian belief.
What is, then, the chief object of our defense as distin



MODERN INFIDELITY.            29
guished from others?  Let me explain myself by
means of an illustration.
In every considerable fortress there is a central
bulwark or citadel, with various bastions, trenches,
etc., the close connection of which forms the strength
of this centre. Further out there is the enceinte, inclosing town and fortress with its moat; but the
largest circle of all is formed by the outside forts,
which hinder the enemy fiom approaching too near
the walls. Our Christian faith is a fortress, strong as
a rock, with just such defenses. The central position,
or citadel, is-as all believing theologians have long
agreed-the redemption and atonement accomplished
by Jesus Christ. Union of man with God through
this Mediator is the end and aim of all Revelation.
This central dogma of the atonement requires certain
presuppositions and certain consequences-in respect
both of God and man-which are absolutely indispensable if it is to stand firm.
The prestuppositions are these: our naturally lost
condition by reason of sin, notwithstanding the image
of God originally implanted in man, and the saving
will of God, caused by his merciful love, which carried out the atonement by means of the God-man, Jesus Christ, the Crucified and Risen, and thus crowned
his revelation to the world by manifesting himself as
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The consequences are:




30      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
the appropriation of this work by the individual, objectively, through the divinely-appointed means furnished by the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church,
i. e., the Word and the visible signs and seals of
grace; subjectively, through repentance and justifying
faith; and, finally, the perfection of our salvation in
the resurrection, last judgment, and eternal life, when
the new creation of grace, or the ravages of sin in the
heart, shall be made outwardly manifest.
These are, as it were, the bastions of the centre in
back and front, the properly so-called fundamental
truths, a strong chain, in which no link can be dispensed with, and hence the chief object to be defended. The enceinte with its moat is the doctrine of Holy
Scrptture, as the record of Divine Revelation, inexplicable if assumed to be the product of merely human
authors, and hence both human and Divine, surrounding with the benignant influence of its living waters
the citadel and town 6f our faith-i. e., our Protestant
Church-and making it a united fortress.
The remaining points, such as the various confessional details-e. g., as to the relation between the
two natures in Christ, the action of the sacraments,
the relation of Divine grace to human freedom, and a
hundred other, things-may be left for decision to a
truly- Christian exegesis, historical investigation, and
philosophical speculation, as long as the central truth




MODERN INFIDELITY.              1
of the God-man and his work, or the soli Deo gloria,
is left untouched. These form, as it were, the outer
forts, which should not, indeed, be given up prematurely, but from which a wise combatant will, in case
of need, withdraw to the centre, in order not to exhaust his strength, but to defend this more securely.
The fortress is not conquered though one of the outposts should fall into the enemy's hands; nor, indeed,
should even one of his missiles injure a stone of the
enceinte.
Do not misunderstand me.  I do not say that it
may not be in a man's power, nor his duty, to defend
many outworks. I do so myself; and merely insist
on this, that a successful defense must remain conscious of the difference between what belongs to the
circumference and to the centre, and may not make a
non-essential article of faith a condition of salvation.
The true method is that which will not allow a grain
of saving truth to escape its grasp, which gives to
faith what belongs to it, but also does not withhold
from freedom its due.
We now proceed to consider the chief groups of our
innumerable adversaries, and to ask after the best and
most effectual line of scientific defense as against each
one of them. We immediately see that our citadel,
the Christian idea of God and of the redemption, is
undermined and attacked chiefly by philosophy, the




32      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
enceinte by historical criticism, and the outworks-but,
in fact, the whole as well-by our modern natural
science.
The chief maxim for our scientific defense to be
drawn from the above is-without in the least timidly avoiding matters of detail-at once to reduce all
isolated controversies to a difference in first principles, and to compare the views of the opponents, in
all their consequences, with those of a Biblical Christianity. This will invariably result in an idea of God,
and a conception of evil differing from that of the Bible. A distorted conception of God lies at the root,
not only of the pantheistic and naturalistic systems,
but also of the attacks on the truth of the Gospel history, the Godhead of Christ, and the Divine origin
of Christianity. And an unbiblical conception of sin
and its consequences it is which forms the fundamental assumption of the attacks on the Christian
doctrine of redemption and atonement, as well as on
the Biblical anthropology.
These turning-points must decide the fate of the
battle, and here we should take our stand. And first
we should use the broad shield of the united and entire Christian view of the world; then with the sword
attack the opponent's position, and fearlessly expose
his weak and vulnerable points.
Thus we take our stand against



MODERN INFIDELITY.              33
1. Unchristian philosophy, by demonstrating the inner
logical consequence and unity, the harmony and symmetrical beauty of the Christian doctrinal system; the
wisely planned and holy progress of the Divine Revelation, from the first creation to the restoration of all
things. How sublime and yet how simply comprehensible, how suited to the deepest needs of our
hearts, are the teachings of the Bible as to the Divine
nature, as compared with the abstract, artificially
twisted, incomprehensible, modern philosophical conceptions of God, which leave the heart entirely cold!
At the same time, it should be shown-and this I
would urgently recommend to the notice of apologists-how the isolated elements of truth contained in
the non-Biblical conceptions of God converge in the
Biblical doctrinte, as in a focus, and how in the latter
alone God appears as the All-perfect, in whom the
idea of the Absolute is realized, while in the former there is always an important element wanting,
either spirituality (as in Materialism), or self-consciousness (as in Pantheism), or the living, omnipresent activity (as in Deism): all of them elements indispensable to the complete conception of the Absolute.*
* Cf. the details of this argument in the author's work, "Moderne
Zweifel am Christlichen Glauben" (2d edition, Bonn, 1870), pp. 227248 (soon to be published in English by Messrs. Clarke of Edinburgh).
2*




34      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
In all this our position will be a safer one, if we
lean more upon the fundamental ideas contained in
Scripture than upon terms from the dogmatic schools.
This is especially true with reference to the point
which philosophers delight to attack-the Christian
doctrine of the Trinity. Let us at once confess that the
expression three persons (which is not Biblical) may
cause misunderstandings, since it is so easily confounded with three individuals; as St. Augustine himself
has remarked, "tres personme, si ita dicendve sunt;" and
moreover, that the expression "Trinity" is but an attempt at a short designation of a mystery, for the
clear conception and designation of which in this life
neither intellect nor language will ever be adequate.
On the other hand, however, let us show how in the
triune personality of God is contained both his true
infinity and the possibility of his self-impartment in
Revelation: the true bridge between God and the
world. For in this doctrine the unbending conception of abstract Monotheism  has obtained vitality
through the idea of a Divine Will of love. Hence
this doctrine furnishes a preventive against the deification of nature, and is the only perfect bulwark of
vital Theism in the idea of God as the highest plenitude of life and love, and it is only philosophical
short-sightedness which can refuse this key to the great
world-enigma, a key often well used by many a great




MODERN INFIDELITY.            35
philosopher. Only when this gulf between the Creator and the created is bridged over will the breach
between man and man be closed. Here only have
we a firm ground for the realization of the idea of humanity, the brotherly unity and equality of all men
as regards origin and destiny. This shows the immeasurable importance of the Christian doctrine of
the Trinity for the world's culture,* a doctrine which
is also remarkably attested by the history of heathen"
religions.
No less firmly and deeply founded should our position in these days be with regard to the defense of miracles. The negation of the miraculous proceeds partly from a false idea of God, partly from an incorrect,
mechanical conception of the world; and, we may
add, for the most part from the arbitrary assumption
that, because no miracles happen nowadays, none
have ever happened. If God be, as we Christians believe, a free, personal, extra-mundane Will, whose influence, nevertheless, is omnipresent throughout the
whole creation, then the approach to every point of
this creation must be always open to him, and this
necessitates the possibility of miracles.. Doubtless the
created world is relatively independent; but can the
* Cf. Hundeshagen, "Die Natur und geschichtliche Entwickelung
der Humanitiatsidee."




36      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
laws of nature-which only act by God's good pleasure-form a barrier for him, when, in pursuance of
the highest moral and religious ends, it is his will to
use extraordinary means? You talk of a " breach of
the laws of nature."  But first of all tell me, what
limit is there to the intensification of natural forces
by the power of the Divine Will? And does not the
product of the miracle immediately subject itself to
the ordinary course of nature? You complain that
miracles would rend the world's economy asunder.
Ay, but the first great rent in the original order and
harmony was made not by God, but by the sin of
man. The abnormal development of our freedom can
not only bear, but imperatively demands the salutary
interference of God as a work of pity and love. Miracles, therefore, do not unnaturally destroy true nature, but supernaturally heal distorted nature. Instead of, as formerly was customary, using isolated
miracles as apologetic arguments, we should assign to
each miracle, according to its evident dispensational
aim, a place in the great organic plan of salvation, the
living heart of which is Christ.
You object, finally, that no miracles occur at the
present day. But can not and must not the periods
of the Church's birth and of its growth be governed
by somewhat different laws? Cast a glance into the
history of modern missions, and you will see how, at




MODERN INFIDELITY.            37
this very day, in the course of founding new churches, things happen which remind us of the Apostolic
times.
Having thus shielded the Christian belief in God
and his personal relation to the world from infidel
assaults, let us grasp the sword and attack the weak
points of our opponents, by demonstrating the scientific
untenableness of their principles. What is Atheism but
an arbitrary denial of the universal and immediate
certainty of the existence of God, a certainty necessarily following from the conditioned character of our
self-consciousness, which we feel to be dependent on
an absolutely Higher Being? This view is without
any deep insight into the nature of the factors which
constitute our own consciousness, and it is condemned
by the fact of the universality of religion. What is
JIaterialism but an audacious hypothesis, an unsuccessful attempt to explain the whole complex of our
thought, the origin of our self-consciousness, nay, even
our moral ideas, as a product of sensuous perception
and the action of matter?  Does it not-in doing
away with the freedom  of the will and individual
responsibility-practically destroy all the moral elements of our life, and render the idea of a spiritual
and moral progress illusory?  And Pantheism, tooto say nothing of all its other foibles-does it not
manifestly move in a logical circle so soon as it en



38      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
deavors to bring the principle which it presupposes
(whether it be the "substance" of Spinoza, or the
"absolute Idea" of Hegel) into relation with the
world-matter as its causa efficiens?  God is supposed
ever to be evolving the world from himself, and yet
He is only realized in its development. Where, in
this case, is the ratio stfficiens of the reality of the
world, and especially of our self-consciousness? and
where is there an absolute, final purpose in this eternal, aimless circuit of the universe?
And with what unnatural limitations of the conception.of God do we meet in the case of Deism and
Iationalism? How do they deprive God of his true
vitality and divinity, just as much as they do the
world of its dependence as a creature! And do not
these systems —by their denial of a special Divine
Providence-take the innermost nerve out of all moral and religious action, and remove the true key to
the understanding of the world's or of individual history?
While acknowledging the isolated elements of
truth contained in these systems, we draw the general conclusion, that by their endeavors naturally to
explain the world's enigmas they only multiply
them; and that they expect us to believe things
much more repugnant to reason and conscience than
the Scriptures with all their miracles; e. g., a self-cre



MODERN INFIDELITY.            39
ative world-matter; the origin by self-development
of the first organisms; the self-emancipation of man
from the condition of an ape, etc. He who doubts
and denies where he ought to believe will often have
to believe implicitly where critical doubts would be
most fitting; as, e. g., Strauss, in his last and most radical work, "The Old and the New Belief," has found
himself compelled to bow to the most uncertain hypotheses of modern scientists.
Finally, we may embarrass these opponents by inquiring as to the positive and solid results of their speculations. We are very far from wishing to deny the
general merits of philosophy. But, we ask, where
are the tangible results arrived at by the philosophy
which is hostile to Christianity, and which alone we
are considering here? Has it solved, finally, any fundamental question? How have the different systems
during their various changes struggled with and overthrown one another, while the simple Gospel remains, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and
forever?" Or is it possible that mere philosophical
speculation could be its own aim, apart from any useful results?  No; every science which is not scientia
ad praxin, i. e., which does not bear fruit for our life,
is inwardly unhealthy, and no longer nourishes, but
only puffs up the spirit.
And what is the present condition of philosophy?




40      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
Since the systems of "absolute Idealism" have utterly broken down, and the reaction against them has
led men into the slough of materialism, philosophy is
at a loss. The one party loudly cries that we must
return to the old teacher, Kant; others wearily labor
to arouse some interest by means of historical repre.
sentations of past systems, by excursions into the history of literature, or into the natural scientific research
of the day. Others, however-and these it is who
most attract the world's attention -draw from all that
has gone before an awful conclusion, and before the
astonished world hoist the flag-or rather let me say
the distress-signal-of the most extreme Pessimism.
Schopenhauer sees in all existence nothing but misery and suffering, and can find true happiness only in
self-dissolution into an absolutely empty Nothing, the
Nirvana of the Buddhists. And Edward von Hartnann, who in his rapidly sold book on the "Philosophy of the Unconscious" (a book of which I shall
certainly not deny that it has some real merits) exhibits to us the workings of this great " Unconscious "
in the corporeal and spiritual world, declares it to be
a mistake that a world should ever have sprung into
existence at all, and even an inexcusable crime if it
had been created by a self-conscious God. All hope
of happiness in this or in another stage of the world's
history is, according to Hartmann, a pure illusion:




MODERN INFIDELITY.            41
before us stands the senile age of mankind, in which,
after all hope has died away, our race " finally abandons all claim to positive happiness, and only yearns
for absolute painlessness; for the Nothing, Nirvana."
Thus far have our most recent philosophers advanced. On the tree of knowledge they now show
us, with strange aptitude, the seductively beautiful
and variegated tints of autumn, tokens of still despair
and utter hopelessness, which with silent eloquence
once more proclaim, "Vanity of vanities: all is vanity."  Are not such views, I boldly ask, the most
striking proof that it is only that which Divine Revelation gives and promises to man which makes his
life worth living? Here, again, we clearly see that
the faith of the Christian is, in the last resort, the
only star-banner of hope amidst the gloom of our existence; ay, the only protection of our moral dignity. Boldly, my Christian friends, let us attack our
opponents on this weak point, which is fitted more
than any other to discredit unchristian philosophy in
the eyes of all who feel their deeper needs. Let us
show the world that it is not Christianity, but the
anti-Christian philosophy which finally degrades the
dignity of man; that this idea in its fullness flourishes
only on the soil of Divine Revelation, that it is only
possible as a deduction from the Christian conception
of God, and only to be realized by the Christian plan




42      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
of salvation; and hence that any unbelieving subtraction from the fundamental Biblical views of God
and the Divine destiny of man must lead to an idea
of man and the mundane process which most deeply degrades us in our capacity of spiritual and moral
beings. For in all naturalistic and pantheistic systems what is the world's history but "the Golgotha
of the Absolute Spirit; the fearfully tragic slaughterhouse in which all individual life and happiness is
sacrificed only that the development of the universe
may go forward undisturbed " (Hegel), and the philosophers who march behind may be able to mark
and admire the rhythmic movement of the "Idea"
through Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis?
Vainly do we dream of man's personal and living
value, and nourish a living hope! And inexorable
is the dilemma which we see before us: either to receive Him who says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and
the Life," or, rejecting Him, to choose our portion
with those other spirits, the most honest of whom
must needs declare, "I am the Way, the Truth, and
-Death!"
For the scientific defense of our faith against2. Destructive historical criticism, I would recommend
the following measures to insure a firm position.
Above all, do not let us place unnecessary difficulties in our own way, and furnish our adversaries with




MODERN INFIDELITY.             43
dangerous weapons, by an exaggerated theory of inspiration, which in its equal application to all the books of
our present Canon can be justified neither by Scripture nor by historical evidence. The very limits of
our Canon are not an ordinance of Divine right, inasmuch as no prophet ever declared the list of inspired
Old Testament writings closed in the name of God;
and no apostle superintended the collection of the
New Testament books. But must not the Spirit,
who leadeth into all truth, have guided those who
had to decide as to the limits of the Canon, in order
to insure the genuine tradition of saving truth to the
later world? As a proof with what correct judgment they acted, we should adduce the fact of the
startling difference ill spirituality which exists between canonical and apocryphal, or, indeed, all noncanonical writings, even those of the centuries next
after the Apostolic age. Herein the Canon shows itself to be a unique and compact whole.
And from this inner spirit of these writings let us
draw the chief argumentfor the inspiration and normative authority of the Scriptures. The Protestant Church
considers the testimony of the Holy Ghost to be the
chief criterion of canonicity. First of all, then, we defenders should regard the Scriptures as a whole, and
proceed to show how they form a compact organism,
although the different authors wrote at such long in



44      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
tervals; how they record the progress of Revelation,
unfolding step by step, in history, doctrine, and prophecy, the Divine plan of salvation from the world's beginning to its end, and withal, in a simply sententious style, pregnant with meaning; how they everywhere breathe, in a greater or less measure, the spirit
of sacred earnestness, and all tend to one great purpose-the honor of God and the welfare of mankind.
What a fullness of light and life is contained in them,
like a spring flowing throughout all ages.  What
wondrous all-sufficiency for every need, every age,
and every stage of knowledge; how infinitely above all
mere human products! At the same time, attention
should be drawn to the regenerating influences of the
Bible in the case of individuals, as of entire nations, to
the self-manifestation of its Divine truths in the heart
and conscience of the reader or hearer. How can all
this be explained without the fact of inspiration?
This criterion of the inward testimony of the Spirit
must be kept free from all subjective arbitrariness by
its objective corroboration, according to the " analogy
of faith," with respect to the several books; and by a
historical criticism (in addition to this inner one as
to their actual origin). The testimony of the Holy
Ghost and the Church, the attributes of freedom from
error, sufficiency, and perfection, pertain primarily to
the Canon as a whole.




MODERN INFIDELITY.            45
This objective criterion of the analogy of our faith
was clearly enunciated by Luther, who says: "The
right touch-stone, whereby a Christian man may try
all books (of Scripture), is, that he inquire whether
they treat of Christ or not, forasmuch as all Scripture
telleth of him."  We must look at and defend Scripture from its central point, Christ, by applying the
above-mentioned central truths, in which all Scripture
coincides, as a criterion in judging of the value and
authority of the various books and portions. To this
kernel of the Scriptures, and this only, does the Holy.
Spirit bear witness in the hearts of believers, and
grants in respect of it an immediate and unmovable
certainty.
In matters of detail we should not forget that the
Divine Revelation in Scripture is vouchsafed to us in
a form not purely divine, but at the same time human; and that even St. Paul distinguishes what he
has received from the Lord from that which is merely his own opinion as well-meant counsel coming from
one who has the Spirit of the Lord (1 Cor. xi., 23;
vii., 25, 40), and that there is certainly an important
difference between a portion of Scripture, the author
of which.distinctly describes his utterances to a direct
Divine Revelation or command, and one which is entirely silent on this point. Do not let us forget that
no theory of inspiration-however convenient this




46      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
might seem to many-can dispense us from the duty
of a reverent criticism of Scripture, a criticism which
must extend not only to texts and translations, but
also to a searching comparison of the different types
of doctrine (e. g., Pauline, Johannean, etc.), and of the
various ethnographical, historical, and other data,
with one another and with profane history. And if
this criticism should here and there discover later additions, interpolations, chronological discrepancies, and
the like, to such we may well apply the words of Luther: "If there be found a strife in Scripture, and
the same can not be settled, let it alone, it is of little
moment, so as it runneth not counter to the articles
of our faith."  We must not be too timid in such
matters. If we indeed believe Christianity to be the
revelation of the absolute truth, then an isolated truth
may occur when and how it pleases, it can not be
dangerous, but in the end only helpful to the Christian faith.  TWhat can not be denied need not be
feared!
But if criticism seeks to cast suspicion on the whole
for the sake of a few isolated discrepancies, or if it arbitrarily attempts to measure the substance of Revelation by mere human standards, then it becomes destructive, and then we must draw a hard and sharp line
cgainst its false pretensions.
Above all things, we demand that sancta sancte trac



MODERN INFIDELITY.             47
tentur, with the becoming reverence, with an upright
and humble desire for truth. He who will not let
himself be apprehended by the spirit of Scripture, will
never comprehend its contents. Spiritual things must
be spiritually judged. Scripture, therefore, must be
meted with its own measure. To apply the standards
of merely natural and human events to the self-revealing actions of God is to begin by doing violence to
Scripture. This is the fundamental error of all false
rationalistic criticism.
Our first step in opposing this practice is, to expose
the false principle on which it rests. Since the days
of the Tiibingen School, this criticism has arrogated
to itself the title of historical, though it is often only
philosophical. It claims to examine with historical
impartiality, and is often from the first biased by arbitrary philosophical assumptions. These men approach the records of Christianity, imbued with a
pantheistic or rationalistic aversion to the miraculous,
with the intention of rendering the supernatural facts
recorded therein as merely human as possible, by
means of connecting them with and deriving their
origin from contemporary historical phenomena-and
of acknowledging as historically certain only what
is perfectly transparent and intelligible to them, because it does not exceed man's capacity; just as if
God the Lord could not make history with his deeds,




48      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
which far transcend our comprehension-he who is
Cause and Aim of all history! This, in good sooth,
is not impartial historical investigation, but rather the
result of looking through highly distorted philosophical spectacles!
This criticism can not, however, compass its ends
without innumerable coups deforce and unbounded arbitrariness. And this is the second quarter to which
our scientific defense has to direct its attacks. To
say nothing of the way in which the rationalists and
Baur have distorted the specific nature of Christianity, we would merely point out how the efforts of the
latter and his disciples have been directed toward
transferring the origin of Christianity as the universal
religion from Christ and the first Apostles to the authorship of St. Paul, just as if he himself had not
openly declared that he did not preach himself, but
Christ Jesus (2 Cor. iv., 5), and that no man can lay
another foundation than that which is laid (1 Cor. iii.,
11), as if one who declares even an angel to be accursed if he preach another Gospel than that of Christ
(Gal. i., 8) would not indignantly have declined the
fame of inventing a new Christianity!
In order to deprive the Founder of Christianity of
his specific dignity as the Son of God, this false criticism has, as we all know, endeavored to turn his
miracles into natural events or myths, and to give his




MODERN INFIDELITY.             49
testimonies and teachings respecting himself the impress of fabrications and opinions of a later age; and
especially to cast a slur upon his absolute sinlessness.
As if it were not impossible-witness even the confession of a Rousseau-to invent such a picture of
Christ as that which the gospels give us! As ifeven supposing all four gospels to be spurious-the
four unimpeached epistles of St. Paul were not enough
to prove clearly the God-manhood and the perfectly
holy mediatory character of the Crucified and Risen
One! And as if even the most arbitrary criticism
of the gospels had not left as genuine some self-testimonies of Christ, in which he lays claim to attributes
which positively exceed any mere human standard,
e.g., in the passages which relate to his second coming as the Judge of the world! Here we see criticism
reach the crowning point of arbitrariness, and talk
of "fanaticism" and "unjustifiable self-glorification"
(Strauss). Be it so; but let these critics bear the
crushing burden of bringing evidence which may
give us the faintest glimmering of an understanding
how such serious moral and intellectual defects could
co-exist in the same individual with the otherwise
perfect sobriety, clearness, and quietness of His words
and actions, and with the lofty moral dignity of His
whole nature. Is it not wholly absurd, we ask, to
suppose that the religion of humility and love could




O5      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
have taken its origin from a fanatic so eaten up by
pride? But if Christ uttered these testimonies of
himself, like all his other words, with deliberation
and truth, then he must be the One for whom the
Church has ever taken him-the only-begotten Son
of the living God.
Time would fail us to detail all the futile blows
which this criticism has dealt against the New Testament history, the most flagrant of which were the
efforts (finally given up by Baur himself) t6 explain
naturally the conversion of St. Paul, even at the
cost of making him an utterly inexplicable psychological monstrosity, or even an epileptic!  I would
only remind you what a firm barrier we have against
all such attacks in passages like 2 Cor., xii., 12, where
St. Paul, in an epistle confessedly genuine, appeals to
his signs and wonders and mighty deeds before those
under whose eyes they had taken place. And, I ask,
would not a writer who asserts such things of himself be utterly demented if he were not perfectly certain that they were true?
All these attacks based on an aversion to the miraculous, and especially the denial of the Resurrection, may be consigned to a well-merited grave by the
one unanswerable argurment: You can never explain
the enigma of primitive Christian belief, its world-conquering power, and its world-regenerating effects, nor




MODERN INFIDELITY.             51
the existence of the Christian Church itself, if Christ
was not and did not do what the gospels tell of him.
By trying to explain primitive Christian history as
a chain of merely natural occurrences, you turn it
upside clown, and make it an insoluble enigma. By
your denial of the superhuman element in Christ,
and especially of his resurrection, you are compelled
to seek the mainspring of so immense a movement
as that of Christianity in persons, circumstances, and
relations which caln not bear the weight of such a
superstructure; and in the end you ask us to believe
that the kingdom of Truth took its origin from misunderstanding, error, self-deception, and dishonesty!
The logical law of the sufficing cause makes all your
efforts vain.
At this point we may call attention to the inward]y inevitable process, in which this criticism often
overleaps itself, and not seldom becomes utterly absurd. Thus, no sooner had Strauss endeavored to derive the chief motive of the myths ascribed by him to
the primitive disciples and churches, from the idea
then current among the Jews as to the Messiah, than
Bruno Bauer treads on his heels, declaring that the
idea of the Messiah, as far as regards its existence before the rise of Christianity, is also a myth! Again,
after many critics have for years doubted the truth
of the reports of the Resurrection, there comes Noacic,




52      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
and informs us that Christ was crucified, not in Jerusalem, but on ilount Gerizim!
Hence negative criticism has been considerably beaten
back upon several points. Just compare the present
state of results in the criticism of the gospels with
that of a few decades since. The Synoptics, which
had then been pushed onward into the second century, have already step by step been brought back into
the first. Even in the question as to the time when
the Gospel of St. John was written, the Critical School
has receded from the year 160 (Baur) to the beginning
of the second century (Keim 100-117), i. e., a time when
St. John may still have been alive.  And if Keim
in a recent work declares that the prevailing theology of the day can not, without sacrificing the truth, ascribe to this gospel a direct historical value, he thereby shows that he himself does not object to sacrifice
the truth, which is that at the present day more than
ever the ascription of its authorship to St. John is
being defended not only by such critics as Ewald,
Diisterdieck, Meyer, Riggenbacbh,Van Oosterzee, Godet, but even by Weizacker, Ritschl, and others.*
That favorite instance of our opponents, the inner
* And most lately of all against Keim and Scholten, by Leuschner,
in his work, " Das Evangelium St. Johannis, und seine nenesten Wedersacher." 1873.




MODERN INFIDELITY.              53
relation of the Synoptics to the fourth Gospel, has far less
weight, since the fact has been generally recognized
that a superhuman view of Christ's person can not
possibly be ignored as contained in the first three
Gospels. To say nothing of the account of our Lord's
childhood (the authenticity of which has lately been
convincingly proved by Steinmeyer*), we have passages
such as Matt. xi., 27 ("All things are delivered unto
me of my Father: no man knoweth the Son but the
Father," etc.); cf. Luke x., 22, respecting which even
a critic like Reuss confesses that "the whole of St.
John's Gospel is, as it were, but a circumscription of
these utterances." And the works of our day on New
Testament doctrinal teaching show that all the germs
of the Pauline and Johannean doctrines are contained
in the words of our Lord.t
Another help against the arbitrariness of criticism,
and the scientific light-mindedness with which it often
seizes on mere isolated notices from profane history
as proof positive against the Scriptural accounts, is
often afforded by the most recent archaeological research. I would remind you, e. g., of the proofs for
* "Die Geschichte der Geburt des Herrn, und seinerersten Schritte
im Leben." 1873.
t Cf. Bernhard Weiss, "Lehrbuch der biblischen Theologie des
neuen Testaments." 2d edition.




54      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
the truth of many facts recorded respecting Egyptian
history in Genesis and Exodus, which have lately
been furnished by Ebers, in the interests, not of Christian faith, but of science, and the deciphering of old
Chaldaic inscriptions respecting the flood by Mr. G.
Smith, of London. But especially I would refer you
to E. Schrader's late work,' in which a number of
the notices scattered throughout the Old Testament,
respecting the history of the Assyro-Babylonian empire and the Assyrian monuments (fiom the tower in
the plain of Shinar down to the fall of Babylon), are
remarkably confirmed, even in their details; so much
so that Egyptologists have been corrected by Assyrologists in respect of their chronology where it differs
from that of Scripture. Have we, then, not a right
to say with Gellius: " Obscuritates non assignemus
culpae scribentium, sed inscitive non assequentium?"
In such questions the scientific defense of our faith
must not shirk the trouble of going into details, for it
is in these that negative criticism seeks its strength.
But the representatives of the latter should be shown
how often they make small differences into great contradictions; how they endeavor, by means of uncertain
hypotheses, to decide questions which it is impossible
* "2Egypten und die Biicher Mosis." I Bd., 1868.
t "Die Keilinschriften und das alte Testament." 1872.




MODERN INFIDELITY.             55
to settle authoritatively; how often they give themselves the air of being able precisely to characterize
the inner development of an author or of his age, so
as to be justified, in the case of certain differences between earlier and later writings, to deny the possibility of their originating from the same man. What
they announce as a " certain result of theological science," not seldom, in truth, owes its origin to subjective taste andl arbitrary choice. They are far too little conscious of the limits to real scientific demonstration; and often, when they suppose that they have
produced the non plus ultra of scientific acuteness, it
is but a flight in the airy regions of imagination.
Truly, often "much learning hath made them mad."
In view of all this, we must protest aloud against the
arrogance of this modern theological school, especially
against the manner in which they present to the public in popular exegetical works-cf., e.g., "Die Protestantenbibel neuen Testaments," a work now appearing under the auspices of the Protestantenvereinas Gospel truth, "the ascertained results of historical
and Biblical investigation;" while these are accepted
only by a minority of theologians, and many of them
men of waning credit. And if they go so far as to
give themselves'credit for being the promoters of
greater life in the Church, they should be clearly
shown how miserably unpractical and insufficient their




56      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
stand-point is to attain this end; how, by their denial
of inspiration, they utterly destroy the living interest
of the mass of men in the Bible, by changing it into
a merely historical and literary interest. Not a few
students of theology are, by means of this method of
treating, or rather maltreating Scripture, becoming
thoroughly disgusted with the study of exegesis.
Finally, we should seek to deprive this school of
criticism of the charm of novelty. What more is itwith its resolution of actual facts into mere insipid religious ideas-than a new edition of the old Gnosticism? And will it not die away just as this did, if it
offers for the religious need of the Christian people
evaporating ideas or crumbling stones, instead of the
living Bread from Heaven? This school, indeed,
seeks to retain Christ as an ideal. But can a mere
idea redeem the world? Sin, unhappily, is a mighty
reality, and only Divine realities can overcome it.
This is the true reason why, as long as there are sinners in need of salvation, the world can not give up
the Word of Life.
Our defense against the attacks of
3. Modern anti-miraculous natural science will have
to be conducted in a somewhat similar manner, since
its principle of the denial of the miraculous is identical with that of the destructive critical school. Darwin and his followers are working out the same fun



MODERN INFIDELITY.             57
damental idea as Baur and his disciples, viz., to bridge
over by natural means all the chasms in history and
nature, so as to get rid of all supernatural agencies.
And both schools, though originally quite independent of one another, have at length happily met in the
person of Strauss, as we see in his last work, " The
Old and New Belief."
In order to maintain a firm position against the attacks of natural science, we must first consider thepurpose for which the Scriptures, as a whole, were given, and
thus draw a sharp line between this aim and that of
scientific investigation.
The aim of Scripture is to show us the way of salvation, and this it does by communicating religious
and moral truths, which the apprehension of man,
darkened as it is by sin, could never have discovered
by itself. But in no respect is Scripture intended to
play the part of a hand-book of natural history or philosophy, or to give us physical information which is
of no essential importance for our faith. The Bible
should not, therefore, be called upon as arbiter in
questions of pure natural science, which do not in the
least affect morals or faith. Not even the highest inspiration could have been intended to lift the Biblical
writers above the view of nature current in their day,
or to give them the clear insight into natural science
which was reserved as a reward for the patient toil of
38*




58      BEST METIODS OF COUNTERACTING
later generations. Its purpose was to enable them to
enunciate the truths of Divine Revelation, as far as
they were connected with physical relations, in a form
which should not militate against the objective truth
of these relations, and should leave room for all future discoveries in that region. For this reason the
Bible speaks of natural phenomena simply in the language of every-day life, which gives impressions as
they are received.
Certainly, however, Scripture, in its enunciation of
religious truths, can not altogether avoid touching on
physical ground, especially in the history of creation.
But where it does enter upon the region of nature, it only
does so as far as is absolutely necessary to ground and
establish our faith-to instruct man as to his true destiny, and to make way for correct notions of the relation of God to the world, while excluding all false
ones. Thus Materialism and Naturalism, as well as
Pantheism and Emanationism, are equally excluded.
Then the physical processes are fragmentarily sketched in a few bold strokes, as far as they are necessary
to form the basis of the history of Revelation, to which
the record forthwith proceeds. Evidently, then, this
record is by no means complete from a physical point
of view. On the contrary, innumerable questions are
left open, to be answered by our investigation. But
in no case are physical relations brought in for their




MODERN INFIDELITY.              59
own sake.*  Entire silence is kept on all points which
do not form part of the foundation of religious truth.
Htow few physical details do the first and second chapters of Genesis contain in comparison with heathen
cosmogonies!
It is important to remark the distinction that, while
the statement of religious truth is always precise and
clear, that of physicalfacts is so broad and general that
room is left for all later discoveries of details. Indeed,
they are given in such a shape as to unfold their hidden
trudhs with the advances of sciencet-and this, I think,
is no small proof of their inspiration. Take, e. g., the
creation of light on the first, and the sun not until the
fourth day-for which statement the Bible cosmogony
has been ridiculed by innumerable infidels, from Celsus down to Strauss. How brilliantly has this bten
justified by modern natural science, which has shown
that the earth possesses light in itself, and did so,
probably, in a far greater degree at the time when the
trees now found in the coal-beds were growing; for
these have no annual rings, a fact which points to the
conclusion that the earth did not then derive her light
from the sun, and consequently had no change of
* Cf. Reusch, "Bibel und Natur," 3te Aufl., p. 31.
t Cf. S. Garratt, "Veins of Silver," chap. i.: "Inspired Words and
Unfolding Truths."




60      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
seasons. The sun itself is now generally believed to
be an opaque body, the light of which is produced by
the combustion of its atmosphere; and light itself is
attributed to the undulations of ether, which would
account for its not being created, but merely called
forth from the chaos to exist in a separate form.
Physical discoveries will often prove to be keys to
the understanding of Scriptural data, and show how
these could not possibly have been furnished by their
authors without Divine enlightenment. But we must
not be too quick in the interpretation of such passages, and, above all, not make Scripture say things which
it does not distinctly enunciate. How often-as Whewell truly says —has one thought himself to be defending a Scriptural truth, when he was merely fighting for
an interpretation of his own, which was presently shown
to be false 
If we have drawn a limit, beyond which the appeal
to Scriptural authority should not go, we must also
indicate the bounds of natural science as against religious teaching. We must, from the very first, take
exception to the claims of natural scientists, when
they ignore all religious and moral truths, and apply
to incommensurable magnitudes the standard of mathematics; when they commit the absurdity of making
* "history of the Inductive Sciences," i., p. 403.




MODERN INFIDELITY.             61
our belief in the supersensuous and spiritual world
dependent on the results of microscopic or telescopic
researches; when they go beyond the investigation
of present phenomena, and pretend to give an authentic account of the processes by which the world originated-processes which are entirely out of the reach
of exact investigation, and only permit of speculative
theories; and when they will not acknowledge the
fundamental fallacy of all naturalistic theories as to
the world's origin, viz., that they make the present
order of things the criterion of the process of creation,
and will not acknowledge the influence of other forces
than those which are still at work. In all this natural science oversteps its limits, and argues from analogies which we can not allow.
If, however, both sides keep within the limits of
their respective tasks, then they must necessarily be
united at last. If the Bible and Nature both contain a
Revelation from God, they can not really contradict one
another. Where this would seem to be the case, it is
because either God's words or his works have been
misinterpreted. In such a case we must not immediately cast away the Word, in order not to give offense
to the cultivated, but quietly wait for a reconciliation; again examine the exegesis of the passage in
question; but at the same time see whether natural
scientists are not giving us doubtful conjectures, in




62      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
which they have often been mistaken, instead of really
certain results.
This is all the easier for us, from the fact that there
have always been distinguished natural scientists who
did not believe in the possibility of a contradiction
between the Bible and Nature, from pious patriarchs
of science, like Copernicus, Newton, and Kepler, down
to men of our own day, like A. von Haller, Euler,
Littrow, Von Schubert, Wagner, Roper, in Germany;
or Buckland, Hugh Miller, Sir John Ierschel, Brewster, Whewell, in England; or Cuvier, Lavoisier, Marcel de Serres, La Faye, etc., in France.
Indeed, we can answer the contempt with which the
science of the day looks down upon Holy Scripture, by
pointing to a number of im.portant matters in which
a union has been effected, or at least made way for. As
far as we know the chief stages of the earth's development, they agree in point of order with the six
days' work of Genesis i. The fact that a fluid state
of the earth's crust preceded the formation of the
mountains, answers to the description of the second
day. The first numerous appearance of the terrene
flora in the comparatively early coal-period, and the
later appearance en masse of the terrene fauna in the
tertiary period, corresponds in its chief features to
the second, third, fifth, and sixth days. Astronomy,
again, has proved in a startling manner, by means of




MODERN INFIDELITY.             63
the spectral analysis, the unity of the Cosmos, and the
near relationship which the elements of the other celestial bodies bear to those of the solar system. We
begin to see proof positive for Cuvier's far-seeing utterance: " Moses has left us a cosmogony, the exactitude of which is confirmed day by day in an admirable manner." With regard, moreover, to the Biblical
computation of the age of the human race, geologists
and paleontologists are declaring that, according to
the newest data, the period of about six thousand
years is in all probability correct. And, finally, modern astronomy and physics decidedly support the
probability of the cessation in due time of the motion
of our solar system, and the destruction of the earth
through the exhaustion of the forces hitherto at work.
No wonder that, as things stand, a considerable
number of theologians declare the harmony between
Scripture and science to be complete, or at least
capable of becoming so. And we may at least gather,
as the result of their efforts, the declaration that an
ideal harmony in respect of the chief features may be
established without doing violence to either side.
Meanwhile, truth demands that we should confess
that this harmony at present does not extend to all details; e. g., theologians are not agreed as to whether
the days of Genesis i. may be stretched out so as to
meet the requirements of the immeasurably long pe



64      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
riod postulated by geology. The first specimens (not
the masses) of the different stages of creation do not,
as far as scientific research has extended, follow strict]y in the order of the six days, for the lowest plants
and the lowest animals appear simultaneously in the
geological strata; and to bring all the data in the
Scriptural account of the deluge into accordance with
the present results of science would be rather difficult.
But may we not hope for a fature solution of these
difficulties, seeing that neither exegesis nor, still less,
natural science are by any means complete? God
does not grant to one generation to solve all enigmas: coming ones will have to work at them, too.
But the measure of corroboration hitherto afforded
by science to Scripture gives us a right to treat with
well-merited contempt the ridicule cast upon Scripture by so many scientists.
And as against such attacks we may proceed to
point out the foibles of natural science, which she has
of late often exhibited with the rashness of youth,
especially in her younger departments.
How categorically, e. g., was the volcanic theory in
geology pronounced to be the only true one, in opposition to the Neptunian, and how signally has it been
deposed from the position of sole ruler by the chemical investigations of Fuchs, Schafhautl, Bischof, and




MODERN INFIDELTY.              65
others!*  What uncertainty is shown in the calculations of geologists-e. g., as to the time required
for the cooling of the earth's crust, their estimates differing, not by thousands, but by millions of years!
How much jugglery, in fact, has been carried on. by
natural scientists in respect of enormous numbers!
How often have they endeavored to give their calculations as to the formation of the different strata a
learned gloss by amounting to millions of years! And
now sober investigators are, on the ground of careful
observations, beating a retreat; and, instead of the favorite millions of years usually held up to the astonished public, are computing much more moderate
periods. The age of the mammoth, the great bear,
and the reindeer, which scientists (especially Frenchmen) have been trying to separate by thousands of
years, are now by thorough investigators, like that
of Fraas, placed quite close together. And the lake
dwellings, too; how has their origin been relegated
to irnmemorable antiquity, in order to throw discredit
on the Biblical account of man! And now scientists are beginning to turn up their noses at the idea
of the stone, bronze, and iron ages being successive
epochs; so that we may confidently assert that none
* Proving, e. g., that the formation of quartz could only have originated from the action of water.




66      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
of these remains extend back more than a few centuries beyond Caesar, and hence are not even older
than historical times. And so, after all, the six thousand years of the Bible are not so utterly insufficient
to accommodate all the remains of ancient civilization.
But in what hot haste were scientists at the time to
spread these now exploded notions in all kinds of
popular publications!
Without heeding the outcry of the scientific rabble
against our "vulgar belief,"* let us quietly expose
before the eyes of our flocks this mode of proceeding,
and let us show them how large a portion of scientific " knowledge" is based only upon grounds of likelihood, which may very well some day give way.
And how has our task been lightened in the chief
controversy of our day-that as to the origin of manby the extravagancies which naturalists would have
had us believe. Our firm defense of the Biblical doctrine is this: That the derivation of man's existence
as a religious and moral being from the creative act
of God, who formed him in his own likeness, and destined him to attain to it, agrees so clearly with our whole
moral and religious self-consciousness, with the historical development of the human race, and with the per* "KIhlerglaube," an opprobrious epithet applied by German infidels to the Christian faith.




MODERN INFIDELITY.              67
sonal experience of all true Christians, that it is the
only reasonable doctrine, and alone worthy of man's
dignity. We need but place it side by side with the
scientific fancies of former times on this subject, now
often ridiculed by sober naturalists themselves, and
the choice will not be a hard one.
But the controversy has assumed a more serious
aspect since Darwin and his school have endeavored
to connect the genealogy of man with the highest
mammals, viz., the anthropoid apes. The counterproof is not our affair, but that of savants by profession. Fortunately, the most recent discussion of the
question seems unfavorable to the relationship.* But,
even supposing the outward differences were proved
to be ever so small, would not the present intellectual
and moral (to say nothing of the religious) condition
of man, notwithstanding the small superiority in his
organism, be all the more a riddle?  No representation of the psychical processes in inferior animals,
their instincts, notions, memory, etc., however it may
sublimate them, will be able to disprove that in this
respect the lower animals have made no progress for
the last several thousand years; that they have never
* Witness the defeat of Carl Voyt at the Stuttgart Conference of
Natural Scientists (autumn, 1872) by Virchow, Luschka, and others
at the head of a large majority.




68      BEST METHODS OF COUSNTERACTING
discovered the inner laws of these phenomena, nor
have been able to distinguish their individual Ego
from their momentary condition.
For such facts-and this is our firm position of defense-there is no other explanation than this, that
in the soul-life of the beast there is no conprehension of
the individual Ego; there is no self-consciousness of
the spirit distinguishing itself from its isolated affections, functions, conditions, as well as from all objects
without it. And this is the specific distinction, the impassable gulf between man and beast. The same is
no less absolute from a moral point of view: on the
one hand we see free, personal, self-determining life;
on the other the iron rule of nature's law, by means
of sensual affections and instincts. Even millions of
years, and the innumerably minute stages of progress
which naturalists postulate, can never bridge over the
chasm which divides the natural from the moral law.
And if these men (and Strauss also) flatter themselves
that it is the greatest possible honor for man to have
raised himself from the depths of animal life to the
present height of moral consciousness, we reply: If
man is, as you say, a mere creature of nature, then
all that he does takes place by virtue of absolutely
binding natural laws, and it is no merit in him thus
to have raised himself, since he could not help it. Unless our moral consciousness proceeds from an abso



MODERN INFIDELITY.             69
lutely good and holy will of God, all our moral ideas
are merely conventional and changeable, and there is
no such thing as good and evil per se. Thus all morality is radically destroyed, and he who believes in a generic difference.between the morally good and evil
must also believe in the specific pre-eminence and Divine origin of man.
Similar moral arguments obtain against those who
deny the homogeneous descent of the human race from a
single pair. He who tears asunder the human race in
its origin makes the different branches of it enemies
instead of brothers, and destroys with their consanguinity the last bond of mutual love and esteem.
The physiologists, however, who maintain this* may
fight our battle against the Darwinists; for, if the latter are trying to annihilate every boundary between
the species, the former make demarkations where, according to Scripture, none exist. We may quietly
allow our opponents to direct their attacks against each
other, till the truth which lies in the middle alone remains. Darwinism may perhaps result in the reduction of the present multitude of species to considerably fewer principal types (which can only be favor-,able to the Biblical account of the Flood), but the
weighty arguments of the polygenists will prevent
As Edwards, Forbes, Agassiz, Burmeister, and others.




70      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
these types from being annihilated. The latter class of
naturalists should, however, remember that the question as to the origin of the human race is, in the last
resort, a matter of history; and this science, as applied
to languages and religions, is pointing with increasing
probability to one original tribe, the cradle of which
lay in Western Asia, so that the possibility of the Biblical theory is becoming more and more established.
Here, too, we may say, What God hath joined, let not
man put asunder.
As things stand, we shall not join in the apprehension expressed by Schleiermacher, that natural science,
when fully developed to a complete system of cosmology, might result in an intellectual starvation of theology. Nay-if I am not deceived-the relations between natural science and theology appear of late to
have taken a turn for the better. This, because the
stand-point on either side is beginning to become clearly marked. Many prudent and far-seeing natural philosophers have begun to acknowledge that their science has, in many cases, overstepped its boundaries,
and therefore warn their younger or more hot-blooded
colleagues to abstain from undue interference in other
departments. May we, then, not nourish the hope.
that in due time both these bright stars shall revolve
around a common centre,-in mutual harmony and
friendly rivalry discovering the great deeds of God?




MODERN INFIDELITY.            71
But, besides these comparatively detailed methods
of offense against the different scientific attacks, there
remains to be considered the defense of our whole line
against infidel theory and practice combined. For
these tendencies are now showing themselves in practice and form asIII.
A growinyg Social Power in the Life of our Day both in
Ch urch and State.
This form of unbelief is, without question, far more
dangerous than infidelity in individuals or in philosophical systems. I would recommend, in this respect,
a double method of defense. First, a more negative
one, which has hitherto been carried on only sporadically, but which, in order to take due effect, should be
treated as a whole: viz., an exposure of the miserable
consequences of infidelity as s/howzu in history, in contradistinction to the wholesome effects of healthy Christian
faith. This may be called the historical method of defense; it is, however, at the same time a cutting attack. Our Lord himself pointed it out when he said,
" By their fruits ye shall know them" (Matt. vii., 16);
and the proof of the actual corruptness of these fiuits
will make impression upon many who are deaf to all
other arguments




72      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
How should we furnish this proof? Not by setting
up ourselves as judges over the persons of our opponents, nor so as to do them inj ustice, by forgetting how
many of them are upright and learned men; but by
showing the influence of their tendency of thought as
actually exhibited in the collective life of Church and
State since the last century, and comparing its effects
in the different spheres of society.
On an attentive consideration of the spirit which
animates our opponents as a body, the first thing which
strikes us is the extraordinary overweening pride
with which most of them treat all positive believers.*
They lay claim to be the only representatives of science, and have repeated this so often to the people,
that in Holland, Germany, and Switzerland, the greater part of the press echoes this opinion as a matter
of course, and lays all " orthodoxy," i. e., belief in the
Bible, under the reproach of ignorance and narrowmindedness. And with this haughty spirit the theologians among them plentifully imbue their congregations.  They flatter the spirit of the times, anid puff
up the "educated" consciousness of an age already intoxicated with culture, till its pride reaches an unbearable pitch, by means of their high-flying critical treat* Cf. Ilofstede de Groot, "Die moderne Theologie in den Kiederlanden," 1870, p. 29, et seq.




MODERN INFIDELITY.            73
ment of the Gospel history; indeed, many of them
often go so far as to rouse all the passions of intolerance against the "parsons," i. e., the representatives of
the old faith. When they are in a minority, they cry
for tolerance, and preach the doctrine of equal rights
for every persuasion. - But when they are the ruling
party, sovereign Season shows herseyf to be most intolerant, and denounces those who cling to the old faith as
the enemies of progress, and of all truly humane culture.
If we go on to consider their method of attack (and
except the merely scientific representatives), we can
not help seeing what a despotism of phrases and commonplaces they have founded, so that thousands blindly applaud the half or not at all understood mottoes
of the day; and what a confusion of ideas must be
laid to their, charge! The clear meaning of sharply definite Scriptural ideas accepted by the Church
is gradually put aside, and another meaning substituted for it, so that, while the shell remains, the
true kernel is gone. During one thousand eight hundred years, e. g., the word "resurrection" has been
understood in the whole of Christendom to apply to
the body of Christ; now, however, they change the
meaning of the word into that of a continued existence of any kind, and declare as irrelevant the question whether our Lord's body was raised to a new
4




74      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
life or not. In the Church the old forms are for
the most part preserved; and in this case they continue to pray to Christ as ordered, though otherwise
they consider him to be only the son of Joseph, and
prayer itself a subjective outpouring. of the heart's
emotions, without objective effect on the course of affairs. Is this perfectly upright and truthful? Some
are soon tired of this incongruence between the rites
and liturgy of the Church and their own inward convictions, and enter other more congenial callings; but
the growing generation is by these means (though not
exclusively by them) disgusted with the study of
theology. In many, however (especially during the
first half of this century), this incongruence has been
overcome by the earnest demands of life and holy office, which, though they left the university as Rationalists, convinced them of their error, and led them to
preach salvation through Christ alone. Does all this
bear witness to the healthy character of unbelieving
principles?
But let us look more closely at their fruits in the
inner congregational life of the Church. Infidelity has
of old emptied the churches and given an impetus to schismatics, because it can not satisfy the deeper spiritual
needs. What a display has infidelity made of its
weakness in the pulpit by reason of its denial of the
miraculous element in the great facts of salvation!




MODERN INFIDELITY.            75
Let him who wishes to see instances take but a look
at the utilitarian preachers of the times of " illumination." It is well known that these men did not disdain, even on high festivals, to stoop so low as to instruct the people in their sermons about farming, hygiene, vaccination, or cattle-feeding. And now? There
is no scarcity of high-flown words. But does the one
thing needful-faith in Christ, conversion, and regeneration-still form the central object in the modern
pulpit? Alas! not even for an earnest penitential
sermon can one of these men collect his energies. Is
not this a serious state of affairs?
And what of the liturgicalfruits of unbelief? Just
glance into the liturgies current during the zenith of
Rationalism in the last century; read those finely
rounded phrases and paraphrases about God, virtue,
and immortality, self-ennoblement, and Jesus Christ,
the Eastern sage of olden times, and confess that you
would hardly have believed so utter a want of taste
to be possible. Or glance over the hymn-books of
that time, with their miserably watered old hymns,
and their practically as well as theologically shallow
and pitiable humanitarian odes. And how is it in our
day? Why, if formerly there was at least the shadow
of a worship, now the attempts made in Haarlem,
Groningen, Neufchatel, to establish a truly "modern"
Divine service, have, by their miserable failure, gone




76      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
far to prove the utter futility of all such endeavors.
In due time, then, worship would have to cease altogether.
In the matter of Church constitution and government
(in which believing theology, it is true, has made many
mistakes also), the chief historical achievement of unbelief (in Germany) is the "Territorial System "-a theorl which considers the Church and its government
to be only a part of the State, and its constitution
as such, and must lead to the former being entirely
emerged in the latter. And at this day unbelief seeks
to betray the inalienable rights of the Church to the
State, and to prove the omnipotence of the latter, as
against any act of Church discipline meant to defend
the positive doctrine, hoping that the State may soon
pronounce for the equal rights of all parties within
the Church. Modern unbelief seeks to efface the specific distinction between Church and State, and thereby robs the former of its vital power.*
Again, look at the influence of unbelief in the active
congregational irfe of the Church, in the institutionsfor
the extension of God's kingdom, and see the paralysis
which follows its ascendency. The German-Danish
mission iri. Tranquebar flourished vigorously during
the former part of last century, till the triumph of Ra* This paragraph applies more especially to Germany.




MODERN INFIDELITY.             77
tionalism at home dried up its supports and caused it
to wither away. And how do these liberal unbelievers seek to hinder and malign the work of missions at the present day by distorted criticisms! But
as to doing better themselves, which would be the
best criticism, they have not lifted up a finger. The
institutions of our inner missions, too, have almost all
of them been founded and supported solely by the
love and liberality of believers, while unbelievers have
done little else than embitter their existence by.repeated attacks.*
But perchance unbelief has proved itself to be a firm
support of the State, and a source of moral strength in
public and political life? The best tests of a principle are furnished by times of public distress and
danger. As soon, e. g., as a war is imminent, the power
of unbelief in a nation immediately sinks in a marked
manner, and even unchristian journals at once begin to
speak more of God and divine help. An involuntary
instinct fills the churches; the need of a higher assistance is.plainly felt, and the fine phrases of unbelief can
not give this. These facts are questionable enough for
the support under trouble which unbelief can afford.
And when the'thousands upon.thousands of wounded
* Witness the venomous attacks on the "Rauhe Haus" at Hamburg (Dr. Wichern's institution).




78      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
need spiritual consolation, how little can unbelief afford
this! In the last war-I say it deliberately, for I have
witnessed it myself in the war-this task devolved almost entirely on believing ministers, often at the request of their free-thinking colleagues. Here the pastoral bankruptcy of tire rationalistic clergy was clearly evident in their total inability to satisfy the spiritual
cravings of the szffering and dying. It would be laughable, were it not rather to be wept over, that unbelief
should ever attempt to minister to the spiritual needs
of man.
But, putting aside such seasons of distress, what are
the political and social fruits of unbelief in a general
way? History very plainly tells us that apostasyffrom
the faith very soon deprives a nation of its power and authority. As in the family, when its life is not based
upon the fear of God, all domestic bonds are soon destroyed by the unfettered power of selfishness, so that
dangerous laxity or arbitrariness is substituted for earnest discipline in the education of children-so, too,
in civil and national life. The people that will not
bow to divine authority will eventually break through
the bounds of all human order in endless revolutions.
The self-love, which would fain be wiser than divine
revelation, at last snaps all the bonds of society.  The
new faith (of Strauss), practically carried out, is the Commune, which during its ascendency was always talk



MODERN INFIDELITY.             79
ing of philosophy. Unbelief will ruin every nation
which does not in time resist its all-poisoning influences.
The result of historical investigation shows that all
these results of unbelief have the same inner ground,
viz., that it is without the Spirit of God, which alone
creates and preserves all true life. But f the fruzit be
evil, then the tree and its roots are evil also; and foolish,
indeed, is he who would gather grapes of thorns or
figs of thistles.
In our attack on unbelief we must expose these its
firuits: It boasts itself of helping progress, and hinders
it; it inscribes "culture" on its banner, and threatens
us with a new and a worse barbarism; it promises
to bring in the age of true humanity, and yet it injures the dignity of man, so as to deprive him of any
specific moral value, because it overlooks the fact that
humanity can only be saved and prosper by means
of Divinity.
We must protest, then, against unbelief in the
name-not only of Scripture, of faith, and of God's
honor, which it tramples in the dust; not only of our
spiritual experience, which it does not understandbut also of reason, which it leads astray. We must
protest against it in the name of a healthy Church
life, of fruit-bearing preaching and care of souls; of
the truth and purity-ay, even of the good taste and




80      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
aesthetics of our worship; in the name of a healthy
discipline and constitution of our congregational life;
of the independence of the Church, which by it is betrayed to the State; of the Church's energy and power
of increase; of self-sacrificing and self-denying love;
of Home and Foreign Missions, which it tries to paralyze; in the name of all practical tasks of the Christian life, for which it has neither a deeper understanding nor yet energy to carry them out; in the name
of morals and all true humanity, which it undermines
and destroys, since it separates them from religion, and
saps its divine foundations. We must protest against
it, not only as Christians, but as citizens and patriots who truly love their country, because the prosperous future of a nation-its freedom and power, its
flourishing and healthy development-essentially depend upon its honestly holding fast to the Gospel as
the Truth and the Life from God.
But this historical defense will not meet all objections, by reason of its negative nature; and I would
therefore point out to you a more excellent, positive
way, which I may call the practcal religious methodI mean the actual proof of thle'Christian truth by means
of a Christian bife.
When we look at the growing power of unbelief,
and the infinite variety of agencies employed in its
propagation, from the journals and associations of




MODERN INFIDELITY.            81
mere Humanitarianism, down to those of the most
radical Communism,'with its secret societies, and traveling agents and lecturers, it is evident that such a
social power can not be met merely by scientific and
historical arguments. These may suffice to convince
individuals; but against the close columns of unbelief the Church:must use ier last and most effective
weapon, i. e., the practical and moral superiority of
her representatives in an all-embracing love and holy
life. This practical religious method is the most
convincing of all, and truly irresistible, and must in
the end gain over all those who are of the truth.
This it was that worked so mightily in the first ages
of the Christian Church, and will continue to do so
to the end. Without it, infidelity will nowhere be defeated; and the growth of the latter is owing, in a great
measure, to the fact that the Church has too much neglected this branch of testimony. Truth is plentifully
witnessed for in words and books, but not enough in
life.
But speaking as I am before those who, I trust,
have long since been striving to give practical effect
to this testimony, I may confine myself to' a few hints
as to the way in which it may be rendered most
effectual.
And, first of all, let us remove from theological and
Church life the stumbling-blocks which have hinder4*




82      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
ed so many from believing-the everlasting quarrels
about things upon which salvation does not depend;
the jealousy of one another; the narrow-mindedness
at home and (alas, too) abroad, which can not lovingly enjoy the brother's success, because he does not
wear quite the same ecclesiastical uniform; and, instead of all this, let the flame of believing and widehearted evangelical, love among the various denominations burn more brightly than hitherto. A great,
positively believing oecumenical Evangelical Alliancenotwithstanding all variety in matters ecclesiastical,
and esteem for the forms of faith delivered to usis in itself a practical apology, which makes impressions upon thousands, a justification of the indestructibility of our fundamental faith, a Christian Evangelical International, which may oppose the atheistic International with superior spiritual weapons. Let us,
in order to establish more firmly the unity of our
one fundamental position, ever draw more clearly
the line between the Essential and the Non-essential;
and let us protest against the destructive error which
maintains that no such line is to be drawn, but that
all tendencies have equal rights in the Church. Our
German liberalism has not, in this respect, attained
to so correct a judgment as the same party in England and America. These would say to those in
our Evangelical Church, who, e. g., attacked the Apos



MODERN INFIDELITY.            83
ties' Creed, " Why do you not go to the Unitarians?"
while with us they are struggling to prove the admissibility of their continuance in a Trinitarian Church,
by which means we shall eventually legalize Rationalism. You must help us to attain greater precision,
even at the cost of a numerical diminution in the
Church. Better for a Church to be small, but united
and decided, than large and broad, but inwardly torn
and divided against itself.
And when we-have drawn the necessary boundarylines, let us, for the sake of the unity, seek to give
a more extensive visible representation of it (by
means, e. g., of an interchange of pulpits), so that the
various Churches may be strengthened by the faithful testimony of men of another communion. Let us
force the unbelieving world to confess, as did the
heathen of-old, "See how these Christians love one
another," and thereby we shall overcome a hundred
prejudices.
This spirit it is which we should seek to implant in
our evangelical congregations and people. Let us seek
to bring about a more living communion between the
churches, a greater interchange of their special gifts
and experiences, and place the single congregation in
connection with the course of events in the universal
kingdom of Christ. We should make them better
acquainted with the most important of these events,




84      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
so that, if one member suffer, all the others may suffer
with it; and if one be glorified, all the others may rejoice, as belonging to one body whose head is Christ.
In addition to this, it is our duty at the present
day to arm the members of our churches.more fully
against the specious arguiments of infidelity. This should
be done by laying a deep foundation in religious
instruction, especially in that for Confirmation and
preparation for Holy Communion, by weekly Bibleclasses or lectures, in which the members of our
flocks should be taught more of the unity of Scripture, by Sunday-schools, young men's associations,
reading-rooms, circulating libraries, associations for
missions, the poor, the sick, etc. Thus a vigorous
Christian social and congregational life would be put
forward in opposition to the infidel associations, and
it would act as a firmly forged chain, from which one
link could not easily be lost.
When we have, by all these means, built a powerful dam of Christian life against the swelling floods
of unbelief, we should-while not forgetting always
to keep these our foundations in repair-strive to win
back lost ground by words and deeds. We must
fearlessly witness for the faith, not only in the pulpit
before our own congregations, but also in public lectures (as is now frequently done) before the unbelieving world. The mere fact of a man standing up, in




MODERN INFIDELITY.              85
the face of all the scorn of an infidel press, and openly
declaring his belief in the Christian faith, notwithstanding. his perfect acquaintance with all the arguments of its opponents, is an encouragement to many
undecided ones. Then, again, let us confess what a
mistake in many places Christians (especially in Germany) have made in leaving the development of the
public press almost entirely in the hands of.infidels or
semi-infidels, especially of Jews and their confederates.
To medt this need we must found Christian journals,
which shall correct the lamentably misguided public
opinion'; and, since this is beyond the power of isolated persons, we should form more Evangelical Societies,
whose object it must be to spread Christian literature
in every form, from the largest to the smallest works.
And let us seek to connect all these associations, as
much as possible, for the sake of mutual assistance.
In this respect I would recommend to your notice a
proposal, emanating from Holland, to form an "International Association for the defense of the Christian
faith against its actual aggressors."
A most important point in this practical work (especially for Germany) is that laymen should be more
induced to assist in the work of the Church, and that the
latter should not tire in laboring for the better keeping
of the Sabbath, and for the release of millions of white
slaves kept in bondage by Sunday labor, which can
~""~~ -~r'' " "




86      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
only be accomplished by a legal protection of Sunday
rest and freedom.
But, amidst all this work, never let us forget the
personal preparation in secret. If we are to conquer in
our struggle against unbelief, it must be less exclusively than hitherto with word and pen, and more on our
knees. Often while we fight hard we pray too little.
Instead of at once fulminating against unbelievers, let
us first wrestle for them with the power of intercessory prayer, that they may be enlightened by the Lord.
No word or writing should go forth in this Holy War
unaccompanied by prayer. Let no combatant enter
the arena without putting on the spiritual as well as
the intellectual panoply, that he may not fare as did
the seven sons of Sceva. And let none who strive in
the right spirit be left alone. Though we may not
everywhere be able to succor and defend, yet the
arms of our prayer can embrace the whole globe.
Thus only can we become so filled with the Spirit
that the image of Christ, the great Captain and Conqueror in the battle, shall shine out of every action
and victoriously enlighten our opponents, when they
see in our whole walk and conduct greater love and
self-denial, greater self-sacrifice, greater quietness and
firmness in distress and danger. The Christian is the
world's Bible, and the only one which it reads. If
we take care that in this book be plainly shown the




MODERN INFIDELITY.             87
loving spirit, the grandeur, and the winning friendliness of Christ, then we shall see many hearts open to
receive this actual testimony of Christian life and suffering. For many of our opponents in secret envy us
our Christian comfort in misfortune and under heavy
losses. Their hearts are often stirred by a deep yearning after the support which bears us up, and this superiority of Christian life can often drive the hardest
heart to seek help of our Lord.
In fine, only life can beget life. Where we wish to
defend the Word of Life, our own life can not be separated from the Torcl. The strongest argumentfor the
truth of Christianity is the true Christian, the man filled
with the Spirit of Christ. The best means of bringing
back the world to a belief in miracles is to exhibit the
miracle of regeneration and its power in our own life.
The best proof of Christ's resurrection is a living
Church, which itself is wallZing in new life, and drawing life from him who has overcome death.
Cyprian writes of Christians in the third century:
"In their dress, their food, their manner of life, they
follow the customs of the country, and yet they are
distinguished by a universally remarkable way of living. They take part in every thing as citizens, and
they endure every thing as strangers. Every country is their native land, and in every country they are
foreigners. They live in the flesh, but not after the




88      BEST METHODS OF COUNTERACTING
flesh. They dwell upon earth, but they live in heaven. They love all men, thoughl all men persecute
and malign them. When they are cursed, they bless;
and when they are killed, they hail the day of their
death as their true birthday."
Before such arguments ancient Rome herself-the
mightiest empire of the world, and the most hostile to
Christianity-could not stand. Let us live in like
manner, and then-though hell should have a shortlived triumph-eventually must be fulfilled what. St.
Augustine says, "Love is the victory of the truth."
Already the world is beginning to be divided into
the two great camps of the unbelieving and the faithful. In many, unbelief has probably become incurable. Before such we can only confess the truth- for
a testimony against them. The Antichrist who denies Father and Son can be destroyed, not by men,
but only by the Lord in' the brightness of his coming. But the holy task that falls to the lot of every
Christian is to continue to do battle for the truth after
the measure of his strength, in the power-of that victory which Christ has already gained for us, and
which he has promised one day to complete. May
not only individuals, but may every Protestant people recognize that it ought to contribute its special
gift toward the great world-apology for Christianity:
Germany, her deep and earnest science; England, her




MODERN INFIDELITY.             89
trustful meditation-on Scripture, her faithfulness in
pastoral work, her open-handed charity; America,
her energetic activity and liberality, her fearlessness
in public testimony for the truth, her indelible love
of freedom-and all others, great or small, the talent
intrusted to them. If all thus unite in holy zeal for
God, the victory can not be wanting. Forward, then,
my brethren, and let us not weary of the strife! Our
field of battle is the wide world; our aim, the honor
of God; our support amidst strife and suffering, the
certainty that our faitl already is the victory which
hath overcome the world!
THE END.








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