The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-12-21
CONC UERING, AND TO CON-
OUER

only had list of the champions it has
vanquished-commencing with CELSIUS,
and Lucian, and Porphyryl What has
become of the Encyclopedias in France,
who made such an assault upon it?
Where are their books? What has be-
come of the works Of Benedict Spinoza.
and Thomas Hobbies, and Lord Herbert +?
What has become of the works of Shaftes-
bury, and Toland, and Collins, and Nor
gan? What has become of Voltaire, and
Rousseau, and Gibbon, and Paine? The
English and French schools alike played
out. Then came the portentous cloud
which spread over Germany; there arose
the school of the Rationalists and there
was great deal of profound talk about
Historical Criticism The traditional
sense Of the Bible was set aside. The
miraculous element was eliminated as
contrary to reason. The New Testament
quotations from the Old Testament were
pronounced to be misapplied. Jesus was
Judged to be a mere fanatic. John the
Baptist regarded him as sinless, but Jesus
did not think so himself We had Sem
der, and Eichorn, and Paulus. But Ger
many was not content to let matters rest
here. About 1880 Strauss published his
Life of Jesus, and straightway the air
was filled with talk about legends and
myths. The work excited universal
sensation throughout Europe. 1t pro-
duced religious panic. The great myth
ical theory of the origin of the gospels
was launched, and profound scholars in
England and America shook their heads
and said that the coup dc grace had at
last been given to Christianity Book
after book had to be written to save
young men of genius from falling into
the meshes of the net which Strauss had
woven, What has become of the myth
ical theory? An article on Strauss in
popular cyclopedia closes with the re-
mark: The speculations of the book
1.-The Life of Jesus have passed away from
Germany, and left no trace behind and
IN but narrow circles in other lands can
their influence be observed"
And now arose the "Tubingen School"
founded by Christian Baur. This school
of divinity pushed the higher criticism
until only four of the books of the New
Testament were allowed to be authentic.
The gospel of st. John was Git alleged)
treatise of Alexandrian philosophy,
written towards the close of the second
century. Of course England and Amer
ica responded to the new hint from the
great workship Of criticism. Doubts were
thrown on the genuiness and authenticity
of all the Biblical books until the whole
basis of Christianity was unsettled. Plain
people were snubbed all the time with
the "results" of the Higher Criticism, and
dapper critics in our magazines and re-
views told the English-speaking world
that our dear old Bible was torn into
ribands
But God raised up men to defend his
cause-Dorner, Lange, Schaf, Bleek,
Hase, Tischendorf.
Where do we stand now? What has
been the issue Of this last assault from
Germany? The reply may be found in
the following extract which we make
from letter written from Germany by
J Joseph Cook to the ". Y. Independent !. !
AS a sect in Biblical criticism, the Tdbineen
school has persisted. The mythical theory as to /
the origin Of Christianity is exploded. Strauss
Is no longer heard of here in discussions with
Inidels. His day and even that of Schenkel .
and Renan have gone by. The most dangerous
tendency Of the newer form of rationalism CON
meets itself with the philosophy Of evolution and .
the speculations Of matelialistic physicists.-
Ernst Haecke, however has no important fol-
lowing in Germany. The best, though not the
noisiest naturalists here, as in Scotland and Eng
land, are unapologetic and thorough theists."
" 1T is true today as it has been for the last if
teen or twenty years, in Germany that the RAJ
tionalistc theological professors attract far fewer
students than the evangelical According to the
Uniyersitsts Kalender for 1SS0J81, rationalistic
has only twenty-four theological
students, while evangelical Berlin has 23O. evan
gelical Halle 304, and hyper-evsngeic Leip-
zig 437 At one time, recently, Heidelberg
University had seven theological professors, ali