because they did not come from the right quarry. Oh, men on the
ramparts, better fight back and fight down the common enemy, instead
of trying to make breaches in the wall."

It is a deserved rebuke. The higher critics throw ink at a Book that
has withstood the assaults of materialists for centuries, and are vain
enough to think that they can blot out its vital truths. Although their
labours against the Bible have consumed years, they expect the public
to accept their conclusions at sight. If they require so much time to
formulate their indictment against Holy Writ, surely the friends of
the Bible should be allowed as much time for the inspection of the
indictment.

The destructive higher critic is, as a rule, opposed to revivals; in
fact, it is one of the tests by which he can be distinguished from other
preachers. He calls the revival a "religious spasm." He understands
how one can have a spasm of anger and become a murderer, or a spasm of
passion and ruin a life, or a spasm of dishonesty and rob a bank, but he
cannot understand how one can be convicted of sin, and, in a spasm of
repentance, be born again. That would be a miracle, and miracles are
inconsistent with evolution. It shocks the higher critic to have the
prodigal son come back so suddenly after going away so deliberately.

Most of the higher critics discard, because contrary to the doctrine of
evolution, the virgin birth of Jesus and His resurrection, although the
former is no more mysterious than our own birth--only different, and the
latter no more mysterious than the origin of life. The existence of God
makes both possible; and the proof is sufficient to establish both.

If the higher critic will but come into the presence of Christ and learn