THE following truly striking letter was written by the late Robert Walker, Vicar of Wymeswold. It is a witness for God’s grace, and against the speculative and false philosophy so rife in our day.
“You well observe in a recent article that the public is becoming accustomed to the strange vagaries respecting the Bible, into which men of learning and high position in the Church seem so constantly falling.
“I should be glad to express, through the medium of your columns, what appears to me the secret of all this; and I the rather desire to do so, because I am myself a monument of the delivering power and mercy of God in this very matter.
“It may be observed that almost all the men who have thus notoriously erred from the way of truth, are men of some kind of eminence in natural ability. The errors of Mr. Maurice, Mr. Heath, and especially Bishop Colenso, cannot be attributed to any confusion of mind as to things which differ. Besides, I know from past experience in the same gloomy school, that the possession of very considerable natural acumen does not in the least degree aid a man whose mind is perplexed about the foundations of Bible truth.
“As to the objections to the generally received views of Scripture, and the doctrines which flow so immediately from its simple and spiritual acceptance as the Word of God, skeptics know as well as we do, that they are hackneyed, and as old as our fallen nature, but then that does not remove them. They cannot receive the simple accounts of Scripture, because they have not divine faith. I remember when I first began to read the Bible (and I thought I was sincerely seeking the truth), I was miserable because I could not believe it; I dared not reject any statement I found there, but I could not fully believe it was true. The Bishop of Natal just expresses what I felt; and the fact that we took exactly the same University honors (in different years, of course), draws forth my peculiar sympathy. My own history was just this:―I had read and studied deeply in mathematics; had mastered every fresh subject I had entered upon with ease and delight; had become accustomed (as every mathematician must do) to investigate and discover fundamental differences between things which seem to the uninitiated one and the same; had seen my way into physical astronomy, and the higher parts of Newton’s immortal ‘Principia,’ and had been frequently lost in admiration of his genius till St Mary’s clock warned me that midnight was three hours past. I had, in fact (as we say), made myself master of dynamics, and become gradually more and more a believer in the unlimited capabilities of my own mind! This self-conceited idea was only flattered and fostered by eminent success in the Senate House, and by subsequently obtaining a Fellowship at Trinity, and enjoying very considerable popularity as a mathematical lecturer.
“It would have spared me many an hour of misery in after-days, had I really felt what I so often said, viz., that the deeper a man went in science, the humbler he ought to be, and the more cautious in pronouncing an independent opinion on a subject he had not investigated, or could not thoroughly sift. But, though all this was true, I had yet to learn that this humility in spiritual things is never found in a natural man.
“I took orders and began to preach, and then, like the Bishop among the Zulus, I found out the grand deficit in my theology. I had not been taught by the Holy Spirit myself, and how, then, could I speak ‘in demonstration of the Spirit and of power’?
“In vain did I read Chalmers, Paley, Butler, Gaussen, &c., and determine that, as I had mastered all the other subjects I had grappled with, so I would the Bible, and that I would make myself a believer. I found a poor ignorant old woman in my parish more than a match for me in divine things. I was distressed to find that she was happy in the enjoyment of the Lord’s mercy to her, and that she found prayer answered, and that all this was proved sincere by her blameless and harmless walk amongst her neighbors; whilst I, with all my science and investigation, was barren, and unprofitable, and miserable—an unbeliever in heart, and yet not daring to avow it, partly from fear of man, but more for a certain inward conviction that all my skeptical difficulties would be crushed and leaped over by the experience of the most illiterate Christian.
“I was perfectly ashamed to feel in my mind like Voltaire, Volney, or Torn Paine. I could claim no originality for my views, and I found they were no comfort, but a constant source of misery to me.
“May we not compare this kind of state to that which God speaks of in Jeremiah 49. ‘Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart’? And observe what follows: “Hear the counsel of the Lord... Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out.”
“It may now be asked how I came ever to view divine truth differently. I desire to ascribe all praise to Him to whom power belongeth. I desire to put my own mouth in the dust, and be ashamed, and never open my mouth anymore, because of my former unbelief. I cannot describe all I passed through, but I desire with humility and gratitude to say, I was made willing in a day of Christ’s power. He sweetly incited down my proud heart under a sense of His love. He opened my blind eyes to behold Him as my Saviour. He shut my mouth forever from caviling at any difficulties in the written Word; and one of the first things in which this great change appeared was, that whereas before preaching had been a burden to me, now it became my delight to be able to say, without a host of skeptical or infidel doubts rushing into my mind, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ Oh, I am quite certain no unconverted man can see the things of God; and I am equally certain he cannot make himself to do so. ‘It was the Lord that exalted Moses and Aaron,’ said Samuel; and ‘By time grace of God I am what I am,’ said Paul; and so in a modified and humble sense, I can truly say.
“It used to be a terrible stumbling-block to me to find so many learned men, so many acute men, so many scientific men, infidels. It is not so now: I see that God has said, ‘Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; I see, as plainly as it is possible for me to see anything, that no natural man can of himself receive the things of the Spirit of God. Hence I expect to find men of this stamp of intellect coming out boldly with their avowals of unbelief in the written Word of God. The only answer I give to them is, God has in mercy taught me better; and never do I sing those beautiful words in the well-known hymn, but I feel my eyes filling with tears of gratitude to the God of all grace
‘Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God.’
“So it was with me; so it must be with every proud reasoner, if ever he is to know the truth in its power, or to receive the love of the truth that he may be saved.
“I feel very much for the young of this generation, remembering the conflicts I passed through in consequence of the errors of men of ability. I hope the Lord will graciously impress on many hearts the serious truth of the words, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit;’ and, ‘The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.’ My own way of explaining this to myself and others, when required to do so, is by saying: ‘It is not a naturally cultivated intellect, but new affections, which receive true religion. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.’”
R. W.