CHAPTER

111

THE WISD ,OM OF THIS WORLD

BY REV. A .. W. PITZER,
SALEM,

D. D., LL. D.,

VIRGINIA

amo11g em.ine11t private

thinkers 'that Chri st ianity is losing its hold upo n men, and
that the Church is a waning power; that the religious world
is drifting from its moori ngs, and faith is becoming a tra1dition of the past."
Tl1e above quotation is from an editorial in the most porular ne .wspaper published at the Cap .ital of the United State s.
If the faith of the Churc h is to stand in the wisdo m 0 f' men, ,
then it will be the sport of every wind of doctrine, and be
driven hithe :r and thither, according to the course of the popular tide~ and if the Church has no better anchor than the
wisdom of this world, then, indeed, will it drift from all its
moorings, a11d be tos sed continually upon the seas of ceaseless
speculation. But if faith is to stand, not in the wisdom of
1nen, but in the power of God, in the sure Word of Truth that
liveth and abid eth forever, then , like its Divine Author, it
is and will be the sa.me yesterday, today, and forever . If
faith be founded upon the Word of Eternal Truth, then the
Church has a11 ,anchor sur e and stedfas t, enterin ,g into th,at
within the veil.
One prophecy of Daniel is fulfilled : ''Many shall run to
and fro, and knowledge shall be increased''.
The world has
never witnessed a period o,f such incessant and inten se menta .J
activity. Nature , in all her va st domains, in her atoms and
her masses, has been searched with keenest scrutiny, and compelled to give up her wondrous secrets. Th .e microscope re~
vea]s wor1ds of order and beauty uns .een by t'he, 11nassisted
is, a g1..ow ing imp ,r ,ession

''There

22

23

The Wisdom of this World

eye; while the tele scope sweeps the silent skies, and stars
by the thousands and tens of thousands are discovered, and
numbered~ and catalogued. The electric spark sends t9ought,
in printed words, with lightning speed around the globe. The
microphone magnifies sound until the spider 's walk across a
window echoes as the tread of an armed 1nan. The phonograph receives upon its shining metallic disc the words and
tones of the -living speaker, and is able to reproduce thetn
after a thousand years. All tongues, and tribe s, and nations
are brought into daily and direct inte rcourse and fellowship.
Time and space are no longer barriers between men, races, and
empires. Even the Dark Continent, unexplored equatorial
Africa, has been penetrated by the heroic and dauntless Stanley, from Zanzibar to Bomma; and the cannibal tribes of the
l Tpper Livingstone are no longer unknown to the civilized
world. And still men run to and fro, restless and dissatisfied, crying for more light and more kn_owledge.
NO REAL CONFLICT

BETWEEN

CHRISTIANITY

AND SCIENCE

The Christian does not look with dismay upon these researche s into Natu re, the se di scove ries of Science; on the contrary, he hails with joy each new discovery as affording adoitional evidence of the wisdom, power, and goodness of God.
Full well does he know that the facts written on the rockleaves beneath, the star depths above, and the pages of In spiration, when properly understood and interpreted, will be found
to be in exact and perfect accord , showing forth the glory
of the Infinite Writer of them all. There is no controversy
between the man of faith and the man of wisdom, provided
each one acts in his proper sphere. There is not, and never
ha s been, any real conflict between Religion and Science.
There may be conflicts between interpretations of Scripture
and interpretations of the facts of Nature; but what God has
written in His Word never conflicts with what God has written
in His creation.

24

The Fundame nt als

The scientific skeptic ism of thi s day ought to remember

how much Science owes to Christian men-to men who believed .in a personal God; who believed in His written Word,
and in His .Son, Je sus Christ, the crucified and risen Redeemer. What shall be said of the "pious Christian, Copernicus, consecrating his life to God, to Man, to Science ; who
i::ioneered his way into the unknown universe, as the . great
Columbu s of the heaven s? What of Chri stian Galileo, who,
while teaching th e facts of Science, also believed the truths of
Scripture?" What of the leaders in all departments of human
progress, immortal names familiar as household words - what
of Bacon, and Kepler, and Newton, and Herschel, and Hugh
11iller? Or, later still, what of Chahners, McCosh, Mor se,
Dawson, Southall, Cabell, LeConte, He nry, and hosts of
others who lead the vanguard of th e army of investigation
and discovery in all the vast domain of human knowledge?
The man of faith may point to these intellectual giants, and
clai1n them as the humble disciples of the lowly Nazarene
- as firm believers in the written Word of God. They led
the onward march of hu man thought, but bowed in devout
adoration before a personal God. How dense a darkne ss
would envelop the race were all the light kindled by Christian
men bani shed from the horizon of human knowledge.
T H E SPHERE

OF SCI ENCE

But let it be remembered tha t the l,Visdom of this World

is for this w orld only- not for the world to come. Its proper
sphere is the seen and tangible; the Her e and the Now, not
the .Un seen, the Her eafter, the Eternal. The wisdom of man
has pas sed out of its proper sphere when it invades the domain of the Invisible and th e Infinite; when it denies that
the omnipresent personal Spirit can reveal to man that which
the eye never saw, the ear never heard ,. and the heart 'never
conceived. It has passed the boundary of the known, its only
proper sphere, when it assume s to deny tha t the infinite God

25

ha .s rev ealed o,r can reveal Himself i11 His W 0 1d, His S011,
I-1i.s Spir~t. The tl1in gs of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit
of God.
.
We hav ,e th e right to deman .d of the Wi s.dam. of this
World by what aut1101ityit asserts tha t there is nothing above
a11d apart from Nature, nothing in all the bot1ndless univer se
except matter and forc ,e- Why shall we ,give up all th,at ma 11
t1olds dear at the bi.dding of th ,e Wisdom of this World who se
I1,igl1est, an,d best, an,d latest revelation is. ''a gr .av,e witho ,ut a
resurrectio11, and a un ive rse ,vitho.ut a God'' l
1

THE Fl\ILURE

OF EART I-ILY W ISDOM TO FIND AND I{NOW GOD

The man of fait h does not affirm the u.selessnes,s ,of eartl1ly wisdom, but he does affi,rm that it has, utte rly failed 't 0 fi.nd
out a11d know the tr ue and Jiving God. How ever useful and
valuab le the Wisdom of tl1is worl ,d may be in its appropr iate,
sphere, it has never yet give11 to men that kn,owledge of God
tlJ),on whi ,ch hi s s,ottl COl1l ,d res t in satisf a ctio,n and peace. The
World by Wisdom l1as nev er kno wn God. At no time, in no
country, amo ng no people, has. man, by wisdom ,. ever b,een
able to make God known to his fel'low men. vVithout th e
Gospel of the . Lo rd .Jestts Christ, the tr ue and living God
l1ad ev er been tl1e ''Unknown God'' .
1

ANCIENT

WISD0?v1 AND TIIE

KNOWLEDGE

OF GOD

The wi se men of tl1is ge11e1ation are not bacl{wa 1"d in

boastin .g 0 f the world,s present progress and wisdom, and yet
the , history and ru ins of the 0 ld world, before the coming of
0 Ut ' Lor ,d, reveal evide nces, of a civilization that wi.11 bear
a]] the light and test s of our d.ay.
Egypt, situated on th e banks ,of that strange river whose
so,urc ,e has be.en. discovered far off in the ev,er-flowing waters
of the Victoria Lak e ::>
,f ,equa torial Africa, speaks out to
this self -satisfied genera tio n in J1er mun1mied kings, her silent
Sphinx, her mat chle ss py1an1ids . Egy .pt, tl1at co,uld lif t m,on ~
1

..

..
26

The Fundamentals

ster stones four hundred feet in the air, and adjust them to
a mathematical line and not vary half a hair's breadth; "that
could paint on glass, grind gold to dust, embalm the body
so as to make flesh immortal;" that built gigantic houses of
stone that have outlived all nations and civilizations-this nation was wise in all the Wisdon1 of this World. And yet thi s
grand old civilization lived and died in gross and utter ignorance of the one true and living God. The religion of the
wisest men of On and Memphis "was N egritian fetishism,
the lowest kind of Nature worship". The people bowed down
and worshipped the Nile, the ox, the tree s, the hills, and
"birds, four-footed beasts, and creeping things". Egypt -had
wise priests, her magnificent temples, her gorgeous wor ship;
but alas! all was of the earth , earthy. She knew not God;
and her wise men, Jann~s and Jambres, withstood Moses when
he came to th em with a message from the Living One, in
whom they lived and moved . and had their \being. No wonder that the peop le were "liar s and thieves, sensual and treacherous;" with all their wisdom they knew not God.
Sub sequent to Egypt there aro se four great world powers, following each other in succession, claiming and exercis,ing universal dominion , and gathering unto themselves the
civilization and glory of the known world-Babylon,
Persia,
Greece and Rome. Four kingdoms seen in dream by the
great Nebuchadnezzar - the image with the head of gold,
breast of silver, belly of brass, legs of iron, feet partly of iron
and part of clay, and interpreted by Daniel as the four kingdoms above named. But alas! not one or all of these nations
ever attained unto that knowledge of God which is life 'eternal.
fhe bricks of Baby lon, the purple of Tyre, the army of
Xerxes, the conquests of Alexander, the legions of Rome, the
poetry of Home r, the philo sophy of Socrates, the statues of
Phidias, th e orations of Cicero, the satires of Juvenal, the
annals of Tacitus-these are the drifts from the waves of that
ancient civilization, wise in all the \Visdom of this World;

27

The Wisdom of this World

these are the drifts still floating ,on the current of human history as it m,oves on it.s majestic cours e to that eternity where
time is not measlur ,e,d by days, and night ,.s, and weeks and years ;
and to that infinity where space is not measured by islands,
contine11ts and seas.
There were walls seventy f,eet hi.gh, on which war-ch ,ariots
1night be driven four abreast; there were l1angin,g gardens
filled wit]1, fl owers and b,irds l; there were t,emples o,f polished
marble, overlaid with ivo1 y and gorld; there were statues so
lif'e like as almos t to speak ; there were higl1ways, firm and
hard, stretching fr ,om imperial Rome to all the ends of the
known world; there were arches and aqueducts, fountain ,s and
ba,ths, p,a :inting a,nd poetry. But, a1,a.s ! upon that civilization
1night have . been written th,e inscription upon the, altar at Mars
Hill, ''To the Unknown God''. It was all of this world, and
of this wor 'ld only; it was outward, materia1, transient; it was
earth1y, sensual, devilisl1.
Dr .. G.arbett, in his ''Dogmatic Faith'', says: ''With the
sole ,exception of the knowledge o,f the true God, this old
,vorld carried human ,advancement to its highest pitch. . F ,or
lt1stre of gen ius, brilliancy of wit, fertility 0 imagination,
dept 'h of thoug 'ht, artistic ta ste and ski1I, aesthetic sensibilities,
and keen relish for plea.sur e, the latest period of l1eathen civi1
lization has n ever yet been excelled, perh ,aps never e,qua1ed '~
An,d ye,t,. ,in the midst of all . this,, vice and imm ora,]ity were
well-nigh unive 1sal; chastity was almost unl<:nown ; thousands
,c)f virgins were an11ually devoted t ,o prost itut ,ion in the tern. p'les of the gods; the ]if e of a man was esteemed of less value
than the life of ' a dog; sl,av,ery w,as uni .versa), and slaves
were put to d,eath for th ,e most trivial causes ; m,en f oi1g]1t
with e,ach othe1 and with wil,d beasts in amp hitheatres, where
d,a,inty Roman mat rons gazed with eager delight 11pon th e
agonies of dying men, and turned their thumbs down over the
polished m ,arb1e in token of th ,eir desire for more h1ood.
This old world with all its wisdom knew not God. In its
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'

,.

The Fundatnentals

28

splendid Pantheons there were lords many and gods m~ny-.,;;;...

g ods of pain .ting and sta ,tuary, ,of poetry and eloquence, of
war and revenge, of drunkenne ss and lust, but no true, holy
and living God. And when the polisl1ed Paul p,reached unto
tl1e wise men of Ath ens Jesus and the resurrection, they
told him that he was a babbler, and a sette r forth of strange
gods .
The m en of this civi1izatio11 worshipped and served the
creature more than tl1e C1eator; and for this cause God gave
them up to vile and unnatural lusts and passio ns; they were
filled with unri ghteou s11ess, fornication,
wickednes ,s, covetousnes s, murder, ,de ceit, ma lignity withottt natural affection
implacable, unmerciful.
The unutterable vileness of this godless wisdom is apparent in the fact tl1at even now there ar e
rooms in some of its buried and exhumed cities into which
no female is ever allowed to enter.
1

''An d so this ancient society perisl1ed of it s o,N'n inherent

rottenness'" Its enormous, all per vading, u11iversal vice sap ped
the foundation of virtue. The mass was corrupt to its very
core. Its l strength perished by th e mere exhaustion of its
vices.t' Godlessness and vice, irreligion and immorality, went
l1and in l1and, as the,y alwaJ'S do, until the people, having
lost all knowledge of God, lost also all shame and virtue; and
this splendid civilization of this old world perished of its own
1

hopeless and helpless corruption. 1~11eless the peo ple knew of

God, the viler and m ore debased did they become.
1

MODERN

WISDOM'S

FAILURE

TO FIND

GOD

The wor]d of our day claims to have grown greatly wiser

in the last nineteen centuries, but still it knows not God; nor
,viii it, apart from His Word and His Son, ever know Him.
Ring out the old battle-cry, the foolishness of God is wiser
than n1en ; this conflict will never cease ; p.erish the craven,
who having undertaken to fight for Jehovah and His Chris,
is appall ed at tJ1e war drum s of the enemy. Let the godte ss
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The Wt'.sdom of this World

29

astronomer sweep the skies with his glass, and count and
classify 270,000 stars, and then come and tell us that he
neither saw nor heard of any personal God in all the infinitude
of space; let the scientific smatterer gravely inform intelligent
men that faith in God must now give place to knowledge of
nature and her laws; let the atheistic 1naterialist tell us that
he has searched the boundless universe, and found no intelligent Spirit, but only matter and force; let the brazen blasphemer proclaim that Moses is a liar, Jesus an in1postor, and
man's immortality a delusion; to one and all we say-these
things are ahnost as old as the human race; this godless creed
was held by men wiser than you, long before you were born;
it was held by the wise men of the ancient world in the days of
its highest civilization ; it is held now by the cannibal tribes
of Ureega, Manyema, and Bengala, in the dark places of tfte
earth, filled with the habitations of cruelty; you are simply
asking us to go back to the times when the \ivorld by wisdom
knew not God; and the race has had enough and more than
enough of this godless wisdom; if Chri st the Crucified cannot
save us, then indeed are we doomed and damned forever.
THE DEMAND

OF MODERN

"WISE

MEN "

The wise men of this world, fiiled with philosophy falsely

so-called, ask, first, that we give up the miracles of the Old
Testame nt; then the imprecatory Psalms; then the "immoral
parts" of the Scriptures; then, the "vindictive and bloody laws
of Moses;" then Moses himself; then , all the prophets; then,
the miracles of the New Testament; then, the Apocalypse;
then, the doctrine of eternal retribution; then, the Holy Ghost;
then, Inspiration; then, Jesus Christ; then God Himse lf -this
is the modest demand of the unbelieving wisdom of our day
and generation; this substituting "knowledge of nature for
faith in God"-this is "progress"; this is "advanced thought"
-and so the race is left, its "gra ve without a resurrection",
its "universe without a God ,'' it in without a Saviour.

30
well th,,a.t the objective po.iJ1t
of a11tl1es,e infide'l attacks is the Cross and the Crucified. Shall
we give up the blood a11d its cl,ea nsing and peace -giving power
at the behest of boasting unb elief? Sh .all we cea,,se to preach
Thoug htful me n understand

11

Christ and Him crucified because now, as of old, He i.s a

stu1nb]i ng-blo ck to the Jew, a fooli shne ss to the Greek? Shal 'l
1

we no Jonger preach Je sus and the re .surrection bee.a use tl1e

wise men of modern Athens sc,ornfully aslc, ''What do these .
babblers sav.., ?'' The ans,wer co1nes to us ,echoed down the
ages; it comes from patriarchs and prophets, from a.postles
and n1artyrs .;, fr ,om. saint .s of at1 ages a.nd all lands who have
endured all the evils and all the miseri ,es that the m.:ilignity
of men and devils could inflict. Go as.k them if the Gospel
is true, if it is tl1e power of Go,d unto salvation, if the Crucified
i,s strong to save; and f rom Roman amphith eatre .s a11d catacombs, , from the ,dens and caves ,of the earth, from jails an ,d
1

gibbets, from faggots and flames and furnaces; from India

and Gr~enland, from C'hina and Japan, from C,eylo n and
11adagascar, from the island s of the ocean, from the blood ,vashed millions who have go,ne up to glory and to, God, the.re
shall c.ome t.his answer: ''We .know who m we have believed.
Christ ,crucified is the wi sdom of God and . the p ower of God
unto salvation'' '
1

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...