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IS THE BIBLE TRUEl 
 
 SEyE^" ADDRESSES 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES H.i:^>EOOKES, 
 
 Editor of The Truth, and Author of -'The Way jMaiU J'lain, 
 *' Marantitlia: or the Lord Cometh," " How to he Saved," 
 ' • May Chiistians Dance v" etc. 
 
 ST. LpriS. MO.: 
 
 CHAS. B. COX, PUBLISHER. 
 
 •212 North Fifth Street. 
 
 CiM<A(.0: F. H. RENELL, 91 W'^ashingtox Sthk-t 
 Publisher of Evangelical Literature. 
 
^v — * — 
 
 ^^ . 
 
 PEEF ACE. 
 
 Certain gentlemen of culture and influence requested an 
 answer to the leading arguments which Strauss, in his Life of 
 Jesus, urges against the credibility of the Gospel historj?". 
 This accounts for the frequent allusions in the following 
 pages to the celebrated German skeptic. Of course every 
 intelligent Christian has learned, perhaps by experience, the 
 fruitlessness of a mere intellectual combat with infidelity ; 
 but the request could not have been declined without dis- 
 honor to the Master. 
 
 The answer was given on seven successive evenings of the 
 Lord's day ; and several believers who heard the discourses 
 have desired their publication, hoping that they may be help- 
 ful and suggestive to some of the Lord's little ones, by 
 presenting in a brief and cheap form a few facts and thoughts, 
 which prove the Bible to be more than the work of man. 
 
 These friends know that the Lectm-es were written under 
 
 the burden of manifold labors, and that during the entir3 
 
 period always eight, and generally ten, public services 
 
 claimed attention each week, besides other cares it would be 
 
 improper to mention here. Only a few hours, snatched from 
 
 3 
 
IV PEEFACE. 
 
 various engagements, could be devoted to their preparation, 
 and there was no opportunity to revise even one of them at 
 leisure. 
 
 They are sent forth, therefore, with a humiliating con- 
 sciousness of their failure to present, in any proper clearness 
 and fulness, the claims of Jesus and His word. But He 
 knows that they were gladly undertaken solely for Him ; and 
 now as a most imperfect offering they are laid at His feet with 
 the prayer, that He mpy be pleased to use the weak things of 
 the world to confound the things which are mighty. 
 
 St. Louis, April, 1877. 
 
;J^vy ot Frin^ 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 1. Inspiration, - - - - 
 
 II. The Canon of the New Testament, 
 
 III. The Character of Jesus, 
 
 IV. Human Estimate of Jesus, - 
 V. The Resurrection of Jesus, 
 
 VI. The Bible Its Own Witness, 
 
 Vn. Alleged Contradictions, 
 
 7 
 38 
 
 68 
 101 
 ]34 
 170 
 204 
 
IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 I. 
 
 INSPIRATION. 
 
 STEAUSS says in his Preface to the Life of 
 Jesus, " AVhat we especially want to know is 
 this : — is the Gospel history true and reliable as a 
 whole, and in its details, or is it notf This is in- 
 deed precisely what we want to know, and what it 
 greatly concerns us to know, for if the Gospel his- 
 tory is true and reliable, not ^nly as a whole, but 
 in its details, it is obvious that the destiny of the 
 soul turns upon our acceptance or rejection of its 
 testimony. " He that believeth on the Son hath 
 everlasting life : and he that believeth not the Son 
 shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on 
 him ;" " Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my 
 way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your 
 sins : whither I go, ye can not come. Then said the 
 Jews, will he kill himself! because he saith. 
 Whither I go, ye can not come. And he said unto 
 them. Ye are from beneath ; I am from above : ye 
 are of this world ; I am not of this world. I said 
 therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins : 
 
 7 
 
8 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in 
 your sins," (John iii. 36 ; viii. 21-24). 
 
 Let us, then, with all the interest which the 
 momentous importance of the subject demands, and 
 with all the fairness of a calm and dispassionate 
 examination, take u^) the question j)resented by 
 Strauss. If it can be shown that the Gospel his- 
 tory has a divine and imperative claim upon our 
 belief, no honest man will reject that claim, how- 
 ever humbling to his i)ride of intellect, however 
 sharp the conviction it brings that he needs a 
 mighty Saviour to deliver him from ruin, however 
 complete the revolution it demands of his opinions, 
 habits, and associations. If, on the other hand, an 
 impartial and thorough investigation of the subject 
 l)roves that the New Testament narrative is not 
 worthy of credit, as a whole, or in its details, we 
 must dismiss all thought of a revelation from God 
 other than the displays of His greatness and glory 
 in the works of creation, and be guided by the dim 
 glimmerings of the human mind through the laby- 
 rinth of life, or resign ourselves to our dark and 
 inexplicable fate. Nothing more is asked now than 
 a response to the reasonable request of Joshua and 
 of Elijah : " If it seem evil unto you to serve the 
 Lord, rhoose you this day whom ye will serve :" 
 " How long halt ye between two opinions ? if the 
 Lord be God, follow him : but if Baal, then follow 
 him," (Josh. xxiv. 15; 1 Kings xviii. 21). 
 
 None will deny that it is proper to begin our re- 
 search with the inquiry, what does the Bible say 
 of itself, or what do its writers affirm of its 
 
INSPIRATION. 9 
 
 authority ? Of course no attempt will be made to 
 prove to a skeptic its inspiration by its own testi- 
 mony ; but even the skeptic will wish to know with 
 what pretensions it comes to us, and whether it 
 asserts that it is only of human origin, or insists 
 that it contains the very word of God. We find 
 that it embraces sixty-six separate books, written 
 at various intervals during a period of about six- 
 teen hundred years, or, as some modern infidels 
 think, a still longer period. It professes to treat 
 of the entire term of man's existence upon the earth, 
 from his creation to the judgment of the great 
 white throne at the close of a thousand years of 
 millennial peace and righteousness. Its authors 
 were of various occupations, as lawgivers, generals, 
 judges, kings, priests, governors, farmers, shep- 
 herds, herdmen, fishermen, soldiers, physicians, 
 and tax-gatherers ; including every variety of in- 
 tellectual endowment, and literary attainment, and 
 social position. 
 
 Opening this remarkable volume, so unlike any 
 other, we read the equally remarkable statement, 
 " All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and 
 is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 
 for instruction in righteousness ; that the man of 
 God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all 
 good works," (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17). The scripture to 
 which reference is here made, as shown in the j)re- 
 ceding verse, is contained in the Old Testament, 
 known by Timothy from his childhood, and able, it 
 is added, to make him wise unto salvation through 
 faith which is in Christ Jesus. The scripture is 
 
10 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 literally writing, and a writing consists of letters 
 and words, not merely of thoughts. What is 
 WRITTEN, therefore, is declared to be inspired of 
 God, and that which is inspired of God is "all 
 SCRIPTURE," embracing all that is written. Or 
 if the sentence should be rendered, as some prefer, 
 " every scripture inspired of God is profitable," 
 this only imparts stronger force to the declaration ; 
 for it then links itself to the sacred writings men- 
 tioned just before, and affirms of every one of these 
 that it is given by inspiration of God. 
 
 " For the prophecy came not in old time [or at 
 any time, as it is in the margin] by the will of man : 
 but holy men of God spake as they were moved by 
 the Holy Ghost," (2 Pet. i. 21). A careful examina- 
 tion of the terms j^rophccy and 'prophet as employed 
 in the Bible will show that they are not to be limit- 
 ed to the prediction of future events, but prophecy 
 is the revelation of the mind of God in human lan- 
 guage, and a prophet is one who utters the words 
 of God, whether they refer to that which is past or 
 yet to come, to doctrine or to duty. Here then it 
 is distinctly asserted that the revelation of God's 
 pleasure and purpose concerning Himself, or con- 
 cerning His people, or concerning the world at 
 large, came not of old time by the will of man ; but 
 holy men of God spake, not thought simply, as 
 they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Turning to these men of old time we find David, 
 for example, testifying on his dying bed, " The 
 Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word 
 [not His thought only] was in my tongue," (2 Sam. 
 
INSPIRATION. 11 
 
 xxiii. 2). Isaiah opens his prophecy by saying, 
 "Hear the word of the Lord," (Isa. i. 10), and 
 twenty times does he declare that his writing was 
 the WORD, not the thought simply, of the Lord. 
 Jeremiah begins by saying, " The word of the Lord 
 came unto me," (Jer. i. 4), and nearly one hundred 
 times does he use this form of expression, or de- 
 clare that he was uttering the word of the Lord, 
 and the word of the living God. Ezekiel begins by 
 saying, " The word of the Lord came expressly unto 
 Ezekiel the priest," (Ezek. i. 3) ; " Son of man all 
 my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in 
 thine heart — and tell them, Thus saith the Lord 
 God," (Ezek. iii. 10, 11) ; and about sixty times in 
 his prophecy he repeats the assertion or its equiv- 
 alent, announcing that his statements, both as a 
 whole, and in all their details, were to be accepted 
 as the very words of God. 
 
 Daniel says, " I Daniel understood by books the 
 number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord 
 came to Jeremiah the proi3het, that he would 
 accomplish seventy years in the desolations of 
 Jerusalem," (Dan. ix. 8) ; " and when I heard the 
 voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on 
 my face, and my face to the ground," (Dan. x. 9). 
 Hosea says, " The word of the Lord that came unto 
 Hosea," (Hosea i. 1) ; Joel says, " The word of the 
 Lord that came to Joel," (Joel i. 1) ; Amos says, 
 " Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against 
 you," (Amos iii. I) ; Obadiah says, " Thus saith the 
 Lord God," (Oba. i. 1) ; Jonah says, " The word of 
 the Lord came unto Jonah," (Jon. i. 1) ; Micah says, 
 
12 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 " The word of the Lord that came to Micah," (Mic. 
 i. 1) ; Nahum says, " Thus saith the Lord," (Na. i. 
 12) ; Habakkuk says, *' The Lord answered me, and 
 said," (Hab. ii. 2) ; Zephaniah says, " The word of 
 the Lord which came unto Zephaniah," (Zep. i. 1) ; 
 Haggai says, "In the sixth month, in the first day 
 of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai 
 the prophet," (Hag. i. 1) ; Zechariah says, " In the 
 eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came 
 the word of the Lord unto Zechariah," (Zee. i. 1) ; 
 Malachi says, " The burden of the word of the Lord 
 to Israel by Malachi," (Mai. i. 1). 
 
 Thus do all the writers of old time, who are 
 specially classed as prophets, solemnly affirm with- 
 out a single exception that the very words contained 
 in their writings are the words of Jehovah. Sev- 
 eral hundred years elapsed between the first and 
 the last of these prophets ; but in hundreds of in- 
 stances, and with unvarying testimony, do they de- 
 clare that they were uttering the words of God, not 
 their own words, in their manifold communications 
 to men. In no instance do they intimate that some 
 of the words they used wel'e suggested by them- 
 selves, or learned from human authority, or mingled 
 with the words which God put into their mouths; 
 but they uniformly insist that they were repeating 
 the words of the Lord. One of the latest of them 
 says of his unbelieving countrymen, " They made 
 their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should 
 hear the law, and the words which the Lord of 
 hosts sent in his Spirit by the former prophets," 
 (Zee. vii. 12) ; and the very latest of them twenty- 
 
INSPIRATION. 13 
 
 four times in four brief chapters uses the expres- 
 sion, " Thus saith the Lord." 
 
 Nor is the expression by any means confined to 
 the writers particularly distinguished as prophets. 
 It is of constant occurrence in the five books of 
 Moses, in the books known as historical, and in the 
 books included under the general title of the 
 Psalms. In hundreds upon hundreds of verses as 
 any one can easily see by glancing at a good Con- 
 cordance, we read, " Thus saith the Lord," " The 
 Lord said," " The Lord spake," " The Lord hath 
 spoken," " The Lord promised," " The saying of 
 the Lord," " The word of the Lord ;" and thus all 
 the writers of the Old Testament at least claim that 
 the language they used was not their own, but the 
 very language which God commanded them to 
 utter. They do not give the slightest recognition 
 to a doctrine unknown to the Christian Church for 
 a thousand years, an invention of modern times to 
 please infidelity, by which it is supposed that only 
 their thoughts were inspired, or that they were 
 only partially inspired, or that their inspiration 
 was not in equal degree to all, or that they had at 
 one time an inspiration of supervision, at another 
 an inspiration of elevation, at another an inspira- 
 tion of direction ; but they stand or fall upon the 
 bold statement that the words they spoke and wrote 
 were precisely the words God told them to write 
 and speak. 
 
 Not only so, but they assure us that men were 
 sometimes forced to utter the words the Lord put 
 into their mouths, when they were unwilling to do 
 
14 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 His bidding, or unconscious of the scope and sig- 
 nificance of their deliverances, or even opposed to 
 the very testimony they were compelled to bear. 
 Thus Moses recoiled from the divine command to 
 stand before the king of Egypt in behalf of the 
 oppressed Hebrews, and exclaimed in his distress, 
 " O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, 
 nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant : but 
 I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And 
 the Lord said onto him, Who hath made man's 
 mouth '? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the 
 seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord"? ^ow 
 therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and 
 teach thee what thou shalt say," (Ex. iv. 10-12). 
 
 " Baalam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages 
 of unrighteousness ; but was rebuked for his 
 iniquity : the dumb ass, speaking with man's voice, 
 forbad the madness of the prophet," (2 Pet. ii. 15,16), 
 said to Balak, " Lo, I am come unto thee : have I 
 now any power at all to say anything? the word 
 that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak." 
 Again and again he sought to curse the Israelites, 
 but each time a blessing fell from his lips ; and 
 when at length Balak said, " Neither curse them at 
 all, nor bless them at all," Balaam answered, " Told 
 not I thee, saying, All that the Lord speak eth, that 
 I must do ?" (Num. xxii. 38 ; xxiii. 26). 
 
 " Saul sent messengers to take David : and when 
 they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, 
 and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the 
 Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, 
 and they also prophesied. And when it was told 
 
INSPIRATION. 15 
 
 Saul, lie sent other messengers, and they prophe- 
 sied, likewise. And Saul sent messengers again the 
 third time, and they prophesied also." Then Saul 
 himself determined to go , '^ and the Spirit of God 
 was upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied 
 until he came to Naioth in Eamah. And he 
 stripped oft' his clothes also, and prophesied before 
 Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that 
 day, and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is 
 Saul also among the prophets f (1 Sam. xix. 20-24). 
 
 A prophet of Israel invited to his house a prophet 
 of Judah, and while his guest was seated at his 
 table the word of the Lord came unto him and he 
 suddenly cried out, " Thus saith the Lord, Foras- 
 much as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the 
 Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which 
 the Lord thy God commanded thee, but camest 
 back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the 
 place of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat 
 no bread, and drink no water ; thy carcase shall 
 not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers, 
 (1 Kings xiii. 21, 22). 
 
 Jeremiah, when informed by the word of the 
 Lord that he was sanctified from his birth and 
 ordained to be a prophet unto the nations, timidly 
 answered, " Ah ! Lord God ! behold, I can not speak ; 
 for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say 
 not, I am a child : for thou shalt go to all that I 
 shall send thee ; and whatsoever I command thee 
 thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces : for 
 I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. 
 Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my 
 
16 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ! 
 
 mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have 
 put my words in thy mouth," (Jer. i. 6-9). 
 
 Caiaphas, who is introduced to us in the gospel 
 of John as high j)riest of the Jews at the time of 
 Christ's crucifixion, said to the Council, *' Ye know 
 nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for 
 us, that one man should die for the people, and that 
 the whole nation perish not. And this spalce he not 
 of himself: but being high priest that year, he 
 prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation ; 
 And not for that nation only, but also that he 
 should gather together in one the children of God 
 that were scattered abroad," (John xi. 49-52). 
 
 These illustrations, which could be readily in- 
 creased, are sufficient to show that the writers of 
 the Bible affirm the existence of an inspiration not 
 merely complete and verbal, but an inspiration that 
 soared entirely above the human mind, that often 
 thwarted the human will, and that frequently put 
 into the human mouth words, the meaning of which 
 was wholly unknown to the person who uttered 
 them. Such is the inspiration brought to view 
 from the first of Genesis to the last of Malachi ; nor 
 is there a hint that only part of these ancient writ- 
 ings is inspired, or that they are inspired in differ- 
 ent degrees. The theory now too commonly held 
 among those professing to be Christians, that we 
 are to look for a partial and variable inspiration in 
 the Scriptures, is a device of man's intellect in these 
 " latter times ;'^ and is never mentioned by the in- 
 spired penmen themselves, who in numberless 
 instances represent their relation to the book as 
 
INSPIRATION. 17 
 
 that of Amanuenses writing at the dictation of a 
 master. 
 
 Let us now turn to the Kew Testament for a 
 moment to see what it says of the holy men of God 
 who " spake as they were moved by the Holy 
 Ghost." Scarcely have we opened it before we 
 read, '' Now all this was done, that it might be ful- 
 filled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet," 
 literally, " by the Lord through the prophet," 
 (Matt. i. 22). The same form of expression fre- 
 quently occurs, as in Matt. ii. 5, 15, 23 ; iv. 14 ; viii. 
 17 ; xii. 17 ; xiii. 35 ; xxi. 4 j xxii. 31 ; and it always 
 points to God as the source of the declaration that 
 is quoted, and to the prophet as the mere instru- 
 ment through which it is communicated. When 
 Jesus referred to the Old Testament scriptures He 
 described them as the "• Word of God," and de- 
 clared that "David himself said by the Holy 
 Ghost," (Mark vii. 13 ; xii. 36). The phrase, "the 
 Scriptures " occurs fifty times in the I^ew Testa- 
 ment and fifty times it is applied exclusively to the 
 books of the two Testaments, showing that the 
 canon was already announced by the sacred writers. 
 They are also called " the oracles of God," and the 
 " lively [or living] oracles of God," (Eom. iii. 2 ; 
 Acts. vii. 38). As the derivation of the word oracle 
 implies, it is something spoken ; and to those who 
 are familiar with the history of the ancient oracles, 
 no term could be employed to set forth more dis- 
 tinctly and positively the plenary inspiration of the 
 Bible, extending to all its language. Over and 
 over through the four Gospels and the Epistles do 
 
18 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 we find the phrase *' God said,'' or the " Lord said 
 by such a prophet, or the " Holy Ghost said." 
 
 As we advance to notice more clearly how the 
 Apostles regarded the ancient scriptures, we have 
 scarcely opened the book containing their Acts 
 when we find Peter saying, ^' Men and brethren, 
 this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which 
 the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake con- 
 cerning Judas," (Acts i. 16). Here it is said that 
 it was the Holy Ghost who spake, but by or through 
 the mouth of David. In the next chapter we are 
 told the Apostles ^' were all filled with the Holy 
 Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as 
 the Spirit gave them utterance," (Acts ii. 4), speak- 
 ing indeed languages with which they had no pre- 
 vious acquaintance, and showing conclusively the 
 nature of inspiration, as extending to the words 
 that were uttered. Afterward, " they lifted up 
 their voice to God with one accord, and said. Lord, 
 thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, 
 and the sea, and all that in them is ; who by the 
 mouth of thy servant David hast said. Why did the 
 heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things f 
 (Acts iv. 24, 25). 
 
 But it is needless to multiply quotations of this 
 kind, when the most cursory reading of the New 
 Testament will show that its writers invariably re- 
 fer to the Old Testament as containing the very 
 word of God. The former is quoted in the latter 
 three hundred times, besides numerous allusions to 
 various passages, and it is always mentioned with 
 the reverence due to the immediate communications 
 
INSPIRATION. 19 
 
 of Jehovah's mind and will. The men who were 
 employed to write it are regarded as mere instru- 
 ments engaged by the sovereign pleasure of a 
 higher power, and not only its thoughts, but its 
 words, and all of its words, or all that was written, 
 Jesus Christ and the Apostles directly ascribe to 
 God, without once intimating a partial, varying, or 
 incomplete inspiration. Hence with them the Old 
 Testament was armed with supreme authority, and 
 its testimony was received as if the voice of the 
 Almighty had just spoken in audible accents. The 
 very doctrines at which infidelity has always 
 cavilled, as a personal devil, the depravity of the 
 human heart, everlasting punishment, the need of 
 cleansing blood, the necessity of faith, and the very 
 narratives at which it has sneered, as the destruc- 
 tion of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the history of 
 Jonah, are precisely those upon which Jesus placed 
 the sanction of His own endorsement, willing to 
 link His word and veracity to the word and veracity 
 of the Old Testament, whatever the result. 
 
 It will not detain us long to determine the char- 
 acter of the inspiration claimed by the writers of 
 the New Testament. As the Master sent forth His 
 disciples for the first time to preach the kingdom 
 of God to the Jews, He said to them, " When they 
 deliver you up, take no thought .how or what ye 
 shall speak ; for it shall be given you in that same 
 hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that 
 speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speak- 
 eth in you," (Matt. x. 19, 20). Still later, standing 
 in the presence of assembled thousands, He said to 
 
20 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 His followers, "When they bring you nnto the 
 synagogues, ana unto magistrates, and powers, 
 take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall an- 
 swer, or what ye shall say : for the Holy Ghost 
 shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to 
 say," (Luke xii. 11, 12). Later still in uttering His 
 last woe against Jerusalem He said to them, 
 " When they shall lead you, and deliver you up, 
 take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, 
 neither do ye i^remeditate ; but whatsoever shall be 
 given you in that hour, that speak ye : for it is not 
 ye that sjieak, but the Holy Ghost," (Mark xiii. 11) ; 
 " Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate 
 before what ye shall answer : for I will give you a 
 mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries 
 shall not be able to gainsay nor resist," (Luke xxi. 
 14, 15). Here then is the distinct promise, not only 
 that they should speak with resistless wisdom, but 
 that He would give them a mouth, or x^ut words 
 into their mouth ; for it was not they who should 
 speak, but the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Accordingly, Luke the beloved Physician, who 
 was not an Apostle, but the travelling companion 
 of Paul, is careful to inform us at the beginning of 
 the gospel which is called by his name, that his 
 Jknowleflge of the events he is about to relate he 
 received from above. " It seemed good to me also, 
 having had perfect understanding of all things from 
 the very first, to write unto thee in order, most ex- 
 cellent Theophilue, that thou mightest know the 
 certainty of those things wherein thou hast been 
 instructed," (Luke i. 3, 4). Here the words from 
 
INSPIRATION. 21 
 
 the very first ought to have been translated from 
 above as it is the same word found in the passage, 
 " the veil of the tern j)le was rent in twain, from the 
 top [or from above] to the bottom," (Matt, xxvii. 
 51) ; the same word found in the passage, " He that 
 Cometh from above is above all," (John iii. 31) ; 
 the same word found in the passage, " Every good 
 gift and every perfect gift is from above^^^ (James 
 i. 17) ; " This wisdom descendeth not from ahove^^'' 
 (James iii. 15) ; " the wisdom that is from above is 
 hist pure," (James iii. 17). He had a perfect under- 
 stauding, then, of all things from above, or He 
 wrote as he was moved by the Holy Ghost, that we 
 might know the certainty of those things in which 
 we have been instructed as Christians. 
 
 But even if the reading of the English Bible is 
 retained, none will deny the claim of inspiration by 
 Paul with whom he journeyed, and with whose 
 assent and sanction, in connection with the other 
 Apostles, his gospel was sent forth, and the whole 
 canon of the New Testament scriptures was formed. 
 Luke declares it was God who " spake by the 
 mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since 
 the world began," (Luke i. 70) ; and Paul does not 
 hesitate to place himself in the rank of these holy 
 prophets through whose mouth God spake. Nay, 
 he occupies a higher position, in so far as he is 
 made the channel for the communication of an ad- 
 vanced truth, that was not revealed to the earlier 
 prophets. Writing to the Ephesians he tells " of 
 the grace of God, which is given me to you- ward : 
 how that by revelation he made known unto me the 
 
22 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 mystery 5 (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, 
 when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge 
 in the mystery of Christ ;) which in other ages was 
 not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now 
 revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by 
 the Spirit ; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, 
 and of the same body, and i^artakers of his promise 
 in Christ by the gospel ; whereof I was made a 
 minister, according to the gift of the grace of God 
 given unto me by the effectual working of his 
 power," (Eph. iii. 2-7). 
 
 Yet in this very passage, in which he quietly de- 
 clares that he is standing beyond the prophets of 
 old time who spake as they were moved by the 
 Holy Ghost, he also says, ^' Unto me who am less 
 than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that 
 I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearch- 
 able riches of Christ," (Eph. iii. 8). In another 
 place he says, *' I am the least of the apostles, that 
 am not meet to be called an apostle, because I per- 
 secuted the church of God," (1 Cor. xv. 9) ; and in 
 still another, he exclaims with emotions of mingled 
 sorrow and joy, of grief in the recollection of the 
 past and of gladness in the knowledge of divine and 
 victorious love, " This is a faithful saying, and 
 worthy of all accej^tation, that Christ Jesus came 
 into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief," 
 (1 Tim. i. 15). He no longer afiflrms, as he once 
 asserted that, touching the righteousness which is 
 of the law, he was blameless, (Phil. iii. 6) ; but he 
 describes himself as the chief of sinners ; and still 
 this most contrite and huxnble of men assigns to his 
 
INSPIRATION. 23 
 
 written word all the authority and power that be- 
 long to the acknowledged word of God. 
 
 Addressing the Corinthians he says, " My speech 
 and my preaching was not with enticing words of 
 man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit 
 and of power : that your faith should not stand in 
 the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. . . . 
 Which things also we speak, not in the words 
 which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy 
 Ghost teacheth ; . . . for who hath known the 
 mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him ? But 
 we have the mind of Christ," (1 Cor. ii. 4-16) ; " If 
 I come again, I will not spare ; since ye seek a 
 proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward 
 is not weak, but is mighty in you," (2 Cor. xiii. 2, 3). 
 So to the Thessalonians he says, " For this cause 
 also thank we God without ceasing, because, when 
 ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us," 
 ye received it not as the word of men, but, as it is 
 in truth, the word of God, which effectually work- 
 eth also in you that believe," (1 Thess. ii. 13) ; " he 
 therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but 
 God, who hath also gi^en unto us his Holy Spirit," 
 (1 Thess. iv. 8). 
 
 Thus did this meek and lowly man ever exalt his 
 official word to an equality with the word of God, 
 nor did he shriuk from standing on a level of 
 authority with Him of whom he wrote, " The love 
 of Christ constraineth us ; because we thus judge, 
 that if one died for all, then were all dead : and that 
 he died for all, that they which live should not 
 henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him 
 
24 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 wMch died for them, and rose again," (2 Cor. v. 
 14, 15). This is the man of unswerving devotion 
 to Jesus, who wrote, " Unto the married I com- 
 mand, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife de- 
 part from her husband." The Lord Himself had 
 given such a command, when He was upon the 
 earth, (Matt. xix. 6-9). "But to the rest speak I, 
 not the Lord : If any brother hath a wife that be- 
 lieveth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, 
 let him not put her away." The Lord had said 
 nothing about the question here raised ; but Paul 
 gave the command, to which unquestioning obedi- 
 ence was due, just as much as if it had proceeded 
 from the mouth of Christ Himself. '^ As God hath 
 distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called 
 every one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all 
 the churches," (1 Cor. vii. 10-17). Is it i^ossible 
 fhat one who spoke of himself as '^ less than the 
 least of all saints," as " the least of the apostles," 
 as " the chief of sinners," could establish ordinances 
 for the observance of all the churches, and rise to 
 the height of authority which he ascribed to his 
 divine Eedeemer, unless he believed at least that 
 he was infallibly inspired to teach and to command ? 
 But the testimony of the apostle Peter leaves no 
 room for doubt concerning the exact place to which 
 his writings are to be assigned. " Account that 
 the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation ; even as 
 our beloved brother Paul also, according to the 
 wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you ; as 
 also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these 
 things J in which are some things hard to be 
 
INSPIRATION. 25 
 
 understood, which they that are unlearned and un- 
 stable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to 
 their own destruction," (2 Pet. iii. 15, 16). This 
 valuable testimony is conclusive upon two points : 
 first, that all of Paul's epistles were at the time it was 
 given well known to the churches scattered through- 
 out the Eoman empire ; and, second,that they were to 
 be exalted to the same rank held hjthe other scrip- 
 tures, of which Peter says, " the prophecy came 
 not in old time by the will of man : but holy men 
 of God spake as they were moved by the Holy 
 Ghost." In like manner Peter speaks of himself, 
 saying, " This second epistle, beloved, I now write 
 unto you ; in both which I stir up your pure minds 
 by way of remembrance : that ye may be mindful 
 of the words which were spoken before by the holy 
 prophets, and of the commandment of us the apos- 
 tles of our Lord and Saviour," (2 Pet. iii. 1, 2) ; thus 
 raising his own written word, and the word of the 
 other apostles, to a level with the authority of the 
 holy prophets, through whose mouth God pro- 
 claimed His commands to men. 
 
 It only remains to notice the manner in which 
 Jesus Christ, and those who claimed to be the in- 
 spired teachers of His gospel and founders of His 
 religion, treated the very letter of the scriptures, 
 that were then regarded as the sacred writings of 
 the Jews. The former, it is said, at the commence- 
 ment of His public ministry, was led up of the 
 Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the 
 devil. Each temptation He met with the simple 
 but sublime answer, "It is uTitten;" and it is a^ 
 
26 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 remarkable fact that the scriptures He cites against 
 the suggestions of Satan are all taken from the 
 book of Deuteronomy, so generally neglected now 
 even by Christians. In His public discourses and 
 private conversations with His disciples, He con- 
 stantly quoted the scriptures, so that " the Jews 
 marvelled, saying. How knoweth this man letters, 
 having never learned ?" and the officers who were 
 sent to arrest Him returned to the chief priests and 
 Pharisees with the exclamation, " Never man 
 spake like this man," (John vii. 15, 46). Frequent- 
 ly His teachings turned upon a single word of the 
 Scriptures ; and even amid the agonies of the cruci- 
 fixion, we find Him calmly surveying the wide and 
 variegated field of ancient prophecy, and, '• that the 
 scripture might be fulfilled," crying out, ^* I thirst," 
 (John xix. 28). After His resurrection also His 
 mind seemed to be full of the scripture, for He 
 joined the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, 
 " and beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he 
 expounded unto them in all the scriptures the 
 things concerning himself," and on the evening of 
 the same day, appearing to the assembled disci- 
 ples, " He said unto them, These are the words 
 which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, 
 that all things must be fulfilled which were written 
 in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in 
 the Psalms, concerning me," (Luke xxiv. 27, 44). 
 
 So Paul, who wrote most of the Epistles, often 
 makes a single word from the Old Testament the 
 starting point of a masterly and weighty argument, 
 showing clearly that he regarded the sacred writings 
 
INSPIRATION. 27 
 
 as not inspired merely in general, nor in the 
 thoughts of the ancient i>rophets, nor in different 
 degrees ; but in the minutest particulars of all their 
 language. When to this it is added that he and 
 the other apostles exalted their testimony to a 
 position of authority side by side with the holy 
 men of God, who spake as they were moved by the 
 Holy Ghost, some conception may be formed of the 
 claims of the entire Bible to -verbal and complete 
 inspiration, and of the perfect unity that pervades 
 all its parts. 
 
 This unity is one of the most marvellous things 
 about the marvellous book. Whatever maybe the 
 alleged discrepancies and inaccuracies with regard 
 to dates, numbers, and the minor details of nar- 
 ratives given by its different writers, the most care- 
 less reader can not fail to see that all have one 
 general aim and object, and that there is a wonder- 
 ful harmony in their doctrinal statements. When 
 we consider that there are about fifty human 
 authors of every time of life from early manhood to 
 old age ; of every degree of mental cultivation from 
 illiteracy to all the learning of that period ; ot 
 every rank from the hut of a fisherman to the 
 palace of a king ; of every condition, from the depth 
 of mortal sorrow to the height of earthly felicity — 
 when we consider that the first and the last of these 
 were separated from each other by the interval of 
 at least fifteen hundred years — when we consider 
 that they treated every conceivable subject, visible 
 and invisible, in heaven, in earth, and in hell, the 
 creation of the world, the personality and character 
 
28 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 of God, providence, liistory, biography, customs, 
 manners, opinions, travels, all the relations men 
 hold to each other and the duties that spring 
 out of these various relations — the remarkable 
 unity that binds their testimony into one magnifi- 
 cent and overwhelming demonstration of divine 
 truth may well excite the gratitude of the Christian 
 mind, and the astonishment of the skei)tical mind. 
 The same mighty Creator, " infinite, eternal, and 
 unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holi- 
 ness, justice, goodness, and truth," is found every- 
 where. The same story is told throughout of man's 
 sinfulness, and wretchedness, and need ; and from 
 Genesis to Eevelation the same central doctrine is 
 taught that " without shedding of blood is no remis- 
 sion." It is a book that subordinates every thing 
 to the idea of God, of whose attributes it speaks 
 with a grandeur of conception and beauty of im- 
 agery, which renders cold and tame all the allusions 
 to the Deity made by heathen poets and philoso- 
 l^hers. It is a book that utters from first to last a 
 stern and persistent and indignant protest against 
 idolatry and polytheism ; and that too in the face 
 of man's inveterate proneness to both, as shown by 
 its own records. It is a book that teaches a code 
 of morals which the natural man scouts as alto- 
 gether unnatural, or denounces as mean and servile, 
 when it attaches to unexpressed lust and unuttered 
 hatred the crimes of adultery and murder, and en- 
 joins meek submission to insults and injuries. It 
 is a book written by Jews, and preserved and ven- 
 erated by Jews j and yet that portion of it which 
 
INSPIRATION. 29 
 
 they recognize is but the monument of Jewish 
 infamy and shame, in the tremendous charges it 
 brings against them of disobedience, ingratitude, 
 unbelief, and worse than beastly insensibility to the 
 claims of Jehovah, and to their own temporal and 
 eternal interests. It is a book that presents to us 
 the i^ortraitof Jesus of Kazareth, which was surely 
 not the product of Greek, or Koman, or Jewish 
 culture, since no such thought ever entered the 
 mind of any ancient writer known to the world, 
 and no such character could have been conceived, 
 because it was contrary to human experience and 
 observation. 
 
 While in all these and many other respects, the 
 Bible is so unique that it fully substantiates the 
 proposition, "it is not such a book as man would 
 have made, if he could; or could have made, if he 
 would," it is still more unique, as already stated, 
 in the perfect agreement of its testimony upon 
 every point of doctrine or duty which it presents. 
 Strauss begins his Life of Jesus by reviewing and 
 setting aside as practically worthless those who 
 had preceded him in their attacks upon the credi- 
 bility of the Gospel history ; but where among the 
 fifty writers of the Bible, do you find one who is in 
 conflict with the others touching any leading truth ? 
 It can be easily shown that there is not the slight- 
 est inaccuracy of statement, or smallest discrepancy 
 of fact, in their entire i)roductions ; yet if it be ad- 
 mitted that they are not always harmonious in the 
 trifling incidents of their narratives, how obvious 
 it is that in their great and important thoughts and 
 
30 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ! 
 
 declarations, the book is but one, like the one God 
 it reveals. 
 
 It is irue that each writer has his own peculiar 
 modes of expression, as we can readily distinguish 
 the style of Isaiah from that of Jeremiah, or the 
 style of Paul from that of John ; and that this has 
 been urged as an objection to a verbal or plenary 
 inspiration. But the objection may be met by the 
 simple question, who knows the style of God in the 
 l>lenitude of His power and wisdom ? Not only is 
 it asserted by the writers of the Old Testament 
 that He spoke in innumerable instances to the 
 patriarchs and prophets ; but the writers of the 
 New Testament mention at least three occasions 
 when He burst heaven open to speak in articulate 
 utterance concerning His well beloved Son. God 
 therefore can speak, and why can He not speak in 
 the manifold style of those whose tougues and pens 
 He employed to i)roclaim His words ? Sometimes 
 a master hand, b^ the skillful use of the keys and 
 stops of an organ, can make us hear the moan of 
 the storm, the roar of thunder, the murmur of the 
 surf, the singing of birds ; and yet one mind sug- 
 gests and controls and emits these different sounds. 
 Who will say that the Supreme Mind of the uni- 
 verse may not play and act upon the minds and the 
 mouths of His creatures, without the least disturb- 
 ance of their individual peculiarities ! 
 
 How else shall we explain the singular preserva- 
 tion from egregious error of these writers who 
 claim, as has been abundantly proved, a verbal in- 
 spiration ! If the very words of lijeir writings, and 
 
INSPIRATION.. 31 
 
 of all their writings, were not given by inspiration 
 of God, it is clear that they uttered a falsehood 
 deliberately and repeatedly. But if this latter sup- 
 position is correct, how can we account for the fact 
 that they denounce falsehood and deception in all 
 its forms, and that their writings, if cordially re- 
 ceived, at once lift the soul into a higher and nobler 
 life than it has ever known before ? If their very 
 words were not inspired, it is obvious that they 
 can be of no practical value to those who are long- 
 ing and struggling to reach this higher ahd nobler 
 life ; for not only are we accustomed to think in 
 words, and find it impossible to separate words 
 from thoughts, but in the convictions of conscience 
 and yearnings of heart experienced by every aAvak- 
 ened sinner, it is of necessity that the mind stay 
 itself upon something more definite and tangible, 
 and stable, than vague and unattainable thoughts. 
 If the thoughts only, and not the words, are in- 
 spired, if the thoughts soar to heaven on the wings 
 of omniscience, but the words are dragged down to 
 earth by human frailty, every one must perceive at 
 a glance that we are drifting in an uncertain voy- 
 age upon a dark sea ; for in the nature of the case 
 nothing but words can form the guide and rule of 
 our conduct ; and if only part of the words are in- 
 spired, there is evidently no criterion to distinguish 
 the true from the false, except the decisions of our 
 own fallible judgment. One man rejects one part 
 of the Scriptures because it does not commend 
 itself to his acceptance, and another man rejects 
 another portion, until we shall soon have no Bible 
 
32 IS THE BIBLE TRUE f 
 
 at all. Hence Strauss properly characterizes 
 Neander's feeble reply to his Life of Jesus as " an 
 irresolute resistance, like that of a garrison half 
 inclined to capitulate, and already under partial 
 promise to surrender." With a siugle sentence the 
 infidel assailant forever silences the Christian de- 
 fender when he says, *'He treats the Evangelists 
 generally as writing under inspiration, but an in- 
 spiration apart from their educational development 
 as men, and regulating, not the historical, but only 
 the religious part of their accounts : as if the his- 
 torical and the religious were not indissolnUy con- 
 nected,^^ (p. 37). 
 
 But, admitting for a moment the correctness of 
 the theory that the four Gospels were not written 
 by their reputed authors, no one will deny that they 
 were written at an age of the world, when the most 
 familiar facts brought to light by modern science 
 were wholly unknown. Errors and mistakes con- 
 fessedly abound in the works of the greatest 
 authors of antiquity, and in the sacred books of the 
 heathen religions, as those cherished by the Hin- 
 doos and Chinese, because they were ignorant of 
 many scientific discoveries with which a school 
 child in Christian lands is acquainted. Such errors 
 and mistakes abound also in the productions of 
 Christian authors who immediately followed the 
 Ai)ostles. Strauss, in his argument against the 
 authenticity of John's Gospel, attaches very little 
 importance to the testimony of Irenseus, because 
 he says, '' The men of old, who saw John the dis- 
 ciple of the Lord, remember to have heard from 
 
INSPIRATION. 33 
 
 him liow in those times the Lord taught, and said, 
 Days will come when vines shall grow each with 
 10,000 shoots, and to every shoot 10,000 branches, 
 and to every branch 10,000 tendrils, and to every 
 tendril 10,000 bunches, and to every bunch 10,000 
 berries, and every berry shall yield when pressed 
 twenty-five measures (about six puncheons) of 
 wine," (p. 89). But the question is, why is nothing 
 of this kind recorded in the writings of John 
 himself? 
 
 Again, Clement, mentioned by Paul as his fellow 
 laborer in the Epistle to the Philippians, has left 
 an authentic letter in which he illustrates, or 
 endeavors to prove from analogy, the doctrine of 
 the resurrection. He declares that there is in 
 Spain a bird called the phoenix, which attains the 
 age of six hundred years, and when it finds death 
 approaching, it sets fire to its own nest, leaving 
 only the ashes out of which another bird emerges, 
 and thus it is perpetuated. The same illustration 
 or argument is used by several of the early Chris- 
 tian writers, and similar absurdities and blunders 
 exist in the works of all of them, even of the elo- 
 quent Lactantius and the profound and devout 
 Augustine. Why did not Paul say something like 
 this in his sublime discussion of the doctrine of the 
 resurrection ? 
 
 For the most x>art the sacred writers were 
 uneducated men of the lowest social rank, totally 
 unacquainted with the schools of learning and the 
 works of philosophers, poets, and orators. They 
 touch upon all topics that affect man's interests in 
 2 
 
34 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 this world or the world to come. Their statements 
 have been subject for nearly eighteen centuries to 
 the severest scrutiny and fiercest criticism j and yet 
 the Christian may calmly and confidently challenge 
 modern science to point to one line or word that is 
 in conflict with known facts. If they speak of the 
 form of the earth, even as far back as the days of 
 Isaiah, 700 years before Christ, or of Job, 1500 
 years before Christ, they describe it as a globe, 
 (Isa. xl. 22; Job xxvi. 10). If they refer to its i)Osi- 
 tion in space, they inform us that it hangs upon 
 nothing, (Job xxvi. 7) ; and never once do they fall 
 into the error of the Koran, which regards the 
 mountains as created " to j)revent the earth from 
 moving, as if with anchors and cables ;" never once 
 do they indulge in the folly and puerility of the 
 Shaster. If Jesus alludes to His second coming in 
 the air when His saints shall be caught up in clouds 
 to meet Him, He anticipates the discoveries of 
 modern astronomy, and describes His advent as 
 occurring when it will be night at one part of the 
 earth, early morning at another, and a more ad- 
 vanced hour of the day at another, (Luke xvii. 
 34-36) ; and these are but illustrations of the singu- 
 lar accuracy that distinguishes the writings of the 
 Bible from the books of all other religions. Can 
 we fairly and reasonably account for it on any 
 ground except that of divine and plenary in- 
 spiration ? 
 
 Lastly, let us think for a moment of the power 
 and immortality of these writings. Carlyle com- 
 mences his essay upon Diderot with the remark, 
 
INSPIRATION. 35 
 
 ** The Acts of the Christian Apostles ^ on which, as 
 we may say, the world has now for eighteen cen- 
 turies had its foundation, are written in so small a 
 compass, that they can be read in one little hour. 
 The Acts of the French Fhilosophes, the importance 
 of which is already exhausting itself, lie recorded 
 in whole acres of typography, and would furnish 
 reading for a life time." Yet, he might have added, 
 who reads them ? Only a few years ago the world 
 was ringing with the noise made by the appearance 
 of Eenan's Life of Jesus, and the printing presses 
 were pushed to meet the popular demand for a book, 
 which, its admirers claimed, would overthrow the 
 fabric of Christianity. Who prints the book now, 
 who calls for it, who cares for it ! It has passed 
 away like a forgotten romance, while the British 
 and Foreign Bible Society alone has circulated 
 nearly seventy-five million copies of the Scriptures 
 in more than two hundred languages and dialects of 
 our race, and the American Bible Society has sent 
 forth nearly thirty-four million copies, besides the 
 countless copies issued by various publishing 
 houses of Christendom. 
 
 The precious book still lives, and the more it is 
 read and studied, the more profound becomes the 
 conviction of those who gaze into its wondrous 
 depths that God is its real author. To such you 
 might as well say that man made the earth, as to 
 say that man made the Bible, for the latter not less 
 distinctly than the former proclaims its divine 
 
 origin, 
 
 " Forever singing as they shine, 
 The hand that made us is divine." 
 
36 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 If you read Strauss carefully, you will receive 
 the impression that he i^ossesses a remarkably 
 clear, logical, and acute mind, and a singular power 
 of critical analysis; but how often will you wish to 
 read his book before you have thoroughly mastered 
 iU contents ? Once, twice, three times, and then 
 you are done with him, because he can teach you 
 nothing more, and to read it again would be like 
 spending your time in going over the alphabet. 
 Yet you may read the Bible a hundred times, and 
 find something you never discovered before, some- 
 thing new, something fresh, something unutterably 
 sweet at each successive reading. To-night a great 
 multitude which no man can number, of the best, 
 the purest, the most gifted, the most useful of man- 
 kind, are hanging over its words with tears of con- 
 trition, or with smiles of gladness and of hope. 
 They are walking in the light it throws upon their 
 path that without its radiance would be so dark, 
 they are cheered in their sorrows by its tender 
 assurances, they are guided in their perplexities by 
 its matchless wisdom, and they know that, despite 
 all the attacks of infidelity, they will be sustained 
 on a dying bed by its sweet promises. 
 
 Last summer, while tarrying for a few daj s on 
 the sea coast, mj attention was directed to a great 
 rock at some distance from the shore. As the tide 
 came in, or the waves rolled high, it was lost to 
 view ; but it was still there, and by and by it lifted 
 its rugged head above the waters, unmoved and 
 unchanged. Again and again have the arguments 
 and objections of infidel science and criticism 
 
INSPIRATION. 37 
 
 seemed to rush like angry billows over this blessed 
 book ; but after a little while it stood forth as of old 
 in its omnipotent and eternal stability. Men may 
 cavil, or men may rage; " nevertheless the founda- 
 tion of God standeth sure," (2 Tim. ii. 19). " Thou 
 wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is 
 stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. 
 Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord 
 Jehovah is the Eock of ages," (Isa. xxvi. 3, 4). 
 
11. 
 
 THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, 
 
 BOTH the Greek and Latin languages have the 
 word canon, and in both it means a rod, a 
 reed, a measure, a rule. It occurs five times in the 
 New Testament, and four times it is rendered rule, 
 once it is translated line. About the age of Jesus 
 and His Apostles it was in use among heathen 
 writers to denote literary works which were re- 
 garded as standards of excellence ; and soon it Avas 
 emx^loyed by Christian writers to signify the entire 
 scope of doctrine set forth in the word of God as 
 the rule of life; and finally it was applied to the 
 list of the books that comprise the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures. Only in this last sense is it to be under- 
 stood now, and the discussion will be confiued to 
 the books of the New Testament ; partly because 
 they form the principal point of attack by Strauss 
 and other infidels, and i^artly because their authen- 
 ticity and genuineness, if fully established, will 
 perfectly secure the canon of the Old Testament. 
 
 It is at least worthy of notice that Strauss be- 
 gins his assault by referring to the labors " for 
 more than a hundred years'' of those who had 
 preceded him in their rejection of the Gospel 
 history, and speaks of the issue of these attempts 
 
 38 
 
THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 39 
 
 as " each more unfortunate than the other," (p. 5). 
 Further on he says, " such are the lame issues of 
 Schleiermacher's Life of Jesus," (p. 25) ; and again, 
 *' Hase self-complacently calls his ' Manual,' first 
 l^ublished in 1829, an essay towards a really 
 scientific life of Jesus ; contrasting with it my own 
 work six years later in date, which he calls critically 
 one-sided, and therefore erroneous, or at least use- 
 less," (p. 26). His wounded vanity leads him to 
 retort upon his fellow worker in the cause of infi- 
 delity by alluding to ^' the giddiness incidental to 
 the frail footing afforded by his lucubrations," 
 (p. 27), and by pronouncing his view of Jesus " a 
 hopelessly problematical caprice," (p. 28). ^' I felt 
 satisfied with none of them," he declares ;" all 
 seemed to have in some respect failed," (p. 33). 
 Then he comes forward with his own theory, assum- 
 ing that all supernaturalism of miracle, of prophecy, 
 of inspiration by the Holy Ghost, must be rigidly 
 excluded from the Gospel history, and asserting 
 that its narratives throughout are to be considered, 
 " not the accounts of eye-witnesses, but only frag- 
 mentary notes recorded by men who lived at a dis- 
 tance from the events, and who, though they 
 I)enned down many authentic notices and speeches, 
 collected also all sorts of legendary traditions, and 
 embellished them in part by inventions of their 
 own," (p. 125). 
 
 This is the theory that will pass under review ; 
 and first of all we must glance at the structure of 
 the New Testament. We find that it is composed 
 of twenty-seven books or treatises, written, as is 
 
40 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 alleged, at different times and places, and by eight 
 different authors, named Matthew, Mark, Luke, 
 John, Paul, James, Peter, and Jude. How do we 
 know that these men wrote the books ascribed to 
 them? The question conducts us at once to 
 another. How do we know that Strauss wrote his 
 first Life of Jesus twenty-nine years before the 
 second and larger edition, or that Sir Isaac Newton 
 wrote the Principia, or that Bacon wrote Xovum 
 Organum, or that Milton wrote Paradise Lost, or 
 that Caesar, Sallust, Tacitus, Livy, Virgil, Horace, 
 Cicero, Thucydides, Zenophen, Aristotle, Plato, 
 Herodotus, wrote the books attributed to them ? 
 
 Leaviug entirely out of view at present the inter- 
 nal evidence of the authenticity and genuineness of 
 the sacred writings, and commencing with the 
 weakest argument, the reply to both of the fore- 
 going questions is precisely the same. We trace 
 the various books mentioned up to the time when 
 they are said to have been written, and no further. 
 We discover a line of witnesses in unbroken suc- 
 cession affirming that the authors named wrote the 
 books, that no one during their life-time disputed 
 their authorship, that no one since, except it be 
 some stray lunatic, has denied it, and that in many 
 instances at least, as Paradise Lost, and the Prin- 
 cipia, and the Novum Organum, and Cicero's 
 Orations, no other person or persons could have 
 written such works. 
 
 With this accumulated evidence, only a madman, 
 or one in a more deplorable condition than a mad- 
 man, if he perversely and willfully shuts his eyes 
 
THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 41 
 
 to the truth, would persist in saying that the books 
 were not the productions of their reputed authors; 
 for we are so constituted that we are compelled to 
 accept credible testimony. When witnesses who 
 are thoroughly competent in every respect to form 
 and express an opinion, and are shown by their 
 whole character and conduct to be thoroughly 
 incompetent to utter a falsehood, make a deliberate 
 and repeated assertion touching any question that 
 falls within the domain of their personal observa- 
 tion, any question of history or of geography, of 
 facts that can be reached only by the highest 
 attainments of human knowledge or of events that 
 occur in the daily rounds of ordinary life, — when 
 there is no conceivable motive temj)ting them to 
 make the assertion unless it is true, and when it 
 can not be disproved after the most careful inves- 
 tigation and searching criticism, — of necessity we 
 receive their word, and place it among the things 
 that are positively known. 
 
 Most of the knowledge we possess is due wholly 
 to testimony, for not one of us knows anything 
 whatever of the past up to the period of our own 
 childhood, except by testimony. Not one in ten 
 thousand, nor one in a million, knows anything 
 whatever apart from testimony of the statements 
 tha-t are found in the school books, and are univer- 
 sally accepted as the truth, which come to us 
 through the spoken or written word of travellers 
 and of explorers in the lofty and distant fields of 
 science. Yet if we did not receive such testimony, 
 the world would stand still. If all could be induced 
 
42 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 to take seriously the position, thoughtlessly as- 
 sumed by so many when speaking of the Bible, that 
 they will believe nothing that lies beyond the range 
 of their own observation, and nothing that is in con- 
 flict with their very brief experience, and nothing 
 that refuses to come down to the level of their low 
 apprehension, and nothing that admits the inter- 
 vention of God's hand in the affairs of God's world, 
 the courts of justice would be closed, the wheels of 
 commerce would stop their movement, the very 
 foundations of society would be rent as with an 
 earthquake, and men would become more suspicious 
 and ferocious than the wild beasts. 
 
 Now in studying the canon of the >Tew Testa- 
 ment, nothing more is asked than that credence to 
 perfectly trustworthy testimony, which would be 
 accorded if it were given upon any other subject; 
 and it may be well to remind you that precisely the 
 same sources of information, from which Strauss 
 drew his weapons for attack, have furnished an 
 armory to Christians for a complete and triumph- 
 ant defence. Where one Strauss has assailed the 
 faith of the best men and women of eighteen cen- 
 turies, a hundred believers have promptly sprung 
 forward to meet him, not less acute in intellect, not 
 less accomplished in learning, not less pure, con- 
 scientious, disinterested, and useful in their lives; 
 and they have hurled back his arguments upon him 
 with crushing force. Sir Isaac Newton, for exam- 
 X)le, does not hesitate to say, " I find more sure 
 marks of authenticity in the New Testament than in 
 any profane history whatever." Why not believe 
 
THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 43 
 
 his testimony here, as we receive his testimony 
 upon other questions that called forth the investi- 
 gations of his powerful mind? The learned 
 Gaussen of Switzerland, who is certainly the peer 
 of Strauss in every respect, writes after thirty 
 years of close and constant study, " We can fear- 
 lessly maintain that in the whole compass of ancient 
 literature there is not a book to be at all compared 
 to our first canon, [twenty of the twenty-seven 
 books] as to the complete demonstration of its 
 authenticity. History does not present a similar 
 instance of literary evidence. Should any doubt 
 the accuracy of this assertion, let him mention a 
 single book in favor of the authenticity of which a 
 tenth part of the same proof can be produced. 
 ' The testimony to its genuineness,' says Michaelis, 
 ' is infinitely superior, and that in numerous 
 respects, to anything that ancient literature could 
 present to us in favor even of the most abundantly- 
 attested books.' " So say thousands of godly men 
 and ripe scholars, who have carefully examined 
 every foot of ground over which Strauss journeyed 
 to find objections to the authenticity and genuine- 
 ness of the books that compose the New Testament. 
 Even he writes as follows, " Thus much is cer- 
 tain that towards the end of the second century 
 after Christ, the same four Gospels as we still have 
 are found recognized in the Church, and quoted in 
 many ways as the writings of the Apostles and dis- 
 ciples of Apostles whose names they bear, by the 
 three most eminent ecclesiastical teachers — Irengeus 
 in Gaul, Clement in Alexandria, and Tertullian in 
 
44 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 Carthage," (Vol. I. p. 56). Again lie writes, "In 
 Justin Martyr we gain firmer ground, inasmuch as 
 the genuineness of his most important writings is 
 exposed to no doubt, and the period at which he 
 flourished as an author was, at all events, that of 
 the reign of Antoninus Pius, 138-161, A. D.'' 
 Strauss then admits that Justin Martyr declares 
 the Gospels " were composed by the Apostles of 
 Jesus and their companions," (pp. 69, 70). Again 
 he writes, " A number of Gospels, and among them 
 without doubt our Matthew and Luke, were known 
 to the heathen philosopher Celsus, who wrote 
 against the Christians about the middle of the 
 second century, and he used their differences from 
 one another, e. //., in the account of the resurrection, 
 as a proof against the truth of Christianity," (p. 75). 
 Again he writes in referring to a work of Origen, 
 " Basilides, about 125 A. D., seems to have already 
 known and recognized the Gospel of John," (p. 84). 
 Again he writes, " It is well known that of all the 
 Canonical books of the Kew Testament, the Eevela- 
 tion of John is the one the date of which we can 
 determine most accurately from internal evidence ," 
 and afterwards he says, John " wrote the Apoca- 
 lypse in Asia Minor in the year Qd>^'''' (pp. 94, 100), 
 though further on, he seems to doubt its authen- 
 ticity, (pp. 373, 380). 
 
 These are remarkable admissions from such a 
 quarter. Formerly it was the fashion of a very 
 coarse and very blasphemous and very ignorant 
 infidelity to deny even the existence of Jesus. Now 
 however all infidels acknowledge His existence and 
 
THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 45 
 
 that of His Apostles, and then bend their intel- 
 lectual energies to what they call a natural and 
 rational explanation of the phenomena of their 
 lives in the history of our race. They also confess, 
 as we have just seen, in the quotations from 
 Strauss, that the four Gospels were known in vari- 
 ous portions of the Eoman Empire, and attributed 
 by friend and foe to the authorship of the Apostles 
 and their companions, 25 years, or at the most 50 
 years after the death of the Apostle John. But 
 Strauss does not tell us how these four Gospels, if 
 they were not written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, 
 and John, came to be received as genuine in so short 
 a time by thousands of Christians and Churches 
 scattered over the civilized world. 
 
 A little further investigation will account for this 
 singular fact. " The Peshito," says Gaussen, " is 
 of all versions of the Kew Testament the most 
 ancient, the most celebrated, and the most valued. 
 . . . Michaelis, who, with many other eminent 
 scholars, considers it of the first century, or, at the 
 latest, of the second, pronounces it the best of all 
 known versions in regard to ease of expression, 
 elegance, and fidelity. All who have studied it 
 admire the good sense, the erudition, the independ- 
 ence, and the accuracy of the translators." That 
 this version is very ancient may be i^roved by the 
 fact that the Aramaean-speaking Christians were 
 the first to receive the gospel, that their churches 
 were very numerous, not only in Syria, but on the 
 banks of the Euphrates and of the Tigris, and 
 through the intervening country, and that " their 
 
46 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 literature was then in a high state of advancement." 
 It was from this version Hegesippus, the most 
 ancient ecclesiastical historian, quoted, according 
 to Eusebius, who says that he lived under Hadrian, 
 from 117 to 138 A. D. ; and consequently " Jerome 
 in his * List of Ecclesiastical Writers ' i)laces him 
 before Justin Martyr, who was born in 103, and 
 died in 167. These facts i)rove the high antiquity 
 of the Peshito version.'^ 
 
 " Various other circumstances furnish additional 
 evidence on the same point. The Syrian Christians, 
 from the earliest i^eriod to the present time, have 
 with one accord gone so far as to maintain that the 
 Peshito was the original of the Kew Testament. 
 . . . What further serves to establish the ven- 
 erable antiquity of this version is the fact of 
 its being unanimously used by the various sects 
 into which the Syriac Christians are divided — 
 Nestorians, Jacobites, Eomanists, all employ it in 
 their respective services. Although, according to 
 Wiseman, there are as many as twelve Syriac ver- 
 sions of the Old Testament, and three of the New, 
 none of these has ever supplanted the Peshito in 
 the services of the Church. It must, therefore, 
 have been adopted universally before the appear- 
 ance of these various sects." 
 
 " This version contains the whole of our canon, 
 with the exception merely of the Apocalypse and 
 the four smaller and later epistles of Jude, Peter, 
 and John." The reason for the omission of these 
 will subsequently appear, but it is certainly a strik- 
 ing and suggestive fact that in this most ancient 
 
THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 47 
 
 version, niuiiing back very nearly at least to the 
 days of the Apostles, we not only mark the absence 
 of every non-canonical book, and we not only find, 
 with the exceptions jnst named, all the books of 
 the New Testament as we have them to-day, but 
 the arrangement of the books is the same that 
 exists in all of the best and oldest Greek manu- 
 scripts. " First, we have the four Gospels, accord- 
 ing to their invariable order, Matthew, Mark, Luke, 
 and John ; then the Acts of the Apostles 5 then the 
 Catholic Epistles ; and, lastly, the fourteen epistles 
 of Paul in their usual order, Eomans, First and 
 Second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philip- 
 pians, Colossians, First and Second Thessalonians, 
 First and Second Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 
 Hebrews." 
 
 We next c.ome to the well known catalogue of 
 Origen, who was born A. D. 185, and was martyred 
 at the age of sixty-eight in 253. This remarkable 
 person who, in the immensity of his labors and his 
 power of endurance, was called ''the man of 
 adamant," wrote hundreds of books in commen- 
 taries and homilies upon the New Testament ; and 
 though the larger part of these no longer exists, 
 his works that are still extant consist of four folio 
 volumes. He travelled everywhere to obtain the 
 most authentic copies of the Scriptures that could 
 be found, and as the result of his careful examina- 
 tion, He gives the canon of the New Testament, 
 precisely as we have it, embracing the whole of its 
 twenty-seven books. It is true he distinguishes 
 the First Epistle of Peter, as uncontro verted, from 
 
48 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ! 
 
 the Second Epistle, iu regard to which some 
 doubted ; and he also states resi^ecting the two 
 brief epistles of John that all did not consider them 
 as genuine. In relation to the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, he remarks that some doubted, not its 
 canonicity, but whether it was a production of the 
 Apostle Paul; and then adds, "if any Church 
 receives it as an epistle of Paul, it ought to be held 
 in honor even on that very account, for it was not 
 on light grounds that the early Church has handed 
 it down as a production of Paul's." 
 
 Next follows the catalogue of Eusebius born 
 A. D. 270, the favorite of the Emperor Constantine, 
 and assigned by him to the chief place of honor at 
 his right hand in the famous Council of Nice that 
 assembled in the year 325. Of course he had access 
 to all the libraries of the vast Eoman Empire, and 
 there is extant a letter of the Emperor entrusting 
 to his care the task of furnishing copies of the 
 Sacred Scriptures. His splendid literary attain- 
 ments and facilities will not be questioned by any, 
 whatever may be thought of his vacillating char- 
 acter and unsoundness of faith. In his great his- 
 tory he divides the New Testament into books 
 recognize and books controverted, placing in the 
 first division only " the Scriptures universally, 
 unres rictedly, and uniformly recognized from the 
 first as Divine by all Churches and all ecclesiastical 
 writers." In this class he ranks, " because," as he 
 says, " all ancient teachers and the ancient 
 churches had uniformly regarded them as divine," 
 twenty-two of the twenty-seven books of the canon 
 
THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 49 
 
 of the New Testament, or 7,738 out of 7,959 verses 
 that make up the inspired volume. Of the five 
 brief Epistles not put in this class, the Second of 
 Peter, James, Jude, and the last two of John, he 
 says, " These scriptures which have been con- 
 troverted, though received by most people, and 
 recognized by most ecclesiastical writers, and 
 publicly read along with other Catholic epistles in 
 most churches, have experienced some opposition, 
 and are less quoted by ancient writers.'^ 
 
 Succeeding this important testimony of Eusebius 
 we have eleven distinct catalogues in the same cen- 
 tury, nine by distinguished " fathers " as they are 
 called, and two by Councils. First, Cyril, patriarch 
 of Jerusalem twenty-four years after the council of 
 Nice, recognizes the canon as we possess it, except 
 the Apocalypse which had not been restored to the. 
 canonical rank it held for 200 years. Second, 
 Gregory of Nazianzus, surnamed " the Divine '^ 
 gives our present canon entire with the same 
 exception. Third, Philastrius, Bishop of Brescia, 
 agrees fully with the two former. Fourth, Athan- 
 asius, perhaps the greatest Theologian of the age, 
 only twenty-six years younger than Eusebius ; 
 followed by Epiphanius, only a few years younger 
 than Athanasius ; followed by Jerome, bishop of 
 Bome, thirty-five years younger than Epiphanius ; 
 followed by Eufinus, an intimate friend of Jerome ; 
 followed by Augustine, bishop of Hippo, besides a 
 father whose writings have been preserved, but not 
 his name, all give us the twenty- seven books of the 
 New Testament precisely as they have been held 
 3 
 
50 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 for fifteen hundred years by all the churches of 
 every denomination in all the earth. 
 
 In addition to these we have the deliberate 
 decision and decree of two Councils, that of 
 Laodicea, which assembled in the year 364, and 
 that of Carthage which met in the year 397, both 
 presenting as the true canon of the New Testament 
 all of the books as we now read them day by day. 
 Were not the men who composed the Councils 
 better prepared to determine what had been the 
 voice of the Church than Strauss in the nineteenth 
 century ? They were more familiar with the writings 
 of those who had preceded them, and self-interest, 
 if no higher motive, would lead them to be exceed- 
 ingly cautious in announcing their conclusion con- 
 cerning the books that were to be received as the 
 genuine productions of the Apostles and their 
 companions. The fact that some doubted and dis- 
 puted for a long time the canonicity of a few of 
 these books is conclusive evidence of the care that 
 was taken, and is sufficient to satisfy a sincere 
 inquirer after truth, that nothing but the most 
 thorough conviction of their Apostolic origin could 
 have led to their final and unhesitating reception. 
 
 A moment's reflection will show how the doubt 
 and dispute arose in relation to the Apocalypse, 
 the epistle to the Hebrews, that of James, the 
 Second of Peter, the last two of John, and that of 
 Jude. With regard to the book of Eevelation, 
 nothing can be more fully proved than its universal 
 reception at first ; but as the hope of the Lord's 
 Second Coming began to decline in the increasing 
 
THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 51 
 
 power and progress of the Church, it began to be 
 denied on account of its miliennarian teachings. 
 With regard to the epistle to the Hebrews, like the 
 Apocalypse no one thought of calling in question 
 fpT a considerable period its right to a place in the 
 canon; but at length it declined in favor with some, 
 because it was supposed to favor the heresies of 
 the Montanists and Novatians, though like 'the 
 Apocalypse again many of the first men in the 
 Church always maintained its canonicity. With 
 regard to the epistle of James, while the Eastern 
 Church from the beginning received it as authentic, 
 its inspired author never quitted Jerusalem, and 
 because it was addressed " to the twelve tribes 
 which are scattered abroad," Gentile prejudice was 
 slow to acknowledge its authority, like the incon- 
 siderate zeal of Luther, who once spoke slightingly 
 of its claims to authenticity on the ground of its 
 imaginary conflict with the doctrine of justification 
 by faith. With regard to the four brief epistles, 
 they were written at too late a date to become 
 current previous to the close of the Apostles' labors, 
 and hence required patient investigation before 
 they were admitted to a permanent i^osition in 
 God's most holy word. 
 
 But all this will only carry demonstration to a 
 candid mind, both of the profound reverence with 
 which the Scriptures were cherished, and of the 
 extreme caution that was manifested until each 
 book could assert its high demands upon the faith of 
 Christians with divine and incontestable authority. 
 It is not true, therefore, as sometimes iguorantly 
 
52 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 affirmed, that the canon of the New Testament was 
 settled by a few men, or by the vote of councils, 
 but its determination was simply the result of the 
 same sort of knowledge that leads Germany to 
 receive as authentic Strauss' Life of Jesus, to say 
 nothing of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the 
 result of concurrent testimony following from all 
 parts of the widely extended Church and from the 
 hearts of believers. As Le Clerc in his Ecclesias- 
 tical History well says, " There was no occasion for 
 a council of grammarians to declare authoritatively 
 which are the genuine works of Cicero or of Virgil. 
 In like manner, the authenticity of the Gospels was 
 established and maintained without any decree of 
 the rulers of the Church. The same remark applies 
 to the Apostolic epistles. They owe all their 
 authority, not to the decision of any ecclesiastical 
 assembly, but to the concurrent testimony of all 
 Christians, and to the tenor of their contents." 
 
 If we look a little further we shall see that the 
 canon of the New Testament was largely deter- 
 mined in the days of the Ax^ostles, and that it went 
 forth under their sanction. Even Strauss admits 
 (pp. 65, 66), that the sacred writers quote from each 
 other, and in these quotations, as i)reviously shown, 
 they place each other's writings among the Scrip- 
 tures which they affirm are given by inspiration of 
 God. Let any one with a good Eeference Bible 
 read the Epistles, and he will be surprised, if the 
 study is new to him, at the number of manifest 
 allusions to the words of the Lord Jesus and of the 
 different Apostles, the latter being put on a level 
 
THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 53 
 
 of authority with the former, and with the holy 
 men of God in old time who spake as they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghost. Thus Peter in his last 
 Epistle refers to all the epistles of Paul, and 
 declares that the unlearned and unstable wrest 
 them, as they do also the other scriptures, to their 
 own destruction. So Jude refers to this last Epistle 
 of Peter when he says, " Beloved, remember ye 
 the words which were spoken before of the apostles 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ ; how that they told you 
 there should be mockers in the last time, who 
 should walk after their own ungodly lusts." It is 
 obvious, therefore, that the canon of the i^ew 
 Testament passed almost, if not altogether, under 
 the inspection of the Apostles themselves, some of 
 whom lived thirty, forty, fifty, and even sixty years 
 after the crucifixion of our Saviour. 
 
 Let us suppose that Strauss, having i)ersonally 
 superintended the successive editions of his Life of 
 Jesus during the i^ast forty years, and finding no 
 one to dispute his claim of authorship, goes at 
 last, as indeed he has gone, for judgment before 
 Him whose word he has labored so earnestly 
 to overthrow. Let us suppose that his admirers 
 a hundred years hence, if it please the Lord 
 to tarry so long, and if Strauss should have any 
 admirers then, discover that the authenticity 
 of the book is called in question — would they 
 not be surprised and indignant at the effrontery of 
 skepticism in the face of such evidence? But the 
 proof that he wrote the Life of Jesus falls far short 
 of the evidence both external and internal that 
 
54 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote the four 
 Gospels, and that Paul, James, Peter, and Jude 
 wrote the Epistles ascribed to them. IS'ot only 
 were the writers spared in the midst of incessant 
 dangers for lx)rty, fifty, and one of them for nearly 
 seventy years; not only did they severally and 
 jointly sui^erintend the preservation and dissemi- 
 nation of their writings, and thus guarantee their 
 genuineness ; but these writings were in the hands 
 of an innumerable multitude scattered over the 
 world ', and hence it was absolutely impossible that 
 they could be changed as Strauss imagines by 
 the addition of " all sorts of legendary traditions 
 and inventions," without instant detection and 
 exposure. 
 
 In the first place, we have the undoubted testi- 
 mony of heathen writers, as Tacitus and Pliny, 
 concerning the amazing spread of Christianity. 
 The former, speaking of the burning of Eome by 
 IS'ero, and his cruel attempt to fasten the crime 
 upon the followers of Jesus, says, " Those who 
 avowed themselves to be Christians were first 
 taken up, and, afterwards, on their depositions, an 
 immense multitude, convicted, less of having been 
 implicated in burning Rome, than of hating all 
 mankind." "The most obstinate skepticism," says 
 Gibbon, is compelled to respect the truth of this 
 extraordinary fact, which is further confirmed by 
 the accurate Suetonius, for that historian likewise 
 mentions the punishments inflicted by IN^ero on the 
 Christians." This was while Paul, and Peter, and 
 John, and other Apostles were still preaching the 
 
THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 55 
 
 Gospel. Pliny, an intimate friend of Tacitus, and 
 governor of Bythinia, having received direction 
 from Trajan to punish Christians, writes to his 
 imperial master, '^What must I, then, do? The 
 case appears to me very serious, especially on 
 account of the vast number of persons of both 
 sexes, of every rank and age, who are already or 
 will be under persecution. It is not merely in the 
 cities that this superstition has spread, but also in 
 the towns and villages, and even in the rural 
 districts.'^ 
 
 Justin Martyr, a little later, reminds the Jew 
 that " there are some countries in which none of 
 his nation ever dwelt ; but there is not so much as 
 one nation of men, whether Greek or barbarian, 
 Scythian or Arabian, amongst whom prayers and 
 thanksgivings are not offered up to the Father 
 through the name of Jesus Crucitied." Tertullian, 
 only a few years later, writes to the Eoman authori- 
 ties, " We are but of yesterday, and we have filled 
 your empire — all that is yours — towns, islands, 
 fortresses, municipal towns, market-places, the 
 senate, the forum. We have only left you the 
 temples. We can make war upon you without 
 taking arms; it is enough not to live with you; 
 for if the Christians, who compose so great a mul- 
 titude, should abandon you and retire into some 
 other country, it would be the ruin of your power, 
 and you would be terrified at your own solitude.'' 
 Again he says, " The Gothic nations, the various 
 Moorish tribes, all the regions of Spain and Gaul, 
 and places in Britain inaccessible to the Eomaus, 
 
56 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 have been subjected to Christ, as well as the Sar- 
 matians, Dacians, Germans, Scythians, and nations 
 yet unknown." What a stretch of credulity it 
 must require to believe that all these countless 
 Christians, found over the whole world, permitted 
 all sorts of legendary traditions and forgeries to 
 be added to the sacred books in their hands, 
 and then i)ersisted with unvarying unanimity in 
 asserting that they possessed the very writings 
 of the inspired Apostles ! Well might Thiersch 
 say, " We must avow, that incredulity in reference 
 to the first canon, when persisted in, requires the' 
 admission of such incredible and preposterous 
 things, that, in comparison with such gullibility, 
 the blindest belief of some Christians in certain 
 miraculous legends is a mere trifle." 
 
 In the second place, no fact in history is better 
 attested than the public reading of the New Testa- 
 ment in these innumerable and widely- scattered 
 assemblies. Such indeed was the direction of the 
 Apostles themselves, as when Paul says to the 
 Thessalonians, in the first Epistle he wrote, "I 
 charge you by the Lord, that this epistle be read 
 unto all the holy brethren," (1 Thess. v. 27), and 
 to the Colossians, "When this epistle is read 
 among you, cause that it be read also in the 
 church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise 
 read the eiustle from Laodicea," (Col. iv. 16). 
 Accordingly Justin Martyr, in his Apology to 
 the Emperor Antoninus, describing the Christian 
 assemblies, says, " On the day called Sunday, 
 there is a gathering to the same place of all who 
 
THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 57 
 
 live either in the towns or country, and then the 
 memoirs of the Apostles, or the writings of the 
 prophets, are read as long as the time allows. 
 Then, when the reader has finished, the president, 
 by an address, makes an exhortation and an appeal 
 to i^rompt to an imitation of these noble examples." 
 Such was the universal custom, as formed by Jew- 
 ish Christians in the synagogues, as taught by the 
 positive command of the Apostles, as arising from 
 the nature and necessity of the early gatherings of 
 believers, as kept up by God's people to this day; 
 and surely no sane man will assert that it would 
 have been possible to introduce fictions, and for- 
 geries, and all sorts of traditionary legends, into 
 writings that were publicly read, at least every 
 week, in thousands of different places. Such a 
 thing could not be done now in any country of 
 Christendom, and certainly it could not have been 
 done then in all the countries of the known world, 
 without discovery. 
 
 In the third place, not only were copies of the 
 four Gospels and the Epistles found everywhere 
 throughout the Roman empire, but they were so 
 constantly quoted by contemxiorary and subse- 
 quent writers as to justify the remark of Lardner, 
 that were we to collect all the passages of the E^ew 
 Testament cited in the works of TertuUian alone, 
 who wrote in the second century, " their amount 
 would be greater than all the quotations made 
 from Cicero during two thousand years by all 
 writers that are known to exist." Polycarp, for 
 example, a disciple of the Apostles, in a letter 
 
58 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 whose authenticity is not denied, written only four 
 years after the death of John, quotes extensively 
 and accurately from the Gospels and nearly all the 
 Epistles. Ignatius, who was of John's hearers, 
 does the same thing. Papias, who was also one of 
 John's hearers, directly attributes the Apocalypse 
 to the Apostle. Clement, of Eome, who is men- 
 tioned by Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians, 
 wrote a long letter, which has been preserved, and 
 which is full of references to the various books of 
 the New Testament. 
 
 The extent to which these quotations were made 
 in the early ages of the Church may be inferred 
 from the following striking fact stated in the 
 Memoirs of Eobert Haldane, a Scotch gentleman 
 of wealth and learning, and withal an eminent 
 Christian : " There is an interesting anecdote, 
 which was related by the late Eev. Dr. Walter 
 Buchanan, with reference to the means which 
 seems to have been provided in order to secure 
 the Kew Testament either from interpolation or 
 corruption : ' I was dining,' said Dr. Buchanan, 
 ' some time ago, with a literary party at old Mr. 
 Abercromby's, of Tulloby, (the father of Sir Ealph 
 Abercromby, who was slain in Egypt), and we 
 spent the evening together. A gentleman present 
 put a question which puzzled the whole company. 
 It was this : Supposing all the New Testaments 
 in the world had been destroyed at the end of the 
 third century, could their contents have been 
 recovered from the writings of the three first cen- 
 turies? The question was novel to all, and no 
 
THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 59 
 
 one even hazarded a guess in answer to the 
 inquiry.' 
 
 * About two months after this meeting I received 
 an invitation to breakfast with Lord Hailes next 
 morning. He had been of the party. During 
 breakfast he asked me if I recollected the curious 
 question about the possibility of recovering the 
 contents of the New Testament from the writings 
 of the three first centuries ? ' I remember it well, 
 and have thought of it often without being able to 
 form an opinion or conjecture on the subject.' 
 *Weil/ said Lord Hailes, Uhat question quite 
 accorded with the turn or taste of my antiquarian 
 mind. On returning home, as I knew I had all the 
 writers of those centuries, I began immediately to 
 collect them, that I might set to work on the ardu- 
 ous task as soon as possible.' Pointing to a table 
 covered with x^pers, he said, ' There have I been 
 busy for these two months, searching for chapters, 
 half chapters, and sentences of the New Testa- 
 ment, and have marked down what I found, and 
 where I have found it, so that any person may 
 examine and see for himself. I have actually dis- 
 covered the whole New Testament, except seven or 
 eleven verses (I forget which), which satisfies me 
 that I could discover them also. Now,' said he, 
 * here was a way in which God concealed, or hid, 
 the treasures of His word, that Julian, the apos- 
 tate Emperor, and other enemies of Christ who 
 wished to extirpate the Gospel from the world, 
 never would have thought of; and though they had, 
 thev never could have effected their destruction !' 
 
60 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 Again it may be asked, could a book so revered, 
 so loved, so quoted, so guarded, so universally 
 and constantly and publicly rsad, become corrui^t 
 by the addition of forgeries and all sorts of 
 legendary traditions ? Imx^ossible. 
 
 In the fourth place, the early heathen and hereti- 
 cal writers never thought of denying the authen- 
 ticity of the books of the New Testament. Celsus, 
 who wrote against Christianity in the first half of 
 the second century, or less than fifty years after 
 the death of John, boasted that he would bring all 
 his arguments from the Scriptures, and not only 
 quoted plentifully from the four Gospels, but from 
 the Epistles. If these Gospels had been formed 
 from time to time by all sorts of legendary tradi- 
 tions and inventions of various and unknown 
 writers, would not the keen intellect of Celsus 
 have instantly discovered it? Would not the 
 calmer and more philosophic Porphyry, who wrote 
 in the next century against the Christians, have 
 known it? Would not the bitter and vindictive 
 Julian, who wrote in the succeeding century, have 
 taunted the Christians with the worthlessness of 
 their records ? But on the other hand, they bear 
 witness to the genuineness of the Gospel history 
 by never questioning the authorship of its books. 
 In like manner the various heretical sects, that 
 soon appeared to the number of more than thirty, 
 led on by Marcion, Tatian, Valentine, Heracleon, 
 Basilides, and others, are unanimous in certifying 
 to the existence of the canon as we have it, and to 
 its divine authority in the churches. They might 
 
THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 61 
 
 object to this and that book on account of teach- 
 ings that were in conflict with their own views, but 
 they did not pretend to deny that all of the books 
 of the New Testament were written by the men to 
 whom they are ascribed; nor did they dream of 
 the theory which now calls these sacred books 
 '' myths." 
 
 In the fifth place, the style of the canonical 
 books can be distinguished in an instant by its 
 solemnity and sublimity and heavenly influence 
 and commanding authority, from all that is spuri- 
 ous and legendary. In the earlier part of the pres- 
 ent century, William Hone brought out, in London, 
 a cheap edition of The Apocryphal Gospels, which 
 was afterwards reprinted in this country. He was 
 known as " the arch-blasphemer." For thirty years 
 he was an Atheist, " as," he declares, " I believe 
 every consistent reasoner must be, who rejects 
 Christianity." He attained great popularity as a 
 writer, and acquired immense influence by his 
 advocacy of radical reform. At length he was 
 prosecuted by the government for blasphemy, but 
 he conducted his own defense for three days before 
 Lord Ellenborough, in the presence of vast crowds ; 
 and such was his consummate ability that, despite 
 the earnest efforts of the crown, he was acquitted 
 amid the applause of the people. " When I found," 
 he remarked to a friend, " what an outcry there 
 was against me on account of the Apocryphal 
 Gospels, I set to work to read the canonical Gos- 
 pels, and, oh ! what a flood of light burst in upon 
 me ! And thus I became a convert to Christianity 
 
62 IS iHB BIBLE true! 
 
 from conviction." From that time until he fell 
 asleep in Jesus, at an advanced, age, his faith and 
 hope and love never forsook him, and the following- 
 verses, written on the fly-leaf of his i>recious Bible, 
 contain his confession : 
 
 " The proudest heart that ever beat, 
 
 Hath been subdued in me ; 
 The wildest will that ever rose 
 To scorn Thy word, or aid Thy foes, 
 
 Is quelled, my God, by Thee. 
 
 Thy will, and not my will be done ; 
 
 My heart be ever Thine ! 
 Confessing Thee, the mighty 'Word,' 
 I hail Thee, Christ, ray God, my Lord, 
 
 And make Thy name my sign." 
 
 In the sixth place, the language ol the New 
 Testament, and its constant and minute references 
 to persons, places, customs, and historical facts, 
 still further establishes its authenticity. Its 
 language is Hebraic-Greek, or Greek intermixed 
 with Hebraic peculiarities and idioms, such as was 
 spoken in Palestine. It is not the pure and ele- 
 gant Greek of the classic writers, but precisely 
 the language we would expect from those who are 
 the reputed authors of the book. " We may go 
 still further, and assert not only that the language 
 of the Greek Testament accords with the situation 
 of the persons to whom it is ascribed, but that it 
 could not have been used by any person or persons 
 who were in a different situation from that of the 
 Apostles and evang^elists. It was necessary to 
 have lived in the hrst century, and to have been 
 
THE CANON OF TWE NEW TESTAMENT. 63 
 
 educated in Judea, or in Galilee, or in some adja- 
 cent country, to be enabled to write such a com- 
 pound language as that of the Greek Testament." 
 So we find the writers referring, without the 
 slightest hesitancy, and in the most undisguised 
 manner, to various localities, and historical events, 
 and prominent individuals, as Augustus, Herod, 
 Agrippa, Pilate, Festus, Felix, Cornelius, Julius, a 
 centurion of Augustus' band ; yet with the single 
 exception of the statement about the taxing of the 
 Jews under Cyrenius, so far as now remembered, 
 the i^erfect accuracy of their testimony is not even 
 questioned. Indeed, many books have been written, 
 by Paley and others, setting forth the "unde- 
 signed coincidences " that have been gathered by 
 comparing the sacred writers with each other, and 
 that leave upon an unprejudiced mind no shadow 
 of doubt concerning their honesty and strict truth- 
 fulness, even in the minutest particulars. Is this 
 the custom of men who are guilty of forgery, and 
 are oifering to the world a narrative of pretended 
 facts that are only inventions of their own '? Yet 
 the distinct charge of Strauss is, that the four Gos- 
 pels are " not the accounts of eye-witnesses, but 
 only fragmentary notes recorded by men who lived 
 at a distance from the events, and who, though 
 they penned down many authentic notices and 
 speeches, collected also all sorts of legendary tradi- 
 tions, and embellished them in i^art by inventions of 
 their own." It is far easier to believe the most 
 stupendous miracle recorded in the Bible than such 
 nonsense as that. 
 
64 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 Let US suppose that a book is published the 
 present year, purporting to contain the speeches 
 and acts of Congress that met one hundred years 
 ago, while it is made up of all sorts of legendary 
 traditions and inventions of the writer or writers. 
 What would be the probability of its success? 
 None whatever. The judges, and lawyers, and 
 l)oliticians, and learned men, would instantly say, 
 it was never heard of before, and they would dis- 
 miss it with merited contempt. But this is only a 
 feeble illustration of the impossible thing which 
 Strauss asks us to believe without the slightest 
 evidence. We have already seen that twenty-two 
 of the books of the New Testament, just as we 
 have them, were widely disseminated and read 
 during the life-time of the Apostles, and extensively 
 quoted by various writers immediately after the 
 death of John. Yet according to the theory of 
 Strauss, we must suppose that men, who lived at 
 a distance from the events narrated, succeeded so 
 easily and so universally in imposing all sorts of 
 legendary traditions and inventions of their own 
 upon all the Christians, that their forgeries were 
 not even i^erceived. We must suppose that, not- 
 withstanding the intense love exhibited by the 
 early disciples for their sacred writings, notwith- 
 standing the watchful jealousy that led some of 
 them to hold in abeyance a few of the minor books 
 of the New Testament until their authenticity was 
 established by the most conclusive evidence, so 
 immediately and completely did these spurious 
 productions sweep away all that had been 
 
THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 65 
 
 previously accepted and revered as genuine, that no 
 question was ever raised concerning them by friend 
 or foe. Finally we must suppose that the forgery 
 was so perfect, it has never been detected by the 
 keenest criticism of eighteen hundred years, a 
 criticism far more searching and unsparing than 
 was ever bestowed upon any book, or ^11 the books 
 of the world. He who can believe this can believe 
 the most astounding miracle, not only without 
 testimony, but in the face of all testimony. 
 
 In the seventh place, if the Gospel narratives 
 were written by persons who lived at a distance 
 from the events, who collected all sorts of legend- 
 ary traditions, and embellished them in part by 
 inventions of their own, the history of the world 
 during the past fifteen centuries is founded on a 
 lie, for the history of the Church is the history of 
 the world. All the mighty stimulus to the intellect 
 confessedly found in the New Testament, all of 
 its stirring incentives to enterprise and progress, 
 all of its emancipating j)ower from the bondage 
 of terror, all of its associations with liberty, 
 all of its elevating and hallowed influence upon 
 home and society, all of its attractiveness that has 
 won the admiration of the noblest minds, all of its 
 sweet consolations that have ministered so long and 
 so often to the hearts of the sinful and sorrowing, 
 all of the examples it has furnished of super- 
 human courage, and unselfish devotion, and of 
 willing sacrifice for the good of our race, and of 
 sustained holiness amid temptations and trials, all 
 of the joy it has brought to the dying, as the name 
 4 
 
66 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 of Jesus has caused the pallid lip to smile, and the 
 dim eye to kindle, all, all is a delusion, or the 
 triumph of forgery ! Surely the skeptic who is so 
 fond of exalting the laws of nature that he attempts 
 to dethrone nature's Law-giver, must see that if 
 Strauss is correct, the laws of nature that govern 
 the human mind have been constantly violated, 
 under the government of a righteous God, to sus- 
 tain a monstrous fraud and falsehood. 
 
 Only a short time since, Joseph Barker died in 
 the faith of the Gospel, trusting simj^ly in the 
 blood of Christ to wash away his deep and 
 accumulated guilt. For many years he was a 
 leading Deist, lecturing throughout Great Britain 
 and the United States, perfectly familiar with the 
 arguments of Strauss and other infidels, and chal- 
 lenging every minister, whose attention he could 
 engage, to public discussion. On one occasion 
 when he was leaving his house to stand before the 
 people as an ambassador of Satan, his little child 
 followed him to the door and said, ^'' God bless you, 
 Papa." That little voice, he afterwards declared, 
 kept ringing in his heart. *' God bless me !" he 
 exclaimed; ^' God bless me for what? God bless 
 me in what? For hating His Son? In seeking to 
 destroy His word ?" Kor could he get rid of that 
 voice until he bowed at the feet of the crucified but 
 risen Jesus, and found jDardon and salvation for 
 the chief of sinners. 
 
 Dear friends, may the voice of some little child, 
 a voice it may be you will hear no more, reach 
 to-night any who are skeptical, and echo the gentle 
 
THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 67 
 
 and entreating voice that still says, "Come nnto 
 me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I 
 will give you rest." But whether you heed the 
 voice of Jesus, or turn away from it in unbelief 
 and indifference ; whether you accept at last His 
 own word, that all your hatred can not change His 
 pity nor chill His love, or persist in your enmity 
 to One who has never wronged you j whether 
 you permit Him to make you happy here and 
 hereafter, or choose to go your own way into a 
 dark eternity, let His unworthy servant say in all 
 sincerity and afl^ection, " God bless you, God bless 
 you." 
 
III. 
 
 THE CHARACTER OF JESUS. 
 
 WITH regard to tlie present discussion, it is of 
 no consequence whether the four Gospels 
 were composed by the authors to whom they are 
 ascribed, or by persons of whom the world has 
 never heard. Nor is it of importance to inquire 
 whether the history is " true and reliable as a 
 whole, and in its details," or whether its writers 
 " collected all sorts of legendary traditions, and 
 embellished them in part by inventions of their 
 own." Whatever conclusion infidels may choose 
 to reach concerning such questions, the undeniable 
 fact still remains that in the Gospels we find the 
 portrait of a character, which is the most marvel- 
 ous miracle of the ages. If there was a real person 
 whose likeness is here accurately drawn. He Him- 
 self is the greatest of miracles ; if it is only a fancy 
 sketch at which we are called to look, the genius 
 to paint the i)icture is a still greater miracle, were 
 it i)Ossible ; as " the inventor," Eousseau well 
 says, " would be a more astonishing character 
 than the hero." 
 
 Strauss begins his "Historical Outline of the 
 Life of Jesus" by referring to the influence of 
 "Judaism," and of "Greco-Roman cultivation;" 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JESUS. 69 
 
 but it is clear that Jesus is not the fruit or result 
 of either. The former, iu the sense in which 
 Strauss understands it, as a mere human culture 
 and development, found its expression and mani- 
 fested its vitality, at the time Jesus was horn, 
 in the three sects of Pharisees, Sadducees, and 
 Essenes. But according to the biographers of 
 Christ, He was in sharp conflict with the two first 
 through the whole of his brief public ministry, 
 and with the asceticism and mysticism of the last 
 it is obvious at a glance that He had no sympathy 
 whatever. As to Greco- Eoman cultivation, Strauss 
 admits " it shows itself in the resemblance of the 
 Greek gods to men," and then adds, " It was pre- 
 cisely because the Divinity did not confront the 
 Greek in the form of a commanding law, that the 
 Greek was compelled to be a law to himself: 
 because he did not, like the Jew, see his whole life 
 ordered for him, step by step, by religious ordi- 
 nance, he was compelled to seek for a moral rule 
 within his own mind. That this was a difficult 
 I)roblem, that the way to the solution of it led over 
 dangerous ground, we see by the corruption of 
 morals which broke iu over the Greek nation after 
 the most brilliant and flourishing age, by the arbi- 
 trary manner in which the contemporary Sophists 
 confounded all moral notions," (Yol. I. p. 244). 
 
 It is true that Judaism in its sacred books had 
 spoken repeatedly of the coming of a mighty and 
 even a divine Deliverer, from the day the promise 
 was made to the fallen parents of our race, that 
 the seed of the woman should bruise the head of 
 
70 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 the tempter (Gen. iii. 15). The extraordinary man- 
 ner of His birth is told, as when it is said, " Behold^ 
 a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall 
 call his name Immanuel,'' (Isa. vii. 14; Matt. i. 23). 
 The place of His nativity is mentioned, as when it 
 is said, " Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou 
 be little among the thousands of Judah, 3 et out of 
 thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler 
 in Israel 5 whose goings forth have been from of 
 old, from everlasting," (Mic. v. 2 ; Matt. ii. 6). His 
 remarkable character and career are described in 
 glowing language, as when it is said, " Unto us a 
 child is born, unto us a son is given, and the gov- 
 ernment shall be upon his shoulders -, and his name 
 shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty 
 God, The everlasting Father [or rather the Father 
 of the ages to come], The Prince of Peace. Of the 
 increase of his government and peace there shall 
 be no end, u]3on the throne of David, and upon his 
 kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with 
 judgment and with justice, from henceforth even 
 forever," (Isa. ix. 6, 7). To these i^assages might 
 be added scores of quotations from the ancient 
 writings of the Jews, distinctly predicting both the 
 leading events and the minutest incidents in the 
 life, teachings, works, betrayal, suiferings, death, 
 resurrection, and second coming of the promised 
 Messiah ; and Strauss imagines that such predic- 
 tions suggested to the forgers or inventors of 
 the Gospel history the propriety of having them 
 fultilled by Jesus of Nazareth. But it will be 
 observed that nowhere in the writings of the Jews 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JESUS. 71 
 
 do we learn liow a virgin is to conceive, and bring 
 forth a son, whose name indicated that He was 
 Immanuel, God manifest in the flesh. The invent- 
 ors of the New Testament history were left to their 
 own invention to solve the mystery. 
 
 It is true that Greco-Eoman cultivation ever and 
 anon sounded a faint j)relude of the song of incar- 
 nation, and told out the longings of many an 
 earnest spirit, as that of Socrates, for the descent 
 of Deity to the earth, when its mythology described 
 the birth of beings half human and half divine. 
 But these beings were invariably associated with 
 stories that were coarse, and low, aud sensual, and 
 shameful; for they were represented as the off- 
 spring of gods who had become fascinated with the 
 beauty of mortal women. Greco-Roman cultiva- 
 tion, at the very height of its splendid attainments, 
 could not rise to the thought of its divinities as 
 exempt from h uman vices ; for having none other 
 than a human standard by which to form an esti- 
 mate of the superior intelligences, it necessarily 
 attributed to the unknown gods the weaknesses of 
 men, and then experienced the inevitable reaction 
 in an ever-increasing immorality, that at last swept 
 like a flood over the two proudest empires of 
 antiquity. The revolting sketch which Paul draws 
 in the first chapter of his Epistle to the Eomans 
 of the state of Greek and Eoman society is pre- 
 sented in still darker colors by heathen and infidel 
 writers. Rousseau, for example, tells us that ^' the 
 paganism of the ancient workl produced, indeed, 
 abominable gods, who on earth would have been 
 
72 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 shunned or punished as monsters, and wlio offered, 
 as a picture of supreme haj^piness, only crimes to 
 commit, and passions to satiate.^' 
 
 How comes it, then, that the inventors of the 
 Gospel history, rude, uneducated, belonging to the 
 lowest class, and living at an age of universal vice 
 and corruption, brought their Deity to earth in a 
 way that has never yet shocked the sensibilities of 
 the purest and most refined ! Their statement is 
 that the angel Gabriel said to the virgin, "Fear 
 not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. 
 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and 
 bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus 
 [the Lord of Salvation]. He shall be great, and 
 shall be called the Son of the Highest : and the 
 Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his 
 father David : and he shall reign over the house of 
 Jacob forever ; and of his kingdom there shall be 
 no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How 
 shall this be, seeing I know not a man ? And the 
 angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost 
 shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest 
 shall overshadow thee ; therefore that holy thing 
 which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son 
 of God," (Luke i. 30-35). This is the whole of the 
 wondrous story, and while it can not cause in the 
 most unsullied soul the slightest shrinking, the 
 most debased dare not tarnish it with a breath of 
 j)ollution. Nothing could be more delicate, more 
 modest, more entirely elevated above all taint of 
 earth ; and the bitterest skeptic, who retains a 
 particle of decency or self-respect will bow before 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JESUS. 73 
 
 the awful mystery in silence, if not with the hom- 
 age of veneration. Even Strauss, cold, unfeeling, 
 unsparing in his savage criticism, does not hesitate 
 to say, " The view that Jesus was begotten by the 
 Holy Ghost in the womb of a virgin might indeed, 
 as ai)ove explained, be reconciled with the Jewish 
 idea of God, by the exclusion of every sensuous 
 element from the conception," (Vol. II. p. 55). 
 
 The same amazing skill and utter separation from 
 all that is gross or grotesque, we at once discover 
 in the brief allusion of the Gospel history to the 
 childhood of Jesus. We are told that '' the child 
 grew, and waxed strong in si)irit, filled with wis- 
 dom ; and the grace of God was uj)on him." When 
 twelve years of age, he is represented as accom- 
 panying Joseph and Mary to Jerusalem at the feast 
 of the passover, and on their way home he was 
 missed from the group of their kinsfolk and ac- 
 quaintance, with whom they supposed he was 
 travelling. Eeturning to the city, "after three 
 days they found him in the temple, sitting in the 
 midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and ask- 
 ing them questions." There was nothing pert, 
 nothing offensive in His manner, nothing that 
 assumed superiority, nothing that was done for 
 display or effect ; and hence the only record is, 
 " all that heard him were astonished at his under- 
 standing and answers." His mother reproved Him 
 for the anxiety and sorrow she had felt on account 
 of His absence, and He replied, " How is it that ye 
 sought me ? wist ye not that I must be about my 
 Father's business I Mary understood not what 
 
74 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ? 
 
 He meant, and He went down with her and Joseph, 
 " and came to Kazareth, and was subject unto 
 them : but his mother kept all these sayings in her 
 heart," yLuke ii. 40-51). Such is the reference to 
 His childhood ; " and in this respect," says Horace 
 Bushnell, '' the early character of Jesus is a picture 
 that stands by its. If. In no other case, that we 
 remember, has it ever entered the mind of a 
 biographer, in drawing a character, to represent it 
 as beginning with a spotless childhood. . . . 
 Commonly a certain pleasure is taken in showing 
 how the many wayward sallies of the boy are, at 
 length, reduced by discipline to the character of 
 wisdom, justice, and x^ublic heroism so much 
 admired. Besides, if any writer, of almost any 
 age, will undertake to describe, not merely a si)ot- 
 less, but a superhuman or celestial childhood, not 
 having the reality before him, he must be somewhat 
 more than human himself, if he does not pile 
 together a mass of clumsy exaggerations, and draw 
 and overdraw, till neither heaven nor earth can 
 find any veri-similitude in the i)icture," (Nature 
 and the Supernatural, p. 280). 
 
 That this is true will be admitted by all who are 
 familiar with the manner in which heathen writers 
 of antiquity treated the childhood of their demi- 
 gods, or with the description given by Josephus of 
 the childhood of Moses, or with the stories told of 
 the childhood of Jesus in the Apocryphal Gospels, 
 that were undoubtedlj^ written by well-meaning men 
 very near the time of the Apostles. These last 
 state that Mary gave to the wise men from the 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JESUS. 75 
 
 East one of her Infant's swaddling cloths, which, 
 on their return to their own country, they wor- 
 shipped, and then cast it into the fire, but it was 
 not consumed ; that having washed the swaddling 
 cloths and hung them on a post to dry, a son of the 
 chief priest put one on his head, and being posses- 
 sed of devils, they left him ; that Jesus, kissed by 
 a bride made dumb by sorceries, cured her; that 
 a leprous girl was cured by water in which He 
 was washed; that a young man who had been 
 bewitched, and turned into a mule, was cured by 
 Jesus being put on his back, and was married to 
 the girl healed of leprosy ; that He caused a well 
 to spring from a sycamore tree, and Mary washed 
 His coat in it, and balsam grew there from His 
 sweat; that a girl, having received one of His 
 swaddling cloths from the Virgin, she showed it to 
 Satan, who had sucked her blood, and flames and 
 burning coals proceeded from it, and fell upon him ; 
 that He made clay birds, and caused them to fly; 
 that He turned His playfellows into kids; that He 
 killed a boy who had broken down His fish pools, 
 and another boy who ran against Him ; that, 
 refusing to say His letters, He withered the hand 
 of the school-master who intended to whip Him, 
 and struck him dead ; and tliat He i)erformed, as a 
 child, a vast number of similar miracles, which it 
 would be too tedious and too painful to mention. 
 The question instantly arises, why did not Matthew, 
 Mark, Luke, and John, record such repulsive fables 
 of His childhood, or if they did not write the four 
 Gospels, why did the forgers, who " collected all 
 
76 IS THE BIBLE TRUE 1 
 
 sorts of legendary traditions, and embellished them 
 in part by inventions of their own," so carefully 
 refrain, against the whole spirit of their age, from 
 one word that could cause the holiest and most 
 cultivated of men to experience even a momentary 
 recoil? There is nothing inappropriate, nothing 
 impossible to a child in their narrative; but the 
 single glimpse they give us of His early days is in 
 striking harmony with His birth, and with His 
 entire character. All is beautiful, all is perfect, all 
 is divine. 
 
 " When," as Strauss says, " after these prepara- 
 tory considerations, we attempt to aj)proach nearer 
 to the Person of Him for whom it was reserved to 
 pronounce the word which was to solve the riddle 
 of the struggling time," (Vol. I. p. 252), and come 
 to consider His public life, whatever view may be 
 taken of that life, it remains before the world a 
 miracle, in comx:>arison with which every other 
 miracle is of little moment. We behold a meek 
 and lowly man coming forth from the obscure and 
 despised village of Nazareth, the reputed son of a 
 carpenter, without education, without a knowledge, 
 so far as the record goes, of a single book com- 
 posed by any of the masters of human thought 
 who had preceded Him. " And yet this Jesus of 
 Nazareth," as Schaff, a German fully the equal of 
 Strauss in intellect and literary attainments, well 
 says, " without money and arms, conquered more 
 millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed, and 
 Napoleon; without science and learning, he shed 
 more light on things human and divine thjin all 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JESUS. 77 
 
 philosophers and scholars combined ; without the 
 eloquence of schools, he spoke such words of life 
 as were never spoken before or since, and produced 
 effects which lie beyond the reach of any orator or 
 poet; without writing a single line, he set more 
 pens in motion, and furnished themes for more 
 sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, 
 works of art, and sweet songs of praise, than the 
 whole army of great men of ancient and modern 
 times. Born in a manger, and crucified as a male- 
 factor, he now controls the destinies of the civilized 
 world, and rules a spiritual empire which embraces 
 one-third of the inhabitants of the globe," (Person 
 of Christ, p. 49). 
 
 Renan says of Him, '' Neither directly nor indi- 
 rectly, did any element of Hellenic culture make 
 its way to Jesus ;'^ and " happily for him, he knew 
 no more of the gro,tesque scholasticism which was 
 taught at Jerusalem, and which was soon to con- 
 stitute the Talmud," (Life of Jesus, p. 75). Having 
 received, therefore, none of the advantages of 
 mental training in any school, sect, or party, He 
 began His public career by gathering around Him 
 a few unlettered fishermen. That career continued 
 for only three years, and then abruptly terminated 
 on the cross, while He was still almost a youth, 
 and before the period when other men, as a rule, 
 have wrought achievements that leave the faintest 
 foot-prints on the sands of time. Daring the brief 
 interval His associates were very often the disrepu- 
 table, stigmatized as " publicans and sinners," and 
 generally the poor, with the exception of " Joanna, 
 
78 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward," and Joseph of 
 Arimathea, a rich man of whom it is recorded that 
 he was " a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of 
 the Jews." B ut He never uttered a word th at could 
 tend to make the poor dissatisfied with their condi- 
 tion, or envious of those in a higher rank, as shown 
 by the fact that to this day Red Republicans and 
 Communists, clamoring for a reform that would 
 spare nothing of the past, and contending for what 
 they call the rights of humanity in the forcible 
 uplifting of the masses, and the violent levelling of 
 social distinctions, hate Him as the greatest 
 obstacle in the way of accomplishing their reck- 
 less schemes, and of realiziijg their wilder dreams. 
 He was then neither radical nor conservative, but 
 l^ursued his mission apart from all the distractions 
 of earthly questions, " like ships in seas, while in, 
 above the world ;" like an unsoiled sunbeam i^ass- 
 ing through a dirty moat surrounding the castle 
 of divine truth. 
 
 Thus refusing to become identified with any caste 
 or strife of temporal interest. His was the broadest ^ 
 and most universal life crowded into those three 
 immense years that has ever been known. Other 
 great men are generally bounded by national lines 
 and aims ; and indeed it is by the very intensity of 
 their national ambition and devotion they .usually 
 attain their greatness. Strauss closes his preface 
 to the Life of Jesus by saying, " I joyfully hailed 
 the work of Renan on its appearance, when my 
 own was nearly completed, as the sign of a gen- 
 erally felt want ; on closer acquaintance I accept 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JESUS. 79 
 
 it respectfully, and though by no means tempted 
 by its example to alter my own plan, I may say that 
 all I wish is to have written a book as suitable for 
 Germany as Kenan's is for France." He does not 
 seem to rise in his purpose above a book that will 
 do for Germany what he expects Eenan's book to 
 do for France ; but Jesus, against whom he hurls 
 his poisoned darts with such relentless ferocity, 
 embraces Germany and France and all the world in 
 His far-reaching love. Frederick the Great was 
 nothing except to Prussia ; Wellington was mighty 
 only for Old England; Kapoleon bound the glory 
 of France to the chariot of his vaulting ambition ; 
 even Washington can not touch the heart of one 
 who believes in the divine right of kings, and the 
 advantages of monarchy ; while Jesus addresses 
 men of all climes and races with equal directness 
 and sympathy and i)ower. Shakspeare is perhaps 
 the most cosmopolitan and many-sided of all unin- 
 spired writers ; and yet there are millions to whom 
 his words would have no significance, because they 
 are too illiterate to feel any admiration for the play 
 of his poetic genius, or too stolid under the pressure 
 of hard toil and wearing anxiety and heavy sorrow 
 to care for the entertainment he furnishes in his 
 wonderful delineations of human character. But 
 mention the race, or the class in societ}^, or the 
 individual in any continent or on any island, to 
 whom the sayings of Jesus, as recorded in the 
 four Gosi^els, would be inappropriately addressed. 
 They are daily read in Greenland, and Lapland, 
 and China, and India, and Africa, and the capitals 
 
80 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 of Europe, and. arnoDg North American Indians, 
 touching, as if with the finger of God, every con- 
 science, and finding a response in every heart. 
 The king in his palace and the doomed prisoner in 
 his cell, the profound philosopher and the ignorant 
 peasant, the leader of armies and the slave in his 
 fetters, the spirit bright with gladness and the soul 
 sinking beneath a burden of grief, have for eighteen 
 centuries hung over these sayings with personal 
 concern, and derived from them light and strength 
 and solace and victory. And is this the work of 
 unknown men, who " collected all sorts of legend- 
 ary traditions, and embellished them in part by 
 inventions of their own f 
 
 Advancing in our investigation, we are at once 
 struck with the humility and modesty of His bear- 
 ing, as described in the Gospel history. According 
 to the record He never manifested the least ostenta- 
 tion, nor striving for effect, nor self-conceit. On 
 the other hand. He instantly impressed every 
 beholder by His unaffected lowliness. He sought 
 not the notice of the rich and powerful ; He courted 
 not the applause of the multitude ; He yielded not 
 to the threats and rage of those whose enmity was 
 roused by His solemn and searching words. On 
 one occasion when the fickle populace would have 
 crowned Him as their expected Deliverer from the 
 yoke of Eoman oppression. He retired from their 
 view ; on another occasion when they thought the 
 Kingdom of God would immediately appear. He 
 uttered a parable that indicated His withdrawal 
 into a far country to receive for Hi^mself a 
 
THE CHARACTER OP JESUS. 81 
 
 Kingdom, which He would win in the face of His 
 rejection by His own citizens ; and on still another 
 occasion, when their Hosannas rent the air. 
 He knew they were tuning their voices for the 
 frenzied shout, ^' Crucify him, Crucify him." So 
 indifferent was He to public opinion that many of 
 His mightiest works, which would have convinced 
 the doubtful, and silenced the cavilling, He straitly 
 commanded should not be made known ; and as far 
 as possible, He shunned the gaze of the curious 
 crowd, save when called to walk the open i)ath of 
 obedience to the Father's will. His favorite resorts 
 were the lonely mountain side, the sea-shore, with 
 the melody of its waves, or the houses of the 
 humble f and so quiet, so gentle, so far from dis- 
 play were His movements, He is declared to have 
 fulfilled the Scripture, " He shall not strive, nor 
 cry ; neither shall any man hear his voice in the 
 streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and 
 smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth 
 judgment unto victory," (Matt. xii. 19, 20). No 
 skeptic, however eager his search to discover 
 imperfection in the narrative of His life, has ever 
 yet accused Him of vanity ; for His own testimony 
 and that of His Ai)ostles are self-evident, " I came 
 down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but 
 the will of him that sent me," (John vi. 38) ; and 
 " even Christ pleased not himself," (Eom. xv. 3). 
 
 But with all this. His assertions concerning His 
 
 relation to God, and His claim upon the confidence, 
 
 the love, the worship, and the entire devotedness 
 
 of every member of our race, are indeed amazing, 
 
 5 
 
82 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 and altogether unaccountable and monstrous and 
 blasphemous, if He is reduced to any merely human 
 classification. Here it is important to notice the 
 remarkable admission of Strauss when he says, 
 " In the history of his public life, there is, as the 
 analysis contained in the former book has shown, 
 much that must be recognized as historical both in 
 the facts, and especially in the speeches of Jesiis,''^ 
 (Yol. II. p. 116). Much, then, must be recognized 
 as historical, that is, as truly related, especially in 
 the speeches of Jesus, for the intellect of Strauss 
 is far too keen not to perceive that it will hardly 
 do to trace the speeches scattered throughout the 
 Gospels to all sorts of legendary traditions, and 
 inventions of anonymous writers. With this im- 
 portant admission in view, let us glance at these 
 speeches, beginning with the Sermon on the Mount 
 which excites the admiration of Strauss. 
 
 We find Jesus, after pronouncing a blessing on 
 those who had never been blessed before, enlarging 
 the scope and deepening the significance of the law 
 proclaimed to Moses amid the imposing tokens of 
 Jehovah's presence, lifting it up into a higher 
 sphere, and adding to its requirements with the 
 calmness and assurance of the original Law-giver. 
 He then determines with absolute authority the 
 manner of bestowing alms, the question of prayer, 
 and the mode of fasting ; forbids anxious thought 
 about the things of this life ; lays a j)Ositive arrest 
 upon the common habit of harshly judging others j 
 reveals the fatherly character of God ; exposes the 
 deceptions of false teachers j declares that they 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JESITS. 83 
 
 will staud in jiidgmeut before Himself to bear the 
 sentence of their irrevocable doom ; and closes His 
 discourse by likening those who hear His sayings, 
 and do them, to a wise man who built his house 
 upon a rock, that no storm can shake, nor flood 
 sweep away. 
 
 A little later we hear Him announcing that man 
 must follow Him, and let the dead bury their dead, 
 (Matt. viii. 22) ; that He had power on earth to for- 
 give sins (Matt. ix. 6) ; that the destiny of the soul 
 for weal or for woe turns upon the confession of 
 His name before men 5 that the necessary result of 
 His mission to earth must be variance in every 
 household divided concerning His character ; that 
 He must be loved more than father or mother, 
 more than son or daughter, or life itself, (Matt. x. 
 32-39) ; that all things are delivered unto Him of 
 His Father, so that no man knoweth the Son, but 
 the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father, 
 save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will 
 reveal Him (Matt. xi. 27) ; that a greater than 
 Jonas is here, a greater than Solomon is here, 
 (Matt. xii. 41, 42); that during the period of His 
 rejection by Israel and His bodily absence from the 
 earth. His Kingdom will exist in mystery and con- 
 cealment, but at the end of the age He will send 
 forth His angels, and sever the wicked from the 
 righteous, (Matt, xiii.) ; that He can receive without 
 a murmur of disapproval the worship of men as the 
 Son of God, (Matt. xiv. 33) ; that all the evils which 
 defile the outward man flow from a depraved heart, 
 (Matt. XV. 19); that faith in Himself will gain any 
 
84 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 victory, (Matt. xv. 28) ; that His divinity is the 
 rock on which He will build His Church, and the 
 gates of hell shall not prevail against it, (Matt, 
 xvi. 18) 5 that no man can be His disciple unless he 
 is willing to renounce self, and take up the cross, 
 and follow Him unto death and glory, (Matt. xvi. 
 24-27), that His transfiguration was not to be 
 revealed before His sufferings, which He plainly 
 predicted, (Matt. xvii. 9-23); that a little child is 
 the symbol of true greatness, (Matt, xviii. 1-14) ; 
 that we may keep all the commandments of God, 
 and yet without supreme devotion to Himself lack 
 that which will secure eternal happiness, (Matt, 
 xix. 16-21) ; that the Son of Man came not to be 
 ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His 
 life a ransom for many, (Matt. xx. 28) ; that His 
 murder by the Jews would lead to their downfall 
 as a nation, (Matt. xxi. 33-44) ; that He is not only 
 David's son, but David's Lord, (Matt. xxii. 42-45) ; 
 that He would often have gathered the children 
 of Jerusalem together, as a hen gathereth her 
 chickens under her wings from the lowering storm 
 or swooping hawk, but they would not ; and as a 
 consequence their house is left unto them desolate, 
 until in the extremity of their woe they shall say. 
 Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, 
 (Matt, xxiii. 37-39) ; that there will be sorrows and 
 troubles and wars and rumors of wars during the 
 entire interval between His departure from the 
 earth and His return, when He shall come in His 
 glory, and all the holy angels with Him, and before 
 Him shall be gathered all nations, (Matt. xxiv. 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JESUS. 85 
 
 XXV.); that His blood is shed for many for the 
 remission of sins, and that hereafter He shall be 
 seen sitting on the right hand of power, and coming 
 in the clouds of heaven, (Matt. xxvi. 28, 64); that 
 according to the testimony of His enemies He fore- 
 told His resurrection, (Matt, xxvii. 63) ; and that 
 all power is given unto Him in heaven and in earth, 
 (Matt, xxviii. 18). 
 
 Such is a mere glimpse at some of the speeches 
 in the single Gospel of Matthew, of which Strauss 
 says, " We, as well as Baur, have always consid- 
 ered, and still do consider, the Gospel of Matthew 
 as the most original, and, comparatively speaking, 
 the most trustworthy. As regards the speeches 
 of Jesus in particular, notwithstanding all doubt 
 upon individual points, every one must admit that 
 we have them in the first Gospel, though not 
 unmixed with later additions and modifications, 
 still in a purer form than in any of the others," 
 (Vol. I. p. 152). But what shall be said of the 
 speeches just mentioned, so hastily and imper- 
 fectly, in this most trustworthy Gospel ? They are 
 found in every chapter, and mich are the amazing 
 assertions they contain and the high claims they 
 put forth, the only choice they leave is between a 
 belief in His true and proper divinity, and a belief 
 in the grossness and madness of His blasphemy. 
 Those who hold that He was a good man, and 
 nothing more, are utterly illogical and inconsistent; 
 for they go too far, or do not go far enough. He 
 constantly declared that He was far above man and 
 angels in demanding the faith and obedience of the 
 
86 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ! 
 
 race, in swaying the scepter of universal empire, in 
 coming at the last day to judge the world; and if 
 these startling declarations are not true. He is only 
 to be scorned as a base impostor, or despised and 
 pitied as a crazed enthusiast. Think of man or 
 angel assuming power to forgive sins ; summoning 
 the world to follow him against the tenderest calls 
 of natural affection, and the very instinct of self- 
 preservation ; bidding the laboring and heavy laden 
 of earth's toiling and sorrowful population come to 
 him for rest ; proclaiming his future advent after 
 death to sit in judgment upon countless genera- 
 tions, and to pronounce the sentence of eternity; 
 and how quickly the boundless effrontery and pre- 
 posterous conceit of such pretension would be 
 scouted ! Yet Jesus set up these pretensions, 
 and for eighteen hundred years they have been 
 acknowledged with adoring gratitude by millions 
 of all classes and races, embracing the most intel- 
 lectual, the most learned, the most holy, of the 
 human family, because it is instantly seen that 
 there is the most i^erfect agreement between His 
 lofty claim and His l»fty character. 
 
 The speeches recorded in the Gospel by Matthew 
 are in fullest harmony with those running through 
 the other Gospels, especially that written by John, 
 the authenticity of which Strauss particularly 
 assails, contrary to his friend Eenan and other 
 skeptics, and the authenticity of which has been 
 more completely vindicated than ever, since Strauss 
 wrote his Life of Jesus. But, leaving the infidels 
 to settle their dispute among themselves, it is 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JESUS. .87 
 
 enougli to know that the meek and lowly One 
 distinctly affirms that He is Lord also of the Sab- 
 bath (Mark ii. 28) ; that He refuses to accept the 
 testimony of devils to His Messiahship, (Mark iii. 
 12) ; that He declared it shall be more tolerable in 
 the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than 
 for the city rejecting the testimony of His disciples, 
 (Mark vi. 11) ; that these disciples addressed Him 
 without rebuke as the Christ, (Mark viii. 29) ; that 
 He ]3romi8ed a reward to any who would give them 
 only a cup of cold water because they belonged to 
 Christ, (Mark ix. 41) ; and that on His trial, when 
 the high priest asked Him the question, " Art thou 
 the Christ, the Son of the Blessed!" He distinctly 
 replied, '* I am," and was condemned to death for 
 the alleged blasphemy, (Mark xiv. 61, 62). 
 
 The same testimony is borne by Him and about 
 Him in the Gospel of Luke, from the time in the 
 first chapter when His birth as the Son of God was 
 announced to the Virgin, and John the Baptist was 
 called the prophet of the Highest, going before the 
 face of the Lord to prepare His ways, down to the 
 last chapter, where Jesus twice asserts that all the 
 Old Testament Scriptures were written concerning 
 Himself. The same testimony is given by John, 
 certifying that He was in the beginning, that He 
 was with God, that He was God, that all things 
 were made by Him, that to as many as receive Him 
 in His true character He gives power to become 
 the sons of God, that He is the only begotten Son, 
 (i. 1-18) ; that He came down from heaven, (iii. 13) ; 
 that salvation hangs upon belief in Him, as the 
 
88 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 expression of God's love for the world, (iii. 14-18) ; 
 that God is a spirit, and must be worshipped in 
 spirit and in truth, (iv. 24) ; that the Father hath 
 committed all judgment unto the Son in order that 
 all men should honor the Son, even as they honor 
 the Father, (v. 22) ; that He is the bread of God 
 which Cometh down from heaven, and giveth life 
 to the world, (vi. 33) ; that the thirsty are invited 
 to come unto Him and drink, (vii. 37) ; that before 
 Abraham was. He lived as the i am, the self- 
 existent, eternal, unchangeable One, (viii. 58) ; that 
 He was the Son of God, worthy of worship, (ix. 
 35-38) ; that He and His Father are one, (x. 30) ; 
 that He is the resurrection and the life, (xi. 25) ; 
 that if lifted up from the earth. He will draw all 
 men unto Him (xii. 32) , that the Father had given 
 all things into His hands, and that He was come 
 from God, and went to God, (xiii. 3) ; that He is the 
 way, the truth, and the life ; that prayer, if accept- 
 able, must be offered in His name; that He sends 
 the Spirit to abide with His people, (xiv.) ; that 
 His commandments must be kept, (xv. 14); that 
 the office of the Holy Ghost is to glorify Him, (xvi. 
 14) ; and that the Father will glorify Him, with His 
 own self, with the glory He had with Him before 
 the world was, (xvii. 5). 
 
 Truly all this is wonderful, and apart from the 
 exploded idea of imposture or fanaticism, which is 
 abandoned by all intelligent and respectable infi- 
 dels, it is obviously inexplicable on any theory that 
 would lower Jesus to the level of men. He was a 
 man, but he was more. He sat weary on Jacob's 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JESUS. 89 
 
 well, and, therefore, was a mau ; but He lifted the 
 redeemed soul of the sinful woman into the joy of 
 eternal life, and, therefore, was God. He slejjt 
 upon a pillow in the ship, and, therefore, was man; 
 but He stilled the raging of the tempest with a 
 word, and, therefore, was God. He wept at the 
 grave of Lazarus, and, therefore, was man -, but He 
 called the dead man from the tomb, and, therefore, 
 was God. Thus it is everywhere throughout the 
 four Gospels, that present Him as the Son of man 
 and Son of God, man and God, bound by the sensi- 
 tive ties of a personal experience to all the wants 
 and sinless infirmities of humanity, but clothed 
 with the attributes, wearing the titles, and i>er- 
 forming the works of God. Strauss says, between 
 God and man there is " a gulf not to be passed," 
 (Vol. I. p. 274^, and yet he afterwards says, " While 
 Jesus was forming within himself this cheerful tone 
 of mind, identical with that of God, ... he 
 had, to speak with the poet, ' adopted the Deity 
 into his will;' hence, for him, ^ that Deity had 
 descended from his throne of the universe, the 
 gulf had been filled up, the dread phenomenon had 
 vanished;' in him men had passed from slavery to 
 freedom," (Vol. I. p. 281). So he says other natures 
 were not purified until they had gone through 
 struggles and violent disruption, the shadowy col- 
 ors of which exist forever, " and something harsh, 
 severe and gloomy clings to them all their lives : 
 but of this in Jesus no trace is found. Jesus 
 appears as a beautiful nature from the first, which 
 had only to develop itself out of itself," (p. 282). 
 
90 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 Again, referring to many of the sayings of Jesus, 
 he writes, " these are imperishable words, for in 
 them truths that are every day getting fresh cor- 
 roboration are enclosed in a form that exactly suits 
 them, and is at the same time universally intelligi- 
 ble," (Vol. I. p. 347). Is it not safe to infer from 
 Strauss's own premises that Jesus crossed the gulf, 
 and became the sorely-needed days-man between 
 God and us, laying His hand familiarly upon both ? 
 But the marvel does not cease with these remark- 
 able assertions on His part, and these remarkable 
 admissions on the part of those who would banish 
 Him from the earth ; for He is represented in the 
 Gospels as affirming not only His spotless inno- 
 cence, but His absolute holiness. It is surprising 
 to read the comment of so fine a mind as that pos- 
 sessed by Strauss upon the words of our Lord to 
 the rich young ruler, *' Why callest thou me good ! 
 There is none good, but one, that is, God," (Mark 
 X. 18). It is easy to see that our Saviour was 
 meeting the inquirer on his own ground, and 
 answering him from the stand-point the latter had 
 taken, when he looked upon Christ as nothing 
 more than man. If this were true, he had no right 
 to call Jesus good, for none is good, but one, that 
 is God. But everywhere in the New Testament it 
 is declared in the most unequivocal manner, that 
 Jesus was altogether good, that the devil utterly 
 failed to move Him a hair's breadth from His 
 unswerving integrity, (Matt, iv) j that He did all 
 things well (Mark vii. 37) ; that He always did 
 those things that pleased His Father, and no one 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JESUS. 91 
 
 could convict Him of siu, (John viii. 29, 46) ; that 
 the prince of this world came at the close of His 
 ministry, and had nothing in Him, (John xiv. 30) ; 
 that He was made to be sin for us, who knew no 
 sin, (2 Cor. v. 21) ; that He was holy, harmless, 
 undefiled, separate from sinners, (Heb. vii. 26) ; 
 that He did no sin, neither was guile found in His 
 mouth, (1 Pet. ii. 22). He never manifested the 
 least anxiety about the salvation of His own soul j 
 never exi^ressed a word of regret for anything He 
 had done or said, or left undone and unsaid ; never 
 shed a tear of repentance ; never asked for pardon ; 
 never breathed a prayer that inspired a thought of 
 confession, or a sense of moral weakness, but with 
 His dying breath actually commended His spirit to 
 the Father ; and by this alone He is raised above 
 the life of all other men, even the noblest and the 
 holiest. When, therefore, He said to the young 
 ruler, " None is good, but one, and that is God," 
 He was bearing the clearest and most striking 
 testimony to the fact of His real divinity. 
 
 If, however, it is true that the most perfect human 
 character only serves by its shadows and imper- 
 fections to exhibit in brighter light the character of 
 Jesus, it is equally true that He surpasses all 
 others in the matchless harmony of His graces and 
 excellences. There is not a man or woman living, 
 nor has one ever lived, with a single illustrious 
 exception, however noted for the possession of 
 some striking virtue, that has not had some accom- 
 panying defect as a dark back-ground to the lovely 
 picture. Even the most distinguished saints of the 
 
92 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 Bible had their faults, and marred the record of 
 their lives by failures. Abraham, the most faithful 
 mau, uttered a falsehood, at the risk of his wife's 
 dishonor, to shield himself from imaginary danger. 
 Moses, the meekest man on earth, at last gave way 
 to a burst of passion that excluded him from the 
 promised land. Job, the most patient man, opened 
 his mouth and cursed his day, and floundered in 
 the mire of an attempted self- vindication, until the 
 Almighty silenced him by a voice out of the whirl- 
 wind. Elijah, the bravest man, fled in terror from 
 the threat of a furious woman, and wished for him- 
 self that he might die. David, so honored by the 
 Lord, committed crimes that have left a deep stain 
 upon his memory, and often caused the enemies of 
 God to blaspheme. Jeremiah, sanctified from his 
 infancy, hoped that the man who communicated 
 the tidings of his birth to his father might be as 
 Sodom and Gomorrah. Daniel confessed his sins, 
 as well as the sins of the people. Peter not only 
 denied his Lord, but afterwards dissembled, and was 
 justly withstood to the face. Paul declared himself 
 a Pharisee to escape from the Jews, and was com- 
 pelled to retract his angry denunciations of the 
 high priest. Even John would call down fire from 
 heaven to consume the Samaritans who insulted 
 his Master. 
 
 Why, it must be asked, were no such defects 
 found in that Master's character? Who among 
 men was capable of portraying such a character ? 
 An author's productions can never rise above the 
 author's thoughts, as the conception of the statue 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JESITS. 93 
 
 must be in the sculptor's mind before it can be 
 transferred to marble, and the conception of the 
 l^ainter's sketch must be previously formed before 
 it can be placed upon the canvas. But where was 
 the example that could be copied by the uneducated 
 writers of the four Gospels, who "collected all 
 sorts of legendary traditions, and embellished 
 them in part by inventions of their own f How 
 did it occur to them to describe a faultless human 
 being, and how was it possible for them to succeed 
 in the attempt, unless the reality was before them 
 in their simple and artless narratives, and unless 
 their pens were guided by the Spirit of God? 
 That they did succeed is shown by the fact that 
 even the most accomplished skeptics do not under- 
 take to censure any word or act of Jesus, and 
 never indicate any mistake He made in all the cir- 
 cumstances of sharp trial through which He 
 X^assed. He was truly the antitype of the fine flour 
 used in the meat oftering, for there was nothing 
 rough, nothing uneven, nothing salient about Him, 
 simply because there was so perfect a development 
 of all the perfections of His nature. It may be 
 said of Him in a far higher and truer sense than of 
 Shakspeare's hero, 
 
 " lUs life was gentle, and the elements 
 So mixed in him, that nature might stand up 
 And say to all the world, This was a man /" 
 
 The more these perfections are pondered by the 
 devout student of the Bible, the more clearly they 
 are seen, and the more they increase in beauty, 
 until many a time he finds himself exclaiming, with 
 
94 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ! 
 
 his affections all aglow and with tears in his eyes, 
 "Blessed Jesus, would that I were with Thee!" 
 If any one imagines he can improve upon the 
 sayings or the conduct of Christ in any instance 
 mentioned by the writers of the Gospels, as Bush- 
 nell says, " Give us then this one experiment, and 
 see if it does not prove to you a truth that is of 
 some consequence ; viz: that you are a man, and 
 that Jesus Christ is — more." 
 
 That such a being should work miracles, it may 
 be said, was unavoidable. With Him they were as 
 natural as the performance with us of the most 
 ordinary and familiar acts, and hence there was no 
 effort, no struggling, no mighty convulsion of soul 
 to accomplish the effects. " He spake, and it was 
 done; He commanded, and it stood fast." More- 
 over, no miracle He wrought was an idle exhibition 
 of power, but each had a great moral end to serve, 
 a most valuable lesson to teach. It is a singular 
 weakness in Strauss that he assumes from be- 
 ginning to end of his book the impossibility of 
 miracles ; for a clearer illustration of " begging 
 the question " can not be furnished in the history 
 of literature. There is a vast amount of ignorance 
 on this subject, which only shows how readily most 
 men accept popular errors as truth, and hew easily 
 they are contented with shallow thinking. It is 
 commonly supposed that a miracle is a direct viola- 
 tion, or at least a violent suspension, of what are 
 called the laws of nature, when in fact it is neither. 
 It is simply a withdrawal for a time from the action 
 of those laws of a person in whom God determines 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JESUS. 95 
 
 to take a special interest, or through whom He 
 wishes to manifest His glory. An apple, for exam- 
 ple, if loosened from the tree, falls to the earth by 
 the law of gravitation, but if a man's hand arrests 
 the fall, it is not less truly a miracle, so far as the 
 laws of nature are concerned, than any recorded in 
 the Bible. A miracle is just the exhibition of 
 God's majestic hand amid the laws of nature for 
 some wise and good purpose. There are thousands 
 of well-attested facts constantly occurring around 
 us, which every one knows can not at all be ex- 
 plained in accordance with the ordinary operation 
 of the laws of nature, and these too are miracles. 
 It is utterly illogical, therefore, to assume with 
 Straus.s that miracles are impossible, and especially 
 is it absurd in the light of the demonstration, that, 
 whatever view may be taken of the four Gospels, 
 Jesus Himself is incontestably the most sublime 
 and wonderful of all miracles ; and Jesus Himself 
 appealed to miracles in the trustworthy Gospel of 
 Matthew, as the attestation of His divinity : " The 
 blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the 
 lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead 
 are raised u}), and [above all, and more important 
 than all] the poor have the gospel preached to 
 them," (Matt. xi. 5). 
 
 Prophecy, also, in its narrow signification of pre- 
 dicting future events, was a natural and necessary 
 endowment of such a character. Again it may be 
 affirmed that, whatever view is taken of the authen- 
 ticity of the four Gospels, they contain prophecies 
 ascribed to Jesus, which are meeting with a precise 
 
98 IS THE BIBLE TRUE 1 
 
 fulfillment before our own eyes. Let the two fol- 
 lowing answer as illustrations and proofs of the 
 statement; First, He predicted the varying suc- 
 cess of His cause, amid incessant opposition, 
 through the centuries, never once intimating that 
 it would achieve universal triumph before His 
 second personal coming. On the other hand, only 
 one-fourth part of the seed, which is the word of 
 God, will take permanent effect, and even that with 
 different degrees of fruitfulness, the tares and the 
 wheat will grow together until the harvest at the 
 end of the age ; the mustard seed, although increas- 
 ing until it becomes the greatest of trees, furnishes 
 a convenient shelter for the birds, which He repre- 
 sents as types of the Wicked one ; and the leaven 
 the woman hides in three measures of meal, as the 
 symbol of the mj stery of iniquity already at work, 
 will continue to spread until the state of society in 
 Christendom will be like the moral condition of the 
 world in the days of Noah, before the deluge rolled 
 over its guilty population; like the utter ungodli- 
 ness that prevailed in the days of Lot, before a 
 fiery storm devastated the proud cities of the i)lain. 
 He nowhere promises His disciples or their succes- 
 sors exemption from toil and suffering, but plainly 
 warns them that they are to expect contempt and 
 hatred and persecution, that His followers will 
 constitute but a " little flock," and that His Church 
 will be like the vessel driven by contrary winds, 
 and tossed upon the bosom of the tempest, when 
 He came walking on the rolling billows. Did ever 
 the founder of any other religion stimulate his 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JESUS. 97 
 
 adherents to fidelity by such a picture and prospect 
 as this ! Well may we exclaim with David, " And is 
 this the manner of man, O Lord God f (2 Sam.vii.l9). 
 Second, when the disciples called the attention 
 of Jesus to the goodly stones of the temple, He 
 announced its speedy overthrow, and the desola- 
 tion by armies of the city in which it stood, and 
 then added, "They shall fall by the edge of the 
 sword, and shall be led away captive into all 
 nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of 
 the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be 
 fulfilled," (Luke xxi. 24). It is well known that 
 Julian the Apostate determined to rebuild the 
 temple, and thus, by defeating the prophecy, to 
 shatter at one blow the colossal claims of Jesus to 
 divinity. He commanded the Jews from all parts 
 of the widely-extended Eoman emj^ire to accomp- 
 lish the most agreeable task, and, as Gibbon says, 
 *' Every purse was opened in liberal contributions, 
 every hand claimed a share in the pious labor; 
 and the commands of a great monarch were exe- 
 cuted by the enthusiasm of a whole people. Yet/' 
 he adds, "on this occasion^ the joint efforts of 
 power and enthusiasm were unsuccessful ; and the 
 ground of the Jewish temple, which is now covered 
 by a Mohametan mosque, still continued to exhibit 
 the same edifying spectacle of ruin and desolation. 
 . . . But the Christians entertained a natural 
 and pious expectation, that, in this memorable 
 contest, the honor of religion would be vindicated 
 by some signal miracle. An earthquake, a whirl- 
 wind, and a fiery eruption, which overturned and 
 6 
 
98 IS THE BIBLE THUE ! 
 
 scattered the new foundations of the temple, are 
 attested, with some variations by contemporary 
 and respectable evidence." Then, after referring 
 to Ambrose, bishop of Milan, the eloquent Chrysos- 
 tom, and Gregory Nazianzen as witnesses, he says, 
 '* The last of these writers has boldly declared, 
 that this preternatural event was not disputed by 
 the infidels; and his assertion, strange as it 
 may seem, is confirmed by the unexceptionable 
 testimony of Ammianus Marcellinus," as follows : 
 " ' Whilst Alypius, assisted by the governor of the 
 province, urged, with vigor aud diligence, the exe- 
 cution of the work, horrible balls of fire breaking 
 out near the foundations, with frequent and reiter- 
 ated attacks, rendered the pla^e, from time to time, 
 inaccessible to the scorched and blasted workmen; 
 and the victorious element continuing in this man- 
 ner obstinately and resolutely bent, as it were, to 
 drive them to a distance, the undertaking was 
 abandoned.' Such authority should satisfy a be- 
 lieving, and must astonish an incredulous, mind," 
 (Decline and Fall of the Eoman Empire, Vol. II. 
 pp. 438, 439). However science or skepticism may 
 choose to account for it, the fact is, the temple has 
 never been rebuilt. 
 
 It is well known, too, that during the Crusades, 
 Europe was rallied, as a continent has never been 
 roused before nor since, by the battle shout, 
 ^' Kescue the holy sepulchre from the grasp of the 
 Moslem." Army after army of enthusiastic sol- 
 diers, animated by the hope of winning heaven, 
 and led by the bravest and most skillful princes 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JESUS. 99 
 
 and generals, poured into Palestine, only to be 
 baffled by successive disasters and defeats. Even 
 for the little time they succeeded in planting the 
 banner of the cross upon the walls of the sacred 
 city, Jerusalem was still trodden down of the Gen- 
 tiles, for the European invaders were no less 
 Gentiles than the followers of Mohamet. It is 
 still trodden down of the Gentiles, so that the 
 miracle of Christ's prophecies, or of the i)rophecies 
 recorded in the Gospels, concerning the condition 
 of the Church and of Jerusalem through subse- 
 quent centuries, is enacted at this day before the 
 face of the whole world. 
 
 But why speak of the miracles of His deeds and 
 I)rophecies, when His mightiest miracle is the reign 
 of His love over those who believe in His name ? 
 It is the glory of the Gospel that it reveals to 
 us not merely deliverance, but a Deliverer; not 
 redemption only, but a Redeemer; and there is a 
 vast difference between submitting to ecclesiastical 
 rules, or even accepting a system of theological 
 doctrines, and casting ourselves upon a beating 
 heart. Millions, during these eighteen hundred 
 years, have trusted in Jesus as a living Person, 
 and have learned in a happy experience that His 
 sweet promise of rest was not uttered in vain. 
 The conscience, turned into a blood-hound in the 
 breast, and pursuing the wretched fugitive fleeing 
 in vain from the memory of the past, has found 
 protection and peace in His presence ; the form, 
 quivering with grief beside the grave that had 
 swallowed up its treasures, has felt the soothing 
 
100 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 toiicli of His comforting band ; the mind groping 
 in the gloom of a cheerless skepticism has been 
 raised by His tender call to soar amid scenes of 
 supernal light and beauty ; and the soul has left 
 behind it the broken fetters of sin, that it may go 
 forth upon a career of joyful and ennobling con- 
 secration to Him who is still saying, ^^ The Son of 
 man is come to seek and to save that which was 
 lost,'' (Luke xix. 10). Blessed Lord, eternity will 
 be short to tell out what we owe Thine amazing 
 grace ! 
 
 Hark ! He speaks again : " I am the bread of life : 
 he that cometh to me shall never hunger ; and he 
 that believeth on me shall never thirst," (John vi. 
 35). O hungry and thirsty ones, will ye not heed 
 that entreating and persuasive voice ? It is a hun- 
 ger only He can satisfy, a thirst none but He can 
 quench. Come to Him to-night with all your doubts 
 and fears and questionings, and learn the meaning 
 of the precious invitation that seals the Canon of 
 Scripture, " Whosoever will, let him take the water 
 of life freely," (Eev. xxii. 17). Come to Him as 
 One who has the heart of a brother to sympathize, 
 and the arm of a God mighty to save. Then can 
 you enter into the gladness of those who through 
 the " little while " are waiting and watching for 
 Jesus, and who will so soon shout the harvest song 
 at His glorious coming, 
 
 " Bring forth the royal diadem, 
 And crown Him Lord of all." 
 
IV. 
 
 HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS, 
 
 IT did not fall within the purpose of Strauss to 
 discuss the authenticity of the epistles found in 
 the New Testament, but he acknowledges the genu- 
 ineness at least of those attributed to Paul, (Vol. 
 I. pp. 412-420). So far, however, as the present 
 argument is concerned it ma^^ be admitted that 
 neither he, nor James, nor Peter, nor John, nor 
 Jude, wrote the letters severally ascribed to them. 
 It may be further admitted, if the skeptic so desires, 
 that these letters are not inspired, but are the pro- 
 ductions of certain unknown men, who " collected 
 also all sorts of legendary traditions, and embel- 
 lished them in part by inventions of their own." 
 Still no one is foolish enough to deny that they 
 were written very near the time of Jesus, or that 
 they express the estimate that was formed at that 
 early day of His j)erson and character and claims. 
 We open, then, the Epistle to the Eomans, which 
 is placed at the beginning of these ancient writings, 
 and we are struck with the first clause of the first 
 verse, which says, "Paul, a servant [literally a 
 slave] of Jesus Christ." In the preceding book, 
 called the Acts of the Apostles, that is so largely 
 occupied with the labors and travels and sufferings 
 
 101 
 
102 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 of Paul, it is obvious at a glance that he merited 
 the designation of a willing and free slave , for he 
 had but one Master and one object in view, and 
 that was Christ. He journeyed everywhere, ex- 
 posed to danger in every form, stoned, beaten with 
 rods, imprisoned, shipwrecked, ;fet unfaltering in 
 his devotion, and always bearing in his hand a 
 banner with this strange device, " God forbid that 
 I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, 
 and I unto the world," (Gal. vi. 14). It is in perfect 
 agreement, therefore, with his previous history to 
 speak of himself as the slave of Jesus Christ. 
 
 In the second statement of the Epistle he an- 
 nounces that the gospel of God is ^' concerning his 
 Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the 
 seed of David according to the tlesh ; and declared 
 to be the Son of God with power, according to the 
 Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the 
 dead : by whom we have received grace and apos- 
 tleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, 
 for his name : among whom are ye also the called 
 of Jesus Christ : to all that be in Eome, beloved of 
 God, called to be saints : Grace to you, and peace 
 from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for 
 you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout 
 the whole world, . . . For I am not ashamed 
 of the gospel of Christ : for it is the power of God 
 unto salvation, to every one that believeth ; to the 
 Jew first, and also to the Greek." Whatever may 
 be thought of such language by the infidel, ;'. 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS. 103 
 
 surely amazing as exhibiting the estimate put upon 
 the character of Jesus. The gospel is said to be 
 concerning Him ; He is called our Lord, and the 
 Son of God; all Christians are chosen by Him; 
 He is addressed in terms of equality with God the 
 Father as the object of worship, and the source of 
 grace and peace ; thanks are offered through Him ; 
 and His gospel is the channel for the communica- 
 tion of God's power unto salvation, (i. 1-8; 16). 
 
 In the next chapter Paul alludes to "the day 
 when God shall judge the secrets of men, by Jesus 
 Christ, according to my gospel," ii. 16). In the 
 next chapter, after bringing in all the world, includ- 
 ing both Jew and Gentile, guilty before God, he tells 
 us of " the righteousness of God, which is by faith 
 of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that 
 believe ; for"" there is no difference : for all have 
 sinned, and come short of the glory of God ; being 
 justified freely by his grace, through the redemp- 
 tion that i§ in Christ Jesus : whom God hath set 
 forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, 
 to declare his righteousness for the remission of 
 sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 
 to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness : 
 that he might be just, and the justifier of him 
 which believeth in Jesus," (iii. 22-26). 
 
 In the next chapter he refers to the faith that 
 was imputed to Abraham for righteousness, and 
 then adds, " Now it was not written for his sake 
 alone, that it was imputed to him : but for us also, 
 to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him 
 that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead ; who 
 
104 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 was delivered for our offences, and was raised 
 again for our justification/^ (iv. 23-25). In the 
 next chaxiter he says, "Therefore being justified 
 by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ; . . . for when we were yet 
 without strength, in due time Christ died for the 
 ungodly; . . . while we were yet sinners, 
 Christ died for us ; ... if when we were ene- 
 mies, we were reconciled to God by the death of 
 his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be 
 saved by his life. And not only so, but we also 
 joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by 
 whom we have now received the atonement, [or 
 reconciliation] ; . . . that as sin hath reigned 
 unto death, even so might grace reign, through 
 righteousness, unto eternal life, by ^esus Christ 
 our Lord,'' (v. 1, 6, 8, 10, 11, 21). 
 
 In the next chaj^ter he says, " Know ye not, that 
 so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ 
 were baptized into his death? ... Knowing 
 that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no 
 more ; . . . likewise reckon ye also yourselves 
 to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord ; . ". . for the 
 wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is eternal 
 life, through Jesus Christ our Lord," (vi. 3, 9, 11, 
 23). In the next chapter he says, " Wherefore, my 
 brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by 
 the body of Christ;" and after describing the 
 Avrithings of a soul in the grasp of the law, and its 
 fruitless efforts to attain unto holiness by strug- 
 gling, he exclaims, " I thauk God, through Jesus 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS. 105 
 
 Christ our Lord," (vii. 4, 25). In the next chapter 
 he says, " There is, therefore, now no condemna- 
 tion to them which are in Christ Jesus ; for the law 
 of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me 
 free from the law of sin and death ; ... it is 
 Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, 
 who is even at the right hand of God, who also 
 maketh intercession for us j who shall separate us 
 from the love of Christ f ' (viii. 1, 2, 34, 35). In the 
 next chapter he describes the Israelites, as those 
 " to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, 
 and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and 
 the service of God, and the i^romises ; whose are 
 the fathers, and of whom, as concerniug the flesh, 
 Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. 
 Amen," (ix. 4, 5). In the next chapter he says, 
 " Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to 
 every one that belie veth; ... if thou shalt 
 confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt 
 believe in thine heart that God. hath raised him 
 from the dead, thou shalt be saved," x. 4, 9). In 
 the next chapter he says, " There shall come out 
 of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungod- 
 liness from Jacob," (xi. 26). In the next chapter 
 he says, " We, being many, are one body in Christ, 
 and every one members one of another," (xii. 5). 
 In the next chapter he says, ^' Put ye on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, 
 to fulfil the lusts thereof," (xiii. 14). In the next 
 chapter he says, " To this end Christ both died, 
 and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both 
 of the dead and the living; . . . for we shall 
 
106 IS THE BIBLE TRUE! 
 
 all stand before the judgment seat of Christ," (xiv. 
 9, 10). In the next chapter he mentions the name 
 of Christ in twelve verses, closing with the en- 
 treaty, ^' Kow I beseech you brethren, for the Lord 
 Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, 
 that ye strive together with me in your prayers to 
 God for me," (xv. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 29, 
 30). In the last chapter he mentions Christ in 
 seventeen verses, concluding with the doxology, 
 " To God only wise, be glory, through Jesus Christ, 
 for ever. Amen," (xvi. 27). 
 
 Now, let it be borne in mind, that if all this is 
 the mistaken opinion of a deluded fanatic or 
 enthusiast, nevertheless it is a human estimate of 
 Jesus, and such an estimate as was never placed 
 upon any other man. From first to last lie is set 
 forth as one with God, as so exalted in His nature 
 and rank it is proper to address to Him our suppli- 
 cations, as over all, God blessed forever, as secur- 
 ing by His death the salvation of the soul, as the 
 only medium through which eternal life is con- 
 veyed, as the object of faith, as the Deliverer from 
 sin, as the Head of a new creation coming in after 
 the ruin of the old creation under Adam, as the 
 Judge at whose bar the countless millions of the 
 human race must stand to hear the decision that 
 will fix their eternal state. Truly this is wonderful, 
 and it is the more wonderful, because it is in such 
 marked contrast with the manner in which the 
 writer uniformly describes human nature, as enmity 
 against God, as having in it no good thing ; because 
 he exhibits no disi)Osition for hero-worship when 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS. 107 
 
 he speaks of the most distinguished men, as Abra- 
 ham and David ; and because it is the testimony of 
 one who confesses that he had formerly been a 
 bitter enemy of the crucified Nazarene. In his 
 defence before King Agrippa, he says, " I verily 
 thought with myself, that I ought to do many 
 things contrary to the name of Jesus of Kazareth,'^ 
 (Acts xxvi. 9) ; but here he wears the title of Jesus' 
 slave, as the badge of highest honor, and the gar- 
 land of immortality. 
 
 The same intense devotion, the same lofty ascrip- 
 tion of divine attributes, titles, perfections, works 
 and worship to Jesus, the same constant allusion 
 to Him, as if the soul thrillea with gladness at the 
 mention of His name, pervade all the Epistles of 
 Paul. There is not time for an extended proof of 
 this, which it is needless to present to those who 
 have the least familiarity with his writings ; but a 
 glance at the opening chapter of the First Epistle 
 to the Corinthians, immediately following that to 
 the Eomans, will furnish an illustration of all the 
 rest: " Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ 
 through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 
 unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to 
 them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to 
 be saints, with all that in every place call upon the 
 name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and 
 ours : Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our 
 Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank 
 my God always on your behalf, for the grace of 
 God which is given you by Jesus Christ ; that in 
 everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, 
 
108 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of 
 Christ was confirmed in you : so that ye come 
 behind in no gift ; waiting for the coming of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ: who shall also confirm you 
 unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by 
 whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his 
 Son Jesus Christ our Lord. . . . The Jews 
 require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom : 
 but we i)reach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a 
 stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness ; 
 but unto them which are called, both Jews and 
 Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom 
 of God. ... Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, 
 who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteous- 
 ness, and sanctification, and redemiition," (1 Cor. 
 i. 1-9, 22-24, 30). 
 
 So in the opening chapter of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, there are seven assertions concerning 
 Jesus, which show the estimate placed upon Him 
 by His Apostles, or at least by the early Christians. 
 First, it is declared that He made the worlds, that 
 He is the brightness of God's glory, or rather, the 
 effulgence, the outshining of His glory, sustaining 
 to the Father the relation of a sunbeam to the sun, 
 and that He is the express image of God's person, 
 or rather, the exact expression of His substance. 
 Second, it is announced that He upholds all things 
 by the word of His power, that by Himself He 
 purged our sins, and sat down on the right hand of 
 the Majesty on high. Third, at His resurrection 
 God is represented as saying, " Thou art my Son, 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OP JESUS. 109 
 
 this day have I begotten thee." Fourth, He is 
 next viewed in His personal relationship to God 
 who says, " I will be to him a Father, and he shall 
 be to me a Son." Fifth, this is followed by a refer- 
 ence to His second coming, when an imperial decree 
 shall go forth from heaven's throne, " Let all the 
 angels of God worship him." Sixth, a glimpse of 
 His millennial reign succeeds, when the Father 
 says to the Son, '' Thy throne, O God, is forever 
 and ever : a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre 
 of thy Kingdom." Seventh, His glory through 
 eternal ages is proclaimed, " Thou, Lord, in the 
 begiuning hast laid the foundation of the earth ; 
 and the heavens are the works of thine hands : 
 they shall perish, but thou remainest : and they all 
 shall wax old as doth a garment ; and as a vesture 
 shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed : 
 but thou art the same, and thy years shall not 
 fail," (Heb. i. 1-12). 
 
 Was there ever so high an estimate as this placed 
 upon any other being, human or angelic ? But thus 
 it is, through the whole of Paul's writings that may 
 be easily read in two or three hours ; and yet in 
 these brief writings he speaks of his Master 233 
 times under the title of *' Jesus," 416 times under 
 the title of " the Christ " or Messiah, and nearly 
 300 times under the title of " Lord," as implying 
 absolute sovereignty, supreme authority, universal 
 dominion. By one or another of these titles he 
 mentions the crucified One in every chapter of every 
 Epistle, with a single exception, (1 Cor. xiii.) ; and 
 that exception presents a picture of Him, so 
 
110 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ? 
 
 exquisite in its coloring, and so lovely in its linea- 
 ments, the most careless observer will recognize the 
 excellence of the jDortrait, without the necessity of 
 reading the name. With Paul Jesus is clearly the 
 motive and the end, the cause and the effect, the 
 centre and the circumference ; giving sanction to 
 every exhortation, enforcing every appeal, vitalizing 
 every exhortation, filling every promise with sweet- 
 ness and with assurance of hoj^e. So completely 
 was his existence absorbed in Him whom he had 
 despised and hated and persecuted, he could truth- 
 fully say, ^'to me to live is Christ," (Phil. i. 21); 
 for without Christ, life would have lost its charm 
 and meaning and power and purpose. But this is 
 not less true of James, and Peter, and John, and 
 Jude, the last of whom although the " brother " of 
 Jesus on the maternal side, calls himself His slave. 
 They also in their short Epistles trace every bless- 
 ing, every hope, every truth to Him whom they 
 recognize as their Master, and mention Him 41 
 times under the name of " Jesus," 43 times under 
 the name of " Lord," and 50 times under the name 
 of *' Christ." He was manifestly " all in all" to 
 those who wrote the New Testament. 
 
 Of the last book it contains, the Revelation of 
 John, Strauss says, it is " the only writing of our 
 New Testament which perhaps comes from an 
 immediate disciple of Jesus," (Vol. II. p. 437). He 
 admits, therefore, the authenticity of this last book, 
 and yet the estimate put upon Jesus here is higher, 
 if it were possible, than in any preceding book. It 
 opens with a doxology " unto him that loved us, 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS. Ill 
 
 and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and 
 hath made us kings and x^riests unto God and his 
 Father ;" it represents Him as saying, *' I am the 
 first and the last : I am the living One who became 
 dead 5 and behold, I am living unto the ages of 
 ages, and have the keys of death and of hell," (Eev. 
 i. 5, 6, 17, 18) ; it exhibits Him as sending solemn 
 and searching messages to the Church in its 
 successive developement and various phases, until 
 in its last worldly and apostate form it shall be 
 spued out of His mouth, (ii., iii.) ; it shows us the 
 whole vast assemblage of saints in heaven, singing 
 a new song, and bowing before the throne of Jesus 
 with the rax^turous and everlasting ascrix)tion of 
 X^raise, " Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to 
 God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and 
 tongue, and peox:)le, and nation," (v. 9) ; it describes 
 Him as x^residing over the judgments that shall 
 smite the earth with the thunder-strokes of God's 
 wrath, when the true believers of the present 
 dispensation shall have been caught up above the 
 terrible storm, (vi.-xviii.) ; it x^ictures His second 
 appearing with eyes as a flame of fire, and many 
 crowns on His head, and on His vesture and on His 
 thigh a name written. King of kings, and Lord 
 OF LORDS, (xix. 12-16) ; it closes with the prayer, 
 " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you 
 all. Amen," (Rev. xxii. 21). 
 
 Whatever treatment, therefore, the New Testa- 
 ment may receive at the hands of skeptical critics, 
 none will deny that it everywhere gives to Jesus 
 '' a name which is above every name : that at the 
 
112 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in 
 heaven, and those in earth, and those under the 
 earth ; and that every tongue should confess that 
 Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the 
 Father," (Phil. ii. 9-11). In the four Gospels, the 
 Acts of the Apostles, the twenty-one Epistles, and 
 the Apocalypse, He appears so prominently on 
 every page. He is so completely the sum and sub- 
 stance of all doctrinal teachings and practical 
 precepts. He is so entirely the warp and the woof 
 of the wondrous fabric, that to tear His name away, 
 or to lower Him to the level of ordinary humanity, 
 would leave us only a few worthless shreds, wait- 
 ing to be swept into the gutter. Take away the 
 name of Jesus, or deny that He was supernatural, 
 and what will you make of the immense and 
 imposing system of Christianity, that did so much 
 even for the intellect of Strauss although he was 
 doubtless unconscious of it, and that has accom- 
 plished so much directly and indirectly for the 
 human race? You will then have a magnificent 
 edifice without a foundation, a stream imparting a 
 fertility and beauty which all can see, and yet with- 
 out a source. Will you account for the estimate 
 placed ui)on Jesus by the writers of the Kew 
 Testament on the theory that they were impostors ? 
 *' The hypothesis of imposture," says Schaff " is so 
 revolting to moral as well as common sense, that 
 its mere statement is its condemnation. It has 
 never been seriously carried out, and no scholar of 
 any decency and self-respect would now dare to 
 profess it openly," (Person of Christ, p. 136). 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS. 113 
 
 Neither Baiir, Strauss, Eeiiaii, nor any other 
 skeptic, who j)ossessed sufficient intelligence to 
 render him worthy of the slightest notice, assumes 
 that the men who left us this wonderful book were 
 wilful deceivers and hypocrites ; for the assertion 
 would carry with it a thorough refutation in the 
 light of the fact, that they sacrificed home and 
 country and kindred and life itself for what they 
 must have known was a falsehood, that they every- 
 where threaten falsehood with the vengeance of 
 eternal damnation, and that such a supposition 
 would commit the God of the universe to the 
 approval of fraud and forgery, as the chosen means 
 of communicating the richest blessings He has ever 
 bestowed upon the world. Do you say that they 
 were fanatics ? Still the question remains, why 
 did they bow at the feet of Jesus as the only man 
 whom they agreed to exalt above man ; and how did 
 the writings of a few ignorant fanatics become so 
 entrenched in the citadel of truth that the discharge 
 of the heaviest artillery upon them has not pro- 
 duced the least perceptible eifect in the judgment 
 of the best minds ; and what is their charm that, 
 according to the confession of their enemies, they 
 turn every desert in which they are really planted 
 into an oasis, watered with springs, and lovely with 
 verdure ! 
 
 But following the writers of the Kew Testament, 
 it may be said that during the succeeding three 
 hundred years there were literally millions of men 
 and women, who placed upon Jesus the same high 
 estimate. For His sake they encountered untold 
 7 
 
114 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ? 
 
 agonies, exile, imprisonment, the expostulations 
 and tears and curses of their friends, the rack, the 
 faggot, the headsman's axe, the wild beast ; and 
 when death had done its worst, the inscriptions 
 placed over their bones or ashes witnessed that 
 their faith in a divine Saviour had sustained them 
 in the last shock. These inscriptions are in marked 
 contrast with the gloom which hung over the graves 
 of the heathen, for they are always radiant with 
 peace and joy and hope, as shown in the catacombs. 
 " Asleep in Jesus," " Gone to be with Christ,'^ 
 *' Waiting till He come," and similar expressions, 
 indicate that when they lived they lived unto the 
 Lord, and when they died they died unto the Lord, 
 so that death became to them but the portals 
 through which they entered the presence of Him 
 they loved so well, reminding us of the sweet words 
 written on the tomb of Dean Alford, " The inn of a 
 traveller on his way to the New Jerusalem." The 
 force of the argument is not weakened, even if it be 
 conceded that the myriads who endured incon- 
 ceivable sufferings for the sake of Jesus were silly 
 enthusiasts ; for none will deny that they held Him 
 in such esteem. He absorbed every other affection, 
 aroused them to the most intense personal devotion, 
 incited them to deeds of unexampled heroism, and 
 rendered them indifferent to danger. Such esteem 
 added to a purity of life, which even Gibbon 
 ."acknowledges, when he says, " the primitive Chris- 
 tian demonstrated his faith by his virtues," (Vol. 
 I. p. 544), was absolutely essential to the remark- 
 able spread of Christianity in the three first 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS. 115 
 
 centuries; for nothing but a cordial belief of the 
 testimony borne concerning Jesus by the Apostles 
 and Evangelists could have possibly ])ioduced such 
 stuppndous results. As late as the year 325 when 
 the Council of Kice assembled, by far the larger 
 part of those who composed that famous Council 
 " had lived," as Stanley tells us, " through the last 
 and worst of the persecutions, and they uow came 
 like a regiment out of some frightful siege or battle, 
 decimated and mutilated by the tortures or the 
 hardships they had undergone," (History of the 
 Eastern Church, p. 186). What but an abiding 
 confidence that He in whom they trusted was 
 •*' over all, God blessed forever," could have kept 
 them true to Him in the midst of their sore trials, 
 when, unlike Mahomet, He had forbidden them to 
 use the sword, when He had held out no hope of 
 earthly reward, and no promise of sensual delight 
 in the paradise beyond ? 
 
 Passing from these early and innumerable wit- 
 nesses to the estimate placed upon Jesus by His 
 followers, reference maybe made to the admissions 
 of His enemies. No* importance will be attached in 
 the argument to the confession of Pilate, when "he 
 took water, and washed his hands before the multi- 
 tude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this 
 just person : see ye to it;" nor to the confession of 
 the Eoman Centurion who superintended the cruci- 
 fixion, "Truly this was the Son of God," (Matt, 
 xxvii. 24, 51) ; for the skeptic may call in question 
 the truth of the narrative. But he will not ques- 
 tion the veracity of his own friends, and their 
 
116 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 statements are simply amazing as will be shown. 
 Lardner in his " Collection of Ancient Jewish and 
 Heathen Testimonies to the trnth of the Christian 
 Religion," filling four large volumes, quotes about 
 seventy writers of the first six centuries, who used 
 their pens against Christ and His cause. Of these 
 it may be said in general that they often recognize 
 the accuracy of the Kew Testament writings with 
 regard to persons, places, and historical events ; 
 that they do not deny the authenticity of these 
 writings, however earnestly they argue against 
 their credibility; that they frequently at least 
 manifest an exalted estimate of the character of 
 Jesus; and that they usually express their belief 
 in the reality of His miracles. Porphyry, for 
 example, in his Philosophy of Oracles writes, '* It 
 will perhaps seem strange to some which we are 
 about to say. For the Gods declared Christ to be 
 most pious, and to be made immortal, and they 
 spoke honorably of Him. AVhen we inquired con- 
 cerning Christ, whether He be a God, the answer 
 was : That the soul is immortal after the death of 
 the body, knows every body who is favored with 
 wisdom. But the soul of that man is most eminent 
 for piety. Him therefore he declared to be most 
 pious, and his soul, like the souls of others, after 
 death made immortal, which the ignorant Chris- 
 tians worship," (Lardner, Vol. III. p. 209). 
 
 The emperor Julian himself, the bitterest of all 
 opposers of Christianity, " allows that Jesus was 
 born in the reign of Augustus, at the time of the tax- 
 ing made in Judea by Cy renins : that the Christian 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS. 117 
 
 religion had its rise, and began to be propa- 
 gated in the times of the Emperors Tiberius and 
 Claudius. He bears witness to the genuineness 
 and authenticity of the four Gospels of Matthew, 
 Mark, Luke, and John, and the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles. And he so quotes them, as to intimate that 
 these were the only historical books received by 
 Christians as of authority, and the only authentic 
 memoirs of Jesus Christ, and His Apostles, and the 
 doctrine preached by them. He allows their early 
 date, and even argues for it. He also quotes, or 
 plainly refers to the Acts of the Apostles, to St. 
 Paul's Epistles to the Eomans, the Corinthians, 
 and the Galatians. He does not deny the miracles 
 of Jesus Christ, but allows Him to have healed the 
 blind, and the lame, and demoniacs, and walked 
 upon the waves of the sea," (Lardner, Vol. lY. p. 
 93). It would be easy to cite other heathen writers 
 of antiquity to the same effect ; but the most that 
 can be done within the limits of a single discourse 
 is to present a mere illustration of the opinions 
 they entertained. 
 
 Neither can anything more be done in noticing 
 the infidel writers who swarmed in Great Britain 
 during the early part of the preceding and the 
 seventeenth century, nearly all of whose books have 
 long been out of print, while the Bible still lives to 
 bless and comfort and guide unnumbered millions. 
 " Who," says Burke, '' born within the last forty 
 years, has read one word of Collins, and Toland, 
 and Tindal, and Chubb, and Morgan, and that 
 whole race who called themselves Freethinkers? 
 
118 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 Who now reads Bolingbroke *? Who ever read 
 him through? Ask the booksellers of London 
 what has become of all these lights of the world," 
 (Burke's Eeflections. Works, Vol. Y. p. 172). 
 Hume, who seems to have studiously avoided the 
 mention of Jesus' name, at least indirectly admits 
 the practical value of the teachings of Jesus and 
 the Apostles, when he refers to those who " sup- 
 pose that the Deity will inflict punishments on vice, 
 and bestow rewards on virtue, beyond what appear 
 in the ordinary course of nature," and then adds, 
 *' Whether this reasoning of theirs be just or not, 
 is no matter. Its influence on their life and con- 
 duct must still be the same : and tho>e who attempt 
 to disabuse them of such prejudices, may, for aught 
 I know, be good reasoners, but I cannot allow them 
 to be good citizens and politicians ; since they free 
 men from one restraint upon their i)assions, and 
 make the infringement of the law of society, in one 
 respect, more easy and secure," (Essays, p. 84). 
 
 Hobbes says that though the laws of nature are 
 not laws as they proceed from nature, yet " as they 
 are given by God in holy scripture, they are 
 properly called laws ; for the holy scripture is the 
 voice of God, ruling all things by the greatest 
 right," (Leland's Deistical Writers, Yol. I. p. 31). 
 The Earl of Shaftesbury declares that " he who 
 denies a Deity is daringly presumptuous, and sets 
 up an opinion against mankind, and being of 
 society;" and that "nothing can more highly con- 
 tribute to the fixing of right apprehensions, and a 
 sound judgment, or sense of right and wrong, than 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS. 119 
 
 to believe a God, who is represented such, as to be 
 a true model or example of the most exalted justice, 
 and highest goodness and worth," (Deistical 
 Writers, Vol. I. p. 79). Lord Bolingbroke affirms 
 that " no system can be more simple and plain than 
 that of natural religion as it stands in the Gospel ;" 
 and that " both the duties required to be practiced, 
 and the propositions required to be believed, are 
 concisely and jjlainly enough expressed in the 
 original Gospel properly so called, which Christ 
 taught, and which his four Evangelists recorded. 
 But they have been alike corrupted by theology," 
 (Deistical Writers, p. 164). Thomas Cbubb says, 
 *' In Christ we have an example of a quiet and 
 peaceable spirit; of a becoming modesty and 
 sobriety ; just, honest, upright, sincere ; and, above 
 all, of a most gracious and benevolent temper and 
 behavior. . . . His life was a beautiful picture 
 of human nature in its native purity and simplicity, 
 and showed at once what excellent creatures men 
 would be, when under the influence and power of 
 that Gospel which He preached unto them." The 
 copy of the Deistical Writers in my possession, 
 containing extracts from Chubb's Posthumous 
 Works, has upon the margin in ink the following- 
 note which appears to have been written in 1772 : 
 '' I have been informed on very good authority that 
 Chubb at his death left, signed with his name, a 
 solemn declaration to this purport : ' I am extremely 
 distressed for what I have written against the 
 Christian religion, and implore the Divine forgive- 
 ness. I am now fully convinced of the divine 
 
120 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 authority and truth of Christianity, and in witness 
 hereof I solemnly subscribe my name, Thomas 
 Chubb.^ The bookseller who published his Post- 
 humous Works, when this declaration was offered 
 to him, refused to print it, alleging that it would 
 ruin the sale of the copies." 
 
 Crossing now the Channel to the Continent, we 
 are met at once by the remarkable and well-known 
 confession of Eousseau, which will surely outlive 
 everything else he wrote : " Peruse the works of 
 our philosophers, with all their pomp of diction, 
 how mean, how contemptible are they, compared 
 with the Scriptures ! Is it possible that a book, at 
 once so simple and so sublime, should be merely 
 the work of man ? Is it possible that the sacred 
 personage, whose history it contains, should be 
 himself a mere man ? Do we find that he assumed 
 the tone of an enthusiast, or an ambitious sectary? 
 What sweetness, what purity, in his manner ! 
 What an affecting gracefulness in his instructions ! 
 What sublimity in his maxims ! What profound 
 wisdom in his discourses ! What presence of mind, 
 what subtlet}', what fitness in his replies ! How 
 great the command over his passions ! Where is 
 the man, where the philosopher, who could so live 
 and so die, without weakness, and without ostenta- 
 tion ? . . . Yes, if the life and death of Socrates 
 were those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus 
 are those of a God. Shall we suppose the evan- 
 gelical history a mere fiction 'I Indeed, my friend, 
 it bears no marks of fiction. On the contrary, the 
 history of Socrates, which no one presumes to 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS. 121 
 
 doubt, is not so well attested as that of Jesus 
 Christ. Such a supposition, in fact, only shifts 
 the difficulty without obviating it : it is more incon- 
 ceivable that a number of persons should agree to 
 write such a history, than that one should furnish 
 the subject of it. The Jewish authors were inca- 
 pable of the diction, and strangers to the morality 
 contained in the gospel. The marks of its truth 
 are so striking and inimitable, that the inventor 
 would be a more astonishing character than the 
 hero," (Emile ou de L'Education). 
 
 We come next to the equally remarkable confes- 
 sion of ]!^apoleon Bonaparte, as given by those who 
 were his companions on the island of St. Helena. 
 Of course it is impossible to vouch for the entire 
 correctness of their reports, but it is certain that 
 they endeavored, by comparing notes and their 
 recollections of his remarks, to put these remarks 
 into writing with as much accuracy as possible ; 
 and it is also certain that not one of them was 
 capable of making the argnment which is ascribed 
 to him, and at which we can only glance. As 
 Schaft' says, his reported religious conversations 
 '• have the grandiloquent and egotistic Napoleonic 
 ring, and are marked by that massive grandeur 
 and granite-like simplicity of thought and style 
 which characterize the best of his utterances. 
 They are, moreover, quite consistent with the 
 undeniable fact, that he expressed himself, both in 
 his testament and on his death-bed, a believer in 
 the Catholic Christian religion, which always 
 taught the divinity of Christ as a fundamental 
 
122 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ! 
 
 article of faith." Nothing more than the merest 
 abstract of his statements can be presented now. 
 
 General Bertrand having expressed on one occa- 
 sion his admiration of Jesns as a man, but his 
 nn])elief as to any higher nature, Na]>oleon rejdied, 
 " I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Olirist is 
 not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance 
 between Christ and the founders of em})ires. Tiiat 
 resemblance does not exist. There is between 
 Christianity and whatever religion the distance of 
 infinitj^ . . . Paganism is the work of man. 
 One can here read but our imi>ecility. What do 
 these gods, so boastful, know more than other 
 mortals? these legislators, (-ireek or Roman? this 
 jSTuma ? this Lycurgus ! these priests of India or 
 of Memphis? this Confucius? this Mohamm3d? 
 Absolutely nothing. They have made a perfect 
 chaos of morals. There is not one among them all 
 who has said anything new in reference to our 
 future destiny, to the soul, to the essence of God, 
 to the creation. . . . It is not so with Christ. 
 Everything in him astonishes me. His spirit over- 
 awes me, and his will confounds me. Between him 
 and whoever else in the world, there is no possible 
 term of comparison. He is truly a being by him- 
 self. His ideas, and his sentiments, the truths 
 which he announces, his manner of convincing, are 
 not explained either by human organization or by 
 the nature of things. His birth, and the history 
 c»f his life; the profundity of his doctrine, which 
 grapples the mightiest difficulties, and which is, of 
 those difficulties, the most admirable solution ; his 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS. 123 
 
 Gospel, his apparition, his empire, his march 
 across the a^es and realms, everything, is for me a 
 prodigy, a mystery insoluble, which plunges me 
 into a reverie from which I can not escape, a mys- 
 tery which is there before my eyes, a mystery 
 which I can neither deny nor explain. Here I see 
 nothing human. 
 
 " The nearer I approach, the more carefully 
 I examine, everything is above me, everything 
 remains grand — of a grandeur that overpowers. 
 His religion is a revelation from an intelligence 
 which certainly is not that of man. There is there 
 a profound originality, which has created a series 
 of words and of maxims before unknown. Jesus 
 borrowed nothing from onr sciences. ... I 
 search in vain in history to find the similar to 
 Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the 
 Gospel. Neither history, nor humanity, nor the 
 ages, nor nature, can offer me anything with which 
 I am able to compare it or explain it. Here every- 
 thing is extraordinary. The more I consider the 
 Gosi)el, the more I am assured that there is nothing 
 which is not beyond the march of events and above 
 the human mind. Even the impious themselves 
 have never dared to deny the sublimity of the 
 Gospel, which inspires them with a sort of com- 
 pulsory veneration. What happiness that book 
 produces for them who believe it ! What marvels 
 those admire who reflect upon it ! Book unique, 
 where the mind finds a moral beauty before un- 
 known, and an idea of the Supreme superior even 
 to that which creation suggests ! Who but God 
 
124 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 could produce that type, that ideal of perfection, 
 equally exclusive and original ? . . . 
 
 " You speak of Csesar, of Alexander, of their 
 conquests, and of the enthusiasm they enkindled 
 in the hearts of their soldiers 5 but can you con- 
 ceive of a dead man making conquests with an 
 army faithful and entirely devoted to his memory ? 
 My armies have forgotten me, even while living, 
 as the Carthagenian army forgot Hannibal. Such 
 is our power ! A siugle battle lost crushes us, and 
 adversity scatters our friends. Can you conceive of 
 Caesar, the eternal emperor of the Eoman senate, 
 and from the depths of his mausoleum govern- 
 ing the empire, watching over the destinies of 
 Eome ? . . . Truth should embrace the universe. 
 Such is Christianity, the only religion which 
 destroys sectional prejudice, the only one which 
 proclaims the unity and absolute brotherhood of 
 the whole human family, the only one which is 
 purely spiritual — in line, the only one which 
 assigns to all, without distinction, for a true 
 country the bosom of the Creator, God. Christ 
 proved that he was the son of the Eternal by his 
 disregard of time. All his doctrines signify one 
 only and the same thing — Eternity. It is true that 
 Christ proposed to our faith a series of mysteries. 
 He commands with authority that we should 
 believe them, giving no other reason than those 
 tremendous words, ^lam Ood.'' He declares it. 
 What an abyss he created by that declaration 
 between himself and all the fabricators of religion! 
 What audacity, what sacrilege, what blasphemy, 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS. 125 
 
 if it were not true ! I say more ; the universal 
 triumph of an affirmation of that kind, if the 
 triumph was not really that of God himself, would 
 be a plausible excuse and a reason for atheism." 
 . . . For a moment the Emperor was silent. 
 As General Bertrand made no reply, he solemnly 
 added, " If you do not perceive that Jesus Christ 
 is God, very well, then I did wrong to make you a 
 general," (Life of Napoleon, Vol. II., pp. 612-618.) 
 
 The next witness to be summoned is Strauss 
 himself, who will probably be claimed by his ad- 
 mirers as a kind of intellectual Napoleon, perform- 
 ing as many wonders in the field of dialectics as 
 the French Emperor accomplished on the field of 
 battle. In an earlier essay quoted by Schaif, he 
 says, " As little as humanity will ever be without" 
 religion, as little will it be without Christ ; for to 
 have religion without Christ would be as absurd 
 as to enjoy poetry without regard to Homer or 
 Shakspeare. And this Christ, as far as he is 
 inseparable from the highest style of religion, is 
 histoiicaly not mythical ; is an individual, no mere 
 symbol. To the historical i)erson of Christ belongs 
 all in his life that exhibits his religious perfection, 
 his discourses, his moral action, and his passion. 
 . . . He remains the highest model of religion 
 within the reach of our thought; and no perfect 
 XDiety is possible without his presence in the heart." 
 
 Even in his larger and later work he says, " The 
 Boman conceived of man as he ought to be differ- 
 ently from the Greek, the Jew differently from 
 both, the Greek, after Socrates, differently from, 
 
126 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 and unquestionably more perfectly than before. 
 Every man of moral pre-eminence, every great 
 thinker who has made the active nature of man 
 the object of his investigation, has contributed in 
 narrow or wider circles towards correcting that 
 idea, perfecting or improving it. And among these 
 improvers of the ideal of humanity Jesus stands, 
 at all events, in the tirst class. He introduced 
 features into it which were wanting to it before, or 
 had continued undeveloped; reduced the dimen- 
 sions of others which prevented its universal 
 application; imparted into it, by the religious 
 aspect which he gave it, a more lofty consecration, 
 and bestowed upon it, by embodying it in his own 
 person, the most vital warmth ; while the Religious 
 'Society which took its rise from him provided for 
 this ideal the widest acceptance among mankind," 
 (Vol. II. pp. 436-437). 
 
 Appropriately following Strauss, Reiian may be 
 called to the stand to express his estimate of Jesus. 
 In opposition to his German friend, he accepts as 
 especially authentic and trustworthy the Gospel 
 of John; and referring to the interview, there 
 recorded, between Jesus and the woman at Sychar's 
 well, when our Lord said to her, " The hour com- 
 eth, and now is, when the true worshippers shall 
 worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the 
 Father seeketh such to worship him," the French 
 infidel says, '* On the day when he pronounced 
 these words, he was indeed the son of God. He 
 for the first time gave utterance to the idea upon 
 which shall rest the edifice of the everlasting 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS. 127 
 
 religion. He founded the pure worsbij), of no age, 
 of no clime, which shall be that of all lofty souls 
 to the end of time. Not only was his religion, that 
 day, the benign religion of humanity, but it was 
 the absolute religion ; and if other planets have 
 inhabitants endowed with reason and morality, 
 their religion can not be different from that which 
 Jesus proclaimed at Jacob's well. Man has not 
 been able to abide by this worship ; we attain the 
 ideal only for a moment. The words of Jesus were 
 a gleam in thick night; it has taken eighteen hun- 
 dred years for the eyes of humanity (what do I 
 say! of an infinitely small portion of humanity) to 
 abide it. But the gleam shall become the full day, 
 and, after passing through all the circles of error, 
 humanity will return to these words, as to the im- 
 mortal expression of its faith and its hopes,'^ (Life 
 of Jesus, p. 215). 
 
 Again, alluding to His death he says, " Eepose 
 now in th^ glory, noble founder. Thy work is 
 finished, thy divinity is established. Fear no more 
 to see the edifice of thy labors fall by any fault. 
 Henceforth, beyond the reach of frailty, thou shalt 
 witness from the heights of divine peace, the infi- 
 nite results of thy acts. At the price of a few 
 hours of suffering, which did not even reach thy 
 grand soul, thou hast bought the most com[)lete 
 immortality. For thousands of years, the world 
 will dei)end on thee ! Banner of our contests, thou 
 shalt be the standard about which the hottest 
 battle will be given. A thousand times more alive, a 
 thousand times more beloved, since thy death than 
 
128 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 during th;y passage here below, tbou slialt become 
 the coriier-stoue of hiiuiauity so entirely, that to 
 tear thy name from this world would be to reud it 
 to its foundations. Between thee and God, there 
 will be no longer any distinction. Complete con- 
 queror of death, take possession of thy kingdom, 
 whither shall follow thee, by the royal road which 
 thou hast traced, ages of worshippers," (Life of 
 Jesus, p. 351). So he closes his rhapsody by say- 
 ing, " Whatever may be the surprises of the future, 
 Jesus will never be surpassed. His worship will 
 grow young without ceasing ; his legend will call 
 forth tears without end ; his sufferings will melt 
 the noblest hearts ; all ages will proclaim that 
 among the sons of men there is none born greater 
 than Jesus," (p. 376). But even this does not sur- 
 pass the words of Jean Paul Eichter, when speak- 
 ing of that majestic One who, " being the Holiest 
 among the mighty, and the Mightiest among the 
 holy, has lifted with his pierced hand empires off 
 their hinges, has turned the stream of centuries 
 out of its channel, and still governs the ages." 
 
 Surely it is needless to present other quotations, 
 that could be continued indefinitely^ The friends 
 and the foes of the crucified Jesus seem to vie with 
 each other in their estimate of His worth, and in 
 their eulogies upon His character. Would this 
 have been possible, if He were an impostor, or a 
 fanatic, or less than supernatural ? Has any life 
 been so closely scrutinized! Has any biography 
 been so severely criticised ? Would not a hypo- 
 crite or a charlatan have been long ago exposed, 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS. 129 
 
 and dismissed from the attention of thoughtful 
 men with merited contemi)t ? It is vain to reply 
 by referring to the regard with which the names of 
 Mohammed, Confucius, and the authors of the 
 Hindoo Yedas are still cherished in different i^arts 
 of the earth. Very often noble opinions and senti- 
 ments are attributed to these men which they never 
 thought of uttering; and the skeptics who are 
 guilty of this despicable trick in order to cast dis- 
 credit on the Gospel, if they really have any 
 familiarity with their writings, are careful to con- 
 ceal from the common people the monstrous errors, 
 and wretched morals, and childish superstitions, 
 and grotesque extravagances with which the hea- 
 then writings they profess to admire notoriously 
 abound. This is so well known indeed that any 
 serious attempt to substitute the religion of Mo- 
 hammed or Confucius or Brahma for Christianity 
 in Europe or the United States would be hailed 
 with a shout of laughter as a ludicrous farce. 
 Whatever they may be to the people of Turkey or 
 China or India, they can never be anything to 
 those who are blessed with the brighter light of 
 Christian civilization. But is this true of Jesus 
 with respect to any nation or race beneath the sun ? 
 Is He not precisely adapted to all classes of all 
 climes? May not a Newton and a child bow 
 together at His feet, the accomplished scholar and 
 the untutored savage meet in sweetest sympathy 
 at His cross ? Would infidels themselves exchange 
 His Gospel for any other religion? Nay, would 
 they be willing to live, or to have their families 
 8 
 
130 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ? 
 
 live, in a laud or in a community, where His Gos- 
 pel is wholly unknown, or from which His Gospel 
 has been totally banished ? Not one of them, who 
 possesses the lowest degree of intelligence or of 
 resi)ect for morality. A dying infidel said to me 
 not long ago, " I do not wish my children to accept 
 my views ;" aud i)robably every thoughtful skeptic 
 would say the same thing, thus bearing testimony 
 again to the high estimate which is somehow put 
 upon the value of Jesus even by those who do not 
 believe on Him as their Eedeemer. 
 
 There is now in my study, in manuscript, a con- 
 fession read to a large assembly in Kentucky by a 
 man who had reached his seventy-first birth-day. 
 He was a physician of fine culture, possessing 
 ample means and abundant leisure for the gratifi- 
 cation of his literary tastes, and standing among 
 his acquaintances even above the breath of re- 
 proach or suspicion. For more than sixty years 
 he was an avowed infidel, and no argument the 
 ablest Christians could bring to bear upon his 
 objections to the Bible could move him a hair's 
 breadth from his position of unbelief. His confes- 
 sion begins as follows : " A deist, a skeptic, with 
 a character for integrity, x)robity and benevolence 
 among men, I was a self-righteous Pharisee. 
 Trusting in my own reason, vaunting my own 
 ability, proud of my reputation, believing in my 
 own worth and merits, I was as one born blind. I 
 was self-deceived, and believed I was doing God's 
 service, when I denied His revealed word, and con- 
 troverted the truths of Scripture. If I know 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS. 131 
 
 myself I was honest iu my oppositiou to all super- 
 natural knowledge. I believed that God had re- 
 vealed Himself in nature, and nowhere else ; but 
 that revelation was limited, and, to my mind, unsat- 
 isfactory. I knew not what I was doing. I was as 
 those for whom Jesus prayed in His dying agony 
 on the cross, ' Father, forgive them, for they know 
 not what they do.' I, even I, was included in that 
 pray.r; and in the blessed Saviour, I, even I, once 
 His enemy, but now His worshipper, 'have an 
 advocate with the Father,' yea, an almighty 
 friend, a mediator and intercessor, through whom 
 I am enabled to say, * Abba, Father.' Blessed be 
 God for Jesus Christ, the friend and Saviour of 
 sinners!" 
 
 That man, before he became a Christian, talked 
 with me by the hour, and sincerely declared that 
 he could see no proof of a divine origin stamped 
 upon the Bible, and no beauty in Jesus that He 
 should be desired. After he became a Christian it 
 was my privilege to meet him again, and, as he 
 approached, the tears were running down his manly 
 face, while he exclaimed with tremulous voice, 
 " Since I saw you last, I have found Jesus unutter- 
 ably precious to my soul." His daughter, whom 
 he tenderly loved, had died a Christian, and in the 
 darkness of his skepticism, and out of the depth 
 of his grief, he had shrieked, '' Where is my child ? 
 Is she gone from me forever ? Shall I see her no 
 more, no more? Can I never press her to my 
 bosom?" But like Baal, when the false prophets 
 leaped upon the altar, and cut themselves, after 
 
132 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 their manner, with knives and lancets, till the 
 blood gashed out upon them, *' there was no voice, 
 nor any that answered," (1 Kings xviii. 26-28). 
 *' Oh, sir," he said, " nature, reason, philosophy, 
 science, were all dumb as the silent grave that held 
 the form of my precious child: and I turned to 
 Jesus, because He alone met and satisfied a great, 
 crying want of my aching heart." 
 
 Yes, this is one of the many crowns that adorn 
 the brow of our adorable Lord ; He meets our 
 wants, not by the stretch of an excited imagina- 
 tion reaching out to fancied help, but by the actual 
 commuuications of His grace, as ten thousand 
 times ten thousand truthful witnesses would 
 spring to their feet to testify to-night. Theodore 
 Parker, another infidel of the Strauss or Baur 
 school, speaking of Jesus, said, " That mightiest 
 heart that ever beat, stirred by the Spirit of God, 
 how it wrought in his bosom ! What words of 
 rebuke, of comfort, counsel, admonition, promise, 
 hope, did he pour out ! -Words that stir the soul 
 as summer dews call up the faint and sickly 
 grass." The time is coming, and coming very 
 soon, dear friends, when the world will present to 
 you but the appearance of faint and sickly grass, 
 and you will thirst for the gentle dews which only 
 Jesus can send. Disappointment in every earthly 
 pursuit is coming, the enforced cessation of busi- 
 ness is coming, the desertion of those you trusted 
 is coming, the bitterness of enemies is coming, the 
 deep shadow of a grave, to rest upon your heart 
 and home, is coming, disease is coming, pain is 
 
HUMAN ESTIMATE OF JESUS. 133 
 
 coming, the last look upon the faces of loved ones 
 is coming, the loneliness of the tomb is coming, the 
 vastness of eternity is coming, the judgment day 
 is coming ; and in every trying experience you will 
 need just such a friend as Jesus in His human 
 sympathy and divine sufficiency. 
 
 " I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all 
 men unto me," (John xii. 32), is His own sublime 
 assertion of the universality of His empire ; and 
 are you sure the assertion is not true? Would it 
 not be better for you if drawn " with cords of a 
 man, with bands of love" to dwell amid the pleas- 
 ures that are at His right hand forevermore, than 
 to be dragged by the chains of unappeased justice, 
 to hear from the lips, that now entreat you, the 
 sentence of a righteous condemnation, " Depart 
 from mel" Do you believe that Christians and 
 intelligent and respectable infidels would have 
 agreed so nearly in their estimate of His person 
 and character, unless He is what He claims to be ? 
 But if He is what He claims to be, and of this there 
 are innumerable witnesses, the hour is near when 
 at the mention of His name, heaven shall ring with 
 the hallelujahs of the redeemed, and the shout of 
 angels, and even the confessions of the lost, that 
 Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 
 May the admissions of skeptics which you have 
 heard this evening lead you to Him whose word 
 they reject; ''for their rock is not as our Eock, 
 even our enemies themselves being judges !" (Deut. 
 xxxii. 31). 
 
V. 
 
 TEE BE8UBEECTI0N OF JESUS. 
 
 STEAUSS, in approaching the discussion of this 
 mighty subject, says, "Here then we stand 
 on that decisive i)oint where, in the presence of 
 the accounts of the miraculous resurrection of 
 Jesus, we either acknowledge the inadmissibility 
 of the natural and historical view of the life of 
 Jesus, and must consequently retract all that pre- 
 cedes, and so give up our whole undertaking, or 
 pledge ourselves to make out the possibility of the 
 result of these accounts, i. 6., the origin of the 
 belief in the resurrection of Jesus without any 
 corresponding miraculous fact. The more immedi- 
 ately this question touches all Christianity to the 
 quick, the more regard we must pay to the sensi- 
 bility with which every unprejudiced word that is 
 uttered about it is received, and even to the sensi- 
 ble effect which such words may have upon him 
 who pronounces them ; but the more important the 
 point is, and the more decisive on the other side, 
 for the whole view of Christianity, the more press- 
 ing is the demand upon the investigator to set 
 aside all these considerations, and pronounce upon 
 it in a perfectly unprejudiced, perfectly decided 
 spirit, without ambiguity and without reserve." 
 
 134 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 135 
 
 Then, after alludiug, with scarcely concealed 
 contemx^t, to the views of those infidels who hold 
 that the death of Jesus upon the cross was not 
 real, he refers to Baur, his own master in the 
 school of skeptical criticism of which he became 
 the most distinguished representative, and adds, 
 " Even Baur himself has vouchsafed to declare 
 that the real nature of the Eesurrection of Jesus 
 lies outside the limits of historical investigation, 
 and has accordingly, at least in words, avoided the 
 burning question. For his words appear to mean 
 that it can not be historically discovered, and that 
 it is not even a problem for historical investigation 
 to find out whether the Eesurrection of Jesus was 
 an objective occurrence, either miraculous or 
 natural, or whether it was only the belief of his 
 disciples." In this connection he speaks of " the 
 apologists who would like to persuade the world 
 that if the reality of the Eesurrection is not recog- 
 nized, the origin and rise of the Christian Church 
 can not be explained," and continues : " No, says 
 the historian, and rightly, only this much need be 
 acknowledged, that the disciples firmly believed 
 that Jesus had arisen ; this is perfectly sufficient 
 to make their further progress and operations 
 intelligible J what that belief rested upon, what 
 there was real in the resurrection of Jesus is an 
 open question, which the investigator may answer 
 one way or another, without the origin of Christi- 
 anity being thereby made more or less conceiva- 
 ble." As for himself he can not accept the account 
 given in the New Testament of the resurrection, 
 
136 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 "but we are prevented," he says, "by various 
 reasons from adopting this view as our own. 
 Whether we consider miracles in general as possi- 
 ble or not, if we are to consider a miracle of so 
 unheard of a description as having really occurred, 
 it must be proved to us by evidence in such a man- 
 ner, that the untruth of such evidence would be 
 more difficult to conceive than the reality of that 
 which it was intended to prove,"- (Vol. I. pp. 
 397-398). 
 
 With all this the Christian may heartily agree. 
 The literal resurrection of Jesus is indeed the 
 decisive point upon which the whole of our faith 
 turns, upon which the divine origin of the Bible 
 turns, upon which the hope of mankind turns, so 
 far as that hope is shaped by the life, the charac- 
 ter, the teachings, the death of Christ ; and Strauss 
 well calls it "the burning question." We may 
 even agree, in our anxiety to escape from dispute 
 where it is possible to be avoided, that the origin 
 and rise of the Christian Church can be explained 
 without the necessity of recognizing the reality of 
 the resurrection, if only thus much be acknowl- 
 edg-ed, that the disciples firmly believed that Jesus 
 had arisen. It is still further agreed that a miracle 
 of so unheard of a description must be proved by 
 evidence in such a manner, that the untruth of 
 sach evidence would be more difficult to conceive 
 than the reality of that which it was intended to 
 prove. The argument, then, will rest entirely upon 
 the premises which he lays down, and it is to be 
 regretted that within the limits of a single public 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 137 
 
 discourse he can not be followed step by step, and 
 inch by inch, along the track of his wonderfully 
 subtle reasoning ; for it is certain that the heart of 
 the believer would throb with quicker joy on the 
 discovery that, after the utmost resources of 
 human ability and ingenuity have been exhausted 
 in attacking the foundation of his hope, his faith 
 in the resurrection of Jesus stands firmer than 
 ever; and he would surely accord with the judg- 
 ment given by Schaff, that "the chapter on the 
 resurrection of Jesus is the weakest part of 
 Strauss's book, where his mythological hypothesis 
 breaks down completely," (Person of Christ, p. 165). 
 It is important at the outset to inform those who 
 have never read his book of his admissions con- 
 cerning Jesus, admissions that constitute the basis 
 of his argument and are built into the wbole 
 structure of his work ; and it is fair to add that as 
 it is a work which has never been equalled in the 
 past by the enemies of Christianity, so it will never 
 be surpassed in the future. Infidelity has no 
 weapon left that lies outside the armory of Strauss, 
 or that has not been used in his powerful but 
 ineffectual assault. He admits that such a person 
 as Jesus lived more than eighteen hundred years 
 ago; that He taught very remarkable doctrines 
 touching God and man ; that He went about, 
 accompanied by a number of disciples, proclaiming 
 these doctrines, and doing many kind and benevo- 
 lent acts ; that in the course of His brief public 
 career He announced that He was the Messiah 
 mentioned by the Old Testament prophets, an(J 
 
138 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 was received as such by His followers ; that He 
 thus incurred the enmity of the Jewish rulers, and 
 was at last put to death by order of the Eomar 
 governor of Judea, that shortly after His death, 
 His disciples firmly believed that He was risen from 
 the dead, and that He would come again, probably 
 very soon, to establish His kingdom, and to reign 
 over the earth. Upon this last point the admission 
 of Strauss is so striking it must be quoted. Jesus, 
 he says, '' speaks in the Gospels not only of his 
 resurrection on the third day, but also of the com- 
 ing of the Son of man, i. e.j of his own second 
 coming at a later though not distant period, when 
 he will appear in the clouds of heaven, in divine 
 glory, and accompanied by angels to awake the 
 dead, to judge the quick and the dead, and to open 
 his kingdom, the kingdom of God or heaven [this 
 lie proves by numerous references] . Here we stand 
 face to face with a decisive point. . The ancient 
 Church clung to this part of the doctrine of Jesus 
 in its literal signification, nay it was properly 
 speaking built upon this foundation, since without 
 the expectation of a near return of Christ no Chris- 
 tian whatever would have come into existence. 
 For us, on the contrary, Jesus has either no exist- 
 ence at all, or exists only as a human being. To 
 a human being no such thing as he here prophesied 
 of himself could happen. If he did prophecy it of 
 himself and expect it himself, he is for us nothing 
 but a fanatic : if, without any conviction on his own 
 part he said it of himself, he was a braggart and an 
 impostor," (Vol. I. p. 322). 
 
THE BESURRECTION OF JESUS. 139 
 
 These last few words exhibit the fatal weakness 
 of his book as an argument. He takes it for 
 granted that Jesus was a mere man, and then pro- 
 ceeds to explain away or flatly to deny everything 
 that is inconsistent with his foregone conchision. 
 He assumes throughout the very point to be 
 proved. For him, no matter what may be said, 
 Jesus has either no existence at all, that is, there 
 is no immortality even for the soul, or He exists 
 only as a human being, and therefore Strauss would 
 not be persuaded, " though one rose from thedead.'^ 
 He insists all the time without the slightest 
 evidence upon forcing One, whom the writers of 
 the New Testament everywhere represent as a 
 supernatural being, into helpless subjection to the 
 laws of nature, as they are called ; and hence his 
 objection to the statements of the writers that, 
 when Jesus was risen from the dead. He suffered 
 Himself to be touched, and partook of ordinary 
 food, and also passed through closed doors into the 
 presence of His disciples. " A body," says Strauss, 
 " which can be touched, consequently has power of 
 resistance, can not penetrate through closed doors, 
 /. e., can not have at the same time that power of 
 resistance ; as, conversely, a body which penetrates 
 through boards without opposition can have no 
 bones, nor any organ by which to digest bread and 
 lish," (Vol. I. p. 407). Can not even a child of 
 common intelligence perceive that this is a shame- 
 ful begging of the question in claiming, without a 
 particle of proof, that the risen body of Christ was 
 just like the body of an ordinary being ! If Jesus 
 
140 IS THE BIBLE TRUE! 
 
 was only a man, the elaborate, and often splendid 
 reasoning of Strauss is indeed unanswerable ; but 
 if He was more than man, the stately superstructure 
 of the skeptical critic tumbles about his ears in 
 utter ruins. 
 
 That He was more than man has been already 
 proved, and it may be i^roved again by the evidence 
 of His real resurrection " in such a manner, that 
 the untruth of such evidence would be more difficult 
 to conceive than the reality of that which it was 
 intended to i)rove." 
 
 I. As the argument is addressed, not to the 
 Atheist, but the Theist, it will be admitted that it 
 is a possible thing for God to raise the dead. Even 
 the impersonal God of the Pantheist, and this is 
 what Strauss seems to have been, may be mani- 
 fested in the body of a risen man, however 
 extraordinary the occurrence, as well as in any 
 other of His strange and multitudinous forms. 
 Fichte says, " The ' I Ms the only object in the 
 universe. *Self' is the absolute principle of all 
 philosophy. ^ I ^ am the creator of the universe. 
 *' I ' make it to realize my own self-development. 
 The thinking of the mind is the active existence of 
 God — so that man and God are identical. I then 
 am God." Hegel says, " God is a mere process, 
 ever unfolding, realizing himself in the human con- 
 sciousness. God is the dialectic i^rocess of thought. 
 In another aspect, God is nature coming to self- 
 consciousness — the absolute idea." But even if 
 this is true, it will not be denied that God can 
 realize his own self-development in a risen body, 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 141 
 
 and become identical with such a body, and awake 
 to self-consciousness in such a body, as a higher 
 exhibition and outreaching of His infinite suffi- 
 ciency, not less easily than in the thousand displays 
 He is continually making of Himself above the 
 regular routine of nature's laws. On the very 
 threshold of the discussion, therefore, we meet the 
 skeptic with the pertinent question which Paul put 
 to king Agrippa, " Why should it be thought a 
 thing incredible with you, that God should raise 
 the dead f (Acts xxvi. 8). 
 
 II. It will be admitted that it is a possible thing 
 for competent witnesses to have undoubted evidence 
 of the resurrection of a person from the dead. No 
 one can deny that there would be great danger of 
 deception or delusion in asserting such a fact, for 
 many have mistaken for death only a protracted 
 swoon, or a long continued suspension of the vital 
 powers ; and many have supposed and even insisted 
 that their departed friends have actually appeared 
 to them, when they have had no other ground for 
 their belief than the play of an excited imagination. 
 But if a number of credible witnesses were inti- 
 mately and constantly associated with a person 
 during his life, if they had the most complete and 
 unquestioned proof of his death, and if afterwards 
 they distinctly and repeatedly saw him alive, under 
 circumstances that could leave no room whatever 
 for halhicination, attended by results of the most 
 momentous character, that could not by any 
 ingenuity be explained in any other way than by 
 the genuineness of the resurrection, it is obvious 
 
142 IS THE BIBLE THUE ! 
 
 " that the untruth of such evidence would be more 
 difficult to conceive than the reality of that which 
 it was intended to prove." It will not do for the 
 skeptic to reply that it is impossible for the dead 
 to arise, as this is a weak and puerile begging the 
 question, that renders the man who obstinately 
 urges it utterly unworthy of further notice. All 
 will concede that it is impossible for a dead person 
 to come forth from the grave; but it was not 
 impossible for a divine person to arise out of the 
 tomb, nor was it impossible for God to lift the iron 
 crown of death from the brow of His only begotten 
 and well beloved Son. 
 
 III. It will be admitted that if competent wit- 
 nesses of such a fact bear such testimony concern- 
 ing it, that when carefully sifted and thoroughly 
 tested by friend and foe, it is found to be altogether 
 trustworthy in every respect, we are not only 
 authorized, but morally bound, to receive it as true. 
 The character of the witnesses must be closely 
 scrutinized; they must bear the severest cross- 
 examination without flinching, and without con- 
 tradicting each other's testimony ; they must have 
 their motives and purposes in giving such testimony 
 brought out into the clearest light; and they must 
 submit to the most rigid inquiry with regard to the 
 practical bearing and consequences of their 
 assertion ; but if after all this no flaw can be found 
 in their story, the refusal to receive it will prove 
 conclusively that the difficulty in the way of 
 believing the resurrection of Jesus is not found in 
 the head, unless it be the head of an idiot, but in 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 143 
 
 the state of the heart as deceitful above all things, 
 and desperately wicked, as in itself enmity against 
 God. His resurrection as everywhere set forth in 
 the New Testament is not represented as a solitary 
 fact, or as some unaccountable display of almighty 
 power, but it is essentially connected with His 
 high claims, previously noticed; and it forms so 
 exclusively the foundation of every doctrine, every 
 duty, e /ery hope, every joy, held out to us by the 
 sacred writers that, if torn away, the New Testa- 
 ment, the Church for eighteen centuries, Chris- 
 tianity itself, our departed friends, our own 
 aspirations and longings, all, all instantly sink out 
 of sight into profoundest darkness. There is, 
 therefore, the most perfect agreement between His 
 claims and His resurrection, for while he could die 
 as the Son of man. He could not remain under the 
 dominion of death as the Son of God, " because," 
 as Peter says, " it was not possible that he should 
 be holden of it," (Acts ii. 24). 
 
 IV. This brings us to glance at the relation 
 between the resurrection of Jesus and the entire 
 Bible, that are so linked together from first to last 
 they must stand or fall together. Going back to 
 the earliest records of the human race we are told 
 that God said to the serpent, elsewhere called the 
 devil and Satan, " I will put enmity between thee 
 and the woman, and between thy seed and her 
 seed [not mmi'^s seed, it will be observed] : it shall 
 bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel," 
 (Gen. iii. 15). From that time the promise of a 
 divine Deliverer is set forth with ever-increasing 
 
144 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 brightness, in type, in i^rophecy, and in song ; and 
 it is a promise always involving His death and 
 resurrection. For examjile, in the cure and cleans- 
 ing of the leper, which could be effected only by 
 the immediate interposition of God, we find that 
 two birds were taken, one of which was killed in 
 an earthen vessel over runniug water, and the live 
 bird having been dipped in the blood of the slain 
 bird was let go to soar away to heaven, bearing 
 upon its wings, as it were, the token of accomp- 
 lished sacrifice. (Lev. xiv. 5-7). So on the great 
 day of atonement, two goats were chosen, one of 
 which was slain, and its blood carried by the high 
 priest into the most holy place, was sprinkled upon 
 the mercy seat, and seven times before the mercy 
 seat; and the live goat, having had all the sins and 
 transgressions of Israel imputed to it, typically 
 bore away their guilt, thus picturing the efficacy of 
 the death and resurrection of One who was to die 
 for the sins of the people, and to rise again. Still 
 later we hear this august x^ersonage saying to His 
 Father, " Thou wilt not leave my soul in hades 
 [the place of departed spirits] ; neither wilt thou 
 suffer thine Holy One to see corruption, '^ (Ps. xvi. 
 10) ; and again, " Thy dead men shall live, together 
 with my dead body shall they arise," (Isa. xxvi. 
 19) ; and again, " It pleased the Lord to bruise him ; 
 he hath put him to grief : when thou shalt make his 
 soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall 
 prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall 
 prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of 
 his soul, and shall be satisfied," (Isa. liii. 10, 11). 
 
THE RESTJRREOTION GF JESUS. 145 
 
 These are mere illustratious of the general drift 
 of the Old Testament concerning the predicted 
 Messiah who, according to the declarations of the 
 New Testament writers and of Jesus Himself, was 
 held np in symbol to the contemplation of the Jews 
 in all the services of the tabernacle and temple, in 
 events of national importance and in the ordinary 
 incidents of family and individual life, so that He 
 became the sum and the substance, the centre and 
 the circumference of the ancient Scriptures, that 
 have no interest and no significance apart from His 
 anticipated death and resurrection. Moreover the 
 prophets rose to their loftiest and sublimest 
 strains in foretelling, not His sufferings only, 
 when wounded for our transgressions and bruised 
 for our iniquities, but especially in announcing His 
 second advent to earth amid the pomp of supreme 
 royalty and the pageantry of the skies. With this 
 second advent all the hopes of the Hebrews as a 
 people, so marvellously preserved through the 
 ages, are bound up; and it is this alone that 
 throws light upon their strange history, about 
 which Hegel, it is said by his biographer, having 
 often thought, and often changed his thoughts, 
 confessed that " all his life long it tormented him as 
 a dark enigma.'^ It is the time when their banner, 
 that has been trampled in the dust for twenty-five 
 hundred years by the Babylonian, the Persian, the 
 Greek, the Eomau, the Mohammedan, and the 
 Gentile world at large, shall float again in triumph 
 from the battlements of Mount Ziou ; but every 
 one of the many scores of predictions of their 
 9 
 
146 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 present shame is connected with the death of their 
 Messiah, as every prediction of their future glory 
 is connected with His resurrection. 
 
 Y. Such then to an intelligent faith was the 
 expectation that waited on the coming of the Mes- 
 siah; and apart from the fact that more than a 
 hundred minute i^redictions concerning Him are 
 said in the New Testament to have been fulfilled in 
 the person, and ministrj^, and sufferings of Jesus, 
 we discover that the latter distinctly and repeatedly 
 spoke of His approaching death and resurrection. 
 We need go no further at present than the Gospel 
 of Matthew, which Strauss insists is the most 
 trustworthy, and it is laden with the burden of His 
 coming woe, but light with the victory that would 
 follow. It is easy to x^erceive that from first to 
 last He walked in the shadow of the cross, which 
 He beheld looming against the sky, but beyond 
 the gloom the future was radiant to His eye with 
 the brightness of resurrection joy. Hence at the 
 very beginning of His ministry He speaks of those 
 who are reviled and persecuted for His sake (Matt. 
 V. 11) ; of false i:>rophets standing before Him in a 
 day that lies on the other side of death (vii. 22) ; 
 of taking the cross and following Him even to the 
 grave (x. 38, 39) ; of continuing three days and 
 three nights in the heart of the earth (xii. 40) ; and 
 of sending forth His angels in the harvest of the 
 world to gather out of His kingdom all things that 
 offend, and them which do iniquity (xiii. 41). Still 
 more distinctly, when Peter confessed Him to be 
 the Christ, or Messiah, the vSon of the living God, 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 147 
 
 " from that time forth began Jesus to show unto 
 his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, 
 and suffer manj^ things of the elders and chief 
 priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised 
 again the third day," (xvi. 21). Again, after the 
 transfiguration, that gave a glimpse of His prom- 
 ised kingdom, while He and the disciples abode in 
 Galilee, "Jesus said uulo them. The Son of man 
 shall be betrayed into the hands of men ; and they 
 shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised 
 again,'' (xvii. 22, 23). This is succeeded by the 
 announcement that those who had followed Him,, 
 in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall^sit 
 upon the throne of His glory, should also sit upon 
 twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel 
 (xix. 28) ; and this by another distinct statement 
 that " Jesus going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve 
 disciples apart in the way, and said unto them,, 
 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem ; and the Son of 
 man shall be betrayed unto the chief j)riests and 
 unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to 
 death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles, to 
 mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him : and the 
 third day he shall rise again," (xx. 17, 19). 
 
 Then comes the prediction of His death, as the 
 Son of God, in the parable of the vineyard (xxi. 
 37-39) ; then His defence of the doctrine of the 
 resurrection against the Sadducees in His signifi- 
 cant reproof, " Ye do err, not knowing the script- 
 ures, nor the power of God," and in the sublime 
 declaration, " God is not the God of the dead, but 
 of the living," (xxii. 29,32); then his sorrowful 
 
148 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 farewell to Jerusalem, whose children should see 
 Him no more, till they would say in the extremity 
 of their distress, " Blessed is he ttiatcomethin the 
 name of the Lord," (xxiii. 37-39) ; then two entire 
 chapters declaring that immediately after a tribu- 
 lation yet future, of which the destruction of the 
 sacred city by Titus was a faint type, " shall all 
 the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see 
 the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, 
 with 1^0 wer and great glory," (xxiv. 30) ; that when 
 His Church is wrapped in the deep sleep of spirit- 
 ual insensibility, at midnight a cry shall be heard, 
 *' Behold, the bridegroom cometh ; go ye out to 
 meet him," (xxv. 6) ; that during the period of His 
 absence from the earth He commits certain talents 
 to His servants, and " after a long time, the lord of 
 those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them," 
 (xxv. 19) ; that " when the Son of man shall come 
 in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then 
 shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and 
 before him shall be gathered all nations," (xxv. 
 31); then His solemn testimony at His trial before 
 the high priest, when put upon His oath, or 
 adjured by the liviug God to say plainly whether 
 He was the Christ, the Son of God, "I am," as 
 Mark has it, and " hereafter shall ye see the Son 
 of man sitting on the right hand of jjower, and 
 coming in the clouds of heaven," (xxvi. 64) ; then 
 the account of His death, followed by the state- 
 ment that when His body was in the grave, " the 
 chief priests and Pharisees came together unto 
 Pilate, saying. Sir, we remember that that deceiver 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 149 
 
 said, while lie was yet alive, After three days I 
 will rise again," and procuring a band of soldiers 
 to watch the tomb, " lest his disciples come by 
 night, and steal him away, and say unto the people,, 
 He is risen from the dead ; so the last error shall 
 be worse than the first," (xxvii. 62-66) ; and then 
 the narrative of His resurrection and His subse- 
 quent appearance to the disciples (xxviii). Such 
 is an imperfect outline of the references to the 
 resurrection contained in the Gospel of Matthew, 
 which, you must remember, Strauss regards as the 
 most trustworthy. These references are so inter- 
 woven with the entire structure of the book that, 
 if removed, there would be no Gospel by Matthew ; 
 and although Jesus, in prophesying such things of 
 Himself, may be for Strauss nothing but a fanatic, 
 or a braggart and an imposter, still it is certain 
 that He did repeatedly and constantly prophesy 
 such things of Himself according to the testimony 
 of one whom Strauss recognizes as the most trust- 
 worthy witness. It does not concern us to know 
 what opinion Strauss chose to entertain of the 
 character of Jesus, but it does concern us to know 
 that Jesus plainly and frequently predicted His 
 resurrection. 
 
 VI. This is a suitable connection in which to 
 notice the various accounts of the resurrection, as 
 given by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Would 
 that there was time to take up one by one the 
 charges which Strauss brings of conflicting and 
 contradictory testimony in these accounts, that as 
 his charges are confuted and completely swept 
 
150 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 away, the hearts of Christians might burn within 
 them, like the hearts of the two disciples walking 
 to Emmaus, when the risen Jesus talked with them 
 by the way, and while He opened to them the 
 scriptures. The mistake of Strauss and all his 
 class of writers in dealing with the accounts of the 
 resurrection . consists in their failure to see the 
 different design of the Holy Ghost in each of the 
 four Gospels, or, if this expression offends them, 
 the different purposes of the four human writers. 
 Thus it is apparent to all who have really studied 
 the Gospels, that it was the i^urpose of Matthew to 
 set forth Jesus specially in His relation to the Jews 
 as the son of David, and son of Abraham, and Lion 
 of the tribe of Judah, disowned and rejected indeed, 
 and going out in grace to meet the need of sinful 
 Gentiles. It was the purpose of Mark to proclaim 
 Him as the obedient servant, prom^jt to do God's 
 bidding, coming, not to be ministered unto, but to 
 minister. It was the purpose of Luke to reveal 
 Him in His broadest aspects as the Son of man; 
 and it was the purpose of John to show Him to the 
 world as the Son of God, the heavenl3^ stranger, 
 tarrying a little while on earth to die, that whoso- 
 ever believeth on Him may not perish, but have 
 everlasting life, and then returning to the bosom of 
 the Father. 
 
 Hence it was not the wish of either to furnish a 
 comx)lete narrative of the resurrection, or of many 
 other facts in the life of our Lord, but only the 
 features that were in accordance with the aim of 
 each book ; and this is found upon examination to 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF JESTTS. 151 
 
 be true in their accounts of the resurrection which, 
 however diversified in certain details, and inde- 
 pendent in one sense, are in perfect harmony with 
 each other, and with the end each writer had in 
 view in preparing his particular history. But 
 would it not have been an easy task to make their 
 accounts precisely similar in every respect? One 
 of these books was written before the others, 
 Matthew, the most trustworthy, according to 
 Strauss, being the first, and as previously shown, 
 it was soon publicly read at least once every week 
 in a multitude of congregations. When Mark, 
 Luke, and John subsequently concluded, speaking 
 after the manner of men, to furnish their own nar- 
 ratives, it would have been a very simple thing, 
 which a child could accomplish, to copy word for 
 word, the account already given by Matthew. Yet 
 if this had been done, what a howl would have 
 been raised by infidelity, calling attention to the 
 positive proof of collusion and forgery ! As it was 
 not done, infidelity turns upon you with the asser- 
 tion that the accounts contain contradictory testi- 
 mony, showing how utterly impossible it is to 
 satisfy a skeptical spirit, no matter what the Bible 
 says. But even the most skeptical spirit will be 
 compelled to admit that the four Gospels precisely 
 agree in all the leading facts connected with the 
 resurrection. They all agree in asserting the real 
 death of Jesus on the Cross. They all agree in 
 saying that His body was buried in the toml) of 
 Joseph of Arimathea, with whom, John adds, 
 iTicodemus also came, having obtained permission 
 
152 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 from Pilate to dispose of the remains; for as 
 Strauss says, " there was a Eoman law which gave 
 the bodies of criminals so executed to their rela- 
 tions or friends, if they themselves asked for them," 
 (Vol. I. p. 396). They all agree in regard to the 
 statement that certain women went first to the 
 sepulchre early on the morning of the first day of 
 the week ; they all agree that these women found 
 the stone rolled away from the mouth of the sepul- 
 chre, and the sepulchre itself empty; and they 
 all agree that the resurrection had previously 
 occurred ; though no one of them tells us that any 
 mortal eye saw Him rise, nor do they inform us as 
 to the manner of His resurrection, which they 
 would surely have done, if the story had been an 
 invention of their own. 
 
 Let us now bring these separate accounts to- 
 gether in their minutest particulars, and see 
 whether Christians will not have occasion to 
 admire and adore the divine wisdom and love that 
 so marvellously protected the obviously honest 
 narratives against every theory which would deny 
 their perfect credibility. Jesus hanging on the 
 cross, having cried, not with a faint voice indicat- 
 ing a swoon, but with a loud voice, " Father, into 
 thy hands I commend my spirit," bowed His head, 
 and gave up the ghost. It was about the ninth 
 hour, or three o'clock in the afternoon of Friday, 
 that is, three hours before the commencement of 
 the Jewish Sabbath. Because it was the prepara- 
 tion, soldiers came at the request of the Jewish 
 rulers, and with the consent of Pilate, to hasten 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF JESU8. 153 
 
 the death of the three who were crucified, aud who 
 might have lingered in their agony for a day or two ; 
 but finding that Jesus was already dead, they brake 
 not his legs, though one of the soldiers with a spear 
 l)ierced his side, making his death doubly sure. 
 Immediately afterwards, Joseph of Arimathea 
 arrived, and with the assistance of Nicodemus, 
 took down the body, and having wrapped it in a 
 linen cloth, with such perfumes as the latter 
 brought, he placed it, Matthew says, in his own 
 new tomb, which Mark tells us was hewn out of a 
 rock, and Luke and John add, " wherein never 
 man before was laid." Matthew aud Mark state 
 that Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of 
 James and Joses, among other women, beheld 
 where He was laid, while Luke describes them as 
 the women " which came with him from Galilee,'^ 
 and also states that they returned to the city, 
 *'and prepared spices and ointments, and rested 
 the sabbath day, according to the commandment." 
 The first day of the week, very early in the 
 morning ac^'ordiug to Luke, when it was yet dark 
 according to John, as it began to dawn according 
 to Matthew, these women came, bringing the spices 
 they had prepared as Mark and Luke assert, Mark 
 telling us that though it was very early in the 
 morning when they left home, they came unto the 
 sepulchre at the rising of the sun, and we know 
 how brief is the interval in that latitude between 
 the dawn and the morning. John mentions only 
 Mary Magdalene, but he states that when she saw 
 the empty sepulchre, she ran at once to Peter and 
 
154 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 John, who are always represented as intimately 
 associated, exclaiming, " They have taken away the 
 Lord out of the sepulchre, and ice know not where 
 they have laid him." She did not say, J know not, 
 but ive know not, furnishing the strongest, because 
 unintentional, evidence that other women were 
 with her. It is pitiful weakness on the part of 
 Strauss, utterly unworthy of his tine intellect, to 
 accuse the four Evangelists of contradicting each 
 other, because they do not mention the same num- 
 ber of women, or of angels, or because Matthew 
 speaks of the angel that sat on the stone at the 
 time of the earthquake, and Mark describes him 
 as sitting in the sepulchre when the women entered. 
 Four Americans on a visit to London might see 
 the Queen accompanied by her children and officers 
 riding in state through the streets on some occasion 
 of national interest. One of them might write 
 home saying that the Queen had appeared on the 
 streets ; another that the Queen and the Prince of 
 Wales had appeared ; another that ther Queen and 
 the Prince and Princess had appeared; another 
 that the royal household had appeared ; but there 
 would be no contradiction in their testimony unless 
 one or the other of the writers should affirm that 
 only those they had chosen to name had been seen. 
 So it is here. John speaks of Mary Magdalene; 
 Matthew speaks of Mary Magdalene, and the other 
 Mary ; Mark speaks of Mary Magdalene, and Mary 
 the mother of James, and Salome ; Luke speaks of 
 Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother 
 of James, and other women that were with them ; 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 155 
 
 and there is no contradiction whatever. The same 
 remark may be made concerning the angels who 
 are represented as appearing at different times and 
 places in connection with the momentons event, 
 now sitting on the stone, then in the sepulchre, 
 then speaking to the women. The same remark 
 may be made about the actions of the women, for 
 Mary ran back to the disciples the moment she 
 perceived that Jesus was not in the sepulchre, 
 while the others remained and saw the angels. 
 Peter and John at once proceeded with her, the 
 latter outrunning the former, and, looking into the 
 empty sepulchre,, believed ; but the former was 
 simply perplexed, and wondering in himself, 
 departed. Luke mentions only Peter, but he does 
 not say that John was not with him, nor does he 
 say that Peter did not visit the sepulchre twice that 
 great morning, as he probably did at the time the 
 Lord appeared to him alone. Meanwhile the other 
 women having fled in terror, speaking to no one by 
 the way, but hurrying at once to the disciples, 
 Mary stood without weeping, and it was during this 
 second visit Jesus appeared to her, as He was in 
 the act of ascending to the Father. The disciples 
 generally regarded the words of the women, who 
 reported the vision of angels, as idle tales, and two 
 of them immediately left the city for the village of 
 Emmaus, not having received the latest intelligence. 
 But at least one of the women had returned to the 
 sepulchre, and in company with Mary Magdalene 
 was coming into the city the second time when 
 Jesus met them, saying, " All hail !" and permitted 
 
156 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 them to fall at His feet and worship Him. Even 
 then the disciples believed not, nor would they 
 credit His resurrection until He had appeared to 
 the entire number. 
 
 But surely it is needless to push this investi- 
 gation farther. If any honest inquirer after truth 
 will take four Bibles and, opening to the accounts 
 of the resurrection, will place them side by side, 
 carefully comparing them in all their details, he 
 will soon become convinced that the apparent dis- 
 crepancies are easily reconciled, and that too by no 
 forced interpretation, nor by the suppression of a 
 single fact recorded in any of the narratives. IS^ay, 
 the transparent candor and j^erfect credibility of 
 each writer, and the entire freedom, that is manifest, 
 from all straming at effect and all anxiety as to the 
 reception of the story, will grow upon him with 
 increasing power, and he will say to himself again 
 and again, it is absolutely impossible that these 
 narratives could have been the inventions of 
 forgery, or the products of an excited imagination, 
 for the art required to produce them would be in 
 itself something suj^ernatural. They are narra- 
 tives which for eighteen hundred years have been 
 most closely and critically scanned by thousands, 
 and tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands, 
 of the ablest minds of Christendom, for it is by no 
 means true that all the intellectual greatness and 
 honesty and learning belong to the infidels, and not 
 onl}^ have these minds failed to discover the 
 slightest discrepancy in the accounts of the resur- 
 rection, but they have studied them year after year 
 
THE RESTJRRECTION OF JESUS. 157 
 
 with an ever-deepening impression of their truth 
 and beauty and divinity. Especially have they 
 poured out unto God the sacrifice of gladness and 
 gratitude, when they have found in the Gospel 
 history of the resurrection of Jesus, at once so 
 simple and so sublime, the crowning proof of His 
 rightful claims upon their confidence and love, the 
 sure evidence of their eternal oneness with a risen 
 Christ, and the strong foundation of every doctrine 
 taught, and every duty enjoined, and every hope 
 held forth in the New Testament. 
 
 YII. The statement just made will be fully con- 
 firmed if we look for a moment at the use of the 
 resurrection of Jesus made by the Apostles. It 
 will be seen that every doctrine, every duty, and 
 every hope, are so intimately blended with the fact 
 of His resurrection, that the denial of the latter 
 leads to the instant and total annihilation of the 
 former. Of this Strauss takes no notice whatever, 
 and yet every one must i^erceive that it is too 
 important to be overlooked. Thus the opening 
 statement of the book called *' The Acts of the 
 Apostles " assures us that the risen Jesus showed 
 Himself to His disciples, or as the Greek word 
 X^roperly means. He demonstrated Himself to be 
 alive after His passion, by many infallible proofs, 
 being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the 
 things pertaining to the kingdom of God. This is 
 followed by the statement that when He had given 
 His last command to His disciples, while they 
 beheld, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him 
 out of their sight , and this again by the statement 
 
158 IS THE MBLE TRITE f 
 
 that in the selection of one to take the place of 
 Judas, it was an essential qualification of an 
 Apostle that he must be a personal witness with 
 the others of the resurrection of Jesus, (Acts i. 
 3, 9, 22). In the next chapter, recording the 
 transactions that occurred on the day of Pentecost, 
 we find Peter with the eleven standing in Jerusalem, 
 where fifty days before Jesus had been put to 
 death, and charging the Jews with the crime of 
 having crucified and slain Him, '^ whom God hath 
 raised up, having loosed the pains of death ; 
 because it was not possible that he should be 
 holden of it ; . . . this Jesus hath God raised 
 up, whereof we are all witnesses," (Acts ii. 24, 32). 
 Was there any denial of the bold charge ! Was 
 there any attempt to rebut the positive testimony, 
 where it could have been so readily disproved, if it 
 were untrue ? Not the slightest ; but on the other 
 hand the record states, and its correctness has 
 never been questioned, that three thousand of the 
 Jews, pierced to the heart with conviction, were 
 then and there baptized in the name of the risen 
 Jesus. Why did not the rulers of the Jews expose 
 the body of Jesus, and thus crush Christianity with 
 a blow? Or why did they not prove that the wit- 
 nesses to the resurrection had stolen the body ? 
 Or why did these witnesses, but a few days before, 
 accordiug to their own admission, so discouraged 
 and desponding that they fied like a flock of 
 frightened sheep, suddenly stand forth with an 
 audacity that has never been equalled to assert, 
 not in some distant corner of the land, but in the 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 159 
 
 very city where Jesus had been crucified, His 
 resurrectiou from the dead ? The whole scene is 
 inconceivable and impossible, if the Apostles did 
 not only firmly believe, but knew, that He was 
 actually risen. 
 
 In the next chapter we find Peter and John 
 saying to the Jewish rulers, " Ye denied the Holy 
 One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be 
 granted unto you, and killed the Prince of life, 
 whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we 
 are witnesses," (Acts iii. 14, 15). In the next 
 chapter they say, '' Be it known unto you all, and 
 to all the people of Israel, that by the name of 
 Jesus Christ of Nazareth', whom ye crucified, w'hom 
 God raised from the dead, even by him doth this 
 man stand before you whole," (Acts iv. 10). In the 
 next chapter Peter and the other Apostles say to 
 the Sanhedrim, " The God of our fathers raised up 
 Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him 
 hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince 
 and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and 
 forgiveness of sins," (Acts v. 30, 31). Can any one 
 believe that they would have spoken in this man- 
 ner to their own civil and ecclesiastical rulers, 
 unless they knew thcit the ground on which they 
 stood was unassailable? But it would be weari- 
 some, if not unprofitable, to continue these quota- 
 tions, when chapter after chapter brings out the 
 same thing over and over again. If we look at 
 Peter j)reaching to the Eoman centurion in Csesa- 
 rea, he tells him that the Apostles are witnesses of 
 all things which Jesus did, " whom they slew and 
 
160 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 hanged on a tree ; Him God raised up the third 
 day, and showed him openly,^' (Acts x. 40). If we 
 look at Paul preaching to the Jews at Antioch in 
 Pisidia, he tells them of Jesus, and says, " God 
 raised him from the dead : and he was seen many 
 days of them which came up with him from Galilee 
 to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the peo- 
 ple," (Acts xiii. 30, 31). Or if we look at Paul 
 preaching to the cultivated Athenians on Mars' 
 Hill, he tells them of "Jesus and the resurrection," 
 adding that God " hath appointed a day, in the 
 which he will judge the world in righteousness, by 
 that man whom he hath ordained : whereof he 
 hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath 
 raised him from the dead," (Acts xvii. 18, 31). Or 
 if we look at Paul preaching in chains to King 
 Agrippa, imprisoned, as the Eoman Festus ex- 
 plained to his royal guest, on account of certain 
 questions which the Jews had " against him of 
 their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which 
 was dead, whom Paul affirmed to he alive," (Acts 
 XXV. 19), we find him testifying that he said "none 
 other things than those which the prophets and 
 Moses did say should come : that Christ should 
 suffer, and that he should be the first that should 
 rise from the dead," and moreover affirming that 
 "this thing was not done in a corner," and so 
 powerfully affecting his distinguished auditor that 
 " Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest 
 me to be a Christian," (Acts xxvi. 22-28). Again 
 let the question be asked, can any one believe that 
 Paul would have made such an assertion, in such 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 161 
 
 a presence, unless lie not only firmly believed, but 
 Icneic whereof he affirmed ? Would it not have been 
 instantly contradicted and disproved, leaving Paul 
 convicted as an impostor or as insane? Every- 
 where in the preaching of the Apostles, the resur- 
 rection of Jesus, not as a fancy which they fondly 
 cherished, but as a fact of which they were compe- 
 tent witnesses, was their unvarying theme to the 
 high and the low, to the rich and the poor, to the 
 king and the peasant, to the philosopher and the 
 child, to the Jew and the Gentile. 
 
 But this is not all, nor the half. It is indisso- 
 lubly linked with every part and particular of the 
 Christian faith. (1) It is an essential element of 
 the Gospel. " I declare unto you," says Paul, 
 " the gospel which I preached unto you," and then 
 he defines the gospel ; " for I delivered unto you 
 first of all that which I also received, how that 
 Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures ; 
 and that he was buried, and that he rose again the 
 third day according to the scriptures," (1 Cor. xv. 
 1-4) ; " Eemember that Jesus Christ, of the seed 
 of David, was raised from the dead according to 
 my gospel," (2 Tim. ii. 8). (2) It is essential to our 
 salvation. " If thou shalt confess with thy mouth 
 the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart 
 that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt 
 be saved," (Eom. x. 9). (3) It is essential to our 
 justification. Eighteousness shall be imputed to 
 us also, " if we believe on him that raised up Jesus 
 our Lord from the dead ; who was delivered for our 
 offences, and raised again for our justification," 
 10 
 
162 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 (Eom. iv. 24 25). (4) It is essential to our sancti- 
 fication. "Therefore we are buried with him by 
 baptism into death : that like as Christ was raised 
 up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even 
 so we also should walk in newness of life : . . . 
 Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, 
 dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over 
 him ; . . . Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are 
 become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that 
 ye should be married to another, even to him who 
 is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth 
 fruit unto God,'' (Eom. vi. 4-9 ; vii. 4). (5) It is 
 essential to our consecration. " The love of Christ 
 constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if 
 one died for all, then were all dead : and that he 
 died for all, that they which live should not hence- 
 forth live unto themselves, but unto him which 
 died for them, and rose again," (2 Cor. v. 14, 15 ; 
 "for to this end Christ both died, and rose, and 
 revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead 
 and living," (Eom. xiv. 9) ; " If ye then be risen 
 with Christ, seek those things which are above, 
 where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God," 
 (Col. iii. 1). (6) It is essential to our safety. 
 " Who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that 
 died, yea, rather, that is risen again," (Eom. viii. 
 34) ; " God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love 
 wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in 
 sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by 
 grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up to- 
 gether," (Eph. ii. 4-6) ; " Buried with him in bap- 
 tism, wherein also ye are risen with him through 
 
THE REStJRllECTlON OF JESUS. 163 
 
 the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised 
 him from the dead," (Col. ii. 12). (7) It is essential 
 to our hope. " Blessed be the God and Father of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his 
 abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively 
 hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the 
 dead," (1 Pet. i. 3). (8) It is essential to our own 
 resurrection. " If the Spirit of him that raised up 
 Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised 
 up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your 
 mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you," 
 (Eom. viii. 11); ^' For if we believe that Jesus died 
 and rose again, even so them also which sleep in 
 Jesus will God bring with him," (1 Thess. iv. 14) ; 
 "Every man in his own order; Christ the first 
 fruits; afterward they that are Christ's, at his 
 coming," (1 Cor. xv. 23). Such are mere exam])les 
 of the way in which the resurrection of Jesus is 
 presented throughout the New Testament ; and 
 even in the closing book, acknowledged by Strauss 
 to be the genuine work of John, He is everywhere 
 described as risen, and ascended, and swaying the 
 sceptre of empire amid the storms that shall shake 
 the x^iliars of the earth in the last and perilous 
 days, and coming again with clouds, when " every 
 eye shall see him, and they also which pierced 
 him," (Eev. i. 7). Take away the literal resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus from the Bible, and as Eenan says 
 about the consequences of His removal from 
 humanity and the world, you will rend it to its 
 foundations. 
 
 VIII. The resurrection of Jesus, thus proclaimed 
 
164 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ! 
 
 all tbrougli the Bible, from the first of Genesis to 
 the last of Revelation, could not possibly have 
 been a myth, but must have been a real, and his- 
 torical fact. A myth is the representation of a 
 religious truth in the form of a fictitious narrative, 
 but without any consciousness of the difference 
 between them; and Strauss labors hard to prove 
 that there was no objective occurrence which gave 
 rise to the belief in the resurrection of Jesus, 
 which he admits the Apostles firmly held, but only 
 a subjective impression produced on their minds 
 by a vision which they imagined they had seen. 
 With due respect for one whose intellect we are 
 compelled to admire, it may be safely said that a 
 more absurd conceit was never hatched outside the 
 brain of a madman. A number of men who did 
 not exhibit a single trait of fanaticism, possessing 
 none of its credulity, extravagance, ignorance, 
 rashness, self-conceit, who were manifestly calm, 
 cool, collected, judicious, giving to the world con- 
 fessedly the noblest code of morals it has ever 
 known, imparting the most exalted and the most 
 rational conceptions of God, leaving on record 
 commands and precepts affecting all the relations 
 of life that even the bitterest skeptic acknowledges 
 are eminently wise, and all of which are based on 
 the reality of the resurrection of Jesus, who say 
 of themselves that at the time of His death they 
 obstinately and utterly rejected the first reports of 
 His resurrection, went all over the world asserting 
 that they saw Him after His resurrection, that they 
 saw Him repeatedly, that they saw Him in the day 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 165 
 
 time, that He spoke to them again and again, direct- 
 ing them how to proceed in their work, that He 
 breathed upon them, sajang, Eeceive ye the Holy 
 Ghost, that He ate with them, that He showed 
 them the print of the nails in His hands and of the 
 spear wound in His side, that He demonstrated 
 Himself to be alive after His passion by many 
 infallible proofs during the space of more than a 
 month, and that, they beheld Him visibly ascend- 
 ing to heaven; and yet Strauss gravely asks us 
 to believe that all this was a fancy, a dream, a 
 delusion ! 
 
 But on the theory that the resurrection was a 
 myth it is simply impossible to account for the con- 
 duct of one of these witnesses, who, for a consid- 
 erable period after the death of Jesus, was not only 
 an unbeliever, but a ferocious i^ersecutor of His 
 disciples. This man, on one of his persecuting 
 excursions, as he drew near to Damascus, was sud- 
 denly arrested, as he declares, by a great light 
 from heaven flashing about him at mid-day, and by 
 the sound of a voice saying in articulate language, 
 *' Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me!" Over- 
 whelmed with amazement and awe, he replied, 
 *' Who art thou f when again came the audible 
 words, " I am Jesus, whom thou x^ersecutest." It 
 is childish in Strauss to attempt to set aside the 
 credibility of the narrative, because in one account 
 it is said, that the men which journeyed with Saul 
 stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no 
 man, and in another account that they saw indeed 
 the light, and were afraid, but they heard not the 
 
166 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 voice. It is Luke who gives, in the words of Paul, 
 both accounts, and surely it would have been easy 
 enough for him to avoid the contradiction if any 
 had existed. But he speaks after the manner of the 
 Bible, that always recognizes the difference between 
 the circumcised and uncircumcised ear, and it is 
 obvious that hejneans to say, his companions 
 heard the sound, but did not understand the words 
 that were uttered, just as Jesus a little while before 
 His death heard the voice of His Father, articu- 
 lately saying, " I have both glorified it, and will 
 glorify it again," while the people that stood by, 
 and heard it, said that it thundered, (John xii. 28, 
 29). This explanation is fully confirmed by the 
 meaning of the Greek word, which implies both 
 ''to perceive sound," and "to understand." If 
 the narrative is not true, why did not some 
 of the soldiers who travelled with him contradict 
 it? Why did Ananias come on the strength of 
 Paul's myth to this arch enemy of Christianity? 
 Why did Paul challenge investigation both before 
 the whole multitude of Jews in Jerusalem, (Acts 
 xxii.), and before king Agrippa, (Acts xxvi.); and 
 above all, why did Paul become a Christian and 
 constantly affirm that he had seen the risen Jesus ? 
 " Am I not an apostle ? am 1 not free ? have I not 
 seen Jesus Christ our Lord?" (1 Cor. ix. 1). Baur, 
 the teacher of Strauss, at the close of his long and 
 critical studies, honestly confessed that the con- 
 version of Paul was a mystery which could be 
 explained only by " the miracle of the resurrection," 
 (Christianity and the Christian Church in the First 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 167 
 
 Three Centuries, p. 45). It is not unkind to say- 
 that if Strauss had been as magnanimous as he was 
 able, he would have made the same confession, and 
 so given up his whole undertaking ; for the untruth 
 of such evidence is surely more difficult to conceive 
 than the reality of that which it was intended to 
 prove. 
 
 Hear this last, and in some respects, most 
 important witness, in the Epistle to the Corinthians, 
 which Strauss and all other skeptical critics 
 acknowledge to be genuine. After stating that the 
 resurrection of Jesus is a fundamental part of the 
 gospel, he says, " He was seen of Cephas, then of 
 the twelve : after that, he was seen of above five 
 hundred brethren at once ; of whom the greater 
 part remain unto this present [about thirty 
 years after], but some are fallen asleep. [Did they 
 all have a vision, or dream, or mere subjective 
 impression without any objective fact to justify it, 
 and all at the same time?] After that, he was seen 
 of James ; then of all the apostles. And last of all 
 he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due 
 time," (1 Cor. XV. 5-8). Here then according to the 
 testimony of a man whose honesty only a fool or a 
 knave can question, in an Epistle of undisputed 
 authenticity, we have a number of appearances, 
 which added to those in the four Gospels and Acts, 
 make at least twelve, under circumstances that 
 utterly preclude the idea of myth. Eejecting the 
 literal resurrection, there is no alternative but the 
 conclusion that Paul and the other Apostles were 
 deliberate and wilful liars, and this conclusion is so 
 
168 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 monstrous it is scorned even by skeptics who pre- 
 tend to any decency. No wonder, therefore, Paul 
 adds, " If Christ be not risen, then is our i)reaching 
 vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are 
 found false witnesses of God; because we have 
 testified of God that he raised up Christ : whom he 
 raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For 
 if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised : and 
 if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain ; ye are 
 yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen 
 asleep in Christ are perished," (1 Cor. xv. 14-18). 
 
 Yes, they are perished, and we too must soon lie 
 down in the dust, not only beside a dead Christ, bat 
 beside a dead Christianity, a dead Bible, a dead 
 world. We look up in our helplessness for help, 
 but there is no living and personal God to meet our 
 cry of agony with a fatherly response, or to bend 
 the laws of nature even once before the expression 
 of His infinite love. He is not the kind Master, but 
 the bound slave of His own laws ; and under His 
 government darkness is superior to the One who 
 announced that He was the "Light;" the chains of 
 the lost are stronger than the One who proclaimed 
 that He was the " Way ;" falsehood is mightier than 
 the One who declared He was the "Truth;" and 
 death has conquered Him who is everywhere 
 revealed in the Gospels as the " Life." If the resur- 
 rection of Jesus is a myth, all the teachings of the 
 scriptures that rest upon it are myths, all the faith* 
 and courage and endurance of the martyrs are myths, 
 all the achievements of His disciples are myths, all 
 the benevolence, all the charity, all the victory 
 
THE EESIJRREOTION OF JESUS. 169 
 
 gained over selfishness and sin, all the stimulus to 
 human enterprise, all the alleviation of human 
 sorrow, all the history of the race for fifteen 
 hundred years, all the guidance in perplexity, all 
 the solace in affliction, all the hope in living, all the 
 triumph iu dying, known by countless millions, all, 
 all are myths, and Jesus Himself is a myth. 
 
 " But now IS Christ risen from the dead, and 
 become the first fruits of them that slept j" for as 
 Beyschlag has well said, " it is infinitely easier to 
 admit that the Christian Church is the offspring of 
 a miracle, than to imagine it born of a lie.'' The 
 miracle of His resurrection is the earnest and fore- 
 runner of even a grander and vaster miracle, when 
 His glad shout shall ring through the silence of the 
 tomb, and a great multitude that no man can num- 
 ber, coming forth in glorious, ijowerful, and 
 immortal bodies, shall be caught up in clouds with 
 living saints, changed in a moment, to meet Him in 
 the air ; " and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 
 Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 
 If it please Him to tarry yet longer, the believer will 
 soon enter the grave, as a quiet resting place from 
 the strife and toil of earth ; but his Christian friends 
 can gather around it to lift the Hymn of Praise, 
 
 " Thou hast been here, Lord Jesus ! 
 
 But Thou art here no more ; 
 The terror and the darkness, 
 
 The night of death, are o'er. 
 Great Captain of salvation ! 
 
 Thy triumphs now we sing ; 
 O Grave, where is thy victory? 
 
 O Death, where is thy sting?" 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 
 
 l^rOT long since a Christian was requested to 
 -1-1 name the best book on the " Divine Origin of 
 the Bible." His instant answer was, " The Bible." 
 This is so true it almost justifies the remark of 
 Coleridge that the book most needed is one which 
 will defend Christianity against its defenders. No 
 writer probably has ever undertaken to set forth 
 the claims of the Sacred Scriptures upon the faith 
 and veneration of men, without a humiliating con- 
 sciousness, not only of his total failure to present 
 them in their full light, but of his own inability to 
 comprehend their breadth and length and depth 
 and height. Or if in a silly conceit of his sufficiency 
 for the task, he has no such consciousness, others 
 are sure to detect his failure for him ; for they 
 speedily discover that in comparison with what 
 might have been said and ought to have been said, 
 his brightest arguments are but as the flash of the 
 fire-fly attempting to impart some conception of the 
 sun shining in his strength. Hence the certainty 
 with which every jiublished work on the '' Evidences 
 of Christianity " is pronounced by thoughtful and 
 thorough students of the Bible to be unsatisfactory. 
 The reason for this judgment, so uniformly 
 
 170 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 171 
 
 rendered, lies in the vastness of the subject, which is 
 seen only by thoughtful and thorough students. 
 The child looks up at the stars, and imagines that 
 they are very small and within reach of its tiny 
 grasp ; but the astronomer walks amid these count- 
 less worlds scattered throughout illimitable space, 
 until his spirit is overwhelmed within him. The 
 illiterate rustic ploughs the ground with no knowl- 
 edge of the earth beneath the fertile soil and the 
 loose stones that are found upon the surface ; but 
 to the eye of the geologist the successive strata 
 reveal wondrous secrets, and force him to exclaim, 
 if his sense keeps pace with his science, " Lord, 
 thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 
 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever 
 thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even 
 from everlasting to everlasting thou art God," (Ps. 
 xc. 1, 2). In like manner, precisely in proportion 
 to the infidel's ignorance of the Bible, will be his 
 confidence that it is unworthy of belief; and pre- 
 cisely in proportion to the Christian's acquaintance 
 with the Bible, will be his conviction that none but 
 God could be its author, so that at each step of his 
 investigation he will turn to its defenders, and say 
 in the language the queen of Sheba addressed to 
 Solomon, " Howbeit I believed not the words, until 
 I came, and miue eyes had seen it ; and, behold, the 
 half was not told me," (1 Kings x. 7). 
 
 The evidence that the Bible is from God is of the 
 same character that proves the material creation to 
 be from God, and it would be as difficult to con- 
 vince an intelligent believer that the former is the 
 
172 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 work of man, as to convince him that the latter is 
 the work of chance, or of the blind laws of nature. 
 But with the former as with the latter, it is 
 impossible to describe all the tokens and demon- 
 strations of a divine authorship that are suggested 
 to the mind, because they are innumerable, and are 
 ever increasing with increasing knowledge and 
 observation. As Bacon says in his Advancement 
 of Learning, ^' it is an assured truth, and a con- 
 clusion of experience, that a little or superficial 
 knowledge of philosophy may incline the mind of 
 man to atheism, but a farther i)roceeding therein 
 doth bring the mind back again to religion ;" and 
 to this it may be added that '* a farther proceeding 
 therein doth bring the mind ^' to a recognition of 
 its own weakness when surrounded by the imposing 
 symbols of Jehovah's presence. It is well known 
 that Sir Isaac Newton, when complimented on his 
 matchless attainments in science, declared he 
 was like a little child x^icking up a few pebbles 
 on the beach, while the shoreless ocean of 
 truth rolled before him unexplored; and that 
 Sir W. Jones, the most accomplished scholar 
 of his day in England, stated that if he had his life 
 to go over he would study nothing but the Epistles 
 of St. Paul. This may appear extravagant to those 
 who casually read the Bible, but it will not seem 
 strange to any who '' search the scriptures," as 
 Jesus commands. At the close of the longest and 
 most laborious scrutiny of these ancient writings, 
 the first of which antedates by a thousand years 
 the period of Homer, who is called " the Father of 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 173 
 
 History," the ablest mind will confess that it was 
 just beginning, as it were, to get a glimpse of their 
 infinite meaning. 
 
 It has often occured that men have set about 
 their careful examination with the avowed design 
 of disproving their supernatural origin, and have 
 l)rogressed but a little way before bowing in lowly 
 adoration at the voice of God speaking to them in 
 this marvellous book. It is true that many have 
 perused them without any such result, for, as 
 Henry Rogers says, *'the works alone that have 
 been written against them would make a library far 
 greater than all the literature of Greece and Eome, 
 taken many times over;" but still the fact remains 
 to be explained that in the face of the most savage 
 criticism which has subjected them to a severer 
 ordeal than any other, and all other, writings in the 
 world, multitudes of all ages and now of all nations, 
 including among them the strongest intellects, have 
 clung with unyielding tenacity to the belief that 
 they are divinely inspired. If it is so easy, as 
 ^infidelity constantly asserts, to show that they are 
 unworthy of serious attention, how is it that they 
 have made all this stir, and why is it that millions 
 not only in past centuries, but millions living 
 to-day, the equals, to say the least, in character and 
 culture of unbelievers, have j)ersisted in the 
 assertion that they recognize the imprint of the 
 Creator^s hand in the volume that is dearer to them 
 than life? Perhaps the following considerations 
 may help to account for the wide-spread faith that 
 it can not be regarded as the invention of man. 
 
174 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 I. It will be admitted by all who believe in the ex- 
 istence of a personal God, that He might, if He chose, 
 have given us a written revelation of Himself and 
 of our duty, as well as a revelation of Himself and 
 of our obligations in the works of nature, and by 
 means of the human reason and conscience. It is 
 not here asserted that He has given a written reve- 
 lation, or that there is any need of such a revela- 
 tion ; but surely it will not be denied that He who 
 made the mind of man, and endowed him with 
 reason and conscience, could communicate His 
 pleasure and His purposes through the agency of 
 human thoughts and words, if He desired to em- 
 ploy them in this service. Every day and every 
 hour we find men controlling the opinions and 
 shaping the conduct of other men by their thoughts 
 expressed in words spoken or written ; and beyond 
 all question, God is able to influence the minds of 
 any number He m^y select to manifest His will. 
 
 II. It will be admitted that we can obtain a much 
 clearer and more simple, and therefore more satis- 
 factory knowledge of Him, and of what we ought 
 to do, by a written revelation, than by the displays 
 of His attributes and perfections on the wide field 
 of th« material universe, and in the decisions of our 
 own judgment of right and wrong. Or if this is 
 going too far, it will certainly be conceded that for 
 the great mass of mankind, those who have no 
 capacity and no leisure and no inclination for close 
 observation and x)rofound investigation, it is much 
 easier to arrive at some knowledge of the being 
 and character of God, and of the proper standard 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 175 
 
 of morals, by a written revelation, than by a pro- 
 cess of diligent and personal inquiry into natural 
 and mental and moral science. The story told of 
 Thales, one of the seven wise men of Greece, illus- 
 trates the truth that we can not by searching find 
 out the Almighty unto perfection, for it is said that 
 after repeated attempts to define God, he confessed 
 he was further from success at the end than at 
 the commencement of his efforts. Plato, speak- 
 ing of the soul in its relations to eternity, and of 
 the rule of right for its government here, says " The 
 truth is, to determine anything certain about these 
 matters, in the midst of so many doubts and dispu- 
 tations, is the work of God only." Again, he rep- 
 resents Socrates as referring to a much needed re- 
 form in morals, and saying, " You may pass the 
 remainder of your days in sleep, or despair of find- 
 ing out a sufficient expedient for this i)urpose ; if 
 God, in His providence, do not send you some other 
 instruction." Again, he describes the great phi- 
 losopher as reproving Alcibiades for going to the 
 temple to pray, on the ground of its uselessness, 
 declaring that he must wait for further light before 
 he could learn how to behave towards gods and 
 towards men ; and then in answer to the remark of 
 his pupil, " Who will instruct me, for gladly would 
 I see this man, who he is," the sage replied, " He 
 is one who cares for you ; but, as Homer represents 
 Minerva taking away the darkness from the eyes 
 of Diomedes, that he might distinguish a god from 
 a man, so it is necessary that he should first take 
 away the darkness from your mind, and then bring 
 
176 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 near those things, by which you shall know good 
 and evil." If such are the confessions of the wisest 
 men of antiquity who lived beyond the light of 
 Bible teachings, it will scarcely be controverted 
 that for the uneducated and unthoughtful, a writ- 
 ten revelation would be of immense service. 
 
 So with regard to the questions of right and 
 wrong, good and evil, which Socrates seems to have 
 acknowledged could be determined only by the 
 coming or incarnation of Deity, even Strauss refers 
 to " the arbitrary manner in which the contempo- 
 rary sophists confounded all moral notions. To 
 them, according to the maxim of P3 thagoras, man 
 was the measure of all things : nothing was natu- 
 rally good or bad, but only by an arbitrary rule of 
 men, to which the individual need not bind himself, 
 but as the authors of those rules established them 
 for their own advantage, it was open to the indi- 
 vidual to call good and put in practice whatever 
 was agreeable or useful to himself. The art of 
 justifying such conduct, argumentatively, of shak- 
 ing the foundation of all existing principles in re- 
 ligion and morals, of * strengthening the weaker 
 cause,' i. e. of making right of wrong, was taught 
 and published by the sophists, but in point of fact 
 all that they did was to put into a methodical form 
 w^hat all the world around them was practising 
 already," (Vol. I. p. 243). That there has been no 
 improvement upon these ancient sophists in recent 
 times, may be inferred from the fact that the most 
 distinguished skeptics, as Lord Bolingbroke and 
 Yolney, can discover no obligation to morality 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 177 
 
 outside of self love; that Hobbes liiuls the sole 
 foundations of right and wrong to exist in the civil 
 law; that Eousseau says " all the morality of our 
 actions lies in the judgment we ourselves form of 
 them " ; that the Earl of Shaftesbury declares, '^ All 
 the obligations to be virtuous arise from the 
 advantages of virtue, and disadvantages of vice"; 
 and that other infidel writers, who refuse to recog- 
 nize the source, the standard, and the sanction of 
 morality, made known in the Bible, uniformly take 
 ground in relation to this vital subject, which 
 unbelievers themselves can see would speedily 
 lead to the entire overthrow of social order. 
 
 III. It will be admitted that if God is the Being 
 described by Deists, as infinitely wise, infinitely 
 powerful, delighting to reveal Himself amid the 
 wonders of the material globe, and amid the still 
 greater wonders of the human heart, too merciful 
 to punish His creatures except by the inexorable 
 operation of nature's laws, there is at least a strong 
 probability that He would make Himself and our 
 duty more fully known by a written revelation, in 
 view of the fact that such a revelation must be an 
 unspeakable blessing to multitudes of the ignorant 
 and weak-minded. Let us concede, for the sake of 
 argument, that a few of the highly-educated, and 
 strong-minded, and scientific, can get along very 
 well without such a revelation; yet they will 
 hardly set themselves up as gods to do the think- 
 ing for the rest of the world ; and will they have no 
 compassion upon the millions of their fellow-men, 
 who have not been favored with their intellectual 
 U 
 
178 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 vigor and literary advantages ? Although these 
 gifted ones need nothing more than the heavens to 
 declare the glory of God, and the firmament to. 
 show His handiwork, of which the Psalmist says, 
 " There is no speech, and there are no words : not 
 at all is their voice heard '' (Alexander's Transla- 
 tion), will they not permit the voice of God to be 
 heard in articulate utterance, addressing the poor, 
 the downtrodden, the sorrowing, the toiling, that 
 constitute the vast majority of earth's dying j)opu- 
 lation ? If He is the God they represent Him to 
 be, and could utter His voice distinctly in the 
 silence or through the discordant notes of nature, 
 so that men may definitely understand Him, He 
 would certainly respond in audible accents to the 
 cry of anguish that comes every moment from 
 many a sinful or stricken soul. If He could utter 
 His voice, and will not, whatever His respect for 
 the stability of nature's laws and for the sufficiency 
 of nature's light, then He is not what they repre- 
 sent Him to be, but a dreadful and unapproachable 
 tyrant, cold and unfeeling as Strauss himself. 
 
 ly. It will be admitted that if God has spoken 
 anywhere in a written revelation, it is found in the 
 book commonly called the Bible, or the Sacred 
 Scrii^tures; for so far as we are concerned, no 
 other book claims to be of supernatural origin. It 
 is taken for granted that no one will meet this 
 statement by reference to the book of Mormon, or 
 the Koran, each of which asserts its supernatural 
 origin, for the argument is addressed only to sen- 
 sible men ; and no sensible man will institute any 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 179 
 
 comparison between these books and tlie book 
 which challenges our attention, and commands our 
 faith, as the word of God. Both of these books 
 acknowledge the authority of the Bible, and the 
 divine mission of Jesus Christ, asserting for them- 
 selves that they contain nothing more than a sub- 
 sequent revelation from heaven. Those who will 
 take the pains to read them, instead of receiving at 
 second hand what infidels sometimes say in their 
 praise in order to discredit the truth of Christianity, 
 will at once perceive that in many respects they 
 are the plainest plagiarisms from the Scriptures, 
 and that exactly as they depart from the Scriptures 
 to pursue a line of original thinking, they fall to 
 the level of the coarsest superstitions, the lowest 
 errors, and the most brutal vices. It would be an 
 insult to your understanding, therefore, to waste 
 time in proving that they do not deserve serious 
 consideration ; but upon the premises already es- 
 tablished we may at once proceed to the examina- 
 tion of the book to which they owe whatever merit 
 they possess, and which is emphatically its own 
 witness to its supernatural origin. 
 
 First, it presents a code of morals that is alto- 
 gether unnatural, and hence could not have origi- 
 nated with man. Bruno Bauer, in his " Criticism of 
 the Evangelical Narrative of the Synoptic Gos- 
 pels," as quoted by Auberlen, says, " In no section 
 of the Gospels, not even the smallest, are there 
 wanting views which violate, offend, and arouse 
 human nature and feeling " (Divine Eevelation, p. 
 74). Be it so, but it only strengthens the force ot. 
 
180 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 the argument that the Gospels did not find their 
 source in human nature and feeling. Did human 
 nature and feeling originate such ex])ressions as 
 these, " Blessed are ye, when men shall revile jou, 
 and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil 
 against you falsely for my sake. . . . Whoso- 
 ever is angry with his brother without a cause, 
 shall be in danger of the judguieiit; . . . but 
 whosoever shall say. Thou fool, shall be in danger 
 of hell fire; ... Ye have heard that it was 
 said by them of old time. Thou shalt not commit 
 adultery: but I say unto you, that whosoever look- 
 eth upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed 
 adultery with her already in his heart; ... I 
 say unto you. Swear not at all, . . . but let 
 your communication be Yea, yea; IS^ay, nay: for 
 whatsoever is more than these, cometh of evil; 
 . . . Ye have heard that it hath been said. Ail 
 eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth : but I say 
 unto you. That ye resist not evil : but whosoever 
 shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him 
 the other also. And if any man will sue thee at 
 the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy 
 cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to 
 go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that 
 asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of 
 thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it 
 hath been said. Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and 
 hate thine enemy ; but I say unto you. Love your 
 enemies, bless them that curse you, do good ta 
 them that hate you, and pray for them that de- 
 epitefully use you, and persecute you." All these 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 181 
 
 remarkable statements are found in a single chap- 
 ter of the Gospel by Matthew, and well might 
 Bauer say that they " violate, offend, and arouse 
 human nature and feeling." This is shown by the 
 fact that the traditions of the Elders had added to 
 the teachings of the Pentateuch the clause, "hate 
 thine enemy " ; for no such words are found in the 
 Old Testament, but they so fully express human 
 nature and feeling that they were subjoined to the 
 command, '^ love thy neighbor," as if they formed 
 part of the sacred canon. It is still further shown 
 by the fact that men everywhere recognize the 
 truth of the maxim, " Self-defence is the tirst law 
 of nature," and scout the precept to turn the cheek 
 to be smitten, because, as the^^ assert, it is against 
 nature. Of course it is against nature, and there- 
 fore human nature never suggested such i^recepts, 
 and never imagined the possibility of a meek and 
 unresisting endurance of evil and of wrong to the 
 very last extremity. But the more unnatural the in- 
 fidels can show the morality of the Bible to be, the 
 more conclusively they prove the supernatural 
 character and origin of the Bible, since the code it 
 contains could not have sprung from the heart of 
 man. 
 
 Second, the way of salvation revealed in the 
 Gospels lifts them entirely above the discovery or 
 invention of human nature, as attested in all ages 
 and in all lands, and even in the experience of every 
 awakened sinner who is led to ask the thrilling 
 question, " What must I do to be saved f" If we 
 look back to ancient times, history tells us how 
 
182 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 universally men sought to propitiate the favor of 
 the gods by bloody sacrifices, and costly offerings, 
 and self-inflicted tortures. If we look at heathen 
 nations now existing, the same disposition to pur- 
 chase immunity from punishment and suffering 
 by personal effort and endurance is everywhere 
 manifested. If we look at Christendom during 
 the past eighteen centuries, we see what a 
 constant struggle it has required on the part of 
 comparatively a few faithful witnesses to maintain 
 the testimony of Jesus and the Apostles concern- 
 ing the absolute freeness of redemption. If we 
 look at each inquirer who is aroused to his urgent 
 need of pardon, and directs his prayer to God for 
 mercy, we discover how deeply implanted in human 
 nature is the thought, that eternal life can be 
 attained only as the result and reward of tears and 
 vows and resolutions and our own righteousness. 
 It is doubtful whether, out of the great multitude 
 of real Christians, who are found amid much that is 
 merely nominal, even one when startled by the 
 Spirit of God in the death-sleep of sin, immediately 
 accepted the assurance of forgiveness through the 
 finished work of Christ, instead of thinking about 
 God with distrust and suspicion and fear, and 
 delaying for at least a little while in order to get 
 better before simply believing. Yet all over the 
 New Testament it is written as if with a sunbeam 
 that the sinner wanting to be saved has nothing to 
 do, because all the doing was done when Jesus 
 bowed His head on the cross and rose again for our 
 justification. 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 183 
 
 Its language is, " This is my blood of the New 
 Testament, which is shed for many for the remission 
 of sins," (Matt. xxvi. 28) , " The Son of man is come 
 to seek and to save that which was lost," (Luke 
 xix. 10) ; *' For God so loved the world, that he 
 gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
 lasting life," (John iii. 16); "He that heareth my 
 word, and believeth on him that sent me hath 
 everlasting life, and shall not come into condemna- 
 tion [or judgment] ; but is passed from death unto 
 life," (John v. 24) ; " To him give all the prophets 
 witness, that through his name whosoever believeth 
 in him shall receive remission of sins," (Acts x. 
 43) ; " By him all that believe are justitied from all 
 things," (Acts xiii.39) ; " Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shalt be saved," (Acts xvi. 31); 
 " To him that worketh not, but believeth on him 
 that justitieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for 
 righteousness," (Rom. iv. 5) ; " The gift of God is 
 eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord," (Rom. 
 vi. 23); "There is therefore now no condemnation 
 to them which are in Christ Jesus," (Rom. yiii. 1) ; 
 " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the 
 law," (Gal. iii. 13) ; " Accepted in the beloved ; in 
 whom we have redemi)tion through his blood, the 
 forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his 
 grace," (Eph. i. 6, 7) ; " But now, in Christ Jesus, 
 ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by 
 the blood of Christ," (Eph. ii. 13) ; " Ye are com- 
 plete in him," (Col. ii. 10) ; " Not by works of 
 righteousness which we have done, but according 
 
184 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ! 
 
 to his mercy he saved us," (Tit. iii. 5) ; " Where- 
 fore he is able also to save them to the uttermost 
 that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth 
 to make intercession for them," (Heb. vii. 25) ; 
 " Once in the end of the world hath he appeared to 
 put away sin by the sacrifice of himself," (Heb. ix. 
 26) ; " Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not 
 redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and 
 gold, . . . but with the precious blood of Christ," 
 (1 Pet. i. 18, 19) ; " The blood of Jesus Christ his 
 Son cleanseth us from all sin," (1 John i. 7) ; " Thou 
 wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy 
 blood," (Eev. v. 9) ; " Whosoever will, let him take 
 the water of life freely," (Rev. xxii. 17). 
 
 Such is a hurried illustration of the teachings of 
 the entire Bible, that in faultless harmony and per- 
 fect unity set forth from Genesis to Revelation the 
 way of salvation through a crucified and risen 
 Christ. That it is a way of salvation which ofl^ends 
 and arouses human nature and feeling is obvious, 
 because it has been and still is the most difficult 
 thing in the world to prevent the Church itself 
 from lapsing into apostacy upon the single point of 
 justification by faith alone. A large proi)ortion of 
 Paul's Epistles is occupied with his defence of this 
 fundamental point, showing how hard it was in his 
 day for men to receive a doctrine that uprooted at 
 a stroke all the fancied worthiness of their own 
 ^performances ; and it is just as hard for men to 
 receive it now. Then when received, human nature 
 and feeling are i)rone to run into the opposite error, 
 and to argue that because we are saved by grace 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 185 
 
 we may live like the world, sitting deaf and dumb 
 at the foot of the cross. Along with this fixed 
 aversion to a truth so humbling to the pride of the 
 heart as salvation for nothing, there is as manifest 
 a recoil from the simplicity of worship enjoined in 
 the New Testament and practiced by its writers. 
 Unman nature and feeling are again aroused and 
 otfended by the failure to provide for that inherent 
 love of the pomp and pageantry of a gorgeous 
 ritual, which has been exhibited by almost every 
 sect, when the removal of the persecutor's hand, or 
 the increase of numbers and of wealth, gave an 
 opportunity to gratify the innate taste for show. 
 Thus on the one hand legalism, or a slavish bondage 
 to the law for justitication, and on the other hand 
 antinomianism, or a contempt for the law of holi- 
 ness, on the one hand a relish for disi)lay in the 
 worship of God to cultivate, it is affirmed, the 
 aesthetic faculty, and on the other hand, a neglect 
 of assembling together, to none of which the New 
 Testament gives the slightest countenance, indicate 
 the strong and settled tendencies of the heart, even 
 against the recognized authority of Jehovah. How 
 then can we account for it that the writers of the 
 Bible did not yield to that which is natural, but 
 steadfastly maintained a position that has been 
 demonstrated by all history to be altogether 
 unnatural f Surely it is not going too far to say 
 that the only reasonable explanation of the fact, 
 and the only rational understanding of their singu- 
 lar attitude, must be reached in the conclusion 
 that their writings q-re supernatural. 
 
186 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ? 
 
 Third, the harmony and unity, already mentioned 
 as prevailing with regard to the way of salvation, 
 ^re found in relation to every other theme common 
 to writers, separated from each other by many 
 centuries, and embracing men of the most dissimilar 
 calling, culture, and rank. Nay, it is only by com- 
 paring one with another, and by studying the 
 testimony of one in the light thrown upon it by the 
 teaching of another, that the power and reality of 
 this harmony and unity can be recognized. For 
 example, we see in the opening verse of the Bible, 
 containing the sublime declaration, " In the begin- 
 ning God created the heaven and earth," that the 
 word " God" is in the plural, without any necessity 
 whatever arising from the structure of the Hebrew 
 language, while it is the subject or nominative of a 
 verb in the singular. In the first chapter, God 
 alone is mentioned apart from any other name or 
 title, while in the second chapter, when man 
 appears upon the scene, the designation is the Lord 
 God. No reason is assigned for what may seem at 
 first unaccountable, but as we advance into the 
 book we learn that there are three persons in the 
 unity of the divine nature, and that the word Lord 
 refers to the coming One by whom man is to be 
 redeemed. So again in the second chapter we read 
 that " the Lord God formed man of the dust of the 
 ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath 
 of life ;" but when He formed woman, " the Lord 
 God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he 
 slept : and he took one of his ribs, and closed up 
 the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 187 
 
 Lord God had taken from man, made [or builded] 
 lie a woman, and bronglit her nnto the man. And 
 Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh 
 of my tlesh ; . . . therefore shall a man leave 
 his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto 
 his wife." 
 
 Not a word is said in explanation of the strange 
 /scene, but when we read on until we come to Paul's 
 Epistle to the Ephesiaus, written nearly fifteen 
 liundred years later, we read, " Husbands, love 
 your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, 
 and gave himself for it ; that he might sanctify and 
 cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 
 that he might present it to himself a glorious 
 church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such 
 thing; but that it should be holy and without 
 blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their 
 own bodies. For no man ever yet hated his own 
 tiesb, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the 
 Lord the church : for we are members of his body, 
 of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause 
 [because we are members of his body and flesh and 
 bones] shall a man leave his father and mother, and 
 shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be 
 one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak 
 concerniDg Christ and the church." Here then at 
 last the mystery of the creation of man and woman 
 in the second chapter of Genesis is cleared up, and 
 we find that the Lord God designed marriage, 
 which is the very basis of society and the State, to 
 be a perpetual illustration, and type, and parable, 
 and reminder, of the eternal and precious union 
 
188 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 existing between Christ and the Church. There is 
 not a chapter in the Bible that is not linked in some 
 such manner to some other chapter, and indeed to 
 the entire book, constantly exciting the desire of 
 the devout student to unfold to others the beauties 
 that meet his gaze at every step, constantly con- 
 vincing him that a book so unique and unsearchable 
 is supernatural in its origin, and yet constantly 
 admonishing him of the failure that must attend 
 his effort to communicate the innumerable proofs 
 of its divinity that shine upon every page. The 
 books of Numbers, Leviticus, and even of the 
 Chronicles, that were perhaps once read by the 
 Christian, if read at all, as a perfunctory and 
 protitless service, glow with a new meaning and 
 with a heavenly radiance when brought to the feet 
 of Jesus, who testifies that all the Scriptures bear 
 witness of Himself, (Luke xxiv. 27, 44 ; John v. 
 39, 46) ; for there each writer hastens to cast his 
 crown, and each narrative and song and prophecy 
 does obeisance to the Crucified, only because God's 
 Spirit directs and leads all. 
 
 Fourth, the character of God, as portrayed in 
 tlie Bible, furnishes additional and conclusive evi- 
 dence that there is nothing in human nature capa- 
 ble of originating such a book. Whether the view 
 it gives of His being and perfections is correct or 
 incorrect, is not now the question. Every one who 
 possesses the slightest acquaintance with the his- 
 tory of mankind will acknowledge that it is a view 
 entirely different from that presented in the various 
 religions of the earth ; and this is all that is 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 189 
 
 asserted in the argument. The two prominent facts 
 tliat arrest our attention iu the records of the 
 nations are their polytheism and idolatry, not only 
 among the barbarous and degraded races, but 
 among the most cultivated and retined. Perplexed 
 by the ai)parent contlicts in the manifestations of 
 the Deity, and confused by the seeming contradic- 
 tions in the dealings of providence, the uninsi)ired 
 mind could explain the mystery and solve the prob- 
 lem of mortal existence, only on the supposition 
 that there were lords many, and gods many. The 
 heathen saw the sky on one day bright and blue, 
 and the quiet landscape asleep in the sunshine 
 upon the bosom of summer; but on the next day 
 he beheld the heavens black with the wings of the 
 storm, and the beautiful fields wasted by the 
 desolating tread of the hurricane. In the morning 
 he leit his little child laughing and playing at the 
 door; but in the evening on his return home he 
 found it writhing in the ruftian grasp of death, and 
 screaming in its agony. He was therefore driven 
 by these diverse and o])i)Osing exhibitions of super- 
 human power to conclude that there were sei)arate 
 and independent intelligences that presided over 
 the affairs of the world, and very soon, in carrying 
 out the law of induction, he installed a nymi)h 
 in every grove, and a naiad over every stream, 
 until it is said that in elegant Athens there were 
 thirty thousand divinities recognized, and in their 
 despair of reaching the truth, they at length 
 erected an altar to the unknown god. 
 How was Jt i^ossible, then, for the Jewish writers, 
 
190 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 SO far behind the Grecian and Eoman sophists iix 
 learning and philosophy, to make such announce- 
 ments as the following : " God saw that the wicked- 
 ness of man was great in the earth, and that every 
 imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only 
 evil continually," (Gen. vi. 5) ; "I am the Almighty 
 God ; walk before me, and be thou perfect," (Gen. 
 xvii. 1) ; " Thou shalt have no other gods before 
 me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven- 
 image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven 
 above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in 
 the water under the earth : thou shalt not bow 
 down thyself to them, nor serve them," (Ex. xx. 
 3, 4) ; " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one 
 Lord," (Deut. vi. 4) ; " Thine, O Lord, is the great- 
 ness, and the x:)Ower, and the glory, and the victory, 
 and the majesty : for all that is in the heaven and 
 in the earth is thine ; thine is the kingdom, O Lord ; 
 and thou art exalted as head above all," (1 Chron. 
 xxix. 11) ; " But will God indeed dwell on the earth ! 
 Behold the heaven, and heaven of heavens, can not 
 contain thee," (1 Kings viii. 27) ; " Whither shall I 
 go from thy Spirit"? or whither shall IHee from thy 
 presence '? If I ascend up into heaven thou art 
 there; if I make my bed in hell [hades], behold 
 thou art there ; if I take the wings of the morning, 
 and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even 
 there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand 
 shall hold me, (Ps. cxxxix. 7-10) ; '' Great is our 
 Lord, and of great power : his understanding is 
 infinite," (Ps. cxlvii. 5) ; " Holy, holy, holy is the 
 Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory, 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 191 
 
 (Isa. vi. 3) ; '' God is a spirit ; and they that worship 
 him must worship him iu spirit and in truth," 
 (John iv. 24) ; " Neither is there any creature that 
 is not manifest in his sight : but all things are 
 naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom 
 we have to do," (Heb. iv. 13) ; '' Every good gift, 
 and every perfect gift, is from above, and cometh 
 down from the Father of Lights, with whom is no 
 variableness, neither shadow of turning," (James 
 i. 17) ; " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and 
 the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which 
 was, and which is to come, the Almighty," (Rev.i.8). 
 Hundreds upon hundreds of similar texts could 
 be easily quoted, equal in sublimity and grandeur of 
 conception, in the ascription to God of infinite holi- 
 ness and power and wisdom and majesty and truth 
 and goodness and mercy and love and immutability 
 and unity ; and the question must be answered, how 
 was it, and why was it, that these writers, many of 
 whom were exceedingly illiterate, made any such 
 just and magnificent discoveries of the divine 
 Being ? They inform us in the Old Testament that 
 their countrymen century after century exhibited a 
 proneness to idolatry in the face of their expostula- 
 tions and warnings, that seemed to be innate and 
 unconquerable, and that at last drove them a peeled 
 and scattered people among the nations of the 
 earth. They inform us in the New Testament that 
 the only worship which is acceptable to God is 
 that of the heart; and yet scarcely had the 
 Apostles fallen asleep, before the mystery of 
 iniquity already working in their day, began ta 
 
192 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 lead multitudes of professing Christians into a 
 departure from spiritual service, and into an 
 approximation to the old idolatry, which shows the 
 inveteracy of man's tendency to a religion foreign 
 to the view presented of God from Genesis to 
 Eevelation. In what way, then, were the writers 
 of the scriptures led to form a conception of the 
 Deity abundantly proved to be unnatural, because 
 it has never entered the minds of any other men of 
 any age or race, except so far as borrowed from the 
 Bible? Dr. Mozley has w^ell said in his Bamptou 
 Lectures, when speaking of the heathen, "The 
 vulgar believed in many gods, the ])hilosopher 
 believed in a Universal Cause; but neither believed 
 in God. The philosopher only regarded the 
 Universal Cause as the spring of the universal 
 machine, which wa« necessary to the woikingof 
 all the parts, but was not thereby raised to a 
 separate order of being from them. . . . Nothing 
 would have astonished him more than, when he had 
 proved in the lecture-hall the existence of a God, 
 to have been told to worshij) Him. ' Worship 
 whom f he would have exclaimed. ' Worship 
 whatf 'Worship howf " In the Bible we have 
 the Universal Cause revealed to us as a living and 
 personal God, clothed with attributes that instantly 
 challenge the homage of the loftiest intelligences, 
 demanding worship in direct opposition to universal 
 polytheism and idolatry; and this fact alone is 
 sufficient to establish the supernatural origin of 
 the Scriptures. 
 Fifth, suggested by the foregoing view of the 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 193 
 
 character of God, it may be well to notice the 
 catholic spirit that breathes through the Gospels 
 and Epistles, the liberty of conscience they secure, 
 and their utter condemnation of all bigotry, 
 sectarianism, and persecution. It is a common and 
 merited taunt of infidelity that Christians are 
 divided into many and opposing factions, and that 
 the pathway of the Church across the centuries is 
 too often marked by the blood of those who were 
 slain for presuming to differ from the decisions of 
 ecclesiastical authority. Even to-day Turkish 
 soldiers may be seen standing with fixed bayonets 
 in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem 
 to prevent so-called Christians who worship at the 
 tomb of Jesus from tearing each other to pieces. 
 But all this, humiliating as it is to every true child 
 of God, only shows that strife and hatred and 
 violence are natural to man, and that the book 
 which gives no countenance to such works of the 
 flesh must be supernatural. No attempt is here 
 made to defend what is called Christianity, but 
 only Christ ; no effort is put forth to justify the 
 conduct of His professed followers, but only to 
 vindicate the truth of His word. It is impossible 
 for any unprejudiced believer to look abroad over 
 Christendom without grief and shame and pain. 
 Instead of the extorted admiration of the heathen 
 in early times, " Behold, how these Christians love 
 one another,'^ too often it must be said, " Behold, 
 how these Christians hate one another !" Sectarian 
 jealousies, rivalries, and heart-burnings ; ministerial 
 pride, ambition, and self seeking; denominational 
 12 
 
194 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 peculiarities permitted to act as a bar to 
 brotherly fellowship ; the religious press frequently 
 prostituted to the ignoble purpose of gratifying 
 personal vindictiveness, or of achieving political 
 triumphs ; false doctrine, formality, worldliness 
 abounding in the Church ; the pulpit in many 
 instances turned into a rostrum for the display of 
 genius and wit to amuse the crowd, and to hide 
 from them the tremendous realities of eternity ; — 
 such, it must be confessed with sorrow, is the 
 spectacle that too commonly meets our gaze. But 
 it is a spectacle as foreign to the New Testament as 
 darkness is to light, as sin is to holiness, as the 
 displeasure of God is to His approval ; and hence 
 while it fully reveals the natural disposition of the 
 human heart, it also fully reveals the supernatural 
 origin of the Bible that utters a stern and sweeping 
 denunciation of it all. 
 
 Sixth, the indirect and manifold blessings con- 
 ferred by the Bible upon the world at large, far 
 beyond those derived from all other sources com- 
 bined, form no weak argument to prove that it 
 could not have been the work of men, least of all 
 of men who for the most part were uneducated, who 
 lived in an obscure country, and who wrote at 
 various intervals commencing more than three 
 thousand years ago, and closing their ministry 
 nearly two thousand years ago. Professor Huxley 
 is the last person from whom one would expect a 
 kind word for the Bible, and yet even he writes, 
 " I have always been strongly in favour of secular 
 education, in tlie sense of education without 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 195 
 
 theology; but I must confess I have beeu no less 
 seriously perplexed to know by what practical 
 measures the religious feeling, which is the essen- 
 tial basis of conduct, was to be kept up, in the 
 present utterly chaotic state of opinion on these 
 matters, without the Bible. The pagan moralists 
 lack life and color, and even the noble Stoic, 
 Marcus Antoninus, is too high and refined for an 
 ordinary child. Take the Bitde as a whole ; make 
 the severest deductions which fair criticism can 
 dictate for short-comings and positive errors ; 
 eliminate, as a sensible teacher would do, if left to 
 himself, all that it is not desirable for a child to 
 occupy himself with ; and there still remains in this 
 old literature a vast residuum of moral beauty and 
 grandeur. And then consider the great historical 
 fact that, for three centuries, this book has been 
 woven into the life of all that is best and noblest in 
 English history ; that it has become the national 
 epic of Britain, and is familiar to noble and simple, 
 from John O' Groat's house to Land's End, as 
 Dante and Tasso were once to the Italians ; that it 
 is written in the noblest and purest English, and 
 abounds in exquisite beauties of a merely literary 
 form ; and finally that it forbids the veriest hind, 
 who never left his village, to be ignorant of the 
 existence of other countries and other civilizations, 
 and of a great past, stretching back to the furthest 
 limits of the oldest nations in the world. By the 
 study of what other book could the children be so 
 humanized, and made to feel that each figure in 
 that vast historical procession fills, like themselves, 
 
196 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 but a momentary space in the interval between two 
 eternities ; and earns the blessings or the curses of 
 all time, according to its effort to do good and hate 
 evil, even as they also are earning their payment 
 for their work ?" (Contemporary Review, Dec. 1870). 
 It is well said that " this book has been woven 
 into the life of all that is best and noblest in Eng- 
 lish history," and it may be added, in the history 
 of every other nation that has known the unspeak- 
 able value of an open Bible. Think of its obvious 
 and acknowledged influence ux^on the i^rogress of 
 human thought and literature. Think of its rela- 
 tion to civil and religious liberty, yet commanding 
 subjection to the powers that be, and dissociating 
 the Christian from all connection with earthly 
 government, except in enjoining obedience. Think 
 of the benefit it has been to woman, breaking the 
 cruel chains that have bound her as the helpless 
 victim of man's lust and tyranny in all heathen 
 lands, and crowning her with tender respect as the 
 mistress of the home and the affections. Think of 
 the matchless wisdom it exhibits in dealing with 
 the perplexing question of slavery, which was too 
 difficult for the statesmen of the nineteenth century 
 to solve without the battle of the warrior with con- 
 fused noise, and garments rolled in blood, when it 
 did not seize the institution with violent grasp, but 
 inculcated precepts and taught i3rinciples, that 
 could turn every slaveholder into a kind master, 
 and every slave into a freeman, in all but the 
 name, or even into a " brother beloved " of him 
 whom he served. Think of the arrest it lays, as if 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 197 
 
 with the hand of God, iix:)on the wayward impulses 
 of the heart, forbidding with solemn warning of 
 inevitable penalty in this world, and the world to 
 come, the indulgence of yicions, debased and 
 revengeful x:)ropensitie8, that would so manifestly 
 gain the sway but for its mighty check ; it is 
 not strange Benjamin Franklin is said to have 
 written to Thomas Paine, when about to publish 
 his Age of Eeason, the significant sentence, "Don't 
 unchain the tiger." Think of the constant and 
 earnest encouragement it gives to the pursuit of 
 "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things 
 are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever 
 things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, 
 whatsoever things are of good report; " and then 
 let the sincere inquirer after truth determine 
 whether it is not its own credible witness to its 
 supernatural origin. 
 
 Seventh, personal experience of its power fur- 
 nishes the most conclusive evidence in behalf of 
 its divinity. Nor will it avail the skeptic to reply, 
 as he is continually doing, that the Chinese, the 
 Hindoos, the Mohammedans, the worshippers of a 
 misshapen fetish in Central Africa, and the savages 
 of the Western Continent, can plead the same 
 experience, for a very low degree of intelligence 
 will convince the most careless observer that the 
 experience of a true Christian is no less unique 
 than the book from which it is derived. It is not 
 an experience of mental culture merely, although 
 the obedient student of the Bible is a far abler and 
 wiser man than he would be without it, but it is a 
 
198 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ! 
 
 moral change as striking and complete as a new 
 birth, as life from the dead. The description given 
 by Paul of certain Christians in Corinth is true of 
 vast numbers in all lands: "Be not deceived: 
 neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, 
 nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with 
 mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunk- 
 ards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit 
 the kingdom of God. And such were some of you : 
 but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are 
 justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the 
 Spirit of our God," (1 Cor. vi. 9-11). Has any 
 other religion ever wrought so marvellous a trans- 
 formation as this, and is not the book supernatural 
 that can turn through simple faith in its testimony 
 the body, that was a foul cage of unclean birds, 
 into a temple of the Holy Ghost*? Yet multitudes 
 would stand forth, if the opportunity were given, 
 to testify under oath that what was true of the 
 Corinthians, in passing from the slime of vice into 
 cleanness and consecration to Christ, is also true 
 of them. Each would say with the man to whom 
 Jesus gave sight, "One thing I know, that, 
 whereas I was blind, now I see," (John ix. 25). Each 
 would say, " once I perceived no repulsiveness in 
 sin, no attractiveness in holiness, no deformity in 
 myself, no beauty in Christ ; but now, God knows, 
 it 18 my most fervent desire to be entirely con- 
 formed to His perfect character, and to be rid at 
 once and forever of all that is selfish and sensual 
 and sinful in thought, word, or deed. I recognize 
 the inherent rightfulness and the absolute necessity 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 199 
 
 of the declaration of the Bible, that without 
 holiness no man shall see the Lord, and I can 
 truthfully affirm that the things I formerly hated 
 I love, and the things I formerly loved I hate with 
 utter hatred." Is such testimony as this, borne 
 by myriads, any one of whom would be believed in 
 any court of the world, to go for nothing, and is 
 such experience as this possible on any other 
 theory than the supernatural origin of the Bible ? 
 Especially is the Christian's experience of value 
 as he advances in years, and discovers more and 
 more clearly the profound acquaintance of the 
 Scriptures with the secret emotions of his heart, 
 and a deeper spiritual meaning in every verse, and 
 always loftier heights of glory above which Christ 
 sits enthroned ; and still more is it of value when 
 his warfare is accomplished, and his work on earth 
 is finished. Then while sight and hearing and 
 friends and the world and life are failing, he finds 
 what the Bible is to him with its clear, strong 
 assurance, "The eternal God is thy refuge, and 
 underneath are the everlasting arms," (Deut.xxxiii^^ 
 27). "Bring me the Book," said Sir Walter Scott | 
 on his dying bed. "What book?" inquired his I 
 son-in-law. " There is but one book," replied the 
 departing novelist, historian, and poet ; and the 
 Bible was placed reverently in his hands. Yes, 
 there is but one book whose light pierces the 
 awful darkness of the grave, and guides the weary 
 spirit of the believer home to the bright land, 
 described in language which Robert Burns said he 
 could never read without weeping, where " God 
 
200 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 shall Wipe away all tears from their eyes; and 
 there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor 
 crying, neither shall there be any more pain : for 
 the former things are i)assed away," (Rev. xxi. 4). 
 Contrast these sweet words with the nnutterably 
 sad dedication of Stranss's Life of Jesus to the 
 memory of his dead brother, in which he praises 
 his courage and self-possession in refusing to yield, 
 " under circumstances which might have made the 
 steadiest quail and shaken the strongest faith," to 
 the delusion of seeking comfort in the thought of 
 a future world. Contrast them with the melan- 
 choly dedication of Eenan's Life of Jesus to the 
 memory of his dead sister, in which he invokes 
 her, like the ancient heathen, as his good genius, 
 beseeching her to reveal truth to him ; and then 
 say whether the experience of Paul, '* having a 
 desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is 
 far better," is not infinitely more desirable than 
 the cold speculations or gloomy bravery of infi- 
 delity? 
 
 Some years ago it was my privilege to meet on 
 the shores of Lake Geneva a young American, who 
 was suffering with spinal disease, that had crippled 
 and pained him from his birth. His pale face, and 
 shrunken limbs, and curved back, gave indication 
 of the agony he had endured, but his soul basked 
 in the sunshine of his Saviour's smile. On one 
 occasion he went for a day's change and recreation 
 to the town of Bex, the terminus at that time of 
 the railroad through the valley, and the place to 
 which many travellers gathered on entering or 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 201 
 
 leaving Italy. He was seated at a table iu a large 
 diuing room with a number of tourists who had 
 just crossed the Alps, and were waiting for the 
 train, when his attention was called to the loud 
 remarks of a tall, robust, and handsome man; and 
 he soon learned that the remarks were directed 
 with many a shaft of ridicule and wit against the 
 Bible. The skeptic, having finished his dinner, 
 was in the act of withdrawing from the table, when 
 the young American said to him gently, " May I 
 detain you a moment ? " ^' Certainly," was the 
 kind reply, as the stranger glanced at the sickly 
 youth, not knowing what he wanted. "I only 
 wish," said the Christian, with his weak and plain- 
 tive voice, " to tell you briefly my history. I was 
 born in the United States of America, and have 
 always been in my body as you see me now, only 
 worse. My father died in my infancy, and there 
 was no one to love me or care for me but my 
 mother. I had no childhood, but when the boys 
 were playing and shouting in the streets, I was 
 lying in a darkened room, moaning with pain. 
 Under God I owe my life from day to day to the 
 unwearied tenderness and watchfulness of that 
 mother, who thought, when I had struggled on to 
 the age of a young man, that a visit to the holy 
 land, I had so longed to see, would interest me, 
 and might possibly benefit my health. We reached 
 Palestine in safety, but there my mother was sud- 
 denly seized with fever, and was laid away in the 
 grave, and now I am on my way home to die too. 
 The only joy left me on earth is the hope of meeting 
 
202 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 my mother again with Jesus, in heaven ; would 
 you take that joy from me ? " 
 
 " No, no," said the infidel, while the tears ran 
 down his face, " I would not. Keep your hope and 
 your joy, and I crave your pardon for having said 
 a word to wound you." " Oh," exclaimed the 
 Christian, '' thank God, you cannot deprive me of 
 my comfort, for I know here," he added, as he 
 placed his hand upon his heart, " how precious is 
 Christ, and how true is His word ; but to-day you 
 have poisoned the happiness of some of these 
 young men, who have listened to your cruel 
 harangue against the Bible. You are strong, and 
 do not feel your need of God ; but they may come 
 very soon to sorrow and disappointment and temp- 
 tation and death ; and you have done all you can 
 to take away their only shelter and support in the 
 hour of need." The powerful man stood for a 
 moment silent and humbled before the pale youth, 
 and then said solemnly, " I was wrong, and deserve 
 your reproof. Never again will I speak in the 
 presence of others as I did to-day," and respect- 
 fully taking the hand of the Christian he withdrew. 
 It may be there are young men now present who 
 have been terribly injured by the jest or sneer of 
 some skej)tic ; or it may be they are weak enough 
 to imagine that it is a proof of superior intelligence 
 to profess infidel sentiments. But the time is 
 drawing near when the sneer, from which you 
 recoiled as from a real danger, will return to curse 
 you ; and the sentiments you admire will be like 
 ghosts in the darkness, that will not down at your 
 
THE BIBLE ITS OWN WITNESS. 203 
 
 bidding. Nay, even now, day by day, they are 
 exerting an influence which can not be otherwise 
 than exceedingly disastrous both to your mental 
 and moral constitution. Men have been great, as 
 the world calls it, in spite of their infidelity, but no 
 one was ever great by reason of his infidelity, 
 while thousands have been truly great by their 
 personal devotion to Jesus. Then when we think 
 of the dangers besetting the soul at every step — 
 who can estimate them ? " Wherewithal shall a 
 young man cleanse his way? By taking heed 
 thereto according to thy word," (Ps. cxix. 9). 
 
YIL 
 
 s 
 ALLEOJED CONTRADICTIONS. 
 
 AS we. enter upon the subject now before us, a 
 remark previously made must be borne in 
 mind concerning the different designs of the four 
 Evangelists in their different narratives. Let us 
 suppose that four men should undertake to write 
 the Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, but conscious of 
 the magnitude of their task, each should assign to 
 himself a special part of the subject, one aiming to 
 present him to the world chiefly as a great soldier, 
 another as a civil ruler promoting the material 
 interests of France, another exhibiting Him as a 
 legislator providing a code of laws for the Empire, 
 and another portraying him in his more private and 
 domestic relations. It is easy to see that each 
 would range over the entire field of his remarkable 
 history, in order to find proofs and illustrations of 
 the particular point in view, without reference, it 
 may be, to the chronological order of events, and 
 without clashing with the purposes of the other 
 writers. It is easy also to perceive that there 
 might be real agreement in their testimony, where 
 a hasty observer would conclude that he could dis- 
 cover innumerable discrepancies and even irrecon- 
 cilable contradictions, 
 
 204 
 
ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 205 
 
 Hence Archbishop Whately, in his masterly little 
 treatise called '* Historic Doubts Eelative to 
 Napoleon," and containing an ironical Dedication 
 to Strauss and two other skeptics, takes up the 
 line of argument pursued by the German infidel in 
 his Life of Jesus, that Henry Eogers well says 
 should be entitled, " A collection of all the 
 difficulties and discrepancies which honest criticism 
 has discovered, and perverted ingenuity has 
 imagined, in the four Evangelists;" and he con- 
 clusively shows that according to the reasoning 
 Strauss applies to the credibility of the Gospel 
 history, no such man as IsTapoleon ever existed. 
 We may go further and affirm that by the same 
 mode of reasoning no event of the past, which has 
 been described in all its features by two or more 
 witnesses, can be established; and that no fact of 
 the present, to which two or more witnesses testify 
 in its details, may not be discredited. If, for 
 example, two witnesses were to come into court, 
 one swearing that he saw the prisoner at the bar 
 shoot a man who was standing, the other swearing 
 that he saw the prisoner shoot the same man when 
 the latter was lying on the ground, without stop- 
 j)ing to explain that there were two successive 
 shots; or if one witness should make oath that he 
 saw the prisoner inciting a riot, and another wit- 
 ness should make oath that he saw the prisoner in 
 connection with others inciting the rabble to a riot, 
 it is not unfair to say that Strauss would promptly 
 seize upon these discrepancies to prove a con- 
 tradiction in the testimony. 
 
206 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 Perhaps he was led into such a method of treat- 
 ing the narratives of the four Evangelists by the 
 unhappy attempts of many Commentators and 
 Expositors to construct what they are pleased to 
 name " A Harmony of the Gospels." In one sense 
 there is harmony, for there is not the slightest dis- 
 agreement in the four separate and independent 
 accounts of the life of Jesus ; but in another sense 
 it is absurd to suppose that they should always 
 relate the same events, or present them in the same 
 order ; for they were written with different thoughts, 
 to speak after the manner of men, controlling the 
 minds of the different authors. Thus every atten- 
 tive reader of the Gospels must have noticed that 
 it was the design of Matthew to give us a portrait 
 of Jesus in His special relationship to Israel as 
 King of the Jews, without at all observing the 
 order of history, for events are brought together 
 that were separated by the interval of months, and 
 are frequently recorded as if they had occurred 
 before other events which in fact preceded them. 
 A single illustration out of many will make this 
 l)lain. In Matthew v. vi. and vii. we have the 
 Sermon on the Mount, and in Matthew viii., we find 
 the healing of the leper. But in Mark i. we learn 
 that this miracle was wrought after the healiug of 
 Peter's wife's mother, while Matthew reverses the 
 order, and that it preceded the Sermon on the 
 Mount. But why, it may be asked, must we con- 
 clude that Mark was more observant than Matthew 
 of the actual order of events? The answer is, 
 because we perceive in Mark such expressions as 
 
ALLEaED CONTRADICTIONS. 207 
 
 "immediately," "forthwith," "straightway," "the 
 same day," " the next day," and other notes of 
 time, that are in keeping with his purpose to fur- 
 nish a picture of the Lord Jesus as the prompt, 
 obedient, and faithful servant, moving with unceas- 
 ing alacrity to do the Father's bidding, and to 
 manifest the Father's glory. 
 
 But did not Matthew know when the events 
 occurred which he relates? Even admitting that 
 he was an obscure Jew writing a narrative for his 
 own amusement, would it not have been a task a 
 child could accomplish to preserve the order of the 
 various scenes and speeches that made up the 
 public life of Jesus ? Then when he had published 
 his story, which was soon read by tens of thousands 
 all over the Eoman empire, would it not have been 
 easy enough for the other Evangelists to follow, 
 and to shape their accounts to agree precisely with 
 his own"? Either these Evangelists were the most 
 careless and silly men that ever ventured to write 
 a line, and if so we must account for the sublimity 
 of their conceptions, and for the majestic power of 
 their Gospels, that have commanded for eighteen 
 hundred years the homage of the noblest minds of 
 earth, or they had an object to accomplish in de- 
 parting from the track of each other's statements. 
 Conceding for a moment that at first they wrote 
 different accounts which contained all sorts of 
 legendary traditions, and were full of mistakes, and 
 forced them face to face in fiat contradiction with 
 one another, it is amazing that on the discover^' of 
 the mistakes and contradictions, men who were 
 
208 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 embellisliing these legendary traditions in part by 
 inventions of their own, did not at once bring their 
 accounts into nearer correspondence. When we 
 discover that they made no attempt to remove the 
 apparent discrepancies that meet the eye of the 
 superficial observer, it is as rational as it is rever- 
 ent to conclude that the failure to correct what 
 many suppose to be their mistakes, was not owing 
 to human imperfection, but to divine perfection, in 
 their separate histories. It is, therefore, the total 
 spiritual blindness of Strauss, and others like him 
 who undertake to deal with the word of God, to 
 which so many of the alleged contradictions are 
 due ; for they can not see the beautiful design of 
 each inspired writer in his own particular narra- 
 tive of Jesus and the resurrection. 
 
 Another source of alleged contradictions is found 
 in the errors that have crept into the manuscripts, 
 occasioned generally by the striking resemblance 
 of several letters in the Hebrew and Greek alpha- 
 bets ', and these errors could not have been avoided 
 except by a x^erpetual miracle preventing the blun- 
 ders of thousands of transcribers through hundreds 
 of years. Of course it is known to all that pre- 
 vious to the invention of printing in the fifteenth 
 century, books were produced and perpetuated by 
 the laborious process of copying with the pen, and 
 in such a process mistakes would inevitably occur, 
 unless we suppose that God infallibly inspired a 
 vast multitude of mere copyists, of which the 
 Bible itself contains no hint. Perhaps there is not 
 a printed book in the world of any considerable 
 
ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 209 
 
 size that is entirely free from typographical 
 errors, and the most careful copy of the most im- 
 portant manuscript will doubtless exhibit defects 
 of some kind. It was a happy thought, therefore, 
 that suggested to the infidels of Germany and 
 Great Britain, long before the days of Strauss, the 
 propriety of a critical and minute examination of 
 all the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts known to 
 be in existence, with the hope that the various 
 readings which they expected to discover would 
 destroy the credibility of the more recent and pop- 
 ular versions of the Bible. Such was their flourish 
 of trumpets that the devout and learned Bengel, 
 who lived a hundred and fifty years ago, was dis- 
 mayed, and entered upon the study of all the man- 
 uscripts of Europe with intense anxiety. At 
 length, after long and diligent search, he wrote in 
 1721 to a friend, with a joyful and fully confirmed 
 spirit, " Eat simply the bread of the Scriptures as 
 it presents itself to thee ; and do not distress thy- 
 self at finding here and there a small particle of 
 sand which the millstone may have left in it. Thou 
 mayst, then, dismiss all those doubts which at one 
 time so horribly tormented myself. If the Holy 
 Scriptures — which have been so often copied, and 
 which have passed so often through the faulty 
 hands of ever-fallible men — were absolutely with- 
 out variations, the miracle would be so great, that 
 faith in them would no longer be faith. I am 
 astonished, on the contrary, that the result of all 
 those transcriptions has not been a greater num- 
 ber of readings." 
 13 
 
210 IS THE BIBLE TKUE ? 
 
 The skeptics raised a great shout of triumph 
 when it was understood that critical science had 
 detected 30,000 various readings in the different 
 manuscripts ; but, as Cardinal Wiseman says, " In 
 all this mass, although every attainable source has 
 been exhausted ; although the fathers of every age 
 have been gleaned for their readings ; although the 
 versions of every nation, Arabic, Syriac, Coptic, 
 Armenian, and Ethiopian, have been ransacked for 
 their renderings; although manuscripts of every 
 age from the sixteenth upwards to the third, and 
 of every country, have been again and again visited 
 by industrious swarms to rifle them of their treas- 
 ures ; although, having exhausted the stores of the 
 West, critics have travelled like naturalists into 
 distant lands to discover new specimens — have 
 visited, like Scholz, or Sebastiani, the recesses of 
 Mount Athos, or the unexplored libraries of the 
 Egyptian and Syrian deserts — yet has nothing been 
 discovered, no, not one single various reading, 
 which can throw doubt upon any passage before 
 considered certain or decisive in favor of any im- 
 portant doctrine These various read- 
 ings, almost without an exception, leave untouched 
 the essential parts of any sentence, and only inter- 
 fere with i>oints of secondary importance, the inser- 
 tion or omission of an article or conjunction, the 
 more accurate grammatical construction, or the 
 forms rather than the substance of words," (Sci- 
 ence and Eevealed Eeligion, Yol. II, pp. 165-6). 
 The result of the conflict so boldly and confidently 
 commenced by the skeptics Michaelis sums up as 
 
ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 211 
 
 follows : " They have ceased henceforth to look for 
 anything from those critical researches which they 
 at first so warmly recommended, because they ex- 
 pected discoveries from them that have never been 
 made." This result has been more and more con- 
 clusively demonstrated by the more recent investi- 
 gations of Tregelles, Tischendorf, and other critics, 
 leading us to conclude with Gaussen, " that not 
 only was the Scripture inspired on the day when 
 God caused it to be written, but that we possess 
 this word inspired eighteen hundred years ago ; 
 and that we may still, while holding our sacred 
 text in one hand, and in the other all the readings 
 collected by the learned in seven hundred manu- 
 scripts, exclaim with thankfulness, I hold in my 
 hands my Father's testament, the eternal word of 
 my God," (The Bible, p. 197). 
 
 Another source of the alleged contradictions in 
 the Bible may be traced to a difference in the dates, 
 to which the assertions that are supposed to clash 
 respectively belong, as when it is said at the dawn 
 of creation, " God saw everything that he had 
 made, and, behold, it was very good," (Gen. i. 31) ; 
 and when it is said fifteen hundred years later, " God 
 saw that the wickedness of man was great in the 
 earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts 
 of his heart was only evil continually," (Gen. vi. 5). 
 Or they may be traced to diflferent modes of reckon- 
 ing time, as both the Jewish and Eoman method 
 are mentioned in the New Testament, and as we 
 find even in English history that, according to 
 what is called " Old Style," Washington was born 
 
212 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ! 
 
 February 11, 1732, or according to the " Kew 
 Style," he was born February 22 ; but every one 
 can see that there is no contradiction. Or they 
 may be traced to the different positions occupied 
 by the sacred writers with reference to the subject 
 treated or the statement made, as when God is said 
 to repent, and not to repent ; as when it is declared 
 that the children of God fear Him, and fear Him 
 not ; as when Paul teaches that we are justified by 
 faith alone before God, and James teaches that we 
 are justified by works also before men ; as when it 
 is still said in every-daj^ language, " man is mortal," 
 and " man is immortal," both being true. Or they 
 may be traced to the different, and sometimes 
 opposite, meaning of the same word, not only in 
 Hebrew and Greek, but in English, as the word 
 " let " signifies both to permit and to hinder, and 
 the word " prevent " signifies both to go before or 
 precede, and to ohstnict or impede. Or they may be 
 traced to mistranslations of the original language, 
 which it is the province of accurate scholarship to 
 correct. 
 
 Without any further remarks in regard to the 
 origin of alleged contradictions, enough probably 
 has been said to show a thoughtful "and honest 
 inquirer after truth that there are several con- 
 siderations which should be carefully weighed 
 before he can wisely determine to find real con- 
 tradictions in the Bible ; and it may be well for him 
 to know that neither can iufidelity bring forward 
 anything new along this line of attack, nor can it 
 allege a single contradiction that has not been 
 
ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 213 
 
 triumpliantly answered again and again. Several 
 years ago, immediately after the appearance of 
 Colenso's book on the Pentateuch, a very intelli- 
 gent and sincere Christian in this city came in deep 
 distress to a Minister of the Gospel, because as it 
 seemed to him, Colenso had conclusively proved a 
 contradiction in two statements of the Bible about 
 the number of Jacob's descendants that went down 
 into Egypt. The reply wais, " I have not seen 
 Colenso's book, but bring it to me to-morrow, and 
 you will see that the charge he has urged against 
 God's word, whatever it is, has long since been met 
 and refuted by some Christian writer, who will be 
 summoned to testify the moment you let me know 
 definitely what the infidel Bishop asserts." The 
 next day he came, and after reading Colenso's 
 statement, the Minister took from his library a 
 work by Hengstenberg qu the " Genuineness of the 
 Pentateuch," and in a few minutes showed pre- 
 cisely the same argument, and so thorough an 
 exposure of its fallacy, that the gentleman quietly 
 placed Colenso's book in the fire, and turned away 
 with an expression of regret that he had suffered 
 himself to be disturbed for a moment. Let us see 
 whether all of the alleged contradictions of any 
 importance mentioned by Strauss may not be as 
 easily explained. 
 
 I. We commence with the two genealogies of 
 Jesus given in Matthew and Luke, which Strauss 
 discusses at some length in the beginning of his 
 second volume, pp. 7-19. A very early explanation 
 of the apparent difticulty asserts that the mother 
 
214 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 of Josepli, the husband of Mary, married two hus- 
 bands, and that the two genealogies in the two 
 Gospels are the genealogies of these two husbands, 
 Joseph being the son by birth of one, and the son 
 by adoption of the other. But the true explanation, 
 and the one that is in beautiful accord with the 
 different purposes of the two Evangelists, is found 
 in the fact that Matthew gives us the genealogy of 
 Joseph, while Luke gives us that of Mary. It will 
 be observed that the former goes no further ba<'k 
 in the genealogy of Jesus than to prove that He 
 was the son of David, the son of Abraham ; but 
 Luke continues the line of His ancestry until he 
 reaches Adam, which was of God. The reason for 
 this is obvious. Matthew wrote for the Jew, and 
 to the Jew it was of necessity that Jesus should be 
 the heir, according to the law, of Joseph, who was 
 descended from the royal branch of David's house, 
 of which two lines had come down unbroken to 
 those days ; the line of Solomon, and the line of 
 Nathan. If the genealogy of Mary had been given 
 in Matthew without her connection with her hus- 
 band, no Jew would have recognized the legal right 
 of Jesus to the throne of David, and at once His 
 claim as the Messiah would have been set aside. 
 The Messiah must be born, not merely of a virgin, 
 not only of a virgin daughter of David, but of one 
 legally united, i. e., in the eye of the law, to a lineal 
 descendant, as Joseph was, of the once reigning 
 house of God. But if Joseph had been His real 
 father, it is plain that He could not have been the 
 Saviour ; so that in the opening chapter of the New 
 
ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 215 
 
 Testament we behold a miracle of divine wisdom in 
 making Him legally the son of Joseph, which was 
 necessary to establish His right to reign, really the 
 son of Mary, which was necessary to His humanity, 
 and in His divine nature the Son of God, which was 
 necessary to our salvation. 
 
 Strauss imputes a mistake* to Matthew for omit- 
 ting certain generations from his table, and yet it 
 is a mistake which no school boy of ordinary 
 intelligence could have committed, for even a school 
 boy with the Old Testament before him could copy 
 the list of names and generations found in Genesis, 
 JS^umbers, Chronicles, and elsewhere. Why did not 
 the German skeptic also find fault with Ezra for 
 omitting seven generations in giving his personal 
 genealogy, and no one will deny that he knew his 
 own descent? The truth is the omissions furnish 
 evidence again of divine wisdom, for it is the seed 
 of the- wicked Athaliah Matthew drops from his 
 genealogy, while the Geutile Eahab and Euth are 
 brought in, just to intimate the tender grace which 
 was to be exhibited to the despised and outcast, in 
 the mission and ministry of Jesus. But as one of 
 these two Gospels was written and published 
 before the other, can not every one see that it 
 would have been a very simple thing for the later 
 Evangelist to coi>y the genealogy of the former, 
 and is it not certain that he would have done so, if 
 there had not been some special reason for the 
 variation ? Let skeptics learn to treat the writers 
 of the Bible with the fairness they show to any 
 other class of authors, and most of their alleged 
 
216 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 contradictions will instantly disappear. Leaving 
 entirely out of view the guiding hand of the Holy 
 Ghost, we can perceive that it served the purpose 
 of Matthew, in presenting Jesus as the son of 
 David, to trace His lineage back from His reputed 
 and legal father, through the royal line of Solomon ; 
 and it served the purpose of Luke, in presenting 
 Jesus as the Son of man, to trace Him back from 
 Mary, by whom He became the Son of man, through 
 the royal line of Xathan, but beyond David, beyond 
 Abraham, beyond Adam, up to God. The correct- 
 ness of the view here given of the two genealogies 
 is verified by the fact which Lightfoot mentions, 
 that the Jewish Eabbinical writers speak con- 
 temptuously of Mary as the daughter of Heli, 
 whom Luke also names ; and hence there is no con- 
 tradiction whatever in the accounts. 
 
 11. Perhaps the next contradiction most com- 
 monly alleged relates to the death of Judas, of 
 whom Matthew states that he " went and hanged 
 himself," (Matt, xxvii. 5) ; and Peter states that 
 " falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, 
 and all his bowels gushed out," (Acts i. 18). It is 
 needless to say that the two statements do not 
 contradict each other, unless it can be shown either 
 that Matthew asserts Judas did not fall headlong, 
 or that Peter asserts he did not hang himself. 
 Matthew does not deny that Judas, after hanging 
 himself, fell headlong ; nor does Peter deny that he 
 hanged himself before falling headlong. Only a 
 short time since the daily papers contained an 
 account of a young man who left this city for 
 
ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 217 
 
 Chicago, and there securing' a room in one of the 
 magnificent Hotels, proceeded to commit suicide it 
 is said, by x^oisou, stabbing, hanging, and if 
 these methods had failed he had made arrange- 
 ments to fulfill his desperate purpose by falling into 
 the bath-tub that he might be drowned. A little 
 while before a man committed a double suicide 
 somewhere in Indiana, partly by poison, it is 
 asserted, and partly by an artfully contrived 
 guillotine; and yet no one thought of alleging a 
 contradiction in the narratives that were published 
 of these events. Why can not the infidel deal with 
 the Bible as with any other written testimony, and 
 admit that Judas might have first hanged himself 
 upon the edge of one of the rocky precipices or ter- 
 races abounding near Jerusalem, and then owing to 
 the breaking of the cord, or the decomposition of his 
 body, have fallen headlong upon the sharp stones 
 beneath that would have crushed and mangled the 
 corpse'? Surely any fair-minded skeptic must see 
 in the two statements, not an irreconcilable con- 
 tradiction, but positive j)roof of the independence 
 of the two writers, of the absence of all collusion in 
 their narratives, and of their entire freedom from 
 any attempt to make up the Gospel history by 
 inventions of their own. 
 
 III. Matthew says that as Jesus departed from 
 Jericho, two blind men who were sitting by the way- 
 side received their sight in answer to their earnest 
 cry, " Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of 
 David," (Matt. xx. 30). Mark says that Jesus was 
 going out of Jericho, but speaks of only one blind 
 
218 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 man, Bartimeus, the son of Timseus, who sat by the 
 highway side, begging, (Mark x. 46). Luke speaks 
 of but one blind man, and says as Jesus was come 
 nigh unto Jericho, the miracle was wrought, (Luke 
 xviii. 35). But observe that he is the only one of 
 the three writers who records the question of the 
 blind man, " Hearing the multitude pass by, he 
 asked what it meant." This question he may have 
 asked as Jesus was entering the city, and learning 
 that the gracious and mighty miracle worker was 
 very near, he may have gone vrith his companion in 
 blindness and beggary into the city, and waited 
 with the crowd outside the house of Zaccheus until 
 the Messiah appeared, and still followed him with 
 the prayer that was heard and answered. Thus 
 the more carefully the Gospel narratives are 
 scanned, the more clearly- does their perfect con- 
 sistency appear, and the more certainly are we 
 convinced that in their unstudied simplicity and 
 harmony, they can be traced neither to imposture 
 nor to fanaticism as their source. Or if this 
 explanation, just given of the separate accounts in 
 the three gospels, is rejected as unsatisfactory, 
 there is still another in the fact that the Greek 
 word rendered come 7iigh in Luke does not 
 necessarily imply more than that He icas nigh or 
 near the city, without determining whether he was 
 entering it, or departing from it, at the time of the 
 occurrence related. No intelligent critic will insist 
 that there is a contradiction, because Matthew 
 mentions two blind men, and Mark and Luke speak 
 of but one ; for the latter do not say that there was 
 
ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 219 
 
 only one, and it served their purpose best to call 
 special attention to the one who was most promi- 
 nent, while Matthew briefly and incidentally 
 alludes to the two. 
 
 IV. " Then was fulfilled that which was spoken 
 hy Jeremy the prophet, saying. And they took the 
 thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was 
 valued, whom they of the children of Israel did 
 value ; and gave them for the potter's field, as the 
 Lord appointed me," (Matt, xxvii. 9, 10). iSTo such 
 words are found in Jeremiah, but in Zechariah we 
 read, '' I said unto them, If ye think good, give me 
 my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed 
 for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord 
 said unto me, Cast it unto the j)otter: a goodly 
 l^rice that I was ijrized at of them. And I took 
 the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the 
 potter in the house of the Lord," (Zech. xi. 12, 13). 
 Here, it is confidently alleged, there is a plain con- 
 tradiction ; but apart from the fact that some of 
 the most ancient versions, as the Syriac-Peshito, 
 and Persian, and some of the early MSS., omit the 
 word Jeremiah; apart from the fact that the Jews 
 regarded Jeremiah as the first of the prophets, in 
 a manner including Zechariah, who quotes him 
 more than once ; there is nothing forced or unnat- 
 ural in supposing that Jeremiah had spoken the 
 words, afterwards recorded by Zechariah. Thus 
 Paul tells the Ephesian Elders "■ to remember the 
 words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more 
 blessed to give than to receive," (Acts xx. 35), 
 although these words are nowhere recorded in the 
 
220 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 four Gospels. So Jude informs us of the words of 
 Euoch, the seventh from Adam, who said, " Behold, 
 the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,'^ 
 (Jude 14), though none of the sayings of Enoch are 
 preserved in the Old Testament. Besides all this, 
 some eminent scholars have thought that the 9th, 
 10th, and llth chapters of Zechariah were Avritten 
 originally by Jeremiah ; and hence in any view 
 there is no contradiction i)roved. It would be 
 becoming modesty in those who read the Bible to sit 
 with reverent silence in the presence of a difficulty 
 and wait for further light, rather than cavil where 
 so much is divine and precious. 
 
 Y. Strauss insists that the two accounts con- 
 tained in Matt. ii. and Luke ii. of the order of 
 events connected with the infancy of Jesus are 
 incompatible, because Matthew says nothing of the 
 residence at Nazareth previous to the nativity, nor 
 of the circumstances which led Joseph and Mary 
 to Bethlehem, npr of the scenes that transi>ired in 
 the temx>le ; while Luke says nothing of the visit 
 of the wise men from the East, nor of the slaughter 
 of the young children by Herod, nor of the flight 
 to Egypt. But surely no proof of a contradiction 
 can be furnished by the silence of an author con- 
 cerning transactions which did not fall within his 
 l)urpose to narrate, for if this rule of criticism 
 should be established, no series of events that 
 have engaged the attention of two or more histo- 
 rians can be believed. There is no reason what- 
 ever for not supposing that Joseph and Mary 
 came from I^lazareth to Bethlehem; that there 
 
ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 221 
 
 Jesus was boru ; that withiu the course of a few 
 days afterwards He was presented according to 
 the law in the temple for circumcision ; that then 
 the wise men came on their journey ; and this led 
 to the escape of Joseph and Mary from the cruelty 
 of Herod. Nor is there any difficulty in supposing 
 that immediately after the infant Jesus was pre- 
 sented in the temple they returned to Nazareth, 
 and subsequently came back to Bethlehem, from 
 which they lied into Egypt, or that they visited 
 the spot, forever so hallowed in their memory and 
 thoughts, during some one of the great annual fes- 
 tivals. Either supposition can be adoi)ted without 
 the slightest strain, and either is infinitely more 
 natural than the theory that the two writers are 
 in conflict with each other, when it would have 
 been so easy for one to copy from the other. But 
 while the separate accounts show that they have 
 given us independent narratives, the omissions of 
 neither show the least contradiction. 
 
 YI. Strauss also alludes to the mistake which 
 he thinks Luke commits in the statement, " This 
 taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor 
 of Syria," (Luke ii. 2). According to Josephus 
 this Cyrenius was not sent to govern the province 
 until at lea.st ten or eleven years after the birth of 
 Jesus, and hence it is taken for granted that Luke 
 is flatly contradicted by history. But why, it may 
 be asked, are we compelled to believe Josephus 
 rather than Lukel What reason is there for 
 assuming that if one of the writers of the Bible 
 and a Jewish or heathen author come into conflict, 
 
222 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ! 
 
 the former is manifestly wrong, and the latter 
 is plainly right! Does critical science imagine 
 that all writers except Bible writers are inspired 
 to be correct, and that only those who give us the 
 Scriptures are uninspired? But in the instance 
 now before us there is no need to infer that either 
 Josephus or Luke is in error. The clause to which 
 Strauss objects is a parenthesis, and its literal 
 translation, which he must have known, is as fol- 
 lows : ^' The first census itself was eti'ected while 
 Cyrenius was governor of Syria.'' In other words, 
 having stated that a decree had gone forth from 
 C?esar Augustus that a general tax should be 
 levied, he then wishes it to be known by the verse 
 in the parenthesis, that this decree must not be 
 confounded with the census itself, which was 
 eftected under Cyrenius. Or the word first may 
 be rendered, as it is sometimes, "prior to," "be- 
 fore," and the sense would then be, this taxing was 
 before that made under Cyrenius. Or it may be 
 that there were two taxings, in both of which 
 Cyrenius was concerned, for it is a remarkable 
 fact that Justin Martyr, who lived not very long 
 after Luke, asserts three times that Jesus was 
 born under Cyrenius, and the heathen writers of 
 that time did not deny the truth of the statement. 
 Certainly no one who is familiar with the gospel of 
 Luke, and with the Acts of the Apostles, of which 
 also he was the author, can think that he would 
 fall into such an inexcusable blunder, that might 
 have been avoided by the most stupid rustic who 
 lived at that day; and certainly it seems more 
 
ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 223 
 
 charitable and more honest to conclude that he 
 knew what he was saying in the narratives, than 
 to hurry to the supposition that a mistake has 
 been found in the Bible. 
 
 yil. According to the three first Evangelists 
 Jesus was nailed to the cross at the third hour of 
 the day, that is to say, at nine o'clock in the morn- 
 ing; the sun was darkened at the sixth hour, or 
 noon; and He bowed His head in death at the 
 ninth hour, or three o'clock in the afternoon ; but 
 according to John the execution did not commence 
 until the sixth hour, or noon. But let us suppose 
 that John, writing in Asia Minor, used the Eoman 
 mode of reckoning time, from midnight, so that 
 the sixth hour would be six o'clock in the morning, 
 and the interval between that hour and nine o'clock 
 would be occupied by the necessary preparations, 
 thus bringing the writers into perfect agreement. 
 Or let us remember that in the Greek MSS. num- 
 bers are generally expressed by the letters of the 
 alphabet, and that the two Greek letters which 
 stand for 3 and 6 are strikingly alike ; and again 
 they can be brought into agreement by seeing that 
 careless copyists have substituted 6 for 3 in the 
 Gospel of John. This too is just precisely what 
 some of the most distinguished scholars claim, and 
 hence they insist that the proper reading in John 
 is the third hour, as with the other Evangelists. 
 But even if both explanations are judged to be 
 unsatisfactory, it is still possible that the three 
 synoptical Evangelists only meant by the third hour 
 that it was past, using au indefinite expression. 
 
224 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 and that John only meant by the sixth hour that 
 it was approaching, he too using an indefinite 
 expression. At all events it is easier to accept 
 either explanation than to suppose that four men, 
 three of whom had the writings of the first before 
 them, could fall into so meaningless and useless a 
 blunder concerning the hour of the day when the 
 most stupendous fact of human history occurred. 
 We can at least give these writers credit for pos- 
 sessing common sense. 
 
 VIII. According to John the risen Jesus, on His 
 appearance to Mary Magdalene, would not i)ermit 
 her to touch Him, because, He says, " I am not yet 
 ascended to my Father : but go to my brethren, 
 and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and 
 your Father; and to my God, and your God," 
 (John XX. 17). According to Matthew, as Mary 
 Magdalene and the other Mary ran to tell the 
 disciples of His resurrection, He met them with 
 a glad recognition ; " and they came and held Him 
 by the feet, and worshipi)ed Him," (Matt, xxviii. 9). 
 Here, in order to prove a contradiction, it is 
 assumed that Jesus did not ascend to the Father 
 until the expiration of forty days; but for this 
 view, commonly held even by Christians, there is 
 not the slightest Scriptural authority. His ascen- 
 sion has a two-fold relation, first to His own people, 
 and then to the world at large ; for He has entered 
 into heaven, '^ now to appear in the i^resence of 
 God for us," (Heb. ix. 24) ; and He is also " the 
 head over all things to the church," (Eph. i. 22). 
 In like manner on the day of His resurrection He 
 
ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 225 
 
 appeared to the disciples, and breathed on them, 
 saying, '* Eeceive ye the Holy Ghost," (John xx. 
 22), and they did then and there receive Him as the 
 power of an endless life ; but on the day of Pente- 
 cost the Holy Ghost descended in visible pomp and 
 majesty, as the power of testimony and service, 
 (Acts ii). It was appropriate, therefore, that He 
 should not permit the touch of a human hand 
 before ascending to the Father, for He must fulfill 
 the type of the high priest entering into the holy 
 place on the great day of atonement, when no man 
 could be in the tabernacle, (Lev. xvi. 17) ; but hav- 
 ing ascended. He hastened back, as it were, to 
 satisfy the longing of Mary's anxious and happy 
 heart with the welcoming shout, "All hail !" Forty 
 days later He ascended visibly from the midst of 
 His followers, while His hands were uplifted in 
 priestly benediction to bless them j but it is ignor- 
 ance of Scripture that leads any to suppose He 
 had not previously ascended, and therefore it is 
 ignorance of Scripture that leads any to suppose 
 there is a contradiction in the two accounts. 
 
 Precisely the same remark must be made about 
 the contradiction which Strauss alleges with regard 
 to the second coming of the Lord. " On one occa- 
 sion Jesus says to His disciples that the Son of 
 Man will return before they shall have completed 
 their Messianic preaching in all the cities of Israel, 
 (Matt. x. 23) ; another time he says that the second 
 Advent will not occur until the Gospel has been 
 preached in the whole world among all peoples, 
 (Matt. xxiv. 14). Now these are two very different 
 U 
 
226 IS THE BIBLE TRUE ? 
 
 things ; Jesus, therefore, must have changed His 
 views very much between the first of these prophe- 
 cies and the second, or rather it is clear that the 
 one was put into the mouth of Jesus at a time 
 when, and in a circle in which, the kingdom of the 
 Messiah was considered limited to the people of 
 Israel, and the other from a point of view to which 
 the calling of the heathen into that kingdom was 
 already a settled thing," (Vol. I, p. 326). Here 
 again we find utter ignorance of Scripture, that all 
 through the Old and New Testaments teaches the 
 two-fold relation of the second Advent, first to the 
 Jews as an earthly people to be restored to their 
 laud, and second to the Christians of the present 
 dispensation as an heavenly people to be associated 
 with the millennial reign of Jesus over the earth. 
 Think for a moment of a horizontal line represent- 
 ing the Jew, suddenly broken by a circle represent- 
 ing the church, when no note is taken of time, and 
 on the opposite side of the circle the horizontal 
 line commencing again, and you will readily under- 
 stand these double allusions to the second coming 
 of Christ. So far from finding contradictions, we 
 discover divine wisdom in perfection, tracing that 
 coming in connection with Israel, and then in con- 
 nection with the Gentile world, and presenting the 
 teachings of Jesus in beautiful harmony. So may 
 all the alleged contradictions which Strauss men- 
 tions be easily explained ; and as there is no time 
 to consider others, the challenge is here respect- 
 fully made to any infidel to show one real contra- 
 diction in the Bible from first to last. 
 
ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 227 
 
 IX. None of the alleged contradictions of the 
 Old Testament have been noticed, partly for want 
 of time, and partly because it was thought best to 
 confine attention to the most prominent of those 
 which Strauss imagined he had found in the Gospel 
 history. But there is the less need of turning aside 
 to glance at the Old Testament narratives, because 
 Jesus set the seal of His own divine sanction upon 
 the canon of the Old Testament as a whole, pre- 
 cisely in the form in which we x)ossess it to-day, 
 and especially upon those portions at which infi- 
 delity has always delighted to cavil. Thus He 
 expressly recognizes the truth of the story con- 
 nected with a universal deluge, (Matt. xxiv. 38, 39; 
 Luke xvii. 27) ; the truth of the story connected 
 with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, 
 (Matt. xi. 23, 24 • Luke xvii. 28, 29) ; the truth of 
 the story connected with Jonah, (Matt. xii. 39-41) ; 
 and the truth of the story connected with Lot's 
 wife, (Luke xvii. 32). It is as if He confronted 
 proud man with the solemn words. It is at thy 
 peril if thou believest not these Scriptures, for if 
 thou believest them not thou believest Me not; 
 " and he that believeth not the Son shall not see 
 life; but the wrath of God abideth on him," (John 
 iii. 36). So the Holy Ghost, or, if this expression 
 is ofl'ensive to you, the Apostles Peter and Jude 
 and John vouch for the correctness of the narra- 
 tives concerning the angels that sinned, the flood, 
 the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and 
 Balaam, (2 Pet. ii. iii. ; Jude 6-11 ; Eev. ii. 14) ; and in 
 many other places the Old and the New Testaments 
 
228 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 are so linked together, that it is impossible 
 to deny the credibility of the former without 
 sweeping the latter out of existence. The Bible 
 comes to us, not to discuss scientific questions 
 from the exceedingly narrow standpoint of feeble 
 human reason and limited human knowledge, but 
 with authority it commands our faith. The only 
 time God condescends to argue is when He 
 approaches the lost sinner with the gentle invita- 
 tion, " Come now, and let us reason together saith 
 the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they 
 shall be as white as snow; though they be red like 
 crimson, they shall be as wool," (Isa. i. 18). 
 
 X. Neither does it come within the purpose of 
 these lectures to consider the alleged contradic- 
 tions between the Scriptures and the discoveries 
 of Science ; but it is sufficient to say that if it has 
 been proved, or if it can be proved, that the Scrip- 
 tures contain the word of God, it is impossible to 
 discover a contradiction between their testimony 
 and true Sciencel There are many who will obtain 
 a little smattering of science by reading one or two 
 books, or by glancing at the Eeviews, and then 
 swell with a conceit of their vast erudition, when, 
 perhaps, the next discovery will prick them like a 
 bag of wind. Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, and such 
 men, may amuse themselves and the world with 
 their theories as much as they please ; and it is 
 possible that in the course of time they may reach 
 some result that will be of real value; but the 
 moment they bring their new-fledged theories to 
 contradict the Bible, that has stood the assaults 
 
ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 229 
 
 and storms of four thousand years, their science is 
 no longer science, but audacity and impertinence. 
 Their speculations about God, and eternity, and 
 the soul, and prayer, are of no more consequence 
 than the prattling of infancy or the babbling of 
 idiocy, simply because such subjects do not belong 
 to their department of investigation. Human 
 science, if worthy of the name, moves in an orbit 
 of its own, divine revelation moves in another and 
 distinct orbit, both wheeling around the throne of 
 the Eternal without clashing, and vieing with each 
 other in oft'ering a tribute of praise to Him who 
 made the universe, but no less surely made the 
 Holy Scriptures. If science departs from its 
 proper sphere to meddle with revelation, it will 
 certainly have abundant reason sooner or later to 
 dei^lore its folly and presumption, as inevitable 
 defeat awaits it from the encounter ; and if men 
 were not what they are, they would be on their 
 guard against the rash surmises of the scientists j 
 for the pathway of history for the last fifty years 
 is strewn with the fragments of discarded and 
 despised theories that were once most confidently 
 and tenaciously held. 
 
 It is said that when Julian the Apostate was 
 summoning the philosophy, and marshalling the 
 military resources of the Eoman empire, to crush 
 Christianity, the distinguished divine, Athanasius, 
 calmly remarked to some of his desponding friends, 
 " It is a little cloud ; it will pass away." Tradition 
 relates that not long after, when Julian was 
 mortally wounded in battle, he caught the blood 
 
230 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 Streaming from his breast, and threw it into the air 
 with the cry, " O Galilean, thou hast conquered.'^ 
 Of course Gibbon dismisses the tradition with con- 
 tempt, but he writes as follows of the closing scene 
 in the life of one whom he greatly admired : 
 " Whenever he closed his eyes in short and 
 interrupted slumbers, his mind was agitated with 
 painful anxiety ; nor can it be thought surprising, 
 that the Genius of the empire should once more 
 appear before him, covering with a funeral veil his 
 head, and his horn of abundance, and slowly retir- 
 ing from the Imperial tent. The monarch started 
 from his couch, and stepping forth to refresh his 
 wearied spirits with the coolness of the midnight 
 air, he beheld a fiery meteor, which shot athwart 
 the sky, and suddenly vanished. Julian was con- 
 vinced that he had seen the menacing countenance 
 of the god of war ;" and his heathen priests having 
 in vain endeavored to dissuade him from exposing 
 himself in battle, when pierced by the fatal javelin, 
 according to Gibbon he exclaimed, ''I die without 
 remorse, as I have lived without guilt. I am 
 pleased to reflect on the innocence of my private 
 life ; and I can affirm with confidence, that the 
 supreme authority, that emanation of the Divine 
 Power, has been preserved in my hands i)ure and 
 immaculate," (Milman's Gibbon's Eome, Vol. II. 
 pp. 499, 501). If he really delivered this false and 
 foolish speech, truly the Galilean had conquered ; 
 as the Emperor was left to exhibit the utter deceit- 
 fulness of the human heart, and the pitiful vanity 
 and weakness of human nature, even amid the 
 
ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 231 
 
 solemnities of death ; for no man in his senses 
 believes he spoke the truth. Athanasius was 
 right ; it was a little cloud, and soon passed away. 
 So it may be confidently said of the work that 
 has demanded and received our attention during 
 the last few weeks. It engaged the energies of a 
 far more than ordinary intellect for a period of 
 more than thirty years ; but after all " it is a little 
 cloud ; it will soon pass away." The writings of 
 the heathen and infidel and heretical assailants of 
 Jesus during the first centuries have long since 
 perished, except as they have been partially pre- 
 served in quotations by those who wrote in His 
 defence. The writings of the Deists who infested 
 England in the early part of the 18th century have 
 I)erished. The writings of the French Philosophers 
 of the same time, after starting into action the 
 hellish forces that did bloody work at the close of 
 the century, have perished. Eenan's Life of 
 Jesus ran a brief career, and then perished. Thus 
 must it be with Strauss's Life of Jesus, which has 
 ignominiously failed to accomplish its object, like 
 the assaults of those who preceded him in their 
 attempts to destroy " the word of God, which liveth 
 and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and 
 all the glory of man as the flower. The grass 
 withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away : 
 but the word of the Lord endureth forever," (1 Pet. 
 1. 23-25). Jesus has said, in language that would 
 be the height of blasphemy, if He were not divine, 
 " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words 
 shall not pass away," (Matt. xxiv. 35). Yea, though 
 
232 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 the world, under the tuition of a Christless culture 
 and a Godless science, is rapidly educated for sub- 
 mission to the Antichrist; though the great mass 
 of the professing Church, faithless to the i)rinciples 
 and i^ractices of the New Testament, is soon to be 
 spued out of the mouth of our insulted Lord ; Jesus 
 still lives, and His words, that are meeting with a 
 l)recise fulfillment day by day, still live. " The 
 kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers 
 take counsel together, against the Lord, and against 
 his anointed, saying. Let us break their bands 
 asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He 
 that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh f the Lord 
 shall have them in derision," (Ps. ii. 2-4). 
 
 If the Christian finds himself ready to despond, 
 as He witnesses the astounding spread of infidelity, 
 not only outside but inside the Church, let him 
 remember that Jesus was " declared to be the Son 
 of God with j)ower, according to the Spirit of holi- 
 ness, by the resurrection from the dead," (Kom. i. 
 4). Let him turn his anxious thoughts to the 
 working of God's mighty power, " which he 
 wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the 
 dead, and set him at his own right hand in the 
 heavenlies, far above all principality, and power, 
 and might, and dominion, and every name that is 
 named, not only in this world, but also in that 
 which is to come ; and hath put all things under 
 his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to 
 the church, Avhich is his body, the fulness of him 
 that filleth all in all," (Eph. i. 20-23). The Church 
 — by which is not meant any particular sect, nor 
 
ALLEGED OONTRADIOTIONS. 233 
 
 the various denominations together, all of whicli 
 may go to pieces, by which is not meant those who 
 have a name to live, and aredead, those possessing 
 a form of godliness, and denying the power thereof, 
 but those who are born again, those who are united 
 by the Holy Ghost to the risen Jesus, those who 
 have salvation through faith in His name — the 
 Church is as safe as if already seated b}^ His side 
 upon His throne. " My sheep hear my voice," He 
 says, ^' and I know them, and they follow me : and 
 I give unto them eternal life j and they shall never 
 perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my 
 hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater 
 than all ; and no one is able to i>luck them out of 
 my Father's hand. I and my Father are one," 
 (John X. 27-30). Even in the last days when peril- 
 ous times shall come, and when the inspired Apostle 
 saw everything in ruins, he adds the cheering 
 assurance, " Nevertheless the foundation of God 
 standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord kuoweth 
 them that are his. And, Let every one that 
 nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity," 
 (2 Tim. ii. 19). Only forget the darkness in looking 
 for the Morning Star that is to usher in His glori- 
 ous appearing, and nothing can disturb your peace. 
 Blessed be His name, it is for Himself believers 
 who know the truth now watch and wait, without 
 any expectation of the triumph of the church, 
 except as achieved by His visible and j)ersonal 
 presence; without any desire to behold the bride 
 reigning on the earth before the coming and coron- 
 ation of the Bridegroom. Just as heaven would 
 
234 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 be no heaven but for the sight of Jesus, so the mil- 
 lennium would be no millennium unless He presided 
 in manifested glory over the holy and happy scene. 
 Let skeptical criticism proceed then even to greater 
 lengths than Strauss in its ruthless and ungener- 
 ous treatment of His precious word; let skeptical 
 science drift farther and farther away from the 
 written revelation, until the very being of God is 
 denied; let the scoffers of the last days walk after 
 their own lusts, and say with a sneer, " Where is 
 the promise of His coming? for since the fathers 
 fell asleep, all things continue as they were from 
 the beginning of the creation," (2 Pet. iii. 4) ; " when 
 these things begin to come to pass, then look up, 
 and lift up your heads, for your redemption draw- 
 eth nigh," (Luke xxi. 28). But the redemption of 
 body as well as soul that draweth nigh for believers 
 is but the signal of a time when " the kings of the 
 earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the 
 chief captains, and the mighty men, and every 
 bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the 
 dens and in the rocks of the mountains ; and said 
 to the mountains and rocks. Fall upon us, and hide 
 us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, 
 and from the wrath of the Lamb : for the great day 
 of His wrath has come, and who shall be able to 
 stand?" (Eev. vi. 15-17). The coming of Christ 
 will flash the light of truth upon all the x^altry 
 excuses of unbelievers, and in that light they will 
 refrain from saying as they now do, " we could not 
 believe," but will confess with inexpressible terror, 
 " we would not believe." He who is the truth itself 
 
ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 235 
 
 has declared, " This is the condemnation, that light 
 is come into the world, and men loved darkness 
 rather than light, because their deeds were evil ;" 
 " and ye WILL not come to me, that ye might have 
 life,'' (Johniii. 19; v. 40). 
 
 Just because infidelity has its seat not in the 
 head, but in the heart, all attempts to convert the 
 skeptic by argument must necessarily fail, and in 
 the face of the most complete demonstration he 
 illustrates the familiar coux^let, 
 
 "He that complies against his will 
 Is of his own opinion still." 
 
 Men do not want to believe the Bible, because the 
 mind of the flesh is enmity against God, because it 
 lays an arrest upon api^etites and passions which 
 they love to gratify, because it utters the stern ad- 
 monition of a reckoning in the future world for the 
 sins of the present, because it humbles them into the 
 dust by casting the highest not less certainly than 
 the lowest, the most cultivated and refined not less 
 surely than the most ignorant and degraded, upon 
 the grace of God and the atoning sacrifice of Christ 
 for salvation. But let a word of the humblest and 
 poorest, winged by the Holy Ghost, reach the 
 heart, and instantly all objections are answered, 
 all the barriers which unbelief has reared around 
 the soul are swept away, and the proof that the 
 Scriptures are divine shines from every page, like 
 the splendor of the eternal throne. Several years 
 ago a prominent minister of the gospel in Cincin- 
 nati delivered a series of carefully prepared 
 
236 IS THE BIBLE TRUE? 
 
 discourses ou the Evidences of Christianity. Among 
 his hearers were two ijersons unlike in every 
 respect. One was a highly educated man, the 
 president of an infidel club, who had been commis- 
 sioned to attend the lectures, and take notes that 
 were subsequently presented for discussion at the 
 meetings of the skeptics ; and the other was an old 
 and illiterate colored woman, who attended, not 
 because she understood the arguments, but because 
 she delighted to be where the name of her Saviour 
 was honored. On a certain evening during service, 
 a sleet fell, covering the stone steps of the church 
 building, and as the old woman was leaving at the 
 close of the sermon, she slipped, and might have 
 been severely injured if the infidel, who was descend- 
 ing the steps at the same time, had not caught her 
 and kindly assisted her to the sidewalk. She 
 thanked him, and then said in a low, tremulous 
 voice, " Young master, do you love Jesus f They 
 parted, but that Toice followed him to his room, 
 and started a mighty tide of emotion in his proud 
 heart, and never left him until he had bowed in 
 faith and with tears of adoring gratitude beneath 
 the cross he had despised. The minister hearing 
 that an infidel, who had attended his lectures, was 
 converted, sought his acquaintance, and desired to 
 know what argument had convinced him of his 
 error. " Oh," he replied, " I listened to all of your 
 arguments with unmoved indifference, save when 
 they excited a feeling of intense opposition to the 
 views you advanced : but it was the simple ques- 
 tion of an old negro woman, ' do you love Jesus V 
 
ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 237 
 
 that led me to see the cruelty of my conduct 
 towards my best Friend." 
 
 Dear, dying hearers, if the poor arguments to 
 which you have listened for several weeks past, so 
 far below the importance of the great subject, have 
 failed to convince any of you who are skeptical 
 that the Bible is the work of God, at least i)ermit 
 me to ask you the searching question, '' Do you 
 love Jesus f If not, why do you not love Him I 
 Has He ever harmed you, or has He ever harmed 
 the world ? As Pilate said to the rabble clamoring 
 for His crucifixion, "Why, what evil hath he 
 done f Would you crucify Him again ? Would 
 you grieve His heart, so noble, so good, so loving, 
 by turning away with contemptuous unconcern 
 from His entreating voice ? You may forget Him 
 for a time, but you can not always despise His 
 claims upon your confidence and affection. If you 
 continue to neglect Him to the close of your brief 
 mortal existence, God will assuredly shut you up 
 in hell ; for He will not permit you to count the 
 blood of His Son a common thing. Other ques- 
 tions may engage your attention now, but sooner 
 or later the question that must be answered, each 
 for himself, is the one propounded by the Eoman 
 governor of Jerusalem, " What shall I do then 
 with Jesus, which is called Christ!" (Matt. 
 xxvii. 22). 
 
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