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THE FOUR GOSPELS

FROM A LAWYER'S
STANDPOINT

BY

EDMUND H. BENNETT, LL. D.

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY

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COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY SALLY C. BENNETT
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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NOTE

| HE substance of the following
pages was prepared by the au-
thor, largely as a matter of
personal interest to himself. Fi-
nally he based a lecture or address upon
the material which he had collected. This
lecture he delivered many times, especially
during the latter years of his life. As an
introduction he sometimes used the pre-
fatory matter which is now printed with
the address. The author never himself
prepared a copy for publication. Had he
done so, possibly he might have revised its
form somewhat. It is now printed sub-
stantially in the form in which he delivered
it the last time.

BOSTON, October, 1899.

INTRODUCTION

HRISTIAN friends from differ-
ent churches and of many de-
nominations, may I say a word
or two, before commencing my
address, on the subject of Christian unity?
I say denominations intentionally, for I dis-
like to hear the words " sects " and " sec-
tarians " applied to Christian brethren.

I am glad to have this opportunity to ex-
press my sympathy for, and my belief in,
the plan of occasional union services in
which we can all unite in one common
service of praise and devotion. I doubt
whether any more serious obstacle exists
to the spread of Christianity, either at home
or abroad, than the unhappy divisions and
discords which have sometimes existed be-
tween different Christian bodies. It is time,
in my opinion, to remember that here, as

vi INTRODUCTION

elsewhere, union is strength. The most suc-
cessful army must have several divisions, —
infantry, cavalry, and artillerymen ; but they
are too world-wise to expect success by
firing on each other, as they stand facing
a common and united foe. So in the Chris-
tian army. There may be many cohorts,
but there can be but one " captain of our
salvation;' and there should be but one
banner over us, and that is the banner —
the blood-stained banner — of the Cross.

Minor differences there may be and per-
haps always will be in some points, espe-
cially in modes of worship and church orga-
nization, for there is no divinely appointed
order of church worship. "There may be
differences of administration, but it is the
same Lord ; there may be diversities of
operation, but it is the same God which
worketh all in all." Some prefer a simple,
others a more ornate form of public wor-
ship; some assemble within plain, others
within decorated walls. But whether the
church windows be plain or colored, open

INTRODUCTION vii

both, and you look out upon the same world
of sin, sorrow, and suffering, crying for our
sympathy and aid. Whether the roof be
plain or groined, raise up either and look
aloft ; behold the same heavenly expanse of
blue, with the same stars of hope beaming
from its azure depths, or the same sun of
righteousness arising with healing in his
wings.

The choir may be a quartette, or vested,
but from both the same songs of praise
and devotion constantly ascend to the same
Majesty on high. And these come from
Christian authors of every name and every
denomination.

You remember it was a Congregational
minister who penned that devout hymn : —

" I love thy Kingdom, Lord,
The house of thine abode."

The Cary sisters of the Universalist
fold have given us many devotional hymns,
not the least popular of which is —

" One sweetly solemn thought
Comes to me o'er and o'er."

viii INTRODUCTION

The Baptist author of " My country, 't is
of thee I sing," also wrote —

"The morning light is breaking,
The darkness disappears."

A Presbyterian taught us to —

" Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
Ye soldiers of the Cross."

While we are indebted to that sweet
Methodist singer, Charles Wesley, for —

" Hark, the herald angels sing,"
" Soldiers of Christ, arise,"

" Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to thy bosom fly,"

and many, many others.

You know it was a Unitarian lady who
breathed those saintly lines, sung in every
church and every hamlet in the land : —

" Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee."

Another member of the same com-
munion, a layman, too, if I mistake not,
declared that —

" In the cross of Christ I glory,

Towering o'er the wrecks of time ;
All the light of Gospel story

Gathers round its head sublime."

INTRODUCTION ix

May I be permitted to remind you that
Episcopal lips first uttered those touching
words : —

"Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,"
" Abide with me ; fast falls the even tide,"

and —

" Rock of ages, cleft for me,"

probably one of the most popular hymns in
our language.

Nay, it is only just for us to acknowledge
that a pious and devout Roman Catholic
gave us that gem of devotional poetry : —

" O Paradise, O Paradise,
Who doth not crave for rest,"

and its twin sister, —

" Jerusalem, the Golden,
With milk and honey blest."

It was a Roman Catholic lady, who more
than three hundred years ago, on her
bended knees, in her solitary cell, poured
forth the anguish of her soul in this piercing
cry : —

" O Domine Deus, speravi in Te,
O care mi Jesu nunc libera me,
Languendo, gemendo et genuflectendo
Adoro imploro ut liberas me."

x INTRODUCTION

All which proves that the truth is — the
simple truth is — that notwithstanding a
difference in name and outward dress, the
hearts of all true Christian men and Chris-
tian women beat in unison. Verily,

" As in water face answereth to face
So the heart of man to man."

However the external form of theological
heads may differ, the shape of the human
heart, the sound, healthy, human heart, is
ever the same ; and we are told that it is
with the heart, and not with the head, that
man believeth unto righteousness.

This unity of heart and feeling, I am glad
to see, is manifesting itself now as never
before in the many union services now be-
ing held throughout the land. In Lexing-
ton, Newton, Winchester, Boston, Bridge-
water, Taunton, and many other places,
such a movement has been attended with
great success. The present attitude of
Christian bodies towards each other is very
different from that formerly prevailing.
Such a meeting as this would have been

INTRODUCTION xi

impossible, I fear, fifty years ago. The
omens are auspicious of even closer affilia-
tion between Christians of different de-
nominations. The Spirit of God is moving
upon the face of the waters. Quench not
the Spirit ! The Gospel trumpet calls.
Heed its summons ! Some great transi-
tion is upon us. Yes, the morning light is
breaking, the day is nigh at hand. I hope
to see the time when the ministers of my
own church shall be canonically permitted
to open their pulpits to their brethren of
other denominations. God speed the day !

CONTENTS

THE FOUR GOSPELS FROM A LAWYER'S STANDPOINT I

I. PECULIARITIES OF EACH GOSPEL .... 9

II. CONFIRMATIONS IN THE GOSPELS .... 23

III. VARIATIONS IN THE GOSPELS 33

IV. INCONSISTENCIES IN THE GOSPELS ... 39

THE FOUR GOSPELS FROM A
LAWYER'S STANDPOINT

[T is, as you know, a part of the
lawyer's profession to examine
and cross-examine witnesses, to
detect their errors, and expose
their falsehoods ; or, on the other hand, to
reconcile their conflicting statements, and
from seeming discord to evolve and make
manifest the real truth. And this paper is
the result of an effort, on my own part, to
ascertain whether or not, independently of
divine revelation, independently of the exer-
cise of a devout Christian faith, independ-
ently of any appeal to our religious senti-
ments, the truth of the story told in the four
Gospels could be satisfactorily established
by a mere reasoning process, and by apply-
ing the same principles and the same tests
to the Gospel narratives that we observe in

2 THE FOUR GOSPELS

determining the truth or falsity of any other
documents, or any other historical accounts.
While we claim no special favors in our
investigations because of any alleged impor-
tance of the subject, it is only fair to expect
that every one will come to this examina-
tion with an unbiased and unprejudiced
mind, ready and willing to accept the same
evidence of truth and honesty as in other
inquiries. Moreover, since we decide many
important worldly matters upon the mere
preponderance of evidence and arguments,
why should we not adopt the same princi-
ples here ? It is not necessary in order to
recommend the Gospel story for our adop-
tion to insist that it be proved to a mathe-
matical demonstration, and beyond the cavils
of every doubter, or of every unreasonable
skeptic. Why not adopt that conclusion
which has the higher degree of probability
rather than the opposite ? If we choose
neither, we practically reject both. In sec-
ular matters, if seventy-five per cent, of
everything that can be said on both sides

THE FOUR GOSPELS 3

of any subject leads to one result, we are
generally ready to adopt that conclusion in
preference to the other. It is, you know,
not uncommon before deciding some impor-
tant worldly matter to arrange the argu-
ments pro and con in parallel columns, and
thus be guided by their comparative weight
to our final conclusion. Let us do so here.
I approach this subject, therefore, with
a personal reminiscence. A few years ago,
while writing an historical address for one
of our Massachusetts cities, I came across,
in a newspaper file of the Revolutionary
period, a letter, or what purported to be a
letter, written from that place, giving an ac-
count of a meeting held there, in 17/4, and
a copy of some patriotic resolutions passed
thereat. The writer of that letter, if there
ever was one, had long been dead ; all the
persons said to have taken part in that
meeting were also gone; the printer and
publisher who gave the account to the
world had likewise vanished from the earth ;
there was no person living who could make

4 THE FOUR GOSPELS

oath or testify that such an occurrence ever
actually took place. But yet I had no hesi-
tation in adopting the account as genuine,
and using it as an established event in the
history of that town. The mere fact of the
existence of such a document under such
circumstances was prima facie proof of its
genuineness and authenticity, quite suffi-
cient to justify the acceptance of it as true
until the contrary be proved.

What would have been my joy and confi-
dence had I found four such letters, in four
different papers, written by four different
persons, giving an account of the same
transaction ? And although in a close com-
parison of these four accounts some varia-
tions should have been found as to the
particulars of that event, would that over-
throw all belief in the truthfulness of the
accounts? Nay, would it not rather fur-
nish stronger proof of their integrity ? Had
all four accounts been exactly alike, the sus-
picion would have been irresistible that one
was copied from the other, or that all were

THE FOUR GOSPELS 5

taken from one and the same original. But
substantial uniformity with circumstantial
variety is one of the surest tests of truth
in all historical narratives. The several
accounts of many important battles of the
world, and of many other historical events,
vary in many particulars, and yet no one
thereby has any doubt of their occurrence.
The four portraits of the Father of his
country, painted by four different artists,
viz., Stuart, Peale, Sharpless, and Wright,
though all taken about the same period of
his life, vary so much in expression that you
would scarcely know them to represent the
same person, and yet the same George
Washington undoubtedly sat for them all.
The various editions of Gray's Elegy, and
of some of Shakespeare's plays, differ as
much as do some chapters of Matthew and
Luke in their respective accounts of the
same transaction. Indeed, what four of us
could go away from this meeting, and give
exactly the same account of what transpires
here ? What four witnesses under oath in a

6 THE FOUR GOSPELS

court of justice ever describe a transaction
precisely alike ? And yet their testimony is
taken as reliable, in cases involving the most
important interests, even of life and death.
Indeed, judges and juries are apt to dis-
credit a cause in which all the witnesses tell
a long story in exactly the same words.

Let us apply the same principles to the
subject matter of this address. The four
Gospels exist ; they purport to contain the
history of our Lord Jesus Christ ; the au-
thors are not living ; the characters they
therein describe are no more. No man liv-
ing knows by direct personal knowledge that
these things were ever so. But why not
apply the same rules of evidence and belief
to scriptural narratives as to any other?
Being in existence, and a minute account
of passing events, they must be either genu-
ine and true, or else a gross forgery. There
is no alternative ; for the self-delusion theory
is preposterous. They were true when writ-
ten, or were then an absolute falsehood. If
the latter, they must at that very time have

THE FOUR GOSPELS 7

been known to be false, and an imposition
on the credulity of those then living. These
stories began to be published not long after
the alleged crucifixion. Many persons were
then living who could have easily refuted
the statements of the evangelists had they
been untrue. The enemies of Jesus were
still alive and active. The Scribe and the
Pharisee, the Priest and the Levite, still
smarted under his repeated denunciations.
They had the disposition, the opportunity,
and the incentive to deny the story of the
miraculous birth, the spotless life, the mar-
velous works, the sublime death, the as-
tounding resurrection, and the glorious
ascension of our Lord, had the then pub-
lished description of these events been to-
tally fabulous. But so far as we know, no
person then living ever uttered a protest
against these accounts, and for two thou-
sand years they have been received and
treated as veritable history.

Again, being written, they must have
been written by some one. There they are ;
some persons wrote them ; and they must

8 THE FOUR GOSPELS

have been written by either bad men or
good men ; by liars or by truth-tellers, by
forgers or by honest historians. That is a
very elementary and simple proposition, but
it is the key to the whole situation, one
which I ask you to steadily carry with you
throughout this investigation. Remember
that every circumstance tending to disprove
forgery tends on the other hand to prove
truth ; for they must be one or the other.

The question then is : Do wicked men
write such books as these ? Do liars pro-
claim that they and all other liars " shall
have their part in the lake that burneth
with fire and brimstone " ? Does the thief
denounce dishonesty, or the adulterer pro-
claim uncleanness, or Satan rebuke sin?
If, then, these stories were not penned by
wicked men, they must owe their origin to
honest men ; and if honest and truthful
men wrote them, they must be honest and
true narratives, and not a tissue of false-
hoods. Is not the conclusion irresistible ?
Need we go farther? But let us look at
the subject from four other standpoints.

I. PECULIARITIES OF EACH
GOSPEL

'SIDE from the general consid-
erations above alluded to, each
Gospel itself contains internal
and indirect, but cogent evi-
dence of its own genuineness. I purposely
omit all reference to the manifold external
proofs of the authenticity of the Gospels,
the number and force of which increase
with every new discovery, and I confine
myself wholly to inherent and intrinsic evi-
dence thereof. Some of these illustrations
I am about to give may be found elsewhere,
and I lay no claim to originality, for nothing
new or original can now be written on this
subject. To present some old truths in a
new setting is all I can reasonably expect
to accomplish. Let us look at each Gospel
separately, and see how its naturalness, its

io THE FOUR GOSPELS

conformity to what we should expect, its
harmony with the surroundings, tends to
prove its truth.

St. Matthew.

Take first the Gospel of St. Matthew.
He, and he alone, records the circumstance
of Jesus paying tribute to the tax-collector
of Capernaum (xvii. 24-27). How do we
account for this? Why should Matthew
be more likely to mention this particular
fact than any other evangelist ? When we
remember that he was himself a tax-gath-
erer, and therefore especially interested in
and observant of anything relating to his
own profession, the answer is obvious. So
again, Matthew informs us (xxvii. 66) that
after Jesus's burial, the Jews went and
" made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone
and setting a watch." How does it happen
that Matthew alone mentions that fact?
We must remember that the people of
Judea, as has been justly remarked, were
oppressively taxed under the Roman domin-

-

PECULIARITIES OF EACH GOSPEL 11

ion, and that excessive taxation often leads
to evasion, cunning, and fraud by the tax-
payer ; and to increased vigilance, caution,
and close scrutiny on the part of the col-
lector. Accustomed, therefore, to suspect
fraud and evasion, Matthew would naturally
be the most likely to notice and record a
fact which tended to show that in so impor-
tant event deception had been carefully
guarded against. Would a man forging the
four Gospels remember that he must make
Matthew state these facts, and carefully
make all the other historians omit them ?

Naming the Apostles.

Again, in giving the names of the twelve
apostles, a natural incident occurs which I
regard as one of the strongest proofs of
simplicity and truth in Matthew. The
apostles are usually named in couples, thus :
Simon and Andrew, James and John, etc. ;
one couple is described by both Mark and
Luke as "Matthew and Thomas," Mat-
thew's name being first in both stories ; but

12 THE FOUR GOSPELS

Matthew himself (x. 3), with the modesty
of an honest and true man, says, "Thomas
and Matthew" putting Thomas first and
himself last. Is not this so natural as to
be a sign of truth ? But some skeptic may
say, " This is only accidental ; that don't
prove much anyway." Read a little fur-
ther and see. Matthew's occupation . was
then, as now, an unpopular and odious
one, and the other evangelists therefore,
when speaking of Matthew, make no refer-
ence to it ; but Matthew himself, with true
humility, says, "Matthew, the publican"
Another instance of this same quality is
found in the several accounts of Matthew's
farewell feast to his former associates, when
he forsook all and followed Jesus. Luke
(v. 29) says, " Matthew made a great feast
in his own house, and there was a great
company of publicans and of others that sat
down with them." Mark (ii. 15) agrees in
this complimentary description of this event.
But Matthew himself modestly omits all re-
ference to himself and the magnitude of the

PECULIARITIES OF EACH GOSPEL 13

feast, and simply says : " And it came to
pass as Jesus sat at meat in the house," etc.
(ix. 10), without even saying it was his own
house ; much less that he had invited a
large company to his banquet. Is this for-
gery ? If not, it is honest truth. Falsehood
is pretentious, brazen-faced, crooked. Truth
is modest, natural, artless. Straws, are
they? Do not straws indicate the true
course of the wind ?

St. Mark.

Let us turn to St. Mark's Gospel. Here
we constantly find explanation of Jewish
terms and phrases which are not found in
corresponding verses of Matthew about the
same event. Thus in chapter vii, verse 2,
Mark writes : " When they saw his disci-
ples eat bread with defiled hands," they
found fault ; and then the writer adds this
explanation, " for the Pharisees and all the
Jews except they wash their hands oft, eat
not." Again in verse 1 1, " If a man shall say
to his father or mother, It is Corban,"

14 THE FOUR GOSPELS

Mark adds, "that is to say, a gift." In
chapter ii. verse 26, speaking of David eat-
ing the shewbread in the days of Abiathar,
he explains again, "which is not lawful to
eat but for the priests." In chapter v. verse
41, when he records that Jesus said to the
maid, "Talitha cumi," he adds, "which is,
being interpreted, ' Damsel, I say unto thee,
arise.' Again, Mark writes (vii. 34), "Eph-
phatha," and adds, "That is, be opened."
Why is Mark so careful to explain all these
Jewish terms and phrases when Matthew
is not ? If we remember that Matthew,
himself a Jew, was writing for Jews, who
understood such terms already, and Mark,
himself a Gentile, was addressing Gentiles,
who did not, we have the answer. What
a skillful forger must he have been to have
contrived all that !

St. Luke.

Luke also has many indirect proofs of
naturalness. For instance, Luke traces the

« f

genealogy of Jesus upwards to Adam, as

PECULIARITIES OF EACH GOSPEL 15

the Gentiles did, because he was writing for
Gentiles, while Matthew, writing for Jews,
as we have said, reckons downwards from
Abraham, as the Jews always did. Still
more : In St. Luke's descriptions of mirac-
ulous cures, the natural and genuine char-
acter of his Gospel clearly appears. Thus,
while the others simply speak of Christ as
"healing a leper " and of curing a man who
had "a withered hand," Luke says the first
was "full of leprosy," and it was the right
hand of the last which was withered.

Again, the others say Peter's wife's mo-
ther lay "sick of a fever," but Luke writes
that she " was taken with a great fever." In
the account of the healing of the centurion's
servant, Matthew simply says the servant
"was sick of the palsy," but Luke with more
fullness records that " he was sick and ready
to die'' So in the healing of the daughter
of Jairus, Matthew merely states that her
father addressed our Saviour thus : " My
daughter is even now dead : but come and
lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.

16 THE FOUR GOSPELS

And Jesus took her by the hand, and the
maid arose." But Luke, with more minute-
ness and tenderness of feeling, tells us that
Jairus "fell down at Jesus' feet, and be-
sought him that he would come into his
house : for he had only one daughter, about
twelve years of age, and she lay a dying.
And Jesus took her by the hand, and called,
saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit came
again, and she arose straightway." And
again, while three evangelists mention that
Peter cut off the ear of Malchus, the servant
of the high priest, they all stop there ; but
Luke alone, with his more acute observa-
tion, adds : " And Jesus touched his ear, and
healed him." So also Luke alone mentions
the compassion of the good Samaritan ; he
alone records the fact that the sleep of the
disciples in the garden of Gethsemane was
induced by extreme sorrow ; that Jesus sweat
great drops of blood, etc. Now why this
more accurate observation and description
by Luke of every circumstance of disease and
of mental and physical suffering than can

PECULIARITIES OF EACH GOSPEL 17

be found in any other historian of the same
events ? What was there in Luke's history
or life which qualified and induced him thus
to note and describe all kinds of diseases so
much more minutely than the others ? Turn
to Colossians (iv. 14), and you have the an-
swer, where Paul, writing to the Colossians,
closes his letter thus : " Luke, the beloved
physician, and Demas greet you." Did the
forger of Luke's Gospel conspire with the
forger of Paul's Epistle, the one to put
into Luke's mouth words which a physician
would naturally utter, but without intimat-
ing that he was a physician, and the other
to simply call him a physician, without giv-
ing any circumstances indicating it ? For-
gers do not rest content with such round-
about confirmations. On the other hand,
truth-tellers do not trouble themselves to
make their stories corroborate each other.
But these are either forgeries or true tales.
So much for Luke.

i8 THE FOUR GOSPELS

St. Johns Gospel

also contains internal proof of honesty and
genuineness. Thus in chapter vi. verse 66,
soon after the miracle of the loaves and
fishes, we read that "from that time many
of his disciples went back and walked no
more with him," and again in chapter vii.
verse 5, that "neither did his brethren be-
lieve on him." What an admission for a
writer to make if he were concocting a stu-
pendous fraud to impose upon the commu-
nity, viz., to openly proclaim to the world
that the impostor, whose pretensions he was
undertaking to bolster up, could not retain
the confidence of those who were in daily
personal contact with him ! And this from
a man who was not his enemy, but his first
chosen disciple and. his most devoted ad-
mirer ! Candor might lead a truthful his-
torian to make such an admission, but no-
thing would induce a fraudulent one to do
so.

But still another striking characteristic

PECULIARITIES OF EACH GOSPEL 19

of genuineness is found in John's Gospel.
He omits all reference to many events
which the other evangelists record in full.
Thus, he makes no allusion to the tempta-
tion of Jesus by the Devil ; to the first
miraculous draft of fishes ; to the healing
of Peter's wife's mother, or the recovery
of the leper ; to the cure of the paralytic,
or of the withered hand, or of the two de-
moniacs ; to the parable of the sower ; to
the stilling of the tempest, or the feast of
Levi to our Lord ; to the prophecy of the
destruction of the temple, or the parable of
the fig-tree ; to the transfiguration on the
mount, or to many other important events, to
some of which he was even an eye-witness.
Why is this notable omission by John of so
many scenes with which he was perfectly
familiar and which the other three evangel-
ists record so fully ? If it be the fact that
John's Gospel was written long after the
other three had been published to the world,
as is generally believed, does not that natu-
rally suggest that he probably thought it

20 THE FOUR GOSPELS

unnecessary to repeat what they had already
described so minutely ?

On the other hand, John alone mentions
many interesting and touching incidents in
our Saviour's life, about which all the others
are entirely silent. Thus, he alone narrates
the story of John the Baptist at the time
the Jews sent the Priests and Levites to
interrogate him ; he alone describes the
calling of Andrew and Simon, Philip and
Nathaniel; he alone records the marriage
in Cana of Galilee; the driving of the
money-changers from the temple ; the visit
of Nicodemus by night ; the meeting with
the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well ; the
healing of the nobleman's son ; the scene
at the pool of Bethesda ; the parable of the
good shepherd; the restoring of sight to
the blind in the pool of Siloam ; the raising
of Lazarus, etc. In John alone do we read
that sweetly tender address of Jesus to his
disciples, which has since soothed many a
sorrowing breast, " Let not your heart be
troubled : ... in my father's house are many

PECULIARITIES OF EACH GOSPEL 21

mansions " (xiv. i). Why does John record
so many touching and tender events in our
Lord's life of which others make no men-
tion ? Do we not find the explanation in
the fact that he was the disciple whom
Jesus preeminently loved ; that he enjoyed
in a special degree his Master's regard and
confidence, resting his head so often on his
Master's bosom ; that his mother was one
of those who constantly followed Jesus and
ministered unto him; that of the four
evangelists he alone was present at the
transfiguration on the mount and at the
agony in Gethsemane ; that he alone fol-
lowed Jesus to the cross, and was present
at so many other affecting scenes to which
the rest were not admitted ?

|

Could we have more satisfactory evi-
dence of probability and truthfulness than
these several peculiarities in the four evan-
gelists indicate ? What a consummate
forger must he have been who could know
and constantly remember all these particu-
lars and never make a slip in his fabrica-

22 THE FOUR GOSPELS

tions ! The forger of the letters falsely
attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots, or of
the famous Parnellite letters some years
ago, could not compare in ingenuity with
a possible forger of the four evangelists.
May we not believe, therefore, that each
Gospel by its own internal peculiarities
bears testimony to its truth and reality ?

II. CONFIRMATIONS IN THE
GOSPELS

I Y comparing the various Gospels
with each other, we often find
confirmations of their truth and
veracity.

A notable instance exists in regard to
Herod's Servants.

In Matthew (xiv. i, 2) and Luke (ix. 9) we
read that when Herod the tetrarch heard of
the fame of Jesus, being perplexed thereat,
he said unto his servants inquiringly, " This
is John the Baptist ; he is risen from the
dead," " John have I beheaded, but who is
this of whom I hear such things ? ' The
inquiry at once .arises, why did Herod ad-
dress this question to his servants ? What
could they be supposed to know or care
about Jesus, or about John the Baptist ?
Matthew gives no reason why, but on turn-

24 THE FOUR GOSPELS

ing to Luke (viii. 3) we learn that one of
the followers of Jesus was Joanna, the wife
of Herod's steward. And in Acts (xiii. i)
we are told that in the church at Antioch
there was a teacher named Manaen, " who
had been brought up with Herod the te-
trarch" No doubt, therefore, Herod sup-
posed that the higher grade of his servants
could give him some information about
Jesus which he wanted to know, and it was
not strange, therefore, that he should ad-
dress them as he did.

The Transfiguration on the Mount.

Again, after the transfiguration on the
mount, Luke says (ix. 36) that they who
had witnessed this remarkable event "kept
it close, and told no man in those days any
of those things which they had, seen." But
he gives no reason for this extraordinary
silence on a subject so full of interest and
wonder, and which the witnesses thereto
would naturally be inclined to spread abroad.
But turn to Mark, and you will find the

CONFIRMATIONS IN THE GOSPELS 25

explanation (ix. 9), where he records that
as " they came down from the mountain
Jesus charged them they should tell no
man what things they had seen," etc. One
narrates the command, but not the obedi-
ence ; the other the obedience, but not the
command. Is that a contrived variation,
or is it the natural and accidental difference
into which honest witnesses constantly

fall ?

The Passover.

Once more : When Mark tells us (vi. 31),
that after the death of John the Baptist,
Jesus said unto his disciples, " Come ye
yourselves apart into a desert place and
rest awhile," the writer adds, "for there
were many coming and going," without giv-
ing any intimation of the reason why so
many should be abroad at that particular
time ; but on turning to John (vi. 4) the
missing link appears, for we learn that " the
passover was nigh ' at hand, and thus the
cause of the traveling multitude is obvious,
viz., they were all going up to Jerusalem
to the feast.

26 THE FOUR GOSPELS

The Samaritans' Disregard ofjestis.

Still again: In Luke (ix. 51, 53) we are
told that Jesus on one of his journeys to
Jerusalem sent messengers before him to
a village of the Samaritans, to make ready
for his coming ; but the Samaritans would
not receive him, "because," to use the
Scripture language, " becaiise his face was
as though he would go to Jerusalem"
Why should that be a reason for not re-
ceiving him ? What difference could it
make to them whether he was going to
Jerusalem or to some other city ? Luke
does not tell us why, nor does he give us
the slightest clue on the subject, but we
learn it elsewhere. It is this : the Samar-
itans did not believe in Jerusalem as a place
of worship : they had set up a temple in
Gerizim in opposition to the holy city. As
Jesus was known to be on his way to Jeru-
salem to worship there, it was only poor
human nature that the Samaritans did not
feel like paying him any particular atten-
tion when on such a journey.

CONFIRMATIONS IN THE GOSPELS 27

The Denial by Peter.

In the denial by Peter a notable indirect
confirmation or proof of veracity occurs.
Thus, three of the evangelists say that
when Peter was warming himself in the
palace of the high priest, a maid saw him,
and charged him with being a disciple of
Jesus, but neither of the three intimate how
she knew it to be so. How should a maid
servant in the family of the high priest,
the most exalted officer in the Jewish syna-
gogue, know such a fact ? Proud of her
position in the first family in town, wearing
the brightest and gayest dress of all her
set, what should that dark-haired and dark-
eyed Jewish maiden know or care about
the lowly and despised Nazarene ; much
less as to who his deluded followers were ?
Turn to John (xviii. 17), and the mystery
is solved. There we learn that the maid
who thus addressed Peter was the very one
who kept the door of the palace through
which Peter had just entered. But how did

28 THE FOUR GOSPELS

that enable her to know that Peter was a
follower of Jesus f Read John again (xviii.
15, 1 6), and we find that John first went
into the palace with Jesus, leaving Peter
standing outside, and then John came out,
and as he was going out, " spake to her that •
kept the door, and brought in Peter," right
past her. She saw John come in with Je-
sus, and then go out and bring in Peter, and
remembering what he had said to her going
out, she was not a very bright girl unless
she could put this and that together, and
guess pretty well what was going on. And
this incident furnishes another corrobora-
tion of one evangelist by the others. John
speaks of only one maid who thus addressed
Peter. Others say there were two, while
Luke says it was a man. But John himself
further on indirectly confirms the other
three because he says, in verse 25, that as
Simon Peter stood and warmed himself,
" They said therefore unto him, Art not
thou one of his disciples ? "

CONFIRMATIONS IN THE GOSPELS 29

Smiting of Jesus.

Again, in the last tragic scene of our
Saviour's life, Matthew tells us (xxvi. 67, 68),
that his murderers, after spitting in his face
and smiting him with the palms of their
hands, challenged him to say who smote
him, as if that were an impossible question
for him to answer. How could such a ques-
tion be difficult? Could he not see who
struck him, and in the face, too ? Matthew
gives no fact throwing light upon it, and
none is there apparent. You could not
understand it from Matthew alone. But
turn to Luke, and the reason for such a
question is obvious, for Luke says (xxii. 64),
"When they had blindfolded him, they
struck him on the face, and asked him, say-
ing, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee ? '
Thus we see the force and significance of
the question, addressed to a blindfolded
man, which to another would have been
too simple.

30 THE FOUR GOSPELS

The Bearer of the Cross.

Matthew and Luke say that at the cruci-
fixion of Jesus his cross was borne by one
Simon, a Cyrenian, but they give no other
particulars about him. Mark alone adds that
Simon was the father of Alexander and Ru-
fus. Why ? Mark wrote his Gospel at Rome
for Romans. But what had that to do with
it ? Turn to Romans xvi. 1 3, and we find
that Rufus was a disciple of Jesus, and
lived in Rome. How natural, therefore,
that Mark, when writing to Romans, should
specially refer to Ruf us, who was then living
among them, and whose father had been so
closely connected with the awful tragedy
of the crucifixion. And how natural that
first the pity and then the love of Rufus
should have been excited for Jesus by the
fact that his father had borne the cross, and
was an eye-witness to the awful sufferings
thereon, the account of which no doubt he
had often heard from his father's lips.

CONFIRMATIONS IN THE GOSPELS 31

Division of the Garments.

One more instance of confirmation re-
mains. The division of the garments of
Jesus after the crucifixion furnishes a re-
markable instance of the truth of the Gos-
pel narrative as confirmed by other sources.

John informs us (xix. 23) that when the
soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his
garments, " and made four parts, to every
soldier a part." How is this ? Why just
four parts ? Were there no more soldiers
there, on such an extraordinary occasion as
that ? Yes, they had " the whole band '
(Matthew xxvii. 27 ; Mark xv. 16). And
a centurion's band is an hundred. Why
were only four entitled to his garments ?
This is the explanation. Crucifixion as a
mode of punishment was well known to
many ancient nations. The common and
familiar practice was to compel the person
to bear his cross to the place of crucifixion,
and to lay the cross upon the ground, one
end slightly raised ; then the victim was laid

32 THE FOUR GOSPELS

upon it, with his arms and limbs extended,
and four of the most brutal soldiers were
selected to drive four large nails, or spikes,
through the quivering flesh of his hands
and feet, for which repulsive service they
were entitled by custom to his clothes as a
special perquisite. So John told the truth,
— " four parts, to every soldier a part."

So much for confirmations by compari-
son.

III. VARIATIONS IN THE GOSPELS

OME well-disposed persons, for
the most part of the rather
feeble-minded sort, are much
troubled at the variations in the
Gospel stories about the same event, and
find many stumbling-blocks in their way.

Let us look at some of the events re-
corded in different words by the various
evangelists, and we shall realize what is
meant by the phrase " Harmony of the
Gospels," and that mere variations are not
contradictions, but on the other hand often
real confirmations of each other. Take,
for example, the imprisonment of John,
Baptist by Herod. Matthew tells us (xiv.
3, 4) that Herod had laid hold on John and
put him in prison for the sake of Herodias,
his brother Philip's wife, because John had

34 THE FOUR GOSPELS

told Herod that it was not lawful for him
to have her, but Matthew nowhere intimates
that they were already married. Mark
alone (vi. 17) informs us that the marriage
had actually taken place. Luke adds yet
another reason for John's imprisonment,
viz., because he had reproved Herod, not
only for the Herodias matter, but also " for
all the evils which Herod had done " (iii. 19).
But there is no conflict or inconsistency in
these different accounts; every word of
every one may well be true.

Healing the Leper.

So in the healing of the leper, Matthew
says (viii. 2), " Behold, there came a leper
and worshipped him saying, Lord, if thou
wilt, thou canst make me clean." Mark
adds something different (i. 40) : "And
there came a leper to him, beseeching him,
and kneeling down to him, and saying unto
him, If thou wilt," etc. This additional
fact of kneeling Matthew does not record.
Luke (v. 12) mentions still another fea-

VARIATIONS IN THE GOSPELS 35

ture, viz., "The leper fell on his face,
and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou
wilt, "etc. These variations are only succes-
sive strokes on one and the same picture.

The Inscription on the Cross.

The inscription on the cross furnishes
one more, and one of the best illustrations
of unity in variety to be found in the New
Testament. Mark (xv. 26) says it read,
" The King of the Jews." Luke (xxiii. 38),
" This is the King of the Jews." Matthew
(xxvii. 37), " This is Jesus the King of the
Jews." John (xix. 19), "Jesus of Nazareth
the King of the Jews." Was there no
cross on Calvary because of these varia-
tions, written as they were in Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin (Luke xxiii. 38) ?

Is the story of Barabbas a myth, merely
because one evangelist (John) says he was
a robber, and two others (Mark and Luke),
call him a murderer ? Was there no king
of Tyre because in some places his name
is spelled Hiram and in others Huram ?

36 THE FOUR GOSPELS

Is there no true time of day, because all
the clocks in your house strike at a differ-
ent moment ?

These many variations lead to another
suggestion. If these are forged tales, they
were doubtless written by the same person,
or by four different persons. How im-
probable that the same person should take
the unnecessary trouble to make up four
false stories about Jesus, in order to impose
on the world, and at the same time make
them so different from each other as to
excite doubts in some honest and well-
disposed minds, even to this day, as to the
truth of any one of them !

On the other hand, how vastly more
improbable that four different persons, at
different times and in different places,
should deliberately sit down without any
apparent motive to write four similar fic-
titious stories without any knowledge of
each other's work ; or, if they had such
knowledge, that they did not make their
stories agree better with each other! It

VARIATIONS IN THE GOSPELS 37

is too absurd to be worthy of even deny-
ing.

Here again we may learn from secular
matters that the actual occurrence of some
event is not to be doubted because of some
discrepancy, or even some contradiction, in
details between the different narrators
thereof. For instance, some historians as-
sert that Lord Stafford was condemned to
be hanged for his alleged participation in
the popish plot in 1680, while Burnett and
other historians narrate that he was be-
headed. But that he suffered death for the
charge, though probably unjustly, no one
doubts.

So in our own times there has been for
more than a century a controversy as to
the person who made the public proclama-
tion of the Declaration of Independence,
from the balcony of the old State House in
Boston, on the morning of July 18, 1776.
Many accounts assert that this proclama-
tion was made by William Greenleaf, the
high sheriff of Suffolk County; while as

38 THE FOUR GOSPELS

many more declare that it was by Colonel
Thomas Crafts. But recent researches
disclose the fact that Mr. Greenleaf, having
a weak voice, first read the Declaration,
sentence by sentence, to Colonel Crafts,
who stood by his side, and then the latter,
in his loud and sonorous tones, repeated the
same to the assembled multitude below;
and thus the seeming conflict is easily and
naturally reconciled.

IV. INCONSISTENCIES IN THE

GOSPELS

ET us now look at some of the
alleged inconsistencies in the
Gospel stories ; in reconciling
PJ differences, let not the children
of this world be wiser than the children of
light.

The Healing of the Two Demoniacs.

Mark (v. 2) and Luke (viii. 27) say that a
man with an unclean spirit coming out of
the tombs besought Jesus to cure him. But
does it follow that Matthew was false, be-
cause he says (viii. 28) two men met him ? If
there were two there certainly was one, and
if there was one it does not prove that there
were not two. But, as has been well said,
there is an obvious reason why Mark and
Luke mention only one. What is it ?

40 THE FOUR GOSPELS

There was only one who showed any grati-
tude for his deliverance, and his case there-
fore impressed itself the more on their
minds since the duty of gratitude for bless-
ings received was the special lesson they
were seeking to inculcate.

And this expulsion of the devils and
sending them into a herd of swine suggests
another proof of reality and indirect con-
firmation. " There was," say the evangel-
ists, " nigh to the city of Gadara, a herd of
swine feeding." How could that be ? The
Jews were forbidden to eat swine's flesh.
It was such an abomination to the Jews
that one of them declared that he would
die rather than eat it. How happened it
that such animals were being raised about
the city of Gadara, and great herds of them,
too ? Turn to Josephus, and we read that
Gadara was a Grecian, not a Jewish city,
and the Greeks had no aversion to swine's
flesh.

INCONSISTENCIES 41

The Alabaster Box of Ointment.

Again, because Matthew and Mark say
that the woman with an alabaster box of
ointment poured it on the head of Jesus,
was John a falsifier when he says she an-
ointed his feet, and wiped them with the
hair of her head ? Or because John men-
tions only Mary Magdalene as coming to
the sepulchre on the morning of the resur-
rection, does it follow that the other evan-
gelists are not to be believed because they
state that other women accompanied her ?
Nay, John himself, although he gives the
name of only one, indirectly confirms the
others in their statement that more per-
sons were present than Mary, for he says
(xx. 2) that Mary, running to meet Peter,
exclaimed, "They have taken away the
Lord out of the sepulchre, and we" using
the plural, " know not where they have laid
him."

42 THE FOUR GOSPELS

The Sermon on the Mount.

Another difference in the story about the
sermon on the mount seems to trouble some
minds wonderfully. Matthew (v. I, 2, 3)
says, " And seeing the multitudes, he went
itp into a mountain : and when he was set,
his disciples came unto him ; and he
opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit," etc.

On the other hand, Luke says (vi. 17) he
" stood in the plain!' — or " a level place,"
as the new version has it, — and lifted up
his eyes, and said : " Blessed be ye poor,"
etc. One says he was standing ; the other
that he was sitting. How is this ? Re-
member this is the longest discourse Jesus
ever delivered, probably not wholly reported
either, and if he became tired of standing
before his sermon was finished, why
should he not sit down ? He was human
like the rest of us, except without sin. But
one says he went up the mountain; an-
other that he stood on a level place. How

INCONSISTENCIES 43

could that be ? Did you never partly as-
cend a mountain and find a plateau, table-
land, or level place on its sides or between
its depths, where many people could easily
be assembled ? Is not that exactly the way
it probably happened ? Luke agrees with
Matthew (see vi. 12), that before he com-
menced his sermon Jesus went up into the
mountain to pray, and then he adds, in verse
17, that he came down and stood in a
level place, where he lifted up his eyes, and
said, "Blessed are the poor," etc. I do not
overlook the fact that tradition still points
out just such a " level place" between two
peaks called the " Horns of Hattin," on the
road from Tiberias to Capernaum, as the
very spot where the sermon was delivered,
but I am suggesting that the combined
Gospel stories point to exactly the same
conclusion.

Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes.

Then came the miracle of the loaves and
fishes at Bethsaida. This miracle furnishes

44 THE FOUR GOSPELS

a striking proof of the harmony and con-
sistency of the Gospels, while using lan-
guage apparently inconsistent. Thus Luke
says (ix. 14) that the multitude sat down,
in companies of about fifty each, whereas
another asserts that they sat down "by
hundreds." How so ? This is another of
the much vaunted inconsistencies of the
Bible. How could these two expressions
be true ? Easily enough. If they sat one
hundred in the front row and fifty rows
deep, would there be any contradiction in
the two statements ? Would that not be
a literal compliance with the words of
Mark (vi. 40), viz. : " They sat down in
ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties." How
many would that be ? Fifty times one
hundred is five thousand ; and therefore
John, without saying anything of the man-
ner of their arrangement or the order of
their seats, simply says (vi. 10) : " So the
men sat down, in number about five thou-
sand." Each writer uses different words,
but all the statements harmonize and blend
in one consistent whole.

INCONSISTENCIES 45

But we are not quite through with this
interesting story. One evangelist informs
us that the next day after feeding the five
thousand some of the people of Bethsaida,
which, as you know, is northeast of the Sea
of Galilee, took shipping and came over to
Capernaum on the west side ; and when
they found Jesus over there, they said,
" Rabbi, when earnest thou hither ? " (John
vi. 25). Why did they put that particular
question to Jesus ? Was it mere idle curi-
osity, or was there some special reason for
their surprise and wonder at finding Jesus
in Capernaum so early the next morning ?
Let us see. Elsewhere we learn that in the
latter part of the day of the miracle, the dis-
ciples took the only boat there was at Beth-
saida to cross the lake to Capernaum, and
Jesus was not with them, for he had gone
apart into a mountain to pray. As there
was no other boat left at Bethsaida, the peo-
ple who thus addressed Jesus naturally won-
dered how he could have crossed that night
so as to be in Capernaum early the next

46 THE FOUR GOSPELS

morning. Turn to Matthew and you will
find how it happened (xiv. 25). He tells us
that in the fourth watch of the night Jesus
joined his disciples on their way over to
Capernaum, " walking tipon the sea." And
this was in the very darkest hours of the
night ; the people in Bethsaida had no know-
ledge of Jesus's departure, and supposing
he was still in the mountain on the east side
behind Bethsaida, where his disciples had
left him the night before, they might well
be surprised at finding him so early the
next morning over in Capernaum, on the
west side of the sea, and therefore natu-
rally exclaimed when they met him, " Why,
Master, how in the world did you get over
here this morning ? "

But still another interesting question
arises : If the disciples had taken the only
boat there was at Bethsaida on the evening
of the miracle, how could the other people
of Bethsaida, who addressed Jesus thus,
have themselves gotten over to Capernaum
the next morning ? Did some boats arrive

INCONSISTENCIES 47

at Bethsaida during the night ? That was
an awful night on Galilee. And in Mat-
thew (xiv. 24) we learn that the disciples on
their way from Bethsaida to Capernaum
had a fearful time, "and their ship was
tossed with the waves, for the wind was
contrary." If the wind was contrary to the
disciples, going westward from Bethsaida to
Capernaum, it must have been favorable
to other persons bound eastward to Beth-
saida from the west side of the lake, and
so it might have carried boats towards
Bethsaida that night. But neither Mat-
thew, Mark, nor Luke mentions any such
circumstance. Turn now to John (vi. 23),
where he says, " Howbeit there came other
boats from Tiberias [which, like Capernaum,
was on the west side of Galilee,] nigh unto
the place where they did eat bread, after
that the Lord had given thanks." And so
a wind which to the disciples going south-
west from Bethsaida to Capernaum would
be " contrary," was exactly a wind to carry
other ships that night from Tiberias north-

48 THE FOUR GOSPELS

eastward to Bethsaida ; and that is how
these citizens of Bethsaida might have got-
ten over to Capernaum that morning.

What adroit forgers these evangelists
were ; the one to narrate facts which would
not easily have happened unless some boats
had arrived at Bethsaida that night, but
without saying so ; the other to have inci-
dentally mentioned such arrival in his ac-
count of the transaction. I do not positively
say that the people at Bethsaida did cross
the lake by boat to Capernaum, for they
might have gone by land around the end of
the lake, as it is not over ten miles ; but
I simply say that the facts stated in the
several evangelists all harmonize with that
view, although the story of no one alone
brings it all out.

The Healing the Centurion s Servant.

Luke informs us (vii. 3) that when the
centurion heard of Jesus, " he sent unto him
the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that
he would come and heal his servant." On

INCONSISTENCIES 49

the other hand, Matthew as positively de-
clares that the centurion went himself MT&JQ
Jesus, beseeching him (viii. 5). Some crit-
ics seem to think these two statements in-
consistent. But are the two accounts so
utterly irreconcilable ? Let us see. Would
it be impossible or unnatural that the cen-
turion should first send the elders to Jesus,
as Luke says he did, and after they had
been gone for some time, becoming anxious
and impatient at their long delay, that he
should set out himself to plead in person
with Jesus, — for this servant was " very
dear unto him," — and so meet Jesus and
the elders on their way back, as Matthew
intimates he did. If this were all the
discrepancy between the two accounts, it
might be readily explained. But unfortu-
nately, it is not, for Luke again, in verse 6,
repeats the assertion that as Jesus was re-
turning with the elders, the centurion sent
friends to him, saying, "Lord, trouble not
thyself," etc. But the Greek word used in
this part of the story, and translated " sent,"

50 THE FOUR GOSPELS

is erre/^ej/, not the same word translated
" sent ' in verse 3, where he speaks of
sending the elders. That word is vni-
o-reiAei>, from aTroo-TeAXo), which always means
to dispatch, to send off, etc. But this word
eW/^ev, used in the 6th verse, means not
only to send, but also, according to approved
lexicons, "to lead, to escort, conduct, pro-
ceed with," and is used in that sense by
Homer and other writers. If Luke intended
to convey the same meaning in the second
place as in the first, why did he use a differ-
ent word ? Therefore the centurion might
himself be conducting or proceeding with
his friends, and so all meet Jesus returning
with the elders. Indeed, the language that
Luke puts into the centurion's mouth nat-
urally imports that the latter was personally
present with his friends, as they met Jesus ;
for the centurion said, " Lord, trouble not
thyself, for / am not worthy that thou
shouldst enter under my roof. Wherefore
neither thought I myself worthy to come to
thee : but say the word only, and my ser-

INCONSISTENCIES 51

vant shall be healed." Was not the man
who spake these words standing face to face
with Jesus ? If so, it is true that the cen-
turion first sent elders to Jesus, as Luke
narrates in verse 3 ; it is true that in the
second place he did go himself, as Mat-
thew records ; it is true that when he went
himself, he was accompanied by his friends,
as Luke asserts in verse 6, and there is
now no contradiction, but all is in perfect
harmony.

The Case of Bartimeus.

As to the healing of Bartimeus, at Jericho,
a formidable discrepancy is thought to exist ;
viz., Matthew (xx. 29, 30) and Mark (x. 46)
speak of it as happening when Jesus was de-
parting from Jericho, while Luke (xviii. 35)
says, " It came to pass as he was come
nigh unto Jericho," etc. This is sometimes
thought to be a serious contradiction. Some
think it a very serious one, and their hearts
quake with misgivings. But look again. Is
this a variation, except in a comparatively

52 THE FOUR GOSPELS

unimportant particular, a mere fringe of the
garment ? Let us look at the miracle in the
perspective. The important fact, the most
important fact is, did it take place at all, or
was it a mere invention ? Three witnesses
declare it did, and no one says it did not.
All agree it was near Jericho. All agree it
was in the presence of a great multitude ;
all agree that the party healed, be they one
or two, sat by the wayside begging. All
agree in all the other essential particulars
of the miracle. They differ in only one un-
important point. Is the main story, then,
true or false ? Did they all three fabricate
the tale, for you must convict all three of
false testimony to prove it untrue ? Did
they copy from each other? Why, then,
did they not copy alike ? If three witnesses
should testify in court to seeing a crime
committed, and all three gave the same
particulars, but two said it occurred in the
forenoon and one in the afternoon, or one
said it was on the north side of the road
and another on the south, would that invali-

INCONSISTENCIES 53

date their testimony ? The Bible stories,
like other narratives, must be looked at in
the perspective. If three witnesses in court
agree in four particulars of the same trans-
action, and differ in only one, where is the
preponderance of the testimony, — that they
were all lying, or that one of them is mis-
taken? This and other differences in the
Scriptures may militate against the doctrine
of exact verbal inspiration ; but that is not
what we are endeavoring to maintain, but
simply that the variance does not, from
a legal standpoint, overthrow the positive
testimony of the three evangelists that the
event actually occurred.

The Two Thieves.

The different stories about the two
thieves upon the cross furnish a very
gratifying theme for criticism to some ene-
mies of the Bible. You remember that two
evangelists say that they who were crucified
with Jesus reviled him, and cast the same
in his teeth. But Luke tells us that one of

54 THE FOUR GOSPELS

them said, " This man hath done nothing
amiss." Are those two accounts both
false ?

Would it be unnatural or impossible that
both malefactors should have at first joined
with the insulting crowd, and afterwards
that the more tender-hearted of the two
should have repented in the agony of ap-
proaching death, and exclaimed, " Lord, re-
member me when thou comest into thy
kingdom " ?

Nay, in our modern criminal courts, how
often does it happen that when two are
arrested for some offense, they both deny
it for a while to the officer, and yet after-
wards one turns state's evidence, and con-
victs both of the offense.

How many a mother has called her two
young children to her side for some disobe-
dience of her command, and although both
at first deny it, yet moved by her tender
appeals the more conscientious of the two
at last breaks down, and, choking with
sobs, confesses the whole transaction.

INCONSISTENCIES 55

Do not, therefore, I pray you, give up
your Bible, your religion, or your God be-
cause of such flippant talk about the con-
tradictions of the Gospels, come from whom
it may !

Thus, by undesigned coincidences, by in-
direct confirmations, by unexpected corro-
borations, by natural and for the most part
easily reconcilable differences, scattered
throughout these four histories, may we be
abundantly satisfied of the truth and har-
mony of the Gospels. The variations in
these stories do not detract from their reli-
ability, but rather the opposite. What
would be our opinion of a man who denied
the real existence of another merely because
four photographs of him, one a front and
one a back view, and two others of opposite
sides of his face, did not present the same
features ? Is it not from the four views
combined that you get the fullest and truest
idea of the person portrayed ? So from the
combined pictures of the acts and doings of
our Lord, in the four Gospels, or rather this

56 THE FOUR GOSPELS

fourfold Gospel, do we best comprehend the
fullness of his life and power. What won-
der, then, that Rousseau felt compelled to
declare that if the Gospels were an inven-
tion, the inventor was greater than the
hero, or a still later than Rousseau to assert
that the forger of such a Jesus must have
been superior to Jesus himself.

Conclusion.

This would be our conclusion if we were
judging of the Gospel story simply by the
light of intellect and of reason, and were
endowed with no nobler and higher facul-
ties ; but there is a spiritual power within
us, which makes the same answer ; a faith
which is higher than mere belief, as spirit
is higher than mind, or mind higher than
body. There is a part of us transcending
the intellect, a part more deep, more bound-
less, and more sublime, than that of the
mind ; a part which " no fowl knoweth and
which the vulture's eye hath not seen ; ' a
part by which we may claim kinship with

INCONSISTENCIES 57

the cherubim and the seraphim ; that part
which enables us to see with the eye of a
spiritual vision, and discern with a celestial
insight ; that faith which is " the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen ; ' which enables young men to
" mount up with wings as eagles, to run and
not be weary, to walk and not faint ; ' a
faith which inspired the celebrated Congre-
gational divine, Dr. Palmer, to pen that
devout hymn, so full of trust, love, and
confidence, —

" My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary."

Let not, therefore, the criticism of the
skeptic, the jeers of the scoffer, or the
doubts of the agnostic disturb our calm
confidence in the actual existence, the
splendid example, and the divine attributes
of him whose earthly life, miracles, and
teachings are thus described in the four
Gospels.

Nay, let us rather, with that abiding con-
viction derived from reason, faith, and love

58 THE FOUR GOSPELS

combined, confidently proclaim with the in-
spired apostle, "I know in whom I have
believed; " or with that perfect and upright
man of old, " I know, I know, that my Re-
deemer liveth." Yes, yes, —

" Jesus lives, I know full well,
Naught from Him my heart can sever ;
Life, nor death, nor powers of Hell,
Shall keep me from His side forever."

Amen.

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