A young gentleman had called for the reconciliation of
certain points in the New Testament narratives, which, to
his mind, seemed incongruous. After noting each of the
points separately, in the _A. C. Review_, for May, 1859, the
editor added:
But, my dear sir, the reconciling what to you may be apparent
discrepancies, is no reason for your becoming a Christian; nor should
you think me unable to reconcile them, or should I really be unable to
reconcile them, or should all men be unable to reconcile them, that
would still be no reason why you or any man should reject Christ. The
inability to reconcile these matters may arise from our ignorance and
not from the fact that they are irreconcilable. It would not be a
reason for rejecting the gospel, if the statements of these witnesses
were really in themselves irreconcilable or inaccurate. The inaccuracy
might easily have found its way into their testimony, in translating,
transcribing, or interpolation, and Christ still be divine. The
whole matter rests _upon Christ_, and not upon the congruity or the
incongruity of the sacred narratives, unless their consistency can be
so impaired as to destroy their testimony concerning Christ. The matter
is not whether you can reconcile all the statements of Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John, whether you can show their consistency and understand
them throughout, but whether you believe in Christ or not, whether you
will receive him or not. Can you say, sir, that you are pondering in
your mind whether to regard Jesus as _divine_ or an _imposter_? This
is the question for you to fix your eye upon. You have not time now to
study the whole Bible and decide upon a sentence at a time, whether you
believe it or not. It would take you a long time to become a Christian
in that way. You should not go to the Bible for that purpose, but go
there to learn all about Christ, the purity of his life, his wonderful
teachings, his miracles, his perfect knowledge of what is in man, the
fulfillment of all the prophecies in him, with an eye simply upon
the question—is he the Christ, the Son of God? You can shape your
inquiries in different forms, though constantly bearing upon the same
question, by inquiring as follows: Was Jesus perfect in his life? If
he was, he was more than man, for no mere man ever was perfect. Were
his teachings perfect? If they were, they were not of man, for no mere
man ever gave the world perfect teachings. All merely human teachings,
in all the world, and in all ages, have been imperfect, and, it is a
miracle in itself, for a perfect being to appear among men, in human
form, or a perfect system of teaching to be presented by him to man. He
emphatically _spake as never man spake_.
Can it be possible that you, my dear sir, are vacillating in your mind
whether Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? Can you doubt whether
he was the friend of man? whether he loved man? whether you would be
infallibly safe under his guidance? Can you doubt whether he was good?
whether his teaching was good? whether it was safe? You must feel
conscious that he is the Christ, the Son of God—the friend of man—that
he loved man—that he went about doing good—that you are infallibly safe
in following him—that his teaching is good—that it is divine. You would
not now deny him for the world. Your eternal all is in him. If the
worst things infidels have ever said of him were true, it is better and
safer to follow him, than them; for they admit that he was better than
they, and his teaching better than their own. As you value your soul,
follow him.