ET us now see what Mark thought it necessary for a man to do to save his
soul. In the fourth chapter, after Jesus had given to the multitude by
the sea the parable of the sower, his disciples, when they were again
alone, asked him the meaning of the parable. Jesus replied:
"Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but
unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
"That seeing, they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear,
and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their
sins should be forgiven them."
It is a little hard to understand why he should have preached to people
that he did not intend should know his meaning. Neither is it quite
clear why he objected to their being converted. This, I suppose, is one
of the mysteries that we should simply believe without endeavoring to
comprehend.
With the above exception, and one other that I will mention hereafter,
Mark substantially agrees with Matthew, and says that God will be
merciful to the merciful, that he will be kind to the kind, that he
will pity the pitying, and love the loving. Mark upholds the religion
of Matthew until we come to the fifteenth and sixteenth verses of
the sixteenth chapter, and then I strike an interpolation put in by
hypocrisy, put in by priests who longed to grasp with bloody hands
the sceptre of universal power. Let me read it to you. It is the most
infamous passage in the Bible. Christ never said it. No sensible man
ever said it.
"And He said unto them" (that is, unto his disciples), "go ye into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
That passage was written so that fear would give alms to hypocrisy. Now,
I propose to prove to you that this is an interpolation. How will I do
it? In the first place, not one word is said about belief, in Matthew.
In the next place, not one word about belief, in Mark, until I come to
that verse, and where is that said to have been spoken? According to
Mark, it is a part of the last conversation of Jesus Christ,--just
before, according to the account, he ascended bodily before their eyes.
If there ever was any important thing happened in this world that was
it. If there is any conversation that people would be apt to recollect,
it would be the last conversation with a god before he rose visibly
through the air and seated himself upon the throne of the infinite. We
have in this Testament five accounts of the last conversation happening
between Jesus Christ and his apostles. Matthew gives it, and yet Matthew
does not state that in that conversation Christ said: "Whoso believeth
and is baptized shall be saved, and whoso believeth not shall be
damned." And if he did say those words they were the most important that
ever fell from lips. Matthew did not hear it, or did not believe it, or
forgot it.
Then I turn to Luke, and he gives an account of this same last
conversation, and not one word does he say upon that subject. Luke does
not pretend that Christ said that whoso believeth not shall be damned.
Luke certainly did not hear it. May be he forgot it. Perhaps he did not
think that it was worth recording. Now, it is the most important thing,
if Christ said it, that he ever said.
Then I turn to John, and he gives an account of the last conversation,
but not one solitary word on the subject of belief or unbelief. Not one
solitary word on the subject of damnation. Not one. John might not have
been listening.
Then I turn to the first chapter of the Acts, and there I find an
account of the last conversation; and in that conversation there is not
one word upon this subject. This is a demonstration that the passage in
Mark is an interpolation. What other reason have I got? There is not one
particle of sense in it. Why? No man can control his belief. You hear
evidence for and against, and the integrity of the soul stands at the
scales and tells which side rises and which side falls. You can not
believe as you wish. You must believe as you must. And he might as well
have said: "Go into the world and preach the gospel, and whosoever has
red hair shall be saved, and whosoever hath not shall be damned."
I have another reason. I am much obliged to the gentleman who
interpolated these passages. I am much obliged to him that he put in
some more--two more. Now hear:
"And these signs shall follow them that believe." Good!
"In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new
tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing
it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall
recover."
Bring on your believer! Let him cast out a devil. I do not ask for a
large one. Just a little one for a cent. Let him take up serpents. "And
if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them." Let me mix up a
dose for the believer, and if it does not hurt him I will join a church.
"Oh! but," they say, "those things only lasted through the Apostolic
age." Let us see. "Go into all the world and preach the gospel, and
whosoever believes and is baptized shall be saved, and these signs shall
follow them that believe."
How long? I think at least until they had gone into all the world.
Certainly those signs should follow until all the world had been
visited. And yet if that declaration was in the mouth of Christ, he then
knew that one-half of the world was unknown, and that he would be dead
fourteen hundred and fifty-nine years before his disciples would know
that there was another continent. And yet he said, "Go into all the
world and preach the gospel," and he knew then that it would be fourteen
hundred and fifty-nine years before anybody could go. Well, if it was
worth while to have signs follow believers in the Old World, surely it
was worth while to have signs follow believers in the New. And the very
reason that signs should follow would be to convince the unbeliever,
and there are as many unbelievers now as ever, and the signs are as
necessary to-day as they ever were. I would like a few myself.
This frightful declaration, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned," has filled the world
with agony and crime. Every letter of this passage has been sword and
fagot; every word has been dungeon and chain. That passage made the
sword of persecution drip with innocent blood through centuries of agony
and crime. That passage made the horizon of a thousand years lurid with
the fagot's flames. That passage contradicts the Sermon on the Mount;
travesties the Lord's prayer; turns the splendid religion of deed
and duty into the superstition of creed and cruelty. I deny it. It is
infamous! Christ never said it!