BOOK III.

THE APPLICATION TO THE GOSPEL HISTORY.

Introduction.

THE extension of the argument from undesigned coincidence to the four gospels is attended with some difficulty, arising from their peculiar character. When a history is compared with a series of letters, or with another narrative, widely different in its general outline, the points of agreement will usually speak for themselves, and often exclude all suspicion of being the result of design. In the present instance, however, we have four narratives, very similar in plan and purpose, which relate the same biography, and to a great extent record the same incidents, and were probably written by persons mutually acquainted, at no very great interval of time. Hence it becomes more difficult, where they coincide, to prove that the coincidence is spontaneous, and where they seem to differ, that the diversity is not a real contradiction. If they agree closely, they may be charged with merely copying one another; and if they diverge considerably, they are exposed to the opposite charge, that their statements are historically false, and mutually disproved. Indeed this has of late been the chosen battle-field of infidelity. It has been maintained that the gospels are late in their origin, and inconsistent in their testimony, and that they merely embody vague, floating ideas of the Messiah, which were prevalent in the early church, and are a series of mystical traditions rather than genuine histories.

To unfold thoroughly the evidence which the gospels supply, in refutation of this wild and senseless theory, would require a distinct work, and an inquiry into many questions which have exercised critics and harmonists down to the present day. Meanwhile, apart from this deeper investigation, the argument in the Hora Paulina admits, within narrower limits, of a useful and important application to the gospel history. For every part of the New Testament, of which the authenticity is clearly established, serves to reflect a part of its own evidence on all the rest. The epistles of St. Paul, and the Acts of the Apostles, will thus authenticate many leading events which are narrated in the gospels. There will also be found, on comparing the gospels among themselves, or with the rest of the New Testament, several coincidences like those in the

letters of St. Paul, which are independent of questions fairly disputable, and are clear indications of their genuineness. The present book, therefore, will aim at establishing these three propositions.

I. That the epistles of St. Paul, which are proved to be genuine by their internal evidence, authenticate many leading facts in the four gospels.

II. That the book of Acts, which is also proved to be an authentic narrative by the same argument, authenticates the same facts, with several others, also contained in the gospel

narratives.

III. That while the main outline of the gospels is thus confirmed by the Acts and epistles, they exhibit, on comparison, many undesigned coincidences, which can arise only from their historical truth and reality.

One chapter will now be occupied with each of these propositions.

CHAPTER I.

THE TESTIMONY OF ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES.

THE letters of St. Paul, it results from the copious evidence already adduced, were actually addressed to the churches and individuals whose names they bear, between the apostle's entrance into Europe and the time of his death. The date of the earliest may be placed about twenty two, and that of the latest about thirty-six years after the crucifixion. And since their main object is to enforce the great facts, the doctrines, and the duties of Christianity, their testimony with regard to the facts of the gospel history must be of the highest importance. It is a pledge to us of the opinions which prevailed among many thousands of Christians, within thirty years from the close of our Lord's ministry. It will be convenient to present the testimony of these epistles in the order of time.

No. I.

The two epistles to the Thessalonians were written from Corinth, and probably about twenty-two years after the date of the crucifixion. We gain from them the following leading facts concerning the history of our Lord.

First, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead was un

doubtedly believed by the apostle and the Christians of Thessalonica.

1 Thess. i. 9, 10. "For they themselves show of us what entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come."

The mention of the fact, as in a parenthesis, shows clearly with what unhesitating faith it was held by the writer, and the Christians to whom he wrote.

The same letter affirms, though indirectly as before, that the Lord Jesus had suffered a violent death by the malice of his own countrymen, the Jews.

1 Thess. ii. 14, 15. "For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men."

The persecution and violent death of the Lord Jesus is here placed between two similar events; the persecution of the Jewish prophets, and the actual sufferings of the apostles, as equally historical and equally notorious.

Again, these two facts are brought together, as the common foundation of the hope of all Christians.

1 Thess. iv. 13, 14. "But I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."

And again, 1 Thess. v. 9, 10. "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him."

We have thus a distinct and repeated testimony, alike to the death and resurrection of Jesus, in this earliest epistle, almost within twenty years from the time when they occurred.

No. II.

The Epistle to the Galatians was written, it seems most probable, about a year later than those to Thessalonica, or twenty-three years after the crucifixion. Its testimony is of great importance.

that

First, the apostle asserts, in the most solemn manner, he had seen the Lord Jesus after the resurrection, that he was thus made a convert to the faith, and was commissioned to preach the gospel to the heathen.

Gal. i. 1. "Paul an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead ;) and all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia."

Ver. 11, 12. "But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."

It is repeatedly affirmed, in the same letter, that our Lord's death was by crucifixion, and that this fact was one stumblingblock, which repelled many from receiving the gospel.

Gal. ii. 20. “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

Ch. iii. 1. "O foolish Galatians. before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you!"

Ch. iii. 13. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."

Ch. v. 24. "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."

Ch. v. 11. "And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased."

Ch. vi. 12. “As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.

Ch. vi. 14. "But 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."

We are taught, further, that James, Cephas, and John were the names of three chief apostles, and that St. Paul had intercourse with the two former at Jerusalem, only three years after his conversion, or probably not more than ten years after the crucifixion, and that they all agreed in preaching the same gospel.

Gal. i. 18, 19. "Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not."

Ch. ii. 9. "And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision."

It is further stated that our Lord was born of a human mother, while his pre-existence as the Son of God, is also evidently affirmed.

Gal. iv. 4, 5. "But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law; to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

It is further implied that the apostle, in the exercise of his office, was known to have wrought miracles, and to have conferred miraculous gifts, among these churches of Galatia.

Gal. iii. 2, 5. "This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?.. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"

There seems no doubt that the above is the true version, and that the writer refers to his own history while among them. The indirect nature of the assertion renders the testimony doubly important. In a series of condensed and earnest reasoning, the fact in question, that he had wrought miracles among them, is assumed as perfectly notorious, as well as the kindred fact, that they had received spiritual gifts at his hands.

The pre-existence of the Lord Jesus, his birth, his crucifixion, and his resurrection; the appointment of several apostles, including James, Cephas, and John; the miraculous appearance to St. Paul, his conversion, his intercourse with two of his brother apostles, and his exercise of miraculous powers, through the name of Jesus, are thus all attested within twenty-three or four years after the crucifixion occurred; and attested as matters of general notoriety among all Christians.