t
inspire the souls of men and women by thousands and tens of thousands
with heroic zeal and courage, enabling them steadfastly to endure
persecution and death for the truth's sake. It was love towards a
crucified and risen Saviour in deed and in truth, not towards the
mythical idea of such a Saviour, that made the primitive Christians
victorious alike over inward sinful affection and outward persecution.
To every one who reads the gospel narratives in the exercise of his
sober judgment, it is manifest that they are intended to be plain
unvarnished statements of facts. The question is, Are these statements
reliable? Here new arguments can hardly be expected; the old are
abundantly sufficient. Reserving for another place those general
arguments which apply to the gospel system as a whole, let us here
briefly consider the character of the authors and their records; of the
events which they record with the surrounding circumstances; and
especially of Jesus, their great theme.

2. It is natural to ask, in the first place, Were these men _sincere and
truthful_? Here we need not long delay. Their sincerity, with that of
their contemporaries who received their narratives as true, shines forth
like the sun in the firmament. With reference to them, the Saviour's
argument applies in all its force: "How can Satan cast out Satan?" "If
Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath
an end." The life-long work of the evangelists and their associates was
to cast out of the world all fraud and falsehood. If now they attempted
to do this by the perpetration of a most astounding fraud, we have the
case of Satan casting out Satan. But we need not argue the matter at
length. By what they did and suffered in behalf of their doctrines, as
well as by the artless simplicity of their narratives, they give full
proof of their sincerity and truthfulness.

3. We next inquire: Were they _competent as men_? that is, were they men
of sober judgment, able correctly to see and record the facts that came
under their observation, and not visionary enthusiasts who mistook
dreams for realities? This question admits of a short and satisfactory
answer. No proof whatever exists that they were visionary men, but
abundant proof to the contrary. Their narratives are calm,
unimpassioned, and straightforward, without expatiation on the greatness
of Christ's character and works and the wickedness of his enemies, as is
the way of all exci