THE FOUNDER OF OUR RELIGION.
I WILL now introduce the skeptics to the character of the founder of the Christian religion, as a logician, and give them a specimen of that rationalization which he exhibited in pleading his cause with those who opposed his pretensions, in the metropolis of the Jewish nation. I will first read the passage as correctly rendered by Dr. George Campbell of Aberdeen, for it is very much obscured in the common version. It reads thus, John's Testimony, chap. v, from verse 31 to 44. "If I [alone] testify concerning myself, my testimony is not to be regarded; there is another who testifies concerning me; and I know that his testimony of me ought to be regarded. You yourselves sent to John, and he bore witness to the truth. As for me, I need no human testimony; I only urge this for your salvation. He was the lighted and shining lamp; and for a while you were glad to enjoy his light. "But I have greater testimony than John's; for the works which the Father has empowered me to perform, the works themselves which I do, testify for me, that the Father has sent me. "Nay, the Father who sent me, has himself attested me. Did you never hear his voice, or3see his form? Or have you forgotten his declaration, that you believe not him whom he has commissioned? "You search the scriptures, because you think to obtain, by them, eternal life. Now these also are witnesses for me, yet you will not come unto me that you may obtain life. I desire not honor from men, but I know that you are strangers to the love of God. I am come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me; if another come in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, while you court honor one from another, regardless of the honor which comes from God alone? Do not think that I am he who will accuse you to the Father. Your accuser is Moses, in whom you confide. For if you believed Moses you would believe me, for he wrote concerning me. But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words?" To the captious Jews he thus adresses himself; 1. "If I alone bear testimony of myself, my testimony ought not to be regarded." This is disclaiming any special regard as due him, above others, on the mere ground of his own pretensions. It was equivalent to saying: No persons pretending to honors and relations, a mission and office, such as I pretend, ought to be accredited and received upon his mere professions. No assertions, abstract from other documents in such a case, are worthy of credit. Is not this reasonable? 2. But waiving my own testimony, there is another person whose testimony ought to be regarded. But let us hear the reason why—some reason must be assigned, on account of which more credit is due to this testimony. The reason is: "You yourselves sent to John." But in what does the cogency of this declaration consist? You Jews of this city, of your own accord, had formed such a high character of the integrity, capacity, and piety of John the Baptist, as to depute priests and Levites to him to know what his errand, mission, or testimony was. His character had convinced you of the reality of his pretensions, and he proved himself to your own satisfaction, as being far exalted above any earth-born motives of fraud or deceit. He was, yourselves being judges, a competent and credible witness. Now what did he testify? Did he not tell you that he was not the Messiah; that he was but his harbinger; and that his fame must decrease while mine must increase; that he was from below, but I was from above? Why then did you not believe such a credible witness? Or why receive one part of his testimony and reject the other? I think, then, said he, his testimony ought, in such circumstances, to be regarded. Is not this also reasonable? 3. But he proceeds: "I need not human testimony. I only urge this for your salvation." I would convince you upon your own principles, and show that your rejection of me is without excuse. John, indeed, was a brilliant light, and for a time you considered him an oracle and rejoiced in his light. "But the works that I do," are superior to any human testimony, and these "show that the Father has sent me." To these I appeal—they are public, sensible, notorious, benevolent, supernatural. Could mortal man have performed them? Have not the laws of nature been suspended by my word? Have not the winds, waves, demons, and diseases of every name, acknowledged my power? To these works, only, as proof of my mission, I appeal. They prove not that I am the Son of God, the Messiah. They only prove that the Father has sent me. This is all I urge them for; but if they prove that the Father has sent me, then all my pretensions are credible; for the Father would not have sent a liar or deceiver, invested with such powers. Now I ask, Is not all this reasonable and logical? 4. But again, The Father has himself attested me by his own voice—and by a visible appearance—"Did you not hear his voice? Did you not see his form?" Were not some of you on the Jordan when he attested me when I came up out of the water? Was there not a voice then heard, saying audibly, "This is my beloved Son in whom I delight?" You could not mistake the person of whom this was spoken; for over my head the heavens opened and you saw the Spirit in the form of a dove, coming down and lighting upon my head. You heard his voice then, and saw his manifestation. But you have forgotten this declaration concerning me! Is not this rational and pointed? 5. Once more, "You do search the Scriptures;" and why do you search them? Because you think them to contain a revelation from God; you think and acknowledge that eternal life is in them. This is all true; and in doing this, you act rationally, but why stop here? Now these very scriptures testify of me. To them I make my appeal. They all speak of me; and now show me the oracle, prophecy, or symbol in them, which respected him that was to come, which does not suit my character and pretensions, and I will find an excuse for you. Now I ask, Is not this conclusive? If this be not argument and logic, I never heard any. So reasons the Saviour. This grand climax of reason ends in the prophecies of the Old Testament. But it is not yet finished. 6. But adds he, You will not come to me. It is not the want of light and evidence. You are now unable to reply. Yet you will not come to me that you might obtain that eternal life promised in the Scriptures. I know you well. You have not a spark of the love of God in you. Had you loved God you would have come to me. Your hearts are full of the honors of this world—these you seek more than the honors which come from God only; yes, this is the secret. It is not argument nor proof, but disposition that you want. You pretend great veneration for Moses. But you do not really venerate him; you do not believe him, for he wrote of me. Now if you do not, with all your professed veneration for Moses, believe him, how will you, or can you believe me? If, prejudiced in his favor, you do not receive his testimony, how, prejudiced against me, will you receive mine? But I tell you, however, I will not become your accuser. Your own Moses, in whom you trust, will one day convict you; for he said of me, that whosoever would not hearken to me, should be cut off from the congregation of God. Such is a specimen of the topics from which, and of the manner how, the Saviour argued his pretensions, and plead his cause with the people. A more cogent and unanswerable argument is not, if I am any judge, to be found among all the fine models of ancient and modern literature. And let it, I repeat, be borne in mind, that he makes his last appeal to the Scriptures and to Moses. Prophecy, then, in his judgment, is among the highest species of evidence, and it is that which, as a standing miracle, he has made to speak for him in every age and to all people.—Campbell in Debate with Owen, pp. 339–341.