Let reformers who
love Him take heart as they consider that they are indeed
following in the footsteps of the Master, who has at no time said
that the revelation which He brought, and which has been so
imperfectly used, is the last which will come to mankind. In our
own times an equally great one has been released from the centre
of all truth, which will make as deep an impression upon the
human race as Christianity, though no predominant figure has yet
appeared to enforce its lessons. Such a figure has appeared once
when the days were ripe, and I do not doubt that this may occur
once more.
One other consideration must be urged. Christ has not given
His message in the first person. If He had done so our position
would be stronger. It has been repeated by the hearsay and
report of earnest but ill-educated men. It speaks much for
education in the Roman province of Judea that these fishermen,
publicans and others could even read or write. Luke and Paul
were, of course, of a higher class, but their information
came from their lowly predecessors. Their account is splendidly
satisfying in the unity of the general impression which it
produces, and the clear drawing of the Master's teaching and
character. At the same time it is full of inconsistencies and
contradictions upon immaterial matters. For example, the four
accounts of the resurrection differ in detail, and there is no
orthodox learned lawyer who dutifully accepts all four versions
who could not shatter the evidence if he dealt with it in the
course of his profession.
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