The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-07-19
A QUESTION OF QUESTIONS.
WHAT no WE KNOW OF y1suss

shNo Auswereu pytns Aev. Ar. Aac0ueAry
Pro-. Huxley. In his celebrated controvsrs,
with the lev. DR.. Waco. said: TELL mo- first
what Jesus can be proved to have been. said
and done, and will tell you whether bslisy,
linn. or In him. or not" DR.. Waco had sale
that the Lords Prayer and the Sermon on tn,
Mount afford . true account OF our Lord,
essential belief and cardinal teaching. Blu
his agnostio antagonist rejected this PROPOSE
tion. first. because Marks Gospel. which ID be.
lievod by many critics TO be the oldest OF thu
nrst three Gospels. does not contain the Lord'i
Prayer nor the Sermon ON the Mount: and
secondly. because Luke's report OF tho ser.
mon difrcrs greatly from that OF Matthew
DR.. Waco had. OF course. also appealed to st.
Paul's unquostionably genuine Epistles. those
to the Corinthians. Romans and Galatians. o.
authority for the chief events Of Christ's lie
and his essential teachings. But Prof. Huxley
rejected this argument In these words:
Paurs testimony cannot DO seriously re-
Rarded. excent as evidence OF tho stats OF ira
ditional opinion ut the time at which he wrote.
say between 5j and 60 A. D.. that Is. moro
than twenty years after the event. . period
much more than suftlciont Tor the DEVELOPMENT
OF any amount OF mythology about matters Of
which nothing was really known"
All this ral.es tho question. What do va
really know OF Jesusl This question hna re-
Gently been asked mo by letters and word Of
mouth, and that. too. not In the spirit OF ICON
oclas.ic skepticism but from an earnest desire
TO know the truth about the great Nazarene.
Tho question Is OF much interest and impor-
tancs for evcn the radical sksptic may want
10 know. from simply hiStorian's motive.
what tho man was and what he said who for
nearly two thousand years has sxertod q
creator influence upon the western nations OF
tho globe than any other person. Will his
professod disciples. OF course. want 20 know
tho truth FROM \ religious interest.
The reason why tho usstion ia moro impof.
tant To-day than ever before ls that the ALL
thorship and reliability OF the narratives about
Jesus arc quite Questionable. When this fact
Il known 1t is most natural to jump to the con-
clusion that We cannot provo" anything
about Jesus. and that We may rs we'll give him
un But to the philosophical student OF histo-
~ such an idea Is absurd. lie knows that
there Is noarly always = soul OF truth in
ehlngs erroneous" and that that soul may be
found by careful search for it I shall aim
to show In this article how tho soul OF truth in
the histories Of Jesus may DO found-not tha
j shall aim to extract that soul itself from
those narratives, but shall suggest the prop.
Or method Of Investigation.
Only by n careful study Of tho New Testa-
ment writings themselves and tho early Chris
the original and later strata OF tradition about
Jesus. just here lies the danger. Laymen
are wont TO take the mere word OF q few emil
mont scholars. suoh as Renan or Huxley. ON
this subject. and are not willing to examine
the original documents themselves. They
should on tho contrary. go to the fountain
head and ascertain for themselves tho original
sources. Ia 1t said. ordinary mon haven't
time to devote to such investi2ation"2 Then
answer. you would better drop the subject
altogether. Fancy man talking about the
problems OF medicine. yet asserting that no
has not the time to study those problemsl
The fact is. a man who has time to road Rsnan
or Huxley has timo to read Paul. tho Gospel
writer's. and the early Christian fathers. II
not. however. II you are not willing to make
time for this purpose. then you need not hope
for satisfaction on tho question at issue.
As 1t is quite common to appeal to Paul's
genuine Epistles. the Lords Prayer. and tho
Sermon on the Mount as containing the essen
tial teaching OF Jesus. I may briefly answer
Prof. Huxley's objection to this appeal His
trst objection that the Prayer and the Sermon
are not found In Marks Gospel Is OF no force,
first. because. while Marks is considered BY
many critics as the oldest OF the first three
Gospels. it Is not SO considered by all and.
secondly even II It DO the oldest. this fact did
not necesyitate the insertion Of tho Prayer and
the Sermon.
The argument from silence or omission must
bs most carefully used or 1t will mislead Hux-
10y unwarrantably rejects the early tradition
that Mark was Peters amanuensis. but this
tradition 10 accepted by scores OF critics quite
as free from theological or dogmatlc prejudice
rs Huxley is. I believe 1t Is true. and II 80 We
can readily understand why Mark omitted the
Prayer and the Sermon. He reported Peters
vyhiN nrfn trIw
have concerned themselves with other events
in Christs life and other sayings Of bis rather
than with the Prayer and Sermon. Besides.
the Prayer and Sermon were doubtless SO we'll
known to the disciples In general that refer
ence to them or quotation OF them by Peters
was wholly nd T.
teaching and life were recorded. that 1t became
necessary to record these.
tbe sermon. This Sermon existed 10 an oral
and unconnscted form Tor years-that 10. Its
among the disciples at first. and they were COL
lscted into ono discourse BY the latest nara.
the Sermon he used only such Of its statements
Y Y no could ger. to Which were added others BY
for twshty years silor thrists death. il must
b remembered that he was converted 20 the
Sshs from its b. al Wien ME. lie wro. s'P his
&JU4Dt4eo nc. Wuo III Nuo pTIHl0 u lll6 10 uRO u
Vivid recollection OF tho events that had hap
HSnsd twenty years before: "nd hence be was
mentc % Huxley would have US heliovo. for
4oLs. sRlec.ions 70 Tho Pauline Epistl.s. the
o. resting on an insuli.cisn foundation.
We now pass to 2 more positive indication Of
the lines OF procedure shat should bo adopted
IL order e asosrtain what we know e Jesus.
lns Epistlss are tho Oldest writings OF the New
Hsstamept and really contain enough inior-
nation about Jesus ind his doctrines to form
g, basis for Christian apol2gotics. Secondly.
although the Gospels as they now stand are
mot original doSuu,cnts, they are. for the meet
8roi HuIlsy' himself. in Inc aforesaid dis:
oussion. Lays down this sensible rule OF investi-
CATION: "Ths rulo OF common sense 10. pynnn
yaeis to trust witness IN all matters u which
,S13tqss. nor that love Of tho marvellous. which
= inherent to grsater, q, loss degree in all
narIstiyss Of %srysIlous events Ii tho Gospels.
4e;, and may By thi. rule accept oil the rest.
We are thon forced to do one Of two things:
Either We must believe that tho Lords Prayer,
tho Sermon ON the Mount. tho parallels, and
nwtn ~.