The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-04-09
More Evidence Concerning Res
direction Of the Savior.
FAITH OF APOSTLES.
inquiries Why They Did Not Re-
cant Their Statements.
Suffered Observation-Disclosures
Be Moved From Position.

the evidence of the truth and inSpira-
ton of the Bible considered from a
scriptural standpoint, and Incidentally
he replied to the Howe lay sermons.
The whole question, Mr.. Mallory said.
turned on whether or not Christ rose
from the dead as the Bible claimed. IL
he did, the Bible is true and inspired; If
not, it is false.
Mr.. Mallory reviewed the statements
made by the writer's of the gospels that
Christ was seen and identified by many |
after he rose from the dead, and other |
allegations.
Some of these witnesses" he contin-
ued, made statements that could have |
been proved false, if they had been
false, by almost any number of PEI |
sons. AS samples: The statements of |
Matthew, published in Palestine eight |
years after the death of Christ, that he |
fed five thousand in open day by mir |
acle; that there was a great earthquake |
when he died; that there was darkness |
over the whole land from the sixth to |
the ninth hour; that the vail of the |
temple was rent in two from the top to |
the bottom; that the rocks were split; |
the statement of Paul that he was seen |
of above five hundred brethren at once. |
These, and many more statements like
them, could have been disprOved by al
most any number of witnesses, if they
had not been true; and the enemies
could have thus defeated the apostles.
But instead of these statements being
refuted, they are confirmed by all the
testimony in the world in any way
bearing on them. Ihey stand, not only
uncontradicted by anything written in
that age, but cOrrObOrated by every
authority having connection with them.
These were statements about which
there could not have been mistake.
Gould the apostles have been dis
honest? Could they have been pretend
ers? They certainly could not, for the
following reasons:
| ''F'irst-They had no inducement to
! tell falsehoods touching the matter in
hand Every earthly interest they had
was against the ground they took, and
/ in favor of their renouncing it.
"Second-That Jesus rose from the
! dead, if not true. was the most unpopu-
| lar and unwelcOme story that any man
or set of men could have told at the
| time in which they lived. The idea that
| these timid men would have had the
| holiness and determination to face the
| world, Jews and pagans, and declare
| persistently that Jesus rose from the
dead, knowing it to be false, is the very
! climax of absurdity.
''Third-AdmittiDg the possibility of
| these tiTnid and cOwardly men Gas they
! were before the death of Christi to have
| had the effrontery to stand up in Jerusa-
lem, before the learned rabies, the doc
tors of the law, the scribes and priests,
at the first, and declaring that Jesus
| rose from the dead knowing that they
| We're telling a falsehOod; still there re-
mains no way of accounting for their
persistence in their statement and
| maintaining that it was true though
| every possible means were used to in
duce them to recant till they sealed
their testimony with their blood. What
man of intelligence can believe that
these men were dishonest, mere pre-
tenders, telling what they knew to be
false, and that they were true to their
original purpose, and every man of
them stood by every other man in tell
! ing and maintaining the falSehOOd
J through stripes, imprisonment and ban
ishment, till the last one was martyred
for telling the supposed falsehood, and
not a man of them could ever by any
means be induced to give it up? Yte
man who can believe this ought to say
| nothing of the credulity of Christians
| 1t is to believe that men can have two
opposite characters at the same time.
| and maintain both till death: that they
can be hypOcrites, pretenders and de-
ceiverS for life, engaged in palming off
a falsehood on the world, and vet so
true to their falsehood and to each 9TH
err that not one of them could ever be
. induced to betray and expose the false
: hood on his fellow witnesses. Not one
of them could be induced to save him
? self from stripes, imprisonment or
death, to turn states evidenced What
they stated at first, they stated at last
Mr.. Mallory called attention to the
' | Self-eVident sincerity of the apostles
=; and the purity Of their lives; to the fact
that they began to preach in Jerusalem
I | where all these events had transpired
Immediately after the ascension of Jes-
\ | Us, instead of going off to some other
, part of the world where they could not
have been disputed: that five thousand
Jews were converted within few days
| and in forty years the gospel had trav-
. | eled over the entire Roman empire
a did uninspired fishermen of Galilee
t | illiterate, tinid and weak men, do al
:! this in their own strength? Did they de
u this by telling a faIsehood, sticking to
r falsehood, and. in their mere human
e strength, preaching a falsehood? L
:, they did, their falsehood did more thar
+ any truth ever did since the beginning o
+ time, for such a revelation had never
been brought about before by any sor
e of preaching, true or false. To say tn,
2, apostles did this in their own strength
. by preaching a falsehOOd, and one o
= the silliest falsehOods ever told, too, if i
was a falsehood at all, is to say that tn
/, most stupendous, grand and sublim
e religious movement recorded in tn
# worlds history was achieved by veal
e and ignorant men by preaching a false
u hood, in spite of all the learning, talent
Is money, prejudice, pride. popularity, civ
- il and religious authorities on the fac
n of the earth The man who will say thi
d is not a subject of argument.
n mo doubt many statesmen, philoso
o piers, men of wealth and powerful me-
h of the world of different kinds, as we
ie as distinguished religionists of differen
1S kinds of that day, thought the Who'll
e affair about Jesus of Nazareth a shall
1t low thing, with which the people ha
d been carried away, and that in a shoI
time there would be nothing NOR
3 heard of Jesus or his apostles. Blu
.ss how stands the case now? Eightee
az centuries have gone into the past, an
q their events are known in history
e. What has become of the statesmen c
Id Greece and Rome? Excepting a few
at their names have gone into oblivion
ar Where is that mighty civil super
~ structure on which they put forth the
n greatest power and skip In less tina
st four hundred years it was divided int
u petty kingdoms and the wisdom
We the great men who framed the Roma
ne government was shown to he foolish
C ness with God. Where are the philoss
u piers of Greece and Rome? Exceptin
II a few, their names are not found IN HI:
m tory Their systems OF phliosopn
have been exploded, and many of II