A young gentleman had called for the reconciliation of certain points in the New Testament narratives, which, to his mind, seemed incongruous. After noting each of the points separately, in the A. C. Review, for May, 1859, the editor added:
BUT, my dear sir, the reconciling what to you may be apparent discrepancies, is no reason for your becoming a Christian; nor should you think me unable to reconcile them, or should I really be unable to reconcile them, or should all men be unable to reconcile them, that would still be no reason why you or any man should reject Christ. The inability to reconcile these matters may arise from our ignorance and not from the fact that they are irreconcilable. It would not be a reason for rejecting the gospel, if the statements of these witnesses were really in themselves irreconcilable or inaccurate. The inaccuracy might easily have found its way into their testimony, in translating, transcribing, or interpolation, and Christ still be divine. The whole matter rests upon Christ, and not upon the congruity or the incongruity of the sacred narratives, unless their consistency can be so impaired as to destroy their testimony concerning Christ. The matter is not whether you can reconcile all the statements of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, whether you can show their consistency and understand them throughout, but whether you believe in Christ or not, whether you will receive him or not. Can you say, sir, that you are pondering in your mind whether to regard Jesus as divine or an imposter? This is the question for you to fix your eye upon. You have not time now to study the whole Bible and decide upon a sentence at a time, whether you believe it or not. It would take you a long time to become a Christian in that way. You should not go to the Bible for that purpose, but go there to learn all about Christ, the purity of his life, his wonderful teachings, his miracles, his perfect knowledge of what is in man, the fulfillment of all the prophecies in him, with an eye simply upon the question—is he the Christ, the Son of God? You can shape your inquiries in different forms, though constantly bearing upon the same question, by inquiring as follows: Was Jesus perfect in his life? If he was, he was more than man, for no mere man ever was perfect. Were his teachings perfect? If they were, they were not of man, for no mere man ever gave the world perfect teachings. All merely human teachings, in all the world, and in all ages, have been imperfect, and, it is a miracle in itself, for a perfect being to appear among men, in human form, or a perfect system of teaching to be presented by him to man. He emphatically spake as never man spake.
Can it be possible that you, my dear sir, are vacillating in your mind whether Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? Can you doubt whether he was the friend of man? whether he loved man? whether you would be infallibly safe under his guidance? Can you doubt whether he was good? whether his teaching was good? whether it was safe? You must feel conscious that he is the Christ, the Son of God—the friend of man—that he loved man—that he went about doing good—that you are infallibly safe in following him—that his teaching is good—that it is divine. You would not now deny him for the world. Your eternal all is in him. If the worst things infidels have ever said of him were true, it is better and safer to follow him, than them; for they admit that he was better than they, and his teaching better than their own. As you value your soul, follow him.