The Resurrection of Jesus Christ 83 instinct that led a leading and brilliant agnostic in England to say, that there is no use wasting time discussing the other miracles. The essential question is, Did Jesus Christ rise from the dead?- adding, that if He did, it was easy enough to be- lieve the other miracles; but, if not, the other miracles must go. Are the statements contained in the four Gospels regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ statements of fact or are they fiction, fables, myths ? There are three separate lines of proof ‘that the statements contained in the four Gospels regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ are exact statements of his- toric fact. I. THE EXTERNAL EVIDENCE OF THE AUTHENTICITY AND TRUTHFULNESS OF THE GOSPEL NARRATIVES This is an altogether satisfactory argument. The external proofs of the authenticity and truthfulness of the Gospel nar- ratives are overwhelming, but the argument is long and intri- cate and it would take a volume to discuss it satisfactorily. The other arguments are so completely sufficient and over- whelming and convincing to a candid mind that we can do without this, good as it is in its place. The next argument is from— II. THE INTERNAL PROOFS OF THE TRUTHFULNESS OF THE GOSPEL RECORDS This argument is thoroughly conclusive, and we shall state it briefly in the pages which follow. We shall not assume any- thing whatever. We shall not assume that the four Gospel records are true history; we shall not assume that the four Gospels were written by the men whose names they bear, though it could be easily proven that they were; we shall not even assume that they were written in the century in which Jesus is alleged to have lived and died and risen again, nor in the next century, nor in the next. We will assume absolutely nothing. We will start out with a fact which we all know
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