THE K I NG ' S B U S I N E S S
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tw elfth says “The facts are incredible,” so i suppose we m ust say th a t he is th e wise man of th e twelve. We need to know a m an’s lim itations, training, life, before we can know why a certain fact is incredible to him . P rofessor Huxley w rote to the late dean of Wells, th irty years ago, “virgin procreation and resuscitation from app aren t death are o rd in ary phenomena for th e n a tu ra l ist.” He affirms th a t th ere is “no m ir acle in virgin generation.” We need to know w hat use a man makes of th e Bible, prayer, life, before we can a t tach much importance to his verdict of incredibility. The V irgin B irth was not incredible to th e early Christians, has not been incredible to th e Church th rough th e centuries, to g reat Coun cils, and is not to m illions of Christians today. Unbelief in th e tru th is as old as faith , bu t between Cerinthus and John we choose John. Between th e Gnostic, chat g athered like m ist on the moun ta in and disappeared, and the Christian th a t h as stood like th e mountain th rough th e centuries, we p refer the Christian m ountain to th e Gnostic mist. Beyond question th e men who w rote the record believed it; the men who treasu red it, believed it. John tells us th a t some slu rred th e common faith and claimed to know “ his fath e r Jo seph.” If they knew Joseph a t all in his fam ily relation they knew him as the legal fath e r of Jesu s; as His fath er he fled to Egypt, ta rrie d in Egypt, lived in N azareth, w ent to Jerusalem when th e lad was twelve years of age. The m arriage of Mary and Joseph settled th e question of p atern ity before the law, and th a t is all most of us know of our neighbors. But we p refer to ta k e Matthew and Luke as authority, to th e common gossip of th e stree t as to underlying fact. L et us take th e alternative. Christ bade us count th e cost before attem p t ing to build a tower or attac k a king,
lest money fail and we become th e jest of men. The w riters believed and w rote th a t Joseph was not th e physical fath e r of Jesus. E ith e r they lied or were lied to. Then th e early Church treasu red a lie, and a religion th a t claims to be tru th has a lie a t the core. Joseph ought to know, Mary ought to know, men train ed like Matthew and Luke ought to know; th e early Church ought to know; if we cannot tru s t th e documents th en we may as well shut th e churches and eat, d rink and be mer- ry, for faith is vain. It is incredible to some of us th a t th e records and th e early churches should have p u t the bar sin ister on the shield of Christ. T h at Joseph and Mary should both lie, th a t Matthew and Luke should both be deceived, th a t being deceived they should w rite it down, and . the Church es should accept and perp etuate th e rec ord know ing th e inevitable outcome, seems incredible. The ta u n t of th e unbelieving Jews recorded in John VIII, 41, " I t is not we who were born of fornication,” is proof th a t th e sto ry of Mary was widely known du ring ouir SaviouT’s life on earth , and th e slanderous ta le related by Celsus in th e following century, as preserved by Origen, came to th e su r face repeatedly in la te r times. B u t the record of th is tau n t, and Jo h n ’s brief statem en t th a t th e “Word became flesh,” show th a t the au th o r of the F o u rth Gospel knew of th e V irgin B irth of the Lord quite as well as Matthew and Luke. W eighing th e records of the th ree Gospels and th e faith of many m illions du ring th e centuries, against th e un faith of th e few, it seems to us th e verdict ought to be given to the faith and the records. Objection is made th a t th e record puts God into strang e relation s w ith the mother. We will tak e th e Bible record of God and the creation. God has no m arks of time, th e universe has m arks
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