4. Confirmation of the Testimony

All revealed religion is based on facts. Testimony concerns facts only; and for that testimony to be credible, it must be confirmed. These points are so important that they deserve some explanation and careful consideration. By facts we always mean something said or done. The works of God and the words of God, or the things done and spoken by God, are those facts presented in the Bible as the foundation of all faith, hope, love, devotion, and humanity. All true and useful knowledge is an acquaintance with facts. And all true science is acquired from the observation and comparison of facts. But the one who made the human heart and gave it an intelligent spirit knows that facts alone can move the affections and control the passions of man. Hence, the plan of mercy that he has revealed to the world is all contained in, and developed by, the works of mercy that he has performed.

Facts have a meaning that the understanding grasps and the heart feels. According to the meaning or nature of the fact is its effect on us. If a friend has risked his life, or sacrificed his reputation or fortune to help us, we cannot help but trust and love him. If an enemy has tried to take our life, invaded our property, or attacked our reputation, we naturally cannot help but hate him. Nothing but the command of a benefactor, or the will of some dear friend who has put us under obligation to him, can prevent us from hating our enemies. If a beloved relative has suffered some great misfortune, we must feel sorrow; or if he has been rescued from some impending disaster, we must feel glad. Our joy in the latter case, and our sorrow in the former, arise from the meaning or nature of the fact. The feelings corresponding to the nature of the fact are excited or brought into existence the moment the fact is known or believed. It is known when we have witnessed it ourselves, and it is believed when reported to us by credible persons who have witnessed it. This is the main difference between faith and knowledge.

Just as existence or beings must come before knowledge, so facts must come before either knowledge or belief. An event must happen before it can be known by man — it must be known by some before it can be reported to others — it must be reported before it can be believed, and the testimony must be confirmed, or made credible, before it can be trusted.

Something must be done before it can be known, reported, or believed. Hence, in the order of nature, there is first the fact, then the testimony, and then the belief. A was drowned before B reported it — B reported it before C believed it, and C believed it before he was grieved by it. This is the unchangeable and universal order of things regarding belief. In this example, when we reason from effect to cause, it is grief, belief, testimony, fact — and from cause to effect, it is fact, testimony, belief, grief. We ascend from grief to belief — from belief to testimony — from testimony to fact. We descend from fact to testimony — from testimony to belief — and from belief to grief. There is no exception to this, any more than to the universality of the law of gravity. If, then, nothing was said or done, there could be no testimony, and so no faith. Religious affections spring from faith; and, therefore, it is important that this subject be disentangled from the mysticism of the schools.

Laws call for obedience, and testimony for belief. Where there is no law, there can be no obedience; and where there is no testimony, there can be no faith. As obedience cannot go beyond law, so faith cannot go beyond testimony. John's testimony covered many facts. On his testimony, we can believe only as far as he has testified. And so with all the other witnesses. The certainty of faith depends on the certainty or credibility of the witnesses. But not so its effects. The effects depend on the facts believed — the certainty depends on the evidence. I may be equally certain that John was beheaded — that Jesus was crucified. Indeed, I may be as certain of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem as I am of his death on Calvary. The testimony may be equally credible, and the faith equally strong; but the effects produced are not the same. The facts believed do not have the same meaning, are not of the same nature, and do not produce the same feelings or effects. I may be as certain of the assassination of Caesar in the Senate House as I am of the crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary: but as the facts believed are as different in their nature, meaning, and impact on me as East and West; so the effects or fruits of my faith are as different as Julius Caesar and Jesus Christ.

The more ordinary the fact, the more ordinary the testimony needed to establish it. That A B, aged 90, and confined for some time with illness, died last night, requires only the most ordinary testimony to make it credible. But that C D lived to 140, enjoying undiminished vigor of mind and body, requires stronger testimony. Still, all facts happening according to the ordinary and natural laws of things require only good human testimony to make them worthy of belief. It is only extraordinary and supernatural facts that require supernatural testimony, or testimony supernaturally confirmed. This is the point we have been considering in this essay. And now that we have reached it, I would ask, How has the testimony of the Apostles and Evangelists been confirmed?

To confirm a testimony is neither more nor less than to make it credible to those to whom it is offered; or, to express the same idea in other words, it is to give people the power to believe. Now, it will not take the same amount of evidence to persuade an astronomer that the earth's shadow struck the moon during the last eclipse as it would to convince a Native American; nor would it take the same amount of evidence to convince a chemist that combustion was caused by pouring water on a certain composition of mineral substances as it would an uneducated farmer. To make any testimony credible to any group of people, regard must be had to the capacity, knowledge, and habits of those people. To confirm the testimony of the Apostles concerning the Messiah's death, resurrection, ascension into heaven, and coronation as the Lord and King of the Universe means no more and no less than that it should be made fully credible to people like us, or that we should be made able to believe. A testimony confirmed, yet incredible to those to whom it is offered, is a contradiction in terms. But why emphasize the word confirmed? Because the holy Apostles emphasized it. It is therefore necessary that we give proper attention to the confirmation of the testimony. The testimony is one thing, and the confirmation is another. It is necessary, in all important human affairs, that the testimony received between people be confirmed by some sanction. Hence an oath to confirm testimony ends all dispute. The highest confirmation that people require in all questions of fact is a solemn oath or affirmation that the things affirmed are true.

But supernatural facts require supernatural confirmations. Hence when the confirmation of the gospel is spoken of in the apostolic writings, it is attributed to the actions or works of the Holy Spirit. 'Demonstrations of the Holy Spirit' are the confirmatory proofs of the gospel. When Paul delivered the testimony of God, or the testimony concerning Jesus, to the Corinthians, he says, 'It was confirmed among them.' And if we examine the confirmation of the testimony as Paul explained it, we find that he makes the spiritual gifts, or those extraordinary and miraculous powers which the Apostles themselves displayed, and which many of their converts also possessed, an assurance or confirmation of what he proclaimed.

We will focus only on the light that one of his letters to the Corinthians sheds on this subject. After thanking God for the favor bestowed on the disciples of Corinth when he first visited them, he goes on to specify the special favors given to the disciples in that renowned city. 'You were enriched (he says, chap. 1: ver. 5) with every gift by him, even with all speech and all knowledge when the testimony of Christ was confirmed among you: so that you lack no gift.' 'There are different kinds of gifts, (he says, chap. 12:) for to one disciple is given the word of wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge; to another, faith (to be healed); to another, the gift of healing; to another, the ability to work miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, discerning of spirits; to another, various kinds of foreign tongues; and to another, the interpretation of foreign tongues.' — Now, the Corinthians were given these (for they lacked no gift) 'when the testimony of Christ was confirmed among them.' For, says Paul, I did not come to you with the excellence of speech, or the persuasive eloquence of the schools, but with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power; so that your belief in my testimony, or your faith, would not rest, or be founded on human wisdom or eloquence, but on the power of God shown in the demonstrations of the Spirit which confirmed my testimony among you. For if it had not been for these demonstrations of the Spirit and power, your faith could not have rested on an unshakable foundation.

For those who want to understand this subject, a study of this first letter to the Corinthians cannot fail to be most instructive; for it clearly and unequivocally teaches us that the visible, audible, sensible demonstration of the Spirit and power was that supernatural attestation of the testimony of Christ which made it credible, so that no one could have acknowledged Jesus of Nazareth as the Almighty Lord except by this demonstration of the Holy Spirit. Thus the testimony was confirmed — thus Jesus was shown to be the only begotten Son of God — and thus, and only thus, are people enabled to believe in him. I’m happy to help! Please provide the Markdown text you want me to modernize.