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first epistle the same Apostle declares that which he and his 

 fellow testimony-bearers had seen and heard, in order that his 

 audience might have fellowship with them. He says,* We 

 have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be 

 the Saviour of the world ; and he carefully contrasts the 

 importance of this testimony with that of the testimony of 

 man, which we are continually in the habit of receiving. The 

 Apostle Paul coincides, in almost similar language, in the 

 declaration t that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the 

 Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath 

 raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.^^ He goes on 

 to inquire, " How then shall they call on Him on whom they 

 have not believed, and how shall they believe in Him of whom 

 they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a 

 preacher It is of primary importance that those who 

 occupy the place of testimony-bearers should themselves 

 believe. He says further : And how shall they preach except 

 they be sent ? 



59. AVe arrive then at this conclusion, that the message of the 

 gospel must be either accepted or rejected as a concrete whole. 

 That it is sufficiently authenticated we are elsewhere taught,^ 

 and in such a manner that those who believe the message are 

 under the obligation of being ready always to give an answer 

 to every man that asketh them a reason § of the hope that is in 

 them, with meekness and fear,^^ each individual believer of the 

 message becoming thus an additional witness (fxaprvq) and 

 if necessary a martyr to the truth which he receives ; but I do 

 not find any permission for discussion of the message itself, in 

 whole or in part, with those who do not receive it. It claims 

 to be authoritative and dogmatic, and submission and not 

 criticism is called for on the part of those who hear. 



60. This may seem to some slavery and bondage, but to those 

 who receive the message it brings liberty and peace. I very 

 thankfully acknowledge myself to be of the number of those 

 who receive the testimony ; and, feeling the need of the pardon 

 and life which it brings, rejoice therein as fully suited to our 

 nature in all its most deeply felt necessities as to reconciliation 

 with the One from whom the message comes. 



61. Not to enlarge further nor to venture on questions of 

 theology, I maintain that the position of the believer is the 

 only humble and right one ; and that Christian evidence, though 

 in many respects different from that of scientific fact, rests on 



* 1 J ohn 1. t Rom. x. 



X 1 Cor. XY. ; Acts xvii. 31 ; &c. &c. § 1 Pet. iii. 15. 



