If a number of people agree to lie and deceive the public, it is very evident that in the nature of things discrepancies and inconsistencies and contradictions would occur in their evidence. It is well known that in a court of law a clever counsel can extract answers to searching questions, that are fatal to any seeking to cover up the truth.
There is a story told of a little lad being put on oath to give witness in a law case. The opposing counsel con-tended that he was unreliable as being too young, and probably told by his elders what to say. He then asked the boy, "Did your father tell you what to say?" "Yes, sir," replied the lad. The counsel turned triumphantly to the judge, and said, "You see, my Lord, my contention holds good." "Not quite so fast," replied the judge, and turning to the little lad kindly, he said to him, "Come here, my boy, and tell me what your father told you to say." "Yes, sir," replied the boy, "my father told me to be sure to speak the truth." To the annoyance of the counsel the judge ordered that the evidence of the boy should be taken, which proved to be the obstacle to his winning his case.
It has been pointed out that if six witnesses of a fatal accident are called upon to give evidence concerning it, the best proof of their truthfulness would be their agreeing on the salient features of the case, but differing and even contradicting each other, as to details. If they agreed in every detail, it would lead to the suspicion of its being a put-up job, and that the witnesses were instructed to testify in agreement with each other in every little de-tail.
It is well-known that in witnessing a fatal accident one person sees it a little differently than another. One part of the accident makes a deeper impression than another part. Therefore the absence of uniformity as to details will tend to show, rather than the reverse, the truthfulness of the witnesses.
But in the case of the sacred record regarding the resurrection of our Lord we have two things to point out. First that the four historians, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, do not furnish us with the same incidents and details as to the resurrection of our Lord, showing, that it is no put-up job; and, second, seeing the records are inspired, God-breathed, of discrepancies and contradictions there are none.
And so we see the record more or less full in details, one writer mentioning one incident, a second writer, an-other incident, and yet the accounts fitting perfectly in detail one with the other—no discrepancies, no contra-dictions. How confirmatory of the truthfulness of the sacred narrative.