Mark 16:14-20 Afterward he appeared to the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart… If one should go into the Louvre at Paris, and see the Venus de Milo, and begin to have admiration for that highest conception of a noble woman held by the Greek mind, and his guide should whisper to him, "It is very uncertain whether this is the original statue; in the time of Napoleon it was stolen, and it is said that it was sent back; but many think that another was made in imitation of it, and put in its place, and that this is the imitation," it would kill that man's enthusiasm in a second; and he is not going to say, "I admire that countenance," because it may not be that countenance. And the moment you introduce the element of uncertainty in regard to any substantial religious conviction, your doubt has taken away that enthusiasm which only goes out toward certainty. (Beecher.) Parallel Verses KJV: Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. |
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