without
either the blesser or the blessed understanding what it was that the
hands of the bishop, and the force which streamed from them, were meant
to bestow. The very words "laying on of hands" would seem to suggest
something different from a mere benediction.

Enough has been said, perhaps, to show the reader that it is possible
to put forward a view of Christ's life which would be in strict accord
with the most modern psychic knowledge, and which, far from supplanting
Christianity, would show the surprising accuracy of some of the details
handed down to us, and would support the novel conclusion that those
very miracles, which have been the stumbling block to so many truthful,
earnest minds, may finally offer some very cogent arguments for the
truth of the whole narrative. Is this then a line of thought which
merits the wholesale condemnations and anathemas hurled at it by those
who profess to speak in the name of religion? At the same time, though
we bring support to the New Testament, it would, indeed, be a
misconception if these, or any such remarks, were quoted as sustaining
its literal accuracy--an idea from which so much harm has come in the
past. It would, indeed, be a good, though an unattainable thing, that
a really honest and open-minded attempt should be made to weed out from
that record the obvious forgeries and interpolations which disfigure
it, and lessen the value of those parts which are really above
suspicion.

Is it necessary, for example, to be told, as an inspired fact from
Christ's own lips, that Zacharias, the son of Barachias,[7] was struck
dead within the precincts of the Temple in the time of Christ, when, by
a curious chance, Josephus has independently narrated the incident as
having occurred during the siege of Jerusalem, thirty-seven years
later? This makes it very clear that this particular Gospel, in its
present form, was written after that event, and that the writer fitted
into it at least one other incident which had struck his imagination.
Unfortunately, a revision by general agreement would be the greatest of
all miracles, for two of the very first texts to go would be those
which refer to the "Church," an institution and an idea utterly
unfamiliar in the days of Christ. Since the object of the insertion of
these texts is perfectly clear, there can be no doubt that they are
forgeries, but as the whole system of the Papacy rests upon one of
them, they are likely to survive f