aduced on these grounds.

I have been assuming however that the work entitled _Supernatural
Religion_, which lies before me, is the same work which the reviewers
have applauded under this name. But, when I remember that the St Mark of
Papias cannot possibly be our St Mark, I feel bound to throw upon this
assumption the full light of modern critical principles; and, so tested,
it proves to be not only hasty and unwarrantable, but altogether absurd.
It is only necessary to compare the statements of highly intellectual
reviewers with the work itself; and every unprejudiced mind must be
convinced that 'the evidence is fatal to the claims' involved in this
identification. Out of five reviews or notices of the work which I have
read, only one seems to refer to our _Supernatural Religion_. The other
four are plainly dealing with some apocryphal work, bearing the same
name and often using the same language, but in its main characteristics
quite different from and much more authentic than the volumes before me.

1. It must be observed in the first place, that the reviewers agree in
attributing to the work scholarship and criticism of the highest order.
'The author,' writes one, 'is a scientifically trained critic. He has
learned to argue and to weigh evidence.' 'The book,' adds a second,
'proceeds from a man of ability, a scholar and a reasoner.' 'His
scholarship,' says this same reviewer again, 'is apparent throughout.'
'Along with a wide and minute scholarship,' he writes in yet another
place, 'the unknown writer shows great acuteness.' Again a third
reviewer, of whose general tone, as well as of his criticisms on the
first part of the work, I should wish to speak with the highest respect,
praises the writer's 'searching and scholarly criticism.' Lastly a
fourth reviewer attributes to the author 'careful and acute
scholarship.' This testimony is explicit, and it comes from four
different quarters. It is moreover confirmed by the rumour already
mentioned, which assigned the work to a bishop who has few rivals among
his contemporaries as a scholar and a critic.

Now, since the documents which our author has undertaken to discuss are
written almost wholly in the Greek and Latin languages, it may safely be
assumed that under the term 'scholarship' the reviewers included an
adequate knowledge of these languages. Starting from this as an axiom
which will not be disputed, I proceed to inquire what we find in the
work itself, which